Very often, beautiful, but tired women say: I don’t have time for myself, I’m so exhausted that I don’t remember my name, I’m empty. I want to take care of myself, I understand that it is right, but I do not know where to start, it is probably complicated.
From our point of view, it’s difficult – not to take care of yourself and understand that stress is increasing every day, fatigue is accumulating, and the first bells of painful conditions have already appeared. It is a regular headache, reluctance to do anything (or there is still a desire, but there is not enough strengths).
Most often, it happens at the most flourishing age of 35-40 years, when we already have a family, children, and a career, and we must juggle all the balls at once. Well, we are juggling. Until we fall. Moreover, it is our choice. We cannot always influence the environment, weather, political situation, but the rhythm and quality of life is our choice. Let us make this choice conscious! The main thing is to learn how to live in pleasure while maintaining the coordinated work of your body. It is about the art of choice, about stress management and mental health, about physical activity adequate to your condition, about the ability to hear yourself.
Here we will share with you small changes that make it easy to start living, taking care of yourself, which will lead to significant changes for the better. It is impossible to embrace the immensity. Therefore, according to tradition, we start with small steps:
1. Carefully choose what you cook, eat, and drink: food is what nourishes us, gives each cell energy and vitality. Therefore, the choice of products should be careful – why deliberately feed yourself with what poisons aggravates and provokes inflammatory processes? It is all about the quality of the products. Even living in a big city and making dinner in the microwave oven, we can make a choice: in favor of local, seasonal, whole foods. If they make up more than 80% of your diet, then you already do a lot for yourself. Look for honest farmers, go to weekend markets, check if there are organic food stores near your home – use every opportunity possible, trying not to spend a lot of time on it. Once the choice is done, and the procurement places and standard product basket are determined, you don’t need to worry, the process becomes automatic again.
2. Start your morning with breakfast. Breakfast should be, and it should be healthy. We know it sounds corny, but the biochemistry of the body explains this point. After a night without food, a proper breakfast normalizes blood sugar and replenishes glycogen stores (a form of glucose storage in the body), which keeps the body from releasing cortisol, the stress hormone, in response to a decrease in glucose. If you do not have breakfast, then the blood sugar drops below normal. Later, most likely, at a midday snack or microwave oven dinner, the body will require its own, and you will eat an extra portion of sweet or satisfyingly heavy meal.
The right breakfast is healthy fats, lean proteins, and very few slow carbohydrates. This combination will allow the body to supply the body with nutrients for a very long time. You will be able to stay full and workable for half a day without the desire to eat something urgently.
3. Sit down and bring your thoughts and emotions to rest before cooking and eating. Eating on the go is stress for the body and a lack of nutrients from the food you put in your mouth. Well, the body cannot properly digest and turn into energy and tissues that are thrown carelessly into it! Respect your body, and it will help you. Sit down, tune in to a meal, and enjoy your choice: color combination, aroma, company.
4. If you are hungry, eat! There is no rule to eat only and exclusively by the hour and starve yourself. If you do not hear the request of the body, then it will not hear your demand to work a little more. There will be no strength. It is essential to interpret your desires correctly: you have recently had lunch. Still, the body urgently demands, have a snack competently, replenishing energy and supplying the body with an additional portion of nutrients, and not ‘dummies.’
5. A part of healthy fats in every meal. Healthy fats are, for example, avocado, cold-pressed oils (olive, sesame, coconut, avocado oil, grape seed, etc.), nuts, and seeds in small quantities. They nourish slowly, allowing you to stay full longer. Use microwave oven to make them more delicious. If you do not include healthy fats in food, then a feeling of hunger may appear within an hour or two after eating, and you unknowingly grab something less vigorous, such as quick carbohydrates (a sweet snack). They are the essential sources of Omega-3-6-9 for the body. Moreover, they preserve the health of the hormonal system.
Have Lunch With Yourself
“But what’s the point of starting something, making an effort, if I always dine alone?” Understand whether you have a company or not – it does not matter at all. You can turn any meal into an act of self-care, enjoying every moment and paying yourself respect. Learn to treat yourself as the dearest guest.
• Turn on the music and make cooking a fun and enjoyable experience, even if it is a fast meal from microwave oven. If you just decided to whip up a salad, make some tasty and unusual dressing for it.
Moreover, to the sandwich, you can add greens, cucumber, or tomato. Imagine that you are cooking this dish for your loved one! Why, then, not try to create something outstanding?
• Choose a beautiful plate and serve it nicely. There is no reason to try to reach the heights of the art of food bloggers (“didn’t take a picture – didn’t eat” – it is not about us). However, the dish should be delicious. A sense of pride in your culinary achievements, the very fact that you tried for yourself – all this will inspire you, and you will begin to cook for yourself more often.
• When we eat alone, we usually manage to eat almost everything without leaving the stove or near the microwave oven. Well, how can that be? Make it a rule to dine at the table, slowly and chewing food thoroughly. It seems to you that eating in complete silence is not easy. Get used to it over time. If you really can’t eat without a TV, then at least choose something useful or informative, avoiding dense films and cruel shows.
Conclusion
Cooking is creativity. We all love to eat, but not everyone knows how to cook. Therefore, we eat in restaurants, order at home, eat convenience foods or just use a microwave oven. However, the restaurant food or the stored food is not the same; there is no soul in it. Cooking relaxes and soothes; it is a sacrament. Ask yourself what you eat, how you eat, where to cook, and whether to cook at all? Cooking is like writing a masterpiece; you can learn how to open your heart.