In todays world, health is a term that is heavily controversial. There are so many debates as to what constitutes itself as ‘health’ and it is an ever changing phenomenon due to new discoveries, experiments, scientific evidence and own personal opinion.

Thats why I want to ask you, what is health to YOU? I know what it means to me, but that may not necessarily be the same as what it means to you. So, this is where we begin – it is so important to remember that there is no rule book to health, there is no road that takes us to the final destination. Health is, and will always be something that is acquired to ones own beliefs, morals, values and where they are at, in their life at the time. The meaning of health will constantly change as you go through the different phases of your life, when you are in your teenage years it may mean something completely different to you as to when you would be pregnant or fighting an illness.

The meaning of health should always be relevant to what you are wanting to achieve out of life. Whether that be to lose a few kgs or to prevent yourself from developing diseases as you get older and maintaining who you are now.

Health is NOT only based around fitness and intense activity. Health is so much more then that and thats what I want to talk about today; health but not in relation to exercise. I want to talk about health in relation to the inner workings of the body because you can assume fit and healthy on the outside but you have to understand that it all begins on the inside.

Gut health

I am almost sure you have heard the word ‘gut health’ been thrown around somewhere in this cyber world. You may have a good understanding of what it is or you may not, either way one of the main things you need to know is that it is important!

Good gut health impacts many things such as; gastrointestinal fitness, immune fitness, emotional health, cognitive functioning and your energy thus it is crucial in maintaining overall good body health. A healthy gut contains bacteria and immune cells that ward off many infectious diseases, help fight illness and even fungi. A healthy gut = a healthy digestive system. Good gut health helps to keep a balance between organs and hormones inside your body, which in turn will affect your health and well-being. So it is clear to say that your gut health influences your mental health and vice versa. When you have a balanced gut it is known as something called ‘equilibrium’, this is where the poor bacteria don’t have space to grow and and the good bacteria pave the way for them to do their jobs, ie. digest foods and ward off the evil.

The sad reality though, is that because we have easy access to fast food chains and that there is economic and pandemic stress it is easier and more common to find those living an unbalanced and sedentary life. Thus, in turn poor gut health is becoming more and more common in people.

Everything in your body is interdependent, meaning that everything influences each other one way or another. Thats why it is important to look after your inner-self just as much as your outer-self. So if your gut health is out of whack, so will how you feel, your well-being, mental health. You’ll feel lethargic and have digestive issues, maybe even symptoms of abdominal pain and bloating. These are all signs of an unhealthy gut. I would encourage you to be aware of how your body feels after eating food, pay attention to what you put into your body, notice if you are eating whole foods that are full of anti-oxidants, taking your daily vitamin C and omegas to look after your gut or are you eating greasy food that is cheap, mass produced and gives you temporary satisfaction which in turn contributes to the discomfort you may be experiencing. What you put into your body plays a major role in how your body functions which in turn will affect how you feel mentally and physically.

Mental health

I am an avid contender of mental health, as someone who has been into health and fitness for many years – I will always tell you that mental health should always become before physical health. Yes, there are known benefits of physical health improving your mental health but mental health is so much more then just dropping some squats, getting a jog in and calling it a day. Mental health is where you live, its the voice inside of your head constantly telling you, you can or can’t do it. Mental health is all about inner healing and constant self-development. It is wanting to work on you for the respect and love you have for yourself and your mind, to live a life where you never feel like you can’t achieve something.

Working on your mind is one of the most powerful and healthiest things you could do for yourself and I strongly encourage you to do it. There is no better feeling then waking up in the morning excited and inspired for the day to come, trust me because I have felt the opposite many of a time.

When I experienced one of the darker times of my life; I dwelled on everything, I felt sorry for myself, I threw many pity parties where the only person who showed up was myself. Until one day I realised that was just it, It is always going to be me at the end of the day, I am the only one who knows how I feel exactly, what I am going though intently and I am the only one in control of how I am going to change MY life for MYself. Other people are going to carry on with their lives, yes, if you are lucky you have incredible people supporting you and backing you but they are also living their own life and going through their own tribulations – they aren’t fixated on how you are feeling 110% of the time so YOU need to for yourself. After everything, you owe it to yourself to do such a thing. You just need to believe that you are worthy of so much more, because you are. And if you think that there is nothing ‘more’ then I can tell you my friend, you are wrong and thats where self-development comes in.

Self-development is a whole other world. It opens your mind to new perspectives and opinions, it helps you to see things in a light you never thought possible, it reminds you to focus on the things that are truly worth focusing on and in the midst of it all, you tend to see how you created mountains out of molehills. It truly is an incredible hobby to begin and its never too late, no matter how old or how young – you know how the saying goes, better late than never.

So I encourage you to focus on your health. Determine what it is exactly that health means to you and stick with it, make it your own. Work on that mindset, create amazing goals and get excited about life. It can only go up from here!

“You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and the way you move“

We have all been at a stage in our lives where we haven’t been able to workout or what we like to think is a valid reason but is actually an excuse, right? There have been many moments throughout 2018 where the last thing I ever felt like doing was going to the gym or for a jog because I was drowning in tests and assignments! Well, I can tell you that this year is going to be no different, although I want to make more of an effort to be active – when I cannot go to the gym or if I just run out of hours in my day, I want to ensure that I’m still helping myself remain healthy and fit the best way possible. Here are 5 tips I have found help me!

Take the stairs not the elevator, walk or cycle to your destination don’t drive. We live in world where convenience really is at our fingertips, it’s easy to just hop onto a lift whilst on your phone or to drive to get there a bit quicker – however, it’s definitely not the healthiest way to go about your day. Instead leave a few minutes earlier, look on maps and see how long it will take you to walk or cycle to your lectures or your meetings and plan your day around that. You’ll be getting some fresh air and keeping active while going to the places you need to be at!

It starts in the kitchen. If you know you’re about to have a crazy week where you’re not sure you’re going to have time to breathe ned alone go to the gym, clear your kitchen of all the foods you know aren’t going to help you reach your health and fitness goals. Keep foods that are wholesome, organic and colourful – keep it clean and you’ll feel a difference sooner than you think! Of course you can treat yourself here and there but do it all within moderation.

Stay hydrated. Whenever I am feeling a bit hungry, I always have a glass of water beforehand. Many people always mistake their hunger for thirst, so drink a glass of water before every meal and make sure to drink 1L of water for every 25KG’s that you weigh, that way you can ensure you are keeping your body hydrated and drinking the right amount of water for yourself! If you struggle to drink water, put some lemons in or fruit to make it taste a little less like nothing. You’ll probably find that drinking a glass of water before eating will result in you eating a little less too which helps keep large food portions to the minimum.

Look after yourself. Get a good night’s rest, when you are busy from morning to night your body needs some time to rejuvenate and reset. If you are feeling stressed, take a few moments to try and destress, it’s known that your body tends to hold onto extra weight when you are stressed – so do some things that you know work for you in order to feel relaxed whether that be kicking your feet up with a good book or putting on a face mask. Looking after yourself and your body are key aspects to your fitness and health journey!

Give up the excuses of why you shouldn’t and find reasons to why you should. Although these points are all valid and can help lead you to a better and healthier life, you do need to make the time to fit in some workouts. They don’t have to be for hours on end, some of the best workouts are only 20-30 minutes you just have to change your mindset! If you go in with a negative mindset, you won’t come out feeling fulfilled. Ask yourself why you can’t gym at the moment, plan and structure your weeks and days ahead so you can do any sort of activity you love to help you get to your goals a lot faster. Give yourself some well deserved ‘me-time’ amidst the chaos of work, uni and life! There is no race, it’s you against you – even if you just do something active on the weekend, that’s fine! It’s a start and we all start somewhere, just don’t put pressure on yourself.

Finding a routine in the gym is one thing but finding a routine in the kitchen is a whole different ball game, especially when you’ve chosen to have a lifestyle change.  

Health starts in the kitchen and proceeds to the gym, if your lifestyle out of gym is out of wack so will your lifestyle in the gym.

I don’t necessary label my sort of “diet” but if I had to, I would call myself a Flexitarian – I eat what I want, when I want. I give my body what it needs to strive on and not the opposite. Of course I crave the odd cheat meal here and there but over these past few weeks i’ve come to realise that you can replace almost every unhealthy thing with a healthier alternative and still enjoy it!

I believe that humans weren’t created to diet. Our bodies will do whatever it can to survive, our bodies need calories, nutrients and energy! But I am just a little white girl living in a little neighbourhood trying to help people make the best decisions for themselves.

This past week I decided to take a day and document what I eat. It’s a very real depiction of my every day eating, nothing fancy just nutritious food that my body needs to give me the energy for the day ahead.

Also remember that everyone’s bodies are different and what my body needs can be completely different to what your body needs come the time of day, I just hope to ignite those creative juices and help you get inspired in the kitchen!

BREAKFAST:

Normally every morning I will wake up and make myself a herbal tea and a smoothie.

I find that when I wake up i’m either extremely starving or not hungry at all – there’s no inbetween but I make sure to always put something in my body before I go and exercise so my body has some energy to work off.

Quick side note: If you’d like to see what goes into my meals you can watch my first ever YouTube video, I give you a run down of the ingredients that go into every meal and snack, the video is at the end of the post. (p.s your support would be greatly appreciated!)

MORNING SNACK:

Because on this day I didn’t go to gym, it was my day off I didn’t find myself scratching in the kitchen as often as I do when I do train so I just a simple snack like apples and peanut butter did me well.

LUNCH:

Salads are my be all and end all. If I could have salads for breakfast, lunch and dinner I probably would. Infact, I almost do – so there’s that answered. Usually for my lunches I have whatever we had the night before and in this instance we had roast chicken and veg so I made a chicken salad with an ice cold glass of water and lemon.

AFTERNOON SNACK:

Usually around 4PM my body wakes up and realises how hungry it actually is and I find myself needing to eat almost everything in sight so I like to eat something that I know will sustain me but won’t make me too full for dinner – Avo is a big part of my diet (and feta, feta is life) and I find that eating healthy fats around this time tend to leave me feeling fuller for longer rather than eating starch like toast. So I decided to have avo on a rice cake with some feta sprinkled over – YUM.

DINNER:

Dinner is hands down my most favourite meal of the day, it just leaves me feeling SO satisfied and also because my parents are great cooks so I think that counts too. We had my brother and his girlfriend come round for dinner so we decided on a good old Cape Town braai with salad, veg and some rice.

I don’t count calories, I don’t judge people who do but I am not a fan of it – If I had one piece of advice to give I would say listen to your body. Drink water often, when you feel hungry nourish your body with nutrients not junk food. Take note of what foods make you feel good and what doesn’t and use that as a guide to help you understand your body better.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way an expert on nutrition and this post should not be taken too seriously. I am purely documenting my own habits and not advising anyone to do as I do. It’s all for fun.

I hope you enjoyed the post and the video! If so please share, like and subscribe and let me know if you’d like to see more of these!

Lots of love, Jeanna x