As we start a new year, we make many goals and one of them is usually to be healthier. We are bombarded by so many advertisements for supplements, diets, meal plans, and exercise memberships around this time. Therefore, I am sharing two ways that drastically improved my health for the better and the best part is that these ways are totally free. They are not products, they are lifestyle changes.
I hope that upon implementing these changes, you find your health improving.
Youtube video is at the bottom of this page.
These are some of the symptoms I used to have prior to incorporating these two changes in my life:
- constantly bloated & gassy
- Less hair & thinner eyebrows
- Tons of milia
- Toothaches
- Constipation
- Cold hands & feet 24/7
- Really dark under eye circles
- Bad breath
- Constantly sick
- Dry skin
- Brittle nails and super high cuticles
- Frequent Charlie’s horses
Today:
- Full eyebrows
- Hair health (growth length and thickness, shiny, minimal split ends)
- Under eye circles minimized
- No milia on face!
- No dry skin
- Warm hands and feet
- Pooping every day (no constipation)
- No bloating
- Minimal sickness, no tooth aches
- No Charlie’s horses
What I did:
- Cooked meals at home with clean ingredients
- Balanced my blood sugar
1. Cooking meals at home with clean ingredients:
One of the first things I did was cook at home with simple, whole food ingredients. This is before I dove into the research behind certain additives.
Whole foods are full of vitamins and minerals that nourish the body and allow it body to absorb the nutrients. It made sense to me to cook meals with meat, veggies, dairy, fats, fruit and grains that didn’t have ingredients that I couldn’t pronounce. I looked for ingredients that I was familiar with. If I wasn’t familiar with an ingredient, I would research to see what it was and whether it is beneficial or harmful to consume. Now, I’m familiar with many additives, preservatives and chemicals in food and I know what not to buy. But I started out not knowing much and what I did was still very impactful to my health in the beginning of my health journey.
Eating low quality whole food is still better than eating processed food.
I did have to cut out pasteurized dairy to get rid of milia on my face. I’ve been able to consume raw dairy for over a year now without it returning unless I consume some pasteurized dairy.
Cooking at home is not only more affordable versus going out daily, I’ve come to realize that restaurants that use clean ingredients and are affordable just don’t exist. You’ll always leave feeling bloated and gross and with a lighter wallet.
2. Balancing blood sugar:
When your body isn’t properly fueled, your blood sugar drops and causes your body to release stress hormones. That’s when you begin to experience symptoms, such as lack of energy, Anxiety, Irritability, Headaches, Binge eating, Brain fog, and many other unpleasant symptoms.
How do you balance your blood sugar?
Eat balanced meals and snacks
Each snack AND meal should consist of protein, carbs and fat. View snacks as small meals to keep your blood sugar regulated until the next meal.
Eat frequently enough
For most people, it’s every 3-4 hours. If you’re pregnant, breastfeeding, postpartum or healing, you might even have to eat every 2-3 hours!
Eat enough
How much you need to eat depends on many factors. For most women, it shouldn’t be less than 2000 calories a day. For breastfeeding women, it can be 2500-3500 calories a day.
No coffee first thing in the morning
Drinking coffee on an empty stomach, especially just drip or black coffee, raises adrenaline and cortisol levels (stress hormones), disrupts our hormone regulation and messes with digestion. Drink coffee after a balanced breakfast and even better if you drink a balanced coffee by adding cream and sugar or maple syrup.
Eat first thing in the morning
Aim to eat a nourishing breakfast 30-60 minutes from waking. If you have any kind of stress in you life (we all do) and if you are fasting overnight (we all do because we don’t eat while we sleep), then you need to fuel your body upon waking to regulate your blood sugar before your body begins to produce stress hormones.
If you’re not hungry when waking up, your body is probably used to running on stress hormones and it has learned to suppress hunger cues. This puts a lot of stress on your body.
On busy mornings or if I don’t get enough sleep and wake up nauseas and can’t stomach a full breakfast, I either drink bone broth, raw milk or eat homemade gummies. All are balanced, nourishing snacks that balance your blood sugar and hormones until you are ready for a full breakfast. You’ll notice higher energy levels, a clear mind, a positive mood and mood stability throughout the morning.
Don’t go to sleep hungry
I know we’ve all attempted to not eat after 6, 7, 8pm at some point in our lives. It’s even seen as a symbol of self control or discipline in today’s society.
I used to wake during the night and have trouble staying asleep. In reality, I was going to sleep without giving my body enough fuel to get me through the night.
In simple terms, this is how it works: You go to sleep hungry. Stress hormones rise to balance blood sugar. This leads you to wake during the night. You wake up tired and cranky in the morning.
I eat a balanced snack half an hour before bed to mitigate this. This is especially important if you are breastfeeding throughout the night. You might need to eat balanced snacks throughout the night too but you just can not go to sleep hungry.
Our bodies go through A LOT of stress daily. Nourishing your body should be a priority to prevent your body from running on stress hormones and to keep your mood stable throughout the day.
The more stress you’re under, the more fuel you need to keep your blood sugar stable and your energy levels up.
Eating enough calories isn’t enough.
Eating the right calories is important too. You can eat only junk food and easily surpass your body’s caloric needs but your body will still be depleted of essential nutrients, hence the importance of whole food.
This is especially important for us as moms, even though it can be so difficult with little ones. But prioritizing nourishment will help us mother better and be better wives as well. Family life is more enjoyable when we aren’t constantly tired, irritated, anxious or have no energy.
Recommended resources:
Free:
Paid:
Fallon Danae’s cookbook & meal plans
How to heal your metabolism by Kate Deering
Nourishing traditions book by Sally Fallon
The nourishing traditions book of baby and child care by Sally Fallon