Why I decided to live a healthier life in my 20's...Rosebuds, let’s talk about living with intention as it relates to eating healthy and loving the body you are in right now!
As I mention in my about section, I grew up in a Caribbean household in which eating foods high in cholesterol fat, high in salt, and sugar were common. As a kid, I remember my mom attempting to implement healthy eating by making side salads (made of iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, and some cucumbers) to go along with a protein, rice, beans and fried plantains for dinner. Now don’t get me wrong there is nothing bad about eating rice and beans, or plantains once in a while cause you need balance! Nonetheless, to live a healthier lifestyle you need nutritional variation. But just as much as my mother liked to feed a village with her delicious cooking she was also obsessed with yo-yo dieting and eliminating carbs in order to drop weight fast. Over the years, she definitely passed on this bad habit over to me.
Once in college and managing my eating habits I didn’t have a well-balanced eating practice. I had no clue how to do that based on my upbringing. I ate a ton of fast foods and let myself go both with nutrition and exercise. I suffered the consequences of eating like this as a young adult. I was overweight, unhealthy, and unhappy. I did a lot of yo-yo dieting (no shocker there cause after all I am my mother's daughter) that contributed to my extreme weight gain, then weight loss, and feeling constantly disappointed with my own body.
In my early 20’s I decided to change my life and live it with healthier intentions. This meant changing my poor eating habits and realizing that I needed to focus on lifestyle and not diets. I started by educating myself, reading loads of books on eating clean, and drinking a ton of water (to this day I still drink lots of water cause H2O is life!). One of the books that made an impact on my life is Skinny Bitch. This book ignited my curiosity for the vegan lifestyle. I slowly eliminated eating all animal products and I embarked on a meatless journey for a total of 7 years (in another post I will share why I reverted to eating meat).
A plant-based lifestyle worked out well for me but I have to admit that the focus was more on weight loss and not on developing a holistic approach to healthy living. I also have to admit I hated what I looked like and solely would try these changes in eating habits in hopes I would become "skinny". All that quickly changed when my health took a negative turn at the age of 27. That year I was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS).
PCOS is a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age. This disorder may cause infrequent and prolonged menstrual periods or excess male hormone (androgen) levels. In my case, it also caused an issue with weight gain and it slowed down my metabolism. Being diagnosed with PCOS was frustrating. Understanding that I had a predisposition to obesity and other health risks was scary. This also provided me with some answers to why I struggled so much with weight. This meant that once again I had to be mindful of the way I took care of myself physically through food but most importantly adding exercise to my daily routine. PCOS allowed me to be forgiving to my body as the diagnosis made me understand that I was stressing so much to fit the social norms of sizism while neglecting my entire well-being.
Fast forward to today, a decade after making a nutritional revolution and receiving my PCOS diagnosis, I’ve tried all types of healthy lifestyles; veganism, vegetarianism, pescetarianism, the ketogenic diet, and paleo. This process of becoming a healthier me has not been perfect or easy. A lot of trial and error to figure out what works for me and my body type. I also had to do self-work to begin loving myself from the inside out. Self-love is an active mental and emotional daily work. Similar to diet and exercise you have to work mentally hard to feel happy with who you are every day and in the body you are in right now, not the body you will have once you lose those few extra pounds.
More or less, I now commit to simply practice what feels right for my body. I cook with this same mindset. On a day to day I do my best to eat colorful foods and get as much greens in my meals as possible. I incorporate physical activities that I enjoy. Maybe it's a yoga or cycling class a few times a week, running outdoors, or getting in some strength training at home. The important thing is how I feel. Being mindful of what I put in my body and how I activate movement is most important to me. I also practice meditation to assist in the healing of my mind and soul.
Rosebuds, how about you? Are you practicing a healthy lifestyle with intention?