Time To Focus on Yourself

Every year around this time, the words health, fitness and self-care start buzzing. From exercising, meditation to eating delicious salads, it seems like everyone is talking about ways to take care of oneself. As a women and entrepreneur, it is incredibly important to not neglect yourself and needs and favour your loved ones or work.

But how often does good nutrition, health and self-care become part of the story? We all know that what we eat, daily and exercise have a huge impact on both our professional and personal lives, yet growing a good relationship with these three isn’t often the primary thing that comes to mind when we consider about self-care.

According to my philosophy good nutrition and daily exercise is the ultimate form of self-care. While it may feel like a deep tissue massage, its benefits on your stress, mood, digestion and overall mental and physical healthy absolutely compliment every other self-care practice you do for your mind and body.

We always force our needs to the bottom of our priority list, putting our health and safety at risk. But this month, we'll give you some great tips to help you balance your time and nourish your mind, body, and belly.

Before we get into why looking after yourself begins with a good diet and exercise, let's start with a clear description of self-care and why it's important.

The framework for success starts with: brain, body and belly!

When it comes to self-care in our personal lives, there are three keys areas we should concentrate on, firstly, our brain (mental health), secondly our body (physical fitness) and lastly our belly (the nutrition we need to stay healthy and fit. By balancing one’s brain, body and belly, we will enjoy a better quality of life!

Treat Your Body Like a Temple

Self-care is the practice of looking after one’s self. It is a collection of everyday behaviours and attitudes that we follow in order to not only preserve but also excel in our health and well-being. Practicing self-care means taking the time to recognise when your energy and coping mechanisms are running low and reloading your vital reserves with whatever they need to get back on path.

This could mean making sure that you eating something before hurrying into another meeting or taking fifteen minutes to stretch your legs in the sunshine.

Self-care is important as we often treat ourselves very poorly in relations to how we treat other, forfeiting our needs in order to tend to the needs of everyone else. We over commit our time, managing 101 things on our plate. This stems from our need to try and please everyone which quickly leads to us feeling overwhelmed and stressed.

In today’s fast paced world, effective stress management is more important than ever before. A recent study found that 85% adults experience stress regularly, 39% feel stressed on daily basis, 54% adults are concerned about the impact of stress on their health and body and 32% people believe that exercise is the best was to overcome stress.

Practicing self-care leads to a healthy work-life balance, keeping one’s stress level under control and fight against conditions like anxiety and depression. A healthy diet and daily exercise play a huge role in nurturing your brain, body and belly.

Eating a healthy and balanced diet is one of the core elements of self-care. This is because our bodies need enough nutrients and hydration of exist and remain functioning. The popular saying, “you are what you eat” is something that everyone should stick by as it is the very truth. Our daily food choices affect our overall mental health and well-being.

Make is your target to treat your body like the temple that it is. It is okay to splurge on potato chips and the tub of cookie dough ice cream no and then, but it is very important that you nourish your body with the essential nutrients. A healthy body is a body better to fight stress and anxiety.

Additionally, eating well can help in boosting your cognitive functioning and reduces harmful symptoms of stress, anxiety, depression and many other mental illnesses. A healthy diet would limit the intake of your sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Avoid processed foods with a lot of artificial constituents and preservers.  Drink at least 7 glasses of water daily as a dehydrated body is a low-energy body. Consume plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables with the correct combination of carbs, proteins and healthy fats.

Your relationship with food is constantly evolving and that is completely fine. While the above tips are certainly great thumb rules, a diet that works for one person may not be the same for someone else. There are various factors that cause this variation, such as height, weight, lifestyle and goals.

Eating too much of the wrong foods can lead to things like weight gain and chronic illness such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Healthy food choices on the other hand can give out bodies the fuel they need to thrive and fight off harmful diseases. On the other end of the spectrum, undereating can be just as dangerous as you are depriving your body of the essential vital nutrients.

In terms of self-care, I agree that nourishing rather than restricting one's body is the best thing one can do about it. Self-care, according to the Oxford dictionary, is "the practice of intentionally maintaining one's own well-being and enjoyment, especially during times of stress and anxiety."

Dieting, cleansing, detoxing, and giving up eventually leads to feelings of limitation, remorse, and heightened tension. When I talk about good nutrition, healthy body and self-care it never means dieting. It means properly fuelling and correctly feeding your body the basic things it needs to function i.e. high-quality protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates.

Your body is excellent at naturally detoxifying your body through a three phase fundamental metabolic process in the GI tract and liver. Studies show that natural detoxification is actually increased with adequate intake of calories, protein, fat and carbohydrates. Diets and cleanses such as juicing, certainly don’t provide adequate nutrition to the body for these processes to occur. Thus the detoxification that one is promised or expecting is insignificant and are left feeling hungry, miserable and deprived, which is not self-care.

A well balanced diet makes sure the inclusion of various food members. The greater the variety of foods, the bigger the range of nutrients. This is what one need to function efficiently. Restrictive or unbalanced eating may result in mood shifts in the late afternoon and feelings of lethargy. When we are tired we tend of eat more and feel stress and anxious easily and less motivated to exercise.

Physical health is a core element of self-care. The body and mind have a unique connection and it is difficult to be in high spirits when you are not feeling good about your body and weight. Studies have shown that regular exercise increases the level of serotonin in our body significantly improving the mood and energy. When exercising for self-care you should choose any activity you love such as walking, running, jogging, swimming or just about anything that makes you feel alive.

Making time for exercise is a core element towards self-care. This is because exercise not only helps to prevent harmful diseases, but also promotes the release of chemicals such as endorphins in the body which combat stress and help us relax.

In our stress response, there are two endorphins which are important, anandamide and serotonin. Anandamide is a chemical associated with stress regulation, and a lack of it can increase the likelihood of stress. There is evidence that anandamide may be associated with brain-derived neurotropic factor which is essential when it comes maintaining healthy neurons while creating new ones.

Serotonin is a feel-good chemical and low levels of it are linked to developing conditions like depression and anxiety. When it comes to feeling inspired and relaxed, an increase of serotonin will make all the difference, and exercise helps to stimulate its secretion.

Physical exercise promotes overall fitness and manages emotional stress, tension and anxiety. A combination of cardio exercises i.e. activities that increase your heart rate such as running, spinning, swimming, jogging or walking and strength training i.e. working the muscles using resistance such as weights or utilizing your body weight as resistance in Pilates or yoga, has been found to be the most effective for mind, body and belly.

To gain physical exercise on regular basis you can join a gym, walk your dogs, play any form of sports such as basketball, football, tennis etc., go on a hike, do yoga, run with a partner, take a dance or Pilates class. Any form of regular exercise will help your mind, body and belly develop and remain healthy.

Whatever you decide to do, make sure you genuinely prefer it. Choose an activity you enjoy and that inspires you and not one that you dread. If you have any medical conditions, it is important to consult a doctor before starting any new or rigorous exercise.

Exercise is crucial for health and longevity of one’s life, as its been shown as a vital element in reducing your risk of developing certain diseases and improving your quality of life. Fitness can help increase your cardiovascular health and respiratory function while promoting healthy and strong bones, muscles and joints and maintain a healthy weight. Exercise also boosts your immune system and helps improve your sleep quality, mood and energy levels.

Finding the best workout regimen for you should take some time, just like finding the right diet for you. You're in luck and the possibilities are limitless. So, get out there and put them to the test! Soon, you'll be looking forward to going to the gym, playing basketball, or even salsa dancing!

For your mind, body and belly, all three to function efficiently the most important element is sleep. Aiming for a refreshing amount of sleep is important. While this differs from person to person, generally being eight hours of a good night’s sleep, it is tempting to stay up late to cram on late night household chores or answer an email but the world won’t come to a halt if the laundry is dirty or the dishes are piled up in the sink.

Sleep deprivation causes irritability, poor cognition, impaired reflexes and poor respond time whereas chronic sleep deprivation can contribute to stress, anxiety and depression. Creating a short and easy bedtime routine is important for proper functioning. Stretching or yoga, or reading a book can be relaxing and calming. The most vital thing is to stay away from your smartphones, tablets, or laptops as the light interferes and interrupts the natural sleep onset. Additionally, alcohol near bedtime also interferes with sleep and is a common cause of night time or early morning awakening.

Maybe we cannot do all the things every day, but if we make self-care a goal, and try to achieve all of the above factors regularly, we will feel and function better. The healthier we feel and function, the more we can do for the people and things we care about and that is a win!

The Trio Challenge by Healthy Buzz

We don’t just give you advice to stay healthies, we practice them ourselves to ensure you all stay healthy, happy and productive. We introduce #triochallenge for our online buyers and challenged them for a three-week period in regards to activities, food and self-care. We will be along their journey all the way and support them in achieving their goals.

We aim at supporting our audience at the end of the lockdown and guiding them to the finish. Staying healthy for your mind, body and belly is essential and we are helping them achieve this.

Check out our page Here to see how we are doing!