What do you call your diet?

How do you eat? What do you eat? The word diet confuses the issue a little bit, doesn’t it.

I talk food with people all the time with the conversation always moving away from talking about healthy options. I was curious about that. Then I was watching Brene Brown on Oprah–she is the “shame” specialist, my mind clicked. While Brene is speaking about being vulnerable–I was thinking about how we view food is a snapshot into how we view our health.

I think deep down we all want to be healthy, yet we have dug a hole of fast food, processed food and apathy. We have stopped caring about anything! We have stopped thinking about what is in our food. Food has become so ubiquitous that we breath in chips and exhale without any thought. Some people exercise like crazy then drink like a fish–there is such a huge disconnection in the mind/body/spirt organization.

But it doesn’t have to be this way!

You can be the change. You have the power. You are responsible for you first–then others around you. If it matters to you–make one change! If being intentional is important–step into intentionality. Being mindful is a every day practice into being the very best version of ourselves. What do you want your very best version to be? How?

Just start!

Here are my top ten ways to make a change TODAY!

Go to the store and buy 7 apples. One for each day of the week.
Eat an apple every day.
Plan on going to a Farmer’s Market. (I’m not asking you to go–just asking you to be mindful that the opportunity for you to go exists.)
Make a meatless meal–Pasta with Red Sauce–takes 15 minutes.
Go to the library and check out a cookbook, gardening book, or one of the books suggested below this post.
Read the book from #5.
Set on goal for the week. Eat an apple a day. Sit quietly for 15 minutes to just be. Take a walk in nature. Sit on a bench by a pond and just be still (or retention pond–that is what I have in my neighborhood). The goal doesn’t need to be huge–but it does need to create a pause in your life!
Replace a glass of water for a pop/soda or sugary beverage (is better for you and reduces waste–even if you do recycle, it cuts down on how much needs to be recycled.)
Go for a walk. I just read in Health magazine that walking provides the same benefits as jogging–it just takes longer. Walk on your lunch hour or go pick up your kids 15 minutes early and walk around the soccer field or parking lot.
Start a food journal of all the things that you eat in a day. This is amazingly insightful. I did this for a while because I thought just because I bought the healthy food–I would eat it–but what I discovered is that I didn’t eat as much of the apples or salad as I thought. Either someone else ate them or I ended up composting the greens! I became mindful and less wasteful.

And I just want to add that you can make your own changes without waving a Vegan Flag or any other kind of flag! You can make your own choices without sharing it with the world! I don’t hide my choice to limit the amount of meat that I eat to be nearly zero for this reason, the minute I declare myself a Vegan–someone will point out how I have failed. I don’t really need that to help me make mindful choices. I say that I’m “mostly Vegan” and leave it at that. I find that will encourage a more positive dialogue rather than the “all or nothing” mindset.

This is a fun info graphic that I found. I will be discussing some of these issues in upcoming posts. If you have a topic that you would like me to address, please send me an email or leave a comment.

A special thanks to all of those who have sent me emails! I know that some of these topics might be uncomfortable to discuss in a open forum like the comments section–I get that! I’m happy to answer emails or continue the conversation privately as well!

by RoranStronghammer.
Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

Be Blessed as we embrace the health of our bodies, mind and spirits!

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