This week is Body Health and Image Awareness Week at HC Western Ontario. #HCLoveYourBodyIn the spirit of Body Health and Image Awareness week here at Her Campus Western Ontario, I wanted to shed some light on what I believe is a healthy and happy body.
Any dramatic changes done cold turkey such as sudden weight loss or excessive exercising send your body for a whim and can often end in failure. Moderation is the key to living a healthy lifestyle that is manageable and attainable for any girl looking to love her life and body. Moderation to me means knowing the delicate balance of your own body and how to take care of it without limiting yourself. Anything done in excess is bad for all aspects of your body, mind, and soul and staying away from excessive anything is the first rule to loving everything you have. Body image does not just lay within the physical body but also our mental selves and how we feel inside of our own skin. Moderation plays an essential role in all of these aspects of positive body image. Below are, in my opinion, some of the best ways to achieve moderation in your own everyday life to build and maintain a perfectly imperfect healthy lifestyle.
Get to know yourself
Getting to know the dark and twisty parts of your body and mind is essential for moderation. When I say ‘get to know’, I suppose I am meaning pay attention to. When you feel sad or angry can you openly admit why to yourself? Do you know what truly relaxes you? It is 100% okay to be selfish when it comes to your overall health and paying attention to your body is the way to do so. Track your menstrual cycle to know when your hormones are imbalanced to avoid mass food binges and mood swings, have a morning ritual to make yourself happy for the day and understand what you need to do for your body to make it truly happy with no exceptions. This type of moderation is the building blocs of what it means to be healthy in the purest form. You cannot care for something you do not understand.
Have a good cry
The effectiveness of crying is acutely underrated! When people tell me to stay strong when I’m on the brink of tears, I almost want to cry harder. After a good cry is the optimal time for self-searching and relaxation. I read on the Human’s of New York Facebook page this comment: “We cry when we are born; and sometimes when we cry, we are born again”. All the feels. These beautiful words encapsulate why crying and self-love are such amazing things. Those moments of clarity after crying and that eternal sleep that follows are what reset the clock and allow women to reflect before making impulse decisions with food or crawling into a hole and losing sight of what tomorrow brings. Crying is the moderation between ignoring the bad things in life and having an entire nervous break down because of them.
80/20 Rule
I use the word rule lightly here as I am not a fan of rules, but when it comes to healthy eating I find the 80/20 “guideline” to be helpful. The basics are that 80% of the time you make healthy, calorie-wise decisions and the other 20% of the time you can make choices based on your crazy cravings and food fantasies. Now, like I mentioned above, excess anything is not good, so lets keep these 20% safe and satisfying and not corrupt and guilt tripping. I am a HUGE ice cream fan, and not the gross soy kind, I like full-blown double cream ice cream, but it comes with a hefty calorie tag. So in order to incorporate the food I love into my day I make all of my meals as health conscious and nutritious as I can. That way, when dessert rolls around I can happily indulge in my half-a-cup bowl of heaven. Obviously at times we cannot oblige to 80% healthy for whatever reason and that is okay. If you load up on vodka and McDonalds one night, have a glass of red wine and a salad the next. Moderation and the 80/20 rule is all about making the best choices without restricting your taste buds.
Be active
3 days a week is the goal! If you can achieve more, that is great but if you work full time, have kids, are a student or what have you, it can be really difficult to drag yourself to the gym 5-7 days a week without completely hating it. Being active is supposed to make you feel great, but for those of us who are not particularly passionate about fitness, there is a lot of pressure to devote yourself to it. Make a goal for 3 days a week as a gift to your body. These three days will get your blood moving and your skin sweating which brings with it a gorgeous healthy glow.
Drink Water
I feel like in almost every article I write I mention drinking water, but I think it’s because it’s THAT important. Water makes up 55% of a woman’s body, just slightly less than men because women carry more fat. Drinking the right amount of water will literally sustain your life and rid your body of toxins and even help with weight loss/gain or maintenance. Remember to get as much water as possible throughout the day and instead of drinking a pop with lunch, sub in a water and save the pop for a fun night of drinking or a cheat meal out with your friends/boyfriend. One way I find makes drinking more water easy is carrying a large water bottle. With this you are only filling it once or twice a day and are going above and beyond the recommended amount. I recommend a bottle that is at least a liter or if that is too big try a 24oz bottle which is just about 10oz less than a liter.
The Buddy System
One thing that isn’t so obvious about leading a life of moderation is that sometimes you just need to lay it all on the table and have a vent fest. Now, you don’t have to do this once a week or anything but having a strong support system for when you are feeling down with your body image is key to staying strong and loving yourself. Every time I feel stressed or bloated or am calling myself fat in the mirror, I text or call my best friend as she is probably having the same problem. No matter whom you open up to whether it is a friend, family member or even a body image professional be sure to be honest and remember that you are always in control even when it doesn’t feel like it.
No matter how you take care of yourself, every woman on this planet is damn beautiful. I am so thankful for being a woman as I feel like we are all connected in this super cool, vagina-only community. We all have bad days and we can all over come them! Living a life of moderation and all of those things above has helped me feel better when I lose my cool about my own body image. Always remember, help is available if you need it and I will personally help any woman in anyway I can to achieve positive and healthy body image!