A wholesome diet and regular exercise can transform your health and life.
But at what point does this pursuit of health become obsessive?
Take a walk into any health food store, and you’ll see them, strung out women agonising over which nut butter is the “cleanest”, cross-questioning cashiers over the ingredients of kombucha, or losing their minds when their particular brand of sugar-free, gluten-free, dairy-free protein powder is out of stock. Perhaps you’re one of them; turning down dinner invitations purely because the suggested restaurant doesn’t meet your rigid health standards, or bringing your own containers of steamed broccoli and chicken to family dinners out of fear of what food will be provided.
If this sounds familiar, then maybe your focus on “health” has become unhealthy.
For knowledge and perspective, we turned to nutrition expert and healthy baking queen, Maxine, behind the highly informative and entertaining @sugarfreesundays page, who had this to say: “If you find you’re anxious without your healthy routines…or (if) eating a cookie consumes an hour of thought, maybe you’re a little too focused on those things.”
She goes on to say it’s important to look at the bigger picture and remember what truly matters: “Life is so much more than a few meals or a few days. It’s a massive long journey. A chocolate croissant for a few days really isn’t (even) a DROP in your life ocean…(and) people and moments are everything.
They’re all you have actually. So letting guilt remove some of your enjoyment of those things and consume your thoughts instead of being present is truly such a loss.”
Moral of the story? “…try to find that middle ground! If half a muffin consumes more than two seconds of thought, perhaps it’s time to PURPOSELY include a muffin a day for a week just to change your perspective and help you zoom out a little.” says the sassy baker.
If you workout regularly and eat nutritious, wholesome foods most of the time, then you should treat (not cheat!) yourself to the things you want some of the time – whether that be in the form of birthday cake or the occasional glass of champagne.
After all: “Consistently doing okay will bring far greater results than sporadically doing excellently,” concludes Maxine.
Follow @sugarfreesundays for more advise.
