For decades, skinny was the benchmark for a beautiful body. But, this has (thankfully) changed. The focus now is less on being thin and more on being healthy. Healthy is beautiful, but it looks different on everyone. So, celebrating the unique loveliness of real bodies is fast becoming the norm. For you, this may mean maintaining where you’re at right now; or it could mean gaining or losing weight to get to a healthy place.
This may need an adjustment in your thinking and your approach to eating, staying active and self-care.
Here are some of the modern trends that promote a holistic approach to wellness:
Intuitive Eating for Weight Control
Instead of diets and strict eating plans, this year has seen a change in focus to intuitive eating. The main principles of this approach are:
- Honour your hunger – eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re satisfied. Don’t deny yourself. This builds trust in your body and in food and allows you to have a healthy relationship with both.
- Reject dieting – toss those militant programmes and the culture that promotes extreme measures to lose weight.
- Love food – it’s not the enemy. It nourishes you and it’s made to enjoy. When you don’t hate food, you’re less likely to associate it with gorging, deprivation and guilt.
- Be kind with your emotions – instead of trying to drown your emotions in food, find ways to console, love and care for yourself that work. Emotional eating solves nothing; get to the bottom of your feelings.
- Get gentle with your nutrition – one snack or treat isn’t going to set you back enormously. Rather than focussing on denying yourself, focus on eating foods that make you feel good.
Respect Your Body
Do you try to change your shoe size? Would you rather be another race? Those are as useful as striving for a body type that you just don’t have. So, recognise, respect and learn to love the body that you have. This doesn’t mean resigning yourself to being an unhealthy weight. Rather, it means dignifying the body you’re in and loving what it accomplishes.
Some things that you can do to foster a respect for your body include:
- Speak kindly to yourself about yourself. Compliment yourself as you would a special friend.
- Dress comfortably in clothes that make you feel good, not self-conscious.
- Reject negative thoughts about yourself – argue with them as you would with a friend that’s being overly harsh on him- or herself.
- Don’t compare yourself to anyone else.
- Soothe your body with tactile experiences – massage, a cuddle with someone you love, a warm bath with oils. Allow it to feel pampered and nourished.
- Accept your body’s physical shape and condition. Don’t condemn or judge it. Appreciate what it accomplishes and allows you to do, and show it appreciation.
Get Moving
This isn’t about waking up at 4am to lift weights and hating every moment of it. Find something that you enjoy doing and do more of it. Walk your dogs, play with your kids, spend Saturday mornings walking up and down the mall, or play in the waves on a summer’s day. Just get proactive about moving. Make it a habit. If you need to lose weight, tone up or maintain your current state, consistent movement will help you to look and feel healthier.
Emotional Wellness and Self-Care
There’s nothing wrong with feeling anxious or depressed. 2020 has proven to us that the world is a crazy place and we have absolutely no control over what happens. We’d be superhuman if we didn’t feel overwhelmed sometimes. So, be kind to yourself and give your mind and soul the opportunity to recover. Self-care plays a huge role in creating a sense of peace.
Here are some of our favourite free (or almost) forms of self-care:
- Dot some lavender oil drops on your temples.
- Take a break from devices and opt to read a book or page through your favourite magazine.
- Go for a walk with your partner; hold hands and chat.
- Light a fire and just enjoy the warmth and the comforting crackle.
- Lift weights or do squats while watching your favourite series.
- Clear the clutter from the area that you enjoy relaxing in.
- At the end of your shower, stand under cold water for 30 seconds. This is invigorating.
- Keep a gratitude journal, listing five new things you’re grateful for every day.
When we show our body the love and support it needs, looking after its nutritional needs becomes more natural.
Wellness Supplements
At Nordens Ultimate, our focus is on supporting your body to work as well and as efficiently as possible. Our products create an environment that puts you in the best place to look and feel beautiful.
- Moringa Capsules – this boosts your metabolism, decreases the production of fat and improves the body’s ability to break fat down.
- Slimming Aid – this natural appetite suppressant is gentle and doesn’t cause heart palpitations. It contains Hoodia gordinii and green tea extract. It also actively burns fat and stabilises your sugar.
- Rewind Toxin Removal System – environmental toxins hinder how efficiently our bodies work. When it is overwhelmed with toxins, it may find it harder and harder to metabolise food and nutrients. This can lead to weight issues, insomnia, and sluggish digestion.
- Milk Thistle – milk thistle improves liver function, detoxifies the body and acts as a skin toner. All of this helps your body to look and feel its best.
To Sum Up
Looking and feeling your best is about so much more than calories or carbs. Get a handle on your health and the rest usually follows closely behind.
