Healthy Life, Happy Life

In just the last few months, I chose to take part in a much healthier lifestyle not only to lose weight, but to be a happier and healthier me. Heath is a big deal to me, obviously for the fact that I am diabetic. I am constantly counting carbs on a regular basis and keeping track of the foods I am consuming, and the amount of exercise I am taking part in, so why not go the extra mile?

Being healthy feels amazing. I'm not as tired (apart from working late some nights) and I have a lot more energy. And it was just the smallest change. Eating organic, healthy food. Every morning I try to have a smoothie that consists of:

250mL water
1/2 cup of Spinach
1/4 sqeezed lemon juice
1 cup of fruit (I love strawberries, mangos, oranges, and apples)
1 tsp of Nutrasure Omega3 apple flavoured oil

Of course, a smoothie is not the only change. I now shop at a store called Goodness Me. It is an all natural and organic food store. This means that there are no chemicals used on the foods while they were being grown, and many of the foods I get there are gluten, sugar, egg, wheat, and cholesterol  Wrong! Many foods have natural sugars and sweet flavours that make eating healthier, easier. Something as simple as having gluten free pretzels, and peanut free peanut butter thats made with sunflower seeds for a snack makes all the difference, and it tastes amazing too! I am still mind blown at how many really good foods there are for you that taste even better than the "junky" version of it.

At first, I had a totally wrong outlook on the whole "being healthy" thing. Prom was coming up and all of the girls wanted the perfect "prom body", and I fell into this fad pretty quick. I began dieting and cutting out many carbs out of my day. And ask many fellow diabetics know, this is very harmful to us because we need carbs for energy as well as to balance out our insulin intake. I kept getting low blood sugar levels during class and in the middle of the night, and figured out it was because of the low carb intake. Then I seen that this "diet" was so ridiculous, and was probably only hurting my body more than it was helping. Then healthy organic came into mind, and here we are. It really does feel great knowing that eating the same things as everyone else, with just a few better ingredients in them, has helped me so much. Proportions are also key too, however, without completely cutting out a dietary must such as carbohydrates. Throughout this journey I have come to realize that dieting just to look good really is such a bad way to view yourself. Society's view on the word "healthy" has changed so durastically that we fail to see the negatives in it. Starving yourself of what your body needs is not healthy, but giving it what it needs in a healthier form, is. Of course, without exercise or physical activity, you're not helping yourself at all.