Welcome to week 2 of April’s Physical Awareness series! If you missed week 1…get caught up HERE! This week we are working on the things that go into our bodies! This is not a post about nutrition because I am not qualified to tell people how many calories they need and what micro/macronutrients are. This is just a conscious effort to eliminate what is not serving our body and adding in what can serve our body.
I’ve seen all types of elimination diets and fasting plans which can be effective for some but also very stressful and overwhelming for others. I am apart of those others. I eat like it’s my job. So much in fact that I have had terrible stomach pains due to eating whatever I felt like eating. My body finally got to a point where it was sick of me and literally made me sick.
Eventually, enough sleepless nights of rolling back and forth in agony prompted me to look at what I was putting in my body. I decided to remove a lot of meats from my diet and became a pescatarian. I felt significantly better after a month and decided to cut back on sugary drinks and energy drinks. That was just the start of my journey.
It started to occur to me that it was better to feel good than eat “good” food and feel bad later. I increased my fruit and vegetable intake and my water intake. While I still feel way better, I am still a work in progress. I have a terrible sweet tooth and eat chocolate daily. But I say all of this in hopes that it will inspire you all to make positive changes for yourself. So for the beginners, lets simply do some swaps.
Swap this for this…
- Coffee> Tea or sugarless coffee. Be careful of sugars in the creamers
- Soda> Seltzer or Kombucha
- Milk Chocolate> Dark Chocolate
- Milk> Try another type like a nut milk or lactose free milk
- Pasta> Vegetable noodles like Zucchini or cauliflower
- Rice> Cauliflower rice or quinoa
- Fast food fries> Home made air fryer fries (sweet potato or yucca)
- Chips> popcorn
- Mayo> Hummus or mashed avacado
- White bread> Whole wheat or sprouted bread
- Sugar> Maple syrup
- Fruit Juice> Coconut water
- Eggs> Flax seed egg
- Burgers> Crispy chickpea patties or mushrooms
- Peanut butter> Almond butter
There are endless possibilities and if you suffer from stomach issues, it’s important to consult a doctor about your concerns and diets but elimination diets can help narrow down what your body may be having trouble digesting. Maybe coffee gives you a racing heart or certain foods are causing inflammation or unhealthy gut bacteria. Again, endless possibilities but all can be managed! You just have to set your goals and stick to them!
If you would like to make those positive changes and really focus on feeling good from the inside out, then you can start with the simple swaps above and use the Food Awareness Tracker below! Set manageable goals and stick to them and see what results you get after a month!
We would love to hear about your journeys and we have more info coming next week! Stay tuned!
Love The Tribe
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