Intuitive Eating

Good evening lovelies!!

It's the third day of June and this means it's the beginning of a hardcore study-month for me!! What does that mean for you, you ask? Well, I will definitely try to keep the blog up and running, thus my posts will be short and simple but straight to the point. Writing makes me happy and it keeps my head in the game. However, don't be disappointed if you don't see that much of me, you know how it always works it with good intentions and everything..... sigh

Thank you so much for your thoughts and kind words on my last post in which I basically reflected a wee bit about what being healthy really means to me. Whilst doing a little bit of online research (procrastination much?? I really need to study tonight^^) I stumbled across the 10 principles of intuitive eating which I tought were pretty interesting.

I summed them up for you:

1. Reject the diet mentality.

And I think that doesn't only apply to a "diet" in the sense of restriction diet à la "I can only eat this not that..and chocolate is off limits blabla" .. it can be any person's way of eating and relationship with food. For me it means ditching the idea of having to eat every few hours to keep my energy up and boost workout results, especially post-workout protein and carb rich food groups, which I sometimes don't even enjoy. I am going to stop that and won't stress about having to eat 6 meals a day when I'm not even really hungry.

It also means for you to throw out every diet book or magazine that promises to lose weight by restricting some food groups. This is not the way to go, nothing should be off limits, I think that is the main point here.

2. Honor your hunger.

Listen to your body's way of telling you when it's really hungry instead of sticking to scheduled meal times. I find this one especially hard as I am always alwayyysss pressured having to eat 5-6 meals a day and this made me constantly think about food and what and when I was going to eat next.

Only eat when you are really hungry and stop when you are full. If this isn't the hardest part of all I honestly don't know what is ;)

3. Make peace with food.

Don't ever tell yourself you can't have a particular food, instead go for what you really want.

You might think the brown rice and colorful veggie stir fry might be healthier for you than those cheese crackers, but in the long run your mind needs to be healthy too. So listen to what you really want.

4. Challenge the food police.

Don't catagorize the food you eat into groups of "good" and "bad". And don't make your mood depend on the kind of food you eat. Don't judge yourself if you have a piece of gooey chocolate cake before lunchtime, go for what you want and don't let regrets and guilt haunt you afterwards. This one's an important one for me as well! If this means I can eat a cupcake for breakfast I am down.

5. Respect your fullness.

Don't stuff yourself until to the point when you're uncomfortably full. Instead, listen to your hunger cues and also stop when you are feeling moderately full (isn't this the hardest of them all???). Pause in between your meals, put your fork down and listen closely.

6. Discover the satisfaction factor.

Eating what you are craving in an inviting environment, sitting together at a table with your beloved ones and really experiencing your meal, you will realize it takes you much less to actually feel satisfied and decide that you've had enough.

7. Honor your feelings without using food.

Emotional eating plays a tremendous part in a lot of people's daily diet. It is not that hard to recognize but a lot harder to overcome especially when you're been an emotional eater for quite some time. Old habits die hard! Whether you're feeling angry, bored, nervous ... don't turn to food to seek comfort as it will never solve any of your problems but only make you feel worse in the long run.

8. Respect your body.

You were given one body and you'd better take very good care of it. Love it and accept it unconditionally, it is much easier to take care of something you love than when you're looking in the mirror each and every day and being overly critical about the reflection staring back at you.

9. Exercise and feel the difference.

Try a different approach to exercising these muscles! Don't ever let the fact of burning calories be your sole motivation, instead listen to your body and see how it really makes you feel. Regular physical activity can open your mind and bring peace to your soul, whether it's a brisk walk in the midsummer air or a bike tour with a good friend. If you don't use it you loose it, but there is no extreme boot camp required.

10. Honor your health.

Health is man's greatest treasure. Sometimes it can hard to acknowledge it while you have it though, and it takes sickness and aching to make you realize what health really means: EVERYTHING! So cherish your health everyday, as it is constant progress to a healthy mind and body that's much more important than perfection.

I will try to stick to these principles as much as possible in the next couple of days/weeks (well I'll let you know how it goes!)


Have a great start into the new week 


xoxo




Me

When wanting to be healthy becomes a drag...

I don't know how I should begin with that blog post... hmmm... there is really something I've been wanting to get off my chest and I am trying to find the right words so it won't come across too freaky, destroyed or narrow minded ^^

As many of you might know I have been struggling during these past weeks to keep up my healthy diet and exercise regimen. There are times in our lives when suddenly everything seems to be falling apart (and if you haven't experienced that yet, chances are very likely you will at some point) and all you see are a million issues and concerns, weighing you down and making you feel miserable. And of course - we all know how it goes - ..there is never really just one single thing that's being put on your rocky way to complete happiness , Murphy's law aka everything that can go wrong will go wrong... so there's usually A LOT ..or should I say a couple, of different things that come together.

I am the kind of person that has to do everything 100%.

Most of the things anyways.

I want to be the best possible version after all, right? So in the past weeks while I was basically out of order technically speaking, I was finding it very hard to follow a clean eating diet, I was craving those sweets and I'm not gonna lie: I treated myself. Like Oscar Wilde once said the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.

... of course I usually treat myself to fun yummy food whenever I want to as well, but the thing I experienced lately was that I was feeling incredibly guilty afterwards whenever I had "slip ups" and I couldn't really enjoy my delicious treats anymore. In my mind I didn't exercise aka didn't earn them, instead I just had them whenever I felt like it. And this created this sick mindset which made me feel really bad and like I said unbelievably guilty and even ... a little worthless maybe. Food should never make you feel this way!!

I follow so many health bloggers and read all the blogs about living a healthy active lifestyle to feel and look great, so sometimes I find it rather hard to keep up with everyone I admire so much. All the time I just see perfectly proportioned planned out meals that looked absolutely fantastic and then when I went back to my fridge and threw together a couple of things and called it a meal, it made me really sad. I wanted to be a good example and eat equally as healthy and balanced as my health blogging friends, but it seemed just too hard! With all my classes, studying (more or less...probably less) and other things going on I just couldn't be the way I wanted to be so badly.

It seemed like everyone had their lives perfectly together except for me. 

Exercising.

Eating right.

Being happy from inside.

Seems easy, right? Well it isn't, at least not for me.

Before these past weeks, I was mentally at a really good place, or so I thought at least. To achieve my maximum workout results I almost tried too hard to balance everything and fuel my body with the right kinds of food, enough protein and everything that I think I almost lost my joy and natural cravings. Eating should come naturally and should not be a strict meal plan.

And although I never followed a meal plan whatsoever, my thinking was/is just too black and white, all I thought/think of was to get my protein sources and my complex carbs and blablablabla... of course that requires a lot of planning ahead. How wouldn't it??

And the next thing was that even though I was trying hard to exercise and build muscle, sometimes I really thought to myself:

"I really want to work out but I really don't want to work out."

Pretty sick, but maybe you've thought the same thing before, then you probably know what I'm talking about haha
I am only human and I am not sorry ^^


So when does striving to be healthy become more like a drag to us I ask myself?

..if you are still reading this: congratulations, you are one tough mudderfucker (our team name is MUDDER FUCKERS TEAM AUSTRIA by the way). With all of that being said, I am really going to try to get back to a more natural and fun approach when it comes to my eats, I am going to eat whatever I feel like and I am not going to feel guilty when I can't keep up with you guys.

My body is my temple.

And I am going to listen to it more.

I need my energy for my studies, my upcoming exams and everything else that really matters in life. I can't and won't waste my time, thoughts and energy anymore on meaningless things.

and if I don't want to eat clean or exercise then I'm just not gonna do it. Life is all about balance. Eating and exercising too.

You can't just eat healthy all of the time and be healthy. Everything in moderation, even moderation!! :-)

A healthy mind in a healthy body.

No narrow mindsets, no feeling guilty about slip ups.

I am going to rock the tough mudder still. With or without maximum training. It's going to kick me in my cute butt either way, so it doesn't matter when you really think about it. And I have great friends that will lift me over those Berlin walls and catch me on my way down.

Yes I will probably cry.

I want to live my life to the fullest. And I am not going to delete any of this or read through it again to correct it.

Life is short, too short, and we should not worry too much about pointless things.

Xcross Run

Hi guys!

I'm super excited for today for the XCROSS RUN

Some of you might have read this before but just in case you haven't heard about it:

It's a 10 K with various integrated obstacles, including but not limited to:

bales of hay to jump over

mud pits

land rover wheel challenge

various ramps

water pits

walls to climb over

blablbalblaa..

The weather looks pretty promising, it all takes place on the Vienna Donauinsel, so hopefully the atmosphere is going to be dope!

I can't wait to show you guys pictures.. I really hope I will be able to take a few at least!

My goal is only to make it to the finish line, I don't have a specific time in mind... since I was sick before I didn't train at all these past weeks, so I am just trying to take it easy really.

Wish me luck

xx