I was originally going to write about having balance in my life, and what that looks like for me, not sure if that is something EVERYONE would be interested in, but I know that trying to achieve balance between going balls to the walls and finding rest, or indulging in chili cheese tots over eating a salad are all things that I struggle with from time to time.
I have been going to counseling for over a year now, and it's been like almost 5 months since my break up, and I was actually sharing with my counselor how "grounded" I feel in my life again, which is something that is really important for me, and I think that me striving for that "balance" is what helps me with that grounding.
Anytime we introduce something new into our lives, it tends to throw us off balance for a little while, so how do we get back to that once we've lost it, and is balance necessary to live an "adequate" and "successful" life? I'm not sure how to answer those questions for everyone. I know we see jokes all the time about eating the cake, eating the cinnamon roll, going on the trip, taking the nap, and then ended with "it's called balance" and I think depending on your lifestyle, balance could look different for you than it does for me.
So I have been thinking about this topic ALL week, and I thought I wanted to write about it, so I made some notes in my iPhone and I've come up with this so far:
These are the 3 main areas of my life in which I need balance in order to feel grounded:
-healthy food vs indulgences
-going full speed vs resting
-spending time with people vs taking time for myself
SO the rest of this blog I am going to talk about what I do in order to "maintain" or "achieve" balance in the HEALTHY FOOD VS INDULGENCES, and I will cover the other two over the next 4 weeks, making this a 3 part series :D
Healthy Food vs Indulgence
I meal prep. I usually do this every Sunday. I like to use Sunday as my day to prepare for the week. Usually that looks like: meal prep, laundry, pool. So it's a mix of taking care of things at home and getting in a little relaxation and me time before the start of a busy week. I meal prep so that during the week I'm not tempted to veer from my healthy meals and end up filling up on food that is lacking in nutritious value. HOWEVER, (this is where balance comes in) I love the occasional indulgence in sweets or fast food : taco bell, chili cheese tots, cake, donuts, cookies, etc etc etc. This is balance to me. I do not eat them ALL the time, but I work out and eat "healthy" most of the time so I can eat them SOMETIMES and I eat pretty decent most of the week so that I can afford to "eat the cake".
For me, food also is connected with my mental health, not as in, I have an eating disorder, but to me, restricting myself from things that I know aren't necessarily that great for me, isn't good for me mentally, because if I restrict myself too much I will end up binging later, so I'm the girl that will go to sonic at 1030 pm on a random Wednesday night and Ill get the tots, bc YOLO and YES I just said YOLO about getting some chili cheese tots, bite me. To me, if it's gonna make me happy and bring me joy, I'm gonna do it. It's called balance.
Trust me, I've gone through phases of my life where I cut out gluten, counted macros, went on a restriction diet, and all of those times I felt hungry and unhappy, so now I just eat nutrient dense food most of the time and occasionally indulge, it works for me, but I know that food can be a tricky thing and not all body types are the same.
If you are looking to getting into a meal prep routine here are some things that I do and have to make my prepping as effortless/simple as possible:
-Instacart: I hate the grocery store. I hate shopping there. I actually hate shopping in stores in general. Online shopper ALL THE WAY. (Thank goodness for the internet). I order my groceries 85% of the time. I usually order them early Sunday morning to have them delivered for that afternoon. I love this app because I can chat with the person responsible for shopping for my groceries and they always offer alternatives if something is out. I haven't ever had an unpleasant experience. There have been times when I get things I wasn't supposed to, or they've grabbed the wrong item, or they've forgotten an item, BUT they always refund me when stuff like that happens, so they have really good customer service. If I go to the store it's because I'm already out and about and it just makes more sense for me to pick it up before heading home. You can download the app to your phone and then use my Code to get 20 dollars off of you first order :D: MMOORE15222
-Meal prep containers, I used to just use some from walmart, I think they were by rubbermaid, but I have since upgraded to bentgo boxes. Love them, 10/10 highly recommend.
-Time: Set time aside. I choose Sunday bc it's my least busy day of the week and it's the day before going back to a full week of working full swing. I like to feel prepared for the week ahead so it makes sense for me to choose Sunday, but whatever works for you is best.
-Pinterest: This is where I pull most of my recipes. I have been meal prepping for so long now though that sometimes I just make shit up. Like last week for example I made up a "shrimp taco salad bowl", I made a reel of it on my instagram, and I have gotten better at doing stuff like that because of my many years of prepping my meals. But I do still heavily rely on pinterest, even if I end up making changes to a recipe, I will start off with a game plan from pinterest and I have a board where I pin all of the recipes I might try one day.
-Clean Kitchen Cookbook: I LOVE this cookbook. I recommend it to ANYONE starting off on a clean/healthy food prepping journey, if you know me, then you know. If you click the link it will take you to it on amazon prime. It's pricey, yes, but I've def gotten my money's worth out of it.
-General idea of how much you need to consume in order to get the minimum amount of nutrients required for whatever your goals are. I have been doing this for so long that I don't really "track" or "count" anymore because I kind of just know about how much I need to eat in order to maintain weight or lose weight, so I can just eyeball stuff, but I recommend going and finding a nutrition specialist somewhere and getting a baseline for yourself. If you can't afford that you can always use this macro calculator on Katy Hern's fitness website.
That's all I have for now. I think I have shared pretty much everything that I utilize to help me maintain balance in the area of nutrition. Remember life is too short not enjoy it, and that includes all the yummy foods that we encounter throughout the day. So as Marie Antoinette would say, "Let them eat cake". Live your life feeling guilt free about what you eat. :)
Oh and trust me, I’m not perfect at this. There are some weeks when I don’t prep at all and some weeks when I’m late on the prepping game and I start on Monday and not Sunday. I also sometimes do a half and half prep where I’ll purchase 4-6 meals by advanced meal prep && then prep the rest of my meals for the week. The important thing to remember is that it’s okay to change it up sometimes and not let it rattle you or ruin your whole week/month/year etc. As long as you come back to whatever it is that is good/important for you to redeem alignment within yourself, then it’s okay to change up the routine/schedule. I think that is the beauty of balance, that its really more about having inner peace whenever things don’t always go according to “the way you thought they should”. Life is always going to throw curveballs at you, you just have to learn how to catch them.
Look forward to the second part of this 3 Part series covering the topic of balance on Sunday August 7, 2022.
Until next time,
xoxo Mishako <3
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