Healthy Lifestyle - the Foundation

what constitutes healthy? a whole damn lot, actually, when you view life holistically. there are mental, spiritual, and physical aspects. all of which are equally fascinating.

so what do you wanna talk about now?

to begin, let me describe what i consider true physical health. it's living to our full potential, which is slightly different for everyone given body type and constitution, yet also the same given the amazing functional beauty of the human body. so… little to no extra weight (what i call fluffy at most), clear skin, no odor, good posture, rarely sick and never for very long, fast healing, strong hair and nails, flexibility, consistent flow of energy throughout the day, sound sleeper, regular menstruation for the women, healthy testosterone for the men, minimal pain, regular bowel movements and mostly clear pee (they are really telltale indications of health), and probably a crap ton of other stuff i haven't mentioned, including what the medical establishment can run tests to measure. and no, i'm not mentioning these qualities because i have them all, but the ones i'm lacking i know are clear indications of areas i can better my health and i take those challenges to heart.

luckily, we have a lot of say in our level of health. what are you choosing to put into and around your body? right here and now, imma blather on about the physical within of a healthy lifestyle, DIET. because it is THE foundation to achieving physical health.

i became a vegetarian for moral reasons a long time ago (decades), transitioned to vegan years ago to remain ethically consistent, and my vegan eating habits have evolved and are continuing to evolve into primarily plant-based for health and longevity reasons.

greens, beans, and grains plus fresh veggies!

i’ve always been addicted to finding out a fair amount of information on whatever the latest topic in my life is. not quite to the level of expert, just a general jack of all trades level of workable knowledge. 30 years ago that meant learning everything about being a vegetarian. which subsequently meant loads of pre-internet library time spent sifting through books and periodicals. no surprises, i discovered that being vegetarian/vegan can be incredibly healthy, the healthiest in fact when plant-based and non-processed. but let’s be honest, the information and research supporting being vegan as the healthiest diet has been out there since well before 30 years ago when i discovered it. suffice it to say history and gobs of additional research since then has only backed me up on this fact. for cryin’ out loud even mainstream media regularly posts articles about the health aspects of forgoing animal products - proof positive it’s been true for decades.

so, i’m not here to debate the merits of a plant-based diet, it's a forgone conclusion. plus that info is one duckduckgo away if you really need the specifics or don’t believe me. i mention diet first just so you know i'm coming from the standpoint that a plant-based diet cannot be ignored as the foundation for real health (and morality, but that's another discussion). everything else health i talk about grows from those roots.

minus any research on the topic, i am my own example. in answer to “can you really be healthy as a vegetarian/vegan?” my answer is a sarcastic, “no, i’ve been slowly fucking wasting away for 30 years.” full disclosure though, much of my thirty years of being a vegetarian were not healthy, inside or out. meaning i didn’t pay attention to the processed aspects of the food i ate or the substances i used in and around my body and home. i made sure to choose cruelty-free products, but that meant virtually nothing in the arena of how healthy the products were for me. granted, even being an active yet bad vegetarian allowed me a certain leg up in the health department compared to the standard american diet and sedentary lifestyle. but i've really only "cleaned up my act" in the last 12 years. i can attest that i feel healthier and stronger now than i did 12 years ago or where i believe i would be if i hadn't begun making cleaner and healthier choices.

i will be sharing recipes and ways to veganize your food (my fave). i’ll include pictures, but i’m no photographer so don’t expect flawless food porn. also, my cooking style is a bit… rustic. you’d think a vegan would have better knife skills with the veggies, but no, i generally use my favorite small bread knife to hack away at everything. regardless of my photos, trust me, everything tastes delicious.

if you choose to eat animal flesh or mammary secretions, etc, (as most of my family and close friends do, including my mom who lives with me and whom i care for) try to limit the portion size and the frequency. it’s not necessary and does far more harm than good. i consider my mom a perfect example of integrating some animal products into her diet without going overboard. she’s 67 with some health issues and of course, that’s my opinion from a purely health/physical standpoint. morally, different opinion altogether… but i digress…

back to my point... if you don’t clean up what you put into your body as nutrition, you may see mixed or weak results from any kind of changes you make externally. no matter what you do outside of the body, unless you have an amazing constitution and/or were blessed with perfect DNA, you have to begin within. with a proper nutritional foundation. so for instance, changing to a natural skincare regime may not make much of a difference in your appearance if you never drink enough water, are constantly slugging back diet soda, or your hormones are way out of wack because of other factors. i mention this because i am often asked by friends and family what to do or take for issue X. i can give them natural alternatives, but when they're not terribly healthy eaters, they don't see results and then doubt the efficacy of natural living.

aside from appearances though, obviously there will be unseen benefits to cleaning up what you’re putting in and around your body, so that it is still totally worth it.

and never feel overwhelmed by either the external or the internal, make the changes you can one at a time if you’re not the jump in all at once type of person. i came to where i am in exactly that manner. researching alternatives one at a time and implementing them until my lifestyle is mostly processed junk free... with an occasional soda or two a month, but never diet… i’m not gonna lie!