I’m curled up in bed while I write this, surrounded by tissues and hot tea. My inspiration for this post comes from my own neglect of these practices lately, so it’s time to write about it and then practice what I preach.
This Fall, sickness has hit me pretty hard. Here are some things I should’ve been doing and am really encouraging you to do to stave off illness as much as possible.
1) Hot water and lemon. I always have a mug of warm lemon water that I carry around my home with me throughout my day. It’s comforting and refreshing but also aids in blood purification, serves as a powerful antibacterial, and aids your immune system. (For more information on the health benefits of drinking warm lemon water, click here and here.)
2) Sleep. And lots of it. Make it a priority at all times but especially during the fall and winter months. “When you’re sleep deprived, you often feel “worn down” — and that’s a clue that your body is vulnerable to infection. “Not getting enough sleep makes you more vulnerable to picking up illnesses and not being able to fight them off,” says Donna Arand, PhD, DABSM, clinical director of the Kettering Sleep Disorders Center in Dayton, Ohio. “What’s going on is your immune system is degraded.” The less sleep you get, the weaker your immune system is, leaving it less able to fight off colds, flu, and other infections.” (Read more on The Healing Power of Sleep here.)
3) Bone broth. The benefits of drinking bone broth are never-ending, including healthy gut and digestion, muscle repair and growth, a balanced nervous system, and a strong immune system to name a few. It is very simple to make at home, or you can find a good local source. When I don’t have time to make it, I buy it from our local butcher at Heritage Meats. Try sipping it from a mug or just use it as a base for all your favourite soup recipes as often as possible. (More on bone broth, and a recipe for it here.)
4) Lay off the sugar. It very quickly suppresses your immune system, and it doesn’t take much to do it. Better yet, do a Whole30. (There are a ton of articles out there on the topic (google ‘sugar and the immune system’) but I really enjoy this article by Mark’s Daily Apple.)
5) Avoid stress. Of course, not all stress is avoidable. Sometimes life throws us curveballs that we have to accept. However, I have so many friends who complain about their stress level, and most of it is just STUFF. They’ve taken on too many chores, too many activities for their kids, too many service projects (yes, that is possible), and they are burning out. Stress directly stifles your immune response. We all want to do it all, but pace yourself and choose the things that are most important to you this season. (Take my word for it, or read more here.)
Stay tuned for a collection of some tried and tested home remedies for the common illnesses that go around during the fall and winter months! Stay well, friends.
In our home, we do not say the word fat. Ever. Sound extreme to you? Maybe. But if you’ve ever spent time in that dark place of self-loathing because you can’t seem to starve away every single tiny piece of fat from your body, then you will understand my intense feelings surrounding that word. (Someday I will write in more detail about that dark place, but not yet.)
That’s my sweet daughter Charley in that photo on her first day of preschool. She’s three and a half and as happy as can be. It kills me to know that because I have suffered from an eating disorder, and even though I consider myself healed, she is at a higher risk of developing one in her lifetime. I’ve read the research, and it’s enough to make some very firm rules for our household, to protect her from becoming another statistic. (Even still, if I had never had an eating disorder, the statistics of women developing eating disorders these days are still frightening.)
You may see it as helicopter parenting or keeping my child in a bubble. But have you experienced the hell of an eating disorder? Or the hell of an addiction? The hell of mental illness? If you have, you will understand my desire to build that bubble around her as long as possible. Yes, she will encounter the outside world eventually, but not until our family beliefs and words are imprinted so deeply in her mind and heart that when she comes across the confusing ideas of fat that our society presents, she will be so strong in her beliefs that they will not be shattered by Victoria’s Secret commercials, false advertising, rude comments from men, outrageous diet claims in magazines, etc.
In our home:
We do not use the word fat as an adjective (or at all). Our society focuses on size so much.Why do we always comment on the shape of a person first? Instead of describing someone as fat, large, skinny, chubby, thin or huge, we use other characteristics. “Your Auntie Julia has curly hair, blue eyes, and wears glasses sometimes.” This is a tip that I learned a few years ago in therapy and have made a rule in my life since then, even when I’m not around my kids. The obsession with size in our society needs to end, and this is one tiny place to start.
There are no good foods or bad foods. Food is food.In our home I do my best to not label foods as bad or good, positive or negative, junk or treats. This is especially difficult for me as a Health Coach because I find the nutritional value and science behind food so fascinating. We do discuss that some foods can make us feel sick, slow, or tired and that other foods can give us energy and make us feel good.
Food does not make you bigger or smaller, fatter or skinnier. Yes, if you eat pizza all day, every day, you will get fat. And if all you eat is lettuce all day, every day, you will wither away into nothing. But neither of those are options in Charley’s life right now so she doesn’t need to know that. I never want her to look at ice cream and think it will make her fat.
That scene in Little Miss Sunshine makes me so angry. I want to punch my screen. I remember watching that before I had my own kids and vowing to never let that happen in my family.
We walk everywhere, as often as possible. The walking thing started out not by my choice. Charley was an extremely spirited toddler and absolutely refused to ever sit in the stroller. She was walking confidently soon after her first birthday and at that point we just packed the stroller away into storage and she walked every where from then on. It was annoying at first, but now at age 3.5, she can walk for hours without whining. She loves hiking and running and knows no difference. I absolutely love it. We go for long walks almost every day. We make it a priority so that it is part of her lifestyle now, and not something we have to worry about incorporating later on.
She sees my love for exercise. This one can be tricky and leads right into the next one.
I do not exercise to get smaller or skinnier. My kids see me exercise. I take them for runs, I lift weights while Xavier naps, and they watch myself and other moms workout at our Mommy Workout Group that my friend leads in a park. They know that once a week I wake up early to meet a good friend for a morning workout, and they know that once a week Daddy puts them to bed because I’m at a running clinic. The thing is, my exercise has nothing to do with shrinking. I’m not “working off that ice cream”, “shrinking my love handles”, or trying to achieve the impossible “thigh gap”. My children will NEVER hear those words from me. Instead, I tell them that I’m building muscles so that I can be strong to pick them up, that I’m getting fast so I can run with them and play with them, and so my body has more energy. And those things are true. I’m not exercising to get smaller or reach some goal. I’m exercising so I can keep up with my kids, lift heavy things when I need to, and open my own darn pickle jar.
I do not stare at myself in the mirror. It’s amazing how much little children observe and absorb. I don’t do it anyway (anymore), but I especially do not stand in front of a mirror and critique myself in front of my children. I need a mirror to do my hair and makeup, but I am careful with my facial expressions. No deep sighs of dissatisfaction, no grimaces or squeezing and pinching any extra skin. I don’t have a scale, but if I did, I would not weigh myself in front of my children. So many women I know weigh themselves every single morning. What kind of habit is that to instil in our children?
I am IN our photos. I am in those photos with my kids. I will not stay out of a photo because I don’t think I look my best or because my outfit isn’t especially flattering that day. And I will NEVER say out loud that I don’t like the way I look in a photo. I avoid negative self talk internally and externally as much as humanly possible. With this same mindset, when we are at the beach or at the pool, I will be there in my swimsuit as confidently as possibly. (It has taken me a long time to get there, but my children are a great motivator.) I will be in the water, swimming and playing with my kids, and not caring if my make up runs or my hair gets drenched and stringy. I still don’t love being in a bathing suit in public, but I’m going to fake it until I make it and make sure my children don’t pick up on that.
I compliment Charley on more than just her beauty. Charley is beautiful, and she hears it all the time from family, friends and strangers. And I’m totally okay with that. I tell her she’s beautiful all the time. It won’t take long before our society tries to make her feel ugly, so I’ll tell her as many times as I can until then that she was created perfectly. I don’t think you can tell your children they are beautiful too often, as long as your compliments of their other strengths outweigh the compliments of their appearance. For every time I tell her she’s beautiful, I make sure to magnify two or three other strengths of hers. For example, things like “I love that you are so kind to your brother”, “You are so good at sharing”, “You are so helpful”. I learned this from a very wise friend of mine who is parenting a few years ahead of me and aim to use this tool with all people I come in contact with, not just my own children.
Food is GOOD. So many people have negative issues surrounding any and all food. In my darkest times, I would be kept awake all night from the shame of eating a plain chicken breast. I would imagine all the fat accumulating on my body as I lied in bed and how much bigger I would be in the morning. I know better now. Now I know that food equals life. Food is fuel for my body. Food is energy and strength, and strength is beautiful.
This all my sound crazy to you. I might sound paranoid and maybe I am a little. These rules may evolve as my children mature and can understand nutrition and science more.
But for now, instilling these values in Charley’s mind and heart is one of my biggest passions.
To read a bit about my story and why I’m so passionate about this, click here.
That has to be one of the best episodes of Friends, am I right?
My family celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving a week early this year, much to the delight of my turkey loving self. One of the great things about celebrating with my family is that we are all focusing on living healthy, balanced lifestyles, which makes family dinners fun, easy and no one is needing maternity pants.
I want to eliminate your excuses for hopping off the healthy bandwagon around holidays, so here’s the run down of what we ate and a few other recipes that I would like to try next year or some that I think sound delicious. I can’t do the grocery shopping or cooking for you, but these clickable links should save you some time.
As I have explained in previous posts, when it comes to holidays or special occasions, I don’t eat strictly Whole30 or Paleo. Read here about how I found that balance. Basically, pass the pumpkin pie and whipped cream please!
We also had some very definite non-paleo perogies, because we’re Ukrainian, and because they’re delicious. There are some things you just don’t mess with. Amen.
Dessert:
We enjoyed a fresh baked pumpkin pie from a local farm, but when I searched online, tons of recipes for healthy pumpkin pie came up. Next year I would like to try something like this one.
Wellness With Joanna 