Your Body Talks To You, Is It Time To Listen?

I am often asked, especially when my Instagram is full of me dining out and drinking champagne and wine, how I keep my weight down?

Firstly, I am no slim Jim and nor do I want to be. Entering my 53rd year this year, I no longer want to be skinny. Instead, I embrace my curves, which some weeks become curvier than others! As a mother of 4 children, I do have a tummy and celulite, but rather than my focus is on this, I focus on health.

Losing body fat is important to maintaining health, but your body needs important vitamins and minerals to perform efficiently. 

If you are deficient in vitamins or minerals, how can you expect your body to perform at its best? 

80% of the time, I eat healthy food.

20% percent of the time I indulge.

My main diet consists of fresh fruit, vegetables, some lean proteins, and a few treats, which leaves me feeling much more satisfied and full. 

The quality of food I eat does matter as it impacts the quantity of how much I eat and is better for my health.

As I have matured (not aged!), I have found my body processes foods differently, so I have changed my diet to suit my bodies needs. My body loves it when I fill it full of green, leafy vegetables, mixed with other vegetables.

Due to arthritis, I eat less cheese these days, which I always used to put into salads, but exchange for seeds or nuts. Oh, and I have celery juice most mornings to assist with this ailment also.

I could eat my body weight in bread! A great loaf of sourdough bread is food heaven for me, but again, it has had to go into the 20% as my body has trouble digesting large amounts of carbohydrates, which also includes pasta, which I now mainly eat spelt pasta when cooking it.

Fruit is 100% in my 80% list! My body loves to snack on fruit during the day, and it is much better than reaching for sugary snacks. Ok, we all know that there can be identical calories and sugar in fruit, but the sugar is digested slower in the fruit, which prevents the sugar crash and actually helps stabilize my blood sugar levels.

Other changes I have made is eliminating most red meat from my diet, adding many vegetarian and vegan meals to my diet, which has also aided my health. I eat avocado, nuts and seeds, the good fats every day as my body loves them. Oh, and my body must love coffee because I have one or two cups per day, but I have changed from milk to almond milk, which my body and I enjoy more.

What I am trying to say is listen to your body as it will talk to you. Eat what works for you, make your meals colourful and delicious and you will never feel like you are missing out because life is too short to miss out on yummy, healthy foods.

Good healthy foods, plus some exercise, mine is walking, and pilates, and a touch of champagne keep my body happy and healthy to perform at its best. I hope this article inspires you to listen to your body for the same reasons.