October: Balanced Mind, Balanced Plate

I am so excited that October is finally upon us! I can honestly say that October-January are my favorite months of the entire year. I love fall, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! I am looking forward to the next few months and making the most of this season! I am also excited that a new month is starting. That means new goals and new opportunities to reach them! Last month, I set some goals that I reached, and some that I didn't. But that is the nature of life! I'm going to keep pushing towards my goals and stay as motivated as possible!

October goals:

1. Run 5-6 miles once a week. I was able to reach this goal last month and want to continue this month!

2. Keep up with toning workouts! Again, I was able to reach this one! So I want to keep it up :)

3. Increase plank time to 90 seconds. This one is new! My friend Hanna and I have been working on our planks and are able to do 60 second planks about 4 times. I really want to increase my time to 90 seconds! I hope I'm able to reach this goal! Practice makes perfect, so I will just have to up my plank game!

4. Scrapbook, sketch, and read. Yea...this goal needs some work. I am really struggling with finding some free time to enjoy some of my favorite hobbies. I want to make this a priority for myself...because I really feel that down time hobbies are just as important as active hobbies! I hope to somehow find the time to scrapbook, sketch, and read for fun this month!

5. Lastly, a new goal this month is to have a balanced mind and balanced plate.

What do I mean by this? Well, a lot of things. I've realized a couple things these past 2 weeks that I would like to share. It's hard to be honest, but writing really helps me get my thoughts in order, so I'm going to utilize this skill to clarify this goal, even to myself.

I've been pretty consistent with my healthy eating since July. I have been loving the consistency with my workouts and am feeling accomplished with my results in both nutrition and fitness. However, the last month has been an anxiety roller coaster for me. Personally, I feel better on a lower carb diet, but I started becoming a bit too much of a perfectionist in this department. I started cutting out healthy and vital carbs such as sweet potatoes, some grains, and even fruits, and replaced them with healthy fats like avocados, nuts, and grass-fed butter. While this is fine for most people and is a healthy component of an eating plan, it made me focus too much on what I couldn't eat. I think we all need balance between the right carbs, proteins, and fats. My body functions wonderfully on a low-ER carbohydrate diet...but I started getting a little too extreme with how low carb I got. Why not have the grass-fed butter with the potatoes? Why not have fruit with my nuts? Contemplating whether or not I should eat fruit was not a mental state I wanted to be in.

All of these thoughts led to a lot of anxiety for me, and finally, I burst. The weekend of my birthday, I gave in to all my sugar cravings, and proceeded to give in for a week thereafter. I had been anxious for so long about how I was eating that I just needed that time of freedom. But, my little sugar/carb parade made me feel pretty icky, and only provided a temporary relief. While I firmly believe that we need foods that fuel our bodies and provide us with good nutrition, it should not become a stress in our lives, because stress inevitably leads to unhealthy choices. We all need balance, and the level of stress I was experiencing was not balanced, even if how I was eating before my birthday was a healthy and acceptable eating plan.

That is why this month, I am going to focus on having a balanced mind and balanced plate. I am going to try my best to make healthy choices, but not fear foods that are healthy such as potatoes, fruit, or even some grains! I am going to put foods into my body that make me feel healthy both physically and mentally. I am not going to make every food decision a debate in my mind (something many dietitians struggle with...because we know too much about food!) and focus on all the other aspects of my life such as my fiancé, family, upcoming wedding, friends, and work! Life has so much to offer, and I want to make the most of the time God has given me on this earth. I want to live a healthy life without it making me a miserable and anxious mess!

The funny part is, I'm not entirely sure how to accomplish this goal. I'm going to pray and take things one day at a time. I know God will provide me with His strength to make choices that honor and please Him, without letting these choices rule my life, mind, or happiness. And when I feel my perfectionist tendencies rearing their ugly head again, I'm going to step back and remember that life is so much more than what we eat, and we were put on this earth for bigger and better purposes! So I will have my meal, balance my plate, and move on with my life!

Here's to a wonderful October!