Balancing a Healthy Body with a Healthy Soul

The holidays are officially over, and I’m headed back to my classroom... Ummm, a few pounds heavier than I left it before winter break.

I always kinda feel bad about myself when I fluff up over the holidays. Scratch that, I always REALLY feel bad about myself when I fluff up over the holidays. So, I’m here to remind myself and anyone else who may need the same reminder that it’s not only okay to enjoy life’s special moments, it’s important to do so!

Balancing a healthy body with a healthy soul

If you’ve read any of my articles, you know that I’m a huge advocate for healthy eating and an overall healthy lifestyle, including exercise, good emotional health, and (attempted) good sleep.

Some of the ideas I’m passionate about are a little bit conflicting. You see, there’s food for nutrition, and there’s food for the soul. And both are extremely important in my book.

It’s important to celebrate!

Here’s how I tackle this debacle in my own mind... I try to keep a semi-strict routine with myself on ‘regular’ days. Then, I allow myself to do whatever it is I want to do on special occasions.

The holiday season

The fall and winter holidays are just so back-to-back that by the time it’s all done and over with, I feel like I’ve had three months of a sugar binge. I mean, we still have a giant bowl of Halloween candy at our house! I’ve been picking at that thing for months!

Needless to say, It’s time for me to FOCUS.  I’m desperate to get back to my everyday ‘normal.’

Routine

Back to work means I’m back to my normal routine of exercising daily and significantly lessening how much sugar I intake. For the health of my eyes, I always try to eat a fairly healthy diet filled with lots of veggies, a good amount of fruits, and as much protein as I can. Even on winter break.

It’s the added ‘celebratory calories, ’ as I call them, that start to cause my weight to go up and my mood and overall feeling of ‘blah’ and ‘ick’ to increase.

Eating well and feeling well

When I eat well, I feel well. When I don’t, I don’t. It’s that simple for me. So, I’m more than ready to find my new 2021 groove.

I could sit here and preach about what my daily routine is; however,  it’s important that each of us finds our own groove so that it ‘sticks’!

Different things work for different people

What works for me doesn’t work for everyone. For example, I wake up at 4:00 every day to knock out my workout routine first thing in the morning, with Friday being my rest day each week.

It isn’t easy to get up that early, but it’s what works best for my family and for me.

Upcoming celebrations

My boyfriend’s birthday is in mid-January, and Valentine’s Day is a month after that. We’ve decided to get back on the healthy train after those specific dates.

Setting goals and ‘treat days’ (I never call them cheat days because that’s so much more negative) allows us to have something to look forward to.

Indulging

Rest assured, we will be indulging in all the delicious and unhealthy things to celebrate! Doing that, in a way, gives me the permission I need to stray from my routine. It also helps remove any guilt that I may have because of it.

Finding a balance

Celebrating life is important for anyone, but especially so for those of us who endure so many changes due to our macular degeneration diagnosis.

There’s a balance between doing what’s healthy for our eyes and bodies and doing what’s healthy for our souls. I think of it as a dance. Back and forth, back and forth...

Life’s a dance,
Andrea Junge