As we head into the next 21 days I can’t help but to think about how overwhelming some of this might feel to some of you – to others, it may feel exciting but it can be intimidating I know. I think when I first started this I felt a mixture of the two. I was re-reading some old blog posts and came across this one that I wrote last summer when I was doing this for fertility. I think it’s got the most simple way of explaining why (I hope) eating in a ‘whole’ sense isn’t going to overwhelm you. We give ourselves too much to do every single day – appointments to get to, emails to write, phone calls to make – but when you stop and think about it – have you checked in with yourself? When you woke up this morning did you give your partner a kiss? Did you think twice about what you were eating, or did you just grab the easiest and closest thing? We fly around getting things done but are we really mindful while we do it? The next 21 days is about slowing down so we can ground ourselves, so we can g r o w because growth happens in the small moments, in the moments when we’re calm and present.
“Practice this. Every action you take today, no matter how little it is…give it weight. Put some space around it. Start it intentionally, with the intention to be mindful, to inhabit that action fully, to notice with all your senses the entire moment. When the action is done, don’t just rush to the next one, but take half a second to appreciate what you just experienced.”
It can feel intimidating to pick up a cookbook, purchase all the ingredients and really give the recipe a go. Sometimes it’s easier to say “if I had a personal chef I’d be the most nutritious person around”. Sure, wouldn’t we all like that from time to time! When I was doing research for the 21 day Holistic Eating and Living Journey, I kept surprising myself. Every article I read, every book I picked up I was expecting to read something new and different. Each one was (basically) the same. Whole clean eating with a focus on maximum nutrients for growing mamas and babies! I kept thinking I was missing something, that it needed to be more complicated. We need to trust that with the information we have, we can purchase and cook delicious and nutritious things for ourselves!
Once you get in the habit of buying a few of the basics, things don’t need to be overly complicated. Everyday there are a million posts on Instagram about a new delicious juice with yummy things in it. Guess what? You can make one too. Once the ingredients are in your kitchen you are ready to rock.
Opening yourself up to keeping it simple is a motivating way to live. You don’t need to follow every recipe perfectly. Look in your cupboards and your fridge and if you’ve stocked it with delicious nutritious things then you can get inspired by a cookbook, Instagram, Pinterest or a meal you’ve had at a restaurant! Try your best to re-create it with whatever you’ve got, chances are it’ll be delicious! And if not, chances are it was a hilarious adventure making it 🙂
5 COOKBOOKS TO INSPIRE YOU FOR THE 21 DAY HE+LJ:
1. Clean Eats by Dr.Junger
2 . At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen by Amy Chaplin
3. Joyous Health by Joy McCarthy
4. Deliciously Ella by Ella Woodward
5. Green Kitchen Stories by David, Luise + Elsa
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