I have been a “blogger” now for one year! Honestly I never thought I’d still be doing this since it took years of my husband convincing me to start a blog. I spent years pursuing and working in a career that wasn’t for me. Fortunately I am a stay a home mom now and have a little time to figure it out and this blogging this may be a close guess. This is the start of something new and it’s still the beginning. 

Why did I start this blog? The most I ever hoped for was to help just one person start a healthier life for themselves. We are all told conflicting information, yet we actually can be healthy without rules. “Eat eggs!” “Don’t eat eggs, you’ll die early!” It is exhausting. Everything out there is either meant to scare us or draw us in, thinking that must be the answer. I have been thinking what I’ve learned over the last year in the health community. To simplify, what I’ve gathered is that we need to live healthy without rules. We are making healthy living so complicated and such a chore. We need to stop obsessing and learn to listen to ourselves. 

That is why I want to make this simple for anyone. There is no label, status or rules here. Everything counts. We begin to be healthy without rules and change our lifestyle for the long run.

Living Healthy Without Rules

Over the course of blogging and researching on my own, all I see is “do this” “don’t do that!” or let’s be paleo, vegan, cross-fitter, whatever it may be [now of course you should follow your moral beliefs. That is totally fine]. We feel like we need to pick a label and that’s how we are going to be successful when actually, it can drain us and can lead to limited choices and less enjoyment. I know some people do enjoy being told what they need to do and that’s totally fine too. If a particular group makes you happy, please continue!

Group Rules

Everyone’s right. From each side of an argument, each thinks they are correct. When research comes with conflicting evidence (as it does for everything), how do we ever know what is right? No one accepts what doesn’t fit their side either. That’s why we stick to what’s true [real food], stop obsessing, stop over doing it, and listen to our own bodies. Stop taking sides, health isn’t a debate. 

Many may not always like what they read if they have a certain ideal in their head about what needs to be done to get healthy. Everyone’s right, aren’t they? You should always consider all sides of an argument. Health should not be an argument and yet we can’t seem to agree on the right way to do things.

One of the goals of this blog is to give you a chance to get healthy without rules or mold you must fit into. You don’t need to be in a certain group and get so caught up in rules that you lose sight of the fact you are doing great and getting healthier. My recipes and ideals do not fit one specific group of dieting or nutrition or exercise, and I hope that anyone from any viewpoint can enjoy them. I just use real food and move a bit. Most of the time I eat healthy but if there’s a party or holiday, it’ll be okay if I eat some bad things. Or if a workout doesn’t happen one day, it’ll be just fine. 

Every Body Is Different

The way I eat and encourage others to eat is more from a standard of eating real food, because we all can agree that is the best possible way to eat. If you have an argument, hit me with it! I’d love to hear. My very first post talked about The Healthiest Diet.

Many people don’t agree with my animal or fat consumption. I base my opinions on what makes sense in human biology and it has worked for me. Something may work different for others. Every body works differently and needs different amounts of different things, whether it be food or exercise. We all come from different ancestors that lived on different types of food. We all have a different chemical make up and gut bacteria.

Eat what makes you feel good and exercise as much as you need to feel well. 

Don’t compare yourself to others. Do what works for your body and find what feels good. For me, it’s eating a lot of healthy fat and animal proteins and doing yoga and walking. I don’t overexercise or run because I never felt good that way. I also tried out being a vegetarian once and that made me feel awful with a lack of energy. 

Status? Please.

I’ve had people say things like, “I thought you didn’t eat brownies, they aren’t healthy”. No they are not typically healthy, and I usually don’t. But I should still be able to eat one without worrying about my label as a “health blogger” being diminished. 

I have a master’s degree in nutrition and exercise science. So what? Not everything I learned there is what I am doing or promoting today and most of the time it’s just blindly accepting the information provided. Nutrition or even exercise education has not changed and many do not even get much education in the subject (say a physician even, but they have better things to do right?). And if anyone goes against it or provides evidence the other way, then it seems to hide among the highest power.

Imagine if you were the spokesperson for heart disease and new research comes through. You’d look real dumb if you said, “Well, I was wrong, let’s do exactly what I told you not to”. Money and ego get in the way of accurate information spreading. I’m not saying that everyone is wrong, I’m saying do your research first before blindly following along. For example, I follow and have read a lot of journalists that dived deep into nutrition research. These are journalists which most people can say, “What do they know?” They have a true passion for whatever it is if they are researching and taking up years of their time. No one needs to sway them, they’re just trying to get the full story (examples are Nina Tiecholz & Gary Taubes)

Bottom line

Do what you think is best for your own body and have fun in your life. Do your own research. Don’t take sides when it comes to health.

Let me know your thoughts. Do you disagree and find it easier to join a group to get healthy? 

Fresh Ideas: Live healthy without rules. Stop trying to fit a mold of a certain health group and do what is best for your body. 

Mindyfresh is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. This is what can keep the blog up and running. 

Note: Some people benefit from choosing certain rules so they follow along. That is perfectly fine. Food sensitivities and auto-immune diseases (like Celiac) are obviously real and they need rules on what they cannot eat. They simply can’t “cheat” ever. And you should be grateful if you can. But in the subject of exercise, it goes for anyone. We all can, in some way, live healthy without rules in the way.