The Mind and Body Connection

If this is your first time here, please read my Welcome to my blog! post first in order to get a better understanding as to why I am writing about "The Mind and Body Connection." You can also visit my About page to get a better understanding of my professional expertise and personal experience!

As cliche as it may sound...I've been passionate about health and wellness for as long as I could remember! However, it wasn't until the age of eighteen that I was introduced to holistic health. I was eighteen-years-old and I had just started college at Arizona State University. I was working out regularly because it made me feel awesome and let's be honest...I was terrified of the dreadful "Freshman Fifteen." However, I would often feel stressed and overwhelmed, as the pressures and responsibilities of college were begging to set in. Not only that, I wasn't making the most nutritious choices when it came to my diet. I was tired and drained both mentally and physically and at that point I knew that I needed to make a change!

I heard a lot of great things about yoga and how it's good for stress relief and I figured that it would also be the perfect transition from competitive dance and cheer. I Started taking yoga classes at "True Hot Yoga" about five days a week where I learned about the importance of "mindfulness" (being present in the moment). During practice, the yoga instructor leads the class through guided meditation, which helps students become more present in the moment by focusing on their breath and learning how to let go of thoughts and distractions of the outside world. Needless to say, it's a lot harder than it sounds and it takes a lot of practice to be able to meditate.

It took me weeks until I was finally able to slow my mind down, but I'm forever thankful that I was patient with the process. Yoga truly helped me live my life in the moment by teaching me how to live my life one day at a time. I learned how to prioritize responsibilities and to accept the fact some things are just out of my control. I also learned how to breathe as silly as that may sound! I started using deep breathing techniques to help me relieve stress and anxiety, which I still strive to do on a daily basis. There's an endless amount of ways to manage stress and anxiety, but yoga is what helped me manage the stressors of college. My hope is that you give yoga a chance, that you learn how to meditate, or that you find another outlet or methodology that truly works for you to relieve stress! I'd love to hear feedback from your experience!

The last and probably the most important piece of the "holistic health" puzzle is nutrition. As I briefly mentioned in my Welcome to my blog! post, it is very important to feed our bodies healthy and nutritious food. If our body doesn't get the nutrients that it needs, then it won't function properly. I won't get super deep into nutrition in this post because it would never end, however, I do want to leave you with enough information so that you understand how important it is to eat a diet that is balanced in macronutrients and micronutrients. Macronutrients are made up of fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Micronutrients are made up of vitamins and minerals. If you're looking for a fun and easy way to track your nutrition, try the myfitnesspal app! I'm obsessed with it and I especially find it helpful when I'm adjusting my macros (macronutrients).

Back when I was eighteen, I would restrict calories (~1200 per day) and strive to burn as many calories as possible (~800 per workout) so that at the end of the day I would reach a calorie deficit. Now don't get me wrong...I still love good calorie burn workouts, but instead I consume nearly TWICE as many calories. After I stopped restricting my calories, I immediately noticed an increase in my energy levels, my mental functioning, and my body fat percentage dropped. Today, my body fat percentage is significantly lower than what it was when I was eighteen! Clearly eighteen-year-old me had nutrition all wrong, but at least I slowly started to figure it out. I'm far from being an expert, but I've definitely learned a lot over the years from my personal experience!

I started to consume a lot more real and non-processed food! My diet was lacking micronutrients so I started to consume more fruits and vegetables. I also started to pay closer attention to my macros and started to consume a diet that was balanced in healthy fats, complex carbs, and lean proteins. My fitness goals are to increase lean muscle mass and to lower body fat percentage. Currently my diet consists of 30% protein, 20% fat, and 50% carbs. However, your goals may be different than mine so if you'd like more information, you can certainly reach out to me and I would be more than happy to provide you with additional insight that is tailored to your needs.

In order for you to optimize your health, it's important that you tackle your health holistically! It's important that you engage in physical activity regularly, that your actions are intentional, and that you consume a healthy diet that is balanced in macronutrients and micronutrients.

I hope that this post serves you with some inspiration!

Stay healthy!

Via

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