I’ve had an awesome start to the day. I woke up early, made a green smoothie, went to the local pool for a few laps, lay in the sun for a bit then had breakfast with a friend.
And even though I’m kind of ready for a nap and it’s not quite lunch time yet, I feel so beautifully relaxed and happy. I feel so blessed that I can get so much enjoyment out of following a holistically healthy lifestyle - good healthy food, exercise, sunshine, and spending time with beautiful friendships.
Thing is, often we associated “being healthy” with “being boring” or having to do stuff that’s challenging or not fun. But in my opinion that’s a load of bollocks. All positive changes that you make to your lifestyle need to be enjoyable and fun and they need to make you feel good. Otherwise what motivation do you have to stick with them??
This kind of takes me back to a memory of my clubbing days when I was in my early twenties. I remember staggering home at 5am after a big night out and feeling incredibly rotten as I passed all the joggers and cyclists out on their morning run. I remember always feeling a pang of envy at how happy and healthy they looked, and how secretly I wished I was one of them.
Years later after I’d given up alcohol I joined a weekly 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning skate group and was out with the rest of the healthy people in the early morning working up a sweat. Every time I passed someone who was staggering home from a big night out, I remember thinking to myself how much happier and how much better I felt making the switch!
Thing is, it took a really FUN sport for me to finally join the early morning exercise crew. If I tried to motivate myself to get up early to go jogging, it would never happen because I don’t find jogging enjoyable at all. Skating on the other hand I absolutely love and skating with a group I love even more. So I needed little motivation to get up at sunrise on a Saturday morning and join my friends to go for a early skate.
It was the same this morning. I’ve been really slack over the last few weeks with my exercise routine. I absolutely love swimming laps but it can be a bit of a lonely way to exercise. So when a friend called last night and invited me to the pool at 8 a.m. this morning, I jumped at the chance. And you know what? It was heaps of fun! We stopped every couple of laps or so and chat, then jumped out and lay in the sun for a bit. Then we took ourselves off to local cafe to reward our tired bodies with a big breakfast. It was really fun, we both felt great and both agreed that it was a magical way to start the morning.
The same goes with me and food. If I were to decide that I was only going to eat salad, brown rice and vegetables form now on I SO would not last. I have to make my diet fun and creative. That’s why I love eating raw food so much. It’s the most creative food I’ve ever prepared. I really love the novelty of it and love how everything I make that’s raw is packed full of nutrition. Tonight is Friday night and I’m going over to a friends place to make raw food for dinner. And I honestly can’t think of anything more fun to do on a Friday night 
So if you’re just starting fresh in the health scene, start to brainstorm some ideas on what healthy stuff you can do that’s also FUN. You also absolutely don’t need to transform into some uber health geek overnight, I’m all for baby steps so just add one new healthy thing into your life each week or even each month. Give your body and your life time to ease into a brand new way of living.
I’d also love to hear your stories and ideas on what you’ve done to incorporate more healthy fun stuff into your life. What I’ve written in this article is just my stuff and what makes me feel happy. But you may have some other ideas that are unique to you.
Fran Kerr is the founding editor of High on Health. To cure your acne, sign up to Fran's FREE acne cure mini-course or download her latest how to guide, Eat Away Your Acne.
5 responses ↓
having fun & relaxing sounds like the best therapy for skin
Hey Fran - thanks for the article this morning! This has been my first full week of reading your blogs and trying to change my diet. Ive been adding ground flax seed to my smoothie of plain organic yogurt, and frozen strawberries, blueberries, raspberries with a touch of honey for sweetness. Had that every morning this week with salad or veggies and hummus for lunch and an apple at some point for a snack… Does this sound like im on the right track?? and is having flaxseed everyday a good thing or can you over do it?
also - since i have decided to incorporate so many fruits into my diet… am i doing the right thing there?? They are naturally very high in sugar and im reading over and over again that Sugar=Not good for healing the skin! I thought it wouldnt matter since its natural sugars but then I started thinking about my grandma who is a diabetic and she can not eat fruits because they are high in sugar… so its making me wonder
Hi Fran,
Love your blog and work.
@Kate: sounds like you’re doing well.
In terms of you eating fruit and the link to sugar etc., in my opinion it is totally fine.
Like you said, they are natural sugars and the fruit also contains fibre which will help slow down the rapid response caused by isolated sugars (e.g. coke etc.).
Not to mention the numerous benefits of fruit generally, such as the vitamins, co-enzymes and co-factors which make them so amazingly bio-available and absorable.
Obviously, like anything in life: everything in moderation!
One key advice though, try to exercise regularly to truly maximise the benefits of a good clean healthy diet.
Your grandma has evidently become quite insulin resistant, hence any type of sugar (natural or not) will not go down well with her (I’m assuming she has type II diabetes).
As long as you’re eating well and exercising and getting adequate sleep you’ll feel great!
Fran, I hope you didn’t mind me contributing.
Keep up the great work!
Sohail (aka TheHealthBlogger)
P.S. i really need to start working on my blog now! lol!
Hi Fran!
I couldn’t agree with you more in this article - for me, there is nothing more uninspiring as far as health is concerned than going to a gym. Blah! That is *not* my kind of fun.
I regularly do some of the things you’ve written about - dancing (mostly Latin dances like salsa and merengue), no alcohol, and taking cooking “adventures” to make my own healthy meals, especially sugar-free baked goodies.
I also want to put in a plug for walking to whereever you need to go, as often as possible. Dr. Andrew Weil (http://www.drweil.com/) is a huge proponent of this since you don’t have to learn to coordinate anything physically, you don’t need special equipment, you can do it indoors and outdoors, it is healthy for you AND better for the environment, and you can do it for your entire life (in most cases!). Okinawans, some of the longest living folks, are big walkers and bike riders. By walking I’ve gotten to know some of my neighbors and the local roosting places for the Saffron-crested cockatoos. Great stuff!
Thanks!
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