The world of "beauty"

Hello everyone, it's been a few days and I've been doing a lot of thinking. Lately all I seem to read about on facebook is why fat shaming is bad, why the thigh gap obsession is bad, why magazines are bad, why we're all beautiful. Honestly I'm very happy that so many people are similar minded in that we don't all need to be size zeros to be beautiful.

I'm going to try to word this as best as I can because it's not my aim to offend people. All to often I see the words "love you the way you are" which I completely agree with. We should all be comfortable in our own bodies and find the beauty we all have. I'm not saying don't be happy as you are. It's just these articles say love yourself if you're a size 20 or if you're a size 6. Be happy with the way you look and embrace your beauty that you have. Great, great message... except one tiny little thing. I swear my entire life I was taught in schools that we come in all shapes and sizes, but some are healthier than others. If you're 100lbs over what is considered a healthy weight for your body than I think that you should maybe consider that, though you love yourself, you're not treating your body as though you love it. 

I guess ultimately I wish there was a bigger push for a healthy life style versus what lately seems like skinny girl shaming. It's not healthy to be under weight. It's not healthy to be over weight. You want to live a full and happy life? Why not focus taking better care of it? I get that we're busy people and rarely do we have the time or money to look like those women and men on tv, but we don't have to. Celebrities and models get paid to look a certain way- something I've always thought was stupid and completely unfair- we don't. I don't have to be a size 0 to feel beautiful, but I could cut down on the junk food I eat. I could also try to make sure my life is just a little bit more active. Who physically doesn't have time to add a twenty minute walk? Or ten minute ab work out in the living room? Honestly there's even exercises you can do sitting at a desk all day. 

We don't need to lose a bunch of weight or have the perfect six pack, but we should consider taking better care of our bodies. Do you really need a whole giant bag of Doritos? Because honestly I think I'm not a terrible person telling you the answer is no, you don't. It tastes good, so eat some of it, but why do you need to eat the entire bag? 

My challenge to women is not to settle. Our bodies are what gives us life and to treat them poorly seems like a great insult. I'm not saying you're fat. I'm not saying you're a bad person. I'm not saying you have to agree with my opinions. I am saying that I believe there's a beauty to taking better care of ourselves, no matter how small the change is. For me, I'm trying to switch my caffeine habit over to green tea and follow the very very basic workout guidelines I set for myself. For others it could simply be taking your dog on a fifteen minute walk before work, cooking a home meal with fruits and veggies instead of going to McDonalds, or drinking more water instead of pop. Like I said, little things because I'm not going to lie, taking better care of your body does make you feel better. You have more energy and life seems brighter. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way.

If you could make one change in your life to live slightly healthier what would it be? Try it out for two weeks and tell me how you feel after. I'm a week in to my "healthier living" and I can already feel less tired, less stressed, and more alive.

ash.blogger.mn@gmail.com

Cheers,

Ash

Change

Change can be both frightening and exciting. As we grow we constantly change the little details of our lives.

 Four years ago my biggest change was when I went from a dark blonde to bright redhead.

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Two years ago my biggest change was graduating college.

Last year I got a puppy.

This year one of my changes I want to make is how I live a healthy life. So I'm posing a challenge to myself. I can actually thank my co-worker for bullying my to commit to a three month challenge to live a healthier life. I'm not doing anything crazy or outrageous. I'm not going to start a crazy diet. I am not going to become addicted to working out for hours on end. Basically I'm challenging myself to add a healthy routine that just about anyone can fit into their week.

First Objective: Limit the fast food.

This is going to probably be the hardest one for me since I get a craving almost daily for fries or other greasy foods. I'm going to try to cut down to only eating fast food 4x a month, less if I can. This is going to require me to make more lunches when I can't get home for lunch. This also means I'm going to have to limit myself to grabbing a quick meal with friends. This does not include eating out at actual restaurants. Lately if I'm going out to eat somewhere nice it's more than likely going to be sushi or something that is not a normal part of my meal plans. This also only tends to happen if it's date night with Frank. We'll see how this goes!

Second Objective: Stretch 4x/ week for 10 minutes.

Ok so I've been a dancer most of my life and four years ago I use to be very flexible. Now that I'm not as active and I don't stretch regularly my flexibility is suffering- at least from my point of view. Of course my friends point out that I am still far more flexible than they'll ever be, but I miss the old me. I'm going to try and bring her back. Stretching is also amazingly good for you. I don't care what any health study says about stretching before participating in sports, I'm talking about that hour before you go to bed when you're laying around and watching tv. Stretching is relaxing and a great way to quietly focus on any little thoughts you might feel. I use stretching as a form of meditation and I'll never give it up. Stretching also prevents some injuries. The more flexible you are the less likely you'll pull that muscle when you bend down to touch your toes ;) Honestly I'm no medical expert, I just am a firm believer in keeping myself flexible!

Third Objective: 2 hours of actual exercise a week.

I don't know about you guys, but I hate running, I hate lifting, I hate most traditional workouts. They're boring and leave me shaky, gasping for breath. Granted they're good for me, I understand, but my desire is next to nothing when it comes to going to the gym. This part of the challenge will be hard because I'll either have to suck it up and do a traditional workout or I'll have to get creative and look into fitness classes etc. I wish I could find an adult dance class or two that I could afford- that would fit me perfectly. We'll see what I come up with for this part. Right now I'm considering home pilates and some sort of quick cardio. Maybe a muscle sculpting 5 minute workout blast or two. I'm not trying anything crazy remember? I'm trying to stick to a lazy-ish version of living a healthy life that might inspire my fellow lazy people (United we stand!)

Now that I've ranted away for an un-godly amount of time I'll leave you all. I hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the week and if any one wants to share and health related goals with me I'd love to hear! Maybe we can motivate each other?

Ash