It's All About the Hair, but Don't Forget About the BODY

I have been fortunate enough to have never struggled with weight.  The problem with that is I never really concerned myself with what I ate because I associated diets and meal planning with the need to lose weight.  I never thought of it as being something I needed to be conscious of for health reasons.  I ate out a lot, but I tried to select healthy options . . . at least half of the time :-)  I knew it was better to cook at home, but I had every excuse in the book why I couldn't do it.


"I Don't Have Time"
I have a productively busy schedule and so I'm always on the go, but in spite of that, somehow I manage to have time to take very good care of my hair, which is extremely time consuming.  With my schedule, healthy eating would require advance planning and I honestly believed that I couldn't plan ahead for more than a day or two.  However, whenever I knew my schedule would be ridiculous, I managed to plan ahead to put my hair up in twists so my hair would be protected while I dealt with my hectic schedule.  So I had to be honest with myself and ask if I can make time for my hair, why can't I make time for my health?

"It's Too Expensive"
It's true that it's more expensive to eat natural and healthy foods, but is that a valid reason for me to continue to eat crap? Although I don't like paying more money for my natural hair products, I know that I get better results when using them and I know that it's better for my hair so I don't question it.  I've also rationalized that I'm actually saving money since I do my own hair and don't have to pay a hairstylist and I don't wear weaves and braids (you know how expensive that stuff is!).  However, it's interesting how I never rationalized that healthy food is better for my body and therefore worth the cost.  I didn't apply the same logic realizing that eating healthy food is less costly than medication or doctor bills, so technically I would be saving money while enjoying a healthier life.

"I Don't Know How"
I don't know a lot about nutrition and I really never took the time to learn how to cook.  On the other hand, I didn't know anything about natural hair either, but I learned.  Not only did I learn, but now I'm doctoring up my leave-in conditioners, mixing up my own moisturizing spritz, using essential oils appropriately diluted with carrier oils and testing pH balances.  If I can do all that . . .well, you see where I'm going :-)

Recently, I began learning how to cook and focusing on making meals made with fresh vegetables. Also, since I have been having some blood pressure issues, I eliminated salt from any meal that I cook and I've been religiously checking the sodium content of everything I buy and make.  It's amazing how much sodium is in most of the things I was eating!  I was reading the ingredient list of every hair product I purchased, but I really wasn't paying a lot of attention to the nutritional value of the food that I was eating although it was clearly labeled.

Benefits are internal & external 

I have even incorporated some vegetarian dishes into my meal plan.  I can't say that I will definitely become a vegetarian, but I was pleasantly surprised that many of the items I prepared were healthy and actually tasted good too.  The results?  My blood pressure has been slowly dropping and my energy level has dramatically increased and I feel great! Now when I hit the gym, I have more energy to get the most out of my hour.

If I keep this up, I can only imagine how I will feel and what I would look like by this time next year!

~Loving Me Naturally (mind, body and soul)