My Pillars

Over the years, I have learned a lot about healthy living.  Yet, like many people, knowledge does not mean power.  This is one of the things that I hope to shift in the coming year.  In other words, put my money where my mouth is.  To help this, I am going to write down and share some things that I see as vital to gaining the healthy life we all deserve.  They are my pillars (and more may be added in the future).

Number 1.  Knowledge may be power, but only if you use it.

I have to put my brain before my stomach.  A lot of my bad eating comes from eating what I crave instead of what I should eat.  I eat out a lot, and despite how I know I shouldn’t eat the fried food or have that third drink, I do it anyway.

Number 2. We do not need to eat animals or animal products in order to be healthy.

Personally, this ties in with Number 1.  For years now, I have wanted to eat vegan.  I know many of the benefits (e.g. health, environment, animal/human suffering), yet despite what my brain and soul screams when I take a bite, I still eat animal products nearly every day.  As part of my new life, I will be making a vegan diet much more of a priority.  If I know it has animal products in it, I will not eat it.  However, as a caveat, I must say, I take the stance that Carpe Vegan promotes and is summed up as such that all birthday cake and alcohol is vegan.  I am not going to be one of those whiney vegans that everyone hates.  If that means I eat stuff with animals in it, then so be it because I also hold Number 3 to be very true…

Number Three.  We all make mistakes…plan for them.

Personally, it is impossible for me to eat “perfectly” every day.  I’m a traditional foodie, and so that means I love stuff that has a lot of fat and sugar.  If I never got that, I’d end up binging, so I feel that it’s okay to cheat once a week.  To be able to let go those nights you’re out with friends or sit down for a holiday meal makes the craziness of the rest of the week worth it.  I have to warn you, though; it’s a slippery slope, so you need to watch yourself.  If you find yourself cheating more than once a week, you may want to give yourself some tough love while reviewing why you want to eat healthy.

Also, just because I hope to eat vegan, that doesn’t mean I won’t accidently eat something that isn’t vegan.  It happens.  If you consider yourself vegan, don’t go off the deep end because Aunt Sue didn’t know mayonnaise had eggs in it or what you thought was red pepper flakes on those green beans ended up being bacon!  Mistakes happen.  Get over it.

Number Four. Food isn’t just about nutrition or whether it is vegan or not.

In the United States, we have an abundant selection of food available at any time of the year.  However, that does not mean we should eat anything we like, and just because it seems healthy, it doesn’t mean it is.  Healthy eating also means eating local and in season (and it’s pretty impossible to eat local and not eat in season!)  So that means Megan and I probably won’t be eating the same things every week.  She lives in Georgia and I live in Washington, so our seasons are totally different!  For one thing, she can eat peaches a lot more than I can, but I get to eat lots of apples, hence the name of our blog.

Now, one other thing that goes under this pillar is that just because it is vegan, that doesn’t mean it is healthy, no matter what Skinny Bitches may say.  To be healthy, you have to eat certain things while avoiding others.  This means eating non-processed foods (like avoiding frozen fake meats) and foods packed with a nutritional punch (such as quinoa, lentils, kale, and berries.) 

Number Five. Healthy eating doesn’t equal health.

You gotta sweat!  You gotta get that heart beating!  Even if it is only walking 30 minutes a few times a week.

Number Six. Goals are vital.

You need to write them down.  You need to share them with others.  This one is so important, I’m going to dedicate my next post to it.

So until then, happy eating!

Katie