At every stage of life one thing is true: You’re the one constant in your own life and the one person you can truly count on. If you don’t love yourself, then you’re in deep trouble. It’s very important to love yourself since sometimes you are all you have. So, it’s up to you! There are many ways you can show yourself some love such as:
Keep a Joy Journal — Practice finding (and experiencing) joy in everyday life. Write down three things that you enjoyed during the day before you go to bed. When you go to bed you’ll be focused on the joy you experienced during the day.
Open Your Heart — Age, experience, and life events can sometimes cause us to close our hearts. It is a shame to do that. Find a way to be childlike and open your heart. Like the song says, “Love like never loved before.” Letting go of expectations can help you open your heart.
Take a LONG Bath – If you’ve been really busy you might have forgotten how luxurious a long bath is. Go all out, light candles, have a glass of wine, put on some music, a mask on your face, cucumbers on your eyes and lay back and enjoy your alone time.
Buy Yourself Flowers – Everyone loves fresh flowers, but the sure fire way to make sure that you get the kind you like is to go buy them for yourself. Take your time in the flower shop creating just the right arrangement. Put them in a prominent place so that you can enjoy them.
Take Long Walks — Aside from the health benefit of taking long walks, reducing weight and stress, it can be very enjoyable to take a stroll that is not meant for exercise but rather just enjoying the earth and what nature provides.
Eat Healthy – It’s fine to treat yourself to something decadent once in a while but, if you were feeding your child, your mother or spouse what would you fix them to make sure they stay healthy. Create healthy and special meals even if you’re eating alone.
Throw a Party – No one around to throw you a birthday party? Well, throw one for yourself. Send out invitations and everything. There is nothing wrong with planning and throwing a party for yourself. I know one lady who actually met her new husband this way; he was the brother of someone she invited to celebrate her birthday at a local hotspot.
Get a Massage – Massage is good for you, pick someone who is certified in the kind of massage you want to get and of course pick a reputable place. Make it a regular monthly, quarterly or yearly treat, whatever you can afford.
See a Movie – Either rent a movie, or actually go to a movie that you really want to see. Go alone, get some popped corn and a drink and enjoy the movie without having to worry or concern yourself with anyone else.
Everyone wants to eat healthier but it’s often difficult to figure what that means. Everyone, it seems has a different view of what constitutes “health eating”. Well, you can’t go wrong by eating more whole organic foods. These are foods that have been grown without added hormones, pesticides or other additives. Even the Whitehouse has got into the act by changing the food pyramid to a plate. The plate really makes a lot of sense because we do eat on a plate, not a triangle.
You can see the new Food Guidelines here: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/
Notice how fruits and veggies are half your plate and portion control is the keyword of the food plan. Making veggies and fruits half your plate is a perfect way to get more whole foods into your diet. Even if you have especially big plates (plates have grown in size by over 20% since the 70’s!), eating half, raw whole veggies and fruits will make you healthier. A forth of your plate is whole grains, so fully three quarters of your meal should be whole foods. The last forth is for lean proteins.
You can also use the site above to create a food plan for you based on your age, weight and height. While the government seems to have issues getting a lot of things done, one thing is certain; the USDA website is an awesome resource to help you eat right. If you want to skip certain additions such as meat and dairy just substitute other foods that have the missing nutritional ingredient. Example: 1 serving of spinach has 255 milligrams of calcium. You can eat healthy by always remembering that food is a source of nutrition, and if you cut out one group you need to replace the nutritional components with something.
Some quick ways to get more whole foods into your diet are:
Hide it – Grate a carrot and add it to your spaghetti sauce, or stuff some leafy greens into your morning fruit smoothie. In addition use whole grain pasta, and dairy that has no added hormones in your smoothie.
Eat your fruit – Fruit is full of fiber and is good for you, eat it, instead of drinking it. Drink water instead of fruit juices, diet sodas or even milk. Plus, it has the added benefit of being hydrating and filling you up more than just drinking the juice.
Have a raw night – Make one or two nights a week, “raw” night and only eat raw whole foods such as salads with a lot of veggies, fruits and nuts. Use fancy wine vinegars to season your salad instead of fatty dressings.
16. Eat Berries — Eating berries gives your body so much, aside from the pleasure they produce on the tongue, they provide a lot of vitamin C, magnesium, folate and potassium. Full of phytochemicals and flavonoids, in addition, they’re very low in calories. Even the sweetest berries are good for you!
17. Drink Red Wine — There is controversy over the idea that drinking wine is good for you. But countless studies show that a glass or two of red wine a couple times a week is beneficial to your health for a variety of reasons. A glass of wine provides antioxidants, resveratrol, flavonoids, and mood enhancers. Red wine is low in sugar, and calories.
18. Drink Tea — A nice glass of hot tea on a cold day, or a glass of iced tea on a hot day actually does your body good. Unless of course you ruin it by adding a bunch of sugar — fake or otherwise. Drink tea with honey, stevia or agave to maintain the benefits of the tea. Tea drinkers, studies show are less likely to have a heart attack and have stronger bones.
19. Make love — I don’t think I really need to tell you why. Making love makes everyone feel better. Don’t worry, if you don’t have a partner, masturbating also does many of the same things for you, health wise than a roll in the hay with a partner although you will burn more calories with a partner. Sex is a stress reliever, boosts your immunity, and burns calories. During sex you are improving your cardiovascular health and even reducing body pains. Orgasm by itself also increases the strength of your pelvic floor muscles which can keep you from having the common complaint of menopausal woman of urine leakage.
20. Eat lean protein — Lean proteins like those found in fish, egg whites, lean beef, poultry, dairy products and vegetarian products like legumes are very healthy for you. Protein keeps you full longer, thus enabling you to eat less and go longer between meals. Don’t forget that you can also get protein from green leafy plants. Add some too a morning smoothie to get your daily protein quota.
21. Eat Fiber — You’ve heard it before but it probably didn’t become as important to you until you were reaching in menopause and the dreaded constipation issues started. Soluble fiber has been shown in studies to reduce incidences of heart disease. But the fact is fiber helps you go to the bathroom easier, and if that is the only reason you eat it, then it’s worth it. There are suggestions that it reduces cancer, corrects digestive disorders, lowers incidence of diabetes and obesity. What’s not to love? Have some every day with your berries!
