THE SOLUTION TO A SIMPLE, MEANINGFUL, WELL-DESIGNED LIFE /
THE F Ê T E / LIF E PROJECT NO.
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BEYOND RESOLUTIONS Welcome to the Fête/Life Project – a collection of helpful, useful and practical articles that can be applied to life at any time, but especially now. Sourced from the many magazines we have released, our message has never been more relevant or needed by our community today… let’s embrace the simple life and treasure what is truly important – human connection, community, self care and pure acts of kindness. SUPPORT WHEN YOU NEED IT MOST /
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PHOTOGRAPH BY SERAINA SIL JA HÜRLIMANN FOR MARJOLEIN DELHAAS
health / W E L L - B E I N G
PHOTOGRAPH / SERAINA SIL JA HÜRLIMANN STORY / DR LIBBY WEAVER
BEYOND RESOLUTIONS There’s something about a brand new year. We’ve had a break over Christmas, celebrated the closing of the previous year and summer has bloomed over our heads bringing a warm sunshine that makes it difficult to be miserable for long. Somehow it feels like a fresh start! It’s common, in the new year vibe, to be
Or if you’re someone who regularly relies
drawn to setting new year resolutions.
on takeout food and you’ve set a goal to
less pressure on fulfilling set criteria,
If this is an approach that works for you,
nourish yourself with more home-cooked
we are more likely to make choices in our
it can be a great tool to help you gain
meals, you’re unlikely to stick to cooking
clarity on what you want for the year ahead. every single meal for yourself straight up
When we are kinder to ourselves and put
lives that we can sustain. So, it’s important also to remember that if we make a less
But for many, new year’s resolutions just
as you’ll feel as though it’s taking up too
nourishing choice, we haven’t ‘ruined’
don’t stick.
much time. So in that instance, perhaps
anything. Do you think telling yourself
Usually we make these resolutions when we’re still on holidays. In the glow of time away from our usual everyday life, it can
start by incrementally cooking one more
that you’ve ruined it leads you to make
nourishing meal per week (or as regularly
nourishing food choices for the rest of the
as is comfortable for you).
feel much easier to make commitments
We tend to be all or nothing when, in
that might seem more challenging at other
reality, it’s much more sustainable to
times through the year. However, once we
start small and work our way up to bigger
get back to work and back into the swing
changes. When it comes to eating, and
of our usual routine, many people slowly
life in general, I encourage you to be a
edge their way back to old habits and
‘flexitarian'. The concept of being a
begin to lose that shine they started the
‘flexitarian' can be used by anyone –
year with. They might keep them up for
it simply means you don’t have stringent
a few weeks, maybe even a few months,
rules and adapt according to our life
but at some stage they end up berating
each day.
themselves for ‘failing’ again. Sometimes it can take just one event that we perceive as stressful to send us back to our creature comforts.
When applying the principle to food, it could be embracing what some like to call ‘zig and zag'. A ‘zig' meal is made up of nutrient-dense foods, real-foods and no
So how do we avoid this? And how do
alcohol, whereas for a ‘zag' meal, the focus
we maintain our shine through the entire
is more about the company you are in,
year? To begin with, we need to be realistic
being playful and relaxing. ‘Zags' are part
about what we can manage. For many
of a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
people, life is undeniably busy and time
If this approach is going to serve
is precious. When it comes to making
someone’s health, I would guide someone
changes that support our health, we need
to ‘zag' once a week, or for three out of
to take into account what is going to be
their 35 eating occasions. (If you eat three
sustainable. There’s little point making a
meals and two snacks each day, this is
commitment to get up and exercise every
35 eating occasions. Some of you will eat
single morning if we have little ones whose
more frequently than that, some of you
needs will inevitably assert themselves
less frequently — I have taken 35 as a
regularly. Not to mention that your body
weekly average.) For others, five ‘zag'
will also probably scream for a rest and
occasions better suits them. That’s still
you need to listen to that too! It would be
30 meals that are of a nutritionally high
much more manageable to set an intention quality. When it comes to movement, as to include some morning movement into
day? No. It does the opposite. You might eat unresourcefully for another day, or week, or it might be years before you start to make nourishing choices again — all because you ate something that wasn’t particularly nourishing! Remember, nothing in this world has meaning unless we apply one and when you create a meaning that you’ve ruined everything from eating something that you know is not great for you, you run the risk of continuing lousy eating patterns. Always bring curiosity and let go of the judgement. If you bring curiosity to your choice, rather than judgement, you open yourself to learn something. If you have made a less nourishing food choice, instead of judging and berating yourself, ask: “I wonder what led me to eat that?” Perhaps you were actually hungry, in which case you’d do well making some nourishing snacks each Sunday for the week ahead. Or did you have a conversation with a colleague and your feelings were hurt, so you ate something to try to numb the pain? We can apply the same principle to anything we have a tendency to give ourselves a hard time about. Utilise your poor quality choice for learning and growth, rather than allowing it to lead you to not care for yourself long term.
another example, it might simply mean
your schedule, say two, or maybe three
that you make a conscious effort to move
times a week and work your way up from
regularly, but if you don’t your whole world
there if you feel there is space and it
won’t collapse and you won’t suddenly
would be beneficial.
gain four kilograms!
ISSUE NO. 24 / FETEPRESS.COM.AU
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health / W E L L - B E I N G
TIPS TO KEEP THAT SHINE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR BE GRATEFUL THIS IS A CONCEPT THAT HAS SEEN GROWTH OVER THE LAST F E W Y E A R S B U T I T A C T U A L LY HAS A SCIENTIFIC BASIS. SCIENCE HAS SHOWN THAT YOUR N E R V O U S S Y S T E M S I M P LY I S N ’ T ABLE TO FOCUS ON TWO THINGS
Another phrase that is common in these
Beyond all of these ways to help you make
types of scenarios is “I fell off the wagon”.
small, incremental and sustainable change,
The problem is the belief that there is a
one of the most valuable things you can do
wagon to fall off! There is no wagon. There
to maintain your shine throughout the year
is only your life! And it is what you do every is prioritise your own self-care. We tend to
AT ONCE SO WHEN YOU ARE F E E L I N G G R AT I T U D E , Y O U S I M P LY CAN’T BE FEELING STRESSED. SOME PEOPLE FIND IT HELPFUL TO KEEP A GRATITUDE JOURNAL AND LIST ALL THE THINGS THEY
day that impacts on your health, not what
put ourselves way down our own priority
you do occasionally.
list and put everyone else’s needs above
IF THIS DOESN’T FEEL RIGHT FOR
our own. On an aeroplane, the safety video
YO U, M AY B E S E T A R E M I N D E R O N
Your body is your best evidence for what works for you and what doesn’t. While your body (which I lovingly refer to as an ‘Earth suit’) doesn’t have a voice, it will let you know with symptoms whether or not your choices support its best function. And if your ‘Earth suit’ gives you grief, I cannot encourage you enough to go within and explore whether it is asking you to eat, drink, move, think, breathe, believe or perceive in a new way. And you will know. You might not love the answer, but the answer is there. Once you have the answer, you need to act on it. The thing is, you have to care enough about yourself to act on it, and for some of you that is your biggest hurdle. I can’t encourage you enough to be so, so kind to yourself. The way we speak to ourselves can be incredibly damaging to our mental and emotional health. Often we would never speak to anyone, not even our worst enemies, the way we speak to ourselves inside our own head. Our self-talk is incredibly powerful and has a significant impact on how we feel about ourselves and our lives each and every day. I’ve never witnessed one iota of positive change spring from a place of judgement and blame so always approach the parts of
always suggests you put on your own oxygen mask first before helping others. The premise behind this is that if you pass out you will not be able to assist others. It is very easy to pay lip service to this concept and another story entirely to actually act on it. When you go to meditate
A R E G R AT E F U L F O R E AC H DAY.
YOUR PHONE THAT PROMPTS YOU TO STOP AND CONSIDER THINGS THAT BRING YOU GRATITUDE.
INCREASE YOUR VEGGIE INTAKE IT’S VERY DIFFICULT TO HAVE PATIENCE AND BRING KINDNESS WHEN WE’RE EXHAUSTED AND
or practice yoga or go to a café to read your
IT’S NUTRIENTS THAT FEED ALL
favourite magazine, you are taking care of
THE BILLIONS OF BIOCHEMICAL
you and nurturing your soul and this helps everyone around you. Typically, we are able to behave in a much calmer and kinder manner when we have put some runs on
REACTIONS THAT TAKE PL ACE IN OUR BODY EVERY SECOND O F T H E DAY. T H E S I M P L E AC T O F INCREASING OUR VEGETABLE INTAKE CAN HAVE AN INCREDIBLE
our own board and created a sense of
DIFFERENCE ON OUR ENERGY
spaciousness in our lives. When people
AND RESILIENCE TO COPE WITH
tell me they have no time, of course I know they are busy. What I also know is that they have no space in their mind to fit another task, another thing to remember. It is headspace we need and only you can give yourself that. Start to incorporate relaxation rituals into your everyday life. Don’t wait until you actually feel stressed. I hope you have such a wonderful year ahead.
T H E B U S Y N E S S O F E V E R Y DAY LIFE. IT CAN BE HELPFUL TO KEEP AN ORGANIC GROUND-UP VEGETABLE POWDER ON HAND TO E A S I LY B O O S T N U T R I E N T I N TA K E .
DO THINGS THAT BRING YOU JOY WE OFTEN GET CAUGHT UP IN DOING THINGS WE FEEL WE 'HAVE' TO DO—OUR DUTIES, OBLIGATIONS AND CHORES. AND YES THOSE THINGS NEED TO BE DONE, OF COURSE THEY DO. BUT HOW MUCH SPACE DO YOU ALLOCATE FOR FUN, IF ANY? NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF SIMPLE ACTIVITIES
yourself that you don’t like with curiosity.
THAT FILL YOUR JOY TANK. FIND
Enquire within yourself, “I wonder what
WHAT LIGHTS YOU UP ON THE
lead me to make that choice?”, and explore
INSIDE AND DO MORE OF THAT.
what comes up for you. It can be helpful sometimes to journal your responses.
Dr Libby Weaver is a Nutritional Biochemist, best-selling author and speaker. Her book, W O M E N ’ S W E L L N E S S W I S D O M , is available at: DRLIBBY.COM
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FETEPRESS.COM.AU / ISSUE NO.24