To My Future Client

Alleigh Wiggs To My Future Client

You can eat bread. You can eat rice. You can eat the chalky protein bars with fake sugar. You can eat cake, or cheese puffs, or ice cream. You can eat an entire cereal box, cardboard included, with the prize inside. This doesn’t mean all of these do the same thing inside your body, or build your healthiest self, and to be honest, it is probably not your fault if you don’t know that. An entire industry is built on making us addicted to lab-made foods. Another industry solicits diet culture: selling bars, shakes, books, and diet plans to vulnerable individuals. You don’t have to run. You don’t have to be as fit as that one girl on your timeline you envy. You don’t have to do the “at home booty workouts” you see on Instagram. You don’t have to go to the gym at all. You can sit on the couch. You should know what this does to your body, though. The average American diet is so calorically dense that without much physical activity, it becomes difficult to manage a healthy weight. I’m 5’3”, and the average American diet and portion size has never been kind to my small frame. You should know that regular exercise strengthens your heart and that weight-bearing exercise may prevent osteoporosis. Self-care is deeper than your desire to sit on the couch, eat ice cream, and watch It’s Always Sunny with your roommate. Self-care is deeper than mental health days. It is taking the time to prepare food that nourishes your body. It is moving in ways that make you happy, even when you feel exhausted. It is prioritizing your health with your votes, dollars, and time. It is choosing whole foods, shopping around the perimeter in the grocery store. It is going to yoga, learning to move. You don’t have to care about health; you don’t even have to take care of yourself. If you don’t, make it a choice. Don’t fall into the trap of the American lifestyle. Make it a choice to give yourself the chance to age gracefully, play with your children, walk upstairs. Know what goes inside your bag of chips, your cereal, your soda. Know why you squat, why you stretch. In all cases, be mindful.