It was through a period of dramatic personal transformation that I deeply learnt the foundations of transformation and the tools that make this a more comfortable and manageable process. Welcome to part two in this four-part series, where I am sharing the four fundamental areas that empower change along with some low or zero cost tools that support each of them: personal mindset, what we consume, active use of mind & body, and intentional rest of mind & body.
No. 2: What we Consume
What we consume is far more reaching than simply our diet, what we consume also includes what we put on to our bodies and what we watch, listen to and read.
Diet: Hippocrates said, ‘let food be thy medicine’, and scientific research is consistently backing him up. Will Bulsiewicz, MD MSCI, notes that 70-80% of our immune system is found in our guts. In making food choices we’re making choices about immunity, sleep, weight, and overall health, thereby making choices about our functionality, emotions, and ability to perform. Diet is a huge area of discussion, within which, my core advice taken from research and my experience is: eat as wide an array of plants as possible to boost your gut’s microbiome, minimise or ideally cut out of your day to day diet any processed foods and refined sugars, minimising all sugars. Please note the use of ‘day to day diet’, believe me, I still eat cake! I advocate for us meat-eaters to eat less but spend more; smaller local farmers tend to have higher standards of animal husbandry, so buying less meat to allow you to buy better quality local meat I believe is more ethical and more healthy.
Read, listen, watch: Have you ever stopped to notice how scrolling through your social media makes you feel, or what thoughts or emotions are triggered by music or films? What we watch, read, or listen to is consumption of the mind. You need to take time to truly acknowledge how something makes you feel. If you are comparing yourself to someone on Instagram and it generates negative self-talk, it weakens the positive mindset needed for change. If something makes you feel bad, minimise, or remove that content either temporarily or permanently.
What we put on our body: Our skin absorbs the products we put onto it. This can be great in the case of having a Magnesium salt bath before bed, but many products contain chemicals or allergens that are not so good for your system. Especially if your transformation involves getting your body functioning better, you need to look at what you are consuming through your skin & hair. You do not need to chuck all your products in the bin, simply become conscious of and begin to build knowledge around what you use, do some research and try some new things.
What we consume through our digestive system, minds, hair, and skin all have a direct impact on our well being, which directly impacts the positive mindset and energy needed to create transformation. Keeping a log or journal is a useful way of becoming aware of your consumption in all its forms to help you create change. It can be bullet points or full diary entries, it can be daily or simply a log of activity of the days ahead of whenever you notice a specific symptom you want to remove. Over time you can spot patterns between symptom and consumption, and this can be used as a basic form of self-coaching yourself to a more positive path.
