How I Practice Wellness (without obsession)

On the podcast, here on VM and on my social media platforms I talk often about wellness without obsession. Why?

Because in today’s world, everything is extreme. All the messaging out there seems to be black or white, all or nothing, and encourage obsessive thinking. My goal with all that I do is encourage gray thinking, a balanced approach to all that we do. Including our health.

Spoiler alert: Obsessing over your health will NOT make you healthier. In fact, it will do the opposite. I’ve seen it to be true in my own life when I struggled with orthorexia, and its my primary speciality is serving those with orthorexia at Nourishing Minds Nutrition.

So what about those of us who have let go of the obsessive mentality around our eating habits, our bodies and how we approach our health…Are we doomed to never be allowed to care about wellness every again in fear of it becoming obsessive again?

Not at all! Diet culture doesn’t get to steal the joy of drinking turmeric milk, steal the joy of movement, steal the joy of a good meditation and caring about the health of ourselves and the health of the planet.

This is where the term wellness without obsession came from. It first started in our e-book, and then our amazing Facebook group created a hashtag around it, and its where a lot of my work now centers is helping explain what this means!

So, onto the purpose of today’s blog post. I want to share some examples of how I personally approach wellness without obsession. Keep in mind this isn’t an all encompassing list and its also what I personally enjoy. Feel free to use it as inspiration to explore what wellness without obsession means to you!

How I practice wellness without obsession:

-Shopping for food at my favorite businesses to support. Thrive Market for items I cannot find in my local area, for better prices and for supplements. The weekly St Pete farmer’s market for items such as meat, cheese, bread and produce. And our local health food/grocery store to purchase the rest of the grocery items for our home. For those that are local, I recently started shopping at Lucky’s Market because their prices are amazing and they have an amazing bulk section. And as far as how I eat, y’all know that is all based off intuitive eating :)

-I’ve always cared about what products we used in our home, but now that there’s a baby on the way, I really have been spend time creating intention around non-toxic living. My favorite way to do this is via our cleaning (Nick and I may be a wee bit obsessive with our cleaning). We now use all Branch Basics products in our home for all cleaning (including the laundry!). Click here to find out more about why I love Branch Basics.

-Daily acts of small self care such as baths, yoga, lots of walks, naps, asking myself what I need that day even if its just a quick shower and putting on real clothes.

-More elaborate self care, typically a once a month thing. For local people, I go to Ellie at Handcrafted Healing once a month for my massages, twice a month chiropractor with Dr. Johanna who owns Atlas Chiropractor and when I need acupuncture I go to St Pete Community Acupuncture.

-Skincare is one of my favorite wellness tools! Personally, I use all Primally Pure products on my skin and face. I love how simple the ingredients are, all organic and that they even utilize the nose to tail philosophy with their products.

-I’m not an expert in sustainability (nor do I ever plan on being one!), but I do deeply care to slowly implement sustainable ways of living into my life. My resource for learning the ins and outs, how to apply this in an approachable way is the Well Library. I have the lifetime membership and go to it anytime I have a question around this subject.

-Mental health- asking for help when needed is my favorite way to take care of my mental health lately. Also, constantly checking in on myself, asking myself questions and giving myself time to feel my emotions and utilize journaling or talking through them with loved ones. This is also a great place to consider medication and therapy as part of the approach to mental health if it fits for you.

-Activity and movement through biking, walking, dancing, yoga, stretching and letting my body tell me what it needs daily for activity.

-Having time for social connections, deep friendships and dedicating time in my life to improving relationships in my life.

-Gratitude and manifestation writing daily. Reading a part of a book daily as well.

-Daily deep breathing throughout the day and especially at mealtime.

-Morning and evening routines.

-Ayurveda practices such as dry brushing and tongue scraping.

Other fun ideas:

-Utilizing adaptogens and herbs knowing these are fun supportive mechanisms for the body (but don’t forget the way you live such as day to day stressors make the biggest impact in your health).

-Essential oils, especially using my essential oil diffuser.

-Having a delicious alcoholic beverage, like my beloved old fashions, from time to time.

-Using CBD oil to help with stress, anxiety and sleeping better.

-Lots and lots of sleep.

-Prioritizing spirituality. This is where my crystals, palo santo and these type of tools come in to play as well as yoga to connect to my inner self.

-De-cluttering and keeping a clean home.

-Watching something funny daily and laughing. Listening to music daily and feeling.