Foodie habits and sedentary hacks...Loh #220.

There is no doubt that food is essential to sustanace in life. It is one of the basic needs of humans. I like food and I proudly call myself a foodie, without regrets.

I think my body structure contributes to my liking food as I am a fast metabolizer. I can eat every and anything, so long as it tastes delicious and is edible and yet no matter what I eat or how much I eat, I remain the same. Someone should please share some fat my way* 😁.

But just because I can eat almost anything, I don't go about eating everything on display. I am not a glutton 😁. I try as much as possible to eat healthy and within reasonable bounds.

Breakfast is taken at 8am, lunch at 1pm and dinner 8pm. Sometimes due to certain activities like vigils, I often take midnight snacks (like cookies and milk) to boost my lost electroytes.

I eat slowly when I am eating alone but I eat fast when I am eating with people, especially if its a shared plate, because I don't want to be cheated 🙈.

One self care eating habit I don't joke with is to eat enough fruits and vegetables. A good example is vegetable salad. I know the numerous benefits of fruits and veggies, hence I don't miss them in my diet. Sometimes, I take two days in a week to only eat fruits and veggies and stay off cooked food.

Another self care habit is to engage in periodic fasts. I fast on Sundays by skipping a meal. This gives my digestive cells "a day off". Although, I'm sure my worms get pissed whenever I do that.

As for my cravings, I indulge myself once in a while depending on what I crave but I still set boundaries. When I was younger, I gave in to my cravings a lot but now that I'm older and almost close to 40, I understand that I need to be more careful with my feeding habits.

Sedentary challenge hacks

While sitting down to work might feel good, sitting down for too long can lead to chronic health issues like obesity, diabetes, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular diseases. This is sometimes called sitting disease.

Some hacks I practice to create balance are..

1. Take standing breaks.

I make sure to get up from my seat and walk around. Sometimes, I specifically move to another colleague's office to chit chat and while away time. I do this standing.

1. Going on walks.

Many times, I choose to walk home from work instead of calling a cab or hitching a ride with a colleague. Taking walks have great benefits to the body and this helps the stretch my leg muscles and help blood circulate freely.

1. Doing manual labour.

In order to reduce sedentary challenges, I sometimes ditch the use of some electronic devices to carry out my chores and do them manually. I wash my clothes with my hands while half bent over the basin. I stand to wash the dirty dishes in the sink. I clear weeds around my compound using a hoe and a cutlass e.t.c.

This last one is quite hilarious but it works as well. I lay down on a mat with my tummy to the ground while I ask my daughter to step on my back for a little while. This is a forn of massage and it is really relaxing.

These hacks help me to overcome some sedentary behaviour and challenges like waist pain, oodema (swelling feet) and fatigue.

Thank you all for reading... Shalom

Images used are mine.