Trends change as often as you change your underwear, which I hope is pretty often… You are supposed to inhale all the protein you can find, not eat past 7 pm, drink coffee with butter, jump on your left leg for 25 seconds before using the bathroom, or eat mashed potatoes before going to bed. I know that those last two aren’t real health trends, but if they got viral people would be jumping around and stuffing their faces with potatoes like crazy. This is the wonderful and terrifying effect of social media.
There are some things that are biologically good for us like eating real wholesome foods, sleeping according to our circadian rhythm and exercising regularly. But most of the time trends are just trends and just because they are everywhere on media and being promoted by celebrities and influencers doesn’t mean they are good for you. Not even if your most trusted health magazine might hop on the trend and write a five page article about it. Most of the time social media fad trends are just that, trends.
Trends will trick you into “feeling great” even though you might not. I’ve learned this the hard way. The longer you follow a trend your body will start to get accustomed to mood swings, tiredness, not feeling completely satisfied etc. Your body puts itself in survival mode to make sure your basic living functions will work as smooth as possible. It can even lead to obsession over food. Suddenly you’re putting foods into groups. “Good foods” and “bad foods”. You’ll be looking at some nutritious grains and go like, “na, bro you can’t sit with us”. This itself is extremely unhealthy and can lead to serious issues such as eating disorders.
What’s mucho importante to understand is that your body doesn’t follow trends. Your body doesn’t check social media and go like “yeah girl, I see you getting on that low carb diet! Hell yes, let’s do this!”. No, our bodies are biologically in need of nutrients to sustain us and when we start to follow these health trends we mess up our bodies natural function and cycles. Your hormones will be going cray cray along with your digestive system, proper brain functioning and malnutrition, to name a few. What a shitty situation, or should I say “not so shitty” when your digestive system shuts down…
Finally, you are unique. Your body is your temple and you will have certain habits that work for you but won’t necessarily work the same way for someone else. Some people don’t need to eat three meals a day, and others need to eat five meals a day. Some people can function better on less sleep and some people can’t. Some people deal with allergies and other constraints which forces them to find their specific way of living to feel good. The only trend you should be following is your trend. And yes, it’s going to take some time to find what works best for you. There will be some experimenting involved, some trial and error, but you’ll get there. When you figure out what makes you go energizer bunny and feel the best every day, that’s when you’ve got it.
Some tips to start would be:
- Incorporate more fruits and veggies to your diet.
Add nutritious foods, don’t take out anything. Make small changes every week towards a whole foods plant based diet. - Drink more H2O!!
Sip it like it’s hot and you’re about to drop! Everyday! All day! - Move it, baby.
Just move more. Walk a little more, maybe take a run, do some squats. Just get some activity going. - Get unconscious.
Yes, you will have to start to prioritize sleep a little bit more. I wish we all could live without it, but unfortunately we need to get unconscious for a few hours every night to survive. - Go offline.
Work on putting your phone away more often. Make time where you focus on you. Try to take a meditation or yoga class, go for walks, read a book. You need a break from the social sphere to get in tune with yourself.
These are basically the foundation of getting your shit and everything else together. Don’t forget then we are all individuals with different tweaks and that’s where you have to go soul searching to see what you need. Okay, not really a soul search but you need to be willing to give your body time to experience a variety of things to realize what will transform you into your superhuman self!
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