My motivation for adopting a Healthy Lifestyle

Hello people. Like I mentioned in my last week's post, I will be talking about why I chose to intentionally adopt a healthy lifestyle, even though it is not the default mode. Long before the fit-fam thing became a craze, thanks to social media, I have always been mindful of my diet. You can read more about it here

For me, it was never about being skinny or losing weight. I have always been petite, and wasn't interested in losing further weight, lest my sexy hips disappeared, lol. In fact, it was the fear of losing weight that delayed me from starting to work out on time, till I gained more knowledge about how to have a healthy work out lifestyle and not lose weight, and started working out 4 years ago.

1. I eat healthy because of my digestive system

As at 2009, my body stopped being compatible with the regular Nigerian carb kind of life. So if I eat bread in the morning, rice in the afternoon or evening (I can't eat 3 square meals), and continue with this kind of life, I'm asking for trouble with my digestive system. My body started being on heavy demand for fibre. By 2010, I had learnt my lesson over and over again that I became a chronic vegetable soup consumer. It was basically small rice, plenty veggies for me. So even if I didn't want to be fit, my body required it from me

Later, my body rejected milk and dairy, cruciferous vegetables, and then some other stuff. The whole story is here.

2. The idea of being sick makes me sick


I used to do my daily prayers every evening, and one of the prayer points to kickstart the session was for perfect health in my body, organs, system, etc. This informed me of how so much I want a healthy body.

I hate sickness. Oh gosh, how I hate sickness. I've always been quite healthy and the thought that at the snap of a finger, people get hospitalized and spend tons of money getting better or not getting better wasn't a palatable one for me. So I prayed against all forms Sickness. More knowledge came to me about what I might be doing to harm my body (my body was already rejecting processed sugar anyway). So I started the process of cutting out white flour, processed sugar, etc

I've never really been on a special diet or had to reduce my food intake or portion control. For me, I go with my on rule of replace, don't reduce. If I need to sweeten anything, I can use dried fruits or banana instead of sugar. I replace bouillon cubes with natural spices, etc. this way, I don't suffer from lack of variety. Someone once asked me "you don't eat this, you don't eat that, so what do you eat?" To which I answered, "trust me, there are a lot of things I eat." I am constantly on the lookout for foods high in fibre. My journey has led me to discover food like quinoa, barley, etc

When I go to occasions, I eat what I am served. I don't go to a lot anyway. I make sure I don't stock up junk food in my house. When they are not around me, there's absolutely no temptation to even eat them.

My major challenge comes mostly when I have to stay with someone during vacation. Trying to find what I can whip up with limited options can be hard, but I still do. It got so bad when I was in Houston last year to the point of being driven to order my own granola and soya milk because the options were so limited that I had to start taking Kellogg’s frosties and milk, which was bad bad bad for me (perfect recipe to inflame my pores). I felt bad that I ordered my own stuff in someone’s house, but mehn, it was a necessary evil

So yes, these are my two major reasons for healthy eating.
1. My body rejected a lot of things
2. I hate sickness and many things out there are making us sick, and capable of destroying our bodies

Are you into all these healthy eating? If yes, what made you adopt the lifestyle? If no, are you considering it or do you think it's just a nonsense social media rave