The Good Life: Being a busy mum & taking care of my health

Making a conscious effort to take care of my health was never really on my agenda... it took me to become a mother to decide to start thinking about my health. you see, if you're a mother, you'll know how difficult it is to take care of another small human being while you yourself may have a decapitating cold or flu, it is not fun. i was always used to feeling quite lethargic, and got used to yawning.. A LOT. my iron levels have always been on the low side, and having Corben completely sucked the life out of me.. i was prescribed with iron tablets, which are horrendous things
and quite frankly ignored the doctors advice to take them, so i decided to start looking at other alternatives. trying out new products and routines in my life that would energise me on a daily basis.

Since originally writing this post, there's been a couple of drastic changes in my life that have contributed to me feeling healthier and happier (although i've still got a lot to work on). Just a few months after writing this i decided to give myself a challenge to go vegetarian (read more about that HERE), this really changed my attitude toward food but also the environment.

Now i really value the importance of shopping locally, eating fresh foods more often and of course cutting meat out of my diet has made me more conscious of what nutrients i'm getting from what i'm feeding myself, this is an ongoing process but there are a couple of foods that i LOVE incorporating into my diet with huge nutritional benefits, including chia seeds, read more about the health benefits of those in THIS post.

a loaf of fresh sourdough bread from our local bakery

super green smoothie courtesy of Deliciously Ella's recipe book

In general i'm eating better, have a more colourful palette and am making the effort with food because we are what we eat at the end of the day, so don't be cheap, fast or fake! (That was totally a quote i saw on facebook once and stole it! aha)

This biggest lifestyle change that's made all the difference has been our move to the coast (read more about our big move HERE & HERE)

There's just something about being so close to the elements that have a calming yet energizing affect on my soul and health. Getting to walk down to the beach every day, having the New Forest so close (see a list of 30 things to do in Dorset) and just generally being surrounded by more greenery has really uplifted me. There's also a huge interest and trend of health and wellness down here, i see so many joggers and people walking their dogs, there are also so many health clubs and spas it's quite hard to ignore it!

photo source

Which is why i've finally embrace yoga, a practice i was interested in testing for a long while but really struggled to get into before. I'd still like to make more time for yoga and i will do this year as for the first time i have some proper health goals. If you want to see how you can incorporate yoga into your day to day read THIS post.