We started a Wellness Mentor Program at Bilot together with LovelyLife. This project is supported by The Finnish Work Environment Fund. With this project we are gathering our own “Bilot’s core team”, who will be our wellness mentors network. In this blog series our Wellness Mentors share their thoughts and experiences during this journey.
When I heard that our workshop focuses on food and nutrition, my first thought was, let’s see what the recommendations are. There are so many different types of nutrition guidelines and recommendations that this is not an easy one. Lovelylife instructions were based on Finnish nutrition recommendations.
There are diets as many as we have people so there is not just one and only diet for everyone.
I thought that maybe I can share some of my founding’s and routines what I feel that in addition increase my wellbeing. Some people think that food is just fuel, for me it is a pleasure maker, joy bringer and at its best it is a symphony of tastes.
First of all I would like to say that of course not all instructions apply to all body types because we are all individuals. So I would encourage you to do a lot of experimentation in your own and listen to your body how it reacts to it.
5 things that work for me
1. I try to base my own diet on nutrient-rich eating.
This means that I need to know which foods contains a lot of vitamins, minerals and macronutrients. So I urge you to do a lot of research which foods are nutritious and nutrient-rich. You can think about it by trying to avoid so-called empty energy. For example exchange pasta to Finnish root veggies or quinoa. Exchange normal white bread to nutrient rich bread that include for example seeds etc.
2. I eat and buy organic food as much as I can.
I also love gardening so I grow some vegetables and berries myself. I want to avoid additives and I try to use a natural source of nourishment.
3. We do a lot of smoothies and juices in my family.
The health reason for smoothies is simple: when the structure of a food is broken down and shredded, nutrients are absorbed into the body much more efficiently. The thing is that everything you eat doesn’t necessarily get absorbed.
4. Then to make it more interesting there is still one thing to consider and it is the acidity of your diet.
Man is made up of cells that are responsible for all the chemical and biological processes that are important to life. In order for cells to function optimally, their habitat must be in balance. The temperature, ion concentration, and PH must be within certain limits. Body removes unneeded acids to keep the body’s optimal alkalinity. So it matters to our body performance that how much you eat acid foods, more work to the body in the long run.
So how to increase the alkalinity of the body?
Eat a lot of veggies and fruits like lemon, grapefruit, blood grapefruit, lime, coconut and avocado. Cereals acidify the body so you can use quinoa, buckwheat and millet instead. Cucumber, sprouts, some nuts and seeds are great too. Boost your body with green powders and use salt from which you get minerals (like Himalayan rose salt / unrefined sea salt). You can easily add salt and squeezed lemon to your drinking water. Remember to drink enough water, if you want to take it next level use alkalized water.
For example alcohol, sugar, meat, coffee, black tea, milk products acidify the body so you may consider the amount you use them.
Well, of course, the intention is not to weed out all acidifying substances from your diet. The most important thing is the balance between the alkaline and acid foods. In summary, the ideal would be to keep 80% of the diet alkaline.
Why to keep the balance in mind? It is simple, the acid body is the base for diseases.
The accumulation of cellulite is a sign of too much acidity, which means that if you want to get rid of lumps, alkalize your body!
And hey the diet is not the only thing that acidifies the body! It is also affected by stress, hard sports, drug use, pollution, mood, etc. So my counterattack is yoga and deep breathing. While it is a condition of life for us, but still it feels like we don’t remember to breathe, at least deeply.
5. The one last thing: Life should not be so serious on regards to eating.
So a good rule of thumb would be to stick to the diet 80% of time and eat what you want 20% of time. This is how you keep the balance. Enjoy the vitality of life.
This blog is part of a series in which Bilot’s Wellness Mentors talk about their experiences with the program. See all the blog posts here »
