If you have tried to get that healthy glow before, you’ll have heard the usual (boring) advice; stay hydrated, take vitamins, sleep more… Whilst some of these things are true and still good practice to adopt, those aren’t the only things you can do to get glowing.
In fact, these 3 unexpectedly simple steps will have you looking and feeling radiant in no time.
1. Eat more plants
We live in a world where healthy convenience food is considered a muesli bar, rice cakes or diet coke – and not a banana or a handful of nuts. But the truth is that glowing, radiant skin is within reach if you are willing to eat your veggies and fruit.
Vegetables and fruit contain plenty of the good stuff like fibre, antioxidants and vitamins which actively work to rejuvenate your entire body – from your intestines to your skin.
Not only will your skin be more radiant but studies show that people who manage to chow down 5-10 serves of vegetables per day live much longer and leaner than the rest of us. I know I make it my mission each day to stock up on veg.
At least 50% of your diet should come from plant-based whole foods like vegetables, fruit, seeds and nuts and whole grains. The current recommendation is for Aussie’s to eat a whopping five serves of veg per day. That is huge amount of vegetables when a serve is the size of your fist!
Chances are, you are not eating enough plants or fruit and veg. So starting today, let’s make a pact? Don’t focus on restricting carbs or fat, simply focus on eating more plants. Not only will you feel so much better (hello happy, healthy bowel!) but you will literally glow from the inside out.
2. Count colours, not calories
Forget what you have previously been told. When it comes to nutrition, it is far more important to count the number of colours on your plate than the calories on a packet. Focusing on calories can make us resent healthy eating and makes meal prep boring, which is a sure-fire way to feel dull, uninspired and glow-less.
So instead, focus on counting colours! The colour of food hints at the nutrients inside. For example, the nutrients packed inside an orange are very different from the nutrients in spinach leaves. By aiming to get at least three different colours at each meal, you can help ensure you are filling up on all of your nutrients.
If you’re looking to lose weight, then the best thing you can do is pile your plate high with loads of colourful vegetables. Colourful food like fruit and vegetables tend to have less energy than colourless junk food like hot chips.
#eattherainbow
3. Actively love your body
There is something really beautiful about someone who feels comfortable in their own skin, don’t you agree? Inner confidence is, without a doubt, the most effective way to start glowing. And it all starts and ends with you (and that beautiful mind of yours).
Let me ask you a question: Does your best friend or partner ever complain that you are too fat, ugly or stupid? No? I hope not.
Chances are you are too smart to hold onto any ‘friend’ or ‘partner’ who talks to you like that.
So let ask you: Why do you talk to yourself like that?
We all have an inner mean-girl (or boy) dialogue. This inner voice plays on our insecurities, reminding us of our imperfections and knows how to hit us where it hurts.
Let’s get something straight. Your inner mean girl (or boy) is sabotaging your health and your natural glow by constantly focusing on the negatives. There is nothing more soul-destroying and glow-sucking than believing you are feeling fat, ugly and stupid.
Fact: Telling yourself these things makes you feel like crap. Which is super-inconvenient when feeling guilt, sadness or anger actually make us vulnerable to emotional eating and binge eating.
Truth is that people who feel happy and confident are far more likely to feel and look great.
Body positive Aussie model Robyn Lawley (pictured) is a body confidence role model.
Just like your friends and family need to be told that they are loved, your body also needs to be told that it is fine – just the way it is.
Next time your inner mean person decides to speak up, acknowledge his or her presence and then politely (or not!) tell her to eff off. Explain that although it isn’t perfect, your body is amazing just the way it is.
Even if you don’t believe it at the beginning, eventually, if you do it enough, you WILL begin to believe it.
And If you want to build a healthier body image and stop wasting so much precious headspace wishing you had someone else’s body. Download my free toolkit with the strategies that helped me accept my body just the way it is.
Accept that your body is flawed and always will be, but accept it anyway.
Accept that while you can’t control everything around you, you can control your thoughts. You can reframe your beliefs and learn new ways of thinking.
For me, it’s taken years and years and I’m still on a journey to fully loving my self and body, but I know it starts with the way I talk to myself. Some days are harder than others. Naturally. But I’ve decided I’m done being my own worst enemy. And you can too…
Trust me, there is a glowing radiant light at the end of the self-sabotaging tunnel.
If you struggle with healthy eating, yo-yo dieting and body image, check out my podcast No Wellness Wankery, which will help you ditch the diet and feel healthy, radiant and comfortable in your body.
