Mary Wallace joined me on the show to talk about Lifestyling Wellness, which happens to be the name of her new book.
Although Mary and I met online through another program, sometimes synchronicity is at play when you least expect it. It just so happens about 2 weeks before we met, my partner and I decided to make some dietary changes.
At first, I thought Mary’s book focused only on eating healthy. However, once I spent some time reading it, I quickly learned that is only part of the equation to achieve an overall shift in wellness. It’s not only what you eat, but it’s also what you do – or the lifestyle routines and habits you practice daily.
Go Green
The first thing that we did to adjust our diet was to include a salad with every dinner. Luckily for me, my partner likes to chop and cook. We thoroughly enjoy our new love for salads and they’ve gotten more interesting by adding new items. Avocados, strawberries, blueberries, chia seeds, eggs …I just never know what delights I’ll find in my bowl.
Personally, I prefer spinach, but I also like speckled butterhead lettuce for my salad base. As I’ve aged, I’ve discovered salads can be yummy.
By the way, did you know that lettuces can be placed into four different categories – Looseleaf, butterhead, crisphead, and romaine – and there are actually 14 different kinds of lettuce? You can learn more about them here
We’ve also tackled portion control by using a small side plate for our main course to accompany our delicious salad. I have to say this eating shift is a real hit!
Fiber
Mary writes about the benefits of fiber and refers to it as ‘fabulous fiber’. A fiber-rich diet includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Apparently, we should have 25-40 grams a day! Okay, that sounds like a lot, but Mary provides a chart, with examples, that makes this all seem very doable.
In fact, throughout the Lifestyling Wellness book, you’ll find lots of nifty charts and highlighted tips. I like to say the information is very digestible (I couldn’t resist).
Of course, we all know salads are a good choice if you’re looking to drop a few pounds, but there is so much more to gain when you’re eating for wellness. Actually, that is what brought Mary to the wellness table (pun intended) in the first place.
A high-stress corporate career kept Mary running on empty, and she did not take the time to pay attention to her own health and wellness. She increasingly had trouble sleeping, GI discomfort, and just all around suffered from what she calls, niggling health issues.
Game Changer
At some point in her forty’s, Mary experienced a real wake-up call and found herself collapsing and sliding down a wall. whoa!
That’s when she began to take some proactive steps toward health and wellness. She started with some simple changes to her diet and this led to surprising changes in her overall health.
Her doctor was amazed by her results. Mary lost 18 pounds, lowered her cholesterol, and had perfect blood pressure. Needless to say, this motivated Mary to do more.
Food For Thought
Learning about what’s really in the food you buy, in particular, in proceed and packaged food is a real eye-opener. We all know additives keep packaged food edible, but I doubt we truly know just how many and what kinds of chemicals we are eating.
Mary explains, if we’re not careful our bodies can easily become chemical landfills.
Making poor dietary choices, and too many of the wrong type of calories can also lead to fat being laid down around the body organs. Hello, big whopper tummy!
If you stop and think about the obesity problem in North America, it’s easy to see a correlation to the population’s highly processed diets. As Mary puts it, garbage in, garbage out.
Gut Tank
The food we eat is meant to be processed to give us energy or must be excreted in urine or feces. Mary explains nicely in Lifestyling Wellness, how our GI digestive tract works to break down and extract nutrition from our food while producing waste.
Taking steps to take care of your GI system will result in helping you to feel less fatigue, less bloated, manage your weight and blood sugar levels, as well as maintaining healthy bowel function.
Action Plan
The lifestyling that Mary alludes to, focuses on changes you can make to keep wellness at the forefront of your life. Things like sleeping patterns, taking breaks, going for walks, and drinking lots of water.
You’ll also find a host of interesting tips on food shopping, preparing your pantry, batch cooking, to name only a few.
For me, one of the key takeaways from the Lifestyling Wellness book was Mary’s reminder to practice kaizen; the Japanese art of small, consistent changes for the better.
The bottom line is, it’s never too late to start making some changes to improve your wellness.
To contact Mary and learn more:
Website: https://marywallacewellness.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaryWallaceWellness/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mwallacewellnes
Music credit –
Living Well Today intro and outro music:
More Love and Happiness
is provided courtesy of Canadian singer/songwriter, Clela A Errington.
