Aspiring to a Natural Lifestyle – beyond food
It’s now 2014 and this health traction (trend-in-action) is everywhere – radiating from New Year’s Resolutions through people’s mouths, social media selfies, before & afters and celebrity bikini shots, TV advertising and billboards of gym offers and 12 week challenges.
Just as ‘the January gym crowd’ is predicted to dissipate, its likely that the coverage will slow as it merges into boozy Australia Day BBQs, returning work stress, the novelty wearing off and Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs (already replacing Xmas decorations Nooooo!). Regardless, we think Aspiring to a Natural Lifestyle is here to stay and infiltrate the lives of many if not most.
Last year, we discussed what this health traction is and who’s driving it. At the heart of this trend is food, which we’ve covered in detail, including food as thy medicine and supplements. We touched on exercise just before Christmas and this is where we’ll continue…
Experts say that food contributes to about 75% and exercise the remaining 25% of your efforts, the key thought being ‘you can’t outrun your fork’. Many people I know train to eat/drink, which is acceptable behaviour in moderation and until negative benefits are perceived – sugar and carb slumps, skin dryness and breakouts, metabolism slowing and mood swings, slowly shifting into sickness and disease.
Whilst there are many fitness fanatics and sports players, there’s been a lot of coverage recently about ‘sitting is the new smoking’ – just being active helps and even those who are highly physical for a concentrated hour a day need to move regularly, our sedentary lifestyles a danger to our health. Using personal contact over email, walking meetings and standing and treadmill desks are all being encouraged, with new tactics and technology to help us achieve regular movement. A treadmill desk in Ikea is a good indication this health traction is mainstream.
Thrash and bash weight routines and long running sessions are being slowly replaced with efficient and effective cross-training such as HIIT and Bootcamp, with high heart rate bursts in sprints and intervals, and full body movement exercise.
Full body movements and breathing shine through the increasingly popular Yoga and Pilates and the various stems of these. Recently I saw an advertisement for ‘Broga’ – yoga for men.
Then pausing movement to meditate and, often forgotten, sleep which both play a big part in Aspiring to a Natural Lifestyle – the ‘3 legged stool’ a reference to food, exercise and sleep as the cornerstone to health; and top CEOs leading the way with their daily meditation routine.
Along with these primal codes of conduct, comes greater use of the outdoors, appreciation of fresh air, sunshine and the earth underneath your feet – to reconnect with yourself through nature. Which slowly brings this health traction back to home, bringing the outdoors in.
Around the home, more care is being taken in choice of fabrics, materials and paints and home cleaning. Plants, natural airflow and lighting are designed to bring the outside in and reduce the toxicity of our living environment. With increasingly more sustainable measures being introduced, we see greater focus on recycling, herb and vegetable gardens, solar panels and energy saving measures for individual homes through to community use.
Bringing it full circle – from food to personal care, to exercise, to meditation and sleep, to the great outdoors and bringing it in, to the home environment – now back to the clothing we wear. There is more evidence of food-and-nature based materials in clothing and shoes, fabric that breathes and designs that allow your body to move the way nature intended.
As mentioned in one of my blogs, Aspiring to a Natural Lifestyle doesn’t have to be expensive, when it is, the choice is yours – even Vivienne Westwood is famous for saying you only need one good item that lasts forever. I say make that item YOU.
Written by Rachel Bevans in consultation with Brett Henderson PT.
Rachel is a healthy brand champion and owner of The Healthy Brand Company (ref:
https://www.thehealthybrandcompany.com/about-us.html)
Brett is a trained and practicing Personal Trainer and Holistic Lifestyle Coach, with a Degree in Physical Education and Management experience. Working from an holistic health & fitness platform, Brett inspires individuals’ goals to gain visible results by combining resistance training and cardiovascular exercise with nutrition and a positive mindset – considering all areas of individuals’ lives.
Feel free to share with acknowledgements to The Healthy Brand Company, Brett Henderson PT and supporting references.
© The Healthy Brand Company, 2013
