Belly balance

So I haven’t written a blog for a while but I finally have something worth writing about and the time to write it. This isn’t a Pilates blog but I do think it is worth mentioning as finding real balance involves looking at every part of life.

Ok, so… anyone who knows me will know that since having a baby I have started to eat healthy…not crazy healthy but I have made lots of changes to the way I eat. For example, I haven’t drunk anything fizzy in over a year, I rarely eat white bread, rice, pasta etc and I’ve managed to ditch my addiction to fizzy sweets (bye bye haribo tangfastics!)

But this past week everything changed. My buba went on a nap strike and not only that but he has learnt how to scream. And I don’t mean scream as in cry, I mean scream as in a high pitched brain rattling screech. Just because. Maybe it’s the terrible twos coming early.

Anyway…the point is to survive this I spent most of the week hidden out at my mums to preserve my sanity. Which was great…nana has the magic touch. But there was one downside. In our house we don’t have any crisps, sweets, biscuits…it is basically a junk free zone (don’t all rush to visit!). But my mum’s house has plenty of treats – and all my favourites. So while my mum was getting buba to nap I sat happily in the arm chair scoffing down digestives, chocolate chip cookies and the odd slice of cake. All was well…except it wasn’t. By the end of the week I felt sluggish, achey, bloated and my mouth was full of ulcers. And to top it off I even had spots and I never get spots. It took me a while but last night it dawned on me that the first time in almost two years that I start to eat really unhealthy and my body goes crazy.

Now I’m not telling you this to try and convince you to ditch the cakes and go health crazy. If anyone ever asks my advice I always say “everything in moderation”. I don’t think you should deprive yourself of the things you love. But it’s about finding a balance that works for you and your body. For me, healthy eating at home with the odd treat at mums worked perfectly. But as soon as I messed with that balance my body was not happy.

So maybe stop and have a think about the way you eat…do you have balance in your diet with lots of healthy food but also the odd treat so you don’t feel deprived? Or do you over or under indulge or have random junk binges? Because neither extreme is good. As with everything in life we all have to find the balance that works for us – and the odd time we mess with this balance our bodies will remind us why it is important.