Are rules ruining your health?

When my dear friend said this to me a while back I immediately shrieked “YES!”

It perfectly sums up how so many of us feel, who have previously had an unhealthy obsession with being healthy (orthorexia) and now want to take care of ourselves and our families but don’t want to fall back into those harmful patterns.

Maybe you can relate.

The wellness world has taken us by storm over the past decade.

• Now it’s not just good enough to eat your vegetables, they need to be organic.

• Now we can’t just wash our face at night, we need to use clean beauty products.

• Now we can’t just eat low carb, we need to go Keto.

• Now we can’t just hop in the shower, we need to dry brush our entire body first.

• Now we can’t just take a vitamin in the morning, we need to have a 15 step supplement regimen.

• Now we can’t just serve our kiddos mac n’ cheese, they need a rainbow inspired gourmet lunch.

None of these things are inherently bad (well, except keto — eat the damn carbs, friends! 😝) but what I don't love are the rules and hierarchy of healthy habits.

I’m not super into rules. Rigidity, especially around health, throws up a lot of red flags for me.

I know some folks flourish with structure and rules, but I’m really repulsed by it, especially with my history of orthorexia and disordered eating. Mentally, I just can’t go there. Part of the healing process has been letting go of rules around food and exercise.

When I let go of the rules, I’m left with food for nourishment, for pleasure and for fun. Sometimes food can be boring- anyone else hate making a grocery list every week? But now it’s not stressful.

Same with exercise.

I don’t have to workout for a certain amount of time for it to “count”. Although I love strength training, I can also just go for a walk if I feel like it. Or stretch on the floor if I really don’t feel like doing anything.

There isn’t a perfect way to eat or workout, even though a lot of people will try to tell you otherwise.

Diet culture and wellness culture are making it so hard for us to just BE.

Take care of yourself by eating consistently and moving your body, but don’t stress over doing it perfectly. Do what feels right to you, your body, your schedule, your means.

And then just let the rest go.