I was in a car accident recently and was blessed to walk away with only a gash on my forehead and horrendously sore right ribs from where the side airbag punched me.
It was pretty dicey getting around for a while, but I did as much physical activity as possible.
Was it the best idea to start walking the dog again two days after the accident?
Maybe not, but my body needs to mooooove…and my head needs those feel-good endorphins pumpin'. So for me, it was post-accident self-care.
Aside from the walks, I allowed myself to rest—this is not easy for me! I didn't go to barre class. I even got an extra hour of sleep a night.
But the number one thing I did to heal was to continue eating in a way that shows self-care + love.
Because the more I nurture my brain, body and gut with awesome food, the better I think, feel, move and look.
You've probably heard this: what you eat is more important than what type of exercise you're doing and how much you're doing it.
Because you could be hitting the gym every day and totally killing it, but if you're eating (for example) a typical low-fat, "good" diet (which usually means you are eating convenient Frankenfoods made up of refined carbs and sugar/fructose) the weight isn't going to come off (and if you're eating a lot of fructose, you'll actually gain weight).
And you'll constantly be hungry….double crappy.
Because I continued to eat healthy, deliiiicious :) and filling meals, I didn't gain weight when my activity level was scaled back.
The physical part is still super-important though, so I went back to barre class when I felt that I could do most of the moves and I didn’t beat myself up because I couldn't do everything.
Little by little I've been able to do more and more. Just being there helps—and moving and stretching my body makes me less sore. :)
Below you'll find a tool that I use every day to feel + look good—my morning smoothie.
It's filled with filled with brain + body loving fats, fermented milk (aka kefir, a whole food probiotic), organic zucchini and a bunch of superfoods.
Try it out, tweak it to your taste and let it take care of you.
Xoxo,
Lauren
P.S. What do you do to heal? Leave a comment below.
Lauren's Smoothie
Ingredients
-1 cup water
-1 medium organic zucchini or yellow squash, chopped
-20 drops stevia (Body Ecology)
-1 tbsp unrefined, cold-pressed coconut oil
-1 tsp grass-fed ghee
-1 tbsp protein powder, I currently use Moon Juice's Blue Adaptogen Protein
-2 tbsp cacao nibs
-1 tbsp sprouted ground flax
-2 tbsp cacao powder
-1 tsp gelatinized maca, optional
-1 cup homemade kefir, made from pasture-raised whole milk (or pasture-raised raw milk or grassmilk—if you can find them)
Directions
1. Put all ingredients in Vitamix blender except for the kefir and blend, starting on low and working up to high, until well blended
2. Add kefir and quickly blend on the lowest setting
3. Pour into glasses