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Katie T’s Cottage Home Fun Fact #37

For my 37th fun fact, I want to share that I am looking forward to the fall season that is approaching!

I live in New England, so I see all the pretty leaves changing!

5 Dimensions of Health

When most people think of health, they think of exercise and eating healthily. While this is important, it’s only a fraction of what it means to be healthy.

In addition to physical health, there are 4 other categories of health. These categories include mental, emotional, social, and spiritual.

Many typical health-promoting content creators focus on the physical health end of the spectrum.

While this isn’t bad in itself, it is missing the other four pieces of the puzzle. Without the other pieces, you don’t have a full healthy lifestyle.

With that said, today I will discuss some of the things I take issue with regarding some health-promoting content and what a realistic goal should look like. 

Getting Up at the Crack of Dawn

So, the first healthy lifestyle habits that I want to discuss revolve around the time you wake up. 

So often, I see content creators with the “what my morning looks like” trend, and they start with an early morning at 4:30-5:30. While some content creators are honest, I have doubts about some.

As a result, it’s so easy for the rest of us to feel lazy or less than because we are not waking up super early. 

Now listen, if that’s when your biological clock wakes you up, then that’s great! I have no issues with that. 

My point is everyone is different and in a different season of life. I think anywhere between 6 am and 8 am is a perfectly healthy time to wake up naturally. 

So not only does this unrealistic goal set high expectations for ourselves, but if you’re struggling to get up before 8 you’re fed tips and tricks on how to wake up early.

In some situations, these can be helpful, but I find it’s covering up the heart of the matter.

My morning routine and waking up have drastically shifted over the last 10 years. The times in life when I struggled the most to get up were usually because of external factors going on in life. 

On the contrary, the times when I find it easier to wake up are the periods in life when I am at peace with where I am. 

These “tips and tricks” distract our attention from the root cause of why it’s a struggle to get out of bed.

I know this may not be the case for all, but I’m sure plenty of you can relate to the idea that getting up may not be easy because of external factors. These external factors consume your emotional, mental, and even social well-being. So it’s no wonder you can’t wake up early.

So, my recommendation for those struggling to naturally get up early in the morning is to stop putting pressure on yourselves and start addressing the situations in life that are holding you back. 

And it could be as simple as getting more physical activity into your day. Other times, it may look like diving into the depths of your emotions and doing the hard work of healing.

It’s not easy and will take time. But the outcome will be completely worth it. 

The Problem with Routines

Next up on the list of healthy lifestyle habits for a down-to-earth catholic housewife is to discuss routines.

A routine by itself is a good thing. However, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. But before I discuss why that is, I want to mention that some routines are completely unnecessary.

Let’s take, for example, a classic skincare routine. 

If you’re eating healthy, exercising, and monitoring things like the shampoo you use, and external factors like housing and allergens, then your skin should be healthy by itself. 

Sure, you may need to moisturize after a shower or rinse your face when you first wake up, but after that, everything else is extra. Now, I know everyone has different skin types, which impacts the need to use additional products. 

However, I wholeheartedly believe that if your skin is acting up, it’s your body’s way of telling you something is off. If you’re using all of these products on your skin to make it glow, you could be missing the signals your body is trying to tell you. 

Not only that, but you’re spending time and money in doing so. As a result, this is taking time from your day to tend to other matters while ignoring the signals your body is trying to tell you. 

So, now that that’s established, I want to reiterate that routines are a good thing when done correctly. 

Having structure helps to stay organized and know what you need to accomplish.

But when there’s too much emphasis on structure, you risk missing the bigger picture.

For example, in my college years, I took between 5-7 classes in a semester, worked 20 hours a week, exercised almost daily, made time for family and friends, and managed to get straight A’s for most of college.  

The thing is, I was always so stressed, especially when I was falling behind because my whole life revolved around a scheduled routine. This hindered my ability to have a healthy emotional life.

So, make sure to make room for the “unstructured” parts of life, away from having a routine.

Just like a child needs unstructured play time, we need unstructured moments to step away and live in the moment. 

This is also where your spiritual health can influence your life. Ask God what he is calling you to do. If your focus is just on the next task at hand, you’ll miss the small nudge from Him.

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Eating Healthy

The next healthy lifestyle habits I want to share revolve around eating healthy. 

When I see content like “what I eat in a day,” I feel like it can be slightly misleading. While yes, I’m sure plenty of content creators eat super healthy, as they describe in their content, it doesn’t just stop there. 

My issue comes from the content creators Promoting their healthy choices, who are probably filming what they Ate on a Monday after the regret from the weekend diet is sinking in.

And I can’t even say what they are doing is entirely bad, but what happens is again, people have an unrealistic expectation set for themselves because they see all of these healthy eating posts. 

Also, keep in mind, that some content creators who eat super healthy are doing it because it is part of their job as content creators. The other factor is that healthy food (especially take-out food) might be more readily available in other places of the world. 

Here in the US, we have to worry about so many preservatives, additives, and dyes, to name a few, never mind the type of food we are eating. 

That’s why my personal goal is to make more food from scratch, but even that can be unrealistic. Short of eating the same few types of food every day, I can’t do it all. 

And the thing is, everyone’s “diet” will look a little different because everyone is different. 

You got the vegetarians and vegans in the world who feel completely fine with a diet of beans and pea pods, and I’m over here eating homemade beef jerky for breakfast because my body is craving protein. 

And I’d argue that’s part of what it means to be healthy. To listen to your body and what it’s craving. Now, just because you’re craving chips doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the food of choice, but rather that you’re probably dehydrated. But you get the idea.

Two documentaries that go into more detail on this notion are “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones” and “Hack Your Health: The Secrets of Your Gut”. These documentaries are super detailed about the different fundamentals of health and how to achieve it. Especially the video on gut health, which focuses on your everyday diet and food consumption. 

So, yes eat your fruits and veggies, get protein, drink water, and incorporate healthy carbs. It’s not complicated. Do the best you can do while still allowing yourself to splurge now and again. 

Get Your Priorities in Order

I believe prioritizing is vital for those looking to create healthy lifestyle habits. 

I won’t go into too much detail on how to prioritize as a homemaker because I have a full guide on how to prioritize below. The key is to make sure you prioritize your overall health. Not just “you”.

Prioritize your relationship with God (spiritual health). Prioritize your love language in your daily routine. Prioritize the things that bring you purpose. 

Don’t just prioritize your “to-do” list. This will set you up for only being productive through the lens of society, and as Christians, we are called to prioritize God as number one. Everything else will fall into place.

Also, prioritize your mental health. Don’t be afraid to take on a new challenge or set time aside to learn a new skill that interests you. 

Life itself is a voyage of lessons, so by default, we are constantly learning.

But when’s the last time you made time to learn something that interests you, all in the name of health? It’s easier to picture health in a way that is associated with exercising, but the mind also craves a challenge, just like our bodies crave the physical challenge of exercise. 

Count Your Blessings… And Friends

When you think about most of the content for healthy lifestyle habits, it accounts for a single person, i.e. drinking water, exercising, getting good sleep, etc. All those things are good, but it’s missing pieces for an overall healthy lifestyle.

Focus on spending time with good people.

We become the people we surround ourselves with. So, if you are spending time with people who are content in their misery, they will bring you down with them.

Instead, focus on the good people in your life and make room for them. We are social beings, and while some have an easier time socializing, everyone needs to make time for the good people in life.

Sometimes it’s difficult to prioritize building strong and healthy relationships with good people when life is filled with responsibilities, commitments, and everything in between. Don’t let those things hold you back from creating a life worth living.

Healthy Lifestyle Habits for a Down-to-Earth Catholic Housewife

So there you have it! Some down-to-earth healthy lifestyle habits for a Christian housewife. Let me know in the comments if you feel validated with any of these or if you disagree. As always, I’m so happy that you are hear, and don’t forget to follow for more! Until next time!

Love,

Katie

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