Why I try to live a healthy lifestyle

Since going back to work in May, becoming a part time blogger (again) has really made me think about what’s important. I truly love sharing posts and hearing your feedback. There is no greater enjoyment for me than knowing I can be a voice for Peruvian flavors and healthy living. Time is a problem again, but I’m not willing to give up. So I’d like to propose a new posting schedule to bring you two recipe posts a month, and a little something in between. While I would love to see you every week, I am happy to see you every two weeks! Español aquí.

Because I recently shared a post on Instagram for #10thingsabout me thanks to Mariela Manduca (@privileged_foodie), I’d love to tell you more about why I am such a big supporter for a healthy lifestyle. As a petite latina who enjoys eating her veggies and doing exercise, I am often mistaken to be on a diet or overly trying to be thin. This is mostly by my family, who believe that eating abundant servings of potato and rice will help me look like Sofia Vergara. The truth is that I want to be healthy and here is why.

1. I don't want to get sick
With parents who have had health issues throughout my life, I consciously choose to prevent. My father has hypertension, and his cholesterol and triglyceride levels often spiked up. He really scared us at his worst. Picture three women (my mom, sister and myself) rushing him to the ER in pijamas in the midst of night, more than once. Add to that, that my mom is a breast cancer survivor. Enough said.

While I cannot stop things I have no control over, I believe in prevention. Plus, in my experience it’s not just you who goes through an illness. Your family who loves you goes through it with you. I love my family so much, I couldn’t do that to them. I know that what will come, will come, but not if I can help it.

2. I want to be my best self
Growing up, I was a fairly meager teenager in a society that valued curvy silhouettes unlike my own. Or at least that’s what I thought. I let it get to me and I developed body image issues. Luckily, I learned how to manage them through the years. However, it sounds better said than done. It was a long and quiet journey. I think that people don’t talk about this enough. I want people who struggle with this to know that they are not alone.

I managed by being healthy, which meant incorporating regular exercise sessions and lifestyle practices to my life. These include muscle training three times a week (or trying) and eating balanced meals with lots of vegetables. The results reflected on my body. Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a perfect magazine body. I have my best self and that’s good enough for me.

3. I enjoy it
I often raise an eyebrow when I hear someone saying that they want to go on a diet or that they want to exercise only for summer. Experience has taught me that you are more likely to commit to something when you enjoy it. That’s why I like wiggle in recommendations for getting into healthy lifestyle practices, which mean to me that something is a habit of choice. I was blessed to have a good foundation. Because of my parent’s ailments, my home Peruvian meals were always vegetable based. It rubbed off on me and now I cook like my mom.

Remember how I joined the gym since I was 15 years old? Lucky for me I love doing sports, even though I’m not exceptional at it, working out just fits in. A trivia fact is that I am a die hard fan of Robin Gallant who is a petite Canadian vlogger who makes amazing youtube fitness exercise videos.

Photos: Pixabay/Mucha Ale