FRESH

Lake Louise

I’ve had a fucked up relationship with food my whole life. Since you’re not my therapist, I won’t bore you by unpacking that particular heap of emotional baggage. But if you follow me on instastories or Snapchat then you’ve probably noticed that healthy eating has cropped up a lot over the past few months.

One of my lovely local students asked me why (heyyy Sarah) & I said it’s because there’s very little space for fat positive and body positive folks to speak about healthy eating without walking down a knife blade of body negativity.

Quite frankly, the healthy eating world tends to be EXTREMELY body negative, even though many of us fatpos & bodypos people work towards/live healthy lifestyles. These days, I’m determining what healthy eating REALLY means to me, without the trappings of body negativity. Yes, I’ve been a big fan of juicing and meatless meals for ages, but I’m incorporating some new techniques into my lifestyle.

I did @kathrynbudig’s five day #aimtrue purification from her newest book, so my head’s in the right place. My play cousin @koyawebb periodically drops golden vegan knowledge on me, and she helped me find a protein powder (@sunwarriortribe) that doesn’t make me want to vom.

I have long since been inspired by @cbquality’s plant life Snapchat inspiration, @amyippoliti is my paleo touch point, & obsessively stalking @bigbottombehavior got me on the “drink half your body weight in h2o” train which is SO MUCH BETTER FOR MY COLON than 8/8oz glasses of h2o but also SO MUCH HARDER TO DO.

But let’s be real- I’m just glad I live in a country where clean water is plentiful so I can actually refill my water bottle that many damn times without fear of something bad happening. And I’m also glad that I can afford to financially prioritize healthy eating- no matter what people say, it is SO MUCH HARDER to eat healthy when you’re on a strict af budget. And yeah, I know I’ll probably fall off the wagon at some point. But I’m not focused on that, I’m just gonna stay in the moment and drink my fucking juice.

He is not the sun

Black tea

Think black tea makes you feel good? You’re right. It’s been proven to help you de-stress fast. It also helps eliminate bad breath. Plus medical research indicates that it lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and reduces bad cholesterol.

Green tea

Want to stay slim, trim and beautiful? The antioxidants in green tea just might slow signs of aging, prevent the flu and raise your metabolism. More dramatically, it’s being shown to prevent and slow cancer, and help with arthritis and bad cholesterol too.

Oolong tea

This one’s known as a fat-buster in China, and science is indicating that it does indeed speed up your metabolism, burn fat and block fat absorption! Use it to fight expanding waistlines, high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

White tea

Science is saying that white tea might be more effective than even green tea at preventing cell damage, shrinking cancerous tumours and stopping the growth of cancer cells. Plus it’s becoming the new cosmetic fix for aging skin. Beautiful!

Pu’erh tea

Traditional Chinese medicine prizes Pu’erh as a wonder tea. It’s said to aid digestion, cleanse the blood and help with weight loss. Studies in Europe are also saying it busts cholesterol as effectively as some medications.

Rooibos tea

It’s said that rooibos helps you recover from hangovers, and that it could slow dementia. Plus there’s evidence that it fights skin cancer and boosts the immune system. And it’s supposed to help with insomnia!

Maté tea

Yerba maté is a fabulous stimulant, without the jitters. It’s also full of antioxidants, so there’s scientific speculation that it could have anti-cancer properties, help stimulate the immune system and protect against disease.

Herbal tea