There is not a better time to treat yourself to a good life than during the summer. Summertime is the perfect time to embrace your health. Summertime is my favorite season of the year. I was born on a sizzling hot day in August and have loved summer ever since. Summer is a time that being outdoors and being active is easy. Deliciously sweet fruits and crispy, flavorful vegetables are readily available. Menus can be planned around the freshest of items. Meals can be simply prepared on a grill or readied for a picnic basket. I am a teacher by trade, and while I now work at the district office, and no longer have summers off, summers still feel lighter. There are more opportunities for road trips on long weekends. It is daylight longer into the evening. Everyone leaves work on time with no expectation for late night emails.
I have enjoyed 50 summers in my lifetime. The ones I enjoy the best are when I feel my freest. Not just free of obligations, but when I feel free in my body – feeling fit and healthy. I am my happiest when I feel good in my clothes. Especially since there is usually less clothing when hanging at the beach or paddle boarding. I love to approach summer feeling ready for it all: hiking, kayaking, a pool-party, walking along the beach, and dancing in the moonlight.
It is not such a great feeling when I am not feeling fit – feeling heavy, and out-of-shape. Often this is the time crash dieting consumes people. Desparation to lose weight quickly steals the focus away from the very best parts of summer. Instead of relishing all the goodness that comes from summer, living becomes burdened with restrictions. Restrive diets and activities planned only with the purpose of burning calories can really take the fun out of summer. Summertime is the perfect time to embrace your health.
Summertime
June 22nd is the one year anniversary of launching this blog, Olive Sunshine. I started this blog to share my journey living on the Mediterranean Diet. As a teacher, I know the one who usually learns the most is the one who is “teaching”. One thing I certainly learned is that blogging may not be conducive to the Mediterranean Diet. Especially blogging about food. First, I sit. I sit all of the time. Blogging is not an active hobby! Second, while all of the food I feature on Olive Sunshine is healthy, portions and the pryamid matter. Sometimes my schedule for recipe development encourages “once-in-awhile” foods to be eaten a little too often. Fresh off of my first ever-Olive Sunshine E-Magazine Mexicali, I may have sat WAY too long and sampled far too many of these delicious recipes from south of the border. A year into blogging about being healthy and I am ready to refocus my energy on my health.
Where Are You this Summer?
Summertime is the perfect time to embrace your health. Where are you this summer? Are you feeling summer-ready? Since beginning the Mediterranean Diet, my days of crash dieting are over. My weight no longer yo-yos from one extreme to the other. Instead of deprivation to maintain weight, I renew my focus on eating food that is good and good for me. I love the food and active lifestyle on the Mediterranean Diet. Whether you are feeling your very fittest, or not feeling at all summer-ready, or (just like me) simply need to renew you healthy lifestyle commitment there is not a better time to treat yourself to a good life than now.
Summertime is the Perfect Time to Embrace Your Health
Where am I now? I am feeling good about the choice to be on Mediterranean Diet. I do not need to do a crash diet, turning to deprivation in desparation. Where I am now is needing to renew my focus to this way of living. That is why the second edition of Olive Sunshine‘s E-Magazine is simply titled, Summertime. Summertime will share resources, hints, guides, and a shopping list to support a free, active and happy summer (and lifetime). It is free to Olive Sunshine readers. There is not a better time to treat yourself to a good life than during the summer.
