Hello friends, welcome back.
It's not Sunday but I wanted to post anyway!
As the new year begins, I wanted to get rid of some of my bad habits and embark on a journey of better health and wellness! These are billion dollar industries but I've never really paid enough attention to it - ignorance is the curse (or blessing?) of the youth.
Let me document my journey and share it with you!
1. Instagram addiction & doom scrolling
Last year, I went through a period where I felt so busy and tired, even after I cut down many social activities. I did a time audit where you have to jot down what you did every 15 minutes. (I did this only for a day.) Screen time also told me I was spending a lot of time on Instagram... so I decided to try to kick this bad habit.
First I shifted my app somewhere else, and put the Zaobao app in its place. The first day, I read maybe 10 Chinese articles. I was appalled that muscle memory was such a BIG part of my doom-scrolling. After a day or two, my body remembered where the new position was and it was back to square one.
Image by Kristina Zeljukina |
More drastic measures had to be employed! I locked up my app and gave myself a 10 minute restriction every day. The first day, I hardly liked any posts or even read many - and time was up! Shock. I closed the Instagram app successfully.
And then I went to YouTube and continued to scroll. I wasn't even watching anything!
Gradually I got used to my time restriction, and only lifted it for an extra 15 minutes on the weekends. Friends can testify that I no longer spam them with funny or cute stories - that's because I literally don't have a chance to see them so I can't share them with them anymore!
Now I am more conscious of my IG scrolling habits and try to apply it to YouTube as well. Hello, Zaobao.
2. Cutting sugar
If you have been a longtime reader of my blog, you know I have so many posts about sweet things like pastry and cake. It's not the first time I have tried to cut sugar, but I think this is the most successful attempt! I noticed the change in my beverages.
0% beverages. I got matcha pearls but they were way too bitter for me so... I guess it all turned out well! |
And yes, I'll probably just cut out BBT entirely if I'm not going to order pearls.
I've also cut the sugar in my coffee, from Kopi / 3-in-one hazelnut white coffee -> kopi siew dai and flat whites.
I also used to balk at the Reduced Sugar version of soymilk or Pokka green tea. Now they not only seem fine, but even seem too much. Guys, I have graduated and joined the 'not too sweet' Asian old people club. I don't even want to eat ice cream nowadays.
I guess the weirdest thing was turning down cakes and not even feeling the craving of needing to have sugar nowadays. Wow. Who am I am indeed?
This has led to a dramatic reduction of my snack intake too! As a result, together with some exercise, I have lost 2kg.
3. Daily care and toxins
I went to my friend Linghong's house for the Twoset concert the other day, and as usual she had great recommendations for me! We kid that her house is a showroom - I've emerged from her house with ideas of buying things like my iPad, Macbook and more. I enjoy and use my purchases though. LOL.
She told me about her daily routine of winding down by using her new massage pillow! Yes haha I see that this blogpost is starting to look like a sponsored post where the last bullet point is about the product. LOL
For years, a wish of mine is actually to have a massage every day to ease out my aches. So I thought to myself - why did I just ignore this wish just because I can't get a human masseuse? I think in my mind I just dismissed that idea that machine massagers were not as good.
So I tried out the pillow and felt PAIN everywhere. There were so many sore points even though I do try to remedy them daily with my Decathlon massage ball.
Well anyway, the idea fo selfcare for 15 minutes every night really appealed to me. I believed that over time it would actually help my body. So I went home with the massage pillow idea firmly planted in my head. Hahaha.
Turns out my sister has a similar machine so I borrowed it for the night. I slept like a baby. (And bought a massage machine the next day.)
So what about toxins, you say?
Toxins can be introduced to your body and tissue through things you consume and also from the environment you are in. We usually flush them out naturally via our liver which processes them. It then leaves your body through urine, sweat or poop.
I've been feeling very thirsty recently even though I feel like I have been drinking the normal amount of water. Maybe my liver or my body needs more water to help me flush out toxins since I have been stimulating sore and possibly blocked parts in my body? Maybe.
If I do go to a TCM centre, I wonder what the TCM doctor would say to me. I think he/she would probably have only bad news and also tell me drink stuff like dates.
Well anyway I hope this detox process works and hope my body feels better! A little late to the party to caring about my health and wellness but better to start now than later I guess.
So these are 3 things I'm trying to do to improve my health! What about you?
Love,
Skye
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