Our Healthy Lifestyle Mantra
A healthy lifestyle can mean many things, to many different people. Here are brüks bars, we believe that being healthy starts with real food and fresh ingredients. We also know it’s about much more than that.
Healthy living is a mindset and a positive outlook. Living a healthy lifestyle is about finding what makes you jump for joy, and give you happy goosebumps. It’s about fitness, food, and doing a little bit of what lights you up inside everyday. It’s important that you find those little victories every day and positively reward yourself for them. Sleep late when you can, smile at strangers, and enjoy what the moment brings you.
Health and wellness is sometimes just as much about NOT doing, than doing. Don’t beat yourself over little things. In fact, don’t beat yourself up at all. You are a human worth loving, so accept not being perfect and love yourself regardless.
Stress Management
One of the most important pieces to leading a healthy life is being able to manage your stress levels. The busier our lives become, the tougher it is to find the unicorn called “balance.” Maybe there’s really no such thing as balance; it’s all about managing the demands pulling us in different directions with grace - or at least without pulling our hair out.
Stress disrupts our sleep cycles, produces cortisol which is highly catabolic a.k.a., a muscle killer, and reduces our enjoyment in tasks we normally love. So, find your happy place: meditate, do yoga, cook, lift heavy things, or go for a long walk. Find what helps you manage stress and make a point to incorporate that into your life.
Nutrition
We started baking our bars because Sean needed a healthy, nutrient dense, and allergy-conscious snack that would help him make it through the long work and school days. For us, baking something from scratch was both mentally and physically therapeutic. A love for good, nutrient-dense “real” foods sparked something in us, that turned into a wildfire. Healthy snacking, became just the tip of the iceberg, as we refined what foods made us feel good - and which ones didn’t. Little did we know that those first bars were just the beginning. *See below for some of our favorite resources for some down home, wholesome healthy grub.
Listening to your Body
Gluten-free. Paleo. Plant based. Vegan. Dairy-free. Soy-free. Kosher. The list of subcategories for healthy eating goes on, and on. One of the most important pieces of advice we have is to listen to your body. Not every lifestyle choice is for everyone, but if you take the time to listen and feel what your body is telling you, you may end up feeling better than you ever knew you could. Trust us, we’ve been there.
The easiest way to find out if you’re intolerant or allergic to a certain food is to remove it from your diet completely and see how you feel, for at least two full weeks. Journal, don’t eat, repeat. Do this for every type of food you’re curious could be adding a cause/effect to your body, and before you know it, you’ll have found how your body feels best.
Make sure to read labels thoroughly throughout this process, as many products may contain an ingredient or two you never would have guessed.
*Healthy Lifestyle Sites
The Healthy Edge
360 Your Life
TED Blog
*Food Allergy & Nutrition Sites
Dr. Tom O’Bryan
Nutrition Facts
*Clean Eating Recipes
Gluten-free Goddess
Thug Kitchen, *Warning: Not for the easily offended.
Oh She Glows
Deliciously Ella
*Blogs We Love
Peanut Butter Runner
Girls Gone Strong
Seth Godin