Holistic Health My view on health is holistic. I believe in treating people as seeing everything from many perspectives. Wellness is a sum of the following things: sleep, rest, nutrition and exercise. If you want to feel good and healthy then you need to have enough rest, eat nutrient dense food and exercise on a regular basis. If you succeed in every area then you will feel great. On the other hand, if you are constantly sleep deprived you cannot expect your diet to fix everything. In addition your thoughts influence the way you think. If you are on a positive mindset then you will experience more positive outcomes. Positive thinking is very important to your health. Your mind is a powerful thing. Never expect anything less. Lastly, the relationship will have an impact on your health as well. Surround yourself with positive people who will support you on your way to a better health. Gut Health Your gut is your second brain. Did you know that 80 % of your immune system is in...

According to a study  20% suffer from PMS badly enough to acquire medical help. Modern medicine may say that you cannot prevent PMS and in the severe cases offers pills or hormonal treatments. However, functional medicine says there is a lot you can do naturally to prevent these symptoms mostly by paying attention to your diet. I am a good example of this: when I changed my diet, all my PMS symptoms disappeared. Nowadays I am mostly surprised when I have my periods because I don’t have all the PMS signs to warn me. And that is a good thing! In this post I will explain what PMS actually is and where does it come from.  Background PMS is all about hormonal imbalance. As your cycle comes to an end, your body’s progesterone and estrogen levels will drop. This will lead to decrease in serotonin and dopamine levels. What does dopamine or serotonine do in your body? Dopamine will make you feel energetic and you will feel good. Serotonine will also affect your mood, appetite...

Previously I mentioned that I was going to invest more in my recovery. In this post I will share what my recovery week looks like. Monday                   peaceful walk Tuesday                  yin yoga Wednesday             whole body  workout Thursday                 rest day Friday                      football practise Saturday                  rest day Sunday                    peaceful walk In my case rest week doesn't mean entirely just rest days. I will include some sort of exercise in these weeks also. But it doesn't have to be the case. I just find it really difficult not to move my body. Also, if I don't move on a regular basis, ...

There has been a lot of studies which indicate the benefits of keeping a gratitude journal: better sleep, more happiness and fewer times getting the flu. Sounds good right? So how to start writing one? The basic principle of keeping a gratitude journal is simple: just write down the things for which you are grateful. It can be five things you have been grateful for this week. Sentences should be short and sweet, such as "I am grateful for waking up this morning", "I am grateful for my daughter.", "I am grateful that I had a good night's sleep." Here are a few tips how to get started: Get personal: write more about the persons you are grateful rather than things you are grateful in life. Think what your life would be without certain blessings, such as people or things in your life. Savor surprises: ponder on the things or occasions which you were positively surprised today. Choose the right time for you: if arranging time to do this every ...

What is wellness and what does it mean to feel good in every area of life? I used to think that in order to be completely happy all things, such as finances, relationships, eating habits and training, should be in balance. If in one area something was off, I couldn't be happy. When you think of it there was always something or someone important in my life who was not doing good. As a result of this, I had to wonder that would it ever be OK in every area of my life? Were I just to settle into the idea that you cannot have everything in life? So it is obvious that I was a bit pessimistic about life. Then life happened and I grew up as I had my son. Soon before I know it, we were moving to the other side of the world (Malaysia) and everything changed. By this I mean literally everything: my surroundings, the culture, the people I spent my time with, the food I ate, the clothes I wore etc. Consequently my thoughts were changing and I questioned the way I thought about the worl...

As you all know, I value a good night's sleep and try to improve my sleep every now and then. You cannot get around to the fact that sleep is cure for everything: bad mood, sickness, losing weight, living healthy, avoiding cravings, recovering from your workouts and the list goes on... Previously, I wrote about my bad sleeping habits  and how you can sleep better. But after that  I gave into coffee again so now I am trying to improve my sleep even more.  Here are few things that I am going to change in my routines: Stop drinking coffee or don't drink it in the afternoons. Research has shown that caffeine can stay elevated in the blood for 6-8 hours. I stopped drinking coffee. Again. Read more in here . This was a real game changer for me and my sleep . Eat more carbs in the evening. Especially oat porridge makes you sleep better because oats, eggs and bananas include magnesium, potassium, vitamin B and tryptophan which will have natural sleep in...

This post is about changing your way of thinking and learning to love yourself for who you are. Moreover, it is affirmations to all perfectionists, like myself. I copied these affirmations from Affirmation Podcasts with Josie Ong. I listen to her podcasts and affirmations every morning when I drive to work. I found her channel from Spotify as I was driving home from university and wanted to listen podcast instead of my playlist on Spotify. From the first podcast on, I was hooked. I highly recommend her channel to you. Her affirmations have been a game changer in my life: I can say that I have found a better balance in my life.  I used to think I had to do everything perfectly for the first time and every time. Now I know I can do things really well but not always perfectly. I used to think that mistakes were total catastrophes. Now I know it's all part of being human. I used to think critical thoughts constantly. Now I know I can give myself credits from my efforts....

There have been studies (Barton & Pretty 2010) which indicate that moving outdoors has been shown to reduce anger and depression and improve mood. Besides these there are numerous of positive effects when you train outside: it doesn't cost you anything compared to going for a gym, it's easy accessible, you will connect with Mother Nature, you´ll have enough fresh air so you will sleep better and so on. I think that humans are meant to spend as much time as possible in nature. We should never forget that we are apart of it ❤ I am definitely an outdoor person and that is the reason why I love summer and fall when I can spend so much time outside breathing fresh air. In fact, if I don't spend enough time outdoors on a daily basis, I get a headache. I have often wondered that does this happen to other people?  Are you addicted to fresh air?   When you have lived abroad, especially in a hot climate which limits your chances of being outside,  you r...

So it's winter holiday and I'm off soon! Can you guess where I am going? I'm on my way to Doha, Qatar! The pictures above are taken from Google. So why there? My dear friend lives there so I thought why not going there now? When I lived in the United Arab Emirates I never visited Qatar although it was just around the corner so now when the opportunity appeared I thought now is the right time.  Because this is a wellness blog, I decided that I could show you which kind of supplements I take with me whenever I travel. First, I never travel without my probiotics. These will ensure that my gut will stay in good balance throughout my trip. I have to say that I have never had normal tourist diarrhea because I eat these on a regular basis.  Next, I take my green powder with me. This time I take  Puhdistamo * brand. I mix this in water or in a smoothie. I also take  vitamin C  to support my immune system.   Magne...

Food. What a wonderful thing. The fuel to your body. It gives you energy to workout or it acts as comfort when you are feeling a bit under the weather. You can't live without it but eating wrong foods can ultimately make you sick. You become what you eat.  There are a lot of controversial knowledge about food and from time to time media presents different diets which are "good" for you. It is easy to get lost up in this jungle. What is actually healthy? What type of diet should I follow? My friend was able to lose weight with low Carb diet. Should I try it?  I have been here myself. I had tried many diets and restricted my diet with many things. Wondering and pondering all the possibilities. Until some day I just let it go and ate what I felt like eating. I started to listen to my body. What did it crave? This was the time of summer which made everything a little bit easier. I had a lot of fresh foods available and vegetables were cheaper than in the winter time....

As I mentioned in my previous post , I haven't always been a morning person. In fact, I had to learn how to become a morning person and I have to say it was worth it! So in today's post, I will share some useful tips how you can become an early bird. I encourage you to try this because it really changed my perspective to waking up in the mornings and specifically my mornings have become better and now I even look forward to waking up in the mornings! How to become an early bird: It's all about preparation in the previous evening: if you want to train first thing in the morning, search your workout clothes and place them before the door, pack your snacks ( snack ideas ), find your daily clothes and most importantly go to bed at a reasonable time (9-10 pm). Create a night time schedule. Relax yourself in the evenings: read a book, drink caffeine free tea, stretch or watch TV. Don't stay up too late and leave your phone in the living room. Listening to i...

Happy Valentine's Day! Because it is Valentine's Day I thought that I would give you different tip today. Or maybe it is not an actual tip rather than I'm giving you a different perspective in the way you could see and face your mornings.. First a simple question for you. Would you like to wake up every day excited and feeling like it is Christmas as you did when you were a child? I definitely do but let's be honest here.. First, I love to have a long night sleep which means sleeping as late as I want or until I am "ready" to wake up.  Secondly, I have never been a morning person. In fact, as long as I can remember I have loved those mornings when I was able to sleep as long as I could. I remember how excited I felt when my maternity leave started and I was able to sleep as late as I wanted (of course my baby wasn't born yet). But things started to change when my son came into this world and boy it changed a lot! Suddenly I was forced to get up ma...

How to manage busy days and find time to exercise on these days? Last Wednesday I had a super busy day but I was still able to fit a workout in my day. This was all possible because a) I planned my day thoroughly (on Tuesday evening I packed my gym gears, lunch and protein drink) b) I didn't want to miss my workout (so I prioritized it) and c) I decided that no matter what, I will stick to my plan. Here is how my Wednesday looked like: I woke up 6 am. I worked from 8 am to 1 pm. After work, around 1.15 pm I rushed to the gym and had a quick HIIT -workout (about 45 minutes). At 2.15 pm I was picking up my son from preschool. At 2.30 pm I had a quick snack and studied (I am finishing my master's degree in English). At 5pm I finished studying but I needed fresh air so I went for a walk (this was really nice! I needed to clear my head in the fresh air). At 5.30pm I made some dinner preparations and house chores. At 7pm I watched The Designated Survivor...