Bring back the morning movement
As an AARPN Certified Practicing Nutritionist, there are three core areas I can support clients with: food, supplements when needed, and movement for them. This might be encouraging regular walks, stretch breaks or referring to appropriate health professionals for strength-based training. I’ve personally used and loved The A-Life a lot. Their sessions are run by a dynamic duo and focus on both strength and mobility. They have a range of memberships and a YouTube channel with lots of videos. Check them out here: https://www.thealife.com.au/
Today’s blog is about movement and steps where possible. For some, walking and getting their steps in is not a possibility, and perhaps there are other movements that can be enjoyed instead. For some there are real challenges (such as chronic fatigue) preventing them from walking as much as they’d like. And for others like me, perhaps walking is something we’re just not prioritising.
I have a Garmin smart watch, and looking at that I can see that my average steps for the last year have been 5000/day, meaning some days are way less than that, and some are way more. I want to be more consistent with my steps, scheduling at least 5000/day. I have completely stopped my morning walks for no obvious reason, so I am going to bring back 30 minutes of morning walking, which will get me 3000 steps, and then a 20 minute walk sometime in the afternoon, which should get me to my 5000 steps.
I encourage you to join me and choose a movement habit that is stretchy but achievable for you. For those of us who are privileged to have walking energise us and ground our nervous system, I think it’s something we could all take a little more advantage of.
And from a nutrition perspective, movement and walking can be so supportive. It may help to lower stress levels, which in turn can support digestion, and regular movement may also help support more regular bowel motions.
Movement isn’t just personal for me, it’s often part of the bigger picture I look at with clients too. For families navigating selective eating or ARFID, gentle, regular movement can be another supportive piece alongside food work, helping to settle the nervous system before or after meals.
