Choosing Healthy Self-Care Challenge Starts HERE!!! ⬇️

Happy October 2023, and welcome to my monthly eating clean, low-carb unprocessed food, self-care, and motivational blog called Choosing Healthy with Monica Akerele!!! I hope you are doing well and staying healthy in the midst of this fall season. ♥️

So what have you planned to do concerning your health, diet, and self-care life in 2023? Wherever you are in your goal making process, make a decision not to give up on your goal of becoming a healthier version of YOU! We don’t do diets here. We are living this healthy life out one day at a time! I am on this self-care journey with you to becoming healthier holistically. It is not a sprint. It is a lifetime journey. Every journey begins with one step. If you are ready to take that first step, join me on my next monthly self-care challenge beginning on October 1, 2023!

Read below for the details and Follow me on Instagram @monicaakerele and subscribe to my Choosing Healthy with Monica Akerele YouTube Channel on the link below!!! Thanks for your support and I look forward to sharing more relevant self-care content to help make Choosing Healthy a lot more motivational and empowering for you!

https://youtube.com/c/monicaakerelemsw

The goal for this month’s Choosing Healthy Self-care Challenge is focused on implementing healthy habits such as being consistent with getting at least 30 minutes of exercise at least 3 times weekly, eating clean, whole, unprocessed foods, getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep daily and practicing intentional self-care daily/weekly. In addition to that, I challenge you to Choose Healthy by reducing or eliminating high carb/sugary foods and eliminating snacking in between meals. Eat organic and non-gmo food as much as possible, but if it’s not possible for you to buy organic, just stick to whole foods and eating clean. Here are the whole foods for this challenge:

1) Meat including chicken, turkey, beef, and pork that are organic, grass fed, and free from hormones, preservatives, antibiotics, and steroids. Turkey or pork bacon with no nitrites or nitrates and organic eggs.

2) Organic/Non GMO Vegetables (fresh or frozen – no canned vegetables)

3) Organic/Non GMO Fruit – Coconuts or berries (strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries) are best as they have a lower glycemic index and are full of antioxidants.

4) Nuts (almonds, pecans, macadamias, walnuts) and seeds (chia and flax seeds)

5) Drinks: Spring water, unsweetened organic/Non-GMO almond milk, coconut milk, organic black coffee, Bulletproof coffee, bone broth and hot green, black, white tea or herbal tea. You can drink coffee or tea black or with erythritol or stevia. Strive to drink at least 64 ounces of water daily.

6) Eat healthy fats such as organic coconut oil, avocados, avocado oil, olive oil, grass-fed butter, and Ghee.

For weight loss and/or to contribute to overall health and wellness:

Low Carb Meals – Eliminating/reducing all added/processed sugar, bread, and starchy/processed carbs like pasta, rice, and potatoes. Daily carbs are generally anywhere between 50-100 grams of carbs daily depending on your age, weight, gender, activity level, as well as other health factors. Consult with your doctor and/or nutritionist/dietitian for your respective/personalized macro nutrient targets.

Time Restricted Eating: Limits the timeframe in which you eat. For example, eating your meals within an 8-10 hour time frame. Research has shown some metabolic health benefits of this time-restricted eating that include reductions in body fat, waist circumference, body weight, and BMI.

I’ve tried these strategies, and they do work and are beneficial for you to incorporate into your healthy lifestyles but ask your doctor/dietician first before beginning any of them.

7) Sleep at least 7-8 hours per day! This is so important! Read more about why this is important here: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/expert-answers/how-many-hours-of-sleep-are-enough/faq-20057898

8) Exercise at least 3 days per week for at least 30 minutes per session. Consider alternating between incorporating some strength training and cardio. Work with your Doctor and a personal trainer or an in the gym trainer to structure the right workout for you.

9) Download the MyFitnessPal or Carb Manager app on your smartphone or tablet. The purpose of these apps is to track your meal macros, water, and exercise activity for the day. It also allows you to track your weight and other measurements. Remember this you cannot manage what you do not measure! FYI: some of these features may require an upgraded subscription in the app.

10) Remember the following NOs on this challenge – No sugar outside of low glycemic index fruits such as raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and blackberries, No starchy carbs including corn, potatoes, bread, rice, pasta, beans, no peanuts, no vegetable oil, no canola oil, no soybean oil, no dairy (outside of eggs, Greek or keto yogurt, organic heavy cream & grass-fed butter), no artificial sugars or sweeteners, no snacking in between meals and NO processed foods.

I know this may seem challenging but it has truly been the key to my weight loss success along with prayer! I have lost 70 pounds by implementing these processes.

Subscribe to my Choosing Healthy With Monica Akerele YouTube channel to get healthy content that will empower, educate and motivate you on your Choosing Healthy Journey!!!

For motivation on your Choosing Healthy journey click the follow button on my blog at http://www.monicaakerele.com.

As a reminder, our monthly Choosing Healthy self-care challenge starts on 10/1/2023! Let’s make the last quarter of 2023 active, healthy, and self-care strong!!! Take a picture of yourself before you start so that when this month’s challenge is over, you can see the difference that one month of Choosing Healthy made! Let’s get it! 🔥

Disclaimer: Always get your doctor’s approval before embarking upon a low carb, time restricted eating and/or an exercise regimen. This is not a substitute for professional medical, nutritional or exercise advice this is for motivational and educational purposes only.

In case you didn’t know I have 3 songs titled “Faith Forward”, “Trust In You” and “Faithful Is Our God” that were released on iTunes, Amazon, YouTube Music and all other digital music/streaming apps. Click the links below to listen or download these songs on Amazon Music! Thanks for your support!!!

FAITH FORWARD

TRUST IN YOU

FAITHFUL IS OUR GOD

Stay connected here and on Instagram(@monicaakerele) to keep up to date with what I’m doing in music, YouTube content and self-care motivation! – Monica Akerele, MSW, LMSW