Today I'm Growing
Hey I’m Anna and I’m here to help you grow into the best version of yourself. Physically, mentally and in all areas of life. Growth is powerful because it makes us feel stronger, more confident, healthier, and happier. I want to find out all the tips, tricks, habits, and routines - everything we need to know to GROW. I want to do this together with you in this podcast.
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Today I'm Growing
5 Tips For a Healthy Relationship With Food and Exercise
Hey Team! Welcome back to my podcast Today I'm Growing. I'm so excited to have you here!
What if we’ve been looking at exercise and diet all wrong? in this episode, i open up about my journey from obsessing over being skinny to embracing the true benefits of exercise—like strength, confidence, and balance. i share how i overcame perfectionism, food guilt, and the pressures of societal ideals to find a healthier, more holistic approach to fitness.
this one’s for anyone who’s ever felt isolated by their fitness journey or trapped by all-or-nothing thinking. let’s redefine health, together.
Big hug, Anna xx 🌸
Hey team, welcome back to my podcast Today. I'm growing. I'm so excited to have you here Today. We are talking about something that I've struggled with for years. I still struggle. Sometimes. It's not that I'm completely healed or that I do have this super normal healthy relationship with it, but I think it got so much better and I do want to share my story with you. I do want to share some tips with you. I do want to share some tips with you and by sharing all those things, I really hope I can help some people. I can help you if you struggle with it, and what I'm actually talking about is having a healthy relationship with food and exercise.
Speaker 0:First, I thought this is something that especially girls and women struggle with, but I actually think a lot of men, a lot of boys also struggle with it. It's something that's been so common in today's society and I wonder why, like why, do so many people struggle with just eating normal, eating a normal amount of food, eating healthy but also unhealthy foods? We're going to talk about this later. What is healthy food, what is unhealthy food and why we? Definitely we shouldn't even say that, we shouldn't even categorize food in healthy and unhealthy, but I think a lot of us have that mindset and I wonder why it actually is like that.
Speaker 0:I started my fitness and health journey around 10 years ago by saying that I'm realizing wow, it's been a long time ago, it's like 10 years. Where did these 10 years go? Time is running like so quick. But yeah, I started my fitness journey and I've had this goal back then of like I want to lose weight, I want to be skinny, because being skinny back then I told you many, many times here in this podcast it was a trend. Being skinny back then I told you many, many times here in this podcast it was a trend. It was trend to be super skinny, it was trend to look like a Victoria's Secret model and I was pretty insecure, I wasn't really confident and I thought by also losing weight, by trying to look like a Victoria's Secret model or a model, I might gain some confidence, I might feel better about myself.
Speaker 0:So I started my fitness journey with like a lot of cardio, a lot of running, a lot of going into the gym to burn off calories, going out for a run to burn the breakfast that I was just eating. That really was my mindset and I'm so sad when I think about it, I was really just going to do my workout just because of the one and only reason I wanted to burn calories. So I started to develop this unhealthy relationship with exercise at a really young age. And why do I think this is an unhealthy relationship with exercise? I think we all shouldn't exercise just for that one reason we want to burn calories. I think that's not really healthy and I think exercising has so many more advantages and so many more benefits. For example, by moving your body every single day and by exercising, by maybe also lifting some heavier weights, you grow strength, you grow muscle, and muscle is something that's really really important and that's so underrated, especially for women. I feel like women are also really scared to gain a little bit of muscle, and I can relate to that. I also. Sometimes I'm in this belief of like okay, I don't want to lift too heavy, I don't want to lift too heavy weights because I don't want to grow too much muscle, especially in my upper body. But let me tell you, this is such a crazy fitness myth and don't think just because you lift some heavy weights, you are getting super bulky, you're getting super muscular, especially as a woman. It's not that easy and I think actually it's really important to also lift some heavy weights, because you need the strength and you need a little bit of muscle to have a toned and not just toned body but also a healthy body. Especially when you get older, it's actually harder for your body to grow muscle and to keep up the strength, to keep up the muscle mass. So I think, especially when you grow older, it's super, super important to do a little bit of strength training and to lift a little bit of heavy weights. But yeah, by gaining the strength, you also gain and grow confidence. You get a better posture, like there's so many benefits when it comes to exercising and it's actually so much more than losing weight and it's so much more than burning off calories. But yeah, my younger self didn't really know that and I remember that I had times when I was eating let's say I was eating breakfast and I was already into the mindset of okay, my breakfast has to have like 200 calories now or 300 calories now. So after my breakfast I have to go out for a run and I have to burn off these 300 calories.
Speaker 0:I say a lot of things here in this podcast and I want to mention it quickly as a little disclaimer. I say a lot of things around restrictions, calorie counting, body image issues a lot of triggering things for maybe a lot of people, especially for young people. So if you're listening right now and if these things that I'm sharing, that I'm talking about, are triggering for you, then I want you to stop the podcast right now and you don't have to listen to it. Maybe it's not the right time for you to listen to it right now. I don't want to trigger you. I don't want to talk about something that's harming you. So please stop the podcast and listen to it when the time is right. I just want to point out the disclaimer because I also realized like my younger self would listen to some videos or podcasts. You know podcasts back then have not been that much of a big deal, but I was watching videos that had been really triggering to me and that actually were more harmful than good to me. But we all are so different, like, for some people it might be a big help, but for other people it might be something that's harmful, and I really don't want that. So if any of the things that I'm sharing here in this podcast might feel triggering to you, then just stop. You are your own boss. You are your own CEO of your life and you can decide what you want to listen to and what kind of content you want to consume. All right, well, let's keep going.
Speaker 0:I was really in this calorie counting mindset. It also is something that I've learned when I think back of fitness. I did so much research, I followed a lot of influencers and years ago it was this trend to count every single calorie, to calculate every single calorie, and also sometimes when I post something about calories on Instagram, then I also get a lot of DMs from you guys that you are still in this calorie counting mindset, and let me tell you that I don't think calorie counting is something super bad. I don't want to say that it's something super stupid and super bad, because it also does have some benefits. If you don't do it have some benefits if you don't do it super extreme and if you don't do it a little too much the way I did it like, I definitely did it way too extreme, but calorie counting as an example has some benefits. For example, you learn so much about food.
Speaker 0:When I started calorie counting, when I started counting all the macros and putting my food on the scale. I learned so much about what is the right amount of food or what is food that's high in protein, that's high in fats, that's high in carbs. I learned so much about food, but unfortunately I got so obsessed with it that all I have seen when I looked at food was numbers. And I think that's when it gets dangerous and that's when it gets really, really unhealthy. So everything that I'm sharing here in this video, that I've done in the past, that I've tried in the past, I don't think that all of it is bullshit. For example, counting your calories and putting your food on the scale it's not bullshit. You can learn a lot from it. But when you get obsessed over it and when you don't see anything else anymore when you look at food except numbers, then I really think, then you have a problem and then I really think you start to develop this unhealthy relationship with food.
Speaker 0:Counting calories was not the only thing that I did years ago. I've tried also when it comes to food. I've tried so many diets. I've tried so many things. As an example, low carb was really trending, and not just low carb, also no carb. It was a trend to try like keto, and keto really means that you don't eat any carbs for a really, really long time. All you eat is protein and fats, and I don't know if you've also tried many different things and I don't know if you also had been in this diet mindset and diet industry really got you, but that also made such an unhealthy difference to me.
Speaker 0:Like I really started to categorize food and I really started to label food in okay, this is good food and this is bad food. As an example, when I had been in my low and no carb phase, I categorized food and the carbs are bad and protein and fats are good and I wouldn't look at for example, I wouldn't look at something in a way of unprocessed or processed foods, whole foods or industrial foods. I was looking more just on the macros and, as an example, like vegetables, fruits, it's all unprocessed, it's all really really healthy for you. But, for example, when I did this low carb, no carb thing, I wouldn't eat apples, I wouldn't eat a banana, I wouldn't eat fruits that are high in sugar, that are high in carbs, because I categorize them as like bad food.
Speaker 0:And still to that day, sometimes I realize when I eat a banana or when I want to eat an apple, I look at it and I'm for a milli-milli second. I'm overthinking it. I'm like, oh wow, this is high in sugar. I have to be really careful. This is not good for my body. So this is still sometimes what I think about food, but then I always have to remember, or I have to remind myself, that, hey, anna, this is the mindset that you had years ago. Don't let this mindset from years ago stop you from eating a banana, which is an unprocessed food, which is something that's really healthy for you, which is high in vitamins, which has a lot of nutrients that are important for your body. You, which is high in vitamins, which has a lot of nutrients that are important for your body. But yeah, I really have to remind myself with the most simple thing on earth, like, I just want to eat a banana without overthinking it, I just want to eat an apple without overthinking it. But this mindset is still inside of me and I also. This is something that I want to share with you a little bit later here in this podcast episode.
Speaker 0:It's going to take a while to remove yourself from this unhealthy relationship that you have with food or exercise. It's going to take a while, but you have all the time in the world and I think realizing is the first step. Realizing that you have a problem, that you might have a problem with food and exercise, is the first step and it's an amazing step and from there you can move on is the first step and it's an amazing step and from there you can move on. And every single day I try to be one percent better and sometimes I, yeah, just notice these tiny little behaviors that I still have and then I'm reminding myself that, hey, every day, one percent better. And, yeah, I'm, I'm still unlearning. All these behaviors by categorizing food into this is not good for me. This is good for me.
Speaker 0:I focused a lot on the macronutrients. Like I told you, okay, a banana wasn't good for me because I thought it's high in carbs, it's high in sugar, no matter if it's a whole food. But as an example, now, when I think back, there were some brands the brand that I have on my mind, I don't know if I should name it right now but they made low sugar or no sugar, no carb products, but it was such a bullshit thing. It was, for example, sauces. Or when you think of Nutella or when you think of caramel syrup, they made it all low sugar, no sugar, but actually it wasn't real food. Of course, it was something that's full of chemicals, but I thought back then this is good for my body because it doesn't have carbs, and I would also spend so much money on these products and I would totally be a victim of these brands and of these products because I bought so many products of it. For example, I bought all these low sugar, no carb, chocolate syrups and caramel syrups, and one of this little caramel syrup was like seven euros or eight euros. It was so expensive, but they got me. They got me by setting these rules and by telling me this is a good product for you because it doesn't have any carbs. And I still think till to that day.
Speaker 0:There are some brands and there is still this diet industry that sells products around different kinds of food rules or different kinds of fitness foods, for example, and you have to be really, really careful, like you have to be careful because they tell you that certain things are bad for you and other things, for example, their products, are good for you, and I don't want you to fall into this trap and this mindset and spend a lot of money on things that are actually harmful for your body. Today I'm not labeling food anymore Like I know kind of what's healthy and unprocessed and good food for my body. I also know what's unprocessed food and that it might be not as good for my body. But, to be completely honest, sometimes eating a pizza with friends, sometimes eating a bag of chips or a bag of popcorn when I'm in the cinema, it's actually good for my body. And maybe it's not good for my body in a way of it has like a lot of nutrients and it's healthy in a way of what we think is healthy, but it's so good for my soul, like eating a pizza with friends, even though I'm bloated sometimes and I don't feel my best after, like in that moment it was really needed, it was so needed and I always call it the soul foods. So I always call food like. I don't label food as good or bad anymore. I also don't have any kind of labels on my food, but I just categorize it and like this is whole foods and this is soul foods and I allow myself to eat every single thing I allow myself, without overthinking every single whole food that I want to eat and the same with soul foods, and I know that both of those things are important to me and both of those things is really what my body needs and what my mind needs and what my life needs.
Speaker 0:Let me tell you, years ago, when I had developed this unhealthy relationship with food and this unhealthy relationship with exercise, I want to point out a few more behaviors that I had and a few more routines and things that I did, where I'm like Anna why did you do that? And also, again, by sharing those things, maybe you notice a few things and maybe you can relate to a few things and maybe it helps you understanding that these behaviors are actually not good for you and they are not healthy for you. For example, when it comes to exercising, first of all, I had a really hard time allowing myself to rest. I would always feel super guilty, I would feel lazy if I wouldn't exercise for a day. I would feel like I'm not giving everything that I can. I would feel like I'm not doing enough. I'm not giving enough. I'm just not doing everything that I can. Like I really was in this'm not doing enough. I'm not giving enough. I'm just not doing everything that I can. Like.
Speaker 0:I really was in this all or nothing mindset and, especially when it comes to exercising, I wanted to do everything perfect, every single thing that I was doing. Years ago, I wanted to do everything perfect, and this is really, really dangerous because, let me tell you, perfect doesn't exist, because life isn't perfect. We aren't perfect, our bodies aren't perfect, and what is actually perfect? I think being imperfect and like not being perfect is actually perfect, and that's what I want to promote here. Please, if you struggle with perfectionism, I think it's something that comes from something else. Like, I think the reason why I wanted to do everything perfect all the time is because I had a lot of insecurities. I tried to prove something to people, I tried to prove something to my parents, and that's why I tried to do everything perfect, but actually it was, it never had been, and I was just ruining my mood, it was ruining my energy, it was ruining so many things. So I really want to promote, like, be imperfect, like you don't have to be perfect. I really want to promote this here on this podcast, because I know a lot of people struggle with it, but trying to be perfect, trying to do everything perfect definitely ruined my relationship with exercise, my relationship with food, because the same for like eating.
Speaker 0:I was following a diet plan and I wanted to do it 100% when I said I'm going to eat low carb. I'm going to eat low carb every single day and it actually worked for quite some time. But then life happens. For example, I got invited to birthday parties and of course they haven't had low carbs next there for me, of course not. Or we went on vacation and I don't know like everyone was eating ice cream, but I couldn't eat ice cream because I was eating low carb.
Speaker 0:By saying that, I realized that I isolated myself so much during that phase. It got really lonely, really really lonely, because at one point I wasn't going out anymore, I wouldn't eat in a restaurant, I wouldn't enjoy ice cream or anything else with friends anymore, because I was really scared. Actually, it developed a little bit of this anxiety around food. I couldn't enjoy it anymore and all I have seen was like numbers and I really isolated myself from my friends group and I'm so sorry for it because I realized also that it had been really, really stressful for them as well. Also, if you have that kind of friend, or if you are that kind of friend who nonstop talks about food, thinks about food, that friend that's isolating himself or herself because, yeah, she's just overthinking everything and she doesn't have time anymore because she has to work out and she has to eat clean or eat a certain way. It's very stressful for the whole friend group and I'm so grateful today that I still have those friends. They still went through everything with me during that whole phase and I'm so still have those friends. They still went through everything with me during that whole phase and I'm so grateful for those friends. So, if they are listening right now, thank you so much that you actually stayed with me and listened to all those kinds of things that I was saying, because I was nonstop talking about food and I was non-stop talking about my workouts, because that was all I was thinking of. So, yeah, I'm actually sorry for that. So I'm still talking about food today, guys, like, I still like to talk about food, I like to share recipes. I still like to share what I'm eating. For example, on social media, I share a lot of what I eat in a day videos which, by the way, I also got a lot of messages and I hear a lot of people talking about it that it can also be very, very dangerous for people watching it, especially when you have a past with an unhealthy relationship with food or exercise. It can be also really triggering because you maybe compare your what you eat in a day, for example, to my what I eat in a day, but that's actually not why I'm sharing my what you eat in a day, for example, to my what I eat in a day, but that's actually not why I'm sharing my what I eat in a day videos. Why I share it is because I want to give you recipe inspiration and I also want you to watch the videos from now on, not to compare your meals to my meals, but get inspired. Get inspired to try a new breakfast or try a new lunch or snack, whatever. But please, please, please, do me a favor. Don't compare what you eat to anyone else, especially not to someone on the internet. Also, I realize, for example, when I make a video of my plate, sometimes it looks very, very small, but sometimes it looks big. It really depends on where I hold my phone, and I think this is super important to mention because that should already tell you a little bit about. You can't compare yourself. It doesn't make sense, especially to things that you see online, that you see on the internet. You all, please don't be so hard on yourself. We all have to remind ourselves sometimes that we are so lucky to be here on this earth. We are so privileged to actually have this struggle of like it actually blows my mind right now we're so privileged to have this conversation right now. Like that we have the opportunity even to categorize food into good foods and bad foods. Like there are people on this planet who would be so happy and who would be so grateful to live this life that we are living right now where we can discuss and talk about things like an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. Like we are so privileged and I think we forget that sometimes and we shouldn't make our life so much harder than it actually has to be Like it doesn't have to be so hard. At the end of this episode, you all I want to share a few tips with you. I want to share a few tips how you can get out of this unhealthy relationship and mindset and how you can actually get closer to developing a healthy relationship with food and exercise. My first tip for you is to find out or figure out or identify what a healthy relationship means to you, because for all of us it means something different. I can share what a healthy relationship with food and exercise means to me. So Fitness and living a healthy lifestyle is very, very important to me because it helps me to feel better about myself, to feel better in my body, to feel confident, to feel good, to feel energized. But these are all things that I'm sharing right now, that I actually expect from living a healthy lifestyle. And when I thought I'm healthy and I do a lot of healthy things, but when I was very restrictive and when I was very, very a little too healthy like when healthy actually became unhealthy I was really stressed and I was actually more exhausted and more stressed than feeling energized and feeling good about myself. And I think when you realize, like when you really listen to your body, then you can feel that something is off. You can feel that you're a little bit out of balance. You can feel that you're exhausted and tired and that you have lost a little bit of this glow, like right now I'm living a much more balanced life. I feel like I'm glowing so much more just because I have this balance and I'm not stressing about every single thing that I do and every single thing that I'm eating anymore. So figure out what a healthy relationship to food and exercise means to you. To me, it's really like a feeling. It's a feeling that's coming from within and I want to feel a certain way. I want to feel energized, I want to feel happy, I want to feel free. I think free is the right word that I want to describe right now. I want to have this freedom of exercising, moving my body, eating a salad when I'm craving a salad, but also allowing myself to rest, be lazy, travel, go out with friends, go to a party, drink alcohol, like. I want to have this freedom and I don't want to overthink everything anymore. The second tip, which I feel like made one of the biggest differences to me, is surround yourself with the right environment, surround yourself with the right people. When I had developed this really unhealthy mindset around food, around moving my body, I was in a really weird circle because I was also with a lot of like-minded people, especially in the gym or especially in the CrossFit box. Now, when I think back of my CrossFit times, I was there with like-minded people and a lot of people struggled with the same thing, but we all didn't realize that we struggle with it. But our lives like in the gym. We would talk so much about food, we would talk so much about calories, about, for example, new products that might be good for you, about, yeah, just how we can get stronger and how we can get better. And I don't think it's necessarily like a bad thing to surround yourself with people who also want to grow muscle and get fitter and get stronger like not at all, it's not a bad thing. But if a lot of people in a circle have like a little bit of an unhealthy relationship with all those kind of things, then it's very, very scary. It's a very scary place to be in, and I was in there and I didn't realize that there is a world around me. I was so in my fitness mindset and it was all that I was seeing. I haven't seen anything else around me. So I would feel like so weird if I leave the bubble. For example, if we would go out to like a family dinner and I would sit there with my family. I would bring my own meal, my own Tupperware, to the family dinners, or if we would go out in a restaurant, I was bringing my own food, my own food in Tupperware, because I was scared of the food that my family was preparing. I was afraid of the food that the restaurant was making. And in my fitness bubble, in my fitness circle, for all of them, it was making. And in my fitness bubble, in my fitness circle, for all of them, it was so normal, like in the gym, I would meet a lot of people who would do these bodybuilding competitions and they were really extreme, like, let me tell you, they were so extreme, but I have, like, I had so many conversations with them and for all of us it was so normal to just eat the food that we're preparing ourselves. I have one story, one story that I quickly have to share with you here. I started my fitness journey when I was still living with my mom and, for example, she was always preparing meals and she was always cooking for her and for me. But at one point I didn't trust her anymore because first of all, I told her hey, mom, can you please prepare me, for example, 200 grams of chicken, 100 grams of rice, 100 grams of broccoli? So I was already very strict and I hope that she can help me to prepare all those things. But I didn't trust her at one point anymore. I didn't trust her when it comes to cooking. I thought maybe she puts oil into the pan with the chicken and I don't want to eat oil Like I want to avoid oil because I'm not eating oil, because it's a bad food, it has too many calories for me. So I didn't trust her anymore and now I'm thinking back. I'm like Anna, why did you do that? But I had been in the circle where things like that were just normal and so, and I think that's when it gets dangerous with a certain group of people and that's when I think you have to leave the bubble and you have to leave the circle to also see more of life. Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with people who do bodybuilding and they want to do competitions and for them it's really really important to track their food. But at the same time I don't know if you realize, but more and more bodybuilders actually stop bodybuilding or they open up about their relationship with food and exercise and it's actually really sad. It's really really sad. But I feel like today, more and more people open up about it and it's actually important because it helps me realize that, hey, we all are in the same boat, like we all have struggled with those kinds of things, and I'm not alone with it. And I also want you to know that you are not alone with anything. You are not alone, and it's super important to know for you, like, never feel alone with any kind of things. You can always reach out to someone, especially professional help. So if you feel like you want to change something maybe it's around food, maybe it's around exercise, maybe it's something completely different in your life that you want to change, that you want to improve then you can always reach out to people. You can always reach out to professional help, and I also suggest that right now. That's actually something I wanted to suggest way before when I started this podcast episode. It's just my experience that I'm sharing right now. It's tips that have helped me, but it doesn't mean that the things that I'm sharing help you. Like, maybe they help you, maybe they don't help you. You really have to figure it out for yourself. But please, if you feel like you need someone to talk to, please reach out to professional help. There is nothing wrong talking to a therapist or talking to someone professional. There's nothing wrong with it and I want to encourage you to do that. So make sure to surround yourself with the right people, just really quick. I have this new friend group now in Berlin where no one of those people no one of my friends, of my new friends, is like in this fitness mindset. They all work out, they all move their bodies, but they have such a normal relationship to it. They just move their bodies without overthinking it. They work out when they feel like they really listen to their bodies. They eat whatever they feel like. For them it's not a big deal to order a pizza. Not at all. For me it's still a big deal sometimes. I'm not going to lie. For them it's the easiest thing in the world and it feels so good to surround myself with those people. I have to say it feels really, really good and I'm still the fitness kind of friend in that group and I feel like sometimes I inspire and motivate them to move their bodies a little bit more. But I think the balance is key here, like we are really like a balanced friend group and it feels so good to spend time together. Tip number three is to really stop dieting, to really stop labeling food as good or bad, to stop. Oh, actually, there's one more thing that I want you to stop if you do those kind of things, to stop eating clean for like six days a week and then on the seventh day have like a big, massive cheat day, stop those kind of things. It's really not good for your body and maybe try to listen to your body a little bit more and try to be more mindful and try to eat a little bit more intuitive. I want to mention it again, even though I did it before I'm not a big fan of calorie counting. I'm not a big fan of labeling food with like numbers and seeing food as numbers. But I want to mention it one more time Calorie counting and counting your food it's not necessarily bad if you do it in a healthy way. I think everyone at one point has to learn what kind of foods have what kind of ingredients. Like I think everyone should know a little bit about food, like, for example, what are high protein foods, what are good fat foods and good carb foods. Like you should educate yourself a little bit about food. Like you should know what you put into your body, but you shouldn't overdo it. There still has to be a healthy relationship to food without seeing the food just as like numbers and when it comes to cheat days, you all this is a big red flag to me. I remember that I had been on diets for, let's say, like six days a week. I was eating super clean. I tried my best to only eat salads and vegetables and like super clean, unprocessed food, and definitely I was restricting, like I was not eating enough. I was counting every single calorie. But then on the seventh day it was most of the time it was a Sunday I would eat everything. I would order food, I would binge eat, I would just buy like a lot of sweets, a lot of random things, and then I would eat it all in one day. And also I thought it was super cool. Also, I don't know if any of you remember, like these days on YouTube, these cheat days or these 10,000 calorie challenges that's how I grew up around fitness and I also thought, wow, it's so cool, it's so cool to, for six days, be super strict with myself and be super, super perfect when it comes to sticking to my diet, and then on the seventh day, I would go crazy and that messed up. It messed up my hormones, for example. It messed up like my metabolism. It messed up so many things and also, after a, a cheat day, I would feel so bad. It was the worst. It was the absolute, absolute worst and I really don't recommend that. So please stop dieting and stop doing these bullshit cheat days. It's really not smart. If someone still does that. Like no, just no. It's really really stupid. I'm much more a fan of like following the 80-20 method. It's something that I do now. It's basically 80% whole foods and 20% soul foods. That's kind of how I live right now, without being super strict with it. So it's not that I do exactly 80% and exactly 20%. I don't calculate it or I didn't calculate it, but like roughly, I try to eat whole foods most of the time, but there is still this room of like 20% soul foods and this, to me, works really really well. But it's not that I'm eating 80%. It's not that this is like from Monday till Saturday and then on Sunday I do my 20%. It's much more like throughout the days, and sometimes I eat chocolate every single day, but it's not a bar of chocolate, it's a little bit of chocolate throughout the day, or it's a pizza on a Wednesday and maybe on a Sunday again, but the rest of the meals had been, like, pretty much whole food based. But I don't have any kind of rules about it anymore. It's just more like 80% whole foods like roughly and 20% soul foods. Tip number four is something that we already talked about. I just really quick want to put it as like a main tip at the end of this podcast episode for you. I want you to try things and I want you to learn more things and educate yourself around different kinds of things, but I want you to stop to try to do everything perfect. As an example, I've recently just learned a little bit more about blood sugar and there is this social media trend with blood sugar tips. For example, it's to drink a little bit of apple cider vinegar with water every single morning on an empty stomach or before you eat your meals. It's actually really good for your blood sugar. Or it's also really good for your blood sugar to eat a savory breakfast in the morning. So I'm educating myself around these things. I'm trying these things as good as I can, but I so many times still like even though, let's say, 90% of the time I'm having a savory breakfast. Right now, I still have sometimes a sweet breakfast, and years ago I would freak out because I would feel like damn, I really wanted to stick to those things, I wanted to try those things, so why did I mess up? Right now I would feel guilty, I would feel bad about myself because I couldn't stick to it. But today I'm like hold on, it doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter if I had a sweet breakfast today because I was craving a sweet breakfast, it doesn't really matter. So I still think that education and trying new things is really, really important when it comes to food, when it comes to exercising, like trying new workout classes, trying new training programs and workout plans, try it and stick to it as good as you can, but you don't have to try to do everything perfect. Also, quickly talking about workout plans Like I share so many workout plans online on YouTube in my Grow With Anna workout and fitness app and I want you to stick to a workout plan Like it can help you. It can help you grow, not just physically but in all areas of life. But if you can't do a workout for whatever reason maybe you're sick, maybe you're traveling, maybe it wasn't just possible. For whatever reason, it is okay. Don't be so hard on yourself and you don't have to do everything perfect. Last but not least, and tip number five, be patient. Be patient with yourself when it comes to your fitness and health journey, but when it comes to your whole life, when you want to unlearn things, it takes time. I have to unlearn things every single day, like I'm 29 years old now. I've learned so many weird things in those 29 years and learning took a lot of time. Learning all those things, it took forever. But now unlearning also takes some time. So I have to unlearn, for example, that carbs aren't the enemy. I have to unlearn that having a rest day is actually good for my body. It's not something that's bad for my body and it takes time. I told you before that sometimes I still notice that I have different kind of behaviors around these unhealthy habits that I've developed for so, so long. I still find myself sometimes in those unhealthy thoughts, but it's okay. It's okay and I think the first step is already that I'm noticing it. That's already the first step and that's the most important step, and from there I can move on. From there I can try to be better 1% every single day. Today I'm a little bit better than yesterday, and that's okay. So please, please, please, please, be more patient with yourself if you want to learn something or if you want to unlearn something. It takes some time and that's okay. We have all the time in the world. Wow, guys, thank you so much for listening to this podcast episode today. I actually have to leave. I have like 10 minutes now to go downstairs. I'm recording today out of a hotel room and I'm here with NFL. I'm here in Munich and I'm actually super excited to spend a day with them. It's going to be an amazing day because I'm not overthinking everything. I'm not overthinking what. I'm actually super excited to spend a day with them. It's going to be an amazing day because I'm not overthinking everything. I'm not overthinking what I'm eating, what I'm drinking. We will definitely have a party tonight. I'm going to have a good time without overthinking everything, and I want you to feel the exact same when you are at home, when you are somewhere, when you're going to an event. I want you to experience this freedom, because it feels not just free, it feels amazing, it feels freaking good and I want you to feel that way. Thank you so much, guys. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode. Check out the new podcast Instagram account that we made. It's called Today I'm Growing Pot. Check it out. Leave a comment, leave a message. If you have any kind of questions, feel free to text me there, because I'm reading all the messages, I'm reading all the questions and I try to answer. And, yeah, thank you so much for listening today. I'm sending you a big, big virtual hug. Thank you so much and I talk to you soon. Bye.