I wasn’t born a minimalist, in fact I think my sisters would likely tell you that as a child I was a bit of a hoarder. However, after leaving our childhood home at 18 to attend University – I ended up moving at least yearly (if not more often!) for the next decade. Minimalism became a side-effect of my lifestyle. With every move I purged more and more items until I was left with the essentials I required for day to day life. As a few of the later moves required not just moving between cities but continents, I became comfortable living life out of a suitcase or a backpack.
When I returned home to Canada and began to settle into ‘normal’ life, I vowed to maintain my minimalist ways and have been intentional about the items that come into my life. Minimalism has been brought to the extreme with blog posts boasting about people that own fewer than 100 or even 20 items. However, to me minimalism isn’t about having the absolutely bare minimum for survival. It just means that the things I bring into my life have purpose and lift me up instead of weighing me down.
Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus are known as ‘The Minimalists’ and I really gravitate towards their minimalism soundbite: “Minimalism is a lifestyle that helps people question what things add value to their lives. By clearing the clutter from life’s path, we can all make room for the most important aspects of life: health, relationships, passion, growth, and contribution.”
I honestly feel that in todays materialistic, face paced society we have lost sight of what is really important. People spend years at jobs they resent to buy stuff they rarely use which ends up stressing them out as it fills up garages and storage units. Minimalism is my antidote to the hedonic treadmill. To me, living a simple life means that I am able to focus on the things that I value most such as my health, relationships and personal growth.
But what does minimalism have to do with nutrition? In this day and age of nutrition information and health influencers, we can often feel compelled we need the latest kitchen gadget or to purchase the latest superfoods in order to achieve health. When did health get so complicated and our pantry’s become so large? I prefer to focus on a simpler approach to nourishing my body and stick mostly to the basics when it comes to cooking. I am inspired by concepts like the Basic Shelf whereby you can make a range of recipes with standard household ingredients. I can’t be the only one who flips past any recipe requiring the purchase of more than 1 or 2 pantry items I don’t already own!
So for me as the ‘Minimalist Nutritionist’, I hope to clear away some of the clutter from decisions around food to make room for the most important aspects of nutrition and help reduce the stress around what to eat. I want to help simplify nutrition advice and provide realistic, implementable advice that you can add into your life to nourish your body.
Happy reading,
Laura
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