Today I’m extending an invitation… For less.

And I’d also like to invite you into my life for a second. Because there is a lot that I don’t get to say on social media. I think that’s why I love my blog so much. It’s my space to run free. If you want to read it, read it, if you don’t, don’t!

I’ve written before about my minimalist approach to food and diet. So this is really just an extension of that philosophy. But what spurred these thoughts is observing other people and realising how far I’ve moved from the traditional way of consuming and approaching food and food-related products (and any products for that matter).

Recently my mental health hasn’t been the best. But I’m slowly starting to get my habits back in check (read here for how I do this) but it’s gently. Working on one small habit at a time – I don’t run to challenges or diets or ridiculous programs. Because I have enough experience to know that although that may seem tempting, it’s actually not what I need.

You see… That is just more stuff.

When I can now recognise that what I need in those moments is less stuff. I actually need to take things out not add things in.

So that’s what I do.

I stop taking any random supplements that aren’t there for a reason. I stop buying random foods and snacks unless they spark joy. I stop doing any exercise unless it sparks joy. I stop looking to other people and things for answers and start tuning in to my own intuition, my centre, which always has the answers I seek.

Let me tell ya… It’s liberating.

I got into this way of living in the first place a few years ago as I started reading about minimalism, which I learnt actually has very little to do with the stuff you own or how clean your house is and everything to do with your mindset towards consuming.

It’s made my diet so much easier and removed all of the confusion around food. Food to me is really simple now and it’s very easy to make eating decisions. It’s almost like living by my own unique code, but it’s important that it feels natural and in flow and makes me feel better not worse. Living by a “code” is not about restriction or rules, it’s about knowing truely what serves you and what doesn’t. And peacefully declining anything that doesn’t serve you, in order to welcome in the things that do serve you.

This philosophy can be extended to all facets of life, but to keep this blog post concise, I’m just going to refer to food and health rituals.

Here are a few things that I’ve ditched for the better (not that these things are bad, just merely because it wasn’t making a difference in my life, so it was cluttering and clogging up my mind)

• Lemon water in the morning – it was messy, I didn’t like the taste and it didn’t make any difference. Less to me is just drinking straight up water in the morning.

• Superfood powders and green powders – you’ll rarely see me using products that are an “all in one” kind of situation. If there is an ingredient I like and want to use, I will buy that singular ingredient.

• Pretty much all supplements except for a few – supplement companies will find every way of telling you you need this supplement for life, but unless you are taking something for a reason (your own research and therapy or by working with a nutritionist or naturopath on something you are lacking in), what’s the point? I still take certain things for a reasons that provide a therapeutic action for me (to combat depressive symptoms) but other than that, no supplements.

• Pretty much all beauty products – Ok to start with I’m not into beauty at all and most of the products on the market I actually can’t tell the difference between them anyway. But for a while because everyone else was buying stuff, I just assumed I should have it too, meanwhile having no clue what it even does – than one day I woke up and was like – I could keep using this thing, or I could just not and literally nothing would happen.

These are just a few random things I’ve ditched among many other things.

And also I’m not discrediting some wellness practices (including the ones I’ve mentioned above) as we all know I am fascinated by how things like diet and mindset really do change our health. And there’s nothing wrong with trial and error, it’s basically how I’ve learnt everything. But the bottom line I had to keep asking myself was “is this making a difference in my life, and if I stopped doing it would I notice anything different”, and ruthlessly if the answer was no, I simply stopped!

And I expect this list to change throughout my life! Depending on where I’m at in life, different things are going to make a difference and spark joy.

The thing is – some of the things that make a huge difference in my life will create clutter in other’s lives – if you don’t like medicinal mushrooms and you love greens powders, you do you!

I’m so sick of people in the health industry (or any industry) telling people what they need… People are more than capable of deciding what they do or don’t need, and if they aren’t they can ask someone they trust – an opinion that is actually asked for, not something that was said in an ad or in marketing material. Do brands still think that is a good way to acquire customers? By telling them angrily that they NEED their product? It’s so outdated and forced.

Interestingly a lot of what I’ve kept are the free things – meditation, journaling, intermittent fasting, ocean swims, walks in nature, vegetables and good quality food.

In terms of products, I still do the rituals that have a big different in my life – bulletproof coffee, medicinal mushrooms, infrared saunas, beautiful kitchen equipment, CBD… I could go on for ages.

So now it’s really your time to tune in (that’s right, don’t go in to an instagram scroll hole), are there wellness rituals or products you are engaging in for the wrong reasons (ie. because you think you should but don’t know why), please accept my invitation to ditch it!

Liv xx