How Exactly Erin Lives Whole

As I shared on my Instagram account a few months back, I really struggled with coming up with a blog and handle name that I would be happy with and proud of. I knew I wanted it to envision something that really represented who I am as a person, so I settled on Erin Lives Whole. But does “living whole” actually even represent who I am? What the heck does it even mean? Well, I’ve been left thinking about it a lot lately and I wanted to share with everyone just where I got the name from and how I knew it was the perfect representation of me.

Nowadays, our feeds are filled with so many people who are trying to preach health and wellness. The “health” world is so incredibly over-saturated with people who are selling weight-loss, who have the key to “losing the last 5 pounds”, who only eat lean-cuisine (its only XX calories!!) – you get the idea.

I don’t know if its just me, but I can’t stand this at all. I don’t need someone preaching to me about how to be “healthy” when in fact, I don’t think any of that is healthy. How can selling a “flat-tummy tea” be healthy? It isn’t. I feel like we are being mislead with how many people there are out there trying to promote weight-loss and doing things to your body that just don’t feel right or good.

So instead of complaining about them (although I could go on for hours), I decided to create my own blog/Instagram that would promote healthy living as a “whole”.

Whole in the sense that I eat real, whole foods. Give me all the avocado, nut butter, roasted veggies, burgers, oatmeal, smoothies, salad, fresh pasta, ice cream, the list goes on and on. I don’t want any lean cuisine meals, protein shakes, supplements, “low-fat” (aka filled with sugar to replace the loss of flavor from fat), “detox” drinks – just give me the real stuff.

I find that when I eat foods that are filled with real ingredients (even those that society may deem “healthy or unhealthy”), I feel so much better physically and mentally. You’ll see from the sample list of whole eats I listed above, some have a reputation for being healthy while others don’t. And that is exactly the point – we are humans who are meant to enjoy eating and develop a diet with a variety of different foods. No one is meant to eat only grilled plain chicken and veggies for dinner every night for the rest of their lives. But no one should also only eat flash-frozen meals loaded with preservatives and other crap forever, either.

In addition to eating whole, I also believe in feeling whole when it comes to working out. To me, this means finding different ways to move my body because I genuinely like the way they make me feel. Some days this may mean going for a run, while others it might mean taking a yoga class. It may also mean doing absolutely nothing. Sometimes that is the best and most needed thing – I really believe in listening to what my body is telling me. I never want to get back to being the girl who has to work out in order to feel good. I was her for far too long and now I’m able to be at peace with resting whenever the heck I want.

Being whole also means being able to eat some of those non-whole products and feeling totally okay with it. It means sometimes eating candy laden with artificial sweetener and food with chemicals that aren’t ideally what I want to be putting into my body, but not stressing out about it.

Living whole in my eyes requires a sense of relaxation and happiness. I’ve worked so hard to create this new whole lifestyle and it has changed my life over the past year. Of course, I’m not perfect and I don’t always live up to these standards 100% of the time, but I definitely try my best to do whatever it takes to bring myself happiness. I’m a work in progress but that’s what makes Erin Lives Whole authentically me.