About Healthy Belly

We all wonder about our weight. We all wonder about our health. Even the most self-confident, self-possessed among us will spend a moment every now and then glancing in the mirror in personal admiration or dismay. The healthiest eater will look at their dinner plate and calculate if it is possible to make it just a little better. It takes work to become healthy, and it takes work to get healthy. Everyone has their moments of strength and moments of weakness.

It was with this in mind that I decided to create Healthy Belly. One day, after putzing around on a belly dancer’s forum for several unproductive minutes, I started looking for websites or blogs that offered fitness, conditioning, and general health articles geared towards belly dancers. Alas, as I suspected, there were very few and the quality in many of them was questionable. Soldering on, I widened my search to general women’s fitness websites. Most of the websites I found are atrocious. Like many of the women’s fitness magazines out there, they have a considerable focus on two things: your abs, and running.

Well quite frankly, there’s a hell of a lot more to being healthy then having a six-pack and working on your running form for the next half-marathon. I wanted to read about people who are trying new things, people who have found what works, people who experience set-backs and either keep plugging away or try something new. My personal health involves myriad issues, and not only do I want to read about it, I figured that other people would as well.
So I figured: I like writing, I like blathering on about dance and fitness and health and food. I know other people who have oodles of knowledge who could contribute to such a site. Why not start the blog myself instead of hunting around for one to read?

It also made sense that if I, as a belly dancer, wanted a website with information, resources, and blog entries geared towards my particular interests, than there were other belly dancers out there with the same desire. There are fantastic belly dance websites and resources out there, but I wanted mine to be more focused on the health, fitness, and wellness interests of the dance. Of course, there will be some other stuff tossed in there as well – strength training helps form and endurance, running helps cardio capabilities, and so on. I’m a big fan of cross-training, and so will address aspects of cross-training here.

Nutrition and food will be another big ticket item in Healthy Belly; obviously, proper diet and nutrition is key to overall health and affects a dancer’s performance capabilities. More importantly, though, I think there’s a lot of overly complicated and crappy info in regards to food, diet, and dieting out there. I love food, and I don’t believe that proper nutrition is as tricky for your average bear as many fitness resources say it is. So I’m eager to share nutrition advice, information, recipes, and even the occasional gloriously, sensually delicious high-calorie treat. Food should be enjoyed, and I hope that you enjoy it too.

With all that lovely altruistic intentions being laid out, I’ll also admit right here and now that there will be a good bit of navel-gazing going on in this blog. Perhaps my personal experiences and thoughts aren’t of much interest to others, but I enjoy slogging out the occasional rant and/or rave about my own efforts to be a Healthy Belly.

There will also be space in this blog for posts about healthy minds, and healthy spirits. If something related to beauty catches my eye or if there is a request for such a post, I’ll happily write about it – looking good helps people feel good. The same goes for having a healthy home and a healthy mind; our internal and external living spaces are not just important but integral for being the best dancers and the best people we can be.

I truly hope that it is not just belly dancers that find this site useful or entertaining. Healthy Belly has content that can help any woman – or man – with their own aspirations for wellness in their life and lifestyle.

So read on, belly dancers and honourary belly dancers! Leave your thoughts and comments, feel free to ask questions or forward contributions.