Global Wellness Day 2023

Since 2012, Global Wellness Day (GWD) has been commemorated every second Saturday of June. This day, founded by Belgin Aksoy, was created to encourage people around the world to prioritise their health and wellbeing. Its motto? One day, can change your whole life. In 2022, it was celebrated by millions of people from over 170 countries.

Sadly, unlike our furry companions, we humans often forget to stop and smell the roses (or, in our pups’ case, the abundant pee-mail on the pavement). Habitually, we are stuck in autopilot—so keen to get daily tasks completed that we forget to pause, assess how we’re feeling and make positive changes. We’ve accepted it as normal to go about our daily lives with a tense neck and head swarming with thoughts when we can be just as productive (if not more!) by pausing and prioritising our health and wellbeing.

We at THE PACK, along with our partners at Grubby, don’t puppy play around when it comes to wellness—whether it’s for two- or four-legged beings. In this blog, we’re going over some tips on how to improve our health—this 10th of June and throughout the year.

Let’s Paw-se And Be Mindful

If you haven’t tried out mindfulness yet, Global Wellness Day is a wag-nificent opportunity to give it a go! Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us. Mindfulness is often misunderstood as ‘thinking happy thoughts’, when in reality, it’s getting in touch with our senses and emotions as they are, without judgment or needing to ‘fix’ them. This acceptance and awareness can improve mental activity and calm our nervous system, or our ‘fight or flight response’. By becoming mindful, we can escape the vicious cycle that is negative thinking and self-talk, which can lead to obtaining inner peace and happiness.

Pausing can also increase happiness and wellbeing by becoming an opportunity to practice gratitude. We humans tend to dwell on the negative, however, taking a moment each day to appreciate what we normally take for granted—e.g., our home, the people (and pups) in our lives, the food on the table and the flowers in the garden in bloom—will give you a more positive mindset, improved focus, higher self-esteem and increased patience. A great way to practice gratitude is to be mindful (e.g., tapping into your senses when you eat a delicious meal) and/or keep a gratitude journal, in which you can log the moments or things in your life that made you smile and feel good each day.

Trade Stressful Habits For Healthy Ones

When ignoring our mental and physical well-being or being mindless in our actions (on autopilot), it’s easy to cultivate unhealthy and stress-inducing habits. Most of us are likely guilty of having too much screen-time before bed, not exercising enough and eating foods that aren’t the best for our health. GWD recommends implementing at least a few steps of their their ‘7 Step Manifesto’ on a regular basis to increase one’s wellness, which includes:

Walking for an hour
Drinking more water
Not using single-use plastic bottles
Eating healthy food
Doing a good deed
Having a family dinner with your loved ones
Going to sleep at 10:00pm

Wellness Throughout The Year

Taking part in GWD is a great way to start your wellness journey, which we hope will continue during the rest of the year. Based on GWD’s manifesto, we’ve come up with our own list of ways in which you can be a healthier version of yourself, 365 days a year:

Go for daily walks with your furry friend—an activity that is just as good physically as it is mentally for you and your pooch. It’s raining cats and dogs outside and you’re taking a day off from outdoor exercise? Get into GWD’s theme for 2023, ‘Dance Magenta’, and have a dance party/zoomies fest with your pooch in your living room (that will surely give you something to write in your gratitude journal)!
Drink more water and eat healthy, plant-based meals— Keeping on top of your water intake and counting your five a day while planning the perfect balanced meals is great for you, but who has the time? Putting together a nutritious, balanced meal in less than 30 minutes is where Grubby’s plant-based recipe kits come in and save the day, they make the impossible paw-ssible! Grubby makes plant-based cooking more convenient and accessible. Most of their produce is British grown, they fight against food waste, and they mostly deliver using zero emission couriers; meaning their kits have a low carbon footprint. With a new menu every week, you can opt for their high protein ‘Za’atar roasted aubergine with hummus’ recipe or their 20-minute ‘Cashew, chestnut mushroom and rocket carbonara’ recipe and switch it up so you never have a boring Monday night in. Grubby makes it easy to eat healthy and indulge in flavours your senses will be grateful for! Try your first Grubby box with 50% off from us here.
Have a family dinner with your four-legged companion—So you’ve just ordered a family box from Grubby, but feel bad about not letting your pooch in on the wholesome, plant-based dinner? Open a can of one of our three nutritionally complete, drool-inducing flavours of THE PACK and your pooch is suddenly on a wellness journey with you!
Do a good deed—By following a vegan lifestyle throughout the year, a human can save 200 animals, 1.3 million gallons of water and 1.5 tons of carbon emissions. If you and your 70-pound hound ditched meat, together you would be saving 2,200 gallons of water, about 60 square feet of rainforest and 90 pounds of grain on a daily basis. Not only is plant-based eating beneficial for you and your pup’s health, but it’s helping save the Earth and its inhabitants. Because of this, we can’t think of a better deed than changing what’s on our plates and in our dogs’ bowls by eating meals like those easily and sustainably prepared by Grubby and THE PACK.

Plus, both us at THE PACK and our friends at Grubby pride ourselves on using recyclable materials and creating minimal waste through our packaging. We’re all about paw-tecting our health and that of our planet.

We hope the tips in this blog have inspired you to prioritise your wellness, this Global Wellness Day and throughout the year!

Interested in trying Grubby this GWD? Use the code WELLNESS to get 50% off your 1st box and 40% off the rest of the month.