A New Lifestyle Plan For The Months Ahead

Are you “wired and tired”? ready to snap at any time? Exhausted? Pushing yourself through the day? Not really enjoying life? Gaining weight uncharacteristically? Not seeing the beauty in everyday things? If so, you’ll be very pleased to know that you can often easily and pretty quickly make dramatic changes to your health and wellbeing.

When you are feeling like this it is the classic “can’t see the wood for the trees” and all too often it takes a major incident or trauma in your life to pull you up short. When you are wired and tired it is likely that your adrenals are under considerable stress and that will cause you all manner of problems if it isn’t sorted out – major health issues and breakdowns in all areas of your life.

When we are stressed the adrenals release adrenalin and cortisol to help us cope – the fight or flight reaction – but too many people now live at a heightened state of stress pretty much constantly – living on the constant “high” from the adrenalin and cortisol – needing it – so their body doesn’t get a chance to recover and get back into balance. Normally the occasional burst will be balanced out within 24 hours but when this is regular, constant, stress we start to feel chronically tired and find life overwhelming.

So,if:
• you wake at 3am worrying;
• you find it hard to get to sleep;
• You feel nervous or anxious a lot of the time;
• You over-react to small stresses;
• You “need” carby, sugary, snacks to keep you going;
• You feel edgy, shaky and wired;
• You are irritable and easily upset;
• Your periods are irregular;
• You feel poorly or are ill often.

Then this is you and if this is you it is time to do something now... you need to slow down. If you have any of the symptoms I mentioned then it’s time to nip it in the bud before it takes over and causes illness and/or breakdown. Otherwise life takes over, whacks you on the head – you get ill, someone you love needs your time and attention, your working arrangements change outside your control.

What can you do yourself to avoid the trauma of a major drama?
• Get some early nights
• Eat good natural foods
• Take vitamin C
• Drink plenty of filtered water, but not with meals
• Take probiotics
• Find ways to relax – meditation, yoga, walks in nature, listening to music
• Flow journal to help you get things out of your head and onto paper. Julia Cameron, author of the Artists Way, calls this Morning Pages and she told me recently that she regards this as “a vacuum cleaner for the mind” – wonderful!

Is your typical day – grab a slice of toast and a coffee in the kitchen while getting ready, a coffee on the way to work, sandwich lunch at the desk, a heavy meal out with a client or miss lunch all together, mid afternoon snack of crisps or biscuits with tea or coffee, pick up a take-out or processed food on the way home, have a coffee on the way home, have a G & T or large glass of wine when you get through the door, heat up the meal, collapse in front of the TV with the re-heated meal and another drink, go to bed exhausted. Get up and do it again???

If so you need a new healthier life plan to help you cope and thrive as we go into the winter months Now is the perfect time to start a new pattern before the days shorten and the winter months set in.

Changes can be simple, making easy swaps and changing the balance in your diet and your life.

Key aspects: eating, exercise, relaxing, environment, supplements

Exercise:
• Put it in your diary so it happens – schedule a class or training session
• best early in the day, midday and early evening but just short bursts to get a “hit” of energy
• If you use public transport get off one stop earlier and walk
• Always use the stairs not the elevator/lift
• Make an excuse to leave the office and walk or run up and down the stairs a couple of times
• Get a jump/skipping rope!

Relaxing:
This is quite distinct to sleeping, which may or may not be relaxing. You need to find ways to really relax to get the stress out of your mind and body and create new patterns, new wiring. Great ways to do this are:
- Walking in nature;
- Meditation or yoga; - meditation can be anything done mindfully for its own sake – reading for pleasure, listening to music, cooking, walking...
- Taking exercise;
- Listening to music;
- Laughter;
- I like to think of the 3 Ms – music, movement, mirth...

The other huge benefit to relaxation is productivity. What? Yes, as humans we typically only use 5% of our brains capacity but if we get into a state of deep relaxation we tap into our sub-conscious – this is when the inspirations come, when we are in flow, when we get the answer to a problem seemingly out of nowhere, when we can write and write and not consciously know what we are writing. So this allows you to be more productive – so the joy of that is that by doing “nothing” you are achieving so much more.

Environment: where you live and work makes a huge difference to your energy levels. Feng Shui principles make a huge difference, but that’s another big topic! At any rate, make sure you get out in nature every day and if your office isn’t a particularly lovely place to be make it more so with the introduction of plants, flowers, pictures or photos – things of beauty that you can draw joy from during the day.

Eating: Food choices essential to wellbeing – the difference between exhaustion, moodiness and feeling out of control AND feeling full of energy, ready to cope with anything, happy...

Cleanse your system of toxins, allergens and other foods that are clogging your system and slowing you down
• Introduce raw – very good for cleansing the blood
• Try eliminating wheat and dairy – frequent allergins which clog up the system
• Try reducing or eliminating caffeine – it acts like stress on the body increasing the wired & tired cycle

Introduce more good fats and essential fatty acids. When I was on ultra low fat 10 years ago I found myself haggard, exhausted, constipated and with constant headaches. Fat gets terribly bad press and very misunderstood. Omega 3 is a particularly good for you and is great for releasing stored fat from our cells, increasing our energy levels, reducing inflammation in organs and joints and increasing our brains ability to function and cope on a day to day basis.

Don’t skip meals A lot of people think they will lose weight if they skip meals, the reverse is the case. Your mind thinks your body is being starved and therefore stores excess weight on your body to protect you.

The key is to keep it natural, real food, and with every meal have:
 Protein – building blocks
 Complex carbs – found in vegetables and fruits not simple carbs found in white products (bread, rice, pasta, pastry etc)
 Healthy fats – natural, virgin, preferably organic – olive, avocado, coconut are all great

A Healthy Typical day could look like this:

On waking:
Water, hot water and lemon with ginger or coconut oil, detox tea

Pre-breakfast:
2 kiwi fruit or ½ grapefruit – to stimulate the digestion

Breakfast:
Plenty of protein for lasting energy eg eggs, greek yoghurt, ham, cheese, nuts, seeds,

Lunches:
Cut out sandwiches – they leave you depleted in the afternoon. Low carb tortilla wraps are better with plenty of salad and protein
Have salad or soup – choose a gluten free soup to ensure it isn’t too carby
Cooked breakfast at lunchtime – bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes

Dinner:
Needs to be quick to stop you resorting to take-aways and processed foods.

Stir fries are great they are quick and nutritious – use avocado or coconut oil which are healthy fats and cope with high heat. Quickly cook onion, garlic and spring onion. Then add sliced chicken, lean meat (if using fish or shrimp don’t add them yet). Brown the meat then add a selection of sliced vegetables – mix up the colours, not only does it look nice but it ensures a mix of nutrients. Season and cook for just a few minutes until veggies are hot but still crisp. If using fish or shrimp rather than meat or poultry add it at this stage. Avoid soy sauce, use a light balsamic vinegar instead. (soy is bad for hormone balance)

Snacks: (I have about 100 on my master list!)
Nuts, seeds, ham, cheese, yoghurt, 70%+ chocolate, celery & carrot sticks,

Eat regularly enough not to get hungry – typically every 3 hours.

Supplements: in an ideal world get everything from food but with our environment and available food choices this is sometimes nigh on impossible. Basics are a good multivitamin, vitamin C, Good source fish or krill oil and at this time of year add vitamin D to compensate for lack of sunshine.

I hope you find this comprehensive run through changing your lifestyle useful and look forward to connecting with you again soon.