10 simple tips to help you to achieve mind & body balance (homoeostasis) for fat reduction, muscle gain and general health and well being:
(Dedicated to my great friend Queen Victoria)
1. Get enough sleep. 8 or 9 hours a night of good quality sleep is what we should be aiming for. This helps to boost growth hormone levels, helps cells to regenerate and helps the mind to soak in the days events. If you have had less sleep than this try to take time for a 20 minute power nap around 2pm in the afternoon, this helps to revitalise you so you are ready to take on the reminder of the day. Also sleeping patterns effect food choices. Lack of sleep can make one crave high sugary foods, so get your sleep where you can.
2. Choose to consume foods which are hormone free, preferably from organic sources when ever possible. This will minimise any possible disruptions your body may inexperience from unneccasary chemicals.
3. Cleanse your body's digestive system everyday by drinking warm water with fresh lemon, honey and ginger. Morning, noon and night
4. Remove any fizzy drinks (including carbonated water) from your routine
5. Minimise plastics within your environment as much as possible, especially those from food and drink containers. These can leak oestrogens and as a result create havoc with your hormone balance. The gold standard is to drink fluids out of glass/ceramic, eat & store foods out of ceramic, & cook in wrought iron pans. If plastic is to be used, choose BPA free plastics and understand that these plastics also wear out over time. Look for the white coating over plastics, this is a sure sign that the plastic is worn and not good to use.
6. Reduce worry and dis-stress. A little bit of stress is absolutely normal and a perfectly natural part of our lives. However, when a stress hinges at a point when we feel we are not coping any longer, it converts in to a negative form known as distress. Distress can lead to weight gain or unwanted weight retention and a lack of results from your fitness routine .
If this distress is a common reocuurance and effecting your normal life function i.e. sleep, concentration, food choices and disrupting normal emotional patterns then you must learn to recognise this & as a consequence review what might be going wrong to cause the distress. Look at removing or minimising the factors in your life which are leading to the distress and don't hold back on removing them as soon as possible. This may come from re-establishing goals or changing your path in someway (please see my three part executive health and fitness series) but ultimately, know this is for the better in your life. So the sooner you change it, the quicker your whole life will improve
7. Avoid snacking on foods & leave a significant gap (mini fast) between meals. It is important for digestive enzymes to be replenished, if you are grazing all day you are preventing this fascinating replenishing process from occurring & therefore when you do eat you have not revitalised your digestive enzymes to their full potential which prevents you processing your food effectively. When you leave a gap between meals you are allowing your body to recognise the need for food (i.e.. feeling of hunger) when you eat after feeling hungry, you generally recognise the feeling of fullness post meal. Once again your growth hormone levels have been found to peak after periods of fasting, but keep in mind that you should eat enough quality protein food sources during your meals so you don't eat into muscle proteins during these small fasting periods.
8. Keep your diet simple, eat from the earth and avoid processed foods. Yes you can eat carbohydrates including fruit, vegetable, but as I have advised for years the timing of ingestion for these foods is the key to success. This timing is a whole new article in the making :-)
9. Partake in a variety of exercises which help to boost your endorphins. Don't just stick to one type of group exercise class or training regime. Mix it up so you don't suffer from over training and/ or hit a training plateau. If you have trouble sticking to exercise routines, then try to mix exercises up with activities you enjoy.
10. Be consistent! Don't become complacent, don't restrict yourself too much, make your choices achievable for the lifestyle you want to lead and how you want to feel about yourself. Know yourself and your potential and for goodness sake promise yourself to work to your potential today, as this day might be your last!
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