Everyone writes that it takes 21 days to change or start a new habit. This is only three weeks out of our entire live. It seems so simple, three short weeks out of the 356 days that we go about our daily lives each year. People are usually so set in their ways. We get these bright ideas and get super psyched about them, only to have them put back in with the rest of the skeletons in our hidden closets. Well, maybe not all humans are like this but I am, and I know a lot of other people in my world, who have live the same way. If I am going to be serious and go all out about this habit thing, I am going to make sure that it will be worth the work, I thought. I would need to come up with my own list of the most important habits that I believe would be the most beneficial in my life. Here are the health and nutrition habits that I believe to be the shortcut to the most productive and important rituals for future success.
We all want to be healthier, we just sometimes hate giving up the things that temporarily satisfy us for the moment. I read somewhere on Dr. Mercola's website that if you have to choose to one of the two deady habits of smoking and consuming sugar, then quitting sugar would be the most beneficial habit to break first. This really got my attention: Sugar WORST then smoking.(Then even further more of reading his website, sugar substitutes are even worse than the real thing. We will get to this topic in another reading). My conclusion for starting out our new healthy habit is to not consume any sugar within four hours of rising and four hours of going to bed. This way, if we really have to have our sugar, we are going to do it at a time where we are going to get rid of it before it actually settles into our system.
Since our bodies have been resting and working to recover all these hours during our sleep, our body becomes dehydrated. Drinking water is a absolute necessity when we first get up in the morning. The best thing for us to do would for us to drink water with freshly squeezed lemon into it. The lemon actually cleanses our system, boosting our immune system, helping to stimulate our digestive system, and balancing the ph in our body. I can only tell you good things about putting lemon in your water.
I like to sit outside first thing in the morning, but this may not be possible if weather does not permit, or if we live in some cooler places in this world; but making sure that we are posted in natural light is the best thing for our senses to see and feel when we first get up. This will help communicate to the rest of our body, naturally, that it's time to get up and get going.
Movement is another absolute must. We can choose our own type of movement for our own type of lifestyle and personality. Some people love to get and really move it right away with cardio. If this is something that you are thinking about, I encourage you to go for it. Tony Robbins always talks about the importance of our rapid movement with our physiology. He says we can change our emotional and mental state by simply getting up and jumping around and really getting that body moving quickly. It not only helps with our moods, but physically moving our body will help aid with digestion, move our blood around, and actually move those chemicals and serotonin in our head to get us feeling better inside and out. My suggestion would be to start out with some simple stretches
Pilates is a form of exercise that is mostly stretching and low impact, but will have a enormous impact on the changing your lifestyle for the better. Stretching helps us prepare our body for the rest of the days movement, it helps with posture, flexibility, circulation, balance, and stress. We can't go wrong with stretching. I have never heard of anyone ever regretting it.
I respect that each of us have our own beliefs on our higher power; but I also want to share my own with you and why I choose to add it to my morning routine. I like to thank God for waking up and ask him to be with me and my loved ones throughout the day. I also love to read a daily devotional, whether it is a page that I open to in the Bible, or it is an application on the phone, I believe that these couple minutes we can add to our morning, can make or break our mood the entire day. Just being aware and thankful to God helps to center myself and remind me what a privilege it is to actually be able to read this.
These are the first things that I am instilling for my daily habits for my health and happiness. Stretching, exposing myself to natural light, acknowledging God, drinking lemon water, and making sure not to consume any sugar. I will let you know how these important daily rituals are affecting my life sometime in the very near future.
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