Friday, September 21, 2012

Wellness tips (updated post)

Fresh salad in Kauai

I have many goals for myself but I am realizing I need to take baby steps if I want to:

a. not get overwhelmed
b. make a lasting impressed
c. enjoy the process.

I think I expect perfection in my life, my body and my actions, but my standards are too high and it makes life no fun. I've decided to come up with a few guidelines that I think will make the biggest impact on the health of my body. These are things that I am going to strive for, but I'm going to pick one at a time and start slowly. For example, instead of fully cutting out sugar I'm going to aim to just eat sugar once a day or every other day, not three times a day. I am going to try to chronicle my experiences here on the blog.

Here are the four goals I have come up with:

1. Eat a light, early dinner
2. Do something active 30+ minutes everyday
3. Go to bed early
4. Eat less processed sugar

I don't think I need to go through all the benefits of these goals because they are pretty mainstream. They only unique one I think is #1. Most people end up eating their biggest meal of the day at night and because they work late they end of eating rather late. I'm always amazed at the Europeans that eat dinner around 10pm, in fact I'm quite jealous, because I cannot eat like that. I notice that I feel the best if I don't have heavy food weighing me down at night. In ayurveda they says that your digestion is the strongest at noon when the sun is highest in the sky, just as agni (fire) is strongest in your digestion at noon. In the evening the body is getting ready to sleep and settle down, therefore your digestion slows down. Eating heavy food at night disrupts the regeneration your body goes through while you sleep and can cause ama (toxins) to accumulate in your body. If this is a new concept for you, try eating a light supper: soup and toast, or vegetables, rice and a light protein and see how you feel when you are going to bed or how you feel when you wake up.

Everyone is different, that is what I love so much about holistic nutrition, there is no perfect way. Everyone has to find their own way, whatever feels right for them. What feels right for me are the four goals above. What feels right for you?


1 comment:

  1. To avoid eating too much of even the healthiest foods keep track of how much you are eating. For most people meat servings should be about the size of a deck of cards and other servings vary by the type of food.

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