The Breakfast Lie and Modern Life

Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day.  Is one meal more important than another?  If that was so, then you could skip meals all the time.  You can miss lunch altogether because it's not important.  Does that sound absurd?  That's like saying my electric bill is unimportant during certain months.  Skip the payment.

Breakfast as the most important meal of the day was created by advertisers to boost their products.  I was learning this on a radio program and my initial guess was the Kellogg brothers had schemed it up but it was actually the pork industry.  It needed to drive up sales so the breakfast slogan was introduced in doctors offices by shiny brochures created by the pork sellers.  Everyone needed to eat ham with their eggs in the morning.

Now, if you ask your grandparents they ate a very small meal at dawn and went to work on the land.  Lunch was a huge spread at noon and then another light meal was prepared at night.

Most people instinctively know they shouldn't fill their stomachs first thing in the morning.  People are not hungry.  They don't feel hunger pangs until 2-3 hours after waking.  So, why do we rush to swallow a lot of protein, carbs, and fat as soon as we put our feet inside our slippers?

My theory is we have to run off to work and school.  There is no breakfast time alotted at the workplace or school.  Most folks feel pretty good first thing in the morning and don't get hungry until they've forged about three hours into their day.

But, with our modern work life with assembly line shifts and feeling as if you are being policed every minute of your day, there is not the flexibility needed to promote your own body's health.  Are you allowed to eat a meal when your body actually needs it?  No, most people are told when to eat.  They are told when to use the bathroom and to hold it (too bad) because you're must stay on duty until someone else tells you otherwise.

Part of health is recognizing your body's needs and tending to them.  This does not mean ignore your body.  I'm not going to go down all the occupations and make exceptions.  People do work long hours that runs into overtime.  Medical staff have to perform double shifts.  I get it.  But common sense tells us our health must be a priority or there's nothing left of you for anyone, on or off the job.

So, if you can be more flexible with your meals and snacks while working, please do so.

And dare I say.....If you don't have the flexibility to attend to your health....it's time to make a change in your job/career.

Living live vacation means you are productive and healthy.  It is a partnership, otherwise it is not productive, it is destructive.

More to come.. .

What You've Been Waiting For.................Radical Health Makeover

So, I said a month or so back that I was going to write about the health aspects of living like vacation and specifically, diet.

When you're starting out on the Live Like Vacation challenge, mind-set, goals, whatever you want to call it, you have to get a handle on sleep and diet.

I haven't added anything yet in the steps about diet, but now it is probably time.  If you get steps 1-5 under your belt and feel good about your progress, diet can be approached with a not-too-scary anticipation.

Time needs to be rearranged in the schedule, (you've worked on this already) in order to avoid excessive eating out and changing to eating more meals made in the home.  The time rearrangement will help you be better prepared for this.

I know when it's the end of the day and I'm tired by the time I am home, I am not in my best frame of mind to think about nutrition.  This part of the day my will is pretty weak, so I will crave chocolate and anything I can eat quickly.  Not a good idea.  That's why you want to feel organized and efficient throughout the day, so the evening is not a crash and burn session lying on the couch zoned out as if your brain left the planet.

Lunches are difficult, too.  When you don't have something packed it's time for the mad dash to some fast food place that will give you a flour and water concoction wrapped up in wax paper that will make you sleepy for the rest of the afternoon.

Breakfast is also a perilous time of the day because I am about to tell you that all the traditional favorites have to be given up.........

Oh Boo!  I've ruined all your taste bud fun!

Let's get right to the crux of the matter.  There are foods you will have to give up.  Yep, it's going to be sad.  It's like sending that big bowl of pasta on a space ship to Mars.  Farewell, old buddy.  Hope you make it, because you're never seeing earth again.

Terrified?   No, you're not.  You already made a commitment to the Live Like Vacation mind-set, so this is a piece of cake.   Oh, Sorry.

Let's take the baby steps here.  Can you give up the junk food, soda, and  reduce the coffee and eat more at home?  You will feel a difference in energy level.

Once you do that we can talk more about diet.

There is one issue here that needs discussing.  Eating better foods is not enough.  The body has to heal from the trauma induced by years of damaging foods.  If this damage is not healed, the body can't absorb the good stuff, so poor health will continue due to malabsorption.

Once folks experience some small benefits, the radical health transformation is not impossible.    Keep looking forward.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

What really made the vacation?

Our days on vacation were entirely uncluttered.

The bills were paid in advance.  The phone did not ring, since I told my practice members that the office was closed. There were no lunches to pack.  Even though we did laundry during our vacation, we didn't have to get it done by a certain time so all work clothes and school uniforms were ready.  We made a couple of trips to a grocery store that were low stress trips since we were leisurely planning meals.  All recreational plans were low keyed.  There were no major trips to museums, and no visits to tourist attractions.  There was no dealing with long drives in traffic. We had a few visits with relatives in the evenings, but we mostly kept to ourselves.

There were no distractions.  There was no over-booking of activities.  There were no surprises that typically come up during work days.

So how can this experience carry over into the return to daily life?

1.  First of all there has to be a commitment.  The stark change from one day to the next was an eye opener for me.  As soon as I landed back in Syracuse, the nonsense began.  I said, "Enough! I want that vacation-feel back!"  Like I said in an earlier post.  I had no desire to leave town.  I was happy being a working dog. (I have nothing against working dogs.)  It was a comfort zone.  Upon my return I realized things could be different because I lived it differently for a week!

Some people never believe they can have something different.  I hear it everyday in my office.  Practice members do not believe they can get one inch closer to better health. There is a big mental barrier that I empathize with.  It is a tough egg to crack.  I was like that.

When I finally knew what I didn't know, and gave up my "know it all" attitude so I could just enjoy myself for a week in sunny Florida, it was easy to make the commitment.  Here is the blog to prove it.

2.  You must sleep at the same hours every night.   If you think your body is happy with an 11 o'clock bed time, or 10 o'clock bedtime, think again.   There is too much of a domino effect when you don't go to bed earlier and keep it consistent (weekends included).  Your energy, mental organization, temperament, productivity,  food cravings, are all going in the wrong direction.  Time is wasted.  Productivity is a joke.  I blamed it on hormones....LOL.   Even hormones need sleep.  Don't lie to yourself about sleep.

3.  You must systematize your daily activities so they are done and out of the way and then you will have more room for the enjoyment!  Get the little things done and out of the way.  Really, they are not little things, because they play a supporting role to get you out there in the world ready to take action.  How do you begin?  Well, you go to bed at a decent hour and then discover what you can accomplish the next day.

A few weeks ago I wrote a health article about energy.  I made a point about my personal life that I was giving away the best of me all day during office hours and there was nothing left of me at home for my family.  I know if I feel this way, everyone else has this problem.  I was doing a lot of things well such as taking my supplements, getting adjusted weekly, exercising a little bit..... Well, in all honesty, there were holes in my bucket.  Vacation helped me see that.  I was putting my all into the office, even that can eventually run on fumes.  I have many ideas for new projects, marketing, etc., but they have been on the back burner for months.  The back burner is turning into a cobweb filled attack.

If you are a list writer, take all your "supporting role" chores make that list.  Come up with ways to reduce the time you spend on them.  Get them done in a more efficient manner.  And when you get on the authentic restful sleep routine, you'll have an extra time and energy.

4.  Totally knock out the things that are unproductive.   Back to commitment again.  Here's a few ideas.  They have some pesky emotional  attachments. Skip the little detour to Dunkin Donuts, find ways to avoid the post office, ignore phone  calls during your most productive time of day, set strong boundaries with certain people in your life, (Yep, do it.), give up television.  Here's a biggie: use social media for catching up with family, sharing photos, following a few interests.  I said few.  Give up the rest.   Don't read every comment, don't read every news story shared.  Skip 80% of it.

Now, don't take my word for it.  These are well known strategies to get your life in balance. When you feel the benefits of your Live Like Vacation changeover you will easily kick these time suckers to the curb!

I started out this blog taking things slowly, step by step.  Don't overwhelm yourself.

5.  Make your work joyful for yourself and others.
     Does this make you nervous?   Concentrate on #1-3, jump into #4 later and then you'll be ready for #5.

I'll be there with you doing the same thing myself.

You Do Not Have to Feel Ruffled All Day Long

Have you ever had that ruffled feeling?  You could feel overwhelmed, rushed, and easily agitated.  You can feel like you are unproductive, spinning your wheels and putting out fires.

It's a long day when you feel that way.

 photo courtesy of Redwall Cookbook

What makes it worse is the desire to find comfort in food.  Eating on the run is an example.  Who doesn't dash over to the snack machine in search of a tasty pleasure to help you feel better about the day? The sad part is that you don't feel better, you feel worse.  This just spirals in a negative manner.

Just getting through the day seems to be a major goal with mugs and mugs of hot coffee or endless caffeinated soft drinks.  And the carby comfort foods...Oh boy.

I noticed with an authentically restful sleeping routine, (ARSR) I don't have food cravings.  Actually the midday hunger is easy to appease and then I go right back to my work.

This is just one of the hidden rollover benefits of good sleep.

The Domino Effect begins with good sleep!

Keep the Vacation-Feel......