Easy ways to kick start a healthy routine
MATAKANA MEMO by Liz Bays | Matakana Tours
From boutique wineries to marine reserves, a sculpture trail, conservation projects and even handmade chocolates, there’s always so much going on in the Matakana region. Passionate about all things food, wine, health and environment, I’m Liz – and I write the Matakana Memo blog to help visitors discover the very best of my beloved backyard.
Our brand-new wellness weekends combine mind, body and spirit experiences to offer a great few days ‘time out’ for busy high-achievers. Over the course of the weekend we explain and help you put into practice many of the tips below, helping you to ‘kick-start’ a healthier, happier lifestyle. Enjoy the weekend with family, friends or co-workers – likeminded people add to the fun and helps long-term ‘stick-ability’ when you’re back into daily life.
THE DAILY ROUTINE
A good baseline is sleep, food & confidence; it sounds simple but it is so easy to let one or more of these slip! When this happens we end up tired, grumpy, stressed, dishevelled and if we keep going we miss opportunities, miss having fun & worse still get sick.
Here my personal tips and inspiring ways to add healthy living into a busy routine. Trust me, you’ll feel all the better for it!
Sleep – the A-B-C’s
A – Become aware of your natural sleep rhythm, called the Circadian rhythms. Generally, timings for sleep involve going to bed between 10pm and 1am then waking 8 hours later. My personal sleep ideal is to go to bed at 10.30pm, then be up at 7am. I generally do this naturally within an hour. If I am not asleep by 11.30pm, I find I am on an awake cycle until 1am. If I wake up after 8.30am I feel drowsy till 10.30am.
B – Increasing your melatonin levels makes you sleepy. Melatonin is brought on by the red in the sunset, especially from when the sun is between fist height off the horizon to being fully set. You can also install an App on computers that reddens your screen and removes the blue light automatically at this time of night – important so that you do not undo all the good work the sunset has done! Another good tip is to set your fit bit/alarm to 1.5 to 2 hours before bed to remind you to stop any vigorous activity and computer work, and start to wind down by doing something relaxing.
C… take a magnesium supplement after dinner to relax your muscles and get you in to your rhythm. Once you’re in the rhythm of a good sleep pattern you may not need this.
Food – the A-B-C’s
This is the most important thing for me, I’m a big fan of the saying “what you put in your body, is what you get out”. My busy lifestyle is not easy on low energy and the food hangovers I tend to get from overeating gluten, sugar or dairy.
A: Eat real food that is good quality. Identifying good food and enjoying natural flavors is key. Meeting food producers, who have an infectious passion for their produce and know how best to enjoy it helps you to discover ways to integrate healthy meals in to a busy lifestyle.
B: The power of the smoothie, not the sugar filled excessive fruit regime many are led to believe is good, but the “Green smoothie”. This is a delicious energy bomb (without the sugar hit) that you never get sick of. It can be made the day before and satisfies you till lunchtime. Start the day well and the whole day rocks!
C: Prep for the week is easy with a tool kit that includes a comprehensive shopping list of good food and a good recipe book. Cooking classes can be great to learn new ways to prepare family meals, and chatting with others about how they manage their own health & wellbeing can give you good tips for your own approach.
Confidence – the A-B-C’s
A: Everything happens one step at a time … whether is be adding one new meal to your repertoire, stopping for 2 minutes a day to catch up with yourself, or a 10 minute walk at lunch time. Slowly identifying and implementing good choices is key to embarking on a healthy, confident lifestyle. Make sure you recognize that this is a journey – a fun journey of personal discovery; not a short-term miracle quick fix to give you energy and vitality overnight.
B: Visualization, meditation, self-hypnosis— simple relaxation techniques can help to make your journey easier. These practices can fit into any busy schedule; and can be the most critical part of your journey for reasons like committing to lifelong changes, time out to absorb & discover, get to know yourself – and generally making any changes easier by getting your head around them first.
C: Clarity of your priorities gives you confidence in daily decision-making. You can’t do everything all at once, however you can list everything that you want to achieve and prioritize appropriately across days, weeks or months. Priorities may start with getting a wardrobe organized so dressing; looking good and getting out the door on time is easy in the mornings. When that is ticked off the list and has become a daily habit, move on to the next thing. Starting with how you look often makes you feel great and the next thing on the list is so much easier to tackle when you feel good.
There’s a golden wellness rule that has always stuck with me – “If you change nothing you will not get different results”. Book in a wellness weekend and discover how to create a more healthy, vibrant version of yourself. Everyday I am learning and improving my lifestyle choices – “every day in every way I get better and better”. I hope you will join me in my journey and share what has worked for you.
- Liz