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The following are a few things I have learned over the years that have been helpful in my life. Maybe some work for you, maybe they don’t. In either case I believe knowledge is useless if it’s not shared or put into action. Enjoy!
1) Preparation is key!
If you find yourself stopping by the local fast food drive thru because you don’t have time to cook a healthy meal, a little prior planning can surely prevent this. I pick a Sunday or Monday, allocate myself 2-3 hours for shopping and cooking, and make it happen. Keep in mind that having someone to do this with can make the process more enjoyable. Each week I attempt 2 new healthy recipes (my cooking/grocery shopping partner does the same). We cook together making fairly large portions and split everything in half when we’re done. When completed we each have 4 unique recipes amounting to approximately 8-10 meals prepared for the week. Not only do you improve your recipe and food preparation knowledge, you will notice a savings in your grocery bill as well as less time spent in the kitchen as you gain confidence in your cooking ability.
2) Quality over quantity
Dreading getting out of bed when the alarm goes off? As a society we are not only deficient in the amount of sleep we get, we are deficient in our quality of sleep. When it’s time for bed, ensure the lights in the room are off (the darker the better), you are a comfortable temperature (too warm a body may cause night terrors) and you are not falling asleep to a turned on television. Countless sleep studies demonstrate if even one of these factors is altered from the norm, quality of sleep is drastically reduced. Have you ever awoken to find outside sounds incorporated into your dreams? I noticed this happening to me and started listening to the “nature” or “peaceful seclusion” station on Pandora while sleeping. Now I find I rarely have nightmares and the dreams I do remember are peaceful, often finding myself in a forest or near a waterfall.
3) Get Started Right
Within 30 minutes of waking, I like to drink a cold glass of water and eat a healthy breakfast (approximately 30 grams of protein) to get my metabolic engine started. My go-to breakfast includes a scoop of vegetables (pre-cut for the week and kept in a large tupperware container) mixed with egg whites and spinach. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and eat. I received this advice from the Tim Ferriss bestseller, The 4 Hour Body. It may not work for all but I have noticed significantly higher energy levels throughout the day as well as minimum “crashing” in those times after a meal. For more information on the importance of breakfast, read the blog “Breaking the Fast.”
Look for more helpful tips in upcoming blogs. Live healthy, be well.
-Every day do something that will inch you closer to a better tomorrow-
Mike Sherbakov, CSCS, CPT
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