That's my nightstand, and yes I drink lots of water! I do walk my hydration talk and even more so since I moved to Phoenix where it is very dry.
Now, I don't drink three huge 1.5L bottles at one time, I just tend to collect bottles. When I wake up first thing and I mean I literally roll to my nightstand, I pick up a bottle and will swig about 1/3 of it before I even take one step out of bed. Refreshing!
Not only do my cells start doing their happy dance (I can sense the rumba which feels energizing), the water helps me go do #2 which yeah is TMI, but according to any doc, regular #2s are vital to our healthiness. And honestly, it feels lightening to unload in the A.M.
I truly do believe that what we have produced in our current state of life is sum of our habits. It's pretty simple:
Actions = results
If we don't like what we have, then change the actions to produce different results. If we want better levels of healthiness, then we need habits which support those desires. Awhile back, I finally got tired of starting my day feeling heavy and lethargic. I'd be ready for a nap before lunch time.
After experimenting, I found that part of the link to my heavy and draining feelings in the morning was eating a heavy (to my body) breakfast and drinking coffee first thing in the morning. For breakfast, I tended to eat gluteny things like toast, bagels, english muffin, wheat cereals, or banana nut bread with a drip.
I used to believe that a muffin was "healthy" especially if it had a fruit or veggie in it like blueberry, pumpkin, banana, or zuchini. From last week's Dunkin Donuts post where we learned that their pumpkin muffin is more caloric than that frightening KFC Double Down, muffins can be worse than junk fast foods.
It's a good idea to experiment with your body. For some people, coffee energizes them in the morning, for me coffee gets me wired and crashed pretty quickly. Wheaties may pump you up, but for my bod, wheat first thing makes me feel puffy and not in a fun puffed rice kind of way.
One of the side effects, if I can call it that, of going sugar-little at the start of the year and going gluten-little during the summer was that my body started craving kale and arugula first thing. Yeah, it was kinda weird at first because hello who wakes up craving a green salad?
Well apparently, my body is one of those with the green yearnings which hey, no one's complaining. The green cravings were just unexpected...pleasantly, but still out of the blue. At Sunday brunch, while others are eating omelets or pancakes, I'm jonesing on rocket greens or spinach.
So, here's a common thing I will eat for breakfast now, instead of a bowl of cereal, I eat a bowl of arugula with things like fresh corn, peas, mushrooms, carrots, walnuts or turkey pieces.
Instead of cofffe, I drink water or fresh green juices like this kale, cucumber with a splash of coconut water. I do have a juicer, but when I want something "now" I'm lucky that my local Whole Foods does fresh juices.
The drinks are a bit pricey but hey for $4 that veggie drink is making me feel all tingly good inside, and I know I'm getting nutrient goodness at its highest enzyme impact. Sometimes for breakfast, I'll eat cucumber or avocado sushi rolls with a fresh juice like this one with beets, carrots, kale, and apple.
I haven't eliminated coffee from my life like this mocha made with cashew milk because hold up, I'm a writer and coffee does help me write because it soothes me in the afternoon, yeah I know another weird thing. My bod can handle coffee better in the afternoon I believe because I've had a couple meals by then.
I blog at cafes plenty, and coffee is par the course...at least for now. We will save changing the caffeine habit for another time :)
So how do you start off your day?
Update: And yes I know about the plastic bottles. To be more green, I (and all of us) should be using a reusable bottle but one change at a time. I do my best to recycle...not always on top of it, I'll be honest, but I try. Patience.
