Healthy Habits
I’ve been trying to bring some more healthy habits into my day-to-day routine. I was working so many hours and living such a crazy lifestyle that I really needed to take control.
Then I broke my wrist and was signed off of work for at least two weeks - more likely six, but we’re not there yet - and I realised I was at a breaking point…
💓 Either I would take advantage of the time off to really get myself on track with good habits
🦥 Or I’d deteriorate into a couch-potato, using the excuse of my broken wrist not to exercise, not to cook healthy food, not to get out of bed for most of the day and consume ridiculous amounts of Netflix and novels.
I should clarify - I didn’t break my wrist and immediately get it checked. I brushed off the pain for around 10 days. Then, because in the same accident I bashed my knee which was still in pain, I thought I’d visit the Doctor and just make sure there was no lasting damage. I made an appointment and 2 days later, he said if we were x-raying my leg, may as well do my arm too, and the next day I had my diagnosis and some new fashion to go with it. But for nearly 2 weeks I had continued working and going about my day-to-day, ignoring the signs.
Since the break, I’ve had something of a combination of the two options above. Some days I’ve been efficient, others less so. New Years’ Day, after partying until 4am the night before for the first time in around 3 years… let’s just say it was a slow day of recovery. And that’s normal.
It’s normal because I’m not some cliché guru who gets up for 5am runs, cold showers, drinks a lettuce shot with protein powder and has the sort of motivation that makes everyone else throw up.
And those aren’t the habits that I’m trying to get more into.
So in this note, I want to share the things that I’ve been trying - before and after the break - that are fairly within reach.
Healthy habits for normal busy people
1) Kick the Caffeine (slowly, mostly)
I can’t remember when it was, but I realised I was addicted to coffee in a harmful way. Have you ever said, “I can’t think, I need a coffee” or “I haven’t had my coffee yet”? If yes or you can think of a similar statement, let me break it to you, you are dependent on coffee.
I LOVE coffee. I love the taste of coffee. I love the social aspect of coffee. And sometimes, when you’ve got to work a particularly long and busy day, coffee can be your friend.
But coffee dependency is dangerous and I wanted to kick it.
Hint: it’s not about going cold-turkey, like with an alcohol dependency. It’s not about avoiding a relapse, like with many other drugs - in fact, it’s much more straightforward and simple.
It’s more like weaning yourself off, slowly, because your body is so used to coffee as part of its routine.
Since the day you first had a coffee, how many days have you not drunk coffee? Most people I know drink it every day. Even if they’re on holiday, can sleep 8+ hours a night and have no stresses. They wake up and drink coffee.
Kicking the addiction felt so good. Sure, there were some days I had light headaches the whole day and there was this one time I properly relapsed and a month later I realised I was dependent again. But it was much quicker to get out the second time.
I felt free, in control and guess what - thanks to decaf (which can taste equally as good as most coffee these days) I still get to enjoy the aspects that I like about coffee.
I’ve written another article dedicated to how I kicked my coffee dependency. It goes into much more detail but includes tips like:
Drinking smaller cups of coffee for the same strength of flavour but less caffeine overall
Delaying the first coffee of the day (from wake up to arrival at work, then after a week to first coffee break after 2 hours, then to lunch time)
Drink 2 cups of water before each cup of coffee. And that brings me onto the next healthy habit I’m trying to create…
2) Drink more Water
TRUST ME, once you’re drinking 2+ litres of water a day, you’ll realise just how dehydrated you were.
And it goes hand-in-hand with kicking your coffee addiction. When we’re more hydrated, we’re more energetic and feel less of the same symptoms that we often treat by drinking coffee instead of water. (Rule of thumb: coffee does not count as drinking. For all intents and purposes, it counts as eating. And it dehydrates instead of hydrating).
Here are 7 tips to help you drink more water:
Drink 2 cups of water when you wake up
Don’t drink ice cold water, rather just below room temperature (it really makes it easier to drink more). This goes for your jugs and bottles too.
Drink 2 cups of water before every cup of coffee
Put a jug of water on the table with every sit down meal.
Drink a cup of water every time you feel like a snack
Always carry a water bottle
Consider no-added-sugar concentrated flavourings that give you a sweet kick with your water. Try not to use this for more than half of the cups you drink and never use it in the bottles, because although there’s no added sugar, they’re full of natural sugars and unnatural sweeteners. And make the solution slightly weaker than recommended. It doesn’t need to be so weak it’s a gross pale colour that looks like someone has spit in it, but doesn’t need to be sweet like your grandmother’s Christmas sherry. I like Robinson’s so much that I bring it with me to Israel when I go back to the UK.
3) Walk
Yeah some people have the motivation to run and I enjoy a workout with lots of sweat that has lots of health benefits. But a good start is just walking more places.
If you were planning on taking an uber under 5 minutes, the walk could well be under 20 minutes. Are you in such a rush?
3 times a week, instead of taking a bus, e-scooter or uber, walk a journey that takes up to 45 minutes. I know, it sounds far. With music in your ears, it really doesn’t feel that much though. Especially if the weather is cool but dry.
The hardest thinking about walking is getting yourself out. But once you’ve got past that initial hurdle, it’s a lot easier. One foot after the next - it’s rare to give up once you’re already on the go. That’s why I walk to places I’m already going to or more commonly, back home.
4) Spend a long time cooking, in one go
Cooking is bloody time consuming. Buying the ingredients, chopping, peeling, cooking, washing up - it can take an hour to make a meal that you eat in 10 minutes. That’s why I like to spend a long time cooking in one go, efficiently, and put it all into containers in the fridge.
Recently in one evening I made:
Carrot hummus
Roasted assorted vegetables (cabbage, onion, broccoli, runner beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes)
Asian style noodle salad
Mushroom salad
Olive tapenade
Vegetable fritters
None of these were meals on their own but all mean I’m eating healthy sides with every meal for an entire week. And it’s not like I’m getting bored. For dinner yesterday I ate a tuna-halloumi salad with the hummus, mushrooms and fritters. For breakfast today shakshuka with the tapenade and sweet potato. Dinner tonight will be a burger with antipasti of all those vegetables. You get the idea.
Go shopping, make a big mess in the kitchen, clean up once. Eat for a week.
5) Schedule 2-3 social activities per week
7 days in the week, you can find 6 hours to dedicate to being social. Go for coffee (decaf) or invite someone over. Go bowling. Go for a walk along the waterfront. Get all those positive chemicals in your body flowing from something other than netflix. Push yourself - you’ll thank yourself afterwards.
