Energize your Mornings! Time Management and Healthy Eating: Practical Habits For Professionals - #1
It''s September - Often, successful people choose this time of year to make changes, rather than on New Year's Day! So in keeping with the theme of starting practical new habits, over the next three blog posts I’ll share some incredible information that has helped not only me, but my clients become healthier, happier, more productive...and wealthy! . And that’s not all!!! To further help you be successful I’m collaborating with Bruce Mayhew, a friend of mine, and a professional trainer and consultant for effective communication. Bruce is an incredible guy who teaches people how to boost their success through communication.
Energizing Your Mornings!
One of the best things you can do to rev up your metabolism and feel great in the morning is to have a HEALTHY breakfast. Unfortunately, there is too much ‘cereal box health advice’ that tells us what a healthy breakfast is…when it actually is not. I used to fall victim to this and for years had 2 cups of orange juice, cereal with 2 cups of milk, and sometimes even double carb my breakfasts by adding bread each morning.
I thought this was a healthy breakfast, but like many people this is why I used to crash mid morning, had health issues, exhaustion, required coffee, craved daily naps and had trouble losing weight. Even without the bread, on average I was getting about 119 grams of sugar in my breakfast!!! 12g of sugar for each 250ml of milk (2%,1%, skim, whatever), 25g for each 250ml of orange juice, and 30-45g or more for the cereal, even the “healthy” stuff! Not to mention the starchy grains/cereal itself. With all that sugar – an energy crash is inevitable. [sweet]
Why does this happen? When you add so much sugar to your body, your body knows it is toxic so, your body compensates by dumping lots of insulin into your bloodstream (and usually way over-compensates) so your blood sugar, energy and mood all come crashing down. You feel hungry again, tired, irritable, crave sweets, coffee and then the cycle begins all over again. Most manufacturers like to hide the real amount of sugar in their products by giving you nutrition facts per ¼ cup or 1/3 cup of cereal – who has only ¼ or 1/3 cup of cereal?
3 Healthy Breakfast Options:
- A green shake (75% greens, 25% fruit) with protein powder and 1-1.5 TBSP coconut oil
- Meat/fish/eggs and veggies sautéed in coconut oil
- A healthy “cereal” alternative of 5-6 TBSP Hemp Hearts, 1-2 TBSP chia seeds, a small handful of slivered or crushed almonds, almond/flax/coconut/rice milk (preferably unsweetened), cinnamon, and a natural sweetener like Stevia (my favorite is Truvia). Throw in some berries if you like as well. Let the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes, if you want, so the chia seeds are easier to digest. These ingredients are available at any grocery store, especially in the health sections, or bulk barn.
I encourage you to try Bruce's suggestions on time managment - it has made my productivity skyrocket, and has decreased the amount of hours I spend working!
Time Management Tip I: Do Important Work First - By Bruce Mayhew
One of the key Time Management technique I teach / speak / write on is to do your Important Work first. This means working on your most important projects / priorities before you get involved with Busy Work.
Studies show that the majority of adults are more creative and work more accurately in the morning… when we’re rested. That’s why most successful people have adopted good time management habits like dedicating their mornings to their Important Work. This also means:
- Moving as many meetings as possible into the afternoon
- Eating a healthy breakfast
- Starting their day ealy
I can imagine the groans from all you ‘late night news’ watchers about starting your day early.
And while most adults believe they are night people – that’s not the case. Studies show people feel sluggish in the morning because they don’t get enough quality, restful sleep; we are chronically fatigued. I’ll talk about sleeping in part II of this series. [sleep]
After you’ve worked on your Important Work all morning, spend the afternoon working on your lower priority Busy Work like taking meetings, helping co-workers and replying to low-priority email.
I encourage you to read more of Bruce's blogs, and check out his company, Bruce Mayhew Consulting, at www.brucemayhewconsulting.com