When my business idea first dawned on me I realized that without improving my energy level I would not be able to put this project to life. I was constantly tired and it took me minutes to walk normally after getting up. Not just in the morning but also from a chair if I had sat there for longer than 15 minutes. Due to my tiredness my thoughts too often were imprecise and it felt like living in a blur. It took me forever to get things done.
If I wanted to change my future something had to change!
Here's what I did to raise my energy levels significantly:
Our worst enemy is our own brain. We observe our environment and want to copy what people are doing. Doing the opposite requires energy. Breaking traditions, conventions, and our own routines requires a lot of energy. What helped me a lot was:
If I wanted to change my future something had to change!
Here's what I did to raise my energy levels significantly:
- Sleep. I usually hit the sack between 10 pm and 10:30 pm. Very rarely I allow myself (or am interested in) watching a late night movie. Our cat is my organic alarm clock. We get up between 4 and 5 am and start our day. He goes outside to do his stuff. I stay inside and do mine.
- Early morning routine.
- First thing in the morning after waking up is taking a zip of sunflower oil in my mouth, keep it there for a couple of minutes, then spit it out. Oil pulling, as it is called, is part of Ayurveda. Its health claims have not been supported by a lot of scientific studies. I don't care. I only know that my oral hygiene has improved big time. My gum and teeth are extremely healthy. Which, by the way, saved me thousands in dentist costs.
- Secondly, I drink at least two large cups of warm water.
- Reading/thinking/learning. I don't meditate in the classical sense. I guess I am simply too awake in the morning. I rather read or think of my day ahead. Nothing too focused. I don't want to be too restrictive on myself at this time of day.
- Later I do a couple of exercises to get my body moving. It is a combination of gymnastics and the usual physical workout with push-ups and the like.
- NO BREAKFAST. I don't eat until lunch. If I'm at home in the morning I'll have my power drink (hot chocolate with raw milk, raw cocoa, rice sirup as sweetener, turmeric, and extra fatty whipped cream). If I'm working elsewhere I feast myself on a thermos jug of hot herbal tea. Although my mornings are challenging I do not faint. It took a few weeks to convince my brain that I wouldn't die of starvation if I don't feed me large amounts of sugar in the morning. First, I had to leave the room if I saw people eat. But today I am indifferent to this. My colleagues learnt that I am the nutritional weirdo - who never is tired.
- No gluten. Low carb. Mostly organic. I am living gluten-free for 8 years now. Low carb for 3 or 4. Ever since I met my wife my diet is mostly organic. 100% at home with rare exceptions when we eat out. I bake my own bread which is 90 minutes of work every two weeks. Please drop me a note if you are interested in the recipe.
- I allow my stomach and intestines to do their work. Tons of BS has been published and is propagated on nutrition! One of the biggest lies is to eat constantly ("5 a day" and stuff like that). Breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, coffee break, dinner, and the many temptations our food industry presents us during the day. Not to forget softdrinks. I radically refuse to follow these "traditions" (which in fact are pretty recent developments). I eat for the first time around noon. Mostly a salad or some self-baked bread with cheese and some greens. We eat dinner as early as possible. Usually between 6 and 7 pm. This is the only warm dish I get during the day. I usually end my day with a small desert of berries and cream. Very rarely I allow myself a pop. Usually Coke and only when I am feeling sick. My Grampa used to say: "A cow won't grow fat on water."
- Intermittent fasting. I don't skip food for entire days, but allow my body to digest for 14-16 hours every day. My days sometimes are crazy and challenging. Despite that I have no problem following my routine.
- HIT. With a day job and setting up my business days are filled with work and not much else. I don't mind that workload at all. On the contrary. I enjoy working my butt off, i.e. on my business. However, I needed to find time to do my gym workout. I never was a disciple of running to the gym five days a week. I always found this pretty dull. My awakening came through HIT - high intensity training. It is a nightmare when you do it, but it is over soon (in my case 60 to 75 minutes) and you are allowed to rest for a week. At least I need to rest for a week after such a brutal workout. I've been doing this for 5+ years and it works miracles on my health.
- My wife. She's at least as crazy as I am. It helps big time if your partner in life resonates with your philosophy.
- To change "organically". First we fully turned organic. Then we got gluten-free and discovered intermittent fasting. Thirdly, we changed our gym routine to HIT. Low carb came next. Finally I withdrew from community work in the evening and was able to sleep earlier. This naturally changed my morning routine. All this took years to implement and came to us through reading and discussing. I am convinced this isn't the end of our transformation to a healthy life. The fact that we never had to do something helped a lot. All were voluntary decisions.
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