A Fresh Start to a Fresh Year

How many times have you found yourself saying “I’m going to have a fresh start on Monday”? For some of us this is a weekly mantra. But not one you’ll hear a Buddhist monk utter very often.

Typically, this means we’re going to try a new diet or restart that fitness programme that we abruptly stopped due to work getting in the way, or our social life taking its toll.

We even blame a hectic family life for not continuing with a ‘diet’ or workout routine. Don’t take it out on the kids!

I know I have even heard myself saying these words on occasion.

So why do we fall off the healthy lifestyle wagon so easily and spectacularly bump our heads? So much so that if affects our memory and we end up doing it again and again and again.

Normally it’s because the diet or exercise schedule is not designed to compliment our regular work/life routine. This makes it difficult to sustain for any prolonged period of time, ultimately ending in those dreaded words “I’m going to have a fresh start on Monday.”

Sounds a bit like Groundhog Day doesn’t it? Great film but no way to live your life.

The easiest way to avoid this trap is to make simple lifestyle changes one at a time. By lifestyle changes I mean things that we can introduce into our daily routine to enhance our wellbeing, without having to take to a retreat and cut ourselves off from civilisation.

This could be simply walking the stairs at work instead of taking the elevator, eating less processed foods, cutting out soda, reducing alcohol intake or getting to bed earlier.

Simple but effective.

One change at a time, you are taking a step in the right direction on the path to a better you.

Fresh Food Cooked In Front Of Us

Since we arrived in Thailand, I have found that the food we’re eating isn’t having any adverse effect on our bodies. No bloating, no headaches, no runny noses and fortunately for me, Colin has no gas! It’s a win-win situation.

I 100% believe that this is due to the fact that what we’re eating is from fresh sources of fruit, vegetables and proteins, minimally processed, just cooked right there in front of us!

So not only is the food mouthwateringly delicious, it’s also helping us follow a healthier diet. This reinforces our values in how we all should be eating.

“You don’t have to cook fancy or complicated masterpieces, just good food from fresh ingredients” 

Julia Childs

With food being one of the main things we all have in common in order to survive and flourish, I believe that this should be the first change we make in our lifestyle. Food is the most powerful drug on earth, as we eat it every day and it’s directly responsible to how we feel.

And there is no reason why a hectic work or life schedule should get in the way of that.

I’m not talking about following a strict calorie controlled diet, or a diet consisting of just cabbage! That’s not sustainable and is detrimental to our body. Unless you only like cabbage that is.

I’m talking about assessing your current eating habits and improving them by eating a clean, fresh and minimally processed diet. It’s not a quick fix diet, it’s a lifestyle change that you and your whole family can be involved in.

You are what you eat.

Cleaner, fresher, leaner, sounds exactly how we all want to feel, hey? May sound like a heading on a Cosmo magazine but this is actually very achievable and you don’t need to be airbrushed to look like this.

There is no diet that will do what healthy eating does, just skip the diet and eat healthily.

20 Ways To Make A Fresh Start

For a fresh start that shouldn’t come to an end follow my top 20 list:

1.    Eat only whole, natural foods, organic whenever possible.

2.    Drink at least 3 litres of water a day; I suggest bottled spring water like Fiji or Evian.

3.    Eat when your body tells you to eat.

4.    Always try to eat before you get hungry in order to maintain your blood sugar levels.

5.     Consume only organic, whole grain products.

6.    Eat lean, organic and grass fed meats/poultry.

7.    Baked foods should only contain whole grain flours. Use sprouted grain products when possible.

8.    Use raw, organic butter, ghee, coconut oil and olive oil instead of vegetable oils and margarine.

9.    Use only fresh, raw nuts and seeds but limit their intake unless you’re a vegetarian due to their high fat content.

10.  Use only organic, fresh, frozen or dried vegetables.

11.  Emphasise non-starchy vegetables over starchy vegetables.

12.  Consume fresh vegetable juice daily.

13.  Consume only fresh fruits or frozen without added sugar.

14.  Use only olive, palm or coconut oil, ghee or butter for cooking.

15.  Use only unprocessed sea salt like Celtra, as your table salt, but use sparingly.

16.  If you must have coffee, limit to 1-2 cups per day and only drink organic coffee.

17.  Limit all sugar in your diet as much as possible.

18.  Use stevia or xylitol as sweetener when you must use ‘sugar’.

19.  Consume 1-2 tablespoons of freshly ground, organic flax seed 4-7 times a week.

20.  Eat coconuts.

These are the guidelines set out in the Metabolic Typing® diet.

For more information or a detailed plan for you to follow, to make these changes even easier for you to stick to, click on the box below. Let us take the thinking out of what to eat and when to eat it.

Start the week as you mean to go on.

Got any questions about Metabolic Typing? Let us know in the comments box!