4 Healthy Habits to Make the Most out of Dry July

You’ve committed to a month without booze. That’s pretty huge! Here’s a virtual-fist pump from me to you, and from the countless adults living with cancer you are helping by raising money through your selflessness and decision to make a difference, thank you.

It makes sense to maximise the next 30 days in terms of your own health gains; without alcohol in your body you can think clearer, move easier and are creating a far more receptive environment to nutrient absorption, assimilation, detoxing, cleansing, alkalising, everything that moves you closer to looking and feeling your best and most youthful. Think of it as a 30-day health challenge, where you can actually do all the things you’ve been meaning to for so long!

I’m not going to sit here and tell you to cut out sugar, though if you do, fist pump number 2 from me to you right now! However, the deprivation drives most people mad and they can end up binging or over-compensating on something else. Why? Because focusing on the external changes doesn’t necessarily interrupt the mindset pattern behind the habit.

That’s why I suggest that for the next 30 days, healthier eating choices are made in general, but that the crux of your lifestyle changes are directed at the mind-body connection. Aaaah I know hippy woowoo stuff, right? Please just try to open your mind a teensy bit! Create just enough space to let go of some controlled lifestyle structures and consider that here, the mind-body component of your health is where EPIC transformation can be made. And made quickly too. Yes, now I have your attention.

New habit #1 – Commit to YOGA twice per week

When I started yoga, I very quickly discovered that I ate less after practising yoga. It was a bizarre feeling! Suddenly, I was more in tune with my body and needs. I knew the difference between hunger and dehydration, and the sweet cravings stopped on those days. Connecting the breath with the body is a very powerful tool for body awareness; after a while, you start to understand the messages from your body and naturally crave healthier choices! This is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of benefits; yogis experience increased energy, flexibility, circulation, improved posture and reduced body aches and pains, greater strength and body tone, boost in immunity and regulation of adrenal glands, helps us focus our mind, truly the list is endless. 

The good news is, yoga can be done on any budget. Start with a towel rolled out on your lounge room floor or backyard grass, and a youtube ‘yoga for beginners’ instructional clip that appeals. If you start feeling better after your sessions, buy yourself a proper yoga mat and continue with youtube sessions or join a local studio, find others who want to give it a go too and keep each other motivated to persevere. It’s worth it!

New habit #2 – Start each day with .5-1L of water

Yes that old chestnut. Water.

Be honest, how much do you drink on an average day? 1 glass? 1 litre? 3 litres?

Again, be honest. What quality of water do you consume? Tap water? Sparkling water? Flavoured water?

Here’s how I like to think about it. We can choose to see water as being a boring beverage and instead drink chocolate flavoured milk, energy drinks, fruit juice, coffee, liquids we feel taste better than plain old water. But guess what? Every single cell in our body requires water in order to function properly. No wonder we feel tired all the time! We’re expecting our cells and organs to run marathons, using a fuel that is unrecognisable to the system! That’s like asking us to speak in Japanese without having learnt the language. Just a little bit tough.

So, we can start by being mindful of our water intake each day. Here’s the game-changing habit;

Commit to starting each day with .5-1L of water after rising. Most of us begin with what I call the ‘fake wake’ - a coffee. Yes it’s delicious and comforting, but before hitting the caffeine, how about actually waking up your cells with hydration, with real brain food! The better the quality of water, the more your body will love you too. Where possible, choose spring water that is alkalised with dissolved solids; those little numbers you see next to sodium, potassium, magnesium etc are what we are looking for! The next best (and cheaper) option is to add 1-2 rocks of Himalayan rock salt (not bleached table salt!) into your litre of filtered water. This might sound a little bit too organic; essentially when water is filtered, the natural (and good) alkalising salts are removed along with the impurities, so we just easily add them back in. Mmmm yum! Your body is excited for this change!

New habit #3 – Meditate for 7 minutes each day

7 minutes a day. That’s all it takes. This is definitely YOUR month to start meditating J It teaches us to be present. When we are present, we are not stressed about our To Do list, we are not anxious about future events, nor are we hung up on memories that bothered us in the past. We learn to respect ourselves, to listen to the subtle signs our body is giving us about our health and wellbeing, we realise that we always have a choice in any given situation and start to let go of old stale matter. Meditation literally guides us to create space in our lives for the things that really matter. It brings us clarity and peace of mind and allows us to rid our bodies and lives of stress and inflammation. An inflamed body is certainly not a happy or fun place to exist every day. Sometimes, the first obstacle can be simply separating ourselves from the need to be busy, knowing that being busy all the time is neither who we are, nor is it healthy.

At first, meditation can be a total drag. I remember having to literally force myself to just sit still for even 3 minutes and consciously breathe. Start with a guided meditation on youtube so that the thought process is removed for you; thinking about meditating is not really meditating. Commit. 30 days, morning or night, both if you feel inspired! And remember to enjoy the process; we find solutions from the challenges themselves.

New habit #4 – Journal daily

Yes, a journal. Keep a little notebook by your bed, and before bed each night, write down;

1)  3-5 things you are/were grateful for that day, and

2) At least one thing you learnt about yourself and how that made you feel

3) Anything else you feel like expressing

 This book is just for you, there is no need to sensor anything. Keeping a journal is like downloading all the information you’ve absorbed over the course of the day and releasing it before bedtime; it just makes sense to free up your mind so that you can have pleasant dreams and restorative sleep! A gratitude list helps us to stay grounded, and is a beautiful way to remind us that life is always sweet; no matter what is happening in our world there is always something to be happy and appreciative for. This doesn’t need to be a daily commitment long-term, but 30 consecutive days is very possible and you may surprise yourself by the emotional and mindset clarity that can be experienced over a month.

This is definitely your month. If all four new habits are a little overwhelming, start with just two of them and as they become more ‘normal’, slowly add one more habit in as you feel ready. Change can be really scary, we all love comfort and the safety of knowing what lies ahead. Remember that more of the same just creates more of the same, so if we truly wish to feel healthier, happier, more alive in the game of life, we really must do something about it and take charge. As one of my clients always says, “Kirsty, these pushups aren’t going to do themselves!”

Too right.

Kirsty x