My wellness routine: summer 2019
While I always have a wellness routine, it does vary depending on my travel schedule. I tend to bulk my travel into bunches. When I’m in-between traveling jaunts, I focus on rebuilding and strengthening before my next one. Early this summer I had three trips in three weeks and then in September we’ll be traveling in southeast asia for nearly five weeks. I ate pretty well and took relatively good care of myself on those trips which means I came home pretty healthy. Still, I’m a little nervous on the impact on my health of such a long trip so I’m upping my wellness game this summer. Here’s how I’m taking care of myself.
Morning routine
I’m chronically tired due to lifelong insomnia which comes with my chronic health conditions. My nervous system seems to be wired to be awake at night and sleepy in the morning so I’m constantly looking for things to boost my energy, especially in the morning. Most of my life I’ve been a sugar-a-holic, relying on it to give me energy. It’s one of the big reasons I turned to food as medicine. Eating plans like Whole 30 and Keto do a good job at giving me the energy I need while helping me limit my reliance on sugar. Coffee gives me too big of a jolt so I avoid it. Heck, most teas, especially black have too much caffeine for my sensitive body.
Matcha (mmm) though is different. My tastebuds and my body just soak it up without leaving me jittery. I start my day with a Matcha Latte. These days I’m loving Perfect Keto’s Matcha Latte with MCT Oil and almond milk. This isn’t an ad, I just love their products! It gives me a nice boost of energy and a bit of good fat to fuel my morning. Besides the energy boost, I love the ritual. Drinking a matcha latte and then having breakfast signals it’s time to get the day going. I’m also a devout breakfast eater as a means of supporting my energy needs, always packing in a bunch of fat and protein first thing. More on how I’m using food as medicine in the next section.
Eating Plan
When I went on keto I wanted to reset my eating habits, eliminate the bloating and lose a touch of weight I’d gained over the past couple of years. After being hardcore keto for three months, I accomplished those goals so I’ve relaxed my eating plan a bit. I love bread but my digestive system doesn’t love it back so I try to limit it. While traveling I allow myself to have a piece of bread but there are conditions: it has to be sourdough and it has to be delicious. I’ve also upped the amount of carbs I’m eating which mostly means I’m eating vegetables with higher net carbs and occasionally, homemade low-carb crackers. Lately I’ve been obsessed with having a hearty salad with my dinner. I look forward to it every day. I’m still experimenting but this plan is mostly working for me.
In addition to keto, I also practice intermittent fasting, especially when I’m at home and have a more regular schedule. Right now I’m on a 16:8 ratio which means I fast for 16 hours a day and eat only in an 8 hour block. I know this sounds hard, it did for me at first too. I’m hypogylcemic by nature so I’ve been trained to eat frequently. But when I started giving my body what it really needs (more high quality fats like avocado, almond butter, olive oil and the like) I noticed that my blood sugar evened out. I tried fasting after dinner, stretching until mid-morning one day. I liked the way it felt. After that it became a habit. My digestion seems to have improved too. These days I generally eat between 10am - 6pm. I do make exceptions for special occasions. We’re celebrating my husband’s birthday this weekend at a michelin-starred restaurant I’ve been eying so I’ll break my intermittent fasting rule. To make sure I don’t go too far astray, I reserved for the early booking which starts at 6pm and plan to go right back to it the next day. Intermittent fasting just works for me. There are plenty of other ways to intermittent fast if you want to experiment.
Physical activity
My health issues have left me weakened, at times having a tough time lifting anything much over 10 pounds so our upcoming trip has me a little nervous. In addition to being gone five weeks in four countries, we’re also only traveling in carry-on bags in Asia. This is exciting and daunting as I’ll have to carry a backpack. Strengthening my body is critical for my summer routine.
Last year I tagged along with my sister to a barre class. She described it as “If ballet, pilates and yoga had a baby.” I’ve been hooked ever since. It stretches and strengthens my body in a way that nothing else quite does. Now it’s a part of my every day routine. There isn’t a studio close to me so I use Barre 3’s online studio. They have a variety of classes from strengthening to rejuvenating that vary by length. It’s perfect.
I start every morning with at least 10 minutes of barre on days when my health is low. My goal is to ramp this up to 30 minutes a day by the end of the summer. I was skeptical this would really help but I can tell the difference pretty quickly. I’m stronger, have more endurance and have less pain — even doing just 10 minutes a day. In the winter on bad health days I might skip it but when I’m preparing for a trip I make sure to do something physical every day.
We’ll be doing a bunch of walking on our trip so I’ve been supplementing my morning exercise with walking. On cooler evenings I’ll take a longer walk and on weekends I walk a mile to the farmer’s market rather than take the train. My legs are getting stronger. As a side benefit, walking helps clear my mind.
So that’s my plan. The key is making sure to stick to it as closely as possible.