The importance of routine in my life.

How are you? Honestly and truthfully how are you doing?

As this marks one month of my blog and a whole 4 posts in I thought it would be nice to catch up on the things I’ve spoken about previously and to see if I am practising what I am preaching basically.

So, in my second blog I mentioned a meal planner I would be trying out going into the new year not a diet, no thanks I just wanted to eat healthier and not feel so sluggish, drained, and tired all the time. It is truly going so well only 2 full weeks in, but we celebrate the small wins around here. I have made a home cooked meal every night now for 2 weeks and have fought all the temptations to order a takeaway which is massive for me. I have also been focused on more nutrient rich foods like I mentioned in the post and I really am feeling the benefits mostly with my daily energy. I just have so much more energy, I am more focused and I am more alert in all aspects of my life. This is also supported by vitamins which have also become an essential part of my morning routine. I had previously been taking tablet form vitamins by Vitabiotics I was taking vitamin C, Zinc and Magnesium. I have recently moved onto the Shreddy daily dose powder which you add to a glass of water and it truly is amazing it contains Vitamin C, E and B12 along with Biotin and Niacin. I have also continued with the Magnesium tablets because I'm trying to see if they help in a very particular part of my health as it has been recommended to me by someone. I will of course share more if and when I feel relevant.

The benefits of the vitamin in the Shreddy daily dose.

Vitamin C is essential for growth, development and repair of all body tissues. It's is a key part of many body functions, including collagen formation, absorption of iron, wound healing, the proper functioning of the immune system and maintenance of cartilage, bones and teeth. - Nourish by webMD

Vitamin E helps maintain healthy skin and eyes, and strengthen the body's natural defence against illness and infection (the immune system). - NHS Website

Vitamin B12 is a nutrient that helps keep the body's nerve and blood cells healthy and helps make DNA, the genetic material in all cells. Vitamin B12 also helps prevent a type of anemia called megaloblastic anemia that makes people tired and weak. - NIH

Biotin boosts the health of the hair and nails, supports a healthy pregnancy, and helps manage blood sugar levels, among other benefits. - Medical New Today

Niacin is a B vitamin that's made and used by your body to turn food into energy. It helps keep your nervous system, digestive system and skin healthy. Niacin (vitamin B-3) is often part of a daily multivitamin, but most people get enough niacin from the food they eat. - MayoClinic

FINALLY for the first time in a long time (about 6 years) I am eating three meals a day (along with a snack between breakfast/lunch and lunch/dinner if I feel hungry) and I look forward to each one of them because I am discovering such tasty dishes that I genuinely love. Here are the recipes for my two current favourite dishes.

Pineapple and Mango smoothie breakfast bowl

Serving size: 1

Prep time: 5 minutes

Ingredients Pineapple

Mango

Kellogg chocolate clusters Fresh raspberries Method

- Blend (I used a nutribullet) pineapple and mango toghether to make the fruit smoothie base for the dish.

- Top with Kellogg chocolate clusters and fresh raspberries to finish.

Chili chicken ramen

Serving size: 2

Prep time: 15 minutes Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients Egg noodles 2 large Chicken breast 1 red onion

2 Chili's

Chicken stock

Frank's hot sauce

Easy garlic

Easy Ginger

Coriander

Method

- Marinate the chicken with a generous amount of franks red hot sauce, a tsp of garlic and a two of ginger (easy garlic and ginger from Asda)

- Fill a medium sized pan half way with water and add a chicken stock pot and a tsp of frank's hot sauce

- Cook chicken in is for ten minutes on a low heat then add half a cup of water and cook till the water is evaporated and chicken is cooked through.

- Prep red onion and coriander garnish.

- Add noodles to the the chicken stock until noodles are cooked (approx. 5-8 minutes depending on the noodles)

- To serve pour noodles and stock in a deep bowl add chicken on top with red onion, fresh chili and coriander to finish.

Then lockdown came and not lying the initial panic of something like this usually would have overwhelmed me massively and I would fallen into a Rut but with my daily dinner planner having been successful for a week prior to the lockdown announcement I tried to apply this energy and planning to my lockdown experience. So as mentioned in my last post maintaining my morning routine, meditation and my three steps night-time routine have been keeping me sane for the last week. Of course, some days have been good and some bad but either way I have managed to keep my cool, accept things and let them go. On those more stressful day I have after work gone for a longer walk to clear my mind as well as extra meditation.

But my night-time routine really has been my saving grace and when I set out to do this I wasn’t sure if I was going to help or just be unnecessary faff before bed how wrong I was.

So here it is …

I cannot tell you how much this really has allowed me to spend actual real time relaxing away from my phone and allows my brain to properly switch off before bed. The quality in the time I am now spending with my family and boyfriend in the evenings has increased. I pay attention to what being spoken about or I actually watch the movie or show me, and my boyfriend have picked, unless I am super tired and fall asleep but while I am awake my focus is on the time, I am spending with him rather than me reaching for my phone every 10-15 minutes. I also have a new love and interest in reading thanks to the nigh- time routine and I must mention how much the idea of reading a book for downtime or self-care has never even crossed my mind. But its not that I do not want to read the book its just that my attention span is super short so I always thought it wasn’t for me but guess what you can train you brain to have a longer attention span. If this is something you are going to try my number one tip is putting you phone away or in another room and giving yourself a set number of pages to read or a time of like 10-30 minutes to read at the same time every day. You also must be disciplined because you will have the urge to just go grab your phone for a quick look please fight this and complete the task you set out for yourself. You really will thank yourself for this in a couple of weeks’ time and you will reach a point where you just keep reading for longer than the time you set or more pages than you set out to. Small habits can really build up to make such big changes in your life so if going all in seems unachievable for you like myself just tackle things in lots of small, tiny steps. You can achieve all the thing you want one small step at a time, and this goes for anything not just achieving routine in your life.

Routine really has never been something in my life I have just been living each day as it comes, and the very thought of routine would make me feel confined. However, it really has helped me massively in such a short space of time it makes me excited for the next few months. It has reduced my stress levels massively overall, I have been able to make time for the important things in my life, I feel more energised due to having a healthier diet and I am sleeping much better due to my night-time routine.

Of course, it is extremely important to not be hard on yourself if you fall off routine for a day or two because we all have bad days and not everything is smooth sailing. It is normal to fall off the tracks sometimes and a quick as we fall off, we can get back on. A day or two does not mean we have messed up forever not at all, we just accept and try to understand our feelings on the bad days and look forward to the good ones when we get back into our routines.

Love R, x