Building Healthier Habits - Meditation, Daily Routine, Mindful Eating, No More Coffee

The day before yesterday I wrote about The Tao of Pooh and a meditation series dedicated to the characters in this story. It's now two days later and I sat through two more Pooh meditations.

"Pooh"

we might say in The Netherlands, experiencing something difficult.

Not that I had such a hard time meditating, I'm just in joking mode. Piglet and Tigger were actually pretty good companions. The first one taught me some more about worrying ( a subject I graduated in, Cum Laude ) and the latter about authenticity or the meaninglessness of / wasted energy in trying to change someone else.

The Importance of a Daily Routine

This morning I woke up at 2:15 ( not for the first time ), then at 6:00 then at 6:27 when the air bed that I use in front of my window, as a temporary bedroom darkener, fell down and landed on my bed. Not really on top of me but the sound woke me up and I took it as a sign to get out of bed early. I rose around 6:40.

( For those who don't know me, I have no need to go anywhere in the mornings and no one to wake me up. Besides that my bedroom is kind of cold and it's very appealing to stay in bed, hibernating )

Delving into Ayurveda lately, I'm still not sure whether it's really necessary to get out of bed before 6 ( especially this time of the year, when the sun only rises around 7:45 ) or that getting up before sunrise is good enough for improved health ( as I heard in a podcast yesterday ). For now I will stick with the latter :>)

One of many things that I learnt though, is that it's best to have breakfast after sunrise and to have dinner close to sunset. Mainly because your 'agne', digestive fire, is not very strong at these hours. And that's exactly the reason why it's recommended to have your biggest meal around noon or 2PM at the latest, as your digestion is the strongest around those hours ( when the sun is at its peak ).

All this depends of course on how stable your eating ( and sleeping ) routine is and of the amounts of food that you eat. Apparently, and if you think about it, logically so, your first meal ( break fast ) should merely function to kindle your digestive fire. A couple of hours later, when it's time for lunch, your body screams for a lot more stuff to burn and to get energized. And, at the end of the day, it's again all about keeping your digestive fire burning just enough so you won't wake up in the night with hunger pangs or lie awake because you haven't eaten enough.

I still have to figure out if three meals a day ( with a light breakfast, big lunch and light dinner ) plus a couple of pieces of fruit in the hours in between my meals, is really enough for me / my digestive fire. Being the vata / pitta type ( with high energy and speedy digestion ), I might need a little more food to keep the fire burning and not lose any weight. No matter what, it surely is an enjoyable experiment and I'm enjoying my food so much more, both the cooking and the eating.

No More Coffee?

Yesterday, while going to my local cafe/ restaurant - where they hardly ever serve vegetables :>( - I was close to ordering a decaf espresso. I recently managed to stop drinking coffee daily and am on a 3-days-without-coffee streak. This without feeling low on energy. I managed to ignore the voice in my head that begged for a decaf and ordered a 'chocolate quente'. Afterwards, I drank some herbal tea. Honestly, it's better than coffee and I prefer its taste, it's just that coffee smells so d*mn nice!

Just went inside my kitchen to smell some coffee

and then made a green tea ( which contains a little bit of cafeine ) with grated ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper added to it. I'm getting creative with my tea these days and the great thing is that I feel better afterwards, the drink lasts me longer and keeps my hands warm ( when I'm not typing.

I have so much more to share ( about the podcasts I'm listening to and the books that I'm reading ) but that will have to wait till another blog post.

Have an awesome day and take good care of yourself / be kind to yourself. Meanwhile I will make sure to do the same ;>)

Are you interested in natural medicine, mindfulness, meditation and other health oriented topics? Feel free to hang out with a bunch of like minded and kindhearted people, by following this link: Natural Medicine Discord chat