FTC Disclosure: Delicious Obsessions may receive comissions from purchases made through links in this article. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.Read our full terms and conditions here.

The VH Podcast, Episode 7: Creating a Routine for Health (and why it's important) // deliciousobsessions.com

Welcome back to another episode of The Vibrant Health Podcast!

This week, Lydia and I are talking about creating a daily routine for health. Having a set routine is much more important than people think and it can really impact your health positively when you get one established.

Everything from sleep to when to eat is covered in today’s episode. We both talk about our own routines (success and struggles) and give you tips and tricks for how to get your own daily routine established so you can start feeling better!

So, let’s not waste and time! Tune in below!

Missed previous episodes? You can find them all here.

Links From This Week’s Episode:

Listen to The Vibrant Health Podcast :: Episode 7

Read The Vibrant Health Podcast Transcript :: Episode 7

Jessica: Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number seven of the Vibrant Health Podcast. I am Jessica from DeliciousObsessions.com and I’m here with my co-host, Lydia of DivineHealthFromTheInsideOut.com. Today, we want to talk about how to create a daily routine for health.

    Many of us function better if we just have a standard routine that we go through every day. Establishing these daily routines can actually be really beneficial for a long term health. So implementing some changes into what we eat and when we eat and when we go to bed and all of that stuff can really improve our health in the long term.

We wanted to come today and give you some ideas and some tips on how to do this and how to make these changes in your life.

Lydia:    That’s right. I work with folks regularly, and one of the things that I focus on is teaching them that their body works on a daily circadian rhythm. So we talk about things like bed time and sleep, when you wake up in the morning, are you eating at a certain time and things like that.

    What I found is many people out there really want to get healthy and they just don’t know where to start and they’re overwhelmed or they’re eating great already, but they still have things that aren’t quite right for them and they just don’t know what to do. Quite frankly, very simple things like tweaking your daily routine can make a huge difference.

For example – and I might not be popular when I say this – one of the best things that you can do for them is to establish a regular bed time routine. Because of the Circadian Rhythm that our body works on, we have this – what’s it called? There’s actually a Meridian Organ Clock.    Our hormones run on a routine and our organs run on a routine/

From 11 p.m. to 1 a.m., your adrenals are repairing and restoring. You’re getting your deepest sleep by 2 AM. 9 PM is when your melatonin actually starts secreting.

The way that our bodies work is really with time in mind. When we know this, we can let our bodies do what they need to do with that in mind. Does that make sense?

So bed time is a big one because a lot of people, number one, will have trouble falling asleep. I talk to people all the time. They have kids and maybe they’re not getting their kids to bed at a decent time. So then they’re up late because they want time when the kids are in bed to do things or have time alone or whatever it may be.

The problem with this is many people run into trouble where number one, they’re not getting enough sleep. They’re not getting the hours of sleep at night that they need. So if you already have – we’ve talked about adrenal fatigue on here before. If you’re not getting to bed at a certain time, you’re not doing your adrenals a favor. And then it creates this vicious cycle unfortunately.

It’s a very simple thing to do. Not everybody wants to go to bed by 10:00. I get that. But there are other things that you don’t want like excess weight around your waist or feeling fatigue throughout the day. There are a lot of things that can come out of not getting a good quality sleep, starting at a decent hour.

Jessica:    I agree. For me personally, sleep is huge. But I still struggled with making sure that I actually go to bed at an ideal time. I can tell a huge difference.

    If I can get eight hours of sleep, I’m feeling good. If I could get nine hours every night, I would feel like a million bucks. But that doesn’t always happen. So I really strive to get eight.

And I can tell a huge difference. It doesn’t matter how well I do with everything else in my life if I’m eating perfectly, if I am exercising correctly. If my sleep is not right, that throws everything else out of whack.

So I really am trying to get it in my head. I’ve been working on this stuff for years now. I know the importance of sleep and I know how critical it is for me to adhere to those strict bed times.

But it is hard because I might get a second wind in the evening. Or my husband and I might want to spend extra time together because he’s got a hectic schedule right now too. So we may not even get that time together until 8:30 or 9:00. It’s hard. I can completely relate to the struggle that people have with setting those bed times and really being strict with them because I struggle with it too.

But I can absolutely tell you that if you can get your sleep in line, then you’re going to feel a little better even if you’re not doing a whole lot else in your life, even if you’re not necessarily eating perfectly. What is eating perfectly? Whatever you’re doing, if your sleep is in line, you’re going to be feeling a lot better and probably have the energy to tackle some of those other areas that maybe need some changing too.

So yeah, I think sleep is huge.

Lydia:    Yeah. It’s tough because like you said, even if you’re not eating healthfully let’s say, sometimes it’s harder for people to fall asleep if they haven’t made a whole lot of changes or they’re still drinking soda or whatever it may be. That can be something that can play into not being able to get good sleep too.

    Let’s talk about this really quick. It’s really important. And I didn’t want to go into sleep too much, but I think it is pretty darn important. And we can see how the rest of your day goes once sleep is impaired.

Of course there are people who are going to have jobs that are weird hours. We’ve got moms, nursing babies. There are people out there that this is going to be a challenge no matter what. But let’s talk about it anyway because it’s so important and most people aren’t aware of this.

Number one, not getting enough sleep can hinder weight loss for one. That’s a big issue most people are talking about these days. It can affect your blood sugar, your endocrine glands, your adrenals. And then it can create a vicious cycle, maybe make your sleep situation even worse.

We do run on this daily cycle. No matter where you are in the world, you need to go to bed with the sun basically. So think about it like that. If you’re in Alaska with the weird sun patterns, then that’s a whole different story.

Generally speaking, eight hours of sleep is great. Go to bed by 10 PM so that you’re asleep before that 11 PM time to give your adrenals time to restore. Try to sleep from 10 PM to 6 AM. A healthy person can do that, no problem.

If you’re struggling for those hours and it’s not working for you, hang in there and try for it anyway because getting your routine down can really shift and make your sleep a lot better quality-wise, falling asleep-wise, all of that.

But what happens is when you don’t have good sleep – let’s say you go to bed really late, about 12 AM or 1 AM, but you still are sleeping until maybe 8 AM. It’s still not quite the same. It’s still going to affect you in some way. (Added note: Two hours of sleep before midnight is worth four hours of sleep after midnight to your adrenal glands).

When you have this deprivation of sleep, it will create a vicious cycle of excess stress hormones. When that gets out of whack, oftentimes people’s melatonin production goes off too. Maybe you have low growth hormones, something like that. When your hormones keep getting more out of balance, it’s going to mess up with your sleep even more. So it’s important to stop and say, “All right. I should do something about this now before it gets even worse.”

And then for women, hormonal imbalances that come from sleep deprivation can be pretty annoying. We end up having worse PMS, maybe some depression, things like that.

So quality sleep is pretty darn important. Sometimes you have to force the issue before it gets better, before it gets easy let’s say. That’s a big one. Stress can really mess the cycle up, so it’s going to be hard for people. But it’s really important to try to prioritize it.

I honestly tell people, “You could eat a perfect diet. But if you’re going to bed later, you’re not getting enough sleep and then I’m not going to be able to help you as much. So we have to focus on sleep.”

Jessica:    Yeah.

Lydia:    It’s a pretty big deal, especially these days. We have so many things combating quality of our sleep.

Jessica:    How do you feel about – one thing that I started doing – well, recently I feel like I have been working more in the evenings.

I was in a habit – by the time my husband got home and we ate dinner, I really was not doing much of any work in the evenings. The last few weeks have been crazy. So sometimes I’m on my computer right up until the time that I need to go to bed, which I’m really trying hard not to do, but sometimes it’s not avoidable. Or we’re watching TV in the evening. Or you’ve got your cellphone out and even just the over headlights in the house.

What do you feel about the blue blocker glasses? That’s one thing that I started wearing in the evenings. When the sun goes down, I’ll put on my blue blocker glasses. I posted a picture of myself on Instagram not too long ago. It’s a little silly picture of me in my blue blockers. But I think they really do help.

Lydia:    Yeah.

Jessica:    What do you feel about this?

Lydia:    Well, I think they’re great. I don’t have blue blocker glasses. What I do and I’ve been doing this for a long time – I’m going to be honest. I have four kids, and all those years of sleepless nights and dealing with that just really did me.

 I’m divorced now. When I finally separated, that was the very first thing I changed. I was like, “You know what? Come hell or high water. I’m going to bed when I want to go to bed and I’m going to get sleep. This is going to change.” Boom, I just changed my whole family. I was like, “Listen. Everyone has a bed time. We’re going to have a routine. I’m done.”

So I started turning the lights off. As the sun starts to go down, I try to keep the TV off. I don’t keep it on late in the evening. I usually tell the kids, “I’m going to turn it off.”

Nowadays most kids have screens. They’ve got an iPod, iPad, a cellphone, whatever. So number one, you’ve got to get a routine with the kids, which can be a battle because some parents are just so tired that they just don’t ‘care’ because they want a break. I get it.

But we need to get things on these screens if we are letting them have them in the evening at all like F.Lux or something. And then just create a routine where we’re like, “Okay. We’re done on electronics at this hour.”

Two hours before bed is ideal. Three hours would be better. Even if it’s only one, do what you’ve got to do. But come up with something to block that light for sure. So yeah, the blue blocker glasses are great or getting F.Lux on any device can really help a lot.

I have this thing where I go around and I literally turn out the lights in the house every night. I don’t leave them on. We may turn on the light briefly to get ready for bed and it’s out right away. I don’t leave night lights on for my kids, anything like that.

My kids know the routine. They don’t fight me on it anymore.

Jessica:    That’s awesome. Good.

Lydia:    It is. Yes, we do it. And that’s that. So I know that’s the struggle for parents. I know it’s a battle that a lot of people have.

If one parent wants to do it and the other parent doesn’t and then there’s this fight, that sucks too. But honestly we all need to get on the same page about this and it’s really going to benefit everyone.

If you’re a parent out there and you are struggling to get your own bed time in a better place, you need to get your kids’ bed time ironed out first sometimes. I find it’s what happens.

Sometimes the kids are having trouble falling asleep and there are some things we can do to help them. And one of them really is just dealing with the light in the screens, not doing the stimulating things in the evening, maybe encouraging your kids to read a book or something like that. It would be ideal to help. It’s a little bit more calming than a screen can be.

I mean even if they’re watching some shoot ‘em up game or racing game or – I don’t even know what everybody’s kids do. My kids like to do Minecraft and build stuff. It just depends on what they’re doing.

If you got kids doing the stimulating things, that’s not good. It’s the same with the adults for watching TV and movies like adventure, mega intense shows where all this stuff is going to happen. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble communicating what I’m trying to say. Like an action thriller. Do you know what I’m saying?

Jessica:    Yes.

Lydia:    Your body is going to respond to that. You’re going to be on edge. So I learned a long time ago. I cannot watch anything before bed that’s going to stir me up like that or it’s going to be too emotional or hit a spot in me that’s raw maybe or something.

So I’m really protective of that time [inaudible 00:16:13] of my sleep. I’m not always good about it. There are times when I’ll start to see my bed times get a little later and I’ll catch myself. But generally speaking, it’s an important part of my life. It just becomes who I am as a person and my family follows too.

Having had all the babies, man, it really did me in for so many years. I don’t want to ever deal with that again. So hopefully that helps.

Jessica:    Yes. Definitely. I need to be better about my evening routine. I have my morning routine down pat.

I get up and get my husband off to work. And then I have my time to do my yoga. I eat my breakfast. I take my shower. I do all of my little things. I’m very, very routine-oriented in the morning. If that routine gets disrupted, then it [throws off] my whole day.

The other thing that I – it’s funny. I was actually laughing to myself yesterday. I get up and my husband leaves for work pretty soon after I get up. And then I do my 15 to 20 minutes of yoga. And then I eat my breakfast.

Then I do my coffee enema and my infrared therapy in the bathroom floor and it is absolutely glorious. I was sitting there yesterday. I was laying there.

If you had told me a year ago that I would look forward to lying in my bathroom floor doing a coffee enema, I would have looked at you like you were crazy. But I tell you what, it is so relaxing because I lay there and I’m literally forced to just chill out.

And then I get up and I take my shower and then I get my day started. And then I really feel like that morning routine, I have that down pat.

But my evenings have always been where I really struggled. So I need to just be better about turning off the TV, turning off the computer, whatever work is left, it will wait until tomorrow and just starting earlier and making sure that my goal is to be in bed by 9:00 because my husband’s alarm goes off at 5:15 to 5:30 in the morning. So my goal is to be in bed by 9:00.

I need to really try to be better about creating that relaxation environment earlier, starting at 7:30 or 8:00 or whenever. So it’s a good stuff for me to hear.

Even though I’ve been working on my health journey for years now, I still struggle. So I want people to know that too. Just because we are wellness educators, it doesn’t mean that we have it down pat all the time.

Sleep has been a big thing for me to really get completely pulled in and structured.

Lydia:    It’s definitely challenging, especially when you have teenagers who want to start going out at night. Oh my.

Jessica:    Oh boy. Yeah.

Lydia:    I know there are parents out there and I had some parents with older kids who let the kids run the show or let the kids dictate the schedule, which is tough when you have a couple of teenagers too.

If my oldest wants to go out on a weekend. I’ll say, “Listen. You get one late night. That’s it because I’m your mom. I don’t care if you have a ride home. I’m going to be up until you’re here. That’s just how it works. I’m going to be on my little mommy alert until I know you’re home safe. And I don’t want to stay up late.”

“When you’re older, you can do whatever you want. I don’t care. But right now, I don’t care if all your friends’ parents say they could stay out later. I’m just not doing it.”

But one night, he can – 11:00, that’s as far as I’ll go. I’m not going to go any later than that with him.

Jessica:    Yeah. You’re a good mom.

Lydia:    I guess I’m a weirdo, but I don’t care. Another thing about the evening – it’s interesting because if your evening starts to get off, it makes the rest of your next day a little harder.

Another thing I know people struggle with is eating dinner at a decent hour. Some people are eating dinner 8:00 at night. What happens there is you’re eating your dinner and then you got to give your body some time to digest and process that before you go to bed.

It’s usually best to try to eat a little earlier and not be eating later in the evening and try to have good three hours before you’re going to bed if you can. Some people do need to eat a little bed time snack. That’s different.

But if you’re eating a big meal late in the evening, that’s going to have an impact on your sleep too. So you want to try to eat before that if you can try to get your dinner around 7:00 at the latest really. But I know some people have crazy schedules. Some of this information could be to maybe say, “Hey. Maybe I need to make some adjustments in my schedule.”

Maybe the family is waiting for dad to get home until they eat dinner. And really that’s putting the whole family further back to start – I don’t know. I’ve heard that many times where people are waiting until 7:30 or 9:00 to eat together as a family, which is great but sometimes we have to make shifts that make more sense for the greater good. Does that make sense?

Jessica:    It does. I don’t want people to feel like if you’re a family that eats later, if you don’t go to bed at a specific time – we’re not here to judge you and to make you feel bad about what you’re doing. We just want to create some awareness and maybe get your brain percolating and realizing that there are some things that you can do, just some slight adjustments that may help your health more in the long term.

We’re not here to judge you. Everybody has their own schedule and there are always certain chances. Some families have parents who work graveyard shifts. There are things that are just unavoidable.

But we want to throw out some ideas and maybe give you some information to just help you see if there are things that you could adjust or do better or new things that you could try. Maybe you’re trying to do a new routine and you’re struggling. So maybe some of the steps that we talk about will spark an idea that might work for you.

So there’s definitely no judgment coming from us at all.

Lydia:    Oh gosh, no. Please. The last thing I want anyone to feel like is “Oh, Lydia told me I should go to bed and…” or whatever. I hate that.

You know what? The truth is at some Saturday nights, I’m eating dinner at 8:00. It just happens. And I’m like, “Oh well, whatever.”

I’m not going to stress about it. But I don’t want to have these habits all accumulating that could be impacting my health. Does that make sense?

Jessica:    Yeah.

Lydia:    Trying to keep a regular rhythm can be so helpful because there are so many times when life is unpredictable. It’s easy to just spiral from there. I’m just laying a template and a framework that can lead to better results really.

So yeah, there’s zero guilt or judgment. Please. Never these.

So eating dinner at a decent hour is a good thing too. But let’s talk about what a general day could look like.

Let’s say you are doing 10 PM to 6 AM thing, which not everybody will, but if you have your general bed time and general wake time because everyone’s got their jobs and stuff. So we all do, to some degree, have a routine already.

Let’s say we all are getting up at 6 AM. What can we be doing to support our health throughout the day from the minute we get up and keep it simple?

One thing for sure is because so many people have imbalances in their health. Namely we’ve got blood sugar imbalances. I don’t really know anyone who’s got truly balanced blood sugar. And we’ve got very tired adrenal glands.

So these are the two most common things I see with all of my clients, ages 1 to 80. There’s no one that escapes this. So what can we be doing from the beginning of the day?

One thing is to have breakfast within a decent hour of waking. So you want to try to eat within an hour of waking if you can or maybe an hour and a half. But you don’t want to go three hours. You don’t want to wait forever.

I know, I know I’m going to hear the objections, “What about intermittent fasting?”

Jessica:    Yeah, I was going to say…

Lydia:    We’re not going to go there because here’s the thing. Some people can do that. Everyone’s doing that when they’re sleeping anyway. We’re fasting when we’re sleeping. But here’s the thing. Most people have blood sugar imbalances. Like I said, most people have tired adrenals.

In that case, you can’t really afford to go very long in the morning without eating something and I’m not even talking that you have to have a huge breakfast right away. If your schedule is too crazy to permit that, I’d rather you do not eat in a stressed, rushed state. I’d rather you just have snacks to keep your blood sugar from dipping down.

And then your adrenal glands have to come in and rescue you basically. And if they’re already tired, you’re straining them even more by having them come in and have to save you from a hypoglycemic episode. That’s a very common thing.

So I tell everyone. Please eat within an hour of waking if you can. If you can’t, get your full breakfast and that’s totally fine. Have a small smoothie or a snack or something. The sole purpose is to keep your blood sugar stable and to set your day up for success.

Jessica:    Yup.

Lydia:    Yeah.

Jessica:    Yeah. [inaudible 00:26:52] what you’re saying. I used to be one of those people who were never hungry in the morning. I think a lot of people are like that. They’re just not hungry in the morning and then they don’t really feel hungry until maybe 10:00 or so. Sometimes it’s time to eat lunch by the time they feel hungry.

But I’ll tell you what. When I made a focused effort several years ago when I started really learning about blood sugar balance and how it affects your thyroid and your adrenals and all that stuff, I really made an effort to start eating in the morning within the hour to hour and 15 minutes of waking up.

It felt weird at first. But now, I can’t go all morning. I absolutely have to eat my breakfast because I don’t feel well if I don’t.

So you can change your body’s habits. You can create new habits for your body. Just because you don’t like breakfast now, it doesn’t mean that you couldn’t adjust that if your schedule permitted for that.

That’s definitely something to keep in mind because I used to hate eating breakfast. But then once I got into habit of doing it, now I love my breakfast. I really feel like if I don’t eat a solid healthy breakfast, then I set myself up for failure throughout the rest of the day.

Lydia:    Yes.

Jessica:    Yeah, it’s really important.

Lydia:    Let me delve into what you said further. Also before I do, I want to say this. A lot of people tell me their schedule in the morning is too crazy.

Let me tell you mine. I get up around 6 AM. Actually my body wakes me up. That’s a good sign right there. If your body is waking you up and you don’t need an alarm clock, then that’s a good sign.

I wake up around 6:00. Kid number one, I have to get him out the door by 6:45. Kid number two, I have to get him out the door by 7:30. Kid number three, I have to get him out the door by 8:00. Kid number four, I have to get him out the door by 8:30.

They’re all in different schools, all different buses. All have different morning needs. So do I want to have a breakfast during that crazy time? Well, no and I usually don’t.

I have a snack. I’ll eat a little something of what I’m making them. And then as soon as they’re out the door, I am having my breakfast.

So that’s my crazy schedule. I know a lot of people have crazy schedule. So I understand. I’m not trying to make things harder for you. It will make things easy for you if you understand the reason why. Just think about what kind of morning snack can you have on hand that can keep your blood sugar stable until you have the time to sit down and relax and eat your actual breakfast.

Second, Jessica just said she didn’t feel like eating breakfast at one point. I hear that a lot. In fact, I hear it so much that I wrote a whole blog post about it at one point.

I have clients who tell me. I ask them about breakfast and they’re like, “Yeah. I’m not hungry. I don’t really have an appetite. I just don’t want any food. I have my coffee and I don’t eat at 10:00.” But they’ve been up for several hours. Having coffee in between, waking and waiting that long, you’re going to be asking for some blood sugar problems.

There are some reasons why people feel like skipping breakfast. It is a legitimate physiological thing.

We have people who have digestive issues. So they wake up in the morning. Part of the reason could be maybe they ate dinner late at night like we were talking about a little bit ago.

Maybe they ate their dinner so late at night and for some reason, their bodies didn’t digest it properly or whatever. So they wake up and they’re not hungry. Sometimes that means people need more digestive support really.

That’s a big one. Hypoglycemia is a big one. This person is probably the one who says, “Oh, I just had my coffee and I eat later.” They need the coffee to get their blood sugar going.

This person could have maybe a glycogen storage problem causing them to not be hungry, but they still need that coffee. So there are some things going on there that can be the problem.

However, you can still force the issue. Even if you think you aren’t hungry, you can say, “You know what? I know this is good for my body. So I’m going to try anyway.”

Usually people find they can make that shift. They’ll start eating breakfast and they’ll actually realize, “Wow, I do feel better.” It awakens their appetite in a way. It’s just a matter of talking yourself through that.

People with adrenal fatigue often have low morning cortisol levels. This makes appetite very difficult. That’s another issue there.

Honestly if you force the issue – the same thing with the whole bed time thing – you can be making some shifts. So it’s a matter of just talking to yourself and saying, “Okay. You can do this.”

Just try it rather than going by how you feel. It’s knowing, “This would be a better thing for my body” and trying it out. And you’ll be surprised how it makes you feel better.

Jessica:    Yes. “It’s good for me.” Absolutely, yeah.

Lydia:    Yeah. And I know it’s tough because if you’re already tired in the morning and morning is hard for you – it’s a matter of planning ahead.     So have something easy at first until you gain momentum and then you’ll get into it.

Jessica:    Yes, awesome. I started making my husband because my husband is one of those people who don’t eat a lot in the mornings. I know that he’s setting himself up for some blood sugar issues too.

So I have actually started making just a huge pan of hash with some sausages and some potatoes and spinach. And I just put a bunch of veggies in there that he’ll eat. And then I’ll scramble up an egg or two in the morning. It’s already pre-portioned.

Usually Sunday, I’ll just make the big pan of hash. I’ll portion it out into little glass containers for the week. I’ll get up and scramble up an egg real quick while he’s getting ready for work. And then he takes it to work so that he has that time. He’s one of those people that can’t eat right away.

Some people can get up and go eat immediately and then other people need an hour or so. He’s one of those people that need some time. And I do too. So then he can get to work a little bit early and then he eats before he starts work and everything.

You figure out some things that work for you. If you can’t have a big meal in the morning, have those snacks. Know ahead of time. Can you have some sliced up meat or some leftover chicken and a little scoop of sauerkraut or something that you can just eat for a quick snack until you can sit down and enjoy the meal?

It’s just baby steps, figuring out what you can do and then what will work to get you to achieve those goals.

Lydia:    Right. And I’ll be honest with you. We could talk about what a whole day could look like, but bed time and breakfast are probably the two most important things and the biggest problems I see that most people don’t have happening well enough to make it impact their health in a good way.

So breakfast alone is a struggle because we have this – I mean like I said, my morning is crazy. Even though I work from home, I have to get started working pretty much almost right away. I have a lot to accomplish before the kids get home from school.

So I can’t spend every morning, cooking myself a breakfast. It even can take too much time every single day if I’m doing that.

So I started doing what I call a kitchen burst. You hear about Burst Training. Well I do kitchen bursts. I literally will, in two hours, just whip up 16 or so individual breakfasts, of four different things.

I’ll make breakfast hash and I’ll make a frittata. I’ll cook a big [rope of] turkey sausage and then a bunch of veggies. There are four different things. I’ll stick them in the Pyrex, I’ll stick them in the freezer and boom, I’m set for 16 either breakfasts or breakfasts and lunches. And I did it all in two hours.

I get up in the morning. I don’t have to cook breakfast and I save myself time. This is something that I’ve been doing lately and I have to do this. I really do because if I get to the point when the kids finally leave, I’m already frazzled. And I’m like, “I don’t want to cook breakfast. I just fed them all.”

I feel like someone else is feeding me. I seriously do when I pull these things out and I heat them up. I feel like I’m being fed. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s so helpful.

Really your daily routine can go so much better. You can set yourself up for success and feeling better and feeling you’re more so stable in both your mood and your physical well-being.

You can avoid those [levels] in the day if your routine is set, if you’re getting breakfast. You can avoid all these extra fatigue that a lot of people are feeling. You can avoid extra snacking.

Or you get to the office. A lot of people go to offices and they’ve got donuts and all the stuff, bagels and all the food there. And if you skipped breakfast, you’re going to go for that stuff because it’s there and you’re probably starving, your blood sugar is already screaming at you, so you go for it.

It’s nice if you can make a small plan and take some simple steps and just create a routine that works for you even if it’s just one piece of the day at a time. Do you know what I’m saying?

Jessica:    Yes, absolutely. Baby steps. Baby steps. Baby steps. Don’t try to do it all at once. Just take one area that you want to improve and then just focus on that and let everything else go until you have that habit in place.

They say it takes 21 days. I actually heard some new research recently that it takes even longer. I think most people say that it takes 21 days to establish a new habit. So really just focus on one thing for that 21 days or 31 days or however long it takes you. And then it doesn’t become such an issue.

I really work at my morning routine, structuring that and planning out my time of what I was going to do when because I try to start work by about 8:30, even though I work from home too. My every day is full of stuff. So I try to be working by 8:30.

From 6:00 to 8:30, I needed to figure out what all I needed to do. And if I didn’t get that stuff done during that time, then I really felt frazzled for the rest of the day. So it was really important for me to create that morning routine and make it a habit.

It took some time to get used to it. But now I’m used to it because I’ve been doing it for at least six months to nine months, the same routine everyday. And now it doesn’t feel like a big deal. I’m like a robot in the morning. I just do it.

Lydia:    Right. You just get to…

Jessica:    I just have to work on the evenings. I will get that figured out.

Lydia:    Yeah. It is tough. I think it really should start. Everyone could focus a little bit in the morning on maybe breakfast and a little bit in the evening during bed time. I think those two things alone will take you very far.

 And then for those of you who want one more tip – we’ll need to wrap this up because we’re getting long here. I think there’s another thing that people get hung up on in the whole thing with exercise and feeling like they have to get to the gym and they have to do a workout or else it doesn’t count or whatever.

I personally don’t have time to get to the gym. I don’t have time to do a full workout. I don’t have time for that. And it’s not an excuse either. I really don’t.

There are days when I could maybe say, “All right. I’m going to put 30 minutes on the schedule and I’ll do it.” But honestly I have so much going on and so much to do that I don’t have time for that kind of exercise.

Guess what. It’s okay. Most people don’t. So here’s how I get over that. I do and I love this bursting thing. I just talked about kitchen burst. Now I’ll talk about my exercise burst.

Since I work from home, I can take a walk. If I have calls scheduled all day and I have a 30-minute window between or a 15-window between or whatever, I’ll go for a walk. Or I’ll do a quick laundry burst where I run up and down the stairs three times carrying a basket of laundry because I have to.

Honestly people, that is good for you. That’s exercise. That counts.

So I think there are a lot of people out there that have guilt over exercise. Not even the guilt part, but “I have to get my workout in and have to do this 30-minute workout or 45-minute workout.” It really doesn’t.

You can do short little bursts in between your busy schedule. Let’s say you work in an office. On your lunch break, go for a walk. When you get home, have a quick little five-minute – do some squats.

Honestly it really doesn’t have to be this big ordeal. You can get your body some movement in and some fitness in and even get stronger by just little short bursts.

I wanted to mention that because I feel like people get really hung up with the way they exercise or how long or whatever. So be okay with that. Be okay with these little short bursts.

I just read an article and that’s what Jennifer Aniston does by the way.

Jessica:    Yeah, okay.

Lydia:    And she’s looking pretty good. She only has time to fit in a 5-minute here or 10-minute there. That’s what she does. I guess that makes it okay. Ha ha…

Jessica:    Of course. Of course. I think you bring us some really good points. And actually we’re going to wrap up here, but we do have some plans to talk about exercise and fitness and figuring out how to fit exercise into your busy life as well as knowing what kind of exercise is right for you.

I actually just did a video on this. I haven’t posted it yet, but I have always been in that mindset that I have to go to the gym and I have to do X amount of cardio and X amount of weight training. Or else, I’m a failure. Or else, I’m not going to be healthy.

I think that there is a lot of guilt. And people put a lot of pressure on themselves to do a certain amount of exercise everyday and then they feel bad about themselves if they don’t get that in.

That’s a totally different podcast, but it’s an important one. So yes, definitely.

When I used to work in an office – we’ll wrap up after this. But when I used to work in an office, I would know people who every time they would get up to go to the bathroom, they would do 20 jumping jacks or 20 squats or 20 lunges, just every time they went.

So you’re getting a [inaudible 00:43:50] of exercising and strength-building exercise with something that you’re already doing anyway.

Just try to get creative and think about different things. Take two steps at a time rather that just one and stuff like that. So yes, there are ways that you can incorporate exercise into your busy schedule without feeling guilty about not going to a gym or not going for a run or doing whatever it is that you do for your exercise. So get creative.

Lydia:    Yeah. And a lot of people aren’t even healthy enough to do 30 minutes of straight cardio. They actually might be making themselves worse.

So the burst thing is actually a great way for everyone no matter what level of health or fitness you have. You can do it to the level that you’re at too. And they can be short.

Jessica:    Yes. Awesome. We will go ahead and wrap up here. Hopefully this talk has been helpful and has given you some new ideas, maybe has gotten some stuff percolating in your brain.

But if you have questions about any of the stuff that we’ve talked about, leave us comments or you can shoot us e-mails. We are happy to discuss.

And then we’ll also make sure we link to – I think Lydia mentioned a couple of blog posts that she had written that go along with what we’ve talked about. And I’ve got some stuff on my site too.

Check the descriptions down below or the blog posts down below depending on where you’re listening to this. Check for those links if you want to research more and learn more about what we’ve been talking about today.

We are going to sign off. We hope you have a great day. And we will talk to you guys again soon.

Lydia:    Yeah. And make sure to add to your daily routine, listen to our podcast. Ha ha..

Jessica:    Yes.

Lydia:    All right. Thank you for listening everyone. Bye.

Delicious Obsessions is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.Read our full terms and conditions here.