You know when you look at someone and wonder what on earth they do with themselves, because you’re looking to do better? Well that happens with clients, listeners, followers and friends. Being asked what I’m doing has been a constant throughout my career and I’m more than happy to share. Along with wanting to be inspired, I’m also asked how-to. In the midst of our busy lives, there has to be a way to do things better without adding a pile of extra stress on your life or creating a barrier to get you to where you want to be. I have daily routines, some of which are non-negotiables and some that come in and out depending on the week.
I know you’ve heard about morning routines, and any kind of routine really, but what works for some doesn’t work for all. As I’ve had more requests to know what I do every day, not that I love talking about myself all the time at all, I thought that in this episode sharing with you what I do every day, some hacks of how you can start to implement a few of the things for yourself with the understanding of what I do, could also do for you. So today on EAT THIS with Lianne, what I drink, eat, the supplements that I take and why. Oh and a few of the hacks that help me keep these routines up day after day, week after week.
If this is the first time you’ve heard this podcast, then you may not have heard me say about a million times to drink water first thing in the morning, for instance. So there may be some new concepts for you, or something that reinforces what I’ve said in the past and it sinks in deeper. We all know that it takes hearing something a bunch of times before you dive in and give it a go for yourself.
My intention for this episode is to inspire you and give you the reasons behind why I do things, and you might find that it works for you too as there are a few things that have been game changers for me. More on those in a bit.
How about starting in the morning and let’s go through the day. Listen out for my hacks, because they can work just as well for you as they do for me.
I wake up at 6am. Whether I’ve gone to bed at 10pm or 3am, my internal clock says so. The other morning I actually put the shades down in my bedroom, and slept to 7:30 am. I was so proud of myself for sleeping in. And why did I sleep in? Because I blocked out the light that I love looking at as the sun rises every morning. Our circadian rhythm dictates the sleep wake cycle, and when I shut the blinds, my body responded to that. I actually like waking early so I can meditate before I get out of bed. Once I wake, I sit up in bed, crossed legged – the typical posture, and spend at least 10 minutes focusing on my breath. I have an intuitive coach who insists that this is a part of my daily practice. I once had to use guided meditations, which I have to say, helped me process what felt like more than I do without anything, but I’ve been giving it a go for the past 6 months, and it turns out that it is possible to have no distractions, breathe and be in the moment for 10 minutes. Sure my brain goes off in different directions, like all the time, but I come back to the moment and focus on my inhale and exhale and it does impact how I carry myself through the day.
Next up is my lemon water. I put a large glass of Berky Filtered water with about half a fresh lemon squeezed into it – or here is the first hack … squeeze a bag of fresh lemons and put the fresh juice into an ice cube tray. Yes you can buy just the lemon juice from the store, but I prefer fresh, so this is my hack. Once you freeze the lemon juice, then before you go to bed, take out one cube and drop it into your glass of water. Presto, you have lemon water without the nightly squeeze.
Next up, I’ll do a workout, yoga and go for a walk of varying distance, depending on what else I’ve done. I need to leave for work by 8am at the latest if I’m going into the office, so that dictates what I do. If I put my yoga mat out next to my bed the night before, I’m far more likely to get on it in the morning. Have my gear ready and laptop in place and even more probability. I say that because sometimes I pick up my phone and realize that I forgot to reply to an email or have to send a message that can’t wait and it messes with the time that I have.
I’ll do yoga 3x a week, a workout of strength training maybe twice, but once for sure. A walk has to happen unless one of my daughters takes out the dog. That’s when I get to see the various types of birds, chics down by the water – there have been a few Glebes of late, so that’s fun to watch. I often listen to a podcast, catch up on a recording or listen to a meditation without sitting or closing my eyes as I walk.
When I get back from my walk I hit the shower. I will body brush for increasing lymph flow and get rid of dead skin but not as often as I like. My warm and cozy shower ends with a shot of as-cold-as-it-will-go water that is directed at my throat – my thyroid in fact. You have heard of hydrotherapy, right? Hot to cold – like the sauna to rolling in the snow? Well, similar theory. At the end of a warm shower, I do at least a 30 second freezing cold shot. I have trained myself not to scream as I did the first time I tried for 5 seconds. I’ve increased the time that I can manage, while feeling myself firmly in my body, focus on feeling grounded and slow my breath right down too. Doing this for months has actually increased how strong I feel within myself. Not sure what that is about, but it’s pretty cool.
Then I dry off, use an oil or natural lotion on my body because my skin can get extremely dry and I hate the feeling. I have many layers of Aesop and other products that go onto my face, before I use tinted moisturizer, a bit of mascara, lippy and I’m off.
I do have my morning vitamins at the ready. A game changer for me has been including Methyl B12 in my protocol. I’ve done that for about a year as I found out that I’m not methylating.
What is methylation? Let’s do a quick geek aside here as this is important.
First we need to know about methyl groups. A methyl group is one carbon and three hydrogens.
When a methyl group attaches to a molecule, or is passed from one molecule to another, it acts like a kind of green traffic light causing the molecule to start doing its work.
The thing that is so amazing about these methyl groups and about methylation in general is that it is happening all over the body, all the time. Methylation is essential for the optimal function of almost all your body systems. It occurs probably billions of times every second.
When methylation is going well, the process helps repair your DNA, regulates hormones, produces energy, protects against cancer, supports detoxification, keeps your immune system healthy, supports the protective coating along your nerves, strengthens the nervous system and on and on and on.
This is why methylation is important and why you’ve got to know if you are a methylator or not. You can ask your doctor to check it out with a blood test or as I have found out through a more energetic test called EAV, I know that I need to take B12 every day.
Up to 40% of the population has a genetic defect in one of the enzymes related to methylation. When you have a defect, it can affect everything.
Fatigue is perhaps the most common symptom of problems with methylation. Other symptoms or conditions can include:
- Anxiety, depression
- Insomnia
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Allergies
- Headaches (including migraines)
- Muscle pain
- Addictions
- Digestive issues
- Multiple miscarriages
- Autism
- Depression, anxiety and mental health issues.
Poor methylation can also increase your risk for conditions like osteoporosis, diabetes, colon and lung cancer, birth defects, dementia, stroke and cardiovascular disease.
There is a very common cause of undermethylation, and that’s a defect in an enzyme named MTHFR. When MTHFR is not doing its job, B2, B12 and Folic acid are not bioavailable, in other words, they are not activated into forms that the body can absorb.
MTHFR is the enzyme “responsible for the process of methylation in every cell in your body. “MTHFR gene mutations cause people to not produce enough methyl groups.”
Not enough methyl groups means that the traffic light is not getting turned to green in some molecules which means that those molecules aren’t being triggered to do their job to keep the body healthy.
I think that this, along with taking a methyl B12 every day, I also take the Liposome B Complex Liquid available on sproutright.com every day and my energy is night and day from before. Also I can enjoy the odd glass of red wine now, without ending up with a headache the next day. Like I said, it has been a game changer. My mood is more stable, energy is good, exercise recovery better – I’m not stiff for days on end and sleep a bunch of niggly things seem to have eased.
Ok, so I also take gall bladder support called GB-40. I only take my own Take This by Lianne supplements and Physica, so all that I’m mentioning are one of those, so you know.
The gall-bladder seems to be my weak point at the moment, and when I get headaches that go through my temples, that is on the gall bladder meridian. It’s all tied in together. Acupuncture helps loads as does neuro somatic therapy that helps my neck where my C1 is out of place and likes being there, it seems, but treatment eases that and my headaches.
Ok, so breakfast happens at about 10am – apples and almond butter is my go-to. The good fats in the almonds helped sort out my very dry skin and also my peri-menopause periods being all over the place, helped regulate my cycle. We need fat to transport hormones, so eating fat is essential. I plaster the almond butter on apples and that’s my breakfast. Oh I forgot that I have my Kid Boost with Alka C and Liposome B Complex liquid first. Always. Then I eat.
Lunch looks like some kind of salad or wilted greens if I’m working from home. On Sunday I make four salads for the week because I work from home on Fridays. All the greens that I get from the market go into them. I’ll add nuts, hemp seeds, grate beets and throw more nuts on top. If I have leftover fish, that’ll go in there. Or I’ll make a bunch of 6 minute hard boiled eggs so I’m not suffering the dry egg yolk.
So that’s breakfast and lunch. There’s always a few cups of green tea in there somewhere, for extra hydration and after lunch, if I’m at work, I’ll make a half caf espresso and turn it into a latte of sorts. Hot water, almond cashew milk and the half caf espresso. That keeps my focus up to get the afternoon work done before I head home. If I have my girls, I make dinner. I always make enough on the weekend for a few nights of leftovers. Like tacos for instance. That taco meat can be then made into nachos which they love, and then added to tomato sauce to top onto pasta (gluten free of course). I’m intentional about what I make and as I add in grated carrot and zucchini into my taco meat, I’ve upped our fibre and veggies, and I can ease off on force feeding my girls a spinach salad which is often a hard sell.
I drink about 2L of water or herb tea every day. After dinner I might have a piece of dark chocolate. I’ve trained myself not to eat too late so that helps me sleep beter. I really don’t drink alcohol becuase it gives me that warm rolling flash of sorts which I dislike. Or a headache which is a real bummer.
Before bed I take more B12, Heart Song milieu which is like ahug in a bottle as well as helpful for my brain. Then 300 mg magnesium, HPA axis for stress, probiotic and melatonin before I hit the hay. I also take CBD every day as I have a head tremor and it’s the only thing that seems to help.
What do I want to do more of?
I thought of this as I was driving home from work as I heard a book mentioned on a podcast I was listening to. I’d like to read more – to afford myself the time to read more. Give that time to me, but so far it doesn’t happen. It has been a resolution of mine for years.
One more hack is to set your vitamins in the place where it makes most sense to you. I have my melatonin by my bed, my GB40 by my lemon water first thing so I take them at the same time. All my homeopathic remedies like Lymph 3 and AdrenoCode that I take daily live by my kettle so I take them as I head out for my walk. It works for me and if I put them all in the drawer they don’t end up in me. So that’s how it goes around here.
One thing I’d like to encourage you to do as I’ve talked to a few people of late in my free 15 minute choose a supplement call who has been suffering with different symptoms and issues for years that the doctor can’t figure out – well I’ve been there with my head tremor and headaches for instance. I don’t want to take pills all the time so I have looked deeper and spoken with many colleagues to find out what I can do to support myself. And what’s off to have it happen in the first place. Questions, question, questions. They need to be asked in order to find the answers.
There is a sense of power in what you know and understand, and then the choices you make following. At least at that point you have a choice.
Thank you for tuning in, thank you for sharing, thank you for your comments and messages on @SproutRight and @liannephillipson social channels; Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. And thank you to my loyal listeners who write in with your questions and comments. They mean everything.
Have a great week and please remember to EAT THIS one mouthful at a time.