With our busy schedules, it is always hard to find time for self care and motivation to work out. Follow these three easy tips that you can integrate into your daily schedule  to help guide you in your wellness journey.

Wake up and breathe deep

Our first inclination nowadays is to reach for our phones and catch up on anything we might have missed while asleep. Instead, try to take three deep breaths first, then allow yourself to check your phone. You can even slowly build up the amount of time you breathe, start with those first three breaths, then the next day try four or five. Eventually over a few weeks of practice, you might wake up craving these few moments of relaxation before jumpstarting your day and raising your cortisol by checking your phone or computer immediately upon waking. As you build up your morning breathwork routine, you can include items such as a meditation pillow and meditation room spray that create a sense of routine as you start your day. 

Don’t set unrealistic goals

You are more willing to give up without even trying if you set unrealistic fitness or nutrition goals. Like with the morning breathwork practice, build up your weekly workouts over time. If you normally work out once a week – don’t overload your adrenals by suddenly jumping into daily workouts, this can cause injury and unnecessary stressors. Instead, start taking one or two extra classes a week. You can apply this method to any goals you have on your wellness journey. Don’t set an unhealthy weight loss goal that can cause you to spiral and engage in unhealthy habits, work together with your trainer, nutritionist or medical expert to set a healthy tiered weight loss plan that can get you to where you want to be without causing any damage to yourself mentally or physically. Multiple smaller goals will help you get to where you want to be without overwhelming yourself and giving up because where you aim to be seems so unattainable. Try using a journal to track your efforts, we like this journal, or this meal plan journal.

Clean out your kitchen

As we hear a lot nowadays, overall health comes from the gut. A lot of food in supermarkets these days contains unnecessary additives that disrupt our hormones causing weight gain, mood swings and long term health problems. Start by tossing or donating everything in your kitchen with ingredients that are not whole foods (think soy lecithin, and E-additives). Shop as local as you can, find nearby organic farmer’s markets – here in Amsterdam we have many throughout the city on different days of the week – and shop as organic as you can afford to. Fill your fridge with seasonal vegetables and fruit, and integrate probiotics (whether through water kefir, ferments, or a daily probiotic) to keep your gut working optimally. Make your life easier by keeping a Fridge grocery list, and get inspired by flipping through one of our favorites: Pegan Diet: Cookbook, Clean Plate Cookbook, and don’t forget to stock up on probiotics.