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Plan meals ahead of time so you eat the right foods and always have a refrigerator and pantry stocked with the ingredients you need to eat healthy.
Prevents skipping meals, or becoming ravenous and grabbing any available snack or junk foods. Aids portion control.
Feel secure and comfortable with a calm nervous system. Avoid the anxiety (and even financial instability) associated with a chaotic life.
Regulate your digestion, preventing gas, bloating and other serious health issues.
The Fundamentals of a Good Routine
The foundation of a good routine is meals on time and bed on time.
If you eat your meals on time and go to bed on time, you'll have a happy body even if the rest of your day leans towards topsy-turvy.
The best time for meals are: breakfast at 8:00 a.m., lunch at 12:30 p.m., and dinner at 5:30 p.m. You can set your routine an hour earlier or later than these times, however, you must stick to your chosen routine.
The other pillar of a good routine is bedtime. You should be in bed by 10:00 p.m. and leave bed by 7:00 a.m.
Some people stay awake past 10:00 p.m. and get a second wind. However, the second wind is actually borrowed energy that your body needs to cleanse the organs.
If you are not resting with your eyes closed by 10 p.m., your mind will steal the second wind and you will lose an entire day of organ restoration. Over time, this causes your health to deteriorate.
Are you looking for a simple anti-aging strategy? Going to bed early is a simple way to add years and vitality to your life.
Routine & Digestion
Your body craves routine because that is what helps you stay healthy. And, digestion suffers the most from poor routine.
According to Ayurveda your digestion is closely aligned with the daily cycle of the sun. That means your digestive fire (agni) is strongest during the middle of the day (between 12:00 and 2:00 pm) when the sun is hottest. This is why Ayurveda suggests eating your biggest meal of the day at noon.
In the evening, your body will be happier if you eat lighter, easier to digest fare for dinner since that is when your digestive fire is weakest.
Eating a big meal when your agni is weak promotes poorly digested food and a buildup of toxins. And that in turn promotes gas, bloating, and other challenging health issues.
It is also best to eat dinner before 8:00 p.m. If you eat later your body's energy will be tied up with digestion when it needs to rest, rejuvenate and cleanse itself.
In that case, you may wake up feeling groggy and lethargic in the morning. Late night foods can also provoke mucus congestion the next morning. Not a great start for your day.
Long term, if you regularly eat after 8 p.m., serious health problems may follow.
To better understand how routine impacts you personally, keep a journal of what you eat and when. The connections you uncover may surprise you.
For example, I had a client with a catastrophic digestive disorder. She really wanted to go to the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert. After strongly suggesting she skip the festival to take care of her body, I finally relented and offered her several tips to stay healthy while traveling.
In our next session two weeks later she explained how great she felt during the entire trip. However, on the way home they missed lunch and ate junk food instead.
The next morning her tooth was infected, and after several days she lost the tooth. The trouble with a poor routine is that it sneaks up on you when you least expect it.
Road trips are especially hard on your body.
Mind vs. Body
If you are like many modern people you may find routine boring and restrictive. However, boredom itself is usually a sign your mind has hijacked the rest of your body.
People who live out of their minds naturally crave unlimited choices and opportunity. The mind loves freedom, even when it destabilizes the body.
However, your body loves stability and craves routine, even when your mind doesn't. Staying healthy, then, may require you to rein in your mind and keep it focused on making reasonable food and lifestyle choices for your body.
Routine & Your Blood
Your body rations blood according to the daily biorhythms of nature.
For example, it sends blood and attention to your stomach at breakfast time, lunch time, and dinner time.
If you eat your meals at other times your digestion may suffer, as your body's rhythms are out of sync with your choices, and there is less blood available for digestion.
This can wreak havoc on your digestion, like a dance that doesn't quite work.
Like it or not, your body has the last word. You must understand the routine of your body to synchronize with it.
Other Tips for a Good Routine
Here are some other elements of routine to incorporate into your day:
Massage your digestive tract before getting out of bed.
Drink a glass of water when you wake up.
Stretch for ten minutes every morning. Cat/cow is the universal stretch because it relaxes the spine, refreshes circulation of the pelvis, and engages the breath.
Avoid reading, watching television, and bright lighting after 9:00 p.m. In my family we use candles for dinner and keep the lights low after that. Then we pray and sing songs of praise before bed. Music is fun and an old fashioned way to enjoy the evening when the lights are low.
One More Thing: Stay Put
Moving can be very stressful for your body. If possible, avoid moving more than once every 10 years for the following reasons:
It takes 1 year to adapt to the bacteria in your micro-climate.
It takes 3 years for your body to adapt to new foods & suppliers in a new grocery store.
It takes 12 years to develop a community support system.
John Immel, the founder of Joyful Belly, teaches people how to have a
healthy diet and lifestyle with Ayurveda.
His approach to Ayurveda is clinical, yet exudes an ease which many find enjoyable and insightful.
John also directs the Joyful Belly College of Ayurveda,
offering professional clinical training in Ayurveda for over 15 years.
John's hobbies & specialties include advanced digestive disorders, medieval Catholic philosophy,
& botany. He holds a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Harvard University.
His wife and family of 7 kids live in Asheville, NC.
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* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.
The information and products on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any
disease.
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