You may not know this, but implementing small habits of being organized every day will lead to happier hormones.
Do you ever think about how implementing a morning routine can lead to more balanced hormones?
Or how weekly meal planning will lead to fewer stress hormones being produced.
Grab your favorite hot drink and listen to how I share some of my favorite tips and tricks.
And if you are ready to take the first step and get organized with weekly meals that will provide ALL the nutrients you need for Happier Hormones, you can head here: www.vandghie.com/meals
TRANSCRIPT:
Well hello again and welcome to episode 9 of Beauty in Balance.
With life getting back into full swing, does it feel like things are getting a bit crazy again?
I often hear people say that they miss the calm of lockdowns. Although nobody wants to go back there, it did bring a sense of calm as nobody rushed around to get anywhere in a hurry. But once you get back into the full swing of things, life can get a little crazy right?
And with that comes increased physiological and mental stress. And you know what happens then? Your hormones don’t like that. In fact, your body was not made to be under the constant pressure and stress that we so often experience.
I have a question for you. Do you consider yourself organised?
I think I’m a pretty organised person. My friends and family would probably say that I’m organised.
But I know of many people that label themselves as unorganised.
You might remember how I talked about a growth mindset in episode 7. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, please go back and listen to it.
If you live by the principles of a growth mindset, you’ll know that, although you might be very organised at this minute, it’s definitely a skill that you can master if you put in the time and effort.
And I highly recommend that you do and here’s why:
Being organised has several health benefits and once you experience it, you’ll ask yourself why nobody ever told you of these very practical ways of improving your hormone balance and health!
The first way that being organised will increase your health is by reducing stress, which is probably the single most important factor in hormone health.
If you have an endless list of things to do constantly resting on your shoulders, that is guaranteed to lead to higher levels of stress.
Secondly, being organised will improve your sleep. And better sleep always equals happier hormones.
If you are disorganised, you may be staying up later to do a few things at the last minute or be worried about something that needs to be done.
Another reason why being organised will improve your health is that you’ll have more time to reset your nervous system by allowing pockets of white space in your day. If you are not constantly rushing to get things done, you’ll be able to create what I call pockets of whyite space. Even 5-10 minutes of me time.
One of my favourite ways that being organised will improve your health is that we tend to make better choices when we are more organised. For example, if you schedule your exercise into each day, you are more likely to do it. And if you plan your meals ahead, you have more time to think through the meals that you’ll be preparing.
When we are more organised, we free up time and energy to focus on other aspects of our lives and to improve in other areas.
Research also shows that being organised reduces depression and anxiety. I know for sure, if I’m organised and I include my family into that, I have way less anxiety and we have waaaaay less fights. That is for sure. So essentially, being more organised will have a definite positive impact on your relationships with the people that you love.
And of course, being organised will improve your productivity.
I truly believe with all of my heart that everybody can learn to be organised and I also believe that we have to approach it the way we’ll eat an elephant. One small bite at a time. What are the easiest changes that you can implement that will make the biggest difference and impact for you.
Let’s talk about a few things you can do right now to be more organised.
Firstly, we need to get rid of the clutter. Yes, physical clutter too, but I’m talking about the emotional clutter that exists because we don’t know how to say no. We get so bogged down with things and I think it’s necessary to evaluate everything we are involved in regularly. IS this still contributing to my wellness, is this still contributing to my vision and purpose. If your answer is no, maybe it’s time to clear the clutter.
Secondly, one of the most impactful things that I’ve started implementing recently, was creating a consistent morning routine.
My routine includes reading my eulogy, 10, 5 and 1 year plans and then creating a daily planner sheet, which includes my primary and secondary tasks to be completed for the day, my gratitude and appointments for the day, amongst other things. My morning routine also includes scripture reading and prayer. This exercise has helped me tremendously to remain grounded during a very difficult time that we are navigating at the moment.
I also use this daily planner sheet to get all the thoughts of things that need to be done, out of my head and onto paper. So see it also as a to-do list. Trust me, once you get into the habit of getting these things out of your head and onto paper, you’ll experience tremendous benefits. It will also help you to prioritise. Are things really as urgent and important as they feel, or can it actually wait. Or does it really have to happen at all? Or can you ask somebody else to take care of it?
Other ways of making sure that I remain organised in my home and mentally, is I always make our bed the moment I get up (or Michiel will if he gets out of bed after me) and I always keep the sink empty. So dishes are washed after every meal. Kids have full responsibility for the dishwasher. And I always keep my desk tidy. When my work space is organised, I work so much better. I’m definitely more productive.
And finally. This is something I’ve been doing for the last 5 or so years and I will never be able to NOT do this. It has so many benefits that I’ll be sharing with you.
And this is planning my weekly meals ahead. I have it so dialled in, that it takes me less than an hour each week. In a good week, I do my shopping online and only collect from the supermarket. This takes the total time for planning and shopping to under 90 minutes a week. When I do my shopping myself, this takes about 2 hours a week.
I usually do this on a tuesday now that I work from my home office, but used to do this on a sunday, and pick up my groceries on a monday.
When I plan my meals ahead of time, I make sure I include foods that will support my hormones first and foremostly. And these foods are not anything special or crazy, they are foods that will also benefit the males in my family.
I can attribute a very large percentage of my happy hormones to this weekly practice.
Here are a few reasons why meal planning is supporting my happier hormones:
I only do ONE trip to the supermarket every single week. I NEVER do a second trip. This saves me time and money and I think every working mom will agree that supermarket trips are not the best way of spending your time. And because I go less, I spend less on things that we don’t need!
Because I plan all our meals ahead (including breakfast, lunchboxes, snacks and dinners), I spend less money as I only buy what I’ll be using.
We also have next to no food waste.
But most importantly, I never spend mental energy on meals aside from the 2 hours of planning I do each week. This reduces my mental stress significantly and supports healthier production of sex hormones and lower production of stress hormones.
I also spend significantly less time on grocery shopping and meal preparation, which means I have time during the day to practice self care. And if you know nothing about hormones, please know this. Selfcare is one of the most important things you’ll do to support happier hormones. It will increase the production of yoru sex hormones, increase the likelihood of regular ovulation and therefore, bring balance to your hormones. You can listen to episode 6 to learn more about how this all works. But take my word for it, selfcare is absolutely essential.
One of my favourite benefits also of meal planning is that I never ask this question: so what shall we make for dinner, which always leads to the most famous unwanted answer “anything will be ok”
You know, when a woman asks what’s for dinner, it’s one of those questions that is code for, please help me to think of what I can make. I don’t care about making it, but please just give me ideas!
Anyway, none of that when your weeks are planned ahead.
Not knowing what to make for dinner or not being prepared and ending up with an empty fridge and pantry will often lead to having take outs!
so, when you plan your week ahead, you’ll prepare and eat more nutritious food. This way, you’ll also know that you’ll be able to eat a variety of nutrients that will meet more of your nutrient needs.
If you don’t eat the foods your body needs for the production of healthy levels of hormones, you are guaranteed to have PMS, heavier and painful periods, weight issues, headaches, irritability and all those symptoms consistent with unhappy hormones.
And then lastly, one of my favourite things about planning meals ahead, is that the family can get involved.
Kids and husbands get to nominate one meal per week and they also get to prepare that meal. Not only does it take some of the responsibility off your shoulders, it teaches them some very valuable skills. And again, taking the load off yourself will create small pockets of space in your day for selfcare.
So I have a question for you friend, why would you NOT plan your meals ahead?
2 hours a week can literally save you from so much pain and frustration.
But not only that, I can guarantee that you will experience improvement in your hormone health. I have many clients that will confirm this, including myself.
And because I know this, I’ve got you covered.
I’ve created a mini-course where I’ll teach you how to plan an entire week ahead.
I teach you how to include the essential foods that will support your hormone health and also provide you with an easy to follow, step-by-step template to complete this exercise as easy and fast as possible in a way that will suit your family and preferences.
I’ve also done the first week for you so you’ll have a good base to work from with some great examples.
You can head over to www.vandghie.com/meals to grab yours.
The best part is that you’ll get instant access to the course and you’ll have it for life. So you can do it in your own time and always refer back to it if you need to.
And, as always, you’ll have access to any future updates of the course.
I wanna remind you again my friend, becoming more organised is something that is within your reach. You can start reaping the benefits today. Get your hands on the tools that will help you get there faster.
Implement the smaller changes that will lead to major improvements in your health and wellness.
And do you know what’s better? Share this episode with a friend, and tackle this thing together. All things are better when we have a partner in crime!
Thanks a heap for joining me again today
I’ll see you next time