Nutrition & Wellness: Top 10 Ideas and Solutions

1. Sleep – THE MOST IMPORTANT, LEAST TALKED ABOUT PART OF LIFE: We think sleep is the first – not the last – and most important thing we do every day (especially in recovery). Get your sleep schedule right and life is so much more fun living. Sleep determines our energy, focus, mood, thinking, will power, perspective, decision making, happiness… this list goes on ad infinitum. We think about sleep like this – there’s this being, let’s call him the Sandman – and we owe him every day. He’s the first lien holder on joy, happiness, and serenity. He’s a debt collector that is unavoidable and going to get paid either way – no matter whether we try to cheat him or not. WE CANNOT CHEAT THE SANDMAN. Pay him with a normal sleep schedule (say 11pm to 6am) and you can enjoy and engage life. Try not to pay him, and he will slowly before quickly take everything from you until he is paid. He will take away joy from simple activities, he will take away your presence and peace of mind, he will take away your healthy eating habits, he will take away your ability to prioritize and solve even the simplest of tasks – until he is paid. So what’s the solution? Set up auto-pay! We have a wake time and a bedtime that works for us – whether its 6 hours a night or 8 hours – to each their own. Here’s our perspective – there is no such thing as waking up early or late – there is simply a time you wake up and a time you go to bed. Here is the secret sauce to success with sleep – don’t worry about the bedtime – lock in a wake time and be courageous in sticking to it. Sure it’s a pain in the beginning, but after a week you’ll naturally wake at your wake time. From there you will learn your bedtime and the amount of sleep you need just by sticking to a wake time. Wake up at 6am for a week straight and “trouble going to sleep” falls away. You will LOVE going to sleep. We love to dive into bed at night after an energized day fueled by a good-ole, consistent sleep schedule. WE LOVE OUR SLEEP. AND BECAUSE WE LOVE OUR SLEEP, WE LOVE TO LIVE.

2. We Make Our Bed: Before sobriety – we sure as heck didn’t make our bed. It was the least of our worries. We didn’t care about ourselves, why would we care about our bed? Today – we start our day with a little accomplishment and make our bed every morning. We don’t really know how this works – but when we make our bed and our room looks (at least somewhat) put together – our lives seem to be put together. The opposite is extremely true. When our room is out of sorts – we feel out of sorts. It sounds trivial but its monumental. A little action sets the tone for the day almost as if to say, "I do, I care, I can". Making our bed is great self-care and gives us a little morning momentum to start taking on the bigger tasks. Plus, it’s nice to come home to a neat bed at the end of a beautifully busy day. We care about ourselves today, and we show ourselves that by making our bed.

3. Brush ‘Em If Ya Got ‘Em (and Get Flossy): Let’s be honest – we didn’t brush our teeth nearly as often as we should have in active addiction. Once a day was a real win when we were fighting through a head pounding hangover. But alas – we are sober! So we threw out the old (gross) toothbrush and old routine. What’s the new routine? In the morning: Brush, floss and then rinse with mouthwash. At night: brush and rinse with mouthwash. Let’s take one quick second to talk about how much we hated flossing at first. ARGHHH! It took a solid week to get over the bloody hump there – but then we were in the clear! Today we’re proud of our pearly whites and proud of ourselves for taking care of them. It also makes for a slightly less dreaded visit the dentist.

4. Water – CHUG, CHUG, CHUG! We are roughly 60% water – let’s keep it that way. We start our day with two big glasses of water (and our happy pills that some people call vitamins – more to come on that later). Why? Because our body and brain just work better when we’re hydrated. They [the internet or science or smart people] recommends that you drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day (aka: the 8×8 rule). Who knows – we just drink a ton because we’re active and actively avoiding caffeine headaches. What we do know though is how to check if we’re hydrated – yep, we check our pee. If it’s looking like we need some water (aka our urine looks like a dark apple cider) – we drink some more water. When it comes to hydrating, we have a KISS (Keep it Simple Stupid) approach. Start the day drinking water and drink more water throughout the day. Dark pee? Drink water. Headache? Drink water. Thirsty? Drink water. Hot Yoga? More water. Here’s a pro tip – buy a water bottle you dig and carry it around with you (maybe even tag it with stickers – maybe even tag it with stickers of local businesses you love). It’s a gentle reminder to drink from it. Unlike alcohol, you never run into someone who says, “Gosh, I need to cut back on my water intake.” With water – it’s all good and we’re drinking it. Chug on!

5. Vitamins – Take Your Happy Pills: We take our morning vitamins. We’re sober now and it makes us happy to care what we put in our bodies. There are tons of physical and mental benefits to taking different vitamins – including feeling energized and happy. Even if its all a placebo – we’re happy to be taking our vitamins today. We think of it kind of like, “Hey, good morning body, here’s some water and some vitamins so you are well nourished for the day. Love you.” Definitely find what works for you – there’s a lot of crazy marketing for different vitamins and supplements out there. If it’s helpful, here’s what we take each morning (which were recommended to us when we were going through various recovery centers):

Multivitamin (we love the brand Ancient Nutrition)
Omega-3 (we love the brand Cymbiotika)
Probiotic (we love the brand Silver Fern)

HOLD UP - Did you just sleep well, make your bed, brush your teeth, hydrate, and take your vitamins in 30 minutes or less? YOU ARE ON FIRE!!! Anything is possible today – BRING IT ON!!!

6. Eat Like Your Life Depends on It: We’re not nutritionists. But we did have nutritionists while at our recovery centers. We took suggestions – AND THEY WORK. Today we expect a lot from our bodies and brains and, much to our pleasant surprise, our bodies and cognitive abilities deliver better than we could have ever imagined. It’s honestly crazy. How? Nope – not calorie counting or some crazy diet. We follow three general guidelines that we picked up from (we’ll call her) Amazing Amily:

PFF IS YOUR BFF, PFF IS YOUR BFF, PFF IS YOUR BFF: If you remember one thing about nutrition – this is it. We eat foods that are high in Protein, [Good] Fat and Fiber (PFF). What are great ideas for these types of foods? Thank you Google! Google “Best Foods High in Protein”, “Best Foods High in Good Fat”, “Best Foods High in Fiber” for tons of fantastic food and meal ideas that fit your palate and preference. The key here is to remember, PFF IS YOUR BFF.
Gut Health Matters: What is your gut? Simply put, it’s our digestive system. How important is your gut health? Extremely, Paramount, etc. Why is it important? Because our gut IS OUR SECOND BRAIN. Per Healthline, “A healthy gut contributes to a strong immune system, heart health, brain health, improved mood, healthy sleep, and effective digestion, and it may help prevent some cancers and autoimmune diseases.” Seriously, do a little Google research yourself – a healthy gut is where it’s at. Here’s a bomb article from Forbes on gut health to get you going (link). Our brains are on fire because we take care of our gut. How do we maintain a healthy gut? At its core, we eat high fiber foods and eat, drink and/or take probiotics and prebiotics. Our favorite gut health life hack – we threw out our coke and/or diet coke and start drinking Olipop (a soda alternative that is high in fiber and prebiotics). We can go on forever about gut health – but we will again defer to our friend Google.
Sugar is the Devil: Yes, we eat sugar. Yes, we crush Ben and Jerry’s or Cali Cream from time to time. And yes, we feel terrible enduring the inevitable lethargic sugar hangover in the hours or day to come. But here is the key – we try to avoid sugar whenever possible. ‘Nuff said.

7. Happy Hormones (and Neurotransmitters): What do we all have in common? We like to feel happy. Why the hell else did we shove so many terrible chemicals in our bodies? Now we take action to get healthy high. How? We find healthy ways to release and activate the happy hormones / neurotransmitters in our bodies: Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin and Endorphins. This article honestly does a better job than we could: Essential Guide To Serotonin And The Other Happy Hormones In Your Body. If we had to sum up how to release happy hormones in a nutshell: get active, eat well (PFF is your BFF), take care of your gut health, and give someone a hug. Yeah Science!

8. Coffee – Enjoy a Cup of Joe: God, give me coffee to change the things I can, and the Beach to accept the things I can’t! In the morning, at home, at work, at a coffee shop (especially Philz and Better Buzz), in a meeting - WE LOVE OUR COFFEE! But is it good for you? Yes! Coffee has many wonderful benefits. Just try to keep it to under 400 milligrams or about 4 cups of brewed coffee per day. Let's dive in to some reasons why coffee rocks:

It's delicious.
It gives us energy.
It brings us together. We love to meet up over some top notch java at Philz, Better Buzz, Ironsmith, Lofty Coffee, Darshan and Pannikin - and that's just Encinitas. North County is home to some of the best coffee spots / roasters in the world.
Coffee is the No. 1 source of antioxidants in the American diet. Yes, this shocked us too at first. Fortunately, it's true - we checked. Per an article published by the the Cleveland Clinic, Coffee is a source of nutrients, including B vitamins, potassium and riboflavin. The beans are also rich in antioxidants, compounds that protect cells against damage.
For some other awesome health benefits – google “benefits of coffee” or check out this article published by Johns Hopkins Medicine, (not to be confused with Johnny Hopkins who you may or may not have smoked weed with back in the day).
Don't just take our word for it - do some research yourself. Find what works for you - whether you take it regular, decaf, black, Lion's Mane, Bulletproof, or Mr. Wolf's way with "lots of cream, lots of sugar". We found that coffee is virtuous in so many ways. If you concur with our findings, join us and support your favorite local coffee shops!

9. The Fountain of Youth: Ahhh, to be young in sunny North County! Nothing quite like it. Well, let’s keep it that way. The sun’s UVA and UVB rays contribute ~90% to visible signs of aging. Not to mention that whole skin cancer thing – gosh CANCER SUCKS! We weren’t going to lather up head to toe in sunscreen every day, but we also didn’t want to do nothing. So what did we do? We incorporated a daily moisturizer with SPF 30 into our morning routine. We use CeraVe AM Facial Moisturizing Lotion but find whatever one you like. It takes two seconds and keeps our skin safe and beaming. From there we keep some heavier duty sunscreen in the car for those full-on beach days surfing and playing volleyball. We protect our skin – and we think our future self will be quite grateful. And its kind of neat to be looking out for our future selves now.

10. Treat Yo Self – Self Care: This one only you can know for yourself. But the key is to do something for you that you don’t do on a weekly basis. Maybe it’s getting your nails done. Maybe it’s a fresh chop at the barber. Maybe it’s a massage with an awesome Groupon discount. Maybe it’s a new shirt or blouse. Or perhaps a tasty treat. It’s not selfish to ask yourself once in a while: “What have I done for myself lately?”. We’re sober now. We care now. And for that – we treat ourselves here and there. And for that – we love ourselves. Thank you us! 😊

Refund policy

Read Here