PHEW. Anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed lately? It has been pretty darn busy for us lately with work, study, blogging, kids and attempting a social life, and things are starting to take a toll on my energy levels. I am really really tired. So tired in fact that I have made a few decisions about my diet to try and attempt to get some of my energy back.
You may remember a while ago I blogged here about listening to your body, and then last week I talked about tuning in to your intuition. My intuition has been telling me loud and clear that I really need to up my protein intake big time, or I won’t be able to keep this pace up.
I have also been learning a lot lately in my nutrition study at Institute For Integrative Nutrition about the theory of bio-individuality – the concept that no perfect way of eating works for everybody, and we have been encouraged to really experiment and listen to our bodies over our year of study.

Soooooooooooo

I have decided to try adding a little bit of fish and some organic eggs to my diet, and see if this improves my over all energy levels.
I considered eating a little dairy, but this instantly causes my eczema to flare up, so that is simply not an option.
I have absolutely no doubt that a vegan diet can provide everything you need to remain healthy, but right now I am struggling to do the ground work and preparation require to maintain a varied healthy vegan diet.
I am not sure whether it will help, how long I will trial it for, or even whether I will be able to stomach it, but I firmly believe in listening to your body and it’s individual needs, and intuitively this is where I feel I need to be right now.

I will keep you posted!

Question: What foods do you find help you most when energy is flagging?

So here’s a confession. I am a control freak. In fact I am such a control freak I try to control my control freakism. If I had it my way I would pre plan every discussion, meeting, encounter and situation so it would go the way I wanted it to. In the past I would imagine upcoming events and discussions and try and envisage every possible scenario or conversation that might occur.

There are plenty of us out there. Outwardly we look very confident and in control, and possibly a wee bit on the bossy side. But I will let you in on a little secret – most of us share the same thing underneath it all.

FEAR

Deep down us control freaks have a very similar fear that we don’t even like to admit to ourselves – that something might happen and we won’t be able to handle it.  So here is what I have been trying lately, and boy it has been working a treat. I have been practicing letting go of control of future situations. Weird huh? It ain’t easy to start with, but it gets better. Here is what you do.

• Imagine a situation that is coming up, and you can feel yourself over analysing
• Literally hand it over to whatever you believe in – God, your inner guidance system, your intuition, the universe, whatever works for you. Say it out loud -” I hand this situation over, knowing it will work out for the best.” (roll with me on this one if it sounds a little hippy)
• Let it go. It will work out for the best and you can handle it.

It was tricky for me at first to believe that I had the inner wisdom or guidance to cope if I stopped  pre planning, but I learned a few things.

• If I am going into a situation without any pre conceived idea of how it must go, I am much more relaxed.
• Often the outcome turns out in a completely different way than I would have imagined if I had forced the situation, but it is actually a better outcome.

I am not saying don’t be necessarily prepared by the way. If you have a presentation coming up, or a job interview etc - do the preparation you need and be as up to date on information as you need to be. Then hand it over and don’t try to force the outcome.

Weird? Wacky? I don’t think so. Give it a go a couple of times when you notice yourself desperately trying to control an upcoming situation, and see what happens.

You can handle it.

cheers

Ali