DDP Yoga

[Drzsmith]

Again thanks for all the info and support,everything is still going well with it.

[hedrap]

A lot of good advice. This is my wife's field of work, mine indirectly in days gone by.

The main key I can give everyone is start a daily food journal. Write down everything you eat and drink for the day, then add up the calories. You can find online the caloric intake for any meal, home made or dining out.

At that point, you're going to see what your intake is by category: Fats. Protein. Cholesterol. Sugars. etc...you can than index that against what you're eating and it will instinctually tell you what is not healthy.

You make think certain snacks are junk, but they may be nowhere near as bad as what you're eating for breakfast. So you clean up your breakfast - eggs, bacon, whole wheat, smoothies - and drop the cereals
or you actually start eating breakfast instead of skipping it. And let me touch a big one....

Caffeine. Caffeine only works if you're oxygenated and hydrated, meaning you've gotten enough sleep and water. If you're sleep is crap and you start off with coffee, you're actually restricting blood flow to your entire system and will make yourself even more tired because you'll get a spike and then crash, hard. Rinse, repeat, throughout the day and your sleep is actually either you passing out or an agitated state.

If you can, you need to cycle off caffeine for at least three days, a week is best. You're going to get headaches so take what your system can handle whether it's aspirin, ibuprofen or you can try something natural. You're also going to be tired or unclear for the first two days, but you'll get by it. By day three you should be sleeping better.

If you want to intro caffeine again, you need to drink water first. You should start everyday with a full glass of water, actually, because we lose a lot during sleep. Then around mid-morning have your coffee or tea. If you don't like coffee or tea, be careful with red bull and whatnot. I don't drink those as the carbonation and caffeine combo was reflux city for me. I actually found a caffeinated hot chocolate and a non-carbonated sports energy drink, but coffee can have a number good benefits. You need to pay attention to how your body reacts.

The last caffeine tip is try and cut it out by late afternoon/early evening so it's depleted by bedtime. I try and only drink ice tea after four. Non-caffeinated sodas would be fine also.

It's St Pats so now ignore everything and get blotto'd.

[Marvelmania]

Awesome post and very good advice about the journal, breakfast and caffeine!!!! While caffeine will boost your metabolism, it will dehydrate you fast. As Hedrap mentioned watch the time of day you drink it because it'll stay in your system longer than you think and the crashes can be bad and make you twice as tired. I use it before a workout but it's only as slight bit then again about midday. In total it's probably about not even equal to a couple cups of coffee (which I can't stand, even the smell of it lol). If it messes up your sleep pattern then avoid it completely! Also if you have high blood pressure avoid it. Your body needs the rest and recuperation. Drinking very cold water has also been shown to give your metabolism a quick temporary boost. Your metabolism will kick in to help warm your body back up. So glad to hear things are going well!!1 Keep it up!