How to Get the Most Out of Your Mornings

 

 

Have you adjusted to the time change yet?

It’s nice to gain that extra hour in the morning – unless you have small children like I do. We’re up bright and early no matter what time the clock says!

This is a perfect time to put in place a new morning routine that will have countless benefits for you.

• It reduces stress, often improving your entire day.
• It encourages other healthy habits.
• It keeps your biological clock in rhythm.
• It puts you in control of your schedule.
• It leads to healthier eating and exercise habits.
• It allows for extra time to accomplish things that are important to you.
• It’s one way to ensure self-care. 

So today, I’m going to give you tips and tools for a morning routine that will help you power through your morning – and your whole day. When you start the day off strong, you feel accomplished and satisfied. And you’re more likely to feel tired when bedtime rolls around.

So let’s get started with the first key to making the most of your mornings…

Wake up early.

If you’re currently a night owl, or you just dread the thought of waking up earlier than you already do, I encourage you to start small.

Waking up 2 hours earlier all of a sudden is not going to be a habit that sticks. Instead you’ll feel deprived of sleep and you know how I feel about that… Deprivation never works!

Start by moving your alarm clock just 15 minutes earlier. That small change in your sleep habits is not likely to even make a difference in how you feel, but the few minutes of extra time might make you feel great enough to go 15 minutes earlier again, and again, until pretty soon… you’re an early bird. Even if you just add 15 minutes of you-time to your morning, you’ll reap the benefits throughout your day.

Of course, if you’re making an effort to wake up earlier, you also need to make an effort to go to bed earlier. Again, back your bedtime up gradually in order to make it a habit that sticks. And don’t forget to take Alkamind Daily Minerals 30 minutes before you want to go to sleep to make it easier to drift off.

Now, the minerals don’t make you sleepy. Why they are such a powerful sleep helper is they are the MOST powerful neutralzie of ACID. If you find yourself waking up between 1-5, this is called the LIVER TIME, the most acidic time of the day. If you are deficient in minerals (almost everybody is), then your body will rev up its engines, trying to do whatevr it can to NEUTRALIZE all that acid and inflammation.

This process consumes energy, and acrivates the body.  Taking the Daily Minerals will calm your nervous system, and will neutralize all the acid for you, so your body doesn’t have to work so hard doing all the neutralizng in its own!

Meditate.

Give yourself the gift of 10-15 minutes of deep breathing and meditation first thing in the morning. Do whatever works best for you, whether that’s a journaling practice, prayer, a gratitude exercise, or just plain old breathing.

Deep breathing reduces stress levels, it can lower blood pressure, slow the heartbeat, energize your muscles, and change your pH within 1 to 3 minutes.

“Improper breathing is a common cause of ill health. If I had to limit my advice on healthier living to just one tip, it would be simply to learn how to breathe correctly. There is no single more powerful - or more simple - daily practice to further your health and wellbeing than breathwork.” –Andrew Weil, M.D. 

The first thing I do before I even get out of bed each morning is 3:6:5 Power Breathing. 

If you’ve tried basic meditation or breathwork and it’s not for you, try one of these options tomorrow morning…

Visualization: Where your intention goes, the energy flows! Put attention on what you would like to bring into your life by creating images in your mind and connecting emotionally with these images. Doing so sends the message to the universe that this is what you want. If creating images in your mind is difficult, cut pictures out of magazines or other media that represent your goals and dreams. This is a powerful tool, so really take the time to work on what you want. When visualizing, stay with your image and the feelings it evokes for a good 3 to 5 minutes.

Gratitude Practice: Sit quietly with your eyes closed and meditate on all that is good in your life. If you are having trouble finding something good, simply feel gratitude for the gift of breath and a healthy body. Your objects of gratitude can be as big or as small as you want. You may choose to write down these items after or before meditating on them. Do this for as long as you want or your morning routine allows.

BrainTap:  If you are having trouble meditating, then this APP is your answer. It has literlaly changed my life. It has help me heal from my claustrophobia, and has helped my mom finally get a good nights sleep after 1.5 years of not sleeping after dad had passed.

Download the “BrainTap Pro” APP for FREE in the APP store, and to get a 15 day FREE trial, go to www.GetOffYourStress.com to get a username and password. Use that info to gain access to the APP, and check out their programs free for 15 days (pay $.99 and get an additional 30 days for free, giving you 45 days in total).   

Hydrate.

We wake up dehydrated after not drinking all night long. So a glass of water gives all of our organs and digestive system a kick start to get rehydrated.

That’s why the second thing I do, right after deep breathing is drink at least 8 ounces of water with a scoop of Alkamind Daily Greens. 

Even if you were to just drink plain water, your body would thank you for hydrating it first thing in the morning. But by adding Daily Greens, it delivers a huge dose of vitamins and minerals from all of those nutrient-dense greens, so it boosts your energy. With 5 whole servings of organic greens in every scoop, this powerful energizing blend will jump-start every morning with 21 concentrated, nutrient-dense, alkaline super foods.

Keep drinking water throughout your morning so that by the end of the day, you’ve consumed at least half of your body weight in ounces of water (i.e. 130 lbs. body weight = 65 oz. water per day). Ideally, make sure your water is filtered, and alkalized by adding a slice of lemon or lime.

Exercise.

Morning really is the best time to exercise. It brings down stress levels throughout your day, helps you stay focused, and, if you workout on an empty stomach, burns more fat than later in the day. 

That’s why after drinking water with Daily Greens, I get on my rebounder for about 15 minutes of exercise. It gets my heart rate up and blood pumping.

If you’re not familiar with rebounders, it’s a mini trampoline. NASA did a study and showed that the rebounder is 68% more effective as a cardiovascular exercise for weight loss compared to running. So the rebounder hands down is the best investment of your time when it comes to working out.

Whether you walk, jog, hit the gym, swim, or do yoga, exercising in the morning helps ensure that it actually happens, which is the most important part of any exercise routine. 

Shower.

Of course, there’s no hard and fast rule that you must shower every morning. Some people prefer a bath at night. Some just shower every other day when it’s convenient for them.

But I find that a shower can be a stress-reducing ritual to ease you into your day. Enjoy some natural aromatherapy bath products. Breathe in the steam. Add some peppermint essential oils to the shower, and this will assist breathing, clear out the sinuses, and awaken you from the inside out. And listen to some spa sounds or classical music to get focused on the day ahead of you.

Eat a nourishing breakfast.

I don’t have to tell you that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. What a nutritious breakfast does for you is set your liver, kidneys, and microbiome on the right track for your day. If you eat (or your kids eat) sugary cereal or a bagel or orange juice, you’re setting your gut on a roller coaster ride of sugar highs and lows. You’re just asking your gut to crave more sugar.

If, on the other hand, you eat a smoothie with greens, good fats, a healthy protein source, and some fruit to make it taste yummy, you’re signaling to your gut that today is going to be a slow burn, and to reserve energy for your whole day.

Here are a few smoothies to try:

• Aloha Breakfast Smoothie
• Brainy Blizzard Smoothie
• Pumpkin Spice Smoothie

With the weather turning colder, if you can’t stomach a frozen smoothie this early in the morning, here are a few warm, nourishing options to enjoy:

• Spiced Quinoa Power Breakfast
• Pumpkin Pie Breakfast Bowl
• Chickpea Scramble Breakfast Bowl

Along with my breakfast, I take a couple of daily supplements in the morning. First, a really good quality probiotic, and also Vitamin D3 at a dose of 5,000 IU.

Enjoy a morning pick-me-up.

Did you know it’s best to wait to have coffee or tea – especially if it’s caffeinated – until later in the morning? 

Otherwise you’re setting yourself up for a withdrawal headache the moment you wake up, rather than letting a good night’s sleep power you through the first couple of hours of your day. You’ve also already hydrated with water, so you’re not relying on diuretic coffee or tea to hydrate you.

I like to drink a Detox Tea with ginger, lemon, turmeric, and cayenne. This tea reduces inflammation, so even without a bit of caffeine, it’ll help keep you going strong all day long. Here’s the simple recipe:

• 16-20 ounces of filtered water
• 1 inch of fresh turmeric root
• 1 inch of fresh ginger root
• 1 lemon slice

Peel the turmeric and ginger and chop it into small pieces (the smaller the better). Add turmeric and ginger pieces into a pot with water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes (longer if you want stronger tea). Squeeze the lemon slice into the cup and enjoy. Store leftovers in the fridge in an air-tight container for a healthy iced tea.

If you prefer coffee, remember that it’s highly acidic. You want to do what you can to neutralize the acid so it doesn’t leave you dehydrated, with a headache, and suffering from acid reflux symptoms.

That’s why we created our newest product!

Acid-Kicking Coffee Creamer is an acid-neutralizing powder that turns creamy when you add it to your coffee, but it does so much more than that.

Did you know that the average cup of coffee is 100 to 1,000x more acidic than the tap water that you drink? There are some health benefits to coffee, but coffee is ACIDIC, and it’s draining you of the MINERALS you need to perform, both MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY all day, every day.

It delivers plant-based, clean premium keto fats, acid-fighting minerals, pure Himalayan pink mineral salts, and enzymes to optimize brain-boosting energy, suppress hunger, and burn body fat as it energizes. 

It neutralizes acid so coffee won’t cause acid reflux, headaches, or energy rollercoasters. 

Try our Vanilla superfood alkalizing powder today. Or Subscribe & Save 15%!

A MUST-HAVE for coffee lovers

“If you love and/or feel you need your coffee as much as I do, you MUST try Dr. Daryl's Acid-Kicking Coffee Creamer! I drink black coffee every day (for many years) but since I have taken on a more alkaline diet (including many of the other Alkamind products) over the past few years, I have struggled with how to deal with my coffee habit, knowing about its obvious energy-sapping acidity. This new product from Dr. Daryl was more than welcome in my life, as it now makes my beloved morning coffee also another alkaline opportunity. Just as important, it doesn't take away from the inherently positive effects of coffee for me (taste, energy boost, etc.) Highly recommend!” –Zac S.

GET OFF YOUR ACID!

Dr. Daryl