If you are like me, summer is a great time to catch up with friends and family, which usually involves a fair amount of travel.
I have always enjoyed travelling, but not until I ventured deeper into healing myself with functional medicine did my body return this affection for the road.
When I first began to heal myself from my own chronic inflammation it was nearly impossible to imagine how I could stay loyal to the dietary and lifestyle principles necessary for my recovery and simultaneously live my life and do the things I desired without feeling depleted or deprived.
From the launch of my journey to heal the root cause of my own imbalance, I learned about the healing power of food to bring real nourishment to my body. If you have been following my work this is old news. But what you may not know is how I grew to understand what Hungarian psychologist Csikszentmihalyi calls flow.
Living in a state of flow is about finding the perfect balance between challenge and comfort. It's about being so enamored with your present moment that all sense of ego subsides as a more playful yet focused consciousness overcomes and completes you. Have you ever felt this alive and in tune with yourself?
It most likely occurs between May and September. Summer is a great season to play, travel, and break schedules. Most people report feeling a sense of flow during these less-restrictive and scheduled months.
Who doesn't yearn for these longer days fueled by warm air and energy from the sun? The irony in this situation is the monumental conflict our inner free spirit has with our need to maintain our healthy lifestyle goals.
Is it possible to be in a state of flow with our healthy living habits and still be available for the myriad gatherings, events, and summer trips that tempt us to sabotage every effort to live well?
There is! And thankfully you don't have to spend your summer in confinement missing out on all the great moments that make for cherished lifetime memories. If you are following my Blood Sugar Solution or any UltraWellness program, use these tips the next time you fall off the wagon and need to get back into your state of flow.
Get back to basics
Are you one of those people who live for extremes, the all-or-nothing approach? It's very common to hear people rationalize their motives for straying from their diet protocol because something "off limits" slipped in at a family party or event.
Or maybe a stressful morning or afternoon led you to indulge in potentially inflammatory food. The easiest and healthiest way to regain your sense of competence with a lifestyle modification program is to forget about the details and focus on the basics. When you are back in flow you can resume the details. Remember these principles the next time you need to reboot your body:
Eat real, unprocessed, whole foods
Plan, prep, and proceed
The ultimate way to keep yourself on the wagon or give yourself a boost back on if you have fallen off is to have a plan, account for prep work, and proceed until you see the moment through. If you know you are going to a restaurant and you are not sure of the menu, a simple Google search can help calm you so your company gets more of your attention than the menu.
If you are going on the road, pack an emergency food kit with blood sugar stabilizing foods. When I leave home, I usually bring some of the following:
These are my staples, but I would encourage you to find out what works for you. Consider that in any situation the possibility to upgrade your food choice exists, so you can optimize the quality of your nutrition. Yes, you always have choice!
Speaking of choices, don't hesitate to use your voice. You would be surprised at the power we all have as consumers. If you are at a restaurant, remember you are in the driver's seat and it is the restaurant's goal for you to leave happy.
Ask for the gluten-free option, request fresh vegetables with olive oil on the side, and insist on having your meal prepared as you desire. Sometimes labels can be deceiving and ingredients do not match the enticing menu descriptions.
By exercising your right to have a deliciously healthy meal you do more than simply get better quality food; you help trigger a ripple effect of change in our country to have consumers drive the market to a healthier restaurant experience.
Let go of perfectionism -- it's killing you!
I'll fill you in on a little secret of mine: I don't eat perfectly all the time. But then again, what I consider "perfect" means something different than conventional wisdom's understanding of the word. To me, eating well means providing my body with the nutrition it needs so that I can live the quality of life, which keeps me in flow.
Sometimes this means I have to eat something that doesn't quite meet my standards, or in some situations I eat something I normally wouldn't. I like to call this "recreational" eating -- it is more for entertainment, socializing, and amusement than for systemic health.
As long as I know my body is in the appropriate state to handle a treat, I call upon my secret weapon for UltraWellness: the 90:10 Rule. Ninety percent of the time I eat an anti-inflammatory, real, whole foods diet, and 10 percent of the time I leave room for the unexpected. This way, I am not flustered or deprived when I go to events.
And more so, I don't let a good moment pass due to fear, anxiety, or guilt around not being perfect. This negative mindset actually fuels the flames of inflammation as much or more than eating a single, small portion of a recreational food. So when you are on a break, give yourself a break!
Trust the process
At the end of the day our goal is to find happiness. I enjoy guiding people on how to be happy through achieving good health. Sometimes the road to UltraWellness is not linear. The road to healing takes many twists and turns and is often bumpy. Emotional, mental, and physical pain are part of healing, and sometimes we need to fall off the wagon in order to get back on.
If you can remember that your body is innately wired to do the hard work of healing, then you can trust the process. Trusting your body knows what to eat, in the right amounts, and at the right pace, is part of relaxing into your ultimate state of flow.
"Flow happens when a person's skills are fully involved in overcoming a challenge that is just about manageable, so it acts as a magnet for learning new skills and increasing challenges," CsÃkszentmihalyi explains. "If challenges are too low, one gets back to flow by increasing them. If challenges are too great, one can return to the flow state by learning new skills."
I hope in the weeks ahead you find your own recipe for living in this abundance of flow, where eating well meets the joys of living well.
Now I'd like to hear from you...
How do you handle a break in schedule where your routine is displaced?
What triggers you to fall off the wagon of healthy living?
What does living in flow mean to you?
Please leave your thoughts by adding a comment below.
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, M.D.
Mark Hyman, M.D. is a practicing physician, founder of The UltraWellness Center, a four-time New York Times bestselling author, and an international leader in the field of Functional Medicine. You can follow him on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, watch his videos on YouTube, become a fan on Facebook, and subscribe to his newsletter.
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I think this is the first time in my life I know exactly what you mean about flow, and balance. I use to eat excessively, and I detested with all my heart going to the gym. But for some reason, something clicked with me this summer. I felt like I finally understood the importance of taking care of your body and looking good on the outside. I've been going to the gym weekly, and the more I go the more I want to go. People come to me left and right asking me about my secret, how did I lose weight? And I tell them, I started going to the gym. Which led me to listen to my body. Which means I actually know how much I should and shouldn't eat anymore. My portions are soo under control now. All I need to do is prioritize. I love sweets, deserts etc... But instead of eating everything in sight, I eat what I REALLY want to eat right now. And let's face it I don't have to eat everything. It's just feels so right, almost effortless despite the efforts I initially put. Yesterday I ate like 4 cookies LOL I was craving chocolate so much, and I didn't mind. I didn't feel guilty because I knew that my lifestyle now allows me to do whatever I want on occasion. And today I ate SO healthy,and it feels good.
This perfectionist problem is not something I can relate to. I enjoy challenges and in the process it's frustrating, but if I forgive myself too early, I grow lazy fast. I can see how you may have added anxiety from food if you are also battling a chronic inflammation. It's good to hear you're better.
Planning for travel is fun. Eating well when I'm tired and hungry is where I often make bad choices. Balancing the right amount of high quality food so I'm not hungry and have even energy is the goal. This feels so good that I don't crave a break from the diet I constructed.
•Water
" •Almonds or walnuts
•Can of sardines
•Hummus, tahini, or cashew butter in a 1-ounce salad dressing container for easy storage
•Carrots, sugar snap peas, or other stable veggies
•An apple
•Dark chocolate, 70 percent or higher"
Ugh. This is not an appetizing collection of nibbles. You must be one of those 'I forgot to eat' people.
It seems like many people have been brainwashed by big food and cannot fathom eating pure, nutritious food. Sad.
Maxine Fox
http://reverse-diabetes-naturally.blogspot.com/
Whenever I'm on the road, I stick to some of the things in your list, other things depend on the season, for instance, I've been munching on lots of cherries. I know they have sugar and carbohydrates, but it's still not processed sugar or carbohydrates.
Bananas are also a wonderful staple, full of nutrients, easy to carry, fulfilling.
Traveling on a tight budget also helps. I cannot overindulge.
http://lessonsfromtheendofamarriage.com
Enjoy and agree with your overall directions re nutrition, healing, self care.
Two paradigms I strongly question:
"Our goal is to FIND HAPPINESS".
This presents "happiness" as THE end game or the "prize" of a hide-and-seek journey.
I present the "goals" of SELF LOVE, SELF UNDERSTANDING, SELF AUTHORITY.
"Happiness" then becomes their automatic BY PRODUCT .
"CHALLENGES".
Life does NOT have to constantly be about "challenges" in order to "grow". (I think this relates to the paradigm of "perfection" ). This paradigm can set up a never-ceasing pattern of Life as a "battle-ground", always "obstacles" to overcome, no "gain" unless there's "struggle", always "striving" but never "arriving". Sure, this paradigm IS a recipe for KNOWLEDGE - but NOT necessarily a recipe for "happiness" (or Self Love).
Sometimes it's "good cop", sometimes it's "bad cop". Sometimes its feigned, insincere "friendship" or "niceness", sometimes it's intentional pokes and sharp spears and mockery.
You don't really give a damn about my comments or any advice I share or anything I say or do, adsum03.. Today is just your poke-with-a-sharp-stick Monday, is'nt it.
thanks.
However, I don't always worry about what I eat at others homes or at restaurants which is a couple times a week and then vacations. I have noticed that my choices have changed considerably since reading your book so these outings are not so out of line with good eating habits.
Thanks.