12. Let's Take Stock

We are at the beginning of understanding what it takes to live beyond our current life expectancy and you have an unwritten destiny that you control.

At the moment I am focusing you on food and nutrition. It plays a unequivocal role in your longevity. Depending on your upbringing, my recommendations of food could easily be an extreme change.
Without question, vegetables are the way forward. It's a living food and contributes significantly to all the nutrients you need. Just imagine all the animals who survive by just eating grass!
As humans we have a huge selection of vegetation which are delicious and we know all the science to support the theories.

However, this could be a huge change for you. Relax, take your time, you don't need to make 100% change overnight. I didn't start until way into my 50's! As long as you are heading in the right direction, that is the key. The maximum benefits are achieved by making the switch as soon as possible but do so at your own pace.

There are lots of other topics we will be going through. This whole blog is about the journey through every aspect of life. When you take control of it, you can shape life into exactly what you want. That said there are always natural and desirable limitations. For example, you can't change who your parents are, you can't change the past, and you can't change what you don't want to change, but you can change your future, if you want to.

Your life comes down to some simple understandings:

1. Thoughtfulness: Your thoughts and actions control your life
2. Past Action: Your past actions influence today
3. Planning: Your ability to plan, and work the plan determine your journey
4. Focus: To achieve your goals you must focus on them

Four understandings that are quite complex and I am sure you will also have your own thoughts on the matter.

Let me validate these four thoughts and give you an example:

I am currently lying in bed.
It is 4:00 am and I have had 4 hours sleep.A big part of me wants to get up.
Another part of me wants to go back to bed.
I could do either because today is a holiday

• My thoughts are that I want to get up because I have a plan
• My past actions of eating for energy, training to get up, exercising and using techniques to maximise sleep quality, make the process of getting up easy (even though I have only had 4 hours sleep)
• My morning is planned out for maximum results. I know what to eat to avoid getting tired
• I am focused on achieving my long terms goals

So I am up.
Clothes are ready. Today I will have black coffee (see recipe), update this blog, and then off to the gym. I prepared everything I need to take the night before. I don't even need to put them in the car because they are already there. Just get up, get dressed, drink, go...

The exercise will clear any fatigue I may have away. After meditation, stretching, cardio, and resistance training; I am off to the shops for 7 am. On my return home I will have a glass of mineral water and complete the build of 3 day's worth of lunches for 3 people. Then get into 4 hours of programming. By 12pm I will have achieved a great deal.

Or I could sleep in and start the day at 10:00.
Based on what I am trying to get done, in getting up at 10:00am I will complete the same tasks by 6:00 pm and in reality, my day is done. Whereas with the early start, I have a further 6 hours or more each day that I can use. That is 7 days * 6 hours equals 42 hours extra a week I get to achieve my goals.

Sleep is important. It is a real killer to not get enough sleep. However there are some secrets about sleeping.

This post isn't about super human sleep habits or even about maximising productive time. It's about understanding one of the biggest controlling factors of your life and that is fatigue.

The main causes of fatigue are:

1. Poor diet
2. Not exercising
3. Dehydration
4. Mental confusion
5. Bad sleep habits
6. Staying up too late
7. Alcohol
8. Medicines

If you can get a handle on all of these issues, you are going to have a lot more energy. To maximise your life, you need energy. So food is very important and that is why we have spent so much time building the knowledge you need about food and how it affects your state of being. That said, food is love and the love of food is a passion that many people would never dream of giving up.

I will endeavour to develop more variety of recipes and flavours but in the meantime try to remember:

• food is fuel 
• eat to live and not live to eat

The meal plan will evolve. I love seeing the sunrise :)