This post is written in partnership with New Chapter, however all opinions are my own. I only work with and recommend companies whose products I love, and I’m so excited to share these with you!
I truly believe that small daily habits, performed consistently are the key to success in anything, be it your career, your studies, or your health. However routine and consistency can sometimes be challenging for me as my days and weeks hardly ever look the same: I could be consulting with clients, speaking at an event, writing for a publication, or meeting with my team, sometimes all in the same day!
However, I’m an early riser (often 5am) and I ensure that my time in the morning is sacred (as much as I love spending time with him, if Husband Hanway ever has to be up early it throws my day off completely). Regardless of what time my commitments start my morning routine is the same every day, and for me it is an essential part of staying focussed, energized and enlivened for the rest of the day.
Without fail, every morning I do the following:
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Drink a large glass of water upon waking
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Write a free flowing list of things I am grateful for, and my goals for the future
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Have a protein, fat and fibre based breakfast
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Work out, or schedule a time that day to workout
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Take my daily supplements
These things sound pretty simple, but as you know time seems to behave differently in the mornings, and before you know it you are flying out of the door, a bagel in one hand and a coffee in the other, with your gym bag sadly neglected at the bottom of the stairs!
My number one tip for developing and sticking to a healthy morning routine? Make the steps automated, foolproof, prepare in advance and take any decision making factors out of the equation. My healthy habits are so intertwined with both the timings and locations of my morning routine that I would have to go out of my way not to do them!
For example, I place a large mason jar of water next to my alarm clock every night, and don’t let myself get out of bed until I’ve finished it. I go downstairs, and have to walk through my office where I keep my Gratitude and Goals Journal (on my desk with my glasses and pen next to it from where I set it up the night before) to get to the kitchen to start my morning coffee.
Breakfast almost every morning is a superfood smoothie, and its been my breakfast of choice for so long I swear I could make one blindfolded! It’s always a blend of protein, healthy fats, fibre rich vegetables and my favourite Fermented Maca Booster Powder from New Chapter. We only have a finite amount of decision energy making a day, and as someone with multiple projects on the go I have to make a lot of decisions to make – I don’t want to waste mine on what to eat for breakfast!
I treat my workouts as if they were important meetings, and plan them as such. At the beginning of the week I’ll check my schedule, then book in my favourite studio classes around my work commitments. If I miss a class I have to pay a fee, which often hurts both my bank balance and my ego! I always have my workout clothes packed and ready to go, so I can just throw them in my bag before I leave the house.
My morning supplement routine used to consist of taking a number of different supplements, (which got both expensive and time consuming), so I was thrilled to discover New Chapter’s Every Woman’s One Daily Multi. It is my go-to daily supplement to keep me feeling energized, vibrant, and in optimum health on a cellular level*. It’s designed for busy, active women like me and I think of it as the best health insurance policy I’ll ever spend money on!
Even those eating the healthiest of diets can benefit from taking a multivitamin. In 2010 the National Health and Nutrition Survey found that American adults of all ages were deficient in many of the most important micronutrients for health, including Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Potassium and magnesium.
There are many reasons why our daily diets are deficient in these essential micronutrients: modern day farming processes have dramatically reduced the amounts of micronutrients in our produce. Prescription medications can drastically our lower levels vitamins and minerals.
Combine this with increased environmental toxins and the stress of our non stop lives (when the body makes high levels of cortisol, our stress hormone, it does it by ‘stealing’ nutrients from other systems such as our endocrine cycle and immune system), and we can see why we need some extra help in getting the vitamins and minerals that are needed for every single healthy metabolic process.
As someone who specializes in gut health, one of my mantras is ‘you are what you absorb’, and as such I’m very particular about the supplements I recommend, and that I take myself.
New Chapter’s patented fermentation process ensures that every vitamin, mineral and herb is unlocked and delivered on a cellular level, and is easily digested and gentle on your stomach. There truly is no point in taking supplements that your body is not going to be able to digest, absorb and utilize, and some hard to digest supplements can be challenging for those with a compromised gut.
I keep my bottle of Every Woman’s One Day Multi in the same place I keep my keys and my wallet, so there is no way I can forget to take it before I leave the house! Even if I don’t have time to take the rest of my supplements that day I know that my New Chapter Every Woman’s One Day Multi is going to give me the morning boost I need to stay energized, calm and in optimum health*, whatever the rest of my day holds!
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
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