I Quit Sugar for Life (11 page)

CHEAT’S FLAVOURINGS AND EXTRAS

Add these for extra salty and umami kick and all-in-one meal ease:

THE ONE THING EVERY INSPIRING THINKER I’VE INTERVIEWED (AND MANY BESIDES) SEEMS TO SHARE?
A structured morning routine. A
routine gets us moving, no brain required. It ejects us from stagnancy with purpose.

Benjamin Franklin always woke at 4 am and spent the morning reading and mapping out what he wanted to achieve that day. Obama does the same, always exercising before opening
his first email no earlier than 9 am. Charles Darwin jumped straight from bed into exercise. P.G. Wodehouse always read a ‘breakfast book’. For me, a morning routine sets the tone for
the rest of my day – mindfulness and gentleness over frenetic toggling and reacting. It means I own my day, and am not dragged into it.

A GROUNDED START BEST SUPPORTS ME IN MY SUGAR-FREE WELLNESS.

I wake early and drink two to three glasses of warm water (boiled and left to cool a little) with a squeeze of lemon. Then I exercise (20–60 minutes). Then I meditate (20
minutes), shower and eat breakfast. It’s taken years to set this habit in stone, but I do it without fail now, even when travelling.

LET’S TRY THIS

First, set aside the time – it might be just 15 minutes. Get up a little earlier or sacrifice something (um, like checking your Instagram). Then choose whichever of the
ideas below might get you sorted and set a good tone for
your
day. (Languid? Mindful? Focused?) It might take some experimenting. It did for me – probably a year or so before I
settled into a groove that I looked forward to each day. Do your routine before breakfast (and before checking emails and feeds!):

1.
Drink two to three glasses of warm water with a squeeze of lemon (the body absorbs warm water better; lemon juice alkalises the body, acts as a
diuretic and activates the production of acids required for digestion, all of which serve to get your system moving).

2.
Exercise. For ideas, see
here
. Morning is truly the best time to move, but I acknowledge it might not suit everyone.

3.
Meditate or reflect quietly. Benjamin Franklin dedicated 5–7 am to the question, ‘What good shall I do this day?’ Getting gentle
and grounded and certain provides the best launch pad for a productive day.

4.
Read something inspiring or write. I’m always surprised how many leading thinkers do this religiously. Leo Barbauta from Zen Habits spent
months paring his routine back to four things – drink water, sit on a cushion to reflect, read something inspiring, then start work. Julia Cameron’s cultish book
The Artist’s
Way
advocates writing three ‘morning pages’ as soon as you wake, before doing anything else. This writing (a stream of consciousness of whatever comes to mind) unblocks your
creativity and readies you for the day.

5.
Write a list. Before plunging into emails, responding to what others want from you, work out
your
priorities.

If you’re reading this and using the line ‘but a routine won’t leave me time to eat my breakfast’, give this a crack: take breakfast to work . . . in a
jar. The breakfast packages below can be made the night before or in the morning while you’re drinking your hot water with lemon – in a matter of minutes.

Speed things up by pre-mixing the dry ingredients in bulk and dividing into zip-lock bags ready to dump into the mug with the liquid (see
here
).

3.5 minutes.

UP ’N’ GO BREAKFAST WHIP

As much effort as whacking two Weetabix and some milk in a bowl, really (see
here
).

2.5 minutes.

Slice and freeze a loaf in batches of two. Stick in the toaster once you’re in the office (see
here
).

1.5 minutes.

GREEN GLOWIN’ SKIN SMOOTHIES

Have these with a handful of activated almonds. Speed things up: make double quantities – one for today, one for tomorrow (see
here
).

2.5 minutes.