I hope you had a good week. Over the past year many people have found themselves drinking more alcohol.

It’s a social joke about what time is an acceptable “wine o’clock”. 

In my case I “like a beer”. 

That might be one or two.  I also like red wine, again, maybe a couple of glasses and occasionally more.

Not every day but regularly. 

I exercise reasonably well, run, weights and workout.  I do yoga once a week and I have a pretty good diet.

However, over the months I found myself finishing work and “wanting a beer”.  Often this “craving” is actually due to dehydration from not drinking enough water during the day. Musculation 101 – Programmes “Bodybuilding & Hypertrophy” – Partie 3: Heavy Duty, HIT, PITT Force & DC Training Metal Health Rx Acheter Steroides En Ligne powerlifting et musculation le même renforcement musculaire.

I then found that I was having an internal dialogue that I should not be drinking as much.  So I would consciously have to decide not to have a beer.

And when I was doing this, I would then have mental torment from denying myself a beer, which can make us want it more.  Not due to an addiction, but we tend to want what we can’t have.

Each year I do a month month alcohol free. 

Each year I find it really tough. 

I like to think I don’t have a physical addiction.  But the alcohol free month becomes a 30 day countdown to when I can have a beer. 

Mentally, you beat yourself up on a daily basis and internally you are unhappy.

This is not my preach about alcohol, but I share my experience because perhaps someone you know is having the same internal dialogue.  

100 DAYS

I follow a lot of personal development people, the Tony Robbins gang as well as business developments coaches.

A common theme is that it takes 100 days to form a new habit.

Generally in our minds, we know instantly what is the bad habit that we “really ought to stop”, or the other way, what’s a really good habit that if we adopted it, it would take our lives forward.

And so I decided that rather than have this mental battle, I would just stop for 100 days.  You can go on google and type, what date is it in 100 days. 

I did this.

Google said June 18th and thus I had my “date”. 

That date instantly became an anchor point and became ingrained in my brain.  Not because I am dying to have a beer on that date, but the date is clear.  It’s more real than saying ” a month”, its a goal.

I cannot say if I will achieve my goal, today is day 10.  It’s been easy so far.

What I can say is that the decision and the date in the future instantly took away the internal dialogue of depriving myself of something.  Not that I was getting drunk, but a couple of beers on a friday, followed by a “couple” of glasses of wine on Friday would leave me groggy on a saturday morning.  Then the  day becomes more of an an effort and I didn’t like it.

I have had some zero alcohol beers. 

When I was having alcohol and then having zero alcohol, I felt I was depriving myself.  Now, I like the taste of the zero alcohol beer and last night I had a couple of beers, zero alcohol. 

Here I am writing before 6am writing and feeling fresh, listening to Hanz Zimmer.

What new habit would make your life better?

If it is a food issue, then there is the “give up this or that” message, but one can break the habit by adding something or substituting.  My wife has given up chocolate for 100 days. 

She might have a few sweets, but the “eat a whole galaxy” is no longer an option. She eats other things instead. 

All of our patients and in fact all of us should be exercising, in most cases more than what we are currently doing. 

The trick I found is to decide when you are going to exercise. 

There is no point going from zero to triathlon training because it is unsustainable.  If you need to do your exercises more consistently, begin with saying “every other day” and make it non-negotiable not to exercise.  

Unless we are hospitalised, there is always 10 minutes in a day and there is one part of our body which isn’t injured and can be moved.

Very few of us are in danger of over training, eating too many vegetables and it is very rare that someone would be less healthy by cutting down alcohol! 

PAIN

Pain can of course cause a mental block and prevent us getting on to the path of doing things to make us feel better.

So if you or someone you know have any pain or are struggling, then Francesco or Will are in the clinic to help you.  www.spinexdiscclinic.com 

APP – I think a lot of people get caught up in complicating things.  We do not really need tech to keep us accountable, we need to decide.  But I did download an app “I am sober”.

That definitely makes me sound like an alcoholic!. 

But each day I get a congratulations which tells me how many days I have done.

What I hope will happen at 100 days is that my body will not be tricking me that I want alcohol, when in fact I am thirsty.  I don’t want the internal guilt dialogue.  If I want a glass of wine, I’ll enjoy one, but I don’t want to “need” a glass of wine.  That’s the habit I want to get rid of.

As I finish writing I have energy and because I have energy, I can exercise.  There is of course a fear of failing but as the saying goes, failing to try is simply failing. Maybe I made that up but it’s hardly original.

If you have something you want to do more of or less of, good luck!

Cartonica, Vitaliti and Cutizana

Just a note from the week, more of our patients are buying Cartonica and Vitaliti, the liquid supplements we stock in clinic for joints and wellbeing.  We also recently took delivery of Cutizana, as it is part of the range and people like the liquid supplements.  

If you aren’t coming in to clinic, you can buy your liquid supplements here at Clinic Nutrition (discount code TEN62 to get £10 off your first order).    There is now a bundle where you can buy all three for under £60, under £50 with the first order discount.

The nice thing with taking Vitaliti is it’s a tasty orange shot.  In my case I take it when I come into the kitchen in the morning.  Glass of water and shot of vitaliti.  I’ll have Cartonica and Cutizna with breakfast and I am good to go.  That’s a habit that is now entrenched!

Have a great day, a positive weekend and good luck with any positive habit changes.

If you think anything in what I have written here would be interesting to someone who is looking to make a change, please share this page.
Thanks and best wishes,
Steve Small
Clinic Manager