The Evolution Journey Weekly Words: The big rocks that rock, and a big K.I.S.S. from me!

What's the best.....?

I often get asked questions that start with "what's the best....." by my clients, friends and family. My answer always starts with "it depends...." This is probably quite frustrating to hear but context is everything. In today's age of social media context can be easily overlooked and messages can become very misleading. If you're trying to educate yourself on how you can live better, searching online can be seriously confusing.

There are tons of companies out there trying to sell you the latest products to increase your fat burn, shred pounds, get bikini ready, sleep better and boost your metabolism with their latest unique organic superfood compound that you can't even pronounce! (By the way 'superfoods' aren't really a thing, but they're a great marketing tool to try and make fruit and veg sound sexy!).

What these companies don't tell you is that the most important thing is to get the basics right first.

Fill your jar!

Think of your habits as a jar that you need to fill to the brim with big rocks, small rocks, pebbles and sand. In order to make sure its really full, you need to fill it with the big rocks first, then the small rocks, then the pebbles and finally any extra space will be filled with sand.

The big rocks represent foundational habits: Sleep, nourishing food, water, efficient and effective movement, managing stress, healthcare. These are the things that you need to focus most of your time and energy on as these will have the biggest return on investment.

The small rocks represent more structured training, eating less sugar, giving up a nightly glass of wine, taking nutritional supplements. The pebbles and sand represents things such as specific nutrition protocols or supplements and advanced training methods.

If you fill your jar with the pebbles and sand first, you'll have no room for the big rocks. So what I'm saying is, it doesn't matter if you're doing 8 reps or 10, or if you're taking a citrulline malate supplement if you're diet only consists of beige food, you only get 5 hours sleep a night and you're sat at a desk 12 hours a day working a super-stressful job!

Get the basics right consistently before worrying about the minor details.

K.I.S.S.

I love this acronym.....Keep It Super Simple! I mentioned in my last email that I'm an overthinker and I sometimes suffer from analysis paralysis. When that happens I always think of KISS. It's also very relevant when it comes to the 'what's the best' question in relation to diet and exercise and living a healthy lifestyle.

When you're thinking about what is best, think first about your big rocks and worry about the rest later. I like to simplify it to these four:

Nutrition is often overcomplicated. For me, its pretty simple. Lots of protein, veg & fruit, some complex carbs and healthy fats. Lots of water (at least 2 litres every day) and as much minimally processed food as possible. (Plus chocolate of course - life wouldn't be quite right without it!)

Sleep.....7-9 hours good quality sleep a night.

Exercise/movement.....daily (and get outside every day too)

Stress....is fine in small doses but continuous, excessive stress can lead to inflammation, ill-health and disease so should be reduced.

A podcast recommendation

I love to listen to a good podcast while I'm cooking or pottering around the house! This week's recommendation is 'Feel Better, Live More' with Dr. Rangan Chatterjee. He's had some great guests on there - James Clear (who's book Atomic Habits, I recommended last week), Auschwitz survivor Edith Eger on thoughts and behaviours, researcher Linda Geddes on how our exposure to light affects our health are my most recent listens.

Two questions for you:

1. In what order are you filling your jar?

2. Are you making things more complicated than they need to be?

Until next week!

Best wishes,

Charlotte

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