When I do speaking engagements or in my coaching calls, I often ask people what they believe the most important nutrient to be…like, is it protein? Carbohydrates? Fats? Water? I hear all of those guesses, but rut rarely does someone answer “oxygen” and yet, by far, oxygen is the most vital nutrient of life.
“One of the quickest ways to get on track is to gain control of your breathing. It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? After all, from the moment of birth, we’ve all been breathing—about 26,000 times a day for the average adult—almost always without paying attention to it. But just think what a crucial, nurturing process breathing is. You can live for thirty days without food, and many days without water. But you can live only about six minutes without a breath of air. Breathing delivers the oxygen that revitalizes all of the cells in the body, including the brain cells that allow clear thinking. It also permits our blood to energize the muscles for strength and endurance.”
~ Kenneth Baum from The Mental Edge
I’m not a parent, but I can imagine hearing that first cry from your baby–hearing them tell the world that they have figured out how to get oxygen into their lungs; hence they will begin the art of living–is just about the best sound in the world.
And as babies, we understand how to breathe. We get it. We push our bellies out to get our oxygen in and we pull our bellies in to push the carbon dioxide out.
So, what’s happened to the way we breathe?
In this podcast brought to you by The Art Of Manliness (an awesome site for both men and women), I wanted to share with you the show featuring Belisa Vranich. “She’s a clinical psychologist who has made a career re-training people on how to breathe correctly and in her latest book, Breathe, she provides a step-by-step program to help people breathe better.”
I appreciated her amazing insight and techniques into how we can learn to harness this crucial nutrient. I was shocked to discover how poorly I’d been breathing for my entire life because I am someone who believed that pulling my belly in, standing tall with my shoulders back was the right way to present in the world. And while we can still look tall and poised, we have to embrace the proper way of breathing if we want to get enough oxygen to our brains and to all the cells in our amazing bodies.
I hope you give this podcast a listen. It’s about 45 minutes long, and I like to either just sit and relax with a cup of tea when I’m listening, or else I bring my device into the kitchen and whip up a few easy recipes so that I’m stocked all week.
In about 45 minutes, I can:
Marinate several chicken breasts in balsamic vinegar & oil plus some herbs. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Or, prepare to make my Lemon Pepper Chicken recipe.
Hard boil a dozen eggs. Here’s how I do it. Pull eggs from the fridge to allow them to warm up slightly (room temperature eggs work best). Pour cold water into a pot. Place it on high heat with a lid and allow it to come to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and drop eggs in gently using a spoon. Leave the lid off and allow the eggs to cook for 12 minutes (set a timer). Have a bowl of cold water with ice handy. Once the eggs are done, drain the water and allow cold water to run over them. Transfer them to the cold water/ice bowl and place in the fridge. Once cooled, store in the fridge shell-on, or else peel under water and enjoy them as is, or Deviled, or in egg salad.
Clean and chop up veggies and portion into containers for easy snacks or side dishes.
Roast a pan of veggies to enjoy for dinner tonight or all week long.
Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas and make a batch of hummus in the blender or food processor with olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt.
Make strawberry “jam” by dumping 1 cup of frozen strawberries into a pot on medium-high heat and tamping them down as they soften. Allow to bubble for a few minutes. Voila! Optional: drizzle in a tiny bit of maple syrup, but it’s not necessary. Enjoy on a slice of whole grain toast with some natural peanut butter and half a sliced banana…yum!
Cook up that chicken that’s been marinating. 30 minutes at 350°F. Or, follow the recipe for the Lemon Pepper Chicken.
My hope with this is that you can enjoy your time in the kitchen and provide yourself with nutritious options while you learn about something incredibly powerful for your health. And “chunking” time is a great way to maximize the most precious commodity we have…time.
So, keep breathing…properly. 🙂
Because I want you to love your life one bite at a time.
P.S. How well do YOU breathe? Have you been doing it correctly or do you need to work on it, like I do?
P.P.S. Speaking of our health, on April 21 & 22, 2018, Roger and I, along with our team, are hosting The Healthy Brain and Body Show for the second year. We are so pumped to bring this show back even bigger and better! We would love to see you there as an attendee, where we will have so much cool stuff to show you. We can't wait to explore, connect, learn and shop at the show WITH you! Please say hello if you come. Roger and I will both be there the entire weekend. It would be a thrill to meet you. 🙂
And if you--or someone you know--might be interested in being an Exhibitor with us, feel free to send them here where they can view/download the Exhibitor/Sponsor Package. Note that we have SOLD OUT of Sponsorship spots and we are over 50% sold out of booths!
We can't WAIT to serve you, so remember to save the date!
P.P.P.S. Let’s be friends! I’d love to connect on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram. Plus, if you haven’t already subscribed to my blog, you should! That way, you won’t miss anything. For joining, you get my personal meal plan, shopping list, and a week’s worth of easy, tasty recipes. https://sarahtalksfood.com/
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