Founder, Georgie, tells us about her sustainable diet and lifestyle changes for optimising health, wellness and balance in 2024 to avoid the guilt of broken resolutions that are too hardcore or dramatic.
Get my shuffle on at Pineapple Studios!
I first saw shuffling on instagram in 2020 as I lay in bed with covid. I thought it looked awesome and a hobby that could tick many of my passions as it is perfect with electronic music, fun for a dance floor or at a festival, it moves my body a lot (it’s actually exhausting!) and my aerobics instructor background really helps with the basic moves. I decided to teach myself a few years ago and haven’t looked back. I love doing it to electronic music so much I easily get carried away so I have to set an alarm to stop me! I started plateauing last year though doing it on my own so being part of a weekly class at such an iconic dance venue in London is way more fun. I’ve made a commitment to get better in 2024 so no excuses about it being cold, Monday evenings are for shuffling!
Eating 30 different fruit, vegetables, herbs or spices each week
This sounds a lot but when you include herbs and spices, it’s very doable. Not to mention the health benefits of eating such a rainbow of seasonal, local and organic goodness helps to boost all the vitamins and minerals needed to boost immunity, particularly through the colder months. I always recommend eating fruit and veg with skins where possible to boost fibre. This is a largely neglected macro-nutrient and most people don't eat nearly enough of it. I would also recommend making 80% of this intake from vegetables and herbs to reduce sugar intake and blood sugar imbalance from fruit.
Intermittent fasting for 14 hours
I’ve been slipping into the habit of grazing on my kids breakfast leftovers when I’m not remotely hungry. I’ve been reminding myself of the magic that happens when we stop digesting food e.g. blood sugar balance, removing bad cells, detoxification, boosting metabolism and hormone balancing. Listening to my body properly means eating breakfast after the gym at 10am when I am actually hungry and really relish and enjoy it. I think that 12 hours is the minimum fast we should all have and building up to 14-16 hours slowly is advisable. It is also the only kind of ‘diet’ I recommend as it is healthy to do daily and sustainable unlike faddy diets/ high elimination diets which can cause weight yo-yoing and remove enjoyment from food so the rate of failure is high.
No caffeine straight after meditation or on an empty stomach
This is madness I know when feeling super calm to then go and raise cortisol and adrenaline with caffeine, which can also make blood sugar spike on an empty stomach. I don’t even register any enjoyment at this time of the morning as I’m running around getting four children ready for school. Small adjustment but I now look forward to my post workout/ breakfast treat at 10:30am.
Re-committing to Vedic Meditation twice/day
I’ve been practising vedic meditation, which is mantra based, for over a year and it has been game changing for stress resilience, energy and sleep. I have just done my advanced vedic meditation course, which now involves 30 mins morning and evening. However, I’ve been struggling to fit the afternoon one in during school holidays so I have therefore diarised these as non-negotiable meetings going forward!