Everyday seems like a rat race, now-a-days.
Wake up, have a coffee, skip breakfast because you don't have time, then rush off to work to sit in traffic for half an hour to an hour. I may be wrong, but for the most of you out there, I hit the nail on the head.
Life has become a constant stress. I see it all the time on social media, in the movies and in daily conversations from everyone that passes me by. They all say the same, I hate Monday's, I can't wait until Friday, I need coffee to get through the day.
Little do people realize, with constant stress comes adrenal fatigue and that's just the start of a whole hormonal crash. Even if you think that your stress isn't much, over time it adds up and our bodies will start to naturally shoot out cortisol, for any small reason. This kicks our bodies into fight or flight mode even when totally unnecessary, thus taxing our adrenals because they are constantly stressed out and can't catch a break.
Something as simple as a man sneezing will make you almost jump out of your skin feeling all hot and sweaty afterwards. That's the hormone cortisol telling the adrenals you're in danger and to shoot our adrenaline to run!
Sounds crazy doesn't it? Unfortunately, our body can't make sense of that. Our body is designed to keep us alive and thus when you freak out, whether it is small or not, the body will have the same response to protect us. Also, while your cortisol levels rise certain functions in the body stop such as your digestive or reproductive systems, your immune system, or even your growth processes.
Why does this all matter in keto? Well because keto goes beyond food. It's a whole life style wrapped around one priority and that is to improve the bodies overall health. Hormones happen to be a major part of that healing process.
Hormones basically control every single process that goes on in our bodies. They are like little messengers that get sent through the bloodstream to different organs telling them to do some sort of function. This is a great and short YouTube video to give you an idea of what a few hormones can do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=6&v=If3odM881cc
With that said, you can imagine how important hormones are in attaining a state of ketosis. For example, insulin is a hormone and without low and stable levels of insulin, your body will not cross over into ketosis land.
That's why I believe, aside from food, that daily regimens are important. Establishing a daily routine that focus' on you and your well-being, will bring you that much closer into a state of ketosis and overall good health.
Here are some ways to focus on self love and bring a bit more calmness into your daily schedule: