111: Let’s Have a Cuddle Puddle | Mangodroplet and Captain Influence

In typical Real Brian Show fashion, we've got an exciting discussion for you that goes from Tony's odd love for Folgers' coffee to "cuddle puddle" to some of the foundational concepts of healthy eating. Join Brian, Anna and Tony for another riveting Superhero Friday installment!

In This Episode

• This is where Cuddle Puddle came from.
• Promising that we won't grow up to be our parents.
• Good GMO... bad GMO
• They stick corn and wheat in everything. Doncha know.
• Healthy foods, healthy living
• Biking
• Stress messes you up

Self-Care

If there are any takeaways from this episode, it's that being healthy isn't just about eating or just about exercising or just about community. It is a combination of lifestyle choices that intimately affect each other. Think about it... the things we eat affect the energy we have, which influences exercise. Exercise affects stress levels and mindset. Stress levels affect sleep patterns. And sleep patterns affect the way we eat! Have you ever, when finding yourself hungry and awake at 1 a.m., said, 'Oh, I'll just make a nice green salad.' No. It's ice cream. Pizza. Or, in my case, cheese tortillas (filled with CRAP).

Self-care is continual and cyclical. The better care you take of yourself, the more you want to take better care of yourself. When self-care is de-prioritized, we develop a lot of habits that are convenient due to circumstance and exacerbate the lack of self-care. I have a terrible habit of putting self-care on hold while I take care of other things (usually work things). I'll put off so much that, eventually, something will happen that stops me right where I am and forces me to take care of what I've been neglecting. It used to be that I'd get really sick. My body would collapse and I'd spend three days puking my guts out and running a fever of 102. Lately, it hasn't been my health that takes a hit but other, peripheral things... like this week I was leaving for work and found standing water in my HVAC closet! 24 hours, and several dozens of gallons of mopped up water, later I have a brand new water heater, a declogged emergency drain and a stunned feeling of, 'What the heck just happened?!'

I've been reading a book that really digs in to the reasons behind why we neglect and put things off and how to turn things around. There is so much I'm guilty of, and so much I ignore... knowing that I'll eventually get to it, but right here and now I have to do what's right in front of me. Thinking about self-care, and especially thinking about health in a holistic way, I know that a great deal of my effort needs to go into how I can prioritize sleep and downtime (true relaxation) and learn to delegate responsibilities in order to achieve that.

There is no trick other than to figure out the lifestyle choices that work for YOU. That work for ME. We can share tips and tricks, but frankly the solutions we apply won't be the exact same as someone else's. And that's OK, right? That's why we have these discussions. The more you know, the more you can prepare for.

Links

• Boca Java Coffee
• Deets the personalized jerseys for every draft pick
• Use Spotify? Check out this playlist and this playlist
• Where does your fat go when you exercise? (via CNN)