DX4 – Habits to hold onto

Forever’s DX4 body balancing system has been designed to help you become more aware of your body, encouraging you to be more present while you eat, move and go about your day. A few weeks back I took this opportunity to hit pause, to reflect and decide what aspects of my nutritional lifestyle could use some tweaking having returned from an indulgent and full-on 10 days in Italy for my daughter’s wedding.  I decided to view it as a home-based mini-retreat, and a time to focus, re-set, break some habits and develop a more mindful approach to my nutrition.

So, a month on how am I doing? Have I gone back to my old ways or are there habits I’ve held onto? 

Those of you who read my earlier blogs documenting my experience will remember that I had set some goals around hydration and eating more mindfully. I have held onto both of these good habits and have even adopted some others along the way. I have never been a big one to drink water. I think I quipped in an earlier blog that I thought I might have been drowned as a witch in a previous life as I seemed to be unable to drink a glass of water without choking. What is interesting is that I have managed to make water both more interesting (by adding a slice of fresh orange to my water jug) and in fact seem to have developed a thirst for water so that I am quite naturally consuming more. I am definitely more in tune with my body’s signals, my tendency would always been to have reached for a snack confusing dehydration with being hungry.  I am now aware of my thirst and giving my body what it actually needs not what I think it needs.  This is revolutionary for me.  As a consequence, I have more energy.  Recently I did a 6.30am yoga class, played 18 holes of golf and still had energy for an evening of doubles tennis.  Whilst I might have done this in the past, I would have really paid the price the next day but on this occasion I found I woke the next day with no obvious signs of fatigue, rising at the same hour and feeling just as energised.

The mindfulness aspect has been particularly powerful for me.  I no longer eat on the move, and sit down to eat giving my food my full attention. This has paid dividends. I am eating more slowly and because of this, chewing my food more thoroughly (our digestion starts in the mouth and many nutritionists would advise that the simplest way to support our digestion is to chew our food more).  While this may make me sound like a ruminating bovine the added plus is that I am enjoying my food more, am more aware of the flavours and feel more satisfied as a result. No more finishing at break neck speed with the thought ‘what could I eat now?’ wafting across the screen of my mind.

I have also introduced an almost daily yoga practice in the mornings which has really impacted me in a positive way.  This has happened quite organically and I have simply felt drawn to do this to replace my gym workouts.  It’s early days and but I have more clarity and am hoping that it will start to ripple into better sleeping.  What I am most pleased about however is how my relationship with food has changed, I don’t beat myself up if I make less than healthy choices but I am finding the frequency of those choices has decreased and I have a genuine desire to fuel my body and mind more healthily, and that is definitely a shift that has come as a result of four days of DX4. Would I do it again? Absolutely, it has far exceeded my initial expectations, and I’m delighted to have held onto some good habits as a result.