60 Minutes

My goal this year wasn't to lose 15lbs or fit a certain clothing size. It was to make healthy choices and hopefully automate them to the point where they become life-long habits...stress on the "long life" part. Using Dr. Don Colbert's "Seven Pillars of Health" as a guideline, I have definitely paid tribute to many healthful practises over the past 9 months.

Some of these practises were definite like the decision to abstain from coffee and processed sugars, but others are more touch and go. Some days I got it and some days I don't.

My running clinic had a registered dietitian come in and give a talk. Near the end she talked about hydration and how important it is to sip water consistently throughout the day and how that helps not only with running performance but health as well. I needed to hear this because although we spent the money to install a reverse osmosis unit, I have been lax in this department and really want to develop more automated positive behaviour.

My challenge is that every day I decide that this is going to be the day I consume 8 cups of water. I religiously fill my stainless steel thermos and it is my only source of hydration throughout the day so I'm scoring big points and have high hopes. Unfortunately, my desk job doesn't stimulate the desire to drink and I'm rather focused on my tasks so hours go by and I finish my workday realizing that I only reached for my water a couple times.

Today I tried something different and it worked beautifully so I'm going to share it with you. This method is conducive to me since I rarely leave my desk. If you are mobile during the day, you may need to vary this a bit.

I found a website that acts as a timer. http://timer.onlineclock.net/ You specify how many minutes from 1-60 that you want to time and then forget about it. I decided that an hourly cue would be a huge improvement so I set it for 60 minutes.

Sure enough, I was thoroughly engrossed in my work when I heard a strange noise coming from my computer. At first, I was concerned that my computer was failing but then I remembered, it was time to drink my water.

Very effective. I took a deep drink and reset the timer to 60 minutes. This went on all day and every time it was like having someone shake me by the shoulders and remind me that I need to take a quick break and pay attention to my body for a couple seconds.

Maybe now I need a timer. I will definitely use this method until the habit of hydrating regularly through the day is second nature.

Cheers!