Well here we are. August again!

The calendar tells us it’s time. Time for school, time for returning to schedules and time to let our summer selves slide into our fall selves - and we all know summer people are much more fun and lively than fall people. Summer people are out! Living the high life! Swimming! Tubing! Boating! Vacationing! Fall people? They’re taking care of things and BEING RESPONSIBLE. I happen to really like summer people. . . . But the calendar has turned so I must, too.

Since I’m going to start BEING RESPONSIBLE that means I need to get back to routines. No more late night chip fests. No more staying up watching reruns of Arrested Development. No more summer Aliceson.

I am back to my Saturday Six. That’s what I lovingly call my longish run on the weekends. Whatever happens during the week I try really hard to log 6 miles on Saturday morning.

And anybody else on the intermittent fasting train? I have dabbled in it for years and when I stick to it I find I eat better, snack less, sleep better and have more mental acuity. My mind is sharper because autophagy is happening. Autophagy is a process that goes on in your body when you intermittently fast that’s basically like when the garbage men take off your garbage from your neighborhood. Except it happens in your body. Your cells take out the old and diseased cells to help your body run more efficiently. Studies have shown that intermittent fasting does help your body run efficiently and effectively.

Another benefit I find with eating this way is that when I eat I tend to eat more intentionally. When I snack a lot of the time it’s in front of a screen - tv, iPad or iPhone. When I eat more intentionally and with people at a meal I don’t have a screen in front of me which is good for all kinds of reasons. Screen time increases stress which means you have cortisol released and running through your system. Cortisol was good in ancient times when a mountain lion might be chasing you for its dinner but now-a-days the stress we feel is generally associated with something on social media when surfing our device. Small amounts of cortisol is good but research has shown that most of us have way too much cortisol and it is increased when we’re on devices. That leads to all kinds of issues - reflux, digestive issues, sleep disturbances, insomnia, weight gain, yada, yada, yada. You get my drift. (I could go on for a long time on why we need less screen time in our lives but I won’t.)

I’m preparing more food for the grab-and-go times. This morning I made homemade, gluten free and healthy granola bars loaded with quinoa, oats, almonds, fruit and a tiny amount of chocolate (praise Jesus!). Those are great for breakfasts when we’re running behind. I have buttermilk chicken marinading for quick meals throughout the week and Barry has his pimento cheese for lunches. So Fall Aliceson is waving goodbye to Summer Aliceson as she goes into hiding for 9 months or so.

If you’ve got some good tips on how to love your fall self, share them with me! I welcome all the tips and tricks to help me be more of a responsible human.

Have a great week everybody!

Aliceson