Episode 220 - Ayurveda : Why you're always hungry and anxious (and how to fix it)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to the Ayurveda and Psychology podcast. I am Charlotte Scoksberg, psychologist, Ayurvedic practitioner, and yoga teacher. This is a space where we explore the path of self-realization through the physical, mental, and spiritual spectrums. In each episode, I share practical tools from the ancient wisdom of yoga and Ayurveda, as well as the modern approach to the human mind of clinical psychology. In order to help you reconnect with yourself, understand your nature, and live with more awareness. In this episode that focuses on how we want to stabilize our hunger and our mood from the Ayurvedic perspective, I am going to speak to you about some of the most common difficulties that we have, which is linked to how we eat and how we feel when we are trying to either heal or simply just feel a little bit better in life. And you might have heard me say once or more than once, actually, that everything really starts with your digestion, with your digestive system. And today it might seem on the surface level as if I'm going to contradict that. Because I'm going to say that everything, every imbalance, every disease, really starts on the level of the mind. Before we get into the episode, if you are new to the podcast, let me welcome you to this worldwide community and to also remind you that you can connect with us as well through the newsletter, and you find the link for that in the show notes. If you are coming back to the podcast, here is what I know about you. You're committed to a life worth living, and you are certain that this is achieved from knowing yourself because this anchors you and creates self-empowerment. Anyone who comes from an anchored and self-empowered place will go out into the world and create meaningful relationships. From the very first one, that is the one with themselves, and then extend that to the relationship with others. If you are here because someone in your life shared this episode with you, I would like to congratulate you because you are someone who people care about. I hope that you will enjoy the episode just as much as the person who sent it to you. Hopefully, as I come towards the end of the episode, you will see what I mean. And I have decided to speak about the tools that Ayurveda offers us in order to stabilize the hunger and therefore also the mood as the primary path towards finding health. Finding health, I want to keep that on a rather broad description because honestly, when it comes to your health, this what I'm about to talk to you about goes as well for those who are really struggling with some kind of chronic condition that they've been having for many years, or weight gain, for instance, fatigue. Anything that really is linked to the impaired metabolism, as I've been speaking about for the past couple of weeks. But it is also for situations that might not seem as severe, right? That might just seem that we can feel that there is something that affects our mood in general that will keep us maybe in a good place a lot of the time. And then all of a sudden, we're going to just like dip down into the basement of our hearts, of our souls during certain periods. And in those moments, what we tend to do then is that we take actions that maybe when we are very stable, we wouldn't take. But stick with me because indeed I'm going to give you five steps that are going to be super important in order to help both hunger and mood to stabilize. Now, often when I have workshops where I speak about Ayurveda and I explain about the doshas, and I explain how these doshas are existing in our body, I tend to explain in, well, let's say a rather simplified way, but still absolutely true, that kaffa being water or water and earth really, is, well, it's the tissue. So remember how we are 80% water, right? We are basically a lot of water. All of us, we are quite a lot of kaffa. So that's the flesh, right? The the food body, really, if you will. If you want to know more about the food body, actually, you could also go and listen to this episode where I speak about the five bodies, which is the yogic anatomy. It's a super interesting concept that exists in the yogic philosophy, and I have a whole episode on the hidden knowledge of the five bodies, which is episode 94. I'm not gonna go more into depth about that today. However, I explain that the food body is really the water in our body, it's the kha, right? Our tissues. And then vata, well, that is the more subtle parts, which I often just simply explain by the nervous system, because really anything that has to do with our nervous system is anything that is going to be of a vata nature. And then I explain that pitta in the body, which is fire, is our metabolism. Now, I always make sure to explain that I do not only speak, of course, of the digestive system, as many tend to think when we think of what the metabolism is. Metabolism, always important to add, is not only situated in the belly, it's also our intellect. A big part of our day consists in digesting information through well the sensory stimulations that we have. This is actually really important and many tend to overlook it, and many tend to not even have an idea that that could be a part of our metabolism. Just imagine it like this. If everything that exists here on our earth, everything that exists in nature in the universe is energy. Then we take in energy, but not only through our mouth when we eat, but actually through each and one of our sense organs. And so Ayurvedically, therefore, we speak about the five sense organs ears, mouth, eyes, nose, and skin. And a side note to that, this is why your head and your face, when it comes to Ayurvedic treatments of any kind, is an essential part because, well, quite a few of our sense organs are situated exactly there. These five organs allow our five senses to receive information, right? Through sight, we hear, through touch, taste, smell. Through the intellect, we analyzed information. We receive and we treat that information information with our senses or sense organs. And actually, what is going on is that we transform this energy that is taken in through a digestive process in our metabolism, and then use that energy, if it's nutritious, for fuel for our tissues, if you will. It is if you find it hard to relate to this, you can just think of something quite simple that probably most of you have experienced at some point in your life. If you would go away from your own home for a few days, maybe if you live, for instance, in some kind of city or town and you go out into the countryside where all of a sudden the sounds are going to be quite different, maybe much less sound, right, of traffic and so on, you will notice a huge difference when you come back. You might notice actually as you are away already that it affects you. But even if you don't notice it while you are away, for sure, as soon as you come back, you are going to notice the contrast. And you're going to notice that you've been resourced, that there's this increase of energy that has been available to you due to the fact that you were away from all these kind of parasite noises that you hear. So for instance, if any of you relate to this, I live at the moment in a huge city, 10 million people, as many people as in my home country in its total, and I live in an apartment. And so if I compare this to the way I used to live some years ago, some years ago I say because in Bali today actually there's extremely extreme amounts of sounds. But some years ago, when I would live basically on a beach town, right? In a beach town and by the beach, in a small little wooden house, there would be sure enough sounds from nature, but there would be less of the parasite noises, for instance, the traffic, or just um the elevator that I can actually hear in some parts of where I live from the from outside in the corridor, right, when it moves, or just people moving around in their apartments. And when you get used to it after a while, you don't hear it so much, but it doesn't mean that your body's not taking it in. It normalizes for you, right? And then you go away for a few days and you might be struck by the silence and the refreshed kind of feeling that that has. And when you come back, especially if you've been away for quite a while, then all of a sudden everything, you hear it so much more, right? And this is this is a proof that indeed you can detox from this energy or information intake as you move away into somewhere silent. Do you see what I mean? In that same logic, um, you can also take a couple of days, for instance, where you decide to detox, like digital detox, right? So you you stay away from screens, computers, telephones, and so on. And you also notice how it's almost as if time kind of slows down. Everything slows down a little bit. And as soon as, especially when it's been a few days, and if you then look at your phone again, I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but it's incredible with the lights and and the colors and everything that comes out of it, you are so amazed, just like a small baby is, which is why we need to keep small babies away from screens actually as long as possible. Since this is just something that you notice when there's the contrast, but that keeps happening to you. You keep feeding yourself with that energy, even when it's been normalized because you're so used to it. Another example of this, those of you who live in places where winter can be quite long and cold, and maybe even with snow, it doesn't even have to have snow, actually. During winter, of course, nature kind of goes into hibernation, right? And so all those smells kind of reduces, and especially if you're in a place where there's snow, um, those of you who know that, you know what snow smells like. And when you've been maybe in several months of this landscape where the only smell really you can get is like the cold and the snow. As soon as spring comes and it starts to melt, and so you start to get this like smells from nature that's starting to live again. Flowers that are coming, and even just like the wet of the soil that has been uncovered from the melted snows, it's an explosion of smells. And that is, of course, happening, but you are so much more aware of it because actually your smell has maybe been also a little bit in hibernation. And of course, all of this is exactly what we're aiming for when we do some kind of fast. So if you've ever fasted for a few days or even a week, or maybe some people even longer, and then you start to eat normal again, there's like an explosion of taste in your mouth with everything that you put in there. Everything is sumptuous, it's so exquisite, right? And unfortunately, the opposite of that is what happening happens when we get numbed to taste. And so we're so used to the stimulation of taste of various forms, especially sweet, salty fat, right? The things that everything that's ultra-processed is full of, so that we get addicted to it. Well, when we are so used to that, we find food without it bland and tasteless. And so all of a sudden that broccoli doesn't really taste anything. So you need to put some butter and salt on it, and all of a sudden it tastes good. But actually, what you're looking for is the salt and the butter taste because you've been numb to the rest, you've been overstimulated by the rest. When you allow for your digestive system to rest through a fast, you're also increasing this capacity of everything of your sense organs to come back actually to its normal capacity. As I'm saying this, I'm also realizing that, so this is absolutely from an ayuritic perspective, right? But I'm also realizing that this is exactly the issue that we have with the dopamine overload in today's world. With overstimulation of all our senses, we are actually we become numb to dopamine and we want more and more because we just get that, let's say, quote unquote, cheap version of it by scrolling more and by eating more and so on. And all of those things affect your metabolism because your metabolism is your capacity to digest what you take in in terms of energy and then use that wisely. So this is why when you are are having problems with your digestion, or when you're having problems, therefore, with your mood as well, these aspects are actually crucial. Now I know that a lot of people who are suffering with, for instance, obesity or depression and so on. It will feel as if this is so far-fetched as a way to come out of their or reverse, let's say, their situation, but it's actually essential. And I would even want to claim that when we don't, and we instead take uh, you know, the what they call the GLP1s, uh, the Ozempic and all of those things, or the antidepressant pills, um, we shortcut that whole part, which is maybe also why that it's not the best solution, let's say, in a holistic perspective. And so then there's this relapse that happens sometime later on. And of course, this is exactly why when you go to some kind of yoga retreat or Ayurvedic retreat, this is what I was also explaining when I was speaking about what we did in our past retreats here, that we focus on this reducing stimulation for people, because this is actually what's going to help the metabolism to come back to its baseline and then come back to working. See, it's a little bit like when you're not absorbing nutrients and you take all these supplements, you're kind of throwing the money away because your metabolism would have needed to get back to its baseline first before you start to supplement with things so that you can actually take advantage of it. When we are overstimulated in any of our senses, our metabolism is really working at a very high speed, which is also why we tend to, of course, make wrong choices in what we do in those moments. So that goes for indeed what we put into our mouths, but it also goes for the actions that we take based on our emotional state. So we need to come back to a place where there's less of the overstimulation, the inflammatory effect that that has, if you will, without wanting to say that I'm speaking about inflammation, but that it has like an inflamed effect. State of it, right? Which therefore also creates this well, firefighter who comes to um quince the thirst and reduce the fire, and of course reduce the urgency in the things that we do. So we can also look at this and explain why when someone of a pitta constitution or when pitta bis basically just is high in a body, we don't want to feed it more things, we want to actually reduce. So this of course goes for the burnout, which is an aggravated state of pitta, and we need to reduce a lot of things, but amongst them, which is something that people find hard to do, the intellectual stimulation. It's also explaining how when we are sick, and so maybe our pitta is high in terms of fever, it is actually not suggested by Ayurveda, and today's medicine confirms this, to eat. Maybe you have been brought up in that mentality. I know I did, and I believe that probably my parents' generation are still convinced, as for some anyway, that this is true, that when you are sick or you have to eat. And and so, you know, if if someone is ill and we're trying to take care of them, and you just but at least eat something. You need to get something in your in you in order to fight off the the disease, right? The virus or whatever it might be. Actually, pitta is therefore high, so you're in a fever state, inflamed state, and what that does actually is that it weakens instead your metabolism. You see, from the Ayurvedic perspective, pitta is indeed fire, and there is a correlation, of course, therefore, with pitta and the metabolism, which in Ayurveda is not called pitta, but agony, because there are two distinct things. And pitta is fire with some water, as you know if you've been listening to more than a few of my Ayurvedic episodes, I'm sure. And due to the fact that it's fire and water, it means that it has a stickiness to it. Whereas the Agni is much drier and lighter. It's it's it's more this, we can relate this to the life force as well, right? And and prana and the tejas and the ojas, it's it's a more subtle form of things. And so if pitta is increasing, it actually means that it is heavier, there's more water in there, and that will also dampen the metabolism or the agony. And so for that reason, Ayurvedically, we would say that as long as someone is maybe with high fever taking in fluids in order to help, it's better to not eat too much because it's actually going to potentially create more toxins. If the metabolism is weak and we keep giving it things that it needs to digest, there's a possibility that there will be undigested foods in the system that stays and accumulates and therefore become waste products that have haven't left. And so, well, waste products that haven't left they become toxic and so AMA. And modern medicine confirms this. And actually, I was listening to a professor from some big university who was speaking about what is called the mitochondria, which has become very interesting and trendy in the last couple of years, and now everyone wants to tend to their mitochondrial health. In any case, I do not know at all enough to speak about that today. And so what was interesting though is that this person confirmed that one of the most detrimental things for this health of mitochondria, it's a hard word, isn't it? Is too much calories. And so basically, if we eat too much and the body cannot deal with it, it's actually going to ruin the health, just like over-exercising would do as well. That would be maybe an episode to speak of in another time. If the idea of over-exercising is something that you can check off your list, then also remember, of course, that I have an episode specifically about over-exercising and just how much that tends to ruin us in our health. If you want to check that one out, head over to episode 155. Anyway, let's come back to our metabolism and our agni. So this agni Ayurvedically has four potential states. It can be too high, it can be too low, it can be irregular, or it can be stable. Now, actually the reality is that anyone can have any of these states of agni, but in a simplified way, we could also relate it to that pitta people more would tend to have too high agni, that too low would be a kafa kind of problem, that the irregular one would be more of a vata problem, and the stable one would be for the tridoshic constitution. For that reason, since tridoshic is something that's just quite rare, actually a completely balanced state of acne is seen as quite rare in itself. Now you can have two high, too low or irregular states of agni, even though your constitution is not what we just said there. Because of course that can vary and there can be various reasons. But what is important just to remember here is that actually our acne tends to be quite volatile, and so tending to it is always going to be really important. Agni is actually also connected to your vocal expression. And so the words you speak, whether they come out of your mouth to someone else, or the narrative that you keep telling yourself Ayurvedically will completely impact your acne. Now, what's very interesting in this is that we can confirm today that a negative narrative, right, a negative self-talk, affects our capacity to take action. It affects how we feel, and it therefore affects actually our digestion as well. So this confirms very much this idea from the Ayurvedic perspective. And what I find really beautiful, and what people very often miss out because they tend to think of Ayurveda as a diet, and they tend to think of yoga as an exercise form. It's so much more than that. And so the whole part of mantras in Ayurveda and in yoga as well are directly impacting the state of your agni. So it's beautiful to know that you can affect your, you can stabilize your agni or metabolism through the five steps that I will tell you. And you can also therefore integrate mantras. And then you can go even deeper into that because when it comes to the mantras, you also have different mantras that will have different meaning, especially what we call the bijamantras that are linked to the chakras and the chakra system, and then we go into a whole other thing. But that I find is very effective, and I've seen it firsthand and felt it firsthand as well. And it's beautiful because I believe that as humans we are always in this search for like the quick fix of things. And so, what's the procedure, you know, one step, two steps, and so on, to increase this and that. And I hear a lot of them, a lot of this like biohacking, and I I believe, you know, the kind of this bro culture as well of all these things that they tell us that we're supposed to do in order to in order to optimize our health. And then Ayurveda comes with, you know, mantras, meditation, the chakras, the yoga, and all of that absolutely works, and all of that has existed for, well, we know at least that there's traces 5,000 years back, right? Probably much longer. All right. So our agni, our metabolism, is in need of constant tenderness, I want to say. And if you are kind to your agni, your agni will be kind to you. So that means you give your agni what it needs in terms of the right kind of food, the right kind of rest, and it will pay you back. So now that we have established that part, let's look then at more kind of these action-oriented things that you want to know. And I believe that this is a really good time as well to look into that because if you are, well, at least if you are in the northern hemisphere, it is a time where it might be quite cold and dark, which will absolutely affect your metabolism. And no more no matter where you are in the world, you might have also just been celebrating the end-of-year festivities with Christmas, New Year's, whatever it might be, which means that you might have impaired a little bit the digestion through the things that you put into your mouth that might not be as healthy as the ones that you do the rest of the year. So grab a pen and paper and take note of these things. Now, the first thing to understand is since we are diurnal animals, we function in our own rhythm with the fire or our own internal sun, if you will, which is therefore directly linked to the rhythm of the that big fire or the sun out there. As above, so below. We are all stardust. Everything that exists inside of us is this whole planet that represents what exists in the grander scale. There is no reason for us to believe that we are unique in that sense that we would not function like all other things in nature. And so if we align our actions with this rhythm, we have already taken a huge step towards balancing our metabolism, which once again, let's remember, means that we therefore help our hunger and we deal with our mood as well. When it comes to the lifestyle practices that Ayurveda recommends, they are actually referred to as dinacharya or the daily routine. I have also there, I'm not going to go into detail about them because I have two episodes from early in the uh podcast where you can go into depth about them. So if you haven't listened to them yet, go and listen to episode 16, which is for the morning routine, and you also have episode 18 for the evening routine. Now, as you will notice actually when I'm speaking here, our good old friend hormone cortisol is going to play a really important role because it plays an important role when it comes to hunger and when it comes to mood. So, of course, it should be of no surprise that all the practices that I'm suggesting are all there to, well, stabilize, to balance, to soothe this stress hormone that also is the hormone that motivates us to take action and move. So, for Ayurveda, one of the most important things is to have breakfast. Now, Ayurvedically, there is a difference with what many of us have heard since childhood, which is that breakfast is should be the most important meal of the day in terms of size. Okay, I do believe that breakfast is a very important meal of the day, but not necessarily in the sense that we would say in the past you should eat breakfast like a king, um, lunch like a prince, and dinner as a poor man or something like that. Um, instead, it is important to know when we wake up, it is very good to be in a fasted state. But within one to two hours, you need to have some kind of food because of this cortisol release. And so that is going to be more important for people who are more sensitive to cortisol to stress levels. That means, for instance, anyone who's got any kind of condition, but also as we age, and more specifically, women. So as you age, the older we become, the more you're going to be sensitive to having something to eat early in the morning. Now, here's how I personally deal with it. I will have within the first hour or so after I've been up, I will have something very small. Not something that feels like breakfast, but I will have something very small to make sure that I sue this peak of cortisol that might happen. And also to not maybe, depending on what I'm going to do for physical exercise, do that on an empty stomach. Yoga is one thing. If I'm going to do strength training with weights and so on, I prefer to have something that is protein-based, like for instance, some nuts. Um depending on a little bit. But um, so that is a really good idea. However, I also believe that within the hours of the kaffa time of day, this is between 6 in the morning and 10 in the morning, I do not want to give my digestion something very heavy to work with, because it is a heavier time of the day. Therefore, I absolutely recommend to go for something that is warm and not cold. So I would skip the smoothie bowls and all of these things, especially since they tend to also be cold, heavy, and full of sugar. Um, I would also be careful with these. I know that there's a trend to eat enormous amounts of protein in the morning. And more specifically, I believe that where it can damage us when it comes to our metabolism is when we start to mix in several sources of protein and maybe several sources of animal protein in one same meal because that's going to be heavy. And so the typical eggs, bacon, uh, beans, uh, and so on and so forth. And if on top of that as well, we have like some nice and good sweet bread with it, that is going to be super heavy for our metabolism. And so that's not a good way to help our metabolism. Now, I do agree as well that if you're someone who works out really hard, you definitely need to fuel up after you've worked out in order to feel that you are stabilized and even just for the cortisol level. However, if we are talking about people here who say that I need to stabilize my metabolism because I notice that my hunger levels are through the roof and that my mood is affected. That means that maybe I need to take other actions than doing extreme workouts, right, first and stabilize my metabolism. And then if I need to do those heavy sessions in the gym, I go and do that once I have strengthened my metabolism. So if you are in a weakened state, I would rather that you do, yes, move, you need that for the metabolism as well, but do something much gentler so that you can therefore also fuel your body with something warm and lentil and warm and gentle, and actually, I had a Freudian slip there where I said lentil, which means that actually something like a lentil soup can be a wonderful breakfast, especially when you need to come back to health. It has protein, it has fiber, it is warmed, it is cooked, it is great for your digestive system. Then, when we come to the midday meal, that would be lunch and try to make that into your main event when it comes to the food in the day. So if you feel a need to eat things that are maybe heavier to digest, with maybe heavier protein sources and other ones as well, then this would be the moment that you do so. Between basically between 10 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon is when the sun is the highest, and so your metabolism is the strongest, which means that your digestive fire is much better at digesting, at working with that food. We want to have the biggest meal then. And trust me, if you haven't tried this before, you will notice such a difference because the typical dips and kind of cravings in the mid-afternoon, three, four, five, are not going to be there if you have a proper night and big meal at lunch. I have met many people who skip lunch altogether due to work and so on. I would really want to invite people to maybe in that case be a little bit lighter with yourself on the breakfast, even though I absolutely want you to have breakfast, but do take care of that midday meal. It's going to be so much better for your body, for your cravings, for your mood, if you have a nice and stabilizing meal in the middle of the day. And it's going to be more beneficial for your overall digestion and therefore for how your body feels and looks and so on in the long run. Especially, you're not going to get those sugar cravings that maybe you would have had otherwise. When it comes to the last meal of the day, dinner, I would also want to invite you to keep that light, just like the breakfast is light. And ideally, If you could have your last meal as soon after the sunset as possible. Now, what do I mean by that? Because the thing is, of course, depending on the season and where you are, that might change. And so what I would want to say with that is that if you could, no matter actually, really, where you are and what season it is, if you could keep that dinner, you know, maybe not eating after 7 p.m., that would be really good. And also give yourself something that is light to digest. We have to understand that the digestive process is something that heats up because it's work in the body. And for you to be able to sleep well at night, you need to, on the contrary, have cooled down the body. So this is going to be essential in order to help your hunger levels, your metabolism, and stabilize your mood. Because of course, then in the long run, it's also going to help you to sleep better. All right, so that was about the various meals. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Now, another really important one, which is the reason as well that you're going to stop the cravings when you eat enough, especially at lunch, is that you're going to avoid the in-between meal snacking. This one is super important. It doesn't mean that you cannot have snacks. It's more this tendency that people have to snack because they have cravings and then they go for things that are not necessarily very good for them. So it doesn't mean that you cannot snack, and you can also, for instance, let's say that for whatever reason it's going to be maybe five, six hours between two meals, then it's perfectly understandable that you might need something in between those. Now, what I would want you to notice is that when you feed yourself at specific times and you tend to keep those times, your body has learned through its own clock that those are the feeding moments, and then you're actually going to feel hunger around that time because the body is expecting it. And if you therefore feed the body things that are more warm than cold, and things that are easy to digest, but that are still filling so that you're going to feel satisfied, you're going to reduce that tendency of cravings 80%. And then finally, there are some things that I find are extremely effective when it comes to both our hunger levels but also to our mood. Now, I have always said, and I keep on saying, I'm always going to say, keep a bottle of warm water with you and have small sips of that all through the day. It is very often the case that you think that you are hungry, but you're actually dehydrated. So if you keep hydration going all the time, you are not going to get those cravings or feeling hungry when you're not really needing to be hungry. But on top of that, it is also much more beneficial for your body to get hydrated through small sips of water instead of being chunks of water. Warm water as well is going to be much more preferable for both your digestive system and also for the rest of the body and for your lymphatic system as well. So I have episodes on the lymphatic system you can go and listen to, but just remember that the lymphatic system is the water in the body, and we need to keep that active in order to detox, right, to eliminate waste products. And that is needed to be done when we have enough water because it is water. So the fact of drinking warm water all through the day is going to help you do that as well. My go-to forever um drink when it comes to stabilizing my metabolism is the CCFT. Cumin, coriander, phenyl seeds. Super. Another thing that is really small, actually, it's a couple of things that are really small but very effective are things like this. When there is a meal, first and foremost, I make sure that I always sit down and I prepare the meal with plate and everything so that it's not this kind of half standing somewhere in between the kitchen and somewhere else and just putting something into my mouth because that is not going to be beneficial for my senses and it's not going to be beneficial, therefore, for my hunger or even for my mood. And so if I prepare that, I condition myself for the meal by preparing whatever it is, and I sit down at the table to do that, that is incredible, incredibly powerful. Then take three deep breaths before you start eating, which is going to activate the parasympathetic mode of your nervous system, and it's going therefore to activate your digestion. So you're going to digest much better if you're in that kind of rest and digest mode. I have another thing that is especially for those who eat fast and therefore overeat. And that is every time you put something in your mouth, you put down your knife and fork while you're chewing. And you wait until you've swallowed before you pick them up again in order to take the next bite. These are really small things, but they're super effective. And it's just that we need to, well, basically commit to doing them. And the last one around the mealtime there that I find is very effective, but can be extremely difficult, is the no distraction during the mealtime. And so that could be that we just there's none of the watching something, reading something, and all of that. And you might actually even put some really calming music on in the background to put yourself in the right state. Now, one last thing before I let you go. I would say that the biggest thief when it comes to this is actually perfectionism. Why do I say that? Because a lot of people are waiting for the right conditions in order to make the right changes. Or they notice that they can't stick to certain things at some point and then they just drop everything because, well, they didn't do it perfectly. And so I would want to say almost that the key could be commitment more than consistency. Hear me out. Of course, consistency is important. But for instance, there are people who have a schedule that is not always the habitual one, let's say, of with the sun and so on, can be your work or other commitments. And so what would be good there is to find a rhythm that works according to that and then commit to that. And then when you have other times where maybe, so for instance, this makes me think of someone that I work with who has a very irregular schedule when working, but then there's also periods therefore when they are not working, right? So if you're someone who's on call, then usually there will be a period of maybe a couple of weeks or so where there's more rest. And so the idea then would be to every time you have that possibility during a few weeks, maybe, you come back into something that would be a daily um rhythm with the sun. And then when you're in a position where you can't have that, you find a rhythm that works according to that, right? And this can be for sleep and it can be for food. So it's going to be more important that you just decide that you're going to commit to whatever works than to try to be perfect and then skip it all because, well, it didn't work out. All right. So I hope that you've taken away some good points here today and that you're ready to start your new year with this. Now, if you feel that you would like more of this and that you would like to go into deeper things, because maybe you're sitting with some questions about your health, your metabolism, your mood, then know that at the moment I've also launched a special offer when it comes to my Ayurvedic consultations. So you could book just an Ayurvedic consultation and that has a price, or you can even decide to book in three in one go, which means that it could be a first consultation where we just set the scene of what's going on, and then we evaluate what needs to be done. And through the you know, the days that you need, or the weeks or it might even be longer, depending on where you're at, we schedule in two more. And if you do that and you book all of that in from the beginning, you get a discounted price. So you'll find the information about that in the show notes. Thank you for joining me in this episode of Ayurveda and Psychology Podcast. If this content resonated with you and you feel ready to go deeper in your healing journey, you can book a personalized session with me or explore my programs at the website. You find the link in the show notes. You can also follow me on Instagram at iurveda.psychology where I share rituals, tips, and weekly reflections. If you enjoy this episode, share it with someone who might need it or leave a review. It helps this community to grow. I'll see you next Friday with a new episode. Take care and stay grounded.