In Chinese Medicine, the spleen and stomach are most active in the following times:

Stomach 7-9 am
Spleen 9-11 am

When you wake in the morning, your body’s energy is focused and ready to work the stomach which takes in food and in the spleen, which transforms food into nourishment and transports it to the various areas of your body that need it.

It makes sense that between 7 and 9am, you would intake food, so that your body can work from 9 to 11am.

Are you using these times for food intake? If so, what kinds of food are you putting in your body at this time? Perhaps you grab a bagel and cream cheese, perhaps a muffin, perhaps an Egg McMuffin. If you’re lucky, you get a pastry, a hearty breakfast of pancakes and sausage and eggs, or an English fry-up.

What your mom said - eat some fruit!

Unfortunately, when it comes to being healthy, none of these options is a great way to start your day.

If you are unable to eat well during these times, it means that as you start your day and getting the swing of things at work, your blood-sugar is ready to plummet. The next thing you usually think of is to get anything into your mouth that will raise these levels again. While some berries or nuts would do, many of us end up with a pastry and coffee.

If you eat a healthy breakfast, your body transforms all of those nutrients into energy and this allows you to have a great day, full of energy and being alert.

Now that I have convinced you that EATING breakfast is a good idea, what should you eat?

Most of us think of breakfast as sugar or carbs. Pancakes, waffles, toast, donuts, pastries, scones, bagels, pies, sugar cereals, breakfast bars, muffins and the like. If we move on from the carbs, we then think of things that are too fatty, fried eggs, sausages, bacon, cream cheese on your bagels, cheesy omelets, Egg McMuffins, Sausage McMuffins, hash browns, and the like.

You may think that narrows down your options significantly, but there really are still many options available to you!

Yes, these things take time! You will find that if you manage an extra 15 minutes in your morning to fill yourself up with good food, you will pick that time up later in the day with being more alert and productive.

Some ideas:

• Oatmeal – You can add in flax, almonds and fruit. Stay away from the sugar though, add in honey, molasses or enjoy the fruit flavor!
• Granola – I like any granola that is whole grain, high in fiber and low in sugar. Be careful of pre-sweetened granolas, or ones with too much dried fruit. Fruit is good, eat it fresh and whole.
• Eggs – Eggs sometimes get a bad rap, but they are full of protein and stay with you during the day. Scramble them, make a frittata, by adding in some veggies and bake them. Eat them hard boiled. A hard boiled egg can make a great snack. Enjoy them with some whole grain toast and you have a great breakfast.
• Fresh berries, yogurt, granola. Get low-fat yogurt (not non-fat, as it often has too much sugar) or soy yogurt, cut up some berries or other fruits, add some healthy cereal.
• Grapefruit with whole-wheat toast & almond butter. Add a little sugar on top of the grapefruit, and it’s actually pretty good. The almond butter is healthier than peanut-butter, with lots of good protein to fill you up.
• Fresh fruit salad. Cut up some apples, melons, berries, oranges, pears, bananas, grapes … any or all or whatever your favorite fruits are. Add a little bit of lime or lemon juice. Perfect. Add in a hard boiled egg and you have enough protein to get you through the morning.
• Juice it – Celery, carrots, beets, apples, oranges, pears, ginger… add them all! Add in a good quality protein powder with vitamin supplements and you are good to go! This is an excellent breakfast in the spring and summer.
• Dinner – Don’t forget the other foods! Sometimes stir fry is a good breakfast. I have a pumpkin soup recipe that I have modified into a nice breakfast soup with curry, chicken, vanilla and cinnamon. Keeps me going all day! This is especially good in the winter.

There are a lot of folks in the productivity world making a lot of to do about early rising. I’ve been a natural early riser most of my life, but it wasn’t until I was embarking on a study of productivity that I realized I could really use that time to get some things done.

When my son was very young, I started rising at what seemed like an extraordinarily early hour, 5am, so I could have some peace and quiet. This time became some “me time” and I just sat and drank my tea and watched the sunrise. This alone is an excellent reason for getting up early, but if you are wanting to make a bit more out of this time, it can be done.

Photo by Swami Stream via Flickr

The problem isn’t what to do with our time.

We are all so busy now that any amount of extra time we can find is good. The problem arises when we try and rise early. Its hard.

Steve Pavlina posted about rising early quite some time ago, and as a regular reader of his blog and someone who values being productive, I have to agree. This is one of the number one ways to take control of your life.

So, what can to do to make this much easier?

• Don’t make drastic changes. Your body is set to wake up at a certain time. Shocking it into a new state immediately may work for some, but for most of us, starting slowly, by waking just 15-30 minutes earlier than usual can make the difference between success and failure. Get used to this for a few days. Then cut back another 15 minutes. Do this gradually until you get to your goal time.
• Allow yourself to sleep earlier. Your body needs 7-9 hours of sleep per night to process. Your body undergoes an immense amount of activity while you are sleeping, cleaning your blood, oxygenating your system and rebuilding and re-energizing. You do not want to rob your health of the process it needs to stay happy. Try going to bed earlier slowly, just like waking. Once you are waking earlier, you will get tired earlier as well.
• Put your alarm clock far from you bed. If it’s right next to your bed, you’ll shut it off or hit snooze. Never hit snooze. Snoozing is a terrible habit that makes you more tired over the course of the day. Your body needs to wake up once, not multiple times per day. If it’s far from your bed, you have to get up out of bed to shut it off. By then, you’re up. Now you just have to stay up.
• Get out of the bedroom as soon as you shut off the alarm. Don’t allow yourself to rationalize going back to bed. Just force yourself to go out of the room.
• Do not rationalize. If you allow your brain to talk you out of getting up early, you’ll never do it. Don’t make getting back in bed an option. Just get up and get it done. Once you are up and moving, it will feel much better.
• Do allow yourself to sleep in once in a while. Give yourself one day a week to catch up and rest. Enjoy sitting in bed in the morning if that is something you find valuable, and just take it easy. It will be a great reward for all of the productive things you have done with the rest of your week!
• That being said, make waking up early a reward. Yes, it might seem at first that you’re forcing yourself to do something hard, but if you make it pleasurable, soon you will look forward to waking up early. Enjoy a early morning cup of some of the best coffee. Have a great breakfast. Spend some of your time watching the sunrise or meditating. You have time now!
• Take advantage of all that extra time. Don’t wake up an hour or two early just to read your blogs or surf the net. Get a jump start on your day! Lay out a major goal for the day the night before and once you are well fed and ready to go, get to work on it. Use this time to get ahead, take care of yourself and be more healthy, not less.
• Enjoy the sunrise! Pay attention to the colors, the birds and your surroundings.