My days are busy.
I’m sure you can relate.
Between my work tasks, my homeschool responsibilities, and then everything that comes with keeping a clean home and food on the table, who could possibly have time to take care of their health?
That is often the question I get from many of my friends…
Isabel, how do you keep up with your health habits alongside all the responsibilities that come with running a business and homeschooling 2 kids?
With good systems, routines, and the good Lord at the forefront of it all… that’s always my answer. 
Here’s is what a typical “day in the life” of Isabel looks like…
5am - I typically wake up before my alarm goes off at 5:10 am. Since I am in bed with the lights out by 9pm (more details on that below), my body is ready to wake up 8 hours later.
After the usual morning stuff in the bathroom, I head to the kitchen and pour myself 32 ounces of water in a large mason jar. I sprinkle a little bit of Redmond’s Real Salt in there for extra electrolytes and sip on that. I should mention that I keep a water filter on the counter so this water is room temperature, and sometimes I even warm the water a bit in the tea kettle.
After I have had a good bit of that water, I make myself either a green tea or a mushroom coffee and get comfy in front of my laptop. I always pray first: “Lord, please let this work I’m about to do be for Your glory and for Your kingdom, not mine.” Then I go straight to work.
If you've been around here for a while, you may be wondering what happened to my morning Bible reading. You’ll see that new change I’ve made below.
Around 7am, I’ve put a good dent in the work I want to get done in the morning and I head to my little home exercise room to pray and to stretch.
I lay my exercise mat on the floor and grab my scripture cards (index cards that I have written specific scripture verses on). I get on my knees and read the cards and pray. I will then put on my worship playlist and stretch for 10 minutes.
At this point, the house has come alive, and I can hear teenagers in the kitchen making a mess… I mean making breakfast lol… and dogs running around waiting to be walked. My two boys, Christian and Marcos, take care of all the morning chores so I can make my breakfast and then get right in the shower.
Right now, my breakfast is almost always 2 eggs, 1 ounce of cooked protein (leftover chicken or beef that is in the fridge), cooked carrots and zucchini, and ½ avocado. Sometimes I add a kiwi if Marcos hasn’t eaten them all.
By 9am I have eaten, showered, and am ready to start the day.
9am - 12pm looks different every day. Some days it is filled with work meetings, and other days it is filled with school with the boys. My kids “book a time” with me to do school so it is right in my calendar along with all my other meetings. I really do have to be this organized about it. Otherwise, when they ask me for help, I may not be available.
Somewhere in that 3-hour block of time, I take a 15-minute walk, either outside or on the treadmill. Because I have spent the majority of the morning sitting, it's important to get my body moving and get some steps in before lunch.
I always take a lunch break from noon - 1pm. I do my best to never book anything during this time because I like to eat peacefully. This is also, now, when I do my Bible reading. This is fairly new and still in the “experimental” phase, but so far I’m loving it. Right now, I’m reading the Bible in a year following a specific Bible reading plan. We started in the New Testament with the Apostle Paul’s journey and letters. I’m reading about 3-4 chapters a day so it takes me a good 30 minutes to read.
I have come to absolutely love this time and look forward to it because I eat slowly and peacefully while reading my Bible and everyone knows not to interrupt me.
Lunch always follow this template:
- 4-6 ounces of protein - I almost always have leftovers in the fridge. It may be beef meatballs, chicken from a whole baked chicken, or salmon. If for whatever reason there are no leftovers, I always have canned salmon and canned sardines in the pantry.
- 1-2 portions of veggies - This may be green beans, arugula, yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, or anything I have prepped ahead of time.
- 1 portion of a starchy carb - This may be cooked sweet potatoes, white potatoes, rice, quinoa noodles, or my absolute favorite, Jackson’s Sweet Potato chips.
1pm - 4pm is very similar to the morning where I may have meetings or I may be spending long stretches of time helping one of my boys with their schoolwork. Again, I find a 15-minute break somewhere during that time to walk outside or on the treadmill.
4pm - I really don’t love working out in the late afternoon, but right now it seems to be the best time to fit it in. Three times a week I do a full-body strength training workout similar to what you’ll find in our BodyFIT Foundations program. The other days, I do a 2-mile walk outside or on the treadmill.
5pm - One of my boys meets me in the kitchen for dinner prep (they alternate days). We almost always plan the full week of dinners over the weekend for the following week, so we already know what we’re making and the protein is already defrosted or possibly even already cooked ahead of time.
(It's taken us a long time to get in a good groove with our meal planning. If you need any help with yours, check out LiveSmart for new recipes and meal plans each month!)
6pm - We never eat dinner later than 6pm. Now that my husband is not in football season (he is a high school football coach), the four of us sit down to dinner together pretty much every night. This will change a bit once Marcos starts baseball practice in the spring.
After dinner is the only time my boys are allowed to play video games, so they clean the kitchen and feed the dogs with serious motivation and speed to get it all done… lol. After we’re done cleaning, I will sit on the couch for a bit and scroll through my phone and laugh at all the memes my sister has sent me throughout the day. This is really the only time I sit and just scroll through my phone as my busy day doesn’t really allow me to be on my phone very much.
Around 7:30pm I start my nighttime routine. I take a bath or a shower and get in my pajamas. After that I head to the kitchen and make myself an herbal tea. Then it's off to the bedroom where I sip on the tea and read a book for about 30 minutes. Lights out at 9pm.
Of course, not every day is perfect and not every day is exactly the same, but having a framework for each day helps me to stay organized and helps to make my health habits easier because I know what I’m eating, when I’m eating, and when to get in movement throughout the day.