Are you undernourished?

Our American culture produces food at an astonishing speed. Still, unfortunately, we also throw away more food each year than most people in the world consume.  

Americans also notoriously consume more calories than we need to function in a typical day. Unfortunately, what we consume is a low nutrient, highly processed foods in place of whole foods.

This overconsumption of factory created foods has led to the serious malnourishment of many Americans. 

 Even foods that are touted as “healthy," such as juices or pure fruit bars are being used as a replacement to whole foods & leaving us missing out on many of the valuable vitamins, minerals & fiber available to us when we eat the real food item. 

 We believe we are choosing something "healthy," but we are actually robbing our body of the nutrients it needs.

 And the terrible trend of eating high carb, high-fat food items, which make us full but don’t actually nourish our bodies, has warped our taste buds so that we turn to those items first to ease our hunger.  

 We’ve manipulated our intake from choosing whole food for health sake to picking our food because of advertising, calorie count & cravings.  

 We give in to packaging that tells us things are "healthy" based on labels like gluten-free, organic, or sugar-free.  Instead of using our brains to evaluate the actual quality of the ingredients we put in our bodies, we are sucked into the world of food propaganda.  

 The fact that veggies, fruits & sustainably sourced proteins are better for you isn’t exactly newsworthy.  In fact, we already really know this, but for some reason, we choose the packaged stuff first anyway. 

 So how can we get back on track with whole food nutrition & give up convenient packages?

 Awareness is the key to moving back to a foundation of whole foods.  Here are some ways to bring awareness to your life & get your nourishment back on track:

 Commit to not eating packaged foods for a specific period of time ~ processed food can actually have a place in our diet.  It can be useful, for instance, if we need snacks for traveling, are going on a long hike, or need something we can pack that needs to last.  We are fortunate that there are processed options in our modern era that won’t wreck a foundation of whole food choices. Still, by committing to leave out the packaged foods for a specific time {consider 30 days as a start}, we are helping ourselves be aware of how easily & how often we pick processed over pure.  

Focus on real hunger ~ think you’re hungry?  Ask yourself, “will a chicken breast & some broccoli make me feel better?” If the answer is no, then you’re not really hungry.  True hunger craves real food.  Focusing on real hunger also brings awareness to what & how often you typically choose processed items over real food.

 Log food in a journal to make sure you get enough whole foods ~ this has nothing at all to do with calories but instead is a pathway to awareness.  You may think that you are getting plenty of fibrous fruits & veggies, protein & healthy fats when you’re actually not.  It’s really easy to glorify our choices when we don’t have proof.  If we have evidence from a journal, we will know exactly where we need to focus our attention on improving our health.

If you need help figuring out a foundation of nourishment from nutrient-dense foods, get in touch with me & let me help you through nutrition coaching.

Get a free 5-day E-book to start your transformative health journey from a
Biblical perspective by clicking the button below!

How overtraining is doing you more harm than good

It was the middle of March when a friend said to me, “you’d be so proud of me because I have exercised every single day of this year.” 

Actually, I was appalled.  My immediate response wanted to scream, "Nooooo! Exercising every single day is not good for you!”  Instead, I had to gently & wisely explain to my friend how important rest is for our bodies. 

Too often, people think that “full speed ahead” & killer workout sessions are the way to a fit body.  In reality, a healthy body starts with a foundation of nutrition.  Only then can we be concerned with working out for the sake of improving health & physical endurance.  

Overtraining leads to injuries, illness & feelings of burn out.  People who throw everything from their energy, time & resources into their workouts & go full throttle are typically the ones who also walk away from workouts. No one can continue at a high paced intensity without ever resting.  Even professional athletes have scheduled rest days.

This is because the people who know bodies know that rest is crucial to the rebuilding of the muscle fibers that are torn down during a workout.  

Exercise is a physiological stressor.  It’s usually a good one, but nonetheless a stressor.  If you exercise intensely too often, you increase the amount of cortisol in your body, which in turn causes your body to store fat because it thinks you are under attack.  

So if we have the right amount of exercise at the right intensity, we get healthier & stronger. Still, if we exercise too much, with too high an intensity, our bodies break down & shut down.

And here’s the thing:  you don’t get to decide if you need recovery or not.  Your body will decide for you.  If you don’t build rest into your plan, your body will eventually force it on you.  

People choose to over train for a variety of reasons: possibly they don’t want to be viewed as being weak, they are trying to make up for poor food choices, or they think overtraining will actually make them stronger or faster.

So here’s the best way to get exercise without overtraining:

Do a self-assessment ~ if taking a day off or doing a little less worries you, ask yourself, “what am I doing this for?”, “what are my goals & why," "am I chronically in pain?”  If your workouts consistently beat you up physically but don't really get you anywhere with physical goals, it's time for a different approach. 

 Trust your body & listen to it ~ do a mind-body scan.  Lie quietly for a few minutes & bring your focus from your feet to your head.  What do you feel? Merely being aware of how your body feels will help you know if you need a break.   

Work on balance in your workouts ~ for every tough workout, commit to a less strenuous one.  By mixing up your exercise & the intensity of it, you will likely find you get faster, stronger & have more endurance in the things you love to do.  If you are always running, then work in a yoga session.  Or if weightlifting is your passion, make sure to include some cardio like cycling.  

Have fun with physical activities ~ we don’t stop playing because we grow older; we grow older because we stop playing.  Somewhere in adulthood, we fall for a belief that everything has to be serious.  Go outside & play with your dog.  Learn to golf or water ski.  Take dance lessons.  Do something physical that actually puts all your training to use in real life.  Doing this is as crucial to our long-term health as weightlifting.

If you need help figuring out how to make these things work in your movement & life, get in touch with me & I can guide you to how to best incorporate healthy movement into every day.  

Will Squat for Cake

It's a nice idea, but no matter how hard you try, you can't exercise away a bad foundation of eating choices. 

The old adage, "you are what you eat," is true. Toned arms & 6-pack abs begin in the kitchen. Even if your desire has nothing to do with being ripped & toned, but instead living at a healthy weight (which most of us should be pursuing), giving in to constant cravings for high-fat foods or sweet treats won't get you where you want to be.

Though an occasional treat or enjoyment of a special dessert is perfectly fine, and can even be good for us, it's the foundation of our consistent choices that matter. 

When we are choosing whole foods to fill the majority of our nutrition, then we are totally fine to enjoy a cheeseburger, pizza, or a piece of cake on occasion. 

But most of us don't eat as well as we think we do. In fact, it's likely that we consume way more calories than we need & are still malnourished in many ways.

And we try to make up for the fact that our body weight or shape doesn't respond the way we think it should by over-exercising. 

Unless we are training for a competition or are a professional athlete, continually working out more than about an hour a day or never taking a rest day is likely doing more physical harm than good.

Along the same line, the thought process that working out multiple times in one day is a good way to cancel poor food choices is simply a form of disordered eating.

Here's why your workouts won't work off excessive calories from poor food choices:

• You're not a professional athlete ~ Professional athletes workout for several hours per day under the strict guidance of a trainer who knows exactly what kind of schedule to follow to keep the athlete healthy. These athletes typically have a full-time person who is in charge of what type & how much food they eat to make sure they are getting the perfect amount of nutrients for their body to function at peak performance. Ordinary people with regular jobs cannot live this way. You have so much packed into your day trying to figure out getting the kids to daycare, getting to work, keeping the house in order, buying groceries & living life that you can't spend the required amount of time it would take to write a safe workout schedule & prep all of the meals you would need to keep up extra long or multiple workouts. 

• You won't have the energy to exercise well if you're not eating well ~ If you are making poor food choices, your body simply won't have the consistent required energy you need to exercise well. If you're eating well most of the time, you won't feel the need to over-exercise. If you're over-exercising, it may be because you are eating poorly, which puts you right back in the space of injury. It's a cycle that wreaks havoc. Not to mention that over-exercising leaves no energy for actually living real life, like playing with your kids, working in the yard, or the having the stamina to clean out the garage. 

• You can get hurt from exercising without proper food fuel ~ When our body is tired or weak, we begin to lose proper form, which is the number one reason for injuries. This is pretty cut & dry. Proper food fuel keeps our body in a state of rebuilding the cells our muscles need to function well. This, in turn, keeps us healthy enough to do our workouts with energy & good form so that we don't injure ourselves.

• You can't target fat loss ~ You know the saying, "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips?" The same way you cannot control where your body decides to store excess fat from overeating is the same way you cannot control what part of your body loses fat. So while adding an extra 200 squats to every single workout might build your glute muscles, it won't get rid of the fat deposited there by poor food choices. The same is true for trying to tone your abs with sit-ups or your arms with push-ups. The excess adipose tissue you want to go away will only do so with the choice of the right foods before & after your workout.

If you need help with your eating plan, let me know. Let's work on your nutrition together.

Get a free 5-day E-book to start your transformative health journey from a
Biblical perspective by clicking the button below!

Here's why dessert might actually be good for you

Do you always pass on dessert for the sake of your diet?  

There is no doubt that too many carbs in the form of refined sugary treats aren't good for you.  We know that increased blood sugar levels from the over-consumption of desserts & processed carbs can lead to weight gain.  But the occasional dessert could actually be good for you & possibly help you lose weight by creating a good relationship between healthy boundaries & the pleasure of food.

You may not realize that by always passing the dessert, you might actually be harming yourself.  When we perpetually restrict ourselves from enjoying certain foods, we increase our chance of over-consuming those items when we finally give in. Always having rules & restrictions around something makes you want it even more.  

If we are continually labeling food as "good" or "bad," we assign a moral value to it.  Then when we eat what we deem to be "bad," we consider ourselves failures.  But if we eat what we think of as "good," then we might consider ourselves morally righteous.

Unfortunately, over-consumption leads to guilt surrounding food choices.   God never intended for us to feel guilt over food but instead wants us to live in self-control regarding the gifts He has given us.  Food is one of those gifts.

The truth is our food has no bearing on our right standing in society or with God.

We should instead be asking questions of our food like, “Does this choice make me healthier?” “Will this be enjoyable because I get to share it with someone I love?” Or “Can I be thankful for this pleasure God has given me right now?” 

Having some parameters around what you will eat & when you will eat are not bad.  In fact, one of the essential things we are told to exhibit as Christians is self-control.  But self-control doesn't always mean self-denial.  Self-control can also mean wisdom in how & what we choose to do.

God made us to consume food for the necessary need of keeping our bodies going.  But He also gave it to us for the enjoyment that it brings.  We can enjoy savory dishes, which are full of protein, veggies & healthy carbs, and we can also enjoy things like cookies & cakes. 

Eating a moderate amount of dessert on occasion can be not only delicious but can lead us into a healthy relationship with food.  

 In fact, studies show that occasionally eating dessert can improve relationships, mood & the ability to choose nutrient-dense foods because you don’t feel deprived of never having dessert.  

Here are some ideas of guidelines you might consider putting in place to keep yourself from over-indulging:

Eat dessert with someone else ~ when we enjoy a dessert with someone else, we are more likely to eat less & focus more on the relational aspect of the time spent eating instead of the dopamine jolt we get from hiding out with our own sugary food in a dark corner.  We are way less likely to over-indulge if we keep our treats to special occasions with people we care about.

 Eat desserts made only from whole food ingredients – our bodies know how to process whole foods.  However, they are completely confused by the chemicals found in pre-packaged, highly processed desserts found in most stores.  Keeping our desserts centered on whole food ingredients is a great way to make sure your body knows how & where to store what you put in it.  Commit to only eating homemade desserts or sweet treats from a high-quality restaurant or bakery, so you know that they are made from whole food items.  

Pray before you enjoy – this one may sound cliché, but trust me when I tell you it works.  By taking a moment to stop & be grateful for the pleasure of dessert & asking for the self-control to be wise with the amount eaten, we hand over to God our submission to enjoy the gift He’s given us in the best way possible.  We also re-train our brains that we are not in control, but we need His help to use Spirit-filled self-control.  He will never fail us in this area.

Do you need help with your nutritional choices?  Get in touch with me today & let's talk about nutrition coaching to help improve your overall health.

Get a free 5-day E-book to start your transformative health journey from a
Biblical perspective by clicking the button below!

Why Weights are Better than Wrinkle Cream

Each & every birthday we celebrate brings changes in our body.  When we are young, our bodies are adaptable & can handle change well.  In the beginning of adulthood our body naturally grows stronger if we feed it well & generally maintain some form of exercise.  

At some point however we begin to lose some of our ability to recover from a hard workout, a series of poor food choices, or nights of not sleeping well.

Everyone, no matter how young or old should be doing some form of regular strength training, but it’s even more crucial as we age to protect our bones, joints & connective tissues.

Here are some important reasons strength training makes a difference in the quality of your life as you age:

·      It increases your metabolism – though cardio is thought of as the paramount way of burning fat, research actually shows that the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism.  This is because the more muscle you have the higher your resting metabolic rate will be.  This means you burn more calories when you’re doing nothing.  Cardio only burns calories during the activity & for a short period after you are done.  Weightlifting burns calories for up to 16 hours after you finish working out!  

·      It makes your bones stronger – muscle strength is important but weightlifting also improves bone strength.  Everyone is susceptible to losing bone density as they get older & weightlifting could be just what you need to combat the risk of fractured or broken bones.  When you lift weights, the muscles surrounding the bones, contract & extend on the bones beneath them.  This in turn causes the bone to make new cells, which can prevent & even reverse bone loss.  

·      It improves the quality of your everyday activities – not only will weightlifting make you feel really great, it will build confidence & self-esteem in activities outside of the gym.  When your muscle strength will increases, every other normal or athletic physical task becomes a little bit easier & less risky.  When you are stronger you can move in ways, which are more efficient & prevent injuries.  Carrying groceries, getting boxes down off shelves & mowing the lawn all become less taxing on your body when you have good muscle stability.

Strength training isn’t the same as bodybuilding.  When considering weight lifting, think about a manageable, moveable weight for a series of reps that is sustainable.  

If you are just starting out in a weight lifting journey, I would strongly advise finding a qualified trainer to teach you proper form, rep scheme & cues to know what is best for your body.

No matter what your age, we all can gain a lot from regular strength training & it could be the key to staying active as we age.  Weightlifting is a journey you won’t regret!

Get a free 5-day E-book to start your transformative health journey from a
Biblical perspective by clicking the button below!

How to Not Overeat This Holiday Season

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…unless you are trying to change the course of your nutrition & eat healthily.

 In our modern-day culture, our relationship to food has taken center stage.  No other time of the year is this more evident than the holidays that span the 30 days between Thanksgiving & Christmas. 

Our current state of processed holiday foods is far from what was initially intended by those who gathered at the first holiday tables.  

Those first meals were shared out of gratitude for whole foods, which were culturally traditional in different parts of the world.  These groups of people long ago, gathered around their table with recognition of the fact that their most critical needs of food, love & community had been met.  

This year as we enter the highly commercialized holiday season, it would do us good to take a little time to reflect on why we eat, what we eat & whom we share it with. 

Our issue with overstuffing at holiday parties & on the actual holiday itself is due in part to the diet mentality of our culture.

For so long, we have over-indulged with no self-control, that we, in turn, get trapped into following diet rules & restricting our intake beyond what we can handle.  Then we feel guilty & shameful about our eating “mistake” & vow that it will never happen again.  

This guilt usually strikes us on a Sunday, so when Monday morning rolls around, we start over on that diet that didn't work to begin with, only to find that by Friday, we have once again fallen off the "good eating train."  But never fear, there's always Monday to start over again. 

Do you see the cycle?

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God made food for us to enjoy.  Not to use as a tool to determine if we’ve been naughty or nice.  

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So this is the year to change your mentality about gorging yourself until you are miserable & then wallowing in guilt afterward.

Here are some ways to avoid that overstuffed yet unsatisfied feeling:
Realize this isn’t the only time of the year you can enjoy eating special foods ~ Don’t fall prey to thinking it’s today or not at all.  Denying yourself any sort of enjoyment throughout the rest of the year, or living on a constant diet, will lead to thinking you have to eat all the food available to you on holidays or at parties.  Start allowing yourself to have one or two special meals or desserts throughout the month so that you can know the freedom that comes with self-control. Sometimes eating that particular food is okay & sometimes it's not.  Spirit-led self-control is your way of knowing if it's a good time for you to indulge or not.

Pray before you eat ~ I don’t mean that obligatory prayer at the beginning of the meal, I mean, legitimately ask God to help you.  Not to avoid the food, but to enjoy & be satisfied by the food.  You’ll be surprised how well this works.  With every bite, think about how God has given you this food to enjoy & then enjoy it.  Relish in the fact that you can taste it.  So often, we stuff our faces without genuinely acknowledging the amazing sense of tasting & savoring the food.  Don’t let the moment go without recognizing the enjoyment of the pleasure of eating.

Consider the ingredients in your food ~  Is what you are about to eat made of whole foods that your body will recognize?  If not, then go ahead & pass on consuming it.  Why? Because processed foods are what are known in the nutrition world as hyperpalatable foods.  These foods are specifically designed & manufactured to cause your body to become addicted to them.  It’s going to be a lot harder to overeat things made of whole food ingredients than it is things made of processed ingredients.

Decide what you will eat ahead of time ~ No more eating your aunt's fruit cake just because you don't want to hurt her feelings.  If you feel pressure from someone to eat a specific item, just say you're full & take home leftovers.  By choosing the things you like best, you will enjoy your meal more thus have more satisfaction.  This means you can pass on the foods that don't line up with your nutrition goals & enjoy what you really want to.  Remember to stay mindful of how you want to feel when the day is over & how you want to feel the next morning.

Most of all, remember to enjoy your holidays.  Don't let food or nutrition goals sabotage your brain & make it all you think about.  Make sure your family gatherings & parties include other memory-making events so that you can focus on relationships with people more than your relationship with food.

Love,
Cara

3 Reasons You Might Be Gaining Weight

You might be tempted to blame your grandma or your aunt sally for your body shape but genetics alone are not reason enough to attribute weight gain & simply live with unhealthy extra fat on your body.

Before we take a look at why weight gain might be a problem for you, let’s take a quick look at whether or not your weight is really an issue.  Determining your BMI (Body Mass Index) is a beneficial tool to figure out if your weight is over a healthy range.  Whether or not you can fit in a certain size or you have a few extra bulges here & there is NOT a way to determine if your weight is healthy.

For women, there are a lot of different life phases that can determine weight.  Ups & downs due to hormones, happen not only monthly, but also over a lifetime.  A woman who is 55 cannot expect to look the same as a woman, who is 25, even if the two are built relatively similar, eat the same type of foods & exercise the same way.

As women we have got to be understanding of what our bodies will look like & age like in certain phases of life.  Some of the healthiest, most beautiful women I know, don’t look like what the world says they should.  They may not wear the size of clothes that is expected or have perky parts of their bodies but they are healthy overall & that is more important than their actual weight.

Ok, there’s my sermon for today so now on to weight gain.  

 If you feel like you are living the same lifestyle as always (i.e., eating the same foods, exercising the same way, etc.) but you are still gaining weight, then one of these issues may be to blame:

Chronic Stress – When you are under chronic stress, your body produces more cortisol.  Cortisol is a hormone that causes your body to store fat.  More stored fat, means weight gain & changes to the shape of your body.  Have you noticed an extra bump in your midsection?  It could likely be linked to fat storage caused by cortisol.

Lack of Sleep – Sleeping is crucial to allowing your body to heal & produce hormones that help all of your organs & your brain function normally.  Better functioning organs & brain, leads to better food & health decisions overall, plus scientifically leads to a healthier weight.

Carb Overload – Carbs are not bad for you.  However, they must be the right type of carbs & in the right amounts to help maintain weight or encourage weight loss.  (Check out How Many Carbs Do I Really Need Each Day)  All carbs turn into glucose in the body, but the way your body processes them & where it sends them to be used or stored is crucial.  Time & time again, I have watched people at a breakfast buffet fill their plate with 2 fruits & a slice of “whole grain” toast thinking they are being healthy.  Unfortunately their entire meal is made up of carbs.  Too many for one setting (unless they are going out to run a marathon), so their body has to take the excess & store it as fat.  It has no choice.  Overloading on carbs (or sugar) causes things like insulin resistance, which can lead to diabetes & heart disease, but most definitely leads to excess stores of fat.

So what can you do?

First, figure out a way to de-stress.  Try yoga, meditation, prayer, or a hot bath.  Incorporate deep breathing into your daily routine.  Cutting stress is crucial for long-term health.

Second, make sure to get enough sleep.  Don’t fall prey to the lie that you can’t fit in extra sleep.   If you evaluate your day, I guarantee you can find 15-30 minutes of wasted time that could be put to use in the evening to crawl into bed earlier.  Start by getting in bed just 5 minutes earlier & increase by 5-minute increments each week until you reach an optimal amount of sleep for your body.

Last, be cautious with the carbs.  Evaluate your activity levels, energy & how well your metabolic function works to process the carbs you eat.  Most people only need to add in one whole food carb per meal.  This looks like sweet potatoes, berries or even broccoli.  Replace your morning bagel with berries, your lunchtime sandwich with a lettuce wrap & your dinner pasta with a sweet potato.  Small changes will make a huge difference!

Get a free 5-day E-book to start your transformative health journey from a
Biblical perspective by clicking the button below!

How Many Carbs do I Really Need?

Our society as a whole is confused about carbohydrates (a.k.a. carbs).  For over 30 years the FDA, diet gurus & doctors have vacillated on their opinions of the macronutrient known as carbs.  

 Many people think of carbs as only being in breads, pastas or sweets, but carbs are found in almost every whole food item that is grown underground, on a bush or in a tree. 

Though all of the above do contain carbs, there is a huge difference in getting carbs from a potato versus carbs from a candy bar.  The biggest difference is how quickly the carbs affect your blood sugar levels, which in turn determines if a carb will be used up or stored by your body.

So why did carbs get a bad rap in the fitness & diet industry years ago?  Carbs directly affect your blood sugar levels. When the body senses a rise in blood sugar, it has to immediately figure out what to do with it.  Hopefully it will be used in energy that is expended through activity.  But if not, it will have to be stored.  Extra glucose (the result of eating carbs) can get stored as fat cells. 

However, when carb intake is at a normal level, it can also be stored in your muscles & liver as glycogen.  This is the fuel your body uses for back up when it needs energy, but this type of fuel can only be stored for a couple of days.

So how many carbs do YOU actually need per day to maintain a healthy weight?

The thing is, carb intake need is directly linked to activity level, body composition & overall diet.  Everyone’s carb need per day is different.  

So why did you even read this far?  

I’m going to tell you an easy way to get started on knowing how many carbs you need per day.

First, let’s take an honest look at your activity level.  
Rank yourself in one of the following categories:

 20-30 minutes of activity, 4-7 days per week = lightly active
30 – 45 minutes of activity, 5-7 days per week = moderately active
45+ minutes of activity, 6 or more times per week = highly active

 Now here is a starting point of carb levels for each category:
Lightly active category à start with 60-100 grams of carbs per day
Moderately active category à start with 80-130 grams of carbs per day.
Highly active category à start with 120-180 grams of carbs per day.

In order to track your carbs you will need to either log all food into a journal or using a food tracking app or website.  These can also be good sources of figuring out what percentage of your daily intake (macronutrients) should be dedicated to carbs.

Remember, this is a starting point.  Everyone’s body will respond differently to varying levels of carbs.  You will have to do some self-exploration & evaluation in order to know how your body is responding.  

Also, keep in mind that these carb counts MUST come from whole foods, not processed foods if you want to achieve a level of health & wellness.  Not all carbs are created equal! 

What does a day of whole foods carbs look like? Let’s use an example of someone who is eating 100 carbs per day.  If that person eats those carbs in whole foods, then they get to eat 6 ounces of sweet potato, 1 apple, ½ cup of blackberries, 2 cups of broccoli & 2 dates per day.  Compare all of that food to 100 grams of processed carbs:  1 candy bar & 1 soda!

Yikes!  Please, please, please for the love of all things good, choose the whole foods.  Beyond the inequality of the compared carbs & the health implication of the rush of insulin that would be delivered to your body with the processed choice, there are so many negative aspects to using up your carb “bank” in a binge of processed foods.

Remember that overall health for a long time should always be your key goal.  If you are choosing whole foods, with a moderate amount of higher starchy choices, you will not likely overdo on the carb load.

Use the formula above & track your carbs for a couple of weeks to see if the amount you come up with works for you.  Since everyone is different, there is no mathematical formula that can be 100% right every time when figuring macronutrients.  Adjust up or down based on your daily activity level, energy levels & athletic performance.

If you want more help figuring out your daily carb intake or other macronutrients, click HERE to contact me about health & nutrition coaching.

4 Tips to Get You Started on Meal Prep

Are you overwhelmed by the term "meal prep"?

If meal prepping stirs up feelings of emotional anxiety for you then you are not alone. Many people try meal prepping but get overwhelmed by all the tips & tricks available out in cyber space or feel burdened by the time involved in getting it done.

Below are 4 different ways I meal prep. I don’t do all of these every week & I don’t always do them consistently, but when I do, it makes eating all week so smooth & hassle free.

Find which system that works best for you & get started on a path to stress free meal prepping!

1. Wash & Prep all veggies when you come home from the grocery store - this is so helpful because when it comes time to cook & eat the veggies you don't have to take that extra step of getting them ready. For instance, if I bring home zucchini, cauliflower & lettuce, I will go ahead & wash each one, then chop them how I want them for cooking. Make sure veggies are completely dry when storing in the fridge.

2. Pre-package spices & sauces for upcoming recipes - take a look at what you plan to make for the following week. Go ahead & mix up all the spices you need & store in small jars or baggies. If your recipe calls for a sauce, mix it into a glass jar & store in the fridge. These 2 steps make cooking a meal go so much quicker!

3. Prep lunches for the week - make lunch prep easy by making 3 sheet pans of food to create an entire meal. The first sheet pan will be a baked protein, like chicken or fish, the second one will be a vegetable & the third one will be a root vegetable. This way you get a well-rounded meal that is full of great whole food nutrients.

4. Use a couple of hours on Sunday to make several proteins & several veggies to use throughout the week - this makes all meals simple during weekdays. Simply pick a protein & a vegetable to reheat & it makes meals so easy. This means no excuses of being too busy during the week to eat healthily.

Start Transforming Your Body Today

If I asked you to go to the grocery store & fill your cart with healthy items, you could probably do it.  You likely have a general idea of what’s “good for you”. 

 If that’s true, then why is it that as a culture we struggle to implement what we know? Why do we carry around extra, unhealthy weight?

Maybe we are truly confused with all the methods, instructions & diet rules we’ve heard all of our lives, or maybe it’s because of the way we actually think.

Research has shown that most of our decisions are based on habits & lifestyle patterns instead of actually thinking through what we are doing.

Changing thinking requires changing the habits & patterns that lead up to the actions. 

“Do not be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Romans 12:2”

Often times when we start something new, we make it so difficult that we quickly resort back to whatever is easier.  There’s no need to “white knuckle” your way through changing your thought patterns when simply changing your environment will probably make as big of an impact & it won’t be torture!

Here are some small ways you can change what’s around you, to make a change to what’s in you (in your brain that is):

PLAN YOUR FOOD AHEAD
Go make a plan on Sunday of what you will eat each & every day of the week.  Take a look at your calendar in advance & check those days or nights that will keep you from cooking a fresh meal & make double the day before or buy pre-made whole food meals from a meal prep company. 

 Spending a little time planning ahead will leave your brain available for all the other things you have going on in life.

 PREP YOUR FOOD AHEAD
Go ahead & wash all your fruits & veggies when you come home from the store.  Either pre-make or prepare proteins for the week.

If spending a couple of hours on the weekend prepping food doesn’t appeal to you, then just go ahead & prep all the spices & ingredients for each meal you will make during the week.  This makes the actual cooking of the meal go so much faster & prepping spices & ingredients usually only takes minutes per recipe.

 KEEP TEMPTING FOODS OUT OF THE HOUSE
If it is harder & more inconvenient to get to that food you can’t resist, you are less likely to binge eat it. 

In other words, the “lazy” side of you is highly unlikely to drive to the grocery store or local fast food place to get ice cream at 9PM at night.  You’re more likely to eat those dried fruits in your pantry instead.  And while eating carbs like that late at night aren’t the ideal situation, it’s much better to eat a handful of raisins than it is to eat a bowl of rocky road.

BUY A QUALITY PROTEIN
For those times when you seriously just don’t have time for a meal (this shouldn’t happen often), then have a good protein powder on hand to mix with some coconut or almond milk.  This one is my favorite flavored one & this one is my favorite unflavored because you can mix it into absolutely anything including bone broth or a baked potato. 

Don’t let food be your enemy.  A little planning & prepping will make all the difference in the world in your mind, body & soul!

How to handle PMS cravings

There’s a dragon inside your brain that is demanding food.  Chocolate, chips, ice cream, or maybe all of it combined.  You don’t understand why every month it’s the same.  You eat really well most of the time, but when the plague of PMS strikes, you cave. 

You can’t seem to maintain any willpower or rational thinking.

The good news is, you are not crazy.  There is real scientific evidence for what you are facing.  The other good thing is, you are not alone.  Many women experience extra hunger, cravings & out of control actions during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. 

But you don’t want to continue to live like this month after month.  Not only do your hormones wreak havoc on your emotions, but spikes in your blood sugar levels from over eating do to.  This all translates into mood swings which make you (and everyone around you) miserable. 

There is a way to help these symptoms by what you do leading up to those days.

The 5-7 days leading up to your period are probably the most demanding on your body.  Even though it doesn’t seem to take any physical work on your part, the inside of your body is actually doing a lot.  It’s amazing how much energy your body utilizes to keep basic functions going that are simply the foundation for you actually being able to get up & be mobile. 

Keeping a calendar of your cycle & noting the days leading up to your period, is crucial to know when the following suggestions will work best for the onset of PMS symptoms

Here are some things that are crucial to not only overall health, but mental & physical health, especially during the most vulnerable days of your cycle. 

1. Make sure you are getting plenty of sleep.  The hormones produced in your body while you sleep are imperative for the body to restore itself form the work it does to keep you alive.  God specifically created these certain hormones, the ones that control brain function, hunger & reproductive cycles, to be released when we are fully asleep.  There is nothing that can replace what your body does while it is sleeping.

2. Add in some extra fat & carbs in the days leading up to your period.  This is not a candy bar loaded with processed ingredients but instead is more like an apple with nut butter, a boiled egg with berries or some carrot sticks with guacamole.

3. Don’t skip your time with God.  This isn’t a cliché bible thumping suggestion.  This is based on science that says quiet meditation time improves mood & will-power.  As believers, we know that the power of the Spirit {Galatians 5:22-23} can give us what we need.  So ask God to help you with cravings & mood swings.  Also, ask Him to give you the ability to shut down the world & go to bed a little earlier to get enough sleep during this time.

How to Get the Body You want by Ditching Your Diet Plan

Why is food so confusing & overwhelming?

It’s because everywhere you turn, someone is telling you what you should eat, when you should eat it, how you should eat it & why you should meal prep it. 

Never mind the pictures on social media that make you believe everyone else is eating a plateful of glitter dusted chicken & broccoli.

But you hate broccoli.  You eat it anyway because the diet you were on 3 diets ago, told you that the fiber in broccoli would flush everything out of your system & you would lose weight.  It hasn’t worked yet, but you keep holding on to hope that you’ll find the perfect combination of broccoli & some other food which will immediately give you a cover model body.

Maybe you’ve held on to bits & pieces of all the diets you’ve been on all your life & now you are on a new one & you are totally confused.  Worse yet, your body is confused.  It didn’t know what to do with the pre-packaged food you gave it on the last diet & now since you started following Dr. X’s low carb, low fat, vegan diet, you are so drastically restricting your calories, your body is once again confused.  

Ok, now seriously, it might not be this bad but then again, maybe it is.

I was once foolish enough to buy a book that promised me I could eat anything I wanted & still gain a flat belly by blowing up a dozen balloons every night! 

We have all fallen for outrageous claims in our search for the perfect diet.

Why do we fall for these diet traps so easily? 

Partly it’s because we don’t really know we have a choice.  We think in order to achieve “health” we need to follow some sort of guideline.  And if that guideline comes in the form of a book written by a doctor then we assume the advice must be golden.

We also think that failure of our previous diets is our own fault.  The diet must be good or other people wouldn’t follow it.  Would they?   We think the fact that our will power ultimately plays out on us is our own fault. 

We will never be able to obtain self-control unless we are doing it in the parameters of the Holy Spirit as our Helper.  Galatians 5:22-25 tells us that self-control is specifically a fruit of the Spirit.  Without the Spirit we simply cannot have self-control on our own.  We might be able to fake it for a while but ultimately the ability to have self-control in our own flesh will wear out & succumb to the thing we are fighting against.

Living in self-control can only be driven by a force called grace.  Grace wants you to live free within boundaries, but not be motivated by rules that keep you performing for acceptance (aka diet cycles).

So the only way to ditch your current diet plan is to answer a question.  Why are you on a diet?

Is it because someone made you believe you should be a certain size?  Is it because you want to achieve a certain look or maintain control over your appearance?  Maybe it’s because you actually are truly medically overweight & need to shed a few pounds for the sake of your health.  Do you want to have better abilities at the gym & feel better over all in day-to-day activities?

Whatever your reason, it’s got to be filtered through your values & who you believe you are in Christ. 

A “diet plan” might not actually be bad if it gives you guidelines that you release to God in order to follow them.  But if those guidelines lead you to shame & guilt or feeling like a failure, then that plan is not for you. 

If a particular plan is also asking you to eat extremely restricted calories, pre-packaged foods or specifically at certain times of the day, then you might question if this is a way you can live the rest of your life.

You can find freedom with food & remove yourself from a cycle of a diet culture.  Here are 3 steps to put in place to guard yourself against falling into the trap of yo-yo dieting:

START WITH A FOUNDATION – it’s super important to have an understanding of whole foods, intuitive eating & proper nutrition before embarking on any kind of diet plan that requires following certain guidelines. 

For example, following a Paleo type diet is not bad but if you don’t understand the why of it, how to know when to eat by cues from your body & how it makes you feel, and then you’ll ultimately give up on it. 

Go back to the basics.  Consider a nutrition coach to guide you through this.

UNDERSTAND THAT YOUR BODY NEEDS DIFFERENT THINGS ON DIFFERENT DAYS - the problem with most diet guidelines is they only let you eat a certain amount of food each day.  But the day you mow the yard, your body’s nutritional needs are vastly different from the day you sit on the couch binging on Netflix all day. 

Honoring your body’s need for whole food will help you know how & when to fuel it.  This goes back to knowing how to eat intuitively & understanding basic foundational nutrition.

GET RID OF THE ALL OR NOTHING MENTALITY – Life is meant to be enjoyed.  That doesn’t always mean you have to indulge in food to enjoy it but frankly, sometimes food will be part of that enjoyment. 

Skipping the cake at your child’s birthday party because of your diet rules is hogwash.  Eat cake!  Celebrate!  Then get back to your whole foods lifestyle & be thankful that God gave you the ability to enjoy certain foods within boundaries.

If you eat the cake & then go home & decide you’ve already ruined the whole day & eat more cake, plus probably some chips for dinner & a bowl of ice cream for dessert, then you’ve fallen into the trap of “all or nothing thinking”.  This is exactly what Satan wants for your life.  He wants you to feel like a complete failure.

God wants you to enjoy the good things He’s given you & live in abundance.  Abundance does not mean over-indulgence.  When was the last time over-indulgence felt like abundant living to you?  You can’t remember because all you remember from those crazy binge-eating sessions is the guilt & shame you were left with.

 Ditch your current “diet” & choose grace.  Check out more devotionals on healing your physical health in Christ.

How Eating Intuitively is the Beginning of Eating for Life

When you & I were born, we ate when we were hungry.  We stopped when we were full.  This pattern continued through our toddler years because no one has to tell a baby or toddler when he or she is hungry or full.  It’s intuitive.   

Somewhere along the way however, we lost this instinctual nature.  The one that listens to the voice inside our own body to eat when we are hungry & stop when we are full.  Somewhere along the way, other voices became so loud in our head, we forgot what it feels like to satisfy hunger with food without reaching the point of feeling over-stuffed or stopping ourselves while our stomach is still growling.

Those voices that drowned out the intuitiveness of our food consumption are the creators of the diets which have overtaken your ability to determine how much & how often you get to eat. 

But there is hope.  Even if you have forgotten what it feels like to choose to eat whole foods when you feel hungry or stop eating when you feel full {not stuffed like Thanksgiving Day}, I’m here to help you. 

If you are tired of all the rules, the charts, the scale & every other measuring tool the diet world wants you to use, then this is the place for you to start.

Let me be clear, there is a place for guidelines, scales, numbers, calorie & macro counting in the world of food, but it might not be for you.  Too many people want to go from 0 to 100 overnight.  People think if they are off track in their eating patterns, then the first step must be to “obey” the rules for calories & portion control. 

Different health goals require different levels of eating discipline.  Someone who is overweight, with out of control eating habits whose goal is to achieve more lean muscle mass & great eating habits, must start with foundations of understanding what intuitive eating feels like.  By starting with a calorie plan or too many guidelines & measurements, people often become overwhelmed with the process. 

Being overwhelmed in the process generally leads to falling back into old habits.

But if we start at the ground level, the basics of intuitive eating & then begin to work our way forward, the foundation will be set so you can progress to other goals.

“A wise man built his house on the rock: the rain descended & the floods came &   the winds blew & beat on that house & it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  But the foolish man built his house on the sand:  the rain descended, the floods came & the winds blew & beat on that house & it fell.  {Matthew 7:24-27}”

KEEP A JOURNAL OF EMOTIONS  
The first step to relearning the skill of intuitive eating is to keep a journal of feelings.   

This may seem illogical at first but what you will find is over time you will notice patterns in your mood that dictate patterns in your behavior.  For instance, if I don’t get enough sleep, my body will tell me I need carbs to keep myself going during the day. 

And truly when I am tired, I do need carbs. 

My initial desire to fill the energy void is to grab an extra large bag of chips & eat the whole thing so that I am left feeling over-stuffed & sick.  But if I have an understanding of what is driving me to physically need carbs, then I can mentally evaluate that I want to stay on the whole food track, so instead I choose to eat an apple with some almond butter & notice that I feel full.

It’s the noticing of the emotions around food that will begin a path of healthy choices.

If I stop to record that craving for carbs & then record how I respond to what my body is telling me, eventually I will know intuitively what to do when that situation occurs.  This method works for any situation, including, emotional eating, binging & becoming “hangry”. 

Check out THIS journal for help in deciphering food cravings.

COMMIT TO EATING ONLY WHOLE FOODS FOR A TIME PERIOD
By eating whole food, our body not only physiologically knows how to process the food, but our brain does too. 

But what exactly does whole food mean?  Think of it this way:  if it walked, grew, swam or flew, it’s a whole food.  Another way to think of it, is if in its original state, it doesn’t come with a nutrition label, then it’s a whole food.

My recommendation to anyone trying to adopt an intuitive eating lifestyle would be to only consume whole foods for at least a 21 day time period.  This amount of time allows your body & brain to reset itself.  It gives your body time to clear out all the chemicals that come along with processed, packaged food. 

It’s a lot easier to recognize when we are hungry if we consider eating a serving of carrot sticks.  If I am hungry, then carrot sticks will fulfill my hunger.  But if I think I am hungry & I only want a stack of cookies, then maybe I’m not actually hungry but instead hooked on eating high carb foods. 

If I eat the carrot sticks, I will stop when I am full.  But if I choose the cookies, I probably won’t stop until I reach the point of feeling over stuffed.

A commitment to only eating whole, unprocessed foods for a time will help you learn your body’s own cues again.

Check out THIS guide for portion control of whole foods

PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR SURROUNDINGS
Again, it may seem strange to consider what’s going on around you when you eat, but it plays a huge role in how your brain processes “feeding time”.

TRY EATING SLOWER
Eating slower does several things for us.  First, it gives our body time to process the process.  What I mean by that is that our brain must be fully engaged in eating in order to feel satisfied with food.   

By taking time to eat slowly, our brain realizes that our taste buds are being satisfied.  The most pleasure you get out of any meal comes in the first 3 bites.  After that the endorphins your brain sets off in your body begin to wane. 

So slow down & enjoy every single bite.  Think about the taste, the texture, the pleasure of the food. 

 Slowing down increases our intuitive nature in eating.

Practically, eating intuitively is the first step in a solid foundation of sustainable eating for life.  It’s the only way to get off the diet train & get on the road to complete food freedom without rules & restrictions. 

Creating Healthy Body Image

“We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ
2 Corinthians 10:5”

I spent years thinking my feet were so ugly & so big that I wouldn’t wear sandals or open toed shoes ever!  You might think this is crazy & wonder what in the world it has to do with body image but toes are part of the body too. 

 If I’m honest with you, I am not truly satisfied with every part of my body & I’m not sure I ever will be, but I’m sure trying.  I’ve spent so many years looking at images that tell me I should look a certain way, it makes it hard to get over feelings of inadequacy about my body.

And truth be told, you probably aren’t completely happy with every part of your body either. 

 But why are we so unhappy with our bodies?

We’ve spent years looking at images of perfect bodies & believing we should look like that too.  We tend to spend a lot of time focusing on what is wrong with our bodies.  And any negative comment we’ve ever heard, from anyone, including that boy in middle school, has stuck with us. 

The problem with all those images & all those comments is they leave us covered in thoughts of comparison.  When we compare our body to the body God has given someone else, we begin to believe that the shape & size of their body must dictate their level of happiness & we want that happiness too. 

 We believe if we could have the body we see on someone else then all our problems would disappear.

 But God wants you to see your body as He sees it.

            Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in our image…” {Genesis 1:26}

 We were made in God’s image.  How in the world could we dislike that?

 God not only made us in His own image, but He also created a space within us to carry His living Spirit!  Our bodies are an intricate working of cells, muscles, organs, bones & skin that carry around the ability to live & work in a way which honors & glorifies God Himself.

So does that mean we completely ignore our earthly body?  No, but there is a balance in keeping our body healthy, not hyper focusing on what we perceive as flaws & living in a way that honors the Lord.

Our body is indispensable.  We need this body to be able to live on earth.  We also need to live on earth to our greatest ability to serve others & serve the Lord.  It doesn’t mean we can’t care about how we look, it means we can’t focus on what we look like.

Body image becomes a problem when it affects our self-worth.  When we start to focus on believing that because a certain part of us doesn’t look a certain way or we aren’t a certain size in clothing, then body image is a problem.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to be a healthy weight, exercise, dress nicely or any other body care process, but we must filter all of that through our value & worth in Christ. 

 The bible says we are a whole being made up of body, spirit & soul {1 Thessalonians 5:23}.  While we are on this earth we are confined to the body in order to live so we must treat our body with a healthy respect. 

The parts of us {body, spirit & soul} are all interconnected, so being negligent to one part of it is just as bad as paying too much attention to one part of it. 

 We need God to help us find balance in our lives.  How can we do this?  Here are 3 thoughts on overcoming body image issues:

First, value the body God gave you.  Imagine for just a moment you lost the ability to walk, had a chronic illness or suffered in continual pain.  You would be left with a deep yearning for that part or ability back & you wouldn’t be so focused on what it looked like. 

 Second, realize your body gives you the ability to completely live out your life in God’s fullness.  Romans 12:1 tells us that our bodies are a living sacrifice to God & we actually worship Him with them.  If you didn’t have the body God gave you, you couldn’t worship Him fully. 

Lastly, thank God for the body He gave you & discipline yourself to be thankful for it.  Instead of looking in the mirror  & criticizing the part of your body you don’t really like, look in the mirror, directly into your own eyes & proclaim God’s truth about yourself.  Tell yourself you are fully loved, completely forgiven & completely able to complete the task He has called you to. 

The more we focus on our lives in the light of God’s view of us, the more we forget the images the world tries to shape us into.  We may never be fully satisfied with the physical aspect of the way our body looks in certain clothing but we can be fully satisfied with who we are & how much we are valued by the One who created us.

Three Ways to Control Food Cravings

One thing I’ve noticed over the last several years of my food & health is the decrease in my food cravings.

Please note I said, “decrease in my food cravings”, NOT the disappearance of my food cravings. 

The first step in becoming healthy is to understand that you may always crave a certain food & that’s not necessarily bad.  To crave a certain dish at Thanksgiving that you’ve eaten your whole life is more about an emotional comfort than a physical one.  To want to eat that same dessert every time you return to your favorite vacation spot, is about the memories made there, not about a random desire for a high fat, high-carb, hyperpalatable food.

Here we are talking about cravings in every day life.  Like Thursday afternoon, when the stress of the week & your lack of sleep the past 3 nights, is causing an overwhelming, intense longing for a Little Debbie snack cake.

Here are 3 of the most important things you can do consistently to decrease your food cravings:

SLEEP
The very first thing I realized about my cravings is that they decreased drastically when I had gotten enough sleep.  Science backs this up by telling us about 2 little hormones that are only released when we sleep.  Meet your friends Leptin & Ghrelin.

Ghrelin tells your brain that it is hungry.  If you don’t make enough of it during the night, then your brain can’t decipher hunger signals well.

Leptin tells your stomach it is full.  Same as above, if you don’t make enough during sleep, then your stomach doesn’t understand fullness & satisfaction cues of your body.

 As you can imagine, the constant war between Leptin & Ghrelin sensors that are lacking because of poor sleep, means you are reaching for more chips & chocolate.

Though there are many other hormones that are released during sleep, these 2 hormones alone are worth doing whatever it takes to get enough sleep. 

EAT REAL FOOD
When we eat real food, the neuropathways in our brain begin to relearn what we want. 

 Junk food is addictive & always leaves you unsatisfied. But when your body learns that it will thrive on chemical free, unprocessed, whole food, it will begin to subside its desire for cookies, pizza & chips.

Cravings are not generally for chicken breast & spinach, but if you can choose to eat those more often, even when you have a craving, your brain will learn new habits.

Your choices now, directly affect your cravings later.  The more you choose to fill the majority of your nutrition with protein, veggies, fruit & healthy fats, the less you will have time or room for the junk.

MAKE SURE YOU EAT ENOUGH REAL FOOD
If you truly need to lose weight & have a goal weight in mind for health sake, then it’s a common thought pattern to think you need to cut calories.  While this might be true in some cases, in a lot of cases, you just need to eat the right calories.

If you eat 1,700 calories in one day & that is comprised of your favorite coffee drink for breakfast, a quick drive through lunch & Chinese take out for dinner, your body simply can’t process those calories the same as it could a day of whole food eating for the same amount of calories.

For instance, if you ate 1,700 calories of whole foods in one day, it might look like this:  for breakfast, 2 eggs, 1 cup of blackberries, 2 ounces of avocado & 3 slices of turkey bacon.  For lunch, 6 ounces of chicken breast, 3 ounces of sweet potatoes, 1 cup of Brussels sprouts & a kale salad.  For dinner, a tenderloin steak, 3 ounces of butternut squash & 1 ½ cups of asparagus.  And you would still have enough calories left over for a protein shake & some pecans for a snack.

That is a lot of food!  AND your body knows what to do with all of those things you just fed it.  Your body has no problem turning all the protein, carbs & fat you just ate into the perfect amount of energy to help you function well all day long.  If you fed it the same amount of calories from the first example of food above, your body rushes to process the spikes in your blood sugar levels & stores much of those calories as fat.

Everyone has different calorie needs so it’s really important to work with a qualified Nutrition Coach to help you figure out what you need.

Ways to Keep Your Workout Goals a Reality

So you’ve decided to start a workout routine.  This is great.   Research shows working out has a long list of health benefits beyond the physical aspect of it. 

Besides keeping your physical self-healthy, a consistent work out plan can help reduce stress, help you sleep better & help you choose whole, healthy foods more often. 

Here are a few simple ways to keep those workout goals a reality in your day-to-day life:

JUST PUT ON YOUR WORKOUT SHOES
Chances are if you have your sneakers on you will feel more active.  It’s also a lot easier to get out the front door & go for a walk if you are already ready to go!

KEEP YOUR WORKOUT GEAR HANDY
Have small workout equipment in a convenient place so when you have a few extra minutes you can do small sets of resistance training with a kettlebell, resistance bands or a pull up bar.

KEEP A GYM BAG IN YOUR CAR
When you left the office late or those errands took longer than you expected, you wont be tempted to just go home or skip stopping by the gym.  Having gym clothes, a shaker bottle & to-go protein in your car already, will keep you from making a counterproductive decision.

PACK A “MOBILE GYM” WHEN YOU TRAVEL
Make sure the hotel you are staying in has a workout facility included in your stay or a walking/jogging trail close by.  Keep a set of resistance bands & a list of body weight exercises in your suitcase so you always have them when you travel.  If for some reason you can’t get to the gym (maybe you forgot sneakers), just pull up a yoga or workout video on YouTube & do it right in your hotel room.

 PUT WORKOUTS ON YOUR CALENDAR
You may have every intention of going to a spin class at 8AM every morning but if it’s not on your calendar & you get invited to coffee, I can assure you, the coffee invite will win.  But if your workout is on your calendar, you will more likely ask your friend if she can meet you right after workout!

Be healthy mentally, physically & spiritually.  If you need help figuring out the best workouts for you, email me.  I’ll help you make a plan.

Tips for Starting a New Workout Routine

Starting a new workout routine or activity can be a fun adventure.  But it can also be a scary one.  If you are trying some sort of athletic activity you have rarely or never done, there can be a lot of emotions surrounding your new lifestyle.

Here are some things to consider when venturing into something new:

PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR & SHOW UP
You can give yourself a high-five fort this one because showing up is half the battle.  Count this as a positive step in your health & fitness.   

TAKE A FRIEND OR MAKE A FRIEND
Having a support system helps calm nerves, fears or self-doubt.  If you don’t already have a friend involved in your class, then make a friend.  Be engaged & involved with the people in the fitness community you have chosen to reside in.  Feeling comfortable with someone else in your class will also release those “good feeling” hormones that will cause pathways in your brain to remember that place as a happy one.

ARRIVE EARLY
Make an effort to arrive 5-10 minutes before class.  This gives you time to interact with coaches & instructors, settle your stuff where it needs to be & prepare mentally for the task ahead.  It also will keep stress levels low.  Even if it was a stressful day or you had a stressful event leading up to arriving at your class, having a few minutes to prepare mentally will help your physical ability as well.

MAKE NECESSARY MODIFICATIONS
Whether you need to modify at every class or only at certain classes, do it.  You only get one shot with the body you have & the last thing you want is an injury because your pride got in the way of your brain.  If you are not physically capable of doing what is being asked, your instructor will be very happy to help you modify.  No good instructor wants anything more for you than healthy movement.  They don’t really care that you can do the highest-level skill in the world; they care that you can do your highest-level skill.

DONT COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS
We’ve all looked at someone else in class & thought how nice it would be to be as flexible, fast or strong as that person.  Everyone starts somewhere & you probably don’t know the full story of where that person started.  Physical activity is part of a heath journey so don’t worry if someone else seems “better” than you. 

Remember that this health journey you are on is for you.  So keep your “why” in mind & keep pushing forward.  Don’t give up on that new activity after one class.  Keep going, keep putting it on your calendar & keep being proud of yourself for doing your best!