10 things you need to know about health, not just losing weight!

1- Prevention trumps treatment- Most of major health problems we see heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure/cholesterol, cancer, are much more amenable to preventive lifestyle strategies (nutrition, exercise, rest) than to expensive, quick fix medications.

2- Real food is real Medicine- Locally grown fruits and veggies provide the micronutrients needed to keep your body and brain in balance, not processed pesticide-ridden gmo chemicals pretending to be food. Grow and prepare your own food.

3- You have to unplug to recharge- With all the multi-tasking and the go-go culture we’ve created, chronic sleep deprivation is a great risk factor for depression. Create quite calm places to pause, both at home and work. Your brain will thank you!

4- You can’t eliminate all stress, but you can develop better coping skills. The beauty of the mind-body medicine is that it only requires one person (YOU) and it’s cheap, available, safe, and very effective.

5- Get out/change scenery- It’s proven to positively effect mood, focus, energy level, and stress response with no risk of severe adverse effects. (Nature highly recommended)

6- Patience- You have to follow your plan let it happen. Whatever your goal for yourself is, it will not happen overnight. You are making steady changes as a whole, mind, body, nutrition, attitude, choices, being made daily! So take a deep breath and know your step a step ahead further than you were yesterday.

7- Good relationships are vital to health- Stress is toxic, and healthy relationships blunt the impact stress has on our health. This can cause for you needing to make some hard decisions. Changing your surroundings is one, as it involves saying no to people that aren’t fueling you to your goals.

8- You will have an off day- Off days are good! A day where you slip up on nutrition, or missing a workout. It’s ok, you can’t be hard on yourself and chalk up the rest of the week. Your program should allow for learning points. Don’t keep digging a bigger hole, notice it, be aware and start filling the hole (yourself) back up.

9- Make changes for yourself- You are the only person responsible for your progress and your success! Don’t try to please someone else, doing it to impress or compare, or even to fit in! You will be setting yourself up for failure. Only you can vision the outcome you expect.

10- Real change is hard work.. But it’s worth it! The health you desire is proportional to the effort you put in. Quick weight loss and maximum intensity workouts programs often lead to illness and injury. Instead, invest in working with a health consultant, trainer, coach who will partner with you to take it slow, steady, getting daily wins, and making the proper longterm moves toward optimal health!

Fitness myths some, even you may still believe 🤔

1-It’s better to use machines- These one dimensional forms of exercise make you more prone to injury. Completing multi-joint exercises (squats, lunges, deadlifts, even push ups) will prepare your body better for daily activity.
2-Losing weight only happens exercise- 80% of your program (weight loss, maintaining weight, or bulking) is all successful from your nutrition and recovery methods. Your success of attains your goal will thrive by balancing exercise, nutrition, sleep, hydration, and stress!
3- You can spot reduce 👎🏾 This is a big one that is not possible. Fat is burned through a combination of cardio and resistance/strength training that will ultimately decrease your body’s overall fat % paired with great nutrition.
4- Running is best to lose weight- Strength training combined with spurts of high intensity cardio creates more shock to your muscles, which in return will cause a Breyer after burn affect due to more required repair of muscles. Allowing more calories to burn continually after workout.
5- Staying fit takes up a lot of time- It’s proven that high intensity- interval training works for building muscle and burning calories in a more efficient time. The key is program design which is huge in this concept.
6-Women will “bulk” if lifting heavy weights- Hear this almost too often. Heard of testosterone? A very important component needed for muscle building, along with heavy calorie, protein, and carb filled eating and continuous heavy lifting for a period of time.
7- Needing a gym to stay in shape/fit- Body weight and rest interval is the matchup for an effective no equipment workout. This allows the body to work on all different plans and challenge muscles from many angles. Pull out a mat in your living room and do work!
8-If it worked for them, it will work for me- -Everyone is different, remember that! I know it’s hard with a lot of the hard selling going around with weight loss challenges, social media, diets, and whatever else is being mass produced. Each individual has a recipe needed for success, the key is trial and error, patience, dedication, and trusting the process! Focus on your goals, your progress, and no one else’s!

Upgrade your happiness in just 5 minutes..

Confession: I love notebooks, planners, journals. Confession 2: I have stacks of them in our room, my office and in business office, some full of ideas, and some that have never been opened. But there is one kind of upgrade journaling I recommend to everyone.

it was designed specifically to help you “focus on the good in your life and become more mindful l, and life with intention”. If you try it, you’ll see for yourself in a week or two that it actually works.

It’s the 5 minute journal. Have you heard of it?
became popular a few years ago by Tim Ferris, an author and podcaster who specializes in maximizing the human potential. This technique is based on positive psychology. (And you know how much you’re in your head throughout the day 🤦🏾‍♂️)

Here’s the basic format ⬇️⬇️⬇️
EVERY MORNING list 3 things your grateful for, 3 things that “would make today great” and 1 daily affirmation.

EVERY NIGHT write down 3 amazing things that happen during the day, and a sentence or two about what you could have done to make the day even better.

Overall, this will help you to develop a deeper sense of control over your actions and your life. If you like journaling, try upgrading to this format for a while and see how you like it.
If you don’t normally journal, this is the perfect format to experiment with.

make it an intentional day!

Signs your core needs work… 🤔

Your core has 2 layers to give it extra stability and strength. Restoring your core begins with your innermost muscles.

💥 signs your core needs work💥

👉🏾Low back pain

👉🏾Poor posture

👉🏾Weakness in extremities

👉🏾 You hold your breath when you work your core

👉🏾 When jumping, laughing, or coughing you find yourself running to the bathroom

4 exercises you can do right now to increase core strength: Planks, Bird dogs, side planks, and glute bridges.

Use the power of your smart phone and video yourself while doing these exercises to see what changes you need to make to perfect your form.

Build a mind/body connection so you know what good form feels like, and all this while focus on breathing. This will help activate important deep muscles and this is often overlooked.

Train how you want to look, with excellent posture.

And remember… take your time and be patient!

Our longtime client Jen.

How getting enough sleeps puts you in the mood

💥Here’s why you’re always hungry💥

Did you know that we’re getting less sleep than ever? Almost 60 years ago, a survey of more than 1 million people found that most people got 8-9 hours of sleep every night.

By 2000, that number dropped to about 7 hours a night. And now almost 20 years later, sleep experts say we’re sleeping even less- with many of us only 5-6 hours a night!

Woah! That’s a big drop in a short period of time. I guess it’s not surprising that energy drinks are so popular, right? But “powering through” on too little sleep is not a good idea for the longterm health of your body.

There are two major hormone “pathways” that take a big hit when you don’t get enough sleep- including hormones that handle things like your sex drive, stress, hunger, and blood sugar…and (ironically enough) even your ability to fall asleep! It only takes a night or two for them to get out of balance.

I’m just going to hit on just a few ways your sleep affects your hormones.

HUNGER- when you don’t get enough sleep, your body releases two important hormones that affect your appetite.

Ghrelin is your hunger hormone, which tells you to eat. Leptin is your “I’m full” hormone, which signals you to stop eating. Having disrupted sleep can throw those out of whack, leading you to feel hungry- and stay hungry, even when you eat! 😫😫😫

As you can imagine, this can cause round robin effect, leading to weight gain and a long list of related health problems.

STRESS- lack of sleep can cause stress- and stress can cause lack of sleep. The two go hand in hand. Over time, your cortisol levels- which normally rise in the morning to help get you going, and lower at night to help you sleep- can get turned around, throwing your sleep cycle off.

LIBIDO- Being sleep deprived for one week can cut your testosterone levels by as much as 15% (even in women!) This can have a pretty big impact on your quality of life! It can be tempting to think of sleeping as wasted time, but it’s actually the opposite. It’s when your body recovers, restores, and recharges for the coming day, helping you live your best life!!!