Tired all the Time? Try this Energy Boosting Tip!

by hartteuser Leave a Comment

Dark winter days getting you down? Tired all the time? It’s not all in your head.

Winter is the season when your body naturally slows down.

Harsh, cold weather, post holidays and darkness can particularly exhaust your kidneys and adrenals.

Ann Louise Gittleman, in her book, ‘Fat Flush For Life’ lists symptoms of kidney and adrenal weakness to include:

An inability to deal with stress
Low stamina
Frequent pain or weakness in the knees or lower back
A craving for salt or addiction to sweets
Difficulty waking up and getting going in the morning

If this sounds like you and you’re tired all the time, then try this tip to boost your energy!

Have Twice as Much Energy With This Energy Boosting Tip

A simple daily practice can help to restore your kidneys and adrenals. Start your day by doing this:

First, upon awakening, drink 1 litre of filtered water towards your required amount for the day.

A good rule of thumb is 1 litre for every 50 lbs of body weight.

Your body is at it’s cleanest first thing in the morning. It;s worked hard for you overnight and used a lot of energy to ‘clean house’ while you were sleeping. To help it along a good practice is to drink water.

Drinking water, first thing in the morning, helps your kidneys flush out the accumulated toxins build up from the previous day. These are things like uric acid, discarded cellular toxins, and other metabolic waste products.

If you skip this step, your body will retain what fluids and toxins it does have and you feel it as plain sluggish.

Next, be sure to include a good source of salt in your daily diet.

There is so much misunderstanding about salt that I want to clear some things up.

Salt supports healthy adrenal function. Healthy adrenal function not only equates to a day full of natural energy, it also is important for balancing hormones. Something many are striving for these days.

Those embarking on a ketogenic style diet or low carb diet needs to pay particular close attention to the importance of salt. Mark Sisson, in his most recent book, ‘The Keto Reset Diet’, recommends, about 2 teaspoons of fine salt or a little under 3 teaspoons of kosher salt). Along with 300-400 mg magnesium, and 1-2 grams of potassium each day on top of your normal food. He explains, going keto really flushes out water weight, and tons of electrolytes leave with it.

Additionally, Dr. James Wilson believes that increasing intake would benefit people with adrenal fatigue. The physician, who wrote “Adrenal Fatigue: 21st Century Stress Syndrome,” points out that salt cravings remain common among his patients and recommends they respond to them with a greater salt intake.

Not only that, salt (sodium chloride) is essential to proper digestion. Your body needs chloride to make hydrochloric acid to properly break down your proteins and absorb the minerals from your food. Proteins are the building blocks of good health and minerals are what the body uses for proper function.

Not all salt is created equal. Turn to Celtic or Himalayan Salt (or a combination of both). These special salts are known to contain over 84 trace minerals including selenium, calcium, magnesium, and zinc. These minerals have the property to induce better sleep, promote healthy body functions, restore sodium level in blood, flush out body toxins and relieve inflammation. Multiple studies have reported mineral deficiencies with being tired all the time.

Lastly, eat parsley. This natural diuretic contains apiole, an organic compound that stimulates the kidneys to release its accumulated fluids. With it’s high content of vitamins and minerals, parsley makes it ideal for combating weakness, fatigue, mental and physical fatigue.

A good way to eat parsley is to chop up a handful and add it at the end to your salads and veggie stir fries. I make this a common practice and combine other warming herbs and spices like garlic, cayenne, and turmeric. These are equally beneficial to boosting metabolism too! Always an added bonus!

In summary to help you stop feeling tired all the time and start getting some energy back, support your kidneys and adrenals with this energy boosting tip.

Your simple daily practice.

First: Begin your day with 1 litre of filtered water,

Next: Incorporate 2 tsp of salt (Celtic or Himalayian or both),

Finally: Add parsley into your meals.

Think you can do it? I know you can!

Let me know how it goes by writing a comment below or sending an email to me here contact us

Busy parent with extra ‘winter’ weight looking for quick meals that also feed your family well?

DOWNLOAD MICHALE’S FREE RECIPE EBOOK: For 30 Slimming and Filling Dishes Your Family Will Love!

Still holding onto 15+ Pounds? Want a more Personalized Nutritional Plan? Get one on one help here

6 Major Players To Balancing Hormones And Getting Lean

by hartteuser Leave a Comment

This is the final one of a series of posts on Balancing Hormones and Getting Lean.

At the end of the series, you will be given the practical steps that encompass all 6 major players to balancing hormones and getting lean.

In my last article, The #1 Secret To Balancing Hormones And Getting Lean I shared with you how getting lean requires good hormonal balance.

Gone are the endless days of the eat less and exercise more strategy. While eating less and exercising more does have its place in fat loss, it’s designed to be a tool to incorporate into your long-term health and wellness strategy.

So, to get lean in a healthy way, there are 6 major areas to balance and make that goal happen – I’ve already outlined the first of the 6 in this post.

The other 5 are: A Hormone Balancing Diet; Safe and Easy Detox; Restorative Sleep; Stress Management; and Proper Exercise/Movement.

Without going into great depth of all 5 of these areas, instead, I would like to focus in on the diet, detox, and sleep, and leave stress and exercise for another blog post.

I will wrap this post up in a nice Xmas bow and end with an easy to follow Fit ‘n Healthy Daily Routine that covers all these 6 Major Players to Balancing Hormones and Getting Lean.

11 Hormones Responsible For Getting Lean And Building Sexy Muscle

There are 11 hormones responsible for getting lean and building muscle.

These Hormones are:

1. Insulin – The Fat Storer

2. Glucagon – The Fat Burner

3. Ghrelin – The Hunger Hormone

4, Leptin – The Fuel Gauge

5. Thyroid Hormone – The Metabolic Manager

6. Cortisol – The Stress Hormone

7. Adiponectin – The Satiety Hormone

8. Human Growth Hormone (HGH) – The Fountain of Youth

9. Estrogen – The Feminizer

10. Progesterone – The Partner of Estrogen

11. Testosterone – The Body Sculptor

Therefore, creating a Diet and Lifestyle Plan that balances these 11 hormones would be a good, sound strategy to getting and staying Fit ‘n Healthy.

Let’s start with Diet.

Hormone Balancing Diet

Out of all the 11 hormones listed above, balancing Insulin and Glucagon will give you the fastest results and simplest solution to getting lean and building sexy muscle – long term.

A good start to balancing Insulin and Glucagon is consuming a diet rich in high-quality protein and omega 3 fats while swapping highly processed, high glycemic carbohydrates with high fibrous, low glycemic ones.

For more details on this way of eating, check out my Slim, Strong, and Sexy Diet Plan.

Are You 15 + Pounds Overweight?

If you are struggling with 15 + pounds to lose, you will most likely need to start by balancing Leptin and Ghrelin. Take the Leptin Resistance Quiz and fix it here.

One other consideration, when it comes to a Hormone Balancing Diet, is eating just enough. This means NOT overeating. Overeating is another way insulin rises independently of a carefully balanced diet.

A good trick to help you NOT overeat is to ensure you’re well hydrated. Sometimes, you may feel hungry when in fact, you’re actually thirsty. This is why I recommend my clients to start their day with 1 litre of filtered water and drink the rest of your required water intake between meals and not to close to bedtime.

A good rule of thumb is 1 litre of water for every 50 lbs of body weight.

Safe And Easy Detox

Toxicity is of much greater concern now than ever before. We are exposed to many new and stronger chemicals, many of which we place on our skin and consume in our foods every day.

And with new threats, like genetically modified foods and an excessive amount of EMF exposure, we need to be even more diligent to clean ourselves out.

For these reasons, getting lean, feeling strong and reaching peak performance needs to include a solid, safe and easy detox.

Simply put, excess toxins cause havoc on your hormones. Your liver, kidney, lung, and to some extent, your gut are the organs that play the biggest part in getting you lean.

These are your primary organs that keep your insides, clean. If any one or more of these ‘organs of elimination’ are sluggish, then your ability to burn fat is diminished as well.

‘When you get cleaner, your body will get leaner’

This is a direct quote from fitness and nutritional expert Shawn Stevenson of The Model Health Show.

“One of the ways excess toxicity leads to weight gain is through inflammation. Just think of how Estrogen Dominance plays a role in being overweight? In fact, some recent research points to the inability of our bodies to burn fat as fuel even when on a Ketogenic Diet.”

Mike Mutzel, fitness and nutrition expert and author of The Belly Fat Effect, does a great job explaining how important going on a good detox is essential before going on a fat burning diet.

He sums it up by saying, “constipation is common with ketosis and can kick you out of ketosis. Constipation can also cause the recirculation of nasty chemicals, negatively impacting your liver. Do a detox before going on a ketogenic style diet. Clean house.”

I fully agree. Another factor to consider when your body starts to burn body fat is that toxins are being released into your bloodstream. Your liver, kidneys and gut go to work trying to get these out. If anyone of these ‘fat burning’ organs are sluggish, then you feel crappy!

Doing a safe and easy detox alongside a solid weight loss plan is essential.

Are your ‘fat burning’ organs clean enough?

Go here and find out:

adp_detox_questionnaire_v2

digestion_aire

kidney_health_aire_aadp

liver_gall_blad_aire

Detox is actually quite simple.

First and foremost, start by eliminating as many Sources of Toxicity as you can. This is exactly how I begin the detox process with all my clients – by handing them my Sources of Toxicity Checklist with Simple Solutions on How to Eliminate Them.

To assist your kidneys, start your day with 1 litre of filtered water with added freshly squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of unrefined salt.

Do this BEFORE or along with your morning organic coffee or organic green tea. Always drink your water away from meals. Drink nettle tea during the day also to help with kidney function.

Additionally, to support the gut with having 1-3 good sized bowel movements per day, incorporate non-starchy, fibrous carbs (just think of above ground vegetables like kale, radishes, peppers (all colors), broccoli, and celery). Remember to save your starchy carbs for your evening meal (think of below the ground veggies or properly prepared grains, beans or legumes). Drink peppermint tea!

Enjoying little-fermented foods prior to your evening meal will also aid in proper bowel movements along with about 300 mg of magnesium. I like magnesium glycinate.

For your liver, eat Liver Friendly Foods like broccoli, broccoli sprouts, artichokes, beets, onions, garlic, and incorporate lemons and limes into your meals. Drink dandelion tea.

Practice deep breathing to support lung function. I recommend performing 5 deep belly breaths in the AM and again in the PM, being careful to keep the shoulders down and breath from your belly.

To take it a step further, go on a safe and easy detox. The one that I perform regularly and get great results is using a method called Biotherapeutic Drainage.

Restorative Sleep

Burn fat, get smart, and heal your body while you sleep! This is by far the ‘lazy persons way’ to cut fat, build lean muscle tissue and set up the stage for peak performance!

You heard right! A solid nights sleep is a great way to burn fat!

Did you know sleep is the only time your brain detoxifies? This is also the time you repair and regenerate from the day’s activities?

Just think about those days when you’ve had the best sleep – you feel pretty remarkable don’t you?

I always liken a good nights sleep to going the spa. That’s exactly how I feel when I’ve had the best sleep ever.

It’s one of the secrets to fat loss, and much has to do with keeping Leptin and Grehlin in balance, along with Insulin and Adiponectin, with a subsequent increase in Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone.

Having a good night’s sleep is essential in getting these hormones in balance.

What A Normal Sleep Cycle Looks Like

Starting at about 6 am, you get a surge of Cortisol. This wakes up your brain and body. Soon after (within 2 hours), Ghrelin rises signalling you to eat along with Vasoactive Intestinal Polypeptide (VIP) signalling you to ‘poop’.

At around 9 am or 10 am your sex hormones rise (which is a good time to enjoy sex). This can help reset your circadian rhythms if you are having troubles sleeping at night.

Sometime around sunset, your hormone Leptin gets released from your fat stores. If your circadian rhythm is in sync and leptin is able to do its job properly, leptin can actually shift your body into burning fat, suppress your appetite and control any late night food cravings. This continues until bedtime along with another hormone, adiponectin.

Snacking after dinner and before bedtime stops leptin and adiponectin from doing its job. This leads to a complete halt to the magic of burning fat while you sleep.

Assuming you haven’t been dosing yourself with artificial light (computers, tv, cell phones), melatonin gets released at 10 pm. At around midnight, melatonin peaks allowing leptin to enter into the hypothalamus. This is super important from a fat burning perspective because if this all happens, thyroid gets the signal to be upregulated.

Next, your mitochondria begin to produce heat (as your core temperature drops). A proper sleep cycle allows your mitochondria to burn fat for heat while you sleep.

Do you see how obesity can be linked to chronic lack of sleep?

Another great advantage of melatonin peaking at midnight is the surge in prolactin. This is an incredibly important hormone as it promotes the release of Human Growth Hormone (HGH).

According to NIH research cited in the book, Lights Out, 6 hours of prolactin production in the dark is the minimum necessary to maintain immune function like T-cell and beneficial killer-cell production.

But you can’t get 6 hours of prolactin secretion on 6 hours of sleep a night; it takes at least 3.5 hours of melatonin secretion before your body even makes prolactin. That’s 9.5 hours of needed sleep IN THE WINTER MONTHS (7 hours in the summer), every night, for proper immune function.

The connection is clear. Scale back on too much gym time and unnecessary calorie counting. There is a MUCH easier way to slim down and get Fit ‘n Healthy – enjoy a restful nights sleep!

Simple Solutions For A Restful Sleep

10 hours before bed – no more caffeine
3 hours before bed – no more food
2 hours before bed – no more work
1 hour before bed – no more screen time (TV, computers, phones)

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed these tips on 3 of the 6 Major Players to Balancing Hormones and Getting Lean. I promise to get the other 3 out to you sometime soon.

As an XMAS GIFT TO YOU, I want to leave you with my easy to follow Fit ‘n Healthy Daily Routine that covers all these 6 Major Players to Balancing Hormones and Getting Lean.

FIT ‘N HEALTHY DAILY ROUTINE

GET FIT ‘N HEALTHY WITH THESE 4 STEPS:

STEP: 1 MORNING ROUTINE

Drink 1 litre towards your required amount of filtered water. Drink the rest between meals and not too close to bedtime. BENEFITS: Aids in detox. Rehydrates for easy fat loss. Recharges energy. Your required amount of water for the day is ___ litres of filtered water per day. Always away from meals.

Get outside within 30 minutes of waking for 2-5 minutes and let the natural sunlight enter your eyes. Look about 15 degrees away from the sun. If the sun is not up yet, then look in that direction. This sets the stage for proper Circadian rhythm (best sleep, best digestion, best mood).

STEP 2: DIET

Make sure your breakfast has ______g total protein and 1-2 tbsps of extra fat (ideally from coconut oil, grass-fed butter or fat from your pasture-raised meat) with some non-starchy fibrous carbohydrates. See ‘The Fit n Healthy Diet – Create your healthy meals in 4 simple steps’ handout for sources. Use as your new template to make your meals. Breakfast ideas include: Eggs and bacon or leftover meat from last night’s dinner, plus a cup of lightly cooked green leafy veggies with or without extra above ground, colorful veggies OR a smoothie: Grass-fed Protein Powder (to yield 25 grams) plus 1/2 cup of coconut milk or coconut kefir, plus 1-2 cups of dark leafy greens, plus a handful of seasonal berries, plus 1 tbsp of sprouted seeds. Blend. You know you’ve eaten enough when you can wait for 4-5 hours before lunchtime. If you can’t, you need to eat more fat. CHEW YOUR SMOOTHIE OR FOOD VERY WELL!

LIMIT CARBS TO ______ GRAMS FOR THE DAY IF YOU ARE OVERWEIGHT BY MORE THAN 15 LBS. IF YOU ARE ACTIVE, YOU CAN UP YOUR CARBS BUT KEEP BETWEEN 100-150 GRAMS. WHEN YOU ARE AT A NORMAL WEIGHT, BEST TO KEEP CARBS AROUND 100-150 GRAMS DEPENDING ON YOUR ACTIVITY LEVEL AND AGE.
ACTIVITY LEVEL AND CARBS: CYCLE YOUR CARBS DEPENDING ON ACTIVITY LEVEL (EM-EM PLUS EL-EL)

EM = Exercise More

EM = Eat More

EL = Exercise Less

EL = Eat Less

For those weight training: CONSUME 0.7 GRAMS OF PROTEIN PER POUND OF BODY WEIGHT (in divided doses). This will keep you in a healthy ‘nitrogen’ balance for optimal regeneration and repair. ONLY for those who perform some type of ‘strength training’ exercise for 20 minutes 2-3 times a week.

For example, if your ideal weight is 160 lbs, you would consume 110 grams of protein in a day. A good example would be 55 grams of protein at breakfast, 35 grams of protein at lunch, and 20 grams of protein at dinner.

Your daily protein requirements are _____ g per day.

Breakfast: __________ grams

Lunch: __________ grams

Dinner: __________ grams

For those NOT weight training: CONSUME 0.55 GRAMS OF PROTEIN PER POUND OF BODY WEIGHT (in divided doses). This will keep you in a healthy ‘nitrogen’ balance for optimal regeneration and repair. Once you begin strength training (only when you are leptin sensitive), then you can up your protein to 0.7 grams per pound of body weight.

Using the same example: if your ideal weight is 160 lbs, you would consume 88 grams of protein in a day. A good example would be 45 grams of protein at breakfast, 25 grams of protein at lunch, and 20 grams of protein at dinner.

Your daily protein requirements are _____ g per day.

Breakfast: __________ grams

Lunch: __________ grams

Dinner: __________ grams

EAT THE MOST FOOD IN THE MORNING WITH DECREASING AMOUNTS AS THE DAY GOES ON.
SAVE YOUR ‘STARCHY’ CARBOHYDRATES FOR YOUR DINNER MEAL. Starchy carbohydrates can help ensure a better, quality sleep (which is why we save them for the evening meal). See The Fit ‘n Healthy Plan, STEP 2: Choose your carbohydrates. Always with your protein and fat.

CONSUME 1-2 TBSP OF ADDED FATS TO EACH OF YOUR 3 MEALS OF THE DAY. Add coconut oil to your morning organic coffee or tea, or eat 1 tbsp of it. Your best fats are coconut oil, MCT oil, pastured butter, heavy cream, red palm oil, ghee. Avocado and olives are good too. Limit nuts and seeds (exception: use when on a hormone balancing protocol)

EAT PREBIOTIC, PROBIOTIC, AND FOODS RICH IN POLYPHENOLS. Part of becoming leptin sensitive is healing the gut. Prebiotic, probiotic, and foods rich in polyphenols nourish your gut. This, in turn, lowers inflammation and fixes leptin signalling. See The Fit ‘n Healthy Plan, STEP 4: Choose your extras.

EAT 3 MEALS A DAY INITIALLY, BUT AS YOUR HUNGER AND CRAVINGS FADE, YOU CAN ADAPT TO EATING 2 TIMES A DAY, IF YOU LIKE.

STOP EATING 4-5 HOURS BEFORE BEDTIME IF YOU ARE 15 LBS PLUS OVERWEIGHT. OTHERWISE, STOP 3 HOURS BEFORE BEDTIME.

SNACKING IS NOT RECOMMENDED. This completely stresses the liver’s metabolism. Your liver needs to relearn how to use gluconeogenesis when you are asleep and awake. Snacking destroys the timing and circadian clocks that work in unison with leptin.

STEP 3: LIFESTYLE

GET OUTSIDE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN. Spending time outside (sunglass free) keeps your Circadian Rhythm in check. This helps with the entire hormonal cascade and leptin to work properly. Getting outside and in nature is an excellent way to balance stress. Strive for 20 minutes in the morning and 20-30 minutes in the afternoon. Ideally, go for an easy walk after dinner. This helps with good digestion, fat loss and best sleep.
MOVE. Move as much as you can during the day. Try not to sit for more than 2 hours. READ YOUR BODY. Rest when you need. Move when you can. If you have an office job, invest in a standing desk.
WITHIN 1 HOUR OF SUNSET, MAKE YOUR SURROUNDINGS AS DARK AS POSSIBLE. See ‘Tips for Optimal Sleep’ handout.
ELIMINATE AS MANY SOURCES OF TOXICITY AS YOU CAN. See ‘Sources of Toxicity Checklist with Simple Solutions’ handout. An over toxic body is a body that is in constant inflammation. Inflammation is what drives excess body fat. You must do everything you can to reduce inflammation. Not only do we need to eat ‘clean’, we need to live ‘clean’.
LEARN TO MANAGE STRESS. A lifestyle with too many demands, time pressures, without enough ‘down time’ and rest, put our hormones out of balance, no matter what diet or movement plan we are following. Best stress management techniques are; meditation, yoga, walking in nature, having a bath, listening to great music and laughing out loud!
START A JOURNAL. Begin by writing down what you are grateful for and why you want to be Fit ‘n Healthy. Making change can be difficult. TRY THIS: OPAR – VISION (what is your vision); O – OBSTACLES (what are your obstacles), P – PLAN (what is your plan to overcome the obstacles), A – ACTION (take action), R – REFLECTION (look back at the result and tweak if needed).
‘LOVE HOW FIT ‘N HEALTHY FEELS’ – take this mantra and remember it to stay on track.

STEP 4: DETOX PLUS SUPPLEMENTS

Struggling to get Fit ‘n Healthy? I would love to create a Personalized Nutritional Plan for you. Get one on one help!

Whether it’s to drop some extra weight, balance your hormones, build some sexy muscle or even just do a whole body tune-up!

Simply GO HERE to learn more and get started NOW.

What’s it going to cost you if you don’t take action now?

Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain: My Top 5 Tips

by hartteuser Leave a Comment

Looking to Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain? Then NOW is the time to plan and prepare.

If you’re like most people, the time between Halloween and Christmas is when you’re most likely to put on the dreaded ‘jelly belly’.

In fact, a A Prospective Study of Holiday Weight Gain took 195 subjects and weighed them during 3 critical periods: Pre-Holiday (from late September to mid-November), Holiday (November to January) and Post-Holiday (January to March).

In the summary, they concluded that it was the Holiday period when the highest amount of weight was gained.

Not only that, the study went on to report that this extra holiday weight gain was not reduced even after the following spring and summer months.

This spells double trouble for long term fat loss.

However, there are things you can do, starting today, to Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain.

I personally follow the strategies I am about to share with you, which is how I am able to stay at my desired weight (and health) all throughout the year.

The best part is I don’t feel deprived in anyway or that I’m missing out and You can too!

How DO I eat the large meal at Christmas or New Years without gaining?

Find out and follow my Top 5 Tips below so you can maintain your weight this season too!

Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain: My Top 5 Tips

Below are my 5 Tips to keep the extra weight off during the Holiday Season.

Tip #1: Tap into your WHY

Tapping into your WHY, means really thinking about WHY you want to be Fit and Healthy.

What is YOUR reason? To help figure this out, do this 5 Step exercise:

5 Step Exercise to figure out your WHY to getting (and staying) Fit n Healthy.

To do this exercise, grab a pen and piece of paper, notebook or journal and it have next to you.

Step 1: Close your eyes and think about what your life would be like being Fit and Healthy.

What are you doing?

What do you look like?

Who are you influencing?

How are your relationships with your loved ones?

Who is complementing you?

How do you feel?

How are you handling your day to day stress?

Step 2: Open your eyes and write these thoughts down under the heading

My life being Fit n Healthy

Step 3: Now close your eyes again and think about what your life would be like NOT being Fit and Healthy.

What are your thoughts, first thing in the morning?

How do you look?

How does your body feel?

Are you the role model you’d like to be?

How are you handling your day to day stress?

Step 4: Open your eyes and write these thoughts down under the heading

My life NOT being Fit n Healthy

Step 5: Where do you want to be starting now?

See it, believe it, be it now!

For me, I personally like to feel strong, have energy from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, and be a great influence for my family and others.

I also like to feel good in my own body.

This is my WHY. What’s yours?

Next up to Avoid (the dreaded) holiday weight gain: My Top 5 Tips – is Tip #2

Tip #2: Fed Well, Fast Well

Feeding well, the Fit n Healthy way, means focusing on a ‘nutrient-rich’, seasonal way of eating.

Here’s why I don’t focus on calorie counting.

Let really take a good look at it……

It’s coming into the winter season, the snow has just fallen and I want you to think of how you feel, sipping on a rich bowl of creamy chicken vegetable soup.

Now, think of how you would feel with consuming 2 pieces plain, regular toast.

Both contain roughly the same amount of calories.

Compared to the 2 pieces of regular toast, the bowl of creamy chicken vegetable soup is jammed packed with mineral rich gelatin, health promoting vegetables, and strength building protein.

Whereas the 2 pieces of plain, regular toast are an irritant to your gut, quickly raise blood sugar to increase your waistline and likely not satisfying or satiating to say the least!

Bottom line: it is not about the ‘calories’ that the food contains.

It is about what information the food gives to the body that really matters.

This information is in the form of what path the food actually takes in the body. Calorie counting is NOT how we get to optimal body composition and health.

Instead, it is about the quality of foods you take in, along with when and how much.

For a more detailed description on how to feed your body well, read my article , How to Eat to Get Slim and Sexy for Summer and pay close attention to my section on ‘Create your Healthy Meals in 4 Simple Steps’.

So, after we’ve FED OURSELVES WELL, WE NEED TO FAST OURSELVES WELL

Fasting well means a time when you don’t eat.

Practice Intermittent fasting.

Setting a daily practice of Intermittent Fasting is one of the easiest and fastest ways to become a long term, efficient fat burner. When you are fasting, you’re essentially relying on your own body’s extra fat stores to be used for energy.

There are many ways to practice Intermittent fasting, but I find the easiest way is simply not eating for 14 to 16 hours from DINNER to BREAKFAST.

For more ways, check out Jason Fung’s new book, “The Complete Guide to Fasting: Heal your body through intermittent, alternate day, and extended fasting“.

It turns out, amazing things happen when we don’t eat for 14 + hrs. Our body has a chance to do some ‘housecleaning’ otherwise known as autophagy.

Autophagy literally means the, ‘destruction of damaged or redundant cellular components occurring in vacuoles within the cell’.

Autophagy makes way for new, healthy, vibrant cells to be born.

Not only that, our weight loss, anti aging hormones (growth hormone, glucagon and adiponectin) go up.

When this happens, our fat storage hormone goes down (glucose), which is exactly what we want.

When glucose goes down, so does our stored body fat.

With no glucose kicking around for fuel, your body then looks for a different fuel source.

That fuel source is ketones. Ketones have gotten a lot of publicity these days, and for good reason.

Research shows ketones heal the brain, reduce inflammation and turn on our SIRT1 longevity gene.

I did a whole 2 part article on how Inflammation is the key driver to unsightly belly fat. So check it out!

Bottom line: getting into ‘ketosis’ burns fat, fuels our brains, and helps us look and feel more youthful.

An easy way to get the benefits of ‘ketosis’ is to keep yourself fasted by including MCT or cold pressed, virgin coconut oil in with your organic coffee or organic green tea. Doing so keeps you IN ketosis for all the benefits that I’ve just described.

Next up to Avoid (the dreaded) holiday weight gain: My Top 5 Tips – is Tip #3

Tip #3: Talk a morning walk (on an empty stomach)

Another easy way to step up your weight loss, or avoid holiday weight gain, is to start the morning with a 20 min walk on an empty stomach (fasted).

Walking, in a fasted state keeps you burning fat for longer.

Taking your walk, especially after your morning coffee or green tea, has been shown to increase your metabolism by up to 11% Practicing this a few times a week can really make a difference to your long term fat loss goals.

Doing so also is a great way to train your body to use ‘fat as fuel’ instead of using the other source – glucose,

Being able to switch between these two fuel sources (fat and glucose) is KEY for long term fat loss.

Just be prepared that up regulating your metabolism to burn fat can take time (roughly 4-6 weeks) and doesn’t happen overnight.

It’s a process called, fat adaptation. However, be patient with yourself. Being consistent with your new found healthy habit is how to Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain.

Next up to Avoid (the dreaded) holiday weight gain: My Top 5 Tips – is Tip #4

Tip #4: Have a protein rich breakfast and save your ‘starchy’ carbs for your evening meal

When it’s time for breakfast, choosing a protein rich breakfast can help to keep insulin, our fat storage hormone down. Adding about 1 to 2 tbsp of added healthy fats like coconut oil or grass fed butter will also help here too.

Insulin is our ‘fat storage’ hormone, so anytime it’s elevated, your ability to burn fat stops right in it’s tracks! Period!

Insulin is highly responsive to glucose. So anything that drive glucose up (grains, fruits, sugar, pastries, low fat milk or yogurt, bread, etc) will also drive up your weight.

Some are better then others (ie whole fruits better then whole wheat bread), but they ALL go to glucose in the blood.

Independant to insulin, your body does an incredible job keeping blood sugar stable through a process known as gluconeurogenisis (the regulation of blood sugar through your liver).

Evidence points to how our body doesn’t actually have any requirements for carbohydrates. This concept was the genesis to the popular Ketogenic Diet, successfully used on patients with Diabetic Type 2 and Epilepsy.

The idea is your body can do just fine with a diet full of quality proteins (15-30%), quality fats (70-80%) and some carbohydrates (5-10%).

I do believe there is value in adopting a Ketogenic Diet, at strategic times, and incorporate it into your seasonal way of eating.

December will be jam packed with details on the Ketogenic Diet where I take a deep dive into what it is, how to do it, and when to incorporate.

So, to keep things simple and avoid the dreaded holiday weight gain, have a good amount of protein (at least 25 grams) with some added fat (about 1 tbsp) for breakfast. Add in a little carbohydrates from plants, just make sure these are ‘above ground’ veggies (like kale or broccoli) or ‘low sugar’ whole fruits (like blueberries).

Some good breakfast examples include:

Organic, free range eggs with or without added pasture-raised bacon + a side of last nights stir fried veggies or colorful salad rich in healthy fats.

Or, a smoothie made with colorful berries, coconut milk, and a couple scoops of protein powder.

For a great smoothie recipes that burns fat, check out my Berry Delicious Green Smoothie.

Eating protein and fat during the day and saving the carbohydrates for your evening meal will allow your glucose to drop, ketones to rise and you to enjoy the benefits of burning fat for energy.

However, if you do the opposite and have some carbs at breakfast and lunch and then a big evening carb meal, you will NOT get the lower glucose numbers and elevated ketones.

Which, in the end, you continue to be a ‘sugar burner’ and not the desired ‘fat burner’.

If we look back, historically, we have been focusing on eating our larger meal around dinner. This is when everyone gathered around at the end of the day, connected and all ate together.

The next day was a smaller breakfast, sometimes even a simple siesta around lunchtime, and again, a larger meal at dinner.

This was the typical way with the Romans, Greeks, and most European cultures.

In fact, this is the preferred way with my family as well (all electronics OFF the table and put away please!!!).

The science behind a big meal at night: Eating properly stimulates the parasympathetic system (our ‘rest and digest’ part of the nervous system), which drops our cortisol levels to relax and put us in sleep mode. Having a deep, restorative sleep means we burn fat while we sleep too.

Keeping in mind, we don’t want to eat TOO much, drown in artificial light (TV, computers, phones), have a hot bath or work out right before bed time.

Here is the caution: if you do begin practicing intermittent fasting and don’t eat a bigger meal at night, then your body thinks it’s starving, keeps you up and you end up staying at the same frustrating weight.

So make sure you eat a good sized meal about 3 hrs before bedtime by following my healthy eating guidelines found in my article , How to Eat to Get Slim and Sexy for Summer

Next up to Avoid (the dreaded) holiday weight gain: My Top 5 Tips – is the final Tip #5

Tip #5: Detox

Detox is one of the most important steps you can take to Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain.

Just think about it. A lot of excess waste is being accumulated from all your food intake and it’s literally located behind your belly button.

So, if you want a nice attractive waist line to fit in that gorgeous holiday dress or handsome suit, you’ve got to make sure that you’re not all backup in there causing belly bloat!

DETOX is very simple:

Make sure you start your day with 1 litre of filtered water BEFORE or along with your morning organic coffee or organic green tea. Drink your water always away from meals.

To allow for 1-3 good sized bowl movements per day, incorporate non-starchy, fibrous carbs (just think of above ground vegetables like kale, radishes, peppers (all colors), broccoli, and celery). Remember to save your starchy carbs for your evening meal (think of below the ground veggies or properly prepared grains, beans or legumes).

Enjoying a little fermented foods prior to your evening meal will also aid in proper bowel movements along with about 300 mg of magnesium. I like magnesium glycinate.

Above and beyond using foods, I highly recommend doing a safe and easy detox. The one that I perform regularly is using a method called Biotherapeutic Drainage.

I found such great benefit from incorporating it into my own health strategy (for optimal immune, body composition, and hormone balance) that I became a Certified Biotherapeutic Drainage Practitioner

I include it as part of my Nutritional Programs for my personal clients and have been practicing this form of detox for about 7 years now with remarkable, fast results. The UNDAS (homeopathic detox drops) work right away to clear away the toxins so the body can do it’s own healing.

Many clients find it easier to drop their weight, let go of their body pain, and fix their digestion. You can find many success stories here.

For more information on Biotherapeutic Drainage and how I can help you with a safe and easy detox, click here

Toxins are pretty scary = they are all around us, they are invisible and can cause a lot of harm if we don’t take steps to eliminate them from our bodies. The great news is there are ways to detox where you actually FEEL GOOD while detoxing and even better after.

Just a word of caution: if you have done a detox and you’ve felt horrible, that is a detox that has gone wrong! Properly done detox is when you free up your liver, kidneys and gut to get the toxins OUT! Feeling horrible is a sign that the toxins, that you are attempting to get out, are actually staying IN. Not what you want!

Well, that’s it for now.

I truly hope you’ve found this article: Avoid (the dreaded) Holiday Weight Gain: My Top 5 Tips helpful.

If so, please share this with your friend and family or write your comments below.

Here’s to having a Fit n Healthy Holiday Season!

Michale

Your Fit ‘n Healthy Kitchen Part 1: Clear Out Your Cupboards

by hartteuser Leave a Comment

Clear Out Your Cupboards. CC BY-SA by Peter O’Connor aka anemoneprojectors

Now that you’ve Eased Your Way Into The Plan, it’s time to go all out and DETOX your kitchen of any ‘tempting’ foods and drinks that you’re now avoiding. Let’s face it, if the ‘bad’ foods/drinks aren’t readily available, you’re much less likely to consume them.

After all, we’re all slaves to convenience!

Part 1 to Creating Your Fit ‘n Healthy Kitchen:

Clear Out Your Cupboards – 3 Steps

If you find you need a little help transitioning to a healthier lifestyle, this section is for you.

Here’s what to do: .Have a good look at what’s currently in your kitchen cabinets, as well as your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. As you go through each area, read the labels and complete steps 1 to 3 (below).

Place unopened foods containing any of the “no-no” ingredients into a box and donate them to your local food bank.

Throw opened foods in the garbage. It might be best to have a friend sort through everything with you so you don’t make concessions. If you want to keep some of the less healthy choices for guests (not everyone will be as diligent about their nutrition as you!) just label it “guest food”, put it in a clear box, and store it away from your main food area.

Step 1: Remove foods containing trans fats and unstable fats

Trans fats and Unstable fats

Margarine, vegetable shortenings, corn, soybean, canola (not even supposedly organic varieties, grapeseed oil (extracted using hexane), peanut oil, rice bran oil, sunflower oil, wheat germ oil, cheap or old cooking oils and anything NOT listed in Step 2: Choose your fats found in your plan.

Additionally, if you see the words “hydrogenated” or “partially-hydrogenated” in the ingredient list,

this food is not for you!

Step 2: Remove foods containing artificial sweeteners and refined sugars

Artificial Sweeteners

Aspartame, Acesulfame-K, Alitame, Cyclamate, Saccharin, Splenda, Sucralose

Refined Sugars

Corn syrup, fructose, sucrose, maltose, malt sugar, dextrose, cane sugar, corn sugar, sucanat, white, brown and raw sugar, Demerara sugar, galactose, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, invert sugar, lactose, malt, maltodextrin, powdered or confectioner’s sugar, turbinado sugar and polydextrose.

You don’t have to be obsessed about avoiding refined sugars; just be aware that there are better alternatives. If you have a health condition, well… then it is a good idea to try to replace them altogether.

There are some excellent natural sweetener choices! Refer to Step 4: Choose your extras found in your plan. Artificial sweeteners aren’t good in any amount.

Step 3: Remove all other “unacceptable” foods

These include GMO foods, refined grains (white flour products such as white bread, white pasta or white rice), pasteurized milk and other processed foods. Refer to “Food/beverages to avoid” in your plan for a quick reminder on what to avoid.

Try your best to steer clear of preservatives and colouring, especially if you have young children in your family. Children’s developing livers and kidneys simply cannot tolerate fake ingredients. The worst culprits are red or yellow dyes and MSG. MSG, short for monosodium glutamate, is a nerve poison that destroys nerve cells.

NEXT UP: Your Fit ‘n Healthy Kitchen Part 2: Stocking your Fit ‘n Healthy Kitchen!

“I’m of the frame of mind that it‘s better to

give them to someone who doesn’t have much food than to throw them out.”

For more ‘support tools’ to get and stay on the Fit n Healthy Track, check out my book The Fit ‘n Healthy Plan – The Healthy Diet & Lifestyle Plan Made Easy!

Please be sure to share this blog with anyone else you know struggling to create their ‘Fit n Healthy’ Kitchen. Possibly even do this project together for more fun!

Your first step to Fit ‘n Healthy: Set your foundation

by hartteuser Leave a Comment

Welcome to the first step to Fit ‘n Healthy

– Set your foundation

Feeling guilty for ‘falling off your health plan’?

Then setting up your foundation may be all it takes to keep you on track!

Aloha means love, affection, peace, sympathy, pity, kindness, mercy and compassion.

However, it also has a deeper impact on the Hawaiian culture. For the Hawaiians, there’s “The Aloha Spirit,” a unique way of living, the ultimate lifestyle, or the secret to a rich life.

‘A positive attitude, really sets the stage for a Fit ‘n Healthy life’.

Start with a positive attitude, set up your foundation, and plan for success.

There is a popular adage often attributed to Benjamin Franklin,, “Failing to plan is planning to fail,”

The quote may sound like music to your ears but planning using these top 10 most important habits can zero in on a lifetime of top-level shape and wellness.

Welcome to your 10 Natural Laws of Health – the most important habits for a lifetime of living Fit ‘n Healthy

A good first step to Fit ‘n Healthy!

Principle 1: Drink enough clean water

Benefits: Water provides your body with oxygen and increases your energy levels. It also normalizes your body weight by assisting in 1-3 well-formed bowel movements per day. And, it aids in the expulsion of toxins!

Aim to drink one liter of filtered water for every 50 lbs of body weight.

Drink more if you are: breastfeeding, in extreme heat, doing extreme sport or detoxifying.

Make sure your water is filtered water! Installing a water filter in your home, or having your water delivered, is a smart way to invest in your health. Many agree that the process of reverse osmosis (RO) produces the best drinking water available today. Unfortunately, reverse osmosis also removes beneficial minerals.

Therefore, if you were to use an RO system, make sure these minerals are restored in your daily diet.

Principle 2: Be mindful

Benefits: Slowing down and paying attention to your day- to-day activities helps you live in the moment. Having this awareness connects you with inner wisdom, and listening to your inner wisdom keeps you on track to ‘fit ‘n healthy’!

Principle 3: Practice good nutrition

Benefits: By following our traditional diet and eating 2-3 meals a day. Have each meal contain a mixture of nutrient-dense proteins, fibrous rich carbohydrates, and fats high in omega 3 each day. You’ll keep your mind and body strong, and your waistline lean.

Remember to only eat until you are 80% full (1).

Do you ever notice that your meal taste incredibly good when you are really hungry?

Do you also notice that the very same meal loses its flavor after you eat it for a while?

This is your signal to stop eating. Your body is telling you it is full. Also, try to stop eating two hours before bedtime to keep your digestive tract healthy.

Traditional diets maximize nutrients while modern diets minimize nutrients (2)

Traditional Diets VS Modern Diets

TRADITIONAL DIETS

Food from fertile soil Foods from depleted soil
Organ meats over muscle meats Muscle meats, few organs
Animal fats Vegetable oils
Animals on pasture Animals in confinement
Dairy products raw and/or fermented Dairy products, pasteurized
Grains and legumes soaked/fermented Grains, refined, extruded
Bone broths MSG, artificial flavorings.

MODERN DIETS

Unrefined sweeteners (honey, maple syrup)
Refined sweeteners
Lacto-fermented vegetables Canned vegetables
Lacto-fermented beverages Modern soft drinks
Unrefined salt (mineral salt) Refined salt
Natural vitamins in foods Synthetic vitamins added
Traditional cooking Microwave, irradiation
Traditional seeds/open pollination Hybrid seeds, GMO seeds.

Strive to eat primarily, a traditional diet.

Principle 4: Live with purpose

Benefits: We are all born with a special set of skills. When we use those skills to help someone or something, we are living with purpose.

Discovering your purpose can help lift depression in a heartbeat. It can give you a reason to get up in the morning – with a smile! – and provide you with energy you never knew you had.

Principle 5: Avoid exposure to outside toxins

Benefits: By reducing your body’s exposure to outside toxins, you can avoid colds, flu’s and allergy-type symptoms, plus you can considerably lower your risk of lung cancer and many other degenerative diseases.
Did you know…
70-80% of these toxins exist in your own home?

For more information, go to www.checnet.org/healthehouse/home/index.asp and click on the
“ALL NEW health eHome” link.

Principle 6: Eliminate inside toxins

Benefits: The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) reported that each of us carries an average of 250 different toxins in our tissues. Removing these toxins is an important factor in restoring health.

By doing so, we can reduce or alleviate body pain, increase resistance to colds and flu’s, improve natural energy levels and shed excess fat. We can also be proactive in preventing cancer, heart disease and other modern day diseases.

Toxin elimination can be done through exercise (sweat), emotional release, or by natural methods of drainage performed by a qualified natural health care provider.

Principle 7: Establish a good routine

Benefits: Eating, sleeping, working, and playing / relaxing at roughly the same time each day can actually enhance your sleep, help you lose weight, and even assist with cancer prevention.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute reported that disruption of circadian rhythms in mice was associated with accelerated growth of two types of malignant tumors, which suggests that our circadian clocks play an important role in controlling tumor progression. (3)

Principle 8: Get moving

Benefits: Doing some form of exercise every day helps you build muscle and burn excess fat. It also helps remove toxins and improve your mood.

Try to include exercises that improve strength, flexibility and endurance. Challenge yourself!

Strive to get outside for at least 30 minutes per day.
Did you know…
Moderate physical activity, such as walking or biking, reduces the risk of breast cancer by 20 percent – even among postmenopausal women and those at high risk for the disease? (4)

Principle 9: Get enough sleep

Benefits: Most people need 8 – 9 uninterrupted hours of sleep every night.

Sleep lets your body regenerate so you feel well. It also increases your natural energy levels so that you can perform your best. And, it helps keep you at a healthy weight!
Did you know…
Sleeping less than 6 hours a night increases your risk of Diabetes? (5)

Sleeping deprivation can also make you fat? (6)

Principle 10: Be grateful and give thanks

Benefits: A positive mood and frame of mind helps alkalize the body. Why do I want this, you might ask? Well, for one thing, Cancer cannot live in an alkaline body. A positive spirit also promotes better digestion and absorption, and improves the overall quality of your life (and the lives of those around you).

In our busy lives, sometimes we forget to stop, think, be grateful and give thanks. Anyone can find things that are wrong in their life, but wouldn’t it be a better world if we focused on all that is GOOD?

SUMMARY

I truly hope that you can start your first step to Fit ‘n Healthy by following these 10 Natural Laws of Health. This is how I life my life. I find it to be very grounding, keeping me on my own track to staying Fit ‘n Healthy for a lifetime.

I promised my two children, Trisston and Trae that I’d be hiking when I’m still 80 yrs old! That is what I see and want.

What do you see and want? Love to hear your comments!

Love what you learned? This is only a taste of what you’ll get in my ebook, ‘The Fit ‘n Healthy Plan – The healthy diet & lifestyle plan made easy!’ Order it here: The Fit ‘n Healthy Plan ebook

REFERENCES

1 Over eating is known to be a MAJOR risk factor of all cancers.

2 Nourishing Traditional Diets, The Key to Vibrant Health, power point presentation by Sally Fallon Morrell,
President of the Weston A. Price Foundation

3. Journal of the National Cancer Institute May 1, 2002;94:690-697
4. JAMA. 2003; 290:1331-1336

5. Gottlieb DJ, Punjabi NM, Newman AB, Resnick HE, Redline S, Baldwin CM, Nieto FJ. Association of sleep
time with diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance. Arch Intern Med. 2005;165:863-867

6. According to Total Health Breakthroughs, in their Friday, June 4, 2010 edition, the hormone ghrelin, produced
in the intestines, stimulates appetite. The hormone leptin, made by fat cells, signals the brain when you are full. Lack of sleep causes ghrelin levels to go up – and leptin levels to go down. I suppose your body is asking you to eat more food (usually “carbohydrates”) to get you to sleep!