
Welcome to the group! I’m super excited to share some tips and motivation and great info with y’all. Here’s a little challenge for you to work on this week: Track your water intake. If you normally get less than 50oz a day, then make your daily water goal 50oz. If you get between 50 and 75 bump it up to 75. AND if you usually do between 75 and 100 let’s go for that 100! 100 is my daily goal. I make it past 75 daily and at least half the week I make it to 100 and I’ve only been doing that for a few weeks and already feel the difference.
Want to get fit? Then you have to fit it in!
A healthy body requires both Fitness and Nutrition and can greatly improve by supplementation. However, nutrition alone counts for about 80% of your efforts! I know that might be disappointing for some, especially if you feel like nutrition is a difficult part of your life to discipline.
Fitness is difficult too, if you have developed a “exercise is hard and unpleasant” mindset. The absolute best thing you can do for your fitness is to find an activity you actually enjoy that gets you moving and gets your heart rate up for at least 30minutes at least 3 times a week, preferably more. Something exerts you physically but you’re having enough fun that you don’t care and that allows you to wear your sweat like a big stinky badge of honor.
Enter, Zumba. I know, some of you love it, some of you don’t. Some of you haven’t tried it yet. But as this is my favorite form of exercise, I need to share a bit about it. When I started attending Zumba classes almost 8 years ago it was love at first jiggle. I love to dance. I love music, especially really bouncy, sassy music. Taking Zumba classes quickly proved to be exactly what I needed to get me moving AND help me reduce my stress, fight off depression, give me more energy, boost my self-esteem, and help me lose weight. Zumba is just plain awesome for me. That said, there is more to the world of fitness than Zumba. There are other dance fitness options and other cardio classes and activities that really are the right one for the right people. Maybe you like to bike. A spin class might be your thing. Maybe you run. Maybe you like to bounce up and down – there’s actually a class where you bounce on a mini trampoline to booty music I AM NOT MAKING IT UP. Maybe you like boxing or kick boxing. Both great cardio. Maybe you just like to walk or hike (to jazz that up I would say try adding walks that change your elevation and intensity by speeding up or traveling up an incline). Swimming, aqua-aerobics, both great. And now there is HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training which incorporates a variety of exercises in one class. There’s even Strong by Zumba now which is more like working out to the beat of cool music without dancing. I will warn you that is a high intensity style class. Another one I think is way cool is Pound. Legit beating on the floor with drumsticks while you move around. It’s very bad-ass. Pardon my French.
The idea is to find what you like. If budget is an issue then do what you can at home, just know there are many benefits to group fitness. At home you can jump on YouTube and find various Fitness videos, including Zumba. Some time I will share the formula for getting a good 60 minute workout using YouTube. There are also easy at home options for strength training. Keep reading!
Strength training is not just for the sporty folks. Do you need it? Not 100% maybe but there are so many benefits that I think you’ll agree it’s a good idea.
1. Building muscle helps support your skeletal structure which reduces pain. Engaging your core in particular is so valuable for fighting back pain and “normal” posture issues that develop with age!
2. Building muscle helps you burn calories! Yes, cardio type exercise burns calories but having a good muscular structure helps you burn them more efficiently.
3. Having good tone in your muscles helps prevent osteoporosis and arthritis!
4. It improves balance!
5. It helps lower your blood sugar!
6. It actually can reduce stress and help you sleep better!
One important thing to remember is that form is key. It really helps to watch an instructor who knows what they’re doing and learn proper form. Beachbody has many good strength training courses. Another great place to find strength training information and guidance is from Rebecca Louise. I love her! She has an adorable accent too. She has tons of great strength training videos!
What is strength training? Well, generally it involves weights of some kind, resistance bands, or using your own body weight as resistance. This could mean you fill some water bottles with sand or pick up some inexpensive hand weights from Wal-mart. They have resistance bands as well. Or it could just mean trying out Pilates. Push-ups are one of the best forms of free full body exercise there is, but I can tell you, they’re hard. It puts lots of pressure on your wrists, feet and pretty much all your joints so if you’re new to them, you’ll want to modify. That means maybe using your knees instead of coming up on the toes. Pilates incorporates variations that are serious core strengthening work. I do one 30 minute Pilates work-out a week.
What do I do? Well, as my students know, I teach 5 hours of adult Zumba a week and over an hour of Zumba Kids. I also have my Soul Glow class that is 30 minutes a week dancing with weights. THAT IS A LOT! Unfortunately doing that much cardio can actually mess with your metabolism so I don’t recommend 5 classes. BUT 3 is great and that’s why I offer 3 for my regular classes. I do a 30 minute Beachbody Upper Body routine and another that is lower body. Pilates is Fridays. SUNDAY IS ACTIVE REST! Very important. Active rest is a part of your fitness routine.
Let me know if you have any questions about this!
Do you know what Ashwagandha is?
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen herb with multiple useful medicinal properties.
1. It's a natural anti-inflammatory! If you have been aware of disease research, inflammation is at the root of many, many illnesses.
2. It's a natural remedy for stress and anxiety! I think we all could use that! The way it helps with stress, by the way, is by decreasing cortisol levels. High cortisol leads to hormonal imbalances, muscle weakness, cognitive decline and premature aging. Hmmmmm
3. It helps fight cancer! It has already been proven to activate women's natural abilities to thwart breast cancer cells and it increases white cells in people being treated with chemo!
4. It naturally strengthens the heart, reduces high blood pressure and reduces cholesterol - triglycerides, not the good kind!
5. Fights T2 Diabetes by lowering blood sugar levels and improving liver enzymes!
6. Improves thyroid function!
7: For the ladies - With prolonged use studies show it can help with PCOS, Amenorreah, and some types of infertility. It also has also been used to treat menopausal symptoms and improve hormone secretion. !!!!
8. For the dudes - It helps reverse some types of infertility and increases testosterone levels.
9. Aids new bone growth, increases natural calcium levels and fights arthritis.
10. Gut health/digestive tract health....Trying to think of a not gross way to phrase it... It helps increase the protective enzymes and mucous linings of the digestive tract. Apparently it can be really useful if you have problems... back there. You google it. I just can't finish this one.
11. Increase muscle mass. As we age we lose muscle even when we exercise regularly. It helps reverse this and also helps with fat burning at the same time.
So where do you get it? How much do you take? That's tricky because herbs and extracts aren't well regulated. If you're going to purchase an Ashwagandha product it's best to find one promoted by a holistic medicine expert. BUT! Guess what has Ashwagandha in it already? Shakeology of course! And I knew it was good for me but Lord have mercy! WOW!
Reading books by Jason Fung and Gary Taubes. I’ve read Nina Teicholz. It just keeps reinforcing why “low fat” or “low cal” does not work. If you’ve had a doctor either imply that you’re lying or give you the impression they believe you are lying then you know they’ve been deceived by Big Food and Big Pharma. My own said out loud as she typed notes into my file “Patient ‘claims’ to eat a low salt diet”. 😣
Fitness Tips!
The length of time it takes to transform your health is proportional to how long it took to get where you are now and how long you will maintain your health. Don’t look at the scale. Don’t do measurements or pictures for comparison more than once or twice a month. How do you FEEL? That should be your primary gauge for how you’re doing. And here is a moment of raw honesty for you: my coach started a new challenge group I wasn’t able to partake in so now I’m coaching myself. That’s tricky having ME as my own accountability partner. I’m tempted to skip working out. I’m slipping. So be ready to see me posting stuff about what I’m doing because guess who my new accountability partners are going to be!?!
8 “things” I would love for you to 🛑 eating! Find yourself some alternatives!
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~Table salt
~Vegetable oil
~Soy products
~Processed meat
~Microwaved popcorn
~Non-organic or unwashed fruits/vegs ~Artificial sweeteners
~Margarine
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Use:
~Sea Salt
~Coconut or Olive Oil
~Avoid Soy (But Fermented Is Better)
~Yes, bacon is categorized as processed so you have to be VERY careful with your selection and even then not make it an everyday staple.
~Air Popped Or Cast Iron Your Popcorn
~Organic Or Wash Produce Well
~Quit Trying To Make Everything Taste “Sweet!” Enjoy The Taste Of The Food As Is!
~Grass-fed Butter
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That’s all❤️
If you don’t like or can’t get Ezekiel Bread this one is a close second. I wish they used olive oil instead of Canola but at least it is expeller pressed which is healthier. My 8 year old likes it!!! This is a major win for me y’all!!
🥚EGGS🥚 Let's talk about why so many of us ate egg white omelettes for years... FEAR OF CHOLESTEROL. My hope is that after reading this #fitzfoodfactfriday post you no longer deprive yourself of the yummy yolk or any other food high in cholesterol!
In January of this year the MESA study looked at the incidence & progression of Coronary Artery Calcium (CAC) in people eating a low carb diet. It looked at 5614 men & women with NO baseline❤️ disease. The outcome showed that overall outcome of both animal based and plant based scores were NOT associated with ⬆️ incidence, prevalence or progression of CAC. It also showed the source of protein didn't matter and was not associated with higher CAC scores.
The amount of money that is made off of the belief that high cholesterol will lead to ❤️ disease is in the trillions. Big Pharma does not want you to know that many of their biggest money makers (like statin drugs for high LDL) are not necessary! If we could get the masses to start and understand that treating something like a high LDL will DO NOTHING to get to the root cause of CVD, imagine how much money you, the patient, would save!
The numbers I personally care about are my triglycerides, my HDL to LDL ratio & the amount of large fluffy to small dense LDL particles I have (large/fluffy are good, small/dense are bad...and currently only two labs measure this, the NMR by LabCorp and the Cardio IQ by Quest).
If you really want to prevent ❤️ disease, you want to prevent developing a metabolic disorder. Stop with the nonsense of only eating egg whites and EAT THE YOLK! Start looking at where you are metabolically and work with your functional medicine doctor to help reverse underlying issues like insulin resistance! That is where your efforts should go...not throwing out the yolk!