Well, I should say, I've been falling asleep to my Audible app playing in my headphones as I sleep (is that dangerous?) and her book, "Men, Women and Worthiness” has been speaking to me as I drift off. She’s an incredible author who has researched the areas of shame, vulnerability, empathy, and love for the last 15 years.
This book, and so many of the other's she's authored, triggered a memory I had that still is with me today. It’s a story of my shame and overeating issues.
I was in college, my Junior year maybe, and my girlfriends and I were all up at my friends' parents' beach house in Newport Beach, CA.
Now, I don’t know what college was like for you, but college for me was a time that, in retrospect, I believe was my most insecure. I suffered from the “trifecta” of not feeling “good enough.”
Spiritually I felt a bit like a heathen and a harlot attending a private Christian school after having sown some wild oats in my high school days.
Mentally, I felt largely inadequate as I struggled to achieve mostly B’s and some C’s in my Biochemistry major, while everyone else, who studied less than me, scored higher than me.
Then, physically, I believed I struggled the most. I was a Colorado girl, tall, athletic, and curvy who was surrounded by a lot of SoCal girls who were beautiful, petite and small-framed.
Naturally, due to my body insecurities during this time of my life, I was a workout queen. Sometimes taking 3 classes in a row at the local 24 Hour Fitness and training for some half and (almost) full marathons, a task that I now know does NOT fit my body type.
My copious exercise routines, combined with the massive amount of stress of school, made me hungry like a Mrs. Pac-Man going rogue, especially on sweets.
As we walked into the house in Newport Beach, we learned that my friend's mom had just had a birthday and there was some leftover cake…gooey, chocolatey, overly-indulgent, cake.
Game over.
All of us gathered around with our forks and dug in. (What’s a little sick is that I can still vividly picture this cake in my mind, a good 11 years later.)
Naturally, with something so decadent, most of the girls stopped at a few bites.
And I tried.
But every time I sat down, all I could taste was chocolate and all I could think was, “Don't eat the cake, don't eat the cake..." Meanwhile all my feet and fork seemed to hear was, “Cake…cake... cake" and before I knew it, I would be up having a few more bites. Then a few more after that.
Then I heard it...
My friend, in a failed attempt at whispering, said, "God, when is she going to stop eating that cake?"
Que the spiral of shame.
I pretended like I didn't hear it and just sat down. But, I was devastated.
I wonder, do you have any memory like this?
Where someone mentioned something about your eating or your weight and it just triggered deep shame in your eating? Maybe it was a family member? Maybe it happened in school? Something that made you want to starve yourself and hide?
Or maybe a memory of someone making fun of your athletic ability and it forever changed your relationship with exercise?
My guess is I bet you do. So many of us do.
But, I bring a message of hope, because with the help of some experts like Brene Brown, and certainly with the help of the Good Lord, we can learn shame resilience and navigate out of the snare that shame can be to our mindset and emotions.
So, how do you know if you're in shame versus guilt,humiliation, or even simple embarrassment?
Well, Brene Brown says it all comes down to our self talk. What is that inner voice telling us when these circumstances arise?
Let's take my example to walk through it.
If my friend’s remark had triggered some thoughts like, "Oh my goodness, she's right. I'm totally out of control right now." Or something about the behavior, then this would be considered GUILT.
Guilt is always about, “I did something bad,” whereas shame is about “I am a bad person.”
Brene points out that guilt, while it's not an inherently positive thing to feel all the time, is capable of helping you correct bad behavior.
You essentially have to feel guilt and remorse if you’re ever going to change. But the key difference is you focus on the behavior you're doing, not who you are as a person.
Or, if on the night of my cake incident, if it has caused a self dialogue of, "I can't believe my friend just said that about me in front of all our friends! How rude is that?!" This would be a response of HUMILIATION.
It's once again focused on the behavior of the other person or the event that offended you.
Lastly, EMBARRASSMENT could have been triggered as well had I thought something like, “Ha! She totally got me. I am totally going to town on this cake huh?” It’s a more laughable, relatable feeling. Like, “I know I’m not alone in this issue,” kind of response.
So as you read my story out right, you might know yourself well enough to know you would likely respond in one of the other, slightly healthier ways. And that’s the thing we all need to recognize and empathize in others, once shame is triggered, there’s no use telling someone how they *should* feel or respond, you need to move toward helping them (or ourselves) deal with the torturous shame and condemnation.
For me, I vividly remember feeling like my friends had “found me out.” That all my dirty little secrets of being an out-of-control eater were not only out in the open, but were being judged by my closest friends at the time.
I reiterated my self talk of always “being the fat friend,” and never being “strong enough” to control my eating.
So, where does this lead us? Why would I share with you a story from over 11 years ago? Does it help anything for today?
And my answer is YES, ABSOLUTELY.
Because, what our past experiences help us understand is where the devil thought he had us. You see, Satan uses shame as one of his greatest tools to get us to turn a hide from God.
In the Garden of Eden, after Eve gave Adam the apple, what did Adam and Eve do?
They hid.
When Adam responded to God’s call, and said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.” (Genesis 3:10)
They were ashamed of their nakedness, and they hid.
Sin is what first brought shame into our lives. It has kept us bound by sin ever since.
Shame in our mindset serves as a stronghold. We are not thinking clearly of what the devil is trying to do to us, we are totally consumed by the muck of our thoughts and emotions.
But, in hindsight, if we are brave and willing to address these memories, we recognize this an evil tactic and can start re-telling our mind the TRUTH of our memory.
I had to repeat this scenario in my head and with great empathy, replay a healthier reaction based in the TRUTH of who I really am in Christ, not who the critic in my head is telling me to be.
So, I can look back at that 21-year old self and say with certainty, “You were not fat. You were not an out of control, crazy eater. You had a bad night and went a little too far on that cake. But it didn’t make you a unworthy, unlovable person.”
I can in some ways offer forgiveness to myself and let myself off the hook.
I start telling myself that the choices I make DO NOT define WHO I AM.
Only God can do that and God tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
So, sometime soon, I think it would be really helpful for you to start thinking back on some old haunting memories and correct those thoughts that you were fooled into thinking before. Maybe journal them and pray over them. Ask God to help you seek the truth.
When you break these strongholds with the truth of who you are in Christ, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free." And when we are free, we'll be free indeed.
So, I'd love to hear from you on this one. Sharing these vulnerable stories are always a bit tough....can you relate at all?
Ready to up your nutrition & spiritual discipline in the New Year?
Join the A. Wright Fit Daniel Challenge, a 6-week Nutrition & Discipline course and Bible study that starts on January 9!
This course is a small-group format of like-minded women who are ready for FOOD FREEDOM in 2017!
As a group, we will be challenging ourselves to a 7 to 21-day Daniel Fast for the first 3-weeks of the course and then transitioning into theNutrient Based Eating program, the signature nutrition program of Certified Nutrition coach, Amanda Wright!
Every week, we will also be meeting online for a small-group Bible study all on Spiritual Discipline! We will dive into the Biblical principles of becoming more disciplined in the areas of: prayer, time management, health and exercise, organization, finances, and our emotions! This group will be on Zoom every week and you will be given a daily Bible study format to follow!
If you are interested in learning more or purchasing the program, you can visit this link HERE. If you have any questions, feel free to reach Amanda directly at amanda@amandawrightfit.com.
Real quick, just a friendly reminder that today is the LAST DAY to save big on the A. Wright Fit Daniel Challenge! For Cyber Monday, I'm extending my offer for this 6-Week Nutrition Course that starts in the New Year. After tomorrow it will go back up to $97, but today, you can grab a spot for yourself or any friends in need of thoughtful and helpful gifts, for just 50% off! Click this link to purchase and enter the coupon code: danielchallenge50.
Can't wait to see the breakthroughs that will come this New Year together!! For more info, here's the info page.
But, from now until then, we have a WHOLE LOTTA HOLIDAYS to get through and ideally, we want to do it without completely losing all self-control on the Christmas cookies or spiked Eggnog, #amiright?
As I mentioned the other day, I recently lost about 7 lbs of weight and inflammation while doing just a 7-day Daniel Fast. In spite of a glorious Thanksgiving back home in Colorado, I have maintained this weight loss and still feel SO MUCHbetter!
The thing is that it is RARE to actually keep off the weight you lose, so I'm definitely brushing up my maintenance skills myself and want you to do the same!
Over the course of being a Certified Nutrition Coach and personal trainer, I have seen time and time again that I could help HUNDREDS of clients lose 20, 40, 60 lbs of weight over several months of hard work and discipline, but I saw time and time again that MOST of my clients would GAIN BACK a significant portion of the weight they lost.
Part of the problem was that I had put them on a "meal plan" where they would measure and count their macronutrients. The tactic worked, as we both saw, but it didn't last because it wasn't a sustainable lifestyle!
So, this, along with my own spiritual awakening, is what spurred me to create the Nutrient Based Eating program (which is also offered in the Daniel Challenge) AND also allowed me to transition to a more HOLISTIC approach to health changes.
This is where the STRONG'her (body), WISE'her (mindset), SURREND'her (spirit) tag line came from. I realized that your health HAS to this balanced approach in order to not just attain health results, but more importantly, MAINTAIN THEM once you achieve them.
So, for this Holiday season, allow me to give you...
3 PART PLAN TO MAINTAIN THIS HOLIDAY SEASON:
1. STRONG'her TIP:The 80% RULE
I call this the "Dating vs Married Principle" in my coaching. Essentially, what you did to get her you're going to have to do to keep her! But by "her" I mean, your body changes.
You need sustain about 80% of the activity and clean eating strategies to simply MAINTAIN what you lost.
So, if you workout 4 days a week to attain the results, you will need to still workout 3 days per week at about 80% of the intensity to maintain your results.
If you typically eat really clean for 3 meals and have 1 treat per day to attain your results, you'll still need to eat 80% clean and maybe add in a 2nd treat to be able to maintain those results.
Now, if one week you're on real vacation and you won't have access to your regular routine, seriously don't sweat it. Just try to keep things normal the week before and the week after and during your trip and walk a lot more and do some bodyweight workouts or yoga while away! One week won't make a huge difference, but 40 days (between TG and New Year) will! So, set up your plan!
One really helpful tool I can give you is a simple weekly chart I call my "her Intentional Consistency." I have all my clients write down the THINK, EAT, MOVE goals each week and check off the box when they complete it. You can download your own copy here to help you track your own consistency.
2. WISE'her TIP:MANAGE YOUR "ALL OR NOTHING" THOUGHTS
The MINDSET is everything this time of year! The truth is that you should enjoy anything that you want to eat, but STOP convincing yourself that this is the VERY LAST TIME you can have it since "it's the holidays."
It's simply not TRUE. When you shift your thoughts away from the "FOMO" (fear of missing out) and start repeating the TRUTH that you can have whatever you want to eat and ANY TIME during the year, you realize that fear dissipates and it strengthens your self-control to enjoy SOME bites, but not the whole batch type of thing.
So, pay attention to your thoughts in your head. If you find yourself making excuses like, "Well, I'll get started again in the New Year, it's just too hard to resist this time of year," then I highly suggest your correct those thoughts before you start to wear them.
The truth is you CAN enjoy your favorite holiday treats in moderation and still eat in a balanced way the other 80% of the time.
And better yet, when you feel empowered and in control of your eating and don't see the weight gain, bloating and discomfort that comes from binge eating or drinking, then you will actually ENJOY THE HOLIDAYS more!
Why don't you test it out and see?!
3. SURREND'her TIP:WELL, SURREND'her IT!
Honestly, if we could all remember that God is with us to help us with e-ver-y-thing on our heart, we wouldn't try to do these difficult things on our own!
Have you ever thought that your eating and exercise is something that "I should be responsible for" and "not bother God with?" I know I have. I thought, "Why would I pray for help with my eating when there are people out there with real problems, like not having any food to eat!"
But this is an error in thinking. When I realized JUST HOW ABUNDANT GOD IS and that when He offers me more self-control (one of the Fruits of the Spirit, Galatians 5:22-23), it's not like He has LESS power or love to give to others! He's LIMITLESS!
If you struggle with the guilt or asking God to help you with your health, then here is a scripture for you to memorize and dwell on for several days.
James 4:2b-3 NLT "Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure."
Overall, this holiday season is always meant to me a celebration! There is a reason for the season, and it's not to overdo it on spending or calories. It's to fully receive the incredible gift of our Savior's birth.
Certainly enjoy your special occasions and those holiday favorites that are worth-it to you. But remember, life is much more than food. Get up, get active, focus on your blessings and enjoy every minute.
I’m not one to use the word “miracle” lightly, so when I say it feels like I have been blessed with a miracle healing in just 7-days, please trust me that I mean it.
I mentioned in my email the other day that while traveling through Israel, I also decided to do a 7-day Daniel Fast.
For those who are unfamiliar, a Daniel Fast is a partial fast where you don’t give up eating, but you refrain from eating certain foods. The inspiration of this fast, naturally, comes from the book of Daniel.
Daniel was an old testament Hebrew prophet who lived in a time where the Hebrews (i.e. God’s chosen people) were living under oppression by the Babylonians and the King Nebuchadnezzar. In spite of that, Daniel and 3 of his Hebrew friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) were specially chosen to try out to be a part of the King’s guard.
For these tryouts and trainings, Daniel and his buddies decided to stick with their Hebrew law and abstain from eating the common foods of the King. In fact, when pushed on it, he offered to make it a competition to see if his way of eating would make them excel above the other competitors.
“Please test your servants for 10 days, and let the give us vegetables [one translation says pulse which is a word that means “food grown from seed”] to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance be examined before you, and the appearance of the young men who eat the portion of the King’s delicacies; and as you see fit, so deal with your servants.” Daniel 1:12-13
The results of this test where highly in favor of Daniel and his friends. The Bible tells us they excelled high and above all the other guards not only physically, but in integrity, wisdom, and skills.
You see, it wasn’t just about the food for them, or us. It was about being obedient to God, sacrificing in simple ways even in the face of being marked an “outsider.” This humble sacrifice of Daniel surely paid off. He was promoted to the highest ranks of the King.
So, this Daniel Fast is something that many churches challenge their congregations to do in the New Year for 21-days (the 21-day part comes from Daniel 10:2-3).
I did a version of the Daniel Fast two years ago for 28 days while as I was just starting A. Wright Fit, but when I did it, I didn’t do much research into it and did not cut out caffeine nor all sugar. I still had a great experience.
I have had it on my heart to lead a Daniel Fast challenge in the New Year with the ladies I coach in the her Health Lounge and also invite anyone else that would be up for a nutrition challenge and training! I will be leading the 6-week nutrition course alongside a special weekly online Bible study on Discipline for 2017. It’s going to be amazing.
Therefore, with this on my heart, I thought while I’m in the Holy Land and studying this ancient fast, why don’t I go ahead and do a short version of the Daniel Fast so I have a better understanding to be able to coach from in the New Year.
Well, this experience FAR exceeded my expectations.
To add a little background about what I have been going through lately with my health, I should add that I have kinda been feeling off in my body lately.
I had a back injury 2.5 years ago (a bulging disc) and my back has been in terrible pain for longer than I can remember. I can usually do some mobility and alignment drills in the AM to get it all worked out, but it’s very hard to get out of bed a lot of days and traveling is especially brutal.
About a week or two ago, I visited a chiropractor that said he believed it was caused by inflammation of the tendons that surround my spine. He advised me to stop bending over, stop crossing my legs, and stop twisting too much from the spine. Uh, kind of challenging for a trainer, right? But I took his advice and had seen some improvements.
The other thing that had been kinda bothering me (but not too much) was that I had put on weight that I couldn’t seem to drop. I had found a set weight of 155lbs for over a year and then this year, though my eating and exercise was always relatively on point, it had crept up to 162-164. It seemed that nothing would make it come back down. So I kinda just accepted it and moved on, it’s only a number after all.
Well, in Israel last week, I have to fully admit that this Daniel Fast is a LEGIT detox for your body. It is pretty brutal the first several days.
My vices have always been caffeine(which is why I will give you a slow progression to follow for all my coffee and tea lovers), chocolate, and some wine.
Well, on the Daniel Fast, you cut out all beverages except water,you eliminate all animal products(i.e. eat Vegan), all yeast-containing bread, anything processed or withsugar or chemicals, and essentially feast on salads, nuts, legumes, whole grains, fruit, vegetables etc. Frankly, for me, it was kinda a treat to eat so many carbs!
Oddly enough, even through we were staying in a hotel the entire time, I had NO PROBLEM finding foods to eat (see pics below). So the good news is that there are plenty of options.
But, the bad news was that the combination of jet lag + cutting all caffeine caused some sluggish days, plenty of headaches, and what was most surprising was some serious BACK PAIN.
The inflamed tendons up and down my spine were definitely yelling at me. At first I thought it was the travel and perhaps an injury, but then as I was reading the Daniel Fast book by Susan Gregory, I read that back pain is a common symptom of the detox. Therefore, I just swallowed some Advil and stuck with it.
MY RESULTS:
Well, after just 4 days of bad symptoms, I started to feel like myself again. My cravings were severely diminished.
Better yet, all that back pain COMPLETELY went away!! I mean ZERO back pain.
I never dawned on me that my pain could have been caused by my eating and drinking habits. Now I realize that my over-consumption of caffeine and was a huge factor.
Not only that, but when I returned back home this week and began transitioning slowly to eating back to my Nutrient Based eating (another aspect I’ll be coaching you through) and did some gentle workouts,I went to weigh myself and had lost 7 lbs!
Now, let’s be clear, this is not fat loss, this is for sure predominantly water weight. But even so, it felt great to see the inflammation in my thighs, face, and stomach drop as well!
All this to say, that while doing a “cleanse” will always be tempting for the human side of us that wants “quick results.” But that’s not what the Daniel Fast is for. It’s NOT a diet. It’s not a quick fix.
It’s an act of Spiritual discipline and sacrifice that makes way for you to grow closer to God and experience God’s healing physically and spiritually.
I amSO EXCITED to see what 21-days of this journey will look like in the New Yearand I hope you will pray and see if God is calling you to join me!
Even if you do this with your church, you might find that having a support and accountability group of women online is really helpful for you to stick with it. I’ll be giving a whole class and book on recipes, instructions, and spiritual practices to make it success! It will also include my Nutrient Based Eating program too!
I will be offering this 6-week course as a BLACK FRIDAY & CYBER MONDAY deal, so look for the discounted offer next week!
If you have any questions, feel free to respond back to this email and I’ll be glad to share more!
We are just one month away from the official start of Autumn (Sept 22), but to me, Fall always starts when school starts right?!
So if are like many of my close family and friends, who I saw plaster my Facebook feed and had some kiddos that started school this week or headed off to college, or if are just feeling some "fresh start" vibes from work,you might be feeling a bit more emotional lately, and it may be affecting your eating.
Emotions surrounding our eating have come up a LOT so far in my 4-week RESET course as I have been coaching on my "Nutrient Based Eating" program this week. I'm hearing a lot of words like "overwhelmed" and "guilty" about our eating or drinking habits, and I want to make sure that you too don't suffer too unnecessarily from the deeper stuff that our eating can conjure up.
So, for our "fresh start" this Fall, and as we inevitably are all ready to get back into some healthy rituals, let me gift you TWO opportunities to connect at a deeper level with your eating.
1. First, in this blog, you'll find a "mini coaching" video (below) where I start ALL my clients as we dive into nutrition. It's a video training on "SURREND'hered Eating" that I find IMPERATIVE to your ability to have a "big picture" idea of why our food is much more of a SPIRITUAL quest than a physical quest.
Food is not ever just about food. It's not just about WHAT you're eating, but WHY you're eating, that will help you find TRUE health. This video training and the tools below will give you some greater spiritual strength training tips!
2. Second, I'd love to invite you to sign-Up for thisFREE Webinar Training I'm doing onEMOTIONAL EATINGnext Wednesday, Aug 31 at 5pm PDT/ 8pm EST.
In this training I will deliver you thePHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL, and SPIRITUALaspects to your emotional eating and offer you some solutions to some of the unhealthy consequences to your emotional eating tendencies!
It's a hot topic that will be a can't miss! I hope you can join me! You must beregistered with this linkto participate! There will be a short window replay also available, but only to those who register.
If you really want to have food freedom, you will need to brave the Spiritual aspects of eating. Being healthy will not just be about WHAT you eat, but WHY you eat.
WHY you are eating directly impacts HOW you are eating as well, which also affects your nutrition and digestion.
This is not a common approach among many in the health and fitness industry, but is the reason why I feel I'm called to do what I do.
#2. Your answer to your nutrition is not found in "RULES" but in your "RELATIONSHIP" with food and yourself.
Often, the go-to response when we see that our eating habits are not aligned with what we desire is to start placing food "rules" on ourselves.
We cut out sugar, we go Paleo, we follow some shake detox plan and search for the "rules" that will "fix" us.
Rules by the very definition do not give us FREEDOM, but rather they enslave us. This is why I don't give out meal plans to clients.
What I help my clients get, through my programming, is clarity on what a healthy relationship with food can look for her. It's an personal process.
EXERCISE:Think back to the meals you have eaten so far today or last night and assess the following:
-- Why did I eat when I ate? Was I hungry? Was I bored? Was it in front of me? Was it the time that I always eat?
--How would I characterize how I felt about the food as I ate and afterward? Is it my coping mechanism? Did I even pay attention to it at all? Did I eat with peace? Did I eat with angst? Did it make me feel guilty after?
--Are My "Feelings" Around my Eating Valid and True? Is it possible I have convinced myself that I need food to deal with my circumstances? Or do I allow foods to make me feel guilty when they should not?
#3. What Does My Boundary Between "Caring" and "Obsessing" Look Like?
"And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30 For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them." Luke 12:29-30 NIV
They key to you being able to experience Spiritual FREEDOM in your nutrition is to find that BOUNDARY in your relationship with food that allows you to CARE about what you eat without WORRYING about what you eat.
EXERCISE:To give yourself an idea of what this might look like for you, I want you to think about a GOOD FRIEND that you have-- someone you're close with.
Think through your interaction, ease, and peace you have with this person. Picture how you interact with him/her.
What are the things you do that show that you CARE about him or her? Write them down.
If you were to start to "worry" or "obsess" over this friend, what would THAT look like? How would it affect your relationship?
The key to your healthy relationship with FOOD is the same key to a healthy relationship with anyone. You need to CARE but you can't take it TOO FAR.
Eating will ebb and flow in your life and you will mature and realize that some things you have been doing have been a little too controlling or obsessive.
If you realize right now that you are being a bit too obsessive or micromanaging with your eating, it might be time to practice scaling back and SEE if you can find a healthier balance.
Free Yourself From These Top 3 Fear-Based Eating Tendencies
#FitFaithFriday: [Video Teaching] How to Overcome Fear In Our Eating
This week I unpack God's word to help us overcome the top 3 fear-based eating tendencies most common among women today.
Using 2 Timothy 1:7 I encourage you to dive into your SPIRITUAL nature to in habituating and choosing your foods rather than our human, fleshy, and fear-based nature.
2 Timothy 1:7 says:
It says, "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline."
Recognizing how fear is impacting our eating is the first step toward changing it to being empowered by God and our Spiritual nature.
1:35Unpacking 2 Timothy 1:7 NIV and AMP 3:20 Talking Spiritual Nature vs Fleshy Nature
7:45 #1 Fear-Based Habit is: Waiting for the "Right Time" to start your better eating habits.
The #truth is that you have the "power, love, and self-discipline" to take the NEXT BEST STEP from where you are right now. You don't have to do everything 'just right' and use that as a delay tactic, you don't have to fear the negative feelings from deprivation because you can still enjoy the foods you love, you can do what you can with where you are NOW.
You can get the Next Best Step Action Plan FREE PDF right ---> Here
13:38 #2 Fear-Based Habit is: Exercising "Controlling" Eating Habits (i.e. being 'on plan') with Fear instead of Love.
This one is tricky because a lot of people will think they are being "self-controlled" with their eating plans and rules but the reality is that their plan is controlling them! It's affecting their mood, their self-talk, and causes more feelings of guilt and condemnation when things go wrong.
You can determine if you are in a Spiritual form of self-control by the "FRUITS" that this choice is showing. Jesus said, "You know a tree by it's fruit" so if this IS the will of God, it will allow you to be more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, gentle etc.
If it's NOT, then you know you are rooting yourself in FEAR BASED CONTROL and you might need to change up the "plan" approach. One way is to use a GUIDE, like my Nutrient Based Eating guide that doesn't include the RULES and micromanaging.
18:29 #3 Fear-Based Eating Habit is: Social Pressures of Eating
Whether it's the "fear of missing out," a scarcity mentality, or just eating what everyone else is eating so you don't make them or you "feel uncomfortable" all of these fear based tendencies invoke the greatest temptation to eat more than we need or to eat or drink things that don't serve our health goals.
You need more of your Spiritual "POWER, LOVE, and SELF-DISCIPLINE" to be the change you wish to see in the world and to be a shining example to those around you of what health can look like.
It should be joyful, peaceful and confident choices for you to resist the temptation of what everyone else is eating.
Coming Soon!
The DIY Guide to
Nutrient Based Eating for Fat Loss!
In just a few short weeks, you can get your very own guide to WHAT the Nutrient Based Diet is, HOW you can start including this lifestyle approach to eating, HOW you can shop and prep the food no matter what your schedule, AND the 4 Simple Steps that you can adjust to it to make sure it BOOSTS your Metabolism and allows you to see FAT LOSS!
I have for over 2 years including this system into my own life as well as through my personalized coaching and membership site to the her Health Lounge, but I am now making this Nutrition component available for you to guide yourself!
To be the first on the list, feel free to sign up HERE and I'll send you a FREE infographic on HOW to eat Nutrient Based!
This week in the TRANFORMherHealth 2016 training, I am tackling the #1 most requested topic when I polled dozens of women on what they would like to learn in order to TRANSFORMherHealth in 2016. Over 98% of the women I polled wanted to learn this topic: “How to Be Your Own Nutritionist in 2016.” It’s quite clear, that for most of us, our nutrition is our #1 struggle and point of confusion for most of us!
SO I’m thrilled to have some answers and I really am giving you MY BEST STUFF in this training! I’m thrilled that I have years of experience with the good, the bad and the ugly nutrition habits from my own personal arsenal as well as dozens and dozens of clients! This is really going to be a great training with a lot of step-by-step guidance that I know works! (Again, it’s not too late to grab your spot for this training. The times available are Tuesday evening at 5pm PST or Wednesday midday at 10am PST)
But, even as excited as I am about the potential ANSWERS and CHANGES I have to offer so many of you for your nutritional health in 2016, I KNOW that these changes are NOT going to be the END ALL BE ALL for your eating struggles.
Why? Because FOOD IS NOT JUST ABOUT FOOD. We know this.
Food is a reward. Food is a coping mechanism. Food is a culture. Food is a celebration. Food is a tradition. Food is a temptation. And quite obviously, we can’t just “quit” Food.
But I come with good news!
Just I introduced in my blog a couple weeks back when I was speaking about the subject of TRANSFORMATION, this subject of food can be something that we can be TRANSFORMED in our eating without making a SINGLE CHANGE to our eating habits.
How is that possible, you might think?
Well, if you remember, transformation happens when we “renew our minds” and we align our thoughts with the TRUTH of the Spirit of God within us. (Romans 12:2)
I explained in that blog that I knew I had truly TRANSFORMED my BODY’s HEALTH when I stepped up to the same oldmirror, with the same old body, and I looked at those same oldflaws, steady at that same old weight that I could not seem to lose to same oldextra pounds, but I all of a sudden SAW MY BODY WITH NEW EYES.
THAT is how God transforms us from the inside out. He renews our MINDS and transforms our EYES to see in the Light of His Truth. His Truthis the only truth that “sets us free.” (John 8:32)
What society accepts as “true” will never set us free because it changes all the time.
For example, what was “true” for our eating practices just a decade ago has all be proven false now. This why our eating has been so frustrating to us– because the trends are always changing and our bodies are always changing!
The BEST thing that can ever happen to your eating is to be met with the same old food, at the same oldrestaurants, with the same old family gatherings, and the same old traditions and yet see the food you choose with NEW EYES.
To no longer be shackled to the food as though it is this thing that “you deserve” or this thing that “stresses you out” or this thing that will “make you feel better.”
No, you will see it as JUST FOOD. And you will eat it and you will enjoy it but you will no longer be a slave to it and will no longer worship it because you worship GOD and God fills up your WHOLE heart.
For this very reason, I did NOT start the TRANSFORMherHealth 2016 series with this topic on Nutrition, even though I knew that’s what the women who signed up really wanted to learn the most.
I HAD to start with strengthening our SPIRITUAL health first and then tackle our MINDSET of health second ALL so then we could actually implement some potential changes with our eating and our exercising!
Real change can ONLY happen from the inside-out.
The “Big Picture” of Health looks like this:
KNOW—————> BE ———————> DO
Until you KNOW who you are created by, you cannot BE who you were created to BE and DO the things you were created to DO.
This stands for your health and ANY change or improvement you want to make in 2016.
It has to flow in this order otherwise it won’t stick for long term success and it won’t make you feel “fulfilled.”
So, I invite you to this training where I will teach you how to monitor your EATING and make simple Nutrition adjustments that will TRANSFORM your True Health in 2016! You will get a lot of great information and potential small changes you can make! You’ll even get this awesome Nutrient-Based step-by-step infographic that will guide you all year long!
But know this to be true: Your #1 way to truly TRANSFORM your health and your eating in 2016 is to know your CREATOR and put God at the center of your life and the center of your eating. He will give you NEW EYES to see food in new ways and His truth will truly set you free in your eating!
So my question to you is, if you could see your food with NEW EYES in the NEW YEAR, how would you want to see your food? Comment Below! I’d love to hear what you have to say!
As I mentioned the other day, my road to the the ultimate LEAN life lead to a majorly disrupted Metabolism! I’m currently 2.5 years “post bikini-show” and I am still trying to help get my metabolism recovered! A lot of women struggle with their metabolism, especially as they get older so I know I’m not the only one with this issue. Some women struggle with metabolism so much that fat loss can seem almost impossible. Many prefer to take a surgical route in their weight loss journey, including things like liposuction offered by people like Dr. Paul Fortes. However, there are other ways to lose weight. There are lots of factors that affect our metabolism and weight gain so it’s usually very dependant on the individual. For example, my friend has to get Indolemax from Amazon to help control her weight because her estrogen levels aren’t correct. This also helps with her menopause so it helps her in two different ways! The importance of our metabolism is because we want to be able to EAT NORMAL amounts of food and stay pretty lean!
Our METABOLISM MATTERS big-time if we are trying to live a balanced life. We need to take care of our bodies and take things slow, showcasing the necessary patience and endurance to do this the (w)right way. (Click here for my favorite scriptures to help you with ENDURANCE!)
First, let me preface this next specific topic about your Metabolism by saying there is SO MUCH MORE to learn that I simply cannot fit into one blog. In fact, I wrote an entire MODULE PROGRAM in my Health Coaching programs that goes over all the important factors you need to know about your Metabolism (Module #2: WISE’her Metabolism).
To check out more information on my HEALTH COACHING programs, click HERE.
Nevertheless, in my QUEST TO FIX MY DAMAGED METABOLISM, I have learned the 5 BIGGEST VILLAINS TO SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS EFFORTS.
Prepare to hate this list with me! But….knowledge is power and power provides excellence!
ALCOHOL: Ok, this one can hurt most of our feelings. You might have read my journey to cut back on this in my WINE-NOT series a few months ago. But there is nothing more relaxing, in my opinion, then a nice glass of wine after a long day. Most of us do consider alcohol our ultimate stress reliever and while that part *does* have some benefits for your Metabolism (by reducing your cortisol levels for a short period of time) it is FAR counteracted by the negative affects alcohol has on metabolic processes.
Alcohol by itself is an high calories (at 7 calories per gram), empty-calories, no-nutrient entity that is a sugar, but a sugar that is especially reactive in our bodies. So much so that our bodies STOP PROCESSING all other metabolic processes (like other food or even our fat metabolism) in order to process the alcohol and get it OUT of the body by detoxing it through our liver and kidneys.
So, drinking just 2 alcoholic beverages will slow down your metabolism by 80% (!!) for the following 4-hours. That’s why you tend to gain a lot of fat when you drink too much—hello beer belly!
Recommendation: Overall, if you want to lose fat, you are more than likely going to severely cut back on all alcohol. It was recommended to me to limit it to just 2-3 glasses PER MONTH.
2. CAFFEINE: So, this one is not ALL bad news. But the deal with caffeine is that the chemical causes a huge rush of the “Fight or Flight” hormones to cascade into high gear for up to 14-hours! That is, Cortisol, Adrenalin and NorAdrenalin. These hormones by themselves ultimately SLOW DOWN your Fat Loss because these stress hormones go into “Sugar Burning” mode instead of “Fat Burning” mode. (Jade Teta, Metabolic Effect)
SO, if you OVER CONSUME caffeine, you might be sending your body into “Fight or Flight” mode quite unnecessarily, all day long! UNLESS of course, you consume caffeine and then actually go and USE YOUR BODY, for something like, WORKING OUT! Stress hormones in the presence of Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone (those hormones that are produced when you weight train) actually HELP in Fat Loss. So it does have a nice condition.
Recommendation: Overall, cut back on caffeine unless it’s just before your workout. Green Tea is a much more metabolically stimulating drink of choice!
Your Daily Dose of Caffeine should be 2.5mg/Kg of your Body Weight.
For women of child bearing age, it is recommended to limit yourself to about 300mg/day.
Here’s a little research I did to put this in perspective for you:
3. SLEEP:We have all heard this one a hundred times, but sleep is SO VERY VITAL for so many things, including your Fat Loss efforts. One interesting thing however is that you have to be careful not to get TOO LITTLE sleep (anything less than 7 hours) or TOO MUCH sleep (over 10 hours) both have adverse metabolic affects on your hormones.
Also, ever wonder why those all-nighters made you so hungry? Studies have shown that getting too little of sleep affects your HUNGER Hormones by increasing your hunger-producing hormones (ghrelin) and decreasing your satiety producing hormones (leptin).
The benefits of sleep is not only in our energy production for the next day, but during our sleep we also experience our HIGHEST Growth Hormone levels and Testosterone (mainly for men) that significantly boost the FAT BURNING machinery in our systems.
Recommendation: Get 7-9 hours of sleep per night. To help yourself fall asleep and stay asleep, avoid caffeine in the afternoon and avoid your TVs and devices 1 hour before bed time (the blue light in them activate our “awake” responses in our Circadian Rhythm clocks). Try to go to bed and wake-up at the same time every day, as this has been shown to help you get in the proper Circadian Rhythm cycle flow.
4. REFINED SUGAR: Refined Sugar, or any sugar that causes a huge Glycemic surge, is an Fat Loss nemesis. The more the food spikes our blood sugar, the more it will send in a rush of insulin, and essentially slow fat-loss. Then, as your blood sugar gets too low (which inevitably happens after the bad rush of Glucagon to break down the insulin), this triggers a the HUNGER hormones (ghrelin) to come in full force again! This is why, when you eat refined sugary foods, you are not full for very long. It is burned quickly and makes you hungry sooner, all while NOT Fat Burning.
Recommendation: Eat foods lower in Fructose and low on the Glycemic Index charts, meaning, more complex and fiber rich starchy carbs. A great resource for low-glycemic foods is HERE. I copied a graphic from Low GI Health website too that I found really helpful.
5. FOOD INTOLERANCES: This one was a surprise to me, but I learned very quickly after my bikini competition that I became very food sensitive and intolerant! I began experiencing very painful digestion issues that caused me so much issues that it’s taken over 2 years to truly figure out all of the “issues” I have (which are far and above just digestive issues by the way!).
But the reason why food intolerances can affect your fat loss efforts in a variety of ways. If our gut lining in unable to break down certain foods or the gut lining ins compromised in some way (leaky gut syndrome, for example) then it will limit the ABSORPTION of the vital vitamins and minerals (which is done predominantly in the intestines). Our vitamins and minerals are HUGE factors in making Fat Loss happen because they are the agents that “turn on” all of the “machinery” needed for Fat burning.
Not only that, but our guts also are huge factors in our stress responses (I carry my stress in my gut which has a huge factor on my digestion too!) and even our cognitive thinking!
RECOMMENDATION: At some point in your life, I recommend doing an Elimination Diet. I prescribe a specific one in my Health Coaching program (Module #3- Nutrient Based Eating) but there are many others. Whole 30, the Daniel Plan, Metabolic Effect, and Precision Nutrition all have varying programs. My friend Lisa Suazo, owner of also hosts a “CLEAN CLUB” that goes through this elimination process too she learned about from the book by Dr.Alejandro Junger, CLEAN.
Overall, these 5 factors can have SIGNIFICANT delays and negative delays on your Metabolism and Fat Loss efforts if not carefully considered.
With ALL things for your body, start with just ONE AREA and determine some new, healthy habits to focus on for a few weeks consistently. Then, as you get those down, add on another habit or two. Soon enough, you’ll be stocked full of all kinds of new habits that will start to really add up to some SUSTAINABLE, HIGH METABOLIC Fat Loss success!
As always, feel free to comment below or email me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com with any questions!
To say that my history with Fat Loss has been emotionally “shaky” is a gross understatement. I’ve been frustrated more times than I can count by the slowness, stubbornness, and mental strain that I have placed on my ability (or inability, rather) to lose fat when I tried to the hardest. Have you ever felt that way?! Sometimes I just research the liposuction cost and consider having all the access weight sucked out of me. It’s something I’ve really considered because losing weight can be a very stressful and frustrating process, especially when doing it with just exercise and diet regulations.
The problem is that Fat Loss is NOT the same thing as “weight loss” and even so, for both categories, the old adage that you simply lose weight or fat by the mathematical sequence of “Calories In < Calories Out" is flat out WRONG.
The achieve a change in our physique through muscle growth and/or fat loss, we have to focus on our METABOLISM.
Our metabolism is COMPLEX to say the least! Yes, the Big Man upstairs has done Himself some kind of wonder in creating this amazing system that is responsible for both the break-down (called CATABOLISM) of our food into calories (that are used for energy in the body) as well as the build-up (called ANABOLISM) of all cells, such as muscle cells. It is a TRUE WONDER!
Even with my degree in Biochemistry and Biology, I did not understand the wonder of our body’s biochemical pathways and metabolic processes until I really devoted myself to studying it….and of course, experimenting with it (read: FAILING A LOT).
Yes, I have achieved the FULL SPECTRUM of what a high speed and perfectly ineffecient Metabolism does (our metabolism actually needs to be inefficient to promote fat burn and keep our system “moving” and higher speeds) as well as what a low speed and completely manipulated metabolism does.
Ironically, the time that I was at my LEANEST weight, when I trained for a a Bikini Competition, I was suffering from the WORST METABOLIC OPERATION that by Body had ever seen! So we cannot always associate a “smaller body frame” with a HIGH Metabolism! The opposite could be true!
Because I had WILL POWERED my way to see significant fat loss (losing over 10% in just 5 months) by EATING FAR TOO FEW CALORIES (especially carbohydrates that are out #1 quick energy source) and doing FAR TOO MUCH EXERCISE I stunted my metabolism to incredibly slow and yes, even damaged, levels.
Metabolic Effect calls this the EMEL method (Exercise More, Eat Less) which is a highway to metabolic damage and gaining ALL the weight back. Which is exactly what I did!
from metaboliceffect.com
My metabolic damage was made worse yet by the fact that I promptly proceeded to GAIN BACK almost ALL of the body fat I lost (gained back about 7%), which took my metabolic damage to a whole. notha.’ level!
Yes, studies show that is is WORSE for your body to lose weight and gain it all back than it is to never lose it at all. Yes, that’s right.
Why? Because when we lose and gain, lose and gain (a la’ Yo-Yo dieting) your metabolism is slowed down. You simply won’t be as fuel (in)efficient anymore and your body won’t burn as many calories as you used to.
In fact, if you take two identical twins that are the same height and the same weight but ONE of the women had gained weight last year and had to ‘diet down’ to lose the weight again, HER METABOLISM will be slower than the other sister’s. Any time we gain and lose weight, we slow down our system. Frustrating RIGHT?! (By the way this is one of those questions on my list to ask God in Heaven, “What’s up with THAT?!”)
This is what I call, “Biting you in the Booty!” It’s both figurative reference and for me, quite literal because let’s just say, my BIG BOOTY has come right back to where it started from, and appears to be here to stay (to my husband’s delight, of course ;-)).
So, needless to say, now that I am 2.5 years POST-SHOW, I have learned a TON about metabolism in an effort to keep my body revved up and roaring as much as possible! This has helped me a TON understand MY BODY more of course, but it really helps me be a better Health Coach!
It’s a hard discussion to have with clients, because I know so many of us women want to see “results right away” but the truth is, you CAN’T speed up the process of Fat Loss to the point of it causing detriment to your Metabolism. You need to WORK WITH YOUR METABOLISM, not against it.
This means TAKING THE TIME to test your body and seeing what works. It is a PROCESS and if you’re doing it right, it’s a slow process! It’s hard, but if you consider the alternative, you would much rather have SUSTAINABLE FAT LOSS over quickly lost but quickly gained back fat loss? Yeah, me too.
My Top 3 Tips In Your Road to Fat Loss!
Try the TOGGLE programs that Metabolic Effect Prescribes for a roaring metabolism– either Eat Less and Exercise Less OR Eat More and Exercise More. Toggle back and forth between the two phases depending on your scheduling and life!
My 10% Method! Choose the “Minimum Effective Dose Method:” The goal is the eat as much as you possibly can while still seeing Fat Loss! You never want to take drastic cuts to your diet or make drastic leaps with your exercise. Just kick things up or down a notch, by about 10% of so. This is just enough to see if you see any results! When you cut too much, you probably can’t maintain that too well.
Don’t STRESS! Adding more stress to yourself to do everything “perfectly” just increases the stress hormones which ultimately WORKS AGAINST you in Fat Loss. So take this Fat Loss effort slow and just keep SURREND’hering your will to God’s will. Your God power will get you through these challenges far greater than your will power! Have Faith and Endure!
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The first time I heard of someone doing this, I thought they were crazy and were going to send themselves into starvation. I mentally judged them, immediately, and came up with a ton snippets of “health tips” that would disprove their practice as fallacy! Ha!
Cut to about 3 months later, when I decided to take a quiz from one of my favorite teaching blogs on all things Metabolism (Read: Fat Loss) related, Metabolic Effect, and guess what this quiz advised me to do? The VERY act that I so ruefully mentally judged others in the fitness industry for doing! Typical, right? (God was listening ;-))
So now, every day, I don’t eat my first meal until about 11am. I eat my last meal by 7 or 8pm. Basically, I eat in a 8-9 hour window.
WHAT IT IS:
So, I’m talking about Intermittent Fasting. Let me start by saying that I hate the term “Fasting” because anytime you say that, it makes people think of either a spiritual prayer practice (which is good, but not related), or a detox or cleanse. Which again, those two things can be good for you (if done right), but all these words seem to spark up a lot of “judgey judgertons” just like I admitted to being.
Intermittent Fasting is just a term used to describe going an extended period of time, every day, without eating. We ALL fast every day. This is called sleeping. So, intermittent fasting is a way to just extend the “non-eating” phase of your day because it essentially extends the Fat Burning period of your day.
Studies (and HERE) have actually shown that the TIMING of when we eat can have a bigger impact on our weight that the actual amount of calories we eat! In fact, I talked about this rat study on my blog on NUTRIENT BASED TIMING, HERE. The most recent study published in Cell Metabolism Journal, essentially tested two groups of rats who both ate the exact same amount of calories but one group ate all day long while the other group only at in a 10-12 hour window. The results showed that the group that ate at all hours of the day got obese while the intermittent fasted group of rats stayed at a normal weight. With the exact same amount of food!
The way our fast paced world has been operating lately, we can easily fall into the trap of GRAZING all day, every day. We need a snack at all occasions! I truly believe this contributes heavily (no pun intended) to the deathly serious overweight and obesity epidemic we have on our hands.
WHY I DECIDED TO TRY IT:
So, back to my decision to bite my own judgement and take the advice from the Metabolic Effect quiz I took. First, I have already done a lot of research on the Metabolic Effect website, read their books and know they are Doctors with credentials I trust. This is the most important part about taking advice from any health hack out there (myself included!).
Second, I had already been eating in a 12-hour window for 8+ months at this point. This was something I knew I needed to do not only because I had heard about that rat studies but also just by pure math. I have a large appetite and so if I don’t pay attention to the times and quantities I eat, I can (and have) eaten several hundred more calories than I need to in a day.
Third, the reason why this quiz advised me to push this fasting period back even further is because I had already taken several steps in the (w)right direction for my health and this was just the next best stepin the (W)right direction for ME. Meaning, I was already eating a Nutrient-Based diet of clean, holistic foods CONSISTENTLY. While also regularly looking into different meal reviews so I have the option to change my meal plans up a little while still eating the healthy sustenance I need. I has also already practiced short periods of intermittent fasting first before by eating within a 12 and 10-hour window. I was also already active and healthy. I just had stopped seeing results, so it was time to try something new.
HOW IT’S BEEN WORKING SO FAR:
So, I decided this step would be something worth trying to see if it worked for me!
The way to TEST any new dietary change is to monitor 4 areas *H.E.C.D.* (a modified tool from Metabolic Effect as well): 1. Hunger2. Energy3. Cravings4. Digestion. So as I made the change to move my first meal back to 11am and as I ate my meals, I monitored those 4 categories. I told myself I would try it for a full week to let my body adapt and get a real feel for how it was working (or not working).
PROS: SHOCKING!
-My HUNGER actually went WAY down over the course of the day. I had been used to eating 5-6 meals per day and my body had been conditioned to get hungry when I had been used to eating. So where I thought that I would be building up several more hours of HUNGER from not eating at those times, I was SHOCKED to feel substantially less hungry. I believe this tactic helped to mellow out my hormones (ghrelin and leptin are your hunger and satiety hormones) . I don’t have the exact science as to why, but this is how it turned out for ME.
-Moreover, I actually had less CRAVINGS for sugar and other food items I normally crave as well! My hardest part is still at night more than in the morning, so I do still have a sweet tooth but I manage that with other tools anyway.
-My ENERGY felt about the same! I often found that by overeating so often before, I would put myself into a food-coma and feel lethargic. Now my mornings are my most productive time!
-My DIGESTION is on par. This one relies most on the quality of foods I eat, but going longer between meals helps move things along much better for my body!
On top of all of these factors, the other benefit of doing this is in those months where I was not really being careful about WHAT I ate (I had a ton more sugar, frozen yogurt, and BBQs during the month of July) but I still stuck to this 8-9 hour window, I DID NOT GAIN WEIGHT. At all. So this proves to me that the rat test they conducted is in fact on par with my this human body works too!
Overall, I AM eating enough food (almost the same amount of calories) just in the tighter time-frame. This is VERY IMPORTANT that I’m not starving my body as a crash diet. I am only changing the timing of my eating, not the quantity of food. Since I love big meals, this works great for me too.
CONS:
There are a few things I had to adjust and some ways to trouble shoot this that are not the easiest.
I rely more on coffee and caffeine in the AM. I have been getting up by 5-6am to start writing and working, so I’m tired of course, but also that is a pretty long window of being awake without eating. So, coffee (without cream or sugar) and tea are my solutions to keep my stomach calm. If I do experience stomach growls, I’ll drink more water first.
I had to move back my workout time: I was a morning workout girl for a long time but decided that working out fasted is not the smarted idea for me. This worked out though because I needed my mornings for productivity and writing anyway. It will always take an adjustment period to get hyped up enough for an afternoon workout. It also is harder to avoid the excuses of getting “too busy” to go to the gym. Good thing I only do 30-45 min workouts now!
Breakfast is my favorite meal: The absolute hardest thing for me is going out for breakfast with friends and family and not eating. Maybe this is the O.C.D, way TOO self-controlled part of my life, but I am just a person that once I commit to something, I commit to it and stay as consistent as possible. So, when in a situation where we are out to eat or my husband and I are traveling and he is eating breakfast, I will have coffee and enjoy the company and order a meal to go if I have to. I admit this is challenging but only because of the social pressure and because I love breakfast food. Not because I’m hungry, surprisingly.
The (W)Right Way Of Intermittent Fasting:
So, if you are interesting in exploring what this might look like for you, I encourage you to take the following steps:
START 12-HOURS:Start with a 12-hour window of Intermittent Fasting FIRST. This is my Nutrient Based Timing strategy that will work wonders for you if you have not already been eating in this window of time. Stick with this FIRST for about 6-12 weeks. See if you get desired results and good H.E.C.D. results.
SMALL STEPS: If you have already been eating in a 12-hour window, push back your eating window by 2 or 4 hours at the most. You can decide if you want to push back your first meal of the day, or stop eating earlier in the evening. Pay attention to the clock and adjust it if necessary according to your plans that day (dinner out, etc).
STAY CONSISTENT: I don’t advise doing just one day here or there of intermittent fasting. I think this is how you start to confuse your hormones and metabolism into thinking you are indeed ‘starving’ on certain days. If your body thinks your starving, it will go into shut-down mode and slow your metabolism. No bueno.
SATISFY YOUR BELLY: Eat well and eat enough! For the above reason, you should make sure you are eating enough food! You reasonably can have 3 solid meals and maybe one snack all within that 8-9 hour window. Eating causes a BOOST in your metabolism because you have to burn calories to digest. So a large BOOST followed by an EXTENDED FAST (Fat-Burning) period is why this science works.
STAY TRUE TO YOU: If your H.E.C.D. is all off after trying this, then I don’t think intermittent fasting is for you and your body type. Some people with higher metabolisms will just have a harder time with this because their bodies need more energy more often. This is GREAT to learn and important for you to listen to! I think intermittent fasting works for me because I have a endomorphic/mesomorphic body type. (More on this another time!).
I’d love to hear your thoughts and/or experiences you have encountered with intermittent fasting! Every body is different and I’d like to hear what you like, didn’t like or if you are going to give it try and why!
This week I continue on my quest to share some of the ways I #Ritualize my health! As I’ve explained, #rituals are just how I find ways to attach greater enjoyment from the regular health habits I’m trying to make second-nature. If I add a *MANDI STYLE* to some otherwise boring health habit, I find that it ups the “reward” center of my brain to thinking what I’m doing is fun and enjoyable instead of boring and horrible “healthy” stuff.
You will never learn to live a healthy life FOREVER unless you find some way to enjoy it! It is simple psychology and patterns human behavior! You have to change your brain chemistry to ENJOY being healthy and change any part of your life!
I believe RITUALS are the #1 WAY to find greater enjoyment. Being MINDFUL and INTENTIONAL with your rituals is so effective to making your rituals the healthy ones instead of the unhealthy ones.
So, as we have probably all heard, the solution to ANY PHYSIQUE change you desire for your body is going to come down to 80% NUTRITION CHOICES.
While working out is amazing and wonderful, if you don’t change your food and beverage habits, you may never see any weight loss, muscle gain or whatever your desired change may be.
YOU CAN’T OUT TRAIN A BAD DIET. It is that simple.
That does not mean you take the “well why even bother!” approach and stop working out or putting in effort for exercise! Fitness brings FAR more benefits to your health than the aesthetic reasons we workout including psychological benefits, emotional stress relief, the metaphorically motivating aspects, heart health, disease reduction, and FUN, to name a few.
NO, my point in always pointing out that 80% of your body goal is dependent on your nutrition is to be sure you get the message that NUTRITION IS REALLY IMPORTANT so you don’t shirk responsibility in managing what you allow in your body.
I don’t advocate being a ‘perfectionist’ eater at all (that usually makes us suffer the consequences of an “unhealthy mindset” which renders us unhealthy overall), but I do want to empower all people and my clients to take proper responsibility for the “temple” that is their body.
Eating healthy is HARD because so much of it is dependent on things that we humans don’t manage very well–our emotions, stress, money, and planning. And not forgetting that most of us like to add extra salt to our meals to give it a heightened taste.
But this is actually bad for your health. Even though the likes of salt and sugar taste nice in our meals, it is unhealthy, and can even create a lot of health problems down the line, especially if you eat more than you should. The salt vs sugar comparison is an ongoing debate about which one is worse for your heart, and which one is likely to bring on a heart attack. The truth is is that they’re equally as bad as each other, and you should take great care when it comes to planning your meals, and how much of each ingredient you add.
I believe just implementing a solid set of RITUALS to what you eat, how you plan and cook your meals, and how you make decisions while you’re dining out will make ALL THE DIFFERENCE in you feeling more REWARDED for taking the positive responsibility of governing your body with love and care.
Alas, here are my TOP 5 MEAL PLANNING RITUALS that I love! Use them to think about your FOOD RITUALS and how you can implement more HEALTHY associations and less unhealthy ones.
Top 5 Meal Planning Rituals
1. GROCERY SHOPPING WITH A HOT TEA AND A FULL STOMACH:
You’ve probably heard this one before but it’s a huge one for me–don’t grocery shop while hungry! If I decide to go to the grocery store on an empty stomach I will have eaten half a bag of grapes by the time get to the checkout counter as well as will find 3X more food especially in the form of chocolate, processed snacks and a lot of other things that just “looked” good at the time.
My goal while grocery shopping is to not get too carried away with spending (hello Whole Foods!), to buy mainly Holistic food choices (i.e. whole, unprocessed foods) found on the perimeter of the grocery store, and to purchase the satisfying variety of foods that will keep me eating Nutrient Based for all of my meals the next few days.
While I am a person that actually ENJOYS grocery shopping (I know not everyone does) to further increase the “reward” value I’m feeling, I will make myself a nice HOT TEA (or cold if it’s really hot out) to sip on while I walk. My favorite tea is Jasmine Green Tea. All green teas have this wonderful affect of just a little bit of caffeine matched with fat burning antioxidants AND this palette cleansing effect. It really helps to curb any cravings I might be having. Thus, as I’m walking by the chocolate aisle I’m less likely to wander in and overindulge. Any type of quenching treat is a great idea for all!
2. VEGGIES/FOOD PREP TO SOME MUSIC:
When I get home from the grocery store, it is always best if I go ahead a chop up all the veggies and produce and put it into containers on the shelf that is at eye level. First, having the veggies pre-chopped makes them more accessible and will help me EAT THEM. Then, I know if I keep them in the bags and put them in the drawer, I’m must more likely to FORGET about them and then they go bad and I have to throw them out (which I really hate wasting food!). So I put them at EYE LEVEL to prompt me to eat them.
SO, I don’t usually have a whole lot of time to chop up veggies since I’m always feeling “behind” in something for my business. Sometimes I will time myself to see how quickly I can do it. Other times, I’ll just plan this for my “break” time that I do about every 90min-2hr of work. I put on some jams on the speakers and get to choppin’! It becomes pretty stress relieving and will make it a much more enjoyable activity! Once or twice a week when I do more extensive food prep (like bake chicken breasts or baked sweet potatoes) I especially implement the music/dance party! I know that food prep is a boring, mundane task but it’s something that has to be done unless you use a meal kit. If you’re interested in learning more about meal kits, it might be worth reading this hello fresh vs blue apron review page. I can certainly see the advantages of meal kits so if the prep is something you dread every week, this might be an option for you. Just make sure you’re eating healthily.
3. FOOD PLATING AS ART DESIGN:
I think the “prettier” your food is, the more appealing it is to eat. I have started engaging in some meal planning tactics that help to make for “prettier” plates.
The more colorful the food is, the prettier it is! Thinking about this helps me first buy the array of colorful fruits and vegetables that will help me get a nice NUTRIENT-BASED variety that is really, REALLY important to True Health. Then I just make sure they get on the plate and I will eat them!
Also, if you really want to enforce this one to your “reward” center of your brain, take a picture of your food! I know the whole “food posting” tendency is slightly controversial and gets a lot of slack, but I personally find it a very valuable step in showing others that you are healthy and to give others ideas of meals! Why not shine the light?!
4. FOLLOW A PLATE GRAPHIC:
Metabolic Effect Food Graphic
This kind of piggy backs on the last ritual, but this one works for me because I get that feeling of “reward” when I actually feel organized in something. If I make an effort to consciously organize my eating without having to resort to things like measuring food or counting macronutrients, I am still finding a way to monitor my portion sizes but in a less rigorous way.
I am not against such practices of counting and logging food– in fact, I do it during certain seasons of strength training and I do ask most of my clients trying to lose a certain amount of fat to implement this habit for themselves. But for my very busy life right now, I appreciate just using a plate graphic to help hold me accountable. This is my LIFESTYLE way of doing this because I believe no person can reasonably log their food for the rest of their life.
Using a plate goes as follows:
1)Choose the proper plate size for your meal. This is dependent on your body size (the smaller you are, the smaller the plate should be and vice versa) as well as the # of meals you eat per day. If you eat 3x per day, you can have 3 bigger plates. If you eat 5-6x per day, you should be using 5-6 smaller plates. It just helps you eat the proper amount for you.
Choose Plate size based on # of Meals and Body Size (I chose the smaller plate)
2) Fill at least 1/2 of the plate with veggies. If it’s a green veggies, especially lettuce, fill the whole darn thing! Make sure you get some colored produce on there too (a nod to my Ritual #3). The “heavier” the vegetable, the more likely it is to have some fiber in there and make you feel full. I recommend a lot of cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy etc.)
Colorful Cauliflower, Carrots and Celery
3) Fill justunder 1/4of the plate with a starchy carb source (sweet potato, brown rice, corn, beans, oats) OR fruit.
Added baked sweet potato slices which I like because they are naturally sweet and don’t need butter added.
4) Fill just over 1/4 of the plate with a lean protein of choice (fish, chicken, turkey, sirloin, bison, shrimp, egg whites etc for those that eat meat).
I’ve really enjoyed lean ground Bison lately, it has higher Iron and lower fat than Beef.
5) Add a “dollop” of fat in there (about the size of your thumb or two). If you cooked your veggies in a fat, that counts. If you are eating a higher fat source of protein (like bacon, ribeye, salmon,or whole eggs) that counts too. Otherwise, grab some guacamole to dip your veggies into, some olives on the side, or some coconut butter for your fruit or starch.
Today, I chose guacamole! Yummy polyunsaturated fat source!
5. PRACTICE THE SAME MODEL WHEN OUT TO EAT!
Whenever I eat at a restaurant, I actually try to follow the same principles of #4! Now, I won’t get the chance to actually plate my own food, but I will ORDER as best as I can to this same degree. For this reason, I will order a la carte A LOT or will just ask for exactly what I want (which a smile and respect of course!). 🙂
1.VEG: I start with veggies and this usually is just me asking for a side or two of whatever the chefs vegetables are that day or maybe get a side salad. Sides are usually always cooked in oil (as is everything when dining out!) but I’ll see if they can do light oil sometimes. For salads, I always get dressing on the side to avoid them dousing the thing with way too much.
2. PROTEIN: I’ll always find grilled fish or chicken as an easy go-to.
3. STARCH: For starch I’ll do brown rice or a sweet potato if they have them. If not, I’ll go for fruit for dessert–helps with my sweet tooth! If I plan on going for chocolate (which I do usually for one meal per day) I’ll just count that and try only 2-3 bites! If I’ve decided to have a glass of wine I count that as my starch too (only 1 glass though).
4. FAT: Since most restaurants already use way more oil that I do at home, I assume I’ve already had more than enough fat to necessitate extra fat sources. Therefore, I try to avoid adding extra “fat” options to my meals on purpose.
This is has HUGE reward incentive in the RESULTS I actually get. We travel all the time so we are eating out all the time. We’ve got no choice to so we have made the changes we need to make it work for us both health-wise and financially. For example, my other half has an AMEX Gold Card because she found it was the best option for people who eat out a lot and we also make sure the places we eat are healthy. If I DON’T implement this ritual, I will put on weight really fast. Sometimes its worth it and I’m perfectly find accepting that! But the rest of the time, I try to follow a the same steps to keep things as consistent in my eating as possible!
These are just a few ideas of some meal #RITUALS I have been implementing lately! I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing!!
