Eating You Alive

Nearly 30.4 million people die each year from chronic diseases and $3. 8 trillion is spent in healthcare costs in the US alone for treating what the CDC defines as among most common, costly and preventable of all health problems.

Check out the documentary “Eating You Alive” for evidence and inspiration.

*I’m not a physician and this isn’t medical advice*

Exercise and Weight loss

A recent article in Time, ” Why you shouldn’t exercise to lose weight” references studies showing that overweight individuals didn’t lose weight by exercising. Don’t let this title deter you from working out.  We all know that the primary driver of weight loss is related to what and how much we’re eating. You can’t out-exercise a bad diet. 

BUT… don’t forget about the myriad benefits of exercise: 

“It’s been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, dementia, depression, colds, back pain, osteoporosis and premature death. It can also improve sleep, boost energy, fend off old-age feebleness and even enhance our sex lives.

What’s more, while it’s not very helpful for melting away pounds, exercise can prevent weight gain and improve your appearance by increasing muscle mass and reducing visceral fat, the type indicated by a large waist that’s linked to heart disease and diabetes.

Imagine a pill with this long list of benefits. We’d all be clamoring for it.” SOURCE

GET READY FOR OUR JANUARY JUMPSTART!

This January, let’s work together to anchor in healthy habits to feel and perform at our best! 

What to expect:

  • 3 week program, January 3-23, 2022
  • Weekly plant-focused Soup/Salad Smoothie recipes make it easy to eat the rainbow & improve your diversity of plant intake
  • Optional workout schedule with 2 new videos per week
  • Weekly journal prompts and guided meditations
  • Optional personalized accountability via text message
  • Live weekly video calls

We’ll also read Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything together to help reinforce turning our healthy habits into a sustainable lifestyle!

As always, the Jumpstart is included FREE with your Goal Fit monthly membership for just $10.99/month. CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE MEMBERSHIP!

Let me know if you have any questions or anything else you’d like to see included in the program!

Recovering from a bout of overeating

Overdo it this week? You’re not alone! But don’t let it derail your progress or get you down! Here are some tips to get back on track:

  • Take some time to think about what contributed to overeating:
    • Was it simply the overwhelming amount of yummy options available?
    • Any triggers like stress or boredom?
  • Freeze any leftovers so you don’t continue picking at them. Transfer any items that have been left out to storage containers & put them away in the fridge or pantry. 
  • Eat from a plate at the table – no more snacking while standing at the pantry or fridge. 
  • Make hydration a priority.
  • Wait until you feel hungry to eat and then have a typical amount of healthy food – don’t restrict yourself – it won’t help!
  • Wait a few days before stepping back on the scale.
  • Commit to some movement – go for a walk or get back to your regularly scheduled workouts.
  • Don’t give yourself a hard time.  Remember – It’s normal to overeat at Thanksgiving, but be sure not to let it continue into the rest of the holiday season. 
  • Use your tracker & stay on track with your Super 60 habits!

Hack your metabolism!

I had my metabolism measured this summer when I did the BodPod and Quark RMR tests at UK. After 4 years as a vegan, I wanted to e sure my muscle mass was in good shape & to measure my resting metabolic rate.  On that date, my RMR was 1495 calories and I was in a state of fat burn – BUT that was just a snapshot in time. It didn’t give me much insight into how my body responds to a variety of foods & activities from day to day.

Enter the LUMEN.  “Lumen’s technology has been scientifically proven to accurately measure metabolic fuel usage when compared to the gold standard (RER) for measuring metabolism in multiple validation studies. With Lumen’s daily insights, you will improve your metabolism by improving metabolic flexibility: your body’s ability to shift efficiently between using fats or carbs as a source of energy, and see in real-time how different meals, workouts & activity levels impact your metabolism.”  

I’ve been tracking my measurements randomly for the past week. These are just a couple of my personal insights:

  • If I eat too many carbs (low fat/protein & carb-heavy dinner followed by lots of frozen mango for dessert) late in the day with no activity afterward, I am still burning those carbs off in the morning (ideally, you’d wake up in a fat burning state most days if weight loss is a goal).
  • Even if I wake up burning carbs, I’m generally able to switch over to fat burning if I do HIIT or cardio in a fasted state in the morning.

The Lumen app offers a daily meal plan recommendation based upon your goals & the state in which you wake up in the morning.  I LOVE the fact that I was able to tell the app about my dietary restrictions (you can let it know if you don’t eat meat, nuts, gluten, dairy, and many other common dietary preferences). 

This week, I am going to continue taking my morning measurement & at least somewhat following the suggested dietary pattern for the day.  While I’ve done carb cycling in the past, I am really looking forward to seeing my personalized real-time results that only the Lumen offers, instead of just guessing.

If you’d like to give the Lumen a try, you can order one at my link HERE and/or use the code “gretchen” at checkout for 10% off!

*affiliate links*