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Ask David
Hey there everybody! As you may already know, it is my mission to make reaching your health and wellness goals as simple and as practical as possible. The "Ask David" section is a list of questions that you may be asking yourself, and we are happy to provide you with the answers that you are looking for.
If you want further clarity on exactly how to get your results that you are looking for, simply give us a call for a free consultation...Yes, you did read that correctly, a free consultation! We're going to answer any, and all, questions or concerns that you may have to keep your health simplified!
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Please see below to find many of the answers that you may be looking for and beyond!
*As always, consult with your medical provider before making any nutrition, lifestyle, supplement, or exercise changes. This content is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any condition or disease and is not approved by the FDA.
In Health,
David
I would really like to lose weight around my abdomen or hips or drop 5-10lbs. Where do I start?
Awesome question! As you may be aware, men are likely to hold their weight around their abdomen, where women are more likely to store it in their hips or legs. You and I are designed to store fat when we have a surplus of energy, and these are the places that our body decides to store it for later use. With this being said, these areas are generally “stubborn” areas to get rid of despite adjusting our diet and exercising.
If you have a large amount of weight to lose, usually positive results come much quicker than someone who is trying to lose only 5 or 10lbs. But, do not be discouraged! There are so many factors that influence our body composition including but not limited to stress, sleep quality, hormones, nutrition, and physical activity. If you have ever trained for a 5k or learned a new skill like playing the piano, you understand that to become skilled or well versed in the task, it takes time and consistency. The same thing applies to weight loss – or losing 5 to 10lbs.
Suppose you are a 30 year old who would love to lose 5-10lbs, so you take up a new fitness or nutrition program, and after 3 weeks decided that “the program is not for you.” Remember, your body has been exposed to 30 years of environmental signals that you have given it which have shaped the person that you are today. Three weeks is far from adequate to say whether or not something works for you, so first and foremost, find a plan, and stick to it for at least 3 months!
Correcting things like hormones and circadian rhythms takes time, and these factors do influence your weight!
Once you have decided that you are going to give it 3 solid months without compromise, you need to hone in on nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle optimization. For nutrition, eliminate all simple sugars and grains including but not limited to pastries, bagels, bread, pasta, rice, cookies, crackers, cereals, excess fruit, candies, sweets, etc. Make this a priority! Excess carbs are designed by nature to make us store fat.
For fitness, make sure that you are doing some sort of physical activity or exercise 6 days a week. Your body is a beautiful machine made to move. This doesn’t mean that you have to do a strenuous workout every day, but it does mean that you have to move. Incorporate heavy resistance training like lifting weights, endurance training like walking, jogging, and sprinting, as well as mobility training so that you are able to move your body to its fullest capacity.
When it comes to lifestyle optimization, this is extremely important when it comes to leaning out. No matter how much we go to the gym or eat clean, if we don’t sleep or have a toxic relationship, we won’t do as well as we could. Get to bed on time, avoid looking at all devices 1 hour before bedtime, drink plenty of water, take time away from work and the hustle & bustle, don’t sleep with your cellphone beside your head, and turn your WiFi router off at night.
There is so much more that you can do to help get rid of that stubborn weight, but here is a great springboard. To get more information on how this can be achieved, I encourage you to watch a 40 minute video that is packed full of useful information that will help you get the results that you have been looking for – called the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class that lays out some of the most fundamental aspects of nutrition, fitness, and lifestyle optimization that can point people in the right direction to get the weight loss results that they are looking for!
My energy has been less than optimal, any suggestions?
With my medical background, I am aware that there are so many different factors that can impact your energy! From thyroid health, to sleep quality, to glucose regulation, to underlying infection, so many factors impact our “energy”, which makes this a difficult question to answer. But, I do have several recommendations.
First, I'll preface your solution by saying that if you haven’t been feeling well recently, always see your primary care provider to see if there is something that needs to be addressed or diagnosed.
As far as lifestyle factors that can influence how much gas you have in the tank, you must, must, must optimize your sleep. How do you do that? You get out in the sunshine in the early morning. If you sip your coffee, take off your shoes, go outside, and face the east. Morning sunshine penetrates your eyes and skin and helps with the natural production of melatonin (the supplement that people take to help them sleep) so that you can sleep that night. Nature’s sleep remedy right there! Also, once the sun goes down, do not look at your electronic devices unless you are wearing blue blocking glasses. When you see a bright blue-lit backdrop, which all of our phones and computers have, you signal to your brain that it is the middle of the day. If you do this long enough, “bye bye?” to a good night’s rest, because quite frankly, your brain can’t tell what time of the day it is because it thinks that it was just looking at the Mid-day sunshine.
Maybe your type of "tired" is that Mid-day crash after lunch. Nutrition can play a huge role in this. When we eat carbohydrates during our meals, we spike our blood sugar (blood glucose), and as a result, we secrete insulin to compensate for this to lower our blood sugar. When our blood sugar dips down, we get sleepy. Make sure that you are getting plenty of high quality protein and fats in each meal. Snacking and eating carbohydrate laden meals is the perfect storm for energy highs and lows.
Next, get your body moving. Have you ever felt drowsy, went to the gym, and then felt much better? Sometimes all it takes is a little motivation to put the fatigue behind you for the day.
Also, feel free to get out in the sunshine. Our brain actually releases an opioid-like compound when it is stimulated by sunshine throughout the day. We are made to be addicted to the outdoors. This may be the reason you feel better on a bright and sunny day. Get outside and in the sunshine whenever possible.
As always, there may be medical conditions like thyroid irregularities that could be contributing to your lack of energy. Consider seeing your primary care provider and getting the appropriate lab work drawn to help narrow in on what it may be.
Lastly, watch the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class video that is packed full of useful tips that will help you increase your energy naturally!
I have been struggling with my sleep. What are some natural steps that I can take to improve my sleep quality?
If you are struggling with sleep, there are many lifestyle choices that you can make to effect your quality of sleep. Begin by setting a consistent sleep and wake time, regardless of whether you are tired or not. It is important to get your body used to a consistent rhythm for its sleep and wake cycles. Next, understand that our body operates on a circadian rhythm that controls when we wake up, when we get tired, and when we release many of our body’s hormones for things like growth and recovery. Our circadian rhythm is trained through the light present in our environments, which should naturally be from the sun. If you are not able to sleep well, it is of utmost importance that you realign your body’s clock with nature (the sun). How do you do this?
Start with getting outside as much as possible. Get out in the sunshine in the early morning while you drink a cup of coffee or take a morning walk. Take off your shoes, go outside, and face the east. Morning sunshine penetrates your eyes and skin and helps with the natural production of melatonin (the supplement that people take to help them sleep) so that you can sleep that night. Nature’s sleep remedy right there!
This step is equally as important. Once the sun goes down, do not look at your electronic devices unless you are wearing blue blocking glasses. When you see a bright blue-lit backdrop, which all of our phones and computers have, you signal to your brain that it is the middle of the day because this same blue light is present in midday sunshine. If you do this long enough, you are telling your brain that it is not night time, but it is actually the middle of the day so it better stop trying to fall asleep. This is a recipe for kissing a good night’s sleep away.
You should also turn on the night mode setting on your iphone during the hours of the day that the sun is not up to further decrease your blue light exposure. Also, download "F.lux" on your computer. This is a program that allows you to adjust the amount of blue light present on your computer monitor. This is great, especially when you are not doing color sensitive work. Furthermore, any time that you have to look at a device or be indoors with the lights on after the sun sets, wear blue blocking glasses so you do not signal to your brain that it should “wake up.”
Next, create for yourself a healthy bedtime routine. Consider stopping your work several hours before bedtime so that you can spend time with friends or family, or participate in a hobby that you enjoy. By giving yourself space between your work and falling asleep, it is likely that you will be more relaxed and ready for bed rather than carrying work into your bedtime ritual.
Eliminate all technology from your bedroom. Your bedroom is not a place to browse social media, watch TV, play on your laptop, or do work. Your bedroom is your sanctuary for sleep. Leave your phone outside of your bedroom, unless it is absolutely necessary for your job for three reasons. One, it is distracting, takes away your valuable time, and distracts you from relaxing. Two, the blue light backdrop does everything but promote sleep. And third, you don’t need the excess radiation from your phone. Better yet, put it on airplane mode to keep electromagnetic frequencies from penetrating your body and brain as you sleep.
Make sure that your room is dark. There shouldn’t be any night lights or little LEDs showing in your room. If you have to go to the bathroom at night, turning on the light to do so is a very unwise decision from a circadian biology standpoint, for the same reasons that I laid out above. I would just like to advise to please be careful so that no toes re stubbed in the process. We need them for balance!
Far too often, people think that taking a pill like melatonin is what they are missing. Unfortunately, taking an exogenous source of melatonin is a very poor decision in my opinion. You will negatively effect your body’s own natural production of the hormone by doing so. If you have done all of the previous steps that have been laid out, only then would I consider using a supplement like Natural Calm which is easily absorbable magnesium – a mineral in which many of us are deficient in due to its inadequacy in our produce. Furthermore, an amino acid called L-theanine has been used for it’s calming properties. Remember, everything that I laid out before takes priority over a supplement, even a “natural” supplement.
Take a look at the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class that highlights many lifestyle factors such as those that I have previously mentioned. These Pro-Tips can help you get your sleep back, lose weight, and regain your energy once again!
I am interested in healthy aging and would like to avoid chronic diseases. What are practical steps that I can take?
I am glad that you’re looking for these answers! Too often we address chronic disease after it is present, rather than living a lifestyle that decreases our odds of these conditions in the first place.
I recommend that you start with finding a Functional Medicine Physician who is board certified through the Institute of Functional Medicine. These physicians approach medicine by finding underlying causes of issues rather than treating symptoms, promote preventive medicine, and are proactive about your health. Furthermore, they will order tests to help give you a picture of your overall health from a preventive standpoint, rather than waiting to order a test once symptoms show up.
Next, if you have not already done so, take sustainable steps to cleaning up your diet. Eliminate processed carbohydrates (pastries, pies, cookies, cereals, sweets, donuts, bread, pasta, etc) and foods that contain vegetable/industrial seed oils like cottonseed oil, corn oil, canola oil, rapeseed oil, peanut oil, and vegetable oil. These foods are harmful and must be avoided. To find a more comprehensive explanation of the nutrition recommendations that are listed here, watch the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class that is a 40 minute video packed with practical nutrition tips and ideas that you can use!
Next, create a weekly exercise routine and make sure that it is diverse, including components of resistance training (weight lifting), endurance like walking or jogging, and mobility (stretching, yoga, etc). Doing this daily with a partner or in a group setting is a great way to get in your fitness in a healthy social environment.
Avoid some of the biggest risk factors that actively contribute to many chronic diseases such as heart disease and cancer. These include eliminating trans fats, not smoking, and not excessively drinking.
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For more tips on how to age gracefully, there is much useful information in the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class.
I am very thin and would like to add some healthy muscle and tone to my body. What can I do?
First and foremost, when it comes to body image, understand that changing your body in no way changes your value. I want to validate you and tell you that you are unique and wonderful just as you are! However, I understand that there is a healthy desire to improve body image that could lead to increased confidence, feeling better, or personal satisfaction.
If you find yourself struggling with your body image, it is important that you find someone who you can connect with in order to help you see yourself in a positive and healthy light so that you are spiritually and mentally ready to reach your health goals.
With that being said, if you find yourself on the thin side and would like to develop some healthy tone to your body, we need to take a look at some of your daily habits like nutrition. Making sure that you are receiving adequate protein and fat in 3 meals per day is a critical first step. Sometimes we neglect eating meals because we are “too busy” or “aren’t hungry”. If you are reading this question, I want you to know that getting in 3 meals a day is essential to you reaching your goals, so I urge you to do this!
Don’t be misinformed like most Americans and think that by eating fat, it will make you gain weight. The contrary is actually true. Carbohydrates are what make us gain weight, and far to often we have avoided nourishing and healing fats for inadequate substitutes like “low fat” products. You need an adequate amount of protein to gain tissue development, as well as fats that function as both a fuel source and building blocks to important hormones like testosterone and estrogen.
Great protein sources include wild caught fish like salmon, grass fed and finished beef, organic chicken, sardines in water or olive oil, organic pork, bison, and lamb. Quality fat sources include raw nuts, goat or sheep cheese, butter from grass fed sources, olive oil, avocado oil, and coconut oil.
I understand that sometimes we are not sure what a “normal” portion of food looks like. If you are attempting to add some healthy weight to your body, it is possible that you may actually be eating less than what you should be eating, but consider it to be a normal amount for an active individual of normal weight. Let me give an example of what a 200lb active individual should be able to comfortably eat in one meal: 8 ounces of chicken, a sweet potato, and 1 cup of broccoli with 2 tbsp of grass fed butter. If you are around 150lbs, figure 6 ounces of chicken, a sweet potato, 1 cup of broccoli, and 2 tbsp of grass fed butter. If you are around 100lbs, figure 4 ounces of chicken, half a sweet potato,1 cup of broccoli, and 1.5 tbsp grass fed butter. This is not universal, it is just a minimum of what one healthy male or female should be able to consume so that you can compare your average meals to.
The next topic that I would like to cover is fitness. I understand that exercising at a gym, especially lifting weights around lots of other “buff” guys, can be intimidating for some. If you are not familiar with resistance training or lifting weights, I encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, find a workout partner that can accompany you, and perform frequent resistance training. If you are unfamiliar with how to get this started, I would be more than happy to help teach you many of the basics. Aim for strength/resistance training at least 3 times a week.
Although there are many other factors that contribute to healthy tone and weight gain, I believe that if you stay consistent with getting enough high quality proteins and fats, and mix this with a structured resistance training routine, over the course of just a few months you will notice significant positive changes.
For other ways of improving your health and reaching your goals, check out the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where many more tips for clean eating and a healthy fitness routine are highlighted like what exercises to do, how many reps to do, and much more!
I believe that I am eating clean and exercising, but not getting the results that I am looking for. What should I do?
First, I commend you for prioritizing your diet and exercise. This is the initial step in reaching the results that you are looking for. One of the first things that you should do is write out exactly what you are eating and when you are eating everything. This includes snacks, beverages, and supplements. By doing this, you will get a better understanding of what is going into your mouth.
After you have done this, you need to look at several key factors. 1) Am I simply eating way too much for my current level of activity? If you are working a desk job, chances are you don’t need a 4,000 calorie diet. Yes, even if it is packed with high quality nutrition. 2). Consider the major food groups that you should not have in your plan. This includes refined and processed carbohydrates including but not limited to wheat, bread, pasta, rice, spaghetti, pastries, cupcakes, donuts, cake, icecream, candy, sweets, pretzels, oatmeal, etc. You should also be eliminating all inflammatory oils and industrial seed oils including corn oil, safflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, peanut oil, rapeseed oil, and vegetable oil. Read the ingredients to all of the foods that you wrote down in the previous step and identify which foods contain these, and eliminate them. 3). Eliminate other inflammatory foods including gluten (which is in wheat, rye, and barley), dairy (especially milk), and legumes (peanuts, beans, and lentils).
Next, make sure that you are not over-training with your exercise and running yourself into the dirt. Too much exercise can keep you from reaching your goals.
Next, look at your quality of sleep and your amount of daily activity throughout the day, not just during one workout at one specific time of the day. If you aren’t sleeping well, you won’t recover, you won’t perform, and your goals will be much more difficult to attain. If you are sitting all day only to do a workout for a small period of time once in the day, you are less likely to get the results that you are looking for than if you did continual movement throughout the day in addition to your workouts. Examples include taking a walk, doing push ups or jumping jacks, or parking in a space farther away from the door to places like your work or the grocery store when the opportunity is available.
Lastly, make sure that the goals that you are trying to reach are 1) realistic and 2) practical to reach in the amount of time that you have set for yourself. If you are not an avid athlete, do not expect to be able to run a marathon overnight, let alone in 6 months. This may take several years to build up to. Next, make sure that the timeframe for reaching your goals is practical. Do not expect to reverse 20 years of weight gain in a few weeks before throwing in the towel. You have our team to help keep you on track. Keep showing up and give yourself at least 3 months of commitment to your goal before you make conclusions of whether or not your plan should be readjusted.
For many recommendations on substitutes that you can use when eliminating many of the inflammatory foods that I listed above, watch the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where you can find practical and sustainable ways to keep a delicious and inclusive diet.
I am a male and would like to bulk up and add muscle? What should I do?
I believe that this is a very common question that most men are asking themselves or others around them. The cool thing is, there are so many physiological factors that contribute to building muscle. Here’s the quick breakdown of what I would recommend.
First, eat your protein. You probably already know this, but your tissues are made of proteins, and you need this through your diet. Get high quality protein sources, especially wild caught salmon and sardines. They’re probably the top two protein sources that you can eat due to their high content of DHA and EPA, which are omega-3 fatty acids. Also include grass fed beef, bison, lamb, and pork without antibiotics and hormones.
What about supplemental protein like whey protein powder? Personally, I shy away from whey protein just because of the fact that dairy can be inflammatory. Consider using grass fed collagen peptides which are from cattle or beef protein isolate. It’s like powdered meat. Many of the powders are loaded with sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame, or just straight up sugar. This is another reason why I always prefer real food over processed products.
Do not neglect your sleep. By burning the candle at both ends, you will stress your system. What this means is that less of your cholesterol (which is good by the way) is available to create your muscle and athletic performance boosting hormones like testosterone because it is being used up to make cortisol when you are stressed. For tips on how to optimize your sleep and lifestyle to get the muscle gaining results that you are looking for, watch the 40 minute Healthy Living Jumpstart Class!
Next, you need to stress your muscles and joints. I know this one is a no brainer, and you probably already hit the gym frequently if you are looking for gains, but I would be amiss not to mention it. Aim for resistance training at least 4 times a week. Depending on whether you are going for a bodybuilding approach (where the aim is to develop the size and appearance of each muscle) or a functional approach (where you goal is to develop muscle through performing functional movements like deadlifting, squatting, and everyday movements), your exercises will likely vary.
If you aren’t lifting, you know where to start. If you are and you’re not getting gains, what do your reps, sets, and rest periods look like? You likely need to hit between 10 and 12 slow reps for 4+ sets in order to get the results that you are looking for with about a 1 minute rest period between sets.
Work your legs. I can’t stress this enough. If you want to get overall body gains, use your legs and use heavy weights. Think about how big your legs are as far as muscle mass compared to the rest of your body. These are huge engines and when they are worked, this creates a massive testosterone spike that you need.
Next, do not eat after dinner time. When you eat after dinner, you cause insulin to circulate in the blood stream longer, which can interfere with growth hormone release later in the night when you are asleep. This is important for recycling the old cellular machinery that isn’t working well, and replacing it with new cellular machinery. All this means is that you are going to recover from your workouts much better.
I am a female, and would like to enhance my body image. How do I do this?
This is a great question! First and foremost, I understand that body image can be a sensitive topic and I want to preface this answer with the fact that regardless of your body image, this does not impact your value whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, the desire to improve one’s self is a healthy goal for all people, but remembering not to define yourself with where you are today or the challenges that you may face is a healthy step in the right direction.
With a healthy appetite for improving you health, well-being, and overall body image, one of the first, and probably obvious steps, is to ensure that your nutrition is where it needs to be. Make sure that your diet consists of real, whole foods that generally don’t come in a package, bag, or box. Your diet should consist of cuts of meat and fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, raw nuts, and healthy oils like avocado oil, olive oil, coconut oil, and butter from a grass fed source. When you eat real food, you will start to see real results not only in body image, but in your energy levels, the way you feel, and beyond!
If you are eating processed carbohydrates like pastries, cookies, pies, desserts, candies, or even excess “whole grains” including but not limited to rice, pasta, bread, spaghetti, oats, granola, know that these are designed to make you gain weight! Furthermore, too much fruit, fruit juices, sodas, sweetened products and beverages, and items like crackers and chips should also be removed from your diet. If it's hard to see the results, I am happy to inform you that, with our guidance, you will be very pleased with yourself once you try it for 2 months. We're here with you during each step so that you never have to go through it all by yourself. That's my job and we're in this together as a team.
I understand that incorporating clean eating can be difficult, so to help with this, check out this free video called the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class. It will give you lots of practical tips on how to clean up your diet to get the results that you are looking for!
I believe that nutrition alone can get you significant results, but that you won’t be satisfied with only getting closer to your goal. The idea is to reach your goal, and we are excited to address any concerns that you may have in getting the results that you are looking for! With that being said, we need to take physical activity into account as well.
In order to develop a toned and healthy figure, this requires 2 steps that can occur simultaneously. The first is that weight loss needs to occur so that, without the excess weight, you can give light to the underlying muscle tissue that is already present. The second step is to increase the size of the underlying muscle tissue so that it can be as evident as you like. The result is the healthy you that you have been working towards.
We covered the first step in the nutrition section of this answer, so now we need to tackle “increasing the size of the underlying muscle tissue so that it can be as evident as you like.” Contrary to popular belief, when women lift weights, they will not “turn into a man.” On the contrary, they will develop a healthy feminine figure. Women and men are very different physiologically when it comes to hormones and responding to exercise.
Many women are under the misunderstanding that to get “toned”, they must do things like walking, yoga, and pilates. Although I commend all of these activities, it does not paint a complete picture of fitness, and the results that many women are looking for from doing these activities (losing weight in certain areas, making muscle and curves more visible) are more easily attained by doing resistance training and lifting weights!
Yes, you read that correctly. In order for a woman to develop healthy curves, she has to stress her muscles by safely lifting weights. If you are skeptical, it is definitely understandable due to misconceptions that have been circulated by body image sources for years. Physiology would like to clarify these rumors for you. After 2 consistent months, you will begin to see the results that you have been wanting to see. Now, this doesn’t mean that you need to have your neck veins bulging or yell when you perform each repetition like some serious guys do. What it does mean is that the weight that you are lifting should take serious focus and grit in order to perform, and you should feel exhausted by the last repetition. A good program that I would encourage you to incorporate in your routine is one that starts out small and naturally enhances as the progression starts to build. This includes safely performed exercises such as squats and deadlifts, as well as bench press, shoulder press, lat pull downs, seated rows, and sit ups. Here is a great link where you will find detailed instructions for performing many of the lifts that I just mentioned safely: https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/exercise-library/
These are the general exercises to tone up each of the main muscle groups. If you are just starting or getting back into fitness again, I would be happy to discuss your personal goals, background, and safe ways to exercise so that we can ensure that you have a plan that works specifically for you. Each individual is different and deserves the program that will work best for them. We're here for you and we have your back! No matter what your goals are, we will find a way to get you there safely and faster than you might think.
To get a better idea of how to create a workout program to get the results that you are looking for, there are lots of helpful tips in the fitness section of the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class!
How do I tone up my arms, legs, and core?
This is a question that I have come across in the past and I want to lay out a few important details that will help in answering this question. I have noticed that some people are under the impression that if you exercise a specific muscle (like your abs) by doing situps, that you will achieve fat loss in the area that was worked (the abs). Or, if women want to lose weight on the backs of their arms, they may consider doing tricep extensions to exercise the backs of their arms. I believe this is a major misunderstanding for one big reason which will help you understand the answer to this question.
The body stores fat in response to the environmental cues that the body is given. For men, most of the excess fat is stored around the waist, whereas in women it is stored in the hips and legs. The body does this to prepare for a time of famine when we do not have access to food. So, we know that the body is intelligent in storing food in the form of fat for our survival. We also know that as we eat what we are intended to eat and in the right amounts, our body will not take on excess energy in the form of fat.
What I am trying to say is that just because we exercise a certain muscle, it doesn’t mean that the fat around that muscle is going to disappear. Instead, if we maintain a healthy exercise program and do not eat excess carbohydrates and inflammatory foods that tell our body to pack on fat, we will be more likely to lose the fat, regardless of whether or not we exercise the muscle that is under the fat.
Far too often I see people at the gym doing long ab workout sessions with the hopes of losing belly fat. Although the workout in and of itself is good, the individual would burn a ton more calories by doing something like squats, deadlifts, or running sprints compared to doing sit ups. By doing these full body and strenuous exercises, this would contribute to greater fat loss and more visible abs than doing an ab circuit! The same is true with the woman who would like to lose weigh on her upper arms. By using the major muscle groups in her body (legs – quads, glutes, hamstrings), she will create a much larger full body effect on caloric expenditure, positive hormone changes, and overall fitness than if she were to stand there and work the back of her arms. And, she will likely get the weight loss results much faster in the back of her arms, even though she hasn’t even exercised the backs of her arms!
So, if you are trying to get toned, don’t focus on working the underlying muscle. It’s deceiving. Focus on working the entire body to get the most bang for your buck and to truly get fit. Incorporate functional movements like squats, deadlifts, pull ups, pushups, and sprints. By working the whole body, you will be more likely to get spot specific weight loss results that you are looking for.
On the other hand, working a specific muscle group will make it larger! Doing tricep exercises will make your triceps larger but “toning” implies not just an increase in muscle size, but a decrease in the overlying body tissue whether this is the legs, arms, or core.
If you are curious about how to make a sustainable workout program for yourself to get tone or to clean up your diet to help in your toning efforts, do not neglect watching the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class that will give you practical information to make these changes a reality in your life!
I have very little exercise experience. Where can I start in my fitness journey?
You are at the right place and it is never too late to start your fitness journey! One of the most important things that you can do to start is to develop yourself, or have someone help you develop a sustainable workout program that you will follow. By having a plan, you are more likely to receive the results that you are looking for as well as being able to track your progress!
Once you have decided to create a program, make sure that you incorporate the 6 functional movements in your exercise program. Don’t worry, this is simpler than it sounds! The 6 key movement patterns are squat, hip hinge, push, pull, carry, and crawl. Let me walk you through each so that you understand each component. Before I do that, understand that by doing all of these movements, you will get the most bang for your buck when exercising because you won’t be neglecting certain body parts and these exercises will teach your body how to move whether your goal is to tone up or feel better. One last note, I recommend anyone who is new to their fitness journey to get the book called “The Supple Leopard” by Dr. Kelly Starett. This book teaches you step by step how to do each movement correctly and provides an abundance of information on how to correct your movement if you cannot do an exercise correctly. Let’s get into the movements.
Squat: a squat is an extremely fundamental movement. If you are starting out, it is important to learn to do a squat without any weight and to make sure that your form is correct which means that your heels stay on the ground, your knees are pressed out to the sides, your back is flat, and your butt is close to the ground. Learn to do this exercise without any weight and when ready, consider holding a weight in your hands and performing the same movement to add resistance.
Hip hinge: the hip hinge simply means an exercise that involves bending at the hips. This is like pulling weeds from the garden or picking up a toy off the floor. The best example of this is an exercise called the deadlift. You can start by doing this exercise without any weight and you will be able to find an abundance of tutorials on this video online. As always, keep your back flat.
Push: a push is any movement that you move your hand further away from your body. A great beginner example is a push up that you can do with your knees on or off the ground, depending on your current level of strength.
Pull: a pull is any movement where you move your hand closer to your body. An example of this would be an assisted pull up. When doing this movement, you are starting with your hands away from your body, and pulling your body up to the bar, thus your hands get closer to yourself.
Carry: a carry is an important movement because it helps with core strength (your abdomen). Consider holding a weight in one or both hands and walk forward without rocking your body side to side.
Crawl: if you are capable, a crawl is a very functional movement that works your legs, arms, hands, and core and is a great functional movement. Consider going forwards and backwards, and also incorporate side to side movement.
We just covered some main components of resistance training, but you should also consider endurance and mobility. Endurance exercises include walking, jogging, sprinting, and team sports like soccer or basketball to improve your cardiovascular fitness. Mobility improves joints and overall ability to perform everyday tasks. Examples include yoga, stretching, and mobility drills.
If you are just getting into fitness or need a crash course on creating a healthy fitness routine, I would highly recommend watching the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where you will learn about practical ways to incorporate a fitness routine in your life to get the results that you desire – like improving body image, losing weight, or gaining muscle.
How do I break my sugar habit and prevent from relapsing into a poor diet?
With all things, change takes time and consistency, especially when conquering your sugar cravings. If you have been following a typical American diet for quite some time that is high in carbohydrate and simple sugars, chances are that you have experienced sugar cravings in the past.
Our microbiome becomes simplified with excess carbohydrate consumption and our gut can actually influence the decisions that our brain makes through cravings! With this being said, we next need to figure out how we can decrease the cravings and conquer the sugar cravings that lead to unhealthy habits.
The first and foremost way to combat out addiction to simple and processed carbohydrates whether they be from sweets and desserts or even grains like wheat, pasta, bread, and spaghetti, is to eliminate them from our diet and from our homes. After we have eliminated these foods from our homes, the next step is to reprogram our bodies so in a way that decreases the cravings that we can experience.
The best way to do this naturally is to consume a very large, nutrient dense breakfast. Although it is contradictory to much of our American tradition of eating a sugary bowl of cereal and fruit juice for breakfast, if you want to break your sugar cravings, it has to start with a huge breakfast. Breakfast is likely to be your biggest meal of the day if you want to get rid of your cravings, and it has to be packed with at least 50 grams of protein and lots of quality fats. You heard me right! Quality protein sources include grass fed beef and antibiotic and hormone free sources of other meats, as well as wild caught seafoods and pasture raised eggs. Quality fat sources include olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, and grass fed butter. Please, do not neglect these fats! These are not only a significant source of energy, but will help you heal and recovery and reset your metabolism. By consuming a large amount of protein in the morning, you are setting up your body to be satiated, to modify your gut microbiome, and to eliminate the associated cravings. Essentially, you are just eating dinner for breakfast. What you will find is that your cravings to snack or to eat sugary foods decreases significantly!
Won’t I gain weight by eating such a large breakfast? No, the opposite is likely true. You are resetting your metabolism and by having such a high quality breakfast to start the day off, you are not only conquering sugar cravings, but you will also be promoting weight loss and improved energy throughout the day.
Over time, you should notice that you eat less food later in the day, which is a good thing! Studies show that people who eat most of their calories later in the day experience more weight gain. Also notice that just by eating a huge breakfast doesn’t mean that you are eating more than you normally would, it is just rearranging your current eating schedule to one that helps you reduce sugar cravings and lose weight.
If you don’t think that you can eat a large meal for breakfast, I haven’t come across a substitute or an alternative option. With that being said, if you take eliminating your sugar cravings seriously, you may want to consider giving this a try despite how much it might shake up your normal routine.
Check out the monthly menu on our site where you can find some inspiration for high protein and fat breakfast options like the breakfast casseroles that are listed. Also, don’t forget to watch the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where you can learn more about cleaning up your diet and optimizing your lifestyle to get fit, feel great, and lose weight!
What are some of the best healthy carbohydrate sources that I can substitute grains and poor carbohydrates with?
Fantastic question! I am glad that you have recognized that grains, although such a cornerstone of the modern American diet, might not be helping you get the health results that you are looking for. You might be thinking “shouldn’t grains be a part of a healthy balanced diet?” It is believe that humans have only introduced grains into their diet in the past few thousand years with the advent of agricultural techniques and that our genome is not programmed to function well on them.
Furthermore, you may be familiar with Gregor Mendel who did the pea pod experiments only a couple hundred years ago where he cross-bred pea plants to get a desired color or type of pea. The same thing has happened but on a much more massive scale with many of our commercially produced grains like wheat. The result is that today, the grains hardly represent their original ancestors. Wheat today has roughly 40 times more gluten in it! Did you know that even if you do not have an overt reaction or gastrointestinal distress from consuming gluten that it does not mean that you would test positive for a sensitivity against gluten if the lab work was performed?
This is striking, in knowing that by eating modern grains, you may not even know that you body is raging a war inside against such substances. Gluten is able to effect a multitude of systems include your brain function and nervous system (Read “Grain Brain” by Dr. David Perlmutter to learn more) and even elicit things like sexual dysfunction! The point is that many of our modern grains are not exactly health promoting from multiple angles, but there are a variety of substitutes that can take their place.
First, let me identify a list of grains that I would recommend decreasing their consumption of, including but not limited to wheat, rye, barley, oat, rice, spelt, and amaranth to name a few. The products that are made from these, mostly wheat, include bread, pasta, crackers, cookies, pastries, baked goods, spaghetti, toast, cereal, pancakes, muffins, bagels, donuts, pizza, subs, and much more.
By substituting vegetable and other plant-based sources for these grains, not only do we decrease our carbohydrate consumption, but we also receive an abundance of nutrients including vitamins and minerals that are not always present in our grains. Did you ever read the back of a box of cereal and notice how that it has an abundance of added minerals like folic acid added to it? This should be a clear sign to you that the food that you are eating (the cereal) doesn’t contain the nutrients that your body needs, and therefore nutrients need to be artificially added to the food. This should be a red flag to you if you are a health conscious individual. Don’t you want to eat food that by nature is packed full of vitamins and minerals and will help you thrive?
Quality plant-based sources that can serve as a substitute to grain-based carbohydrates include but are not limited to sweet potato, red beet, carrot, parsnip, turnip, jicama, cassava, tapioca, coconut, cauliflower, broccoli, okra, onion, bell pepper, tomato, eggplant, zucchini, green plantain, and potato. This list is far from extensive, but my hope is that it will spark more creativity and ideas when it comes to high quality substitutes.
Perhaps you are trying to figure out how you can do away with your sandwich bread? Try substituting it for grain free bread (Baseculture makes a very clean brand). What about wraps and tortillas? Substitute these with grain free tortillas which Siete, Nuco, and Mikey’s all make. Concerning pizza, try a cauliflower crusted pizza! And for cereal, maybe consider a high quality breakfast smoothie packed with vitamins from spinach, avocado, and a seasonal fruit with added protein from collagen peptides and fats from coconut oil.
I believe that decreasing the consumption of modern grains, especially gluten containing grains, can make a tremendous impact on people’s health even if they do not have a sensitivity or an allergy to gluten. And, it’s not just my opinion. It has been demonstrated in the lives of many individuals. Only after avoiding it for several weeks or months, some individuals report drastic improvements in their health without ever knowing that something so simple was the culprit!
For some of my favorite food substitutes that you can incorporate in your life, I talk about these in the free Healthy Living Jumpstart Class. Check it out!
I am struggling with coming up with healthy meal ideas, what should I do?
I first want to commend you for asking such a question. By asking this, I am aware that you are already making a commitment to improving your health in whatever area that may be. So, what can you do?
The first option is to browse through the web and find recipes that align with both your health goals and your taste preferences. Personally, I would recommend the site www.PaleoLeap.com as it is filled with an abundance of paleo recipes that avoid grains, gluten, and dairy. This makes it easy to look around and find recipes that work for you while helping you get the results that you desire.
If you are still overwhelmed with making sure that you have the correct number of servings, the right amount of meals for the week, and the burden of creating a shopping list to purchase all of the ingredients for your recipes, know that this is an area that we at Health Simplified specialize in. When we team up with clients, we provide you with all of the aforementioned items, customized to your schedule and meal prepping needs, while still giving you the opportunity to select the recipes that you would like from our monthly menu. Give us a call and we would be more than happy to figure out how we can best serve you to make nutrition a breeze in your life.
Lastly, check out the Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where you can learn more nutrition related tips like developing a sustainable meal plan to learning about which foods to avoid that will help with weight loss, improved energy, and getting fit!
I am on a budget and I know that healthy eating is expensive. What can I do about it?
As a recent college graduate, I am familiar with trying to be as thrifty as possible with it comes to purchasing groceries while not sacrificing quality or nutrition. I am going to walk you through several points and strategies on how to get the most bang for your buck when it comes to healthy shopping and eating.
First, I would like to address things like “eating out” or getting “to go” food. If you have room for food choices like this in your budget, you also have the financial means to greatly improve your nutrition. When we order fast food or take out, it is much more expensive than if we were to prepare it ourselves. In addition, the foods is far from health-promoting. If you order take out 3 times a week at $10 a meal, you are looking at $30 per week minimum of extra money spent on sub-optimal food. Instead, this $30 could be used to buy organic tomatoes over conventionally raise, butter from grass fed cows over conventional butter, or pasture raised eggs rather than eggs from chickens cramped in tight pens, fed an unnatural diet, and that never see the sunshine. For many of us, it is not always that we simply cannot afford healthier food, it’s that we choose to put our money elsewhere. By making a simple change such as this, you will have greater financial means of investing in your nutrition, which is actually an investment in your health and life.
Next, learn where certain quality items are priced best in your local community. For instance, I know that the Aldi grocery store near me carries grass fed beef for around $5.29 per pound and wild caught salmon fillets for $3.99 per pound. This is significantly cheaper than some of the other grocery stores around my area.
For larger grocery stores, chances are that they discount some of the meats or produce when they are approaching expiration. By becoming familiar with your local grocery stores and finding out when items are marketed at a discounted rate, you will be able to secure discounts that you otherwise might not find. When items like high quality meats are discounted, I encourage you to load up on what is available to save money in the long run.
Next, consider all of the ingredients on your shopping list when you go to the grocery store. Perhaps you are buying items that you know are not good for your health or that are unnecessary. For instance, snack foods and sugary items are oftentimes just as expensive of healthy foods. By refusing to buy soda, junk food, or poor-quality snacks, you are liable to save a great deal of money that could be invested into items like organic produce, grass fed meats, pasture raised eggs, or organic coconut oil.
Make the necessary small sacrifices where you can to not only enhance your health, but also your savings. Need more tips? Watch the Health Living Jumpstart Class that is loaded with beneficial information when it comes to sustainable nutrition.
Cooking is not my strong-point. How do your programs work for people like me?
If you do not see yourself as being very skilled in the kitchen preparing your own food, I believe that you are still capable of creating simple, nutritious, and delicious recipes for yourself with a little bit of time and guidance.
You do not need to be a master chef to create quality meals for yourself that will help you get the results that you have been desiring.
Our programs in specific are designed to contain simple recipes that are easy to cook, contain less than 10 ingredients, and that contain as many premade ingredients as possible while preserving nutritional content. In addition, our programs contain every recipe that you will need, a premade shopping list, and a planner that tells you when to meal prep certain meals based on your weekly schedule.
Our desire is to take the guesswork out of nutrition for you. Our programs are designed to be simple, practical, and attainable so that you may reach your health goals regardless your level of cooking expertise. We’d love to hear from you if you think that we may be able to help you in your journey!
Don’t forget to watch the free Healthy Living Jumpstart Class where you can learn more practical tips from topics discussing foods to avoid to creating your own fitness program!