So, You Want to Get Healthy.

First of all, can I just say HOLY COW!? Thank you so much for all the amazing feedback and interest in what I have to say about nutrition! I seriously couldn’t have imagined it was going to take off as quickly as it has! Monday’s post had 800 VIEWS + 650 VISITORS! This makes me so happy to know so many people are looking to get healthy and wanting to heal their bodies the right way with good nutrition! So, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING! I can’t wait to see where this goes! xo

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Monday is tomorrow. The start of a new week. You are finally ready to commit to a new healthy lifestyle after an over-indulgent weekend. You tossed out that plate of cookies you made yesterday, even though you silently cried to yourself a little. You got this. You sit down to make yourself a grocery list, and then…you’re frozen like a deer in head lights.

WHERE DO I EVEN START?

You know you want to eat better, feel better + move better, but when it comes down to it, you become crippled by the overwhelming food options, trendy diets, and “eat this, not that!” messages in the media, that you shut down, not knowing which direction to turn for fear of choosing the wrong path.

For the majority of people, change is a scary thing. It causes us to get uncomfortable, whether we volunteer to do so, or if something presents itself in a way that we have no other option but to do things differently.

If you want to see LASTING results in your overall health, whether that be fat loss, curbing sugar cravings, improving sleep quality, or breaking PR’s in the gym, you’ve got to start with small, doable changes.

My nutrition philosophy is to approach it as a LIFESTYLE, not a DIET. The things I want people to take away from this is that you have to make your health + nutrition a daily, lifelong commitment in order to reach + sustain your goals! Yay no more yo-yo dieting!

So many people jump on these 24-day challenges, in hopes of getting healthy with the help of a bunch of pills. I won’t name any names, but I think you already know which one I am talking about. 😉 And yeah, you most likely WILL lose weight, gain more energy, and look + feel better! THAT’S AWESOME! But it’s probably because you’ve also decided to eat better and maybe move a little more during these 24 days, too!

But what happens when the pills stop? Or you reach your “goal”? You most likely will maintain it for awhile, but eventually you fall back into your old habits, the ones you may have never properly kicked in the first place. So, you get back on the next pill-popping challenge, fancy body slim wrap, or detox tea regimen.

Sure, this type of thing might LEAD you to an overall journey towards wellness afterwards, but the sad truth is, IT ISN’T SUSTAINABLE. Most people want the get-slim-quick tricks, and aren’t willing to put in the time and work it takes to heal your body through proper nutrition. And who wants to be popping 10+ pills every day? Let’s get REAL food in you!!

Let me ask this: what makes you think that the effect of the YEARS of poor habits + bad eating is going to be completely reversed/cured/healed within a matter of DAYS with a bunch of pills (that you most likely don’t even know what’s inside them)? These things take time, if done the right way. Rome wasn’t built in a day!

Can I be an advocate for your health? If you aren’t willing or flat out just don’t have time to do the research to educate yourself, let me do it for you! Why am i so passionate about this? BECAUSE YOU ARE WORTH IT. Whether you do it for your family, your future, gains in the gym, or aesthetics, IT IS WORTH THE TIME AND EFFORT TO FUEL YOUR BODY PROPERLY!

But Madison, eating healthy seems EXPENSIVE. Yes + no. You don’t have to go all or nothing in order to get proper nutrition. Yes, there are some things that are more expensive to purchase, such as organic produce + proteins, but I’d rather you eat conventional fruits + veggies + meats than anything that comes in a processed package with catchy misleading marketing. I’ll write a post about budgeting, what to buy and reading labels as we take a serious look at my own grocery bill! I think you’ll be surprised!

YOU OWE TO IT YOURSELF TO INVEST IN YOUR HEALTH.

And what happens if you think you are young, look relatively “thin”, have a decent metabolism, exercise sometimes and kinda-sorta-but-not-really-eat-okay? I’ll say it right now: YOU CANNOT OUT-TRAIN A BAD DIET. I don’t care if you are 22 or 42; you are not invincible. It WILL catch up to you, sooner or later. Your body can only put up with junk for so long, and once it can no longer handle it, these issues will begin to surface in the form of:

  • allergies
  • eczema
  • acne
  • asthma
  • migraines
  • adrenal fatigue
  • depression
  • weight gain
  • sugar addiction
  • caffeine addiction
  • digestive issues
  • inflammation
  • joint pain
  • diabetes
  • high blood sugar
  • high cholesterol
  • hormone issues
  • poor sleep quality
  • cancer
  • and many, many more

Did you know that based on the rate that our society’s health is declining, along with the rate at which childhood obesity is increasing, it is believed that for the first time in history, parents will most likely outlive their children? This makes me so so SO angry + sad.

I don’t want to freak you out, but I do hope this is a huge wake up call to everyone. YOU OWE IT TO YOURSELF + YOUR FUTURE TO GET YOUR HEALTH ON TRACK!

So, now that I’ve either scared you all away or have your attention, let’s talk about a few small steps to help get you started on the right foot towards achieving a healthy lifestyle with proper nutrition.

START WITH A GOOD BREAKFASTphoto 1

Rather than completely revamping your whole life, start small by making a mindful choice for your breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day, and almost always sets the tone for the rest of the food choices you make. focus on getting a good balance a quality protein, healthy fats + carbs. My breakfasts almost always look like the one above. 2 egg + 1 sausage patty scramble with spinach or another veggie, 1/4 avocado and some berries. Yes, you better believe I EAT. YUM!

It is so important, ESPECIALLY FOR WOMEN, to eat a good balanced breakfast. Ditch the “low fat” oatmeal, sugar-loaded granola bars + chemical meal replacement shakes. Feed your body REAL FOOD!

(p.s. That little drink to the side is a metabolism-boosting concoction!)

DRINK MORE WATER

photo 3

Most people are chronically dehydrated and don’t even know it! Do you have constant headaches, poor digestion, dull skin or just flat out don’t feel great because you are exhausted all of the time? DRINK MORE WATER!

By the time you actually FEEL thirsty, you are already dehydrated. You don’t have to chug huge amounts with each meal, but constantly be sipping on some water through out the day. You should be getting in AT LEAST 1/2 your body weight in oz! So, if you weigh 130, you need to be drinking AT LEAST 65 OUNCES A DAY!

Don’t like water? Get bored with the taste? Try infusing your water with different herbs, citrus + berries! Here I am sipping on a lemon/blueberry infused water!

Get up from your desk, couch, or wherever and go get yourself a glass of water RIGHT MEOW!

KICK THE HABIT

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If you are dealing with an addiction to substance abuse, alcohol, cigarettes, caffeine or soda (soda is one of the largest health killers out there!)–you really need to focus on removing that from your daily routines + habits FIRST, and only taking on the 2 previous changes for now until you’ve kicked it for good. Too many changes at once can cause a system overload, and we don’t want you to crash and experience serious withdrawals that can lead your body into shock or other nervous system issues. Find a support system, counselor, or treatment for whatever you are dealing with.

As far as soda goes, you MUST kick your daily run to Sonic’s happy hour, RIGHT THIS INSTANT. Those drinks are not only LOADED with sugars + artificial sweeteners (keep reading for sugar’s terrible affects), but a whole other laundry list of chemicals I can’t even begin to pronounce. And just when you think getting the “diet” version is better, you have been completely misled. I’d rather you drink real coke with pure cane sugar than diet coke any day. But really, I’d prefer neither! 😉

If you are looking for something to help kicking soda a little bit easier, try kombucha. It is a fizzy fermented tea that does wonders for your gut health by giving it lots of healing probiotics! I was skeptical and a little weirded out at first, but this brand in particular really helped me come to like it, and now I have my fridge fully stocked! I’ve never liked diet coke, but their cola kombucha almost tasted EXACTLY like it!

Commit to it. I promise you won’t regret this.

CUT THE SUGAR

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I’ll just say it now: SUGAR IS THE REASON FOR WHY OUR SOCIETY IS FAT, SICK + NEARLY DEAD. I most likely would have put this as THE FIRST thing you should do, but I think it is important to put some good things in before you start taking the bad things out. I believe it might make it easier to curb cravings + lessen withdrawal symptoms.

Ask my husband, I have struggled with a MEGA sweet tooth for forever. It wasn’t like I was eating pounds in candy + cakes, but I always craved “just a little something sweet” after lunch and dinner. And after having my grandfather pass away from late onset of type-2 diabetes, I knew it was a problem I needed to get under control STAT.

Sugar is in EVERYTHING. Even the stuff you don’t think about as being sweet. Bread, chips, pizza + pasta sauces, the breading on your favorite chicken strips, lunch meat…see a trend here? coughcougprocessedfoodcoughcough. Want to know something sneaky? There are over 250 different names for sugar + artificial sweeteners. Companies are required to list the TOTAL SUGARS on their nutrition labels, but have created a loophole where they can add a variety of different named sugars as things so it “appears” to not be the main ingredient in some of their products. Pretty sleazy if you ask me!

Why is sugar so bad for you? It depletes your body of nutrients and creates rapid spikes in your blood sugar levels, causing your body to raise it’s cortisol (a hormonal response due to stress), therefore raising your insulin levels to try to bring down that level of stress, which eventually causes your body to hold onto body fat.

For every sugary drink, simple carb and refined, processed food you put into your body, you will go through the roller coaster of the blood sugar spikes. and by constantly causing these spikes throughout each day, you are crippling your hormones by the elevated levels of stress and end up putting your body into a state of chronic inflammation, that could and most likely will eventually lead to illnesses such as diabetes + cancer.

BUT THIS IS REVERSIBLE! If you are pre-diabetic or already have type-2 diabetes (meaning it is not an auto-immune condition), you can reverse your diagnosis with appropriate diet and lifestyle changes over time. Small steps = big changes!

Clearly I could write a novel on this topic alone–and there are many good ones already out there–so I encourage you to check out Diane Sanfilippo’s book, “The 21 Day Sugar Detox” for a very in-depth look at what sugar does to your body on a cellular level, and take the action steps + recommended meal plans to kick your sugar habits for good!

p.s. Want to know how i curbed my own sugar cravings? Go read the first tip I gave you! By simply rounding out my protein-carb breakfast with healthy fats, I was able to feel fuller longer and my sugar cravings were almost immediately non-existent!

NO PROCESSED FOODSphoto

I’ve already decided that processed foods are the devil. They are a chemically made edible PRODUCT created by big-wig companies who are not in the market of bettering your health situation. They are in the money-making business. They fill these so-called “foods” with hundreds of genetically modified crap, “natural” flavorings (from places you DON’T want to even know), pesky preservatives + chemicals, and addictive hidden sugars!

Over time these toxins do massive damage to your body on a cellular level, and since your body doesn’t recognize the ingredients, it can’t use it for fuel. So where does it end up? Your tummy, hips, and thighs. Your body stores these toxins in your fat cells.

Don’t fall into their marketing ploy of enticing words that mean nothing. These products are completely nutrient-deficient, and have NO benefit to your health and will sabotage any sort of fat loss goal you might have.

READ YOUR LABELS!

Avoid the following if it claims to be:

  • fat free
  • low fat
  • reduced fat
  • sugar free (most likely means it’s loaded with artificial sweeteners)
  • 100 calorie packs
  • natural
  • natural flavors
  • 0 calories
  • fortified
  • yadda..yadda..yadda..

If it comes in a package, box or tub in the middle aisles, it most likely is loaded with bad-for-you ingredients that were created in some factory. If you can’t pronounce the ingredient list, it was created in a factory. If it is something that would be unrecognizable as a food source to your great, great, great, great, great grandmother, it was created in a factory.

Shop the outer perimeter for produce, meat, and dairy + even the frozen section has some good options. Just make sure you don’t see any added sugars, preservatives and other things that don’t need to be in there!

Do me a favor, would ya?photo 2-1Remember: Small Steps = Big Changes! You deserve it!

live well. love well. EAT WELL. beWELL.

xo

madison

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