Today we welcome Maigen Thomas, a personal and professional development consultant, to teach us about strategic vitality and how to create holistic fitness in every area of your life!

Maigen helps people “be and do better.” With a strategy-based approach, Maigen helps her clients:

1. organize thought patterns
2. get clear on goals
3. use only positive words
4. discover core values
5. create plan of actionable steps to receive results

“There’s a difference between being good at what you do and being good at business,” she says. Maigen found herself in a position of transition when she expanded a wedding information business and blog to a business for the wedding vendors to use. This enabled the photographer or the cake baker to focus on their specialty and she handled the business end of things.

As a development consultant, Maigen helps her clients turn their professional life around by building the strategy to get to the next step in a career, or to entirely change a career, to do whatever it is they want to do. From idea to execution, Maigen is very hands-on with her clients as they make their transition to a happy holistic life.

Build the dream, identify the steps, and be held accountable

Christa and Maigen connected several months ago and quickly recognized their similar approach with working with their clients. Christa’s focus is fitness and Maigen’s is business, but their strategies are practically identical. Christa is on the same journey as Maigen with the goal of improving people’s lives not only through health and nutrition but also by focusing on what other areas are in need of a vitality boost.

Fitlandia’s core values incorporate:

• Healthy, nutritious food everyday
• Positive thoughts
• Movement
• Community

Maigen encourages her clients to find someone, a peer, a consultant, or what she calls a “tribe” to bounce ideas off of. These people, or group of people, help to hold you accountable during times of transition depending on what your goals look like in specific areas of your life. These “tribes” may vary based on need or purpose, for example, you may have a tribe for work and a different one for fitness.

Want change? Here are your first to-do’s

• Talk with someone – this doesn’t need to be a coach or a counselor, talk to anyone who makes you feel heard and honest.
• Say “I’m not happy and I’m ready for change”.
• Take in feedback (but with a filter) - recognize where other people are when they give you advice.
• Get real with your goals.
• Give yourself permission to continue down the road of happiness and growth – keep the commitment to yourself!
• Find the supportive people that help you feel connected, safe and completely heard.

Don’t forget to request to be part of the Fitlandia group on Facebook. It is a closed group but is free and everyone is welcome to join our “tribe” of supportive fitness friends!

If you’re looking to make a big career move, pursue your health journey or simply aren’t happy with how your life is currently going, Maigen encourages you “get radically clear” about what you’d like your life to look like, what you want to do and how you would like to interact with the world. If you’re here with us in Portland, she will be talking about this at an upcoming free NedSpace event, “Do What You Love with Maigen Thomas” at 12:00pm on August 22, 2017 at 707 SW Washington St, Suite 1100.

She’s also working on a workshop “What does it mean to do what you love, while doing what you do,” which encourages and guides people to get in touch with their core values and see the reflection those values have in what you do or want to do. These personal core values dictate our friendships, our decisions, our personal and business relationships and subconsciously make those career life decisions for us. Maigen finds it incredibly enlightening helping people get focused on their core values in order to define their ultimate goals.

For her, she describes her core values as being perseverant and determined, with a need to complete service to others. Maigen is happy by helping others reach happiness, protect their legacy and feel truly fulfilled.

Christa, on the same wave length, describes her core values as being a resilient guide for others, helping people tap into their subconscious minds to achieve more than their conscious minds ever imagined while continuously working towards her bigger purpose to help people along their fitness journey’s even when getting knocked down.

How do I determine my core values?

Maigen helps her clients determine the values that drive them and move them forward in life by looking at the setback moments you barely managed to get through, compared to the euphoric seasons where everything seemed to fit in to place. The beliefs or thoughts that carried through each of these times are engrained in you and will continue to move you forward.

If you’d like to learn more and gain more vitality in your own life stay tuned for Christa’s newest project, a book called “Strategic Vitality: The 11 Small Steps to Big Transformation” a collaboration of small things we can do, using strategic approach to help us take action and ownership with our health and wellness goals.

To be a part of the book launch’s first release, send Christa an  email with “BOOK LAUNCH” in the subject line. Also, make sure to stay in touch with Maigen through her website or shoot her an email for any support or to set up your free 20-minute consultation appointment!

Want to be a part of my book launch to provide feedback and get a FREE copy once it's ready? Email Christa at info@fitlandiafitness.com!

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Today we welcome DeShawn Fontleroy of Sports Mastery. Sports Mastery was created to bridge the communication gap of between the student athlete and their parents and coaches. He begins by mentoring athletes first on how to overcome fear and then by making the most of any obstacle or setbacks they may face. All while challenging their sacrifices and social conflicts to help them reach their goals.

DeShawn begins with many of his clients by first explaining the process of fear, followed by a list of everything that they find to be a fear in their own life. Common fears are rejection, criticism, ill health, poverty etc., which as DeShawn says, “Are all taught by our friends, family and environment.” He describes the only true fears we’re born with is the fear of heights and of loud noises. These are fears engrained in us, but not often found when looking at what cripples us on a daily basis.

The true definition of fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous and likely to cause pain or threat.

DeShawn says, “The opposite of confidence is doubt and fear.” Your desire to improve has to include overcoming that fear factor if you truly want to overcome the emotions that are holding you from acting towards your dreams.

Many of us have these fears when it comes to making lifestyle changes or even a taking a break from things like sugar, caffeine, alcohol and refined carbs. It’s easy to wonder if you’re even capable. Well, you are!

Christa’s corner stones to fitness:

• Daily Movement
• Eating healthy
• Positive mental thoughts with Mind Zoning® and meditation
• Community

Life comes with challenges and the brain likes to go back into old habits in these times in an act to keep you safe. If your setback is a place that returns you to community it will bring you back to a place of progression. Being a part of a community, with mentors or what DeShawn calls a “corner man,” that always demonstrates acceptance and inclusion, will make you feel welcomed no matter where you are in your journey. This support will fuel you forward.

Sports Mastery Champion’s Blueprint

• Legacy – This isn’t solely on what your goals look like, but how do you want to be remembered for the work you’ve put in? What are you doing every day which will reflect this?
• Vision – When you have goal, what does it look like when you get there and how is it going to feel? Visualizing this goal will help your brain to follow that specific emotion, making it far more achievable when you get to work.
• Mindset – What systems and strategies are you going to have in place for success and for setbacks? Success intoxication, as DeShawn describes, is when you fall back into an old mindset or set of habits when achieving a goal quickly. Keep moving forward!

The Power of Community

Both Fitlandia and Sports Mastery are deeply ingrained in the concept of community as a fundamental component to success, including the need to be deeply intimate with yourself. This intimacy includes all your accomplishments and your weaknesses. It’s important to know how to recover without feeling guilty when setbacks occur and to have that community of people in that time of need.

Recovering from setbacks quickly:

• Have a plan in place so when you do have a setback, you immediately know what you’re going to do to recover
• Have a couple people who keep you humble no matter how successful you are
• Have a few “cheerleaders” you can always turn to

DeShawn says, “It’s all about planning for success and knowing what you’re going to do when fear creeps in so you can get back to the road moving forward.”

Make sure to list out your fears, work towards your goals by accepting the wins and the setbacks and go to iTunes and rate Fitlandia and Sports Mastery both with five stars! And if you haven’t already, click to join the closed (but completely open to everyone) Facebook group to be welcomed into the community!

For more of Sports Mastery, check out DeShawn’s Podcast and make sure you download his PDF to learn basic definitions and workbook assignments that will help determine your fears and how you feel and deal when challenged or threatened with them. You no longer have to deal with the bear of fear, “You just have to do the work”!

Thank you again to Portland Community College’s Institute for Health Professionals Functional Nutritional Program for sponsoring today’s show! This wonderful program is one year and 100% online making it doable for the busy entrepreneur who wants to integrate more holistic nutrition into their practice or if you’re just starting out. This program can completely boost your healthcare career in nutrition, just like Christa did back in 2015. The course is taught by practitioners who are experts in their fields who teach a science based curriculum; and for a well-rounded perspective, also incorporates traditional wisdom such as Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. To learn more or to enroll for the next course starting September 25th, check out PCC’S functional nutrition program.

We’re just days away from our next round of 30 Days to Thriving.

Sign up TODAY for just $57 (88% off the normal price of $495). We start 8/1/17.

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It's natural to grieve your old lifestyle when making a shift into healthy eating, daily movement and positive thoughts. You're forced to look at old patterns and learn how to let go of old coping mechanisms. In today's show, we've pulled the webinar archives to repost this important info. We look at the Transtheoretical Model of Change as well as the 5 Stages of Grief to explain this process so you're better prepared to cope with emotions.

What we can learn from models of change and stages of grieving when setting health goals?

As a Functional Medicine Practitioner working with my patients to overcome their health challenges and create positive change, I have to be aware of mind set and my expectations regarding their wants and needs.

It is never as simple as “tell me what to do and I’ll do it” or “this is the plan and these will be the outcomes.” Creating health is really about changing lifestyle and that involves transformation of not only the physical, but the mental and spiritual practice that we engage in every day.

If you have had involvement with Psychotherapy or studied psychology in school you may have heard of the following two models. While I have not studied these in depth I have used these to help myself and my patients understand where they are in their desire to change. No matter how much we associate transformation with what we do i.e. exercise, diet, sleep, therapy etc there is no denying that how we feel about the process is more telling of our future success or failure.

What has grief got to do with change?

First introduced by American Psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book On Death and Dying, the 5 stages of grieving has been useful in navigating people through the grieving process. While these stages are not meant to be a complete list of all possible emotions people will experience, they are helpful when facing a life-altering undertaking such as losing 100 pounds for example.

In the transtheoretical model, change is a process involving progression through various stages. When setting goals that are life changing people forget to take into account the process and commitment that is involved. I feel that checking into these various stages can be helpful in committing to the process.

While both models are controversial in their validity I feel that both patient and practitioner can use these stages to gauge commitment and track change so as to best reach their goals.

1. Denial & Precontemplation (Not Ready) – The person is trying to shut out the reality or magnitude of his/her situation, and begins to develop a false, preferable reality. People are not intending to take action in the foreseeable future, and can be unaware that their behavior is problematic. Unfortunately, this is where most people sit for too long until their health affects them negatively daily. For example a patient who is insulin resistant but not yet diagnosed as diabetic – “They have pills for that – I’ll be fine.”

2. Anger & Contemplation (Getting Ready) – People are beginning to recognize that their behavior is problematic, and start to look at the pros and cons of their continued actions. They recognize that denial cannot continue and may become bitter, the patient is very difficult to reason with due to misplaced feelings of rage and envy. The patient can be angry with self, or with others, especially those who are close to them. Certain responses of a person undergoing this phase would be: “Why me? It’s not fair! I don’t want to give up my wine.”; “Why do I have to do this? Jane lost weight without having to do any of this!”

3. Preparation & Bargaining (Ready) – Patients intend to take action in the immediate future, and may take small steps toward behavior change. This often involves bargaining where the patient hopes that they can somehow avoid going down the path the practitioner has chartered for them. Seeking to negotiate a compromise is normal and it is important for practitioner and patient to truly examine whether this patient is ready for the next stage. Example: “OK so I’m cutting out sugar but chocolate brownies made with honey are fine! Right?”

4. Depression & Action – I know this sounds like a stalemate but I often see patients acquiring new healthy behaviors only to withdraw. “What if I succeed in kicking my diabetes?” “What if I really do lose 100 lbs?” Their friends can change, along with their habits, their clothes, even their problems. It is natural to feel sadness, regret, fear, and uncertainty when going through this stage. Feeling those emotions shows that the person has begun to accept the situation. Becoming a different person requires an immense amount of courage!

5. Acceptance & Maintenance – Patients have been able to sustain action for a while and are working to prevent relapse. At this stage they have come to terms that they are better off this way and the changes have become the new lifestyle. This typically comes with a sense of peace, a retrospective view of self, and a calm stable mindset. I often hear “I can’t believe how much better I feel. I won’t go back to the way I used to eat!”

6. Termination – Individuals have no temptation to return to their old unhealthy habit as a way of coping. They are happy with the path they chose to follow and are comfortable with themselves and have been accepted by their peers old and new. This is ultimately where a good practitioner would want their patients to reach. While termination sounds final it is here that a doctor and patient build a lasting relationship built on mutual admiration, trust and satisfaction. It is here where the true reward lies.

So, remember no matter where you are in life, and in health, be aware of your motivation, set a course, create some systems, build in rewards, keep checking in with yourself, be kind to those around you and especially to yourself, be brave, live life, and stay strong.

Need help getting started? Try out our FREE, 7-Day No Diet Detox. That's right - no dieting! Just 7 days of snapping pictures of your food to begin the mind-body connection.

Christa intros JP Sears to the show and jumps right into some nutritional controversy with the American Heart Association’s assertion that coconut oil isn’t healthy. Christa wanted to get JP’s take on the situation since the topic was all over social media.

Here’s what JP had to say:

“From the bottom of my heart, I would dare say, virtually anything the American Heart Association says deserves to be flushed down the toilet.”

Because of the corporate agenda and funding into research, these studies aren’t for the greater good of people, but instead putting dollars into their pockets. Christa concurs. She points out that there is conflicting info in the industry and JP uses the example of the days when margarine was touted as being healthy.

The Power of Meditation

Christa reminds newcomers to the show that Fitlandia is on a mission to end dieting by first helping people change their thought-patterns using Mind Zoning®. Because these are like guided meditations, she explores the power of meditation with JP.

JP provides an amazing suggestion for those short on time or starting out. Personally, he does 10 minutes per day and focuses on a practice he learned from Thích Nhất Hạnh, which is a simple breathing meditation. As you breathe in, say to yourself, “I’m breathing in.” As you exhale, say to yourself, “I’m breathing out.” This is easy and approachable for anyone to try.

“Meditation is a great service we can give ourselves.”

Christa & JP discuss the challenges with life and busy schedules and that we don’t have to be perfect in our health practices. In fact, being aware and open about our triggers can help us keep moving forward.

“I used to shame the living crap out of myself. How I’m shaming myself is probably more toxic than the cookie I ate.”

End the Shaming Cycle

The shaming cycle can take someone back into an old, viscous addictive pattern, but Mind Zoning® can help, as well as being thoughtful about the benefits of that pattern. Looking at things that feel unhealthy always has an element of comfort and provides a sense of feeling in control.

Christa & JP speak on the power of planning for travel and staying healthy on the road and rely on Whole Foods to help stay healthy during travel and even search AirBnB listings to ensure access to being able to cook their own meals.

So what do Christa & JP eat? It’s similar: focus on veggies, higher on the side of healthy fats, and high-quality protein…and most importantly, don’t follow a dogma and instead focus on growing intuitively with what to eat and learning what’s best from how the body feels.

Christa shares a cautionary tale and that if you’re struggling with sugar, refined carb and/or alcohol addictions then tuning into your body could be challenging and her #1 tip: FOOD JOURNAL.

Self-Sabotage and Unresolved Wounds

Together they get heavy with regards to self-sabotage and looking at the root of self-sabotage. JP speaks to childhood experiences and how we reaffirm disempowering beliefs due to unresolved emotional pain.

Christa adds it’s connected to a lack of self-worth and the need to become aware of traumas. She gets inspired to create a Mind Zoning called “The Journey of Courage.” Doing inner child work can be an incredibly powerful process to healing and moving forward.

JP and Christa wrap up the show speaking to the power of vulnerability and community and/or tribe to help guide you through your transition. Also, working with a coach or therapist can have a powerful impact. He mentions Brene Brown’s TEDTalk on the Power of Vulnerability where she talks about connection and its power in our lives.

“Embrace discomfort. Nobody has ever excelled at anything by avoiding discomfort.”

Connect with all of JP’s awesomeness here:

Awaken with JP website

Awaken with JP YouTube channel

Buy the book: How to Be Ultra Spiritual with JP

Follow on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook

Gratitude for today’s sponsor!

Portland Community College Functional Nutrition Program Check out their 100% online functional nutritional program today.

If you’re looking for a holistic nutrition program to connect with others, learn how to connect with your body and overcome addiciton for the next 30-day program with Fitlandia.

Christa welcomes back Dr. Michelle Neil-Sherwood, DO and Dr. Mark Sherwood, ND, or as they like to be called, “Drs. M and M without the sugar” to talk about the science of nutrigenetics. Dr. Michele and Dr. Mark own and operate a wellness-based practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma called Functional Medical Institute. Their practice bridges the medical model with the functional model to teach people how to be completely and totally well. Drs. M & M use all kinds of unique and interesting tools to accomplish their mission and have many patient success stories where existing medical conditions have been reversed or eliminated.

Christa repeats Dr. Michele’s opening statement and says, “So it’s not outside of our realm that we can actually be completely and totally well?  I love that.”

A Little Background on the Subject

The functional medicine approach gets to the root cause by looking at:

• Hormones
• Neuro transmitters
• Nutrition
• Lifestyle

Looking at genetics:

• We are 99.9% genetically identical
• The .1% difference is what makes us unique
• That difference makes all the difference in the world – not everything works the same for everybody
  • Traditional diets
  • Workout programs
  • Supplement types and quantities

We’re born with our genes, but the experiential knowledge those genes have with the interaction of environment is called Epigenetics (the environment’s effect of the genes). For example, two identical twins can grow up and turn out a little different from each other because of the environment’s effect.

Nutrigenetics – the genes effect on the environment

• How do our genes detoxify things?
• How do our genes influence what we need to be taking?
• How do our genes handle lipids; metabolize the fats we consume?
• How do our genes handle workouts we do?
• How do our genes handle inflammation?

Simply stated, what we eat could actually influence our DNA and the expression of our DNA.

Genetic Testing

Drs. M & M utilize genetic testing to get the ideal breakdown of macro nutrients for each individual based on their genetic makeup. They formulate a unique nutrition and exercise plan based on those results to optimize body composition for each person. Benefits of testing include:

1. Cutting edge technology
2. Replaces trial and error
3. Unravels the mystery for each person so they get specific, individual plans
4. Optimization of health
5. Saves time by getting to the answers faster

Dr. Mark gives an example of how two people can have different reactions when consuming caffeine late in the day. One person may not be affected by a late afternoon cup of coffee, while the other person may be awake all night. Why? The person who is not affected at night by the coffee has a faster metabolism, so the caffeine is processed quicker. For the person whose metabolism is impaired, the caffeine is not processed as fast.

To change metabolism:

• Reduce detoxification on back end (inside) = nutrigenetic effect
• Reduce toxins on the front end (outside) = nutrigenomic effect

How does the genetic test work?  Get specific information here

• A sample ‘buckle swab’ of cheek cells is taken
• The sample is sent to lab and tested for 80 different genes specific for health, metabolic and exercise
• Results come back within 21-25 days
• Analyzed by Drs. M & M
• An individual plan is designed based on patient’s genetic and lifestyle information
• A sustainable life plan is created for the patient to use for the rest of their life
• Implementation may be either fast pace or a slow transition but results are definite

Exercise Considerations

Most people think that more exercise is necessary to lose weight but it can create inflammation and can be the wrong type and amount for our unique genetic makeup.

Example:  A female patient, in her 40’s, chronic boot-camp person, 15-20 pounds overweight in excess fat, can’t get the fat off, frustrated, going to two boot camp classes daily several times a week, exhausted, and stressed out of her mind!

The patient’s genetic testing revealed that she is of an endurance-based structure. Drs. M & M outlined a new exercise plan including:

• Only two boot camp sessions per week
• Walking, yoga, relaxation to “chill out”

Once she incorporated these changes in her fitness routine, she immediately began to see results by allowing her body to adapt to the way it is supposed to be.

Christa shares her similar story of being an athlete all of her life, being 50 pounds overweight while working out six days a week (but eating and drinking “trash”). She functioned in survival mode with no coping mechanisms to handle stress and no boundaries to shut down work, or do any type of self-care. Christa confesses that she is now more aware to her addictive tendencies towards donuts and wine, but it would have been great to have this type of testing information back then – it would have saved time because it was a long journey for her to figure things out.

Taste Bud Genes (Phenylthiourea-Phenylthiocarbamide “PTC”)

The spectrum of taste is determined by our genetics. There is an inherited genetic component that influences how we taste PTC, a single gene that codes for a taste receptor on the tongue. This gene is known as the PTC gene or TAS2R38. People can be classified as “tasters,” “non-tasters,” or somewhere in between.

Tasters

• Wide taste spectrum
• Appreciates a broad range of tastes; bitter to sweet
• May have a dysfunctional dopamine receptor which indicates that sweet equals happy; therefore, food becomes happiness

Non-Tasters

• Narrow taste spectrum
• Limited taste receptors
• Prefer or can eat more bland foods
• Doesn’t typically link food to happiness

Food Addiction

• Must use caution when opening door to any type of “comfort” or “happy” food because it will cause the door to come flying open, which can activate the addition and lead to binge eating.
• Once the addiction cycle opens that door, it can swing open for a long time.
• Limit the shaming cycle by using Mind Zoning® or other types of mindfulness practices may help shorten the time that we are in the addiction.
• Once we know this information, we are empowered.
• We don’t have to ask for permission or forgiveness if we slip up; it is up to us to use the information and tools we have to be successful in all areas of our wellness journey.

Access to Genetic Testing

It’s not necessary to live in or to visit Tulsa, OK to get this genetic DNA test from Drs. M & M. You can access the information on their website and order your own sample test kit and mail it back for analysis. You’ll receive a 48-page comprehensive report within 3-4 weeks. Then, Drs. M & M spend 45-60 minutes (via Skype) reviewing it with you. They discuss your areas of vulnerability and set forth an action plan to fix those areas nutrigenomically. The plan is emailed to you as a written implementation synopsis.

Cost

Less than $500 for the entire package

$349 + shipping for kit, testing and analysis, written report

$100 for Skype consultation

“We want people to have this so they can unlock the keys and the mysteries to these problems; how do I lose weight and keep it off, maintain muscle tissue and fight against heart disease and diabetes,” explains Dr. Mark. We provide the tools necessary to answer their own healthcare problems so they can manage their healthcare. Investing in yourself and your health saves money. Drs. M & M point out that their goal is to “take away the ignorance button.” Their patients are fully equipped to make educated adult decisions about their health, exercise and nutrition. They own their own healthcare.

Final Tips

• Food is vitally important to health
• Food has changed and our health has declined over time because of it
• Low-fat foods lead to the obesity epidemic
• Using food to prevent disease

Dr. Michele quotes Aristotle, “Let food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food”.

Which Food Plan Works Best?

Eliminate the “standard American diet” foods such as:

• Sugars
• Grains
• Breads
• Corn
• Artificial sweeteners
• GMOs
• Soy
• MSG
• High-fructose corn syrup

Bring your diet back to what we were designed and intended to eat:

• Fresh and raw fruits and vegetables
• Nutrient-dense foods with low sugars
• Nuts and seeds
• Healthy proteins

Drs. M & M encourage their patients to follow an anti-inflammatory food protocol with no limits (just guardrails) so their taste buds never get out of control and dopamine receptors are not stimulated. People who stay on the path don’t tend to overeat.

Supplementation

• Rule of 5 – if you’re taking over 5 supplements, there needs to be a good reason
• Too many supplements can overstimulate your body and can weaken or limit your defenses
• Antioxidants can be oxidative if used in excess
• Cost savings by streamline and identifying targeted supplementation needs

Please check out Drs. M & M’s Anti-Inflammatory Diet from their previous last Fitlandia podcast.

If you're looking for a holistic nutrition program to help break addictive cycles, sign up for the next 30-day program with Fitlandia.

Today's sponsor is the Portland Community College Institute for Health Professionals. Learn more about their 100% online program at climb.pcc.edu/nutrition.

Dr. Jerome Craig is back to talk about the falsehood of “everything in moderation.” This idea of moderation is tossed around so much in the diet industry and they both agree that it’s setting us up for failure.

The Truth About Moderation

• If you don’t want to change, then everything in moderation works great! It maintains the status quo.
• If you want to make health and wellness changes in your life, then moderation is not going to work.
• If you’re using moderation as an excuse for not changing, it’s working – there will be no change.

Dr. Craig provides an example of a patient who is a type 2 diabetic, on multiple medications, life not going well and who wants to change but cannot give up his daily chocolate-coated almonds. Dr. Craig appealed to the patient that he needed to get away from the almonds, that they were a sugar addiction and he needed to give them up.

“The only way to break an addiction to something is to give it up” Dr. Craig explains.

It’s not going to serve you to have only a little of whatever substance you’re addicted to, whether it be alcohol, sugar, refined carbs or potato chips. The substance fires up the pleasure areas in the brain, and releases serotonin and dopamine, so our mood changes, we feel good – and we want more. We consume more, then we crash and feel crappy. We can’t simply have three potato chips or one drink and hope that the addiction stays at bay. That’s why “everything in moderation” truly does not work.

Fitlandia’s No Fools’ Detox

Those NFD focuses on eliminating 5-6 foods for 30 days to  to identify which foods are trigger foods for you, as well as get a clean break from them. At the end of the program, participants are guided to reincorporate one food at a time and track their body’s response so they get a clear sense of which foods work for them and which do not.

During the program members are often faced with their friends and family telling them that elimination diets are just a fad and they’ll be fine as long as they use “moderation.” It just doesn’t work like that. Just as you can’t tell an alcoholic to drink in moderation, you can’t say this to a sugar addict either. She supports them in dealing with these external challenges while they make their break.

Stop Saying the “F” Word: “I’m Fine.”

If you want change you have to take some sort of radical steps to at least get started. The radical changes don’t have to be forever, but moderation is never going to serve you in the beginning. Once you achieve your weight and health goals, you may find that you still have certain foods or substances that are problematic for you.

1. Defining what works for you and your body
2. Understanding what’s happening when we’re back on a ‘slippery slope’
   • Life circumstances?
   • Trying to self-soothe?
   • Not enough exercise?
   • Not enough breath work?
3. Everything in moderation can lead us back to an old pattern

Christa shares her personal struggle with donuts and wine. These are things that she limits to rare instances, but has learned to pay attention to cravings and to take appropriate action, not the substance, if and when they do occur, ask herself, “What’s going on, what am I doing, or not doing?”

Occasional, Rare, and Never: What Foods Should Go Into Which Bucket?

The ideal scenario is that we can have sugar, refined carbs and alcohol “occasionally,” but through your journey you may find that’s just not possible. Start by thinking what each category means and where you might start to identify opportunities to make changes.

Occasional

If you’re not addicted to a food or substance and it is not a problem for you, then a few times per month is fine. (4 x/month)

Rare

A problem food or substance should only be consumed on rare instances. Using food as a reward or a celebration needs be limited to special occasions, but certainly not on a frequent basis. (1 x/month)

Never

Abstain completely from addictive foods or substances. If you’re triggered by a food to the point where you know it isn’t serving your goals, but you can’t control consumption of it and it takes you back to a daily pattern, it’s likely time to release it for a longer period of time (3+ months) or forever.

Final Tip

Become mindful of what foods or substances trigger something in you and takes you away from your goals so that you can be fit for life, and not dieting. The only true possession we have in life is our body so you’ve got to take care of it so it takes care of you.

Use the buttons below to subscribe, rate and review our show. In your comments, let us know what is your “occasional” or “rare,” or “never” foods. If you have additional questions, post them in your review and we’ll answer them on a future show!

Today, Christa welcomes her new fitness buddy, Mehul Parekh. While searching the Oregon Entrepreneur’s Network for connection opportunities with other fitness centers, Mehul came across Fitlandia, and thought, “How can you go wrong with a name like that?!” He connected with Christa and they decided to collaborate on a podcast to talk about how to incorporate your brain into your strength training workout.

Mehul is the owner of Bridgetown Brain and Body in Portland, Oregon. He gave Christa a private training session where they focused on the brain and muscle connection during the workout. She calls the session, “mind blowing” and encourages us to work to reframe how we think of strength training – especially for those of us just getting started.

Mehul’s Philosophies

• injury-prevention
• how to connect the brain to the body
• a technique to prevent future injury

“What we’re learning more and more now in physical therapy, chiropractic circles and occupational therapy circles is that rehabbing injuries cannot just be a bottom-up approach,” says Mehul.

“There needs be brain involvement in how to activate muscles to make a lasting effect.”

Traditional physical therapies techniques might include:

• Movement of injured or limited muscles/limbs
• Holding something heavy (building strength)
• Stretching (increasing mobility)
• Botox injections (loosening muscles)

These therapies can be good, but changes in the physical body won’t be permanent until we connect the brain to the body. In strength training, you can strengthen the muscle all you want, but there is neurological component that needs to be incorporated. It’s necessary to include the brain to create a new neural pathway so we don’t slip back into old patterns. It is a whole-body experience when we connect the brain and the body in strength training.

What’s Different About a Brain and Body Workout? (vs. a conventional personal trainer)

• Not exhausted afterwards (refreshed instead!)
• No shouting, no drill sergeant, no platitudes
• Not a no-holds barred generic one-hour session
• Not the adage of “no pain, no gain”

The main concern with strength training in most gyms is that people are just given workouts – there is no consideration of long term progression and no planning about how the workout may affect your day.

What we do in the gym is supposed to be a carry-over effect for the rest of the day, it’s not supposed to be the end of it. There is no point to a workout if you can’t move afterwards.

It’s important to understand and be respectful of your body when working out, even when training hard. If you’re trying to break a personal record with a certain lift or squat, then it may be necessary to limit other moves on a specific day or when our bodies are giving indications that today might not be the best day.

Christa incorporates Ayurvedic principles with her workouts, and is a Pitta dosha means that she enjoys a good, hard workout. And even though this is her tendency and it feels good, she stays mindful and respectful of her body’s condition.

The Mark of a Good Trainer

1. Has a fitness plan (no ad-libbing)
2. Is flexible (mindful of energy and mobility levels)
3. Crafts a workout for the individual
4. Focused on injury prevention

Mehul’s e-book, Shattered!, is available for download at his website, and talks about how strength training stalls out, plateaus occur and how to break through them.

Basic Tips for Engaging Your Brain While Strength Training

1. Short workout (bursts of exercise, 20-25 minutes daily)

• Sessions with weights should be 46 minutes or less
• Accomplishing a goal delivers a dopamine rush
• Brings a sense of accomplishment
• Helps overcome addiction cravings
• Elevates moods, lessens depression

2. Visualize your workout
   • Engaging in visualization of workout (even without doing it) gives a muscle-building benefit
   • Mind-zoning technique (getting brain engaged as a blueprint)
3. Range of motion
   • Are you moving? Or are you moving a weight?
   • Greater neurological effect when you’re moving yourself through space (a push up, a squat)
4. Changing workouts on a regular basis – incorporating a new move
   • Central nervous system burns more sugar when its learning something new
   • Helps with body recomposition and weight loss

The honeymoon period of weight lifting and resistance training is the first six to eight week – this is when strength is rapidly building. There is a neurological reaction caused by a more efficient recruitment of the fibers and the sensory and motor planning systems in the brain are working harder. This levels off after this time period and then it’s time to incorporate more moves which involve a full-range of joint and muscle movements.

FINAL TIPS

1. Strength is a skill. Thinking about it from a skill-building perspective will change how you workout. Skills take time to learn. Practice consistent, short bursts of application to build the skill in your brain and in your body.
2. Let go of soreness as a benchmark for a good workout. Get over the “it has to hurt” mentality. Soreness is a horrible indicator of a good workout.
3. Create the lifestyle to meet your goals instead of focusing on the goal and not the lifestyle.
4. Strength training is most beneficial when done 3-4 times a week.
5. Eat healthy food every day – for LIFE!

Mehul is coming onboard as one of Fitlandia’s expert practitioners. Look for him in future podcasts as he’ll surely be posting all types of great videos and workout advice.

Want More? Subscribe to the Fitlandia Podcast today and have a healthy commute everyday! Share your comments in a review and we’ll feature you in an upcoming podcast.

This week Christa welcomes Dr. Jerome Craig back to introduce us to the serious subject of food journaling. Even though food journaling is something most of us are resistant to do, they discuss the importance of it and offer some easy fun ways to track our foods. Journaling is necessary to build a starting point and a foundation of what foods work or don’t work for each individual person.

Why Food Journal?

• Helps us be more mindful
• Are we under or over eating
• Not calorie counting, but awareness about excessive consumption
• Awareness of how specific foods cause discomfort and what to bring back after elimination
• Builds discipline, new habits, improved processing and better sleeping patterns

Dr. Craig says, “If you’re not aware of what you’re eating and you’re having health problems, food journaling is a good place to start.”

Tips for Easy Journaling

• Don’t complicate it – release the perfection.
• Be curious – “How does this affect my body?” Christa describes food journaling as a journey of self-discovery, figuring out what best works for your body instead of a set of rules.
• Apps are helpful! Christa’s recommends MyNetDiary Pro which links with your Fitbit and tracks nutrients, macros, vitamins and helps you build and save your own recipes.
• Keep your app or your food notebook around you so it’s always accessible.
• Don’t focus on the calories. Jerome says, “Your body doesn’t really care about the calories it cares about the inflammation its bringing to the cells.” It’s more important to be getting your micronutrients than to be counting calories or macros.

“One thing we all do every single day, and probably devote a lot of time thinking about every single day, is eating. So why not make it easier so you can come up with ideas of what really works for you.”, says Dr. Craig. Food journaling helps us come up with meals that work for us to have better health, which includes improved digestion and more restful sleep.

Whatever health benefits you’re trying to reach or if you’re starting a new food plan, make sure you track your mood, sleep, digestion and energy. When you are making a change and have a goal in mind - food journal!

Fitlandia Upcoming Events

May 17^th
Fitlandia is being sponsored for a “lunch and learn” with Garden Bar Portland. Join us to learn the basics and benefits of a keto diet. Garden Bar is providing free keto-friendly salads to all attendees.

Location:               NedSpace is located at 707 SW Washington Street, Portland 97201 (11floor)
Time:                      12pm-1pm

May 31
Dr. Craig and Christa are starting a new 7-week Keto 101 online program: Pumping up your Fitness with Fat. This new program includes one-on-one sessions, educational webinars, access to private forums and the Fitlandia Facebook group, and a one-year membership to Fitlandia.

Head over to the Keto 101 Program for more information. As a thank you for tuning into today's podcast, we're offering 20% off to our listeners. Just enter PODCAST20 at checkout.

The most common problems are:

• People don’t eat enough of the good stuff
• People have a diet, deprivation mentality and a low-carb, low-fat mindset

April states, “We have the answers to our best life; our healthier most wonderful life – if you want to run, jump, laugh, learn, swim, dance and play you need carbs. To lose weight and optimize energy – we need to eat more!”

The dieting industry is a $64 billion industry that has taught us to care too much about what we look like instead of how our bodies function. By focusing more on how we feel, we can let that be our motivation including the benefit of weight loss.

Christa reminds us that cooking your own food can a beautiful meditative process, a great opportunity to slow down, gain balance and is an act of self love.

April offers tips for healthy easy meals to cook at home, that you can put in the freezer for the week. Check out her website for recipes that are simple and healthy,

Food Journaling

Everyone’s individual needs vary but most nutritionists agree that everyone should do food journaling. Here's why:

• Quicker time to discover what foods work or don’t work for your body
• Paleo, vegan, raw foods aren’t for everyone – different digestive needs
• Removing all sugars to break from that additive cycle

Keeping a food journals helps us see how our bodies react to certain foods, which is the science of Nutrigenetics; how actual nutrients influence our genes at the molecular level.

April helps to design a balanced, maintenance diet for people who are past the elimination phase of these foods by overcoming their addictive components. This creates a healthier lifestyle which is sustainable; and fuels our bodies sufficiently for exercise.

April works with people who want to:

• Fuel with whole foods
• Optimize blood sugar
• Get their fat off
• Have a little fun
• Don’t like diets

Proper Fueling for Exercise

Fueling for Exercise “recreational exerciser” (more than walkers, but not marathoners)

1. Have their macros optimized – balanced carbs, fats, proteins
2. Fill in the gaps with healthy fats and healthy carbs

What is a healthy carb?

• Whole foods - you won’t be able to read grams because “anything that is a healthy carb doesn’t have a “label”
• Starchy vegetables – nutrient dense types such as sweet potatoes, peas, legumes, parsnips, turnips
• Whole grains - brown rice and low glycemic index options such as basmati rice and quinoa

Look for foods that give you carbohydrate energy that is slow and sustaining. The goal is to optimize blood sugars and stay away from anything refined.

Refined is when heat is added and it breaks down the substance. For example, steel cut oats are cut in four ways but not modified, whereas “instant” or “quick” means it has been processed down to a level that will impact your blood sugar.

“Stay close to the farm or the field, and as far away from as you can from the factory”, April suggest

Standing Up for Carbs

Let’s not lump all types of carbs together, healthy carbs are nutritious foods.

Whole fruits are carbs, the fruit sugar/ fructose provides carbohydrate energy. There are bio-active chemicals that haven’t been named yet which exist in whole fruit and vegetables that have amazing functional properties.

Christa offers a favorite quote from her colleague, Dr. Jerome Craig, “Those occasional treats that we have, there is no guilt, only consequences.” She says those consequences may lead to food cravings or increased weight, but we shouldn’t feel bad about it

 When and What to Eat for Pre and Post Workout

1. Morning Workout

• No need to eat before exercising if properly fueled from the day before
• If you are starving when you wake up, eat something small and wait a short while before exercising

2. Mid-day

• You want to be properly fueled throughout the day for optimal performance
• If more than three hours have passed since your last meal, have a snack including a small amount of protein and a slow digestive carb like a piece of fruit
• Watch your fats before a workout or run because of digestive distress

3. Evening

• If you’re going to work out within 2 hours of your evening meal, there should be no need to refuel before exercising

Within 30 minutes after cardio you need both carbohydrate and protein, usually around 200 calories total with optimal 100 calories from protein and 100 from carbs. It’s necessary to restore the glycogen lost during the workout. The challenge might be to grab a healthy choice like:

• a handful of fruit and nuts
• greek yogurt
• a whole grain rice cake with peanut butter

Try to resist reaching for the ice cream in the freezer or chips in the pantry as these will decrease your results and lessen the effectiveness of your workouts.

April’s Pro Tips

1. Properly fuel your body every 3-4 hours
2. Sufficient proteins are important, but the body can only process 30-40g of protein at one time. This is why it is important to have a balanced amount of macro nutrients in almost every meal
3. If you want to work out at your peak performance level you need to have healthy carbs in order to do so

We'd love to hear how this episode has helped you on your fitness journey! Head over to iTunes or Stitcher and leave us a review with your comments. We'll feature them in an upcoming show.

Today we are excited to have Christa’s colleague and certified hypnotherapist, Anya Drapkin here to teach us how to tap into our childhood through Mind Zoning® to understand why we make certain food-related choices in adulthood. Stay tuned to the end, when Anya leads us through a ten-minute Mind Zoning® session!

As with any Mind Zoning® session make sure you’re taking a break from distractions, outside of your car, and have a space to “zone out” and let your mind unwind.

Childhood Patterns That Shape Our Adulthood Behaviors

During Anya’s educational training, she discovered how crucial the first seven years of life is for us when it comes to how we behave later in life. This time period serves as a template for how we relate to our environment, nature, our homes and even our food choices. This imprint period has been shown to directly shape our patterns, but is also the root which determines how our habits are formed. These engrained behaviors are unlikely to change unless we tap into them.

Our culture places a big importance on food and although we don’t want to shame the treats used in celebrations, such as birthday cake, we do need to be mindful of how these celebratory foods make us feel. From an early age, we are taught to associate food with comfort and happy times, and this relationship typically continues into adulthood. We “self-soothe” with food.

Anya points out that a child’s first interaction with their mother is being brought to the breast to be fed. The child feels loved, reassured, and the sweetness of the milk fills the brain with pleasure and there is a bond that forms over this encounter. This intimate moment is a core time that shows that love flows from mother to baby. This first nourishment soothes the brain for years and emotionally attaches the child to the food and the human it comes from.

As we grow, we don’t always get the same emotional support from humans that we can find from food. We may find ourselves using food, sugar or alcohols as a way to soothe and comfort ourselves – so this becomes a critical point where we need to analyze these patterns and behaviors we’ve brought into our adult lives.

Carbs, Sugar, and Alcohol

These substances in particular are to blame since they “fire up” the reward center in our brains. If you’ve ever tried to give up all or one of these things for a period of time, you’ve surely realized the emotional and physiological connection associated with these substances.

It makes better sense when we look back to the caveman stages of humanity (primarily what the paleo diet is based from) our brain is wired to keep us safe. When we eat sugar, it fires up our brain’s reward center and suddenly we feel happy and safe. In today’s times, it’s important for us to realize that our brain is simply trying to fix itself. We consume these foods because we are hardwired to do so. This realization may help to release the guilt we associate with consuming these substances that we know are not good for us. Although the brain is trying to recover that feeling of safety and comfort, it is actually creating havoc in our bodies. It’s important for us to create new patterns as a brain safety mechanism. Getting off the reliance of sugar, carbs and alcohol gives our bodies the freedom to create new neural pathways.

Tapping Into Childhood

Anya states that most people struggle with changing lifelong behaviors towards food and alcohol simply because of the ritual they’ve created around it. Patterns are built through repetition. We associate a lot of our eating habits with situations with emotional components and that we want to cherish and repeat. Many of these patterns ‘make us feel good’ and many times we use these habits to help us feel good in a pinch. We not only need to learn how to break the ritual but also the brain connection we have with it. Anya encourages, “We have to create a different, healthier way to get our means."

Techniques How to Identify and Shift These Patterns

Anya focuses on:

• Diving into the emotional state – We simply cannot address the inner soothing we need by giving ourselves quick sensations. Food doesn’t work on the cognitive level.
• Empowering to use imagination – In our society we are trained to use our more logical left side of the brain. This is the product-driven, performance-based part that controls behaviors that make us successful. To evolve as humans, it’s important we pay more attention to the right side of the brain. This is the emotional, holistic part of us that makes up the meaning of life.

“Nothing has meaning other than the meaning you give to it.”

Anya asks her clients to envision and use imagery to tune in at this time, the conscious mind will go to what is most relevant. She says, “The power is about what the client’s subconscious needs to complete and it will soothe what the deeper being wants to receive." Anya goes on to tell us, “The mind zoning space will bring you what’s missing and what the solution will be for you, outside of food. Sometimes it’s community or support and to engage in the people who want to support and love you.”

Now it’s your turn (guided hypnotherapy)

Find a safe space that you can relax and take a couple deep breaths

Know that you have all the talents and skills to get relaxed

Tune out visual stimulus and wiggle into a comfortable position

Feel the solid support beneath you

Begin to get in touch with your breath

Paying attention to your breath and the words

Notice any tight spots you’re holding tension

Feel the deep breaths in the bottom of your lungs

Feel the power of your muscles as you consciously inhale

On the exhale surrender into gravity

Trust the solid support beneath you

Keep deepening your breath

Tune into yourself

You’re the most interesting entity in this moment

Tune attention inward so you can fully benefit from your focus

Accept your focus

Let that be a possibility

Have unconditional acceptance and focus

You deserve it

You can take up space

Begin to move attention

Open your inner eye to a place where you can imagine things

You’re at the top of the staircase moving down

You see a big beautiful tree

So big it has a doorway

Walk around the tree

Walk up to the door

Behind the door is your childhood

A place where you were safe and felt good

Put your hands in the doorway and step through

Step into a place where you were much younger and smaller

Go into that place

How do you feel?

Notice the quality of the air

Notice who’s there

Where you are

That you’re okay

That you’re still in your imagination

Notice that this childhood mind is still in you

Notice what does this child want

Do you want to play?

Explore?

A hug?

Look at your childhood self and ask a question

“What do you want the most right now?”

“What are feeling right now?”

“What do you need?”

Anya asks us to think about, what would you tell your childhood self that would comfort them and give them an opportunity to grow and soothe their inner worries during that moment? These answers are the very things that we carry with us into adulthood.

For more information about Anya and her practices check out her website My Oasis for Healing.

If you enjoyed this Mind Zoning® session make sure you listen to Mountain Escape, on the Fitlandia website. You can sign up for a FREE, 2-week trial and unlock access to the entire collection and all the other member benefits for 2-weeks.

Want More? Click below and subscribe to the Fitlandia Podcast today and have a healthy commute everyday!

Background

Dr. Michele Sherwood began working in functional medicine after she began noticing that she addressed her patients more by their specific medications or diseases, instead of by their names. She had earned a naturopath degree before medical school and was now realizing she was simply prescribing maintenance medicines to her patients; a type of “band aid”. She discovered a dramatic improvement in her patients and in her practice when she began to look at the root cause and their life as a whole; including nutrition, activity level, hormonal balances, stress, and sleep patterns which can feed into sickness and disease.

Mark and Michele, besides being married, also have a wellness-based medical practice. They work with genetics, excessive fat reduction, medication reduction and improvement of muscle tissue and texture. Simply put, they’re working to eliminate self-imposed choice driven sickness and diseases from the planet.

By helping to get the focus off obsessing over weight and transitioning to eating whole foods and being healthier overall, Mark and Michele are hoping to work themselves out of jobs.

Get healthy on purpose and lose weight on accident

Mark states, “Anytime we talk about a program where weight loss is included, it’s important to remember, you cannot lose muscle tissue.” Muscle tissue is the way we move our bodies, without it, we’re dying. When we focus on maintaining muscle, we lose fat and overall body composition and our longevity improves.

When focusing on overall body composition it’s a good ratio for 10%-20% body fat for men and 18%-28% for woman. When this is normalized, physical health and emotional health improves.

In their practice, they use an analysis called Bioimpedance for examining body composition. This is different than BMI (Body Mass Index) that measures below, in the middle or above a certain range for body composition but doesn’t actually measure the actual body mass. Conversely, Bioimpedance evaluates lean body mass; how much is withheld, fat inflammatory mass, intracellular and outer cellular water and basal metabolic rate. This is a more accurate measure of cellular health.

This is used as a base line evaluation of a body’s composition and how many calories are necessary to be properly fueled. Mark and Michele use this to study and develop individual plans for their patients. They’re also working on point specific genetics dealing with metabolic health and sports components. Stay tuned for a future podcast where we’ll dive into this information on what chronic inflammation can do this to our bodies and techniques like these that can be used to target solutions.

Now, how does our food inflame us right into disease?

Inflammation, when acute, is how we heal. When it becomes chronic is when it becomes problematic and is the first signs of sickness or disease.

Roughly 80% of the inflammation in our bodies is coming in through our mouths.

When we eat foods that inflame our system, they’re disguised as macronutrients when in reality, they’re simply just macro calories. If we have an efficient, healthy body when we eat foods with good macro nutrient quality, we can get the micro nutrients out of these foods. If not, our bodies start to get inflamed and break them down one organ at a time which can result in hormone imbalances, weight gain, back pain, digestion issues, brain fog, etc.

Known inflammatory foods  

A good pneumonic for these foods is, S.A.D. which stands for the Standard American Diet.

This includes:

• Fried Foods
• Sugars, Artificial Sweeteners, Soda
• Processed Foods and Preservatives – including processed sandwich meats
• MSG – fillers found in dressings, cookies, spices etc.
• Excessive Caffeine - 200-300 milligrams more than daily amount
• Excessive Alcohol – 1-2 drinks a week
• Corn, Soy, Yeast, Grains and Bread
• Anything found in a box or package
• Any foods with added ingredients to change the foods nature or preserve it

 Anti-inflammatory foods to enjoy

Anything that grows in the land, aside from certain food allergies, is going to be much easier for the body to identity and digest. Including more of these types of foods will start to improve your health and mood in as little time as a week!

• Raw fruits – lower glycemic so you watch sugar levels, but also include nutrients and vitamins
• Vegetables - no limits to greens. Vegetables help alkalize the system and help with digestion, they also provide lots of minerals and fiber.
• Hormone free, grass-fed meat
• Pasture raised eggs
• Fish – fresh cod and farm-raised fish like trout

Pro Tip: 75% of your plate = vegetables and then make healthy fat choices for the remaining 25%.

What to expect when transitioning to an anti- inflammatory diet

• Increase in energy which helps release brain fog
• Better digestion which boosts weight loss
• Look out for perceived fatigue because of blood sugar dropping – don’t quit - have a piece of fruit, and let your mind and body start to adjust.
• Don’t focus on depravity but welcome the new journey of releasing toxins and overcoming the brain, gut connectivity we have to certain foods.

It’s helpful to stay connected and you’ll be three times more successful with support and accountability partners. Here at Fitlandia we have an amazing group of people who will help you every step of the way.

Mark states, “Don’t dabble in your health, it’s not a part time job but a full-time life.”

Ready to try out an anti-inflammatory diet and reclaim your health with both mental and nutritional support?

Our next No Fools' Detox starts on 5/15/17. Only 15 spots available! A FREE, 1-yr membership to Fitlandia is included ($228 value). Our listeners get 20% off. See below for details.

REGISTER TODAY! 

(THANKS FOR LISTENING! Save 20% and enter EPISODE30 at checkout)

Want More? Subscribe to the Fitlandia Podcast today and have a healthy commute everyday!

Episode 27 – Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT Tapping) Releasing Yourself From a Stressed State of Mind

Today we welcome Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Therapist Jen Richards, founder of Matrix Rejeneration, who is here to tell us about Emotional Freedom Technique, also known as EFT Tapping. EFT Tapping, or “tapping” is an effective self-help technique which combines cognitive and exposure therapy with acupressure in the form of fingertip tapping on 12 specific meridian points. At the end of the podcast, Jen outlines the steps for us to follow to practice tapping so we can benefit from this quick and simple technique.

Jen’s Story

From her earliest days, Jen suffered with her body image, and by age 17, she had developed anorexia which eventually transformed to bulimia. For next 15-20 years, she lived in limbo not knowing how to eat or nurture her body in a healthy way. She battled depression and her thoughts often felt chaotic when it came to eating. Jen eventually tried tapping and saw immediate results. She says, “I understood why I had developed patterns with eating and the unhealthy relationship I had with food.” This practice can release us from past emotional traumas, stress, or pain and replace those emotions with a state of well-being, giving us back a life of love and healing.

With the success Jen had experienced herself, she knew she could help others by becoming an EFT practitioner and coach, especially to women suffering with body issues. “Once we heal ourselves, we then can inform and inspire others,” she exclaims. Jen has witnessed many triumphs using this technique, and her mission is to empower women so they can step up and step forward into the person they’ve always wanted to be.

How and Why EFT Tapping Works

What happens with stress?

Our bodies are designed to survive and evolve, we are naturally programed to look out for dangers that would interfere with that process. When we encounter things we’re afraid of, or a certain stress, our body goes into a fight or flight mode. We simply can’t digest food properly in this stressful state because our energy is being used for the body to be in survival mode.

Our autonomic nervous system unconsciously reacts and regulates bodily functions such as heart rate, digestion, respiratory rate and other reactionary responses. The amygdala part of our brain, which recalls memory, decision-making and emotional reaction warns us of danger. This causes our body to release an overload of hormones like insulin and cortisol, which are not only fat-storing hormones, but also play factors in weakening our gut bacteria, causing food intolerances and digestion issues. Our thyroid stops functioning properly and even the mitochondria in our cells are diminished, limiting the effectiveness of the metabolic systems we need to burn and digest foods correctly.

These negative thoughts we have about food, ourselves or our actions, set off these hormonal responses and with 37.2 trillion cells in our body, we send those cells into action.

“When we get afraid, it neurologically transforms us.”

How Did Modern-day Tapping Start?

In the 1980’s, clinical psychologist, Dr. Roger Callahan, was working with a woman with an incredible fear of water. This woman’s fear was so great that she was unable to even bathe her children. Without finding success in any current remedies, he read about a similar technique used in ancient Chinese medicine. Pressure was applied (by touch or with needles) to the meridian points that flow through the body. These channels are like energy highways through our systems, commonly referred to as “Chi”.

He discovered when we have a sick feeling in our stomach there’s a meridian point that corresponds with the stomach just under the eye. Dr. Callahan started to have his patient tap on her eye and as she focused on the feeling, eventually the feeling started to leave her stomach and she overcame her phobia. To this day, she is still not afraid. This is when Thought Field Therapy, or TFT, was born.

Dr. Callahan worked along Gary Craig who developed EFT, expanding the practice of tapping. The fundamental difference with TFT being, silently thinking about the problem whereas with EFT, the statement is verbalized.

The Meridian Points – Where to Tap 

Karate chop - side of hand

Eyes - between the eyebrows

Side of the eye

Below the eye

Below the nose

Chin between your lip and chin

Below your collarbone(s)

Under the arm (lady’s bra strap)

Crown – top of head

Work from top to bottom and don’t worry about getting it right, even if it’s not perfect, you’re doing some healing in an energetic way!

The Mantra Statement

Besides the physical tapping motion, we incorporate the cognitive piece by developing a mantra statement. This type of exposure therapy gets us talking about our emotions and keeps our energy flowing so we can begin to release them.

Start with how you are feeling, “Even though…”

When acknowledge a craving, for example, start with how strongly you’re feeling it, where you feel it in your body and associate the feeling with a shape and a color.

“Even though I have this craving for _____, this _8/10 craving for _____, and it’s all in my ______, this big _____ _____, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

For example, Christa has a lot of stresses in her life, a busy job, home life, finances, etc. She feels the stress in her stomach, and she visualizes it as a big red blob. She ranks the level of her craving as 8/10. When she feels this type of stress, she tends to crave a glass of wine.

Christa’s mantra statement would be something like:

“Even though I have this craving for wine, 8/10 level craving for wine and it’s all in my stomach, this big red blob, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Let’s Put it All Together 

Use your mantra as the set up statement, and begin with the side of the hand – the karate chop.
(Repeat 2-3 times)

“Even though I have this craving for wine, 8/10 level craving for wine and it’s all in my stomach, this big red blob, I deeply and completely love and accept myself.”

Then, starting at the top of the head and moving through each pressure point, verbalize the “feelings” part of your mantra statement. (Repeat 2-3 times per point)

“This craving, this craving in my stomach, this craving this big blob, this red blob in my stomach, I so want a glass of wine, so want this glass of wine, this craving of wine, this 8/10 craving, I feel it all in my stomach, this craving for wine, this 8/10 craving, I feel it in my stomach, this craving, this big red blob, this craving for wine, this craving.”

Breathe a big deep breath in, let it out and check back in with yourself to see if the craving level has lessened or changed.

Focus on the detail of the feelings at each of the points to release the intensity of the craving.

Tapping helps us discover why we’re really craving something, and to recognize the corresponding emotional reason(s) behind the craving. This is a great tool to use in the moment to decrease our stress level. It gives us access to the frontal lobe of our brains so we can start thinking more logically.

Try to journal while you tap to write down any awareness’s and follow the journey of releasing yourself of your connections you have with food. When we write the issue down, we bring it to life and can see how it may have been restricting us. We can give these thoughts love and not continue to let them control us. “Write it down, and give them the light and the love they actually deserve so you can invite the lesson back to you so you can work through it and grow,” Jen comments.

Your brain is trying to serve a positive function when you crave sugars, alcohol and/or refined carbs. It knows it makes us happy but applying tapping instead will remove that guilt, frustration and shame that follows from performing those behaviors. Now you can create a new pattern that follows and serves your greater good.

“When we shift the brain to gratitude we shift the energy so we shift our biology,” Jen explains.

It all comes down to our thoughts; our thoughts create the blueprint of our reality. The amazing thing to note here is that we have the power to reprogram our DNA by changing the energy flow within our cells.

Jen highly recommends this book, The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles by Bruce Lipton.

Tips:

• Tap whenever you need to, try to get into a relaxed state and then start tapping through the points.
• Use EFT to start focusing on loving yourself. Gratitude is the best state for relaxation and it is this state that our body is in a positive place to work in it best nature.
• Don’t wait until you weigh less to start loving yourself.
• Give yourself a break!

Subscribe to the Fitlandia podcast and post up your comments on how you'll use EFT in your fitness routine. We’ll feature your comments in a future post!

This week we are in the Fitlandia Kitchen with Lizz Hampton, CEO of GOODNUSS, a ground breaking milk-innovation company. Today, Lizz is going to show us step-by-step how to make our own nut milk. (Watch here).

The commercial nut milk we buy in stores is typically watered down and pumped with fillers. Instead of getting the nutrients that are naturally derived, synthetic vitamins and preservatives are added by the nut milk manufacturers. While these additives help keep the price down, it is at the higher cost of a product with little to no nutritional value. The only way to guarantee we’re getting all the nutrients out of nut milk is to cold press it ourselves.

“If we really want nutrients, we have to drink something that actually has nuts in it,” Lizz explains. “The average commercial nut milk product contains less than 2% nuts.”

In stores, many nut milks have carrageenan, which has been linked to ulcerative colitis and connective tissue disorders. Carrageenan is derived from seaweed and has no taste, smell or nutritional value and is added to many nut milks, yogurts, juices, puddings and salad dressings. Many of the vitamins being added to these nut milks are fortified the same way as cow’s milk to mimic taste.

Homemade nut milk is fresh and can be customized to our individual taste but it also helps us be completely sustainable. We can use the leftover pulp for baking, desserts or even a homemade face scrub.

Here are some clever recipes on how to reuse your pulp:

• Three Creative Uses: Bread, Hummus, Chocolate "Fluff"
• Vegan Paleo Crackers
• Face Scrub

Ready to milk your own nuts?

Here are the ingredients needed for basic nut milk:

• Almonds
• Dates
• Goji berries
• Cinnamon
• Vanilla powder
• Himalayan sea salt

The Basics of How to Milk Your Own Nuts

• Soak the nuts overnight. This starts the sprouting process and makes the enzymes more bioavailable so they’re easy to digest. This isn’t a necessity but helps break down the antinutrients from the nuts so we can get all the good stuff from them.
• Throw 1 cup of nuts into blender
• Add in 3-5 dates
• Combine equal amounts cinnamon and vanilla (about 1-2 tsp each)
• 2 tablespoons of goji berries to complement the dates. These berries are loaded with beta-carotene, a pigment that helps promote skin and eye health.
• Pinch of sea salt to taste
• Pour in 2-3 cups of water. Texture is customized based on how much water added.
• Blend

1 cup of almonds makes 24-32 ounces of nut milk. For skimmer milk add about 4 cups of water.

Next, we’re going to take our nut milk bag, a nylon mesh bag and strain the milk over a bowl.

Lizz’s Pro Tips

1. Synch the bag up at the top as you get started
2. Point one of the corners down and strain the milk into a wider bowl
3. Close your drawstring bag

The milk will have an orange tint, don’t worry it’s just the goji berries.

And we’re done!

These mesh bags can be found in most grocery stores or from the DIY Kit on the GOODNUSS website. Lizz also recommends Earthwise nut milk bags which range around $10 on Amazon.

Keep a look out for more products coming soon from GOODNUSS, including a device that allows you to strain into a cup for a single serving size. Their “Nut Buster” is a manual cold press device that you pour the pulp into and twist to enjoy immediately or to store for later. Both of these products are sure to be a hit for busy health nuts on the go.

Learn more about milking your nuts and all the innovative products available.

Milking your own nuts is a smarter way to drink milk and is completely Paleo, Vegan, Whole30, gluten free and dairy free. Christa says, “The flavor is like nothing I’ve ever had!”

Join us and get a free two-week trial so you can download the Whole 9, 74-page food guide and enjoy milking your own nuts.

Never miss a tip, inspirational story of an expert interview; subscribe to the Fitlandia Podcast today. Leave us an honest review and we'll feature YOUR comments on a future podcast. Or comment below to get the conversation started.

Explore more on our site at fitlandiafitness.com

This week Christa meets with Certified Health and Nutrition Coach, Monica Metz, to discuss how to get more vegetables onto your plate while making them taste great. They’ll be providing some helpful tips and tricks about how to prep your produce and make healthy eating easy for anyone.

Motivated by Health Concerns 

As most people would attest to, a plate full of steamed broccoli doesn’t quite get the mouth watering and doesn't seem to satisfy most. No different than the rest of us, Monica was an occasional salad eater and wasn’t thrilled by filling up her plate with mostly vegetables. After years of struggling with migraines, high cholesterol and a pre-diabetes scare, she started to look into ways to make a change for her and her son.

Monica became curious and starting looking through blogs online. This is when she became mesmerized by raw foods. Not only are raw foods extremely appealing to look at (color is key), but she was also able to follow how others were incorporating these foods in their everyday lifestyles.

"Most people are motivated by some weight loss or some sort of diagnosis like high cholesterol..."

Like most of the bloggers Monica followed, she then turned her passion into getting her certification online from the institute for Integrated Nutrition based in New York. Now, she primarily helps people online through group teachings and calls to actions through different health plans and detoxes. She has created a platform that helps teach the lifestyle for healthy choices and positive changes. With daily accountability calls and a system built as more of a “healthy food retreat” than a diet plan, Monica guides you to a lifetime of happiness in a much happier body.

Now About Those Veggies

Most of us know we need to eat more veggies, but with busy schedules and processed foods so accessible, what’s an easy way to get more of these greens in?

It’s important to start with asking yourself how many vegetables are you eating currently?

We’ve all sworn for a period time, we’re only going to eat salads and veggies, to only find ourselves pulling up at a drive through or being unhappy and hungry by the end of the day. We don’t want to create an emotional resistance against these foods by simply adding in more vegetables than we are currently consuming. Eventually, we can get to that ideal 50-75% of your plate being vegetables but that takes time. If we make an effort to add in a little more plant based foods every day these small wins will start creating healthier lifestyles.

Don’t worry we’re not getting to the part where we tell you to only eat kale salads because they’re going to start tasting better than a burger. Although, salads are an amazing way to pack in all kinds of veggies. The body and brain likes variety, so salads are a great way to get it all in! We’re talking about real foods here, which are meant to be enjoyed. If you have a topping you enjoy, as long as most of the salad is veggies, add it and ENJOY IT!

Practical Tips

Another reason many times we frown about salads is because of the store-bought dressing. These dressings are usually packed with unhealthy fats and refined inflammatory oils and sugar. Not to mention, they just don’t taste as good as the ones we can make at home.

Here’s an easy way to make dressing at home:

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Balsamic Vinegar
• Sea Salt/ Pepper to taste

Add a touch of lemon or Dijon mustard for a full-flavored dressing that you know is healthy.

Preparing your dressing and veggies ahead of time sets you up for success and a healthy meal. Here are some other prep tips that Monica likes to use:

• Frequent, short trips to the store
• Rinse and spin greens in advance
• Use a food processor

The basic foundation of a great salad includes:

• Chopped veggies such as: peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, carrot and celery
• Savory nuts, seeds, olives
• Healthy fats like avocado and olive oil

Another great way to pack in some nutrients are with green smoothies. Experiment with adding in some of Monica’s favorites below:

• Romaine - different from iceberg that lacks nutrients, romaine has mild flavor and mixes well with berries.
• Frozen beets – buy it cubed and leave frozen. Beets are great for blood pressure and help with oxygen efficiency so they make for a great pre-workout snack! Mix with berries or cherries!
• Mix in some carrots, cucumber, zucchini, or even left over sweet potato. Try it out!

If raw vegetables are hard for you to digest, try some of these roasting tips:

• When roasted veggies, try to mix in raw coconut oil or avocado oil for baking/cooking instead of extra virgin olive oil.
• Roast 45 minutes to an hour with oil, salt & pepper. Sprinkle with rosemary or garlic for more flavor.

Roasted broccoli or cauliflower are great to add into sauces later in the week or to make a salad dressing. Simply puree and add in some citrus, garlic, tahini (add warm water), or cumin. Drizzle on some veggies or salads to mix it up.

Another way to transform your cooked veggies after the fact, is to toss them in with some coconut milk, tahini or softened nuts with homemade chicken broth which makes for a full-flavored soup!

An Instantpot pressure cooker will make this a life changing way to transform these veggies with a quick, easy way to make rice or black beans to complement them. Although having all the nice equipment helps, the right ingredients are all you need.

Final Tips:

• Simplify.
• When you go grocery shopping, start in the produce aisle, pick what calls you and what you get excited about it. You can too, can be an intuitive cook.
• Big batch cooking will save you time for your busy schedule but most importantly, when you reframe your vision about cooking it will become more fun.
• Appreciate the food and it will start to feed your body, as well as your goals.
• Cooking is a beautiful practice, embrace the idea that this is your time with your food.

Ready for some deep support on transitioning into a healthy lifestyle?

Sign up today for the No Fool's Detox and save $125 when you register before 3/16/17.

We'll get you loving your veggies and your body in this 30-day support program.

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Heather McDaniel, CEO of Apogeo Fitness, joins Christa this week to talk about how the diet and fitness industries are ultimately betting against you. They discuss the business of gym memberships and personal trainers; as well as debunk some of the diet trends and buzzwords.

Apogeo Fitness

It turns out that Heather and Christa have a lot in common -- both were stressed out, overworked career women who compromised their health for their businesses. Struggling to find balance and justification to take time away from growing a business, Heather found herself overweight and unhealthy. She played soccer growing up and always identified as an athlete, but she felt like her body was not representing her true essence.

It took a while for Heather to identify the unhealthy patterns and overcome her mental obstacles. Those deep rooted habits needed to be changed, this is why Mind Zoning® works to shift those thoughts and habits to create a sustainable lifestyle change. Once she found her groove, Heather was in the best shape of her life at age 41. She was living proof that you CAN get fit over 40!

Enter Apogeo Fitness...

Apogeo means peak and culmination of a process in Spanish. Health and fitness is a journey. There is no quick fix to getting fit; it requires small and sustainable changes over time. Apogeo offers a 12-week online program that involves fitness, nutrition, and coaching. Heather concentrates on the experience, depth and convenience of the program to set it apart.

Gym Memberships

Let’s say a gym membership is about $10/month and the gym can reach a capacity of 200 – there’s no way that gym can pay all the bills and wages if only those 200 people visit. So they are constantly signing up members with the intention that most of those people are not going to show up. They are betting against you, hoping you continue to make that $10 gym donation each month without ever walking in the door.

Since there is a low barrier-to-entry to join a gym, most people do it as their first action towards getting fit. The problem is that these gyms are not able to offer the deep level of support that it takes to sustain a lifestyle change. They are businesses that wants to make money and there is no problem in that, but to actually help people achieve their goals and change their lifestyle takes a more holistic and personal approach.

Personal Trainers

What started out as ripped people helping other people get ripped, is now a profession. There are several certifications and schooling to become a legitimate personal trainer, but the catch is that anyone can go through this process. Most people enter this business because they genuinely want to help others; unfortunately, the way the business is set up forces them to be sales people. The gyms are not providing them with the resources to REALLY help people long term. Trainers are seen as a revenue stream by selling sessions and memberships, and are paid a low wage.

Diet

When people want to lose weight they connect with keywords like “diet,” “quick weight loss,” “detox,” etc. They give in to the marketing of weight loss shakes and current fad diets. In reality, everyone's macronutrient needs are different so what works for one person may not work for another.

Christa and Heather break down the shake theory. They will mess up your body and your metabolism. If your body is not getting the nutrients it needs then it will crave more food to make up for the missing vitamins and minerals. One rule of thumb if you want to enjoy a protein shake regularly is to make sure you can pronounce and understand the ingredients. And don't give in to any erroneous marketing tricks like low-fat or low-carb -- in fact, our bodies need healthy fats and carbs to stay energized. Read here about healthy fats!

Calories in/calories out is debunked as well. Read here about how not all calories are created equal.

When it comes down to the basics, Heather and Christa agree that we must eat more whole foods. Whole foods are not processed at all, as close to how it came from Mother Nature as possible. You can find all the whole foods on the perimeter of the grocery store.

A call-to-action for the fitness and diet industry: to re-think the way they serve their clients, try to offer a more holistic approach to this very important lifestyle change, and build positive communities.

The main takeaway is to gently and lovingly release the idea that there is a quick fix -- humans are far too complex. And go to the gym if you have a membership!

Sign up for your FREE 2-week trial membership today!

In the 17th episode of the Fitlandia Podcast Christa is joined by Allison Nichols for a discussion on gut health and how it can impact your wellness.

Healing yourself from the inside out

Allison is a holistic nutrition counselor who works with people to improve their gut health and help them break free of the diet cycle, “healing yourself from the inside out” as she puts it. After graduating from college Allison existed on a diet of Kashi cereal, yogurt, and fruit in an attempt to be as thin as possible. Meanwhile she was struggling with horrible digestion problems to the point where her gut began to control her life. She started to notice that no one else was acting like her. Nobody else was in constant pain, or feverishly keeping track of restrooms for future reference. Allison realized what she was doing for weight loss was actually negatively affecting her body. She realized that there’s more to health than weight, and there’s a connection between what you eat and how you feel.

After discovering Mark’s Daily Apple and she began experimenting with a more primal diet, avoiding grains, legumes, and dairy. She didn’t lose any weight, but she noticed that she was feeling better day by day, and eventually most of her digestive issues faded.

“Realizing that I could eat whole foods and foods with fat in them and not gain weight was a life-changing experience.” - Allison Nichols

No One Size Fits All

No one way of eating works for everyone. Respecting the biochemical individuality of each person is something that’s impossible to fine-tune from a company’s broad dietary plan. That’s why people get frustrated because they try one or two diets and they don’t line up with their bodies or their lifestyles. Fitness is a journey of coming to understand your own body and finding a dietary style that works for you.

Through this realization, Allison realized the importance of food journaling, and removing the attachments that she had with food. Recognizing the consequences that different types of foods have is important, and coming to that understanding is a vital step in the fitness journey.

Once she sorted her own digestive and dietary problems out, Allison wanted to help other people break free from dieting. She set out to help others build a healthy relationship with food and start that process from the mind rather than with the body. It’s an uphill battle because in today’s culture of digital entertainment and on-demand gratification, people want instant gratification and instant results.

Fitness is a Journey, Not a Destination

Together, Allison and Christa outline a few tips for long-term success:

1. Everyone is different, finding out what’s right for you is a learning experience.
2. New Patterns. Bacteria in your gut causes cravings, you can reprogram your mind to crave alternatives like exercise.
3. Be a Mindful Eater. Food is comforting, and you can feel better when you eat certain foods. If you’re eating from a conscious place, then it’s okay.

Allison also helps Fitlandians by providing one of the many questions that she asks her clients. Before indulging in a rich dessert, or even eating in the first place, ask yourself “am I physically hungry, or do I just want to eat?” Being able to determine actual hunger and emotional hunger is huge. Sugar, processed foods, and poor diets can muffle our feelings and skew our perceptions of what fullness and hunger feel like. If you are physically hungry, opting for a healthier option is more fulfilling, but the hard part is making those options accessible. If pre-prepared, pre-packaged, processed foods are already there, it’s easy to default to those.

 “There’s no such thing as mistakes, only learning experiences.” - Allison Nichols

 The two wrap the episode up with a few helpful tips to improve gut health:

1. Slow down your eating experience
2. Hydrate, but don’t drink water with meals
3. Keep a food journal to learn about yourself 

Explore more on our site at fitlandiafitness.com and get your free 2-week trial to unlock all members benefits today!

On the lucky 13th episode of the FItlandia Podcast Christa is joined by Carrie Billings of carriebillings.com for a discussion on goal setting. Carrie is one of the expert practitioners on Fitlandia’s site as a behavioral health counselor and a certified health and wellness coach.

Goal Setting

While some resent the idea of New Year’s Resolution quick fixes, there is simultaneously something beautiful about the collective intention to better ourselves. Goal setting is important because it’s having a plan. If a resolution is broad (eat healthy, lose weight) it is possible to get there, but planning it out in little steps is a necessity.

“Our goals can only be reached through the vehicle of a plan” - Pablo Picasso 

When setting goals, it’s important to think about what you will do as opposed to what you won’t do. A goal like “I’m going to stop drinking soda” or “I’m not going to eat sugar” are very hard to measure, but even harder to stick to. Instead, Carrie recommends positive goals replacing “I’ll quit soda” with “I’ll drink a glass of water instead.” Don’t come into your new healthy lifestyle viewing it as deprivation, because that isn’t sustainable.

How Do I Make This Happen For Myself?

It’s easy to set goals when you’re excited, but if they’re vague and without planning, it can “fail” and lead someone directly back into their old lifestyle. There’s good in resolutions because they help you get in touch with what you want deep down, but they if they lack a plan then you’ll end up fumbling around. Asking ‘how do I make this happen for myself?’ is important.

Components of Effective Goals

Carrie follows the SMART Goal framework which stands for:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Relevant
• Timley

Once you’ve set a goal it’s important to take a look at it and evaluate it based on your confidence that you can achieve it. The next step is figuring out how to improve your confidence in those goals you’re not sure about, and making sure you’re gentle with yourself, not beating yourself up if you don’t do something perfectly. The great thing is that once you start eating healthier and moving more, you’ll be amazed at how more efficient you are at all of your other tasks, and then you’ll be able to handle everything with more confidence.

Another strategy Carrie recommends is to have multiple timelines. Have a goal for where you’d like to be three months from now, and then set smaller weekly goals that will all help you get there. Reevaluating every week, enjoying something different, and feeling progress every time until you reach that bigger goal is the key to keeping your forward momentum.

Trial and Correction

One final piece of advice is to stay away from viewing our efforts as failures if we don’t reach our goals. Often people view goals and resolutions as trial and error when it should be viewed as trial and correction. Looking back at your challenges, seeing what worked, and what didn’t allows you the chance to rewrite it into something different and make it work for you.

“It’s a learning experience every week.” - Carrie Billings

Carrie ends on a note of bite-sized goals. She says starting small (but stretch a little bit) is the single best way to approach your goals. You don’t have to jump straight to running a marathon, a walk around the block is a great goal. Additionally, writing your successes down, and keeping yourself accountable to at least one other person are great motivators for keeping yourself going.

On this episode of the Fitlandia Podcast we’re looking forward to 2017 with this third installation in our series on New Year’s Resolutions. Joined by Rebecca Van Damm of Food Mood Coaching, this episode focuses specifically on getting yourself into a good mood for resolutions.

1. Eat breakfast
2. Drink water
3. Sleep
4. Nutrient-dense meals
5. Cooking at home more

Another thing to notice is how you’re consuming your food. After talking health tips Rebecca brings up the fact that being mindful and enjoying your food slowly is paramount. Additionally, noticing what else you're consuming while you eat is important. You’re putting your body into a receptive mode when you’re eating, and everything is being digested, experiences, conversations, media, etc. so when you’re putting your body into that mode, make sure it’s something that’s supportive and positive.

On Compassion

Whenever New Year’s comes around, there are also a lot of resolutions naysayers, people that say they never work, or complain about the influx of people at the gym. Harnessing that power of intention is a beautiful thing and only serves to build the greater fitness community. Embrace the fact that these people are trying to be as healthy as possible, be a part of their journey.

On this episode Christa welcomes Vonie Kalich who is a life coach and fitness professional with over 25 years of experience in the industry. Vonie Kalich discusses NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) which encompases our words, thoughts, actions, and how we operate throughout our day.

Only a small percentage of people are able to reach and attain their goals because they haven’t changed their mental behavior. As children we take in everything, we’re a sponge. We absorb all the positive and the negative. If you spill a glass of milk and are reprimanded, you’ll take that in and it will become a negative belief about yourself being clumsy. People end up developing negative mind patterns, through millions of experiences like this and NLP is about changing those patterns and shifting us from “I could go to the gym” to “I can go to the gym” to “I will do it.”

She uses a mantra of “Clean, Clear, Delete” which she often uses when her clients say something negative. Catching discouragement and negative thought patterns is the first step to repositioning them, and those are the first steps toward a healthy mind and body. It seems so simple, but it’s also hard to recognize until someone points it out. That negative self-talk can keep us defeated and serve as the primary roadblock to achieving our first healthy steps.

“This is how I feel. Becomes this is how I wanna feel.” - Vonie Kalich

If you can feel positive about what you’re trying to do, it will make it so you’re not trying anymore. Bringing positivity to it will bring in the action that you’re trying to accomplish. Vonie goes on to describe several NLP exercises that she uses with clients and offers a few recommendations for combating negative thoughts and emotions.

Today Christa welcomes expert practitioner Dr. Jerome Craig to discuss nutritional Ketosis. Before jumping into the topic Dr. Craig discusses his profession and what it means to be a functional medicine practitioner. He explains functional medicine as getting to the root cause of something. Instead of treating a condition, he looks for the root cause which can range from nutrition, lifestyle, genetics, and more.

Dr. Jerome Craig defines Nutritional Ketosis as switching yourself from being a sugar burner (which most of us are) to a fat burner. He says many people misunderstand this as being low-carb or high-fat, (and while those are true to some extent) he says nutritional ketosis is more about switching to a state where you’re burning fat as your primary fuel and creating ketones that will fuel the brain and the body.

Many of us lean on carbs as a primary fuel because they’re accessible and fast, but nutritional ketosis is about switching our body over (which obviously doesn’t happen overnight). It’s about going from burning carbs to burning our fat stores. Dr. Jerome Craig cites Dr. Stephen Phinney and Dom D’Agostino as two major champions of Ketosis who have been bringing the concept more mainstream. Additionally, Jimmy Moore has been a long-time advocate of ketosis and its positive health benefits for people with type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile other scientists are using Ketosis to combat dementia, cognitive degeneration, and even certain types of cancer.

For the average person Ketosis has many benefits including easier digestion, sleeping better, increased energy, and resetting our microbiomes which reduces (or eliminates) many of our cravings. Those positive results don’t come immediately, and require some build-up to get to, but Dr. Craig goes onto say that “there’s no such thing as failure if you learn.” One thing he cautions about ketosis (as with all fitness) is to avoid comparing yourself to others. Results vary, and everyone’s body reacts differently, so there is no set path.

When discussing the downsides of ketosis, Dr. Jerome Craig explains that often people think to get into ketosis that they have to eat fatty foods which means that they lose out on a lot of other foods that are healthy for us like veggies and fruit. He also says that the transition from carb-burning to ketosis results in losing water weight and minerals, which if not properly paired with vegetables, can result in muscle cramps and digestive problems.

In the end it all depends on the person and their goals, but Ketosis is a viable nutritional plan for someone starting their weight loss journey. If you want to learn more about the details of ketosis check out the full podcast below.