Workout nutrition is an age-old debate with tons of bro-science and bodybuilding message boards to prove it. From carbing up to fasted cardio, protein shakes and pre-workout snacks, there are hundreds of opinions claiming they know the way to enhancing performance, fitness and body composition. So what should you eat when you workout? It all depends on your goals, your workout, and your current health!

Here’s all you need to know about the role of workout nutrition—from a real food perspective (read: no candy-bar favored protein bars and shakes with chemical ingredients, macro or calorie counting slavery, and FitBit food-earning stepping included).

Workout Nutrition 101

There is no one size fits all approach to nutrition—or workout nutrition for that matter, but when it comes to getting the MOST out of your fitness in the gym, there’s no question that food matters…a lot. In fact, it’s been estimated that 80-90% of your fitness, performance, and body composition results are related to what goes into your mouth (or doesn’t go into your mouth) alone.

Without a cornerstone of nutrition, it’s as if you are trying to build a house without a foundation. Sure you can make a pretty white panel siding frame, and design Pottery Barn catalog worthy rooms, but without a solid foundation, all the pretty things or things you worked so hard to build won’t last.

So what does a “solid foundation” of good workout nutrition look like? While many people debate minute details (such as post-workout windows, nutrient timing, protein powders or fasted training), the 5 MOST important game changers when it comes to getting the most out of your personal workout nutrition plan are:

• Eating Enough
• Micro Nutrients
• Hydration
• Good Digestion
• Consistency

Let’s chat about these 5 Nutrition “Game-Changers” then talk about how to use them in the context of your personal fitness goals.

Eating Enough

Are you eating enough? A common roadblock many fitness enthusiasts run into is under-eating—especially those who tend towards the “clean eating,” real food or paleo philosophy as well.

It’s easy to get full on proteins, veggies, and some healthy fat, but in the same breath fall into the trap of accidental dieting. The result? Slowed progress, plateaus, slowed metabolism, impaired appetite, and spinning your wheels in the gym!

Food is fuel! If you are serious about reaching your fitness goals, it can be good to conduct a baseline assessment of yourself to see if you are eating enough.

Calories = Energy

For a quick, general approximation of “how much” you should be eating use this calculation:

• Multiply your current weight in pounds by 12 to 14 to get a baseline range of daily calorie needs
• Then add 100 calories to this number for every 10 minutes of moderate- to high-intensity activity (spin, CrossFit, strength training, boot camp, Orange Theory).

No matter whether your goal is to build strength, boost performance, lose weight or lean out, if you are under-eating, you can bet your bottom dollar, progress will stall. Keep in mind: calories are energy and nutrients, the good kind, and the more quality cals you consume, the better your bod can maximize your fuel. Additionally, remember these are guidelines, not the gospel. Every body is different, and depending on your health history, current health status and body type (ectomorph or hard gainer versus endomorph or easy gainer), individual needs will vary.

Proteins, Carbs & Fats

Once you establish a ballpark range of caloric needs, you can figure out the “just right” balance of proteins, carbs, and fats for you. General fitness recommendations include:

• Protein: 25-35% of total calories
• Carbohydrates: 20-50% of total calories
• Fats: The leftover percentage once proteins and carbs are determined

Keep in mind:

• 1 gram of protein = 4 calories
• 1 gram of carbs = 4 calories
• 1 gram of fat = 9 calories

So for instance, say you weigh 130 pounds and you workout in the gym five days per week and lead an active lifestyle with a combination of strength training, HIIT style boot camps, walking, and yoga. For best fitness, let’s do the math:

1. Figure Out Baseline Health Calorie Needs.
   • Multiply 130 pounds x 12 calories and 130 pounds x 14 calories. You will get a range of 1560-1820 Calories (as your baseline requirement range).
2. Figure Out Fitness Calorie Needs.
   • Multiply 100 calories x 6 (for the 60 minutes total of training you do most days each week). You’ll get 600 calories. Add 600 calories to your baseline numbers to get a target range of 2,160 calories-2,420 calories for your BEST health and fitness.
3. Figure Out Baseline Protein, Carb & Fat Needs.
   • For 30% Protein: Multiply 2,160: x 0.30= 648 calories from protein, then divide 648 by 4 calories per protein gram to get 162 grams of protein as your baseline.
   • For 40% Carbs: Multiply 2,160 x 0.40=864 calories from carbs, then divide 864 by 4 calories per gram to get 216 grams of carbs for a baseline.
   • For 30% Fats: Multiply 2,160 x 0.30=648 calories from fat, then divide 648 calories by 9 fat calories per gram to get 72 grams of fat as your baseline.
4. Eat Enough
   • Once you understand your baseline needs and find a rhythm for your body…PUT THE CALCULATOR AWAY.

While fitness and nutrition tracking apps can be helpful for ensuring you’re meeting your nutrient needs, more often than not, I find individuals who use these things religiously, feel attached to the numbers—more so than listening to our bodies.

There is a slew of other essential fitness game changers to consider when it comes to hacking your fitness nutrition (below). This is just the top of the iceberg to help keep you from overtraining. We will address more fine-tuned nutrient intake recommendations below for your unique goals (ie. leaning out, strength gain, performance or all-around general fitness) in the Nutrition Hacks section.

Micro-Nutrients

Eating enough is important, but eating ENOUGH quality, real foods matters more—at least for taking your health and fitness from good to great. True, macros are a piece of the equation (ie. proteins, carbs and fats), but not all chicken breasts, broccoli spears or sweet potatoes are created equal.

Moreover, many athletes and fitness enthusiasts tend to focus more on calories and macros, neglecting food variety and the micro-nutrients (i.e. the vitamins and minerals) that give your body the extra “umph” for power and nutrients.

For instance, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the nutrition value difference in a meal consisting of a farm-raised Tyson chicken breast, microwaved frozen green beans, processed olive oil and white rice versus a pastured raised chicken breast, with sautéed dark leafy rainbow chard in coconut oil and a side of rich, orange butternut squash and cinnamon. Just to be clear: B-Vitamins,beta-carotene, calcium, magnesium, and essential (digestible) amino acids in the latter. In short: color=nourishment, and tons of vitamins and minerals that are often unseen if you are just focusing on counting your macro-nutrients alone.

Here are some of my favorite quality foods for fitness:

• Meat and Poultry. Beef and lamb, but also pork, chicken, turkey, duck and wild game like venison, ostrich, etc. Organic, pastured, grass-fed and/or free-range is always preferable. Natural means nothing.
• Pastured Egg Yolks. The albumin in egg whites is closely associated with autoimmunity and allergies.
• Organ Meats (especially liver). The most nutrient-dense food on the planet. If you don’t like the taste of liver, one good trick is to put one chicken liver in each cube of an ice cube tray and freeze them. Then, when you’re making any meat dish, dice up one chicken liver and add it to the meat.
• Bone Broth & Meat Broth Soups. Balance your intake of muscle meats and organ meats with homemade bone broths. Bone broths are rich in glycine, an amino acid found in collagen, which is a protein important in maintaining a healthy gut lining.
• Wild-Caught Fish. Especially fatty fish like salmon, halibut, sardines, mackerel, and herring. Wild is preferable. Aim for 1 pound per week in lieu of fish oil supplements or reach for a fermented cod liver oil.
• Starchy T ubers. Yams, sweet potatoes, yucca/manioc, winter squash, beets, carrots plantain, parsnips, etc.
• Non-starchy Vegetables. Cooked and raw. Especially dark leafy greens.
• Fermented Vegetables and F ruits. Sauerkraut, kimchi, beet kvass, coconut kefir, etc. These are excellent for gut health.
• Fresh Fruit. (1-2 servings/day). Especially berries and green tipped bananas.
• Traditional Fats. Coconut oil, palm oil, lard, duck fat, beef tallow and olive oil.
• Olives, A vocados, and Coconut (including coconut milk-no additives, coconut butter, unsweet coconut flakes).
• Ghee & Grass-fed Butter
• Sea Salt, Herbs & Spices.

What about protein powders? Protein powders are not essential, but they can help some fitness enthusiasts meet their baseline protein requirement needs, granted you need to choose a digestible, anti-inflammatory powder.

Unfortunately, most fitness nutrition shops and grocery store supplement shelves are adult candy stores with protein powders flavored like “Cookies & Cream” and “Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough” that don’t do anything but end up out the other end in the toilet, and disrupt your gut bugs.

Nevertheless, if you choose a quality formula, you can maximize performance.

See this article on “how” to choose the best powder for you, along with some of my faves here:

• Collagen Protein
• Equip Foods Beef Isolate
• Pure Paleo Beef Isolate
• Equip Foods Prime Plants (if vegetarian/vegan)
• Wild Foods Grass-fed Whey (if you tolerate dairy)
• Primal Paleo Perfection Beef Isolate

Hydration

It’s no secret hydration is essential for fitness performance. In fact, just a 3-percent fluid reduction in the body can cause a 10 to 20 percent decrease in performance. Read more about research on active dehydration.

However, adequate fluid intake is easy to overlook. Thirst alone is not the first indicator of dehydration, and for this reason, mindfulness with drinking water throughout the day is encouraged.

Moreover, find yourself super hungry—often—between meals, or feeling fatigued or run down? It could be a sign your body needs more water. The same organ that triggers hunger (your hypothalamus) also triggers thirst, and fatigue and power in your workouts are not always just related to sleep and recovery hacks, like saunas and mobility sessions.

A general rule of thumb for a baseline of adequate fluid intake is half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 140 pounds, that’s about 70 ounces or almost 9 cups of water.

When you add your workout sessions and heat into the mix, add 16 ounces for every pound of bodyweight (fluid) lost. No need to weigh yourself though! Factor in at least 16-32 ounces more to your daily water intake if you lead an active lifestyle, and sip throughout the day.

Straight up water, or water infused with citrus or cucumber and mint, is best. (No, Bulletproof coffee does not count as hydration—in fact, coffee dehydrates you). In addition, add a pinch of sea salt to a glass of lemon water in the morning and sea salt your food to taste for electrolyte boosting power (sodium, potassium, and magnesium).

Sports drinks are not essential unless you are training for intense athletic activity, sweating a lot or working out in a hot climate, to replace extra lost electrolytes and maintain proper fluid balance in the body. Pass on the Gatorade in favor of a >homemade mix like this natural lemonade one.

Good Digestion

Digestion is an often overlooked component of any fitness nutrition protocol. You can drink all the protein shakes, creatine or pre-workout supplements, multi-vitamins, post-workout carbs, or chicken and broccoli in the world, but if you are not digesting your food appropriately, then you are not going to maximize the nutrients you’re taking in.

Athletes and fitness enthusiasts are at higher risk for impaired digestion, primarily because exercise is a stressor to the body.

While it is a positive stressor, two things happen when the body is stressed:

1. Cortisol levels (stress hormones) go up
2. Stomach acid goes down

Since optimal digestion happens in a parasympathetic (rest and digest) state, elevated cortisol can impede with good digestion—especially directly after your workout. In addition, elevated cortisol suppresses stomach acid—leaving you more at risk for hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid).

For these reasons, a baseline digestive protocol for fitness enthusiasts includes:

1. Soil Based Probiotic
2. Pre-Biotic Fiber
3. 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar in water or HCL Tablets with each main meal (to boost stomach acid)
4. Digestive Enzymes (optional, but recommended for maximizing digestion)

Also, don’t neglect digestive hygiene at meals! Instead of inhaling your chicken and sweet potato, or slamming down your protein shake, do these 3 things to maximize digestion:

1. Breathe. Pause for 1-2 minutes before meals to just breathe, and stimulate rest and digest mode.
2. Chew your food—really well (you don’t want to recognize that chunk of chicken as a chunk of chicken when you swallow it)
3. Prep your own food as much as possible. Food quality doesn’t just mean organic or non-GMO—the number of hands that have touched your food, or the length of time in storage in your fridge matter too. When you prep your own food, you know what oils and cooking practices went into the meal, as well as how old your foods are (for leftovers, consume within 3-5 days or freeze; for produce and meats, consume within 7 days)

Consistency

Lastly, but equally important: Consistency. The slow and steady wins the race when it comes to nutrition, and one or two days of “good nutrition” followed by five days of sporadic nutrition will not pay off. Fuel the machine. No, this does not mean “perfection,” but when trying a “new approach” to the way you eat, give yourself at least 3 to 4 weeks of consistency to see (and feel) the difference).

Q. What About Nutrient Timing? Does it matter when I eat? The short answer: No, for most fitness enthusiasts nutrient timing does not matter as much as you think. At least compared to considering what you eat consistently overall in a given 24-hour period.

Studies have confirmed that the “post-workout” window or “perfect time” for eating a post-workout meal really only matters if you haven’t been fueling up consistently or eating enough. Read about nutrient timing here.

In other words: Whether you eat 30-minutes after a workout or 2 to 3 hours after a workout is seen pretty much the same way to the body if you are meeting your daily energy needs (as discussed in point one).

Moreover, the food you eat today actually impacts tomorrow’s workouts and performance more than today’s, based on digestion and maximum power output since glycogen stores (energy for your muscles) are usually replenished within a 24 hour period (provided that daily energy needs are met). Nevertheless, eating around workouts is not a bad thing.

Generally, if you are eating regular, balanced meals and maybe one to two snacks each day to support energy needs, just time these accordingly around meals to allow for proper digestion before moving and grooming in your workouts (you don’t want to eat too close to your workouts and feel your sweet potato coming up; although some can tolerate simple-to-digest meals like a smoothie, protein powder in water, or banana).

For individuals wanting to maximize strength and muscle gains, a pre-workout meal of about 10-30 grams of carbs and 10-15 grams of protein. Some folks even do ok off of a dense serving of fat pre-workout, particularly endurance training athletes who actually run off fatty acids (not glucose) as the preferred source of fuel believe it or not.

Here are some ideas…

Pre-Workout Meal Ideas (2-3 hours before training)

Pre-Workout Snack (30-60 minutes before training if you just need a little something to tide you over)

If you tolerate healthy fats around workouts, you could also try:

Nutrition Hacks for Your Goals

What’s your why—the reason why you train? It’s vital to recognize your primary goal behind your fitness in order to align the right dietary approach to your training. After all, if your goal is to gain muscle and strength, but you are eating as if you are leaning out or fueling for a marathon run, then you are spinning your wheels.

The most common fitness goals include:

• Gain Strength/Muscle
• Lean Out/Lose Body Fat or Lose Weight
• Enhance Sport or Fitness Performance (ie. get faster, make the team, etc.)
• Be Healthy! (Enjoy Your Workouts, have fun, break up with the diet mentality & improve general fitness)

So why are you training? Here are some nutrition hacks for taking your fitness goals to the next level.

Gain Strength/Muscle or Gain Weight/Size Hacks

“I want to add 10 more pounds to the barbell or see some muscle definition.”

• Maximize Carbohydrates
• Adjust carbohydrate intake until you begin seeing “gains.” Carbohydrate needs may be anywhere from 40-50% of total daily calorie intake if you’re looking to add lean muscle.
• Fasting & Intermittent Fasting: Not So Fast:
  Fasting and intermittent fasting can work great for some, however, I generally see this as a better approach for those looking to lean out, more than build size. Moreover, guys tend to do better with these methods than women over the long term. Remember: if your goal is for size and strength, eating is your friend, not your foe.
• Just A Little Bit More.
  Putting on strength or size can feel daunting for us hard-gainers, but if you approach it with a simple, “I-can-do-this” mindset, and think about how you can add “just a little bit more” to what you currently eat for maintenance, it gets easier. Consider adding ¼-1/2 an extra serving of sweet potato with dinner, another tablespoon of coconut oil in your morning hash, or a liquid meal, like a smoothie, in addition to your three balanced meals to make it do-able. Baby step it up until you begin seeing the results you want.
• Optimize Digestion.
  If you’re not digesting your food maximally, then no matter how much you eat or add to your diet, it’s not going to stick. Conditions like SIBO, fungal overgrow, h and leaky gut can keep your body spinning its wheels.

Sample Meal Plan

Meal 1:

Training: 60–75-Minutes, weights & HIIT

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Meal 5:

Lean Out/Lose Body Fat or Lose Weight

“I want to tone up or lose those last 5 pounds.”

• Make Sure You’re Eating Enough Healthy Fats
  Low-fat dieting is so 1992! Healthy fats help minimize insulin secretion, detour glucose storage (sugar) and balance blood sugar levels over all. They also help keep you satiated and keep cravings—especially sugar cravings at bay. Balance is still essential (no need to go full on keto), but many people who have been spinning their wheels with a low-fat diet, or low calorie diet find that when fats replace some of the carbs they’ve been turning to, metabolism spikes and the body turns into fat burning mode, versus sugar burning mode.
• Eat Enough
  Speaking of eating enough, just because you’re leaning out, doesn’t mean you need to starve. Meeting your baseline and activity requirement range is still essential. The leaning out happens when you begin to tweak fats and carbs (as mentioned above). Be your own experiment, and if you’ve been doing the same thing, and expecting a different result, consider doing something different.
• Simplify.
  Simplify the foods you eat. Meat, veggies, some starchy tubers, healthy fats and herbs and spices go a long way. Many folks find that they begin eating more emotionally, thinking more about food or eat based on cravings when they have lots of variety in their diet, and a strategy some find helpful is picking 2-3 rotating breakfasts and lunches to keep things uniform and help them eat the balance they desire.
• Little Treats.
  More on the deprivation note, food is meant to be enjoyable! Not militant or something to feel morally guilty or good about. If you find yourself getting into diet mentality mode, what generally happens? We want what we can’t have. That said, pick one small treat to add to your daily rundown—such as a piece of 80-100% dark chocolate, cinnamon tea, coconut butter energy bite, or a scoop of homemade coconut ice cream to keep the diet mentality at bay.
• Intermittent Fasting.
  If can be a helpful strategy for some (not all) people. It entails fasting for 12-16 hours, and an eating window of 8-12 hours in a given day. It’s not necessary, but again, if you’ve been doing the same things and expecting a different result, then it could be worth a try in the short term. Above all, it still matters most that you are eating enough.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 60-75—Minutes, weights & HIIT

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Meal 5:

Enhance a Sport/Performance

“I want to get faster, make the team or win the CrossFit Open.”

• Recover
  Recovery is just as important as training, if not more. Over-training is really under-recovery. As far as nutrition on “off days,” you may find you can actually eat more, or you’re hungrier—primarily due to the fact that cortisol levels are not as high. Listen to your body and treat recovery days like “workout days”—vital to your success.
• Eat Enough (Especially Carbs & Fats)
  Do I sound like a broken record? Athletes tend to be pretty good on the protein front, but fall short in the carb and fat department. Most “performance” training women do best with at least 100-150 grams of carbs each day, if not upwards of 200 if you are doing lots of high-intensity training. Extreme diets of any sort—super high fat, or super high carb are not recommended though as much as a balance of all three macros. If you are finding you’re performance is stalling, assess what you are currently doing and evaluate where your carbs and fats are. Tweak one or both accordingly to find your fit.
• Digest.
  Since your training is more demanding than the average Joe, digestion is even more compromised and stomach acid more suppressed with stress. Consider taking digestive enzymes with each meal, along with apple cider vinegar (1 tbsp in 2-4 oz. of water), and your daily probiotic and prebiotic (supplements and fermented foods) for baseline support. In addition, peppermint oil, ginger and turmeric are amazing spices and herbs to get in teas, supplement form or essential oils.
• Support Hormones.
  Amenorrhea is common in those who train hard. Lost your period? That is usually a sign that a.) you’re not eating enough calories, or carbohydrates/fats, and/or b.) you’re not recovering enough (sleeping enough, varying your intensity in your training or resting enough between workouts). You hold great power over your body’s balance and if you’re not having your period, your body is speaking.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 90-120 Minutes, weights & endurance training

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Afternoon

Meal 5:

Before Bed

Be Healthy

“I just want to look good naked and/or make peace with my body, food and fitness!”

• As If
  You know you don’t want to care so much about what you eat or what you look ike in the mirror. So practice the “as if” mindset—the pretend mindset, “as if” you were the girl you want to be—happy, healthy and thriving. The more you can imagine that you are her today, and think about embodying the mindset, decisions, and way she would speak to herself, the more you will become her.
• Balance
  No one ever did a study showing that balance—proteins, carbs, and fats—did a body good. Honestly, extremes (low fat, high protein, high fat, low carb, etc.) are not necessary for health if you’re eating a balance of all macronutrients and getting your fuel through real foods. Enough with extremes.
• Digest Well
  The gut is the gateway to health! If your gut is unhealthy, leaky or overgrown with bacteria, then chances are you will feel it—from bloating and constipation, to autoimmune conditions, unwanted weight gain or body fat storage, genetic diseases, thyroid conditions, plateaus in your fitness, skin breakouts, allergies—seriously, all health stems back to the health of your gut and digestion to nourish your body and metabolic processes for your daily life. Support healthy digestion with your daily probiotic and prebiotic supplements and foods, apple cider vinegar or HCL with meals, and herbal tea for good measure.

Sample Meal Plan

Wakeup

Training: 60-Minute Group Fitness Class

Meal 1:

Meal 2:

Meal 3:

Meal 4:

Before Bed

The post Paleo Nutrition for Athletes: What to Eat After Workouts & Other Hacks appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

What Is the Pegan Diet? While the Pegan (Paleo + Vegan) diet may sound like an oxymoron, it’s not. Instead, it is an “olive branch”—bridging the gap between two seemingly completely different eating mentalities (Paleo and Vegan) that are actually more alike than we think.

Based on the principles of eating “real food,” the Pegan diet is an approach that strips away the moralistic identities, stereotypes and food rules many people within the Paleo and Vegan food worlds create, instead encouraging us all to simply be…human.

Do as humans do and eat as humans were designed to eat, including:

• Tons of Fresh Vegetables (the main stars of your plate)
• Anti-Inflammatory Fats & Oils
• Raw Nuts & Seeds
• Some Fresh Fruits & Starchy Roots and Tubers
• Sustainably Raised Proteins

The Pegan diet recognizes that, although we live in modern-day Halo Top ice cream and Chic-Fil-A drive-thru times, the human body’s essential dietary needs have really not changed since the beginning of time. Just like plants have always needed water, sunlight, and rich soil to survive, and just like a Ferrari needs premium gasoline in the tank to go, the human body needs four main macronutrients for “thrival” (thriving + survival):

1. Carbohydrate
2. Proteins
3. Fats
4. Water

Preferably, all jam-packed with the best vitamins and minerals of course.

Pegan Diet Foods

What are the best sources of each of these macronutrients or food groups, the primary, least processed, sustainable versions?

Carbohydrates (Portion: ½ to ⅔ of your plate) – Dark leafy greens, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, squashes, asparagus, green beans, sweet potatoes, parsnips, carrots, beets, plantains, fresh fruits,(organic as much as possible, especially the “dirty dozen”). If grains and beans are desired, soaked and sprouted beans and Jasmine white rice.

Proteins (Portion: ¼ to ⅓ of your plate) – Organic, pastured, grass-fed and wild caught chicken, fish, beef, eggs, broths and organ meats.

Fats (¼ to ⅓ of your plate) – Coconut oil, ghee, avocado, coconut butter, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, raw grass-fed full fat dairy products (if dairy is tolerated, like yogurt, kefir, and grass-fed butter), raw (soaked) nuts and seeds.

Seriously, Even Animal Protein?! – Yes, even animal protein—complete sources of protein make up condiment-sized portions (about ¼ to ⅓ of the average Pegan plate for at least 1-2 meals per day, if not 3).

Obviously, the elephant in the room when it comes to Paleo and Vegan debacles is protein. Paleo people say, “Bring on the steak, bacon and eggs!” right? Whereas Vegan people say, “Meat causes cancer, makes me feel heavy and hurts the animals!” C’mon, can the two really see eye-to-eye?!

The Pegan diet preaches neither of these things. Instead, it says, stop arguing so much about who is right and who is wrong, and look to human body health and science.

The Pegan diet acknowledges that both Paleo and Vegan have benefits. Like a character strengths assessment for discovering your personal best strengths, it encourages humans to maximize the pros or top strengths of both Vegan and Paleo in order to feel, look, move and live your best life.

Vegan Diet Pros

Colorful – The primary foundation of the Vegan dietary philosophy is based on veggies. Before there were Tofurkey, 5-fruit smoothie bowls and Vegan donuts, there was dark leafy greens, sweet potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, eggplant, carrots, beets, parsnips, herbs, leeks, Brussels sprouts, squashes and beyond. Taste the rainbow.

Nutrient Dense Whole Foods – The traditional Vegan diet also acknowledges the importance of cutting out the Standard American Diet and building your diet on real, nutrient-dense (real) foods. Not just avocado toast, canned beans, Amy’s frozen dinners, Vegan tamales, and granola, but real, whole foods including veggies, PLUS healthy fats (olive and avocado oils, olives, coconut) and moderate amounts of soaked and sprouted nuts, seeds and beans.

Sustainability – Eat from the earth, love the animals and reconnect to the land. Tis the Vegan “way of life.” A traditional Vegan diet is keen to the GMO, hormone, antibiotic and pesticide laden farming practices of the modern day, and aims to support farmers and get back to “being human”—eating and connecting to the earth as it should be.

Simple – The Vegan diet is not rocket science. Eat real foods, mostly plants, is the motto. What’s so bad about that?

Paleo Diet Pros

Balanced – The Paleo diet is founded on balanced nutrition—eating proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in just right amount that your body needs to thrive.

Nutrient Dense Whole Foods – Like Vegan, Paleo is ALL about real, nutrient-dense whole foods. Before there was Paleo pizza, pancakes, cookies, crackers, french fries and chips, there was real, whole foods.

Sustainability – “Support your local farmers and sustainable agriculture!” Paleo advocates cry. – Reach for pastured, grass-fed, organic animal meats and even grass-fed raw dairy; organic, GMO-free produce; non-hydrogenated, non-industrial fats and oils.

Simple – You can’t get much simpler than just eating real food. Meat and fish, nuts and seeds, veggies, some starch, a little fruit, no sugar, lots of water. Spice it up with herbs and spices of choice and bada bing, bada boom, dinner is served.

Not Restrictive – Aside from cutting out the usual culprits, i.e. the standard american diet, Paleo eating is all about finding the best approach for your body—for some, that’s higher carb, others higher fat, and still others, somewhere in between.

Paleo also has a substitute for practically every old staple favorite, with anti-inflammatory ingredients if you cook and eat mindfully. While some folks run into the obstacle of building their new Paleo diet (or Vegan diet for that matter) on nothing but fun foods, you can integrate Paleo pizza, pancakes and chicken tenders into your plate with an emphasis still on veggies, healthy fats and sustainable proteins. Even moderate amounts of properly prepared rice and beans (soaked and sprouted) can be included.

Vegan Diet Cons

Low Veggie Intake – Despite the word “veg” in its name, many people’s Vegan and Vegetarian based diets still neglect vegetables, opting for fruit, grains, beans, soy, and nuts and seeds as the base of meals. Translation: no color, antioxidant, vitamin and mineral rich foods (only 1 in 10 Americans eats the recommended number of veggies—CDC, 2017).

Soy Consumption – Soy is considered an essential protein source for Vegetarian and Vegan diets, however, most forms sold in stores are highly processed (read: man-made) versions of the real, fermented type.

Soy contains phytoestrogens (plant components) that are structurally similar to the estrogen that we produce in our bodies. Phytoestrogenic plants can affect our own hormones by altering the levels of estrogen in our bodies relative to other sex hormones, disrupting the body’s hormonal balance and often resulting in a decrease in estrogen production and an increase in androgens—hello PMS, acne, mood imbalances breast cancer and inflammation.

Soy also inhibits the absorption of other nutrients, thanks to the phytates and lectins on its shell. While it may be tempting to argue that cultures all over the world have been consuming soy for centuries with no side effects, soy in America agriculture today is the most frequently genetically-modified crop and it usually comes housed with a host of endocrine-disrupting pesticides.

Processed Foods – The standard American diet still carries over into Vegan fare, including seed oils, sugar, refined flour, corn, additives, and grains. These foods comprise over 50% of the total calories consumed each day by people in the industrialized world. Think: packaged and processed Tofurkey, Seitan, frozen dinners, Wheat Thins, Kashi Krunch, pretzels, energy bars, oatmeal, ice cream bars, ramen noodles, and more.

Not only are they almost completely devoid of the nutrients our bodies (and our gut bacteria) need to function at their peak, but when consumed in excess they promote weight gain, inflammation, gut dysfunction, and contribute to nearly every modern disease you can think of.

Check the ingredients: if you don’t know what sodium dioxide is, or any other chemical, neither does your body.

Identity – For some, being Vegan becomes an identity. Like being a “punk,” a “plastic,” a jock, a mathlete, or anything else in high school. Being Vegan is more than just what you eat, for some, it’s who you are.

Sweets & Treats – Vegan pancakes, Vegan cupcakes, Vegan cookies, Vegan ice cream, Vegan chocolate, Vegan _____ (fill-in-the-blank). As long as it’s Vegan, it’s all good. Think again.

B-Vitamin & Zinc Deficiencies – After about 3-5 years of feeling good on a Vegan or Vegetarian diet, many people hit a wall—fatigue, bloating, dry skin, brain fog, skin breakouts, allergies, headaches, a slow metabolism.

And many times, a blood panel and other lab tests reveal these symptoms are related to deficiencies, specifically Vitamin B12 and Zinc—two essentials missing in most Vegan and Vegetarian diets since animal protein and organ meats are the richest sources of both. In fact more than 50% of all Vegan and Vegetarians are deficient in one or both of these.

B12 is also known as the energy vitamin and plays an important role in all things metabolism. Zinc is responsible for keeping your gut lining strong and digestion in tip-top shape, as well as regulating your metabolism.

Without these two foundational substances, “holes” or “leaks” in the foundation of health, energy, immunity, skin health, metabolism and digestion happen. While you can find these two vitamins and minerals in some plant sources (like beans and spinach), they are not nearly as absorbable as animal proteins due to anti-nutrient components that bind to the vitamins and minerals themselves, making them harder to digest.

Blood Sugar Imbalances – A steady diet of acai fruit bowls, fruit juices and smoothies, grain-based diets, bars, shakes, fruit and low fat intake sends the body on a blood sugar roller coaster since its primary source of fuel is carbohydrates.

No food is innately bad, but when we lean too far right or left, away from balance, an imbalance can occur. Blood sugar imbalance symptoms range from feeling angry when hungry, low energy, cravings for sugar or caffeine, dependence on coffee to function, insatiable appetite, wired and tired at night, episodes of bingeing, shakiness or headaches before meals. Fat and protein are essentials to keep symptoms at bay.

Constipation & Bloating – Gas, bloating and constipation—“What gives?! I am eating healthy!” You cry.

Answer: often times, leaky gut. Grains, beans, and nuts all contain substances called anti-nutrients—specifically lectin and phytates. These components help plants and grains survive weather and predators in the wild, but when consumed in copious amounts, they wreak havoc on our gut lining.

Imagine if you were to swallow a pinball from a pinball machine—what would happen? It would ping around in your gut. The same thing happens with higher consumptions of foods that are unabsorbable. In addition, since Vegan and Vegetarian diets are often lacking in B-Vitamins, Zinc and amino acids (found in proteins), intestinal permeability (leaky gut), IBS symptoms and low stomach acid production are common. Stomach acid, in particular, is essential to promoting healthy digestion.

Poor Detoxification, Fatty Liver & Gallbladder Dysfunction – Low-fat diets can trigger gallbladder and liver dysfunction—inhibiting digestion and detoxification pathways. Your gallbladder is an organ that stores bile made from the liver (bile is a fluid that helps you digest fat).

When you eat healthy fats with a meal, your gallbladder releases stored bile to break down the fat so that your other fat-digesting enzymes can do their job. If you eat plenty of healthy fats, like coconut oil, fatty fish, avocados, ghee and olive oil, your gallbladder empties out pretty often. But what if your diet is mainly wheat, rice, beans, nuts, and corn, and contains almost no other sources of fat?

Unfortunately, the bile sits around in the gallbladder growing more and more concentrated. Eventually, cholesterol and other substances start to collect and may form painful gallstones, as well as put you at risk for toxic burden, low energy, and digestive difficulties.

Paleo Diet Cons

Low Veggie Intake – Similar to a Vegan diet, Paleo peeps aren’t much better. Bring on the eggs and bacon, maybe an iceberg or romaine lettuce wrap with turkey, and some broccoli or Brussels sprouts with dinner—still on the low side of veggies.

Conventional Meats – Tyson farm-raised chicken and organic, pastured chicken are two totally different birds. Conventional meats are the types of proteins associated with inflammation and disease in some studies. We eat what our animals eat and if our animals ate rat feces and diets equivalent to the standard American diet, we also eat Kibbles & Bits.

Additionally, many conventional meat production methods use antibiotics and hormones to promote animal growth and speed up the production time. Antibiotics are associated with alterations in gut microbiota destruction, leading to inflammation and increased risk for disease.

Ironically, most people never think that the same agents that fatten up meat animals (antibiotics, grains) will likely also cause weight gain in humans. Synthetic hormones are also associated with inflammation including colon and breast cancer, as well as insulin resistance (blood sugar imbalances).

While the U.S. government may claim both methods of animal production are “safe,” many other countries have banned such practices in meat production hinting at potentially one more reason the U.S. is the least healthy of all developed nations.

Even if your protein source says “natural” or “hormone free,” don’t believe everything you hear. The word natural is an unregulated term that means nothing more than, at one time, the meat, or other food sources (like Tropicana Orange Juice, or wheat bread) was natural.

Processed Foods – Packaged and processed foods exist in Paleo fare too. Paleo bars, shakes, jerky, crackers, and chips often take the place of real, whole foods because, after all, the label says Paleo.

The result? Not only can basing our diets on processed foods lead to nutrient deficiencies and low energy, but also sets the stage for digestive difficulties. Dry foods—like nuts, crackers, chips, bars, and jerky—without enough hydrating foods—like veggies, fresh fruits and water—can “dry out” the digestive system, leaving out hydrating fiber to push food through your gut.

Identity – Paleo is not your name, but like any diet, it can also become an identity (with morals attached). Want to try a chocolate chip cookie your grandma made, or eat some rice with your sushi? Only if you want to also feel guilt! Paleo identity sometimes takes on a life of its own, and regardless of how you feel when you eat certain foods, if the label says Paleo, you’re on board.

Sweets & Treats – Paleo pancakes, Paleo cupcakes, Paleo cookies, Paleo ice cream, Paleo chocolate, Paleo _____ (fill-in-the-blank). As long as it’s Paleo, it’s all good. Think again.

Nut Gut – Nuts and seeds are staples for most Paleo (and Vegan) diets. Bring on the almond butter, sun butter, almonds, pistachios, cashew butter, trail mix, almond flour bread, almond flour pizza crust, almond flour crackers, and everything in between.

However, eat too many nuts, and constipation is a common side effect. “I don’t get why I am bloated, gassy or constipated all the time,” #saidManyNutAddicts. Hello nut gut!

Nuts, like grains and beans, contain difficult to digest lectins and phytates on their outer shells (to protect them from predators and weather in the wild). When we ingest them frequently—and in larger quantities (such as more than a tablespoon or two of nut butter, or a closed handful of nuts for most folks)—it can lead to problems.

Accidental Dieting – Are you eating enough? When a person goes Paleo, many old staples of their standard American diet get the boot…as do many of the calories and energy dense foods they were eating.

It can be easy to fall into the trap of under-eating when you cut out bread, cereals, pasta, cheese, and other foods that may not have been providing you with nutrients, but more energy. Failing to replace these foods with nutrient and energy-rich food sources, like enough starchy tubers and root veggies, enough healthy fats and moderate portions of sustainable proteins can be easy to do.

The result? Low energy, feeling hungry all the time or complete loss of appetite, amenorrhea, unwanted weight gain or a slowed metabolism, and feeling like “Paleo is not working!”

Coffee Gone Water – Coffee is like water for some in the Paleo community—especially Bulletproof coffee, or “butter coffee.” Who needs to spend time cooking breakfast when you can start the day with a cup of Joe with a big dollop of butter and MCT oil to get going?

The problem? Missing out at least ⅓ of nutrients for the day (where are the greens?!). Not to mention, many folks run into caffeine dependence—training your blood sugar, insulin, energy and cortisol hormone levels to run off (and need) coffee to function or “feel normal.”

What happens when you don’t have it? Not feeling like “yourself”—no energy, headaches, sleepiness or fatigue, dragging at the gym or work, brain fog and beyond. Drinking coffee is not a bad thing, but dependence on coffee is.

Tummy Troubles – Just because a food is healthy doesn’t mean it’s healthy for your body—right now. While recovering from a former lifetime of eating the standard American diet, many people discover they are also in recovery—in their gut health.

Bloating, constipation and gas are still their norm—even though they are eating healthy! “What gives?!” they cry. Although the Paleo diet is a real food diet, if you have certain underlying gut problems—like bacterial overgrowth, SIBO, bacterial imbalance (Dysbiosis), leaky gut, food intolerances, parasitic, fungal and/or yeast infections—then the standard Paleo diet alone will probably not be the ultimate cure all, for helping reverse these conditions.

Often times people with gut issues discover they cannot tolerate certain inflammatory or pathogenic bacteria enticing foods like FODMAPS , nightshades (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, chili powder, etc.), histamine foods (vinegar, fermented foods, cured meats, cheese, citrus, avocado, nuts, smoked fish) or other pro-inflammatory foods (egg whites, nuts, shellfish, dairy). No, you won’t be sensitive to all these, but Paleo diets don’t always take gut issues into account.

The Diet Bottom Line

When it comes to diets and nutrition, there is no one size fits all approach to which rules or guidelines you follow, but if you ask your body what it needs and wants to thrive upon, chances are (if it could speak), it would cry balance!

The Pegan diet philosophy is just that. Pegan aims to negate the cons of both Paleo and Vegan extremes while leveraging the pros that each dietary philosophy brings to the table. The result should be a win-win.

Above all, the Pegan diet is really no diet at all, at least the way we define diet in modern culture as being about weight loss, fat loss, and restrictive focus. Instead, the Pegan diet upholds the true meaning of the Latin word dieta which means: a way of life. Pegan stands for the way of life humans used to eat—before any labels, Paleo and Vegan cupcakes, Instagram and diet books existed at all.

The two primary questions to ask yourself when considering whether Vegan, Paleo, Pegan or my favorite of all, Just Eating Real Food, is right for you?

1. How does my body feel?
2. What signs and symptoms of imbalance and nutrient deficiency—if any—am I experiencing in my own skin? Such as hormone imbalances, fatigue, bloating, constipation, brittle nails or hair, etc.

The answers to both of these questions can then help you decide the essential nutrients that may be missing in your former die-hard Paleo or Vegan ways—letting go of the identity or rules you may have wrapped up in either, and instead consider the simplicity of just eating a balance of real food.

Pegan Meal Plan

What could a day in the life of eating Pegan look like for you? Let’s try 7!

Remember these 4 things:

• Build your plate around your veggie superstars
• Add in 1-2 servings of healthy fats
• Add at least a condiment-sized portion of protein with MOST meals
• Avoid inflammatory foods as much as possible (most grains, foods that make you feel bloated, gassy or constipated, processed and packaged foods)

I have a number of recipes and suggestions on my site, Dr. Lauryn, including a pumpkin muffin, and simple Paleo swaps for the standard American diet so, make sure you check them out if you need more ideas.

The post A Comprehensive Pegan Diet Guide and 7-Day Meal Plan appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

In our efforts to lose body fat, we Google solutions until the wee hours, swear off carbs, and run at level 10 on the treadmill, hoping that our hard work and diligence will pay off. But despite the rules, our workouts, super clean eating, and the supposedly secret sauce sold by clever health marketers, it’s not working.

The answer isn’t in some new diet dogma or product line. Losing body fat can and should be a natural process that involves a lot more than eliminating carbs, fasting, or counting macros. Here are a handful of truths about losing body fat naturally that could make the difference between success and failure for you.

Eat More Fat

The myth that eating fat makes you fat is, thankfully and finally, dying off. While it’s true that fat is the most energy-dense substance we consume (at nine calories per gram), it is also necessary for a huge range of biological processes, from hormone production to cell membrane function.

Diets that exclude or severely limit fat tend to replace all those calories with carbohydrates, which sets you up to ride the blood sugar roller coaster. Your body is constantly chasing balance between blood sugar and insulin levels, which can in turn impact your cortisol (stress hormone) production. Cortisol signals your body to store body fat, rather than burn it, and can also lead to increased intake of high-carbohydrate foods.

Dietary fat can help keep energy levels more even, and hunger at bay. Reach for healthy fats with each meal, and in place of carbohydrate-based snacks, reach for a snack with healthy fat or protein as the base. Look for things like raw nuts and seeds, olive oil, coconut oil, coconut butter, avocado, olives, ghee, grass-fed butter, full-fat fermented yogurt, fatty cuts of organic meats, pastured eggs, or avocado oil.

Don’t Fear Carbs

Just because I’m telling you to eat more fat doesn’t mean that carbs are the enemy, either. When we go too low on carbs, particularly from veggies, we risk also eliminating fiber, which is essential to digestion, your gut biome, and metabolic balance. Extreme diets at either end of the fat vs. carbs spectrum can negatively impact your metabolism.

Researchers and dieters everywhere are asking, which is better, low fat or low carb? But there isn’t a single correct answer. Some people do better with more carbs, and some do better with more fat. Every body is different. For example, some women who have issues with their blood sugar or insulin resistance have found ketogenic diets beneficial as a short-term dietary approach. However, women who have their blood sugar under control, but have some adrenal fatigue or hormone imbalances, have found a ketogenic diet more harmful in the long run.

Conspicuously, there has yet to be a study that shows that an overall balanced diet does any harm at all. Therefore, instead of chasing the new extreme trend for body fat loss, aim for the simplest, realest foods, and strive for as much balance as possible. Look for carbohydrate sources the human body thrives upon:

• Leafy greens (cooked and raw). 1-3 servings per day.
• Pre-biotic carbs like green-tipped bananas or plantains, cooked and cooled potatoes, winter squash and sweet potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, onions, garlic, or asparagus. 1-2 servings per day.
• Fiber-rich veggies like broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, asparagus, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, celery, cucumbers, etc.
• Starchy tubers like potatoes, sweet potatoes, squashes, carrots, beets, yucca, jicama. Limit to 1-2 minimal or moderate servings per day.

Some people also find that less fruit consumption helps for the short-term, and that grains are not an ideal source of carbohydrates for a variety of reasons that are beyond the scope of this article.

By aiming to include more healthy fats in our diet, alongside moderate protein and moderate carbohydrates from real foods, we turn on our metabolism, and help keep our blood sugar stable.

Your Body Runs on Colors, Not Numbers

Our bodies don’t see food in terms of macros or calories. They see nutrients, and need lots of nutrient-dense foods to thrive. The problem many people run into with macro- or calorie-based plans is that they fixate on numbers, scales and measurements, without acknowledging the nutrient density in foods, and how your metabolism responds to that.

For instance, a half cup of gummy bears may supply your body with a punch of “quick digesting carbs” after a workout, but the nutrient composition and health benefit it provides is completely different than a half cup of berries or a small sweet potato. Your body responds to the real food with increased satiety and a better metabolic result.

Diet staples like chicken, olive oil, and rice do give your body some protein, fat, and carbs, but what about their nutrient density and variety? Put another way, how many colors are in that meal? Generally speaking, less color means fewer nutrients, and less satisfaction from eating them. You might have hit your macro goals, but your body is still craving the rest of the many nutrients it needs to function at its best.

When we consume lots of colorful veggies, body-boosting healthy fats, and essential proteins, our metabolism comes alive, extracting various vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to keep your body revving. My top picks include:

• Dark leafy greens
• Colorful veggies (aim for 2-3 different veggie colors at each meal)
• Berries
• Citrus (lemon, orange, lime, grapefruit)
• Organic herbs (parsley, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, sage)
• Organ meats
• Fermented foods like sauerkraut
• Pastured eggs and poultry, grass-fed beef, wild-caught fatty fish
• Coconut oil, cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil, ghee, and grass-fed butter
• Avocado
• Raw brazil nuts, walnuts, and macadamia nuts

While you’re at it, make sure you are eating enough. Under-eating is just as detrimental as overeating.

Stress Less

Stress is the #1 driver of all disease, including stubborn body fat. Stress is inevitable in our society, but it is often overlooked in areas beyond mental health. Even if you don’t think you’re stressed out, minor daily stressors can threaten metabolic balance.

Biologically, your cortisol level needs to be in a state of balance in order to shed body fat. If your body constantly feels threatened, cortisol levels become chronically high. The last thing your body wants to do when it thinks it’s fighting for survival is comply with your fat loss protocol.

Some simple (but effective) game changers for balancing cortisol include:

• Shut off screens in the evening hours, or power down to “night mode” if your device supports it, or use an app like f.lux.
• Get outside for at least 30-60 minutes each day.
• Move your body with a “Goldilocks” approach. Too much exercise will keep cortisol levels high just as surely as too little. Destress naturally with regular exercise, without over-exerting or pushing your body beyond limit.
• Get off the treadmill. Build a foundation of lean muscle with strength training, and less focus on all cardio, all the time. For balance, 1-3 times per week, sprinkle in a little bit of HIIT, like sprints or CrossFit-style workouts, and endurance training like cycling, swimming or running.
• Support all of this with a daily movement lifestyle (walking, playing with your kids, standing at work, etc.), and plenty of simple movement.
• Say “no” to things draining your schedule, energy, or time.
• Get your beauty sleep. When it comes to fat loss, insufficient sleep works against your body. One study showed that those who slept 8.5 hours per night lost 50% more body fat than a group that got only 5.5 hours.

You can’t improve your body when your mind is freaked out. Stress reduction has been shown to help alleviate an otherwise broken metabolism. Incorporating a practice of deep breathing, meditation or prayer, meditative movement (stretching, yoga, dance), and reading or listening to positive truth (podcasts, books, speakers, etc.) are all tactics for mindfully reducing stress.

Pay Attention to Your Meals

Speaking of mindfulness, research tells us that practicing it during meals can help reduce cortisol and abdominal fat. Incorporate these techniques into your own meal times:

• Chew your food (fully)
• De-screen: turn off the TV, phone, computer and even books
• Assess your level of hunger and fullness. You don’t have to always finish your plate, and sometimes, you may need seconds.
• Be aware of how food makes you feel. Are you bloated, constipated, breaking out, anxious, have an allergic reaction? Something may be in your food that is not sitting well with you.
• Don’t eat the same things every day. Incorporate a variety of nutrients from real foods.

Heal Your Gut

Beyond diet and stress, one essential factor most people don’t consider when it comes to body fat loss is what’s going on in their gut. Underlying gut issues like fungal or bacterial overgrowth, imbalanced gut bacteria, chronic bloating or constipation, or low stomach acid, can lead to nutrient deficiency and malabsorption issues.

The result? Your body is going to fight against you, no matter how clean you eat or how much you work out. One study on the effectiveness of a gut-healing protocol in people on a fat loss program found those who focused on healing their gut lost an average of about 11 pounds of body fat, with only three of those pounds related to diet alone. Other research has shown that individuals with a healthier gut (less bacterial overgrowth) and better digestion respond better to intermittent fasting, versus those who have an unhealthy gut microbiome.

In short, you are only as healthy as the trillions of bacteria in your gut. You can think of your gut as the gateway to all other systems in your body. If it is unable to absorb and digest your nutrients appropriately, or it is rotting and fermenting bacteria inside, then your other body systems won’t get what they need. When that happens, health declines. Your hormones get out of whack, you experience increased anxiety, feel the need to binge, and gain body fat.

Because of a tragically poor diet, gut issues impact the vast majority of all Americans, even if they don’t have obvious gut symptoms. Beyond the typical bloating, constipation, or loose stools, less obvious signs may be slowed metabolism, unexplained weight loss or gain, allergies, low immunity, anxiety, skin breakouts, or general fatigue.

When you get rid of unwanted bacteria or undigested food hiding out in your gut, inflammation lessens, your metabolism, cortisol levels, and thyroid are supported, and your body is free to stop holding onto unwanted body fat.

The best way to find out if you have a gut issue? Test, don’t guess. Consult with a practitioner skilled in digging deeper into gut health for a personalized approach. Testing may include SIBO, stool, hormone level, and food intolerance screenings. In my own practice, I find that most of my clients who struggle to lose body fat often have a gut or metabolic imbalance sabotaging their efforts.

Supplement Smart

The diet industry is saturated with formulas and magical pills to shed the body fat. However, most of these are just clever marketing. What’s worse, many of these may also jack with your cortisol levels, making your stress and body fat worse in the long run, not better.

Supplements are a secondary consideration to all of the approaches listed above. If you choose to supplement, the key areas I recommend for body fat loss are simple: a quality probiotic, and fermented foods. For example, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in 2-4 ounces of water around meal times, and some digestive enzymes for helping break down food.

That’s it for “essentials.”

Not all supplements are created equal. In fact, the vast majority of probiotics on shelves do not contain the probiotics they claim, or the quality of probiotics needed to compose a healthy gut microbiome.

A few of my favorite digestive supplements include:

• Megaspore Probiotic
• Floramyces by Designs for Health
• Primal Flora Probiotic
• Garden of Life Primal Defense Ultra (if you don’t have SIBO)

Gut health can also be supported by 1-2 condiment-sized servings of fermented foods daily:

• Sauerkraut
• Low-sugar kombucha
• Kefir
• Grass-fed plain yogurt
• Beet kvass
• Fermented pickled veggies

Fix Your Mindset

These essential strategies could be the game changers you’ve been looking for to get your fat loss efforts on track. But the biggest of all comes from a gut-check of a different kind: not making your goal solely about fat loss.

Fat loss is only the means to get something else you really want. You want that feeling of fat loss—feeling good in your own skin, feeling good when you fit into your favorite jeans, feeling confident in your work, social interactions, or relationships. Identify that feeling that you think your fat loss will bring you, and begin feeding into goals and pursuits outside fat measurements or the scale itself in order to attain what it is you truly want.

The biggest game changer in getting the body you want will come when you stop focusing so much on the scale or size, and instead make goals and set intentions around other more important things in your life. It’s not bad to want to improve your body composition, but when our sole drive and focus is aimed at body fat loss alone, that dangling carrot will never be fully attained. There will always be someone better, fitter, prettier, or leaner than us.

Instead, set primary goals for personal development, peace with yourself and food, healing your gut or hormones, stressing less, improving relationships, and chasing dreams. When you do, the body fat loss will follow, I promise.

The post The Reasons You Aren’t Losing Body Fat appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• A triathlete or a bodybuilder prepping for a show may train over three hours per day in order to get all their training in, and that’s considered normal. The mere thought of that training volume is enough to make you tired.
• An elite CrossFit athlete may spend six to eight hours per day in their gym, and for them it is just another day at work. You, by contrast, are thankful that you can even find one to two hours a few days per week to lift some weights and get your metcon in.
• One girl may hit up Orange Theory Fitness (OTF) workouts five to six days per week. She has the body that you want and crushes her workouts in the “Orange Zone” every time, without breaking a sweat. You try to hit up your OTF workout as often as you can, yet your metabolism won’t budge.

What gives?

The Real Definition of Overtraining

There really is no such thing as overtraining. Instead, there are five factors that separate those who thrive from those who struggle with the extra work asked of their body:

1. Under-recovering
2. Work Capacity
3. Mindset
4. Underlying imbalances
5. Stress

1. Under-Recovering

My first ever personal trainer used to tell me all the time, “There’s no such thing as overtraining. Instead, there is such a thing as under-recovering.” In other words, if you are not supporting your body’s needs outside the gym, or you are not training within your personal threshold for activity, then the effects of overtraining begin to happen:

• Slowed metabolism
• Suppressed appetite
• Lowered mood
• Anxiety
• Stress
• Hormonal imbalances
• Missing periods
• Sleep disturbances
• Fatigue

You are a smart cookie, and probably have heard about what you should be doing for recovery efforts. Things like:

• Eating enough real food
• Digesting your food properly (gut health)
• Not relying on caffeine or sugar to function
• Sleeping 7-9 hours per night
• Drinking an adequate amount of water
• Mobility and stretching
• Varying the intensity of your training
• Recovery hacks (ice baths, infrared saunas, massage, chiropractic care, etc.)

If you’re having a hard time hitting your training as hard as you like, chances are you are missing critical components of your recovery. One of the most common missing links I see in my own practice is the concept of eating enough. Quite frankly, if you are a moderately active female and eating less than 1800-2200 calories per day, you are not eating enough.

Eating enough also includes the types of foods you are eating. Are you eating only chicken and broccoli out of fear of what carbs or fats will do to you? Are you avoiding fruit because sugar makes you fat? Are you avoiding “too much” fat? Are you simply not planning your meals or eating erratically?

2. Your Work Capacity

In addition to your recovery efforts, everyone’s body has threshold where they thrive in training. If you go over that threshold too often or too quickly, then you end up digging a hole, instead of getting fitter. I am talking about your body’s work capacity.

This theory of capacity stems from John Welbourn, founder of Power Athlete, who cited a Russian science experiment that observed the differences in the work capacity of larger monkeys versus smaller monkeys. This information can help us answer the big question in fitness: Why do some of the fittest people in the world thrive off of one hour in the gym per day, while others spend six to eight hours; training like it is their job?

In the experiment, scientists observed that the larger monkeys were naturally active. They spent most of their waking hours moving around, eating, and playing. The smaller monkeys were naturally less active. The researchers then forced both types of monkeys to swap lifestyles, just to see what would happen.

The big monkeys (the active ones) were put into cages and allowed only a small amount of time each day to eat and move around. The little monkeys (the less active ones) were given various activities and obstacles to get food each day to increase activity levels. The results? Both types of monkeys experienced a significant decline in health, temperament, and performance.

Like the monkeys, some athletes thrive upon more activity or more volume, and others actually need less. A lower volume of quality training is key for them. Neither is better than the other. In fact, you see results with each, as long as you are training according to your body type.

3. The Mindset

Another huge piece of the training question is to ask yourself: “Where is my mindset?” This question is one only you can truly answer. Consider these examples:

• Do you have a smart athlete mindset? Do you know how to train hard, but also when to back off, listen to your coach, take care of your body, and take rest days in order to get stronger?
• Do you have a joyful mindset? Is training truly an enriching experience? Do you walk away from a session happier, more at peace, and more connected to your body?
• Do you hate on your body throughout the session by talking down to it?
• Do you find yourself thinking about your next meal, what calories you are burning, or your next workout during your sessions?
• Do you find yourself looking forward to when the session is over? Is exercise is more of a chore than a joy?
• Do you feel like working out is part of your daily checklist, even multiple times per day?
• Do you pride yourself in never taking a rest day? Or do you make sure you train in order to justify eating that day?
• Do you feel like a kid again, totally doing things you love, with no cares in the world?

4. Underlying Imbalances

The current state of your health also plays a role in your ability to handle more or less training. Predisposing factors or underlying body imbalances may hold you back from fully recovering.

Digestive distress is a common woe I see in average Joes and athletes alike. When your gut health is off (leaky gut, bacterial overgrowth, IBS, low stomach acid), then the rest of your health and recovery efforts are thrown off. In fact, overtraining actually makes things worse because it naturally suppresses stomach acid, making you more susceptible to constipation, bloating, wonky blood sugar, suppressed or ravenous appetite, and irregular bowels.

Other factors to consider that may set off the symptoms and side effects of overtraining include poor thyroid function, hormonal and metabolic imbalances (low or high estrogen, testosterone, progesterone or cortisol), autoimmune conditions, and underlying stress. If you have any of these underlying imbalances, then training more is not going to do a body good.

5. Stress

If your body is over-stressed, you will reap the consequences. Your ability to keep up with training will suffer, and with it, your results. Like our “big monkey” and “little monkey” example, everybody has a unique threshold of just how much stress one can handle. What stress looks like for each person is unique. Once you pass that threshold, you’re left spinning your wheels, despite doing everything right.

Say Cathy has 20 “stress dollars” in her account. She spent 10 of them on her eating disorder that she struggled with for 5 years; 10 dollars was zapped from her account because of the toll that undereating took on her body. Even though she is in a better place today, her body is still recovering and is 10 stress dollars down. Couple this with the 5 (sometimes 6) stress dollars she uses juggling a busy work schedule, and 3 stress dollars she uses on her constant need to please others. Then she wants to spend 5-6 stress dollars on 5-6 days per week of HIIT style workouts, plus at least 1-2 stress dollars on normal, everyday stress. She’s way over her limit.

On the other hand, take Sarah. She also has 20 stress dollars to spend, and she tries to use them wisely. She loves training, so she spends about 5-6 of her stress dollars towards her workouts, another 5 at her job, and another 5 towards her side business. Then 1 or 2 on the normal daily life stresses. She is just under that 20 stress dollar limit.

Sarah is able to handle the extra stress of training 5 to 6 days per week, despite her busy life outside as well, because she is under her stress limit. Couple this with some extra de-stressing efforts she takes to add bonus dollars to her stress account. She is eating enough, takes a complete day off from the gym regularly, uses proper nutrient and supplement support, and employs a gut health protocol. As a result, she’s actually earned 4 more dollars to add to her account.

Stress will constantly change throughout our lives. De-stress to restore your body and get the most out of your training.

7 Steps to Find Your Balance

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to find just the right balance for your training. For some, less is more. Some can handle more. Below are some steps to take to discover that balance for yourself.

1. Halt

Whatever it is you’re doing currently, put a halt on it, even if just for a short experiment. If something is not working or is broken, then it’s time to fix it. You have the power to do just that. Take a break for 7-30 days. As hard as it may be, in order to start fresh, you need a clean slate. What to do during the next 7-30 days? The opposite of whatever stress you’re putting on your body. Halting does not necessarily mean you have to stop moving at all. In fact, I’d advise against that. What it does mean is halting the stress and instead, getting back in touch with your innate human wiring—how you were designed to move.

2. Get Back in Touch with Your Ancestors

Like a plant needs water and sunshine to thrive, and the human body requires food and water and sleep to function, we also require movement. Not just any movement, but the innately wired movement that both you and I were created to thrive upon. When we look to our ancestors and how humans were designed to move, here’s what we see: Humans were designed to lift heavy things (moving logs, building houses, carrying stones), occasionally sprint (HIIT) from bears or for food, and thrived upon lots of low-intensity, daily activity like walking, foraging, and homemaking.

Fast forward to today, you and I still have the same wiring in us. We are not designed to sit at computers for long hours, or glue ourselves to treadmills watching Friends reruns. We thrive on variety. We thrive on function. We thrive on being connected to nature as much as possible. Include variety whenever possible.

3. Explore

What moves you? What do you love to do that makes you come alive? Team sports? Lifting? Yoga? Dance? Pilates? Spin? Group classes? A mix of it all? Make a list of your favorite ways to move your body—even if you’re not currently doing it (or not doing it as often as you like). It can be anything. Go try things that your current program hasn’t allowed you to try.

4. Adopt a Smart Athlete Mindset

Your mindset is your surest safeguard against overtraining. When your mind is in a thriving and healthy place, it will fight to help protect you from overtraining past your body’s thriving place.

Consider the athlete who genuinely wants to get better at her sport. If she is not improving, despite all her hard work and training, what does she do? She re-evaluates her training. Then she fixes it. She does what she needs to do to enhance her performance, not take away from it.

5. Set Intention

A way cooler version of goal setting is to set an intention for your fitness. Instead of just spinning your wheels, take a moment to define your top three fitness goals at this season in your life. I am not talking about body composition goals, either. I am talking about strength and performance-based goals. Things like: “I want to add 10 pounds to my back squat,” “I want to do three unassisted pull-ups,” “I want to jump up to a 20-24 inch box,” etc. You decide your top three, then set a deadline and a game plan for making that goal a reality.

6. Reach Out

You don’t have to go it alone. Overcoming a compulsion to overtrain, improving your fitness (on your own), or healing from the side effects of overtraining can feel overwhelming. The good news? Reach out. Connect to a trainer or Thrive for help in customizing a training blueprint that can help you get where you want to be.

7. See Yourself Where You Want to Be

Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, envision where you want to be. Whatever you can imagine is within your capability to achieve. Do you really want to improve in your fitness or health? What does a thriving, healthy you look like? Who is the person you want to be in your relationship with your body? Get a clear picture of her.

Chances are, she is not obsessively thinking about food, fitness, or her body all the time. She is at peace in her own skin, not freaking out if she misses her workout that day. She is glowing and radiating, healthy and fit because she’s taking care of herself, not running herself into the ground. Get a clear picture of the girl you want to be and the relationship you want to have with fitness. Then, embody her. As we think, so we become. Even if you don’t feel like you are her yet, be her today, act like you are her today, and take care of yourself.

The post The Overtraining Myth appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

• You should eat 1200 calories each day if you want to lose weight.
• You should drink a protein shake after your workout.
• You shouldn’t eat more 50 grams of carbs per day.
• You shouldn’t combine fruit with any other food.

And on and on. Try as we may to put hard and fast rules around what you should and shouldn’t eat, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to what’s best for your body, your health, and your goals.

In recent years, there’s been a big push in the health and fitness world to count macros. Move over calorie-counting, there’s a new kid in town. There are “does it fit your macros?” programs popping up everywhere. All of them are intended to help you find the “just right” balance of proteins, carbs, and fats with your physical goals in mind (fat loss, muscle gain, performance, leaning out, boosting metabolism). While they all have great intentions, counting your macros (or calories for that matter), is just one piece of the larger puzzle of reaching your goals and improving your health.

Case Study: Sarah

Sarah was a 28 year-old coach and CrossFit athlete who came to me simply looking to optimize her own performance in the gym and for competition—especially with the upcoming CrossFit Open. She felt “pretty good” for the most part, except for occasional bloating and gas after meals. She also reported “hangry-ness,” with headaches and a little bit of shakiness if she went too long between meals.

Sarah put in long hours at the gym training and coaching clients. Most mornings she woke around 4:30am to teach class by 5am. By 7am she would hit her first training session of the day, and would spend an hour or two doing mobility, lifting weights, and maybe a short metabolic conditioning piece.

After training, Sarah would head home for a quick lunch, maybe take a 20-minute cat nap, and take care of some personal to-dos. Then she would head back to the gym to coach the 3pm and 4pm classes before hitting her evening training session—another hour or two of gymnastics skill work and conditioning. Then it was home for dinner around 8 pm and lights out by 9:30 or 10 pm (on a good day).

Over the past couple years, Sarah had discovered a macros-based approach to eating and meal timing when it was introduced to her by a coach, and she loved how it made fueling her body to support her training schedule fairly easy.

Here’s a what a typical day of eating entailed for Sarah:

Breakfast 1 (4:30 am)

• 2 ounces of leftover meat or 2 eggs
• ½ cup berries
• Coffee

Breakfast 2/Pre-training (8 am)

• 3 ounces of protein
• 1 cup veggies
• ¼ avocado
• Latte with almond milk

Lunch (12 pm)

• 3 oz chicken or ground turkey
• 1 cup of roasted sweet potato
• ½ avocado

Snack (4 pm)

• ½ protein bar
• Pre-workout powder

Post-workout (7: 30 pm)

• Protein recovery shake + carb powder

Dinner (8:30)

• 3 oz steak
• 1 cup veggies
• 1 cup of frozen berries
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil

Bedtime (9:30)

• Progenex Cocoon night time recovery protein

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

On paper, she was following her macros, but as we explored how she was feeling during our initial intake session, she realized she wasn’t necessarily feeling at her “peak.” During our phone session, she reported not-so-healthy signs and symptoms, including dark circles around her eyes, a heavy reliance on coffee to get going most mornings, brittle fingernails, feeling bloated after drinking her whey protein, shakiness and headaches between meals, and a history of occasional gall-bladder attacks.

A lab test we ran revealed extremely high stress on her body (HPA-Axis Dysfunction), with an imbalance of cortisol, estrogen, and progesterone levels throughout the day. While her periods were “normalish” (every 28-36 days), her body’s internal balance was not. This impacted her ability to process and maximize her nutrient consumption. In addition, a SIBO test we ran (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) revealed bacterial overgrowth in her upper GI, affecting her digestion and absorption of all her “good” nutrients.

She said she never really had stomach problems, but I explained that GI symptoms do not necessarily present as bloating, gas, or constipation. In fact, one in two people with diagnosed celiac disease never experienced symptoms like bloating, loose stools, or nausea to indicate that they had a gluten intolerance?

Sarah agreed she was willing to try a new approach to nutrition, despite her success with her current, macro-based approach. She agreed to give it 30 days with a “does it fit your body” approach as follows:

Pre-Breakfast

• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar in a glass of warm water
• 1 cup bone broth with grass-fed butter (1 spoonful), warmed and blended
• Herbal tea with L-Glutamine (while coaching at gym)

Supplements

• Probiotic
• HPA-Balance support supplement
• Glucose Regulation Guard supplement
• Zinc
• B-vitamin complex
• Cod-liver oil (1 teaspoon)
• Equi-Fem (female multi-vitamin)

Breakfast

• 2-3 chicken sausage patties
• ⅓ avocado
• Cold-pressed greens or sautéed spinach
• Handful berries, orange, or other fruit

Supplements

• Digestive enzymes
• SIBO supplement
• HCL tablet
• Gall-bladder support supplement

Lunch (Post-Session 1)

• 1-2 portions (fist sized) of chicken, bison, fish, or turkey
• 2 heaping handfuls greens (sauteéd in 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee)
• Sweet potato or other starchy veggies (about the size of a large fist)
• 1-2 spoonfuls coconut butter or butter, ½ avocado, olive oil/avocado oil

Supplements

• HPA-Balance support supplement
• Glucose Regulation Guard supplement
• Digestive enzymes
• SIBO supplement
• HCL tablet
• Gall-bladder support supplement

Snack

• Handful leftover protein
• Small handful nuts or ¼ avocado

or

• ½ Bulletproof collagen protein bar

Post-workout

• Beef Isolate recovery protein powder in water
• Optional: sweet potato powder (drink during hard training days)

Dinner

• 1-2 fist-sized portions of chicken, bison, fish or turkey
• 2 heaping handfuls greens (sauteéd in 1 tablespoon coconut oil or ghee)
• 1 sweet potato or other starchy vegetable
• 1-2 spoonfuls coconut butter or butter, ½ avocado, olive oil/avocado oil

Supplements

• Digestive enzymes
• SIBO supplement
• HCL tablet
• Gall-bladder support supplement

Pre-bed

• Herbal tea with L-Glutamine powder
• Magneisum supplement (topical oil)

Snack (optional)

• Coconut yogurt or full-fat grass-fed yogurt with cinnamon and vanilla extract

or

• 1 cup bone broth

Lifestyle Prescription

• Take 1-2 minutes to breathe before meals
• Chew your food really well
• Unplug from electronics at night after gym session
• Intentionally schedule a “you day”—outside of gym for play

As you can see, a little different than a “does it fit your macros” approach.

Four weeks later, we conducted a re-test assessment, and found significant improvements in her cortisol levels throughout the day, as well as a decrease in SIBO presence. She also reported significant increases in her energy levels and decreased “hangry-ness” throughout the day. As a bonus, she set a 10-pound PR on her backsquat and added five more pounds to an already impressive deadlift.

The Pros and Cons of Counting Macros

Let’s take a look at some straightforward pros and cons about counting macros.

Pros:

• Macros are a good starting place for someone who is completely in the dark about what to eat or how much to eat, especially if they have been significantly undereating (a common phenomenon, believe it or not).
• Macro-counting can give the nutrition newbie an idea of what a portion size can look like, and help incorporate balance at all meals (proteins, fats, carbs).

Cons:

• Similar to the calorie-counting approaches of the days of old, macro-counting can make you overly obsessed about food. Instead of seeing nourishment and joy, some people are only able to see 20g of protein, 30g of carbs, 10g of fat.
• Macro-counting very rarely takes food quality into consideration. There is a significant difference in the nutrients you get from a piece of chicken raised in a factory farm versus a pastured chicken breast grown on a humanely-raised farm; or a stick of celery every day with lunch, as opposed to dark leafy greens; or gummy bears versus strawberries.

Should You Track Your Macros?

Macro-based approaches are not just marketed to CrossFit athletes or fitness buffs. Whether you’re looking to gain weight, lose weight, tone it up, or “just eat healthy,” macros are definitely one method you’ll come across.

Just like as macros are marketed as simple and easy, the “does it fit your body?” approach is even easier and more simple. No weighing, measuring, or counting necessary. Your plan gives you a clear protocol of what your body needs right now, with the option to tweak and reassess along the way, as goals change and your health improves.

If you want to optimize your personal nutrition (and potentially save yourself some frustrating headaches as to why your macros only gets you so far), a “does it fit your body?” approach may be a better route for you to go.

More on nutrition that will work for you:

Women: Forget These Fat Loss Myths

The post Tracking Macros: Does Your Nutrition Fit Your Body? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While these articles mean well, much of the advice they offer is just stressing your body out and making it work against itself. Today I’m going to take on a few of those myths, explain why they don’t work, and help you figure out what to do instead.

You Must Eat Every 2-3 Hours

Eating frequently throughout the day can work for some people, but so can three regular meals per day. When we eat 5-6 times per day because we “have to,” we become disconnected from what our body actually needs, and more focused on protocols and rules.

In addition, eating lots of small meals can put us on an insulin roller coaster. It spikes as we eat, then crashes 2-3 hours later as our body expects its next meal. Keeping our insulin production in this pattern causes us to crave more glucose (fast energy) as our primary fuel, and feel unsatisfied if we don’t get it. Hangriness, brain fog, and sugar cravings are often the side effect of high meal frequency. Eating every 2-3 hours is a very good way to teach your body to run off of sugar, instead of fat.

Eating small meals every 2-3 hours also leaves little room for full digestion to occur (a process that takes 6-8 hours). Eating larger meals spaced throughout the day puts less stress on the digestive system and allow sfor full breakdown and uptake of nutrients.

Do This Instead: No restricting necessary. Find what works for you, whether that’s 2-3 larger meals per day, or 5-6 mini meals. Experiment, and make sure you are including plenty of healthy fats with each meal, regardless of what you choose.

Thou Shalt Not Eat Fat

From Men’s Health: “No butter, oils, salad dressings (low-fat or fat-free dressings are okay); remove the skin from chicken; substitute egg whites for most of your whole eggs; avoid whole-milk dairy products; and ditch marbled red meats such as rib-eye for lean cuts such as flank.”

How is this myth still alive? Egg whites, boneless, skinless chicken breast, and tuna are staples in most fat-loss diets, with the idea that the fattier cuts of meat are “bad.”

Do This Instead: Eat fat with every meal. When we eat healthy fats (and less sugar and grains), our body begins to become more of a fat burner than a sugar burner, preferring fat as a primary source of energy. Saturated fats, like those found in animal meats, egg yolks, grass-fed butter, ghee, and coconut oil are particularly useful for this adaptation. You heard me right: to shed fat, you actually need to eat healthy saturated fats, and plenty of them.

Also, since our hormones are derived from fat, you need to eat enough of it to maintain your health and function. When our hormones are revving, they work to keep cortisol levels balanced (i.e. lower stress).

Do not fear the fat. Meats like grass-fed beef and bison, whole chickens, whole eggs, fatty fish, and organ meats (like liver) contain a host of vitamins and minerals that boring, dry chicken breasts don’t. Incorporate plant sources of fat too, like avocados, nuts, seeds, coconut oil, coconut butter, flax, chia, hemp seed oil, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil, or olives with every meal. Look beyond the chicken breast. Eat the yolks. Roast a whole chicken. Eat some liver.

Do Fasted, Steady-State Cardio

Hello high cortisol, good-bye fat loss. Running like a hamster on a wheel (and on an empty stomach) does one thing: stress your body out. Stress keeps your body fighting to maintain homeostasis. For many folks, this means fat loss plateaus and a stubborn metabolism.

The preferred type of training for fat loss is anaerobic and interval training (like sprints, HIIT, or weight lifting). Your Fit Bit may tell you that you scorched 500 calories during your spin class or 3-mile run, but if you’re constantly pushing the cardio button, all you’re doing is stressing your body more, running off muscle and spinning your wheels.

Do This Instead: Don’t fear the barbell. Lift weights and incorporate HIIT or sprints into your training 2-3 times per week. This will help do a few things:

• Preserve lean muscle mass
• Boost metabolism
• Turns to fat for energy
• Increases post-exercise burn

As an added bonus, you won’t go crazy staring at the calorie counter on the treadmill, since there isn’t one on the weight lifting floor.

Whole Grains Are Great for You

Whole wheat breads, multi-grain pasta, and brown rice are the healthy choice, right? You’ve probably heard that whole grains are slow-digesting carbs, decreasing the insulin spike caused by refined and white grains. But the truth is that grains (even whole grains) as a base of your diet still trigger elevated insulin, because your body becomes overloaded with glucose.

A full ban on grains from your diet isn’t necessary, but the standard American diet contains far more grains than the body needs. While it’s true that some grains are rich sources of several micronutrients, they also contain “anti-nutrients” called lectins and phytates. These anti-nutrients are meant to protect plants in the wild from predators and weather, but when we eat them, they can make it difficult for our body to digest and absorb all those vitamins and minerals. The since the body can’t digest anti-nutrients, it becomes stressed and produces an inflammation response, which is completely counterproductive to losing fat.

Do This Instead: Eat grains occasionally, but opt for whole fruits and vegetables as the base of your carbohydrate intake. When you do choose to eat grains, try pre-soaking them in water with a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar, then drain and cook as you normally would. Soaking grains helps remove some of the gut-irritating substances on their shells.

Carbs Are the Devil

Carbohydrate consumption has become the focal point when it comes to fat loss. Most gurus will tell you to drop the carbs if you want to scorch fat, or amp up the carbs if you want to bulk up. What they don’t tell you is that everybody is different. Your genetics, hormone profile, and activity level may mean that you actually need more carbs.

In an attempt to drastically lose fat, many folks go into no-carb and no-fat mode, eating lots of chicken breasts, tuna, turkey, egg whites and protein shakes, with maybe a little something green in there. This may work for a week or two, but after you’ve dropped some water weight, you’re stuck at a plateau, feeling constipated, hangry and depleted of energy.

Also, women burn more glucose at rest than men. This means that women may need a few more carbs than men for health and body balance. In other words, all the extremely-low-carb advice out there may work better for men than women.

Do This Instead: Eat lots of veggies and some fat with every meal, coupled with the “just right” amount of quality starches (like sweet potatoes, white rice, potatoes, squash, beets, carrots) for your body, energy needs and hormone balance. Experiment to find out what works for you, or get a customized nutrition plan from a qualified professional.

Don’t Eat Anything 3 Hours Before Bed

Going to bed on an empty stomach is the worst advice ever. Your body does not see your meal timing like you see it. You think of it as breakfast, lunch and dinner, but tour body sees it as meal 1, meal 2, and meal 3; just phases of nourishment and energy. When it doesn’t get enough throughout the day, it’s not a happy camper, no matter what the clock says. This doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go to bed on a full stomach either, but it will not hurt your fat-burning efforts to eat at night.

Do This Instead: Eat regular, balanced meals throughout the day. Don’t worry so much about the time on the clock, as getting in your nourishment. If you do eat closer to bed, consider sleeping with your head slightly propped up to help aid in digestion and comfort.

Eat Low Fat and No-Fat Dairy

If you thought you were doing your body a favor by reaching for the low-fat cheese, fat-free yogurt, or skim milk, you may want to think again. Low-fat and fat-free dairy seems healthier. It’s lighter. Maybe you’ve even trained your taste-buds to like it better. But the thing about low-fat and non-fat sources of dairy is that they are heavily processed foods. As such, they are stripped of the nutrient benefits dairy provides, including healthy fat, vitamins A and D, and probiotics that aid in digestion. And as we’ve discussed, when our bodies have trouble digesting food, they get stressed.

Do This Instead: If you do consume dairy, opt for full-fat, organic, plain varieties of milk, cheese, and yogurt for the full health benefits.

Take These Fat Burning Pills

Fat loss supplements are great marketing, but terrible for actually dropping fat. A pill is not going to do the work of eating real food, sleeping 7-9 hours most nights, drinking lots of water, and moving your body in ways that bring it to life. Perhaps you’re not absorbing any of the great nutrients you’re eating in the first place, or your adrenal glands are out of whack and stressed to the max, or you’re low in zinc, vitamin D, or magnesium. There is no one-size-fits-all approach or pill that will solve everyone’s fat loss problem.

Do This Instead: The best approach is to find out what your body is missing to get its digestion, metabolism, and hormones up to speed. Consider working with a nutritional therapist or other healthcare provider to address any underlying imbalances and deficiencies that may be holding your body back from healthy fat loss.

Have Regular Cheat Meals

Cheat meals are the downfall of any “diet.” Although they seem like a good way to keep yourself sane, they also continue to make you think of food in terms of “good” and “bad.” This creates nutrition habits that are not sustainable in the long run. Fasting, restricting, or avoiding fats or carbs like the plague may lead to short-term success. But even if you manage to get where you are trying to go, how do you sustain it in a healthy way, without feeling like you’re dieting?

Do This Instead: Instead of setting yourself up for cheat meals and foods, consider the 80/20 approach. 80% of the time, you’re eating real foods. 20% of the time, life happens. Instead of calling these “cheats” or “being bad,” think of all it as part of your overall plan. Sometimes you’ll be at a wedding, or out with friends, or at a work meeting with a boxed lunch you had no say over. It’s ok.

Let life happen. Allow some room in your life for that 20%. That means 4-5 meals out of the 21 in a given week. It’s liberating. And it doesn’t set you up to reach a goal, only to struggle with the question: “Now how do I eat?”

Chop Your Calories

You may actually need to eat more to burn fat, Not less. When we force ourselves to eat less than our body requires, stress happens. Eating less and less sends our body into a state of chronic undereating, forcing it to hold on to our body fat for survival.

Many fat loss or weight loss systems prescribe low calorie totals, but allow a free-for-all of any food you choose, as long as you fall under that calorie range. They claim that it doesn’t matter what you eat, as long as you eat fewer calories. The problem with this is that it ignores digestion, nutrient content, and everything else your body does besides burn calories. A thousand calories of broccoli and a thousand calories of ice cream aren’t really the same thing, to our bodies.

Do This Instead: Instead of obsessing so much over calories, focus more on eating a balance of macronutrients. Aim for protein (1-2 hand sizes), veggies (at least half your plate) and healthy fat with every meal. For snacks, reach for a protein or healthy fat. Drink lots of water. As a baseline for women, consume 1800 calories at a minimum for women for fat loss. More may be necessary, depending on activity levels.

Fat Is Not Your Enemy

Click to enlarge

We are constantly bombarded by magazine covers, infomercials, fat-burning supplement ads, and talk from other women about fat and weight loss. What you don’t hear? Women need fat. Our bodies, by design, require it. Fat helps our bodies thrive by balancing hormones, giving us energy, and helping all systems operate optimally.

Constantly stressing out over workouts, your diet, and hating on your body is only going to send you the opposite direction. Pick something else to focus on, like increasing the amount of weight you can squat, or improving your energy levels, or healing your gut. These will produce much more constructive results than worrying about the perfect workout routine, diet, number on a scale, or jean size.

With all the noise about fat loss, we are programmed to think of all fat, both in our diets and on our bodies, as the enemy. But how is your life going to change if you lost some body fat? Do really even need to lose body fat? What would it be like to embrace your body right where it’s at—even if you are still in the process and not where you ultimately want to be? Think about it.

It’s best to understand what you’re up against:

Fat Loss Considerations for Females

The post Women: Forget These Fat Loss Myths appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

So you’re thinking about starting CrossFit? Or at least your friend keeps telling you all about it. But you’re pretty skeptical. After all, “it’s dangerous” and “everyone gets adrenal fatigue.” Don’t they?

Whatever your thoughts, beliefs, or fears are about CrossFit, I’m here to put you at ease that CrossFit is exactly what you make of it. It can be as dangerous, safe, fun, or healthy as you intend. Call me biased, but CrossFit, and my own experience with it, has shaped me for the better. It has taught me more about what my body is capable of and what working out really is. It has also helped me heal my own relationship with my body and fitness, something I struggled with for years.

I originally discovered CrossFit back in 2007 at CrossFit Central in Austin while still heavily immersed in my own eating disorder. At the time, I was in an unhealthy place with my body and fitness to really give a new way of doing things a chance.

Connect with Yourself

To me, CrossFit workouts—10-20 minutes of “AMRAPs” and metcons—were my warm ups for my hour long stints on StairMasters, 3-6 mile trail runs, and marathon training sessions doing whatever workout routine I could find in Oxygen Magazine.

Fast forward to 2011, nearly five years later, and CrossFit came back into my own life by way of happenstance.

I was living in Miami at the time, in eating disorder treatment of all things, when I was re-introduced to CrossFit. I had a new outlook on myself, fitness, eating, all of it. I was hungry to do something new, something different, something that was not my old soul-sucking workouts.

I began CrossFitting at a local gym in Miami, Peak 360 CrossFit. Long story short, my world (and mindset) was rocked. No longer was chronic cardio and running like a hamster on a wheel appealing. I began to learn what it meant to be strong from the inside out, and to give my body a balance of work and rest. Despite all the media hype that CrossFit makes you forget about your body (in the name of the WOD), I actually became more connected with my body through the journey.

Find What Moves You

Fast-forward another six years. I am still going strong, and helping others do the same in my nutrition, therapy, and functional medicine practice. I love integrating the principles of functional fitness in the work I do with clients—particularly the lesson that you are capable of more than you think. Just like a good hard run at ‘Fran’ any day will teach you when you’re ready to put the bar down.

CrossFit will always hold a place in my heart, and what I learned in that gym has taught me how to honor my body, listen to my body, and have fun with movement in more ways than one.

The moral of the story? Find what moves you. Be it CrossFit, yoga, or even running.

When you truly do what you love to do, exercise becomes less of a chore. Instead, it becomes a way of life that can make you a better, more productive, healthy person when you take it in stride.

1. Everyone Has Been “There”

First things first: you are not the only one to start from square one with CrossFit. Everyone started from zero. You’ll be in good company with people who get it and want to help show you the way. Also, if you’re confused or unsure about something, just ask. Don’t be afraid to ask the coach for clarification if you don’t understand something.

2. You Don’t Have to Be Fit to Start

Sometimes people think they need to get in shape prior to joining a box, so they hit the treadmill, elliptical, or an at-home P90X workout before signing up. The beauty of CrossFit is all workouts are scalable across all levels, so no matter where you’re at with your fitness, you will be able to participate and get a workout that gives you a good sweat.

3. You Won’t Get Bulky

The girls you see on TV work really, really, really hard for that muscle. CrossFit does not automatically equal bulky, just like running doesn’t automatically equal “long and lean.” The mix of high-intensity interval training with moderate intensity workouts and longer ‘endurance-based’ days, give your body a nice variety to boost your metabolism.

4. Get the Right Gear

Running shoes have higher heels and more cushion, making it more difficult to stabilize yourself during varied movements like squats, deadlifts, cleans, etc. Try a pair of shoes with less cushion, like Nike Metcons or Reebok Nanos.

You also want clothes that breathe well. I love the Swiftly tanks by Lululemon, or something made with a luxtreme (sweat wicking) material, as opposed to cotton for tops and pants.

5. It’s All About Community

If you like making friends, you’re in luck. Enduring “tough stuff” together is where the bonds of CrossFit are made. If you’re looking for a way to meet new people, you’re in for a treat.

6. No Two Boxes Are the Same

Unlike some gyms and fitness classes, like 24 Hour Fitness, Soul Cycle, and Orange Theory, where you get a similar product no matter where you drop in, no two CrossFit boxes are alike. No two coaching models, programming methods, or community vibes, are alike. If you have the option, check out several different gyms before you decide.

7. Don’t Fear Food Rules

Think you have to go low carb to play? Do you fear the thought of bacon? Prior to starting CrossFit, I pictured CrossFitters as a bunch of bacon and jerky-eating, no-carb, headband-wearing, knee high ugly-sock people who had a long list of food rules to follow.

The CrossFit “diet” is not as caveman as people make it out to be. Instead, “Eat real food, and live your life” has seemingly become the mantra over the years. What you eat does matter for performance. Make sure you eat enough. Include lots of colorful veggies, fruits, proteins, healthy fats, some starches, plus a lot of water.

8. Squat All the Way Down

Every squat should break parallel. If you stop before parallel, you’re just working your hip flexors. “Ass to grass.” Every time. If you can’t squat all the way down, no worries. Your coach will help you. Mobility work is in your future, and there are modifications for everything.

9. You Don’t Have to Have an Intense Workout Every Day

In fact, for your health’s sake, it’s not encouraged to have an intense workout every day. “Red-lining” regularly will only lead you to one place: HPA-Axis dysfunction (adrenal fatigue) and feeling broken, or worn down. The majority of my own workouts nowadays consist of weight training plus a WOD, but at a moderate intensity, just enough to get some blood flowing and endorphins going.

10. Get to Know the Lingo

“The Girls” are CrossFit benchmark workouts (Fran, Elizabeth, Kelly, Eva, Cindy, etc.) Google these terms to learn what these workouts are when you see them. “WOD” refers to Workout of the Day. “AMRAP” stands for “as many rounds as possible,” and “Rx’d” means you completed a workout as prescribed. “Mobility” refers to flexibility moves for recovering from your sessions. Again, if you don’t know, just ask.

Make changes a priority:

Changing Your Life Is Not a 45-Day Challenge

The post 10 Things A CrossFit Newbie Should Know appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

There’s a health epidemic sweeping our nation. Chances are, you haven’t heard of it. It isn’t making any headlines. No, it’s not obesity. It’s not diabetes, or heart disease, or even cancer. The answer? Chronic undereating.

Yup. Undereating, not overeating; as in not eating enough. Are you sabotaging your health and fitness goals by not eating enough? See for yourself. Check all that apply:

• My weight is not budging, no matter how much I work out, or how much I watch what I eat
• I can’t get pregnant
• I lost my period
• I am an anxious person
• I never feel fully rested
• I rarely feel hungry, or my appetite isn’t what it used to be
• I drag during my workouts
• I get weird cravings for sugar or salty things
• Drinking coffee or diet soda makes me feel fuller
• I’m not seeing the result I want in the gym
• I’m cold all the time
• My hair is falling out, or my nails are thin
• I feel constipated a lot
• I get sick pretty easily
• I often get bloated after I eat, even after healthy meals

If you relate to any or all of these symptoms, you could be chronically undereating. Chronic undereating is a common condition in a day in age when we are constantly told by the billion-dollar diet industry to watch our calories, cut out carbs, eat low fat, and track our macros. With all the money to be made from various nutrition marketing messages, it’s no wonder we’re over-conscious of what we eat!

But the problem of chronic undereating isn’t limited to those trying to lose weight or restrict their food. How many times have you found yourself too busy to eat? Missed a meal because you were buried in a project for work? Ran out of time to go to the grocery store, or skipped breakfast to make it to the gym early?

Chronic undereating can easily become a problem for anyone. In fact, undereating frequently can become your “norm,” so that you actually don’t realize you are not eating enough. Undereating can actually suppress your digestion, lower stomach acid and suppress your appetite.

In almost every case that a client comes to me, frustrated with their metabolism, their stubborn body fat, or their lack of energy, or seasonal allergies or wonky periods, they are not eating enough. If you’re dealing with the symptoms I listed above, you may be looking for the secret sauce to boost your metabolism, gain more energy, get your appetite back, or have healthy, shiny hair. Before looking to lab testing, or what supplements you should take, or what diet you should try, consider taking a look at your daily intake and ask yourself: Am I eating enough?

How Much Is Enough?

There’s no one clear answer everyone, since everyone’s body is different. However, a baseline measure for women is at least 1800 calories. And that’s just for normal, everyday activities. While I am not a fan of calorie-counting for the long term, assessing how much you are eating as an initial assessment can be a real eye-opener for the chronic under-eater.

Contrary to popular belief, less does not automatically equal more, when it comes to our intake. Your body can (and wants to) work for you, but it must have enough to fuel the fire. Calories are simply energy.

Once you have a baseline of how much you are currently eating, and potential gaps in your caloric intake, a look at macronutrient ratios may also be warranted. There’s no denying the human body thrives upon balance. While varying dogmas and diet guidelines do exist, it’s vital to make sure you’re eating enough of each macronutrient for your body to function at its peak.

This is less about specific numbers, ratios or rules, and more about finding and accepting what works for your body, and taking responsibility for your own health. That may mean surrendering the pride you take in being carb free, and incorporating some sweet potatoes, rice, or (gasp) fruit back in. Or, it may mean incorporating breakfast again, even if you’re not initially hungry. If you’re strictly vegan, it may include recognizing that you are more prone to deficiencies in B12, zinc or iron, and being proactive by supplementing appropriately.

Above all, let your body be the guide, and don’t be afraid to self-experiment. Trust your body enough to listen to the feedback it gives you, and to let you know when you’re getting enough food, and when you need to eat more.

Strategies to Start Eating Enough

Stop skipping meals. Eat at least three balanced meals per day, of adequate portion sizes. Perhaps you are eating three times per day, but only kid-sized servings. Consider upping the ante, including protein (about the size of your hand, or two), fat (1-2 tbsp. or ½ avocado), and half a plate of veggies or leafy greens or a fist-size portion of starches, like potatoes or fruits.

Incorporate healthy fats with every meal. Cook with ghee or coconut oil. Mash avocado on your chicken or burger patty. Drizzle olive oil on your veggies or salad. Top a sweet potato with coconut butter or grass-fed butter. And while you’re at it, get over your fear of carbs. Repeat after me: “low-carb is for couch potatoes.”

Stop comparing yourself. Your body is yours, and isn’t ever going to be much like anybody else’s. When it comes to your intake, the question to ask is “how does this nourish me?” If something isn’t helping you focus on that question, get rid of it; the scale, your calorie tracking app, all of it.

Finally, don’t go it alone. Work with a nutritionist to get your own customized nutrition and healing plan. With their help, you can get on a new track toward real health and increased fitness.

Still taking diet advice from celebrities? Stop it:

The Fitness Trap: Tom Brady and Food Babe

The post Are You Eating Enough? appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

While an estimated one in five women struggle with an eating disorder, a greater percentage (75%) report having some sort of disordered eating, and 97% of women report having an “I hate my body” moment every day.

Will we ever be satisfied? Not if we have this mindset: “I just want a flat stomach.”

The Curse of the “Trouble Spot”

In fact, of all our body parts, the stomach is the number one “trouble spot” for women—the body part that 69% of women say they want to change. What is the answer to this pesky problem? Let’s take a look at some common tactics to be rid of this stubborn enemy:

• Juice cleanses to banish belly bloat
• Spot training with 7-minute ab blasts
• Intermittent fasting
• More cardio
• Less carbs
• _______ (insert tactic of choice here)

What do you do? Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try, we are always going to come up short when we keep relying on what our body looks like to make us fully happy, confident, and satisfied.

Even if you do reach your goal weight, or see an ab—or four or six—pop out, or if you finally feel confident enough to go swimsuit or jeans shopping, relying on our appearance, weight, and size to “feel good in our own skin” will always leave you unsatisfied. Here’s why:

1. You must keep up your focus and hard work on the diet, workout routine, or rules you created for yourself to “get there,” which leaves you constantly feeling like something is clipping at your heels if you are not on top of your game.
2. There will always be someone “better,” fitter, prettier, healthier, happier, etc. than us in our mind’s eye.
3. Once we “reach” our goal, there will always be something more we want: to lose five more pounds, see two more abs show, see a thigh gap).

The Struggle Never Stops

For 14 years, I woke up most every day with one thought on my mind: “when I weigh X-weight or look like X then life will be so much better.” I thought about reaching these goals every day, and I scripted my to-do list around what I needed to do to “get there.” Things like cutting carbs, spending hours on the Stairmaster, avoiding social food gatherings at all costs, and counting my almonds one by one.

Even in my “weight gain” days, when I wanted so badly to “just gain 10 pounds, and then I’ll be happier,” I filled my self-care to-do list with checkboxes like eating ’til I could barely breathe, more strength training, protein shakes, and eating foods that didn’t always agree with my digestion or gut health.

Every night, without fail, when I laid my head down to rest, I felt completely defeated knowing I hadn’t reached my goals again today. But in the same breath, without fail, I’d tell myself, “You know what? Tomorrow is a brand new day to try again, and I am so close to the body I want.”

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Day in and day out, I woke up feeling the same way: hating my body. Then I’d try to “fix it” by focusing more on my body, food, and fitness. I’d go to bed each night, knowing I hadn’t fully achieved my goals, or I fell back into “old ways.” I’d tell myself that I’d try again tomorrow. Although I had another life outside of my diet and fitness routine as well (college, work, grad school, relationships, church, activities), my inner world felt like it revolved around thoughts about my body, food, and fitness.

The Lightbulb Moment

It will come when you least expect it. Complete freedom and happiness with your body, food, and fitness will come, ironically, when you start focusing less on these things and more on just living your life. It didn’t happen for me overnight. I had a rude awakening when my life came to a complete standstill when I was forced to enter eating disorder treatment at age 23. I was on death’s doorstep, at a weight I hadn’t been since I was 10-years-old.

Completely banned from my Stairmasters, low-carb lifestyle, protein shakes, and fitness magazines, I was forced to face my own worst nightmares:

• Lack of control
• Egg McMuffins, Eggo waffles and bagels for breakfast
• Takeout pizza every Friday night and pancakes or pastries every Saturday morning
• A sedentary lifestyle
• Ben & Jerry’s, processed foods, and Snickers Bars for snacks
• Chronic constipation, bloating, gas and discomfort in my own body
• Skin breakouts and pimples
• Growing out of my entire wardrobe
• Feeling lethargic, tired, and not like myself
• Medication prescriptions prescribed by my doctors to help me “recover” and think “more clearly”
• Talking all day, every day, about the past and my eating disorder

Although I am still not sure this extreme exposure therapy was the best approach for helping me heal or recover from my eating disorder, it was helpful for inspiring me to find something different: a happy medium where I felt good in my own skin, regardless of what my body looked like, what I ate, or if I worked out.

Ironically, living for a time in both extremes (extreme eating disorder and diet obsession; and eating disorder treatment, where I felt like a lazy American), helped me have a lightbulb moment I wasn’t looking for. For me it highlighted both extremes: “I never want to go through treatment like this again,” and, “I also never want to go back to my eating disorder again.”

I began to search high and low for the answer to actually feeling good in my own skin—not based on numbers, weight, calories, mirrors, or jeans. Do you know what I discovered? Feeling good in your own skin actually has nothing to do with six packs, popping shoulders, or Kim Kardashian booties. These things are fleeting.

Dangling Carrot Syndrome

When we make the “ideal body,” or “body confidence,” or “feeling good in our own skin” our primary goal and motivation for the things we eat, the way we workout, what we wear, or a million other ways we spend our time, we are always going to come up dry.

I call this “dangling carrot syndrome” because, like a horse that tries to reach the dangling carrot hanging over its nose as it continues to walk forward, we robotically do the same thing when we try to focus on the same things (the scale, our calories, our fat grams, macros, our jean size, how we look in certain pictures, etc.) and try to yield different results.

When has focusing on the scale worked for you—like really worked—to the point that you feel 100% confident? When has focusing on what you look like in pictures, or how you feel in your own skin really, solely, worked for you, so that you feel completely free to be who you are?

Crickets.

Whether you are overweight, underweight, feel too fat, or too skinny, when we wrap our self-esteem and worth in what we look like or how we feel about how we look, we are always going to come up dry.

While I constantly wanted to lose weight in my early eating disorder days, there also came a time when I constantly wanted to gain weight and be “bigger;” not little Lauryn anymore. I’d see pictures of beautiful CrossFit women, Blake Lively, other celebrity idols, even girls at my gym or women on the street and think, “Man. If only I looked like her,” or “If only I was a little more filled out,” or “If only I was a couple sizes bigger…then I’ll be more confident.”

It was exhausting, because I was still chasing dangling carrots.

Start Loving Your Own Skin

To this day, I am still self-conscious about being little Lauryn, and sometimes hate my body for being thinner than I want it to be. But now I know that when my mindset shifts from my body and what it looks like to more internal and external factors that define true health (like my energy, digestion, non-obsessive thinking, living out my purpose, doing things I love, meaningful relationships, having fun in life) I feel more alive and less focused on what my outside shell looks like at all.

Here are eight tips to start loving all of the the skin you’re in (no dangling carrots included):

1. Stop the negative self-talk. Remind yourself that obsessing over what you eat or look like doesn’t make you look any better. Remember, you’ve tried this method a thousand times before.
2. Give thanks. Thank your body for what it does, more than what it looks like. Your big strong legs should be appreciated for squatting 200lb on a barbell.
3. Pick a new health “marker” (or a couple) to focus on. Energy, digestion, and a healthy gut, for example. Your ability to “go with the flow” on vacation or dinner out, and not freak out. Having refreshing sleep and balanced hormones. Pursuing your passions and setting goals in these areas. Feeling spiritual health and connectedness.
4. Work it. Play to your strengths. What are you naturally good at? What are your natural physical and characters strengths you bring to the table? Comparing yourself to others will not get you anywhere other than discontent and chasing those dangling carrots.
5. Smash the scale. Or throw out the FitBit. Delete the fitness or calorie tracker. Delete the Instagram accounts that trigger negative thinking, or unplug from social media altogether. Stop tempting yourself with things that put you down. Ironically, when we stop using these measures as barometers for success, often our body (and metabolism) starts working for us, not against us.
6. Nourish. Eat and work out to nourish your body, not to punish it. Choose foods that nourish not only physically, but sometimes emotionally or mentally. Even though “emotional eating” is often viewed as a negative thing, it’s not bad occasionally.
7. See your body as a whole, and not parts. You and your worth are not your thighs, your stomach, or your underarms. You are a whole person.
8. Stand up for non-weight-bias and “health at every size.” Seriously. If and when you are truly taking care of yourself, your body will go to where its happy place is. For some, this is “bigger boned;” for others, this is “smaller framed” or “smaller chested.” People in larger bodies often experience the effects of weight bias more deeply than those in smaller bodies, but no one is exempt from feeling shame about their body when we rely on society’s ideals. Our culture makes many people of every size feel on guard, critical of their perceived “flaws,” and wanting something other than the body they are in today.

So how do you get there? How do you get to the point you don’t care so much about what you look like without “letting yourself go” or feeling completely unconfident in your own skin?

Join me in a movement (and new attitude) I’m calling the Thrive Life Project, aimed at developing this champion mindset I am talking about. Genuinely learn to love your body—from the inside out.

Find yourself and take some steps toward eating disorder recovery:

Recovering From An Eating Disorder: 10 Things You Need to Know

The post Abs Are Not the Key to Happiness appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Unlike the thousands of programs and protocols in our culture for losing weight, shedding body fat, and getting “fitter,” there is no one-size-fits-all approach, and treatment options are farther and fewer between.

If you’re one of the 1-in-5 women who has battled an eating disorder first hand, and you’re looking for a way out, here is a play-by-play blueprint for getting unstuck from your rut.

The bottom line? It all comes down to the power of choice.

Why Choices Have Power

No, you didn’t choose to have an eating disorder—most people don’t. But, before you knew it, the habits crept up on you: eating a tub of ice cream in your bedroom closet, finishing an entire recipe of brownies, eating dry lettuce, chewing gum and ice instead of food, exercising at weird times (then inhaling two In-N-Out burgers, two fries and a milkshake in your car), shaking your foot to burn more calories any time you sit, or wadding up uneaten food into a napkin.

And suddenly, almost as if your “healthy” self had been hijacked, the eating disorder took on a life of its own.

You did not choose to have an eating disorder.

A beautiful and unnerving thing about recovery is that once you’re aware your eating disorder (ED) exists, you also become aware that you have choices to make when it comes to “the voice” you choose to follow. While ED’s voice is extremely annoying, often abusive, and domineering, there is something about it that keeps you coming back for more.

Before we dive any further into what or how to recover from an eating disorder, you must first acknowledge this simple fact: you have a choice. As awful as that may sound, once you are made aware of the struggle, you must also be informed that you have a choice.

You have a choice (and right) at your doctor’s office to see your medical records, and you have a choice (and right) to remain silent if you’re arrested (hopefully not you). Just like you’re informed that you have a choice to spend your Beauty Rewards points at Sephora at the time of purchase (or save them for later)—you have a choice as to what you want your life and real struggle to look like.

With that squared away, let’s jump in to the play-by-play that I discovered after nearly 15 years of being stuck in a rut. My way may not be your way. Again, there is no one-size-fits-all approach, but it’s my hope that this at least inspires you that you can find a way out, too.

Step 1: Acknowledge “It”

Have you ever taken a self defense class? I’ve taken a handful in my day, and if there’s one lesson that has stood out more than any other it is this: look your attacker, or the threat, in the eyes. It’s intimidating. Stand-offish. Assertive. Looking a threat directly into the windows of their soul is an affirmative way of saying, “I see you. I know what you’re up to, and I am not taking that.”

The same thing goes for the eating disorder—the “it” you keep trying to shove under the rug. Stop calling it “it” or a “habit” or “just something you do.” Stop trying to gloss it over. Stop turning the other cheek or saying, “tomorrow” or “one day maybe things will be better.”

In many of my writings and posts, I often refer to ED as the “slave driver.” I give it a name and identity. “It” is vague, and a term used to refer to a fly—not something that dominates much of your thought space, your time, your heart, and your mind. Start facing your eating disorder as what it is—whatever name you give it. When we don’t acknowledge it, it’s like trying to stuff all your toys in your closet, and then say your room is clean. It’s not. It’s there. You know it. You feel it. So start facing “it” and look “it” in the eye.

Step 2: Embrace Your Choice with Change

Before you get gung-ho for meal plans, and therapy appointments, weigh ins, and going through the motions of recovery, you first must come to a want and willingness to change. Recovery is about change. Yes, change is scary, but it’s the only way to get on with your life (away from ED).

When you go through the motions of therapy, and appointments, and meal plans, it’s easy to get disconnected with the bottom line: your right to thrive. Change for you (a new way of doing life—not just checking off to-dos)—not because you have to, or because it’s what you “should do,” or it’s because what others are telling you to do. If you really want something new, then you must be open to change—and embrace it.

Step 3: Get to Know Your Purpose

“Who am I?” It’s a question every single 12-year-old asks during her brace-face, frizzy hair days, and the struggle is real from those days forward. This question is also wrapped up in one more greater question: what on earth am I here for? In other words: what is my purpose?

No, you don’t have to have it all together, but chances are your eating disorder has kept you from understanding who you are and kept you from greater purpose and what you are here on this earth to do. The answers to these questions probably won’t come overnight—especially if ED has been your “identity” and “purpose” for quite some time. Your ED has a sneaky way of high-jacking your identity and purpose to make you think that you are defined by your struggle, and that your daily mission is to binge, purge, restrict, and/or exercise, then repeat.

In this step, you begin scratching the surface to uncovering your identity and purpose. Personality tests and strengths tests certainly can help you with understanding more about who you are; as can friends and family who know you well. In addition, thinking about the things you love to do, passions or dreams you had as a kid (or today), the things that come naturally to you, the things that make you feel alive, and the things that you lose track of time when you do them—can all point you towards your purpose.

Step 4: Get to Know Who You Are

Deep deep down inside of you, there is a still, small voice, who knows truth—your true healthy self. It may be hard to hear since ED’s voice has been strong for far too long. But deep inside your inner soul and being, there is a flame that burns for true health, true freedom, and true self-care.

Connecting with truth is a secret weapon for battling lies, insults, and warfare bound to come your way in recovery. Before moving any further, take a time out, get calm, still, quiet, and close your eyes. Ask yourself: what is my truth? Or, in my case, I would ask myself: who is healthy, thriving me? Write down the traits of this person. For instance: “Healthy Lauryn speaks her mind with grace and poise. Healthy Lauryn does not bend over backwards to people-please others. Thriving Lauryn fuels herself regularly throughout the day. Healthy Lauryn is a daughter of the King.”

Any time an obstacle or conflict arose, my truths—my healthy version of me—began to become my battle cry and my counter attack. Create a some vision: who is thriving healthy you? Who is the persion you want to be? The recovered, healthy, ED-free, care-free person you want to embody? What does she think like? Look like? Act like? Dress like? Talk like? Dream like? Eat like? What does she do with her time? Her thoughts? Her worries? Create a list, or reflection, on what thriving, healthy you looks like to get a clear picture of your inner super girl—the person you are becoming.

Embody her. Plain and simple. Move forward with a clearer picture of who you are and who you are becoming. Now you get to be her. Even if you don’t feel like you are her yet, you are going to pretend you are her. Begin to think like she thinks, act like she acts, dream like she dreams. So as we think, therefore we become. And in moments when your own truth seems skewed, ask yourself this: what would healthy thriving me do? Then do that.

Step 5: Dream Big

“All our dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.” Ok, so it may be a cheesy Walt Disney quote, but this step is all about gaining vision around what you want for your new thriving life, so you can begin pursuing (and living out) your big dreams.

For years, I pursued “recovery” and “getting better”—but with very little vision or clarity around what life could look like without ED in my life, recovery seemed like a daunting black hole. Time and time again, I’d go into treatment and right back out, only to run back to my old ways because I had no idea who I was, what life was, or what recovery meant in the day in and day out logistics of life. For this step, if you can dream it, then it is possible. So, we are gonna dream some big dreams.

Step 6: Leave the Conceptual World Behind

Ready to start gaining some traction with practical action steps to begin moving closer to your dreams? First things first, it’s time to leave the “conceptual world” behind—all you’ve known is within the context of ED’s rules, regulations, and jabs directed at you. We are usually afraid to make this step. It’s hard to believe that things that “make sense.” For example, the belief that eating fat makes us fat; or that carbs cause weight gain; or that we are losers in life; or that nobody likes us; or that our body is not good enough are wrong. We often tell ourselves comforts like binging “just this once,” exercising “just 30 more minutes,” or skipping out on just a snack. These destroy us daily.

When we make up our minds to try something and believe something different, playing our former concepts, or ‘truths,’ on pause mode, it’s fantastic. So I recommend you step it up a little bit. Come to terms that the beliefs you’ve had (about yourself, food, body and fitness) may very well be a skewed version of the truth. Because they haven’t gotten you very far to date.

All I want you to do right now is identify the messages, rules, or lies you’ve been believing about your eating disorder. (Disclaimer: right now, you may not see these as ‘lies’—they may still be truths). Whatever beliefs you have about food, your body, yourself, your worth, or fitness, write them down. Make one column for: “The Messages ED Tells Me About Me” and another column labeled: “My Food, Fitness, and Body Rules.” Write down every message that comes to mind. For instance:

Column 1: The Messages ED Tells Me About Me:

• You’re ugly, fat, and stupid.
• You’re a loser.
• Nobody likes you.
• You’re sucking at life.
• Your thighs are fat and jiggly.

Column 2: My Food, Fitness, and Body Rules:

• No eating after 8 pm.
• Carbs are for fatties.
• No oil whatsoever.
• I need to be a size 2.

I also call these messages your “inner mean girl.” It’s important to realize that this inner voice is not you, and if you want to stop that “inner mean girl” from talking so much, (or at least catch her in her ways) get to know what she sounds like. See Step Six for more on this.

Step 7: Get Educated

This part is one of my all-time favorites. Unearthing the “light bulb” moments that turn ED’s lies on their heads. Here we are digging deep. You now understand the lies you’ve been believing (identified in Step 5), and you are in the process of learning new truths about your body, health, food, fitness, and mindset.

Knowledge is power—and although you’ve probably become a knowledge “junkie” in some form or fashion—that knowledge may be skewed. There’s a common misconception within the eating disorder world that those who have eating disorders are “obsessed with health” or “know lots about food (and fitness)”—after all, your day may revolve around these things (Google searching ‘Intermittent Fasting,’ calculating calories in your head, posting Instagram selfies in the gym or on the yoga mat).

For years, I thought I knew everything there was to know about health and nutrition, after all, I was obsessed with it. I could tell you the number of calories in five almonds, two plums, a cup of Yoplait vs. Fage yogurt, or the nutrition facts of deli turkey on whole wheat bread. I believed “healthy eating” meant lean meats, lots of fruits and veggies, no added fat, whole wheat bread and pasta, fat-free dairy and sugar-free treats.

In my mind, fitness meant kicking myself in the booty and blasting calories on a StairMaster. Then enter recovery—real recovery—and part of my own recovery involved getting educated around new truths about food, my body, fitness, and myself—my world was rocked.

A big component for me was fully understanding the why’s behind why my body “needed to eat healthy fats,” for instance. Nutritionists could tell me to eat fats until they were blue in the face, but just telling me to “eat fats” never helped me understand why self-care with avocado, ghee, or coconut oil in my daily diet was important to brain health, digestion, and metabolic function.

Learning many of the why’s behind health, nutrition and, even deeper, what my ‘why’s’ behind my struggle really were. I dug into the root reasons why my ED evolved in the first place, and these discoveries became powerful weapons in propelling forward in recovery.

Today, educate my clients more on the truths about health, their bodies, and food. It’s important they understand how to debunk myths and quieting the noise on Google while uncovering greater insights into the deeper reasons why the struggle persists. If you want to uncover some knowledge weapons, here are a few resources I’d recommend to read or listen to (with an open mind—what we put into our mind influences our thoughts and habits):

• The Paleo Solution, by Robb Wolf
• Eat the Yolks, by Liz Wolf
• It Starts with Food & Food Freedom, by Melissa Hartwig
• Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young
• Breaking Free, by Beth Moore
• Mastering Your Inner Mean Girl, by Melissa Ambrosini
• Your Are a Badass, by Jen Sincere
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen Covey
• The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson
• The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
• Breaking Vegan, by Jordan Younger
• Balanced Bites Podcast
• Food Psych Podcast
• Mind Body Musings with Maddy Moon Podcast

Step 8: Heal Your Gut

This one may seem like a strange step to throw right in the middle here, but it goes hand in hand with the new awareness sparking up your life. The gut is the gateway to your health and actually plays a big role in your mindset and psychological health. In fact, 90% of your serotonin (feel good brain chemicals) are produced in your gut and the vagus nerve—the nerve responsible for digestion runs straight from the top of your stomach to your brain—hence why the “butterflies in your stomach” feeling is real. If and when your gut is not well (i.e. “leaky gut,” bacterial overgrowth, or low stomach acid), then your mental health takes a hit: anxiety, stress, OCD, depression, pervasive thoughts can take over.

Gut health is crucial to mental health and well-being. Mind. Body. Soul. How to heal? Every body is different, so first, working with a knowledgeable nutrition or functional medicine provider in this area is crucial to understanding what your individual needs or deficiencies are. However, some general principles can apply.

Some simple steps for all around gut health you can take today are:

• Eat real foods your body recognizes
• Drink half your body weight in ounces of water each day
• Slow down
• Breathe before you eat
• Chew your food
• Start your day off with warm lemon water and end it with ginger tea
• Take a probiotic each day in addition to digestive enzymes with meals
• Avoid artificial ingredients

Step 9: Redefine

We’ve done a lot of heart and head work to date. Since knowledge is power, Step 9 is all about taking the new insights you’ve learned about yourself, food, fitness, your body, and other mindset trips and putting them into action. “Redefine” your old beliefs and old ways of doing things into new truths that you actually live out. Here, we are turning your old habits and beliefs completely upside down.

For every individual this step will look completely different because the things you’ve struggled with are 100% individualized to you, but it is critical to redefine or redesign what life has looked like to date in the areas of your struggle. Here’s an example:

For my body, redefining my “self care” meant the following:

• Eating real food
• Healing my gut—did you know the gut is the gateway to health?
• Trying a new form of fitness—and breaking up with my Stairmaster
• Drinking half my body weight in ounces of water each day
• Addressing nutrient deficiencies and healing my body

For my mind, redefining my mindset meant:

• Tapping into my “who is healthy me?” truth
• Coming up with mantras and affirmations to believe and say
• Fixing my mindset on the positive—not the negative
• Believing recovery was possible for me
• Making the choice that, no matter what, recovery and a new life was going to happen

For my soul, redefining my heart meant:

• Giving my heart to something greater than myself and accepting Christ as my Savior and believing who He says He is, a redeemer
• Connecting to my greater purposes and passions (things I loved to do and was created for, like writing, loving people well, ministry, and helping others)
• Connecting to community after years spent in isolation
• Getting outside myself by volunteering, serving
• Connecting to a therapist and mentor who helped me in the dark, dark days
• Reconciling relationships with family and friends that had been broken during my struggle

“Redefining” or “redesigning” your life will look 100% unique to you, but today, as an occupational therapist, I specialize in helping people do just that in order to find life and meaning outside his or her ED and old ways.

This is a meaty step to go into detail here, but if you want to learn how to redefine your own life—in recovery—definitely connect with me to learn more how this crucial step could help you turn a big corner. Stay tuned for my next piece, where I’ll give you some specific protocols around this “Redefine” step in recovery: things like self-care (nutrition, gut healing, and fitness), and a thrive project for redefining your mind.

Step 10: Take Action

“You can’t do any swimming until you get off the bank.” My dad used to tell me this all the time, and I never fully understood it until I stopped making plans, and saying “tomorrow” maybe things will be different. Instead, I started doing just one thing, and then another, and then another. Before I knew it, taking action became fun—not scary, or something that would happen “one day.” This step is all about picking out one thing, one intention, one goal to focus on this week in your recovery. Just put one foot in front of the other.

Bonus Step: Believe

Lastly, an unconventional #11. Simply believe. Believe recovery is possible for you. Until you believe this fundamental truth it ain’t gonna happen. You can overcome.

Learn more about the power of mindset:

Change Starts With Choice

The post Taking 10 Steps to Eating Disorder Recovery appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

The concept of the mind’s power over the body goes by many names. Some call it “mind over matter,” or “the power of belief.” Others call it “willpower.” Call it what you like; it’s hard to deny the power of the mind in everything, including our health.

But the mind can influence the body passively, not just actively. In the case of a placebo, for example, it’s a matter of trust and belief. It’s not active willpower, but submission and acceptance. It’s a passive approach to harnessing the power of the mind. And you can harness this power for yourself.

When Nothing Does Something

The placebo effect occurs when a person believes a certain outcome will happen and it does, even in the absence of an actual agent or source of change. The term finds its origins in medical research studies.

A placebo is the fake variable in a study that does nothing at all. They are used in studies to help determine the validity of outcomes.

For instance, one study compared the outcomes of a real knee surgery with placebo knee surgery. In the study, one group got arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. The other group got incisions that made it seem as if surgery had been performed, but it had not been.

Both groups thought they were having the actual knee surgery, and both groups ended up reporting remarkably similar outcomes. Whether they had actual surgery or not seemed irrelevant.

Fool the Mind, Heal the Body

When I was elementary school, my school nurse was notorious for handing out cough drops—for everything. Sore throat? Tummy ache? Skinned knee? All got the same treatment: a cough drop. Funny thing was, no matter the child’s malady, the cough drop seemed to work. I remember it worked for me.

The placebo effect of a cough drop (preferably cherry flavored) “cured” my skinned knee. It worked like magic, making my knee feel better in a matter of minutes.

In her book, Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body, molecular biologist Jo Marchant illustrates that placebos are frequently shown to hold the same power an as actual drug, surgery, therapeutic, or treatment.

In particular, she discusses a study where researchers maintained positive outcomes, even while replacing patients’ real medications with placebo drugs. In addition to replacing the real drugs with fakes, researchers added external stimuli, like strong colors and music, to create an association between the placebo and the active substance.

Patients began by drinking a strong-colored placebo drink and listening to one of their favorite songs while taking the active medication. Over time, researchers gradually reduced the level of active medication while increasing the amount of placebo. The healthy outcomes continued.

What This Means for You

If it’s true that you can do anything you put your mind to, it might help to give yourself a placebo.

A big part of success is all in your head. So if you can find a way to trick your brain, that 10lb PR, a podium spot at your upcoming competition, or losing 10lb of body fat becomes that much easier. It doesn’t have to actually do anything. You just have to believe that it does.

Looking for more ways to reach your goals?

Make the Switch to Better Habits and Mindset

The post Placebo: Fake Inputs, Real Results appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

Ever been told, “Just get over it”? While it sounds good in theory, “just getting over” emotional eating and the diet mentality around food is not quite that simple.

In part one, we talked about understanding your struggle and the underlying reasons you think about food all the time. Then we identified that the struggle usually lies in emotional or disordered eating. Now let’s talk about how these struggles and thoughts play out in your life.

To satisfy your heart hunger, you need to find the real void your heart is craving. [Photo credit: Pixabay]

The Unspoken Epidemic

Remember middle school? Would you go back? Most people would answer a resounding, “No!”

Why? Because we were all insecure. We all dealt with braces, frizzy hair, clammy hands, sweaty arm pits, and so badly wanted to fit in. Who would want to go through that again?

We can all laugh now about the 90 minutes we spent putting our outfit together and straightening our hair every morning, and our efforts to do anything to fit in. But the reality is that, back in middle school, no one was talking about how insecure or awkward they felt.

And yet, we all felt it.

The same is true with the how we thought about, obsessed over, and struggled with food. What would you tell your younger middle-school self?

That she is going to be ok and that and she doesn’t have to try so hard, right? If you could talk to your middle-school self, you would help her see how her insecurities are playing out by doing things like straightening her beautiful curly hair every morning or telling the popular girls she likes ‘pink,’ like they do, instead of her true favorite color. All this just so she could be more confident in her own skin.

Bottom line: You would tell her that she doesn’t have to be anyone but her.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles

Fast forward to today, and here are some truths to tell your current self about your struggle with food. These are six common ways the struggle with food presents itself.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 1. Heart Hunger

Feeling lonely? A tub of ice cream or bag of popcorn becomes a fast friend. Break up or fight with your significant other? Chocolate always does the trick. Constantly cutting yourself down or never feel good enough? Dieting is an easy thing to focus on. What are you really hungry for?

“Heart-hunger” is a phrase we can use to describe how some eating can be highly connected to your emotions. For instance, certain foods are considered “comfort foods,” because you may have been given them as a child, or you’ve associated it as a treat for when you’re feeling down.

Other foods may be “trigger foods,” because you know you got sick eating it before, or every time you eat that one type of food, you tend to binge or overindulge. In the same way, heart hunger is based on a desire to be loved or cared for.

This is an attempt to fill a hole or void that, ultimately, cannot really be satisfied through eating. To satisfy your heart hunger, you need to find the real void your heart is craving.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 2. Body Imbalances

When we are physically not meeting our body’s needs for nourishment, deficiencies may cause us to think about food in unhealthy ways. Often times, people try to satisfy their true cravings in as many ways as possible other than what they are actually craving.

Here’s an example: We avoid dietary fat out of fear that we will get fat. We eat more low-fat foods, a plate of vegetables or “safe” low calorie options, but still never feel satisfied. In doing so, our body is physically deprived, leaving us with a non-fueled brain that thinks about food a lot.

No matter how many carrots or chicken breasts we eat, we still feel like we are missing something, we just don’t know what. The obsessive thoughts with food don’t stop.

And another example: We hop on the no-carb bandwagon. In this example, we think carbs are the enemy. While this is doable for a little while, eventually some people find ourselves energy-depleted and brain-fogged (especially while trying to keep up our 5-6/day week exercise routine). And we can’t get food off the brain. Why? Maybe we aren’t meeting all our energy needs.

A prime example: Insatiable sugar cravings. Where do those come from? Often times, when we aren’t getting enough balance (including protein, fats and veggies at each meal, along with plenty of water) our body relies upon sugar and carbohydrates as its primary source of fuel. When this happens, we are more susceptible to blood sugar highs and lows. When your body is in a “low,” it craves sugar.

Having balance is the key with all of these examples.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 3. Poor Digestion

Ever heard of the brain-gut connection? When we have poor digestion, we impact our brain function, and vice versa.

When we are super stressed or anxious, our digestion is affected. Digestion is critical for absorbing all the nutrients you eat which, in turn, power your brain. When digestion is “off,” our tendency to obsess about food or use food to cope with mental stress and anxiety heightens.

Constipation, bloating, allergies, gas after meals, skin breakouts, GERD, IBS, and autoimmune conditions are all indicators digestions may be off.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 4. Habit

Habits are powerful. In an almost Pavlovian way, your relationship with food can become a habit, something you don’t think about twice. You may binge and purge.

Or, you always turn over the labels of foods to check the calories. Or, every time you travel home to see your family, you overeat, because it’s “what you do together.”

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 5. Not Eating Enough

Are you eating enough? Perhaps, on paper, you think you are. Maybe your smartphone app tells you that you are. So why the heck are you still hungry or thinking about food all the time?

Chances are, your version of healthy is not the same as your body’s version. You may not like to hear this now, but you’re not doing yourself any favors by:

• Counting your calories meticulously
• Sticking to 1200-1500 calories every day
• Daily running as your fitness routine
• Avoiding fat (or counting that quarter of an avocado as your fat for the day)
• Avoiding starchy carbs
• Fearing bananas and other fruits
• Not allowing yourself to eat after 8pm or restricting all day, then binging at night
• Purging foods that are not on your “good list”
• Restricting your food intake to see how little you can get by with in a day
• Weighing and measuring your food—and not budging outside those lines (even when you feel hungry)

But, you tell yourself, isn’t that what I am supposed to do to be fit and healthy? Reality check: No. You’ve been lied to. If you aren’t getting enough food, your body will tell you. That’s when obsessive thoughts and disordered behaviors with food creep in, not to mention a slowed metabolism.

The Six Food Relationship Struggles: 6. Escape

Food is an easy, exciting, low-cost, and low-risk adventure. It is an escape we can take when we need to get away. Whether you are stressed, worried, anxious, or feel out of control, food is a distraction and “feel-good” experience in the moment. But your food vacation and stress relief will be temporary.

These are some of the ways you might be able to “get over it.” Knowing why you struggle can help you get past the obsessive thoughts.

Although this list is not extensive, these are some common ways the struggle with food presents itself for the 75% of women who confront obsessive thoughts and disordered eating habits. Awareness of these factors can be helpful in getting over some of these issues.

When our hearts are happy, there is less room to need to fill a void with food. [Photo courtesy: Pixabay]

10 Ways to Get on Track With Your Food Relationship

Confronting the roots of your issues with food is important. Mentally overcoming them is critical. Now, it’s time to apply all this to real life and do something.

So let’s talk about some strategies and ways to move forward and move beyond the struggle. Here, I describe some actions that have been successful for many of my clients.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 1. Heal Your Gut

Back to the brain-gut connection: get your gut in order, and you will notice a distinct impact upon your mental health. Anxiety, depression, OCD, and eating disorders have all been linked to poor gut flora.

A few initial steps to improve your digestion include: take a probiotic or eat fermented foods daily, chew your food well, slow down during meal times, and take a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to 3-4 ounces of water a couple times per day.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 2. Eat Fat

Especially if you are a sugar craver, often your body is in sugar-burning mode instead of fat-burning mode. Physiologically, it’s relying on sugar and carbs as its primary energy source.

The same thing can be said for those who are constantly thinking about food and find the thoughts won’t stop.

Your brain is composed of 60% fat, so it needs healthy fats for optimal function. Contrary to popular belief, a proper intake of fat will not make you fat. Instead, it actually helps digest your food, sparks your brain function, boosts your mood, and may help you get leaner.

At each meal, reach for reasonable portions of healthy fats, like ghee, grassfed butter, avocado, nuts and seeds, extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, coconut butter, lard, tallow, olives, etc.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 3. Balance Your Meals

As mentioned above, balance is king. Ensure you are eating balanced meals throughout the day.

This can help tremendously with fending off binge episodes later in the day, or thinking about food all day long.

By fueling your body throughout the day you have a better chance of keeping balance in your body and cellular processes humming along as well.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 4. Address Nutrition Deficiencies

Identifying physiological and nutrient deficiencies can be a powerful piece to the “food struggle” puzzle.

Connect with a nutritional therapist or other healthcare practitioner for guidance in supporting your body’s imbalances.

Some common deficiencies amongst disordered eaters include Zinc, Vitamin B, Magnesium, hydrochloric acid (stomach acid), and natural digestive enzymes. There are also natural herbs and supplements that may help address blood sugar imbalances and support your efforts to curb sugar cravings.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 5. Change It Up

Variety is not only the spice of life, it’s a terrific way to write a new chapter in the story of your relationship with food.

Sometimes you must find a new routine—or change up your environment—in order to start fresh.

Only you know what this means for you. Maybe it’s forbidding yourself to eat on the couch you binge on every night, going to the same 7-11 down the street for your Ben & Jerry’s, or not putting yourself through the same situation every day where you find yourself restricting. Mix it up.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 6. Do Things You Love

When our hearts are happy, there is less room to need to fill a void with food (or even think about it).

Food should only fuel us to do more of the things we love. Throw yourself into your passions. Do what you love and love what you do.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 7. Get It All Out

Build a “stress relief” arsenal. This can include whatever works for you, such as punching a punching bag, going for a relaxing run or walk, taking a hot shower, driving with the music on and radio up, praying, meditating, spending time with people (instead of pizza), and on and on.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 8. Talk About It

Who do you talk with about this stuff? When we keep things inside, it wells up, and then often overflows into unhealthy behaviors.

If you’ve never “talked about it,” consider making an appointment with a counselor, or scheduling a coffee talk with a trusted mentor to share what’s in your heart and on your mind.

Darkness loves to hide things and keep things stuck; freedom comes when we bring things to light.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 9. A New Way

Consider a new way of doing things. For instance, have you been struggling with food and yo-yo dieting for years?

Instead of trying another diet, perhaps try a “healthy living” challenge instead.

Commit to add one new healthy habit to your routine per week. Or, if you’ve tried the whole complete sugar-detox or “just don’t eat it at all” thing before, why not approach food with a new mentality?

Maybe try an “80/20” approach? Eighty percent of the time, you’re going to focus on fueling your body with real whole foods. Only 20% of the time have a “treat” or meal, but one that doesn’t completely derail your diet.

Get on Track With Your Food Relationship: 10. Get a Bikini Mindset

Have you tried “bikini body” challenges before? They are a dime a dozen. For that reason, I created the Bikini Mindset program, a program that will teach you the following over the course of thirty days:

• Intuitive eating and how to listen and trust yourself
• A sustainable approach to eating for life, rather than diets
• Tactics for developing a stronger mindset around food, fitness and your body
• Confidence in your ability to know what your body needs and wants
• How to genuinely love the skin you’re in—and rock that bikini

The Struggle is Real, But the Solutions Are At Hand

The struggle with food is real. But I hope I have given you a framework for re-thinking your own specific issues and how to get past them, and have passed along some ideas about how to move forward.

And remember, you don’t have to go it alone.

More on women and nutrition:

Does the Ketogenic Diet Work for Women?

The post Emotional Eating, Part Two: Get Over It and Do Something appeared first on Breaking Muscle.