By Christine Fitzgerald, Regional Director of Nutrition
Discover Your “Why” and Stick to It
The power of your why — your true motivation — is what drives you forward. When we seek change, we do so with a very specific reason in mind. Until you’ve set your why, you’ll continue to abandon any path to better your health. But once you find your why, you’ll realize that the HOW is doable! You will begin to believe that you deserve and are worthy of having the body, the lifestyle, and the great health you crave and you’ll take action to get it.
Rethink Calories
The most powerful tool you have to change your health is your fork. Food isn’t just calories; food contains messages that tells your genes to turn on or off, affecting their function moment-to-moment. Additionally, not all calories are created equal. A Twinkie has 150 calories, but so do 22 almonds. Therefore, it’s about the quality of the calories consumed. This is the key to optimizing mitochondria and metabolism.
Eat Healthy Fats
Look for healthy fats such as avocado, coconut oil, grass-fed butter, MCT oil, and grass-fed meats. Incorporating these fats in your diet will teach your body to take the fat stored in your body and burn it for energy production.
Remove and stay away from processed vegetable oils like canola, soy, safflower, vegetable oil, and margarine. Why? Because they’re unstable. They go rancid when heated to high temperatures, which makes them oxidize and, in turn, causes inflammation (due to high levels of Omega-6 fatty acids) and weight gain. Furthermore, they contain pesticides and solvents — stuff you definitely don’t want in your body. Vegetable oils come from GMOs sprayed with glyphosate, commonly known as Round-Up, the weed killer you use in your yard.
Reset Your Leptin
If levels of leptin, your satiety-regulating hormone, become elevated by fructose and white flour foods, your body will develop a resistance to this hormone, yielding a slow metabolism and stubborn weight!
Get Rid of Toxins
Mold specifically! Mold is the No. 1 killer of mitochondria, the powerhouses in your cells that control energy and fat burn. One way to start getting rid of toxins in your body is to stop drinking coffee, which is notoriously high in mold. If you have ever gotten headaches, acid reflux, the jitters, or have suffered an energy crash after drinking coffee, it’s because of the mold and not the brew itself.
If you just can’t live without your morning cup of joe, choose coffee that’s low in mold content. Pick arabica beans over robusta and stay away from blends because although they may taste nice, there’s no way of telling where the different bean varieties came from. If all else fails, order an Americano, as steam is an agent that can help break down toxins.
Intermittent Fasting
IF (short for intermittent fasting) is simply going a certain amount of time without eating, ranging from just a couple of hours to an entire day. This method of resetting the body has been around for thousands of years for one very good reason: It’s a wonderful weight loss strategy. Think about it — when you eat food, the body burns up that energy food. If you never stop eating (eating six times a day, for example), when and how will the body dip into the fat stores in your belly? It never gets the chance. That said, don’t just dive headfirst into fasting. Consult with your physician to see if it’s something that can benefit you.
Meet Christine Fitzgerald
Christine Fitzgerald is a two-time published author, a certified nutritionist, and holds a Master’s in Nutrition. Christine specializes in hormone education, testing, and balance; weight management; athletic performance; and recovery. She holds quarterly nutrition seminars across all ClubSport clubs.
