We live in a time where the quality of our foods decreasing, pollution is on the rise, we don’t cook at home, we aren't eating a balanced diet AND we are more stressed and getting less sleep than ever!
 
Daily supplements act as a way to “fill in the gaps” of our nutrition deficiencies, improve our immunity, help us with cravings and provide us with more energy, but in a store filled with supplements, how do we prioritize what’s the most important?
The last thing you want is to spend a ton of money on supplements just to have "expensive urine". You don't need all supplements and more (in dosage) isn't always better!
 
The goal of this post is to help you find the best supplements for you going with a minimalist approach. 
***Check with your doctor before taking any supplements. Some can create an adverse reaction if taken with other prescribed medication.***

TOP PRIORITY: These supplements are what I would consider the basics and "must haves". If you can't budget much right now, this is the place to start.
 
Whole Food Multivitamin: To ensure that the ingredients are coming from as close to nature as possible, choose a whole food multivitamin. Because the vitamins and minerals are coming from whole foods, these supplements contain the most complete sources of nutrients for your body and are also easy on the stomach. You can take them without food in the morning with no issues!
What to look for:

• Organic Ingredients to ensure quality
• NSF logo to ensure product and ingredient safety
• Multiple vitamins per day. There is no way to get in all of your daily requirements in one dose. The vitamin would have to be the size of an egg! One dose vitamins are typically synthetic and don’t give you all the nutrients you need to be healthy.

 
Omega 3 fatty acid/Fish Oil: Most of us don’t eat the required 2 meals per week of a fatty fish to get our Omega 3’s through foods. Vegetarian/Vegans have to plan carefully to get in Omegas from flax seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, winter squash and seaweed. We don’t just need Omega 3’s but also DHA, which are found in most fish and seaweed. Omega 3 with DHA has been shown to help with cardiovascular risks, metabolism/fat loss, hypertension, arthritis, stroke, prostate cancer prevention, and Alzheimer’s.
What to look for:

• Omega 3/EPA/DHA combo. We get in plenty of Omega 6 & 9, which can be harmful to our health in high doses.
• 200-300mg of DHA per capsule
• For fat loss, you can increase to .5g per % body fat

​GREAT ADDITIONS : If you have a little more to spend, these are also very important supplements to have. 
​
Glucosamine: If you are active and especially with high impact running, jumping, etc, glucosamine is a MUST! While it does take a few weeks to feel the effects, it has been shown to help with mild-moderate osteoarthritis.
What to look for:

• Chondrotin/MSM combo to aid in effectiveness

 
Vitamin D: This one is becoming more popular because we spend a lot of time indoors so we are becoming deficient. Vitamin D is vital to strong bones and teeth. It also helps with metabolism and weight loss. While the sun is the best way for us to absorb Vitamin D, supplements are sometimes needed if levels are really low
What to look for:

• GET TESTED. You can consume toxic levels of Vitamin D; so get tested from your doctor before starting this supplement

 
Green Superfood Powder: I would guess that over 90% of us do not consume the 9-10 servings of vegetables a day for ideal health. Also, I doubt we are also consuming some of the alkaline and sea vegetables that help with immunity and energy as well as neutralize free radiacals.
What to look for:

• Organic Ingredients
• High ORAC number
• 50% of volume coming from greens
• No soy lecithin
• A taste that you can tolerate

 

GOOD OPTIONAL ADDITIONS: Choose these based on what you feel you need. They are all great, but prioritize what you feel you're lacking first. 
 
B complex: Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12 help convert our food into fuel, allowing us to stay energized throughout the day, aid in concentration and memory as well as maintain a healthy metabolism.
What to look for:

• Not taking too much. Your body excretes extra B vitamins, so while its hard to overdose, you don’t want to waste your hard earned money

 
Glutamine: Glutamine is the most common amino acid found in your muscles. It helps with sugar and alcohol cravings, building lean muscle, improve athletic performance, muscle recovery, immunity and healing a leaky gut as well as a host of other benefits.
What to look for:

• No artificial sweeteners
• No fillers
• Take about 5g daily or more to help with sugar cravings and cortisol.

 
 
Protein Powder: Protein powder can help with increasing lean mass, helping to maintain a healthy weight, control cravings and act as a meal replacement when coupled with the right foods.
What to look for:

• No artificial sweeteners
• Grass fed cows
• Whey Casein mix if used as a meal replacement
• High quality whey isolate, or hydrolyzed
• No soy
• Lactose Free and Egg protein best for whey sensitivities
• Low sugar
• Low sodium

 

There you have it! Let me know if you have any questions, comments or concerns. 

If you're looking to improve your nutrition without giving up all of your favorite foods, let me coach you on how to meal plan and prep in a way that works for your family, budget, lifestyle and palate! 
Click here to schedule a chat: ​http://bit.ly/mixchat

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” 
-Hippocrates

Maan listen! 
This cold and flu season is knocking folks out!

Keeping yourself healthy by eating well, moving well, sleeping well and washing your hands like crazy helps to prevent you from getting sick, but sometimes even that isn't enough. This soup is one of my fav concoctions that has many properties that help boost immunity and can help clear up some symptoms if you do so happen to get sick.

Give this one a try. It's fragrant, filling and freaking delish!

Here's how the ingredients help:
-Coconut oil is antiviral and high in lauric acid and is thought to be able to dissolve the lips coating around some viruses.
-Ginger is an anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial which helps to get rid of sore throats and fights cold causing viruses and helps to boost immunity.
-Mushrooms have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal properties that help to boost immunity
-Lemongrass is another anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal 
-Cumin helps to strengthen immunity and help with colds and cough
-Garlic is an antimicrobial, antifungal and antibacterial food that also acts as a decongestant and expectorant
-Turmeric is a powerful antioxidant that strengthens the immune system
-Bone broth helps to break down mucus 
-Coconut milk acts similar to the coconut oil
-Bok Choy is high in Vitamin A that works to boost the immune system and is also high in Vitamin C which is an antioxidant that shields the body from free radicals
-Kale is full of iron and is another great source of vitamins and antioxidants 
-Red pepper flakes help to clear mucus
WHEW! Isn't that A LOT?!
Add noodles if you wish, I wanted to bulk the soup up more.

You’ve decided that you want to get serious and committed to your goals of achieving a body that you look great naked in.
 
You are dialing in your nutrition and you are seeing results. You’ve decided to stop doing the elliptical for an hour 5 days a week and start strength training.
You decide to start seeing what others in the gym are doing.
The next day while on the elliptical (we’ve got to spy okay?), you have a perfect view of the weights area.
First, you don’t see a lot of women over there. You see more of them doing cardio with you or on the machines floor.
Then you see this one woman. Ohmygah, she looks amazing! She’s really lean and has a 6 pack! “She has to be a figure competitor”, you think. You lock in on her. She’s going back and forth working her chest and triceps (chest press, rope triceps, chest fly, triceps kickbacks). “Cool”, you think, “I’ll do that”.
Then another woman walks over to the weights area. She also looks amazing and strong. She’s lean, but not as lean as the other woman. She also has a 6 pack and looks really balanced. This woman walks over to the squat rack and starts doing pushups, then barbell squats. Then she does rows and a barbell deadlift. Holy crap she’s sweating like crazy and working hard!
 
Now you’re confused. You have two women with equally amazing bodies doing different types of workouts. What should you do?
You just want to lose some body fat and look good in a swimsuit.
Sound familiar-ish?
 
 
I’m here to help you out.
 
If you are looking to lose body fat, get in shape and look good in a swimsuit, total body workouts like woman #2 are your friend.
Here’s why total body workouts with compound movements are best:
 

1. You burn more calories. Because you are working many muscle groups at once with compound movements (ex squat, pushup), you’re going to burn more calories than just doing bicep curls or even chest presses alone.
2. You don’t have to workout as much. When you do total body workouts, you can easily get away with strength training only 2x a week. You can’t do that with split workouts because you need to hit muscle groups at least 2 times to get the benefits of muscle growth and strength. Most who do split muscle workouts go to the gym 5-6 times a week (chest/tri, back/bi, legs, abs then 1-2 more workouts on their trouble groups) While you can work a muscle one time a week, you’d have to have a lot of volume and intensity in that one workout to make it last. When you’re going for fat loss, this isn’t the most efficient way to do things.
3. Workouts take less time. When you do compound total body workouts, you can easily get in a great workout in 15-30min. Whereas with split muscle workouts (chest, tris one day, bicep and back another), it takes longer to effectively work individual muscle groups.
4. You burn more fat. With doing compound exercises 2-3 times per week you tax your muscles more which also leads to burning more fat as your body has more times to recover from the tough workout
5. It mimics everyday life more. In everyday life, we use our body as a whole. Look at any athlete or person who just wants to be able to function better, as they get older. Doing things like squats, deadlifts and rotational exercises are mimic every day life and teach your body to work together including your core more than doing incline bicep curls ever will.
6. You won’t have to do much (or as much) cardio. Total body workouts are TOUGH. Whenever I have male clients, they hate them because they are physically taxing and so different than they are used to working out (split groups). Because of this, your heart rate stays elevated for a longer period of time and you are exerted more which means that you don’t have to do the long cardio as much to burn calories like you would with split muscle workouts.

 
So long story short, if you are looking to lose 20+ pounds, want to decrease body fat faster, are short on time to workout per session or number of workouts per week, want to have a more athletic body, and are even newer to exercise, total body workouts are best for you.
 
Now that doesn’t mean that split muscle workouts don’t have a place.
 
These workouts were made popular by body builders and figure competitors/fitness models that are looking for more focused and specific muscle and strength gains. These are the folks that typically are at their body fat goal, but they are looking for symmetry, body shaping, and really hone in on their trouble spots.
If you would like to mix things up, you can easily do 2 times of full body workouts and then have another workout focused on 1-2 muscle groups that you want to hone in on.
Remember, you won’t see those muscles to their fullest extent until you get rid of the body fat covering them, so be sure to get your nutrition down and add in some (but not a ton of) cardio.
 

It's easy to set a healthy habit (or any habit), it's not even that bad to start that habit, but to KEEP the habit going forever? Yeah, that's a different beast.

In this video you'll find out WHY it's so hard as well as the ONE thing you can do to make your healthy habit last... (Spoiler at the bottom)


Here are a few of the tips mentioned at the end of the video:

• Create a playlist for the gym of your favorite songs 
• Watch your favorite show while doing cardio
• Invite a friend over to meal prep together (include music and a nice bottle of wine)
• "Healthify" your favorite non-healthy meals






• If you're ready to take the next step and accelerate your progress with coaching, let's chat! 
  Either click on the "Get Started" button above or click on the link here http://bit.ly/mixchat for a no-obligation call where we solve your biggest problem together and chat about a program that works for your budget, lifestyle and goals! bit.ly/mixchat