It’s no surprise that our eating habits create who we are physically.

What you eat in private is what you wear in public!

Become the Hero in cultivating the eating habits right for you… I know a Guide that will take all the Guesswork Out.

Ask anyone that I coach through a successful Nutrition routine, and they’ll tell you that the simplicity of the system is essential.

There is no need to complicate the process of losing fat once you’ve made up your mind and have COMMITTED to making this promise to yourself.  There is no “Perfect Diet” or modification to your eating. As a matter of fact, the half-way decent diet you will STICK WITH is better than the “Perfect Diet” that you’re seeking and will never stick to.

This is simple enough that these 4 Starter Kit Steps are all you need to produce the fat loss results you FEEL you deserve. The idea is that it may start off as a “diet”, that turns into a habit, that becomes that lifestyle change. Here’s how you START.

I’ll have the proceeding 3 steps up and out within the next week. Best to find on YouTube.

Side Note: You’ve noticed that I’ve spent much less time on the how to’s and what to’s (what to eat, how to exercise, when’s the best time to do cardio, etc.) and have lately put more emphasis on digging deeper into the phyche of WHY you need greater health, fitness, and self-care in your life. Though, just in the event you’ve finally negotiated with yourself that the time has come to start making positive change in your nutrition… this will serve you well.

Every BODY deserves to feel Fitastic

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If improving your body composition is important to you, then protein intake must take a front seat in your daily eating habits.

Every person is unique with their needs of nutrition, but strategizing a plan to consume at least 1 gram of protein per body weight pound is a standard baseline to start. At least this is my target for my Coaching Clients. In fact, my clients will resonate hard with this because I discuss the benefits so much. Instead of putting emphasis on HOW much and WHAT proteins to eat, I’m delivering the WHY’s here in this message.

We know not all protein is created equal. However, we also know, I know, that most people are under consuming this valuable nutrient. Quality matters over quantity in the long run, but focusing on increasing protein consumption promptly will ignite the habits necessary to bring greater overall value to body & brain function, neurological feelings, and mindset.

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Ask 10 people for weight/fat loss advice, and you’ll get 10 different answers.  Work out constantly, set long-term goals, set short-term goals, etc…  But unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that nutrition is the catalyst for accelerating optimal fat loss, amongst other significant components.  Most of us have been following certain rules, or lack thereof, for how to shed pounds our entire lives.  But when the opportunity arises, folks just can’t help themselves in asking the local gym goer or Joe Diddy on the street, what is their recommendation to losing the unwanted lbs; as if there’s a magical unicorn they will glide them far away to a  tropical island to avoid any exertion toward the process; hoping and praying for a different answer.  Ultimately, we know what we need to do, we just don’t do what we know.  Is it difficult?  It can be.  Is it possible with small strategic habits that accrue over time?  Absolutely!  Just how much of what we have been told about weight loss is actually accurate?   Have you ever met the “I exercise every day, so I can eat whatever I want” person?  Would be nice, right?  Unfortunately, that may work for a small portion of genetic freaks out there, but that’s not how it works if you’re trying to lose weight, more specifically, lose fat.  Even though you burn calories and minimize fat cells when you exercise, it’s often not as much as you think or what the fancy bright colored cardio equipment display tells you.

Let’s move on to the “All calories are equal, so it doesn’t matter what I eat“ guy.  Is it realistic to say that 150 calories from a can of pop is the same as 150 calories from chicken?  A calorie, by its simplest definition, is a unit of energy.  However, the kind of calories the body gets will affect how efficiently people burn their body’s energy, which is a key factor for losing weight/fat and keeping it off.  It’s not that calories don’t matter, but the quality of the calories going in can drastically affect the number of calories going out.  Not to mention, how your body absorbs and assimilates these nutrients.

Finally the (more…)

Burning Calories while you sleep

We breathe every second of every day.  Our hearts perpetually pump blood, our bodies maintain constant body temperature, and many other involuntary functions are performed 24 hours a day.  These functions require calories to be expended, producing the energy our bodies need to survive.  Your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the minimum amount of calories necessary to survive in your most restful state.  Put another way, the BMR is the minimum amount of calories needed for a person to remain asleep all day.  It accounts for 60-75% of total calories on a daily basis.  Every individual’s BMR is different because no two people have exactly the same genetic blueprint, are the same age, height or weight, have the same daily activity level, have the same body composition, or are the same gender.   These personal factors assist in determining your individual BMR, and therefore help determine the amount of calories required to lose, maintain, or even gain weight.

Restrictive eating doesn’t work

Some determinants lower your basal metabolic rate while others raise it.  Unfortunately we lose muscle mass as we age, which lowers our BMR because muscle demands more calories than fat to maintain itself.  This is why resistance training is important to maintaining a healthy weight as we age.  Also, fasting and “extreme” diets that require drastic caloric reductions lower your BMR because your body is likely to go into a state of starvation and cannibalize itself when it doesn’t receive the necessary calories from the food you consume.  That’s right, your body will resource its own muscle tissue to get to the calories it needs to perform its required functions.  A gradual reduction of calories (or better yet, greater quality) and an increase in exercise long term is the most effective and proven method to properly lose weight and keep it off.

Start by knowing your current BMR to understand (more…)

Asparagus can sometime get a bad rap due to the unpleasant smell that it gives to certain bodily fluids.  Nasty, but true!  The truth is that asparagus is delicious, regardless of what some haters say.  In addition and more importantly, there are some incredible health benefits of asparagus, some of which you’re about to appreciate:

1. It keeps your bones healthy

A serving of asparagus contains an impressive 70% of your daily recommended dose of vitamin K.  This is fantastic news for your bones, because vitamin K is essential for keeping them strong and healthy.  It helps with bone repair and formation, and has been known to aid in the prevention of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

Asparagus is a commonly eaten vegetable and is well known for its unique, savory taste.

2. It assists with weight loss

A serving of asparagus contains roughly 10% of your daily fiber requirements.  This is important for weight loss because fiber helps to kick start your digestive system.  In addition, fiber helps you feel fuller for longer, so you’re less tempted to gorge yourself on food you don’t really need to consume.  Asparagus is also great for weight loss because it contains potassium, which has been known to help reduce belly fat.

3. It has anti-aging properties

Asparagus is rich in vitamin E, which is also a lipid-soluble antioxidant and therefore highly beneficial for your skin.  It helps to protect tissue cells from mediated oxidant injury, which basically means (more…)

High cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease and heart attacks. As a society we’ve been brainwashed to believe that we can only improve cholesterol with medications, but YOU can make a difference to improve your cholesterol by altering your lifestyle, try these noticeably significant healthy changes.

If medications are already apart of your daily intake, these changes will accelerate their cholesterol-lowering effect and in due time you can drop the meds altogether.

1. Eat heart-healthy foods

Even if you have years of unhealthy eating under your belt, making a few changes in your eating regimen can reduce cholesterol and improve your heart health.

Choose healthier fats.  Saturated fats, found primarily in red meat and dairy products, raise your total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the “bad” cholesterol.  As a general rule, you should get less than 7 percent of your daily calories from saturated fat.  Choose leaner cuts of meat, low-fat dairy and monounsaturated fats, found in olive and canola oils, for healthier options.

ELIMINATE trans fats.  Trans fats affect cholesterol levels by increasing the “bad” cholesterol and lowering the “good” cholesterol.  This bad combination increases the risk of (more…)

Here’s a No Brainer, short and sweet… Your Brain needs a constant amount of glucose (a form of energy derived primarily from the carbohydrates consumed) in order to function properly. When glucose (blood sugar) levels are low, you may begin to feel faint and dizzy, shaky and or irritable because your brain cells aren’t getting enough blood sugar, or energy. Your brain also needs carbohydrates, along with an amino acid (protein) called tryptophan to produce serotonin, a brain neurotransmitter that assists in you feeling less stress, less pain, and signals your body that you’re full.

You might be inclined to call it a vegetable, thanks to its green hue and savory taste, but the avocado is technically a fruit, and even more specifically, a single-seeded berry.

Fat for Fuel- Eat an ‪avocado‬ per day for amazing ‪‎benefits‬!!

BLOOD SUGAR HEALTH- Aids in regulating and stabilizing blood sugar.

EYE HEALTH- Contains lutein necessary to protect you from age-related eye degeneration.

HEART HEALTH- Provides oleic acid which improves the cardiovascular system. Also contains folic acid to control homocysteine levels.

IMMUNE SYSTEM BOOSTER- Contains antioxidant “glutathione” which boosts the body system.

WEIGHT LOSS- Contains more ‪‎fiber‬ than any other food and increases your satiety.

Also Avocados contains 35% more potassium than a banana. Eat up!

The FDA’s New Dietary Guidelines

The FDA has released its new proposed dietary guidelines for 2015. There was excitement, disappointment, anger, frustration and hope.  Here is a breakdown of what the FDA is saying now.

Cholesterol is no longer a villain. The 2010 guidelines suggested we should limit cholesterol from foods to no more than 300 milligrams daily. (A large egg has about 186 mg of cholesterol.) Experts now say cholesterol is ”not a nutrient of concern,” because cholesterol from foods doesn’t cause higher blood cholesterol levels.

What does this mean?

CHOLESTEROL NEVER WAS THE BAD GUY!! Remember each month eggs went from being a hero to the villain? There was so much fear over meat that American’s turned to carbs for substance. Carbs for breakfast, carbs for lunch and carbs for dinner, carbs for snacks, carbs, carbs, carbs. Now we as American’s are overweight. So we at Fitastic are hoping that people put down the carbs and pick up the turkey leg. Eat your meat, eat your eggs.

Too sweet. The link between excess sugar and weight gain is strong. Keep added sugars to less than 10% of total calories, or 200 calories from sugar on a 2,000-calorie a day diet. One teaspoon of sugar has 16 calories, and 13 teaspoons have 208 calories.

What does this mean?

That while we were all afraid of eating meat we ate sugar like it was going out of style.  Sugar on and in everything, doesn’t matter if it is fake or real sugar. Sugar is the cause of weight gains. The simple sugars in carbs and candy cause our insulin to spike which causes our bodies to store far. Put down the sugar my friends. Limit your diet soda intake; add cream to coffee instead of sugar. Check the labels on your food. You will be sadly surprised by how much fake (more…)