Steps to a Healthier You (Step 2)

Step 2. Balance both your menu, and your body.

Add in some mobility and stability exercises.

Nutrition: Make sure you’re eating enough protein and healthy fat. These

macronutrients are essential to our survival. Our bodies require 9 essential amino acids to build everything from neurotransmitters to muscles to connective tissue. It is recommended to get approximately 0.7-1.0g of protein per pound of body weight, depending on your goals and body composition. Fat is important for hormonal health and thermal regulation, we use it as a fuel source, and it also helps absorb fat soluble vitamins (which is why you want to add a healthy fat to your vegetables to get all the nutrient goodness).

Fitness: Add some mobility work and corrective exercises. If you want your body to move the way its supposed to, you have to practice moving your mobile joints (ankle, hip, thoracic spine, and shoulders) through their entire range of motion. Work on any weaknesses you have...maybe your hips are tight, or you can’t reach your arms up over your head. Practice these moves. Also, we ALL have imbalances in our bodies. Work on correcting foundational movements by working muscles that are weak (usually our glutes, lats and rhomboids with some other little muscles of the shoulder, core...). It depends on your job, whether or not you're picking up kids all day, how you routinely move and what compensations your body has made for weaker muscle groups. You can do all of these at home with very little equipment!

Tips for Implementation:

Recommended proteins: Eggs (yolks are not "bad", eat them), meat, and dairy (if you can tolerate dairy). Try to vary the types of meat you usually make. Use beef, pork, poultry, all types of fish, lamb, whatever you like! Plain greek yogurt has double the amount of protein as the flavored kinds, so add your own nut butter and berries for some flavor. If you’re vegetarian, get your chickpeas, nuts, and legumes. Try to get some at every meal and at least one snack.

Recommended fats: Olive oil, avocado, seeds (I've been using hemp, pumpkin and chia seeds, but there's lots of options), grass fed butter, olives, animal fats and fatty fish, coconut oil.

**As you can see there is some overlap, some proteins have a good amount of healthy fat and vice versa. Be careful with portions when using fats (cough peanut butter cough) only because they are 9 cal/g (proteins and carbs are 4 cal/g) so just be mindful.**

Mobility and Corrective work: It's always beneficial to work with a personal trainer or physical therapist if you have joint issues, but if you know you need to work on hip mobility and stability (maybe you have knee pain or lower back issues) the 90/90 hip mobility stretch is a great start. Shoulders are tight? Try a wall slide. Do some rotational work for your thoracic spine (twist your torso). Move in all planes. Finding a good yoga video will probably be a good start. Try to add this in to your daily routine, 5-10 mins a day along with your NEAT from week 1 is a great start to moving better, feeling better and looking great! Check out my facebook page for some mobility videos. If you need help, reach out! I'm happy to get you moving!

Keep up the great work and I'll be back for step 3...I hope you will be, too!