Last week I posted this blog about the very first thing we must do to begin achieving our goals, and that thing is simply to have awareness. Without awareness, we cannot change anything.
We can’t eat fewer calories until we are aware of how many we are currently consuming. We cannot get stronger until we know how much weight we are are capable of squatting, benching or deadlifting now. We cannot quit succumbing to cravings until we have a full grasp of what we are craving, when and why, etc.
Well, once we have awareness, we can change. So the next two things our bodies need from us in order to lose fat are this:
- We need to reduce inflammation.
One of the main triggers that can create inflammation in the body is a lack of sleep. Lack of sleep disrupts hormones, decreases recovery, starves your brain, puts you in a bad mood, and a host of other major issues. Without sound sleep your body cannot function to the level it should so you may experience more cravings, hunger, pain and a plethora of other terrible side affects. (If you want to learn more about what sleep does for us, listen to my podcast with sleep expert Dr. Bernstein here.)
One of the other major triggers for inflammation is food. There are two major players that increase inflammation in most bodies and those are sugar and polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially when heated. Sugar increases inflammation in the body. I’m not saying you cannot eat sugar ever, but keeping your refined sugar intake low is a good idea. As for PUFA’s, eating foods that contain or are cooked in vegetables oils like soybean, canola, corn, etc (see full list here) are terrible for you and are known to cause inflammation in the body. Avoiding the foods that have vegetable oil and not eating fried foods can be massively helpful to not increase inflammation in the body.
Other foods that may cause inflammation are truly dependent on the individual. Some of the foods I look to are generally gluten, dairy, nightshades, beans and legumes. But this is highly dependent upon the person because gut irritation varies person to person.
Alcohol is another big inflammation promoting thing we consume. So limiting that.
Environmental toxins may promote inflammation. Some of these may include BPA’s (found in plastic), teflon, glyphosate (pesticide sprayed on produce), parabens/ phthalates/ triclosan (found in cosmetic and household products.)
Doing too much cardio or constantly being on the go, can promote inflammation.
And finally, mental and emotional stress can increase inflammation in the body.
So not only do we want to work to limit these things, we also want to decrease inflammation in our bodies by omitting these environmental and food stressors, getting more sleep and increasing time spent in a parasympathetic state each day.
Doing things like breathwork, meditation, nature walking, petting our dogs, practicing yin-style yoga and journaling can also decrease inflammation as simply being in a parasympathetic state does so much for the body.
As for what inflammation is, think of it like this.. if you sprain your ankle, your ankle swells up, right? That inflammation is part of the healing process. If we consume a lot of sugar or have a couple rough nights’ with little sleep, our body will fight back with inflammation so as to heal itself, and that’s okay. But when it’s chronic, that is when bigger issues can begin.
And to tie this back into awareness, we cannot change our exposure environmental toxins, for example, until we look at the products we are using. Or we cannot change our sleep habits until we are aware of how much sleep we are getting currently.
2. We also need to create the habit of daily movement if we want to achieve our health and fitness goals.
When I coach a new client, in the beginning I care far more about if they do formal activity each day than I do how much weight they use when they are doing lunges.
For example, I began working with a new client when Corona Virus had everything fully shut down and she had nothing but a yoga mat. So I had her go for a 30+ minute walk Mon/ Wed/ Fri and Tues/Thur/ Sat I had her do a yoga class on YouTube. I cared more about her creating the habit and structure of a formal daily workout than I did the details. Not to mention, just going for a walk can help increase flexibility, strength and cardiovascular function.
So if we are in the habit of doing a formal activity each day for 20-40 minutes, it will then become easier to get into the details of what days lifting weights will happen, what body parts will be trained, etc. Yes, I believe every person on the planet should lift weights, but that detail will come in a later blog.
So if you need help doing either of these things, I want to help you!
When you work 1:1 with me I will help you decrease inflammation in your body and help you get into the routine of daily formal fitness. We do this through my 12 week program #Commit2Fit, which is currently open for enrollment.
Go to Commit2FitCoaching.com to join!
Your Coach,
Kyra