Chances are that I don't need to be the one to tell you that diets suck! Chances are you're also one of the infinite people that has tried a diet, got some short term results then reverted back to old habits.

According to Dr. Mark Hyman, functional medicine doctor, Director of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine and New York Times bestselling author of “Ultrametabolism” and “Ultrawellness” (both amazing reads might I add)  most diets predictably fail because of 5 reasons... 
 

1. You try to exercise your willpower to control your appetite instead of understanding there is a science behind hunger
   
2. Your focus is too much on counting calories
   
3. Your diet consists of all low-fat foods
   
4. Your weight is actually affected by hidden reasons that require medical attention
   
5. You lack a solid health and weight loss plan to guide you on your journey  

Dr Hyman also says that when the average dieter loses weight, they lose muscle AND fat. 
 
But once they regain the weight, they gain back only the fat… which will ultimately slow down your metabolism (this is BAD news!)

 
How can I succeed with my health without dieting? 
 
 Here are 5 success tips that will keep you in peak health without dieting:
 

1. Eat enough whole fresh food to satisfy your appetite (your body will be less hungry because it’s fully nourished)
   
2. Eat protein for breakfast to boost your energy for the day
   
3. Eat your last meal three hours before bedtime to give your system time to digest before sleep
   
4. Make low-glycemic foods your diet staple such as nuts, seeds, chicken and fish so your blood sugar stays level
   
5. Eat good fats at every meal such as avocado, nuts, seeds and olive oil (healthy fats are your friend, not your enemy)

 
What do I do now?
 
In my health coaching practice, I help my clients learn how to lose weight, gain energy and feel better than ever… without dieting. This is huge!!

We work to address behaviours that are counterproductive to their health so they can learn to instil healthier habits THAT LAST!
 
If you want to take control of your health the right way and make a commitment to being the healthiest and happiest version of yourself, then contact us today to book your complimentary Belly Fat Loss Breakthrough session. These sessions take place over the phone so you can be in the comfort of your own home if you wish - wearing Ugg boots!

Dedicated to your health and happiness!
Mick

Emotional hunger means you turn to food either to avoid uncomfortable emotions or to heighten pleasurable ones. It means you eat based on how you feel instead of what your body needs.

Examples of emotional hunger (FEELINGS):
● Eating for comfort or out of loneliness or sadness
● Eating from boredom
● Eating to try to soothe anxious or depressed feelings
● Eating to fill an aching heart

Whereas physical hunger means you eat when your body signals to you that you are in fact, hungry. And it means that you stop eating when you are satisfied and before you are uncomfortably full.

Examples of physical hunger (SENSATIONS):
● Stomach growls and gets that hollow hungry sensation
● Body feels weak and energy goes down
● Blood sugar gets low and you feel shaky
● You feel lightheaded or faint

So what will learning to listen to my body do for me?

It will free you from being a slave to food! What that means for you is that you’ll feel more in control of your eating and less dependent on food to “help” your moods and emotions.

By listening to your physical hunger signals, you can determine how hungry or full you really are. With practice, you’ll be able to pinpoint where your body is at any given moment.

By doing so, you will train yourself to stop eating BEFORE you are too full and to not turn to food when you are not actually hungry but are in fact bored, upset, anxious or depressed.

Because everyone knows that’s a vicious cycle… so let me show you how to end that cycle and have some fun while doing it! Enter… the Hunger Game!


How do I play the Hunger Game?
This is a super simple, helpful game that you can play all by yourself even in a busy restaurant!

Here’s how you play the Hunger Game:
● See if you can be the slowest eater at the table — no one has to know you’re playing or that you’re trying to win the Hunger Game
● Periodically check in with yourself throughout your meal and honour when you’re energised and satiated by completing the meal
● Use an end-of-meal ritual, like putting your knife and fork together or pushing your plate away from you

In my health coaching practice, I help my clients learn to tell the difference between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Together, we come up with a plan to help you keep identifying the difference so you can lose weight naturally and double your energy.

​If you think you may be engaging in emotional eating and you don’t know how to change it, then touch base with me today and we can arrange a complimentary Discovery Session to see how we can help.

More pleasure from your food = more satisfaction from food = less food required to achieved desired state = better health and fat loss!

Researchers have estimated that as much as 30-40% of our digestive response to a meal is due to the Cephalic Phase Digestive Response or ‘CPDR’.

So what exactly is CPDR and why is it important?

CPDR simply put means that the thought, sight and smell of food stimulates gastric secretions to prepare for the digestion of food even before you have taken your first bite and that much of the pleasure of eating is derived from this anticipation – derived from our senses.

The way your brain works is that it must experience this pleasure and satisfaction from the thought of food even before eating in order to signal to your body to stimulate digestive juices.

BUT if you eat too fast (this is SOOOOO common) or absentmindedly while multitasking (again very common), your brain will interpret this unsatisfying experience as hunger. So even if you’ve just wolfed down a huge meal, you may still feel hungry!

So no more shoving fork-loads of unidentifiable mounds into your mouth while watching mind-numbing TV or eating yesterday’s leftovers while trolling through Facebook. The point is to give your undivided attention to the food on your plate and you will be amazed at the results!

So what will eating sensually actually do for me?

Basically, the more AWARENESS and PRESENCE you bring to each meal, the LESS you’ll need to eat. AND the less AWARENESS and PRESENCE you bring to each meal, the MORE you’ll need to eat.

For example:
If you’re so busy gobbling down chips that by the time you get to the crumbs at the bottom of the bag you can’t even remember what flavor they were, then you’re foregoing 30-40% of your digestive power, decreasing nutrient absorption and slowing down your metabolism.

Plus because of CPDR your brain still WANTS to eat because it craves the full sensual experience of eating.

So if you aren’t engaging CDPR, the brain registers HUNGER, saying “Wait! I didn’t eat! I want more!”—even if you’ve eaten an entire bag of chips!

How do I eat sensually?
Sight: Savour the colours of your food; the beauty of what the earth has provided you to eat.
Smell: Bring the food up to your nose as if you’ve never smelled it before and inhale.
Touch: What’s the texture of your food? Of your utensils? Of the napkin on your lap?
Environment: What environment are you creating for yourself when you eat? Candles or fluorescent light? Special china or paper plates? A crystal goblet or plastic cup?
​Texture: Chew your food about 20 times per bite and notice the texture of the food…let yourself breathe while chewing.
Pamper Yourself: You may be wondering who are you to pamper yourself? And I ask you: who are you NOT to pamper yourself? So buy that special ingredient to make your meal extra tasty 

Sensual eating may sound like a whacky sort of airy – fairy approach but in my Health Coaching practice I have seen clients eliminate digestive issues, decrease tummy bloat and lose body fat simply by applying some of the principles.

Why is Wheatgrass a superfood?

Wheatgrass is a superfood because of its powerful concentrated liquid nutrient content. What this means is that drinking just 60ml of wheatgrass has the same nutrient value as 2.3kg of organic raw vegetables!

So it pumps your body with high doses of essential vitamins, nutrients, enzymes and antioxidants to keep you feeling your healthiest and most alive. And it also detoxes your liver and blood.

A shot of wheatgrass at your local healthy juice bar is one of the best energy boosts you can find on the go!


So what exactly will this superfood do for me?

​Wheatgrass has more Vitamin A than carrots and more Vitamin C than oranges as well as all the B Vitamins and magnesium, phosphorous, potassium and sodium to name a few.

It helps to detoxify and rid the body of heavy metals and other toxins in your organs and tissue. And because it is so high in chlorophyll, which is a highly concentrated version of the sun’s energy, it’s like injecting yourself with golden liquid sunshine, except… it’s green.

Popular question – Is wheatgrass gluten-free if it’s called “wheatgrass”?

Yes it is! Because the juice is extracted from wheatgrass sprouts before the wheat seed begins to form, it is considered gluten-free!

Clients have found that drinking wheatgrass a few times a week helps to:
● Cleanse their bodies of toxins leaving them feeling lighter and healthier
● Speeds up slow digestion
● Regulates blood sugar levels and stabilizes energy
● Eases gastrointestinal inflammation
● Neutralizes environmental pollutants in the body
● Cleanses the body of heavy metals
● Protects from carcinogens
● Floods the body with Vitamins A, B and C

How do I get this magic superfood into my diet?

You can buy wheatgrass in either a powder or liquid form—whichever best suits your needs.
1. Local juice bars often have wheatgrass as an “extra” – go for it!!
2. You can add wheatgrass to smoothies to add that superfood hit
3. You can just add to water and have first thing in the morning 

​Want to know more about optimising your diet for better health?
In my Health Coaching practice I help clients upgrade the level of nutrients in their diets…. and in their lifestyles! 

We all know that suffering from digestive problems such as gas, bloating, reflux, stomach cramps, diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome or inflammatory bowel disease can seriously hinder our daily functioning and make us miserable.

Your gastrointestinal (GI) tract acts as your body’s food processor and if it’s blocked, overloaded, polluted with toxins such as food additives, pesticides and preservatives, or otherwise irritated, it is going to let you know how it feels by having one of the reactions listed above.

Your GI tract first breaks down your food by the mechanical process of chewing and then by a multitude of complex chemical processes that extracts nutrients to feed your system and expel toxins.

The best way to ensure that we are helping make it easy for our bodies to digest our food is to chew A LOT so that our food mixes with our digestive juices so it can be easily digested and better absorbed for optimal nutrition.

The saying “we are what we eat” is more appropriately said as – “we are what we absorb”

So what is my best kept secret to better digestion?

CHEWING!

Believe it or not chewing is one of the most important aids to our digestion and it’s also one we often take for granted so much so that we sometimes just swallow our food whole, forgetting to grind our teeth altogether!
Learning how to chew your food properly (up to 30 times per bite for certain foods like steak; obviously less for softer foods – but the key is to ensure your food is a paste-like consistency before swallowing) will help you extract the maximum nutrients from your food and get your digestive juices flowing right AND help keep your weight down and your tummy flat.

How? Because if you eat healthy food packed with nutrients that you chew properly with each bite, you will be able to recognize once you feel full and you will therefore eat less!

My clients find that learning how-to chew helps to:
● Sense intuitively when you are full
● Gain way more satisfaction from eating
● Develop a healthier relationship with food

How to chew better for optimal digestion:

To get in the habit of chewing, try chewing each bite of food at the beginning of your next meal 20-30 times. (Putting your fork down and breathing between bites will help.)

Even if you only have 5 minutes for a meal, let the chewing relax you and use it almost as a meditation. That way you’ll enjoy the whole spectrum of tastes and aromas that make up the meal, trigger cephalic phase digestion, and your body and brain will be satisfied even with a quickie.

In my health coaching practice, I help clients understand why they eat in a rush and forget to chew, and we come up with a how-to guide for using eating and nutrition to enhance your health that is easy to implement and turns eating into a whole new enjoyable experience.

I had a client practise this over a 3 week period and she felt less bloated, increased her energy and flattened her tummy by 3cm!
Get chewing!!!

Mick here to help you learn what mindful eating is all about and how it can help you keep your weight down.

But first, why am I talking about eating mindfully anyway?

Good question!

In the modern world we eat for convenience rather than for nutrition. We eat for instant gratification rather than long-term health benefits.

Can you imagine learning a new way of slow eating in which you actually get to experience the tastes and textures of your food rather than wolfing it down in a hurry or snacking on the go? I can help you to learn to slow down and eat mindfully! I can help you to see the food you eat as medicine that not only nourishes your whole system, but also tastes delicious!

So what is mindful eating?

Mindful eating means taking the time to honour your food by choosing high quality, real food, preparing it with care and eating it slowly and mindfully using your five senses to really enjoy it.

It means allocating quiet time to prepare and enjoy eating your meal without rushing or multitasking at the same time. Mindful eating is a way of saying to yourself: “I respect my body enough to be mindful of what I put into it and of the way I eat.” Think of this type of eating as a meditation. It means choosing to be present with your food and the way you eat it.

My clients find that eating mindfully helps to:
● Sense intuitively when you are full
● Gain much more satisfaction from eating
● Develop a healthy relationship with food
● See food as medicine
● Discover new tastes and textures
● Improve digestion (less gas and bloating)
● Regulate bowel movement
● Discover food sensitivities
● Create healthy habits and enhance energy

How will I know if it’s time for me to learn to eat mindfully?

It’s time for you to practice mindful eating if you answer “YES” to any of these questions:
● You get bloated after eating
● You scoff down your food like there is no tomorrow
● You eat just to feel full not to enjoy the tastes
● You eat to numb out
● You want to learn to enjoy healthy food
● You feel bloated easily
● You gain weight easily
● You crave sugar or starchy foods
● You have difficulty focusing or foggy brain
● You feel lethargic after eating
● You have allergies or hay fever
● You feel addicted to eating foods that aren’t healthy for you but you can’t stop
● You tend to gain weight easily, especially in your belly
● You have extra kilos that won’t come off with diet and exercise

What do I do now?

In my health coaching practice, I help clients discover what triggers them to overeat or binge eat. Then I lead them through a step-by-step process to learn how to incorporate mindful eating and to learn what to eat for their unique body type.
If you answered “YES” to any of the symptoms above, and would like learn more or schedule a free Discovery Session please inbox me.
​
I’ll help you understand what’s blocking you from eating mindfully and I’ll show you how to get started.

Stress sucks!!!

Stress WILL find you! There is no question about it. But it is your job to learn to deal with it and find AND IMPLEMENT ways to relax.

Stress is believed to be the single biggest cause of all disease and lifestyle challenges including: heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cravings, chronic dieting, compulsive / binge eating and body image issues – Mark Hyman: The Blood Sugar Solution

Stress and some of its harmful effects on the body:
– Plays a significant role in blood sugar imbalance
– Triggers insulin resistance
– Elevates both cortisol and cholesterol levels
– Decreases nutrient absorption
– Promotes weight gain around your belly
– Decreases healthy gut bacteria
– Increases inflammation
– Inhibits metabolic efficiency (I.E. slows metabolism)
– Contributes to mental health issues
– May ultimately cause full-blown diabetes
– Increased oxidative stress leading to premature aging
– Increases the risk of osteoporosis

How we deal with stress dictates the length and perhaps more importantly, the quality of our lives. Reducing or coping with stress required habit change and below we outline some ways to manage it:

5/5/7 BREATHES
The trigger for the relaxation response is the breath. When you take a deep breath you stimulate the vagus nerve. 

Using controlled, conscious and deliberate deep breathing aids in resetting your metabolism, lowering cortisol and regulating your appetite. Sit up comfortably on a chair or on the ground and close your eyes. Breath in slowly through your nose to the count of 5, hold for a count of 5 and exhale for a count of 7. Do this 10 times. If you do this before meals, you will de-stress your nervous system, and your digestion and metabolism will function more efficiently.

JOURNALING
The simple act of writing down your experiences and feelings in an unfiltered way has been proven to reduce stress and double the results of any weight loss behaviour-change program.

Journaling is one of the most effective ways to break the cycle of mindless eating and process your thoughts and emotions in a proactive, healthy way rather than stuff them down with bad foods and bad habits.

VISUALISATION
By visualising a peaceful place or previous experience we are able to distract the mind and “escape” from our negative thoughts and stress. This can be done anywhere at any time and can be hugely helpful in stressful situations.

LAUGHTER
When it comes to stress laughter really is the best medicine. Laughter releases our feel good hormone serotonin. Furthermore, endorphins secreted by laughter can help when people are feeling depressed or uncomfortable.

MEDITATION
Meditation comes in a variety of forms of which I won’t go into here as I’d be writing for days! I encourage you however, to do your own research as meditation is something I am a HUGE advocate for. I have been meditating every morning for almost a year now to deal with the stress and anxiety that come with life, running your own business etc, and I have noticed a huge difference in how I go about my day both in a work and family setting.

HERBS 
Herbs such as Ginseng, Rhodiola root extract and ashwagandha have all been widely used to help people deal with stress. Lavender is also another common one often used in diffusers to help promote relaxation and alleviate stress.

“FLOW ACTIVITIES”
Flow activities are a term I use to describe any activity that when performed you “lose yourself” and find that you are present and in the moment. These will vary from person to person and may require some trial and error. Some examples may include: taking a bath; going for a walk; surfing; doing yoga; getting a massage; reading a book; meditating; cooking; gardening… the list really does goes on and on.

EXERCISE
Move your body!! Exercise is often a “Flow activity” (see above) for a lot of people. It also has a huge number of health benefits, positively impacting upon stress both mentally and physiologically.

​CONNECTING WITH FRIENDS  / LOVED ONES
Love, safety and belonging are three things that we are programmed to crave. Often the simple act of connecting with loved ones is enough to decrease our stress response and put us in a more relaxed, positive frame of mind.

Righto…

It’s cold and you want to smash out an effective home workout that’s going to burn as much fat as possible…

Here is a beauty!!
All you will need is a mat or towel, seat or step and a skipping rope.

Time ~
00:00-01:00 Star jumps
01:01-02:00 8 squats / 8 push ups (repeat for the minute)
02:01-03:00 Mountain climbers
03:01-04:00 8 lunges / 8 dips (repeat for the minute)
04:01-05:00 Burpees
05:01-06:00 8 sit up / 8 glute raise (repeat for the minute)
06:01-07:00 Skipping
07:01-08:00 8 squat jumps / 8 plank to hover (repeat for the minute)
08:01-09:00 Star jumps
09:01-10:00 8 step ups / 8 shuffles (repeat for the minute)
10:01-11:00 Mountain climbers
11:01-12:00 8 plank lateral jumps / 8 frog hop (repeat for the minute)
12:01-13:00 Burpees
13:01-14:00 8 reverse crunches / 8 prone T-twists (repeat for the minute)
14:01-15:00 Skipping

>>> Take a well-earned breather!!!
Congrats.

### For a 2 week free trial at either of our following programs inbox us your best contact number (new clients only)
1) Bootcamp
2) Ladies 12 week Fat Loss Program
Sessions held in Kahibah and Adamstown.

So you’re training your arse off and you’re eating all the right stuff yet the scales still won’t budge… How frustrating!

There are a number of factors that could be at play some of which include:
* Your hormones are out of whack
* Your gut biome is toxic
* You’re not digesting food properly
* You are sensitive to some of the foods you may be consuming
* Your stress levels are through the roof
* You’re actually not eating and training as well as you may think you are
* You’re not getting enough sleep

In this article I will be touching on lack of sleep.

When you are sleep deprived your stress hormone cortisol spikes and this mimics the blood sugar roller coaster. This can lead to a whole host of issues such as weight gain, diabetes, heart attack, high blood pressure, osteoporosis, depression, decreased immunity and the list unfortunately goes on and on.

Lack of sleep also increases the hunger hormone “ghrelin” which signals to your body the need to eat and also increases cravings. This is a dangerous combo!
One great strategy to help ensure you get a good night sleep is known as the “Power Down Hour” (HCI, 2018). An hour before you go to bed follow the same calming ritual to prepare for this crucial part of your day – rest and recovery. This stage of your day is SO important yet so frequently overlooked and undervalued. 

Our body is also programmed with our circadian rhythms to rest between 10pm – 6am. Obviously everyone can’t necessarily sleep between these hours but that is the ideal time for R&R so if you can get the majority of your zzzzzzzz’s in that window that is optimal.

Here are some ways in which you can enhance your sleep:

Go to bed and wake at the same time: Just like babies, when we are on a sleep schedule our body becomes accustomed to that and it is easier to create that subconscious routine of sleep

Avoid screen time before bed: This is a tough one for a lot of people as they feel the need to scroll through other people’s lives on Facebook right up until they go to sleep. Also avoiding the TV and computer as these emit light that will increase cortisol and the stress response on the body

Create total darkness and quiet: This creates the ideal conditions for sleep

Create a sleep-promoting environment: If your bedroom is cluttered and contains a lot of random items (even decorative things), this can create a cluttered / chaotic environment which isn’t conducive to optimum sleep

Avoid caffeine and alcohol: I have spoken to many people that say they can have a cup of coffee just before bed and get a good night’s sleep. Yes they may fall asleep but they will not get into the deep sleep cycle required for optimal rest and recovery. The same applies for alcohol.

Get enough Vitamin D: Ensuring you get some natural light each day releases chemicals and hormones such as melatonin that are vital to healthy sleep

Eat no closer than 2 hours before bed: Again this can be a difficult one pending work hours etc but if you eat close to bed time your body needs to spend time digesting foods with very little calorie expenditure and this hinders the overnight detoxification process

Get your worries out of your head: If you struggle to fall asleep due to thoughts constantly running through your head about to-do-lists for the next day (this is super common!), get them out of your head and onto paper before hitting the pillow. This creates a calmer mind which will enhance your likelihood of having a good night’s sleep

Take an epsom salt bath: This will aid in relaxation of the muscles whilst simultaneously raising your core body temperature causing your body to be in more of a relaxed state

Stretch, meditate or get a massage before bed

Check medications that may interfere with sleep
​
Minerals such as magnesium and calcium: Both of these can aid in prepping the body to relax enhancing sleep