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Nutrition

Sweet Potato

Vegan Sweet Potato Noodles With Garlic Sauce

By Nutrition
Sweet Potato

Staying the course with nutrition is often the hardest part of a healthy lifestyle change. And with nearly 80% of weight loss success is tied into proper nutrition, it’s quite possibly the most important part of the equation. One thing that makes it incredibly difficult is a lack of knowledge when it comes to recipes and the thought that it just isn’t going to taste very good. That’s why we like to provide healthy, balanced recipes once a month to help you get new food into your rotation. Healthy can be delicious and these recipes will prove it!

Here is October’s Food for Thought Recipe

Veganism has been receiving more and more attention lately as more people look to improve their health. Sometimes, it can be difficult to find recipes that completely fit. There are plenty of vegetarian recipes out there, but if you are truly going the vegan route, eliminating all products derived from animals including eggs and dairy, the list grows smaller. I recently have come across a delicious recipe that my entire family enjoyed. For those of you who are not vegans or vegetarians, you can add chopped chicken on top of the noodles for an extra source of protein. Hope you enjoy!

Sweet Potato Noodles with Garlic Sauce

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

  • 1 medium/large sweet potato
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon raw sunflower seeds
  • Parsley, for garnish
  • Optional: Harissa

Ingredients for Sauce

  • 1/4 cup raw cashews
  • 2 tablespoons coconut milk/coconut cream
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons filtered water
  • Dash of salt
  • Dash of pepper

Instructions:

1. Peel the sweet potato, and chop off both ends. Cut in half crosswise. Spiralize using a small noodle blade.

2. Heat up olive oil in a large pan on medium heat. Add sweet potato noodles, and toss so noodles are evenly coated in oil. Cover and cook for 7-8 minutes until noodles are soft, moving noodles around frequently.

3. While noodles are cooking, prepare the sauce. Blend ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth. You may have to do this a few times. Taste, and add salt as desired, as the sauce may have a slight sweetness from coconut milk.

4. When noodles are done, transfer to a bowl. Top with sunflower seeds. In the same pan on low heat, add sauce, and stir until warm, about a minute or so. Pour the sauce over the noodles. Top with parsley and harissa, if desired. Serve warm.

Healthy can be delicious if you find the right recipe! Start a rotating list of your favorites so you’re never left without a plan! If you are looking for new ways to improve your nutrition, please contact us. We’re here to help!

If your a busy professional, career-oriented parent with kids 40+ that’s seeking to burn fat build more muscle, and find the balance between work, life, and fitness, our staff specializing in Body Type-specific training are can make that first step easy for you.

Click this LINK and let’s schedule a 15 min Discovery Call today so you can learn more about how we can help you.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

6 Ways To Burn Fat Long Term

6 Ways To Burn Fat Long Term

By Nutrition
6 Ways To Burn Fat Long Term

So many of us are always using the same approach to fat loss and focus on “Dieting”, which the word alone makes me cringe when I hear it because so many people miss-use the word and follow everyone else’s diet vs what works for them or whats successful with data driven proof!

The odds of you losing fat permanently with traditional low-calorie diets are stacked against you biologically, psychologically, and environmentally. It sounds scary, but the good news is you can bypass these problems if you avoid the typical diet mentality.

Thats why today, I wanted to give you my advice to Fat loss and advice that not only has helped me win numerous Natural Bodybuilding shows but which has also worked for many Fitness models, physique athletes and those who practice an athletic lifestyle for life get results so your learning from the best not your next door neighbour that saw it online or heard about it from a friend. Advice alone isn’t helpful when its not sound, data driven advice so lets begin:

1. THINK “HABIT” not “DIET”!

You achieve permanent results by adopting new habits that you can maintain for the rest of your life. These habits must include the way you eat, the way you think, and the way you move. “Good habits aren’t easy to form, but once they’re established, they’re just as hard to break as the bad ones”! If you simply remove a bad habit, it leaves a void begging to be filled by another one. The best way to get rid of undesirable habits such as drinking soda, spending hours on the couch watching TV, and thinking like a pessimist is by replacing them with new ones, rather than trying to overcome them with willpower. Initially, there’s a period where starting the new habit will feel uncomfortable. Be patient: Everything is difficult in the beginning. Accept the challenge! For a new behaviour to become entrenched in your nervous system, it could take months.

2. ALWAYS, ALWAYS MAINTAIN YOUR MUSCLE!

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett is well known for saying that rule number one in making money is never lose money. It’s the same with making a body transformation. A simple strategy for permanent fat loss is never lose muscle. Muscle is your fat-burning secret weapon. Muscle is your metabolic furnace, and if your not eating enough protein to support optimal growth & recovery, not keeping track of your lean mass when you do body comps or not making sure your increasing the load you lift each workout or weekly you will fall into the trap of mistaking muscle loss for fat loss. Especially if you’re not using an up to date Bioelectrical impedance machine (we use www.Inbody.com) to assess all our members. Mistaking lean mass (muscle) loss for fat loss can ruin not only your progress but set you back weeks in longterm fat loss as your metabolism will slow down, and you will not burn as many calories at rest.

3. CUT CALORIES CONSERVATIVELY!

If we can send someone to the moon and back we know science doesn’t lie! So we all should know that you must have a calorie deficit to burn body fat, but most people cut calories much too fast. Your body can’t be forced to lose fat more quickly than nature intended; so you need slowly perform this vs all at once. The smartest, safest, and healthiest approach for permanent fat loss is to start with a small deficit, add exercise weekly, monitor your stats and body composition, then continue to cut calories if necessary as your weekly results dictate. By taking a slower approach and progressively cutting calories in stages vs. all at once you ensure you are able to gauge what’s happening internally with your lean and fat mass, you don’t cause a sudden shock in calorie deficit where your body responds by putting the breaks on and slowing down your metabolism thinking its in starvation mode, which backfires and you don’t lose energy all at once leaving you fatigued daily with no hope to continue your fat loss program.

4. BURN THE FAT DON’T STARVE THE FAT!

There’s more than one way to create a calorie deficit. You can decrease your calorie intake from food or increase the calories you burn from training and other activity. Unless you’re physically unable to exercise, a combination of both is ideal. Using exercise to maintain muscle and expand your calorie deficit has huge advantages over dieting alone. Most people are too focused on cutting calories making them grumpy, unhappy even sad vs increasing the amount of training they do, thus not reaping the metabolic, hormonal, and psychological gains training and movement have over dieting alone. Plus, you can eat more and still keep losing fat. As crazy as it might sound, the fastest way to transform your body is to eat more and burn more. You eat more to provide energy, nutrients, and building material. You burn more to stoke metabolism, build muscle, gain strength, and improve fitness.

5 USE CALORIE “CYCLING” METHOD (DON’T STAY IN DEFICIT FOREVER)

You yourself or you probably know someone that may have to feel like they’re always on a diet. Most people lose weight lose some weight in the first few weeks due to water loss or them cutting carbs all together but long-term fat loss is hard as people face plateaus that blog them from long-term fat loss. When your fat loss slows down or you hit a fat-loss plateau the first time, dropping calories is usually the right decision. But if your calories are already low and you’ve been dieting for a long time, cutting calories more can dig you into a deeper metabolic rut. It seems counterintuitive, but sometimes the best thing you can do to “reset” a sluggish metabolism is to eat more before going back to the caloric deficit again. Inserting occasional higher-calorie days between lower-calorie days is a simple technique that gives you a nice physical and psychological break from days or weeks of continuous deficit. Calculated & periodic Calorie “Cycling” eating optimizes your hormones and restokes your metabolic fire. Its often referred to as the Zig Zag method but having re-feed meals 1x week or cycling between non-workout days and workout days allows for long-term fat loss vs metabolism confusion due to long-term calorie deficits.

6. LOSE WEIGHT/FAT AT THE RIGHT RATE FOR YOU!

Most people are impatient and expect too much weight loss too fast, so it’s important to set weekly goals thoughtfully. Setting lots of short-term goals is crucial. But if you set them so high that they’re physiologically impossible to achieve in the time frame you’ve chosen, and your results fall short of your expectations, you end up disappointed, discouraged, and often quitting in the long term! Losing weight too fast can mean your losing lean mass vs fat mass and those with more body fat typically lose body fat the fastest when they start a fitness program than those who are naturally leaner with targeted areas to lose.

The best way to burn fat and keep it off for good, without losing muscle, and without making your life miserable, is to lose weight at the right rate for you. Many fitness experts recommend two pounds per week but I feel 1 lb (one) is much safer over the long run. Obviously when you start a program and have been inactive for years anything you do seems to work but once you have been exercising for years and are at an intermediate /advanced level the total weight loss per week does become harder due to your bodies ability to adapt to both exercise and nutritional stimulus. If it takes you 8 months to drop 30- 35 lbs it’s ok do it the right way and don’t worry about time frames.

Hope you enjoyed my tip today and as always I have one rule: If you enjoyed what we provided you today or feel it gave you value, please share this with someone you know or anyone you feel it can help by forwarding them this link or email.

If your a busy professional, career-oriented parent with kids 40+ that’s seeking to burn fat build more muscle, and find the balance between work, life, and fitness, our staff specializing in Body Type-specific training are can make that first step easy for you.

Click this LINK and let’s schedule a 15 min Discovery Call today so you can learn more about how we can help you.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

5 habits that can stall your healthy lifestyle

5 Habits That Can Stall Your Healthy Lifestyle

By Nutrition
5 habits that can stall your healthy lifestyle

Nobody ever said that it would be easy. Getting healthy is not a quick fix and staying on track is a lifelong endeavor. But, you may be sabotaging your own success and not even realize it!

Here are 5 Habits That Can Stall Your Healthy Lifestyle.

1. When thinking about habits to put on this list, the number one thing that came to mind is what kinds of beverages you consume. We are so accustomed to sweet flavors that we automatically gravitate toward sodas, juices, and flavored coffees. The problem with all of these drinks is that they are full of sugar and unnecessary calories. Try to migrate your tastebuds to the “good side” and stick with water, infused water, and unsweetened coffee and tea. It may take a few weeks before you stop craving the sweet flavors, but you’ll thank me for this advice in the long run.

2. Stocking the shelves of your pantry with unhealthy snacks. Let’s be honest, if it’s in the house, the likelihood of you consuming an array of unhealthy snacks increases tenfold. Just stop buying it. If it’s not around, you can’t eat it, plain and simple. Don’t derail your healthy lifestyle journey before you even have a chance to begin. Choose fresh veggies, nuts & seeds or homemade snacks.

3. Not drinking enough water. I’ve spoken about this many times in the past, but it’s incredibly important to continue to hydrate yourself with water throughout the day. Water is an integral ingredient in a healthy lifestyle and overall wellness as it directly affects many of our body’s systems and how they function. Add a lemon, lime, or some orange, cucumber wedges to add flavor but avoid juices and other high sugar coffee drinks.

4. Avoiding all exercise outside the gym. Your 30 minutes in the gym is a great start, but you need to try to add a few extra minutes here and there to increase your overall wellness. Take the stairs, park far away from the entrance to a store so you have to walk a few extra steps, throw a ball around with your kids, take the dog out for a walk, just about anything that will get you up and moving around throughout the day.

5. Sleep deprivation also plays a large part in your ability to control your weight and stay on a healthy lifestyle path. Without an adequate number of hours a night, your body does not have the ability to fully recover from a workout, stave off disease, balance hormones and control the ability to lose weight. Set a reverse alarm to remind you it’s time to go to bed 1/2h prior so you can begin the process, slowly transition from laptop, TV, cell phone to slowly reading and shutting down.

Take your healthy lifestyle journey one day at a time, but keep in mind that it only works if you are consistent and dedicated to the end result in every aspect of your life. Good luck! If you would like help defining your goals and achieving them, contact us. We’re here to help!

If you’re new to exercise or seeking that athletic, active and lean physique and not sure where to start? Click the box below to set up a free Discovery Call to help guide you through, what your Body Type is and what’s the best program and nutrition for you!

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

Copy of Gluten Intolerance

What is Gluten Intolerance? Signs & Symptoms

By Nutrition
Copy of Gluten Intolerance

This summer, I visited Rhodes Greece with my family, and not only did I enjoy and over enjoy the delicious proteins: fresh fish from the sea, fresh organic meets from the local butchers but also the freshly baked bread and amazed at how much of a stable it is in the Mediterranean diet. In moderation and proper proportion to our body type, I’ve always had an open approach to one’s starchy carbohydrate choice especially for those seeking weight gain, and often thought about how many people in the world who can’t enjoy it, or consume anything with Gluten!

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ve heard many people talking about gluten and its effects on the human body. But, coming from friends, it may be hard to figure out fact from fiction. And, anecdotes about how much your life can change if you eliminate it from your diet are great to hear, but let’s get down to the cold, hard facts and you can decide for yourself what to believe.

First of all, let’s define the word “gluten”. According to the Celiac Disease Foundation, “Gluten is a general name for the proteins found in wheat, rye, barley and triticale (a cross between wheat and rye”. Known as Celiac Disease, gluten sensitivity is one of the most common food sensitivities anyone can have. That said, it’s sometimes hard to diagnose and even harder to completely control given that gluten is found in many products that you wouldn’t even imagine it to be.

What happens when you have Celiac Disease?

So, gluten sensitivity is actually a disorder of the immune system. When a person with this disorder consumes gluten, the immune system responds by producing inflammation that then leads to tissue damage throughout the body. While symptoms vary, no tissue, organ or gland in the body is immune to the effects of gluten. Because the brain and nervous systems are both affected by this sensitivity, it can lead to difficulty concentrating, fatigue and irritability.

Many people who have gluten intolerance may not be aware of it, as the symptoms can be difficult to recognize. People with gluten intolerance often brush off their symptoms as regular, nonmedical discomforts. You may be suffering from gluten intolerance if you frequently experience problems like:

  • Brain fog
  • Fatigue
  • Joint pain
  • Headaches
  • Bloating
  • Digestive problems
  • Skin problems
  • Depression and anxiety

Experiencing an ongoing combination of these symptoms is a likely sign of some form of gluten intolerance.

Hiding in plain sight

Aside from the obvious offenders where wheat, barley, and rye are the main, known ingredients, gluten can be found in any packaged or prepared foods, candy, and soda. If you’re afflicted with this disorder, you need to learn to read all nutrition labels very carefully to search for gluten. Check out labels on anything that contains artificial colours, broths, food starch, and anything in a package to ensure you’re not inadvertently ingesting gluten. Stick to animal proteins, vegetables, healthy fats, and fruits and you don’t need to worry about gluten as they are naturally gluten-free.

If you suspect you may have a gluten sensitivity, please check with your physician for confirmation. Many disorders and diseases can mimic the same symptoms of gluten intolerance. Your physician will be able to provide you with additional information to help control any adverse effects you may be experiencing.

If you yourself are a busy professional & career oriented parent 40+ years of age seeking help getting started with a tailored fitness approach or know someone who is interested in losing weight, having a coach, or being held accountable click the button below and book a FREE Discovery Call to learn how your body type affects your eating and exercise program.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

Hidden Calories in Drinks

Stop Drinking This To Lose Stomach Fat!

By Nutrition
Hidden Calories in Drinks

You know the saying that you can’t out-exercise a bad diet? We tend to forget that it also refers to what you drink. If despite your best efforts at changing your food intake and increasing your exercise routine, you find yourself at a plateau where your weight loss efforts are concerned, it may be time to take a closer look at the beverages you choose to drink on a daily basis.

Did you know that a 12-oz can of regular soda pop (Coke, Gingerale, Pepsi, Orange Crush) can add up to 200 calories & 35-42grams of sugar? Or that your nonfat Latte is harbouring another 120-400 more calories? What about that “healthy” drink that is anything but juice? One glass of apple juice can be up to 170 calories and 35grams of sugar! Woooooooooooooooooow!

Full of sugar, some beverages can take a toll not only on your waistline but also on your overall health. Take, for instance, both Orange Juice and Coke contain 10 teaspoons of sugar per 12 oz glass! No, you did not read that wrong. That’s A LOT of sugar! According to the American Heart Association, the maximum amount of added sugar you should eat a day is 9 teaspoons for men and 6 teaspoons for women. That Coke you just drank without another thought took up more than your daily allotment for the day! Yikes!

But, let’s go back to what these empty calories are doing to your body. Extra sugar is stored in your bloodstream as glucose, causing your pancreas to release additional insulin to clear out the extra stores, saving it as fat in your cells.

Sugar addiction is a real problem all around the world, so I urge you to start training yourself to enjoy less sugary beverages. It’ll be very difficult at first and can cause you fatigue, irritability, and digestive upset as your body gets rid of the toxins in your bloodstream. But, this could be the solution you’ve been looking for to get off that plateau.

If water just doesn’t sound good to you, try infusing it with fruit – lime and lemons, strawberries, or blueberries are a great way to start. I love drinking carbonated water so get some bubbles and fiz to my drinks and they beat having any urge to drink a soda! It adds a little bit of flavour and helps your transition to less sugary beverages.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

mandarin covered in chocolate

Want a delicious Dark chocolate orange recipe?

By Nutrition
mandarin covered in chocolate

Staying the course with nutrition is often the hardest part of a healthy lifestyle change. And with nearly 80% of weight loss success being tied into proper nutrition, it’s quite possibly the most important part of the equation. One thing that makes it incredibly difficult is a lack of knowledge when it comes to recipes and the thought that it just isn’t going to taste very good. That’s why we like to provide healthy, balanced recipes once a month to help you get new food into your rotation. Healthy can be delicious and these recipes will prove it!

Here is July’s Food for Thought Recipe!

Is it possible to stick with a healthy lifestyle change and still get dessert every once in a while? Sure, you can bake your cake and eat it, too, (or a dessert, anyway). This month’s recipe is sure to satisfy your sweet tooth. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cuties

Serving size: 1 piece

Yields: 30 servings

Ingredients:

½ Cup melted semisweet chocolate chips

1 tsp coconut oil

5 Mandarin oranges

Flaky sea salt for garnish

Instructions:

1. Mix chocolate and coconut oil in microsafe dish and in 15 second intervals, melt chocolate. Stir when needed.

2. Dip each clementine segment into melted chocolate and transfer to a parchment-linedbaking sheet.

3. Garnish with flaky sea salt.

4. Refrigerate until firm. (About 20 mins).

5. Enjoy!

Healthy can be delicious if you find the right recipe! Start a rotating list of your favorites so you’re never left without a plan! If you are looking for new ways to improve your nutrition, please contact us. We’re here to help!

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

Dangers of Crash Dieting

The Dangers of Crash Dieting

By Nutrition
Dangers of Crash Dieting

I am sure you have heard the phrase “crash dieting”, or “master cleanse”, but it means the same thing. It is when people will severely cut calories in order to rapidly lose weight, usually around a specific event such as a vacation or a wedding. The problem with this type of dieting is two-fold.

Firstly, the results aren’t anything but permanent. It’s a short-term solution. Secondly, the short-term solution may have long-term negative health impacts. Here are a few things to consider before resorting to these measures to fit into a new bathing suit or pair of jeans.

One of the big things people who crash diet do not realize is that while yes, they may be losing weight, it is not the weight they want to be losing. As our body starts being neglected with food sources to provide energy with, it begins to go into survival mode, believing that the body is in a state of starvation, so it will hold on to your fat stores because those are the easiest to turn into quick energy for the body to survive. Meaning that while you are crash dieting your body will not let go of fat readily and will sacrifice muscle instead. So, that 15 pounds you lost will end up being more muscle than fat and will leave you with a higher body fat percentage then you started with at the time of your diet. Don’t get caught up with the number on the scale, it’s not just about losing weight it is about losing the right weight.

Crash Dieting doesn’t just affect your waist line, it can also be doing damage to your heart. The shrinking, growing and tearing around your muscles and capillaries can lead to damaged blood vessels which leave you susceptible to heart disease, heart failure and heart palpitations. Cardiologist Isadore Rosenfeld, MD, a professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, has said that “A crash diet once won’t hurt your heart, but crash dieting repeatedly increases the risk of heart attacks.” The problem lies in the first part of that quote, most people who do a crash diet do not only do it once.

So, what should you be doing? It doesn’t have to be complicated, I am sure you know that you should not eat that piece of cake for breakfast or have a box of Girl Scout cookies at dinner. In North America, the number one item that negatively affects your health is consumed is sugary beverages. A great way to start working toward your weight loss goal by cutting out those sodas, certain fruit juices, and no more added sugar to your coffee and that small change will help you get on a safe path towards your goal weight this swimming season.

Even just changing to proper portions can have a large impact on your weight loss goals and knowing what to eat and when to eat it. If you still are not sure about the best meal plan for you and your weight loss goals, then reach out to your coaches for support and ideas. For most of you who are already involved with an exercise program, the next step will be learning the proper portions and break down and servings for your meals.

Need help with nutrition or achieving a healthy weightloss goal? Reach out to us today to see what we’re all about and lets to set up a discovery call to help you with your weight loss or weight gain goals.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

Probiotics and Gut Health

Probiotics: Beneficial or Health Fad?

By Nutrition
Probiotics and Gut Health

When talking about health supplements you often hear about creatine, whey protein, and fish oil just to name a few. But what about probiotics? You may have heard about them on the Activia commercials but are unsure about what they actually do. Probiotics are live bacteria that can be taken to help restore the balance between good bacteria and bad bacteria in your gut. Antibiotics, preservatives in food, and artificial sweeteners can reduce the number of good bacteria. When the number of bad bacteria outweighs the number of good bacteria in your gut, you may experience a range of digestive disorders. These can include bloating, indigestion, and/or gas. While doctors may recommend taking probiotics when experiencing gastrointestinal conditions with antibiotic use, it could be beneficial taking daily as well.

Probiotics may aid in digestive disorders such as diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, and inflammatory bowel disorder. But even if you don’t have any of these disorders, probiotics may assist in digestion, nutrient absorption, and immune function. For someone with a health and fitness goal, such as weight loss, these elements can be crucial. You could be following a fantastic nutrition plan, but not reap any of the benefits. Your body must be functioning properly to ensure you are absorbing all the vitamins and minerals you are taking in.

As more and more pharmaceutical companies jump into this supplement niche, it becomes ever more important to ensure that the products are researched. Not all probiotic supplements are created equal. Depending on the brand, it may only contain one strain of beneficial bacteria. Now that may be the strain your body needs, however, you may not see any changes when taking the supplement. When choosing a supplement I would advise picking one with multiple strains of bacteria. Make sure to consult a doctor on which brands actually contain live bacteria and be sure to read the storage instructions. Some brands may require refrigeration to keep the bacteria alive.

So what the verdict? Beneficial or Fad? Well, it all depends on the brand. Probiotics indeed can be very beneficial, but it must come from a good quality source. When trying to pick a brand make sure you do your research. Some of the over the counter probiotics may just be a waste of your time and money.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your  unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

Are You Ready to Take Action and Get Started? Have A Question About COVID Safety or Pricing?

Take charge of your fitness & nutrition today. Click the BUTTON BELOW to schedule a complimentary Discovery Call and together we will plan your 90-day of body transformation.

Five Clean Eating Tips To Ditch The Junk PMF

Five Clean Eating Tips To Ditch The Junk Food!

By Nutrition
Five Clean Eating Tips To Ditch The Junk PMF

“Eating clean” has become one of the most thrown around phrases in the past couple years when people start talking about eating and fitness, but it is unlikely that most people who speak about clean eating really know how to eat clean for their own bodies. People too often associate eating clean with Paleo, Organic, Keto and even low carbohydrate diets.

In reality, eating clean is just a way of saying that one is not eating “junk food” or “prepackaged food” and instead chooses to prepare his own food with fresh, nutrient dense ingredients.

The problem with eating clean is that there is a lot of misinformation out there and choosing the right foods for you is not always as simple as eating what somebody on the latest blog said is good for you. It can also be very difficult to shake the cravings of foods that you have relied on for so long to give you joy in eating and speed in preparation. At the end of the day, getting the results you want out of your fitness and nutrition regimen will require a little sacrifice, a bit of hard work, and a whole lot of perseverance.

There are a lot of factors that come in to play when trying to lose weight. Some people seem to lose weight with relative ease while others change their eating to mirror that of nutrition gurus, workout more than trainers, and still only see the scale drop a pound or two every month.

The truth is that genetics play a role in the makeup of your physique, but eating right and exercising regularly can help you become the best version of you.

The first thing that you have to do is get rid of the cravings that keep telling you to eat the processed or “garbage foods” that has put you in your current situation.

Eating junk food makes you crave junk food. In order to stop craving it, you have to stop eating it.

You are likely thinking that this is easier said than done, but there are strategies that can put you on the winning side of the junk food battle. Here are 3 easy ways you can learn to ditch the junk food:

1st: You have to get rid of all the junk food in your house…all of it. Give it away, throw it away, and just don’t eat it.

2nd: Stop buying junk food. If you buy it, you will eat it. Don’t buy it and don’t keep it in your home.

3rd: Fill your home and kitchen with healthy snacks such as kale chips, almonds, vegetables, edamame beans, coconuts & hummus.

4th: Learn to say no. You will likely be invited to a party, go out to eat, watch a game at a bar, or have some other access to junk food that will tempt you. Stop rationalizing the choices that you make with your food.

If you have not been really good lately with your diet, you have not worked out hard enough to deserve a treat, and it is not just one cookie. If you are craving it so much that you have to rationalize the choice to eat it, you are not over the cravings yet.

5th: Enjoy the change in your cravings. After you have avoided eating junk food for a while, research shows that your cravings will disappear and you will crave more healthy food. Pay attention to how many days you can make it without your favourite or most challenging junk food?

After you have cured yourself of the junk food cravings and you are sure that you are eating clean, it is now exceptionally frustrating that the scale changed and then froze well before you reached your goals. Now it is time to stop eating excessive amounts of the so-called healthy foods that are set as the staple in your diet. Almost any food in excess is going to cause issues in your diet. If you are eating large amounts of spinach or kale, have at it, but if that spinach or kale is coated in olive oil or salt, you may be spinning your wheels. Peanut butter is great, but six servings a day are not doing you any favors. Toast plus cereal plus granola for breakfast is not good for you just because of the fiber content. Drinking smoothies for every meal is not the same as eating healthy; you are not eating a drink.

Learn to eat the right amounts of fats, carbohydrates, and protein for your body and adjust as your body changes. In order to ensure you are eating the right amount of the right foods, you need to get organized. This can mean that you may need to track your food, put your food in separate containers, or strictly follow a meal plan.

When you change your body with exercise, specifically resistance training, you create more lean mass, which means your body will burn more calories just to sustain itself. Putting on mass, lean or otherwise, does not always seem appealing to a person wanting to lose weight, but most often when someone says they want to lose weight, they follow that statement with saying they want to “tone.”

When people say they want to tone, they often mean they want to burn fat and shape their body in an appealing way. Building lean mass is a must if you want to tone and it can be a secret weapon in burning fat and losing weight.

Eating clean can be something that will help you get to your goals, but it may be that you are not eating as clean as you think you are. Rid your life of all things junk and start choosing healthy food, more sleep, less stress, and regular exercise. Building lean mass, cleaning out your refrigerator and pantry, and learning to train and eat for your body is the key to fitness success. Unfortunately training and eating right for your body can be difficult to learn, but an experienced and knowledgeable fitness professional can help you create a plan that will lead you to the physical self you want to obtain.

Who is Pure Motivation Fitness?

  • We help busy business professionals & stressed moms & dads look better naked, regain their work-life-family balance & improve sex drive in less than 90 days.
  • We teach you to eat & exercise for your  unique body-type.
  • No more obsessing about fitness
  • No more fad diets

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The Top 10 Brain Foods Pure Motivation Fitness

The Top 10 Brain Foods

By Nutrition
The Top 10 Brain Foods Pure Motivation Fitness

Our brains are like expensive cars. They need a top, premium fuel.

Besides sleep, food, and ‘fuel’ as we say, can be a great asset to ensuring our brains function at full capacity.

How many times have you had a headache and it was probably linked to dehydration? Or brain ‘fog’?

Water the number one nutrient we need however, there are many others that are important to make sure our brain is getting the proper fuel.

But first, the main thing to avoid to keep our brain sharp is… you guessed it, refined sugar.

Besides the other negative effects refined sugar can have on the body, refined sugar impairs the brain to function properly, lead to inflammation, and can even cause depression.

According to Dr. Mosconi, a neuroscientist, an immersive nutritionist, human brains require as much as 45 distinct nutrients to work best. Some are produced by the brain itself, but the majority of them have to be imported by our diet.

Check out the top 10 Brian foods according to Jim Kwik, author of Limitless, to help keep you sharp!

  1. Avocados: they have monounsaturated fat that helps us sustain a balanced blood supply.
  2. Blueberries: defend the brain from oxidative stress and reduce the symptoms of brain aging. Three experiments have also shown that they can assist with memory.
  3. Broccoli: a perfect source of vitamin K, believed to enhance cognitive function and memory.
  4. Dark Chocolate: This makes you focus, concentrate, and release endorphins. Chocolate also has flavonoids, which have been found to enhance cognitive function. The darker the chocolate, the less sugar it has.
  5. Eggs: Memory-enhancing and brain-boosting choline.
  6. Green leafy vegetables: They are excellent sources of vitamin E, which decreases the symptoms of brain aging, and folate, which have been shown to enhance memory.
  7. Salmon, sardines, caviar: High in omega-3 essential fatty acids, which tend to reduce the symptoms of brain aging.
  8. Tumeric: Helps suppress inflammation and improve antioxidant levels while also enhancing brain oxygen consumption. There is also some evidence that turmeric can alleviate the cognitive loss.
  9. Walnuts: These varieties of nuts have high levels of antioxidants and vitamin E that protect the neurons and prevent brain aging. They also contain high levels of zinc and magnesium, which are very good for our mood.
  10. Water: Of course finally, water. Our brains are 80 % water, dehydration can induce brain fog, fatigue, sluggish responses, and speed of thought.