Listener Question Mini-Series:

Hi friends!  Today’s episode kicks off a mini-series of shorter podcast episodes where I’m answering your questions and talking about topics that you suggested. Today’s question is a great one and provides me with an opportunity to talk about what I do as an Integrative Women’s Health Coach and some of the biggest blessings of my job. 

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A couple of weeks ago I asked you guys if there were topics you wanted me to talk about or questions that you’d like me to answer on the podcast, and I received great responses from you guys, so for the next few episodes, I’ll be covering those topics. 

The first question I had was what would I consider the biggest blessing about my job to be. I love this question because it’s totally outside the box of what I was expecting you guys to ask about and it provides me with an opportunity to talk about aspects of my job that I don’t talk about a lot on the podcast. 

So in case you aren’t aware, in addition to hosting this podcast, I am also an Integrative Women’s Health Coach. I work with women - usually in a one to one setting - to come alongside them and help support them with their health. This can look really general, with someone needing mainly support in strategizing or learning how to overcome obstacles that they’re facing with living a healthy lifestyle, or it can be more complex with someone dealing with chronic symptoms or a specific health issue - typically hormone or inflammation related. 

I truly love what I do and I had no idea what this would look like when I started my business but I’ve had the opportunity to serve some wonderful clients. 

I think the biggest blessing of my job is when I’m working with a client who experiences that “light bulb” moment when she’s able to connect the dots of something she’s been struggling with for a long time. Maybe it’s understanding that a lot of her symptoms are related and that there are things she can do to support healing in her body. Maybe it’s helping a client break free from some really toxic thoughts and beliefs she’s had about her body or her health. Maybe it’s empowering a mom in knowing how she can still take care of her own health and take care of her kids too. It can look very different depending on the client and what her personal obstacles are, but I just love that moment when she reaches a new level of understanding and confidence in how she cares for her health. 

As a health coach, “success” with a client doesn’t always look like a certain amount of weight lost or a particular fitness goal reached, but rather in seeing a woman take ownership over her health and truly see her health and body as gifts to steward and be thankful for, rather than a negative thing that she has to endure in this life. 

I’m so thankful for the opportunity that I have to pursue this dream that I had and what I feel God has called me to in this season. God has provided for me in so many ways to be able to do this work and to be in control of my time, especially when my daughter is young and at home with me. I’m just really thankful for all of it. 

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Thanks for this question. It was an excellent reminder of how much I love my job and am thankful for it. If you are interested in knowing more about becoming a client, you can find more information and schedule a free consult call with me here.

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Tips for Injury Prevention and Recovery with Dr. Blake Bohanan, DPT

Hey friends! In this episode, Dr. Blake Bohanan shares tips for preventing exercise-related injuries and best practices for recovering quickly should those injuries occur. He also shares about his journey into opening his own practice, Shift Performance PT, here in Knoxville, TN.

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Topics in this episode…

Why workout injuries are so common, especially this time of year. 

How to prevent common injuries from happening in the first place.

Best practices for recovering from exercise-related injuries

How the Shift Performance PT therapy model is different from traditional physical therapy.

Learn more about Shift Performance PT here.

What's Coming in 2022 + Some Thoughts from the Heart

Hi friends! In today’s episode, I want to give a little of a preview of some things coming in Q1 of 2022, as well as share some things that have been on my heart recently.

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2021 has been a great year in a lot of ways and there have still been some pretty difficult parts, right? It felt like it lasted forever, to me at least! I love new beginnings and thinking about the potential of the future, so the end of the year and coming new year is always an exciting time for me. I’m really looking forward to 2022 both in my personal life and for what’s coming for the Health Forward community. So I wanted to share a just a few things that are coming in Q1 of next year that you can be watching for:

• A new round of HF group coaching is starting in mid-January 2022. This is one of my absolute favorite things to do. It’s the perfect way to get health education and coaching at a lower cost and time commitment - and you get to be part of a community of women with similar goals and struggles as you!

• The Move Forward, Feel Better Course is live on my site again! This is a perfect option for the DIY-er or someone wanting more education about how to support their health but may not have the budget or schedule capacity for personalized health coaching.

• The #hfpodcast will be back again with a new season starting in January but will now feature new episodes every other week. This will allow me to devote more of my attention to working with clients while still providing quality healthy-living education and encouragement for you on the podcast.

I wanted to leave you with a few thoughts today that I’ve just been thinking about for a while. This question of “does it even matter to spend time/energy on my health” just keeps coming up for me, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one. 

Especially for those of us who follow Jesus,  is this something we should even be concerned with? 

I keep being reminded of this idea of Struggle and progress. While there is absolutely no perfection on this side of heaven and we will never be able to outrun the curse (my pastor recently said if Mother Teresa and Jack Lalanne couldn’t escape death, none of us have a chance! It was a super encouraging sermon {jokes - it actually was}), but I don’t think that means that we just decide to not care. I hear a lot of people say “well I’m gonna die of something” as an excuse to treat their bodies really poorly. I know that they are mostly kidding, but in reality, I think that way of thinking subconsciously affects the way that a lot of people see their health. I feel like there can be a huge disconnect between Christians and not caring for their bodies. By no means am I trying to equate some level of holiness with good health or living a healthy lifestyle? You are not more godly because you are fit or a certain size, or because you don’t have __ health problems. The opposite is also true - you aren’t more godly because you disregard the “earthly”, physical, and focus solely on the spiritual. As with most things, there is tension here. So many things in life aren’t either/or but both/and - and I think our mindset when it comes to our health and the caring of our physical bodies falls under this category as well.

Should we be trying to perfect our bodies/find the fountain of youth/become obsessed with how our bodies look or even feel?? No - that’s both very self-centered and pretty pointless, honestly. Are we going to be symptom-free, disease-free, problem-free in this life? No. As a matter of fact, we can pretty much expect the opposite. 

Does that mean that we shouldn’t care about the health of our bodies? Should we abuse the bodies that God gave us with food/drinks/substances that damage them, fill our minds with toxic junk, and just generally ignore our health? No! That’s not stewarding the gift of these bodies that God gave us to experience this life with. I don’t believe that’s what we need to do either.

Will there always be struggle? Yes. Can there also be progress and improvement too? Absolutely yes. 

I really believe this in the depths of my heart. This is what makes my approach to health and what I do different. I am coaching you to know how your body works and to care for it as the gift that it is. Not to lose a certain amount of weight or look a certain way. Not to look or even feel perfect - that isn’t a real possibility anyway.

I often get asked what program I follow and the simple answer is that I don’t. I don’t do “programs'' or sell products. I just teach real-life, sustainable, actionable steps to support the health of your body. If you’re looking for a quick-fix, super easy (also hear me say - likely unsustainable and maybe even unhealthy) way to make changes to your body or your health, then I’m not it. I’m passionate about this stuff because I think it matters and I encounter so many unhelpful theories about health that I want to offer you something different. 

If this is something that resonates with you, check out my course or enroll in this upcoming round of group coaching coming up in January. 

I hope that this episode encouraged you or gave you a different perspective. I’m excited for what’s to come in 2022 and continuing to support you in your health journey.

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Why We Struggle with Consistency

How often have you heard “consistency is key”? It’s everywhere, right? In a lot of instances, I think this is absolutely true, but I want us to go a little deeper today because consistency is often a pain point for people when it comes to their health. Often when I ask my friends or even my Instagram followers what they are struggling with the most or where they feel like they need the most support, every single time the overwhelming popular response is “consistency”. Consistency in exercising, getting good sleep, eating nutritious food, not eating junk food every night, and on and on it goes. I would venture to guess, you’ve probably had a few of those thoughts yourself and I would say “me too”. I have found myself feeling the same frustration - “ugh! Why can’t I stay consistent in this?!”

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Recently I’ve been doing some work that’s prompted me to dig deeper into the idea of body image and diet culture - and why we so often feel like we are failing in this area of consistency. One thing that has come up for me and that I think may be one of the biggest contributors to this common struggle is a misalignment between our mindset and our goal. 

I know that sounds a little philosophical, but hear me out on this. 

When the goal (our desired result) is to lose weight, get our bodies “summer-ready”, change sizes or “tone up” a certain area, or even to feel “good” or get back to feeling energetic like we did 5 or 10 years ago, etc. - we will get overwhelmed. First of all, those things are not always in our control. We can do all the “right things” - follow all the principles of living a healthy lifestyle and sometimes still not lose a pound, or still not get pregnant, or still have a disorder or disease. So that’s going to feel really frustrating and we’re probably going to give up. We will also often give up because of the massiveness of the goal. It doesn’t seem attainable - it feels so far out of reach, so we often won’t see the value in sticking to whatever plan we had made for ourselves. 

However, when the goal is something attainable, something we can control, something that is directly and immediately affected by our choices, it makes following the plan easier, therefore allowing us to be “consistent” in our behavior. 

Let me put this in a practical context and use this for an example: 

Scenario - It’s 9:45 pm and you can’t stop thinking about the ice cream in the freezer. 
Goal: Be able to fit back into the jeans you wore two summers ago (the pre-covid ones :P)

Your thinking will most likely go something like this: “ugh - this sucks! I bet ____ doesn’t have to worry about not eating ice cream.”, or “meh! Who cares? I’ll never get back in those jeans anyway”, or “I’ve already fallen off the wagon the past few days, what’s one more treat? I’ll do better tomorrow”... and then you either deprive yourself and don’t eat it while inducing shame and judgment on yourself and others; or you do eat the ice cream and immediately feel regret or apathy about the goal you set for yourself. This leads you to the question, “Why can’t I be consistent in what I’m eating?!” Does that sound familiar?

Now contrast that with the same scenario but a different goal:

Scenario - It’s 9:45 pm and you can’t stop thinking about the ice cream in the freezer. 
Goal: To feel good about how you are caring for your body 

Can you already feel the difference? In this scenario, your thinking may go something like this: “hmmm… well, every time I eat that ice cream, my stomach gets so bloated and I feel miserable for hours. I don’t think it’s worth that. What else do we have instead?” , or “I love that ice cream - that sounds so good, but it is going to probably spike my blood sugar pretty high. What can I eat with it to help stabilize my blood sugar?”, or maybe even “Ah yes! I’ve been waiting for the perfect time to try that ice cream and I know it’s made with good ingredients. Let’s go for it!”. So either you choose to eat the ice cream or you don’t, but you make a conscious decision that won’t be followed by guilt or regret. 

The difference is that with the second goal, you are making a decision from a place of loving and caring for your body right now, just as it is, rather than making a decision from a place of shame or apathy while putting a ridiculous amount of pressure and expectation on yourself. 

One of the biggest enemies of consistency is unrealistic expectations. 

There is definitely something to be said about being intentional and scheduling things into your day or week like prioritizing sleep and exercise. There is a practical, logical piece of actually planning things into your calendar or schedule because if you don’t, it probably won’t happen. But again, we are much more likely to make choices that support our wellbeing when we are operating from a goal of caring for our bodies and stewarding them well. 

So I want to challenge you to take a look at your goal or your lack of goal. If you are feeling discontent or wanting to change something about your health, what is your goal? Is it to take good care of your body, to love it well, and to support it in functioning well? If not, consider making it your goal. It will change how you make decisions. It will change how you feel the decisions you make. It will change how you feel about yourself. 

If this idea rubs you the wrong way or you find yourself rolling your eyes a little bit while listening to this, ask yourself why. Dig in a little bit. Does the idea of loving your body, caring for your body, or stewarding your body well seem weird or even wrong to you? Do you feel like your body is subpar or broken or maybe shouldn’t even be considered at all? If so, why? Where did that idea come from? 

If you find yourself feeling this way - let me ask you a few questions that I hope will change your perspective. Do you believe that your body was created by God? The same God that created the sky and the ocean, and the sun and the moon. Do you remember that after He created man and woman - their bodies - He said that it was good? Do you actually think that He could make something that is bad or subpar? If you find yourself thinking that about your body that way or talking about your body that way, isn’t that insulting your Creator? 

Please know that I don’t ask you these questions to put shame on you, if anything I want to help pull shame off of you. Friends, we think that our biggest problem or struggle or obstacle is not being consistent, but in reality, our biggest obstacle is that we have a misalignment between our mindset and our goal. 

When we view our bodies as something to be fixed, or a project that always needs to be improved, or even as just a tool, or really anything other than a good creation of the Father in which we get to experience this life and experience Him, we will not be motivated to be consistent in caring for our bodies. It will feel useless, pointless, we might even find ourselves believing that it’s vain. 

I’m not saying any of this as someone who has conquered this or figured it all out but as someone who is right there with you. I’ve been working through some of these thoughts and feelings myself over the past few weeks. I’ve had to dig deep and ask myself these same questions about what I believe about my body and the One who made it. I can honestly say that realigning my mindset with what God says and focusing on the goal of caring for my body out of a place of love, gratitude, and stewardship, has made a huge difference for me and I believe it will make a difference for you too. 

It’s easy to get caught up in what culture says about health or about what we should look like, eat like, workout like but as believers, as women who follow Jesus, that is not where we find truth and direction for our lives. 

If you feel frustrated with yourself because you don’t feel that you can “stay consistent” or because you lack motivation, ask yourself these questions. Check your mindset and focus on the goal of caring for your body, being kind to and grateful for your body instead of trying to make it into something or make it look a certain way. 

If you feel like you need to do some work around the issue of body image or body shame, or if you would just like to know more about a kingdom mindset about health and body image, I encourage you to check out Jess Connolly’s Good Body Gals community. I have found it incredibly helpful for my own soul as well as helping me think about how I teach and coach other women. You can find all the information about it in her Instagram bio or by searching for the tag #goodbodygals. 

If you feel like you need one-on-one support in this area or in knowing what steps to take, what being kind to your body looks like, what a healthy lifestyle looks like for you, I’d love to help you with that. I offer a free initial consultation where I learn about your specific needs, goals, and current obstacles and together we can come up with a plan to help. You can learn more about that by going to yourhealthforward.com. 

That does it for me today, friends. Thanks for spending some of your day here with me. Keep moving forward, go love your people well and I’ll talk with you next time!

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022 - Why Losing Weight Should NOT Be Your Goal for the New Year

Hey friends! As I mentioned in the last episode, we are going to be spending the remaining episodes of 2019 talking about setting ourselves up for success with smart and healthy goals for next year! 

What Your Goal Should Not Be

We all know someone, or maybe we are that someone, who comes to the end of the year and says “my New Years’ resolution is to lose weight”. As a matter of fact, according to statistica.com, 45% of Americans made “losing weight” their goal for 2018. Today, I am going to share with you why that actually isn’t a good goal, why your weight isn’t how you should measure your level of health, and what you should be focusing on instead. 

Why Weight Isn’t A Reliable Indicator of Good Health 

My story is a perfect example of this. I recently shared my experience with Insulin Resistance and PCOS and how my physician and I were both surprised at the results of my blood work because I wasn’t considered overweight. I had a normal BMI and while I had gained a little weight, I was still within the normal range. As it turns out, I had inflammation and the beginning stages of disease taking a toll on my body, but I thought I was healthy because I wasn’t overweight. 

Our weight just isn’t a reliable indicator of the state of our health, for many reasons. One being that it isn’t a static number - our can weight fluctuates 3-5 lbs on a regular basis. This can be based on so many things including hormones, especially for women (weight will fluctuate at different stages of your cycle). This is why we do NOT need to be weighing every day! If you are getting on the scale every morning and beating yourself up because you seem to be battling the same 3-4 lbs over and over - STOP. You are creating undue stress on yourself by obsessing about your weight and being disappointed in your body or thinking that the work you are putting in isn’t worth it. This isn’t good for your physical or mental health, and actually, studies have shown that obsession with weight or dieting can actually lead to more weight gain. 

Also, standards such as BMI are skewed as well. They only take into account a ratio of height and weight and make absolutely zero adjustments for body composition and muscle mass. So people who are actually in great health and have a good amount of muscle mass will usually fall into the overweight or even obese categories.

Also, it’s important to note that in a lot of chronic diseases, studies are showing that weight gain or inability to lose weight is more a side effect of an underlying disease or dysfunction in the body, rather than the root cause. So when all we are doing is focusing on the weight, we could be missing what is actually going on in the body.

So if we shouldn’t be focusing solely on the scale or BMI, how should we measure our level of health?

Better Indicators of Good Health

Waist circumference

One better option for monitoring your health is by measuring your waist circumference. Studies have shown that having a waist circumference greater than 35 for women and 40 for men is indicative of higher amounts of visceral fat (a type of fat that lies deep within the abdominal cavity and pads the spaces between vital abdominal organs) and is associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes, unhealthy cholesterol, hypertension, hormone imbalance, and Cardiovascular Disease. 

All you need to monitor your waist circumference is a tape measure. Simply wrap it around the middle of your waist, right above the top of your hip bones, Make sure the tape measurer stays flat against your skin and level all the way around. This isn’t something that should be done daily or even weekly. Every 2-3 months is a good increment of time, especially if this is something you are trying to work on. 

Health markers related to metabolic disease 

Another better option to monitor your health and risk for disease is by regularly monitoring health markers associated with Metabolic Disease (BP, Fasting Insulin and A1c, and Cholesterol)  specifically HDL/ Total Cholesterol ratio and Tri / HDL ratio)

As a reminder, you need to work with your physician to have these markers evaluated:

• Blood Pressure Levels 

• Blood Sugar Levels - Fasting Insulin and Fasting Blood Glucose 

• Cholesterol Levels - specifically HDL and Triglycerides

A Harvard-lead study reported that high triglycerides alone increased the risk of heart attack by 3 times and people with the highest ratio of triglycerides to HDL -- the "good" cholesterol -- had 16 times the risk of heart attack as those with the lowest ratio of triglycerides to HDL. The ratio of triglycerides to HDL was the strongest predictor of a heart attack, even more accurate than the LDL/HDL ratio

Optimal Triglycerides / HDL ratio is under 2 (the lower the better)

Body function 

Just taking a moment to evaluate how your body is moving and functioning can be helpful in measuring your level of health. 

How are you sleeping? Do you wake up refreshed or groggy and exhausted? 

Do you find your energy crashing throughout the day - especially the afternoon?

For the ladies, are your cycles regular? 

Is your skin clear?

Do you have repeated sickness or seem to catch everything that goes around?

Do you have chronic pain or stiffness? 

How is your digestive health?

These are all questions you can ask yourself to possibly pinpoint any areas that you need to focus on or work with a professional to address. 

Better goals 

We will get more into the specifics of how to set smart and health goals in the next couple of episodes, but for now, as you are starting to think about health goals for next year - I want you to focus more on establishing healthy habits and rhythms. You are much more likely to see progress in your health with those anyway.

If you feel like you could use some extra support as you set health goals for next year or work to meet your goals from this year, schedule a free 30 min consultation call with me! I’d love to help point you in the right direction and see if there are ways that I can help!

008 - Part 4: The Top Four Reasons Women Struggle to Lose Weight - An Unhealthy Mindset

Hi friends! This week we are finishing up the month-long series on The Top Four Reasons Women Struggle to Lose Weight with Part 4, which is an Unhealthy Mindset. 

While an unhealthy mindset may be the last part of this series, it absolutely should not be the last thing you think about when considering why you may be struggling to lose weight (or to reach any goal, really) - it should be the first! The truth is that you can eat all the kale, never miss a workout, and drink tons of water, but if you don’t deal with the heart work - the part that addresses how you feel about yourself and the value you place on your health - you’re not going to make any true, lasting progress. 

This principle is along the same lines of what we talked about in the first part of this series with having The Wrong Goal, but it goes much deeper than that. Your mindset about your health, your body, and really your worth is at the core of who you are and whether consciously or not, almost every decision you make about food, exercise, self-care, boundaries with others, etc. is related to it. 

We all have struggled with this at some point - let me give you an example of what I mean. Let’s imagine that I have a client that is frustrated because she can’t seem to make any real progress with her health goals. She has tried multiple diet plans and has lost weight on most of them, but after a few weeks or months, she gains the weight back and is right back to feeling sluggish and depressed, she starts going through the drive-thru every night instead of cooking at home like she was before, she hardly ever works out anymore, and is back to drinking more soda than ever. This has happened to her time and time again and she can’t figure out why nothing ever seems to stick. She knows the things to do - but something is missing. She just can’t stay motivated! When I get to know her a little better, I learn that she has been dealing with these feelings and frustrations for several years. When I asked her when she remembers first feeling this way, she shared that it all started in college when she and her long-term boyfriend broke off their relationship. She told me about how he had made a few jokes about her gaining some weight and how it had hurt her feelings but she just brushed it off. Then she found out he was cheating on her with another girl who was much thinner and in her opinion, much more attractive than her. She told me that she blamed herself for their breakup and immediately started trying different diets and workout programs, and it worked - she lost all the weight she had gained in college. But nothing else in her life really seemed to change and after a while, she just went back to the same kind of lifestyle she was living before because it didn’t make the difference she was hoping for. She became very insecure about the way she looked and started spending more time alone. Even if other guys became interested in her, she would end things before they ever got started because she was afraid that if she couldn't control her weight, the same thing would happen again and this cycle just continued throughout her early twenties. 

Can you relate to this client? Do you feel like you’ve tried every diet program under the sun but nothing really sticks long-term? Have you had a similar experience where you started to doubt that your body was good enough or that your identity was somehow wrapped up in the number that showed up on the scale? 

There are a few questions that I would ask my client - and that I’m also going to ask you: 

• How do you define what “health” is? 

What does it mean to you? Not a number on the scale or a certain size. I want you to dig deeper than that and think about what health means to you. 

• What would it look like for you to be healthy? 

What would your life look like? How would it be different than it is now? What would your energy be like? Your relationships? Your career? 

• Do you think that you can actually be healthy? 

When you picture that healthy version of yourself, do you actually believe that it’s possible for you? 

• Do you feel that you deserve to be healthy? 

Like the client in my example, have you allowed something that someone said to you to become your own belief? Do you think that you are somehow undeserving of being healthy because of something you did, or maybe something you continue to do? Are you subconsciously punishing yourself because you feel like that is what you deserve?

Those may seem like weird questions but you would be surprised at how many people have never thought about these questions and honestly have a hard time answering them. It is so common for people to believe that truly being healthy isn’t actually possible for them or is something that they don’t deserve. So, I want you to take the time to reflect on your answers to these questions. 

Now that you’ve thought about your answers, I want to spend the rest of today’s episode focusing on ways you can move into a healthier mindset. 

Self-Worth

The first is to remind yourself of your worth! You were intricately and specifically made to be you! It sounds cliche to say but it’s true - no one else can be you!  We spend so much time getting caught up in what others might think about us or maybe even in something that has been said about us by another person, that we forget what our Creator said about us - that we were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139)! We are who He says we are - not what the internet says we are, not what our friends or family say that we are, not even what our own thoughts and feelings say that we are. We have to do the heart work of letting that stuff go, of laying down our insecurities and the lies we’ve allowed ourselves to believe. We have to remind ourselves that we were made by God and God doesn’t make junk, and He doesn’t make things without a purpose. We were given life and a body to live it in, and it’s our responsibility to honor that gift by stewarding it well. 

Overwhelm

The second is to work through the overwhelm! Listen, I get it - trying to improve your health or make any health decision is overwhelming. There are so many options and so many people with opinions about the best way you to do it, but you can’t let that paralyze you. I’m all for making informed decisions and researching which option might be best for you, but it’s so easy to get caught up in all the noise that you end up not doing anything at all. So, my advice is to pick something - pick one action step that you know will improve your health, something simple. Things, like drinking more water or moving your body for 20-30 minutes every day, are great places to start. Action begets action. Once you start to make one change and stick to it, the more motivated and confident you will feel to move on to the next thing. 

Maybe your situation is more overwhelming than most. Maybe like me, you are dealing with a health condition that needs specific considerations and recommendations. If so, your first step needs to be contacting a professional that can help you, then commit yourself to learn as much as you can from them. 

Whenever I get really overwhelmed, usually with a list of things that I need to do, my husband always tells me the same thing. He says, “Line them up vertically - stop looking at them horizontally, as if they all need to be done at the same time, and just do the first thing.” As much as it may annoy me sometimes, he’s right! You can’t think about changing all the things at once - you will psych yourself out - but if you choose one thing to do first, you will begin to make progress and it will get easier from there!

Support

The third thing is you need to have a good support system. It’s critical for success! Research has shown that your health is greatly affected by the people you spend the most time with. Now, I’m not saying that if you have unhealthy friends that you need to stop hanging out with them, but I am saying that you need to find at least one person, preferably more, that will have your back and support you! Who will celebrate your wins and encourage you when you’re having a hard time. It’s going to be really difficult for you to make lasting lifestyle changes when the people you surround yourself with are making fun of you for going to work out or for not eating pizza for the third night that week. Again, the point isn’t to lose your friends, but to choose carefully who you have in your corner for this journey! Most of the time, if they truly care about you, they will be supportive and if not, it’s usually due to their own insecurities, so just keep that in mind. 

If you need a group of people to be in your corner, who are experiencing similar struggles and have the same kind of goals, join my group coaching program! This is the last week to sign up for it (registration closes on 9/1) and there are a couple of spots left! Maybe this is the first step you need to take. I really can’t think of a more fun way to get started on your health journey, or maybe to restart on your health journey, than with the guidance and support from a coach, as well as with the support from other women all experiencing and learning the same things. 

The group will meet twice a month from September - November and the meetings will be held virtually, so you’ll be able to join from the comfort of your own home! I’m really excited for this group and I would absolutely love for you to join us! 

Friends that wraps up today’s post and our August series! I hope that you heard something that encourages you! Enjoy the rest of your day!

004 - What Are Your Food Cravings Trying To Tell You?

Hey friends! Today we are talking about cravings!

Do you feel like your brain is sabotaging your efforts to be healthy? Do you often find yourself craving something that you know isn’t good for you... maybe even something that you know will make you feel sick or tired, but you just can’t stop thinking about it? Have you ever felt like you were doing so well - you were eating all good, whole foods and your workouts had been on point, and then all of the sudden you pass a billboard for pizza or donuts and something in your brain changes?! It’s like a switch was flipped and now you NEED that food! (I think that happened to me just last week!)  

Are cravings just a result of a lack of willpower or is there something deeper going on?

Today I want to talk about two main reasons we get cravings and how we can use them to work for our health instead of against it.

The first reason that we crave unhealthy foods is that we have a literal, physical addiction to them. 

Scientists have long been doing research on cravings and why they seem to hold so much power over our thoughts and behaviors. One such study, from the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, sheds some light on food cravings and why some people seem to struggle with them more than others. In the study, 39 overweight people and 42 people of “normal weight” were given MRI scans and shown photographs of buffet-style food. People who were overweight had far greater stimulation in the “reward center” of the brain than people of normal weight. In essence, the study found that food cravings are “hard-wired” into our brains in a way that is similar to alcohol or substance addictions. This seems to be especially true for those who are overweight. 

Things like sugar and processed foods cause an opiate release in our brains. Opiates increase dopamine in the brain, which is why they are known as “feel good” chemicals and are highly addictive. So, it’s not just that we like sugary foods or junk foods, we’re literally craving those chemical highs that we get from those foods. 

Also, keep in mind that these companies who sell and market these addictive foods know exactly what they are doing. They all have their own scientists and researchers who have read all these same studies, know the perfect wording to use, and the exact way to display their product that makes it almost impossible for us to ignore. 

So, remember when you are having these cravings, it isn’t that you are weak and have no will power... it’s just that the last time you ate that particular food, your brain got a rush of dopamine and now associates pleasure with that food. Just like any other time you set out to change habits and behaviors, the brain has to be retrained! 

Another reason we EXPERIENCE cravings is that our body uses them as a way to communicate with us about what it needs.

 Remember, that our bodies were created intelligently with the ability to communicate and send signals from our brains to other parts of our body in order to maintain harmony and optimal function. I mean, think about it - you can eat junk food, and your body will still turn it into energy to keep you alive;  you can deprive it of sleep, but it will still get you up and running the next morning; you can expose it to toxins and chemicals, and it will still process it through your system, so that you don’t poison yourself. The body is amazing! So, it only makes sense that when your body is in need of something that it figures out a way to communicate that to you. Here are a few signals your body might be trying to send you through food cravings:

• It needs more water! Dehydration can often disguise itself a mild hunger

• There’s an emotional imbalance or feelings that need to be dealt with

Are you unhappy with a situation in your life and looking to numb your feelings instead of dealing with them? Is there a nostalgic connection or favorite memory from your childhood associated with that food?

• There could be a possible nutrient deficiency

It is actually very common to have a vitamin or mineral deficiency, especially if you tend to eat the same kinds of foods all of the time and if those foods aren’t the healthiest. Some of the most common nutrient deficiencies include calcium, which could cause you to crave carbonated drinks or dairy; magnesium, which can cause intense cravings for sugar and leave you feeling anxious and exhausted; omega-3s which often causes cravings for sweet and salty or greasy type foods and give you a low mood and major brain fog; another is B-12, which can cause cravings for meat and will usually cause you to have low energy, and sometimes anemia.

Some easy ways to combat a nutrient deficiency is to eat mostly whole foods that include dark or rich colored vegetables (check the EWG to see which should be organic but the basic rule is, if you eat the skin or outside of the produce, organic is the safest bet), other complex carbs (like root vegetables, brown rice and quinoa), organic meats (including beef, chicken and seafood - as long as your body tolerates them well), and healthy fats (like healthy oils - coconut, avocado, and olive, ghee or grass-fed butter; nuts and seeds; and avocados and coconut milk). 

Taking a whole-food-based multivitamin can also go a long way to help fill in the gaps in our diets! 

Another tip is to make sure that you have good gut health so that your body can actually absorb the nutrients from the food you are eating. I have a whole episode about that coming up soon! 

So, as you can see there is both a physiological component and an emotional component to why we get cravings. So, the next time you find yourself dealing with a craving, treat it as a signal from your body and try these tips before rushing in to indulge:

• Drink a glass of water and wait ten minutes.

• Consider if something is out of balance in your life? Is this craving an emotional response, and if so, is there a healthier way to satisfy it?

• Eat a healthier version of what you crave. For example, if you’re craving something sweet, try eating more fruit or a “treat” that is made of cleaner, healthier ingredients. 

• If you think you have a nutrient deficiency, get your levels checked and start to implement a few of the things I mentioned above.

• Ultimately, when you do eat the food you are craving, really enjoy it, taste it, savor it. Make a note to yourself if it felt worth it or not so that you can be more aware and free to decide if you really want it next time.

I hope that these tips have helped encourage you to know that this is something that everyone struggles with for different reasons and has given you a few ideas for ways that you can listen to your body instead of feeling like it’s trying to sabotage you! 

If you have any questions about this topic or feel like you need some extra support, please feel free to send me an email or schedule a free consultation. I’d love to see if we can work together to help you overcome whatever is holding you back from being the healthiest version of yourself!

001 - What Is A Health Coach, Really?

Hey friends! Welcome to the very first episode of the Health forward podcast! I'm so thankful and excited to have you guys here with me! I thought I would get started today by explaining a little about who I am, what I do and how I'm hoping this podcast will impact your life!

I’m Alaina! I’m a wife to my husband, Scott (for almost 10 years, which is completely crazy to think about), and a mama to our adorable 1½-year-old little girl, Remi. She is all the things my mama dreams are made of - sweet, sassy and hilarious - at least we think she is!

As you also heard in the intro, I am an Integrative Health Coach. I work with clients, either one on one or in a group setting,  to help them move forward in their health journey. This can look different based on the client's circumstances and individual needs, but the simplest way to explain it is that I literally coming alongside them, to help them to set appropriate goals for their body and their health and then provide guidance and support as they work to achieve those goals. I practice a holistic approach to health, which means that I look at how all areas of life are connected and how they are affecting a client's health (not just what they eat and how much they exercise). So, for example, is stress at their job or in their relationship causing them to binge on a bag of chips when they get home from work or feel like they need a pint of ice cream every night before they go to bed? Maybe they are struggling to sleep or have really low energy all the time, and that is making it hard for them to exercise consistently.  As I work with a client, we don't just focus on behaviors or certain habits; but instead, we look at how all parts of their life affect their health as a whole and work to target the root cause of whatever they may be struggling with. Once we've done that, then we decipher their body's unique needs, set their personal goals, and work towards sustainable change.

Why a Health Coach? 

So you may be thinking, "okay - sounds cool but why would someone need a health coach? Can't you just find all the answers about losing weight or being healthier on google?" Well, I'm so glad you asked. :) This is my favorite part to talk about!

Let's be honest, most of us don't have a problem finding information about how to be healthy. It is absolutely true that all the info you could ever possibly read about any diet, workout program, detox, protein shake, disease, etc. can be found in a simple google search in a matter of seconds and for free. So, the problem isn't getting information! The problem that most of us face is knowing what to do with that information, right? So, we don't really have an information gap, we have a transformation gap!  

A Transformation is the thing we are actually after, the thing that most of us really want. Part of a transformation is the result, the thing that motivates us to make a change in the first place. We've all tried the 3-day juice cleanse that promises to get rid of your cellulite forever or bought the latest "fit in 30 days" online exercise program - and that's all fine - but as you already know those things RARELY deliver that promised result. And if they do, what are the odds that those results last, in 3 months, 6 months, or a year? 

I believe the reason that we often find ourselves disappointed in our results, or lacking any results at all, is because we've skipped over the most important part of a true transformation!  Transformation doesn't only include the result, but more importantly, the growth that we experience through the process of change itself! The change in our mindset, the things we learn about ourselves and how our bodies work - what makes us feel good, what makes us feel bad, our feelings of self-worth. This growth is the thing that keeps us from going right back to where we started! It helps up get off of the dieting merry-go-round, for good. It helps us stop comparing our bodies to every person we see on social media or thinking that we'll suddenly be happy with our bodies once we see that magic number on the scale. It helps us appreciate our bodies and learn to steward them well. It helps us be more at peace with who God created us to be.

Helping someone to walk through a transformation and fully embrace this growth - this journey of contentment and peace with themselves - is the value of a health coach, and the reason I decided to become one.  

My story:

I started pursuing this field after realizing how overwhelming and stressful it was to try to navigate changing my own health.  I started on my own health journey about 7 years ago after noticing some things seemed off with my body. I had unexplained weight gain, major brain fog and fatigue and a handful of other symptoms which made me think my hormones may be out of whack. Being that I was only 23 at the time, and what I considered to be healthy, I was so confused and concerned. After an appointment with my doctor and some lab tests, I was told that I had PCOS. Not too long after that, with the development of different, and more concerning symptoms,  I was diagnosed by another doctor with Endometriosis. (if you don't know what those diagnoses mean, they are basically reproductive system syndromes/diseases, that not only affect a woman's quality of life, but also her fertility). Already being somewhat familiar with the alternative medicine world, I decided that I wanted to treat these issues with lifestyle change, as the first line of treatment. So, unsure of where to start, I did what most of us do and turned to my friend google. Oh wow! I found hundreds and hundreds of articles! I remember being so overwhelmed! A lot of the articles contradicted each other and some of the ones that made the most sense contained really scary worst-case scenarios. I decided to just start somewhere, and that was with my diet. I tried a lot of things and made a lot of changes and often felt like I had NO clue what I was doing. Thankfully,  I was blessed to work with several practitioners and some were super helpful and took the time to really explain what was happening in my body. Even then, I just remember feeling SO overwhelmed. Like many common diseases now, hormonal or reproductive system diseases often don't have many visible symptoms, so it can seem like everything is fine, when in reality the person feels like anyone but themselves.  

This was a LONG journey, with a lot of learning, heartache, discouragement, and frustration at times. The questions of "should I be doing this differently?" and "maybe I should try that diet instead?" were a constant scrolling marquee in my mind. Eventually, I was able to work with a practitioner who could help me determine what was best for my body, and what my unique needs were. Did it magically fix everything? No! As a matter of fact, it would be several months of negative pregnancy tests and uncomfortable symptoms before I would notice any change, but the change did come! Not only was I able to miraculously carry the baby I wanted so very much, but I changed in the process. My heart changed, my appreciation for and understanding of my body changed, my relationships changed, and my faith was tested and strengthened. There's a lot to that story, and maybe I'll get into more of it in a different episode,  but I'm telling you all of this because I just want you to know that I get it. 

Life can throw us really hard, difficult, and even painful situations - but things are always harder when we try to go it alone. Friends, I don't want you to walk your journey alone. I don't want you to be frustrated and overwhelmed, constantly questioning yourself, or wondering what you are doing wrong! Find someone who can help you, whether it's me or another health professional,  just find someone who will listen to you, care about your body's unique needs and give you the support you need. We really were never meant to live our lives alone!

So there you have it! That wraps up today's episode and I hope it helped to shed a little light on what a health coach really is and why I'm so excited to be doing this work! 

If you have any questions about what I've talked about here today or maybe something about health coaching that I didn't mention, please feel free to send me an email or DM. You can be expecting a new podcast episode to be released each week, so go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss out! 

You can also find more tips and education, along with some fun freebies by following me over on Instagram and Facebook or you can find more info on my website.