Day 3 - Fuel Your Body!

You’ve heard me say over and over: ENJOY this beautiful life! 🙌🙌🙌

So let me ask you this: What if we changed our focus to getting healthier INSTEAD of being focused on losing weight? These are two very distinct things.

I’ve learned over the years that my number one goal should be to FUEL my body first.

What if we focused on NOURISHING our body and giving it what it needs to thrive?

I truly believe the biggest difference would be that you will lose the weight as part of a lifestyle shift, not just because you went on yet another diet that you can’t maintain indefinitely.

Plus, the end result will be better because you will have improved your health in the process!

I eat healthy because I want to be able to do the most that my body can do, and I also want to honor the gift God has given me! By understanding what foods provide what types of nutrients, I can make sure that I’m giving my body what it needs to function at its best, so that I too can feel my best.

However, I absolutely do not believe in missing out on life because you are restricting yourself so much that things are simply not enjoyable at all! This is where the happy part comes in… you’ve gotta live your life sister! If you are on vacation, enjoy the yummy chef-prepared meals and DO NOT beat yourself up for it!

It’s that sweet balance mama.❤️

My hope is that with the right mindset and empowering you with knowledge, that you can make informed decisions about your health journey. Happy and healthy looks different in every home, and we want to celebrate that!

To understand how we can get to the mindset of fueling our bodies, we have to take a dive into some technical terminology that will help us better understand our body & its relation to food. If you’re like me, when you understand WHY our food needs certain types of food, it’s easier to make decisions that your body will thank you for later!

All food is made of MICROnutrients and MACROnutrients. Those are big words, but I promise you sister, it’s super simple!

☑️ Micronutrients are the part of food that contains vitamins and minerals.
☑️ Macronutrients are the “other” parts of food: proteins, carbs, and fats.

Simply put- all food has a certain level of vitamins & minerals (micro), as well as protein, carbs, and fats (macros). Make sense?

As your body is processing your food, it does different things with these micro and macronutrients to help you function...therefore your food is fueling your body! Depending on the breakdown of these micros and macros in the food that you eat, it can affect your weight, how you feel, and your energy levels. 💃 As much as calories consumed vs burned is our body's way to lose, gain or maintain weight, macros are JUST as important!

👉Like we talked about yesterday... calories aren’t all the same. Two foods can have the same number of calories, but based on their macros (nutrients) will process so different in your body!

Instead of focusing on counting calories, focus on the types of foods that fuel you and give you what you need for optimum health. 💪💪💪

So how can having different variations of macros in my food affect me?

Depending on what combination of macros are in the food you eat, it can affect SO many things in your body, which is why it's SO SO SO important to pay attention to how you feel energy-wise and more after you eat. Every person is different, but based on how you are feeling personally, you can adjust your carb, protein, and fat intake to really tune-in your body for optimal health! Here are just a few benefits of what your body will do when you are eating the right macros!
💪If you workout or move a lot on a regular basis, you may burn through your fuel faster... so you'll want to have more protein and carbs that take longer to burn in your body so that you have the energy you need!
💪ward off insulin spikes and stabilize your blood sugar
💪decreased food cravings
💪improve your body composition
💪increased fat burning

Check out more info here on how athletes dial in their macros to best performance: https://buff.ly/2ZlKaCN

To read more about the idea of fueling your body, check out this awesome article written by certified holistic health coach, Naomi Nakamura. https://buff.ly/2EX1C92

Over the next few days, we'll be going through these macro and micro nutrients so that you can understand exactly what each one is, what it does in your body, and how to determine how much is best for you to have in your every day diet!

⭐️ACTION: Make a list of what you ate yesterday, meal by meal. Don’t count calories or track macros, but instead, I want you to think about the food that you ate and how you felt as it “fueled” your body. Think about how you felt before, during, and after each of those meals. How were your energy levels? Did your body feel satisfied after eating each meal?

Share your findings below! Did you notice any trends?