Weekly Digest – March 4-8th: Nutrition, Sleep, Breakfast, Corporate Wellness, MS

In this edition of Be Fab – Be You’s Weekly Digest of March 4-8th, 2019, the most popular posts along with attached articles and videos published on our Facebook Page included the following topics:

• Nutrition (tracking foods and wellness)
• School Breakfast
• Corporate Wellness
• Sleep (adenosine and caffeine)
• Multiple Sclerosis

At the end of this post, I also added three of the workouts I did during the week. For more routines, images, and blurbs, connect with Maria on Instagram or Facebook.

Enjoy Your Read!

It’s Nutrition Awareness Month and there’re thousands of nuggets about nutrition.

TRACKING our foods, beverages, emotions, and even behaviors become a great tool. About every client I’ve worked with who used my food and wellness journal seriously did really well: assisted with weight loss and learned forever lessons about their bodies.

I am NOT talking about tracking for calorie counting purposes. NO NO NO. I am not in favor of calorie counting for a number of reasons.

Becoming anal about making note of their foods for a period of time proves to be helpful. Becoming anal about recording foods and MORE will experience even better results.

This article discusses the benefits of tracking food. I say you that tracking food and beverage consumption without paying attention to nutrients and side effects (how you feel and respond body & mind) leave a LOT on info on the table.

The journal I created gives the client and I gives the space to learn about the different pillars of health I teach/practice including nutrition template, emotions/feelings, sleep, stress, physical activity, digestion. Then, I can use this tool, as comprehensive as it’s been completed, to help clients achieve their goals and make improvements.

Anyone who chooses to become a detective of their own health sees the value as they learn, apply, change, get results, and keep going!

?Cheers to SLEEP Awareness Week (3/3/-3/10) ??

On average, how many hours of sleep do you get? Especially from Sun night thru Sat morning?

Keep reading…I bet either you or someone in your life will benefit from making adjustments to your day, especially if you drink caffeine.

I feel like most of us take sleep for granted, yet, we wonder why we go around tired, eat unhealthy foods, fill up with stimulants, and more.

Inadequate sleep contributes to weight gain, hormone disruption, weakened immune system, cravings, poor energy and fatigue, and the list goes one.

Sleep is the pillar of health I am most inconsistent as well. A few days in a row of 6 hours and I can definitely feel the difference. I am proud to say that I’ve been behaving well better the past 10 days and have got many 8 hours several nights. WOW!!!

This article is a great reminder of steps and habits that assist with the process of getting better sleep. Nonetheless, I do want to elaborate on CAFFEINE!!! The article provides limited information.

Hear me out for a minute. Caffeine blocks a neurotransmitter called adenosine. Adenosine is responsible for creating ‘sleep pressure’ in our brains. Yes, as the day goes on, adenosine increases and eventually, we want to sleep.

What is also interesting about caffeine is that it has a half-life of 5-6 hours. That is, it takes 5-6 hours for the body to get rid of HALF of the caffeine.

Just think about this for a minute….

Drink 16oz of coffee (~200 mg caffeine) at 8am, by 1pm you will still have ~100mg. Then, you hit the mid-afternoon down and have another 16oz. By 7-8pm, you will still have ~150mg in your system. Now, if there is a chance you have an energy drink, piece (s) chocolate, ice cream, soda, PMS medication, and pain killers in the day, you have added more caffeine to your system.

WONDER WHY YOU HAVE ISSUES FALLING ASLEEP? HAVING GOOD MEMORY? WAKING UP RESTED?

Is it time for a change?

Don’t drink caffeine or eat many foods with caffeine or take medications that contain caffeine? Commit to getting 8 hours of sleep for a few days and notice how much more productive your day will be. Guessing or the ‘I know…’ isn’t really helping you. Take Action!!! A more rested you = happier you = everybody WINS!

P.S. Check out the video I supplemented this content with HERE

What’s Your Office Environment Like?

Are you among the 53% of American currently unhappy at work? (stats according to the Conference Board).

Happiness and fun are part of wellness AND here is a good read for you.

At least 1/3 of the day is work. If you are unhappy, unfulfilled, stressed out to the max, and even miserable…how do you think it impacts all other aspects of your health and life?

>>What are you doing to lift yourself up — make your own environment better while you’re there?
>>Are you looking for another job?
>>Are you in the ‘right’ career or industry?
>>Do you have something else to look forward to when you leave the office?

Practicing gratitude even when you are not happy with the job HELPS. It may be that you are grateful for

1) the income that provides you with food and shelter.
2) peer (s)/colleague (s) who are amazing people and care about you and vice versa.
3) new things you’ve learned on the job.
4) lives you helped changed because of your contribution–yes, every job and business changes lives.
5) whatever cost of health care plan the company covers. 6) and the list goes.

As a personal wellness coach, part of my job and to help my clients implement strategies and routines to just that. Sometimes, it’s hard for us to look at our own stuff and think outside the box.

As a corporate wellness consultant, I enjoy hosting educational and inspiring lunch and learns and working with organizations/teams to implement corporate wellness programs. Whether is it’s team-wellness-oriented, small group coaching, one-on-one coaching, fitness, lectures, in-person or online, and a combination of them all, I love it. I worked 20+ in Corporate America; I understand the stressors.

Giving employees the opportunity for employees to speak up, share, grow, learn more about each other, and do activities together is a great wellness tool.

Bringing a consultant like myself creates a space that helps the team grow together and reduce all sorts of costs in the short and long term. Sometimes, management is so busy and under pressure that a little help from staff doesn’t hurt.

Speaking up and offering options/solutions might be what’s needed for your team. Doing the ‘right thing’ and speaking up for the greater good will always WIN.

http://medicaldailytimes.com/study/great-bosses-know-happiness-attribute-wellness/4505/

March is also Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Awareness Month. Let’s talk about it! In case you choose to learn more MS, I added a few links to this post. Education is the foundation for improvement and growth. When it comes to health, PREVENTION at any age = DESIRE + KNOWLEDGE + ACTION.

Science is still evolving about MS. It is believed to be an autoimmune disorder impacting myelin sheats. Think of them being sleeves of fatty tissue that protect our nerve cells that are part of our CNS. CNS is responsible to carry messages between the brain and the rest of the body. MS is bound to destroy these sheats. Our genetics play a role to MS so does our environment (foods, beverages, stress, toxicity).

Inflammation is a big contributor to MS. Poor food choices plays a big role in inflammation. Since March is also nutrition awareness month, let’s touch on foods that damage the myelin sheaths: sugar, processed foods, sodium, gluten, cow’s milk.

Isn’t interesting that these same nutrition recommendations are good for about every autoimmune disease and chronic disease out there, CVD, diabetes, and others.

The reality is this, building our nutritional template to be at least 50% plant-based that not only provides phytochemicals, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants but also provides healthy carbs (veggies & fruits) + fats (Omega 3 are great for myelin sheats) and protein (yes plants have protein), we are preventing all sorts of diseases.

Plus, we will have higher levels of ENERGY, manage weight and feel good in our clothes, and be able to build that physical and mental strength we want.

Resources/articles on MS:
>>https://health.usnews.com/…/2017-07-10/5-foods-to-avoid-if-…

>>https://multiplesclerosisnewstoday.com/…/gut-immune-cells-…/

>>https://www.webmd.com/…/slideshow-multiple-sclerosis-overvi…

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I LOVE this video for 3 for a few reasons:

1) It’s increasing awareness of the disease

2) Resilience—we CANNOT stop searching for answers and solutions especially when it comes to health. NOBODY else but you know how you feel. We will know ourselves best, the root, when we are NOT under the influence of stimulants, drugs, alcohol, and medication.

3) Educate yourself, go after good information. Don’t listen to naysayers. Listen to your gut. When things seem impossible and lonely, keep moving forward!!! Find your tribe

4) Our attitude/mindset is essential to keep moving forward. Negativity risks being drawn into misery and even death. She put a smile no matter what, she gave her best effort to keep working (contributing), she kept searching for answers. She is NOT allowing MS to define her. She is doing the best she can, one day at a day. She changed to adjust to life curveballs.

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Do you know anyone with MS? I do a few. And personally, I discovered, through genetic testing (I was my own guinea pig as I learned nutrigenomics and is one of the tools/services I offer my clients), that I am at higher risks for MS–cheers to ‘bad’ genes. What can I do about? minimize the expression of these genes through an anti-inflammatory lifestyle, including nutrition, of course.

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Questions about how I can help you implement an anti-inflammatory lifestyle? Visit www.BeFabBeYou.com. I am here for you!

Happy Women’s Day!

10 Rounds
200-meter row
15 Ab-mat Sit-ups
10 thrusters 35lbs barbell
5 ring rows
15 slam ball 15lbs

Time: 34:28 minutes

To all women:  I Hope You Celebrated Your Day by Fueling Your Body and Mind with Positive and Energizing Activities!!

Are you ready to lift 7,560 lbs??

Here is one way to do:

42 rounds (one rep of each at a time):
1x Power Clean 60lbs
1x Front Squat 60lbs
1x DB Bench Press 30lbs/arm

Time: 20:44 min — longer than that I had estimated.

I greatly underestimated the transition time and effort to lift, press, put down the 30# DBs.