Good morning and happy Monday! Since it’s been as hot as hades lately across many areas, it would be a great time to talk about water and staying hydrated. Staying hydrated will help you regulate your body temperature, prevent infections, and keep your organs functioning properly. Staying hydrated can also improve your sleep quality, cognition and mood.

How Much Water Should You Drink?

At a minimum, you should drink half your body weight in ounces. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds, you should drink at least 75 ounces of water a day. You also need to consider the following factors and adjust accordingly:

• Your level of activity (how much you sweat) – if you exercise and sweat, you will need more water

• How much alcohol or caffeine you drink per day – both are dehydrating, so for every cup of caffeine/alcohol, drink an extra cup of water

• The temperature where you live – if you live in a very hot climate, you will require more water

• How Can You Tell if You’re Drinking Enough Water?

Here are a few ways you can tell if you’re drinking enough water:

• If your urine is light in colour, you’re doing well. If it’s darker, you need to drink more water

• Urine is abundant

• You empty your bladder every two or three hours – when you first start to increase water intake, you will need to go to the bathroom more often than you’re used to, but that will only last a few days, and your body will adjust

What if You Don’t Like the Taste of Water?

If you don’t like the taste of plain water, try the following:

• Add slices of lemon, lime, cucumber, or orange

• Add mint leaves

• Try sparkling water (make sure there are no added ingredients)

• Heat water and drink with lemon

• Try drinking out of a fancy goblet or wine glass

How to Increase Water Intake

Here are a few ways you can increase your water intake if you’re not drinking enough:

• Drink 20 ounces of water first thing in the morning. You’ve been asleep for 6 to 10 hours, so it’s time to hydrate! Rehydrating the body and brain will lead to clearer thinking and better energy

• Keep a pitcher of filtered water containing the amount of water you want to drink each day. Doing so will make it easy to remember to drink water and track your intake

• Drink 8 ounces of water before exercise

• Sip water slowly and at intervals during exercise

• Drink 8 ounces of water before each meal

• Keep bottles of water in your car, at the office, or around your work areas

If you’re feeling the heat wave, stay cool and hydrated! If you have any questions, feel free to reply to this message or better yet, let’s chat!

How to Balance Hormones Naturally

A hormonal imbalance can significantly impact overall health. Even small changes in hormone levels can put extra stress on our bodies.

Here are a few strategies you can try if you feel you may suffer from a hormone imbalance:

Get Enough Quality Sleep

If you know me, you know that I LOVE to talk about sleep! Sleep may be among the most important factors for hormonal balance. Hormone levels can fluctuate throughout the day in response to your sleep quality the night before. Poor quality sleep will affect hormones, contribute to obesity and diabetes, and affect your appetite.

Avoid Blue Light at Night

Exposure to blue light from electronics can affect your sleep cycle and circadian rhythm by disrupting your melatonin and cortisol levels.

Manage Your Stress

Stress leads to an increase in adrenaline and cortisol. If levels of these hormones are too high, it can disrupt the overall balance and contribute to obesity, changes in mood, and even cardiovascular issues.

Exercise

Regular exercise and movement can help regulate the hormones that control your appetite. It can also reduce the risk of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Watch What You Eat

Keep insulin in check by reducing or eliminating sugar and increasing fibre in your diet. Including healthy fats in your diet can help maintain a balance of hormones involved in appetite, metabolism, and feeling full.

Quit Smoking

Tobacco smoke may disrupt levels of several hormones, including thyroid, pituitary, and steroid hormones.

Limit Caffeine and Alcohol

Consuming caffeine and alcohol can significantly increase cortisol levels. Alcohol abuse can also impact reproductive hormones in both men and women.

Want more information? If you need additional help balancing your hormones naturally, let's chat!

We all know that stress is a part of life. Things such as work, school, or family problems can cause stress. While most people are aware of the major sources of stress in their lives, additional hidden stressors may wreak havoc. These can include environmental toxins, financial worries, and social isolation. Hidden stressors can significantly impact our health and well-being and may not even feel stressful. Which hidden stressors do you have?

It’s no secret that stress can take a toll on the body. From causing headaches and muscle tension to increasing the risk for heart disease and other chronic illnesses, stress can be harmful to your health. But what exactly is stress doing to your body?

As you settle into the new year, it’s not too late to make a few minor changes in your diet and lifestyle to help reset your health. A health reset will help you develop healthy habits, kick out bad habits, sleep better, gain energy, improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and feel your best.

If you answer yes to any of the following questions, it’s time for a health reset.

• Have I gained a few extra pounds that I can’t seem to lose?

• Do I get bloated after eating?

• Do I feel sluggish and tired during the day?

• Am I addicted to unhealthy foods?

• Do I have cravings for sugary or starchy foods?

• Do I have difficulty focusing or experience a foggy brain?

If it’s time for a reset, here are a few tips to help you get started.

Do You Know Your Signs of Stress?

Stress can manifest in various ways, but most people have a half-dozen symptoms that are unique for them, which they can learn to recognize. Here are just a few ways stress can show up in your life:

Physical Symptoms

A typical stress reaction is the “fight or flight” response; your heart beats faster, your muscles tense, your breathing rate increases, and you may even start to sweat. Chronic stress may show up differently. You may get a headache, grind or clench your jaw, experience sore muscles, chest pains, abdominal symptoms, or a change in appetite. Two of the most common symptoms of stress are fatigue and low-quality sleep.

Mental Symptoms

Do you have trouble concentrating or making decisions? These are common signs of stress. You might also find that your mind is racing or going blank.

Emotional Symptoms

It’s common to feel nervous, anxious, tense, restless, or agitated when you’re stressed. You may also feel irritable, frustrated, impatient, or short-tempered. On the other hand, you may also feel lethargic, depressed, or sad.

Behavioral Symptoms

Do you find yourself constantly fidgeting in your seat? Are you a nail-biter or compulsive eater? These behaviors are signs of stress. Other behavioral symptoms include smoking, drinking, talking loudly, or swearing.

We all have had experiences when our bodies go into “flight or fight” mode, a quick response our bodies are meant to do to protect us in dangerous situations. This was useful when we were being chased by creatures that wanted to eat us for dinner back in the day. Luckily, we don’t face the same dangers as our ancestors in today’s world, but our bodies don’t know the difference between a prehistoric animal and a work deadline. Our stress reactions are activated far too often and for much more extended periods. The result is not only unpleasant but unhealthy.

You've decided to lose weight, you read up on how to do it, you select a plan, and you purchase exercise clothing. The first week goes well, and you see the scale dip down slightly. Woot!

You decide to keep going with the plan, but at some point, during week two, you catch yourself sitting on the sofa watching television in your workout clothing, gobbling down a pint of ice cream.

Sound familiar?

If so, you've fallen into one of the most common weight-loss traps: self-sabotage. It's sneaky and often difficult to pin down. It's also confusing, and it's completely derailing your weight loss efforts.

By definition, behavior is sabotaging when it creates problems and interferes with long-standing goals.

In other words, you know what you need to do, but you don't do it. Or you know what you shouldn't do, but you do it anyway. That's the simplest way to understand how self-sabotage works.

Are You Ready to Stop Self-Sabotage?

You say you want to lose weight, but you're not successfully doing it. Chances are you're feeling discouraged, ashamed or confused. Perhaps you also have diet fatigue or lack confidence because you don't believe in your ability to lose weight.

The harsh reality is that you're sabotaging your weight loss efforts because of those feelings. To overcome sabotaging behaviors, you first have to look at what's causing the behavior in the first place, which can be difficult.

If you're willing to make a change in your life, then I'm willing to offer you one laser-coaching session at no charge.

During the session, I'll help you:

Identify how you sabotage yourself. Self-sabotage might look like procrastination, avoidance, over-eating, not getting enough sleep.

Name your fears about weight loss. Remember, fears are usually irrational, so when you put them down on paper, they might seem silly, and that's okay!

Create a weight loss plan. We'll lay a solid foundation to get you started on your successful weight loss journey.

All you have to do is schedule the session. You'll be amazed at what one coaching session can do to jumpstart your weight loss.

Are you an artistic person? Are you looking to introduce new habits for 2022? Then this challenge calendar is for you! It’s super cool because you can use one of these for each habit you are looking to introduce. For every day you perform the habit, colour in the corresponding section of the calendar. How cool is that?! If you’d like to download a PDF version, click below.

I can’t take credit for this and I’m not sure who the original designer is but I had to share. I hope you enjoy using it!

Stress and the demands of everyday living have us all struggling to stay on track. We skip our workouts, sleep less, grab food on the run, all to keep up with the hectic pace of living.

With so much going on, cutting back from seven or eight hours of sleep might seem like the answer. You may say if you only sleep six hours, that gives you two more hours to be productive, right?

Well, not really.

First off, your brain is TIRED when you don’t sleep. You‘re operating in a fog, and making the best decisions is pretty much impossible. When you stop by the break room, nine times out of ten, you will grab the donut to go with your coffee because you’re so beat you THINK you need the one-two punch of sugar and caffeine to get you going. Your brain’s reward centers are revved up from lack of sleep, and your food cravings are in overdrive.

Studies consistently show us that when our bodies don’t get enough sleep, we opt for quick-fix, high-carb snacks to keep going. One study even showed that participants who slept less than eight hours chose snacks with twice the fat content of their well-rested counterparts.

Second, crappy choices, bigger portions, and no impulse control in the kitchen are bound to produce weight gain. In addition to changing how your brain functions, sleep deprivation has a powerful effect on hormone production. Hormones plus dieting generally equal disaster. Cortisol, leptin, and ghrelin are the three hormones most commonly connected to weight control.

Cortisol

Cortisol is your stress hormone, and it suppresses your metabolism. Your adrenal glands produce it, and if you aren’t well-rested, your stress will skyrocket. Cortisol tells your body to save its energy, which means it’s going to hang on to fat. There is a debate on whether cortisol directly affects weight loss, but for anyone with emotional eating habits, higher cortisol levels are a recipe for disaster. Stress makes us seek comfort, and for many of us, food is a go-to for feeling better.

Leptin

Leptin is a hormone produced in your fat cells. It tells your body when to stop eating and to burn more calories. When you are tired, your body produces less leptin, so your appetite is out of control, and your metabolism tanks. Not recognizing our body’s hunger signals is difficult enough without the added magic of hormones confusing our wants and needs.

Grehlin

Grehlin is a hormone released by your stomach that makes you hungrier, slows down your metabolism, and decreases your body’s ability to burn fat. When you are sleep-deprived, your body produces more ghrelin. That means you are tired, want to eat a whole lot of garbage, and aren’t programmed to burn it off.

Insulin

Insulin is the hormone your body uses to convert food, particularly sugar and starch, into energy. Four days of poor sleeping can be enough to hamper your body’s ability to process insulin. This means your body can’t process the fats in your bloodstream, so it just stores them as fat.

Research proves that dieters who cut back on sleep over two weeks dramatically reduced the amount of weight they lost from fat even when their eating patterns and intake didn’t change. Lack of sleep killed their metabolism, and that equaled weight gain. If you aren’t sleeping enough, you are disrupting your metabolism, which will make you gain weight or have trouble losing weight.

Set yourself up for success with proper sleep hygiene. That’s how you’re going to win at weight loss. If you need help with your sleep hygiene, I can help. Check out one of my upcoming sleep workshops or schedule a call with me so that we can discuss your concerns and set a plan in place to get you sleeping better.

The holidays are a time for celebration and festivities, but they can also mean weight gain, stress, and total overwhelm. Thankfully, my 6-Week Happy Healthy Holidays challenge will give you strategies to maintain a healthy lifestyle while also enjoying the magic of the holiday season.

Let this be the year you "maintain, not gain" while enjoying some planned indulgences. We begin on November 26th. Click the link below to learn more and enroll in this 6-Week challenge.

If you’ve watched any of my workshops, you’ll know I’m a geek when it comes to sleep. I love understanding the science behind sleep and why it’s essential to our overall health. I wear a health tracker mainly to track my sleep at night. I know health trackers aren’t very precise at monitoring sleep patterns, but it’s better than nothing, and I can at least track how consistent I am over time. As I get older, I’ve found that my sleep patterns seem to change more frequently than I like. Lately, I’ve noticed that I’m not getting as much deep sleep as I used to.

Deep sleep is critical for restoration, allowing for bodily recovery and growth. It plays a key role in keeping our hormones balanced, and experts believe it may bolster our immune system and other key bodily processes. There is also evidence that deep sleep contributes to insightful thinking, creativity, and memory processing.

How can you increase the amount of deep sleep you get each night? The most important thing you can do is increase the total amount of sleep you get each night. Doing so allows the body to go through more sleep cycles, making it possible to obtain more deep sleep. Other activities you can try include:

• Exercise early in the day

• Lower carbohydrate intake and increase fat intake

• Warm your body in the bath or shower before bed

• Keep a regular sleep cycle, even on the weekend

Sleep issues are common for women our age, but we have options! If you have trouble sleeping, reach out to me. I’ve had my share of sleepless nights and have learned what works (and doesn’t work) for me. Getting a good night’s rest is vital for our overall health, and no one should suffer through a sleepless night.

Did you know that hormones can wreak havoc on our sleep patterns?

As we age, changes in our sleep-wake cycle cause us to feel tired earlier and wake up earlier in the morning, leading to less sleep overall. In addition, sleep issues are common in women going through perimenopause or menopause.

The most common sleep problems reported by women going through menopause include:

Hot Flashes

Hot flashes are sudden and unexpected sensations of heat all over the body accompanied by sweating. They can last as short as 30 seconds or as long as five minutes. Hot flashes that occur at night are also known as night sweats.

Insomnia

Insomnia is typically described as a chronic difficulty falling or staying asleep that occurs more than three nights a week. Some may experience restless sleep, wake up early, and often feel sleepy and tired during the day. Sleep deprivation from insomnia can increase feelings of anxiousness and irritability, impair focus and memory, and increase headaches and inflammation.

Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known as temporary pauses in breathing, leading to gasping, snoring, choking sounds, and lowered sleep quality. Research suggests lower progesterone levels may contribute to the development of sleep apnea.

If you are experiencing sleep issues related to perimenopause or menopause, consult your doctor. They know your personal medical history and can recommend appropriate medications and lifestyle changes that may improve your sleep.

The following sleep tips may also help:

• Maintain a healthy weight

• Avoid nicotine, caffeine, and alcohol, especially in the late afternoon/early evening

• Avoid drinking liquids a few hours before bedtime

• Reduce stress as much as possible

• Develop a bedtime routine

• Develop a routine for falling back asleep if you tend to wake during the night

• Keep the temperature in your room cool

• Follow a regular sleep/wake schedule and avoid late afternoon naps

Sleep issues are common for women our age, but we have options! If you have trouble sleeping, reach out to me. I’ve had my share of sleepless nights and have learned what works (and doesn’t work) for me. Getting a good night’s rest is vital for our overall health, and no one should suffer through a sleepless night.

Building on small wins is key to creating permanent healthy behaviors. You can use the progress you’ve already made to motivate you toward your larger goal of living healthier.

Baby steps are at the heart of my programs because you don’t create success in one sudden overwhelming swoop unless you win the lottery. Winning at anything is about using each small success to motivate yourself to the larger goal.

As we get older, we tire more easily.  We lose mitochondria (energy engines in the cells) and produce less ATP (the energy molecule).  Medication, depression, chronic diseases, and lifestyle choices can also hinder our energy.  Here are a few activities that zap you of energy.

Inactivity

We tend to start losing muscle mass more quickly after the age of 35. Having less muscle means fewer mitochondria and less ATP.  Inactivity compounds the problem by weakening and shrinking muscles and causing them to use energy inefficiently.

Whatever movement you can do will help strengthen muscles.  Take a walk, take stairs instead of the elevator, or park farther away in the parking lot.

Stress

Stress can increase cortisol levels.  Cortisol reduces ATP and increases inflammation (which also reduces ATP).  Reduce stress by doing yoga, meditation, or deep-breathing exercises.

A Poor Diet

Your body needs vitamins and minerals to produce enough ATP.  Eating processed food can increase inflammation, reducing ATP.  If you’re not eating enough, you’re not giving your body what it needs to function.  If you’re eating too much at once, you may spike your blood sugar levels, which leads to fatigue.

Eat whole foods, including vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins like fish, chicken, nuts, and seeds. The fatty acids in protein-rich foods also help boost ATP. And aim for smaller meals with snacks in between to provide your body with a steady supply of nutrients and fewer blood sugar spikes.

Too Little Sleep

A lack of sleep increases cortisol and also promotes inflammation. If sleep issues are caused by sleep apnea, the dips in blood oxygen levels lower ATP and energy.

Check out my blog article for tips on improving sleep hygiene.

Poor Fluid Choices

Drinking sugary sodas can cause blood sugar spikes followed by a drop that causes fatigue. Being dehydrated can also make you feel tired, as can drinking too much alcohol or caffeinated drinks near bedtime (alcohol interrupts sleep in the middle of the night). Healthy people need six to eight cups of fluid per day, and more if they're exercising. Avoid soda and stop drinking caffeine or alcohol within six to eight hours of bed.

Social isolation

Being isolated — not seeing others on a regular basis — is associated with depression, and depression is linked to fatigue. Resolve to get together with others at least once per week. It can be friends, family, neighbors, or even new acquaintances.

Have you heard people brag about pulling all-nighters? They’ll say things like “I only need five hours of sleep a night” or “I’ll sleep when I’m dead?” Well, I’m here to tell you that your body needs sleep! Did you know that driving while sleep-deprived can be just as bad as driving while intoxicated?

There are so many benefits to sleep, but I’m just going to give you five of them for now.

You Will Look Better

Isn’t that enough of a reason to get 7-9 hours of sleep, on average? Who wants to walk around with big puffy circles under their eyes every day?

Sleep has a Major Impact on Weight Loss and Maintenance

There are two regulatory hormones in our bodies that sleep deprivation impacts, Ghrelin and Leptin. Ghrelin tells your body when to eat. If you don’t get enough sleep, this hormone increases. Leptin tells you when to stop eating. If you don’t get enough sleep, leptin levels decrease.

So imagine that you’re running on 3 hours of sleep, you’ve got ghrelin telling you it’s time to eat all day, and leptin is slacking off, so you’re eating way too much. If you consistently don’t get enough sleep every night, this habit will start to show in your waistline and on the scale!

Getting enough sleep will help you eat the right amount of food. And, eating the right types and amounts of food can also help you sleep better at night.

You Will Think More Clearly

When you’re tired, your brain will not function as it should. If you’re not a morning person and you force yourself to take morning classes, I’m sure you will feel it. If you’re tired in the afternoon, and you’re trying to think, your brain won’t work as well.

You’re More Pleasant to Be Around

Quite frankly, you’re much more pleasant to be around when you’re well-rested. If you don’t get enough sleep, you’re just going to be tired and irritable.

Life Sucks When You’re Tired

I don’t know how else to say it. There will be days when you’re more tired than usual, but you don’t want “tired” to be your average running pace through life.

If you are having trouble sleeping, here are five tips to help you sleep better tonight:

1. Meditate or perform deep-breathing exercises before bed. It will clear your head and calm down your whole system.

2. Stop drinking caffeine after Noon. Caffeine blocks your “sleep receptors,” and keeps your brain whirling all night long, so kick that afternoon coffee habit to sleep peacefully.

3. Do not watch TV in bed. Sleep experts say that it’s hard to get to sleep if your television is flashing lights in your face just before bedtime, especially if you’re watching violent or intense programs.

4. Sleep at temperatures between 60-67 degrees Fahrenheit. Experts say that this is the best temperature range to get the deepest sleep.

5. Buy the best bed you can afford. A good mattress makes all the difference!

If you want to learn more and kickstart your sleep habits, join my free 5-day Sleep Better Challenge. The challenge begins on June 14, 2021. You can learn more at https://www.ntlrx.com/5day-sleep-better-challenge.

Eating simple equals eating better.

5 Ways to Deal with an Energy Thief