3 tips for your Weight Loss Journey

1) Nutrition

When we talk about 'weight loss' we normally talk about foods that suppress appetite. This typically includes foods such as cinnamon and grapefruit. While this can be helpful, I really want to focus in this section on “nutrition.” Foods that will nourish your body on a deep level, so that you feel satisfied and far less likely to over eat!

Over the years I've heard from many different people “when I eat pasta, I feel like I could just keep eating it forever!” I'm sure you've heard the term 'empty carb' and that's exactly what explains this phenomenon. Foods that pack a lot of nutrition per calorie are often called “superfoods.” Yes, we need calories each and every day, but what do those calories offer us? The reason many people can just “keep eating pasta forever” is because the nutrition that the pasta has to offer is very, very low. The body doesn't feel full (even after over consuming calories) because it's not ~satisfied.~ The body is crying for nutrition, and when we don't get it, the 'hunger' we feel is not from lack of calories, it's from lack of nutrition!

How do we fix this? Long story short, eat nutrient-rich calories! Think colorful foods. This whole foods, but most importantly, I want you to think of superfoods. Even many of the 'whole foods' that we get from the market don't have the nutrition that they used to (this is a whole other topic including degradation of soils and their available nutrients to offer plants.) Supplements can be great, depending on where they are sourced and what they are made from, but I prefer to get most of my 'supplements' from whole foods. Superfoods are like 'food vitamins!' Think of acerola cherry for it's high amounts of Vitamin C, green powders for their minerals, bone broth for its collagen and amino acids. These are all nutrient-rich foods and they will help nourish and satisfy you so that those cravings don't have such a stronghold.

2) Outlook on life

How do you look at your daily life? Are you constantly stressed? On a scale from 1-10 how would you rate your level of happiness? Acceptance? Peace? Our emotions play a huge role in how our nervous system reacts to and processes daily life. The nervous system then sends signals (or doesn't) to the rest of the body. If we are overloaded and overworked our nervous system doesn't have the capacity to send certain signals (such as 'heal this') because it's too inundated with trying to survive. All the superfoods in the world won't be much benefit if your body is on lockdown. Something you can do right now to calm the nervous system is BREATHE. Conscious, deep, full breaths. I say this in my yoga classes all the time. “These yoga poses are basically useless if we aren't breathing in them.” So look up a video about pranayama or some basic breathing exercises. “Three part breath” is one of my favorites. It shows you were you might be holding in your body and compromising full breathing. Our breath has an immediate effect on our nervous system and stress levels. Nourish yourself also through the breath.

3) Play (aka exercise that you enjoy)

When was the last time you actually took some time to play? To dance like no one is watching? Prance through the woods with friends? Leisurely ride a bike? Play with a hula hoop? Play comes in so many forms and it's up to us to find what kinds of play lift our soul and bring us joy. Of cours,e we always encourage flow toys here at The Spinsterz. Juggling, hooping, spinning staff....it can all be a part of your expression of play (while getting fit!). So find and nourish that inner child with play that moves your body, that burns some calories, that gets your heart rate up,....all with out having to feel like we are punishing ourselves! I mean,...exercise can be fun, right? Yes, it can be. Here's to having fun and creating more health in our life at the same time!

Excited to get a hula hoop but not sure what size to get? Our blog on “How to pick the right size hula hoop” is here to help!