Nutrition And Fat Loss 101 – Foundation Of Nutrition

It’s been a couple of weeks since holding my recent Woman Incredible Transformation Workshops, and I must say I’m quite blown away by the fact that I’m still receiving feedback about the changes attendees have noticed in just a short period of time! Clothes looser, energy higher, confidence rising – all that good stuff!

Which leads me to you – I don’t want you to miss out so I thought I’d just bullet point some of the key topics we covered. Let’s call it the Body Incredible Nutrition and Fat Loss 101: short, sweet and to the point! There are three key areas I’d like to share with you:

1. Foundation of nutrition
2. Fat loss kickstart
3. Cheating your way lean

foundation of nutrition

1. Morning Kickstart: start the day with 2 glasses of tepid water, one with real salt added and one with fresh lemon. Taking fiber and glutamine can help get you started and aid detoxification (fat loss!). Golden rule: eat protein within 30 minutes of waking, ideally with a small amount of good fat.

2. Structure: when starting a new fat loss or nutrition regime structure is key, particularly if you have a stressful lifestyle. Aim to eat 4-6 protein and green veg based meals, with a small amount of good fat at each. Keep reading for the rules on carbs … and bear in mind that less structure may be fine after you’ve established those initial patterns.

3. Hormones (cortisol and insulin): while all of your hormones are relevant to your health and ability to lose fat, cortisol and insulin are particularly worth knowing about. This is because they both tend to be driven out of balance by the typical busy Western lifestyle.

Cortisol is a stress hormone designed to energise you for short periods of time, but when life is always GO you tend to release excessive amounts of the stuff, which can promote fat storage. Detox cortisol by limiting stimulants after lunch, winding down without TV or computer in the last hours of the evening, take regular time out for yourself, and eating wholesome organic proteins and plants.

Insulin is released to help your body deal with incoming sugars. It becomes a problem when you are repeatedly eating sugar-based foods, which is basically anything that is not protein or fat. This even includes ‘healthy’ carbs, as well as the more obvious sugary or baked foods. If your diet is carbohydrate based and lacking in protein and fat you will have a tough time managing insulin and blood sugar levels and you will signal your body to store fat! This is especially true when it comes to choosing your breaky; hence my earlier note on protein. You can manage insulin levels by switching starch based carbs for more greens, increasing protein and good fat, taking fiber, and minimising processed food.

Simple stuff, hey? Almost too good to be true, I know but honestly – if you implement just these 3 foundation strategies you WILL notice a tremendous and lasting change in your energy and your ability to burn fat! Stay tuned next week for part 2 – Fat Loss Kickstart!

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