nutrition

Visual Cues and Health | Beaufort Nutrition

Visual Cues and Health | Beaufort Nutrition

Published by on March 31, 2022

What’s up EarthFIT fam! This is Eli here. Today we are talking more nutritional tips and tricks, today we’re talking about a really unique and simple topic. The one that is very crucial to your success and that is visual cues and how they can help you push closer to your nutritional goals and your physical goals. So these visual cues they’re everywhere. We see them in grocery stores, we see them in superstores. Oftentimes, we see them on end caps in grocery stores, big yellow sale signs that say for sale, you know, buy two, get one free.

These visual cues are meant to redirect our attention from something onto something else. So how can we use these marketing strategies and things that you know, these corporate offices use in order to catch your attention in order to promote a healthier lifestyle, it starts at home. What does your environment look like?

Most importantly, if you’re going to the grocery store and you’re buying these healthy snacks and you are trying to change around your nutrition, make sure that you are putting these healthy snacks somewhere where they’re easily accessible. I know I’m very guilty of buying fresh strawberries, fresh berries, whatever, and then sliding them to the back of the fridge. They get lost two or three weeks later… Totally forgot that I even have ’em. So use those visual cues, set that food out somewhere where, you know, it’s gonna be, if it’s gonna be in the pantry, make sure that it’s eye level, if it’s a healthy food that you reach for often, make sure that it’s something that you can see regularly. Another cool trick, put it on a counter space. Okay. Put fresh fruit on the counter instead of chips, put cheese and crackers on the counter instead of candy… just little visual cues. 

So when you come home from a long day of work, those healthy snacks are the first things that you see and redirect your attention and remind you of your goals and your focus, how this works for physical activity also after a long day of work, you come home. You’re groggy. You might not have been very physically active that day, but what you can do – set your workout shoes next to the couch, lay your workout clothes over the couch. What will happen is you will find that you come home from work. You see that visual cue and you might think, well, I need, I haven’t gotten very many steps today. Maybe I should pick it up and get some extra steps in. Those are just some very simple tips and tricks, start incorporating them. Find where you put your food, find where you put your workout clothes, pay attention to those visual cues around you guys. And remember, stay healthy, stay strong. Y’all have a great rest of your day.

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Immune System

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of A Virus Fast?

Published by on February 18, 2022

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of It Fast? 

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of A Virus Fast?

Eating your way to better immunityYour immune system is incredibly complex. From a cold to a fever to the flu, it has to be strong enough and sophisticated enough to fight off a variety of illnesses and infections. Despite this complexity, there are things you can do to help give your immune system what it needs to ward off infection or illness. One of the best ways is to eat a nutritious diet. While no single food or dietary supplement can prevent or cure an infection, healthy diets are important for supporting immune systems and to fight infections. To boost your immune health, you’ll want to include the following in your everyday routine:- Eating foods high in nutrients- Boosting Gut health- Staying hydrated- Avoiding processed and low nutrient dense foods 

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of A Virus Fast?

Eating foods high in nutrients:The best foods to support the immune system are those that contain certain vitamins that are high in antioxidants, which protect our bodies from cell damage and harmful levels of inflammation.Vitamin A: This vitamin assists with the health of your intestines and respiratory system. Vitamin A-rich foods include carrots, sweet potato, spinach, broccoli and red bell peppers.Vitamin C: helps stimulate the formation of antibodies. Citrus fruits, strawberries, red bell pepper and kiwi are all rich in vitamin C.Vitamin E: This nutrient promotes the neutralization of free radicals by working as an antioxidant. Foods full of vitamin E include nuts, seeds and avocado.Along with these vitamins, Zinc and protein have been shown to help in boosting the immune system as well. Zinc helps the immune system fight off invading bacteria and viruses, and it also helps with wound healing. Zinc-rich foods include beans, seeds, nuts, meat, poultry and seafood.Proteins contain specific amino acids that are essential for T-cell function, which are cells that protect the body against pathogens. Meats, poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, nuts and seeds all have lots of protein. 

Boosting Gut Health:Prebiotics and probiotics deserve special mention for helping to prevent illness. Both are essential to gut health and gut health is essential to immunity.About 75% of your immune-boosting activity starts in the gut, with naturally occurring healthy bacteria, fighting off bad bacteria. It’s important to boost the healthy bacteria with probiotics, while also providing that healthy bacteria the fuel it needs to thrive with prebiotics. Yogurt, kefir, and kombucha are good sources for probiotics. Prebiotics are found in the non-digestible fibers of fruit and veggies, beans and whole grains. You can also use a prebiotic and probiotic supplement if you feel you are not consuming enough of these foods. 

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of A Virus Fast?

Stay hydratedYour immune cells are much more resilient when you are well hydrated. A fluid in your circulatory system called lymph, which carries important infection-fighting immune cells around your body, is largely made up of water. Being dehydrated slows down the movement of lymph, sometimes leading to an impaired immune system.So, the age old question….does chicken noodle soup actually help you fight a cold? Yes and no. Consuming warm liquids can provide immediate and sustained relief from symptoms of runny nose, cough, sneezing, sore throat, chilliness, and tiredness,” More importantly, soup is hydrating, and taking in lots of water or broth in this case, is crucial for preventing dehydration when you have a fever. That being said, chicken noodle soup does not contain too many quality nutrients. So, the next time you have a cold, grab that chicken noodle soup but make sure you’re also eating those nutrient dense foods with it such as fruits and vegetables. 

Immune System: How To Get Rid Of A Virus Fast?

Avoiding processed and low nutrient dense foodsProcessed foods can cause inflammation in the lining of our GI tract, the exact place where food is absorbed. Your gut may not recognize what you’ve eaten as digestible food and instead interprets the presence of foods like artificial ingredients as an “attacker.” This sets off an inflammatory response in which our bodies are literally fighting these foods as if they were an infection. Sticking to more whole foods, such as whole fruits, veggies, and unprocessed meats, can lower the stress this creates on your body. 

ConclusionThe immune system is best prepared to fight viruses when it is fueled by nutrient-rich foods, and when we avoid foods that weaken it. The food we put in our bodies directly affects the way that we feel and the way our bodies function. This is as true during an illness as it is before or after. Staying healthy is so important these days, more than at any other time, because we are fighting many viruses which don’t have a treatment. “The treatment is our immune system.”  -EarthFIT Coach Jared

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Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

Published by on February 2, 2022 | Leave a response

Macro and Micro Nutrients

Hey EarthFIT Fam! You have questions? Hopefully I have the answer. In today’s Q and A. I’m gonna go over a question that was specifically asked in another video. Question was about micronutrients and macronutrients and some deficiencies that people may have with them. All right. Let’s get right into it.

Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

(1) So first we’ll address macronutrients. These are more well known and they consist of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Really what you need to know is most people aren’t going to be deficient in these, especially if you’re eating a standard diet, the only time that you really have any problems would be if you’re intentionally cutting one out. So you’re on a really low fat diet, or you’re like on a ketogenic diet, something like that. Also, what you need to know is really you can only cut out one of these long term and maintain your life, meaning you’re not gonna die. 

So the one that you can cut out is carbohydrates. They’re actually not an essential macronutrient. I do not recommend this, but just for knowledge’s sake, you can actually cut that out and still live the other ones, proteins and fats. If you cut those outta your diet completely for long term, you’re gonna have adverse health effects. Again, if you cut those out in long term, I’m not saying temporary, like a day of fasting, isn’t gonna kill you.

(2) Now let’s get into micronutrients. So these are less well known. Micronutrients consist of kind of two things. We have vitamins and minerals. Vitamins are gonna give you really the energy that you need and supports bodily functions. Minerals are gonna deal with more fluid balance in your body. So common deficiencies in micronutrients are typically there’s…, I’ll talk about four of ’em today. 

We have vitamin B12. We have vitamin D is common. Iodine is a really common one. And then we have iron, another really common one. So of those four, I’ll talk about ways that you can actually get those deficiencies built up through eating things in your diet, not just supplementation.

Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

You probably know if you have an extreme like iron deficiency or something like that, in which case you would want to supplement. But some of the ones that natural sources, natural sources of iron are gonna be red meat, dark leafy greens are kind of the best way to get those in.

Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

Iodine – You’re gonna want to turn to the ocean, our beautiful ocean. You can get fish, seaweeds, a great way to get your iodine in.

Vitamin D – out of all the supplements, cod liver oil, it’s not really a food, but I guess if you eat a lot of cod, you’d get it in. But cod liver oil would be one supplement with, obviously they make specific vitamin D supplements that you’d wanna take. And then obviously our beautiful sun, you get lots of that in.

Macro and Micro Nutrients | Beaufort Nutrition

And then B12, is another one red meats really can help that… turn towards the sea. You get shellfish in your diet, that one’s gonna really help get your B12 up. So that kind of covers it. Again. Most people aren’t gonna have any problems with the macronutrients. 

If you have micronutrient deficiencies, it’s more likely because again, in an extreme diet, in the case of vegans, vegetarians, I would recommend getting these levels checked regularly. Consulting your physician about these, because it really does take a lot more preparation when you’re on a really extreme diet. That’s again why we always preach balance. So I hope this answers your question, to the person that specifically asked it if anybody else has any questions, feel free. Reach out to me, comment below, send me a message in the inbox. If you like this video, give me a thumbs up. If you loved it, give me a heart and as always, stay strong.

-EarthFIT Coach Sam

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Cravings: Let’s Talk About It | Food and Nutrition

Cravings: Let’s Talk About It | Food and Nutrition

Published by on January 20, 2022 | Leave a response

Let’s Talk About Cravings

Hey EarthFIT Fam! You have questions? Hopefully I have the answer. In today’s Q and A, I’m gonna talk about food cravings. So the question was asked, “What can we do when we’re really craving certain types of foods like pizza or chinese food?”. We’re gonna address that in this video, let’s get right into it. So food cravings, like I said, question was asked specifically about Chinese food and pizza. What do we do when we’re craving those types of foods? So let’s backtrack and dive into why may we be experiencing these cravings? There’s several reasons:

(1) First one, maybe we’ve cut this out of our nutritional lifestyle for a long time. Our diet, it’s otherwise known as for a long time. And we’re just really craving that food. That could be one reason why we’re having cravings.

(2) Another reason we’re having cravings, maybe it’s a micronutrient deficiency. So we have macronutrients which are proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. We have micronutrients, the micronutrients are all those little vitamins. Sometimes if they’re thrown way out of balance, you can really have certain cravings because you’re actually craving that micronutrient. In the case of pizza and chinese food that aren’t very micronutrient or nutrient dense, probably not the case. We probably rule that one out in this one.

(3) Third thing, maybe you were a little bit dehydrated. Those are the three common things that I see when people are really craving food. To recap, that is maybe we’ve cut that out of our diet for a long time. And we, we just can’t take it anymore. Maybe it’s micronutrient deficiency, or maybe it is water.

(4) Another one would be, really high stress levels, lack of sleep. Those are, those also really can contribute to food cravings because it’ll actually mess with your hunger hormones in your brain. 

So let’s address each of these, how do we get around them… So, first one, what do we do when we’ve cut something out? And that’s the reason we’re craving it? Well, simply you could add it back in, in smaller quantities or an even better approach would be to make your pizza and chinese food in this case.

So try to make your own at first and if you just can’t get it down right. What I would recommend is ordering a very small portion of whatever that is that you are craving. If you allow it a little bit here and there in your diet, the chances are, you’re not gonna have these huge binges later on because you’ve cut it out for three months. So instead of eating, you know, one serving, we eat three months worth. So just add it back in little by little second, one micronutrient deficiency that can be solved with a good multivitamin, in most cases a healthy serving of fruits, vegetables. Make sure we’re getting all of those in, to really maximize our micronutrient intake.

Third one dehydration, I’ve spoken at length on this, make sure you, if you took your body weight and times it by 0.75, that’s how many fluid ounces of water you want to be drinking. So again, you take your body weight and you times that by 0.75, that would make sure you’re properly hydrated. That should eliminate any cravings. And then the last one, like I spoke on, was stress and sleep. You have to dial those in with a sleep routine, stress management techniques, and do healthy activities to lower that stress. Those can all kind of help you fight off some of those cravings. And I know coach Andrew also just did an excellent video on this topic. So I would also recommend checking out what he has. He has a little framework to walk through what to do when you have a craving. So just to recap, really focus on the things that lead to the craving. So if you’re cutting it out, try to add it back in either by making your own or allowing smaller portions into your life. Micronutrients, if you don’t adequately get enough greens, vegetables, things like that, make sure that you’re adding those in, a multivitamin can really help. Hydration, makes sure we’re drinking 0.75 ounces of water per pound of bodyweight.

And then the fourth and final one, make sure we’re managing our stress and our sleep. If we take care of all those things, the chances that we’re going to have extreme cravings that lead to these binges are very minimal.

So that’s all hope you guys found value in this video. If you guys have any questions for me, feel free to drop them in the comments below, or shoot me a direct message on Facebook. I would love to help you guys out with any of your health or fitness goals. You probably don’t wanna to ask me much about anything else. That is all I have for today. If you’d love this video, give me a heart. If you only liked it, give me a thumbs up though, and as always stay strong.

-EarthFIT Coach Sam

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Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

Published by on January 10, 2022 | Leave a response

“What’s up EarthFIT fam? It’s Eli here talking more nutritional tips and tricks today. We’re talking about another exciting topic. We are talking about carbohydrates, what to consume and what not to consume. Carbs can be very scary. A lot of people like to stay away from ’em. Some people are all about ’em. They can’t avoid ’em. Today we’re just gonna kind of differentiate between the carbs that you need, the carbs that you may want and the carbs that are just gonna be best for you to reach your goals. So to break down the word, carbohydrate stands for sugar. Okay. Sugar in general. So I want you guys to think about your blood sugar in terms of this, there are two types of carbohydrates that are simple and there are complex. A simple carbohydrate is going to be sugar in its purest form, which is glucose. 

Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

Okay. So when we consume simple carbohydrates, our blood sugar spikes, right? What that looks like on a graph here is when we consume where a low blood sugar area we spike our blood sugar by eating something simple rises up. And then what happens with a spike? There’s a crash. Okay. We don’t want these blood sugar crashes. What happens is we get hungry quick, we get tired, quick, we lose energy. So what we want to do is consume complex carbohydrates.

Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

Complex carbohydrates – before we get into it are made of more than one type of sugar. So what happens is when we consume them, our body actually has to really put forth some effort in order to break them down to their simplest form. So what that means is it takes longer to break down. It takes longer to absorb in our body. 

So what this looks like on a graph here for a complex carbohydrate, when we consume it, when our blood sugar is low, there is a slow and controlled rise. And you’ll notice that it lasts a lot longer. It’s not a quick spike. It is slow and controlled, lasts longer, and then slows back on the way down. It’s very important to consume these complex carbohydrates, poor blood sugar control, that way we’re not experiencing these highs and lows throughout the day, well, I’ve got a lot of energy and now I don’t. So what does complex carbohydrate look like?

Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

It looks like vegetables, fruits, and vegetables, whole foods, that food list that we give you, everything that we give you on there, we give it to you for a reason. And so I refer you to that food list to find out more about complex carbohydrates and what types to be consuming. 

I got a recent question recently that I really want to answer. I got the question of why there is a portion on the food list of the vegetables that we are not supposed to eat. This goes right into the complex and simple conversation because those vegetables that are on that far side that say, do not consume, are simple carbohydrates at their best. So you’re gonna experience these blood sugar spikes with them. So we just try to stay away from ’em a little bit. That doesn’t mean you absolutely cannot, never have them, but just know that they need to be consumed most likely with a little bit of extra fiber, put some fiber in the meal that you’re gonna be consuming those with. And you’ll be just fine with those. Those are also starchy vegetables, very starchy vegetables are going to have you experiencing this high, this increase in quick spike in blood sugar.

Carbs: Simple VS Complex and Blood Sugar

So more complex carbohydrates, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, looking for something that is complex. If you have more questions about examples of complex carbohydrates, simple carbohydrates, I can create some more content on that. I can pump a list out for you if that’s what you would like. Again, just ask more questions. Thank you guys so much for tuning in today. That is our carbohydrate conversation this afternoon. Hope you guys have a great rest of your day.”

-EarthFIT Coach Eli

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Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

Published by on January 6, 2022 | Leave a response

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

You got questions? Hopefully I have the answer. In today’s Q and A, I’m going to go over a very serious topic. One that impacts many clients and that is… how do you break up the cycle of emotional eating?

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

So we’re going to get right into that. So the question was posted to me through a client. I’m just going to kind of paraphrase her question. It was, “Hey, Hey Sam, I have a question. Whenever I’m thinking about emotional eating, I think really it has a lot to do with my childhood. There’s little triggers based on a reward system, or when I did something good, I got rewarded through food. Or even now as an adult, when I’m sad, I feel myself turning towards those comfort foods. So how do we break up with those comfort foods when we’re experiencing either negative emotions or sometimes even happy emotions? 

So this is a complex answer. I’m going to kind of lay it out as best as I can for you guys and in an easily digestible manner. So first we have to shine the spotlight of awareness on the problem, which would be they’ll comfort foods, us going towards those comfort foods. First thing you want to take check of okay. And you can write this down, you can journal it, whatever works best for you. Take check of what comfort food am I going to? Is it a craving or am I actually hungry? So a craving I’ve made a video on this previously, but just reminder a craving is going to be specific food. So it’s going to be, “Hey, I want that Reese’s bar” or,

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

“Hey, I want this type of pizza”, “Hey, I want this specific sweet treat” whatever it is. It’s not going to be, “Hey, I’m just generally hungry.”

So ask yourself, you can run a little self test, think of some type of bland food that you would still eat if you were really hungry. So can I just eat six chicken breasts right now? Could I do that? Am I hungry enough to do that? If the answer is no, I just want this thing. That’s a clear indication that what you’re having is a craving. So after we shine the spotlight of awareness there, we want to ask what emotions we are having around this craving? Am I feeling sad? Am I feeling happy? Did something awesome just happen? Did something bad just happen to me? Kind of monitor those emotions, write them down. And then the best thing you could do in that moment is we want to create some distance from that negative food, or I shouldn’t say negative food, I should say the junk food or the comfort food that we’re craving. 

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

We want to create distance. So separate yourself. Don’t tell yourself you absolutely can’t have it set a timer for about 10 minutes. Okay. 10 minutes. And in that 10 minutes, I want you to do something that occupies your time and also releases endorphins. Great one, go out and walk, go have a conversation with a loved one, take your dog out, play with your dog, do something that you actually enjoy doing so we can get the endorphins going.

Navigating Comfort Eating | Beaufort Fitness

Hack, you can even do like a short, like a bout of pushups and squats, things like that. That’s actually what I do when I’m really feeling, I get my blood moving and get my brain off of it. And the chances are in that 10 minutes, I’m not going to go back to that. And if that plan doesn’t work for you, if you still want that after 10 minutes, go ahead and allow yourself to have a little bit and then wait more before you’re having more. That way. We’re not just going into an all out binge.

So really the main takeaway from today’s video. What I want you to do is when you’re having those cravings or those feelings, “Hey, this happened to me in my childhood.” Yes, those things are all bad and they will lead to some disordered eating, but that does not define who you are. So define what’s going on, shine the spotlight of awareness on it, and then create a little breakup, create some space in between there and see how that does for you. So those are my recommendations for today. As always though, I should make a caveat. If you do have a severe eating disorder, please seek out professional help. If you don’t know who to reach out to, reach out to me, and I can point you in the right direction, because that is a very serious issue for some, so we want to take it seriously as well. 

So just to recap, identify what the food is, what the trigger is, what emotion you’re having. When you’re eating these foods, jot that down, try to create some space in there, go out, do something you’d like for about 10 minutes and then come back to it. After that, just create a good time delay and release some endorphins otherwise, and that should help you out with those food cravings for those comfort foods. That’s all I have today. Hope you found value in this video. If you liked to give me a thumbs up, if you loved it give me a heart and as always stay strong.

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The Importance of Refeed Days | Health and Fitness Beaufort

The Importance of Refeed Days | Health and Fitness Beaufort

Published by on October 29, 2021 | Leave a response

All right, you got questions? Hopefully I have the answer. In today’s Q and A, I’m gonna go over the importance of refeed days. Let’s get right into it. So a client in the group asked “Sam, what are the importance of refeed days?” Now I’m gonna kind of change the headline a little bit. We can also call this cheat days. How important are those cheat days and or refeed days? So here’s the deal on that… Your body is going to do the best when it’s in a constant state of homeostasis, meaning it’s nice and level, knowing what it’s gonna get day after day after day. So if you can maintain a nice, healthy, consistent, balanced, nutritional approach throughout the week, that is gonna serve your body best first and foremost. So now that I got that out of the way, we can get into actually, okay, “that’s not always possible Sam, some days I’m eating a lot lower throughout the week, because I’m busy at work, I have to pick up my kids, you know, is it, is it okay if I eat more on the weekends in that instance?”

So here’s what I’m gonna tell you. It all depends on your goals and your behaviors around those refeed days.

The Importance of Refeed Days | Health and Fitness Beaufort

So if we’re using that refeed day as a binge type situation where, Hey, let’s see how little I can get throughout the week. So I can really splurge on this refeed day. That is a negative habit in your life and you’re probably gonna go over calories, gain access, body fat. Now, if you’re using that refeed day as simply a tool to take you closer to your goals and that’s your intent behind it. Then by all means, go for it. But I still would caution you on the refeed days. 

The Importance of Refeed Days | Health and Fitness Beaufort

How much are we refeeding? Are we going a thousand more calories over, are we going about 500? Typically a refeed day, a refeed or a cheat day really should only be about 3 to 500 calories in excess. And here’s why a lot of times when we get all those extra calories and we’re actually getting a lot of systemic inflammation in our stomach that we may not be used to. If you’re used to eating low calories throughout the week, and then you hammer yourself on a Saturday or Sunday with tons of calories, you’re gonna get loaded, you’re gonna get achy joints, not feel that well. And we tend to lean towards foods that promote that inflammation, you know, those processed foods that we wanna stay away from, that we seem to be able to during the week, but when it comes to those cheat days, we’re hammering down. 

So to recap, I’m gonna bring it all together here. Refeed days are appropriate for some, if you really struggle getting your calories in throughout the week, you can have, you know, a day in the middle of the week and a day at the end of the week that are a bit higher calorie. This would be called undulating your calories. Meaning one day is a little bit lower, the other day is a little bit higher. You could do this every other day, but you’re gonna ultimately want to kind of know how much are you going up? How much are you going down? Is it staying consistent? And also on those refeed days, we want to stay away from the highly processed foods, and don’t want to over indulge. So if you find yourself leading to that, the best approach and the best approach for most is gonna be – stay consistent throughout the week. Your body’s gonna reward you for doing that. All right. That’s all I have for today. I hope you guys found value in this video. If you’d like to give me a thumbs up, if you’d love to give me a heart and as always, stay strong.

-EarthFIT Coach Sam

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Meal Prep | Health and Fitness Beaufort

Meal Prep | Health and Fitness Beaufort

Published by on October 23, 2021 | Leave a response

What’s up EarthFIT fam? It’s Eli back with another nutrition video for you. And we’re covering a really fun topic today, one that’s very creative, one that I have a lot of passion for and you guys I think can get behind too. Today, we are talking about meal prep. Gonna talk, start off by talking about some of the misconceptions about meal prep. There’s three main ones, we’re gonna conquer those and then give you guys a good foundation in order to begin meal prepping yourself.

So the three common misconceptions, (1) the first one most commonly heard is eating the same meal four to five days in a row. We see it all over the internet, how easy it is, you know, you make your chicken, you put it in this side of the container. You make your rice, it goes in that little divider of the container, and then you make your broccoli and it goes in that side of the container. And then you get to eat that meal five more times that week. It’s pretty tough. That works for some people but that isn’t all meal prep is, it goes further than that. 

(2) The second misconception is that it’s bland and you get over the food quickly. That might not actually be a misconception. That might be the truth, because I would, if I’m the same way, if I had to eat chicken, rice and broccoli for five to six meals a week, I promise I would get tired of it too. So you can get creative with your meal prep. I promise…

(3) The third and final misconception is that meal prepping is expensive because you have to buy a lot of food in order to prepare for the remainder of the week, or you’re buying all that food. You’re making those four or five meals. You are eating those four or five meals only two or three times, and then it gets bland. You get over it, you toss some in the trash, it gets wasted and all you can think about is the expense. So those are the misconceptions. 

What meal prep really is. Let’s break that down. This is the fun stuff here. Meal prep is meal preparation. You are preparing your meals to push you towards your goals. Okay? So the reason why preparation follows meal is because we need to be prepared before we eat. If we are finding ourselves where we’re having to make split-second decisions on what meal we’re gonna have or what we’re gonna eat, there’s oftentimes we do not choose what is gonna push us towards our goal. Oftentimes we choose what is quick, convenient, and inexpensive. Unfortunately, that’s not a good plan to follow for longevity for sustainability. 

So preparation – meal prep, we just need to be in the mindset of that we are preparing a meal in advance to shoot us towards our goals, okay? So that we know what we need to eat when we need to eat it, to put towards the goal. So the other word that I like to follow with meal prep is we are meal prepping with a purpose. There is a purpose behind every meal that we eat. Oftentimes again, we are just looking for meals, making split second decisions and not thinking about the purpose. The fuel talks about balance in the last video. It’s very important if you miss so, I would love for you to go back and watch it, making sure that we’re hitting that balance, being making sure that that meal has a purpose and is serving a purpose that is pushing us towards that goal. 

So meal prep, meal prep with a purpose. What that looks like in my household? My meal prep is I sit down before I walk into the grocery store and I write down each meal, I’m going to eat. I am that kind of person. I can only eat leftovers for two maybe three meals after four, I’m done with it. I don’t want it anymore.Trust me, I’m right there with you. So what that looks like is Sunday night planning, Monday dinner, Tuesday dinner, Wednesday dinner, Thursday dinner for the rest of the week. The importance in this planning is that I’m planning my leftovers also. I know meals that make a lot. So what’ll happen is Monday night, I will plan a single night meal. Tuesday, Wednesday might be a leftover meal. Thursday, Friday might be a leftover meal right there. You just covered five days and you only making three meals, get creative with this. 

If making one meal, eating it four or five times throughout the week is your best option and your most consistent option, run with it. The most important part of meal preparation is that it is geared towards what works for you and that ranges for everybody. It’s different for everybody. So what I would love for you to do today is think about ways that you can meal prep for the following week. We’re looking for preparation and we’re looking for purpose behind our meals. So try to eliminate those split-second decisions. Try to plan ahead. Let’s prepare for meals that are gonna push us to a purpose of our goals.

Thank you guys for checking in today. If you have any more questions again, please ask ’em in the comments. Any more questions, please shoot me an email. Ask another coach around EarthFIT they would love to help you guys out. Thank you guys for tuning in today. We appreciate your time. Hope you guys have a wonderful rest of your day. Thank you.

-EarthFIT Coach Eli

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Nutrition: Why It's Important To Balance | Beaufort

Nutrition: Why It’s Important To Balance | Beaufort

Published by on October 22, 2021 | Leave a response

What’s up EarthFIT fam my name is Eli. If we haven’t formally met already, I’m one of the newest coaches here at EarthFIT. I studied nutrition and dietetics at Appalachian State University back home in North Carolina. I love food. I love fitness. I love that I’m very competitive in nature… that’s just a little bit of background about me. If we haven’t formally met, I would love to meet you further. Get your story in training.

While I’m standing in front of you today, we are rolling out a new nutrition series. So what I’m going to be doing is answering your nutrition questions. Whatever you have, whatever you need… If you hear something in one of these videos, if you need something from us, please drop your questions in the comments. Shoot me an email at eli@earthfittraining.com, ask Sam, ask your other trainers, but please make sure your questions get asked because there’s a very good chance that someone else has a very similar question to you or simply shares your question also.

So what we’re going to do today is we’re going to dive into a little bit of nutrition and dietetics. Just get our toes wet. If you hear something again today, please drop the questions, shoot me an email, and we will cover it in some of the remaining videos. So today what we’re going to talk about is simply balance – Nutrition Balance. The important part of balancing your nutrition with your lifestyle. We balance everything. We balance our checkbooks. We balance scales. We balance everything, but oftentimes the balance of our nutrition gets lost in our everyday lives. So I’m going to talk about three main points here. I would love for you to pick out one of these points and figure out which one maybe you should work on within the next week. The first point of balance for your nutrition is simply your ins and your outs, your calorie intake. 

Are you consuming enough calories? Are you over consuming calories? What happens is a lot of times you come into EarthFIT, you burn a lot of calories, pay attention to your MyZone, your Apple watch, your Fitbit, whatever tool you are using, pay attention to how many calories you burn during your workout. This is very important because it’s also important to remember an EarthFIT workout.

A training session in here is only 30 minutes, 45 (minutes) if you count the stretching. So if you think about it, if you burned 500 calories in 30 minutes and you came to the 5:30 AM class, you still have a whole day’s worth ahead of you, of energy that your body needs. So what happens is a lot of times we get caught in these calorie deficits. Deficits are good if you’re trying to lose weight, getting caught in a bad calorie deficit where you’re missing 5, 6, 700 calories a day is oftentimes where we see people plateau with their goals.

If you want to lose a little extra weight, if you want to get a little closer to your goal, a lot of times what’s happening is we just can’t get out of that calorie deficit. So pay attention to that. Look at it. I’m not asking you to count your calories down to the single one, but get a good estimate of what you’re taking in on a daily basis versus what you’re burning. How was it matching up? Are you replenishing enough fuel? Second aspect of balancing, balancing your macros. This can be a little bit more complicated and this pertains more particular to your goal. If you have a goal to gain muscle, you’re going to be balancing your macros, but you’re going to consume a little bit more protein. If your goal is just more energy throughout the day, good health might be very well balanced between carbs, fat and protein. 

The biggest thing to understand is that carbs, fat and protein are used from your body, from your head to your toes, in all kinds of bodily processes. If we chop one of those out and say, we’re no longer consuming fat, we are taking away a good aspect of things that occur within the body. And I can go over some of these things. If that’s a question, if you would like to ask, please drop it in the comments. Think about if you were to choose to not carbs completely out of your diet and that was lacking. Glucose – which is a simplest form of carbohydrate is your brain’s number one source of food. So this is why it’s important to balance because if you just decided to cut all carbs, no more carbs, your brain is going to be hungry. You might find yourself a little foggy headed. 

That’s why it’s important to balance. There are other bodily things that are happening throughout the day that use fat, protein, carbs. And it’s very important to keep them balanced so that you have enough energy and feel well throughout the day. The last and final thing about is making sure that you’re eating a balanced diet that you enjoy – a balance of good food, tasting food that you enjoy. We’re talking about taste and enjoyment, sustainability and longevity. I want you guys to be consuming food that you can continue to eat for a long time. I do not want anyone to be eating foods that they don’t like. We can find food that you do like healthy food that you do like, balancing that so that you’re not just eating sweets. You’re also finding a way to eat those healthy foods in the proper way. We want to make sure that everyone is balanced. Everyone is fueled. Everyone is properly ready to attain their goals here at EarthFIT. Thank you guys so much for your time. Again, most importantly, if you have any questions, please drop them in the comments. I want you guys to think about those three things as we move forward this week. Thank you guys so much for your time. Hope you guys have an awesome day.

-EarthFIT Coach Eli

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Breakfast On The Go | Beaufort Fitness

Breakfast On The Go | Beaufort Fitness

Published by on October 14, 2021 | Leave a response

Hey EarthFIT fam! You have questions? Hopefully I have the answer. In today’s Q and A, we’re going to talk about getting breakfast on the go. What are some good options and what to look for? All right, let’s get right into it. So this question was asked by a client. They want to know what specifically they should be eating when they have to run, maybe they don’t have a lot of time to prepare ahead of time. It’s breakfast in the morning and they’re running out the door, they’re rushing out the door. What is a good go-to in that circumstance? So I’m going to start out by giving you my favorite answer to everything. It really depends. It depends on what your goals are, where you’re at in your fitness, what activity you’re going to do plays a big factor. So these are things you want to consider. 

For example, if you’re going to go and have a rigorous training session, it’s going to be a little bit different. What you’re going to want to grab on the go, as opposed to, if you’re going to sit on a couch for eight hours right after you leave the house, right? So it’s going to kind of depend, but for the sake of this video today, we’re going to talk about a standard client, just looking to lose body fat, trying to stick with their nutrition, going to work after they wake up in the morning, what would a good option be then running out the door. So really whenever we’re thinking about that, I like to narrow it down. I don’t want generally yes – Balanced meal. If you can get that and you have some options on the go, that would be perfect, but that’s not always feasible. 

So I really like to narrow it down to two macronutrients. That would be (1) protein and (2) fat. Why fat? Because if you’re just going to work, it’s going to keep you satiated throughout. It also has a lot of good things for your brain to help you focus. Protein is very important for building muscle supporting muscle growth. And both of them tend to satiate you more, which means you’re not going to be as hungry throughout your workday.

Breakfast On The Go | Beaufort Fitness

So what are some good, protein, fat options when you’re rushing out the door? I like Greek yogurt number one, very simple, simple, and easy to eat.

Protein powder strongly recommends having that in the house. That is a great option as well. If we’re looking at kind of fats and proteins combined, we’d be looking at things like eggs. You can make egg bites night before a little preparation here is going to go a long way, but let’s say you didn’t do that. Maybe you didn’t prepare those eggs. What can you do again? Greek yogurt is probably my favorite, protein powder. And really it doesn’t have to be just those breakfast foods, because if we think about it, breakfast is just another meal. So anything else that you have leftovers from the night before are perfect. Anything… don’t get stuck in this breakfast type of mode, especially if we’re out on the run. If you have things in your fridge already ready to go eat them.

So really it comes down to, try to prepare a little bit ahead of time. If you have any Greek yogurt, some protein powder, even like a protein shake is a good thing to grab on the go, it really gets you started out on the right foot in the morning, or just leftovers from the night before are probably going to be your easiest bet. 

No need to overcomplicate this one. Stick to a good protein source. I’ve made a lot of videos on what are good protein sources. Find one of those that’s easy, ready to grab and then head out the door, get ready to start your day. One other thing I would recommend with your go-to meal – drink a lot of water. A lot of people aren’t hitting their daily water requirements. A good little tactic that I like to use for clients is to set a daily water minimum. And this starts right at the first thing in the morning. So you’re rushing out that door, bare minimum, grab a you know, a big thing of water and have that to start your day. Nothing if all else fails. All right, that is all I have for you today. If you guys have any other questions, make sure you drop in the comments below. If you liked this video, give me a thumbs up. If you love it, give me a heart. And that is all I have as always stay strong.

-EarthFIT Coach Sam

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