Health In Flow, LLC.

When You Lose Sight of the Goal...
✅Having exciting goals is a game changer;
✅Writing down your goals, and periodic reviewing them are good strategies for remaining motivated. This is important because motivation wanes over time and eventually just goes away. People lose sight of the goals they are trying to achieve, and habits and behaviors become just that boring daily task. This is true for diet and lifestyle change;
✅Changing habits doesn't seem hard in the beginning. Why? Because when people starts in their journey, their goals are in the front of their mind ALL THE TIME. They picture themselves lean, healthy, off meds, in charge of their health and life. Now, when people stop thinking about the end game, and instead think only about the daily list of things to do, that's when things start falling apart.
✅The key is to remember WHY you are doing the things you are doing. An effective way to do is to write down your goals in a motivational statement that describes in great detail what you want to achieve and how this will change your life in meaningful ways.
✅This is the best way to break out of this negative cycle that goes into losing weight. 👌

Hydration tips for athletes & very active individuals:
📍Many people rely on thirsty to guide fluid intake, however research shows that thirst is a poor indicator of the need for water, which results in many people being chronically dehydrated.
📍If water and electrolytes loss from sweating is not replaced, several things happen 👉cardiac output is reduced, cortisol production is increased since body is under stress, a decreased blood flow to the muscles, reduce endurance, more fatigue and diminishing returns for exercise. 💀
📍it has been estimated that fluid loss of only 2% can cause these issues.
📍Well trained athletes performing hard exercise in hot humid environment can lose 3 or more liters per hour.
STRATEGIES:
✅DO NOT get thirsty
✅Use weight status before and after exercise to determine water loss and drink accordingly.
✅Drink water regularly rather then relying on thrist as indicators for fluid intake. The best way to ensure adequate water intake is to fill water bottles daily.
✅ I like to increase my intake of fruits and vegetables even more during those hot humid days and heavy exercise and race. Fruits with high content of water like watermelon, oranges, cantaloupe, pineapple... and vegetables like cucumber, celery, spinach, lettuce are SUPER hydrating!!!!
✅ CELERY for instance, contains 95% water 👉provide natural salts that help to replenish levels of sodium, potassium, magnesium, phosphate, iron and zinc.

The Importance of Routine:
📍One of the keys to success in adopting a health promoting diet and lifestyle habits is establishing a daily/weekly routine.
📍But there is a lot of resistance to following through, and developing and sticking to routines. Remember that when life is organized, chaos is reduced, and chaos interfere with getting many things done, including being creative.
📍The Key is patience. Research shows it takes between 15 days and 254 days to form a new habit, depending on the person and the habit the person is trying to change
📍The first step in lowering your own resistance to change is to identify the story you are telling yourself. Write it down and read it out loud to yourself. Then ask yourself if your story is true. Write down all of the benefits that you enjoy as a result of continuing to practice bad habits.
📍Your story may not sound so good, and you have a hard time to think of the benefits. It might be time to change the story and change the behavior and the new routines!
📍For things to change, you've got to change. Changing the way you plan and schedule in order to do more with the time you have are the keys to success.

The microbiome:
📍In a healthy gut, the population of beneficial bacteria are dominant, and the pathogens remains very low. The bacteria that make up our gut microbiome have definite preferences for food. 👈📝
📍The beneficial bactéria prefer fiber and good carbohydrates. The pathogenic bacteria like processed foods, lots of animal foods like meat, cheese, etc. 🌭🍟🍔🍕🧀🍗
📍What to do about this? Start by remembering that when you eat, you are not eating for one, you are eating for 100trillion- that's how many microbes are in a healthy gut. Choose your foods wisely.
📍The relationship between human and their bacteria is important. The bacteria rely on us to feed them, and we rely on them for many things including nutrient absorption and protection from disease. Many people have broken "the contract" and need to make "amends" by adopting a better diet and taking probiotics.

YOU don't have to eat anything exotic, or gourmet dishes. Just make a list of all the WHOLE foods ( foods in its most natural form) you do like, and eat those. Foods like potatoes, beans, bananas, rice and many other "normal" and easy accessible foods can be eaten in almost any combination or quantity you like.
We sometimes forget that variety in food choices is a luxury of western civilization, not a requirement to achieve and maintain optimal health. For instance, the healthiest populations, The Okinawans, derive 69% of their calories from sweet potatoes, and for the residents of Papa New Guinea, the percentage of calories from sweet potatoes is even higher. These populations do not develop deficiency conditions, and incident of chronic diseases is significantly lower than in many other countries.
👉it is perfectly fine to eat the foods you do like, and then over time to let your natural curiosity lead to you try some new foods and dishes.

Mindfulness & Habit Change

✅The use of mindfulness for habit change starts with developing an interest in what is going on in your mind and body when you are doing anything and everything. This can be very helpful when trying to change a bad habit.

✅It starts by taking the time to become fully aware of the factors that trigger the bad habit. For example, if you are overeating or eating something you decided not to eat, don't try to stop yourself, but rather really pay attention to how you feel when you are doing it. Often people report that they do not feel good at all while engaging in those bad habits- they fell things like shame, or disgust.

✅Then, take time to process these feelings and say to yourself - "this is what I get out of eating a lot of bad food- I feel nauseous and ashamed."

✅Mindfulness can help people to become very disappointed with their own behavior, and it is easier to stop doing something after learning that you don't enjoy doing it than it is to just to try to force yourself not to do something. 👌

The quest for perfection has undermined the attempts of many to adopt and maintain a health promoting diet. Don't let perfection distract you from focusing on the bigger picture, which is to eat optimally most of the time and to make sure that most of your calories are consumed in health- promoting foods.
Tell your co-workers, friends, and family about your plans to improve your health with better diet and weight loss. Studies show that people who share their plans with others are more likely to be consistent in their efforts and to be successful in reaching their goals. So don't keep your plans and goals a secret. It will help you and it will help others to help you too.

Join me on my up coming seminar, April 14th, "Eat to Thrive" for the endurance athletes. Where? Elite Athlete Performance, Miami,FL at 2pm. It is FREE! 👆

Plant foods that make you beautiful--Carotenoids are phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables like carrots, cantaloupe, apricots, cherries, mango, watermelon, butternut squash, grapefruit, tomatoes, kale, spinach, etc. And one of the benefits of eating foods that contain them is that they change the color of the skin to red and yellow hues, which give skin a healthy appearance. You may have noticed people who have a pasty, white appearance to their skin- it can be a sign of a poor diet. Another benefit of eating carotenoid rich foods is that they tend to reduce sensitivity to the sun. The reason is that these foods contain phytochemicals that protect plants in their natural environment against sun damage.

Under the best of circumstances, weight loss can be difficult. There are many things that can interfere with your weight loss, one of which is sleep. Or perhaps lack of sleep. When people do not sleep enough, cortisol production increases. Typically, cortisol production increases in response to stress, and the body perceives lack of sleep as a stressful event. Increased cortisol levels can increase fat storage, particularly abdominal fat. One study showed that people who do not get enough sleep eat an additional 300 calories per day. Now, sleeping more, by itself, will not result in weight loss. The entirety of an individual's diet and lifestyle patterns, including sleep, contribute to weight and health status.

It might appear that just lowering calorie intake and exercising to increase calorie burn will take care of the extra pounds. But of course, there is more to the story. This is where body composition becomes important. The more muscular a person is, the more calories that person burns. Muscle burns an average of 14 calories per pound per day, while fat burns an average of 3 calories per pound per day. An overweight person trying to loose weight tend to think that the more calories restricted, the faster the weight will come off. The problem here is that people have being overweight for a long period of time already have slower metabolisms, so they have lost mass and gained fat. Rapid weight loss, or weight loss not accompanied by exercise and many caloric inadequate diets, accelerate muscle loss. This results in lower metabolic rate. So insistence on eating a low calorie diet, continues to lower the metabolism even more. People who are serious about losing weight should consider eating a meal 4-6times per day. Second, is exercise. The goals of exercise is to burn calories, to build muscle, and to lose fat. So discomfort is required, guys! This means working out at the gym, lifting weights, enduring muscle soreness, and learning some discipline to take care of your body. So weight loss remains elusive until the right eating habits are combined with an exercise program ( e.g. Strength training) that ultimately changes body composition and increases metabolism. For more info on my programs, check out my page 👉www.healthinflow.com

Today is International Women's Day. So, "Be that woman who decided to go for it." Be confident, powerful, badass you! Do the things you think you cannot do.

Friday's Health Check: eating organic is just as important as eating seasonally. You get the best, healthiest food available!! Nutrient content changes in foods depending on which seasons they were produced in. In order to preserve foods that out of season, these produce items are often covered in pesticides, waxed, and preservatives in order to maintain their fresh appearance. Who wants to put that in their bodies?

Inflammation has been getting a lot of attention these days, and for a great reason. It is a factor in the development of many diseases. Evidence points to eating cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, Brussels sprouts, brócoli, bok choy, kale and cauliflower can lower inflammation. I would like to remind you that excellent health results comes from paying attention to the entirety of your dietary pattern. So eating a Standard American Diet with addition of a few extra vegetables is not the take home here; but rather understanding the incredible health promoting properties of plant foods and getting motivated to center the diet around them.

Are you going to sleep after midnight? It turns out that going to bed by 10pm gives your body the best rest. That's because 10pm until midnight are key hours for your adrenal glands to get recharged for the next day. So your first step is to make a bed time. Ask yourself why are you going to sleep so late. I find that most people do so because they are enjoying the solitude after spending a long day taking care of others. If this is true for you, it is important to acknowledge it and find some time for yourself earlier in the day. If you are going to bed late because of others , perhaps a partner or spouse is keeping you awake, I encourage you to address this directly and work out a compromise. And finally, if you are staying up too late because you don't think you can fall asleep earlier, here are a few suggestions: a. Four hours before bedtime complete all strenuous exercise. Exercise elevates body temperature and make it harder to sleep. b. Three hours before bedtime finish eating your dinner, and also stop drinking any alcohol containing drinks. It may seem that like alcohol will make it easier to fall asleep, but it can actually cause you to wake up several times throughout the night. Limiting or eliminating alcohol is important for healing your adrenal glands. C. One hour before bedtime, turn off all electronics. Both the light from the screen and the stimulation from what you are watching keep your brain in the in position. D. Go to bed at the same time even on the weekends. This helps regulate your body's internal clock. Remember, a good night sleep is critical for your self care routine and keeping your stress system in balance. Check out my website for more info 👉www.healthinflow.com

People who are able to change their habits, their outcomes, and their lives, do so through learning specific strategies and skills. I will share a couple things here from the book "The Craving Mind" that might help you start changing a habit or two that you are ready to get rid of. Number #1. If you wait long enough, the desire to eat junk food, drink, smoke (or anything that causes stress in your life) will just go away. You don't have to "do anything" except wait for the feelings to pass. Be fully present and really experience the behavior you are trying to change.
Number #2. Mindfulness while practicing a bad habit can lead to becoming disgusted by the experience of the bad habit, and this can be an important step in changing it. Number #3. Paying attention to the things that "set you off" can help you to change your responses to your triggers. Start paying attention to circumstances and emotions that leads up to bad behaviors, like specific places, people or events that causes you to misbehave.
If you are looking to start making a positive change towards your health, call me @954 643 9445 or check out my website for more info:www.healthinflow.com

I'm Michele Lopez. Founder of Health in Flow. I will leave you with this message if you are looking for health improvement and weight loss. You will need to acknowledge that conscious and intentional effort is required. YOU will have to acknowledge that there are no magic solutions for problems you might have spent years creating. YOU will have to decide that you are going to treat your weight and health issues like you treat everything else that is important in your life. And YOU are going to follow through even when life interferes, things go wrong, unexpected things happen at work, even when you just don't feel like doing the right things anymore. Remember that a healthy body is available to anyone who wants to have it. It is a privilege that you earn. It requires investment, and the "capital" in this case is consistent effort, applied it over a period of time.

To start adopting an optimal diet, it is all about planning ahead. Organize your life in order to eat the foods you are suppose to eat. If you focus on barriers, you will encounter them. Focusing on difficulties leads to experiencing difficulties, while focusing on just doing things leads to getting things done. It is not hard, it just requires making a decision- an important one that can save a health crisis later. I invite you to try a new approach to healthy leaving; the same approach you used last time you did something that filled you with positive expectation, like getting married, visiting a new place. Spend your time and mental energy strategizing in order to get the right things done. Focus on the fabulous outcomes (lean, healthy body, out of the medical mill), and decide that you absolutely will succeed. You have succeeded in many other things, and you can this too. Focus on success, and success will be yours.

If you have excess weight, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy, skin issues, indigestion... a green powerful Detox juice every day in your mornings will get you moving in the right direction!
To be a detox juice, here are some basic rules:
1. The amount of dark leafy greens to be used need to be in abundance. And by that, I mean at least 4 different types of leaves. I am not talking about two leaves of kale, and a few spinach leaves in it. You need to use an amount that you cannot consume if you were to eat them. This way, you will get a variety of nutrients, minerals & vitamins in your green juices.
2. A detox juice needs to have the fiber removed. Since you are using a great volume of green leaves, the excess of fiber will interfere with the real purpose of a detox juice which is to provide the greatest quantify of chlorophyll, minerals & antioxidants. The fiber should be consumed in other meals throughout the day.
3. A real detox juice does not use water. The water will come from the leaves, fruits and vegetables. So the base of your green juice in order to give us a lot of water, should contain cucumber, celery, an apple ( or watermelon)...then you add the different dark leafy greens.
This is a great first step if you are looking to reach your ideal weight, prevent chronic diseases and have more energy!

Welcome to Health in Flow! I am Michele Lopez, a functional medicine health coach, plant-based nutrition & weight loss certified. What is functional medicine? It is a client-centered medical healing at its best. Instead of masking the problem , it aims a restoring the body's natural functioning.

If you are interested in learning more about how we can work together to achieve your health goals, call me @ 954-643-9445, email: [email protected] or visit my website: www.healthinflow.com

Health In Flow, LLC. updated their phone number.