Simply Nutrify

Moving physically every single day is a non-negotiable, especially as we age! This YouTube video by one of my favorite exercise experts explains so much, so well! Take notes and get moving! If you have any questions, send me a message at [email protected].

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sP3mh8Sk7g

Building Muscle in Perimenopause and Menopause | Muscle Building Tips for a Youthful You Are you concerned about building muscle as you age? You should be! As we age and enter perimenopause or menopause, it becomes more challenging to build muscl...

JJ Virgin is just one of the many health and wellness experts that I follow! Her podcasts are FABULOUS! She interviews leading doctors who have made nutrition, exercise, and pursuing healthspan the forefront of their practices! 💪

What steps have you taken lately to improve your sleep, reduce stress, or minimize inflammation!? 👏

In the last year, I have started going to bed earlier (hard for a night owl!), moved my pups to their own beds beside my bed, stopped eating so close to bedtime (not always!!), and bought luxurious sheets from Cozy Earth (well worth the $$ with a discount code)! 😀

If you’re wondering why you feel terrible and THIS is how your day looks…

→ A muffin for breakfast.
→ 5 hours of sleep.
→ Stressed to the max.
→ No movement throughout the day.
→ Dehydrated.
→ Too much screen time.
→ Wine before bed.

Then it’s no wonder you’re exhausted, inflamed, and irritable.

Aging powerfully means:

✅ Getting into bed at a reasonable time to ensure you get 7-9 hours of sleep.
✅ Powering off electronics an hour before bed to help you fall asleep.
✅ Swapping your sugary cereal or muffin for a loaded smoothie for breakfast.
✅ Getting some daily movement in to help you fall and stay asleep.
✅ Aiming for half your weight in ounces of water each day.
✅ Employing one stress-reducing tactic into your daily routine.
✅ Limiting Hi-FI foods, sugar, and refined carbs.
✅ Eliminating alcohol before bed.

Small changes = big results in how you look and feel.

Are you getting 7-9 hours of sleep? If not, how many? ⬇️

Nearly every client I meet with has questions about intermittent fasting! And just like everything else nutrition-related, no one specific approach works for everyone! This podcast covers all of the details of fasting...when, who should and who shouldn't fast, how to fast, and so many other amazing tidbits on muscle building and sleep! It is worth the time...so take a listen! You may be surprised by what you learn! I was!

https://drhyman.com/blog/2023/05/03/podcast-ep714/

The Science Of Fasting And How To Use It For Your Health - Dr. Mark Hyman Food has an amazing ability to heal, but the timing of when we eat or abstain from eating can also have really amazing impacts on our health.

💝 Happy Valentine's Day!! 💝

Boost your mood and eat some chocolate today! But first, a little bit about chocolate from Precision Nutrition:

"Not all chocolate is created equal.

Cocoa products exist on a continuum from minimally processed—and more nutritious—to highly processed.

For example, consider the different types of chocolate:

🍫 Unsweetened chocolate is made from 100 percent cocoa liquor, or cocoa mass.

🍫 Dark chocolate isn’t actually a regulated category of chocolate. However, to get the best nutrition ROI, look for bars that contain 70 percent or higher cocoa solids, which will be high in flavonoids and still relatively low in sugar.

🍫 Milk chocolate must contain a minimum of 10 percent cocoa liquor and some form of milk. It has more sugar than dark chocolate.

Here’s a comparison of four types of chocolate.

100% cocoa (50g): 250 calories, 7 g protein, 13 g carbs, .5 g sugar, 8 g fiber, 24 g fat

85% cocoa (50g): 260 calories, 5 g protein, 10 g carbs, 6.25 g sugar, 3.75 g fiber, 22.5 g fat

70% cocoa (50g): 275 calories, 3.75 g protein, 16.25 g carbs, 13.75 g sugar, 2.5 g fiber, 21.25 g fat

Snickers Bar (50g): 282 calories, 4 g protein, 35 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 30 g sugar, 14 g fat

Notice that the nutrient profile changes as you move along the continuum from pure chocolate to processed chocolate.

How to be a better chocolate-eater:

💪🏼 Look for the real deal. When buying chocolate, read the ingredients. If possible, choose real chocolate—rather than candy bars—that contain as much cocoa (and as little other stuff) as possible. A good quality chocolate product will contain little more than cocoa mass, cocoa butter, and sugar.

💪🏾 Enjoy in moderation. While 100 percent pure cocoa is more nutrient-dense than a candy bar, it’s still high in calories. Most studies show that benefits peak when servings are limited to about 10 to 30 grams per day. (That’s about 2 to 5 squares.)

💪🏻 For “chocoholics,”—seek out other sources of serotonin-boosting pleasure. Incorporating other serotonin-boosters like exercise, massage, social interaction, and humor (like watching a funny movie).

🥰 For bonus points: Try cooking or baking with pure, unsweetened cocoa. Want the health benefits of cocoa without the other additives? Add a small amount of unsweetened cocoa powder to your smoothies, oatmeal, or baked goods. Or whip up a batch of hot cocoa for a cozy warm-up on a cold day. (Recipe below.)"

Real hot cocoa*.
(Serves one; double the recipe to serve two.)

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar (or sweetener of your choice)
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk or milk alternative
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk together cocoa, sugar, salt, and about 2 tablespoons of milk in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until cocoa and sugar are dissolved.

Add in the rest of the milk, occasionally whisking, until hot.

Stir in the vanilla, and serve.

* Recipe adapted from Epicurious.com

Yes! This is why I always take a holistic approach when I work with clients! All aspects of your day affect your health span and vitality!

We don’t connect what we eat, how much we rest and sleep, how much we exercise, or how much time we make for connecting with friends and our community.

It all starts with your mitochondria.

Mitochondria are very sensitive to damage. And when they aren’t working properly, you suffer all the symptoms of low energy — fatigue, memory loss, pain, rapid aging, and more. Fatigue is the most common symptom of poorly functioning mitochondria.

In fact, the reason we tire more easily as we age is the constant insult and injury we inflict on our mitochondria. But this doesn’t have to happen! We can protect our mitochondria.

How can you boost and protect your mitochondria?

Eat food that’s full of antioxidants and phytonutrients. Include 8 to 12 servings of fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains every day.

Take mitochondria-protective and energy-boosting nutrients. These include acetyl-L-carnitine, alpha-lipoic acid, coenzyme Q10, n-acetyl-cysteine, resveratrol, and magnesium. While not a cure-all, these nutrients, taken in conjunction with a whole-food, plant-based diet, can provide metabolic support for those low on energy.

Increase omega-3 fats to help build your mitochondrial membranes. Coldwater fish, such as wild salmon, sardines, and herring, are good sources of omega-3 fats, as are flaxseeds and omega-3 eggs. They all help strengthen the fragile cellular membranes that make your mitochondria work the way they’re supposed to.

Prioritize sleep: Get 8 hours of good quality sleep. You can train yourself to better sleep by doing things like setting a sleep schedule, avoiding screens before bed, avoiding food 3 hours before, and more.

Avoid sugar, caffeine, and alcohol: Almost all of us use these every day to manage our mood and energy. Consider taking a break from these for six weeks and see how much better you feel.

“Healthspan” is such a fabulous word! Let’s work to increase our healthspan and our lifespan!

The hallmarks of aging don’t fully explore why they happen, the root causes of the deterioration we see as we age in the modern world. What we see is, in fact, abnormal aging, deterioration along the spectrum from fully optimized function and health to disease. It is not a natural consequence of getting chronologically older.

Functional medicine is the medicine of why. By addressing the imbalances in the body’s core biological systems and dynamically interacting networks, you will reverse the hallmarks of aging, feel better quickly, and live a vital, full, long life.

At sixty-three I feel like I am twenty-five years old, except I have more wisdom and meaning and a beautiful community of friends. My body is stronger than ever, and I feel more energetic, challenged, and motivated. I feel as though I am just beginning my journey. My biological age is forty-three.

I dive more deeply into what you can do to increase your healthspan in my new book, Young Forever. Pre-order your copy at YoungForeverBook.com

Goals!

We all have them, right? We often come up with amazing goals but never fully take the time to develop the necessary steps to attain them!

Goals like "I want to be able to run 3 miles per day by spring" or "I want to lose 10 pounds" are GREAT! However, these kinds of goals are "outcome goals." Outcome goals are not always controllable. For example, you may make the changes necessary to work at running 3 miles daily, but you may have an injury or a setback due to poor weather.

But "behavioral goals" are controllable! Behavioral goals are what we set to advance toward our "outcome goal!" For example, I want to lose 10 pounds is an outcome goal (that is the final result you want!), but the behavioral goals to get there might be: I will walk 30 minutes per day, I will eat until I am 80% full at each meal, I will prioritize sleep each night by getting into bed at 10 pm, etc. Behavioral goals can be further broken down into specific tasks/mini-goals to move you toward success.

The tasks to reach a daily 30-minute walking goal may look like this: set tennis shoes in a visible spot to cue you to remember to walk, shave time off social media by not turning on your computer when you arrive home from work which frees up time, start dinner in a crockpot in the morning to free up time to walk after work, etc.

As a nutrition counselor and health/wellness coach, I think goal-setting is fun! 🏋️‍♀️🏊‍♂️🍉🍇

What goals are you working toward?

Another reason to get those steps in today! 🏃‍♂️👟🏃‍♀️

Walking is a quick and affordable way to achieve better health.

Another study published in The Lancet looking at 47,000 participants over 7 years found that walking can progressively decrease mortality. For adults 60 and over, between 6,000-8,000 steps a day had the greatest effect in decreasing mortality, and for adults less than 60 the range was 8,000 to 10,000 steps per day.

Will you go for a walk today?

Studies:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2788473
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(21)00302-9/fulltext

Three new yummy recipes were added to my menu this week! 😄

Trying new recipes can be intimidating, but I love it when they taste amazing and turn out as planned!

Do you try something new when you get bored with your current menu? Share your successes below!

Here are the links to the new recipes I tried this week:

https://whole30.com/recipes/warm-harvest-salad/

https://runningonrealfood.com/sweet-potato-lentil-curry/

https://runningonrealfood.com/guacamole-stuffed-sweet-potatoes/

As a nutrition counselor and health coach, I focus on these ideas and repeat them often!

I encourage whole foods and real foods. I believe in limiting processed, lab-created foods. I believe in consuming foods that are as close to their natural form as possible, including fruits, vegetables, grains, and some animal protein.

I encourage creating mindfulness in your day. Mindfulness and awareness of your movement and your nutrient intake.

I do not promote severe caloric restriction or the demonizing of one particular macronutrient. All macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, fats) have value to the body.

I believe that every BODY is different and has different needs.

I believe that there is no perfect answer or solution. Exploring various possibilities to find what best suits each individual is necessary.

I believe that I can be the wellspring of information and inspiration but that the ultimate decision to make changes comes from the individual.

I encourage addressing all lifestyle habits…sleep, stress, diet, and movement, to fully make lasting results happen.

I believe that one must start where they ARE. Not where they WERE. Every day is a new day.

Check out www.simplynutrify.com and go to the "contact me" page if you are interested in learning more!

Tuesday's Tip is an infographic from Precision Nutrition, a resource for wellness/nutrition educators that I love!

As a certified holistic nutrition counselor and health coach, my passion is empowering my clients to find time and create margins in their day to prioritize movement, cook healthfully, sleep restfully, and reduce stress!

Check out this infographic from PN below! Let me hear your questions! Or better yet, let's schedule a 30-minute strategy call to start your journey toward wellness in 2023!

Mark Hyman, MD is one of my go-to's for health and wellness education! His podcasts, The Doctor's Farmacy, are fantastic! Check his page and podcast out!

Most of the villagers I met in the Blue Zones have a health span equal to their life span. Many arrive at 100 years old active, healthy, imbued with a sense of purpose, and connected in a deep web of community. Obviously, the goal is not to become a shepherd or live in a mountain village.

The key is to integrate the habits and behaviors that consistently have been proven to prevent disease and enhance your vitality and quality of life. Each of us would achieve the same longevity, filled with vibrant health, joy, and fulfillment. How do we do that?

You don’t have to ditch your phone, your job, or your home, or change your genes. By following the principles in my new book Young Forever you can look forward to a longer life, a life where your health span equals your life span.

Young Forever is out on February 21st. Pre-order your copy at YoungForeverBook.com

It’s a new year!

Today’s Tuesday tip is simply this:

Start where YOU are.

Today is a new day.
A fresh start.
Yesterday is over.

Start where YOU are.

Time for a Tuesday tip!

Last week’s tip encouraged twice-weekly progressive resistance training workouts for all major muscle groups…especially for those over 50 years old as sarcopenia is a concern with aging.

To follow up on that, here’s more on the principle of progression:

Throughout the training program, as muscles adapt, one must progressively increase the training volume (frequency, intensity, and/or duration) to stimulate further improvements. Progression needs to be gradual because doing too much, too soon may cause musculoskeletal injuries. However without progression, the muscles will adapt, and there will be no further improvement!

After the initial stages of an exercise program, you should pay attention to when you are able to perform exercises easily. At that point, steps should be taken to increase duration, intensity, or frequency!

Post your questions below! 🏋️‍♂️

Time for a Tuesday TIP!

Lift weights!! PROGRESSIVE resistance train all seven muscle groups TWICE a week!

That is all. 🤣 Just kidding... I definitely have more to say!

Although my focus is usually nutrition-oriented, my graduate degree is in exercise science!

Performing progressive resistance training TWICE a week is a MUST! Sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss) is a real concern for those over age 50. Although this number can vary, both men and women tend to lose muscle mass at a rate of 1% to 2% per year after age 50. So men and women can lose 40 to 60% of their total muscle mass from age 50 to 80.

Inactivity is a huge contributor to this, as is inflammation, oxidative stress, and free radical damage. Loss of testosterone is also a contributor, but the more you lift weights, the more testosterone your body makes. 😃

If you have questions, post them below!

The photos show two sets of adjustable weights that can cover almost all of your progressive weight training needs and take up very little space in your home! These would make great gifts to buy YOURSELF or someone you love this holiday season!

It’s a perfect morning for a baked oatmeal breakfast! I’m obsessed with this one from the Oh She Glows website! It is so yummy, it could almost be dessert! This recipe makes 4 servings, BUT I’d highly recommend doubling it! It goes fast!

Fruity Baked Oatmeal with Crunchy Cinnamon Almond Topping

Oh She Glows by Angela Liddon
Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 26-30 mins

Ingredients (4 servings)

Oatmeal:
* 1 cup + 1/3 cup regular rolled oats
* 1/4 cup chia seeds
* 1 large banana, chopped
* 1 apple, peeled and chopped
* 1 tbsp raisins
* 1 tsp ground cinnamon
* Pinch of kosher salt
* 1.5-2 cups non-dairy milk (I used 2 cups but you might need less depending on the volume of mix ins)
* 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
* 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Crunchy Cinnamon Almond Topping:
* 1/4 cup raw almonds
* 2 tbsp regular rolled oats
* 1 tbsp Sucanat (or other dry sugar)
* 1 tsp pure maple syrup
* 1 tbsp non-dairy milk

Instructions
1. Preheat the overt to 350F and grease a 4 cup baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, chia seeds, chopped banana, peeled and chopped apple, raisins, pinch of salt, and cinnamon. Now stir in the milk, maple syrup, and vanilla. Pour into casserole dish and set aside.
• 3. In a food processor, or by hand, process (or chop) the almonds. Now add in the oats, Sucanat (or sugar), Maple syrup, and milk and process until just combined. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the oatmeal mixture.
* 4. Bake in the oven for 26-30 minutes at 350F, uncovered. Watch closely. during the last few minutes of baking so the topping doesn't burn. Remove from oven and serve immediately. Drizzle with maple syrup. Will keep in the fridge, covered, for about 3 days. To reheat, simply, place in a bowl and add a splash of milk and heat in the microwave for a minute or so.

Heading into a meeting with a potential client!! Check out my new decal!! 🥗🍎🥦

Did you schedule exercise today? The benefits of 30 minutes exercise at 60-80% of your max ❤️ rates are AMAZING! See comment 👇👇!

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-doctors-farmacy-with-mark-hyman-m-d/id1382804627?i=1000578366962

Meal planning is the topic of the day! Share your challenges so we can dive into some solutions together. Or share your meal planning successes and methods here! Check out https://www.eatingwell.com/category/4286/meal-plans/ for various meal plans and recipes!

Tracking daily food intake has value in many circumstances! Some reasons to track your diet may be to discover your caloric intake, the macronutrient portions you are consuming, or if your vitamins and minerals are out of balance!

Cronometer | Discover Your Nutrition Cronometer encourages you to not just count your calories but to focus on your nutrition as a whole through accurate and comprehensive data.

Simply Nutrify’s website is live!

www.simplynutrify.com

Welcome - Nutrition and wellness coaching in coastal Virginia provides simple steps and goals to improve overall wellness and manage ideal weight.

An easy option for busy weeknight dinners from one of my favorite recipe websites, Oh She Glows….

Meal Prep Week-Long Power Bowls – Oh She Glows You’ve probably seen the meal prep trend online where dozens and dozens of meals are prepped in containers for the entire week? Holy moly. I can say that will probably never be me. I once tried an over-ambitious meal prep and not only did I end up with way too much food, but it took...Read More

Today’s motto:

Simply Nutrify updated their business hours.