Bridget Moroney  00:04

Welcome to the performance RX podcast the ultimate destination for anyone who wants to perform better in the gym and live a better life outside it. Whether you're just starting your journey or you're a seasoned pro. This show covers a wide range of topics to help you reach your potential and live your best life. Each week on this podcast. I'll be bringing you expert interviews, personal stories and actionable advice to inspire, educate and empower you to reach your goals. So hit follow, grab your headphones and get ready to take your health and performance to the next level. And welcome to today's episode of the performance RX podcast. I'm your host, Bridget Moroney, y'all, it is already starting Bridget, I'm not ready to do any sort of nutrition challenges. I can't believe you're doing this before the holidays. It's too busy. It's too tempting. I'm gonna wait to the New Year pocket. I am telling you right now that this is the time to do it. This is the time to get your shit together, there's no better time to invest in your health and well being especially because it is before the holidays. So the next few weeks are going to be very challenging for many of us lots of tempting food, family gatherings, and hectic schedules. Also, as the days get colder and colder, people begin to move less and less. So like I said, it is precisely during these times that having a solid roadmap and having a solid strategy can make a profound difference in your life and your well being. So when the new year comes around, you already have a head start on crushing your goals. So in today's episode, I am going to dive deep into the first three of my six transformative steps to equip you with some science back strategies that you can put into action right now so that you can get a hold of your life and your wellness and your habits so that this holiday season is not a disaster. These steps are designed to help you build a strong foundation, master the basics of nutrition and set some realistic goals, which are all essential components for staying on track during the holiday season. And really just throughout the year and in life in general. As you listen to this episode, I just want you to remember that you're not alone, and you're not starting from scratch, I'm going to give you some evidence based tools that will empower you to make healthier choices, manage your stress and set achievable goals even in the face of holiday festivities. Let's go ahead and get started. So step number one is set realistic goals, and then also track your behavior. Anything you do always starts off with setting achievable and meaningful goals. There are plenty of studies out there that show that people who set specific and measurable goals are more likely to succeed, it may be tempting to fall for it. But forget the fad diets and quick fixes and instead focus on building sustainable habits. And again, speaking of fad diets and quick fixes. That's what everyone is going to be looking towards in January, but not you you are much smarter than that. And you know that if you just start by building sustainable habits now you'll be able to really punch it up come January, I would say first things first start by defining your goals and precise terms. Instead of saying I want to be healthier, you could say something like I am going to walk 10,000 steps every day over the next three months. That way you have something that is specific, achievable, and measurable, and something that you can aim for on a day to day basis. And of course, when it comes to your big long term goals, you always want to break them down into smaller, more manageable steps to keep yourself motivated and on track. So a great example is if your goal is to eat more vegetables, then I would say just start by simply adding one serving to your daily meals. And remember that it's the small consistent changes that are going to add up over time. On top of setting goals. I would say also add in tracking your behaviors. So what you eat, how you move your sleep patterns, this baseline data is going to give you a compass on your journey. So numerous studies have highlighted the effectiveness of self monitoring in achieving health goals. Bottom line is this when you are aware of your habits, you can identify areas of improvement and make necessary adjustments. So an easy way to begin is just by maintaining a food diary or using a nutrition app like My Fitness Pal to log your meals and snacks. And then of course you can do the same thing for exercise, sleep and stress levels. You don't have to do it for a super long time. I would say two weeks is a good length of time to provide you enough data that will give you some insights into your habits and help you identify areas for improvement. So step number two is build a strong foundation. No matter what your goal is. You're nutrition and health are going to thrive on a solid foundation. So first things first, as my friend Christina Hackett says sleep is not a pillar of health, it is the foundation on which all the other pillars are built. So you need to prioritize quality sleep, this is going to be your secret weapon. If you've been a longtime listener of this podcast, you already know that there are tons of studies that have shown consistently that inadequate sleep can lead to weight gain, impaired metabolism, and just for overall health. So just as a baseline, aim for seven to nine hours of sleep each night to support your well being. And a good chunk of that needs to be restorative sleep by restorative sleep, I'm talking about REM sleep. And then of course, deep sleep, just starting off with the quality of that sleep, which is that seven to nine hours is a great place to start and then start working on that quality, which is the restorative. A great way to do this is to create a bedtime routine that includes winding down minimizing or eliminating screen time before bed, and then keep your sleep environment as cool and as dark as possible. These are some of the simplest and least expensive practices that you can use to improve the quality and duration of your sleep. Bottom line is prioritize your sleep hygiene. And then another super important thing that often gets overlooked is establishing a consistent sleep schedule. So making sure that you are going to bed and getting up at the same time or around the same time pretty consistently throughout the week and even on weekends. Another piece of building a strong foundation is movement. Lots of studies out there show that regular physical activity is associated with improved health outcomes, including weight management, cardiovascular health, and mental well being a lot of you who listen to this podcast are already on a pretty solid fitness routine. A lot of you are CrossFitters endurance athletes, strength athletes, so you're already getting a good amount of movement. But I would challenge you to get movement. Even outside of your structured workouts, this is going to be medicine for your body, especially if you are a hard charging athlete because as my friend and physical therapist, Dan scraps likes to say motion is lotion. So it actually is a great thing to do to kind of get some more steps in throughout the day as a way to flush out some of the soreness and get some more active recovery. And then of course, if you do have any sort of weight management goals, that extra movement in walking is going to elevate your needs, which is your non exercise Activity Thermogenesis. Even if you do have a pretty structured gym routine, I would still encourage you to take a look at your steps and see if you could get a little bit more activity in that way. Because again, studies have shown that individuals who are more active throughout the day tend to have better metabolic health and body composition. Even if you are someone who plays a sport and works out of the gym. If you're spending the majority of your working day at a desk and not moving. There's definitely room for improvement. Easy way to do this, just try to incorporate more movement into your daily routine 10,000 Steps has been kind of touted for the past couple of decades as the gold standard, it's actually come to light recently that that was actually more part of a marketing scheme from a pedometer in Japan. But multiple studies show that any amount of movement above 4000 steps all the way up to about 13 15,000 steps a day is a great way to improve your health. So if you're starting off with not moving very much at all, I would say just try to get those 4000 steps in if you're already crushing it with 10,000. Maybe you could challenge yourself to go a little bit higher anywhere in between those two ranges of 4000 to about 15,000 is going to have a huge positive impact on your overall health and well being. So doing things like taking short walk breaks even after you eat. Using a standing desk or engaging in household chores are simple and small changes that can contribute to your overall physical activity levels. All right, last but not least for this episode is step three, master the basics of nutrition. I can't emphasize this enough understanding the fundamentals of nutrition is so essential for making informed dietary choices. Great analogy when it comes to nutrition coaching is this nutrition coaching is a little bit like Driver's Ed, a lot of people come to coaches expecting advice and guidance, and you definitely get that but at the end of the day, you're in the driver's seat. So just like your driver's ed Teacher is in the passenger seat beside you telling you where to turn and how to turn in which road you're gonna go down and we're gonna practice parallel parking, you're the one that's doing the driving, you're the one that's in control, you're the one who ultimately decides to make that left hand turn, you're also going to be the one who's going to make some mistakes, and a good teacher and coach is going to let you make mistakes, because that's how you learn. And just like a driver's ed teacher, we're also here to pump the brakes. If you're going to do something foolish, like hit an old lady in a crosswalk without going down that rabbit hole. Let's go back to mastering the basics of nutrition. So like I said, at the end of the day, you're the one who's making the choices in your life. So a good place to start is to grasp the role of macronutrients in your diets, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. Very simple rundown as this carbs are going to provide energy proteins are essential for muscle repair and growth and fats are crucial for overall health, including hormone regulation. And honestly, just starting there is more than enough for the majority of people, you don't have to know anything more complex than that. And understanding these macronutrients at their foundational level helps you appreciate the fact that doing things like super low carb diets, or super low fat diets aren't really ideal for overall optimal health. And then of course, you also want to understand at least at a basic level micronutrients. So these are essential vitamins and minerals that your body needs. In small amounts to function properly. Research has shown that micronutrient deficiencies can lead to a range of health issues. Now, again, we're talking about nutrition. So this isn't your cue to go out and buy a whole bunch of vitamins. What I'm asking you to do is to start with your diet. A very simple way to do this is to consume a variety of fruits and vegetables, so that you're getting a wide spectrum of those vitamins and minerals. A lot of people like to hype up the greens, but I would say aim for the rainbow of colors, try to challenge yourself to eat something that's a different color whenever you can, on talking purple, red, orange, yellow, blue, like literally all of the colors in the rainbow are in our fruits and vegetables. And if you can challenge yourself to eat the whole spectrum, you are putting yourself in an amazing position for overall health and wellness that you really don't need vitamins beyond that. Also, speaking of the quality of your food, I want you to think about your diet in terms of a traffic light. So if you think about foods that are very nutrient dense, those are your green foods, I want you to eat as many as you can. As much as you can have those types of foods on a regular basis as often and as frequent as possible, they're going to give you a high amount of essential nutrients relative to their calorie content. Now yellow foods are moderate in nutrient density, so they're a little less ideal. And then of course, red foods are high in calories, but low in nutrients. So your green stoplight foods are going to be things like leafy greens, fruits and vegetables and you know something to talk about with red foods. Even though in a traffic light red means stop. You don't have to eliminate them from your diet completely, but I will say they are definitely something that you should have only on the rare occasion. Basically, this approach is going to help you fill your plate with foods that provide the most nutritional value per calorie while also allowing you to enjoy some other tasty, less nutritious foods. On the rare occasion. The last piece of mastering nutrition basics is portion control. So again, portion control is another critical aspect of mastering your nutrition. And when it comes to portion control, there's a couple of things you could do, you can weigh and measure your food using food scales, measuring cups and measuring spoons, you can use your hand as a guide I've even had some people just simply take pictures of their meals before they eat them, of course, and then based on that objective picture, modify their portions from there. Another thing you could do is just simply eat from a smaller plate or bowl so you can get as technical as you want with this. But basically, monitoring and understanding portion control in your food can help you manage this portion sizes more effectively. It's going to help you have better control over your calories. If you do decide to use your hand as reference. A quick example is a palm is basically a serving of protein closed. This is an approximate serving of vegetables. A cupped hand is a serving of carbohydrates and then your thumb is a serving of healthy fats but basically this is a great technique. because for a lot of us, our hands are very accessible. And it's just very simple way to help you maintain a healthy balance of nutrients without needing to dig out any sort of measuring cups or scales. All right, everyone. That is it for today. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the performance RX podcast. As we navigate the holiday season and beyond. Remember that your journey to better health is a continuous one, and I'm here to support you every step of the way. If you found today's content valuable, please don't forget to subscribe and share it with those who are determined to enhance their well being. And speaking of sharing valuable content. If you are looking for a guided immersive experience to supercharge your health before the holidays, then I want to invite you to consider joining my pre holiday boot camp. It is a comprehensive program that will take you through all six of my transformative steps that I have discussed in today's episode and the next episode, and it's going to give you the accountability and community support that you need to succeed. Go over to www dot aspire to coaching.com forward slash boot camp to learn more and secure your spots. Stay tuned for my upcoming episode next week where I'll explore the remaining steps in even greater detail. Just remember that your commitment to your health is the gift you give to yourself that will keep on giving not just during the holidays, but for a lifetime. I'll see you next time. Hey, really quick before you go, I need you to do one thing for me. If there was something in this episode that you think would be a value to someone else, please share it for me. My goal is to empower as many people as possible on their health and fitness journeys and one of the best ways to do it is to share awesome information like what you heard in today's episode out with many others. So do me a favor, copy and paste that link, send it to one of your friends, your family or anyone who needs think we get some enjoyment and value out of this. I appreciate you for listening. I'll see you next time.