Can I Do This? Healthy, delicious and nutritious foods. Nutrition. Yes, you can! Let s start at the beginning.

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Claire Thompson
5 years ago
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1 Can I Do This? 7-9 hours of sleep every night Move your body; fun, low-intensity exercise Movement Healthy, delicious and nutritious foods Nutrition Meditation, music, baths, breathing, calm, mindfulness Stress Management Supplements, sun exposure, probiotics, highintensity exercise Full Optimization Sleep Yes, you can! Let s start at the beginning. We have broken this down into steps, because we believe it is vital that you begin with the first step and move on to the second step, and so on. For instance, if you skip prioritizing your sleep, and only focus on your nutrition and exercise, you will find that you struggle moving to the next step (stress management and eventually optimization). If you work on sleep and exercise, but keep eating sugary treats and skip stress management, you are setting yourself up for burn out and wondering Why is this NOT working? Why do I still feel awful?! Trust me, we ve been there. By taking it step by step, you will heal your body slowly and create new and positive habits of self-care that will lead you to optimal health and wellness.

2 Modern Paleo Can I Do This? STEP 1 Sleep In the fast-paced world we live in, sleep is usually the first luxury we cheat ourselves out of when we are busy. Whether you re getting up early to get your kids to school, make that morning conference call, get to the gym before work, OR staying up late because you started an episode of your favorite Netflix show and had to finish it or you want a little down-time with a glass of wine after the kids go to bed. Regardless of your reasons, your first task is setting up your day to ensure you get at least 7 hours of sleep each night. This is non-negotiable. If you have to get up early, then go to bed earlier. If you have to stay up late, then make sure you can sleep in a little longer in the morning. Studies now show that exposure to blue light in the evenings impacts the quality and quantity of our sleep. Our phones and tablets expose us to short wavelength blue light through their displays. Natural sunlight also contains blue light and drives our circadian rhythm, as it suppresses the natural secretion of melatonin. Our devices confuse our brains when we use them after sunset, tricking us into thinking it s still daytime. Instead, make an effort to limit your device time after sunset and set your device display settings to Night Shift, which shifts the colors of the display to the warmer end of the color spectrum after sunset and before sunrise. You can also find blue blocking eyewear and amber-tinted blue light blocking light bulbs online that also help you fall asleep faster. It really works!

3 STEP 2 Movement Start by walking. Yes, seriously. Here s what happened to me I was a runner. I ran 4-8 miles a day for years. And I thought I was doing great. Until. Suddenly. I. Wasn t. I crashed and burned. Hard. I had been burning the candle at both ends for too long, and eventually, my candle burned itself out. I started having panic attacks (had happened to me before), gained weight without changing my diet (wth??!) and felt exhausted most the time. I had adrenal fatigue, which is just a fancy name for burning out. I was logging too many hours at the gym and on the track, working my heart at too high an intensity for long periods of time. My body had had enough! So, I dialed it back now I walk 5-6 days a week and track my heartrate to keep it under 140 beats per minute. (If you don t have a heartrate monitor, you should be able to easily hold a conversation while you are walking or working out). To find the correct heartrate zone for you, calculate 180-YOUR AGE=MAX HEARTRATE for your fat burn zone (optimal zone). Above that, and you re entering your aerobic zone (we will touch on that in STEP 5). If you are an avid exerciser, and don t want to give up your jogging, just monitor your heartrate. If you can jog or bike and keep it in the fat-burning zone, go for it. But I bet you d all be surprised how quickly you get above that! Other options include Yoga, Pilates, and leisurely bike rides (I m not talking Spin here, people. Save that for STEP 5), throwing the ball with your kids or going for hikes with the family. Relax, Enjoy, and forget about killing it at the gym. Once you make this a habit, you are ready for STEP 3.

4 STEP 3 Nutrition Fueling your body and brain with real, nutritious and delicious foods doesn t have to be overwhelming or expensive. We are consuming far too many meals and snacks from industrial-processed ingredients that are easy to find, immediately satisfying, cheap and let s face it, deliciously addictive. This is where you ll begin. Remove one processed food from your diet every day and replace it with a high-quality food. Each day, be cognizant of your food selections and focus on quality. Take particular note of processed carbs from sugars and grains these are especially damaging to your gut and brain health. Refined grain ingredients are combined in a processing plant with processed sugars, like high fructose corn syrup, and industrial oils, like corn and soybean oil. The danger in this combination is how they lead you to consume more by distorting your appetite. It s a lot easier to overdo it on delivery pizza than a quality NY Strip steak because the processed combination hijacks your satiety signals and instead of feeling satisfied, you NEED that next slice. Begin by reducing your intake of fast food, processed carbs (it s packaged), and low-quality oils and replace with real food like fresh vegetables, fruits, healthy fat (coconut, avocado, olive oils) and pasture-raised meat. There s no calorie-counting necessary. Eat quality food until you re just satisfied.

5 STEP 4 Stress Management We all experience stress and a moderate amount is healthy, keeping our fight or flight response in gear. The increase in heart rate and rush of adrenaline focuses our reaction in the face of danger. But, too often, we are living in a chronic state of moderate to high stress levels. This constant state of moderate stress releases cortisol, which sends signals to your body to store fat (because your body is primal and believes it s in danger and will need stored fat soon). Although you may not be able to fully control your daily commute through infuriating traffic, your child s dangerous nut allergy, or a down-turn in the economy, you are the architect of the whole package that is your life. Simplify. Like your life depends on it. Spend time in nature. Listen to music. Slow down. Pray. When you ve worked through the first four steps, you re ready to toy around with STEP 5!

6 STEP 5 Full Optimization You will find that you reach this stage and then, boom- life happens and you have to go back and work on your sleep habits or nutrition and then return back to STEP 5. It s a dance, full of readjustments and self-forgiveness. Your exercise routines begin to add in strength training (in nature or in the gym) and interval training. You can begin to supplement your nutrient-dense diet with multivitamins, omega 3 oil, probiotics, and sun exposure, to name a few. The combination of supplements each person needs is very unique.

Beat. Adrenal Fatigue Naturally!

Beat. Adrenal Fatigue Naturally! Beat Adrenal Fatigue Naturally! What is Adrenal Fatigue? Before we dive into adrenal fatigue, let s first start with the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are glands that sit on top of the kidneys. They