Fueling Your Life

Let’s go ahead and get this out of the way. You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all busy!

Thankfully, eating healthy and fueling your body doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming. It can actually be a lot of fun. You can try new things, find food you enjoy, and understand your body better. Imagine that... making friends with food and your body so you know how to eat well to feel great!

Fueling your life is about knowing what your body needs and when it needs it. Here are 3 simple, foundational tips that work well for most people who are in a routine of working out.

1. Eat 15-25g of carbs before a workout.

   Before being physically active, your body needs fuel to feel strong, effectively work your muscles, and support healthy hormone balance. Glucose, which comes from carbs, is what your body and brain use for energy.

   
   

   Without glucose, the body turns to breaking down muscles (oh no!) and elevating cortisol (yikes!) to find energy. As women, we need all of the lean muscle mass we can get for healthy blood sugar management, strong bones, and hormone balance. And we don’t need excessively elevated cortisol because it throws all other hormones off balance.

   
   

   Half a banana is about 15g of carbs, a great source of fuel to have about 30 minutes before a 30-45 minute workout. If you’re doing more intense cardio or working out longer, you probably need the whole banana.

   
   

   You have time for a banana! That’s easy!

   
   
   
   

2. Increase your daily protein intake.

   When working out, your goal is to build muscle. Regardless of what you think your goal is, building muscle is actually what you need to get there. Getting stronger, managing weight, balancing blood sugar, and just feeling better all happens by building lean muscle.

   
   

   What your body uses to build lean muscle is… PROTEIN! Whatever your personal goals are, 100g of protein is a great daily amount to get you started. If you want to be detailed with it, eat .08g of protein per pound of desired body weight, per day.

   
   

   You’ll recover faster from workouts, stay more satisfied after eating, and you may even notice feeling calmer. Our body uses the amino acids from protein to insulate our nervous system, aka… stay chill.

   
   

   Fueling before a workout with carbs gives you the energy to effectively work your muscles. Eating enough protein during the day gives your body the building blocks to create more lean muscle, which will improve overall metabolism, blood sugar balance, and hormone balance.

   
   
   
   

3. When possible, eat meals in this order: 1- Veggies 2- Fats and protein 3- Carbs

   Eating vegetables first provides the fiber your gut needs to digest food effectively and absorb the most nutrients. Having fats and proteins next, before carbs, slows down how fast you burn the carbs you will eat, causing a steadier release of glucose into the bloodstream and avoiding an insulin release/ sugar crash. A steadier release of glucose also helps to ensure that you use all of the energy from those carbs, rather than storing them for later.

   
   

   Glucose spikes and crashes are typically why our energy levels and focus can feel sporadic. This also may be the cause of aches, pains, and stiffness, as unstable blood sugar contributes to inflammation.

   
   

   Eating foods in this order to avoid glucose spikes and insulin release will also help you to feel fuller longer. Hunger is your body’s way of telling you that blood sugar levels are low. Keep blood sugar more steady by eating veggies first, fats and protein second, and carbs last.

Try incorporating one of these tips into your life at a time. Work on one for a week, and when it feels automatic to you, you’re ready for the next one. Don’t overwhelm yourself with too much, too fast. Incorporating each tip, one at a time, helps you notice how you feel as you make changes and allows you to plan for those changes more successfully. Odds are you’ll keep any habit that doesn’t overwhelm you and has a positive, noticeable effect on how you feel.

We’re here to support you!

One of our goals in our community is to provide you with more than just information about being healthy. We want to offer ready-to-use resources to help you actually live it out!

Convenient snacks

As we build the product section in our website and soon-to-open wellness studio, we will offer healthier alternatives to drinks and snacks you may enjoy, as well as convenient sources of protein and energy to help keep you fueled, feeling great, and growing stronger!

Recipes and ideas

We live busy lives too, so if we’ve found something great, we’re going to share it with you! Here is a fun recipe to make ahead and take on the go. They're easy to mix up and store well in the freezer.

Cranberry Orange Bliss

Protein Bites

(Approx 10g protein per ball, pending add ins)

Ingredients (use organic if possible)

-½ cup almond butter

-¼ cup pure maple syrup or local honey

-2 tablespoon orange juice ½ orange

-Zest of ½ an orange

-1 cup oats (I used organic gluten free sprouted oats)

-¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut

-½ teaspoon cinnamon

-¼ cup vanilla protein powder

-⅓ cup dried cranberries (chopped)

-Optional add ins: chopped almonds, chia seeds, roasted pepitas, sunflower seeds (I added 1/4 cup of pepitas)

Instructions

-In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together: almond butter, maple syrup, orange juice and orange zest.

-Add oats, shredded coconut, cinnamon, protein powder, dried cranberries, and any optional ingredients. Stir to combine.

-Roll into 12 equal sized balls (about 2 tablespoon in each).

* May need to adjust a few ingredients based on add ins (ex: add additional nut butter or oats)