Do you have a persistent health issue that hasn’t responded to your nutrition efforts? More and more people are using nutrition and fitness to help them overcome problems that used to send them to doctors and pharmacies.
If you’ve been working on the problem for a while — weight loss, high glucose, headaches — you probably have tried many strategies. But others may exist. Don’t assume you’ve tried everything.
Here are 3 tips to help you get the most from your nutrition appointments — and your nutritionist’s suggestions.
– Don’t improvise.
Instead: Follow instructions to the extent you can.
A recent client had been to doctors, but now wanted to treat her diabetes without meds. She was taking 31 (really!) different supplements, and some of the supplements were for health issues she didn’t even have, like liver and thyroid.
She had poor results — her fasting glucose was not dropping any lower — but she kept taking every supplement.
Among other things, I suggested she lighten the stress on her liver and kidneys by eliminating any supplements that were not designed to lower glucose. We met a week later, and she told me her glucose had gone up, not down.
It turned out she had eliminated ALL the supplements, including the glucose-lowering ones.
– Don’t reject an idea for a ridiculous reason.
Instead: Be willing to try something new. Your health comes first.
The same client above was in terrible shape physically. Her workouts were barely getting her heart rate to 95 — and she was exercising only 3 times a week. She needed to work out with some serious intent.
She couldn’t exercise more frequently because it caused pain in her legs. I suggested she buy a Krankcycle — an absolutely brilliant piece of exercise equipment. I even found a certified, refurbished one for her at a terrific price. It would have enabled her to work out additional days each week by using her upper body instead of her legs.
Alternating the 2 types of cardio could (and would) have sensitized both upper- and lower-body muscle to insulin and produced solid results.
Why did she reject it? She said they didn’t have room. Her beautiful home is huge, so that made no sense. She wouldn’t consider putting the Krankcycle in any room but one — and wouldn’t consider putting it in the large garage. Who knows? Maybe 8 cars lived in it — or perhaps a family of 6.
Either way, the answer was “NO,” and the reason seemed ridiculous. The result? Again, her glucose didn’t move.
– Get out of your comfort zone.
Self-honesty is key here. Discomfort can be part of one’s comfort zone. Some people even cling to it, possibly thinking that the devil they know is better than the devil they don’t know.
Instead: Decide to do what it takes to move forward. And do that.
A former client had a sleep issue that was medically diagnosed as a deficit of serotonin, a brain chemical that can promote relaxation and is the direct precursor of melatonin, the sleep hormone.
This client rejected every suggestion I made to increase her bedtime serotonin levels — and, by the way, that’s an easy thing to do. My suggestions even made her angry, and they simply involved food.
The behavioral psychologist on our team informed me that this client seemed to feel “special” because of her sleep problem.
A comfort zone isn’t always the best place to be. For your health, do what it takes to move forward, even if it causes temporary discomfort.
Think of starting to exercise — it’s uncomfortable at first because it’s new. As we continue, we adapt to it, and that’s when the magic happens. Food is the same way.
If you’d like help with nutrition to improve your health and energy, perfect. That’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and request your FREE Eating Empowerment Consult. Find out how easy it can be to move forward and enjoy great health.
3/1/17 UPDATE – Amazon has solved their problems and everything appears to be working now!
ICI/PRO uses Amazon's SC servers to “serve” our podcasts, video files and some of our images. We've used Amazon since 2009 and this is the first time they've failed us. Until they get this corrected there's nothing I can do 🙁
We're not alone – some of the biggest websites on the Internet who use Amazon are down too.
Amazon’s S3 web-based storage service is experiencing widespread issues, leading to service that’s either partially or fully broken on websites, apps and devices upon which it relies. The AWS offering provides hosting for images for a lot of sites, and also hosts entire websites, and app backends including Nest.
The S3 outage is due to “high error rates with S3 in US-EAST-1,” according to Amazon’s AWS service health dashboard, which is where the company also says it’s working on “remediating the issue,” without initially revealing any further details.
Affected websites and services include Quora, newsletter provider Sailthru, Business Insider, Giphy, image hosting at a number of publisher websites, filesharing in Slack, and many more. Connected lightbulbs, thermostats and other IoT hardware is also being impacted, with many unable to control these devices as a result of the outage.
Amazon S3 is used by around 148,213 websites, and 121,761 unique domains, according to data tracked by SimilarTech, and its popularity as a content host concentrates specifically in the U.S. It’s used by 0.8 percent of the top 1 million websites, which is actually quite a bit smaller than CloudFlare, which is used by 6.2 percent of the top 1 million websites globally — and yet it’s still having this much of an effect.
Amazon’s web hosting services are among the most widely used out there, which means that when Amazon’s servers goes down, a lot of things go down with them. That appears to be happening today, with Amazon reporting “high error rates” in one region of its S3 web services, and a number of services going offline because of it.
Trello, Quora, IFTTT, and Splitwise all appear to be offline, as are websites built with the site-creation service Wix; GroupMe seems to be unable to load assets (The Verge’s own image system, which relies on Amazon, is also down); and Alexa is struggling to stay online, too. Nest’s app was unable to connect to thermostats and other devices for a period of time as well.
Do Indoor Cycling Classes really need to be 45-60 minutes – to provide the health and fitness benefits expected by our participants?
Asked another way: If your studio offered classes that were shorter (say 30 minutes), while still just as effective as 3/4 or a full hour, could an “express class” attract people who feel time strapped?
Of course anytime you use the words “just as effective” smart Instructors are going to ask; “show me the research”!
Martin Gibala, Ph.D. is my guest, for this episode of the Podcast. Dr. Gibala has done the research (and I'm quoting from the back cover of his new book – The One Minute Workout) “As the world's foremost expert in high-intensity interval training, Martin Gibala has pioneered the study of new and remarkably time-efficient type of workout, making available the benefits of exercise in a fraction of the time.
Listen to our conversation in the Podcast below to learn more about the science of HIIT and how you could use this information to improve your classes and attract more participants.
Here's a short video featuring Martin Gibala, Ph. D.
Sorry for the service interruption this morning. We were installing new security software to ensure that any information, sent by our members, is transmitted securely using the latest HTTPS internet protocols.
Now whenever you log on, you'll see the Secure | https://www.indoorcycleinstructor.com/ in your browser URL window. This is your insurance that with any form you fill out, the submitted information is safe from prying Internet eyes 🙂
The shopping cart system we use to collect membership payments has always been secure. Despite times in the past where we were attacked viciously by Hackers, no ICI/PRO member's personal information has ever been compromised. The changes we made were suggested by Google (and others) adding yet another level of protection, to a proven level of security.
So if you had planned to join today, only to see a 404 (page not available) notice, my apologies.
These days, everyone seems to know that sugar is bad news and should be avoided.
Sometimes I feel as if I’ve heard every possible question about it, but a few sugar questions pop up over and over again. Here are 3 of them.
– If I quit sugar, will I have to do it forever?
No nutrition question is ever wrong or out of bounds. But this one is asked from the person’s current sugar mindset.
For someone who’s hooked on sugar, just thinking about giving it up is scary. That’s probably because any sugar addict knows that cravings and symptoms are likely to occur if and when they try to do without it.
The idea of going without sugar forever seems even worse — not only scary, but also impossible and dismal. How can life be worth living without sugar?
Here’s the good news. What’s true about giving up sugar is things change. Often a lot.
Once you’re past the addiction, for example, other foods start to taste different — better. Really. It is possible to enjoy the delicious flavors of foods that aren’t sweet when you’re no longer hooked on wanting everything to taste sweet.
Here’s another change. After going without sugar for a while (think several months, rather than just a few days) you may be able to taste a little bit without experiencing any relapse.
The bad news might be that it won’t be possible to go back to eating the “bad old way” without rekindling the sugar addiction. But since that ‘bad old way’ may have caused the health, mood or focus problems that made you decide to quit sugar, how bad is it really to let it go?
– Aren’t all foods okay in moderation?
Not everyone can achieve moderation around certain foods.
In the same way that some people can drink alcohol in moderation while others can’t, some people can open a candy bar, take a bite, and leave the rest on the desk for days — till they decide to take a second bite. Obviously, that’s moderation.
Not everyone can do that. For a sugar addict, a bite of a candy bar is all too likely to lead to repetition — another bite, then another, then another. It’s also likely to lead to another candy bar — or some other sugary food, such as the cookies in the office break room that day.
– Can I still have agave, maple syrup, honey, or dark chocolate?
I call this the “loophole” question.
It takes other forms, too. Some clients have asked me if it’s okay to take weekends off from their food program.
Clever (sneakier?) clients have asked if it’s okay to take weekends off from logging their food intake. I guess they think I won’t realize they’re trying to give themselves room to eat whatever junk strikes their fancy, while keeping no record of any of it for me to review.
If you’re looking for loopholes, you’re probably still in the powerful grip of sugar.
I recommend making a commitment to yourself — dull, unsexy and arduous as that may sound — to quit and stick with it.
What’s great is how you’ll feel once you’ve taken the plunge. Once your health improves — along with your medical tests, your skin, your mental clarity, and your moods — the junk will seem less important.
In fact, you may wonder how you ever let sugar take control of your appetite, your moods and your life in the first place.
Or why you ever resisted getting rid of it!
Are you thinking about quitting sugar but feeling a bit scared? Do you think you might need help? Perfect, because that’s what I do. Just visit www.FoodAddictionSolutions.com/Coaching and request your free Food Breakthrough session. Find out how easy it can be to make a few changes that get you on the right path — and how easy it is to stay on it!
What if you could get inside the minds of your students? It’s common to hear compliments from your regulars about what you are doing well, but what about the students who come once and decide never to return? So far, we have explored the importance of preparation, and welcoming every student. This week, we'll consider the need for tact and professionalism, even when the complaint is valid.
Imagine that you are unpacking your gym bag after class. There is a note sitting on top. It says…
Dear Instructor,
Let me start by saying that I am a workout junkie. I have tried every kind of exercise and class there is: running, yoga, Cross Fit, Personal Training, kickboxing to just name a few. And, you know, of all the types of workouts I've tried, indoor cycling here at this club is my all-time favorite. I love it here. The team is fantastic and I enjoy every instructor and every class. Everyone is unique and provides something a little bit different, so I get a well-rounded routine by coming throughout the week. Not many places can offer that.
But I have to ask you a question — do you like it here? I can tell that you are passionate about teaching and cycling. I appreciate that you put a lot of effort into your classes and I'm impressed that you seem quite knowledgeable about riding. But it seems that you can't stand this place. The things I have heard you say about the other instructors and the management here are really unnerving. Sometimes you complain about little stuff that would probably annoy me too, like the fan or the mic being busted. That's not so awful. But it is awful when you speak badly of the other teachers. In fact, I really do not like it when you go off on my favorite instructor. She has so much energy and excitement! I really look forward to her classes and I think your comments are out of line. I understand what you said about jumps and I agree that she does them kind of fast. But don't you think you'd be better off telling her privately what you think is wrong instead of trashing her to your students? That is so unprofessional! And it makes you look really petty to complain that the other instructors teach stuff you don't like. If you are so educated, why don't you just tell them instead of making us feel like jerks for liking their classes? Why would they even be teaching here if they were as terrible as you say they are? Have you even taken one of their classes to know whether this stuff is as bad as you think?
You really are a good instructor and I would hate to see you lose your support by focusing on the wrong stuff. I hope you'll take this as it was meant – to help you see that no one is going to listen to you as long as you are bad-mouthing others, especially if they happen to like the other instructor better. It doesn't matter how smart you are if you are being self-righteous when you do it.
Sincerely,
Diplomatic Debbie
Have you ever been one of the characters in this scenario? Is it ever okay to speak negatively about your employer or another instructor to your students? If you were the director at this club and learned of this situation, would you have anything to say to the instructor or the student?
