We All Need More Beauty Sleep.

Quality sleep is essential for good health.  Lack of adequate sleep will prevent your body from regenerating, and it’s all downhill from there. FYI, by adequate sleep I mean 7-9 hours.  You can eat perfectly, and exercise appropriately but if you are not sleeping you will not be healthy, period, end of sentence.

Our bodies repair and regenerate as part of the rhythm of our biology, and unless you are meditating all day, you need to sleep for that to happen.  If you don’t allow for the rebuilding of your body systems, you will continually break down until you crash head on into a degenerative disease.

When people tell me they don’t have time to sleep, I know their lives are out of balance. You don’t want to disrupt your body’s natural rhythms any more than you want to try to fool Mother Nature.   The go-go-go lifestyle will get-get-get you to an early grave.  

Here’s what happens when you don’t sleep.  You prevent your body from producing melatonin, a powerful antioxidant as well as your ticket to restorative sleep.  Without melatonin at night, along with the subsequent production of the hormone prolactin, your immune system is suppressed, and that is never a good idea.  

Furthermore, cortisol stays up as late as you do and your insulin stays up to deal with all of it.  That means that in the morning, when you need it, cortisol is no where to be found.  This is the reverse of a “normal” and desired circadian rhythm.  As a result you wake up groggy, and your low cortisol means low dopamine so you can’t focus.  

With cortisol and insulin out of whack, your other hormones are all tripped up and you find yourself out of balance on all levels.  Here is where carbohydrate cravings take over in an effort to gain energy and focus.  And we all know where that leads...belly fat and mood swings on your way to insulin resistance.

Another consequence of of staying up after midnight is a reduction in the coveted growth hormone, which keeps us youthful.  As we age, our level of growth hormone reduces on its own, so I would say sleeping is a pretty easy and convenient way to stay young.  They don't call it beauty sleep for nothing.

for guidance and support on your journey to better sleep and a younger you, contact me for a free 15 minute consultation at nina.lynn@me.com.

Ladies, Put Some Muscle Into Your Workouts For Better Results

In all the years I owned health clubs, I would beg women to get off the cardio. machines and go to the weight rack.  I could see their bodies remain the same year after year as they huffed and puffed and sweated off as many calories as they could.  

Meanwhile, the women lifting weights and using the weight machines proudly displayed athletic, strong, slender bodies.  “Oh no, I don’t want to get all big and bulky,” they would tell me.  I'd ask them to point out a big bulky woman lifting weights, but they couldn’t do it.  

Still, they insisted that they would get “big” muscles.  “See all the men in here trying to get “big” muscles, and lifting horrendous weight to that end"? I asked them.  “Even their testosterone head start is not enough for them to get bulky without a tremendous effort.  Do you really think it is going to happen to you by accident with your considerably lower levels of testosterone, and not pushing yourself to exhaustion?"

What does happens to your body when you lift challenging amounts of weight, (If you can do 10-12 repetitions, go up in weight), is that your muscles become strong and shapely, your tendons and ligaments strengthen to keep up with the work load and your bone mass density increases. Moreover, as your muscles become denser and firmer, you will burn more calories in your sleep.

Weight resistance strengthens your body and slows the aging process, and, as your heart gets pumpin’ pretty good during the process, you also benefit from cardiovascular conditioning.

Consistent intense aerobic exercise, like spin classes, breaks your body down and accelerates the aging process.  I know, bummer.  

This is particularly so after the age of 35, when your levels of growth hormone decline as does your ability to recover from intense exercise.

Moderate cardiovascular exercise paired with weight resistance will also increase the number of mitochondria in your cells.  These are the organelles in cells that convert food into energy to power your exercise as well as daily activities.  The more mitochondria, the more energy and the more fat burning.  A win-win.

For best results, and to avoid over-exercising and further breaking down, exercise at an intensity appropriate for your level of stress, (highly stressed-push less).   

For a personalized exercise program, and guidance and support in your fitness goals, contact me for a free 15 minute consultation at nina.lynn@me.com.

GM, Good For Cars Not For Food

Did you know the soymilk you add to your coffee to make it “healthier” than dairy, may actually be more detrimental to your health?  That is because the majority of soy in this country is genetically modified.  

Genetically engineered plants are generated in a laboratory by altering their genetic makeup.  If that doesn't scare you, it should.  Other foods that undergo this invasive procedure include corn, canola oil, tomatoes, and who knows what else since the food industry does not inform us of its tampering.  

Food manufacturers try to justify genetically modified foods as the answer to world hunger, but even third world countries reject GM crops for fear of further damaging the health of their people. 

Genetic engineering IS however, the answer to Monsanto’s domination of the world’s crops, and billions of dollars in profits.  

Unfortunately for humans, these science project foods are worse than empty nutrition.  They are actually hazardous to your health.  Do you really want to eat something that has poisons injected into every cell, and then sprayed onto its surface?  Me neither! 

Americans are unknowingly being fed “foods” that are robbing them of health and vitality.  Unknowingly, because genetically modified foods do not require labeling, (you can thank your government representatives for that).  

Also unknowingly because the dangers of GM foods are not widespread knowledge.  Why is it that the governments of many European countries that require labeling of GM foods are more concerned with the health of their citizens than America?  

Genetically modified crops have been invasively and forcefully altered in mad scientist labs to become something that does not exist in nature.  

Our bodies, on the other hand, still do exist in nature, and do not know what to do with these pretend foods.   As a result they exhaust and damage your digestive system, weaken and overwhelm your immune system, put your body into stress, and lead to disease.

Keep in mind that half of America’s soy crop is genetically modified, with cotton and corn running a close second.  The more you eat these dangerous GM products, the more you will become genetically altered.  

There is however a way to avoid GM foods and provide your body with the nutrition it needs.  

Eating organic whole foods will protect you from genetically modified products.   Also avoid packaged foods, especially if they contain soy or corn.  

Need I really say anything about fast foods?  I thought not.    

For guidance and support on your journey to better nutrition, contact me for a free 15 minute consultation at nina.lynn@me.com.