Protein is involved in nearly EVERY process in the body! It’s essential for muscle, cell, and tissue growth, as well as repair. It’s involved in cell structure, enzyme function, and transport in the body. It improves recovery and increases strength. It even strengthens our immune function!

Most people know that protein is essential for body composition, performance, and muscle gain, but they’re unaware of how important it is for optimal health. With so many functions, adequate protein consumption is incredibly important.

It's tempting to wake up and rush to make your morning cup of coffee. You need the jolt. It's part of your ritual. Water doesn't even cross your mind. Breakfast and two cups of joe later, and suddenly it's 10:30 am...and you realize you've had NO water yet today. It happens to the best of us. And that's what inspired our October Habit of the Month - Drink 20 ounces of water FIRST thing every morning!

Here’s a secret for you: When I first started flexible dieting, eating around other people was really hard for me. And where do I eat around other people the most? At work! When I ate alone, I felt in control. When I ate at home, I felt safe and had the support of a loving partner who was willing to accommodate all sorts of weird requests as I sorted through what did or did not fuel my body effectively.

One of the most frequent questions I find myself answering when coaching my nutrition clients is “How do I make this work when I travel?” or “In this situation I find myself running around and need to grab something quickly, where should I go?. Although I always recommend cooking your own fresh food as much as possible, I am human, and I understand life gets busy and these situations are all too common. One of the biggest pros of following a Flexible Nutrition program is that when life gets in the way and food prep isn’t an option, we know what to do!

As nutrition coaches, we see a lot of different habits that work for different people. As coaches, it’s our job to design a program that helps add to a client’s life and to make sure it enhances their lifestyle, as that is a pretty good indicator of sustainability and success. After coaching hundreds of clients, I have found a few characteristics that successful clients have in common.

We talk all the time about how consistency is king/queen, but if you’re someone who is struggling with consistency you might be missing out on the piece that comes right before it: TRIAL & ERROR

I get it, you just signed up for a coach and you’re ready to GET. TO. WORK.

Many of us have been told that too much salt is not good for us, kind of like how we’ve been told saturated fat isn’t good for us (but that’s a topic for another day). Well, I’m here to let you know that much of what you’ve heard about sodium isn’t quite true for a lot of us. If you’ve ever talked to anyone in the health world, you know that as with most things the answer to, “How much sodium do I need?” is, “It depends” on the situation and the individual.

Have you ever been stuck in a meal prep rut? Maybe you’ve been eating the same thing for a week straight, maybe you were never “all about that broccoli and chicken lifestyle”, or maybe you are a little intimated by cooking altogether. Whatever your particular hurdle maybe, I have always found that a good cookbook (or two) can really help shake things up, provide some inspiration, and help guide you towards your next culinary success. Here are the top five cookbooks that I keep in my kitchen…

I firmly believe that now more than ever, it’s important for us to prioritize our health and nutrition. Having support and accountability during this time is what many of us need right now. You can work with your coach on…

If you are able to––or when you are able to if it isn't quite time yet––try to slowly begin to get back to a normal (ha!) routine as much as possible given the circumstances. Our minds and bodies thrive off of routine and structure. It makes us feel secure, safe, and stable. Uncertainty causes large amounts of stress on us both physically and mentally. Humans are creatures of habit.

It’s all too common to see clients believe they can ONLY improve their health and/or sports performance by LOWERING their weight - that a lower body fat percentage and improving sports performance and/or health markers are directly connected. Heck, I used to be one of these people!

3 things will optimize your muscle gain: Resistance training, A calorie surplus, Adequate protein intake.

Each of these things plays off of one another. You can gain muscle in a calorie surplus without resistance training, but you’ll likely put on more fat than you will lean body mass if you don’t lift. If you don’t eat enough protein, you won’t put on as much muscle as you could.

Probably. Creatine is popular in strength athletes but it does so much more. Creatine is produced by your body and found in foods like meat and fish. Creatine is a combination of different amino acids and helps produce energy!

“If I see one more of those articles, I’m going to lose my mind! Women don’t need to train around their cycles, that’s absurd!” I was sitting in a Strength and Conditioning class with my favorite professor. We were talking about fitness articles that discussed women adapting their training in the gym to sync with their menstrual cycles. The whole class laughed, and I chuckled along. Sure, I myself had problems getting out of bed and taking care of my kids, but maybe there was just something wrong with me?

We have fully embraced the notion that each individual client needs to be educated and coached in a very specific way. Not only are your goals and knowledge about nutrition unique and specific to you, but they will most likely change during your time with us.

Let’s talk Thanksgiving Day! Too often, I hear how much anxiety a day like Thanksgiving brings to my clients. A holiday that is basically centered around how much food we can stuff into our face in one sitting terrifies many people who are on a weight loss, or health and fitness journey. I put together a quick list of my favorite strategies to help you relax and enjoy the day!

I’m not sure why our loved ones and friends think that they need to have an opinion on how we choose to eat and take care of our bodies, but they always do. It can be an uncomfortable situation and often leads us to feel bad about the choices we are making to improve our health and find balance in our relationship with food.

As the holidays approach, the number of social gatherings and parties packed into the next few weeks will be numerous. While indulging in a few treats over the holidays won’t derail your progress, a steady stream of regular get-togethers and celebrations over four to six weeks (or eight...who’s counting) can really start to add up. This can have a big impact on your ability to stay on track towards achieving your goals. Here are a few ways you can make it through the holiday party season while balancing your nutritional needs and continuing on the path to success.

Happy September! For a lot of you – that means your schedule and routine are changing. A LOT. Either you or your kids are going back to school. Some of you may even be starting new jobs. And that means that your food and meal prep routine - which worked for you so well over the summer - may need a serious makeover. Here’s what you can do to help yourself.

Staying on track for parties and BBQ’s isn’t hard. We tend to over complicate things by not asking what food will be there, by forgetting everything that we know about moderation and nutrition, by drinking too much and losing control, by not planning ahead.