Category Archives: hydration

Let’s get BACK to BASICS for Digestion & Absorption

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📌Back to basics- Digestion & absorption edition 🤓

It’s important to address these GI basics before thinking you need any advanced protocols.

The biggest culprits I see in my coaching practice is improper stress management, poor chewing and rushed eating! Focusing on these “low hanging fruit” lifestyle changes can make dramatic impacts!

Next is HCL insufficiency, bile salt insufficiency, enzyme insufficiency, and a lack of dietary fiber (Insoluble vs Soluble).
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Stomach acid is essential for proper digestion, especially protein and supports the absorption of essential nutrients, such as, Zinc, Copper, Iron, Calcium & B12. Not only does it help with digestion but it plays a vital role in protecting the body from harmful pathogens.
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Taking stomach acid suppressors, skipping meals and eating a low protein diet!⁣
✔️Start: Addressing chronic stress, eat a nutrient dense diet, improve your gut / brain connection with mindful eating practices. 🧘‍♀️
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Lack of digestive enzymes production which are vital to properly break down the food we eat, can lead to slower transit time and poor nutrient absorption. This can result in feelings of bloat, constipation, acid-reflux, and gas.
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Rushing your meals and slouching around after eating.⁣
✔️Start: Supporting stomach acid production, chew your food properly (20-30 Times) and address any underlining gut inflammation. ⁣
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Bile release is crucial for the emulsification of fats, so that they can then be properly broken down and absorbed. You won’t get the all the benefits of these healthy fats if they are not properly broken down. 🧈⁣
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🙅🏻‍♀️Stop: Restricting fats or consuming too much of the wrong kind, like vegetable oils & fake butter⁣
✔️Start: Getting enough healthy fats in your diet and support stomach acid production
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Finally, a healthy and balanced gut flora supports our body to proper digest food and protects from harmful pathogens. 🙌🏻
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Complete digestion = more optimal nutrients! 🍽

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Interested in working together? Apply here for coaching!

How does gelatin improve digestion?

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First off, what is gelatin?

🧸Gelatin is a colorless, flavorless substance made from the collagen found in animal bones, skin and tissues. Gelatin is the cooked form of collagen. It makes up about half of the protein found in animals.

🧸Gelatin is loaded with three amino acids (glycine, proline and alanine) that have hydrophilic (hydrating), anti-inflammatory, healing properties.

🧸Because gelatin can attract and hold liquids, this allows it to draw in digestive juices, which help us break down the foods we eat.


🧸The more digestive juices present (mostly bile and stomach acid), the better our food is broken down, which allows for improved absorption.

⚠️NOT ALL GELATINS are made the same. The brand I recommend is Great Lakes. @greatlakesgelatin

🤓The product has been a subject of several clinical trials that have proved its effectiveness.

📖 Check out the book Gelatin in Nutrition and Medicine to learn more.

🧸MY FAV RECIPE!
•BLOOM Gelatin first by pouring 1/2 c pure juice into a bowl and stirring in 4 tbsp of gelatin and let sit for 5 min.

•While it’s doing it’s thing, warm up the other 1/2 c juice on a saucepan on the stove.
•As it gets steamy and just before boiling, turn off heat.
•Add in gelatin and stir well.
•Let cool before pouring into gummy molds or containers for jello.

Interested in working together? Apply here for coaching!

#gelatin#digestivehealth#digestion#digestionsupport#nutrition#diet#absorb#onlinepersonaltrainer#personaltrainer#fitnessjourney#prometabolic#nutritioncoach

Fitting in movement into your busy schedule

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#trainertips

✅ Schedule it in & Commit
When time is your biggest challenge when it comes to exercise, then knowing what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it is very important! At the beginning of each week, schedule your workouts like you schedule your meetings or appointments. Create a plan, know what you’re going to do and when you’re going to do it, and commit! You can even have an alternative day to make up your workout if something does happen.

✅Morning or Earlier in the day workouts. Plan your workouts in the morning or during your lunch breaks. This way you dedicate that time for you before the day slips away. Being busy throughout the day usually leads to fatigue by the end of the day and can make commitments to workouts later in the day harder.

✅ Boost Your Daily Activities
Try giving some of your daily activities a boost to get your movement in. Take advantage of every situation. This can be parking a little farther from the grocery store, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking while chatting on the phone, or walking during meetings that you do not have to participate in.

✅ Change Your Mindset Around Movement
Movement should not be looked at as an activity that you dread or that takes over your life. We want to view movement as a GIFT to yourself not a chore. If you wake up and think “I don’t have time to workout today” you’re most likely not going to find the time to get it done. If you wake up thinking of it as a priority and how much better you’re going to feel after its done you are more likely to find the time.

✅ Make It Enjoyable
Do something that you actually enjoy. It’s easier to get something done when you like the activity. Focus on what makes you feel the best, helps you to reach your goals, and is rewarding for your mind and body.

What’s the #1 thing holding most back from their goals?

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Change of any kind intimidating and it may seem like you have a long way to go in achieving your goals…

Here are some tips for hacking consistency:

1️⃣Focus on 1-2 habits that you can easily commit to start. Get into the groove with them. Next, build one or two habits on top of those, this concept is called habit stacking.

Example: Two daily habits could be eating protein with almost every meal and getting 7-8 hours of sleep each night. Next you could focus on drinking water first thing before coffee and adding in a morning stretch routine.

Building on habits is what creates a routine.

A routine is what creates consistency. Consistency is what creates results.

This is why fad diets, 30 day challenges and 75 hard is a waste of your time. If it’s not based around your own individual health markers, lifestyle and goals, if it’s not teaching you about your own biofeedback and empowering you—You’re likely not gonna stick with it.

2️⃣Focus on what’s being added in and improved. Adding in more protein, more fruits and veggies, more movement etc. (not what’s being taken away or restrained.)

3️⃣However your path looks like on the journey to feeling better it should be rewarding and tied to deep personal meaning and intrinsic motivation.

4️⃣Self-Efficacy is the name of the game- building belief in oneself over time, creating a foundation of knowledge that is a sustainable lifestyle.

Consistency is everything— if what you’re currently doing is too difficult to stick with, it’s not YOU. It’s your approach.

Link for my 8 week foundations program ✌🏼💕

Why women who workout should NOT intermittent fast

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From a health standpoint, intermittent fasting is useful – especially for the general population who are not very active and struggling with metabolic diseases.

⚠️ However, if you’re adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise, you aren’t gaining any extra benefits.

❗️ In fact, if you’re a woman, adding intermittent fasting on top of exercise can be harmful to both your performance and your health. ❗️

💥 Women are more sensitive to kisspeptin, neuropeptide that’s responsible for sex hormones and endocrine and reproductive function. Diets such as intermittent fasting and keto disrupt kisspeptin production.

It comes down to kisspeptin, is a neuropeptide that’s responsible for sex hormones and endocrine and reproductive function, which also plays a significant role in maintaining healthy glucose levels, appetite regulation, and body composition. It’s also more sensitive in women than men. When it gets perturbed, our sex hormones aren’t produced and released the way we need them to be. 

Intermittent fasting and keto both disrupt kisspeptin production. When our brain perceives we have a deficiency in nutrients, especially carbohydrate, we have a marked reduction in kisspeptin stimulation, which not only increases our appetite, but also reduces our sensitivity to insulin. This is why research shows intermittent fasting is more likely to cause impaired glucose intolerance in women, but not men.

What happens when we layer exercise stress on top of the stress of denying our bodies an important fuel source? Stress hormones like cortisol rise even higher. As you keep increasing that stress, it keeps your sympathetic drive high and reduces your ability to relax. Your thyroid activity is depressed, which messes with your menstrual cycle. Your body also starts storing more belly fat.

So now you’re looking at disrupted menstrual cycles, higher anxiety and stress, impaired performance and often weight gain—pretty much the opposite of what you’re looking for!

The ketogenic diet has very similar effects on women athletes. We hear people rave about the increased mental focus with a keto diet. In men, yes. They have an increase in their parasympathetic (a.k.a. rest and digest) activity, so they can be more relaxed and present. In women, keto kicks up our sympathetic (a.k.a. fight or flight) drive, so we’re more anxious, more prone to being depressed, and we can’t sleep very well, which again hurts our hormonal health, performance, well being, and body composition.

Sometimes women will contend that these diets work so well for them. And they might for the first three months, because nearly any diet will yield some effects in the short term. The long term effects for women athletes, however, is endocrine dysfunction, increases in abdominal fat, more depression, and a backlash of subsequent fat gain.

Women athletes perform far better in a fed state. Women athletes need to eat. 

💥 The long term effects of intermittent fasting with exercise for women athletes is endocrine dysfunction, increases in abdominal fat, more depression, and subsequent fat gain.

Pretty much the opposite direction of your goals.

👇🏻LMK What’s your experience with IF?

SOURCE: https://www.drstacysims.com/

The importance of Fiber & how to not overdo it.

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Fiber is an essential nutrient. However, many Americans fall short of the recommended daily amount in their diets. Women should aim for about 25 grams of fiber per day, while men should target about 38 grams, or 14 grams for every 1,000 calories. Your fiber intake is a good gauge for overall diet quality.

The idea that more fiber is always better is one of those persistent nutrition myths that has been drilled into us for decades. When someone decides to go on a ‘health kick’ they often start by loading up on the salads, vegetables, whole grains, seeds and legumes because fiber! Only to experience tons of gas, bloating, constipation and heartburn a few days in.

While adding ‘roughage’ to our diet is often recommended, there are some potential downsides to that:

👉 Harsh fibers can be very irritating for our gut, damaging the gut lining.

👉 Your body has to expend a lot of energy to move all this bulk that provides no energy in return.

👉 When too much fiber sits in the gut for too long, it can ferment, causing gas, bloating and acid reflux.

👉 Just think about it: is making something bigger really the solution when you are trying to pass it through a small hole?

This is not to say that all fiber is bad. But overdoing greens and grains especially when your gut is not in an optimal state can end up making you feel worse. I like to stick to more gentle fibers. These include fruit fibers and those from very well cooked vegetables. If your gut is in a good place, you can probably handle more fiber with less problems.

So why the raw carrot salad then? Raw carrots are unique in that they have their own defense’s against bacteria and fungi (ever noticed how much longer you can keep carrots in your fridge compared to other veggies?). The fiber in carrots can bind toxins produced by bacteria and carry it out rather than increasing the amount produced.

Fiber rich food sources are veggies like carrots, peppers, asparagus, bamboo shoots, cooked leafy greens like spinach, kale, chard, fresh arugula. Fruits like apples, berries, oranges, plums, prunes, and avocado.

When increasing fiber, be sure to do it gradually and with plenty of fluids. As dietary fiber travels through the digestive tract, is similar to a new sponge; it needs water to plump up and pass smoothly. If you consume more than your usual intake of fiber but not enough fluid, you may experience nausea or constipation.

The fiber argument is nuanced. We can’t really make blanket statements about fiber because it really depends on the type of fiber, the state of the individual’s gut, what else they are eating, etc. The best way to determine your fiber threshold is to pay attention to how your body reacts and adjust as necessary.

Reframing negative thoughts…

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Many of us struggle with negative self-talk.⁠
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We put ourselves down, criticize ourselves, and beat ourselves up… and some of us do it so much we don’t even realize we’re doing it!⁠
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Negative self-talk can become a habit, and it’s an important habit to break because the thoughts and words we say and think shape our reality. 🙅🏾‍♀️🙅🏻‍♀️🙅🏿‍♀️🙅🏽‍♀️🙅🏼‍♀️ ⁠
Thankfully, studies have shown that using neutral or positive affirmations can help us rewire our brains and change our outlook! 🧠⁠
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❓How❓⁠
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By disrupting these negative thought patterns and reframing them into statements that serve you better. Basically, by being deliberate with your self-talk!⁠
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Notice that these statements don’t have to be rah-rah positive if that doesn’t feel genuine to you. Neutral statements totally work in disrupting negative thought patterns. ⁠
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(And once you’ve moved yourself securely into neutral statements, you can work on practicing turning neutral into positive.)⁠
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Even if you have difficulty fully believing these affirmations right off the bat, the more you practice, the more you’ll be able to stop negative thoughts before they begin! ⁠

Let’s work together 🤗
Link in bio for coaching ✌🏼💜
🇺🇸 🎇 Use Discount code HOLIDAY to save 10% off first billing cycle!

#reframeyourthoughts
#cbttherapy#onlinenutritioncoach#nutriton#nutritionist#dietculturedropout#mindsetmatters#flipit#selfdevelopment#selfcompassion#awareness#awarenessiskey#explorepage
#onlinepersonaltrainer
#hudsonvalleyny#newwindsorny#newyorkfitness#healthylifestyle#whatyouthinkyoubecome

Why you shouldn’t skip rest days…

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PSA: Skipping rest days doesn’t make you a badass. 🙅🏻‍♀️

It does get you more tired, stressed, inflamed and farther from your goals though. #hardtruth

💤 What to do on rest days:
Hydrate 💦
Focus on your nutrition 🍴 (adequate carbs & protein)
Light movements like walking and stretching 🧘‍♀️

What NOT to do:
Drastically Reducing your calories or carb intake- I see this strategy often, which is based on the assumption you don’t need as much ⛽️ because of less activity. From my perspective, this can create unnecessary stress, potential disordered eating behaviors and it’s best to consume your usual amount of calories on rest days to ensure muscle growth and recovery.

Benefits 👇🏻

1. Allows time for recovery
•Contrary to popular belief, a rest day isn’t about being lazy on the couch. It’s during this time that the beneficial effects of exercise take place. Specifically, rest is essential for muscle growth.

2. Prevents muscle fatigue
•Remember, exercise depletes your muscles’ glycogen levels. If these stores aren’t replaced, you’ll experience muscle fatigue and soreness.
Plus, your muscles need glycogen to function, even when you’re not working out. By getting adequate rest, you’ll prevent fatigue by letting your glycogen stores refill.

3. Reduces risk of injury
•Overtraining also exposes your muscles to repetitive stress and strain. This increases the risk of overuse injuries, forcing you to take more rest days than planned.

4. Improves performance
•Rest has the opposite effect. It increases energy and prevents fatigue, which prepares your body for consistently successful workouts.

5. Supports healthy sleep
•While regular exercise can improve your sleep, taking rest days is also helpful. Rest can help you get better sleep by letting your hormones return to a normal, balanced state.

💞✌🏼Link in bio for coaching

#onlinepersonaltrainer#personaltrainer#onlinenutritioncoach#nutritioncoach#restdays#restday#restdaybenefits#dontskiprestday#disorderedeating#dietculturedropout#fitnesscoach#fitnesscoaching#education#newyorkfitness#hudsonvalleyny#explorepage#nourishyourbody#nourish#carbs#eatyourcarbs

Lack of willpower is actually NOT a thing…

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“Lack of willpower” is actually NOT a thing. It’s typically a mindset issue.

Willpower/self-control is like a muscle, it can be trained to grow stronger and it gets fatigued. Under stress in particular, our self control is drastically reduced. Even though it gets “worn out”, we must understand our mindset limitations are a larger contributing factor.

Let’s start with How do you perceive self-control? Do you have it? Do you not? Can you change it? Are you aware of when your self control is compromised? And why? Awareness here is 🔑, then you can begin working backwards. Where is it stemming from? Like my most recent post, you can’t change what you don’t know needs changing.

Maybe where you need to start, is it with more self-control at all… But simply awareness.

1️⃣Begin with awareness, self-monitoring your behaviors to understanding your triggers.

2️⃣Stress reduction can also do wonders! Stress is an energy sucker! When you have less stress, you’ll have more energy available for alllllll the other things! More posts on this to come.

And maybe 🤔 you do need some tough love for more “willpower”, let me ask you this:

Is some discomfort now worth it, if you know it’s only temporary to make progress? How will you benefit from succeeding?

The stronger you are focused on the personal pay off, the more likely you are to follow through with desired behaviors. That’s you flexing your willpower muscle 🙌🏻💯 The deeper your why (the intrinsic drive) the stronger you’ll be!

Link in bio for coaching 🤍

#onlinepersonaltrainer#willpower#mindset#awareness#personaltrainer#fitnessmotivation#nutriton#strengthtraining#mindsetmatters#dietculturedropout#icaniwill#trainertips#newwindsorny#hudsonvalleyny#newyorkfitness

Benefits of Aloe Vera Juice

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Aloe vera juice has many benefits, especially for gut health, but I think the most incredible thing is the amount of potassium it contains. There is 940mg in 8oz of juice! That’s even more than coconut water, making it an ideal option for optimal hydration. 

​Aloe vera juice is also beneficial for those that struggle with digestive issues. Aloe vera specifically helps to reduce inflammation in the digestive tract, which is helpful for acid reflux. It also helps pull water into the colon, which is why it aids in constipation and encourages regular bowel movements.

I get the Lakewood brand at my local Sprouts, but they also sell it at other grocery stores and Amazon! Comment below if you’ve ever tried it or are planning to.

It’s not sweet or particularly tasty on its own, but my favorite way to get my daily dose is in an adrenal cocktail. Just combine 4oz orange juice, 4oz aloe vera juice, and 1/4 tsp sea salt for a boost of vitamin C, potassium, and sodium. It’s delicious, energizing, and hydrating!

Reposted from

Women’s Health Dietitian

NutritionistAmanda Montalvo, RD, FDN-P