Monthly Archives: November 2015

Ever had those days where your alarm clock can’t possibly be real? Harrumph… Time to get up.

 

You then drag yourself to the COFFEE and then onto work, where you daydream of resting your head on your desk for a 4 hour ‘power nap’. By the time you drive yourself home in zombie-mode, buy make dinner there’s no way in hell you’re doing anything else but parking your tired ass on the couch.

 

I know you know existing like this isn’t really living. It’s more like scraping by. You already have that innate wisdom that tells you to wake the fuck up and do something about itand you’re ready to listen.

 

Before you can make the move towards brighter days and a spring in your step, you must know what the cause of your energy dive is.

 

Here we go.

I love hormones, so let’s talk about them first! Hormonal imbalances have many causes, from underlying conditions like Endometriosis, Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome and others, to low progesterone, high androgens and estrogen dominance. All in some form can play a role in your energy dive. When it comes to cycle fatigue, having low progesterone due to chronic stress not only brings on swollen breasts, anxiety, irregular cycles and bloating but also an energy dip. You may also consider an imbalance of the thyroid and adrenal glands as causes of fatigue.

 

 

Food sensitivities or intolerances have been getting a lot of hype in the last few years. There is some merit to this as foods that cause an inappropriate immune response can ending up hurting your body in many ways, from hormonal imbalances, to brain fog and lack of concentration. This foggy mind often couples with feelings of exhaustion even though you sleep for long hours because the offending foods are consistently in your diet, aggravating your system.

 

The most common food sensitivities are dairy, gluten/wheat, soy, cane sugar, chocolate and corn. There are many others, and essentially anyone can be sensitive to any food, depending on your system.

 

Why does this happen? Lining our gut- including small and large intestine- are individual rows of cells, packed tightly together. The areas where the cells touch each other are called ‘tight junctions’ because they are supposed to be tight enough to block food particles from getting through, while allowing properly digested elements into the bloodstream. When the tight junctions get loosened from offending foods, stress and others, you can develop what is known as ‘leaky gut’ and may have multiple food sensitivities.

 

If reading the title of this section made you cringe because you ‘hate exercise’, please keep reading anyway. When we hear the word ‘exercise’ or ‘workout’ we often think of spending time in the gym on fancy machines or with free weights and a treadmill. If you like this, by all means.

 

For the rest of you ladies, you must still be active in your life. Even when you feel exhausted, you can still manage some movement from gentle stretching to a brief walk. Once you begin to regularly move your body, your cells will become fuller with oxygen and you will switch out fatigue-causing fat with energy-boosting lean muscle tissue.

 

We are all deficient in one thing or another. It’s just a product of the society we live in- packaged food totally devoid of nutrients, and fruits and vegetables grown on less than stellar soil. PLUS the fact that you’re stressed all the damn time! Stress uses up your nutrients in no time flat.

 

The main nutrients you could be deficient in are all the B vitamins, Vitamin C, Vitamin D and Magnesium. As women, another one to note is iron. Iron is more commonly low in women who are still menstruating, as we lose blood every month compared to the menopausal set.

 

 

 

 

 

Toxicity is a real thing, girl. The hype ain’t for nothing. The apocalypse is here- inside your body!! Maybe I’m being a little dramatic but I believe strongly in the positive impact living in a clean body can have!

 

To explain the toxicity connection to the above causes:

 

Toxins like xenoestrogens (BPA, for one) found in our environment and personal/household products interferes with your body’s ability to filter and metabolize hormones. They also increase levels of estrogen in your body, leading to estrogen dominance. This = hormonal imbalance.

 

Toxins like the antibiotics and hormones found in dairy and meats, ‘doctored’ grains and GMO foods all wreak havoc on your GUT. Don’t ignore the gut, my friend. Chronic use of offending foods (and exposure to environmental toxins like above) can all cause food sensitivities. This = no energy (and a poor immune system!)

 

Your SKIN is your largest detoxification organ- through sweat of course! If you are very sedentary, and not used to sweating it out, then you are missing out! Not only are toxins released during sweat, but exercise creates more lean muscle tissue in replacement of fat- which can store toxins. Yuck.

 

Lastly toxins create nutrient deficiency with a deadly combination of everything I’ve mentioned above. Bad food. Lots of toxins floating around. Poor detoxification. No sweat. Low energy.

 

Think of it like this: Every toxic product, food or behaviour that we have, gets added to our ‘body barrel’ and eventually that barrel starts to overflow. You can see what I mean by that in the picture below.

 

 

 

What can be done about all this? Short answer: reduce your toxicity!

 

 

Exercise and motivation for it has always been a struggle for me. I became a personal trainer four years ago in the hope that having clients to train would keep my own big (and beautiful) ass moving. I laugh when I think now about how wrong I was!

The motivation for movement at the time wasn’t coming from the inside. It was an external thing- I want to be healthy so I should exercise. I should exercise to be fit and a good example for my training clients. And on and on with the shoulda-woulda-coulda.

What I find to be an excellent exercise (pun intended!) in keeping myself motivated is checking in with myself daily to see what I want to do. Some days I feel like I could run a marathon (even though I don’t run) and others I feel like some stretching and housework is all I’ve got in me. Try it yourself!

Once you have the internal motivation for movement, or even if you’re not sure yet, here are some ideas to keep you moving. I’ve indicated my personal favs with bold font.