I believe the body can HEAL itself when given the right circumstances.
I believe in the POWER of the mind. I believe that we have the power to CHANGE our own lives for the better.
I believe that by quieting our minds that we can find our own ANSWERS.
And 3 years ago, I created KETTERLING LONGEVITY so I could help clients create amazing, healthy, fun, vibrant lives.
#1 Thing you can do in 2020 to create better health!
#1 Thing you can do in 2020 to create better health!
One of the first things I have my clients work on for better health is to go through their kitchen and see what oils or fats they have been eating. We need healthy fats in our diet to create healthy cells.
Unfortunately, many of the foods found in our grocery stores contain toxic or inflammatory fats. For the past 30 years we were told to eat vegetable oils because they were healthy and to cut out most if not all saturated fats because those would clog our arteries and make us fat. It sounds like the right thing to do until we take a closer look.
Where have vegetable oils gotten us? As a country we are very overweight and very sick. I have seen this first hand behind the pharmacy counter where we dispense more blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes medications than ever before. This is affected even younger folks in their 20’s.
My #1 goal is to keep you out of the pharmacy and in a body that seems to get healthier every year. To do this we must examine the fats eaten on a daily basis. Do this once and you will be healthier for life.
Vegetable oils are highly unstable, highly inflammatory oils that were given a gigantic push by advisory groups we trusted, including The American Heart Association, the National Education Cholesterol Program, the National Institutes of Health and even our government’s own dietary guidelines. Turns out this was completely wrong.
Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian from Tufts University did a review of dietary oils in 2010 and determined that using vegetable oils was healthier for our bodies. Then in 2014 he did a meta-analysis and looked at 72 studies and determined this was not the case. No wonder there has been so much confusion regarding the types of fats that are the healthiest.
If we look at our ancestry for the big food industry was born, there were only wild meats and plants to eat. These types of foods contain more Omega 3 fats and less of the Omega 6 fats. With the introduction of refined oils into our diet, people started moving away from grass-fed and wild animals increased our omega 6 fat intake. Corn, soy, cottonseed, and canola oils skyrocketed, while omega 3 fats have dramatically declined.
This higher intake of Omega 6 fats has been fueling the inflammation in our bodies and with the creation of each new cell, the inflammatory fats used creates a body that is less healthy than before. Compound this over 20-30-40 years and no wonder there is so much disease. Believe it or not there is even a connection between high Omega 6 and the increase of mental illness, suicide, and homicide.
According to an article written by Dr. Mark Hyman, over consuming Omega 6 fats and under consuming Omega 3 fats can lead to:
- Heart disease
- Type 2 diabetes
- Obesity
- Metabolic syndrome or pre-diabetes
- Irritable bowel syndrome
- Inflammatory bowel syndrome
- Macular degeneration (eye damage and blindness)
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Psychiatric disorders
- Autoimmune disease
Eating these inflammatory oils causes oxidation in our bodies that results in free radical production. This can damage your body’s cells, proteins, and DNA. Oxidation can speed up aging too. Yikes!!
So, to help give you a better start to the New Year, 2020, consider removing these oils from your diet as much as possible:
- Canola oil
- Corn oil
- Soybean oil
- Margarine
- Safflower oil
- “Vegetable” oil
- Cottonseed
- Rice bran oil
- Shortening
- Fake butter spreads
When going through your kitchen, refrigerator, and food cabinets, look at your bottle of oils. Then look at the oils in your salad dressing, mayonnaise, and other condiments. You might be very surprised to notice that most mayo is made with soybean oil. Yep, super inflammatory. Mayo itself is not bad, just search for mayo made with healthy oils such as olive oil or avocado oil. It comes down to reading labels on everything you buy. I have even seen soybean oil in horseradish sauces.
Consume these healthy fats that are stable and not inflammatory including:
- Avocados
- Nuts: Macadamia/Brazil Nuts/Pecans/Almonds/Walnuts
- Butter/Ghee
- Coconut Butter
- Cocoa Butter
- Olive Oil
- Coconut Oil
- Avocado Oil
- Macadamia Nut Oil
- MCT Oil
Another way to get more healthy fats in your diet is to eat grass-fed or wild meats and wild-caught fish.
This is what changed my life: The half-life of trans-fats and inflammatory oils, found in foods like French fries, is 51 days. Therefore, after 51 days only HALF of the negative effects have been processed by the body. An additional 51 days (totaling 102 days) are needed to remove the majority of this toxic fat from your system. Bad fats are seriously dangerous since they are found in the very foods most Americans are eating on a daily basis.
Now knowing that these bad fats stay in your body for nearly 100 days will hopefully show you how bad they really are. And just think of the cellular dysfunction that can happen when these types of foods are consumed every day!
Make 2020 your best year yet and start by simply switching the oils and fats you are consuming on a daily basis.
If you would like help with your diet, lifestyle, weight loss, inflammation, or detoxification, make an appointment with me today and I will gift you a free 20 minute consultation.
Cathi Ketterling, Pharm. D ABAAHP
Heath Coach and Detoxification Expert
info@cathiketterling.com
Is Coffee really bad for you?
One of my passions is coffee. Who doesn’t like a great cup of Joe in the morning?? 
Well, most people do and many often feel really bad about this so-called “bad” habit.
I would like to share with you some helpful information regarding coffee so that you can continue to enjoy it if you would like to and how it can become health generating instead of health draining.
In the United States there is a Federal standard for mold and mycotoxins. Problem is this standard is probably the worst in the world. In fact, nearly 28% of our population is genetically extremely sensitive to mold and mycotoxins. The rest of us can still be affected just not so severely.
Why does this matter? Mold in our foods supply can trigger chronic inflammation and you may not even know it. Mold exposure can cause nearly 40 different symptoms including feeling hung over and you didn’t have a drink, anxiousness, brain fog, trouble controlling emotions, sinus or ear infections, eye twitching, and feeling tired and wanting to sleep more. These can sometimes even look like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, or arthritis.
Mold is starting to really become an issue especially with the increased use of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides used today. Just like anti-biotic use, over time the bacteria or fungi find ways to become stronger. That is the world in which we live and with this knowledge, we can make more informed decisions about our health.
Molds produce a byproduct called mycotoxins. Two mycotoxins of major concern here are Aflatoxin and Ochratoxin A (OTA). Aflatoxin can be found in grains and peanuts. OTA is the mold most commonly found in coffee.
Since there is NO US regulation for coffee toxins (unlike Japan, China, Europe, or Singapore), coffee that gets rejected by these countries gets shipped to …The USA!!
Molds have been linked to infections, chronic inflammation, chronic fatigue, and direct mycotoxic poisoning. Yikes! The mycotoxins can also cause DNA damage and can actually mutate your DNA. They can also breakdown the myelin, fatty protection wrapped around your neurons. This could predispose you to Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s Diseases. Who wants an increased risk? I surely do not.
What is the solution? Eating a low-mold anti-inflammatory diet can really help you out especially for life long health. Foods most at risk for containing mold include gluten, yeast, wheat, barley, peanuts, mushrooms, and corn. Beer and wine (choose organic) can also be a source of mold/mycotoxins. Choose a diet that is low in sugar, high in fiber and is organic as much as possible.
For my Coffee lovers, choose a certified low or toxin-free brand of coffee. My favorites brands are BulletProof, Purity coffee, Camano Island Coffee Roasters, and Kion Brand coffee. (I have the Bulletproof brand in stock in my office)
A great way to make your coffee extra powerful is to make it according to the BulletProof Coffee recipe. I will post the recipe at the end of this article.
BulletProof Coffee essentially is adding organic unsalted butter and coconut oil to the coffee for an energy boost. It can also be used to replace your breakfast if you are in a hurry. Here are some of the benefits:
- It can suppress hunger.
- It can provide steady energy lasting the entire morning.
- It can increase mental clarity and improved memory recall
- High Antioxidant content.
- It can enhance fat loss.
- It can enhance athletic performance.
When you choose a low or mold-free coffee you will not experience the caffeine jitters or a headache if you miss a day of drinking it. This along with no brain fog is a great reason to switch up your coffee. Another issue with moldy coffee is that it can spike your insulin and then cause low blood sugar to follow (think AM cravings!).
For the best results, grass fed unsalted butter is the best. It has more nutrients and regular butter and is a deep yellow color. You could also substitute Ghee if you are too sensitive to regular butter.
Using MCT or Brain Octane versions of coconut oil also have shown superior results. They are more concentrated in the nutrients in coconut oil that decrease hunger and help in the burning of fat. Just make sure you take is slow to start as a large amount of MCT or Brain Octane oil can cause diarrhea until you get used to it.
So, if you enjoy coffee, look to switching to a low or mold-free non-toxic coffee. Drink 1-2 cups per day. Drink it with natural sweeteners such as stevia or monk fruit as artificial sweeteners such as Splenda are toxic to your brain.
Cathi Ketterling, Pharm. D ABAAHP Health and Detox Coach
If you are struggling with your health or weight, contact me for a complementary 20 minute session. Please reach out to me HERE.
How to make Bulletproof Coffee – Official Recipe
(https://www.bulletproof.com/recipes/bulletproof-diet-recipes/bulletproof-coffee-recipe/ )
Ingredients:
- 2 ½ heaping tablespoons ground Bulletproof Coffee Beans
- 1 teaspoon – 2 tablespoons Brain Octane Oil or MCT Oil
- 1-2 tablespoons grass-fed, unsalted butter or grass-fed ghee.
Directions:
- Make your coffee. Brew 1 cup (8-12 ounces) of coffee using filtered water with 2 ½ heaping tablespoons of freshly ground Bulletproof Coffee Beans. Use a French Press for ease of use and to preserve beneficial coffee oils that paper filters keep out.
- Add Brain Octane Oil. Add 1 teaspoon to 2 tablespoons of Brain Octane Oil (start slow with this stuff – it’s powerful!)
- Add grass-fed butter or ghee. Add 1-2 tablespoons of grass-fed, unsalted butter or grass-fed ghee. Make sure your butter is unsalted. Salty coffee is gross.
- Blend. Mix it all in a blender for 20-30 seconds until it looks like a creamy latte. There will be a good amount of foam on top.
**Blending in a blender if very important. It really helps mix all of the ingredients together and gives the coffee a latte effect.
ALMOST EVERYTHING WE DO PUNCHES HOLES IN OUR GUT.
The more I read, study, and learn such a huge percentage of our health issues is coming down to the health of our GUT.
It’s true and that simple….but not easy.
Here are a couple of tips to help you and to do now.
1-Get the gluten/wheat out of your diet. Seems cliche but wheat just punches holes in our intestinal lining. There are now so many great and yummy alternatives it’s just so easy now to do this.
2-Eat organic as much as possible. Foods sprayed with Round Up or glyphosate open up the tight junctions in your gut allowing too large food particles to enter into your blood. This is where food intolerances and food allergies are coming from.
Heal the gut=heal your life.
If you need this let me know. I have an amazing gut healing plan that can save your life–literally
Fasting Mimicking Diet, What??
Fasting: What it really is and how it can be super easy!
Usually when I speak of fasting, people think of starvation. Fasting is not starvation because it is intentional not eating where as starvation is mostly out of the control of the person because they do not know when there next meal will be.
That said, let’s talk a little about fasting and how much it can benefit your health. Cool thing about fasting is it has been done for centuries so it is not just some new fad. In history periods of famine occurred and this fasting state actually saved people from starvation unless it went on for really super long periods of time of course.
There are different types of fasting: Intermittent and Block. Today, intermittent fasting (IF) is very popular and this type of fasting is really just pushing out breakfast until a later time of skipping it altogether. Intermittent fasting is basically a shrinking of the eating window during your day. It can be eating between noon and 7 pm or between 3 to 8pm. You get the idea. Block fasting is where you refrain from eating for 24 hours to even up to 5 days.
Let’s now talk about why in the heck anyone would want to fast. When we fast, the hormone called insulin starts to drop signaling your body to start burning stored energy. The body can store sugar energy as glycogen in the liver and muscles. Once those stores are used up, the body will eventually revert to burning fat or ketones for energy. This lowering of insulin also helps our body reduce inflammation. Insulin reduction also helps our body more easily release body fat. Higher insulin=body fat storage.
Regular periods of this fasting and lowering of insulin can lead to improved insulin sensitivity or a reduction in insulin resistance. Insulin resistance has been associated with things like Type 2 diabetes, High cholesterol, Stroke, Heart disease, high blood pressure, Non-alcoholic fatty liver, and others.
So in a nutshell, Fasting can help you:
*Decrease body fat and body weight
*Increase your production of Stem Cells
*Maintain healthy levels of Blood Pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar
*Increase your production naturally of growth hormone
*Improved energy levels
*Softer and shinier skin
Recent research has lead now to the development of a Fasting Mimicking Diet. It is basically a plan where you can still eat and yet maintain a “Fasting” state. It is much easier and safer than just plain fasting. If you have felt like you just could not refrain from eating for days at a time, the fasting mimicking diet is the way to go.
I can get you the full details on the 5-day program if you are interested.
Personally, I have been doing periodic fasting for about 10 years. I believe that most of the improvement in my health has been due to this fasting as it gives the entire digestive system a rest and allows the body and immune system to work on rejuvenating the body instead of constantly being in a state of digesting food. Eating multiple times a day from lets say a typical 7 am breakfast, am snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, after dinner snack, all you really end up doing is being in a constant state of digestion and fat storage once you have exceeded your body’s immediate fuel needs.
Message me for deets! Or click here:
xxCathi
Intermittent Fasting: Is it worth the hype?
Intermittent Fasting:
Intermittent fasting is quickly becoming a great way to improve your overall health, decrease inflammation, and reduce insulin resistance.
Basically intermittent fasting is when we push off eating breakfast until later in the day giving our body a more extended “fasting” period that started then night before after dinner was consumed. Start with fasting 12 hour between dinner the night before and breakfast. Once you get that down work up to 14-16-18 hours before eating.
This extended period of fasting allows are body to have a reduction in inflammation. Every time we eat, its an inflammatory process so decreasing the amount of times we are eating per day can greatly reduce our inflammation. While we wait to eat, our body gets the chance to heal itself rather than work to digest food. Our immune system can go to work looking for things to heal while it is resting from food. It is truly amazing how much energy it takes for the digestive process. Intermittent fasting can also help reset your gut microbiome and make it harder for salmonella and other bad bacteria to live very well.
Intermittent fasting also helps to stimulate autophagy which is the process of our body breaking down old, weak cell components and recycling them for energy. This is a natural detoxification process that can slow down with age. Think of autophagy as cleaning house and recycling trash. This is an amazing clean up process that allows our cells to have more room to function much more efficiently. We all know how great it is to have a clean space to live in. This is like cleaning up our internal space.
Insulin resistance is becoming a huge problem today and intermittent fasting can help improve insulin resistance dramatically. Over the past few years our bodies have become so reliant on burning sugar fuel and this has created many metabolic disorders like diabetes, inflammatory diseases, and insulin resistance. Fat as a fuel source is actually better for our bodies and is a much more efficient way to burn energy. When we teach our body to burn fat for fuel it leaves the blood sugar alone and it doesn’t fluctuate much because it is burning fat for fuel.
So, one of the biggest takeaways here is the fact that using intermittent fasting is a great way to eat “less often” and therefore massively reduce our inflammation. Reducing inflammation from different angles can really help us get to a place of better health. Inflammation is usually the root cause of illness and then going deeper to find the root cause of the inflammation is where magic can happen.
If you have any question, click here to send me a message!
xxCathi
My Top 3 Summer Keto Diet Tips:
If you are like me, I just love summer and now we are right in the middle of it. Many of us also want to be thinner especially in the summer so we don’t get as hot and look great in shorts, dresses, and swimming suits.
Summer is also a major time for dieting and I know because I was probably on a diet every summer for like 20 years and it was usually a frustrating experience. Finding Keto was really an amazing thing and now it is all the rage.
The Ketogenic Diet is so popular right now it seems like a fad but I believe it is here to stay if you really approach it in a way that our body’s can more relate to.
If you have been doing the Keto diet for any amount of time you may have experienced how ama
zing it is and then how it can shift and seem like it is not working any longer.
Here are 3 great tips that will help you keep your Keto diet working better!! If you are not doing Keto, these tips are still very helpful in weight loss also.
Tip #1: Protein:
Eating a Ketogenic diet does not mean you can have unlimited protein intake. In fact, it seems like when newcomers are looking for snacks to eat, often protein is what they find like cheese, jerky, protein bars, protein shakes, and eggs.
If we are eating protein or meat at each meal and then using the above for snacks we can easily over consume protein. Over consuming protein is going to push us back on our Keto results in a big way. Excess protein can easily be converted into sugar by the liver (gluconeogenesis). Then we get kicked out of ketosis. If you are noticing that you are having a hard time getting into or staying in ketosis, check your protein grams.
A good rule to use to calculate your protein consumption is to consume 1 gram of protein per each kilogram of weight. So to convert pounds to kilograms divide your weight in lbs by 2.2. An example is if you weight 150 lbs then 150/2.2=68. So consume 68 or so grams protein PER day in divided meals.
Another reason I like to avoid excess protein is that high protein consumption has been linked to increased risk of some types of cancers. Yikes!
Of course, if you exercise a lot or are an athlete, your protein requirements may be higher and adjust accordingly. Consuming 1.6 grams protein per Kg of weight may be more fitting for an athlete or someone who exercises heavily.
Tip #2: Sleep and Stress
I know we have heard this over and over, but two areas of our lives either individually or compounded together can super increase the inflammation in our bodies. This is the same inflammation that keeps us from losing weight and creating disease in our bodies.
Excess stress raises our cortisol levels for extended periods of time. Lack of good quality sleep can do the same thing. Both together are even worse asour bodies go into a more fight or flight response and the adrenal glands that produce cortisol get over worked. This can also cause the adrenal glands to release cortisol at the wrong time of day. This rise in cortisol causes other hormones to get out of balance including estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroid. It can also raise blood sugar levels and cause the body to store body fat.
So, how can you improve your sleep? Here are some tips:
1-Making sure you are creating enough time to get good sleep. Aim for 6.5 to 8 hours per night. Chronic sleep deprivation of less than 6 hours for most people can be inflammatory.
2-Helpful supplementsinclude melatonin, L-Theanine, Relora, Magnesium Glycinate or malate, GABA.
3-Do not eat right before bed. Make sure you eat dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime. This will improve your sleep as you are giving yourself the proper time to digest your food. Food and alcohol right before bed can really keep your body from getting the really good deep sleep that you need to feel rested.
4-Block Blue Light:Here is one of the biggest and newest ways to dramatically improve your sleep: Block the blue light that is emitted from your electronics at night. Your computers, tablets, and cell phones emit a blue light that tells your pineal gland that it is still daylight therefore reducing your body’s innate ability to know when to start producing melatonin for sleep. Either shut down your electronic devices a couple of hours before bed or invest in some blue blocking glasses like SwanWickSleep.com.
If you are anything like me, I used to think that I handled stress really well and that it was no big deal.
This was really wrong thinking on my part. Not addressing what I could to help deal with stress was increasing my inflammation big time and I was starting so see things like major hormone imbalances, mood swings, depression, weight gain, lack of focus at work, and I looked like I hadn’t had a good night sleep in a year.
Life is really short when you think about it. Becoming curious about the stress in your life and asking yourself key questions like:
1-How much stress am I under?
2-What can I do to better prepare for my day to reduce my stress?
3-What adjustments can I make at work or home to help reduce stress?
4-What supplements can I take to help reduce stress impact on my body?
5-Am I exercising too much or not enough?
6-Can I incorporate meditation, yoga, or breathing exercises to help my body recover?
7-Do I have an addiction to stress and if so, what steps can I take to break the pattern?
Using these questions as a guide to get curious about the stress in your life can really help you become aware of what you have possibly not been addressing.
Once you do some identification it will make working to reduce the stress much easier and you can start making a plan to make the necessary changes to help yourself take care of what needs attention. Sometimes supplementation is great. I love Ashwaganda, Magnesium, Vitamin B Complex, and L-Theanine. These can really help while you are working to get this whole issue under control.
Tip #3: MCT Oil:
MCT oil is derived from coconut oil and is concentrated in 100% medium chain triglyceride fats. These fats are superior to coconut oil for use in the Keto Diet. Consuming MCT oils helps your body produce ketones easier and faster without the use of those expensive exogenous ketone products.
Another added benefit of consuming MCT oils is being able to eat less overall fat in your diet and still helping your produce plenty of ketone for energy. For some of us on Keto, eating high amounts of fat is just really hard to do or get used to. Our goal is to allow our own bodies to naturally produce ketones so that real fat loss and reduced inflammation can occur.
When we produce sufficient amounts of ketone we more effectively reduce the hunger hormone, ghrelin and therefore don’t feel hungry between meals and we really start to burn body fat.
My favorite MCT oil is BulletProof brand Brain Octane. MCT oils contain a variety of medium chain triglycerides and the Brain Octane is purely the MCT known as C8. It is the best at helping your body make ketones quickly for energy and helping you get into ketosis much easier as well.
Add MCT oils to coffee, smoothies, soups, on salads, or veggies. It has no flavor so it will not change the way your food tastes.
When starting to incorporate MCT’s if you have never used them before, start slow with only about a teaspoon at a time. Eventually over some days you can increase to a tablespoon at a time. Eating too much too soon can cause diarrhea.
If you need help sorting our your Keto Diet, please contact me at:
info@cathiketterling.com
Intermittent Fasting!
WHY I STOPPED EXERCISING!
Ok well, I didn’t totally stop, but I exercise much differently than I did a few years ago big time!
I used to think I had to work out super hard, burn a bunch of calories, just to maintain or even try losing a little bit of weight.
Want the TRUTH: Exercise is amazing for us. It keeps us strong and in good cardiovascular shape. But because our bodies are very smart and adaptive, the actual number of calories we burn depends on so many things like hydration and the state of our overall metabolism.
Just because your Fitbit says you burned 600 calories, that may not be the case. In fact I believe most of us have been on so many diets that our metabolisms are so disrupted and don’t burn as efficiently as they should. So if you think you can go eat french fries because you worked out for 2 hrs, think again.
Exercise for health first and foremost! To keep your muscles strong and your lungs at good capacity.
Make changes to your diet for weight maintenance or weight loss. You will get the most results this way. In fact, when I was losing the 25 lbs I needed to lose a few years ago, I was dropping weight due to dietary and lifestyle changes, and I had actually stopped exercising for a few months. Absolute truth.
We can also over exercise. I did that for a while years ago too. I was under a lot of stress and I would make myself go to the gym daily for 2+ hours. This just inflamed me more and stress my body even more. It did nothing for me as far as true health went.
Listen to your body. Go out and get some exercise, but know that 95% of your body composition results will come from a clean, healthy diet and reducing the number of times you are eating per day.
If you have been on this never ending treadmill, send me a PM or message below. I am happy to help you get on the right track!
xxCathi
Why you can’t Lose Weight! It may not be what you think!
For a better part of 15 years I tried very hard to lose about 20+ pounds to that I could look and feel better. I felt bloated and swollen in my small frame.
I tried about 15 different diets, exercised profusely, and tried every supplement on the market hoping for some magic to happen. Well, it didn’t. Sometimes I would lose a few pounds only to gain it back in a short time. Although it was frustrating, it got me to where I am today as I continued to further my education into natural health and to see searching for answers.
Want to hear this interesting news? Insulin. Being a pharmacist I really didn’t think much about insulin unless I was working with a diabetic patient. I certainly was not interested in my own insulin since I was not personally diabetic. In some of my more recent trainings I have learned so much about insulin and how it really applies to most of us diabetic or not especially as it relates to weight loss.
When we eat carbohydrates, we stimulate insulin to lower our blood sugar as the carbs digest. This is a good thing. It is also important to know that insulin has more functions than just lowering our blood sugar. One of those is the regulation of fat storage.
Every time we eat which most likely includes the consumption of carbohydrates, we stimulate insulin. It is important to also note that the higher the amount of carbohydrates that are consumed means the higher amount of insulin that will also be secreted. The higher the insulin secretion the more inflammation that can take place. It also means the body has to figure out what to do with all of the carbs. It will burn some, store some, and then store the rest in your fat cells if it cannot use all of it before your next meal is eaten. Did you get that?
This is where we run into issues when a person eats many times a day and eats a high carbohydrate diet also. Combine this with trans fats and fast food and you really have a problem on your hands. If you fit into the category of eating multiple times per day especially without regards to your carbohydrate intake, you are telling your insulin to store fat all day long. No wonder it is so hard to lose weight!! Insulin is just there doing its thing bringing blood sugar down and storing all of the excess calories of especially carbs right to your body fat.
What can you do to turn this around? Luckily there are now many things that can be done to remedy this. Things like:
1-Intermittent Fasting-waiting to eat until later into the day
2-Eating a lower carbohydrate diet
3-Block fasting-fasting for a certain number of days at a time
Balancing our insulin hormone and keeping it lower is the key to losing weight and living a more anti-inflammatory lifestyle. I now think about my insulin every day. As I have focused on this and not necessarily on losing weight, the weight started falling away along with a lot of bloating and puffiness. I was ecstatic!! I didn’t have to exercise forever in the gym to make this happen and I also healed my hypoglycemia as well.
My body now loves burning fat for fuel leaving my blood sugar alone and very stable. It has totally freed me from hypoglycemia and weight issues. I also know that keeping my blood sugar in check keeps my insulin levels lower. This means I have less overall inflammation in my body and that my cells are healthier than they were 15 years ago.
Try one or all of these strategies. They just may be what you are looking for. If you need more info, send me a FB message or email me at info@cathiketterling.com
Sleep is important to Weight Loss and Decreasing Inflammation
It’s no secret we need to get good sleep and let’s take a look at what happens if we do not get enough.
Lack of good quality sleep starts to drastically alter our hormones. Hormones including estrogen, testosterone, and cortisol are the most affected.
Starting with cortisol, this hormone is released in our bodies in response to stress. Not getting enough sleep causes stress and cortisol is released to deal with this stress. In a chronic sleep deprivation situation, our bodies go into a more fight or flight response and the adrenal glands that produce cortisol get over worked.
This can also cause the adrenal glands to release cortisol at the wrong time of day. Have you ever felt wired and tired? That could possibly be higher cortisol levels at the wrong time of day. Cortisol usually follow our circadian rhythm which can be severely interrupted when we are under too much stress for too long.
So, how can you improve your sleep? Start by:
1-Making sure you are creating enough time to get good sleep. Aim for 6.5 to 8 hours per night and going to bed and waking in the morning at the same time each day can help your body get into a rhythm.
2-Helpful supplements include melatonin, L-Theanine, Relora, Magnesium Glycinate or malate, GABA.
3-Do not eat right before bed. Make sure you eat dinner 2-3 hours before bedtime. This will improve your sleep as you are giving yourself the proper time to digest your food. Late night alcohol can also affect how well we sleep. As you body starts to metabolize the alcohol, it is also trying to detoxify your body so this can cause extra stress on the liver and may cause you to not get quality sleep.
4-Light: Here is one of the biggest and newest ways to dramatically improve your sleep: Block the blue light that is emitted from your electronics at night. Your computers, tablets, and cell phones emit a blue light that tells your pineal gland that it is still daylight therefore reducing your body’s innate ability to know when to start producing melatonin for sleep.
One way to help protect yourself is to download F.lux https://justgetflux.com. You can also get these really cool “swannies: http://www.swanwicksleep.com. They are also really great for blocking the irritating light from our electrics. In addition to this, it is a good idea to just put away all electroni
cs by 8-9 pm and do something nice and relaxing for you. Read, meditate, take a bath,
something like that. Email and social media can be over stimulating into the evening so give yourself a break!!
Lack of sleep will also cause your skin to look older. Not getting enough sleep interrupts the body’s ability to renew, heal, and detoxify. Even in as little as 5 nights or less, your skin will start showing more wrinkles, lines, and red spots. Your body cannot produce the collagen it needs if you sleep too little.
Remember, self-care is very important to you performing at your best in all areas of your life. Making sleep a priority is one of the key areas you must keep in mind as it affects everything about your body and skin.
xxCathi
