Congratulations!
The next six weeks are going to be a life-changing journey filled with new experiences and self-discovery.
This challenge was created to help you reach your goals with intention.
By following this plan, you will boost your metabolism, eliminate sugar cravings, & rid your body of unwanted fat!
The benefits of this eating strategy stretch far beyond fat loss, however.
You’ll be eating a LOT of delicious recipes that are loaded with energy-boosting, nutritious, and healing properties.
Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the other benefits:
We are very excited and grateful to be a part of your journey to better health and fitness.
We are here to help and answer any questions, no matter how big or small.
I want you to have the BEST possible experience and get the BEST possible results, so please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks again for trusting in us and joining us for the next six weeks.
This challenge was created to help you reach your goals with intention.
By following this plan, you will boost your metabolism, eliminate sugar cravings, & rid your body of unwanted fat!
The benefits of this eating strategy stretch far beyond fat loss, however.
You’ll be eating a LOT of delicious recipes that are loaded with energy-boosting, nutritious, and healing properties.
Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the other benefits:
- Naturally balance blood sugar and helps eliminate cravings
- Supports hormone production and rebalancing
- Improves brain health and help protect against dementia and other disorders
- Improves memory and clear brain fog
- Improves digestion
- Increases energy levels
- Improves fertility
- Improves quality of sleep
- Decreases anxiety and mood swings
We are very excited and grateful to be a part of your journey to better health and fitness.
We are here to help and answer any questions, no matter how big or small.
I want you to have the BEST possible experience and get the BEST possible results, so please reach out if you have any questions or concerns.
Thanks again for trusting in us and joining us for the next six weeks.
Notes On Eating
Pre-Workout: This is going to vary based on when you workout and what your body can handle. It is ok to workout fasted if your body can handle it. Focus on protein and fat and avoid lots of fruit or carb dense vegetables. A carbohydrate rich meal will increase insulin putting your body in a fat storing mode. Examples of a pre-workout “snack” would be: two hard boiled eggs, some turkey or chicken and a handful of macadamia nuts, or a few strips of homemade beef jerky (can’t have added sugar).
Post-workout: Eat within 30-60 minutes of training.
You only need a post workout meal if performing high intensity interval training, strength training, or longer duration cardiovascular exercise. If you are walking or doing gentle yoga you don’t need to include a post-workout meal.
Note: The amount of carbohydrates to be consumed post workout is going to depend on your fat loss goals. If you are new to exercising and eating healthy and have a lot of body fat to lose just include protein in your post workout meal.
The type of workout I am referring to is a higher intensity workout that includes strength training or cardiovascular endurance. If you are walking or taking a light or restorative yoga class you do not need to worry about pre/post workout nutrition.
Meal Timing: Strive to eat 3 meals a day and avoid snacking if possible. This obviously changes on the days you engage in high-intensity exercise. You might also need to “break the rules” if you work exceptionally long days or have an exceptionally active metabolism. In that case you may end up eating 4-5 meals per day.
The main objective is to leave 4-5 hours in between meals to allow you digestive system to function properly as well as keep leptin levels normalized. Leaving 12 hours between your last meal one day and your first meal the next day can also give your digestive system a much-needed break. Ideally your last meal of the day would be at least 2 hours prior to bed. Each meal should be designed to hold you over until the next, taking away your desire to snack. As your body starts to use more fat for energy you will experience less between-meal cravings, energy slumps, and brain fog.
In general avoid snacking between meals as this can disrupt the normal functioning of leptin, insulin, and overall you may end up eating more. It will take you some time to gauge how much and what the right types of foods to eat at each meal are. I am still working on it. So, in the case that you maybe didn’t eat enough at one particular meal or not enough fat to keep you satisfied instead of getting cranky, tired, or hungry have a snack that is protein and fat based. Don’t just snack on veggies or fruit alone. Examples would include: 2 hard-boiled eggs & veggies, celery & nut butter, or chicken/turkey and vegetables.
How Much To Eat is tricky, as it will vary for everyone…
In the information below I will give you guidelines, however, the best thing you can do for long-term success is eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Your body is constantly sending/giving you signals most of us are just too busy, stressed, or out of touch to pay attention to them.
Protein: A meal ideally includes 1 palm-sized portion of protein for females and 2 palm sized portions for males. If you are a female, aim for 20-30 grams of protein at each meal. If you are a male, aim for 40-60 grams. One ounce of meat contains roughly 7 grams of protein, 1 egg is roughly 7 grams. Ladies you need to eat 2-3 eggs at a sitting…not just one! This may vary on days that you are more active though, listen to your body and if you need to eat more or less…DO IT!!! Protein is the foundation to your meals and is what will keep you full/satisfied until your next meal. If you are finding that you are hungry 1-2 hours after eating, chances are you are NOT eating enough.
Vegetables: Fill the rest of your plate or bowl with vegetables. Aim for 2-3 servings of non-starchy vegetables at each meal. One serving = ½ cup cooked, 1 cup raw, or 2 cups of salad greens. For more variety eat 2 different kinds of vegetables at any given meal. An entire plate of steamed kale or greens beans may not be the most appealing. This is where spices, sea salt, and healthy fats such as coconut oil and ghee come in.
If you roast any vegetable in coconut oil and Himalayan sea salt they taste GREAT!!!
If you are overweight or have trouble regulating your blood sugar, minimize the amount of starchy carbohydrates at any given meal. For fat loss, limit starchy carbohydrates (sweet potato, beets, butternut squash, acorn squash, parsnips, or pumpkin) for post-workout.
Healthy Fats: Incorporate one or more fats in each meal. More than likely you will cook with one fat and you may add another for flavor or texture.
Fat portions per person, per meal are as follows:
1-2 TBSP of coconut oil or olive oil
1-2 TBSP of nut butter, coconut butter, or ghee
1-2 open handfuls of coconut flakes
1 closed handful of nuts/seeds
½-1 avocado
¼-1/2 can coconut milk
FAT IS YOUR FRIEND
Fat is not something you need to be afraid of…FAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU FAT! Fat provides us with valuable nutrition and keeps us satisfied until our next meal. The amount of fat that you consume at each meal will depend on your size, activity level, and if you need to lose weight or not.
Eating on the low end of the range is appropriate if you want to decrease body fat and lose weight but skimping on fat will not yield better/more results. Fat loss is not about counting calories or grams of fat, it is about balancing hormones. If you underfeed yourself you can end up hungry all day, your energy will likely be low, and you will be tired and cranky.
Fruit: One serving per day. Keep in mind that a whole banana is 2 servings. A small apple or pear, two clementine, or ½-3/4 cup berries is a serving. It is ideal that you are getting a 3:1 ratio of vegetables to fruit each day, not the other way around. Fruit is not a replacement for vegetables at a given meal.
Drinking your fruit in a juice or fruit smoothie…MAYBE NOT THE BEST IDEA.
If breakfast is a big fruit smoothie, you may be setting yourself up for a crash later in the day due to the quick surge in blood sugar. You may experience uneven energy, more food cravings, and/or abnormal levels of hunger throughout the day. Liquid calories are not as satisfying as eating eggs, vegetables, and small piece of fruit or foods that you have to chew and swallow. If you have a fruit smoothie for breakfast and nothing else, you missed out on important nutrients and calories from protein and fat.
Ideally you would spread your fruit servings out during the day to avoid overloading your liver with too much fructose to process all at one time.
CAUTION: If you find yourself eating fruit at the end of each meal as a “sweet treat” to replace dessert, you may want to re-evaluate your habits. This program is just as much about changing/identifying your habits as it is about changing what you are eating. You may need to change what/how much you are eating at each meal or create a new post-meal routine such as making yourself a nice hot steaming cup of tea.
Food Journaling:
This may help you keep track of your progress and experience during the detox. It will also allow you to connect the dots of how what you eat and when you eat affect your mood, sleep, productivity, and performance during exercise, etc. A meal that includes food that works with your body will leave you energized (no afternoon slump), full until your next meal, craving free, mentally sharp, and with an overall sense of well being and enhanced mood. Journaling how you feel 1-2 hours after you eat is just as important as what you are eating.
Journaling can be a powerful technique for identifying what is important to you and finding some inner guidance. More often than not, you are stronger and smarter than you give yourself credit for. Studies have also shown that journaling reduces stress and inflammation and can have a profound impact on health.
Here are some examples of questions to ask yourself while journaling:
Sleep: Poor sleep adds to stress, interferes with productivity, decreases immune function, decreases production of growth hormone (needed for fat loss), decreases leptin and increases ghrelin (hormones that control our appetite), and increases the risk of diabetes. Sleep contains zero calories but has more of an impact on our metabolism and health than what we put in our mouths. Our bodies are meant to go through natural sleep/wake cycles, going to sleep within a few hours of the sun going down and waking up when the sun rises. During the times of year when there is more daylight we may not need as much sleep as when there are more hours of darkness.
Seven to nine hours of sleep is ideal between the hours of 9 pm and 5 am or 10 pm and 6 am. Two hours of sleep before midnight is worth 4 hours of sleep to your adrenal glands (your adrenals are responsible for outputting cortisol which is your stress hormone). If you have trouble falling asleep, creating a sleep inducing bedtime routine is important. Taking a detox bath or shower, dimming the lights, and avoiding the computer and TV for 1-2 hours prior to going to bed may enhance your ability to fall asleep. If you have trouble staying asleep, you may want to evaluate your last meal before bedtime or having a protein/fat based bedtime snack to stabilize blood sugar throughout the night. A drop in blood sugar can cause cortisol to spike waking you up between 2-3 am. Read more about sleep in T.S. Wiley’s book “Lights Out.”
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.”
Practice Gratitude: There is intimate relationship between thoughts, moods, brain chemistry, endocrine function, and the other physiological systems in our bodies. What this means is that what you think about has a direct impact on how you feel both physically and emotionally. If you increase the amount of positive thoughts you have each day, you increase your overall sense of well being as well as your physical health.
People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis tend to exercise more regularly, have fewer physical symptoms, and feel better about their lives in general. Expressing gratitude verbally each day can result in increased alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, energy, and quality of sleep as well as the ability to sleep longer.
Examples of gratitude include but are not limited to: important relationships, the ability to take charge of your health by changing the way you eat, things that happen to you, things you achieve, or things you have done. You can write down 1-5 things each day in a gratitude journal or make a list and keep it in a place you will see it several times a day.
“Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish positive experiences, have better health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
-Harvard Medical School
Getting Started
This program is absolutely do-able with all of these situations, but it will take some planning. Offer to cook or at least bring one dish that you know you can eat. Choose activities/events that are not centered on food. Meet a friend for tea, take a yoga class, or get outside for a walk.
You may choose to not spend as much time with those who you feel do not/will not be supportive of your during this time.
My workouts are suffering…should I eat more carbohydrates?
Maybe but not necessarily…
Your body will go through some transition at first as it may be used to having sugar available for quick energy. This isn’t necessarily a good thing because we know that fat is a more efficient fuel source for our bodies. You will eventually run out of glucose (sugar) but you will never run out of fat. Therefore, you want to be a good fat burner, especially if you have extra body fat to lose. It is normal to feel that for the first week or so that you can’t workout with as much intensity as you are used to. In fact, because your body is detoxing this may be a good time to scale back the intensity of your workouts.
It is ideal that you eat a serving of dense carbohydrates in the meal following your workout such as sweet potato, butternut or acorn squash, pumpkin, etc. But for fat loss focus on getting the rest of your carbohydrates during the day from non-starchy vegetables. Most of us are not active enough to require much more than that. When and how many carbohydrates you eat is something you will have to experiment with and change and tweak overtime based on your activity levels and specific goals.
Pre-Workout: This is going to vary based on when you workout and what your body can handle. It is ok to workout fasted if your body can handle it. Focus on protein and fat and avoid lots of fruit or carb dense vegetables. A carbohydrate rich meal will increase insulin putting your body in a fat storing mode. Examples of a pre-workout “snack” would be: two hard boiled eggs, some turkey or chicken and a handful of macadamia nuts, or a few strips of homemade beef jerky (can’t have added sugar).
Post-workout: Eat within 30-60 minutes of training.
You only need a post workout meal if performing high intensity interval training, strength training, or longer duration cardiovascular exercise. If you are walking or doing gentle yoga you don’t need to include a post-workout meal.
Note: The amount of carbohydrates to be consumed post workout is going to depend on your fat loss goals. If you are new to exercising and eating healthy and have a lot of body fat to lose just include protein in your post workout meal.
The type of workout I am referring to is a higher intensity workout that includes strength training or cardiovascular endurance. If you are walking or taking a light or restorative yoga class you do not need to worry about pre/post workout nutrition.
Meal Timing: Strive to eat 3 meals a day and avoid snacking if possible. This obviously changes on the days you engage in high-intensity exercise. You might also need to “break the rules” if you work exceptionally long days or have an exceptionally active metabolism. In that case you may end up eating 4-5 meals per day.
The main objective is to leave 4-5 hours in between meals to allow you digestive system to function properly as well as keep leptin levels normalized. Leaving 12 hours between your last meal one day and your first meal the next day can also give your digestive system a much-needed break. Ideally your last meal of the day would be at least 2 hours prior to bed. Each meal should be designed to hold you over until the next, taking away your desire to snack. As your body starts to use more fat for energy you will experience less between-meal cravings, energy slumps, and brain fog.
In general avoid snacking between meals as this can disrupt the normal functioning of leptin, insulin, and overall you may end up eating more. It will take you some time to gauge how much and what the right types of foods to eat at each meal are. I am still working on it. So, in the case that you maybe didn’t eat enough at one particular meal or not enough fat to keep you satisfied instead of getting cranky, tired, or hungry have a snack that is protein and fat based. Don’t just snack on veggies or fruit alone. Examples would include: 2 hard-boiled eggs & veggies, celery & nut butter, or chicken/turkey and vegetables.
How Much To Eat is tricky, as it will vary for everyone…
In the information below I will give you guidelines, however, the best thing you can do for long-term success is eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Your body is constantly sending/giving you signals most of us are just too busy, stressed, or out of touch to pay attention to them.
Protein: A meal ideally includes 1 palm-sized portion of protein for females and 2 palm sized portions for males. If you are a female, aim for 20-30 grams of protein at each meal. If you are a male, aim for 40-60 grams. One ounce of meat contains roughly 7 grams of protein, 1 egg is roughly 7 grams. Ladies you need to eat 2-3 eggs at a sitting…not just one! This may vary on days that you are more active though, listen to your body and if you need to eat more or less…DO IT!!! Protein is the foundation to your meals and is what will keep you full/satisfied until your next meal. If you are finding that you are hungry 1-2 hours after eating, chances are you are NOT eating enough.
Vegetables: Fill the rest of your plate or bowl with vegetables. Aim for 2-3 servings of non-starchy vegetables at each meal. One serving = ½ cup cooked, 1 cup raw, or 2 cups of salad greens. For more variety eat 2 different kinds of vegetables at any given meal. An entire plate of steamed kale or greens beans may not be the most appealing. This is where spices, sea salt, and healthy fats such as coconut oil and ghee come in.
If you roast any vegetable in coconut oil and Himalayan sea salt they taste GREAT!!!
If you are overweight or have trouble regulating your blood sugar, minimize the amount of starchy carbohydrates at any given meal. For fat loss, limit starchy carbohydrates (sweet potato, beets, butternut squash, acorn squash, parsnips, or pumpkin) for post-workout.
Healthy Fats: Incorporate one or more fats in each meal. More than likely you will cook with one fat and you may add another for flavor or texture.
Fat portions per person, per meal are as follows:
1-2 TBSP of coconut oil or olive oil
1-2 TBSP of nut butter, coconut butter, or ghee
1-2 open handfuls of coconut flakes
1 closed handful of nuts/seeds
½-1 avocado
¼-1/2 can coconut milk
FAT IS YOUR FRIEND
Fat is not something you need to be afraid of…FAT DOESN’T MAKE YOU FAT! Fat provides us with valuable nutrition and keeps us satisfied until our next meal. The amount of fat that you consume at each meal will depend on your size, activity level, and if you need to lose weight or not.
Eating on the low end of the range is appropriate if you want to decrease body fat and lose weight but skimping on fat will not yield better/more results. Fat loss is not about counting calories or grams of fat, it is about balancing hormones. If you underfeed yourself you can end up hungry all day, your energy will likely be low, and you will be tired and cranky.
Fruit: One serving per day. Keep in mind that a whole banana is 2 servings. A small apple or pear, two clementine, or ½-3/4 cup berries is a serving. It is ideal that you are getting a 3:1 ratio of vegetables to fruit each day, not the other way around. Fruit is not a replacement for vegetables at a given meal.
Drinking your fruit in a juice or fruit smoothie…MAYBE NOT THE BEST IDEA.
If breakfast is a big fruit smoothie, you may be setting yourself up for a crash later in the day due to the quick surge in blood sugar. You may experience uneven energy, more food cravings, and/or abnormal levels of hunger throughout the day. Liquid calories are not as satisfying as eating eggs, vegetables, and small piece of fruit or foods that you have to chew and swallow. If you have a fruit smoothie for breakfast and nothing else, you missed out on important nutrients and calories from protein and fat.
Ideally you would spread your fruit servings out during the day to avoid overloading your liver with too much fructose to process all at one time.
CAUTION: If you find yourself eating fruit at the end of each meal as a “sweet treat” to replace dessert, you may want to re-evaluate your habits. This program is just as much about changing/identifying your habits as it is about changing what you are eating. You may need to change what/how much you are eating at each meal or create a new post-meal routine such as making yourself a nice hot steaming cup of tea.
Food Journaling:
This may help you keep track of your progress and experience during the detox. It will also allow you to connect the dots of how what you eat and when you eat affect your mood, sleep, productivity, and performance during exercise, etc. A meal that includes food that works with your body will leave you energized (no afternoon slump), full until your next meal, craving free, mentally sharp, and with an overall sense of well being and enhanced mood. Journaling how you feel 1-2 hours after you eat is just as important as what you are eating.
Journaling can be a powerful technique for identifying what is important to you and finding some inner guidance. More often than not, you are stronger and smarter than you give yourself credit for. Studies have also shown that journaling reduces stress and inflammation and can have a profound impact on health.
Here are some examples of questions to ask yourself while journaling:
- What can I do today to take care of my body?
- What am I willing to let go of today that is no longer serving me?
- How do I feel today? Physically, mentally, emotionally
- What am I grateful for today?
Sleep: Poor sleep adds to stress, interferes with productivity, decreases immune function, decreases production of growth hormone (needed for fat loss), decreases leptin and increases ghrelin (hormones that control our appetite), and increases the risk of diabetes. Sleep contains zero calories but has more of an impact on our metabolism and health than what we put in our mouths. Our bodies are meant to go through natural sleep/wake cycles, going to sleep within a few hours of the sun going down and waking up when the sun rises. During the times of year when there is more daylight we may not need as much sleep as when there are more hours of darkness.
Seven to nine hours of sleep is ideal between the hours of 9 pm and 5 am or 10 pm and 6 am. Two hours of sleep before midnight is worth 4 hours of sleep to your adrenal glands (your adrenals are responsible for outputting cortisol which is your stress hormone). If you have trouble falling asleep, creating a sleep inducing bedtime routine is important. Taking a detox bath or shower, dimming the lights, and avoiding the computer and TV for 1-2 hours prior to going to bed may enhance your ability to fall asleep. If you have trouble staying asleep, you may want to evaluate your last meal before bedtime or having a protein/fat based bedtime snack to stabilize blood sugar throughout the night. A drop in blood sugar can cause cortisol to spike waking you up between 2-3 am. Read more about sleep in T.S. Wiley’s book “Lights Out.”
“A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.”
- Irish proverb
Practice Gratitude: There is intimate relationship between thoughts, moods, brain chemistry, endocrine function, and the other physiological systems in our bodies. What this means is that what you think about has a direct impact on how you feel both physically and emotionally. If you increase the amount of positive thoughts you have each day, you increase your overall sense of well being as well as your physical health.
People who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis tend to exercise more regularly, have fewer physical symptoms, and feel better about their lives in general. Expressing gratitude verbally each day can result in increased alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness, energy, and quality of sleep as well as the ability to sleep longer.
Examples of gratitude include but are not limited to: important relationships, the ability to take charge of your health by changing the way you eat, things that happen to you, things you achieve, or things you have done. You can write down 1-5 things each day in a gratitude journal or make a list and keep it in a place you will see it several times a day.
“Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish positive experiences, have better health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.”
-Harvard Medical School
Getting Started
- Clean out your pantry and fridge: If the “bad” food is not in your house you won’t be able to eat it. Your family probably doesn’t need to be eating those processed foods you have committed to eliminating for 21 days either, but if that is not realistic then create a place for “YOUR” food. Have a special cabinet where you will be keeping all of your food and arrange your fridge so that any non-compliant foods are not within your sight.
- Plan One week of meals: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This is going to take some planning and organization. Figure out which nights you will home to cook dinner and which nights you need a quicker option (a go-to meal or something from the freezer). Then plan what you will make for dinner the nights you are home. Make sure you will have some leftovers for breakfast and lunch. Also make a plan for some breakfast and lunch options that are quick and easy. This will make creating your grocery list very simple.
- Grocery Shop: Stock your fridge with lean proteins, eggs, and fresh fruits and vegetables. You may need to shop more often to ensure that your meat and produce are fresh. Fill your pantry with cooking staples such as (coconut oil, almond meal, and a variety of spices).
- Establish “Go-To Meals”: Pick 2-3 meals that can be prepared in about 15 minutes on those nights that you get home late and don’t feel like cooking. Our favorite is breakfast for dinner, eggs, veggies, and bacon or pork sausage topped with avocado. Or I will pick up a rotisserie chicken from Bel-Air and pair with steamed veggies. If you don’t have any veggies prepped frozen is an option. My last tip/suggestion here is to cook several meals on the weekend and then freeze some. The crock-pot is your friend!!! That is how I do a lot of “easy” meals.
- Put together a Game Plan: What situations will you be faced with over the next 42 days? Traveling? Out to dinner? Family get together? If you have a plan going in you WILL be successful. You may have to be a little bit selfish in some of these situations.
This program is absolutely do-able with all of these situations, but it will take some planning. Offer to cook or at least bring one dish that you know you can eat. Choose activities/events that are not centered on food. Meet a friend for tea, take a yoga class, or get outside for a walk.
- Enlist your Support Team: Who will be your support system throughout this challenge? You always have the LEAN team and members. Having a solid support team that will not sabotage your efforts is critical.
You may choose to not spend as much time with those who you feel do not/will not be supportive of your during this time.
My workouts are suffering…should I eat more carbohydrates?
Maybe but not necessarily…
Your body will go through some transition at first as it may be used to having sugar available for quick energy. This isn’t necessarily a good thing because we know that fat is a more efficient fuel source for our bodies. You will eventually run out of glucose (sugar) but you will never run out of fat. Therefore, you want to be a good fat burner, especially if you have extra body fat to lose. It is normal to feel that for the first week or so that you can’t workout with as much intensity as you are used to. In fact, because your body is detoxing this may be a good time to scale back the intensity of your workouts.
It is ideal that you eat a serving of dense carbohydrates in the meal following your workout such as sweet potato, butternut or acorn squash, pumpkin, etc. But for fat loss focus on getting the rest of your carbohydrates during the day from non-starchy vegetables. Most of us are not active enough to require much more than that. When and how many carbohydrates you eat is something you will have to experiment with and change and tweak overtime based on your activity levels and specific goals.
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