Over the last five year's more and more people are drinking smoothies daily. No wonder why smoothies have become so popular in the recent years, as they have many health benefits. Smoothies help with weight loss, digestion, help recover and rebuild Muscle's, improve sleep, improves Skin, Hair, and Nails.
Weight Loss
The reason that smoothies can help you lose weight is that you can get all of your necessary nutrients in one glass without adding in excess or empty calories. When you learn about the ingredients that create a balanced smoothie, you will be able to include a good balance of protein, complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, as well as vitamins and nutrients.
Digestion
Nobody I know wants to experience constipation or indigestion. Give your body a break once or twice a day and let your blender “chew” your food and ease the burden on your digestive system while you simultaneously consume plenty of dietary fiber to ensure excellent digestion.
Muscle's
Provide your body with the nutrients it needs to excel during athletic competition, and recover and rebuild after working out. It’s easier for your body to absorb and assimilate the nutrients in a smoothie as opposed to a meal.
Sleep
How does diet impact our nightly slumber? Sure, we all know the obvious things (avoid caffeine late in the day) and the old wives’ tales (drink a warm glass of milk before bed) but is there any legitimate research on what we can and should eat to promote healthy sleep? We have combined the best ingredients to make Movement Food's very own bed time smoothie get it free when you sign up for our free Smoothie recipe ebook.
Energy
By drinking smoothies you are supplying your body with the right fuel which will give you more energy in the short and long term.
Skin, Hair, And Nails
By Supply your body with the right vitamins and minerals it will naturally grow healthier hair, nails and make your skin soft and glowing.
We are giving away 4 smoothie recipes that you can use to improve your health.
AUTHOR RHYS SKELLERN / CATEGORY LIFESTYLE / PUBLISHED: OCT-01-2019
Weigh up or Weigh In, What’s More Important?
Stepping onto a scale doesn’t have to be a scary thing. However the honest truth is that weight, especially when you’re using it as the only indicator, is a very poor way to track your progress. Here at Movement Food we’re all about a holistic approach to health, not just weight management, so this week we thought we’d dive deeper into the need to balance your week and how tracking macro’s instead of kilo’s can help you reach your goals faster.
Balance Your Week- Don’t Balance on a Scale
How often do you step onto a scale only to be disappointed? It’s especially worse when you feel you’ve been doing all the right things, and the changes just aren’t coming quick enough. Of course, this is usually followed with frustration, a feeling of despair, and more often than not a poor food choice isn’t too far away.
Regardless of your goals, tracking your weight as the only measure of progress often leads us to set-backs, rather than propelling that growth. Research has shown that it takes around 8 weeks to form new habits. When it comes to health, that means:
8 weeks to make exercise part of your routine
8 weeks to make better food choices, more often
8 weeks until you should actually start to expect a result
Getting the picture? The hardest part in setting and maintaining healthier choices is understanding, and accepting, that they will take time. It is OK to have a cheat meal every now and again, or to go out for a night on the town. But on the flip side you have to balance it with choices that are good for you. That means healthier foods, regular exercise, and most importantly real and effective rest.
The second thing to understand is that that balance can come at any point during the week. If you stayed out all night and didn’t get enough sleep- catch up on it the next day. If you couldn’t resist and just nailed a whole packet of M&M’s- reduce your caloric intake the next day. By creating and breaking up your cycles into easy to track weeks, it’s easy to balance when you ‘live a little.’
We want to take a moment here reiterate that the ultimate goal should be to be healthier, not skinnier. To have more energy to spring out of bed in the morning, to run around with your kids, to look and feel better all round! So how do you form these habits, while taking out all of the guesswork? By keeping yourself accountable, of course.
Not All Macros Are Created Equal
We often hear the term macros thrown around in the health and fitness world, but it is poorly understood. Macronutrients are the most readily available nutrients found in the food we eat, and primarily it refers to:
Proteins
Fats
Carbohydrates
One of the biggest misunderstandings when it comes to healthy eating, or forming new, healthier eating habits, is that all macros are created equal. Sadly, it just isn’t the case. For example, the carbohydrate intake (and the subsequent ability of your body to break them down and use them for energy) from a yam, compared to what your body receives from the sugar laden ‘bread’ served on a McDonald’s hamburger are vastly different.
Similarly, the proteins you receive (and process) from lean turkey breast over the ‘meat’ served in the same burger are again vastly different. See where this is going?
Track Macros, Not Kilos
By first establishing, and then tracking and maintaining the macronutrients entering our body, we are able to consciously adjust our diets to suit us! Of course this next explanation is oversimplified, but it does ring true for most of us:
Burn more calories than you put into your body, and you’ll lose weight.
Consume more calories than you burn, and you’ll gain weight.
BUT- there is a caveat. Consuming calories from fast food or any other unhealthy source only leads to poorer health and the opposite result to the one you’re after.
One thing you need to understand is that maintaining our superior intellects as human beings takes a lot of energy. A LOT. More than 40% of the food we consume is turned into processing power for our brains. If everything we put into our system is just another form of sugar, we get incredible spikes in insulin-a huge stressor and one of the leading causes of almost all food/lifestyle related diseases- not to mention constantly consuming a substance that is literally more addictive than cocaine and heroine put together. Add to that our biological precursor to turn any additional calories into fat to store for the winter, and you’ll only end up further from your goals, with less energy to boot.
So How Do You Track Macros?
Thanks to our technology enabled world, tracking macros is actually incredibly easy. Start by calculating how much energy you actually need to get through your day/week.
From there, you can use an app like My Fitness Pal to keep track of the things you’re putting into your body. Once you start paying attention to the food (and drink) you’re consuming, and keeping yourself accountable by actually recording and reviewing it, you will skyrocket your results without that feeling of guilt every time you eat pizza!
The key takeaways here are, again, the need to remember that it will take you at least 8 weeks to turn this into a habit- so that needs to be your first goal. Thankfully My Fitness Pal has created ways to incentivize and keep you interested- tracking your macros doesn’t have to be a chore it can be really fun!
To make things even easier, each meal available at Movement Food comes with a My Fitness Pal barcode, so you just have to snap it with your smartphone and it will automatically update your food journal! If you’re unsure of where to start, try using our simple meal plans to help achieve your results faster, and create a more positive and vibrant you!
Second, you need to review and evaluate! There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to a healthier diet, so keeping a record and actually understanding which foods give you more energy and which give you less will have incredibly positive effects on your mood, sleep, libido and more!
To help you get moving (and as a reward for finishing this article!) we’re also giving you 10% off your next meal order! Just use the code ‘balancedlife’ at checkout to take advantage, and get moving on a brighter, healthier you.
It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver. - Mahatma Gandhi
Author Rhys Skellern / Category Lifestyle / Published: Jul-12-2019
Have you ever wished for more hours in the day? Sick of waking up and being stressed from the start, wondering how you’re going to squeeze in work, school, exercise, clean eating, kids sport, and trying to do it all with a smile on your face? Of course we all have busy lives, but one thing they fail to teach us growing up is how to properly manage our time, not just live within it. Understanding how to prioritize your day to get the most from your tasks will free up the much-needed time you need to focus on you!
The Pareto Principle
The Pareto principle, otherwise known as the 80/20 rule, suggests that 80% of your results come from 20% of the work. It in a nutshell, it is a way of thinking that encourages you to consciously break down your tasks and identify where you will get the greatest results from the smallest amount of work.
Too often, we delay tackling the larger, harder tasks in lieu of smaller inconsequential ones. Not only does this nagging create stress (which is wholly self inflicted), we end up making very little progress in a lot of directions, instead of real progress in the right direction. This principle, when applied correctly, forces you to stop, sit and actually analyse what needs to be done in order to achieve your goals, regardless of whether they are in work, health and fitness, or any other aspect of your life.
You can then prioritize your time properly to achieve these tasks, or identify where your time is being spent inefficiently.
To integrate the Pareto principle, start each day by identifying, and writing down your biggest and toughest challenge of the day- not your week, or year, or life. Just the day. Then, get it done first.
Not only will you be more satisfied at having achieved it, it will make everything else you do that day more achievable. The key is to physically write it down, so you have a means of keeping yourself accountable, and over time you will begin to prioritise the hardest tasks first out of habit.
It is also important to note that when implementing this rule of time management, the biggest trap people tend to fall into here is recording 5, or 10 of the ‘most important’ daily goals. If you have 10 ‘absolute must do’s’ that day, you aren’t prioritizing properly. Make it one. Once you have knocked it over you’ll be on a roll and get to work on the rest of the list.
Who Are You Working For?
Another key element of time management is in prioritising whom you are actually performing a task for. Of course when it comes to work, we all have a job to do, and if it comes from the boss then chances are you have to do it.
But before you take on something outside of your scope, or that isn’t part of your job, you need to ask yourself who it’s for, and why you are doing it. Are you just doing it because you want to be liked? Is it actually a task worth your time, or are you just making a longer list of inefficient and ineffective tasks?
You have to remember that it is OK to say no. Simply asking yourself the question of who or why can be the difference between having the time to spend with family, or to go for that walk you always promise yourself you’ll do ‘tomorrow,’ or even just having some time to switch off and relax at the end of the day.
This fundamental of time management will not only help to re-organise your life, it will help you to build valuable skills in self-awareness, the flow on of which can help you identify:
Your stressors
Where you could be spending time more effectively
How to prioritise, and have more of the things that make you happy
How to transition to a healthier lifestyle, for both your mind and body.
The key is not to prioritize what's on
your schedule, but to
schedule your priorities!
- Stephen R Covey
Procrastination is Just Hesitation in Disguise
You aren’t the only one in the world that procrastinates, and we both know after reading this you’ll procrastinate some more. The truth of procrastination, however, is that is starts with hesitation.
Human psychology affects how we interpret tasks, or challenges, and for most people the idea of a challenge (stressor) actually implicates our fight or flight response. In simple terms, we are less likely to start with the harder tasks because they represent a bigger source of stress, which we are biologically programmed to avoid. Link in here somewhere to the ‘good bad and fad.’
This has applications across everything we do, from getting our job done, to talking to someone new, or dallying about going to the gym. If you hesitate, you will procrastinate. So rather than being ruled by our biology, we have a very simple trick to help you kick into gear. Are you ready?
Count yourself down.
5. 4. 3. 2. 1.
Then start.
That’s it.
Whenever you are facing something difficult, or really just something you don’t want to do, take a breath and count down from 5. Remember how effective it was when you were a child? Chances are you use this trick with your own children!
It is truly amazing how well this works to break our own mental blocks, and counting down is such a simple, and yet powerful tool to stop us from delaying the things we need to do. If you can break the hesitation, you will break the procrastination!
Note: in order for this trick to work, you must count DOWN. The finality of zero is key here. If you count up, you can just keep on counting and chances are you’ll spend your day counting to 1000 and achieving even less.
The next time you have a task to perform, or are trying to implement change in your life, start with improving your time management skills. It doesn’t have to be a long arduous task of scheduling everything- I mean really this is just another way to procrastinate. Rather, you can use these simple tricks to better prioritize your day, and stop hesitation leading to procrastination.
Of course, if you need help to squeeze a little extra time in your day, why not let us take care of your diet with fresh, healthy meals delivered? With new menu items to compliment every season, Movement Food can help you achieve your health goals and give you the energy you need, to enjoy all the free time you’re soon to have!
To see how we can help, check out our menu and delivery options, or call 778 227 0839 to speak to one of our customer care consultants.
Author Rhys Skellern / Lifestyle / Published: Jul -12-2019
Author: Rhys Skellern / Category: Nutrition / Published: May-29-2019
Healthy eating isn’t just a way to lose weight, it’s the best way to reduce your stress levels, balance your hormones and provide the energy you need to tackle the day. That’s right, energy! That’s what food is for! Unfortunately in our fast paced lives and the search for a ‘quick fix’ that message has fallen by the wayside, to be replaced with miracle weight loss cures, magic pills and fad diets. It’s about time we dived into eating psychology so you can go from being the sale, to being the solution.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy Now
Sure these lyrics make it sound easy, but the truth is we all live busy and stressful lives. Trying to find balance between work, home, relationships and time for ourselves, cooking at all let alone healthy recipes can become an onerous task. All of this stress not only leads to inflammation, it can also lead to:
Depression
Anxiety
Sleep deprivation
Autoimmune disease
Diabetes
It’s important to remember, however, that at a biological level stress wasn’t meant to put us under this much pressure! I’m sure you all remember learning the ‘fight or flight’ response from high school biology. When we feel challenged or threatened, the body releases stress hormones, which tell our body how to respond.
Often this response can actually be a positive, providing us with energy, focus or adrenaline to deal with whatever caused the stress in the first place.
However, when we are subjected to the continuous and on-going stresses of our daily lives, we are also consistently releasing these hormones to a point where the body is always releasing an inflammatory stress response. This chronic stress not only causes mental health issues, but has also been shown to be a leading cause of cardiovascular disease, poor immune function, high blood pressure and obesity! You see where this is going right?
The kicker is that after a stressful event has passed, dwelling on it or reliving the moment can have just as negative an affect on our health and stress response systems as the original event!
Enter Eating Psychology- a New Look at an Age Old Problem
The same stress responses can be triggered by the food we eat. We all know that McDonald’s is not good for you, and that your sugar intake should be kept to a minimum. But aside from the stress (and inflammatory response) that puts on your body physically, it can also negatively compound and exacerbate your psychological stress responses.
That is to say, eating something unhealthy is one thing. But feeling guilty and punishing yourself for eating it only makes it worse! This unconscious punishment we put ourselves through is the kind of thinking that leads us to jump at the next ‘amazing’ weight loss program or fad diet. This negative feedback loop not only contributes to more poor food choices, it reduces our ability to manage stress (and in many cases will increase it), and is usually followed by even more negative self-talk.
Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence,
so that's very important for good health.
— Dalai Lama
When we look at eating psychology, it’s important to understand and acknowledge that we are biologically programmed to take the path of least resistance. To choose what we perceive to be the lessor stressor. With so much stress in our daily lives already it’s absolutely no surprise that we jump into the every fad diet and rapid weight loss program to cross our desks in the hopes it will make our lives easier.
Healthy Habits Lead to Healthy Eating
In addition to unconsciously increasing our stress levels based on the food we eat, it’s important to acknowledge the difficulty we have in breaking habits.
“Habit: a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up.”
“Especially one that is hard to give up.” The brain learns by repetition. These repeated actions become habits, which in turn affect our behaviours, thoughts and actions.
To put things into perspective, research has shown that it takes 8 weeks to form a new habit. 8 weeks! That also means it also takes just as long, if not longer, to break old habits! Add to this our ability to be master procrastinators and it will start to make sense as to why it’s so difficult to make real, lasting change in our lives.
Again- we are biologically programmed to take the path of least resistance. Which means every time you dive into healthy eating, or try to make regular exercise part of your life, if you don’t start out with the target of doing it for 8 weeks, you’ve already failed.
Don’t Dive into the Fad
Now that we understand what it takes to make a new habit, and change our behavior for the long term, it’s easier to understand why fad diets don’t work. Ultimately, going ‘on a diet’ is much the same, regardless of what you’re ingesting. Being on a diet suggests that it is only a short-term thing, whereas to truly affect your health, and receive all the benefits that a healthy lifestyle can provide, choosing to eat healthier foods has to be a lifestyle change. Not something you cycle in and out of.
This doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy all of the foods you love. It just means you do them in moderation, or from a point of good health where you actually get to enjoy eating them, instead of punishing yourself with guilt after the fact.
With this in mind, let’s take a look at some of the more recent fad diets and why they’re unrealistic as a long-term life-changer.
The Keto Diet
The Keto diet, and in particular subjecting your body to a state of ketosis has become a popular weight loss strategy over the past few years. In a nutshell, this is the drastic reduction in carbohydrates, which forces your body to begin converting fats as the primary source of energy.
Typically, this process begins when the body is starved of insulin (used to move sugar from the blood into the cells). It’s important to note here that we aren’t talking about refined sugars. We’re talking about the natural sugars your body converts from carbs. The diet has become popular under the notion that once your body is converting fat into energy instead of carbs, it will also start to break down the fat you have stored, and lead to weight loss.
This is true, to a point. However in the process of breaking down fats your body also produces ketones. These are acids, and although they can help to process fats, an oversupply of ketones-which can on the ketogenic diet- can also lead to acidic blood. This metabolic process, known as ketoacidosis, can lead to comas and even death.
Add to this the fact that starving your body of carbs can actually put your body into starvation mode, if done incorrectly, and it may actually lead to weight gain!
Yes, the ketogenic diet does have some merit for people with diabetes and other insulin related issues, but for the every day person the best choice of ‘diet’ is and always be a healthier lifestyle change. One that allows you to eat everything you enjoy (in moderation) without the restrictions. If you would like to reduce your carb intake, in a healthy way, check out our low carb menu at Movement food.
The Lemon Detox Diet
Also touted as the ‘master cleanse’ diet, the lemon detox diet is essentially a fast, where you consume a lemon-water drink up to 6 times a day, consisting of:
-2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
-2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
-1/10 teaspoon (0.2 grams) cayenne pepper
-8 to 12 ounces of purified or spring water
The idea behind this fad diet is that you can loose weight by putting your body into a state of caloric deficiency. Sure, it will lead to short term weight loss. But considering the diet “consists of lemonade, laxative teas and salt water,” I think we all know where that ‘weight’ is going. Not to mention claims that it will ‘detox’ your body, which have no real substance or research backing them.
When you take into account it is severely lacking in real food, and any real nutrients, it’s pretty easy to see why it’s a poor short-term solution for weight management or lifestyle change. Concurrently, it’s easy to see why so many people flocked to this fad diet in an attempt to take the shortcut!
When it comes to detoxifying the body, it is unlikely that any ‘diet’ will actually achieve this. In the body, the liver is designed to remove toxins, or anything harmful to the body. With the right food choices, we can aid the liver in its detoxification processes. Consuming certain foods, like cruciferous leafy greens (kale, swiss chard etc…), and adding micronutrients to our diets from other fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices have been shown to assist your body in this process.
If you want to take out the guesswork, or simply don’t have time to make fresh juices every day, try adding the Lean Green Detox juice to your next Movement Food order! With ingredients like apple, swiss chard, mint and ginger it’s been designed to help your liver to process and remove other harmful toxins. Of course, these juices are meant to supplement your healthy lifestyle and diet, not replace them.
The Paleo Diet
The Paleolithic diet certainly gets closer to the mark in terms of whole foods and a more sustainable choice. Based on the idea that our anatomy hasn’t changed much for the last couple million years, the Paleo diet is designed to return our eating habits to those of the hunter-gatherer era.
The diet is made up primarily of lean meats, seafood, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, with the main premise of the diet being that our daily diet is made up of whole foods, and local ingredients.
Whilst there are many positives of the Paleo diet, like the move away from processed foods, refined sugars, alcohol and other toxins, it is also decidedly lacking in legumes (beans, lentils etc…) and other whole grains such as quinoa, buckwheat and wild rice, which can add much needed fibre and nutrients to your system.
Moreover, some Paleo branded foods have also been found to contain a wide array of artificial sweeteners and additives, exploiting a loop hole which allow them to fall under the Paleo category, but can actually make you hungrier, as well as negatively affect your gut biome, insulin levels and blood sugar.
Add to that the need to completely cut out coffee, the time (and often increase in price) it takes to purchase and prepare meals with whole foods each day, and it’s easy to see why people stray from this dietary concept as well.
More recently, research has shown that having a wide variety of wholefoods, herbs, spices is the best way to add micro-nutrients to our diets and assist the body in processing the good and the bad. As we mentioned, making healthier lifestyle choices doesn’t have to be restrictive. More often than not, cutting out the things we enjoy only leads to binging on sugary snacks later.
Good health is all about balance. At Movement Food, we provide healthy alternatives like protein pancakes and burrito’s so you can still enjoy the sweeter things in life, without all of the guilt!
All of our meals are prepared fresh, without any artificial sweeteners or refined foods, so you can enjoy the benefits of whole foods without all the hassle of preparing it yourself. To check it out, try using the ‘Paleo’ filter the next time you’re looking through our menu!
The Raw Diet
The raw diet is a subset of the vegetarian/vegan diet, and essentially involves eating raw or uncooked foods. Of course, the majority of these foods are fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and is based around the idea that cooking food kills nutrients.
With a focus on fruits and veg, this diet is typically low in calories, fat and sodium, can lead to lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. It can also lead to weight loss due to the complete reduction in processed and high-sugar foods (if you stick to it strictly).
However the raw diet isn’t full proof either. Dietary supplements are often needed to replace essential nutrients like protein, calcium and iron. It is also based on the falsehood that cooking food makes it toxic, where in fact cooking some foods not only makes them more digestible, it can also kill harmful bacteria that lead to food poisoning and other potential problems.
The raw diet is not only highly restrictive, it can be nutritionally inadequate, and often means you’ll be spending more time and money in a quest to only eat organic ingredients.
Did you know Movement food solves all of these issues by only using fresh ingredients, and providing a wide range of vegan meals? Simply use the ‘Vegan’ filter when searching through our menu to add some nutrient rich, organic meals to your diet without all the guesswork!
Love Yourself Healthy
Now that we’ve looked at some of the more recent fad diets, it’s time we came back to the notion of loving yourself healthy.
Healthy food choices aren’t just good for your body. They’re great for your mind. Eating the right food helps you to balance your stress levels, provides you with genuine energy to get you through the day, and helps your body rest. But to achieve these goals, you have to genuinely desire all of the good things a healthy diet can bring.
The best way to stay consistent, or to make a lifestyle change is to enjoy everything in moderation and balance. Making the lifestyle choice to consume a balanced diet means you don’t have to restrict yourself from anything, you don’t have to feel guilty for eating something you enjoy, or punish yourself for it later. You just find a better way of incorporating healthy foods into your life!
In changing your habits, and allowing your body to detoxify naturally, we are also able to re-balance our stress levels, and reduce the risk of lifestyle diseases. The flow on effect is that this also helps to clear your mind, raises your natural energy levels and stress-response mechanisms, and leads to a healthier, more positive you!
For more information about the meals we provide, meal plans, or how you can make a healthier change today please visit movementfood.com or get in touch with us on (778) 227 0839 between 8 am-6 pm PST and we’ll help you get started.
Let food be thy medicine - Hippocrates
Author Rhys Skellern / Category Nutrition / Published: May-29-2019
Signing up for a meal prep service can be a daunting task to many. The upfront cost seems scary, and you always tell yourself "I could just cook at home". The reality is, most of us end up with expiring food, piles of dishes, and take-out meals that are unhealthy and expensive. Here's how Movement Food can really change your life.
1. Calorie Controlled Meals
When it comes to weight-loss or weight gain, the calories you consume is the deciding factor. Take-out food often doesn't have the calories listed, so you're left guessing. Weighing everything out at home just makes cooking even more of a hassle. Take the guesswork out and scan the barcode on Movement Food meals to keep track of your caloric intake, and you will smash your fitness goals like never before.
2. Healthy Food
Movement Food sources its meat from ethical free-range, antibiotic-free, hormone-free suppliers. A wide variety of protein choices are available, and there are always clean carbs and fibre-filled vegetables included in each meal. Whether you are training to reach your next deadlift PR, prepping for a marathon, or just trying to lose some weight, quality nutrition is the most important factor.
3. Time Is Money
It might appear that a meal prep service is more expensive than cooking at home, but when you look at the reality, it might not actually add up that way. The time you spend every week planning for meals, shopping for groceries, cooking, and cleaning is staggering. And of course, when you're having a lazy day that whole budget gets blown when you order a single takeout meal for $30. Realistically, if you value your time as money, you will be saving money by investing in a meal prep service. Spend your time doing what you love!
4. Coaching
Movement Food was founded to help people reach their goals, whatever they are. With the purchase of a meal plan, we are happy to consult you with nutrition and fitness advice to help you get where you want to be.
5. It tastes Amazing
Our chef has crafted over 30 dishes, each infused with unique spices and complimented with the appropriate garnishes, dips, carbs, and vegetables. There's always a wide variety of options for you to switch it up every week, and even a plant-based menu for taking your health to the next level.
