Here’s the real scoop: trying to lose weight in winter is the hardest, and most unnatural, time of year to reduce your calorie intake. This whole New Year’s Resolution for weight loss is arbitrary, media-hyped, and a losing-bet. The human body naturally tries to keep weight on in the winter as a survival technique. Confused? Keep reading and I’ll tell you more.

Your body goes through seasonal changes just like trees, plants, and hibernating animals. The human body uses calories to keep us warm and naturally holds onto fat to help us weather the freezing weather. Since calories = heat = winter survival, eating gives your body the fuel it needs to protect itself from cold winds, frigid temperatures, and walking your kid to and from school 20 minutes in sub-freezing temperatures twice a day.

Limiting your calorie intake in the winter flips an invisible switch that triggers your body’s natural survival mechanisms to store fuel like a squirrel hiding nuts.  The crazy part is, restricting your food intake starting January 1^st can actually cause your body to create more fat storage.

So wait until springtime for a real cleansing and calorie restriction program. Honor your human nature and give your body the calories it needs to get through winter successfully – but this doesn’t mean you can throw all caution to the wind!

January is a great time to create a Resolution about food and health: Decide to transform your menus into natural, real meals filled with whole foods and seasonal ingredients. Get acquainted with whole grains, beans, seasonal veggies from your area, nuts, seeds, and sea vegetables. Create a new habit of including whole grains, beans, and steamed leafy greens at least twice a day. Use the seasonal produce available in your area to bring balance and energy to your body while you remove the junky, processed, and packaged foods this winter.

By changing the quality of your meals, rather than focusing on the quantity of calories and restricting yourself during this season, you can create a total body transformation that will give you the energy you need to make big changes to your weight in the spring when cleansing and reducing is more appropriate. The cool thing is this: when you start shifting your foods to be natural and high-quality, your weight will slowly start reducing on its own! But not in a forced, deprivation style. You’ll get balanced. Your energy will be better. You’ll sleep better and have an easier time kicking caffeine and sugar cravings.

If you want to make this shift with expert guidance, camaraderie, and support, you can sign up for 1 of 20 spots available in my upcoming Red Hot Hearts Tele-Series, which begins 2/15/11. The program provides recipes, meal planning, support, emotional guidance and fun!

I’d be glad to have you!

I hope you have a blessed year full of fun, adventure, healthy vibes, and laughs!

Be well,

Alex

Here’s the real scoop: trying to lose weight in winter is the hardest, and most unnatural, time of year to reduce your calorie intake. This whole New Year’s Resolution for weight loss is arbitrary, media-hyped, and a losing-bet. The human body naturally tries to keep weight on in the winter as a survival technique. Confused? Keep reading and I’ll tell you more.

Your body goes through seasonal changes just like trees, plants, and hibernating animals. The human body uses calories to keep us warm and naturally holds onto fat to help us weather the freezing weather. Since calories = heat = winter survival, eating gives your body the fuel it needs to protect itself from cold winds, frigid temperatures, and walking your kid to and from school 20 minutes in sub-freezing temperatures twice a day.

Limiting your calorie intake in the winter flips an invisible switch that triggers your body’s natural survival mechanisms to store fuel like a squirrel hiding nuts.  The crazy part is, restricting your food intake starting January 1^st can actually cause your body to create more fat storage.

So wait until springtime for a real cleansing and calorie restriction program. Honor your human nature and give your body the calories it needs to get through winter successfully – but this doesn’t mean you can throw all caution to the wind!

January is a great time to create a Resolution about food and health: Decide to transform your menus into natural, real meals filled with whole foods and seasonal ingredients. Get acquainted with whole grains, beans, seasonal veggies from your area, nuts, seeds, and sea vegetables. Create a new habit of including whole grains, beans, and steamed leafy greens at least twice a day. Use the seasonal produce available in your area to bring balance and energy to your body while you remove the junky, processed, and packaged foods this winter.

By changing the quality of your meals, rather than focusing on the quantity of calories and restricting yourself during this season, you can create a total body transformation that will give you the energy you need to make big changes to your weight in the spring when cleansing and reducing is more appropriate. The cool thing is this: when you start shifting your foods to be natural and high-quality, your weight will slowly start reducing on its own! But not in a forced, deprivation style. You’ll get balanced. Your energy will be better. You’ll sleep better and have an easier time kicking caffeine and sugar cravings.

If you want to make this shift with expert guidance, camaraderie, and support, you can sign up for 1 of 20 spots available in my upcoming Red Hot Hearts Tele-Series, which begins 2/15/11. The program provides recipes, meal planning, support, emotional guidance and fun!

I’d be glad to have you!

I hope you have a blessed year full of fun, adventure, healthy vibes, and laughs!

Be well,

Alex

My clients are busy women – they work hard, run their own businesses, take care of their family, travel, cook, clean, go to school, volunteer, write, create, take on huge amounts of responsibility and rarely have quiet time for themselves. They are stressed to the max!

The frustrating thing is that many women still find time to exercise on a regular basis and even revamp their diets so that they’re eating better than ever before – and they STILL can’t lose weight.

Here’s the thing: it’s not the amount of exercise (or maybe it IS), or the diet that’s the main problem.

It’s the amount of stress women feel on a daily basis that keeps the weight on.

The amount of constant, low-level stress humans experience on a daily basis is unnatural and new. By “new” I mean recent in human history. Never before have we been bombarded with stimuli like texts, voice mail, cell phones, emails, streaming video, 24-hour news channels, reality television, radio, schedules, alarm clocks, deadlines, and advertising. Up until a few generations ago, we didn’t even have electric lights! We got up with the sun and went to bed with the sun. Ponder that for a moment.

When I work with busy, stressed-out women who constantly focus on how they can’t lose weight, I often put them on a media diet:
- turn off the tv after 6pm
- no tv in the bedroom EVER
- go computer free on the weekends

Besides lowering the amount of tiny stressors like texts and email alerts, learning how to incorporate daily, even hourly, stress relievers will help the body and mind calm down and stop producing the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline. These two lovelies set the body up to hold on to fat in anticipation of fight or flight – which was useful when we were living in mud huts and gathering our food in the wild.

My favorite ways to relax during the day are:
- look up a relaxtion meditation video on Youtube
- drink a glass of water every hour
- walk around outside for 5 minutes every 2-3 hours
- stretch in the sunlight or while looking out a window every 2-3 hours
- ride my bike while doing my errands (yes, my 3 year old comes too: I have a bike trailer that can fit one kid and 3-4 bags of groceries)

Bi-weekly or monthly stress reduction techniques include:
- massage
- food rub and pedicure
- sitting in the steam room at my YMCA

Take time out for relaxation on a regular basis for easier weight management. In coming newsletters and blog posts, I’ll be writing more about adrenal fatigue, stress and ways to relax into weight loss.

Are you ready for total body transformation and weight loss?

Join me for my upcoming 4 Week Detox Tele-Course starting April 26th!

Here’s to your health!

Alexandra

These wonderful simple veggies will help you stay healthy in the winter. Carrots are an excellent way to get lots of antioxidants and vitamin A into your body. These aspects will help you protect your body against cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Yams are also great for potassium as well, and both vegetables are sweet – which humans crave! Garlic is a natural antibiotic and cayenne will help keep you warm in the winter, so drink up – it’s easy!

2 large organic carrots, washed and diced

1 small yam, washed and diced

1 clove garlic, minced

water

pinch of sea salt

pinch of cayenne powder

• Combine the carrots, yam and garlic in a small pot.
• Add enough water to just cover the vegetables and a pinch of sea salt and cayenne.
• Bring the water to a boil, cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.
• Puree the entire contents of the pot with an immersion or stick-blender or by transferring the contents to a blender. Puree until smooth.
• Drink while warm.

This weekend is the true start of winter – today is Winter Solstice! And my house and yard are covered with 8 inches of newly fallen snow. To truly take care of myself and my clients (and my family!) I’ve made a commitment to myself to hibernate as much as possible for the next 2 weeks. That means I’m going to bed early and waking up with the sun – it’s natural, and it will lead me to better winter productivity. Let me explain:

Winter is about turning inward, laying low, and dreaming dreams of the year to come. The trees drop their leaves and most plants slow down outward signs of growth to protect their roots and their core. Until very recently, say the last 100 years, human activity was limited by the seasons and available natural light. Farmers worked hard the three other seasons of the year, put up enough food for winter, and people stayed put (except to hunt, but that’s another story).

Now we have electricity to give us light far into the winter nights which allows us to stay up late and burn our reserves. Rather than laying fallow, like the fields of grass and leafless trees, we keep working hard and don’t allow ourselves to rest or hibernate in the winter, even though we may feel the urge.

I’ve committed to going to bed by 10pm at the latest every night for the next 2 weeks, and I wanted to offer you the possibility of doing the same. Every hour you sleep before midnight will drastically increase the grounded energy you have available during the day. (A great way to reduce your need for caffeine, by the way!) The better rested you are, the less late night tv you watch, the deeper sleep you get during the dark hours, the more productive and healthy you will be this season.

Supporting my clients to make simple, though not always the easiest, choices for true health is one of my passions. I’m happy to say that 4 women are already signed up for my 8 Week January Detox Tele-Course. To join the group and get started with your winter wellness now, go here:

http://www.nutritionforempoweredwomen.com/services/reboot/

May your days be merry and bright, and your nights cozy and calm~

Alexandra

This weekend is the true start of winter – today is Winter Solstice! And my house and yard are covered with 8 inches of newly fallen snow. To truly take care of myself and my clients (and my family!) I’ve made a commitment to myself to hibernate as much as possible for the next 2 weeks. That means I’m going to bed early and waking up with the sun – it’s natural, and it will lead me to better winter productivity. Let me explain:

Winter is about turning inward, laying low, and dreaming dreams of the year to come. The trees drop their leaves and most plants slow down outward signs of growth to protect their roots and their core. Until very recently, say the last 100 years, human activity was limited by the seasons and available natural light. Farmers worked hard the three other seasons of the year, put up enough food for winter, and people stayed put (except to hunt, but that’s another story).

Now we have electricity to give us light far into the winter nights which allows us to stay up late and burn our reserves. Rather than laying fallow, like the fields of grass and leafless trees, we keep working hard and don’t allow ourselves to rest or hibernate in the winter, even though we may feel the urge.

I’ve committed to going to bed by 10pm at the latest every night for the next 2 weeks, and I wanted to offer you the possibility of doing the same. Every hour you sleep before midnight will drastically increase the grounded energy you have available during the day. (A great way to reduce your need for caffeine, by the way!) The better rested you are, the less late night tv you watch, the deeper sleep you get during the dark hours, the more productive and healthy you will be this season.

Supporting my clients to make simple, though not always the easiest, choices for true health is one of my passions. I’m happy to say that 4 women are already signed up for my 8 Week January Detox Tele-Course. To join the group and get started with your winter wellness now, go here:

http://www.nutritionforempoweredwomen.com/services/reboot/

May your days be merry and bright, and your nights cozy and calm~

Alexandra

The holidays are drawing near, and we’re in the middle of a cold and flu season that has many people worried. The good news: you can protect your health, feel great NOW and actually feel BETTER as the year ends! 

I know not everyone wants to totally change her body and lifestyle. Many of you would be thrilled to lose 15 pounds, and others, well, you’re ready to fully step onto a new path and revamp every aspect of your life.

Working with me over the next 12 weeks, wherever you are is where you are met. The intention of this program is progress and implementation, not perfection and comparing ourselves to others (which always feels bad).

This unique Women’s Winter Wellness and Weight Loss program is about removing the negative and adding positive steps that help you live a healthy life. It’s a bridge that leads to rejuvenation and restoration and launches you fully into total wellness.

Too Many Talented, Driven Women are Suffering 
from the Harmful Effects of the Standard American Diet

I’ve seen it, time and again. Focused, brilliant women like you get held back from living an authentic life because of the very thing meant to fuel your days: food.

It’s not your fault – it’s pretty much engrained in our culture to eat a diet high in sugar and refined products and chemical-laden food. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a way out. In fact, there are many healthful, TASTY, wholesome foods available to you – if you know where to look.

That’s why I created my signature 12 Week Winter Wellness and Weight Loss Program based on my books, The Great American Detox Diet and Living Vegan for Dummies!

Go here to learn more about the Women’s Winter Wellness and Weight Loss Program: http://www.nutritionforempoweredwomen.com/services/nutrition-breakthrough-program/

How do I know it works? Because I’ve been there myself.

I’ve suffered through my own cycles of seasonal depression, sugar addiction and stress-induced holiday meltdowns. I once barely had enough energy to get through my days, much less pursue my greater goals in life.

Fortunately, I was able to combat my low energy (and the accompanying depression and fatigue) by adopting an easy diet of wholesome, hearty foods.

* When you sign up for the 12-Week Winter Wellness and Weight Loss Program, I’ll walk you through the steps that worked for me – and have since worked for countless others. The vital curriculum you’ll follow is made up of targeted advice that will steadily lead you toward a balanced, vibrant life.

Click here to talk with Alex for 15 minutes in person about this program …

http://www.nutritionforempoweredwomen.com/schedule/