The FitLife Formula Podcast

The Simplest Diet Ever- Intermittent Fasting with Kyle Newell

What if you didn't have to make an elaborate diet plan to help you lose weight.

What if there was a diet that didn't require you to keep a rigid eating schedule, restrict your food choices, do a ton of food prep ahead of time, or deny yourself when you're out to lunch or dinner with friends?

Well that diet exists, and it might just be the easiest way to lose weight, reset your metabolism, reduce stress on your body and improve your energy and clarity.

On this episode of the FitLife Formula, I'll talk with Kyle Newell, owner of Newell Strength in Flemington, NJ, about intermittent fasting and how it may just be the simplest diet ever. We'll cover...

• What exactly is intermittent fasting?
• How does it effect your body and help you gain energy, even when you aren't adding energy to your system (in the form of calories)
• Who it's good for, who should avoid it
• Is coffee ok during a fast?
• The best way to help your body start using fat as fuel
• How long should you be fasting?
• What's the best way to start?

Enjoy this awesome conversation with Kyle Newell! 

Thrive with Andy Mignery

To kick off this week's celebration of our Healthy Holiday Party, we're chatting with former U of M football player and Thrive Juicery founder, Andy Mignery.

Andy was thrown a huge curve ball at the age of 38, and from then on he has dedicated himself to his own health, the health of his family, and now with Thrive Juicery (which now has 2 locations in Ann Arbor), the health of his entire community. 

On this episode of the FitLife Formula, we will...

• Get to know Andy's story and what led to the establishment of Thrive
• Discover how food can be your medicine
• Hear how Andy changed his diet (which most would have considered "good" to begin with) to beat cancer and feel better in his 40's than he did in his 30's
• Learn why juice can be an extremely important addition to your nutrition

Enjoy this conversation with Thrive Juicery's Andy Mignery!

You think you're strength training, but are you really?

There are a lot of fitness places that claim to offer "strength training" as a part of their class, but in a lot of cases, that might be a stretch. 

So if you are currently doing something you call strength training, check out this episode to see if you think it qualifies. You'll learn

• why strength training should be a part of your fitness routine (and why it has such a prominent place in the FitLife Formula)
• what exactly happens when you lift light weights 
• one thing that lifting light weights a bunch of times and lifting heavy weights can do equally well
• what you're missing when you lift light weights
• why you may not be able to control just how lean you get :(

All this and more on Episode 31. Enjoy! 

Fit Friend Gift Guide

Everyone has a friend who is way into fitness. It can be hard to know what to get them for the holidays, so I threw together this quick episode to offer 5 great ideas for you or your active buds. 

1) Percussion massager, like Hypervolt or Theragun (link)

2) Chest heart rate strap (link)

3) Foam roller (link) 

4) Enso silicone wedding ring (link)

5) Daily Harvest smoothies (link) 

Your Daily DOSE: The brain balancing effects of exercise

You know exercise is good for your body. And if you didn't you could pick up any health magazine and read the cover to find out how you can shred fat or get ripped. 

You might also know that exercise makes you FEEL better, even if you can't quite put your finger on why it does that. 

On today's episode you'll learn about the chemical cocktail that happens in your brain while you exercise, and exactly why you feel more alert, focused, happy and satisfied after you exercise. 

We will also talk about what kinds of exercise provide the most benefit, and how you can kick up your exercise routine to maximize the brain-boosting benefits. 

I'll start this off with a story that perfectly illustrates the benefits of exercise... tune in and check it out!

"Reach" your Potential with Jolie Levi

Where do you go if you 

1) Have a nagging pain, but it's not quite bad enough to put you in physical therapy (PT)

2) Just finished PT, but still feel like you need professional help with your homework

or

3) You just aren't consistent with stretching and maintaining good range of motion (like you know you should)?

Until recently, there hasn't really been a place for you. Now there is. 

Reach Bodywork, an Ann Arbor facility hits this sweet spot. It's somewhere between Physical Therapy, Massage Therapy, and an Athletic Training room, and it has been helping a lot of people in the AA area. 

On this episode, I chat with Reach Bodywork founder Jolie Levi about who uses their services the most, who it's best for, and what makes this technique different from what you might have experienced before. 

If you're interested in learning more about Reach, check out their website at reachbodywork.com, and be sure to take advantage of their first-session-free offer! 

Enjoy today's conversation with Jolie Levi!

Consistency Trumps Intensity

When it comes to exercise, diet, or any other good habits in your life, being consistent is much more important that going through bouts of intensity. 

 

You've heard stories of people who try restrictive diets and fail after a few months because it's just not sustainable. Others go from no activity to intense workouts at the gym, only to find themselves sidelined by injury within a few weeks. 

 

These are just a couple of cases where a less intense, more consistent effort would likely give you better results. 

 

On this episode of the FLF, I'd like to first and foremost 27 weeks (over half a year) of podcast episodes being released every Tuesday. That's a kind of consistency that I don't have in other parts of my life, so I give myself a virtual pat on the back for that. 

 

And that leads me to share some stories about what consistency can do for you in your life, whether it be in your exercise routine, diet, or your daily schedule. 

 

So on Episode 27, you'll learn

• How one young athlete improved his pull up test to 4x his original number in just 3 months
• The most important factor in shaping your environment for consistency
• Why General McCraven insists the most important thing you can do each day is to make your bed
• How consistency gives you a steady dopamine drip and fuels your motivation
• The best ways to build consistency in your life

Enjoy this quick episode of the FitLife Formula!

Keeping (good) Food on the Table with Liza Baker

Have you ever been grinding your way through your week, getting the kids to practice, scheduling lessons, sneaking in a workout in for yourself, and then BAM!

Thursday night hits and you realize you don't have anything at the house for dinner. 

My guest Liza Baker knows how to help. She's a health coach, mom, and former chef who wrote the book on cooking once and eating twice. In her self-published book, Fl!p Your Kitchen she shares simple, useful recipes that encourage you to look for opportunities to cook in batches and use the ingredients to create different healthful meals throughout the week. 

Check out todays episode, where we'll be talking about...

• why so few people are cooking these days
• the shocking stats about cooking at home
• why the Food Network and Pintrest have made it harder to cook at home
• the first step to take toward eating better
• 4 ways to ensure you have healthy, home-cooked meals every night of the week

Enjoy today's longer-than-usual conversation with Liza Baker. So much great conversation in this episode!

To check out more from Liza, head to simply-healthcoaching.com.  I can't recommend her book, Fl!p Your Kitchen, enough. It's a staple in my house!

The Problem(s) with Counting Calories

At some point in your life, there's a good chance you've been on the calorie counting train. You may even still have the dusty remnants of that time... a leftover calorie chart and a beat up food scale in the back of your cupbord.

I'm here to let you know you can ditch those old relics because there's an easier way to do things now. 

And I'm not talking about a sophisticated new app or measuring device. 

The solution is definitely low tech.  It's been around for 10's of thousands of years. And it's been with you your whole life. 

On this episode of the FitLife Formula, I'm going to talk about the death of calorie counting, and offer a better way to control your portion sizes. Here's what you're going to learn from this episode.

• Why you can do everything exactly right and gain 10lbs in a year. 
• How the calories you see on the label might be wrong (and it's all LEGAL)
• The difference between calories consumed and calories absorbed
• An easier, more portable, sometimes more accurate way to measure your portion sizes.

Put away your scales and calculators. The end of calorie counting is here. Check out this episode to find out why. 

Long Term Cognitive Health with Kevin Carr

(check out the outtake at the 1 minute mark. I’m human, and a little ditzy)

 

We know exercise, specifically cardiovascular exercise and resistance training, do great things for your body and your heart health, but there’s one benefit to exercise that’s often overlooked.

 

On this episode of the FitLife Formula, I’m talking with Kevin Carr from Movement as Medicine in Woburn, Mass. In addition to co-owning Movement as Medicine, Kevin is on staff at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning (check out Episode 7 with Mike Boyle). So he coaches athletes and adults there as well.

 

This conversation stemmed from Kevin’s presentation at the Perform Better Summit in Chicago regarding strategies for long term cognitive health. Tune in to discover

• What condition experts are calling “Type 3 Diabetes”
• Why watching tv while hitting the treadmill isn’t all that useful
• The importance of playing physical games and having fun
• A checklist of activities you should be doing to ensure long term cognitive health

 

Make sure you're doing all you can to keep yourself mentally sharp, and that goes beyong just continuing to learn. Check out this episode to find out more about how moving keeps you physically and mentally fit.