Program Overview

How we eat, exercise, sleep and handle stress determines how our genes express themselves and how our genes express themselves determines our level of health. The Eat 4 Your Life programs are based on the knowledge that genetic predisposition is not your destiny. Most people think the genes they inherit from their parents predestine them to certain health outcomes. Sure, you inherit some fixed traits, but negative familial predispositions can be overcome. You are not predestined to have bad (or good) health! You have the power to determine your health outcomes by the lifestyle choices you make. Possibly the single biggest motivator for making change lies in understanding that it’s the lifestyle choices you make that determine how your genes express themselves. Yes, you really can reprogram your genes. We can look at genes as  "on/off" switches. They are constantly telling every cell in the body what to do by turning on or turning off. You have the power to turn your switches on or off with the signals you send. Four major things that influence these signals are what you eat, how much you move (or don't), how you sleep and how you handle stress. The plans we make together will support the best choices for you in these four categories with the end goal of getting you to your best health.

Food

Food is powerful medicine. It can heal or it can harm. Eighty percent of your body composition and gene expression comes down to what you put on the end of your fork. Click on the button below to get an overview of what I believe about food and diet so you can make sure we are a good fit.

Movement

Many people are now living pretty sedentary lives. We sit at work, we sit on our commute and we sit to relax after a hard day. We’ve all been told that exercise has tremendous benefits but it often stays on the back burner. Here’s the thing, maximal fitness can be achieved in minimal time if you go about it right. The greatest benefits of exercise relate simply to the movement of muscles, joints and the optimization of hormones. not to the burning of calories (exercising to lose weight is not an effective strategy!). Once you get food dialed in, and you’re feeling better, adding movement to your day can be done easily in and/or around your home or at the setting of your choice. With a supportive motivator (like a Health Coach), clear guidance on how to proceed and the feel-good feedback that exercising frequently provides, anyone can get moving! Finding a way to move that you enjoy and that energizes you is an important part of finding your best health.

Sleep

Lack of sleep, or poor-quality sleep, can quickly sabotage your efforts at getting healthy and losing weight. Sleep is a major cornerstone for an energetic and healthy life. Not getting enough sleep adversely affects hormones that make you hungry and store fat, among other things. By paying attention to what’s keeping you from getting a good night’s sleep, being purposeful about getting enough sleep and learning strategies to optimize your chances of sleeping well,  you can figure out how much sleep you need to feel alert and focused and what you can do to get there. Many of the steps you can take to improve your sleep are not difficult to implement.

Stress

In addition to being exposed to more toxic chemicals than any generation before us, most of us are also experiencing chronic stress, sensory overload on a frequent basis, insufficient rest and relaxation and excessive dependence on both stimulants and intoxicants. These factors all add up and keep our bodies reacting as if we have a tiger nipping at our heels.  When we stay in this fight-or-flight mode, stress hormones flood the bloodstream with acid-forming residues, we exhaust our adrenal glands and we weaken our immune systems. The good news is that in as little as 10 minutes or more a day, you can implement stress reduction techniques that can impact many aspects of your life.