Why slowing down could be your key to success

Slowing down and success generally aren’t found in the same sentence. The way of the world seems to be, do more – be more, work longer, work harder and just hustle. While I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be doing any of those, I think we must also consider why slowing down could be your key to success.

On todays podcast episode we uncover why nothing seems to be working, even though you are doing everything right. We also talk about what under-eating and over exercising are doing to our bodies. Finally, we uncover the simple solution, rest based living. Listen now to learn ten ways to practice rest based living and transform your body starting today.

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doing everything right

Before we get to the benefits of slowing down, let us just take a second to regroup where we are, right now.

I don’t know about you but so much of the feedback I get from many of you is that you’re tired, exhausted, lacking energy and just surviving on caffeine. I’ve had my fair share of these moments and know the feelings all too well, that is why I’m so passionate about this subject.

We’re literally running our minds, emotions, souls and bodies into the ground clinging for every last breath and struggling in between. Whether you have a diagnosis for this energy deficit or you’re still trying to shove it under the rug hoping if you ignore it, or pacify it with caffeine, it won’t be able to control you.

The tired, groggy, fog you’re living in doesn’t seem to be getting better though, right?!?

Not to mention, regardless of how well you eat and how much you exercise, the pounds are creeping on, your joints are stiff, you feel bloated and emotional. But, who doesn’t when the scale continuously goes up while your working so painfully hard to make it go down.

Hopeless is what this feels like.

Deep breathes…

why nothing is working

If you feel stuck and questioning why nothing is working, you’re definitely not alone. But the answer is so simple, easy and natural I know you’re going to love it. This is the deep breath, the fresh start, the new beginning you’ve needed. But first lets explain why this isn’t working .

The traditional approach to health is this: lose weight to get healthy. Yet this model traditionally isn’t working. Why? Because it is a backwards model, an equation that doesn’t work. Sure weight loss can be a necessary part of getting healthy but it isn’t the answer to health. The right way to look at it is;

Get healthy to lose weight. 

If we flip that we’re stuck in the mindset of restrict, deprive, starve, work harder, push, no pain – no gain, exhaustion, lack of energy and life and the typical equation to lose weight has always  been eat fewer calories than you burn. This formula also equates to deprive and work out longer and harder, but this method only triggers a negative hormonal response that releases cortisol {our stress hormone}, which triggers a cascade of biofeedback markers to signal things are out of whack.

If you remember our biofeedback markers are things like; cravings, hunger and fullness, thirst, sleep, energy levels, muscle strength, mood, body temperature, body odor, happiness, etc. Once these start firing at all the wrong times, we know hormonally we have a problem, which eventually leads to weight gain, inflammation, exhaustion and more.

Learn more about biofeedback markers here. 

the cortisol problem

Cortisol, our stress hormone response is not in itself a bad thing. In fact, it is extremely great at protecting the body. However, long-term cortisol response, such as in dieting, a stressful life situation or what you’re doing or not doing to your body is wrecking havoc.

Lets break down cortisol quickly in a short scientific nutshell:

Stress increased cortisol levels in your body. This increases in cortisol drives your body to need sugar to fight the stress response. A drive for sugar automatically induces hunger making you crave everything sweet.

Remember, you crave what you burn as fuel. Burn sugar and you’ll crave sugar.

Once you eat the sugar {hello, emotional eating}, it raises your blood sugar which increases insulin, which is your fat building hormone. So you start packing on the pounds in excess body fat.

If you try to fight hunger and cravings but are still in a stressed state, well your body has other plans. Stress is a survival mechanism for the body. This means that when it fires, it needs sugar and if you don’t feed it, it will get it another way. It does so by breaking down your own muscle mass to be converted into sugar that your body can use and then again convert it back to body fat.

Yikes is right!

On top of that, this constant stress response makes your body more resistant to insulin. In time all of this suppresses your HPA axis causing a cascade of hormonal imbalances.

The bottom line:

High stress means you crave more sugar, decrease your body’s ability to burn fat, increase your body fat stores around your mid section and increase the rate at which you store fat.

Yes, it is a lose-lose situation.

how you fix it

This is where the idea of rest-based living comes in. I also like to think of it as joy-based living, because it comes down to a choice to choose joy over worry and fear. It’s time you choose rest and healing over pushing your body to its breaking point. It’s time to choose harmony, balance, and health over weight loss or whatever measure you are seeking.

Rest based living is simply a means to work to reduce the stress load on your body. It doesn’t mean avoid or fear stress {because that induces more stress} rather it means learning ways to deal with stress and eliminating what stress you can.

I like to think of it as simply finding more enjoyment in life.

Again, not living for health, not being a slave to your diet, not living in bondage to your workout program or being held captive by a number, but it is free health and in this allows you to fully live.

To not live for health but to use health to fully live. 

It’s all about having a firm foundation in what you believe health is, what health can do for you and ultimately knowing what you’re living for. Learn more about foundational health here.

rest-based-living

Rest based living is creating an environment that allows your body to heal, rejuvenate, and restore itself, ultimately allowing you to experience lasting energy and health without being a slave to it.

• This means slowing down amongst speeding up.
• It means working smarter not harder.
• Taking time to  stop and enjoy life happening all around you.
• This means listening to your body and its needs rather than the diet on the latest magazine cover.
• It means honoring your body and feeling confident in it.
• Ultimately it means living for something greater, knowing your purpose.

There are so many ways to practice rest based living. In fact, these practices are quite enjoyable and can be the very thing that gives you a reason to wake up in the morning. Something you do without question because they become non-negotiable in making you feel better and living with greater intent.

On the podcast I break down ten ways to practice rest based living today and what this can do for your health.

I firmly believe that exercise and diet are just a very small piece of the health and weight loss equation. With other 50% coming from how we live and how stressed we are.

If you’re in the market for health made easy, this is it. This is what you’ve been looking for.

When weight loss happens without work, without restriction or deprivation. When weight loss happens without having to change anything you eat.

how to get started

The first step in getting started is putting an end to beating your body into submission. After that create a sense of foundational health. Know what you are living for, what gives your purpose and drives you. Then start honoring your body. Listen to it, keep track of your biofeedback signals and provide that environment for your body to thrive.

When we let go of the idea that we have to make our bodies healthy and accept the concept that our body doesn’t need us to make decision on how to achieve health, it just needs us to make the decision to provide what it’s asking. The involuntary response of our body is incredible.

It doesn’t need us to make it healthy. Those functions have been born in us. It just needs us to stop pushing it beyond what it can withstand and offer space for it to do the job it was designed.

A few of the things that helped me get started practicing rest based living are:

• Creating a morning routine.
• Changing my view of exercise from have to push through to want to find enjoyment.
• Boundaries in work times.
• Reading instead of TV watching.
• Taking a hot bath or shower every single night.

There are countless other ways to practice rest based living. That is why I put together a list of 25 ways this month you can incorporate this practice into your own life. I can assure you that if you take time for yourself and to heal your body, you will notice great changes.

Don’t forget to listen to the podcast with more back story on how this transformed my own life. How you can gain weight just looking at food and the top 10 ways to practice rest based living starting today.

fix your hormones

If you feel like your biofeedback markers are out of whack, your cravings are intense, you’re lacking energy and can’t seem to lose any weight I have something just for you. The truth is our body just needs a good jump-start, refresh and reboot every couple of months. This means a time to take away the stress, provide essential nutrients and get deep into rest based living.

I have created a one-day reset that could help you start this process and give you a sweet taste of how great you can feel. To download this one day reset click below. I can assure that this changed the course of my health and gave me the boost needed to transform my life. Everything you need from a full day diet plan, recipes and tips to practice rest based living are inside. This is your key to success!