Good sleep is essential for physical health and overall wellness. It plays as an important role in weight loss as diet and exercise—and without good sleep, most people gain weight. Sleep deprivation also negatively impacts hormones, cognitive function and athletic performance. As a transformational nutrition and fitness coach, one of the many things I help clients do is develop a healthy sleep schedule.

Your daily habits and behaviors can promote quality sleep or lead to sleep deprivation. Stress, hectic work schedules and illness can also interfere with sleep quality. While some factors may be out of your control, there are steps you can take to get a good night’s sleep.

1. Adopt a Consistent Schedule

Your body's circadian rhythm, also known as the sleep-wake cycle, functions in alignment with sunrise and sunset. Irregular sleep patterns disrupt this cycle while consistency reinforces the sleep-wake cycle and makes it function optimally. Strive to wake up and go to...

Burning extra calories every day has wide-ranging benefits, from helping us lose weight and burn fat to improving our overall health. Whether you’re already working out regularly or just getting started, there are some easy ways to rev your metabolism and increase your calorie burn without a big commitment. Try some or all the tips below—all approved by our transformational nutrition coach— to boost your calorie burn and feel healthier and more energetic every day.

1. Stand Up

If you sit at a desk all day, this can be detrimental to your back and waistline. Whenever you can, stand up to do some of your work. You can use a standing desk or work at your kitchen counter. By doing this, you’ll burn an extra 50 calories per hour and give your spine a chance to decompress. Standing also exerts muscles in your legs, core and back. Try it for short periods to get used to it—you’ll be hooked in no time. If it’s not an option, set an alarm every hour...

Lean protein plays an important role in weight loss. It’s an essential part of many popular diets because it offers a variety of benefits. A protein-rich diet can result in pounds lost and a better-looking body that works more efficiently. It's a favorite among every nutrition coach and weight loss specialist for the reasons below.

It’s Filling

One of the best things about lean protein is that it fills you up and curbs cravings. When you eat it, it impacts the hormones in your body that control hunger. It decreases ghrelin, a hormone that stimulates your appetite, and boosts production of leptin, a hormone composed by fat cells that reduces hunger. Lean protein also promotes healthy digestion by slowing it down—this is why you can feel full for hours after eating it.

Increases Calories Burned

Digesting food actually burns calories. The thermic effect of food is a measurement of how many calories it takes to digest a particular food item. Since lean protein takes...

Belly fat can be one of the hardest areas to eliminate—but if you develop healthy eating habits and exercise regularly, you can change this area and improve your overall health. Below are some nutrition coach-approved strategies for reducing fat and losing weight, which will lead to a reduction in that stubborn fat in the abdominal cavity.

1. Load Up on Lean Protein

When you’re striving for better health through nutrition, it’s essential to consume lean protein—even more so when you’re trying to lose stubborn belly fat. This important macronutrient reduces cravings, fills you up longer and builds lean muscle mass which in turn boosts your metabolism. Much research has shown that eating lean protein is inversely linked to belly fat.

2. Increase the Duration of Workouts

While high-intensity workouts are getting a lot of attention, several obesity studies have shown that continuous, steady exercise may be more effective for losing fat. See what works best...

Healthy fats can be a game changer for your diet and lifestyle—especially if you’re doing following a low-carb meal plan. This category of fat, which includes monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, positively impacts anti-aging, beauty and weight loss efforts while improving your overall health.

Here are a few of the benefits that healthy fats have on your body.

Weight Loss

Adding healthy fats to your diet bolsters weight loss efforts in several ways. They provide fuel for both your brain and body, while burning more calories in the process. This is because healthy fats digest more slowly than other nutrients. Healthy fats also satiate hunger pangs and make you feel more satisfied after meals. You’ll be less likely to overeat and snack on those empty calories that ultimately cause weight gain.

Remember This: Through the hormone insulin, carbs lead to the absorption and accumulation of fat. To enjoy the benefits of a low carb diet (by eating more fat), you have...

One of the best ways to eat healthy and stay on track with efforts to lose weight and get healthy is to prepare food at home. Whether you want to make all your meals at home, pack lunches to take to work or just prep a few meals per week, the following tips from our nutrition mindset coach will help you prepare your meals in the healthiest way possible.

1. Season Creatively

Too many times, we reach for the salt when we could add zest to our meals with spices and seasonings that provide health benefits. Research shows that Americans consume much more than the maximum FDA-recommended amount for sodium, which is 2,300 milligrams per day. Too much sodium causes bloating and wide-ranging health issues. Why not swap out the salt for some healthy spices and seasonings? Many herbs and spices boost the metabolism and yield antioxidant benefits, such as ginger, garlic, oregano, basic, rosemary, cumin, cayenne pepper, red pepper, sage, turmeric, cinnamon, and parsley, among many others. When...

Losing weight and getting in shape are two of the most popular resolutions people make every year. Whether it’s motivated by holiday weight gain or a “New Year, New You” mentality, these are great choices for improving your overall health. However, studies show that, on average, many Americans lose their stride and give up their resolutions by the third week of January. To avoid this, we’re sharing some strategies from our nutrition coach’s arsenal to help you stay on track with health and wellness goals in 2023.

1. Choose Reasonable Goals That You Can Tailor

Instead of choosing a broad goal like “lose weight” or one that’s too extreme, design smaller action steps that will lead you to your ultimate goal. Your “resolutions” or goals can be small, actionable objectives that you build on over time. Make it about creating new healthy habits over the long term rather than quitting something that will feel extreme and difficult...

Sleep is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle, especially when you’re trying to lose weight. A good night’s sleep repairs cellular damage, improves mental focus, boosts immunity and helps facilitate weight loss. Together with diet and exercise, sleep provides the foundation of your long-term health and wellness—it can prevent heart disease, promote healing and prevent excess weight gain. Every good weight loss specialist will tell you that sleep is critical to achieving long-term results.

Just like diet affects quality of sleep, how much you sleep impacts your diet.

Sleep-Deprivation Stimulates Appetite

When you’re not getting adequate sleep, you’re more likely to overeat and snack. This is because sleep affects two critical hormones that regulate hunger: ghrelin and leptin. Ghrelin, which is produced by cells within the digestive tract, signals the brain that you’re hungry, increases consumption and promotes fat storage. Leptin, often...

Whether you’re working with a nutrition coach or dieting on your own, the holidays can be a challenging time of year. Holiday meals and parties offer lots of temptation in the form of sugar-laden treats, alcohol and heavy meals. The good news is, with a little bit of forethought and willpower, you can enjoy your holidays without sacrifice and still stay on track with your weight loss.

Here are 6 strategies for keeping holiday weight gain at bay.

1. Load Up on Lean Protein

Eat lean protein-rich meals every day to keep you fuller longer and help build muscle mass. This is important for weight loss because the greater our body’s muscle mass, the more calories we burn on a daily basis.

2. Don’t Bank Calories

Many dieters get in the habit of skipping meals to “save up” the calories for events and holiday parties by skipping meals. This is a bad practice and not one I recommend as a nutrition coach and weight loss specialist—it slows down your ...

Weight loss is all about the journey. There are times when the pounds come off a little faster in the beginning, and then progress stalls. This frustrating obstacle is the dreaded weight loss plateau—a time when the pounds no longer melt away even though you’re dieting and exercising. As a weight loss coach, it’s a common issue clients complain to me about. It’s actually a normal part of the process because, as you lose weight, you’re also shedding lean muscle. When lean muscle mass deceases, your metabolism slows down.

While plateaus are frustrating and seem difficult to break through, don’t get discouraged. There are several strategies to help you break through and start seeing results again.

Reduce Carb Intake

Decreasing carb consumption can help you overcome a plateau. Low-carb diets often help control hunger, promote satiety and boost the production of ketones, which have been shown to decrease appetite. As a result, you’ll eat less...