12Jan

What’s the Deal With Superfoods

January 12, 2022 Jessica Bottesch 35

By Michael Raynor, MS, RD, LDN

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If you follow food news or just look at new products in the grocery store, you’ve probably heard of various “superfoods” and the wide array of associated claims made about them. So, what’s the deal with these foods? Are they really “superior”? If so, what makes them super?

Superfoods get their name because they’re foods that are nutrient dense and, as a result, deemed to be “healthier”. Some examples of these sensationalized foods that you might have heard about include blueberries, açaí, chia seeds, flax, coconut oil, hemp, cacao nibs, avocado, kale, pomegranate, and salmon. Let’s look at the nutrients that these foods are rich in. Blueberries, açai, and pomegranate are high in antioxidants, and chia is high in fiber, antioxidants, omega-3’s, protein, and calcium. Flax is high in protein, fiber, omega-3’s, and rich in lignans (an antioxidant) which may reduce cancer risk. Coconut oil is a wonderful source of Medium-Chain Triglycerides (or MCTs), which the body metabolizes a little differently from other fats and it fuels the body and brain. Hemp is rich in healthy fats, and is high in protein, vitamin E, and several minerals. Cacao Nibs are an excellent source of protein, fiber, and healthy fats, and they’re rich in minerals too. Avocados are rich in healthy fats and fiber. Kale is high in Vitamins A, K, and C, and rich in antioxidants. Finally, salmon is rich in omega-3s, protein, and vitamin B12. Obviously, this is quite the list of benefits and quite different foods spanning plant and animal sources.

These foods are nutritious options and are great to incorporate into a balanced diet, but the whole concept of “superfoods” and, often their touted benefits, highlights the importance of a key part of a healthy diet, which is variety. If you look at food and nutrition related news, the headlines often seem to tout a single food or just a few foods that you need to eat to achieve some health benefit. I feel that this is a flawed approach to nutrition. Slimming down the list of foods or trying to have less variety in the pursuit of health is not the answer. When we cut out foods, we’re cutting out nutrients and other compounds that are beneficial to us. All foods contain different mixtures of the macronutrients (carbohydrates, protein, and fat), micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), and other compounds. It’s important to eat a variety of foods to ensure we’re getting all the nutrients that we need to support our health. There’s no one food that provides everything we need, so we need to eat a variety of different foods to make sure we’re getting all those different compounds.

So, while these superfoods are great to include in your diet, they shouldn’t be added, hoping to remove other things. Instead, I encourage you to give some of these foods a try as a way of including some variety into your normal routine and to mix things up.

Not sure how to incorporate superfoods or if you have enough variety in your diet? Sign up for a free Get-to-Know-You call with Michael here.

03Jan

Importance of Evaluating Youth Athletes Prior to Training

January 3, 2022 Jessica Bottesch 29

There are many considerations when working with developing youth athletes. All kids develop at different rates and have varying amounts of experience. Because of this, there is not a one-size-fits-all exercise program for all youth athletes. These children and adolescents require a detailed evaluation.

During our evaluation, we will measure your athletes:

Physical maturational age
Balance
Movement coordination
Strength

We will also collect vital information, such as:

Sports experience
Past medical history
Parent/athlete goals

Overall, the evaluation provides us an opportunity to get to know your athlete, set expectations, collect physical measurements, and develop goals. This helps athletes understand the “why” behind what we do and allows them to become more comfortable with our coaches and staff.
Learn more about the program and sign up for the eval.

Here:

Performance Training for Youth Athletes

15Dec

Youth Athlete Development

December 15, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 19

Youth Athlete
Performance Development Program
By Dr. Chris Bruscato in partnership with Empower Fitness

Empower is thrilled to be partnering with Dr. Chris Bruscato PT, DPT, LAT, ATC, XPS to bring this NEW and exciting program to the Empower community.

Chris is a physical therapist, athletic trainer, and performance coach with a special interest in sports medicine, performance, and the development of youth athletes. He has created this specialized program to help youth athletes (and those who would like to become more athletic):

Develop robust levels of athleticism
Reduce risk of injury
Enhance health & well-being

Based on the latest scientific research on long-term athletic development in youth athletes, this program is unique in that we perform a detailed evaluation to understand what stage of development your child is in. From there we provide the most appropriate exercises that have been proven to improve:

Strength
Coordination
Balance/stability
Fundamental movement skills (squatting, pushing, pulling)
Sports specific skills (speed, agility, jumping, landing, sprinting, cutting)

How Does It Work: The Process.

STEP ONE: Evaluation – $129
Comprehensive eval and consultation assessing maturational age, flexibility, balance, movement competency, strength. Email Chris to Schedule Eval.

STEP TWO: Assign to training group
Based on the findings from evaluation, we will place your athlete into the correct training group.

STEP THREE: 8-Week Training Blocks – $209 / $389
Choose to train 1 or 2 times per week. This is an ongoing and progressive program that runs in 8-week blocks. First training block starts Jan. 23rd (limited spots)

STEP FOUR: Reevaluate
Reevaluate every 16 weeks, and continue to monitor for changes in development and make advancements to exercise programming.

The Training Groups

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Youth Academy (FUNdementals)
The FUNdementals training group is our foundational training group. For younger athletes with a focus on improving a wide variety of fundamental movements and developing self-esteem. We work on coordination, balance, and light resistance training and create a fun environment through the utilization of games, structured play, competition, and positive encouragement.

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Varsity Performance (Learn to Train)
The Learn to Train group is our intermediate training group. Adolescent aged athletes we focus on improving both fundamental movements skills, sport specific movement skills, and developing self-worth and confidence. Specifically, working on balance, jumping/landing/running technique, and moderate resistance training with a focus on core strengthening.

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D1 Performance (Train to Perform)
The Learn to Perform group is our advanced training group, where we focus on improving both the movements and psychological skills required for success in sport. These teens will move through a systematic sport progression, encompassing mobility, stability, speed/agility, power, and strength.

The Schedule

Evaluation appointments available starting December 11th

Deadline to schedule your child’s eval is Jan. 9th
Spaces are limited in each group, scheduling your eval secures your spot
Email Chris to Schedule Eval.

First block of 8-Week Training Groups begins January 23rd:

Academy

Sunday 9:30am
Wednesday 6pm
Friday 5pm

Varsity
- Sunday 10:30am
- Wednesday 7pm
- Friday 6pm
D1
- Sunday 11:30am
- Wednesday 8pm
- Friday 7pm

Meet the Coaches

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This Dynamic Duo bring years of experience, expertise and a ton of fun!

Learn More about Chris Bruscato and Cierra Dunston on their bios

Spaces are limited. Schedule your eval to reserve your spot!

Email Chris to Schedule Eval.

07Dec

Mindfulness as an Informal Practice

December 7, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 20

By RJ Lisander

In the interest of full disclosure, I get paid to guide people through wellness and mindfulness practices such as mindfulness meditation, guided meditation, and therapeutic yoga. In these meetings, I encourage daily practice to promote the most long-term benefits of the practices. And, I as I offer this encouragement, I also know I am not 100% successful in completing my meditation and yoga practices daily. While these practices are priorities in my life, there are those days where the list of to-dos requires a juggle of my priorities. After years of struggling to avoid these pitfalls, I tried to embrace these days with some understanding and grace. As I began incorporating this mindset, I found that on the days when I could not formally practice, I could practice informally.

Informal mindfulness practices allow individuals to weave mindfulness practices and activities into the routine of their days. An example of this includes noticing the sound of vegetables being sliced as you prepare dinner. By bringing all of your awareness to the action, sensation, sound, feel of chopping vegetables for your meal, you come to the present and this results in a moment where the thoughts and stresses of the day can be released.

With loving compassion, RJ

____________________________________________________________________________________

If you are anything like me, you may need some additional support learning and practicing Informal Mediations, so I highly recommend you attend a restorative or yin yoga class at Empower (or virtually from the comfort of your home).

Every session RJ shares is thoughtfully put together. And, because she also juggles a hectic schedule of running a business and her home, she knows that when the commitments on our time are taxed, self-care is usually the first thing to fall off the list. Therefore, this time of year, she works hard to ensure her classes include themes to encourage compassion for self and others. Her sessions include a theme that is explored throughout class and often challenges you to take a step out of your busy mind and to feel into your tired body. We aren’t exactly sure how she does it, but the balance of well thought out themes, awareness of the poses and the experience of the moment paired with her beautiful 5-minute guided meditations at the end of each class will leave you feeling relaxed and rejuvenated. (You may even leave with a little additional clarity.)

And, to further support you over the next few weeks, through Empowers social media accounts, RJ will share her tips for finding a moment to be present in your day. So even on those days when you cannot make it to a class, you will can find the joy of the moment.

Over the next few days, you will see some Mindful Moment Reminders on Empower’s social media platforms. These are little moments that you can bring into your daily activities to promote mindfulness practices, even on those days you don’t have the time for a more formal practice.

Follow us here: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EMPOWERDurham,
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empower_personalized_fitness/

We hope you enjoy the prompts and look forward to hearing how you naturally find mindful moments in your day.

https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/classic/ws?studioid=8802&stype=-7&sView=week&sLoc=0&sTrn=100000057

21Nov

Staying on Track During the Holidays

November 21, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 27

By Michael Raynor, MS, RD, LDN

For people with health and fitness goals, the time of year (with a string of holidays in a row) can feel like a minefield of temptation and events pulling us off track. The great news is, it doesn’t have to be a stressful time of year that derails you from reaching your health and fitness goals! With these 5 simple strategies, you can enjoy the holidays AND stay on track with your goals. I always like to remind clients about the “big picture.” So, it’s important to remember that these holidays only come around once a year. If your celebrations are contained to just a couple of days or even just a couple of meals, it’s unlikely that you’ll undo progress in that short of a period, so maybe it’s best to not stress about it and enjoy the food and the time with loved ones.

Pick 2-3 of the basics to focus on. The holiday season can be stressful, with lots of events, travel, and disruptions to your normal routine. With so much going on, I find it helpful to pick just a few of the basics and be very deliberate with them. For example, focus on getting enough water every day, getting enough sleep (7-9 hours per night for most adults), and getting 10,000 steps per day (or substitute some other movement goal, like 30 minutes of deliberate movement each day).

Find non-food ways to celebrate. The holiday season doesn’t HAVE to be focused on food events. Find some non-food ways to celebrate holidays. Maybe it’s getting the whole family to sign up for a Thanksgiving morning “Turkey Trot”, or maybe it’s watching a movie or playing games to move the family time away from the table. Don’t be afraid to suggest or try new things (all family traditions started somewhere)!

Don’t skip meals or snacks. This one is so counterintuitive for so many of my clients. Most people think that on food-focused holidays they should skip meals or snacks to “save their calories” for these enormous meals where there’s a tendency to overeat. However, what I see is that when you skip meals and snacks, you get to these big meals and you’re starving, which drastically increases the chance that you’ll overeat. Instead, if you’re making sure you have a meal or snack every 3-4 hours, you’re appropriately hungry at these meal times and much less likely to overindulge and be miserably full.

Choose your battles. Is there a holiday dish or dessert you crave all year long? Indulge and have that dish. Instead, maybe reduce the number of drinks you have or go with fewer or smaller portions of the other desserts as a trade-off. If there are only a couple of dishes that you really love and would be sad about not having, embrace those, and exercise more moderation with the other foods and drinks that you’re not so attached to. This is a great opportunity to practice the skills of moderation that will carry you through the rest of the year.

Cut yourself some slack. The holidays, collectively, make up only a few days per year, so you will not derail your health and fitness progress with just a few days. If the holiday didn’t go exactly as planned, it’s okay! Enjoy the days and time with family, and get back on track the next day. The only way the holidays can derail your progress is if you let one “bad day” turn into weeks of not working toward your goals. Besides, when we get old and wise, I’d doubt that many people’s life regret is having too much to eat on Thanksgiving. I’d bet that the bigger regret is not soaking up the time with loved ones, and instead stressing about the food surrounding holidays.

I hope these tips help you navigate the holiday season!

If you’re struggling to apply these 5 strategies to your life and circumstances, click here to set up a free Get-to-Know-You call with Michael to talk about getting started on your nutrition.

15Nov

BUSY, BUSY – Take Control of your Time

November 15, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 22

Do you ever feel like life is not only busy, but too busy? Lately I have been running at a frenetic pace, which has left me feeling exhausted and stressed. Almost to where I am longing for the Safer-At-Home Covid days . . . (almost).

However, I woke up this morning determined to take a deep breath, refocus, and make the most of each minute I have. Over the many years as a health coach and business owner, I have learned a thing or two about time management that has helped me in times of high stress, but I needed a little reminding.

Since I was reviewing these strategies for myself, I thought I would also share them with you.

First, you must realize, you can’t really “manage” time. There are only 24 hours in a day (only 16 to work with if we are getting enough sleep each night)—that will not change. We only have control over what we do with the time we have.

The key is to choose wisely–and to do this, you must be clear about your priorities.

Here are 5 ways to make sure you are both efficient and effective with your time.

Know your priorities: Ask yourself–what is most important for me and my family right now? What are my health goals, career goals, family goals, and life goals? Simply just having clarity on what matters most will help you make the most of your valuable time. You’ve likely heard the saying, “if everything is important, then nothing is.” These words ring true to me today and the first step to feeling more in control of your time is to know what matters most.

Make a list: There are probably a million in one tools to help you stay organized and to list out all your priorities–everything from bullet journals to color coded planners that help you collate your “to do” list. Whether you want to get fancy with it or you simply just use pen and paper, make sure you have a dedicated place where you list all your “to do” items. Simply just getting it from your brain to the paper can make all your tasks feel way more manageable.

Prioritize: Another famous saying is, “where there is a will, there’s a way.” There’s a lot of truth in this statement too because we make room for what is important to us and even in extremely stressful times, we handle our most important tasks. With that said, we simply cannot do it all and some tasks are better delegated to someone else or forgotten altogether. Here’s a simple process to help you prioritize–the ABCDE system. Grab your “to do” list and place the corresponding letter beside each task.

“A” stands for “very important;” something you must do. There can be serious negative consequences if you don’t do it.

“B” stands for “important;” something you should do. This is not as important as your ‘A’ tasks. There are only minor negative consequences if we do not complete it.

“C” stands for things that are “nice to do;” but which are not as important as ‘A’ or ‘B,’ tasks. There are no negative consequences for not completing it.

“D” stands for “delegate.” You can assign this task to someone else who can do the job instead of you.

“E” stands for “eliminate, whenever possible.” You should eliminate every single activity you can to free up your time.

Time block: Instead of working by the clock, try to work by task. Focus on finishing small and big tasks one at a time by finding blocks of time throughout your day and your week to focus on specific tasks. Try to stay focused on the task at hand for the specified amount of time before switching to other tasks. Block out distractions (hello Do Not Disturb on your phone), and schedule more challenging tasks for times of the day where you feel you are at your best and sharpest. Work smarter instead of harder to limit distractions, get things done faster without feeling so overwhelmed and scattered.

Consider your mindset: When you look at time, do you look at it as time spent or time invested? That may seem like semantics, but it’s not…

When you spend (time/money/resources) ON something, your mindset is more focused on lack, limitation or waste. When you invest (time/money/resources) IN something, your mindset is more focused on abundance, growth, or getting/making things better.

What steps can you take this week to gain more control of your time? It is our most precious possession.

03Oct

Yoga Inspires

October 3, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 22

True yoga is not about the shape of your body, but the shape of your life.

Yoga is not to be performed; yoga is to be lived.

Yoga doesn’t care about what you have been; yoga cares about the person you are becoming.

Yoga is designed for a vast and profound purpose, and for it to be truly called yoga, we must embody its essence.

~Aadil Palkhivala

For many, the thought of going to a yoga mat reminds them of what they find to be imperfect about themselves. I was one such person. Then I came across the above quote by Aadil Palkhivala and found curiosity about how to progress in the world through the movements of my being. This curiosity led me to the mat and over time inspired a change in mindset that led to a more authentic way of living in the world.

The next time you consider registering for a yoga class and hesitate, tangled in the thoughts and feelings of your life, think of this quote and ask: What is it about this quote that arouses curiosity and inspires me?

Join RJ for yoga at Empower, In-Studio or Virtually:

REGISTER HERE

29Sep

Managing Hunger & Appetite

September 29, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 20

By Michael Raynor, MS, RD, LDN

Maybe you’re a seasoned athlete, have been working out consistently for years, or maybe you’re new to working out consistently. Regardless of which camp you fall in, working out consistently and more frequently can lead to an increased appetite or feeling hungrier because of the additional calories you’re burning, and the additional calories needed for recovery. If you have goals of weight maintenance or weight loss, that can make it more challenging to keep moving toward your goals. Luckily, there are a few strategies you can use to head this off. Keep yourself fueled, keep from being too hungry, and keep moving steadily toward your goals.

Food is Fuel, Don’t Run Out of Gas!

To keep it simple, our body continuously needs energy. Our brains, our muscles, and the rest of our organs are constantly working and, as a result, need a steady stream of energy. When we haven’t eaten recently, our blood sugar dips, and our body breaks down body stores of energy to fuel these necessary processes and keep our blood sugar up. As we dip into these energy reserves, our body produces a hunger signal to encourage us to eat, recognizing that it can’t fuel us forever just based on our body’s energy reserves. When we eat, it provides our bodies with the energy it needs to fuel all the essential processes like fueling our brain, keeping our organs functioning, etc. This influx of energy and nutrients from our food also allows our body to repair and maintain tissues like muscles. So, my first tip for managing hunger/appetite is to ensure you provide your body with a steady supply of energy throughout the day by eating consistently throughout the day (about every 3-4 hours), whether this is a snack or a meal. For example, if you eat breakfast at 7am, aim for a snack around 9-10am, lunch around 12-1pm, a snack around 4pm, and dinner by 7pm.

Mix it Up.

My next tip requires a little background information. When we eat carbohydrates, they leave our stomach and move into our GI tract relatively quickly, and they’re also absorbed and used more rapidly. Fat and protein leave the stomach more slowly and are digested and absorbed more slowly. We can apply these facts to our advantage. If we eat a snack, that’s only carbohydrates (like an apple or a banana), this doesn’t keep us full for very long–it gives us a quick burst of energy and then leaves us feeling hungry again quickly. If we have protein and/or fat with our carbohydrates, it slows down our digestion a bit, keeps us full for longer, and gives us more sustained energy. So, my second tip is to have a mixture of carbohydrates, protein, and fat at every meal, and to have carbohydrates, protein, and/or fat at every snack. This is actually pretty simple. For example, instead of an apple for a snack, try an apple with nut butter. Instead of crackers for a snack, try crackers and cheese or chips and hummus. For lunch, instead of just a salad with chicken on it, try adding some carbs to your salad with chicken (whether it’s fruit, potatoes/sweet potatoes, or a side of toasted bread).

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate (sound familiar?)

My third tip deals with hydration. If you saw the last nutrition blog, then you know how important hydration is. If you missed that blog, you could check it out here. Outside of all the reasons I talk about in that blog, dehydration can also cause several same signs as being hungry, like fatigue, headache, difficulty concentrating, which can lead us to believe we’re hungry. When we are dehydrated, it can cause us to crave some foods, particularly salty ones, as our body is looking to correct fluid and electrolyte imbalances. The salty foods most people typically reach for when craving salt can be calorically dense and less nutrient rich, which isn’t typically in line with most people’s nutrition goals. Apathy and impatience are also signs of dehydration–things that rarely go hand in hand with making sound nutrition decisions that are in line with our goals. Think about it, when you’re exhausted and impatient after a long or tough day of work, are you going to choose to cook a nice meal at home or are you going to get takeout on your way home? The take home point being, make sure you’re hydrated. Proper hydration can help to curb cravings and help you stay on track with your goals when you must make food choices, not to mention, adequate hydration helps every single system in our body to function better.

Stick with it!

My final tip is consistency. The three tips above are great, but where they really have power is when we can apply them consistently. Work on applying these tips consistently. By making these tips into habits, they get significantly easier and require less thought and work, which also makes them easier to stick with. Many people think they need to make enormous changes or take drastic action to see the results that they’re looking for, but small, consistent changes add up to huge changes over the weeks, months, and years. Plus, smaller steps are typically easier to implement and are certainly easier to stick with!

So, if you’re struggling with increased appetite or always feeling hungry, give these tips a try. Not sure how to apply these to your life or even where to get started? Drop me a line here, I’d love to help!

26Aug

Metabolism: What we THOUGHT we Knew

August 26, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 23

Anyone else read the recent NY Times article; “What We Think We Know About Metabolism May Be Wrong?”

Well, first let me just start by saying. Isn’t science wonderful?!

I saw this quote somewhere recently and love it, so I will share:

“Science is not the truth. Science is finding the truth. When science changes its opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more.”

Well, some smart researchers learned something new about metabolism and have shared their findings in a publication called Science: Daily energy expenditure through the human life course

(And, hey – the study’s principal investigator, Herman Pontzer, is an evolutionary anthropologist at Duke University–super cool).

So, what did they learn?

Apparently, metabolism and energy expenditure hasn’t been studied extensively, and so some accepted beliefs about metabolism just got refuted.

So, if you have been blaming that gradual increase of your midriff on your declining metabolism,

you may have to retire that excuse (at least until age 60).

Or, as a woman, if you complain that the men in your life can eat anything they want because they have a metabolic advantage, and all you have to do is look at a French fry and it ends up on your thighs, well – it turns out our metabolic rates aren’t that different from men folk after all.

I find these two points of their results particularly interesting:

POINT 1 –

“Central to their findings was that metabolism differs for all people across four distinct stages of life.

There’s infancy, until age 1, when calorie burning is at its peak, accelerating until it is 50 percent above the adult rate.

Then, from age 1 to about age 20, metabolism gradually slows by about 3 percent a year.

From age 20 to 60, it holds steady.

And, after age 60, it declines by about 0.7 percent a year.”

While there has been a longstanding assumption that everyone has a certain energy expenditure rate per pound of body weight, we now know that rate depends on age. However, it doesn’t appear that the weight we gain as we age can be blamed on a big drop off in metabolic rate.

POINT 2 –

“Once the researchers controlled for body size and the amount of muscle people have, they also found no differences between men and women.”

It is not surprising that we thought men had higher metabolisms, but what this study makes clear is the reason we believed this to be true. It is a proven fact that men, on average, have a higher percentage of muscle than women. It is also known that at any weight, the more muscle in your body, and the less fat, the higher your metabolic rate. That’s because muscle uses a lot more energy than fat even at rest. Therefore, it isn’t gender specific, its body composition specific.

While this study will shape medical and nutrition strategies in the future–for now, what it reconfirms is this:

If you want to lose weight, boost your metabolism by changing your body composition.

And how do you do this? Build muscle through weight training.

TAKE HOME POINT –

No matter your age or gender, it’s time to weightlift 2 -3 days per week.

(Not only will this increase your metabolism, but it also helps build functional strength and overall fitness)

Need help to create a customized strength training program?

Get Started with a FREE Session at Empower.

19Aug

How to Hydrate & Why it’s Important

August 19, 2021 Jessica Bottesch 24

By Michael Raynor, MS, RD, LDN

“Hydration is the key to success” is a phrase I’ve said to nearly every single one of my clients, regardless of their goals. The importance of being properly hydrated for the health of nearly every system and part of our body can’t be overstated. Hydration is important for the health of skin and muscles (and recovery from those awesome workouts that Empower is delivering), the brain functions better with proper hydration, and proper hydration is important for gut and intestinal health and to keep our bowel habits regular, not to mention the fact that proper hydration even helps with oral health. Clearly, I’m passionate about hydration and feel that it is often overlooked. When talking about hydration, I like to break it down into a few considerations.

How much fluid we need?

How can we meet our hydration needs?

How can we monitor how hydrated we are?

First things first, how much fluid do you need to be hydrated? There are lots of different recommendations swirling around regarding how much fluid someone should drink in a day, from 8 cups per day to 1 gallon per day. However, like much of nutrition, hydration isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” approach, and how much water you should drink in a day depends on your lifestyle, your activity level, and even your body size. The easiest, simplest starting place is to aim for half of your body weight in ounces of water per day. For example, if you weigh 160 lbs., you’d aim for.

80 oz of water each day. However, this is just a starting place, and you may need to drink more or less fluid depending on your needs. In addition, sweating and being active increase our needs above and beyond this “half our body weight” number. When exercising, an easy way to see how much fluid you need to drink to rehydrate is to weigh yourself before your workout and again after, and for every pound of weight you lose, aim to replace 16-20oz. For example, if you lost 2lbs over the course of your workout, add 32-40oz of water to your total water needs for the day.

Now, how to meet our hydration needs. We can meet our hydration needs several ways, and it’s important to remember that small things can add up. Ideally, our primary hydrating beverage is going to be water (including sparkling water, seltzer, etc.). Besides water, juices, sports drinks, caffeine free teas, milk, and non-dairy milks can all help us meet our daily hydration needs; however, we shouldn’t rely on these fluids for the bulk of our hydration. In addition, there are lots of foods higher in water that can help contribute to our hydration (albeit to a smaller degree, even so, every bit helps). Especially during summer, foods like watermelon, berries, cucumber, pineapple, and celery can be really refreshing, while also helping ensure we’re hydrated! There are also some beverages that aren’t as productive with our hydration. Coffees, caffeinated teas, and sodas shouldn’t count toward our daily fluid needs. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it increases the body’s production of urine. If you consume these caffeine sources regularly, this effect is less dramatic and the amount it dehydrates us doesn’t exceed the volume of the drink; but for this reason, we don’t want to count these caffeinated beverages as hydrating. Alcohol-containing beverages also don’t count toward our fluid needs and actually increase the amount of fluids we need, because alcohol is a potent diuretic and can dehydrate us if we don’t drink extra fluids to offset it.

The final piece of the puzzle is monitoring how hydrated we are to determine if we need more or less fluid. The easiest, cheapest, and most convenient way for us to monitor how hydrated we are is to look at the color of our urine. It may sound weird, but everybody pees. All I’m suggesting is you take a quick look in the toilet before you flush it. Now, some supplements can affect the color of our urine (for example, beetroot juice supplements or B-complex vitamins), and in these cases, you may have to rely on other means to monitor how hydrated you are. For most people, though, urine color is a great tool for monitoring hydration. We want our pee to be the color of pale lemonade or lighter, but not clear. So if your pee is darker than pale lemonade, increase your fluid intake. If your pee is completely clear, lay off the fluids for a little until it darkens up a bit. Over time, you’ll figure out how much water you need to drink in a day and monitoring your urine color just serves to make sure you’re on track throughout the day.

You can see why hydration is so important. You know what things help hydrate you, and you know how to check how hydrated you are throughout the day. The only thing left is to put it into practice. Like any new habit, it takes work and time to build this habit of good hydration, but it’s a habit that makes a big difference regardless of what your goals are. Just start small and work your way up. If you’re consistently drinking way less water than you should be, start by just adding an extra 8-16oz per day until you’ve got that under control consistently,

Then add another 8-16oz per day and keep working until you’re consistently hydrated throughout the day most days. One big thing that helps many people is to just carry a bottle of water around with you no matter where you go, whether it’s around the house, on the coach, running errands—just having a bottle of water there makes you more likely to drink from it.

Still feeling a little confused about how much fluid you need or how to hit that number? Need some accountability in building this habit? Reach out or set up a free Get-To-Know-You call with me!