Katie Skipper

Whole Foods Can Help Heal

Whole Foods Can Help Heal

There is continually growing evidence that what you eat makes a huge difference in your health and that whole foods can help heal chronic health issues. We focus on eating healthy at Wholly You Fitness in Oceanside, CA, for a number of reasons. Changing your diet can eliminate toxins and boost nutrient intake. It can lower calories and help you lose weight.

Food helps heal, while others can increase the risk of disease.

Certain food can promote angiogenesis, which is a necessary function for forming new blood vessels, healing wounds and growth. However, the body also controls it by trimming those vessels and stopping the growth where there too many. The body continuously has cancer cells form, but the process of anti-angiogenesis prevents them from replicating and growing by stopping blood flow to them, so they die without affecting your body. If that system isn’t functioning properly, the continuous creation of vessels feed cancer cells that normally would die. Anti-angiogenesis foods like cherries, berries, kale, turmeric and tomatoes are being investigated by scientists for their properties that may help get the body back on a healthy track to reduce the potential of cancer.

Inflammation can create health issues, but whole foods can help prevent it.

Some foods contribute to inflammation. When controlled, inflammation helps fight infection, but when chronic, it can become a factor in serious conditions such as heart disease, cancer and arthritis. Having a balanced diet that contains adequate nutrition can help prevent and even help cure some of those problems. Processed meats, foods with added sugar, refined carbohydrates, highly processed foods, artificial sweeteners and trans fats cause high amounts of inflammation. Whole foods like tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, almonds and walnuts, fatty fish and fresh fruit like berries and cherries help prevent inflammation.

Eating healthy has other benefits, such as weight loss.

There’s still a lot to learn about how healthy eating boosts your health. Statistics show that people who are obese tend to have a higher risk for many serious conditions, but that fact brings up another question. Is it the excess weight that causes the problem or did the food that added the extra weight also create the health issue? While there are research studies into the effects of using food as an actual cure, all scientists and doctors agree that a healthy diet that limits processed food and added sugar can improve your health and boost medical treatment for serious conditions.

  • Your body has microbes that perform many functions and control everything from digestion to aspects of mental health. To maintain a healthy balance of beneficial microbes, you have to eat healthy, which means eating whole foods with adequate soluble fiber.
  • Healthy foods also include herbs and spices. For instance, turmeric is an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and can boost heart health. Basil can improve mental health, is an antioxidant, reduces inflammation and is antibacterial.
  • If you eat meat, you need to be mindful of how that animal was raised. Essentially, you’re eating what they ate. Grass-fed, organic, free-range animals and fish raised in the wild are healthier options.
  • Foods high in fiber not only help your microbiome, they help regulate blood sugar levels, aid in weight loss, lower the risk of heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes and help you live longer.

For more information, contact us today at Wholly You Fitness


Look And Feel Better Now

Look And Feel Better Now

If you look in the mirror and like what you see, that makes you feel better about yourself. Feeling healthy and looking healthy makes you more attractive. It’s natural for people to be more drawn to healthy individuals. It happens in the animal community, too. The healthier an animal is, the more potential they have for having a healthy offspring or can provide for basic needs. Of course, a lot more goes into choosing a mate, particularly in humans, but healthy is definitely the new sexy. You can start your journey immediately by starting with small changes.

First decide what changes you want to make and be specific.

I want to look better or I want to be healthier may be what you want, but you have to be more specific in order to find ways to achieve your goal. Your goal has to be more specific and something realistic. Start simple with goals like following a healthy diet and exercising at least a half hour a day.

Our exercise program will be designed specifically for you and your goals.

Maybe you’ve been a couch potato for years and never exercised. When you start by working with Wholly You Fitness, we tailor it to your needs and level of fitness. However, if you’re not ready for a formal workout program, start by becoming more active. Set aside a half hour a day to go for a brisk walk. The good news is that you don’t have to do it all at once. You can get the same benefit from taking three ten-minute walks throughout the day. Another option is to do a ten-minute workout in the morning, walk ten minutes at noon and do another ten minutes of exercise at the end of the day.

Learning to eat healthy is a key component of becoming a healthier you.

Again, our program includes meal plans and helps you learn how to eat healthier. The plans are based on the information you provide, such as food intolerance and food preferences. If you’re not ready for a formal plan, start by making small changes. Cut out food with added sugar first and follow that by replacing processed food with whole foods. You’ll start to notice food tastes better and you’ll feel better.

  • Don’t expect to transform your body overnight or see the changes immediately. However, once you start on the road to a healthier lifestyle, you’ll notice how much better you feel in just a few weeks.
  • Even if you don’t have the look you want right now, be kind to yourself. Self hate is counterproductive. You need to know you deserve to take care of your body and feed it the healthiest foods.
  • Getting adequate sleep is also important. You need eight to nine hours a night. Too little sleep takes a toll on your heart and can cause an imbalance in hormones. It slows the creation of hormones that make you feel full and increases the creation of hormones that make you hungry.
  • Getting adequate hydration is also important. You need approximately eight glasses of water a day. Cut out soft drinks, including artificially sweetened ones. Drinking a glass of water before a meal can also help you eat less food.

For more information, contact us today at Wholly You Fitness


What Are Wellness Habits?

What Are Wellness Habits?

The key to being fit isn’t a specific workout or even a special superfood. It’s about all the little things you do each day, whether it’s getting adequate sleep, drinking more water, exercising daily or eating healthy. There are a number of wellness habits that will impact your overall health. You may have “unhealthy habits” that you want to quit. You can do that by replacing them with ones that make you healthier and fitter.

Start by making small changes.

One wellness habit that you can start immediately is getting more exercise. You don’t have to start with a formal program, even though we suggest it. If you’re extremely unfit, start by changing some daily habits. Get up from the computer every hour and walk around, do an exercise or too to get your blood circulating. Park further from the store if you’re going shopping and walk. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Take a daily walk. If you’re out of shape and can’t go very far, go as far as you can and try to extend the time walking and the distance you walk daily. Our workout program is easy to add to your daily schedule, since you don’t have to leave the house and can do it on your schedule, not ours.

What you eat makes a difference in your health.

Your body needs nutrients to be its healthiest. A healthy diet provides the building blocks for a healthy body. Start small with one healthy habit when it comes to eating. It can be something as simple as adding more vegetables to your diet or something far more difficult, like cutting out processed foods or foods that contain extra sugar or white flour. You can focus on snacking first and find ways to make your snacks healthier, such as having fresh fruit, nuts or veggies readily available for snacking.

Are you quitting smoking or giving up something else?

If you’re constantly grabbing a soft drink, it may be time to kick the habit. You can do it by replacing that soft drink with water. Start by switching out one glass a day with water, then work toward two or more. Kicking any negative habit, like smoking, requires having other healthy habits in place. If you’ve already started a workout program and a program of healthy eating, you won’t experience the weight gain and can exercise away other cravings.

  • Getting more sleep is an important habit. Not only does lack of sleep increase the risk of heart disease, it also affects your hunger/satiety hormone balance, creating more hunger hormones and less satiety hormone. That makes weight loss harder.
  • To create any habit, you have to do it regularly. With exercise, it helps if you workout at the same time every day. You’ll develop more consistency and make it a habit quicker.
  • Make it a habit to sit down when you eat, instead of eating on the run. It even helps if you use smaller plates. Practice leaving some food on the plate to quit your membership in the plate cleaner’s club.
  • Carry water with you at all times. When you’re hungry, reach for a bottle of water first. You may be thirsty and not really hungry. Staying hydrated can also increase your energy level, so you’ll burn more calories.

For more information, contact us today at Wholly You Fitness


Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

Consistency, Consistency, Consistency

You don’t have to leave your home or come to Wholly You Fitness in Oceanside, CA, to achieve your fitness goals. Getting fit is all about having the right plan for your needs and consistency. It’s important to achieving any type of goal, including your fitness goal. Anything of significance wasn’t created overnight, but took doing the same repetitions daily, checking your progress, adjusting and repeating. Consistency may seem obvious and simple, but it’s one of the core requirements to every success in life, whether in the gym or life in general.

Developing good habits is part of succeeding at your goal.

If your goal is to save $100,000, for most people, it means putting a small sum away every week. It’s normally not feasible to achieve that type of savings in a few weeks or a month. The same is true when developing a strong, healthy body. You can’t workout once and expect to see results or eat one healthy meal and hope to lose weight. It’s making small changes along the way and sticking with those changes until they become a habit. Good habits that direct you toward your goal provide the foundation to reaching that goal.

Fitness goals require consistency.

If you aren’t training on a consistent basis, your body doesn’t adapt as well and habits aren’t formed. One key to fitness success is having daily habits that help your body get stronger and fitter. If you’re consistent with your training, you’ll see success quicker and form habits that keep you fit. Every workout session, small changes are achieved. Those changes all add up to bigger changes, such as developing muscle, endurance and flexibility.

Bodily changes produced by consistency include becoming stronger.

When you’re consistent, your body slowly develops stronger tendons and ligaments, more capillaries in the muscles and improves use of fat as energy, oxygen intake, strength and endurance. Your body can’t change overnight. Each small change builds on other small changes, but you have to do what it takes to achieve those changes on a consistent basis or you lose ground. In other words, the hardest part of getting fit is showing up every day to workout.

  • Every workout you complete is one small step toward your goal, one brick in building the body you want. Each workout becomes easier to do and showing up becomes more of a habit.
  • The more you do something, the more natural it feels. We are all creatures of habit. Studies show that to develop a habit, you have to do something for approximately 68 days.
  • Consistency is about making one small change until you feel comfortable and then adding another small change. Each new change builds on the previous one. Small changes can’t occur if you’re inconsistent.
  • Consistency also means dietary consistency. It’s about choosing healthier food options on a regular basis. You’ll be amazed at how your tastes change the more you do it. Giving up food with added sugar, for instance, can help you realize just how sweet fresh fruit tastes.

For more information, contact us today at Wholly You Fitness