However, as thoughts turn to warmer weather (and fewer clothes!), many of us revisit our resolutions, galvanized by the desire to feel more comfortable in our own skin. At the same time, we may be afraid of losing steam again.

All of which begs the question: How can we make sure our resolutions stick this time? It all comes down to balance.

Let’s take a closer look at how a holistic approach is a key to maintaining fitness resolutions — and overall health and wellness.

Resolutions Roundup: What Are Your Goals for Spring?

Is weight management your goal for spring? Maybe your goal is to work on incorporating more exercise into your everyday life and adopt a healthier sleep schedule.

Perhaps you’re interested in eating more nutritious foods, embracing anti-aging behaviors related to hydration to skincare, or having more energy for your everyday activities.

While all these goals may seem very different on the surface, the reality is that they all go together. If you focus on one of these things without acknowledging the others, you will likely fall short of the goals you set for yourself.

On the other hand, if you recognize the interconnectedness of these healthy behaviors, you’ll not only be more successful in achieving your resolutions this spring, but the process will be easier, too.

A Holistic Approach to Fitness Goals

Let’s backtrack a bit to one of the goals mentioned earlier, which is a common goal for many people – weight loss.

By now, most of us are aware of the many benefits of maintaining a healthy weight. From controlling cholesterol levels and regulating blood sugar to preventing diabetes, arthritis, and other diseases, weight management is about much more than looking and feeling good.

Yet despite the undeniable importance of weight management and despite our best efforts with implementing weight loss routines, it’s a struggle for many people. This is because long-term weight management doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Rather, it happens within the context of overall healthy habits comprising all aspects of wellness.

For example, restricting calories without prioritizing adequate nutrition and hydration will deplete you of energy, while implementing an exercise routine without also committing to a regular sleep schedule potentially leads to fatigue. In both of these scenarios and countless others like them, the changes being made are not sustainable.

So what is sustainable? Incorporating all of these elements into a daily routine for a healthy body and mind.

Improving Daily Routines: The Key to Overall Health

Every day you wake up to a blank slate. The best way to make the most of it? Formulate a realistic plan that not only makes it easy to get your day off to the best start, but will also help you power through all your other goals.

That’s where Neora’s comprehensive line of high-quality synergistic health and wellness products comes in.

Our Plant-Based Protein Powder is formulated with a wide variety of clean plant-based proteins, containing all the functional fuel you need to maximize your nutrition for the day. When you start your morning with a delicious protein powder smoothie, you’re not only loading up on 20 grams of protein (that will boost your energy levels and help you feel fuller for longer), but you’re also laying the foundation for healthy lifestyle habits throughout your day – especially if you pair it with other Neora wellness products.

The more energy you have and the better you feel, the easier it will be to keep moving toward your goals of getting fit and healthy for spring. Rather than veering off track as you may have in the past, you’ll propel yourself forward. In addition to getting your “summer body,” you’ll see many other improvements as well — from better sleep to more radiant skin.

While changing up your lifestyle habits to lose weight is a short-term solution, adapting your lifestyle habits with a focus on overall wellness leads to lasting results. The even better news? You don’t have to do it alone.

Neora offers a natural line of weight management, wellness, hair care, and skincare products designed to work together. And there’s no better time than now to start!

Learn how to get a powerful jumpstart on your weight loss goals for spring with the NeoraFit New Year Reset Program.

In the Slow Carb Diet, a diet popularized by Tim Ferriss in The Four Hour Body in 2010, of the diet’s five rules,  rule #5 is to never skip your cheat day. In fact, he even encourages you to make yourself sick from eating junk food every so often. 

Why does this work? And how can you make your cheat days work for you?

What is a Cheat Day?

A cheat day is essentially one day where you eat whatever you want. Plain and simple. Throw out whatever eating rules you follow the rest of the week and indulge. 

Why It Works

Studies have shown that eating a cheat meal causes the body to produce higher levels of leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells that is responsible for maintaining energy balance in the body. Leptin production may increase by up to 30% for up to 24 hours. What exactly does that mean? Put simply, the body increases its metabolism, causing you to burn calories faster. 

In addition to the positive effects cheat days have on your metabolism, there’s a psychological reason that cheat days are so effective. Having a cheat day to look forward to each week makes it much easier to eat well the other 6 days of the week. Without cheat days, it’s easy to feel deprived while on a diet or meal plan. That feeling of deprivation is breeding ground for unplanned binge meals, which are much more difficult to bounce back from. In fact, if you really go nuts on your cheat day and it makes you feel a little sick, you won’t crave junk food as much the rest of the week. Let’s face it, everyone cheats on diets. Cheat days allow you to cheat smart and guilt-free. 

How to Harness the Power of the Cheat Day

In my opinion, you do NOT need to weigh yourself the day after a cheat day. The weight you gain on a cheat day is temporary. If you’re curious and know it won’t deter or discourage you, feel free to weigh yourself. 

Side Note on Weight as a Measurement:

While weighing yourself is an easy way to see whether or not a diet or meal plan is working, it’s actually extremely ineffective. Weight has little to do with health. Instead, I suggest taking measurements. Measure your chest, waist, abs, hips, arms, thighs, and calves weekly.  In my opinion, this gives you a much more accurate measurement of success. 

There are three principles to follow in order to make your cheat days really work for you, according to Tim Ferriss’ The Four Hour Body.

1) Minimize the release of insulin

• Your first meal should not be a cheat meal. Eat a breakfast high in protein and insoluble fiber. This first meal should be about 300-500 calories. My go-to for this is eggs and lentils or black beans.
• Before your second meal, consume a small amount of fructose by drinking some grapefruit juice. This will help to regulate your blood glucose. 
• Throughout the day, consume citric juices. Squeeze some lemon or lime into your water or onto your food, or drink a beverage like citrus kombucha. 

2) Increase the speed of gastric emptying

• This is how quickly food exits the stomach. Normally you wouldn’t want to increase that speed so that your body can fully absorb all of the nutrients from your food. But during cheat days, speed this up by consuming caffeinated drinks like green tea and yerba mate tea. 

Engage in brief muscular contraction throughout your cheat day

• Do 60-90 seconds of exercise immediately before your cheat meals, and again about 90 minutes after. 
• Air squats are a great option for this because they don’t take up any space. (You can do them in a bathroom stall. No one will know!) Wall push-ups are another discreet option. 
• Why is this important? It brings glucose transporter type GLUT-4 to the surface of muscle cells. Once you eat your cheat meal, insulin will trigger that same GLUT-4 response on fat cells. You’re essentially opening up gates for the calories to flow to and getting your body to put that glucose into muscle instead of fat cells. 

If you’ve ever tried a diet or meal plan and experienced a plateau, maybe the missing ingredient was a well planned cheat day. There’s no reason to miss your favorite foods. You can indulge and enjoy your meals and actually hit your goals faster because of that one indulgent day!

Start your off day right with a piping hot bowl of oatmeal

Oatmeal is a great way to start the day off. Oatmeal provides you with lots of energy and helps replenish glycogen stores first thing in the morning so that you are fueled for the entire day. Whether you cook it on the stovetop or prep it the night before as overnight oats, this whole grain is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and easily combines with other super healthy foods like fresh fruit, nuts, and seeds.

Build your snacks around carbs for maximum energy

A healthy snack should clock in at around 200-300 calories depending on your age, weight, and activity level. I encourage my clients to assemble snacks with staying power by pairing a protein with a nutritious carbohydrate source. Some examples of this include:

• Hummus with sliced carrots and cucumber
• Cheese and whole grain crackers
• Peanut butter and apple
• Low-fat Greek yogurt, fresh berries, and a sprinkle of sliced almonds
• My favorite smoothie made with frozen banana, mango, spinach, unsweetened almond milk, and scoop of NeoraFit Plant-Based Protein Powder.

Take your lunchtime salads up a notch

Say goodbye to boring desk salads of lettuce and ranch dressing, and say hello to balanced, filling and nourishing salads. Start with a leafy green base using greens such as arugula, romaine, or kale and pile on your favorite mixed vegetables like tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots, adding in a half-cup serving of whole grains like cooked quinoa or brown rice or pasta, and topping off with a half-cup serving of cooked legumes such as lentils or chickpeas. Not only do whole grains and legumes give your salad more staying power, but they also add energizing carbohydrates to help you power through your afternoon.

Balance your dinner plate

Simply following the plate method at dinner will help ensure that you get in those nutritious carbohydrates. The plate method encourages filling half your plate with non-starchy vegetables such as leafy greens, broccoli, cucumber and zucchini, one-fourth of your plate with lean protein like chicken or fish, and the remaining one-fourth with fiber-rich carbohydrates such as whole grain pasta, brown rice, farro or any other starchy veggies such as sweet potato or green peas.

Rethink dessert

Carbs are often synonymous with desserts and are touted as bad for you, but you don’t have to completely forgo your sweet tooth if you build your own desserts using nutritious sources of carbohydrates. Some sweet ideas that satisfy cravings using good carbs are:

• Raspberries stuffed with dark chocolate chips
• A Medjool date dipped in peanut butter
• Homemade “ice cream” made by blending a frozen banana with almond milk
• Oatmeal banana cookies made with ½ cup of quick oats, 1 large, mashed banana and mini dark chocolate chips baked for 10-12 minutes at 350 F

For more ideas on sweets and snacks that combine protein with good carbs makes sure to visit Neora’s Blog.

Hopefully by now you have realized that not all carbs are evil. Carbohydrates are important for not only energy production but also for weight management, digestion, gut health, blood sugar regulation, and so much more. Focusing on nutrient-dense complex carbohydrates like whole grains, fruit, vegetables, dairy, and beans, and limiting nutrient-poor sources such as refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages and desserts, can help ensure that you meet your nutritional needs and support healthy aging.

1. Make Cauliflower your BFF

If you tuned in to my Facebook Live last month, you know that I am a big fan of cauliflower. This mild-tasting cruciferous veggie takes on the flavors of anything you cook it with. When “riced”, cauliflower can be seamlessly incorporated into smoothies or oatmeal to add volume, fiber and nutrients. And of course, if you haven’t heard by now, cauli can be made into low carb pizza crust (just Google Cauliflower Pizza Crust for recipes!).

My favorite way to use cauliflower is to simply swap it out for rice. While a cup of rice has about 200 calories, a cup of cauliflower rice has only 25, and is full of fiber and nutrients like vitamin C and magnesium. Replacing rice in your staple recipes at home with cauliflower rice can help make weight loss a breeze without compromising taste or satisfaction.

2. When in Doubt, Spiralize It

If you don’t have a spiralizer yet, it’s time to get on board! Spiralizers retail for as low as $10, and they can help easily get those veggies in every day. A spiralizer transforms vegetables such as zucchini, carrots, beets, and sweet potato into low-calorie, low-carb veggie noodles. Spiralized veggies are the ultimate “weight loss pasta” to help take your nutrition up a notch.

Serve your favorite turkey Bolognese sauce over spiralized zucchini noodles for a protein- and fiber-packed meal that will keep you satisfied for a fraction of the calories of a traditional Spaghetti Bolognese.

3. Do Dip It

The latest research – and our tastebuds – deem that having a delicious dip on hand is one sure way to make veggie snacking more appealing. Since dips can often be high in calories, fat and added sugar, it’s important to seek out healthy options and be mindful of portions.

Dieticians recommend both guacamole and hummus as choice options. Can’t live without ranch? Whip up your own lower fat version using plain nonfat Greek yogurt as the base instead of mayonnaise.

4. Reorganize your Fridge

Eating more vegetables can really be as easy as changing where you store them in the fridge. Placing sliced veggies in the middle shelf at eye level puts them in plain sight and makes you more likely to grab them when you are hankering for a snack.

Make Sunday your meal-prep day. Slice up veggies like cucumber “chips,” sliced carrots and celery, cherry tomatoes, and sugar snap peas for easy snacking.

5. Get Sneaky

You don’t need to completely overhaul your diet to get in your daily 2-3 cup servings of veg. There are a lot of ways to “sneak” veggies into your favorite meals that you’re already eating.

• Puree pumpkin or squash into your pancake or waffle mix
• Add a handful of spinach to your fruit smoothie
• Add riced cauliflower to oatmeal or scrambled eggs
• Replace half the meat in your homemade burger or Bolognese recipe with minced mushrooms
• Puree pumpkin, carrots, or spinach into marinara sauce
• Bake mild-tasting grated zucchini into baked goods like muffins and brownies

By now you can see that there are so many ways to add more vegetables to your daily eats. Some can be snuck right into recipes, while others can be prepared in unique ways to make them more palatable. Adding more veggies to your life will not only boost your overall nutrition but make weight loss a lot easier. So get going and give one of these ‘sneaks’ a try this week!

1. Prep protein for easy throw-together meals throughout the week

Protein is one of the harder macronutrients to meet daily requirements conveniently since the most nutritious sources, such as meat, eggs, fish, dry beans, and lentils, need a little prep work. Set aside some time to prep proteins that can easily added to meals throughout the week and up the hunger-curbing power of salads, soups, and grain bowls.

Examples of proteins to prep for the week: 

• Hardboiled eggs 
• Boneless, skinless chicken breast strips 
• Cooked lentils 
• Tofu or tempeh
• Shrimp

2. Build snacks with staying power

Don’t forget about protein at snack time. Build “snacks with staying power” by pairing protein with fiber-rich carbohydrates such as whole grains, veggies or fruit. This combination will keep you satisfied with the least calories and will carry you through to your next meal.

Examples of protein-packed “snacks with staying power”: 

• Celery or apple with peanut butter 
• Hardboiled egg and a piece of fruit 
• String cheese and whole grain crackers 
• Edamame with lemon juice and a pinch of salt 
• Raw sliced veggies and hummus  

3. Replace your morning bowl of cereal with eggs, yogurt or a smoothie 

A bowl of standard breakfast cereal is packed with carbohydrates and very little protein, leaving you hungry an hour later. Instead, start your day with a protein-packed breakfast which will energize you, satiate you, stabilize blood sugar and take food off your mind until lunchtime.

Examples of protein-rich breakfasts: 

• Veggie omelet made with bell peppers, spinach, mushrooms, onion, 2 egg whites, 1 egg and 1 tbsp of shredded cheese 
• Smoothie with spinach, 2 cups of fruit, 1 cup of milk and 2 scoops of protein powder (or try THIS amazing signature smoothie recipe using Neora’s NEW Plant-Based Protein Powder!) 
• Stovetop oatmeal with 1-2 egg whites cooked in and served with fresh fruit 
• 1 cup of unsweetened plain Greek yogurt topped with a handful of fresh berries 
• Breakfast burrito made with black beans, 1 egg, bell peppers, hummus and a whole grain tortilla 

4. Keep convenient protein sources on hand for when needed in a pinch

The day before grocery shopping day can get the best of us. Not having fresh protein choices on hand to build protein-packed meals can lead to more snacking throughout the day, insatiable hunger and less energy. Stay prepared by stocking up on convenient nutritious protein sources that keep well, for when you need one in a pinch.   

Examples of nutritious no-prep protein sources: 

• Canned tuna or salmon 
• Canned sardines 
• Plain non-fat Greek yogurt or cottage cheese 
• Neora’s Plant-Based Protein Powder 
• Frozen edamame

5. Rethink your favorite foods with a protein twist

Rethink the foods you know and love like pasta, rice and potato chips and swap for the protein-packed alternative. For example, upgrade pasta night with red lentil pasta instead of regular pasta or roast up a batch of chickpeas with your favorite seasonings to replace your potato chip habit.  

Examples of protein-packed food swaps: 

• Instead of regular pasta, try red lentil or chickpea pasta  
• Instead of potato chips, try crunchy roasted chickpeas 
• Instead of using mayo on a sandwich or wrap, try hummus 
• Instead of a tortilla, try an egg white wrap 
• Instead of regular yogurt, try Greek yogurt 
• Instead of white rice, try quinoa

Tap into the Power of Protein

Focusing on protein-packed foods can make a world of difference for appetite, blood sugar control and weight loss efforts. Focusing on incorporating a variety of protein-packed foods into your diet will give you the nutrition your body needs and get you one step closer reaching your weight loss goals. 

Neora’s NEW Plant-Based Protein Powder is also a quick, convenient way to get your protein in. For more info on this new product, visit us HERE. For some incredible protein-packed recipe ideas using this new powder visit us HERE. 

Enter NeoraFit Plant-Based Protein Powder. With 20 grams of protein, 120 calories, and just 4 grams of carbs, NeoraFit Protein Powder keeps you feeling fuller for longer, after meals and throughout the day, all while keeping your calorie and carb count low. 

Protein is an important macronutrient for weight loss and muscle building and repair, but with easier carb options for quick breakfasts like cereal and milk or handy instant oatmeal packets, it can often get sidelined. Protein powder provides a convenient way to get more protein into your diet than other protein sources out there. Beef, chicken, or fish need to be thawed, marinated, cooked, and then eaten on a table with a fork and knife. Eggs need to be whipped, beaten, fried up in a pan, taking up precious time in the morning and leaving a mess to clean up. With protein powder, at the very minimum, you only need a shaker and some water to get in your most important macro—first thing in the day.

Protein powder is a fool-proof, no brainer way to get your protein in for the day, every day. When the morning routine going gets tough, just grab your NeoraFit New Plant-Based Protein Powder, a blender and some water or almond milk, and you’re good to go. When the going gets tougher, grab your NeoraFit Protein Powder, some water, and a shaker n’ go.

Protein Curbs Hunger

Protein shakes may curb your appetite and decrease hunger due to the release of two different hormones that help keep you satisfied, GLP-1 and P&7.ⁱ And then there is the favorite study where subjects who ate two eggs for breakfast stayed fuller longer than people who ate a bagel; both meals contained the same calorie content, but the egg breakfast was significantly higher in protein than the bagel breakfast.ⁱⁱ In both cases, you can see how ingesting protein in the morning will help keep you fuller for longer and reduce your overall daily calorie intake, which will help you lose weight over time. 

Plant-based Protein  

NeoraFit Protein Powder is formulated with protein from a variety of high-quality plant-based sources. It contains all of the essential amino acids, as well as calcium, iron, zinc, and magnesium, to help keep you humming all day long. Whether you want a healthy, on-the-go answer to getting more protein and nutrients in, or you’re looking for a reliable solution to curbing cravings and losing some weight, our new protein powder covers all your bases. 

Protein & Your Metabolism 

Since protein helps to build and retain muscle mass, research suggests that a higher intake of protein could prevent muscle loss and thereby keep up your metabolic rate. As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass, and since the more muscle we have, the higher our metabolism is, eating more protein ensures your metabolic rate is maximized and your weight loss or weight maintenance is optimal.

Have it for breakfast, and Neora’s New Plant-Based Protein Powder will provide you with the 20 grams of the protein macronutrient you need, curb your hunger for longer than most other breakfast options – especially the more convenient ones, flood your body with the micronutrients you need, and will help you to retain the precious muscle you worked so hard for at the gym, and therefore keep your metabolism humming at optimal speed. In a delicious vanilla flavor and easy to blend or add to smoothies, or pancakes (check out our recipes here!), try NeoraFit Plant-Based Protein Powder for a month and we’re sure you will make a friend for life!

^{i https://www.nature.com/articles/ijo2014216}

^{ii https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2755181/}