Your winter wellness survival guide continues!

We've covered the importance of natural light, time outside, and now we're onto: HYDRATION.

Most illness begins with cellular dehydration and inflammation.

And proper hydration is not just how much water you drink. It also has to do with the delicate balance of electrolytes and trace minerals in the body.

Fun fact: ever heard of the keto flu? When you eat carbs, the body eventually stores them as glycogen, each of which contains three molecules of water. That's why most who start keto or any low carb diet can become dehydrated very quickly as the body has less water, minerals and electrolytes.

When I dabbled in keto in 2021, I experienced the same side effect. Every glass of water I drank had to include an electrolyte powder, and I needed WAY more water than normal.

You have to really know how to manage your hydration whenever you're not eating enough carbs (whether...

every external entity wants ONE thing from you.

And it’s NOT your money.

It’s something way more valuable...

Corporations, governments, energy vampires, your employer, the news, and social media algorithms all want one thing:

YOUR ATTENTION.

They are experts at stealing your attention (i.e. your ENERGY) by exploiting your empathy.

You are easier to control in a state of fear, shame, and helplessness.

This can leave you in a perpetual state of burnout with no energy left.

In fact, they often make you feel guilty for doing even basic self care...

But the truth is:

You cannot suffer enough to end the suffering of others. 

When you are emotionally charged and wasting your energy fighting people, you are not taking care of yourself or anyone in that state.

There have always been “the best of times and the worst of times” simultaneously.

Humans and life are complex AF.

...

the only time I watch cable TV is during football season, and thus, it's the only time I'm exposed to traditional commercials.

Even though I know what I'm signing up for, it's still shocking to be bombarded by two topics ad nauseam: 

1. Pharmaceutical drugs

2. Alcohol

I will save my soap box on #1 because it's just too ridiculous to critique, so let's talk about the damage of #2: glamorizing alcohol.

Somehow society realized that smoking cigarettes isn't all it's cracked out to be but booze still has a stronghold culturally. 

The images and videos flashing across the screen are so obviously meant to brainwash the viewer into thinking that alcohol is sexy, classy, and sophisticated. 

Rarely do they show someone exhausted or depressed... drinking to deal with stress or relying on booze to ease anxiety (which, by the way, has the opposite effect long-term). Here's what they usually show...

we're continuing our email series on how to avoid winter weight gain, illness and even poor mood. 

Last week, we covered the importance of natural light.

This week, we're discussing why spending as much time as possible outside is ideal during the winter (and honestly, every other season).

How many times have you started an ambitious approach to fitness and health in the Fall or Winter only to be derailed by illness a few weeks in? 

Maybe you thought, "I'll ramp up my workouts during the holidays to make up for any indulgent food," or "I'll get a head start to New Year, New Me"  but found yourself instead battling a cough for weeks on end.

There are so many reasons to get outside, many of which we covered last week, but equally important is the quality of air that we're breathing.

Here's what you may be overlooking when it comes to outdoor air exposure during the winter and why we prioritize it...

Do your eating, moving, sleeping, and other lifestyle habits change each season like ours do?

Here are the areas that we focus on to not only avoid weight gain during the winter but also to maintain a robust immune system:

1. Light

2. Outdoors

3. Hydration

4. Sleep

5. Movement

6. Food

7. Purpose

These strategies we're about to share are actually applicable year-round, but they change with the seasons. We'll cover each area more in depth over the coming weeks.

Let's start this week with LIGHT:

As the light shifts in the winter to more darkness, we still make an effort to rise with the sun and get outside for at least a few minutes for optimal hormone production and circadian rhythm. 

Believe it or not, this will help you fall (and stay) asleep at night due to sufficient melatonin production. And here's why...

Your internal organs that produce hormones cannot "see", so they...

is your wellness archetype the student, the perfectionist, or the empath? Read on to find out. But first, some context on where these came from...

If you've been on this email list for years, you may have noticed our message change over time.

In our 20's, we thought that exercise was the most important factor dictating our health and body composition (i.e. how your body looks in terms of muscle mass to body fat ratio).

In our 30's, we discovered nutrition science - how calories, the law of thermodynamics, and macronutrients are equally if not more important than exercise alone. Instead of just focusing on the ingredients and quality of food, we learned how much and when to eat based on a combination of our nutrition science knowledge plus understanding our body's signals.

Then, we realized that mindset and emotional health were the next biggest factors determining body composition and health. Not everyone can change...

NEW: book a one-time paid call with co-founder Lisa Kirby or another Green Door Life NAMS certified nutrition coach. This is a great option for those on a budget - no membership or long-term commitment required!

TLDR: Hope. We maintain hope in the heaviest of times. And even just a sliver of hope for a more loving world is enough to keep us going. It's enough to continue our devotional self-care practices. It's enough to make us want to be the change we want to see in the world. 

Mark, if your emotions have ranged from outrage to sorrow... from despair to hope... over the span of the last couple of weeks, you're not alone.

Never before has there been 8 billion people on the planet, most with access to world events occurring in real time (both joyful and traumatizing) at the touch of a button.

No longer are we impacted only by local events such as what our family, friends or community is experiencing. We...

you know those clarifying moments in life that shock you like a bolt of lightning coursing through your body?

When you feel such resonance that your entire being gives you an unequivocal YES with zero shadow of a doubt?

Shannon and I felt that after spending last week together in Nashville.

Fun fact: we have only met each other in person a handful of times. Our business partnership and friendship has mostly been carried out online since we were originally introduced in 2018!

We were discussing how we've evolved as a company, how our clients have faced new challenges over the years, and how our own coaching program and practice has changed tremendously. 

One thing we both blurted out nearly at the same time was this: 

We are NOT interested in helping people with rapid weight loss. 

We ARE interested in helping people develop sustainable...

we are looking for 3 people to work closely with co-founder Shannon Morse and another coach-in-training over the next few months.

If you would you like to learn nutrition science and your unique health and fitness blueprint in just 90 days with tools to last you a lifetime, click the link below to reserve your spot!

We rarely take private clients these days, so don't miss out on this incredible opportunity!

Shannon Morse & Lisa Kirby | Creators of Awaken Your Nutrition @thegreendoor.life  |  thegreendoorlife.com

Upcoming Events:

P.S. Looking for more nutrition, health, and training support? Here are 2 ways we can help...

you are invited to take one of our live online fitness classes for FREE!

Yes, we not only provide nutrition coaching but also run a full-time virtual studio to give our clients everything they need to succeed in ONE place!

All too often, we work with new clients who have nagging injuries or minimal muscle development because they've been improperly trained and thus are repeating poor movement patterns for years if not decades.

That's exactly what sets our classes apart: the quality of programming and real-time instruction. In the world of online training, it's the wild west in terms of what kind of feedback (or lack thereof) that you may be getting.

You likely won't even get this kind of feedback on your form during 1:1 personal training sessions and/or group classes. We know because so many of our clients have ditched their trainers and bootcamps to train...