3 Things That Matter More Than What's On Your Plate.

Christina Santini offers nutrition target therapy + coaching + meditation/yoga .

Your body's biochemical functioning + brain chemical rebalancing takes place ONLY during those deep layers of sleep. If you are not sleeping at 10PM which is where we know from Ayurvedic Medicine that our body's main healing takes place, your body is simply not capable of healing from whatever stressors it has encountered during the day - that means that you can be an overly fanatic health-nut, cutting out this and that and carrying around Spirulina bags and whatnot, and yet you will suffer from a body that is slowly but surely breaking down.

Hormones such as testosterone and insulin are STRONGLY sensitive to sleep and the way you deal with stress.

In other words, if you can't seem to be losing that stubborn fat (particularly abdominal fat is due to an imbalance in testosterone/estrogen), and your energy levels are going down the drain - and especially for any sexual dysfunction - you may want to reconsider your sleep and meditation habits.

And if the word habit is not part of these practices, well, then you don't need to look at what's on your plate to improve your health in these areas - because it's a waste of time before your sleep and stress management tools are in place. Before that happens, your blood labs will be reflecting hormonal imbalances that are all over the map, including borderline diabetic tendencies. And this is true, EVEN if you eat a strict low-carb Paleo diet or whatnot. Doesn't matter - sort out your sleep and take some herbs that will help you calm down your mind. Everything else will fall into place after that.

Managing your nutrition before your sleep habits is like painting a house before the fundament is laid out.

Reference: J Pediatr. 2007 Apr;150(4):364-9. Association between inadequate sleep and insulin resistance in obese children. Flint J et al.

Lack of sleep increases your body's nutrient demands.

Natural Sleep Aids.

The typical alpha male struggles with insomnia 

not only due to work place stress, 

but this type often shows severe depletion 

in their calming neurotransmitters

- namely serotonin and GABA.

Massage is one way of quickly creating a boost in serotonin.

The key, however, is to change your dietary strategies,

 so they support your chemical imbalances,

 and thus enables you to live the life you really want.

Sleep is one of the most important pillars to good health - during sleep is when your brain recharges, most of your fatburning takes place and collagen and cell renewal. Yet, most of us find it increasingly difficult to sleep without either numbing ourselves out with afterwork drinks or rx sleep medication (highly addictive and you do NOT enter those deep layers of REM sleep btw. - that's why you continue to feel groggy!).

Insomnia is just about always associated with an imbalance in your serotonergic neurotransmitter system; and this is something you can rebalance with the right nutritional therapy within 6 months time completely - depending on severity.

A couple of no side-effects natural strategies that I use initially, depending on the client's genetic make-up, are based on Ayurvedic principles on how to calm down an overexcited central nervous system - some work better on certain people than others.
I will use one or more while rebalancing their neurotransmitter system, depending on their unique genotype.

You can incorporate herbs with sedative properties into your daily routine similar to as most of us have gotten used to our coffee fix - change routines, and repeat it until it becomes a natural no-frills habit.

- A warm herbal bath with drops of essential oils of lavender, chamomile, neroli or rose before going to bed works wonders to loosen tense muscles and quiet an overactive mind.

- Stuffed herb pillows with catnip, lavender, lemon balm, or orange blossoms, have been used traditionally to aid sleep.

- Warm milk (preferably goat's or casein a2) with ground almonds and a piece of nutmeg or cardamom helps digestion and nerve system.

- Herbal teas or tinctures of some of the following herbs support proper sleep pattern: lavender, hops, passionflower, chamomile, skullcap, lemon balm, valerian root and kava. These can be used in combinations or alone as suggested by your practitioner.

- A powerful herb for cultivating balance in the central nervous system is ashwagandha. This well-known Ayurvedic herb is helpful in nourishing a depleted and worn out nervous system.

Do remember that which strategies and dosages that will enable you to finally sleep sound, all depends on your genetic make-up and how your brain is wired - that's why custom natural medicine works and generalized advice is hit and miss.

Change Your Body Set-point.

If you've reached a weight-loss plateau, or even having difficulty losing any weight in spite of monitoring every morsel that passes your lips, you need to change your metabolism and brain chemistry, as these two factors are what will ultimately determine if you are able to keep your body-fat down, get ripped abs and no longer struggle with the munchies. I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: fat-burning has NOTHING to do with willpower, but everything to do with brainpower, and understanding how to harness the power of your brain chemistry and genotype - matching it with the right supplements, amino therapy and dietary strategies for your unique genetic blueprint and brain chemistry wiring.

There are, however, a couple factors that you may not be aware of that are crucial in order to kickstart your body into fat-burning gear:

You can change your metabolism:  A study of sets of twins where one was fat and the other thin found that fat cells in heavier twins underwent metabolic changes that make it more difficult to burn fat.  Physical activity can reverse the effect.

Stress can make you fat: Stressful circumstances can cause cravings for carbohydrate-rich foods. Stress hormones also increase fat storage.

Zac Efron- His physique is not a matter of willpower:
He doesn't stick to a fanatic diet or exercise regime;
it simply flows - because what he is doing,
whether conscious or not about it,
matches his genetic blueprint!

Sleep more to promote weight loss:  Sleep deprivation upsets your hormone balance, triggering a decrease in leptin (a hormone that helps you feel full) and an increase of ghrelin (a hormone that triggers hunger).

Sugar is addictive:  Research has determined that foods people like excite the same parts of the brain that are activated in drug addicts.

Antioxidants are also anti-fat:  Free radicals damage the cells that tell you that you're full. Get rid of them by eating colorful, antioxidant-rich vegetables.

Pine Nut Oil Suppress Appetite: In a paper being presented in an American Physiological Society session at Experimental Biology 2006, "the greatest effect was observed after just 30 minutes, with the 18 women reporting a 29% reduction in "desire to eat" and a 36% drop in "prospective food intake" scores. The experiment found a parallel and significant increase in cholecystokinin (CCK) of 60% and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) of 25% that remained as long as four hours after ingestion. CCK and GLP1 are appetite suppressors, which "send signals of satiation to the brain diminishing the desire to eat and food intake usually significantly


To determine your genetic blueprint you can sign up online for a metabolic typing session with The Nutrition Doctor here - the web portal will be online in September.