Fitness – Edgeless Action

The Wellness Way

February 17, 2019April 4, 2019Raschel Biagioli

I am a fitness professional, I train my body both with stress and rest, I track my macros, I sleep, I drink enough water, I follow all of the instructions of “what to do” and yet, I felt like health should be easier than what I have been doing. I was still not able to sleep, had gas, having a hard time breaking plateaus, carried a lot of information, brain fog and digestion problems.

In October of 2018 I jumped and I decided I wanted to take my health to the next level. I wanted to identify why my body was acting up and was not operating at its highest level. I had been visiting Integrated Functional Health in Bettendorf Ia. I had some dramatic improvements and shifts in my body by working with Matt DeWild and he recommended I look into the work that Dr. Stacey Wiley at Complete Balance Chiropractic was doing with The Wellness Way.

I dove right in.

Dr. Stacey is a chiropractor that works through a system call The Wellness Way. She is amazing, personable and understands the real life application of trying to heal from the inside out. This system starts with testing. She will not treat without doing testing. There are no guesses or adjustments to programming without looking at the data first.

I followed Matt’s instructions and emailed Dr. about what I was looking to heal. She personally got back to me in less than 6 hours and then asked me if I would rather text her. I got a phone appointment that next week and we talked through the testing kits she would have me do.

I had to have my blood drawn by a local lab and then I completed 4 stool samples and sent them off to the lab as instructed in the testing kit. It would take 1-4 weeks to get the results back from the two labs.

My blood results came back the following Monday and she immediately got in contact with me because the results show that i didn’t have an intolerance or allergies to food (which i had been tested for before), but i had the antibodies for 17 different foods. All of which I had consumed the weekend before.

Antigens:

Having the antigens for foods means that when I consume them my body believes that they are a virus and attacks them vs. warding off many of the other viruses that we come into contact with. (This explains the years and years and years of constantly becoming ill). I have been in a constant state of war.

The biggest hurdle would be switching up my routine to accommodate new foods and avoiding this list:

Almonds
Beef
Casein
Crab
Egg Whites
Egg Yolks
Lobster
Cows Milk
Mustard
Peas
Peanuts
Pork
Scallops
Sesame
Soybean
Tuna
Bakers Yeast

I tackled this head on and communicated with the people in my life so they would know how best to support me through this discovery and learning process. I got to play with this for 3 weeks prior to my other test results coming back.

At this time i met with Dr. Stacey in person and we would talk about the supplements to add my routine to help combat.

The remainder of my test results would reveal that I did not have a candida problem (had always been told that this was an an issue), but i didn’t have a high count for a different yeast in my intestines (dysbiotic flora). Some of the symptoms that I experience from this internal yeast infection include: inflammation, gas, cramping, normal disturbance, fatigue, ear infections, acne and brain fog. I also found out that my immune response is upgregulated the tissue in my GI track is normally the first immune barrier and mine was angry!

In December I started on a course of supplements to help start to tackle and bring my system better into balance. I still track my macros and eat all the foods but now these things are added in to help out. I have 2 courses of supplements I take when I wake up and when I go to bed and then every time I eat i take a few supplements to help break down the food and help start to tackle the yeast.

When I first eliminated the foods that were on my list I immediately began to notice differences. I am less puffy, I can sleep better, I have no gas, and I am able to focus better. Spiritually, a whole different connection to my mind/body experience is different and a lot of fun. The cheetah print on my skin has started to change. The spots on my arms would turn red or purple at least 1 time per week if not every day. For the past 3 weeks they have been white.

on my skin has started to change. The spots on my arms would turn red or purple at least 1 time per week if not every day. For the past 3 weeks they have been white.

I am not perfect with all the foods but I avoid my list 85% of the time. It takes time to look at labels but once I learned what things work for me I have been sticking to those items. Aldi has been the cleanest grocery story to find things at and Thrive Market online has been a savior.

The Wellness Way has clinics all over the country and I would recommend checking them out if you are curious of how to optimize your body. Going through the hard time to walk out on the other side healthier has been worth it. This journey is not over with and I will update you along the way.

Fear and Love

January 3, 2019April 4, 2019Ashley Fawks

“Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love’s perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached loves perfection.”
1 John 4:18

What is it you’re afraid of? What has you awoken at night or stressed during the day? What brings your soul anxiety?

Fear and love cannot be mixed together. They are like oil and water. They don’t mix. Could it be, that the fear you feel is just a place where love is not?

What if instead of fear, stress, anxiety, you delve into the realm of complete love knowing that you are in fact, a beautiful soul who is worthy of such love? knowing that, before you ever do anything good or right, you are loved? Knowing that you do not have to do anything, or be anything, that just as you are, right in this very moment, you are loved. You are perfect. There is no ifs, ands, or buts. There is no maybe later I can be deserving of love. there is no, if I get it right next time I will be deserving of love. These are all expectations we place upon ourselves to create the illusion that we can control who and what will love us when… When we are ready to love ourselves. Fully.

What if we took the areas in our life that are incomplete and we engulfed those areas in love? What would happen? Even the areas of our life we don’t like. Our procrastination, our doubt, our sickness, our hurt we wish would go away … Could we choose to own it. Own our doubt. Own our procrastination. Own our sickness and choose it. Not allowing ourselves to be victim of our circumstances but instead, taking ownership for the reality we see.

And still loving ourselves through that.

Could we possibly become fearless when we consume our hearts and lives in all the utterly gross places of ourselves that no one else knows, could we then choose love?

In choosing love, fear has no place.

Complete. Beautiful. Ownership. Fearless. Love.

Resolution vs. Intention

December 31, 2018March 30, 2019Raschel Biagioli

It is now the time to begin moving beyond the source of setting a resolution. Resolution is an acknowledgment that something is wrong if not good enough with the current pot present state. If the moment is perfect and you cannot change the now then you can only move forward. In the moving forward is the ability to set an an intention. Intention is the ability tans the outlook that you want something more. That you intent to create a new owls and that there is a possibility that you currently are not living into. Intention has a positive undying tone vs. resolution which is caring the past into the future. Interior is about seating yourself free and saying now. Now is the time and now again and that you intend to show up differently.

Set intention not resolutions because there is nothing wrong with the past and you are able to set yourself free from the way of being that you once were and you no long need to carry that experience from your childhood or last week into your future.

Your way of being was built as a protective mechanism so you would not have to feel like something was wrong, you were not good enough, your on your own and that you don’t belong. These beliefs no longer serve who you are becoming.

Setting an intention is being free to create your life as possibility.

Setting an intention is having integrity with the current situation.

Setting an intention is knowing that the universe will guide the path for your greatest growth. You may not know the how but you can create the “what”.

You get to be the one that explores the light between each. The path may not be of least resistance but it will be perfectly set up for you to grow the most and become who the universe has set for you to become.

And so it is.

Meal Prep, Meat Production

December 16, 2018December 16, 2018Raschel Biagioli

The macronutrient I struggled the most to get enough of was protein. I decided find the most organized AF way to hit my minimums.

Below is the mass production of turkey taco meat. I will make 30 or more servings of a single protein. I make 1 type of protein each weekend. This allows me to rotating the meat, I don’t get bored and have variety to choose from.

Step 1: Invest in Tupperware. For protein I have about 60, 1 cup containers (I like the rectangle so they stack nice in the freezer) and I also have about 60, 1/2 cup containers (also a square so they stack on the door and in the freezer).

Step 2: Measure /Weigh ALL of the raw meat.

Step 3: Enter these into you fitness tracker as a recipe; I use MyFitnessPal.

Step 4: Add seasoning to the meat and add these to your recipe.

Step 5: Cook all of the protein.

Step 5a: My trick to get finely shredded ground turkey is while and after you are cooking each batch, mash it up with a whisk. That 99% ground turkey is stubborn and this helps a ton.

Step 6: Re-weigh all of the protein. Divide this number by the number of servings or containers you have available

Step 7: Portion and let cool.

Step 8: Freeze

Step 9: Pull them out of the freezer as needed. I use the ice cold meat as the ice pack in my cooler for work.

The way you do fitness, is the way you do life.

November 29, 2018March 30, 2019Raschel Biagioli

However you are currently “doing fitness” or how you approach your health is also how you are showing up in all aspects of your life.

Think about it.

1. Do you make time for your health and fitness? Is this an area that you have made a priority? If so, then you are making time for family, friends and your health. You communicate your priorities and if something is not in alignment with this goal you make adjustments to accommodate both in your life.

2. When you walk into the gym are you a social butterfly? How else is this showing up in your life? Are looking for an escape or a release from what’s really important? You may eb-and-flow between focus and distraction. At work when you don’t want to complete a task, do you find people to talk to? When you are uncomfortable do you make jokes?

3. Are you avoiding your health and fitness? Are you confused even where to start? Where is this showing up in your life? There are projects that you are avoiding and you have not done the research to get started. There is a conversation you likely have been avoiding with an ex-girlfriend, a boss or a stubborn parent. There is a trip you have always wanted to take and you dream about it daily but have not started the planning.

4. Do you go between two extremes? All in or all out. You go balls-to-the-wall and go every day, only to find that in a week or two you burn out and go back to the other extreme of sleeping and not eating for your optimal health. How else does this show up in your life? Do you work day and night on a project and once it is complete you curl up on the couch with your favorite blanket for a week? Do you drink an entire bottle of wine and then claim that you will not drink again? Do you date a girl and see her every day but in a month you jump ship?

5. Do you have a systematic approach to your health and wellness? You workout on a regular basis, like clock work and never deviate from the plan. Sometimes the same plans goes on for months or years. How else does this balance show up in your life? But, do you also not have enough fun? It’s all routine and very little play. You are able to go to work and the gym but where is the adventure?

What do all of these have in common?

Choice.

Your circumstances do not define who you are or who you will be. Becoming aware of your way of being is the first step in becoming who you want to be and where you want to go.

You can catch yourself in your way of being. Notice the habits you get stuck in and take action to break the routine. In each of these cases you can only improve. Start with your approach to fitness and you may discover all the other avenues that your life can take. Hire a trainer to keep you accountable, find a friend that will workout with you but won’t let you be a social butterfly, put the workout into your calendar and set a goal.

Define your fitness and create your life.

And so it is.

Wellness: Cheetah Print

November 13, 2018December 10, 2018Raschel Biagioli

For many years I have struggled with my health and wellness. From the outside I am put together, fit and “well”. The reality is that I have struggled. I have strugged with skin conditions, hormone inbalances, immune suppression, and digestive problems. I have spent close to $10,000 on testing, medications, doctor visitis and supplements. I have had all sorts of diagnoses: gluten intollerance (which was then negated), candida, allergy to the female hormones, PMDD, high recommendation that I do not have children, and the list goes on.

About 5 years ago I was sick of everything and I quit going to doctors all together. I take care of myself and I figured my body would eventually just balance.

I experience highs, lows, frustration, saddness and insecurities. These are all symptoms you can’t see. From the time I was 12, I had a never ending menstrual cycle. To this day my hormones are all over the place, so I’ve chosen to go with an IUD. Even with this, I still experience a cycle.

This year I have gone down the path of working to heal my life and try different experiements. My goal is to optimize my human performance in the gym and in my every day life. Personal development school, hiring coaches, trying new doctors and all sorts of things to live as long and as healhty as possible.

I can tell my gut health is not the best and I am consuming soemthing my body is adverse to because I have what I call “Cheetah Print”. You can see in this picture. There are some spots on my neck and chest. I call this my cheetah print.

The cheetah print covers most of my body. It changes colors depending on the time of year, the clothes I wear and things I eat. I’ve had them on and off most of my life. If I do a Candida cleanse, they can go away but that’s just as awful three months of just eating green beans, clay and protein.

I also recently learned that this is hereditary, a few of my aunts also have cheetah print. I’m lucky right now that it has not spread to my face. I do a lot of skin care because I have acne.

I experience a lot of anxiety and insecurities because of the spots. Ego sometimes takes over the human form and I just want the outside to match the inside.

I realize that the root cause is likely something I’m consuming. Now I and this platform are going on the journey of research, experiments and progress.

Here goes everything.

And so it is.

2.5 Minute Chocolate Pumpkin Cake

October 12, 2018November 12, 2018Raschel Biagioli

I love cake.

Having minimal macros can make this difficult so i needed to write a recipe that was quick and delicious!

Macros

509 cal /cake

55C | 10F | 54P | 13Fib

Topping not included

Ingredients:

60g pumpkin purée
22g chocolate protein powder
138g liquid egg whites
1tsp baking powder
2g stevia
70g Dark Chocolate Kodiak Cake Power Pancake and Waffle Mix
1 second spray of cooking spray

How to

In a mixing bowl mix Kodiak Cake mix, pumpkin, protein, powder, stevia, and egg whites.
Spray microwave safe bowl with cooking spray.
Scoop cake batter into bowl.
Microwave 2.5 minutes or until the center is stiff.
Flop onto plate immediately exiting the microwave.
Top with available macros. Pictured is Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup mixed with PB2

Spaghetti Squash How To

October 5, 2018Raschel Biagioli

Step 1: Stab with knife

Step 2: Place on microwave safe plate or bowl

Step 3: Cover with plastic wrap

Step 4: Microwave 12 minutes

Step 5: Split open and scoop out seeds

Step 6: Scoop flesh into strainer

Step 7: Forget while you do 10 other things in the kitchen (about 10 mins)

Step 8: Serve

Flexible Dieting

October 1, 2018April 3, 2019Raschel Biagioli

What is “Flexible Dieting”?

Flexible dieting is a style of dieting that is based around counting the three main macro-nutrients that you consume daily (carbohydrates, protein and fat). This style of diet can lead to long term success because of its ability to be less strict. You are able to choose the foods you want to eat and when you want to eat them.

The word gets a bad reputation because 95% of them fail. The reason they fail is because they are a short term solution, are unrealistic and unsustainable. Most dieters attempt to lose weight and reach goals by making radical changes and completely restrict themselves from eating a certain foods or entire groups all together. Going between the extremes often results in a failed diet attempt. Flexible dieting allows you to find balance.

For this style of calorie restriction these are a few of my recommendations:

Body Weight Scale: I recommend that you weight yourself daily. Weigh yourself naked, every morning when you wake up and after using the restroom. Your weight will fluctuate week to week and using the same scale every day over the week you can see you average change over weeks’ time. Many things will fluctuate your weight: water intake, hormone levels, exercise intensity, travel, salt, large meals etc.
Food Scale: a food scale will allow you to be as precise as possible. The size of cups can be deceiving and 1 table spoon could turn into 2 very quickly. The most accurate way to work flexible dieting is to weigh everything.
Calorie Tracking App: this will be essential so you can track what you are eating each day. I recommend MyFitnessPal, MyMacros, and LifeSum. For the foods without labels, a helpful website to find accurate macro-nutrient is: www.calorieking.com .
Weekly progress photos: this will help you monitor changes in your body composition that will help me make custom macro-nutrient breakdowns.

Info:

Carbohydrates – 4 calories per gram of carbohydrate
- The primary role of carbohydrates is to provide energy for the body. We store energy from carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in our liver and muscles.

Protein – 4 calories per gram of protein

- Protein is a well-known macronutrient for it’s role in muscle recovery from exercise. Protein is are the ‘the building blocks of life’. Unlike carbohydrate and fat, there is no way for our bodies to store excess protein for further use, so it is important to have an adequate amount of protein on a daily basis for health and recovery.

Fat – 9 calories per gram of fat

- Dietary fat plays a crucial role in hormone balance.

Alcohol – 7 calories per gram

- Does not provide any nutritional value other than calories.
- Here is how you can calculate it:
- - Take the total amount of calories in your alcoholic beverage and divide it by 4 if you would like to track your beverage as carbohydrates. Take the total amount of calories in your alcoholic beverage and divide it by 9 if you would like to track your beverage as fats. You can do a mix between carbohydrates and fat if you prefer.

Meal frequency:

Feel free to eat as many or few meals as you desire. The most important factor is total daily calories. As long as you hit your target macro-nutrients goal for the day, it doesn’t matter if you have 2 meals or 10 meals.

Meal Timing:

To optimize performance and recovery around exercise, I recommend a higher amount of quick digesting carbs before and after a workout with a lower amount of protein and low fat.

Other Terms or things to know:

RFFYM – real food fits your macros, this will be used in different recipes
Macros – short term for flexible dieting macronutrients
IIFYM- if it fits your macros, commonly referred to when looking at different recipes because a lot of things will fit your macros
Cook in bulk, it makes life easy
Carbs – a “5 point variance” once you determine the number of carbs you are eating try to stay within 5 above or 5 below.
Fats- a “2 point variance” once you determine the number of fats you are eating try to stay within 2 above or 2 below.
Fiber – try to remain above 25 grams.
Water: half your body weigh in ounces, +4 oz or every 15 mins you workout and +8 for every cup of coffee you consume.