Is the #cleaneating trend actually making us MORE unhealthy?! 

Recently, I took a closer look at one study… 

It specifically looked at the effects of the #cleaneating trend in undergraduate students, and how it influences their attitude, behavior, and disordered eating patterns. The study found that undergraduate students who felt clean eating was “healthier” or “for weight loss", showed greater indications of disordered eating patterns, and were more likely to be associated with eating disordered psychopathology. 

Here are a few ways in which clean eating has been found to be potentially harmful:

1. Clean eating could have negative health consequences that resemble those of an eating disorder, like amenorrhea, osteoporosis, bone fractures, irregular heart beats, difficulty concentrating, depression, etc.
2. By omitting certain food groups (sugar, carbs, fat) without justification, it could contribute to disordered eating attitudes and behaviors.
3. ...

When is the best time to exercise?

Here’s the truth y’all… It depends!

The question you have to ask yourself is, “When do you need to learn something new or retain information?”

Sng et al. conducted a study in 2018 to see when the best time to exercise is to maximize learning and improve memory

Within the study, there were three different experimental groups:
One group walked on the treadmill before learning something new.
One group walked on the treadmill after learning something new.
One group learned something new while walking on the treadmill.

Turns out, the greatest amount of learning and retention of information took place within the group that exercised PRIOR to learning something new!

The data shows that if we want to retain information and learn more, it’s better to exercise BEFORE studying!

Who knew?!

I knew I felt better and performed better when I worked out in the morning before class or a study session, but it’s always nice to...

WORKOUT MYTH: You don’t have to “feel the burn” to tone up! Y’all, it's true! The most critical factor in toning up and building muscle is NOT if you “feel the burn."

One critical factor in toning up is increasing the MECHANICAL TENSION with your muscles! Mechanical Tension is the force when you stretch your muscles. You can increase the tension in your muscles by increasing the EFFORT you exert in your workouts, as well as your time under tension!

You can do this by…

• Slowing the movement down
• Holding for a second or two
• Lifting heavier weights
• Increasing sets/reps

People often “feel the burn” and immediately stop the exercise, thinking they’ve done enough. But if you push through the discomfort and exert yourself more, that's where the magic happens.

The "burning feeling" can be distracting! It can fool you into thinking you’re getting a great workout in, but it’s not actually indicative of muscle...

Last year I was afraid to eat food.

Everything I ate hurt my stomach.

No food was "safe" to eat.

When I was diagnosed with my GI condition (SIBO) my doctor gave me a list of foods to avoid. That was it. No guidance or warning about how dealing with this condition would impact my mental and emotional health. 

Over time, the food restrictions made me miserable, shameful, and isolated... 

When I would go out with friends, we’d have to find a place that “fit Abbie’s needs.” Which, over time, can be frustrating for people and embarrassing for the person that has to be accommodated for. After we'd pick a place, I'd call the restaurant and talk to the chef to make sure they could prepare a dish with... 

• No gluten
• No dairy 
• No soy
• No corn
• No sugar 
• No garlic 
• No onion 
• No high-FODMAPs 

Basically a meal as plain as possible that you're still paying NYC prices for. 

And what’s worse, I’d still go home with a...

What happens after the first date? If you're interested in someone, how do you keep them interested? If you're not interested, how do you let them go? 

After you have a date with someone you need to evaluate how you felt about the date, independent of the other person. Are you energized? Do your cheeks hurt from smiling so much? Did you laugh? Is this person giving you energy or are they pulling your energy? Evaluate how you feel immediately after the date, but then sleep on it and keep checking in with yourself, date after date.

So let’s say you’ve decided you do want to see someone again… According to the book The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right by Sherrie Schneider and Ellen Fein, they suggest letting them come to you.

Remember: If you're really excited, you don't want to come off too overeager. You don't want to be a stage five clinger! Y’all, I have made this mistake too many times…

Keep doing...

I love first dates, y'all! So I'm going to tell you how to prep for a first date, how to prep for the actual date (including how it’ll go down and what you can talk about), and how to end a first date!

First thing’s first, keep it light!

The most successful first dates are the ones where you feel really comfortable and confident! Yes, part of that’s about being comfortable with the other person and if the conversation is good, but the majority of it is how you show up. 

You need to be doing things every single day that allow you to cultivate self-confidence and higher self-worth. Get to know yourself! As the old saying goes, you have to love yourself first before you can really love another person. I believe that, y’all! The person you’re in a relationship with doesn’t complete you... They just enhance your life! 

I also recommend doing affirmations before you go on a first date! Use this as an opportunity to remind yourself all of...

In September 2019 I listened to a podcast about how to get through a breakup. Obviously I knew deep down that my relationship was coming to an end… 

I was with my ex for five years. So naturally we started to have serious conversations. We were living together, our families were connected, and when we started to talk about our future family, I wanted to discuss what religion we would raise our children. (My ex is Jewish and I’m Catholic.) By having conversations about what compromises we were willing to make and which ones we weren’t, so many other complications surfaced. We saw a counselor, said what we needed to say, and it was a mutual ending. The relationship had run its course. 

Once the relationship officially ended, I reflected on what I learned from the podcast I had listened to...

Look at the relationship you just ended as phase 1. Don't view phase 1 with a negative attitude; view it as a learning experience. Reflect to see...

Period problems? I've got you. Let’s normalize talking about PERIODS, y’all!

Your menstrual cycle is considered your fifth vital sign! Medically speaking, it’s just as important as your blood pressure and heart rate. 

Here’s the good news! Our periods don’t have to be something we suffer through each month. Our symptoms and period experience can be improved through “Cycle Syncing;” a term coined by Alisa Vitti.

It’s really important to understand that your menstrual cycle is actually your superpower and you can use it to benefit you...

Every aspect of your menstrual cycle (the length, the color of blood, the volume of blood, the timing of ovulation, cramping, PMS, body temperature) is giving you important information about your health. 

FYI! Your period is not your menstrual cycle. The average cycle is around 28 days, with 4-5 days bleeding. 

Here are the phases of your cycle, so that you can start noticing...

Want to build the body of your dreams, but you just can’t get out of bed?! Here are 5 motivating tips that I use on a daily basis to stay consistent with my workouts...

We all know the benefits of exercise and that we should be working out.

We know we’ll feel better, more relaxed, and actually reach our weight loss goals. We know working out will increase our metabolism, clear up our skin, and help us sleep better at night.

So if we know it’s so good for us, why is it so hard to maintain consistency? 

1. SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS 

We feel better after working out! Can you say endorphins?! But getting started is the biggest hurdle… The truth of the matter is, we are less apt to do things if they’re not convenient for us. So on the days you don’t want to workout, you need to streamline the process and make it easy for yourself. 

• Schedule your workout! Make working out an appointment you can't miss! Having your workout on your...

People ask me on the regular why I never made a separate Instagram account for my health & fitness content. They always ask me why I decided to keep this account strictly personal.

My response: my health IS personal! My life is not compartmentalized. I don't feel like my “healthy self” is over here and my “social self” is over there. I live a healthy lifestyle, but am still extremely social.

But I will say, it didn’t start out that way... 

A lot of my clients struggle with this when they first reach out to me for help. They believe they can’t be healthy and social; because Fri-YAY rolls around and they go to happy hour with friends, drink a whole pitcher of margaritas, and have WAY too much to eat. So they think they've already lost, and then proceed to over-indulge the whole weekend because they'll just "start over again on Monday…" 

How many times have you said that to...