All posts filed under: Nutrition and Health

8 Ways to Nourish The Body In 2020

Published by Colin Nanka

One of the questions I get often is about healthy eating, vitamins, and supplements. The first thing I recommend when trying to improve a goal or habit….talk to a professional, or a coach! When I was trying to take on a new habit below, a skill or knowledge, this is the approach that worked (after trying many different methods first!): Healthy Eating – I took on a Nutritionist and a Holistic Naturopath Focus on Energy Level – Holistic Naturopath Running Programs – Running Coach Strength Training – Trainer Rehab Programs – Athletic Therapist Flexibility and Balance – Yoga Class or 1:1 Yoga Session The point is, a coach or professional provides both education, inspiration, and accountability. We often lose sight of the last piece. It’s crucial. So here are the recommendations I have been using for the last five years from my Naturopath and Nutritionist for a healthy and active late 30’s to early 40’s individual that have made a significant difference in my health and well being. Caveat – These work for me, please …

Next level lean

Published by Colin Nanka

I have known my friend Tania Kowalski for 20 years! We had our first sales job together. She has gone on to a successful health and wellness career and currently lives in Bermuda with her family. Here is one of her recent blog posts: First off, remember that what you see in pictures are what people WANT you to see and those images can easily be enhanced or photoshopped.  The folks that do get super lean may do it for a competition but other than a month or so around that competition they typically are not that lean.  Getting chiseled not only takes some serious commitment but it also isn’t healthy for  the long term.  In order to get cut you make some serious sacrifices.  Your social life will definitely suffer, you may be tired and not a lot of fun to be around, your libido drops,  and you  can send your hormones out of whack.  In order for female hormones to be balanced and to have a healthy menstrual cycle we women do need some body fat like it or not. …

Wednesday Meal Tip

Published by Colin Nanka

Sometimes you are on the go and don’t have time for a solid meal.  Something you can easily put in your bag and snack on:   Beef Jerky (20-30 grams / protein) I like Wholes 365 Original Walnuts or Almonds (healthy fats) Almonds for the road, Walnuts for Greek Yogurt Mix Broccoli or Apple (whole vegetables or fruit are great!) Apple for the road, Broccoli in the office  

6 ways to grow through immersion

Published by Colin Nanka

I went for a visit to my physio therapist last week.  I’m still working on the ankle rehab from an injury I sustained prior to my Antartica adventure. The good news is, it’s much better and I have started running a couple times per week.  There is no pain while running, but in the morning it still feels stiff. I see a great Physical therapist named Shawn for treatment for the first half-hour and in the second half-hour I work with a functional movement expert named James on strength. We focus on healing the ankle, and strengthening hips, glutes, hamstrings, quads and calves.  Often injury comes from a weakness in one of these areas, so we are trying to be proactive. James is a teacher and has a great method of training. He tells me the area we are going to focus on and why. He models the exercise and breaks it down to its basic components He creates a goal in each set, and has me focus on feeling and firing a specific muscle …

10 Challenges To Get Unstuck From Your Rut

Published by Colin Nanka

Sometimes, no matter how well life seems to be going, you get stuck in a rut. Much like a tire getting stuck in the mud, the more you press on the pedal, the deeper you get—stuck in the apathy, powerlessness and ickiness of a good ol’ fashioned rut. It’s ok. It happens to the best of us! So, what do you do now? How do you shift the gears to get unstuck? Here are 10 challenges to get you pointed in another direction, revving your emotional engine, and hopefully on your way, to driving out of that rut. 1. Connect with someone that you haven’t spoken to in at least three years. It can be personal or professional (but if what ails you is personal, make it an old friend. If it’s a professional rut, make it a former colleague, mentor or someone whose work your respect). Talking to someone who knows you, but doesn’t have preconceived notions of where you are now in your life, helps give you a new perspective on why you’re …

I am changing the way I eat

Published by Colin Nanka

Well, changing when I eat to be precise. I have been focused on getting to bed early and getting a full night’s sleep. I am trying to leverage that early morning time to get ahead of the day. That has been the one small improvement I have been focused on for the last couple months. I am noticing, that although sleep hours are up (and solid amounts of Vitamin C and D), I am not waking up with as much energy as I used too.  Am I getting old?   Yes, and…. I also know that I am finishing my last meal of the day too late. Sometimes as late as 9pm!! From working with nutritionists over many years I know that you can get a lot of sleep but if your body needs to focus its limited energy on digestion (which can be up to 80% of energy), its not focusing on recovery. Target for me is last meal complete by 730pm.   I finished eating an hour earlier than usual last night, felt …

5 Peak Moments

Published by Colin Nanka

A mentor recently shared with me, the 5 peak moments in your life will show you what you care about.  It helps identify the commonalities for your purpose.  Mine in chronological order are: Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro / Safari / Raising Money (2009) – Giving Back, Gratitude, Belief A 13 hour run through desert in Chile (2015) – Acceptance, Capacity, Belief, Pay it Forward Adventuring in Antarctica (2016) – Reset, Refocus Getting Married to Blake (2017) – Love, Passion, and Partnership The birth of our daughter Tess (2017) – Joy, Love, Growth What have all these peak moments shown me? We each have much more access to skills, capability and “gears” we didn’t know exist. I would estimate we have at least 40-50% more capacity than we are currently operating with. How do we find it?  By leaning into uncomfort and opportunities that stretch our capabilities. Once stretched, they don’t go back. What will you do today to start leveraging those extra % points? Defeating Average. Colin

TMZ and Top Gear

Published by Colin Nanka

“I am not here just for the work. We need to get the job done. However, I have been working long enough to know that connection, health, happiness are things that I personally believe in an want them for each of you.” Words shared from my friend Brian at his regional sales meeting this week. He has four teams across NYC, Boston and Chicago and hosts it from whatever office he is in that week. Its tough to keep groups in three cities connected and he’s come up with a fun way to do it. He calls it TMZ! In his words plus what I heard, it’s: A fun scattering of thoughts Priorities for the week Opportunity to connect with one another Gaining wisdom from the team  Share/hear some life lessons They are also working through a team contest right now on building sales pipeline. To qualify for the spiff, you need to: Post one healthy thing you did that day (nutrition, exercise, etc) Post the amount of sales pipeline you built that day Sales is …

The moment of truth

Published by Colin Nanka

My wife and I hit a soul cycle class at the end of the day on Sunday.   We had a great Mother’s Day lunch, ran some errands and were lamenting it had been a food filled weekend.   What to do? Book a class to keep us both accountable to get off the couch. We figured better to try and get the class in before a busy week ahead.  We tried a new instructor that had just graduated and had only 10 taught classes prior. Our instructor Sidney, brought some youthful energy to the session. She was more focused on being supportive of newer people since she was new herself! Beginners eyes. It was noticeable. Very inclusive.  She pushed us up to a crest of effort through a good climb and just when you thought we were on the way back down, she identified an opportunity and that moment of truth.  The opportunity to back off and slow down or flex the muscle of pushing through an obstacle, stretching capacity, be gritty, tap into the community camaraderie …

Easy Detoxing Everyday

Published by Colin Nanka

My friend Joy is a great nutritionist in Toronto. She has been a leader in her industry for over a decade and provides some awesome content on creative health eating and detoxing. As she shares: “I follow a simple set of healthy, detox rituals every day — they are part of my lifestyle and I honestly can’t imagine life without them. I travel with them too! I don’t lose my s*** if something happens and I can’t do one of them, I simply get right back on track the very next day. These aren’t “rules” or “have-to’s”, they are habits that make me feel good and I know they are doing so much goodness for my body too. These are habits I recommend to you, my joyous reader.” See two of her blogs and video blogs below! 5 Tips for Detoxing Travel Tips Have a great end to the week! Colin