The Green Door Life

Have you heard of the term, Quarantine Christmas? (Note: in referencing Christmas here, we're referring to the American holiday season which typically picks up from around Halloween to the New Year.) 

I can't remember if I heard this phrase somewhere or if it spontaneously popped up in my vocabulary one day, but either way, last holiday season had me pining for the simplicity and calmness of winter in 2020 and 2021.

We've experienced both personally and have heard endless stories from our community members that the end of last year was overwhelming at best.

From crazy travel mishaps and flight cancellations to what seemed like lingering sickness that dragged on for months, the 2022 holidays for many were anything but enjoyable and relaxing.

Whenever contrast like this manifests, we like to take a moment to reflect. 

Rather than continue going through the motions unconsciously and repeating traditions and habits that no longer hold the same meaning and va

For some, eating is less about what they want and more about what they perceive OTHERS want for them.

They’ll eat third helpings to not insult grandma.

They’ll break promises to themselves & drink 4 glasses of 🍷 with co-workers because they don’t want to be different or say no.

This is when boundaries are a must ✋

We’ve all heard of boundaries nowadays, but what does that really mean in terms of practical application?

If this piques your interest, join this hour-long FREE workshop guided by Larissa Bell to dive deeper into all things boundary setting:

Who is this workshop for?

👉Your kindness or flexibility is taken advantage of by others.

👉You feel pressure to say “yes” all the time.

👉To avoid conflict, you often give in to what others want first.

👉You put the n

James Clear says, “The power of community cannot be overstated: the people you spend time with…

• can lengthen your life (or shorten it)
• can make your goals seem achievable (or impossible), and
• can fill you with energy (or suck it out of you).

In other words, the people around you are either your greatest asset or your greatest challenge.

One study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that if your friend becomes obese, then you have a 57% chance of increasing obesity yourself — even if your friend lives hundreds of miles away!

It sounds simple, but if you have close connections with unhealthy people, then it’s more likely that you’ll be unhealthy yourself.

In other words, illness isn't just something you catch, it's something you imitate as well.

Thankfully, there is good news: healthy lifestyles are contagious too.

Every goal becomes more achievable when you hang out with people who are already achieving it.

The people who have already wa

one of our greatest challenges is teaching clients that there is so much more to fat loss than just cardio.

And, more often than not, too much cardio can backfire.

Here's why... 

[Side note: TWO days left 🚨 Click here to join our group coaching program and save $500 before Dec. 31st. Next cohort opens after April 2023.] 

Before we get into the exact formula that we've seen help our clients the most, let's review the types of exercise in terms of how they impact the body.

Exercise can be categorized into 3 categories based on intensity:

• LISS: low intensity steady state
• MISS: middle or moderate intensity steady state
• HIIT: high intensity steady state 

Each type of exercise impacts your heart rate differently + uses a different muscles and energy systems in the body.

This is extremely important to understand so that you're fueling and recoverying properly for your specific activity.

Additionally, your body type (ectomorph, mesomorph, or endomorph)

I absolutely ate 💩 less than 1 minute into an easy run two weeks ago. 

[Side note: there's only a few more days to save $500 on our group coaching program. The next opening will be after April 2023. Click here to reserve your spot for January.] 

As I tried to apply meaning to the experience, it stood out to me because I'd like to think that I'm not a clumsy person.

I can count on one hand the number of times I've experienced a physical injury, exercise-induced or not.

In fact, the last time I fell was over 5 years ago during a run (yep) while newly pregnant with my second son.

Cardio, I tell ya 😂 

I remember waking up that Saturday morning, placing 3 different Instacart orders for my son's last minute 6th birthday party planning for 40 people because the nutrition coach in me just couldn't do the pizza-and-cake-only thing, trying to recover after pulling five 14+ hour works days in a row that week, just feeling quasi-back to normal after 3 weeks of a na

hi, my name is Lisa, and I'm a recovering cardio junkie. 

And, I'm a former cookie addict, but I digress.

When I think back to my 20's, all I see is: lots of alcohol + lots of cardio.

When I look back at old pictures of me when I was my "smallest", I see someone in pain. 

I see someone who spent her formative adolescent years in the 1990's, bombarded with impossibly thin beauty standards on every printed magazine when those were a thing.

Kate Moss. Calvin Klein ads. "Heroin Chic" (cringe).

I paid no attention to the fact that my default genetic body type is an endomorph with strong Norwegian legs, a hearty Italian appetite, and an Irish tenacity that won't quit.

I just found out from my aesthetician that the skinny trend is making an eerie comeback thanks to the Kardashians.

Apparently, Kim has taken an off-label diabetes drug to lose massive weight quickly, with long-term effects unknown to users without diabetes. Yikes.

My heart aches for all the

check out one of our most favorite wins we've ever heard from a client, who is now wrapping up her training to coach with us: 

"I realized that I don't actually hate people anymore... I was just hungry."

[And this was coming from someone who had studied nutrition in a higher education institution + various certification programs for YEARS, which just goes to show that knowledge without guided practical application can be maddening.]

Not everyone who works with us mentions weight loss as a primary goal.

In fact, one of the main reasons people seek us out is a strong desire to gain back the energy of their youth.

What they find, often surprisingly, are additional improvements in:

• mood
• emotional resiliency
• awareness
• relationships
• boundary setting
• stress management, and more

So, when we share progress pictures of our incredible members to demonstrate what is actually possible in just 12 weeks...

... we do so with a giant asterisk attached to them

One of our clients shared that her friend is doing a $99/mo nutrition coaching program because it's cheaper than what we charge.

It's a typical IIFYM (if it fits your macros) program.

While not everything more expensive is always worth the investment...

...we've heard stories like this many times before, and we can guess how this situation will end up for our client's friend.

The changes the friend will make will likely be temporary because she's not learning the WHY behind the choices that she's making.

She may see short-term results in terms of weight loss, but she won't know:

• how to get herself out of a plateau
• how to change gears if she sees weight loss on the scale but actually feels more flabby (hint: she could be losing muscle, not fat)
• how the type of food she's eating is impacting her long-term health, organs, hormones, etc. 
• why she's moody all day when she's following her macro coach's recommendations of 200 grams of carbs per day but cr
...

Have you tried to post a cute pic with your dog on Instagram only to be bombarded with ads for general lab tests, hair analysis tests, blood tests, glucose monitors, food sensitivity tests, hormone tests, heavy metal tests, and more?

We thought it was just us, but apparently not.

Several of our newest clients have come to us paralyzed with decision-making fatigue, feeling a doomsday outlook on their health according to some piece of paper that says they should barely be walking with all the toxins and lack of vitamins and minerals in their bodies.

They're told they have too much bad gut bacteria.

They're overloaded with toxins and can't eat 95% of food found at the grocery store and must make everything from scratch.

They're told that they need to do a cleanse or a 7-day (or longer) detox. 

They're told that they need to implement intermittent fasting without asking them about their 4x/week high intensity glycolytic training that requires sufficient c

We're implementing more Q&As in our newsletters, so be sure to mark us as a safe sender for answers to the most common questions we get each week 😎

Given the time of year and collective feedback we've received from so many members, this week's question is: 

Q: Should I workout when I'm sick? 

A: It depends... 

Before we dig in, we have to mention the following disclaimer: this is provided for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute providing medical advice or professional services. (duh!)

When it comes to training when you're sick, it depends on the type and severity of illness in addition to your type of training. Here's what we recommend:

SYMPTOMS MAINLY ABOVE THE CHEST: 

• If your primary symptoms are confined to your upper respiratory system, such as congestion, runny nose, sinus pressure, etc., progr...