Katie, Author at Katie Gerber.

June 19, 2020June 19, 2020

Finding Weight Balance & Preparing for Adventure

Three key changes this client made to return to his high school weight, increase energy, and live a life that’s “off the charts.”

I always find other peoples’ stories inspiring, so this week I want to offer a case study of one of my clients who’s been crushing his health goals in preparation for a challenging autumn hike in Colorado.

Joe is a well educated, high achieving executive in his late 40s with a history of success in many areas of life. He was already in a relatively good place in his health, but wanted to break through a weight loss plateau and reach the next level of what his body could achieve. He was tired of looking in the mirror and feeling disappointed. He was tired of restricting, dieting, and overexercising but not seeing the results. He had adventure plans and was ready to collapse the timeline and finally start feeling good.

Here are the changes we worked on together:

>>Dial in a unique nutrition plan.

There is no one size fits all diet. Finding a sustainable way of eating for you involves finding which foods support health for your body and which don’t. It also involves learning how different macronutrients affect your body.

Joe increased his protein intake to an appropriate level for his age and fitness level. He shifted away from processed foods and into eating more whole foods, which kept him full between meals and balanced his blood sugar and hormones. He got off the restrict and binge cycle and developed a healthier relationship with food and his body (more below on how he did that). He stopped focusing on the weight as much and learned to trust his body.

>>Incorporate lifestyle changes beyond diet.

We evaluated all areas of Joe’s life, including his fitness, sleep, and stress levels. He made changes which reduced how much cortisol he was producing, which was responsible for fatigue, weight gain, and anxiety. Joe began a regular meditation practice and stopped running hard every day. He prioritized sleep and made time to relax, often in nature.

>>Shift mindset + underlying patterns.

Long term results hinge on shifting not just diet and lifestyle habits, but on looking at how you make decisions for your health and why you choose to treat your body the way you do. Joe had a history of disordered eating behaviors. I’ve been there and I know how frustrating it is to know the decisions you want to make for yourself but to not follow through.

Once he was on a whole food nutrition plan that satiated him and supported his physiology, we could address the mindset and triggers that were keeping him from hitting his goals. Restriction, skipping meals, and stress are common scenarios that lead to binges. He learned other forms of emotional coping. He learned to slow down so that he could hear the feedback from his body. He learned to tune into what his body needed and to trust it.

All of this was incorporated in a way that fit Joe’s life and supported the creation of new habits.

In summary, cookie cutter strategies don’t work.

Joe was able to achieve the health he was after by customizing his diet for his unique needs, adjusting his macronutrient ratios, tuning into his body, reducing cortisol through lifestyle changes, and by removing the beliefs and triggers that were keeping him in a cycle of self sabotage.

Hopefully this inspires you to know that you can have the health, the body, and the adventurous life you desire at any stage and age of life. It takes strategy + mindset shifts, but it’s absolutely possible!

Ready to take the next step towards a healthier you? Schedule a complimentary Health Made Simple Strategy Call to see if we’re a good fit to work together.

We’ll discuss your health aspirations and a potential plan for how to move you closer to those goals. We’ll see if we’re a good client-coach fit and you’ll come away with clarity on next steps, whether or not we decide to work together. Why wait another day to have a healthy body so you can have more energy to go on that dream trip?

How to Optimize Sports Recovery

Hit Your Health Goals Faster: 6 Mistake to Avoid

How to Hike More Miles in a Day

June 17, 2020June 17, 2020

How to Optimize Sports Recovery

This post is about how to optimize yours sports recovery habits, so you can get the most out of your training routine. If you like this, make sure to get in touch over on my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where we cover topics just like this one. If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, you can also apply to work with me. I would love to work with you now or in the future! ~Katie

Your sports recovery habits are just as important as your active training time if you want to get the most out of your fitness routine. During your workout, you break down muscle tissue, deplete glycogen, and stress the body. In order to repair, rebuild, and grow new muscle, you need proper recovery, so you can build more strength and endurance.

Proper recovery is essential for every body, and if you find yourself sore for long periods of time, dealing with chronic injuries, and unmotivated to complete your workouts, you’re likely overtraining. It’s time to listen to your body and focus extra attention on rest and repair. Use the following tips to optimize your recovery periods.

Focus on Whole Food Nutrition

Muscles need protein and carbohydrate to recover. Protein repairs and rebuilds muscle fibers, while carbohydrates restore depleted glycogen stores. It’s also important to ensure you’re consuming enough calories, especially if you want to build muscle. Focus on whole food sources, such as vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, whole grains, eggs, and lean meat. Eating whole foods helps you get adequate vitamins and minerals, which are essential for reducing inflammation and speeding recovery.

Prioritize Sleep

To properly recover, your body needs enough sleep, which is 7-9 hours for most adults. Inadequate sleep negatively impacts growth hormone production and insulin sensitivity. Optimize sleep through basic sleep hygiene, like cutting off stimulants after noon, sleeping in a dark, cool environment, limiting blue light exposure 1-2 hours before bed, and maintaining a consistent sleep and wake time.

Hydrate

Proper hydration can support recovery by helping you to digest the nutrients needed for the thousands of biochemical reactions in your body that keep you healthy. Furthermore, dehydration following a workout can slow the protein synthesis needed for muscle repair. Rehydrate after exercise by drinking 16 ounces of fluid for every pound lost during exercise. If you’re significantly dehydrated, consider adding an electrolyte mix, coconut water, or even a pinch of mineral salt to your water.

Engage in Rest Days + Active Recovery

Workout frequency is an important aspect of a proper sports recovery plan. Include at least 1 rest day per week and avoid working out the same muscle group two days in a row. Engaging in active recovery activities like gentle yoga, walking, stretching, and foam rolling can promote blood flow, help move waste products out of the body, and speed recovery.

Cold Therapy

Consider taking a dip in a cold lake or a plunge in an ice bath after workouts. Research has shown cold immersion to significantly reduce muscle soreness.

To get the most out of your workouts, remember that including optimal recovery techniques is just as important as the time you spend training!

3 Tips to Get More from Your Home Fitness Routine

6 Mistakes to Avoid to Hit Your Health Goals Faster (without dieting!)

Stress Eating: Why You Do It + How To Stop

Ready to take the next step on your journey?

Schedule a free strategy call here. In 30 minutes, we’ll define your top health + adventure goals, we’ll determine the primary obstacles in your way, and we’ll discuss a clear path to close the gap between where you are now and where you want to go.

June 14, 2020June 14, 2020

How to Hike More Miles in a Day

Do you want to hike more miles in a day without injuring yourself or not being able to get out of bed the next day?

Increasing daily mileage is a common goal for backpackers and hikers. Whether it’s because you want to expand the trails and trips available to you during your limited time off work, or because you need to finish a thru-hike within a weather window, or for entirely different reasons, here are the strategies I’ve used over the course of 8,000+ miles to consistently hike 30+ mile days.

To be clear, I’m not telling you this should be your goal. I’m simply sharing strategies I’ve used to increase daily mileage while remaining largely injury-free. As always, take what serves you and leave the rest.

Fuel for Performance

Hiking all day puts a lot of demands on the body. To reduce inflammation, optimize recovery, and have more stable and abundant energy, what you eat matters. Eating healthy doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. The simplest advice is to focus on eating mostly whole foods. That means things like veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, legumes, or anything without an ingredient label. Your body will digest these types of foods better, giving you more energy for hiking. This doesn’t mean there’s no room for treats. Just aim for 80% of your calories to come from real food.

Be sure to consume adequate calories, including enough of each macronutrient (protein, fat, and carbs). Eat and drink water regularly throughout the day. On a long hike, I snack (200-300 calories) at least once every 2 hours.

Hike Longer, Not Faster

Trying to hike faster, at a pace that’s not natural to you, usually doesn’t work, and it can often lead to injury. A more effective strategy is to put in more hours. Start earlier in the day, take shorter breaks, and hike later into the afternoon. I like to organize my gear the night before, so I’m ready to hit the trail in the morning. I also look at my maps for the next day to avoid (as much as possible) getting off route. In the mornings, I put snacks in convenient spots so I don’t need to dig into my pack every time I’m hungry.

Carry Less

Being intentional with what does and does not go into your pack serves a variety of purposes. First, carrying a lighter load is easier on the body. It requires less energy to carry a lighter weight, so you can hike further with less exhaustion. Additionally, carrying fewer items simplifies setting up and taking down camp, creating more time for hiking. There’s a lot to share about how to carry less safely, but that’s a topic for a different post.

Build Miles Gradually

Too much, too soon is a surefire recipe for an overuse injury. Many hikers hit the trail with a lot of exuberance and not much training under their belt, only to end up sidelined shortly thereafter with shin splints, plantar fasciitis, or knee pain, or other inflammatory injuries. Much of this can be avoided by building miles the smart way. In general, this looks like increasing mileage by no more than 10% each week, taking practice hikes with a pack on, and including adequate recovery.

Optimize Recovery

To perform well, your body needs proper rest. A big part of recovery occurs during sleep. Optimize sleep through basic sleep hygiene, like cutting off stimulants after noon, sleeping in a dark, cool environment, limiting blue light exposure in the evening, and maintaining a consistent sleep and wake time. Other recovery exercises that can move lactic acid out of the body and help you perform better include foam rolling (a water bottle can suffice o on trail) and stretching.

Master Your Mindset

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” This famous Henry Ford quote sums it up pretty well. To achieve anything, you must first believe you’re capable. When I was first getting into long distance hiking, the thought of hiking more than 15 miles in a day seemed absurd. The more time I spent in the community watching others do this, the more it seems achievable for me. For anything you want to achieve in life, it helps to see that there are others already doing it, and to see that they’re no different than you. It may take work to build up to your goal, but with time, you can absolutely get there!

For the complete blueprint on preparing your body inside and out for a healthy adventure, take the Adventure Ready course.

additional resources:

Ultralight Healthy Meal Plan eCourse

Eat for Endurance eBook

Healthy Lightweight Eating for Hikers: A Day in the Life

Supplements on the CDT for Energy, Immunity, and Endurance

The thru-hiker calorie myth: What your diet is missing and how to eat for endurance

June 11, 2020June 14, 2020

Hit Your Health Goals Faster: 6 Mistakes to Avoid

This post is about how to fast track your health goals without using restrictive diets or overexercising. If you like this, make sure to get in touch over on my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where we cover topics just like this one. If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, you can also apply to work with me. I would love to work with you now or in the future! ~Katie

I used to wake up at 5:30 to run 5-10 miles before working a full 12+ hour day as a baker. I was eating what the health magazines told me was the perfect diet. I counted calories. I cut carbs. I tracked my macros.

I didn’t know how I could be any more “perfect” with my health habits. And STILL, I was struggling with chronic fatigue, creeping weight gain, anxiety, and low energy on my runs.

In short, I was giving it everything I had and I still wasn’t experiencing the results I was after. It’s disheartening to feel like you’re giving it your all and you’re not getting anywhere. I was overwhelmed with conflicting nutrition information and how to sort through it. I just wanted energy, strength, and endurance for my day to day life and also for my outdoor adventures.

After trying and failing at many different approaches, I want to share with you the mistakes I made and the lessons learned when it comes to creating a wellness routine you can maintain for life; one that will allow you to have the energy, weight balance, mood, focus, and freedom you need to pursue big adventures in life.

Mistake #1: I was overcomplicating it.

I got caught up in what the media and different outside sources (even ‘professionals’) were telling me to do and I forgot that my body knows best. I was overriding signals of hunger and exhaustion to tame my body into submission. That’s not sustainable. The true process of coming to peace with food and my body was in learning how to pay attention to the feedback my body was giving me. Listening to hunger and fullness cues. Taking rest when I need it. These are a few of many examples.

When I pay attention to my body and trust what it’s telling me, I don’t need to follow strict eating rules or avoid entire food groups. With the focus on whole foods, cravings dissipate, taste buds adjust, the body regulates itself, and food no longer consmes every thought.

Mistake #2: I was looking for the “perfect diet”.

After much trial and error, I learned that there is no “perfect diet”. There are foods that work for your body and where you are in your life and for your current goals. The optimal diet for you may shift over time. That’s why I no longer give meals plans, and instead teach clients how to tune in to their body to see how it responds to different foods and macro nutrients and at different times of day. This gives you freedom from ‘food rules’ created by someone who knows nothing about you or your body.

Mistake #3: I thought fewer calories and more exercise would help me hit my goals.

This belief definitely slowed me down on my health path. It also caused my adrenals to tank and my hormones (especially thyroid) to get thrown out of whack. This caused a cascade of unpleasant symptoms like an autoimmune disease, fatigue, hair loss, weight loss resistance, and depression.

Here’s why: Your body needs to know you’re safe. This is especially true for women. When you starve yourself or train too hard, it signals to your body that you’re in danger. You shift out of parasympathetic dominance (rest+digest mode), where humans are meant to spend the majority of time, and into sympathetic (fight, flight, freeze) overdrive. This causes stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline to be released in the body.

Excess cortisol causes all sorts undesirable effects like fatigue, headaches, weight gain, lowered immunity, anxiety, and much more.

Mistake #4: I thought being healthy was all about diet and exercise.

What you eat and how you move is important, but there are other factors that play a big role as well. Specifically, sleep and stress levels matter more than you think. Sunlight, time in nature, and a reflective practice also contribute to overall wellness. Again, the reason relates to how these components affect your hormones, most specifically cortisol. Lack of sleep and excess stress in any form (emotional, physical, chemical) raise cortisol levels. See Mistake #3 for why that matters.

Mistake #5: I didn’t define my outcome clearly.

To be honest, I got caught in the trap of thinking that the number on the scale was the metric that told me whether or not I was healthy. And while weight can be one component of health, when I think about my long term vision of a healthy life, it’s about feeling strong, free, present, and capable. Redefining what health means to me freed me from being trapped by someone else’s expectations.

Mistake #6: I didn’t look deeper into WHY I was self-sabotaging.

When I would sabotage my goals by overeating or simply not engaging in self care, I thought it was just because I was a failure or had no willpower. When I began to unpack this, I realized that, as cliche as it sounds, I wasn’t truly loving myself. Any change that came from a place of self hate instead of self compassion wasn’t going to be effective. I had to look at where I picked up the programming that told me I wasn’t lovable unless I looked a certain way or ran enough miles or etc etc. Exploring what’s blocking you on an emotional and subconscious level is where lasting change starts.

In summary, I hope that seeing some of the mistakes I’ve made when it comes to achieving true health will help you to collapse the timeline on your own health goals, so that you can ditch the dieting, drop the obsession, and have a wellness routine that’s sustainable for life and gives you the vitality you desire.

PS. I’ve turned these lessons into a holistic methodology I use to guide private clients through this (and MUCH MORE) while customizing these concepts to your unique life and circumstances. It’s geared towards providing busy, ambitious, high achievers with a SIMPLIFIED health strategy that creates REAL results.

Ready to take the next step in your health journey? Apply to work with me.

June 3, 2020June 3, 2020

Shifting out of Fear, Anxiety, and Depression

This post provides practical physical, mental, and emotional tools you can use TODAY to start shifting out of emotions, like fear, anxiety, and depression. If you like this, stay in touch over in my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where I do free trainings on topics like this one. If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, schedule a free call and we’ll see if we’re a good fit. I would love to help you achieve your goals now or in the future! ~ Katie

There was a time in my life when I lacked the motivation to even get out of bed. I felt hopeless and overwhelmed. I knew I wasn’t living the life I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to get out of my rut. I wanted to make better decisions for myself, and when I failed to do so, day after day, I would feel even more frustrated.

This cycle repeated itself until I finally started to make tiny shifts each day, which compounded, eventually resulting in an entirely new way of experiencing my day to day life. Having been in and out of this cycle multiple times, it’s now easier to recognize when I’m falling into a funk, and I now have a set of tools that get be back into an optimal state more quickly.

Having a toolkit of physical practices and mental frameworks provides a means to move through these challenging emotions and into a place of greater personal power. From there, I’m much more effective at supporting those around me and acting in alignment with my truth.

This post goes into some of those tools that have helped me shift out of anxiety, fear, anger, and despair. Feel free to take what works for you and leave the rest.

For a long time, I fell into the trap of believing that my mental and emotional suffering wasn’t “severe enough” to be worth addressing. I now realize that suffering is relative, and the world needs each of us feeling our best so we can show up to do the work we’re here to do, whether that’s through our jobs, or as parents, or by sharing our stories, etc.

It’s important to note that our physical, emotional, and mental health are intricately intertwined. When one is suffering, the other pillars inevitably suffer as well. For instance, when you’re treating your body like crap, you’re less emotionally and mentally resilient. We’ll get more into why that is in a minute.

Finally, I’m not suggesting that we shouldn’t feel our emotions. I think it’s important to feel, to acknowledge, and to work through them, but not to get stuck in them.

Why do I feel like crap?

Before I get into the practices that help move me into a better mental and emotional state, here are some factors I’ve identified that consistently contribute to feeling less than ideal. When I notice myself in a slump, I can usually find one or more of these at play.

I’m caring too much about fitting in or meeting someone else’s expectations or being “perfect” … essentially, I’m giving other people’s/society’s opinions too much weight.
I’m hyper focused on myself, my needs, and my own experience.
I’m taking myself too seriously.
I’m creating the illusion that I’m alone.
I’m viewing my own sensitivity as a weakness rather than a gift.
I’m acting out of alignment with my value system.
I’m not supporting my physical body (e.g. under- or overeating; not enough sun; not getting out in nature; not making time for rest and pleasure.

Based on the above, you might guess that some of the strategies for moving into a different state are essentially the opposite of the root causes.

How do I shift my mental and emotional state?

Physical Practices

Focus on eating real food. This means whole foods, like fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, legumes, and salmon. Cut back on hormone-disrupting, inflammatory foods, like processed sugar. Quit dieting. Learn how to tune into genuine hunger and how to stop when satiated. For an explanation on why real food supports better mental health, read up on the food-mood connection, the role of the microbiome in neurotransmitter production, and the effects of blood sugar stabilization on mood.
Don’t overcaffeinate.
Move the body daily, from a place of joy, not punishment.
Daily time in nature, ideally with some skin exposed to the sunlight.
Serve others. Even if that just means holding the door for someone.

Emotional + Mindset Practices

Give up perfectionism. As Brene would say, “Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be, and embrace who you are”. Perfection is a myth and chasing it stems from a feeling of not being ‘enough’, just as I am. So, I focus on the root of why that feeling is there in the first place.
Daily practices that rewire my brain towards seeing the positive. The negativity bias is the notion that we’re hard-wired to look for dangers and threats in our environment. For me, a daily journal session focused on anything that’s going right in my life (even if it’s the tiniest thing) slowly trains my brain to find the positive.
Cultivate resilience by framing challenges as lessons and as an essential part of becoming my most whole, expressed self.
Raise my self awareness through personal development work.
Reframe sensitivity and empathy as a gift and learn to set boundaries appropriately.
Define what matters to me and what my values are. Act accordingly.
Zoom out to see the bigger picture. I have a Pale Blue Dot print which reminds me that this life is short and fleeting, and that my ‘problems’ are probably not as big as they seem in the grand scheme of things.

Is it selfish to spend time on self care?

I believe that having compassion for others goes hand in hand with having compassion for ourselves. When I take care of myself, I’m better equipped to take care of others. Remember, it’s not selfish to put your own oxygen mask on first.

Stress eating: Why we do it and how to stop

The impact of happiness on health & how to create more of it

June 1, 2020June 3, 2020

Real Health is More Than a Number

This post is about questioning what you’ve been told and redefining what genuine health + wellness looks like to you. If you like this, stay in touch over in my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where I do free trainings on topics like this one. If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, schedule a free call and we’ll see if we’re a good fit. I would love to help you achieve your health goals now or in the future! ~ Katie

When it comes to your health, how do you measure “success”? How do you know your health efforts are “working”? If you’ve never given this much consideration, read on.

I’m not a fan of the word success, especially when it comes to health, because it’s so nebulous. It’s not well-defined, and so we accept the default definition that’s handed to us by society at large. By not creating our own parameters for success, we succumb to other people’s metrics and take them on as our own.

And what are the metrics we traditionally use to measure health? Here are a few: weight, calorie count, step count, and macro ratios. How much emphasis do we usually put on those numbers? In my experience (and I’m completely guilty of this), the answer is way too much. Those things might be part of health. But, in my mind, REAL HEALTH is about so much more.

So, I invite you to consider this:

How are you currently measuring your health success? How do you know that the things you’re doing are working? Are the things you’re measuring leading to the long term result you want? If not, how do you want to redefine success and measure health more holistically?

To me, the point of eating real food, and moving my body, and getting enough sleep, and engaging in self care is to live a life of joy. It’s a life where I have plenty of energy, and I feel good, and I can go on outdoor adventures and feel strong. It’s a life where I feel sane around food, my inner dialogue is loving, and I’m moving my body from a place of joy. It’s a life where I’m present for my relationships and the work I’m here to do in the world.

Though I rejected diet culture long ago (through much experimentation and self inflicted suffering), I still get caught in the trap of mainstream dominant paradigm. The one that tells me that my weight, and the number of calories I consume, or the amount of exercise I complete define my self worth. When in my heart, I know that my life is about so much more than that.

Remember that you don’t have to embody the toxic messages that come from much of the “wellness” industry (which, yes, I’m a part of; and yes, it’s confusing to find a voice you trust when there’s so much info coming at you. I get it.).

You get to write your own rules. Or to say F it to rules, entirely.

I invite you to take a little quiet time to define for yourself what “healthy” truly looks like. How does healthy feel to you? How do you spend your time? How do you talk to yourself in the mirror? What are you able to do that is a struggle for you now? How do you show up in your relationships and in your day to day moments? Are you rigid, scattered, controlling? Or are you calm, grounded, and present?

If you’re willing to share, comment below!

To learn more about what it means to live a truly healthy life, find more freebies here.

May 30, 2020September 6, 2021

How to Choose a Protein Bar That’s Actually Healthy

You’re strolling down the ‘bar aisle’ at the grocery store. The one with all the ‘energy bars’ and the ‘protein bars’ and the ‘meal replacement bars’ and ‘snack bars’, and…

Perhaps, like me, this aisle overwhelms you a bit. But you need to stock your pantry for those mornings when you have to run out the door without breakfast, or maybe you need to refill your stash for your next backpacking trip. So you start scanning the shelves.

“Holy cow,” you think, “are there even more options than the last time I was here??”

New bar brands are hitting the shelves every day, and while this is great for adding variety when you inevitably get sick of your current favorite, it’s also overwhelming when you’re looking for one that’s going to power you up the mountains or through a long day of work.

How do you choose one that’s healthy? How do you find one that’s not just a candy bar in sheep’s clothing? (If you’re going for a candy bar, that’s your call – just don’t pay protein bar prices for what’s essentially a well-marketed candy bar – e.g. those “nutrition” bars with more sugar than a Snickers. #healthwashing.)

Why Protein + How Much?

First, what’s the big deal with protein? In short, it’s essential for every living being. You need it for proper immune function, and for muscle repair and recovery. It helps stabilize your blood sugar (and therefore, your energy levels) and keeps you full longer. It also carries electrolytes into and out of cells, and is a building block for muscles, skin, bones, and blood.

How much do you need? There are a lot of opinions on this question. Protein needs vary based on gender, activity level, and your goals (weight loss, muscle gain, maintenance). The Recommended Daily Allowance is 0.8 grams per kilogram (1kg = 2.2 lbs, so that’s 0.36 grams per pound) of bodyweight. Personally, I feel best when I eat in the range of 0.7-0.9 grams of protein per pound of body weight. It’s generally recommended that more active individuals eat more protein.

How do I choose one?

Here are 3 steps I use for bar selection + tips on when to use different bars based on your goals (recovery, muscle building, weight loss, etc.).

Look at Ingredients

At a very basic level, look for whole, real foods; things you can readily identify, such as almonds, dates, oats, prunes, hemp seeds, cocoa powder, and so on. The ingredients should be simple and as close to the form found in nature as possible.

Consider Your Goals

What are your needs? Are you looking for a snack bar to tide you over until dinner? Or for a meal replacement? Do you plan to eat it while you’re being active, like on a long run or a hike? It’s helpful to know how and when you intend to use the bar because it can influence what you’re looking at in step 3.

Scan the Nutrition Label

Look at the protein. To me, a protein bar should have, at minimum, 5 grams of protein. If you’re looking for a meal replacement bar or one to use when you’re exercising strenuously or during heavy lifting, look for 20+ grams of protein. If you’re on a specialty diet (e.g. vegan), look at the source of the protein and choose accordingly (e.g. avoid whey if vegan).

Look at the fiber. I generally prefer bars with 6+ grams of fiber. This keeps you full until your next meal, stabilizes blood sugar, and promotes a healthy gut microbiome. Fruit and nut-based bars generally have more fiber than others.

Consider calorie ranges. When searching for a snack bar in my day to day life, I’ll look for bars in the 200-calorie range. If it’s a meal replacement bar, 300-400 calories is a better choice, assuming I want it to keep me full until my next meal. If I’m backpacking, I look for the highest calorie per ounce bar I can get.

Evaluate the Protein to Carbohydrate Ratio

Okay, just a little simple math required on this one. If you’re interested in losing weight, a bar with a 1:1 or 2:1 protein to carbohydrate ratio would be a good choice. If you want to build muscle, or improve workout recovery, or get a burst of quick energy, anywhere between a 1:2 to a 1:4 protein to carbohydrate ratio is what I’d look for.

What to Avoid

There are a few things to avoid, if possible. One is sugar alcohols, like xylitol, sorbitol and maltitol, as these can cause bloating and cramps. I’d also steer clear of trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial colors.

Final pro tip, find a handful of brands that suit your criteria and stock up on multiple flavors, because you will inevitably get sick of them. Having a rotation at least slows that process. Knowing some go-to brands makes future shopping trips faster and less overwhelming. Having a criteria for selection, as outlined above, makes the process quicker if you’re in a new store and you can’t find your go-to brands.

I believe in meeting our nutritional needs through food first, but when you need an on-the-go meal or snack option, thoughtfully chosen protein bars can be a healthy choice. You just have to know what to look for 🙂

You can find some of my go-to options in the free Healthy Hiker Grocery Guide on this page!

To join our free Healthy Ultralight Meal Planning eCourse, CLICK HERE.

May 20, 2020May 24, 2020

3 Tips to Improve Your Home Fitness Routine

This post is about 3 tips to get the most out of your home fitness routine. If you like this, stay in touch over in my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where I do free trainings on topics like this one. If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, schedule a free call and we’ll see if we’re a good fit. I would love to help you achieve your health goals now or in the future! ~ Katie

Wondering how to get the most out of your home fitness routine? When you can’t hit the gym or attend your normal exercises classes, it’s helpful to have an effective strategy for maintaining your fitness in a small space, with little-to-no equipment.

Daily movement supports a healthy immune system, boosts mood, mitigates stress, and increases mental focus, just to name a few of the myriad benefits. With a bit of planning, a shift in mindset, and a few pieces of equipment (optional), staying fit from home is possible for anyone. Use this simple 3-step plan to get started.

Schedule It

Without set classes to attend or the accountability of a workout buddy, normal exercise sessions can fall by the wayside. Ensure you fit in daily movement by scheduling it on your calendar, as you would any other meeting. If it’s not scheduled, it usually won’t happen. In addition to having a dedicated fitness session each day, treat yourself to mini-movement sessions throughout the day. This could be 3 minutes of plank, 20 squats, or foam rolling between work blocks.

Additionally, it helps to plan what type of workout you’ll do each day. A well-rounded fitness routine includes different types of exercise, like cardio, strength, interval training, and flexibility/mobility exercises. Recovery time is also key to an effective fitness program.

At a minimum, aim for at least 30 minutes of cardio daily, along with a few strength sessions per week. Fit in mobility and flexibility as often as you can. If you can exercise outside, even near your home, all the better. Time in nature improves mood, reduces stress, and supports immune-boosting vitamin D production.

Focus on Variety + Plan Ahead

The options for what type of movement to choose are vast. If you just need to get started with something, walking and biking from home can provide a great workout. Include intervals to increase calorie burn and cardiovascular benefits.

With access to the internet, indoor workout options are endless. Many platforms and gyms offer online workouts of all styles, including high intensity interval training, bootcamps, kettlebell workouts, and yoga. Alternatively, try searching YouTube for whatever style of workout you’re seeking. This is a great way to try new things and keep your home workouts dynamic. Experiment with specific search terms, like “15-minute workout, no weights” or “10-minute workout with dumbbells”.

Optimize Your Environment

Staying fit at home is much more likely when you set up your environment for success. If possible, have a dedicated workout space, even if it’s just the corner of one room. Keep it clean, and have the right equipment ready and accessible. While an effective home workout can be done with nothing but your own body weight, there are a few basic items that can enhance your workouts. At a minimum, consider investing in a yoga mat, a kettle bell, a few weights, and a resistance band.

Staying fit from home need not be complicated. Block it off on the calendar, plan the type of training you’ll do, set up your movement space, and you’re all set to maintain your fitness, no matter what.

Click here for more free resources on optimizing your health so you can feel strong and confident.

May 18, 2020May 18, 2020

5 Steps to Stay Ready for Adventure

This post is about the 5 things I’m doing to stay ready for outdoor adventure, once the coast is clear. If you like this, stay in touch over on my Facebook community, Holistic Health for the Avid Adventurer, where I do free trainings on topics like this one. You can also follow me on Instagram @katiegerber_wellness and DM me anytime to say hi! If you’re interested in strategic 1-1 support, schedule a free call and we’ll see if we’re a good fit. I would love to work with you now or in the future! ~ Katie

Are you pretty much always dreaming of where you’ll go and what you’ll do when you can get into the outdoors again?

There’s nothing quite like the freedom of hiking through the wilderness, with the sun on your skin, the breeze in your hair, and open trail ahead.

Hiking around my local reservoir today, I got caught in a thunderstorm. I felt the temperature drop, the winds pick up, the goosebumps on my skin, and then the first few drops of rain pelting my face. It was fantastic. I felt alive. I felt the sense of OK-ness that I get when I’m in nature.

And it reminded me that I may not know when my next big outdoor adventure will be, but I have no doubt that it will happen again at some point. And when it does, I want to be ready to get out with confidence and enthusiasm. What about you?

Here are 5 steps I’m taking to stay prepared for adventure.

Gear Inventory

This includes:

cleaning up gear that’s been shoved to the back of the closet after my last trip
repairing gear
giving away or selling anything I no longer need or will use
testing gear that I want more practice with before I take it into the field
repairing gear, giving away or selling anything you don’t need, and testing gear you want more practice with.

Research + Inspiration

I have a running document of hikes or trips that I would love to do at some point. A bucket list of sorts. When I’m thinking of planning a trip, like I am for this fall, I’ll look over this document, and I’ll highlight the ones that would be appropriate for the season and the length of time I have available. From there, I decide what my soul feels most called to, and then I dive into research. This keeps me motivated and inspired. Additionally, having a general plan in place allows me to be ready to execute on it and get out there if/when that’s possible.

Food Inventory

This involves:

cleaning out expired backpacking food
taking an inventory of what’s left (I like spreadsheets for this!)
bulk cooking and dehydrating meals (I’m not the kind of person who enjoys this, but it’s a great activity to be doing if you are!)
potentially planning a resupply strategy if I have a specific trail in mind
creating a menu and determining what I still need to purchase for said resupply plan (Here’s a free ecourse on how to do all of this!)

Stay Connected to the Trail Community

Taking time away from the trail and my normal adventure buddies doesn’t have to mean being completely disconnected. Making an effort to connect virtually with trail friends keeps us inspired and reminds us that we’re not alone in our longings to get back outdoors. To me, this is essential for not falling into a hole of despair due to canceled plans and future uncertainty. There are a myraid of options, including subscribing to the newsletters of your favorite trail orgs or joining one of the hundreds of outdoors-related Facebook groups. Webinar meetings are a great way to see like-minded humans ‘face to face’ and nearly every organization is offering this new style of connecting and learning.

Get My Body in Tip Top Shape

I know from experience that I feel SO MUCH better when I hit the trail with my body already tuned in to good nutrition and regular movement. I have more energy, I can hike more miles more easily, and I’m less prone to overuse injuries. It makes my adventure more fun and increases the likelihood that I’ll be successful.

Having the structure, support, and accountability of a coach can massively accelerate progress towards health goals. Furthermore, focusing on your adventure as your motivation for training and eating helps you stick to it when you face (inevitable) challenges.

What else keeps your spirits up and your motivation high between adventures? Let me know in the comments!

CLICK HERE to access more free resources to help you get outside feeling strong and healthy for your next adventure!

May 6, 2020December 11, 2022

Cusa Cold Brew Coffee Review

Outdoor physical activity and good organic coffee. These two ingredients have been cornerstones in my life for as long as I can recall. Unfortunately, when I’m out for a full day of play in the outdoors, good coffee usually isn’t readily available. If it is, the options tend to leave much to be desired. At least that was the case until recently. Enter Cusa coffee’s new instant cold brew.

I have thousands of backpacking miles under my belt fueled by Cusa’s instant premium teas, so I’m familiar with their quality standards. And while I genuinely enjoy the taste and health benefits of premium tea, there are times when only a good cup of coffee will do. However, the instant coffee market is limited, and the options I was familiar with left much to be desired in terms of flavor and quality.

Why Quality Coffee Matters

After years of working as a barista at many different coffee shops, and being fortunate enough to drink coffee that’s in the top 1% worldwide in terms of quality, my standards are high. Unfortunately, this means gas station coffee and cheap instant packets no longer cut it.

I realize my coffee snobbery level probably sounds off the charts right now, so let me explain. When it comes to coffee (and tea), quality really does matter. Aside from organic being better for the environment, it’s also better for you. Conventional coffee is one of the most heavily chemically treated crops in the world, being sprayed with a myriad of chemicals, pesticides, and herbicides, all with questionable safety profiles. Due to the known ability of agricultural chemicals to cause a large number of negative health effects, I like to avoid them when I can.

Furthermore, mold toxicity (via mycotoxins) is a real concern for coffee drinkers. You know that jittery, anxious feeling that you sometimes feel after you drink coffee? It may be an issue of quantity (too much), but often it’s due to the mold and chemical contamination. For these reasons, drinking a quality source is important to me. In that regard, Cusa’s new cold brew fits my needs.

Coffee Review

I had the opportunity to sample several of Cusa’s new instant coffee varieties, including the Dark Roast, Medium Roast, Vanilla Dark Roast, and Lemon Dark Roast. When evaluating an instant coffee, there are a few key factors I’m examining. These include taste, dissolvability in hot and cold water, quality (organic), and convenience (single serving packets).

With Cusa’s instant cold brew coffees, all are 100% organic, arabica coffee, satisfying my need for quality. They come in single serving packets that are intended to be mixed with 8-10 ounces of water, according to the instructions. I like my coffee pretty strong, so using ~6 ounces of water or multiple packets in a larger amount of water, depending on my caffeine needs, was the way to go.

I tested some of the varieties in cold water and some in hot water and each dissolved completely, either instantly or with a small bit of agitation (e.g. stirring or shaking in a jar/bottle). That part is crucial for my needs on trail since I want the ease of simply dumping a packet into my water bottle, shaking and caffeinating. Sometimes I carry a stove, but often I don’t, so cold water dissolvability is key for me.

I tested the Medium Roast in 6 ounces of cold almond milk. It dissolved well and the taste was strong and paired perfectly with the nut milk. The Dark Roast I tested in 8 ounces of hot water and found it to be full bodied with a balanced flavor. That one was probably my favorite. For the Vanilla Dark Roast, I used 8 ounces of hot water. The vanilla flavor was well balanced, but the brew was not full bodied enough for my taste, and I’ll reduce the volume of liquid next time. I prepared the Lemon Dark Roast in 8 ounces of cold water. The lemon is quite apparent and while I personally did not care for this flavor combination, I can see how one might find it quite refreshing on a hot afternoon.

I will always love the ritual of making a hot cup of french press or stove top espresso at home, but there are myriad ways Cusa’s coffee makes my on-the-go caffeine needs more convenient. I can stash a few packets in my day pack for a day in the mountains or on the river. I also keep a few packets in my glove box ICCE (in case of caffeine emergency). And Cusa’s tea and/or coffee packets are the ideal choice to send myself in resupply boxes for my multi-month thru-hikes. I also envision these being great for long travel days when I’m not interested in paying $6 for a cup of crappy airport coffee (which is always).

In addition to Cusa’s new caffeine free herbal line of teas (which are also excellent), I’m genuinely excited for the recent addition of premium cold brew coffee to the Cusa family.

In full disclosure, this product was sent to me free of charge. However, I have no ongoing relationship with Cusa. In addition to a few other organic instant coffees, it continues to be one of my favorites.

If you enjoyed this review and plan to order, please consider using this link, from which I can earn a small percentage of the sale with no additional expense to you.