Welcome to episode 13 of Wellness Wednesday’s Audio Series.

I’m Nissrine, registered holistic nutritionist, and mindful nutrition & wellness coach for female entrepreneurs who are looking to prioritize their health and wellbeing without fad diets and wellness trends.

I created this series to bring a fresh perspective to nutrition and wellness, one that is centered on and lead by you.

There’s a plethora of information out there and it can be really hard to know what to do and eat to feel good in your body.

It’s easy to get caught up in fad diets and wellness trends, often questioning, doubting and second guessing your decisions when it comes to the way you nourish and care for yourself.

I wholeheartedly believe that; reconnecting with your own innate wisdom to know what your body needs to thrive is the first step to a life-changing transformation and true lasting wellness; and that progress is made by taking small steps, mindfully, intentionally and consistently.

In today’s episode, I want to talk about the importance of non exercise intentional movement, especially as a busy female entrepreneur who spends a lot of time sitting in front of a computer or running around after her family.

By now, most of you know that a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of chronic illness, mental health issues and can cause pain, stiffness and muscle imbalances not to mention decreased energy expenditure.

While making time for structured exercise daily or at least 3 times a week is extremely important to your health and wellbeing, building regular intentional movement breaks into your day is also beneficial for so many reasons:

For one, all the activity you do outside of exercising and sleeping, so walking your dog, pacing the room during a conference call, walking to and around the supermarket, vacuuming and cleaning the house, gardening, and other errands and chores that you do throughout the day that require you to move your body,, increases your Non-exercise activity thermogenisis (NEAT) in other words, it boosts your energy expenditure or calories burned throughout the day. In fact, NEAT is responsible for 80% of the calories you burn throughout the day.

So, if you’re looking to improve your energy expenditure, increasing your NEAT through intentional daily movement is probably going to be far more effective than adding in more structured exercise to your day, especially if you’re already busy and don’t have a ton of time to go to the gym or actually spend an hour a day working out.

Intentional movement also boosts blood flow, stabilizes blood sugar levels, reduces LDL (bad cholesterol), mental stress and physical tension caused by stress and poor posture when you sit all day at a desk, and improves general health and wellbeing overall.

As a busy mama, I don’t have as much time for exercise as I would like.

And to be completely honest with you, I’m still working on improving my relationship with exercise.

It was always a tool to shrink and manipulate my body when I was dieting, and unfortunately, I never developed a healthy loving relationship with structured exercise and always found it really hard to create a consistent exercise routine that I would stick with long term. It was always all or nothing.

I’d get a gym membership and I’d go really hard for a few weeks or a month or two max and then I’d burn out and do nothing. I would start running and build up to 10k, then I would do nothing for months on end.

This went on for years and years.

When I finally healed my relationship with food and stopped obsessing over eating healthy all the time and began to listen to my innate wisdom and found food freedom, I just couldn’t bring myself to do any form of structured exercise because I was worried about undoing the work I had been doing.

Thankfully, I have been living in Italy for the past 11 years, without a license, and have developed a love for and made a habit out of walking everywhere.

You may not know this about me, but, I grew up in Canada and started my career in the Greater Toronto Area. If you’re familiar with the GTA, you know that it’s not uncommon to spend an hour or more in your car driving to and from work every day. I also worked in a sedentary job and lived in the suburbs which wasn’t conducive to movement at all.

So when I first moved to Italy, it was freeing to be able to live in the city and walk everywhere.

So, as my relationship with food and my body improved and I found myself still struggling with the structured exercise piece, I began adding intentional movement into my day.

And I’ll share with you in just a minute, how I do that.

But first, I want to share a recent success story that I’ve had with structure exercise.

As recently as two months ago, I decided that it was time to finally heal my relationship with exercise. Knowing everything I know about nutrition and wellness, I knew that this was an essential and yet missing piece of my puzzle.

I’m in my mid 40’s now and it's more important than ever to increase strength and muscle mass because muscle atrophy is no joke folks.

So, I’m happy to report, that I’ve finally had success incorporating structured exercise into my morning routine simply by meeting myself where I am.

Meaning, challenging myself to get stronger, without pushing myself to go from 0 to 100, overnight.

In the past, even as recently as last year, I would dive into a new exercise routine head first and then get really discouraged when I just couldn’t keep up.

This time, I started slowly, with 5-10 minute targeted exercises to get my body moving, and gradually increased based on how I felt.

I listened to my body and within a short few weeks, I had built up to 45 minutes of structure exercise and it feels amazing.

I’m doing this mostly at home, using youtube videos to guide me - with a mix of resistance training using my own body weight to cardio and HIIT routines using the mini trampoline or rebounder and stair climbing / uphill walking which I do outdoors. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen my stories and reels of my stair climbs.

All of that said, I don’t always have time for 45 minutes to 1 hour of exercise every single day, but I have come to love and rely on movement to help me feel good in my mind and body.

So now I make it a point to get more intentional movement into my day, every day, but especially on days when I can’t get that structured exercise in.

As i mentioned before, the past 11 years of living in Italian cities with excellent walking scores, have helped me cultivate a tool box of non exercise intentional movement:

walking for school drop off/pick up (my husband drops us off in the morning then I walk back home and then walk there and back at pick up. That's 3 x 15 minute walks a day.)
jumping on the rebounder/mini trampoline (while I do use this with a structured exercise routine, having it open all the time means I’m more likely to get on it randomly throughout the day for a quick serotonin boosting jump)
dancing around the house or doing Just Dance Marathons with my daughter after school
resistance band exercises - while again i use this as part of my structured exercise routine I also keep it at my desk and use it to get moving and release tension throughout the day, anytime i feel like i need it or if I'm doing a training or call where I don't need my hands
taking the stairs instead of the elevator as often as possible
walking to/from and around the supermarket and to run errands
going for a quick walk after lunch when time allows
housework like vacuuming, loading the dishwasher, making the beds, pacing around the house while on the phone, walking your dog, etc...also count and increase NEAT

So, I want to encourage you to keep moving your body, all day, every day.

Even if it’s just for 5 minutes, get out of your chair and move your body.

It’s going to be great for your mind, body and soul.

On that note, thank you for tuning in.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and share with a friend and be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Wellness Wednesday Audio Series, where I a share a short audio clip each week to inspire you to reconnect with yourself on a deeper level so you can start nourishing and caring for yourself, more mindfully and intentionally.

Until next week,

Stay healthy, happy and safe,

Nissrine

P.S. If you’d like to be a part of my pilot program, entitled (re) Awaken Your Innate Food Wisdom, a self-paced mindful nutrition program with 4 weeks of group support to help you prioritize your nutrition & wellness without fad diets and trends, get on my mailing list to get an exclusive invitation once I’m ready to launch it.

To get on my mailing list, subscribe to this audio series or download my simple 5 step framework to nourishing meals in minutes and you’ll be the first to know when the pilot program is ready for testing.

It will be a journey to learning more about your body and what it needs to thrive; A mindful approach to nutrition that will improve your relationship with food; and a wellness education program that will guide you for life so your nutrition and self-care will always be a priority.

Episode 13 The Importance of Non Exercise Intentional Movement

Nissrine

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