Staying active is a crucial part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Jillian Michaels gives her tips on how to keep moving — even during the cold Canadian winters!
How have you stayed motivated during the pandemic?
I’m fortunate that health and fitness is my livelihood so of course there is always that inherent motivation to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. Plus, my constant reasons “why” always remain – to be a role model for my kids, to have the peace of mind health provides and not lay awake at night with health concerns, to feel strong and empowered in all facets of my life as I find physical fitness to be transcendent. The pandemic, in particular, did make me feel out of control often so controlling my nutrition, supplementing, exercising all allowed me to feel less helpless.
Why is daily physical activity important for overall health?
It’s well known that consistent exercise is the number one form of preventative medicine – it helps prevent everything from cancer and heart disease to glaucoma and erectile dysfunction. Beyond the physical, it helps improve mood and stabilize brain chemistry to tamp down on depression and anxiety. Plus, the psychological impacts are also significant. When we exercise we are doing something for ourselves that reinforces our worth, value, strength, and resilience in all aspects of our mental and physical health.
What tips do you have to help Canadians become more active?
Canada is a beautiful country. So my first suggestion is to get outside! I know it’s cold there now, but you guys crush all the winter sports from skiing and snowboarding to ice hockey and snowshoeing. Use the environment, get inspired by the beauty, and get active!
Make fitness fun. Life can feel punishing enough. Your fitness routine doesn’t need to be perfect. Find a couple of activities you like and do them several times a week. Spinning, dance class, yoga, running… whatever you enjoy – do it.
Have a myriad of options available to you that entertains your every mood and every environment. Make sure you have access to at-home training, classes if you like them, gym programs – and all different types of modalities you enjoy – kickboxing, yoga, dance etc.
What are your go to healthy meals?
I don’t look at food in terms of meals – I look at it in terms of guidelines. Let me explain… Nutrition is a bit like religion – people adhere to particular dietary preferences and take them very seriously. You are never going to get a vegan to eat meat just like you will never get a keto devotee to eat a banana. With that said, I can always incorporate the simple science of calories in calories out and the principles of clean eating into any dietary preference (vegan to paleo).
For me personally – I’m an omnivore. I eat all three macros (protein, fat, carbohydrates) in their most whole and healthy form. Whole grains, fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes. Wild-caught salmon, grass-fed grass-finished beef, pasture-raised organic chicken eggs, organic fermented dairy. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats like nuts, seeds, wild fish, avocado, olive oil etc.
I eat on a schedule to stabilize hunger hormones and keep insulin in check – so I eat every 3 to 4 hours with a 12 hour overnight fast.
I go organic whenever possible. A typical day of meals would like as follows
Breakfast: Yogurt, fruit, crushed walnuts
Lunch: Wild salmon salad with some type of carb in it or on the side like quinoa.
Snack: A piece of fruit and a slice of cheese. Veggie sticks and hummus. A hard-boiled egg and an apple.
Dinner: Shrimp fajitas with a side of black beans.
What inspired you to create Jillian Michaels: The Fitness App?
All the above is why I created The Fitness App. I wanted to give people the most comprehensive customizable fitness, nutrition, and mindfulness features all in one single, seamless platform at a price they can afford. Personalized workout programs to help you meet any goal, satisfy any exercise preference and suit any fitness level. You can train at home, in the gym, or outside no equipment is needed! From yoga to kickboxing, HIIT circuits to 5k training, pre and postnatal programs, bridal boot camps and so much more…The Fitness App has you covered!
The Fitness App’s advanced meal planner individualizes your meal plans with hundreds of recipes from top registered dieticians to fit a wide variety of dietary preferences – making eating healthy easy and delicious. Vegan, paleo, keto, omnivore, pescatarian… you want it you got it. You can ban ingredients you don’t like, favourite the recipes you do, customize the servings in each recipe, choose the days or meals you want to eat on or off the plan, and even shop off a grocery list tailored just for you. The Fitness Apps suite of meditations and mindfulness practices helps you sleep better and stress less. You can make friends and find support in the community forums.
And best of all…you can play your own tunes while training, track your progress: weight, calories, activity, workout history and even document your sweaty selfies. No more having 10 different apps on your phone – the one for running, the one for yoga, the one for meditation, the sleep support one, the tracking app etc. It’s ridiculous. The fitness app has it all and if you buy an annual subscription, it breaks down to $7.25 a month.
