Wellness Guide: Mindset, Nourishment & Movement
I’ve spent the last 10 years in self-experimentation to determine what makes me feel well, look healthy, and experience vibrancy.
As a woman and a human, I know that the journey to well-being will never be complete. Hormones change, environments change, and new challenges come with different ages and stages of life.
However, I have learned a few staples both experientially and in my research over the years. My findings have been affirmed by many of the health and wellness influencers that I follow, as they all reiterate a very similar message. My intention in sharing these principles is to give you access to something it took me 10 years to discover for myself. I hope your journey can be shorter with less friction by using this guide!
These are high-level principles and advice, and if you’d like to go deeper on any topic or have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.
I categorize my knowledge in this area into three distinct areas: mindset, nourishment, and movement.
Mindset
Your mindset and your emotions matter - how you talk to yourself, talk to others, and feel in your body will have a huge impact on the reality you’re manifesting. Whatever you have right now in this moment, is what your past self thought about, talked about, and actioned on. So you want to be mindful of how you are thinking, speaking, and acting NOW for your future self. Here are the key mindset principles that I believe lead to a healthy and vibrant body:
Think positive and loving thoughts about yourself. If you are down on yourself, you’ll create more of your current reality. Whatever you focus on and give your energy to, you create. This isn’t about bypassing negativity - which leads me to the next point.
Process your emotions. Emotions are energy in motion. They can get stuck in the body, causing excess weight and heaviness. Process your emotions through EFT, parts work, or somatic experiencing to support your body in being free of any stuck energy. The physiological experience of an emotion only lasts about 90 seconds when we feel it fully. Where we get in trouble is when we create a narrative about the emotion, creating a more intense emotion, and it becomes a vicious circle. I like the above techniques because they deal with the BODY and not the mind.
Feel good. How you feel in your body matters. Think about it: if you were to spend the next 6 months completely dedicated to your wellness, you’d start to feel good in your body, right? That would cultivate more thoughts and actions to cultivate a healthier self. Like calls to like. So feel good NOW. Feel healthy NOW. Your body is like a radio signal, attracting future realities to it. Be mindful of what you’re attracting by feeling good. So - do what feels good. Find the exercise that feels good to you. Find the foods that feel nourishing and make you feel good in your body before, during, and after the meal. Be around people that make you feel good in your body.
Be present. Nothing will bring you vibrancy more than being in the present moment. When you are present, you can’t help but experience joy and love.
Nourishment
Here are the key elements of nutrition that have worked for me. These elements have also been reinforced to me by several sources, including Dan Go, Melissa Urban, Robb Wolf, Dr. Sara Gottfried, Dr. Will Cole, Mark Sisson, and more.
Hydrate. Drink 0.5oz for every pound of body weight and use electrolytes. I like LMNT or Re-Lyte.
Detox. Do cleanses and detoxes in the Spring or Fall. Drink lemon water, herbal teas, and take chlorophyll drops (bonus: it’s a natural deodorant and curbs sugar cravings). Remove toxic chemicals from your home, and don’t put anything on your skin that you wouldn’t want in your body. Eat pasture-raised animals and wild-caught fish. Get bloodwork done to determine which foods do and do not work for you.
Avoid these foods that cause inflammation, gut permeability, oxidative stress, and other issues in the body. Remove from your pantry:
Any kind of seed oils (Canola, vegetable, grapeseed, sunflower seed, safflower, soybean, corn).
Factory farmed meat. Any meat that is not pasture-raised or wild caught. “Organic” just means that the animals are fed organic feed, usually corn. Pasture-raised means that they are raised on the pasture, free to roam and eating their natural diets.
Dairy. Everyone is different, but most people don’t do very well with dairy. If you’re going to eat dairy, the better options are goat or sheep dairy as they are slightly easier to digest. Pasture-raised dairy is the better option. Raw, pasture-raised dairy is the best option.
Sugar. Any sugars that raise your glucose levels can cause insulin-resistance and disrupt your hormones, causing a cascade effect that can be highly impactful and dangerous. Avoid processed sugars like white or brown sugar, corn syrup, and agave. Minimal amounts of honey or maple syrup are okay, and stevia and monkfruit are a good option as they do not impact glucose. Make sure you are buying 100% pure stevia leaf extract or monkfruit extract, as many mainstream brands like Truvia or Stevia in the Raw include other sugars and fillers.
Alcohol. Alcohol is poison, and there are no benefits to consumption and so many reasons not to consume. It disrupts sleep and hormones, and is a depressant. Find healthier outlets like meditation, yoga, or breathwork if you need it to relax.
Be cautious with grains and legumes. They can cause digestive and gut issues for many people, especially since we no longer prepare them properly to remove phytonutrients. If you’re going to eat grains and legumes, eat activated or sprouted. To activate: soak in water with a pinch of mineral salt for 8 hours and rinse before cooking.
Eat for your hormones. A form of clean keto is the best diet for this. - Whole30 rules basically are the same thing Meals should include high-quality protein, healthy fats, and plenty of vegetables and greens. Eat the rainbow to get micronutrients.
Don’t snack. Your body needs time in between meals to burn off glucose, stabilize, and start burning your body fat for fuel. You’ll notice if you’re eating clean and giving yourself 3-4 hours between meals that you have more consistent energy and less brain fog.
Give your digestive system a break. Give your body 12-14 hours in between dinner and breakfast so that your digestive system has a break, and you tap into the fasting process that our hunter & gatherer ancestors evolved with. (Everyone is unique here, but generally speaking women shouldn’t fast more than 14 hours as it can start to impact hormones after that time.) Your organs will detox overnight while you sleep, so you want to prepare your body for that time by refraining from eating at least 3 hours before bed, and get to sleep before 10pm if possible.
Support healthy digestion. Don’t drink liquids while you eat. Eat prebiotics and probiotics. Eat mindfully: smell and view your food first, allow yourself to salivate, chew your food completely. Manage your stress so that you’re switching into the parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) when you eat.
Eat plenty of protein. You want to eat 0.7g to 1g of protein per lb of body weight. I try to do 30-40g of protein per meal. Amino acids are the building blocks of DNA - make sure you’re getting high quality protein. I’m an advocate of eating sustainable, humanely raised animal protein - so if you’re vegan or vegetarian I recommend finding another source for your nutrition advice.
Get good sleep. Nourishment includes rest. Get 7-8 hours of high quality sleep and look at your sleep hygiene. You want to sleep in a cool environment that is 64-67 degrees that is completely blacked out. Your bedroom should not be used for anything but sleep and sex- remove devices or any activities that have high energy like work or exercise. Get sunlight in your eyes first thing in the morning and again at sunset. Follow Dan Go’s 3-2-1 rule: stop eating 3 hours before bed, stop drinking 2 hours before bed, and stop screens 1 hour before bed. Magnesium supplementation can support restful sleep.
Movement
Move everyday. If nothing else, walk. A good goal is to walk 8,000 steps a day. For me, that means about 1 hour of walking. I will break that up into two 30-minute walks or three 20-minute walks. (The best movement is what you’ll do, so find something that you enjoy and that makes you feel good at the very least.)
Yoga is also a great movement practice that can be gentle and difficult, while having so many benefits for the mind and body.
Resistance train 3x a week. Ideally you work up to lifting heavy weight, but you can start with body weight exercises or resistance bands. This is VITAL for women over 35!! We start to lose 1% of our skeletal muscle mass around 35-40, which can lead to so many problems for us as we age. Skeletal muscle burns more calories at rest, and heavy weight lifting can support building stronger bones. If you want to age gracefully and feel vital, you need to do resistance training!
I highly recommend getting a program so you don’t have to do your own thinking when it comes to your workout. I love the Sweat app, particularly Kelsey Wells’ programming.
You can break down resistance training into these groups to start educating yourself on how to weight-train.: Legs, Push, Pull. Each of these groups has different categories of movement that include several different exercises. Some of these require resistance bands or weights, and some you can do with body weight. If you’re not sure what these movements entail, google “how to do ____ (exercise) with _______ (body weight, resistance bands, or free weights)” for each one.
LEGS
Squat movement
Squat
Thruster
Hinge movement
Deadlift (Reverse hyperextension for bodyweight)
Pull-through
Lunge movement
Lunge
PUSH
Horizontal press
Standing chest press
Chest fly
Push up
Vertical press
Shoulder press (Can do push-ups from downward dog position)
PULL
Vertical Pull (ie. chin ups, lat pulldowns)
1-arm lat pulldown
Lat pulldown
Pulldown
Horizontal pull (ie. back rows, cable rows)
Upright row
CARRY OR HOLD
Farmer's carry
Hollow hold
Sample Beginner’s Workout Schedule:
I recommend buying a cheap set of resistance bands and combining body weight movements with resistance bands movements. You can look up the videos for any movements you’re not familiar with, and resistance bands usually come with a guide.
Day 1: Leg day (3 sets of each movement, 5 reps per set)
Squat, deadlift, lunge
Day 2: Walk + stretch
Day 3: Pull day (3 sets of each movement, 5 reps per set)
Hollow hold, pulldown, face pull OR
Upright row, standing row, seated row
Day 4: Walk + stretch
Day 5: Push day (3 sets of each movement, 5 reps per set)
Shoulder press + standing chest press, chest fly or push up (pick two horizontal press movements to go with shoulder press)
Day 6: Do something fun outside - incorporate play. Frisbee, soccer, hiking, biking, etc.
Day 7: Rest
I know this can be daunting to take on! So if you’re a beginner, here’s what I recommend:
Start small. You don’t have to follow the above schedule right away. Take baby steps and build a habit by lowering the point of entry for yourself.
Hire a coach. Have someone you can be accountable to and who can support you in building this habit.
Create accountability. It helps me tremendously to have my partner who goes with me to the gym or asks if I haven’t gone in a few days.
I hope this guide has been helpful! If I can do it, you can do it. Start now and in 2 years you’ll be in a much different place! This is about creating a lifestyle, not losing 10lbs in 3 months. Build habits that last and your future self will be grateful! Good luck!
