5 Tips to Make Wellness More Accessible & The Podcasts That Inspired Me
I’ve been noticing some interesting trends among the health and wellness podcasts that have really affirmed my choices or inspired me to make better ones in a way that doesn’t feel suffocating, overwhelming, or like I need a complete life overhaul.
So if you’ve been feeling stressed out over all the information out there or simply want to know what I’ve been mulling over lately, I’m excited to share the 5 wellness trends that have actually helped me relax into my routine versus over analyze or stress about it!
Hillcrest Farmers Market in San Diego August 2024
Embrace bio individuality & choose one thing to focus on at a time
We live in a world where we’re constantly bombarded with information overload, and there are few spaces more confusing when it comes to what’s best than the wellness industry. If you’re a millennial like me or even part of Gen X, we remember growing up in a time where there was a commonly agreed on set of rules and “do’s and don’ts.” On one hand, it made life a lot simpler. On the other hand, we were subject to misinformation constantly and on a larger scale, learned to trust and outsource our life’s decisions to ambiguous authority figures. We lived in this easy, straightforward mono culture where we didn't have to question much. It was easier in the moment, but the rise in chronic disease and metabolic dysfunction speaks to how dangerous it actually was to our health and well-being.
I believe this blind trust we were programmed to have is half of what makes modern life so overwhelming and frustrating for many of us. We have to relearn how to receive and process information and make our own decisions. And I’m not saying the bombardment of experts and podcasts telling you what you should and shouldn’t do makes life any easier. What I’m saying is that we’re missing the plot if we think that anyone’s opinion or advice can shake the bedrock of our own individual truth.
Navigating information online becomes much easier to digest (pun intended) when we recognize our bio individuality. Bio-individuality is a concept that recognizes that each person has unique nutritional and wellness needs based on factors such as their genetics, lifestyle, environment, and even emotional state. It emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to diet, exercise, or wellness because what works for one person might not work for another.
I hope this takes the pressure off any changes you’re trying to make. Choose one thing to focus on based on what you need most or what feels most accessible to you. The rest will evolve as you do!
2. Just eat whole foods.
We can simplify all the nutrition advice out there into in this one statement: just eat whole foods. No lists or diets or macro counting necessary. Eat anything you want, just try to focus most of your meals around whole foods!
3 for $15 organic fruit baby
After listening to podcasts with Dr. Casey Means, I’ve made more of an effort to shop at local farmers markets. With the price of groceries getting higher, I know this may not be accessible to everyone. However, I think of the food I eat as my health insurance. Eating foods free of plastics and pesticides is what will keep me from being on a laundry list of medications, joint pain, or disease in the future. I consider it a privilege and intentional choice to buy food that is the freshest possible, not sitting in 18-wheelers for days before even making it to the grocery store. It allows me to consume food that is seasonal, that our ancestors would be eating at this time of year. It narrows down choices and options, eliminating decision fatigue. Plus, spending a tiny bit more at the farmers market sure does motivate me to make sure nothing goes to waste.
Here’s how far $100 got me at the farmers market the other week. It may not seem like much, but it provided all of my breakfasts and dinners all week.
Produce: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, figs, spring mix, zucchini, squash, broccoli, tomatoes
Meat: ground turkey x 2, ground beef, chicken breast, 12 eggs
Misc: flower bouquet, honey (consuming local honey is one of the best ways to boost your immune system), olive oil, almond butter, coffee, avocado toast
Seeing food that is colorful and vibrant makes me feel excited to eat it!
Plus, eating whole foods supports your mental health, too! The work of Dr. Christopher Palmer shows that the root of all disease is mitochondrial dysfunction. The TLDR: what we consume and the health of our cells directly correlates to our mental health. The glucose overload from sugar and processed foods impacts how our cells function, and therefore leads to inflammation and chronic disease. This is why alcohol has been linked to neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s. This may seem obvious now, by Dr. Palmer’s work is ground breaking. With all of the stressors of living in a technological world, I hope it’s empowering to know that certain aspects of our mental health can be supported by eating healthy, whole foods.
What if you just made this one change for 30 days? It’s incredible what you will learn about yourself and your body, without sacrificing food that comfort you.
3. Healthy relationships are vital to wellness.
When it comes to wellness, internal peace is as important to me as physical health. And all the Q&A podcasts I listen to have this theme in common: people seeking advice on navigating relationships. We can eat the healthy foods and exercise, but if we aren’t feeling at peace in our relationships, we can’t fully thrive.
This is a topic I’ve talked a lot about in therapy and heard great advice given from my client Victoria Browne on her latest Life Advice episode of Real Pod. Cultivating healthy relationships requires the embodiment of this one truth: Accepting people as they are is the fastest road to peace. Trying to change or expecting people to be different is the fastest way to suffering.
As many of us grow and gain tremendous benefits from switching to a healthier lifestyle, it’s easy to want to be a megaphone for it. If we have felt and experienced it, obviously we want our loved ones to feel the same way, especially if they suffer from chronic pain or autoimmune issues. We can share this information, we can live the lifestyle, but we can’t force anyone to decide to make changes. And it makes sense, when’s the last time you made a major life change? It’s scary. It’s overwhelming. It forces you to come to terms with the fact that you are not a victim to life, but have agency over it.
While it may come from good intentions, we can’t force our beliefs onto others. It’s true in most cases in life, so why do we think it can be different when it comes to health? I’ve only pushed people away by trying to help them when they haven’t asked for it.
In the wise words of Dr. Nicole LePera in her interview on On Purpose with Jay Shetty, “What causes suffering is unmet expectations.” All we can do is live true to ourselves, and offer love and support to those we care about, regardless of our opinions on their life choices. This has been a profound shift for my peace and my relationships; releasing expectations and offering unconditional love. Plus, the more you do it for others, the easier it do for yourself.
4. Slowing down is where it’s at.
I shared a lot about this in my previous blog post, but my journey to accepting rest as a requirement and not a sign of laziness has been long and hard. In the Well podcast by Arielle Lorre, she sat down with PVOLVE founder Rachel Katzman to talk about how their workout routines and work schedules have chilled out over the last few years. This is definitely one of the best things to happen in my 30s. Maybe it’s our age, maybe we’ve just tried all the things, but we’ve learned that it’s okay to refocus your priorities to how you want your life to feel versus how it looks.
Sure, you may look like a badass on instagram for going to 5 workout classes a week and walking 10,000 steps a day and working until 6 pm and working on weekends. But how are you feeling in your body? How’s your sleep? How’s your mental health? Are your hormones balanced? Are you eating enough protein and getting enough rest to account for all that energy spending? Are you sore and inflamed constantly? My experience living that way for 5-7 years led me to a place of complete burnout that took me years to recover from.
Now, this post is about bio individuality and doing you. I am sure plenty of people out there thrive with this schedule, and more power to you. I just found that for me it was not sustainable, and I don’t think it should be the message we’re sending to the masses. There’s this misconception that in order to be healthy you have to follow a checklist. But what I’ve learned through a lot of trial and error is that the goal is to find a sweet spot between not doing anything and doing too much.
You can live just as long, if not longer, from taking a more nervous system friendly approach to working out. I’ve loved incorporating long walks and pilates in addition to my strength training. I take two days off a week to not do any type of workout, especially on my period. I work just enough to complete what I need to without looking for things to add to my plate to fill the day productively. No matter where you’re at, I hope you know it’s okay to do the bare minimum.
5. The first step in your wellness journey is believing you are deserving of it.
In a recent collab of two of my favorite podcasters on Pursuit of Wellness, Olivia Amitrano talks about healing autoimmune disease and the most important step in anyone’s wellness journey. Olivia says, “Self-worth is the first step towards healing your body. We don’t need more information, we need to realize we are worthy of the actions of taking care of our bodies.”
Man, that hit me hard. When I was over exercising and over working, it was because I was constantly trying to prove my worth. If I worked a certain amount of hours and crossed a certain amount of tasks off of my work checklist, I would be worthy of love, appreciation and respect. But what I realized when I got to the bottom of that hole was that I wasn’t looking for other’s acceptance as much as I was looking for my own. I wasn’t looking to prove to others that I was good enough, I was trying to prove it to myself.
The shift that changed everything was accepting that I am enough exactly as I am, without doing anything, just by living and breathing on this earth. I began treating myself with love and care; getting massages, putting lotion on my body, validating my sensitivities, acknowledging my core wounds and speaking kind words to myself. Sure, I had been working out and eating healthy for years, but I wasn’t doing it because I loved myself, I was doing it to change myself.
When I shifted my mindset, it allowed me to come home to myself, to trust myself and my intuition, to stop seeking outward approval and to start really loving myself. If you can start anywhere, start there. Know you deserve to feel your best every day, be at peace, and as happy as you can possibly be! And if you need support, please reach out to me, I’d love to talk to you about this more!
Slow Sundays outside and treating myself to a bouquet of flowers >>
Go forth and live your best life on your terms.
Over the past three years, I’ve been on a journey to redefine my entire life on my terms, not the set of rules set out by society that outlines the traditional version of success. The hardest part has been unlearning those programmed beliefs of what I should be striving for. In fact, I’ve had to eliminate the word “should” all together to create a life that feels truly authentic to me.
I’ve recognized that I value freedom, space, peace and ease — and am seeking ways to invite more of it in constantly, even when it comes to my wellness practices. I’ve stopped outsourcing my power to social norms, and started looking inward and got curious about what I need.
I listen to expert advice weekly on health and wellness podcasts and am constantly tweaking, but I don’t feel the need to change my foundation. That’s something I wish to share with you: the empowerment to choose what works for you, and leave what doesn’t. Your health journey doesn’t have to be an overhaul. You don’t have to know everything before you start. You don’t have to already be fit to start moving. You just need to choose one place that feels exciting, fun, or necessary to make a few small changes. I hope it gives you the motivation to try something new in the pursuit of finding what works for you!
P.S. My bestie gal Zamaria is doing a 30-day challenge right now! Follow her on Instagram @happyfitzam and join her broadcast channel for all the deets.
