Common Question Answered: Do You Need Social Media To Build Your Practice?
Let’s put this common question to rest…
Do you need social media to build your practice?
The short answer is NO.
I’ve mentored plenty of Functional Health Practitioners and Coaches who have built 6-figure practices without social media. And even though I have a social media presence now, this wasn’t the case when I started my virtual health practice 11+ years ago, and it’s not where most of my clients have come from.
However, social media can be a successful strategic marketing tool for some, and if you do decide to use it there is ONE VERY IMPORTANT ACTION YOU NEED TO TAKE…
With TikTok facing a potential ban in the U.S. this coming Sunday, and the uncertainty around Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram) after Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement to roll back censorship – you need a backup plan (as I’ll discuss below) to preserve connection with your audience that will withstand any platform changes.
Regardless of where you focus your marketing efforts, here’s the MOST IMPORTANT thing you need to know and do…
The #1 goal of any marketing plan should always be to move people onto your email list.
Think about this…
If Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or TikTok were to shut down today, you would lose contact with your entire audience and potential clients. An email list is like backing up the data on your phone or computer – it’s your marketing insurance policy.
If you’re doing an in-person talk, attending a networking event, or marketing yourself in any other way, collecting email addresses is critical for following up with any client opportunities after.
Email is how you can continue to connect more intimately and consistently to build a higher level of trust and rapport with people over time, which is essential for cultivating more client enrollments, and here’s why…
Marketing Research indicates it takes at least 20 touchpoints and upwards of 500 before a person becomes a customer.
You can accumulate some of the necessary touchpoints from places like social media, in-person talks, and networking groups, but ultimately, an email list is where you have the best chance to continually accumulate touchpoints that nurture leads into customers.
For example, on average, I know a person is on my email list for 6 months before they book a Discovery Call and enroll in one of my programs. It takes time to build a relationship with potential clients – it’s like dating, as I discussed in this blog recently.
Everyone’s email list starts at zero, and that’s ok. No matter where you’re at with building an email list, remember…
It’s the only piece of marketing real estate that you own and have control over.
Here’s a little secret about my business…
I’ve created a successful multiple 6-figure business with a relatively small email list. Full transparency, my email list currently sits around 4K contacts after being in business for 11+ years.
In my first year of business as a Functional Health Practitioner, I made 75K with less than 200 people on my email list.
Having a small email list and building a successful health practice is contrary to what you might hear out there in the marketing world. There’s so much chatter about how important it is to build a large email list and all the ways to do it.
In my experience, success isn’t built upon quantity, it depends on quality.
Having a large email list doesn’t matter if it’s full of poor-quality contacts who aren’t your ideal clients or don’t engage with you.
Poor-quality contacts on an email list can actually hurt your email deliverability and open rates if they aren’t engaging with your content.
Engagement is the bridge that improves email marketing outcomes while building rapport and trust with people, which gives them the confidence to invest in the services and unique gifts you have to offer.
Again, this is just another example of why it’s so important to move people from social media platforms or other marketing opportunities, such as speaking events, to an email list.
I’ve even helped practitioners build an email list to easily enroll clients WITHOUT having to be on social media, simply by doing what I’m about to share below.
Here are the top 3 strategies I’ve used to build a high-quality engaged email list…
#1 – Tap Your Network
Your next 5 clients are likely within 6 degrees of separation from you; all you have to do is get your message to them. Consider the law of attraction; you generally surround yourself with similar people, and if you’re passionate about the work you’re doing, those around you will likely find it intriguing as well.
Since everyone’s email list starts at zero, to initially get mine started, I tapped into my network by exporting all of the contacts from my phone to my email marketing system. I then crafted a business announcement email centered around sharing my personal health story and the transformation I had experienced from doing the work I do – this established rapport and trust immediately.
From this initial single email, I instantly enrolled two clients in my 3K program.
Offering workshops at my local yoga and kettlebell studio with sign-up sheets to collect email addresses, going to Meetup.com groups, establishing referral partnerships with my chiropractor, acupuncturist, and fitness industry friends, and co-hosting webinars with entrepreneur colleagues who offered complimentary services to my work are other ways I’ve tapped into my network to build an email list and connect with ideal clients.
Don’t underestimate the power of your immediate network. This is the low-hanging fruit in your business that is often overlooked!
#2 – Commit to Consistency
Remember, marketing research indicates it takes at least 20 touchpoints and upwards of 500 before a person becomes a customer.
You’ve got to commit to consistently creating touchpoints if you’re going to grow an engaged email list that will produce client opportunities. Consistently emailing your list not only nurtures potential clients into actual clients but can also inspire the people on your email list to share your valuable content with others to organically grow your list.
Consistently showing up in some type of marketing capacity, whether it’s through in-person talks, social media, networking groups, or something else is critical for driving traffic to your email list.
If you don’t build consistency, it’s like planting seeds but never watering them to flourish.
Right from the beginning, I set an intention to email my list weekly with valuable tips and information to help them reach their health goals. I also invited my list to share the info with others who would benefit from it to organically grow my email list.
The more touch points you create, the more rapport and trust you’ll build with your list, increasing your chances of enrolling clients or having them refer someone to you.
Pause right now, pull up your calendar or project planner, and plug-in consistent weekly or bi-monthly times to email your list. It’s time to commit to consistency.
#3 – Share Your Story
As motivational speaker and coach, Bo Eason said, “People follow your story, not your resume.” As health professionals, we tend to nerd out about all of the cool science stuff and our credentials – the “resume.” But that’s not what your ideal clients really care about. They want health transformation and social proof that you can help them.
By sharing your personal story, you are:
- Showing them what is possible for them
- Providing social proof that what you do works
- Being personable and creating a connection to increase trust quickly
Storytelling is the marketing technique that draws people in and encourages them to engage with you. When they hear your story, they think, “That sounds like me! They get me.” They will want to read on, learn more, and eventually schedule a call or enroll in a program with you.
Now you might be thinking, “But I haven’t healed myself yet, so I’m not confident in sharing my story or my ability to help others.”
It’s cool. We all deal with imposter syndrome sometimes, and here’s the awesome part…
By sharing your story, you’ll never attract anyone more advanced than you that you can’t help, because why would that person resonate with your story if they were beyond what you were sharing?
And there are a TON of people two steps behind you who need the solutions you have to offer at this exact moment.
You’re on my email list, so watch how I implement these 3 strategies not only here, but also on Instagram and other places where I speak and have appearances. These marketing tips are part of the foundation for your success.
P.S. Some of the most common questions I get asked by Functional Health Practitioners and Coaches are…
Where can I find my ideal clients?
What social media platform should I post on?
Do I have to be on social media to get clients?
The answer to these questions depends on who your ideal client (aka niche) is. When you are clear about who your ideal clients are, you will know…
- Where they like to spend their time
- What social media platforms they prefer (if any)
- How they like to receive info (i.e. video, written, talks, etc.).
These insights then become the guidebook for the marketing strategy that will be most effective for you, giving you the greatest return on your time and effort.
NOTE: See my live talk about Profitable Practice Strategies this weekend during the Reinvent Virtual Conference this week for more insights to get clear about your niche to easily find and enroll clients! Grab Your Ticket HERE.
No Resolutions Needed To Have Your Ideal Body and Health
How many times have you told yourself this is going to be the year?
The year you…
Get your energy back
Finally feel good in your body again
Ditch the stress and make more time for self-care
Figure out what is really going on with your hormones
Reverse your autoimmune issues and manage them naturally
Or get to the bottom of your bloating and digestive struggles
…and ultimately get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time).
As most people do, you probably always start the new year with the best of intentions but quickly find yourself lost in the chaos of everyday life. And before you know it, the whole year has practically passed you by, and you still feel uncomfortable in your body, sick and tired all the time.
I feel ya.
I used to be stuck in this cycle, but eventually I realized… Healthy Is A Way of BEING, Not Just Doing.
First, let me tell you, it’s not your fault if you’ve stumbled with previous New Year’s Resolutions
Second, there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. Feedback that you need a different plan of attack.
And third…No Resolutions Are Needed To Have Your Ideal Body and Health.
I know you already exercise, eat healthier than most people, and probably have tried or done a lot of other health-supporting things too – so a New Year Resolution isn’t the solution to achieving your ideal health and weight.
You just need to find the missing pieces to your health puzzle so you can actually fix whatever is going on and know how to work with your body to get better results from your healthy habits so you can feel like your best self.
In this week’s video and blog, I’m going to help you find the missing pieces of your health puzzle and get real answers so you can FINALLY get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time).
The body inherently wants to be healthy and balanced; we just have to listen and give it what it needs to feel our best. Your body is unique, so simply checking the boxes by doing healthy things isn’t exactly what it always needs.
Maintaining my ideal weight, having consistent energy and even getting rid of seasonal allergies was easy once I stopped eating and exercising according to what was considered healthy for everyone else – instead I started tuning into my body.
Here are the 3 exact steps I took and that I guide my clients through to boost energy, balance hormones, achieve weight goals, and overcome just about any other health issues that might be ailing you.
#1 – Figure out what foods are right for your body so it can function at its potential.
You are unique, and therefore your diet should be too. What works for one person won’t necessarily work for you, and yet you’re trying to fit yourself into a specific framework with most dietary approaches.
There’s a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body. Eating right for your body may include healthy foods, but not every healthy food is right for your body.
So how do you figure out what is right for your body?
You can do this by testing to see which foods your body responds best to and then dialing in your macronutrient (protein, carb, and fat) ratios.
This will instantly boost your energy, reduce bloating, and provide the nutrients your body needs to function at its potential. When I discovered what foods were right for my body, I instantly started feeling more like myself again.
#2 – Find the missing pieces and restore balance to all body systems.
The body is a complex network of systems, each doing an important job that the other systems depend on. When one system goes down, they are all affected.
Functional lab testing will help you find the missing pieces so you can see what systems of the body are out of balance and how they are impacting each other, revealing your healing opportunities! These are NOT your typical blood tests. They are usually saliva, urine, and stool-based to show the physiological aspects of the body and how it’s working or not working.
Functional lab tests will take a deeper look at your hormones, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, and nervous system. In turn, this data will guide recommendations for the right diet, rest, exercise, supplementation, stress reduction, and toxin removal you need to feel your best.
#3 – Tune into your body and give it what it needs to feel your best all the time.
Your body holds all of the answers, and it always has, but we’ve been conditioned to ignore our body and to search externally for solutions. When something doesn’t feel right in your body, this is when it’s asking you to pay attention; to tune into what it’s trying to tell you. When you do, you’ll know what to do to feel your best all the time.
Have you ever noticed that when you have a stressful day you experience the following: your stomach gets upset, you have joint pain, you can’t sleep, or your skin breaks out?
Or when you eat certain things, your body reacts in some way?
This is your body telling you to pay attention to something.
For a long time, I dealt with and ignored joint pain, severe seasonal allergies, weight struggles, migraines, cyclical breast tenderness, fatigue, and much more.
Hindsight is always 20/20 though. Looking back, I can clearly see that these symptoms were my body’s signals to get my attention and let me know something was wrong.
We’ve become accustomed to accepting things that are common as normal, but just because something is common does NOT mean it’s normal.
Now if my body feels “off” in any kind of way, I tune it; check to see what it needs, and give it just that.
This could mean eating something differently, canceling obligations to rest, getting some fresh air, doing meditation, or simply drinking some water. Whatever my body needs, I’ve got its back, and it’s got mine.
The health and aging concerns you are facing today are not your destiny. They are an accumulation of things that have happened over your lifetime which have slowly chipped away at that “feel good” feeling until you barely recognize yourself anymore.
With these 3 steps, you can unravel the doings of time and reveal the REAL YOU, and I’m here to help you do it!
I currently have TWO CLIENT SPOTS OPEN to work with me one-on-one so you can find the missing pieces of your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again!
(NOTE: My client openings are filled on a first-come-first-serve basis, so make sure you apply and schedule ASAP)
As the (W)holistic Health Boss, my mission is to support busy, health-minded people like you in getting access to the right lab tests and resources so you can find the missing pieces to your health puzzle and get back to feeling like yourself again (or for the very first time!).
Are you ready to feel like your best self? If so, let’s do this!
Here’s to you achieving your health goals this year, no matter what life throws at you!
2024 Top Health Tips to Kickstart the New Year!
Final Holiday Hormone Tips [inside]
How is your body as we wrap up the last week of the year?
Teaching people how to tune into their body and give it exactly what it needs so they can achieve their ideal health and weight is one of the main things I focus on with clients.
I know you want to feel like your best self, so to help you do this, I’ve been sharing a series of simple tips to balance your hormones during the holidays on Instagram and Facebook.
These posts have been loaded with helpful insights along with practical things you can do to balance your hormones, boost energy and manage your weight during the holiday season.
Hormones tend to take a hit during the holiday season, as you focus SO much on giving to others this time of year and maybe less on giving to yourself with all the holiday festivities, last-minute gift shopping, and visiting family or friends.
By the end of it all, I bet you usually feel just like I used to…wiped out or wonder why you feel so fat, tired, and sick all the time.
To help you keep your hormones happy this holiday season and feel your best going into the new year, on December 12th I kicked off my annual series called “12 Days of Healthy Hormone Hacks for the Holidays”
Here’s a recap of a few simple tips I recently shared, and you can catch ALL of them on Instagram and Facebook…
Day 6: Bank Some Sleep
Sleep often slips away during the holiday season as you stay up late…
- Burning the midnight oil to meet last-minute work deadlines
- Wrapping presents when kids or loved ones are asleep
- Dancing or socializing the night away at holiday parties
- Waiting for Santa or loved ones to arrive
- Or by taking red-eye flights to save a few bucks
Have you noticed that even when you get 8 hours of sleep or allow yourself to sleep in after a late night, you just don’t seem to wake up feeling rested?
Our body has an internal clock according to the sun’s cycles. This internal clock determines specific times of day when the body does critical functions to help keep our hormones balanced.
For example, from 10 pm to 2 am, it…
- It releases human growth hormone to repair damaged cells and create new ones.
- Cortisol levels are at their lowest and melatonin hormone peaks to support restful sleep
And from 2 am to 4 am…The liver and gallbladder do their deepest detox work to get rid of toxins.
The body does not shift its internal clock if these critical sleeping windows are missed, it simply can’t perform these functions well, and our hormones take a hit. Regularly staying up late can flip the cortisol rhythm, mess with melatonin production, and disrupt all other hormones.
Obviously, there are some fun-filled and valid reasons to miss some shut-eye this time of year, but you can make up for it by banking on sleep on the days you can get to bed at a reasonable time.
Every hour of sleep before midnight is worth 2 hours of rest!
When you can, get to bed by 10 pm or earlier to bank sleep for late nights ahead or to make up for the ones already had.
Getting good quality sleep at optimal times will help you wake up feeling rested and support hormone balance through the holidays.
***
Day 5: Crush Some Cruciferous Veggies
It’s the last full weekend before the holiday season reaches its peak, and all through the town, celebration cocktails are going down… meaning estrogen levels are on the rise.
ONE alcoholic beverage can increase estrogen levels in the body for up to 24 hours, but this time of year there’s bound to be more than one drink with back-to-back holiday festivities, not giving your body a full 24-hour break to normalize estrogen levels.
Aside from alcohol, we come in contact with more xenoestrogen-type toxins, such as plastics that increase estrogen in the body this time of year.
Consistently elevated estrogen levels can contribute to estrogen dominance, weight gain, thyroid imbalances, sleep issues, mood swings, and more.
But don’t worry about indulging this holiday season if you focus on crushing some cruciferous veggies.
Cruciferous vegetables are known for their anti-estrogenic effects. They contain a compound called DIM (3’3 diindolylmethane) which helps eliminate estrogen through the liver.
Most of them also contain chlorophyll (found in the green leaves), which aids in reducing estrogen through improved liver health.
See where you can incorporate some of these cruciferous veggies for the rest of the year and beyond…
- Arugula
- Bok Choy
- Broccoli
- Brussels Sprouts
- Cabbage
- Cauliflower
- Collard Greens
- Kale
- Mustard greens
- Radish
- Turnip
- Watercress
Some of my favorite holiday side dishes include roasted Brussels sprouts and arugula-based winter salads.
Keep that estrogen in check by crushing some cruciferous veggies as we wind down the year!
***
Day 4: Wake Up with Warm Water
Whether it’s cold outside or not, start your day with warm, lemon-salted water while brewing your usual cup of coffee or tea to boost hormone balance!
Make your hormones happy this holiday season with a cup of warm water, a slice of lemon, and a pinch of Celtic, Himalayan, or sea salt.
Lemons have been known to help detoxify the liver, which plays a major role in hormone balance by facilitating actions such as thyroid T4 to T3 conversion and eliminating excess estrogen, to help achieve ideal weight, sleep, and mood.
A pinch of Celtic, Himalayan, or sea salt promotes important hydration and electrolyte balance for hormone and cellular function. Plus, the magnesium, sodium, and potassium in the salt nourish the adrenal glands that produce cortisol and DHEA hormones, along with some adrenaline, estrogen, and other hormones as well.
Warm or room temperature water aids in the absorption of the lemon and salt nutrients in addition to promoting digestive health and bowel movements – which is how we get rid of toxins or excess hormones that impact body balance. Warm water gives your body a gentle nudge to get going instead of a cold electric shock.
During holiday craziness, we are more likely to forget about drinking water throughout the day and to indulge in dehydrating things such as alcohol, coffee, and traveling.
This holiday season, add a cup of warm, lemon-salted water to your morning to start your day with a hydrating healthy hormone boost!
***
Head on over to my Instagram and/or Facebook to see what other tips you might have missed AND to catch the last of my 12 Days of Healthy Hormone Hacks for the Holidays.
P.S. Turn on your Facebook and/or Instagram notifications for my pages so you don’t miss a single simple tip to keep your hormones intact this holiday season, AND remember to save the posts for future reference because these tips can help balance hormones all year long!
12 Hormone Hacks: Thrive this Holiday Season
Can you believe we’re already in full-blown holiday season mode? Where did the year go?
While there’s an abundance of joy and gratitude going around this time of year…
By the end of it all, do you usually feel wiped out or wonder why you feel so fat, tired, and sick all the time?
It’s because your hormones took a hit!
The holidays can wreak havoc on your hormones while you focus more on giving to others this time of year and not so much on giving to yourself as you run around from holiday parties, last-minute gift shopping, and visiting family or friends.
There is a way to “do all the holiday things” AND support your hormones at the same time.
To help you keep your hormones happy this holiday season and breathe life back into your body for the new year, TODAY I kicked off my annual Instagram and Facebook series called “12 Days of Healthy Hormone Hacks for the Holidays”
Over 12 days on Instagram and Facebook, catch my videos and posts where I’m sharing simple tips for practical things you can do to keep your hormones, energy and weight balanced while you enjoy the holiday season!
Here’s a sneak peek at the simple tips I’ve lined up for you…
Day 1 – Fill Up With Fat
This likely sounds counterintuitive, but trust me, it’s not when it comes to your hormones, energy levels, and kicking cravings!
The body needs healthy dietary fats that are broken down into LDL and cholesterol, along with other nutrients such as B vitamins, to maintain hormone balance. Yep, you heard me right. LDL and cholesterol are actually necessary for hormones. Fat gets a bad rap, but it’s not bad for you if sourced in a healthy way.
Filling up with healthy fats can also help balance blood sugar for longer-lasting energy, reduce inflammation, and kick cravings.
So what healthy fats should you indulge in during the holidays?
- Avocado on its own, as guacamole, or as an oil
- Full-fat coconut milk in your coffee, tea, or smoothies
- Organic, nitrate, and gluten-free bacon
- Cold-Pressed organic olive or coconut oil
- Grass-fed ghee instead of butter (less inflammatory)
- Fatty cuts of organic pasture-raised meats and eggs
One of my favorite fat-bomb beverages is a matcha latte or coffee with full-fat coconut milk and vanilla bean ghee. This keeps me feeling full and energized for 5 hours or more!
I always fill up on fat before I hit a holiday party or aim to eat the fattiest snacks while there, to keep my hormones happy and hunger under control.
Focus on filling up with healthy fats throughout the day and notice the way it makes you feel more full, more energized, and craving-free.
***
Day 2 – Breathe Deeply
We’re constantly moving this time of year – decorating, planning, working, shopping, traveling, cooking, cleaning, and socializing. While all are necessary and some fun, it does take a toll on hormonal health.
Constant movement triggers our sympathetic nervous system, eliciting a stress response, aka the fight or flight response. In a stressed state, our body uses a lot of valuable hormonal resources. Cortisol is the primary hormone at play, but it is not the only one impacted in a negative way.
In stress mode, our body directs valuable resources outward for quick thinking and quick-moving, leaving little resources for critical functions in our body to take place, keeping our health in line.
BUT in just 2 minutes or less, you can snap yourself out of stress mode and quickly into rest and relaxation mode, bringing your hormones back into balance so your body can heal from all the work it has been doing. Here’s how…
Deep Breathing.
It’s that simple. When we breathe deep and rhythmically like a relaxed person, we can instantly flip the switch from fight or flight mode into a more relaxed and healing state.
Try this ten times…
- Inhale for 5 seconds
- Hold the breath 5 seconds
- Exhale for 7 seconds
Use this simple breathing technique anytime you notice yourself moving too fast, when you’ve gone a long time without a break, or feel anxious to instantly bring cortisol and other hormones back into balance.
I do this in the morning, afternoon, and before bed. Set a reminder on your phone to stop at least once a day this holiday season to breathe deeply and promote hormone balance.
***
Day 3 – Go Green
Inflammatory factors are on the rise during the holidays as we indulge in different foods or beverages that might have a more inflammatory effect on the body or as we encounter toxins while traveling and experience mental or emotional stress that is common this time of year.
Inflammation is a root cause of hormone imbalances, low energy and weight challenges. It drives cortisol out of balance, creating a domino effect on other hormones such as estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and thyroid. Over time, constant inflammation (even low levels) can overwhelm the immune system, making you more susceptible to seasonal sickness and even autoimmune conditions.
Sure, you’re going to indulge during the holidays, and you can’t always control toxin exposure or the need to travel, but there are things you can do on a daily basis to calm the inflammatory fire.
To help you reduce inflammation daily – GO GREEN!
One cup of green tea has an abundance of anti-inflammatory effects that can positively impact your hormones and digestive health. EGCG is an active green tea ingredient that modulates genes to produce an anti-inflammatory effect.
To help contain the inflammatory fire, aim to incorporate a cup of green tea daily during the holidays.
This is such an easy task! You can grab a cup of green tea almost anywhere while traveling or pack it to always have with you. It’s the perfect drink to start your day or keep you warm when it’s cold outside.
As mentioned on tip day 1, filling up with fats supports hormones, and one of my favorite fat-bomb beverages is a matcha green tea latte with full-fat coconut milk and vanilla bean ghee. This keeps me feeling full and energized for at least 5 hours, plus it has all the added anti-inflammatory benefits.
You can’t go wrong by going green this holiday season to keep your hormones happy.
***
Make sure you’re following me closely on Instagram and Facebook to catch all of my 12 Days of Healthy Hormone Hacks for the Holidays!
P.S. Turn on your Facebook and/or Instagram notifications for my pages so you don’t miss a single simple tip to keep your hormones intact this holiday season, AND remember to save the posts for future reference because these tips can help balance hormones all year long!
The best type of exercise this time of year…
As we head into the height of the holiday season, it’s super important to choose the right type of exercise to get the best results.
I’ve been a morning exerciser since the age of 5, when I used to get up before dawn with my dad to ride my little bike by his side while he got in his morning run.
And throughout my life, if I don’t work out before noon, all motivation is lost.
You could say I was conditioned to be this way, but actually, we are biologically built to get up and get moving in the morning.
I cringe every time I see someone out running or headed to the gym in the late afternoon or evening.
What they don’t know is that the time of day and type of exercise they are doing are likely working against them, making it harder to achieve their ideal weight and health.
Yet working out in the late afternoon or evening is so common.
And most of the people I know who do this struggle to lose or maintain their weight, wake up feeling tired, are slow to get moving in the morning, and don’t sleep great.
This is because the time of exercise and type matter to get the best results.
Although I’ve always been a morning person, I haven’t always done the right type of exercise for my body, and it often held me back from reaching my goals.
Back in my personal training and fitness competition days, my workout routine was super structured:
- Monday – leg day
- Tuesday – back and chest
- Wednesday – long run
- Thursday – shoulders, biceps and triceps
- Friday – high-intensity interval training
- Saturday – short run
- Sunday – long run
- Hit repeat
As a result, I often felt wiped out in the afternoon and had constant muscle soreness.
When I was diagnosed with Hashimotos in 2016, I finally realized just how much the type of exercise you’re doing matters.
Upon receiving that diagnosis, I was determined to heal my thyroid and reverse Hashimotos, so I changed my diet, focused even more on getting supportive sleep, added in more supplements, and doubled down on my daily detox efforts.
The one thing I didn’t change was my exercise routine. I continued to run to the gym, lift heavy, and run back multiple times a week, paired with longer intense runs in between.
When my healing and weight loss results were marginal at best despite all the changes I had made, I knew I had to change the way I was working out to get the results I wanted.
So I committed to 30 days of ONLY walking and yoga, and that’s when I started to make more leaps and bounds toward my ideal weight and health.
In this week’s video and blog, I’ll explain how the right time and type of exercise for your body can help you achieve your ideal weight and health too.
Let’s talk about timing first to help you get some quick wins with your exercise efforts.
To get the best results, you can align your exercise routine according to your internal body rhythms and daily hormone fluctuations.
When the sun rises in the morning, temperature and light increase, signaling the release of cortisol hormone which peaks about 2 hours after sunrise. As the sun moves throughout the day, cortisol slowly tapers off through the afternoon.
Cortisol is your body’s natural source of energy, which makes the 2-hour window after sunrise and any time before noon the most ideal window for intense types of exercise such as weight lifting, running, and interval training.
As the sun sets, temperature and light decrease, signaling your body to prepare for sleep by lowering cortisol and energy levels to their lowest by 10pm.
Intense exercise later in the afternoon and evening goes against your body’s natural flow and availability of energy, which can deplete the body and disrupt optimal sleep timing and quality, leading to even more depletion.
If you are currently, or have ever done, intense forms of exercise later in the day, afterwards you probably feel “wired but tired” or get a “second wind” in the evening that keeps you up late and you wake up feeling tired or not fully rested.
If you’re someone who likes to move your body later in the day like I do, it’s ok to engage in more restorative and lighter intensity forms of exercise such as walking or yoga that won’t disrupt sleep quality and are more in alignment with your body’s energy capacity.
Now you might be thinking it’s hard to wake up early to workout, but trust me, when you align your exercise time with your body’s natural hormone rhythms, it will become easier to fall asleep by 10pm, you’ll get more restful sleep, and you’ll wake up feeling rested with the sun as you’re biologically built to do.
Now let’s address the ideal types of exercise to get the best results.
As discussed with timing, it’s better to do intense types of exercise earlier and lower intensity later in the day.
But there is even more to be considered daily when choosing the most ideal type of exercise for your body.
As I mentioned before, when trying to reverse Hashimotos, committing to less intense forms of exercise such as walking and yoga for at least 30 days helped to accelerate my progress so I could lose weight and get my energy back faster.
This experience reinforced what I always say and aim to teach my clients…
“By tuning into your body in any given moment, you can give it exactly what it needs to feel your best, maintain results, and continue making progress.”
Your body will do anything you ask it to, but that doesn’t mean you should.
We’ve been conditioned to push through it when we don’t feel our best instead of resting. So when we don’t feel 100%, we’ll still grind away at the gym or go for a run. I know because I’ve been guilty of this too.
However, when you don’t feel 100%, that means your body is already in a depleted state; whether it’s from a stressful week, poor food choices or sleep, environmental or other lifestyle factors.
So instead of depleting your body even more with intense exercise, which impairs your ability to get optimal results, when you feel less than your best, these are the days to choose less intense exercise, even in the morning.
The majority of the clients I work with are doing intense forms of exercise in the morning yet struggling to get the expected results. When we investigate why this is happening with functional lab testing, the data reveals how depleted their bodies are from pushing through it all for too long.
By dialing back the intensity of their exercise for a short period of time so the body can heal, balance is restored, and eventually, they can return to their favorite intense forms of exercise without creating a deficit because they have also learned to choose the right type of exercise on any given day to support what their body needs to feel its best.
The last piece I want to touch on is about choosing the right type of exercise specifically for my fellow females.
As women, our sex hormones (i.e. estrogen and progesterone) fluctuate throughout our menstrual cycle, and different stages of hormone changes during our lifetime. These cyclical hormonal changes also determine what type of exercise is best during certain times of your cycle or life.
For example, a woman’s body is more primed for building muscle and heavier lifting during the first part of their menstrual cycle and more prone to ligament injuries with agility or high-intensity interval training during this time.
Alternatively, the female body is better equipped for conditioning and interval types of exercise during the second half of the cycle, with less risk of injury.
I have personally been aligning the type of exercise I do with my cycle and have not only noticed significant improvements in physical results but also a higher level of desire and motivation to do the type of exercise that is right for my body during specific windows of my cycle.
In summary, to get the best results from your exercise efforts, follow these 3 guidelines:
- Do intense exercise before noon
- Only do lower intensity/restorative exercise later in the day
- Tune into your body daily to choose the right type of exercise your body needs to feel your best instead of pushing through
What changes do you need to make (if any) to get the best results with your exercise efforts? Comment below to let me know!
P.S. Want more exercise tips to help you get better results? Check out some of my favorite exercise experts on Instagram.
Debra Atkinson for more women’s hormone-balancing exercise insights.
John Parker for strength and conditioning exercise insights.
Emily Kiberd for online kettle bell workouts to support thyroid health.
Sleep great to shed weight [tonight]
This question might be personal, but do you wake up to pee in the middle of the night?
And if you do, are you paying attention to the time when you wake up for a quick bathroom run before falling back asleep?
I would say that 90% of the people I’ve spoken to are in this late-night bathroom boat; waking up to pee usually between 1-3 am.
But here’s the thing: waking up to pee in the middle of the night is NOT normal, AND it can contribute to weight gain over time.
Waking up to pee in the wee hours (pun intended! LOL) of the night or morning is actually a huge clue about your health.
It can give you great insight about your blood sugar balance, detoxification system, and emotional state – all of which ultimately impact energy levels, ability to lose weight and feel like your best self.
However, we’ve been conditioned to think that using the bathroom or getting up in the middle of the night is normal; it’s just a part of getting older and drinking too many fluids before bed.
Personally, I can take down over 8 ounces of water before bed and sleep soundly through the night. And with age, I haven’t developed a need to pee in the middle of the night.
I’ve also seen many of my clients turn their late-night potty runs or wake-up-for-no-reason experiences into a thing of the past once they address the underlying issues triggering their body to do this.
Aside from waking up to pee or otherwise providing a clue about your health status, this disruptive habit also interferes with your body’s ability to fully recover at night. This can leave you feeling slow to get going in the morning, and more prone to cravings, weight gain, hormone imbalances, and other health issues down the road.
It’s time to retrain your body so you can sleep through the night, wake up feeling like your best self, and shed pounds overnight!
In this week’s video and blog, I’m going to bust through these middle-of-the-night wake-up myths and give you my top tips for solid sleep so you can wake up rested, and achieve your ideal health and weight!
To start, let’s talk about why waking in the middle of the night is such a big health deal breaker in the first place.
According to your body’s internal clock, known as your circadian rhythm, the most optimal sleep time frame to feel like your best self is 10 pm to 4 am.
This internal clock is ruled by the sun and the moon cycles.
When the sun rises in the morning, temperature and light increase, letting your body know it’s time to get up and get moving. Morning is when you should have the most energy, and it will slowly taper off throughout the day into the evening in alignment with the sun cycle and your internal clock.
When the sun sets in the evening, temperature and light decrease, signaling your body to prepare for sleep by dropping your energy levels, releasing the sleep hormone known as melatonin, and transitioning into the nervous system’s parasympathetic rest and digest mode.
In parasympathetic mode, your body sends all of its blood flow and resources inwards to organs that support digestion, detoxification, circulation, and restoration.
Based on this internal clock, your body does some massive repair work in the middle of the night while in peak parasympathetic mode from 10 pm to 4 am. If you’re not sleeping, the parasympathetic process is interrupted and this work can’t happen, leaving you feeling tired and unrested the next morning.
This is why if you go to sleep late or wake up in the middle of the night, you still feel tired no matter how much you sleep the next day or despite the number of sleep hours you get.
Low energy can then lead to cravings as your body searches for fuel to keep you going throughout the day. You find yourself craving quick energy fixes in the form of carbs, sugars, and caffeine that can disrupt your sleep even more.
And all of this negatively impacts your ability to lose weight from the foods you end up eating for energy to the hormone imbalances and detox backup a disrupted night of sleep creates.
So now that you know how important it is to sleep through the night in order to wake up rested and feeling your best, let’s address retraining your body so you can get the critical window of sleep you need.
Waking up in the middle of the night strongly correlates with 3 primary scenarios…
Scenario #1: Your Blood Sugar Drops
This is the most common one I see. When your blood sugar drops too low, your body releases the hormone cortisol to bring it back into balance.
You might know of cortisol as your stress hormone, which it is, among other things. Cortisol is also what spikes in the morning when the sun rises as part of your circadian rhythm to give you the energy to get up and get going.
When your blood sugar drops in the middle of the night, cortisol is released, giving you this same boost of energy. It’s like getting a shot of adrenaline, and what does everyone do instinctually when they wake up?…go to the bathroom!
Constant high outputs of cortisol like this also strongly correlate with weight gain around your midsection.
So balancing your blood sugar is the first thing you can do to promote sleeping through the night. Having balanced blood sugar also helps you to avoid cravings and lose weight.
Eating the right ratios of proteins, carbs, and fat at each meal will help you to balance your blood sugar and get better sleep.
When you’re eating the right ratio of protein, carbs, and fats per meal, you will:
- Be able to go 3-5 hours or more without feeling hungry or needing to snack
- Have energy for hours and feel recharged
- Think clearly, feel uplifted, and be more positive
Figuring out your food ratios is pretty simple. All you need to do is:
- Tune into your body 30 minutes to 2 hours after eating
- Notice how it’s responding to what you ate
- Adjust your food ratios until you get the perfect response!
To help you figure out what ratios are right for your body to get a good night’s sleep, click here to get my Food & Body Language Log.
Scenario #2: Look at Your Liver
Balancing blood sugar usually solves about 90% of the sleep disruption issues I see, but when it doesn’t, it’s time to look at your liver.
Based on your internal clock, your liver and other detoxification organs do their deepest detox work from about 1 to 3 am.
If you find yourself waking up during this time, it could indicate a toxic build-up or detox traffic jam. Your liver and detox organs could be burdened by too many toxins or struggling to eliminate them. This can lead to a build-up of estrogen and toxins in the body that can also contribute to weight gain.
In this scenario, incorporating more detoxifying foods such as beets, grapefruit, lemon, cilantro, and dandelion while avoiding processed and non-organic can positively impact your detox body’s detox system.
A daily natural liver support supplement containing ingredients such as tudca, NAC, milk thistle, dandelion, artichoke leaf, and burdock root can be extremely beneficial given the number of toxins our body is bombarded with daily.
Pairing this with balancing your blood sugar should do the trick and give you the best night’s sleep ever!
(SIDE NOTE: Scenarios 1 & 2 also highly correlate with root causes of PCOS as I’ll be discussing in more detail during the Transforming PCOS Summit starting Nov. 18th)
Scenario #3: Emotional Influences
If you’ve tried loving your liver more and balancing your blood sugar but still wake up in the middle of the night, it’s time to explore emotional influences.
According to Chinese Medicine, each organ of the body is associated with a certain emotion, and as we just discussed in scenario #2, organs do deep work during a certain time of the night based on your internal clock.
We can put these two clues together to uncover the emotional influences waking you up at night.
For example, waking up between 1 and 3 am is associated with the detox organs (i.e. liver and gallbladder); the emotions connected to these can be grief, anger, fear, and depression.
Journaling, meditating, or seeking counseling around these emotions can quickly put your sleep issues to rest. Sometimes we don’t suspect we’re dealing with these emotions, but we are. Grief, for example, isn’t always related to the loss of a loved one. It could be related to a recent job change, as we grieve leaving behind the old ways even with excitement for what is to come.
The bottom line, waking up in the middle of the night is NOT normal, and sleeping through the night consistently is part of the formula for feeling like your best self.
I’ve yet to see a client who can’t sleep through the night when we address these three scenarios, and as I said, most of the time we knock it out with just one.
I’d love to know what you found most helpful about the information I’ve shared.
Comment below with your biggest aha, insight, or takeaway!
Healthy Foods: The Hidden Truth…
I’m curious, what does “eating healthy” mean to you?
When I graduated from college after studying fitness, nutrition, and health for 4 years, I thought eating healthy meant you should…
- Be in a caloric deficit by eating less and moving more
- Have a snack or meal every 2 hours
- Always eat 3 solid meals per day
- Eat low fat, lean meats, veggies, fruits, dairy, starches, and whole grains according to the food guide pyramid now known as the “plate”
So I did exactly what I was taught, and I felt like crap instead of feeling great and having my ideal health and weight.
It turns out there’s a LOT more to eating healthy than what we were taught in school or what you might have read on your own about diets and nutrition.
In fact, some so-called healthy foods aren’t healthy for you.
It took me years to figure out what foods were healthy for my body. When I finally figured it out, it made getting the results I desired so much easier! So I want to help you cut to the chase and get to the bottom of what foods are healthy for you so you can feel like your best self too, instead of wasting time trying to figure it out.
I see so many clients and people feeling frustrated about food and eating healthy. They’ve tried just about everything with little to no results. They’ll literally say…
I’m eating healthy, but I’m not getting any results!
OR…
I’ve tried (insert any type of diet) but didn’t get the same results others get.
Do you find yourself feeling frustrated like this too?
In theory, the clients I’ve worked with are “eating healthy.” They are often eating a Paleo, Whole30, Keto, or a generally well-rounded and clean diet. In some cases, they are eating mostly organic foods, good sources of meat, and even avoiding some of the well-known inflammatory foods.
But they still aren’t getting results. They still struggle with digestive upset, weight, anxiety, hormone imbalances, or other nagging health issues.
All because eating healthy isn’t always healthy for YOU.
In this week’s video and blog, I’ll reveal why some of the healthy foods you’re eating might not be healthy for you and give you tips to figure out what is healthy for YOU.
There’s a difference between eating healthy and eating right for your body.
Eating right for your body will incorporate healthy foods, but not all healthy foods are right for your body.
Most diet approaches tend to focus on food elimination, which is good considering that oftentimes it means eliminating the top inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, sugar, soy, alcohol, and even other grains or foods containing lectins.
However, most dietary approaches fail to consider two key components to eating healthy for your body:
- Macronutrient (protein, carb, and fat) balance
- Specific food sensitivities
Eating the right balance of proteins, carbs, and fats gives your body the right ratios of fuel so it can function at its potential. Understanding and eating according to your macronutrient needs can instantly:
- Reduce digestive stress
- Increase energy
- Fight off food cravings
But you can still run into issues when eating the right balance of macronutrients if you’re eating foods that you’re sensitive to.
Food sensitivities aren’t always obvious. They don’t always show up as digestive upset, which is why you might think you don’t have any. Other common food sensitivity symptoms can include:
- Anxiety
- Skin breakouts
- Low energy or fatigue
- Poor sleep
- Weight gain or resistant weight loss
Food sensitivities or poor macronutrient balance could certainly be secretly sabotaging your healthy eating efforts and results!
Consider a banana, for example. Globally, most would agree it’s healthy food full of potassium and nutrients, but if you have a sensitivity to bananas OR they contain too many carbs and sugars for what your body can tolerate in one sitting, then they aren’t a healthy food for you.
When you eat something like a banana that has these negative effects on you, it spikes blood sugar and inflammation, reduces nutrient absorption, disrupts hormone balance, messes with your sleep and energy, and leaves you craving more food to get another energy bump.
Wearing Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) for as little as two weeks will help you gather real-time insights about how your body is responding to bananas or other so-called healthy foods your body might be having a response to.
When my husband found out he was sensitive to beef, he lost 5 pounds within a week of removing it from his diet.
Beyond these two key components, there could be even more to consider, such as high oxalates and FODMAPs (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides, and Polyols)
Oxalates are a naturally occurring element in foods and in the body, but an abundance of oxalates leads to kidney stones, chronic joint pain, mineral deficiencies, and more. Oxalates can especially become problematic when Candida or yeast overgrowth is going on the body.
Some of the foods highest in oxalates include:
- Dark chocolate
- Nuts
- Berries
- Citrus fruits
- Beets
- Sweet potatoes
- Zucchini and other summer squashes
- Dark leafy greens such as spinach and certain kinds of kale
Just about every one of them is considered a healthy food!
And FODMAP foods can be problematic with an overly inflamed or leaky digestive system, making it hard to break down these foods, leading to fermentation and bacteria overgrowth in the gut.
Some of the highest FODMAP foods are:
- Garlic
- Onion
- Fruits
- Grains
- Certain nuts and legumes
See how you could be eating so-called healthy foods that aren’t actually healthy for YOU?
The best healthy eating plan considers your body’s specific needs and combines the elements related to macronutrient balance, food sensitivities, and other physiological factors.
When working with clients to figure out what foods are right for their bodies, we always do a series of functional lab tests to uncover all of the pieces to their health puzzle and then use that data to guide recommendations for how to eat healthy for their body.
The series of tests will often include a:
- Food sensitivity test to pinpoint specific foods they are reactive to
- Metabolic typing test to assess ideal macronutrient balance
- Stool sample test to evaluate digestive and intestinal health
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to eating healthy for YOUR body.
If you want to dial in the right balance of carbs, fats, and protein for your body, click here to get my Food & Body Language Log to start dialing in your macronutrient ratios.
P.S. Combining my Food & Body Language Log with Theia’s Continuous Glucose Monitor will get you even great insights and results; click here to grab a CGM today!
Special Message: Inside Scoop at the Health Intelligence Exchange LIVE Event
Today kicks off the inaugural Health Intelligence Exchange LIVE event where I’ll be sharing something I’ve been working on for Functional Health Practitioners like you for the very first time.
Follow me on Instagram for the real-time inside scoop over the next few days on not only what I’ll be sharing, but also what industry leaders like Dr. Carrie Jones, Sinclair Kennally, Reed Davis, and Dr. Halland Chen will be pulling the curtain back on too.
Here’s a sneak peek at what I’ll be revealing at the event…
Stay tuned for more details to follow after HIX Live!
My Personal Daily Detox Hacks [inside]
If you’ve been following me on Instagram or Facebook recently, you know I’ve been traveling like CRAZY (I’ve only been home for one of the last 4 weeks!)
In fact, tomorrow I board another flight to celebrate my dad’s 70th birthday and will be attending 3 more events to wrap up the month!
Since I’m hitting the road again tomorrow, I’m going to keep this short AND make sure it’s packed with a TON of useful information for you.
As much as I love traveling, it used to wipe me out and set my health back, but I know how to do it differently so I can feel as good, if not better, upon my return than when I left.
Whether you’re traveling as much as me or enjoying life at home, your body is hard at work for you all year long—it’s constantly filtering out toxins that you unknowingly or knowingly are exposed to; digesting and converting food to energy for you; and even running on little sleep or pushing through overworking.
We live in a world where more and more toxins are being released into the environment every day, week, month, and year. There are far more than we can ever fathom, and our bodies have taken on a huge burden as a result.
During the 2020 pandemic, your toxin exposure increased tenfold as a result of being confined indoors more than before, in addition to the heightened use of disinfectants and hand sanitizers.
The air inside your home alone is said to be up to 100% more toxic than the air outside due to paint, sealants, fire retardants, and cleaning products.
All of these micro or macro exposures add up over time leading to weight gain, low energy, hormone imbalances, bloating, allergies, and a laundry list of other symptoms or health issues.
Reducing your body’s daily toxic burden is fairly simple once you know how to identify toxins in your environment, and by putting some simple healthy habits in place to support your body’s natural elimination process.
Implementing simple strategies to detox my body daily has been pivotal in not only achieving my ideal health and weight but also maintaining it while traveling.
To help you feel like your best too, I’m sharing these simple strategies with you in a FREE MASTERCLASS YOU CAN ACCESS TODAY!
Access the Masterclass…Simple Daily Detox Strategies: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required!
This Masterclass will examine some of the biggest myths around detoxing your body from toxic burdens and what you should know or be doing instead…
MYTH #1 – Juice Cleansing Is The Best Way To Detox
FACT – It’s a waste of money if you’re not eating protein. Protein is required for your body to actually move toxic elements through the different phases of detoxification in order to eliminate them.
MYTH #2 – Diet & Exercise Are The Key To Weight Loss & Eliminating Toxins
FACT – Diet and exercise aren’t really enough. The liver is the powerhouse when it comes to eliminating toxins and regulating your metabolism and energy. You need to show your liver some love in order to get the results you’re looking for, and one of the best ways to support your liver is sleeping from 10 pm to 4 am.
MYTH #3 – Detoxing Requires Expensive Supplements
FACT – Supplements help, but aren’t the ultimate answer. You have to decrease the toxic stuff coming in and increase the toxic stuff going out consistently. Otherwise, supplements are just keeping you afloat, but not helping you to actually get ahead.
MYTH #4 – Detoxing / Cleansing Means Deprivation
FACT – No, it doesn’t at all! There are simple ways to detox your body daily using food, water, sleep, exercise, and at-home liver-supporting techniques that allow you to enjoy food and life.
It’s a total shift in perspective to help you take control of your health and feel like your best self!
Access the Masterclass…Simple Daily Detox Strategies: No Juices, Gimmicks or Supplements Required!
And after you watch it, comment below to let me know what your biggest takeaway is for how you can naturally detox your body daily.