What we’re NOT doing to stay healthy

There are so many things that we do to stay healthy and feel our best. We exercise, we eat healthy (with the occasional treats of course … 90/10 or 80/20 is our lifestyle), we practice good sleep hygiene and we try to keep our stress levels in check. These are baseline things that we do. Each of us has other unique ways of ensuring that we feel our best. On the flip side, there are things we actively choose not to do to stay healthy and feel our best. Here are some of those things. Now, we’re listing these out, but we also want to emphasize that this is what WE do, and we encourage you to think about some of the things you’re NOT doing to stay healthy. These are just a few guidelines, tips, and ideas for inspiration and motivation! Here we go!

Melissa

• Eating late at night. Unless I’m in Italy and adopting their late-night culture on vacation, I ensure that I don’t eat a big meal late at night. Why? There are actually many reasons why eating late at night can be detrimental to one's health. 

  It disrupts our sleep. When you eat late at night, your digestive system stays active, which makes it harder to fall asleep and get restorative sleep. This can be especially true if the meal you consumed was high-fat or high-protein or spicy. These macronutrients take longer to digest, which can disrupt your sleep quality and make it hard to fall asleep.

  Weight gain. Your metabolism is slowest at night. So consuming a big meal at night can cause our bodies to store whatever we ate as fat instead of use it for energy, because well at night we don’t really need it! 

  This can also cause acid reflux or heartburn because lying down after a large meal can cause stomach acid to rise to the esophagus. This can cause heartburn and acid reflux, having us reach for the Tums before we even fall asleep. 

• Doom Scrolling and Social Media. I use social media for work sparingly and to market myself in the industry - but I ensure I have a healthy relationship with it. I’ve deleted all my social apps from my phone, so I have to purposefully log into them when I use them, which takes away the temptation to pick up my phone and scroll. Social media was really messing with my mental health, so I essentially only use it when needed for work purposes, otherwise I intentionally stay away from it. I also just try to stay off my phone in general. I have two little kids and don’t want them to use my phone or show them that a phone is a toy, so I need to set a good example. 

  
  

• Watching TV or working in bed. The bedroom is not the place for electronics - period. Studies have proven time and time again that you lose valuable restful sleep when you do things that stimulate your brain before bed such as scrolling on your phone or working. Melatonin doesn’t release because our bodies think we’re still in work mode. Thus creating a poor night's sleep overall. I create a peaceful environment and the electronics stay outside. I do use my phone as an alarm - but it’s flipped over out of reach to avoid the temptation of looking at the phone in bed. I purposefully do not look at my phone when I wake up, and instead look outside! I don’t look at my phone until much later in the morning to ensure I’m present with my family. 

  
  

• Do the same workouts. People think that just because I teach Pilates, I must do Pilates every day. It’s true that Pilates is the foundation of a lot of my workouts - but I do other things too that keep me strong and versatile. You’ll catch me lifting heavy, doing cardio, doing mobility exercises and stretching all in a given week - and maybe even throwing in a ballet class or yoga. If I’m training for something, my programs are more regimented; other times, I just do what I feel like doing that day!

  
  

• Eat ultra-processed foods. I eat very clean and do my very best to know where my food is coming from. I shop the perimeter of the grocery store (with the exception of some canned goods like tomatoes for sauce and beans). I cook about 95% of our meals. I just feel better eating clean and cooking my foods.

  
  

• Diet. I DO NOT DIET. I firmly believe in everything in moderation with the exception of ultra-processed foods - to me, those aren’t really food. Yes, I will have a cookie (a homemade, delicious one), yes, I will have a glass of wine (organic, no sugar), but the thing is, I don’t do it all the time, and I don’t overindulge. This helps me feel balanced and healthy.

  
  

• Using toxic products with chemicals. After cancer, I cleaned up my products. Kitchen, cleaning, makeup, skincare etc.  I did a lot of research and ensured that nothing in my house is toxic or full of chemicals (yes, I still have bleach for those rare occasions that you just need bleach).

Laura

• I’m not overtraining or overdoing cardio. I spent years running long, slow miles, climbing a million steps on the stepmill, and spinning until I was drenched in sweat. Admittedly, some of it was fun, and I still miss making a killer Spin playlist, but I was always achy and generally exhausted, AND my body looked that way. Today, I take a better-for-me approach and strength train (yes, pilates is a part of my strength training routine) 4-5x a week along with quick cardio sprint workouts and enjoyable walks in the nice weather.

  
  

• I’m not allowing my busy calendar or tiredness to be an excuse to skip workouts. I have non-negotiable workouts that happen every week, no matter what. Unless I’m sick, there’s no reason why I cannot carve out 4 hours to myself over the course of a week. Those 4 hours are for me, they keep me strong, they keep me sane, they keep me on track for the person I want to be as a mother (and let's be honest the body I'm building now is going to be my grandmother body, too!) Oh, and I don’t feel guilty if I miss a planned workout. I know that the next chance I get, I will get that workout done because I've given myself the space and time to realistically make it all happen. And weeks when I have more time, I'll work out more! 

  
  

• I won’t put just anything on my skin. For well over 12 years, I have read the ingredients and labels and scrutinized every face cream, hand lotion, and serum I’ve put on my skin (and my family’s). Our skin is our largest organ, and everything we put on it gets absorbed into our system - I figured if I was picky about what I put in my body, I should be just as picky about what I put on it, too. I didn’t do this all at once; I picked one thing like mascara and replaced it, when I ran out of foundation, I replaced that next, and so on … until everything I use came from a clean-beauty brand that I trust. Some of my favs that I use every day: Saie, Primally Pure, One Skin, Innersense, Earth Harbor, 

  
  

• I will not use toxic household products (Full disclosure, I have no clue what’s in the toilet cleaner but it’s a toilet and I want it clean… so almost everything is non-toxic!) For an everyday cleaning product, love Force of Nature for the counters and all of the little messes, Branch Basics, and Seventh Generation wipes.

  
  

• I am not listening to or following every single Wellness trend that I see on Instagram. It’s so hard not to get sucked into something someone swears has changed their life - but when it comes down to it, we cannot possibly do all the things so - I stick with tried and true basics and may try a thing or two here and there (I love my red light therapy mask) but if you spend too much time on the “extras” you won’t have time for the things that really matter. So I remind myself that the trend may sound amazing but if it won't become a staple, it's probably not worth my time right now.

  
  

• I am not doom scrolling before bed No explanation needed. 

  
  

• I am not drinking out of plastic bottles or using plastic straws or storage containers. We use glass drink ware at home, stainless steel water bottles with a stainless steel straw - even Jack drinks from glass  at home.

  
  

• I am not burning candles or using scented laundry detergent. I can’t handle the smell of a candle anymore, and I don’t want to breathe in what floats in the air while that candle is lit.  Laundry detergent is the easiest way to reduce exposure to phthalates and endocrine disruptors. I figure detergent touches everything from what I’m wearing to what I’m sleeping in so it’s fragrance-free and natural for me! 

• 
  

  No coffee on an empty stomach! That's right, I'm team delayed caffeine! I realized that I just couldn't handle coffee on an empty stomach without becoming jittery, anxious and a little sweaty - and, that's just not how I want to start my morning! When hormones are balanced, there should be the biggest boost of cortisol when upon waking. I allow that natural energy to get me through my early morning routine and instead begin my day with a large glass of water, fiber and a real breakfast that includes at least 30 grams of protein. On the days that I sneak in my coffee before breakfast or I go light on my first meal - I end up shaky and little jumbled by midmorning. Oh, and I no longer feel like I am going to crash by mid-afternoon, eating first keeps my energy level instead of peaking post coffee.

Bryan

• I don’t have a TV in the bedroom.  I don’t check my phone while I’m in bed, at night or in the morning.  (I use it for an alarm and that’s the only time I’ll allow myself to look at when I’m in bed)  The bedroom is no place for a screen.

• I stopped looking at my news app.  I still stay on top of the news listening to podcasts, but I stopped checking the news app.  I used to reflexively tap on it every time I picked up my phone.  (I think I was hoping for some good news that seemed to come far too infrequently)  I wasn’t good for me.  I had to stop.

• I don’t do social media.  It’s not good for me.  Besides pictures of someone’s dog or grandkids, everything else you see on social media is someone trying to sell you something.  You’re either being sold an actual product, some kind of propaganda or a curated comparison trap.  It’s not for me.

• I don’t really eat grains.  Laura is gluten-free, so we eat pretty gluten-free as a household.  I also try to keep all grains to a minimum.  (This does NOT mean carbs.  I get plenty of carbs from fruit, veggies, and tubers)  I eschew grains for digestive health, proper appetite, and blood sugar regulation, and because I truly believe it helps in reducing systemic inflammation.  I personally believe widespread inflammation leads to more than chronic aches and pains (which it can as well).  I believe it leads to chronic diseases and illnesses, speeds up aging, and hormone dysregulation.

• I don’t really drink anymore.  As I got older, I drank less and less anyway.  I couldn’t do it.  If I over-imbibed, I didn’t shake it off like I used to.  I also couldn’t do life, especially parenting a little guy, with anything even resembling a hangover.  Still,  I was typically around 5-6 drinks per week over the course of 2-3 days per week.  During the pandemic, I cut this down in about half.  A few years back, I was battling a respiratory infection I couldn’t shake.  Multiple bouts over multiple months.  I tried a bunch of things and cutting out all booze was one of them.  And then I never really went back.  At first, I wanted to see how long I would go, with no particular goal in mind.  At that time, I also read an article from National Geographic about how, as we age, we don’t process alcohol as well.  It was also at this time, that we started to see more and more discussion around aging and cellular health.  I have really bought into that school of thought.  If you can do everything possible to help your body with cellular production and to slow the decline that typically comes with aging, then you can slow aging itself.  That’s at least what I tell myself and at least what I’m shooting for.

• In addition, somewhere over the past 7+ years I’ve learned a lot about myself as an introvert and how that affects me.  Because of the nature of what we do, when I’m with a client, that is their time and I owe them my very best.  Sometimes, that takes a LOT for me.  It takes a lot of energy and at times, feels really uncomfortable and scary.  But I do it.  And now having done this for thousands of sessions, I have become better at that aspect.  And as I cut out drinking, I realized how much I leaned on drinking in social settings to be social. (Or at least my version of social!!)  The job has made me better at being social without needing to drink to get there.  Am I as much fun?  Truthfully, probably not.  Do I miss not feeling great the next day?  Absolutely not.  So that feeling and my overall health is my priority right now.  With the exception of a handful of drinks I’ll have occasionally throughout the year, I don’t really drink.