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In this episode, Cheryl sits down with Brad Pitzele to unpack a long and complicated health journey that began with early autoimmune symptoms and escalated into psoriatic arthritis, debilitating fatigue, and eventually melanoma linked to immunosuppressive treatment. Frustrated by a system that offered only escalating medications and limited answers, Brad began an intense period of self-experimentation and research. His turning point came after a Lyme disease diagnosis, one that helped connect years of seemingly unrelated symptoms. This ultimately pushed him deeper into understanding the root causes of chronic illness, especially the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation. From there, the conversation shifts into the tools that helped Brad reclaim his health, including exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT) and red and near-infrared light therapy. He explains how both approaches work at a cellular level to improve oxygen delivery, support mitochondrial function, and reduce inflammation. Thseare are all mechanisms that have implications for conditions like chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis and even cardiovascular health. This episode is a deep dive into resilience, curiosity, and the power of continuing to search for answers when conventional paths fall short, offering both practical insight and hope for anyone navigating complex or unexplained health challenges. Connect with Brad at One Thousand Roads. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. Takeaways Chronic symptoms do not always have clear answers and standard care often focuses on managing symptoms rather than addressing root causes Mitochondrial health plays a central role in energy, recovery, and overall resilience and when it is compromised nearly every system in the body is affected Inflammation and low oxygen levels go hand in hand, creating a cycle that can worsen chronic illness over time Exercise with oxygen therapy works by increasing oxygen delivery to tissues and may support energy production and reduce inflammation Red and near infrared light therapy may enhance mitochondrial function by increasing cellular demand for oxygen and boosting energy output Combining oxygen therapy with red light can create a complementary supply and demand effect at the cellular level Healing from complex or chronic conditions is rarely quick and consistent cumulative inputs over time matter more than short term fixes Self advocacy and curiosity are critical when navigating unexplained health issues or when conventional approaches fall short Small improvements over time can rebuild momentum and hope even before full recovery is achieved Simple inputs like oxygen, light, and movement can have powerful effects when applied consistently and strategically Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Avaline Wines, Tested and Clean, Sugar Free Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan and today I am joined by Brad Pitzley and we are going to talk about some of his health history. He has a really interesting background with some challenging diseases and scenarios that he went through. And you know, like many of the guests on the HealNursery podcast, he just has a health journey that he wants to share with people and kind of what ended up actually helping him. Because so often people go down these roads with different conditions and they just have a lot of trouble finding out number one what it is, number two if there’s anything that can help them feel better or how to treat it. And so I think Brad’s going to have a lot of really interesting things to share with us today. So Brad, if you could just maybe start by, I don’t know how far in the way back machine you want to go, but kind of just, you know, give us a little bit about your health journey. And as we go along, I’m sure I’ll have some kind of questions to fill in for everyone. Brad Pitzele (00:50)Yeah, I had weird health things going on since grade school. I was diagnosed with psoriasis, but then I had other weird things that just kind of came and went. We’d go to the doctor, they’d give it a label. It would last for a while. There was no treatment for said label and then it would kind of just disappear and then I’d move on with life and then a year or six months or whatever, something else might pop up. But it really kind of started to come to a head. Um, probably around 2010 or 11, I started to develop autoimmune arthritis, what was considered psoriatic arthritis, which is, it’s basically like rheumatoid arthritis, but it’s what you get with psoriasis. Um, and they started to test all sorts of different drugs on me. The first sets didn’t work. Then they put me on, um, some immune suppressive drugs. They gave me relief for like maybe six months and they’d start wearing off and they would double the dose and they’re. I was kind of worse off when it wore off and then it would kind of bring me up a little bit. And then was kind of like I was taking a stair step into, you know, into a worse and worse place. And I was on those drugs for probably about two years. And then I developed melanoma. And that’s one of the side effects of the drugs is it’s got a high risk of cancer and specifically melanoma. So that was kind of a, a jumping off point for me. I, during that period, I also started to develop weird other symptoms. Like I started to get stiffness in the back of my legs. had tremendous brain fog and energy issues. had pain in my feet and I would take this back to the rheumatologist and I’d be like, this is, is this part of the, this disease? assume. he was like, no, that’s not part of the disease. And I was kind of shocked and like, well, it feels like part of the disease. It’s kind of, you know, it’s just. Cheryl McColgan (02:38)All right. Brad Pitzele (02:41)another symptom of whatever’s going on with me. But he didn’t really acknowledge that. And then when I got cancer, I went back to him and I was like, Hey, you know, I’m really afraid I’m like, if I keep taking these drugs, more risk of cancer. I don’t take these drugs. I, you know, I die, cripple crumpled up in a ball in the corner, so to speak. And he was kind of like, no, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Yeah. I think we’re just going to try another drug in the, the, the same category. And that was like, just started having alarm bells in my head. Just started shouting at me. was like, either path feels like it’s very bad. And I was a, I had a young children at the time. I was a relatively new father and that was even more scary. I was kind of the single income in the household. And I just started like, I’m like, what happens if these things happen to me to not just me, but my family. and that’s kind of when I started jumping off and like doing my own research and trying to figure out what I call a third path for because neither of those really made sense to me. Cheryl McColgan (03:40)those both sound like not very good options. I’m just kind of curious when you were going back to the doctor with these things, kind of two questions here actually. One, and I think I already know the answer, but one, were drugs the only answer that this doctor was able to give to you? And secondly, I think having the cancer being a known side effect of the drug is really interesting. you ever talk about what the mechanism there is or anything to know about that just for people with curiosity? Brad Pitzele (04:07)Yeah, so yeah, mostly it was drugs. He did also offer me injections of steroids into some of my joints. He was very skilled at it, because he said it was gonna be very painful. It wasn’t that painful, but steroids turn off your immune system. And it’s the same thing with some of the drugs I was on. One of them was a… I won’t call brand name, but it was a TNF inhibitor. TNF stands for tumor necrosis factor. And it’s basically in a component of our immune system. And so there was some research done and they found that if they turned off that component of your immune system, hey, the pain and symptoms go away. Unfortunately, as the name alludes to, it kills tumors. when you turn it, we all have cancer in our Cheryl McColgan (04:49)Yeah Brad Pitzele (04:52)body. Like right now as we speak, everyone has it. It’s just our immune system is able to kill it off and so it never really gains a foothold. But once you start tipping the balance of the scales, obviously, you know, it can run amok. And that’s what happened in my case. Cheryl McColgan (05:08)Yeah, very interesting. also it just brings up so many other questions that I’ll have to go down a rabbit hole after we’re done with our conversation. But so you had these things, you didn’t have good relief, you were still having symptoms, then you got cancer. And I assume obviously you had to get treated for that at that point. Was that really the turning point for you to just be like, I’ve got to find some other way to manage this? How did how did things go from there? Brad Pitzele (05:30)Yeah, it was, and I’m not gonna tell you it was a fast turn for me. It took me several years. But I mean, from there, I just started reading anything I could. I read books, I was out on the internet, I was in chat groups talking to other people who had similar symptoms, Facebook groups, Googling on PubMed, looking at research, so many rabbit holes I ran down. I was joking, I’m recovering engineer. ⁓ I got my undergraduate in mechanical engineering, so I’m very analytical by my nature, I suppose. Research didn’t scare me, and I just was reading anything I could. I wasn’t gonna… Cheryl McColgan (05:55)You Brad Pitzele (06:07)You know, wait for them to find something in the research and then try to translate it 20 years later. Like that does me no good. and I tried everything. I did a lot of self experimentation, everything from complete changes of diet, supplements, so many, mean, different modalities, all sorts of weird stuff. Sometimes my family looked at me pretty good side, I when they saw some of the stuff I was doing. but you know, when you’re, when you’re really desperate and. things are getting worse and worse. And particularly when you also feel this responsibility and obligation to your family, you just, it’s not even just about you. You’re like, what do I do? I like, I’m gonna disappoint all these people and life is not gonna be good for them. I just told myself, I’m not allowed. know, like this is absolutely not allowed. This is not gonna happen, but it kept happening for a few more years. And then, I ended up at a doctor’s office and he tried all sorts of things. Nothing was working. He was an MD, but he was non-insurance, so was integrative. And he was trying all sorts of alternate modalities on me. Even the things he was sure were gonna do anything, nothing was doing anything. He’s doing testing on me, nothing was popping. And then he suggested I do a Lyme disease test. I remember thinking, I’m like, doctor, I don’t have Lyme disease. I’m like, I’ve never been bitten by one of these ticks. I’ve never had that bullseye rash thing. I’m thinking to myself, I don’t have that. But I was kind of like, you know what? And it was expensive test at the time. It was like 500 bucks. Insurance didn’t pay. But I was like, you know what? I’m gonna pay the 500 bucks. I’m gonna do the test so he can see it’s negative and we can get him off this Lyme thing. We can get to the real deal because it’s not Lyme. And sure enough, it came back that I had Lyme disease and one of its co-infections called Bartonella, which is the infection that causes cat scratch disease as well. And I was so shocked. went back to him. was like, doc, what’s the chances this is a false positive? I don’t think I have it. And he was like, Brad, it’s a urine PCR, which means you have the DNA of those bacteria in your urine. What do you think is the chances it’s, it’s false positive? I’m like, got it. Cheryl McColgan (08:12)Not. Brad Pitzele (08:14)And that’s when it finally started to hit. ⁓ Cheryl McColgan (08:16)Well, just for people that aren’t familiar, I think everybody’s kind of heard of Lyme disease at some point, maybe Bartonella, but what did that kind of mean to you at the time? Like I’m sure once you got that diagnosis, you wanted to learn more about it. Were you thinking that that explained some of the things that you had up to this point or how did that mesh into the whole symptom profile? Brad Pitzele (08:36)Life disease is incredibly challenging. for a variety of reasons. One, it’s very difficult to get under control. There’s a lot of folks in America and across the world, quite frankly, suffering with it right now. The other reason it’s tough is there’s not a lot of doctors willing to treat it. There’s this whole stigma about it. What makes it particularly difficult is there’s this question on if it actually exists in some doctor’s head. It’s like the weirdest thing in the world. We know there’s this infectious agent, we know it infects humans, and yet when a human comes to the doctor and says, I’ve been infected by it, they’re like, are you sure? And so you kind of get, I think the term I hear often is medical gas lit. And on top of that, doctors, for legal reasons, often don’t want to touch it. So my doctor didn’t want to touch it. And he was like, look, you have to go to a Lyme specialist three hours away. I recommend him as best I can. And it was a long waiting list to get into this doctor’s office. And while I was waiting, just… I was relentless, you I just couldn’t sit here and let myself deal with all this. It was a three month wait. And so I just started reading voraciously on Lyme disease to your point. was reading all sorts of research. I was reading books on it, a lot of books on the, like the science and what was happening to your body mechanically. And it was actually pretty eye opening because when I started to read all these symptoms, I was like, I started to piece together all these pieces, the puzzle that happened to me in my childhood, ⁓ things that happened Cheryl McColgan (10:12)Mm. Brad Pitzele (10:13)more recently, things that the rheumatologist couldn’t explain, but now we’re clear as day what was going on. And so the jigsaw puzzle started to fall into place for me. So it was kind of an epiphany from that perspective, yeah. Cheryl McColgan (10:29)Yeah, that’s got to be the waiting had to be one of the hardest things, I’m sure. then once you finally got to him, did he because he was specialized in Lyme specifically, did he have any solutions for you? Or then was it somewhere that you still had to go to go down the road? Brad Pitzele (10:42)No. You know, the disappointing thing is, I ended up, the whole family was diagnosed with Lyme disease, not just me, my children and so forth. So we all carted in the car down three hours from, I live in Dallas area down in Austin. He had a lot of things to say to us. It was kind of stuff I’d already read. Most of it I’d already tried. know, supplements I’d already run through myself and like it became cost prohibited both the time and the visitation and we just didn’t get anywhere. So we probably visited him. five or six times and then I was like, okay, well this is not, know, and was, each time it was kind of clear, like his tools were somewhat limited. And so then it was time to kind of, while I was doing his stuff, I was also just actively experimenting. was, you know, was a, you know, a test dummy every set, every second of it, because again, you know, you just can’t wait, you know, come back in two months. You’re like, if this thing doesn’t work in a few weeks, I got to, I’ll keep doing it, but I’ll add other things. See where I go. Cheryl McColgan (11:46)Right, well, I’m sure once you knew that your whole family had this issue that probably made you want to solve it even more, not that it wasn’t enough for you to solve it for yourself, but now you’ve got other people in your family that you want to feel well, you know? Brad Pitzele (11:53)Yes. Absolutely, absolutely. was definitely set heavy on my mind. Just I didn’t want the kids to have to go down this path. Cheryl McColgan (12:06)So this kind of leads us into this whole backstory into the sign that’s behind your head right now, 1000 roads, because you kind of did that many roads to get here, right? And so what did you come across? I thought that was like one of the best business names I’ve ever seen, the way, knowing the backstory. But anyway, what was it that you found in the research or what led you to kind of, there’s a couple of things that did end up helping you, which is awesome, because I think now we’re going to share this with people because Brad Pitzele (12:16)Yeah, that’s right. you Thank you. Cheryl McColgan (12:35)Like you said, there’s plenty of people out there with Lyme disease. There’s plenty of people out there with unexplained illnesses or things that are affecting them. And, you know, there are some interesting tools that do work, worked in your case. So how did you end up finding what actually ended up working for you? Brad Pitzele (12:50)Well, I eventually started doing a lot of research on all sorts of things. And one thing that stuck with me was mitochondrial health. I hear more and more folks talking about it in recent years, which is great, but this is probably about a little 10, 12 years ago. It really wasn’t a well-spoken about area. the more I researched about mitochondrial health, the more I realized this is at the root of everything. So for your listeners, the mitochondria are this little organelle, this little subset inside all of your cells that produce the energy. And they’re extremely fragile. And when they get damaged or they’re not working efficiently, nothing works efficiently because everything takes energy, right? Us talking takes energy, thinking takes energy, moving our muscles, our organs working take energy, repair our immune system, all of it. And so often when you’re dealing with chronic health conditions, particularly when you’re dealing with an infectious agent or even cancers, they go after our mitochondria. because they kind of take the power down in the system and that gives them a leg up on our immune system and our defenses and it allows them to kind of I would call it just burrow deeper into our biology and you know shift the biology to be more favorable towards whatever that is. So for me it that was kind of an epiphany and I delved into a couple tools and the first one was something called exercise with oxygen therapy. also known as EWOT, E-W-O-T. No one was really talking about it. It was kind of the small little thing, not a lot of information out there. And then there was a second one, more folks have heard of today, which is red light therapy, and really red and near infrared light therapy. And they both work through mechanisms that help the mitochondria restore itself. Cheryl McColgan (14:45)Yeah, the exercise, I was looking at the photo on the website of the EWOT contraption and I’m kind of having a hard time conceptualizing. think what, and actually before we go into that, let’s address this other question that came up in my mind when I was looking at the contraption, because I’m like, okay, the thing that most people are probably somewhat familiar with nowadays is a hyperbaric oxygen chamber. And that is used in cancer treatment. think it was, Dr. Seyfried has this thing, and you might be familiar with him just like. through your mitochondrial research, but it’s called like a press pulse thing that they use with cancer patients. And it has to do with ketogenic diet, because you’re starving the cancer of sugar. And then also this hyperbaric oxygen therapy. That’s, that’s all just kind of a weird aside for people that are hearing this, it really has nothing to do with this conversation. But it’s interesting to look up. But for your thing, the hyperbaric works in one way. And I think people like you can visualize it, because you go in and you kind of just lay down. And that’s what it is. But this And when people go to the website, they’ll see it. It’s kind of, looks like a big balloon or a box. So guess I’m having trouble kind of conceptualizing how do you even use that or, how do you exercise with that? That’s a very long winded question, but hopefully we’ll get there. Brad Pitzele (15:47)Yeah. Sure. Well. Yeah, that’s great. So I think it’s two questions. What is it? How does it work sort of thing? Exercise with oxygen therapy at its principles really simple. It simply involves doing any sort of exercise, preferably something that gets your heart rate up, generally cardiovascular exercise, while wearing a mask and breathing near pure oxygen, so about 93 % oxygen. So to your point about how does the contraption or the EWATS system work, it works as, it’s like this, there’s actually a device called an oxygen concentrator that can produce an endless supply of oxygen. You plug it into the wall and you flip the switch and it takes the oxygen in your room, which is probably at like let’s say 21 % at sea level, and it purifies it to 93 % oxygen by separating out the other gases, the nitrogen and the argon. which is great, but these machines that you can plug into your wall, your home outlet, they produce only five or 10 liters of oxygen in a minute. And when you exercise, you can easily use 50 or 60 liters in a minute. So to get a 15 minute session in, you can easily use 900 plus liters of oxygen. And that machine’s only putting out at the best 10 liters of it. And so every minute. And so what we do is we take that machine and we fill a large reservoir to a thousand liters. So think of it as about six feet, five and a half, six feet squared. It looks like a big pillow. And we fill that thing with oxygen. Now to like dimensionalize this for folks, a thousand liters of oxygen is similar to the amount of oxygen you’ll breathe in an entire day. And we’ll fill this, this, you know, bloom, what we call a reservoir with oxygen. And then we’ll attach a hose with a mask on the end of it. Put the mask on and you just breathe out of that reservoir. of water. So again, in that 15 minutes, you can take in a whole day of oxygen. It’s really a massive amount. Now, how does it compare to hyperbaric oxygen? That’s a really good question. Hyperbaric oxygen, at its core, what you do is you get inside of a chamber, they pressurize it, and that forces more oxygen through your lung membrane and into your blood. Now, Once it gets past your lung membrane and into your blood, your, what happens in hyperbaric oxygen is it goes not just into your red blood cells, because if you look at your red blood cells right now, which are the parts of your blood that are designed to carry oxygen, they’re at capacity. Like you can put a little pulse oximeter on your finger and it’ll say 99 % or 100 % or 98%. And so there’s not room for more oxygen, but what hyperbaric does, and EWAT does the same thing, is it actually forces oxygen into your blood plasma. Now blood plasma is this clearish brown liquid, it’s effectively water plus plus, that all the red and white blood cells ride on. And so it can actually turn that into an oxygen carrying vehicle inside your blood, something that normally doesn’t carry very much oxygen. And that’s through a process called Henry’s Law, which goes beyond human biology. It’s really just a chemistry law that says, you take an insoluble gas and enforce it on top of an insoluble liquid, it’ll force the gas to go into solution. In this case, the gas is oxygen and the liquid is blood plasma. Now, in hyperbaric oxygen, the body tries to get back into balance. It notices there’s a surplus of oxygen in the blood. And so your body tries to regulate, go back to homeostasis by using something called vasoconstriction, which means your blood vessels constrict. They get smaller to allow less of that oxygen through. So your body is naturally fighting against delivering that oxygen. In spite of that, you deliver a large dose of oxygen to the tissues. In IWA, what we do is we come to the opposite. Instead of using pressure to force more oxygen into and through your lungs, we use exercise to pull it through. So when you start exercising, your body immediately recognizes that it needs more energy. And the gating factor in producing more energy is oxygen. We all in this Western world generally get enough food. It’s just we’re… When you’re exercising, there’s not enough oxygen. So when it notices this, you have all these physiological changes, right? You start breathing faster and deeper. Your lung membrane actually thins out to allow more oxygen to pass through. Your heart starts beating faster. Every beat is deeper. Your blood vessels actually dilate. They actually open up to allow larger blood flow through them. And then when you exercise, naturally, actually, your blood pressure goes up. And most of us think, no, high blood pressure is bad, but in exercise it’s actually really good because the more pressure inside your blood, that differential between the pressure in your circulatory system and the tissues is like a driving force that drives the oxygen out of the blood and into the tissues. we do EWAT, we’re taking advantage of all those physiological changes to allow us to take in oxygen very quickly and deliver it deeply into the tissues. in a 15 minute EWAT session, you could take in as much oxygen as you would in a hyperbaric session in 90 or more minutes. It’s really quite a large dose. Cheryl McColgan (21:09)Wow. then what about, so how does that affect the mitochondria? Does it just give them more energy and kind of helps them repair quicker? Or what’s the connection between mitochondrial health and the EY? Brad Pitzele (21:16)Thank This is actually the really fascinating part. And this is the thing that really got me more interested in it. EWAT was founded actually in the 1960s and 70s. There was this prolific inventor named Manfred von Arden. He was a German physicist and inventor. He invented the scanning electron microscope. He helped commercialize television technology in the 1930s. And he got interested in oxygen in 1960s and 70s because there was a gentleman named Warburg in the 1920s who had proven that he could take any cancerous cell, any regular cell and turn it into a cancerous cell simply by depriving it of oxygen. And the reverse was true. So Von Arden got interested in that, wanted to start experiment with oxygen, simply trying to reverse cancer. And along the way, what he discovered is something really powerful about our circulatory system, which is as we age, this thing we now refer to as inflammation happens inside our bodies, this slow, gradual increase in inflammation and that affects every part of our body including our circulatory system. But our circulatory system is actually kind of a weak link. At the very end of your circulatory system is your capillaries and they’re incredibly thin and they’re actually the component where the oxygen and the nutrients gets transferred from the circulatory system to the tissues. So you’ve got these really thin capillaries, thinner than a human hair, actually smaller than a red blood cell. In order for a red blood cell to get in a healthy capillary, it has to fold over like a taco to get in because it can’t fit in normal if it’s fully expanded. So there’s not a lot of room for error. And when you start having this inflammation, it causes blockages in the capillaries. So when that happens, you lose circulation downstream. You have what I call a brownout. All the cells on the other side of that inflammation are no longer getting red blood cells, they’re no longer getting oxygen. Luckily, our body does have a backup generator and that’s called anaerobic respiration. Anaerobic respiration is when they create energy without oxygen. But the problem with it is multi-fold. Number one, it only can produce about 5 % of the energy, it can produce what has oxygen. So immediately the cells are like powering down, they’re not able to do all of their essential functions. problem is it produces a massive amount of metabolic waste and free radicals and those things damage our mitochondria because our mitochondria are incredibly fragile as we spoke about earlier and they’re right at the heart of it wherever you’re producing energy you have some free radicals but now when you shift over to anaerobic all of a sudden you’re just spitting out all sorts of damaging chemicals if you will and it has no energy so it has no way to actually clear it and so it becomes I kind of call it’s like a doom loop, which is it starts with dysfunction the dysfunction causes more free radicals which causes more damage and dysfunction and Soon enough, you know, you’ve got these kind of almost zombie cells. They’re just having a hard time Doing anything and then when you do IWA what’s amazing is the oxygen because it’s Inside the plasma it can get through those blockages. So it immediately starts to feed those downstream cells the oxygen they’ve been starving but more importantly than that immediate fix if you will is they cause an anti-inflammatory effect and this was another like big aha in my healing journeys when I realized There’s plenty of research on this. Anywhere in your body you have inflammation, you have the hypoxia, which is the fancy medical term for oxygen starvation. So inflammation means local oxygen starvation. And anywhere you have oxygen starvation, you have inflammation. They go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other. And so when we restore oxygen, even in the circulatory system, we can turn off that inflammation that’s happening in our capillaries, reestablish normal blood flow. So you get done doing your EWOT sessions. And Von Arden discovered this. had elderly people, he looked at their capillaries and their throughput, and he had them do just a couple sessions of EWOT, and they came back weeks later, and their microcirculation was still reestablished to more youthful levels. So he was able to open them back up where red blood cells were able to deliver oxygen. really at the root of it all is, you know, every chronic illness you can think of, it has inflammation. Right? mean, there’s not one Alzheimer’s, cancer, autoimmunity, the list goes on and on, name one and it has chronic inflammation. And there’s actually, there’s a gentleman, Arthur Guyton, he wrote the textbook, Medical Physiology, and every doctor any of us has ever gone to had to use that medical physiology book. when they went to medical school, it’s been the standard across the world for over 50 years. And he has this great quote where he says all disease at its root is lack of oxygen. And it’s really true because once the mitochondria break down and we start having inflammation, all the negative effects come from downstream from that. And so that was kind of my. Aha. Light bulb moment, which is if I can turn my mitochondria on it, and I can turn down the inflammation and eventually turn off the inflammation. then like my body will have energy to get ahead. can start to repair itself. It can start to detoxify the immune system. Then we’ll have energy to do everything it needs to do and help, you know, kind of kick on and start to fight a good battle, so to speak. Cheryl McColgan (26:58)Yeah, I mean, I want to go back to how this actually helped you and how you actually found one and all that stuff. But my brain is just going, the one thing that I keep coming to hearing your explanation, and that was an amazing explanation, by the way, for lay people, I can tell you’re an engineer or so. The system where you’re talking about going all the way to the capillaries, I heart disease is the number one killer, right? And we have, I think a lot of it is the chronic inflammation that you’re talking about, but. Obviously once that process is already done, you’re describing how the capillaries can’t get any red blood cells. So to me, it would make perfect sense that this might be not only did it help you in your disease process with Lyme disease and the arthritis and everything, but it seems like it would be pretty amazing for cardiovascular patients or people that don’t have good blood flow, like that on top of the mitochondrial benefit. Brad Pitzele (27:41)Hmm It’s actually, we are helping folks with everything from autoimmunity, cancer, Lyme, long COVID, chronic fatigue, Parkinson’s, heart disease, so many things, because if you can turn off the inflammation and you can give the body energy to heal, it will do just amazing things. That was kind of like the shocking thing to me when I first got into it. was like, wait a second. Like every time I was treating myself as a pin cushion and trying something new, I always had to the question like, what if this doesn’t work? and like what damage could I be doing? know, because there were things that were a little bit risky to be quite honest, where I found out risks, you know, a little bit too late for my liking. But this was one where was like, it’s oxygen. And like, so it was kind of shocking when I started looking at the benefits and I was like, this is kind of crazy that we’re talking about something as simple as oxygen with all these health benefits. But yeah, we’ve had folks with all sorts of different chronic cardiovascular conditions Cheryl McColgan (28:31)Right. Brad Pitzele (28:48)Now, there’s a lot of health benefits to it, but the other crazy thing about oxygen is there’s all these athletic performance benefits. And this is important because directly to your cardiovascular component, which is actually a lot of Olympic teams have used EWAT to improve their athletic performance. because athletic teams are very science driven, there’s some really good research on it showing it improves VO2 max, reduces recovery time. improves short-term memory, it improves power output, et cetera. And all of this is really due to being able to fuel our cells and our muscles more, and also helping clear out all that metabolic waste, because that metabolic waste primarily develops when you have a shortage of oxygen when you’re exercising. Cheryl McColgan (29:34)Amazing that something so simple could be so hugely beneficial. So once you finally saw this, you’re like, Werber knew this about cancer and this guy’s onto this exercise with oxygen thing. Like, well, how do you do it? Where do you get it? Like nobody’s ever seen this before. I think like you’re saying the athletic teams might have it and stuff, but I mean, I’ve certainly never been anywhere where I’ve seen like, hey, get EWOT therapy here. So how did you find it? Brad Pitzele (29:56)Yeah, it’s really, really kind of a rare thing. 15 years ago, it was incredibly rare. There really wasn’t anywhere to go. You could find it occasionally. You might find it in a chiropractor’s office here or there or some sort of recovery clinic. Nowadays, they’re more widespread. So there are places that do it, doctors, chiropractors. But for me, there were a couple of folks selling it, but they were… I didn’t have a whole lot of faith. There was no customer reviews. was no customers talking about it on chat. It was just them as the company and they, a lot of them spoke in superlatives and like marketing speak that it just didn’t make me feel really comfortable. And they were very expensive too. you know, they were maybe the cheapest was 5,000 and the most expensive one I saw was 25,000. and it was this kind of cross hatch of I didn’t have confidence and geez, that’s a lot of money for this next experiment when the last Cheryl McColgan (30:31)yeah. Brad Pitzele (30:49)26 behind me didn’t do anything or 57 or whatever it was. So that’s when I kind of decided, did a little bit more research and decided I was going to try to build my own. Cheryl McColgan (31:00)Yeah, was thinking that I was like, I was an engineer, the next thing would be like, can I just build this? So that’s what you did, obviously, right? Brad Pitzele (31:06)I did it out of necessity because I just didn’t have faith. I built my own. didn’t think it was, I’ll be honest, I didn’t think this was gonna be my solution. Nothing else was. And I started doing it and… You know, slowly but surely I started to walk out of that basement, that proverbial basement. I just kept taking steps up and up. At first it was subtle and then it was kind of all at once sort of thing where I was shocked. You know, was like things like, my gosh, my brain fog’s gone. I’m like focusing in a meeting or I just got down on the floor and played with the kids and I don’t need to lay in bed for two days in pain. And you know, slowly but surely I just felt better and better. And it wasn’t until I saw that same doctor again, and he was like, wow, you’re like a year later. And he was like, wow, you’re so much better. What did you do? And I told him, and he’s like, wow, would you consider selling them to my patients? And that was kind of the, you know, jumping off point where I was like, well, gosh, yeah, maybe we could help other people with this. Cheryl McColgan (32:04)Yeah, that’s awesome. I’m so glad, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s always an interesting thing on podcasts because sometimes you get, I think not on this particular podcast, but other ones, it’s like people that kind of are just selling stuff, you know, or snake oil things or whatever. But what I really love is when there are people that, you know, had their own health problem, they dive into the research, they try it all there, use themselves as an experiment as a pin cushion, as you said, and then they find something that actually works. And then they they make it so that they can share it with everybody else. don’t just keep it to yourself, because I’m sure it kind of felt like a miracle at the time if something finally worked for you. Brad Pitzele (32:41)You know, it really was. I was, because the hardest part is also when you’re in these groups and you’re talking to all these other folks and they’re like, oh, try this, nothing worked and then this worked. And you try that thing and it didn’t work. You you try 57 other different things, as I was saying, and you kind of just start losing any hope. You’re like, I don’t think, I think I’m just that case that there’s nothing that’s going to work. But yeah, when you do find it, it’s, yeah, it’s obviously life changing, even having hope and like, I always tell folks like when you’re really sick, it’s not about, you wanna get to 100%, like 100 % is amazing, it’s the dream we all have when we’re sick, but. more important than 100 % is like feeling better this week than last week or this month than last month because at some point when you’re in it, you just lose a lot of hope and it becomes kind of this like the spiral downward that you just don’t believe in anything and it just lowers you spiritually I just say. And having something to know like, hey, Yeah, it still kinda stinks, but like, remember a month ago it was worse, and so like, now you’re like, yeah, I can’t wait to see how I’m gonna be two months from now, you know, or where am gonna be by this summer sort of thing? Like, it was, it’s kinda the exact opposite. It’s kinda like this hope spiral, if you will. Cheryl McColgan (33:55)Yeah. Well, it’s kind of that’s something that I think it’s good to point out for people too, is that, you you mentioned there is all this research on this. There’s a lot of good science to back up mitochondrial health, that’s kind of mitochondrial health is kind of a long game. And it’s kind of something that you have to continually do not over, you know, just a few days and you’re going to feel so much better. It’s week after week, month after month, the more that you support your mitochondrial health, the more chance you have of really feeling better. So it’s not just this thing where you can try it for a week and you’re like, that doesn’t work. You have to keep up on it for a while, right? Brad Pitzele (34:24)Yeah. Yeah, you’re absolutely right in general speaking. mean, we have… people come to me and they ask like, how long am I going to have to do this for? I tell them is, I can’t say how long until you get to the top of the mountain, so to speak, but I find that most folks who get to the top of the mountain, they feel so good when they do it, they don’t ever want to stop. And some of those folks never really exercised, they hated it, but now they’re like, it’s like 15 minutes, I do it three or five times a week, and I feel amazing, so why wouldn’t I do it? And we talked about that capillary thinning, Cheryl McColgan (34:52)Mm-hmm. Brad Pitzele (34:58)That’s actually a chronic thing that happens to all of us in Western society. And so this is something that’s anti-aging at that very kind of cellular level. So I recommend it for folks, but. I guess for me when I was really sick, always say one of the hardest parts was the ceremony is this what they call them. Counting pills every night, doing this protocol, doing that protocol. You keep adding, like if there’s 10 more minutes in your day, you add 10 more minutes of some protocol that you’re hoping will make you feel better. And then you get to a point where you realize you’re spending six hours of your day, you know, just all you’re doing is these protocols and it just becomes overwhelming. like, even if I felt better, what’s the purpose of all I’m doing is going from from the sauna to the this and I’m doing this pill and I’m doing that. And that’s kind of the, what I found, one of the things I really loved about EWOD was it was something I could do consistently in my home, 15 minutes a day. And it helps with your mitochondrial health. It helps with detoxification. It helps with energy. So it’s like, multiple, it’s kind of multifaceted in the way it benefits you. relatively short period of time. Cheryl McColgan (36:07)Yeah, and you mentioned, and I want to be respectful of your time. know we’re kind of getting a little bit long here, but one of the other things when in respect to mitochondrial health is red light therapy. And there’s also a ton of great research on that. And so I kind of wasn’t surprised when I went to your website that that’s something that you also got into. I mean, I think that’s when you look at the number and the breadth of research on that, I think it’s pretty undeniable that it is good for people that serves a real purpose, that it does help the mitochondria. So at what point, Brad Pitzele (36:34)Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (36:35)after you found the EWAT, I’m assuming you kind of got on this mitochondrial health thing and then maybe stumbled into that stuff. that how it went or is there something else? Brad Pitzele (36:44)Yeah, I started looking at it early on, probably about six months after I was doing EWOT, four to six months right in there I’d say, I started doing Red Light. So you’re right, there’s like tens of thousands of peer-reviewed research studies out there and what it does. They work really interestingly together. Because we mentioned EWAT, when you do it, you increase the supply of oxygen massively, right? It’s a day of oxygen in 15 minutes. So you’re flooding your body with oxygen. And then if you do red light immediately afterwards, what it does is the way it primarily works is it increases oxygen demand in your mitochondria. So it forces the mitochondria to suck up more oxygen. And when they do that, they produce more energy. So any of the research you read on red light whether skin health collagen growth bone mental, brain health, me, athletic recovery performance, healing in general, it all comes from the same thing, is that it’s just forcing our mitochondria to suck up more oxygen and produce more energy. So if you compare those two, you compare them at the same time, you first drive a massive increase in supply of oxygen, and then you increase the mitochondrial demand for it, and so you get this kind of one-two punch. The interesting thing is why I think we need it in today’s society as well is we’re actually deficient on red and near infrared light. And the reason is, if you look at the sun, the sun is full spectrum. has everything from ultraviolet and the blues through the reds and the near infrareds. So when you go outside and it changes throughout the day, early and late in the day, you get more of those reds and near infrareds. And at high noon, you get more of the blues. unfortunately, or fortunately, however you want to look at it, over time as as ⁓ species, we’ve moved indoors and we started using indoor lighting primarily and we spend more and more time there. And then more recently, we’ve switched from incandescent to LED lighting. Now, LED lighting is very energy efficient and one of ways they make it incredibly energy efficient is they take out all the reds and the near infrareds that we experience as heat because obviously you don’t want your lighting to heat your room. You don’t want it to, everyone sees that as energy. waste and to that extent you’re trying to use it for lighting it can be. However, that puts us in a place where we spend a lot of time bathed in blue lights and not really getting enough of the reds and the other parts of the spectrum. Cheryl McColgan (39:27)Yeah, that’s another interesting rabbit hole for people to go down if they haven’t already is just the, you know, changing out some of the lighting in your home or using specific lighting for certain scenarios, like in your bedroom and towards night as you’re getting ready to go to sleep. But anyway, I just want to clarify one quick point there, because I’m envisioning, that was actually what I was envisioning when you started talking about the synergy between red light and the EWAT. So do you like do your EWAT with the red light panel like in front of you or do you just do it right after? Brad Pitzele (39:53)Yeah. I prefer to do it right after. The challenge with doing it right on you is to get the best benefit from red light. Red light works on something called a biphasic dose response, fancy science term, which just means the benefits over time look like a bell curve. So too little, you won’t get any benefit. There’s kind of like a just right where you get peak benefit. And then if you do more, it starts diminishing in benefit. It doesn’t harm. It’s just a waste of time, right? So you spent five more minutes to get less sort of thing. Cheryl McColgan (40:21)Mm-hmm. Brad Pitzele (40:22)with exercising in red light is one, I like to get as much skin exposure as possible so you’re hitting as many mitochondria as possible. And two is you’re moving. So sometimes you’re close to the light, sometimes you’re further away. And so you’re not really able to kind of measure that dose effectively to get inside that biphasic kind of peak zone. Cheryl McColgan (40:43)Okay, no, that makes a ton of sense. Although I still am going to put this out to you that, maybe you put at least on, you know, the little face mask while you’re exercising. I feel like you can attach it to the oxygen part, you know, and just put a red light around it. Maybe that’s a little too, maybe that’s a little too much. But anyway, well, Brad, this has been so wonderful. And I just appreciate you so much sharing your whole journey and then how you came to find this. Brad Pitzele (40:51)There you go. It makes yours waterproof. That’d be fun. Cheryl McColgan (41:09)If people want to connect with you online or learn more about EWOT and learn more about Red Light, where’s the best place that they can find you and connect with you? Brad Pitzele (41:17)Yeah, go to 1000roads.com slash Cheryl and we have a great offer for your listeners. They can check out. You can also ⁓ go to our YouTube channel. put out weekly videos. 1000roads, HQ is our channel. It’s all spelled out, O-N-E-T-H-O-U-S-A-N-D-R-O-A-D-S.com. Cheryl McColgan (41:25)Awesome. Okay, awesome, and all that will be in the show notes for everyone, so don’t feel like you have to write it down. But Brad, again, thank you so much for coming and sharing your knowledge today, and I really appreciate it. Brad Pitzele (41:46)Thank you so much, Cheryl.

In this episode, Cheryl interviews Dr. Christo Frangopoulos about how certain lifestyle factors related to cancer. Most people overlook one of the most powerful tools in preventing cancer: movement. Dr. Christo Frangopoulos reveals surprising facts about how simple lifestyle shifts, like breaking up sedentary time, can drastically cut your risk of cancer and boost your body’s ability to fight it. If you’re tired of just hearing “eat healthy and exercise,” this episode uncovers actionable strategies backed by the latest science to enhance your health span. Discover why sitting is just as dangerous as smoking when it comes to cancer risk, and learn the practical tips to make movement a seamless part of your day. From how often to get up during work hours to the science of muscle-derived anti-cancer proteins called myokines, Dr. Christo shares insights that can change your approach to health. We break down the true impact of sedentary behavior, the science behind autophagy and muscle contraction, and the critical role sleep plays in cellular repair and cancer prevention.You’ll also uncover: the truth about alcohol's relationship with cancer, the importance of inflammation markers like CRP, and why maintaining consistent sleep and circadian rhythms is crucial for lowering risk. This episode is perfect for anyone looking to take control, whether you’re battling family history or just want to live longer healthier lives.Dr. Christo Frangopoulos is an anesthesiologist, lifestyle medicine expert, and personal trainer known for integrating science-backed strategies to improve health outcomes across the U.S. His insights on cancer prevention through lifestyle modifications are revolutionary yet accessible, making this a must-listen for health-conscious individuals and medical professionals alike. Don’t miss this opportunity to turn simple daily habits into potent cancer-fighting tools. Your health journey starts with the right knowledge and this episode delivers it. Hit play now and learn how to reframe your lifestyle for longevity and resilience. Visit Dr. Frangopoulos at AltasMD360.com Takeaways How sedentary behavior independently increases cancer risk, even with regular exercise The importance of muscle contraction and myokines in fighting cancer Lifestyle changes that can lower the risk of developing common cancers, especially colorectal cancer in young adults The critical role of sleep in DNA repair and cancer prevention The impact of inflammation markers like CRP on cancer risk Rethinking alcohol consumption and its nuanced effects on health Practical habit formation techniques, including the ‘two days’ rule for sustainability Resources for health professionals and individuals via AtlasMD360.com Book: The Telomere Effect by Elizabeth Blackburn & Elissa Epel A scientific approach to aging and health Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. Watch on YouTube: Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Avaline Wines, Tested and Clean, Sugar Free Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNurshGrow and today I’m really excited to be joined by Dr. Christo Frangopoulos and he is kindly letting me shorten his name to Dr. Chris or Chris, but he will introduce himself here in a moment. And why I really wanted to have Dr. Frangopoulos on today is because he is a board certified anesthesiologist. He’s also a lifestyle medicine doctor and he’s a personal trainer. So, you know, those are all things if you’re a listener to this podcast that I am super excited about and that I love to chat about. take it from here and just introduce yourself and share with people what you’re all about and what you’re here to talk about today. Christo (00:35)Wonderful. Well, I just wanna say thank you so much for having me. This is an honor and I really hope we can reach at least a few people out there to make a difference with the information I’m going to be sharing with Cheryl. As Cheryl said, my name is Christof Rangaples. It’s much easier just to say Chris. I am an anesthesiologist for about a decade now. I have also got board certified in lifestyle medicine and a certified personal trainer and a lot of what I do is share information that’s evidence-based and science-backed that can optimize people’s lifestyle. As a physician, I travel the country, I’m certified in about 10 different states, and the problem of healthcare is it’s everywhere. And the state of our nation can really utilize a change in how we attack our health. And I think lifestyle medicine offers so many great tools and it’s super helpful. It’s not overly complicated and can make a huge difference. Cheryl McColgan (01:39)It’s so nice to have a doctor on that really appreciates that because I think so often, you we have more of a sick care system than health care system. And I’m sure that we’ll get into that a little bit more. But the fact that you are trained in lifestyle medicine, that you recognize the significance and the importance of it, I think is a huge step in the right direction for the medical field. So I’m so glad that you’re kind of promoting that and you have all that information on your website, all your good programs and continuing education. So I think that will be a huge benefit to the medical community. But one of the things that you’re Christo (01:49)Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (02:09)particularly interested when your team reached out is around cancer. And some people that know me personally or know some of my work and some of my writing will know that I have a lot of cancer in my family. And it’s a big reason that I do a lot of the things that I do in my health and my life. So what what have you how did you become interested in cancer specifically? And then let’s start with like what your number one top lifestyle change people can do to prevent cancer. Christo (02:39)Sure. So as an anesthesiologist, you can imagine we see every sort of surgery from something simple to very complicated cancer cases. And over my years, I’ve seen a lot of cancer surgeries and how they’ve affected. their families, their communities, and it really is a, it’s something that every one of us have experience with, whether it’s yourself or a family member or a friend or a coworker, we are all affected by cancer and it is everywhere. But the truth of the matter is a lot of lifestyle change can actually make a huge difference in our cancer rates across the country. And most people probably don’t know this, but only about five to 10 % of cancers are from inherited gene mutations. Okay, so the other 90 % are often attributed to either a lifestyle or environmental exposures. So, you know, a lot of people think they’re destined to get cancer because their family member has a cancer or whatnot. That is a small chunk of cancer. It is actually our lifestyle and environmental exposures that can affect getting cancer, how we respond to cancer, and the aftermath of that, either being successful in treatment or not. And there’s a lot of things we can do for it. Cheryl McColgan (04:12)Yeah, just to drive that point home, share that we were talking before we started recording and Dr. Christo was just kindly asking me if there was any, you know, thing to avoid around cancer because I had said that it’s a lot in my family and it’s been a while and it’s always going to be hard. But my dad, when I was around, he was one of the first runners in the running boom, always going to the health food store, did all these super healthy lifestyle behaviors before this was really popular. And so was quite shocking, you know, when he ended up having these multiple cancer diagnosis later in But as a young man, he, we lived in the south, we live in Louisiana, and this is in the 70s before a lot of OSHA things and whatever, and he worked in chemical plants. And he was a chemist by trade. you know, so I’m pretty fully convinced that for him, it was those environmental factors that you spoke of. So in addition to being in an environment like that, that’s kind of an obvious situation. What are maybe some things that aren’t as obvious that people might be exposed to that they can limit in order to prevent cancer? Christo (05:10)Yeah, and not to scare anyone right now, but it’s kind of what we’re doing. We’re being sedentary, we’re sitting down right now. it is, sedentary behavior is ubiquitous in our culture, right? It’s how we do work every day. A lot of people sit at their desks in the office and there’s sometimes little movement. Well, we know a lot of things, what are causes of cancer and actually sedentary behavior. Even if you meet all of the activity guidelines, sedentary behavior itself is an independent risk factor for getting cancer. Of course, there’s a bunch of numbers with these, but it’s something that a lot of people don’t even think about. And an easy solution is trying to get up and get moving every so often. For myself, am I stuck at an office or in an operating room case, in their long cases, I make sure I’m getting up. every single hour on the hour, something I can remember just to get moving. And we’ll talk more in depth about this, but movement itself is as a prevention for not only cancer, but a number of other things. But yes, sedentary behavior is a big one that we really don’t think about very much. And a lot of us are exposed to that. Cheryl McColgan (06:27)Yeah, and I just want to I kind of want to build on something that you said just to make it super clear for people because I know this information, but if this is the first time somebody’s hearing it, they might not understand it. So I think the recommendation right now is correct me if I’m wrong, because I know you’ll know the right answer to this. It’s like 150 minutes per week of physical activity for most adults. Right. But you’re I think what you’re saying is, OK, say you do that. You go to the gym and you do your 150 minutes. That’s not the end. It’s actually been that eight hours that you’re sitting at your desk is still putting that on top Christo (06:45)Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yep. Yes. Yes, so you are correct. It is 100, so the physical activity guidelines is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week. It could also be 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intensity activity or a combination of both knowing that one minute of vigorous intensity activity is equal to two minutes of moderate intensity activity. All that being aside. 150 minutes of moderate activity per week is the goal. It’s something easy to remember. But yes, this sedentary behavior is independent of that. So if you’re going to the gym and you’re hitting all your marks, it doesn’t give you license so much to go home and be a cash potato the rest of the day. And that’s kind of the idea here. When we look at all of these different factors, it really comes down to getting your blood flowing. No, it’s more than that, that’s simplistic explanation. But the simple answer is get your butt up, get moving, get your blood flowing, and it’s something that we have to make it habitual. And again, we have such a sedentary lifestyle, it doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything, it just means that we’re sitting at a chair at the office, we’re at the desk all day, we’re typing on the computer. It’s just how our lives are built. So we therefore have to change the environment around us to make sure that we aren’t so sedentary. And there’s a number of things that we can do for that. Cheryl McColgan (08:30)So what would be some of your favorite tips for people? mean, I think you mentioned saying getting up on the hour, everybody has a cell phone nowadays, so setting alarms or using apps. What are some other things besides that that people might do to kind of combat this sedentary behavior? Christo (08:36)Yeah. Yeah. Sure, so that’s a big one for me. It’s something very easy to remember. On the hour, every hour, get up and get moving. Now if you’re at the office or if you’re somewhere where you’re not at home, make sure you are going to the restroom that’s farthest away from you, using the kitchen or water fountain that’s not close to you, walking up and down the stairs just to get moving. It doesn’t have to be difficult. It doesn’t have to be You know, I have to meet these marks. The simple answer is just get up, get moving, incorporate it into your day that’s seamless. That’s something that easy to remember for you. Maybe it’s you have a favorite coffee station at the office, whatever may be, just try to make it make sure that you’re able to incorporate as much movement as you can. Cheryl McColgan (09:37)I think that’s really clear. So we want people to go to the gym. We want them to be strength training so they can prevent sarcopenia, maintain their muscle mass. That’s all great for metabolic health, but we also just need people to just get out of the chair from their desk or away from the TV and just move Christo (09:44)Mm-hmm. Yeah. one of the most simple things that we can be doing to prevent cancer. And of course, there is more to exercise in cancer prevention. We’re talking about sedentary behavior, but it also can go from light to moderate activity, vagus activity, and then meeting the guidelines. They all have their unique benefits, and we can talk about that if you’d like. But the sedentary behavior I think is just one of the most more shocking ones that people just may not know about Cheryl McColgan (10:18)Yes, totally agree with that statement from just getting moving because I think like I said before, people think they go to the gym and that’s good enough. That’s not that’s not the end of the story. But you did touch on one I would like to maybe chat about a little bit more. And that was the use of exercise maybe in a different way. So I was very focused on fasting for a while when Dr. Urashimo I’m going to mess up his name. I’ll put it in the show notes. But you know, when they first kind of discovered a Toshi back in 2016, and I learned about fast. Christo (10:35)Yeah. You Cheryl McColgan (10:47)And I was very focused on that for a while. But now that I’ve gotten older, my bigger concern is maintaining muscle mass as I get over the age of 50. And so I’ve kind of stopped that because I also learned that exercise actually promotes autophagy really strongly. And maybe I’ll just have you actually talk about autophagy in a more scientific way so that people understand its relation to cancer. So maybe if you could talk about that with exercise, that would be awesome. Christo (11:13)Yeah, so I think how I relate this is something called myokines. When we exercise, you get our bodies moving and our muscles are contracting, they release something called myokines into the bloodstream. The simple answer is myokines are anti-cancer proteins. And the more we contract our muscles, the more these anti-cancer agents are moving around our bloodstream and not only are we able to more effectively kill cancer cells, it is something that’s going to promote, really just promote overall health in general, not just cancer, but everything else as well. There’s actually a recent study in 2025 about breast cancer, it’s out of Oxford, I believe, and they talk specifically about these myokines, and it was something Don’t quote me exactly on the number, but it was just one bout of vigorous intensity activity. It increased their blood circulating myokines by like up to 30 % and they exposed those myokines to breast cancer cells. And actually that number, the rate of growth was reduced by 30%. So it just goes to show how effective muscle contraction and movement is in the anti-cancer in our body’s ability to fight cancer off. Cheryl McColgan (12:35)Yeah, I will share. And I mean, again, not to bring it back to the but I think it’s really relevant to what you’re saying is I mentioned that my dad was kind of in the running boom and he had always lifted weight. He was like Jack Lilley basically, which was why it was such a shock that this but anyway, when he got this more serious diagnosis of cancer, I’m really convinced that the reason he did so well for so long was because every time he did a treatment, he got right back to his three days a week strength training, running, playing golf, super active, never let that go. Christo (12:45)⁓ wonderful. Yeah. Absolutely. Cheryl McColgan (13:04)for the longest Christo (13:04)Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (13:05)time. And so I think that that actually helped not only helped his quality of life while he was living with cancer, but also probably got him further down the road. I really think that’s true. Christo (13:11)Yeah. 100%, there is so much robust science about this. a lot of, you of course, after something gets a diagnosis of cancer, of course, your body’s going through changes and it is even more difficult to get up and get moving, going to gym and doing those things. So kudos to your father and anyone else who has gone through that to make sure they’re giving their body the exercise they need because it’s not only It’s exercise is not just a ⁓ healthy lifestyle modification. It’s an actual biological intervention that helps fight cancer. Like it is proven. It is not just, it’s not a replacement for your chemotherapies and your surgeries and whatnot, but it absolutely reduces your risk of getting cancer. It improves your survival if you do get cancer. and there is only benefits from this. So this is just a really hard point to make that exercise is proven to improve your survival in a number of different ways. We’re talking about cancer today, but there’s a number of other things as well. Cheryl McColgan (14:28)it’s pretty much the cure for everything, right? If you really want to look at it, it is. Yes. Christo (14:30)It is. It is. And it’s free. It’s free. We can all do it. You know? Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (14:36)I know it’s very exciting. Well, most of us, know, thankfully. So on that note, there is, I think I’d be remiss not to at least mention this and maybe get your thoughts on this. Because as you said, you’re in the operating rooms, you’ve seen all these different kinds of cancer. Have any of your colleagues or you yourself had any thoughts on the significant rise of colon cancer in young people? ⁓ Are we thinking processed food? Are we thinking other lifestyle factors? Kind of what’s your sense of it after being in the trenches with that? Christo (14:57)Yeah. Yeah, yeah, very astute question because that’s actually the statistic I believe is colorectal cancer is the only cancer that is rising in people under the age of 50. And more recently, you know, this is early 2026, James Vanderbeek passed away, which a lot of us know from like Dawson’s Creek and you know, other movies. and Chadwick Boseman, another big time actor, and they both passed away from colorectal cancer at young ages. And sometimes it’s a difficult pill to swallow when these people, you know, we don’t know them, but they’re part of our formative years. And the good thing about, and I don’t say good thing, but maybe the positive silver lining is it’s bringing awareness to people that this is something. Now, do we know why colorectal cancer is increasing in this specific age group? No. As you alluded to, could very well be what’s environmental exposures and I’m not saying this specifically to those gentlemen, but it can be a number of things. We don’t know the exact answer. We do know there’s a lot of different risk factors for colorectal cancer that a lot of people do have and it’s present in our nutrition system and how the United States is kind of set up. And it’s a lot of processed foods, it’s processed meats, it’s adiposity when you’re carrying some extra weight and obesity, being overweight, all of those things play a role into cancer. Real briefly, this is something that I think a lot of people may not know, but obesity itself is a chronic form of low-grade inflammation, okay? So your body is under this chronic inflammatory state when you have obesity. And the reason that’s important is because when we have bodily inflammation, that increases the risk for mutations in our DNA, in our cells, and that’s exactly how cancers can arise. Cheryl McColgan (17:11)So would that mean also, I think the most common marker that people probably get when they go to their annual checkup is an HSCRP, which is kind of a marker of general inflammation in the body. So would it be accurate to say that if you have a higher HSCRP that you are probably slightly more at risk for cancers and that would be a thing to maybe consider trying to actively lower? Christo (17:19)Mm-hmm. Yeah, so CRP is one of the, ⁓ C-reactive protein is one of the markers for inflammation. There are a number of other ones, cortisol being ⁓ another big one. I don’t wanna say, I don’t wanna say for certain that yes, that is, that’s true, because our body undergoes inflammation. Rewind a second. When you get a lab ⁓ test done, that is one point in time. Right, it’s that day. So it’s hard, you’re not gonna be testing your CRP every single day to know are you always under the same state of inflammation. That being said, your body undergoes inflammation for a number of reasons. And sometimes inflammation isn’t bad. Sometimes it’s reactive and appropriate for what we’re doing. But yes, in the general sense, if you have… maybe like dietary inflammation, if your body isn’t sleeping properly and your body’s in a general state that’s heightened for inflammation, then yes, those kinds of things on a long-term basis are more what we’re aiming for here. One lab test, it depends. It can be a number of different things. There’s also a lot of… different medical states and conditions that can increase your CRP. So it’s not always like a perfect marker. It may be a clue and your healthcare provider can kind of clue you in to like put the whole picture together, but every individual is very different. And as I said, it’s kind of a one marker in time. So lab tests can be helpful, but it’s just not the end all be all. Cheryl McColgan (19:06)Yeah, understood. Just kind of wondered if there was any association there. And you mentioned one of my favorite words when you were just answering that question, that is sleep. I think it’s one of the most underappreciated health. elixirs basically for people and that so many people struggle with it. ⁓ But how would you describe sleep’s relation to cancer? I know a lot of the stuff about sleep’s relation to possible Alzheimer’s prevention, but I haven’t necessarily heard as much about cancer, so I’d love to hear your views on that. Christo (19:18)Yes. yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So there’s a couple of things to know regarding sleep and cancer. And I’m gonna draw back a discussion I had with a patient where they were like, I’m exercising all the time, I’m eating well, I’m getting all my minute guidelines, my stress is well managed. And then you dive a little bit deeper and they’re like, oh, I only sleep four or five hours of night. And I’m like, oh, why are you doing that? Well, you know, they’re crazy busy. They’re always productive. And we kind of take a step back and get more of a clue of, you know, the whole picture of that patient. And it was telling because as you mentioned, sleep, a lot of people, we almost treat it as an afterthought. You know, it’s at the end of the day, we kind of get in our beds and go. However, sleep is so critical for our overall health that it really needs to get more of a bright light on it because it’s that important. And the relationship to cancer is actually, it’s very clear and I’ll tell you why. At night, throughout the day, 24 hours, your body is always undergoing maintenance. Your body’s always fixing damaged DNA, fixing cells that are damaged for whatever reason and we’re repairing them or we’re scheduling them for apoptosis and getting them out of our bodies. Now that happens all 24 hours, but it’s way more active when we’re sleeping. It’s when the maintenance workers of our body are going to work and that happens at night. So if you’re not getting enough sleep, we are, or quality sleep. We are not restoring, we’re not repairing those DNA in the cells and those mutations. It’s almost like a glitch in the system where these mutations occur and then they live on and they thrive. the more and more those mutations grow, that’s when you get a tumor. So when we don’t get that sleep at night, our maintenance workers aren’t working and those mutations kind of can grow into cancer more easily. Cheryl McColgan (21:43)Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And what would you what would your advice be to people? I mean, I’ve written about this a lot. So there’s some free resources on my website for better sleep. And I do all the things I am committed to sleep. You know, I have the cooling bed, the cooling bed, the dark room, the I like everything. So there’s all those kind of tips. But if somebody wants to do something without devices, and without drugs in particular, I think that people Christo (21:53)Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Sure. Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (22:08)I’d love to hear your perspective on that and kind of what are some more natural ways people can approach doing this that aren’t devices that don’t cost a lot of extra money. Christo (22:11)Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we can talk a lot about this. think it’s actually, ironically, it’s sleep awareness week right now. So it’s, ⁓ yeah, it’s a big topic right now. So what can you do? So you mentioned a lot of things regarding sleep environment, where you’re sleeping in a cool, dark place, cool, dark and quiet place, not silent, but quiet. And a lot of people focus on that, which is really good. Cheryl McColgan (22:23)Nice. Christo (22:40)But something that people may not know is what we do during the day matters very much how good quality of sleep we get at night. And this is not going to be a shocker, but one of the best activities that you can do during the day to get more quality sleep, a higher level of deep sleep, is exercise. exercise really is just a panacea for everything. ⁓ But the reason being is when you exercise, your body’s obviously working a lot harder and its body temperature goes up. Well, a few hours after, your body temperature starts to cool down and that’s exactly what we would like for sleep. So it’s just something that every single day we wanna incorporate some sort of exercise for that. And there are a number of other things like the three two one zero rule if you’ve heard of that or we could talk about that. ⁓ Cheryl McColgan (23:39)Yeah, I’m not familiar with that one. So I’d love it if you’d share that Christo (23:41)Yes, yeah, yeah, the three, two, one, zero rule. It’s something easy to remember because of the numbers, but three hours before bed, you don’t have any more food. Are you able to do a light snack? Sure. But you don’t want to have your dinner too close to bedtime. You want to give your body enough time for digestion. If you’re eating too close to meals, excuse me, too close to bedtime, you can have indigestion. You can have a number of different things that can cause disruption to your sleep. Two hours before bed, no work or no stimulation. You really want to, yeah, I know, I’m a culprit of this. It is, it is. It’s one of those things where I’m like, what’s the phrase? ⁓ Don’t do as I say. Yes, that’s it. Yep, so I’m a bad one on that, because I’m a workaholic. But yes, no more work two hours before bed. And it’s really just trying to unwind and kind of decrease your stimulation. That’s the real reason. Cheryl McColgan (24:13)That’s a hard one. Do as I say, not as I do. Christo (24:38)One hour before bed, no screen time. And this is something where I say, mean it, no screen time. Blue, I talked to a sleep medicine doctor last year or so, and she’s a great friend of mine. And she just says, how many people are, we’re all so glued to our phones. And not only that, it’s like a fifth appendage where we’re sleeping, it’s right next to our beds. And the, one of the best tips that she gave me was, to use an actual alarm clock. Get that phone away from your bed. You don’t need it when you’re in the bedroom. It’s, know, emergencies happen and whatnot, so you can have it somewhere nearby, but it doesn’t need to be an arm’s length. anyway, no screen time after one hour before bed. And then the zero is a little bit different. It’s the number of snoozes were allowed, or ideally allowed, zero. Cheryl McColgan (25:34)you Christo (25:36)And that really focuses on having a consistent wake time. And that’s even something that we wanna do on our days off from work. And the reason being actually does relate to one of the risk factors for cancer is circadian rhythm disruption. If you have a consistent wake time, your body is just much happier. it works more efficiently. The nighttime maintenance things that we talked about are more, just work better. And you really, you keep that wake time and then if you have to adjust your bedtime, you adjust your bedtime to something earlier. But a consistent wake time is something that is a forever rule of thumb if we’re able to. Cheryl McColgan (26:21)Well good, I’ve got to work on the zero and the two probably a little bit for myself. ⁓ Christo (26:27)Yeah, yes, none of us are going to be perfect at this. An 80-20 rule, try to aim for 80 % of these, 20%, give yourself some grace. Cheryl McColgan (26:36)Yes, progress over perfection, one of my favorite things. So ⁓ one thing that we didn’t hit on yet that I think is fairly important for cancer stuff, and I think it’s, it’s good because there’s a trend, there’s a downward trend in alcohol consumption, I think since the pandemic, basically. And I think everyone has always known that alcohol consumption is related to cancer, but somehow it wasn’t being driven home as much as it has maybe the last Christo (26:39)Yes, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (27:06)five to 10 years. So we’d just love to get your thoughts on that. mean, nobody wants to hear this if you like, you know, having a glass of wine with your steak or something like that. But, but I think, you know, minimizing these things, like we’re talking about minimizing environmental exposures, maximizing sleep, I mean, can we talk a little bit about it? Because it’s going to be unpopular, but it is a thing. Christo (27:08)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I try to tiptoe just to be gentle with this because people do have strong feelings like I want my red wine at night and you can’t convince me otherwise. There’s a lot of topics to talk about. There’s a lot of discussion points. The plain answer here is no amount of alcohol is Cheryl McColgan (27:28)you Christo (27:44)helpful for your health, okay? So there’s no benefit to it. Some people who drink red wine say there’s, you know, the, my God, nitro, it’s skipping my, yes, Reservatrol, yes, thank you so much. Is helpful for you, yes, it is, but so are having a handful of grapes and you don’t have to have it in a wine form. ⁓ So there’s, Cheryl McColgan (27:52)Reservitrol. I think I read that to get enough Reservatrol, you’d have to drink like 25 barrels of wine or something to get so it’s like, it’s not even a thing. Christo (28:08)Exactly. Yeah. It’s one of those reasons that Hawaiian connoisseurs are like, yeah, well, it’s fine. I’m one of those people where you have to enjoy life too. it’s, you know, take everything with a grain of salt. But yeah. And then a lot of people actually bring up like the blue zones. Have you heard of the blue zones before? Yeah. Perfect. So blue zones, one of the discussion points Cheryl McColgan (28:27)Absolutely. Yeah, we talked about it a little bit on the podcast. Christo (28:35)is having red wine in moderation during meals when you’re socializing. So when you’re watching Netflix having a bottle of red wine, it’s not the same as having a glass of wine slowly over a couple hours with dinner socializing, which is a protective factor for your health. So it’s a little bit different. It’s kind of a scenario. ⁓ but yeah, they used to kind of say two drinks for men, one drink for women per day. That’s, that’s changed. There’s another, the most recent administration came out with new dietary guidelines, for Americans just maybe a month ago or so. lots of talking points there. We won’t go too into that, but there is one regarding alcohol and they They kind of, I’m trying to word this correctly, they said enjoying some alcohol in moderation isn’t advised, but it’s it’s okay to do, which I think where they’re coming from with that is trying to have social connections, it’s a, because the reality is a lot of people do enjoy alcohol together and it brings people together and there are, health benefits to that. The alcohol standpoint, as I said, no organizations recommend any healthy amount of alcohol, but there is something to be said about enjoying your life and having social connections and bringing people together. And I think that is positive. I think they at least nailed that part for sure. Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (30:13)Yeah, and I would agree with you that I think that that having traveled extensively in the Mediterranean that that is where, you know, there’s a lot of issues with those Blue Zone studies, right? We don’t need to go into all that today. But I think that the one that probably everybody can agree on is the importance of community and support systems and the amount of movement that all of those zones get. They’re very active. They have this great support and connection and they have this community that a lot of other places in the world don’t have. So whatever you think about their diet or their wine consumption or Christo (30:24)Yes, yeah. Yeah. 100%. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cheryl McColgan (30:43)of that I think that we can agree on the rest of it for sure. Christo (30:47)Yeah, you’re nailing it on the head because when we have these discussions, if you see these other very in-depth evidence-based discussions online, we’re really zooming in on one little thing. And the reality is it’s the totality of our lifestyle that affects our health outcomes. Having a glass of wine, I’m not gonna say don’t do it. But what’s the rest of your health look like? What’s rest of your lifestyle look like? We have to be reasonable about it and not getting a good night’s sleep here and there, no big deal. But if it’s a consistent chronic issue, sure, then you address something. But a lot of us have the idea of any 20 or progress over perfection. It’s just the idea of trying to do our best to improve and giving ourselves some grace. as we alluded to way back when, in the beginning of this conversation, what we’re doing right now for most people in this country, we’re not successful with our health. We just simply aren’t. And so we have to start addressing these issues more head on and figuring out what can we start changing? And that kind of brings up another point. A lot of us know what’s healthy. We know what’s healthy, but we’re not so good at how to make effective change and how to keep those change long, you know, as a sustainable habits for ourselves. And I think that’s something that we could all kind of work on, especially the health and fitness professionals teaching people how to do those things. Cheryl McColgan (32:26)Yeah, that’s that’s one of the huge focuses of my work is to have my background in psychology. So the whole habit change is something that’s been a very long time interest of mine. And so it’s Yeah. So since you brought Thank you. Yeah. Since you brought that up, I want to be respectful of your time. But I think just one final one final actionable thing that we could have here is in you. Like you said, you’ve been a personal trainer, your lifestyle, medicine, doctor, that probably is the biggest challenge for me. I think everybody at this point Christo (32:32)⁓ yes. Yeah, I saw the 30 day challenge too. Love it. Love it. No, it’s okay. Cheryl McColgan (32:56)they should be doing, they know they should be moving more, know they should be eating better, they know they shouldn’t be drinking too much, but at the execution of it. So what would be your best tips for people on how to actually make changes in your experience? Like what’s been the most successful? Christo (32:59)Yeah. Yeah. Mmm. Yeah, really good question. So I am a big proponent of utilizing the current routines you have and adding on to them. It’s a lot harder to start something brand new. So if you’re able to, so say in the morning you already, you you brush your teeth, you wash your face. Well, you know, start adding in healthy habits to that existing routine and do that. Most habits take a. The science says 66 days if you’re doing it every single day. It’s really about the repetition. And our brains, they’re neuroplastic. So we can learn to do these things. We can be successful in them. The idea is just making sure we do them repetitively enough that it sticks. Just like swinging a baseball bat and learning how to play baseball or work on the computer and getting better at typing or whatever analogy you wanna use. We can do that with our lifestyle as well. And I think most of us have some sort of routines already. So we wanna kinda zoom out, look at our routines. What can you add into that routine that’s going to improve your health? What are you trying to improve? And once you kinda get that awareness, you’re able to add something in. Do it every single day. I use the rule of twos. I kinda made this up, but for two months, do a new habit for two months. without missing two consecutive days. And that is something that kind of, again, points to the consistency repetition. And then once you get that, add onto it. Start small and build up, and over time, you’re gonna have this considerable change that’s gonna be really, make a big impact on your health. Yeah. Cheryl McColgan (34:51)Yeah, I love that two days rule because part of that you mentioned the 30 day challenge part of it was like not making people overly stressed about it like hey, if you miss a day, it’s fine. But the challenge with that is it’s okay to miss a day, but you don’t want to miss like two, three, four, then all of a sudden, it’s not a habit anymore. So I love that just don’t miss two days in a row. That’s very good. Christo (34:59)Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, easy to remember. Cheryl McColgan (35:11)so we’ve covered some awesome information today. And I’m really excited for people to connect with you. Can you share your website, tell them about some of the programs we talked about before we have for professionals for regular folks, what are all the good things that people can learn from you? Christo (35:25)Yeah, absolutely. So atlasmd360.com, it has a bunch of resources, a of free resources as well. You can do a health audit assessment, you can take some quizzes, there’s a free 30 minute course, there are free resources on how to improve your ⁓ heart lab work, and a bunch of other things. And if you are a professional looking for continuing education, There are approved accredited programs for health and wellness coaches, personal trainers, and AMA category one credits for a bunch of physicians and NPs and PAs. And then if you are non-professional and you’re looking to improve any part of your lifestyle, there are programs for you as well. But overall, we have a lot of free resources and I just, hope when I these podcasts, I honestly just hope One person learned something good that they can take away from this and make some positive difference. Cheryl McColgan (36:23)Well, Dr. Frangopoulos, I have no doubt whatsoever that people learned way more than one thing in this conversation. And I just want to thank you for sharing your time and knowledge today. So I appreciate it. Christo (36:28)I hope so. I hope so. Thank you Cheryl for having me. I appreciate it and I’m loving what you’re doing so keep it up. It’s awesome. Cheryl McColgan (36:39)Thank you.

In this episode, Cheryl McColgan shares actionable insights on establishing sustainable habits, building strong foundational practices for health and wellness, and overcoming common challenges like overwhelm and inconsistency. Whether you’re starting out or looking to refine your routine, this conversation offers clear steps backed by research and personal experience. Takeaways The importance of small, consistent habits over quick resolutions How to implement a 30-day healthy habits challenge Transitioning from habit trials to long-term integration (90-day focus) Introducing the Foundation Series: organizing habits into manageable categories The role of protein, balanced nutrition, and strength training in health Simplified strength training: two full-body workouts per week Overcoming gym intimidation and creating an accessible strength routine The value of coaching for accountability and skill-building Moving toward mastery and self-sufficiency in health management Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow. And today I wanted to chat with you about a new program that I just started. And it’s actually a whole little system called the Foundations series. So a lot of this came about because over the years, as you know, if you’ve watched some of my content before, I’m very focused on habits. My background is in psychology and I’ve been basically interested in health and wellness my entire adult life and have had many different kind of jobs and coaching in this kind of area. And so it’s something that I’ve worked on for myself for a long time. It’s something I’ve worked with other people on for a long time. And it is the content that you see every day on Heal Nourish Grow all has something to do with these sorts of things. So when I thought about it more like how can I put this all these learnings and all the information that I have learned for myself over the last years and practice for so long, how can I put it into a foundational system that will actually help other people without being overwhelming, being organized and get you to a place where you actually do these things. Cause I feel like a lot of people will say to me sometimes, well, I know what to do. I just don’t actually do it. And so part of that, I think is the overwhelm of it. Part of it’s just that life is so busy, you know, so many factors, but this really breaks it down into little buckets that you can focus on for a small period of time. And just again, As I always talk about with habits, just starting really slow and building on them. And so that’s why I called it the foundation series, because it literally is the whole foundation, find foundational practices, foundational ideas that will really help you just build your life to meet your goals from there. So these very small things that you start with and creating this very strong foundation will really allow you then to create whatever it is that you want for your life, for your health, all of that. So I feel like most people, again, they just don’t fail because they’re not trying or they don’t want to. It’s just they’re not really clear yet about their own priorities. Like they think that they know what’s important, but you know, quite often the choices that we make every day don’t match what we think are our priorities. So really identifying them and making them clear in your mind is a really big part of that. So the first thing I started with, with the health of the situation because once you get your health in order, once you are able to sleep well, eat well, feel good in your body every single day, that also just helps everything with your mental health as well. focusing on these foundational principles that relate to your health that are small things you can do every day, I think really make it a lot less overwhelming than it might be otherwise. And so these are all just daily consistency. low friction routines, creating things that are easy to repeat every single day. Cheryl McColgan (02:45)The very first part of the program is something that’s really in alignment with this time of year, which it happens to be January, 2026 when I’m recording this. And that is working on healthy habits as kind of a challenge for the new year, because people often make New Year’s resolutions. And usually by about this time, by about the end of January, a lot of those have already gone by the wayside, because quite often people just take on too much at once, rather than doing small things over time and consistently building. really think that’s a much more sustainable way to approach habit change and to incorporating new healthy habits into your life. So the first thing is the free healthy habits challenge. It doesn’t have to be the beginning of the new year. Whenever you find this video, you can always start the healthy habits challenge. You just put in your email and then it’ll start a series of things that you do every single day. It will send you some worksheets. There are links to research that backs up these small practices like why they’re good for you and what kinds of things it helps. And so you just try a new simple habit every day for 30 days. None of them take any more than 15 minutes. And you can always dive deeper into any of the subjects if you want. Like I said, there’s research links you can read, there’s journal prompts, but the minimum is just doing the habit that day, trying it out and then noticing if that’s something that you think would work well for you in your life that could really help you feel better, look better, perform better, all of those things. And then ideally after the 30 days is finished, you identify some of those things that you tried that you really want to incorporate going forward for the next 90 days. And so that’s when I decided that I would actually create this whole other series of programs after the free healthy habits, because a lot of times it’s like, well, what’s next after you do that, you kind of, you know, it was great to try all that. And I do give direction in the healthy habits challenge. You’re identifying three to carry forward over 90 days. And you just really try to create that consistency. But what if you wanted something that’s a little bit more structured and gives you more ideas about how to perform the habits that you’ve chosen, work towards your goals, all that. So that’s where the foundation series comes in. Cheryl McColgan (04:46)And so the first one that I decided to focus on, and again, if you’ve already are familiar with my content, this will not be a surprise. And that is protein, because once you get the protein foundation in place, identifying what’s optimal for your body and optimal for your goals, and then actually integrating that and hitting it every single day, that becomes the basis then for your whole nutrition plan. So this first part, just focusing on protein is because it’s such an important building block in your body, it’s not the protein itself that we need. It is the amino acids that our body breaks down that we need for muscle, for metabolism. It creates more satiety makes it easier for you to feel full longer. And it is big in repair and recovery in your body. So having that proper amount. on a consistent basis every day really just lays the foundation then for you to build your whole nutrition program. And that is the second foundation is nutrition. So that may sound, you we talked about proteins, obviously one of the major macro nutrients alongside carbohydrates and fat, but that whole thing is what really creates all of your nutrition. Like you can’t live on just protein. mean, you actually can. A lot of people do the carnivore diet these days, but for most people, that’s not a choice. that they’re making, they want to create something that’s more balanced, that’s more sustainable, that’s easy to still be able to eat out, that’s still easy to go to events and not feel overwhelmed. And so the second foundation, once you have your protein amount in place that you’re going to create on that consistent basis, then you can start to focus on your overall diet. And so the nutrition thing really works with, it doesn’t matter what style of eating that you choose, it’s going to create something that’s balanced and that it’s in alignment with your goals. And so that’s something that you’ll work on through the program is figuring out is your goal muscle gaining muscle. Is it losing fat? Is it just maintaining your current body weight? Is it maybe reducing inflammation in your body? So any one of those goals that you have will fit into this nutrition framework. So you’ll select those goals. You’re going to figure out your, macronutrients that work best for you. The protein part is always non-negotiable. That number really never changes that much on a daily basis unless you have like a super hard workout or something that maybe you might go do a little extra for recovery purposes. But for the most part, that number will never change. And so then it becomes figuring out how to balance that and the carbohydrates in a way that make you feel good, that digest well, and that work with your goals. So that gives you a lot of flexibility. It really creates a way to think about things so that when you’re in an unfamiliar situation, you’re not for yourself, you can still make really good choices and make things work for you. And again, a lot of this is things that people think that they know how to do or that they should do that kind of thing, but they don’t actually execute on a daily basis. And so that’s what the foundation system really helps with is creating that consistency. Again, it’s these small habits over time that build to help you get to your overall longer term goals. But you’ve got to get to those longer term goals. You have to work on those little parts of it every single day. And so that’s really what this part of it is about. And then the last foundation is the strength foundation. And again, it’s something that you’ve heard me say before, and it’s something that I’ve come to appreciate a lot more now that I’m over 50. And that is that we really need to have some strength training in our life. And I know it’s a challenge for a lot of people, especially a lot of people in my age group, if you happen to be a woman. ⁓ There really wasn’t as much focus on strength training when I was younger I mean I got kind of lucky because I was exposed to it at young age through my dad and Then I did play sports in high school and college So I was in the weight room and I have probably more familiarity with it than a lot of women my age But I was in that same trap growing up in the 90s where it was all about, you know Being skinny was the thing and so I never really had a focus on muscle is more just about, you know, maintaining my body weight. And I did that through running for 17 years, I kind of did almost the exact opposite of what is really good for your long term health as far as muscle mass anyway, I mean, ⁓ running and walking have a lot of great awesome heart and cardiovascular benefits, but it’s not so great in terms of building muscle. In fact, it often creates a body type where you don’t have nearly as much muscle. So now that I am more educated and you know, you learn things over time and once you learn things, it’s hard to unsee the importance of it. And when you really think about muscle health in terms of your metabolism and in terms of just living well as you get older, you know, it’s a slow thing, right? That happens over years that you kind of have to just fight all the time and you don’t want to get to be know, 70 years old and be so frail that you have a hard time getting out of the chair that you can’t do simple things like carry your own groceries in or shovel your driveway when you need to. had a lot of that here in the Midwest just recently in January 2026. So all that is to say that I think what creates maybe a little bit of fear or something in your mind about not wanting to do it as much is because we kind of envision this thing that we have to be in the gym. five or six days a week, something like that to make it work. And you have to do a whole lot of strength training to make it work worthwhile. But after I’ve really taken a deep dive into this and done more studying and more learning, especially over the last three years focused on strength training is really that there is a minimum effective dose of strength training. And surprisingly, you can get most of the benefits that you can get out of training on a regular basis and just doing two full body work workouts per week. I think twice per week is way, way less intimidating than the multiple times a week that many of us think of when we think about strength training. And it also then affords you to do many other kinds of physical activities that you might, that are more enjoyable, let’s say. So if it’s walking, hiking, biking, snowboarding, whatever it is for you, if you know that you only have to be strength training in the gym two days a week, I just feel like that mentally takes a lot of the stress off and it makes it seem more doable. And again, it’s about creating these small habits. once you get into it, obviously, if you want to do more, there’s a little incremental benefit of that over two days a week. And there’s also, if you have very specific goals in relation to body composition or, you know, doing any kind of competitions or anything like that, then that program looks a little different. But all we’re talking about is what is the minimum effective dose for staying healthy and vibrant and strong into old age and just being able to take care of yourself. And that is really a strength training program that is two days a week. So what I’ve done is I’m actually studying for my personal trainer certification right now. I haven’t taken the test yet. But the two days a week foundation, it’s really about like not creating this intimidation around the gym. Because I mentioned like for a lot of us women, especially in this particular age group, a gym can be very intimidating or just knowing how to use the machines or knowing what to do in the gym or going into the gym, seeing so many machines and this feeling overwhelmed because you’re not sure what to do. That’s what this program is designed to counteract. If you’re more experienced, this definitely might be a little too basic for you, but this is really meant to take the person who has not been in the gym for a couple years, let’s say, or even if it’s been a year since you’ve been out of the gym, this might be totally appropriate because it’s just going to be a program like I said, is two days a week and it’s going to be simple and it’s going to have some videos to show you some things to do. It works if you’re working out from home with just a few simple tools. So that’s what this part is. It’s designed to not create overwhelm and to just get you into the gym, get you into strength training and hopefully get you to realize the benefit of it. And then from there, obviously there’s so many more, more complex and more ⁓ extensive programs out there, but this is really just meant for if you’re just getting started again, or if you’ve never been in the gym before and to create this sense of kind of knowing what you’re getting into, knowing what you do in the gym. and knowing where to go and just not having it be too many things at once hitting you, making it very simple, having a plan, having it written out. So that way, even if you go into big gym has a lot of machines or something, you’re going to feel like you know what to do. You know where to go, you know where to find what you need, and then you can get your workout done. So that is the most of the foundations program. And then at the very end, I have lifestyle foundations and that is a one-on-one coaching program. And I haven’t taken on any new coaching. people for quite a while, but I decided to open that up again. So really what that is, it’s if you feel like you need more support, you need more accountability, you enjoy having a coach, which I have to admit when I was doing my competitions, this past year was the first time I had had a coach in that capacity for like a, it wasn’t so much health and wellness focused as it was training and competition focused, but having someone else being able to give that over for a little bit to a process that was really new for me. was just so very helpful in reducing decision fatigue and really like making it easy for me to learn how to do these things that for me were very new at the time doing I’d never done a competition before. So of course I know I do it to expect and that was really nice and useful to have a coach to be able to hand that off to and not have to think about it. So but this kind of coaching is more around. Yes, we’re going to talk together about making your goals fit your lifestyle that you have now and finding time to do the things. I know that’s always a big challenge for everyone, right? And then mapping it out in such a way so you have accountability, you know what the plan is, and then starting to really integrate these habits over time so that you learn a system that works for you long-term. And then at some point, wish, the hope, the dream is that you don’t need a coach anymore, that you just feel really accountable to yourself. and that you’re able to evaluate goals and think of things in a way like once you learn the system, if you’re thinking of it in a way that, you know, just requires a little planning, then you don’t always necessarily need somebody kind of taking you to the next step each time or being accountable. You can just be accountable to yourself. So I do think that coaching is really useful in so many situations and for short periods of time. But I personally just don’t know if it’s that great for people to have. a coach for years and years and years in relation to health and wellness anyway. Like I said, for other things like if you’re in the Olympics or you’re on a team or you’re playing sports, obviously coaches are amazing in that capacity and you kind of need them year after year. But I think when you’re working on your health and wellness, I think that the goal should be autonomy at some point and you’ve learned the tools that you need to just go on and live your life well and not have to. somebody to do all those kinds of things for you or to talk that out with. So hopefully that’s making sense. Again, my background is in psychology and I was into clinical psychology. So obviously, I hugely see the value in all those kinds of relationships. It’s just that I feel like you should learn to fish, right? Instead of just being given fish all the time. So that old saying, it’s like, hey, if you learn to fish, you’ll never go hungry, right? And so that’s the idea of this program is really just teaching you new skills. new systems, new ways to think about things in relation to your health so that then you can go forward and keep creating that in your own life again and again. So hopefully that was a great explanation of the program. As always, if you have any questions, I’m always available. You can email me. And if you want to go read the foundations page, it kind of shows you a little bit more about what each program is specifically and like exactly what you’ll learn inside of each of them. But always if you have any questions just reach out you can reach me on all the social media heel nourish grow everywhere or you can email me at info at heelnourishgrow.com. So that’s it for again for today and I will see you next time.

In this final session of the 30-day healthy habit challenge, Cheryl McColgan encourages participants to reflect on their journey and choose three habits to continue for the next 90 days. She emphasizes the importance of building consistency through small, manageable changes and aligning these habits with long-term goals. Cheryl also discusses the significance of flexibility in habit formation and encourages participants to map out their habits for greater success. Takeaways Choose three habits to continue for the next 90 days. Set specific, achievable minimums for each habit. Focus on sustainability rather than perfection. Building habits starts with small, consistent actions. Align your habits with your long-term goals. Flexibility is important in maintaining habits. Mapping out habits can enhance success. Reflect on your journey and celebrate wins. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of FeelNourishGrow and welcome to day 30 of the 30 day healthy habit challenge. You made it to the end and I’m so excited to be here with you for this last day and to hopefully hear all about some of your challenges, some of your wins. I would love it if you would respond to the email after the challenge is finished and just let me know how it went for you. I am always rooting for you. But anyway, for the final day, it’s another kind of reflection thing. but it’s more future focused. I want you to choose three habits to continue for the next 90 days. So if you discovered there was a particular habit during this challenge, you did a lot of the reflection and reset throughout the challenge, and there were probably ones that you noticed that worked really well for you or that you thought, okay, this is a good habit. I can see this really helping me in my everyday life. Go back to those and commit to doing it every day for the next 90 days. So ideally, I’d love for you to keep moving for 10 minutes every single day. Maybe it turns into 15, maybe it turns into 20, maybe it turns into going to the gym. These are the way that habits build. We keep doing these small little wins over time, and that’s how you create really big change. So choose those three habits for the next 90 days and set tiny minimums for each one. So you want it to be really specific with yourself what it is that you’re intending to do for those three habits. So again, if I mentioned movement is the one that you want to continue, you could keep it at 10 minutes. Or you can say for the next 90 days, I’m going to do for the first 30 days, I’m going to do 10 minutes a day. For the second 30 days, I’m going to do 15 minutes a day. And for the third 30 days, I’m going to do 20 minutes a day, whatever it is for you. But making it specific, making it something that you meant to and making it something that’s still relatively small so that you’re going to maintain it. Because at the end of this next 90 days, I want you to set you up for another really big win where you prove to yourself that you can trust yourself. and that you can make changes and you can create new habits that actually stick. So again, create the minimum, but let’s do three. Over the next 30 days, hopefully some of these habits have turned into a lifestyle. The focus involved with doing little challenges like this just builds like confidence in yourself and it beats perfection. We’re not looking, we can’t all be perfect all the time. We’ve got to just go for sustainability. And that is really how I’ve been able to like. create these habits for myself that people always talk about me being so disciplined, that kind of thing. It really all started like this, just small little things. Whenever I get onto a new thing that I want to try, I’ve taught myself that if I go big in the beginning, I might be able to stick with it for a little while, but quite often I crash and burn or I just get burned out on whatever it is. But if I start adding it in a little bit of a time, that really creates more of a habit. A great example of this for me, I’ve had many of exercise things over the years. think I mentioned previously in this challenge, I was a runner for 17 years. Obviously, I just didn’t go out the door one day and run a marathon. It took small changes over time and building consistency. The same thing now where I’ve really been on my streak with strength training is that when I initially started, I told myself, okay, I’m only going to go three days a week, half an hour max. I’m just going to get in the gym, mess around with the machines. That’s going to be a good enough start. Created that consistency mark for myself. and that kept building and building over time to where now it’s almost like I can’t, in a way, don’t, I mean, I know it’s not that I don’t want to, sometimes your body needs a break and I build in rest days and all that, but I actually feel guilty now if I think about one day where I’m not feeling like going to the gym, it’s like, it’s a habit now, I have to do it. That’s basically how it’s turned out. these. Consistency things over time is really where you create this thing where you almost feel like it’s just automatic and it doesn’t feel like you need to back out of it or should back out of it. It just becomes purely a habit. So that’s just one example, but it could also be food or sleep. You know, the same thing when I started keto, I didn’t just one day decide to start eating no carbs. I cut it back over time. I didn’t necessarily go cold turkey. That’s all to say that it all starts with these little things. So pick three things that you feel are really going to feed into your long term goals. And if you haven’t done it yet, this might be a really good time to do that core values and goals worksheet. If this speaks to you, it’s if you go to the website and search ultimate wellness, what is ultimate wellness? The sheet, the link for the sheet is in there and I’ll just walk you through some cues and some questions. to learn more about what is it they’re all about? What are your core values? And that’s how you create these longer term goals. And then you set these little habits in line to eventually reach those. So if you’re going to do something anyway for the next 90 days, that’s also a great time to do that exercise so that you can start to create these habits that are gonna get you to your five year goal, your 10 year goal, stuff like that. So if you’re wondering to like where to start with picking three, how do you narrow it down? consider this, this is one option for you. Pick one that’s a movement habit, pick one that’s a mindset habit, and pick one that’s a food or sleep habit, and start with that. Write down the minimum for each of those, and then that’s your thing for the 90 days. Develop some cues around this. So when and where each habit is going to happen. And of course, you can be flexible. There might be days where if you say, okay, I like working out in the morning, I’m work out, I’m gonna do my 10 minutes of movement, first thing when I wake up. Well, maybe one day for whatever reason that can’t happen. We can be flexible, of course. But mapping it out, putting it your calendar or having the intention to do it at a specific time every day or stacked with another habit that makes sense, that’ll just set you up for even more success. So again, it’s not that we’re not being flexible, but really giving yourself those cues about when and where this is supposed to happen. That way when you see the cue or go to the spot where it’s supposed to happen, will remind you. that strengthen that habit over time, that that’s where it’s supposed to be. I think that is finally about it for us for this habit challenge. I hope that you got something out of it. I’d love to hear what you learned. I’d love to hear what worked for you, what didn’t work for you, what were your challenges, what were your big wins. As always, if you’re finding this later and you’re like, my God, the challenge is over. It’s not, you can start it at any time. I’ve designed this so that you sign up for the email. and it’ll send you the series day by day whenever you get started. So whenever you find this, it’s available to you. It’s healnourishgrow.com slash habits. So I’ve said every day, I’ll see you tomorrow, but this time I won’t. I’m still be around on all my channels, all my socials on YouTube, but I’m not gonna have an everyday message to you for a little bit, hoping to get the podcast back on regular schedule, once a week releases, interviews with interesting people in the health and wellness space. and me talking about whatever random topic of the day that I’ve turned into a research project for myself basically. But yeah, that’s about it. So I will see you somewhere down the road and I hope to hear from you. Take care. Bye bye.

In today's episode, Cheryl guides you through one of the most important parts of building lasting habits: reflection. As the challenge nears the end, this is a chance to look back on the entire experience and notice what actually shifted for you. Cheryl explains how reflection helps reinforce progress, identify what worked, and spot what did not work without judgment. Today's habit is simple and quick, but powerful. You are going to write a few notes about what changed, what you learned, and what you want to carry forward. The goal is not perfection. It is awareness, progress, and building a sustainable approach to healthy habits that fits into real life. Takeaways Reflection reinforces progress and helps you recognize what is working Noticing change helps your brain see the challenge mattered and created results Small changes and small increments are the most sustainable way to build habits Looking back helps you identify which habits you enjoyed and which felt harder The tracker can help you spot patterns in consistency without judgment Awareness is the first step to improving what comes next Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 29 of the 30 Days of Healthy Habits Challenge. So we’re getting here towards the end and it is time to reflect again. So this will be similar to some of the reflect and resets that we did throughout the challenge on each seventh day. But today we want to reflect on what has changed this whole. So what is it that you’ve learned from this challenge? What things changed for you? Did you enjoy moving every day? Did you discover a form of movement that brings you some joy while you’re doing it? I want you to write three quick notes about what changed today. So just the minimum, two or three things. Reflection helps you reinforce the progress that you’ve made and helps you notice what is actually working and also maybe what is not working. So as you’re reflecting, can write down really any thoughts that you have around this, but at least three bullet points is what I’d like for you to come up with that changed. And we also see that there’s some evidence that your brain can see there was a change, that this wasn’t all for nothing, that it wasn’t just another exercise in futility, but things actually did change or shift. And so even if you weren’t perfect every single day, even if you missed some of the days, this was never meant to be about. Perfect, right? Like when I said from the outset, I don’t want this to be something like a challenge that’s like 75 hardware, you miss something, you have to start all over, it’s really punitive. And I think there are obviously some advantages to those kinds of challenges as well, but this is just something to ease you in to making changes and to learn how the best way to make sustainable habits is to make small changes, small increments. note your progress, really create it in a way that works, that can fit into a busy schedule, but that you’re still actually making changes and making progress along the way. Notice, maybe look at your tracker, if you need help thinking about things that worked or didn’t work, notice how consistent you were or lack of consistency if that’s the case. Again, we’re not judging here, we’re just noticing and hopefully thinking about some things that would carry well into your future. As always, the links for the research are in your tracker and in today’s email. And if you haven’t signed up, if you’re just finding this and you’re like, what is this whole challenge all about? Just go to heelnourishgrow.com slash habits, and you can join anytime. So that is it for today 29. And I will be back with you one last time tomorrow for the habits and the final day. So get ready.

In today's episode, Cheryl returns to one of the most impactful habits for long-term wellbeing: connection. In a world where so much communication happens through texts and social media, it is easy to feel socially connected without actually getting the benefits of real support and real interaction. Cheryl explains why true connection is closely tied to both mental and physical health, and why it is worth repeating this habit later in the challenge. Today's focus is about moving beyond good intentions and turning connection into an actual plan by putting something social or supportive on the calendar. Takeaways Real connection supports mental health, physical health, and overall wellbeing Texting and social media can make you feel connected without providing real support Scheduling time with people turns a good intention into a real plan Community and support groups can be just as valuable as time with close friends Making a specific time and date matters more than saying “sometime” Social plans can be simple and still create meaningful connection The sooner you schedule it, the more likely it is to actually happen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BnlCHBdhGc[k/embedyt] Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey, everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 28 of the 30 Days Healthy Habits Challenge. Today, we’re going back to connection. We did this earlier in the challenge, but I think it’s important to hit on it again because in this day and age where everything has become text and social media and learning things about your friends and people in that way sometimes, reaching out and making true connections is becoming more more valuable. And it is so related to good health, good mental health, good physical health. Thank you. Bro. community a strong support group. people finding new people to connect with. And so today’s habit is make it happen. So it’s going to be a social or supportive thing on the calendar. I would say that this could be, you know, an event, a social meeting with a person that you already know, or if we’re calling it a supportive thing, it could be more like seeking out a book club or a support group or a way to meet new people. So either one that you choose and one may be easier the other depending on if you’re introverted or extroverted, but you’re going to do one thing. like that. So it’ll be to schedule this social time, you’re gonna get real support in real time, hopefully boost some happiness, get a few laughs. And putting it on the calendar turns this intention into an actual plan. The planning part is key because we all have intentions, right? How many times does somebody say to you, we should get together, but they don’t actually make a date or make a plan for doing to you. and mental health and physical health. So one of the things that you can choose to do if you want to be mental health and physical health is to do something like make a walking date. Just take a walk with a friend, go for a walk in nature, go for a walk on the treadmill next to each other, but somewhere that you can talk and interact and actually have real connection. You can go for a coffee. It could even be a phone call if you can’t get together in person, but set aside time that you’re actually going to do it. And both people have availability. Yeah. So time and date. leave it as, some time is not okay. It’s gotta be a plan, it’s gotta be on the calendar, it’s gotta be like, map. If it’s something that you can’t accomplish this week, I just want you to get on the calendar. It can be something in the future, but I really want you to intend to treat it as part of the calendar, actually do it. But if you can’t, this first day or tomorrow, actually have that interaction, have that schedule time with somebody, the sooner the better. There’s no time like the present, right? As always, the reason links will be in your tracker and in today’s email. And if you’re finding this in the future on YouTube or on the podcast, you can sign up at any time. doesn’t matter when you find this. It’s heelnourishgrow.com slash habits. And that is it for today. As always, I will see you again tomorrow. We’re getting closer towards the end.

In today's episode, Cheryl shares a simple but powerful habit that can completely change how you handle stress, conflict, and emotional triggers. The focus is on building a short pause between what happens and how you respond, even if it is something small like a frustrating comment, an anxiety spike, or an email that instantly sets you off. Cheryl explains how taking just 10 seconds can reduce rumination, support more consistent decision-making, and help you respond in a way that aligns with the person you want to be, not just your first impulse. She also offers an easy cue phrase you can use in the moment, plus a beginner-friendly option if 10 seconds feels too hard. Takeaways A short pause helps create space between the stimulus and your response Reacting immediately often leads to choices you would not make once you calm down This practice can reduce rumination, meaning you replay the moment over and over later Pausing works in social situations and in private moments when you feel triggered internally Deep breathing during the pause helps settle your body before you respond If 10 seconds feels too long, start with 5 seconds and build from there Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nurse Grow and welcome to day 20. I call it a practice because this one is tough sometimes. It’s something that I have been practicing for a long time in my own life. And that is to today, your habit is to pause before reacting for 10 seconds. So a great example of this is usually better word triggers you or makes you anxious or makes you frustrated. And you may want to just react in that moment. And quite often what you’ll find is if you just take a pause, a couple deep breaths are useful here as well, but take a pause, give yourself a moment to think, give yourself a moment to feel where that comment or conflict or whatever it was, where it landed in your body, where you’re feeling it and just take a deep breath and then respond. And so why this is good. And it’s going to reduce rumination, which is that idea that you just keep playing something over and over in your head. All of this is going to support consistency and create a space between the stimulus and the response. And this usually leads to better choices or better interactions. Another thing, you know, I’m talking about reacting with someone else, but it could also be that you’re alone. It’s a personal thing that you’re just reacting to in the moment. So that’s a time to again, take some time, take a deep breath and just let it settle and figure out what you’re really thinking about it rather than just your initial knee jerk response. Because it could come in the form of an email or something that just happens to you and you’re just anxious and caught up in the moment. Just give yourself a beat. Pause, breathe, and then choose. That’s like a cue phrase. So along with this habit today to take that pause, think of pause, breathe, and choose. what I like to do with a pause. And it’s funny that my my ex actually noticed this about me which I thought was pretty perceptive because if you would say something that was A heavy sigh like. and then just breathe a couple times and then I would respond. So maybe you don’t want to make it so audible or so obvious because this person in my life did notice this, but you could even say, you know, your thing about pause, breathe, then choose. It could be even a choice to say, I need a moment to think this over. I may need a moment to process this. Something like that that gives you just the time. to go ahead and take that deep breath and to give it some reflection before responding. So if 10 seconds seems too long to you, let’s start with five, as this challenge has gone the whole way. make yourself work towards up towards bigger habits, bigger goals, you know, everything like that. The small things will just make it seem more simple and less stressful on you. So if 10 seconds is too long, go for five. As always, the research will be in the email and in the tracker and you can join at any time by going to healnursegro.com. So if you find whatever you find it in the future, please join and you’ll get to take advantage of learning all these fun new things that can help you get to your goals. So I will see you again tomorrow.

In today's episode, Cheryl revisits one of the most important stress-related topics in the challenge: money. Since financial strain is a major source of anxiety for many people, today's habit focuses on taking one small action that supports your future financial wellbeing. Cheryl explains why progress on financial goals is linked to better overall health and stability, and she shares simple, realistic examples you can complete in 10 minutes or less. The goal is not to build a full budget or overhaul your finances. It is to make a quick “future you” move that reduces stress, creates more control, and supports your ability to stay consistent with other healthy habits. Takeaways Money is a common source of stress, and reducing financial strain can improve overall wellbeing Small progress toward financial goals can help you feel calmer, more stable, and more in control The habit is about long-term support, not daily spending perfection Financial stability can make other healthy habits easier to maintain because stress is lower Automation is one of the easiest ways to reduce mental load and improve consistency Even small savings can matter, especially over time with compounding interest If money habits feel overwhelming, the best approach is a tiny step and then pause Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow, and welcome to day 26 of the 30 Days Healthy Habits Challenge. Today we’re back to money. We did this one habit earlier in the challenge and we’re coming back to it again because as we learned from the previous one, if you read any of the research or just listened to the podcast from before, that money is ⁓ quite a source of stress for a lot of people and this is no surprise, right? But it does show in the literature that making progress, making financial goals and taking some of your financial stress away actually creates greater wellbeing. It just helps you feel more settled, less anxious, less stressed. So addressing money things now and again is a good idea. Cheryl McColgan (00:45)obviously I think we should be considering what we’re consuming, what we’re spending money on, that sort of thing every single day. But when you’re doing these future plans or kind of more extended timeframe things for savings, that’s maybe not something that you’re thinking every single day. So I didn’t mean to say that, obviously you shouldn’t be focusing on spending on a daily basis, but these kind of larger goals might be something that’s more a once a week, once a month sort of thing. So back to today’s habit is to make one future you money move today. And so this is going to be something that lowers financial strain and just gives you stronger financial capability in the future. And that’s all associated with better health and wellbeing. It reduces stress, as I said before, creates stability and having stability and having control of your finances supports other healthy habits as well. It gives you the finances and the ability to invest. in other areas of your health if you need to. And it also having less stress in your life makes all the behaviors easier to repeat when you don’t have stress cropping up. So to give you some examples to make this easier, do something like set up an auto-save program at your bank or on an app. So taking $10, $20, $1,000, whatever works in your particular financial situation to automatically save each month. Automated bill. have a bill or two or all of them that are scheduled to pay every single month so that it takes the stress off of you remembering to send a check or to submit your payment online. Maybe increase your retirement contribution by 1%. This is an area that I’m really interested in because I have always been involved in some degree and both my partners have been in finance and I actually ended up doing a speech about it in college. But the compounding Interest is such a huge thing the earlier you start saving even if it’s a small amount and then I say earlier I’m like the younger that you start saying your that money just has more time to double and double and double again over time With the you know compounding interest and if you start saving much later in life It doesn’t have as much time to grow now That’s not to say you still can’t start because like every all of this you can start any time But the younger that you start saving the better it’ll just set you up much more in the future for having some again, gains without having to do anything else. The once in the money is in there and it’s growing with interest, it just keeps building on itself. If the automation seems too much, maybe it’s something like setting yourself a calendar reminder or writing a small financial plan, maybe for the next week or the next month. So we’re doing it in 10 minutes or less. We’re not making a spreadsheet here or creating an empire of things. Of course, if you want to do that at some point, I think that’s awesome. But this is just meant to be, again, a small, doable habit that doesn’t turn you off from it. So setting up an automation, something quick like that, or setting aside more money to save is a good choice here. So if it’s triggering too much stress, just do a small step, something in relation to it, and then stop. And you can always come back to this at a later date or give it some further thought when it comes for the weekly reset and reflect. As always, the studies are linked. in the email that you received and in your tracker. And if you haven’t joined yet, that link to join is heelnourishgrow.com slash habits, you can join anytime. It’s never too late. That’s probably the theme of this series so far. But hope you enjoyed this and I will see you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan emphasizes the importance of strength training for overall health, particularly as we age. She discusses how even short sessions can be effective and encourages listeners to incorporate strength and stability exercises into their routines. Cheryl highlights the benefits of consistency and the need to challenge oneself with appropriate weights to stimulate muscle growth. She also addresses common misconceptions about strength training and reassures listeners that it’s never too late to start. Takeaways Strength training is crucial for functional health and aging. Short sessions of strength training can be effective. Two days a week of strength training can yield significant results. Lifting heavy means finding the right weight for you. Body weight exercises can be a great starting point for beginners. Balance and stability exercises are important for overall fitness. Osteoporosis and muscle loss can be reversed with strength training. It’s never too late to start strength training, regardless of age. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:01.902)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to a day 25 of your 30 day healthy habits challenge. This is one I’ve been waiting for to send to the very end here the last few days and that is to challenge you to do a short strength or stability session. So this is not going to require any equipment. It’s not going to require going to the gym or anything like that. But I just want you to try it if this is something that you don’t do on a regular basis. because strength training has just so related to so many aspects of health. There’s more and more stuff coming about all the time. It is maybe more important than strict cardio for a lot of reasons, but it supports again, functional health, just moving around on a day-to-day basis. And it’s a lot of longer term, less health risks when you strength train. So strength and stability, it all supports healthy aging, it supports confidence and just again, your function in daily life. I always say, you I’m training to be able to get off the toilet by myself when I get older because these are the kind of things that people lose the ability to do because they lose the strength in their legs. And that is just crazy scary. Also short short sessions are easier to maintain and it builds this consistency, which is an awesome thing for habit building. I’ve actually been following along with this other podcast recently called mind pump. I’m pretty sure that’s right. Like 99.9 % sure. But anyway, these guys have been training people for years and years and years and just a great collective wealth of knowledge. And they have programs that are just 15 minutes a day. Now people do them six days a week for strength training, but that 15 minutes a day, it supports the habit, keeps the habit going. And it’s enough time if you do for 15 minutes, you probably do two to three sets of some strength training exercise, kind of a full body. idea and they’re doing all the big lifts like deadlifts, squats, lunges, that sorts of thing. I don’t have their program unfortunately, but that’s the idea behind it is supporting this daily habit, doing it an amount of time that doesn’t scare people off and that people can fit into their schedule. And that’s all it takes to build strength. You can build strength with that little of strength training a day. And actually if you didn’t want to do it 15 minutes a day, like if you would have to go to a gym to do this and that seems like, oh, that’s a lot of Cheryl McColgan (02:26.766)driving time to go to the gym for just 15 minutes of work, even just two days a week of a longer strength training session that hits all parts of your body is enough to get 80 % of the 80 to 90 % of the strength that you’re going to get anyway. It comes from just two days a week. You’re hitting your muscles two days a week. You’re waking up the muscles two days a week. You’re stimulating the muscles to grow by lifting heavy enough that it puts a signal in your body to grow. If you’re just doing something little and repetitive, that’s not a signal for the body to grow. That’s why you got to lift heavy for you. People get scared when they hear lift heavy because they think it means, you know, for example, that I would go pick up a 200 pound, you know, barbell off the floor. No, that is not. That’s too heavy for me. Right. I’ve got to do what’s heavy for me. And that means something that I can pick up and do maybe six, eight, 10, 12 reps. That’s the kind of range that’s really good for strength building and growing muscle. And so you want to just do something that’s heavy enough for you doing these little two pound weights. If you’re, you know, even the average woman that might that even if it’s heavy for her, like for a week or two, that’s very quickly going to be too little of weight to cause any real change. So sorry for the little that was a bit tangential, but I just to get the idea of you definitely want to do it. If you’re going to go ahead and do it, like at least give yourself enough. of a challenge that it makes some difference. Now, all that being said, I said you don’t need any equipment for this one and you don’t because especially if this is completely new to you doing body weight exercises and things at home are going to be plenty of new stimulus for you to try. If you already lift, you already have access to a gym, then I would just maybe challenge you to try a couple of exercises that you haven’t, don’t normally do or you don’t normally. or maybe if you already strength train, you don’t have the stability part as much, maybe you’re gonna try some stability work for this part of the challenge. So just choose like a little, you can make a little circuit mentally for yourself that you’re gonna spend 10 minutes doing this. And so again, if you don’t have any equipment home or anything, maybe it’s an odd and you can just do this if you find it too stressful to think about figuring this out for yourself. Air squats, so just body weight squats. And if you don’t recognize any of these things, if you look here on look on YouTube, Cheryl McColgan (04:47.554)You’ll find plenty of videos that will demonstrate this for you, but simple body weight squats you can do sit to stand. So if you are worried that even a squat might be too much for you or too stressful, you want to just literally lower yourself down slowly to a chair and then bring yourself back up using the strength of your legs. So not pushing off with your, know, really using the strength of your body and your core to push you back up out of the chair. You can do some hinge work. So just literally bending over or if you have milk jugs or soup cans or things like that in the house, if it’s just way too easy for you bending over pretending you’re gonna pick something off the floor, maybe actually have some milk jugs, something like that. And then you could also do pushups. Everybody knows what that looks like. You can do pushups against the wall if you’re not very strong. And if you’re already very strong, you can just do pushups as many as you can in a row would be a great challenge. also wall sits like literally bending so that your quads, your quadriceps, the tops, your thighs are parallel to the floor and leaning your back against the wall and just sitting there. That’s an isometric exercise, also very strengthening. So those are all just it. So just 10 minutes, you’re gonna move your body in some ways you haven’t tried yet. If you’re looking to create stability, some balance types of things, most people don’t do those on a regular basis. It would always be surprising to me when I was in yoga class, we’d have. obviously a whole section of that that was balance of balancing on one leg in some way, whether it’s stretching at the same time, holding a foot while you’re balancing on one leg or just simply balancing on one leg without the stability of a wall, something like that could be a good option for this part of the challenge too. So there shouldn’t be too much concern about figuring something out because there’s so many videos online now and just Don’t pick anything that looks crazy or out of whack or too, too challenging. Just, you know, pick something that makes sense for where you are in your body right now and your current strength and skill level and just make it a little challenging. Maybe make it something new. But getting out of your comfort zone in regards to strength training, think particularly for some women, this is still a barrier. And it’s just such a shame because the Cheryl McColgan (07:03.362)things that happen with old age, especially to us women, bone loss, bone density, osteoporosis, osteopenia, all of that can be prevented and reversed. There’s some excellent data on reversing osteopenia and osteoporosis through strength training. So that’s pretty amazing. then sarcopenia, that is the loss of muscle mass as we get older. And if you don’t move, if you don’t put that stress on your muscles, we just continually lose muscle mass. as we get older and older and become that’s how we become frail. That’s how people are not able to get off the toilet by themselves. That’s how people, you know, quit moving their bodies because they don’t have the strength to anymore. Again, though, this can all be reversed. I think that’s amazing news. But what I’d really love for you to happen is if you can make it a habit now. and get as strong as you can now. Hey, believe me, it all, it all goes downhill. It’s all fightable. It’s all reversible, but the older you get, the more challenging it gets for a number of reasons. It gets more challenging mentally. gets more, you know, your time is, uh, tends to be more valuable just cause you’re busier as you get older, more demanding job, children, things like that. So whatever age you are now though, it is not too late. It’s not never too late to get started with strength training. You’ve just got to make it appropriate for where your body is now. and make it consistent. And like I said, if you’re going to do it every day, that is totally fine. Keep it shorter if you’re doing it every day. And if you’re nervous, you can always hire a trainer or like I said, look at videos online, practice the movement at home, feel confident in the movement before you take it to a gym or like I said, hire a trainer. That’s always a good option so that you have somebody that’s there with you that can just guide you and walk you through it and teach you how to use machines, things like that. So anyway, that is your challenge for today. I hope you enjoy moving your body in this way and challenging yourself. Like I said, make sure you, if you’re using weights in this little part of the challenge, make sure you pick up something heavy enough that’s actually challenging for you. Don’t just like move some little two pound weights around and think that that’s enough. We’re going to like actually try to stimulate some muscle protein synthesis here. So anyway, that is it for today and I will see you again tomorrow.

For Day 24 of the 30 Day Healthy Habits Challenge, Cheryl shares a habit that makes healthy living feel way easier: planning ahead. Today's goal is simple, plan tomorrow's movement and one healthy meal. This helps reduce friction, decision fatigue and makes following through with healthy choices easier. This habit is all about keeping it realistic. Your healthy meal doesn't need to be fancy or time-consuming, it just needs a plan. If tomorrow feels too tight, you can plan for a healthy meal sometime in the next three days instead. Takeaways Planning reduces friction and helps you follow through without relying on motivation. Deciding ahead of time reduces decision fatigue, especially at the end of a busy day. Meal planning supports variety, helping you include more ingredients and avoid repeating the same meals. Aim for at least 30g of protein in your planned meal (breakfast, lunch, or dinner your choice). Try adding one produce item you don't normally buy to increase variety and support gut health. Planning your movement mean choosing what you'll do and when you'll do it so it actually happens. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.014)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 24 of the 30 days healthy habits challenge. So today is one that I am particularly fond of and I think it’s fun. Some people will not think this is a fun habit to have, but that is to plan tomorrow’s movement and one healthy meal. ideally we’re going to plan one healthy meal for tomorrow, but I will say that if you have a particularly challenging work schedule or this is something that you don’t do on a regular basis, you can really plan for that healthy meal just sometime in the next three days. But the idea is to plan ahead to figure out what it is, how you’re gonna make it, what ingredients you need for it, if you need to find a recipe, all that kind of good stuff. And everybody’s definition of a healthy meal will vary slightly, obviously, depending on your goals and depending on. you know, what that looks like for you. There’s, you know, there’s all kinds of different dietary practices that anybody might be following. So I’m not prescribing a specific one. Of course, you know, I’m going to say that I would challenge you to, for whatever it is to have at least 30 grams of protein in it. And this one healthy meal you can plan, can do it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever that means for you. It’s going to be, you know, if you’re not used to cooking, I don’t want you to plan like a big elaborate thing, unless that sounds fun to you, then yes, you could do something like that. But it would mean just a nourishing healthy meal. It doesn’t have to be necessarily anything fancy or anything that requires a lot of cooking. It just has to have a plan. So planning reduces friction, reduces decision fatigue later. It might be decision in the moment that you have to make, but once that is done and once you’ve already planned for it and gotten the ingredients, you already know what you’re having for dinner tomorrow. So that should make everything really easy through. throughout that next day, not having to worry about that one part of your day, that’s already decided. And then it also, in the literature, the research for today, it says that it supports food variety, which is really also great for your diet, great for your gut microbiome. People that plan meals tend to include more different ingredients rather than if you just, if you don’t do much planning, you just might grab whatever’s available, grab what you typically tend to buy anyway. And so it gets… Cheryl McColgan (02:18.71)you know, can get pretty repetitive. So this planning ahead to try a new recipe or to make something slightly different can also just introduce variety into your meals as well. And then as far as picking your movement, that can be whatever you’ve stuck with for the whole challenge for your 10 minutes, but you’re going to plan like when in the day you’re going to do it, what time, what’s going to work for you tomorrow. So this, this idea of this habit is just the idea of planning ahead just helps make everything run more smoothly. And it can be, again, the minimum. It doesn’t have to be a ton of cooking. Just make it a healthy nourishing meal, whatever that means to you. I will challenge you, like I said, get your 30 grams of protein in that meal and maybe a piece of produce that you don’t typically pick out. Maybe try something different. Maybe just go to the grocery store and be like, this looks interesting. I’ll try making this and then look up a recipe that goes along with that ingredient that you happen to find in the produce aisle. So hopefully that gives you some ideas about how to approach this one. Again, optional journal prompt for you. The links to the research are in your tracker and in the email that you received for the day. And that is it. I will see you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of creating a stress release ritual as part of the healthy habits challenge. She emphasizes the benefits of consistent practice in managing stress, including physiological and mental health improvements. Cheryl shares various breathing techniques and practical applications for stress relief, encouraging listeners to find what works best for them and to incorporate these practices into their daily routines. Takeaways Create a stress release ritual to manage stress. Consistency in practice helps build resistance to stress. Breathing techniques can significantly reduce stress levels. Box breathing and movement can aid in stress relief. Anxiety during breathing practices may indicate shallow breathing habits. Research supports the benefits of meditation and breathing exercises. Incorporate stress release practices into daily life for better mental health. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.494)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McCogan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to a day 23 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. Today’s challenge is to create a stress release ritual. This is either going to be movement or breath. And this is just going to be something simple. It’s something easy and that you can repeat and that’s about 60 seconds of breath if you’re choosing breath or two minutes of movement. And we’ve had some… of this in the challenge already, you’ve tried different types of movement, you challenge yourself to move in a different way on some of the days. And so maybe if there was something that you tried and you notice like, hey, that’s really good for me. And it does relieve stress. Maybe it’s that maybe it’s if you try to need a mobility exercises we talked about or stretching or something like that to release stress or if it’s 60 seconds of a breath practice, one of the previous days we mentioned the three just three deep breaths, something that simple 60 seconds is going to take longer. So it might be like five deep breaths, 10 deep breaths, but you’re just doing something that’s more extended amount of time. was like a quick stress release in the moment. This is something that is more focused on bringing your heart rate down, just, you know, bringing your stress in your body, your heart, your blood pressure, that kind of things like reducing all of those are really getting the parasympathetic system nervous system to come into play on this so that it relieves your body and your mind of stress. So we’re just doing the minimum, the minimum, the minimum today. We’re just doing the minimum today on this. And this short stress ritual is good for a couple of reasons. It can reduce physiological stress, so your body stress and build resistance over time. And then can also reduce mental stress. So if you do this consistently as a reset, it’ll help you to respond rather than react in the moment. It’s going to make, you know, that makes for better discipline, better decision making. If you’re not just flying off the handle at a moment’s notice, it also helps with your interactions with people. If you happen to notice when you get stressed that you snap people little more often or respond in a way that is not professional or calm. Having this little ritual will give you a way to kind of downshift. And the more that you train yourself on this, you know, you might notice anytime that you take some deep breaths, it helps. But when you train this every single day as a habit, Cheryl McColgan (02:17.43)It is a response that trains your brain to automatically go into that more relaxed state just by the act of you starting to do it. So it’ll become more effective and act more quickly every single time. So here’s some examples. If you’re having trouble thinking of one to do, we can go back to that three breath rate set, but you might do it for longer. Just set your timer for one minute and inhale, exhale, slightly longer exhale to really bring in that parasympathetic nervous system response. You could try box breathing. You could do a quick walk. You could do wall pushups or you could do the stretching routine. Those are all good ones. And if you have something else outside of that that you think of to do, I would love to hear about it in the comments so that we can share that with others. And then, you know, one of the times you want to try it is any time during the day where you’re feeling a trigger or something that’s making you nervous or anxious, angry or anxious. And so maybe it’s like you got an email from your boss and it’s automatically creating stress in your body. That’s a great time to do this stress release routine. Or if you are getting ready to sit down for a meal and you’ve been running around all day before you try to start eating, maybe calm your body. It’s just gonna promote better digestion and better, you know, mindfulness of your chewing and experiencing your food. So again, it’s just to be repeatable. It doesn’t need to be really complex or… long or drawn out, like I said, just 60 minutes for breath practice, two minutes for a movement practice. Some people might notice, and I did notice this when I was teaching yoga a lot, is that for some people, a breathing practice can kind of create anxiety. And usually if that’s the case, it might be that you have, your body is kind of trained to take very shallow breaths and not expand the diaphragm. So really thinking about when you’re breathing to let your… abdomen and belly expand as you’re breathing. So if you were to lay on the ground and put your hand on your stomach, you want your belly to be expanding up as you’re breathing. So that’s really feeling all of your lungs, not just the top of your lungs, but your lungs are going like all the way down almost to your waist. So you want to expand your lungs as fully as possible. And again, that slightly longer exhale, that’s going to really calm any feelings of anxiety. So if you notice that you’re trying to do the breathing, but it’s causing some anxiety for you for some reason, Cheryl McColgan (04:32.376)I’m going to guess it’s because you’re kind of habitually a shallow breather and you’re kind of just breathing almost in the upper chest. So try that low, slow breathing that expands your belly and see if that doesn’t help. So that’s about it for today. Start this stress release practice, whatever that looks like for you. As always, the links to the research are in the notes and my gosh, there are so much good data on meditation and breathing and things like that for relieving stress and anxiety and just doing a whole lot of great things for your physiology as well as your mental state. So definitely check that out if you have time and then optional journal prompt for you there too. So anyway, that is it for today and I will see you again tomorrow.

In this episode, Cheryl McColgan discusses the concept of habit stacking, a technique that involves attaching a new habit to an existing one to make it easier to adopt. She shares her personal struggles with maintaining new habits and provides practical examples of how to effectively implement habit stacking in daily routines. The conversation emphasizes the importance of cues and motivation in forming lasting habits, as well as the value of research in validating health information. Takeaways Habit stacking is a technique to make new habits easier to adopt. Attaching a small habit to a daily routine can enhance consistency. The perceived importance of a habit affects motivation to maintain it. Using strong cues can help in forming new habits. Daily routines can serve as effective cues for new habits. Habit stacking can reduce decision fatigue. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.174)I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 22 of the 30 days healthy habits challenge. Today is something that we’ve talked about a little bit throughout the challenge, but I haven’t really dedicated an episode to it yet and I haven’t challenged you to actually do it as part of the habit challenge and that is to habit stack. So habit stacking is really simple. It can sometimes be hard to find ones that put together that make sense. But when you can find those ones that go together that make sense, it just really makes this such an easier thing. So today’s challenge is to attach a small habit to something you already do every single day. So I think I just even mentioned this in the last recording for day 21 in the reflection thing is about if you missed habits, know, habit stacking is a great way to do those. Because if you’re finding them challenging to fit in your day, sticking them to something you already do is going to be one of the easiest way that you can make that stick. And then so I’ll give you an example of the one since I started making this challenge, I’ve been thinking about this a lot for myself. And here’s the one that I’m working on right now. So I have had this hair trauma for the last three years. It’s a really long story that you don’t need to hear about in this episode, which I have actually done a podcast episode on it before. But at any rate, it’s, you know, I’ve had a lot of trauma to my hair. I’ve had a lot of hair falling out. I’ve had some scalp irritation, things like that. And so I’ve been very focused on that. And one of the things I purchased to help me deal with this is this OS one supplement. I’ve been using their skincare for a while now. Absolutely love it. I have an article over at the website all about it. He says a peptide science. It’s really cool technology and it actually works and there’s some good clinical data behind it all. But anyway, oh, and just because I mentioned that If you read about it, you do get a little extra discount with my link or something. But anyway, the point of none of that is the point here. The point is that I find it difficult. I bought this hair serum and I bought like I can’t remember if I bought a three month supply or six month supply because you definitely get a bigger discount if you buy more. And plus, if you’re doing anything with your hair, it’s going to take you a little bit longer to actually notice results. Right. So anyway, I’m getting to the point I promise is that I bought that serum, probably a good Cheryl McColgan (02:20.305)six months ago now or maybe even longer. And I’ve only used it maybe a total of five times and I’ll start to think, okay, I’m going to use it today and then I’ll get on the new habit of doing this every day because you got to do it every day for it to really be effective. So I haven’t been able to do that up to this point. I don’t know why it’s such a simple thing. It’s not difficult. You literally split your hair, you put the serum on the scalp, you rub it in, you go to bed. Easy peasy, right? Can’t seem to make myself do it, but The one thing I do every single night is wash my face, brush my teeth and put on my skincare. put on the same skincare by the same brand that I put on my face every single night without fail. Doesn’t matter how late I’m out. Doesn’t matter what else I’ve done. I will not go to bed without washing my face, putting my skincare on and brushing my teeth. That is a solid set in habit that does not fail. for the last few days or since this challenge when I was talking about habit stacking several times, I’m like, this is just ridiculous. have this perfect habit that this pairs with, which is like I mentioned, my teeth and skincare routine in the evening, I just need to put that hair serum like literally where I cannot miss it. And so I had it on the counter next to my toothbrush. I don’t know why, but that wasn’t quite working because the flow. But what I found was I put the hair serum inside of a drawer that has the skincare. I took the hair serum out of the cabinet off the counter. put it in the drawer like literally right next to the moisture. And this is so dumb right, you’re like, why can’t you just put that in your hair every night? I don’t know why. This is why anybody has trouble with habits, right? This is why we’re doing this whole challenge. But put it right next to my skincare so that it’s literally right where I take them both out. I do the skincare part, I put that back and then I take the hair stuff and then I put it and rub it and put it right back next to the moisturizer. So that seems to be working. So that is a habit stack. So that was a very long winded way of telling you. But I also think it speaks to the fact that, you know, obviously none of us are perfect. Even those of us that are very good at discipline, very good habits. And also there’s something about the perceived importance of the habit, I think. So this particular thing, like if I put this stuff in my hair or not, it really doesn’t matter. It doesn’t affect anything. I’m not even sure 100 % that it will help or that it will work. So it’s not a high Cheryl McColgan (04:40.651)value habit, right? There’s not a whole lot of motivation example for me to continue that habit. Whereas something like changing your nutrition or changing your diet, if you’re say your goal is to lose weight, there’s a lot higher of motivation or importance. I won’t want to say motivation because motivation like we talked about that comes and goes. But the importance of that to your health or to your future goals, looking a certain way or having a certain body composition, the importance of that is a lot greater. than something like putting this stuff in your hair that may or may not work. You know if you change your nutrition behavior, change your eating behavior, that that will have a positive outcome. So I think you also have to look at the importance of any particular habit in relation to how hard that’s gonna be to maintain or how hard it’s gonna be to force yourself to do. So the whole reason this works is pretty obvious. The habit stacking, the first habit, the existing habit is the cue and there’s no motivation there. The second habit just comes right after it, because that’s where you’re sticking it now. And so again, this creates less decision fatigue. It just makes it easier for you to just go ahead and do it. So here’s an example. made this little formula that I wrote out so that we are all on the same page with this. It’s so ridiculously simple. But just for clarity, it’s after I blank, I will blank. So for example, after coffee, I will drink water. But I would put that in reverse, because as we talked about, It’s stacked like that can still be stacked even though we’re supposed to drink the water before the coffee because well the coffee is still the cube. We’ll go to the thing to get coffee and we’ll be like oh yes I’m Annie and I’m going to drink this water first. And the other thing is after brushing teeth I will stretch two minutes. So you’re picking a cue that happens every single day because we want this new habit we want it to be a habit that’s like an everyday habit we just stick it with there. So that is really it for today. If you keep forgetting then you might need a stronger cue. the more automatic the queue is, the easier it’s going to be to get this new habit to stick. So look for those things, like I said, like brushing my teeth or things that you’ve never missed. Those are the ones you want to stick it to. And as always, the links for the research, the links for the research, this week aren’t exactly tied to or for today aren’t exactly tied to habit stacking, but they’re just kind of the. Cheryl McColgan (07:01.517)way that goal setting interacts with habits and things. So I think those are pretty interesting, but those are in your email and in the tracker. As always, the optional journal prompt is there if you want to do that. And the research is always optional to read, but hopefully it’s, know, mostly if you just skim the abstract or skip down to the results, that would be a super quick read for you less than a minute. So also that could be a come a new habit, just like looking at, you know, looking at the research or especially, I don’t know, this one’s turning into a longer little episode here. But just this is a totally random unrelated thing, but to encourage you whenever you hear certain things online, before I repeat them, or before I invest a whole lot of time in belief or disbelief or whatever, I’ll go search the topic in the PubMed and just see if there’s any existing literature or research on the topic and see if it’s even in the direction of what the person is claiming online. Because there’s a lot of bad information out there nowadays. I’m sure you already know this. but it’s always nice to just consider the source, number one, and then go check, do a little research on your own and see. And the reason I like to go to PubMed first is because too many articles on the internet are all full of opinion, right? So just looking at the existing literature is a pretty good hint and a good signal to whether something is valid or not. So anyway, sorry to be a little tangential on this one, but hope you… Enjoy today’s habit. I hope you can find a habit that you can stack with one of your existing ones. And I’d love to hear all about it as always in the comments below. Or if it’s something you don’t want to share publicly, you’re always welcome to email me as well. And if you’re not signed up for this challenge yet, if you just randomly found this on YouTube and you’re like, what is this all about? You can go to healnourishgrow.com slash habits and you can start this 30 days of healthy habits anytime for free. just check that link out and you’ll get started that very same day or the next day, you’ll get the emails and then you’re onto your 30 days of creating new healthy habits. So that is it for today and I will see you again tomorrow.

In this episode, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of reflecting on progress during the 30-day healthy habits challenge. She emphasizes the flexibility of the challenge, encouraging participants to celebrate small wins and make adjustments to their habits for better integration into daily life. Cheryl also highlights the significance of planning for long-term habit maintenance beyond the challenge, ensuring that participants can sustain their new habits over time. Takeaways You don’t have to be perfect on this challenge. Celebrate the progress and reinforce the behavior. Small adjustments prevent an all or nothing mindset. Keep your focus on being consistent. Choose the habits that resonate with you. Missed days are just data for you. List out three wins this week, even if small. Creating small daily habits supports your core values. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.142)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNourishRo and welcome to day 21 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. So day 21, we’ve made it through the third week and if you’ve been doing the challenge along with us the whole time, then you know that this is time for the weekly reset. We reflect and adjust. So again, you don’t have to be perfect on this challenge. That’s why all the habits have only taken five to 15 minutes a day is so it gives you some things to try, gives you some things that see which habits could really work well in your life, what could help you the most. And knowing that you don’t have to start over again, if you miss something, you can just do the little habit along with the next day’s habit, or you can just jump right back in. It’s not anything, one of these challenges where you have to start over if you miss a day. This is meant to be very flexible, to fit easily into your life, and to just give you some new ways of thinking about habits that might be helpful to you, and that you might wanna integrate. each and every day going forward instead of just trying it on these little five minute, 15 minute intervals. So today’s habit is look at your tracker, celebrate what you did, and then choose one habit to make easier next week. So some of these, if you’ve been going through, you know, I’ve encouraged you, you’re just trying the one habit each and every day. But if you found a habit that speaks to you or that was super easy that you wanted to add in for the entirety of the challenge, maybe you’ve been doing those. And so notice if you told yourself, hey, I was gonna drink that glass of water every single morning before I drank coffee. Have you stuck with that? Have you done it? And just notice what’s making it more difficult to keep that habit in is that you didn’t put the water next to your bed like I suggested, or maybe you go downstairs and you just go straight for the coffee and you forgot one day to do the water first. So whatever it is, just look what’s making these easier. And so I’ve been sending out the emails at 6.30 a.m. Eastern time. Eastern time, that’s probably not the perfect time for everyone in the whole world that decides to do the challenge, obviously. But noticing if it’s harder to integrate into your day because you just got it later, maybe you kind of set it the day behind where you read today’s habit and you actually do that tomorrow so that you can plan ahead for it and know where it best fits in your day, that sort of thing. So again, we’re just looking to make these easy. We’re looking to make them fit with the habits that we already have, trying habit stacking, putting one habit, sticking it with another that makes it easy. Like we had the idea about, Cheryl McColgan (02:19.554)taking supplements when you brush your teeth kind of thing, or putting your running shoes next to the door where you have to see them before you go outside to go to work and remind you to take your bag with you for the gym. know, whatever it is, you’re just trying to plan ahead so that you make things easier and repeat it every day until it becomes a habit. So the consistency is the key. Again, not every day is gonna be perfect, but making these small adjustments on a week to week really prevents you from getting to this all or nothing mindset like, why are you missed three days? So now it’s too late and you just forget about it and you never come back to this. It’s always noticing that evaluating the week. Okay, yeah, maybe I wasn’t perfect this week. I missed this and this. How can I do that better next week? Maybe I’ll come back to those habits because I actually missed them this week and I wanna try them. But just you’ve got to celebrate the progress. and reinforce the behavior so it feels rewarding. So we want to notice the positive. We always want to be training our brain to notice those positive things, have gratitude for the things that did work this well, easy this week, and then set your mind up for noticing which ones were more challenging and figuring out a way to make that easier for yourself the next time. It just, you know, also keeps the momentum going. So we just want these small wins. And I want you to list out. Three wins this week, even if they were small. Ideally, they’re related to the habit that you did. You were able to try this one that you weren’t so sure about. But you can also just start with three wins, period. Just evaluating your week and thinking about the positives. And then choose one way to make it easier. So if you missed some of your 10 minutes of movement every day this week, how can we make sure that you hit that every single day next week? Because really, I think that that is one of the most beneficial habits that if you don’t have already integrating that, you will just do yourself so much good. And specifically, like I mentioned, if you can make sure that you walk outside on a regular basis, you’re not always being in the gym on the treadmill, something like that, but being outside, connecting with nature. So if that was one of the friction points when you were having your habits this week, maybe plan out next week where you look at your calendar, you figure out what’s your biggest, busiest day, and then figure out where you’re going to fit in your movement. Cheryl McColgan (04:34.85)figure out where you’re gonna fit in your five minute habit. And then again, we’re just resetting the miss days, they’re just data for you. We’re just observing, we’re not judging, we’re just noticing what went well, what didn’t, that’s it. So don’t look for, you know, I didn’t do enough, I didn’t, you I messed up, no negatives like that. We want to keep it all positive and just frame it in a way of learning and noticing the data so that we can make it better the next time. So keep your focus on being consistent. doing the little habit every single day. We’ve got seven more days to go at this point. And I hope you’ve enjoyed it up to this point. Like I said, there’s gonna be habits where you might do them and you think, okay, that’s not really for me. That doesn’t resonate for some reason. Or maybe there’s some habits that really do resonate. And then you look in the literature on it, you look at the research. I just gave two links, but most of them, there’s many more links that you can look at for these habits. So just choose the ones that you want to dig into and notice what might be better for you going forward. We’ve got, like I said, only about a week left. So at some point you’re going to come out of this and you’re going to need to have a plan for maintaining these habits. Because I’m assuming if you’ve practiced this the entire time, you really want to create new habits in your life. So we want to figure out a way that we can keep carrying that forward, not just after 30 days, but 60 days, 90 days, a year, year after year, repeating those small habits that are going to get you to your bigger. goals. And I think I mentioned it before on one of the other podcasts is I have the 10 year core values and goals worksheet for you. So that’s at the website. If you go and search what is ultimate wellness, the link for that form is in that article. And it also just talks about, you know, figuring out what is wellness for you, figuring out what habits work for you on a day to day basis. So the article is kind of all about that. And the worksheet helps you notice like, what are your core values? What’s important to you? And it kind of goes back to the very beginning when we picked the three focus areas for this challenge. You know, that’ll give you a good hint into what might be your core values and what might be these overarching things where you want to plan out for the next five years, 10 years going forward. know, creating those small daily habits that will support that. So anyway, that is it for day 21. I hope you have a nice little reflection and reset. And as always, I would love to hear in the comments what you found challenging, what Cheryl McColgan (06:56.652)What were your wins? It’s just always exciting to celebrate along with you. So that is it for today. I will see you again tomorrow.

What if we could produce real meat—without animals? For decades, the animal-welfare movement has worked to reduce suffering by changing laws, corporate practices, and consumer behavior. Those efforts have delivered meaningful progress. And yet, billions of animals are still raised and killed each year for food. That reality raises an urgent question—one that would have sounded like science fiction not long ago: Can we fundamentally change how meat is made? On this episode of the Animal Wellness Podcast, host Joseph Grove sits down with Paul Shapiro, a leading voice at the intersection of animal welfare, food innovation, and climate policy. Paul is the author of the national bestseller Clean Meat, which helped introduce and popularize the concept of growing real meat directly from animal cells—eliminating the need for factory farming altogether. In addition, we're joined by Wayne Pacelle, who is a previous of colleague of Paul and the president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy.   In this conversation, we explore:   What “clean meat” (also known as cultivated meat) actually is Where the cultivated-meat industry stands today—and what's holding it back How clean meat differs from plant-based alternatives Why this technology matters for animals, public health, the climate, and the future of food This episode goes beyond hype or fear-based narratives to ask deeper questions about ethics, innovation, and what real progress for animals might look like in the decades ahead.   About the Guest Paul Shapiro is the CEO of The Better Meat Co., the author of “Clean Meat: How Growing Meat Without Animals Will Revolutionize Dinner and the World,” a five-time TEDx speaker, and the host of the Business for Good Podcast. He has been recognized as a Most Admired CEO by the Sacramento Business Journal.   About the Show The Animal Wellness podcast is produced by Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy. It focuses on improving the lives of animals in the United States and abroad through legislation and by influencing businesses to create a more humane economy. The show is hosted by veteran journalist and animal-advocate Joseph Grove.    www.animalwellnessaction.org www.centerforahumaneeconomy.org   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AnimalWellnessAction Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/centerforahumaneeconomy/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AWAction_News Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheHumaneCenter   Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/animalwellnessaction/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/centerforahumaneeconomy/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/animal-wellness-action/ 

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of adopting small, manageable habits to improve mental clarity and reduce stress. She emphasizes the benefits of a five-minute decluttering practice, which can lead to a calmer environment and a sense of accomplishment. Cheryl shares insights on how clutter can increase anxiety and how small wins can build trust in oneself. The conversation encourages listeners to embrace these habits as part of a broader 30-day healthy habits challenge. Takeaways Clutter increases your stress. It creates a calm Zen mind. You get to check it off your list and it’s done. Touch it once, that’s the practice. Don’t be tempted to deep clean. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.62)Cheryl McColgan founder of HealNourishGrow and welcome to the day 20 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. Today is one that I use pretty frequently and I think it is so helpful and actually looking into the research about it I always knew that there was a reason that this was a thing that was good for you. But today’s habit is that you’re going to declutter one small area for five minutes. So you’re just going to set a timer on your phone or in the kitchen time or something like that and stop when it ends. Now, I will say what happens to me when I use this little habit is that sometimes I kind of get on a roll and I don’t really want to stop. So if you want to keep it super manageable and not let it go kind of taking over other parts of your day, if you have a really busy day, you might want to just take a five minute section that’s right before you need to do something else. So you definitely have to stop. And it’s interesting how it almost leaves you kind of craving more because once you get started, quite often you get a little bit in a flow and then a rhythm or you want to do a little bit more. And it’s kind of like the other habit that I shared with you, I mentioned how I would kind of trick myself when I used to have to get out the door to go run or go exercise or something like that. And so it’s kind of the same with this. saying I’m only going to declutter for five minutes and then I’m going to stop. So it takes away the resistance to that. Because I know a lot of times if I have a big cleaning project or if I have an area that’s a big mess and I just I want to reorganize it and I want to deal with it, but I just I will mentally put it off forever because it seems like it’s going to take too much time. And it creates a lot of mental stress for me specifically. So I think that this habit is a really good one to take on. It is something that, again, like all of these habits has research to support why it’s good for you. But basically clutter increases your stress. So like I just described, for me, it definitely creates, it’s more like anxiety for me, what it creates when I have a messy space. And a calmer space also supports calmer routines. It makes it easier to carry through on your other habits because you’re not looking around thinking about all the things that you need to clean up or organize or do. It’s just a calm Zen space really creates a calm Zen mind. So this small reset can also help reduce visual stress and make your environment just more supportive for everything that you’re going to do in that space. For example, right now, if I look at my desk, there’s a few papers and things on it that aren’t making me so happy in the moment, but Cheryl McColgan (02:22.466)That’s probably what I will do for my five minute little clutter cleanup today. So you start these short sessions and it really helps you build trust with yourself because again, it’s a small win. And so in this scenario, the way that we set this up, decluttering a small space, you’re going to have the small win where you finish what you started and you get to check it off your list and it’s done. And that always feels great, right? So that’s another way it’s really supportive. So as far as picking a tiny zone, Here some examples or ideas that you might want to use. So for example, a counter space, maybe the kitchen, junk drawer. I don’t know, my junk drawer would probably take more than five minutes. I might not pick that one for this particular one. One specific shelf, or maybe it’s a part of your car. Maybe it’s like just vacuuming. You know, this one’s not really decluttering per se, but say you had trash or work things or piles of paper or something in your car, you can declutter that space. And then the simple rule is just you only want to touch the things once I think that is a really good practice as well I try to get my husband to do this with the mail, but he just he’ll sort through it He’ll kind of look at it and then I’ll put it down. It’s like touch it once So that’s what we’re doing with this declutter habit and you just trash it donate it or relocate it That’s your choices. So it’s either trash donate put away just you’ve got to deal with it though in that moment and So again kind of stopping at that five-minute mark even when you want to keep going the reason this is important for this particular habit is it’s about repeatability. So you can’t, you know, you can’t put it off as easily when it’s only five minutes. If you get into a whole thing where you try this five minute habit and then it takes you 20 minutes because you didn’t stop and then you’re kind of annoyed by it because it took over some other space in your day that you needed. That is so I think it’s good to sit mentally that parameter at the very beginning and then that way when you stop again you get to check off. that thing off your list, you did it the way that it was supposed to be done, and that’s it. So if you have problem with that touching it once kind of thing, or something you really need to give it more thought, because even Marie Kondo, is that her name? I think she’s the one that’s the lady that’s the declutter lady. But a small decide later, Ben, is OK. And this is only for one day, so you probably won’t need that. But if you’re going to carry this habit forward into the future, Cheryl McColgan (04:43.958)maybe have a small side later been that way you can put some little things in there when you’re feeling overwhelmed, but you can still put it out of the way and make the one space that you’re focused on actually being, you know, completed like we’ve discussed. So even just if it’s one square foot, that is it. It’s like, don’t be tempted to deep clean. Just remind yourself that this is a small little habit that you’re going to start repeating over and over. And that’s why we want to keep it super manageable. And this one is again, you can tell I’m talking about this one a lot because it is definitely something that I find challenging, where if I would practice this habit every single day, these small five minute cleanups, I’d be in so much better shape than when I ignore it or I wait until I have enough time to do the whole thing, because you easily keep putting it off and keep putting it off. So anyway, hopefully that was useful for you today. As always, the research links will be in the tracker and in your email for the day. And if you haven’t signed up yet for the challenge, if you’re just running into this video on YouTube and you’re like, what is this all about? This is a 30 day healthy habits challenge. you can sign up at any time. And that link is healnursgrove.com slash habits. And so that’s it for today. I will talk to you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of setting digital boundaries to improve mental and physical health. She highlights the negative effects of excessive screen time, particularly from social media, on anxiety and overall well-being. Cheryl offers practical strategies for implementing a digital detox, such as uninstalling apps and creating physical distance from devices, to foster healthier habits and reduce stress. Takeaways Setting digital boundaries is crucial for mental health. Excessive screen time can disrupt sleep patterns. Social media contributes significantly to anxiety levels. A digital detox can free up valuable time. Uninstalling distracting apps can help focus. Physical distance from devices can improve well-being. Using Do Not Disturb features can reduce interruptions. Awareness of screen time can lead to healthier habits. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00)Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 19 of the 30 days of healthy habits challenge. So today’s habit is that we’re going to set one digital boundary for the day and why this matters is probably obvious to you. There’s so many so much information and so much research now on screen time and how it’s affecting people and there’s so many reasons it’s not healthy. So the number one and we talked about this before in relation to sleep is the blue light that emanates from your phone. You’re holding it very close to your face for a great part of the day. So it definitely interferes with your circadian rhythm and sleep. In addition, you know, just the act of looking at your phone, having it in your hands can create wrist carpal tunnel kinds of issues. It creates a hunch in the shoulders and this forward head lean that is very hard to counteract. And then saving the probably the most important one to talk about for last. is that it really affects depression and anxiety. And we’re seeing a lot of research come out on this having to do with social media specifically and young children and screen time. And there’s kind of two separate things just screen time in general for children is less clear, I think in their literature, because I saw at least one research study recently that was saying something about it. wasn’t really the screen time itself necessarily interfering with neural development so it can be a positive in some cases but screen time as far as social media for both adolescents and adults is not healthy. It creates a lot of anxiety and depression and some of this is by design. So the app designers and if you ever listen to any of the interviews with people that talk about this stuff it’s really interesting how they purposely want to make you scroll more and spend more time on the app and now I think TikTok has gotten to be especially the worst because now it’s all like live streams of people trying to sell you something. So it’s also become a means by which you can, you know, lose some control of your financial situation. And, know, TikTok in particular, they’re just making it so, so easy to click on a live video and purchase the product immediately or put it into a cart where you’re still can watch the video and then prompts you to buy. So there’s any number of reasons giving yourself a digital detox is a good idea. In addition to just freeing up some of the time during your day, if you ever look at the stats on your phone about time spent on social media, like unless you’re scrolling social media while you’re on a treadmill or working out or something like that, that’s probably about the only other thing you could really reasonably do at the same time. But if you ever look at your screen time on your phone for specific apps, it can be really interesting and give you a big clue as to whether you need to do this type of detox a little more often or not. those, the links to that, some of the research will be in the email, of course, for you to read all about that if you want to do something extra. But today’s only habit is to just set the one digital badge boundary. So I want to give you some ideas about what that might be. It could be to uninstall. the app entirely from your phone for the day. That’s one really easy way to do it. There’s also some different apps and features, I believe, on either Android and iPhones that can put on a Do Not Disturb where you don’t get notifications for a certain period of time. You can also take it at a specific time of day or kind of have it stack it with other things. So for example, there’s also some literature that says maybe having the Wi-Fi next to your head at night or things plugged in next to your head, the EMFs, is not that great. So instead of plugging in your phone next to your bed, maybe today your digital boundary is you plug your phone in another room and just leave it in the other room. And then that way you also aren’t having that instantaneous access to it when you wake up first thing, you can kind of wake up more naturally and maybe take a few breaths and do some of your gratitude practice or one of the other habits that you’ve been working on throughout this challenge. And so those are just some ideas about how you can do this. Now, if you need for your phone for work, obviously, or you have apps that you use specifically for work on your phone, you might need to figure out how to let those specific notifications come through. Or like I said, if it’s just one app that’s particularly problematic for you that you tend to spend too much time on or let it distract you, maybe just uninstall that one from for the day. So hopefully that gave you some good ideas to set your digital boundary. As always, you’ll be doing your 10 minutes of movement, which is amazing. And then optional. are the extra reading, but I do think these are two pretty good ones, although it seems maybe obvious to you at this point that because it’s been in the news so much that too much screen time or too many apps and social media can create a lot of anxiety and depression. But those links will be in the email. And yeah, I think that’s about it for today. So I hope you enjoy trying this little detox, digital detox, and be sure to let me know in the comments if this is something you practice already on a regular basis or it’s something that you’re Going to try, would love to just hear your thoughts about the digital media space and how you’re taking any steps to mitigate that. So I will see you again tomorrow.

Today's habit for the 30 day healthy habits challenge, is a seriously under appreciated part of health. However, it's one that impacts both how you feel now and how you age over time: connection. Having supportive relationships and a sense of community isn't just good for your mood, it's strongly linked to longevity, resilience, and overall well-being. For today's habit, you're going to reach out to someone. Call or text, but take it one step further and make an actual plan. Suggest a specific day and a specific activity, even if it's simple and free, like a walk or a coffee. If you can, I want to encourage you to call. Hearing someone's voice or even leaving a quick voice message creates a deeper kind of connection than a quick text, and it's something we've gotten away from over time. Relationships require communication and follow-through, and today is about being the person who makes it easy for connection to happen. Takeaways Connection and supportive relationships are linked to mental health and longevity Isolation can negatively impact health over time, and reaching out helps reduce that A quick message is good, but a real plan is better Suggest a specific date and a specific activity so it doesn't stay vague Consider calling instead of texting to create a more meaningful moment of connection It does not have to be expensive or complicated, a walk, coffee, or casual catch-up counts Relationships require communication and consistency, and someone has to initiate it You can build a strong support system with just a few key people, but you have to invest in it Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.394)Cheryl McHogan founder of HealNourishGrow and welcome to day 18 of your 30 days healthy habits challenge. Today is one that is such an underappreciated part of health and that is to reach out to someone and having connection in your life and having a supportive community is really just so key not only to your mental health but also it’s highly related to longevity. So if you want to be healthier Creating a small circle or a large circle of people that you have in your life that are available to you is just really important and an underrated aspect of health. So today’s activity, today’s habit is to reach out to someone. Now I’m gonna say call or text, but plan something. Plan to meet, plan to meet in person, plan to go somewhere. It doesn’t have to be somewhere where you spend money necessarily, maybe go for a walk or just grab a coffee or it could be dinner. just anything like that. And I am going to encourage you, I said text or call, but I’m going to encourage you to call because we all have gotten maybe a little lazy with that over time. And it’s just nice to hear people’s voices, even if I’m not able to pick up the phone for some reason in that moment, I always love getting a nice voice message because it’s just something we don’t do that much anymore. Why this matters again, social connection, it’s protective for your mood and longevity and It’s just going to make you less isolated, which is also related to health over time. And if you don’t reach out, you’re not going to have those connections. You’re not going to have a actual relationship like relationships require communication. It requires touching base. And I have to say, I’m really impressed. There are certain people in my life that are just so very good at this. And I really admire that quality. They’re always the one to reach out or just say, thinking about you or let’s get together soon and throw out a date and throw out an idea. That’s another thing. mean, people, I feel like that’s one thing when you say, yeah, we should get together soon. That’s not a plan. That’s why that’s part of this conversation of this habit is to get you to be the one that says, how does next Thursday work or throwing out a date and an activity? Because a lot of people, you were the one to reach out. You’re the one that was thinking of them. And so I like for that to be kind of the way that you connect is to actually put an idea out there and Cheryl McColgan (02:22.99)not make it so ambiguous because quite often I have people in my life that will say that, we should get together. And yet they never suggest a time or an activity or a date. And it’s just kind of, I don’t know, it falls flat, I think in the realm of relationships. So it shouldn’t always be one sided. You shouldn’t always have to be the one to do that. But for this habit for today, I’m going to say, I’m going to put that on you to make that challenge to just reach out to somebody that you miss, that you want to catch up with, that you want to see and make some plans. And so that is today’s habit. As always, the research behind this, if you want to dig into it a little bit more, you’ll just find that it’s so related to many aspects of health. And I think you might really enjoy reading that if you need any encouragement about staying in touch with people, because it doesn’t have to be a big group. You just have to have somebody that’s got your back, somebody that you can rely on. And you have to create that. You have to put some energy into it. So that is it for today’s habit and I will see you again tomorrow.

Today's habit might surprise you, but it's one of the most important for overall well-being bring some attention to your finances by creating small win. Financial stress doesn't just live in your bank account, it aksi shows up in your body and your mental health, too. For a lot of people, the biggest stress isn't even the numbers, it's the avoidance of financial related tasks or thinking. So today, we're keeping it simple: one small money action that helps you feel more in control, builds momentum, and makes bigger financial tasks feel less overwhelming. Key takeaways: Financial stress is closely tied to mental and physical health, this is wellness, too. A tiny step helps break the avoidance cycle and builds confidence fast. Keep it small and doable. Ideas: cancel a subscription you don't use anymore, move $10–$100 into savings, pay a bill you've been putting off, review your expenses for the week or month, look at your credit card statement and spending categories, use your card's built-in tools to spot patterns. Even a one-day change (like skipping a habitual purchase) can be a helpful reality check and can add up over time. If you want extra support, I'll include a tool I've been testing (Rocket Money) in the show notes (free trial link if available). Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Watch on YouTube Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.43)Cheryl McCogan founder of Heal Nourish Grow and today is day 17 of the 30 days of Healthy Habits Challenge. So today is an interesting one and I think it’s one that people don’t always think about when you’re thinking about your health and wellness but it is actually so important especially for your mental health and just for overall well-being and that is today’s habit which will be to do a small financial win. So this could be anything really just a small money action that’s going to lower your financial stress because financial stress is really linked strongly to mental and physical health and taking a small action can help build confidence and reduce the stress of avoidance because a lot of people don’t do financial stuff because it’s like they just don’t want to think about it they don’t want to take the time to deal with it they think if they ignore it it’ll just go away something like that but you can have this tiny win today that will create some momentum and make bigger challenges feel less overwhelming. Is it like anything else? Like all of these habits we’ve talked about, you got to start small and build on it. So to make it easy, here’s some few options and examples of things you might do. One might be to cancel a subscription that you’re no longer using. That’ll save you maybe $10 a month, $20 a month, something like that. The streaming services have all got us crazy lately because everything you want to watch is on a totally different channel. So take a good look at that and maybe consider pairing that down. You might move $10, $20, $100 to your savings account, a pay a bill that you’ve been putting off, review an account, maybe review your expenses for the whole month or review your expenses for the week. Review your credit card bill. Really just take time to actually look at it and see where your money is going. There’s actually some good tools in most of the credit card things. If you log on to your account online, it’ll kind of… break it down into categories like, you know, bills and utilities. You might be looking at Amazon specifically, it’ll give you the whole amount that that has. If you look at whatever card that you have, it tends to have some good tools along with that that can show you how you’re managing your finances or where you’re spending. And then noticing once you see where you’re spending, that’s how you have been able to like create one of these small wins, see if there’s something that you can eliminate or something that you can change. Cheryl McColgan (02:28.586)Also an app that I’ve been testing out lately. I believe it’s called Rocket Money, but I’ll I think I have a link for now for a free trial period or something like that. But I’ll find that and put that link in the show notes for you. But it’s just a nice tool. can help you keep track of some of these things and give you some ideas on how to, you know, look, start looking at your finances a little bit more critically. You don’t want to do a big overhaul here. Don’t get into a whole thing about, you know, doing a grand evaluation of everything that you’re spending, everything you’re doing, try to just identify something that’s simple. Some of the things I mentioned, maybe it’s like skipping your $7 Starbucks for the morning, something like that for a lot of people that can really add up. But we’re just trying it for one day to day and just giving a little bit of attention to this. You can see if it’s something that is alignment with your priorities that you set at the beginning of the challenge, those three focus areas, you know, depending on what those are. your finances could be a really big part of that and part of the big key to keeping those moving in the direction that you want to move them. So as always the links for the studies will be in the email and in your tracker and so if you’re interested in diving a little more deeply into this you can find those links there and like I said it’s strongly related to mental and physical health a lot more people a lot more than people really realize. So taking a look at your finances and having the small win today, where can you cut back a little or where can you save something for your future will be a nice little mental uplift. So that is the habit for today and I will see you again tomorrow.

Today's habit for the 30 day healthy habit challenge is simple, powerful, and genuinely fun: set aside 10 minutes to do something creative or playful. As adults, we often stop making time for “silly” or purely enjoyable moments, but those short creative breaks can lower stress, boost your mood, and make it easier to stay consistent with healthy habits the rest of the day. Whether you put on music and fully immerse yourself, try painting, cook, take photos, knit, or explore something totally new. This is about giving your brain a reset and letting yourself experience a little joy. Takeaways Today's habit: Do 10 minutes of fun or creativity, in addition to your daily movement. Fun isn't “extra”, it can lower stress and support your overall well-being. Short creative breaks can improve mood and stress resilience, making healthy choices feel easier. As adults, we often forget how to play, making fun a habit helps bring that back. If you work in a creative field, choose something different from your job to truly reset your brain. Aim for an activity that helps you enter a mini flow state. This allows you to be extra focused and not thinking about everything else. Try something new you're not “good” at. Being a beginner can actually make it more immersive and fun. If you're too tired for “fun,” choose something restorative (like a relaxing read) and still count it. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.558)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 16 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. Today is fun because it actually is doing something fun or creative for 10 minutes. So this is of course, in addition to your 10 minutes of daily movement, but you’re going to take a separate 10 minutes at some point today and set that aside to do something creative or fun. So this is often challenging for people. When I even think about it for myself, I’m like, what do I find fun? What would I actually do with this 10 minutes? Well, the beauty is it can be anything. And hopefully you have a hobby or a thing that you do, whether it’s art or singing or dancing or just something that speaks to you and creates fun. This fun or creative activity, it can lower stress, it supports your well-being, and it just makes healthy habits throughout the day easier to maintain if you always have a little bit of fun. Short creative breaks can also support your mood and it creates stress resilience. fun, we don’t always make time for it, but you can make that a habit too. And that’s why I wanted to include this one in the challenge because I definitely think it’s something that when we become adults, that we do this less and less. And it’s too bad because those times that you’re silly, and I find, at least for me, it’s often easiest for me to do this with friends, is that the silly creative or just fun times, it creates so much joy and you almost forget what it’s like. Whereas I feel like when we were younger and kids, we were more carefree and had less responsibilities. it was easier to just say pull off work and do something fun for 10 minutes. But it really will pay you benefits if you look at it in terms of your work, because when you give yourself that little mental break, and especially if you’re in a creative field, it is nice to take a break and do something fun or different from whatever it is creative that you do for your actual job. So I would encourage you if you are in a creative field, if you do, for example, you do some people call it I do creative, I don’t know if I really think that it’s because I don’t. Cheryl McColgan (02:12.332)I don’t think of writing creativity in the same way that I think of like drawing or painting or things like that. To me, that seems more like creative activity, but it is, it really is creative. And even when you’re doing it kind of more in a work component, that it’s not, you know, I’m not writing fiction or anything like that. So it’s not creative in that way, but it is still a different kind of skill of creativity. So for mine, I would not choose writing, obviously, I would do something completely different. And for me, I’m more likely to choose fun. for this challenge. So I would probably just maybe put on some music and you know really just take a moment to immerse myself into it and listen to it. I find that very fun and very rejuvenating and very refreshing break from work. So here’s some other ideas for you if none of that is resonating with anything so far but I already mentioned music. I mentioned drawing or painting. There’s also cooking. or taking photos or some other hobby that you have. Maybe it’s knitting, crochet, maybe it’s, one of my friends does this thing with these little like sparkly crystal things, putting them into pictures and stuff. just anything like that. And ideally also something that you can get in a flow state with if you can within 10 minutes, because it’ll just give you that stress relief because you’re totally focused and you’re not thinking about anything else. And in the past when I’ve done this, I haven’t thought it was fun. cannot draw or paint at all. Just was never a skill of mine, but I had bought this inexpensive acrylic set from Hobby Lobby. think those are pretty all over the US anyway. And it’s just a place that has a lot of different creative supplies and housewares and things to decorate with and stuff like that. So a lot of stuff for creativity. But being a person that doesn’t paint or draw at all bought this little inexpensive paint kit with how to canvas and spent the afternoon on my patio and started, I had an inspiration piece that was a flat perspective thing that I had seen somewhere that I had a photo of and I got so immersed such in a flow state, was unbelievable. Excuse me. And I think that it was even more so of a flow state because I didn’t know what I was doing. So. Cheryl McColgan (04:30.67)Extra bonus points if you try something new with this challenge that you’re not used to because I think it can create an extra fun thing. So if you’re extra tired when you’re doing this and this fun doesn’t seem like the thing go for relaxation whether it’s just a 10 minute break to do something you don’t normally get to do like reading something like that. That would be fine as well. So that is your habit for today. And if you’re not yet signed up, you can always start at any time. We’d love to have you and that’s it for this one. So I’ll see you again tomorrow.

Setting an intention for the day can help keep you focused on what’s really important. It gives you the ability to make decisions that are in alignment with what you’ve chosen to focus on for the day. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.142)everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 15 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. This morning is going to be simple. We’re going to pick an intention, just one priority. So at the beginning of the challenge you identified three areas that were your top priorities. So let’s set one intention that’s related to one of those priorities. You don’t have to do all three, just one. So. You will do this, write it down like we said before, there’s something about hand to real paper, actually writing something out that is very different than writing in the app. But if you’re using the app or you’re using a simple note in your phone, something like that, that is totally fine as well. But if you’re keeping a journal or you’re using that throughout the challenge, I definitely recommend actually handwriting this one. You could also write your intention for the day on a post-it note and put it somewhere where you’ll see it often throughout the day so that it keeps reminding you. So whether that’s on your computer, if you’re working or maybe putting in your purse, or if you’re in the kitchen a lot, dealing with your kids throughout the day, putting it on the refrigerator, something like that. So just one thing, and this thing about choosing a priority, or choosing an intention for the day, it really reduces decision fatigue. So if you’re really trying to stay mindful of that intention throughout the day, it’ll just make your decisions. easier. So you’re like, okay, is the decision I’m about to make in line with that priority, that intention that I set for the beginning of the day or not, and you definitely want it to be one try a whole day where you’re just really being in alignment with what it is that you want for yourself. It also just helps you reduce mental clutter and it directs you gives you some attention to your purpose. And it just makes the chances that you’re going to follow through a lot more realistic when you set that intention at the beginning of the day and actually Like I said, keep reminding yourself of it. Another thing you can do is actually set a timer or a reminder on your phone so that it pops up every once in while and again, just brings it back to the forefront. So you can keep it as easy as two sentences if you need it some kind of more, a little bit more direction around this, but it’s today I will blank and I will show up as blank. Cheryl McColgan (02:16.576)Again, having those little reminders around are a great way to approach it, but you could also attach it to some cue that you do something that you do throughout the day. You might be like every time I open my laptop, top, I’m going to repeat that intention and then just bring it to top of mind. So however it is that you’re going to be able to keep it in the forefront, do that, whether it’s the writing, the putting it on the phone, the attaching it to a cue. It’s kind of like the attaching it to you is like that idea of habit stacking that we’ve talked a little bit in the past. If warnings are too hectic, you could always write this intention the night before, or if you get stuck and you’re just can’t figure out something, maybe choose from being calm, consistent, present, kind, focused. Those are all ways that you could show up. Or today I will be one of those things, something like that. As always the links for the research are in your tracker and in the day’s email. If you’re not signed up yet, healthy habits challenge, be sure to go to healnourishgrow.com slash habits. You can easily sign up and start anytime that you find this. So you don’t have to wait till the beginning of the new year, the beginning of the new week. You just sign up for the challenge and then you’ll start getting emails the very next day and you’re off to the races. So I will see you again tomorrow. That’s it for today.

This is the end of another week of the healthy habits challenge, and Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of evaluating the week in order to identify ways to improve for the rest of the challenge. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.846)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Feel Nourish Grow and welcome to day 14 of your 30 days healthy habits challenge. We made it to day 14, that’s the end of week two and now it’s time for the weekly reset. So every week we do a reflect and adjust. It’s not a time to make any judgments about yourself or to be sad or unhappy with yourself for not doing a particular day or anything like that. You’re not perfect, you don’t need to be perfect. We just need to keep repeating the habits and not get stuck on, you know, this idea that we, you know, there’s the streaks and stuff are fun. And I, again, I made this challenge to be manageable so that it’s five to 15 minutes a day. So that ideally you’re getting those wins every single day. But if you do miss a day, it’s totally okay. You’re just jumping back in. So for the weekly reset, we’re going to go back to the same thing that we did on day seven. And that is to list one win. one challenge and one small adjustment for next week. Again, we’re doing always the 10 minutes of movement every day. I hope you’re enjoying that. I’d love to hear how it’s feeling in your body, what you’ve been doing for movement, what’s different for you with that. And then also going back to your focus areas. Ideally every day when you are looking at the habit that we’re doing, and I’ve tried to mention this a few times throughout the videos, but it’s not always easy for me to remember to do it on every single one, but to… Keep the habit in the framework of your, the three things that you identified at the beginning as your focus areas, trying to integrate that in some way that supports those focus areas. And if it just doesn’t fit for you, maybe that’s not one of the habits that you’re going to keep going forward. But those focus areas, again, ideally when you have these kind of focus areas in mind, and I like to take the focus areas and eventually, you make them into goals that are maybe a monthly goal or a five-year goal or a 10-year goal. things that are much bigger goals, you have to take these small steps to get there. And so, but these focus areas in, I have this other thing that I wrote up a long time ago and it was just about your daily or your goals and habits and kind of identifying what things are most important to you in your life. And, Cheryl McColgan (02:23.566)So was this program that I wrote about and it’s still on the website. I’ll include the link in the show notes for you, but it’s a goals and kind of identifying things in your life. Like what are you about? What are your primary drivers and what are some big goals in the future that you want to get to? You might have a five-year goal, a 10-year goal, but these daily little habits that we’re creating should all support your focus areas, your future goals, things that you’re gonna get to. the… Example I always like to use is the marathon. You know, you’re not going to go out and run 24 miles, 25 miles, 26.2 to be technically correct in a day. I’d like just do that tomorrow. You’ve got to build up to it. Ideally, if you’re going to run a marathon that’s four months in the future, you’re starting out by running a few, you know, maybe it’s even minutes at a time if you’ve never run before. And maybe it’s a six month build up to this or a year build up to this goal. But it’s these little daily habits that get you there. So anyway, all that is to say to just take these into account every habit that you try in this challenge, notice what’s speaking to you and then see how you can apply that to your focus areas. So hopefully that all makes sense. And as always, if you have any questions or anything, you can always reach out. But sometimes these things want to have a little bit of ambiguity around it because everybody’s got different goals in mind and different things that they’re doing. And so it’s nice to have a little bit of interpretation of it for yourself. But again, if you’re struggling or having trouble or just have questions, always feel free to reach out. And if you’re not doing this challenge yet, I encourage you to go ahead and sign up. It’s healnourishgrow.com slash habits. You can start any time, no matter when you’re finding this, it is never too late to start again or to just get started. Going back to your three things that you’re doing, your one win, your one challenge and your one small adjustment. If this week was messy, and you had a lot of little loops along the way. The win can be I did not quit. So it can be as simple as that. Again, this is not meant to beat you up or to be something that you yet again failed at like a New Year’s resolution. It’s nothing like that. This is all just bringing more awareness to your habits, giving you some things to try that will hopefully be useful in your real life after the challenge is over and that you can keep going for Cheryl McColgan (04:48.174)months, weeks, years, however much it supports your goals and your personal well-being. So that is it for today. I will see you again tomorrow.

For day 13 of the healthy habits challenge, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of emotional check ins for mental health and behavior change. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.046)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 13 of the 30 Days Have Healthy Habits Challenge. Today we’re doing a quick emotional check-in. So this is something that I noticed that when I’m just, you know, in work mode and I’m kind of moving through my day and I’m just checking things off my to-do list, you often don’t take time to just kind of check in with yourself and see how you’re actually doing. So it can be useful just to make sure that you know what’s going on. You can check in and see if you’re you notice you’re overly stressed overly anxious if you’re doing too much and it’s just a simple one-sentence thing that you’ll do for this emotional check-in and that is to say right now I feel blank and we’re also noticing if there is any feeling in the body that’s associated with this. So it’s just taking kind of an overview of both your physiological and emotional state at the same time. Quite often when we experience certain emotions, whether it’s stress or anxiety or excitement, you know, they don’t always have to be negative emotions that we’re feeling, but you’ll notice that you feel it somewhere in your body. And so that can just be useful to notice where you’re holding extra tension. And again, it just gives you some bullet points or some things to notice that you can try to counteract them. So for example, yesterday’s habit was the movement stack. And if you take an emotional check-in and you notice that you feel anxious in that moment. Well, it might be useful to do one of our breathing exercises that we’ve checked in as a habit or to do a little bit of movement to, you know, move some of that anxiety out of your body, but to first notice it, you have to notice it if you’re going to be able to do actually address it and do anything about it. So the cue is right now I feel blank and just notice where you feel it in your body. So the reason this matters is that labeling emotions can help reduce anxiety and help you respond with more intention. And then it also reduces the intensity. So especially if it’s a negative emotion, this naming it and noticing it will help you calm down and actually respond instead of overreact or react in a way that is not helpful for you. It also strengthens just self-awareness and mindfulness. So this is also something that we do sometimes in a meditation practice that you are Cheryl McColgan (02:19.957)you know, people’s minds are going everywhere, but you’re just observing thoughts and noticing them in a meditation and not necessarily trying to change anything, but just getting this idea of self-awareness. So if you get stuck and you’re not like can’t name what you’re feeling, you can use this simple list. This is or some of the most common ones that people might experience in the moment is stressed, calm, anxious, excited, tired, hopeful, frustrated, happy, sad. all there’s all kinds but those are kind of the typical ones that people might feel and then add one sense to this and say I feel this because so you might again it’s this idea of tuning in so that you can be more aware of actually what’s happening to you in the moment and an example might be I might feel this way because I’m frustrated with my boss or I might feel this way because I’m excited to go on my trip tomorrow or something like that. And if you want to go even a little bit deeper, you can ask what do I need right now? So if you are feeling stressed or anxious again, that’s what do you need? Maybe it’s some of the tools that we’ve practiced so far that help reduce stress and anxiety. So if you can’t, again, if you don’t know, what you feel exactly. And this is this is really challenging for a lot of people. Start with a sentence of say something and see if it resonates with you say like I feel tired. And then, you know, think about that for a second. Is that it or I feel overwhelmed? Just pick any one of those things that I named off earlier in the video and try it on and see if that works out for you. But if you have trouble, that’s probably a sign that you need to take this on as a more more practice that’s every day and something that you might want to keep because if you’re having trouble naming it, then that just is kind of identifying that maybe you’re not present in the moment and you’re not in tune with your emotions or feelings. So of course, there’s the links for the studies associated with this in the challenge emails and in the tracker. They’re always in the tracker, which is a great tool. So you’re checking off these days. Cheryl McColgan (04:37.151)of habits that you’re trying and kind of creating little streaks. And that’s also a great way to keep your habits intact and going from day to day into the future. So if you’re not signed up yet, the link is heelnourishgrow.com slash habits. And for those of you that are doing the challenge right now, I will see you tomorrow.

Cheryl McColgan discusses day 12 of the Healthy Habits challenge with the idea of a “movement snack.” Getting up from your desk on a regular basis and adding in small bouts of movement throughout the day has a number of benefits. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.11)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNourishGrow and welcome to day 12 of your 30 days of healthy habits challenge. Today’s habit is to do a movement snack after for sitting too long. So I love the name of this and normally I’m not a big, not opposed to snacks generally, but you’ll do better if you just eat real meals, but movement snacks, we’re all about those for sure. So all this is going to do is do some kind of movement after you have been sitting for a while during the day. a lot of us have desk jobs where we sit in front of a computer. If you’re very active throughout the day, you have an active job. Maybe this is more like a movement snack in the evening after you’ve kind of wound down. You’ve been sitting around on the couch for a little bit. But anyway, just any time that you’ve been sitting for, you know, say maybe 45 minutes. For some people, you might get antsy quicker than that. For other people, you might want to sit longer. but try not to sit longer than 45 minutes. So you’ll just do like a two minute little movement break. Ideally, you want to stand up if you’re working in front of the desk, doing stretches like I’m demonstrating here on camera. So if you’re watching audio only, I’m pulling back my hand with the other hand just to stretch out my wrists. I do a lot of typing. So that is a really good one for me. You can also put your arms behind your head and grab one elbow and do a nice stretch there. So that could be the first part of your movement snack. And then to just get up for a minute, maybe go get a glass of water or just take a walk down the hall, maybe step outside for a minute, something like that. So your body is just really designed for frequent movement. And these long times that we’re sitting just really aren’t good for us. So especially if you’ve been sitting at a meal for a little bit, having that little bit of movement after. a meal, whether it’s a walk or something like that is really good for blood glucose. So doing something like some air squats that there’s also a recent study on that where it showed doing some air squats. When I say air squats, I just kind of mean like body weight squats where you don’t need any equipment or anything like that is as effective as walking for blood glucose control. So that’s pretty cool. It also just can support circulation, energy, focus. These are just Cheryl McColgan (02:19.24)nice way to break up your day and again just not have yourself sitting all the time. Eventually when you sit for long periods you don’t counteract that it’s know shortens your hip flexors it create a lot of issues in your body. We all get this kind of forward head when we’re working in front of the computer so things that you can do to counteract that like bringing your arms behind your back and interlacing your hands and then really stretching back to create a stretch in the front of the chest is a way that you can kind of counteract some of that you know, hunched forward movement. So I am mentioning a lot of stretching, but I do want you to get out of the chair for sure. Again, try to keep it to 45 minutes. If you get up more frequently, of course, that’s always amazing. But that is the habit for today. So try not to sit for too long. As always, if you’re not yet part of the challenge, you can go sign up. The link is in the show notes or in the comment box below. If you’re looking at YouTube in the description box, it’ll be there. And yeah. Let me know if you find this helpful and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Cheryl McColgan introduces the idea of tracking one thing during the day for the healthy habits challenge. Tracking brings awareness to your behaviors and gives you a powerful tool for habit change. This link is for the free Cronometer food tracking app mentioned in the episode. The habit tracker we recommend is Griply. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.014)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow. Welcome to day 11 of the 30 Day Habits Challenge. And today we’re going to start a practice that is something that’s useful for a lot of parts of your life. It may be something that you’re not used to doing yet. For a lot of people, this is a very foreign thing to them. But the habit for today is to just track one thing. And so that could be tracking your movement, that could be tracking water, it could be tracking your mood, something like that. Again, this is all about learning the skill of discipline. So it doesn’t need to be perfect. You just need to do it. So pick a thing that you’re going to track. Maybe it’s steps, maybe it’s water, maybe it’s like your mood, like I said, or maybe it’s protein. We talked about protein a lot, so maybe you want to track protein. But you’re just keeping it neutral. You’re just collecting data. You’re not judging yourself. So if you’re tracking steps, you’re not shooting for a certain amount. Or if you’re tracking calories, you’re not trying to restrict or anything. You’re just… tracking what is and using it as a simple data point. So that’s the minimum today to just track one single thing. If you need tools for tracking, I’ve mentioned to you the couple of apps before that we have in the resources for journaling, for tracking things. One that I have not mentioned yet, if you’re going to use… If you’re going to track things like protein or calories or things like that, an app is super helpful. mean, back in the old school days, we literally used to write it down and try to find ways to look up calories and stuff. It was a lot more challenging. Now it’s super easy. My favorite, one of the ones that people know a lot is my fitness pal, but I find that one to be very inaccurate, just not that good. Chronometer is amazing. I use the free version for years. I pay for it now because it’s that good. I love it. It’s not super expensive. But if you go to https://healnourishgrow.com/cronometer that’ll give you the link that gives you access to the app. Like I said, it’s a hundred percent free. You get really access to most things you need without ever having to pay anything. It’s just if you want more advanced tracking features like tracking. I think one of the advanced things is more like tracking your micronutrients kind of things, but for just everyday calorie tracking and things like that, it’s a great app and it’s super easy to use. Yeah, so one thing, whatever it is, pick that. That’s your habit for the day. It should be super simple as always. Cheryl McColgan (02:17.922)Hope you’re keeping track of these things in your tracker. If you ran across this and you’re not part of the challenge yet, just go to healnourishro.com slash habits and you can join at any time. It’ll set you on day one. And so whatever time of the year it is, whenever you find this, would still love to have you join. So that is it for day 11 and I will see you again tomorrow.

Cheryl McColgan discusses the habit for day 10 in the Healthy Habits Challenge, a simple 3 breath reset. Breathwork is a great tool for stress relief and attention. Watch on YouTube: Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.414)I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 10 of the 30 day healthy habits challenge. So today is going to be a habit that I have been practicing for a really long time because it’s a little bit based in yoga, which if you know a little bit about my background, I’m a certified experienced yoga teacher, tons of hours teaching, have been doing yoga since… gosh this is… tough to say, but like over 30 years now I picked it up while I was in college. But anyway, it’s about a breathing practice. And this one’s not a structured breathing practice. This is just to try this one time today. And that’s just to practice a three breath reset. So at some point during the day where you’re either tired or feeling a little stressed, or you’re having an interaction that is making you tense up, you’re simply going to take three deep breaths. Now the one thing I want to teach you about this because there are a lot of structured breathing programs and they all have maybe slightly different purposes. There’s box breathing, there’s alternate nostril breathing, there’s a ton of different breathing practices. And we are going to talk about another one I think later in the series that’s for a different purpose. But really this is just a practice to just get you thinking about breathing. And the thing I just want to bring home is that the most One of the more important parts of any breath practice, I think if you’re using it to calm down or to fight stress, which is what we’re trying to do with this one, and that is to extend the exhale slightly longer than the inhale. So if you inhale for a count of four, for example, you want to exhale for at least a count of five. And the reason that this works and there’s plenty of data on it, like you know, with this whole challenge, there’s always research and the links for those are in your tracker and emails. But the slightly longer exhale activates your parasympathetic nervous system. And that’s the part of your nervous system that’s for calm, that’s for rest and digest. And it’s the one that a lot of people really have trouble accessing. So just having that slightly longer exhale is a great way to do that. So today, like I said, one of those times you’re just going to do that slightly longer exhale. Cheryl McColgan (02:18.487)This is gonna cue your nervous system to be more calm and it’s gonna help with stress and impulsive decisions. So it’s particularly useful in situations maybe with your significant other or at work or with your children. Anytime you’re feeling a little frustrating, just take a moment, three deep breaths, slightly longer exhale, and then deal with whatever the situation is. So you might wanna use some kind of trigger moment today. that makes you think of it. Like again, if we do this habit stacking thing, the thing that’s going to help you do it most easily. Now that’s most useful when you, it’s something that you want to accomplish every single day. And I certainly think taking this time, any time of day, doing it at a specific time is really good, but I think it’s really more useful even, like I said, in those little situations where you might have some stress, like before a meeting or when you’re driving in traffic or something like that, or just using it to really settle yourself down before bed, you could make it. part of your bedtime ritual if you wanted to do that. So that’s today’s thing. Super easy. Just breathe. If you want to read the signs, make sure you’re signed up for the challenge. You’ll get all the links in the tracker and in the emails. And that’s it for today. I will see you again tomorrow. I was almost going say next week, but man, we’re only on day 10 here. So we got a lot to go.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the significance of prioritizing protein intake in meals, particularly as one ages. She emphasizes the benefits of starting meals with protein to enhance satiety, meet nutritional needs, and support muscle health. Cheryl explains the concept of anabolic resistance and the importance of leucine in protein synthesis, providing practical advice on how to incorporate more protein into daily meals. The discussion highlights the challenges of meeting protein requirements and offers strategies for achieving a balanced diet without feeling restricted. Takeaways Eating protein first can help you meet your protein needs.Protein is highly satiating and can prevent overeating.As we age, our protein absorption efficiency decreases.Aim for 30-40 grams of protein per meal for muscle health.Leucine is crucial for stimulating muscle protein synthesis.Tracking protein intake can help ensure adequate consumption.Eating protein first can change your overall eating habits.It’s important to balance protein with carbohydrates and fats.Consider adding a protein snack before bed for muscle recovery.One meal a day focusing on protein can be a great start. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.524)I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Peel Nourish Grow, and welcome to day nine of the 30 Day Healthy Habit Challenge. So today we’re going to talk about one of my favorite things, one of my favorite hacks, if you want to call it a hack, and that is today’s habit, and that is to eat protein first at one meal. So you don’t have to do it every meal, just one meal today. It’s not about perfection. This is just about sequencing. So doing this one meal totally counts, if all you do is that, you win today. The reason that you want to start with protein is because it really highly satiating, it increases fullness. And one of the things that I’ve been working on my protein intake, I’ve been tracking it for about the last five or six years now, where I’ve really been more focused on intentionally getting more protein each day. And even after all that time, if I am not focused on it, I will tend to not get enough protein on any given day. So one of the things that eating protein first does for you is if you’re if you’re one of those people that they’ll say when they learn what their optimal amount of protein is, you’re like my gosh how would I eat that much protein it’s so difficult. Well it’s probably difficult because you’re eating other things first that take up this, I always say when I’m talking about a salad or bread before meals, I’m like, no, that’s just gonna take up the space where the meat should be, right? So I always keep that in my mind. That’s how really I approach every meal is I know how much protein I’m supposed to get each meal. I get that out of the way, I put that on my plate, I weigh it out, and then I know that I’ve gotten that. And then I use carbohydrates and fats to fill in the energy calories after that. So that’s… Really the main reason to do it is because protein is very satiating. Most people don’t get enough of it. And eating it first really allows you to make sure that you get it in. This is important for a few reasons. First of all, as we age, there’s this thing called anabolic resistance. So basically it means that the protein that we eat is not absorbed properly or might not be broken down effectively. I don’t know if they really know what the exact mechanism is, why that happens. Cheryl McColgan (02:17.934)But basically, it’s like if I eat 30 grams of protein as an 18-year-old person, that’s almost getting 100 % utilized in the body. Whereas if I eat 30 grams of protein as a 45, 55, 65-year-old person, maybe only 80 % of that gets broken down into amino acids. so especially as you get older, that getting the proper amount of protein is really important. Unfortunately, what tends to happen, people’s appetite sometimes get less or over time or they just don’t eat as well as they get older and they just get less and less protein and that just creates a number of health problems. Sarcopenia is low muscle mass that can happen as you age without strength training and without the proper amount of protein. There’s also this other idea called the protein leverage hypothesis, which is basically that your body will keep seeking out. eat until your protein needs are met. So if you are eating a lot of either processed foods or a lot of foods that might be good for you, but don’t contain a lot of protein, it tends to make you overeat because your body will still be telling you, no, I still need protein. I still need those amino acids. And so you just keep eating and eating until you get to that point. So that’s some of the reasons that it’s very important. And since we’re on the topic, I’ll just go ahead and talk about that. You know, you heard me mention 30 grams. 30 grams of protein is basically what’s required to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. again, if you’re an older person, you might need more like 35 to 40 grams per meal. the real key there is not necessarily the grams of protein, it’s the amount of leucine in the protein that stimulates muscle protein synthesis. And they say that that’s two to three grams of leucine required to start that process. So again, as we get older, it might not be broken down as efficiently. So you really want to get like 35 to 40 every time you eat a meal. Every time you eat is an opportunity to stimulate muscle protein synthesis. And for most people, even the smallest women, you need about 100 grams of protein a day. An easy way to figure this out and kind of what’s been going around in the health space and people that are focused on this work, people like Dr. Don Lehman that do this kind of literature about protein, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. Cheryl McColgan (04:36.558)is that so the minimum is about one gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight. So say you are a woman, you might have a few maybe your 10 or 20 pounds of weight, you have little weight to lose. And so whatever you weigh now, you feel like your ideal weight for your height is 150. Well, that’s the amount of protein you’d be trying to get in a day is 150 grams of protein. So for me, what that has meant is I’ve had to add a fourth meal into my day, basically like an afternoon protein hit. Because I find it challenging to, number one, wake up and get something like 50 or 60 grams of protein. I mean, that would be ideal, but I just don’t have the appetite for that. So I always go for like 35 to 40 my first meal of the day. And then lunch again, it’s kind of hard to eat something that’s going to be that amount of protein. So it’s usually lands around 40 to 50. And you can see how that’s still by the end of the day, if I’m shooting for 150 grams of protein, I’ve still got like 60 or 70 to eat and you don’t want to be eating ideally a giant meal before dinner. having that little afternoon protein and then the evening meal is kind of how it’s worked out for me. I’ve also had people talk or heard interviews where they talk about having, you know, a protein snack in the evening before bed is very muscle stimulating and just kind of If you’re a person that’s working on your body composition, working on building muscle, working out a lot, maybe having, you know, that eight o’clock protein shake or something before you go to bed might be a good way to get that extra amount in. I did just mention protein shake. Ideally, that’s not what we’re leading with in this challenge. You’re eating a real food protein for your first part of your meal, and then you’re filling in with carbs and fats. Anyway, that is all the reasons why you want to start working on eating protein first. And you’ll see that if you do that, it really changes the way you eat pretty naturally. So instead of having to restrict a lot of things or change a lot of what you eat, if you really just eat the protein first, you’ll find that the things, the rest of it kind of balances itself out pretty easily. And it also becomes very hard to overeat on protein because say you’re eating a chicken breast, you’re not really going to, you know, magically overeat chicken breast. It’s pretty hard to do. Cheryl McColgan (06:51.106)But we quite often magically overeat other things like that have that carbon fat combination. If you just start eating some chips or you know, those kinds of foods, bread or whatever it is, those are much easier to overeat for that reason. And also I think going back to the protein leverage thing, that’s probably why as well. So that was probably more than you wanted to know about protein, but I really wanted to make a good case for why eating protein first is a habit that you really should take on in your life. And Hopefully you will maintain this one. I think doing it one meal a day at first is pretty dang easy. So maybe you carry that out for the rest of challenge, or again, maybe this is just one of those you try, you’re not sure it works for you, or maybe come back to it later. But for today, it’s just eat protein first at one meal. So that is it for now, and I will see you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of reflecting and adjusting weekly habits to foster personal growth and discipline. She emphasizes that perfection is not necessary, and encourages listeners to integrate small habits into their daily lives. The conversation also highlights the significance of aligning habits with personal priorities and sharing wins and challenges with others for support. Takeaways You don’t have to be perfect; just keep trying.Reflecting on habits helps identify challenges and adjustments.Completing a habit is a win, no matter how small.Aligning daily habits with priorities simplifies decision-making.Weekly evaluations can enhance personal growth and discipline.Small adjustments can lead to significant improvements over time.Sharing wins and challenges fosters community support.Self-reflection is key to understanding personal resistance.Tracking workouts can reveal patterns in energy and motivation.Integrating reflection into weekly routines is beneficial. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts!  21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight  Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life  Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off  NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube  Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.162)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day seven of the 30 day healthy habits challenge. So today you made it through a week. You’ve tried six new behaviors up to this point or maybe not so new, maybe you’ve tried them before, but you just haven’t integrated them into your everyday. And now it’s time for the weekly reset. Time to reflect and adjust because again, this is about learning the skill of discipline. through habits. You don’t have to be perfect. You’re just need to get it done. And again, if you missed a day, it’s no problem. You just jump back in. You can do the habit the next day or just restart, pick up wherever you are. It’s not meant to be this crazy restrictive thing. I do think it’s fun, you know, to use the tractor to keep streaks going. These are such little small habits every day that it’s almost they’re too small to ignore. Like you kind of have to do it because it’s like, I always notice if I have a bigger thing that I’m dreading, like a big project for work or going to the gym on a certain day where I’m not really feeling it. If I put it in the perspective of it’s a big long task, like it’s going to be an hour workout, it’s got it supposed to be a heavy leg day and thinking about all of those things that can definitely make you not want to do it. But if you put it more in the perspective of, okay, I don’t feel great today, but I’m just going to work out for five minutes and if I really don’t feel it, I can quit that kind of thing. That will make it a lot more likely that you follow through. So that’s why it’s good to do these reflect and adjust evaluations of the week. If any resistance came up around doing any of these habits, I’d be surprised again, because they’re so small, but it could happen. It could just be got super busy one day and you just didn’t even feel like it was worth it. It seemed too silly or didn’t speak to you for whatever reason. This is the time to reflect on that. and adjust and kind of just get some learning out of it about yourself and you know why are you resistant to certain things and just self-reflection basically. So what we’re going to do today is write down one win, one challenge, and one small adjustment for next week. Hopefully you can find one of each of those. Again it’s kind of like the gratitude practice sometimes it can be hard to think of at first or if you’re having a particular bad day but Cheryl McColgan (02:25.774)One win is any day that you completed the habit. That’s a win. If you completed all six of the habits, that’s a big win. What was one challenge? What was the one thing that or one habit that you kind of thought about that didn’t speak to you you didn’t want to do it or you tried it and it wasn’t for you or you tried and it was too hard, something like that. Uh, and then one small adjustment for what next week, what can you maybe do better? What can you incorporate more of? The one thing I would encourage you to is to go back to the three priorities that you set for the beginning of the challenge and see if you were able to incorporate those in each day with the habit that came up. Could you tie it back to your priorities? So say your priorities were that you want to eat healthier and be more present with your family and whatever a third one is. But could you take those daily habits that we tried and was there a way that you could integrate that into the things that your priorities because at the end of this that’s really what you’re learning to do is you want to identify your priorities and that that helps make each decision that you make every day a little easier because if it aligns with your priorities Then that’s something you should be doing if it’s something that doesn’t align with your priorities like you said you want to eat healthier, but you have this idea that you want to you know, eat ice cream every day or something. I’m not saying ice cream is wrong. It’s just like maybe every day is not the greatest. But that doesn’t align with your overarching goal, right? Your overarching priorities. So it’s just something to look at in these times when you’re doing the evaluation or the reflect and adjust period. And that’s kind of at the end of every week, whether you’re doing this challenge or whether you’re doing a habits thing or not, it’s still a useful tool, this particular thing to kind of integrate on a Every so often basis, I like to do it once a week, just kind of look at the wins for the week, look at the challenges, what’s a way to adjust, kind of working on that for myself right at the moment with my strength training program because I’m noticing, I’m way overdue for a deload, my body’s very tired, I’m trying to make it to some time when we go out of town to have a little break, but I’m adjusting now because I’m noticing that my body is really. Cheryl McColgan (04:47.808)not in a good place at the moment and so I’m having to adjust my plans but that comes from a reflection because I reflected back on the week reflected on kind of how I was doing with my workouts one of my habits has been to you know I always track the workout and I also make some commentary about how it went or what kind of day it was and I’m noticing just more really tired days more really dragging days more days where I am not dreading it, but it’s just more challenging. And so I’m definitely noticing that, okay, maybe there’s my body’s telling me something here I need to reflect and adjust. So I would say work that in, and every week, no matter what you’re doing, this is a great habit in and of itself, right, to maybe look at in the future. So as always, the links for the research will be in the tracker. And I’d also love it if you’d hit reply on the email and tell me your wins. from the week. would just like to hear them. think it’s fun. or share them in the comments below because we can just all cheer each other on with our wins. And you know, it’s not always, not always pleasant to publicly share your challenges, but if you’re so inclined or you want advice and you think other people might have a strategy that could help you pop that in the comments too. You just never know what kind of feedback you’re going to get when you, well, I will say YouTube tends to be more aggressive with the feedback sometimes I’ve noticed that so you you can decide if you’re up for that or not. Would love to just hear your thoughts on week one in the comments and that’s it for today. I will see you again tomorrow. Take care.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of replacing unhealthy habits with healthier alternatives rather than restricting them completely. She emphasizes the ease of substitution in creating sustainable dietary changes and introduces the concept of mindfulness and tracking behaviors to facilitate change. The discussion is framed within the context of a 30-day healthy habits challenge, encouraging listeners to adopt small, manageable changes for long-term success. Takeaways Substitution is easier than restriction for behavior change.Small swaps can improve diet quality without drastic changes.Mindfulness in tracking behaviors can lead to automatic changes.Replacing unhealthy foods with healthier options enhances adherence.Cutting out beloved foods can lead to a rebound effect.Practicing discipline is key to forming new habits.The challenge encourages starting changes immediately, not waiting for a specific time.Mindful tracking can help in reducing alcohol consumption.The goal is to create sustainable habits through gradual changes. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:00.152)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day six of your 30 day healthy habits challenge. So today we’re going to work on doing something that is not restrictive, but yet just replacing. So for example, this is just again, all about practicing discipline. And so instead of cutting something out completely, we’re just gonna do a swap. So one of the easier, Examples I can think of for this is maybe you drink a sugary drink or soda every day. Instead, consider drinking a glass of water in place of that or replace it with something closer to a soda, which would be maybe a diet soda, sugar-free soda, something like that. So rather than just trying to ditch the habit completely, we’re going to do a replacement behavior. And the reason this works is that substitution is just a lot easier than restriction, right? So small swaps can really improve your diet quality without having to do any crazy, really restrictive things. Like for example, keto, as you know, that that’s what I’ve done very strictly in the past. Right now, just so you know, I would still say I’m low carb, but I have kind of changed the way that I have been eating over the last year because I’ve started strength training a lot more and I did a bodybuilding competition. And so my diet looked a little bit different than it has for the past seven years, but I’m definitely still low carb and go in and out of ketosis at times still, but much more carbs in my life. Right. So that’s the example is that when you do something like keto and you go all in at the beginning, you’re really doing a lot of restriction, but instead can you replace those? And that’s really what it looks like for a healthy diet, no matter what kind of style of eating you choose, whether it’s just eating more whole foods or eating less sugar, whatever it is for you, making those adjustments in a sense that you’re replacing something rather than restricting it is a lot easier. So in the idea of like the keto diet, one of the things like so for example, carbs, let’s say potatoes well. Cheryl McColgan (02:09.814)instead of just getting rid of potatoes altogether, maybe replace it with something else that’s lower carb like cauliflower. Cauliflower is the solution for everything, right? So it’s just a replacement thing. And it also just create better adherence because if you try to cut everything out at once, and that’s really, again, what this whole challenge is all about is that year after year when I’ve talked to people or worked with people on doing new habits or New Year’s resolutions or goals for the new year, people always tend to bite off more than they can chew because when it comes to the time of year, like if you happen to be doing this in January, I mean, I hope you pick it up anytime. Because like I said, it’s always for me, it’s like, okay, notice that you need some help with something and don’t wait till Monday, don’t wait till tomorrow, just start doing it now again. So you could start this challenge over any time that you need it. But really it’s… Cheryl McColgan (03:28.281)But really what it’s meant to do is get you thinking in the right direction and start trying little new things so that you can create bigger changes later if that’s your goal. Or maybe there’s something that you think you want to change in your life. So maybe you try this one little habit around that first and then you think, okay, well that’s really not the right way to approach it. Or maybe you don’t actually need to change that thing at all. Maybe you just need to replace some behavior. So anyway, I hope that gives you some sense of why we’re doing it this way. But also in this particular one, like the restriction versus replacement, it’s just an easier behavior change. Because if you’re still going to have, here’s another example, if you need to cut down your coffee, right, or cut down your caffeine, instead of cutting out coffee completely, maybe you switch to decaf or maybe you switch to half-caf. You still get the taste, you still have the behavior, you still have the enjoyment of it, but without the thing that you’re trying to negatively impact. So hopefully that makes sense. Just doing these behaviors that replace things rather than restricting them is a lot easier. It can also just make you if you if you’re working on diet in particular, I mentioned adherence like diet is probably the place where it really impacts the most. Because again, like cutting out those things that you love is eventually going to cause a rebound effect process possibly whereas if you put in something similar but healthier, it just makes that behavior easier to repeat over time. And then you might find as you practice behavior longer and longer, it becomes more of a habit. Then maybe you cut down or cut back or cut out certain things because there are definitely certain things. And again, diets probably the best example, but there’s, there’s definitely things in your diet that just aren’t healthy and you’d be better off if you cut them out completely. And you probably say the same things about some lifestyle behaviors as well. So I think I may or may not have mentioned earlier in the challenge that You know, another thing that people like to look at this time of year tends to be behaviors around alcohol. And I, in the past, had interviewed Ian, who’s the founder of Sunnyside, and he had reached out to me because they’re doing something this month. So their app is available year round. And it’s actually a really cool app because it’s kind of on the same vein. It’s not totally taking the behavior away or it’s not restricting. It’s just asking you to be more mindful and track things. And as you track things and become more mindful, Cheryl McColgan (05:54.37)sometimes your behavior changes automatically. And so around alcohol, they’re not saying don’t drink at all, but they’re just saying be more mindful and maybe eventually do replacements, do mocktails, do different kinds of beverages, or eventually start cutting back. But it’s the tracking and the mindfulness about it and that substitution behavior that makes it really useful. So anyway, I’ll make sure that is in the show notes as well because they are actually offering a totally free. January program that you don’t even have to put your credit card in for. But anyway, the app is really awesome. And if that’s one of your behaviors that you’d like to do this substitution with, I would definitely recommend trying that app at some point. So hopefully this makes sense. That’s a pretty simple habit to try for a day. Just swap one thing. We’re just replacing or changing slightly. We’re not restricting. But just, again, that practice of being mindful around this and noticing what it is you might need to change, I think will be super helpful. So. That is it for today. I will see you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the importance of developing a gratitude practice as a healthy habit. She emphasizes the challenges of recognizing positive aspects in life due to our brain’s natural tendency to focus on negatives. Cheryl shares personal anecdotes and practical tips for cultivating gratitude, including writing down daily appreciations and reflecting on small joys. She highlights the scientific benefits of gratitude for overall well-being, resilience, and stress management, encouraging listeners to adopt this simple yet impactful practice. Takeaways Developing a gratitude practice can be challenging but rewarding.Our brains are wired to focus on negatives rather than positives.Finding small joys in daily life can enhance our perspective.Gratitude practices are backed by research supporting well-being.Writing down what you’re grateful for can change your brain’s response.Reflecting on your day can help reinforce gratitude.Using a physical journal may enhance the gratitude experience.Gratitude can improve resilience and stress management.Small, manageable habits are key to success.Consistency in practicing gratitude leads to lasting benefits. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript: Cheryl McColgan (00:01.07)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNursH Grow and welcome to day five of the Healthy Habits Challenge. So today is a habit that I’ve tried many times in the past. I haven’t always been able to get it to stick, but whenever I do it, I do find it really useful. And that is to develop a gratitude practice. But today, in the light of just, you we’re just doing small habits, manageable habits, we’re just gonna write one thing. that we’re grateful for today. That’s it, one thing. And this is a challenge for some people because it’s really, you you might have a day where you think that there was nothing good to appreciate, and I hope you don’t have too many of those days. But what happens is our brain is kind of naturally wired to notice the negatives more than the positives. Our brain was evolved under this paradigm of like, there’s a lot of danger in the world. There’s animals and things that we had to watch out for and it’s a lot. different nowadays, but our brains are still wired in that way. And so it tends to go to the negative things first and not notice the positive things in life. part of this habit is really changing the way that you look at everyday life and finding small joys. The way I like to look at finding things to be grateful for is it’s not always this grand thing. I mean, yes, every day we can be grateful for having a roof over our head or having a job that pays us so that we can buy food and all those kinds of things. And those are probably the more obvious things that we’re grateful for. Or maybe your friend did something nice for you that day, or your husband or your spouse or your partner did something that you really appreciated. So those are all kind of easy things to think of to be grateful for. But I’ve started finding some things in my day where there’s just like these little moments of joy, and it’s something that just brings a smile to my face and… you know, makes me think in a more positive way. So for example, the first time I recorded this, I lost some of the recordings, unfortunately. There was no sound for some reason. But anyway, I have this silly little sticker on my desk. And so if you’re not watching on YouTube, I’ll describe it to you. It’s just an alpine scene, retro with, it says, apres on it, like for apres ski. And this little silly thing. Cheryl McColgan (02:18.988)It just made me smile. was on Amazon looking for some Christmas things and I saw it and it’s just a sticker. So was very, very inexpensive and I bought it and it just brought me a little moment of joy. Now this doesn’t mean to say that it needs to be something that you buy because quite often it’s other things like I’ll notice a new flower comes out in our yard or something. I just take a moment to like really appreciate that and be grateful for it or trying to think of some other. good examples or just appreciating a really good meal that you had or a good dish that you tried or, you know, just little things like that, something that you cooked, especially if somebody else made it for you, then it’s really something to be appreciated, right? So just finding those little joyful moments throughout your day can really help make this practice easier. And then if you decide again to take this on as a more serious practice something that you’re going to maintain over time. And I do suggest that you try it because there’s plenty of research backing. As I said, with all the habits, there’s always something backing this up on why you want to do it. But this one, the research really shows that it just helps with your overall wellbeing. It helps again, train your brain to look for wins instead of always looking at the negative. And then a gratitude practice can also shift your attention to what’s working, which supports resilience and stress management. And you know, stress management, who doesn’t need that, right? We could all use that. So just the fact that it improves overall wellbeing from this simple little practice of writing down what you’re grateful for each day. To me, it’s a no brainer. And I am really kind of mad at myself that I haven’t been better about taking on this practice more seriously over time. Now, I’d also say for this particular day that we’re just writing this one thing that we’re grateful for, I wanna encourage you to write it just on a notepad or just hand a paper, write it instead of putting on your notes on your phone or instead of in your habit tracker, just because there is something very different about actually writing that affects your brain differently, I find. So just try that for today, actually writing it out. But you can also use, I’ve recommended a couple of apps for you to try that are either the habit trackers or journaling, that kind of thing. And you can, so you can also write it in your app. And if that makes it easier for you to do this practice. Cheryl McColgan (04:38.39)on a daily basis, then I would definitely use an app. But also a lot of people just like using an old school notebook or journal and just handwriting it down. the time that I was doing that for a while, I really did find that it shifted my perspective. It just made me feel a little more calm each day. So anyway, it’s an easy win. Just do it at the end of your day. That way can kind of take a moment to reflect on your day as well, which can often be a useful habit to have too. And yeah, so that’s your goal for the day is to write down one thing that you’re grateful for. And as always, the show notes or the sorry, not the show notes, but the links are in the tracker and in your email. And so you can read about those studies that show how this gratitude practice works. And again, just as a reminder, those that’s always optional, but everyone you find one of these habits kind of speaks to you, that might be the time to dig in and read. a little bit of the research or to do the journal prompt at the end of the day so you can really explore like why you think this would help you and how it’s helping you and that sort of thing. But those are all optional. Again, we’re trying to keep this simple and repeatable and small wins. So you just do your one thing, your habit, you write it down. It doesn’t take too much time at all. And yeah, so start there, stick to that. But always if you’re inspired to do more, that’s always encouraged too. So that’s it for today. I will chat with you again tomorrow. Have a great night. Bye bye.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan discusses the significance of establishing a wind down routine before bed to enhance sleep quality. She emphasizes the importance of calming activities, such as reading, warm baths, and reducing screen time, to prepare the body and mind for sleep. Cheryl also touches on the use of sleep supplements and tools to improve sleep, highlighting the critical role of good sleep in overall health and wellness. Takeaways Create a simple wind down cue before bed.Calm your brain and nervous system for better sleep.Screen time at night is a poor habit for sleep.Reading before bed can help you relax.Warm baths signal your body to calm down.Turning off bright lights aids in winding down.Sleep is critical for health and longevity.Good sleep supports weight loss and fat loss.Consider a warm drink as part of your bedtime routine.Engage with others about effective wind down routines. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.078)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNurshGrow and welcome to day four of your healthy habits challenge. Today’s habit is very simple, but it’s so powerful and it has to do with one of the things that I think is one of the most underappreciated aspects of health and that is sleep. And so the habit that we’re going to do today is to create a simple wind down cue before bed. So what this does is basically gets you ready for sleep, starts to calm your brain, starts to calm your nervous system so that you can actually get in bed and go to sleep instead of getting in bed and staying wired for multiple minutes or even hours after that. Definitely something we want to avoid. So having this consistent wind down cue is exactly what it does. Cues your brain and your body to be ready for sleep and to start to calm down. There’s any number of things that this could possibly be for you. One of the things that you will have heard from many people in the past, and this is so true, is that screen time at night is really a poor habit to have to get good sleep. So maybe your wind down cue is putting your phone in the other room and putting it on the charger before you get ready for bed. That’s a great way to do that. It also cuts down on the blue light. So that will allow your body to produce melatonin, which gives you better sleep. But this cue is something you want to do consistently every day, just so that it gives again, your brain and your body that idea that it’s time to calm down. Another thing that people really like doing for this type of cue is to simply do some reading before bed. And so again, not reading on a device like your computer or your phone, but maybe an old school book. I know that sounds crazy or the the Kindles now have, they don’t have any blue light coming off of them. And just reading is just very calming in the evening. It’ll put you right to sleep. Even books that you’re in love with and excited about. Sometimes it’s like, it just starts to get you very drowsy and you want to ideally do it in bed. as soon as you really start to get sleepy, you just put the book aside and go to sleep. Cheryl McColgan (02:16.782)Another one that’s great for bedtime is a warm bath. The whole reason that this works is warming up your body. And ideally you want to do it maybe an hour to an hour and a half before bed. But again, it’s a relaxing activity. It’s something that signals it’s time to calm down and get ready for sleep. But it also has a physiological response in the body where you warm up your body temperature a little bit. Then when you get out and it starts to come back down, your body temperature coming back down actually makes you sleepy. So that’s another good one. But really any of these, can be anything that works for you. You just want it to be something that you can do on a consistent basis and that actually helps calm your nervous system. So it could also be, you know, a breathing exercise or some light stretching or, you know, anything like that, that’s going to make going to bed easier for your body. Another one is, Turning off bright lights. So maybe your cue for your wind down is to go around your house and turn off all the lights and maybe you just have like a gentle Red light in the room or just dim lights in your room as you’re winding down But just doing those cues time after time eventually it gets your body to a place where It’s calm enough and it’s ready some other things that I use for sleep since we’re talking about sleep sometimes just a wind down cue is not enough for some people but Again, I think if you practice it on a consistent basis, that’s going to change over time where it really does help you get to sleep. But there’s other things. There’s supplements you can take. mentioned melatonin. I actually wouldn’t recommend taking that on a regular basis because it does tend to make you feel groggy in the morning. In addition to that, it can also affect your own melatonin production over time. So that’s kind of not as recommended. But there’s plenty of sleep supplements. Sorry, I was losing my word there. Sleep supplements out there. that I’ve tried, I’ve used a brand called Dream. I had a new one sent to me that was from, the company’s escaping me. It’s kind of a funny name, but I’ll link it in the show notes. So also that could be part of your ritual is if it’s both of these drinks are kind of like a hot cocoa that you drink at night that has magnesium, GABA, some other sleep inducing things in it. So that could be your ritual is to make your nice warm drink, go get in your bed, sit that, relax, and then. Cheryl McColgan (04:38.434)go to sleep. So that’s one of the tools that I tend to use a lot. And then I’ve also talked a lot about in the past that I use a bed cooling pad. So I’m menopausal age, unfortunately. And a few years ago, I started getting horrible night sweats where it just really interrupted my sleep. So I started using a cooling pad on my bed about five years ago. And now it is so hard for me to sleep without it because it actually not only cools you but warms you as well. and can use it to like gently warm the bed as your, almost as your alarm clock. Instead of using a harsh alarm, it just starts to warm up your body and wake you up very naturally. So depending on where you are with sleep, this wind down cue is a great start. And that’s all we’re looking for in this challenge, right? Just trying some new little habit snacks that you can see if it works for you or you can see if it would do you good to add it on in the future. But this is just the beginning. So sleep is such, like I said, such a critical and underappreciated thing for health, longevity, for weight loss even, helps with fat loss. I mean, there’s so many reasons why you want to get good sleep, but this is just a small way that you can get started. Start repeating this if it speaks to you. If you’re someone that has trouble with sleep, I highly recommend that you take this one on and keep it for the rest of the challenge and beyond, because it will only help you. It may not be enough, like I said, but it is great stars. So some of those things that I mentioned, I’ll make sure I link them in the show notes. But for now, just create your simple wind down cue before bed. Try it out, see how you sleep and let me know in the comments if this works for you. If you already have a wind down routine, I’d love to hear about it because I think everybody wants to hear some good ideas if they can’t think of anything that works for them or speaks to them. So definitely let me know if you have any tips and we can share them with everybody else in the comments. OK. See you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan emphasizes the significance of incorporating movement into daily life as part of a healthy habit challenge. She discusses the importance of discipline, consistency, and starting small with just 10 minutes of movement each day. Cheryl highlights the benefits of exercise for both physical and mental health, including its effectiveness in combating depression and anxiety. She encourages listeners to find ways to make movement a habit and to build up their heart health gradually. Takeaways Discipline is just repetition and consistency.Start with small steps to build a habit.Exercise can be as effective as medication for depression.Aim for at least 10 minutes of movement daily.Strength training twice a week is sufficient for health.Consistency is key to maintaining healthy habits.Find ways to make exercise enjoyable and engaging.Track your progress to stay motivated.Overcoming mental barriers is crucial for exercise.Building heart health takes time and patience. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:01.08)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNourishGrow and welcome to day three of the 30 day healthy habits challenge. Today we’re going to talk about movement. So even though you’ve already been doing that as a component of this challenge from day one, I just want to talk about the importance of it. Again, reminding you that discipline is just repetition and consistency. So even on days that we aren’t motivated to move quite often, just knowing that it’s a habit, making that commitment to discipline is enough to make it work. And so today you’re just doing 10 minutes of movement. Maybe you’re trying something different than the other days that you’ve already moved in this challenge. That’s one thing I want to encourage you to do throughout the 30 days is you’re doing your 10 minutes of movement per day. Say you like, like I do have already a regimen where you lift weights a few times a week. I happen to be doing five, but whatever works for you actually based on the research, just two days a week of strength training is enough, but we’ll talk more about that at some other time. But so for example, for me, I’m very bad about stretching and mobility. So that’s the kind of thing that I’m going to be doing for my 10 minutes a day for my movement. So I’m going to keep my regular thing that I’ve already been doing on a consistent basis. And I’m going to add that in through the 30 days. So the minimum counts, you don’t have to do more than 10, but just challenge yourself to do 10 minutes of whatever it does. So why this matters is obviously there’s so many components of health. And I think that everybody has pretty much heard all of these things at this point. But for your heart health you need to get your heart rate up every day I think that the recommendation now that is being said is hundred and fifty minutes per week So we’re just doing ten minutes a day. We’re not quite there yet But what I want to do is again encourage you to start slowly. You don’t go from zero to a thousand Instantaneously, you know, we need to build up practice build up our heart health build up our heart strength to get to those longer amounts of activity. And so if you’re a person that doesn’t move consistently on a daily basis now, setting yourself up for failure is what’s going to happen if you say, I’m going to walk for half an hour every single day when you’ve been doing nothing. It’s just too much. That’s the way that people, you know, get into these new year’s resolutions and don’t make it very long because they, bit off more than they can choose. So doing these small steps really helps. In addition, Cheryl McColgan (02:22.912)Exercise is actually more effective than antidepressants for depression. Yes, you heard me say that right. Why every doctor and every psychiatrist and every psychologist does not promote this. is in their literature. It is very clear that exercise is as effective as medication for depression and anxiety. Now, if you’re on this medication, I’m not telling you to get off. I’m not a doctor. I’m not saying that it doesn’t help you or that you don’t need any of those things. Nobody’s saying that. But consider, especially for certain types of depression, that exercise is just as effective. Studies have shown this time and again. So if your medication is not working for you, or if you’ve had to add on medication because it doesn’t seem to be effective, consider that exercise might really be a great addition to your mental health and discuss that with your doctor. And like I said, there’ll be some research links in this right here. I can’t remember if those… specifically were in this one because I could put that I could put in there probably 100 links for each of these habits if I really wanted to but I just wanted to keep it obviously brief so that you might actually look at them and read them but if this is something you’re interested in just go to pubmed.gov and type in exercise and depression or exercise and anxiety and you’ll just see a whole huge long list of research in this area. But the idea with the movement is we want to show up still when motivation is low. Because like I said, we’re not always gonna be motivated every day, but we can practice discipline every day. And my trick, and I used to be a runner, I’m not anymore, but I ran consistently for 17 years and my knees gave out. And if I had to do it all over again, I never would have done that kind of exercise. If I would have strength trained when I was younger, more consistently, I would have just been so much more happier and my body would be so much better off for it. But anyway, it was a practice of discipline and I did it whether I liked it or not. And what was really effective for me on days that I really didn’t want to go run, even though I was scheduled to go run, is I’d be like, okay, just put on your workout clothes and just go out for five minutes. And after five minutes, you still don’t really want to go, just come home. And I would mentally convince myself of that more times than I care to admit. And sure enough, I’d go out and I’d get started. you can guess probably the amount of times I turned around and game home. Cheryl McColgan (04:45.304)game home, that was like zero. I don’t, literally don’t think I ever did that once I started, once I got out the door. And so that’s another, just trick yourself. Sometimes it’s even just, I’m just going to put on my workout clothes and then see what happens. So, you know, just find ways to do that. Find ways to make it a habit. And again, this is a reason we’re starting with 10 minutes, cause it’s so small that you almost can’t. Like you can’t convince yourself not to do it almost because it’s so little. It’s easy when I think of like, I think I got to go to the gym and I’m going to be resistance training for the next hour. That’s easy to convince myself out of. But if I convince myself, okay, I’m just going to go to the downstairs gym and I’ll just do a few things. And if I really don’t feel like it, then I just won’t finish again. That, that really never happens. The key is just getting yourself out the door or getting the shoes on or whatever it is with the movement you’re going to choose getting in that cold pool. Once you’re in there, you’re going to be fine. It’s just getting to that point. So as always the links to those studies will be in the tracker for you and in the email and Be sure to check off your habits We want to keep that consistency going and keep that little gamification of you Making the checkmark having your list that up how many days in the road do you have a streak? Let’s just keep it all going. So have a great rest of your day and I will see you again tomorrow

For day two of the 30 day healthy habits challenge, Cheryl shares why hydration is so important and how to use this simple yet important habit to start your day. Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode Transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:00.098)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan and welcome to day two of the 30 day healthy habits challenge. This one I’m really excited to share with you. It is something that I have been meaning to do for a long time. So I will be doing this throughout the challenge with you. And that is to drink a glass of water after waking. That is so simple and yet I don’t know, I never do it. Do you? So ideally you want to do this. before you have your coffee, before you have anything else. I’m not telling you a very specific amount, but they make it a large glass of water. So in my world, I have this, actually I have it right here on my desk. It is empty. So it’s proof positive that I need to be drinking more water. But this is about 16 to 20 ounces in this glass. And that is what I like you to do before you do anything else. Now, if you happen to get this on the, you you get this in the morning, but more than likely, You might have already had your coffee or you’re listening to this while you’re drinking your coffee. If that’s the case, like I said, this is easy peasy challenge, right? No big deal. Just try it tomorrow instead, along with your habit that’s going to come tomorrow. But if you’re hearing this in time, drink that glass of water before anything else and then you can move on. So why this is important. Even mild dehydration can affect your mood and attention. And hydrating early in the day, it supports everything, energy, digestion, performance, you’re hydrating your cells. And one of the people that I interviewed before on the podcast, they were saying, ideally, you know, for the challenge, we’re drinking this kind of large glass right at the beginning of the day, but ideally, you want to be hydrating throughout your day, because you need that extra hydration for your cells on an ongoing basis, not just all at once. So as much as we hate those little Stanley cups and everything that people carry around, If you can have one of those or have this glass of water on your desk and take a few sips like every few minutes, that’s really the ideal way to hydrate. And this is again, starting the day with a simple success. just gives you a good mindset for the entire day, knowing that you already had one small win and it’s just a great habit to start. So another thing you can do is you can set this habit up at night. So maybe you actually put a glass of water Cheryl McColgan (02:14.754)by your bed before you go to sleep. And that way when you wake up, you immediately drink that glass of water. This can also help if you’re like me, I take thyroid medication first thing in the morning and I have to wait 30 minutes before I can eat or do anything else anyway. So how I’m gonna approach this challenge is I always just, my thyroid pills are very, very small. So I always swallow them dry while I’m still in bed in the morning. But I’m gonna make it a point for this challenge to bring up a glass of water with me in the evening, put it next to my bed, put it right next to my thyroid pills. And I’ll just do that all at once. So that’s also a little intro into what we call habit stacking, which we’ll be talking about throughout this challenge, but more specifically on one of the days. but basically all habit stacking is, is just take one thing that you already do consistently and then put another habit right with it. So for me, I am very good about always taking my thyroid medication in the morning, but I don’t have a glass of water next to it. And I generally don’t get out of bed to do it. So the way I’m going to make it easy on myself is to just put a glass of water next to the bed. So anyway, it’s like I said, if you missed it this morning, try it tomorrow and then try it with the habit. That’s how kind of all these are. it’s for some reason, you don’t get the email until later in the day and you miss it, just do it the next day. They’re two simple habits. They don’t take any time at all. And so waiting until the next day is completely fine. So again, no need to be perfect. Just one glass. If you do a smaller glass than me, no judgment there. You can do whatever size works for you, but drink a glass of water. Okay. I will see you tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan introduces the Healthy Habits Challenge, emphasizing the importance of choosing three focus areas for personal growth over the next 30 days. She discusses the significance of daily movement, consistency, and mindfulness in forming new habits. The challenge encourages participants to track their progress and integrate meaningful habits into their daily lives, ultimately aiming to reduce overwhelm and enhance motivation. Takeaways Choose three focus areas for the next 30 days.Daily movement should be at least 10 minutes.Focus on what is meaningful to you.Track your progress to stay motivated.Customize the challenge to fit your lifestyle.Reduce overwhelm by having clear priorities.Practice discipline through repetition and consistency.Integrate new habits into your daily routine.Eliminate decision fatigue with focused goals. Watch on YouTube Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here. CONNECT WITH CHERYL Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight Dry Farm Wines, extra bottle for a penny Drinking Ketones Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life Clean Beauty 20% off first order DIY Lashes 10% off NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life Facebook YouTube Pinterest TikTok Amazon Store The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear Getting Started with Keto Resources The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide Episode transcript Cheryl McColgan (00:01.048)Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Feel Nourish Grow and welcome to day one of the Healthy Habits Challenge. I’m really excited to get this started and kick this off with you. This, if you’re in 2026, this is the first year I’ve started this, starting on January 1st, but the awesome thing is it’s available anytime. So whenever you’re hearing this, this is your day one. So today is to choose your three focus areas. We’re doing discipline as repetition as consistency. It is just something that you learn over time, but you do have to practice it. You don’t have to be perfect. You just need to do it. And so today’s habit won’t take you too long at all. You’re going to choose the three focus areas for the next 30 days and then write the smallest version of each one that still counts. And so this could be things for you. I mean, we have the daily movement, which is 10 minutes a day. So if you already have a really regular exercise program, maybe you commit to adding one day a week of some new movement or maybe it’s a slightly longer movement or maybe your focus area is working on your spirituality or maybe it is mindfully drinking if you drink alcohol. I actually have some friends over at Sunnyside. And they are doing a totally free challenge for this month too that focuses on just being more mindful around drinking. You don’t have to do a totally dry January. It can be kind of a semi dry January. But anyway, they are offering that for totally free. You don’t even have to put your credit card in. I’ve got a special link for that and I will make sure that that is in the show notes and down below for you if you’re on YouTube. So it could be that could be your focus area. It could be your relationships, focusing on your relationships. taking more time to connect with people or to make sure that you communicate with certain people on a daily basis in a certain way. So really it’s just going to be whatever is meaningful to you. I want you to pick those three focus areas and the way that you’ll carry that throughout the challenge is ideally you’re going be tracking in some way. So I’ve designed a spreadsheet tracker for you and that is in the email. You’ll copy that and then you can use it to just check off the things you’re doing. Cheryl McColgan (02:14.39)You can also use it to make a note of what your three focus areas are. And so ideally, every day when you get the email and or watch the video or listen to the podcast, I want you to have those three focus areas in mind and see if there’s a way that you can integrate the habit that we’re trying into those focus areas so that it’s really meaningful to you. It won’t always work. There will be some of the habits that you’ll just be trying just to try and they won’t necessarily relate to your three areas of focus. but you’re just going to be mindful on a daily basis of these focus areas and keep those as something in the back of your mind that you’re always trying to work towards. And if there’s any way that you can integrate it with the daily habit, then that’s even better. So this is all you have to do today, along with your 10 minutes of daily movement, because that’s going to be every single day. And this is any movement that works for you. There’s more explanation about it in the email, but it could be really anything canoeing, biking, running, walking, dancing, yoga. just any kind of joyful movement, ideally something that gets your heart rate up just a little bit. So depending on where you are in your fitness journey, that can literally just be walking around the block or say, you know, that you’re a runner. Maybe you make a new habit around 30 days to do something slightly different with that, whether it’s increasing your speed or taking more days off. If that’s something that you need, I want you to really just honor your body, but you’re still going to move your body for 10 minutes every single day. So if you’re already very, very active, that might look something more like on your day that’s supposed to be a rest day. Maybe it’s just some gentle stretching or mobility work. So really you’re going to customize this challenge so that it works exactly well for you. But anyway, starting with your focus areas, it just creates clear priorities throughout this 30 day challenge. It’s going to reduce overwhelm because you’re just going to focus on those three things right now, nothing else outside of that. That’s not to say that you don’t have other goals or other things that you want to prioritize in the future. But for this 30 days, we just want to give clear focus to these three so we can really give those a chance to take hold. And this clarity is just, like I said, reduce your overwhelm. It’s going to eliminate decision fatigue because any time there’s a question, you just go back to those three priorities and you’re going to make that very clear in your mind that’ll help you make your decision. And so you just spend less time deciding and more time doing ideally with those high priorities in mind. Cheryl McColgan (04:34.478)It should also just take a little less mental energy when you know that those are your priorities and you’ve already decided that’s what you’re focused on for this 30 days should make everything a little bit easier. So I would also like you to consider if you’re a person that this kind of motivation works for you instead of just having it, know, on your phone in a tracker app and there’ll be some links in that first email for apps that I like and things that you can use. But it’s also nice to just maybe see it in the morning when you get up. So if you always you know, go in the bathroom to get ready in the morning, maybe writing your three focus areas for the month on a sticky note and putting it on your mirror or making it your screen saver on your phone, just somewhere where you’re going to see it often enough that it keeps it high priority in your mind. And then also consider each day as you go through this challenge, you’re going to get the habit in the morning and your email and Most of these, there should be plenty of time throughout the day to fit this in. Like I said, it only takes five to 15 minutes, but also just consider what your day looks like on a daily basis and maybe kind of mentally map out a time where you’re going to plan to do this habit. So maybe for you, it’s morning, lunch or evening, or maybe it’s a very specific time of the day. You could set a timer on your phone. Like usually when you have a little, maybe you have a little downtime, you set the timer and then that’s when you’ll do the habit for the day. So that’s some ideas on just how to integrate it and make it easier. But like I said, today, every day is going to be a very simple habit. take five to 15 minutes. So identifying these three focus areas, I think for most people it will come to mind pretty quickly. But you can certainly take a little bit more time if you really want to mentally evaluate where you’ve been in your life lately and what three areas could use the most work. So this. in theory could be the longest day of habits, but it’s going to set you up for success for the whole month. But for a lot of us, we kind of already know which areas we should be working on. And so coming up with those three might even only take you two to three minutes. So anyway, best of luck today. As always, if you’re having super challenges during this time and or you have questions about the program, most of these things should be pretty obvious. And some of the things are a little bit ambiguous on purpose so that it gives you some flexibility. So as long as you are making Cheryl McColgan (06:57.462)you know, having your three priorities, making those the thing that you’re going to focus on and then trying the one habit for the day. That’s really all that you need to do. So until tomorrow, good luck with the habits today and I will see you soon.

Als Mark Post 2013 den ersten Bioreaktor-Burger präsentierte, schien eine neue Ära angebrochen. Kultiviertes Fleisch sollte Massentierhaltung ersetzen. Dem Hype folgte Ernüchterung bei Start-ups – und in den USA wächst der politische Widerstand. Tobias Landwehr, Ramona Weinrich, Andre Zantow www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de, Weltzeit

Schon in 25 Jahren könnte unsere Ernährung ganz anders aussehen. Welche Rolle spielen neue Produkte für gesundes und nachhaltiges Essen? Die Forschung ist sich sicher: Wir werden unsere Ernährung umstellen müssen, denn unser Planet zeigt schon jetzt die Grenzen der Lebensmittelproduktion auf - vor allem tierische Proteine müssen teilweise ersetzt werden. Aber auch unsere Böden sind bald nicht mehr für intensiven landwirtschaftlichen Anbau geeignet. Synapsen-Autorin Nele Rößler hat sich erklären lassen, warum unser Mehl künftig auch aus Insekten gemacht sein könnte und wie Fischfilets aus Stammzellen wachsen. Im Gespräch mit Host Korinna Hennig erläutert sie verschiedene Ernährungs-Szenarien, die in der Politik schon jetzt diskutiert werden - und was das für unsere Gesundheit bedeutet. HINTERGRUNDINFORMATIONEN: Umweltauswirkungen durch die Herstellung von Pflanzenkohle, Umweltbundesamt 2025 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/umwelttipps-fuer-den-alltag/garten-freizeit/pyrolyseoefen-zur-herstellung-von-pflanzenkohle#gewusst-wie Bioverfügbarkeit, ernährungsphysiologische Wirkungen und Sicherheit von Nährstoffen aus Mikroalgen und ihren verarbeiteten Produkten, Max-Rubner-Institut, 2025 https://www.mri.bund.de/de/institute/physiologie-und-biochemie-der-ernaehrung/forschungsprojekte/mikroalgen/ Insekten als Lebensmittel – diese sind zugelassen. Verbraucherzentrale, 2025 https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/lebensmittel/gesund-ernaehren/insekten-als-lebensmittel-diese-sind-zugelassen-60446 Clean Meat – ist Laborfleisch die Zukunft. Verbraucherzentrale, 2025 https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/lebensmittel/lebensmittelproduktion/clean-meat-ist-laborfleisch-die-zukunft-65071 Fünf Zukunftsszenarien zu den Themen Ernährung und Lebensmittel in Deutschland, 2025 https://www.mri.bund.de/fileadmin/MRI/Forschung/MRI_20240820_PB_Forschungsperspektive_2050_PDFUA_End_SE.pdf Ex-ante-Lebenszyklus Bewertung von Laborfleisch im Jahr 2030, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2023 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-022-02128-8 Ökologische Fußabdrücke von Lebensmitteln und Gerichten in Deutschland, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg, 2020 https://www.ifeu.de/fileadmin/uploads/Reinhardt-Gaertner-Wagner-2020-Oekologische-Fu%C3%9Fabdruecke-von-Lebensmitteln-und-Gerichten-in-Deutschland-ifeu-2020.pdf Eat Lancet Ressources – Rezepte auf Grundlage der Planetary Health Diet https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet/resources/ Hier geht's zum neuen Podcast ARD Klima Update: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/ard-klima-update/urn:ard:show:71acd059ed116dc2/ Hier geht's zur Synapsenseite: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/podcastsynapsen100.html Habt ihr Feedback oder einen Lifehack aus der Welt der Wissenschaft? Schreibt uns gerne an synapsen@ndr.de.

Schon in 25 Jahren könnte unsere Ernährung ganz anders aussehen. Welche Rolle spielen neue Produkte für gesundes und nachhaltiges Essen? Die Forschung ist sich sicher: Wir werden unsere Ernährung umstellen müssen, denn unser Planet zeigt schon jetzt die Grenzen der Lebensmittelproduktion auf - vor allem tierische Proteine müssen teilweise ersetzt werden. Aber auch unsere Böden sind bald nicht mehr für intensiven landwirtschaftlichen Anbau geeignet. Synapsen-Autorin Nele Rößler hat sich erklären lassen, warum unser Mehl künftig auch aus Insekten gemacht sein könnte und wie Fischfilets aus Stammzellen wachsen. Im Gespräch mit Host Korinna Hennig erläutert sie verschiedene Ernährungs-Szenarien, die in der Politik schon jetzt diskutiert werden - und was das für unsere Gesundheit bedeutet. HINTERGRUNDINFORMATIONEN: Umweltauswirkungen durch die Herstellung von Pflanzenkohle, Umweltbundesamt 2025 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/umwelttipps-fuer-den-alltag/garten-freizeit/pyrolyseoefen-zur-herstellung-von-pflanzenkohle#gewusst-wie Bioverfügbarkeit, ernährungsphysiologische Wirkungen und Sicherheit von Nährstoffen aus Mikroalgen und ihren verarbeiteten Produkten, Max-Rubner-Institut, 2025 https://www.mri.bund.de/de/institute/physiologie-und-biochemie-der-ernaehrung/forschungsprojekte/mikroalgen/ Insekten als Lebensmittel – diese sind zugelassen. Verbraucherzentrale, 2025 https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/lebensmittel/gesund-ernaehren/insekten-als-lebensmittel-diese-sind-zugelassen-60446 Clean Meat – ist Laborfleisch die Zukunft. Verbraucherzentrale, 2025 https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/wissen/lebensmittel/lebensmittelproduktion/clean-meat-ist-laborfleisch-die-zukunft-65071 Fünf Zukunftsszenarien zu den Themen Ernährung und Lebensmittel in Deutschland, 2025 https://www.mri.bund.de/fileadmin/MRI/Forschung/MRI_20240820_PB_Forschungsperspektive_2050_PDFUA_End_SE.pdf Ex-ante-Lebenszyklus Bewertung von Laborfleisch im Jahr 2030, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 2023 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-022-02128-8 Ökologische Fußabdrücke von Lebensmitteln und Gerichten in Deutschland, Institut für Energie- und Umweltforschung Heidelberg, 2020 https://www.ifeu.de/fileadmin/uploads/Reinhardt-Gaertner-Wagner-2020-Oekologische-Fu%C3%9Fabdruecke-von-Lebensmitteln-und-Gerichten-in-Deutschland-ifeu-2020.pdf Eat Lancet Ressources – Rezepte auf Grundlage der Planetary Health Diet https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet/resources/ Hier geht's zum neuen Podcast ARD Klima Update: https://www.ardaudiothek.de/sendung/ard-klima-update/urn:ard:show:71acd059ed116dc2/ Hier geht's zur Synapsenseite: https://www.ndr.de/nachrichten/podcastsynapsen100.html Habt ihr Feedback oder einen Lifehack aus der Welt der Wissenschaft? Schreibt uns gerne an synapsen@ndr.de.

Did you know that even organic meat can contain hidden toxins like heavy metals and hormone-disrupting residues?In this episode of The Well Drop, I sit down with Chad Wall, fifth generation regenerative farmer and founder of Proven Proteins, to reveal what most people don't know about their protein and why clean eating starts with clean soil.We explore how conventional agriculture strips our food of nutrients, how misleading labels like “organic” and “grass-fed” often hide inflammatory ingredients, and what it really takes to raise protein that supports your hormones, energy, and longevity.Chad shares why his fermented beef sticks serve as a gut-friendly, kid-approved alternative to typical snacks, and how anyone, yes, even on a budget, sources better meat that truly nourishes.Chad Wall is the founder of Ripley Cove Farms and Proven Proteins, a regenerative farming operation focused on nutrient-dense meat, soil restoration, and conscious food systems. With deep roots in agriculture and a mission to create transparency in the protein space, Chad leads the charge in redefining what clean protein really means, from farm to label to plate.We Also Discuss:(00:00) The Dirty Truth About “Clean” Meat and Why Labels Lie(04:18) How Chemical Farming Took Over, and the Movement Taking It Back(20:19) The Nutrient Gap No One Talks About (And How to Fix It Through Food)(27:11) Can You Really Eat Regeneratively on a Budget? Here's How(38:06) How to Save Your Health and a Farmer at the Same TimeThank You to Our Sponsor:Sign up for The Well Drop NewsletterFind out more about Amber Berger: Website: www.thewelldrop.com Instagram: www.instagram.com/thewelldropFind out more about Chad Wall: Website: https://ripleycovefarms.com/https://provenproteins.com/Instagram: @ripleycovefarms

The meat industry and its defenders promise ethical consumption and sustainable farming, but animal agriculture fuels ecological destruction, entrenches human supremacy, and masks cruelty with comforting myths. John Sanbonmatsu, philosopher and author of The Omnivore's Deception, shatters the myths of “humane meat” and the 'naturalness' of eating meat, and explains why abolishing the animal economy is essential to living an ethical human life. Highlights include:  Why growing up as the child of a Jewish mother and Japanese-American father in the U.S. sensitized John to bullying and injustice - against both human and nonhuman animals; Why the origins of human domination over animals are rooted in patriarchy and an ancient human estrangement from animals, and reinforced today by a toxic nexus of masculinity, human supremacy, neoliberal capitalism, and pronatalism; Why focusing only on factory farming misses the fundamental problem of human domination of animals and the planet - and how books like Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and the new American pastoral ethos perpetuate myths of so-called ethical meat while attacking the animal rights movement; Why justifying meat-eating as “natural” is ethically bankrupt - on par with past appeals to nature to justify slavery or denying women's rights - and how vegans and vegetarians provoke defensive ridicule because they reveal uncomfortable truths; Why the flood of scientific studies on animal cognition and emotion hasn't changed behavior - and how cultural fascination with AI and plant consciousness distracts from our brutal treatment of fully sentient animals; Why bad faith - our self-deception about how we treat animals - is the most destructive force preventing moral progress, and why what we're doing to animals deserves to be called 'evil'; How empathy, an evolved trait we share with animals and desperately need to nurture, is being eroded by increasing social disconnection and anti-empathy tech bro ideologies; Why lab meat, also known as 'clean meat', is not the solution to speciesism and human supremacism and consuming our way to animal liberation is a delusion; Why the animal rights movement is being undermined by the money pouring into utilitarian effective altruism and “realistic” approaches - when true compassion demands not animal welfarism, but the abolition of animal exploitation and a direct challenge to the entrenched power structures that prevent moral progress. See episode website for show notes, links, and transcript:  https://www.populationbalance.org/podcast/john-sanbonmatsu   OVERSHOOT | Shrink Toward Abundance OVERSHOOT tackles today's interlocked social and ecological crises driven by humanity's excessive population and consumption. The podcast explores needed narrative, behavioral, and system shifts for recreating human life in balance with all life on Earth. With expert guests from wide-ranging disciplines, we examine the forces underlying overshoot: from patriarchal pronatalism that is fueling overpopulation, to growth-biased economic systems that lead to consumerism and social injustice, to the dominant worldview of human supremacy that subjugates animals and nature. Our vision of shrinking toward abundance inspires us to seek pathways of transformation that go beyond technological fixes toward a new humanity that honors our interconnectedness with all beings.  Hosted by Nandita Bajaj and Alan Ware. Brought to you by Population Balance. Subscribe to our newsletter here: https://www.populationbalance.org/subscribe Support our work with a one-time or monthly donation: https://www.populationbalance.org/donate Learn more at https://www.populationbalance.org Copyright 2025 Population Balance

Send us a textDr. Damaris Maria Grossman welcomes Joe Berg, creator of protein-packed grass-fed beef snacks, and his strategic partner John Engelson to discuss integrative health and clean protein options.• Joe Berg shares his journey from 35-year tech industry veteran to EMT volunteer to energy healer• Joe developed ability to sense which foods would benefit different individuals• His daughter prophetically suggested "Joburg" as a business name years before he entered food industry• COVID-19 shutdown created opportunity to build a 20,000 square foot facility focused on clean beef snacks• John Engelson brings background as founder of "You Are What You Eat" and pioneer in health food sections• Products contain no sugar, no junk ingredients, no nitrates/nitrites, and no preservatives• Maltodextrin in many snacks has glycemic index 40% higher than table sugar• Joe lost 12 pounds in one week eating only his protein snacks• Approximately 85% of population struggles with insulin resistance• Small dietary changes can create significant health improvements• Intermittent fasting (12-14 hours daily) beneficial for most people• Each bag contains equivalent protein to a six-ounce steak• Products have one-year shelf life despite containing no preservativesUse code DAMARIS15 for 15% off at joburgmeats.com Support the showSponsor Affiliates Empowering Wellness Through Evidence-Based Education https://www.atecam.com/ Get YOUR Own Joburg Protein Snacks Discount Code: Damaris15 Or Damaris18 Feeling need to Lose Weight & Become metabolically Healthy GET METABOLIC COURSE GLP 1 REseT This course is designed for individuals looking to optimize their metabolic health through integrative and functional medicine approaches. Whether you're on a GLP-1 medication or seeking natural ways to enhance your metabolic function, this course provides actionable steps, expert insights, and a personalized roadmap sustainable wellness. Are you feeling stressed, tired, or Metabolism imbalanced? Take advantage of our free mindful steps to help improve your well-being.ENJOY ONE OF our Books Mindful Ways Health Wealth & Life https://stan.store/Mindfullyintegrative Join Yearly membership ALL IN O...

Join Paul Shapiro as he explores the potential of fungi as a sustainable and ethical alternative to traditional meat. Learn how fungal-based innovations could revolutionize the food industry and offer a viable solution for the future of meat. #FutureOfMeat #SustainableEating #FungiInnovation

Marena Gray is the manager of The Custom Shop at The Meating Place in Hillsboro, Oregon.  She breaks down thousands of animals each season and offers some solid advice for hunters if they want to get quality meat back from the butcher. It all starts with what you do in the field.  

Two entrepreneurs created a preservative-free, clean meat snack company  -Joburg Meats - that produces traditional South African biltong using only beef, apple cider vinegar, salt, and spices - making it ideal for low-carb and health-conscious consumers.Jon Engleson and Yusef Baumgarten, the founders of Joburg Meats are bringing traditional South African biltong to the American market with a focus on clean ingredients and quality sourcing. Unlike conventional jerky, which is cooked with sugars and preservatives, their biltong is naturally cured for two weeks using only beef, apple cider vinegar, salt, and spices. The meat comes from pasture-raised, grass-fed cattle from South America, where traditional farming practices are still the norm. The conversation takes an interesting turn when Yusef shares his personal experience of losing 10 pounds in one week simply by switching from eating babka (a sweet bread) to biltong for breakfast. The company is expanding their line to include new flavors like Korean BBQ and truffle, plus developing clean versions of traditional salamis without nitrates or preservatives.Did You Know...?One of the founders was originally a tech professional who also practiced as an energy healer and EMT for 15 years. This unexpected background led him to be particularly conscious about creating clean, additive-free products, as he had developed sensitivity to testing food quality through his healing work.NOTABLE QUOTE"You kind of muscle test each product. You're like, is this really good? Is this really not good? And you test and nope, no good. I'm like, okay I'm going to need it anyway. Okay. When it came to this built tongue, I was introduced to it. And I don't know why subconsciously I did a muscle test and ask, is this a good product? Is this healthy for me? And I got a confirmed solid yes."Send Dr. Ovadia a Text Message. (If you want a response, include your contact information.) Joburg MeatsKeto/Carnivore-friendly meat snacks. Tasty+Clean. 4 ingredients. Use code “iFixHearts” to save 15%. Chances are, you wouldn't be listening to this podcast if you didn't need to change your life and get healthier. So take action right now. Book a call with Dr. Ovadia's team. One small step in the right direction is all it takes to get started. How to connect with Stay Off My Operating Table:Twitter: Dr. Ovadia: @iFixHearts Jack Heald: @JackHeald5 Learn more: Learn more about Dr. Ovadia's personalized health coaching Get Dr. Ovadia's book Stay Off My Operating Table on Amazon. Take Dr. Ovadia's metabolic health quiz: iFixHearts visit Dr. Ovadia's website: Ovadia Heart Health visit Jack Heald's website: CultYourBrand.com Theme Song : Rage AgainstWritten & Performed by Logan Gritton & Colin Gailey(c) 2016 Mercury Retro RecordingsAny use of this intellectual property for text and data mining or computational analysis including as training material for artificial intelligence systems is strictly prohibited without express written consent from Dr. Philip Ovadia.

Around the time his son was born in 2011, Beni Nofech saw a video that changed his life. After listening to an argument about the need to move away from the view that animals are mere commodities for humanity to use however we like, Beni adopted a vegan diet and soon found himself attending animal movement and alt-protein conferences. From there, he began making angel investments in food tech startups that could help animals, eventually leading him to leave his career in the medical device world to become a full-time venture capitalist in the alt-protein food tech world. Today, Beni runs Milk & Honey Ventures, an eight-figure investment fund with a mandate to place early-stage bets on Israeli food tech startups that are seeking to displace animals in the food system. He's backed some of the biggest names in alt-protein, including many companies who've been on this podcast before. In this episode, Beni and I discuss the state of alt-protein investing, whether he views the current apparent malaise as permanent or transitory, and what he sees for the future of this important industry.  I've known Beni since 2016 and can attest that he's a great guy with important insights from which anyone who cares about building a better food system will benefit. Discussed in this episode Beni was influenced to become vegan after seeing this speech online. Beni helped promote this 2016 fundraising video by SuperMeat, to which Paul donated. Beni served on the board of the Modern Agriculture Foundation. Beni recommends: Startup Nation, Clean Meat, Sapiens, and Calvin and Hobbes. Bonus: One of Paul's favorite Calvin and Hobbes strips.  The Good Food Institute's suggestions for white space in the alt-protein sector. Our past episodes with Oshi and PoLoPo. Pitch Milk and Honey Ventures at hello@mnhventures.com More about Beni Nofech Beni is the Founding Managing-Partner of Milk & Honey Ventures - Israel's leading venture capital fund exclusively dedicated to the Sustainable-Protein industry. He has been a key player in the sector in Israel for over a decade, actively serving as an angel investor, entrepreneur, and advocate for the industry. His experience spans investments in over a dozen startups, including some of the most notable success stories in the global alternative-protein space today. Beni's passion is the effective acceleration of disruptive Sustainable-Protein technologies

This week's episode features a conversation with Paul Shapiro, who went from being a lobbyist who advocated for better animal treatment to building a future food company that leverages technology to reduce our reliance on animal agriculture. Links: Paul's website: https://www.paul-shapiro.com/ Paul's company: The Better Meat Co. Paul's book: Clean Meat, on Amazon. Also, make sure to subscribe to our weekly Food Tech News Show podcast where we talk about some of the top stories of the week in the world of food tech.

No cultivated meat company has raised more capital than UPSIDE Foods. In 2022, after having already raised about $200 million in previous rounds, the company raised another $400 million in a Series C round with a company valuation north of the coveted $1 billion unicorn status. No company in the space has garnered more media attention, both positive and critical, than UPSIDE Foods. No company has as much volume of cultivation capacity as UPSIDE Foods. No company is as old as UPSIDE Foods, as it was the first startup formed to take this technology out of academia and work to commercialize real meat grown slaughter-free. It's also one of the few companies in the world to have been granted regulatory approval to actually sell cultivated meat, which it did in the US. So it was only fitting that this conversation with UPSIDE CEO Uma Valeti take place in person inside the beating heart of UPSIDE's EPIC (Cultivated Meat Engineering, Production, and Innovation Center) cultivated meat pilot facility in Emeryville, California. I often say that I'm Uma Valeti's first biographer, since I profile him in Clean Meat, but I certainly won't be his last biographer, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails. And the last time I visited UPSIDE Foods, in 2017, when the company was still called Memphis Meats, and I got to enjoy their cultivated duck. At that time, they had only a handful of employees. Now, as 230 UPSIDE employees worked away in the dramatically nicer building that houses EPIC, I first got to enjoy four different cultivated chicken dishes. I tried both chicken that was FDA-approved and grown in smaller cultivators, and chicken that was yet to be FDA-approved, which was grown in 2,000-liter cultivators. Spoiler: they all tasted great, and were easily discerned from most plant-based chicken in scent, flavor, and texture. After the tasting, Uma and I sat down for this frank conversation in which we discussed UPSIDE's past, present, and future. That includes details about the scale and capability at which they currently sit, why they paused their plans for their vaunted Rubicon commercial facility in Illinois, what expansions they're planning on making at EPIC in California, what Uma thinks about the obituaries some journalists are writing for the cultivated meat industry, when he thinks cultivated meat will reach 1 percent market share in the total meat market, and much more.  In this conversation, you'll hear Uma elaborate on how the technology has gone from being decried as impossible to now possible, and what remains to be seen is whether it will now go from possible to inevitable.  It's a fascinating and revelatory conversation with a man who has served in many ways as a face for the cultivated meat movement for many years, even prior to founding this company. Discussed in this episode This episode is the eighth in our multi-part podcast series on cultivated meat. The previous seven episodes include Avant Meats, BlueNalu, Eat Just, Fork & Good, Mosa Meat, New Harvest, and Aleph Farms. Our past episode with New Harvest founder Jason Matheny. A 2013 Washington Post obituary for electric vehicles. Nine states are now phasing out gas cars by 2035, and so are automakers like GM. Uma and Paul both endorse the work of the Good Food Institute. You can see a clip of Paul tasting UPSIDE Foods' duck in 2017 here. Uma is profiled in Clean Meat, which has an updated 2024 paperback edition now out.  Tyson Foods pulled out of its investment in Beyond Meat. Paul couldn't recall the exact name in the live interview, but he was referring to Potemkin villages in Russia. More about Uma Valeti Dr. Uma Valeti is the CEO and Founder of UPSIDE Foods. Uma earned a degree in Cardiology from the Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) in Pondicherry, India. After residencies at Wayne State and SUNY Buffalo, Uma completed three fellowships at the Mayo Clinic. He teaches Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University. In 2019, Uma was named a “Global Thinker of the Decade” by Foreign Policy magazine. He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the Aspen Ideas Festival, and SXSW.

In 2013, Dr. Mark Post shocked the world when he debuted the world's first-ever burger grown from animal cells. Weighing in as a quarter-pounder, the burger carried a price tag of a mere $330,000—all of which was funded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.  A decade later, what does Mark think about the movement and the industry he helped birth?  When his burger was debuted, a grand total of zero companies existed to commercialize what would come to be called cultivated meat, no serious investment dollars had flowed into cultivated meat research, yet hopes were high that such meat would be on the market within a decade. In this episode, Mark offers why he thinks his timeline predictions in 2013 were proven too optimistic, what he thinks the biggest hurdles to success were and are, and what inventions still must be made to give cultivated meat a shot at making a dent in the number of animals used for food. Discussed in this episode Mark recommends reading the journal Nature Food. Paul's book Clean Meat tells Mark's tale, and is coming out as an updated paperback edition on April 9, 2024! More about Mark Post Dr. Mark Post, MD/PhD, has had several appointments as assistant professor at Utrecht University, Harvard University, as associate professor at Dartmouth college, and as full professor at Eindhoven University of Technology and Maastricht University. He currently holds the chair of the Physiology Department at Maastricht University. He is visiting professor at Harvard, University of Modena and faculty at Singularity University.  His main research interest is the engineering of tissues for medical applications and for food. The medical applications focus on the construction of blood vessels that can be used as grafts for coronary artery bypass grafting. Tissue engineering for Food has lead to the development of cultured beef from bovine skeletal muscle stem cells in an effort to transform the traditional meat production through livestock.  Dr Post co-authored 165 papers in leading peer-reviewed scientific journals and received during his career over 50 million dollars in funding and awards from different sources including government, charity and industry. He presented the world's first hamburger from cultured beef in the August 2013 and is working on improvements and scaling up the production of cultured meat.  He received the World Technology Award from AAAS/Times/Forbes for invention with the biggest potential for environmental impact. Dr Post is CSO and co-founder of MosaMeat and of Qorium, two companies that aim to commercialize meat and leather applications of tissue engineering. He is CEO of Cell2Tissue, which is a developer of technologies in tissue engineering for consumer and health applications.

Some of the companies in the cultivated meat space are betting that massive stainless steel cultivators—think 100,000L to 250,000L—are the path to commercialization. Niya Gupta, CEO of Fork and Good, is thinking smaller.  She argues that there may be a more realistic path using a larger number of smaller tanks, void of the impellers that agitate the more conventionally used reactors in the sector.  Founded in 2018, the company was spun out of Modern Meadow, the first-ever cultivated animal product company which is now focused on materials like leather rather than meat. Having raised more than $20M in its first six years, Fork and Good just held its first-ever tasting of the animal cells they're growing, and as you'll hear in this conversation, it was a real success.  Does Niya think that the cultivated meat industry can make up one percent of the conventional meat industry's volume within the next decade? Listen to her insights in this episode for the answer to that question! Discussed in this episode Niya recommends reading Man's Search for Meaning, which she re-reads annually. Paul mentions that a quote from Man's Search for Meaning was read by the officiant at his wedding. That quote follows: “The truth – that Love is the ultimate and highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.” Niya also recommends reading Radical Candor and Mindset. Modern Meadow is profiled in Clean Meat, including the new (2024) paperback edition. More about Niyati Gupta Niya Gupta is the co-founder and CEO of Fork & Good, a cultivated meat company addressing the high costs of the industry with a novel and patented approach in cell culture that produces meat more efficiently than cows and pigs. Niya was also the CEO of Comcrop, a vertical farming startup in Singapore selling greens into major supermarkets. Prior to this she had spent more than 10 years in food and conventional agriculture businesses, including at McKinsey and Syngenta. She holds an MBA and MPAID from Harvard, and an Economics BA from Yale.

If you listened to the last episode, you already know that there's an updated paperback edition of my book Clean Meat that's coming out April 9, 2024. I announced in that episode that, aligning with that release, this show will be devoted for a couple months exclusively to interviews with leaders in the cultivated meat space, many of whom are profiled in the book.  And there's perhaps no person in the cultivated meat sector who's generated more headlines than Josh Tetrick, CEO of both Eat Just and Good Meat. Along with people like Mark Post and Uma Valeti, both of whom will also be guests in this podcast series, Josh was one of the first entrepreneurs to devote resources to trying to commercialize cultivated meat. And his company, Good Meat, indeed was the first company ever to win regulatory approval anywhere—in Singapore—and start selling real meat grown without animal cells.  In the new paperback edition of Clean Meat I detail the process of that Singaporean regulatory approval and the world's first historic cultivated meat sale. And while Good Meat has gone on to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital and garner US regulatory approval as well, the company admittedly hasn't yet achieved the goals it set out for itself in the early days.  In the recent New York Times obituary for cultivated meat, the author Joe Fassler writes, “The book ‘Clean Meat' describes Mr. Tetrick looking at factory drawings and saying, ‘By 2025, we'll build the first of these facilities,' and by 2030, ‘we're the world's largest meat company.'” Today, in 2024, Good Meat no longer has an aspiration of a 2025 major cultivated meat plant, and the idea of being the world's largest meat company by 2030 seems relatively  unlikely. But as you'll hear in this interview, Josh Tetrick remains cautiously optimistic about a future for the cultivated meat industry, despite negative headlines that are, at least for the time being, dampening some investors' enthusiasm for the space. In this episode, Josh and I have a frank discussion about the cultivated meat sector, how it may be able to scale, what the economics could look like, whether Josh thinks it's realistic to make a dent in total animal meat demand, and more.  Long-time listeners of the show will remember that Josh also was a guest on this podcast way back in 2019 on Episode 23. In that conversation, we discussed how he remains resilient in the face of adversity. I recommend going back and listening to that inspirational episode for sure, and I'm glad to have Josh back on the show to offer his point of view of where things stand in the movement to divorce meat production from animal slaughter today. Discussed in this episode Josh recommends reading Thinking, Fast and Slow. Our 2019 episode with Josh, Episode 23. A 2013 Washington Post obituary for electric cars.  More about Josh Tetrick Josh Tetrick is CEO & co-founder of Eat Just, Inc., a food technology company with a mission to build a healthier, safer and more sustainable food system in our lifetimes.  The company's expertise, from functionalizing plant proteins to culturing animal cells, is powered by a world-class team of scientists and chefs spanning more than a dozen research disciplines. Eat Just created one of America's fastest-growing egg brands, which is made entirely of plants, and the world's first-to-market meat made from animal cells instead of slaughtered livestock.  Prior to founding Eat Just, Tetrick led a United Nations business initiative in Kenya and worked for both former President Clinton and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. As a Fulbright Scholar, Tetrick taught schoolchildren in Nigeria and South Africa and is a graduate of Cornell University and the University of Michigan Law School.  Tetrick has been named one of Fast Company's “Most Creative People in Business,” Inc.'s “35 Under 35” and Fortune's “40 Under 40.” Eat Just has been recognized as one of Fast Company's “Most Innovative Companies,” Entrepreneur's “100 Brilliant Companies,” CNBC's “Disruptor 50” and a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.

I'm excited to announce in this short new podcast episode that there's a new, updated, paperback edition of my book Clean Meat that's coming out on April 9, 2024. Published by Simon and Schuster's Gallery Books, the new Clean Meat is now available for preorder everywhere books are sold.  Aligning with this new edition release, for the next couple months, this podcast is going to focus squarely on the issue that's animated my life for the past 30 years: how to wean humanity off our animal-centered diets. The extraordinary suffering of the literally trillions of animals who we farm and kill for food has plagued me for more than three decades, and alleviating some of their suffering is the cause to which I've devoted my entire career.