Who out there doesn’t want to be more resilient? I know I do. There is a lot we have control over and a lot we don’t have control over. Building resilience is one of the greatest things we can do for our health so we are better prepared for whatever is thrown at us.I would love to quickly share 5 of my favorite health promoting things with you as we move into the new year. And as always I would love to hear what your favorite new tools are for finding balanced health and RESILIENCE.
Number one
Simple Self Care- The more I learn about health and science the more I come back to how important the small boring daily habits are for longerm health (not the shiny expensive new tricks and hacks). These everyday self care things fill up our health account so we can draw on it later and put us in touch with our body/emotions/needs. Try focusing on simple self care this year instead of a fancy new year’s resolution. I really love this idea. What fills you up? What small things can add to your daily life? Pick one to start and do it. Some ideas include
- 3 minutes of mindful breathing every single morning. Inhale to the count of 4 and exhale to the count of 4. After, consider how you want to feel today and say no to anything you can that does not bring you closer to that feeling.
- A glass of water, lemon water, or apple cider vinegar water upon waking up every single day.
- Take a walk everyday at lunch every day, even just 10 minutes.
- Take 1 minute before you eat to stop, breath, smell, see, and be grateful for your food. Then eat slowly and chew mindfully.
- A daily 10 minute stretching routine.
- Spend 2 minutes every night before bed considering what you were grateful for in your day, even the hardest ones
- Prioritize sleep. Seriously. Every night try for 7-8 of rejuvenating sleep. If you are not getting it find support. Start by setting a non negotiable bed time. For me its 9-10pm.
Which ones do you do or sound like something you could add? I would love to hear. I would love to hear how you feel after a month or 2 or 12 of doing these small things. You can find me on instagram or send an email.
Number two
Cheers! or not….. I love that so many people take January as a time to refrain from drinking. What a great ritual. I did this last year and really saw some big changes especially with my night sweats! I can’t believe I used to have them (they have disappeared due to several hormone balancing efforts but this had a big impact). Two of my favorite cocktail replacements are having fresh ginger, soda water, and stevia or a glass of soda water with natural bitters (Herb Pharm makes some great ones that I spray right in). Both are so simple and so yummy.
Later last year I found Dry Farm Wines and am thrilled to find out that I can have a glass of wine every now again and don’t have headaches or wake up in the night. It had been a long time since I enjoyed red wine and I am so happy to be able to do this every once in a while now. The trick is Dry Farm Wines only supplies wines that have no sugar, are all organic, have lower alcohol, no toxic additives, no sulfites, use wild native yeasts, and are paleo and keto friendly. Crazy awesome. I am so happy to have found them for an occasional glass of wine. They offer 100% money back if you don’t like it AND you can get a free bottle of wine with your first order if you use this link (dryfarmwines.com/MountainRebalance).So an alcohol-free or headache/sugar/toxin-free cheers to you
Number three
It is official, I have found my favorite gluten test. Vibrant Wellness offers an extremely intelligent, specific and detailed test in regards to gluten with about 40 markers involved. This includes separate proteins, peptides, non gluten components, gut permeability, inflammation, genetics and more. It has been a game changer for really understanding if/how gluten is impacting each individual’s body. Their prices go up in 2 weeks so if you are interested in finding out what is true for you give a shout. They offer other similar, incredibly intelligent testing for other foods like eggs, dairy, grains, gut health, neuro etc.
Number four
Using a continuous blood sugar monitor has been one of my favorite new ways to tap into my body and connect some dots. It has been an incredible way to see how I am reacting to different foods, intermittent fasting, how I react to drinking alcohol, stress, exercise, coffee, what might be waking me up at night and tapping into how it feels when I have low blood sugar (sleepy and anxious for me!). Because dis-regulated blood sugar, along with dis-regulated stress, are 2 things that disrupt hormone balance this is a powerful way to optimize hormones through perimenopause and menopause (plus with estrogen changes our blood sugar sensitivity changes too!!). I did it for 4 weeks and will periodically check in again during the year, if needed. Since I do not have diabetes it was not something my doctor was interested in and I paid with cash for the sensor which was $65. As a nutritionist and hormone specialist I can attest that it is incredible and empowering information if done alongside someone who can help interpret the information in a relevant way.
Number 5
Being someone who understands the world through systems I have always loved thinking into and digging deep into the intricacies of the Immune system and how our world impacts how it functions. Obviously, in our current state of affairs, this has only been magnified. I think I will write a love note this year for valentines day to the efforts of the immune system (did you read my love letter to my gut a few years back? Dorky fun there). There are a lot of wild claims out there about immune health. I have been continuously digging into the research and the physiology of it and have been careful not to make any big shiny claims. I will always be careful to assess the science without any other motivation. A few food/lifestyle things I am standing by is the importance of gut health (including digestive function and microbiome integrity) when it comes to supporting the immune system functioning optimally. I am standing by the importance of reducing chronic inflammation in the body to support the immune system functioning optimally. These both look different for everyone and some people need to do more work and digging to find what might be driving imbalances. I am standing behind eating foods that are loaded with nutrients that our immune system needs (think nuts, seeds, diverse colorful veggies, fruits, healthy fats, clean proteins). In times that a boost of immune nutrients is needed I am a fan of increasing those specific and researched nutrients for our family with supplements. This winter, in particular, we are including zinc, vitamin D3, vitamin K2, fish oil, probiotics, and bee propolis. You can check out some of my favorites here.
Wishing you all a year of resilience and love. Wildly, Janel
Please follow Mountain Rebalance on Instagram for recipes, research, hormone tidbits, digestion facts, endurance boosters, and other fun health related topics. I always appreciate referrals! Tell you family and friends about my offerings if you think they would benefit
Janel Ferrin Anderson FNLP DNM NC
Janel is passionate about helping people learn about their body and supporting them to use food, lifestyle, and nutrients to help their body function optimally.
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