Episode 5 - Pills, powders and fitness...oh my!

This week on The Exert Podcast, Martha and I dive into the world of supplements – what pills and powders we’re taking, what’s working (and what’s probably not), and how we’re all navigating the great mystery of staying healthy in our 40s and 50s. Plus, Martha shares a bit of history on her health and fitness journey– spoiler alert: it’s full of sweat, shakes, and maybe a little bit of sass. Join us for laughs, insights, and a few too many random tangents. If you’ve ever wondered what happens when Gen X gets serious about wellness, this episode’s for you!

Transcript

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Good morning or afternoon. Good afternoon. How are you? Okay. It's been a while since we've recorded. I'm excited. I know. We missed a week for the holiday. Yes. But we're back. Yes. We're back. So today we're going to be talking a little bit about supplements that we both take. And let me just say right out of the gate that this is in no way saying take these supplements. Right. And we are not doctors, so we can't really do that. Um, but these are just the things that we have found that work for us. And, um, you know, maybe we'll stumble on the things that have not worked for us too. Um, so I, I can go ahead and kick this off. I, you know, I've been taking for a long time workouts, creatine. Yeah. Do you take creatine? I just started taking it because it's one of the things that I'm learning more about that is actually supposed to help with aging. Yeah, in general. It's typically associated the way I knew it was with lifting. So my husband's taking it. My older son is taking it for training and football and sports and stuff. But I always associated it with that. Plus, it also retains water. Yeah. So I was adverse to doing it because what person likes to gain water weight? Right. At least I'm not really a fan of it. I'd rather have fun and gain the weight from that way. But I've started taking it because of the mental boost. Yeah, I mean, it's really cool the studies that are coming out on it and how it really is helps with cognitive and how it's being encouraged in older folks who do not work out or are not active to give them that boost in their brain. That's pretty cool. But you know, if you don't do the load with creatine, the the water retention isn't isn't the same. Right. So you're saying don't load and just take the five. Just do the daily and it builds up. And do you like to take yours along with your workout or do you just kind of do it randomly in the day? I do it with my workout. I mix it in. I put in a little, I'm not a fan of the person, but I put in Prime. because I like the flavor of it the low sugar of it and um coming from more of a coconut prime yeah prime sticks if you look what's in there it's less it's just wrapped by a person that's not generally he beat mike tyson let's just put it that way yes um did he though he is well no I know that's just um I'm a mike I'm a mike tyson fan he just needs to work out his lower half and get his endurance going and he probably would have killed him um yeah but if you look at the video of him training for that he he had speed and whatever happened during that fight was not real is all I can say yeah possibly I just didn't need to see him without his pants on Um, so I do take it while I work out. Do you do it before you work out? Do you do it after you work out? I've been experimenting lately. So I typically have done it before I work out and I take it with like, I used to take it with some sort of juice and I'm not really a big juice fan. Um, but I would take it with like cranberry juice or, you know, some, something that didn't have any added sugar. And, um, so I've been trying to take it with electrolytes beforehand, like a zero sugar electrolyte. I don't know. And then I had read some people doing it right after the workout and mixing it with like a protein shake after the workout. So that's what I've been trying to do lately. I think I like taking it better beforehand because I do notice a difference in my work effort. Okay. Personally, I can tell a difference in my effort. Yeah. Yeah. I just have started putting it in with my drink. So as I'm working out, I'll just... Drink it mixed in with the prime. Cause obviously the collagen doesn't have any flavor to it, but I think you can do it pre during and post and still get the same benefits. Yeah. I think you get the same benefits for sure. I think it's just finding what works for you individually. Right now. Um, and then along with that, uh, in my protein shake every day, I take glutamine. Oh, okay. So, I mean, that's a, you know, it's a building block for protein. And a holistic practitioner told me years ago. And, you know, it's just something I never, ever forget. stray from have you ever taken glutamine no that's associated with joints right recovery um a little bit I mean it does it helps it helps heal tissue yeah and it also helps to heal your gut so if you have any sort of gut issues or anything which I have had in the past um it helps to heal any sort of um tissue like that so it's it's pretty it's a pretty great product Yeah. No, I've not put that in mine. Another one that I take not for weightlifting or anything like that is glutathione. Never heard of it. It's so great. Really? Yeah. Energy or I'm more of an energy seeker in my life. Energy seeker, metabolism booster. Those are my things that I'm going for. So what it will do, it is a massive antioxidant. So it clears out your liver of any unnecessary gunk. It's just, it's really powerful. And if you take that alongside vitamin C, it just, it does wonders. It makes your skin glow and it, it's just, it's just a powerhouse. I was doing it, um, through IV, um, every other week for a long time and I got tired of being poked. So I, I take it orally now, which it doesn't break down the same if you do it orally, but I still feel like I'm getting enough that I get some benefits from it, but it's amazing. Definitely look up glutathione. Yeah, no, I've never, I'm going to do that. I've Other than that, we've been talking recently about moon juice. Yeah. I've ordered it. I haven't gotten it yet. I can't wait to hear what you think about it. My mocktail. Oh, yeah. I know. It's great with the magnesium. Yes. And it truly is. It's wonderful. Take that at night before bed. And you can also take it anytime during the day. It's not like it's a sedative. Yeah. Um, that, and then I take their ashwagandha, which is super you, and they also have straight ashwagandha, but I take the mixture. Um, I do some of their other stuff. I, you know, there's a whole little litany of things there that I take, but I love them. So with the ashwagandha, do you, do you take it in the morning? Do you take it at night? Both. Um, in the morning, first thing, uh, I tend to have kind of high anxiety. And I'm ADHD. And it helps. So it does help. And it has like rhodiola in it. I can't remember what else it has off the top. Yeah. It had a lot of good stuff in there. Yeah. It has really good stuff in it. And so the ashwagandha is great. It's a lighter one early in the day. And then I take a little bit stronger one at night before bedtime. That's just straight ashwagandha. Do you find it helps you? I take that as night at night too. And it's become like my go-to, but do you find that it helps you sleep? Or does it just help relax you? It helps to stop my brain a little bit. Yeah. And it does help relax me because I can get in bed and start reeling from thoughts of what I should or shouldn't have done during the day. And that anxiety starts to tick up while I'm laying there. And so the ashwagandha really helps me with that. So I think that that's one of the things we need to add to the fantastic conversations we have coming up because the movie reel that goes on, I do the same thing. The movie reel that goes on, as soon as you lay down, you could be exhausted mentally and physically. And as soon as I lay down, I'm like, oh my goodness, here we go. Like grab a bag of popcorn. We're just going to sit and unpack everything that you should have done, could have done, or whatever. you said a different word or you should have said this word versus that word or it's just isn't that amazing that comes to mindfulness I think that's I've been practicing and learning breathing so we're I'm gonna put that to we need to remind ourselves to do that because I think a lot of people suffer yeah and and I do I do try to practice um breathing at night I mean I try to breathe at night of course, but, but yeah, you know, that, that falls into the, cause I try, I do meditate every day, but that's during the day to kind of reset my day and to center myself and balance. So trying to remind myself at night when it makes the most sense to try and meditate then and get into that relaxed state. But I think that I would feel bad for the meditation if I fall asleep in the middle of it. You know, it just means that you've been very effective. I guess. I had actually, I had gifted an app to our oldest, we're a blooded family. So I'd gifted an app to our oldest who was going through some personal things. And I said, look, you know, hopefully you can use this. It's helped me out. And he texted me. He's like, is it bad that I fell asleep? No. That means it's working. It helps. It helps. Which app was that that you used? Mindspace. Oh, Headspace? Headspace, there you go. Okay, okay. Headspace, yeah. I use Calm. Yes, I need to try that. I'm not using either right now. And that's it. My day gets backed up on everything I say I'm going to do. I understand that. I've heard Headspace is great, though. It is. It was. It gives you a whole schedule. I think that's something we need to dig into and try to try apps again and maybe swap because I haven't done Calm. Yeah, Calm is amazing. And they have music. So I listen to the music like first thing in the morning. That's how I start my day is with like, calming meditative or yoga music. I have to set the, you know, the tone for the day in this crazy. We're so opposite because I have to wake up with a cup of coffee and probably disco music or something that makes me dance. We get to that when, when Max is eating breakfast and he's eating too slowly, then I put on some sort of upbeat music to get him eating. Yeah. And then, then that changes and lifts the tone for the day. And then a kid. Oh, okay. I'm going to try that next time with the boys. And usually it's a cup of milk and they're out the door. Right. Sort of thing. So they're running. So what else are you, so that's, do you take, that's, do you take other stuff? I mean, I take like omegas. Obviously that's great for your brain. So I take a vegan omega that is made from algae. Okay. And then D three K two. And a B complex, of course, you know, since being a non meat eater, non animal eater, I stay on top of that. And even when I don't take it, I mean, even when I was a meat eater, I had to take B complex. Yeah. Yeah. It's, that's one of the things I actually just started taking. But it sounds like we're kind of similar. Like I started, I, Mine are broken down in probably three phases in the day. So after I eat, I take milk thistle. Oh, milk thistle. I didn't add that one. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I take milk thistle. I was introduced to milk thistle by a colleague of mine whose husband was swore by it uh he'd like to have a lot of fun and overindulged and when he went for him he was older he is older and when he went to a medical checkup the doctor's like oh my goodness your liver looks pristine what are you doing and he's like milk thistle so he was really doing a lot of it and my colleague and I another one we were like milk this all the way. So we've been taking it since. Um, and then I do, I like the mega food. I think that's a vegan product as well to the mega food brand. Um, it's more natural. Mega food. I think I've seen that. They have a thyroid, which I just started taking because I'm constantly lethargic. I believe I eat a lot of food. I'm constantly eating food, so I'm not sure what it is. Or a multivitamin of theirs. I do over-fifty-five, even though I'm not over-fifty-five yet. I figure I'll just get up on it. You're just preparing for it. I'm just preparing for it. Two years from now, two and a half years from now, vitamin C in collagen. And those were before me and the discussion that we had last episode. But I was thinking more vitamin C just from being in a house with teenage boys and colds and everything that runs around. And then the other one I take is berberine. Oh, yeah. Just to help, right, with metabolizing. Because I... That is one G. Do you find that that works for you? You know, it's to be determined. Because, you know, it's like it was in the press so much earlier this year. It's like the natural alternative to Ozempic. Yeah, I don't think it does that because it's not like it satiates my appetite, which is what I understand Ozempic does to a certain point. It makes you feel full so you can control the eating. Right. I don't find it with that. I take it. Obviously, you're supposed to take it after and take it with a meal. So now it's just become part of my repertoire of at least like processing, but I don't do it thinking I'm going to get skinny. Well, you're already skinny. So well, well, not skinny, you know, I mean, you're already lean. Yes. Well, I mean, and that comes with working out and diet and And by diet, it's not like I'm dining, just meaning what I eat. But yeah, I mean, you do all the right things to support. You're not relying on that supplement to do something magical for you. Right, right. So I don't know. I mean, maybe if I stop taking it, that might be a good thing to try and see if there's a difference. Yeah, how long have you been taking it? I've been taking it for... Probably a good year, two years. I was on it for a while and hopped off of it. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing. I feel like I'm taking too many pills. Yeah, that's the other thing too is that I do feel that I take too many, which is why I loved how you introduced it earlier because I find that I rotate through vitamins there's consistent ones right I mean so consistent for me is the milk thistle it's always a multivitamin um there's always collagen at some point in my day like after I work out so when I go when I go to the gym or go work out I will um I will get my um I'll pretty much just drink water if I'm tired I might add something to it that's got like a natural more green tea caffeine pre-workout thing um but afterwards my favorite thing if it's either after working out or there are days that I kind of miss lunch for whatever reason to me it's a treat people might find it weird but I look forward to the smoothie that I'm going to be posting on instagram because I feel like it's a treat. So in it, I put in amazing greens. So it's got the maca and it's got all the other mushrooms and everything there. I use the vega sports I think it's the uh performance protein what I don't like about it it's it's got I'm salt sensitive it's got more sodium than I would like yeah I know it does have sodium but that's supposed to be with purpose of recovery after you've done something right because you've depleted sodium and electrolytes and everything right um so and then I add in collagen to that Um, and those are kind of my, my additives or my powders that I put in, but I'll take, um, spinach berries. Um, typically when I've got my berries that are about to go bad or cherries that are on sale, I'll hit them and I'll throw them in the freezer. Right. Um, with the ripple milk. and ice and it something about the vega protein makes it really thick consistency and then I top it with goji like a tablespoon of goji berries chocolate chips um and then a scoop of peanut butter oh my gosh and it is I mean it's like a meal it is it's a couple hundred calories yeah it's a good snack or it's a good meal replacement if I miss it um or it's good after a workout because I find that it just kind of keeps me going um and then um it I don't know. I just enjoy it. It's like it's my happy place. I feel like I'm eating ice cream or something. Yeah, it sounds very decadent. It is because the chocolate is really good from that protein. So that's kind of my midday thing or mid-morning thing. And then at night is magnesium. Mm-hmm. There's a supplement that's magnesium and it's ashwagandha as well. You and I were talking about this earlier. My sleep is something that has... It's hard to remember the twenties for a lot of different reasons. But I remember having problems with sleeping and I remember in my... early late twenties, early thirties before marriage and children, I was given prescription medication. So whether it was Lunesta, I'm trying to think of the other one. I've tried a couple of different ones. And I would just take those to help me go to sleep. Or if I had to travel internationally for work, I would take those and try to get some sleep and everything else. But then I found it was my everyday routine at night to take that. And back then, doctors were like, oh, take that with a glass of wine and you'll be totally fine. That was totally fine. And I wanted to get off of that because I realized it just wasn't sustainable. And it was at this point, I'm addicted to a prescription medication. So then one of the doctors, one of my general physicians that's retired now at this point, he said, look, there's a book called Sleep No More, and there's a magic concoction of L-theosine. There's magnesium, melatonin, and a neuro something I can't think of, but he's like, try this and wean yourself off of the medication. so that I was taking five things at night to go to sleep. But they were not prescription, which in my mind I thought was better. So then I started weaning off of all of that. And then I got myself down to just taking melatonin, and it was at five milligrams. And this has been a good probably twenty years that I've been cycling, weaning and cycling and going through. So today I'm happy to report I'm off melatonin. I was down to one milligram and one milligram for my body weight. One milligram is what you can use on an infant, right? Or a small child. If your doctors will say, if you're traveling somewhere, give them one overnight travel, whatever it might be. And I would lay down and I couldn't sleep. So I was like, oh, I forgot my one milligram of melatonin. Total placebo mental effect at that point, I'm sure. Right. But now I'm off. And so I take this melatonin ashwagandha mixture about two hours before bed and I'm good. So I don't know if it's change in profession. I mean, obviously, that could have a lot to do with it. Yeah, I've got a hair flying in my eye. So there's that or there's more spirituality is a huge part, too, of changes. And, you know, it's, I'm just, I still wake up tired, but at least I'm not taking prescription medication. Yeah. And there's no hangover effect. Right. From it either. Right. Yeah. And then there's one that's called, my girlfriend turned me on to it. It's called wellness formula. So you start getting that little tickle in your throat because you know you're about to get sick. Mm-hmm. she got me onto it that it's you take six it's a lot dose you can take six multiple times a day don't exceed twenty four I swear to you as soon as I feel that tickle I will load up on it I might just take twelve throughout the day it either delays it reduces reduces the amount I'm about to have a dog fest right now um reduces the amount or um completely avoids it That's pretty great. I take astragalus root when I'm starting to get sick. That and zinc. I mean, I take zinc every day, but astragalus is amazing. Probably similar. It's got so many things. It's got artichoke. It's got vitamin C. It's the whole thing that I'll post on there as well, too. My husband's like, I cannot take these many pills. I'm like, okay, then take the droplet. So it's either tincture or, or pills. Yeah. That's pretty cool. Yeah. But it's, it's a lifesaver for sure. So I feel like I'm a drugstore. kind of a health food store. It is, which is why it rotates. You know, I think like most people, I fall into the, you see things online and what works for someone, what doesn't work for someone, which is why people listen to this, right? What might work for us, I would say breaking down all the things that we talked about. For me, my go-to is definitely going to be milk thistle, a multivitamin that I know is appropriate for my age and what I'm deficient And then I'd say if I had to pick three, I would do that magnesium ashwagandha nighttime. Yeah, it's like you kind of break it down when you're traveling and you want to minimize what you're taking. What would be the three things that you take, right? The one thing that you take, something like that. I'm certainly not taking creatine with me. Right. Right. when I go somewhere. I'll take protein powder though with me. And Vega, Vega, however you say it, actually has glutamine in it. Yeah, has a decent amount of glutamine. But yeah, so it's like other than that, I'm always taking my ashwagandha with me everywhere I go to keep my head. Probably until they legalize it in Georgia, this is what we're going to be taking. Yeah. Our children and our husbands are out of the house. So we do these supplements. And when you start a new supplement, I know you do some journaling, too, to kind of keep up with that. your workouts and just kind of keep your, yourself in order. Right. I know I do try to, um, so yeah, try to, I don't always do it as sometimes I get in that like mode that for like three months I'm religious about it. And then I fall off a little bit and then it's like every week or something like that. Um, but like when you're starting a new supplement, do you try to kind of Mark down? I noticed this or no. You do? Well, I'll write down when I start something new, and then I forget to go back and, you know, kind of report back to myself if I've noticed anything. That's ADHD. I don't because I know I just won't is what it comes down to, which is why I like the app-based stuff. ways of being able to track. And you use my fitness pal, right? I do, but it's been reminding me for the last couple of weeks that I've not entered in any food. It's probably because I'm like, okay, well that was Thanksgiving week. We'll just, we'll just let that week go. Yeah. I, I, I use life some, um, and I used my fitness pal for years. Um, and I think it's a, I think it's a really cool app. I think it's so helpful for people who are trying to kind of get, get their head around what they are actually doing daily. Right. Yeah. If you want to be honest with yourself, start tracking. Well, right. And, and after a while, what I find, um, so I probably won't renew my renewals coming up. It's like a, you know, go to the gym every January. I think it was an impulsive January. Bye. Um, I probably won't do it this year because I eat very similar things. And I know, you know, you, you, you learn about the sizing, you learn about like how much is four ounces or six ounces or how much is plus I look at the packaging and everything that I'm eating, whether it's a meatless meal or a meal with animal protein in there. um that becomes second nature right it becomes second nature and and honestly I go by how my body feels which is why I'd say I'm a flexitarian when it comes to the things that I eat because to limit I don't have any allergies I don't have anything and to when I always believe that when you limit something or say you can't and you shouldn't, then you start building a bad relationship with what you can't and you shouldn't. Absolutely. Totally agree with you. So in our house, what we tell our boys, it's an eighty twenty rule, like eighty percent of the time we're going to eat healthy in the things that we eat, which would be a protein and complex carbs, some vegetables, some of the only one eating the vegetables. They're really good at the other two. we're going to bake the fries instead of fry the fries. We're going to, you know, minimize processed meats. We're going to do all these things. And then, you know, we're on vacation, bring it. Right. Yeah. And it's like that day, or even if it's the whole weekend, whatever it is that you're just kind of relaxed about it. Because I mean, we're not robots. Right. Right. You gotta, you gotta, you gotta live. Yeah. So I might stop the journaling because everything might start. I don't want to be obsessed about it. Yeah. Sometimes when I get really steady with journaling, it's because I need to give myself a kick in the butt and be honest with myself. I have a tendency to... not eat enough sometimes and that's not intentional it just happens that way yeah um you get busy or it's just you just I don't know it just happens that way and that and can really backfire Yeah. Yeah. It totally screws up metabolism. And so a lot of times it's a reminder to me that I really messed up on my calorie intake this entire week or this entire month or whatever it is. Yeah. And so sometimes it's good for me to just kind of, Oh, I do it for the reverse. I do it because I know I'm eating too much. well it's not like that doesn't happen to me too sometimes it obviously does but um yeah you know balance find the balance right right right um we'll be sharing all of this stuff at least what we take in photos and stuff and And even though you say you don't want to journal or be obsessive about it, we say that. But here we are with our Apple Watches and your new Aura Ring, which is a cool addition to your life. This is a board, yes. You're going to love it. You're going to totally love it. I think so. I think so. Today's day one. So I'm going to do... ADHD on my side as well, too. I just took photos of day one, I'm going to take photos of week one, I'd like to be able to share with folks who don't have it or interested in it. Of what we're seeing. Honestly, it's more for a couple things. I was asking you about it and you love it. I met someone else and they were saying it was great for them to understand their sleep. I want to understand my sleep. Yep. And I want to break up with the fixation that I have to start my activity when I go to the gym. And, and so this, this is, it's easy to wear. I have to get used to it when I'm lifting and doing stuff because I don't, you know, my wedding, I just wear my wedding band. So it's, it's newness to me, but I feel like I'm tracking everything and I don't, I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I know, I know what you mean. Have you ever done a breakup with your Apple Watch for a bit? I've got a lot of breakups going on right now. I'm still trying to do the scale. You know, does the scale make you feel better when you do it every day? You know what happens? It makes me feel like you're in control. Do you know what happens in the scale? What happens in the scale is What happens is that there's times I get on there and I'm like, how is that possible? I ate blah, blah, blah yesterday. Or I get on the scale in the morning and I'm like, oh, my goodness. How is that possible? I'm going to have a glass of wine tonight because that's what I ate today. Yeah, the reward system. So it's rewarding me. mentally giving me an excuse as to go ahead and have a glass or two of wine. And it's a number. And then the other part is, as I get older, I'm more focused on building muscle. Right? And so I don't want that thrown off because years ago, my husband and I were both working with a trainer. And I'd say I was probably... a good nine, probably call it ten pounds heavier than I am now. Which, for the record, is healthy for your height. I mean, it could be healthy for a height, but height healthy in the way that we determine BMI today is just completely not right. Well, BMI is. Right, that's what I'm saying. So I don't pay attention to that. I pay attention to what feels right for me versus a number that, you know, that we're being told because you're almost six feet tall, you should be weighing or doing or whatever. My body feels a lot better at the weight that I'm at now. Um, but I was pressing a lot of weight and I wasn't finding the, uh, the sculpting portion. Like I wasn't finding the tone, even though I was pressing a ton of weight and I was eating a lot of food. And now, you know, I've been working myself out and, um, I see the tone while I still have issues with seeing how I see myself versus how someone else sees me. But I see the tone more so now than I did then. And I'm lifting more. I've got better form because I'm training myself on form and focused on form. And I'm eating more. I'm focusing on my proteins and my macros, right? So I know I'm eating. If anything, I probably should be eating more protein for hitting the gym five to six days a week and Pilates and walking and everything else. I just need to get myself feeling human. And that's why. I was like, I don't want to see that. I just want to see if my clothes still fit, I'm happy. If I weigh more, who cares if my clothes still fit? So if I don't have a scale, I'm not going to know if I weigh more as long as my clothes fit. And that's how I've always kind of judged it, too. And, you know, I had a trainer a couple of years ago and I was with that focus of strength, gaining strength. And he really had me pump up my calories. Yeah. And had me lifting really heavy, and I enjoyed being stronger. Me too. But it was the same thing. I just kind of was thick, didn't have tone, and I could not fit into any of my clothes anymore. Yeah. And it was like, well, this isn't really a good trade-off because I kind of feel like crap. Yeah. You feel someone. I felt like weighted down from eating too much food. Yes. And. It got to be a job. It got to be like something. Same thing with me. It was like, this is not fun and I don't feel good. Right. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, it's the same way. So now it's like trying to eat when my body says I'm hungry. Yeah. Even though I do have to remind myself, take a snack with you because you're not going to be home for eight hours today. So. you're not you know we don't stop at chick-fil-a or whatever yeah and and eat um I always have snacks in my car for me or for for the kids but I I think when I go to the gym and I see people um what I love is that people are doing the people I see are doing something about fitness versus doing nothing and so I just don't want people that are listening to this to go oh my god look at them like they're Complaining about this or about that, that's not the case. It's just what works for us. But I see people at the gym that are strong as the day is long and are fit and everything. And it's just every body type is a body type. I mean, I think at the end of the day, you could be doing everything you could and you got genetics that just are either with you or against you, against you is the wrong word, with you or not. And it's about your vitals, right? Because you can be skinny fat. Oh, yeah. And, you know, or you could be on a certain diet and your your cholesterol level is like through the roof or whatever it might be. And so it's just for me, it's kind of when my mind and my body connect and go, what's that song like? I feel good. Like it just sounds like you're not even thinking about it because it's just you're kind of one. Right. So how long how long have you been on your personal fitness journey? I mean, is it like been your was it teenage years or did it start in your adult life or how did that even come to happen? I remember in high school, there was a few of us that would go to the gym before school. And we would work at a gym before school. I really don't know. why or how I think one of my friends older sisters used to go and um so we're like oh yeah that would be fun you know she was out of high school at that point so we were in high school and so we would go I always played sports um I did soccer and swimming And so I never did anything incremental to that, because I swam a ton of yards. And, you know, soccer wise, it was it was full seasons. And at the time was, you know, one season led into another season. So you were constantly doing something. So I'd say I probably in college, that was my work study to work there. But it was mainly for the scenery. uh versus me working out and I played soccer in college so I was doing stuff then and I swam on my downtime but it wasn't it was more so because I had been trained in these sports and I just would do that but I wasn't going to the gym like I wasn't focusing on muscle or anything like that I was just continuing on with the sports I'd done. So I'd probably say as far as I can recollect now to the wellness and totality, my diet was what my diet was. I certainly struggled in the past with having an eating disorder when I was younger in college. for um for modeling I did modeling in college and did some some magazine commercial print stuff and um and there was just always this you know you had to be a certain size so I started building a really bad relationship with food at that point right um and that probably continued until probably late twenties, early thirties, not as consistent as it was when I was younger, focused on a modeling career. But even then it was just, it was one of those of a certain weight sort of thing. And I think in the eighties, you also grew up with all the fat-free stuff, right? What were those called? Snackables? No, not snackables. What were those? Those cookies? It was a wafer, wasn't it? It was a diet cookie, wasn't it? They were awful. Yeah. No, I don't think it was that. So I'd see it. I was always around it in my household. Fat-free was the thing or minimal eating was the thing. And, you know, as a child, I was always, I was called the bigger boned, the healthy. Being tall didn't help. And so these were the things that I was called, you know, so I think with all of those started rolling into my twenties of I would work out I started going to the gym um I worked with trainers on and off in the last you know throughout probably my twenties after moving down to atlanta so I would work with trainers you would do uh remember step classes when those were like really huge or spin classes before the peloton thing or the stadium spinning um and for some reason my weight I trained for a marathon like I was always curious about doing so I did a full marathon I did a half marathon I went from drinking and smoking the night before to running thirteen miles that's just kind of how my body worked at fifty two it doesn't work that way anymore my knees hurt um But in my early thirties, I just, I just have always been athletic, probably not fit, certainly not thin, just I could get out and do whatever. And now has been more, the shift has been more now on, on wellness now. Right. Like the whole wellness, the whole, the body, the mind, the soul. Yeah. Which, so it's almost like if I could phase it, if I could put it in phases of in my teenage years, it was more, you know, playing sports and you were focused on doing that in my, in my twenties was more a continuation of following doing the sports I did. Cause that was what my body was used to in muscle memory and then started shifting into more weight training. Thirties was probably more so weight training emphasis, you know, anything to do with cardio was key. um thankfully that's changed thankfully that's changed and then forties I think was more so into um agility kind of hit type workout stuff and fifties now is like there's just things that you know I took a workout class my husband and I did two weeks ago that we hadn't taken since before cobin It's amazing. It's a fast Twitch class. Love it. Love it. Love it. Did you go down to that gym that I used to go to with you? Yeah, I went to that. After you introduced me, I went after that without you and I loved it. Yeah. And I was kind of anxious, kind of excited. My husband was like, why did I say So he left. He doesn't listen to these podcasts usually. So he left. He left about thirty minutes into it. It's an hour and fifteen minute class. He was very depleted. He thought he was going to throw up. I get that. It is not for the faint of heart. I mean, you have to be ready for that. I freaking rocked it. I'm sure you did. I did. And I hadn't done any of that stuff since COVID. And it was just everything of muscle memory, but everything of your mind is like, I'm going to do this in age, whatever. So you felt like a complete rock star when you left there that day. I felt like the training I've been doing on my own since we moved to where we live today and not working out with a trainer has gotten me to be in just as good, if not better shape than I was six years ago. That's great. Because it's, The eating, the taking it easy, listening to my body, not yesterday and then do anything for a workout. I tried to walk the dog, but it was too cold. I did stretches. Right. instead of beating yourself up like every single day. So wellness has always been, fitness has always been in my life. Wellness has ebbed and flowed. You can define wellness in many different ways, but my partying days probably wasn't doing so well for my body. um the vanity portion the skin the everything I've always washed my face my godmother from honduras said that is one of the things you should always do I've done it since before I was even thirteen she told me about it and I would just regardless even in college Always wash my face. I can probably count on two hands when I've not washed my face before bed. And that's usually because then I'll just take some sort of toner. Right. And take the easy way out of doing it. But now more so it's about the preservation. The wrinkles, the, you know, every time you look in the mirror, you're like, oh, I didn't see that one there before. just trying to keep that that moisture in the skin and it's like if you could just absorb like like kale and all these super greens into your pores which I mean you know there's all sorts of products that kind of promise if you tried but it would like mandy said it's a lot of elbow grease um yeah that um that takes a lot so so yeah it's been a journey I think um You know, what I would say as I look back on all of it is I'm looking forward. Looking forward, I want to find more self-love and acceptance of myself. Less berating, less comparing, less getting, you know, get out of my mind and get into how my heart feels, how my body feels. And then when my mind starts going crazy again, I try to focus now on like being thankful and how blessed I am of, you know, my family, my children. my body has birthed two really big large human beings and I'm gonna have extra skin around my belly and that's just gonna happen or I'm gonna get the creepy skin and that's just gonna happen and it's hard to it's easier and if we constantly set that standard that we're not supposed to have those things happen it's so unnatural to think that way yeah right I mean I know, I know. And I think the other part is, is when, you know, people see you, they probably just naturally assume because we do these things that our body and our skin is perfect. And, you know, you shared before of the anxiety that you had of posting yourself. Look, photos with clothes on is so much different than photos with clothes off. Yeah. I got loose skin. got cellulite I wish I could just be like hey there's nothing I can do about it right you know yeah that's you know and it's not the at the end of the world either because it's like if you have this one percent that is imperfect on you yeah well then you gotta focus on everything else and that's why you know I get a little frustrated like I would like It would feel good if I knew that a lot of men were out there thinking the same thing instead of being out there, not judging, but comparing or, you know. Yeah. They can always get a version two point a lot younger with collagen in the skin. They can. They can. They can. I don't recommend it for our two. yeah so so that's been kind of my wellness fitness it's it's been a journey but you're happy with where you are so that that says I'm happy that I'm here where I'm at today compared to where I was before but there's still lots of gerbils running in my head That'll be there. I mean, that's kind of what keeps both of us going in a way too. It's part of the motivation. Yeah. And it's, it's part of being curious. You know, one of the things that I thought would be cool to talk about are the things that we were looking at for holiday wishlist of things. And I'm always curious about what people are doing, what's working, what's not. And if I had to like, Pick a couple things. One would just be like, goodness gracious, how can we just get tighter skin? I don't care about the same size and the same weight. Just tighten the skin. Any tool, anything, ask my husband. He'll be like, just accept it. Yeah. yeah yeah so what would what would you what would you say would be a good holiday wish list thing well so I have this right totally recommend that as a as a gift um he's got one too so it was supposed to be my gift but then he wanted one as well so it's not really I mean there's a couple things that I would say about aura ring as um The cool thing about it is you can pay for it with HSA. Yes, for next year. That is an option with them. You can pay with HSA. Also, they have a referral program. If you have a friend, you can get it at a discount because they don't put their stuff on sale exactly. The last generation one is... marked down right now for a short amount of time for the three, but for the four, you have to have somebody's referral. Yeah. And so thank you to you. That's where I was able to get this and it's got a new, this is the four longer lifetime battery. I think different finish on there. So I wanted to kind of share the feedback of what I'm getting in the app. from doing that but it's exciting because it takes all the thinking out of it I don't have to touch my watch I don't have to right and I don't sleep with jewelry on but this I sleep with because it will well and I love this also because um you know I have a couple nice watches because I still like watches like yeah me too you know like hands and you know the whole thing and so I can wear this and Yeah. And then when you go out, you know, you can just passively tracking. Yes, exactly. So that, that was the other reason too. What would be on your wishlist? What do you. My wishlist, gosh. You know, it's like, I don't, I can't really think of anything that I would want for me, but for something that I would maybe give a friend, depending on where they are, in their lives. Maybe I would do like a high frequency wand or something like that. I think they're a lot of fun. They're kind of interesting and it can just do a lot for your skin. So I think that's a fun one for a male or female. Yeah. And it's like, I don't know why we, as women think that men don't. And I've, I've been researching that and I've heard it does just wonders with scarring. And that's one of the things I want to explore with my son. but not just, not just from a scarring perspective, um, apparently as well too, with, uh, with aches and pains and swelling. So joints, your back, I've heard amazing reviews about that as well too. No, I don't, I haven't read that with the high frequency wand. I could see that. I know that I have like blue light frequency that, um, I use on my dogs. Yeah. I should use it on my, my arthritic hip, but my dogs make them. I'll just keep going. So what, what's, we've got a lot of things lined up. Hmm. We're entering into holidays. You know, one of the things that we, a couple of things we wanted to talk about as we leave this is trends. I think we've kind of hit it a little bit too. A little bit, but yeah. Talk about what has, what is kind of done, what was good that should stick around and maybe what is coming that could be interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So that's going to be a lot of research on Instagram. Yeah. I'll assign that to my children since I feel like an archaic person when I talk about social media. I know. Me too. I'm so not good. But yeah. Facebook is so out of date. Well, this has been fun knowing what you're taking. I think once we post what we have, there's probably new things that we're going to be looking to try yeah uh and and if anybody listening has something amazing that they recommend we're open to listening yeah and we're open to popping pills I mean just dare us right except for a few things that we've already tried I mean legal and like maybe holistic non-prescription required Let's keep it clean kids. Well, tune in next time. And as always, and we will see you guys next time. Look forward to it. All right. Bye.