Grace & Grit Podcast

The female hormonal system is complex, to say the least and it can make a woman a hot frustrated mess (literally) when it comes to improving health. In this episode, Dr. Jen Hawes helps us to better understand some of the most common hormonal, thyroid and adrenal issues women face and how we can best protect ourselves against hormonal warfare. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 4:15: Hormones and the endocrine system defined. 6:10: The three most common hormonal “categories” among women. 9:00: Testing hormones, adrenals and thyroid issues. 11:30: The scoop on adrenal fatigue. 14:25: The challenge of healing the adrenals glands. 16:45: Hormonal disruptions that may cause weight gain and make it really challenging to lose weight 20:15: Perimenopause and Menopause 26:00: Stress and hormonal disruption. 28:00: Basic supplementation not to be overlooked. 30:00: 80/20 Rule 31:00: Jen’s top 3 tips for caring for your hormonal system. You can find out more about Dr. Jen Hawes at her website: www.drgreenbean.com Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

When it comes to optimizing your health, sleep is a really big deal. You can eat a clean diet and move your body daily, but if you are neglecting your recovery and dream time, your body will struggle to absorb and deliver the nutrition you are feeding it and your muscles will be unable to repair and rebuild. Your immune system will be compromised and your cognitive function will go out the window. And this is just a short list of negative consequences you will experience! Do you feel like you are doing everything you can to lead a happier, healthier and more fit life, but still don’t feel stellar? Sleep much? Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:25: The magic of health happens when we sleep. 4:40: A special note to mothers about sleep. 6:45: How lack of sleep affects relationships. 9:10: Getting more sleep is NOT selfish. 12:30: Hormonal and other health challenges from sleep deprivation. 14:20: How much sleep? 16:00: Strategies for better sleep. 21:30: Prepping our environment for sleep. 23:45: The real reason we aren’t sleeping more. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

The fitness industry has made exercise very, very complicated. So complicated, in fact, that many women I coach have fierce resistance to it, even though they understand the importance of it. What if the secret to feeling better fast physically, emotionally and mentally wasn’t about the latest and greatest exercise system that the fitness industry has conjured up but rather about moving your body more consistently throughout the day? Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:00: What children have to teach us about movement. 5:25: How we moved away from movement and into the exercise box. 7:30: Exercise is very small part of the movement landscape. 10:40: How the age of convenience is destroying our physicality. 12:00: Excerpt from Pedram Shojai’s, The Urban Monk 17:00: Revisiting the power of N.E.A.T. 19:30: Ideas to help you move more, without “exercising”. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

It is always the little things we take for granted, eh? And yet, it seems to be practicing the little things consistently that lead to BIG gains. In the age of complex exercise systems and hard to understand dieting tactics, it is easy to lose sight of the easy stuff you can do to gain massive benefit when it comes to your health. One of the simplest…drink more water! Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:00: Water is a BIG player in the health story. 5:00: Body composition in terms of water. 6:30: Water and brainpower. 7:00: Asthma and allergies. 7:40: How water affects blood pressure. 8:15: How dehydration affects our ability to detoxify. 9:00: Water and digestive health. 11:30: Water and weight loss. 12:40: How to improve water intake. 19:00: A few pointers on alcohol. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

You, and nearly every other human being on the planet, are on decision overload. No kidding…you are making around 35,000 decisions daily which means by lunch time you are probably already in a state of decision fatigue! You need to be sure you are making the best decisions for your health at a time when you are thinking clearly and have your VALUES governing your decisions NOT hunger, fatigue or someone else’s crisis. Improving your health should be based on a process and an effective process is NOT a spur of the moment decision or something that is slapped together at 11pm the night before. It is something you PLAN for in advance when your head is clear and your vision is strong. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:30: Decision free living defined. 4:00: How decision fatigue can derail the best of intentions. 5:00: Building an effective process for change. 7:30: How pre-planning can help you build new habits. 9:00: Recording current behavior to get clear on how to improve it. 13:00: Take the “guessing” out of the equation. 14:45: Simplifying the process of restoring your health. 16:00: 1% Better 18:00: Choose 1 thing to focus on. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

The benefits of superfoods are being sold to us at every turn. And while I am all for eating the foods that super-charge health, there are some incredibly potent character traits that have the potential to nourish us just as deeply, if not more than, the foods we are hearing so much about. Absolutely, EAT superfoods, but don’t focus so much on what you are eating that you lose focus on how you are living (or should I say NOT living). Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 3:30: The character traits that will supercharge your health 8:20: How boundaries support integrity. 10:10: How discipline can be an act of self-love. 12:30: Why consistency matters and how to build more. 13.50: How staying curiosity can help you feel good about your health journey. 18:00: Why being healthy requires a bit of selfishness. 20:00: Why you need to find your happy ASAP! Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

Women are hearing a lot these days about the importance of detoxing and cleansing their bodies to optimize health. Unfortunately, many programs are selling aggressive tactics and pushing a lot unnecessary supplements to aid these natural processes. In this episode nutritionist Sara Bradford and I help women better understand your body’s natural detoxing ability and simple measures you can take today to help keep your detoxing systems running efficiently. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 1:20: Meet Sara Bradford: nutritionist, mother and badass online entrepreneur 3:00: What is cleansing? 5:30: Simple measures for helping your body detoxify more efficiently. 11:30: Weight loss and cleansing. 13:00: Sara’s Community Dump Program 19:30: Most damaging substances for the body. 22:00: Less is more. 23:00: The magic of dry brushing, fermented foods and bone broth. 27:00: Ways we can help our kids make healthier choices. To get in touch with Sara visit: www.nourishrealfood.com Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

Most women don’t consider that calorie cutting and exercise are forms of stress. They are great stressors in a system that can handle them, but to be honest, most women who are experiencing some form of physiological breakdown are not in the best position to be dealing with MORE stress, they need to unload their stress. In other words, women need to heal their systems BEFORE they add stressors like calorie cutting and cardio. Just as an athlete has to fortify their system to be able to handle the demands of competition, you need to heal your system to be able to handle the demands of things like calorie restriction and aggressive workouts. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 3:00: Addressing a few things that are broken in the diet & fitness culture. 4:30: How low-calorie dieting can create more issues in a system that is struggling. 8:20: Why starting a fitness program with aggressive protocols is not the best idea. 11:45: What women should be focusing on from the outset of a program promising to better their health. 16:30: Understanding how fat loss is a bi-product of cellular health. 18:30: Defining “healing the body”. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

The scale evokes intense emotion in most women and it isn’t even a living thing! It is a hunk of metal that is judged, blamed and booted all for giving women a number that simply reflects their relationship to gravity. Contrary to popular belief, the scale is not telling you about the state of your health, your abilities or your worthiness as a human being. Nope. The scale gives you a very small sliver of insight into your greater health story and, if you are anything like the millions of women who loathe the scale, you try to extract your entire health story (and your worthiness and your possibility) from that tiny bit of information. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:00: The scale is not the problem but your misinterpretation of the data it gives you may be. 6:40: Looks can be deceiving when it comes to health 7:10: Health can not be interpreted by our “weight” 8:10: What is inflammation and why is it important to understand? 9:15: The dangers of chronic inflammation. 10:30: What if you used the scale to help monitor inflammation rather than “weight”? 12:45: Body composition vs. body weight. 15:25: There is no point in getting on the scale if you aren’t going to be honest with yourself. 17:00: Evil device or user error? Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

In today’s fast and furious world, staying mindful in the present moment is no small task. And, yet, awareness is the key ingredient to making choices that consistently serve the life you said you wanted to live. Mindlessness, on the other hand, truly is the quickest and most powerful way to unravel your health. Check out this podcast for more insight on what a mindfulness practice is and how to get started developing your own today. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Writing a review will enter you in a drawing to win free access to the Grace & Grit 21-Day Challenge. Drawings will be held at the end of every month. Notes: 2:00: Meet Mary O’Malley 4:00: Mindfulness defined. 7:40: Dispelling myths about mindfulness. 9:30: How mindfulness is beneficial to health. 13:30: What a mindfulness practice looks like. 16:00: How Mary developed her own mindfulness practice. 22:00: How to meet challenges with passion. 24:30: How to start a mindfulness practice today. 27:00: Mary’s 3 pieces of advice for women seeking to change their health story. Connect with Mary: http://www.mary-omalley.com UCLA MARC Website: http://marc.ucla.edu Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com