Wellness with Vanda
A women's health podcast where we'll be talking about hormones, mindset, motherhood, & everything in between. The host, Vanda, is a functional medicine nurse coach that helps women overcome hormone imbalance so that they can achieve optimal wellness. In her private practice she specializes in HTMA testing and DUTCH testing. Throughout this podcast she shares tips for boosting energy naturally, improve mood, recover from mom burnout, ways to increase fertility, ways to improve sleep quality, tips for pregnancy, tips for navigating postpartum and the fourth trimester, and more!
Wellness with Vanda
Embracing Well-Being: Health Habits for the New Year
Embarking on a mission for better health doesn't have to feel like a chore, especially when you break it down into manageable habits. Hydration and movement are keystones in my daily routine—with a hefty 68 ounces of water and a goal of 7,500 steps, I'm on a path to a more vibrant me. And yes, I've got practical tips on how to integrate these into a busy work-from-home life. I'm uncovering the tools and tricks to make these habits stick and sharing it all with you.
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Hey guys, welcome back to the 10th episode of the podcast. It has been a couple of weeks since I recorded the last episode because I took a break for Christmas and the holidays and just all of the craziness that goes on that time of year. So I'm glad to be back a little bit of a life update what I've been up to for the past almost month. We took a trip each year. We try to, we started this last year and we intend to do it every year. So I don't know we'll see what the future holds, but we take a three to four day trip with the kids to, hopefully, a new city that either they haven't been to or we haven't been to, and we just take a few days away together before the craziness of Christmas starts. We count it as like part of their Christmas gift from us, because they have so many toys and they get so many like toys and gifts and things from family and we still get them a few things and of course Santa comes and brings toys too, so they don't miss out on anything. But it's a nice way for us to spend some time together as a family and get to do something that's like really hopefully for them memorable and enjoyable. We do like experiences with them wherever we go, like this time, and since it's always like around Christmas when we go, we do like some special things to see Christmas lights, like drive through things or walk through things, and they love Christmas lights, so that's always fun. So we had a really good time. We went to Gatlinburg this time the kids had never been there and we all went to Dollywood one day. None of us had ever been there and we had pretty decent weather for it. It was in the 50s that day. Of course, it got cold at night. We did stay for like a fire, almost a fireworks show. There were fireworks, but a Christmas lights show that they do with drones in the sky, and of course the whole place was decorated for Christmas and had really pretty lights. So it's really fun and really it's really nice to have that break before the craziness Like I've had friends that are like I don't know how you do it, like how you take a trip, because this time we were gone from the 19th until the 22nd and they're like I don't know how you do that trip, and then come back and have everything like ready to go for Christmas and I'm like well, it's actually really nice because I have to get it done before we leave, otherwise it's not going to get done. So it kind of forces me to be proactive with my shopping, my gift wrapping and just having everything together and that way, once we get home it's kind of nice to just be able to sit back and like know that everything's already done and I can just chillax and enjoy Christmas and enjoy those days with the kids. So we did that. Then we had Christmas, we had Kenley and Hollis's birthday, we had New Year's and so it's been like very go, go, go. But it's been very enjoyable. We've gotten to spend lots of time with family and just as a family. So that's been fun.
Speaker 1:We came off of New Year's and Hollis got or maybe it was even before New Year's Today's only the fifth. So it was so it's been Christmas. On the 26th Hollis came down with an ear infection. My kids rarely get ear infections. I don't think Kenley's ever had one, hollis has only ever had one. I don't think Anthony's ever had one that I know of. So it's just kind of an unusual thing for us.
Speaker 1:But this one has been really rough on Hollis. He is on his now second round of antibiotics to try to get rid of it. And from Christmas day until last night and I'm sitting down on Friday before this drops so pretty significant amount of time he was not sleeping. Through the night we did some different transitions, like I took his pacifier away finally, which honestly, that went so much easier and so much better than I thought it was going to. I don't really think that that was contributing to him not sleeping. I think it's been the ear thing. So we've been on these new antibiotics. He's had two doses as of last night, took the third one this morning. So I think that is what it was. I think it was the ear infection and thank heavens he finally slept all night last night Take an hour both very tired, very much about to lose our minds from him not sleeping because it's just been, it's just been rough. So Hopefully he's on the mend and we feeling better.
Speaker 1:So what I wanted to talk about today is gonna be Super cliche because this is my first episode after the first of the year, but I kind of have a different take on Things are, honestly, I don't know that it's a different take anymore. I feel like people have kind of gotten away from the traditional like what's your New Year's resolution? So we're gonna. I'm gonna talk today about goals for 2024, plans for 2024. I have not set New Year's resolutions for several years now because I just like haven't felt the need to and I haven't found them to be Effective when I've done it in the past. You know, I think that's like a it's a fun thing to do, but if we're really honest with ourselves, like how many times have you set a New Year's resolution and Jumped ship on it halfway through January or, you know, in February at best? So instead of setting some like Wildly audacious New Year's resolution, I'm gonna change my whole life, kind of thing.
Speaker 1:I always do some reflection at the beginning of the year to think about, like what went well in the past year, what places do I not do as well as I hoped to or I wanted to? And then like what, what do I want for myself and for our family Throughout the next year? Because you know, when you're a mom, you're always not just thinking about yourself, you're also thinking about your kids and your family as a whole. So I take kind of all of that into consideration and I do some reflection on it and I decide how I want to feel Throughout the next year and feel at the end of what will be 2024, going into 2025, and like what things I would like for myself and our family to accomplish, and so I just kind of like this year I typically do some journaling with this and I like actually write it down, but I just haven't had the time, I haven't felt like it with getting very little sleep, with Hallis being sick and stuff.
Speaker 1:I have just been kind of rolling over it in my mind and then probably at some point I will sit down and journal on it, maybe in the next few days, now that, hopefully, hollis is sleeping through the night again. But I just kind of run through it in my mind and I just kind of make my decisions and I make my choices based on the feeling that I'm going for for the year. I also don't really get hung up on like choosing a word for the year, anything like that. I just I don't know. It just doesn't feel what I want to do, so I don't do it.
Speaker 1:Um, however, I did kind of set some goals for myself that are health related that I wanted to share. There are four of them, and it's really not so much goals as it's just like I am committing to doing these things for myself because I know when I do them Consistently I feel my best. So in my reflecting on like what I had been doing last year that I was proud of and that had went really well, and what areas didn't maybe go as well as I would like, I got really honest with myself about areas that I had kind of been let slipping or had not been as consistent with as I would like or as I would even expect one of my clients to be. So this is really coming back to the basics and the foundations of good overall health and optimal mineral status and hormone status, and I realized that I wasn't quite hitting the mark with a lot of my foundations and I think that you guys already know this. But you've gotta have a rock solid foundation before you can really like take any further steps towards health goals. So my four things that I'm like I am going to focus on these four things first, before I tackle adding on any other goals or anything else. I'm going to just work on getting these four things down and so like concretely ingrained in what I do every day that I don't even have to think about it, because now it's just what I do, it's just part of who I am.
Speaker 1:So water intake is number one. I have not been drinking enough, and I think there's multiple reasons for this, but it's something that I know that my body is gonna function its best. I'm gonna feel my best when I'm hydrated. Well, my body can like detox things and just like move things through my body best when I have sufficient hydration. So that means that I need to be drinking 68 ounces a day. I already drink primarily like water and water with minerals in it. So I have that going for me. But I was falling short and some days I was falling very short of that 68 ounces. So that's gonna be a really important thing for me to work towards. I do have kind of my method or my way to track this. I have a favorite cup and that cup holds 25 ounces. So I know if I fill that up and drink it three times throughout the day, I am more than hitting my water goal. So kind of the way I've stepped this out for myself is that I would fill it up in the morning and have it finished by lunch or shortly after lunch. Then I'm gonna fill it again and have it done by the time that, like in, the kids get home, and then that last fill up I'll drink from the time they get home, like through supper and before I go to bed, and that will get me to more than my 68 ounces.
Speaker 1:Okay, my next thing is my steps. I have shared with you guys before that, since I have started working from home, steps have been a challenge. It's a lot easier for me to get sufficient steps in the summer months because I do my walks outside in the mornings, but even then I wasn't getting much movement throughout the day. It still meant that I was like having this chunk of time in the mornings where I was going outside for a 20, 30, 40 minute walk, but then I was primarily sitting all day long and I have fully felt the negative effects of that since I started this job, but specifically really all of last year. My hips are tight, my legs feel tight, I've noticed that I've got more weight gain in, like my hips, and I just like don't. I don't feel as good as I did when I was up, getting consistent movement throughout the day. So I am sending a goal for myself to get about 7,500 steps a day, but more importantly than that, I want to be getting those steps throughout the day. So in order to make that happen, I ordered myself with my Christmas money a standing desk, and I already had a very small treadmill. That's kind of like a walking pad that I could put underneath it. So I implemented that one day last week and so far I really like it. I was nervous about it because I'm not the most coordinated person and I was like I don't know if I can work and walk at the same time and not like trip and fall on my face, but it's going really well. I'm not speed walking or anything, but I'm walking. I'm able to type and do things while I'm walking and I've actually really enjoyed it and I do think that it is helping me to feel a little more energized throughout the day as opposed to just sitting for the majority of the day.
Speaker 1:Okay, the third one is my fruit and veggies. We eat a lot of fruit here at my house, so it's really more about the vegetables and a variety of vegetables. I struggle with this because I have young picky kids and I have a picky husband who doesn't like a lot of vegetables and he's not very open to trying things, and I hate to see food go to waste, like I hate when I have to throw food away, and so I've gotta come up with some creative ways to try new vegetables, different vegetables, and it's not even gonna have to, I have to try new ones, so much as I just have to incorporate a variety of vegetables. So my goal is that for each of my meals I will have a fruit and vegetable at least one of each on my plate and did this kind of like as a challenge with myself back in the fall, and I noticed really awesome changes in my digestion when I did this. Obviously, it's like an increase in fiber when you do that, and it was really beneficial for me. So I'm looking forward to that one, and I like fruits and I like vegetables. So it's really not that I'm like pushing myself to do something I don't wanna do. It's just that I'm not in the habit of like meal prepping vegetables to have for lunches throughout the week, or fixing myself a vegetable that I pretty much know only I'm gonna eat it at dinner or whatever, and then just being okay with that and knowing that I could save the leftovers for lunch later.
Speaker 1:Fourth thing I have been slacking on taking my supplements. I go through periods of times where I'm really great about it I don't miss a day and then I kind of get sick of swallowing pills and that sounds so silly. But I just do Like I just get tired of it and I just like I just flat don't wanna do it and I really believe that like supplements have a place but they're not the most important thing, like we really need to be focused on getting our nutrition from our food and our dietary intake anyway. So I feel like I take supplements to help fill gaps, so it's like it's okay if I miss them for a few days, but it's not something like I mean I probably went like two weeks or so without taking any of my supplements, cause I was just kind of feeling over it and didn't wanna do it. So I looked at what I'm currently taking and I said, okay, I am going to prioritize at least always taking my beef liver supplement, because I think that's probably the most important one that I take right now, because that is like nature's multi-vitamin, that is the one that I think is most important for my health, and then also that I'm always going to have my pickleball drink once a day. So that's my two things. Now, aside from that, I am gonna try to just go ahead and make myself take all of my supplements, because if I wasn't taking them for a purpose, I wouldn't be taking them. You know what I mean. But, like I said, I can prioritize the beef liver supplement as being the most important one. And I do have a new HTMA test that I milled out last week that should be cooking at the lab. So I'll be getting new results soon and that's gonna help inform, like some supplement changes that I might make in the next few weeks. But until then, this is gonna be my plan and then moving forward probably still gonna be my plan. Okay, that's so. Those are my four things. That's my goals for 2024, if you wanna call it that, that's my intentions for the years. To just really get super consistent with those things before I try to add on anything else.
Speaker 1:I think, especially this time of year, there's so much pressure for people to either lose weight or start working out, and it's kind of like you have to like redo everything all at once. Well, you've gotta work out five days a week. You've gotta be getting 30 grams of protein at breakfast or at every meal. You gotta get your water. You gotta get your sleep Sleep is on lock for me, if Hollis would just cooperate.
Speaker 1:Anyway, you gotta make sure you're getting your steps. You gotta get your fiber. You gotta like you gotta do all these things and like, yeah, all those things are good, positive things to do, but if you don't have the most basic things down, it's not that you're, it's not that you're wasting your time, but you know, if you build something and it's not on a solid foundation, it's going to crumble. And that's very, very true and very important when you're working on your health. So, focusing on the foundations this year, and then, if I get through, you know, a few months or whatever, whenever I feel like I have these things concretely ingrained and I am achieving them more times than not, then I may add on other things, but until then, this is my focus. So for your mindset minute today, I want you to reflect on your own foundations and your own basics and identify where it is that you're falling short, that could be holding you back or could be causing you to feel bad when you don't have to. And what? How can you change that? Like what things can you implement that can help you to get more water in every day or get more steps in every day, or whatever it is that you are kind of falling out on on your foundations?
Speaker 1:Last thing that I wanted to mention today is that I am currently doing a promotion that started this morning for applications for my VIP package.
Speaker 1:So, super briefly, I'm kind of going to tell you what the VIP package is and then you can get in contact with me if you would like to apply.
Speaker 1:So my VIP package is where you can get HTML testing and Dutch testing. We work together for 16 weeks through weekly check-ins and monthly group coaching calls. It's a very like hands-on I'm here to help you figure this out type of program. We get lots of good data back from the HTML test and the Dutch test so that we can you know, I can create a customized truly customized to what you and your body needs type of plan so that you can get to the point where you feel like you are really optimizing your minerals and your hormones so that you can function the best that you can. So if that is something that you are interested in applying for, those applications are open right now. It is linked in the emails that I'm sending this week. It is linked on my Instagram, which is wellnesswithvanda, or you can send me an email at vanda at wellnesswithvandacom. So I will talk to you guys soon and see you next week.
