Wellness Hustle

Wellness Hustle (00:44)
Welcome back to another episode of the Wellness Hustle. I am your host, Britt. I am here with my co-host, Sasha, and we're here to bring you some more exciting knowledge. I'm so excited you guys are back for another round of this. Thank you so much.

and yeah, I'm personally really excited for today's topic. We're discussing bio individuality. Yes. And the topic came to mind because we were just speaking about wellness. And I think I'd mentioned a couple of times and you like, wait a minute, what is that thing? Right.

Yeah, and it started to click for you when I was giving you examples. Yeah, and I think for me, I definitely have been a rebel without a cause my whole life. And I also just really like, I don't know, I've just always found as a six foot tall woman. Yep. It's not what is meant for women, like the average woman is not typically meant for me. Yeah, because proportion wise, size wise, all of those things have really

hindered my ability to do some things and like I require more food. Like I just require more food. That's just it. Yeah, we both are six feet just to let you know. Yeah, you guys can hate us, but we definitely like to eat more and we can do that because we are, you know, larger humans. Yeah. And there were some things my whole entire life that I felt like, you know, there were things I had to keep in mind, but a lot of things I eat more masculine because of the design of my body. And by that, I just mean more like higher calorie intake.

Yeah. More protein. More protein, more red meat, all of those things. And I've been an athlete my entire life. there's that. Exactly. Aspect as well. And it's something that I teach my clients all the time. This is where bio individuality comes in. I don't have same plan for every client. This is why we talked to you guys previously about the food and mood journal. You analyze what's happening with you, what you're eating, but also

We take it in consideration like your lifestyle, what you've been doing prior. You came to see me like, are you working out? You're not working out. Do you have some allergies? Maybe all of the things like we're all different. When it comes to basics, yes, you all want to eat real food, lots of vegetables, know, non-processed foods. But when it comes to bio-individuality, that's where we find out how much protein we need, how much carbs we need.

how much fat we need, how many, you know, what the minerals we need for our makeup, like our, you know, for our makeup. I feel like also when you think about, you know, after figuring out like my own nutritional needs and things like that, like I think about water, for example, is something that I always struggle with. And you know, for a long time, was like eat or sorry, drink. What was it like? Eight glasses a day. I was like, that never felt like enough for me.

What about us living in the desert? Right. Well, I live in the desert and at one point I lived in the mountains. Yeah. I'm also 170 pounds. So, and I'm six feet tall. like, then when it was reintroduced and everybody was saying, okay, you should drink your weight in fluid ounces per day and water immediately. Or what is it? Half your weight in fluid ounces in water a day. I immediately it clicked. was like, oh yeah, I need three of these water bottles a day. Yeah.

Makes more sense, right? Like somebody who is four feet tall and somebody who is six feet tall, there are differences, obviously. So you can't do the same thing. So that's what we wanted to talk to you guys about today. So what is bio-individuality? That means that each person requires different plans for their wellness, for their fitness, for their nutrition. So that's kind of like where the bio-individuality comes in.

And we cannot talk about bio individuality without not touching on epigenetics. I'm so like, I'm geeking out. love this stuff. Epigenetics is something that, so think about this. As a person, you were born with certain genetic makeup. Yeah. Okay. You can't change it. That's what God, mom and dad gave you. That's what you have.

But what we know now is that 80 % of it is in your hands what's gonna actually be expressed by the lifestyle that you live. And that's what epigenetics is. So it's you living your life, making daily choices is gonna determine which genes are gonna come to play and which will not.

So this is essentially nature being genes and nurture being epigenetics and kind of being able to break cycles or manage symptoms or anything like that. The first thing that came to my mind when you were teaching me about this with epigenetics was, you know, I'm predisposition for ADHD. I have every symptom like pretty extreme under.

You've actually experienced some of them last two weeks ago. was really rough for last week. so I've started to eat more clean and started to work out and stayed on top of my supplements and getting enough water and things like that. And reintroduced meditation every morning for 10 minutes. Okay. And what I have noticed is that my symptoms are kind of

not as intense. Exactly. That's the perfect example of epigenetics because you're starting to express other genes and the genes that are responsible for the symptoms that you had are now quieter. So essentially you don't need to mask something. You can really treat something. Exactly with your lifestyle. Isn't that amazing? That's mind blowing, right? But insurance is not good.

cover it. So it's all in your hands, guys. I didn't expect that to come out of your mouth. I'm you 110%. It's so true. It's so true. And I've been so frustrated with the healthcare system. I'm always frustrated with the healthcare system. Yes, for me, I went to a doctor and they basically were like, your ADHD is so severe that you'll never be off medication. Great, thanks. And I was like, cool, cool, cool. Because what happened is I had looked at what my medication is. And to be clear,

There is a time and a place for medication always. Like I truly believe that if you really need it, if it genuinely helps you, you should be taking it. But as somebody who has a lot of anxiety around the things that go into my body from a toxin perspective, the idea that I was taking a small dose of methamphetamines every single morning because it wasn't going over well. And I was only taking five milligrams towards the end, 10 milligrams. And they wanted me to take 20 milligrams a day. And I was just like, no, I've also had experiences with other

medications where I was just handed Lexapro or I had an unlimited supply pretty much to Xanax at one point. That was not... Yeah. What we're trying to say here is, yes, there's room for medication for sure when there's severe cases, but what's not being taught by our health providers is the preventative. That's where it's all in your hands.

Seeking the right information and then empower yourself with how your lifestyle will actually determine how you feel. 1000%. And both of those times, just to give some context, that I was prescribed those medications were at very high stress levels of my life where I was not managing my own experience very well. I, you know, one, was traveling around the country, very high stress, wanting a divorce, like chaos all around that whole space. That's a lot.

a lot. And then when I ended up on ADHD medication, it was like the height of Haven and Flux. Things were really intense. I was really overwhelmed. Again, yes. High stress. And I wasn't managing my stress or my symptoms very well. And so instead of doing the hard work, which to be fair, at that time in my life, was a very, especially for the ADHD, it was a very necessary reset button. But I don't think it was what was for me.

Which kind of leads us into like the next point is like, why is bio individuality so important? So important because people, okay. So think about, I'm just going to talk about America because that's where we are and how many trends are out there, especially every year for wellness, like gazillion, right? So there's always something new and everybody jumps on that next great thing without.

thinking is that gonna really support my bio individuality? That's why we really wanted to talk to you guys about that. So go with any changes in your wellness with that in mind. Yes, you can try things, but don't necessarily assume that keto that your friend was on is gonna work for you. Your need for fat may be different. Your need for amount of carbohydrates may be different.

Maybe somebody can do on a 30 gram carbohydrate a day, but you might need more than that. So that's where it's very important to really know your bio individuality and also your epigenetics, like how your life was prior to this, what you created for yourself, because those two go hand to hand, right? Yeah. I think it's also just taking

control over your life, getting the opportunity to say okay, this is what I actually need. Yeah, it's you know, it's one of those things I have a hard time delivering it to my clients, because the victim mentality goes out the window right away when I tell them, you know, there's such a thing, epigenetics, and it's in your hands 80 % of it to, to change whatever you don't like. Right.

Yeah, I think victim mentality is a really dangerous thing to get down. I've definitely been there. not saying I'm better than that. in fact, I even realized last year, I was like, you know, it was so much of this has been hard for me, this has been hard for me. And it's like, just take action. Like, what is the problem? Find the solution to it. And I think with epigenetics, that gives you an opportunity to do that. It's like, I'm pre-exposed to these X, Y, and Z things. Diabetes.

you know, heart problems, whatever. Okay, so start eating a heart healthy diet. Exactly. And unfortunately, we're not just inheriting the gene, we're also inheriting the habits from our family. And a lot of times people mix those two together, right? They think, oh, you know, I'm having this because of this. No, look at your habits. What did you inherit from your family that maybe is not supporting your goals? Yeah.

I also like the concept of, I always like to bring it back to the caveman thing. And I think based on your environment, your access to food is going to change as well. So when you talk about bio individuality, not to switch gears so quickly, just talking about bio individual, okay, all right words, bio individuality. And we were talking about the hydration, It's like, okay, well I need more hydration because I live in the desert.

Right. Naturally. You're taller. I'm taller. You work out. I work out a lot. I sweat more. huh. All of the things. Yeah. Like when you look at the Midwest, a lot of people out there eat a lot of like corn. They eat a lot of potatoes. They eat a lot of meat. Well, they're surrounded by corn fields, farms, ranches. Right. Not a lot of salmon unless you get up into like Michigan area, right? Exactly. So then you look at like

just the different type of cultures and things like that. I think it's important to keep those things in mind too. my mom naturally loves a Mediterranean diet. Okay. My mom is Italian. There we go. So like, makes sense. It may, in my mind, I don't know, those sorts of things make sense. Now I'm Mexican, Italian and native. I'm predisposition. I like intuitively want to eat meat and vegetables and corn and corn. my God. A corn tortilla. You guys.

Yup. So like when you... And my dad and I eat very similarly. So it's like, it's interesting to see your intuition kind of take a play in bio-individuality. Yeah. So the takeaway really from here is really kind of tune into your body like Britt did, right? With her ADHD. ADHD. ADHD. can never say that. Sorry, guys. And so, okay, what's not serving me? What can I do?

Okay, I can do meditation. Yes, it's helping. So things like that just kind of acknowledge and try and see if it sticks. I think there's also just things like which Sasha and I talk about a lot, but like blood sugar regulation regulating your which also regulates your hormones, things like that. Because when I don't do that, then those again, those symptoms flare up. Exactly. 100%. And I know we've talked about like how journaling can help. We've talked about the food journal.

Track how you feel after meals and workouts. That's another thing. I think I'm forced to do it because of my ADHD. I have to pay attention to when I eat something. This morning I woke up, didn't feel super well, and it was like, well, what did I eat yesterday? Yeah. Did I sleep? Did I sleep? Again, they look at the data. I love data now. I love all those gadgets that gives us data, and you can see how many steps did I do. And how did I sleep? What else did I do? Yeah.

brings you back to what works and what doesn't. Yeah. Noticing patterns. it. Yeah. can change it.

But I think bio individuality is so special because it can be applied to like every single aspect. let's get some individuality back. I think that that's really what it comes down to is like eat what is best for you. You should be doing what is best for you. How does this,

play into fitness. Fitness. Yeah. Well, there's a lot of different workouts out there. And that's for a reason, A, to keep us interested, right? Because we can get bored. But also, again, some things work for some person and some things don't work for the same person. We all know that we want to lift weights to gain the muscle, but then how much of it?

Right? Do we need to do it every day? Do we need to do it every other day? And that's going to be determined on your individuality, how heavy you need to lift, right? To see the goals. And you probably have a friend who will lift like twice and you already see muscle definition. And some people will lift for months and not see the results. Does it mean it doesn't work for them?

Well, not necessarily, it's just maybe they need to adjust their program, but also the way their body is building itself is different. So say like just a quick example, I'm six feet tall again, and I have arms. They're like as long as I don't even know, like a seven foot tall person. for me to build a huge muscle mass on my arm is going to take a really long time.

because the distance between my shoulder and my elbow is so long, but someone who is a gymnast, a small lady with a small distance between the shoulder and the elbow, right? Is gonna have an easier time to build that muscle just because the muscle structure is different. Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. think I can relate to this in the way that is...

like Pilates and yoga and all of those things, I have a very short torso, my abs are, the joke is that it's like I got three inches there, like of abs, like it's not much. And my legs are super long and they're thick. And my upper body is also long, like my arms and things, but they're not very strong. Like my upper body, no matter how much I'm working out, like seems to not be able to hold

the whole width of my legs up. Like I don't have enough strength in my core. Planking is what I'm thinking about. Planking. So like body for a long time with my shoulder injury and everything else, it was really, really hard for me to do any body weight workouts. And because I wanted to be like a little girly, I was going to barre. Okay. And so what was happening is I was getting injured over and over and over and over and over again. there's a lot of it is a body.

is body weight. And a lot of it is holding yourself up with your wrists, which are not very strong, strong and big. You can tell like your bone structure, you're thinner here. it's hard. So yeah, so we have to find out the workout that actually gonna work for us. And I want to backtrack because I did this at the beginning and I really want to like hone in on this. I was a hundred pounds heavier when I was doing, which means I was two 65 of weight.

that I'm trying to hold up with muscle that is not there. like when you think about that, like doing a pushup at 265, six feet with a very small core and very long arms, because you have to go deeper and you have to go higher and injuries to my like, clavicle and shoulder. That's not it. Like that was not it. And so what was happening is I was getting discouraged over and over and over again. I just wouldn't

go. And then like I had other things that, know, all of those little sticky resistance, switch it up. Don't you don't need to be like, okay, barre is the hot thing right now. I'm going Pilates is the hot thing right now. I'm going. Nope. It might not work for you. You know what's great for me? Strength training. Do you know how much weight I can lift in a shoulder press? Well, I'm sure a lot. No, five pounds. can do five pounds, Sasha. And I can do it really fucking well. Okay. Five pounds. Shoulder press.

But that's because I have injuries in my shoulders. Exactly. So like, it's just a different body type. I'm built differently. You think of those girls who played soccer growing up, their thighs are set. Those girls can, I have a girlfriend who's probably like five, two. I guarantee she can squat twice as much as I can. I'm sure.

It's because they have to go not this far and they have to come back not as far. Right? Exactly. So when you've been to those fitness classes, I, I'm always late when they count out how many they need to do. I'm always behind because it takes me twice as long to go down and go up. I'm always frustrated because it takes so much longer for me to go down and go up. I used to be so mad.

I had that never occurred to me, but now I heard to you know, but I have been frustrated. I'm a slow poke over here in the corner. Everybody that done their 15 squats and sashes on her third. Thank you very much. Same. Even to some of the like workouts that I do on my app. I'm like, you're a short girl because you're quick. You're up for this is way too fast for me. I'm not literally cannot get down and up again. So bio individuality. Oh my gosh.

Okay. So with all of this being said, like I have definitely done Pilates, been frustrated by it, like tried to keep up in these bar classes, all of that stuff.

Bio-individuality, does that change as you get older?

well, changes throughout your whole life, right? Because you are evolving, your chemical makeup changes, your epigenetics changing. So all of it changes, right? You might be able to heal certain allergies and now maybe you can heal certain allergies to gluten. Now maybe you can have gluten a little bit, things like that. Maybe you heal your gut and now maybe you can have dairy.

You know, things like that. So it's all about now maybe you healed your injury in your shoulder and maybe you can do shoulder press instead of five pounds. Maybe you go up to 10. Yeah. Things like that. Well, that was what I realized when I was doing, um, when I was working out and doing strength training, I would start with maybe a five pound dumbbell, right? But then all of a sudden I noticed that like, I'm, I'm, I've regressed a lot from where I was, but like, now I'm back at five pounds, but I was at like 10, 15 pounds for a while there, which was exciting. Yes.

It is. So I think it just comes down to like finding a fitness routine that energizes you and not one that exhausts you. 100%. Well, you want to get tired after a workout, but then next morning, if you wake up, if you're super tired, maybe you're overtraining or maybe you're doing the wrong thing. Maybe I mean mentally exhaust you versus like you should be worked out. huh. But not like defeated. Yes. I see what you're saying. Yes.

Cause some of the workouts might be just not, mean, most people don't like the workout. Let's just get it straight out. Yeah. But some workouts are more enjoyable than others. Yes. So do the things that you like. Yes.

and don't forget your rest days because this is something for me, I was going back to back to back and now, and I know I've talked about this on other episodes too, but just felt like I should be so much better. And so, and I was so frustrated by the regression I had had over the last year, which again, we've talked about is because of health issues. And I was really going to work out like four times a week and was feeling really, really good. And then would rest Saturday, Sunday or like Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And

Now I'm finding I'm having to rest every other day and it's really frustrating for me. But it's okay because you're not used to it. You have to listen to your body. You need to understand this is what your body needs now and continue because if you overdo it, then you're going to regress more. You're to take a detour. Nobody likes detours. So just stick with the plan. If every other day works for you, eventually you're going to get stronger. Unless you get injured, which you're not.

you're going to get stronger. Yeah. And then you can add another day, but stay with the program. Don't push too hard too fast because then you're going to regress. I think that's the biggest thing I want you guys to take away from this episode is that bio individuality is doing what you need right now. What you and your body needs for your own individual needs right now in the moment. Like, and that will change. Exactly. As you age, as you experience life,

as you healing things, healing your life, your location, moving location, having kids, all of the things. If you're a woman, any sort of hormone changes? yeah, welcome to that. Your cycle, like I've had to change how I eat throughout my cycle. Yeah, as you should. So yeah, I think just tuning into your body signals and understand what works for you and then experiment with different foods, eating styles, just try things on. Like how

You get to try things on and see if you like them and then move on to the next thing. Right. Exactly. And then choose fitness routines that energize you and make you excited and they don't make you want to go cliff jumping into shallow water. Exactly. Oh God.

All right. Well, with that, we're going to wrap up. We're going to wrap up as you know, we're going to thank you for tuning in. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. As we cheering our mocktail to your health. I always think funny how people cheer to your health with an alcohol.

How bizarre is that? So they put in poison in their body and they're saying, cheers to your health. It's off topic, but I couldn't help with that. I love that tid bit so much. If you guys want access to these you can find them on our Instagram. This specific mocktail that we made, that Sasha taught me how to make is on there. So you should absolutely go check it out. It's super simple, very easy to make. And it's also good for you. And it doesn't have alcohol in it.

Yes. So yeah, if this resonated with you, if you like it, go share it with a friend. Absolutely. Next week, We're going to be talking about nutrition labels and ingredients, but you do not want to miss. So

Until then we hope you're out there squeezing the most out of life and We'll see you next week. See you next week guys