🎙️ Welcome to The Wellness Hustle!
Welcome to the wellness hustle. We are your hosts. I'm Sasha, extra athlete, personal trainer, and nutritional therapist practitioner. I've been helping high achieving women to create their own sustainable wellness routines for years now. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Women just like me. I'm Brit. I'm a serial entrepreneur. I work sales, marketing, design, fashion, styling, you name it. I traveled all over the country.
Speaker 1:I was living with chronic stress and honestly, like, chronic gut issues. I ended up getting a divorce, moved home, rebuilt my life, and along that entire journey, I was researching different wellness tips and tricks to try to make myself feel good again, feel normal. And, I really needed somebody like Sasha. So we met a few years ago, and I randomly, we decided to start a podcast together.
Speaker 2:Right. And together, we're just here wanting to redefine what it means to hustle in wellness and life. We don't think hustle is a bad thing.
Speaker 1:No. This is, not just another wellness podcast. We bring you real conversations, twice unique perspectives, the trainer and the client, and plenty of motivation to make small meaningful changes. So Sasha, I wanna know what makes you passionate about wellness?
Speaker 2:Well, we chatted before that's I think why we really like, oh my god. I can't believe you are passionate about what I'm passionate about. Yeah. And we really connected in that and that's how the podcast we got because we couldn't shut up. Right?
Speaker 2:When we went to get coffee for the first time, like, I don't even know how long we were there chatting about wellness. And what makes me passionate about wellness, I think I always was passionate about it, but in the wrong way. And I'm gonna explain. I always thought being skinny is being healthy. Right.
Speaker 2:And that changed for me over the years. Thank God. But I think I think wellness in general is kinda painting that picture a lot. And I see other changes lately in the industry. But me being a perfectionist, now I'm trying to work on it.
Speaker 2:Right? I always said being skinny, and it just comes from my background being Russian, something that we believe, that's kinda showing that you got your shit together. You know, you are healthy, you are fit, and that's where it comes from, like, just being skinny. And that evolved over years. Coming to United States, I was really scared to gain weight because that's what people in Europe think.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Americans, unfortunately. Yeah. No. It's true.
Speaker 2:And I remember just being frozen, didn't know what to eat, what not to eat. Very, very scared to gain weight, but I was brought here to play basketball and college. So as an athlete, I had to fuel my body. And in trial and error, I was trying to learn what's gonna fuel my body, but also what's not gonna make me gain weight. So it started a long time ago in college, and then I continued into my adulthood after I graduated.
Speaker 2:I had my own walking club with my neighbors, and then I got into running and fat free diet and all of that. And next thing I know, I'm doing body body building competition. So there's a long, long journey for me, and I evolved throughout so many years and I've learned so much. And that's what made me to get the nutritional therapy practitioner degree. So I can really dive into nutrition and learn what it actually does to our bodies because I didn't believe no longer that being skinny is being healthy.
Speaker 2:So and then I was really passionate to bring it back to people because it was almost like I knew their struggle because I've been there and I wanted them to know that it's not as hard as you think of it. Yeah. You know, I wanted to make it simple. I want to bring it back to people and in simple steps that they can change and bring to their life and feel better about themselves and not being so overwhelmed because there's so much information out there. And I just want to make it simple and take the stress off, off the people.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I love that because there's so many relatable pieces in that for me and even as I'm like hearing you talk about it, I'm like, you know, as somebody I have a lot of allergies now which we'll get into in a second, but, you know, when I go to Mexico, I can eat almost anything. I don't get sick. But the second I have something on the plane coming home, I'm immediately, like, severely bloated to the point where I look like I'm 7 months pregnant.
Speaker 2:And, yeah, it happens to
Speaker 1:me too. It's like so frustrating. And, yeah, so I love that. And I also love that you're an ex athlete. I don't have as much experience with a professional sports.
Speaker 1:I played all through high school, and that really set the foundation for me. And I really like, started my journey with fitness. You know, my mom was always really fit growing up. She's kind of part of that, like, fat free world. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:Always on some sort of like Atkins diet or like, Mediterranean diet or like, something like that. But what I noticed throughout that entire time once I've like, grew up and was more mature and kind of evaluated what was happening in my life, I noticed that my mom always, my mom was like the organic woman before organic became a thing. Like Oh, you're really lucky. I'm so lucky. I am so blessed.
Speaker 1:And my mom is like this incredible cook. So we didn't like the joke growing up was that like, my mom never messed up dinner. So we never got to order pizza. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, I thought that. Yeah. And then
Speaker 1:I grew up in a very small town, so we didn't have access to fast food. So I couldn't just go to McDonald's, like, our fast food I grew up in Incline Village, Lake Tahoe. And, our fast food was Tees Rotisserie, which if you haven't been, you should go. I'm not. But that is literally like they are it's their it's rotisserie.
Speaker 1:Like, they pull this meat off and they put like real food into it. Like, it's not fake food. Like, it's real food that I was eating. So even my fast food was real. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And So you have
Speaker 2:a great foundation growing. I had
Speaker 1:a great foundation. So then I went to college and I met my now ex husband and his family, like, I just remember kind of being shocked at even the way that the food looked on the plate, because I grew up with these like, a really well balanced plate. My mom really believes in the rainbow on your plate, and and I was eating a lot of, like, whole foods, nutrient dense foods, and then I was eating not those foods, and I had access to fast foods. Del Taco became like a normal for me. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I was eating a lot of lean cuisines and I wasn't getting any nutrients. Like, I wasn't cooking for myself. None of that. What I was eating was a lot of starches and not like complex carbohydrates. We're talking like I was having pasta, macaroni, lasagna, like that was what I was having.
Speaker 1:And I was all of a sudden in combination with severe levels of chronic stress, I was getting so sick. I mean, I was hospitalized over and over and over again. And people just kept saying like, all the doctors were like, nothing's wrong with you. Like, I remember one doctor was like, you just have gas. I'm like, this isn't gas.
Speaker 1:I couldn't keep food in my system. So like, I would eat in 2 hour, not even 2 hours later, I would be like violently ill. And so I knew something was wrong. This was before celiac was as like people even knew what it was gluten free wasn't a thing. And they were like, I had a doctor be like, well, you have celiac.
Speaker 1:So for a year and a half, I didn't eat any gluten, not a single bit of it. Mhmm. And, I started to feel a little bit better, but was actually eating a lot of ancient grains. Yeah. And those ancient grains were making me more sick because I'm actually allergic to those like really allergic to those.
Speaker 1:And so, I still wasn't getting any of the other nutrients I needed. And as I started to like, get older, I started, I started to get desperate. Right. Like I was I just remember like, being in tears. I was juicing, I was cleansing, I was like, doing the intermittent fasting, like anything I could.
Speaker 1:And through this entire time, I'm gaining severe amounts of weight. Like, I was a £100 heavier then than I am now. And, eventually, I mean, I still can't eat gluten and a lot of things like that. I started traveling and my stress for some reason that, like, lowered my stress a little bit because I think when I was on the road, I was finding, like, healthier options for myself and having more access to different types of foods and things like that.
Speaker 2:But I was still probably more aware. Right?
Speaker 1:I was probably more aware and I think I was removing myself from a very stressful home situation, and that helped me as well. And I didn't have, like, I was also getting bullied a lot for the weird nutrition wellness hacks I was kind of trying to incorporate Mhmm. My life. Like I was doing coil pulling and tongue scraping before like that was a thing. Mhmm.
Speaker 1:And, eventually, I got a divorce. Eventually, I got a divorce and I moved home. And this was about 5 years ago, and I started really taking care of myself and taking steps to really feel better. But I had to do a lot of that research on my own. So kind of what you were talking about was like, through trial and error trying to figure out what's working for you, what wasn't working for you.
Speaker 1:And what I was finding was that like, glyphosates aren't good for me. And they're not good for anybody. And they're great on all of our food. And then I was like, okay, I'm gonna eliminate seed oils. I like immediately felt better.
Speaker 1:So like a wing of eliminating, like eating organic and eliminating seed oils, I immediately felt better. And so I just continued down that path. And now
Speaker 2:How were you thinking about the doing those things? Like, where were you finding all this information?
Speaker 1:Like I was so desperate. I was just researching my symptoms. Like, I was just going online and being like, I don't and I was really like ears to the ground on like, if I heard any I had some friends that had taken like, I had a girlfriend who was dating this guy that was like, really into like, weight training and no seed oils and all those things like he was kind of into it. And then she would tell me and then I started following people online who were really into it. And then I was like, okay, that's where I love like social media and that aspect because you can kind of like, see what people are trying Yeah.
Speaker 1:Based off their symptoms. And then you can try it and see if it works for you. And then you can take it or leave it. Yeah. And so but what was happening there is it was too much to consume for me.
Speaker 1:I was like, okay, now I'm overwhelmed and then I had too many things. So I needed to lighten up because I was kind of stressing myself out with those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It can be very stressful.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And so that's why I'm so passionate about this podcast because I want to take some of those tips and tricks that I've learned and share them with people because I really want to help people feel how I feel now. And what I look when I look at like the overarching thing, my thing was chronic stress. I had developed chronic stress, and I was not giving myself the proper proper nutrients for my body to be able to manage that stress. I wasn't doing I had no routines.
Speaker 1:I wasn't. I mean, I had tried meditating on and off. There was a period where I was doing yoga that was helping a little bit. But I wanna share that with people in a way that is, like, approachable and is quick and meaningful, and it's just not like so much information, which is why we wanted to create Right. Wellness hustle.
Speaker 1:Because I the other thing for me is like, hustling is not an option. You have to hustle in life in order to be successful. And so how do you create routines around your health and fitness in order to support that?
Speaker 2:Right. And I've been working with high achievers for many years at this point. Yeah. Many, many. And, I've tried a lot of different things.
Speaker 2:And I went to different schools and learned a lot. And I've been applying that to myself and my clients. So together, we just kinda wanted to create this podcast to give you guys the information that actually works for us and my clients. And for people like you that are high achievers, they don't have much time for their wellness, but they understand that wellness should be in the front. Right?
Speaker 2:It can't be on the back burner because then you don't have enough energy. You don't give enough yourself to whatever your dreams are, aspirations in life. You just don't have. If you don't get you know that. If I don't get enough sleep Oh my god.
Speaker 2:The next day, nothing is happening. Nothing is happening. Sleep is happening. Nothing is happening. Thing.
Speaker 1:Right? Right. Sleep tracking has changed my life. And I just wanna touch on that too because you're you're talking about like, if you don't take care of yourself first, I said, you cannot take care of the other aspects of your life. And that goes back to and I hate this reference because it's used so often, but it is such a good one.
Speaker 1:You have to put your oxygen mask on first before you can help other people because if you die in the process, like, it's all ablaze. Like, that is what my life felt like. Like, everything was on fire. And instead of, like, taking a step back and saying, how do I help myself so I can help others? I was like, just trying to put out all these fires and I wasn't doing a very good job and it actually led to me like losing my job and like, I mean, it really ruined my life and I feel so blessed, like people are like, oh my God, she's divorced.
Speaker 1:I remember like when I first got divorced, everybody's like, I'm so sorry. I'm like, you know, making that decision for myself to come home was the greatest thing I ever did because it was the first time I chose me. Like, I didn't think of anybody else. I didn't think of what anybody was gonna think of me. I was like, this is the right decision for me.
Speaker 1:And I'm this was my first step. I'm gonna make it for myself. And I'm not telling you to go get a divorce. That's not what I'm telling you to do. No.
Speaker 1:Just Like, pick you, like choose you. The first thing you should choose in your day is yourself. And ever since I started doing that, I've noticed my life has not only progressed in a more successful way, but I feel more confident and more like self assured than I ever have. And and I really wanna give that to our listeners. Right.
Speaker 1:And also, I feel like if
Speaker 2:I put myself first, if I got my sleep, if I got my movement, if I got my nutrition, I'm just kinder person. I'm much more pleasant to be around. There's some days if I don't get what I need from the wellness perspective, I don't even wanna be around myself. Like, how can I just leave this bitch behind? Seriously.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So bless my husband some of those days. He knows. So, yeah. He's like, girl, go work out.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And you do. You start like,
Speaker 1:you start making better relationships and Yeah. You start meeting better people and having better opportunities in your career and in your life. It is really such an incredible thing.
Speaker 2:So Yeah. Yeah. So that's why we decided we need to do something here. We need to we have so much passion and so much information and tricks and tips, and we just wanted to start this podcast so we can help others. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So with all of that being said, if you're a high achieving woman, or man, looking for clarity, energy and confidence to grow in all areas of your life, We hope that this podcast is for you, and we think that this podcast will be for you. So if you're ready to join the wellness hustle, hit play and start your wellness journey with us now.
