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What does it mean to be truly healthy? Eating a “clean” diet and exercising regularly isn’t the whole picture. What does a truly healthy person do as their everyday habits? We discuss what it means to have whole-person health and a new offering this spring to help you achieve true health.
Transcription of our podcast is below.
Transcription of What’s your Wellness IQ. (Edited for clarity.)
Wendy
So, we’ve got this new idea. And we’re very excited about the spring. And we’re introducing this idea of how to improve your wellness IQ. We’ve got three workshops coming up. Spring is just the most beautiful time to have a growth mindset, right? Everything is popping up. And you see advertisements: spring cleanses, spring detox, you know, 30 days to do this.
Debbie
Well, they’re all over the place right now. I get them in my email daily. And I see them when I’m out at the supermarket, Whole Foods, health food stores, even regular stores. You just see it all over the place.
Wendy
For good reasons. It’s a shift in seasons. And so, we kind of want to get rid of our winter stagnation.
Debbie
Yeah, the winter gunk, yeah, it’s a great time to get rid of your winter gunk.
Wendy
But we want to introduce something different because it’s so much out on the market is about seven days, 14 days, 30 days, but then what like what happens to us? We can all do things for 7,14, 30 days. But, how are we showing up all year round? And so, we have this new idea to share with everyone. It’s called improve your wellness IQ.
Debbie
And it’s about a lifestyle. As everything we always talk about, you know, it’s how to make your lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle overall. So, you don’t have to, every spring, think, “oh, no, I have to cleanse. I have to do this, you know, I need this 30 Day reboot.” Imagine not ever having to do that. Because you’re doing it all year round.
Wendy
Yeah, it’s kind of exhaustive to think about the yo-yoing that happens when we go on and off diets and cleanses and programs. And most of our clients actually come to us pretty exhausted, saying, I’ve done it all. Now what? And so our approach really is about a healthy mindset and positive habits for longevity. Because we all want to live a long life and feeling strong.
Debbie
A long comfortable life. You know, and here’s the thing about all these programs that are out there is that they make habits for you, you know. They create the habit for you that you follow. It’s not your habit, you know. You’re not doing the work of making it part of your lifestyle, your everyday lifestyle. You’re doing something for seven days, 12 days, whatever, or 30 days.
Wendy
It’s not yours, and it’s totally taking your choice and your agency away from you, right? You’re following a leader. You have no agency in that–you’re just following direction. And it has caused us to become pretty lost, because we have forgotten, not only what it is like to feel good. But well, here’s the other thing, I think, is that we want things to be easy. And you and I show up day after day making choices. Because our identification is of a person who is dedicated to health, right? And our vision of longevity is very clear in our mind. I believe a lot of people are walking around, not feeling good, but don’t even know what it’s like to feel good. And maybe they feel good for 7,14, 30 days. And then because someone told him what to do, they don’t know how to do it on their own anymore.
Debbie
Yeah. Yeah. Or, they’re getting the idea, but they keep getting sabotaged either by the themselves or because of events that happen in life. You know, so, they might be on a good healthy track. And then something gets in the way–you have to work extra for one week, or you go on vacation, or your kid is sick and you your routine is thrown off, or whatever it is, life, whatever life throws at us, and then they they order out, or they, you know, splurge on ice cream for a week because they’re on vacation or whatever it is. They go off track over and over again. And it’s frustrating because they can’t seem to stay on track because it’s never really a part of their lifestyle.
Wendy
Yeah, so to the point, it’s work, right? It’s work and we aren’t used to suffering. Right? There’s, a little bit of friction. Now, you know, we have to say “no” to things. We have to climb mountains or go to bed early and not watch that show like we want to. We have to be uncomfortable. Right? And you know, what we’re trying to remind people is how uncomfortable is it to not be well.
Debbie
Yeah, it’s more uncomfortable to not be well than it is uncomfortable to do the work. I’ll tell you that much.
Wendy
It really is. And I think it’s a different kind of discomfort. My husband calls it, “falling in love with the most mundane,” right? And being comfortable being uncomfortable. Diamonds are made from pressure and seeds explode into flowers, and fruits and vegetables and huge trees. They like to destroy themselves to become these amazing, beautiful things. And so, this idea we’re talking about is, kind of, we want to interrupt the patterns. We want to be there as health coaches, as collaborators, as partners with you to be able to shift the effort and make the choice be the habit, right? The healthy choice–be the habit. We’re all about 80/20. Please listen to that podcast about 80/20. We’re not perfect. We don’t expect people to be. We eat ice cream. Yeah, we binge watch, you know. We do this, but we we’re not on roller coasters either. And we have a stability and sustainability for longevity that, we would love to pass on to other people. I mean, that’s what gets us keep doing what we’re doing, right? And putting this work into the world.
Debbie
Yeah, I mean, most people, and I want to just give this analogy, because we’re telling it like it is it, and if you are listening to this, and if you’ve ever worked out vigorously, which I hope you’ve have, yeah, it’s hard. It stresses your body. But how do you feel when you’re done? And how do you feel if you’ve done it consistently? You feel strong, you feel great. And that’s the kind of uncomfortable we’re talking about. And we’re not just talking about working out, we’re talking about all kinds of healthy lifestyle habits. But that’s the analogy because you do the work, because the result is the beautiful thing, just like you were saying the seed that you know, explodes and all that stuff. So, I don’t want to veer people away from us, because we’re saying, yeah, we’re going to be uncomfortable. Because the end result is so beautiful, that it’s so worth that discomfort. And let me let me say this, that all of those companies and all those products out there that are claiming to cleanse and do all this stuff, a lot of those are also getting the message that you can do it and still be comfortable. And you can still you can do all this and not have to worry about–you can still eat ice cream every day. And you can still–and that’s not true. They’re lying to you. Yeah, they’re telling you, because it’s so attractive to say, “Oh, you mean I can be healthy and still eat pizza every day? And I can I don’t have to move that much. You’re saying I don’t have to do all these hard things. And I can still be healthy.” No!
Wendy
That’s it’s a big fat fib.
Debbie
But they draw you in with it. Because of course, that’s what we want. We all want to be comfortable. Who doesn’t want to be comfortable? But to get comfortable? You have to work hard. And that’s the fact.
Wendy
Yeah. So, one of the ideas, we’re both over 50. And one of the things we’ve learned recently is that around age 45. You know, if you aren’t making these decisions to do the extra work for your health, you’re actually going backwards. So, the question, if I don’t change anything, and I stay the same for a year, nothing changes is false. I don’t do anything for a year, I’m actually going backwards–in the 40s and above, so our message is: we need to double down and focus and make health the priority in our life so that everything else in life is better. It’s like the root to the big tree. Right? You need deep roots to be able to flourish.
Debbie
Absolutely. And part of that to get there. How do you get there? And I think one of the first steps is to think of yourself as a healthy person. Yes, and like you were saying before, as health and wellness coaches, that’s our identity. And so, that’s how we identify and we do the behaviors because of that. So, if you think of yourself as a healthy person, and you think every day, what would a healthy person do? What would a healthy person eat for breakfast? What would a healthy person do to move her body today? You know, what does a healthy person do as their everyday habits? And is what I’m doing match the identity of a healthy person? And if you move throughout your day like that, no doubt, you’re going to be making better choices. This is an amazing statistic that is mind blowing, that 80% of our health outcomes are based on our own behaviors, we have choice for 80% of all of our health outcomes, you know, great or not great. Totally in our control.
Wendy
That is a pretty powerful statement. It’s our agency. It’s our choice. Total control. 80%. Yeah, it’s a really big number. I think so many people feel a little bit demoralized about their health outcomes, and we choose to blame or have excuses for things. But when we look at the number 80%–
Debbie
It’s empowering!
Wendy
So empowering. We can change–we absolutely can take back our health. We’re a lot stronger than we think we are.
Debbie
Absolutely. And it doesn’t matter how old you are, it doesn’t matter at all. You can completely change your body, your mind, everything. Even if you’re 80 years old, 85 years old, you can shift right now.
Wendy
We shift by making health a priority and being smart about it. And that’s where we come in as health coaches to help you navigate the world of health because it can be confusing. Here at nourish coaches, we simplify things. But we really do believe amazing things can be shifted in the body in the mind, with some love and attention, some compassion, and some consistency.
Debbie
And hard work.
Wendy
With all of this in mind, we’ve got a series of workshops coming up. The overall series is called “Improve Your Wellness IQ,” so that we can help support the mindset shift and the body shift to get people into this framework, right? And the three workshops are called, “Intellectual Wellness,” “Emotional Wellness,” and “Physical Wellness.”
Debbie
Yeah, and we’d love for you to do all three, but you don’t have to. They’ll each be available in and of themselves. And we are going to have a few different options for timing for each of them as well. But these three things, intellectual wellness, emotional wellness, and physical wellness are, again, like a whole person approach to your health, your identity of being a healthy person enabled to take on this lifestyle for the rest of your life.
Wendy
Yeah, so it all points to study after study saying people with a high level of intellectual emotional and physical wellness, they’re happier, they’re living longer. They’re contributing to society. They’re walking around with purpose, and they’re feeling alive and contributing members of society. So, in each workshop, we’re going to actually be doing some self-assessments, you know, identifying our strengths and identifying areas that we all need to boost. And in the workshop, we’re going to help you plan your next steps, not mine, not your mother’s or your sister’s, your brother’s or your neighbor’s, but your next steps. So, we’re really looking to personalize these workshops. And we are really excited about it. Can you tell?
Debbie
Yeah, we really love this idea of your Wellness IQ, and how, you know, can we raise that up? Can we boost that IQ so it’s a really great structure? It’s a little bit different than the things we’ve been doing in the past, yet it has a lot of the same ideas because, of course, our philosophy is of our Five Foundations, which, you know, this is all intermeshed so it’s all there. This is the whole person program to be a truly overall healthy person.
Wendy
I think it’s our calling as health and wellness coaches is to be that lighthouse for people–we’re steady. We’re there for you. During the storms and during the calm waters too and we want you to know that health is attainable and reachable and doable and having a circle of wellness practitioners, perhaps us being one of them, is really, really the key to health.
Debbie
Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, athletes have teams that are there to help them become the best athlete they can be–they have their physio coach, they have their psychologist, they have their this, they have their that and they’re all there for that one athlete. And they’re no better we are. You need a team. You need to decide who’s on your team to help you get there. If you’re already taking care of your health, most of the time, you’re already ahead of the game. You’re doing better than most people out there. And if you want to up your game, you can actually be an inspiration for other people. So, to show people what’s possible. We’re pretty ordinary people. But we can do fabulous, wonderful things with these bodies because we’re healthy. And just doing it and being out there. You can show people what’s possible. And imagine that you can raise other people’s Wellness IQ. Isn’t that a great feeling? If not just for yourself? For other people, you know, if you’re that kind of person that really likes to help other people. This is really one of the best gifts you can give people is just by doing the work yourself and having people see you do it.
Wendy
Absolutely–the ripple effect that we’ve learned 14 years ago, right, spreading the ripple effect of health. And you can do it! Like you can totally do it. We believe! We believe you can do it. We’re here to help you do it.
