Hannah Aylward (00:00.066)
Your body cannot heal when it doesn’t feel safe enough to heal and when it doesn’t have like the raw materials that it needs to really do its job. So the body is always gonna prioritize survival over optimization. So this episode is really not about doing like more stuff and adding more things to your list, your health and wellness list, but more so about actually kind of like skimming it down a little bit and doing less, but doing the right things more consistently.

And healing really happens when your body feels safe enough to do so.

Hannah Aylward (00:36.985)
Welcome to the Nutrient Dense Podcast. I’m your host, Hannah Aylward, holistic health coach, functional gut health practitioner, and the founder of HAN. So many people are continuously failed by conventional and alternative health care. We are here to do it differently. Alongside my team of functional registered dietitians, I’ve helped hundreds of women around the world overcome their chronic digestive issues when nothing else worked.

I’ve learned a thing or two about what it really takes to transform your health from the inside out, and I’m here to share it all with you. Please keep in mind that this podcast is for educational purposes only and should never be used as medical advice. Now, let’s dive in. Your transformation is waiting.

Hello, hello, my dear, and welcome back to another episode of the Nutrient Dense Podcast. In today’s episode, we’re going be discussing when you’re doing all of the things for your health. You feel like you’re doing it all, right? You’re like nailing the nutrition, you’re putting in all the effort, you’re researching stuff. Maybe you listen to this podcast regularly. Thank you for that. You’re like taking supplements and you just feel like you’re doing all of the things.

And you still feel like you’re kind of getting nowhere and you’re kind of just feeling like like crap, right? That feeling of overwhelm and defeat from it all can be so very real. And it can feel like you’re putting in so much effort, like so much effort, so much time, so much money, just investment across the board, right? Whether it’s like monetarily, time-wise, energy-wise, and you’re just putting in so much effort and you’re kind of getting

Getting nowhere, maybe there’s little shifts, or maybe you feel like you take two steps forward and one step back, or maybe you’re at the point where there’s just so much noise everywhere. And there’s conflicting information too, very often, right? So you feel like you don’t even know where to start. You’re like, okay, I’m seeing one person say this, I’m seeing another person say this. I don’t exactly know what’s right or what’s wrong. I don’t exactly know what’s worth my time and my investment.

Hannah Aylward (02:41.666)
I’m seeing people with red light panels. I’m seeing them with vibration plates. I’m seeing them with peptides. I’m seeing them with all kinds of peptides. I’m seeing them with, you know, hydrogen water. I’m seeing them with probiotics. I’m seeing them like the list goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on. And it’s so easy to get so overwhelmed with all of that, right? And to not really know like what’s worth my time and what’s not. And it can almost lead to this analysis paralysis, is is what I call it. And I’m personally.

deal with this a lot, right? I think we all do in our own ways. I feel very grateful that I don’t really deal with this when it comes to like health quite as much because I feel like moving through my own health issues that I had for many, many years and doing the work that I do today, I can kind of feel through and feel out like what’s worth it and what’s not. And when there’s new research, I dive into it. But it’s like I think I have this embodied knowing at this point in my journey because I’ve been doing this for a long time now. Like I’ve been

doing this work for close to 10 years. I’ve been on my health journey for a long freaking time and felt like I was spinning my wheels and getting nowhere for a long time. So there’s just something about, there’s like an energetic shift in in my body and in my being where I don’t jump into new trends and fads and things like that in the way that I once did. I mean, I used to be like, this is the new thing, this is the new thing, this is the new thing. Cause I didn’t really have that like full embodied knowing. And I also didn’t

really trust myself and trust my body as much as I do now, which I think is like a really, really important kind of piece of this, of this conversation. But this analysis paralysis can be so real to the point where you end up kind of procrastinating and and maybe not even doing anything or making any changes because you don’t know what to change or what’s right, or you keep making changes like every week based on what you’re seeing online.

So you don’t even know what’s working and what’s not anymore. I see this go both go both ways with people, right? So it’s like you can feel so overwhelmed by and so like inundated with all of this information and opinions, opinions, opinions. And well, this person’s doing it this way and this person’s doing it this way. And then there’s like there’s no clarity with that, the overwhelm, there’s like no path forward because you’re just so overwhelmed by all of the varying information and opinions. So that’s like one way it can express. You keep making new changes every week based on new things. So

Hannah Aylward (05:05.186)
There are a couple people in my life that despite my two cents, it’s like they’re always trying something new. And so it’s like this is the new thing, then this is the new thing, then this is the new thing, then this is the new thing. And if you do a new thing for like, you know, five to seven days, and then there’s a new thing that you’re doing for another five to seven days, it’s like we can’t even see what’s working and what’s not anymore. And a lot of this comes down to consistency and like just trusting the path forward. So

That is another way that it can kind of express, right? It’s like, okay, maybe it’s this probiotic, or I started taking this supplement, or I started taking this liver supplement, or I started doing this thing, or and then I bought the vibration plate and then I started doing this. It’s like you don’t even know what’s helping you and what’s not anymore. And you’ve just spent a bunch of money on a bunch of random stuff. So, you know, the part of the work that we do with clients is like really to cut through the noise of all of this. And that’s also part of why I have this podcast, just like cut through the noise.

Of all of the wellness wellnessy stuff, because it can be so overwhelming, especially now in in today’s day and age where like every everyone ever has an opinion on on literally everything, including health, including health and wellness. And then it’s like you open your phone, you get fed more and more and more of it if you if you watch it. So it can just feel really overwhelming, right? So if you’re just like throwing new things into the mix, you don’t really know what’s working. So, you know, first off, like I get it, I understand.

I’ve been there. I’ve been in this position and I struggled with chronic GI and digestive issues for, you know, seven years or so. I also struggled with like body image stuff and my weight. And I have done every diet that you could possibly name. Like I’ve done that diet in hopes that it would like fix all of my issues many years ago. Fortunately, over the last few years, we haven’t needed to do all of that because I kind of like got to the core of my gut issues and, you know, regulated my nervous system in a better way. And I just like

There’s there’s more to the story. So, you know, our work really aims to cut through that noise for for many of you. But I get this feeling of just like, okay, maybe this is the magic bullet. Maybe this is the one thing that’s gonna pull me out of here. Maybe it’s this thing that’s gonna help me. Maybe it’s this supplement that’s gonna do it. Right. Cause I spent years trying all of the things like diets and supplements and workout routines and whatever, just spinning my wheels, feeling like I was kind of, kinda getting nowhere, feeling a little better and then it coming back and then.

Hannah Aylward (07:27.184)
I would be all hyped up on like new information that I learned. And it would be like, my gosh, like intermittent fasting is the new thing. I’m going to do that. And then I would do that. And then I’d feel really hyped on that. And then like a couple of weeks later, I would crash on that. Like what happens when you want to live your life? Or what happens when it just stops working for you? And you don’t really know why it’s not working for you because all you’ve read is that it’s great. So there’s so much here. Like I really truly empathize and and resonate with this story. And

It’s awful because I think over time you can start to feel very hopeless. Like you start to feel like I’m a complex case. No one can help me. I don’t really know what to do. I’ve tried it all. Like this, these are things that I hear from from the women that we work with and men that we work with every single day. You know, like they come, they finally sign up to work with us because they’re like, I just need clarity. I don’t know what to do. I’m so overwhelmed. No one seems to be able to help me. Can you help me?

And we cut through a lot of that noise and overwhelm. And that’s like, you know, part of our job. We we understand the research. We’ve seen the client transformations. We have our own process. And I think there’s so much benefit in just working with someone to kind of cut through all that noise. And I do that in my own way to this day, right? Like I’ll have I’ll get my team’s two cents on my own labs or I’ll go see an acupuncturist when I need support with XYZ or whatever it might be. So it allows my brain to just shut off because I

You know, arguably no too much when it comes to like the body and health. So I can really start to overthink it. And it can lead to this, you know, it’s like when you try all of the things and you kind of get nowhere, it can lead to this feel feeling of hopelessness. The light at the end of the tunnel gets really difficult to see. It can also lead to this really big hypervigilance, right? So when you’re just constantly inundating your brain with new information.

And you’re trying to, you know, identify the like quote unquote holes in your plan, that one missing thing that’s going to change it all. I sent years there, like truly years there. And it was exhausting, like deeply, deeply exhausting because I was also kind of running the story that like I’m broken and I need to find the thing that’s going to fix me. And for me personally, there were a few key things that I kind of was missing, right? Like I

Hannah Aylward (09:38.931)
I didn’t understand that I was living in a moldy environment. I didn’t understand that mold was contributing to my chronic health issues that didn’t make sense to anyone, including the functional medicine doctors that I was seeing. No one knew what to do with me, right? I didn’t understand at that time that there was deeper gut work to be done and I needed a better strategy because I was doing a lot of the right stuff. Like I was taking enzymes, I was taking L-glutamine, I was taking prebiotics, I was doing all of these things.

And I was still really spinning my wheels. I was eating like super, super, super clean. I mean like quote unquote cleaner than I eat today. Like I was more strict and restrictive with my diet before I repaired my gut. And after doing that, I can tolerate many more foods. So for the point is like for me personally, there were a couple missing, missing pieces in my health plan that I needed more clarity on and I needed to understand better and I needed someone to help me through that process.

And working through those things like really changed, I mean, it changed my life. Like my digestion is different, my energy is different, my food tolerance is different. I mean, detoxifying mold, getting the proper testing there and repairing my gut, like changed my whole life. And there’s no doubt about that. But what also really helped me in this process was consistency with the foundations and really learning how to help my body feel safe. Like

Both of these things were just as important as the functional labs and all the other stuff. Cause I would kind of ping pong, you know, from one thing to the next to the next to the next. And when I look back, I just kind of know better. And it really takes consistency. You know, it takes like this kind of those simple things that are gonna move the needle done really consistently. So I had to get out of the constant searching over and over and over and over and just do what I kind of deep down knew I needed to do.

But I wasn’t really doing it because I was still searching for that one thing. So a lot of us have been taught, you know, it’s like the one thing that’s missing, and you can’t trust this and you have to keep looking for this. And there’s kind of like truths in in all of this to an extent, right? There can totally be things missing. We can absolutely dig deeper, no question. Once again, like I’m a walking example of that. We help, we literally help all of our clients do that and we get them feeling a lot better. So

Hannah Aylward (11:54.529)
There’s room for all of it, but a lot of us, I think, especially when you’ve been on this journey for a long time, you can really kind of almost like fall victim to that patterning and that mindset of like something’s missing, I’m broken, I need to fix it. What’s missing? This isn’t working. I’m I’m broken and I need to fix XYZ. It’s like the new thing, the new test, the new protocol, the new supplement, the new lab, whatever. And, you know, after helping.

Thousands of women at this point over the last 10 years of doing all of this. No, I what I know to be true day in and day out is no one gets to skirt the foundations, right? No one gets out of the fundamentals. And it doesn’t matter how complex your case is, whether you know you have gut infections or you know you have SIBA or you know you have candy aida or you know you have mold toxicity or you know you have histamine issues or

You know you have estrogen dominance or whatever or hypothyroidism, Hashimoto’s. Like we can put labels on all of these things. And it’s helpful to understand what’s going on, right? But it doesn’t really matter how complex your case is or what you have going on. The foundations are going to support everyone. And when in doubt, I want you to come back to these foundations. And I need like a sexier name than just like foundations because they seem very boring.

But like priming foundations, these things that you want to come come back to and rely on these things, they will take good care of you. So if you feel like you’ve done all of the things and you’re doing everything right and you’re still kind of not going anywhere, I want you to come back to this list that we’re going to cover in today’s episode. Like listen to this episode as many times as you need it. Your body is capable of healing. Your body has a a really beautiful.

capacity for healing. It is so intelligent and it wants to feel good and it wants to repair itself. It has this innate ability to self-repair. We just in modern day, you know, with like stressors and environmental toxicants and poor diets and mineral depleted food and all of these things and long to-do lists and toxic relationships and like all the things that modern life kind of gives us, gives many of us, right?

Hannah Aylward (14:09.129)
It just kind of goes a little haywire and it and it gets caught in the shuffle there. But never ever forget in your darkest days, or if you’re just feeling kind of fed up with your own journey right now, that you’re you are capable of feeling better. And I know that to be true. It may not look the exact same way as someone else’s journey or a protocol or whatever, but you’re capable of repairing. Your body actually wants to do that, no matter how complex.

The issue at hand is. So just never, never forget that when we look at clients that do really well with us and in our programs, whether it’s my Healing Guts and Shaking Buds program or our one on one program, it is the clients that show up consistently for themselves, trust the process, nail the foundations, add on all of the fancy stuff that we guide them through and really like surrender into the process and learn how to help themselves feel safe. So

These are the keys here, right? Those that show up and do these foundations and these fundamentals consistently. And then of course we can kind of like zhuzh it up with all the all the fancy stuff as well. But if you feel like you’re eating clean and you’re buying the supplements and you’re following like all these people online and somehow you’re still exhausted and you’re bloated and you’re constipated and you’re anxious and you’re feeling stuck in your journey. This episode is for you. I want to strip it down to the basics because once again, no one gets away.

without doing the basics, maybe for a week or so, but it’s gonna come back to bite you in the butt. That much I know. And whenever I’m having like a little moment or I’m feeling a little off or I’m feeling more foggy or I’m feeling more tired or I’m feeling more inflamed or my my cycle’s more painful or my digestion’s not as smooth or whatever it might be, I come back to these foundations before I jump to like harsh conclusions. Cause you know, the brain will do some crazy things where we’re like, my gosh, I must have

Colon cancer, which, you know, of course could be a possibility and then go for your go go for your colonoscopy. Absolutely. And at the same time, like, let’s see, are we doing the, are we doing the foundations? The brain will just go to like worst case scenario a lot of the time. And it does that, it does that all the time. So in no way am I t saying not to get checked for things that you need to get checked for, right? Always talk to your talk to your doctor. And at the same time, come back to these foundations to support you. We’re going to bring things back to the basics.

Hannah Aylward (16:31.8)
And not because they’re boring and not because they’re not advanced enough, but because they’re the things that actually change your physiology when when done consistently. So we’re I’m gonna break it down. We have like, I have a whole list in front of me. I think we’re gonna review eight things today. And before we before we dive into these specifics here, just know that, you know, a lot of us will w skip talking about the basics because they’re just not as sexy, right? Like they’re just not as

Cool as hearing, like, my gosh, autophagy and like my cells can like eat themselves up and then repair and clean up old cells. And this cool gadget is going to like tone my vagus nerve and I can wear it in this new modality and whatever. There’s space for all of it, right? But we skip the basics because they’re just like not as fancy as those kinds of things or like the peptides that are like going crazy right now, or the protocols, or the red light panels, or whatever it might be. But meanwhile, we can be doing all of those things. And if you’re like,

So freaking stressed out and you hate your job, you’re not drinking enough water, you are sleeping for four hours a night, you are sitting at a desk at a computer or scrolling your phone for 10 hours a day. Like you’re but you’re not supporting yourself. You’re you’re gonna be better off nailing these foundations than you are investing in XYZ fancy supplement or gadget, right? Your body cannot heal when it doesn’t feel safe enough to heal and when it doesn’t have like the raw materials that it needs to really do its job. So

The body is always going to prioritize survival over optimization. So this episode is really not about doing like more stuff and adding more things to your list, your health and wellness list, but more so about actually kind of like skimming it down a little bit and doing less of and doing the doing less, but doing the right things more consistently. And healing really happens when your body feels safe enough to do so. So

You’ll hear me say this in a lot of these episodes, and I say this to clients constantly like, how can we help your body feel safe? The body’s gonna always ask, Am I safe enough to repair? And safety is not just emotional safety, it’s physiological. So your cells need nutrients, they need oxygen. We need to stabilize your blood sugar. You need minerals, you need restorative sleep, right? You need sunlight, you need to support your nervous system, you need daily movement. When these things improve,

Hannah Aylward (18:49.807)
That’s when we’re gonna see inflammation decrease, hormones, you know, b balance out, which is a big over generalization, but you get what I’m saying here. Digestion will improve with these conditions, energy will improve, your gut starts to function the way that it should when the body feels safe enough to do what it knows how to do. So let’s dive into eight key things to focus on if you’re in this state of like, I’m doing everything right, but nothing’s actually working.

Or you’re feeling like nothing’s working, or or if you’re just feeling so overwhelmed, maybe you’re newer to this journey, or maybe you know like too much for your own good, because that can happen too. We see that a lot in our clients. They’ll come in and they’ll be like, Okay, I think I have this, this, this, this, this, and this. And I’m like, where did you get this information? And they’re like, Well, I’ve done research and I think it’s this. And in no way am I knocking that. Like it’s always good to see your own research. But why I’ve spoken to some other practitioners in this space, and it’s like in this era of like Chat GBT and podcasts and all this stuff.

We have clients coming in thinking they have certain things and they don’t. Or we have clients coming in thinking that it’s XYZ and it’s not. And we have to really go and like dig a bit deeper to see like what what is the truth here. And once again, like not to knock knock the people that work with us whatsoever. I mean, you everyone is like doing the hard work to to dig deeper and learn more, right? You are researching things and that’s a beautiful thing. It’s

Because sometimes you really, really, really have to advocate for yourself because no one else is going to, right? We all know those appointments that lead us nowhere where they’re like, No, you’re just stressed. And you’re like, Thanks so much. That was so helpful. So in no way am I like knocking it, but it’s it can kind of the pendulum like swing hard both ways, right? So it’s like we don’t know what’s going on, we’re told it’s just stressed, and then it’s like, we’ve listened to 300 podcast episodes, we’ve chat GBT’d our life away, we’ve done XYZ, and I have.

I think I have this these 10 things. And sometimes, sure. And then sometimes you’re just stressing yourself out, you know? And and also you’re gonna stress yourself out, even if you do have those things, because you’re just like it’s like too much research, right? So we are seeing this pattern a lot in clients and some of my the, you know, practitioner friends and colleagues are seeing these patterns as well where people will come in thinking they have XYZ or saying that they have XYZ and and it’s like you kind of know too much, you know. And

Hannah Aylward (21:04.089)
And this even applies to me. Like when I go in for support with something, maybe I am having painful periods or whatever. And I know I have so many tools to support myself here. I will go in and get help and I will I will honestly sit back. Like I don’t want to tell, I don’t want to tell anyone that’s helping me, like I think it’s X, Y, Z because I’ve witnessed this pattern and I think it’s this, this, this, this, and this, and this is this. I’m like, you help me because I do enough of this.

And I do for everyone else. And I am like so tunnel, like tunnel visioned into my own state that you may actually be able to support me in a way that like I’m not even letting you because I’m so tunnel visioned in on what I think is going on. And maybe it’s something else. Like maybe something else is going on. And let me let me just receive the help so my nervous system can settle here. And I think that, you know, there’s just such a benefit to like getting professional support.

And that’s one of the many benefits is that you can then sit back. And I hear that a lot from clients too. and that doesn’t make you weak. That doesn’t mean that you can’t, you know, like figure things out on your own or whatever. You shouldn’t have to figure out every everything on your own. Like that is why professionals exist. That’s why people are there to help you. And it we can just get so burned when we’re in that kind of like traditional Western medical system because you’ve probably seen a lot of people that didn’t help you and kind of just like wrote things off. So

It’s a balance, you know, it’s like finding the right people that you can trust, finding the right people that you feel can support you. And then after that, really like allowing the nervous system to settle a little bit and receive the help. Like there is big, big, big medicine in receiving support and receiving help, whether that’s like getting a nanny a couple of days a week or working with a practitioner or going to work with a therapist or whatever it might be. At least for me, as someone who definitely leans, like

Type A, control, control, control, really hardworking, like, you know, top, top performing, like that kind of energy where it’s like there’s no breaks, there’s no stops. It is real medicine for me to just like pause and receive support from other things and let people help me in all different areas of my life. So I just offer you that. If it lands, if it lands, take it. If it doesn’t, just ditch it. But I think there’s real medicine in that. And I hear a lot of our clients say that. They’re like, you know what?

Hannah Aylward (23:28.188)
I have been trying to figure this out on my own for the last three years and it’s just not working. So can you help me figure this out? And we’re like, yes, let’s do it. And then, and then, you know, we can and we get them feeling a lot better. So there’s real medicine in that you shouldn’t have to do it all on your own. And, you know, I think that’s like it just is stressing you out. It’s just stressing you out. So, anyway, let’s get into the top eight, top eight things that I want to discuss with you. And I I promise, if you

Take these foundations and you run with them and you take them seriously and you consistently apply these teachings for like the next two to eight weeks. I would love for you to do them like forever and ever. But give me a couple weeks of consistent, consistent implementation here. You will feel better. So message me after. I want to get messages from each and every everyone listening, you listening right now. I want you to message me in like four weeks, being like, hey, Hannah, I actually did. I actually did it and I am feeling better.

And maybe you’re not feeling 100%, but you’re like, I’m actually feeling like 30% better. And that was great. So I’m expecting messages. So first thing that I want you to really implement that is a core foundation and something that we walk all of our clients through is learning how to stabilize your blood sugar and really implementing these things. Right. So you’ll hear me say on other episodes too, if you’re if you’re a solid listener, thank you for being here.

And you’ve listened to other episodes, something that I always say is like more education without implementation doesn’t move the needle. It’s just more noise. You can have all the education in the world. You can read and you can listen and you can research. But if you’re not actually implementing these things and applying them to your life, it’s not gonna make a difference. And this is what I think really truly like separates people from getting what they want out of life and not is like simply taking action. It’s like the Nike slogan, like just do it, which is like it sounds silly.

But my sister and I are always joking because she’s like, Hannah, this has been your slogan for like your entire life. Like I came out of the womb being like, just do it. Like just take the action because that’s how you’re going to learn what works, what feels good, what doesn’t, and you’re going to start to build momentum and make progress in the right direction. So there’s you can stick in the learning phase. It’s often just like a a nervous system response to try to keep us safe because we’re afraid of actually taking, taking steps forward and making change.

Hannah Aylward (25:46.759)
It’s easier to learn about it than it is to apply it. But until we implement things and actually like do them day in and day out, like that is that action is what actually creates the change. So if you needed that gentle, loving reminder, you know, take this stuff and actually really implement it and apply it to your life so it can support you. Don’t just listen to this episode and then keep keep going on your merry way. Like choose pick a couple of things to work with and apply them and message me later. So

Getting back to number one is blood sugar stabilization. So blood sugar swings are a huge stressor on the body. And they’re it’s really like one of the quickest ways that we can lower stress hormones, including things like cortisol, we can support energy production, thyroid function, digestive function, better sleep is to balance your blood sugar. So I have a whole episode on like five top tips for balancing blood sugar. If you want to dig in deeper with me there on like the science and application.

Please go listen that episode. My team will link that in the show notes below. But to kind of put it simply and keep it keep it digestible, no pun intended, for this episode, the more that your blood sugar swings all around the place, the more you’re gonna be running on stress hormones. So every time you eat, your blood sugar is going to increase. That is a natural response. We just want to avoid like super high highs and really low lows. And what will usually cause a low low is a high high. So if you eat something like high in sugar, high in carbohydrates.

Especially like typically ultra-refined carbohydrates. However, there’s totally healthy foods that can bump your blood sugar a lot too, but they’re usually going to be carbohydrate dense. So it could be like, you know, a piece of cake. It could be something that actually bumps blood sugar a is like those simple mills crackers. No H simple Mills. I love those crackers. I eat them all the time. But you just want to pair it properly. So it’s they’re they shockingly kind of increase blood sugar a lot because they’re very carbohydrate dense. They’re they’re lower in fiber and and other things in protein to kind of help stabilize your blood sugar. So

If your blood sugar goes up really high, it’s likely gonna drop really low. And when it drops really low, your body’s gonna secrete cortisol to raise your blood sugar levels. Cause low blood sugar is dangerous, you know? So some signs of erratic blood sugar patterns can be like anxiety, that hangry feeling, shakiness, afternoon fatigue, sugar cravings are a big one here, waking up in the middle of the night at like 3 a.m., brain fog.

Hannah Aylward (28:08.499)
Hormone issues, so painful periods. Like whenever I whenever I hear a woman struggling with painful periods, I’m like, let’s address blood sugar because your blood sugar is impacting insulin, and insulin is going to impact all these other hormones like progesterone and things like that. So blood sugar regulation is like at the core of hormone, you know, quote unquote hormone imbalance, but it impacts many different hormones because it’s going to impact cortisol, which will then impact progesterone.

Which can impact estrogen, et cetera, et cetera. So the more that we can regulate your blood sugar curve and decrease the high highs and the low lows, the more we’ll see like decreases in inflammation, better digestive function, better sleep, better energy, less crashes and that kind of thing. So this is one of the foundations that you always, always, always want to come back to. And it’s just kind of easy to fall off of it if you’re like traveling or if you’re just have a go through a busy phase or whatever it might be.

So some things that you want to focus on here. Really prioritizing protein is going to be number one. You always want to pair it with healthy fats, good fiber, carbohydrates, right? Fiber is a carbohydrate, but we can put it in its own little bucket because it is that important. But the biggest thing that’s going to help stabilize blood sugar is protein. So really, really, if you’re going to do one thing after listen listening to this episode, really adjusting your breakfast. So you’re eating within an hour to an hour and a half of waking up.

And you’re making sure that you’re getting in like 30 to 40 grams of protein first thing in the morning. I’ll take 25 grams, better than nothing. But I would love to see you. Like if you’re if this is resonating with you and you’re like, yeah, I’m actually like low energy and my cycles are really painful and I’m having sugar cravings, my digestion’s a mess, I’m getting breakouts and all those things, balance your blood sugar and aim to get 30 to 40 grams of protein first thing in the morning. you know, ideally within an hour of waking up, avoiding those long stretches of not eating, avoiding not eating breakfast until like noon.

that kind of thing. So it can look like a couple eggs. It can look like eggs and like turkey sausage or whatever, like chicken sausage. I’ll buy those like organic chicken sausage links. Those are super helpful for upping your protein. You can do eggs with some egg whites if that feels good to you. nothing wrong with the yolk at all. Sometimes the egg whites are just like an easy add in to bump up that protein without like, I don’t know, too many eggs kind of grosses me out if I’m just being honest. So sometimes I can’t do it. I can do like two to three and after that I’m kind of like I’m I’m getting grossed out.

Hannah Aylward (30:29.999)
you can do protein powder and things like smoothies, oatmeal, you know, chia seed pudding, that kind of thing. That’s a really easy way. If you listen to this podcast, you know I love a quit protein. it’s kind of my go-to. One scoop has between 20 and 21 grams of protein. So what I’ll often do is throw that into a smoothie. I’ll throw a scoop of collagen, which will give me like another 10 grams. And then I already right off the bat, I’ve got like 30, 31. And then a couple of the other ingredients like chia seeds or hemp seeds or nut butter will give me like a little bit more, but not very much.

but I’m gonna be in that kind of thirty, thirty gram range, which is what feels best for me and my blood sugar. But eggs totally work, you know, leftovers from the night before totally works too. So if you did like ground turkey or ground beef or salmon, if that feels good to you. I don’t know about I don’t think I’ll be eating salmon for breakfast, but you know, you do you do you. We just want protein rich, protein dense. if you tolerate tofu, organic tofu, that could be a great option here as well.

So making sure that you’re getting in 30 to 40 grams first thing in the morning is really, really key for blood sugar and it’s gonna support your blood sugar curb for the rest of the day. Trying once again, trying not to go hours and hours without eating that first meal. Your body wants fuel first thing in the morning. You’ve been fasting overnight. So, you know, when we talk about intermittent intermittent fasting.

It can help a little bit, but I really don’t like women, especially menstruating women who are like actively like in their reproductive years to be going more than twelve to maybe 14 hours without eating because the body’s just sensitive to not having enough fuel. So you’re going to be fasting naturally overnight, you know, for I it’s great to rest your GI tract and digestive function for like 12 hours, but eat within, you know, that hour of waking up so you’re not running on.

On fumes, running on empty, because the the longer you go without eating, the more the body’s gonna enter that stress response and then it’s gonna kick up cortisol. And then by the time you do eat, you’re gonna be running on cortisol. So your your digestion is already gonna be subpar for that next meal. So it’s just not ideal. And it’s putting your body in that like fight or flight state, that stress state, first thing in the morning, which we just want to avoid doing because that’s gonna then impact, you know, the rest of your day too. So avoid going a long time without eating.

Hannah Aylward (32:41.331)
We always want to pair carbohydrates with fats and and protein when we can. So, like I mentioned those crackers earlier. Once again, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with them. I totally eat them. I think they’re delicious. But pair it with something. So pair it with avocado, which has fiber and fat. Pair it with some turkey slices and and cheese, organic cheese. Like that could totally work. You’ve got additional protein there and some fat. pair it with something else of substance. So you’re not just eating something carbohydrate dense. That could also apply to something like oatmeal.

So instead of just a bowl of a bowl of oatmeal that doesn’t have that much fiber, it’s mostly carbohydrates. Can you pair that with chia seeds and flaxseed and a scoop of protein powder or an egg or two or something to add protein and fiber to that, some nut butter for healthy fats, all of that’s gonna help to stabilize the blood sugar response to something that is more carbo carbohydrate dense, like oatmeal. So those are just some examples for you. Other things that you can do here too are.

Walking after meals. So walking for a few minutes after each meal that you eat, doing 10 bodyweight squats throughout the day. The the research shows that they need to be done like every 45 minutes to be more effective than a 30-minute walk, is my understanding of the research. I would say overall, just like if you eat a meal that’s more dense in carbohydrates, just like move your body a little bit afterwards, shake it out, dance it out, walk around the block, walk to grab your put your trash in the bin, walk to grab your mail, like.

Do the laundry, do the dishes, like any sort of movement will help to burn off that that glucose and help to stabilize your blood sugar. And if you’re like, I’m not gonna do any of those things, then like hold a plank for 30 seconds, do a couple jumping jacks, do a couple squats. It’s really going to help. It’s actually quite, quite amazing. And it doesn’t take too much either. And if you want to, then get in the routine of doing like a little evening walk for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, which can be really supportive as well. And then the one other note that I’d say here is like,

Try to avoid just too much coffee first thing in the morning without, without any food there, because that can impact your blood sugar and cortisol levels as well. So that’s gonna be foundation number one.

Hannah Aylward (34:50.857)
We are big fans of eating enough protein over here on Team Han. Protein is essential for muscle repair, a strong gut lining, balanced blood sugar levels, and so much more. For most of our clients, we like recommending around 100 grams of protein per day to start, and adding in a good quality protein powder can be super helpful for hitting those numbers. It’s an easy add-in, you can throw it into a smoothie or even add it to oatmeal. Choosing the right protein powder can feel so overwhelming.

Half of them are full of fillers and crap ingredients, and the other half honestly just taste bad. Equip protein is one of my go-to recommendations for our clients and one of my personal favorites. We love it because it only has a small handful of ingredients. It’s 100% carefully sourced, real foods, no additives, allergens, chemicals, fillers, or other junk. It’s gluten-free and it contains 21 grams of protein per serving. Equip’s Prime Protein also offers

a complete amino acid profile. It’s also independently tested to make sure that the protein powder is free of harmful amounts of heavy metals and toxins like glyphosate, which is honestly super hard to find. Equip prime protein is a grass-fed beef protein. So it is animal based, but it’s dairy free, unlike whey or casein protein powders. Grass-fed beef protein is packed with collagen, gelatin, and micronutrients that your body needs.

We also see that it’s typically much better tolerated in our clients with chronic gut and digestive issues over something like a plant-based protein powder. In addition, some of their flavors do contain natural flavors, but they’re distilled vapors from natural and organic compounds or fruits like vanilla, coconut, and strawberry, and are processed without any chemicals, fillers, binders, or artificial ingredients, which once again is incredibly hard to find. Personally, I buy both the chocolate and the vanilla.

Flavors of the Equip Prime Protein, but honestly, they have like so many other incredible flavors out now. If you’re interested in trying out Equip Prime Protein, you can use the code HANNAHAYLWARDHHC at checkout for 15% off. And we’ll pop that code in the show notes of this episode for you as well. So once again, you can go to equipfoods.com, choose the flavor of protein powder that you want, and then use code HANNAHAYLWARDHHC for 15% off.

Hannah Aylward (37:07.399)
Second thing that you want to focus on doing is hydration. And I know it like sounds simple and you’re like, Hannah, girl, I know. However, we can it can be so easy to not drink enough water just straight up, you know? So unless you’re tracking it, unless you’re like really being mindful of it, most of us aren’t drinking enough water. It can, it can really be as simple as that. In this era of like red light panels and peptides, like something as simple as drinking enough water can be really helpful for you.

So dehydration can look like things like constipation, headaches, fatigue, dizziness, dry skin, poor digestion. Those are some things we can look for here. So just make sure that you’re like hydrating well. Cause sometimes I find myself in calls with clients and they’re like, you know what? I was realizing I was drinking water first thing in the morning. And then all day I’m working and I’m barely drinking any water until six o’clock. And listen, that will happen to me as well. So I sometimes I’m like, girl, you gotta be drinking your water. And I will do things to make sure I’m drinking.

Drinking more water and then also like just getting in more hydration through things like herbal infusions, which are really helpful. I’ll do like a nettle and oatstraw infusion and I’ll sip on that because it tastes good to me. Not everyone loves it, but I like it. I’m like a big drinks girl. I want to have like four drinks at a time at my desk. I love a fun drink. I live for a fun drink, whether it’s like a cold brew or it’s a sparkling water or it’s an herbal infusion or a mineral cocktail. Like I love my drinks.

So I always have one at my desk, if not like three at my desk at one time. But just making sure that you’re getting enough hydration throughout the day. We ideally, you know, for most of us need for most women, I will say, men may need a bit more. For most women, it’s like 12 cups a day-ish, 96 ounces of water per day-ish. I don’t think you have to be militant with it, but just like notice if you’re surviving on coffee and you’re not drinking enough water, or if that your day is getting so busy and you’re just finding that you’re not even drinking water, right? So

Easy ways to kind of like bump up your hydration, more practical habits that you can implement here. Number one, morning hydration. So, like a big mug of warm lemon water first thing in the morning with a pinch of salt can be great. I will often do that. And then I will also often do like 16 ounces of water with minerals. So I’ll put in trace minerals or I’ll put in additional minerals. Like there’s a supplement from Body Bio that has it’s like a mineral dropper that I’ll use as well.

Hannah Aylward (39:28.527)
to remineralize my water because I do filter my water, which is incredibly, incredibly important. And it strips the minerals from the water, which is like the downside, but also takes out all of the crap like pharmaceutical runoff and heavy metals and all this other stuff, like that that bacteria that will come come into our bodies through the water that we’re drinking. So I’m a big proponent for a good quality water filter.

there are many on the market. But when you do that, like if you have like a reverse osmosis system, it’ll strip the minerals from your water. So remineralizing can be helpful there. So I try to get those things in first thing in the morning. And then I also have my mineral cocktail, which is an additional source of minerals in probably 16 ounces of water. And then I do a little splash of grapefruit juice with that too. Other practical tips here herbal tea is really supportive. you also get the benefits of the herbs, like getting in the routine of a nightly.

Mug of herbal tea can be great. I find it really relaxing. It’s really like just feels like a nice little hug to my nervous system, which I usually need. Usually feels good to me. So that can be really supportive. Your GI tract, like your digestive tract, needs water to actually move through food through, right? So dehydration can become a big issue there. Other things that you can do, infuse your water with things like lemon or oranges or mint or whatever.

You can also make those herbal infusions that I mentioned. Those are really supportive for me. Very nutrient-rich, mineral-rich. Let me know if you guys want more details on that. I can do an episode on that. And then also just increasing your water intake through the food that you’re eating. So water-rich foods, fruits and veggies primarily, things like watermelon, cucumber, those are all great to add in. The third foundation that you want to really make sure that you’re like nailing are minerals and getting in adequate, adequate minerals. This conversation can get a bit more complex. We do test a lot of our clients.

Using something called an HTMA, which is a hair tissue mineral analysis. It’s gonna give us more specifics on what’s going on in their body, how their body is handling stress, their stress resilience, their mineral levels, potentially any heavy metal exposure that they’re that they’ve gotten, heavy metals that they’ve been exposed to over the last three months. So we can add in a lab here, absolutely. But what I will say is overall.

Hannah Aylward (41:41.575)
Most people are going benefit from minerals because our nutrients or excuse me, our soil is pretty mineral deficient. Stress burns through minerals, and many of us are just under consuming, especially if you’re not eating like a healthy whole foods diet. But even if you are, it’s all like it’s all taken out of the soil nowadays, right? So we’re just not getting in enough through the food that we’re eating. So additional supplementation can be really helpful. minerals are act as little like,

Cofactors for these other dis different enzymatic reactions that take place in the body. So they matter when it comes to like nervous system, adrenals, bowel movement, stomach acid production, sleep, energy production, all of these different things rely on minerals to really do their job, is kind of the simplest way of putting it. So many women are under consuming a lot of a lot of minerals, including these things that we call macro minerals.

meaning you need more, the body needs more of these minerals. So you need them in higher amounts. Once again, we will run the HTMA test with our clients to gain more specific insight into this pattern, and it can be a really supportive test. We do a lot of these with our one on one clients. But in general, I think it’s pretty safe to say that most people are gonna benefit from additional intake of these macro minerals, which would be things like sodium, potassium, magnesium. Calcium is technically a macro mineral as well.

But you wanna be more mindful before supplementing with calcium because it can cause some bigger, bigger issues. It can go to the wrong place if we’re not careful, if we don’t have the other cofactors that we need. So I feel comfortable saying sodium, potassium, and magnesium, most people are gonna benefit from. For me personally, I get this in through drinking an adrenal cocktail every day. I use the jigsaw health adrenal cocktail. It combines sodium and potassium and vitamin C. And then I always supplement with magnesium.

Magnesium glycinate specifically for me, but I love this supplement. We recommend this too. I mean, essentially all of our clients. I’m not sure if we’ve had a single client that like didn’t benefit from this. If you increase your minerals quickly and you have a higher burden of heavy metals, you can get those like detox reactions. So just something to note if you’re like, I tried taking those and I actually felt really sick and bad or like dizzy. We’ve seen that in clients with.

Hannah Aylward (43:58.745)
with higher heavy metal loads, whether it’s like uranium or mercury, or even arsenic. So just something to note if you’ve kind of trialed these things, they haven’t worked very well. But there’s also some people will negatively react to magnesium because they’re lower in other macro minerals, things like sodium and potassium. So there’s a little bit of nuance there. But I would say for most people, adding in additional mineral rich and just nutrient rich, but mineral rich foods and drinks can be really supportive. So

Fruits are high in minerals, root vegetables are very high, leafy greens can be great. Simply adding sea salt, things like bone broth are tend to be high in like things like sodium, and other minerals as well, especially if infused with something like seaweed, which contains iodine. and just eating healthy whole foods. And then if you’re looking for that additional support, something like the jigsaw health adrenal cocktail can be great too. I really I don’t have a partnership with them or anything.

Coming soon, hopefully. I love their products and we use them all the time. So would love to partner with them if they ever listen to this episode. But it’s something that we recommend a lot. Of and what I’ll have my dude, my team do is pop in the show notes below the link to my supplement dispensary so you can go and access this supplement for 15 to 20% off. If you’re interested, I have a whole list of some of my favorites. You’ll find the adrenal cocktail there, and you’ll also find that my favorite magnesium support there too. So if you are interested.

We’ll pop that in the show notes so you can access some of these supports. Foundation number four is going to be moving your body. Moving your body every single day. Movement is not punishment. We’re not focused on calorie burn here. We’re focused on just moving our bodies because we can. It’s such a gift to be able to move your body. And, you know, I think that I don’t know. Sometimes it’s like people are like, well, how much do I have to do? And what about this? And is this enough? It’s like,

You guys, it’s such a gift to be able to move our bodies every single day. Like moving in some way, shape, or form. You don’t need to be doing Barry’s Boot Camp every day. You don’t need to be doing CrossFit or Orange Theory every day. Absolutely not. But just move your body. I I would I try to move my body every single day. It could be as easy as a 30-minute walk. It could be more intense, like an incline walk and strength training, or a more intensive workout class, which to be honest, I don’t do many of like I really stick to my strength training and walking and a little bit of yoga. For me, that’s what works for me.

Hannah Aylward (46:24.195)
and works for a lot of our clients too. But my point is that if I don’t move throughout the day, like I have to get it in. You have to move every single day. If you don’t move, you will be constipated, you will be stagnant, you you will be more foggy headed. So movement is such medicine. It improves insulin sensitivity, it supports lymphatic flow, it improves constipation and healthier bowel movements, it reduces inflammation, it improves your mitochondrial function, which so many people are suffering with right now.

after heavy viral loads and things like that, environmental toxin exposure, like lots of people are needing mitochondrial support. Exercise directly positively supports your mitochondrial health. It supports detoxification. So things like walking, strength training, mobility exercises, dancing, right? Yoga, stretching, platties, anything that feels sustainable for you, do it and do not let one day pass without doing some kind of movement.

It doesn’t need to be like a a two-hour thing. You don’t need to go run 10 miles, but you’ve got to move your body and think of moving as exercise. Like think of these little just going throughout your day as kind of adding and filling that bucket of movement throughout the day. So if you can take the stairs, park farther away and walk to your car. Take the trash out to the curb and walk it back. Walk your dog an extra lap. Like these little things really add up over time and throughout the day.

So instead of thinking, like I have the opposite kind of mindset with this. So instead of being like, my gosh, I need to get the parking spot like right, the best parking spot, I’m like, it doesn’t matter. Let’s just park so we can walk and get some steps in. I I am that girl. I am that girl. And I will continue to be that girl. Of course, if your safety is an issue, consider your safety, keep your eyes open, right? But just like move your body throughout the day. It doesn’t don’t overcomplicate it. Dance in your living room, dance in your kitchen, do some bodyweight squats in between your phone calls, get moving each and every day.

If you’ve gotten into the pattern where like you’ve had a lot of work travel or life’s gotten busy and you and this has slipped away, just use this as a reminder to do something each and every day. Because if you’re not, then you’re probably sitting down for hours, which does not help your health span or lifespan. And the goal is really, once again, it’s not about like calorie burn. It’s about mental clarity. It’s about mental health. It’s about

Hannah Aylward (48:45.021)
endorphins, it’s about insulin sensitivity. When I s when I switched my mindset on that, it really helped me see it as like a more positive thing. Then it was like, my gosh, I have to burn as many calories as possible, which is just like low vibe. And it it becomes this very toxic relationship. Instead, just think about moving for all of the health benefits. And there’s so much research on the benefits of of movement and exercise. You know,

Excessive sitting is directly linked to a shorter lifespan and a higher risk of heart disease, things like heart failure and cancer. And studies indicate that sitting for over 10 to 11 hours daily correlates with a significantly increased mortality risk. And cutting time to under three hours per day could potentially extend your life expectancy up to two years. Up, up by two years. So get off your get off your booty, get off that cute little booty you got.

And get moving, get a walking pad. My walking pad like is a game changer, it saves my life on a daily basis. I love my walking pad. Once again, it doesn’t have to be, you know, hit workouts to the point where you can’t breathe. It’s just like simply moving your body. So come back to this foundation. When in doubt, come back to this foundation. Fifth foundation here is going to be sleeping, which is probably not a surprise because we need to be sleeping. However, we’ve had so many clients that we work with that are like taking.

The supplements, they’re taking immu immunoglobulins, they’re taking, you know, cortisol support, they’re taking magnesium, they’re doing all this stuff, but they’re not sleeping. And I understand if you’re like a new mom, you’re like, please, I’m not sleeping. Do the best that you can, right? But really do everything that you can to prioritize your sleep. Nothing replaces sleep. During sleep is when tissue repair happens, memory consolidation, your lymphatic system go gets to do its job. So it detoxifies your brain, literally. Immune regulation happens, hormone production.

gut repair happens, all of these things. So if you’re only sleeping five hours, you cannot supplement or peptide your way out of this. It’s not going to work. And a lack of sleep directly impacts your blood sugar. So poor quality sleep, insufficient sleep, like getting fewer than seven to eight hours per night increases your stress hormones like cortisol. This prompts your liver to release more glucose and causes insulin resistance, making your cells unable to efficiently absorb sugar from your bloodstream.

Hannah Aylward (51:02.459)
It directly impacts your stress hormones. It directly impacts your blood sugar. So if you’re on a weight loss journey, if you want to decrease inflammation, if you’re working on balancing your hormones, this is a non-negotiable. And one of the most like well-documented effects of inadequate sleep that we have is this blood sugar piece, right? So just one night of partial sleep deprivation can make your cells less responsive to insulin, meaning your body has to produce more insulin to keep.

Blood sugar under control. So one night of poor sleep impacts your blood sugar. You wake up more insulin resistant the next day. This can feel like to you brain fog, mood swings, difficulty losing weight, increased belly fat, hunger all day long, sugar cravings, afternoon energy crashes. Poor sleep also disrupts appetite hormones. So it affects two major hormones, ghrelin and leptin.

And after inadequate sleep, ghrelin increases and leptin decreases, meaning you will feel hungrier while feeling less satisfied after eating. It’s going to directly increase your hunger and decrease signals of fullness. So unsupportive overall. Poor sleep weakens the immune system. So you’re while sleeping, your immune system produces cytokines, builds immune memory, it repairs damaged tissues, it helps to regulate inflammation. Poor sleep has been associated with more frequent infections, slower recovery.

Higher levels of chronic inflammation. This is not stuff that you can like supplement your way out of. Like you’re you’re pouring supplements into a bucket with holes at the bottom if you’re not prioritizing your sleep. So get off that phone, stop scrolling. This is your big sister reminder to get off that phone, stop scrolling, and put your little booty to bed and tuck yourself in just like just like a loving mother would. Like sometimes I have to like really mother myself and be like, Hannah, my girl, it’s time to rest that little head. Tuck yourself into bed, go to sleep.

And we’ll do more tomorrow. Sometimes I have to, I have to really talk to myself that way to better understand that like I’m helping myself instead of it feeling like I’m ripping something away. Like I have to put my phone down. It’s like, no, it’s actually going to support you to put your phone down and get to sleep. Poor sleep also increases gut inflammation. I’ve spoken about this on other episodes. It’s going to increase gut inflammation. It can impact the gut barrier. So

Hannah Aylward (53:18.288)
We s have some of this research. It negatively impacts your gut health. It can also shift your gut microbiota to a more infavorable gut microbiome overall. It can increase those bad gut bacteria and decrease a more like bacterial diversity overall. So it it disrupts your gut microbiome and gut function, your gut barrier. It can lead to slower digestion as well. And it raises cortisol. So plastic practical tips here to support your sleep.

Put that phone down, number one. Morning, sunlight, and circadian rhythm support can be really helpful here. I’m gonna talk about that next. Consistent wake time, trying to wake up at the same time each day. Limit screens for two hours before bed, dimming the lights, replacing those light bulbs with like orange light bulbs, red light bulbs. That’s what I’ve done in my home personally. Cooling the room, eating, balancing your blood sugar throughout the day is also gonna help your sleep. So eating enough protein, going back to those blood sugar supporting tips, decreasing your caffeine take, especially like later on in the day.

And then other things can be helpful like Ltheanine, melatonin, possibly glycine, all of those can be helpful when it comes to getting better sleep. The sixth foundation here is sunlight. So I want you to think of sunlight as a nutrient. It’s not about like if you think of it as a nutrient, meaning it’s something you’ve got to get in each and every day. I think that’s just like a helpful for the mindset. So you make sure that you prioritize it each and every day, as opposed to it being like an afterthought. For me personally, this has been helpful. So

Many people think it only matters for like vitamin D, right? But it’s so much more than that. Morning light is going to impact your circadian rhythm, your cortisol awakening response, your cortisol curve and pattern as well, melatonin production, your mood, your metabolism, your thyroid function, your blood sugar, your sleep quality. I mean, it’s game changing. And I interviewed someone on this topic, I think it was like in 2025. We will link this episode in the show notes below. so I’ll make sure that my

My team goes ahead and does that. Please dig into this episode if you’re interested in learning more on this topic. It’s amazing. There’s so it’s so important for your overall health. It is just as important as a supplement, right? So practical tips for you getting outside first thing in the morning for five to 10, 15 minutes, getting sunlight exposure in your eyeballs. Don’t look directly into the sun, but making sure that your eyes are being exposed to light and sunlight.

Hannah Aylward (55:44.024)
you can sip your morning coffee out there, drink your mineral cocktail, drink your warm lemon water, whatever you gotta do. I literally open the door to my balcony, I stand out on my balcony and I like let the sun hit my body for a few minutes. It’s when I like let my cat, my little cat Winston out too. He loves the sun, like cats love baking in the sun. So we both have our little circadian rhythm sinking routine that we do. It’s very simple. And I’m usually like brushing my teeth and then walking back inside and walking back outside. I’m drinking my water as I’m standing there.

Maybe I’m checking my email or whatever, but try not to be too much screen exposure because it’s kind of like ruining the point. Like allow to get allow your eyes to get enough sunlight and not be looking at that blue light screen. But sometimes, you know, I do a little check here and there. I will just like do some stretches, whatever you need to do. Don’t overthink it. Five to 10, 15 minutes is is a great place to start there. Drink your coffee out there. Like I said, your macho, whatever it is.

You could even eat your breakfast outside, eat your lunch outside later on in the day too. and something that I try to do is take little sun breaks. So throughout the day, a lot of my days are kind of stacked back to back with a lot of calls, but sometimes I have no time because they they run right into each other. But if I have even 10 minutes in between my calls, I’m gonna like make sure I get some water and I’m gonna just step outside and let my eyes get that exposure to the sun.

Because it is, it makes such a huge difference in your overall health. It it’s actually kind of crazy how much it helps because it’s so simple and it’s free and it’s like very basic. But taking these little sun breaks, even for like 60 seconds, literally stepping outside, getting exposure to those light rays as opposed to like the blue light from your phone or your laptop or whatever, and then walking back inside. As simple as that. These are some actionable things that you can do ASAP. Number seven foundation is going to be nervous system regulation. So

A lot of people get stuck here because you can have like the best supplement routine and the quote unquote best diet or whatever. But if your nervous system is stuck in fight or flight mode, every it’s going to impact everything, right? Healing will slow down. It fight or being in that fight or flight response reduces stomach acid production, digestive enzyme secretion, bile flow and bile production, gut motility, nutrient absorption, blood flow to your GI tract.

Hannah Aylward (58:02.082)
It directly impacts your digestive function. So you can be eating, you know, no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, blah, blah, blah. You can be taking probiotics, L-glutamine, enzymes, herbals, whatever. And if you’re chronically in that fight or flight state, you’re gonna be you’re like on the hamster wheel that you’re you’re never gonna get off of it. So we need to really prioritize nervous system regulation.

And if you’re ever feeling overwhelmed with all of the wellnessy things, like come back to this foundation and ask yourself, how’s my stress? How often am I feeling overwhelmed? And am I like really s resourcing myself here and getting support here when I need it? Like check in with your own stress level because it’s gonna ebb and flow with with your life in your life. My stress levels ebb and flow depending on what’s going on. So it’s like if I have a couple of weeks where I’m just so freaking stressed out and there’s no downtime.

It makes sense for me to have like a little flare-up, whether it’s like digestion or poor sleep or low energy or like a breakout or whatever it might be, because I’m not I I’m not regulated, you know. So we can’t avoid all stress, that’s for sure. But where can you resource yourself? Where can you get support where you need here? Ways and practical tips to do this. Spending time in nature, really, really supportive for nervous system regulation, slowing your breathing down at in

Elongating your exhale, making your exhale longer than your inhale is a great way to support your nervous system and shifting out of that fight or flight sympathetic dominant state and into that parasympathetic state. So it’s as simple as breathing in through the nose for four and out of the mouth through six and just elongating that exhale. When in doubt, come back to that very, very, very simple practice. You can do this in between work calls while driving your car, while your eggs are cooking on the stove.

It doesn’t matter. It’s free and it’s very, very effective and it’s very easy to do. So please actually implement it. Slowing your breathing down and elongating that exhale signals to the brain that you have the brain has enough oxygen so we can shift out of that fight or flight state and into that rest and digest state. Laughter, prayer, meditation, journaling, having better boundaries with yourself and others, saying no, putting that phone down, not grabbing that phone first thing in the morning.

Hannah Aylward (01:00:20.068)
Saying no to that gathering that you want to kind of go to, but you’re like too stressed out. You really need to actually like unwind and settle at home. Say no to it. Don’t go. Don’t do it. Protect your energy, right? Doing less, just straight up doing less is also very supportive for the nervous system because we’re so often hyper focused on this like productivity and go, go, go and do, do, do that we none of us have any downtime in our in our schedule. We were never designed to live that way. So

Anything that’s gonna help the body go, hey, I’m safe here. I’m feeling better. I’m feeling more in my body. Walking slowly can be helpful. Like I said, time and nature, breathing, meditation. These are all really supportive practices here. It’s signaling to the safety to that nervous system. And that is one of the most powerful things that you could do for your overall health, hands down, like absolutely hands down, is feeling safe in your body. So hopefully there’s some, there’s some tools that you can work with there.

And then that kind of leads me into my eighth point here, foundational point, which is joy. So people largely, largely, largely underestimate this. And I think that we’re living in this, in this like modern world where a lot of us are sourcing joy like through our cell phones, and we’re getting these really quick dopamine hits by like scrolling and scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. And or we’re just like so kind of stretched thin that we’re not prioritizing our joy. We’re not prioritizing.

Happiness and like laughter, which may sound silly, but I really would invite you to just reflect on like when was the last time you danced just for fun? You colored or drew something or painted just for fun. You just like played for fun. You did something purely because it brought you joy, not because it got you something that you want or got you farther along on your path or or it was productive, right? Like you did something just for the heck of it.

But just for the fun of it, joy is a nutrient in my book. And my whole coaching career, and I’ve been doing this for once again, like close to 10 years, almost 10 years coming up on that, which is totally crazy. But something that I often would find myself asking clients is like, are you prioritizing yourself and your own pleasure and your own joy and your own fun? Like, what do you do for fun? Are you actually doing it? Or

Hannah Aylward (01:02:43.126)
Do you love do you love, you know, gardening and you haven’t been able to get out there in the last four months? Or you love painting, but you haven’t picked anything up and painted anything in the last six months, or you love dancing, you can’t even tell me the last time you went to a dance class. You know what I mean? It’s like it’s a really good reflection to do with yourself. This is hitting. Like take out your journal after you listen to this or pause me, take out that journal now and like reflect on some of these things. When was the last time you did them? When was the last time you met up with a friend?

And just like allowed yourself to be super present, not worried about the time, not worried about only having one hour, not worried about, you know, having to have a big conversation with the friend or whatever it might be and like running your to-do list while you’re there. And and you just got to be present. Like these are things that really help signal safety to the body. So then it can do what it knows how to do best. Reading a fiction book, not reading a book that’s like health related or, you know, for me, it’s like business related or

Something that’s just chill, like just reading a story can be really helpful too. Joy literally lowers stress chemistry. So it changes your physiology. It directly changes your physio physiology when you feel joy and when you feel gratitude. Take that, take that little tidbit away from this episode with you. It is as important as downing 10 supplements. I’m telling you right now, if you are living life where you’re miserable, your relationship isn’t working, you hate your job.

You’re constantly triggered, you’re constantly worried, you’re stretched thin. Like this is not health. Health is holistic. And I think that term has been like a little butchered over the years. And I don’t know, I feel like it’s lost like some of its meaning because it’s been so overused. But all of these things impact your health, your joy, your play, your creativity, your presence, your gratitude. All of these directly impact your health. So sometimes, you know, it’s you don’t need another protocol. You need to just like let loose and have a little bit of fun.

And maybe that’s as simple as taking a hip hop dance class. I know that’s what it is for me a lot of the time. And then I literally leave these classes and I’m like beaming. And I’m like, I’m like, that was so much fun. I feel so much better. I feel so much better. So take take this away with you and ask yourself like when you’re going through your day, how often do you feel joy? How often do you do you have time to do things that you just want to do? Even if it’s 30 minutes, like running a bath and reading your book in the bath. It doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated, you know? Keep it simple, but

Hannah Aylward (01:05:08.838)
But it’s a really beautiful reflection. Cause if we’re out of alignment and we’re never doing these things that make us feel good, like how would we expect to feel good? You know what I mean? Health is holistic. So get, get honest with yourself here and and consider joy a nutrient. If your life is lacking joy right now, how can you bring a little joy into your life? It will shift your stress physiology, that your stress, your stress chemistry, it will impact your physiology. It will

Support immune function. It will support gut function for you to feel more joy. So that’s your that’s your script. I don’t write I don’t write prescriptions, so don’t get it twisted. But if it metaphorically, that’s your script after after this episode. So I hope that this was kind of grounding for you. Once again, doesn’t matter how complex the condition could be MCAS, could be histamine issues, could be SIBO, could be parasite, could be whatever it is. It doesn’t matter.

All of these foundations still really, really matter. So if you’re feeling like nothing’s freaking working or I don’t know where to start or I’m totally off track or I’m overwhelmed with everything, these are the key components and foundations that I really, really want you to focus on. Healing does not happen because you found some one magical supplement that you were missing. It happens when you take these small actions consistently to support yourself because these small actions eventually become

Massive transformation and they influence and inform your cells. So before you jump into the next big thing, come back to these foundations, come back to this episode to support you. And healing does not require perfection either. It’s like, where can we move the needle in the right direction little by little? And it really requires consistency. And you don’t get to this healthy spot and then you just like throw it all away. You are you we’re all working on this stuff forever. You know, no one wants to hear it, but we’re all working on nailing these foundations.

day in and day out for the rest of our lives. So oftentimes, you know, clients will be like, How long will it take? How long will it take? I’m like, listen, we can do a lot of good work with you in like four to six months. No question. That’s the timeline we work with a lot of our clients, like the four to six month range. And with that being said, like this is this is forever. Health is forever. You know, you don’t need like crazy extensive protocols for forever, but your your life is going to ebb and flow, your stress is going to ebb and flow. These foundations stay true throughout the entire

Hannah Aylward (01:07:32.88)
the entire journey. So let let yourself feel a little bit of like relief in that, if that feels good to you. And if you’re nailing, if you feel like you’re like really nailing all these foundations and you’re listening to this episode, you’re like, yep, I do that, I do that, I do that. And you’re interested in diving a bit deeper, you’re interested in a customized protocol and getting professional support in functional labs, right? If you need accountability, if you need direction, if you need, you know, more education in this space or guidance in this space, we’d love to support you here.

Inside of our one-on-one programs, we help you identify your unique underlying root causes. We support you in implementing these foundational pillars as well. And we use functional labs to really inform customized protocols to address your unique imbalances because they’ll be different for everyone. No two people’s guts look the same. No two people’s protocols are the same. And you can apply to work with us inside of my one-on-one gut restoration program at the link in the show notes below. We’ll make sure to put that there if you’re interested.

And of course, if you enjoyed this episode, please write a review. Like the reviews help so much, you guys. And we’ve seen such amazing growth with this podcast. It’s been incredible. And thank you, thank you, thank you for being here. Like from the bottom of my heart. I love hearing how these episodes impact you. Like it truly makes my day. And it makes it makes my day. It makes my week. It feels really this podcast is feeling really good to me and really good to us as a community as well. Like I get these messages and yeah, anyway, they just mean so much to me. So

If this podcast has positively impacted you, please write a review. Please share it with someone who who needs a bit of support and guidance on their journey. It would mean the world to me and my team and and the people that are seeking out this support and information and haven’t been able to find something that resonates with them yet. I hope that this was super helpful. Once again, thank you for being here. And I’ll see you in next week’s episode. And until then, enjoy and go go treat joy as a nutrient. and I’ll see you soon.

Okay, bye.

Hannah Aylward (01:09:33.958)
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Nutrient Dense podcast. If you found this episode valuable, don’t forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and come back next week for a new episode. See you then.