The Flipping 50 Show

What if you could be years younger in days? I lived it.  When I was driving to the airport last week I had the strangest feeling. I can’t remember a time – perhaps because its NEVER happened – when I just got on a plane and went somewhere without a schedule. I wasn’t going to deliver a presentation. I wasn’t going to deliver a hug. I wasn’t going to attend a lecture. No one would ever know if I showed up or not. I was going into this total black hole of nothing to expect, nothing to measure success, and it was uncomfortable.  I was heading to the Huntsman World Senior Games in St. George, Utah. Yet, once there, I had no agenda. I was going just to witness it. Having done a podcast with CEO Kyle Case and been a guest on his) I was intrigued for sure and excited about capturing some inspiring moments (they’re coming up) to share with Flipping 50. We share a common mission and I wanted to see the games and help spread the word.  That was all well and good. I had no appointments, no schedule, no mandatory time restrictions. But I was uncomfortable. Seriously?  How many times a day do I have check my watch? Making sure I’m on schedule for my next client or interview? That I’ll hit my deadline for the next article? That I’ll have to my team what they need from me next? And I was missing it? How often do I wish for a day clear of appointments to focus on a project for a big block of time? Or how often do I (or you) crave a weekend free of to-do lists and errands to catch up or get ahead (someone is laughing their ____ off at that)?  I had created it. I was staring at a few days just like that. Uncomfortable. I was uncomfortable with the lack of schedule ahead of me for the next three days. I do honor boundaries. I have self-care practices. I avoid overscheduling and draw sharp boundaries on time off. I don’t do evening appointments or weekend coaching unless it’s rearranging that can’t be avoided. And yet… I was at a total loss.  I kept feeling like I needed to be doing something.  At the end of my first day I realized that it was worse than that. I was looking for reasons not to do things. Fun things. I was looking for boundaries.  At one point on a hike to explore St. George’s beauty, a low fence – 12 or 14 inches from the ground to full height – threatened me. It was to keep tortoisesinand safe in a reserve, for crying out loud! It was not to keep humans out.  It took an adventurous 10-year old ahead of me to show me the way. Minutes later as I looked at vast red rocks just begging to be climbed I didn’t see anyone else on them so I thought that must be off limits.  There were no signs saying so.  I just assumed. I finally started out on the hike. I was off the grid literally and figuratively. It was just an area waiting to be explored. So I went. No steps, no path, no people ahead of me, just me blazing a trail. I scrambled up five or six of them to stand at the top with nothing to see or do or feel. Just to be there and be. Yet, I was still a little uncomfortable.  Like a kid years younger playing hooky who keeps looking over her shoulder, I felt like I was going to get caught so I wasn’t completely enjoying the freedom. I looked down and realized I didn’t have my watch on. That never happens! I had no idea how it did, but was so glad it had. After all I had no place to be. No one was expecting me. There were half a dozen venues I could visit at the Senior Games, but I didn’t have to. I didn’t need a watch to tell me I was hungry. I wasn’t concerned with minutes, or distance, or a heart rate. So I just gave in. There was no measure of the way breathtaking scenery was filling me up. But I wondered.  Am I hiding behind a schedule? I frequently tell my clients, both women in midlife and fitness professionals, that structure provides freedom. I may have taken it a bit too far. Was there so much structure in my life that I’ve forgotten how to use free time wisely? When I began coaching in 1995 – the kind of coaching around figuring out why pieces of life aren’t quite coming together even though things are obviously important to you and you’re committed to them – this sort of challenge happened to other people.  Now the coach becomes a student. This is exactly the kind of homework I might give someone: get off the grid for 2 or 3 days and break out of your “have to” “shoulds” and cramming so much into your days that you forget why you’re doing it.  Kids have forgotten how to use free time and so possibly had I.  It’s a “thing” we began to notice about children a couple decades ago. They’ve gotten so used to constant stimulation that they don’t know how to entertain themselves. A Gameboy or an ipad or game tells them what to do. There are fewer and fewer markers and tablets that aren’t electronic or building toys kids can explore. Sit them in front of a movie. It’s so much easier. But then when there’s not that, boredom sets in and they can’t entertain themselves.  Was I a victim too?  So I decided to be uncomfortable. I decided to do what I wanted to when I wanted to do it. For three days.  It was hard. While I was running on my second morning there I realized it had been 25-30 years since I’d just gone for a run. I just set a time and didn’t care where I went. So I ran… to parks where I stumbled on the Huntsman World Senior Games women’s softball event, past the 5K and Half Marathon finishes.  And I noticed. More than usual, I noticed things. We coaches refer to it as being present. I’d lost it, apparently because having found it, there was a distinct difference.  I noticed the view, hard not to, and people on the path. I was tuned in and present. Not focused on getting it done and getting back or finishing an interval. Not simultaneously doing something else. I quote research by Ellen Langer frequently. I’ll link to a book you may be interested in if what I’m about to share intrigues you. I came back looking years younger. I actually felt myself looking better. You and I know we’re pretty hard on ourselves, our own worst critiques. Especially, perhaps at this time in our lives when things are changing rapidly if you’re not matching your hormone needs to changesyou make. You know, thinning hair, more pronounced wrinkles, sudden lines in the neck, crepe skin around legs, cellulite some days not others…  But I actually felt like I aged backwards in those three days. Maybe it was interviewing 94 and 84-year-olds to start my trip. Possibly it was the abundance of adults older than my 54 at the games. Maybe seeing 96-year-old Charlotte’s results in the six swim races she competed in. Maybe it was the clean air and perfect weather. But I felt lighter, happier, and like I had fewer crows feet, without Botox. I have to give a nod to St. George and the perfect climate over my stay. A sunny 75 with low humidity was perfection. Sunny works for me. It wasn’t the food. I – you heard it from me – ate junk food two nights in a row. Well, the closest I’ve come to sabotage in quite some time. The hotel restaurant served what it served and I’m sure I ate a combination of gluten, dairy, white flour, and anything-but-healthy fat.  After two nights I couldn’t take it any longer, because food shows up in energy and in a glowing complexion or not, pretty quickly. (That also means you can turn it around in days if you want to!) I attribute my energy and the way I feel changed to these things I learned that I need present in my life: Time every day carved out for exercise Time outdoors in sunshine Defining what healthy food is for you and reinforcing what it feels like to honor it Time spent around people who are the very opposite of complainers, whiners, and looking for reasons they can’t – they’re looking for open windows if a door closes. Those are my people. They’re people who think the best about life, and want to get better no matter where they are now.  Believing that there is a greater purpose for each of us. Nurturing the human body and the spirit is a part of serving that greater purpose.  Purpose may be served with a to-do list, but energy and inspiration to do it is served by staying away from it regularly. Every sidewalk or hallway I walked down or sidelines I sat on during those few days people exchanged hellos, good mornings, and smiles. Every single one. The fact that I notice that even is something to acknowledge. It’s not true of every day. Even in Boulder where I call home and believe that truly people are happier here – from the athletes to the volunteers to the family members cheering and the community members – it was a unique environment.  Physical activity changes people.  It changes lives.  Changing the way you think about physical activity changes what it can do. It’s not about a scale. It’s not even about a body fat measure (and you know I promote the value of body fat knowledge over weight alone) It’s not punishment. It’s a gift. It’s not a deficit so you can eat cake. It’s a reward for a body that simply is meant to move. For the men and women at the Huntsman World Senior Games it’s a starting line. Not to compete against someone else. Not to win vs. lose – because in many sports that’s how it’s labeled – but to win or win. Finding new strengths, exploring new activities, being a part of something bigger. For some I met it was something that led to losing 75 pounds and most likely finding herself again. For others it was a dose of something that she needed for mental health as much as physical health. For some it is social. For some it was far more motivating to get stronger and build endurance than to simply lose weight but that happened to For some it began as a family challenge and turned into something exhilarating … you’ll see it all in the blog full of Flipping 50 moments I’ll share the link to here. What this triggered for me was the need to change some habits. I wasn’t honoring the way I use energy best. I wasn’t honoring the best times of day for me to create, write, connect with others, to exercise so that I could, sometimes I wasn’t honoring a desire to drink less coffee and more water. It’s easy to slip. It may surprise you but it’s easy for me too. When you’re in it, doing it regularly it’s so easy to let a day go by and skip or get caught up in work and let a long much needed hike slip into a 20-minute more rushed than enjoyed workout. So I’m challenging myself for the next two months- these last two of 2018 – and if you’re listening to this after the fact, you can still comment below the show notes at flippingfifty.com or comment on Instagram if you’re following there. Comment about how you’re going to change a habit. I’ll share the process. We all have these triggers or cues. Triggers usually are related to bad habits. Cues are related to good ones. It’s a certain cue that you have to focus on in order to follow through with a habit you want to create. I want to break from work and stay committed to a workout even if I don’t have a race or event coming up. But just putting the hour block on my calendar is not the cue. That hour break to get set up, exercise, clean up is the habit I want. The cue is maybe a 2 or 3-minute thing in reality. For me I have to decide at 8am I go get dressed – in my swim suit, bike shorts or running shoes. If I’m driving to the pool or doing weights at the gym then getting into the car has to happen then. That’s the cue. When I’m successfully in the car on the way to the gym it’s going to happen. So here’s what I challenge you with: Tell me what habit you either want to commit to or you want to stop Tell me what you’re going to focus on: what is the 2 or 3-minute cue you’re going to do that will insure that you follow through on the habit? It can get tough over the end of year excitement to stay focused on health goals. It doesn’t have to, and if you have something set in place to help – you’ll stick to it. Share your years younger plan Once you have your habit, share it here at flippingfifty.com under the podcast or at Instagram. Telling someone makes it easier to commit. Then share this with a friend and surround yourself with a community of women flipping 50 together. We can all be years younger. If this was valuable please leave a rating in iTunes, it really helps us all spread the possibilities and expectations about the way we age.  

Is your slow metabolism keeping you young? Is your effort to speed your metabolism accelerating aging?  My guest today is going to challenge your thinking.  Joel Fuhrman, M.D. is a board-certified family physician, nutritional researcher and six-time New York Times best-selling author. He serves as the President of the Nutritional Research Foundation. Dr. Fuhrman has authored numerous research articles published in medical journals and is on the faculty of Northern Arizona University, Health Science Division. His two most recent books are Eat to Live Quick and Easy Cookbook and Fast Food Genocide. A few favorite quotes addressing the slow metabolism and longevity connection are sprinkled  throughout the today's transcript.   “Exercise is the only way to speed metabolism without accelerating aging.”  “We age at the rate of our metabolism”  Key Points from our podcast: More frequent eating increases inflammatory markers.  Slowing your metabolism is the key to longevity.  “For longevity: Moderate caloric intake with micronutrient excellence.”  What is a nutritarian diet and what do you think it can do? “We could wipe out cancer right now. The problem… people don’t like the answer.” G-BOMBS+ Greens Beans Onions Mushrooms Berries Seed  There are lots of scientific studies with conflicting messaging, how do we know what to believe? Studies that are best: Use thousands of people Study goes on for decades The more studies the better   “Beans are THE most favorable carbohydrate source.”   “The more plant protein a person eats the longer and healthier they live.” Why do people have so much trouble changing the way they eat? What’s the truth about oil and use of fat? Do you advocate any animal protein? Nuts reduce the appestat, while oil does not. It’s always better to get the food than the extracted oil from the food. IGF-1 too high or too low (needing more protein) can accelerate cancer. (100-130 optimal). Tell us about your retreat in California and what you do there.  How long do guests stay? Connect: www.drfuhrman.com Dr. Fuhrman on Facebook: joel Fuhrman, M.D Dr. Fuhrman on Twitter: @DrFuhrman Dr. Fuhrman on Instagram: @joelfuhrmanmd

Adrenal fatigue could knock you on your you-know-what for five years. Learning to listen to your body’s signals could avoid adrenal fatigue.  Debbie Potts has been in the fitness industry for over twenty-five years and a competitive endurance athlete for twenty years.  Along her journey, she has accomplished many goals including being nominated as one of the top one hundred best trainers in the U.S. by Men’s Journal in 2004 and 2005 as well as participating in fifteen Ironman Triathlons – five of them were the World Championship Ironman in Kona, Hawaii.  Debbie is a speaker, podcast host, and author.  She coaches clients how to become fat burners, optimize health and improve their performance in life and sports with The WHOLESTIC Method.  Debbie does her best to walk the talk as she was a competitive top age group triathlete, marathoner, and cyclist but since 2013, she has been recovering and rebuilding from Adrenal Exhaustion and burnout.  In November 2016, she published “LIFE IS NOT A RACE” in which she shares her personal story to help others avoid living life as a daily race and ultimately avoid adrenal fatigue. Questions we cover in this episode: What was your experience as a competitive Ironman triathlete to that of a woman in adrenal fatigue and exhaustion that you share in LIFE is NOT a RACE? What were the biggest lessons you learned? What do you wish you knew then that you know now, that might have helped you avoid adrenal fatigue? How do you advise training for a triathlon (or any endurance event) to stay healthy? What’s your WHOLESTIC Method approach consist of? If an elite athlete can acquire adrenal fatigue, so too can you. Your perception of your busy life and the stress is enough. You don’t have to be running marathons. Quotes from Debbie’s interview:  “Sleep is serious” “If stress is on, digestion is off” Connect: Debbiepotts.net And you can find Life Is Not a Race on AMAZON      

How to Poop Every Day Like Royalty with the Queen of Thrones NOTE: there are some technical difficulties in this episode we’ve tried to edit and could not. Thank you for listening with a non-judgmental ear! We felt it was more urgent to get the information in your hands than to wait to be perfect. Thanks for your understanding.   Constipated? Bloated? Gas? Diarrhea? All of the above? Life would be so much better if you could just poop every day regularly, right? During this episode we are going to flip the lid on the truth about your poop. My guest is none other than the Queen of Thrones. Dr. Marisol, ND is a world leader renowned for her passion for cleansing and gut health, not only, because she has the degree on the wall but more so because she's experienced feeling shitty and figured out the hierarchy on how to get healthy.   Crowned the Queen of Thrones™, for over 15 years, she has trained and educated health care practitioners and has helped thousands of patients transition from SHIT SHOW to OWNING their throne.  Dr. Marisol directs and practices at Sanas Health Practice in Canada, has spearheaded PuraSanas health supplements and invented the Queen of Thrones Organic Castor Oil Pack™ and line of products.  The launch of her first book, OH, SHIT!,her educational conferences and programs,  heralds her championing you to becoming your own legend.  Join her movement and help her to achieve her goal of being in 1 billion bathrooms by 2020. We can do it!  Questions we answer in this episode: What does poop tell us about our bodies? Was is the gold standard poop we are looking for? What are the golden nuggets? Should you poop every day or is there a normal for every one that’s unique? How does poop impact us as we age, does it impact our hormones or weight gain? How can poop be improved with Castor oil? What is a Castor Oil Pack? How do you define the two most common problems? (constipation and diarrhea  Constipation Defined: eliminating less than 12 inches a day. An awesome stool tool is the length from your elbow to wrist Might be signs of: Deficient in magnesium Low thyroid Diarrhea Defined – going 5-6 times and/or having loose stools Might be signs of: Hyperthyroid More anxiety Too much magnesium Food sensitivity or intolerance Whether you do or don't poop every day, you can find out if it's too fast, too slow or just right. How to Assess your Transit Time Beets will color your stool. Eat them with evening meal (at least a cup) Check, 1-2-3 days after the first day? When do the beets show up? Less than 24 hours is really fast or more… constipated. (Listen for the details)  “You are what you digest, absorb, and eliminate.” ~Dr. Marisol What's Normal?  "Normal" poop every day that's solid. A frequency of more than 5-6 times a day says your transit time is too fast. Your Best Wipe: Wipe once and wipe clean! Your wipe tells you how good your food is for you, and leaves clues about bacteria that may be living in their gut. How to Connect with Dr. Marisol www.drmarisol.com  Instagram: @drmarisolqueenofthrones  Freebie for Flipping 50 Listeners! Legends of the Throne  Gut Feelings- Ebook  Thank you for your patience with the technical issues with this post. I hope you'll agree the moments the tracks were less than perfect were worth the information in this episode! 

Fasting and anti-aging are two of the hottest topics among 50 and older women right now. The Flipping 50 podcast and blog have touched fasting lightly. Today we deep dive into my fasting experience, the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD) I used and a guest who can address fasting from many angles. James LaValle is an internationally recognized clinical pharmacist, author, board certified clinical nutritionist, and expert and educator in integrative and precision health.  James is probably best known for his expertise in personalized integrative therapies uncovering the underlying metabolic issues that keep people from feeling healthy and vital. James is author of 16 ebooks and 20 books including the most recently released, Your Blood Never Lies, as well as his best seller, Cracking the Metabolic Code. LaValle is currently affiliated with George Washington University as a clinical instructor in the Masters of Integrative Medicine program, and received a Faculty of the Year award in 2017 from the American Academy of Anti-Ageing Medicine, where he has taught for over a decade. I refer to the Fasting Mimicking Diet below (FMD). If you’re a fasting skeptic, you’re in the right place. Jim and I both were, too.  Questions we cover in today’s episode: Who have you worked with using the FMD? What kind of results have you witnessed? My experience was different each of the three times I used it, is that common? What are some of the most commonly reported quick-wins with clients that have used the FMD? Is there one diet that’s right for everyone? Benefits that connect Fasting and Anti-aging: Renewal of stem cells Increased Growth Hormone Enhanced ability to increase lean mass (following) Fasting and Anti-aging Terms discussed: Autophagy – cellular clean up that is allowed during times of FMD by giving the body a break from other processes Immune Activation – your cell clean up inspires improved immunity as opposed to a dysfunctional immune activation and inflammatory response to the toxins we’re exposed to or self-induce Renewal of stem cells/cellular regeneration – by day 3 of a FMD this is beginning to happen Time restricted feeding – fasting and anti-aging begin with fasting between meals and overnight! Quote of the Day:  “Muscle is the Currency of Aging” Connect with James LaValle: Jimlavelle.com Ready to begin your journey? Learn more about how to start with the Fasting Mimicking Diet and automatically complimentary consultation HERE. 

3 Habits You Can Change to Stick to Your Exercise Plan! If you find it so easy to start and so hard to stick to your exercise plan then this is for you! The saying goes that the hardest thing is to start. That my friend is a lie! The hardest thing isn’t to finish. The hardest thing is the middle. The getting up every morning early after the honeymoon period has worn off, the doing more laundry than your sedentary self would ever have to do, having to choose exercise over some other things in your life, and having to convince your friends or your family that this is something you’re not willing to sacrifice… all of that happens in the middle  and that’s the hardest. If you’re about to the finish line in a race, or just doing your own walk or run… it’s easy at first, and you have a burst of energy and an I-could-have-done-more at the end.., but the middle is where it’s hardest.  This short post is all about how to stick to your exercise plan. I’ve been dwelling on this recently because it’s fall. I’ll link to a recent podcast about how I do it. After I delivered it though I felt like there was something missing. The tools to actually do it and nail down why you might be – like so many of my students and private coaching clients – having a hard time. So there are three things that really need to change to stick to your exercise plan. Let’s dive into them. And before I do this is a shameless plug for the sponsor of this episode, my new strength training program STRONGER. No matter what else your goals are – avoiding disease or getting off medication, boosting your mood and energy, avoiding osteoporosis, or just loving life more because you’re well, stronger, it’s a built-for-women-50-and-over strength training program. It’s everything you need and nothing you don’t if you have limited time but want to start and not get overwhelmed.  Check it out right now while I’m recording. We start October 1 and you can register for STRONGER now. Once we start doors are closed but you can find out how to be the first to be notified when we open the doors again.  Weight training is about so much more than getting your muscles stronger. You’ll know it when you experience the magic of other women supporting you inside the STRONGER group. So now, let’s dive into these three things you want to change in order to stick to your exercise plan. These obstacles will have to go. #1 You have fictitious obstacles that are your limiting beliefs and personal “rules"  You have to do the laundry first You have to do the dishes first  You have to have supper on the table at _____________. You have to do a full hour (or even 45 minutes or 30) instead of taking advantage of 10 or 20 minutes You are tired so you should sleep in. You can’t lift/walk/swim…. So you’re not going to do anything You have to leave the house clean before vacation or unpack before you do anything else when you get home #2 You need to know your numbers Inches and percent body fat You immediately know whether what you’re doing… whether that is the number of workouts you do or don’t do, the weight PLUS the inches and the body fat are telling you Blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, tracking things like hours you sleep All of these will help you see evidence what you’re doing does matter – even if that scale doesn’t change. #3 You’re hiding behind someone else You have to work Your kids need you Your spouse doesn’t like it when you do something else I would so appreciate you leaving a rating in iTunes! It really helps spread the word about the possibilities we have in the way we age. And it helps shunt women with hormone imbalance away from standard exercise prescriptions that don’t fit their needs. Here’s the link to leave your rating and comment.

This post is about the hunt for the best bone broth. I didn't even know I was looking and there it was, on my doorstep. Meet Kettle & Fire and the family behind it.  Who doesn’t love a great soup? In this episode of Flipping 50 I introduce you to the founder of my favorite bone broth. I fell in love with the taste of Kettle & Fire before I knew the story behind it. And now, frankly, I’m hooked.  I don’t order a few at a time I order cases and sip it in the afternoon, and make soups with it. I steam my vegetables in it and I make cauliflower risotto with it. I do understand the benefits and love them. I am the girl who will do things simply because they’re good for me, but I use Kettle & Fire because I love the taste. My guest on this episode is Justin Mares is the founder and CEO of Kettle & Fire bone broth a company he founded after his brother suffered a serious knee injury.  I asked Justin to elaborate more about the knee injury and the tie to bone broth. How old were you when all of this happened? And how old are you now? Justin definitely has a story. It’s bigger than just bone broth. Kettle & Fire is different. That’s what I wanted to talk about with Justin. Here are some of the questions we dove into: What's different about K & F? You're young! What inspired you to take this career path? No one grows up saying, "I want to make bone broth?"  Let's talk ABCs for listeners who aren't bone broth converts... what are the benefits of bone broth? What is collagen and what does it do? What specifically do amino acids and why were you so interested? What do listeners who want health benefits need to know if they're grabbing a BB off the shelf (and it's not yours)?  What else is coming? I know you're up to some new things now, can you share the details? What’s the scoop on the soup? What’s your favorite K & F? Things I love about Bone Broth: High collagen content to support joint health, skin health, and gut health Amino acids (that come from 1. Broth 2. Bone marrow 3. Organ meats) Both above boost longevity, immunity Amino acids dampen blood sugar impact (which otherwise will accelerate the aging process) Things I love about Kettle & Fire: Shelf-Stable without additives or preservatives (2 years due to heat process) Made from only marrow bone, grass-fed (beef) or free-range (chicken) Organic vegetables and spices The sodium is not added but comes from bones themselves (if bone broth has a higher amount of sodium – without added sodium - you know it’s been cooked long enough) But don’t take my word for it! Try it yourself. Kettle & Fire generously provided Flipping 50 listeners with 15% off all products and free shipping (US customers only) for 6 or more cartons (one per customer). CLICK the LINK Below to order! https://www.kettleandfire.com/debra Coupon code: DEBRA  15% off all products free shipping on 6 cartons or more (no min. purchase amount, limit of one per customer)  We’re sorry that this is only available for US customer only at this time. Follow for yummy recipes and news! Facebook Instagram: @kettleandfire Twitter: @kettleandfire Twitter for Justin Mares: @jwmares

Think Yourself Younger, Slimmer, Stronger Could you think yourself younger? In this post I’m exploring the question why can’t you lose weight from an angle I bring up from time to time. It’s popping up now because of several recent conversations I’ve had. I’m an exercise psychology expert in addition to a movement specialist and hormone-balancing exercise expert. A recent program, observations of students, and the interpretations of results prompted this episode. Work In vs. Work Out We mindfully create instances where we’ll exercise. Then we mindlessly go about it. We tack words on to it that are counter to making it fun, have to, should, ought to. We call them workouts. There’s little joy in them. Yet they’ve become mandatory because the movement in our lives has dwindled to nothingness for many of us. We don’t do chores in the morning, we don’t shovel (we use a snow blower), we don’t wash dishes we use a dishwasher, we don’t make food we use blenders or microwave pre-prepared meals or eat out. We don’t walk or ride bikes we commute and complain about the parking lot being too far from our building. We put our washer and dryers in our master bedrooms so we don’t have to go up and downstairs. We’ve made everything so convenient that we don’t have to move very much unless we choose it. If you didn’t experience joy in movement early in your life, or you are self-conscious or in pain during movement now, you have some obstacles.  Those obstacles are already there before you reach a starting point. Then you question, what do I do? You have a limited amount of time, or limited window of willpower or discipline and if you’re stuck with incongruent, conflicting messages about what works, the moment will pass without you having done anything. Mindless exercise happens when you’re listening to music, you’re not even noticing the things along a path or you’re staring at a screen on a piece of cardio equipment. You’re purposefully dissociating from the moment. You finish without having ever really having connected any joy with the movement. You may experience some endorphins and even some serotonin but you won’t enjoy the same benefits as a vacation as when you workin. This is not yoga. Because yoga has become a brief pit-stop on a mat in Lululemons where we’re still comparing our poses to the next person or judging our own inability to balance in a pose. We go because we know we should. We don’t practice yoga, we do yoga. It’s so very different. It’s a means to an end. It’s a physical pursuit or task. Yes, it may be motivated by the need for flexibility, which is a means to an end, yet, yoga is so much more or can be. Noticing is what we’re talking about. Noticing while you’re exercising for instance the difference between the way each repetition feels, or the way your right compared to your left side feels. If you are a nightshift nurse on your feet caring for individuals and you’re suffering from adrenal exhaustion yet beating yourself up about not exercising regularly to help you get weight off, you have an opportunity.  That is an active job. You’re doing what we call Non-Exercise Activity Time or N.E.A.T. and there is a possibility that if you shifted your thoughts from calling it work to calling it exercise you can physiologically change the results of the same activity. If you think of it as “work” rather than exercise it has a different physiological effect on you. It’s been proven. It’s called the mind/body unity theory. Changing the way you think – the language you use- will change you physiologically. I named our newest program STRONGER not by accident. It is meant to from the moment you register instill a feeling that you will become stronger, that you are already stronger, and make you think of yourself as stronger. Not, thinner, fitter, curvier, but stronger. Which serves you so well in every area of your life. Will it create a more thin, fit, healthy you? Likely, yes. But striving for thin is not necessarily going to make you strong. In fact, it’s likely to make you weak and obsessed. Changing the way you think and what you want – that’s what I’m talking about.  That serves you so much better than trying to exercise while your circadian rhythms are already causing fatigue. Learning to sleep when you can sleep, and to eat foods that serve you best on those days is a wise decision toward health and optimal weight. If you’re pretending and you know you’re pretending, your body is going to be where your mind is. Once you start something to improve yourself, you start weight training because you are going to get stronger, and improve your health and longevity, or you start drinking smoothies with protein and vegetables, and you believe you are healthier, you are. It is called, and we know it works, the placebo. A lengthy article in Prevention magazine last year shared emerging research about it. In so many trials the placebo effect in fact works as well as the drug. What is called the control group can do as well as the key subjects. There are dozens of ways to exercise to improve health. There is no one right way. Cross fit, and I choose this one because of it’s controversy, but if you prefer you can choose long endurance running or Ironman distance triathlon. There are so many scientists, doctors, strength & conditioning experts and others who believe that these or one of these extreme types of exercise is not healthy. Yet, there are athletes in each and every one of them that are thriving examples of health and wellness. Not obsessed but love their activity and thrive with energy, strength, endurance, and fully function well – in fact so much better – than many who do far less. Work vs. Play I call this the “joy factor.” It’s the difference between work and play. And it’s the difference between sticking with it no matter what and having an obstacle, life event, or stress interrupt you in such a devastating way you fall off the bandwagon and get run over by it.  Why can someone do Tabata intervals and someone else endurance running and both be in optimal shape? Why can someone eat a plant-based diet and someone else eat animal protein and both seemingly thrive?  Why can someone whose had bacon and eggs for breakfast for decades and someone who has fasted regularly both be centenarians who still live independently? In part, due to a commitment to what they believe is healthy. That may be a moving target during your life. You may determine that the way your body is responding now to something that once you have sworn by isn’t working. So you go about finding a new fit… if you’re listening right now that may be exactly the case.  In fact, you believed so hard for so long that something was the right thing that it can be hard to let go of. That, not your body, can be the biggest obstacle for finding your best fitness and energy after 50. Our science and the way we were conditioned and socialized was so very different than what will be true for today’s 20-somethings. At least that is my hope. There is not necessarily one magic bullet that is the same for all of us. There is not necessarily one magic bullet the same for each of us our entire lives. There is a sense of conviction and then mindful and conscious awareness about doing it, following it, and believing it that has to exist as we create health paths. The College Experience Between 1998 and approximately 2008 I was teaching a 200 level course for Kinesiology students. It consisted of a lab and lecture and the purpose was to teach them the physiology of exercise by having them self-test and experience the effects of conditioning. During both semesters for that decade I often taught two sections with about 25 students in each, or about 1000 students collectively. This phenomena of work vs. play or workout vs. joy was evident in two ways among these primarily 19-to-22-year-olds. First, they would show up and might have a two-mile walk/run in class, outdoors when weather permitted. These were students who wanted to be personal trainers, coaches, physical therapists, or athletic trainers and many of them had been high school athletes or exercised on their own. But they usually gave about 50% effort during the workouts. It was a chore, a have to, a satisfaction of the required course. Many of them would leave after class and head to the rec center for their “real workout.”  They weren’t lazy. But when it was for a requirement, a course, an imposition, it was work. The second thing I learned after about eight years of teaching without allowing any use of ipods (before phones had music) was how very devastating that was for them. Many of them were so used to using music to motivate –or to distract them – that they couldn’t perform the 1.5 mile run for pre and post assessments at the same level as they could if they were allowed the music. They’d never learned to enjoy the activity. They’d learned to avoid paying attention to their body and to distract themselves from the unpleasant task of breathing harder, and increasing circulation. A few of them, the collegiate athletes in my courses, were used to the no-music rule. They were the high performers. The handful of those students I still hear from or connect with on social media are still active today. You can begin choosing something that is a means to an end. But you’ll potentially not stick with that thing unless you love the thing. Collegiate gymnasts, swimmers, basketball and football players were among the student athletes that populated my courses. Beyond college many of those athletes don’t continue participation in their sport (and logically gymnastics or football are not conducive to it) – they also don’t participate in the conditioning activities that they were put through during college. Running or lifting for conditioning was work. Unless an athlete truly falls in love with the activity, the means to an end is not enough to encourage them to continue. Group fitness instructors are similar. Many of them started as students in the front row of classes. Once they begin teaching their own joy of the activity changes. Group fitness instructors often seek something else for their own pleasure. They become runners or practice yoga as a student to satisfy their own missing mindful way of exercising that disappears when you do it for someone else (or something else like a paycheck). The Midlife Experience Back to you… and midlife exercise and hormones. Up until a point what you think will work, will work. Up until a point, because physiological actions or inaction will affect your body and health. But your psychology – the way you think and believe about something will also change your physiology. So if you believe in me for instance, if you believe that I have done my research and you can trust me or any fitness professional to have filtered information specific to you, then you will go through a program more fully believing that you feel stronger, more energy, that you will sleep better. If you believe that eating less animal protein and eating plants primarily will improve your health, physiologically it will. At least to a point. Your physiological body will show you the specific results in the amount of lean muscle and fat you have. Your presence of frequent illness or injury will tell you that you’ve over or under done it eventually.  How you feel never lies. It is always feedback for you.  If your belief about aging is that it is natural to gain weight, get fat, and the likelihood of disease is most related to genetics and not to epigenetics (or what you do and your environment) then you will age in that way.  If your belief about aging is that we are in a time when we have the power to change how we age by the application of how we move, what we eat, how we think and who we spend our time with, then you will age very differently. If you’re interested in applying the power of your thoughts in combination with exercise and want to learn more about STRONGER, Flipping 50’s newest program, I’ll share the link to join us in the show notes. It’s flippingfifty.com/any-age and that’s where you’ll be first to know about the early, early bird registration within the next two weeks. Wayne Dyer Knew It This is really about creating what we want to be. What we want to be true. If you’re more interested in asking, “how can I” do it, than asking, “can I” do it, then you’re a perfect candidate. How we think about things changes things. I went – just this last weekend – home for a funeral. I threw the trip together in a day and wasn’t even there for 16 hours. I had so many expressions of sorrow and people sending condolences but it wasn’t that. Your thoughts change everything. Mine were gratitude for the ability to drop everything and go, for the time however short it was to be with family and express their importance in my life by being there. I felt good, not sadness after being there. The warmth of your thoughts and perspective around an event shapes the event. There have been awful and tragic events happen in the last few years to my family members and I. But in the frame we put on things comes the way we deal with them. Hormones and stress may have robbed you of the energy, the body, you had but some of the reasons have been good – family, career you’ve loved, choices you might not change – and it’s your belief about whether you can change the outcome that really will determine whether a program will work for you. Even a program based on the physiology of hormone balance along with psychology of aging better, has to be something you are not pretending to believe but truly believe can help you. For more details about STRONGER, join me here: https://www.flippingfifty.com/any-age Subscribe in iTunes by clicking here to take Flipping 50 wherever you go.      

When you’re just starting exercise after 50 or you’re recommitting after a summer there are a lot of sexy programs, beautiful celebrity trainers, and conflicting information. When you’re not sure where to start, what to do, or who to trust it can be overwhelming, or lead to frustration due to injury or lack of results. That’s why I created this podcast (and I’m encouraging you to use the after 50 fitness formula checklist - to look at your hormone balancing exercise in peri-menopause, menopause, or long-after menopause).  I’m breaking down the SEVEN key areas to focus on when you’re just starting exercise and these are absolutely critical for creating a successful exercise plan. Are you a veteran exerciser? Don’t click away because this episode is for you, too. If hormone balancing has changed the game for you, or more illness or injury than you’d like is a challenge, I still use these same areas today after 34 years whether I’m trying to fit fitness into a busy business quarter, detoxing with no more than 20 minutes of exercise a day, or I’m training for an endurance event. I use these areas as a check-up list for my exercise planning regularly. Here’s a quick look of what I’m covering in this episode: First, there’s a quick intro of why hormone-balancing exercise after 50 is different than what you were taught and learned decades ago. Make no mistake if you’re 60 or 70 and thinking that ship has sailed. We all have hormones until death do-us-part. If women in their 70s and 80s can get breast or other cancers, or osteoporosis, and experience stress… you want to include them in your plan. Hormone assessment will become a staple in fitness consults. I’m going to see to it! (if you’re a fitness pro and want in formation on becoming a Flipping 50 Specialist, connect here)! #1 Exercise Hormone balancing exercise leads to: Weight loss Energy Muscle tone Better sleep Fewer hot flashes and night sweats Better skin  It’s not the 3-5x a week cardio and 2-3 times a week strength training and flexibility most days a week… that you and I turned into 6 or 7 days of cardio, most days a week strength training IF we did it… or no strength training because of that nasty bulk we thought it would cause or the stretching we skipped because that didn't burn calories and we were short on time. No. It’s about taking YOUR signs and symptoms and using them to create your best plan. Because if you’re tired… really tired all the time… you’re really not fit. The two don’t operate in isolation. A truly fit individual is rested. She looks younger, has better skin, sleeps well, and she’s rarely sick or injured. When stressors happen in her life she’s more resilient. She’s neither obsessive nor nonchalant about her exercise. It’s definitely a part of her life she’s going to fit in because she’s more 100% her best self when she does it. Hormone balancing is often about 1-2 cardio sessions a week, 2 strength training sessions a week. Often it’s about restorative yoga several times a week and a LOT of changes to caffeine, water, screen access, toxins and stressors …first. Grabbing at what didn’t work years ago (or you wouldn’t be here, right?) won’t work now 10x. So instead of spinning your wheels or getting over tired instead of better grab that checklist (or retake it if you’ve done it before) and listen along. #2 Nutrition Turns old concepts of “healthy eating” habits upside down. What you think is healthy is not necessarily so. Your gut changes… thanks to hormones, to stress (which effects hormones), exercise changes, foods you’ve eaten often, to illness, to medication, to environmental toxins. You’ve got to test… and that isn’t always (or only) a lab. How you feel never lies. Your body will tell you by bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea that it isn’t happy. If you do have a lab test, use it to confirm or pick up clues about your how-you-feel status. Don’t dismiss how you feel! When you’re just starting exercise nutrition can be really important! If your bathroom habits are unpredictable or you’ve got embarrassing gas it not only doesn’t inspire you to be more active it may be a sign you’re not absorbing all the nutrients you need to have energy. If you don’t know for sure about your nutrition, if you’re operating under 1980 or 90 guidelines or you’re just following an article, it’s probably time to look closer at a step-by-step way to determine YOUR best plan.  #3 Sleep Every decision you make during your waking hours determines how well you will sleep tonight. I know from talking with so many of you that you think of it as the other way around if you’re sleepless in hormone hell. But from the moment you wake up, you can positively change your bedtime tonight. Every decision about how and when you exercise, how, when, and what you eat, and what you think, who or what you share a bed with … will positively or negatively impact your optimal body and brain by changing your sleep. If you value your best body, your best energy, your best productivity and you’re skipping or skimping on sleep or pretending it isn’t up to you to improve it, you’re really missing a dreamy way to change your life for the better. Two tricks… get up at the same time every day (unless you have adrenal fatigue – and I’ll link to some resources for that if you do). The only way you reset your clock to sleep better is by taking control of your wake up time. Get exposure to sunlight as early as possible in the day, but even if it doesn’t happen early, make sure it happens.  When you’re just starting exercise sleep can kill your discipline. I’ve been exercising regularly for decades and even though I am committed if I have a sleepless night it’s a challenge to want to exercise. Hormones that help you get results are not even present if you don’t sleep well. So you want to master sleep! #4 Rest & Recovery We skip this. We so skip this. Most of us have to feel like we’re doing something and it’s pretty tied to our sense-of-self. So I realize while I say this that you won’t make fast changes. But it’s super important to start moving in the right direction no matter how much of a crawl that is for you. Rest with no to-do list. Not an errand, a load of laundry, a list to make and not a cell phone you are compelled to check. Are you sweating? A lot of us are very attached to doing something.  When just starting exercise after 50 you’re at an advantage. You haven’t put any bad habits in your routine so plan the rest as carefully as you possibly can. If you’ve got an attachment to exercise that’s so strong you can’t take a day off… it’s probably the one thing that will get you better results. Rest and recovery from exercise comes in rest between sets, between workouts – even other stressors besides workouts on the same day, and nutrition that boosts recovery. You also have to realize that some exercise requires recovery and some exercise is recovery. Doing something I call the no-benefits-zone though will completely sabotage a women in need of hormone balance, and can cause hormone imbalance.  #5 Stress If your job, your kids, your home, your commute, your parents, your worry about any of those things is drawing on your reserves at a time when exposure to toxins and technology is at an all time high, then stress is going to interfere with fitness pursuits helping your hormone balance. So many women will tell me that exercise is the way they negate their stress. However, if you have all the rest of stessor on your plate and you’re not adjusting your exercise to account for it you’ll overload yourself easily. This is probably the biggest obstacle when just starting exercise or maybe it’s the reason you need to restart. Stressful times can flip your intentions. Creating a stress toolbox that includes exercise but also other things is really important. #6 Hormones Hormones leave clues. You’re not sure which hormones but you’re sure something has shifted. Nothing works like it used to: the exercise, nutrition, and habits you used to have don’t help you feel better or full of energy any more. You might be still having a period, sometimes… or not having one at all any more. Maybe you’re having phantom periods when you feel like you should or could but don’t. Your skin might be changing. If you’ve gained weight the places you’ve gained it have changed. If you can’t seem to put muscle on or see any tone that could be related to hormones as much as to your exercise and nutrition.  In the After 50 Fitness Formula Women course (on sale during Labor Day weekend: laborday25) you can identify your hormones with your signs and symptoms in order to get a set of best fitness steps to take to change that. #7 Whole-You Integration  You can’t look at any one of those things in isolation any more than you can look at mind, body, or soul in isolation any more. So really pulling them together because one of them affects the others. You’re either exercising for better sleep or your exercise could disrupt sleep. You’re either sleeping in a way that supports your exercise (and results) or might sabotage them. It’s true of relationships with food and exercise, food and sleep or stress as well. Everything you do or don’t do influences something else. So that mysterious hormone balance is about identifying what your clues are telling you and pulling them together. So there you have it. Those are the foundation on which I’ve built my own fitness for flipping 50 and you can too. Subscribe and review in iTunes Are you subscribed to Flipping 50? If you’re not, I encourage you to do that today. You can take me with you in the car, on your walk or during weight training for additional support, inspiration, or another tip to help when just starting exercise or keeping the fire burning for more decades. Click here to subscribe in iTunes. If you find the episodes helpful I would be grateful if you left a review on iTunes, too! Those reviews help other women find my podcast and they also help me know which episodes are the most helpful. Just click here to review, select view in iTunes, select “ratings and reviews” and “write a review” and let me know what your favorite episode or topics are. Thank you! Mentioned in today's episode: You Still Got It, Girl! The After 50 Fitness Formula for Women

Could You Sleep Better with Fasting? Here's the cliff note on this podcast: I sleep better thanks to fasting. If you sleep better you're going to naturally be supporting balanced hormones. Get the details here! As many of my followers and subscribers already know, I don’t advocate fasting for everyone. Many of the women I work with have a relationship with food that first has to improve overall so that we don’t set up a binge-purge cycle. I believe in a strong nutrition foundation first before beginning on a continuum of fasting. That continuum begins with at least 12 hours overnight and between meals. Many women are not doing that simple step to enhance hormone balance. That is, after they’ve identified what their best dietary plan is right now. Before you manipulate when or if you eat, you need to make sure you’re eating what’s right for your body, and that you’re absorbing nutrients. Fasting is something you may do for a short time for a positive benefit but you’ve got to have a good foundation every day. You’ll create a stronger, healthier, vibrant body, with daily habits.  Given my stance on fasting it may surprise you that I’ve tested the fasting mimicking diet developed at the Longevity Institute at USC. I’ve used it the last three months and because I don’t have significant weight to lose, or major concerns with health markers, my biggest reason for trying it was that I never recommend something I haven’t used. I am asked frequently about fasting, weight loss, health concerns, and the interaction with menopause symptoms. So I tested.  I’ll use “fast” throughout this post to refer to the fasting mimicking diet.  My sleep improved and it shocked me. I’m a good sleeper to begin with. I know the value of sleep on physical performance and optimal weight and energy so I have good sleep habits. Since beginning a regular fasting program three months ago I’ve had even more restful sleep, waking less, and feeling more refreshed in the morning. At 54, I have experienced minor and very infrequent hot flashes and night sweats. I attribute my good fortune so far to a good diet, good habits, and a dreamy bed. My Sleep Number bed with the Dual Temp layer has been a big part of buffing up my sleep in this last eight months. I would never have guessed a mattress would make so much difference but I do sleep better. Hormone balance begins with sleep. A good mattress should be a prescription for women in peri-menopause! Fasting too may be a part of cracking your own code on hormone balance. If you sleep better you'll naturally have more balanced hormones. During the fasting mimicking diet you’re eating an overall low calorie plant-based diet. You do actually get to eat three meals and snacks depending on the day. Your body is “tricked” into a fasting state where it begins to burn ketones, or fat, rather than sugar, for fuel. The re-entry into healthy eating after the fast is when the magic happens. It’s so much like the workouts you do provide the opportunity for fitness and the rest between your sessions is when the fitness actually happens. During the five days of the fast everyone’s experiences are reportedly different both daily and overall. My own three five-day fasts were each unique. The first fast had novelty and I felt good and more energetic during the day and rested surprisingly well at night. I say surprisingly well because I enjoy good sleep most nights already. I wasn’t looking to sleep better but I got it. I was actually more ready to go to bed, though and woke more refreshed than usual. The Science  There’s not a ton of science connecting sleep and fasting. Some of the superficial information is basic. Having too large a dinner or skipping dinner both tend to disrupt sleep. It turns out there is scientific evidence that fasting increases parasympathetic output – the part of the nervous system you need for quality sleep. If you crash during the day and stare at the ceiling at night like many students before Flipping 50 programs you’ll love this: fasting can improve circadian rhythm, meaning you sleep better. No surprise to my Flipping 50 fans who know me for hormone-balancing exercise and lifestyle habits, there are hormones involved in this fasting-sleep improvement phenomena. Serotonin is our feel good hormone – and more of it calms us down - and melatonin is a hormone that regulates sleep. Melatonin production, you may remember from prior posts, is reduced with age. Fasting helps increase your body’s production of both those hormones that are key to sleep so you can get a better night.  I found that though I had slightly different overall experiences during each of the three five-day fasts I did, I was able to fall asleep faster and sleep deeper. I didn’t sleep longer as some of my clients have reported, but that was likely due to the fact I am by nature a long sleeper and regularly enjoy eight if not nine hours. My Fast I found the first fast easy. It was novel and interestingly enough I began it after a 12-hour fast for a blood test, which felt like a bit of momentum. My first meal that morning after I had the blood draw was a part of the fasting mimicking diet. The second time through, a month later, the novelty had worn off. I knew what to expect and by day three and four - the toughest for me psychologically, not physically - I was over it. On day five it was nearly done and easy to finish. Mind you, I never felt it was “hard” to do physically.  The third time I experienced the most psychological resistance. Though I knew I’d felt noticeably different during and long after the last two I was inconvenienced. I had to turn down some social opportunities. Lunch invitations with family members and dinner with out of state guests both came and I declined. Would I do it again? I will though not soon. I’ve had noticeable results in addition to the sleep: I also reduced my coffee by 66%. If you’re sleeping better less coffee may happen naturally. I felt less bloating, though I wasn’t bothering me to begin with necessarily, you don’t know how good you can feel until you do! I’m also more keenly aware of the amount of food I was eating out of habit. I need less except when I’m exercising and I’m much more mindful about that now. If you’re seeking some hormone support, naturally, and a sleep better aid with nothing but positive side effects, reach out for more information about the fasting mimicking diet or my Sleep Number bed and Dual Temp layer. Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28715993 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27304506 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29302618 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20425196  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24901017