Episode #311: A Habit a Week to Be Healthier By the End of June!

Intro:

Welcome to The Healthy Catholic moms podcast where we make moving and nourishing our bodies the priority, so that we not only fulfill our vocations, but excel in our callings. I’m Brittany Pearson, a Catholic wife, mom, personal trainer, and I’m here to help you build healthy habits that actually fit your life. I am here to teach you how to get the results that you want and maintain the results that you want. Without spending hours at the gym, or meal prepping all weekend long. I understand I am right here with you getting my workouts done in the nooks and crannies of time, looking up recipes, while nursing babies and trying to prioritize my own health amidst everything else going on. But I have really good news for you, you can get the results you want. In less time without doing hours of cardio and restrictive dieting, I’m going to teach you how to use strength training and eating in a macro balanced way to get you feeling so good and your skin full of energy, and strong to carry out your life. Okay, on this podcast, we’ll delve into how to lose fat in a simple, sustainable way. What your workouts and nutrition should look like during different seasons of life, like during pregnancy and postpartum times. We’ll also discuss healthy quick meals, and how to get them on the table, make foods that kids will actually want to eat, mom hacks for making your day run more smoothly, and so much more. All the while with continuous encouragement to stay the course and live with discipline. This is a place where we’re striving to steward our bodies. Well, in order to joyfully serve. I am so happy you’re here. Let’s dive in.

Main Episode:

Hello, beautiful friends, how are you, I hope you’re having a great day and a great start to this month. Whenever you are listening to it, we are into June. And if you’re listening to this, when the podcast comes out, the idea behind this, which I’m sure you’ve already gotten from the title is to take and apply one of these habits that I’m going to talk about from the list each week. So breaking things down into little one week approaches. So there’s a lot to be said about habits and a lot of research that you know, is out there about how long it takes a habit to stick. And most people say 21 days or more than 21 days or whatever. And then there’s a lot of research saying don’t go for the whole thing, you know, at once, don’t try to uproot your whole life, then there’s also that school of thought that’s like, well, a lot of healthy habits have a domino effect that it’s actually sometimes hard to go about just one at a time because one leads into another leads into another like if you’re trying to get up earlier, then you also need to pair that with the habit of going to bed earlier and things like that, that one kind of makes sense. But same thing, if you’re trying to like eat home more than you’re naturally going to eat out less some of these things are just kind of cause and effect. So what I’m looking at today is not a deep dive into habits or the science of habits or anything, I have a reference to some great resources on this podcast before but if you’re newer, I will say them here. I love the book, atomic habits by James clear goes a lot into why we do the things we do and how to go about setting habits, how much environment has to play into it all of these things. Lots of really like tangible tips and tricks like removing obstacles, I do include a lot of his writing into these podcasts because it just applies so much half of the issue that I find with my clients is not that they don’t have the knowledge behind fitness and nutrition, but more of the application. And what’s getting in the way of applying that knowledge, right. It’s a lot more behavior kind of things. So since what we do every day is mostly comprised of habits, it’s important to look at these habits. But like I said, Not delving into that day. Tomic habits is a great reference, The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg is goes a little more into the science of it. All these things, there’s tons of books about habits, you can do that on your own or reference some of my other podcast episodes about habits, this is kind of more fun, and hopefully inspiring, kind of easy. Look at just how you can use this month to at the end of the month be a little bit healthier. So a lot of us like things like this, we like a challenge or like a 30 day plank challenge where we’re doing a little bit more of a plank every single day or a 30 day Water Drinking challenge or eat your vegetables challenge we just a lot of us are hardwired to like that kind of thing, that external motivation, right? So that’s all this is, is I’m just going to list a couple things that if you just focus on one a week, again, not worrying about how long really it takes for a habit to stick. But if you really focus on one each week, maybe by the end of June, you’re going to turn around and be a little bit healthier than when you started. And I do think that we we overestimate what we can do in like a year but we underestimate what we can do and I’m saying this backwards. Usually, I hopefully you get the gist of what I mean we expect Like to progress to be insane really quickly. But really progress is added up with like good weeks banking up, that’s what progress is, when we look back over time, it’s like, oh, wow, I actually totally move the needle for it, I just didn’t see all these little things at a time. So let’s start with June. And I know we have a really diverse group of listeners. So some of you, if you happen to be listening to this, and you’re not yet really working out regularly, or you’re not regularly, drinking water at all, or things like that, I would very much recommend going back to one of my episodes about like the pillars of health, the things that I consider healthy to start with, and start there. So this is a little bit some of you might already be doing everything on this list. And that’s great. But I tried to make it a little bit more than just workout regularly, because I would assume that a lot of you are already doing it.

So kind of like a rough example, if you’re really starting at a place where not a lot of healthy habits are going on, it would maybe look something like week one, get in one workout this week week to get in two workouts this week, then maybe week three, changing your focus to getting three to five servings of vegetables a day.

So now by week three, you are up to by the end of week three, you’re up to two workouts a week, you’re eating three to five servings of vegetables a day, maybe by week four, you’re going to focus on getting 80 to 100 ounces of water in and by the end of June, you will be so much healthier, you’re now going from totally sedentary to working out, you are getting vegetables every day and you’re getting water every day now, then you would continue building off that and in July, maybe you keep those rolling. But the first week of July, you start aiming to get at least 100 grams of protein a day like these are things that I consider pillars of health that if you’ve been listening a while you’ve learned, if not, maybe you want to work with me or do a coaching calls me I will say to that I’ll get into what I really boiled list down to today. This is what I do. When I have coaching calls, which you can book at any time on my website, just how the Catholic mom’s dot com at the bottom of the work with me page, there’s a calendar and you can sign up for a zoom call with me. And essentially we sit down we can use it for whatever you want. So some people do use it for just like ironing out one particular thing. But ladies especially don’t have a big fitness and nutrition plan going right now or kind of want to revamp it. We talk the whole session. And then after the session, I make a whole outline saying these are going to be your focus points for the next month. And I do exactly this week one do this week to do this. But it’s totally based on where you’re at and what your goals are, what those look like. So generally, for us, most of you working out already, mostly already getting enough protein, drinking water, etc.

We’re gonna focus on these things for June. And this still might be again, like touching back to it, which I also think is always great. I don’t know about you. But I do need little touch points to make sure I am dialed in, it’s not 100% of the time all the time.

So number one, the week of June 5, put it on your calendar, put it on your phone, put it wherever you want to, you’re going to try to get outside daily, ideally in the morning. Now, the morning peace is really good for your circadian rhythm for getting your energy going and talking about that on previous energy episodes and waking your body up. It’s so good for us to get outside in the morning. But if work or kids or whatever gets in the way of that, and it’s just not possible. I totally understand I’ve had periods where I can’t do that I was training clients right up until it was like, Okay, now kid time and maybe I can’t take them right out in the morning or whatever. Just shoot to get outside daily. And don’t let duration be what blocks you from doing anything. Because I can tend to be like that, like, oh, well, I can’t get out there for 20 minutes, I might as well not. Or I only have five minutes, so I’m not even gonna bother. And I think a lot of times too, this is where we can really underestimate how much time we do have like, I do sometimes think nothing of oh, I don’t have enough time to go for a walk. But I’ll scroll from like through my phone five minutes where I could have just walked around my backyard for five minutes. Even though I didn’t have time to go for a whole walk, you know, or walk in your driveway for five minutes, whatever it might be. This morning, I was kind of in that boat. My husband was already at work so I couldn’t go for a walk or run or anything in the morning.
I could have obviously walked to my backyard or something could have been a walk but I thought you know what, I could just take my prayer time outside. So a little more pinch for time. We were getting right up and out once the kids were up and like I can at least do my prayer outside swing get some outside time don’t have to think Oh, because I can’t leave the premises and I might as well not go out. No, we always can. So there’s so much research to show that so many people are held healthier, happier with exposure to nature to the sun. And that beautiful vitamin D is just a bonus. I know obviously we can’t have sun every single day but getting outside is really great not just for physical health, but very much so for mental health too. So that’s an Number one, mark that on your calendar outside daily doesn’t matter if it’s five minutes, 10 minutes, however long, okay, week two. So you’re gonna, the idea is keep that habit rolling, right, we’re now going outside daily.

But then week two June 12. Week, we are also going to focus on trading out one highly processed food for the week. That’s it just one. Now even the healthy of us, healthiest of us, that’s not easy to say, probably have something that we can improve. And I know I’m not alone in this too I’ve shared with you on here like things I dabble and go back and forth on like using the higher process protein bars and using only clean bars and using no bars and supplements and all over the place. But there’s probably something in there that’s in your rotation, maybe it’s a condiment or a sauce or something like that, that does have a lot more ingredients than would be great. And maybe you can try making yourself or just switching out with something else. Maybe if you sometimes supplement with like frozen pizza during the week. That’s like the fun meal or the treat meal. Maybe you just make a homemade pizza. So it’s not as processed and you know what the ingredients are, and that kind of thing. So I just challenge you just one item. I’m not saying overhaul not saying no processed foods in there. But those highly processed foods now all foods are processed. Almost all foods unless you’re picking an apple off a tree and eating it, a lot of foods are processed, even apple sauce would be processed because you’re changing the form. So I’m not talking about that. And I’m not talking about things like you when you cook them, whatever I’m saying highly processed, made in a factory, maybe right now. There’s like Wheat Thins or something that you have every day that you can swap out with a healthier option of a cracker or make your own or just swap it out totally with like, celery and carrots or something like that. All right, so week one, getting outside daily, week two, you’re still getting outside daily, but you’re going to trade out one highly processed food. Now again, the idea there would be to keep that out, right? Maybe not, maybe it’s not gone forever, that you never have it again. But that you’ve just kind of moved on from that you it’s not in your rotation anymore. It’s also you know, it’s hard to go back and forth and like want something not want something once it’s we get a little distance away from it. Usually that’s makes it much easier, right? I’m sure there are things you can think back to be like I’ve gone, you know, I was in a period where I had Diet Coke every single day. Now I haven’t had in six months. But in the beginning, it was so hard, you know. So if it was a great swap, and it’s something you can live with, try to keep that out and then see where you can keep rolling with that too. Because I do think that that is a huge
I should do a whole episode on this, really. But it’s such a big piece of our physical and mental health to have. It’s not just all calories in calories out. It’s not just all the macro targets. We as a country, I believe in America are eating way more processed within not only like other countries, but we’re just eating so much highly processed food a lot of the time. And sports nutrition doesn’t help if you’re on the sports nutrition aisle, you could be fitting your macros fine, you can be getting a lot of protein, but eating a lot of stuff just made in factories. So I think it’s really best for our overall health. And, you know, our body processes these foods differently our body gets different signals from these foods of usually highly processed foods are highly palatable, make us crave more want more, we don’t get that satiated feeling like we do with a big meal of real food. Okay.

Now week three, once we’ve got those two things we’re rolling, we’re gonna add on to this. Now this is where he mentioned, like if you’re not drinking any water at all, or rarely, or you know, just a little bit of water, I would encourage you to slowly up that to get more in the 80 to 100 ounces range. If you’re already with me on that you’re like Brittany, I have heard you preach that for last three years, I have listened, I drink my water, okay, I challenge you to uplevel that a little bit and drink your water before your meals. So this is really best for digestion. It’s also a tip I give to clients for getting enough water in. Because, again, automating things is really important. So if you just pair the drinking water with your meals, but make it the prerequisite like I have to drink this water, then I can have a meal. It ensures that you’re getting water in at least three times a day. Most of us are eating at least three times a day, if not a day, if not more. But then also it really is best for digestion to not be battling the two during your meal to be having to digest the water in the food. It’s best to just drink the water. And then it also can help with the fullness factor. And I don’t mean this in a real diet culture way of like, Oh, if you think you’re hungry, just drink water and chew gum and see if you’re still hungry. A lot of times we have true hunger. But there is such a thing as having true thirst and sometimes we do think we’re hungry if we’re just not well hydrated. So it just helps to then kind of assess that if you’ve had water. You take a nice 20 minutes to eat which I know what did I do today for lunch I ate well whole wheat tortilla chicken wrap that I threw together while the kids were watching their show before nap. And I ate it over the sink while hot sauce and blue cheese were dripping out the end of it. Okay, first of all epitome of class okay Second of all, no one was there to see it. So this is when you know you can like eat your your messy wrap in peace and in your this is probably also like a neighbor should have probably rang the bell because that’s how my life usually goes. But luckily I was undisturbed, right. But that’s not great to do. Because we don’t have enough this is veering off topic a little bit. But it really does take time for our body to register that we are full. I have found this many times. I mean, we’re just so many moms are in the habit of like throwing down dinner with one hand or lunch or whatever, eating meals with one hand standing up while vacuuming while nursing and all these things that a lot of times it makes us eat more than we need because we just eat so quickly. And we don’t let our bodies process the fact that we are full. So what I’ve been trying to do lately is even if I eat it so quickly because I’m used to it, or we need to because it’s a busy weeknight. The other day I did this when we were having chicken sausage for dinner and it was like a T ball night. So I ate my food. Everybody else was still eating but I’d already gotten up, I started clearing a sort of banging out some of the dishes so we could get that done before we went and I was in between wanting a second one. I was like, I feel like I could have another chicken sausage. chicken sausage is not obviously an unhealthy food, it’s gonna give me more protein and fat but I also want to be stuffed. So I just gave it until I was done with dishes and I wasn’t hungry enough for it. But you know what, I think I will be too full. What I did do is I came home and I ate that piece of chicken sausage after t ball. So it’s not like a never, it’s not like you can never have food again. But it’s good to give ourselves time to really assess if we are hungry enough. All right, that was all deviating from drinking water before meals. But that’s what you’re focused on.

We’re gonna focus on week three.

So week one, or getting outside daily, then we’re going to continue that week two, we’re going to add in swapping out a highly processed food with something much better quality. Keep those two things rolling.

Then week three, focus on drinking water before meals, we continue that hopefully we’re starting to do that as a new habit week for your last week of June, you’re gonna focus on getting three to five servings of leafy greens daily.

Now, if you are newer to eating nutritiously, you might just want to broaden that to just vegetables in general three to five servings of vegetables. This is another way to kind of up level I believe I talked about this in the episode how to make your healthy foods even healthier. Dark leafy greens are so rich in nutrients. And most you know nutritionists and research shows that that is where you should prioritize using your vegetables. So yes, it’s fine to have peppers and carrots and celery and other kinds of vegetables. But we should be prioritizing dark leafy greens. So if you have none in your diet, you could lower this to one serving of dark leafy greens a day. Sometimes I will give clients that directive, like just eat one serving of dark leafy greens a day start there. Again, personalize this a little bit. So it’s attainable for you. You don’t want to set the ball way to set the bar rather way too high if you’re not having any and just use what you like what you already know you like or maybe if you don’t think you’ll like any you’ll have to try some out. But there are certain things I know my family will do some things I know they will not I know I can throw spinach in most things wilted or frozen and blended up in a smoothie or something. I cannot throw kale and everything. They have a heart attack, the texture, it’s the taste, whatever. It’s a little more better. So whichever one works for you that looks like spinach, kale, dark leafy romaine, swish shard, that kind of stuff. And, again, keep rocking that and hopefully you will have finished June a little bit healthier or a lot healthier than you started it. And we keep moving from there. That’s how this whole health thing goes. We just keep progressing it and sometimes maybe we’re maintaining it. But a lot of times if we’re not progressing it then we’re backsliding. So always kind of look into how we can up level things without obsessing over it right, just get a little bit healthier each day. All right. I hope that was helpful. And if you liked this episode, I would really appreciate it if you’d give it a second to rate and review the podcast. And or share the podcast episode on your Instagram stories or share it with friends send it to a friend gets the word out. And I appreciate that so much. All right, ladies, I hope you have a great rest of your day. whacking my microphone.

But before I go, I want to tell you that’s why I’m trying to scroll. That next episode we’re going to delve into what a natural detox looks like. So if you are one of those people tempted by the skinny teas and the three day juice cleanses and whatnot, that can be a really popular thing to try to delve into your hit and Pinterest harder hitting Google hard just like okay, detox for spring detox for summer. I’m gonna go into next episode, what a natural detox looks like and what I would prescribe doing for them. All right, we’ll talk about that next time. Until then, I hope you have a great day. rest of your day and I’ll talk to you soon.

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