This is Everyday Health Simplified’s 50th episode!!  To commemorate, the topic is one of my favorite things to discuss:  FOOD I love to eat.   In this episode, you’ll hear my top 5 foods for health - my Fab Food Countdown - and the reasons why.  I wonder if you’ll be surprised by any of the choices! I have a fun challenge for you.  Create your own Fab 5 Food list, or take a picture of one the foods I suggested and tag me in it when you post on social media.  I’d love to see what foods make...

What are anti-nutrients and how serious are they?   Anti-nutrients are chemicals/substances in a food that not only block your ability to absorb nutrients from the food you eat, but can even leech out the nutrients you DO have in your body.  They can also cause digestive problems.   Many plant foods have anti-nutrients, because this is their biological way of protecting the species. There are also manmade antinutrients.  How harmful are they? That depends on how much or how many of them...

Last week we explained that metabolic flexibility is when your body is able to burn both stored glycogen and stored body fat for energy.  When it can do this, you are considered metabolically flexible.  When it cannot, your body can only burn glycogen, which leaves your body fat ON your body, usually becoming more inflamed and more numerous, which over time, usually ends up leading to weight gain, prediabetes, fatty liver, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and more. Naturally, if we are...

So many people who wonder if their metabolism is broken, or if it can ever get better.  Are you one of them?  I am here to say, YES! Your metabolism CAN still operate efficiently.  You CAN still have a very healthy body and hormones working correctly.     Today’s episode is part one of a TWO-part series on metabolic flexibility, so be sure to listen to next week, too.  The concept of your body’s metabolism being flexible is a critical piece of knowledge for us to understand on our health...

It’s not that we CAN’T succeed. It’s that we WON’T succeed as long as we are focusing on the wrong causes. This episode will teach you the difference between proximate causes and ultimate causes, and give multiple examples of how focusing on the short term cause is a recipe for disaster, relapse - and staying stuck. You’ll hear the three secrets to achieving wellness - recognizing and managing triggers, changing your relationship with food and yourself, and focusing on metabolic and...

Since the gut is so critical to our health, this episode is going to be all about HOW we can mitigate the damage and start healing. You’ll hear 12 different ways you can heal your microbiome, and the surprising effect regenerative farms have on greenhouse gasses. The wonderful thing about mother nature and our bodies is that they are resilient.  Ecosystems will recover if we let them, without our intervention.  We can see the fungal and biodiversity return quite quickly if given a...

Since the gut is where we bring in and metabolize ALL of our food - ALL of our fuel - the health of the microbiome makes a tremendous difference and has a huge influence on our health: metabolic, immune, brain and mental health. Because of the influence our gut has on our health, today, our goal is to discuss how to avoid gut dysbiosis - gut imbalances.  In other words, what should we NOT be doing? The three main things that wreak havoc on our guts are our agricultural practices, our use of...

Today, we are starting an important series for our wellness on understanding what we can do to increase our gut health, and therefore increase our immunity.  With all the unknowns out there, this is a critical piece to you impacting your overall health and quality of life!  Each episode will explore a different piece of the puzzle you’ll want to understand.  Today, we look at what your immune system is made of, and how it works.   You'll learn how important your microbes are and the...

You might not want to listen to this episode.  Because if you listen to this episode, you’re going to have some serious thinking to do about how YOUR thoughts and beliefs are affecting YOU and how your life is turning out.  As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. But once you hear today’s episode, there’s no going back. What am I talking about?  I’m talking about the idea that the cells in your body respond to the beliefs in your mind. That in fact, your cells are in constant communication...

Strength training, a.k.a. resistance training.  It causes mental resistance for many people! What if I get injured?  What if I don’t know how?  What if I don’t have time?  What if I bulk up? This episode addresses those concerns, explains WHY muscle matters so much, and explains HOW you can easily start strength training this week. The truth is, muscle mass - and strength training to develop and maintain it - is actually VITAL to your health - more than we ever knew. A few...

When we die, three pounds immediately disappears. Nothing has changed physically.  We haven’t lost blood, or muscle, or an organ.  What we have lost is that life force that makes us who we are.  Our energy.  Our soul. Your brain also has 200 specializations unique to YOU.  YOU are truly a gift.  YOU have value just by being YOU, not by anything you do, earn, have, say, look like, or become.  But how do we live this way? This episode explores what our soul is, how we keep it imprisoned by...

Every single woman - single or not - needs to hear this message.  Knowledge is NOT power. APPLIED knowledge is power. Currently, people ages 24 to 65 are dying 8 - 15 years younger than prior generations, and these are all from preventable diseases.  This is alarming, don’t you think?? What is going on, and what can we do to stop this trend before it gets worse? The answer to that is:  a LOT.  However, the THREE facets of health discussed today are imperative for every person with XX...

Last week we learned all sorts of fascinating things about the fat on our bodies, including the fact that it makes seven hormones our bodies need, that it’s part of our endocrine system, that it affects our immune system, AND that it can make itself. If our fat has a mind of its own, and sometimes it really feels like it does, what do we do with it?  Today’s episode will highlight FIVE strategies you can use to work WITH your fat instead of against it. Thank you for listening!  Please rate,...

What if your fat was not just a blubbery substance on your body? What if your fat had multiple, highly important functions in your body - including your metabolism?  This episode shares ten surprising truths about your fat that you will want to understand so that you can become more strategic and appreciative in your wellness journey. Thank you for listening!  Please rate, review and share this podcast to empower others. Email me with ideas for future episodes:...

Like them or not, there are five truths you MUST accept - and prioritize - in your life for you to reach your wellness goals, and keep them. This episode will break down each of the top five truths, and offer suggestions on how to apply them to your life. #5:  Take preventative measures. #4.  Think lifelong. #3:  Exercise frequently. #2:  Get your brain healthy.. #1:  You are what you eat.   The bottom line is that there is NOTHING that impacts your body like nutrition does.  It...

You can have the greatest support system in the world, but if you don’t have your mindset right, you’ll never be happy.  Today’s episode is about how to cultivate a relationship with yourself that will actually serve you this year. Let’s not sugar coat things.  It will take hard work and focus.  It will NOT require perfection, but it WILL require you getting BACK to the direction you want to be going, as quickly as possible, and as often as needed.  Whoever you want to be in 20 years is NOT...

Power is possible. Change is possible.  Health and choice and vitality are all possible.  For everyone.  And one day, you’ll reach a point where you experience a miracle.  Here’s what it might look like for you. Text me “I’m ready!” at 727-591-4959 for a chat about how to make this possible. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/elisa-m-pool/message

What do we do when our motivation just isn’t what it used to be?  When our intentions and goals haven’t turned out the way that we had hoped? When it seems pointless? This episode shares three simple actions that regain motivation, focus, and practice self-compassion towards our current feelings and circumstances, and explains how our disappointments are reminders of what we are committed to.  Even though these actions are not complicated, they are not often implemented. We ALL need the...

Some people understand that insulin impacts our metabolic health and weight gain, but many don’t understand how much it influences our inflammation, fat, cognitive function, heart health, and more. This episode will educate you on everything you need to know about this highly influential hormone, and especially about the detrimental effects of chronically elevated levels of insulin that are related to our diet and lifestyle. The good news is:  since these are illnesses directly related to...

A study recently revealed that people who use the expression “everything in moderation” actually eat fewer vegetables and more desserts and soda than those who don’t adhere to that phrase. As someone who used to practice “everything in moderation”, that was definitely true for me.  While some people can practice moderation, for some people it simply doesn’t work. If you have nutrition or wellness goals, setting boundaries instead of practicing moderation will likely help you more....

If I could give you one piece of health advice for you, it would be this:   Focus on upping your fresh plant intake until you reach 6-8 servings a day.  Mix and match, find different colors and sources, and eat up! I am guessing that you cannot OVER eat veggies. Ultimately, you want to eat as many veggies as you can, and make sure half of them are green and crunchy. Why? Because the healthier our gut is, the healthier our immune system, hormones, and metabolism become. Vegetables have...

Stress actually can bring some incredible benefits, if we let it.  This doesn’t mean we discredit our stress, or hope for more -  it means we learn how to manage stress in a way that instead of breaking us down, builds us up to experience: strengthened social connections rearranged priorities. healthier Lifestyles and perspectives. Improved expression of feelings increased boundary setting growth of new skills Increased resilience Increased grit Resilience and grit are...

Hormones, the chemical messengers that control almost every single bodily process you have, might be THE most important balance of your body. Your hormonal system is a finely tuned, balanced machine. When it works well, we work well. And when it’s off, WE are off.  And because our body is so well-coordinated, an imbalance in one area can create a domino effect that we feel!  These effects result in lower quality of life for us, looking like fatigue, crankiness, weight gain, lower immunity,...

Today’s episode explains HOW stress works in our bodies, and WHY it can cause so much havoc on your entire hormonal system, which then impacts your gut, immunity, weight, and more. You’ll learn how the physiological response of your body creates an incredibly beneficial response to immediate threats, and why it’s not helpful for chronic stress like the ones we usually encounter. You’ll learn six ways to promote the chemicals and hormones that help counteract the effects of stress, so tune...

It’s not really the calories that impact your weight loss - it’s whether or not you are able to burn the fat you have stored on your body - and THAT is dictated by your blood sugar. What is the relationship between blood sugar and weight loss?  How does blood sugar work?  What is it?  What does it impact and how? This talk will explain all of that so that you walk away understanding how what you eat has a direct impact on your blood sugar, and how that turns into things like weight gain,...