2024 Health Trends: 4 Areas to Examine First

Hey there, I'm Amy Connell. Welcome to Grace Health, the podcast for women who want simple and grace-filled ways to take care of themselves. I'm a certified personal trainer and nutrition coach who wants you to know your eating, movement and body don't have to be perfect, you just need to be able to do what you're called to do. I am coming in today with a another solo episode to sort of finish out this season. Next week I will be having a season recap, so if you are newer to the show, you can listen to the season recap and hear the different themes and conversations I have had throughout the season and go back and listen to any that you may have missed. With the end of the year here it is not approaching, it is just here I am now seeing, as expected, a lot of new stuff. This is the time of the year that we will see new plans, new programs, new everything in regards to health and fitness. One thing you probably don't know about me is I read a lot. I read a lot of things, but, in particular, health-related books. I love learning. I love learning about neuroscience, nutritional science, and I don't talk a lot about them because I don't feel like a lot of them. Most of them are appropriate for what our goals are here on the podcast. Is there helpful information in there? Absolutely, but is it something that I could hand to anyway and anyone and say this is so wonderful, you need to read it? Not necessarily because there are some red flags in many of them and I just don't feel comfortable passing that along. I don't know, is that the wrong thing to do? Is that the right thing to do? I mean, you guys are smart, you can figure things out, but that's just kind of where I am. Having said that, here at the end of the year, there have been, like I said, a lot of programs, a lot of new research and science and all of that kind of stuff, and that's fun. That's to me, because I totally geek out on this stuff. That is fun for me to learn. Today I want to just give us a bit of guidance and when I say us, I truly mean us, because this has been a learning process for me, a journey for me to do, like what to do with all of these books that I'm reading? What to do with the podcast that people are sending to me saying what do you think about this or watch this is really good information, or this is kind of crazy, I mean. I just I get a lot of that kind of stuff. So I thought it would be appropriate right now again with the end of the year stuff coming to give us some things to think about before we dig into all of the new things. All of the new things, because a new year is coming and we don't need a new you, we just need the. We need the you that you are, because God made you to be who you are, and so I don't need a new you, I just need you. So what do we do with these research? What do we do with the studies? What do we do with the programs, if some of it's interesting and we're not really quite sure if it's right for us? I have four areas for us to examine as we ingest information. Whether that is through our ears, through our eyes, how else can we ingest it? I'm not really sure. Osmosis doesn't really exist, so I don't think that that's one of them. But as we ingest information, I have four areas for us to examine. So let's dig into those. One of them is examine your heart. The first question I would ask you is is your heart in a good place to learn? Are you at peace with food in particular? Are you at peace with moving because you enjoy it and you appreciate the benefits of it, not because you feel like you have to work something off or because you're trying to punish your body? So where is your heart and is it in a place to learn things? Or is that going to be more harmful than helpful? Are you susceptible to being triggered or stepping into any kind of disordered eating that doesn't honor your body's signals, you know, like hunger and satiety and satisfaction, all of that kind of stuff? Just as a personal example, I even wrote about this in my book. You Were Worthy Body, but I practiced intermittent fasting for several years and it worked really well for me in terms of having, you know, mental clarity and I don't know. It just seemed to work and then it didn't. It didn't at all, and I needed to eat breakfast very quickly in the morning, and I feel so much better now that I'm regularly eating breakfast in the morning because my hormones changed, my body's needs changed and so just little things like that. So if you are reading things about intermittent fasting and you're like gosh, maybe I need to get back into that but boy, I sure didn't feel very good in the mornings Then that's not for you and that might be a trigger to stay away from. Because if you are tempted to do that for reasons other than I don't know, like because it's what's, because it's what makes you feel good, then I would argue that it's probably not the best thing to be doing. The other thing I think we need to consider is is this aligned with what we are told in God's word? I mean, god gives us in Genesis, he gives us two, two areas of eating, I mean I love. In Genesis 129, he says I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. So we have had conversations ad nauseum about plants and I won't go into that. I will recap some of those in the next episode. But plants, obviously from God. Great for us, he includes animals. Later, everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I may now give you everything that's in Genesis 9.3. Now, as Leslie Schilling has been helping me realize, as she has been helping me with my new book for young women called your core strength. God also gave us lots of food Like he even gave us the technology to make cheez-its. I do enjoy cheez-its, but if I enjoy too many of them then I feel bloated and that's not what's great for me. So, anyway, I'm getting a little far off. Imagine that. So examine your heart. And then the final area in examine your heart is are those, are the goals of what you are reading or hearing about, aligned with what your goals are? And I think it's worth figuring out what your goals are. My goals are to live vibrant days and do the things that will help me live with vibrance for as long as possible, and when I say vibrance, I mean being able to move my body in however. I'm wanting to move it. I want to be able to feel good with the foods that I eat. I want to be able to sleep well, so everything else during my waking time is optimal. So those are the things, that those are my goal. Yours might be different, but examine your heart when you're hearing those and really figure some of those things out. The second one is examine the data. So let's talk some about new things, and when I you know again things be it books or programs or online things, online courses the goal or the hope is that the data is based on research. Research can get muddy and I won't go into all of it, but the larger the study and the longer the study, the more comprehensive it's going to be and it's going to weed out some statistical anomalies. So if I do research on 10 people and six people are experiencing positive things, then that's a 60% positive rate. But if I expand that to 100 people and it turns out that still only those same six people have experienced positive things, well, that's a 6%. So when you are looking at the research, make sure that it is a large study, or I shouldn't say make sure, but just keep that in mind, like how large was the study, how long was the study and who paid for it, because there can be some bias when a study is sponsored by a particular organization not all the time, but it can be as far as the data too and the purpose of the program or the plan. Is the goal to get you to shrink your body size or is the goal to help you to feel and function well? Now, I realize that many people are wanting to shrink their body size, and that's another conversation, and we've had a lot of those conversations again back with Leslie Schilling and others who you know. Body diversity is divine and God created us in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Just like we have different skin color and eye color and hair color, we're also going to have taller people and shorter people and broader people and more narrow. I mean there's all of that. So if the ultimate goal is for you to shrink your body, then I would encourage you to second guess that and to think about is that what is ideal for you? The other thing, too, with the data is does it make sense? I mean, that is such a simple question, but does it just? Does it make sense, like, zoom out? Is this consistent with what you know to be a healthy lifestyle, a lifestyle that is supported by some of the other data? Just a couple of weeks ago, I had an episode on blue zones and I would encourage you to think like, compare it to that. Hey, does this, does this make sense in terms of how those who are living in the blue zones, with those high propensity of living to 100? Is that how you know how they live, as I have shared in the past. I mean gosh, I think this came back in season 12. It was a while ago, but I have six statement of values for this podcast. I'm going to try and remember them off the top of my head, but it is discernment, diversity, encouragement, grace, of course, faith of course, and knowledge. So I am great with learning and pulling in that knowledge and learning things, and then the key to me is using the discernment on top of that. So that's where we start examining the questions of does it make sense? Is this aligned with what my goals are? I mean that kind of other, that kind of thing too. So, keeping in mind that discernment for me is a big component to what we talk about here on Grace Health, and I hope it is for you too. You guys are smart. I know you are critical thinkers and I know this because of the questions that I get in my DMs and offline. And I mean I know, I know you're thinking about this kind of stuff, so I know you're with me. But use your God given discernment when you are looking at the data, when you are examining what's out there. The third one is examine the application to you. So if you see a program, a plan, a book that is promoting a certain way you know, quote unquote lifestyle or way of eating or whatever, I want you to examine that application because when not if, but when things don't go like you think they will, how will you respond and where is your heart? This is why we are examining our heart. Are we going to be able to say, okay, well, I didn't follow that verbatim, that's okay, because I'm still holistically doing fine. Or are we going to start beating ourselves up over that? If it's the latter, then I don't think that that's really where we want to be. I mean, like we're trying to come out of the shame, not put ourselves into shame, and that's one reason why I love the intuitive eating method so much is it really does allow us to honor our body signals and it doesn't demonize food. And I will be the first to tell you that it's hard to get out of that rut and it's hard not to dichotomize some food over others. I mean, I'll just be real honest and that's. That is something I am still learning and I'm still creating those new neural pathways in my head, so you know the application to you. I mean, are you at a place again this is kind of like what we talked about a second ago up in examining your heart like are you at a place where you can do that and apply it without feeling shame, without putting good and bad labels on there, whether it is on your food or your movement or just on you in general? And then the other thing to do with the application to you is are you getting the other basics? I have not seen a ton. I mean there is some, but where they're all not only talking about food and movement, but also like are you getting enough sleep? Are you managing your stress? Are you drinking enough water? This is one reason why in episode one I did the 10 simple essentials for aging with grace and strength, because I think we forget sometimes that we've got to get baseline, like what are the basics? What is? One plus one equals two in our health and that is, that is sleep, that is water, that is managing stress. That is some of the other things that we don't always necessarily think of when we are thinking about health connection. That's another huge one. I cannot go by without reading the headlines, or I cannot go a day without reading headlines where it doesn't talk about how important connection is to our health and longevity. So the application is is it looking at things holistically? And then the other thing to within, that is, are you going to have to sacrifice other elements that are important to you? So maybe that is, you're having to spend so much time in the gym that you're not getting outside and getting the benefits of fresh air and sunshine and sunlight in your eyes, which will help your sleep. It might be that it's asking you to do something that prohibits you from having your walks with your friends. Again, connection, super important, fresh air super important. So just things to think about. I mean, I will say that there are times and places that we're going to have goals and we might have to pause some of those. I mean, I'm thinking specifically when I was running half marathons and I was training for those I would have to, like I didn't do as many walks and talks with my friends because I was training all the time. And then, when the race was over, I didn't run for a while because I was really burnout on it, even though I loved the racing and I loved the training. It was just a season. So just things to think in mind with that. Finally, within the, examine the application to you. What is realistic and sustainable? This is something I also talk about in your worthy body and I think it's so very important, because if it's not realistic, if it's not sustainable, it's not right for you. Bottom line Finally, examine the reality of things, and that's where I want you to pull in this discernment. What parts work for you? Maybe you're reading something about the benefits of protein. I know there's a lot of conversation about protein right now and maybe you're thinking I should have more protein, or I should increase my protein in my breakfast, which is a change that I have made recently, because I think it's helpful for a lot of different physiological reasons and also for managing my blood sugar. So that works for me. Am I applying all of the stuff that I'm hearing about protein? No, one of those is eat your body weight and protein. I'm not eating 150 calories in protein every day or whatever it is that I weigh. I don't even know. Like, I'm just not doing that. That's too much. I don't feel well. So that's the second part of examining the reality. You do not have to go all in on everything. Pick and choose. Use your discernment. Cover that discernment over the knowledge and that should be one filter that you have in figuring out what works for you and finally, with that, expect inconsistency. If you're trying to change something and your heart is doing well and the you know the application works well, it takes time to make changes. It takes time to kind of figure out how. How are you gonna make all of this work? Like I remember when my son was four years old, he had terrible, terrible eczema and we did this blood testing and he had so many food allergies, so many, and I had to completely change how I cooked. I mean, this kid, I can't even go in One of these days. I should give you it, I should talk about this more. But it took me six months to figure out how to cook well for him with all of the food allergies that he had. He was allergic to eggs. He was allergic to soy Something like 80% of foods that come and process foods in terms of foods in boxes and packages and stuff like that. 80% of those have soy lecithin. I mean he was allergic to peaches and strawberries. I mean, oh, my goodness gracious. Thankfully not peanuts, because peanuts sustain him and thankfully not wheat, so that was good, like peanut butter and jelly good, but not strawberry jelly, it had to be some grape jelly. Anyway, it took, it, takes a long time and we had flub-ups because I didn't get it all. So, anyway, inconsistency is going to be part of your journey and that needs to be a reality of it. Those are the four things that I hope you will keep in mind as you learn about new research that's coming out, new studies. Again, this is the time of year that we see that, because the beginning of the year is often focused on resetting health. I think I'm to the point that I don't really feel like I need to do that anymore because I feel like I'm finally settling out. Just, I don't know, I just feel good, like I feel at peace, I feel it good with all of that. So I'm hoping, I'm hoping, I'm recording this, you know, mid-december, check back with me in a couple of weeks and we will see. But you know people are trying to capitalize on that mindset of like, oh, I got to rain it back in, I got to get the holiday weight off, I've got to reset, and so, yeah, they're trying to sell you something because they want to sell you something. So, if you're interested in buying it, that's up to you, but have those four examinations in tandem with whatever you buy. Examine your heart, examine the data, examine the application to you and examine the reality. That is all. Go out there and have a great day.