So often at the beginning of the year we feel a push change. A push towards healthy eating choices and a pull towards familiar habit patterns. When both happen at the same time we get stuck in the middle. The body is a complicated system of networks and they all communicate and work with each other, pushing and pulling to some kind of balance. Understanding the push and pull can set us up for success or struggle and that’s our Work IN today. We’ll be looking at how we can simplify and personalize our approach to nutrition and nourishment to give us the kind of results we can live with.

Motivation is an unsustainable myth. At least in the sense that most of us understand it. The idea that we need to feel some kind of way in order to take action toward our goals is BS. We shouldn’t be reliant on a fleeting sensation for anything, especially not our health and fitness. It’s time to be the grown-up in this mind-body relationship.That’s our work IN this week. We’re looking at why we do what we do and how understanding the myth of motivation can help us take radical responsibility for our actions and enjoy the long term consequences of our health choices.

Nothing changes until something changes. Welcome back to The Work IN podcast. At the time of this recording it is a brand new year. 2025. And just like every year  there are a lot of “New year new you” challenges kicking off. Are you bored with them yet? Frankly what I want to know is why do we offer the same thing every year? Why not focus on making permanent changes that last beyond the next 3 months? So that’s our work IN today as we celebrate our 200th episode and 5th season. I’m going to teach you the 8 essential things you need to do to make any health and wellness change last a lifetime.

The fitness industry is set up like a snake eating its tail. It gives certification and requires cecs to keep that certification and then offers limited sources of those approved credits. New trainers and educators in the wellness space are conditioned to believe that if it doesn’t give us some external validation through approved CEC’s or the magic of letters after your name then it’s not worth the time to study. So we look for more and more of what to teach clients instead of developing the skills to better communicate what we know.

Today I’m talking about coaching. When I say coach I’m talking about anyone who educates others about anything. From preschool to post doc, little league to pro athlete, boutique studios to big box gyms, school counselors to corporate consultants. Coaching of any kind is a business of change making and you can make it big or you can make it small and everything in between. But without courage, creativity and collaboration you can get lost in that cult of mediocrity filled with all the weight loss gurus, self love sisters and money making motivators out there.

Ideally we would all get everything our body needs to function optimally from real, whole food. Theoretically if we did that then we wouldn’t need to count calories. Or even watch portion sizes because the body has built in on and off switches for our appetite and is brilliantly designed to find the perfect energy balance. Sadly I think we can all agree that the standard American diet is deficient on many levels.

Our modern life of convenient hyper palatable food consumption has disrupted that delicate balance and led to food addiction, gut dysfunction and metabolic disease. Today, the lack of nutrition awareness and just basic general activity in modern life and you see most people deficient in many micro nutrients, using food as therapy on some level and desperate for a quick fix to fill in the gaps. That’s where supplements come in.