EveryDay Home Health: How I Wellness-Proofed My New House

Moving across the country. Oh no, wait, that's me. Stress, poor sleep, a new house with questionable air and water. In this episode, I'm sharing exactly how I wellness-proofed my move from the moving out of an old environment to the traveling between states, many states, and the arrival. At a new location and all of the things that I were thinking about. I'm gonna share what I call the essentials or non-essentials. So the non-essentials that I packed up, but what did I leave behind for the very last thing to pack up? And what were the very first essentials that I unpacked in my new home? This is all included here. I just recently had a stress test and I do not mean a cardiovascular general stress test. What I mean is a cross-country move with a four-legged semi-anxious dog. It's a massive stress test on your body, your routines, your nervous system. But I knew I didn't want to arrive in a new house and have to rebuild health from scratch. I didn't actually think that would be true. I may be too much of an optimist to believe that to be true. In fact, probably what I thought is my vision of driving across the country with Moses was that it would just be so fun and we would get there and we'd go for a walk in Amarillo in the morning and we'd go for a walk in the afternoon when I got there. And that did not happen, just saying. And then one day it rained and I'm thinking, how rude. No, we can't stop and go to the bathroom, Moses. You're gonna have to wait because you'll get the car dirty. Get back in here. Muddy. I was like, no. Oh, it was stressful. But in this solo episode, I'm gonna walk you through the wellness non-negotiables that made it into my travel kit and the tech I used to keep my sleep and my detox systems on track. And by that, I don't mean anything crazy. I just mean natural ability to detox. We do it every day. Your body probably doesn't need necessarily to turn it up, you know, with anything crazy in January, hint, hint. However, the very first things I unpacked once we landed, I will share that as soon as the movers arrived, I'll share what I impacted then. But I'm talking about everything from protecting my water and air quality to EMF shielding and detox support. I'm breaking down the real-life essentials that made my move, I think, manageable. And actually, in spite of not exercising as much and, you know, being a little more busy, not necessarily getting as ideal sleep, which is always important for me being at my optimal weight and energy, I actually felt really good throughout. In fact, felt amazing. And maybe even better for having had a little break from exercise forced on me because of the drive, the dog, the, the just extra things on my to-do list. So that made my move manageable and kept me and my family regulated through all of the chaos. So here we go. Let's just dive right into this. By the way, I'm gonna share 2 different things that are crucial throughout this episode. I'm going to share a lot of things, but number 1, so many of you know that I've been using magnesium for more than 15 years. So I first started this journey and I came to the realization through education, just like you, that almost 80% of us are deficient walking around with insufficient amounts of magnesium. And magnesium is responsible for between 400 and 600, and I know that's a wide range, enzyme actions in our body. Many of those related to muscle and metabolism, some related to regularity, and others related to sleep. So not having it, and then to escort calcium into your bones, by the way, is problematic. So I've been seeking and taking it for a long period of time. I've tried many options, but I have found two products from the same company that I absolutely love. No fillers and just better than others I've tested. So first, Magnesium Breakthrough. It is by Bioptimizers. This full spectrum magnesium, meaning it contains all 7 types or strains of magnesium, especially for me during high stress periods, poor sleep, like a move. And it wasn't, you know, the physical move obstacle. It was just the monkey mind of, you know, I have things to do during the day. I have colleagues, business employees, contractors that need me and the business to run. While I'm thinking, oh, I need more that size box and I need more tape and I'm almost out and I need to box up 4 more boxes today. And no, I can't box that up. You know, so all of those things were going through my head at 2:00 AM and I'm usually not that person, but there was just no other bandwidth. There was no other space for them to go. It's a lot for a single person to juggle, but I don't know that maybe if, if you're in a relationship, having two people still— if you're the person who's kind of in charge of those things, you still probably have to go through that as well. But that really made it hard to sleep, and it made my nervous system stay a little more grounded by taking Magnesium Breakthrough. And sometimes, usually almost always, I take two In this case, I was taking 3, and I took 3 the 2 nights that I stayed at an Airbnb along the drive as well. So if you wanna try that too, by the way, you can always get 15% off by using my code and my link, flipping50.com/bioptimizers, code FLIPPING50, flipping 50. The second product, same company, is called MassZymes. And it's got 18 powerful enzymes to help digestion. Now, your hormone changes are directly tied to your gut health and your microbiome. It helps— masszymes, taking the supplement helps the breakdown of not just protein, which can be one of the hardest things to change, and most of us are very consciously trying to reach our quota, but it helps not just the breakdown of protein, but of fat and carbs. So if rich meals during, say, the holiday season or midlife hormone changes have changed your gut, you will love the fact that it has 4 times the amount of usual protease, which is what breaks down protein, and also includes the 2 things that help break down fat and carbohydrates. These 2 in combination, Magnesium Breakthrough for sleep, and metabolism and mass zymes for digestion. For me, they're daily staples. And just so that you know, they've replaced something that was already working well. I didn't know how good it could be. So as I packed, I kept enough out for the weeks leading up to my move, for the travel, the arrival, before I knew my moving van and those kitchen boxes would actually com. They are that important to me. So you can head over to flipping50.com/buyoptimizers or go to the My Favorites page on the website and you'll find them there. Let's dive into this. So right now I want to tell you about the essentials, the things that I packed last. So I believe the day of the week the moving van came to pick things up, and it was— if that's not a stressful situation. So if you've moved recently, you probably know this, but the week of the move, they suggest to you that they will call you 2 days before and let you know what day it's going to be that they'll arrive. Okay, so you have to give them a 2-day window and then they'll tell you which of those 2 days. So you can't have anything on either day. And if you run a business, that's great. That's just great. And there was sarcasm there. I hope you got it. But then the night before the day they've told you, they will call you and tell you what time, and then they may or may not actually arrive at that time. Can we just say that? Okay, now I've said it. I will be sharing the name of the company that I used. What I'd also like to be sharing is that I was not impressed and will never, ever, ever use them again.. So if you'd like to know it, you can reach out to me and I will share that with you. All right, so here are the things that I packed last, absolutely last, so that I could use them as late as Wednesday night before they got packed away and lifted onto the trunk on Thursday. Number 1 was Power Plate, my Power Plate. Now I didn't have the original box, so it's not as if I was gonna actually put it in a box, but they did. They wrapped it in a blanket, put it in a pseudo box that fit, built it around it. But that's for daily stimulation for bone density, number one. But I was using it more at the end for just like vibration purposes, soothing my central nervous system, stretching, because I was tight. I mean, just my upper back and shoulders, I think tension, not necessarily from lifting and packing heavy boxes, cuz I didn't have that far to carry them. I just, packed a box, left it on the floor, taped it up. But what did happen is just the tension, carrying tension of the whole ordeal, if you can. And I know it's a first world problem, right? But I chose to move, got to move, and, and yet there was a lot of stress related to it. So there's also that lymphatic flow and stimulation. When I— all I was doing for my workout a couple of those days in the last couple of weeks was moving and packing. But that vibration to support circulation, nervous system regulation, it's crucial during the chaos of anything. But packing, for those of you who are maybe ill or compromised in ability to move as much as you'd otherwise like to, that was a game changer for me. So I found even sneaking in just little bites of, I'm gonna do a little core or a little balance, I felt better for having gotten on it. It's actually talking That, oddly enough, is making me want to crave a little session, so I'll probably do that right after we're done. The next one was infrared sauna. So literally, I had my friend and neighbor Julie come over, and I remember texting her and saying, hey, you know, are you busy today? Any chance you could come over sometime like 5-ish or after and help put a couple heavy things in a box? Yep, sure, no problem. I can be there after 6. So sure enough, She came right on over and it's just big and bulky. By the way, I have done this by myself, but I'm trying to learn to ask for help because it went a lot smoother. I'll just say that having somebody come over and, um, it was great to see her for the last time then as well. But my infrared sauna, I wanted that out cause I was using it. I ended up not using it on that Wednesday cause I'm right at about the time I would have used it was the time we were packing it up, but I did use it Tuesday night. I used it almost every night for the last 2 weeks because it was just a great— like, this is a habit that I had. And at the end of the day, it also helped me, like, a little power nap in that sauna. And it sounds strange that you're in it, you're gonna get super hot, and what, you're gonna go to sleep? But truly, yes, because it's, it's like laying in the sun. I don't know if you've ever experienced that, but you lay out in the sun if you're a sun lover at least this is you, the warmth of the sun, and you just can easily take a nap. That's kind of the feel I get in the sauna, and I prefer to do it at the end of the day, not the beginning. So I will get in for about 30-35 minutes and I will take a power nap. I mean, I'm not intending to, but I just do. And I also combine it with meditation. So I'll start a meditative, uh, track from Dr. Joe Dispenza. I have a favorite in case you want to know what it is. You can DM me on Instagram and ask for that that too. And then often I'll fall off, you know, for about 10 minutes, maybe not even hear the total end of it, which that's not ideal. If you know Dr. Dispenza, he wants you to sit up so you don't fall asleep, but I was laying down. But that really also helped me. So when I wasn't able to work out, I still got a good sweat. Your mitochondria still get a little set up. And yes, to detox, but it, you know, it was more about helping to stay in routine. And you know, then as soon as I got here, I also wanted that set up. So I'll talk about it again on the other end. Magnesium Breakthrough, again, that was like every night I took that. In the last couple of nights before I left, again, I took 3, not 2, the usual dose, just because sleep was a little more rocky for me. I didn't go a single night without it. And, and I in fact remember ordering some right before, like 2 days before I was to leave. And I was like, I think I'm going to run out. I shouldn't have packed that extra bottle because I don't know which box it's in and I'm out of tape. I can't unpack and then pack it. So I ordered one and it came, you know, from Amazon right away. So super quick. Blue Sky CBD. Was the other one. So that is for real support with sleep using their sleep gels. Or for me, I will often use Max Relief when I have a migraine coming on, and I will use the balm as well as gels. The balm for my upper back and neck to keep the tension out of it, because it's— I never know which comes first, the chicken or the egg, the tension in my upper back and neck or the the headache that brings on the tension, but it's always a two-for-one, however it arrives. But in this particular case, I was traveling with this for Moses. So I would put this on his food or I would put it into like a treat. Like I got a couple of boiled eggs and traveled with them. I don't eat a ton of eggs regularly, but they're an easy, real easy finger food in the car. And so we, We tried not to stop for very long at a time, but I would have part of it and then I would put the CBD oil on the rest of an egg and give it to him. And that's how I kind of fed him, you know, if I needed to adjust the dose, put it on his food first thing in the morning, yes, but at noon I would give him something else. And we didn't, I didn't feed him at noon on travel for stopping, so we just, he just kind of intermittent fasted, if you will. He needed it for nervous system regulation, or I needed him to have it, maybe is the way I should state that. And, you know, transitions are hard for dogs, probably more for humans too. So I want to share this with you, um, a little bit more. If sleep is a real issue for you and you've tried magnesium, you're already doing that because because you need that for so many other things as well. But if that's not helpful and you're either not on hormone therapy, not doing progesterone, or don't want to, and that's probably a week off if you haven't done it right now, Blue Sky CBD sleep gels I mentioned earlier are another option that have really been helpful for some of our community members. If you recall, I shared Laura Scott's experience with it, it was game-changing. And she tried everything else. She'd followed the instructions and, you know, done all the things, but still wasn't getting relief. So whether you're traveling with a dog or you're dealing with your own sleep issues because of menopause or otherwise, Blue Sky CBD is a clean broad-spectrum product I trust both for me and for my dog. So I will link to that also in the show notes. It's also on my favorites page. Okay, so we've traveled. We went from Phoenix to Amarillo and from Amarillo to Kansas City and then KC to my new home, essentially. I— here's how that went. So we left at— I intended to leave by 6 AM. I got out of there by 7, and then it was super slow getting out of Phoenix, just You know, I kept one more thinging myself. I kept saying, oh yeah, I'll just take that in the car with me. And then I was like, what was I thinking? Like, I have a dog in the back seat. And so I was like, where am I putting all of this? So there's, there's that. But we had a 10-hour day behind the windshield. So that's not including stops the first day. Needless to say, I was ready to be there. Amarillo was so great. It was easy. There were get-to, stare Airbnb instead of a hotel. So highly recommend doing that. It was a quiet little area. Um, I can't say enough good about it. And Airbnb with a dog was just so much easier, I believe, than a hotel would've been. So there's that. The next night in Kansas City, it was a quaint little Airbnb, but unfortunately it was like a third floor apartment, not great for a dog who had to go out out, you know, last thing at night, first thing in the morning. And then it just happened to be a rainy morning full of leaves, and, and Moses could just hear the people, uh, under us and could hear every door shut on the street with people coming home from fun and excitement and voices. And so neither one of us slept very well that night, but it was a lovely little area, I can tell you that. He was like What are leaves? What are these things on the ground? And it was like, huh, that's true. You've never really seen leaves like that before. So then it was onward to Cedar Rapids. Unfortunately, on the last day, it was kind of very, very foggy when we left KC. And I was communicating with friends and family and I was like, is it foggy there? Because I can barely see. And it's rainy and muddy. I don't want to stop. And Moses has to go out and it's miserable. What was I thinking? I didn't pack a coat. So I had to borrow one when I got there from my daughter-in-law. Fortunately, uh, she has ample selection and we're close enough in size that works for me. But I see it was, you know, not a great trip the rest of of that day. It was cold when I got there, and I thought that was cold. I don't know cold. I didn't know cold then. I know cold now. So there's all of that. But what happened when I landed? I walked in, literally dropped my dog off, said hello, had a conversation with a baby, and then said, I gotta go through the walkthrough. And then I went and brought a washer and dryer and bought a house and that was that. Went back, picked up my dog, and we slept on the air mattress in my house. So that next day, literally, we were just kind of exploring the house, looking around and making sure I had help for the next day. And the moving van arrived. So here were my biggest concerns: water and air. So this is an older house. It has been redone, but still, you know, air ducts and, you know, pipes and, and all the things that could be true. And I am fortunate I'm in a house that was owned by someone in heating and plumbing. So you got to think, you know, it was done right. However, you know, when it's your health, it's not something I would leave to chance. You know, living in Phoenix, I've upgraded my air quality and I appreciate four seasons when, you know, things freeze in the winter, kill off things, and also then when they come back in the summer, I think it's good for air quality and I feel like I'm taking deeper breaths, but I'm gonna be spending the next 3 months and large parts of it indoors for the bulk of the day. Now Moses and I will get outside for maybe the total of an hour every day, but we're not going for our walks because Debra's cold. I'll just say that. And, um, it's not a good look when my nose is running and my cheeks are really, really red. So, um, you know, I— when, when we have a warm day, I'll be out there. I'm all over it. But it's been a little challenge, so I've somehow become a wimp. And it's only been 6 years, but, but there's that. Um, but water quality and air quality were really important to me. So AquaTru water filter is my water filter of choice. It is sitting on the counter and I will tell you that I have at my fingertips on the counter, the tap water has a water filter on it, so the owner had previously installed that, but I just wanted to go over and above. So the taste of— and I'm comparing, taste testing the water out of the tap filter versus the AquaFill or AquaTrue filter— uh, night and day. So the AquaTrue water filter water, it tastes amazing. I love it, and it's clean, safe drinking water. That, that I know I'm not gonna regret. The second thing is I have the Air Doctor going in my room, and you're gonna spend 8 to 9 hours, maybe more if you're lucky, hours sleeping and breathing deeply. That's a really important distinguisher for me. Now, if I have a fairly large house here, so I will probably put one also here in my office. Um, in addition, and you know, I'm potentially giving or gifting one to my kids, quote unquote. So isn't it funny how your son gets married and you have kids now? You only had one kid, but now you have kids. So, but for the baby, you know, for the first one anyway, not the first baby, I mean the first Air Doctor that I gift them will be for the baby's room. And it's, it's really important with allergens and toxins in the air. And, you know, doesn't mean you're in an unsafe or old or not cared for home or it's dirty or dusty or musty. It can happen to, to the best of us. And it's just a very important thing. And these things is drinking lots of water, bathing in water. We also want to think about how safe is it. So the AquaTru doesn't take care of that bathing water, but what we bathe in also matters. So checking on toxicity and water safety is important for many, many reasons. We absorb things through our skin pretty readily. So the Air Doctor and the AquaTru first things on my countertop and in my bedroom. Boom. The sauna is now in my bedroom. And that too, again, important for, yes, for detox and probably for sweating because you know, it's cold. I'm working out. It's really nice to get sweaty, but I'm not getting nearly as sweaty, you know, because it's not as warm as I will in the summer when I'm working out. So getting a little bit of that, that's great for mitochondrial health. Mitochondria. It's great for boosting your VO2 max. I'll use it directly after I do a cardiovascular session. And again, you know, if you're otherwise cold and not truly sweating during winter months because you live in a northern climate, huge for you too. So just so you know, sharing, I have a Solo sauna, so it's like for one person. You're not going to share. And, you know, you can do a built-in one where you and, you know, a partner can both be in it at the same time. But I find that I really love the Solo Sauna, and I hesitated to get it. And this is probably 7 or 8 years ago by now when I was in Boulder. I was renting and I didn't want to do something that I was a built-in and then have to ask to change the electrical and build it, build it out and down if I moved. So I got the Solo because it's portable, so very portable, and I'm so glad I did because I ended up being exposed to mold in that same house, and I had that right there to start mitigating on the spot. Two other things that I'm conscious of now more so than I ever have been, and one of them is a pendant that you wear that actually protects you from EMF, essentially electronics. My house is basically a smart house, so it's like the oven is smarter than I am. The convection microwave grill and roaster is smarter than I am. There's, there's a food warmer. I don't know how to run that either. There's every light, or every room has its own specific light switches, dimmers, and it's, it's amazing. So this guy kind of, previous owner, made it his dream house. And yet that means that I'm exposed to a lot more EMF and electronics being in this house. It's something to think about. And so I want a little more protection. So I'm using from my good friend Wendy Myers— she was on a podcast probably earlier this year, this summer, I believe— it's a pendant. And there's also EMF cards you can put, say, on your desk, or stickers on the back of your devices like your phone, your laptop, your desktop. To protect you and reduce the amount of EMF exposure that you're getting. I'm in a high-tech house, that means higher EMF load. These are just kind of daily protection tools. So kind of supporting my body, not getting so much of that exposed. Ways that you can do that, you don't have to be in a high-tech house, but if you're in front of computer screens a lot, you use your microwave a lot, you know, I would definitely consider doing this. But if you travel considerably, remember that, you know, not having your phone or laptop by your head is important, but you may not realize you also have the alarm clock and you have the nightlight, and directly behind you, that shared wall on the other side, there's another plug-in there with the nightlight and and potentially their phone, their laptop, 'cause they're not necessarily doing the same thing. And you're still in close proximity to that. You're not protected because of the wall. So that's an important thing to consider. If you travel a lot, just being on an airplane, going through the airport could be helpful. The last one is called ScreenFit by Dr. Bryce Applebaum. He too has been a guest on the podcast previously. And, you know, I'm on screens quite a bit, and I probably will be a little bit more to connect here because there's not so many of my work colleagues close by. So to connect, I'll be on more in different meetings. But when you stare at a screen, whether it's your laptop, your desktop, or your phone, considerably, your eyes really, and your brain therefore, get the strain. So I'm doing it to reduce eye strain, light sensitivity, and just screen fatigue by taking a break. It's a 15-minute long thing. It's easy things like massaging your eyeballs, but helping to unpack chaos from exposure to the screens that are constant for so many of us. And So I'm tackling that. I'm also thinking about gifting that because everybody probably at this point knows someone whose job is really spending a lot of time behind screens. And, you know, even if you're a fitness professional and you're building an online app or a website, a membership, you're spending a lot of time behind a screen. You're not just on your feet working out. It's not all squats and lunges, trust me. So Um, that is something I'm doing. So I'm going to recap those: AquaTru, the water filter, Air Doctor, the purifier, sauna. I use Sunlighten, Wendy Meyer's EMF pendant, and I'll link to that. It's got a name I cannot remember. ScreenFit by Dr. Bryce Applebaum. And they were non-negotiables. I mean, the two most important things we consume are probably water and air. Focusing on my nervous system regulation through the sauna and through the pendant protecting from EMFs, tech overwhelm with both the ScreenFit and the EMF again, the Power Plate for nervous system, lymphatic flow. And I got that out right away. And here's where it went. It went like, literally, I have a sunroom.. Now other people put plants and a chaise lounge in there, and it's a library with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. But I put my exercise equipment in there, and I'm looking out at the woods and trees to do workouts and looking at the camera so that the light is great for recording videos for all of you. But, you know, putting things front and center is not necessarily what somebody would have done. The treadmill would have gone in the basement or the garage. And I was like, why would I do that? This is my ticket to longevity and living a life. I want to be doing it every day. I want to make it easy and conducive, and I want to incentivize myself to wanting to be here doing it in a room and space that I love. So, you know, if you have the luxury of doing that, and if not at home, Do you have a gym to go to where it is light and bright? For me, it's always been about high ceilings, window light, or I don't want to join. And I realize right now in saying this, I— even though I have everything I need right here in the house, there are times when I need to get out and I need to go to a gym. And I also get a lot of material going to gyms and watching people. But I also want a swimming pool, and that's not something I'm gonna build or ever will because I don't want that maintenance. But here's, you know, what I realized in talking through this. I visited 3 different gyms, and, you know, one of them was actually super fun, high ceilings. It was an old movie theater, literally. It's like a historical building in this town right now, downtown. And so it's got brick in the back of walls. It's got— you can see the movie projector space, and they're actually going to redo it historically. It'll be a really cool space. It doesn't quite have everything I want, and it's a little dark, and it's probably my second choice. The first place I went to, I thought— my son, my daughter-in-law thought this would be the most logical place. That's probably where you're gonna want to join because you you have access to 3 different facilities. The— this one is the biggest, it's closest to you. They do have a pool. The problem is it's not— there's no windows at all, so it's just in like a little strip mall. And even the front side of the building, you have to— you go in and you're so far back, you're away from any window light whatsoever. The swimming pool is short And that's not really the biggest problem, but I walked into that room and I was like overwhelmed with chemicals. And I was like, oh, okay, thanks. Yeah, I was like, I'm out. I am never swimming in this pool ever because of what I'd be breathing in. So, um, the one place I thought— I never thought I would have joined is a Y. Like a YMCA downtown with a light, bright, high ceiling, lots of window light swimming pool with lanes that ample access, and the weight room is not all that great. The others trumped it like twice. And I'm like it's got all I need, it's got all I need, and it's lighter and brighter. This is probably gonna be my gym, and it's probably twice what the other monthly is, but I kind of feel good about it because I know where some of that money is going to. It's going to help some families in need. And, you know, I couldn't go in and try the membership. I mean, I couldn't go in and try a workout to see if I like the space, which is what I did with the other two. And I kind of liked that. They're like, no, we can't let you do that because we do background checks because we have a nursery on site. I was like, okay, I like that. Yeah. So you know that, you know, there are different kinds of values, and yet never would have guessed that I would join at a winery and that would be my first choice, but that's the case. And And you need to know, you know, why are you doing certain things? Why are certain things for you non-negotiable? So I say all of that to bring you back to make your environment something that if you're breathing deeply, you're trying to drink more water, or you're trying to eat more protein, we want to make sure that water's clean and we want to make sure that protein source is clean and good for you. Make the environment that you're trying to go into exercise regularly? Do you love it? Maybe you need to paint the wall a different color. Maybe in the summertime you need to say, let's do a little remodeling and put a window here. You know, even if you're in a lower basement, you know, is it possible to put a little strip window in that lets in some natural sunlight? That could make all the difference for you. And I think those little things are huge when you think this is a good investment. Because if every day and every week I exercise a little more regularly, consistently, and I enjoy it, I'm going to be healthier for decades. Well, well worth it. Last but not least, if you are listening at the right time, we may be in open enrollment for the membership. The membership has been in existence since 2016. And we are the first and the only— were exclusively made for menopause fitness membership in the world. And since 2018, we've been training health trainers, pros, and now helping physicians understand how to prescribe exercise better for their patients. So if you check any of those boxes, you need more help, you can visit flipping50.com, reach out to us either through the contacts page or reach out, and you should see on the home page what is happening this month that may appeal just exactly to you. I'd love to see you in the membership, and we are definitely launching a brand new app coming in hot at the very end of 2025. And what are you waiting for? Let's start Flipping 50 today.