I Answer Your Most Asked Longevity Questions | Ask Me Anything

How do I keep my immune system strong? 70 to 80% of our immune system lives in our gut microbiome. How you start and end your day are really everything. So start your day with. How do I keep up with my healthy habits when I'm out of routine? I wish I could say seek balance, but maybe just throw that out the window. I know alcohol isn't great, but I genuinely enjoy a glass of wine with my family. What can I do to support my body if I do drink? I actually don't drink wine that comes from the USA because of these sprays that are sprayed over the crops here. Year this was the year that my husband and I, we just, we stopped drinking, wasn't feeling good. It was really impacting my sleep. So I started to look for a lot of other options. So if we do go to an event, I'm actually bringing alcohol, free wine. Or I'll bring a brand called. Welcome back to Rooted in Wellness, everyone, to the solo podcast and Q and A. Today's holiday season is here, and with it comes a big change in our rhythm for so many of us on many levels. More gatherings, more travel, more food and drink, more emotions, less movement, and sometimes less of all of those routines and rituals that help us really feel grounded and well. So this time of year can feel really joyful and connective and. But it can also feel really overwhelming. Maybe that's you. Maybe you've got some travel coming up that's already making you feel overwhelmed or not even there yet. Just tune into that for a second. Maybe you're somebody who is already noticing that your schedule is shifting or gosh, after the time's changing. My gosh, this is a tough one for me this year. Your digestion can feel like it's a little bit off. I'm certainly sleeping a little bit differently. I'm getting up at different hours. It's so dark all the time. And for a lot of us, being around family can stir up some old patterns and some patterns that we might realize that maybe we didn't outgrow. I think there's also a lot of us that feel this quiet pressure to be on all the time, to try to enjoy every single moment. But our bodies are in fact saying, hey, nature's slowing down. I want to slow down too. So today I'm going to do something a little special. I'm answering your top questions about how to support your body, your energy, your nervous system, system throughout the holiday season, but realistically and gently, without perfection. That's the key word. So we're going to be talking about what it means to feel well and stay well, but without restriction. Restriction is the key word. We don't want that. Enjoying food, enjoying celebration, but without the feeling of spiraling, navigating all those family dynamics without losing yourself and really supporting your gut and your immune system without needing a suitcase full of supplements. All right, so think of this as your grounding guide for the season ahead and a moment to really come back into your center, even when life gets a little bit loud. All right, so join me in taking a long, slow, deep breath in side out. Acknowledge that you're here listening to this, tuning into, navigating this together, and really coming up with a plan. This is exactly what I'm doing with all of my clients this time of year. My clients all know that this time of year is about not getting set back with their goals, not waiting until January to step into their goals, and really being prepared to deal with whatever comes up. So let's dive in. All right, the first question is, I always get sick during the holidays. How do I keep my immune system strong this time of year? This is a good one. Obviously you are not alone in this. Between some of us who are traveling more, feeling more stressful, the time change, as I said, sugar. Having more sugar, more alcohol and less sleep really causes our immune system to take a hit. In Ayurveda, we have a concept called ojas. This is your vital essence, it is your true immunity. And it's built from really good digestion, from quality rest and from self care. So through the lens of modern day medicine, we also know that 70 to 80% of our immune system lives in our gut microbiome. So this season, if digestion is off, then our immunity is also off. And you might notice that you have more sniffly noses or you feel run down a little bit more than usual. Here are some of my favorite tools for immune support. How you start and end your day are really everything. So start your day with warm lemon water. I don't always preach lemon water, but lemon water this time of year can be very supportive for liver support. It can also be herbal tea or ginger tea this time of year. I'm recommending that to a lot of my clients because ginger tends to fire up our digestion. Digestion to keep things going. If you don't like those things. This could also be some hot water if you like. Just the point is to start your day with something that is warm. That's going to stimulate your digestion. And the warmth is really, really Key. When you think about drinking things that are iced first thing in the morning, it causes your colon to kind of tighten up and get restrictive. We want to keep things open. The more soothing that warm tea or warm fluid is, it's going to support you in elimination and of course detoxification too. So proper hydration obviously throughout the day is also essential. So this time of year I'm stocking all of my clients cabinets with herbal tea. Their favorite herbal teas, think ginger, peppermint, ccf, cumin. Tulsi tea is also a really big one. Another really popular one is cinnamon tea. If you take some cinnamon bark or hibiscus tea, let that just simmer stovetop for a little while, you're going to get this beautiful rich color that's also a little bit sweet. I'll typically have my tea this time of year with a big heaping teaspoon of beekeepers naturals bee powered honey. It's my favorite. It's immune supportive as well. Makes everything taste really good. Honey in and of itself is really immune supportive. They also have their throat spray which I talk about all the time. So this is their immune support spray. A few sprays first thing in the morning and at the end of the day, I do this with my kiddos. I do not travel without this. I don't podcast without this because it is that supportive. All right. That leads to smart supplementation. Taking a really high quality vitamin D3K2 at about 5000ius daily. Remember to take your vitamin D with food is essential zinc, which we all know is a really supportive supplement that you could be taking this time of year. And if you're someone who kind of knows in advance your digestion is going to take a bit of a hit with travel or eating a lot of different foods or feeling depleted, then I do recommend taking a probiotic supplement every single day. The that I love is Megaspore by Microbiome Labs. This comes from founder Karan Krishnan, who is a dear friend and he's the microbiome wizard who I adore. But travel with these. You can also take that. They do have one for kiddos, but I just take one of the adult capsules and divide them up into a dose of my kiddos water first thing in the morning because we need to support them too. They can't even taste it. It's super supportive. But high quality supplementation is key. Now if you're someone who's already kind of rolling your eyes like, oh my gosh, this is too many supplements. I don't want to travel with all that stuff, then I want to send you the brand IM eight to check out. So I've been a huge supporter of them. I try everything before I recommend it to you guys. And their im8 daily essentials has been key. It's a game changer. So amazing for travel because you just travel with one sachet that you can mix into water. You stir it up and you get everything in it from your enzymes, your vitamins, your minerals, probiotics, prebiotics. It's great. All right. And of course, now's the time for you to just think ahead. If I was working with you one on one as your nutritionist, how would your body be impacted? Think about the things that your body would need, the things that could feel really supportive for you as you're going to more holiday parties or as you're traveling. Tune in so that we can get you supportive based on what your intuition, what your body is telling you. You have to also remember that we just, you know, we can't supplement ourselves out of the things that cause us to feel depleted. We can't supplement ourselves out of elevated stress consistently. We can't supplement ourselves out of poor sleep or poor recovery. So remember, it's all these little rituals that can add up. Things like stopping and taking a few deep breaths before your meals, shifting your state, getting out of doing in fight or flight into that rest state and digest that calming aspect. When you're eating over the holidays, stop what you're doing, get off the screens, connect with people. It's such a beautiful time of year where people are kind of open to connecting. There's more of a holiday spirit around that you can kind of indulge in to give you that nostalgia. And if you're going to be indulging in more foods, which I hope you're indulging in some really yummy nostalgic foods, remember that all you have to do is balance it out. You want to prioritize fiber. This is probably the top recommendation that I give to all of my clients. When they're telling me about the yummy meals that they're going to be making, then I say, great. Simply prioritize fiber at all of your meals. This could be roasted veggies. This could be warm stews. This could be all of the colorful cooked or lightly steamed warm veggies this time of year that's going to support your body in proper elimination. We all know that fiber helps us make feel a little bit more full also, and vitamins and nutrients are gonna be supportive for your immune system. All right, now, if your sleep suffers, even a 20 minute nap or meditation throughout the day is gonna support your immune cells in regenerating. Gosh, look for meditators at the airport. Look at those meditation rooms at the airport. They're proven to support your body in healing. When you look outside, look at nature, let it remind you that now's the time to slow down. There's a superpower in slowing down. Maybe it's time for a little bit more advantage of some of those moments to connect with nature, to seek stillness, to breathe, and to tune in. All right, question number two. How can I support my digestion when meals are heavier than my body is used to? All right, I love this question because it might apply to all of us. And it's okay to go into a season like this, but here's the thing to just think about. So in Ayurveda, winter is kapha season. This is a time when naturally we want to eat foods that are rich and that are heavier, that are grounding but that are natural, that come from nature. Now, a lot of the foods that tend to be rich and heavy, as you might be thinking of them, these are the things that are fried or deep fried. This could be the heavier alcohol consumption. This could be all the sugary, sweet treats that are going to be around. So those are not so natural. So the key this time of year is to really prioritize your digestive fire. This is your agni. We want to keep your digestive fire lit, strong, vibrant, to be able to metabolize whatever you're eating. All right, digestion is key. Quality digestion is key this time of year, especially as things cool down. So here are some of my go to tools. So start sipping on ginger tea, as I mentioned earlier, or ccft, this is cumin, coriander and fennel seed tea. And do this before or after your meals, just a little bit before to get that digestion kind of ignited. Another really yummy Ayurvedic digestive is taking making half a teaspoon of grated fresh ginger and a pinch of rock salt and a little bit of lime juice. Squeeze a little bit of lime. This will ignite your digestive fire. So this is like a little tonic that you can take pre meals. You can get some ready in a little cup for all of your family members as well. Drinking miso soup is also a way to get that done. Or a little cup of broth before your meals will feel incredibly supportive. And again, it's about Igniting that digestive fire. After you indulge in a meal, then try taking a short walk after dinner. Lots of studies this year on the power of a 10 or 20 minute walk after a meal. Post meal is going to support your blood sugar and bloating. I really am a big advocate of not grazing in between meals. So my clients that work with me know that it's time to, at every single meal, eat until you're comfortably full. Then you take a break from eating for two to four hours and then you eat again. It's those breaks in between your meals that are going to give your digestive system a break. Allow those digestive enzymes to start to replenish. So focusing on two to three meals a day, whatever's best for your constitution. If you're eating out late because hopefully you're going to have a fun social life, then I want you to prioritize giving your system at least 12 to 14 hours of a fat of a break, a digestive break. Afterwards, give your system some time to recover after more indulgent meals. It can be really, really supportive. And when you practice that consistently, your body knows that it has that recovery time. Enzymes again can replenish themselves. So it's really powerful. Some of my clients this time of year will travel, I know I will for sure with a very high quality digestive enzyme. So the digestive enzyme that I like is called Maskymes from a brand called Bioptimizers. You probably know them because they make magnesium Breakthrough, which is also a good one to travel with this time of year. I always go to parties or with my family. I'll have a little bottle of my Mass Zymes with me because I know it's just a little bit of extra support with digestive enzymes that my body could typically use because I'm eating a lot of different foods that I typically wouldn't. And honestly, when you pull it out in front of everyone, people are going to want to know. And last time I checked, if you ask anyone if they need some support with digestion, everyone's hand will go up. So you could be that person that supports other people with their digestion too. Bottom line, do not eat when you're stressed again. Stop and take some deep breaths before your meals. Get into the digestive relaxed state that will be highly supportive for your digestion. If you're noticing that your body's circadian rhythm is off consistently with events or parties or off schedule hours, then you're going to start to feel it with your symptoms over time and it's really important that you just take that time to recover. Tune into recovery this time of year. Take breaks when you need it. Focus on meditation, even for a few minutes, to constantly tell your system like, there's a lot happening, but you're prioritizing you by coming back into balance. And if I've just given you a lot of tips and you're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Mona, that is like, way too much, then if you're someone that's saying, I'm just gonna have fun and indulge and wait until January, then I really highly recommend on the years of experience that I've had, waiting until January is not gonna serve you. Just give me one meal a day. One meal a day. Every single day that is going to be focused on eating a high quality protein, a good quality fat, and lots of warm veggies. With that, eat the rainbow color. That fiber is going to be so supportive, I promise you. You're going to be decreasing your chances of starting in January in a depleted state. And instead you're going to start from a neutral or optimized state. Every second of every day over the holidays is an opportunity for healing. Don't forget the power of now to heal. All right, question number three. Is there a way to balance holiday treats and still not gain weight? Yes. A lot of my clients don't even go into the holiday seasons with the expectation of gaining weight anymore, and they don't. Balance does not mean restriction, all right? That's not what it is. It's not about thinking that you need to go hardcore restrictive in order to go and indulge on specific days. Balance is key. Now, I always laugh when people ask me if I'm more of a salty person or a sweet person. They want to know, you know, what am I up against for the holiday season? And I really encourage indulging in the things that make you feel good. And the funny part about that is that I'm actually both. Maybe you are too. I love salty and then sweet. And what I love about Ayurveda is that it actually approves enjoying all six tastes that are available to us to support us in feeling balanced. When you feel balanced, you're less likely to binge or kind of overindulge in a specific taste. Those six tastes, by the way, are salty, sweet, sour, bitter, pungent, and astringent. Each of those tastes is associated with a specific element that has unique properties that can really influence our bodies overall balance and how we feel. But the bottom line, even if you don't walk away with those is that variety and diversity is key, not restriction. Variety and diversity is key, not restriction. So how do we balance this over the holidays and still enjoy all of our treats? So Ayurveda has this other principle that I love, which is called Mithra. This is moderation and mindfulness with food. Moderation and mindfulness with food. And science confirms this as well. When you eat slowly and mindfully, your hunger hormones, like ghrelin, stabilize. All right? Eating slowly and mindfully is key. This takes a lot of practice with the people that I work with, but it's the practice that's going to get you there. Can you eat slowly and mindfully instead of just throwing things down the hatch and expecting your body to deal with it? Here are some tips. The first thing that you can do is focus on the order of eating. When you look down at a plate or when you build a plate, I really want you to focus on eating that high quality protein, those fibers that comes from eating the rainbow, right? Fiber is key. Focus on eating the protein and the fiber first and then eating the sweets last. When you do that, we know that it's actually going to lower or slow down that glucose spike. And this has also been really supportive for having high carb meals. So if you're having lots of sweet potato or sweet potato fries or rice and pasta, focus on having the protein and fiber first and then the starches and the sugar after. Next you want to focus on the joy and not the guilt. I feel like women are so in tune with this. We really look forward to a food. We eat the chocolate cake or the cookie and then, you know, a couple minutes later you're like, ah, why do I. Why did I do that? I feel guilty. We carry that guilt with us and it just doesn't work. It's this loop of thoughts that are so destructive. So instead, I want you to sit and I want you to savor every single bite of what you're eating. It was a joke. Growing up, my mom always knew that I was eating a food that I liked because I would stop talking. Have you done that? You just stop talking. You're so in tune with how yummy that food is. So this is your nutritionist saying, enjoy every single bite of that sweet or salty treat and truly enjoy it, especially if it's something that feels nostalgic to you over the holiday season. But please do so in understanding that your body would really also love some movement after those meals. Be the person in your family who's going to recommend Going for a walk. Be the person at the office who's going to drag everyone out for a walk together after a big meal. No one ever regrets doing this together, okay? So be the instigator in that crew and you're going to help everyone feel better when you're indulging in things like more sugar or salt. Also, we have to think that you have to ask whether or not you're hydrated, right? A lot of the sugar cravings that we have often hunger as well, right. Is caused by dehydration in disguise. So this goes back to that first question. I feel like I'm just talking about tea today. Loving on warm water, loving on lots of those herbal teas. There's so many studies out there that show that you can also eat less when you're properly hydrated. So hydration is the name of the game. If you don't have a water bottle that you love, please don't find one. If you have a thermos, even better. Remember, hot fluids. Hot herbal teas are essential. Now, of course, if there is a day where you overdo it, right? You know, if you've been on a healthy protocol for some time, you're probably going to feel it when you go out there and just have a free for all if that's what you choose to do. But make sure that the next meal after that is your reset. There's no reason to spiral, there's no reason to judge yourself. There's no reason to feel bad about it. Just reset. Just be conscious of, again, that thought loophole that's keeping you stuck in guilt. Let it go. It's not serving you, it's not serving how you feel. So let it go. Just give your system a break and then get back to nourishment. Nourishment is the name of the game. So remember, the holidays aren't a time to test your discipline, to go hardcore. This is a time for you to really practice self trust, nourishment and even acts of self love. Through food, you can enjoy food. Even those fun foods. Food is meant to give you joy. I love food. It's probably why I do what I do. But know that there are so many healthier alternatives out there and lower glycemic, higher fiber recipes out there that you can start to look up based on those holiday classics that you can still enjoy. So go and find them. Namaste, my friends. Fun holiday recipes coming out for you to enjoy as well.