If we are honest with ourselves, life rarely goes as planned. For good or bad there is a lot of broken expectations. But our actions through these broken expectations determine our joy. This show is all about learning to love the life you didn't choose. Of finding joy through it all.
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It’s the lightened up episode where Alexa fills you in on all of her favorite things that keep her healthy and loving life. She even shares a bit of her own health journey and what she is doing to overcome that.
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There are so many shiny gimmicks and tricks to get you to lose weight these days. But do any of them work and how good are they for your health? Follow along as I fill you in on the five ways your diet is ruining your life and the first step in getting it back.
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What if what we knew about water and hydration were false? What if those 'water rules' were actually doing more harm than good. You may be surprised to learn that pure H2O is not a hydrating beverage and in excess can actually cause harm to your GI tract and hormonal flow. It could be the cause of the plateau you may find yourself in. In this episode we'll uncover the truth about hydration and how to do it right.
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Just like our personality, we are all different types of sleepers. We have different chronotypes. But what if just knowing what chronotype you are and living based off of your inherent needs changed everything in your life. What if when you sleep to make you more productive, successful, a better spouse, parent, child, student, and worker? What if it were really as easy as determining your sleep needs and knowing when you work best? Check this podcast out to learn from the leading natural sleep expert Dr. Michael Breus.
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There is a lot of controversy when it comes to how many meals a day we should eat verses snacks creating excess confusion. In this episode we’ll take a deep yet simplistic look at when and how often we should eat to answer the question is snacking healthy.
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From acne to headaches, cramps, missed periods and even serious conditions like PCOS we’re often told just take birth control. Hormonal contraceptives have become the norm, the standard in masking symptoms, helping you to feel as normal (or masculine) as possible. Yet, there is something missing, more we need to know to make the most informed choices possible. Check out this episode on hormonal contraceptives, vasectomies, natural family planning, regulating hormones naturally and so much more.
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There is a big disconnect in the world when it comes to food and agriculture. In fact, some don't even know how or where their food is grown. And that is no different when we look at meat. We hear about grass-fed meats but don't really understand the difference. This episode uncovers the science and respect for agriculture when we specifically look at animal production.
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Life is hectic and overwhelming. Most days you wonder how you could possibly make time for cooking, yet you still want health. In this show we’ll dive into my secrets on what to cook when you don’t feel like cooking anything. You’ll also get top five go-to meal ideas. Its time to simplify meal planning.
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We’re often looking for the perfect way to lose weight and gain health. A pill, a diet, a set of rules yet those things are only fleeting. Instead we miss the only way to achieve these things and that is through you. Fully knowing and understanding you and why you want it. It’s about taking ownership and that is exactly what you’ll find in this episode.
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The mentality of health is tricky. Its easy to focus on nutrition and exercise alone but what if we’re missing the real answer in doing this? In working so hard for things that are secondary to the truth that will set your health free? It’s the foundation of health and that is your mentality. The choices you make and what labels you place on yourself. This episode is on the one thing you must stop doing for your health.
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Alexa’s husband Payton and sister Whitney tell all the secrets about Alexa and her true health antics. You'll learn what a nutritionist really eats and how she deals with her un-cooperative family. This is Alexa exposed.
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I can remember walking to the swimming pool on a sunny May day in 7th grade. In lines, hanging out with friends who would have been the popular crowd. Although I always teetered on the edge of that. Mostly hanging in there because we had been friends before we defined popular by looks. So as you can guess I wasn't the prettiest of my friends nor was I a stand out in really anything I did.
I was just mediocre. But I was content and happy with who I was. I definitely followed a crowd more than I should have, as my personality is really to go against the grain. But owning that came later in life. So there I was, walking with the "in-crowd," trying to fit in when out of nowhere I had my first realization that I was more mediocre than I had thought.
I can hear it just like it happened today, Thunder thighs, Alexa has thunder thighs.
Heart stops.
What?
Am I hearing this, thunder thighs, thunder thighs, thunder thighs? Over and over and over, I couldn't' stop hearing it.
At that moment, the first moment I began getting defined by looks. Heart-wrenching and heartbreaking is what it is. For the hold that had on me for longer than it should. I never verbalized it, for the shame of that, but obviously, it never left. Those words clung to me and began the spiral of lies that I wasn't enough.
Fortunately, something bigger was planned for my life and somewhere along the way I mustered the strength to move beyond that, yet it still defines a part of my journey. Yet it wasn't until I was able to accept that, to deal with the hurt and fully move beyond that that I was truly able to blossom into a greater value and respect for myself, regardless of how large my thighs were.
Yes, getting dressed on a warm summer day I still consider hiding my thighs in black leggings or jeans, dreading shorts will cause other people to judge the very thing that began my spiral of self-defeating lies. But now I know better, I know I'm worthy of more, that even in my darkest days my thighs don't define me, I'm not controlled by a number and instead, I choose to respect and value even when it's hard.
But getting here is all about the journey. Of knowing, accepting and moving on for the past and choosing something better. Of letting go of what and how everyone else has defined you and fully living for who you are. And today on the show there is a very wise friend and mentor who is full of wisdom, a past and someone who will ignite your future. It's bright I can tell you that so now will you choose to use your force, the wellness force inside of you to live for something bigger?
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Raising healthy eaters is a battle. But do we make it more of one than it needs to be? What if raising healthy eaters meant letting go, becoming a good negotiator and really fostering their own eating cues and patterns? It's not as rigid or strict as we've made it out to be. In fact, feeding your kids can be a pleasant experience. Learn how and exactly what in this episode.
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In today's show you will learn:
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Expectations have a way of wreaking havoc on life. It can really suck the joy out of all things.
I say this knowing full well what living in a life full of expectations can do. The problem was for the longest time I never realized that expectations were the root of a lot of arguments, anger, and let-downs. I truly believed that expectations were, well expected in this life.
I mean it's kind of ingrained in us from the time we were little ones. There's no escaping it, from expecting our children to behave well, to expect to get paid on time, to expecting everything in your day to go perfectly planned or how about expecting to lose weight on your next "diet". And the list continues.
But what happens when reality strikes, your kids fall apart, your paycheck comes in a few days late or you get stuck in traffic only to be late for your 8:00 am meeting? You become reactive. In my case, reactive means angry, distraught and anxious about the realities that have actually happened that seem to be far from what I expected.
Maybe it's the fantasy land we create or believe others are living simply because of the perfection of social media. Maybe it is just a human tendency to want to be right. I'm not really sure where the urge to create unending expectations comes in but the reality, they're sabotaging our chances of actually getting what we've set out to get, of meeting our goals.
So before you get into today's episode on preventing expectations and all of the reasons you should change it up and forget them I want to ask you, are your expectations met? What happens when they aren't? How does it make you feel and why do you even make them?
Just a little light thinking for you ;)
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This episode is very near and dear to my heart. It's my personal story of hitting my lowest of lows and through that learning, growing and transforming myself and Simple Roots with a new direction. I'll take you on a journey of finding myself and fully believing in something bigger than me and my recommended steps for you to write your own story.
Learn more: https://simplerootswellness.com/018
You asked and I delivered. In this bonus episode I will give you advice, tips, tricks and hacks on how to get the most vibrant and youthful skin. From why birth control pills work, the alternatives, balancing hormones for clear skin, my favorite beauty products and more.
Our mouth is one of the most overlooked and under-appreciated systems of the body. But if we dig further we can see just how vital the mouth is. If you thought dentistry was just about cleanings and fillings you're going to want to tune in.
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One transformation story of a self-sabotaging young girl turned fitness model who experienced rejection over 40 times before realizing what it takes to succeed in life. It's an episode to showcase that if you struggle with shame and lack of confidence, you are not alone. That even cover models have been through it, experience it and yet no matter who you are there are simple ways to overcome this. Find out more in this deep and meaningful episode with Lori Harder.
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There are those times in your life where you feel like your reality just gets slapped across your face.
Mostly because I like to keep myself too busy to notice the obvious, especially when the obvious is hard.
Alli's book was handed to me in one of those moments. One of those seasons where I was drowning in everything from the endless amount of e-mails in my inbox, to school snacks that I kept forgetting, mounds of laundry (we’re talking like an entire pack-n-play full (which makes a rather nice clothes basket) and twenty different projects I said yes to, eighteen of which I was regretting.
Fortunately, it wasn’t an angry moment when my sister handed me this book and declared the entire family was going to read it. I actually looked at the title and started salvaging because I knew my life was mass chaos. No beautiful mess here, just grimy, icky, horrible mess.
As I dug into the book, I couldn’t put it down. It was as if she was speaking to me word by word, page by page. I needed it, I soaked it in and I wished for more when it was over so I just read it again.
My life was far beyond busy and I had reached every end of overcapacity.
I realized I was a hypocrite a liar and that was just getting through the shell.
Here I was someone promoting and posting to the world advice that I wished I could take but knew I didn’t have the means to. I mean the laundry never ends, looking for work never ends, the to-do list is never, ever gone. I surely couldn’t break free of busyness but I wanted everyone else to because I knew the damage.
But I hit the pit. What seemed like a bottomless pit of shame, guilt and still a never-ending to-do list was pretty rocky. I got bruised and battered on the way down but looking back it was exactly the jolt I needed to get my head back above water and breathe.
What started out as gasping for air has now just turned into a lot of daily deep breaths. And while I’d like to tell you I’ve broken free, I haven’t yet. I’m still plagued with fear, worry, and anxiety about what is next, about letting go and ultimately missing out. Yet the other side of me recognizes and realizes and sees that in breaking busy I’m actually more free to be me.
The journey never ends I’m sure but I’m hoping today’s show will be the boost of encouragement you need to get rid of the things that hold you back and truly become the person you know you can be.
Today’s episode will rock your socks off!
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Today we're fortunate to have one of my dearest friends on the show. My go-to for support, encouragement, and ramblings all things health and mom to six. Yes, six under the age of seven. I'd say that a child's eating patterns and habits are more than just a scientific talk but one of real and raw life and there's no better person than a mom who's birthed six different children, with different eating habits, patterns, and palates.
Learn more: https://simplerootswellness.com/013
Being a mom isn’t a glamorous job. While TV commercials and movies can make motherhood sappy, a fairytale and a dream, the reality it is far from it. While I can’t explain the love you have for your child, through the good and the really, really bad, the truth being a mom has got to be the hardest job in all the world. It is the prefect storm of greatest thing in the world, yet biggest challenge.
I hope that this special short episode brings you great joy as we head in to Mother's day this year. Moms, you are ENOUGH!
The mirror can be a frightening thing. It's unforgiving, never lies and speaks a lot of harm into many of our lives. And yet we look as if we are constantly drawn into looking at ourselves. With skeptical eyes and harsh judgements, we pick apart every flaw on our body wishing for something better.
Yet, what is better? How is it defined? I think we all want something a little bit different but as standards show the lady on the cover of the next fitness magazine, well she will do. But have you wondered if you really ever did get to that point, then would you be happy?
If we can get beyond the surface level of what our world is telling us will make us happy and truly understand what happiness is, is an image that? The very thing we need in order to be and live the life we want? Or is it fleeting, never enough? I think we all deep down know the truth. But hearing a story of one young beautiful soul who found herself wrapped up in her own cellulite or lack thereof and the need for image only to find something so much more.
We all struggle with body image, but why? How can we learn to embrace it? You'll want to hear Maddy's story as we journey through her life from fitness model turned body loving advocate, bursting with passion to help you and love and embrace who you are regardless of what the mirror shows.
Learn more: https://simplerootswellness.com/012