How to Prioritize Your Health in 2020

This week, Maggie sits down with health coach Brianna Wilkerson to talk about how you can ditch dieting and prioritize your health this year.

Listen in to learn how to prioritize your health this year and every year, this time without the shame and judgment that usually comes along.

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Brianna Wilkerson is the Founder/CEO of Made Well 345, LLC. She is a Holistic Health and Life Coach with a heart to see busy women ditch dieting, lose weight, and reclaim their health for good. She is also an Essential Oils Advocate for doTERRA Essential Oils and empowers women to use non-toxic, natural solutions like essential oils for their health and those they love.

In addition to health coaching and essential oils, Brianna is also passionate about fitness and chose to become a Crossfit Level 1 Trainer to further serve women who want to get fit in a way that’s functional, fun, and effective. You can find Brianna hanging out on Instagram, in her Facebook Groups, on her podcast, the Healthy Body Podcast.

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To learn more about Maggie and her coaching and speaking services, visit www.maggiegermano.com.

To get more involved with Money Circle:

The theme music is called Escaping Light by Aaron Sprinkle. The podcast artwork design is by Maggie’s dear husband, Dan Rader.

TRANSCRIPTION

Maggie Germano: 00:00 Hey there and welcome to the money circle podcast. My name is Maggie Germano and I am your host. Thanks so much for tuning in. Don’t forget to take a moment to rate review and subscribe in your podcasting app so that more people will hear about money, circle podcasts, and listen. This week’s episode is brought to you by Stitcher premium. Listen to some of your favorite shows. Ad-free was Stitcher premium like Conan O’Brien needs a friend, my favorite murder, throwing shade and more. Plus, you can get access to Stitcher originals like the neighborhood listen and groceries. Stitcher premium is only four 99 a month or 34 99 a year, but if you use the code money circle, you can get your first month free. That is one word, money circle and you get one month free. Go to stitcher.com/premium to sign up today. This week I’m sitting down with Brianna Wilkerson.

Maggie Germano: 01:02 Brianna is the founder and CEO of Madewell 345. She is a holistic health and life coach with a heart to see busy women ditch dieting, lose weight, and reclaim their health for good. Brianna is also passionate about fitness and became a CrossFit level one trainer to further serve women who want to get fit in a way that’s functional, fun and effective. Brianna and I met at the she podcasts live conference back in October and we really hit it off. So I’m very excited to have her on the podcast today. She and I talked about why it’s so important to embrace a healthy lifestyle that is sustainable, life-giving and free from shame. We also talked about how you can start taking baby steps towards reclaiming your health in 2020. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. All right, welcome Brianna. Thank you so much for being here today.

Brianna W.: 02:02 Thank you for having me. Glad we can finally be here.

Maggie Germano: 02:06 So tell us a little bit about who you are in the work that you do.

Brianna W.: 02:10 Yes, so obviously my name is Brenna. I am a holistic health coach primarily and my business is made well and I support women in really ditching the dieting cycle that we often find ourselves in. And you know, losing weight is a big thing that a lot of the women that work with me struggle with. But I think at the end of the day, many of these women would just want to reclaim their health for good. Like they just want to take back control of their health in a sustainable, natural way. And so I do that through Alrighty coaching programs, uh, as well as, you know, Facebook groups, podcasts. But then I also incorporate essential oils as a good cool. So I’m also a CrossFit level one trainer, haven’t been using it as much with other people as much as I use it with myself right now.

Brianna W.: 02:50 So I just have a passion to learn everything you can about women and their bodies and support them in learning more about their bodies in their health. So just kind of what I do.

Maggie Germano: 02:59 That’s great. And how did you get into this line of work?

Brianna W.: 03:04 Yeah, such an interesting question. I don’t know. You probably feel this way. Most entrepreneurs feel this way. We never like start saying, I’ve never grew up saying I want to be a health coach or I want to like help people in their health. Um, cause I actually growing up I was kind of overweight and just health wasn’t really a huge priority for me and my family at the time. But, uh, then I started to get into sports and naturally just started to be more concerned about what I was eating, lost a lot of weight. Um, and then actually there was just a huge change in my life and I wanted to take control of what was happening and I felt like I couldn’t control anything in my life.

Brianna W.: 03:36 So I controlled what I ate and how much I exercise. And it became way too obsessed with it. Way too small, borderline like definitely anorexia. And then, uh, you know, in high school you also think it’s the end of the world for everything. So I was like, Oh, I’ve got to do well in school. And then the stress of that maniacs actually on the other end of the spectrum. And I became more of an emotional eater, gained all the weight back. So I’ve always really struggled with my body and my worth and diets and exercise size. And so after college I just really felt like I really needed to deal with it and my faith had a lot to do with it. Like connecting with that again, but just really feeling like I needed to be made well and what where, where do I even start on that journey?

Brianna W.: 04:16 So I just started taking small steps at a time and do you mean from a place of like love and support for my body and enjoy instead of like shame, guilt, trying to fix it, which is often how we approach diets and taking care of ourselves. And then from there I just literally was just doing it for me. I wasn’t doing about what care about what anyone else thought and people were like came in where I’m from. Cayman islands is small. So people were like, what’s going on? Like what are you doing? And they were just curious. And then I just started to see like maybe I could share what I’ve learned with other people. So I started blogging and it was the most horrible looking blog ever. Like I mean, geez, luckily it’s just family and friends read it and they were like, Oh, it’s so fun.

Brianna W.: 04:58 Like I love your recipes. And so, but then I did the whole 30 elimination program. And for me that was what really got me into it. I want to help there is because I found that, well, I can eat real whole foods not given to my cravings and enjoy it and learn more about my body and health and the process. And so from there, I think that was about maybe five, six years ago, aye went to enrolled with integrated nutrition, a school in New York online, got my health coaching certification. And once I got that and started seeing clients, I knew I want to do it for the rest of my life. So from there it’s evolved over time. Uh, but yeah, I just think from my own struggle, I just knew there were other women who struggled in the same way. I want it now.

Maggie Germano: 05:39 Yeah. That’s amazing. And thank you so much for sharing your story around that because it really sounds like you’ve been kind of across the spectrum on the different, uh, struggles you’ve had with your health and as well as the emotional side of how that you and how they can both affect each other. So yeah, having that experience, I’m sure that that brings a unique perspective to how you are as a coach with working with other people too. And um, can you tell me a little bit more about that? Like how you kind of bring your own experience to your coaching work?

Brianna W.: 06:18 Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I, when you know, when people first started learning about what I did, I think some people had an assumption that like, I was more of like a consultant or dietician that was just going to prescribe a way of and eating, living, exercise and for them. But I think what I found in my experience is really when I started to customize my life and my preferences and the way that I wanted to go about eating, exercising, managing my stress in a very unique way for me, that worked for me. That’s when I had change in breakthrough. So even when I coach, I’m a coach with women, so I’m not going to necessarily tell you what to do. I have a lot of knowledge and a lot of education and I do teach a lot of them through my courses.

Brianna W.: 07:01 But I think when I work with women, one on one particular, even in my groups, I just try to ask a lot of questions and really bring out of them like, well, what is your next step? What’s the best thing for you? Like if you don’t want to do CrossFit, don’t do that. What’s going to help you move? And so I think that customizable part of the journey and just being honestly sympathetic and empathetic and just being like compassionate. And I’m saying I’ve been there, um, in ways that I have. And, uh, just really showing them that they’re not alone. I think one of the biggest things women, my clients come back and tell me is how I’m not like shoving things down their throat or even when they’ve done the whole 30 with me and they like purposely ate something they shouldn’t have. I’m like, that’s okay. Let’s start tomorrow in the new day. And they’re like, wow. Like you’re not going to like shame me or you know, say things and I’m like, no, I’m going to challenge you to do better, but I’m going to encourage you because that’s my story. I know I should’ve done better in many cases, but life happens. I gave in. I’m human, but that didn’t keep me back from going on my journey. So I think just that like they know compassion and understanding has really helped a lot of women along the way.

Maggie Germano: 08:03 Oh yeah. I’m sure that that’s true because I think you’re totally right that bringing the shame and judgment into it is not really going to actually help anybody. And there’s so much of it out there already.

Brianna W.: 08:16 Right, exactly. Yeah. Everything, just that this diet world is one of the biggest industries. It just tricks you into thinking something’s wrong and you’ve done something wrong, so this is what you need to do to fix it when that’s not the case.

Maggie Germano: 08:32 Yeah, and I think about that a lot in terms of the financial side of things too. Yeah. And like you were saying as a coach, I’m also not here to be like, this is exactly what’s right and exactly what you should do because it’s going to be different for everyone. I liked how you said, um, it’s really important for things to be customized for the individual and actually be, you know, what they’re going to do, not you’re telling them to do because otherwise they’re not actually gonna follow through and do it.

Brianna W.: 09:01 Finances and food, those two areas have like, they’re just so private. There’s such areas that were, people just feel a lot of shame and yet a crying for help. Like someone helped me and someone, you know, like if someone comes to you and is like, Oh my gosh, I use my credit card too much again, they’re not going to sit there and being like, Oh man, that sucks me. Like yeah, we have to read the consequences. But like what led you to do that? What’s going on? You know, and it’s helping people find out the deeper root issues. I think so, yeah. Food and finances. I, I’m personally, I’ve struggled a lot with my relationship with finances too. Um, it just, I think there are just two areas where we, women need to feel a lot more freedom and grace and we have in the past,

Maggie Germano: 09:42 Oh, I completely agree. And I compare them with each other a lot too. You know, if you’re going to be overly restricting what you eat or overly restricting what you’re spending, you’re probably one day going to be like, screw it. I’m just going to eat whatever I want and go completely off the deep end or spend whatever I want and you know, max out my credit card. And so there has to be moderation. And there has to be, like you said, grace and compassion.

Brianna W.: 10:08 Right? Yeah, totally. Totally.

Maggie Germano: 10:10 Okay, so you started mentioning that you know, the diet industry is huge and it’s filled with shame and judgment. And I’ve heard you say before that you don’t really believe in in diets. So can you tell me a little bit more about why that is and what that means to you?

Brianna W.: 10:29 Yeah, so I think whenever I talk about diets, diet is, there’s kind of two main definitions that tend to come out. One is the fact that you know, a diet is just a regular way of eating. Like I would say you, you probably have a diet you follow. I have a diet, I follow someone you know, you know, different parts of the world have certain diets they follow. But what we have come now to learn died as as more of a way of eating or exercising or health program. That kind of restricts things for a certain purpose. Now nothing’s wrong with that for short term or if you have certain health issues like I know you don’t, is it gluten? Like, yeah, I think we both try not to do gluten as much. You know, some people have autoimmune conditions, they have to follow a certain diet.

Brianna W.: 11:10 But when we think, I, I’m thinking I’m so, I don’t think anything’s wrong diets per se, but how we now see it dies. We usually see diets as, um, a quick way to solve a deeper issue. And so for example, when I was, he’s really struggling with the overeating side. I tried every diet because, because I couldn’t control what I was eating really, which was linked to stress, which was linked to a lot of other things. And I was going to these quick fixes, these restraints, correct. If things that actually weren’t life-giving and did not actually help my body. And yeah, it was just about losing weight. So when I say I don’t believe in diets, I believe, I don’t believe in those kinds, those kinds of diets that are just about fixing something and you’re not doing the deeper work of really trying to change your life or your mindset towards whatever’s really driving you towards that died.

Maggie Germano: 11:59 that makes complete sense to me. And I think, I think you’re exactly right that a lot of those restrictive diets are focusing very heavily on purely weight loss and at the expense of anything else, you know, whether it’s happiness or your health. Cause I know some of those diets are not necessarily the most healthy. Um, and so yeah, again, it’s the same with the financial side where, you know, just restricting your spending and just saying don’t spend money on anything. It’s not going to get to the deeper issue that’s causing you to get to where you are in the first place. Yeah, totally. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. So can you tell me a little bit more about kind of, you know, in your own experience maybe or just in your experience with coaching some of those deeper issues that are impacting people’s health and you know, their relationship with food?

Brianna W.: 12:56 Yeah, I think as women in particular, even men too, I think people think men don’t struggle with their body and image and diets and they do. Um, it’s just usually different. Men usually want to get bigger, we want to get smaller. Um, but I think particularly for women and women are my target audience and I am a woman. It, I just think this goes way beyond just your body. But women have been told throughout society, throughout the world, throughout time that we need to look at and be a certain way. And that has tended to in different places of the world that’s influenced by different cultures. So say maybe in Africa, you know with your body, like actually maybe being heavier is why even in the Caribbean being heavier with more tips and all that is more price. Maybe in the West actually it’s more like being smaller and slim and all of those things. So I think we’re all trying to fit into an idea of beauty and what’s accepted and really, and you know, we’ve seen all over, you know, the media and all those sorts of things. The Barbies we play with.

Brianna W.: 13:55 Like, no, I didn’t have any Barbies that looked like me back in the day. Now I do. But, and so I think that’s one thing is that we’re trying to look a certain way. So we’re trying to get our hair, our, our, our body, all that too. [inaudible] help us to achieve that. Another thing is too, I just think, Mmm, the deeper issue is you’re not even just with that trying to look a certain way. We are trying to, uh, we attach our looks, our or how we present ourselves to our worth. And I think that was a main struggle for me is that I’m only worth affirmation when I lose weight. What? Like, so I started it to get affirmed a lot and like, Oh, you’re looking great, you’re losing weight, whatever. And then I’d want to gain it all back. It was like, Oh, you look like you and came in, you and Caribbean people are very like direct too.

Brianna W.: 14:41 They’ll just tell you how it is. Look, go, look, she’s gained some weight back. And I’m like, can I actually, when I was too small, people are like, what? Also I’m like, Oh my gosh, I can’t keep up. Like are you not pleased with me because of how I look? Right. So I think I was attaching my worst as a person and as a woman to what I looked, how I looked and how I performed even in school. And I think those two things is what drove me to like try to, uh, meet people’s expectations through food and exercise. But I, again, in my own experience, you will never meet people’s expectations. They will always change based on how they feel and actually may change on how you feel. So I think when we start to detach our worth from, um, you know, this goes with finance, you detach our worth from how we spend money or how much money we have and attacked our worth from like how our body looks and then then we start to find freedom and happiness.

Brianna W.: 15:34 So say for me, like right now I’m pregnant, it’s like this is the first time in many years that I’m actually gaining weight cause I’ve, I maintain it for so long and it’s very tempting for me to go, Oh my gosh, like I’m who I used to be. I’m never going to get back to this size and go down this spiral trail. Versus like, this is actually part of life. And if I don’t gain weight, that’s actually something wrong. And so my worth as a woman should not be attracted to whether I like I’ve gained 30 pounds or 60 pounds during pregnancy. But I just think it’s that at the end of the day we attack, we attach our worst to how we look, how we perform, what we do, how much we have, how much we don’t have. And that’s really what I see tend to drive women. One of the, the things the most, so the worth but also stressed.

Brianna W.: 16:19 I will say that like the second thing is stressed. We’re more stressed than we’ve ever been in society is because we’re more connected. There’s so much more information so you can learn something so quick. Um, you know, you could just be overwhelmed like the news. I mean the news itself is like never happy and so you’re just stressed out about your kids going to this place and this place. And so I think stress has a toll on our body and the ways that we were not recognizing. And that drives people to either eat more, eat less, um, or just have a bad relationship with our health because we’re so stressed. So I think worth finding your worth and things and stress your two main root issues that I see women struggling with

Maggie Germano: 17:02 that makes so much sense to me. And it’s definitely resonating, especially what you’re saying about, um, you know, never really meeting expectations in the right way. Right. There’s always going to be something that’s lacking in some way or another. Um, and I think you’re also right when it comes to being more connected and social media and just seeing all of the perfection on the internet and then comparing ourselves to that, it’s, it makes it even harder.

Brianna W.: 17:34 Yeah. Yeah, it does.

Maggie Germano: 17:36 And so what are some of the ways that you help your clients kind of release themselves from that comparison or that connecting their looks with their worth.

Brianna W.: 17:48 Hmm. Yeah, I think a lot of women, which is, which is awesome when they come finally come to work with me, I think they’re done with that. I think they’re just like, I’m so tired of just trying to keep up with like that people’s expectations of how I look or I’m just tired of being tired and not healthy. And so they actually, most of them come willing for some change. But I think what I try to share with them from the very beginning is that this is a mine. It’s mindset. It’s like how you approach it, what you believe to be true. Um, and that just takes a while to work on. So don’t come to me and thinking through three, six months you’re going to solve everything and I’m going to help you do that. Like, no, it’s just going to be one step in the right direction.

Brianna W.: 18:31 And so I, you know, I’ve had women who’ve worked with me in different capacities, free and paid, who’ve been journey with me for two or three years and they finally come and they’re like, you know what? Like all of these small steps that you’ve been talking about and that we’ve worked through, whether it’s just reducing my sugar here and there, or when I’m feeling stressed and overwhelmed, choosing to take a walk versus going to the fridge or practicing the whole method, all these small things that you’ve been helping you work on. And even the mindset stuff, it’s really helped me have sustainable, healthy lifestyle change. And so I think that’s the biggest thing is that we talk about your mindset first. And, uh, even if that’s all we work on, that’s gonna take you a long way, then I really help women and okay. And once that’s done, let’s do this sustainably and one, one step at a time in these different areas. Um, nutrition and exercise, stress management, sleep and so forth.

Maggie Germano: 19:22 I love that. That’s so true too. The mindset really affects everything else. And if you’re not working on that first, then I’m not sure how much those steps are going to be sustainable and actually continue moving forward. So I think that that’s really important.

Brianna W.: 19:38 Yeah. And sometimes it’s painful. And I think that’s if you’ve been told your whole life, um, like, you know, a lot of women are, even men just they’re told their whole lives, they’re overweight, they’re not beautiful or all these things and chubby and or are not like too skinny or just you and you’ve just been told things you’ve come to believe, well, you know, call limiting beliefs for decades. And so it’s not going to take a short amount of time to rewrite those and to just change your thinking. So I think the biggest thing is just encouraging ladies, whether it’s food or any finances to really like allow yourself to go on the deeper work and get support in the process. Because when I’m dealing with those deep issues, I don’t want to be alone. I don’t want to like, you know, just, you know, be lost in my thoughts because that’s where actually where I’m going to easily create a belief that’s not healthy. Then I can go down a bad word spiral. So having a coach, having a friend, having like someone you trust to really help you in this process is extremely necessary.

Maggie Germano: 20:36 Absolutely. And I think we tend to forget that, that we don’t have to go at these things by ourselves. It doesn’t have to be isolating. And you know, it still counts that you’re making the effort and that you’re making progress even if someone is on your side and you’re even so more likely to be reaching those goals and making that progress when you have people cheering you on. Yeah, exactly. So you in passing mentioned the halt method. Can you tell us what that is and how you use it?

Brianna W.: 21:10 Yeah, so I think when it comes to cravings, I found this a while ago. I don’t know if it was through the whole 30 founders or a book or something. The hope method is like when you’re craving particularly food of any time to really, um, halt, like stop and ask yourself. And the whole stands for hungry, angry, lonely and tired and asking yourself, are you hungry? Like I’m actually, are you hungry enough to eat like grilled fish and steamed broccoli? Because that’s like delicious, but it’s not particularly flavorful. Like you’ll eat that if you’re really hungry, but are you just angry? Like maybe something happened and you’re just like upset and you just want some comfort or maybe you’re lonely, like you’re wishing that you had someone to talk to you or whatever. Or maybe you’re tired and tired is actually has a lot to do with how you feel when you’re creating something. And it’s not to say you can never give in to those other, you know, creating when you’re feeling angry, lonely, tired. But it’s just really to how help you practice self awareness and really take control of your, your cravings and your emotions in that time. And if you are hungry, please go eat. Um, but if you’re these other emotions, ask yourself what’s really going on and go to the deeper issue. So yeah, HALT stands for hungry, angry, lonely and tired.

Maggie Germano: 22:23 I like that. And I’ve definitely heard of that before when it comes to the financial side too, because it’s just everything you’re saying. It’s the same kind of thing where it’s like, I had a terrible day. I’m going to go to the store on the way home or, um, you know, I’m bored at home and so I’m going to get on Amazon and just start like adding things to my cart. Right. And if you’re not having that self awareness to stop for just even a moment and be like, wait, why do I, why am I doing this? Is it because I’m bored? Or like you said, angry or lonely or tired. And I think hungry is a big part of it too. Like going out and, uh, getting food on your way home instead of waiting and going home and making something to eat. Uh, that comes up so much with my clients too. And, and again, like you said, it’s not that you can’t ever give in to that and just go ahead and order the thing or buy, you know, whatever it is. But understanding the triggers that are making you do it more than you can actually afford is really important because then you can stop yourself when maybe it’s not the right thing for you.

Brianna W.: 23:33 Yeah, exactly. Totally.

Maggie Germano: 23:36 Great. So we’re just starting in 2020 which I think for a lot of people, a new year is a for them to feel more encouraged and motivated to make changes and focus on things like health. So what are some recommendations from you for how we can kick off 2020 on the right foot health wise?

Brianna W.: 24:00 Yeah, so I think before you go ahead and write down like kind of arbitrary goals are like I just want to lose 30 pounds or all of that. Just really ask yourself at the end of 2020 how do you want to feel? Like how do you want to look back and look at, you know, how was my year? Did I, do I feel proud of the progress I’ve made? Do I feel proud of [inaudible], you know, the breakthroughs I had in my health versus did I just take off a goal? Like, you know, I think I have a goal this year, which I’ve never done, but I just want to prove myself that I can sort of be fit after a baby’s like, you know, walk or run a half marathon in December. And I said, what, what’s the point of doing that? Well, for me it’s like there’s this marathon that happens back home.

Brianna W.: 24:41 It’s really big every year. And I haven’t done it in a while. It’s like I want to be just want to be around my community and I just want to celebrate us doing something, challenging our bodies together. Like that’s actually what I’m going for. That’s how I want to feel. And that’s what I want to celebrate. Like that’s the end goal. The marathon 13 point half marathon, 13.1 miles is not the goal. And so really asking yourself like, if you want to lose weight, why? Like what do you actually want to, how do you want to look and feel like at the end? And that’s actually going to be what drives you. Because when the going gets tough, you’re not going to want to eat well. You’re not going to want to manage your stressing to go on exercise. So, so really starting there I think is really important.

Brianna W.: 25:18 But also making goals that are like life-giving and not to uh, like they gotta be hard. I think doing hard things is really good for us to help. It’s just become resilient and tenacious and have grit. But I think ones that are just too far stretched, don’t do that to yourself because at the end of the year, you’re just going to be like beating yourself up. Like, Aw man, I should have done this. And so even for example, reading like I love to make my mind healthy. Um, my goal this year is going way smaller than it was last year. One, I’m having a baby. Two things are just different, but I don’t want to pressure myself into something that I know I actually want to accomplish. So think those two things can really help you is how do you want to feel at the end of the year and like what’s the heart behind your health goals and to really making goals that you can actually accomplish and are life giving versus Mmm. You know, just stretching yourself in a way that’s not good.

Maggie Germano: 26:08 Ugh, I love the distinction between just checking off a goal versus actually doing things that you want to do and doing it for a reason. I think that that that really resonated with me because I think it’s so easy to just be like, okay, here’s my list of like 10 things I want to achieve this year. And sometimes they don’t even necessarily mean anything to you and once you check it off it’s, it’s like it didn’t even matter anymore. And is that actually going to make you feel good?

Brianna W.: 26:37 Right. Exactly.

Maggie Germano: 26:39 Yeah. And I also like what you said about making that your goals are giving you life and, and I, I talk about that a lot with, with money too, where it’s like, you know, you can have [inaudible] a specific budget goal or a savings goal or something, but if you’re just choosing it because you see other people doing it or you think it’s what you should be doing versus what will actually get you to a point where you feel excited and proud and secure and whatever else you want to be feeling, you know, on one end or you know, you’re going to feel excited and happy and accomplished. If you’re doing it for a good reason, you’re actually going to stay motivated. If you’re doing it for those reasons, that means something for you. And it sounds like it’s exactly the same when it comes to health.

Brianna W.: 27:30 Yeah, totally.

Maggie Germano: 27:32 So what are some ways that we can start prioritizing our health in a positive and sustainable way? Like what are some, cause you were mentioning that it’s all about small steps and um, you know, not going from like zero to a hundred. So what are some of those ways we can get started in a sustainable way? Yeah, I have this tool, um, um, it’s a free tool and my free resource library, but it can help with this. But I think just looking at, um, what are the areas of your physical health that, you know, if you, even if you don’t do this thing, just looking thing like what are the top one to two areas that I’m doing well in? Like I feel like I’m, I need to carry over some progress from last year and one of the one to two areas that I feel like I need to work on.

Maggie Germano: 28:19 And intuitively I think people know, so you maybe you know, you need exercise and maybe you know, you need to just like, you know, I’m more vegetables and so I think what I love to help people think of like how do you start there? Because if you can do that one thing where you’re saying I’m adding at least vegetables to one meal every day for 30 days, it’s going to be a lot easier to be like, okay, now I want to make sure I add some words to one meal every day. Uh, and seeming was exercise. It’s like particularly the exercise. Please do something you enjoy. Don’t go sign up for like insanity or like Tibo or P90X if you know you’re not going to want to do it after like 10 days. And so start with like movement you enjoy and it’s so easy to like walk or dance or do whatever and do it in your house.

Maggie Germano: 29:03 There’s so many DVDs and YouTube videos, but I think that, you know, that is the key is start very small. Like, look at those areas where you’re doing well in and you just got to maybe ante up it a little bit with one more thing, but the areas you’re not doing so well on give yourself like a very small stepping stone in a timeframe to do it. And I think that will just help you build upon that healthy habit throughout the year. Yeah, that’s so important. And, and it sounds like that will also help you be a little bit more compassionate with yourself too. Right, exactly. At the point. Okay. So we’ve been talking about the kind of relationship between health and money and obviously the, the way we kind of interact with both is very similar and, and I think they both influence each other as well. And so I think a lot of people think if they don’t have a whole lot of money to be expending on their health, that they can’t actually prioritize their health. So do you have some ways or resources or pieces of advice that would help women prioritize their health even if they’re on a limited budget? Yes. So I think this is the

Brianna W.: 30:16 biggest thing I hear with with women in food and finances is it costs money to, to eat healthy. And I’ll say the first thing is there are definitely ways that you can eat well on a budget. But the first thing is you need a recognize it’s a matter of investment in yourself. Like do you want to pay more for your health now or later? Because being very proactive with like that’s what you’re doing, you’re being proactive with health care, so you can again go to the doctor less so you can feel better. So you can manage your cold before you have to go get antibiotics. So I think being like you just, it’s a mindset thing too. Like am I willing to invest more money now or later? And so even me and my husband faces all the time, we work for a nonprofit in church and it’s very equivalent, who values simplicity.

Brianna W.: 31:04 And sometimes they’re like, man, well you’re spending money to go to cross, yet we’re spending way more money to do. But I think for me it’s like, no, this is what, this is one. It’s a conviction of mine. Like I know I need to do this, but I also see the benefit of, of it on the longterm. I see the benefit of it when I have to now go do my prenatal visits. And that’s been the most I’ve ever been to the doctor in years because I haven’t had to much because I’ve been trying to take care of my body in these ways. So thinking about it first, like I need to be willing to invest money in my health. And if you’re not willing to do that, even if I give you a cheap, cheaper way to do it, it’s not going to be cause they’re going to be more things as you learned that you’re going to have to invest in.

Brianna W.: 31:44 So I think the second thing, um, let’s just find creative ways. Did you, things for cheaper for free. So for example, when I first started working out consistently, I used to walk on the track right next to my house or I did a lot of workout DVDs. I didn’t join a gym until about two years after. And I lost most of the weight that I wanted to and you know, got fit by just doing those things. And it didn’t cost me anything. Maybe the amount of the DVD or something like that. Uh, but that’s what I could afford at the time. And then when I could add more things to my budget, I want it to get a fitness coach. I wanted to invest in that. But then also when it comes to food, so produce does cost more than um, other food. But I think we need to see that there are a lot of localism.

Brianna W.: 32:27 The local farming market is, is an organic form of market has been exploded in, uh, in the last few years. And so it may take a little bit more work, but there are a lot of places where you get a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables for cheaper than actually going to the grocery store. It’s just a little bit more inconvenient. And so looking for those like community, um, local farmers or those co-ops where you could get a bunch of fresh produce for 30 bucks a week, that’s going to save you money. Then going to another store where it’s about $60 to something and it’s organic and local. And so look, looking for those options is helpful. And also like, I actually find that when you prepare your meals and cook more throughout the week, it saves you money. So because me and my husband eat a certain way now, if we would, whenever we go on patient and we go out to eat and buy food every single time, it’s probably like double or triple, triple what our normal grocery bill would be. But again, the sacrifice there is just putting more time. So you’re going to have to, you’re investing in some way, you’re gonna invest more money or you invest more time. And so I think like actually preparing your own meals by doing that, you’re gonna, you’re gonna have healthier options, but two, you’re actually going to save money on healthy living. And in general when you’re, when you’re investing in your prep and meal planning.

Maggie Germano: 33:45 So I think the main takeaway of what you were saying was that in some way or another it’s going to take an investment of time or money or energy and you have to be willing to do that in order for this to be sustainable.

Brianna W.: 34:00 Yeah. Yeah. And it becomes a habit after a while, like after years of doing this, it’s like, you know, me and my husband, you know, Christmas just happened and obviously we allowed ourselves the freedom to enjoy that. But after a while I’m like, I want to eat healthy. I just can’t keep spending money and I can’t keep eating all this stuff. Like it becomes something you prayed actually and you want to do. And so it’s just the beat gaining the first few months, the first year or so. That’s tough. And so that’s when like you’re really trying to make change. I do suggest getting some support or accountability, whether it’s a free group, whether it’s a coach, whether it’s a program in some sort of way that getting started is, and sustaining that stir is actually truly the hardest thing to do.

Maggie Germano: 34:41 I totally agree. And I like that you said the first few months or even the first year, because I think people don’t realize how long it can take for this to become an actual habit and something that you do crave and that comes more easily and it can take up to a year or, or more depending on your situation. And that’s okay. Right. Exactly. So is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know about you or about how they can be prioritizing their health this year?

Brianna W.: 35:16 Yeah, I think, you know, I have, I actually had someone the other day, it’d be like you give away so much. I have a lot of like free resources, you know, that you could use and you could just get supported by. And then of course programs that I just want to make it easy for people to get started. And then if they want higher level of support, they can work with me if they want. But I do have a free Facebook group, healthy body secrets for women. That’s where I hang out the most. And that’s where I teach a lot of this stuff. And I do have a podcast, the healthy body podcast, it’s going on break for now, but there’s like 120 or something episodes that have like amazing content on tips and stuff like that. So if you’re a regular podcast listener, I would say definitely check that out and just, you know, pick whichever one that’s, you know, meeting your goal at the time, like nutrition, go to all the nutrition ones and you can go from there. But yeah, I would say check out my podcast in my Facebook group first and the tips and some free information there.

Maggie Germano: 36:10 Great. And I will share all of those links in the notes so that people have easy access to that.

Brianna W.: 36:15 Yeah. Oh, one more thing to this is even you know this in a group, but I do have a free challenge that is uh, healthy body challenge. Everything’s healthy body. Cause at the end of the day I want women to have healthy bodies versus just all of other things. Um, that I, I’m running live in January but it’s, it’s actually available as a self study course throughout the year too if you’re listening to this later. But that really applies of small, small steps that we’ve been talking about. Like you’re going to look at nutrition one day, answer some questions and then be like, okay, what’s one thing that I’m going to do today and for the rest of the week sort of thing. So if you’re like really like having like having structure like that, that’s a really great free challenge that you can use and I’ll, I’ll send you a link and everything like that too, so

Maggie Germano: 36:56 awesome. That sounds great. I’m looking forward to sharing that and checking it out myself. And how can folks get in touch with you?

Brianna W.: 37:05 Yeah. So, uh, yeah, you could either email me at [email protected] or madewell345 on all the social media channels, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, um, I mean they’re on Instagram or in my Facebook group is where you can probably find me the easiest. But yeah, it’s really, it’s simple to find me.

Maggie Germano: 37:23 Perfect. Great. Well thank you so much for sharing your wisdom about health and creating a better relationship with our bodies. I really appreciate you being here.

Maggie Germano: 37:37 Thanks for tuning in to the money circle podcast this week. Make sure that you rate, review and subscribe so that you never miss an episode. It might not seem all that important, but subscribing and rating actually helps to get the money, circle podcasts in other people’s ears if you’d like to get more connected with money circle or with me. There are lots of ways you can do that. To join the free Facebook group, visit facebook.com/groups/money circle group to stay informed of any upcoming events. Subscribe to my weekly [email protected] slash subscribe if you’d like to join the virtual money circle membership group, visit Maggie germano.podia.com/inner-circle to learn more about my financial coaching services, my speaking and workshop offerings, or just to read my blog, visit Maggie germano.com you can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter at Maggie Germano. Thanks so much for listening. Bye.

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