Life is Delicious- Mindset Mastery, Midlife Empowerment, Joy, Purpose, Vitality, Inspiration, Women's Health
Ever feel like midlife has you running on an endless hamster wheel of responsibilities while your own dreams gather dust? Is the crazy chaos of caring for everyone else leaving you exhausted and overwhelmed? Are you in desperate need of some self care, balance and reconnection with your most authentic self?
I’m so glad you’re here! This podcast isn't about surviving midlife; it's about crafting a next chapter overflowing with purpose, joy, and delicious possibilities.
I'm Marnie Martin, a multi-passionate entrepreneur, daughter and a hot midlife Mama (literally) and over the last decade, I've been through career pivots, a divorce, and I survived the empty nest, only to have it fill up again. I spent the next several years travelling miles and miles every month to care for my elderly parents and my time and attention was so torn in every direction that I lost track of who I was, and I found myself in an endless cycle of people pleasing, putting out fires and running on empty. I know how it feels to be stuck in chronic overwhelm, stress and chaos and trust me, it's not a pretty picture.
I decided that it was time to take MY OWN life and health back and I worked hard to reclaim my health through radical self care practices, recalibrating my nervous system and setting healthy boundaries that allowed me to start living my life "on purpose" again. I'm here to show you that midlife doesn't have to be a crisis, but instead a beautiful invitation to remember who we are, to rediscover a new version of ourself, or to completely re-invent our life to reflect who we are becoming now-intentionally crafting a life by design that truly nourishes our soul. If you are ready to take back YOUR "Joie de Vivre", then you are in the exact right place!
Each week brings conversations with health and wellness specialists, spiritual growth experts, and guests with courageous and transformative stories that will inspire you to break free from the overwhelm. You'll walk away with practical strategies, meaningful insights, inspiration and the permission to prioritize yourself again.
We were born to thrive and experience life as the delicious feast it's meant to be. Subscribe now and join a community of midlife women who are turning up the volume on their inner voice and writing their own recipes for a life that feeds their soul.
Life is Delicious- Mindset Mastery, Midlife Empowerment, Joy, Purpose, Vitality, Inspiration, Women's Health
23: Flourish From Within- Transform Your Gut Health with ANU SIMH
Tired of feeling bloated, achy, and gaining stubborn belly weight despite eating "healthy" foods? You're not alone. When our bodies start behaving in mysterious ways during midlife, the culprit might surprise you – your gut microbiome.
Health coach Anu Sim joins us to reveal how the trillions of microorganisms in your digestive system impact everything from hormone balance to sleep quality, mood, and even those frustrating food cravings. After doctors dismissed her own health concerns with a laugh, Anu transformed from frustrated patient to determined detective, uncovering the profound connections between gut health and overall wellness that conventional medicine often overlooks.
"When you hit menopause, everything changes," Anu explains. "The rules of the game change. You have a different body, and you're playing by the old rules – and no one tells you any differently." This revolutionary perspective explains why strategies that worked for decades suddenly fail, leaving women confused and discouraged about their health.
Through her Nine Arms of Wellness approach, Anu demonstrates how true healing starts from within but extends to every aspect of life. Did you know that 90% of serotonin is produced in your gut? Or that just one night of poor sleep can trigger cravings for up to 500 additional calories the next day? These fascinating connections highlight why addressing gut health becomes essential for women navigating perimenopause and beyond.
You'll discover why fruit has been unfairly demonized, how morning sunlight impacts your microbiome, which forms of movement become crucial after menopause, and practical strategies for implementing sustainable wellness habits. Anu's science-backed, compassionate approach empowers women to flourish through midlife transitions rather than merely survive them.
Ready to reclaim your energy, shed stubborn weight, and feel comfortable in your body again? This conversation will transform how you think about midlife wellness and provide actionable steps to start feeling better today. Find Anu's new book "Flourish From Within" on Amazon and connect with her at ninearmsofwellness.com. And don't forget to subscribe to the podcast to get notified when each new episode drops.
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Hey, beautiful friend, it's Marni and welcome back to Life is Delicious. I don't know about you, but I personally found about a year and a half ago that my body was just doing a lot of weird things. I was dealing with some pretty heavy stress in terms of my parents well-being and health concerns, for sure, and we were also in the process of moving my mom and dad into assisted living and selling their family home and I took over managing the family finances. So there was just a lot on top of my regular life and my body was just obviously reacting to that. And, of course, I'm also in the midst of menopause at 57. So I am dealing with all kinds of things and it was just this kind of strange hodgepodge of circumstances where I was feeling bloated all the time, even though I was eating salads, my joints were achy, I was gaining a lot of belly weight and I was just really frustrated and not feeling great all the time. So I had to really take my health into consideration and start making some changes, and so I'm really excited about having our guest on today. Her name is Anu Sim and she is a health coach, but she's an expert in gut microbiome and through her radical new approach. She helps her clients restore their gut health, sleep better, balance their hormones and shed that stubborn weight once and for all. Today, she's going to shed light on her nine arms of wellness approach to help all of us reclaim our energy, feel lighter and learn to live in harmony with our bodies.
Speaker 1:And I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty awesome to me. So if this is something that speaks to you, stick around, because you're not going to want to miss this. Welcome to this episode of Life is Delicious. I'm Marni Martin and I'm so glad you're here. And if this is your first time here, welcome to the Life is Delicious family.
Speaker 1:This podcast isn't about surviving midlife. It's about crafting your next chapter life overflowing with purpose, joy and delicious possibilities. Listen, midlife doesn't have to be a crisis. It can be a beautiful invitation to remember who we are, to rediscover a new version of ourself, or to completely reinvent our life to reflect who we are becoming now. So if you're tired of being exhausted, living life on autopilot and putting everyone else first, then you are in the right place. Each week, we'll bring you thought-provoking ideas and practical strategies, as well as inspiration, to help you prioritize yourself again. It's time to take back your joie de vivre. So grab a notebook and pen and pop in those earbuds and let's go get it.
Speaker 1:As we all know, life isn't always delicious and one of the only constants we have in life is that things are always changing. Life can be a beautiful mess of twists and turns and as we grow through each unique season of life, our needs change, our goals change, our priorities change and our responsibilities change. And sometimes, when the really hard stuff shows up, as it inevitably will, we can find ourselves lost and without a clear direction. Sometimes that can happen when we've had a huge life transition, like a divorce or a diagnosis, or we realize that our babies are all grown up and ready to be out on their own. And sometimes it can be a subtle or not so subtle restlessness that tells us we're ready to step into a bigger, bolder, more authentic version of ourself. But one thing is for sure we can't transition into what's next happily until we get really clear about what's weighing us down, what lights us up and what we truly want. When our soul whispers, its truth Happy is Not an Accident is a guided journal created to bring you back home to your truest self, to remember who you are and to give you a safe place to explore and reflect on where you've been, where you really want to go and who you want to become now, with deep, inspiring prompts, thought-provoking questions and powerful exercises to help you excavate your most authentic self.
Speaker 1:Happy Is Not An Accident will be the daily ritual that you look forward to as you step into this next awesome chapter of life. Give yourself the gift of self-reflection and create this beautiful life of yours on purpose and with intention. Get your copy, or one for somebody that you love at lifeisdeliciousca forward slash happy. Welcome, anu, to the show. I'm so grateful to have you here. I know that there are so many of my listeners that will gain so much insight from your approach to wellness. That will gain so much insight from your approach to wellness, and so I'd love to hear a little bit about your own personal story, because I was looking on your website and I can see that you had to sort of solve some things for yourself before you could really move into some other. You know teaching, so tell us a little bit about your story and how you got into this work in the first place.
Speaker 2:Thank you, marnie. It's a pleasure to be here and, yeah, I mean, my journey, like a lot of people who you know enter this kind of world is, really starts with our own struggles, right? You know, many, many moons ago I was struggling with gut issues, didn't have clear answers, and I did the usual route, you know, go to allopathic doctors in search of answers, and we're talking about a time when information wasn't readily available, you know it wasn't like I could just go on the Internet and Google my symptoms or ask chat, gpt, so we're talking about a time when I had to literally kind of use my own background to figure things out, you know. So, like anyone else, I first went the traditional route. I went from doctor to doctor in search of answers. I got a lot of different answers, you know, and suggestions. Oh, your blood work looks completely normal, there's nothing wrong with you. I think maybe you should add more protein or decrease protein or stop eating this, but it wasn't very clear, right? So it was very frustrating and my symptoms weren't taken very seriously. A little bit of bloating, distension we're all going to go through this at some point.
Speaker 2:It's just life sort of thing, and I still remember the day that everything changed for me, like it was yesterday. You know, I'm always thinking this is going to be the day I find answers. And the doctor was young and he said he literally laughed at me and he said, gosh, your symptoms sound like mine and all the other residents you know like. In other words, you know, just suck it up, it's not a big deal. So I remember just sitting in my car feeling so hopeless, you know, I just felt like what is going on? Why am I not getting? And through all that chaos and hopelessness, one thing was very clear, a really clear thought came to me, and that was no one else is going to name this, I'm going to name it myself, I'm going to find out what this is. And all of a sudden, I just dropped this victim or patient, or whatever you call it hat and I just became the detective, you know.
Speaker 1:I love that. That's so important because I know so often we do get met with that. It's just part of menopause. Just you know, don't worry about it, It'll pass or you know, it's not as bad as you think. It's all in your head, you know all those things.
Speaker 2:But it is right, you know, I mean the person going through that is just. It's horrible because you don't know how you're going, how you respond to the same foods that were completely okay before and no one tells you that. When you hit menopause, everything changes. The rules of the game change, right, and you have a different body and you're playing by the old rules and no one tells you any differently. And I used my science background, spent a lot of time in libraries researching and that's how I found the microbiome, fell in love with it and I realized that you start healing yourself and you learn about your own body and then you want that same hope for others. And that's what led me to coaching and specifically my niche, that is, peri and postmenopausal women.
Speaker 1:Oh, I love that and I think that's so important, and I know for my own journey. Same thing was going on with me where I was, you know, eating salad and gaining weight and feeling bloated, eating all this healthy food, and my body was just doing all these weird things and I thought this doesn't make any sense. And so I was in the same situation and I think once you actually find the things that work for you, you become very passionate about saying, hey, you don't have to live this way, it doesn't have to be like this.
Speaker 2:Let me tell you about it.
Speaker 1:So I love that you do that and I really find the nine arms of wellness that you have discovered through the process of this. I think it's fascinating and I'd love for you to take our listeners through what those nine arms are and how they affect all the different things in our body regarding our gut and menopause and all of the rest of the craziness yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, you know, just going back to my journey and the one thing I realized was, yes, food is such a big needle mover, you know, how you eat when you eat, what you eat also becomes different. So as I went through this, I thought, oh my gosh, it's not just about that, is it? It's about how you hydrate your body, how you, what kind of movement works perfectly for who you are and how your body is, how you're tuned into your body. Sleep is monumental. You know mindfulness, how you show up in the world and how present you are to life, how you eat, the food that you prepare, you know, is as important as what you eat. So all of these things started coming up as like I'm important, I'm important, you know.
Speaker 2:And then I really kind of looked at that whole thing that I came up with and I thought, oh my gosh, there really are nine arms that help someone kind of go from where they are to where they want to go in their optimal wellness journey. And it turned out to be so true as I took client after client through that and of course every client is different. Right, someone comes to me with highly stressed and have gone through restrictive diets and said I've tried everything, nothing's working. I wouldn't start with food. So that's when the arms really kind of lend themselves so beautifully Say well, it sounds like this is where I need to start with just some breath, some meditation, some kind of self-care, because a lot of us, as women, we take care of others but we're not very good at self-compassion.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree, that's definitely a learned skill.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so we coach around that, and so every client who comes in is different, and the Nine Arms is turns out to be a beautiful way to help each client and meet them where they are, rather than having this one entry point. Because we are so bio-individual and so unique, I need to respect my clients and where they are in the journey so unique.
Speaker 1:I need to respect my clients and where they are in the journey. Yeah, and everybody's so individual and some people need more things than others, and yet all of the components of the nine arms, you know, in some capacity, need to work together and yet, you know, in a maybe a different order for each individual person.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so what is the first thing that we should probably be paying attention to most?
Speaker 2:Well, I think, if you're talking about a woman who is in perimenopause or menopause, I really think one needs to focus on flourishing from within. Everybody wants to flourish, but I feel like if your body is not working for you, you know, and it's working against you, then it's really almost impossible to look at even the word flourishing, because your gut health is so tuned into everything your hormones, your brain, your immune system, you know your endocrine system, your cardiovascular system. So for me, the starting point is the gut.
Speaker 1:I love that because I've actually heard in multiple instances recently not so much in the past, but it's come a little more to light in the last you know decade or so that your gut is like your second brain. And that's how important it is and how much power it has over our health and wellness right.
Speaker 1:So, so talk to us a little bit about that. I have to just interject about the word flourish, and I know you've just written a book called Flourish from Within, but flourishing is such a great word and I'm so glad you use that because you know flourishing is. You know, we talk a lot on my podcast about thriving in midlife and beyond, and flourishing is so much more than just your physical wellness. It's your mental wellness, it's all of the things combined together. So that's such a beautiful title for your book. I love it.
Speaker 2:Thank you. And you know, marnie, I really struggled with this, because when you write a book and I'm sure you understand this as well all of the marketing, all of that people say, oh, you've got to be very clear about your message and you've got to make sure that that's on the title, and flourishing is so vague. But for me, I just couldn't get past that, because this is the first question I ask my clients what does it mean to flourish for you? So I couldn't let go of that at all. You know I said, you know I don't care if you know, even if one person buys a book and that happens to really help and serve that person, I want to stick to what I truly believe and I feel like flourishing has been something that we as humans have always looked at, from the time of Aristotle, you know, who really kind of looked at flourishing, you know. So this is a question I ask my clients and the answers are so varied.
Speaker 2:You know, it all depends on where you are in your life journey. Some people will say, oh my gosh, flourishing means just jumping out of bed, just ready to start the day, having the energy to do all the things that I want to. And others might say, gosh, flourishing means like I'm able to play with my grandchildren. Or another might say, oh gosh, I wish I could just go ice skating with my kids. I'm just so tired by the end of the day. So everybody is so different. I find this the answers to flourishing so unique. The conversation has to start from within, from the gut, from making sure that every system is working optimally for any given client. So yeah, that's the reason I said Well, I don't get what people say, I'm going to stick to flourishing, because this is what I see.
Speaker 1:Right, absolutely, and I love that you said that, because there is so much research, especially in the marketing industry, about you know it has to be keyword friendly and all the things so that people can find you.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, I couldn't think of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:And.
Speaker 1:I had the same pushback a little bit with the title of my podcast, life is Delicious. But to me it was such a perfect umbrella for what I wanted to do with my podcast that I thought maybe it's not as searchable. But it just has to stick because it's who I am. So I'm glad you said that because it's very true you have to have what feels like it's your message. And obviously this is your message, so it's pretty special I obviously this is your message, so it's pretty special yeah.
Speaker 2:I would say food is number one and for me and food.
Speaker 2:For me is everything right. It's not just the stuff that you put into your mouth and say, wow, this is yummy, but it's your thoughts, your actions, how you show up in the world of them. Like in eastern medicine we call it ahara, or food, and that's perceptions, that's who you hang out with. That's just everything you know. It's uh, it's pretty uh. It's a representation of how you show up in the world. So that's a great starting point for me with my clients, because I find out what's missing, what needs to be like. For example, you know if a client is really interested in changing their way of eating. You know, oh gosh, I know I just want to eat healthier. For me, we find all of that out. But let's say they surround themselves with people who are eating very differently. The chances of the sticking is going to be, I say, pretty dismal, because you are the four or five people you hang out with. So that community, that connection, the people you hang out with, become so important. So we really start there.
Speaker 2:I ask questions about that. Who's your support system? Who do you have lunch or dinner with? How did they show up for this? Are they interested in doing the same thing, because I'm not interested in someone losing five or 10 pounds, you know, for a summer holiday. You know I'm looking at how are you going to sustain this, your weight loss or your health, like today? Are you going to sustain this, your weight loss or your health, like today, five years from now, 10 years from now? And for that, every aspect of life has to be examined. It can't be just you know one thing. So we always start with food, who you eat it with, how you eat it, what's happening, and then we move on to the other arms. It could be hydration, and that depends 100% on how this person is eating. Are they eating their water foods? You know how much water do they need? Are they exercising? What time of the season is it? So many things will really help me with understanding hydration for a client.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's super interesting because I just learned a little bit about hydration foods, or water foods as you call them, and I didn't know that before. And for there was a lot of years I kind of cut fruit sort of out of my diet and I think it was somewhere somehow in my brain I associated it with high levels of sugar, because you hear that sometimes, and so I just kind of took it out and then, through the course of my own journey, I started to bring the fruit back in and do some smoothies and, oh my goodness, it's made a huge difference. And so tell us a little bit about, maybe give us an example of, some water foods that maybe we wouldn't think of in that way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let's do that, but before that, I think you're spot on about the fruit. Fruit has been demonized by so many influencers. I know there was someone who said, hey, fruit is as good as having a Hershey's bar. And to me that's like a load of crap, because fruit has fiber, it has polyphenols, it has antioxidants that your Hershey's bar is not going to have.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and I think a lot of this comes from misunderstanding blood sugar. You know imbalance and all of that. So of course, today's fruit is really higher in sugar. It's just been the way it's been modified to taste today's palate. Yes, I completely understand and agree with that. How do you eat it? Do you just eat just fruit? Do you have it with protein? Do you have it with a meal? Is it dropped into your salad? You know there's so many questions that could be so interesting about how you eat fruit, right, and could this be the dessert that you're actually craving for? Rather than you know, we, especially here in the States, we've gotten used to saying well, we have a meal, what's for dessert? You know, I mean, why should dessert be part of every meal?
Speaker 2:It shouldn't be right If you had fruit you would naturally be so happy with and you wouldn't crave something sweeter. So everything comes from just embracing that whole unprocessed kind of foods into your diet. So you're not looking for, and your body and your system is not looking for foods that are hyper palatable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did notice that quite dramatically for me because I'm not a big snackerer and I don't do dessert all that often. But there are times when I crave carbs or something like that and I noticed having that fruit in the morning and the smoothie and just being able to it just satiated something in my system. So I didn't have those cravings and it was amazing. I was like that's really interesting.
Speaker 2:I mean really comparing. I would say even smoothies with like juices. Smoothie is doing something for you. It's you're putting it in the blender, it's blending up all of your greens and your fruit and your protein, whatever it is that you're adding into the smoothie to make it like a whole, the complete meal. It's doing the digestion for you, and so whoever's doing the eating let's say you have a lot of gut issues or you're just recovering from an illness a smoothie could be a complete meal. Anyone who's thinking about smoothies versus, let's say, a juice, I would say 100%, 100%. A smoothie is a better choice because you're getting the fiber, and we are in fiber famine. No doubt about it. Americans are, as a nation. We're not getting enough fiber in our food, because think about all of the processed foods that we eat. Are they high in fiber? No. Are they high in protein? No. And why is that? Because if both of these things really satiate you, they make you full. And does the food industry want you to feel satiated?
Speaker 2:No, they want you to have like two bags of chips or like yeah. So we have to kind of think outside of that and say, okay, let me start. And I think it's wonderful, Marni, that you're starting your day with a worth of smoothie, because it is going to make you feel satiated, Even if the rest of the day is crap. You know, if, like, oh my gosh, I have to go to this dinner or that dinner. I'm not able to find a healthy meal, at least you've had a good start for your day.
Speaker 1:I had been so conditioned to not think that that was good for me, but my body the minute I started doing it my body just 100% told me, oh, this feels so good for me. So I know that's the listening to the body part where you go you know when it feels good, you go. This is the right thing for me and everybody's different, but for me it's the right thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, in fact I. One of the things that my clients love is I. We call it a new smoothie. It's just a play on my name. I promise you it's not an ego trip.
Speaker 1:They just came up with a name.
Speaker 2:And basically it's a formatted version to a smoothie, so you can just change up the different fruits and veggies and, instead of having like 10 different smoothie recipes, you have a format and you follow the format. And the format really kind of beckons you to just include different kinds of fiber, some protein, some good fats, because we want to keep your food rules simple, especially with this whole social media craze. Oh, this is not good for you. Seed oils are bad. Beef tallow is better, fruit is bad. This is good. How many things are we going to really? Who are we going to listen to? It's really hard, and I think what you said about listening to your body and giving yourself the power to decide. This is the best thing for me, because no one knows my body better than me. Oh my gosh, that's buying back your power, and nothing could be better than that.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I love that. I agree 100%. So obviously you said sleep is monumental, so let's talk a little bit about sleep.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think sleep is finally getting its due.
Speaker 2:My grandfather used to always say sleep is the balm of life. You know, I never agreed, as always kind of one of those, you know, just pulling all nighters. Say sleep is the bomb of life. You know, I never agreed, as always kind of one of those, you know, just pulling all-nighters. But sleep is connected to everything. It's connected to your microbial diversity. Having a good circadian rhythm is connected to better heart health, better hormonal health. Even one night of poor sleep can have you searching for up to 500 calories more the next day, and I promise you those calories are not coming from broccoli.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how does that correlate to not having a good sleep, to wanting to have more cravings? How does that connection work? That's a great question, because, well, to have more cravings.
Speaker 2:How does that? That's a great question. Because, well, let's look at it from a microbial perspective. When we think about the microbiome just a simple definition we have microbes or these bugs in us, on us, but a majority, trillions of them are in the gut, mainly the colon. Right, they are doing a lot of behind the scenes work for us. They are producing some incredible metabolites. They're producing vitamins, minerals, neurotransmitters when I say neurotransmitters, things like serotonin, that keeps you calm, gaba, you know and so 90% of serotonin is made in the gut by these gut bugs.
Speaker 2:Your immune system, 70% is in your gut, and these bacteria and these microbes are actually training your immune system. It is telling the immune system hey, this is a friend, be okay and be welcoming of this thing, this is a foe, this is an enemy, this is a neutral party. So that kind of training is what our immune system? So it's a much needed thing. But let's say we don't have enough diversity in our microbes, we don't have enough of these species.
Speaker 2:Then our immune system takes a beating. It doesn't know how to respond to food and that's one of the reasons we have so many allergies today. You know, I mean, I'd never heard of when we were younger, about peanut allergy or this allergy or that allergy, and today I don't think any kid goes to school without seeing an EpiPen. So why is that all happening? It's monocropping, it's having lacking diversity in our diet. And so when that happens, even like and if you compromise on sleep, for example, our microbes have a circadian rhythm very similar to ours. So if our circadian rhythm is all over, it's very erratic. They are going to be compromised as well. So that's where the gut connection happens, so gut-brain axis and the cravings for foods that are hyperpalatable, that dopamine response. All that happens when sleep is compromised.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's fascinating and very complex, and obviously there's a lot at play behind the scenes that we don't actually think about in our day-to-day life. No, we don't.
Speaker 2:But I think if anyone is really thinking about improving their sleep, I would say really focus on routines. Pick a time that is good for you. For some it's like well, I need to go to bed by 9.30. Others like are you kidding me? There's no way, so let's say it's 11. Have a cut off, because a lot of things like repairing your liver, producing some growth hormone in people our age all of that's happening at night. So you do need that optimal sleep and good sleep with good REM and deep sleep. So having a good routine and saying I'm going to stick to this routine is important, and the first thing in the morning when you wake up, getting that sunlight and vitamin D really is so key to how you sleep at night.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've heard that, and I do do that for myself because I'm usually out in the garden first thing in the morning.
Speaker 2:I do do that for myself because I'm usually out in the garden first thing in the morning, me too. And if you have your smoothie outside, that absorption of chlorophyll is even better. Oh, that's interesting. I mean I came across that study and I said, okay, that's what I'm doing in the garden with my smoothie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Well, that sounds like a pretty good morning to me, yeah, so what about movement? Let's talk about movement.
Speaker 2:It's very personal. I think as long as someone is moving, someone is using it as a way to be active, I think that's all that matters really. You know, if it's someone we're talking about postmenopausal women then I would say lifting weights is so important because sarcopenia is a real thing, losing muscle is a real thing, especially postmenopause, for women, and for men too. So holding on to your muscle becomes one of the most important things. It generally depends on where you are in this journey called life. But other than that, I would say pick something that is sustainable. Like, if you like dancing, find a Zumba class or a pure bar or something like that. It needs to be sustainable and consistent. That's the only thing I feel with movement.
Speaker 1:And I always think that movement should also be joyful. Yes, you know not something we torture ourselves through because we think we're supposed to, because I think it doesn't matter what like it's like you say with the food it's if you make this beautiful meal but then you rush really fast to eat it, or eat it standing over the sink, that's going to impact how your body perceives it and processes it. Same with exercise, I think. It's the same thing. If you're torturing yourself to do something that you absolutely hate.
Speaker 1:No, and then you're going to have just a different body response.
Speaker 2:Right. And the thing is, exercise can be a eustress, but if you don't like it it could actually up your cortisol to a point where it's you going to fight or flight. So I always think of it that way, you know enjoy the movement, Find something that fits your lifestyle.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, this has been such a great conversation, so tell us a little bit more about your book. Give us a little bit of an insight as to what readers could gain from reading it. I know you just told me today that it only dropped three days ago and it's already number one in three separate categories.
Speaker 2:So, congratulations on that.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic, thank you.
Speaker 2:The book is about the microbiome. I was headed to a conference and the Uber driver said what is this conference about? And I said it's about the microbiome and he said what is that? So that's sort of just kind of really helped me design how the book needs to be. It needs to be language that everyone can understand and I hope I've done that. So there are three sections in the book. Section one is all about the microbiome. Section two I propose a diet, not for you, but for your microbes.
Speaker 2:So you can pick the protein that you want, the fats that you want, but really feed your gut bugs the fiber that they need. So it's a lot of a variety of plant sources that really help you get a lot of these prebiotic fibers, fermented foods that not just nourish them but because you have the symbiotic relationship with them meaning you scratch my back, I scratch yours you end up benefiting from feeding them what they want. And finally, the last part of the book is just lots of recipes that are and I by no means am I this amazing chef and I don't even claim all that, I just it's only, it's based on this is healthy for you, so try it. You know that sort of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, I love that. That sounds like it's going to be amazingly helpful and insightful for a lot of people. Like you say, there are people that don't really even understand that gut connection. So, that's where it all begins. Thank you so much for spending some time with me and if you would like to, maybe just tell our listeners where they can find you and where they can find your book, and I'll make sure I add all of that into the listener show notes as well.
Speaker 2:Thank you, Marnie. Yeah, my book is now on Amazon, so you can find it there. You can find me at ninearmsofwellnesscom and on Instagram. I'm at ninearmsofwellness, the number nine, Perfect.
Speaker 1:Thank you again for being here Thank you, Marnie.
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