008: Why You Don’t Feel Good in Your Body (Even When You’re Trying)

Many women over 40 begin experiencing fatigue, inflammation, and nervous system overload.

In this episode, Freddi Davis explains how small shifts can help reset the body and restore energy - often in less time than people expect.

You’ll learn practical steps to support your body through hydration, nutrition, movement, nervous system care, and improved sleep.

In This Episode

 • Why women over 40 often feel exhausted
 • The hidden role of nervous system overload
 • Why extreme health programs often backfire
 • Five simple reset strategies that support your body
 • How small shifts can begin restoring energy quickly

Reflection Questions

Ask yourself:

 • Where might my body be asking for support right now?
 • Which of these reset steps feels easiest for me to start with?
 • What would one intentional week of caring for myself look like?

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Limitless Living, the podcast where we get to talk about how to reset your health, how to reinvent yourself, reset your nervous system, and build success, build a life without burning yourself out. I'm your host, I'm Freddie Davis, and we're gonna talk today about something that I hear from women all the time. And women very often say to me things like, I just don't feel like myself anymore. I'm tired all the time. I feel like my body is inflamed and it's just not cooperating, not doing what I want it to do anymore. And, you know, my energy is low, or I slept, even got a good night's sleep, and I still don't seem to have good energy. I know something needs to change, but I just don't even know where to start. These are the kinds of things I hear a lot from women. So maybe some of these will ring true for you as well. And the truth is, for those of us over 40, if you're over 40 listening to this, it can really feel like your body suddenly has changed the rules. Completely change the rules. And what you've been working for just does not work or stay the same way anymore. I don't want you to get discouraged. You do not have to overhaul your body. That's the good news. You do not have to overhaul your whole life or your whole body to actually start feeling like yourself again and feeling energetic and more connected and healthier and more clarity. It's actually small intentional shifts that will make the biggest difference. So I want to walk you through something today that I have seen working again and again and again with myself and with my clients. And this is how you reset your body and your energy. And I want to give you some things you can do so you can reset your body and energy in literally a week. That quick. And this is not by chasing quick fixes or extreme changes because I find those don't really stick usually. I've tried them all, believe me, I've tried them all. But this is gonna be more through creating gentle resets and little rituals throughout your day, little shifts that become sustainable, and then they support your nervous systems. It reduces inflammation by doing this, it helps your body actually begin to rebalance itself. Our bodies are meant to heal. So, this is what I want you to, if you're feeling your like your body is just not cooperating. I want you to start shifting how you see this. Your body's capable, but only if you give it what it needs, and that's where we often fall short. We're not giving ourselves, our bodies, our nervous systems, whatever it they really need in order to heal themselves. You need to understand what's really happening. By the time women reach their 40s, several things tend to be happening, and they're happening simultaneously, which is like the perfect storm. So you've got hormonal shifts, maybe you've been in this pre-winding up, you know, pre-menopausal state. You can be in there for 15 years, and you've got chronic stress that's accumulating. Chances are you've built a career, you have raised kids, you have maybe you've done some caretaking. There's a lot that has happened by this point. So the nervous system starts to become overloaded and inflammation starts to set in. And we usually tend to ignore and push through and keep going when it comes to the whispers that our body starts giving us and talking in the ways that it's talking to us, and that's when they turn into big, loud screams and other bigger problems. So, this is gonna be poor sleep patterns that have developed and years of putting everyone else first. And I can tell you, I've done all of these things. Oh, firsthand, done all of them. Your body becomes overwhelmed when you are like that. Now, there's nothing wrong with putting others before yourselves yourself sometimes because that's a beautiful thing. But when we're doing it all the time and we're combining that with the chronic stress and the hormonal shifts and all these other things, it builds up. And when your system gets overwhelmed, that's when it starts to send these signals or whispers as they start. We just often don't realize. So that will show up in the sign of fatigue, it will be brain fog, it will be weight changes, it will be joint pain and digestive issues, mood swings. These are all indicators that something is off. Your body is dysregulated instead of regulated. So these are not signs that you're broken, these are actually signals that your body's working because it's trying to tell you something's not quite right. So it the mistake that many women make is believing that they need something extra to fix the problem. Maybe they need another diet or another detox or another intense exercise program or a big giant overhaul of their entire life. That's where we start to head towards. When your nervous system is already in an overloaded state, these types of measures start to feel extreme to your nervous system. So instead of getting where you want to go with them, the body starts breaking down even further. Might see a little bit of results, but if you ever feel like you're doing what's all the right things are, but you're not quite getting there, chances are there is this nervous system uh component to this, besides maybe needing a few tweaks here and there with what your approach is. You can be doing all the right things and not be getting the results simply because you're adding to the nervous system overload instead of lightening the load. So I'm gonna give you a couple of tips today. So, what a seven-day reset might look like, and there's lots of ways to do this, but I'm gonna give you the simplest things. So one week reset should not be about restriction. And this is a place we we all very often go to very quickly. We go into restriction, and that often backfires. This is more about supporting your body in the absolute most fundamental ways. So here's a few core shifts that I want you to be thinking about and incorporating. And you know, over the next week, I'd love to hear how this goes for you. But these will begin making a difference very quickly. Start your day with hydration. Number one, hydration and and light, sunlight. So before you have coffee, before the phone, start your day by giving yourself and your body what it really needs. It needs a drink and it needs a large glass of water. Now, stepping outside with a few minutes of natural light, this helps regulate the system. It helps regulate your rhythms, it improves your cortisol levels, it'll help reduce cortisol levels and improve the balance, which affects all of your hormones ultimately. And it begins waking up your nervous system in a natural way. Now, right now here in Pennsylvania, we have this little burst. You see my middle tank tank top. Uh it's spring-summer weather. We will be back to winter very quickly, I'm sure. So when it's freezing, this can look like you getting up and maybe having some warm lemon water or a cup of herb tea and standing or sitting in front of a sunny window, getting that sun on your face. Doesn't have to mean you're out there freezing your knickers off. It can be that simple. Or getting out there, and if at all humanly possible, five minutes in the sun with your bare feet in the grass, woo, major bonus. That grounds you and signals to your nervous system that you are safe, all is right with the world, sets your day up, and it helps to develop your natural circadia rhythms. Oh, so many things. I could go on and on. So, number two, I want you to reduce your inflammatory foods. I'm not telling you you can or cannot have anything. But for one week, I would like you to try to reduce the foods that are commonly contributing to inflammation. These are things like ultra-processed foods. So if it doesn't walk on the earth or grow in the earth, don't eat it. If it has been modified, processed, and frozen and pre-packaged, chances are that's what I'm talking about, these ultra-processed foods. So avoid excess sugar. You know, sugar didn't used to be quite so bad for us, but the sugars that we are using of today and the amounts of them, that's what makes it so bad. Alcohol, that's another one. Let's clean that up. It's very inflammatory and heavily refined carbohydrates. So again, this means have a sweet potato, but don't have, you know, a bunch of bread. So it's not a carb-free thing. I'm just saying reduce some inflammation. Try that for a week and see how you feel. Instead, what I want you to do is focus on giving yourself, and I call it gifting yourself. You're literally gifting yourself nourishment. So even if you have those other things, I want you to start thinking like, I'm gonna gift myself what my body needs first, and then if I want the rest, I'll have the rest. Because chances are you won't want the rest quite as much if you gift your body what it needs first. That's gonna be vegetables, of course. It's gonna be healthy fats, it's going to be quality protein, whole foods. Even a short reset like this can help your body actually calm the inflammation. If you're not quite sure what all these things are, these are a lot of the things I teach in the resets that we have. But you can always reach out. Gentle movement is number three. You don't need extreme workouts. Uh I grew up in the crazy uh, you know, 80s of aerobics and and running and pushing and Taibow and kickboxing and all these things. Now we have boot camps. You know, we didn't have boot camps back then. Now we have boot camps, which is like the equivalent of all that. These extreme workouts, I had this conversation earlier with a client. When your system is overwhelmed, now I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna down these. So, for those of you out there who are addicted to them and you love them, I get it. I've done this myself. But here's what happens. So, number one, they're very fast-paced if you're in a large class and and the instructor is in unable, not through their lack of desire or lack of expertise, maybe, but maybe they're unable to get to everybody in the class at every second of the moment to check your form, it puts you at a higher risk of injury. Number one. Number two, you are pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing. Well, if your system is already overwhelmed, underneath it all, your nervous system, gentle movement is actually often more effective to get you the health benefits you're looking for. You're gonna gain some muscle, absolutely. You're gonna feel like you have that high and that rush, and you're gonna release stress and energy in the moment, but long term, it's not going to give you as much of the balancing in your nervous system, and that can limit how much you get in terms of results and actually can add to the stress on your system and the cortisol release. Crazy. But maybe finding a balance if you love those, instead of doing them four times a week, do them twice a week and do something slower the other time. That's my suggestion. So that's gonna be like walking, stretching, light strength work, yoga, you know, Pilates, Tai Chi. Movement improves your circulation. If you're doing nothing now, just get up and take a 10-minute walk. That's it. Just basic movement. Do some kitchen counter push-ups, as I call them. You know, lymphatic flow in your body needs movement. Your circulation needs movement. So does your mood. It will improve your moods. So, number four, your nervous system. You hear me mention the nervous system a lot. And many women underestimate, men too, as a matter of fact, but we underestimate how much stress impacts the body. So, even these small practices, they can regulate your nervous system almost instantly, many of them. So, this includes examples like breath work exercises or breathing, just deep breathing. You know, three or four deep breaths can literally make all the difference in the world. I want you to think about number four, supporting your nervous system. You hear me talk about nervous system all the time. It is a common denominator. If you ever want to get your body into the state that you really want it, into ultimate peak performance, into ultimate sense of balance and flow and alignment in life. And most of the women, and a lot of the men too nowadays, because we have all of these different things that we are all doing. But most women are underestimating how much stress impacts your body. So even these small practices that I'm suggesting, they can regulate your nervous system. Small practices that will really target your nervous system and actually calm you down, even moments of stress or moments of anxiety or anxiousness or anything, are going to be breathing, breathing exercises and time in nature. How about reducing your screen time? I talk about this all the time. I like to surf on Instagram, I like to look at decorating ideas, horses, dogs, that's what I like to look at. And I make a point of not clicking on, not looking at anything uh political, anything horrible, because that's not what I want. I don't want to see that. Doesn't mean my head is in the sand, do however I set a 30-minute limit. So my daughter and I have a little hobby of thrifting, it's like the thrill of the hunt finding that gym. So when I get on, I follow some thrifters. It's great to see the ideas of what they bought versus how they styled it. And it's just inspiring. But I have a 30-minute limit. I set my watch or I set a timer. That's it. I'm done. That's relaxing. Instead of something that is stimulating my brain, overstimulating it, and actually giving me the opposite effect and stimulating my nervous system. So be very careful with screen times. Uh, and that includes TVs too, like if you're on it all day or you're falling asleep to it at night here. Meditation and quiet reflection. Your nervous system is the control center of your health. When it resets, everything else begins to shift. Literally. You'll you'll experience it if you take it seriously and become proactive with it. Number five, this is our last one. I want you to think about improving your sleep quality. Sleep is one of the most important healing tools the body has, and it's it's required. It's simply required. By the time we get to 40 and beyond, sleep often is one of the things that we really struggle with. Even if we get enough sleep, it's the quality of the sleep. It's usually not enough sleep. Maybe you're getting up too many times a night. There's solutions to help with most all of this. I want you to think about dimming the lights in the evening so you can start winding down. Reducing caffeine late in the day so that you're not having that in your system. I like to cut my caffeine off for me. I go to bed later, so I cut it off by say two or three because I'm sipping it all day. Think about what time. If you go to bed earlier, you need to cut it off at 11 a.m., maybe 9 a.m., whatever works for you. Keep a consistent bedtime. And consistent bedtimes, whether you are a late night person or an early morning person, consistent bedtime signal to your body that there is a level of safety and a level of consistency in your life instead of uncertainty. So create a calm nighttime routine as well to help you wind down. That means devices off and maybe a book or uh meditation or breath work or journaling, something along those lines. When sleep improves, your energy often will follow, and it's pretty quick. And literally, a week can be enough. I've lived through a lot of this. You've heard bits and pieces if you've been listening. There was a period in my life, I can tell you, my body just said that's it. I've had enough, no more. You cannot keep going like this. It just broke down. Inflammation skyrocketed, my pre-existing autoimmune conditions became full-blown, crazy out-of-control autoimmune conditions, and all my energy was gone. I spent years, years and years, I mean decades, serving others. And it is my calling. I love it. But I also, through that time, allowed myself to push through all the stress, push, push, push, ignoring the signals my body was sending because I was very busy helping other people with the signals in their bodies. How do you like that? It's like the mechanic with the broken down car, right? So I had to pause. I had to push the pause button. I had to learn the hard way. My body, it started out whispering to me, and then it all of a sudden became a loud roar. And I learned it the hard way that if I wanted to be able to keep doing the work that I love, I had to start doing it differently, taking care of myself and making myself a priority. So when I began to focus on these exact small resets instead of the small, instead of these extreme solutions, my body started to respond pretty quickly. My energy improved, my inflammation went down. Um, you know, most people with the autoimmune things that I have would be on immunosuppressants, they would be on steroids right now, and I am not. I support everything holistically, so I really look to holistically give you solutions. And I've seen this again and again with my clients, where they implement the things that I am talking to you today about, and just like I did, and then the the changes start to to be visible, noticeable, and and then they give you momentum. So if you're listening to this and you know, you find yourself feeling exhausted or overwhelmed or disconnected maybe from your body, or like you're just not yourself anymore. Please know you are not broken, your body is not broken. It's never too late. I don't care what age you are, I've had all ages go through too, all my programs. You're it's never too late to begin resetting your health. So sometimes it starts with something literally as simple as one intentional week of supporting your body just a little bit differently, like we talked about in today's show. If this conversation has resonated with you, please share it with somebody who might benefit from it. Maybe do it together as a team. Try these changes together and compare your results and then let me know. If you would like more conversations like this, then join inside my community called the Limitless Living Community. It's free. The link is in the show notes. Until next time, please take care of yourself because the better that you feel, the more limitless your life becomes.