Health Series
Season One: Episode 27 Health with Megan Lyons
Megan Lyons is the wellness coach and owner of The Lyons' Share Wellness. Her passion is helping others feel amazing, inside and out. She graduated from Harvard with honors in economics and went on to earn her MBA at Northwestern University. In 2011, she earned a Certificate of Health Coaching and Holistic Nutrition from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and recently completed her Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Hawthorn University in 2019. Megan enjoys being active, experimenting with healthy and nutritious foods, and sharing her knowledge with others through health coaching. She lives in Dallas with her husband Kevin and their two adorable dogs, Maverick and Riley.
Disclaimer: Megan is a Certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, holds a Masters Degree in Holistic Nutrition, a Certified Group Fitness Instructor, and a Certified Running Coach, but is not a doctor or medical provider. Any information shared on this podcast episode should not be misconstrued as medical advice.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Jessica: Megan, thank you so much for talking with us today.
Megan: I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Jessica: I would love to know when you became interested in being a health coach and kind of transferring over to what you do now.
Megan: Well, it was kind of a winding journey to get me here. I started getting interested in health when I got to college. I started dating my now husband and he was on the track and cross country team. He was not a healthy eater at all. In fact, when I met him he was eating french fries dipped in sour cream, but he was very into exercise and using his body as his tool, his machine for his sport and so I started learning more about it and I got into it in various ways such as like reading the popular magazines and following their advice, which is not always the right advice, but slowly started building my education. And it wasn't until I was in business school that I started thinking of this as an actual career so that was around 2012 and I waited two more years. I started the business in 2014.
Jessica: Something that you mention on your website is this idea of bioindividuality and I would love for you to touch on that a little bit about what that is.
Megan: Yes, well there's a $60 billion dollar diet industry for a reason and the reason is that nothing dramatic works for every single person. So what we hear about is this diet that made Sally Sue feel really excellent and then she proclaims it and tries to sell her books and her diets and all this kind of stuff, but then Sarah tries it and Sarah doesn't feel that great. Or doesn't get the results. Or it's too restrictive for her lifestyle or whatever. And so when we try to fit every human into one specific way of eating or living or teaching or whatever it is - or learning, for sure - it does not always work. I believe that bioindividuality is the key to making changes for our health and by this I mean listening to your body, figuring out what works for your lifestyle, your preferences, your genetics, your goals - all of this kind of stuff - so the solutions I give to my clients are very different for each client because each of us needs different things.
Jessica: And when you came to Good Shepherd and shared with our staff and our teachers, you focused on three things: eating well, movement, and sleep and I just thought those were truly the keys to healthy living and so I thought it would be great if you could share with us about those three things starting with eating well. So can you talk a little bit about clean eating?
Megan: Yes, I will and I have to say first what I said at Good Shepherd, which is underlying all of these things is the self-care aspect. The freedom from guilt, the freedom from "I should" - things like that - because once I do start giving tips on clean eating, which I love to do and I'm going to do, people can start to think 'Oh I'm bad if I don't do this' or 'I have to do this in order to do it right' or whatever. So I want to just emphasize that this is not about guilt. It's about taking small steps in the right direction every single day.
Now clean eating is really simple. It's going back to the basics and eating real food. So we think of all of these packaged health products; if you go through Whole Foods, which I love to do - I'm not dogging on whole foods, but we think that we have to be healthy by buying the $50 super berry powder or something like that and really all of us would be a lot healthier if we went back to the basics. So clean eating - I have a little acronym that I use, but it's basically eating real food.
And the C stands for 'Cut back on added sugars and refined or packaged foods.' So added sugars are when we take a food or a food product and we actually add in something sweet. So it doesn't have to be sugar. It could be maple syrup. It could be any of these things. I think we'll talk about how to find added sugar in a second, but it's not the actual sugar from fruit. It's added sugar. And packaged and refined foods. Packaged food is kind of obvious. It's something in a package. A refined food is just if we change the ingredients or add some chemical things in there - preservatives, things like that. So that's C - Cut back on added sugars and refined foods.
L is 'Load Up on Fruits and Vegetables' and it goes with E with is 'Eat the Rainbow.' So I really believe in getting a variety of vegetables and fruits as many as possible. In fact, when I'm presenting in person I have people hold up a fist size. That's a serving size for most people and I really encourage people to get up to 8-10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day, but start slowly. Just kind of gradually do one more than you were yesterday and ease up.
And then A is 'Always read the ingredient list.' Kind of check the label. Don't just believe something's healthy because it says it's healthy. Look at those ingredients and see: Does it sound like chemical soup or does it sound like whole foods that I would be happy to put in my body?
N is the most important. It's this is 'Not About Perfection.' It's about doing what you can to get back to natural, whole foods and then not beating yourself up along the way.
Jessica: After you gave us that acronym, I took all sorts of notes during the time that you were at Good Shepherd, and so this summer one of my goals was to incorporate vegetables every lunch and I have two girls that are 9 and 12. And so we went through and we've created a menu like a weekly menu and every lunch has to have one vegetable and one fruit just to get going. And Julia today, my youngest, as I was coming here to talk with you, we were kind of getting lunch ready and she got a protein out and then she got some fruit and then she was like 'I'm going to go...one of my goals...'(because I'm a huge goal person - I talk about it all the time) She's like 'One of my goals is to eat healthier lunches' and I was like 'this is great!' So, but we started really small by just going, you know, she loves fruit. That's easy, but the vegetable. We've been having organic carrots and slicing them together; well, I cut them, but it's been really nice just incorporating it slowly and saying 'okay, let's start with one vegetable and next week we're going to add in a second.' So I love that acronym and the not beating yourself up because it's so easy to go 'Oh, it's too overwhelming to start with 8-10,' but you know, we're starting with one and then we'll build so thank you for that.
Megan: I love what you just did there for several reasons. Number one is she involved her kid, her child in the goal setting process, which is much more effective than telling them 'you have to do this' and not explaining to them why. So you shared with her what you were doing and then she's coming along. And I also love the gradual steps. It is no fun to make all the changes all at once. So if you're eating Chik-Fila three times a day every day and then you say 'I'm never going to eat Chik-Fila again,' it feels really terrible, but if you say 'One meal per day I'm going to not eat Chik-Fila,' it's doable. So really small changes. I love what you did and I'm excited for your daughter.
Jessica: Me too because she's a picky one of the two girls. Riley will try anything, but I was like we've got to move forward from some of these things so thank you for that 'cause that really helped me. What are, and this might be obvious, but I still think it's nice to know, what are some benefits to eating well?
Megan: So most of us, unfortunately, don't realize how poorly we feel every single day. If we're eating the SAD - the Standard American Diet - we feel probably sluggish. We feel bloated. We feel maybe a little low grade headache that we don't realize and so when new clients come into my office, depending on what they're eating, if I ask them how they feel, they might say 'I feel fine. Like not amazing, but I feel fine.' And then as they start eating better, they're like, 'Wow! I didn't realize I was bloated all the time. I didn't realize my digestion was irregular or that I actually had a headache the whole time, but I thought that was normal. I didn't have energy. I had that 3pm slump or whatever.' So all of these things are the benefits.
The unfortunate side is that when we eat one salad we don't miraculously feel better. It takes a little while. It takes several healthy meals to feel better, but even the little bits. When you stop having the donut for breakfast and you replace it with some fruit or something like that, you might start to find your energy increase.
The strongest benefits that I see are definitely related to energy. That feelings of cravings and kind of blood sugar dips and rises, like you have to have a piece of candy to get through the next hour or some caffeine or something like that to get through the next hour. Also skin. Hair. Migraines. General headaches. Joint pain. Blood work of course and long term disease risk reduction is a benefit. There are really just so many and it's slightly different for each person.
Jessica: Something you mentioned earlier in the first question was talking about the sugar content because sugar, it just seems like it's in everything and it's hard to avoid so can you touch on that and talking about how we can look for sugar content in our food labels.
Megan: Yes. So I wrote a book in January 2016 and I had the statistic there that I'm sure is even higher now, but at that time it was 72% of packaged foods in the average grocery store have added sugar which blew my mind. 72%! So you're almost right in saying that it's in everything and unfortunately we can't tell from the numbers if it says like:
Carbohydrates 10
Sugars 6
That's not necessarily added sugar and some sugar like I said from fruit or other naturally occurring sources, some of that is okay in my book, but the added sugar we want to look at the ingredient list and there are three things that we are looking for in the ingredient list.
The first one is sugar in any form so maple sugar, corn sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar, organic sugar, anything with sugar. The second one is syrup so brown rice syrup or maple syrup or corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup. And the last one is any word that ends in -ose: dextrose, maltose, fructose, sucrose. Anything with an -ose on the end. Those are all forms of added sugar and we want to pay special attention to the first several ingredients. I say the first three because it's easy to remember, but if that dextrose or that maple syrup or whatever is right at the beginning that means it's higher concentration so it's probably having a less-good impact on our bodies and making us more prone to those cravings and blood sugar dips and things like that.
Jessica: You mentioned this kind of off-hand, but you said you wrote a book. So what is the name of that book in case we wanted to go look into it?
Megan: Yes. The name of the book is Start Here and if you're searching on Amazon it's easier to search for Start Here 7 because apparently there are lots of books called Start Here and the subtitle to the book is 'Seven Easy Diet Free Steps to Achieve Your Ultimate Health and Happiness' so Start Here Seven will get you there.
Jessica: I just had to throw that in because I'm like I want to know what that is! And then another thing that you mentioned when you shared with our staff was macronutrient balance and what that is. Can you talk a little bit about that as well?
Megan: Yes. It is becoming trendy in the, I guess, diet circles or body building circles or who knows what these days, to count your macros and so there are a group of people who do this IIFYM: If It Fits your Macros and they're counting all these things and I think for most people we don't have to go that far, but it is helpful to know what macronutrients are. And just the word macronutrient - it means things that our bodies need to thrive in large quantities. So the macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. And we really do need each of those every single day and ideally every single meal. When we've done things like dramatically reduced fat in the 90's, America as a whole got a lot less healthy, a lot more chronic disease, a lot more obesity. Things like that and we've tried to cut out other macronutrients as well, but we really need all of those. So thinking about for most people just 'am I getting a source of these during the meal,' that's a great way to start.
So protein are things like meat or fish like we think of, but also egg whites. The yolks are healthy fats. I do promote the yolks, but only the whites have the protein. Things like dairy and yogurt if you tolerate that. Beans or tofu or tempe (sometimes spelled tempeh) if you're vegetarian or preferring to get protein from there. Hemp seeds, chia seeds - they're all great sources of protein.
And then for the healthy fat. This one really keeps us full and nourished and satiated. Things like avocados, olives, fish. Again, seeds and nuts, nut butters, healthy oils, coconut, all that kind of stuff.
And then the carbohydrates. People don't think of vegetables as carbohydrates, but they are. They're mostly carbohydrates. My favorite form carbohydrates. So vegetables, fruits, starchier vegetables, grains. Things like if you tolerate whole grain bread, wraps, stuff like that. All of those would be sources of carbohydrates. So just think about trying to get one source of each of these during a meal and you might notice that your energy is more stable, your cravings are reduced, and you're kind of feeling more balanced throughout the day.
Jessica: Is there a specific ratio or does that really, does that go back to the bioindividuality of how many proteins vs. carbs vs. fat. How does that work or look?
Megan: So I will ultimately answer the question the way I think you want it to be answered, but first I have to say when most people are looking for a certain ratio, they're looking for the magic pill. They're grasping for something saying, 'If I just do this and beat myself into submission by doing this, then all my problems will be solved.' And there's no magic pill like that whether it's ratios or a supplement or a workout type, anything that's going to be magic. I really believe that most people don't need to count this stuff and in fact, it's counter productive for them to count this stuff because then they say, "Oh Megan said 30% protein and I'm at 32%. Well I'm a failure.' Or something like this. It's really not necessary. Now if you are doing a fitness competition or you have a specific medical conditions, maybe it is necessary to count, but for most people I don't think so.
Now if you say, 'Okay, I hear you, but I don't want to listen to you. I just want you to tell me the magic ratios,' the best I've found for most people is the Zone ratios which was popular, I don't know, in the late 90's. And it's 30-30-40. So it's 40% carbs; 30% protein and fat. I think that's a great place to start for people if they refuse to listen to me and they want to count anyway. And then if you want to build more muscle you might want to increase protein a little bit more. If you're finding that you're really unstable with regard to blood sugar, you might want to reduce carbohydrates and increase fat a little bit more. It does depend on the person and certainly the bioindividuality prevails, but overall just listen to your body and focus on the whole foods and I think you'll be fine.
Jessica: I think we can get way too restrictive on that and it's nice to give yourself grace and let it fluctuate a little bit. Another thing that you had mentioned when you came - I keep referring to that, but when you came, you gave some really great restaurant tips on how to eat healthfully and also, again, give yourself grace when you're out. Can you share about the B-D-D rule?
Megan: Yes. This is my favorite thing to practice at restaurants. The B-D-D rule stands for bread, drink, and dessert. And it represents all those things that add up in restaurants that we don't really do at home. I know in my kitchen we don't make a bread basket and a fried appetizer and pasta and a main course and drink and dessert and all these things, but at a restaurant it seems a bit more normal. So I don't want to say that all of these things are bad. In fact, I'm doing the quote symbol with my hands because I don't like the word 'bad' at all. No food decision makes us bad or is a terrible decision or whatever. It's just food. But I do think that these things, if we're not conscious of them, they can detract from us reaching our goals for most people. So my goal for this rule is for you to choose one thing at a regular meal. So if I'm going out to dinner, it's just a regular Wednesday I'll say, 'Hmmm, I really want a glass of wine tonight.' Okay great. Then I'm going to skip the bread basket and then I'm going to skip dessert today. Or if I'm going to a place that has amazing desserts, then I'm going to again skip the bread basket and skip the wine. Just choose one thing that's really important to you and enjoy it and savor it and don't feel guilty about that one thing. Really just celebrate that you're being intentional about your choices.
Now for a special occasion like maybe a friend's birthday or brand new restaurant that you don't get to go to very often or something like that, I say choose two. And then if it's super special like once a year - your birthday, your anniversary or something - go ahead and choose all three. Again, the most important thing is not to feel guilty about any of this and just enjoy what you are going to eat.
Jessica: I love the practicality of that because then you are being mindful, but you still get to indulge a little. Enjoy your life and what you're eating. What's available. Thank you for sharing all of that because that's so great for thinking through what we eat
Another aspect that you talked about for being healthy is movement and I think a big thing, especially I'll say for everyone, but especially for teachers - particularly during the teacher schedule August through June-ish - is building in that time for movement and making it doable for our schedule so what are some simple steps we can take to simply add movement into our day?
Megan: Yes. So the biggest obstacle that I hear is 'I just can't get to the gym for 60 minutes' or something like that. And that's an unrealistic expectation for a lot of people. So if you are already doing that, that's amazing. I don't want you to stop. It certainly has mental and physical benefits, but if you're just thinking it's 60 minutes or nothing, that has got to go. We've got to find a grey area. The very simplest way to start is to do some exercises at your desk. If your students have a test or if they have an activity that they're working in pairs or whatever and you have two minutes, I have a free download on my website that I know we'll include in the show notes with 20 desk exercises that you can do literally just at your own desk without leaving your classroom or anything like that.
Another great way is if you a 5-minute break, a 10-minute break during the day. Just try to get outside. Maybe you use the far restroom. Or maybe you do some jumping jacks. Involve your kids. That's totally fine. The whole class can do some jumping jacks if you feel low energy. Just try to get them up and get moving. It'll pick you up and it'll make them giggle. Trying to do some squats or push ups or something like that that you don't need equipment is really, really great. I have a teacher that teaches at a fitness studio that I also teach at who was at a very busy time in her career and she just started doing sets of 10-20 push ups every break she got and I think she got up to 200 push ups in a day or something like that and got incredibly fit by just doing that. As I guess I would expect for 200 push ups.
But just think about, 'Okay I have 10 seconds here. What can I do? Can I do two jumping jacks? That's amazing.' And those little bits of activity truly do add up.
Then I would also recommend if you have a family or a dog or you want to call someone on the phone, trying to incorporate a nightly walk if you live in an area that that's feasible, that's great. Walking is probably the best exercise I can think of. If you're physically able to do that, it's a gift that we really appreciate. It has mental benefits, physical benefits. It's so great.
Jessica: Having followed you on Instagram and seeing some of the things that you post, you are very motivated yourself to work out and take care of your body and move during the day, but you wake up I think around 4am. So I would love to know how for some of us when we teach, you know, I go in typically somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning, which I think is on average what most teachers do, but sometimes we forget that maybe moving our clock back and waking up early and doing it in the morning might be beneficial even if it might seem to be counterproductive and we might get tired, but it could do the opposite and really, you know, help. So how do you motivate yourself every morning to get up and work out and what benefits do you see to morning workouts?
Megan: Yes. I love my morning workouts and if you had asked me fifteen years ago if I thought I would wake up at 4:00am and work out, I would have laughed in your face. It's just, it's not natural for me, but after having done it for so long now probably 4 or 5 years, it feels natural. It's just like any change. I remember as a kid I hated brushing my teeth. Then I thought it was like terrible to have to brush your teeth and I did a temper tantrum and all this stuff. And now, of course it's not my favorite two minutes of every single day, but I just do it. I don't really think about it all that much. And waking up early is just the same for me. Would I rather sleep in? Yeah. Probably, but I know that when I wake up, the benefits are so huge. I have more energy during the day. Honestly, the emotional satisfaction is probably the biggest for me. I feel like I have done something great for myself; something that I'm proud of before I even start the day.
The world - this sounds negative, but hopefully you'll get the gist of it - the world tells us that we're not good enough many times and we think, 'Oh I didn't pack the right lunch for my kids,' or 'I didn't show up on time' or 'I didn't do all of these things.' We find ways to beat ourselves up, but I like to give myself that win first thing in the morning and exercise does that for me and my whole morning routine. I feel really proud of myself and accomplished and centered and balanced to take on the day. And so I don't have to be at the office at 6:30. That gives me a little more flexibility to do a longer workout, but I encourage anyone listening just to set the alarm five minutes early. Literally just do five minutes of movement and see how it feels. See if it gives you the benefit of energy or of pride that I mentioned. And then see if you can gradually move it to ten. Maybe move it to fifteen. And that could be enough. You don't have to do the hour long workouts that I do. That's just what works for me, but anything is really great.
Jessica: I just wanted to touch on that because I think we forget or we think 'Well, I could never wake up that early.' But really being able to change that morning routine could really change and impact the rest of the day. I've really been hit and miss on that for sure.
Megan: One more thing. I was remiss to mention you can't just wake up early and still go to bed at the same time because then you will be even more tired because you're robbing yourself of sleep. And exercise is shown to boost your energy, but if you're truly sleep deprived, it's probably not going to work that well. So when I started waking up that early, I did start going to be much earlier too. And if that is tough for you, I recommend setting a bedtime alarm. So my phone is always set, for me, at 8:45pm is when I start brushing my teeth, taking my dogs out one last time, all of this kind of stuff. But whatever time it is for you, give yourself 30 minutes to wind down. Set that bedtime alarm and then get in bed at the time you want to or you think is best for you even if it doesn't feel like you're exhausted at that time.
Jessica: And that leads perfectly into talking about the last category which is sleep. There's something to be said for setting your alarm and getting up when the alarm goes off. Can you share about the difference that makes in alarm setting and waking up?
Megan: Yes. Well, I admit, I think I admitted at Good Shepherd too that I used to be the snooze queen. I remember in my old job, I did management consulting so I spent a lot of nights in hotels and I would always wonder if the people next to me in the hotel room next to me were thinking I was crazy because I would snooze so much. Probably snoozed nine times. And then I read something in a book one time that said if you're snoozing, basically you're sending the message that you don't like your day. You're not looking forward to what life has to offer and that it almost implied that you're not grateful for your life. And I like to think of myself as a very grateful person. I am grateful for this life. I do love my life and that's not the message that I wanted to send out to start my day. It's almost like if you snooze and you say, 'Ugh then I don't want to,' everything else in your day feels more like a drag. But if you commit before you set that alarm 'I am going to wake up at this time' - not 'I hope I wake at this time' or 'Hopefully I don't snooze' or 'If I feel good, I'll wake up or whatever,' but I am going to wake up and then you just do it. Snooze is no longer allowed in my house. Just get out of bed.
The next thing I do is I force myself to have a negative thought because I'm human just like the rest of us and I probably think, 'Ugh - I don't want to work out' or 'Ugh - I tossed and turned or my dog barked or who knows what,' but I force myself to think a positive thought like... Sometimes it's so simple or trite as 'Oh the coffee's going to taste good' or 'I'm excited to meet my friend at the workout or whatever.' Sometimes it's a more deep gratitude thought, but I do that very first thing and it starts my day off really well.
Jessica: I love that idea too of positive thinking right off the bat because it is easy to lay in bed and go 'Ahhh...' like just enjoy five more minutes, but really jump starting your day when it goes off. So obviously eating well and movement are things that are going to improve our sleep. Are there other things we can do to really help our sleep habits or improve our sleep?
Megan: Definitely. I wish that our bodies worked like go, go, go, go to 100% and then all of a sudden you flip the switch and konk out, but it doesn't really work unless you're super, super overtired and your body is not functioning optimally already. Most of us need time to wind down and if you're someone who is efficient and calendar oriented like me, that feels like a bummer, but it's not a bummer. It's that time that we get to enjoy; that time that we get to wind down by doing whatever it is that really relaxes us. Maybe it's having a conversation with your partner, your roommate, or your spouse or whatever. Maybe it is reading a book or going for a walk or praying or meditating or drawing or painting or whatever. Using time - I say 20 minutes, but really it's ideal to have even more - just to wind down without checking your email, without scrolling through social media. Really just winding down. That will help the quality of your sleep tremendously.
And that blue light from our devices really does impede our quality of sleep so I recommend, people gasp when I say this, but getting a real alarm clock, not your phone. And eventually trying not to check it right before bed. I understand if you have kids that live out of the house or parents or all kinds of reasons why people don't want to do this, but most of the time what we're checking before we go to bed is not that critical anyway. So just challenge yourself to give yourself some space before bed.
Also, when we crave sugar and I have a sweet tooth so I'm not accusing. I'm throwing myself into this camp, but the most common time to eat sugar is right before bed. And if we have too much sugar, especially if it's not balanced with some protein or healthy fat, that can impede our quality of sleep a lot. So trying to reduce the sugar right before bed and if your digestion is sensitive, trying to reduce any food for an hour or two before bed can really help.
If you need some support, drinking some sleepy time tea or camomile tea - any of these nice herbal, of course caffeine free, herbal teas can help soothe you. I personally take magnesium which is a mineral that most of us - 70% of Americans - are deficient in and that can help if your mind races at night. If you kind of have that hamster wheel going on or your to-do list or whatever, but a magnesium supplement can help. A warm bath can help some people and a cold shower can help some people so experimenting with that. Really just giving yourself the space to wind down. That is the best thing you can do for your sleep.
Jessica: Yeah. I started taking the calm magnesium that you had the link to so I ordered that. I guess it's been a week now or so, but it tastes good. I got the Lemon Raspberry flavor, but I feel like I'm sleeping - I don't know. Maybe it's partly mental, but I really do feel like the magnesium has helped. And you mentioned meditation. Are there some meditation methods or ideas?
Megan: Yes. I'm a big fan of meditation and again I mentioned that hamster wheel that I have in my head so a lot of people are scared of meditation because they think 'I could never shut my brain down. It's impossible. It doesn't work for me.' But I had a meditation coach one time say to me, 'Well, don't be silly. That's exactly the person who needs it!' If you are able to just sit there and not have a thought for two hours, then you probably don't need meditation as someone like me who has a million thoughts per minute. So it's not about doing it right or being perfect or having no thoughts. It's really just being still and being aware. And calming yourself down and being aware of your thoughts.
So I love just simply counting my breaths. I try to count to ten and just only focus on the breaths so:
Breathe In- Breathe out (one)... Breathe In- Breathe Out (two)
And try to get up to ten and that seems very simple, but you'd be surprised at how few times I can actually get to ten without getting distracted. That's a great practice. There are also two other apps that I recommend. Both have a free trial period:
1) Calm
2) Headspace
And both of those will walk you through the process of meditating if you're curious, but you don't really know where to start.
Jessica: And there's, I think, two other breathing- I'll say exercises - but the box method and then there's one that has different numbers. 4-7-8. Can you talk about the box method and 4/7/8?
Megan: Yes. Both of these are great exercises as well and there are people - I don't know what the people are - but there are people who study the methods and the rhythms and so these are the scientifically proven rhythms. But really the important thing here is that we're focusing on our breath so if you mess up the numbers, it doesn't really matter. The effort is just to still your brain, to calm down, to reduce your heart rate. All of that kind of stuff. So the two methods that we mentioned:
1) Box Breathing
In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four
So just 4- 4- 4- 4
In - Hold - Out - Hold
And you do that four times
2) 4 - 7 - 8 Breathing
In for four, hold for seven, out for eight
And again, you do that four times. So because I'm throwing out a lot of numbers, we're going to have all the listeners practice this right now. So if you're listening and you can do this safely, I'm just going to count you through it.
Breath in - 2 - 3 - 4
Hold 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
Out 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
And so if you did it, you probably recognize that that seven and eight were a bit long. And that's part of the process is slowing down your breathing. We generally breathe really shallowly and only the upper part of our lungs and we want to breathe all the way down. Fill up our lungs and engage our diaphragm. And so that long breathing can help us with that.
Jessica: So many great ideas and things to think about. I love your idea of what you said right at the beginning with the acronym clean of not going for perfection, but just doing the best you can and looking at these ways and seeing maybe a takeaway or two takeaways. Something you had us do was make a goal for each area like sleep, movement, eating well.
For me, I made a goal - particularly with sleep and eating well because those are the areas I, I'll say, struggle with, whereas with movement I have no problem getting up and I move all the time. But those other two areas are things that I needed a takeaway from. So you know, if you're listening maybe think about each area and choose one small thing like the B-D-D- rule or just getting up and walking your dog or working out at your desk or with sleep, trying one of the meditation ideas or even trying some of the magnesium or something that works for you.
To end the podcast, I'd love for you to share where listeners can find you or your work and if you even want to talk about your personal coaching or things like that in case people are interested in contacting you.
Megan: Yes. Thank you again for this opportunity and thanks for letting me share a little bit. So the bulk of my work is one-to-one coaching and if you're interested in that you can find out plenty of more information on my website: The Lyons' Share
I also do a lot of free stuff on the website. There are blog posts every week. Lots of recipe round ups. So if coaching isn't right for you and you just want some resources, I encourage you to head over there as well. We're going to link to three specific things. All of them are free:
1) 30 Self-Care Ideas
2) Desk Exercises
3) Free Sugar Challenge
Season One: Episode 27 Health with Megan Lyons
Megan Lyons is the wellness coach and owner of The Lyons' Share Wellness. Her passion is helping others feel amazing, inside and out. She graduated from Harvard with honors in economics and went on to earn her MBA at Northwestern University. In 2011, she earned a Certificate of Health Coaching and Holistic Nutrition from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and recently completed her Masters in Holistic Nutrition from Hawthorn University in 2019. Megan enjoys being active, experimenting with healthy and nutritious foods, and sharing her knowledge with others through health coaching. She lives in Dallas with her husband Kevin and their two adorable dogs, Maverick and Riley.
Disclaimer: Megan is a Certified Health Coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, holds a Masters Degree in Holistic Nutrition, a Certified Group Fitness Instructor, and a Certified Running Coach, but is not a doctor or medical provider. Any information shared on this podcast episode should not be misconstrued as medical advice.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE SHOW
Jessica: Megan, thank you so much for talking with us today.
Megan: I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me.
Jessica: I would love to know when you became interested in being a health coach and kind of transferring over to what you do now.
Megan: Well, it was kind of a winding journey to get me here. I started getting interested in health when I got to college. I started dating my now husband and he was on the track and cross country team. He was not a healthy eater at all. In fact, when I met him he was eating french fries dipped in sour cream, but he was very into exercise and using his body as his tool, his machine for his sport and so I started learning more about it and I got into it in various ways such as like reading the popular magazines and following their advice, which is not always the right advice, but slowly started building my education. And it wasn't until I was in business school that I started thinking of this as an actual career so that was around 2012 and I waited two more years. I started the business in 2014.
Jessica: Something that you mention on your website is this idea of bioindividuality and I would love for you to touch on that a little bit about what that is.
Megan: Yes, well there's a $60 billion dollar diet industry for a reason and the reason is that nothing dramatic works for every single person. So what we hear about is this diet that made Sally Sue feel really excellent and then she proclaims it and tries to sell her books and her diets and all this kind of stuff, but then Sarah tries it and Sarah doesn't feel that great. Or doesn't get the results. Or it's too restrictive for her lifestyle or whatever. And so when we try to fit every human into one specific way of eating or living or teaching or whatever it is - or learning, for sure - it does not always work. I believe that bioindividuality is the key to making changes for our health and by this I mean listening to your body, figuring out what works for your lifestyle, your preferences, your genetics, your goals - all of this kind of stuff - so the solutions I give to my clients are very different for each client because each of us needs different things.
Jessica: And when you came to Good Shepherd and shared with our staff and our teachers, you focused on three things: eating well, movement, and sleep and I just thought those were truly the keys to healthy living and so I thought it would be great if you could share with us about those three things starting with eating well. So can you talk a little bit about clean eating?
Megan: Yes, I will and I have to say first what I said at Good Shepherd, which is underlying all of these things is the self-care aspect. The freedom from guilt, the freedom from "I should" - things like that - because once I do start giving tips on clean eating, which I love to do and I'm going to do, people can start to think 'Oh I'm bad if I don't do this' or 'I have to do this in order to do it right' or whatever. So I want to just emphasize that this is not about guilt. It's about taking small steps in the right direction every single day.
Now clean eating is really simple. It's going back to the basics and eating real food. So we think of all of these packaged health products; if you go through Whole Foods, which I love to do - I'm not dogging on whole foods, but we think that we have to be healthy by buying the $50 super berry powder or something like that and really all of us would be a lot healthier if we went back to the basics. So clean eating - I have a little acronym that I use, but it's basically eating real food.
And the C stands for 'Cut back on added sugars and refined or packaged foods.' So added sugars are when we take a food or a food product and we actually add in something sweet. So it doesn't have to be sugar. It could be maple syrup. It could be any of these things. I think we'll talk about how to find added sugar in a second, but it's not the actual sugar from fruit. It's added sugar. And packaged and refined foods. Packaged food is kind of obvious. It's something in a package. A refined food is just if we change the ingredients or add some chemical things in there - preservatives, things like that. So that's C - Cut back on added sugars and refined foods.
L is 'Load Up on Fruits and Vegetables' and it goes with E with is 'Eat the Rainbow.' So I really believe in getting a variety of vegetables and fruits as many as possible. In fact, when I'm presenting in person I have people hold up a fist size. That's a serving size for most people and I really encourage people to get up to 8-10 servings of vegetables and fruits per day, but start slowly. Just kind of gradually do one more than you were yesterday and ease up.
And then A is 'Always read the ingredient list.' Kind of check the label. Don't just believe something's healthy because it says it's healthy. Look at those ingredients and see: Does it sound like chemical soup or does it sound like whole foods that I would be happy to put in my body?
N is the most important. It's this is 'Not About Perfection.' It's about doing what you can to get back to natural, whole foods and then not beating yourself up along the way.
Jessica: After you gave us that acronym, I took all sorts of notes during the time that you were at Good Shepherd, and so this summer one of my goals was to incorporate vegetables every lunch and I have two girls that are 9 and 12. And so we went through and we've created a menu like a weekly menu and every lunch has to have one vegetable and one fruit just to get going. And Julia today, my youngest, as I was coming here to talk with you, we were kind of getting lunch ready and she got a protein out and then she got some fruit and then she was like 'I'm going to go...one of my goals...'(because I'm a huge goal person - I talk about it all the time) She's like 'One of my goals is to eat healthier lunches' and I was like 'this is great!' So, but we started really small by just going, you know, she loves fruit. That's easy, but the vegetable. We've been having organic carrots and slicing them together; well, I cut them, but it's been really nice just incorporating it slowly and saying 'okay, let's start with one vegetable and next week we're going to add in a second.' So I love that acronym and the not beating yourself up because it's so easy to go 'Oh, it's too overwhelming to start with 8-10,' but you know, we're starting with one and then we'll build so thank you for that.
Megan: I love what you just did there for several reasons. Number one is she involved her kid, her child in the goal setting process, which is much more effective than telling them 'you have to do this' and not explaining to them why. So you shared with her what you were doing and then she's coming along. And I also love the gradual steps. It is no fun to make all the changes all at once. So if you're eating Chik-Fila three times a day every day and then you say 'I'm never going to eat Chik-Fila again,' it feels really terrible, but if you say 'One meal per day I'm going to not eat Chik-Fila,' it's doable. So really small changes. I love what you did and I'm excited for your daughter.
Jessica: Me too because she's a picky one of the two girls. Riley will try anything, but I was like we've got to move forward from some of these things so thank you for that 'cause that really helped me. What are, and this might be obvious, but I still think it's nice to know, what are some benefits to eating well?
Megan: So most of us, unfortunately, don't realize how poorly we feel every single day. If we're eating the SAD - the Standard American Diet - we feel probably sluggish. We feel bloated. We feel maybe a little low grade headache that we don't realize and so when new clients come into my office, depending on what they're eating, if I ask them how they feel, they might say 'I feel fine. Like not amazing, but I feel fine.' And then as they start eating better, they're like, 'Wow! I didn't realize I was bloated all the time. I didn't realize my digestion was irregular or that I actually had a headache the whole time, but I thought that was normal. I didn't have energy. I had that 3pm slump or whatever.' So all of these things are the benefits.
The unfortunate side is that when we eat one salad we don't miraculously feel better. It takes a little while. It takes several healthy meals to feel better, but even the little bits. When you stop having the donut for breakfast and you replace it with some fruit or something like that, you might start to find your energy increase.
The strongest benefits that I see are definitely related to energy. That feelings of cravings and kind of blood sugar dips and rises, like you have to have a piece of candy to get through the next hour or some caffeine or something like that to get through the next hour. Also skin. Hair. Migraines. General headaches. Joint pain. Blood work of course and long term disease risk reduction is a benefit. There are really just so many and it's slightly different for each person.
Jessica: Something you mentioned earlier in the first question was talking about the sugar content because sugar, it just seems like it's in everything and it's hard to avoid so can you touch on that and talking about how we can look for sugar content in our food labels.
Megan: Yes. So I wrote a book in January 2016 and I had the statistic there that I'm sure is even higher now, but at that time it was 72% of packaged foods in the average grocery store have added sugar which blew my mind. 72%! So you're almost right in saying that it's in everything and unfortunately we can't tell from the numbers if it says like:
Carbohydrates 10
Sugars 6
That's not necessarily added sugar and some sugar like I said from fruit or other naturally occurring sources, some of that is okay in my book, but the added sugar we want to look at the ingredient list and there are three things that we are looking for in the ingredient list.
The first one is sugar in any form so maple sugar, corn sugar, coconut sugar, palm sugar, organic sugar, anything with sugar. The second one is syrup so brown rice syrup or maple syrup or corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup. And the last one is any word that ends in -ose: dextrose, maltose, fructose, sucrose. Anything with an -ose on the end. Those are all forms of added sugar and we want to pay special attention to the first several ingredients. I say the first three because it's easy to remember, but if that dextrose or that maple syrup or whatever is right at the beginning that means it's higher concentration so it's probably having a less-good impact on our bodies and making us more prone to those cravings and blood sugar dips and things like that.
Jessica: You mentioned this kind of off-hand, but you said you wrote a book. So what is the name of that book in case we wanted to go look into it?
Megan: Yes. The name of the book is Start Here and if you're searching on Amazon it's easier to search for Start Here 7 because apparently there are lots of books called Start Here and the subtitle to the book is 'Seven Easy Diet Free Steps to Achieve Your Ultimate Health and Happiness' so Start Here Seven will get you there.
Jessica: I just had to throw that in because I'm like I want to know what that is! And then another thing that you mentioned when you shared with our staff was macronutrient balance and what that is. Can you talk a little bit about that as well?
Megan: Yes. It is becoming trendy in the, I guess, diet circles or body building circles or who knows what these days, to count your macros and so there are a group of people who do this IIFYM: If It Fits your Macros and they're counting all these things and I think for most people we don't have to go that far, but it is helpful to know what macronutrients are. And just the word macronutrient - it means things that our bodies need to thrive in large quantities. So the macronutrients are protein, fat, and carbohydrates. And we really do need each of those every single day and ideally every single meal. When we've done things like dramatically reduced fat in the 90's, America as a whole got a lot less healthy, a lot more chronic disease, a lot more obesity. Things like that and we've tried to cut out other macronutrients as well, but we really need all of those. So thinking about for most people just 'am I getting a source of these during the meal,' that's a great way to start.
So protein are things like meat or fish like we think of, but also egg whites. The yolks are healthy fats. I do promote the yolks, but only the whites have the protein. Things like dairy and yogurt if you tolerate that. Beans or tofu or tempe (sometimes spelled tempeh) if you're vegetarian or preferring to get protein from there. Hemp seeds, chia seeds - they're all great sources of protein.
And then for the healthy fat. This one really keeps us full and nourished and satiated. Things like avocados, olives, fish. Again, seeds and nuts, nut butters, healthy oils, coconut, all that kind of stuff.
And then the carbohydrates. People don't think of vegetables as carbohydrates, but they are. They're mostly carbohydrates. My favorite form carbohydrates. So vegetables, fruits, starchier vegetables, grains. Things like if you tolerate whole grain bread, wraps, stuff like that. All of those would be sources of carbohydrates. So just think about trying to get one source of each of these during a meal and you might notice that your energy is more stable, your cravings are reduced, and you're kind of feeling more balanced throughout the day.
Jessica: Is there a specific ratio or does that really, does that go back to the bioindividuality of how many proteins vs. carbs vs. fat. How does that work or look?
Megan: So I will ultimately answer the question the way I think you want it to be answered, but first I have to say when most people are looking for a certain ratio, they're looking for the magic pill. They're grasping for something saying, 'If I just do this and beat myself into submission by doing this, then all my problems will be solved.' And there's no magic pill like that whether it's ratios or a supplement or a workout type, anything that's going to be magic. I really believe that most people don't need to count this stuff and in fact, it's counter productive for them to count this stuff because then they say, "Oh Megan said 30% protein and I'm at 32%. Well I'm a failure.' Or something like this. It's really not necessary. Now if you are doing a fitness competition or you have a specific medical conditions, maybe it is necessary to count, but for most people I don't think so.
Now if you say, 'Okay, I hear you, but I don't want to listen to you. I just want you to tell me the magic ratios,' the best I've found for most people is the Zone ratios which was popular, I don't know, in the late 90's. And it's 30-30-40. So it's 40% carbs; 30% protein and fat. I think that's a great place to start for people if they refuse to listen to me and they want to count anyway. And then if you want to build more muscle you might want to increase protein a little bit more. If you're finding that you're really unstable with regard to blood sugar, you might want to reduce carbohydrates and increase fat a little bit more. It does depend on the person and certainly the bioindividuality prevails, but overall just listen to your body and focus on the whole foods and I think you'll be fine.
Jessica: I think we can get way too restrictive on that and it's nice to give yourself grace and let it fluctuate a little bit. Another thing that you had mentioned when you came - I keep referring to that, but when you came, you gave some really great restaurant tips on how to eat healthfully and also, again, give yourself grace when you're out. Can you share about the B-D-D rule?
Now for a special occasion like maybe a friend's birthday or brand new restaurant that you don't get to go to very often or something like that, I say choose two. And then if it's super special like once a year - your birthday, your anniversary or something - go ahead and choose all three. Again, the most important thing is not to feel guilty about any of this and just enjoy what you are going to eat.
Jessica: I love the practicality of that because then you are being mindful, but you still get to indulge a little. Enjoy your life and what you're eating. What's available. Thank you for sharing all of that because that's so great for thinking through what we eat
Another aspect that you talked about for being healthy is movement and I think a big thing, especially I'll say for everyone, but especially for teachers - particularly during the teacher schedule August through June-ish - is building in that time for movement and making it doable for our schedule so what are some simple steps we can take to simply add movement into our day?
Megan: Yes. So the biggest obstacle that I hear is 'I just can't get to the gym for 60 minutes' or something like that. And that's an unrealistic expectation for a lot of people. So if you are already doing that, that's amazing. I don't want you to stop. It certainly has mental and physical benefits, but if you're just thinking it's 60 minutes or nothing, that has got to go. We've got to find a grey area. The very simplest way to start is to do some exercises at your desk. If your students have a test or if they have an activity that they're working in pairs or whatever and you have two minutes, I have a free download on my website that I know we'll include in the show notes with 20 desk exercises that you can do literally just at your own desk without leaving your classroom or anything like that.
Another great way is if you a 5-minute break, a 10-minute break during the day. Just try to get outside. Maybe you use the far restroom. Or maybe you do some jumping jacks. Involve your kids. That's totally fine. The whole class can do some jumping jacks if you feel low energy. Just try to get them up and get moving. It'll pick you up and it'll make them giggle. Trying to do some squats or push ups or something like that that you don't need equipment is really, really great. I have a teacher that teaches at a fitness studio that I also teach at who was at a very busy time in her career and she just started doing sets of 10-20 push ups every break she got and I think she got up to 200 push ups in a day or something like that and got incredibly fit by just doing that. As I guess I would expect for 200 push ups.
But just think about, 'Okay I have 10 seconds here. What can I do? Can I do two jumping jacks? That's amazing.' And those little bits of activity truly do add up.
Then I would also recommend if you have a family or a dog or you want to call someone on the phone, trying to incorporate a nightly walk if you live in an area that that's feasible, that's great. Walking is probably the best exercise I can think of. If you're physically able to do that, it's a gift that we really appreciate. It has mental benefits, physical benefits. It's so great.
Jessica: Having followed you on Instagram and seeing some of the things that you post, you are very motivated yourself to work out and take care of your body and move during the day, but you wake up I think around 4am. So I would love to know how for some of us when we teach, you know, I go in typically somewhere between 6:30 and 7:30 every morning, which I think is on average what most teachers do, but sometimes we forget that maybe moving our clock back and waking up early and doing it in the morning might be beneficial even if it might seem to be counterproductive and we might get tired, but it could do the opposite and really, you know, help. So how do you motivate yourself every morning to get up and work out and what benefits do you see to morning workouts?
Megan: Yes. I love my morning workouts and if you had asked me fifteen years ago if I thought I would wake up at 4:00am and work out, I would have laughed in your face. It's just, it's not natural for me, but after having done it for so long now probably 4 or 5 years, it feels natural. It's just like any change. I remember as a kid I hated brushing my teeth. Then I thought it was like terrible to have to brush your teeth and I did a temper tantrum and all this stuff. And now, of course it's not my favorite two minutes of every single day, but I just do it. I don't really think about it all that much. And waking up early is just the same for me. Would I rather sleep in? Yeah. Probably, but I know that when I wake up, the benefits are so huge. I have more energy during the day. Honestly, the emotional satisfaction is probably the biggest for me. I feel like I have done something great for myself; something that I'm proud of before I even start the day.
The world - this sounds negative, but hopefully you'll get the gist of it - the world tells us that we're not good enough many times and we think, 'Oh I didn't pack the right lunch for my kids,' or 'I didn't show up on time' or 'I didn't do all of these things.' We find ways to beat ourselves up, but I like to give myself that win first thing in the morning and exercise does that for me and my whole morning routine. I feel really proud of myself and accomplished and centered and balanced to take on the day. And so I don't have to be at the office at 6:30. That gives me a little more flexibility to do a longer workout, but I encourage anyone listening just to set the alarm five minutes early. Literally just do five minutes of movement and see how it feels. See if it gives you the benefit of energy or of pride that I mentioned. And then see if you can gradually move it to ten. Maybe move it to fifteen. And that could be enough. You don't have to do the hour long workouts that I do. That's just what works for me, but anything is really great.
Jessica: I just wanted to touch on that because I think we forget or we think 'Well, I could never wake up that early.' But really being able to change that morning routine could really change and impact the rest of the day. I've really been hit and miss on that for sure.
Megan: One more thing. I was remiss to mention you can't just wake up early and still go to bed at the same time because then you will be even more tired because you're robbing yourself of sleep. And exercise is shown to boost your energy, but if you're truly sleep deprived, it's probably not going to work that well. So when I started waking up that early, I did start going to be much earlier too. And if that is tough for you, I recommend setting a bedtime alarm. So my phone is always set, for me, at 8:45pm is when I start brushing my teeth, taking my dogs out one last time, all of this kind of stuff. But whatever time it is for you, give yourself 30 minutes to wind down. Set that bedtime alarm and then get in bed at the time you want to or you think is best for you even if it doesn't feel like you're exhausted at that time.
Jessica: And that leads perfectly into talking about the last category which is sleep. There's something to be said for setting your alarm and getting up when the alarm goes off. Can you share about the difference that makes in alarm setting and waking up?
Megan: Yes. Well, I admit, I think I admitted at Good Shepherd too that I used to be the snooze queen. I remember in my old job, I did management consulting so I spent a lot of nights in hotels and I would always wonder if the people next to me in the hotel room next to me were thinking I was crazy because I would snooze so much. Probably snoozed nine times. And then I read something in a book one time that said if you're snoozing, basically you're sending the message that you don't like your day. You're not looking forward to what life has to offer and that it almost implied that you're not grateful for your life. And I like to think of myself as a very grateful person. I am grateful for this life. I do love my life and that's not the message that I wanted to send out to start my day. It's almost like if you snooze and you say, 'Ugh then I don't want to,' everything else in your day feels more like a drag. But if you commit before you set that alarm 'I am going to wake up at this time' - not 'I hope I wake at this time' or 'Hopefully I don't snooze' or 'If I feel good, I'll wake up or whatever,' but I am going to wake up and then you just do it. Snooze is no longer allowed in my house. Just get out of bed.
The next thing I do is I force myself to have a negative thought because I'm human just like the rest of us and I probably think, 'Ugh - I don't want to work out' or 'Ugh - I tossed and turned or my dog barked or who knows what,' but I force myself to think a positive thought like... Sometimes it's so simple or trite as 'Oh the coffee's going to taste good' or 'I'm excited to meet my friend at the workout or whatever.' Sometimes it's a more deep gratitude thought, but I do that very first thing and it starts my day off really well.
Jessica: I love that idea too of positive thinking right off the bat because it is easy to lay in bed and go 'Ahhh...' like just enjoy five more minutes, but really jump starting your day when it goes off. So obviously eating well and movement are things that are going to improve our sleep. Are there other things we can do to really help our sleep habits or improve our sleep?
Megan: Definitely. I wish that our bodies worked like go, go, go, go to 100% and then all of a sudden you flip the switch and konk out, but it doesn't really work unless you're super, super overtired and your body is not functioning optimally already. Most of us need time to wind down and if you're someone who is efficient and calendar oriented like me, that feels like a bummer, but it's not a bummer. It's that time that we get to enjoy; that time that we get to wind down by doing whatever it is that really relaxes us. Maybe it's having a conversation with your partner, your roommate, or your spouse or whatever. Maybe it is reading a book or going for a walk or praying or meditating or drawing or painting or whatever. Using time - I say 20 minutes, but really it's ideal to have even more - just to wind down without checking your email, without scrolling through social media. Really just winding down. That will help the quality of your sleep tremendously.
And that blue light from our devices really does impede our quality of sleep so I recommend, people gasp when I say this, but getting a real alarm clock, not your phone. And eventually trying not to check it right before bed. I understand if you have kids that live out of the house or parents or all kinds of reasons why people don't want to do this, but most of the time what we're checking before we go to bed is not that critical anyway. So just challenge yourself to give yourself some space before bed.
Also, when we crave sugar and I have a sweet tooth so I'm not accusing. I'm throwing myself into this camp, but the most common time to eat sugar is right before bed. And if we have too much sugar, especially if it's not balanced with some protein or healthy fat, that can impede our quality of sleep a lot. So trying to reduce the sugar right before bed and if your digestion is sensitive, trying to reduce any food for an hour or two before bed can really help.
If you need some support, drinking some sleepy time tea or camomile tea - any of these nice herbal, of course caffeine free, herbal teas can help soothe you. I personally take magnesium which is a mineral that most of us - 70% of Americans - are deficient in and that can help if your mind races at night. If you kind of have that hamster wheel going on or your to-do list or whatever, but a magnesium supplement can help. A warm bath can help some people and a cold shower can help some people so experimenting with that. Really just giving yourself the space to wind down. That is the best thing you can do for your sleep.
Jessica: Yeah. I started taking the calm magnesium that you had the link to so I ordered that. I guess it's been a week now or so, but it tastes good. I got the Lemon Raspberry flavor, but I feel like I'm sleeping - I don't know. Maybe it's partly mental, but I really do feel like the magnesium has helped. And you mentioned meditation. Are there some meditation methods or ideas?
Megan: Yes. I'm a big fan of meditation and again I mentioned that hamster wheel that I have in my head so a lot of people are scared of meditation because they think 'I could never shut my brain down. It's impossible. It doesn't work for me.' But I had a meditation coach one time say to me, 'Well, don't be silly. That's exactly the person who needs it!' If you are able to just sit there and not have a thought for two hours, then you probably don't need meditation as someone like me who has a million thoughts per minute. So it's not about doing it right or being perfect or having no thoughts. It's really just being still and being aware. And calming yourself down and being aware of your thoughts.
So I love just simply counting my breaths. I try to count to ten and just only focus on the breaths so:
Breathe In- Breathe out (one)... Breathe In- Breathe Out (two)
And try to get up to ten and that seems very simple, but you'd be surprised at how few times I can actually get to ten without getting distracted. That's a great practice. There are also two other apps that I recommend. Both have a free trial period:
1) Calm
2) Headspace
And both of those will walk you through the process of meditating if you're curious, but you don't really know where to start.
Jessica: And there's, I think, two other breathing- I'll say exercises - but the box method and then there's one that has different numbers. 4-7-8. Can you talk about the box method and 4/7/8?
Megan: Yes. Both of these are great exercises as well and there are people - I don't know what the people are - but there are people who study the methods and the rhythms and so these are the scientifically proven rhythms. But really the important thing here is that we're focusing on our breath so if you mess up the numbers, it doesn't really matter. The effort is just to still your brain, to calm down, to reduce your heart rate. All of that kind of stuff. So the two methods that we mentioned:
In for four, hold for four, out for four, hold for four
So just 4- 4- 4- 4
In - Hold - Out - Hold
And you do that four times
2) 4 - 7 - 8 Breathing
In for four, hold for seven, out for eight
And again, you do that four times. So because I'm throwing out a lot of numbers, we're going to have all the listeners practice this right now. So if you're listening and you can do this safely, I'm just going to count you through it.
Breath in - 2 - 3 - 4
Hold 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7
Out 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8
And so if you did it, you probably recognize that that seven and eight were a bit long. And that's part of the process is slowing down your breathing. We generally breathe really shallowly and only the upper part of our lungs and we want to breathe all the way down. Fill up our lungs and engage our diaphragm. And so that long breathing can help us with that.
Jessica: So many great ideas and things to think about. I love your idea of what you said right at the beginning with the acronym clean of not going for perfection, but just doing the best you can and looking at these ways and seeing maybe a takeaway or two takeaways. Something you had us do was make a goal for each area like sleep, movement, eating well.
For me, I made a goal - particularly with sleep and eating well because those are the areas I, I'll say, struggle with, whereas with movement I have no problem getting up and I move all the time. But those other two areas are things that I needed a takeaway from. So you know, if you're listening maybe think about each area and choose one small thing like the B-D-D- rule or just getting up and walking your dog or working out at your desk or with sleep, trying one of the meditation ideas or even trying some of the magnesium or something that works for you.
To end the podcast, I'd love for you to share where listeners can find you or your work and if you even want to talk about your personal coaching or things like that in case people are interested in contacting you.
Megan: Yes. Thank you again for this opportunity and thanks for letting me share a little bit. So the bulk of my work is one-to-one coaching and if you're interested in that you can find out plenty of more information on my website: The Lyons' Share
I also do a lot of free stuff on the website. There are blog posts every week. Lots of recipe round ups. So if coaching isn't right for you and you just want some resources, I encourage you to head over there as well. We're going to link to three specific things. All of them are free:
1) 30 Self-Care Ideas
2) Desk Exercises
3) Free Sugar Challenge
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