Friday Musings—15/09/23

If you haven't read it yet, this week's post was about how a restless night led me to (re)discover a powerful exercise to reignite enthusiasm for life. As always, share any insights or questions you may have on the topic in the comments, or send me an email—I'm always happy to chat. You can also book a free call with me.

Now onto my weekly musings 😎

WANSM

I've recently watched Women are Not Small Men, a TED Talk by Dr Stacy Sims, a nutritionist and exercise physiologist devoted to uncovering the best exercise and nutrition advice for women. Sims explains how sports nutrition studies have historically been conducted on men, with the results assumed to be the same for women, and discusses her efforts to bridge this gap.

Until very recently, most of the doctors and scientists whose work I followed were men, and I had no idea that their advice, while sound and well-intentioned, might not be what's best for me. Men go through an entire hormone cycle every 24 hours, while women's hormone levels fluctuate throughout the month, requiring a different approach and more fine-tuning in terms of exercise and nutrition. For instance, I did intermittent fasting for a few years. None of the experts I followed when I first started this practice had mentioned that it can affect women’s bodies and hormones differently depending on what phase of their cycle they're at, making fasting for women a trickier area to navigate than for men. Similarly, I only recently discovered that women would also benefit from doing "cycle syncing workouts", i.e. shifting exercise routines throughout the month. I started looking for female scientists and coaches I could follow, and that's how I discovered Dr Sims, among others.

My main point here is that you need to be careful whose advice you follow, and this applies to men too. All to often, I hear people saying they're following the Keto diet or exercising at certain hours or doing whatever because this or that expert says so or because it worked out well for a friend, etc. We are all individuals with unique histories and requirements. Yes, there are health fundamentals that apply to everyone, but there's also a lot of fine-tuning to adapt them to your own situation, make them work for your lifestyle, and consider your needs and possibilities. It's not easy, nor is it simple, but it's part of getting to know yourself better and building a life where you can thrive.

Yoga with pigs

Kassandra, one of my favorite online teachers, has released a yoga flow to fundraise for Sweet Sanctuary Animal Rescue, a Canadian charity that offers a forever home to horses and farm animals that would otherwise have nowhere else to go. All proceeds from this video will go directly to support this lovely charity. So, if you practice yoga and love animals, simply watching the video and practicing with her is an easy and fun way to help out (you also get to see a few adorable pigs roaming around). Plus, in my opinion, Kassandra is one of the best teachers out there. She also creates beginner-friendly and meditation videos, so if any of you have been thinking of giving yoga a try, go check out her YT channel.

Going green in the kitchen

As I've shared before, I've been struggling with solastalgia, the distress caused by environmental change, and I've been trying to be even more mindful of my impact on the environment. I know that big corporations and developing countries are currently the biggest polluters, but I wouldn't feel good about myself if I didn't do my part. I believe everyone needs to decide what they feel comfortable doing. For anyone interested, here are 20 actions we can take to reduce the environmental impact of our cooking and eating habits. I actually started reusing aluminum foil and reducing my paper towel consumption a few months ago, so I feel seen :)

Quote of the week ✍️

"Cherish forever what makes you unique, cuz you're really a yawn if it goes". (Bette Midler)

That's all from me today, enjoy your weekend and TTYS

ML