Words of Wellness with Shelly

Empowering Mothers on Their Wellness Journey: Strategies for Health, Balance, and Growth

• Shelly Jefferis • Season 2 • Episode 69

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Empower your wellness journey with insights each week on Words of Wellness! This week is especially focused on mothers navigating the complexities of modern life. Shelly offers a recap of her most recent inspiring "Moms who Flourish" wellness event, a community growing in support and dedication to the well-being of mothers. From reducing exposure to everyday toxins to healthier social media habits, there are various strategies shared that can transform daily choices and foster a more mindful lifestyle. With our upcoming mentorship program on the horizon, there's an opportunity to connect with fellow moms committed to self-care and personal growth.

Explore the intricate world of wellness with a focus on lifestyle strategies, including gut health, hormone balance, and stress management. There was a special panel of mothers who revealed their experiences as their children transitioned to college, offering relatable stories and genuine advice. There was also light shed on the impacts of the Standard American Diet and how being savvy with nutrition can redefine your health. From the significance of quality sleep to the necessity of regular movement, this episode is packed with actionable insights to enhance your well-being. Join us as we chart this path toward a healthier future! And for any moms, we invite you to register for our  "Moms who Flourish" mentorship program! Be sure and message Shelly for details to join! And in the meantime, our hope is you all apply some of these beneficial tips to your daily life, leading to more energy, less stress, and an enhanced quality of life.

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Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.

Thank you and God Bless!
And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!

In Health,
Shelly Jefferis

Speaker 1:

Do you get confused by all of the information that bombards us every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more to share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journeys so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will. We all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today.

Speaker 1:

Hello everyone, and welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly and I will be your host. Host and I wanted to hop in here today and share with you a little bit of a recap of the most recent Moms who Flourish wellness event that I hosted, with various topics related to wellness. Now, the day was targeted around moms, and so I'm just going to do a little bit of an overview of some of the topics that were covered, but I am going to also dive into some information that really applies to everyone when it comes down to our overall wellness. So, if I have some dads listening in, hang in there, because we will get to some information that you can absolutely apply to your life and your wellness and your health as well.

Speaker 1:

So, for those of you who maybe don't know this, I have created a community for moms called Moms who Flourish, and it was placed on my heart over two years ago to create something like this for moms, to empower moms to put their health, their wellness, their self-care as a priority their health, their wellness, their self-care as a priority, and we have put on two live events so far, and I am very pleased to share that we are growing. Our most recent event we had more speakers, we had more attendees, we had more vendors, and it just fills my heart to see my vision coming to life. So it's very, very exciting and we are going to expand or I guess I could say I'm going to expand with a couple other offerings, one of which is going to be a Moms who Flourish mentorship program for moms, and so if it is something that you would like to know a little bit more about, please feel free to reach out to me. My contact information is in the show notes Message me on Instagram and I can give you a few more details. This will be a very small, intimate group of moms where we will dive a bit deeper into not just some of the topics that we shared on Saturday, but just diving deeper into our own personal wellness, our own personal journeys as moms, and diving more into that journey of motherhood altogether. So please feel free to reach out if it's something that you would like to be a part of. We will be having registration very soon and the registration will be open for a very short time. So reach out as soon as you hear this message so that I can get some of the details to you, so that you can join us. So some of the topics.

Speaker 1:

I just want to give a little bit of an overview. I personally kicked off the day talking about toxins how we can go about being more aware of what we are being exposed to, what are some things we can do to reduce our exposure and what are some things we can do to just really be our healthiest and feel our best when it comes to toxins and what we're being exposed to every single day. Now I have had a couple podcast episodes where I have talked about this and I will definitely continue to do so. This is a topic that I'm very passionate about and, as I shared with the group at our event, I really aim to share a little bit of education, but my goal is really to increase awareness around this topic. There is so much information out there that it is impossible or would be impossible for me to share in just one speaking segment, and so I just touch the tip of the iceberg. I share some basic information, but ultimately, my goal again is to just increase the tip of the iceberg. I share some basic information, but ultimately my goal again is to just increase the awareness and encourage others to do their own research and to be aware of what they're putting in their bodies, on their bodies and what they're using for cleaning products in their home. Now I will share. I also have in my show notes links to some products and companies that I use that I love, that are free from toxins. So check those out and, again, if you have any questions, always feel free to reach out to me. I promise I will get back to you and answer any messages that I receive.

Speaker 1:

We also had the topic of social media health, social media habits. What are we doing daily that maybe are leading to not the best habits when it comes to the use of social media, when it comes to the internet, when it comes to the use of our devices, when it comes to the internet, when it comes to the use of our devices and you know, I think there are some great, simple reminders that we can all put into play when it comes to the use of, let's say, our phones not having them at dinnertime, not having them by our bed, maybe, not having them in our bedroom at all, maybe keeping a little bit of a timer giving us maybe one or two times per day where we check our phone and the rest of the time we put it aside. It's very easy to get in the habit and not a very good habit of checking our phones frequently, and I know for me personally I catch myself doing that because I have used my phone so much over the years for business purposes, so it's easy to get in the habit of checking it too often and I really am intentional about and I really am intentional about different times of the day, like morning, noon and night, and checking messages, just getting caught up and trying not to spend too much time scrolling and going down the rabbit hole, because we all know that that is a big time waster and it's an easy one to get in the bad habit of doing. But just a little reminder to be aware Again it's awareness is the key when it comes to all of this right. So just wanted to remind everyone of that. We had a great presentation about financial wellness and that's a very important part of our overall wellness seeking financial assistance if we need it, some financial guidance, making decisions that are going to benefit us now and into the future. This is a really big part of our wellness and I emphasize this because I think we get so caught up in thinking about the physical aspect and the nutritional aspect of our wellness, of our health, and, believe me, those are very important. However, we need to realize that there are many more aspects of our entire wellness, so I want to just touch upon that.

Speaker 1:

We had a great presentation on gut health, parasites. Do you know if you have parasites? Well, it might surprise you to know that most, every single one of us most likely have parasites, and there are steps we can take to clear some of those out of our system. And again, if you'd like more information about that, message me. I know that I can share some links to some of the information that was presented this past presentation weekend. And it's very beneficial to really take the steps to not only just cleanse our bodies at the cellular level, which is something that I do on a regular monthly basis, but to take it maybe a step further and look into doing a parasite cleanse. It could be so, so beneficial for your overall health.

Speaker 1:

And then we had an excellent presentation on menopause and hormones. And, can I tell you, this was my favorite presentation of the day. It was very, very thorough and it touched upon so many different topics and I think for women it's so eyeopening to know that there are so many symptoms that can be related to our hormones and to menopause, even if we're not in the thick of menopause. There's the perimenopause, there's menopause, there's postmenopause, and some of these symptoms can start arising during very young ages and rising during very young ages. And I have done a couple podcast episodes. I have had guests on my podcast who have shared about this very topic, and I'm going to do more of this in the future. But it's really interesting and I think that it serves as a great reminder, especially for us women and for us moms, to know that there is a list of symptoms that are associated with hormone imbalance, with menopause and everything that goes along with that. So just be reassured that if you're experiencing something and you're questioning what is going on, first and foremost I would recommend that you go to a functional practitioner, someone who is well-versed in the topic of hormones, so that you can determine if that is what's causing your issues.

Speaker 1:

We also had a talk about inflammation some things that you can do to help with inflammation. And that's a very big topic as well, because we know that illness and disease is related to inflammation. So when we can reduce inflammation in our bodies, it helps reduce the risk of us getting certain illnesses and diseases. So taking part in an anti-inflammatory diet, you know, consuming foods that are going to help with the inflammation, to keep the inflammation as low as possible, is so, so important. And then we talked about stress. Wow, that's a topic that affects everyone and I think it's important to know that any type of stress, whether it's a negative stressor or a positive stressor, brings about the exact same responses in our bodies physiologically, and I have lectured and shared on this in classes in my college students for years, and I want to stress this because it's so important that we find ways to manage our stress, because when the stress increases and builds up and becomes chronic, then it starts to affect our health in very negative ways. You know, exercise, taking time to do some breathing exercises, taking time to have just quiet time, just time to relax and really de-stress, is so important because of course, let's face it, we are not going to escape stress, but it's very important that we learn how to deal with it and manage it effectively so that it does not wreak havoc on our overall health.

Speaker 1:

And then we had a panel of a few of us moms talking about the journey of motherhood when it comes to our children going through different milestones, most specifically when they go away to college. And the group of moms who we had on the panel there were four of us and we are all empty nesters so we were able to share a little bit about that journey and I really, I really loved it. Personally, I love panels, I love being a part of panels and I love hearing panels, and I think it just gives the opportunity for you know the speakers to just really share personal stories that everyone can relate to. Not that we didn't do it from the stage per se, but when you can be a little bit more intimate with a panel and get into a little bit more of your personal journey. I just know from my experience it's always so reassuring to hear others share in that kind of a manner, and so we will absolutely be offering that again at future events and we will absolutely be having similar topics shared and similar speakers, and I just so excited to continue to grow this movement that I've created. I'm just so extremely grateful for everyone that's on the journey with me so far and everyone who has supported me so far and continues to do so, and I'm just so excited to see where this goes.

Speaker 1:

And I wanted to finish off today with a couple highlighted areas that we all can apply to our overall wellness. One topic was briefly discussed and I've talked about this before many, many times but the importance of sleep. It is recommended that we, as adults, get approximately seven to nine hours of sleep, which ideally is uninterrupted, quality sleep, and I know that does not always happen, but that is the goal. A few things that can help with our sleep is to dim the lights one to two hours before bedtime, limit maybe some food intake a couple hours before bedtime. Try and aim to have a consistent daily routine, a consistent daily bedtime, and that's not going to happen all of the time, of course, but on the majority of the days. If we can have somewhat of a schedule, it really helps tremendously, and I just have to give a shout out to my husband. He has been so great about this all through the years with our kids, with him having a set time, you know, heading up to bed at a set time, heading up there, reading a little bit before going to sleep, having a set routine really really helps Removing and limiting toxins, because if our bodies are toxic, not only do we have a lot of different issues that we're going to be experiencing, but it can definitely interfere with our sleep. And then also getting that daily movement being out in nature, taking part in resistance training, getting some endurance exercise in and some high intensity interval training in All of this helps us sleep better. And I'm going to be sharing an episode very, very soon with my good friend, dr Paul Arciero, and he goes in great detail about the recommendations and what the science is telling us now about our exercise and what's recommended for us to get the best results. So I will be sharing that in an episode very, very soon.

Speaker 1:

And lastly, I want to just touch upon our nutrition and I'm going to keep this very brief, but I don't know how many of you are familiar with the SAD diet, the Standard American Diet, and it truly is SAD. I mean no pun intended, but it really truly is is sad. I mean no pun intended, but it really truly is. Here are some statistics about the standard American diet, 57% of the calories are from processed foods, and if you've been listening lately to a lot of information that is being shared out on the news and social media that is being shared out on the news and social media processed foods are everywhere and they are contributing to metabolic diseases and chronic illnesses. It's a very, very serious issue. So when you hear that our standard diet is comprised of 57% of processed foods, that does kind of make sense and it does add up to what we're experiencing today with our health% of our calories come from plants, foods, vegetables. So truly, we have our numbers backwards when it comes to what we should be consuming with our nutrition. So, again, just a little bit of an awareness about that, and again, this does not apply to every person, but it is what is the norm for many people, and so our goal, and one of my goals, is to get the education out there to help people make better decisions when it comes to their overall nutrition. So I wanted to share these statistics because I think it's really important to know and to be aware and to make changes where we need to make changes in our own personal nutrition, for ourselves and for our families.

Speaker 1:

And then I wanted to finish off today with a quote. Today, more than 95% of all chronic disease is caused by food choice, toxic food ingredients, nutritional deficiencies and lack of exercise. So when I was speaking, there is a quote that I share very similar to this that 95% of cancers have been found to be related to nutrition and toxins and the environment. So this just goes hand in hand with this quote that I just shared with you all. So, being aware of our food choices, toxic food ingredients and, again, looking at labels, reading labels I spoke about that at my event. So it's a great reminder for us all to start looking at if we're not doing it already and reading the ingredients and becoming aware of some of the more dangerous chemicals that we need to avoid Nutritional deficiencies.

Speaker 1:

Many of us, most of us, are deficient in some area of nutrition. Our food supply is so depleted nowadays that many of us, if not all of us, are deficient in something. So, again, reemphasizing the importance of having your physicals done, having blood work done, being able to determine where you might be deficient, I know for me personally I didn't realize it until I started my nutrition program over 10 years ago that I was deficient, I'm sure, in minerals, because once I started to get all of the minerals and vitamins that my body needed and required, it made all the difference in the world. It was a huge game changer. And then lack of exercise. So are we getting enough exercise? Are we getting up and moving our bodies? And I think I want to stress that it doesn't mean we have to go out and run sprints, it doesn't mean we have to kill ourselves in the gym for like two hours, but just the idea of movement is so critical to our day-to-day lives. And what are we doing most of the time? What are many of us doing?

Speaker 1:

Many of us might be sitting, we might be at a desk job or we're working from home, and it's so important to maybe set your timer, give yourself little breaks throughout the day where you get up and you move around. If you have stairs in your home, get up and go up and down the stairs a few times, get up, walk outside, walk around the block. It makes all the difference and I have shared before, I think, on my podcast here that I enjoy running. I've been a runner for most of my life and I heard someone share recently that if you sit for six, seven, eight hours and you go for one run for, let's say, 30, 40, 45 minutes. That still is not enough movement, and so I want to just remind you all the importance of moving your body. Our bodies are meant to move. If you are sitting at a desk job, perhaps you could look into getting one of these standing desks, something that's going to help you get more movement, because it makes so much difference and it's really truly, really critical for our overall health, our wellness and our longevity.

Speaker 1:

So I hope you have found value today. I just wanted to do a little quick overview, a little bit of a recap on our longevity. So I hope you have found value today. I just wanted to do a little quick overview, a little bit of a recap on our event and, again, please feel free to message me if you have questions, message me if you would like to get on my list for future events and then also definitely message me if you want to be a part of our Moms who Flourish mentorship program starting very, very soon. So do not delay, message me today and I will be sure and get the details to you and, with that being said, I hope that you are able to apply some of what I shared today to your own personal wellness and take some time for you on this day for your own wellness, and have a beautiful, blessed rest of your week and I will see you all next time on Words of Wellness.

Speaker 1:

Make it a great week. Everyone See you soon. Time on Words of Wellness. Make it a great week. Everyone See you soon. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review Words of Wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to words of wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week. Thank you you.