This post is sponsored by my friends at NOW Foods. It’s one of my favorite places to shop for pantry essentials, supplements, pet care, and natural beauty. You can use my code FITNESSISTA for 20% sitewide here.

Hi friends! I hope you’re enjoying the morning so far! I’m popping in with an old-school style Day in the Life type post. There were quite a few requests for more posts like this in the annual survey (thank you for your help with this!), so here we go!

Morning

6:45am. My alarm goes off. If I have to take the kids to school, I have to wake up 15 minutes earlier to get dressed, but since the Pilot is doing drop-off, I get an extra 15 minutes. Bless it. I hadn’t worn my Oura ring for a while, so I had to reset it to factory settings, and I was excited to see my sleep and readiness score for the day.

I wake up the kids, head downstairs, and pack up lunches, backpacks, snacks, and sweaters. I make them oatmeal with peanut butter and berries for the road, they head off to school, and I get ready for a workout. While I’m getting dressed, I chug a giant green juice, eat a banana, and half a bar.

I also drink some ginger tea:

8:15 A challenging and fun pure barre Define class. This is a newer class option and it’s all strength-based. I love the mix of barre and traditional strength training moves.

9:30 back home and having the rest of my breakfast: two scrambled eggs and a smoothie with avocado, pumpkin seeds, frozen zucchini, cocoa powder, dates, protein powder, and almond milk.

Read more

Hi friends! Happy Saturday! What are you up to this weekend? We’re spending time with some of our favorite friends: dinner and Botanical gardens, stocking stuffer event, Waitress the Musical, and then pasta making and dinner. I’d love to hear what you’re up to!

Some random pics from the week:

Before we get into Friday Faves, a couple of quick notes:

THANK YOU x1000000 to those of you who have filled out my annual survey. Your feedback is invaluable to me and it’s made me so excited to start working on 2024 content.

Sharing tips on how to take care of a fiddle leaf fig tree, how often to water it, how much water, how much sunlight, all of those important questions!

Meet Frida Kahlo. She’s our gorgeous fiddle leaf fig plant that greets everyone who walks into our home.

Frida receives SO many compliments both in real life and online, and I often get questions about how to take care of these tips for plants.

I hesitated to write this post because I used to be a notorious plant killer. Over the past handful of years, I’ve FINALLY found my groove, and while I feel pretty confident about my routine, I’m still scared to jinx anything.

I can’t help but fear that as SOON as I publish this post, Frida’s leaves start to recoil and burst into flames. But I’m going to go for it.

I hope you find some helpful tips here and my fellow fiddle leaf lovers, please share your top tips in the comments.

What Is A Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

A fiddle leaf fig plant is also called a Ficus lyrata. They are tropical trees that do extremely well outdoors in moderate and humid environments.

Over the past 10 years or so, they’ve surged in popularity. Fiddle leaf figs commonly grace magazine covers, Instagram, and Pinterest posts.

It is a beautiful houseplant that can add to the aesthetic appeal of your space and can be a stunning, architectural statement in your home. It makes a decor impact and is also notorious for being a challenging houseplant to keep alive.

In this post, I’m sharing tried and tested tips on how to take care of a fiddle-leaf fig tree, find time to repot it, and keep it looking lush, healthy, and thriving for a long time.

How To Take Care Of A Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree

Proper Placement and Lighting Requirements

The key with fiddle leaf figs, tropical plants, and house plants is to find a place in your home where they’ll be happy. Usually, this is a north or south-facing window, where it can get lots of sunlight. These plants

Hi friends! How’s the week going so far? I’m so excited because I have a new podcast up with Josh Kreifels. I follow the account that he shares with his wife over on Instagram, and love their approach to healthy living. I align with a lot of his values and messaging, and am so thrilled to have him on the show today.

Here’s what we talk about:

Metabolic health

prioritizing health with a busy schedule

biohacks for anti-aging/longevity

and so much more.

146: Metabolic health and biohacking with Joshua Kreifels, RD

Here’s a bit more about Josh:

Josh Kreifels is the founder of kreifwell functional medicine along with his wife Kristina. He is a masters level trained registered dietitian focused on helping you use food as medicine. Josh is passionate about NOT telling you what to eat, but instead teaching you how to eat in order to optimize health, function and longevity. He is best known for helping women with hypothyroid address the root cause and reduce symptoms, increase energy and improve body composition.

Connect with Josh and Tina on Instagram here, check out their website, and use this link to book a free discovery call.

More resources from this episode:

I love love love the meals from Sakara Life! Use this link and the code XOGINAH for 20% off their meal delivery and clean boutique items. This is something I do once a month as a lil treat to myself and the meals are always showstoppers.

If any of my fellow health professional friends are looking for another way to help their clients, I highly recommend IHP. You can also use this information to heal yourself and then go one to heal others, which I think is a beautiful mission. You can absolutely join if you don’t currently work in the health or fitness industry; many IHPs don’t begin on this path. They’re friends who are passionate to learn more about health and wellness, and want to share this information with those they love. You can do this as a passion, or start an entirely new career.

You can use my referral link here and the code FITNESSISTA for up to $250 off the Integrative Health Practitioner program. I highly recommend it! You can check out my review IHP Level 1 here and my review of Level 2 here.

I’m still obsessed with Read more

Sharing a holiday gift guide filled with ideas for your health and fitness-loving friends… or yourself. 

Hi friends! How are you? I hope you’re having a wonderful week so far! I taught at a fun event on campus yesterday and we had an amazing holiday dinner with friends.

For today’s post, I’m popping in to share some holiday gift ideas focused on health and wellness. I’m a huge believer that all you need to improve your health is a safe place to walk, some sneakers that fit well, a good water bottle, a plan, and the dedication to stick to the promises you make to yourself. All of these gadgets and extras are an expense, and definitely classified as “nice to have” instead of “need.” At the same time, they can be super fun, provide extra insight into what’s working in your routine, and the PERFECT thing to gift someone you love (including yourself!!)

Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite health and wellness gift ideas at various price points:

2023 Fitness and Health Gift Guide

Walking pad. I use my walking pad every.single.day and it’s such a great way to get in extra movement and steps, especially during long conference calls (when I don’t have to talk), emails, and watching modules.

HigherDOSE sauna blanket or PEMF Go Mat. These are two of my all-time favorite biohacking products. (You can use the code FITNESSISTA15 for 15% off)

Rebounder

An Aviron rower! This one is definitely a home gym investment, but I LOVE this thing. It’s so fun to row and be able to stream shows from Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Disney+. I can’t wait to watch the new Bridgerton season in the sauna blanket and on the rower. My review of the Aviron rower is here. 

Water purifier- We use Berkey and Clearly Filtered. We’re getting a Radiant Life whole house system this year!

Oura Ring. The Oura ring provides excellent data on sleep and recovery. You can check out my full review here. 

Air purifier! Clean air and clean water and some of the first