In episode 152 of the Fit Strong women Over 50 Podcast, Jill and Chris speak with Becoming Elli member, Maria Molvin about how she finds strategies to stay healthy and fit as she ages.

Balancing work, family obligations, focusing on healthy eating, prioritizing sleep, and finding time to be active can be challenging. Maria lives in Northeast Ohio with her husband. She takes advantage of all the great local metro parks and the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to walk and hike.

We discussed:

• How Maria relies on habits over willpower and discipline
• How she uses her home gym. She has an elliptical. treadmill, stationery bike, and a weight bench.
• Why she gets on her stationary bike for 10 minutes each morning
• Her full workout routines and how they help her reduce stress after from working from home all day
• Strength training with bicep curls and skull crushers
• Overcoming a sleep disorder by prioritizing sleep. Maria makes sure she sleeps in a dark room, puts away her phone before bed, listens to yoga Nidra recordings, takes CBD and goes to sleep at about the same time each night.
• What she does to offset her joint hyper mobility. Although she became a Yoga Instructor, now she does not work out for flexibility. Instead she focuses on functional movements, like standing on one foot to increase her balance.
• How she considers herself an "all-weather walker" and dresses for the conditions.
• Why taking belly dancing lessons was such a fun way to exercise
• Looking into the FODMAPS diet - the elimination diet where she found out about sensitivities to onions, garlic, beans and legumes
• Big salads at lunch, chicken breasts in the air fryer and grilled chicken/shrimp with seamed or roasted vegges for dinner
• Her advice for women who want start adapting for health: pick one thing you want to change and get good at adding that habit (or eliminating that bad habit.)

For more information visit our website at BecomingElli.com