In this episode, Cheryl sits down with Brad Pitzele to unpack a long and complicated health journey that began with early autoimmune symptoms and escalated into psoriatic arthritis, debilitating fatigue, and eventually melanoma linked to immunosuppressive treatment.

Frustrated by a system that offered only escalating medications and limited answers, Brad began an intense period of self-experimentation and research. His turning point came after a Lyme disease diagnosis, one that helped connect years of seemingly unrelated symptoms. This ultimately pushed him deeper into understanding the root causes of chronic illness, especially the role of mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation.

From there, the conversation shifts into the tools that helped Brad reclaim his health, including exercise with oxygen therapy (EWOT) and red and near-infrared light therapy. He explains how both approaches work at a cellular level to improve oxygen delivery, support mitochondrial function, and reduce inflammation. Thseare are all mechanisms that have implications for conditions like chronic fatigue, autoimmune disease, multiple sclerosis and even cardiovascular health.

This episode is a deep dive into resilience, curiosity, and the power of continuing to search for answers when conventional paths fall short, offering both practical insight and hope for anyone navigating complex or unexplained health challenges.

Connect with Brad at One Thousand Roads.

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

Watch on YouTube

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

CONNECT WITH CHERYL

Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 

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Clean Beauty 20% off first order

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Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan and today I am joined by Brad Pitzley and we are going to talk about some of his health history. He has a really interesting background with some challenging diseases and scenarios that he went through. And you know, like many of the guests on the HealNursery podcast, he just has a health journey that he wants to share with people and kind of what ended up actually helping him. Because so often people go down these roads with

different conditions and they just have a lot of trouble finding out number one what it is, number two if there’s anything that can help them feel better or how to treat it. And so I think Brad’s going to have a lot of really interesting things to share with us today. So Brad, if you could just maybe start by, I don’t know how far in the way back machine you want to go, but kind of just, you know, give us a little bit about your health journey. And as we go along, I’m sure I’ll have some kind of questions to fill in for everyone.

Brad Pitzele (00:50)
Yeah, I had weird health things going on since grade school. I was diagnosed with psoriasis, but then I had other weird things that just kind of came and went. We’d go to the doctor, they’d give it a label. It would last for a while. There was no treatment for said label and then it would kind of just disappear and then I’d move on with life and then a year or six months or whatever, something else might pop up. But it really kind of started to come to a head.

Um, probably around 2010 or 11, I started to develop autoimmune arthritis, what was considered psoriatic arthritis, which is, it’s basically like rheumatoid arthritis, but it’s what you get with psoriasis. Um, and they started to test all sorts of different drugs on me. The first sets didn’t work. Then they put me on, um, some immune suppressive drugs. They gave me relief for like maybe six months and they’d start wearing off and they would double the dose and they’re.

I was kind of worse off when it wore off and then it would kind of bring me up a little bit. And then was kind of like I was taking a stair step into, you know, into a worse and worse place. And I was on those drugs for probably about two years. And then I developed melanoma. And that’s one of the side effects of the drugs is it’s got a high risk of cancer and specifically melanoma.

So that was kind of a, a jumping off point for me. I, during that period, I also started to develop weird other symptoms. Like I started to get stiffness in the back of my legs. had tremendous brain fog and energy issues. had pain in my feet and I would take this back to the rheumatologist and I’d be like, this is, is this part of the, this disease? assume. he was like, no, that’s not part of the disease. And I was kind of shocked and like, well, it feels like part of the disease. It’s kind of, you know, it’s just.

Cheryl McColgan (02:38)
All right.

Brad Pitzele (02:41)
another symptom of whatever’s going on with me. But he didn’t really acknowledge that. And then when I got cancer, I went back to him and I was like, Hey, you know, I’m really afraid I’m like, if I keep taking these drugs, more risk of cancer. I don’t take these drugs. I, you know, I die, cripple crumpled up in a ball in the corner, so to speak. And he was kind of like, no, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Yeah. I think we’re just going to try another drug in the, the, the same category.

And that was like, just started having alarm bells in my head. Just started shouting at me. was like, either path feels like it’s very bad. And I was a, I had a young children at the time. I was a relatively new father and that was even more scary. I was kind of the single income in the household. And I just started like, I’m like, what happens if these things happen to me to not just me, but my family. and that’s kind of when I started jumping off and like doing my own research and trying to figure out what I call a third path for

because neither of those really made sense to me.

Cheryl McColgan (03:40)
those both sound like

not very good options. I’m just kind of curious when you were going back to the doctor with these things, kind of two questions here actually. One, and I think I already know the answer, but one, were drugs the only answer that this doctor was able to give to you? And secondly, I think having the cancer being a known side effect of the drug is really interesting. you ever talk about what the mechanism there is or anything to know about that just for people with curiosity?

Brad Pitzele (04:07)
Yeah, so yeah, mostly it was drugs. He did also offer me injections of steroids into some of my joints. He was very skilled at it, because he said it was gonna be very painful. It wasn’t that painful, but steroids turn off your immune system. And it’s the same thing with some of the drugs I was on. One of them was a…

I won’t call brand name, but it was a TNF inhibitor. TNF stands for tumor necrosis factor. And it’s basically in a component of our immune system. And so there was some research done and they found that if they turned off that component of your immune system, hey, the pain and symptoms go away. Unfortunately, as the name alludes to, it kills tumors. when you turn it, we all have cancer in our

Cheryl McColgan (04:49)
Yeah

Brad Pitzele (04:52)
body. Like right now as we speak, everyone has it. It’s just our immune system is able to kill it off and so it never really gains a foothold. But once you start tipping the balance of the scales, obviously, you know, it can run amok. And that’s what happened in my case.

Cheryl McColgan (05:08)
Yeah, very interesting. also it just brings up so many other questions that I’ll have to go down a rabbit hole after we’re done with our conversation. But so you had these things, you didn’t have good relief, you were still having symptoms, then you got cancer. And I assume obviously you had to get treated for that at that point. Was that really the turning point for you to just be like, I’ve got to find some other way to manage this? How did how did things go from there?

Brad Pitzele (05:30)
Yeah, it was, and I’m not gonna tell you it was a fast turn for me. It took me several years. But I mean, from there, I just started reading anything I could. I read books, I was out on the internet, I was in chat groups talking to other people who had similar symptoms, Facebook groups, Googling on PubMed, looking at research, so many rabbit holes I ran down.

I was joking, I’m recovering engineer. ⁓ I got my undergraduate in mechanical engineering, so I’m very analytical by my nature, I suppose. Research didn’t scare me, and I just was reading anything I could. I wasn’t gonna…

Cheryl McColgan (05:55)
You

Brad Pitzele (06:07)
You know, wait for them to find something in the research and then try to translate it 20 years later. Like that does me no good. and I tried everything. I did a lot of self experimentation, everything from complete changes of diet, supplements, so many, mean, different modalities, all sorts of weird stuff. Sometimes my family looked at me pretty good side, I when they saw some of the stuff I was doing. but you know, when you’re, when you’re really desperate and.

things are getting worse and worse. And particularly when you also feel this responsibility and obligation to your family, you just, it’s not even just about you. You’re like, what do I do? I like, I’m gonna disappoint all these people and life is not gonna be good for them. I just told myself, I’m not allowed. know, like this is absolutely not allowed. This is not gonna happen, but it kept happening for a few more years. And then,

I ended up at a doctor’s office and he tried all sorts of things. Nothing was working. He was an MD, but he was non-insurance, so was integrative. And he was trying all sorts of alternate modalities on me. Even the things he was sure were gonna do anything, nothing was doing anything. He’s doing testing on me, nothing was popping. And then he suggested I do a Lyme disease test.

I remember thinking, I’m like, doctor, I don’t have Lyme disease. I’m like, I’ve never been bitten by one of these ticks. I’ve never had that bullseye rash thing. I’m thinking to myself, I don’t have that. But I was kind of like, you know what? And it was expensive test at the time. It was like 500 bucks. Insurance didn’t pay. But I was like, you know what? I’m gonna pay the 500 bucks. I’m gonna do the test so he can see it’s negative and we can get him off this Lyme thing. We can get to the real deal because it’s not Lyme.

And sure enough, it came back that I had Lyme disease and one of its co-infections called Bartonella, which is the infection that causes cat scratch disease as well. And I was so shocked. went back to him. was like, doc, what’s the chances this is a false positive? I don’t think I have it. And he was like, Brad, it’s a urine PCR, which means you have the DNA of those bacteria in your urine. What do you think is the chances it’s, it’s false positive? I’m like, got it.

Cheryl McColgan (08:12)
Not.

Brad Pitzele (08:14)
And that’s when it finally started to hit. ⁓

Cheryl McColgan (08:16)
Well, just for people that aren’t familiar, I think everybody’s kind of heard of Lyme disease at some point, maybe Bartonella, but what did that kind of mean to you at the time? Like I’m sure once you got that diagnosis, you wanted to learn more about it. Were you thinking that that explained some of the things that you had up to this point or how did that mesh into the whole symptom profile?

Brad Pitzele (08:36)
Life disease is incredibly challenging.

for a variety of reasons. One, it’s very difficult to get under control. There’s a lot of folks in America and across the world, quite frankly, suffering with it right now. The other reason it’s tough is there’s not a lot of doctors willing to treat it. There’s this whole stigma about it. What makes it particularly difficult is there’s this question on if it actually exists in some doctor’s head. It’s like the weirdest thing in the world.

We know there’s this infectious agent, we know it infects humans, and yet when a human comes to the doctor and says, I’ve been infected by it, they’re like, are you sure? And so you kind of get, I think the term I hear often is medical gas lit. And on top of that, doctors, for legal reasons, often don’t want to touch it. So my doctor didn’t want to touch it. And he was like, look, you have to go to a Lyme specialist three hours away.

I recommend him as best I can. And it was a long waiting list to get into this doctor’s office. And while I was waiting, just…

I was relentless, you I just couldn’t sit here and let myself deal with all this. It was a three month wait. And so I just started reading voraciously on Lyme disease to your point. was reading all sorts of research. I was reading books on it, a lot of books on the, like the science and what was happening to your body mechanically. And it was actually pretty eye opening because when I started to read all these symptoms, I was like, I started to piece together all these pieces, the puzzle that happened to me in my childhood, ⁓ things that happened

Cheryl McColgan (10:12)
Mm.

Brad Pitzele (10:13)
more recently, things that the rheumatologist couldn’t explain, but now we’re clear as day what was going on. And so the jigsaw puzzle started to fall into place for me. So it was kind of an epiphany from that perspective, yeah.

Cheryl McColgan (10:29)
Yeah, that’s got to be the waiting had to be one of the hardest things, I’m sure. then once you finally got to him, did he because he was specialized in Lyme specifically, did he have any solutions for you? Or then was it somewhere that you still had to go to go down the road?

Brad Pitzele (10:42)
No.

You know, the disappointing thing is, I ended up, the whole family was diagnosed with Lyme disease, not just me, my children and so forth. So we all carted in

In this episode, Cheryl interviews Dr. Christo Frangopoulos about how certain lifestyle factors related to cancer. Most people overlook one of the most powerful tools in preventing cancer: movement. Dr. Christo Frangopoulos reveals surprising facts about how simple lifestyle shifts, like breaking up sedentary time, can drastically cut your risk of cancer and boost your body’s ability to fight it. If you’re tired of just hearing “eat healthy and exercise,” this episode uncovers actionable strategies backed by the latest science to enhance your health span.

Discover why sitting is just as dangerous as smoking when it comes to cancer risk, and learn the practical tips to make movement a seamless part of your day. From how often to get up during work hours to the science of muscle-derived anti-cancer proteins called myokines, Dr. Christo shares insights that can change your approach to health.

We break down the true impact of sedentary behavior, the science behind autophagy and muscle contraction, and the critical role sleep plays in cellular repair and cancer prevention.You’ll also uncover: the truth about alcohol’s relationship with cancer, the importance of inflammation markers like CRP, and why maintaining consistent sleep and circadian rhythms is crucial for lowering risk.

This episode is perfect for anyone looking to take control, whether you’re battling family history or just want to live longer healthier lives.Dr. Christo Frangopoulos is an anesthesiologist, lifestyle medicine expert, and personal trainer known for integrating science-backed strategies to improve health outcomes across the U.S.

His insights on cancer prevention through lifestyle modifications are revolutionary yet accessible, making this a must-listen for health-conscious individuals and medical professionals alike.

Don’t miss this opportunity to turn simple daily habits into potent cancer-fighting tools. Your health journey starts with the right knowledge and this episode delivers it. Hit play now and learn how to reframe your lifestyle for longevity and resilience.

Visit Dr. Frangopoulos at AltasMD360.com

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

Watch on YouTube:

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

CONNECT WITH CHERYL

Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 

21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight 

Avaline Wines, Tested and Clean, Sugar Free

Drinking Ketones

Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life 

Clean Beauty 20% off first order

DIY Lashes 10% off 

NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow

Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life

Facebook

YouTube 

Pinterest

TikTok

Amazon Store

The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear

The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto

Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode

Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide

Episode transcript:

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of HealNurshGrow and today I’m really excited to be joined by Dr. Christo Frangopoulos and he is kindly letting me shorten his name to Dr. Chris or Chris, but he will introduce himself here in a moment. And why I really wanted to have Dr. Frangopoulos on today is because he is a board certified anesthesiologist. He’s also a lifestyle medicine doctor and he’s a personal trainer. So, you know, those are all things if you’re a listener to this podcast that I am super excited about and that I love to chat about.

take it from here and just introduce yourself and share with people what you’re all about and what you’re here to talk about today.

Christo (00:35)
Wonderful. Well, I just wanna say thank you so much for having me. This is an honor and I really hope we can reach at least a few people out there to make a difference with the information I’m going to be sharing with Cheryl. As Cheryl said, my name is Christof Rangaples. It’s much easier just to say Chris. I am an anesthesiologist for about a decade now. I have also got board certified in lifestyle medicine and a certified personal trainer and a lot of what I do

is share information that’s evidence-based and science-backed that can optimize people’s lifestyle. As a physician, I travel the country, I’m certified in about 10 different states, and the problem of healthcare is it’s everywhere. And the state of our nation can really utilize a change in how we attack our health.

And I think lifestyle medicine offers so many great tools and it’s super helpful. It’s not overly complicated and can make a huge difference.

Cheryl McColgan (01:39)
It’s so nice to have a doctor on that really appreciates that because I think so often, you we have more of a sick care system than health care system. And I’m sure that we’ll get into that a little bit more. But the fact that you are trained in lifestyle medicine, that you recognize the significance and the importance of it, I think is a huge step in the right direction for the medical field. So I’m so glad that you’re kind of promoting that and you have all that information on your website, all your good programs and continuing education. So I think that will be a huge benefit to the medical community. But one of the things that you’re

Christo (01:49)
Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cheryl McColgan (02:09)
particularly interested when your team reached out is around cancer. And some people that know me personally or know some of my work and some of my writing will know that I have a lot of cancer in my family. And it’s a big reason that I do a lot of the things that I do in my health and my life. So what what have you how did you become interested in cancer specifically? And then let’s start with like what your number one top lifestyle change people can do to prevent cancer.

Christo (02:39)
Sure. So as an anesthesiologist, you can imagine we see every sort of surgery from something simple to very complicated cancer cases. And over my years, I’ve seen a lot of cancer surgeries and how they’ve affected.

their families, their communities, and it really is a, it’s something that every one of us have experience with, whether it’s yourself or a family member or a friend or a coworker, we are all affected by cancer and it is everywhere. But the truth of the matter is a lot of lifestyle change can actually make a huge difference in our cancer rates across the country.

And most people probably don’t know this, but only about five to 10 % of cancers are from inherited gene mutations. Okay, so the other 90 % are often attributed to either a lifestyle or environmental exposures. So, you know, a lot of people think they’re destined to get cancer because their family member has a cancer or whatnot. That is a small chunk of cancer.

It is actually our lifestyle and environmental exposures that can affect getting cancer, how we respond to cancer, and the aftermath of that, either being successful in treatment or not. And there’s a lot of things we can do for it.

Cheryl McColgan (04:12)
Yeah, just to drive that point home, share that we were talking before we started recording and Dr. Christo was just kindly asking me if there was any, you know, thing to avoid around cancer because I had said that it’s a lot in my family and it’s been a while and it’s always going to be hard. But my dad, when I was around, he was one of the first runners in the running boom, always going to the health food store, did all these super healthy lifestyle behaviors before this was really popular. And so was quite shocking, you know, when he ended up having these multiple cancer diagnosis later in

But as a young man, he, we lived in the south, we live in Louisiana, and this is in the 70s before a lot of OSHA things and whatever, and he worked in chemical plants. And he was a chemist by trade. you know, so I’m pretty fully convinced that for him, it was those environmental factors that you spoke of. So in addition to being in an environment like that, that’s kind of an obvious situation. What are maybe some things that aren’t as obvious that people might be exposed to that they can limit in order to prevent cancer?

Christo (05:10)
Yeah, and not to scare anyone right now, but it’s kind of what we’re doing. We’re being sedentary, we’re sitting down right now. it is, sedentary behavior is ubiquitous in our culture, right? It’s how we do work every day. A lot of people sit at their desks in the office and there’s sometimes little movement. Well, we know a lot of things, what are causes of cancer and actually sedentary behavior.

Even if you meet all of the activity guidelines, sedentary behavior itself is an independent risk factor for getting cancer. Of course, there’s a bunch of numbers with these, but it’s something that a lot of people don’t even think about. And an easy solution is trying to get up and get moving every so often. For myself, am I stuck at an office or in an operating room case, in their long cases, I make sure I’m getting up.

every single hour on the hour, something I can remember just to get moving. And we’ll talk more in depth about this, but movement itself is as a prevention for not only cancer, but a number of other things. But yes, sedentary behavior is a big one that we really don’t think about very much. And a lot of us are exposed to that.

Cheryl McColgan (06:27)
Yeah, and I just want to I kind of want to build on something that you said just to make it super clear for people because I know this information, but if this is the first time somebody’s hearing it, they might not understand it. So I think the recommendation right now is correct me if I’m wrong, because I know you’ll know the right answer to this. It’s like 150 minutes per week of physical activity for most adults. Right. But you’re I think what you’re saying is, OK, say you do that. You go to the gym and you do your 150 minutes. That’s not the end. It’s actually been that eight hours that you’re sitting at your desk is still putting that on top

Christo (06:45)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yep.

Yes.

Yes, so you are correct. It is 100, so the physical activity guidelines is 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity activity per week. It could also be 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intensity activity or a combination of both knowing that one minute of vigorous intensity activity is equal to two minutes of moderate intensity activity. All that being aside.

150 minutes of moderate activity per week is the goal. It’s something easy to remember. But yes, this sedentary behavior is independent of that. So if you’re going to the gym and you’re hitting all your marks, it doesn’t give you license so much to go home and be a cash potato the rest of the day. And that’s kind of the idea here. When we look at all of these different factors, it really comes down to getting your blood flowing.

No, it’s more than that, that’s simplistic explanation. But the simple answer is get your butt up, get moving, get your blood flowing, and it’s something that we have to make it habitual. And again, we have such a sedentary lifestyle, it doesn’t mean we’re not doing anything, it just means that we’re sitting at a chair at the office, we’re at the desk all day, we’re typing on the computer. It’s just how our lives are built.

So we therefore have to change the environment around us to make sure that we aren’t so sedentary. And there’s a number of things that we can do for that.

Cheryl McColgan (08:30)
So what would be some of your favorite tips for people? mean, I think you mentioned saying getting up on the hour, everybody has a cell phone nowadays, so setting alarms or using apps. What are some other things besides that that people might do to kind of combat this sedentary behavior?

Christo (08:36)
Yeah. Yeah.

Sure, so that’s a big one for me. It’s something very easy to remember. On the hour, every hour, get up and get moving. Now if you’re at the office or if you’re somewhere where you’re not at home, make sure you are going to the restroom that’s farthest away from you, using the kitchen or water fountain that’s not close to you, walking up and down the stairs just to get moving. It doesn’t have to be difficult. It doesn’t have to be

You know, I have to meet these marks. The simple answer is just get up, get moving, incorporate it into your day that’s seamless. That’s something that easy to remember for you. Maybe it’s you have a favorite coffee station at the office, whatever may be, just try to make it make sure that you’re able to incorporate as much movement as you can.

Cheryl McColgan (09:37)
I think that’s really clear. So we want people to go to the gym. We want them to be strength training so they can prevent sarcopenia, maintain their muscle mass. That’s all great for metabolic health, but we also just need people to just get out of the chair from their desk or away from the TV and just move

Christo (09:44)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

one of the most simple things that we can be doing to prevent cancer. And of course, there is more to

exercise in cancer prevention. We’re talking about sedentary behavior, but it also can go from light to moderate activity, vagus activity, and then meeting the guidelines. They all have their unique benefits, and we can talk about that if you’d like.

But the sedentary behavior I think is just one of the most more shocking ones that people just may not know about

Cheryl McColgan (10:18)
Yes, totally agree with that statement from just getting moving because I think like I said before, people think they go to the gym and that’s good enough. That’s not that’s not the end of the story. But you did touch on one I would like to maybe chat about a little bit more. And that was the use of exercise maybe in a different way. So I was very focused on fasting for a while when Dr. Urashimo I’m going to mess up his name. I’ll put it in the show notes. But you know, when they first kind of discovered a Toshi back in 2016, and I learned about fast.

Christo (10:35)
Yeah.

You

Cheryl McColgan (10:47)
And

I was very focused on that for a while. But now that I’ve gotten older, my bigger concern is maintaining muscle mass as I get over the age of 50. And so I’ve kind of stopped that because I also learned that exercise actually promotes autophagy really strongly. And maybe I’ll just have you actually talk about autophagy in a more scientific way so that people understand its relation to cancer. So maybe if you could talk about that with exercise, that would be awesome.

Christo (11:13)
Yeah, so I think how I relate this is something called myokines. When we exercise, you get our bodies moving and our muscles are contracting, they release something called myokines into the bloodstream. The simple answer is myokines are anti-cancer proteins. And the more we contract our muscles, the more these anti-cancer agents are moving around our bloodstream and

not only are we able to more effectively kill cancer cells, it is something that’s going to...

In this conversation, Kiara Loucks shares her profound experiences during a health crisis that taught her the significance of community and support. She reflects on a moment of vulnerability when she had to rely on her husband for help and the intimate experience they shared before her surgery.

Kiara emphasizes the importance of allowing others to be there for us in times of need and how such situations can strengthen relationships and foster personal growth.

Outdoor retreats: heroutdorjourney.com

Kiara on Instagram @kiara.loucks

Takeaways

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

Watch on YouTube

Show Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Carol Nourish Grow, and today I’m joined by Kiara Lux. Kiara and I met this year when I competed in the fit model competition in Kentucky and she had the same coach that I did and ended up doing the same show. And I just immediately loved this woman. So what I learned.

about her journey and her health stuff I had to have her on. anyway, Kiara, welcome. If you could ⁓ just tell everyone a little bit about who you are and then we’ll get into some of your health journey. Because I think it’s really interesting and I think there’s a lot of things there that will help a lot of people.

Kiara Loucks (00:35)
Absolutely. First off, thank you so much for having me. I’m so honored to be here. My take on our meeting is very similar. I just fell in love with you from the second you texted me asking if I wanted sourdough. We had never met. You brought me sourdough. I was like, I don’t know her, but I love her. So yeah, I’ve had quite a wild journey. Health and fitness have been at the center of my journey.

Cheryl McColgan (00:43)
you

Kiara Loucks (00:57)
Really since I was young, I’ve been an athlete my whole life in different sports that have taken me all over the world and brought wonderful people like yourself into my life. Outside of professional athletics, I work in tech on my, like my nine to five, I work on Wall Street in paid media. And then I actually am now running an organization on the other side of that.

with all of the spare time called her outdoor journey, which is really focused on bridging the gap for women and families in the back country. So whether it’s survival, holistic wellness, it’s really this concept of community and education to get women and families outside, which is now actually evolving into co-ed opportunities. So in a very, very high level nutshell, that is me. My fitness journey was, I’m sure we’ll dive into it, but.

I don’t think you knew this, but I’m actually over 100 pounds down from my heaviest, so that was 11 years ago. Just, think, like most people, kind of gave up and had always wanted to compete, but it was a pipe dream that never had any real legs to it until it did. So really excited to dive in with you, and I’m just excited to be able to chat with you. You’re one of my favorite people.

Cheryl McColgan (02:04)
I know it’s

been I wanted to catch up for so long. And we just like you’ve been traveling so much and doing really exciting work with the project that you mentioned, and we’ll get into that. But before we go into all that, and we go into the weight loss thing, because that is definitely a subject that people are on this podcast are interested in. But I have to have you tell people, you to kind of just glossed over that whole professional athlete thing, tell people what you what your sport is, because I think it’s so wild.

Kiara Loucks (02:07)
I know.

Yeah,

so I’m kind of in this purgatory season right now, so not actually professionally competing in anything, but I’ve been a professional rower. I’ve been a professional bobsledder for the US and Canada. I’ve been a bodybuilder, Olympic weightlifter. We’ve been all over the map. Yeah, and I’m kind of getting back into the endurance side of things right now. I’m not done with bodybuilding or

Cheryl McColgan (02:43)
That’s the one.

Kiara Loucks (02:54)
Bodybuilding isn’t done with me yet, but we’re on a little hiatus. As you know, it kind of takes over your whole life. And I’ve lived a season for the last decade where sports is my whole life. So I’m kind of just turning my brain on for a little bit and creating and doing other things.

Cheryl McColgan (03:08)
Yeah, and I think that’s, it’s an interesting mindset being an athlete for most of your whole life. So you said though, at some point you kind of gave up, can you share a little bit more about that? Was there an injury? Was there something that happened in your life where things just shifted for you? And how did that go? And then how did you get back to where you are now?

Kiara Loucks (03:19)
Thank you.

Yeah, great question. You seem like the type that’s okay to go kind of deep and heavy off the rip because that’s just life. So I had actually signed a scholarship agreement with UC Santa Barbara to play softball ⁓ once I graduated high school. And my senior year in high school, I both broke my back quite literally to vertebrae on my back in a terrible sledding accident.

And then I also endured a sexual assault. So I was raped my senior year in high school. And those two, I think combined, just put me in a place I didn’t know how to cope. And so I learned growing up that food is comfort. And when we hurt, we self-soothe. And I didn’t have the tools in my toolkit to do that in a healthy way. So I started partying a lot, started eating a lot. And honestly, by the grace of God, I walked onto campus to try to rush for a sorority. I missed.

I missed rush, but I had walked by the rowing recruiter tent. And some young gal shouted at me. She was like, Hey, you have really big legs. Would you want to row? And I was like, simultaneously so offended and so flattered. I was like, let’s try it. And that opened this new avenue we’ve been on for the last decade. But prior to that, I just like, like I said, I had given up and food was really my reprieve.

from life.

Cheryl McColgan (04:47)
And I think a lot of people will be able to relate to that. And I’m so sorry that you had to go through that experience. Although often some of the great tragedies in our life really end up shaping who we are. And I think that that is definitely one of the reasons that’s contributed to you, you know, being so successful and being able to overcome all that. So, but anyway, definitely a heavy subject and thank you for being willing to share that with people. So after all that happened, you wrote in college and then let’s fast forward to like just

Kiara Loucks (04:59)
Delicious.

Agreed.

Mm-hmm.

Cheryl McColgan (05:16)
before we met because you had some pretty crazy health things and things happening in your life right before you decided to compete. So I’d love it if you’d kind of share that journey.

Kiara Loucks (05:27)
Yeah, so like I alluded to bodybuilding was a dream of mine for the last 12 years like I saw someone do it and thought it was the coolest thing and Never thought it was a realistic opportunity for me and then fast-forward lots of things changed and Decided actually a year ago that I was gonna get into bodybuilding and got into it locally it went swimmingly like I just Found a lot of success very quickly

But in an extremely unhealthy way working with a coach which bodybuilding is wrought with coaches who went pro and then think that they have the license to dictate someone else’s health. So went down that rabbit hole came out of we did four shows back to back to back to back. We blitzed last fall and did really well coming into the offseason after my last show in November of last year.

Cheryl McColgan (06:12)
a lot.

Kiara Loucks (06:20)
I was following my reverse diet to a T and was putting on weight extremely rapidly and Not only was it a mental Battle it was also physically feeling out of control of my body and on top of that I started bleeding Like non-stop started presenting pregnancy symptoms had no idea what was happening in my body had just kind of taken on its own life And so it was controlling all that I could

At first they thought I had cervical cancer and so we went kind of through some rounds of testing for that and then coming back in January This was like a three-month saga coming back in January found out I was pregnant and Then they thought I was having a miscarriage because I was bleeding the entire time. So I was extremely anemic I was just exhausted. I couldn’t really do much and I Would not give up training like that was the only thing I really had was just training and trying to be present for the holidays and so

After they thought I had a miscarriage, my HCG levels, which are the hormones present when you are pregnant, were actually going back up. And so it was end of January, or this year, that they found out I had an egg-topic pregnancy growing in my left ovary. And we were early enough that they had attempted to treat it with chemotherapy. So methotrexate is a chemotherapy procedure that they typically will try.

before they go to surgery as an intervention in order to try to get the cells to kind of reabsorb into the body. It stops everything from turning over, which my goober brain decided to still train, still try to move through all of it, even if that was just walking on the treadmill for most days. So was extremely humbling. But through that, I had one round of chemo, which was just hell for lack of a better term.

and then it ended up rupturing anyway. So by rupture, I mean I was internally bleeding, had come up with a fever in the midst of all of the chemo symptoms. So for those out there who are not privy to what that looks like, your body feels like it’s on fire. I couldn’t smile, I couldn’t chew, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn’t cry. Everything from my head to my neck to my back would just seize. And so in the midst of that, I popped a fever.

We went in and as we were walking into the ER, I was rupturing. And so they opened the OR middle of the night and had a surgical intervention for that. And then me being me, I needed something on the calendar. Maybe not the best way to cope, we’re learning, but I’ve always been someone that when I have something to shoot for, the in-between between here and there doesn’t really matter. We have a goal, we’re working towards something, we’re progressing, we’re…

Controlling our environment for lack of better term as well. So put a show on the calendar and decided to find a new coach because like I mentioned, my previous coach was not health conscious at all. And so I found Adam who’s just a godsend and was able to actually reverse some of my endometriosis symptoms, certain things through protocol with supplementation and food. It was a miracle and we started prep while I still had chemo in my system.

We were like hitting the ground running, let’s go. And that was beginning of February, March timeframe. And then we walked into the show that you and I met at, which was in Louisville. went well, not as well as I’d hoped, but it’s okay. It was still a blast and I met you. And then we did two shows right after that in Las Vegas and then in Chattanooga, Tennessee. So.

Cheryl McColgan (09:57)
and she’s leaving out that she won one of those shows, which I was not surprised because seeing you in person and now knowing everything that you went through leading up to that, mean, the amount of muscle that you have.

Kiara Loucks (09:59)
We did bring home Miss Nevada this year. I was very excited about that.

Cheryl McColgan (10:17)
is a testament to, I think something that people kind of lose sight of sometimes is that your muscle is a metabolic sink for a lot of things that it helps control your blood sugar. helps. It helps you survive times like what you went through. And I’m convinced that’s one reason my dad did so well with his cancer treatments over the years is because he was always really muscular. He was like Jack Lillane, basically my dad, he was like into that way before anyone else. So he’s never like huge, but he always was very concerned. He always lifted.

And so I would say, you know, do you feel like both your mentality as someone that was into fitness helped you as well as the fact that you were already in such good shape to start with? Because I think you just, the outcomes are so much better if you have some muscle.

Kiara Loucks (10:59)
Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I think twofold. The physical side of it, there’s research to support that muscle mass is an indicator of longevity and it’s also the best way to push off atrophy in the body as we age. So knowing that no matter what sport you’re doing, having lean muscle mass is going to always be a benefit. That’s kind of the first part and it allows your body to bounce back really quickly. Like you’re a lot more resistant to…

whatever life throws at you, whether it’s disease or acute injury. And so that’s kind of the first side. And then the second side is the mental side. So when I, know, as someone who’s been an athlete my whole life was told I can’t do anything, let alone like I can’t even walk on a treadmill. Mentally, I just crumbled. But then you realize and you’ll get this too, no matter what sport you do, or just lifting in general for people that just go to the gym to stay healthy.

It’s not easy and it hurts. Like you are training your body to deal with things that hurt knowing full well that you’re going to be better for it. And I think that was the privilege walking into my health situation last year was that mentality that I’m going to make it through this. It sucks and it really hurts. It’s not going to last forever. I guarantee it. And I’m going to be better on the other side of it, whether that’s mentally, emotionally, spiritually, or all of the above.

We’re going to be OK.

Cheryl McColgan (12:26)
And how so how did you get from the point? Where I mean, to me, like putting something like that on the books is just.

unbelievable. And then to see the shape that you showed up in, I mean, it was just unbelievable. So can you talk about your mental state during that time a little bit? Because I think there’s, you know, whether people are an athlete or not, I think there’s always something to be learned with mindset. And I think the more that you can share about maybe that part of that and how you, you know, seemingly made it through to the other side. I mean, nobody’s saying everything’s perfect all the time, but you still move through

Kiara Loucks (12:39)
Thank you.

Thank you.

Cheryl McColgan (13:04)
life,

you created these amazing goals, you are still working all this time. Talk a little bit about your mindset and how you, how do you overcome that hurdle like once you were on the chemo and doing all this really crazy health stuff.

Kiara Loucks (13:17)
That is such a good question.

Yeah, I think when life really kicks her teeth in, it’s usually there to teach us something. And I hate to be the person that’s like, it always happens for a reason, because it doesn’t always. But being able to take a really poopy situation and make meaning of it and find that meaning while you’re walking through it is really the best way to endure it. So for me, I’ve always been an incredibly independent woman. I don’t need anyone. I don’t need help.

and I never ask for help. And so my husband had just gotten out of the army. So we’re actually one year free as of two days ago on Veterans Day. And when he came back, we actually had a really hard time because I had kind of established this life where he was more of an accessory than a need. And I didn’t have an issue with that. In fact, when he got home, I reminded him that I didn’t need him. I want him.

And know, like all of these pieces that I think the intention was pure, but this chapter, the health chapter we’re talking about really taught me that other people need to be needed in our lives sometimes. And allowing space for that, I didn’t have an option. So there was literally a week where my husband had to help me go to the bathroom. And I still remember when we were in the OR.

We didn’t know we were going to go into surgery when we went into the ER and they basically threw a pack of ammonia wipes at us as they’re opening the OR because it was like you can die relatively quickly from internal bleeding. And so they threw this bag of ammonia wipes at us and it was such an intimate moment where they were like, all right, wipe yourself down like we’re going to go open the OR. We’ll be back. And my husband and I both took a wipe and we just started cleaning things off.

like prepping for surgery. And I’m standing there like, I know you’re not a believer, but I’m just gonna pray over us and the situation and where we’re going. And that whole evolution taught me it’s okay to need other people. And people in our lives are often eager for those situations where they can step up for us when we’re the ones typically stepping...

In this episode, Cheryl McColgan shares actionable insights on establishing sustainable habits, building strong foundational practices for health and wellness, and overcoming common challenges like overwhelm and inconsistency. Whether you’re starting out or looking to refine your routine, this conversation offers clear steps backed by research and personal experience.

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

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Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow. And today I wanted to chat with you about a new program that I just started. And it’s actually a whole little system called the Foundations series. So a lot of this came about because over the years, as you know, if you’ve watched some of my content before, I’m very focused on habits. My background is in psychology and I’ve been basically interested in health and wellness my entire adult life and have had

many different kind of jobs and coaching in this kind of area. And so it’s something that I’ve worked on for myself for a long time. It’s something I’ve worked with other people on for a long time. And it is the content that you see every day on Heal Nourish Grow all has something to do with these sorts of things. So when I thought about it more like how can I put this all these learnings and all the information that I have learned for myself over the last years and practice for so long, how can I put it into a foundational system

that will actually help other people without being overwhelming, being organized and get you to a place where you actually do these things. Cause I feel like a lot of people will say to me sometimes, well, I know what to do. I just don’t actually do it. And so part of that, I think is the overwhelm of it. Part of it’s just that life is so busy, you know, so many factors, but this really breaks it down into little buckets that you can focus on for a small period of time. And just again,

As I always talk about with habits, just starting really slow and building on them. And so that’s why I called it the foundation series, because it literally is the whole foundation, find foundational practices, foundational ideas that will really help you just build your life to meet your goals from there. So these very small things that you start with and creating this very strong foundation will really allow you then to create whatever it is that you want for your life, for your health, all of that.

So I feel like most people, again, they just don’t fail because they’re not trying or they don’t want to. It’s just they’re not really clear yet about their own priorities. Like they think that they know what’s important, but you know, quite often the choices that we make every day don’t match what we think are our priorities. So really identifying them and making them clear in your mind is a really big part of that. So the first thing I started with, with the health

of the situation because once you get your health in order, once you are able to sleep well, eat well, feel good in your body every single day, that also just helps everything with your mental health as well. focusing on these foundational principles that relate to your health that are small things you can do every day, I think really make it a lot less overwhelming than it might be otherwise. And so these are all just daily consistency.

low friction routines, creating things that are easy to repeat every single day.

Cheryl McColgan (02:45)
The very first part of the program is something that’s really in alignment with this time of year, which it happens to be January, 2026 when I’m recording this. And that is working on healthy habits as kind of a challenge for the new year, because people often make New Year’s resolutions. And usually by about this time, by about the end of January, a lot of those have already gone by the wayside, because quite often people just take on too much at once, rather than doing small

things over time and consistently building. really think that’s a much more sustainable way to approach habit change and to incorporating new healthy habits into your life. So the first thing is the free healthy habits challenge. It doesn’t have to be the beginning of the new year. Whenever you find this video, you can always start the healthy habits challenge. You just put in your email and then it’ll start a series of things that you do every single day. It will send you some worksheets. There are links to research that backs up these small practices like why they’re good for you and

what kinds of things it helps. And so you just try a new simple habit every day for 30 days. None of them take any more than 15 minutes. And you can always dive deeper into any of the subjects if you want. Like I said, there’s research links you can read, there’s journal prompts, but the minimum is just doing the habit that day, trying it out and then noticing if that’s something that you think would work well for you in your life that could really help you feel better, look better, perform better, all of those things.

And then ideally after the 30 days is finished, you identify some of those things that you tried that you really want to incorporate going forward for the next 90 days. And so that’s when I decided that I would actually create this whole other series of programs after the free healthy habits, because a lot of times it’s like, well, what’s next after you do that, you kind of, you know, it was great to try all that. And I do give direction in the healthy habits challenge. You’re identifying three to carry forward over 90 days. And you just really try to create that consistency.

But what if you wanted something that’s a little bit more structured and gives you more ideas about how to perform the habits that you’ve chosen, work towards your goals, all that. So that’s where the foundation series comes in.

Cheryl McColgan (04:46)
And so the first one that I decided to focus on, and again, if you’ve already are familiar with my content, this will not be a surprise. And that is protein, because once you get the protein foundation in place, identifying what’s optimal for your body and optimal for your goals, and then actually integrating that and hitting it every single day, that becomes the basis then for your whole nutrition plan.

So this first part, just focusing on protein is because it’s such an important building block in your body, it’s not the protein itself that we need. It is the amino acids that our body breaks down that we need for muscle, for metabolism. It creates more satiety makes it easier for you to feel full longer. And it is big in repair and recovery in your body. So having that proper amount.

on a consistent basis every day really just lays the foundation then for you to build your whole nutrition program. And that is the second foundation is nutrition. So that may sound, you we talked about proteins, obviously one of the major macro nutrients alongside carbohydrates and fat, but that whole thing is what really creates all of your nutrition. Like you can’t live on just protein. mean, you actually can. A lot of people do the carnivore diet these days, but for most people, that’s not a choice.

that they’re making, they want to create something that’s more balanced, that’s more sustainable, that’s easy to still be able to eat out, that’s still easy to go to events and not feel overwhelmed. And so the second foundation, once you have your protein amount in place that you’re going to create on that consistent basis, then you can start to focus on your overall diet. And so the nutrition thing really works with, it doesn’t matter what style of eating that you choose, it’s going to create something that’s balanced and that it’s in alignment with your goals.

And so that’s something that you’ll work on through the program is figuring out is your goal muscle gaining muscle. Is it losing fat? Is it just maintaining your current body weight? Is it maybe reducing inflammation in your body? So any one of those goals that you have will fit into this nutrition framework. So you’ll select those goals. You’re going to figure out your, macronutrients that work best for you. The protein part is always non-negotiable. That number

really never changes that much on a daily basis unless you have like a super hard workout or something that maybe you might go do a little extra for recovery purposes. But for the most part, that number will never change. And so then it becomes figuring out how to balance that and the carbohydrates in a way that make you feel good, that digest well, and that work with your goals. So that gives you a lot of flexibility. It really creates a way to think about things so that when you’re in an unfamiliar situation, you’re not

for yourself, you can still make really good choices and make things work for you. And again, a lot of this is things that people think that they know how to do or that they should do that kind of thing, but they don’t actually execute on a daily basis. And so that’s what the foundation system really helps with is creating that consistency. Again, it’s these small habits over time that build to help you get to your overall longer term goals. But you’ve got to get to those longer term goals. You have to work on those little parts of it every single day.

And so that’s really what this part of it is about. And then the last foundation is the strength foundation. And again, it’s something that you’ve heard me say before, and it’s something that I’ve come to appreciate a lot more now that I’m over 50. And that is that we really need to have some strength training in our life. And I know it’s a challenge for a lot of people, especially a lot of people in my age group, if you happen to be a woman.

⁓ There really wasn’t as much focus on strength training when I was younger I mean I got kind of lucky because I was exposed to it at young age through my dad and Then I did play sports in high school and college So I was in the weight room and I have probably more familiarity with it than a lot of women my age But I was in that same trap growing up in the 90s where it was all about, you know Being skinny was the thing and so I never really had a focus

on muscle is more just about, you know, maintaining my body weight. And I did that through running for 17 years, I kind of did almost the exact opposite of what is really good for your long term health as far as muscle mass anyway, I mean, ⁓ running and walking have a lot of great awesome heart and cardiovascular benefits, but it’s not so great in terms of building muscle. In fact, it often creates a body type where you don’t have nearly as much muscle. So

now that I am more educated and you know, you learn things over time and once you learn things, it’s hard to unsee the importance of it. And when you really think about muscle health in terms of your metabolism and in terms of just living well as you get older, you know, it’s a slow thing, right? That happens over years that you kind of have to just fight all the time and you don’t want to get to be

know, 70 years old and be so frail that you have a hard time getting out of the chair that you can’t do simple things like carry your own groceries in or shovel your driveway when you need to. had a lot of that here in the Midwest just recently in January 2026. So all that is to say that I think what creates maybe a little bit of fear or something in your mind about not wanting to do it as much is because we kind of envision this thing that we have to be in the gym.

five or six days a week, something like that to make it work. And you have to do a whole lot of strength training to make it work worthwhile. But after I’ve really taken a deep dive into this and done more studying and more learning, especially over the last three years focused on strength training is really that there is a minimum effective dose of strength training. And surprisingly, you can get most of the benefits that you can get out of training on a regular basis and just doing two full body work workouts per week.

I think twice per week is way, way less intimidating than the multiple times a week that many of us think of when we think about strength training. And it also then affords you to do many other kinds of physical activities that you might, that are more enjoyable, let’s say. So if it’s walking, hiking, biking, snowboarding, whatever it is for you, if you know that you only have to be strength training in the gym two days a week, I just feel like that mentally takes a lot of the stress off and it makes it seem

more doable. And again, it’s about creating these small habits. once you get into it, obviously, if you want to do more, there’s a little incremental benefit of that over two days a week. And there’s also, if you have very specific goals in relation to body composition or, you know, doing any kind of competitions or anything like that, then that program looks a little different. But all we’re talking about is what is the minimum effective dose for staying healthy and vibrant and strong into old age and just being able to take care of yourself. And that is really a strength training program that is two days a week.

So what I’ve done is I’m actually studying for my personal trainer certification right now. I haven’t taken the test yet. But the two days a week foundation, it’s really about like not creating this intimidation around the gym. Because I mentioned like for a lot of us women, especially in this particular age group, a gym can be very intimidating or just knowing how to use the machines or knowing what to do in the gym or going into the gym, seeing so many machines and this feeling overwhelmed because you’re not sure what to do.

That’s what this program is designed to counteract. If you’re more experienced, this definitely might be a little too basic for you, but this is really meant to take the person who has not been in the gym for a couple years, let’s say, or even if it’s been a year since you’ve been out of the gym, this might be totally appropriate because it’s just going to be a program like I said, is two days a week and it’s going to be simple and it’s going to have some videos to show you some things to do. It works if you’re working out from home with just a few simple tools.

So that’s what this part is. It’s designed to not create overwhelm and to just get you into the gym, get you into strength training and hopefully get you to realize the benefit of it. And then from there, obviously there’s so many more, more complex and more ⁓ extensive programs out there, but this is really just meant for if...

In this final session of the 30-day healthy habit challenge, Cheryl McColgan encourages participants to reflect on their journey and choose three habits to continue for the next 90 days. She emphasizes the importance of building consistency through small, manageable changes and aligning these habits with long-term goals. Cheryl also discusses the significance of flexibility in habit formation and encourages participants to map out their habits for greater success.

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

CONNECT WITH CHERYL

Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 

21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart: Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight 

Avaline Wines, Tested and Clean, Sugar Free

Drinking Ketones

Wild Pastures, Clean Meat to Your Doorstep 20% off for life 

Clean Beauty 20% off first order

DIY Lashes 10% off 

NIRA at Home Laser for Wrinkles 10% off or current promo with code HealNourishGrow

Instagram for daily stories with recipes, what I eat in a day and what’s going on in life

Facebook

YouTube 

Pinterest

TikTok

Amazon Store

The Shoe Fairy Competition Gear

The Complete Beginners Guide to Keto

Getting Started with Keto Podcast Episode

Getting Started with Keto Resource Guide

Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of FeelNourishGrow and welcome to day 30 of the 30 day healthy habit challenge. You made it to the end and I’m so excited to be here with you for this last day and to hopefully hear all about some of your challenges, some of your wins. I would love it if you would respond to the email after the challenge is finished and just let me know how it went for you. I am always rooting for you. But anyway, for the final day, it’s another kind of reflection thing.

but it’s more future focused. I want you to choose three habits to continue for the next 90 days. So if you discovered there was a particular habit during this challenge, you did a lot of the reflection and reset throughout the challenge, and there were probably ones that you noticed that worked really well for you or that you thought, okay, this is a good habit. I can see this really helping me in my everyday life. Go back to those and commit to doing it every day for the next 90 days.

So ideally, I’d love for you to keep moving for 10 minutes every single day. Maybe it turns into 15, maybe it turns into 20, maybe it turns into going to the gym. These are the way that habits build. We keep doing these small little wins over time, and that’s how you create really big change. So choose those three habits for the next 90 days and set tiny minimums for each one. So you want it to be really specific with yourself what it is that you’re intending to do for those three habits. So again, if I mentioned movement is the one that you want to continue, you could keep it at 10 minutes.

Or you can say for the next 90 days, I’m going to do for the first 30 days, I’m going to do 10 minutes a day. For the second 30 days, I’m going to do 15 minutes a day. And for the third 30 days, I’m going to do 20 minutes a day, whatever it is for you. But making it specific, making it something that you meant to and making it something that’s still relatively small so that you’re going to maintain it. Because at the end of this next 90 days, I want you to set you up for another really big win where you prove to yourself that you can trust yourself.

and that you can make changes and you can create new habits that actually stick. So again, create the minimum, but let’s do three. Over the next 30 days, hopefully some of these habits have turned into a lifestyle. The focus involved with doing little challenges like this just builds like confidence in yourself and it beats perfection. We’re not looking, we can’t all be perfect all the time. We’ve got to just go for sustainability. And that is really how I’ve been able to like.

create these habits for myself that people always talk about me being so disciplined, that kind of thing. It really all started like this, just small little things. Whenever I get onto a new thing that I want to try, I’ve taught myself that if I go big in the beginning, I might be able to stick with it for a little while, but quite often I crash and burn or I just get burned out on whatever it is. But if I start adding it in a little bit of a time, that really creates more of a habit. A great example of this for me, I’ve had many of

exercise things over the years. think I mentioned previously in this challenge, I was a runner for 17 years. Obviously, I just didn’t go out the door one day and run a marathon. It took small changes over time and building consistency. The same thing now where I’ve really been on my streak with strength training is that when I initially started, I told myself, okay, I’m only going to go three days a week, half an hour max. I’m just going to get in the gym, mess around with the machines. That’s going to be a good enough start. Created that consistency mark for myself.

and that kept building and building over time to where now it’s almost like I can’t, in a way, don’t, I mean, I know it’s not that I don’t want to, sometimes your body needs a break and I build in rest days and all that, but I actually feel guilty now if I think about one day where I’m not feeling like going to the gym, it’s like, it’s a habit now, I have to do it. That’s basically how it’s turned out. these.

Consistency things over time is really where you create this thing where you almost feel like it’s just automatic and it doesn’t feel like you need to back out of it or should back out of it. It just becomes purely a habit. So that’s just one example, but it could also be food or sleep. You know, the same thing when I started keto, I didn’t just one day decide to start eating no carbs. I cut it back over time. I didn’t necessarily go cold turkey.

That’s all to say that it all starts with these little things. So pick three things that you feel are really going to feed into your long term goals. And if you haven’t done it yet, this might be a really good time to do that core values and goals worksheet. If this speaks to you, it’s if you go to the website and search ultimate wellness, what is ultimate wellness? The sheet, the link for the sheet is in there and I’ll just walk you through some cues and some questions.

to learn more about what is it they’re all about? What are your core values? And that’s how you create these longer term goals. And then you set these little habits in line to eventually reach those. So if you’re going to do something anyway for the next 90 days, that’s also a great time to do that exercise so that you can start to create these habits that are gonna get you to your five year goal, your 10 year goal, stuff like that. So if you’re wondering to like where to start with picking three, how do you narrow it down?

consider this, this is one option for you. Pick one that’s a movement habit, pick one that’s a mindset habit, and pick one that’s a food or sleep habit, and start with that. Write down the minimum for each of those, and then that’s your thing for the 90 days. Develop some cues around this. So when and where each habit is going to happen. And of course, you can be flexible. There might be days where if you say, okay, I like working out in the morning, I’m work out, I’m gonna do my 10 minutes of movement, first thing when I wake up.

Well, maybe one day for whatever reason that can’t happen. We can be flexible, of course. But mapping it out, putting it your calendar or having the intention to do it at a specific time every day or stacked with another habit that makes sense, that’ll just set you up for even more success. So again, it’s not that we’re not being flexible, but really giving yourself those cues about when and where this is supposed to happen. That way when you see the cue or go to the spot where it’s supposed to happen, will remind you.

that strengthen that habit over time, that that’s where it’s supposed to be. I think that is finally about it for us for this habit challenge. I hope that you got something out of it. I’d love to hear what you learned. I’d love to hear what worked for you, what didn’t work for you, what were your challenges, what were your big wins. As always, if you’re finding this later and you’re like, my God, the challenge is over. It’s not, you can start it at any time. I’ve designed this so that you sign up for the email.

and it’ll send you the series day by day whenever you get started. So whenever you find this, it’s available to you. It’s healnourishgrow.com slash habits. So I’ve said every day, I’ll see you tomorrow, but this time I won’t. I’m still be around on all my channels, all my socials on YouTube, but I’m not gonna have an everyday message to you for a little bit, hoping to get the podcast back on regular schedule, once a week releases, interviews with interesting people in the health and wellness space.

and me talking about whatever random topic of the day that I’ve turned into a research project for myself basically. But yeah, that’s about it. So I will see you somewhere down the road and I hope to hear from you. Take care. Bye bye.

In today’s episode, Cheryl guides you through one of the most important parts of building lasting habits: reflection. As the challenge nears the end, this is a chance to look back on the entire experience and notice what actually shifted for you.

Cheryl explains how reflection helps reinforce progress, identify what worked, and spot what did not work without judgment. Today’s habit is simple and quick, but powerful. You are going to write a few notes about what changed, what you learned, and what you want to carry forward. The goal is not perfection. It is awareness, progress, and building a sustainable approach to healthy habits that fits into real life.

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Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 29 of the 30 Days of Healthy Habits Challenge. So we’re getting here towards the end and it is time to reflect again. So this will be similar to some of the reflect and resets that we did throughout the challenge on each seventh day. But today we want to reflect on what has changed this whole.

So what is it that you’ve learned from this challenge? What things changed for you? Did you enjoy moving every day? Did you discover a form of movement that brings you some joy while you’re doing it? I want you to write three quick notes about what changed today. So just the minimum, two or three things. Reflection helps you reinforce the progress that you’ve made and helps you notice what is actually working and also maybe what is not working.

So as you’re reflecting, can write down really any thoughts that you have around this, but at least three bullet points is what I’d like for you to come up with that changed. And we also see that there’s some evidence that your brain can see there was a change, that this wasn’t all for nothing, that it wasn’t just another exercise in futility, but things actually did change or shift. And so even if you weren’t perfect every single day, even if you missed some of the days, this was never meant to be about.

Perfect, right? Like when I said from the outset, I don’t want this to be something like a challenge that’s like 75 hardware, you miss something, you have to start all over, it’s really punitive. And I think there are obviously some advantages to those kinds of challenges as well, but this is just something to ease you in to making changes and to learn how the best way to make sustainable habits is to make small changes, small increments.

note your progress, really create it in a way that works, that can fit into a busy schedule, but that you’re still actually making changes and making progress along the way. Notice, maybe look at your tracker, if you need help thinking about things that worked or didn’t work, notice how consistent you were or lack of consistency if that’s the case. Again, we’re not judging here, we’re just noticing and hopefully thinking about some things that would carry well into your future.

As always, the links for the research are in your tracker and in today’s email. And if you haven’t signed up, if you’re just finding this and you’re like, what is this whole challenge all about? Just go to heelnourishgrow.com slash habits, and you can join anytime. So that is it for today 29. And I will be back with you one last time tomorrow for the habits and the final day. So get ready.

In today’s episode, Cheryl returns to one of the most impactful habits for long-term wellbeing: connection. In a world where so much communication happens through texts and social media, it is easy to feel socially connected without actually getting the benefits of real support and real interaction.

Cheryl explains why true connection is closely tied to both mental and physical health, and why it is worth repeating this habit later in the challenge. Today’s focus is about moving beyond good intentions and turning connection into an actual plan by putting something social or supportive on the calendar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BnlCHBdhGc[k/embedyt]

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Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey, everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to day 28 of the 30 Days Healthy Habits Challenge. Today, we’re going back to connection. We did this earlier in the challenge, but I think it’s important to hit on it again because in this day and age where everything has become text and social media and learning things about your friends and people in that way sometimes, reaching out and making true connections is becoming more more valuable. And it is so related to good health, good mental health, good physical health.

Thank you.

Bro.

community a strong support group.

people finding new people to connect with. And so today’s habit is

make it happen. So it’s going to be a social or supportive thing on the calendar. I would say that this could be, you know, an event, a social meeting with a person that you already know, or if we’re calling it a supportive thing, it could be more like seeking out a book club or a support group or a way to meet new people. So either one that you choose and one may be easier the other depending on if you’re introverted or extroverted, but you’re going to do one thing.

like that. So it’ll be to schedule this social time, you’re gonna get real support in real time, hopefully boost some happiness, get a few laughs. And putting it on the calendar turns this intention into an actual plan. The planning part is key because we all have intentions, right? How many times does somebody say to you, we should get together, but they don’t actually make a date or make a plan for doing to you.

and mental health and physical health. So one of the things that you can choose to do if you want to be mental health and physical health is to do something like make a walking date. Just take a walk with a friend, go for a walk in nature, go for a walk on the treadmill next to each other, but somewhere that you can talk and interact and actually have real connection. You can go for a coffee. It could even be a phone call if you can’t get together in person, but set aside time that you’re actually going to do it. And both people have availability. Yeah. So time and date.

leave it as, some time is not okay. It’s gotta be a plan, it’s gotta be on the calendar, it’s gotta be like, map. If it’s something that you can’t accomplish this week, I just want you to get on the calendar. It can be something in the future, but I really want you to intend to treat it as part of the calendar, actually do it. But if you can’t, this first day or tomorrow, actually have that interaction, have that schedule time with somebody, the sooner the better. There’s no time like the present, right? As always, the reason

links will be in your tracker and in today’s email. And if you’re finding this in the future on YouTube or on the podcast, you can sign up at any time. doesn’t matter when you find this. It’s heelnourishgrow.com slash habits. And that is it for today. As always, I will see you again tomorrow. We’re getting closer towards the end.

In today’s episode, Cheryl shares a simple but powerful habit that can completely change how you handle stress, conflict, and emotional triggers. The focus is on building a short pause between what happens and how you respond, even if it is something small like a frustrating comment, an anxiety spike, or an email that instantly sets you off.

Cheryl explains how taking just 10 seconds can reduce rumination, support more consistent decision-making, and help you respond in a way that aligns with the person you want to be, not just your first impulse. She also offers an easy cue phrase you can use in the moment, plus a beginner-friendly option if 10 seconds feels too hard.

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Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nurse Grow and welcome to day 20.

I call it a practice because this one is tough sometimes. It’s something that I have been practicing for a long time in my own life. And that is to today, your habit is to pause before reacting for 10 seconds. So a great example of this is usually

better word triggers you or makes you anxious or makes you frustrated. And you may want to just react in that moment. And quite often what you’ll find is if you just take a pause, a couple deep breaths are useful here as well, but take a pause, give yourself a moment to think, give yourself a moment to feel where that comment or conflict or whatever it was, where it landed in your body, where you’re feeling it and just take a deep breath and then respond.

And so why this is good.

And it’s going to reduce rumination, which is that idea that you just keep playing something over and over in your head. All of this is going to support consistency and create a space between the stimulus and the response. And this usually leads to better choices or better interactions. Another thing, you know, I’m talking about reacting with someone else, but it could also be that you’re alone. It’s a personal thing that you’re just reacting to in the moment. So that’s a

time to again, take some time, take a deep breath and just let it settle and figure out what you’re really thinking about it rather than just your initial knee jerk response. Because it could come in the form of an email or something that just happens to you and you’re just anxious and caught up in the moment. Just give yourself a beat. Pause, breathe, and then choose. That’s like a cue phrase. So along with this habit today to take that pause, think of pause, breathe, and choose.

what I like to do with a pause. And it’s funny that my my ex actually noticed this about me which I thought was pretty perceptive because if you would say something that was

A heavy sigh like.

and then just breathe a couple times and then I would respond. So maybe you don’t want to make it so audible or so obvious because this person in my life did notice this, but you could even say, you know, your thing about pause, breathe, then choose. It could be even a choice to say, I need a moment to think this over. I may need a moment to process this. Something like that that gives you just the time.

to go ahead and take that deep breath and to give it some reflection before responding. So if 10 seconds seems too long to you, let’s start with five, as this challenge has gone the whole way.

make yourself work towards up towards bigger habits, bigger goals, you know, everything like that. The small things will just make it seem more simple and less stressful on you. So if 10 seconds is too long, go for five. As always, the research will be in the email and in the tracker and you can join at any time by going to healnursegro.com. So if you find whatever you find it in the future, please join and you’ll get to take advantage of learning all these fun

new things that can help you get to your goals. So I will see you again tomorrow.

In today’s episode, Cheryl revisits one of the most important stress-related topics in the challenge: money. Since financial strain is a major source of anxiety for many people, today’s habit focuses on taking one small action that supports your future financial wellbeing.

Cheryl explains why progress on financial goals is linked to better overall health and stability, and she shares simple, realistic examples you can complete in 10 minutes or less. The goal is not to build a full budget or overhaul your finances. It is to make a quick “future you” move that reduces stress, creates more control, and supports your ability to stay consistent with other healthy habits.

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

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Cheryl McColgan (00:00)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan founder of Heal Nourish Grow, and welcome to day 26 of the 30 Days Healthy Habits Challenge. Today we’re back to money. We did this one habit earlier in the challenge and we’re coming back to it again because as we learned from the previous one, if you read any of the research or just listened to the podcast from before, that money is ⁓ quite a source of stress for a lot of people and this is no surprise, right?

But it does show in the literature that making progress, making financial goals and taking some of your financial stress away actually creates greater wellbeing. It just helps you feel more settled, less anxious, less stressed. So addressing money things now and again is a good idea.

Cheryl McColgan (00:45)
obviously I think we should be considering what we’re consuming, what we’re spending money on, that sort of thing every single day. But when you’re doing these future plans or kind of more extended timeframe things for savings, that’s maybe not something that you’re thinking every single day. So I didn’t mean to say that, obviously you shouldn’t be focusing on spending on a daily basis, but these kind of larger goals might be something that’s more a once a week, once a month sort of thing.

So back to today’s habit is to make one future you money move today. And so this is going to be something that lowers financial strain and just gives you stronger financial capability in the future. And that’s all associated with better health and wellbeing. It reduces stress, as I said before, creates stability and having stability and having control of your finances supports other healthy habits as well. It gives you the finances and the ability to invest.

in other areas of your health if you need to. And it also having less stress in your life makes all the behaviors easier to repeat when you don’t have stress cropping up. So to give you some examples to make this easier, do something like set up an auto-save program at your bank or on an app. So taking $10, $20, $1,000, whatever works in your particular financial situation to automatically save each month. Automated bill.

have a bill or two or all of them that are scheduled to pay every single month so that it takes the stress off of you remembering to send a check or to submit your payment online. Maybe increase your retirement contribution by 1%. This is an area that I’m really interested in because I have always been involved in some degree and both my partners have been in finance and I actually ended up doing a speech about it in college. But the compounding

Interest is such a huge thing the earlier you start saving even if it’s a small amount and then I say earlier I’m like the younger that you start saying your that money just has more time to double and double and double again over time With the you know compounding interest and if you start saving much later in life It doesn’t have as much time to grow now That’s not to say you still can’t start because like every all of this you can start any time But the younger that you start saving the better it’ll just set you up much more in the future for having some

again, gains without having to do anything else. The once in the money is in there and it’s growing with interest, it just keeps building on itself. If the automation seems too much, maybe it’s something like setting yourself a calendar reminder or writing a small financial plan, maybe for the next week or the next month. So we’re doing it in 10 minutes or less. We’re not making a spreadsheet here or creating an empire of things. Of course, if you want to do that at some point, I think that’s awesome.

But this is just meant to be, again, a small, doable habit that doesn’t turn you off from it. So setting up an automation, something quick like that, or setting aside more money to save is a good choice here. So if it’s triggering too much stress, just do a small step, something in relation to it, and then stop. And you can always come back to this at a later date or give it some further thought when it comes for the weekly reset and reflect. As always, the studies are linked.

in the email that you received and in your tracker. And if you haven’t joined yet, that link to join is heelnourishgrow.com slash habits, you can join anytime. It’s never too late. That’s probably the theme of this series so far. But hope you enjoyed this and I will see you again tomorrow.

In this conversation, Cheryl McColgan emphasizes the importance of strength training for overall health, particularly as we age. She discusses how even short sessions can be effective and encourages listeners to incorporate strength and stability exercises into their routines.

Cheryl highlights the benefits of consistency and the need to challenge oneself with appropriate weights to stimulate muscle growth. She also addresses common misconceptions about strength training and reassures listeners that it’s never too late to start.

Disclaimer: Links may contain affiliate links, which means we may get paid a commission at no additional cost to you if you purchase through this page. Read our full disclosure here.

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Shop all my healthy lifestyle favorites, lots of discounts! 

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Cheryl McColgan (00:01.902)
Hey everyone, I’m Cheryl McColgan, founder of Heal Nourish Grow and welcome to a day 25 of your 30 day healthy habits challenge. This is one I’ve been waiting for to send to the very end here the last few days and that is to challenge you to do a short strength or stability session. So this is not going to require any equipment. It’s not going to require going to the gym or anything like that. But I just want you to try it if this is something that you don’t do on a regular basis.

because strength training has just so related to so many aspects of health. There’s more and more stuff coming about all the time. It is maybe more important than strict cardio for a lot of reasons, but it supports again, functional health, just moving around on a day-to-day basis. And it’s a lot of longer term, less health risks when you strength train. So strength and stability, it all supports healthy aging, it supports confidence and just again, your function in daily life. I always say,

you I’m training to be able to get off the toilet by myself when I get older because these are the kind of things that people lose the ability to do because they lose the strength in their legs. And that is just crazy scary. Also short short sessions are easier to maintain and it builds this consistency, which is an awesome thing for habit building. I’ve actually been following along with this other podcast recently called mind pump. I’m pretty sure that’s right. Like 99.9 % sure. But anyway, these guys have been

training people for years and years and years and just a great collective wealth of knowledge. And they have programs that are just 15 minutes a day. Now people do them six days a week for strength training, but that 15 minutes a day, it supports the habit, keeps the habit going. And it’s enough time if you do for 15 minutes, you probably do two to three sets of some strength training exercise, kind of a full body.

idea and they’re doing all the big lifts like deadlifts, squats, lunges, that sorts of thing. I don’t have their program unfortunately, but that’s the idea behind it is supporting this daily habit, doing it an amount of time that doesn’t scare people off and that people can fit into their schedule. And that’s all it takes to build strength. You can build strength with that little of strength training a day. And actually if you didn’t want to do it 15 minutes a day, like if you would have to go to a gym to do this and that seems like, oh, that’s a lot of

Cheryl McColgan (02:26.766)
driving time to go to the gym for just 15 minutes of work, even just two days a week of a longer strength training session that hits all parts of your body is enough to get 80 % of the 80 to 90 % of the strength that you’re going to get anyway. It comes from just two days a week. You’re hitting your muscles two days a week. You’re waking up the muscles two days a week. You’re stimulating the muscles to grow by lifting heavy enough that it puts a signal in your body to grow.

If you’re just doing something little and repetitive, that’s not a signal for the body to grow. That’s why you got to lift heavy for you. People get scared when they hear lift heavy because they think it means, you know, for example, that I would go pick up a 200 pound, you know, barbell off the floor. No, that is not. That’s too heavy for me. Right. I’ve got to do what’s heavy for me. And that means something that I can pick up and do maybe six, eight, 10, 12 reps. That’s the kind of range that’s really good for strength building and growing muscle.

And so you want to just do something that’s heavy enough for you doing these little two pound weights. If you’re, you know, even the average woman that might that even if it’s heavy for her, like for a week or two, that’s very quickly going to be too little of weight to cause any real change. So sorry for the little that was a bit tangential, but I just to get the idea of you definitely want to do it. If you’re going to go ahead and do it, like at least give yourself enough.

of a challenge that it makes some difference. Now, all that being said, I said you don’t need any equipment for this one and you don’t because especially if this is completely new to you doing body weight exercises and things at home are going to be plenty of new stimulus for you to try. If you already lift, you already have access to a gym, then I would just maybe challenge you to try a couple of exercises that you haven’t, don’t normally do or you don’t normally.

or maybe if you already strength train, you don’t have the stability part as much, maybe you’re gonna try some stability work for this part of the challenge. So just choose like a little, you can make a little circuit mentally for yourself that you’re gonna spend 10 minutes doing this. And so again, if you don’t have any equipment home or anything, maybe it’s an odd and you can just do this if you find it too stressful to think about figuring this out for yourself. Air squats, so just body weight squats. And if you don’t recognize any of these things, if you look here on look on YouTube,

Cheryl McColgan (04:47.554)
You’ll find plenty of videos that will demonstrate this for you, but simple body weight squats you can do sit to stand. So if you are worried that even a squat might be too much for you or too stressful, you want to just literally lower yourself down slowly to a chair and then bring yourself back up using the strength of your legs. So not pushing off with your, know, really using the strength of your body and your core to push you back up out of the chair. You can do some hinge work. So just literally

bending over or if you have milk jugs or soup cans or things like that in the house, if it’s just way too easy for you bending over pretending you’re gonna pick something off the floor, maybe actually have some milk jugs, something like that. And then you could also do pushups. Everybody knows what that looks like. You can do pushups against the wall if you’re not very strong. And if you’re already very strong, you can just do pushups as many as you can in a row would be a great challenge. also wall sits like literally

bending so that your quads, your quadriceps, the tops, your thighs are parallel to the floor and leaning your back against the wall and just sitting there. That’s an isometric exercise, also very strengthening. So those are all just it. So just 10 minutes, you’re gonna move your body in some ways you haven’t tried yet. If you’re looking to create stability, some balance types of things, most people don’t do those on a regular basis. It would always be surprising to me when I was in yoga class, we’d have.

obviously a whole section of that that was balance of balancing on one leg in some way, whether it’s stretching at the same time, holding a foot while you’re balancing on one leg or just simply balancing on one leg without the stability of a wall, something like that could be a good option for this part of the challenge too. So there shouldn’t be too much concern about figuring something out because there’s so many videos online now and just

Don’t pick anything that looks crazy or out of whack or too, too challenging. Just, you know, pick something that makes sense for where you are in your body right now and your current strength and skill level and just make it a little challenging. Maybe make it something new. But getting out of your comfort zone in regards to strength training, think particularly for some women, this is still a barrier. And it’s just such a shame because the

Cheryl McColgan (07:03.362)
things that happen with old age, especially to us women, bone loss, bone density, osteoporosis, osteopenia, all of that can be prevented and reversed. There’s some excellent data on reversing osteopenia and osteoporosis through strength training. So that’s pretty amazing. then sarcopenia, that is the loss of muscle mass as we get older. And if you don’t move, if you don’t put that stress on your muscles, we just continually lose muscle mass.

as we get older and older and become that’s how we become frail. That’s how people are not able to get off the toilet by themselves. That’s how people, you know, quit moving their bodies because they don’t have the strength to anymore. Again, though, this can all be reversed. I think that’s amazing news. But what I’d really love for you to happen is if you can make it a habit now.

and get as strong as you can now. Hey, believe me, it all, it all goes downhill. It’s all fightable. It’s all reversible, but the older you get, the more challenging it gets for a number of reasons. It gets more challenging mentally. gets more, you know, your time is, uh, tends to be more valuable just cause you’re busier as you get older, more demanding job, children, things like that. So whatever age you are now though, it is not too late. It’s not never too late to get started with strength training. You’ve just got to make it appropriate for where your body is now.

and make it consistent. And like I said, if you’re going to do it every day, that is totally fine. Keep it shorter if you’re doing it every day. And if you’re nervous, you can always hire a trainer or like I said, look at videos online, practice the movement at home, feel confident in the movement before you take it to a gym or like I said, hire a trainer. That’s always a good option so that you have somebody that’s there with you that can just guide you and walk you through it and teach you how to use machines, things like that.

So anyway, that is your challenge for today. I hope you enjoy moving your body in this way and challenging yourself. Like I said, make sure you, if you’re using weights in this little part of the challenge, make sure you pick up something heavy enough that’s actually challenging for you. Don’t just like move some little two pound weights around and think that that’s enough. We’re going to like actually try to stimulate some muscle protein synthesis here. So anyway, that is it for today and I will see you again tomorrow.