"I'm not convinced anymore that things are strictly right or wrong—we have to find our own pathway. Yes, I'm trained to help people explore but discovery is an individual process. Instead of saying practices are right or wrong, consider how you can be kind to yourself in these areas." - Dr. Tonia Winchester

Have you ever wondered what it really takes to be healthy and well?

Maybe you think you know what to do but everything you've tried hasn't helped you to get to where you want to go?

I was cleaning out some folders on my laptop and came across an old graphic that I used to have posted on the wall in my office and would give to patients.

I called it the Lifestyle Super Seven. I remembered it with fondness and tenderness. It caused me to reflect on how so much of what it said has changed for me as a practitioner… and also how so much of it has stayed the same.

It inspired me to share how to break down health and wellness into action driven lifestyle categories that all lead to a healthier body and mind. And I reveal all of that in this episode of the Wonder With Me Podcast.

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PREFER TO READ?

Scroll to the bottom of this post for an approximate transcript.

SHOW NOTES:

• BOOK: Thinking Kindly: 7 Steps to Stop Self Criticism and Turn Negative Thoughts into Positive ones

• BOOK: Break Through The Insomnia Cycle: How To Sleep Deeply, Wake Rested, and Enjoy Happy Energized Days

• BLOG / PODCAST: 20 Ways to Keep Calm

• PODCAST: Autoimmune Simplified:  Mind’s Role in Autoimmune Healing 

• PODCAST: Autoimmune Simplified: Our Top 5 Tips 

• PODCAST: Doing your future self all of the solids

• BOOK: The Metabolism Plan By Lyn-Genet Recitas

• ⁠PODCAST: Why you’re not taking care of yourself

• PODCAST:  How My Body Finally Decided to Lose Weight

Thank you so much for being here and tuning in.

🧠💗💫May you choose to make all your dreams come true!

Dr. Coach Tonia Winchester, ND, NLP

TRANSCRIPT (AI GENERATED)

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Wonder With Me podcast. I'm your hostess, Dr. and coach Tonia Winchester, and this is episode 41: Two Stone-Cold Truths You Cannot Deny About Your Health and Wellness If You Want to Be Well. This episode was inspired by three things: a cute little graphic I found on my computer from when I first started practicing, something I heard recently that I spun in a way you'll hear about in this episode, and something my very good friend and colleague says about supplements and diet.

With all that being said, let's dive into it. Let's get wondering.

Okay, so the stone-cold truths will come later in this episode, but first, let's talk about thing one. I've been doing some digital decluttering, getting rid of old files on my laptop and either putting them onto a hard drive or just deleting them because, really, how many iterations of a 15-year-old logo do I need to keep? Answer: zero.

The thing that enchanted me was this graphic I used to give people on their first visit. In fact, I had this as a big laminated poster in my office room, and I probably still have it in my guest room closet—another place I'm working on decluttering. Any hoodles...

This graphic is called The Basics of Healthy Living, and it's a delightful wheel showing what I call the Lifestyle Super 7—seven different areas of health and wellness we need to focus on if we really want to be healthy and well in our bodies and lives.

I made it with clip art and janky photographs pulled from the internet before there were good quality image sites. It even has some nice fading in the header banner. Oh, it's pretty. I'll definitely put a link to where you can see this image in the blog post connected to this podcast and in the show notes.

I used to tell patients there are seven things you need to do right if you want to be healthy and well:

1. Eat right.

2. Breathe right.

3. Drink right.

4. Eliminate right.

5. Think and emote right.

6. Move right.

7. Sleep right.

That was the wheel. For the most part, these things fall nicely into my current model of the formula for health at the physical level—things we do to improve our health and wellness.

Here's some of what I considered right for people to do: take 100 deep breaths, be outside for 30 minutes with exposure to nature, drink half their weight in pounds in ounces of water, take hot and cold showers, have apple cider vinegar lemon water in the morning, dry skin brush, do castor oil packs, play every day, express their emotions, move their bodies every day, and get seven or eight hours of sleep.

Under the food category, there were health-promoting foods listed alongside disease-promoting foods written in a very hard-to-read curly Q font. The whole darn thing is so adorable. Past Tonia was definitely doing her best! Current Tonia has so much tenderness and compassion for past Tonia who was so keen and bright-eyed out of naturopathic school.

Credit where credit is due: this wheel was inspired by a naturopathic doctor who presented at our school talking about these seven areas. Some instructions came from a document given to us as students called the Basic Treatment Guidelines written by Dr. Dickson Thom.

It's tremendously ambitious to think that one person will introduce all these things at once during their first visit! Now I'm 17 years into practice and have been curating my own healthy practices for about that long. Looking at this list now makes me realize that while I don't do all of it anymore, I've learned that not everything is black-and-white right or wrong.

We have to find our own pathway. Yes, I'm trained to help people explore but the discovery process is very individual. Instead of saying these practices are right or wrong, consider how you can be kind to yourself in these areas.

Linking this idea into my new book Thinking Kindly: Seven Steps to Stop Self-Criticism and Change Negative Thoughts into Positive Ones, let’s apply kindness:

- How can you think kindly about yourself?

- How can you move kindly?

- How can you sleep kindly?

- What would it look like for you to eat kindly?

- What about breathing good quality air kindly?

- Hydrating kindly? Eliminating kindly?

I don't know what this will mean for you but here's one stone-cold truth: you can't outsource your own self-care.

Woof! Right? You can't outsource decision-making related to your health either. Even if you go to the gym with a personal trainer telling you what to do—you still have to put in the reps yourself!

So here’s what I suggest: when your hands are free (not driving), get a piece of paper or journal and write down categories like food/eating; air/nature/water; elimination; thinking/emotions; movement; sleep etc., then ask yourself: What can I do differently in each area to be kinder than I'm currently being?

Add other categories if needed like relationships or creativity time—all important too! For each category write down kind actions without feeling pressured into doing them all at once—that's opposite of the point! Focus on one kind action for 90 days noticing benefits/rewards from being kind towards yourself.

A few ways I can help:

- My new book Thinking Kindly can help with thinking more kindly.

- Active rest ideas from my blog post with 20 ways to prevent burnout.

- My first book Breakthrough The Insomnia Cycle can help with sleeping kindly.

- The Metabolism Plan can teach you how to eat and move kindly for individual needs.

Let's wrap up with reviewing two stone-cold truths:

1) You cannot outsource your self-care.

2) You can't out-supplement a poor diet/lifestyle.

Write down categories important for you then pick something extra kind focusing on it awhile noticing benefits from being kind towards yourself within those areas!

Thank you for being here & listening; can't wait until next time on Wonder With Me podcast!