Awaken Wellness

I know I haven’t talked much about nutrition here, but I want to tell you about something that happened when I finally sat down with Jessica, one of our nutritionists, and became the client myself.

I told her I wanted to lose 20 pounds.

But that wasn’t really the whole story.

I’m going through menopause, my body has changed, and some of the things that used to work for me don’t seem to work the same way anymore. And I really didn’t want another thing in my life that required me to think about it all day long.

I didn’t want to become a person who spends Sunday afternoon meal prepping for the entire week. I didn’t want to weigh every bite of food for the rest of my life. And I definitely didn’t need someone to tell me that broccoli is healthier than a cookie. 😂

I wanted someone to tell me what actually made sense for me now.

And that’s what surprised me about the plan Jessica gave me.

She gave me actual numbers to work toward. About 89 grams of protein. Around 25 grams of fiber. Leafy greens every day.

But then she showed me what that could actually look like with normal food.

🍒 Greek yogurt and berries.
🥚 Eggs and avocado toast.
🍗 Chicken and quinoa.
🍃 Salmon and green beans.
🌶 Turkey chili.
🍤 Shrimp stir-fry.

Food I would actually eat.

And because I’m going through menopause, she didn’t treat this like it was simply about losing weight. We talked about foods with phytoestrogens.

💪 She recommended strength training twice a week.

🧪 She even gave me some labs that might be worth discussing with my healthcare provider.

I walked away with something I realized I hadn’t had before.

A plan. ✅️

A plan that felt like it belonged to me, instead of something I was going to have to rearrange my whole life around just to make it work.

Mine.

And maybe that’s why I wanted to share this.

Most of us already know quite a bit about what’s “healthy.” But knowing what’s healthy and knowing what actually works for you, in the body you’re living in right now, are two very different things.

If you’ve been trying to figure that out on your own, maybe you don’t have to.

Maybe you’re over 40 and realizing your body doesn’t respond to food the way it used to. Maybe menopause has entered the picture, or you’ve been wondering whether a GLP-1 might be right for you. You could be dealing with PCOS, trying to lose weight, or just wondering why the things that used to work suddenly don’t. 🤷‍♀️

Whatever brought you to this point, the question is really the same: what makes sense for my body now?

That’s something our nutritionists can help you figure out.

If you want to know what your plan could look like, give us a call. ❤️

Sometimes our acupuncturists run behind because someone has fallen asleep in the treatment room.

Like, REALLY asleep. 😂

We gently knock on the door. We call their name. Nothing.

Meanwhile, there is another person sitting in the lobby waiting for that room, and 10 minutes turns into 15, which sometimes turns into 20, because apparently we cannot get the person on the table to rejoin the living.

Is this a scheduling problem for us? Yes.

Is it possibly the best problem you could have during your acupuncture appointment?

Also yes. 😴

Just a thought. 💡

Plot twist: the nap is acupuncture. 😴

Most of us say, “It hurts,” because…well, it hurts. 😅

But there’s a big difference between “my head hurts” and “my head feels like it’s being squeezed in a vise.”

That oddly specific description gives us something we can almost feel with you. And once we can picture it, we know what questions to ask next.

So when your acupuncturist asks what your pain feels like, give us the weird description. It’s useful.

Because the list isn’t getting any shorter. 😅

I can’t make the 49 other things disappear, but I can give myself an hour where I’m not doing any of them.

And somehow, I usually walk out feeling a little more capable of dealing with the whole damn list.

That’s reason enough for me. 💜