Increasing Energy and Productivity [Episode #416]

Welcome to the Feel Good Podcast with Kimberly Snyder. Our goal is to help you be your most healthy, confident, beautiful and joyful! Our topics focus on health and wellness (physical, emotional/mental and spiritual), holistic nutrition, medicinal plants, natural rhythms and cycles, beauty, meditation, self care and rituals, spirituality and personal empowerment.

Feeling Good means we are healthy, balanced, peaceful, confident and joyful, right in the midst of our perfectly imperfect lives. Feeling Good requires us to tune in and nourish our whole selves, which is made up of the four Solluna Cornerstones: our food, our bodies, our emotional well-being and our spiritual growth. Feeling good naturally leads to also looking good, in a much more powerful way from glowing skin created from within, a beautifully healthy body, radiant energy, and a greater level of overall well-being and personal growth.

Thursday is our community show, where I cover a themed topic and answer four questions that come right from members of our community, just like you! We are here to support you in living your most beautiful, inspired and joyful life.

I’m your host, Kimberly Snyder, founder of Solluna, New York Times best-selling author and nutritionist. I’m so grateful and honored we found each other!

This week’s topic is: Increasing Energy + Productivity

Have you been wondering about this very topic? If you want to know the answer to this question and 3 more sent in by Beauties just like you, listen now to find out!

Remember you can submit your questions at https://mysolluna.com/askkimberly/

[Questions Answered]

Nina – Senoia, GA

I feel like I’m dragging even after getting 9 hours of sleep and I eat generally healthy and exercise. What could be going on internally that I’m still feeling this way?

Patti – McCall, Idaho

I’ve been told by my nutritionist that my assimilation of food isn’t great. Seems like I’m still having low energy despite eating plant-based. Any suggestions?

Monica – Grand Rivers, Kentucky

Not sure if it’s my mind or my body that isn’t being very productive. I know they must go hand in hand. Any tips to cover both areas so that I feel like I have energy so that I can be productive?

Leah – Camden, Maine

What are your top 3 foods/drinks (besides the GGS, of course) you can share that will give me the boost I need to feel better about myself. I know my mood affects how much I get done and I just want to be sure I’m incorporating foods I can break down and actually benefit from.

Inspirational Thought Of The Week

The real self is infinite in its potential, including in our energy.

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The intention of the Feel Good Podcast is to well…help you really Feel Good in your body, mind and spirit! Feeling Good means feeling peaceful, energized, whole, uniquely beautiful, confident and joyful, right in the midst of your perfectly imperfect life. This podcast is as informative and full of practical tips and take-aways as it is inspirational. I am here to support you in being your very best! I have so much love and gratitude for you. Thank you for tuning in and being part of the community :).

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Kimberly Snyder: Hi beauties. Welcome back to our Thursday Q and A podcast, where our topic today is increasing energy and productivity. This is a huge topic, and we get so many questions about energy, about how to feel more energized throughout the day. And I really relate to this because I am a busy working mom. I’m juggling a lot of different things. My energy levels have certainly gone through many shifts with being pregnant and nursing, and just cycles of work, and managing so many different things. And I just got married and moved into a new house. So I have a lot to say about this topic. I think we can all benefit from this, so I’m really excited to hear your specific questions about it. We’ll get right into it in just a moment.

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Kimberly Snyder: I want to give a quick shout out to remind you to please leave us a review on iTunes if you haven’t yet already done so. It is so easy, you guys. Just go over to iTunes, and it can be one sentence long, but it’s such an amazing way to help other beauties like yourself find the show. It’s a great way to help organically support the show, and it’s free and it’s easy. So please just take a moment or two out of your day and do that for us. And sending you a big hug back and lots of gratitude back for that in advance. And also, please be sure to subscribe to our Feel Good Podcast here. It’s a really great way to give yourself a steady stream of motivation and inspiration, and to keep all this coming in to you on a weekly basis. I think that sometimes we get excited about something, and we … I’ve seen this with clients time and time again. And they go gung ho, and then we don’t want to feel like we’re being pushed in the raft off the shore, and we’re by ourselves.

Kimberly Snyder: So the podcast is very community based. These questions all come from our community. We are all here to support each other. Katelyn and I are always here on the show listening. And it’s very real conversations. So by subscribing, you don’t miss any interviews or any of these Q and A podcasts. So you can also do that on iTunes or wherever you listen to our podcast. So all that being said, introducing and welcoming back our amazing Katelyn, who is our general manager of Solluna. Hi

Katelyn: Welcome back to our show today.

Katelyn: Yes. Thank you. I’m so happy to be back. I love this topic. It’s something I’ve personally been struggling with, just not feeling like I have enough energy. And I always am wondering. How can I be more productive and get more done in the day? So happy to dive in here and help the beauties and see what your take is on this topic.

Kimberly Snyder: Yeah. I feel like the number one thing that I would hear from clients, people would always think it would be about weight and bloating. And those are always two huge things. But I would say across the board, men and women have always asked me about energy. And so I know that this is a very widespread issue. I know that a lot of us tend to drag in the afternoon, or we feel that we are starting to over rely on caffeine, stimulants, just trying to perk ourselves up artificially, which of course is not something that we want to rely on, especially long-term. So yeah, this is a big one, K, for sure.

Question 1: I feel like I’m dragging even after getting nine hours of sleep. What could be going on internally that I’m still feeling this way after what should be enough sleep?

Katelyn: So with that, let’s dive in so we can get these questions answered. We have Nina living in Senoia, Georgia. I don’t know if I said your town right. So she says here, “I feel like I’m dragging even after getting nine hours of sleep. What could be going on internally that I’m still feeling this way after what should be enough sleep?”

Kimberly Snyder: So Nina, thank you so much for your question. There’s a lot of things, a lot of different factors that we could bring up here. And I just want to preface this by saying, of course, barring any specific medical condition, and if you are concerned, or suspect that there may be something deeper wrong, of course you want to check with your doctor. But the first thing I want to say is that it’s not just the hours of sleep we get. It’s not just the quantity, but it’s the quality of sleep. And I would encourage you guys to go back and listen to some of our sleep podcasts. I will link to them. We will link to them in the show notes. But we’ve had some amazing sleep experts here that say the same thing. Quality, getting into that deep level four sleep.

Kimberly Snyder: And the way to do that is to make sure that you’re getting off devices as much as possible in the evening, either wearing blue light blocking glasses, watching less TV, just anything you can do to keep part of your brain stimulated by the blue light, which keeps us from going into those deeper levels of rejuvenative sleep. So if we’re feeling tired, not only are we not getting the deep sleep, but it means that our skin cells aren’t repairing. Our brain isn’t getting the rejuvenation it needs. Our hormones, everything starts to feel more and more out of balance. So blocking more of the blue light, and then making sure that we keep our bedroom at a steady cooler temperature, that we block out light in general. There’s photo receptors on all parts of our body and our skin. So we want to make sure it’s super dark in our room.

Kimberly Snyder: If you need to get black tape and cover up any little blinking lights, that’s always a great idea. And of course, limiting liquids right before bed so that you minimize bathroom trips, minimize going to the bathroom and throwing the lights on with the bright light, which of course stimulates our system again. So the first thing I want to say is taking a moment to really look at your sleep hygiene, and tuning it up, Nina. Seeing where am I not just focusing … I’m not focusing enough on my quality. I’m just focusing on, oh, I’m getting enough hours of sleep. So that’s important. Number one is: How can I make the sleep the best it can be?

Kimberly Snyder: Number two, we want to look for energy leaks throughout your day. And these could take on many forms. I’ll start with diet. If you are eating very difficult to digest foods during the day, and improper food combinations, let’s say you’re having lots of dairy, or you’re eating heavy sandwiches, you’re combining lots of starches and proteins. A lot of your energy is going to keep going to digesting food, which is such an energy intensive process. So you want to make sure that you simplify your meals. You want to make sure that you take digestive enzymes. You want to make sure that you are eating fewer components of your meals, but more of them. So again, your whole meal starts to become more streamlined and more simple. And that can be a huge way to boost your energy just from doing that.

Kimberly Snyder: Number three, just speaking about diet, just making sure that you’re incorporating very high energy foods throughout your day, so starting with your glowing green smoothie. Smoothies in general, like power protein smoothies, are blended, and they’re going to give you lots of nutrients without wasting a lot of digestive energy. So make sure you’re having that. Make sure you’re having whole foods, stews, soups, salads, veggies, roasted veggies. There’s so many amazing foods. We have probably thousands by now, okay, recipes over at mysolluna.com, you can check out. They’re also in all the books. You just want to make sure that you’re eating for energy, which is a whole topic in and of itself. But if you’re interested, probably my first book, The Beauty Detox Solution, would be your best bet.

Kimberly Snyder: And when I started doing that and properly food combining, my energy just from doing that really shot up. Number three, you want to make sure that you’re staying really hydrated. It’s starting to kick into fall. There’s a lot of wind. There’s a lot of dehydration going on right now, even though it’s not as hot. So make sure if you’re dehydrated to a degree, your energy’s going to start to diminish. So keep that water on your desk, that room temperature water. Drink herbal tea. Just keep a lot of fluids around in your space, and that’s really important.

Kimberly Snyder: Next is mental, the mental drain, mental energy leak. So here at Solluna, we talk about our four cornerstones for wellness. We talked about food. We talked about body, meaning quality of your sleep. Then number three is emotional wellbeing, and fourth is spiritual growth. So when we’re talking about energy, we can’t ignore the other two. If we are constantly in the state of stress and just this nonstop in our mind, the monkey brain going over and over and over things, and working ourselves up, then I feel that is a huge depletion of energy. And our bodies and our minds are so connected. So just where can we let go more easily? Where can we delegate? Where can we leave more time so we’re not as stressed in traffic? Where can we avoid certain people, whether it’s colleagues, or friends even, frenemies, friends that are stressful and don’t help us feel good? And we feel like they’re sucking our energy.

Kimberly Snyder: And I think that’s a really, really important part of this. I’ll go back to body for a moment. Energizing activities like walking, if we’re sitting all day, we’ll tend to feel more stagnant. So it’s a good idea, Nina, to just make sure that you’re walking during the day. You’re standing up, you’re moving your body. Even if you just do a set workout routine at a gym, but then you sit at your desk for eight hours, you’re still going to probably feel more sluggish and exhausted. So just keeping a more active flow, doing errands at lunch, walking around, whatever, however you can work it in realistically for your schedule I think is important.

Kimberly Snyder: And lastly, I’ll talk about the spiritual growth component. When we feel more settled in ourself, there’s a different way that we step into the world. We are less susceptible to external influences and noise and all the social media, and the regular media that’s coming and bringing our moods up and down, and feeling so depressed with what’s going on in the world. Of course, we want to make positive change, of course we want to play our part. But when we feel more anchored in ourself, we are less swayed in the wind, so to speak. So that’s where I think meditation and starting off the day with some deep breathing, and even if it’s just a few moments that you can build up from. And meditation, I will say that my meditation gives me so much energy.

Kimberly Snyder: I talk about this with Dr. Jay a lot because … Have you guys ever heard podcasts with Dr. Jay, my Ayurvedic teacher? He is just this ball of energy, and he only sleeps four hours a night. And what he says to me … I go, “How do you do it, Dr. Jay? How do you get all this energy?” And he says, “I pull it from my meditations.” And when you really start to learn a technique, when you can sit there and just learn to get that nourishment coming in, you’re willing to relax your nervous system and your adrenals, which otherwise can leak energy all day long, you start to get that other alternative form of nourishment that isn’t just food. But it comes from spirit and connection, and really feeding ourselves on a much deeper level.

Kimberly Snyder: So if you guys are interested, there are tons. We have free meditations on our site. And there’s tons of meditation apps. I also practice Kriya yoga, which is taught by Paramahansa Yogananda, that has radically changed my life and my energy. So you would go to, I believe it’s srf-yogananda.org if you’re interested in learning more about Kriya yoga, and it’s amazing. So from a very first fundamental cornerstone perspective, that’s what I would say to you, Nina. There’s a lot of nuances. And I don’t know, again, everything about your lifestyle. But those are some preliminary checklists that you could look into in your life and see where you can maybe plug some energy leaks.

Katelyn: Yes. It’s so great to look at everything from the four cornerstones. Last week, we introduced our four cornerstones eBook guide. And it was so great to see so many of you come on and download it. And we hope you’re enjoying it. So I just want to mention it again this week. If anybody doesn’t know about the four cornerstones, Kimberly can share a little bit about that. But you can just send a simple text message to 555888, and text the word feel good, and you’ll get the guide. And it really dives into each cornerstone and how you can start to implement it into your life. And that really incorporates our topic today with increasing your energy and productivity. Do you want to mention a little bit about the four cornerstones, K, just the overall with the guide? For anybody who missed it last week.

Kimberly Snyder: Sure. Sure. I mentioned it quickly here, but I will say in a little bit more clarity around it is that when I started off, you guys, it was all about food. My first two books were all about food. I was all about food in my life. I was obsessed with it. I was reading every study, every book, everything. And that was pretty much everything that I talked about. But then I was able to reach a level of getting my food situation under control in my own life, and setting people up, clients, personal clients, and helping readers create a very healthy food lifestyle. But then it was very obvious that that wasn’t it. That wasn’t all there was. That was an important starting point for many of us because food is tangible. And you can pick it up, and you can smell it. And we have to eat every day, but food is not the end all, be all.

Kimberly Snyder: So my work started to expand, and I started to really understand more and more that wellness is not, this word is tossed around all the time, but it’s not just what we’re eating. And it’s not what we weigh, it’s not how fit we are necessarily either, like our muscle tone and how many fitness classes we’re doing. To me, wellness is a total state of our being, where we feel good. And that means we’re connected to ourselves, and we’re connected to our needs. And our tagline is nourish your whole self and feel good. So in order to really feel good, in order to achieve wellness, we can’t just look at ourselves as physical beings. We are complex beings. We have emotions. We have a spiritual side of us. We have a mental side of us.

Kimberly Snyder: So the cornerstones that we created are meant to create resources and conversation and tools and support and in depth articles and research and everything you could imagine around these four areas. So food is still there. It’s still the first one. It’s a starting point. The second one is body, so that’s everything not related to food. Sleep, skincare, exercise, yoga, physical Asana yoga, so everything body related because we’re having an embodied experience. And we really need to connect more to our bodies. I find most people are stuck up in their minds, and they’re stuck up in these thought patterns and stress and worry, so they get very disconnected from their bodies, and more and more food cravings come in, and beating their bodies up, and body shaming, all these other repercussions of that.

Kimberly Snyder: Then third is emotional wellbeing because we also have an emotional and mental body, mental health is huge. It’s very important. All the research that’s coming out now, talking about stress, and even in my latest book, Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life, bloating and inflammation related to mental thought patterns and emotions affect our body, affect our health and our wellbeing in profound ways. And also, it’s our experience of life and our ability to really feel peaceful and feel really joyful. So we have created a lot of resources around emotional wellbeing, including our amazing community centric Solluna Circle, which if you’re interested, you can also check out on the site.

Kimberly Snyder: And fourth is spiritual growth. And this is spirit as far as being in touch with the inner part of us. We have the human part of us, the physical part, the outside part, but the imperfect part. But there’s the soul, the spirit, the real us, the part that’s even beyond personality and how we look. When we get in touch with that light, there comes a great sense of connection with ourselves, and calmness and balance. And this also affects things like our hormones and our weight. It’s all interrelated. And that’s why we have a lot of resources around mindfulness and meditation and spending time in nature. So that’s our fourfold approach, and it is the most effective that I have found in working with people, with clients. It very quickly transitioned into just being a nutritionist.

Kimberly Snyder: I always say the nutrition part was maybe 15%. I was meditating with my clients. I was doing Reiki with them. I was doing yoga with them. We were talking out emotional issues. And it was this very holistic approach that got the best results. And so that’s what our approach is based on we have an amazing guide, as Kate mentioned to you, that gives you more information and practical resources like recipes and tools. So you can download it for free at the … What is it, Kate? You text 555888, and you can just get it, and it’s just a great tool that we created for you guys. So we’re excited for you guys to check it out.

Question 2: I’ve been told by my nutritionist that my assimilation of food isn’t great. Seems like I’m having low energy despite eating plant based. Do you have any suggestions?

Katelyn: Yes. And thank you for taking time to just go over that. I think it’s so important for people to hear. It is a new concept. A lot of people have never thought about their emotional wellbeing or spiritual wellbeing, and tied to wellness. And a lot of people are still in that food and body phase. So I think it’s so great to spend a little bit of time here today for you guys to really have these resources that we’ve spent time creating. And they’re backed by all of the time Kim has spent with her clients and her research and all of her work. So with that, we’ll keep on with the show. So we hope you guys are feeling excited. We had a lot of downloads last week, so that’s why I just wanted to remind everybody this week. We could tell you were really interesting in it. So we have Patty from McCall, Idaho. I’ve been told by my nutritionist that my assimilation of food isn’t great. Seems like I’m having low energy despite eating plant based. Do you have any suggestions?

Kimberly Snyder: Patty, this is a great question. And I’ve always said this, and I’ll say it again. We are not what we eat, we are what we digest and assimilate. And unfortunately, a lot of us do have compromised systems. And this comes from growing up as kids, and eating corn flakes and skim milk, or 2% milk, and having lots of dairy and having a lot of mucosal mucous buildup in our system, and having lots of sugar, refined sugar, having less active digestive enzymes in our system, less hydrochloric acid, also being very busy and not chewing well enough. So unfortunately, our bodies are not robotic. We don’t just take in everything that we shove in our mouth and expect to get the full amount of nutrition. It doesn’t work that way.

Kimberly Snyder: And unfortunately, we don’t get the maximum amount of nutrients. So what I would recommend to you, Patty, is number one, make sure that you are chewing as well as you can. When I say as well as you can, the recommended amount might be 30 to 50 times a mouthful. Most of us aren’t going to chew that much. I don’t chew that much, even though I know it’s probably the best. But maybe slow down, try to mindfully take smaller bites and chew more, and you will absorb more. And if you are busy, as I was saying earlier, one of the best ways to get more nutrition in your system more easily is to blend. So you can make blended soups. You can do soft cooked stews. Smoothies are an amazing way because in essence, you’re pre digesting the food, and you don’t have to chew as much, especially when you’re in a rush.

Kimberly Snyder: Number three, it’s really key to take digestive enzymes. And digestive enzymes have been part of my life now for about a decade, I think, since I learned about them. And you just take them right before you eat, and it helps the food break down so you get more of the nutrients. We have some of our own that you can check out on the website. But the concept basically is that lipase breaks down fat. Protease breaks down protein. And amylase breaks down starch. So these are very important elements when we eat. And like I said, sometimes our systems are compromised. Sometimes we’re just eating more complex foods, or our bodies are just not able to break down as well. So enzymes are a really great aid to take to help with better assimilation.

Kimberly Snyder: And then lastly, I will say that you don’t want to create a swamp in your system while you’re eating. It’s a good idea to separate liquid as much as you can from food, and just drink more water in between meals, and not while you’re eating, so that you can get more of that nutrition from your food as well.

Katelyn: And as Kimberly mentioned, guys, her first book, The Beauty Detox Solution, started with food. There’s so many resources in that book that talks about eating light to heavy, and digestion. And that could really help if you’re in the beginning stage of your journey. [crosstalk 00:21:54]. I highly recommend checking that out if anybody hasn’t picked up that book yet.

Kimberly Snyder: So okay, can we just tell the quick personal story about how we met?

Katelyn: Yes.

Kimberly Snyder: Kate was working at a spa in New York. She was the manager, and I was going in for my little facials. And I saw her drinking, I think it was a-

Katelyn: Huge Diet Coke.

Kimberly Snyder: I called it a Slurpee cup of Diet Coke. And I said I was moving to LA literally in two days. And I was like, “But I’m going to come back tomorrow, and I’m going to bring you my book. My book just came out.” So in the rain, K, if you might recall, this is in Soho. And I lived in the West Village at the time, so it wasn’t crazy. It was still a 10 minute walk. But I slugged it down there and dropped off the book and walked away, and had no expectations. But Kate read the book. It really helped transform her life, and we kept in touch. And what, K, you lost 60 pounds from it or something?

Katelyn: Yeah. I definitely lost a good 60 pounds. It definitely changed my life and opened up my eyes. It’s a special book to me. I have it sitting on my desk. And it’s all dog ears, and it’s the most beat up of all the books I have because I would take it back and forth commuting into work. But it’s definitely moving. And if you are new to the lifestyle, and you’re not used to following, I was just very used to the standard American diet. And everything in the book was like, my mind was blown, like boom, boom, boom. And it was very easy to understand and just start to apply the basic principles in my life. And I slowly lost weight, gained energy, and just started to feel really good about myself. And that’s something that I’ve taken with me throughout the last, it’s been almost a decade now. It’s about eight years. So it’s coming up on the anniversary of the book.

Kimberly Snyder: Wow.

Katelyn: Yeah. It’s been close to eight years now. So feeling crazy, not that we count time. But it’s really changed my life. I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t make that shift. I was down a very, very devastating road of just eating unhealthy, and I didn’t feel good. So definitely, from my heart, I always recommend that for you guys.

Kimberly Snyder: Oh, man, Kate. That is amazing. And I love you so much. And I do believe that people come into your life for reasons. And we attract each other in, and it’s all frequency and vibe. So I’m really grateful that all that happened. And I don’t even get facials anymore. I can’t remember the last time I got a facial.

Katelyn: I know. Well, if you talk about manifesting what you want in your life, when I met Kim, I had gotten her email through work because we were in touch. And I just literally emailed her for years. Hey, if there’s ever any opportunity in your business, I’d love to get involved. It really impacted me. Literally took a while, so anybody who’s chasing your dream, you just put it out there, and you try to manifest what you want. But you just can’t give up, and you keep working at it. And you can really create the life you want to have.

Kimberly Snyder: It’s okay. I think you emailed me every few months to see if there was an opening or position for at least two years.

Katelyn: I did. No, I definitely did. I think I put a little reminder in my phone. Time to email Kim Snyder.

Kimberly Snyder: Well, here we are.

Katelyn: And here we are, guys. So you can definitely manifest the life you want and create what you want.

Kimberly Snyder: Oh, yeah.

Break

Katelyn: So we’ll leave you with that happy vibes heading into our break. And then Kimberly will come back and answer the last two questions.

Kimberly Snyder: All right, beauties, we are back from our short break. And we have two more questions from you guys and for you guys, on this important topic of increasing energy and productivity. Excited to hear what else we got, K.

Question 3: Not sure if it’s my mind or my body that isn’t being very productive. I know they must go hand in hand. Any tips to cover both areas, so I feel like I have energy that I can be productive?

Katelyn: Yes, we have Monica from Grand Rivers, Kentucky. Not sure if it’s my mind or my body that isn’t being very productive. I know they must go hand in hand. Any tips to cover both areas, so I feel like I have energy that I can be productive?

Kimberly Snyder: So Monica, I love that you know the wisdom inside of you by saying, “I know they go hand in hand,” and you know that. So it could be a little bit of both, and often, it is for most all of us. When there’s energy leaks, it could come from something physical. It could come from something mental, or a combination. And they’re so closely connected that they really do affect each other. For instance, when we are tense and stressed about, let’s say, work, work’s stressing us out. And we start to hunch our shoulders and tighten our muscles. That tightening of the muscles is actually using a percentage of our energy second by second, moment by moment. And we don’t even realize that it’s a huge energy leak.

Kimberly Snyder: So the reason we’re tensing our muscles and our body is leaking energy is because something that started in the mind. So I 100% agree that everything is completely connected. And that’s why it’s important to really tune in throughout the day to what could be your particular energy leaks. I notice with my husband that he has a million alerts on his phone. And it would always drive me nuts. And I would always say, remember, K, there was something study that you showed me where anytime you go, you break concentration, it takes 30 to 45 seconds to reset. So I would say to you guys, if you’re trying to be more productive, be very discerning about the alerts coming in on your phone. I mean, do you need every single email, whatever, Snapchat, WhatsApp?

Katelyn: Instagram, Facebook.

Kimberly Snyder: Instagram, and every alert coming in. And I say no because I feel that we thrive best, and I know our Solluna team has found this too, to work in a batch system, where I will sit down and do a bunch of writing. And then I get into that flow, and then it’s easier for your mind to relax into that, so it’s not as much of a struggle. And then kind of complete that task, and maybe I answer emails, or I know I have a bunch of texts to get back to, or have a call, whatever it is. But if we’re constantly flitting about, and we’re trying to get something done, and then our attention is pulled here and here and there, and then all the alerts coming in, I think it’s very difficult to actually to really be productive. And that’s a huge energy leak.

Kimberly Snyder: I also think that drama and anything that goes against our true nature. I believe our true nature is very peaceful. So drama in all its forms, so tuning in, getting so obsessed with the news, or some of these crazy TV shows, or getting into drama all the time with friends, or whatever. I think that’s actually really exhausting on our energy. And I would encourage you guys to just look at your life and see where you can cut out things that make you feel riled up. I do not feel good watching the news, so I have an app that aggregates headlines. And so I can flip through and kind of see what’s going on. But it was exhausting for me to watch the news, and cry and feel bad about this happening here and there. And it’s not really doing any good. It’s just depleting my energy. And I think my energy’s better off being directed at trying to put more good into the world and help us all, and work with the community.

Kimberly Snyder: So I think stress is important, and just seeing what stresses you out, and where you can shift. Maybe you need to leave 20 minutes earlier. I said this earlier, so that your commute doesn’t feel as stressful. Maybe you need to schedule less, so that you can have more downtime at the end of the day, a little bit more of an evening routine for yourself, a little bit more of a morning routine for yourself, so that you can go into your day feeling more calm, and you’re breathing more deeply. And you feel more settled in your body. So there’s a lot of ways that energy leaks happen. And I think it’s important to just, you could even get a journal and kind of just monitor your day, and see, oh.

Kimberly Snyder: And then you’re talking about The Beauty Detox Solution, oh, when I had this huge egg omelet in the morning, I feel really tired afterwards. And that could just be wonderful awareness for you to say, “You know what, heavy, heavy food in the morning makes me tired. I’m going to push that back. I’m not as productive.” Morning times, we’re more alert. I’m running around. This and this is happening. It is more effective when I batch tasks. I don’t feel as stressed. My body doesn’t tense up as much. I feel more energized if I go for walks at lunch, or if I go for walks at the end of the day. It’s a great way for my body to relieve stress. So you can just start to take a journal, and kind of look through your day and identify leaks.

Kimberly Snyder: I’ll say for me, my three biggest leaks were, number one, not batching. I would run back and forth between answering every text in real time, going to writing, answering email when it would pop up, so that was exhausting. And then also just really trying to do a little bit of work, and then really watch Bubby. It’s just better for me to batch and do the podcast, do my writing. When Bubby’s home from school, really be with him. And that was a huge, huge energy leak for me. Number two, my big energy leak was the thought patterns just running around in my head. And when I learned to just let go more, and say, “I’m doing my best, and I’m going to let this go,” it would start to creep in. It’s like retraining a muscle. I’d say, “No, no, no, no. I’m not going to give you attention right now. You’re not going to take my state of peace.”

Kimberly Snyder: So just learning to let go more, which is a technique that I talk about in Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect book. So that was really fundamental to me. And then number three, I know these are mental, mine were more mental, because I was already eating pretty well. And I was already exercising every day. I do my beach walks in the morning. Number three, I think was letting go of timeline expectations. Remember, K, I used to be like, “Oh my God. It’s Thursday. Where’s this? Or I should’ve written more by now.” It’s endless, like, oh this much should be happened by the end of the year, or this month, or this age in my life. And so that was a huge source of exhaustion. And I felt boxed in, and it creates stress. And then you’re not as productive.

Kimberly Snyder: So for me, those are some big things, awarenesses that I’ve created over the years. And I would encourage you to kind of really take an honest look at your life. And I don’t know, K, you’re the productivity queen. So maybe you have some more insight to add here as well.

Katelyn: Yes. I definitely struggle too more on the emotional side. But sometimes on the food side, I’ll crave something and I’ll eat it. And then I’ll feel sluggish and slow. So that’s the normal kind of side effect of the food and body part, or if I don’t work out. Lately, after doing so many races and working out so much, I hadn’t wanted to exercise or have anything to do with anything exercise related. And I’m starting to feel it because I sit so much having a sedentary job that I was like, “If I don’t exercise, then I have such low energy,” so that now I’m trying to find a happy balance with movement because a lot of us, if you sit for your work, and you’re doing that the majority of the day, and then you come home and you sit at dinner, and then you sit and watch TV, or sit with your partner. You’re whole day, you’re sitting.

Katelyn: And we really do need that movement in our day, so that would be my biggest one, is having movement. Not going on my phone the second I wake up and starting my day in anxiety. Oh, there’s million emails, or projects, or I need to this or that. Definitely starting my day with my morning routine, getting organized, and making my priorities based on what I feel is needed, versus feeling like everything’s urgent because it can feel that way nowadays with emails and texts and everything coming in, really spending time prioritizing what matters. And then not overly getting involved in drama with people and friends because you can’t make everybody happy. I had a bunch of things come up with planning my wedding, and just not letting people come in and affect me, can really energy drain you where it’d be like, “I haven’t really done anything.”

Katelyn: It would be a Saturday. I’d just be hanging out. I’ll be on the couch exhausted. But what did I do? Just talk to people all day. I’m like, “I’m exhausted,” so I have to switch this routine with my friends and family. So those would be some of my tips for sure to just kind of protect your energy. It’s important.

Kimberly Snyder: Oh my God, K. I will say it’s amazing. I kept my wedding very small, 50 people. But even a small wedding was so much energy.

Katelyn: Yes.

Kimberly Snyder: And in order to keep it that small, we had to say no plus ones. So if we weren’t really friends with someone’s partner, we had to say, “Hey, otherwise, we could just invite 12 people each instead of 25 people each.” You know? So there was a lot of … There was some people that were a bit put off that they weren’t invited. And I have to say that there was one person that got in, and she was John’s friend’s husband’s friend’s girlfriend. And they came in from out of town, and without going into too much detail, I’ll say that she dressed wildly inappropriately for our rehearsal dinner and the wedding. And a lot of people said something. And I was like, it was just not appropriate. And I felt myself like, oh my gosh.

Katelyn: The energy.

Kimberly Snyder: [inaudible 00:36:11] this is really spiritual, cover up, please. I could feel it. But then I was like, “You know, I’m going to let it go because there’s more important things right now.” And that letting go, that technique, which builds like a muscle, if you can just feel the feeling and not the thoughts. Because the thoughts are like, this isn’t there. Why is this happening?

Katelyn: Right.

Kimberly Snyder: But feeling it and then letting it go, I think saves a lot of energy because it’s the thoughts that keep it going. And that’s exhausting over time.

Katelyn: Rerunning it in your head.

Kimberly Snyder: It wasn’t the only little wedding dramas that we had. But, wow. There’s always going to be something with a wedding, isn’t there, K?

Katelyn: Yeah. Whenever there’s happy, big events, it’s interesting how it really turns into so much on the plate. And so I’ve definitely been going through that, and noticing my energy and trying to push back. So if anybody’s going through any big life event, we definitely understand and support you. And I think the biggest takeaway is definitely sticking to your routine, having that hot water with lemon, having your GGS, taking your SBO probiotics, going for a walk, moving your body, doing a short meditation, all of those essentials that cover each of the cornerstones in your life. Keeping that balance really helps me to push back, otherwise, I’d just be in a ball on the floor, which has happened. It still happens sometimes. But it happens less because I’m able to kind of negate that energy a little bit. So we hope these tips help you guys too because, of course, everybody has some type of relatable experience, whether it be a graduation, or a birthday party, and stuff like that, a big move.

Kimberly Snyder: Exactly.

Question 4: What are your top three foods or drinks besides the glowing green smoothie, of course, you can share that will give me a boost I need to feel better about myself? I know my mood affects how much I get done. And I just want to be sure I’m incorporating foods I can break down and actually benefit from.

Katelyn: So all right, guys. We have one last question here from Leah from Camden, Maine. What are your top three foods or drinks besides the glowing green smoothie, of course, you can share that will give me a boost I need to feel better about myself? I know my mood affects how much I get done. And I just want to be sure I’m incorporating foods I can break down and actually benefit from.

Kimberly Snyder: Leah, thank you so much for your question. I think this is a wonderful question. And I also want to say that in the show notes, we will link to a blog that I wrote about 25 top energizing foods that may be of great interest to you. But I love that you mentioned the GGS. First of all, it is simple, base of water, mostly greens, lemon juice, and high fiber fruit. And that is an amazing mix to give you all that energy. It’s pre digested, as we mentioned, because it’s blended, and antioxidants, vitamins, minerals. Greens and fruit, two of the most natural foods for us humans to consume, is really, really important. So that’s a daily, daily base that I think is key, so thank you for mentioning it.

Kimberly Snyder: The three additional ones, I would say number one, these are not in a particular order. But these are just three that come to mind. I think that when we’re talking about feeling good, and Leah, you’re talking about feeling better about yourself, I think that healthy fats are a really important part of our brain health, as well as our skin health, as well as our heart health, and so on and so forth. Specifically, omega three fats, there’s a lot of research correlating depression and anxiety and different cognitive issues with not having the right fat balance in our bodies, and having too many inflammatory fats as well. So in that way, I’m a huge fan of chia seeds, flax seeds. Or I also take a DHA EPA algae based supplement. And that is another good insurance that you’re getting those omega three fats into your body.

Kimberly Snyder: I also like Udo’s oils. I don’t use a lot of oil. But I like his, he has an omega three fat one and a DHA one. The omega three one, you’ll see it’s refrigerated. It’s a very delicate oil, so that I will put sometimes on salads. That’s really a nice way to get it. But for me, it’s usually chia seeds. I have chia seeds almost every day, I want to say. I have flax seeds in my fridge too. But the chia seeds, for me, the dark leafy greens have some, and then also the algae supplement is important, I think. So healthy fats will help you feel good. The right kind of fats are important. We do not want to eat fat free. We do not believe in that. But we also don’t believe in a diet that’s so high in fat that you can’t eat any carbs. I don’t think that’s balanced either. But the right amount of fat is important.

Kimberly Snyder: Number two, I like comfort food. I think we all need comfort food to feel good. And to me, especially this time of year, soup is one of the best comfort foods. It digests really well. You’re going to get the nutrients from it. You’re going to get all the minerals. It’s going to go into your body. It’s going to be warming. There’s an everyday awesome soup recipe in Recipes For Your Perfectly Imperfect Life that has ginger and different spices and herbs and lentils and veggies. I have that at least two or three times a week. Whenever you come here, Kate, don’t I make it for you?

Katelyn: Yeah. It’s so good. Really, if you have fresh herbs too, it really adds to it.

Kimberly Snyder: Oh, yes. And so to me, soup is a great way to feel good. It’s comforting and it’s very filling. And you’re not going to eat a bunch of sugar or a bunch of crap, and then feel bad about yourself. But at the same time, you’re going to get that sort of homey comfort. And then number three, a food that I love that I’ve always talked about that makes me feel good, it makes me feel very alive, is sprouts. And I’ve gone back full force. Sometimes I take little breaks, but I’ve been eating a ton of broccoli sprouts lately. I don’t know if you guys know this, but broccoli sprouts have 50 times more antioxidants that mature broccoli, regular broccoli.

Katelyn: Oh, wow.

Kimberly Snyder: So there’s a life force. There’s an energy. There is a vitality to sprouts, baby little plants, that we don’t necessarily get from other veggies. So I recommend buying them. You can throw them on your soup, in your soup, in your wraps, in your salads, whatever. And whatever cooked food dish you have, just sprinkle them on top. And it’s so inexpensive, and it’s a really great way to feel good.

Thought of the Week

Katelyn: I’m getting hungry thinking about all these foods. Such great information here. We have a lot of blogs on My Solluna that we can link to in today’s show notes if you guys are curious and want to dig deeper into these topics. And as always, before we let Kimberly go, do you have an inspirational quote for this week?

Kimberly Snyder: I do. So because we’re talking about energy and productivity, I just want to remind you guys of this idea, this thought, which is that our real self is infinite in its potential, including in our energy. The real self is infinite in its potential, including in our energy. And so what I mean by that, it sounds a little bit mystical, a little bit esoteric, but I feel that we limit ourselves so much with, again, the physical world, like what we can see. Of course, we need healthy food. Of course, we need to exercise. But again, back to the cornerstones and this idea of working with the unseen. This is where I think the real power comes in when you put everything together.

Kimberly Snyder: Working with staying calm emotionally because then your light starts to pour out more. This is the spirit, the meditation part. This is the yogic philosophy coming through. It means we actually have no limits. We are such incredibly powerful beings. We are all creators. We are all drops of consciousness. And I think what weighs us down is everything that we’ve been talking about this show, getting caught up in the stress and the day to day, not taking care of our bodies, or just letting our emotions run rampant, and not taking time to meditate or to cultivate a connection with our inner self. But the more we start to keep going on this journey, and shedding the outer layers, and what’s weighing us down, our energy will start to grow more and more every day.

Kimberly Snyder: And I think you will surprise yourself at how much more your vitality will grow and expand and improve. And it won’t be just one thing you put your finger on. Even though I think those foods are great, it’s not like, oh, I just started eating sprouts, and that’s the end all, be all. It’s like, oh, the sprouts, and I’m journaling. I joined the Solluna Circle. And I’m meditating, and I’m going to a walk. All the stuff just starts to add up. And I think that, again, I know I have surprised myself. I know what it’s like to be exhausted. I know what it’s like to be addicted to diet soda and coffee because there were years when I drank that.

Kimberly Snyder: And I can say now, except for a little bit of green tea sometimes, I don’t have any caffeine. I’m the busiest ever with Bubby and family life and just everything with Solluna. But I have a lot of energy, and I think the more we start to really know ourselves and nourish ourselves on all levels, your potential is infinite. There’s no limit, so remember how powerful you are, no matter how much you’ve abused your body, or how unhealthy you deem yourself to be right now. You can always shift. You can always change. The body has so much intelligence to keep going. And so remember you can always make improvements. You can always change your life starting today.

Katelyn: Well, thank you K, for that quote and wrapping up the show today. We always want to remind you beauties that we’re listening to you. We want to hear what you have to say and what you’re thinking. That’s why we have over on mysolluna.com/askkimberly. There’s a form there. We want you to fill it out. Keep putting your topics and questions. That’s where we grab them for the show. And we’d love for you to go over today if you haven’t, and put what you’re thinking.

Kimberly Snyder: Awesome, K. Thank you so much for reminding us of that. And thank you, beauties, so much for being here. We are so grateful for you. We know that everybody that comes here and is here for a reason, and we are connected for a reason, you and K and I, and everyone in the community. So thank you. Thank you so much. And remember we’re always here for you. You can ask questions. You can pop over to the Solluna site and see all the resources we have. We also have Instagram, we are on there offering daily support and motivation. We have a ton of tips I’m doing almost every day on Instagram Stories. And our handle is @_kimberlysnyder. So we will see you back here Monday for our next interview podcast. Until then, take care. So much love, take great care of yourself. Take some deep breaths, and I will see you back here in a few days. Lots of love.

Increasing Energy and Productivity [Episode #416]

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Increasing Energy and Productivity [Episode #416]

This week’s topic is: Increasing Energy + Productivity

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Question 1: I feel like I’m dragging even after getting nine hours of sleep. What could be going on internally that I’m still feeling this way after what should be enough sleep?

Question 2: I’ve been told by my nutritionist that my assimilation of food isn’t great. Seems like I’m having low energy despite eating plant based. Do you have any suggestions?

Break

Question 3: Not sure if it’s my mind or my body that isn’t being very productive. I know they must go hand in hand. Any tips to cover both areas, so I feel like I have energy that I can be productive?

Thought of the Week

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