In the present day on the weblog we’re welcoming Elizabeth Swail.
When you have but to fulfill her, she is the co-founder of Alive and Nicely, a holistic group providing companies, dietary supplements & extra. They’re enthusiastic about useful medication & therapies and still have a wellness spa. They assist folks with hormone imbalance, sleep points, allergic reactions, intestine well being & extra.
On this submit Elizabeth goes to inform us about her journey from ache to goal as she opens up about her childhood, overcoming adversity, and turning into a profitable entrepreneur with ardour & laborious work. Large bonus, she’s even spilling the tea on all her ideas & tips for minimizing stress & anxiousness, plus the dietary supplements she swears by.
Let’s dive in.
High Wellness Practices from Alive & Nicely’s Elizabeth Swail
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I’m match and wholesome, very fortunately married, financially safe, and have 4 lovely kids. I even have significant friendships and I do work that’s fulfilling. Sure, I’m blessed however my life has not at all times been this manner. Briefly, I’m not speculated to be right here. Odds would let you know that I ought to be scuffling with drug dependancy, barely managing to make ends meet as a single mother with no profession and no sense of actual goal in life. But, right here I’m, overwhelmed with gratitude each single day of my life.
I do know first hand how irritating an unfair life may be. As I look again at my journey and the huge quantity of adversity I’ve overcome and am humbled by the transformation and progress that has taken place. I share my story in hopes that it’s going to encourage others to look past the difficult hand they’ve been dealt to search out their very own goal in life.
My childhood was something however privileged.
Born to a 14 yr outdated mom and 16 yr outdated father, I used to be raised by my immigrant grandparents. Dwelling life was chaotic. I used to be surrounded by a substantial amount of dysfunction because of the drug dependancy of a lot of my relations, particularly my dad and mom. There was no construction, no cash, no steerage, and no presents to get up to on Christmas Day.
Publicity to sexual abuse, drug use, racial discrimination, and poverty have been the backdrop that led to abysmal grades, disordered consuming, and a suicide try. One silver lining was my athletic skill. Being an athlete and dancer saved me in the best crowd and out of hassle. Sports activities taught me that irrespective of my start line, I may management my consequence with laborious work and self-discipline. Nonetheless, it’s only by the grace of God that I survived highschool. Alive however not properly; my unstable roots left me with scientific melancholy and main well being points.
I slowly pulled myself out of chaos and dysfunction – beginning with getting accepted into school by the slimmest of margins. Free from the fixed publicity to a malignant house life, I thrived in school turning into the primary particular person in my household to earn a level. All through, I adopted my ardour for dance, turning into one of many few ladies to have danced for each the Houston Rockets and Houston Texans.
Regardless of this newfound success, my lengthy historical past of poor eating regimen, trauma, and environmental toxins continued to carry me again. I suffered frequent migraines, intestine points, melancholy, and hormonal imbalances every day. Poor well being perpetuated my incapacity to make use of my presents and skills to stay out my future.
Lastly having medical insurance coverage, I sought assist from numerous medical medical doctors – they’d a capsule for every thing.
They helped masks signs however by no means tried to discover the basis of my issues. Apparently, it was my husband, Michael, who launched me to the idea of “meals as medication.” His father was a pioneer within the holistic wellness motion in Austin, TX. Michael had inherited a ardour for serving to others in the identical approach.
Primarily based on Michael’s inspiration, the primary evil I fought was gluten. The subsequent was dairy. Then I attempted my first cleanse. I felt a shift. My mind fog was gone. My bloating and pores and skin points have been at bay and my hormones felt extra balanced. Not exaggerating a bit: That was the start of a brand new journey that might change my life endlessly. So, that is what it felt prefer to thrive and never simply survive. With extra power and a transparent thoughts, I used to be in a position to embrace my place in life and cease being a sufferer of my previous.
THE LESSONS I LEARNED
So what has all of this taught me? It taught me that nobody is hopeless. All of us possess the facility to beat our previous and to “have all of it,”with a mix of laborious work, a constructive perspective, and assist from the best folks in life. I’ve realized that forgiveness of your self and others is crucial to transferring ahead. You aren’t your previous. You may solely get out of your physique and thoughts what you set into it – rubbish in, rubbish out.
Looking for non permanent consolation and altogether avoiding hardship and friction is a recipe for long run distress and may flip into missed alternatives. Taking shortcuts will rob you of the precious preparation you have to to stay a wealthy, goal stuffed life. Most significantly, I’ve realized you possibly can’t do it by yourself.
Along with my husband, now we have been in a position to merge our presents, taking all our experience and expertise, together with our frustration for the present healthcare system, to show our ardour right into a crystal clear mission:
To empower others to take management of their well being and stay out their goal.
We need to assist folks stay the fullest expression of who they have been created to be and supply a spot the place folks can go to search out the instruments they want for his or her journey. Enter Alive and Nicely. Alive and Nicely provides another path to healthcare. We provide an ecosystem of wellness companies to assist our workforce of world class suppliers and practitioners providing a useful method to well being. Our visitors can discover assist at any level on their well being journey – from wellness novice, to these scuffling with persistent situations, to superior biohackers.
After greater than 10 years alongside my very own well being journey and being blessed to have entry to innovative holistic therapies and practices, I’ve tried all of it. I’d like to share my high 3 favourite wellness hacks for sleep, hydration, and stress. After all, I’m together with just a few of my go-to dietary supplements as properly.
HEALTH TIPS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
These are the issues I do each single day with out fail…and so do you have to. Please word that high quality and bioavailability of dietary supplements is crucial. No matter you do, don’t purchase the crap on Amazon or at big-box retailers. It’s a waste of cash. I’ve linked many dietary supplements from the Alive and Nicely store web page and others. Do your analysis and purchase from unbiased corporations doing issues the best approach.
♡ Tip 1: Sleep
Go the F to sleep! Severely although, cease sabotaging your sleep. Your day begins with the sleep you had the night time earlier than. Get seven to eight hours of high quality sleep 6 nights every week. Research present that essentially the most restful sleep is between 10:00 PM and 12:00 AM so eat dinner early and cease scrolling round 9:00 PM (at minimal change the night time shift in your telephone settings to regulate the temp of your mild). Observe your sleep (Oura ring or Whoop Band – use code SKINNY for 15% off).
In case your sleep shouldn’t be good, repair it. How do you try this?
Begin with constructing a bedtime routine starting two to a few hours earlier than mattress. No alcohol, no meals, drink a relaxing tea/mocktail (Mantra Labs Relaxation, One Farm Dream Tea, lower mild publicity (Blue blockers + swap bed room lamps out with pink mild bulbs – bonus, you’ll look horny within the mild! Extra on that right here), learn a e-book, take a heat bathtub with mineral salts (or Dr. Singha’s Mustard bathtub for further detox) and a cool rinse after, take magnesium and calming dietary supplements (Quicksilver Liposomal Gaba w/ L-theanine, Cymbiotika Adrenal Tremendous Tonic, Xymogen OptiMag Neuro, NuMedica Liquid Melatonin).
Make your mattress a spot you possibly can’t wait to crawl into. No litter. Put money into an awesome, clear mattress (Avocado), good sheets, nice pillows in your sleep model, flip the temp down and get the F in mattress! Perform a little calming breathwork in case you nonetheless must settle down (love this firm: Frequency).
If you don’t get up feeling refreshed by your sleep after just a few days of this, one thing is improper and it’s best to discover a sleep check or hormone check to search out out what. Sleep shouldn’t be a luxurious. It’s an absolute important for dwelling an extended, wholesome life. These are principally free/low price therapies/practices anybody can do. No excuses!
For waking, exchange your telephone with an actual alarm clock (Hatch Restore). Don’t attain in your telephone straight away. Should you like to remain in mattress for a couple of minutes – hop up actually rapidly, open a window and crawl again in mattress a couple of minutes to stare on the sky from mattress whereas serious about just a few stuff you’re grateful for. This may reset your rhythms, join you to life giving sunshine, and begin your time off with a constructive perspective. Suppose: sky earlier than display screen!
♡ Tip 2: Hydration – Ditch plain water:
Drink up, B! Should you actually need to age gracefully and reduce your publicity to illness, throw out the outdated “8 glasses of water a day” lie you’ve been peddled since childhood. Being correctly hydrated helps metabolic regulation, which protects your system from chemical, emotional, and bodily stressors which are produced in response to the day after day stress we expertise. As everyone knows, this sort of every day stress is among the main causes of persistent sickness…Plus, you’ll get wrinkles in case you don’t hydrate and no person desires that.
The reality is that correct and true hydration means being hydrated on the mobile degree, which may solely happen when electrolytes can get to the liner of your cells and blood vessels and into the intercellular areas of your physique. That is one motive hospitals provide you with an IV with saline (salt) and electrolytes (which carry {an electrical} cost) once you come into the hospital with dehydration.
Additionally, cease trying on the coloration of your pee. This tells you nothing about how water is penetrating your cells. In actual fact, clear pee is usually an indication of mineral depletion and dehydration in our system. When water carries a cost from electrolytes, our our bodies learn the cost and ship it straight to our cells; it’s bioavailable. Plain water is successfully lifeless and washes straight by means of our our bodies. This can be a much less environment friendly solution to hydrate and may even flush mineral shops.
Routine and merchandise:
Drink 16 oz of mineralized water very first thing within the morning in your inside bathtub and wait a minimum of an hour earlier than consuming caffeine. Some nice minerals I take advantage of are Quinton (Isotonic or Hypertonic), Cellcore CT Mineral Drops and LMNT (Orange Citrus and Mango Chili are my favorites). Different methods to get minerals: diluted natural coconut water (Innocent Harvest or Nutra Coco clear, moral, and engaging) and a pinch of normal salt (Celctic Sea Salt or Redmond Pink Salt).
Avoid drinks with “pure flavors” as a result of something might be hiding in there. Including a little bit of apple cider vinegar (with the mom – Braggs Apple Cider Vinegar) or lemon in your water is nice to have earlier than a meal for including minerals, balancing blood sugar, and making ready digestion for much less bloating. Loopy water is a favourite water from Mineral Wells, Texas that’s already charged and we solely drink Alive Waters at house – the glass containers are so beautiful). Hydrogen wealthy water can be nice, particularly when fasting. Hydrogen is an antioxidant with anti-inflammatory properties that helps glucose homeostasis and fats metabolism. Fastonic is a superb complement too.
♡ Tip 3: Beating stress
We’re all properly acquainted with emotions of stress and anxiousness. For many people, we could have even tailored to those emotions a lot that they’re our regular. That stated, if you don’t tackle stress and anxiousness, they’ll result in long term psychological and bodily illnesses. So, addressing them is crucial to your wellbeing. Whether or not you get them through your meals, IV drip, or by means of supplementation, under are the highest vitamins you have to maintain stress at bay and from wreaking havoc in your wellness. I’ve additionally added a few of my favourite dietary supplements. I may write a weblog submit on every of those and their advantages. Since I don’t have time to do this right here, please analysis by yourself to study extra about their unimaginable advantages.
♡ B Nutritional vitamins
B nutritional vitamins assist so most of the physique’s features and they’re extremely vital to our skill to handle stress and anxiousness. From adrenal gland operate to serotonin manufacturing, B nutritional vitamins have been linked to boosting cognitive operate, decreasing the signs of stress and anxiousness, and boosting cognitive efficiency even when topics weren’t poor. Fairly unimaginable.
Neuro Vitamins Temper Assist has an awesome dose of B12 and B6 in addition to another nice assist for neurotransmitter assist. A couple of different favorites: Quicksilver Liposomal Methyl-B Complicated Liquid, Premier Analysis Labs Max B-ND Liquid, and Cymbiotika Synergy Vitamin B12 + B6.
♡ Vitamin C
Vitamin C is sweet for therefore many issues however you hardly ever hear in regards to the methods it helps stress and anxiousness. It aids in decreasing cortisol within the physique, which in flip, reduces stress and anxiousness and likewise helps your physique handle glucose spikes that may happen throughout irritating occasions, making it simpler so that you can cope with the stress at hand. Long term, it may well additionally scale back the oxidative stress attributable to persistent stress. Ditch the Emergen-C and go for Xymogen Bio C 1:1, Skilled well being Merchandise Professional C 3000 Drink (I combine this in my morning cocktail on particularly irritating days or for restoration from lack of sleep or sickness), and Thorne Vitamin C w/ Flavanoids.
♡ Ashwagandha + Adaptogenic Mushrooms
These provide unimaginable stress assist that guard in opposition to unspecified stressors and may assist your system to return to a state of homeostasis. 4 Sigmatic makes unimaginable mixes that style nice. I really like nearly all their formulations however the Stress-Much less system is high notch!
♡ Magnesium
Magnesium provides unimaginable assist for nearly all our physique’s features. We’ve got just a few posts on this miracle mineral right here, right here, and right here. Two of my favourite kinds for mind operate are Magnesium Malate and l-threonate OrthoMolecular Reacted Magnesium and Cymbiotika Magnesium L-Threonate
♡ L-theanine
NuMedica L-theanine liquid. I like to put this in my morning espresso or tea to clean out the sides of a caffeine rush. Additionally, I like to recommend it an hour or two earlier than a irritating exercise or bedtime to calm nerves and ease your thoughts. Quicksilver Liposomal Gaba with L-theanin is unimaginable earlier than bedtime or anytime you have to really feel relaxed. I like these two dietary supplements for his or her versatility. They’re each calming with out impairing your cognition or making you drowsy.
♡ Kava
Extracted Kava root is an unimaginable plant-based complement for calming the nerves and enjoyable the physique. Customary Course of Kava Forte is a superb one. I’m additionally obsessive about Really feel Free Tonic (use code SKINNY for 25% off). I get clear power with it, as easing of the thoughts and an open heartedness that helps me method my stress with extra readability. I’m a ¼ – ⅓ bottle person. If I drink greater than that at one time, it’s a bit a lot for me. My husband, alternatively, can drink a bottle inside an hour and really feel wonderful. Play with the dosage however begin gradual.
♡ CBD:
One Farm makes a few of the highest high quality CBD available on the market. I prefer to microdose in my water all through the day by including a dropper to 24 oz of water and sipping steadily. Additionally, taking a full dose for acute stress or earlier than mattress may be very calming.
Lastly…
These practices and dietary supplements have supported me in maintaining with 4 children, managing my companies, staying in nice bodily form, and decreasing my stress. They’ve offered the readability and house wanted to focus and carry out properly in all that I undertake. I’m able to keep in a proactive frame of mind, have wholesome relationships, and have pleasure even on the toughest days. Briefly, my concentrate on holistic well being permits me to stay out my goal.
Discovering optimum well being and dwelling a lifetime of goal is my hope for everybody. It’s why we do what we do at Alive and Nicely. Wherever you’re in your wellness journey, I encourage you to discover a wholesome, supportive group. Doing this alone shouldn’t be reasonable. Alive and Nicely has offered this assist to hundreds of individuals, however there are a lot of different wellness specialists who will help. I hope you’ll begin this course of now and make it a precedence. Who you’re shouldn’t be your fault, however it’s your duty.
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Make sure to try Alive and Nicely in case you’re within the within the Austin space & comply with them on instagram @aliveandwellaustin.
x, The Skinny Confidential workforce.
+ in case you cherished this submit, scope this one from the founding father of Cymbiotika.
++ try this submit for Lauryn’s bedtime optimization ideas.