Revive Wellness

04/02/2025

Magnesium just may be your new menopause bestie. This simple supplement has been shown, in the research, to have a powerfully positive effect on the body in midlife. It can help regulate your mood, improve sleep, lessen muscle and joint aches, AND can even help reduce the aggressiveness of hot flashes and night sweats. Let’s look at why! ⤵️

In a paper called "Magnesium in the gynecological practice: a literature review," researchers conclude that magnesium is an effective treatment for
menopause and perimenopause; it works primarily by "normalizing the action of different hormones on the central nervous system."

This makes magnesium the perfect support for the dynamic recalibration process the brain goes through in perimenopause and menopause! It can soothe the nervous system, and provide muscular needed stability amidst hormone fluctuations, helping to improve sleep, prevent migraines, fuel mitochondria, slow aging, lower inflammation, and improve insulin resistance.

Food sources of magnesium include nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, and leafy green vegetables, but it's hard to get enough from food because when you're under stress, your body has the unfortunate strategy of actively peeing out magnesium to rev up your nervous system. (And what woman in perimenopause or menopause isn't stressed? In other words magnesium needs ramp up in menopause!

Can you test for magnesium deficiency? Magnesium is commonly deficient during perimenopause and menopause, and unfortunately, there's no easy test. A blood test is not reliable because most magnesium is inside the cells and so it won't show up in blood serum. The simplest thing to do is to just try taking a supplement and see how you respond.

Unless you have pre-existing kidney disease, magnesium is safe to try and take long-term.

Some forms (magnesium oxide) can cause diarrhea, but gentler forms (magnesium chelate or glycinate) are usually fine.

Magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate
(magnesium joined to the amino acid glycine) has the added benefit of providing glycine, which promotes sleep and supports healthy insulin sensitivity.

I love to recommend magnesium glycinate before bed to help with sleep! The therapeutic dose is 500mg per 100lb of bodyweight. But the amount that works best for you may be less or more AND depends on a variety of other factors!

PRO TIP: If you can take a magnesium powder, versus tablets or capsules, bonus points as it's easier to absorb!

REMEMBER: You need sodium & potassium to respond to magnesium properly. I recommend a high quality mineral salt like REDMOND MINERAL SALT. It's pure, unprocessed, contains 60 trace minerals and is free from modern day pollutants. Also, add some potassium rich foods like oranges, bananas, broccoli, leafy greens, potatoes and sweet potatoes to your daily diet!

Revivewellness.health

03/27/2025

I am so excited about the launch of my new website! Fresh vibes always feel so... well... FRESH!

Revivewellness.health has a new look and I would love for you all to take a moment to check it out!

🔥Updated services: One on one coaching, Labs/Consult Bundles, AND information on my Functional Health Coaching Mentorship!

🔥Updated transformations and testimonials

🔥And my podcast finally has it's own page- YAY!

WWW.REVIVEWELLNESS.HEALTH

03/20/2025

The real reason your cholesterol is rising as you age (hint: it’s not your morning eggs) ⤵️

Cholesterol often rises in and around the onset of menopause. Why? Because inflammation rises in menopause, and high cholesterol is just a branch off the inflammation tree.

In fact, your body often raises cholesterol as a protective mechanism against inflammation.

What is causing it to rise? ⤵️

1- Poor insulin sensitivity or insulin resistance. Both high blood sugar and poor insulin sensitivity disrupt cholesterol balance. Look at fasting insulin, fasting blood glucose and A1C, also look forr indicators of NAFLD!

2- Chronic inflammation. Inflammation damages tissues, triggering the body to produce more cholesterol as a protective response. Look at creatinine kinase, CRP, Homocysteine, and LDH

3- Poor liver function. If the liver isn't working properly, it can't effectively remove cholesterol from the body, causing it to build up in the bloodstream. This is WAY more common then youd think. Look at ALT, AST, ALP, albumin, bilirubin, and GGT.

Tips to lower cholesterol naturally:

1- Anti-inflammatory diet: Focus on whole, nutrient-dense foods like vegetables, healthy fats, and lean proteins. Focus on omega-3s (salmon, olive oil, flaxseeds), fiber (oats, veggies), cruciferous veggies for improved detox (arugula, kale, broccoli) and antioxidants (berries, green tea).

2- Eliminate processed foods & sugars. Refined carbs fuel insulin resistance and inflammation. Shelter from pasta, breads, crackers, cookies, bagels, etc etc.

3- Physical activity. Regular movement improves HDL (good cholesterol) and lowers triglycerides. I’m not just talking about weight training either. I’m also talking about movement. Walk more. Stand more. Just move more.

4- Gut health! Your gut health plays a huge role in cholesterol metabolism: Support your gut by eating: Probiotics (fermented foods like kimchi and yogurt) and prebiotic-rich foods (garlic, onions, kiwi, asparagus).

Supplements I recommend to optimize your cholesterol levels:

* Omega-3 fatty acids: Reduce triglycerides and inflammation.

* Berberine: Improves insulin sensitivity and lowers LDL.

* Red yeast rice: A natural alternative to statins.

* Niacin: Increases HDL and reduces LDL.

* Plant sterols: Block cholesterol absorption in the gut.

* Comprehensive liver support (NAC, glutathione, artichoke, dandelion, milk thistle, etc)

Revivewellness.health

03/14/2025

If weight loss was simply a matter of calories in vs calories out, the problem of obesity would've been solved decades ago.

Optimal health and sustainable weight loss result when you supply the body with sufficient nutrients to maintain GI health, blood chemistry, energy levels, immune system function and hormonal health.

I honestly believe one of the major mistakes in recent diet trends is to negate the importance of WHAT you're eating, not just how MUCH you're eating.

A dietary intake of Halo ice cream and Quest bars might fit your macros and might allow the pounds to come down, but it's NOT going to ensure exceptional health, performance or body composition.

Nor is it going to satiate, subdue cravings, balance hormones or provide essential micronutrients.

Effective long term weight loss requires balanced macro-nutrition (carbs, proteins, fats) and essential micro-nutrition (vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc).

Studies have shown that calorie restricted diets that do NOT prioritize food quality lead to greater fluctuations in energy and mood, increased cravings, lack of diet satiety or satisfaction with meals, and an increased occurrence of weight regain.

What's more, a 2016 study done at Boston Hospital compared a basic "anything goes" calorie restricted diet with a clean eating" calorie restricted diet.

Both groups lost 20lbs in 10 weeks however the group of clean eating participants lost a greater percentage of weight from FAT versus muscle- nearly double.

And while both groups saw a decrease in RMR (resting metabolic rate), the clean eating group decreased by an average of only 96 calories per day whereas the anything goes group decreased by 176 calories a day. A higher RMR = greater ease keeping lost weight/fat off, long term.

All of this indicates what I've long been preaching- which is that while yes, calorie restriction is needed, in and of itself it's just not enough.

Revivewellness.health

03/12/2025

Reasons Why You Struggle With Consistency

Day 8- You're relying on motivation, waiting until you feel like it.

Okay, so I saved this one for last, because it’s really over discussed.

We all have heard it by now “discipline not motivation.” “You can’t rely on motivation.”

So we all know this, and yet, how many times do we catch ourselves saying “I dont feel like it” or “I didn’t feel like it” and using that as a reason (excuse rather) for not doing what we know we should be doing.

We wait for emotions to dictate our actions, but emotions don’t dictate actions. Priorities do.

You can feel like sleeping in, but decide to get up anyway. You can feel like ordering pizza while out to eat, but decide to get a salad instead.

If you always wait to feel like it, you'll never accomplish anything. And in fact, if you look at anyone who is successful in life, in business, in health, in marriage, in anything, not a single one of them will point to motivation as being the reason why.

They were successful, because it was important to them. It was a priority. They did the thing, whetheree they felt like it, or not.

So to sort of wrap this whole post series up…

Consistent action involves setting up a system that you can follow on a daily basis, that aligns with your goals and your lifestyle.

It implies pursuing habits that you can stick to, even when it gets tough.

It’s about doing a little bit each day, rather than trying to accomplish everything at once.

It means understanding that setbacks are part of the journey. Life is freaking messy guys.

It means rather than abandoning your plan after a bad day, you pick yourself up and continue where you left off.

It means doing the best you can, even if your best isn’t perfect.

Consistent action isn’t flashy and it often doesn’t feel groundbreaking in the moment, but its power lies in the cumulative effect of small steps taken day after day.

Revivewellness.health

03/11/2025

Hi All!!!

I wanted to share a recent quest appearance on the "With All Due Respect" Podcast! I had the joy of sitting down with hosts Josh and Gray to discuss reasons why women 35+ struggle to see weight and fat loss!

Listen on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/with-all-due-respect/id1736627426?i=1000698495403

WithAllDueRespect YouTube: https://youtu.be/bVZ6eAUIGiQ

#44: Why Women Struggle Over 35 with Weight Loss with Allison Fahrenbach

In this episode of With All Due Respect, we're back with Allison for Part 2!

We dive deep into the challenges women face with weight loss, hormones, and metabolism—especially between the ages of 35-60.

Allison shares her 18 years of coaching experience, breaking down why traditional "calories in, calories out" methods often fail for women in this age group.

🔹 Why am I not losing weight when I’m doing everything right?

🔹 The role of hormones like progesterone, estrogen, insulin, and cortisol

🔹 How stress, poor sleep, and food cravings impact weight loss

🔹 Why building muscle in your 20s is the best insurance for your 40s

🔹 The myth of metabolism slowing down with age Alison explains how women’s bodies respond differently to stress and diet than men’s—and why quick fixes and extreme calorie deficits can do more harm than good.

Hope you'll all give it a listen!

With All Due Respect 44 w/ Allison Fahrenbach: Why Women Over 35 Struggle with Weight LossIn this episode of With All Due Respect, we're back with Alison fo...

03/11/2025

Reasons Why You Struggle with Consistency

Day 7: You aren't addressing your mindset.

I recently had a new client send me this message, "I am struggling to keep implementing the healthier options. And it’s hard not to get frustrated. I know what I’m supposed to eat and do mostly, but it feels like a really big effort. I still seem to want the unhealthy stuff.”

And my response? “What beliefs do you have around healthy eating?"

Most of us have been raised in a culture that associates healthy eating with dieting.

And the word diet has this really negative connotation to it.

So the connection our brain has made with healthy eating is that it’s boring, stressful, restrictive, we have to miss out on fun, it's a chore.

In my opinion, it’s the association with restriction and deprivation of joy that can negatively influence your relationship with food and health and really prevent you from being consistent.

If this is how you view eating healthy, you’ll never make it. If you are ever going to be consistent, you have to change your perspective towards eating well, and what it means.

Eating purposefully is not "dieting."

Structure does not mean "restriction" and planning does not mean "regimented."

The prioritization of healthy food and making decisions that align with your goals should never be seen as limiting.

It should be seen for what it is- an aggressive display of self care, and a powerful exercise in taking control of your health and wellbeing.

The word diet, interestingly enough, is defined as “the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats”. There’s no mention of boring, or restrictive or limiting anywhere in there. A diet is literally just a way of eating.

To change your relationship with food and health, work on going back to the real meaning of the word diet – just the way you eat, a joy filled healthy lifestyle, not a restrictive, miserable existence.

Revivewellness.health

03/10/2025

Reasons Why You Struggle with Consistency

Day 6: You're planning based on your best day, not based on your typical day.

Hope for the best. Plan for the worst.

Yes, when you have all the time, energy, and motivation in the world you might be able to cook every meal, workout daily for 60 minutes, and have the willpower to say no to all sweets.

But level with yourself- are those days really all that frequent?

Most days you are likely busy, or tired, overwhelmed, or stressed out, or some combination of all four.

Knowing that, choose your habits accordingly.

Because when you set your expectations too high and you constantly can't meet them, you are chipping away at your confidence in your ability to change and simultaneously getting more and more in the habit of breaking promises to yourself.

Instead of basing what you’ll do on your best day, base it on your worst.

If you’re considering a habit ask yourself “can I still be consistent with x,y,z” on my worst day?”

For example you may want to train 5x a week, but if deep down you know it would take an act of God to be able to make it to the gym 5x, then that’s probably not a realistic habit you should be aiming to implement.

Instead, could you commit to 4x a week? Or 3x. Make sure it’s something you are 100% confident you can do regardless do what life hands you.

Revivewellness.health

03/09/2025

Reasons Why You Struggle With Consistency

Day 5: You're results focused not behavior focused.

What do I mean by this?

Well, if you wake up every day and think “I need to lose weight”, you’re results focused, not behavior focused.

You’re thinking about the end goal. You’re not thinking about what you have to do every single day to reach that end goal.

Instead of getting up every single day, thinking “I need to lose weight”, somebody who is behavior focused gets up every single day and thinks about what they need to do to ensure that they meal prep, that that they eat healthy, that they manage their time well, they drink their water, they get movement in, that they get good sleep, etc. They ask themselves, “what do I need to do, to check all of the boxes today?”

Because checking all of those boxes on a daily basis is what eventually leads to the results that you’re after.

As James Clear says, "It doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results."

When I coach clients, one solution I use for this problem is to encourage them to set behavior goals.

For example, if you’d like to lose 15lbs, you might set goals such as:

* Eating lean protein at every meal
* Eating veggies at at least three of your daily meals
* Making sure you move at least 30 minutes a day

These are behavior goals, which, if followed consistently, lead to the end goal.

Galatians 6:9 says “let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

This means there is a reward for our work. That’s what reap means, it means the product or result of an action, the result of your efforts. Sowing, refers to the work, to planting the seeds so to speak.

Don’t be so focused on reaping that you cease to sow.

Do the work.
Plant the right seeds.
The results will come. ❤️

Revivewellness.health

03/08/2025

Reasons Why You Struggle with Consistency

Day 4: You're trying to change too much, too fast.

CHANGE IS HARD. And most of us- myself included- resist change.

You may want to lose weight, or be healthier, but when confronted with having to actually take the actions required to make that want a reality, all of a sudden it’s easier said the done.

As George Leonard says, "Resistance is proportionate to the size and speed of change."

The bigger than changes, the bigger the resistance and the more tempted you'll be to fall back into old patterns.

That’s why it helps to NOT try to change 2553323 things at once. No matter how excited you are, tackling a whole bunch of stuff at once is a recipe for failure. It's like system overload.

I don't care how ambitious you are, that much change at once is going to make you feel overwhelmed, out of balance, and likely to say "the heck with it" and give up.

This is the reason that 99% of the time diets don't work. They don't take the actual science of behavior change into account! In order for our brains to latch on to a new habit, we can't overwhelm it with too much at once.

Research has shown that when people try to change a single behavior at a time, the likelihood that they’ll retain that habit for a year or more is better than 80%.

When they try to tackle two behaviors at once, their chances of success are less than 35%.

When they try for three behaviors or more, their success rate plummets to less than 5%

Is it any surprise, then, that when people try to massively overhaul their lifestyle in short order, they burn out and quit? Of course not. But, let’s be honest. Most of us aren’t known for being patient.

And most people want to be in shape, like, yesterday.

Clients fight me all the time on this. I literally have 18 years of experience and over 800 transformed bodies behind me, and yet clients still want to fight with me when I try to start them simply and slowly.

They want all the information they want to know ALL the strategies, they want to do all the things.

They want to go from 0 to 100 on day one and thats just not how it works. Because that’s not how human beings work.

So for once, just once consider how many times in your life, you’ve tried to change all the things all at once gotten overwhelmed and quit.

Maybe this time try simplifying and tackling just one basic habit at a time.

- Go to bed 10-15 minutes earlier a night
- Increase your veggie intake
- Swap regular soda for diet
- Make sure you eat breakfast
- Add a protein shake post workout
- Take 1-2g fish oil a day
- Eat protein at all meals
- Increase your water intake by 8-12 ounces

It sounds small, I know, but the only way to make any lifestyle change STICK, is to do it slowly, and with patience. When you take the time to lay a solid foundation, you can build effectively.

There's no need to overhaul your entire lifestyle in one fell swoop. Just pick one or two habits and focus on those. Be patient, be positive, get consistent, monitor your progress, and enjoy the journey.

Revivewellness.health

03/07/2025

Reasons You are Struggling with Consistency

Day 3- You chase diets, you don’t build habits.

How many times have you done the whole 90, or went Paleo, or tried cutting out the carbs, or joined a transformation challenge, or followed some other super restrictive diet plan that cut out all your favorite foods or left you hungry all the time?

And I know the thought process: I just need to stick with this long enough to lose the weight!

Except…what makes you think that if you had to white knuckle your way through the diet, just to lose the weight that you’re somehow going to be able to miraculously keep the weight off once the diet stops?

9 times out of 10 you hit your goal weight, and the diet is done.

And when the diet is done, you just go right back to your old habits, and therefore right back to your old body.

Until you decide to do another diet and you just repeat the cycle all over again.

This is what a lifetime of inconsistency looks like, just an endless cycle of losing weight and regaining weight and doing various diets.

Never actually learning how to implement healthy habits on a daily basis so that you create a lifestyle, a livable, sustainable lifestyle that allows you to reach, and then maintain a healthy bodyweight.

Instead, focus on building habits.

A diet is a short-term adjustment, while building habits creates a lasting modification in how you approach your health and wellness.

Yes, this is the slower approach. This is not the instant gratifying approach. But this is also the approach that lasts because it is the approach that allows you to be consistent, not for one day or two days or six weeks, but for your entire life.

Revivewellness.health

03/06/2025

Reasons Why You Are Struggling with Consistency

Day 2- 2.If you can’t do it perfectly then you don’t do it at all.

Wanting to be perfect is understandable but wholly unrealistic.

Life isn’t perfect, and certainly people aren’t perfect.

I’ve seen perfection STOP progress in its tracks when it comes to my clients, time and time again. They worry incessantly about screwing things up. Ironically, this obsession with being perfect is the primary driver of inconsistency.

Why? Well because perfectionists have two modes- on and off.

They’re either hitting a home run or they aren’t even stepping up to the plate.

They’re all or nothing.

And the problem with this, is that there is a whole lot more to eating and exercising than “perfect” or “crap.”

Isnt a first base hit better than no hit?
Isn’t 50% effort better than 0% effort?

When life gets in the way, and it will, it doesnt mean don’t step up to the plate . It doesn’t mean do nothing. It means do the best you can.

The question should always be how do I keep going, not “how can I be perfect.”

Maybe you don't have a full hour to hit the gym.
But how much time DO you have?
What can you do in that amount of time?

Maybe you don't have four hours to food prep.
But what can you do to ensure you eat well anyhow?

Look around- what's available?

Sure there's a drive thru, but there's also likely a grocery store, with a salad bar and more optimal options.

Maybe you can’t follow your program 100% but could you follow it 80?

Remember: The decent method you follow consistently is better than the “perfect” one you start and stop a thousand times over.

Striving for consistency keeps you moving forward whereas an all or nothing mentality leaves you stuck in an endless dance of one step up and two steps back because every time life throws you a curveball and you can’t be 100%, you just throw up your hands and quit.

Frankly lasting progress isn’t about being consistently great; it’s about being great at being consistent, simply showing up, over and over.

Instead of focusing on doing things perfectly, just focus on doing, and getting better as you progress.

Revivewellness.health