WEAR SUNSCREEN DAILY
I grew up playing soccer in Southern California and I have zero memories of ever putting on sunscreen. I continued to play in college at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and was outside constantly and NEVER wore SPF. Thank god for skin care technology and lasers to help remove the sun damage on my face. I also get yearly skin checks now and wear SPF daily (even in the winter). I plan to make sure my kids know the importance of SPF 😉
LIFT WEIGHTS
I’m sure this will surprise no one, but I was cardio obsessed growing up. The more the better. I had to run a lot for soccer, but I have memories spending hours on the elliptical (such a waste of time btw) studying flashcards in college. Luckily, I was exposed to weight lifting in college because we had to strength train a few days a week, but I didn’t continue that after college. Now I focus primarily on strength training 3-4 x week and walking. I do very minimal cardio these days. I wrote a post about strength training for women in case you missed it.
CHECK MY AMH
I always knew I wanted kids and I wish it was advised at one of my yearly exams in my late 20’s to get my hormones checked; specifically AMH (anti mullerian hormone). I would have found out that my number was very low for my age and that I would go into peri and menopause very early. I wouldn’t have waited until my late 30’s to try for baby #2 with this knowledge and saved myself a lot of stress. This is such an easy blood test and relatively cheap that should be offered to women who eventually want kids. It’s not though. While it doesn’t tell you if you’ll have fertility issues it can give you a timeline of how early you’ll run out of eggs and you can plan accordingly. Have an opportunity to freeze your eggs, etc.
CHECK FOR VITAMIN DEFICIENCIES
I work with college students and we are constantly running labs and checking for vitamin deficiencies in these kids. I don’t think I ever had labs drawn or took a vitamin supplement in college. Maybe I took a gummy vitamin once a week? I wish I had the knowledge to get my labs drawn in my 20’s and make sure I was not deficient in any nutrients. This is so helpful for the younger population to make the dietary changes and supplement as needed so they are feeling their best at a time they should have a lot of energy.
EAT REAL FOOD
Don’t be fooled. I was a nutrition major and still ate so much processed and packaged food in college. Low fat = healthy back in those days. I ate Lean Cuisine meals, Top Ramen, Yoplait light yogurt, Snackwells fat free cookies, etc. You get the idea. Eventually I did find Trader Joe’s frozen section and made some veggie stir fry’s, but overall I lived on diet food and ultra processed food thinking it was healthy. I love teaching young adults how to eat whole food and how easy it can be. I love educating younger adults on the importance of eating adequate carbohydrates, protein and fats in the diet and how to create balanced meals.
STRETCH MORE
I was SO active in my younger days and I don’t think I ever stretched. Flexibility and mobility exercises were not taught to us and I’m sad thinking of how much better my performance and recovery could have been with more stretching, foam rolling, yoga, etc. I’m obsessed with it now and it’s an essential part of my routine so I can continue to be active as I age.
MY BODY ISN’T MY ENEMY
I spent years being so hard on myself and my body. I tried to hard to control it through diet and exercise like many, and look back at my younger self and feel sad for the time wasted. I wrote a blog post a while back on my eating disorder journey in case you missed it. I love the work I do now mostly because I can help young girls going through something similar and provide them with sound nutrition education and support. My goal is that they do not spend years of their life fighting against their body and understand how to properly nourish and move their body and enjoy their life.
xx, A
