Personal Blog

  • Healthy Gut Diet Plan: The Basic Foundations For Your Healthy Gut.

    How to Implement Your Healthy Gut Diet Plan

    Healthy Gut Diet Plan

    Are you looking for a healthy gut diet plan? A lot of people are familiar with the phrase “healthy gut” but not as many people are actually doing anything about GETTING a healthy gut! And a healthy gut diet plan is really the first step in the right direction,,,it’s the foundation toward better health. If you know anything about the GUT, you know that “everything begins in the gut”. What does that mean? To paraphrase– all of our health, our wellness, our well-being, originates in our gut: it’s like the epicenter of our BODY, literally and virtually speaking. It’s up to us to make sure it is functioning the way it should be because when our gut is working and functioning properly, EVERYTHING ELSE should be working and functioning properly– same thing as when the gut is backed up or not working well. Things start to BACK UP and NOT WORK — most of our bodily functions can all be traced back to the GUT — hence why we say “it all starts with the gut. So, let’s get ourselves moving in a healthier and more fit direction by getting a healthy gut diet plan in place shall we? What does that look like?

    What is a good healthy gut diet plan anyway?

    This blog post is written from MY perspective and MY history. So– there are a lot of different ways of going about getting a healthy gut and many differing opinions. I’m going to share my experience and it is based on my history- which I think will be helpful to many of you who share a fitness fanatic type history like mine. If you, like me, have tended to. in the past– NOT be very picky about the types of foods you put in your stomach- and your primary goal was all about weight loss at all costs, you probably found yourself walking around with a stomach ache or gas and bloating A LOT. This is very common in the fitness space. Why? People are consuming a lot of protein powders, protein bars/shakes, and buying (sometimes) cheap foods for mass meal prep (again, I’m referring to my past when I used to follow the “bro diet” of 6 meals a day chicken/broccoli/rice etc.). LOTS of young people when they start to focus on weight training and dieting are NOT paying attention to QUALITY foods and QUALITY supplements– they are pouring in a lot of crap to their body and that stuff can add up. Then if your life also consists of things like antibiotics- which sadly can be very common in this day and age– antibiotics are prescribed for EVERYTHING — that affects your gut. OTC drugs– those affect your gut. (think pain meds of any kind). And then, even if you are NOT a fitness fanatic, if you are a typical American you are eating processed food of all kinds and that is destroying your gut with all kinds of chemicals! So– all of the above leads to a VERY UNHEALTHY GUT — easily. A healthy gut diet plan is designed to — very simply– counteract that. We want to remove the bad stuff and add in good stuff. 

    Healthy Gut Diet Plan: Food & Supplements

    So some of this is like DUH no brainer but yet, if it’s no brainer, why are most Americans obese and not eating this way? It’s obviously a no brainer philosophy that most people are not choosing to follow yet. So– first thing is, let’s focus on 1) cutting out as much fake/processed food as possible. Not forever! But while we heal the gut — for sure– let’s cut out the fake crap. Eat real whole foods, ideally ORGANIC– it matters. TRUST ME. That’s another blog post coming up where I’ll talk about that topic. (I used to doubt that it mattered too) 2) drink more water : hydration is key — I’m HORRIBLE at this if it makes you feel any better. I mean, I’m really bad and it’s a major goal of mine to be better at this the rest of this year. Let’s do it. 3) Add in healthy gut supplementation – let’s start with the basics: FIBER (SEE ABOVE) EVERY DAY-– I have been putting a scoop of this in our coffee every morning for 2 years (you don’t even taste it!)- then digestive enzymes and probiotics– these 3 basics for your gut are the FOUNDATION that you should be incorporating EVERY DAY. Head over to Healthy Origins website and use my code ‘kellyolexa’ to get 25% off your entire order. You’re welcome. CLICK HERE FOR THE DIGESTIVE PAGE. 

    If you think about this– it’s really SIMPLE. We treat our gut as an afterthought. We treat our gut like it’s a garbage disposal– we expect it to grind up all this junk we throw down there and it doesn’t work that way. We have to understand that our gut is CONNECTED to the rest of our body and our bodily functions- and we need to treat it like we are treating a very expensive car- like we are only going to put in the VERY BEST FUEL for that VERY EXPENSIVE CAR if we want that car to run efficiently. 

    HMMMM. That’s actually a very good analogy — we need to run at maximum capacity don’t we? Why not fuel ourselves for maximum capability? Maxes a lot of sense doesn’t it? 

    Let’s stop DUMPING crap into our gut. Let’s start re-thinking everything we put into our bodies, because we should have been doing that since the beginning. And if we start doing that now- the future US will be remarkably different than the past US. I’m certainly seeing that myself– now that I am eating COMPLETELY DIFFERENTLY than I was a year ago– my body is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT than it was a year ago, 5 years ago etc. I’ll never go back. Do I sometimes think about a big bagel and cream cheese? Maybe. For a second or two. But that’s about it. What I think about longer is how amazing it feels to look and FEEL this wonderful at age 53– better than I’ve looked in decades…..amazing what happens when you change your DIET.

    Disclosure: This post was sponsored by our friends at Healthy Origins, where I have been buying my supplements for 2+ years! All opinions expressed here are solely my own.

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  • What Are The Benefits of Magnesium For Women?

    The Top Benefits of Magnesium For Women.

    If you are researching magnesium and wondering about the health benefits of magnesium for women, look no further. In this blog post I will cover why I feel EVERYONE should be supplementing with magnesium (I have been for close to a decade now) and why the benefits of magnesium for women are so great, they cannot be ignored and shouldn’t be ignored. When you consider all of the benefits of magnesium for women it makes you wonder why it is not a more well known THING to be supplementing with this power-mineral. Well, let’s do our best to spread the word shall we? And for now, let’s dive right in to to why there are so many health benefits found in magnesium; what gives anyway? 

    Magnesium Supplement Benefits: Too Many to Count. Start Now!

    Disclosure: Today’s post is sponsored by our friends at Healthy Origins. Does this packaging look familiar to you? Probably because you’ve seen me show their products on my social media for the past year or more– I’ve been a customer for a long time buying their fiber and L-Glutamine and now we are partnering to help educate you all on other supplements. Like magnesium. They’ve been generous enough to give you readers a coupon code: use “kellyolexa” to get 25% off at HealthyOrigins.com for a limited time. You’re welcome. 

    How I Learned About The Benefits of Magnesium For Women

    I first learned about the benefits of magnesium for women from my first functional medicine doctor. He had me start taking magnesium before bed every night to encourage better sleep — and boy did it. Magnesium is definitely something that is going to help with relaxation and sleep, in fact, I recall when my company FitFluential was running a campaign for GNC, they had a product, a sports nutrition product that had a night-time  post-workout drink and it made me super sleepy and relaxed. Guess what the main ingredient was? Magnesium. ;-0 Fast forward to when I started getting migraines and went to see a neurologist, one of the supplements she insisted I take every day was MAGNESIUM– she upped my dose to 500 mg a day. It is something I swear by. When I started doing more research into magnesium, because I had heard about it being this “miracle mineral”, I was astonished to discover that it really is…..

    What I came to understand is that (this is my summary) we are all essentially deficient in magnesium due to soil changes over time and the way we consume our food. We aren’t getting the nutrients we used to from the soil and food and are deficient.  According to Medical News Today, “Magnesium is an important mineral, playing a role in over 300 enzyme reactions in the human body. Its many functions include helping with muscle and nerve function, regulating blood pressure, and supporting the immune system.”  DANG. 

    I had ordered the book, The Magnesium Miracle by Dr. Carolyn Dean and started reading it, and I kid you not, it’s like my jaw kept dropping. The more you learn about magnesium the more you are like WHOA THIS STUFF IS CLOSE TO MIRACULOUS. Why isn’t everyone using it?? 

    Now this is my personal opinion and observation. But ladies if you are like me and leading a high stress super busy life, you are likely dealing with a lot of anxiety and stress. This is where Magnesium can really help you as well. Magnesium is known to help with anxiety, even depression. It is insanely relaxing, whether taken in pill form, as a drink or topically. I urge you to start utilizing this regularly if you’ve ever been told – like me– that you are “wound tight” LOL 😉

    Magnesium Helps Insulin Resistance

    magnesium types and uses

    Even more relevant for me now is that magnesium helps insulin resistance which is a PRIMARY FOCUS for me in my life. Something else you should know– you can also get liquid magnesium and do a foot bath– magnesium is that powerful for CALMING you down and easing anxiety. Try it sometime. Magnesium helps with cardiovascular health, bone health, easing anxiety, helping with sleep, preventing migraines, improving PMS…..I think the only thing it doesn’t do is pay your mortgage for you!! 😉 For reals though…..this is something I’ve talked about for YEARS: people….if there is one supplement we all should be taking — it’s this one. Hop on over to Healthy Origins.com, use my code and start taking Magnesium today. You’ll thank me later I promise. 

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  • The Best Anti-Aging Tips For 50+ Women.

    My Favorite Anti-Aging Tips For Women Over 50: This is how aging can actually be FUN.

    best anti aging tips

    I remember when I was growing up thinking that 50 was SO OLD. LOL. Ladies, if you are looking for anti-aging tips for women over 50 you have landed in the right spot. I am 52, and the truth is I look and feel better than I have in 30 years! My husband says all the time I look better now than any picture he’s seen of me in my twenties. This blog post is my kickoff to a series of posts on the topic of anti aging tips for women over 50. I’ll be covering a lot of specific anti aging tips for women in upcoming posts in greater detail and many posts will also include interviews with experts/authors so be sure you are subscribed! I mean it when I say it, follow these anti aging tips for women like I have been and you can find yourself ENJOYING the aging process and looking FORWARD to chapters of your life ahead vs. dreading them. 

    What Anti-Aging Best Practices I'm Doing Now.

    anti aging tips prevent wrinkles

    Let’s start off with what I’m doing right now, and then I’d like to end this blog post with what I PLAN TO IMPLEMENT or what I’m planning to incorporate as far as products or procedures later this year, and I will report on all these things here on the blog for your learning pleasure of course. So, I don’t want to suggest by any means that I am the queen of anti-aging because, to be real, I’m probably the furthest from the poster child for anti-aging best practices up until recently. I laid out in the sun most of my adult life and went tanning in tanning beds like EVERY WEEK all of my adult life. I never smoked (thank GOD that is one of the single most aging things you can do) or did drugs (also guaranteed to age you if not kill you) but I did drink a lot in my early twenties. Luckily I stopped once I got into the workplace because excessive alcohol is NO BUENO for the skin and aging: 

    1) Anti-aging tip #1don’t be an alcoholic. I do drink, don’t get me wrong but no excess. When you get s**tfaced, you are dehydrating yourself and your skin and it’s not good. 

    2) Anti-aging tip #2 Alcohol consumption leads me to think of SLEEP. I’ve always luckily been focused on getting enough sleep and not enough people realize the importance of sleep for HEALTH for longevity and for BEAUTY. Ladies: get your 8 hours of sleep!!! (Here’s a tip: something that has dramatically improved my sleep — these Bamboo sheets OMG!! not only are they comfortable and cooling but they are great for your hair and skin too: CLICK HERE TO BUY. ) Another thing that will help you sleep better is essential oils in the bedroom– I learned of these diffusers via Skinny Confidential so now I’ll share with you- CLICK HERE TO BUY

    3) Anti-aging tip #3 Skincare: DUH. Let’s start with the basics. Why do so many women not WASH OFF THEIR MAKEUP AT NIGHT? OMG!!! Ladies!! Come on. You need to wash off your makeup and I learned from interviewing the founder of Shiffa cosmetics that washing your face once isn’t enough- you REALLY need to wash your face THREE TIMES to get that stuff off your face. I started doing that and noticing that the washcloth was rinsing out with makeup on it each time; gross! Thinking that before I was going to bed with all that makeup and bacteria on my face: EWWW. So – get the makeup off and then get a good skincare regime. I don’t use all one skincare company but I am using a good amount of Modere products right now with some Glowbiotics and some Its Clinical- recommended by Shakira my injector-– and also now that I am just starting to get FACIALS, the facialist recommended It’s Clinical as well. I’ll keep you posted as I change up my skincare routine. Skincare doesn’t have to be complex but consistency is key. WASHING YOUR FACE IS KEY– moisturizing is key and doing some treatments– key. 

    4) Anti-aging tip #4: Self-Care. This is something I have been really bad about and this year I am back to making it a priority. As women, we can be such caregivers and also badass boss babes– which means workaholics. This has been me. The past year I got into the work-all-the-time thing which meant: I stopped doing my weekly chiropractor, weekly massages, my workouts fell by the wayside (I didn’t think I had time), I stopped my morning prayer/meditation time, I stopped reading, I stopped really EVERYTHING BUT WORK! WTH! Ladies…….this is a fast track to: hormone problems, burnout, exhaustion and NOT ACCOMPLISHING ANYTHING. Recognize this. You have time. You have time. You have time. Take a bath. Read your books. Watch a show. Call your mom. Get those massages. When you DO work you’ll be better at it. 

    5) Anti-Aging tip #5 Balanced Hormones.  If you’ve been following me for a while, you know I’m gonna bring this up. If this is your first time here, let me tell you– there is NOTHING more important if you are past age 40 than getting your bloodwork done and getting your hormones looked into– it can change your life. The End. NO– the beginning!!!

    6) Anti-aging tip #6 Find Love, Have More Sex. Life is too short to be alone. If you are alone, do what I did in 2017 and commit to manifesting the love of your life. There is so much data to support that our health greatly improves with love, affection and intimacy. Go after this with all you’ve got. I wake up every day pinching myself I’m so damn happy and so freaking grateful for this man I have. This is what everyone should have. 

    7) Anti aging tip #7 Get outside more. We spend far too much time inside. Under fake light. Spending too much time looking at our phones. We need fresh air and sunlight. TRUST me when I say your body doesn’t need as much SPF as you think– your body needs vitamin D. Get outside. Get fresh air. A lot of it.

    8) Anti-aging tip #8 Take Magnesium. I’ll explain more later but we are all deficient in this mineral and it’s soo beneficial. HERE IS WHAT WE TAKE EVERY SINGLE NIGHT: click here. Want to read about Magnesium– start here.

    9) Anti aging tip #9 Drink more water. You knew I had to throw that one in there. I SUCK at this one so I will join you in trying to do much better. I am far better at drinking diet soda than I am water. ;-0 Let’s hydrate people. 

    10)Anti-aging tip #10 STRESS LESS: Let that shit go. This has been game changing for me. I used to be a road rager. Now when someone cuts in front of me or late merges I usually notice it and START to get mad but then laugh. When work related things start to piss me off, I just start breathing deeply — when things make me start to worry or become anxious, I become AWARE of the fact that I’m not in control and that — I’ve been through crazy stuff and things always work out– then I remind myself that I am the GOAT (the Greatest of All Time just like Tom Brady) and I assume the best case scenario will occur. When the best case scenarios don’t occur– I ACCEPT them and realize that for whatever reason, this is happening FOR ME. This is the best thing that could have happened — everything that happens is the best possible thing that could have happened. When you have that attitude toward everything that happens in your life– it’s really hard to be stressed because you just BOUNCE BACK– you KEEP GOING– you STAY IN ACTION and that is the best answer to stress baby!!!!

    anti aging tips olde women

    I think y’all know I’m a huge fan of hot bubble baths for self-care. I’d like to highly recommend again (because I have featured them before, but they were kind enough to send me a lovely care package of holiday goodies in December) Deep Steep products– both their Bubble Bath and scrubs but also their body butter and now they have glorious liquid soaps (which all of my guests loved at our holiday party!). I started buying their bubble bath well over a year ago- and trust me I compared it to other bubble bath products– NONE compared. This is the best brand out there and now that I’ve tried all these other products, suffice it to say, I’m a lifer. I strongly recommend you dive into the experience– you deserve to TREAT YOSELF!!! 

    anti aging tips look younger

    What Anti-Aging Practices I'm Planning to Implement This Year.

    anti aging tips over 40

    What are my next steps this year to level up my anti-aging game? I think I mentioned that I just started doing facials. I plan to keep up with that, once per month was their recommendation. I’d like to start doing infrared sauna: I plan to do more research on this but I’ve heard nothing but great stuff about it. I plan to ask my functional medicine doctor about PEPTIDES as I hear they do AMAZING things for anti-aging. I’m 100% ready to start looking into a face lift at this point. Some of you may gasp but at some point we all have to do it so — I have a friend who got it done and had very little down time and looks exactly the same — she has short hair and has no visible scars and I love that. For me, the most uncomfortable aging area of my body is my loose skin around the jaw when I look down. It drives me insane. And while filler is great, there is only so much that can be done with filler. I did threads and they didn’t do much for me. I KNOW I KNOW I am a perfectionist. But it is my face and I’m allowed to want what I want and buy what I want. I’m also going to start doing some laser/PRP stuff with my facial lady so stay tune for that. And the more research I do and find out about cool stuff for anti-aging, I’ll add it to this series and share it with you all here so make sure you are subscribed: if you hear of something you want me to investigate, let me know in the comments!.

    BUT WAIT -- THERE'S MORE!!

    But Wait Theres More

    If you enjoyed this post – I’m guessing you’ll likely enjoy some of these as well. The Best Makeup For Women Over 50CLICK HERE to read. How I do my makeup every day, tutorial CLICK HERE.  The Best Shapewear For Dresses and Tight Tops CLICK HERE. Also– be sure you are subscribed to my YOUTUBE channel because there will be a whole lot of FASHION, ANTI-AGING, MAKEUP, HEALTH, FITNESS AND KELLY O STUFF coming up over there: CLICK HERE.

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