Andrea “The Connector” Duchonovic is a wellness enthusiast and a certified health coach with the Institute of Integrated Nutrition. Andrea is passionate about inspiring people, giving them tools & connecting them to the appropriate experts to experience healthier & happier lives.

In this podcast, we cover:

• – The importance of community on your health journey 
• – How to know if your mitochondria are sick 
• – The ways to get clarity on different topics in the wellness world 
• – Why you need to take one step at a time on your health journey 
• – About Andrea’s favorite health influencers 
• – The importance of quality time and staying present 

People are not living in a health bubble. When you surround yourself with people in the health world, it becomes effortless to live a healthy life. There’s a whole world out there that’s not living in the health bubble. Yet, they want to be healthy. So, what is it like? Andrea says your community will make a massive impact on your life. If your community values health, it will only be a matter of time until you value health.

When people follow you on social media, they are looking for mastery. However, they’ll stay on your social media when they feel community. People shouldn’t be scared of changing their health and their life. Many people are afraid to know the truth. Health doesn’t have to be hard – fix it now! It’s your responsibility and your body. Look at the five people that you hang around. If they aren’t making health a priority, then your journey will be a lot more complicated. 

People think health problems are routine – we accept mediocrity. Everyone has the responsibility to find out more about their health and dig deeper. Yet, the health world is so overwhelming. That’s why Andrea created Wellness Clarity. Andrea is helping the world find the perfect health information that is right for each individual. Google is a blessing and a curse. Thankfully, we have access to loads of information. Unfortunately, we don’t know who to trust. 

Andrea got rid of all the CRAP that’s a waste of money, a waste of time, and a waste of resources. Everything on Wellness Clarity is something that Andrea has personally tried. Plus, Andrea personally vets all of the programs. Women need a website where they can trust everything, that’s where Wellness Clarity comes in. Spend time on the website and find all of the fantastic videos and resources Andrea has collected for your health journey. 

Stay tuned as we talk about Andrea’s favorite health influencers, Andrea’s top health tips, and the inspiration behind her masterclass.

Andrea’s message for the world is to work on yourself first.

https://drmindypelz.com/keeping-health-simple/

Wellness Clarity: Resources For Keeping Health Simple – with Andrea Duchonovic

After her own struggles with undiagnosed health issues, she became passionate about inspiring people, connecting them to bad-ass experts & resources so they can experience healthier, happier, and more fulfilled lives…without spending all their free time trying to research solutions.

She has worked with some of the most inspiring, sought-out health & wellness experts. She has traveled extensively to wellness conferences around the globe so she can continually educate herself & connect with leaders in the industry.

Instead of spending hours and hours trying to figure out who can actually help, you can use Andrea as your go-to Personal Wellness Connector to get you right to the top experts in whatever you need.

Andrea has spoken with so many women that are overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated as they wade through endless amounts of information online, trying to get clear on what’s actually going to help them. This is where Wellness Clarity was born… a place where you can go and explore carefully curated, trusted resources while gaining clarity on different topics in the wellness world.

Andrea’s heartfelt mission is all about working with like-minded practitioners and health influencers from around the world, so together they can clarify, empower, and change your health and life. Because after all, the path to wellness starts with clarity!

In this episode, Andrea Duchonovic talks about:

• Andrea’s health journey
• Being exhausted all the time
• Spending thousands on supplements and coaches
• Health education after father’s terminal diagnosis
• Sifting through the BS
• The problem with “all natural” labels
• Type of sleep vs. hours of sleep
• Seasons of exhaustion
• The 7 pillars of health
• Mindset and healing trauma
• Showing up better for the people we’re serving
• 5-10 minutes per day for self care
• Asking “is this stress necessary?”
• Breathing
• Hormones and stress
• Adrenal fatigue
• Cortisol levels throughout the day
• Getting hormones checked
• Toxicity and detox
• Toxic chemicals on US skincare products
• EWG website resource for toxic products
• Dangerous detoxes
• Eating and nutrition
• Prioritizing quality foods and ingredients
• Dirty keto
• Sugar alcohols and gut issues
• Avoiding the Dirty Dozen
• Eating clean, whole foods
• Fasting
• Fasting for women
• Parasympathetic before fasting
• Gut health
• Gut-brain connection
• Foods and toxins affecting gut health
• Movement and sleep
• Sleep quality
• nighttime routine
• Movement for detoxing
• Accessing the Breaking Up With Exhaustion Master Class
  

  131: Andrea Duchonovic on Breaking Up with Exhaustion

My experience over the last 12+ years as a certified health coach has led me to learn and explore MANY, (and I mean many) different lifestyles aka “diets” out there. I have probably tried all of them! The negative effects on your body from yoyo dieting are real, and truly something you want to stay away from. They made my metabolism crash, BIG TIME!
Low”er” carb lifestyles have been something I have been studying & following the last three or so years, and have been a game-changer not only in my life but in hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of lives within the communities & tribes that I am a part of.

The three that I will write about in this article are Keto, Paleo & Diet Variation. Why? Well, because I think they are well researched and by far my favorites! Here is a quick overview of what each of them consists of, so you can choose one that you would like to explore further.

Ketogenic Diet

Our bodies can function on two different sources of energy; glucose or ketones. Most of us are what we call “sugar” burners, which means that our energy comes from glucose (aka sugar) in our bodies. When we eat carbohydrates or sugars, this turns into glucose in the system that we now use for energy. When we use this form of energy, our bodies in most cases do not use the other energy source (ketones) that come from fat. Now, if we want to burn fat we need to decrease our carbohydrate and sugar intake in order for our bodies to tap into our fat “ketone” fuel. It is that simple. Ketones are a much cleaner source of energy, and they can keep us fuller longer, create mental clarity, and not make us “hangry” (woohoo). I like ketones…but what I like best is being metabolically flexible (we learn more about this in the diet variation section).

Some of the benefits to the keto diet include weight loss (due to burning fat stores for energy), increased energy, healthy aging, increased lifespan, better brain health (neuroprotective), and a decrease in chronic inflammation (the root cause of many disease processes). {Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28877453)

Here is a basic breakdown of a Ketogenic Diet (can vary slightly)

• High fat: 60% – 80% of total calories from good fats such as coconut oil, avocado oil, grass-fed butter, avocados, some nuts, cheese & eggs
• Moderate protein: 15% – 35% of total calories from quality fatty protein such as salmon, chicken thighs, & red meat
• Low carbohydrate: 5% or less of total calories from carbohydrates such as starchy vegetables and fruits.

Paleo Diet

The main goal of the Paleo diet is to “eat like a caveman”. It focuses on rich whole foods and unlike the Ketogenic Diet, does allow for a higher carbohydrate consumption (coming mainly from starchy vegetables like sweet potatoes, carrots, and pumpkin). No dairy, grains, sugars or legumes. I love the real food component of the Paleo Diet, and it’s also a great way to “get off the sugar train:)”.

Have you ever tried getting rid of processed foods? Paying attention to packaged foods you pick up in the supermarket? Turn the food around and check out the label. You will be amazed at how many ingredients you cannot pronounce! What I love about Paleo is truly going back to the basics. There were no chemicals and fillers in our foods thousands of years ago. Eat like a caveman…look and feel like a caveman (ok, maybe minus the hair ;). Challenge yourself to eat real food for a week or two and feel the difference. Trust me, your body will love you for it!

Here is a basic breakdown of a Paleo Diet (can vary slightly)

• Eat real, non-processed foods (no real % micronutrient breakdown) such as meat, fish, eggs, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices, healthy fats, and oils. You can also have some starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes.
• No dairy, grains, or legumes. Also avoid processed foods, sugar, soft drinks, grains, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils, margarine, and trans fats.

Diet Variation

Diet variation is something I somewhat explored in the past, but I did not know the correct term OR the correct way of following it. I have done “carb-cycling” diets and actually did enjoy them. It is not until I met one of my mentors, Dr.Dan Pompa that I understood true Diet Variation, why I fell in love with it, & why it is my main “lifestyle” choice as of today. One of the biggest benefits of this is that you are able to vary the foods that you consume, and it gives you a little bit more freedom with fewer restrictions. However, be aware that it still takes discipline to execute! Diet variation is an adaptive technique that takes advantage of the body’s innate desire to survive. The reasoning behind this is that if you are in a low carb or ketogenic state for way too long, even though you can get great results in the beginning, eventually your body can stop burning fat because it thinks that it is starving. So it holds on to your fat, and hence why some people that are low carbin’ too long can experience weight loss resistance.

What diet variation does is two things. It adds in 1-2 days of higher carb days (you can also do higher protein or higher calorie days if you truly are someone who does not do well with carbs). This reminds your body that it is not starving & allows you to kick back into a fat-burning state. However, there is another component to diet variation. 1-2 days a week, adding in a day of “famine”, or a fasting day. This allows your body to rest. You see, when we constantly bombard our bodies with food, it is using up all of its energy to digest that food (it is a long process!) By fasting, we are allowing our digestive tract to take a break, and guess what? Use that energy to burn fat instead of breaking down food! Now that deserves a high five!

Here is a basic breakdown of Diet Variation (can vary slightly)

• 3 Days a week eat Keto or Paleo Diet (I recommend doing more keto) & practice some intermittent fasting during these times.
• 2 Days a week load up on carbs or protein or overall calories for the day
• 2 Days a week, do a 24 hour fast. Do not eat dinner to dinner, or if your feeling adventurous, skip the dinner and go all out until the next morning!

Now, at first, you can start with one 24-hour fast a week and go from there. If you have never fasted, start slow. I will be posting some great fasting and intermittent fasting tips and tricks on the site soon!

Now, remember, whatever lifestyle you choose to explore, keep it clean! Do not go and try keto, and do what we call “dirty keto”. Where you eat processed salami and low-quality cheese all day. Quality takes precedence over anything else when it comes to food. In today’s world, we are bombarded with chemicals. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. Chemicals such as glyphosate are sprayed on most of our crops and these chemicals can cause serious health risks and are a big concern in today’s world. Keep it clean my friends, and I promise, your body will love you for it!

“Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live” – Jim Rohn

When you’re a mother, a sister, a wife or simply a woman who is overwhelmed with the day-to-day grind, I understand that it can seem almost impossible to have time to practice self-care or anything else for that matter! I want to inspire you to take back your power, your health, and truly start to take care of yourself, inside and out.

For as long as I can remember, I was a giver. I saw the power and brilliance of holistic health and wellness a long time ago, and all I wanted was others to see it too. I wanted to fix my family’s health, my friends and anyone else who would listen. As women, we are natural caregivers, and helping those in need around us is a natural desire. However, it is important to first tend to OUR wants and needs. Without that balance, we as caregivers can become depleted and our health and wellness will begin to fall.

Taking care of ourselves in a genuine way, and putting ourselves first is not selfish. I am not a mother yet but I hope to be one soon, and as I go through my day-to-day grind, I think about how much of this energy I should be shifting to regenerate myself. My soul, body, and mind. The more we learn to empower ourselves, the more energy & love we will have to share with those around us. So I pledge to always take care of myself, so I can show up every day as my authentic self for my current and future family, my friends and my community.

So what do we do exactly? What IS self-care, and how do we do it right? Sure, taking a day and visiting the spa, hitting the hot tub or going for a long walk on the beach will help you relax and recharge, and I highly recommend those be a part of your routine. But sometimes self-care is more than that. Real self-care addresses the root cause of stress. It heals the divine feminine energy in the long run, & recharges us while empowering us to express our authentic self.

Self-care might look like hitting the sauna one day and taking the time to grieve on another day. This realization hit home for me, as I had to recently deal with my father’s passing. After many years of battling what started as colon cancer and suffering for a very long time, he left me and my family in June and is finally at peace. A part of me was so relieved because I was grateful he was no longer in pain. But the other part of me felt sadness, loneliness & guilt. Guilt that I did not spend more time with him (even though I know I did my best living in San Diego and him living in Slovakia), guilt that I did not speak to him more, and tell him daily how much I loved him. It took reflection, time, and knowing that it is OK to grieve, be sad, think about him and cry for him, but also laugh and smile thinking about how he always made me feel. That is a part of healing: just allowing yourself to feel. I know he would be proud, and he is with me every day!

During my hardest times, I also have had some of my best times when it comes to my career and passions. For the longest time, I felt guilty to celebrate these successes with my family and the world. How can I be so fulfilled and so empty at the same time?

Listening to people’ss stories, experiences and lessons learned showed me that I am not alone in this journey. Everyone has a story, a trauma, an experience that has made them be someone they intentionally did not want to be that day, week, month or year. We are in this together, and we can learn from each other’s experiences and truly learn how to practice self-care that works!

Whether you want to conquer chronic illness or disease, make more money, lose body fat, gain muscle, optimize your hormones, or heal from trauma: there are free resources available for you to achieve your goals.

During my dad’s illness, I promised myself to always stay empowered to take charge of my health. I have one body, and I need to take care of it. What about you? Health is often taken for granted until it is in decline, and in our modern toxic world, women are facing an increased number of health issues both acute and chronic.
Let’s step up, become the advocates of our health and life. Let’s use all the incredible resources we have available now. Blogs, books, podcasts, seminars, and workshops are providing women with access to alternative healthcare protocols, treatments, and hope. Let’s stand up, connect, and take our health into our own hands.

Let’s talk about our feelings, thoughts, and findings. Let’s heal ourselves from our past traumas, as that is one of the most profound ways to self-care. Let’s remember, we are not alone, and together, we can take a path that will enable each and every one of us to take back our power, no matter what. When we heal ourselves, we can show up authentically for our friends and family, and we can start giving back in unimaginable ways.