How to Build Good Health and Wellness Habits with Ana Alexandre
Long, tiring days of juggling work responsibilities and kids fighting bedtime led to me feeling completely drained of energy and wanting to snack at night before bed. We all have competing demands that take up our time. How do we make time for ourselves and prioritize our health? And what if we keep struggling to meet our health and fitness goals over long periods of time?
Earlier this year, I decided that I was ready to make some changes—and that I needed some help to accomplish my goals.
In today’s episode, I’m chatting with holistic nutritionist, personal trainer, and life coach, Ana Alexandre. She’s sharing about her leap to move to Barcelona and start her own business as well as health and wellness tips, including how to build consistent, healthy habits, the importance of listening to your body, and why taking baby steps will help you go farther on your wellness journey.
In this episode, you’ll learn...
[03:13] How Ana ended up in Barcelona, what it was like starting a business, and how she has stayed resilient through the ups and downs of entrepreneurship
[09:27] Why balanced blood sugar is important for everyone, the benefits of consistency with movement and nutrition
[19:37] Ana’s tips for how to start a new habit and staying consistent, what makes progress successful, and the importance of listening to your body
[31:51] How strength training is helpful through all stages of life, and how to stay positive when you need to make a change and an energy shift
[37:56] How to find the time for healthy habits when you’re super strapped for time (e.g. working moms of young kinds) and how to ask yourself and others for accountability
[44:15] How taking baby steps—when it comes to nutrition, movement, or anything else—is the most sustainable way to make lasting changes, and how to when to get outside support
This season is all about the different kinds of leaps you can make in your life. If you’re looking for habits and tools to keep you going after your leap, be sure to tune into this episode.
Connect with Lisa
Connect with Ana
Ana’s Bio
Ana is a Registered Holistic Nutritionist from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. An ACE Personal Trainer, she is also a Life Coach and a Corporate Wellness Consultant with a holistic approach to wellness. She has been coaching for over a decade and her client list includes CEOs, performers and college students. The success of her programs can be attributed to her understanding that achieving optimal performance requires a 360-degree approach. Ana delivers presentations, creates corporate wellness programs, works one on one with clients, and has been written up in the press as a lifestyle expert. She has been featured on Breakfast television, in El Periódico, Shape Magazine and Cosmopolitan Magazine among others.
Transcript of Episode 37: How to Build Good Health and Wellness Habits with Ana Alexandre
[00:00:00] Ana Alexandre I think when you start it, that's the perspective. I think that's the biggest thing. So oftentimes most people will pick up the phone or send the email because they want to change something esthetically, and there's nothing wrong with that. That's usually what picks up the phone. But if I can switch the perspective to about energy and taking care of yourself in the long run, then there's much more success.
[00:00:26] Lisa Hoashi Welcome to Leap Like Me, the podcast that helps you to be bold in life, to stretch what's possible and find more adventure, joy and purpose along the way. I'm your host, Lisa Hoashi. I'm a life coach who can help if you're ready to take a new, more authentic direction in life. On Leap Like Me, we share the inspiring stories of people like you who have made a brave leap and offer practical tips for how to set your leap in motion, too. Let's get started.
[00:01:04] Lisa Hoashi Hello, everyone, this is Lisa Hoashi and welcome to Leap Like Me. I'm so excited to talk with our guest today and share her with you. Our guest is Ana Alexandre and she is a registered holistic nutritionist. She's a certified personal trainer, a life coach, is a certified coach, active coach, and a corporate wellness consultant with a holistic approach to wellness. And originally from Toronto, she now makes her home in Barcelona. So I met Ana about seven years ago at a lunch for women entrepreneurs in Barcelona, and she made an impression on me. And recently when I found myself struggling with my physical health and particularly coming out of the young years of early motherhood, and it's like I wanted to fit into my clothes and I also wanted to feel strong, especially going into I'm almost 45, so I wanted to go strong into my fifties and sixties. I just realized I needed some outside help with that and I realized I could hire Ana. And so we've been working together about the last three months or so. Yeah. And I have learned so much, I've had so many ahas and, and, you know, I talk a lot with my clients about energy and, you know, sort of like the, the wellbeing parts of energy, the habits of energy, because I realized that whenever we want to make a significant change in our lives, a change that is maybe going to take us to a new direction or is a really one that's really important to us. It's like we need the startup energy to do it and also the energy to maintain it. And so I felt like talking about that in like the physical realm and also in the nutrition realm would be really interesting to do. And Ana is an expert in it. So welcome to the show today, Ana.
[00:02:56] Ana Alexandre Hi, thanks for having me.
[00:02:59] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, excited. Ana has her own leap story and I thought it would be really fun to just kick off our show by hearing a little bit about honestly. So she's originally from Toronto, but here she is in Barcelona.
[00:03:13] Ana Alexandre Well, I'm actually from Hamilton, but know that that is if you're not Canadian. So yeah, I was to Barcelona about 12 years ago internally. I just wanted to change. I just wanted to travel Europe a little bit. And I have dual citizenship because my family's Portuguese and I just I'll be really fun to live in Europe for a year. And I was going to move to Paris or Lisbon, and for some reason all this weird stuff just kept pointing to Barcelona. And I even had this dream that I was living in Barcelona and I'd never even been here. I know this sounds crazy, but in my dream I said to my friend Laura, I have to go drop my head. Been off in my apartment Barcelona. Not sure why, but that part of my dream later was Augusto, where my first apartment was. I know it sounds nuts, but that's what happened. And Laura was the first person ever to visit me like a couple of months later. So I was just all these other things kept pointing me there. I had hired a coach myself and I was thinking, okay, should I stay in Canada? I keep building up here. He's like, Well, if you keep building up too much, you're not going to move. And I was like, I've been moved to Portugal. Maybe he's like, Oh, I'm going to Barcelona if you want. And I was like, What? And so all these things kept wanting me. And so I just came here one day for job interviews, and then I went back, sold my house, and a few months later moved. But yeah, I went to come for a year and 12 years later.
[00:04:27] Lisa Hoashi And so and as part of that, you also started your own business once you got here, right?
[00:04:32] Ana Alexandre I did, yeah. So I started I had interviews here. I was working as a coach and trader nutritionist as well in Canada. But here I didn't I was starting from zero, so I started working in gyms and I really didn't like it because I had been working for myself for so long and the industry was very different. So I just decided to just just go for it and started to take a while to pick up because I didn't know anybody. So it did take a quite a bit to get my client base going, especially at the time I wasn't doing much online work over time it did pick up and I started and then I quit any job that I that was working for myself throughout a year.
[00:05:09] Lisa Hoashi And so now I'm curious, what what is life and business like for you? Like kind of on the day to day in Barcelona.
[00:05:16] Ana Alexandre It's changed and covid had a big impact on my industry. So I say, you know, a lot of my corporate work, for example, I do a lot of coaching and nutrition workshops in the corporate setting and very few companies kept that going during COVID. Some did all of the marketing there, but it's quite a bit that's at least what my experience was, and it was fitness gyms closed. It really hurt those clients. And online was really fascinating because a lot of people in my industry, we were giving stuff for free at the beginning to motivate people, and then it kind of went from two months to this two year thing. So a lot of people got really used to paying really little or nothing for online fitness work. So it was a little bit interesting there. And so I did have to build up a lot of stuff in the last year again.
[00:06:00] Lisa Hoashi All right. Well, I love hearing just kind of. I mean, as a fellow business owner, I'm kind of like imagining behind the scenes, like what has it has taken for you to like be agile with all of those changes and to be resilient like and sort of facing all of them?
[00:06:17] Ana Alexandre And I had a really big lesson because I think your listeners are working right are entrepreneurs, a lot of them.
[00:06:23] Lisa Hoashi Some of them. Many are are professionals and like working for companies and some are entrepreneurs and artists. Yeah. So we have a mix.
[00:06:32] Ana Alexandre Really lazy with marketing. And that was when my biggest takeaways from that period of covid. So I had a really solid client base, but most of it was in-person and I got really used to going to do a workshop somewhere, like a health food store or a club or. And then getting clients that way. And then that was wasn't possible. And I realized I had slack and like my newsletter, all my social media and all of my marketing. And that was a big probably the biggest lesson I learned is never, ever, ever it no matter how full your client roster. You can never get lazy with marketing. So everyone works themselves as a beginner.
[00:07:05] Lisa Hoashi To be able to pivot. Yeah. Or to have various audiences they marketing to in different ways. Yeah. Yeah. Well and so, you know, as you navigated all that over the last two years, I mean, we've all had to like find, find and refine, like our health habits are going to support us. What were the couple of things that like you felt like you leaned heavily on or really sustained you during this time?
[00:07:31] Ana Alexandre I would say I, I mean, I work in health and health and wellness, but I it's just been such a part of of of who I am for so long. Even before this, I was a dancer. So it was just since I was a kid, it was so important to me and I'm able to walk for a couple months outside. And really it made a really big impact in my my mental health. So obviously, of course, I know that movement and what you eat is going to affect your mental health even more than your physical. But having that sort of taken away a little bit, I noticed just how important it was. And now even when I speak to my clients, like that's the way I go, I'm like, Yes, it's so important for physical health, but we can never underestimate the importance of both of those things for your mental health. Because as we saw when we couldn't move, people got like massive depression down there. It more going on with like, you know, human contact and all those things. But it's crucial. So for me, making sure I moved every day, no matter what, I bought a trampoline so any can do to just keep moving. And that was huge and not, you know, maybe a bit more than we normally do during those couple of years. It was just being aware of also how that could impact us in myself. So I was super honest, was like I had a lot more stuff that I normally would have.
[00:08:39] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. Well, and remind for listeners who may not be familiar with the Spanish, what happened with the Spanish lockdown, etc..
[00:08:47] Ana Alexandre I think as far as is much more strict, we couldn't leave for two months.
[00:08:50] Lisa Hoashi You couldn't leave your apartment for two months now.
[00:08:53] Ana Alexandre So, I mean, we could go downstairs and get bread or go to the grocery store, but that was it. So it was really interesting for myself, like seeing my friends in Canada, they're like, We can do this. And it's like you guys are like, Yeah, like, I'm still here really angry at them. Yeah. So we couldn't leave it all for two months, right? So that was really interest. That's why I was like, I was hopping and pop and going to the grocery store because I couldn't even walk. So if you live in the city, it was a little bit.
[00:09:20] Lisa Hoashi It's really a.
[00:09:21] Ana Alexandre Balancing act. So yeah, that was one thing. I was like, Oh my God, if you don't move, it really impacts your your mind.
[00:09:27] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. So I'm curious about like just in terms of your work like around health and nutrition, like what are some things that, oh, no, you're paying particular attention to or you're starting to notice are coming up as trends or as things that are particularly important or exciting right now?
[00:09:45] Ana Alexandre I think the most important thing that I tend to focus on in my clients that doesn't I think it's been that we have been doing this for 20 years and I think this is what I'm always going to focus on, is there's always so much information which is positive. It's also confusing that there's so much information and then there are all these trends that come and go. So I think the most important thing, what I focus on is just, yes, there are a million ways to eat and some ways might be better than others, but maybe not. The most important thing is being consistent. So whatever way you're choosing to eat right now or move, just be consistent and just make it easier for you. So I think a lot of the times I see people as they get really hung up on perfection or this might be the best way, or my doctor said, I have to eat this way all the time. Or, you know, my friend lost weight. Doing that for this person gets a lot of energy moving this way or my neighbor did CrossFit and actually looks like this, you know. So all of those things can be great. But I think just find something that you actually enjoy that you can stick with and just make it work for you. So if four times a week is optimal but you can't, fine, make it work for you three times. So just making some of the complex stuff easy, I think that's my biggest focus with my work with clients. And then I say for trends I do like to. So mostly I don't like to talk about trends because. Trends and I'm like, Oh my God. However, to that, I like and I hope that they're here to stay. I think they are. What is the importance of blood sugar balance? We've never talked about this the way that we are now. So we've talked about it before with diabetes, for example, or some metabolic disorders, but not just in the day to day lives of everybody of how important it is to regulate your blood sugar levels for weight loss, but also for energy and to reduce cravings. And so I think that is really exciting to me that we're there's so much constant research now on this and that it's becoming mainstream that you can find it in a magazine. And the other one is the importance of strength training for women.
[00:11:43] Lisa Hoashi All right. Both of these have been very relevant to me.
[00:11:47] Lisa Hoashi And.
[00:11:47] Lisa Hoashi My work. Like you definitely brought them to my work. So maybe we can go into a little bit more detail about those and and I just like offer my own experience here because I think that so many people are kind of struggling with these things and kind of like what you said. But like, since there's so much information out there that we kind of think that like we kind of already know this stuff or like I'm already doing what I'm supposed to be doing, or I can just keep DIYing it. And, and I think that for me was like a kind of a shift when I decided to hire you was that I was like, I've been struggling with this for a long, long time. And actually it has a real impact on how I feel day to day because I am so discouraged about like how I'm eating or how I'm feeling. And so it's like I just I have to change something about it. And so, like, this seems like a good strategy to try, right? And so you as part of your package, you offered like both the strength training, which we could do via Zoom, which was good because I live like an hour and a half north of you. And then there was the like nutrition part. And to be honest, like when the nutrition part, I was like, Well, she offers that as part of our package, you know, I can always learn something. I was like, but I don't know how relevant as to me because I feel like I eat really well.
[00:13:09] Ana Alexandre It's so funny because you never told me that I was going to maybe do this or whatever. But, you know.
[00:13:18] Lisa Hoashi Because yeah, I kind of had this idea that you are I mean, for most people I know who have hired a nutritionist just because they have like.
[00:13:26] Lisa Hoashi Gut issues that are really impacting them. Right. Or they have or they really have like a big weight goal or some of their like health situation. That seems like more important than the one that I had. Right.
[00:13:39] Ana Alexandre So I think, you know, I studied nutrition because I had a lot of gut issues and I didn't know what was going on. And I was already eating "healthy" because I was working as a personal trainer for years before this. And I had so many digestive problems. And that's why I studied holistic nutrition. I went to a naturopath and it changed my life and I was like, okay, people need to know that it's not just about, you know, it's just not about a macronutrient or so much more. And so I do end up working often with people who have digestive difficulties. And because I have a background in fitness, a lot of people who want to lose weight or gain weight or lose fat, I should do better term arrogate that tends to be what most of us think nutrition is for, you know, if you were to hire a coach, but there's so much more. It impacts everything. It impacts your mental health productivity, your energy levels, just optimal performance. Like we can't we wouldn't we put expensive gas in our car because we know that it's going to make a difference. But when it comes to food, we don't look at it as fuel. And that's exactly what it is that's going to affect all areas of your life. And also, sometimes there's just things about how to make it flow easier for your family. So you know that there are all these things that are going to make you feel good and your kids feel good. But how do you even plan it in the middle of your day, right? So something that gets pushed aside often for a lot of people because it's not an illness. I'm not trying to lose or gain weight. So those tiny little tweaks actually have a massive impact on your health and your family's health.
[00:15:00] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. And so what I noticed was that like when we started working on the nutrition stuff, like you had me make a food blog and then we reviewed it to see like where some tweaks can be made. And I mentioned to you like the main issue that I was having was like in the evening after the kids went to bed, I would want to like snack on chocolate or like, you know, I'd have like these cravings and it didn't make me feel good about myself. It wasn't like a nice way to end the day. And it was also like, I mean, on the end of putting like the whole dinner time, put them to bed, which just like left me feeling exhausted, which also did not make me a very like, patient and nurturing mother has those moments, you know?
[00:15:43] Ana Alexandre Yeah, it's hard.
[00:15:44] Lisa Hoashi And so I didn't really identify that issue as a nutrition problem until I started talking To you.
[00:15:52] Ana Alexandre Because it's the blood sugar work that we talked about at the beginning. So we start our breakfast. I almost always start with breakfast at first when I work with clients because if you set that up. Great. Then the rest of the day flows a lot easier, and most of us don't balance our blood sugar levels in the morning. And then it's really difficult. The rest of the day we're going to have crashes and energy and increased cravings. And also it leads to emotional hunger, which is oftentimes it happens at night because where we give you a gift, specially moms are constantly giving. And then at the end of the day, you're so tired. So if you have that emotional craving, which is up here, there's like hunger down here and emotional is up here. Plus, there was some issues of blood sugar during the day. That's when the chips are. The cookies are there. It's usually some kind of crunchy thing or some kind of sweet, creamy thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:16:43] Lisa Hoashi Well, and so, like, whatever. Like, what are you talking about? When. When in terms of, like, adjusting the blood sugar level? Was that like like on like as a food example.
[00:16:54] Ana Alexandre I would say the most important thing. So I tried to give too much when I do interviews because the people try them all. It's like too much information, right? But I invite everybody who is listening to take a look at their breakfast and make sure it has enough fat to keep you satiated. Protein to balance your blood sugar levels as well to fat. And don't all go over the top on carbs and choose carbs correctly. So you want to have at least 20 grams of protein at breakfast time. I'm generalizing depends on your activity level in your body. I probably have around 30, 25 to 30 at breakfast for protein and then fat. You need to make sure you have enough fat. And for carbohydrates, you want to choose good ones. So, you know, it could be oats, it can be fruit, can be part of that. But most of us end up having a really high carb breakfast, which is refined bread. Maybe we'll put some jam on toast or something with lots of orange juice. And that's just going to send your blood sugar levels like spike in crashing often with women. I see not enough fat at breakfast because they're so afraid of fat and then you're not going to stay full longer. And that is actually what calms down your hunger hormones. So for not having fat in the morning, you're going to start to have cravings already throughout the day, even at night, if you don't have enough. The research is really insane that if you don't have enough protein first thing in the morning, you're going to have cravings after the day, especially at night. So that starting with enough protein and enough fat is really key. So that can look like a lot of things. It could be a couple eggs with some sauteed veggies in a piece of whole grain toast. A smoothie is the easiest, but again, a smoothie that have a very specific formula because sometimes there's like five, you know, there's a banana two dates and strawberries, one that's like more sugar than a glass of wine. So, you know, you don't want to start that way. So you need to make sure you have enough protein in your smoothie. Same thing. Enough fat. It can be avocado, it could be nut butter, MCT oil fiber from acacia fiber, which is tough to find in Europe. But you can also just add chia and it's inexpensive to start your morning with enough. And the smoothies kind of really, really easy, especially if you try to get at the door.
[00:18:56] Lisa Hoashi So yeah, I mean that the tweaks that we made to like adding more protein in my breakfast like pretty much took away like the cravings at night, which I was like stunned by. And then, you know, it's like and then I noticed, but I wasn't having these like complete crashes in the evening, which is it's so funny. It's one of those things where when it was happening, it was really noticeable. And then when it goes away, you kind of just forget that.
[00:19:26] Lisa Hoashi Yeah.
[00:19:26] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. It's it's not happening anymore. And that's like that has a really big impact on me and on my family and on my health.
[00:19:35] Ana Alexandre I see you. That change.
[00:19:37] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, well, in just speaking of breakfast, you I remember you telling me that like breakfast was one of the hardest like habits that you found people to change. And so it just reminded me that like you in having all these different roles as a nutritionist and a trainer and a coach like, you know, a lot about habits and how to help people change their habits, cultivating better habits. Getting rid of not so good habits. And so I'm curious if you like, what are some of the principles that you might want to share with us about how to start a new habit?
[00:20:17] Lisa Hoashi I'd say the easiest way to start. Well, first decide you're going to do it right. So oftentimes, like, yeah, I'm going to try. If you start saying the word try and less, that's not going to happen. Right. And this is a place, you know, and I always say like, yeah, I'm a coach and I work primarily in health and wellness, but, you know, there are areas of my life that you like to clean up some habits there, you know, like everybody else. So whatever area of your life you struggle with habits the first thing and selected inside of actually where to do it is the language we choose. So like I'm going to try to do this for breakfast, it's highly likely you're not going to do it, so you just decide to do it. Okay, I'm deciding this is what I'm going to have for breakfast. That's already a massive shift in your in your in your mind, your conscious and your subconscious mind. That's one. A second thing is if you can hook two habits together. Right. So a breakfast we have to eat. So this is a sort of a different one. But if I'm trying to get people to do mobility work, which is nobody does it. So I try really, really hard.
[00:21:15] Lisa Hoashi What is mobility work.
[00:21:17] Ana Alexandre Mobility work is Because we do strength training, cardio flexibility and mobility is this is not scientific at all, what I'm saying. But if you think of like the oil in your joints, like the Tin Man mobility work is going to kind of help you with that in the long run. So, you know, oftentimes we stretch if we have pain, but actually it might help you in the moment. But what we need to do is strengthen those muscles and work on the mobility of those joints. So we get this huge endorphins from cardio, from lifting weights, especially if it's like heavy. We start to feel like Wonder Woman or, you know, He-man for lifting them. That's also awesome. But mobility does give you that. It just feels kind of nice. So it's like the the most beautiful thing to do, but the hardest thing to put in practice. So if we can try to hook that habit with another one. So if you're already a runner, let's say that when you come home, hook that habit to the run. Or if you have a nighttime routine, try to put that into it or into your morning routine. Right? So that if you're starting to get a new habit, try to. Woman You already have. Mm. Yeah. I would say in a good way.
[00:22:19] Lisa Hoashi I've heard of this one in James Clear's book Atomic habits. I think he calls that habit stacking.
[00:22:25] Ana Alexandre So it's the it's it's great, right? So that's the easiest way when it comes to making changes in food habits. It's not nice. It doesn't really work that way, I find, because I mean, we're already eating, right? So how can we make different foods a habit? So I say start with small steps. So often we can read a bunch of articles. We have a supplements pharmacy at home. We don't even know why we have it. In the end, we try all these like superfoods and these things that can be quite expensive. And so and then we don't do any of them. So you can just start with one small like maybe I'm going to if 30 grams of protein seems like nuts to you for breakfast because right now you're eating five. All right, that's up to ten. Let's get ten consistently then let's get to 15, you know, or and go from there or just change one part of your breakfast or it just say, okay, we're not I'm only focusing on breakfast for the next month, right? So just get one habit solid before you go to the next one. Because I find with food, most of us try to change everything at the same time. And it doesn't work.
[00:23:25] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, what happens? Do you see?
[00:23:28] Ana Alexandre You just stop because first if you're like, okay, I'll never eat bread again, fantastic. And then you walk by a bakery in two months, you lose your mind, eat everything in the bakery, right? So that doesn't work. Also, there's no like good or bad foods, right? We've also put a lot of these negative connotations on food and they shouldn't be. They're neutral. There's foods that are going to give us more energy and foods that are going to run us. That's not necessarily true. Let me rephrase that. All food is great and there's things that have been disguised to look like food, that aren't food, like chips, highly processed foods. Those are very different. They brought you for energy, but once in a while they might bring you joy. So if it's like a big deal for you to have that once a month, cool. So if we need to make those little changes with food is to start to be aware of how they're going to affect you and start understanding maybe the why. And we can't do all the things at the same time because we'll just stop and then the negative voices start, right? Like, I suck, I can't do this. Why can't I stick to die? This is so basic. And the negative talk starts I find also with women. Men will experience this as well. But because women, there's so much emphasis on our what we're supposed to look like, men see this as well, but not obviously just the same amount. So the average little girl still today at the age of nine thinks she should be on the diet. So we've been looking at food and talking about all the things that can do to our weight for years. And so so many of us also go up and down. You're doing so if you do a diet, you lose the weight. It's not good for you or you can't sustain it. It's going to all come back again and you feel like crap about yourself. And so I'm. Trying to like take that completely out of when I work with people like my industry has done some harm. I think by focusing like food and weight. Like the only part of the conversation that makes sense. Yeah. So it just doesn't work. I mean, also, anybody can buy a a magazine for €5 and it doesn't work because you have to make it work for yourself and incorporate things you like. Like if you really hate broccoli, I can't recommend you eat broccoli. Right now you have to eat some veggies that I'm not going to eat right now, but you have to do things that work for you. If I have clients, I have certain clients that have a lot of business meetings at lunch and so they go out a lot. I can't tell them to bring a packed lunch. Right? So I have to make, you know, find creative ways to get at all the things that they need for their energy and their health that actually fits their schedule while maintaining things. Like I always ask clients, you know, is there if you have kids, is there some kind of virtual or fun thing you do with the family? We have to keep those things. We also have to remember joy. Food is a joy but is experiencing with other people and share brain. And it can't just be this broken down to the macronutrients. It's such a big part of celebration as well. Yeah. So all that has to be working for you. So if you're always dieting. You lose out on that? Yeah, you lose them. And then you just like sad.
[00:26:20] Lisa Hoashi And what do you feel like, you know, among your clients who, like, really succeed to make progress with their goals. What do you feel like is are some things that are different from them. Between the ones who do not do so well?
[00:26:34] Ana Alexandre I think when you start it, it's the perspective. I think that's the biggest thing. So oftentimes most people will pick up the phone or send the email because they want to change something esthetically. There's nothing wrong with that. That's usually what picks up the phone. But if I can switch the perspective to about energy and taking care of yourself in the long run, then there's much more success. Right. So you're but, you know, motivation for your butt to perk up. Great. And if I'm doing a squat with you, I'm not going to talk about your knee health. Right. Because it's not going to work at that moment. But over time, you can't just be worried about that thing. It's not it's not going to keep you going. Right. So we have to look at other motivation, which is lifting up your kids or being able to, you know, whatever all that is and focusing on that and learning how to eat for you. Because what I need is not what you're going to need. What I needed ten years ago isn't what I need now. Right. Especially women. Because of that hormones, you might be different things at different times of your cycle. Then there's menopause, which thank God, we're starting to talk more about openly. Right. So you have a lot of dietary changes there because we have massive hormonal changes. So what do we need at this phase of our life and listening to our bodies and eating and give you what it actually needs? So the people that have the most success as perspective, it can't just be static and B because it's also not really great for your mind, but it doesn't motivate you. And because how how does it learning to listen to your body? Because this is why I now always do the two things together with a new client, with the coaching as well, because I've been doing this for so long that I would see someone for a year, they achieve all these goals and then two years later they're back. They didn't sustain it. So I was like, Why is this happening? Because it wasn't it wasn't at the time like years ago, I didn't understand how powerful or important it was to make people learn to listen to their body. Because if you have that, if you can learn the difference between real hunger and emotional hunger and checking your energy levels, are you having those cravings at night? All those things. Pay attention to those, and you can over time just listen to what your body's asking and start to give it what it needs. And that's what's going to save you long term. Yeah, they will change. What you need will change. Right. Yeah.
[00:28:44] Lisa Hoashi That's interesting that you bring that up as like the, the sort of deeper, longer term skill that you're helping people to learn. That one's been coming up a lot for me as well. And just thinking more about the ways that we get disconnected from our bodies and in and how can we teach ourselves to listen to our bodies better.
[00:29:07] Ana Alexandre Now, it might mean for someone changing the way that they work out, it might mean. So, for example, when I first moved to Spain, I tell this story a lot. I, I'm from Canada and I really like wow. So it's very expensive in Canada. I first moved here and I would go, it's very sad. We get invariably taxed and lot.
[00:29:28] Lisa Hoashi And it's very cheap here. We just had.
[00:29:30] Ana Alexandre A lunch was a menu though. There's like a starter, a main course and a dessert. Now it's a bit more money, but it's kind of like €12 and you get water or wines. I, I want I think water. Right. And it's good wine, right? It's not like, well.
[00:29:48] Lisa Hoashi Then they bring you a whole bottle of wine for your table. If you're like two people.
[00:29:53] Ana Alexandre I have the biggest and I like it though. It's not, you know. Then also I had started dating someone, so you get to going out more and I just really wanted to do enjoy Catalan culture. So it was like, well, you have to go to this town and then if you go to this town, you have to eat this desert or you know, so I did a lot of that over the years, maybe like five months. And I bought a a button down shirt at the beginning of this spring. And by the end of the summer, I couldn't I couldn't do it up. I was like, well, that's interesting. So I'm just going to, you know, go back to working out and eating how I normally eat. And it didn't work. The weight wouldn't go, the fat wouldn't go down. And it was really hard for me. I was 30, which I never lose. It's not a big deal. But at the time, like I'm 30, this is it, just do it, stop working. So I was like, okay, well, how can I change the radio station? Okay, we'll have bigger boobs. Great. So I'm going to dress to make me feel better about that and try to, you know, say something positive about me versus something negative. You know, I'm not going to stop enjoying foods that I like at the time. My partner that I was with, he has a little girl and I was bonding with her. My baking a lot is very healthy, but still are having much more muffins than I would normally have and I don't want to give that up either. So I kept doing all those things and I started working out. I started doing more HIIT, lifting more, and just by relaxing around like my relationship to the food and to movement. Then everything changed, and that's when it just kind of effortlessly came off. And I don't mean like, I just thought read a book and a body changed. I was still moving and eating healthfully. But that perspective in my mind just changed. And then my body changed. And so from that day is when I changed completely. I work with my clients, especially with you, and I want everybody. But I find that women have a bit more consciousness up there with their bodies. And so that's why I think it's really important to just to listen to what your body needs. And now I do even less cardio than I did then I do a lot more heavy lifting, and that makes me feel good. Now, I don't know what's going to be like in ten years, but.
[00:31:51] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, I think, you know, by by now, like most of us have been through, like at least one of those changes, you know, of like the 30, the 20 to 30 shifts, the 30 to 40. Like there's it seems like those are going to be part of our as we get older and our adulthood. I am curious to follow up with you about what you said about the strength training and like the specific concern for like when you're in your forties and fifties.
[00:32:20] Ana Alexandre So around the age of 30, we start to lose muscle mass quickly right after 50, well after menopause, it goes really quickly for women. So if you can in your twenties focus on weight training. Awesome. You're building like almost like a savings account, right. Of of this a lot of us it's changing. So women now that are younger are are doing much more strength training. When I was in my twenties, there's all the like cardio cardio step classes that teach like the course of the day. It's not very like that's good destructive to your hormones, you know, we didn't really know that so much at the time but straight important especially now. So if you're listening to your thirties, it's really, really important to start. If you're if you haven't, it's never too late to start. But if you have it in your in your thirties, it's going to have a massive impact for you. Hormonally, it'll affect your perimenopause, osteoporosis. It's like it's like the savings account that you're creating in your forties if you haven't really done it before, I highly recommend because this is again a way to start losing muscle mass very quickly and perimenopause when our hormones are fluctuating so much and we start to lose bone density as well. You must strength train and after menopause it's essential so it doesn't sometimes like this idea of strength training as lifting really heavy. Yeah, that could be part of it. Like, I really enjoy that feeling and I feel super tough and like I could do anything when I'm doing those weights. That's like a really nice feeling. But if you've never really done that before, okay, we're not going to start with a barbell military press, but you do need to strength training. Every single person needs to and women really need to strength training, stop picking up, you know, 2 pound weights. It's not going to do it. So those things we can do advanced body weight, but you have to really work on that. A the body most of us are esthetically trying to achieve ish it's it's not from cardio this can be frustrating but for your health you need to make your hormones happy and to slow down that muscle loss. And for healthier bones, you just have to strengthen. Mm hmm. To figure out a way that you like to do it. Like, I am quite flexible in our things, but this is one that I'm just not. You just got to figure it out. My sister, my mom all the time. I just have to. We have to figure it out.
[00:34:32] Lisa Hoashi You know, I'm thinking about like, you know, that there there are kind of like a couple of moments when I'm working with clients where like energy is really crucial. So one is kind of at the moment that they're thinking about making a change and like, unfortunately, and you may have experienced this in your own, is that like at the moment that we are knowing that we need to make a big shift in life, like whether it's like in our careers or moving to a new place, it's like often because things are really not working out for us and we have like low confidence. We don't feel good. Maybe we've dropped a lot of like the good habits that we've had, and yet we need a good energy in order to like go forward and like make some positive changes happen for ourselves. And I'm just curious like what I mean even just kind of like overview kind of advice you would have for people who are in that kind of moment.
[00:35:24] Ana Alexandre I'd say if you need to make a change, well, no matter what goal you have in your life. So if you're if you want to achieve obviously a physical goal, we're aware of how food can impact that. If you are making a change where you're going to have a new job, maybe you're to bump up, you know, and and the latter or you're going to have a lot more hours if you start working for yourself. A lot of hours, that's something they don't realize you have to put in by working on your business or if you're moving to other country, if you're leaving a relationship or with a divorce. That's really important also to focus on your energy. So anything you can do to give you more energy. So food is fuel. So are we fueling your body? Are we putting, you know, the cheapest gas we can in there? Or sometimes it's like you can't put gas like oil in a diesel car and vice versa. So are we putting the wrong. For our body. It's not the car's not going to go, right? So we have to think about all the things that are going to give our body energy. And then also, I think look at all of the energy leaks in your life.
[00:36:25] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, I often talk about energy leaks, too. Yeah.
[00:36:29] Ana Alexandre We give like so many things that we don't need to be doing and we're doing and they don't make us feel good and they're a waste of time. So that's a big thing. Don't have time to work out. Okay? Well, you do. We all do. Because otherwise you have time. You feel like crap, right? That's just the other side of it. So where can we find the time? Start with things in your day to day that you take that are just taking energy away from you. Maybe we have to, like, not have that friendship anymore. Maybe you need to do need to leave a relationship. Maybe, you know, maybe we have to shut up social media. And there's a lot of things that can can take our energy or tasks that we're doing that we can outsource. Right. That maybe you are afraid to do. I would say to a lot of people, I guess what happens a lot with women is are you saying yes to one of the things that you should be saying no to? That's a big one. Hmm. And are you doing a lot of stuff at home that maybe your partner can step up and do more of? Right. So I always start to look at those ways that are releasing energy that you can actually be giving yourself.
[00:37:27] Ana Alexandre All right. You hit on a really common one. I just want to get a few more ideas about from you, which is I mean, I hear this as well. I think that my clients who are moms and especially with young kids, are like some of the toughest to like find time to do the things they want to, including working out or eating healthy. So what is some of your best practices for? Like how to find the time, especially when people are feeling super strapped.
[00:37:56] Ana Alexandre Okay. So actually the best part, first of all, moms like you guys are, I like crazy amount of hours. You have three full time jobs according to data. So, you know, you don't know how you do it because I struggle to find time. You know, that's just very impressive. So I would say the very first thing is do you need to actually have a conversation to uncomfortable conversations usually have to be have first with yourself now when I would coaching clients sometimes if they're feeling stuck I will some questions form and one of the things is explain the relationship that you have with taking care of yourself and taking care of others. When I then this to women quite often it's like an essay response and if I send it to men, it's very little response, right? So again, this society, we grew up and we're still in, there's a lot of things that need to change on both sides. Right? So the first thing is, are you, you know, what is your relationship taking care of yourself and taking care of others that needs to be evaluated? Because a lot of the.
[00:38:57] Lisa Hoashi That's a great question.
[00:38:57] Ana Alexandre It's such a good one because a lot of the times there's just this like bullshit. I don't have a lot of say this in your podcast that we do that because we think we're supposed to do, because I don't know our moms and grandmothers and aunts, we don't have to do it. We can let that go. Right? And taking care of yourself is not selfish, but we have praised women as being selfless as this wonderful thing. It's actually not so first like what is your relationship to taking care of yourself versus others? You have to take care of you first. So that's a really uncomfortable conversation to solve oftentimes, especially if you're a mom, because quite often I hear a lot of guilt. Like I every client, every female client I worked with has often not every, I would say a good 90% on like, okay, you need to work out a couple times more. Or if by these products there's a lot of, well, I feel guilty spending this money on me as opposed to my family or this time away from my family. So that's something no man has said that so they have other stuff that I hear that is more common. But the guilt is not serving us, particularly women and moms. So have that really important conversation with yourself. Get a pen and paper and write it out. A second uncomfortable conversation is if you are a if you're not a single parent is you need to have any uncomfortable conversations at home so that you can reach your goals. So if you have an awesome supportive partner, that's amazing. That's not always the case, though. Sometimes I hear, you know, I had a client who was struggling to get her workouts in, but her her partner everyday would get up and go play, paddle or go to go sit in the morning. And she would stay home with the kids and get it done and who do that before work. And he was like, You just work out. It's like we have children and didn't occur in his brain. He's like, Oh yeah, I can work out because someone's taking care of the kids. So this is the dynamic that might be showing up in your home, whether it's the morning, whether it's there, might be some uncomfortable conversations that need to be had there. As well, which often I hear from a lot of women that it's just easier to do it themselves and they want to avoid an argument. So they just do pick up the slack in a lot of areas, whether that could be with your spouse, sick parents, you know, whatever is going at work and then there's all that stuff. So I think there might have to be boundaries set there. And then the third one is just like that, really kind of almost like that. It's like the not that like sexy steps, but the most important ones. Okay. So do you need to have your yoga mat next to your earbuds that you remind yourself to do it. What do you need to just put in an alarm? Do you have to? What are the small little things that can make sure you do this meal prep? Just put it. Just put it in your schedule and do it, you know? So it might just be a little things that you need for you to make it work. Mm hmm. Yeah. So that you can be consistent.
[00:41:44] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, the other thing that for me has really helped is I think one of the first things you said to me was just like, you just have to make the time for the work out. So just like look at the calendar, look at where it's going to go, communicate it other people.
[00:42:01] Ana Alexandre Part of my job is accountability just.
[00:42:03] Lisa Hoashi Yeah and for me that was that ended up being t taking time out of like my working hours, right? Like, when you're a mom, you have like hard won hours that are just for yourself, you know? And there's so many things that you could do with them. So it was just decided. Well, instead of working, yeah, like 7 hours today, it's going to be 6 hours because I need I mean, it's even less than that because I need like an hour to work out and then a half hour to shower and have breakfast and like, that's the way it's going to be. And so over time, it's been easier to, like, sustain that because it was a time that wasn't the only. Like you said, the only difficult conversation had to be with me, it didn't have to be really with anyone else, because that was an hour that I was in control of.
[00:42:51] Ana Alexandre Yeah, it's it's interesting. That's why I say start with the the one with yourself. And this applies to everything. And now, like, it's not like I enjoy doing the tax stuff every quarter. I have to set up really good habits, you know. So it's like, I want.
[00:43:05] Lisa Hoashi You to help me do that. Yeah, I really like.
[00:43:08] Ana Alexandre I hate I try, I try so hard every month instead of waiting for three months. Like, I put candles and put it my schedule. And if I don't put it in my schedule like like a block off, it's I don't do it. So you have to, like, make little steps that that it's I tell people oftentimes we have really supportive partners and we just assume that they're not going to support us because we don't even tell them that we are going to do it, for example, you know? Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:32] Lisa Hoashi Well, the accountability piece has been really great as well. I mean, that's something, you know, that my clients can count on me for as a coach. But yeah, it's been great. So like send you a text to say, Here's my workout plan for this week and then checking it off like through the week that.
[00:43:46] Lisa Hoashi That's.
[00:43:47] Lisa Hoashi Just that is enough to like make sure that I get up in the morning to go do it. Yeah.
[00:43:53] Ana Alexandre Mm hmm. Yeah. Because there's always a reason to not do it totally by the raised that. Yeah. So yeah.
[00:44:01] Lisa Hoashi Well Ana I am so appreciative of you coming on the show and sharing with us today. I want to ask if there's any last thing that maybe we didn't cover or that you that you feel like you would like to to share as part of this conversation?
[00:44:15] Ana Alexandre Yeah, I think the most important thing is whenever I, I talk to anyone around, you know, a group of people that soliciting about steps or different things we can be doing is to just really reinforce that. If what I'm saying is this, but you're here, just don't get overwhelmed or discouraged. Take small little baby steps. That's what's going to make that habit actually stick. If we take small steps consistently over time then we will be this very different person, you know, in a year versus we do these massive changes, it's really hard to stick to it, and we can't do them. And it becomes like, then we can really beat ourselves up about it. So just take, you know, okay, so you're eating way differently than some of the other ways I recommended. That's okay. Just cool. You know? So an apple from the tree is like, the best thing we could do with an apple martini is probably, like, the worst. So the closest you can get to that apple is me, right from the super processed go there. Right. So if right now you're looking at what what you're eating and it's all super processed or ultra processed foods, you're like, oh my God, how my app fix this. Maybe go to some more healthy processed, right? And then over time towards more whole foods. So just take a little of baby steps. If you're haven't worked out in a long time, start by walking like, you know, just start doing small little things that you can. And then the second thing is also, don't underestimate the power of cooking your own food and going for walks. Sometimes that can make a massive you know, it's just that simple.
[00:45:51] Lisa Hoashi Thank you. And at what point do you feel like for like a nutritionist or a personal trainer? Like at what point might it be a signal for people that like they run the course on the DIY front and it might be time to get some outside support?
[00:46:06] Ana Alexandre Yeah, I think if you are struggling with energy, no matter what you do, there's something that needs to be addressed. So that's a really good sign. If you've tried so many, if you've tried a whole bunch of things and it's not working, I would say that's a really good time to get some help. You know, you're like, okay, I've tried all these workouts, it's not working, okay? So maybe you're not working out for what you need. Also, you could be eating, like I mentioned in my story, like really healthfully. Well, whatever, you know, but it's not what your body needs now. So I was eating, you know, I didn't eat meat for 13 years. My body started craving it. So maybe, you know, you're something's off and you're really not sure. What it is. That's a really good time to get help. And if you just need help, if it's overwhelming, like a planning dinner, what I hear quite often from parents is like but especially moms, like just a dinner every night that everyone's going to eat and they're going to like they're going to complain that it's healthy to spend 3 hours. If you need help with that, that's a really good time to get help.
[00:47:08] Lisa Hoashi Like even that is worth getting help. Yeah, it's true because I think part of listening to ourselves is like monitoring the distress that we're feeling, even if we're kind of like there's a judgmental part of ourselves. It's like I should be able to deal with this or this is like too mundane or, you know, I shouldn't be struggling with this so much. I think that we have to, like, listen and be like, okay, actually, this is causing me a lot of energy and distress. Yeah, it's worthwhile to take care of.
[00:47:39] Ana Alexandre And also, if you have a lot of pain, like if you're finding yourself without a very specific injury or if you find yourself going to a chiropractor all the time or busy all the time, but it's not very specific injury or you've had post surgery, then you probably would really benefit from learning how to move your body and strengthen your your muscles so they don't have pain. So you have to put the bandaid and those things are awesome. We need those, you know, a team of of professionals. But oftentimes if your body's just like tight, you're sitting a lot, you're in pain, you don't know what's up. Things are crinkling all the time. Could be a good time to take a look at the movement as well.
[00:48:16] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. Yeah, I got to say that like a few months ago sometimes, like, you know, having to do the physical things with my kids, like my body did not feel that strong. And yesterday I carried my screaming three year old two blocks to school when he didn't want to go to school. And of course, I was embarrassed to have to do that in front of the other parents, but I was not embarrassed because I couldn't physically do it, because I now can physically do it.
[00:48:47] Ana Alexandre But honestly, that's such a common. I think that's such a common one. My kids now like it's not the best thing. So it's like they if they feel fine, they will come. Of course they will. But like that, you can actually make your life easier by taking your screaming three year old to school and okay, yeah, there's special stuff to that. But, you know, you could you could hold them, you know, but you can play longer that you have less pain, that you have more energy, that you can do things like change the water thing or, you know, every grocery store better.
[00:49:18] Lisa Hoashi We yeah. My husband showed me how to cut wood this weekend not very successfully I need your pointers.
[00:49:26] Ana Alexandre We can do some offline work on that. Yeah. So I think those are the things like the, the day to day making your day the day more efficient.
[00:49:35] Lisa Hoashi Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much to wrap up. I just love to hear, you know, people want to follow your work or get involved and somehow how can they do that?
[00:49:44] Ana Alexandre So my website is anaalexandre.com d r e alexandre d r e. And you can tell me on Instagram @anacalexandre, you can send me a message there or.
[00:49:56] Lisa Hoashi Yeah, and Ana has really great exercises and also smoothie recipes and other types of recipes that she shares on her Instagram. I love following her there, too.
[00:50:06] Ana Alexandre Yes.
[00:50:07] Lisa Hoashi Okay, great. Well, thank you so much for being with us today and sharing all of your knowledge, really special and energy.
[00:50:14] Ana Alexandre Thanks for having me.
