5 Steps to Beat Holiday Induced Stress and Burnout with Dr. Michelle Wolford

Crystal Vilkaitis  

In today’s episode, I have one of my most favourite people in the world on as a guest, which is Dr. Michelle Wolford. She is my doctor and has been for almost a decade and has really supported me in many areas of my life and my health. And since this is airing in October, we’re talking a lot about burnout and stress management in the holidays. And I asked Michelle, can you please come on and give some tips on how my retailers can sustain this stressful time of year. And of course, the things that she talks about can really help support you past q4 as well. She’s got five specific areas for you to focus on. And what I really love about this episode is everything that she talks about is very doable. It is something that you can absolutely start incorporating into your everyday life to see significant change, and help support you during this crazy time of year and beyond. Also, as you’ll hear in this episode, Michelle pulled together a list of all the different supplements and bars that we talked about in this episode that is linked in the show notes of this episode and on our website rootedinretail.com. Just go to this episode page to get that link. If there was anything that she mentioned, you don’t need to go out and Google and try to find what you’re trying to look for. From this episode. She’s curated the list all for you. And you can click there and check those out right from that page. Before we dive into this episode. Here’s a little bit more about my guest, Dr. Michelle Wolford. M. D. was awarded Best naturopathic doctor in Encinitas in 2015. She has successfully run a private practice in Encinitas since January of 2011, treating children and adults for a variety of acute and chronic conditions all over the world. She’s been a guest speaker at medical schools on several radio and blog spots TV programmes in addition to a Guest writer for naturopathic doctors news and review journal. She’s travelled the world collecting information for your healing experience working with top medical doctors, shamans, gurus, and healers. She has a remarkable way of intertwining her Western medical training and knowledge with her profound Eastern medical training and knowledge of plants, energy, medicine, nutrition, body movement, meditation, breathwork, and spirituality. Her life purpose is to inspire others to live their life with authenticity, integrity and responsibility for the enrichment of their life and those around them on purpose with optimal health fulfilment, love and vitality. You can learn more at drmichellewolford.com. And you’re gonna love this episode, I think you’re gonna love Michelle, you might want to take some notes take action on what you’ve learned it could change your life. Let’s dive into this episode. 

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Welcome to Rooted in Retail, the show that’s dedicated to helping independent retailers thrive in today’s ever evolving retail landscape. I’m your host, Crystal Vilkaitis and I’m thrilled to have you join me weekly as we explore topics that are vital to the success of your store. from marketing to mindset, money to merchandising, sales to leadership, we’ll cover it all. Each episode features interviews with industry experts and accomplished retailers who share their real life insights and actionable advice. Get ready for a great conversation on how to build your dream business with Rooted in Retail. Michelle, welcome to Rooted in Retail. I’m thrilled you’re here. 

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yay. I’m glad to be back. Thank you so much.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yes, this is gonna be so good. So this is a special episode because you’re not necessarily Rooted in Retail, but you are my doctor. And do you realise that you have been for almost a decade now like, isn’t that I know crazy. And I am doing a whole we’re recording this in August, but it’s going out in October. And that month is all about holidays and burnout and stress management and I couldn’t think of a more better person to have on the show to really help support our retailers. So I want to just like set the scene and then we’re gonna dive right in. So you know who’s primarily listening to this is the mom and pop retail shop small business owners. It’s October even just personally this time of year is busy for everyone we are travelling we might be eating foods we don’t normally we’re seeing family like it’s there’s a lot going on. But then also for our retailers is tends to be a busier season for them. You know, they their hours are longer their team. And then they’re all just tired, hustling working, sometimes dealing with stressed out people. So our goal for this show today is to help you align our brain and body and help some stress management burnout. And we’re gonna cover three areas, which is techniques, supplements and food. And I just want to dive right in and start talking about some techniques that you would recommend We’re in this crazy time of year to help our busy business owners.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, even as a small business owner, but medical practice, you know, it’s like, we’re trying to be metrics, q1 2,3,4, the end of the year always seems to be so busy for everyone, one because you want to divide your time between family and holiday and maybe a little bit of time off. But you also know that you got to end the entire year as a whole, before you prep for a new start. I mean, one of my favourite things to do, I always think about the functional and then like, kind of the spiritual aspects. So functionally, I like to get up and write down the top three things that have to happen that day, or maybe even that week, I know, my list is very, very long. But if you write it down and just say, Okay, these are the top three things that I’m going to stay focused on. And then I like to head into a little bit of a meditation. And it’s really I see meditation as a time to silence the brain. So no matter what your spiritual practice is or religious beliefs are, it’s really about setting aside some time to say, This is my intention for today, like I need to get these three things done, how they happen, I’m asking for, you know, a higher good to come down and and show me the landscape of that. Because sometimes when we get too attached to like, this is what I want. And this is what has to happen, that rigidity takes away from a little bit of the free flowingness this that maybe needs to happen. I, my brain may want something to happen right now here today. But it may actually have better results if I give it a week or two. And so it’s always the dance between okay, what would I like, what is the structure, what are my action steps, but pausing into a time to meditate to kind of say, Alright, I’m gonna let all of this go. And I’m just gonna actually step into a state of like surrendering and receivership. Because if you can step into that space, then you’re actually in flow with the collective around you. So I’m gonna have thoughts, ideas and wishes, that I want to go this way. But if it’s not in alignment with what’s happening around me, then there’s a not a missed connection, a disconnection, not a true alignment. So that’s what I like to do from my just purely strictly functional, like, let me give you a hot tip, get up in the morning, write down the top three things that need to happen today, maybe even write down who you would think would be best to delegate those tasks to for some of these small business owners, and then pause into 10 minutes of personal time where you just say, Okay, I’m gonna let all of this go. And I usually bring it in with an affirmation I don’t know best, sometimes I think I do. But I don’t know best, please guide me towards what really needs to happen today for the greater good of my business and the people that I’m serving. And then you just sit there and a little bit of like calmness, and really changes your brain chemistry. I mean, you move from this high beta, like stressed out space into like a low beta and alpha, which changes your body chemistry, which gives you the energy and the will and the power and the clarity to do what you need to do. And really still be a paying attention to your externals so that you can pivot within the day if you need to pivot.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Exactly. Okay, I’m loving. Firstly, you say three things. We’re not writing down, like everything is on a brain dump here. This is like the three priorities that we have that we’re focusing on. And then giving that space and this is 10 minutes, I think everybody can find 10 minutes. It’s not like we’re doing an hour meditation here. It’s just 10 minutes, and allowing for that. And I needed to hear that to have the patience that might not need to happen, or can’t happen right now, it might be something that is a week or two, and allowing that to be versus controlling, which can cause some of that stress, and frustration and heaviness. So this is so good.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Okay, well, and you know, sometimes when you pop into those meditations, you’re like, actually, that’s really not that important today, or that’s not going to serve me, right, because it’s like our active brain or wanting self or ego self could have one set of intentions, desires, or will. But then when you pause enough to actually just sit into a state of receivership, you may get a different message or you may actually feel within your own body. Okay, this isn’t once in alignment today. And the more we act out of alignment, the easier things become.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yep, totally. So true. You want to be in the flow state. I love this. Okay, what what’s another technique that you would recommend during this crazy time of year?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Oh, goodness, um, you know, this is probably the hardest thing for most people, but it’s keeping a routine. And it’s like, it’s like, I know, I have a hard time following that. I see it with people, but really around like your sleep and how you eat and the time that you take to yourself. So I mean, I get it, I sometimes have days that start at seven and don’t end until like eight, maybe even 11 o’clock at night. And it’s like that’s not every day, right? For most of us. It’s not every day. But it can be very easy when you’re highly motivated, or do you feel like you have a lot on your plate to just keep going, going going. And that’s not to say that there aren’t moments where we’re going to do that and then moments where we kind of are even highly unproductive, but the more that we can stay in that steady range. I think that there’s a lot of value to that not only for your your physical health and your mental Health, your emotional health, right? Because that’s what this is about your you know, you asked me to come on here to support people with longevity, not just how do I take a bunch of stuff to give me a high for three months, so that I crashed for the next three to six months, you know, which, you know, that could be a very easy pattern for people to get into. So I think the more that people can keep routine and rhythm around what’s happening in their life and understand that there is going to be some fluctuations in that. But I get up at this time, and I do this for myself, and then I eat, and then I am like, full blown work, but then I pause to say, Okay, good job with the front half of the day, let’s just take a minor pause before we jump into the second half, and then making sure we’re nourishing ourselves in the evening, and we’re getting good sleep. Because the more and more that you stress or strain your body, then it stops working as well for you. And I want you to be able to access your brain and your body whenever you need, which means you have to take care of it. So keeping a schedule is one of the best things that we could do.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

And I know some people are listening to this being like, oh, my gosh, how, though? How can I do that? We’re open earlier, we’re staying open later. But I think that I mean, you have to commit to it like yeah, there is it is challenging. Some things might need to pivot and move. And we’re change is hard. And so creating some of that structure that change, it feels uncomfortable initially, but it’s what’s going to set you up for success. So I just it’s so important that we take that time, and really stick to that routine. Michelle, do you have any other techniques that you would recommend during this crazy time before we go into some supplements?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, you know, I actually just wanted to respond to your comment there, which is a lot of these businesses are opening up earlier, and then they’re staying open later. And I get it, everybody’s got a different business. And there may be value to that. But I have to say like, even in my business, like I start to change some of my hours and only recently have I started to be like, You know what, I’m just gonna let people know, ahead of time that I look at my metrics, okay, this is when most people are coming in. This is when most people are available, especially around the holidays, because things starts to shift. And we’re trying to help people, and we’re trying to support our own families and our own passions and our own purpose. So the question is, how do you, you manage the to like your own desires, and then how you want to serve others. Sometimes I have found that there’s actually a lot of value in being able to send out a newsletter, for example, three months in advance that says, we’re going to do things a little bit differently this year, we value our family and we value you. And but we have found that these are the times that we’re going to be open and maybe they do take an hour lunch break, and they close down, they start reminding people three months in advance that they are going to be shifting things a little bit that way. I mean, and what I have found the benefit of that is people are more excited to come in like they’re more respectful of your time, because you’ve set a different set of boundaries, your customers versus me, your client, what am I trying to say? Your employees are not as burned out, because they are excited to come in and got the energy to come in. They don’t have the like, oh my god, this again. And and so I would really encourage actually the business owners to think like, what is my intention for the season? For my business for my customers, for my family? And how can I create this kind of synergistic relationship versus saying, Okay, I’m just going to, this is gonna fail here, because this has to succeed, like, how can we actually create a synergistic relationship where everything is succeeding together. So that’s more of a, you know, take the weekend to journal and to speak to your business coach, or to a friend or to a colleague, and get really clear on that. And maybe you start structuring how the business is presenting itself or supporting itself and a different way. Because of that.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

I am really glad that you said that, because I do think for small businesses, we could sometimes have this mindset that we have to be working nonstop, we have to always show up, the consumer has so many choices. So we need to make sure that we’re top of mind and we’re always open and we’re always available. And we it does not have to be like that, it really doesn’t. And it’s that is not sustainable. Unless you do have like a big team, you know, some of the big boxes can can cater to that. And it’s much harder on the independence. And in my opinion, you can still compete and be the choice. You also have the choice of how you want your business to be ran and what those hours look like and how you are balanced in your life. The key word here I think is balanced. And I feel like a lot of small businesses are very out of balance. And this is where it really becomes apparent during the holidays. So take that time to figure out what does that look like for my store? You have you get to call the shots. You get to say what the hours are you get to make these decisions. And like Michelle said, really let your audience know that. But I think it’s really important create the balance.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, and it’s just about communication. I mean, I don’t Definitely when I first started my medical practice, I was like, I want to serve everybody, I want to help everybody. And I, of course, was doing it at the expense of me because it’s like, I never wanted to say no, or this isn’t going to work. I mean, of course, I have no problem saying, I’m not a good fit for you. But if I felt I was a good fit, I would do everything in my life, to restructure it to make sure I could be there when that person needed me. And it just really creates a lot of burnout. And quite honestly, people don’t respect you as much because they feel like they can have you and do whatever they want, whenever they want. And so when you say, these are the rules of my house, and I love my house, and only the right people are going to come in, because I know I’m so proud of the service I have to provide, you know, whatever it is that these different small businesses are selling, as long as they communicate it to their clientele, and get them really excited about it. You know, people will do whatever it takes to get what they want. So I really would encourage business owners to think about how they want to serve themselves and their clientele and find a very synergistic relationship between the two.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Such good advice. Okay, awesome. Do we move into supplements? 

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, let’s do it. 

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Okay, what should we be doing to support our mind and body when it comes to supplements?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, absolutely. So my favourite thing right now is gonna be an Adaptogen. So Adaptogens are a group of herbs that help the body adapt to stress in a more viable way. Meaning that if you’re under stress, it kind of calms the nervous system down. If you’re feeling like you just can’t get yourself going, it will gently give the body a boost. So there’s no caffeine, there’s no falsities in it, it literally asks the body it’s like a little whisper it asks the body to do what it you know, the body can do, which is does it need to ramp up a little bit stay focused, get some things done, or does it need to kind of down regulate so that it can be more in that sweet spot. So some of my favourite Adaptogens would be things like Rhodiola, I predominantly use Rhodiola. If somebody tends towards more depressive, or anxiety kind of tendencies, it’s fine for the average person. But if somebody can tend towards just feeling a little bit on the gloomier side, I find that it kind of perks them up of it. Ashwagandha is really great, it really balances out our energy. And I find that men respond better to Ashwagandha than women, generally speaking, because it supports our testosterone and men and women both have testosterone, but men generally produce more. But some women naturally have lower levels of Testosterone. So they could respond very well to it, if it just naturally kind of starts to boost that internal level of Testosterone. Maca is not an adaptogen, but not a classic, I should say adaptogen. But I find that it’s really helpful too, for just increasing stamina, drive motivation, kind of feeds that whole testosterone pathway as well. And don’t worry, you’re not gonna all of a sudden start growing hair in random places. As a woman, if you take these things, I just mean, we’re talking like very micro-cosmically here in the body. Some other ones that I really like, it’s Schisandra , that may actually be my favourite adaptogen. And you know, what I can do is I can create a protocol on my online supplement company, for your listeners. And we could just title it something like Rooted in Retail. And so anybody that’s interested, I can put my top three adaptogens. So people don’t have to go hunting or fishing for these things, and I can send you the link. And that would be a great way. And I’ll see if I can even provide them a discount, because it’s a different company. I’m just invested in them. But gosh, if we can get your clientele like a 10% discount or something off that that would be really awesome.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

That would be huge. So everybody listening to this, we will include a link on the website, as well as the show notes where you can click over and then you could just see what Michelle was talking about. And then if that makes sense for you purchase it right there. Thank you, Michelle. That’s a huge offering to help it be easy for the listeners to find these things.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, well, and let me see. So I’ll put three things in there. I’ll do my favourite adaptogen, which regulates your energy. So if you need a boost, it gives you a little boost if you need to not feel so anxious and centred it like that’s literally what these herbs do in the body, they help you find equilibrium. The second thing I’ll offer is an immune-based product because as you’re being exposed to more people and the weather is changing, and ideally, you’re not eating more sugar, but that tends to happen a little bit around the holidays is more sugar, more alcohol, more caffeine, which all weaken our immune system. I’ll put in an herbal supplement that will also be there to just keep immune health in a good spot. And then I’ll do one that’s very specific for downregulating stress, anxiety. So it’s going to be different than the adaptogen because remember, the adaptogen can help boost our energy or calmness, where the last one will be very specific something like a GABA l theanine something to really down regulate us so that at the end of a busy day, we can turn it off without having to turn to other substances to do that.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

That would be incredibly helpful. Okay, this makes sense. I feel like this is very supportive depending on what you are needing one thing that’s coming up for me is people that struggle with sleep? Would that last one help them to like if they just can’t, your mind is going 1000 miles a minute, the day was busy or thinking about the next day and you just can’t turn off your brain? What would you recommend for that?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, I would say the last one would fall in that category. So, for example, GABA l theanine are both amino acids that change our brain chemistry. So they’re very natural, they come from food, the body can oftentimes make these things on its own. But it’s just kind of really flooding the cell with those nutrients so that our brain chemistry can shift from an excitatory state into a relaxed state. I could put a sleep one in there. So like a fourth supplement, I have no problem doing that. And that one will just be more targeted towards people who need like extreme, like, sleep support. So we’ll have a little bit of melatonin. I’ll have those herbs in there that calm the nervous system. With this the GABA l theanine to change our neuro chemistry, so kind of have those four types of herbs in there.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Beautiful. Okay, love it. Okay, cool. And I should know this. But you You put me on something when I had my Evolve conference, like leading up to it, which I want to say was like NuAdapt, and maybe it was one that you’re going to link to, but like that gave me such concentration. Like when your brain is you’re tired, Your mind is tired, I would take one of those. And I felt locked in what is that one?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

That was NuAdapt. So that is an adaptogen with the addition of an herb called Bukoba. So do you think that that would be the adaptogen most of your clients would be interested in where their brain can just kind of be like on warp speed?

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

I think maybe I think are listening to this being like, Heck, yes, I need that just because the amount of information you’re processing. And just to keep like that mental Stamina would be, I think really helpful. So I think it’s worth linking to as well.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Okay. Okay, so I’m going to put five in there, I’m going to do a gentle adaptogen. And then NuAdapt, which is more of like brain focused adaptogen will do the immune supplements. And we’ll do the supplement that kind of calms your nervous system, and then we’ll do the sleep one. So and I’ll put little notes in the protocol, the company that I use is FullScript. So the link will be to my dispensary through FullScript, but there’ll be five options, and people can buy all five or choose what works best for them. And then, of course, I have to say this disclaimer, please speak with your doctor, because I don’t know you. So I can’t, I’m not really giving any sort of medical advice. I’m just sharing what has typically worked for my patients. And you’ll have to consult with your doctor or schedule an appointment with me if you want to make sure it doesn’t conflict with any current medications that you’re on or with your current medical history.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Awesome. Okay, thank you so much for doing that. I am so excited to share that with our listeners, it’s just been so supportive. This is where I love working with Michelle, because I can be like, here’s what’s going on in my life, here’s what’s happening in my work, and just having natural ways to support my body, like you just, you need additional support during certain times. And that’s, again, why we’re doing this right now during the holidays. So now let’s talk about food. And what should we be doing to help support our body from a food perspective? I know some of us might not want to hear what you’re gonna say.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Okay, before I quickly dive into food, I just have one more comment to make, you know, I do see a lot of people, whether it’s surgeons, CEOs of like Fortune 500 companies, I mean, I’ve got the span of patients, small business owners, moms that have five kids that are trying to figure out how to, you know, work this all together and make the most magical holiday experience. And, you know, a lot of people do move towards the, I’m just going to take Adderall for a couple of weeks, or I’m just going to drink a lot of coffee, or, you know, the different, we’ll call it scheduled and unscheduled drugs, to support them going high or to calming them back down. And, you know, one thing I just really want to touch upon is natural medicine is really powerful. So as you know, when you’ve attested to it, you can get the results you’re looking for without compromising the health of your body. And that’s what I love about it is it’s like sometimes we do need a little bit of a push, or we need a little bit of support, whether it’s rubbing up or calming down. And there’s natural ways we could do it that are completely non addictive, they do not harm the body. Because it’s asking the body what to do versus telling the body what to do, like a lot of those pharmaceutical based supplements will tell the body what to do. And so there’s an element of a loss of control and you often are stealing from one system to give to another. And with natural medicine. You’re basically asking the system as a whole to pool together as a team and say how can we all focus our energy right here for now and then go back to the pool and then maybe focus your energy there and then get back to the pool? So there’s not like stealing from blank to give to blank which I really love that.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that’s so so good. And I’m glad that you made that. That uh, correlation or whatever the right word I want for us, but just to let us know, like, yeah, why this is so important. I can’t speak to it enough. I mean, like, on just a small scale. I was one of those people that’s like, Okay, I’m just gonna have another cup of coffee. And then it’s like, oh, I think I’m just gonna have another cup of coffee. But then I get like, really bad anxiety with that, I’ll get stomach aches with that. And that’s where the new adapt was such a game changer for me. And it’s, I’m not sacrificing other parts of my body to keep pushing. And then that just is not sustainable. So we want you mentioned it earlier, we want you to be sustainable past, just this holiday season, for sure. And and keep feeling good, because we’re business owners, we gotta keep showing up.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Absolutely. Okay, so food, I would say we need to find nutrient dense foods. Now the good news is, I feel like between the outdoorsman that created all these bars, like the Clif bars, and energy squares, and all that kind of stuff, I mean, it’s fairly easy now to find a quick put it in your pocket solution. And most of those are fairly nutrient dense, because they have they use like fig or date as a backbone that’s really high in flavonoids. So that’s high and a lot of like vitamins and minerals, and iron actually. And then it’s combined with a lot of nuts, which are high and omegas, which help reduce inflammation in the body, they give good fats for brain function. And they’re calorically dense, so they give us good, like nutrient density, so that our energy can be sustainable for longer. So of course, I prefer somebody to sit down and have a nice meal that’s got some veggies and some meat, for those who eat meats and for carbohydrates, you know, so that you have a nice balanced meal, but I get that that’s not always feasible. And so, you know, I would say eating some clean bars is a really great option. You can make it at home, you know, there’s plenty of recipes online, where you could just say, hey, I want this, this and that in a bar, like what’s the recipe, you know, you could do like what we call a trail mix cookie, where it’s not full of sugar and full of a bunch of, I don’t know, just inflammatory foods, flowers, etc. But you just make it really packed full of a bunch of nuts and, things like date states are just, they’re very sweet. So they’re usually satiating. And when you’re looking at stress, we’ve got a gland called the adrenal gland, and there’s three layers to it. So people usually want salts, they usually want sweet. And then the last one actually just stands for our sex hormone. So sometimes people feel a little bit more sexual, because it’s a way they can burn energy or they feel very depleted, and they feel like their libido doesn’t exist because maybe their sex hormones are already in a state of depletion. But from a food perspective, a little bit of salts, a little bit of sweet can be helpful. And if you can get that sweetness through like a honey and agave, blackstrap molasses, fruits, and then the salt, either like pink Himalayan salts, or Celtic sea salts or foods that naturally have salts, which are going to be things like meats, for example, then that’s probably your best, you know, source of nutrition, obviously Whole Foods. But again, I get it. It’s like snacks I think are key having snacks on hand and healthy snacks so that you don’t, you know, reach for the bag of M&Ms Because you’re starving and you want quick energy and sugar is gonna give you quick energy, or you go and you get the coffee. So I would say having a breakfast, lunch and dinner. Again, I mean, I’m a meat eater, but I get that not everybody is but people that are meat eaters making sure that there’s protein a part of each one of your meals. If you’re not a meat eater, then whether that’s that some people will still do eggs or some people will still do dairy or they’ll do excuse me, beans or leguior they’ll do not so anything that’s like very protein rich is going to be really smart to incorporate in each meal. Fruits are better to have earlier in the day because of its sugar contents and how it could potentially imbalance or support blood sugar. And vegetables are obviously great. They’re packed full of a lot of B vitamins and B vitamins are very anti stressed by nature. And and then of course getting good fats and that’s really satiating to the brain and hydration Hydration is key. So that was probably way more tips that seems super scattered than what you wanted. But I mean, I would say nutrient dense foods, keeping routine around eating and then snacks on hands that are healthy.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yeah, no, I mean that is so helpful with the bars. Do you you mentioned Clif Bars. What kind of like what brands do you recommend? Because yeah,

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

often is not there. There’s so many options. My favourite option is called Fast bar like I’m running fast. It’s 100% organic. It’s only I think 230 or 280 calories. And it’s much heavier on the nuts lighter on the dried fruit because dry fruits very dehydrating because it soaks up all that water and it’s made right here in San Diego which is where I So I always like to support local if I can, but you can buy them on Amazon and you may be able to get them at like a Whole Foods or something like that. I know I can get them at my local stores here. But I really love the fast bars. And they have three different flavours. Secondarily, I do like Lara bars just because they have a limited ingredients. I don’t get super excited when I can’t, you know, it takes me like five minutes to read through the entire ingredient list. I’m kind of like what is in there. And there are some bars on the full scripts. I haven’t really found one that I totally love. But if I you know, there’s a couple of like, I really like Dr. Mercola. So I can put a couple in there, that when this list is just growing, you’re gonna have to remind me, but, but that could be a really good option. And Clif bars for the most part are usually pretty clean as well. And so people that do okay with grains, they use a rolled out in there, which is really high in minerals, very satiating. So I like that because it makes people feel full, and it has a lot of minerals, when we’re under stress, the body utilises a lot of our minerals. So it’s very balancing in that regard.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

I’m so glad you said Clif bars because I really like them. And they’re easy to find in airports, which IMF often at an airport, and but I always felt like oh, are these bad for me? Because I like them. So I figured that they would be not great for me. But as far as hydration, I mean, obviously like water, you know, does the same old like eight cups a day is that what we should be focusing on to stay hydrated?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

so it’s half of your body weight in water. So if you are 150 pounds, that is technically a roughly about 55 kilograms. And so it’s your weight in kilogrammes equals your ounces. Or you could just take your weight divided by 2.2. And that’s the amount of ounces you should be getting a day.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Interesting. Okay, that’s great to know. Yep. What about the person who just does not like drinking water? What would you recommend for them to stay hydrated.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

So if you don’t like drinking water, that usually means that you have a mineral deficiency. So it could be something as simple as adding a little bit of zinc or copper to your water. And I like it in liquid form. There is like doing something like trace mineral drops could be a great way where now your body will get hungry for the water. But again, it’s usually a mineral deficiency. And for people that are like, I don’t feel like adding anything to my water, you know, you could always try adding like half of a cucumber or lemon or something like that. But I guarantee the trace meneral drops will work better.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

So good. Yeah. Okay, so we talked about techniques, supplements, food, this is a very well rounded support for us it’s so good. Is there anything else that you would recommend for our retailers just going into this crazy time of year to really help support them? And yeah, and be present and just be supported?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

I would say body movement and gratuity are my last two, like those are the top five things is yeah, getting up in the morning and saying, Okay, these are the top three things have to be done today, surrendering into a meditation to be like, if that’s highest and best guide me, I’m gonna let go. But I’m focused, you know, that was our number one. Or number two was here supplements that can help your biochemistry giving your body the raw materials to do what it needs. You know, step three was okay, how do we eat and how do we stay consistent with that. But I would say step four is body movement, like you need to move your body that moves your lymphatic tissue and helps you drain it helps you detox. And I’m sure with a lot of small business owners, they feel like they are moving around all the time, like in their shop or in their office doing what they need to do. But there’s value to disconnecting from this, you know, from computer, from phone from, from electronics, stepping outside for a hot second, and just getting a fresh air walking around the block. So I’m not saying you gotta go run a marathon in the morning or, you know, be committed to hit workout. But I just think that constant movement and taking deep breaths has a lot of value, and it lowers your stress, right? Like, you asked me to come on here to be like, How can I help these business owners lower their stress, keep their body healthy, and allow them to keep achieving what they want to achieve and be in a high drive state. Like this is how you do it. And then I would say lastly, before you go to bed is just reminding yourself, whether you’re sitting down with your yourself whether you’re sitting down with your family, whether it’s a gratuity journal before bedtime, is just saying like what am I most grateful for today? Because I think the more that we reflect on the good that happened versus that customer that was not in a good mood or something broke and it caused a disaster. I mean, if we focus on those things, like those things are just going to happen. Right? Like they always happen. It’s unavoidable. So the more that we could focus on the good that comes in, I think that the happier we are and the more that we’re not emotionally burned out from this type of season.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yeah, that’s such a good point. Because then if we go to bed thinking of all the negative I would imagine we’re not sleeping as well, we’re waking up frustrated. And then there’s you’re not feeling excited to go and do it all over again. But if you are focusing on the gratitude, which I think can actually be like you almost for some of us, I think you almost need a reminder or an alarm clock that goes off at like 7pm that says, What am I grateful for? like, if you’re not normally doing this, then it’s easy to forget, it’s easy to just keep doing what you’ve always done. And the negative unfortunately, often speaks louder than the positive and the good stuff during our day. So we focus on that naturally. So I would really recommend having some kind of cue to remind you of looking back what worked really well, what am I grateful for? And then going to bed with that mentality, I think could change your entire whole next day. I mean, the whole season, and then ideally, you’re doing this for the rest of your life. I mean, it’s such a great tip.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yes to everything you just said, yeah, exactly.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

IT changes your world. It really does. Well, and that’s something I started, I try to wake up and have the very first thing before I get out of bed, what I’m grateful for, to then also kind of start my day in that state, versus like, Oh, I’m tired. I’ve been travelling so much, I have so much to do what’s going on? Like, I don’t ever want to start my day, that way, I really want to start it in a positive, abundant state. Because even I mean, that completely changes my whole day, when I forget to do those things. I’m like, Oh, I realize. And same with the body movement. I mean, I It’s like, just by walks. It’s like therapy, I think it’s so critical that you have that. And then one that I had to for supporting your your employees, like this could be a good episode for your employees to also listen to Yeah. And also, like maybe you’ve got some of those bars on hand that you keep all season long, like if these are some longer hours. So if somebody needs a quick snack, we’ve just have some nice healthy snacks on hand for the team. I know sometimes we’re like ordering in pizza, or we’ve got chips or something like that. That’s not really going to help fuel the team’s energy as well. So just a good tip there for your employees. Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Michelle, where can people find out more information about you?

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yes, absolutely. So I mean, my website is the best place right now, which is dr.michellewolford.com. So should I spell that out? Or you’ve got a link that they’ll see?

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

what let’s spell it out. But we’ll also link to it. Okay, so it’s just Dr.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

M, I, C H, E, Ll. E. W O L F O R D.com. And I’m in the middle of a website revamp. So who knows, by the time this launches, maybe my new website will be up, which will be nice. And then I will provide you the link to Fullscript, which is my online medicinally, where it will have those supplements that we spoke about with a little blurb. And then, you know, actually, what I would love to offer your listeners is, I don’t usually do this, but 50% off a new patient visit if they can just like reference Rooted in Retail to my friend office, just if somebody’s like, you know what, this really vibed with me, and I really liked what I had to hear and I really want some personalised tips to my situation or my company, or hey, I’m also dealing with this health imbalance. I would really love to support that more specific to me, I’d absolutely love to support your audience.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Oh, that is huge. Thank you for doing that. I am just so grateful for that. And I just have to say I mean, like I said at the top of this episode, I’ve worked with Michelle for almost a decade on so many issues. I mean, I first came to with acne and then stomach aches. And then I mean, you’ve helped me from energy obviously sleeping, staying grounded, staying focused, building my business money blocks when I just want to give her a little shout out for this because this episode will already be live. But on my other show Crystal Uncorked. I talk about how Michelle helped me really release a big money block I had, and it was like a powerful life changing experience. So that is over on Crystal Uncorked an episode that was published in August. I don’t know the number. I think it’s like 81 or 82 or 83. But you’ve just been such a big part of my journey, my health, and I’m so grateful for you. And thank you for sharing these these tips today.

 

Dr. Michelle Wolford  

Yeah, you’re welcome. And I just I love working with you. So thank you for trusting me and allowing me to help be a part of that journey.

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Yeah, I love it. Awesome. All right, you guys, action on what you learned. We have five steps here. And I think that these are very achievable things you can do and set yourself up for success during this time of year and carry that through for the rest of your life. So you really see that energy and sustainability and less stress and just more happiness and joy In your life, remember that I am rooting for you have a great week ahead. Bye. Bye. 

 

Crystal Vilkaitis  

Thank you so much for being here. It means the world to me. Don’t forget to join the Rise and Shine newsletter which is Social Media News You Need to Know sent via email every Monday morning. Go to crystalmediaco.com/rise to join and don’t miss the newest episode of Rooted and Retail which drops every Sunday morning.