Welcome to Sustain youn Vitality, the podcast that gives you a nurturing kick in the ass so you can take action every day to feel better, not older.

Your lifestyle holds the power to change how you feel, and no matter your age or health issues, you are in the driver's seat.

I'm your host, Zoa Connor, Functional Wellness Guide at Zen and Vitality with Zoa and retreat leader at Intentional Vitality Retreats.

I'm here to help you figure out how to lower your stress, increase your energy, put yourself into a healing state, boost your drive and pleasure in life, prevent disease, and feel the best that you ever have with no regrets later.

Let's go.

In your quest to feel better, not older, working with me, we will use the seven fundamentals of functional wellness.

One of these fundamentals is elimination.

What are we eliminating?

Anything that does not help you feel fabulous, age well and feel great.

So anything which is considered toxic or harmful or a waste product needs to be eliminated.

We have four pathways in our body that allow us to eliminate things we don't need.

One of them is breathing.

Another one is sweating.

A third one is your urine, so your pee.

And the fourth is your bowel movements or your poo.

Breathing you would think of as normally just about the inhale.

Bring in oxygen, bring in energy.

But then the question is what?

How do you get rid of the stale air, the waste products of breathing anything which is considered gaseous in nature that can be kept in the lungs unnecessarily.

So breathing, when you're thinking about elimination, is all about the exhale.

Pilates is a great way to focus on creating a fabulous full exhale, which then makes you want to breathe in again.

But a stressful breath is shallow, doesn't go all the way down to the bottom of the lungs, doesn't push a lot of air out, and so doesn't help with elimination.

Now, reducing what you need to eliminate is always an important step.

You can work on the process of elimination, but if you make it so that there's less to get rid of, then it's even easier to do that job.

So what's the quality of your air?

Indoor air quality and outdoor air quality are intimately related.

Don't assume your indoor air is any better than the outside.

If someone is burning or there's a forest fire or there's power plants or there's a car running, or you're over a city street with lots of vehicles making dirty air, you're breathing that in whether you're outside or inside.

Unless you are proactive about your air quality.

The more air quality clean your air is, the less there is of a need to eliminate the toxins.

Heavy particles like smoke get lodged in the bottom of the lungs.

You have to cough them back up and out, particularly if you're breathing through your mouth.

Your nose has a job.

It's to filter the air.

So breathing in through your nose reduces the need to eliminate.

Sweating is also an important detoxification tool.

Your blood flow goes all around the body.

When you're hot, your blood goes to your skin in order to help cool off the blood.

And then the cooler blood returns to your interior cools off your interior.

Your sweating tends to happen either because you're hot in temperature or you're hot in your nervous system and stressed.

How do you know if you're doing a good detoxification sweat?

It has to do with whether you're getting that sheen of water and sweat all over your body or whether it's just the nervous sweat that happens at your armpits and in your groin area and in all of the places that are a little more protected, shall we say.

So the nervous system sweat has to do with stress.

The detoxification sweat is that whole body glisten or glow.

Doesn't have to be a hefty, nasty sweat.

But here's something to think about.

What does your sweat smell like?

Because the more toxins you are getting rid of via sweat, the stinkier it's going to be.

So how do you know if you are detoxing?

Well.

Well, if you have a lot to get rid of and a lot to eliminate and you have stinky sweat, it's working.

The question is, what happens if your sweat isn't stinky or what happens if you don't really sweat?

Well, if your sweat isn't stinky but you are sweating, have you already taken a lot of steps to try to clean up your air, your water, your food, your environment and your body?

Because if so, enjoy that smell of health and wellness when you sweat.

If not, then it's possible that you're just not mobilizing those toxins and trash products and you're not getting rid of them.

Maybe other things are stinky and that's definitely a sign that something is hanging out and maybe you're getting rid of it, maybe you're not.

What if you don't sweat at all?

Well, one thing to wonder here is why are you not able to get hot enough to stimulate a good sweat?

Is this a problem with your thyroid gland not making enough hormones?

Is This a problem with not getting enough blood flow through the body such that you heat up your core and need to cool off your blood by sending it to your skin.

Is this a problem with your cell membranes being too stiff and stuck so that you can't get your thyroid hormones inside to activate the cells and make energy and keep you warm?

The ability to sweat is an important one.

And if you don't have it, then we have some things to work on in order to open up that pathway.

Heavy metals are very easily released for many people by encouraging sweat.

Which is one of the reasons why an infirma infrared sauna like I have at my wellness studio is a very valuable detoxification tool.

It helps with elimination.

Third way of creating elimination is your pee.

Your urine production.

Your kidneys are all the time checking in with your blood, looking for water soluble toxins, looking for excess volume of water in your blood and creating pee.

So the more you drink, the more pee you will have.

There's a question of hydration here as well, but if you are over watering yourself, kind of like a potted plant, you're just going to pee all the time, like every 20 to 30 minutes.

That is not good hydration.

It might be good excretion and elimination.

Let me give you an example.

You grab a candy bar or a really sweet snack bar and it's keeping you on your hike or keeping you having some brain energy while you're driving home.

But you find that for the next couple hours you're peeing all the time.

That is your body's way of saying, I didn't like that snack.

I need to pee this sugar out.

If you know anyone with diabetes, then you know that hydration is an important part.

Their body is trying to get rid of the excess sugar in their blood by creating lots of pee.

You have to drink water to support that.

Your pee is a great detox method.

The question is, are you helping it or hindering it?

And the last elimination pattern or pathway which needs to stay open is your bowel movements, your poo.

This needs to happen every day.

Just like food and water come in every day.

The trash, the waste products, the part you can't absorb and digest, the part that the microbiome is finished with, your excess hormones that are supposed to be broken down toxins, all of this needs to leave by your poo.

And that empty feeling that you get in your whole belly from a good poo is a sign that you did a great job of eliminating.

When should you poo?

Well, for most people that Waking up in the morning Hormone change.

Your cortisol rise is accompanied by the desire to poo.

And on the traditional Chinese medicine clock or in Ayurveda practices, the morning is a time to cleanse the large intestine.

That is when you have the urge to poo.

So maybe you do need to get up and drink a little water and stimulate that.

Maybe you need to get up and have a little walk or a little movement.

If you get up and go right to sitting, you might not get that desire to move your bowels.

There are muscles in there.

Muscles need to move.

They need encouragement.

Your daily poo, though, is a way of preparing you to be able to better assimilate your diet tomorrow.

It's a way of emptying the body of the things that could be harmful.

The longer your poo sits in your large intestine, the more time it has to get reabsorbed into the body and challenge your brain and challenge your liver.

We want to make it easy for your body to get rid of the things that are harmful.

So breathing with a focus on the exhale, sweating for more people, often for everyone.

Sometimes peeing, get that urine out and pooing.

Opening up all these pathways to elimination will help you feel better, not older every day.

If the Sustain youn Vitality podcast is helping you understand what you need to feel fabulous in every way with the least amount of effort, please share the show with someone who also needs it.

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The Sustain your Vitality podcast is a gift from Zenin Vitality with Zoa LLC and Intentional Vitality Retreats based in the State of Maryland, usa.

All the podcast things planning, recording, editing, producing have all been done by me, Zoa Connor, PhD.

Even though you can call me doctor, I'm not a medical professional and your safety is your responsibility.

By listening to this podcast podcast and understanding that any movement, nutrition, lifestyle or health protocols discussed, you are agreeing to take full responsibility for your actions.

Zen and Vitality with Zoa are not responsible for any injuries or issues that may occur.

This podcast is intended for educational and informational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical, wellness, nutrition, lifestyle or movement and fitness advice.

Always practice any fitness or movement related activities in a safe environment.

I make no claims about the effectiveness of the techniques or protocols discussed for you or any specific results that you may achieve.

I recommend you consult with your healthcare professional before changing your diet, exercise, routine or healthcare plan.

Zen and Vitality with Zoa and the guests of this podcast podcast are not liable for any injuries or health problems that may arise from following the information presented.