Are you sacrificing sleep, nutrition, and exercise in order to really get to the top? Nutritionist and transformation coach Ciara Foy talks about the importance of these non-negotiables. She reminds us that self-care equals success and that prioritizing our internal life can help us become our happiest, healthiest, most efficacious selves. You can find all the info and links about this episode at https://holisticwellness.ca/episode59 Topics Discussed in this Episode: Ciara’s holistic journey from Bay Street to where she is today The importance of having women in leadership roles Strategies that you can implement to start reclaiming your health Ciara’s three non-negotiables when it comes to health and well-being What you should do when you feel too exhausted to work out Self-care strategies that you can integrate into your daily life Intermittent fasting and why it’s not such a good idea for women Things to look forward to in Ciara’s upcoming book, Empowered by Food Key Takeaways: More women need to get in leadership roles. As women, our nurturing quality can go a long way in business and leadership and helping people to overcome a lot of the pressures that are going on in the workplace. Women are especially great at building a sense of community in the workplace, and people want to go to work where they have that. Sleep is the cornerstone of your health. If you’re not sleeping properly, your body won’t be able to recuperate, it throws off your hormones, and it’s going to make you hungrier the next day. If you go to bed early and get up early, you’re working with your body’s natural circadian rhythm and you’re going to be that much more productive. Even if you have enough energy to do a workout, if you’re exhausted afterward and feel like you need to take a nap, then it’s the wrong workout for you. The right workout should be invigorating and make you feel great. Women have a higher resting level of stress hormones than men. Probably the biggest cause of stress for most women is what’s going on in their own mind all day long. Self-care doesn’t only mean bubble baths and massages. It’s really about prioritizing yourself. It’s about saying no to things when you don’t have the bandwidth and about making sure that you take the time and space for yourself. For most women, food is much more emotional than it is for men. And if you don’t have a great relationship with food, restricting and intermittent fasting is not going to make it better. Action Steps: Prioritize sleep. Go to be earlier even if you still have work to do because you will be so much more efficient and on the ball if you go to bed earlier and get up earlier instead of pushing yourself. Treat yourself well. How you treat yourself gives other people permission to treat themselves that way as well. If you want to get the most out of your staff, out of your own life, and out of anybody, it’s all about setting an example. Manage and balance your blood sugar, especially if you’re stressed. When it comes to stress, learn to manage your own mind, practice meditation, and breathing techniques, and do journaling.   Ciara said: “We can’t just pretend we’re men and hustle and work hard in order to make it to the top. We really have to consider how more sensitive we are with respect to hormones and stress and cortisol and all those things.” “When you give up on your sleep and exercise and good nutrition and the foundations, then you throw yourself under the bus and you lose yourself because you can’t keep going like that.”   Thanks for listening! Important Announcements: Join the 14-Day Spring Detox Program! Registration opens on May 1st. Connect with me over on Instagram, @holisticwellnessfoodie! And it would mean so much if you would leave us a rating or a review over on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher, or whichever platform you’re listening to us on. Take a screenshot of your review and email it over to us, and get our FREE 3-Day Hormone Balancing Meal Plan.   Links to thi