Your Inner Wellth

CALGARY FRIENDS: would you use local pickup?

Now that we’re living in Calgary, I’m considering adding a local pickup option for Inner Wellth orders.

You’d order online as usual, choose local pickup, and your order would be ready for porch pickup the following business day.

And because pickup would be from my home, my address would not be publicly listed on the website - you’d only receive it after placing a local pickup order.

Before I go through the work of setting it all up, I want to know: would you actually use this option?

Let me know below!

I’m heading to my physical today and wanted to discuss getting your s*x hormones tested.

The last time I tested mine was about three years ago because I wanted a baseline. At the time I wasn’t experiencing significant perimenopause symptoms (thanks to Inner Wellth!!), but I was curious to see where everything was.

Today? I’m not planning on testing my estrogen or progesterone.

Why? Because during perimenopause, hormone levels can fluctuate significantly from day to day and throughout your cycle. One blood test is essentially a snapshot and it can fall within a “normal” range even when you’re experiencing very real symptoms.

That’s why perimenopause is generally assessed based on your symptoms, changes in your cycle, age and medical history rather than one estrogen or progesterone number.

Does that mean you shouldn’t test? Absolutely not. There are situations where hormone testing can be useful, and if you want testing, talk to your healthcare provider about whether it makes sense for you.

For me personally, I’m much more interested in how I feel than chasing a particular hormone number.

And as always: advocate for yourself. If something doesn’t feel right, keep asking questions and find a practitioner who will actually listen to you.

And if you’re curious about what I use from Inner Wellth that eliminated the symptoms I experienced during perimenopause, send me a message and I’m always happy to explain what I use and why!

This might be my favourite time of year, because this is when the emails start rolling in: “Kristi… I fell off Inner Wellth this summer.”

Vacation. The cabin. Kids home all day. Travel. Zero routine. Life. And then inevitably: “And my PMS came back with a VENGEANCE.”

Followed by an apology to me 🤣 Please do not apologize to me.

You had a summer. You got out of your routine. And now you’re noticing that maybe you actually felt better when you were in it.

That’s useful information! So welcome back 🙋🏼‍♀️

School starts next week. Routines are coming back. And if your Inner Wellth routine disappeared somewhere around the May long weekend, this is your sign to bring it back too.

No guilt. No starting over. Just back to the things that make you feel good.

Questions? Lmk!

I am a HUGE routine girl.

I walk my dogs at the same time, on the same loop. I run the same routes. I eat breakfast at the same time. I pack Inner Wellth orders at the same time.

And apparently, one of the ways I’ve learned that I deal with change is by desperately trying to create a new routine as quickly as possible 🤣

Moving has thrown pretty much all of mine out the window. I found a dog park I love pretty quickly. It took me about five days (and a lot of trial and error) to find a running route that finally feels like my route.

But packing Inner Wellth orders has been the hardest one to figure out.

We intentionally downsized our house by almost half, and I went from having a gigantic basement with tons of space for Inner Wellth to a much smaller setup. I know I’ll eventually find a system that works, but right now every time I pack orders I feel slightly out of sorts because I haven’t found my new rhythm yet.

Which made me realize that maybe the hardest part of change for me isn’t actually the change itself. It’s the disruption to my beloved routine (clearly I have control issues!)

So now I’m curious- if you’re a routine person too, what’s the hardest part of change for you? And how long does it usually take before a new routine finally starts to feel like YOUR routine?

I thought once we moved into the new house, life would calm down (HA!). This move has been exciting, productive, exhausting, and a lot all at once. And one thing I always remind myself of is that your body doesn’t neatly separate “good stress” from “bad stress.”

It just reads stress.

This is especially true in perimenopause, when cortisol tends to hit harder and the margin for stress gets smaller.

So right now I’m not trying to do more. I’m focusing on stress management which for me is my daily dog walks, runs, trying to get enough sleep (which has been harder than normal with dogs not quite understanding why we are in new surroundings, my brain on overload with things we still need to set up here and the countdown of dropping Cole off) and of course, drinking my Energy and Sleep (the adaptogens help with cortisol regulation).

So when life is asking more of you, don’t do more. Take a step back, protect your peace and treat yourself with a little more grace than normal ❤️

“Fairy dusting” is one of my biggest frustrations with the supplement industry.

A friend recently sent me a new product combining creatine and collagen and asked what I thought. Great ingredients and a great concept. But when I looked at the actual amounts there wasn’t enough of either ingredient to match the results being implied.

And this happens ALL of the time.

Fairy dusting is when a product includes a trendy or research backed ingredient so it can appear on the label and be used in the marketing but not necessarily at the dose used in the research.

It’s also one of the reasons the supplement industry has earned some of the skepticism it gets.

When I formulate an Inner Wellth product, I don’t start with “what ingredients would look good on the label?” I start with: What does the research show? What amount was actually used to produce the intended benefit?

I consult clinical research, look at effective dosing, ingredient forms and how ingredients work together - and THEN I formulate from there.

Because having an ingredient on the label isn’t enough. You deserve to know that what you’re taking contains meaningful amounts of the ingredients needed to support the results you’re taking it for.

That’s something I will never compromise on with Inner Wellth.

Questions? Lmk!

If you have a young athlete who loves pounding back those ready to drink protein shakes, this video is for you!

A lot of the popular ones contain 30g+ of protein, but they can also come with a pretty long ingredient list: gums, sweeteners, flavours, oils and other ingredients that aren’t necessarily needed to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.

Essential amino acids are different.

EAAs are the specific amino acids your body actually needs to build new muscle protein. They’re readily absorbed, require very little digestion, and you can get an effective dose without drinking a huge protein shake or consuming a long list of additional ingredients.

That doesn’t mean EAAs replace food, or that protein shakes are “bad.” Young athletes still need adequate calories and plenty of high quality dietary protein. But EAAs can be another really simple option, particularly around training.

One important note on age: some popular protein drinks specifically state that they’re not intended for children under 14. Our EAA products are licensed as Natural Health Products in Canada and, based on their approved label directions, are intended for adults 18+.

My own kids have used our products as teenagers, but that was a personal decision I made as their parent, not a recommendation for anyone else’s child. If your athlete is under 18, I’d recommend discussing supplementation with their healthcare provider or sports dietitian.

And anecdotally, my son has been drinking two scoops of Muscle/Aminos for the past year alongside a lot of training and adequate food and has put on significant muscle.

The bigger message: you don’t have to automatically reach for a bottled protein shake. Know what’s in it, know what your athlete actually needs, and know that there are other options.

Questions? Lmk!