February 8, 2023

My 2023 Health Goals

It’s so easy to get bombarded with all the healthy things out there and feel too overwhelmed to know even where to begin. Even health professionals like myself make seasonal goals in order to tend to our health amidst the ever-changing seasons of life. I can’t wait to share my 2023 health goals.

There is no one-size-fits-all and often times it’s important to evaluate what’s working and what’s not to ensure you’re on the right track and doing what’s best for you. What works in one season, may need to be tweaked in another in order to accommodate for life events and stressors that impact the body’s need for areas of support. Things like high stress, pregnancy, postpartum, job transitions, big life transitions, moving to another state, experiencing loss, exposure to environmental toxins, and so much more. We are human beings that change and adapt with the pace of life and therefore it’s important to allow your health regime to change too.

Today I want to share exactly where I am on my health journey this year and what I’m doing to support myself. I also have 10 goals that I’ve decided to commit to (you don’t have to pick 10, you can pick 1 or 2 or 3 or whatever works for you) that will hopefully help keep things simple and on track for me. I’ll start by sharing where I am and lead into how I’m going to support my body this year, what tools I will use, and the “why” behind it all.

Let’s dive in!

Where I’m at currently

I am currently in my third trimester of pregnancy. We are due at the first of April with our second son. I got pregnant with him when my first son was 9 months old, so my body didn’t have a ton of time to regroup from our first pregnancy. Gut and immune health have been top priorities of mine since becoming pregnant again because I know those two things are highly compromised during pregnancy in general. With two back-to-back pregnancies, I want to be very mindful of my nutrient status and keeping my body supplied with a lot of nutrients that help me, the baby, my gut health, and my immune system. I’ve been fighting off a few viruses in the last year, which is not very common for me, so I’m loading up—both with whole foods and supplements.

I’ve been blessed with an amazing pregnancy so far, but there have been a few things that have limited me from physical activities (doctor’s orders) so I stopped working out, other than walking, around week 25. I love working out and thrive when I get that time every day, so it’s been a challenge to not be able to move as much. With that, I want to honor my body through this season and be gentle towards the beginning of postpartum, but it does influence some of my fitness goals now and on the other side of pregnancy!

I lead a very busy life, which I LOVE, and I need high-level support for the stress I experience regularly. Stress sounds like a bad word, but it’s not bad in all cases! Whether you experience good or bad stress, the body still needs to be supported in the same way through food, relaxation, stress-management, and nutrients, so I’m definitely keeping that in mind as I map out my goals. Most of the stress I’m experiencing is really, really good, but stress, nonetheless. Things like caring for my 15-month-old (obsessed with my son), having a newborn (can’t wait to meet him in a few weeks!!), tending to my marriage, adjusting to our new home, building a business, launching a podcast, writing a book (hello, dream come true), etc… While it’s a lot, these things are all incredible gifts from God and I need/want to cultivate it well. This includes supporting my body well through it all.

With all these things in mind, here are my 2023 goals!

Goal 1. Train for a marathon

Obviously, this is not something I can do until after I deliver my second son in April, so I have hired a running coach for when I am able to begin workouts again. I LOVE having goals when it comes to working out and I haven’t had something to really train for in a couple of years. I ran a half marathon in 2010, but I didn’t train well. This time I want to work from the ground up and really believe in what my body can do. I want to practice the discipline of training and continue to show up for myself in this way every day. My desire is to run a marathon in spring 2024 so I’m going to give myself ample time to really train well, under the guidance of a professional, in order to properly tend to the needs of my postpartum body while going after this goal!

My favorite training products:

Goal 2: Pregnancy + postpartum nutrition

This is something I’ve been intentional about since before I got pregnant, but it’s so good for it to be top-of-mind because it can get hard to nourish well when you’re growing a human and don’t feel the best! I plan to release my entire nutrition plan sometime before I give birth, but for now, this looks like intentional nutrients through food and supplements. I am also making it a goal to plan very well for postpartum by creating and prepping several nourishing freezer meals, and gathering my favorite non-toxic healing products.

Pregnancy:

Prenatal Capsules (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)
Whole Foods Vitamin C
Digestive enzymes (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)
Probiotic (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)
Omega-3+ (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)

Postpartum:

Silicone freeze containers for bone broth I’ll just pop one out and heat it up while I’m breastfeeding.
Lactation protein powder (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 10% off!)
Freezer meal containers These make life soooo much easier!
Ice packs for postpartum healing
Abdominal binders
Hormone Balancing Supplement (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!) This stuff is delicious in my coffee!

Goal 3: Mill my own grain

This has been a goal of mine for YEARS! I have been increasingly inspired to do so recently for so many reasons. Processed foods are so filled with synthetic (fake) ingredients and binders that wreak havoc on our health. I love enjoying fresh sourdough bread with breakfast, stews, etc.. I kept myself from enjoying it for years because 1. I spent time working to heal my gut and really didn’t need it in my diet for a while and 2. Being afraid to enjoy it but missing out on its goodness when I really didn’t need to all the time. My husband and I have been playing around with homemade sourdough this year and we’ve found the purer the bread, the more tolerable it is for us. With that, I am constantly asking the question, “how can I access this food/ingredient in its purest and most local form?” With bread, that means milling my own grain and having complete control over my delicious loaf of bread. With moving, business deadlines, grad school, and babies, we haven’t had the bandwidth to dabble in it yet, but my goal is to make it happen sometime by summer and spend the rest of the year experimenting.

Here’s what we will use:

Ancient grain
Grain Mill

Goal 4: 5am wakeup daily

I’ve always operated best early in the mornings. I LOVE getting up before the sun, turning on the coffee pot and having hours to myself before the world wakes up. For years, I was very committed to this because of how it impacts my entire day and how it makes me feel, but since having a baby it’s looked a little different. There’s grace in the newborn days because you’re all trying to figure things out. Now that my first son is on a great schedule, and his wake times are fairly predictable I need to be better about getting up more than just 20 minutes before him and slapping on a quick face. When I say I need hours to myself, I mean it. I love to read, study, plan the day, organize my digital files, cook a nourishing breakfast, etc.. and the best time has always been 4-7 am when my head is the clearest and I have the most inspiration. However, it’s been SO hard to get up now!! I’ve been so tired in this season that I usually only get up that early about 3/7 times a week. There is a noticeable difference on those days so my goal is to discipline myself to just get up and do it. Goal 10 will have my bible study materials, but here is

What helps me get up and tend to daily tasks:

Coffee pot
Collagen (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)
Personalized social media planner
Favorite pens I’ve used for a decade
Asana App
PowerSheets for goal planning

Goal 5: Hire a pelvic floor specialist

This is something I didn’t do with Whitton and I wish I had. Because I’m going to be training for a marathon, I want to be more intentional than every about my fitness routine and carrying for my body that has carried and birthed two babies since 2021. My plan is to hire one before I give birth and then work with her for the first few months postpartum. I am still searching for the person.

What I plan to use until I hire someone:

Goal 6: Achieve daily hydration goals

It’s so easy for me to go about my day and not pay attention to how I’m hydrating. Whether it’s not consuming enough water or not consuming adequate electrolytes/minerals to help my body absorb water. I am finallyyyyyy going to get a really good water filter to help with this as well. My goal is to drink half my body weight in ounces of water and use one packet of electrolytes in at least one of my water bottles per day. I’m usually pretty good about this, but there’s something about writing it down that just makes it stick!

My hydration preferences:

Stanley cup
Needed electrolytes (Code: KARPOSWELLNESS for 20% off!)
LMNT electrolytes
Water filter

Goal 7: Keep produce/pantry organized

This is mainly just for my sanity and because I like beautiful things. Daniel and I are busy in this season and staying prepped is key for us. I’ve found when I get home from the grocery store and immediately wash our produce and unpack pantry items, it saves SO much time during the week because we can just grab some fruits and veggies when we need them and/or quickly offer them to our son as often as he wants them throughout the day. I’ve been doing this since December 2022 and it’s been a game-changer. My goal is to not let this habit die, but to keep it up for the year. Bonus that our kitchen is pretty a lot of the time and makes me smile!

My favorite pantry bins:

Favorite organization bins

Goal 8: Quality sleep

Even if sleep isn’t always plentiful, it’s necessary for good health. I will say I love sleep and always have. I’ve been good at sleep my entire life. BUT even though I have been good at sleep (9-10 hours a night), it’s not always quality. In my current season I’m getting about 8-9 hours a night and because it’s so important for recovery and health, I just want to make an effort to be more intentional about it. This looks like an evening wind-down routine and a wake routine.

Night-time helpers:

Goal 9: Balance minerals (regular HTMAs)

This is SO important and so overlooked when it comes to overall health. Minerals are considered the spark plugs to the body, meaning they enable the body to run properly. Pregnancy and breast-feeding tends to massively deplete mamas of several nutrients, namely minerals. One effective and fairly easy way to assess mineral status is to do a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis test to see what’s going on in the body and where to target replenishing the most. Mineral status impacts thyroid, adrenal, hormone, and gut health so it’s my goal to stay on top of it this year. I didn’t do this with Whitton and I definitely noticed the impacts of everything baby took from me. This time around, rather than being doomed about a little bit of hair loss, energy depletion, and a slower thyroid/metabolism, I’m going to be intentional about how I fuel my body using the right kind of minerals in order to avoid drastic changes like these. HTMA tests are good for about 90(ish) days, so my goal is to take one every quarter this year, starting in Q2.

My mineral cocktail:

I’ll be drinking 1-2 times a day until I take my first HTMA of the year in May

Orange Juice
Heavy cream
Sea salt
collagen

Goal 10: Daily quiet/prayer time

This goal piggy-backs goal 4! I thrive in the quiet mornings spending un-rushed time with God and praying through my days and weeks. I start my day here before moving to morning productivity tasks.

My bible study tools:

And that’s a wrap for my 2023 goals! How do you feel about making health goals for yourself this year? Have you thought of any? I’d love to hear! Struggling to stay on track with your goals? I’d love to help you! See more here!

My 2023 Health Goals