Vanessa G Fitcast

If you've ever said "I just feel inflamed" but couldn't explain what that actually means, this episode is for you.
Today, I'm breaking down one of the topics women ask me about constantly: chronic inflammation.
We start by naming something that surprised a lot of people: inflammation is not the enemy, and your body needs it to heal. The real problem is when your body can't turn it back off, which is how a helpful acute response becomes the puffiness, brain fog, fatigue, and mystery symptoms so many women feel.
We'll dive into how cytokines work using the text message and smoke alarm analogies, and why women, especially moms and women heading into perimenopause, are often hit harder.
Then I walk through six things you can focus on to start lowering inflammation: stabilizing blood sugar, adding anti-inflammatory foods before you start subtracting, healing the gut lining, calming your nervous system, moving in a way that's kind to your body, and using hot and cold therapy.
I'll share why more is not better when it comes to workouts if you're already inflamed, and why cold exposure should come before sauna.
You don't have to do all six at once, so pick one and start there.
I also touch on advanced tools like fasting, food sensitivity testing, and peptides, and why those work best with a practitioner guiding you.
By the end, you'll understand why the goal isn't to never be inflamed, but to help your body learn how to shut it off.

Time Stamps:

(1:25) So Many Questions About Inflammation

(4:05) What is Inflammation?

(8:05) Women and Inflammation

(12:35) Stabilize Blood Sugar

(15:30) Food Fear and Restriction

(16:00) What To Add

(17:30) Healing The Gut

(24:13) Movement

(25:35) Hot and Cold Therapy

(31:52) Peptides
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Learn more about the Vital Spark Coaching Functional Reset Method.
-------
Click Here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts.
-------
Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation.
-------
Click Here for my Free Top 3 Labs training to get to the root of bloating & exhaustion.
-------
Click Here to download a Free Hormone Healing Blueprint.
-------
Check out our YouTube Channel for more free training.
-------
Click Here to read our Client Google Reviews.
-------
Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

If you could only run one lab test to figure out what's going on in your body, which one should it be?
I used to make the same mistake many functional health practices still make: cherry-picking lab tests based on whichever symptoms are loudest. If you have irregular cycles, it seems logical to test hormones first, but that's like cleaning trash out at the bottom of the river without ever looking upstream at where it's coming from.
In this episode, I'll explain why the gut sits upstream of nearly everything, and why hormones, thyroid, adrenals, mood, immune health, and even hair thinning can all trace back to it. That's why, if you can only start with one test, I believe a GI map gives you the best bang for your buck, whether or not you have loud digestive symptoms.
I'll share what my own first GI map uncovered, from SIBO to H. pylori to low digestive enzymes, and why gut health is about so much more than bloating and bathroom habits.
We'll also talk about what comes next once your gut is on the right track, including how we decide between options like a DUTCH test, an HTMA, an MRT, or deeper blood work.
At the end I'll walk through why that next step looks different for every person, based on budget, symptoms, and how your body responds to gut improvements.
If you want a personalized roadmap for your labs, this episode will point you in the right direction and show you where to start.

Time Stamps:

(1:58) Happy 2 Months To Marina!

(3:32) What Lab Test Do I Start With?

(9:30) Gut Health and Hormones

(15:52) First GI Map

(18:47) Next Steps

(22:47) Finding Your Roadmap
-------
Learn more about the Vital Spark Coaching Functional Reset Method.
-------
Click Here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts.
-------
Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation.
-------
Click Here for my Free Top 3 Labs training to get to the root of bloating & exhaustion.
-------
Click Here to download a Free Hormone Healing Blueprint.
-------
Check out our YouTube Channel for more free training.
-------
Click Here to read our Client Google Reviews.
-------
Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

What if the best thing you could do for your gut health... is absolutely nothing?
Omar and I are back this week, and yes, he's sporting a bandage under that hat after a gym equipment build gone slightly wrong.
But the real topic of this episode came from something I noticed about my own weekend: a slow, restful Saturday and Sunday left me feeling leaner, calmer, and more energized by Monday morning.
That led us into a conversation about why doing nothing is one of the most underrated tools for healing your gut and improving functional health overall.
I break down how periods of true rest shift your nervous system out of a stressed, sympathetic state and into the parasympathetic state where digestion, gut repair, and healing can actually happen.
We talk through the street sweeper analogy, how your body can't clean up and repair when the streets are constantly busy with stress and stimulation.
I share how learning to manage my mind and tolerate stillness was actually a huge part of my own healing journey, even before I fully understood why it mattered.
We also get practical about how to build in nothing time even as a busy parent or business owner, including small ways to invite your kids into that relaxed, unstimulated state with you. I explain why we build mindset work into our coaching alongside the nutrition and supplement protocols, because you can't fully heal the gut without also addressing how someone is living and thinking day to day.
If you've been doing all the right things for your gut health and still not seeing results, this episode might point you toward the missing piece.

Time Stamps:

(1:32) Sacrifices Building The Home Gym

(5:58) Important Periods of Doing Nothing

(7:30) The Absence of Stimulation

(11:22) First Steps To Doing Nothing
-------
Learn more about the Vital Spark Coaching Functional Reset Method.
-------
Click Here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts.
-------
Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation.
-------
Click Here for my Free Top 3 Labs training to get to the root of bloating & exhaustion.
-------
Click Here to download a Free Hormone Healing Blueprint.
-------
Check out our YouTube Channel for more free training.
-------
Click Here to read our Client Google Reviews.
-------
Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

We tend to look at results as an overnight thing…
“I have been on top of my health and habits for the last 3 weeks but still don’t feel much better… this isn’t working. This is too hard. I quit!”
But yesterday Coach Elizabeth said “your results are the receipts from the last 100 days”
While I don’t think 100 days is some magic number, I think the idea of expanding our time horizon to evaluate our results is really important.
Rather than thinking about how you feel after a few days or a few weeks of a certain habit/behavior, what if you took the average of your habits over the last 100 days?
So when you think “II have been on top of my health and habits for the last 3 weeks but still don’t feel much better…”
Ask yourself what your habits have looked like for the 10-11 weeks before the last 3 weeks, and if you had to take an average of that full time period, what would an average day of habits look like? What results would come from that average day? THAT is what you can reasonably expect for your results today.
BUT, we can still look at our more recent habits to evaluate our TRAJECTORY and that's what we are talking about in today's episode.

Time Stamps:

(3:37) Evaluating Results vs Evaluating Your Trajectory

(6:42) Personal Example Of This

(12:30) The Average Of Your Habits

(14:50) Doing Everything Right But Still Not Seeing The Results

(16:52) Working With Us
-------
Learn more about the Vital Spark Coaching Functional Reset Method.
-------
Click Here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts.
-------
Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation.
-------
Click Here for my Free Top 3 Labs training to get to the root of bloating & exhaustion.
-------
Click Here to download a Free Hormone Healing Blueprint.
-------
Check out our YouTube Channel for more free training.
-------
Click Here to read our Client Google Reviews.
-------
Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!

I'm back from maternity leave, and in this episode Omar and I are sharing the full story of Marina's birth.
We'll start with how I landed on a home birth, something I never expected to choose, and walk through the conversations and experiences that slowly shifted my perspective away from just assuming I'd birth in a hospital.
I talk about the fear I initially had around birth itself, how I worked through that fear, and why choosing an unmedicated birth felt right for me. We get into the anxious final weeks of pregnancy, going a week and a half past my original due date, and how a biophysical profile scan gave me the peace of mind to trust my body's timing instead of feeling pressured to induce.
Then we walk through labor itself, from those first contractions late at night to realizing much faster than we expected that things were moving quickly. I share what transition felt like, the moment my water broke, and what it was like laboring in a birthing pool at home surrounded by a team I trusted and felt safe with.
Omar shares his side of the story too, including what it was like catching Marina as she was born. I also get into the mindset work that carried me through the intensity of labor and how reframing pain as sensation made such a difference.
This episode is raw, detailed, and honestly one of my favorite conversations we've recorded.

Time Stamps:

(1:52) Officially 6 Weeks Postpartum

(4:47) My First Encounter With A Home Birth

(8:42) Unmedicated Births

(13:22) Convenience of Care and Selection

(16:22) Passing The Due Date

(18:42) In Your Own Time

(23:12) Going Into Labor

(34:47) Completely Skipped Early Labor

(38:48) Omar Catching Marina

(42:17) Preparation
-------
Learn more about the Vital Spark Coaching Functional Reset Method.
-------
Click Here to apply for 1-on-1 coaching with my team of Metabolism & Hormone Experts.
-------
Follow @vanessagfitness on Instagram for daily fitness tips & motivation.
-------
Click Here for my Free Top 3 Labs training to get to the root of bloating & exhaustion.
-------
Click Here to download a Free Hormone Healing Blueprint.
-------
Check out our YouTube Channel for more free training.
-------
Click Here to read our Client Google Reviews.
-------
Enjoyed the podcast? Let us know what you think and leave a 5⭐️ rating and review on iTunes!