33: Spring Cleaning Your Health & Fitness

Feeling that spring energy and ready for a fresh start? This week, we're not just cleaning out closets; we're giving your health and fitness a total spring refresh.

Ashley guides you through a powerful process of re-evaluating your goals, decluttering your pantry and fitness space, and most importantly, cleaning up your mindset. It's time to create a clear path to feeling your best, both inside and out.

In this episode we cover:

• Goal Clarity for Real Life: Learn how to define goals that truly resonate, focusing on how you want to feel and what you want to do, not just the number on the scale.
• Pantry Detox & Smart Swaps: Ditch the sugary, processed foods and discover delicious, healthier alternatives that your family will actually enjoy (yes, even the kids!)
• Fitness Equipment Freedom: Declutter your exercise space, release the guilt, and create a fitness plan around activities you genuinely love.
• Mindset Makeover: Tackle overthinking, embrace imperfection, and learn why "fumbling and struggling" is actually essential for growth and consistency.

This episode is all about creating a sustainable and empowering approach to health and fitness. Ashley provides actionable steps and practical advice to help you feel energized, confident, and ready to take on the season!

Let's spring into a healthier, happier you!

Connect & Share

• Get a huge list of kitchen swaps, that will even make your family happy! Find it in the Supper Club
• Need a good starting point? The Perimenopause Weight Loss Guide for Moms is the perfect place to begin (and it's FREE!)
• Fitness programs that work with the equipment you already have (and the exact programs I used to lose 65 lbs in my late 40s!)
• Other questions or need to connect directly with me? Reach me here!

Transcript

Hello there and welcome back to another episode of The Family Fork. I just have to tell you that I am so glad that you choose to tune in here every week. I started this podcast last year and honestly, it is absolutely my favorite format to connect with you, to share information and resources and insights with you. So I really appreciate you being here and I cannot wait to get into this week's episode.

Now, depending on where you are, the weather is definitely getting nicer. Around here in Colorado, we are looking at 80 degrees this weekend. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not entirely ready for shorts and sun dresses, but that weather, it's coming anyway. So as we go through this transition from spring to summer, many of you might be doing things like getting your garden ready or getting the sprinklers turned on. Some of those like

spring cleaning activities, cleaning windows, and just getting everything refreshed. But I also think that this is the perfect time to do a little bit of spring cleaning for your health and fitness.

Not only is this a great time to clean out your pantry and take an inventory of your fitness equipment, but it's also a great time to sit down and reevaluate your goals so that you can set some attentions and then build a really good structure with a plan that is going to help you continue your health and fitness journey between now and summer and then all the way through the end of the summer.

So what we're gonna do today is first, we're going to talk about how you can reevaluate your goals and make sure that they are still goals that you really wanna reach and that you feel like you can reach. And then we're gonna look at how you can do some spring cleaning for your nutrition, your fitness, and your mindset, your brain, so that you can make sure that you have a strategy and all of the pieces in place to actually reach your goals.

So let's look at what some of your goals might be. A lot of women that I am talking to, and I know personally for myself, I do want to lose some weight before the summer starts. But if that's all your thought is, like, well, I just want to lose 10 pounds before summer, that's actually kind of a fluffy goal. You need to have a little bit of meat behind that. So what I want you to do is I want you to write down your goal. And then,

I want you to write down what that looks like. So when you say, I want to lose 10 pounds this summer, what does the journey to losing 10 pounds actually look like?

Does that mean that you're eating healthier foods? Does it mean that you're cutting out alcohol? Does that mean that you're taking a walk with your family after dinner every night? Get really, really specific about what that looks like. Next, after you write down what your journey is going to look like, I want to dig in a little bit to how you want to feel when you reach that goal. Again, it's really easy to say, I just want to lose 10 pounds, but

How do you want to feel when you are 10 pounds lighter? 

I find a good way to look at this in a very tangible way is to think about, okay, if I am 10 pounds lighter, what kind of things will I be doing this summer? Am I going hiking or camping with my family? Maybe you like to go biking or you even want to start mountain biking this summer. I know for our family, there's going to be a lot of swimming at the pool and the reservoir because we don't have oceans here in Colorado.

When you look at some of these activities that you want to do when you are 10 pounds lighter, how do you want to feel when you are in those activities? If I had to guess, you probably want to feel energetic and happy and confident. So when you look at your note and it says, I want to lose 10 pounds before summer, what you really want is a summer filled with lots of activities where you feel

energized and confident and strong. Sounds better, right? When you look at your goals in this way, it's so much deeper than just saying, yep, I wanna lose 10 pounds for the summer. Because that is not gonna help you as much when you need to say no to the cookies at the office or because you are spending a little bit of extra effort by packing your lunches each week instead of going out to lunch with your coworkers.

But when you can really clearly visualize what your summer could look like with activities and fun and being outside and hanging out with family and friends, knowing that you feel strong and confident and energized when you are doing those things, when you have that visual image in your head, it is so much easier to say, you know what? I'm just gonna pack my lunch for the week and then it's done because I know that is getting me closer to feeling strong, confident.

happy and energized.

So it is really important to step back from your goal and evaluate, is this a goal I still want to have? Do I still want to lose 10 pounds? Do I still feel like that is realistic? Maybe you want to change or update your goal to something that feels more achievable or more in line with what you're looking for. If you're going on a vacation and you want to fit into a particular pair of shorts or a sundress.

I want you to plan some time to sit down, think about your goals, what you want them to be in the next three or four months, and then go through this exercise. What is it that you want to do to get there? What does that journey look like? And when you've achieved your goal, what kind of things will you be doing in your life and how are you going to feel? Then I want you to take all of this information and I want you to write yourself

a note that you can put on your bathroom mirror. That's typically where I keep little notes and reminders to myself or maybe on like a kitchen cabinet, just somewhere that you're going to see it every single day. That way you'll be able to recognize, this is the goal that I'm working for. And it's not that I'm just looking to lose that 10 pounds or to fit into a pair of shorts. I want to feel strong and healthy and energized and confident when I wear these shorts.

in the summer when we are in Disneyland. See? Do you see how being very clear and specific is actually gonna help you make better choices along your journey? To say, I just wanna lose weight or I wanna fit in these shorts. It's just not enough. So as we start this spring cleaning exercise, the first place to start is to evaluate your goals, like reevaluate, get very clear with what do you want to do

And how do you want to feel once you have achieved those goals? Okay.

Now, once you have taken time to evaluate those goals and you have a note written to yourself that you have on your bathroom mirror or your kitchen counter, I want you to look at how you are going to achieve that goal.

Now that it's spring, we are cleaning the house, opening the windows and airing things out. You might be changing your furnace filter, doing some things in the lawn. This is the perfect time to really clean up and organize everything related to your nutrition, your fitness and your mindset.

So let's start with nutrition. What I want you to do for your nutrition in terms of spring cleaning is to clean out your pantry. Now, stick with me. I don't want this to be an activity where you look at all the foods and you're like, my gosh, these are terrible and unhealthy. I have to throw everything out, but it's going to be really expensive to replace. No.

What we're going to do is we're going to be very focused and concentrated at what we look at in order to clean out the pantry so that it will serve you better along your journey of actually reaching those health and fitness goals. So I want to give you a couple of categories for things to look for in your pantry that you should toss out and that you can bring in some healthier swaps. Again, it's not going to be everything. So I just want you to focus on these categories.

First of all, I need you to look for those products that have refined sugars or lots of added sugar. It doesn't matter who you are or what your goals are. Sugar is not your friend. It is incredibly disruptive to your gut microbiome. And when you throw off your gut health, so many things can go wrong. You have trouble losing weight. You struggle with inflammation. You have brain fog. The list

of symptoms from eating too much sugar goes on and on.

So you really need to pay attention to those items that have refined sugars, artificial sugars, or lots of added sugar. So since we're sort of talking about summer, my brain goes to barbecues. And one of the biggest contributors to added sugar is ketchup. Go look at your ketchup and see how many added sugars are in there. We don't need that much sugar, especially in our ketchup. So take an inventory.

spend some time looking at the products that you have and decide to toss out those things with a ton of added sugar. I'm gonna get to some swaps in just a second, so stick with me, but I wanna finish the categories that we're looking at so you can really give your pantry a good spring cleaning. So you know you're gonna look for those products with refined or added sugars, but the next category you're going to investigate is products that have dyes, preservatives,

especially MSG or TBHQ. All of these things are incredibly disruptive to your health. Now, like I just said, when your gut health is bad, it impacts the rest of your body. If you have trouble sleeping at night, if you have a lot of joint pain, if you struggle with anxiety and depression, these artificial ingredients are so toxic to your body and they can make all of those things even worse.

So we're looking for artificial colors, artificial flavors, and two ingredients that I mentioned, MSG and TBHQ. So MSG, monosodium glutamate, and you will find that in things like Doritos and Cheetos, chips, crackers, cookies, different things like that. Also condiments. Interestingly, I just learned the other day that MSG used to be given to soldiers in times of extreme

fighting. What happened was they were experiencing so much trauma that they didn't want to eat. They just had no appetite. So the soldiers were actually given MSG as a way to trigger their body to have an appetite so they would eat enough and have enough energy to survive and to keep fighting. Today, we do not need that in our food. We just absolutely do not need it.

Now, TBHQ is a really tough one because if you have teenagers, unfortunately, your teens are eating a lot of TBHQ. They'll eat it in things like Takis or Doritos, frozen foods, microwave snacks. You see it in like crackers and chips, microwave popcorn, sometimes in dairy items. TBHQ is a food additive that helps preserve the life of food while it sits there on the shelf.

So you're really gonna see a lot of this in processed shelf stable foods.

What's interesting is that TBHQ is only allowed in extremely limited products and concentrations in the EU because of the impact that it has on immune response and gut health.

Honestly, I could go on about food preservatives and artificial flavors and colors, but for the purpose of your spring cleaning this week, I want you to look for those products that you have in your pantry that have artificial colors, flavors, MSG, or TBHQ. And then I want you to really strongly consider tossing those out. Now, here comes the hard part. I mentioned teenagers. So if you have teenagers,

or your spouse or your partner likes to eat a lot of these foods, you are probably going to face some resistance. And I get it. I understand that. I want you to remember the goals that you have written out for yourself. Remember, you had posted them on your bathroom mirror or your kitchen cabinet. And I want you to remember how you want to feel. That is going to be the driver for you, even if some of these foods stay in your pantry for the benefit of your family.

At least you know what you are marching towards.

you know the goals that you are trying to achieve. And so that needs to be the driver for you when you look at that bag of Doritos. And, you know, I mentioned Doritos because I used to love Doritos. And when I think about them now, my mouth kind of waters, but I also know how damaging they are to my body. So I choose not to eat the Doritos, even though they're probably in my pantry. But with your family, one of the things that you can do is encourage them to make some different swaps.

One of the best ways to do this is to take them shopping with you. You can go to Sprouts or Vitamin Cottage, Whole Foods, any of those natural grocery stores that you have in your area. And you're gonna see that there are a ton of comparable products. They're just not made with those garbage ingredients. So I wanna give you a list of products that are good for swaps and that we use all the time in our house.

What's great about these is that my daughter still feels like she's getting like the cool things, the cool foods, but they're not filled with artificial flavors and preservatives and added sugars. So I talk about this all the time, especially if you follow me on Instagram, you will see that Hu chocolate, H U chocolate is absolutely one of my favorite chocolate swaps. Instead of having a Reese's peanut butter cup, which has TBHQ,

Hu chocolate makes chocolate bars that are either solid dark chocolate or they have them filled with some kind of nut butter. They have a raspberry cashew butter that's really good, a hazelnut butter. Their chocolates are so good. So I think that's a really good option to look for and they don't use refined sugar. They use coconut sugar. It's just a really healthy alternative.

Now when it comes to chips and cookies specifically, I always look to the Siete brand. It's S-I-E-T-E. They have really delicious chips. They just launched, or it's new to me anyway, a Mexican street corn chip. It's so good. They have Mexican wedding cookies and lots of cookies that are just really a great option for you. So anything from the Siete brand is going to be a great swap.

And then I want you to look for anything from Simple Mills and you can find this everywhere, including Target and Walmart. So Simple Mills has mixes for muffins and breads and cupcakes. They have crackers and chips and cookies. Honestly, anything from Simple Mills is going to be a great alternative. They have a cookie that tastes like a vanilla Oreo and they have these little chip things that are called poppums.

They're so delicious. You won't ever want another Dorito. They're just so good.

One of my recent favorites that I have found is the Partake brand. I found it at Costco and Whole Foods, and I think Sprouts has it. They have a ton of different cookies and they are so good. They're gluten, dairy, and soy-free. And I give them to Suraya my daughter. They're in this like brightly colored packaging and they look fun and festive, but none of the ingredients are inflammatory and they don't have any of the bad ingredients that we're talking about.

Also, one of my favorite snacks that I've also gotten Suraya totally hooked on is dry roasted nuts. So every week I buy almonds, pecans and cashews and I just dry roast them. You can put them in your oven at 350 degrees for like 14 to 18 minutes. Just toss them once through the roasting cycle. That's it. That's all you have to do. And they are a great snack to grab whenever you want something crunchy or chewy or

just have a craving.

And you know the nuts are not going to be loaded with additives or preservatives or artificial flavors or colors. So if you need a really full list of all the swaps that I recommend and not just the ones that I talked about, but even more than that, and that you need in your refrigerator and your freezer, come join the Supper Club. I have a whole list of how to set up your anti-inflammatory pantry in the Supper Club. So I'll put that

link in the show notes. Every month you get recipes and workshops, get group coaching with me, but you also get a huge amount of amazing resources. And one of those lists is exactly what I shop for, for my pantry, my freezer, my refrigerator. So we always have these foods that are like popular or on brand with what, you know, what people are eating out there these days, but they're actually the healthier alternative.

So it's a great option if you're trying to get your family to make some transitions too, definitely jump into the Supper Club so you can get that guide.

Also, if you're really unsure of where to start, one of the best places to get started with understanding how to like change up all the ingredients in your kitchen, I want you to download the free guide called Perry Menopause Weight Loss Guide for Moms. In that guide, you get everything you need to start making healthier food choices, both in your fridge, in your pantry, and then you're also gonna learn how to cook for your family while you focus on losing weight and getting healthy.

and hopefully bringing your family along for the ride. So I'll put the links for the Supper Club and that free guide into the show notes. So be sure to check both of those things out.

All right, let's move on to fitness. Now, as we're doing this spring cleaning for our health, I want you to take an inventory of what you have that's related to fitness. And I want you to make a list of everything. Look for your dumbbells. Do you have a treadmill that maybe you use or don't use? A stationary bike, exercise bands. A lot of people had those balance boards for a while. So I don't know, maybe you have one of those sitting around.

Maybe you're using these things or maybe they're tucked away in your garage or a basement or a spare bedroom, but I want you to write a list of everything. Don't forget to look outside too. You know, there's road bikes, trampolines, whether it's one of those little rebounding trampolines or a big trampoline that your kids jump on, rollerblades, roller skates, just make a really full and complete inventory of all of the fitness and activity equipment that you have.

And then you're going to take some time and you're going to look at that list and say, what of these things do I really enjoy? Do I like running on the treadmill or is it just collecting dust or is it my hanging station for all of the laundry that can't go in the dryer? Maybe you'd forgotten how much fun you have on your roller blades or your roller skates or that cruiser bike that you have out in the garage that you haven't used in a couple of years. But when you think back, you're like,

yeah, that was really fun. I loved using that. I want you to go through this list and I am giving you permission right now to keep the things that really feel exciting and to sell or donate everything else. Let's not allow this fitness and activity equipment that's sitting around to make us feel guilty. I mean, how many times do you walk past that treadmill or that stationary bike and you're like, I should probably be on that. I should probably be using that.

But if you don't like it and it doesn't inspire you to work out or to get fit or get your steps in, it's just time to move it on. this is part of the spring cleaning. It's to clear out the mental clutter that comes with having a bunch of this stuff that's sitting around and not serving you at all. Keep the things that you love and sell the rest.

One of the reasons that we like to hold on to some of our fitness equipment is because it's tied to our emotions, how we feel about it. You have these aspirations of, well, know, someday I'll get around to using that treadmill or someday if I use that treadmill, I could probably lose that 10 pounds. But here's what happens. Every time you have that thought, you also have another thought. I'm such a failure. I'm actually not even getting on that treadmill.

I'm so ashamed that I bought that treadmill and I'm not even using it. Even though you're trying to lose weight or get healthier, get stronger, you feel like a failure and you feel inadequate. So it is not doing you any favors to just let that fitness equipment and activity equipment hang around where you can see it or where you don't. I mean, I know, you know, it's stuffed in a dark corner of the garage or the basement.

So truly, this is your invitation to decide what you wanna keep, decide what you wanna sell or donate, and just move it on. I know in our area, Facebook Marketplace is one of the best and fastest ways to get rid of things. You can get a little bit of extra money depending on what you're getting rid of, or just donate those things, but release yourself from the guilt, the shame, and that sense of failure or inadequacy.

move that stuff on that you're not using anymore and make space in your brain and in your house, in your garage, in your basement for the equipment that you're really going to enjoy and that is really going to inspire you to keep going on your health and your fitness journey.

The other thing I want you to do is once you've cleared all the things out, I want you to make a new list of the items that you have that will be supportive of your health and your fitness journey. And then I want you to reach out to me on Instagram at the Ashley Malek and I will give you some recommendations for what you can do with what you have. So obviously a bike, that's a little bit more straightforward. You can figure out how to ride the bike.

But if you have some dumbbells or maybe you have like a barbell with a couple of those plate weights and a bench, what can you do with that? I have some ideas for you so that you will be able to build a plan around the equipment that you actually have and the equipment that you think that you're really going to have fun using.

All right, now I mentioned when we were talking about fitness that we have a lot of feelings associated with that fitness equipment that just hangs around and it makes us feel really guilty or inadequate or like we have failed. So as we're doing this spring cleanup around our health and fitness, I want you to take some time to clean up your brain. The best question that you can ask yourself for this activity is why?

Why is it hard for me to prioritize my health and fitness? Why am I struggling to stay consistent? Hopefully, by looking at nutrition and fitness and what kind of tools and resources and products that you have that support your nutrition and fitness, you're starting to recognize, okay, so maybe I have some foods that aren't serving me and that's making it really tough. Or I have some fitness equipment that

I feel really guilty that I'm not using it and I feel inadequate because I bought it, I spent the money, but now I'm just letting it sit there. So if we can start to clean up some of those things like we did at the beginning, you know, getting really crystal clear on what your goals are, that inherently is going to help you clean up your mindset.

because when you wake up tomorrow morning, you can say, you know what? My pantry is filled with really amazing and delicious foods. And I also know that I have some fitness equipment that I'm super excited about using and that is definitely gonna help me get through my journey in order to hit my goals. But I also think that you might be in a situation where you might be just kind of feeling overwhelmed with the thought of getting started.

One of the things that I see with my students is that they start overthinking and over planning. You plan all the meals and ingredients and you know exactly what you need to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snack. That's really good, right? Or you plan, this is how many days I'm going to work out or go to the gym. And these are the exact workouts that I'm going to do. It's also good to have that plan. But the trouble is that you can't get stuck in

over planning or overthinking what your journey is going to look like. One of the reasons we stay in this zone of overthinking or over planning is because we want to avoid the feelings that might come up as we go through our journey. So here's what I mean. Say you have this like beautifully built plan for what you're going to eat and how you're going to work out and three days into that perfectly planned week,

everything falls apart. Something happens, a meeting runs late at work or one of your kids gets sick or you get sick. When that happens, you feel like a failure. So by overthinking and over planning, you're in a safety zone because you can say, well, if I do these things, it will be amazing. But what if you don't do those things? Then what happens if you don't do those things? You feel like you failed.

that you're inadequate, that you're incapable of actually doing this. And those feelings are super heavy and they don't feel good. And our body and our brain definitely wanna avoid having those feelings. So instead you stay in this zone of overthinking or over planning. A lot of my students, I hear them say, I'm overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed with information. I'm overwhelmed with where to start.

If a lot of this is resonating with you, I need you to go back and listen to episode 28. In that episode, you will hear stories about overwhelm and why feeling overwhelmed and in over planning and overthinking mode, it makes you just want to throw in the towel. It keeps you feeling safe. If you think about things and plan for things, but never actually get into the action,

It's when you get into that action of making healthy food choices or having that hard conversation with your family that you're going to put some healthy snacks in the pantry. You know, it's that fumbling and struggling on the journey. That is where you're going to improve. That is how you will build consistency. So if this is resonating for you, please go back and listen to episode 28. I know it's going to be.

really helpful in cleaning up your mindset so that it's easier to do this whole process, to evaluate your goals, look at your nutrition and make some of those healthier swaps, to take inventory of your fitness equipment and what's available to you and choosing just those things that you're excited about and that are going to help you get to your goal. So as with every week on the Family Fork, this is your homework.

I don't want you to just listen like we just talked about. I don't want you to listen and just think about a plan or come up with a plan but not actually do something about it. So let's recap. You're going to reevaluate all of your.

So let's recap. You're going to reevaluate all of your goals. I want you to focus in on how you want to feel once you've achieved that goal. I want you to write yourself a note, put it up on the bathroom mirror or the kitchen cabinet so that you can read that and let that be your driving force. I want you to clean out your pantry and look for foods that are high in refined sugars and added sugars. I also want you to clear out those foods that have artificial flavors, colors.

and preservatives and things like MSG or TBHQ. I want you to take an inventory of your fitness equipment and I only want you to keep what you like and I want you to sell and donate the rest. And then I need you to go back and listen to episode 28 so that you can start working with your brain and understand that fumbling and struggling and failing in the process is exactly how you're going to learn.

and get better and reach those goals.

There is a lot of information packed into this episode, but I hope that you find it really helpful for your spring cleaning because just like we're cleaning out the rest of our house and our lives, we want to make sure that our nutrition and our fitness and our mental health is really ready to support us in reaching our health and fitness goals between now and the next couple of months. Thank you so much for joining this week and

Please, if you know of a friend who could use this information, please just hit the share button so they can listen to this episode too. And I cannot wait to see you back here next week.