Live Purely With Jason & Colleen Wachob of mindbodygreen

Elizabeth Stein 00:00
Hi, everyone. I'm Elizabeth Stein, Founder and CEO of Purely Elizabeth. And this is Live Purely with Elizabeth, featuring candid conversations about how to thrive on your wellness journey. We're kicking off season 5 with my favorite wellness couple, Jason and Colleen Wachob Co- Founders and Co-CEOs of mindbodygreen, the trusted website and resource for everything in the health space. Over the last four seasons, it's been incredible to look back and realize how many guests I've had on the podcast that I've met through Jason and Colleen. They have created such a beautiful community through mindbodygreen, and I'm so thankful for all that they do. In this episode, we jump right into their annual wellness trends, which I must say are always my favorite go to resource, since they have to pulse on all things wellness. Keep listening to hear all the trends in beauty, health and nutrition, fitness and home and wishing you the absolute best 2023. I don't know about you, but I am so looking forward to turning over 2022 and all the possibilities ahead this year. Jason and Colleen, welcome to the podcast. It's so wonderful to see you as always.
Colleen Wachob 01:19
Likewise, it's wonderful to see your face. And thanks so much for having us.
Jason Wachob 01:22
Yeah, so great to see you and honor to be here looking forward to getting together in Miami soon.
Elizabeth Stein 01:27
I am definitely putting it on my calendar for 2023. That's one of my intentions. So I'm excited to have you guys on today. I feel like every year I look forward to the mindbodygreen annual wellness trends. And you guys have always been ahead of the curve predicting what's going to happen before it hits mainstream. So excited to get into your main areas today. And we'll kick it off with what's next in beauty.
Colleen Wachob 01:54
Yeah, so what's really exciting right now is beauty is really becoming synonymous with well being the words are somewhat interchangeable in some circles and beauty and well being is becoming the new expression of personal values for so many women in the same way that that fashion was years ago. And an idea that, and a trend that our team and I am I'm super excited about is this evolution of the third space, I feel like Starbucks brought this concept of the third space into the mainstream. And now there are wellness centers emerging that have many cross disciplines and modalities across them. It used to be you went to a box for your yoga, you went to a box for your healing and your therapy, and you went to a box for your Traditional Chinese Medicine or whatever, whatever your interests were. And now we're having these multiple centers arise that have a lot of modalities. And there's also a focus within it on this idea of community. And not necessarily that you have to be right there next to your community member, you know, doing the good work of your well-being practice, but there is so much value in doing these practices together and the power of a group. And what this trend started really within, I would say really expensive kind of higher priced versions of wellness centers. And now it's really coming down to levels that are both more accessible, and have some of the newest longevity benefits in them. So if you want to go sauna with people if you want to go cold plunge with people, because I think it can be really scary to take the plunge on your own. There's now places to do that. So that's that's what gets me excited about beauty broadly speaking in 2023.
Elizabeth Stein 03:38
What are you seeing, as far as you just mentioned, cold plunge and sauna any other interesting offerings at these wellness centers that you're seeing? And I know here in Boulder, we have a place called Restore, which I think is a franchise nationally that offers a variety of the same that just to your point is coming in at a more accessible it certainly it's here in Boulder. It's not, you know, just a New York City, LA, sort of place.
Colleen Wachob 04:06
That's super exciting. I think the Hot Cold Therapy, generally speaking has us super excited for 2023 because it's one of those that just has so much science behind it. And so much tradition. And when we think about saunas, they're really accessible if you're in Finland, where you know, it's a part of ever event, everyone's data rich, but
Jason Wachob 04:27
Every sauna study is from Findland, they have the monopoly on sauna study.
Colleen Wachob 04:33
But you know, it's a lot harder to incorporate into your daily routine and that's why you know, some of the cold plunges and sauna trends becoming more accessible I think just gets us you know, really excited because not everyone is willing to invest thousands of dollars in a cold plunge and they're also you know, not easy to incorporate. If you are living into an apartment, dwelling or in a condo, it's just not something that can be part of your day. So I love the idea of doing these things together. And I think you're seeing that happening in groups which can, which can make it more accessible. And just more enjoyable. We know we're in the midst of a loneliness epidemic. So you're kind of, you know, helping advance two elements of your longevity and well-being at the same time.
Elizabeth Stein 05:15
I do love the idea of being able to do it together. As we were talking earlier, I was just away in Mexico with my family. And they had in the women's locker room, they had a hot and cold plunge. And as my mom and I sat there, like forcing my sister to go into the plunge, like you can do it, you can do it, you can do it, there was a lot to having someone else be there with you and like cheer you on and help you be able to take the plunge as you said,
Jason Wachob 05:43
Well, there's this also is this cool new concept new as in new to America called therm t-h-e-r-m-e, which is is global. But essentially, it's just like, massive scale, bathing center is the best way to describe it. And they are coming to America. And a friend of ours, Bobby Hammond, who actually was the founder of the famous Highline in New York City, which has become iconic has joined them and is bringing it out to the states in a handful of cities where you have like this massive communal bathing wellness center, if you will, that is accessible. And it's it's super cool, to kind of kill birds two kill two birds with one stone, I get to go experience this with my friends, and also get some health and longevity benefits.
Elizabeth Stein 06:31
That's so exciting. All right, moving on to what is next in health and nutrition.
Jason Wachob 06:39
So I think of health and nutrition and kind of fitness converging in an interesting way. And, you know, so so much of the conversation, I would say in more of the holistic space, which is definitely more female than male, around the three, I would say has been centered around more mindfulness based practices around yoga, around pilates, around mindful meditation running and in some degree, the conversation around resistance training, muscles, protein, has hasn't been part of the conversation, not to say it's not new, you know, building muscles and going and doing resistance training and adjusting protein has been around for decades, but not really in our world, the more holistic world that is a little bit more female-centric. And so we think we're at an interesting inflection point there, where it's now clear, if you're focused on longevity, this needs to be something you're focused on. And that and that being resistance training, maintaining and building lean muscle mass, and to do so you need to lift things, or lift your body in a way that you are building muscle. And to do so you need to ingest protein. And this is where the conversation become very emotional for many, because when you think of protein, you generally think of animal products. And that's to say there's plant based sports as well. But in the context of this conversation, all protein is not created equal. And so I think we're at this interesting point, where if you're focused on longevity, resistance training, and building muscle needs to be part of the conversation. And there's a crazy statistic that really illustrates this point. One out of four people over the age of 65 fall, okay, one out of four fall, if you fall, you are twice as likely to fall again. So fall once the odds of falling again, increase significantly. If you fall and break your hip, there's a 30 to 40% chance you die within a year.
Elizabeth Stein 09:09
Wow. Yes, that's incredible.
Jason Wachob 09:12
Yes. And so how do you protect yourself from breaking a hip or falling in general, it is maintaining muscle mass and increasing your bone density. And these are things that can be done through strength training, resistance training, and to do that need to ingest protein. And so in terms of ingesting protein, many believe, who study protein and protein muscle synthesis, you need to ingest approximately 30 grams of protein in a sitting with at least two and a half grams of Leucine possibly three and there are other key amino acids. Leucine is a core amino acid and in order to promote protein muscle synthesis, to build muscle, so the question is, what are the best sources to do that. And it's animal sources for the most reason there are some plant sources, but you have to ingest a lot of it. And so the bigger picture, it's safe to assume that we're probably not consuming enough protein because it's not just the 30. And once at least 30 in one sitting, the RDA for protein is many believe, is really the the guideline is for people who aren't looking to build muscle and are sitting around. It's an ancient guideline. And if you want to build muscle, many things that you need close to, I can't do the kilograms math is a gram per pound. And the RDA is not even close. And so you start to do the math in your head, I'm 100 pounds, I gotta have 100 grams of protein. That's a lot of protein by three meals a day, 30 plus grams a sitting, how am I going to get that? That's a lot. And so I think the conversation around building building and maintaining lean muscle mass, and protein as a vehicle to help you get there is an important one. But it's not necessarily a straightforward one. Specifically, if you lean vegetarian or vegan or Mediterranean much easier if you lean carnivore, you get really great bang for your buck, if you're consuming a lot of you know, beef and chicken and eggs and so forth, but a lot more difficult. And so I think that is fascinating. And a conversation I've had on our show and continue to to have and I'm very interested in as I am 48. And so I'm thinking 65 isn't that far away, In some ways, it's long, long ways away, but in other ways, it seems seems like it's creeping up. And so maintaining muscle mass is something in terms of the longevity conversation I find to be very interested in.
Elizabeth Stein 12:22
It's, I think it's so interesting. And actually, personally, I just started doing more like serious weight training in the gym, and someone that I met at the gym, we were having this exact protein conversation. So I've been trying to incorporate 30 grams in each sitting, which is, to your point, like super hard. And I think I've done the exercise of actually like tracking it for a week to try to understand what I think everybody should do just to get a baseline understanding. But to your point, you know, I'm someone that's mostly plants, I do eat some meat, but now it's definitely putting me more I'm definitely incorporating more meat. And I think that bigger conversation to also your point as well once felt like, hey, I don't want to be eating all this meat. But now you also have evidence and people like Forces Of Nature who are coming out with regenerative meat that I feel like okay, well, I know that this is better for me. It's higher nutrient level, like there's other benefits here that I wasn't getting. And so how does that become part of the conversation with regenerative meat supply as well?
Jason Wachob 13:33
Yeah, look, it's I think most of our community to your point leans I would say plant heavy. And so if you're really open to science, and you're really trying to optimize longevity, I think many people are going to find themselves at a crossroads, myself included. You know, the example I'll use today, I'm typically an intermittent faster, and I've had to shrink my window, I would do 18 to 20 usually now like 14 to 16 just because I need to eat more. Right? I wouldn't eat breakfast. And you know, for today, I had my Wallaby grass fed Greek yogurt, with your granola with your Chocolate Peanut Butter Granola. Because I'm like, I need to get the protein. And you know, put a little honey on there as well. But I think it's it's really interesting, and I tracked my blood work and I do it twice a year. I'll see if anything really moved significantly. But I think we're at a crossroads there. If you're open if you're truly open to changing diet to optimize longevity. I think I think it's it's gonna be difficult for a lot of people, myself included.
Elizabeth Stein 14:45
Yeah. I think it's super interesting and just interesting. Also just in general of strength training and protein coming more into women where it's traditionally been so focused on men Right, you're kind of hitting on our fitness trend.
Colleen Wachob 15:02
Alright, let's jump to the fitness one. Yeah, I mean, you know, the two conversations really go hand in hand because you, you know, you can't eat your way to the right. muscle mass and bone density and strength training or resistance training is such a huge component in it. And when you look at the mind body class data over the past years, weight training is a top three class and we are seeing the shift, especially in women, because I think we used to think about strength training or, you know, weightlifting, you know, we all have that stereotype of maybe some bros at the gym. And now really, women are taking it on and leading this this shift. I know I personally am coming at it from a bone density standpoint. And while I used to love Pilates, I've, I've now found a nice happy medium and kind of my longevity goals and my love of like the meditative state of Pilates was doing a lot more lagree resistance training. So I feel like I get both of those benefits. And then also dabbling in Todd McCullough are mutual friends of mine, right kettlebell workouts, and I'm able to incorporate it in in that way. But it's such an important part of both the longevity conversation and the bone density conversation. And they go hand in hand.
Elizabeth Stein 16:18
Do you think we'll see changes in classes being offered or more people getting back to the gym?
Colleen Wachob 16:25
You know what's so fun in Miami, they are really at the forefront when it comes to so many of the physical sides of well being and we love walking by our local gym, where they're doing kettlebell workouts outside, they've got huge cohorts of men and women doing it together. So I think we're already starting to see that shift, which is really exciting.
Elizabeth Stein 16:48
Absolutely. All right, and then moving on to home.
Colleen Wachob 16:53
Home. Well, there's, there's lots of exciting changes happening within the home. One of them is the new plant paradigm, we know, Instagram. And then the pandemic was people spending more time at home, lots of macro causes of this wonderful shift to people incorporating more plants into their home. But now that trends evolving, where people are really opting for the colors of plants and flowers, and not just the greenery. And there's so many health benefits to it. But when you think of plants, like we all just get this, of course, of course, they love flowers, they bring those magical moments of life where we're like, yes, that's why I'm alive. This is stunning. And there's studies that show that certain colors have more of a restorative impact on our well being that yellow flowers can actually improve feelings of relaxation. And when we think of our overall happiness, we're all impacted so differently by the environment that we live in. Even within the two of us, I know Jason really thrives when he's working. And when he's working on his focus time, when it's an office that really has those personal touches of well being, I can kind of, you know, go to a office with poor lighting and no windows and make it through. But we're all so personal, when it comes to making these really subtle changes can have really big impacts, especially for certain people on their own health and well being. And second in the home, you know, we've been talking so much about the importance of circadian rhythms, obviously, as a, as a brand. MindBodyGreen is talking a lot about sleep these days, because it's such a problem that so many of us are struggling with. And you know, some of the big optimizations come when you start your day. So we've been talking a lot about sunlight and how important it is to get that sunlight when you first wake up. Now that we're in Miami, we're trying to have our morning coffee outside to help ensure we get that but in making those investments in things in your house that really speak to the circadian rhythm. So whether it be blackout curtains, whether it be an alarm clock, that actually helps you bring in that and usher in that morning light, especially if you're in the Northeast or part of America where getting that morning sunlight is harder. You know, those are the type of home investments that we're seeing people interested in making.
Elizabeth Stein 19:05
Love that because sleep I'm obsessed with all things sleep, I feel like and I love that you guys are too
Colleen Wachob 19:12
You're talking to the right people
Elizabeth Stein 19:15
and have the sleep support which I'm you know, most such a fan of Awesome. Well, let's move on to a little bit of a rapid fire for 2023/2022. So the best lessons that you've learned this past year.
Jason Wachob 19:31
So for me, it's this idea of need to get back to IRL connection and we are in a loneliness epidemic. And without question, the experiment of isolating remove COVID from this isolating by ourselves and not connecting with people in real life is it's terrible. And I think in the context of health and wellness, you know, when you talk about how health you talked about nutrition, you talk about fitness, we tend not to talk about the power of connection and how important it is. And it reminds me of my all time favorite study the Roseto study. So Roseto was a small town in rural Pennsylvania. And in the 1950s, heart disease enters America. And we see heart disease explode, if you will, across America, in not a good way. Except for Roseto. There's almost an absence of heart disease. And no one could figure it out. Because you have this it was a small, close knit Italian community. These people were drinking, they were smoking, they were eating meatball, meatball pasta, all the things you could equate with an unhealthy lifestyle. However, because it was such a close knit community, multi generational living was paramount, people would often be breaking bread with neighbors socializing on a daily basis, they were so connected. And the hypothesis is, because they were so connected, they were almost immune from heart disease, even though they were doing all these terrible, bad things. And so in the early 60s, community starts to break up, people start to move away, heart disease, enters Roseto, and catches up with the rest of the United States. And I just think it's so fascinating. As we think about connection, and the power and health benefits of real relationships, we can optimize the crap out of our sleep, and nutrition and muscles and all those things. But if we lack that IRL connection, we're going to be not in a good place when it comes to our longevity. And so to me, coming out of, of COVID I just think, given the loneliness epidemic, we just all need to really focus on IRL connection.
Colleen Wachob 22:13
I guess a cousin for that, for me is really finding these magical moments of, of joy. When I look at wellness, you know, there are the optimizer to our testing everything and optimizing every element of their diet or fitness. And then I see a lot of wellness where calendaring in a lot of various appointments, doing self care. And I think we lose track of really connecting to the spark that we get the joy that we get those magical moments of joy, whether it's you know, the flowers that we pass, whether it's looking at, you know, the ocean, and the water for me personally gives me a lot of joy. And I'm moving here to Miami, just you know, seeing water and being near the beach is such a source of, of joy and inspiration for me. I think it's important that as the conversation progresses, we don't lose sight of of having those joy in their sparks in life.
Elizabeth Stein 23:14
I love that. What are you most looking forward to in 2023.
Colleen Wachob 23:19
So one of the things we're doing together here is pickleball. And that's so fun, Joy. fun when you are in Miami, we'll have to, to get on the court together. But it's one of those activities that really encourages you to get out of your head, forget anything that's going on with work because you have to concentrate that ball goes really fast, and you got to stay on your toes. So it's been really fun kind of learning a new sport and doing it together. And I think there embedded in pickleball, at least where we play within South Florida. There's a community element, we really don't have any interest in doing single so for us, we're always doing it together to doubles, kind of mindset. And it's really social. And as we enter our our next chapter, as residents, we still have this wonderful Taurus glow, where we love trying new things and doing things for the first time, second time. And I want to make sure that you know, we keep that, that enthusiasm for all things within life from an exploration standpoint.
Jason Wachob 24:29
Yeah, just reiterate it. Look, I think we live in a magical age where there's so much technology and there's so many actionable insights from this technology and all the testing and the labs and all of the things that I do is like where my aura up and do 28 vials of blood twice a year. And that's important. But this this focus on joy, this focus on connection cannot be underestimated. And there's the art the science to this and I think the science is for all the technology and all the testing, and I think so much of the art is the joy and the magic of connection, and there's actually a lot of science to support those things. But I think bringing that conversation front and center again, I think is so important, something I'm looking forward to.
Elizabeth Stein 25:16
I love that. Well, I'm looking forward to coming to Miami and playing pickleball with you guys. I think you're gonna be a force to be reckoned with on the court.
Jason Wachob 25:25
Well, I've got the law, I've got the length. So that'll help.
Elizabeth Stein 25:27
Right both of you.
Colleen Wachob 25:29
He does have a good wingspan
Jason Wachob 25:30
Got the wingspan.
Elizabeth Stein 25:32
But I do think, I think that, keep it like for me, maybe it's a little bit too regimented. But keeping a list of the things that bring me joy, so that you can remember because it's like, it's so easy just to get into your routine and say, beyond this constant motion of everyday life to step back and be like, Okay, I haven't done any of these things that bring me joy. And so maybe a good tip for people is gathering time in their head, like, what can they do to bring them joy.
Jason Wachob 26:01
Although slugging protein throughout the day is something I'm not fighting for. But I think that's what they were trying to reconcile and figure out how that works for us. Yeah,
Elizabeth Stein 26:11
I want to hear what you're eating in a typical day.
Jason Wachob 26:14
I'm still trying to figure it out. I'd like sardines. That helps. But yeah, exactly, exactly. But I would say it's sardines, you're talking about nutrient density, sardines, pack a punch, and they're actually actually quite reasonable.
Elizabeth Stein 26:30
So all right, well, lastly, three favorite wellness tools, maybe it's your sardines to bring into 2023.
Jason Wachob 26:39
Wow, I'd rather keep it to three other technologies that I love my Oura. I love my whoop. I love our Eight Sleep mattress on top of our avocado or no our eight sleep pod on top of our avocado mattress. I love all of our products all of our supplements we take between between the two of us we take all of them.
Elizabeth Stein 27:05
If you could only take one of yours, but would it be? So I know that's not easy? Yeah.
Jason Wachob 27:09
So for me it would be methylation support, because I could go as far as saying, like, saved my life. So without going I'll try to do a brief summary of methylation. So there is a marker homocysteine, which essentially measures how you're methylating. And it's also a measure of inflammation in the body and blood vessels to some degree. And so your map your your homocysteine should be under 15. I discovered by mine was 63, which to this day, every fun, every functional medicine doctor, I talk to say it's the highest I've ever seen. And when your homocysteine level is high, it can lead to a blood clot, like a pulmonary embolism, which Colleen had after a flight a decade ago, or an aneurysm. So it can be catastrophic. And it's like a J curve, like the higher the number goes your increased, like I'm so lucky, we caught it. And I remember doing the test with Frank Lippmann years ago, he thought it was a mistake. That's how high it was. And so he put me on a cocktail of supplements. I was taking like four or five capsules, different products to get it down. I took it from 63 to 23. And then eventually it was stuck between like 13 and 18. And nothing I could do to get it down. And so we worked with our team to create a product methylation support plus that tweaks all of the things I was taking one to eliminate the number of capsules I was taking to just two but also tweak the formula to kind of optimize it. And so I actually just got bloodwork done. And my homocysteine is now 10 and a half. Wow, that's amazing. And it amazing and and if I think about so this isn't just a problem unique to me. I have the MTHFR gene, which almost half the population does. And if you have the MTHFR gene they don't even test for it's so common. You are likely not methylating optimally, like me. I have a double copy of the C 677 T, which makes me even worse. But at any rate, this is a problem that a lot of people probably have but aren't aware and you want homocysteine low Dale Bredesen, who is a leader in the cognitive decline space, specifically on Alzheimer's like Monster homocysteine be seven or eight. And so yeah, I like oh my god, it's 10 the keyboard and so it is so critical for brain health and cardiovascular health. And so that is the product I would pick because I genetic, there's nothing I can do with diet that can fix it. Like and look, we always I take a lot of supplements but our motto is always like start with food and lifestyle first and then supplement if you need to. So like this one, I can't diet or exercise my way out of my methylation homocysteine, the only thing that will work for me and for most people who want to lower this is supplementing, so that's my absolute must.
Colleen Wachob 30:32
Yeah. From a tool standpoint, you know, I think a lot of our perspective on wellness and well being has evolved this year, we have three living parents, and they're all well until their 70s. And for us the importance of, of laying the foundation now for the life we want to live when we're in our 70s or 80s. And 90s has has really become clear for us this year. So I'm super excited about resistance training. I'm super excited about being more thoughtful about my protein intake. And while we never recommend counting things when it comes to diet protein would probably be our our exception. And you know, especially for me where protein intake does not come naturally, I'm not naturally. carnivorous. And last would you know, my day in and day out, staples are sleep support plus, I just know even if it's a night when I can get to sleep, I'll have better, better more sound sleep if I do it with some support. So that's my desert island product.
Elizabeth Stein 31:39
Love it. Jason and Colleen, thank you so much for being on the podcast. Everyone head over to mindbodygreen, because while we talked about some of the highlights, there's certainly more trends that you had for 2023. So get the full picture there. And anything else in closing.
Jason Wachob 31:56
It's great to see you and I absolutely love your cereal.
Elizabeth Stein 32:01
Thank you.
Jason Wachob 32:03
I'm so glad you finally did it.
Elizabeth Stein 32:06
It has been a long time coming. So we're thrilled. So thank you so much. And thank you so much for being here today. So wonderful to see you guys.
Jason Wachob 32:14
See you in Florida soon. Our pleasure.
Elizabeth Stein 32:16
See you on the pickleball court. Thanks so much for joining me on live purely with Elizabeth. I hope you feel inspired to thrive on your wellness journey. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to rate subscribe and review. You can follow us on Instagram at purely underscore Elizabeth to catch up on all the latest. See you next Wednesday on the podcast.