The craziest things we've done in the name of wellness. Dr. Kelsy Vick is taking it back to girl talk, inspired by Liz Plosser's Best Case Scenario article In the Name of Wellness.

KV shares her biggest wellness regrets, from restrictive dieting and under-fueling in college to buying every supplement she heard about on podcasts without any blood work. Plus TSA powder horror stories, her carry on shoe hack for walking heavy vacations, the apple cider vinegar shot era, two years without dessert (dark chocolate excluded), mouth taping, skipping food on travel days to help with travel constipation, and why driving gloves might be the next cool girl accessory for hand skin care.

Wellness trends come and go and the research keeps evolving, so this one is about laughing at ourselves and learning along the way. Send KV the craziest thing you've done in the name of wellness!

Liz Plosser, In the Name of Wellness: https://lizplosser.substack.com/p/in-the-name-of-wellness

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Let's chat some of the craziest

things that we've all done in

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the name of health and wellness.

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Welcome back to Wellness Big Sis the Pod.

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I'm your host, Dr.

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Kelsey Vick, a board certified

orthopedic doctor of physical therapy

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and a pelvic floor physical therapist.

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And we are just wrapping up

an entire month of Trimester

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Zero podcast festival chats.

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We kicked it off with me talking pelvic

floor PT and trimester zero through a

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pelvic floor PT lens, but then we passed

the mic to some incredible guests,

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chatting about everything from hormonal

health and dietetics, to mental health,

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to holistic fertility approaches,

to even male fertility last week.

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So, I hope you guys enjoyed

all of the episodes.

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This one's gonna be sort of

a fun, girly, chatty episode.

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I like to sprinkle these in throughout,

especially after we've gone through a

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bit of intense topics, and conversation,

and education, and learning.

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Sometimes it's fun just to have a little

girly Wellness Girl chat, and that's

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exactly what today's episode's gonna be.

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This episode is actually

inspired by a newsletter that I

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receive weekly from Liz Plosser.

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she has a Substack called Best Case

Scenario, and she spent 20-plus years

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as a health journalist, including

seven years as editor-in-chief

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at Women's Health Magazine.

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So she has such fun wellness

education information articles.

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She focuses on the intersection of

sort of wellness culture and some

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of the new trendy wellness things.

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But she sent out an article last week,

two weeks ago or so, that was titled

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In the Name of Wellness, and she chats

about some of the craziest things she's

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done in the name of health and wellness,

and I thought it was such a fun article.

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She reached out to some of her fellow

health and wellness aficionados and tried

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to see what some of the crazy things that

they've done in the name of wellness were.

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So I'll give you some of those examples

today just to give you a little insight

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into the theme of this episode, but

then I wanna share mine, and I'd love

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to hear some of yours, some of the

craziest things you guys have done

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in the name of health and wellness

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Okay, so I wanna read you guys the

intro to the article 'cause I was just

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cracking up because it sounds like

something that I would definitely do too.

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Every time TSA pulls one of my

suspicious-looking tubs or baggies of

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creatine and aminos from my Rollie at

JFK, as they did once again last week, I

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think, "At least it's not the kettlebell."

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Summer 2020, a few months into the

pandemic, my three kids, husband,

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and I were headed to the family

cabin in Durango for a change

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of scenery and some fresh air.

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Gyms were closed.

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At-home fitness equipment was impossible

to find, but I had somehow managed to

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get my hands on a kettlebell Okay, fine.

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Someone left one on their stoop,

free for the taking, about half a

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mile from my apartment in Park Slope.

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with the glee of a lottery winner

happening upon a golden ticket, I

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farmer's carried it home in the dark.

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Obviously, this precious hunk of iron

needed to come with me to the mountains,

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so I put it in my carry-on backpack.

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My kids watched in horror as a

displeased TSA agent pulled it out and

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gave me a look that said, "Uh, ma'am?"

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I deployed all available Midwestern charm.

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He was unmoved.

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A kettlebell could be used as a weapon, he

explained, and mine was being confiscated.

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Goodbye, beautiful 35-pound kettlebell.

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I barely knew ya.

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I started wondering how far other

people in wellness have taken things

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in the name of their wellbeing.

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So I asked some of my favorite people

to confess the most ridiculous,

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mortifying, or deeply committed things

they've ever done for their health.

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The answers involve lion country,

international customs, gastrointestinal

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distress, and pleasingly,

more suspicious white powder.

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she goes on to share some of the

things her friends have done.

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So I'll link that article below, but

I thought it'd be fun to also share

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some of the things I've done in the

name of wellness, some of the things I

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definitely regret, some of the things

I used to think were absolutely crazy

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when I heard people near to me do them,

and now I'm like, "Well, that makes

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sense," and everything in between.

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Again, a fun sort of girly, chatty episode

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So starting off with some of my in the

name of wellness regrets, things that

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I've done for my health and wellness

that I definitely regret looking back.

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But as you guys know, listening to a

health and wellness podcast, and there

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are so many trends that come and go

throughout health and wellness, and I

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have definitely been one to partake in

some of these trends, which is one of

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the reasons I started Wellness Fixes

The Pod, because a lot of the time

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I took part in these trends when I

didn't have the knowledge or education

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around how the female body worked.

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So here are a few regrets that I have

that I've done in the name of wellness

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Number one, any sort of

restrictive dieting or focus on a

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certain type of fueling pattern.

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Vegan, low sugar,

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Anything where I was limiting a certain

food group, and this happened a lot when

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I was in college just because I was sort

of trying to fight back against that

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dreaded freshman 15, and I was like,

"Oh, well, this vegan diet might be good

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for me," or this vegetarian primarily

diet or pescatarian, anything like that.

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My body really thrives on a variety

of foods, and I've learned that,

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and I understand that some people

have certain fueling patterns based

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on their bodies or their faith, and

that is completely understandable.

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But it is one of my regrets for my

own body is following any sort of

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dieting or restricted fueling pattern

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Which leads into my next one, my next

regret, not fueling myself enough based

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on the basal metabolic rate that Google

gave me back when I was in college

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So to fight back against any sort of

weight gain in college, at the time I

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Googled, "This is my weight, this is

the weight that I'd like to be at."

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What is my basal metabolic rate?

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And at the time it was 1,200 calories.

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That's what Google gave me.

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Who knows what that was based on.

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I literally put in my body weight.

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I didn't give it any information on

my muscle mass, my fat composition,

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nothing, my fitness level, nothing.

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But 1,200,

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So that's the number I obsessed over.

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This was before I knew

anything about fueling.

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This is significantly under fueling

for me, especially with the level

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that I was working out on top of that.

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So a significant regret.

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Tied to that, an obsession with

MyFitnessPal and this 1,200 calorie mark.

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It is no good for me.

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It was one of my regrets.

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I tracked and tried to eat this way

for a significant period of time, so

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getting myself out of that pattern

was a little bit more challenging,

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but it is definitely one of the

regrets I have in the name of wellness

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Another regret, this is a more recent

regret, but investing in every single

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supplement that I heard on health

and wellness podcasts early on.

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I feel like in 2020 when Huberman Lab

came out, it was like this surgence

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of intellectual researchers sharing

their knowledge on health and wellness,

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whatever their niche lane was.

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And so many of them do such good

research, but they would always

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recommend a certain supplement for

this, a certain supplement for that.

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And I was like, "Gosh, this

is a lot of supplements.

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I'm gonna have to start investing in

these supplements for my own body."

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This is without any sort of blood testing.

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I just had heard this education

on a podcast that I admired and

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decided to use them in my own body.

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And it gets so expensive when you are

trying to buy all of these supplements

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based on all of this research.

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It gets very, very overwhelming.

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So it's definitely one of my regrets,

not only because it was based not on

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my body, but just because of the amount

of time, energy, and, like, guilt I had

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with not doing absolutely everything I

could for my body at the time Okay, so

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those are all of the sort of regrets.

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I'm sure there's plenty more that'll come

up once you guys tell me some of yours,

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but those are the ones that I could come

up with primarily as far as regrets.

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But other crazy things I've done and

seen other friends do, there were a lot

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of airport stories in that article that

Liz shared and there's a story that

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always comes to mind when trying to

bring different supplements or powders

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on the plane that always sticks with me.

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I was in the TSA line, like,

waiting for my bag to come through.

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we were already through the,

like, intense part of TSA.

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We were just waiting to see

if our bags would get checked.

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And the girl in front of me

happened to pack an entire thing

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of Vital Proteins collagen powder.

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And if you guys remember the craze

around Vital Proteins collagen

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powder, that stuff was like gold.

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Everyone loved it.

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Everyone was consuming it in their

coffee, their water, their oatmeal,

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their smoothies, everywhere.

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And this girl had brought it on

the plane, and it was a new bin.

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It was one of those large,

like, creatine bin sizes of

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Vital Proteins collagen powder.

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And the TSA agent confiscated

it from her, and she was late.

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They were like, "We can test it.

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We can run it through testing."

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And she was already late to , her

flight, so she had to leave it there.

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And it just broke my heart for this girl

'cause I know how expensive that stuff is.

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And to have it unopened and have it

confiscated, it was just heartbreaking.

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So there were a lot of stories

in that article talking about

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bringing on various creatine

powders or amino acids and different

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suspicious powders in the name of

wellness and different supplements.

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And I have never had any sort of powders

or supplements confiscated from me,

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but because I remember that story and

have heard so many other people talk

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about how they've gotten their creatine

confiscated at the airport if they

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just pack it in a Ziploc bag, I have

now definitely purchased, like, the

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prepackaged single-serving creatine to

take with me, especially when flying

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This next one is sort of a recent

hack, and it's sort of in the name of

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wellness because I try and exercise

a little bit or stay pretty active

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when I'm on vacation, whether or not

that's through a formal workout Or

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just walking a lot, like in New York

City or Tokyo or wherever we're going.

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And I am insufferable about

only packing in a carry-on.

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I pride myself in being a very

efficient packer, and because of that,

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I always have to limit the amount

of shoes that I'm able to bring.

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So what I've started doing is saving

tennis shoes, like my previous

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tennis shoes that are sort of my

yard work, painting, housework tennis

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shoes , that are not brand new.

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They're worn down.

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They still look okay.

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They still look decent, but

they're not like my brand new ones.

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I save those tennis shoes, and I

bring them with me on vacation.

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So I use them throughout vacation.

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And then when I'm done with

them, I just leave them there.

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I throw them away.

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I've gotten a good lifespan out of them,

and that way I have extra space when

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I'm coming back home in my carry-on.

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So it's something I do in the name

of efficiency and in the name of

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wellness and comfort, but it's sort

of a hot tip that I've had recently.

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It's something I've done the

last three or four vacations that

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we've taken where we've done a

significant amount of walking, and

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I've needed to bring tennis shoes,

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And it's been really helpful

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Another travel-related one, I definitely

am someone who has brought plenty of

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bands with me in her carry-on bag,

and so many of them have popped to

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where my very first exercise workout

that I do on vacation, the band pops.

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And so I'm constantly

modifying the rest of the trip.

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That's not something that I regret

doing or anything like that, but that's

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not something that I wouldn't do.

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But I have invested in more cloth

resistance bands for that exact reason

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Back in the early, like, health and

wellness push days, I also swore by

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a shot of apple cider vinegar with

ginger and turmeric and cayenne

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to help kickstart my digestion.

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I don't do that anymore.

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But it's one of those crazy things that

you hear about and you do because you're

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like, "Oh, well, there's research on

this, and I heard it from a health and

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wellness influencer, so it must be right

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Another thing I've done is

I've given up desserts for two

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years except dark chocolate.

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That was actually in

conjunction with Lent.

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For some reason, one year

I was like, "You know what?

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I'm gonna give up desserts this year."

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And I just kept it going because I was

like, you know, once I cut them out of my

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diet, my body didn't crave them as much.

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And I still allowed myself dark chocolate

because I love dark chocolate, but

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I cut out, like, sweets and desserts

other than dark chocolate for two years

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I have definitely sacrificed sleep

to get in a workout, especially early

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morning before a flight or a long

day, or where I know that I'm going

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to need to be mentally sharp that day.

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even if I get to bed late, I'll wake up

super early to get in that workout, and

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I don't necessarily recommend this, but

any time I wake up on the first alarm,

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get a workout in, my brain, I notice being

way sharper, way quicker, and any time

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where I'm having to be that sharp and that

quick with how I'm thinking and how I'm

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communicating, I've definitely sacrificed

sleep and woken up early, early, early

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in order to get a workout in before

that early start to my day or travel day

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This is what I currently do,

but I definitely mouth tape

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in the name of wellness.

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It's not super crazy, but

I know people who aren't in

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our health and wellness world

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they definitely have questions when

I pull out the tape before sleep

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or talk to them about mouth taping.

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So it's one of those where if

you know, you know, but if you

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don't, it's like actually crazy

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This one's just kind of funny.

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In college, I had an aerobic walking

class at maybe 9:00 AM, maybe 8:00 AM.

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It was one of the earlier classes,

but it was one of the classes I

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skipped the most in college in order

to sleep a little bit more and do

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the workout that I actually wanted to

do, which was typically hill sprints

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instead of going to aerobic walking.

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So it was sort of this weird, like,

I'm gonna skip this super easy walking

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class just so I can sleep in a little

bit more and then do an even harder,

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more cardiovascularly intensive workout

instead of the aerobic walking class.

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So I just laugh at myself

for skipping that class.

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It was still, I wouldn't…

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I would do it again a thousand

times over, but it was definitely

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a class I skipped a lot.

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But not to skip the workout,

just to sleep a little longer and

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then do a harder workout after

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This next one I admittedly haven't looked

up any research on, but I've done it for

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probably about six or seven years now, and

I don't see myself stopping anytime soon.

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But again, six or seven years ago,

I heard a health and wellness…

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Gosh, I guess it's probably

more than six or seven years

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now that I'm thinking about it.

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Maybe 10 years ago now, I heard a health

and wellness influencer talking about

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digestion on the plane and how if you

eat before takeoff and then refrain from

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eating throughout your travel day, so

that includes layovers if you happen to

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have one, or it's just the duration of

the flight if you don't have a layover.

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But if you can refrain from eating

throughout the flight and then eat when

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you land instead, your digestive system

Won't be as stressed, and you might not

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have as much of the bloating or digestive

issues that you get with traveling.

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So that's what she had said, you know,

10, 12 years ago, however long ago it was.

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And I listened to that.

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I was like, "You know, I get really bad

digestive issues," TMI, but I usually

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get pretty constipated with travel.

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For some reason, the stress of traveling

on my body prevents any sort of gut

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motility and, like, movement, and so I

am always struggling and always loading

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up on different magnesium supplements

and breathwork and gut activations

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and massages and different things

like that to help me when I travel.

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But this has been one that has actually

helped me, where I have seen beneficial

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results from not eating throughout

the entire of my travel duration.

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And I don't know if it's placebo.

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Again, I haven't looked up research

on this, but for me, it seems that

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it helps me to be able to have more

regularity when I get to my destination.

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And then lastly, one thing that I thought

was crazy when I first heard about it,

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but actually have realized it's not that

crazy at all, is in PT school, my wound

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care professor used to talk about wearing

driving gloves to protect her skin.

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And we all just sort of giggled

like, "Oh, you know, so and

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so wearing driving gloves.

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We can just picture her down the road.

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She's so cute doing that."

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You know, just … Just giggling at it,

not making fun of her for it at all,

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but just sort of giggling at how extreme

driving gloves seemed for all of us.

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But , the more I try, and invest time

and energy into my own skin health, the

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more I realize My hands are constantly

exposed to different UV rays, and it's

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something that I feel like driving gloves

are going to be that, I hate the word

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chic, but like chic new accessory that

all of the cool girls wear because they

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realize the skin on their hands starts

to look a little bit creepy and wrinkly

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early on, even sometimes more than

the face because we don't necessarily

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take care of the skin on our hands.

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So I take back all of my little

giggles that I used to giggle when I

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heard she wore driving gloves because

now I'm really considering getting

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driving gloves for that exact reason.

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So I'd love to hear what crazy things you

guys have done in the name of wellness.

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I feel like some of these aren't that

crazy, but the kettlebell just made

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me laugh, and so I started reflecting

on some of the things that I've done

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throughout my life and wellness journey.

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And it's not to shame me or anyone else.

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It's just with health and

wellness, it's easy to get caught

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up in trends, and it's easy to

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follow current research when 10 years from

now new research is gonna come out saying,

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"Okay, maybe we were a little too extreme

in this, and we should've been a little

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bit more moderate in this," or vice versa.

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So I hope you guys enjoyed

this little girl talk episode.

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Again, I'd love to hear what crazy things

you've done in the name of wellness,

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So let me know, and I'll see you

guys again on the next episode

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of Wellness Big Sis the pod.