Vanessa G Fitcast

What if the thing standing between you and your health goals isn’t another supplement, but a conversation you’ve been avoiding?  Omar and I are back this week, fresh off our team retreat and feeling full after a weekend with people who challenge us to grow. That got me thinking about a viral post from Dr. Sarah Campbell that I read aloud in this episode, asking whether it’s histamine or three...

I was chatting with a postpartum friend and she asked "are there ways to prevent the hormonal crash postpartum?" My take is that you can't really prevent the postpartum hormonal crash, but you can absolutely support your body through the transition. And I think it's important to distinguish those two things. There's also a misconception that the dramatic drop in hormones after birth is inherently...

If you've been told your endometriosis is "just a bad period" or that your estrogen looks fine so nothing is wrong, this conversation is for you.  This week I'm joined by Elizabeth, one of our functional health practitioners at Vital Spark, for a deep dive into endometriosis. Omar is sitting this one out, and I'm taking the role of the listener so Elizabeth can educate us on what is actually...

If you've ever said "I just feel inflamed" but couldn't explain what that actually means, this episode is for you.  Today, I'm breaking down one of the topics women ask me about constantly: chronic inflammation.  We start by naming something that surprised a lot of people: inflammation is not the enemy, and your body needs it to heal. The real problem is when your body can't turn it back...

If you could only run one lab test to figure out what's going on in your body, which one should it be?  I used to make the same mistake many functional health practices still make: cherry-picking lab tests based on whichever symptoms are loudest. If you have irregular cycles, it seems logical to test hormones first, but that's like cleaning trash out at the bottom of the river without ever lo...

What if the best thing you could do for your gut health... is absolutely nothing? Omar and I are back this week, and yes, he's sporting a bandage under that hat after a gym equipment build gone slightly wrong.  But the real topic of this episode came from something I noticed about my own weekend: a slow, restful Saturday and Sunday left me feeling leaner, calmer, and more energized by Monday...

We tend to look at results as an overnight thing… “I have been on top of my health and habits for the last 3 weeks but still don’t feel much better… this isn’t working. This is too hard. I quit!” But yesterday Coach Elizabeth said “your results are the receipts from the last 100 days” While I don’t think 100 days is some magic number, I think the idea of expanding our time horizon to evaluate our...

I'm back from maternity leave, and in this episode Omar and I are sharing the full story of Marina's birth.  We'll start with how I landed on a home birth, something I never expected to choose, and walk through the conversations and experiences that slowly shifted my perspective away from just assuming I'd birth in a hospital.  I talk about the fear I initially had around birth itself, h...

Welcome to the eighth and final episode of the Coach's Corner Series! Today, I sit down with Coach Rae to talk about something we don't see many functional health companies address: relationship with food.  We dig into why diet culture and social media have made it so hard for women to feel at peace with food, from the Britney Spears waist era to today's constant stream of body trends. ...

Welcome to the seventh episode of the Coach's Corner Series! Today I'm joined by Coach Lindsay, and we're getting real about what's actually not working in the functional health space, even when practitioners mean well.  We break down five major red flags to watch for, starting with practitioners who don't address nutrition beyond a generic food list. We talk about why using supplements as a banda...

Welcome to the sixth episode of the Coach's Corner Series! In this Coach's Corner episode, I sit down with Coach Krista to talk about something so many moms carry silently: guilt. We dig into why women, especially moms, feel guilty spending time, money, and energy on their own health, even when their families would benefit most from them doing so. Krista shares her belief that if you teach the mom...

Welcome to the fifth episode of the Coach's Corner Series! In this Coach's Corner episode, I sit down with Coach Soraya to unpack one of the most misunderstood topics in wellness: detoxification.  Soraya shares her own journey from years of over-exercising and chronic restriction to discovering that her body needed support, not more discipline, a shift that accelerated after becoming a mom.  We br...

Welcome to the fourth episode of the Coach's Corner Series! Pregnancy and postpartum are often centered around the baby, but what about the mom? In this episode, I sit down with one of our functional health practitioners, Elizabeth, to talk about what actually happens to your metabolism, hormones, thyroid, and gut health after giving birth.  We unpack why so many women feel dismissed when they're...

Welcome to the third episode of the Coach's Corner Series! We live in a culture that celebrates being busy, but very few people stop to ask what that constant pace is actually doing to their bodies.  In this episode, I'm joined by Vital Spark Coach Mackenzie for an honest conversation about the connection between chronic stress, mindset, and physical health. We explore why stress isn't just emotio...

Welcome to the second episode of the Coach's Corner Series! Today's episode is the second episode in our Coach's Corner series, and this is where I am sitting down with our just incredible functional health coaches, functional health practitioners from the Vital Spark coaching team, and we are exploring some of the most common questions, topics, challenges, things that we see come up in the world...

Welcome to the first episode of the Coach's Corner Series! This is a special series where I'm sitting down with the incredible functional health coaches and practitioners from the Vital Spark Coaching team to dive deeper into some of the topics we help clients navigate every day. One of the things I love most about our team is that each coach brings their own unique experiences, expertise, and per...

Check Out Sahil Bloom's Newsletter That Inspired This Episode What if having more choices is actually making you less satisfied with the life you're building?  In this episode, we explore a fascinating psychological study from Harvard that challenges the common belief that keeping your options open always leads to better outcomes.  You'll discover why our minds respond differently to permanent dec...

What if the biggest thing holding back your gut health isn't the supplement you're missing but the habits you repeat every single day? In this episode, I'm breaking down the simple, foundational practices that support healthy digestion long before you ever consider probiotics, parasite cleanses, or specialized gut testing. We often get asked which supplements or lab tests someone should start with...

What if the reason tracking macros isn't working anymore has nothing to do with your discipline? In this episode, I break down one of the most common frustrations I hear from women: "I used to track macros, lose weight, and see results. Now I do the exact same thing and nothing happens.".  I want to share the story of how I once believed macros were the magic solution to fat loss, only to realize...

Everyone wants to know how "bounce back" after having a baby. The truth is, that's not the goal. In this episode, I'm sharing my postpartum fitness plan and the approach I'll be taking during those first weeks and months after birth. Instead of jumping straight into workouts, fat loss, or trying to get my body back as quickly as possible, I'll be prioritizing recovery, sleep, healing, and listenin...

What if the amount of exercise you actually need for long-term health is far less than you've been led to believe? In this episode, I'm breaking down some fascinating claims from longevity expert Dr. Amy Killen that completely challenge the "more is better" approach many women have been taught when it comes to fitness. One statistic in particular caught my attention: her claim that women may achie...

Most women who struggle with binge eating never talk about it. I'm changing that today. In this episode, I get personal about my own journey with binge eating, tracing it back to my early twenties and walking through the slow, nonlinear process of working through it over the past decade. This is not a quick fix episode. There is no finish line moment, no single breakthrough that made it all click....

What if burning more calories had less to do with punishing workouts and more to do with how you live your everyday life?  In this episode, we’re breaking down 10 low-effort ways to support your metabolism without adding hours of cardio or exhausting yourself in the gym. Because the truth is, your metabolism is running 24/7 and small habits repeated consistently can have a much bigger impact than...

In this deeply personal episode, I'm sharing the full arc of my health journey, from my days as a Division I equestrian athlete at UGA to the years of frustration, confusion, and rock bottom moments that ultimately led me to functional health.  I open up about how the pressure to maintain a certain body composition as a college athlete first pushed me toward disordered eating habits, setting the s...

The best athletes in the world aren't consistent because their lives are calm. They're consistent because they've learned how to get back on track, fast.  In this episode, we're breaking down the one trait that actually separates the ultra consistent from everyone else, and it has nothing to do with willpower or discipline. We're diving into the real reason you keep falling off your health routine...