00:00
JJ Virgin
Hey, I’m JJ. PhD dropout. Sorry mom. Turned four time New York Times Best selling author. As a Certified Nutrition Specialist, Fitness hall of Famer and globally recognized leader in health, I’m driven to keep asking the tough questions and use my podcast to simplify the science of health into actionable strategies that help you thrive. I’d also love to hear your thoughts on the show. And here’s the fun part. When you send me your review, I’ll reply to you using my on demand Virtual Me. That’s right, my team and I created a virtual JJ packed with my books, speeches and wisdom so I can personally connect with you. Here’s how you do it. Subscribe and leave an honest review of the podcast. Take a screenshot of your review, text it to 813-565-2627. That’s 813-565-2627. My virtual JJ will reply directly and trust me, this will make your day.

01:09
JJ Virgin
So subscribe now@subscribeetojay.com and text me your review. Let’s Keep Thriving Together Every holiday season I figure out the things I love the most and those are what I gift to all of my friends and family. So this season I decide to do it for you too. I pulled together my absolute favorite health and wellness tools that are gonna be great for you to use, but you can also gift too. They’ll help you stay strong, energized and grounded through the holidays. And I don’t know about you, but when I’m holiday shopping, I always start with me. This season may feel a little chaotic. It feels like it crept up actually. Like yeah, snuck up on us. But it’s the most important time to support your body, right?

01:52
JJ Virgin
Protect your energy and move into the new year feeling strong and powerful, not having to make resolutions to undo what you did over this month. Everything in this guide is something I personally use and trust. The brands I’m gonna talk about in this video are things that I use so that I can stay consistent with my routines wherever I am in the world, improve my recovery, support powerful aging, and keep my metabolism humming even when life gets insane. So let’s dive into the tools that truly make a difference and you stay until the end. I’m going to share a super easy and delicious recipe that you’re going to want to drink all year round. Yes. That’s a tease to stay with me. Okay, let’s start first with Bon Charge. Now you know that I am a crazy person about sleep.

02:37
JJ Virgin
Like I will not steal from sleep because sleep and recovery are literally the foundation for everything, muscle repair, metabolism, hormones, mood, energy. And one of the cool ways that you can support your sleep and your recovery is red light therapy. Now, I’ve been messing around with red light therapy for years. It’s great for supporting your circadian rhythm, it’s great for helping your body wind down, it’s great for inflammation, it’s great for collagen production. And I finally found something that makes it easy for me to be consistent with that. And it is Bon Chard’s red light mask. This mask supports healthier, brighter, firmer skin. It reduces inflammation and it’s got a great calming effect before bed. So it’s one that I love to use and it’s super lightweight so I can travel with it.

03:22
JJ Virgin
The other red light panel I love from Bon Charge is their demi red light panel. Now what’s cool about this is I can move it all over the house so I can use it for my whole body to help me relax again, reduce inflammation, improve mitochondrial function and improve my sleep. And sometimes I will just have it angled right at my foot. I’ve got a foot that I’m trying to heal while I’m working, so it’s really cool to be able to pull it around. But sometimes I’ll do it right in front of my foot face as well because I’m supposed to be doing some special red light for my eyes, per my amazing menopause eye doc, Dr. Ronnie Bonick. And red lights can give you a little mood boost too.

04:00
JJ Virgin
So during the holidays think about stress and streams time go up and red lights can help counter that overstimulation and help you fall asleep easier. And I love that I can pull this red light panel into the bedroom as well. I usually it kind of moves all over the house with me, but it’s a great thing to have just even to put the red lights in the room before bed. So these are two tools I love. I personal use at night and throughout the day, but especially at night for deeper sleep. And if I’m going to go out recharge for my skin. You know how you wear those red light glasses at night to help with sleep.

04:33
JJ Virgin
One of the things that we started messing with years ago was starting to we put red light bulbs into our lights at night because it’s helping to get your neurons, your brain to calm down and not have that blue light from your computers. I love these rituals that you can do that can help you switch from crazy chaotic day to it’s going into nighttime and sleep time and red lights are one of the ways I do that. I cool down the room, we turn the lights into red. You can do that by just using that little mini red light from Boncharge to make your room red. And then you’re set to go. You’re in your power down hour for sleep. And speaking of sleep, oh my gosh, I am obsessed with Oslo. Obsessed.

05:14
JJ Virgin
I got sent these little Oslo earbuds and I’m like, huh, what the heck are these? And I just kind of threw them in my suitcase. And I didn’t think anything about it because most of the time I. I don’t use any kind of sound reduction stuff at home. Occasionally I need to, though someone might be snoring, it could be the dog. So I threw them in my suitcase. And were staying at a hotel and literally it was so noisy. If I hadn’t had these, because Tim didn’t have them, I just had them. My husband, so poor Tim, he used the regular old earplugs. Those did not work because these are not earplugs. They are actually like. They’re these amazing earbuds that are really a tool for helping you sleep better. Anyway, back to the story.

05:57
JJ Virgin
So there I was, I had them, I charged them on up, I put them in. Now, first of all, I will tell you that I have weird ears. I do not like things in my ears. Whenever I try to wear something in my ears, I pull it out in the middle of the night, throw it across the room. I didn’t even notice these were in my room, my ears, even when I slept on my side, which is incredible. I mean, I’m really picky about this. I actually sleep travel with my own pillow. And I now use these earbuds. And I’m fine at night on my side. So you turn them to whatever white noise you love. And so I like just kind of a little sound of a rainfall.

06:29
JJ Virgin
And what I’ve noticed is that it not only helps me fall asleep and stay asleep, but, boy, I can tune out anything from any of these hotel rooms, which was such a big stressor when I was traveling because I couldn’t jam these other earplugs in enough to ever tune out the sound. And the way the alarm comes up in the morning is like this soothing thing, not this, like, jarring. Oh, my gosh, wake up. And this is so important because, you know, if you don’t sleep well, your cortisol’s up, your ghrelin’s down, you’re hungry, you’re not recovering, you’re insulin resistant. One poor night of sleep and you’re more insulin resistant. It’s wild, so odds low. This is like a wearable breath technology that can reset your nervous system in minutes. Now, you can use it.

07:12
JJ Virgin
I use it for sleep, but you can actually use it during the day again as a nervous system reset. So this could be a great gift for someone who’s struggling with sleep, who travels a lot or who’s got anxiety or some stress. I think maybe I’ve just named every person everywhere, and literally, I think of the places I’ve been with these Oslos. I was on a girls trip in Mexico and pulled them out and I had to, like, hide them, so no one stole them, but everybody ordered them as soon as I started to talk about what they did. They are quite incredible. And think about something where you can actually find your perfect amount of white noise again. This can be something great. I just thought about this.

07:52
JJ Virgin
Now I’m going to pull them on the airplane as well, because the airplane drives me batty when I’m trying to work, and there’s, like, all this stuff going on around me. Think about how much better your life can be when you do not have to worry about noise when you’re sleeping. And you could also do something throughout the day that can help literally reduce your stress in minutes. Yes. And then think about who else in your life would benefit from that and who will love you forever. Like, literally. Oslo is the number one thing that I’m gifting this holiday season. I admit it. Okay. If you come over to my house in the morning and you go, where is JJ? Where is she? She’s not in her bed. She’s not in the bathroom. She’s not in the gym. No.

08:37
JJ Virgin
Because every morning when I’m home, I am in my sunlight and sauna. I am a huge sauna fan, and I especially love the sauna, the sunlight and sauna, because it’s an infrared sauna. It’s great for longevity detox and overall metabolic health. And I just feel so good in. I know it’s helping me reduce inflammation, recover. It can be anabolic. It helps me recover from my workouts, and I get this great deep sweat. It’s like I went and did an extra cardio training. In fact, my favorite setting on the sunlight and is their cardio setting. I do that for 45 minutes in the morning and work in the sauna, and it just feels great. What’s fantastic is you’ve got both the heat and the infrared in there, which really helps give you Great results. I see this as one of the most important hacks.

09:26
JJ Virgin
Like I don’t really like biohacking. I feel like you need to earn them. But I feel like this should be a foundational tool in everybody’s house. Like if you’re gonna add one thing into your routine and one thing to your house as equipment, this would be the thing that I would have you put in. It is just that important to have. We started with the two person one, then we got a bigger one so that we could both stretch out in there. So we have, I think it’s a four person, maybe it’s a six person sauna, but I just added absolutely love this. I have now had sunlight and saunas for I think 10 years. So when you’re thinking sauna, think detox. Cardiovascular health, relaxation, longevity and boy, are you going to be the best Santa ever if you gift someone this.

10:13
JJ Virgin
I have been a big fan of green tea ever since I lived in Japan. Gosh, 40 years ago. I learned early about all the amazing health benefits of green tea. But you get those health benefits on steroids. When you use peak tea, you’re getting great gut health, you’re getting daily calm, soothing, great antioxidants. So I do a lot of peak tea. I try to do two packets a day, sometimes three of their matcha of their pu erh, the fermented pu erh. And because I’m getting great polyphenols and antioxidants. And what’s awesome about this is has a little caffeine but also a theanine. So you get a little lift but without any kind of jitters or stress. It’s a little afternoon hit for me if I need it. I also love to put it in my gym bottle.

11:00
JJ Virgin
So my gym bottle is pique tea, my essential amino acids, my amino acid power, my electroreplenish and my chiotine. That’s my magic combo. But I also travel with my peak tea. Don’t leave home without it because I know what it does for my digestion, for my skin and for my nervous system. So what a great gift to give someone. Like all of those things. Plus it tastes amazing and once you try this like you will never go back to those just like plain old regular teas. You’ve got pu’ er fermented green tea. You are going to get such a higher polyphenol hit from this than you would ever get from one of those store bought brands. Yes, I’m sounding a little snotty when I say that, but I really mean that.

11:46
JJ Virgin
So build your hydration routine with Pu’ erh with some of these amazing pique teas. And I think it’d be super cool to do a little fun gift where you got, like, a great mug and some peak. And that would be just a beautiful gift to give someone what a great friend you could be. I also did a great video on this. It’s my exact supplement routine to stay strong, lean, and energized after 50. And in that, I talk about how to use Pu erh green tea. So this is, I think, one of the most underrated wellness gifts that you will be loved for. I admit it, I’m a total skincare junkie. But you know what? I’ve managed to really whittle down my skincare routine thanks to my friends, the amazing scientist gals over at One Skin. This is such an incredible product.

12:37
JJ Virgin
So I’d heard of all about senescent cells, and One Skin is the skin care line that targets senescent age cells. And what does this do? This affects your skin’s firmness, its texture. So using One Skin helps create smoother, stronger, more resilient skin. I use, actually all their stuff, so I use their hair serum. My hairstylist, who is, like, probably the most jaded hairstylist out there, I’m always saying, I’m going to try this. She’s like, snarky looks. I came in, she goes, what have you done to your hair? And I thought she was going to say something like, what I do to my hair? She goes, what is it? Why is it so much thicker? Why is it so much healthier? It was One Skin hair serum. I’d only been using it, I think, four or six weeks when she noticed this.

13:17
JJ Virgin
So I use their hair serum every day. I use their body lotion, I use their tinted sunscreen. I use their eye stuff, I use their face, I use their facial cleanser. It’s really amazing. And after I did my interview with Alessandra Zonari, this is a great podcast on how to reverse cellular aging. Once I did that, I was like, I am all in. I already was in because I noticed the difference. And you know how many skincare products you use, and you’re like, nothing happened. What am I supposed to tell here? I always can tell if something’s working because, like, I won’t stop using it. I will push the other things out of the way. And literally, I used to. I always seem to have a whole bunch of stuff on my counter. Not anymore. Because I found One skin.

14:02
JJ Virgin
So give this one a try. They’ve also got a really cool lip formula, too. It makes for a beautiful gift, and I would honestly say a beautiful gift for you. Start with you friends. Don’t let other friends look fabulous without looking fabulous yourself. Right? So this is one you deserve. And then you’ll want a gift. And you know what? It’s going to make your skincare routine super easy. Now, if you’ve been following, you probably seen that I have a little foot thing going on. Old broken foot that’s really been bugging me. And thankfully that my friends at Hyperice have been saving me, rescuing me, because I’m not going to stop. You know, you got to have your muscle mass in order to age powerfully, and in order to have that, you got to recover well. But I’ve got this sore foot.

14:49
JJ Virgin
So I have been using Hyperice, these great compression boots and this amazing foam roller that’s a vibrating foam roller and a massage gun to help me with this foot, because the foot now, of course, is going up my leg and giving me all sorts of muscle soreness. This is like magic. Walking around the house in these great boots and using this foam roller. What an incredible cool gift to give someone. Like a vibrating foam roller that just literally pulls the tension out of your muscles. Oh, my gosh. And think about your friends who are starting a resistance training program or just feel a little inflamed because menopause. Hello. This is one of the coolest things you can give them. Or one of these great massage guns. Basically, Hyperice is the thing for recovery.

15:38
JJ Virgin
If you don’t recover well, you’re not gonna be able to work out. Well, this has taken up a bunch of space on my recovery shelf because it works so darn well has made such a difference in my life. So think about it. Who in your life, probably starting with you, needs help recovering faster or moving better? Hello, everyone. So I think this is the ultimate great gift, especially for your buddies who are saying it’s time for me to start resistance training. This is a great gift to give to them. About four years ago, my husband came home with Qualia Senolytic. Now, I knew the founders of Qualia because we used to live in San Diego, and so did they, and were buddies, and they are super smart. Like, I was blown away by them.

16:16
JJ Virgin
And they come out with this product that you use two days a month that helps with cellular aging, energy and joint support. And so we started using it and I didn’t really think much about. And then all Of a sudden I’m going, you know, it’s interesting because when things stop hurting, you forget that you ever had the issue. Then all of a sudden I’m like, oh, what did I do differently? Qualia synolytic. Why is it helping? Well, Qualia targets senescence. These zombie cells, these are the worn out cells that we should be getting rid of. But as we age, we don’t do it so well. So they build up and they actually start making other good cells bad. And then they impact your performance, your recovery.

16:53
JJ Virgin
And when you get rid of these cells, when you clear them out, better energy, better focus, improved recovery. But for me, the number one thing that I’m looking at because of all the dumb things I did when I was a teenager. Mom, I know, you told me, I didn’t listen. Stronger joint function, reduced pain in my joints. Hello. Oh my gosh. What’s so cool about Syndic? You take it two days a month. Two days a month. It is like, to me, the biggest, most important piece of a longevity stack is to make sure you’re getting rid of those old senescent cells that are speeding up aging. Right? So this kind of just turns back the clock. And again, the way that you’re going to use this is two days a month.

17:36
JJ Virgin
Now what I do is the two nights before I have a low protein dinner and I give myself a little bit longer overnight, fast, and I stop using my Qualia nad for those two days and then I go back into it and use a couple of their other products. So again, we can include that too. So you can give all of that to your friends. And I’m assuming that you will, of course start with you as well, because this literally is, I think, one of the top breakthroughs out there in healthy aging. It’s kind of crazy to think that something you could take two days a month could make that kind of impact. And it does, and you will notice it. So give it a shot, follow back up in three months and just see how you feel overall.

18:18
JJ Virgin
And you’ll say, wow, I have like energy, mobility, resilience, et cetera. You’re going to rock it. Okay, now I promised that I was going to share a holiday treat that feels indulgent, but it supports great sleep and healthy aging. And it’s super simple. So get ready to write it all down. Okay, ready? You’re going to need one to two scoops of Living Ratio Cacao Calm. I love this. Living Ratio Cacao Calm Mushroom chocolate. And then you’re also going to need my reignite Wellness Collagen and then my favorite coffee brand, Purity Their Decaf Calm Coffee or their sacred cups. Now what you’re going to do is you’re going to brew your decaf coffee, you’re going to add in the collagen and add in the Living Ratio. I just do one scoop of Living Ratio.

19:05
JJ Virgin
You can do one, you can go a little wild and do two. If you want to add a little splash of one of your favorite nut milks, feel free to do that and then blend it on up. I love this. I do this in the evening. Sometimes I’ll do this as like a dessert after dinner. It’s a great nighttime ritual and it feels like a treat, but it also helps you slide into sleep. Yum. I hope this holiday guide helps you choose gifts that truly support the health and well being of the people you love. Starting with you, these brands are in my home, all over my home, in my daily routine, in my suitcase, and in my family’s routine for a reason. They help me feel strong, calm and energized all year long.

19:44
JJ Virgin
Remember, aging is a privilege, but aging powerfully is a choice and I hope this guide helps you choose tools that make that journey easier and more fun. The link to the guide is in the description below. Happy holidays and I’ll see you soon. Be sure to join me next time for more tools, tips and techniques you can use to look and feel your best and be built to last. Also, I’d love to connect with you and hear your thoughts on the podcast. Here’s how. First, subscribe to the podcast and leave an honest review. Second, take a screenshot of your review and third, text it to 813-565-2627. That’s 813-565-2627. When you do, I’ll reply using my brand new Virtual JJ. It’s my on demand virtual self built from my books, talks and years of experience so I can interact with you directly.

20:49
JJ Virgin
You’ll make my day and I can’t wait to hear from you. Thanks for tuning in and I’ll catch you on the next episode. Hey JJ here. And just a reminder that the well Beyond 40 podcast offers health, wellness, fitness and nutritional information that’s designed for educational and entertainment purposes only. You should not rely on this information as a substitute for nor does it replace professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you have any concerns or questions about your health, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional. Make sure that you do not disregard, avoid or delay obtaining medical or health related advice from your healthcare professional because of something you may have heard on the show or read in our show notes. The use of any information provided on the show is solely at your own risk.

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