The wellness world is full of flashy supplements, expensive gadgets, and endless advice, but what if better health starts with something much simpler? In this episode of PCOS Unfiltered, Lindsie sits down with wellness coach Jen Brinsmade, founder of Peace and Power Habits, to discuss why mastering the fundamentals is the key to long-term hormone health, energy, and resilience. Together, they explore why hydration, whole foods, strength training, restorative rest, time in nature, and learning to truly listen to your body often have a far greater impact than the latest wellness trends. Jen also shares how she empowers teen girls and young women to build healthy habits early, helping them create confidence and resilience that lasts a lifetime. Whether you're navigating PCOS, supporting a daughter, or simply feeling overwhelmed by conflicting nutrition advice, this episode is a refreshing reminder that sustainable health isn't built through perfection—it's built through consistent, intentional habits. Because healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better.
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⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.
(0:00) You said if you focus on the foundations, right, stay away from all those shiny objects, (0:08) work on the most important things, right? Like the people that are like into the hydrogen water and (0:14) into the, you know, the red light therapy, but they're not eating fresh fruits and vegetables. (0:20) They're not weight training. They're not getting good sleep.Like to me, those are like dial that (0:27) in for your life before you add all that. Cause all that other stuff is like the 1%, right? (0:34) Welcome back to PCOS unfiltered where we ditch the one size fits all advice. (0:39) I'm Lindsie, nurse turned health coach, author of healing beyond the diagnosis and body wisdom (0:44) guide here.I help you understand the messages behind your symptoms. Now, before we get into (0:50) today's guest, I wanted to remind you all that the healthy ever after app is now live. It is (0:55) your one-stop shop for our community podcast, resources, recipes, exclusive content.And when (1:02) you join, you'll instantly receive my free summer sanity guide. You can find the link to download (1:06) on Apple or Android in the show notes. So today my guest is Jen Brinsmade and Jen is passionate (1:13) about empowering the next generation.She is a wellness coach dedicated to helping teen girls
(1:18) and young women embrace and embody optimal mind and body health, resilience, and personal power. (1:25) Starting her own wellness and personal growth journey at 19. She has transformed her life, (1:30) allowing herself to cultivate deep self-awareness, vibrant health, and a purposeful connection to (1:35) herself, to others and nature by adopting proactive health and wellness habits.Now to protect their (1:42) mental and physical health. She believes teen girls and young women not only improve their (1:46) current health and wellness, but also lay the groundwork for a thriving and fulfilling future. (1:52) As a lifelong learner, Jen's approach is firmly rooted in science through her empathetic and firm (1:57) coaching.She creates a safe, empowering environment where teen girls and young women (2:02) can grow into the healthiest and most confident versions of themselves. As always, this podcast (2:08) is intended for educational and informational purposes only, and should not be considered (2:12) medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet,
(2:17) exercise, or treatment plan.Now go ahead and settle in, maybe get ready to take some notes (2:22) and let's dive in. Here is my conversation with Jen Brinsmaid. Hello.Hello. Welcome. Um, (2:34) welcome to Jen.Super excited to have you here and super excited for this conversation. (2:39) Um, you're doing something that I think is super, super important and, and needs to be, (2:47) needs to be heard. So let's kind of dive in and just start with a little bit about you.(2:52) You know, your story, um, and, and how you got into doing what you do. (2:57) Sure. I am Jen.Like you said, um, my company is called Peace and Power Habits and I am a (3:04) wellness coach and I work with teen girls and young women. And I've been, I was a fitness (3:11) trainer before I had kids for 15 years. I've always been wellness.I just live and breathe it. (3:17) Um, but I've always worked with women and about two years ago, actually on the yoga mat, (3:24) I got this download. Something came to me, peace and power habits.I'm like, Hmm, (3:28) that's interesting. I stopped wrote it down because I had no idea what it was, but it (3:33) sounded really cool. And just started questioning and asking and praying about it.And you know, (3:39) what, what is peace and power habits? And it really came to me that peace and power habits was (3:46) specifically teaching teen girls, like our next generation, teen girls, young women, (3:51) women in their early twenties, the personal growth development tools, healthy habits that (3:58) I've been living for over 30 years. Cause I started my wellness journey when I was 19 (4:04) and I've really been super consistent throughout all of these years. Obviously I've learned (4:10) other things than I've added, taken things away, but really the consistency around wellness and (4:17) taking good care of my mind and body.And especially now I feel like it is so needed
(4:24) with the mental health issue that we have with young girls anyway. Um, and I just really felt (4:31) like it was, it, it will be impactful. It's going to be like, to me, it's my life's work (4:37) that I will work with this generation as long as they'll listen to me.(4:41) Maybe I'll be a grandma influencer. Who knows? (4:46) No, that's why, I mean, that's why I wanted to have you on. I think it is super important.(4:50) Um, you know, and I've thought about trying to, you know, to work with, (4:55) work with some of the younger ladies too, because like, especially for me, you know, PCOS, (5:00) we're seeing more and more cases younger and younger and women are understanding, you know, (5:05) younger ages, what's happening to their bodies. And then like you said, on top of it, (5:10) you have the social media, you have all these other outside influences, you know, (5:15) so many distractions that take us away really from listening. I think that that's, you know, (5:21) I, um, have created the eight pillars within peace and power habits, and they're really just (5:27) their habits.Right. And it's the connect part connect is connecting to yourself,
(5:34) connecting to others, connecting to nature, because, you know, we're spending so much time (5:40) and adults too. It's not just kids hours, scrolling and looking outside of ourselves (5:47) and not taking time to go inward and listening because our body tells us lots of things.(5:53) We just tend to just, just disregard it or focus on the distractions. And you know, that (6:00) it that voice is always there. It's just gets quieter when we distract yourself with other (6:05) things outside of herself.Right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's a big theme, you know, (6:11) for me, too, is just listening to your body.And when we're so distracted, and so much other, (6:16) you know, other things going on. We silence that we don't listen. We don't stop.We don't, (6:22) you know, do what our body needs to do. Yeah. So yeah, I mean, your work is not necessarily PCOS (6:30) specific.But again, I think so many, you know, so many girls out there, I mean, (6:35) who knows who's listening, you know, there might be some moms out there that might,
(6:38) this might apply to what's going on, you know, with their girls. But the principles you teach (6:45) are foundational for just a healthy mind and body. So let's kind of dive into those eight (6:51) pillars some more.What makes them so relevant for women and young, young people living, (6:57) you know, with PCOS? Well, you know, like you said, they're foundational. And, you know, again, (7:03) so many shiny objects out there, right? And lots of people trying to distract you with (7:12) what they're selling, what they're trying to, you know, their workouts, you know, these (7:17) young 20 year olds trying to tell people how to work out when I'm like, (7:21) you haven't lived a lot of years, you know, how do you know that? Right. And then there's no, (7:26) you know, disrespect.But I do think there's a lot to be said from living your life and having the
(7:32) experience and the wisdom as you get older. And you can't, you can't make that up. That has to (7:38) just happen as you age.And so, you know, the pillars really are the foundation, in my opinion, (7:46) of a well human, right? Hydration, eating whole foods, not eating a lot of sugar and all of the, (7:56) you know, in the United States, we have a terrible problem with obesity and overweight because of (8:04) the amount of packaged foods that we're eating. Things that are not even, I just can't, it's hard (8:10) to call them food, right? They may satisfy your hunger, but they aren't feeding your cells and (8:18) helping you grow your hormones, helping you grow what a healthy body is, right? So there's that, (8:26) there's the connection piece, like I talked about the restorative piece. It's, you know, (8:33) not just getting good sleep, which is a struggle for so many people.But it's also
(8:39) sitting in silence, right? Being quiet, being still. To me, that's restoration. It doesn't (8:45) have to be, you know, zonking out and being asleep so much.It's just that spending time in peace (8:51) away from your devices, you know, if you can be outside in nature, just listening to the birds, (8:59) allowing your body to feel the sun, you know, getting the vitamin D from the sun, (9:04) absorbing, you know, the negative ions with grounding when you have your feet in the grass (9:08) or on the sand. I mean, there's just so many, those are all, you know, to me, it's very simple. (9:14) What I teach doesn't mean it's easy, but it's simple.And I feel like I've been told this (9:21) for many years of my life, that you just have a way of taking something that seems so overwhelming (9:26) and just simplifying it. And maybe just because I'm simple-minded, I don't know, but it works, (9:32) right? And I mean, it works for talking to teenagers and young women. Like they hang on (9:38) every word.I have a teen empowerment group that I host at my home once a month, and (9:45) they're just questions after questions. And they, you know, not that I believe that I know (9:50) everything, but I live the life, right? I walk the walk. That's just who I am.Like if someone said, (9:58) like someone said, oh, is it WWJD? It's what would Jen do when it comes to health? And it's
(10:08) just because it's just something that I, it is a passion of mine because I feel like we all get (10:14) one body and one mind, and it is our job to take the best care of it as we possibly can. (10:22) And the younger we learn and establish these habits, to me, your life unfolds in a very (10:31) different way. I mean, I'll be 56 this month.I can't believe that. And, you know, I, I've (10:39) gone through all, you know, the cycles, all the cycles, menopause. I'm post-menopause now.(10:45) Perimenopause, menopause was not terrible for me. You know, is that genetic? Maybe a little bit, (10:52) but I do believe that, you know, I started lifting weights when I was 19 and I really never (10:57) stopped. So I do think that there are these habits that I've lived, that I teach really are, (11:05) they will significantly impact, especially girls and women with PCOS, because I just think, (11:13) again, it's just learning how to naturally balance your hormones as best as you can.(11:19) And all those habits do make a huge difference. And I know you as a health coach, I'm sure you (11:24) teach that. Yeah.Yeah. I mean, that's where we definitely align because same thing for me, (11:30) I try to keep it simple. You know, I try to go back to basically what our, what our ancestors
(11:36) did, you know, what, what we used to do before all of the hustle and bustle of everything and (11:42) the technology and all these other things going on.It, you know, when, when people come to me (11:48) and they're like, well, I've tried this diet and this diet and, you know, this thing and do eat (11:52) this, don't eat that. Like, because there's so much going on, I'm like, shouldn't be that complicated, (11:58) you know? And so same. Yeah.It's just like, let's, let's simplify it, you know? (12:03) Well, and when you simplify it, Lindsay, I feel like it just gives a person a chance to exhale. (12:10) Because again, if you are on social media, I mean, I don't spend a lot of time on it. I, I (12:16) create, I don't consume so much.And maybe it's just because I'm older and my brain did not get (12:22) addicted at a young age, but I see it as a gift. I mean, listen, the minute I go on it, I can easily, (12:28) Ooh, I gotta, I gotta save this. I gotta, you know, I gotta learn this.And I mean, it's not, (12:32) it's most of its health and wellness just because that's what I interact with. But again, (12:38) fill your mind up with so much stuff. And then you're like, ah, what do I do? Right.And like (12:45) you said, if you focus on the foundations, right. Stay away from all those shiny objects, (12:53) work on the most important things, right? Like the people that are like
(12:57) into the hydrogen water and into the, you know, the red light therapy, but they're not eating (13:03) fresh fruits and vegetables. They're not weight training.They're not getting good sleep. Like (13:09) to me, those are like dial that in for your life before you add all that. Cause all that other (13:16) stuff is like the 1%, right.And it, and my feeling is, and what I've experienced through (13:23) my work with young girls and teenagers and young women is that you get to them earlier. (13:31) They have a lot less story that they tell themselves, right. We all do it, but they have (13:38) less of, like you said, the diets and all these extra things, and they just want to learn (13:46) foundations, right.What's simple. And then, you know, and also teaching them. I just taught this (13:52) group, my last group about sugar, and we did a visual.And so I asked them, give me your top (14:00) three favorite drinks that you get at store, you know, like the Starbucks of the world, (14:06) or, you know, cause that's, they typically, most of them, their cars drive to Starbucks without (14:10) them, they even trying, they know the direction. So they gave me three drinks and I shared with (14:17) them and I'm sure you know this, but I shared with them consider, because it seems it can be (14:24) confusing when you measure food in grams, consider teaspoons. So for every gram of,
(14:30) for every teaspoon is four grams of sugar.So if your favorite drink has, you know, 40 grams (14:38) of sugar in it, that's 10 teaspoons. And so I had three glasses and we counted. And then the last (14:46) one was, I think what's it, Swig.Do you know the Swig drinks? They are, I think I'm saying it (14:54) correctly. It's huge on TikTok, these Mormon moms who, you know, they're not, they don't drink (15:01) alcohol. They don't drink caffeine.They have these drinks that are laden with sugar, like (15:07) ridiculous, 85 to a hundred grams of sugar per drink. Oh my God. So I started measuring (15:15) and we got up to like, and they're like, stop Ms. Jen, stop.We were like 20, 21. And they're like, (15:21) okay. And all the moms reached out to me, like, whatever you did impacted my daughter.She told
(15:27) me she is not drinking those drinks anymore. So, you know, I got to them. We'll see.We're meeting (15:33) again on Sunday. We're going to follow up on that one. But you know, again, it's just simplifying it, (15:40) helping them understand the simplicity of how to take care of yourself.Because if you don't, (15:48) like, you know, I mean, what's going to happen as you age? Yeah. There's so many negative effects (15:55) to not taking care of yourself as young as you possibly can. Right.They think they'll just (16:01) catch up when they get older, but it's habits. Habits are hard to break. Those neural pathways (16:06) have deep grooves in them based on what you've chosen to do day after day.Right. So, (16:12) yeah. So the earlier I can breathe my wisdom into them, the better.(16:19) I love that. And yeah, I mean, cause I mean, I was even in my, in my twenties, you know, (16:23) thinking you're invincible thinking nothing's going to happen to me. Like I'm in great shape.(16:28) I'm healthy, you know, because my weight is maybe fine or whatever. And you learn your body changes. (16:35) You learn, you know, like, and even looking back, some of those signs where like my body was trying
(16:40) to tell me something and I didn't listen.And, you know, what I thought was like healthy was not (16:45) indeed healthy. So I love that you're showing them, especially with the visual too. Like that's, (16:50) you know, that's awesome.Wake them up a little bit. Yeah. A little fear factor.That's okay. (16:57) Yeah. So since we're kind of talking about drinks, hydration is one of your pillars (17:03) and it is something that often gets overlooked, especially in women with PCOS as well.So why (17:10) do you feel like that matters so much as a foundation, especially when it comes to hormones? (17:15) Well, I, you know, again, it's something that most people don't do well, right. They oftentimes (17:23) drink when they feel thirsty, which we know is already too late and starting your day with even (17:29) a glass of water, adding some electrolytes, the magnesium, the calcium, right. The potassium, (17:36) how important that is to get into ourselves in order for our hormones to balance right.In order (17:43) for our liver to function properly, to be able to filter out the hormones that can be imbalanced.
(17:51) And, you know, again, let's just talk about skin and, you know, our, our entire body, you know, (17:57) we're 70% or so of water and it's up to us to add that into our body in order to (18:04) have everything function properly. And so again, it's just teaching those foundational habits (18:12) in order for us to be able to live the life that's feels a little bit more healthier than, (18:19) than not.Right. But, you know, starting with water in the morning, like I teach my girls that, (18:28) that are in my group. And then I also have an online group, but just, if you can create this (18:33) habit, like as soon as you get up in the morning, have a glass of water, you know, I just, you know, (18:38) there's so many electrolytes out there.I just take a quarter teaspoon of good salt, right. (18:45) Salt that is clean salt that doesn't have, you know, there have been a lot of salts that they've (18:51) found heavy metals in them, but a clean salt, I use Maldon salt and a quarter of a teaspoon (18:58) in water, drink it. Again, it lowers your cortisol in the morning because your cortisol is the (19:05) highest when you first wake up.So lowering that cortisol and just being able to flood the body (19:11) in order to have the hormones have a better chance of balancing out. (19:17) Yeah. Yeah.So as we kind of already mentioned, you know, there's, there's a lot of conflicting
(19:24) nutrition advice out there. And some targets women with PCOS, you know, some might even be (19:30) targeting some of the girls that you, you know, work with. So how does your approach to this (19:35) pillar cut through the noise in a way that actually feels sustainable? (19:40) It's simplicity.It's really that it's focused on what the macronutrients are, right. Your carbs, (19:50) your protein, your fat. I mean, and now today they're, they're really making it obvious that (19:57) we kind of had it all wrong when it was high carb, low fat, right.We've learned that. (20:03) So now, you know, they're focusing on protein, right. Little bit, a lot more protein than we (20:10) ever thought that we needed, you know, up to a gram plus per pound of ideal body weight (20:16) and learning what that looks like in your meals, learning how to, you know, what carbohydrates (20:25) are and why they're important for the body.Because what my experience has been as a lot of teenagers, (20:32) teen girls, they're afraid of carbs. And, and so we get a chance to have those conversations about (20:39) what is your fear, right. What, and what do you believe a carb to be? And yes, a carb, like (20:45) from a drink, right.Drinking your sugar is the worst thing you could possibly do for your body. (20:52) So learning how to eat in order to have the proper nutrients for everything to function (21:00) properly and protein is essential. Carbohydrates are essential and so is fat.And when you learn (21:09) how to eat in a simple way and learn, like looking at a plate and learning that, okay, (21:16) if I have a portion, let's just talk about carbs and protein, right. If I know I'm going to have,
(21:23) let's say three quarters of a cup of chicken, then I'm going to balance that out with the carbs, (21:31) both starchy carbs, whether it's potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, even a piece of bread. (21:37) Then looking at the rest of your carbs being your fruits and vegetables, right.The vegetables, (21:44) especially vegetables that are lower in sugar, you can pretty much eat as much as you want. Your (21:49) body's going to say, I cannot over-consume that because it's so much fiber in it, right. (21:53) But looking at the plate that way, it's really simple, right.I'm a huge proponent for breakfast. (22:01) So this is something I've taught just because there's such a great way to get so much nutrition (22:06) is drinking your breakfast, having a protein smoothie for breakfast because you can throw in, (22:13) you know, your frozen blueberries, your psyllium husk for fiber, your, you know, I put frozen (22:19) broccoli and frozen cauliflower and everybody says, ooh, disgusting, but you cannot taste it. (22:24) Believe it or not, you cannot taste it.So, I mean, think about that. How does that compare (22:29) and then, you know, you've got your protein, whether it's a whey protein, a water-washed (22:34) soy protein, another type of plant protein, you're getting that protein in your body that (22:40) is very hard to get. If you're trying to get in, let's just say, you know, (22:45) 30 to 40 grams of protein, that's hard to do.It's hard to do, especially for breakfast.
(22:51) One egg is only six to seven grams of protein. A lot of times people don't realize that you need (22:56) to eat a lot of eggs for breakfast.It's hard. No, I know. I agree.Yeah. And I mean, (23:01) and that's the thing too, is that sometimes when you just open your eyes to that and like, (23:05) just becoming more aware, you know, just for even a few days, because I don't want to say, (23:11) because I feel like, like we can get obsessed sometimes with tracking all of that. And I try (23:17) to stay away from all that because to me, that's just adding more stress.But if you just start by (23:22) like becoming more aware, so maybe you do track it for a couple of days just to really kind of (23:26) see where you are and, you know, where you need to be. But I think, I love what you just said, (23:31) where you can kind of, you know, eyeball it, learn to eyeball it and still get, you know, (23:36) what you need. And then, yeah, drinking your smoothies, your protein.(23:40) And maybe starting with, you know, I also have a group that I started called Embodiment Strong, (23:48) and it's specifically for women. It's a six-week program to help women get strength training, (23:56) right? It's not whether you're going into the gym or your home, it's vital. And there's so many (24:00) women that are looking to strength train, and they're just still, again, they're afraid to do it.(24:06) So, you know, I've taught them the simplicity of portion control and not, this is just for me, (24:15) I've never, I've never counted my calories. It's more about knowing how much protein I'm getting
(24:22) and then filling it in with vegetables and then adding some healthy fat. That is just, to me, (24:28) it's super simple.Salads, smoothies, stir fries, you know, they're all simple ways to just get (24:36) lots of the micronutrients from fruits and vegetables too. That is something that is (24:41) significantly low for most people. You know, that's seven to 12 cups of, you know, a variety (24:50) of fruits and vegetables.And then if you're an active person, that's up to 20. Like, it's really (24:55) hard to do. You know, knowing that those need to be the majority of what we're consuming and what (25:04) does that look like, right? And then, you know, if you don't really know what is six ounces of (25:10) protein, you know, I have, I created a protein cheat sheet for both my girls and the women group, (25:17) but they, you know, grab a scale if you have one or an inexpensive food scale and just start (25:24) measuring it to go, oh, okay.I see four ounces is about the same, the size of the palm of my hand. (25:30) Okay. Over time, then you just eye it.It doesn't have to be perfect. It does not have to be perfect. (25:36) And I think that that's something that I teach.It's, it is not about perfection. It's about (25:42) progress and not looking back and feeling badly because that's not the way I used to eat. No, (25:47) moving forward.Now, you know, you know what, you know, right? Moving forward. This is what
(25:54) we're going to do. Yeah.Yeah. I mean, and I, I cook that way too. Like I try to, like I, (26:00) I love cooking, but I love simple recipes, ones that don't have a whole lot of ingredients and (26:06) you can just use, you know, spices and some salt and pepper or whatever to just flavor it.(26:12) Because again, it shouldn't be that complicated. (26:15) That's right. Well, and you know, everyone's busy and it's very difficult.You know, (26:21) no one really wants to spend, especially during the week. You know, if you're, if you're a super (26:26) organized person, you've meal prepped and it's, you know, it's super seamless. That is not me.(26:32) I meal prep as far as I cut up, I clean and cut up all my fruits and vegetables, not my fruits, (26:37) so my vegetables, they're in silicone bags or glass containers and I'll make a bunch of chicken (26:43) and a big thing of salmon. And that's it. Cause when my husband travels, it's a joke, but my (26:48) daughter was like, okay, mommy, we're having salmon, sweet potato and steamed broccoli tonight.(26:54) Like you're right. How'd you guess? Because it's just simple and it's healthy and it's balanced.
(27:00) Right.And my husband doesn't like salmon, doesn't like cook salmon. The minute he leaves, I'm like, (27:07) it's a sushi restaurant. Yeah.So, but, but, you know, I do think that that's really, again, (27:14) it is, if you come back to the simplicity of eating and moving and hydrating all the pillars (27:22) there, it really, it really is simple. And just focusing on what's most important for me, (27:30) what am I going to, what's, what's the one habit that I'm going to focus on and get (27:35) really good and consistent at it and then add, you know, and that's really, to me, it doesn't (27:41) have to be all of the pillars. It's more of what do I need most for myself right now? And sitting (27:48) in stillness to listen to your body.What do I need? And then move forward from that. (27:55) That was such an amazing conversation with Jen. I'll be sure to link everything (27:59) in the show notes if you'd like to connect with her. Now, if you're enjoying the podcast, (28:04) come join us inside the healthy ever after app. It's where we continue the conversation with (28:08) community recipes, resources, and exclusive content. Plus you'll get my free summer sanity (28:13) guide just for joining the link is in the show notes for you.And if you love this episode, (28:18) make sure to subscribe, leave a review and share it with someone who needs to hear it (28:22) because healing doesn't come from doing more. It comes from understanding better. (28:27) I'm sending you so much love and I'll see you on the next episode of PCOS unfiltered (28:31) nourish, heal, thrive.