Food For Your Soul: Dawn McGee
A joyful healthy lifestyle doesn’t require perfection. It starts with small, consistent habits that reset your energy and bring you back to center.
The holiday season is filled with joys and gratitude. We’ll spend the coming weeks gathering with loved ones, celebrating shared traditions.
In these moments of joy, you may find yourself reflecting on your lifestyle–how you live outside of the holidays, your wins throughout the year, and your perceived failures.
If a healthier lifestyle was part of your goals for 2025, and you feel that you’ve fallen short, let’s step back and reframe. Every small change is a victory.
Instead of focusing on what you didn’t accomplish, focus on the changes in your lifestyle that helped you feel healthy and joyful. Sometimes we have to get back to the basics to ensure our healthy lifestyle is still filled with joy.
Here are a few tips to help you get back to basics and live a joyful, healthful lifestyle.
Let Go of Stress
Let’s be honest: the world feels heavy.
No matter your circumstances or opinions, the weight of the world is very real right now. And that weight takes a toll, both physically and emotionally.
Stress:
- Elevates your cortisol
- Increases inflammation
- Disrupts clear thinking
- Pulls you out of planning and into constant reaction mode
And whether it’s happening in your health, your family, or your business, the impact is the same.
Make a deliberate effort to lower your stress. You can start by noticing, in moments of stress, whether you are responding or reacting.
Recently, I caught myself in that classic pattern:
- Trying to finish a task (updating my email sequence!)
- Feeling the pressure to check it off
- Getting frustrated that it wasn’t quite flowing
- Wanting to force it
Instead, I had to pause. I literally said to myself, “Dawn, stop. Put it aside. Come back later.” (Easier said than done, especially for us Type-A, list-checking people, right?) But it worked. And when I slept on it and took my coach’s advice to let it marinate, the creativity started to flow again.
Take Intentional Breaks to Reset Your Mind
You can also lower your daily stress by taking intentional breaks.
You can build breaks into your day:
I take a walk every day, often twice.
30 minutes at lunch.
30 minutes at the end of my workday.
And no, I don’t check emails during that walk. It’s a true step away. It gives my brain room to breathe and reset. And I come back more focused and energized.
If you can’t take 30 minutes, start with 15. Or even 10.
A Joyful Healthy Lifestyle Starts With Simple Habits Like Hydration
It’s so basic that it may sound silly at first, but trust me: there’s a high likelihood that you aren’t getting enough water most days.
Make sure you plan hydration into your schedule. It starts with making a habit of drinking water when you first wake up. If you’re leaving the house to go to work, carry a water bottle with you.
When you go out for a meal, order a glass of water–even if you’ve ordered another drink.
And when you aren’t feeling well, start by hydrating.
Move Your Body, Clear Your Mind
In light of more heartbreaking gun tragedies this year I’ve been reflecting even more deeply on the importance of mental and emotional health, and how movement plays a critical role in supporting both.
I know from personal experience that when life starts piling up, when my brain starts spinning, and when emotions feel too big to name, movement helps.
Even a walk around the block can calm the nervous system, clear the fog, and give your brain the space to untangle itself.
You don’t need a full workout. You just need to start where you are.
Walk the dog. Dance in your kitchen. Stretch for 10 minutes. Take a lap around the block between meetings. Every little bit counts.
Revisit Your Food Foundations
If you’ve found yourself making food choices that don’t support how you want to feel as we head into the holidays, you’re not alone.
I’m right there with you. Between life shifts and business changes, my body is definitely feeling the impact.
That’s why I’m going back to the basics of PFC-balanced eating:
Protein.
Fat.
Carbs.
I’m focusing on meals every 3-4 hours, cutting down on inflammatory foods, and even exploring food sensitivity testing for more personalized insight.
This isn’t punishment, it’s support. For my body, my brain, and my energy.
Use Journaling to Reflect on Your Relationship With Food
It’s never a bad time to revisit your food foundations. If journaling is helpful for you, consider writing:
- How you think about food as a foundation for health
- What emotions come up when you think about food
- What’s working in your current food foundations, and what isn’t
Remember: this is about your health and your relationship with food. Give yourself permission to rethink and restructure your foundation.
Stay Grateful
When we practice gratitude as a part of our healthy lifestyle, we invite joy into our lives. So don’t forget to live with gratitude.
I hope these tips help you to reframe your healthy lifestyle choices, get back to basics, and enter the holiday season–and the new year–with joy and gratitude.
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About The Author:
Dawn McGee is a Nutrition Evangelist and Lazy Cook. She is super passionate about putting the fun back into being healthy and does that by teaching women how to eat to serve their body, brain, and soul so that they can get off the sidelines and back to doing all of the things that bring them joy. She works with women who are ready to make their health a priority and just need someone to help them get started and guide them through the process.
Dawn has been coaching clients in person, online, in groups, and in a 1:1 capacity for more than a dozen years. Prior to becoming a nutrition and fitness coach, she spent over 25 years in the high-tech industry, so she truly understands the life of busy professional women.
Are you a fellow professional in the fitness or wellness industry? Did you know that Dawn spent 35+ years honing her skills in sales, marketing, and business strategy–and 20+ years in the Wellness industry? Now she is using what she knows to support entrepreneurs like you. If you’re ready to move into the next phase of your business journey, schedule a complimentary call with Dawn here or email her at
