You eat better than most people you know.
You take the supplements, you have worked on your sleep, you have tried the probiotics, and you may have cut half the grocery store out of your kitchen.
And you are still not where you thought you would be by now.
So why aren't you feeling better?
My name is Gail Cattoor.
I run Harmony Health and Education in Craig, Colorado, and I work with women over 40 who are doing all the right things.
That question is most of my working life.
[CLIENT: your own starting point here. The one specific moment this work began for you, in two or three sentences. Where you were, what you were doing, and what sent you looking for a different question. Keep it about your situation and your search, never a diagnosis and never a health outcome. The general disclaimer that covers this now sits under the video and is not read aloud, so nothing belongs here except your own account.]
You are not the problem in this story.
Here is what your week looks like, and tell me if I have it wrong.
Somewhere around three in the afternoon you go looking for something quick, because carbs and sugar are the fastest energy on offer and you have a second half of the day to get through.
Dinner is the meal you cooked properly, the one with the vegetables in it, and an hour later it is sitting in you like a paperweight.
The bathroom tells you the food is not being used the way it should be.
And there is a cabinet in your kitchen with eleven bottles in it that you cannot point at and say what any single one of them did for you.
None of that is laziness.
You have read more about this than most people ever will.
The trouble is that every expert you follow has one more thing to add, and every one of them sounds like something you should be doing, so the list grows and the answer does not arrive.
And the fear underneath it is not that you will fail.
It is that you are doing all of it in the wrong order and nobody is ever going to tell you.
Look.
I am not going to stand here and tell you the last three people you listened to were frauds.
Most of them were telling you something true.
They were probably giving generalizations or protocols that work for most people, you aren't most people.
That is the whole of it.
One person's fuel can be another person's poison.
The vegetable that is the healthiest thing on the plate for the woman sitting next to you can be the hardest thing you ate all week, and no plan written for most people can know that about you.
So you did what anyone would do with a list of true things.
You started adding.
Probiotics, because someone said gut.
Sleep, because someone said cortisol.
Half the grocery store gone, because someone said inflammation.
Every one of those is a reasonable move.
In no particular order.
No order at all.
Does that mean everything you have been doing was wrong?
No.
It means you have been doing good work in an order nobody chose for you, and effort in the wrong order looks exactly like effort that failed.
So here is the different question.
Not what should I add.
Where does my body need me to start.
I work with a client to find the missing link in a chronic health struggle by identifying what one particular body needs, instead of handing over a one-size-fits-all protocol.
The way in is your terrain type.
There are five of them, and you already have one, with a runner-up underneath it.
Liver type, where the question is whether your body is asking for less burden before it asks for more intervention.
Microbiome type, where your gut may deserve the first investigation.
Easy digestion type, where before obsessing over what you are eating, you look at how well you are digesting it.
Chill out type, where your digestive system may not be operating independently of your stress response.
And sleepy type, where your body is not asking you to push harder, it is asking you to investigate why the battery will not recharge.
Your terrain type is not a diagnosis and it is not a label you are stuck with.
It is a starting point.
It is where the conversation begins, so that the good food and the effort you are already putting in have somewhere to land.
And I would rather explain the reasoning to you than hand you a sheet of instructions.
That is the real difference between me and a protocol, and it is the one you can check in the first ten minutes of talking to me.
I teach rather than prescribe.
Nobody can tell you what your body will do, and anybody who does is selling you something.
Here is what I have.
A free first call, then a 60 minute consultation, which is the difference in its most concrete form: a conversation that starts with your terrain, not a protocol handed to everyone.
A practice built on functional medicine, functional nutrition and whole-body health.
There are four reviews on the Harmony Health and Education listing in Craig, Colorado, and you can go and read them without me telling you what they say.
Every result I send out carries a line telling you to talk to your healthcare provider about anything that has been going on, and I put that line there on purpose.
Education is the mission here rather than a layer over the top of the selling, which is why I can send you to check with somebody else without it costing me anything.
The first conversation costs nothing.
That is not a discount and it is not a trick, it is the only honest way I know to find out whether I am the right person to be looking at this with you.
After that there is a full consultation, and behind that there is a longer piece of work for the women who want it.
Sixty minutes is the offer.
It is enough time for the real question to come out, which is usually not the question you booked with, and it is the reason I do not do fifteen minute appointments.
I am not putting a price in this video, because what it costs belongs in a conversation where you can ask me about it.
What you are being sold is a conversation, and I am paid for the ones that go past the free call, which you should know before any money moves.
Book a free call and start by finding your terrain type, the one place your body needs support first, instead of adding one more thing.
Bring the result you already have, bring the health struggle you have not been able to solve, and we will start decoding what your body is signaling instead of guessing.
There is no link on this video yet, so the way to reach me is to message me and tell me which type you landed on.
[CLIENT: your booking link or phone number goes here, and the exact words you want said around it.]
[CLIENT: one sentence on the person you most love watching get her answer. Who she was when she came to you, in situation terms rather than health terms.]
You already eat better than most people you know.
You do not need one more thing on the pile.
You need to know where to start.
> This is educational information and is not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult a qualified healthcare professional before beginning any new supplement, diet, or wellness program. Individual results vary. Any client experience shared in this video is one individual's experience and results are not typical.
Why do women over 40 doing all the right things keep getting handed one more thing to add?
Nobody's short on things to add. What's missing is the order they go in. The order. There are 3 systems doing that job and they don't come with the advice, so steal them.
1. Order system.
2. One-change system.
Think of the order back at Thanksgiving when there's one oven and 6 dishes and the turkey's been in since 9 in the morning and somebody walks in at 3 holding a casserole that needs 40 minutes, and nobody's arguing about whether the casserole is good, everybody knows it's good, the argument is about a shelf that doesn't exist, and the rule in that kitchen is the same rule every year, longest cook goes in first⦠first
Because it's rarely about what somebody handed you and more so about what's in the oven and when it went in.
3. Reading system.
The reason the one friend you trust with a question like this never hands you a list is she asks what you changed and when you changed it. And then she waits.
#wheretostart #onethingatatime
Nobody's short on things to add. What's missing is the order they go in.
This is for the woman who is already eating better than most people she knows, already takes the supplements, and still can't say which part was supposed to come first.
Three systems do that job: the order, the one change, and reading the result. None of them is another thing to buy. They just don't come attached to the advice.
One oven, 6 dishes, and the turkey went in at 9. Nobody in that kitchen argues about whether the casserole is good. Longest cook goes in first.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point?
#wheretostart #onethingatatime
Why do women over 40 doing all the right things keep getting handed one more thing to add?
Nobody's short on things to add. What's missing is the order they go in.
There are 3 systems doing that job and they don't come with the advice, so steal them.
It's rarely about what somebody handed you and more so about what's in the oven and when it went in.
The reason the one friend you trust with a question like this never hands you a list is she asks what you changed and when you changed it. And then she waits.
Why do women over 40 buying the best food on the shelf still ask if it's doing anything?
I want to tell you where my own story starts, because the start is the piece that never makes the highlight reel.
People see the work I do now. They don't see the nurse who worked through COVID, or March 5, 2022, when I sat down for one tuning fork session as a last resort.
And as much as the internet loves a one-session story, this isn't one. That session didn't hand me answers. It sent me looking, and I spent the years after it learning the science behind it.
And because I'm always straight with you⦠did I think a last resort would turn into my life's work? Not for a second.
But I'm SO grateful for every one of those years, because they taught me to ask before I hand anything over, to look at the order things go in, and to stop assuming one plan fits every woman. My last resort became my life's work. The tuning fork was where it turned. The work now is food, the table, and where to start.
So if you're buying the best food on the shelf and still wondering whether it's doing anything, don't assume you picked wrong.
And I promise you that question is the right place to start, right NOW.
So give yourself permission to ask it.
You're not wasting good food. You're at the start π±
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? I'm cheering you on from here π
People see the work I do now. They don't see the nurse who worked through COVID, or March 5, 2022, when I sat down for one tuning fork session as a last resort.
That session didn't hand me answers. It sent me looking, and I spent the years after it learning the science behind it.
My last resort became my life's work. The tuning fork was where it turned. The work now is food, the table, and where to start.
So if you're buying the best food on the shelf and still wondering whether it's doing anything, give yourself permission to ask.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point?
#mylastresort #wheretostart
Why do women over 40 buying the best food on the shelf still ask if it's doing anything?
People see the work I do now. They don't see the nurse who worked through COVID, or March 5, 2022, when I sat down for one tuning fork session as a last resort.
That session didn't hand me answers. It sent me looking, and I spent the years after it learning the science behind it.
My last resort became my life's work. The tuning fork was where it turned. The work now is food, the table, and where to start.
You're not wasting good food. You're at the start.
Why do women over 40 eat the perfect dinner standing up and answering one more message?
(Nobody's asking you to cook a better dinner. You already did that part.)
Start by taking a few things away:
β’ take the phone off the table (in the next room, not face down beside your fork)
β’ take the standing out of it (any chair counts, even the one by the counter with the mail piled on it)
β’ take one job off the meal (the laundry and the 6:15 text from work can WAIT)
Three take-aways that actually work, and every one of them fits inside tonight's dinner π½οΈ
Stick around for more from the table side of eating π
And if you're wondering where your body's starting point is, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Drop any questions below too, I read them all.
Nobody's asking you to cook a better dinner. You already did that part.
Start by taking a few things away. Take the phone off the table, into the next room. Take the standing out of it: any chair counts, even the one with the mail piled on it. Take one job off the meal. The laundry and the 6:15 text from work can wait.
Every one of them fits inside tonight's dinner.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Drop any questions below too, I read them all.
#tablefirst #takeawaythephone
Why do women over 40 eat the perfect dinner standing up and answering one more message?
Nobody's asking you to cook a better dinner. You already did that part.
Take the phone off the table.
Take the standing out of it.
Take one job off the meal.
The reason why you can't say what the last plan did isn't your memory.
(Small relief. It was never a memory problem. Never was.)
If you want an easy place to start:
β’ write the date on it and the one thing you changed (a sticky note on the cupboard door does the job, so does the back of a receipt)
β’ change one thing and leave the rest of the list where it is for 3 weeks (3 weeks is boring, and boring is what makes it readable)
β’ decide what you'd be watching for before you start watching (something you could point at on a WEDNESDAY afternoon)
That's what actually works and gives you something you can read back by the end of the month π
Follow along for the where-to-start conversation nobody's been having with you π€
And if you'd rather not sort the order on your own, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Questions go below either way. I'd rather you asked than guessedβ¦
It was never a memory problem.
If you can't say what the last plan did, that isn't something you failed to remember. There was nothing written down to remember.
An easy place to start: write the date and the one thing you changed. Change one thing and leave the rest of the list where it is for 3 weeks. Decide what you'd be watching for before you start watching.
3 weeks is boring, and boring is what makes it readable. By the end of the month you have something you can read back.
If you'd rather not sort the order on your own, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Questions go below either way.
#terraintype #onethingatatime
The reason why you can't say what the last plan did isn't your memory.
Small relief. It was never a memory problem. Never was.
That's what actually works and gives you something you can read back by the end of the month.
Women over 40: eating better than most people you know, taking the supplements, cutting things out, and nobody's told you which part comes first.
I'll be straight with you. Doing all of it at the same time is what makes it impossible to read. There are 3 systems that sort that. Yours if you want them.
1. Shortlist system.
2. Spacing system.
You know how it goes when you're packing for a trip and every single thing laid out on the bed is a reasonable thing to bring, the boots are reasonable, the second coat is reasonable, you could defend any one of them out loud to another adult and win the argument, and none of that was ever the question, the bag is the question, the bag has been the question the whole time⦠bag
Turns out it's rarely about which item you pull off the bed and more so about how much you're carrying at once.
3. Naming system.
Ask the woman behind the counter at the feed store why she wants to know what you're growing and what your dirt is like before she'll sell you anything. She'll tell you she isn't willing to guess on your behalf. And she'd rather you came back.
#whichpartfirst #supportbeforeyoustack
Everything laid out on the bed is reasonable. That was never the question.
The boots are reasonable. The second coat is reasonable. You could defend any one of them to another adult and win the argument. The bag is the question, and the bag has been the question the whole time.
Doing all of it at the same time is what makes it impossible to read. Three systems sort that: what makes the list at all, how far apart the changes sit, and what each one was for.
Ask the woman behind the counter at the feed store why she wants to know what you're growing and what your dirt is like before she'll sell you anything. She isn't willing to guess on your behalf.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point?
#whichpartfirst #supportbeforeyoustack
Women over 40: eating better than most people you know, taking the supplements, cutting things out, and nobody's told you which part comes first.
I'll be straight with you. Doing all of it at the same time is what makes it impossible to read.
Turns out it's rarely about which item you pull off the bed and more so about how much you're carrying at once.
Ask the woman behind the counter at the feed store why she wants to know what you're growing and what your dirt is like before she'll sell you anything.
She'll tell you she isn't willing to guess on your behalf. And she'd rather you came back.
If you're one of the women over 40 cooking the vegetables, buying the probiotics, and reading every label, nobody's asked the first question.
I was a nurse through COVID, so believe me, I know what a long list of instructions looks like.
You see the woman teaching this now. You don't see the years of study after 2022, functional nutrition and functional medicine, one course after another.
Nobody picks that up in a weekend course, and I didn't either.
And because I'm always straight with you⦠was it the quick way to learn this? Not even close.
But I'm SO glad I kept studying, because it taught me that one plan never fits every woman, that the order matters as much as the list, and that the first question is always about her.
So if you're doing everything on the label and still waiting for somebody to ask about you, don't assume you missed a step.
I promise you the first question exists, and it's SO much simpler than the label.
So let yourself start there.
You're not failing the label. You're ready for the first question πΏ
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? It asks the first question for you. Cheering you on, always π
I was a nurse through COVID, so I know what a long list of instructions looks like.
After 2022 came years of study, functional nutrition and functional medicine, one course after another. Was it the quick way to learn this? Not even close.
But the study taught me that one plan never fits every woman, that the order matters as much as the list, and that the first question is always about her.
If you're doing everything on the label and still waiting for somebody to ask about you, start there.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? It asks the first question for you.
#firstquestion #onesizedoesntfit
If you're one of the women over 40 cooking the vegetables, buying the probiotics, and reading every label, nobody's asked the first question.
I was a nurse through COVID, so believe me, I know what a long list of instructions looks like.
You see the woman teaching this now. You don't see the years of study after 2022, functional nutrition and functional medicine, one course after another.
But I'm SO glad I kept studying, because it taught me that one plan never fits every woman, that the order matters as much as the list, and that the first question is always about her.
You're not failing the label. You're ready for the first question.
Women over 40: the perfect meal doesn't stay perfect when it's eaten in survival mode.
(Perfect was a lot of pressure for one plate anyway.)
Make it smaller before you make it better:
β’ shrink the goal to one sit-down meal a day (pick the one with the fewest moving parts, Tuesday lunch is fine)
β’ give it ten minutes on the clock (set a kitchen timer, and nobody gets a reply until it dings)
β’ keep the first three bites boring (no scrolling, no planning tomorrow, just the fork and the food for the FIRST three)
That's a plan that fits a busy Tuesday, starting this week β±οΈ
Follow along if the table's been the missing piece πΏ
And when you want to see where your own starting point is, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Questions are always welcome below.
Perfect was a lot of pressure for one plate anyway.
Make it smaller before you make it better. One sit-down meal a day, and Tuesday lunch is fine. Ten minutes on the clock, and nobody gets a reply until the timer dings. The first three bites kept boring: no scrolling, no planning tomorrow, just the fork and the food.
That's a plan that fits a busy Tuesday, starting this week.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Questions are always welcome below.
#tenminutes #tablefirst
Women over 40: the perfect meal doesn't stay perfect when it's eaten in survival mode.
Perfect was a lot of pressure for one plate anyway.
Shrink the goal to one sit-down meal a day.
Give it ten minutes on the clock.
That's a plan that fits a busy Tuesday, starting this week.
If you're among the women over 40 who paid, followed the plan, and still can't say what it did, that isn't a verdict.
(It didn't grade you. Nothing about it graded you.)
Here's a small place to begin:
β’ ask who the plan in front of you was built for (a magazine's readership, somebody's podcast audience, a conference room, or you specifically)
β’ find out what it assumes you've got sorted (the ones that assume you sleep 8 hours and eat at the same time every day never say so out loud)
β’ notice what the person recommending it wants to know about you first (if the answer is NOTHING, you've learned something)
That's what actually works and it changes what you say yes to this week πΎ
Follow along for the questions worth asking before the next thing goes on the list π
And if you can't answer that first one about the last thing you paid for, that's a fair thing to say out loud. Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Put the question below and I'll take it there.
Ask who the plan in front of you was built for.
A magazine's readership. Somebody's podcast audience. A conference room. Or you, specifically. Most of the time it's one of the first three and nobody says so.
Then find out what it assumes you've got sorted. The ones that assume you sleep 8 hours and eat at the same time every day never say that out loud. And notice what the person recommending it wants to know about you first. If the answer is nothing, you've learned something.
It didn't grade you. Nothing about it graded you.
If you can't answer that first question about the last thing you paid for, that's a fair thing to say out loud. Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point?
#askfirst #terraintype
If you're among the women over 40 who paid, followed the plan, and still can't say what it did, that isn't a verdict.
It didn't grade you. Nothing about it graded you.
It changes what you say yes to this week.
You cut half the grocery store out of your kitchen. You added the supplements. Still nothing's landed.
So take the 3 systems that make that sentence answerable. None of them is another thing to do, which is the whole reason they never get handed out.
1. Baseline system.
2. Subtraction system.
Picture the baseline back in February when the house won't get warm and you crank the thermostat to 78 and hang a blanket over the front window and shove a towel under the back door and then somebody at the hardware store tells you to buy a space heater, and by March the house is fine and you could not tell that person which of those 4 things did it, you'd be guessing, and the reason you'd be guessing is nobody wrote down the number on the thermostat on day 1β¦ number
And it's rarely about how much you took out and more so about whether anybody wrote down where you started.
3. Signal system.
Every woman you know who can tell you exactly what worked for her did one thing at a time and put the date next to it. A notebook and a bit of patience. That's the part that gets left out of every list.
#writeitdown #wheretobegin
By March the house was fine and you couldn't say which of the 4 things did it.
Thermostat to 78. Blanket over the front window. Towel under the back door. And somebody at the hardware store telling you to buy a space heater.
Nobody wrote down the number on the thermostat on day 1, so there was nothing to read back. Three systems sort that: where you started, what came out, and what you were watching for.
Every woman you know who can tell you exactly what worked for her did one thing at a time and put the date next to it. A notebook and a bit of patience. That's the part that gets left out of every list.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point?
#writeitdown #wheretobegin
You changed the food. You changed the oil. Nobody's asked whether your body can use either one yet.
Some of you know me as the lady in purple with the butterfly pictures.
You see the purple now. You didn't see the big bad biker chick in black, head to toe, before any of it. And you didn't see March 5, 2022, the one tuning fork session that changed my path.
And I know a then-and-now picture makes it look like one afternoon changed everything. It didn't. The tuning fork was the turning point. The work since has been food, the table, and the order things go in.
Straight up, did that biker chick ever picture herself in purple with butterfly pictures? Not a chance.
But I'm SO grateful for the change, because it led me to the work I do now: finding where to start, building the plan together, and decoding the signals instead of guessing.
So if you've changed the food and changed the oil and you still can't say what any of it did, don't assume the changes were wasted.
And I promise you, the next good step is a question, and it can happen NOW.
So let yourself ask before you swap one more thing.
You're not starting over. You're changing colors π¦
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Butterflies optional. Rooting for you π
Some of you know me as the lady in purple with the butterfly pictures. You didn't see the big bad biker chick in black, head to toe, before any of it.
A then-and-now picture makes it look like one afternoon changed everything. It didn't. The tuning fork was the turning point. The work since has been food, the table, and the order things go in.
If you've changed the food and changed the oil and you still can't say what any of it did, don't assume the changes were wasted. The next good step is a question.
Comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Butterflies optional.
#changingcolors #wheretostart
Why do women over 40 eat the perfect dinner standing up and answering one more message?
(Nobody's asking you to cook a better dinner. You already did that part.)
Start by taking a few things away:
β’ take the phone off the table (in the next room, not face down beside your fork)
β’ take the standing out of it (any chair counts, even the one by the counter with the mail piled on it)
β’ take one job off the meal (the laundry and the 6:15 text from work can WAIT)
Three take-aways that actually work, and every one of them fits inside tonight's dinner π½οΈ
Stick around for more from the table side of eating π
And if you're wondering where your body's starting point is, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Drop any questions below too, I read them all.
The reason why you can't say what the last plan did isn't your memory.
(Small relief. It was never a memory problem. Never was.)
If you want an easy place to start:
β’ write the date on it and the one thing you changed (a sticky note on the cupboard door does the job, so does the back of a receipt)
β’ change one thing and leave the rest of the list where it is for 3 weeks (3 weeks is boring, and boring is what makes it readable)
β’ decide what you'd be watching for before you start watching (something you could point at on a WEDNESDAY afternoon)
That's what actually works and gives you something you can read back by the end of the month π
Follow along for the where-to-start conversation nobody's been having with you π€
And if you'd rather not sort the order on your own, comment QUIZ and I'll send you the quiz: What Is Your Body's Starting Point? Questions go below either way. I'd rather you asked than guessedβ¦