By Ken Lawson, FOCL Founder and CEOÂ
At its best, the new year about changes, endings, beginnings, and potential. A time to refocus on ourselves and our goals. Unfortunately for many of us, this is more fantasy than reality.
The truth is, life gets in the way and can quickly become overwhelming - work deadlines, travel, kids, social obligations, flu season, and a serious credit card hangover from the holidays. That’s a lot to balance and the struggle is real.
Throughout the year I do my best to live a healthy balanced life. My core wellness routine includes organic whole foods, lots of veggies, regular workouts, and yoga. I also take a few key nutritional supplements to help manage stress, boost my immune system, and support cognitive performance.
As many of you: I work hard, play hard, and try to enjoy life to the fullest. But, so often it’s too easy to start slipping around Thanksgiving and then try to make it all up with an unrealistic New Year’s resolution. I’ve given my all for 11 months, so now I get to relax and let loose? I can worry about it come Jan. 1sth. But, this can also take a toll: while work tends to slow, social pressures to attend holiday gatherings, work events, drinks with friends, and time with extended family accumulate to its own form of fatigue.
Even those who have developed healthy routines often slack off towards the end of the year, just when our bodies and brains need the support most. Instead of taking our good habits into the new year, we end up behind the curve, playing catch up.
Regardless of your wellness discipline, the end of the year is tough. However, it does not have to be that way. Instead of brushing wellness aside, think of prioritizing self-care and making it part of your season. The further we slip, the harder it is to bounce back, so maintain the course by maintaining routines throughout. That way, when New Years' strikes you are physically healthy, mentally fresh, and ready to take on the world!
Aside from eating a nutrient-rich diet, regular exercise, and getting adequate sleep, nutritional supplements can be an important addition to your self-care routine. Through years of personal research and consultations with top Eastern and Western doctors, I’ve carefully identified and vetted a handful of powerful plant-based supplements that have become an essential part of my overall wellness program.
Some of my personal favorites include Lion’s Mane, Ashwagandha, and wildly popular (for good reason) CBD. Understanding the potential health benefits of these plant-based ingredients can be confusing and sourcing from a reputable company, difficult at best. Trust me, I know. In my own personal quest to find the best and most effective natural supplements, I spent years consulting with experts and doing extensive research in an attempt to understand what I was actually putting in my body and why. While there are a number of reputable companies with amazing products, I found many who were less than transparent, making questionable products without any real quality control or third-party testing.
This was the inspiration behind FOCL, our plant-based wellness brand. Let’s source a small number of high-quality ingredients and make products that help people FEEL better, sleep better, and perform better. We use premium hemp-derived CBD, stress-fighting adaptogens and ancient botanicals to produce nutritional products that we are passionate about. I personally use them every day and love the fact that I know exactly what I’m putting in my body and why. Our products are third-party tested, vegan, non-GMO certified, Tru-Id certified and produced in a GMP certified food-grade facility. We even have our own 120-acre hemp farm. What does all of this mean? We take health seriously and have gone the extra mile to prove it. In an industry that’s lacking transparency and regulation, this is rare. We care about what we put in our bodies and you should too.
Supplements aside, I strongly believe that managing stress and getting quality sleep directly leads to improved mental clarity and physical health. In today’s chaotic world we need this more than ever so make your wellness routine a priority. Your body and brain will thank you.
Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy, and stress-free new year!
