From Burnout to “SuperWell” — Redefining Wellness, Wealth, and Freedom with Lauren Pronger – EP 261

Justin Donald: What’s up Lauren? Good to have you on the show.

Lauren Pronger: Hi, Justin. Thank you for having me. Been looking forward to it.

Justin Donald: Me too. Well, this is a big occasion, a big– I mean, we’ve got to celebrate your new book. We’ll definitely dive into that. But you guys always have so much cool stuff going on in your world. You’re an entrepreneur, you’re an author, you’re a speaker, you’re a coach, you’ve done all kinds of stuff, and I want to showcase you and all the cool things you’re doing in the business world and in the health world for our Lifestyle Investor community because I just love what you have built.

Lauren Pronger: Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Yes, I wear multiple hats and it’s all about balance, and yes, you have seen me wear the travel advisor hat, the mom, the wife, and now, the wellness consultant, so…

Justin Donald: Well, and those are proverbial hats. You actually have a really cool hat on right now. Tell us the story of this.

Lauren Pronger: Yes. So, this is Superwell, and this is based on my mantra every day when I get out of bed and that is, I am the well striving to be super well. Why the heck not? And I’m here to be a guide for others to do the same.

Justin Donald: I love it. That’s awesome.

Lauren Pronger: Mic up. Boom!

Justin Donald: Yeah, that’s beautiful. And you have done this for athletes, you’ve done this for high performing entrepreneurs, you’ve done it for C-suite leaders, you’ve done it for ultra-high net worth individuals. And so, what I like about what you do is you’ve got the wellness side of things, but you also have this killer travel company and I have been the beneficiary of having taken a trip with you and your husband, Chris, and a bunch of other people. And for those of you that don’t know, Lauren’s husband has been on my podcast before, the great Chris Pronger, for many of you that know and love NHL, he’s an Olympian and is obviously a Hall of Famer, but he is one-upped by his wife. Lauren, you have done so many cool things in the entrepreneurial space, in the wellness space, and I can’t wait to dig into them.

Lauren Pronger: Thank you so much. Yeah, it’s been an exciting journey and I am always up for the next challenge. Ever since I was a little girl, I always knew I wanted a career of my own. I wanted to be a mother, of course, but always wanted really to have my own, something that I was building and working towards, and Chris knew that. And obviously, through his career and all the moves and the many surgeries he had and the wild ride of being married to a professional athlete, I was slowly hacking away and building something that I knew when the time was right, when he was retired that I could execute. And obviously, my biggest job at that time was being a mother and being there fully available for the children and present for them, especially in their formative years, because that’s what you do as a spouse when one is on the road and busy all the time. And when Chris retired, I knew that time had come and obviously, that’s when I launched, which you were speaking about Well Inspired Travels back in 2018, which I know we’ll dive into, and then a few years later, Superwell Living, which is my personal brand.

Justin Donald: Well, we got to talk about what I still today say is one of the coolest locations and trips that I’ve ever taken. And that was with Well Inspired Travels. We ended up going to a location just outside of Punta Mexico, and it was the one and only property up there that is just incredible because you’re literally in the mountains in these homes that are built up on huge stilts in the trees, and you’re like a moment, scooter right away or shuttle or golf cart right away from the beach down below, but each of these units had their own little pool, hot tub thing that was outside on the deck looking into the trees. It was just an incredible experience. And you guys just– it was so White Glove at every level.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. I mean, truly, you are in tree houses. That’s what they call them. They’re like romantic bungalows on a treetop, and there’s monkeys everywhere. You almost feel like you’re in Bali, but yet, you’re in Mexico. It was purely a magical trip. And one and only Mandarin, they just do a phenomenal job. Obviously, we were there with some incredible individuals and had a very special time. And from the food to the tequila and the wellness aspect to it. Temazcals, I don’t know if you participated in that, but the sweat lodges, yes, so…

Justin Donald: Those are awesome.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah, and the sunsets.

Justin Donald: Yeah, and well, what’s cool is like your business has done– so this resort is a great, I guess, expression of what you do in your business because you want to mix the luxury travel with experiential things and White Glove Wellness type of remedies and experiences. And if you go through their spa list, there are things listed on there that you’re like, I’ve never even heard of this before. Like, I’ve never seen this at a resort before. That was a really cool experience.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. And really that was my intention when I started Well Inspired Travels. I grew up traveling a lot all over the world and we really learned a lot about cultures, whether it’s cuisine, holistic modalities and experiences, different forms of movement and exercise, and the intention behind Well Inspired Travels is to encourage individuals to get out of their comfort zone. This is a time where you can step away from work, you can step away from the pressures at home, whatever it is. Learn something that you don’t have the time to do in your busy life at home because that’s your reset to really plug in and focus on you and improving yourself when you go back into your everyday life. It’s not to run away from all the stressors and all the things and go drink your face off and go stay up late and do all the wrong things. Then you’re going to come back feeling worse than when you left.

My goal has always been about use that as an intentional reset and get comfortable with the uncomfortable, as you said, of, hey, I was looking at the spa, their wellbeing menu of services, there were a lot of things that Justin doesn’t have time to do, but hmm, that’s really interesting. Now, I have the opportunity. And that is something that I work with clients on. Every time you go on a trip through Well Inspired Travels, you are going to continue to build and stack through that next trip, do this, then do this, and then I even go that much further if an individual say, wants to learn about meditation, I will send them to particular properties that have really incredible intense meditation specialists there. And then when they go back home, I help them source some back at home so they can continue on their journey of becoming, that’s their daily practice.

Justin Donald: That’s awesome. Well, I think a lot of people need to be careful of needing a vacation from the vacation. I know a lot of people– by the way, early days, I probably traveled way more that way than I probably could have or should have. So, I like to come home recharged and refreshed, and so, I love these experiences and I feel like everyone needs it. And to do it with your spouse, to get that quality time, to have those quality experiences together, it’s something that just grows your relationship together. It’s really fun.

Lauren Pronger: Absolutely.

Justin Donald: Now Lauren, you've done a bunch of wellness retreats, you've done this for companies, you've done this for C-suites, you've done this for team building, you've done it for people that are in different community groups, walk us through what that looks like. Because this is a big part of your business and I actually think it's really rare to have someone that actually runs these retreats. Like, you're hands on. You set everything up, you actually like, facilitate the session. So, walk us through that.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah, it's been really interesting and rewarding to see both lenses and hats that I wear. As Well Inspired Travel CEO, really a pioneer in knowing the best of the best in the luxury wellness space.

And then, the SuperWell, bolstering that education and marrying both together. So, when I do events, whether it's a fireside chat or being on a wellness panel for these executive teams, they say, "Oh my gosh, wait a second. That was only an hour. We need more. We need more!" And then I say, "Okay, well we should probably set up a retreat." And they're like, "Oh, this is great." So it turns into a three day mastermind...

Justin Donald: That's awesome.

Lauren Pronger: Where we can go to a property that allows them to step away from the stressors of the work environment, talk about team building productivity and what that does for them when they go back into the office and where we can really lean into these eight pillars because we're just scratching the surface as we did on this podcast.

But I can curate these three day mastermind /retreats into whatever space that they need to learn more about. Whether it's how to help the team calm their central nervous system, how to help them with optimal sleep, hormone health, you name it, it is just customizable. Or we can go through the whole lifestyle.

And it's a beautiful thing when I compare it with a location that allows me to have these tools to help them learn about what they need. Whether it's say, contrast therapy. So I can guide individuals through cold shock therapy or heat shock therapy and using that gear shift of training them, the central nervous system has a sympathetic, the fight or flight, and then the parasympathetic.

First time you get into a cold tub, your sympathetic nervous system, your fight or flight is going crazy , which as we know, Justin, we want our bodies to do that. We want our brain to tell us there's a lion coming, or this is freezing cold water, get the heck out.

But it's a matter of what you do to dominate that cold shock in the first 20 to 30 seconds. Every single dip I've done, I've probably done, like I said, a thousand in my life my brain always does that.

And then the gear shifts is through breath work or a meditation of how you can regulate and breath work to calm your system, say "We are in a safe place." And then boom, you're in that parasympathetic nervous system, that rest and digest.

And going back to those executives, they have no idea on how they're breathing and their mechanics and how to shift from that constant fight or flight. So if you're at this beautiful resort and you're able to practice some kind of a contrast therapy that puts them in that environment and teaching them that gear shift, they can then translate that into the work office space, into speaking platforms, what have you.

And that's just one tool that we work on. But, it's just endless ideas there. But it's an opportunity, like I said, to be in this three day retreat mastermind where we can really learn how to achieve to get super well.

Justin Donald: That's incredible, Lauren. And, I mean, gosh, I'm like excited to hire you to do an event like this for us. Like I love that. I hope more people take advantage of this opportunity to work closely with you and your team to create some epic experiences and some true breakthroughs. So thank you for sharing that.

Lauren Pronger: Yes, thank you.

Justin Donald: All right, so Lauren, you are a certified holistic health expert and a wellness consultant. You’re credentialed across the board in hormone health and gut brain optimization, meditation, contrast therapies, Pilates, you name it, much, much more. And so, you have kind of incorporated all this into your new brand Superwell and I’m excited for you to talk about it, but I’m also excited for you to get into even some of how you’ve consulted with a lot of these large hotel groups and resort properties and places that a lot of these athletes. Since you’re very interconnected in the professional sports space, you’ve been able to kind of leverage your skillset and your relationships to be a very influential voice, and I’d love to hear more about it.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. No, great question. And especially for your audience, I know this will be intriguing because so many individuals come to me and say, “Oh, my gosh, I love this space you’re in. You’re really carving out this niche market.” And let’s go back to the beginning of Well Inspired Travels back in 2017 when I started forming the company all on my own because it had just organically unfolded through the years. As you said, our network, our professional athletes, their families, their wives, their girlfriends, every city we have lived in that Chris played in those cities, that’s your family. It’s the golfers, the basketball players, the baseball players, those wives are who I connected with because you don’t have anybody else. And there’s a certain amount of trust there and credibility, Chris being a hockey Hall of Famer and his wife.

And so, as I was curating these trips for our own family, and they were very wellness focused because that’s what Chris required in his life to stay on top of his game and be the best of the best. He had a certain dietary style, a certain trainer, but always pushing the envelope on what more could he learn. Was it a new meditation? Was it a new breathwork? And so, through social media and all of my social media was on lockdown, my private account, just because of protection of our kids and so forth, but all of these eyes with my little private network were the ICAs that I needed that were watching what we were doing, and they said, “Hey, look at those trips you’re going on. Can you just plan that exact same trip for our family because you’re doing it so well and these are the same issues that we’re having with our family?” And I said, “Sure, of course I would.” So, that happened basically for 10 years up until 2017.

And then Chris had retired. Our kids were that much older. And I said, “You know, I think I’ve got something here.” And so, I presented it to one of the largest travel agencies in the United States, and they were scratching their heads going, “Okay, wellness travel, so you only want to sell wellness travel.” And I said, “Yes, I do. That’s what I know best and that’s the lane I’m going to stay in.” And they said, “Well, there’s leisure, there’s corporate.” And I said, “Yeah, we can do that too, but my main focus is going to be wellness.” And they said, “Okay, well…”

Justin Donald: Which wasn’t a category then. I mean, you’re so ahead of the day and age because, like it’s mainstream, it’s what everyone wants to do today, but you’ve been doing this for years and years and years before it was ever even like an “industry.”

Lauren Pronger: Exactly. I was a pioneer in the space that really carved out this niche market and really known as the authority because I have an education with 10 different certifications. So, I’ve bolstered that on top of traveling all over the world and having these partnerships and knowing all the key properties to do travel matchmaking. And so, the interesting part is, of course we bump into COVID. Well, that was a terrible time to be in the travel space or any business, on that note.

And so, we come out of COVID and I still believe in Well Inspired Travels. In fact, I went out and I hired several women that got laid off from a bunch of big travel agencies because I had such a heart for these women, had to put food on the table. They’re going through a tough time. And I invested in this company knowing, okay, COVID is going to end. And we’re going to come out, like I always say like Mario Brothers. You know when he was little and he came out and he’s like, boop, boop, boop, boop, boop? That’s how I envisioned it. And so, these women, I mean, they were so grateful for me. They believed in what we were building. And sure enough, we come out of COVID. And what three things are people craving, Justin?

Justin Donald: Well, community for sure, right, like just people interaction in person.

Lauren Pronger: Yes. What else were they craving to do? Travel?

Justin Donald: Travel and probably eat well. Like, get some really cool experiences.

Lauren Pronger: Yes. Community, travel, and health and wellness, how to be optimal. Taking control, being drivers of their own wellness destiny and journey, and really being curious of not just– wanting to know more about themselves, their own bio-individual bodies. So, we came out of COVID and it just went crazy. And that’s when I partnered with a big firm and they have 10 back-office employees that really could service all of our clients the way we needed to, white glove experience, I mean, soup to nuts, everything that they need. And so, it just took off, and then obviously, I had the time and the space to step away, get, lean more into my personal brand, which is Superwell, and using all of my health and wellness education to support the community that I have been building. And that really has taken off in the last two years, but I’m sure we’ll get into that, but…

Justin Donald: Yeah.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. Oh, and you were saying about working with the hotels and brands. So, that’s very interesting because these are my friends, my partners in the industry, and they know my education. And it’s been this beautiful marriage and synergy of both forces that come together. And I attend a ton of longevity conferences. I’m always on the cutting edge. I biohack the heck out of myself, my husband, our family, everything. I’m constantly trying things. I’ve got three different– I’ve got CGMs, I’ve got a WHOOP, I’ve got an Oura band. I mean, I’ve got more data on my body. And so, these properties, whether it’s Rosewood, Montage, Pendry, Four Seasons, Cheval Blanc, they’re all coming to me saying, hey, you know this cross section so well. We need you to step in. We want your clients. We want the professional athletes. We want the high-net worth individuals that take their health and wellness very seriously. We need to know how to stay in this competitive market because I don’t know if you’ve looked at the industry, but the projections are insane. Every day, they change, but the last time I checked, it is an $8.4 trillion industry by 2027.

Justin Donald: Wow.

Lauren Pronger: In wellness travel.

Justin Donald: Yeah, that’s a monster. Yeah.

Lauren Pronger: Monster. Every hotel and brand is spending all their money on health and wellness.

Justin Donald: Well, and you can see they’re jacking up prices too. So, it’s like, hey, we can raise prices, like the price per night has gone through the roof, and it’s because they’re adding amenities, adding wellness, adding all these things because people like you and specifically you are coaching these resorts on what they need to do to attract those people at those prices.

Lauren Pronger: Exactly. And they have to stay up to par on that. So, they’re coming to me saying, “Hey, with our brand, we need the Rolls Royce in this space. There’s so much noise in this wellness space, we don’t know what to get, but we want the best of the best. So, you help educate us.” So, I’ll come in and advise them on, “Okay, to be in this competitive market, you need to get this kind of cold tub, you need to get this sauna, you need to bring this specialist in. You need to have these biohacking tools.”

And it’s very interesting, Justin, because there is now this middle section that is the sweet spot. And I like to share this because I think a lot of your listeners will find this interesting because it’s a very cool space to get into for an entrepreneur and there’s such a need for it. So, in the wellness area, there’s wellness travel, and then there’s clinical travel. Wellness travel could be like your light and fluffy, go get massages, go drink some green juice, go to yoga, do aerial yoga, kind of like the Canyon Ranch and Miraval, which is great. That’s the gold standard. Those brands have been around a long time. I still send clients there all day long.

But then you have the clinical travel, which is more of like a Chenot Palace Weggis. You’ll have a SHA Wellness. And those are very diagnostic, medical based. You are going there, you’re getting blood work, you’re meeting with the nutritionist. You’re going through a massive detox. And the sweet spot is right in the middle. That’s where my clients live because they don’t necessarily need the light and fluffy massage, but they don’t want to go for the diehard diagnostics. But they’re very curious and they’re kind of in that biohacking space of I now want to level up, but I don’t have the time, Justin, because I’m so busy at work and my demands are too much, so I need to step away, but I do want to learn. And that’s where these everyday properties, like a Four Seasons, come to me and say, you know what? We are really great with our spa services, but now we need to add more. We need a longevity protocol.

Justin Donald: That’s right.

Lauren Pronger: What can you offer us? And there’s so much need for this. And I have people reach out to me all the time on LinkedIn, asking, hey, can we come work on your team and how’d you get started in this space? And it was years of education and constantly going to these conferences and being on the cutting edge because it’s changing every day. And there’s just more noise and people saying, this is the thing that’s going to move the needle. And we’ll probably get into that when we talk about Superwell, which is really the whole point of a lifestyle.

Justin Donald: Yeah. And let’s dive into it because your brand, Superwell, you consider it a lifestyle. It’s not a pill, it’s not a diet, it’s not a protocol. So, what does that lifestyle look like for someone leading a high-performance life or a high-growth business?

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. So, I really formulated this whole protocol based on my own experience back in 2011. And then shortly after that, I went through it again. I went through a terrible burnout. And I always say I went from burnout to brilliant-ish, I say, super well-ish because every day, we strive to be brilliant. We strive to be super well. So, going back to 2011, when it really came down on me, Chris had a career-ending concussion. He never played again and he was in a really bad way, could not even get out of the bed. My dad had an awful stroke. They were living down in Naples. My mom had breast cancer shortly after that.

I have three little kids. We are living in Philly. So, as a mother, a wife, and a daughter, there was just not enough of me to go around. As much as I have always known about my own system, I was the little girl in the library checking out books on human anatomy because I grew up with a lot of health issues that I witnessed with my family and as we all have, and I knew how to care for my body, but was demanding too much, meaning drinking way too much coffee on an empty stomach, instead of my training was, instead of lifting weights, running because that was stress relief, which was only jacking up my cortisol and my adrenals were taxed, not fueling myself in a nutritional standpoint.

Then in the afternoon, you know, like, just go, go, go and pick up the kids, start cooking dinner, have two glasses of wine to kind of take it down. Then you lay down in bed, you can’t sleep. I found myself in the doctor’s office and my circadian rhythm was upside down, my cortisol graph was completely flipped. And of course, they were trying to help me in the eye of the storm and lined up several pharmaceuticals. And to fast track and I said, thank you, but no thank you. And that’s really when I said I’ve got myself here, I’m going to unwind myself and further my education. And started with Institute for Integrative Nutrition with their flagship program and then continued on, obviously, from there, kept stacking. The next thing was breathwork, transcendental meditation. Then I got certified with a doctor in Denmark for contrast therapies, heat and cold shock therapy, went as a master of nutritious life, and it was just two different certifications and Pilates. And I say, Justin, that is building my holistic tool belt. It was like breakfast.

Justin Donald: Yeah.

Lauren Pronger: Meditation. I have all these tools wrapped around me. And at any moment’s notice and for all the listeners here, if you’re at a stressful speech, if you’re dealing with turbulent air, whatever’s going on in the air, whatever it is that’s stressing you out in life, you have the ability, whether it’s breathwork or meditation, to control and dominate that space versus a pill. And that was so powerful for me, and that’s really how I started formulating this Superwell lifestyle. And as you said, it’s not a pill, it’s not a diet, it’s not a nutritional program. And all of these individuals out there are trying to push one track thing. And this is truly a lifestyle everybody can adapt and it doesn’t have to be something. You have to only be at home. This is a practice of 40 habits. Pick the ones that resonate with you. I’m going to meet you exactly where you are in your wellness journey. We’re going to start implementing maybe three or four. If it’s a morning gut elixir, that’s going to help reset your gut, which is 90% of your serotonin and 75% of your immune system. That right there is going to make a huge difference.

And then we’re going to add from there and we’re going to add from there. And it just builds on top of building, building, and trusting that process. And that’s what the book kind of walks you through, but it’s something that I’m very passionate about and I’ve experienced myself and I always say, this is your burnout insurance. And I’m sure for anybody listening right now, there isn’t one person that can’t say, I’ve either been in burnout, I’m in burnout, or I’m really close to it, and it’s a terrible place to be. We live in this society where we’re on fight or flight. Our sympathetic nervous system is just slowly dripping, dripping, dripping.

Justin Donald: So, I love that you were able to solve this without pharmaceuticals. I think that’s the big message here. And there’s a time and a place for many things, but for optimal health, it is most likely. And I just saw a post from Bryan Johnson on this, where he is like, yeah, all these people are spending all this money on all these things, but here’s all you really need to do, get good sleep, eat good food, get sunlight, go walk outside, and get your steps. And just like, all these simple things where it’s like, start there and you’ve done that and you’ve branded around. And so, I actually want to dive into a little bit more because you have eight pillars of Superwell Living. And I want to know what they are and kind of how they work together to create meaningful and sustainable change.

Lauren Pronger: Yes, that’s an excellent question. So, the foundation of Superwell is based upon those eight pillars, very intentional. They range from well-aging, longevity, optimal sleep, nourishing nutrition, mindfulness, biorhythm, soulful connection, nature connection. What else? I think I named them all. Now, the intention for eight is the infinity symbol, and that is very interconnected. There’s no broken chain in there. And the reason for that is even if you hit just a small amount of nature connection or soulful connection, you are going to feel more super well if you hit every single one of those pillars as best you can each day.

Justin Donald: Sure.

Lauren Pronger: And I’m not asking a lot. I’m saying, even if it means 10 minutes of morning sunlight, that’s nature connection. You can check that off. And this is not a rigid, I’m asking a whole lot. It’s just being intentional about making sure you’re hitting all of it. The most important ones of all three pillars, optimal sleep, number one, without a doubt. That is the foundation for setting yourself up for success the next day. Productivity, you do not have optimal sleep, everything comes crashing down. Back when I went through burnout, that’s what took me out. And it’s like a three-legged chair to me. You can sit on a chair with three legs, optimal sleep, nourishing nutrition, and movement, but if you take out optimal sleep, you’re down.

And so, all of them are vitally important. And then nourishing nutrition is number two on my list because if you are not fueling that Ferrari with the best premium gas, forget about it. You have to think about your body as your greatest asset. How do you want to fuel your body first thing in the morning? And how you eat in the morning is so important. So, for all of these high achieving individuals listening right now, you really have to think about how you’re setting your morning up. And I don’t care if you’re not a breakfast person. Be intentional about starting your morning with some kind of protein forward, starting with your fiber, then go to some form of protein. I don’t care if it’s chicken or beef from leftovers last night. We always do meal prep, and so, we have chicken, beef, eggs, salmon, something for protein. Then get your healthy fats, whether it’s half an avocado, a handful of nuts, and some kind of, if you want to have a carb for your energy, go for a healthy carb.

So, optimal sleep, nourishing nutrition, and then form of movement right after that. Any kind of form of movement is your glucose garbage disposal. You go and you have a sugary carb heavy breakfast, or don’t have anything in your stomach, you’re setting yourself up for failure that whole day. I mean, I could go on and on about all of it, but all of these pillars are so important. Soulful connection, that’s you know what you do. When you come home from work, I’m sure, Justin, you turn off your technology, you plug in with your wife and your daughter. You have laughter, you have connection. People underestimate the power of that. Your last moments before you go to bed are not going to be ruminating over those emails that you were stressing about, staring at blue light technology until the moment you shut your computer and then try to shut your brain off to go to bed. Your last moments are laughter with your wife and your daughter, maybe out on a walk, looking at the sun coming down. What is your body going to do? It’s going to drift off saying, geez, that was a wonderful evening. Start all over tomorrow. That email’s going to be sitting there. Those demands are going to be sitting there in the morning.

So, I could go on and on just, but those are kind of the pillars, and my take on it and my experience in working with small executive teams, the things that have really been eye opening to them that seem so basic, but yet, they don’t want to implement. I am here as your coach, I’m here as your accountability partner, and I always say, your Superwell BFF because I feel like between my husband and myself, we have been through a lot and we’re open books about it. and I love to hear the success stories of how individuals are like, gosh, I didn’t really think that that would move the needle and it did.

Justin Donald: Oh, I love that. And Lauren, I couldn’t agree with you more. I was listening to a podcast with a sleep expert and it clued me in on some research, some white papers. I started going down the rabbit trail of sleep. And then I learned that even just getting six hours a night is like, it’s stifling for your ability to learn, for recall, for memorization. Like, it’s amazing. And there was a stint in my life where, I mean, I was just consistently getting six hours and I didn’t know that I was actually long-term hurting my body. And then recently, I’ve shared this a little bit on the podcast, and I’ll go into more detail in a solo episode, but my health journey this year with mold, we ended up having this builder that did a horrible job with our home and we got mold everywhere and I got all kinds of mold toxicity. And so, part of what I had to do to heal was change the way that I ate because any of these anti-inflammatory foods were actually feeding the mold. So, I had to, one, get the mold out of my system, but two, I had to have an anti-inflammatory diet.

And so, for the first time in my life, and keep in mind, I’ve worked out virtually my whole life, I’ve eaten, I would say, pretty good most of my life. but I didn’t even recognize the power of as clean of a diet as I was forced to go on where basically, I couldn’t have alcohol, dairy, gluten, corn, rice, soy, legumes, added sugar. So, people are like, “What the heck did you eat?” Well, I ate protein, I ate veggies, I ate berries and some citrus. That’s it. I mean, and I did that for four months. And that’s all I had. And the transformation that I’ve had physically and internally has really been life changing. And so, I knew the importance of food, but to me, it was funny because I felt like I’m already eating healthy.

Well, when I went to this extreme, people were like, “Where are you getting your carbs? You’re not eating carbs.” I’m like, “Yeah, I am. Fruits and veggies.” And it’s like, it is literally night and day, the performance, the way I look, the way I feel. I would say right now, there is a very high likelihood that I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in, and my workouts haven’t changed. The only thing that’s changed is my diet.

Lauren Pronger: Absolutely. Well, you look great. Honestly, you look great.

Justin Donald: Well, thank you. I feel great, which is even more important.

Lauren Pronger: Yes. Oh, my gosh, and I’m so sorry to hear that. And that’s so true, that mold and when you’re fighting something, your gut microbiome is so important to your overall health.

Justin Donald: It is.

Lauren Pronger: It is our second brain. And if you’re feeding it…

Justin Donald: I had no clue.

Lauren Pronger: Oh, yeah, overprocessed food and sugar, it’s like in there, going, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya, nya. Like, oh, thank you. Feed us, feed us, feed us. And it’s just growing. So, there’s really, as you said, the vegetables and all of that, those are your healthy carbs. Obviously, yes, mix in some sweet potatoes and some quinoa here and there, especially for females, like, we need that and if you’re going to have a more intense workout, but for the most part, I don’t really have a ton of starchy carbs in my diet. I get a lot from my healthy vegetables and as you said too, steering clear of overprocessed food, anything with a label. Let’s eat straight from what we can pick up out of our garden that’s on the perimeter of the grocery store. Stay away from the interior of the grocery store.

And everything that we should be able to grow right in our backyard is what we should be feeding our system. I mean, that’s, as humans, what we were intended to eat. And it’s delicious. And there’s so many ways to prepare nourishing, nutritious food in a delicious manner that keeps it exciting and changing it up. And our gut microbiome is always looking to be eating and challenging with seasonal vegetables and changing up the kind of proteins we’re having, the different sauerkrauts and things that we can introduce to our gut microbiome that’s constantly challenging it and keeping that diversity going.

Justin Donald: Yeah, and even for people that say, well, how do you have the time to make these meals or to figure it all out? I mean, first of all, it’s not as hard as you think. There’s a ton of this available online. But secondly, you would be shocked at how affordable it can be to hire a chef that can cook a lot of these meals for you or prep meals for you. I mean, it’s not that much and there’s even, I know some families that share different chefs. And it’s so affordable. Like, it is so much cheaper than I actually thought it was going to be.

Lauren Pronger: Yeah. And for busy individuals that are listening here too, use Sundays as your meal prep day. And like you said, it can be very simple. Chris will do the grilling. Somebody can grill. Grill some chicken, have some steaks. I do air fryer salmon. I always have ground chicken, things that I saute. And that’ll last until Wednesday, maybe even Thursday. I roast a bunch of root vegetables. I roast beets. I have a variety all stacked up in the glass containers in the fridge. And your worst mistakes are going to be when you don’t have something available when you’re hungry. That’s when you’re going to succumb to, whether it’s DoorDash or a protein bar that has a list of ingredients we can’t even pronounce.

So, it’s just being intentional and even, I’m sure you’ve seen me, Justin, where I have my Superwell meals that I take when I travel. And it’s so funny, I’ll be at the airport, eating at the terminal and somebody will say, “Where’d you get that meal? That meal looks so amazing.” And I said, “Well, I packed it from home.” And they’re like, “I didn’t even think about it. You could take grilled chicken and beets and microgreens through security.” I’m like, “Yeah, you can.” And it leaves you feeling full and satisfied. You’re saving on your wallet and you’re providing your body with nourishing nutrition for a great travel day ahead. So, it’s just, like I said, being intentional about those choices that you make. And it’s a game changer. And then I have that same little bento box and I go to a Trader Joe’s or a Whole Foods, and I’ll get something for on the way back home.

Justin Donald: I love it.

Lauren Pronger: That’s all in the book too.

Justin Donald: For people that don’t do that, it is really hard to find a meal that is actually going to be nourishing the way your body needs it at an airport. So, I love that you do that. Where can we learn more about you, about Superwell, and about Well Inspired Travels?

Lauren Pronger: Well, thank you. So, okay, for my own personal brand and Superwell, it’s www.LaurenPronger, L-A-U-R-E-N P-R-O-N-G-E-R dot-com. And then Well Inspired Travels is www.WellInspiredTravels with an S dot-com. On Instagram, I’m lauren_pronger. That’s where all the fun, where all the magic happens, all of the crazy habit stacking, I say Superwell stacking, time efficient, things that I do and I speak about in the book from my optimal sleep routine. It’s very wild and crazy, and there’s a lot of things that go on from a bed of nails, acupressure mat to red light therapy mask and castor oil packs, and it’s a whole ordeal.

Justin Donald: I love it.

Lauren Pronger: And yeah, so it’s kind of both of those areas that the travel site is on, Well Inspired Travels, which we call WIT, and obviously, Lauren’s there. And the book will be launching soon. Well, actually, no, it is launching soon.

Justin Donald: Well, when this launches, the book is out. So, go check it out.

Lauren Pronger: Yes. Number one, international bestseller by the way.

Justin Donald: That’s awesome.

Lauren Pronger: Thank you, Justin, for your support on that too.

Justin Donald: Well, gosh, it’s my absolute pleasure. I love being able to showcase my friends. It's a real honor to call you, Lauren and Chris, my friends. And it’s real special to me when I can feature people that I think are doing incredible things in the world on my show because I want to showcase everyone that’s doing such cool stuff. And so, you’re certainly high on that list. I hope people take advantage of both avenues, right? So, if you’re looking for kind of like the wellness style travel, I’m telling you, I’ve experienced it firsthand. I can’t endorse Lauren anymore, and her team is incredible. And then, obviously, from a health and wellness standpoint, the Superwell brand and all the things you’re going to learn there. Go out and buy this book. This is not just a game changer, it’s a life changer. So, thanks for being on, Lauren. I really appreciate it.

Lauren Pronger: Thank you, Justin.

Justin Donald: Yeah, my pleasure. I love ending every episode with a question for our audience. So, if you’re watching this, if you’re listening to this, what is one step you can take today to move towards financial freedom and really just move towards a life that you truly desire that’s on your terms? Most people live a life by default, but here on this show, we’re trying to inspire people to live a life by design. And I feel like there’s no one better that can help you move down the right path and the right direction than Lauren. So, pick one thing from Lauren that you can implement today to move towards that ideal life. Thanks, and we’ll catch you next week.

Lauren Pronger: Thank you.