Tomorrow, summer is officially gone. For most of my clients, that’s the moment the gym crowd shifts — the summer-beach crowd thins out, and the people who actually plan for the season show up. It’s my favorite week of the year to reset, and not just the training plan.
Every September, I do a full audit: what I’m eating, how I sleep, what I read, what I’m actually doing on recovery nights. It’s a reset more than a New Year — smaller, quieter, and honestly more useful. So here’s what’s on my plate this month, the stuff that’s earning its place in my routine.
What I’m reading
Right now it’s Heal Your Cells by Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Will Cole. I’m at least ten minutes in it every night before bed, and more most nights. That’s saying something — I’m usually a podcast person, not a book person.
Here’s what I tell my clients when they ask me what to read: don’t chase the hype book. Chase the one that makes you re-examine how you eat. This one is about how food actually changes how we feel — mentally and physically — and it’s written in a way that doesn’t make you want to close the cover. I’ve always leaned toward functional-medicine thinking, and Will Cole has been one of the people I’ve learned from over the years. The new book is dense but never overwhelming, and a lot of it connects to Ayurvedic-style eating in a way that’s given me a lot to think about for my own cooking.
What I’m eating: eggs, figs, and the old comfort favorites
Random but true: over-easy eggs are my new obsession. A good over-easy egg with a pat of salty ghee is perfection. Everyone is chasing protein right now, but the yolk is where the action is — egg yolks are packed with nutrients, including choline, which matters for brain health. I’ve been learning a lot about this lately, and it’s changed how I think about breakfast on heavy training days.
My favorite version: a good over-easy egg on top of a rice bowl. The runny yolk works into the rice and basically becomes part of the sauce. Simple, cheap, fast. It’s my go-to post-training breakfast when I don’t have time for anything more.
Another obsession this month: September figs. If you’re avoiding figs, stop. They’re in season, they’re a good source of fiber, and they’re genuinely one of the best things you can eat right now. I love them with goat cheese and prosciutto on a simple board, or folded into pizza night. If you’re hosting, a rosé on the side is a good move.
For dinner, I’ve been leaning on the old comfort food. This apple cider smothered chicken, followed by a homemade rice pilaf, is such a good September dinner — autumn-ish but not overdone. I’ll be making a harvest salad and an apple fritter cake soon, and I’m bringing the cake to a friend’s launch party this month.
Red wine braised pot roast is the dish I keep coming back to when it’s cold and I’ve been in the gym for two hours. Mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, a little gravy, a glass of wine on the side — it’s the meal I make when I need to feel like the week is handled.
When I want something lighter but still autumn-adjacent, mini spaghetti squash lasagnas are the move — they’ve been one of my go-to fall dinners for years. The squash keeps the carbs in check on heavy training weeks without making the meal feel like a diet.
The crockpot pumpkin beer braised chicken is the lazy-Sunday version: everything in the pot before work, and by the time I’m out of the gym it’s done. It’s the meal I make when I have zero energy and still want something that tastes like a person cooked it.
The five-minute post-shower routine
Here’s the practical part. My body-care routine is simple, and it takes me five minutes. Right out of the shower, while my skin is still damp, I lather on a body oil and seal it with a body butter. If I’ve got a bit more time — say, after a heavy lower-body day — I layer on a retinol serum before the body butter so it can actually absorb. That’s it.
I do it every night before I jump into my sauna blanket. It sounds involved, but it isn’t. What I’ve noticed: my skin feels hydrated and soft, and I sleep better when my routine feels finished rather than half-done. Recovery is as much a habit as it is a supplement.
On the inside, I’ve been reading more about gut health and the role it plays in how we feel overall. I take a daily probiotic, but I’ve been learning that different strains do different things. I’ve switched to a multi-strain formula — the one I’m on has twenty-four different strains — because the research on that is more compelling than the old one-size-fits-all thinking. The more I learn about the gut, the more connected it feels to everything else: energy, sleep, how I handle stress.
What I’m listening to
I don’t listen to every episode of every podcast — I’m not that person — but Jay Shetty’s recent episode with Eileen Gu is one I’ll replay. Eileen is one of the most decorated freestyle skiers in Olympic history, and my brother is an Olympic slopestyle snowboarder (gold medal, and I will always brag about it), so I pay attention when an Olympic athlete sits down and actually talks.
What stuck with me most was how she carries herself. She takes care of herself so she can keep showing up as her best — sleep first, then the rest. And the harder part: her grandmother passed away while she was competing in Livigno this winter, just after one of the biggest accomplishments of her career. She went on to plan the funeral so her mom wouldn’t have to carry it too. That said more to me than any training philosophy.
If you’ve got a podcast on your phone, find the episode. It’s one of the best I’ve listened to in a long while, and it’ll remind you that the mental game is the game.
Where I’m dreaming of going
My family is thinking about Croatia — the blue water looks almost too pretty to be real, and the hotels perched on cliffs over the Adriatic are unreal. Villa Dubrovnik in particular caught my eye. Fingers crossed it’s Croatia.
Separately, I’ve been dreaming about the East Coast in fall. Crisp mornings, changing leaves, a small town, a nice hotel with a fireplace. I’m not a road-tripper — I like a good boutique hotel with all the comforts of home. New York is always my favorite, but the Berkshires sound like a good fall trip, and I’d love to explore some of the smaller towns in Connecticut. Even Ohio in the fall can be beautiful.
Give me the fall leaves, a good hotel, a fireplace, and a great dinner, and I’m happy. That’s the whole travel philosophy.
The house, the small rituals
I did a little fall ordering this week. I buy the same mini dried pumpkins every season — I have a stock in Colorado but nothing here in Florida, so of course I needed more. It’s been fun finding small ways to bring the season into the space. A couple of the mini pumpkins on the table, a Halloween juice glass or two mixed into the table — even one or two makes the whole setup feel a little more fun.
And the house has to smell like fall. I burn a pumpkin-clove candle and a warm scent together, usually in the evening with a bath or shower. Wrap up in a soft towel, ten minutes of quiet, and the day is done. It’s a ritual, not a chore.
Call your friends
I hate texting. I’ve been trying to get back to people faster, but I just don’t like having my phone around if I don’t have to. I love a walk with no phone at all — I’d do it every day, but my mom would worry too much.
One of my really good friends is the same way. I used to think she was annoyed with me. Then I actually picked up the phone and called, and we had a little hour-long call. She was in New York, it was around nine at night, and it was so much better than a hundred texts. Through someone’s voice you hear so much more than the words — is she happy, tired, excited, annoyed? You just connect differently when you can actually hear a person.
Lesson of the week: call your friends. Put the phone down, pick up the other one.
This week’s little joy
A gelato company sent me a few flavors, along with a really beautiful bouquet of flowers. I almost cried — I’d needed fresh blooms so badly, and they arrived at the right time. Brands, take note: send flowers with the package. It’s the smallest thing and the sweetest surprise.
The Science, Simplified
A September reset isn’t about doing ten new things. It’s about the small, repeatable habits that actually stick: a ten-minute reading habit, a five-minute post-shower routine, a multi-strain probiotic, eggs with the yolk intact, and the occasional long phone call instead of another text thread. Do those consistently for a month and you’ll feel the difference — in your sleep, your energy, and how you show up in the gym.
Here’s the practical takeaway. Pick two of these — the book, the post-shower routine, the phone call — and run them for thirty days. Judge how you feel at the end of the month. That’s the whole secret, and it’s the same one I give my clients: consistency beats intensity, every single time.
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