hi! i’m Mary Kate, and i’m an Integrative Health Coach. thank you so much for joining me for a day.

this guide is look into how a health coach navigates her schedule; it’s a window into my daily rituals and routines, as well as my favorite products to use morning, noon and night

MORNING

7/8am: time to wake up! it’s taken some effort over the years to be an early riser, but now i can confidently say that i am a morning person.

as a student of Ayurveda, i deeply appreciate the importance of waking when the sun is still new in the sky. it feels so intuitive to match the vibrancy of the sun throughout the day, and waking with intention is the first way to connect with that energy. according to Ayurveda, we do our best introspective work in the morning when the world is quiet- so within the first 10 minutes of waking up, I do at least 5 minutes of affirmation meditating. i avoid looking at my phone for my first hour awake.

9am: i used to be a HUGE coffee drinker, but i discovered how much it was affecting my hormones and exhausting my adrenals, so last year i started using mud\wtr for an adaptogenic latte, and it was such a beautiful addition to my morning routine. i blend the mud\wtr powder with oat milk, coconut sugar, collagen, and ghee for the perfect morning bev. i don’t miss coffee at all!

10am: exercise! it doesn’t look the same everyday, and i try to follow my cycle to tailor my workouts, so i can support my hormones throughout the month. in the follicular + ovulatory phase of my cycle, i focus more on cardio and HIIT, and during the luteal and menstrual phases i enjoy strength training, pilates and yoga. for a deeper dive into cycle syncing your work outs check out Alisa Vitti’s book In The Flo {it’s SO GOOD}. exercise lasts anywhere from 30-60 min.

before my post workout shower, i love to dry brush to further stimulate my lymph. as you dry brush, use long, smooth strokes on your limbs, and circular motions on your joints, butt, and tummy, moving in the direction of your heart.

11am: time to start tackling whatever work/projects i have planned for the day! before a coaching session, i always take at least 5 minutes to journal my goals for the session and to take some good, deep breaths.

AFTERNOON

12pm/1pm: time for lunch! if you want to do something SUPER supportive for your digestive system and your blood sugar, eat a nice big lunch. lunch is always the biggest meal of my day- to keep your connection with the energy of the sun, it makes sense to eat your densest meal at noon when your digestive fire matches the intensity of the afternoon sun. biologically speaking, your body is best equipped to handle a metabolic load in the middle of the day, and less likely to store leftover sugars as fat.

2pm: i’m not always able to make it happen, but i LOVE to go for a walk after lunch to get some fresh air. when a walk fits in my day, the rest of the afternoon feels so much better, especially if i can share my walk with someone that i love.

3pm: back to work! I’m not a huge snacker, especially in the afternoon, but if i get hungry before dinner, i usually go for fruit, green juice or some dark chocolate (my favorite chocolate bar is the Hazelnut Butter bar by HU Kitchen– it’s sweetened with coconut sugar and tastes like Nutella).

EVENING

6pm: start dinner prep! i try to eat the last meal of my day before 7pm, so that i have plenty of time to digest before i hit the hay. i also tend to eat a smaller, simpler meal at dinnertime to help with end-of-the-day digestion. this looks like either a protein or a carb + as many veggies as i want 🙂

7pm: work ends for the day! other than planning social media posts for the next day, this is a hard cut off. honoring my rest time is vitally important.

8pm: the evening calls for self care! this is a choose your own adventure Self love activity, and it looks different for me every night. enjoying Netflix, making some tea or homemade hot cocoa (dm me for my recipe!), a face mask (i love the Integrity Biome Mask from Brooklyn Herborium) or a bath- the options are truly limitless, and whatever i choose slows things down before i go to bed.

my skincare regimen is a very important part of my evening routine. how our skin is functioning/eliminating is a pretty good indication of what’s going on in our digestive system- i would highly recommend googling ‘skin mapping’ to understand what your breakouts are telling you about your internal health. i’ve tried so many different skincare lines, but the one i always come back to is Brooklyn Herborium. i also LOVE to gua sha before i go to bed, and i follow danna omari’s gua sha protocol!

10pm: i may not fall asleep right away, but i like to be in bed by 10, either reading or doing a guided meditation (i’m not fancy about this, i find manifestation meditations on youtube). i avoid watching tv in bed as much as i can. sleep by 11/11:30!

a healthy day doesn’t have to be fancy. it also doesn’t need to look the same 7 days a week. the ONLY requirement is balance- often, our schedules don’t allow us regular free time to do exactly what we want or need, so prioritizing a few sweet tasks for grounding and presence amidst the obligations is so vital. taking some time for ourselves is the surest way to show up fully for everything else. i hope that my day-to-day has given you some inspiration to find pockets of valuable peace and self-love where you can. wishing you joy, creativity, and all the good things on all days!