The Upside: Invested in Wellness with Jessie Sarafian – February 18, 2026

[00:00:41] Jessie Sarafian: Hello, and welcome to Invested in Wellness. I'm Jessie Sarafian. Happy Lunar New Year to all those celebrating. It's the year of the fire horse. Today is part one of our Resilient Living and Wellness series. We're joined by April Cockshutt. She's a clinical herbalist, certified nutritional practitioner, and registered psychotherapist qualifying. We're going to discuss how to step into the new year with a strong immune system, balanced energy and grounded habits. The start of the new year is such a natural time to reset and rebuild. April is going to walk us through the science of resilience and we'll learn practical daily habits that protect immunity, boost energy and prepare the body to thrive during this cold season. April, thank you so much for joining us today.

[00:01:28] April Cockshutt: It's a pleasure to be back. I always love our shows.

[00:01:31] Jessie Sarafian: Looking forward to our conversation. For those on the line if you have any questions for April throughout the show please type it in the Q&A box at the bottom of your screen. We really like this to be interactive. April, right off the top, for those meeting you for the first time can you tell us a little bit about yourself and your experience in the wellness space?

[00:01:52] April Cockshutt: I've had a long journey into the wellness space and I think I was just very passionate about my own health and understanding what were my health concerns, what was the root cause. Rather than just adding those band-aid approaches I really wanted to get in tune with my body and understand how can I heal myself. I found so much relief through herbs and Chinese medicine, also mindfulness and therapy so I decided to share what I learned with the community and people around me.

[00:02:20] Jessie Sarafian: That's great. Why do you think the start of the new year is such a powerful time for resetting our health and building resilience?

[00:02:30] April Cockshutt: Great question. I feel like the beginning of the new year really carries this kind of forward momentum psychologically and physically. There's this natural sense, it's the new year, 2025 has passed, it's now 2026 and I feel like there's just natural reflection and time of renewal that increases our motivation and openness to change. That openness to change is so important for resilience. It's that adaptability. With a new year it provides a bit of that space that we kind of feel safe to step into to introduce change, be open to change and step forward.

[00:03:07] It's also a space where we can regulate the nervous system after a really heavy year of holidays. The holidays, as much as we want them to be this relaxing time off of work, time home with the kids, it introduces a lot of stress from different aspects, whether that be travels or family relationships, cooking for 20 people, financial stress, over-scheduling, it's so much. This period of January, February when we're after that can, again, provide more space for us to reflect on ourselves and what we need moving forward.

[00:03:44] Jessie Sarafian: Totally agree. From your perspective what does resilience mean for the human body?

[00:03:50] April Cockshutt: Resilience really means adaptability. How can we adapt and respond and, more importantly, recover from stress. I think that's the really big part. A lot of us think resilience is this thing that we want our children to have, we want to have, and we want resilience so we can just keep driving and progressing and kind of putting our head down and grinning and pushing through. That's not true resilience. Resilience is understanding what are our stressors, what are we pushing through and how is our body responding, what does our body need to adapt to these stressors and the stimuli in a healthy way? It's not just about always pushing through and always driving, aiming for more progress, more, more, and more, it's also about taking a step back and returning to that baseline where we can heal, we can recover, so we can then again be resilient to future stressors.

[00:04:49] Jessie Sarafian: That makes total sense. I don't know about you but where I am, this winter has been so crazy, up and down with the weather,  super, super cold and then really mild, what happens to our immune system during these colder months, and why are people more vulnerable during [inaudible]?

[00:05:05] April Cockshutt: That's a great question. Immune resilience, the winter is going to weaken it because it adds more stress. The sun, the sun is so powerful. It provides so much vitamin D and vitamin D is crucial for our immune systems. During the winter times, especially in Ontario, there is a huge lack of sunlight. We're always looking forward to January and February because it brings so much sun. It's cold but it brings a lot of sun, and we haven't had that so reduced vitamin D in the winter months. A lot of time indoors, that really increases viral exposure and it doesn't allow us to get that fresh air that stimulates our immune system. Dry air, oh my gosh, make sure you turn your humidifiers on. That's really going to reduce our mucosal barriers which are our first line of defence. Also, like I mentioned beforehand, higher stress. That holiday season can just really sneak up on us and create so much stress. Stress is the biggest harm to our immune system.

[00:06:05] That's where that resilience comes in. If we feel like we have to be resilient and we have to push through and push and push and push and push, we'll get that March break vacation, that's not the healthy resilience. The healthy resilience is acknowledging your stress, what's causing that stress, and how can we, again, use [indecipherable] coping mechanisms or pauses to bring us down to that baseline where our immune system can actually heal and recover so that I can be resilient moving forward.

[00:06:34] Jessie Sarafian: Makes total sense. Speaking of sunlight, I read somewhere that you shouldn't wear sunglasses before 11:00 a.m. if you're going for your walk. What are your thoughts on that?

[00:06:45] April Cockshutt: I haven't heard that exact one but I do think that nowadays we just are constantly putting things on our bodies and we're not allowing that natural sun exposure in. I do believe there is time of day where we should go out without sunscreen on for 16 minutes and have our body exposed to the sunlight, as well as our eyes. We're on screens constantly and we are really focused on that small little screen, exercising our eyes, having our eyes exposed to different lights is really important.

[00:07:17] Jessie Sarafian: That makes sense. April, are there any daily habits that you recommend that have the strongest impact on supporting immunity long term?

[00:07:25] April Cockshutt: That's a great question. Speaking of immunity and resilience, sleep. When we talk resilience we're not talking about perfection or these big extreme steps into the new year. We're talking about small and consistent sleep rhythms. Sleeping seven, eight hours a day are crucial. When we sleep, that's actually when we rest, we recover, we heal, our body goes into homeostasis. That's a really simple one that we can put an intention on and start doing tonight, tomorrow.

[00:07:58] Balance blood sugar. Immune system, we don't like spikes in sugar. That's going to feed those germs and those pathogens if we have a diet high in simple carbohydrates, high in sugar. Balanced blood sugar, which we're going to talk more about in the second show of this series, we want to think of high protein, high fibre and healthy fat. That's really going to help balance out our energy levels and support our immune system.

[00:08:26] Daily movement. Let's get that blood flowing. Oftentimes in the winter it's cold out so we're sitting inside. We have all these 90 degree angles in our body from sitting and our blood's not circulating. It's not warming up to kill off those pathogens and build that immune system, which is so important.

[00:08:45] Then regulation practices, breathing, pausing, not always feeling like we have to go, go, go and we're rushing around. Those pauses with our mental health, getting in tune with our body really allows our immune system to become boosted and to strengthen, which we often forget in this day and age with just so much stress going on around us.

[00:09:09] Jessie Sarafian: That's for sure, and speaking about sleep, again, sleep is so, so important for sure to function. If you don't have a proper sleep then how can you function the next day. We have a question from the audience, what do you recommend when people are travelling to different time zones, different climates, how could they regulate their nervous system or their immunity that way?

[00:09:30] April Cockshutt: That is a great question. I love, especially on flights, bringing that like Immune-C on the airplane, that really helps with hydration. A lot of times we're dehydrated so that's really going to affect our immune system. Carrying something healthy on the airplane. A lot those airplanes foods are high in carbohydrates, high in saturated fat. I love to have something like bringing my own oatmeal on the plane. I just ask for hot water. That way I can make sure I'm getting that high fibre, high protein meal in to support my body during that plane ride.

[00:10:01] Another big thing with sleep when we go travelling is I would say adopting the sleep as soon as we jump into that time zone. Rather than taking a nap try to stay up a bit longer to match the sleep zone that you're going into, or go to bed earlier rather than keeping with our Canadian time zone. I think that's really important moving forward to adapt to the time zone, same thing with coming home.

[00:10:28] Jessie Sarafian: That makes sense, total sense, and that will help me when I'm travelling across the country.

[00:10:34] April Cockshutt: And another kind of small thing too is that morning light exposure. At home I have one of those Phillips sun lamps in the morning. During the winter I find that's really helpful to support my circadian rhythm and immune system. Also, when you're travelling, opening the blinds in the morning and letting in that natural light I think is really helpful to really boost those energy levels in the morning to allow you to adapt to that time zone.

[00:11:01] Jessie Sarafian: Noted. I will definitely apply that. Transitioning now to herbs, what are some most evidence supported herbs for winter immunity that you recommend and how do they work in the body?

[00:11:13] April Cockshutt: Oh, love this question because there are so many great kitchen herbs that we can use and are probably in everyone's kitchens right now that we're not using that we can. The first one, I'm sure you've all heard about it, ginger. Ginger is such a lovely antimicrobial and warming herb. It's really great for the circulation. If anyone out there has cold hands and feet, I know I do, something like a ginger tea throughout the day or adding more ginger to your smoothies, to your stir frys, to your meals, to your soups, it's going to shunt the blood to your periphery. It's going to shut blood to fingertips and your toes. It's a really great tea to have on hand. Rather than coffee, which is a vasoconstrictor, it's going to reduce blood flow to our hands and feet, ginger's a really good option for a hot drink. Also, something to be noted, instead of ginger ...  mint is very cooling. A lot of people reach for mint tea and mint tea is actually very cooling so something I try to avoid during the winter if you are cold.

[00:12:16] Another great one, garlic. I love garlic and when we're talking about garlic we don't want the pre-minced garlic, we want the full clove garlic. The stickier the better. Do you ever get garlic and it's like kind of sticky? That's the good stuff. I would add usually three to four cloves minimum to my meals. Sauté them lightly. Sorry?

[00:12:39] Jessie Sarafian: Raw?

[00:12:39] April Cockshutt: No. If you're feeling like you're sick have half a clove of raw garlic, take it with a teaspoon of honey. That is a great natural immune stimulant. Or you can kind of take a jar about this size and you can fill it with raw garlic and pour honey over top of it and let it sit for a week, you can just take a teaspoon of that honey or eat one of those garlic cloves and that's a really great natural, anti-microbial kind of cold effects option to take. Garlic has a lot of anti-microbial properties and it's really great with boosting the amount of white blood cells in your blood. Garlic's another great one.

[00:13:19] And then there's turmeric. Turmeric was kind of this really buzzy herb a couple years ago and everyone was taking curcumin supplements, which is the active property within turmeric. Instead of buying curcumin just eat the whole turmeric. You can get it in root format and you can just dice it up or you can grate it into your meals, or you can just get the powdered version and add it in. That's another really great immune modulator, really increases your immune system. You can throw it into smoothies, into soups, into meals for kids that won't even know it's there.

[00:13:54] Jessie Sarafian: Perfect, love that. What are some three simple shifts someone can make this month to improve their energy without relying on caffeine or stimulants?

[00:14:04] April Cockshutt: Oh, I love that. I love morning routines. I think when I'm working with clients that's the first thing we work on. That's that kind of morning, you know, first thing wake up, that morning light. When I was going back to that Phillips light that I have, I have this light and it comes on naturally like the sun. I'm not getting up to this abrasive alarm clock, I'm waking up to the natural rhythm of the sun and I find that really wakes us up nicely and it doesn't kind of put us into this kind of state of the alarm's going off and we have to rush around and let's get up and go. Usually I really like to start with a morning routine of that nice light and some morning movement, whether that just be stretching on your bed, just putting your hands overhead, just waking up, getting some blood flow. I would really recommend that.

[00:14:52] The second thing, which is incorporated in the morning routine, is a protein-heavy breakfast. A lot of people sometimes fast, however, in the winter months when our immune system and our energy levels are lower that morning breakfast within two hours of rising, high in protein, is really helpful for stabilizing our stress levels and stabilizing our energies that we're full until noon, until 1:00 p.m. until we eat lunch. That's really important. Adding in things like eggs, protein powder, we can look at chia seeds, oats, there's lots of really great protein rich foods that we should really be consuming in the morning to sustain the blood sugar so that we don't crash later in the day.

[00:15:39] Jessie Sarafian: I completely agree.

[00:15:41] April Cockshutt: I know, right? Do you find that breakfast is important?

[00:15:43] Jessie Sarafian: Oh yeah, if I don't have breakfast I can't function. I'll get lightheaded, I don't want to faint. Breakfast is the most important meal for me. I need to have breakfast.

[00:15:55] April Cockshutt: It also reduces future snacking or coffee consumption because our energy levels are stabilized. We're not looking for those kind of like quick stimulants, those quick fixes. I find it so important. It's an easy thing you can do. Show number two, we're gonna show viewers how to make these really quick, easy, prep ahead, protein rich breakfasts that I think will be really helpful. That is something that I would definitely recommend.

[00:16:19] Third thing, do you ever feel like you're hitting that 3:00 p.m. crash and you're tired and you reach for a coffee or you do a really heavy workout to wake you up and stimulate you? A big thing to support healthy resilience and adaptability that I'm really supporting with clients moving into 2026 is pause before pushing. If we're tired, if we're feeling overwhelmed, that's our body telling us something. I find we have this kind of resilient mindset of let's just push through again. That hinders the body, that hurts and weakens our immune system because it becomes overactive. What I'm really trying to do in 2026, even myself, pausing and checking in with my body and understanding what do I need, what is my body telling me, how am I feeling, having that connection with my nervous system so I can actually give it what it needs to thrive the afternoon, the next day, the week.

[00:17:26] Jessie Sarafian: I completely agree. I'm all about listening to the body, taking those breaks for yourself. I want to go back to the foods because me personally, the meal prepping ahead of time, you go to the grocery store, it's the same thing over and over. What are some winter-friendly foods or meals that you recommend that's quick and easy that will help our immune system and really support our vitality?

[00:17:51] April Cockshutt: Oh, bone broth. Bone broth, again, that's been kind of those buzz-worthy items back in, I think, a couple years ago. I think bone broth in soups are so nourishing. You can even get, I think, packets now, you could just add the hot water and sip on it, or really having a big prep ahead soup. Sometimes I like things easy and I'll get a full chicken and I'll roast it or a rotisserie chicken and I'll use the bones and I will throw them into the Instapot with ginger and garlic and turmeric, some fresh greens because in the winter we're not consuming as many greens and fresh foods as we used to. Adding those greens into that soup and some really great root vegetables which are really high in, again, vitamin C and they're stable carbohydrates rather than white pasta or white bread is a really great option. Then you have it for a week. You can just dish out a big bowl of soup. It's so hearty, high in protein, high in those antimicrobial herds and really healthy. That's something I'd suggest. Another thing, really focus, I think I've said in previous shows, on those dark leafy greens. Get one of those big spinach boxes or fresh spring mixed boxes and just add a handful, whether that be to your smoothie, to your plate underneath your stew, having a really simple salad. In the winter another reason why our immune system is weakened is because we're not having as much fresh food. In Ontario, the farmers in the summer, we have all the berries and we have the lettuces and we have all the foods, in the winter a lot of our food is precooked or it's overcooked and we're not getting that fresh vitamin C from those dark leafy greens.

[00:19:36] Jessie Sarafian: Noted. Speaking about food and sleep what time or when should be the last meal before? How long should we wait before going to bed?

[00:19:48] April Cockshutt: I would say at least two hours. We really want to get our body into that pre-sleep cycle. It's really important to acknowledge that we have a cycle of sleep before we actually fall asleep, and that's all about reducing our breathing rate, our heart rate, and preparing ourselves to get into that deep sleep cycle that we need to, again, support that resilient day and pushing through and that stress that we can really get into that full recovery zone. In regards to sleep, because we're on it, the best time to sleep is between 10:00 p.m. and 06:00 a.m. For humans' natural circadian rhythm that's the ideal sleep time. If you're someone who's going to bed right now at 01:00 a.m. maybe it's not jumping into 10:00 p.m. sleep cycle, it's like, okay, let's start with midnight, let's with 11:00 and really working on those baby steps to make those changes successful.

[00:20:42] Jessie Sarafian: That's super, super helpful. April, how can people create habits that actually stick rather than fading away after a few weeks?

[00:20:51] April Cockshutt: That was a great segue from what I was just talking about. Like sleep, start small enough that it feels attainable. A lot of my clients when we get into sessions and are talking about their goals they have this goal that's way up here. They can barely see it, they can barely tell that it's reachable. They're like, why am I procrastinating and why do I feel so much anxiety around it? I'm like, well, because that's a huge goal. That's something that's going to be really stressful to attain because there's a lot of uncertainty around it which is anxiety. A lot times we work on almost this step ladder. What are the various steps you can get to and is that first step, is that attainable? Maybe that first step is the smallest of baby steps but when you get there you're like, I can do this, this is manageable. That big goal doesn't seem as daunting and that procrastination is going to go away. Start small enough that it almost feels too easy. I feel like we're so good at creating these huge, extreme New Year's resolutions and they often fall off before the end of January because they're too big.

[00:22:03] Another really big one is track consistency not perfection. I'm really big into the 80/20 rule, 80% of the work of the week go to bed at 10:00 p.m. On the weekends go out with friends, stay up late, watch a movie, do what you need to do. Perfection is going to scare you away from implementing those goals. Allow yourself to fail sometimes, allow yourself to make mistakes, however, be consistent as much as you can. We want that self-compassion not that self-criticism which is so, so important. With that expect failure, expect disruption and normalize returning after. Be kind, understand why you didn't go to bed at 10:00 p.m. because your friend had an event that you wanted to go to and that's okay, tomorrow I'll go to bed at 10:00 p.m.

[00:22:59] Jessie Sarafian: I completely agree, you know, speaking about self-compassion. For our viewers these are questions that I want you to ask yourself. What are you ready to release from last year? What supportive habits would you like to carry forward? Me personally is sleep, really prioritize sleep, not work too late, really set those boundaries. We have my work time, log off, family time, have proper sleep, creating those moments for me to recharge and disconnect. Having the self-compassion and having that mind-body awareness is important.

[00:23:40] April Cockshutt: I love that, Jessie, and I love how you chose, not the hardest one, not the most dramatic change, but you chose a doable one. That's where you're going to be motivated to actually implement it and understand that you can do it, that you can achieve it and fill that mind with that positive affirmation versus I can't do that, that's too hard, I'll never be able to do that, which is going to push us away further from actually trying.

[00:24:07] Jessie Sarafian: For sure. We're almost at time, what is one takeaway that you want our viewers to leave with after this session?

[00:24:16] April Cockshutt: I think pausing, pause and check in with yourself. What do you need? Oftentimes we don't give ourselves the amount of time that we need to check in with ourselves to ask ourselves what are we feeling. If we don't know how we're feeling we can't tell ourselves what we need. To do that we need a pause. We need to reduce the noise that's going on all around us and look inward. Stop thinking what everyone else needs, what I should do. It's what do I want to do? What do I need? What's the right choice for me? Stop over-pushing. Stop focusing on perfection. Stop being so self-critical. Be kind to yourself, love yourself.

[00:24:59] Jessie Sarafian: That's so, so important especially there's so much noise going on, there's so much going on in the world and you have to protect your energy too at the end of the day.

[00:25:11] April Cockshutt: Exactly.

[00:25:13] Jessie Sarafian: April, I understand that you're open to new individuals and couples who are looking for therapeutic support so for our viewers if they want to get more information on you how can they contact you?

[00:25:24] April Cockshutt: Great question. I am accepting new adults, individuals and couples, and I'm working at the Centre for Interpersonal Relationships so they can log on online, they can see my bio and they can reach out to book a session or a free consult. If it's a great fit, it's super important when you're finding a therapist for the first time. If any of you have more questions I'd love to support them and share my passion for supporting the community around me.

[00:25:52] Jessie Sarafian: Wonderful. Thank you so much, April, for tuning in today. Looking forward to part two where we will get into the use of food, self-care and emotional wellness strategies to support our energy levels. We'll see you next time. Take care.

[00:26:06] April Cockshutt: Looking forward to it. Bye, Jessie.