How to Start a Healthy Morning Routine with Almost 30 Podcast

After moving to Los Angeles from New York City, Krista Williams and Lindsey Simcik launched the Almost 30 Podcast to create a space for unanswered questions. For an audience emerging from their 20s, the Almost 30 community has become a place for health, wellness, self-development, and entrepreneurship.

Known for their morning routines, Williams and Simcik share how you can craft your very own healthy morning routine, unique to who you are and how you want to grow. Morning person or not, you might just be motivated to try Williams’ morning latte or accompany Simcik on her journaling journey. Read on to learn their tips!

From waking up to being ready for the day, walk us through your morning routine.

Williams: I am in love with a morning routine! Especially as of late, I have been really motivated by it. There was a long period of time where my morning routine was so rushed because I was working a full-time job and running Almost 30 at the same time. So I would get up early, force a workout, and rush through to start my day, and I always ended up paying for it in the end by crashing or feeling anxious through the day.

Now I get up without an alarm (or if I do, it’s 432 Hz), put my hand over my heart, say thank you for waking me up and for waking up next to a person I love. After that, I will scrape my tongue, oil pull with coconut oil (from Thrive Market!), and start to make my latte.

In my latte, I have all ingredients from Thrive Market:

1. Laird superfood creamer
2. One tbsp of Primal Kitchen collagen
3. Califia Farms Go Coconuts coconut milk
4. Four Sigmatic mushroom coffee (I love the turmeric latte or the matcha latte right now)
5. A drop or two of Thrive Market organic stevia, if I need it

After that I will meditate on my back porch for 20 minutes, and then I can get started with the day!

Simcik: I wake up about an hour and a half before I need to be out the door. For the first 15 minutes, I just roll around in bed, stretching, staring outside, listening to the birds, thinking, not thinking … I just try to be. Then I’ll brush my teeth, scrape my tongue, do a little facial massage with my serum, and exfoliate my lips.

Then I boil some water for my elixir. While that’s boiling, I do a seven-minute Kundalini Har meditation for prosperity. Then I take my time mixing my potions together:

1. Four Sigmatic Adaptogen Coffee Mix
2. Laird Original Superfood Creamer
3. Thrive Market Ground Cinnamon
4. Primal Kitchen Collagen Peptides

By that time, I’m ready to do some writing. I sit for at least a half hour without my phone and write. Then I’m ready for the day!

Why is your morning routine important to you? What’s your favorite step?

Williams: It’s the best way I can set myself for success and honor my spirit in such a gentle time of the day. After waking, your body is stiff, your mind isn’t as sharp, and really it’s just doing myself good to take it slow, to get in as much stretching, light, love as I can before it’s non-stop through the day. I think for anyone that wants to really change their life, they can start by making their morning more intentional. Either with movement, meditation, getting outside … have fun with it and really give yourself a chance to change your life.

Simcik: My morning routine is my commitment to myself, every day. It sets the tone. How I start my day is how I’m going to approach everything following. My favorite part is the breath work. It serves as a reset for my body, mind, and heart.

How has your morning routine changed over the years?

Williams: It has become much more of a habit that I can take with me on the road when we travel for the podcast tour. I now can do it anywhere I go, and it seriously is the most spiritual part of my day where I can reconnect. It’s gotten so much better and more in tune.

Simcik: Oh, it is night and day! I used to wake up 20 minutes before I had to be out of the house. The theme used to be “rush.” Now I wake up extra-early so that I can ease into the day and really tune in to how I’m feeling and what I need.

What is something that you’re still trying to incorporate into your morning routine, but may be struggling with? How are you working on that improvement?

Williams: One of the doctors that I see regularly talks about getting in nature, and putting my feet in the sand and looking out in the distance (for visual purposes) on the beach each morning. I do this a few times a week, but it would be better if I did this on a regular basis. I struggle because it seems like so much effort to get to the beach, take off my shoes, go without my phone, and just be for 30 minutes. But when I do it, I feel like a zillion bucks. What I ask for each time that I go is to remember how good this feels so I can carry that with me.

Simcik: Journaling! For some reason I’ve yet to consciously make the time to do that. But there is something about putting a pen to paper for me that is so healing. So I’m excited to make that a habit!

What made you switch to online grocery shopping? How has Thrive Market changed the way you shop?

Williams: I have made my whole life online pretty much—in a lot of ways! I get my meals delivered weekly to my house, and my clothes, and it’s only natural that I would also get all my pantry and home items from Thrive Market. It’s changed the way I shop in the fact that now I can go one place and find everything I need for my home, fridge, and pantry.

Simcik: No matter how much you love perusing the aisles of the grocery store (which I do), the Thrive Market experience will make you switch instantly. The entire experience is thoughtful, from the customer care, to the brands they carry, to the personalized suggestions, to the packaging. I am in love. Plus, it saves me so much time and money, it’s insane.

What is your secret kitchen weapon, and how do you use it?

Williams: I really love coconut oil. For cooking, I’ll use it in the pan, in baked goods, in my morning latte or smoothie … it’s really super versatile. I actually also use it for oil pulling in the morning to clean my mouth and for oral hygiene purposes.

Simcik: I love Hepp’s Black Truffle Finishing Sea Salt. I use a pinch on anything that needs a little love, and it’s heaven in your mouth!