36: The Tortoise (vs. the Hare) Approach To Habit Change 🐢

🎯 What if the reason your health goals haven’t stuck isn’t a lack of discipline - but the pace you’ve been using?

🐢 In this episode, we explore why the slow, steady “tortoise” approach to health leads to more sustainable healing than all-or-nothing overhauls. We unpack how urgency, perfectionism, and intensity can actually backfire biologically - keeping the nervous system stuck in stress mode and making habits harder to maintain.

🐇 Drawing from functional medicine, nervous system science, and Gretchen Rubin’s book Better Than Before, this episode offers practical, compassionate habit-building strategies that work with your body, your personality, and your current season of life.

If you’re tired of starting over every Monday and want health that actually lasts, this episode is for you.

In This Episode, We Cover…

🐢 The Tortoise vs. the Hare in Health 🐇

• Why fast, intense health changes often lead to burnout

• How “doing everything” can activate stress physiology

• Why healing requires safety, not urgency

🧠 Why the Biology Matters

• How the nervous system responds to rapid lifestyle overhauls

• The role of cortisol, blood sugar swings, and inflammation

• Why even “healthy” habits can become dysregulating when done rigidly

🎯 Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies & Health Habits

Understanding your tendency helps you choose strategies that actually work:

• Upholders - Thrive on routine but need flexibility and rest (This is me absolutely to a T!!!)

• Obligers - Do best with accountability and support

• Questioners - Need a clear “why,” not endless protocols

• Rebels - Need choice, autonomy, and identity-based habits

There is no “best” tendency- only better-fitting strategies for your tendency!

Resources Mentioned

📘 Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin
(A must-read for understanding habit formation and personality-based strategies)

📘 Atomic Habits by James Clear

(Another excellent habits read!)

🙋‍♀️ WANT HELP?

We’d love to support you. ⁠Schedule a free discovery call with us at Nurture Functional Medicine.