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Food and exercise can be approached in the same way, living in the moment and not taking an all or nothing approach. Balance in both areas is key to health! Most of us live in a world where all or nothing surrounds us. But learning to live in the moment and finding balance in all we do can help us gain the overall health we strive for. Not Always Pushing to the Max I have always been a push to the most effort possible type of person, but eventually that caught up to me and I needed to learn to take a step back. This is when I discovered how yoga could help. While many may think yoga is not a hard kind of workout, it actually is very challenging when done correctly. However the difference with yoga is that it teaches you to learn when your body needs pushing and when it needs you to take a step back. Yoga is a great way to learn to live in the moment as it gives you practice inside the studio. The practice is centered around listening to your body and giving it what it needs at that moment. Not what you think it can do or what you usually do. When we do this, we actually gain strength long term. Unlike when we are always pushing and eventually crash and burn. I have found that ever since I started listening to my body I have started to get stronger, more flexible and can do things I never thought I'd be able to. The same goes with our diet. The perfect health comes when both your body and mind find a place of balance. The balance in what we eat Much like living in the moment with movement, it's also important to find the grey happy place with food. Listening and honoring your body with what it is craving helps give you what you need. Like I always say, sometime we eat to fuel our body and sometimes we eat to fuel our mind. There is no rule when it comes to what you want to eat and when. Even though many things out there may make you think otherwise, you can and are allowed to choose the way you eat and it doesn't not have to be one specific diet all of the time. There are seasons we go through and that is ok. Keeping true to what we crave help us connect more to our inner selves and is the healthiest option for our body and mind long term. The Importance of Movement Movement is so good for us. It gets our blood flowing. It releases endorphins. It helps us maintain focus and be productive. But movement is a continuum, and it doesn't need to be hard core any or all of the time. Starting somewhere is better than not moving at all. Even if it's a short walk outside, that is a start. Like with anything, you need to focus on your end goal, your why. Why do you want to include movement in your life? For me it's overall health, both mental and physical. So when I have those days when I need to slow down, honoring that without guilt helps me meet my goal. Listening to your body is super important. We are conditioned by life to constantly be pushing ourselves and we have lost touch with what we each need individually. Social media shows the perfect picture and not the messy parts. So when we use it to guide our life, we make decisions based on a false reality. If you're looking for the ways I keep myself grounded and living in the moment, make sure to download my tips guide. And remember, comparison is a thief. Focus on you and the chapter you are in! If you missed last week's episode, you can listen to it here!

Yoga is more than a type of exercise. It is a practice that takes time to develop, and works on both shaping your body and mind in an amazing way. I used to think yoga was easy. I would do it on my off days. But as I grew and went through some major life changes, yoga became the center of my workouts. Chelsea Koehnen: Yoga Teacher Extraordinaire When I first got back into yoga shortly after I turned 40, I knew that I needed a teacher I could connect with. Someone that was more than the movement. I immediately knew that Chelsea was one of those people. She starts every class with a thought of the day. Something relevant but also something you can take with you for life. Her passion for helping others love both the movement and mind spirit of yoga is apparent. If you want to tune in, check her out on her Instagram account. Life Changing Affects of Yoga The thing about yoga is that it isn't just an exercise. It's a life reforming, better yourself from the inside out kind of deal. Through the flow of yoga, you may be moving your body but the practice itself also teaches you how to deal with life. It helps you step out of your comfort zone, work on the parts of you that need some work and gives you a place to practice all of these things for real life. Yoga as Exercise I used to think yoga wasn't hard. It was something I thought of as an "off day" in my routine. But the reality was I wasn't doing it right. We have this thought that if we aren't pumping your arms, jumping up and down and pushing our bodies hard with weights and high impact moves then it isn't a tough workout. Chelsea taught me the opposite. She showed me how there is such strength in stillness. Holding a move with active muscles can very much increase our strength and cardiovascular ability. So as it turns out, I was going into yoga with the wrong mindset and therefore not putting into it what I needed. Once I realized this, and stepped out of the comfort of typical gym workouts, started listening to the practice and putting in the work, I quickly realized that it not only helped me get stronger, but I reached one of the strongest points in my life. As a human race, we are constantly going. So we are drawn to activities that are high energy so that we can feel like we are getting the most out of them. There for when faced with an activity that slows us down, we naturally resist. And tell ourselves that it isn't for us. However, when you shift your story, or are forced to shift it, we realize that it's not really the activity that is the issue, but it's us. For example, if you get hurt and are told you can only do activities that are slower and lower impact, your mind is forced to accept something you previously didn't want to. Yoga as a life practice Our life patterns come up in many areas, one being in the yoga room. I am a go getter, always give 100%, so when I first started yoga I was constantly pushing myself to do it to the max. I slowly realized that the best thing about yoga is that you work in the moment. And that moment changes. Some days, I am twisting my body in all the ways. But other days, my body needs to take the simpler road. This is a pattern I have changed. I am learning how to live in the moment and take easy day as it comes. Learning to say no when I am not in a place to take on more and keep those yes's when I am at my best. This is one of my favorite things about yoga, it helps you change the patterns in life that don't suit you best. I gives you a safe place to work on them so that you are ready to attack these changes in the real world Yoga Teaches Connection It's so important that we feel connected to ourselves. When we can read our own cues we are able to make better decisions. Yoga is one way we can learn to pay attention to our own bodies. When in a yoga class, you are constantly reminded about the mind body connection.

While past experiences shape who we are, we have the ability to recreate those stories. It takes effort, patience and time but it is worth the end result. The experiences that we have growing up help make us who we are. They help shape our personalities, they guide us in making the decisions we make today. But sometimes, those experiences can have negative effects on our lives. Decision Making In episode 2 on changing your mindset, I talked about how 80-90 percent of our decision making is done by our subconscious mind. The same subconscious mind that has created stories based on past experiences. And it uses those stories to base those decisions on. This is actually a protection mechanism. Our brain makes these decisions for us so that we don't get overwhelmed. This is similar to the reading phenomenon. When children learn to read, we focus on a combination of learning phonetic sounds, and recognizing sight words. Site words are the words that you memorize and automatically read. When you are reading you don't actually read every word. Your brain fills in words to save energy. This is the same thing it does when making decisions with your subconscious mind. How are stories affect our decisions Growing up my mom made everything from scratch. She worked full time, yet found the effort to make all our food. This comes from her childhood growing up in a small poor greek village where they grew everything, traded food to get what they needed and made everything from scratch. So for her, this was something that moms did. The stories I created from this were a little different. I grew up in America with things like twinkies and slurpies. But I wasn't often allowed to have them as a child. My mom was simply doing what she knew. But she grew up in a very different environment. My experiences therefore created my own version of stories, which has led me to want to live a more balanced life approach as I raise my kids in a similar environment. Using Our Stories for Change Our past experiences definitely shape who we are. But they can also be the catalyst to help us make changes. Growing up with a mom who made many of our treats at home, it taught me the importance of wholesome food fueling out body. However it also taught me how to let go a little. Stress isn't good for us, I'd argue it's even worse than having unhealthy food in your diet. Because I don't want my kids to have stress associated with their food choices, I have learned to make balance part of our lives. It's so important that we think about our past stories and use them to guide us to change in a positive way. This came into play when we decided to change to a mostly plant-based diet. We went into it knowing we wanted to maintain balance so that we didn't associate food with stress. Kids Creating Stories I am very passionate about letting my kids create stories through their own experiences. I want them to take their childhood eating habits into adulthood, and I believe that in order for them to do that they need to have their own expereinces. Which means that I have to further let go, and allow them to experience food that I may not choose for them. So we allow our boys to make decisions on what they want to try. At home, we are mostly plant-centered so I know they are getting plenty of wholesome food into their body. But when we are out, or at a party, we let them guide us. If they overeat sugar and feel awful, they remember that and we use that as a guide next time they want to shovel candy into their mouth. If they eat a lot of dairy, and they aren't use to that, and their belly hurts then they remember. The experience they have with something shapes their own stories. These stories will stick with them much better than if we told them something without the experience. Moving Forward with Change It's so important that we live life with an open mind.

It's hard not to fall victim to social pressure in the online world. But since we only see snippets of reality, it can be dangerous for our mental health. The problem with small shots of someone's life, is you don't see the whole story. You can easily make assumptions that guide your decisions without knowing the full picture. Judgement Based on Assumptions People see a glance of my online presence and assume I am uber healthy all the time and don't ever indulge in anything. They make this assumption without taking time to read the about me on my website, or watch my Instagram stories consistency. I don't blame them, because we all cruise the online world in a fast moving auto pilot kind of way. The issue is, that for me especially, that assumption is far from right. I share a lot of my behind the scenes life. I talk a lot about my balance when it comes to food, especially with my kids. My kids eat junk sometimes. They eat pizza and ice cream and cake. I strive to give them leniency to try foods they are curious about. I make it clear that we are not vegan, we simply eat a mostly whole food plant based diet with room for balance when we choose. I have multiple issues with these assumptions, even though they seem like a positive characteristic to have. One, putting me on this pedestal makes others feel like they need to be that way too. That they need to live this perfectly always wholesome food choice life without room for balance. This is dangerous. Two, when people surround themselves with unrealistic expectations it creates stress. I strive to help people live a stress free food life, and to think I am doing the opposite of that deeply saddens me. Online Social Pressure Social media is not real life. Even for those of us that try so hard to be as real as possible, being judged is unavoidable. So we need to move more towards reducing the pressure to be like everyone else. Comparing ourselves to what we see happens. But when we learn to start listening to our own bodies, and caring for ourselves in the unique way each of us needs, then we are able to live with social media and not let it guide our decisions. Social media is just part of reality. I try to show my behind the scenes life, but I still don't share everything. There is a line I don't cross and there are things I want to keep private. You truly don't know what happens in reality, so to judge someone and make assumptions on their character is wrong. This goes for both positive or negative assumptions. Someone may have something serious going on that they don't want to share. So perhaps they are a little more critical than usual. It's important to remember that we need to give others grace. Start listening to your own body One thing you can do to make healthy choices for yourself is to start recognizing when something triggers you. First, you need to understand that what you see online is just a small snippet of reality for that person. Much like you would go to work with your best self, us online try to show up with our best self as well. Second, you need to be honest with yourself and who you follow and what you see that may trigger you. Sometimes we need to pause from seeing things in order to gather ourselves. And that's ok. Once we admit what we can and cannot handle, then we can take time to do what's best for us. It doesn't mean we will always need to stay away from certain things, subjects, people, it just means we need to build our own self before we do. It's unhealthy for your mind to make your decisions based on what you see online. We're all different, our paths and lives are different, we all have a story to live so we need to do what's best for our own journey. Not someone else's. Even when you want to make a change, it needs to come from a place of sincere desire and not because you think you should be a certain way or do a certain things based on what you see online. ...

Losing weight is currently such a touchy subject. My guest Erica made small changes to lose weight properly and still was attacked! Why all the judgement? The online world is full of impulsive judgement without seeing the whole picture. Losing weight is a taboo subject that many people don't want to touch. But like other touchy subjects, it's time to address it. Erica Fraser from Mom Break Today's guest is mom blogger and professional marketer Erica Fraser. She runs the website Mom Break and is one of the most real people I know. Erica likes to tell it like it is, without the pressure of feeling the need to sugar coat or hide reality, which is why we get along so well. Kids change everything Most of us with kids know how much our lives have changed. And many of us moms know how much our bodies have changed too. Erica was a college athlete, could squat 200 pounds and was an all around amazing athlete. Fast forward to after two kids, and she found herself having trouble even walking up the stairs. After seeing how much she was overeating and how awful she felt, she realized that she wanted to make a change. All around the same time she found out she had hypothyroidism. Making small changes to lose weight With the help of her doctor, and a certified nutritionist, Erica started the road to losing weight so that she could feel better. She followed a food plan given by her nutritionist and started to move her body. And slowly the weight came off. She did it right with the help of professionals, she took small steps and she did it for the right reasons. Erica documented her journey on her Instagram account. The Taboo of Talking About Weight Talking about weight is one of the touchiest subjects online right now. On one end of the spectrum you have the magic pills for losing X number of pounds in little time. On the other end, you have the love your body no matter what size you are crowd. But what if you want to make a change? What if you feel awful inside like Erica did and losing weight is something you want to do? Is there a right reason to want to lose weight? I'm not talking about trying to be a size 2 when your body was built for a size 8. I'm talking about a situation where you have gained a lot of weight for one reason or another and feel terrible. Why isn't it okay to say, I want to lose weight, without being dragged over the coals? Online bullying As Erica documented her journey, she shared the small wins as she started losing the pounds. Her ability to walk up the stairs without losing her breath, being able to play with her kids, and having her first successful run in years. She also shared photos of before and afters wearing the same outfit. She talked about the things you couldn't see in the photos, like how she was starting to feel healthier, along with her drop in jean size. After one particular photo share where she talked about her excitement when she impulsively tried on a pair of jeans at her favorite store and saw that she had gone down to a size 8, the attacks began. People began to say things like she didn't look any different and calling her a liar. They attacked her for not having body positivity. Started telling her she was a bad mom. And other awful things that just about crushed her. This was all based on one photo, one caption and without taking time to read the rest of her journey. Making judgements without all the information The pressure we feel online to show the happy times and not the real behind the scenes truth is strong. Much of what you see online is only a snippet of what is actually real life. Many of us, Eric and I included, take extra effort to share the realness of our lives. While we do have lines we don't cross for personal privacy reasons, we try and be as real as possible. But it sometimes doesn't matter, like in Erica's case. People will judge without reading all the info,

The extreme diet and anti diet ends of the spectrum is not where most of us live. Is it possible to find a place in the happy middle ground of it all? Most of us struggle living in a confined box. And that box can be seen at both ends of the diet spectrum. Strip away the labels and it's a very similar place. The Diet Spectrum When we first started changing our diet to a mostly plant-based centered approach, I had no idea that the food world was filled with such extremes. On one hand you have the diet side: vegan, keto, paleo, whole 30, the list goes on and on. And on the other end, you have team anti-diet. The online vegan world From the very beginning, I felt like I didn't belong. I would cringe at the bully like behavior that some of the online vegan food world portrayed. The overall aura is very much all or nothing. You either jump in with both feet or you're out. There is not middle ground and they will let you know. Eventually, it started to wear on me and my underlying anxiety. I started to question myself and if creating plant-based food to share with the world was something I really wanted to do. The thing was that I actually really loved it. The anti-diet movement I started to search to find a "place" that I felt more connected with. This is when I found the anti-diet culture corner. At first glance, I connect with the overall idea of anti-diet culture. I don't like all or nothing things, I believe that food should be a positive experience and celebrated, I think we should be fluid in our food choices. My issue started when I began to see some of the same extreme language, just packaged differently. I fully understand that those with eating disorders need to be careful when it comes to the details of what they surround themselves with. And if this is you, get professional help. However, much like how I believe we don't have to be all or nothing with eating plants, we also don't need to be extreme when it comes to the anti-diet movement either. For example, I think it's okay to use the word healthy. Some people in the anti-diet culture arena, say that we should be using that word when we talk about food. When I talk to my audience about healthy, I talk about the overall health of both body and mind. So when someone talks about how they made an unhealthy choice when they ate that big bowl of ice cream, I actually argue that it was for the health of your mind. It brought comfort which is taking care of your mental health. The Why Behind Choices We all have different reasons why we make changes, start new paths, make new goals. While many of us may be going towards the same goal, we may have different reasons for doing so. This came into play a lot with our choice to eat mostly plant-based. Our why was health. When it comes to health, it is not only the food you put inside your body that matters, but it's keeping things like stress at bay. For us, having stringent constraints on how and what we must eat brings high anxiety and stress. Having to worry about what we can and can't eat when we go out isn't something that works for us. So we choose not to worry about it because we keep our focus on our why, which is overall health. However, if someone's why was based on ethical reasons, then stress may be something like accidentally consuming an animal based product. So going out to eat would bring on more stress. We are all different, and that is ok. Raising Kids with a Healthy Food Relationship Along with my own mental health, I have my kids to worry about. I want them to grow up with a healthy relationship with food. I don't want them to look at food as taboo. I want them to see it as the happy enjoyable amazing thing it is. We have always told them our reasons for changing our diet. They know it's because of dad's health, and they know that it may affect their health too. But they also know that they are allowed to try things they want t...

Is there such thing as too healthy? There are signs to watch out for that show your road to health has become an obsession. It's easy to fall victim on the next best thing when it comes to getting healthy. But overall health includes both a healthy body and a healthy mind. When you're living in extremes the stress that brings doesn't favor either your body or your mind. Black and White Food World It seems that so often, our world is portrayed in a black and white way, with no room for fluidity. This is especially true in the food niche. There are more diets (ways of eating) than I can count. And they all say they are the best. They all also claim to be a lifestyle, but isn't a lifestyle something that can grow with you? Each one has it's own constraints, own rules, things you can and cannot eat. Each one has explanations why, many make sense. But I ask myself, why is bread okay and even encouraged in one diet but the devil in the other? It makes your head spin, and often times triggers anxiety. At least it does for me. What happens when you are somewhere and your forbidden food is the only option? Do you starve? Or do you break the rules? Too healthy can become obsessive So in that situation above, either choice can lead to negative results. If you choose to starve, you're depriving your body of what it needs. Nourishment. You are telling yourself that it's better to stay hungry, even if that means feeling faint with no energy, than it is to break the "rules." If you eat something against the diet you are devoted to, you are causing inner turmoil and triggering a stress response. Both scenarios lead to stress. If you are constantly under stress, your body keeps triggering a stress response and chronic stress can have negative affects on your health. If you want to read more about it, check out this article by Harvard Health. Recognizing a stressful diet How do you know if your way of eating is causing you stress? There are signs that can tell you. Do you go out to eat without worrying about where you are going?Or do you constantly think about where you are eating, what you will order, etc?Do you feel physical symptoms like rapid breath, tightness in chest, palpitations, sweating and nausea when you have to eat somewhere other than home? Sometimes you need to worry about these things, like when you have a medical reason to watch out for certain foods. Allergies, intolerances, etc to certain foods are real reasons to avoid them. However, when you are eating a certain way because you think it will change your weight, make you a better person, think you have to because your favorite celebrity says it's the best...you are causing harm when you don't need to. If you think you may have an eating disorder, get professional help. Not someone you follow online (unless they are a credentialed professional), but a real expert in food disorders. How I Stopped Being "Too Healthy" If you look at history, food was a way to bring people together. We go out to eat to see friends we haven't seen in a while, we gather around a feast for holidays, we bake for those experiencing loss or tragedy. Food is meant to be enjoyed and it brings people together. So when you allow stress into food you are missing out on some of it's joy. Mindset is key, it can keep help you enjoy food no matter where you are. So first you need to decide why you are choosing to eat like you do. Your reason will help guide a path that avoids the stress. Following a rigid health plan is fine as long as it's truly what you want and what your body needs. But if the reason isn't coming internally, you will respond with stress. We eat mostly plants because of my husband's health. Our why is overall health reasons which is why we don't live in constraints and decide to be more fluid when we need it. We found our perfect balance with gaining to overall health we are looking for and also enjoying e...

It doesn't have to be black and white to make a difference. Plant-based diet benefits are experienced even when you choose to not dive in all the way. I would actually argue that when you don't have an all or nothing approach to food, you actually benefit more. Stress can cause negative effects on your overall health, so reducing stress with balance is a positive thing. Our Second Round of Diet Changes After experiencing success with changing some things in my diet with the help of my holistic nutritionist when I was going through infertility, I knew that making a change can have amazing results. Fast forward a few years, we just had our second baby and my husband started seeing a new cardiologist. He had been on high blood pressure medication for most of his adult life, but it wasn't helping anymore. His doc suggested he handle his heart issues with a diet change. He said that plant-based diet benefits can really help issues like his. And so it began, our second road to better health through food. Being his wife, I wanted to support him in the best way I could, so I set out to learn this new cuisine, plant-based eating. Plant-Based Diet Benefits Based on the book, The Quantum Wellness Cleanse by Kathy Freston, (thank you Oprah), we started with a short term goal of 21 days eliminating: Animal productsSugarCaffeineGlutenAlcohol So how did it go? Well, for 21 days we were pretty strict. We followed along, because we knew it was 21 days. We could do that. There was an end point. At the end, we both felt pretty darn great. I was postpartum, which was a very hard time for me, and I began to come out of my cloud.  After 3 months my husband was taken off all of his meds. To this day, he has never had to go back on them.  How I made this new change a business After a year of learning how to eat our favorite meals in a different way, I decided to start a food blog with the not so subtle prodding from my friends and family. So Veggies Don't Bite was born, and the rest is history! I am proud to call this my full time business and help people all over the world. The Bullying of the Online Food World Trigger warning, you may not like what I have to say. This is not directed at one particular person, this is the overall aura and feeling I personally experienced when I first entered the social media world of food. We knew from the beginning of our plant-based food journey, that we couldn't place the stress of always eating a certain way on ourselves. We have anxiety and needed to keep things fluid for the sake of our mental health, which is just as important as our physical health. So when I became this "vegan food blogger" I felt lost. The aura in the social media niche of vegan blogger is overwhelming. There is a lot of pressure. There is a lot of finger pointing. There is a lot of what I now see as bullying. And I knew, I didn't quite fit there. I create plant-based recipes. Amazing delicious ones. And we eat them and love them and this is the bulk of our diet. However it isn't ALL of our diet. We choose not to stress about it all the time and it has served us very well. We are uber healthy, our mental health is also doing great. The plant-based diet benefits we feel are serving us well. So we know this is where we need to be. This is our happy place. But how do I fit in? Creating a space of balance In August of 2013 I met my business coach, Jenny Melrose. She helped me realize that I didn't need to fit into a box. I could be my own box. This one piece of information changed my life completely. She gave me permission to be me. So that's what I did. I opened up and shared that it's ok to choose to eat how you want. It's okay to eat mostly plants, but then not stress about it other times. And the response was amazing. I was giving others permission to not fit in a box. My brand slowly developed into the real me and the people I was mean...

Born type A but trying to live type B, is this a possibility? Listen in for tips on how to change your mindset and how it worked for me. We often hear, you are who you are. You're just born that way. Is there a way to change your core being? I decided there was. Choosing Not to Live in a Black and White World I was born a type A person. Change is hard. When things aren't in control I struggle. These are the stories my brain wrote. But going through fertility taught me that there are some things you can't control. I needed to learn to accept this if I was going to have a baby. This is where I began to change my stories. The stories you have created As you grow up, your brain creates stories based on your life's experiences. Things you go through, how you are raised, and what happens to you, shape the stories that your brain relies on when making decisions to navigate your present life. I learned a lot about neural pathways when I was in college, I have a psychology degree with a biology emphasis, and studying neurons was my geeky hidden pleasure. But it recently hit me on how this affects my everyday business when I listened to a podcast episode by Stacy Tuschl that featured Dr. Shannon Irving as the guest. Dr. Irving talked about how 80-90% of our decisions are made by our subconscious mind. And these decisions are based on the stories our mind has created. But can you change your stories? Is it possible to un "hard code" the years of experiences your mind has saved? How to Change Your Mindset In our brains, we have what are called neural networks. When things are repeated over and over, our mind's job is to make these things automated so that we don't have to think about every little thing we do. But our brain also has something called neuroplasticity. This is the ability to change the brain based on forming new pathways and making those stronger, as the old ones that aren't used any more die off. Neuroscientist Tara Stewart talks more about this in her article on the Forbes website. While it is possible to change your brain, it takes time and a lot of work. You can't change unless you really want to Up until I experienced infertility, I didn't really feel that need to change the way I was. But going through a time that was so uncontrollable, really made me want to change my mindset. After I finally got pregnant, I very quickly got pregnant again. It wasn't planned, and we were over the moon, but having two kids one year old and under was the next stage of me realizing I needed to learn to let go even more. Fast forward three years, and then came our next "OMG WHAT?!" baby. Three kids, a business and a husband who traveled was a lot. Then throw in early onset menopause. My anxiety was peaking and I needed help. While medication was a short term solution to help me get some air in the crazy, it wasn't something I wanted long term. So I started a lot of internal work to help me change the stories of my past drastically. Making a change is very personal, and what works for one person may not work for another. Some need medication, some don't. Some need a combo. Here are a few of the things worked for me and continue to help: YogaMeditationNaturopathic MDA general mindset shift My personal strategies for changing my mindset Embracing the yoga practice was something I never thought I would do. It was never "my thing," I never thought I could quiet my mind or get a good workout from it. But after meeting a few yoga teachers that showed me otherwise, I quickly realized how very wrong I was. It's called a practice for a reason, and now almost 1 1/2 years later, I am still working on it every day, but have made tremendous growth. Making sure that I get those quiet moments every day, whether in yoga or through meditation, has been essential to keeping my calm. It doesn't have to be long, or look a certain way,

Can infertility and mental health have a positive relationship? Find out how my struggle to have a baby was the best thing that ever happened to me. Any time you want to make a change or do something, you need to think about your "why." Why do you want to do it? What is the motivation? Your "why" should be guiding you along the way and help keep you on the path toward your goal. Who am I? I have always wanted to start a podcast, and finally got my butt in gear to get it done! Even with this podcast, I had to think about my "why" in order to decide on how to build it. It all started with a baby. A baby that wasn't born. A miscarriage that started our journey down the path of infertility and the start of us seeing how changing our diet for health reasons can have a positive impact. Including an alternative approach in my plan Being raised by a mom who made home cooked meals, treats, you name it, I ate a lot of healthy wholesome food. I always considered myself healthy. But when I began struggling to have a baby, I questioned everything about me and my "healthy" body. The first slew of fertility procedures (which included 3 rounds of IVF, 3 IUI's, a few surgeries, second opinions, and acupuncture) were filled with failure and wore me out. I heard the words "egg donor" being uttered and decided I just needed a break. That is when I met a holistic nutritionist who was getting a PhD in women's fertility. I decided to try something new, so began working with her to add a natural treatment for infertility to our medical approach. She did some of her crazy magic (My husband called her my voodoo doc, lol) and found that I had some issues, one of which was my reproductive system. Big surprise, LOL. How diet changes first helped make a huge change After putting me on some whole food supplements, and altering my diet to remove gluten, soy and dairy plus lowering the amount of meat I ate, my body began to "heal." Changing our diet for health back in 2009 was not easy. The many options we have today were not around back then. But I was willing to try anything. And slowly I started to feel different. I wouldn't necessarily say I felt cured or better, just different. After about 6 months, I decided to try one more trial of IVF. And boy was that eye opening. My doctor told me from the very first blood draw that my body was different. He couldn't quite put a finger on why, but it was. Well low and behold, adding in that natural treatment for infertility helped the medical approach we were doing. We got ourselves some solid embryos which led to a baby! The joy we felt can't be put into words. This was the start of my realization that all that I knew about health and diet wasn't set in stone. Infertility and mental health All of the things I have been through in life have created the stories that my subconscious uses to make my current decisions. Some of those stories have changed, and some remain key to my life. My experience with fertility struggles helped me learn to let go. I realized that life will throw curveballs and knowing how to adapt quickly and easily will benefit my mental health. Seeing how altering my diet and trying alternative medicine made such positive changes to my body, I realized that healthy is a relative term and it is not a one size fits all approach. It's so important to keep the big picture in mind. We are not all the same. Health is a combination between body and mind, and both need to be kept in a happy state.