Made For Living Well

Latest Episodes:

#341: Bad Diet Advice Really Isn't About the Diet Oct 24, 2024

Show notes

If you're breathing, it's assumed you've been exposed to bad diet advice.

Growing up in the '80s and '90s, I lived through what some consider the peak of 'crazy diet advice.' From cabbage soup to grapefruit diets and liquid fasts, the '90s were anything short of one wild idea to the next that might help someone achieve their desired outcomes.

Bad diet advice didn't just emerge in the last few decades; history proves it has been circulating throughout different millenniums. It's part of our history and still part of our culture.

Yet, under the surface, there is more to dieting than meets the eye. It may feel like an approach to reach a better destination, whether through weight loss or another metric, but dieting creates a sense of safety, no matter how artificial it may be.

It feels strange to combine dieting and safety—even contradictory. But if you dig deeper, you'll find that people seek diets to create order in what feels chaotic or dysregulated. They seek a system that provides safety when they don't feel safe.

Safety is a human need (not a wish), and diets provide just enough safety to keep people needing them.

In the podcast, I share a shift in understanding diet culture. I also share where it's led us astray and how to use it to better your life. Bad diet advice is only bad because we misunderstand what we need. This is different from your average conversation about bad diet advice. It's deeper and yet more profound.

Listen to the podcast to understand the full story.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/341.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

Don't forget to track where your energy level using: This FREE energy quiz to determine your metabolic output. This FREE download to track your body temperature and pulse rate. Take things to the next level: Get health advice that works delivered straight to your inbox. The only place guaranteed to make you healthier and happier. Join The Weekly Fill here. Ready to go deeper and take back your health? Learn how to nourish yourself in a way that is personal to you while also helping you to fully embrace all of you. Take back your hormones, get more energy, and learn how to thrive inside Health Made Simple. Follow my day-to-day life plus mini tidbits of health encouragement on Instagram.

#340: (Holy) Confidence Changes Your Biology Oct 17, 2024

Show notes

Self-confidence doesn't exist. Only holy confidence does.

I spent most of my life looking for confidence in a place it doesn't exist. I lived chasing an idea, attempting to prop myself up enough to believe I had what it took, and if I believed it, then I would be confident.

It's similar to assuming you'll be more confident when you look a certain way or secure a set amount of money in your bank account. While those may bring some confidence, they don't make you confident.

Unfortunately, I chased a version of confidence that left me getting swallowed in the pit of endless self-help books, leaving me longing to uncover what my problem was. No amount of self-help led me to true confidence because true confidence is not found in self-power or self-perfection. It's found in something outside of yourself, which stems from recognizing, even owning, the weaker parts of yourself.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/340.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#339: Five (Uncommon) Self-Disciplines I've Adopted Sep 26, 2024

Show notes

The idea of discipline used to repulse me. It felt like I was forcing myself into a box I didn't choose. In many ways, discipline equated to hate. I assumed self-disciplines were the same.

Instead, I stuck with setting goals.

But as my life progressed, I quickly realized that setting goals is one thing, and meeting them is entirely different (learn what has and hasn't been working in my health here). Ironically, achieving my goals required self-discipline.

As I started to study self-discipline, I came upon a new understanding of discipline. One that is more about protection and purpose, even pushing you forward, and less about dictatorship and punishment. In all areas, growth requires self-discipline, which creates the action to birth the outcome.

I realized I needed to incorporate self-discipline to achieve my goals.

All good things in life take work. That work comes from healthy self-disciplines. But honoring that and even living it means you must change your view of discipline. I share more about that inside this podcast and the five self-disciplines that have changed my relationship with my husband, God, and myself.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/339.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#338: Health Update: What Is and What Isn't Working Sep 11, 2024

Show notes

It's easy to assume nutritionists don't struggle with food. But it's often the opposite. At least it has been for me.

Recently, I took a very unexpected break that happened for a million and one reasons, including some current health struggles (or what I labeled as health struggles based on what I saw on the surface).

Luckily, the space gave me time to reflect.

In this podcast, I share my current health struggles and my wins. As much as it's easy to miss the wins, I don't want to discount that regardless of what I see, this is what I know. Listen to the podcast to get my vulnerable conversation about what I'm dealing with.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/338.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#336: What Should We Really Eat for Optimal Health? Jun 28, 2024

Show notes

If it feels like we've been here twenty times over, asking what is good and what is bad food. While it might seem elementary, food is still the most debated topic in health. The health space seems to continuously change what food they claim is 'good.' It's like the flavor of the day.

Fifty years into the bloom of the health era, we're still asking the same question: what should we eat?

It's the same question I asked when I set my life path as a nutritionist. I wanted to help break the noise and define what foods create health. But that path was harder than anticipated. It wasn't straight or clear but it felt narrow, even elusive.

Many people find themselves in the same boat. Just when you think you have it figured out, your ideas about what is healthy change again.

Yet, the longer I've been in the space and recognized patterns, the more I've realized it's really not about a list of healthy and unhealthy foods. It's about what your body needs. Your diet is personal.

JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS IT'S HEALTHY DOESN'T MEAN IT'S HEALTHY FOR YOU.

Of course, I know that's not as sexy as telling you exactly what you should eat. I do hope you can see the freedom that health isn't as complex as we've made it. It's just showing up daily and feeding your body what it needs to thrive.

With all of that said, there are still some frameworks to follow. A set of boundaries that helps clarify what is more healthy and potentially what is less. In this podcast, I lay out that framework by teaching you how to determine the difference between healthy and unhealthy food.

That begins by learning how it interferes, influences, and alters your internal energy.

Inside the podcast, I break it all down.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/336.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#335: The Metabolic Power of Feminine Energy Jun 12, 2024

Show notes

Even after getting my nutrition degree, I spent a lot of time thinking that health was a to-do list. I believed health was the product of what you did or didn't do. And in a lot of ways, this is true. But there is something more true.

What is more accurate is that your body isn't just responding to what you do. It's responding to your perspective of what you do, your essence, how you show up, and your motivation.

It's really about responding to how safe or unsafe you are, which is determined by your presence.

I invited Jessica Ash to come on the show and talk more about embodying your healthy masculine and feminine energy, how this reacts inside your biology, changing your metabolic output, and how it changes your view of life.

Learn how to embrace your feminine side through the four feminine archetypes.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/335.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#334: Are You 'Resting' Too Much? Jun 05, 2024

Show notes

We might be living in our rest era, but are you really resting? Or maybe you're resting too much. Rest is essential, but like hustle culture, too much of anything can become toxic. If you're resting too much, your body will get bored. Just like if you're not resting enough, your body will get sick. Both lead to similar results. In this podcast, learn all about rest, whether you're resting too much, and the difference between real rest and artificial rest.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/334.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#333: How To Lose Weight (The Healthy Way) May 30, 2024

Show notes

Weight loss isn't one of my favorite topics, but it is important. I decided to answer the question of how to lose weight in a way that helps you understand why the traditional way hasn't worked and what will.

There are many ways to lose weight, but not all are healthy. If you want to keep it off, you must choose the healthy route from an expansion form of health, not reduction.

Body fat, like all biological components, serves a purpose and is necessary for our well-being. However, it's all about balance. Excess or insufficient body fat can lead to issues. The key to achieving a healthy weight lies in understanding the purpose of body fat. This knowledge will help you comprehend why your body might be reluctant to let go of excess fat.

In this podcast, I explain how to lose weight, where it goes, and what a healthy body weight looks like. You'll also learn why doing hard things is important (because your body thrives in work).

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/333.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#332: When To Let Go Of The Plan (The Intro Of Bioenergetics) May 15, 2024

Show notes

When I lost my health, doing everything right, and by everything, I mean eating all of the 'right' foods and working out at least once a day, I realized everything right wasn't right for me. No matter what anyone said, the best health plan didn't pan out for me.

At the time, I had no idea how much of a blessing this was. It felt like a battle I had lost.

My body failed, and everything I knew about health was wrong. I was left with nothing.

But a few years into my healing journey, I started to realize it wasn't necessarily what I was doing that was wrong. I had just failed to recognize how it was influencing my internal state.

I lived fixated on the external metrics of health. What I could count, measure, or time. It was always about what I did and never about how my body reacted to what I did.

It was always about doing more and attempting to arrive at some far-off destination.

But this was wrong. I was wrong. Arguably, the entire health space has it wrong.

It's not about what you do. Health is about how your body reacts to what you do.

This understanding eliminates the idea that there is a to-do list or a perfect health plan that will fix you. Things aren't good or bad, healthy or unhealthy; they can be either, depending on how your body reacts. How your body reacts is understood through the foundations of bioenergetics.

In this podcast, I introduce the study of bioenergetics and how it connects your entire lifestyle, proving that health is more than what you eat and how you move. Health is everything about your life, from the air you breathe to the relationships you interact with. Proving why even the best health plan might not work for you.

Everything may be separate, but it's all connected, and we need to focus on that connectedness.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/332.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

#331: Do You Need Hormone Replacement Therapy? May 10, 2024

Show notes

Today, I interviewed Dr. Jolene Brighten, asking her all of your hormonal questions, including if you should take hormone replacement therapy, how to prepare for menopause, how to tell when you're in perimenopause, what blood sugar has to do with your hormones, and so much more. Listen to the podcast and check out Dr. Brighten's latest book, Is This Normal: Judgement-Free Straight Talk About Your Body.

Hormone replacement therapy is becoming increasingly common. The conversations are so familiar it feels like if you're not on hormone replacement therapy, you might be doing something wrong.

It's the same for all other hormones. Everywhere you look, someone else is telling you they're a problem, making you assume you have a problem, even if you don't.

I'd even argue that hormones are one of the most wrongfully villainized body processes today. But that's a story for another day. The reality is that we encounter a lot of chatter about hormones. Nearly all of it is negative, making you believe that you probably have some hormonal problem, even if you don't.

I know all too well it's easy to fall into this predicament. Not long ago, I found myself questioning if my hormones were the problem and perhaps I needed some form of external therapy to fix it.

Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/331.

Listen To The Rest Of The Health School Episodes: https://thelivingwell.com/health-school

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