#336: What Should We Really Eat for Optimal Health?

Forgiveness is not the sexiest tool in the health space. In fact, most wouldn't consider it a health tool, even though it has a massive health impact - arguably just as much (if not more) than what you eat. Research has found that forgiveness changes your mind and biology. It improves heart health, immune function, hormonal flow, and reproductive health, to name a few. Unfortunately, most people aren't great at forgiveness, especially forgiving themself.  Honestly, I wasn't any better. My stubbornness is partially to blame, but I also misunderstood what forgiveness meant, keeping me stuck holding on to my pain and anger. It kept me holding onto the hurt that ended in bitterness. Thankfully, I didn't stay here.  After years of studying and living in a posture of forgiveness, I have new thoughts and research on why it's one of the most remarkable healing tools we have at our disposal. Not to mention, it's free! In the podcast, I present a new view of forgiveness, using it to gain health. It helps you heal from bad diet advice, but more importantly, it helps you forgive, which is the epitome of good diet advice. If you want to be well, you have to forgive.  Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/343. 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.  

There is a lot of bad diet advice out there, and while it's easy to blame diets, at the root, bad diet advice is not the problem. The problem is our need for diets. A problem stemming from generational beliefs about health that have created the idea that your body is the problem. I'm certainly not attempting to put everyone in the same box. But regardless of where you fall, understanding generational beliefs, challenges, or trauma is worth talking about. We all have them, regardless of our environment. While parents and grandparents are the main culprits of these beliefs, the culture and environment of our childhoods also play a defining role. For many of us, there was no escaping the health storyline the media portrayed. Historically, these health beliefs have spanned everything from magazines to TV and magazine ads (even for kids). The confusing and mixed messages of the dieting era: Growing up in the 80's and 90's, I was exposed to an entirely different set of beliefs than culture portrays now. The same would be true of our grandparents generation. There was always a belief about health, but that belief has shifted throughout the generations, bringing a world of confusion. Currently, we exist in a tangled mess of two very large extremes—the beliefs created at the peak of diet culture in the '70s, '80s, and '90s that skinny was in and how you looked determined your worth to the 2000s when health shifted to body awareness, and strong was the new skinny. I'm not saying what message is true or if any are, but rather proving that regardless, we've all been shaped by these cultural ideas. There is no escaping them. If you fail to change them, they will become your beliefs.  In this podcast, I discuss generational beliefs about health and the trauma they have caused. I also show you how to let go of these unhealthy beliefs and establish new (and true) beliefs that will change your health and your health legacy.  Listen to today's episode to learn more: https://thelivingwell.com/342. 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.  

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.  

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   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.

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   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.

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   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.

  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   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.

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   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.

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   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.

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   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.