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The Plant Powered Collective Podcast helps women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond live vibrantly and nourish boldly. Hosted by integrative nutrition coach Lori Willinski, each episode blends science-backed nutrition with approachable strategies for hormone balance, energy, and healthy aging. Rooted in lifestyle medicine and personalized coaching, Lori shares her story of thriving on plants since age 14 and managing autoimmune disease with nutrition. Discover how a plant powered lifestyle fuels not only your health, but also your leadership and your future self.
Hi, today's conversation is one I've been really looking forward to. My guest is Doctor. Amy Behimer, a coach who specializes in supporting people living with autoimmune conditions in a way that is evidence informed, compassionate, and grounded in real life. Amy brings a unique and powerful perspective to this work. She is a Doctor of Pharmacy, a nationally board certified health and wellness coach, a Walls Protocol certified practitioner, certified life coach by the Life Coach School, board certified pharmacotherapy specialist, and someone with lived experience navigating autoimmune disease herself.
Speaker 1:Her approach centers on helping people feel better and function better by building habits that actually fit the season of life that they're in without perfection, extremes or pressure. She is also the host of the podcast and I am completely obsessed with this podcast Autoimmune Health Secrets. I was just learning actually about the mitochondria and I was looking for a mitochondria to put on my my screensaver and I have to find one that's smaller so I think I'm going to have to put it on camera or something and play around with it, but I'm going to do that because it's a great idea. And so if you listen to Autoimmune Health Secrets, you'll learn about mitochondria as well and why we should all put it on the screensaver on our phone. But anyway, she explores there on the podcast, she explores connections between energy, hormones, stress, mindset, and sustainable health for women, especially in midlife.
Speaker 1:What I appreciate most about Amy's work is her focus on helping people feel less broken and more capable. By learning to listen to their bodies, build self trust, and make small meaningful investments in their health. I'm excited to share this conversation with you because it speaks to nourishment on and off the plate, which is something that I believe in. Honoring the body signals and creating more honest, supportive relationships with our health. Amy, I'm so glad you're here.
Speaker 2:Yes. Thank you so much. That was a long introduction. Thank you to everybody for sitting through it, but thank you so much and for listening to the show too.
Speaker 1:Well, I just feel like I really needed to share all of the experience in both professional and personal that you have because this conversation is going to be so important to the listeners on on my podcast. And before we dive in, I always like to ask every guest that I have on the same sort of grounding, question because it sets the tone for how we think about nourishment here at Plant Powered Collective. And so what's one thing that's nourishing you both on and or off the plate, you know, in your life right now?
Speaker 2:What a fun question. On my literal plate, because I just finished this right before we started, are cashews. I love them as a nut. I love them as a milk. I love them as a butter.
Speaker 2:I can't get enough cashews. That would be my on the plate nourishment for sure.
Speaker 1:I love that. Okay. So can I ask you, do you make your own cashew milk?
Speaker 2:You know, I've been through seasons, you know, you mentioned seasons. So let's talk about seasons of habits. I have been through seasons where I've made it all, right? The breads, the nuts, the nut milks, all of it, the butters. I am in a pretty long season right now where I am purchasing really high quality brands that I, that I love and trust.
Speaker 2:So, I feel like I can say I'm done it, but no convenience is winning right now. That's real life.
Speaker 1:Right? Yeah. Exactly. Right? I I say the same thing.
Speaker 1:Exact I yes. Couldn't agree more. And I'm right there with you with cashews. I love them. I actually had the opportunity to go to, do they call it a cashew farm, I guess, and where where they actually, you know, took the the the seed and got the cashew out of the it's a laborious process, which made me just appreciate cashews so much more.
Speaker 2:Oh, I remember as a kid, my dad, was a frequenter of party stores. If anybody is from I'm from Michigan. And a party store was it didn't have a gas station with it, but it was just this store that sold liquor and snacks. And so we'd always go into
Speaker 1:these kinds party store? That's funny. I'm from Massachusetts. We didn't have a party store. That's fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:When I say that, people are like, what's a party store? So I feel like I have to describe it. But we go into these party stores and we would get this big it was this big boot shaped jar that was full of cashews. And I just remember my dad always eating them and we'd be eating cashews. And so I love seeing how it w you know, one of the things that I talk about with, myself and clients all the time is like the ripple effect of what our habits do and looking and seeing all those people watching you and what you're doing.
Speaker 2:And I definitely was watching my dad and it still is with me today, and it's a good one that I like.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. Yeah. I remember I I have, Italian grandmother and she was sort of like the matriarch of our family. And she had all sorts of, you know, like, poultices and, you know, and things that we should eat based on how we were feeling.
Speaker 2:It sounds like maybe Ayurveda type things that she was doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah. A little bit for sure. So when I was a kid, I had scarlet fever. And, you know, went back, and I couldn't take penicillin, which back way back way was sort of the the antibiotic that you took, because I was I'm allergic to penicillin. So they had me on all sorts of other, all sorts of other, antibiotics, which then gave me ulcers in my mouth and all the way down my throat.
Speaker 1:And I remember my grandmother would have me, like, like, chewing on garlic. My god. But then she didn't understand why. Now it makes total sense. Right?
Speaker 1:But Yeah. Back then, you know, but it really it helps me. And
Speaker 2:Look at it. Even our our parents and grandparents were powered by plants too. Absolutely. So
Speaker 1:Off plate.
Speaker 2:Oh, sorry.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Off the plate. Oh, do have an off the plate? I love that.
Speaker 2:I do. I have a big off the plate one right now. I, have been playing with this idea and logically have understood the idea that I want and need more rest. I call it my most neglected spoke of my framework that I use called the Habit Hub. And so I read this book, probably over a year ago called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
Speaker 2:He makes such a strong case for a Sabbath and how counter culture it is, but how healing it is. And so 2026 is the year I will become a person that practices my version of a Sabbath, which if somebody is listening and they know the true twenty four hour, you know, official version, it looks very different than that. But for me, it's a big step. And so it is so nourishing. I'm only a few weeks in, but getting that little pause is really lighting me up right now.
Speaker 1:Tell me a little bit about that. What does that mean?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So my version of a Sabbath, actually starts at 5PM on Friday And it goes until 11AM on Saturday. Okay. So we're talking eighteen hours and yes, hopefully I'm sleeping eight to ten of them. So again, that may not sound like much to folks listening, but to truly not check an email, to not do a single thing productive and to really focus on connection.
Speaker 2:You know, my phone will allow, family members to call friends to call because that's all in the name of connection. But yeah, I'm really, you know, reading and moving my body and trying to get back in the kitchen in those few hours.
Speaker 1:So no phones, no computer?
Speaker 2:Yep. The phone can be used for speaking to anybody. So if someone wants to call, I have family who's out of town. And so when I was going through it, I thought if somebody wants to call and connect, then I'm in. So I don't need to limit that.
Speaker 1:I love that. Yeah. Oh. Will you be sharing on your podcast how that's going?
Speaker 2:I am. You know, I I shared it as a I shared some big lofty goals, and so I did promise a follow-up. I promised a follow-up and, yeah, really seeing what's going to come of it. It's yeah, I absolutely will be sharing along the way and it's sharing a strategy. I have this playbook.
Speaker 2:I call it the ABC Habit Playbook that are the different strategies for how we make habits work in real life. And the most used one is called trust in the tiny. And this is me putting that in action because that, you know, a lot of people, even me for a year said, oh, it's too big to do a Sabbath. So finally I thought, Well, I need to just redefine it, make it tinier, and get to enjoy it. So it's just living what I preach.
Speaker 1:I love that. And I can't wait to hear how that's going.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I will keep you updated.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I appreciate you sharing what's on and off your plate right now that's nourishing you, and I'm I'm excited to hear more about it. So you do incredibly meaningful work supporting people with autoimmune disease, and it's clear this is more than a professional focus for you. I'd love for you to share your story on what ultimately led you to this work.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You know, my story, really starts when I'm in my teens. I was diagnosed with my first autoimmune disease. It was a skin disease called auto called vitiligo. And later in my twenties, was diagnosed with a thyroid autoimmune disease called Graves disease.
Speaker 2:And at that point I had my doctorate of pharmacy. I knew enough about the human body and about autoimmune diseases to know that something was not right. Something with my environment, my body wasn't agreeing with. And I just started to get this doom over, a future diagnosis thinking, you know, these tend to cluster. And so what's coming next down the road.
Speaker 2:And a few years later I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which was yet another autoimmune disease. And so at that point, that's just when I really stopped and said, I want to look at what is causing this. What can I do, to impact, you know, how I feel today, but also how I function in the future? And it really led me to the world of functional medicine and lifestyle medicine, more specifically in habits. I realized really early that I got to be an expert as a pharmacist, and I didn't want that with coaching or with this work.
Speaker 2:I wanted to come in and walk side by side with people and show them their expertise. And they didn't need another person telling them what to do. I really, like you said, this is more than just work for me. This is meaningful. When I decided to go back to school and really learn about habits and what they can do for our health, you know, deciding to go the route of becoming a coach instead of a practitioner, instead of somebody who is diagnosing and treating.
Speaker 2:Again, another expert telling someone what to do, I really wanted to walk with them and help them just follow through on the things that they already knew they wanted to do. The very simple, simple basics that so many of us miss. Exactly. And so
Speaker 1:what did you personally need most when you were navigating your own healing journey?
Speaker 2:That is a easy answer. It was mindset. It was what am I thinking and feeling? And how is that driving my experience of life? I'm somebody there's a small percentage of people, less than ten percent of people who are really pretty good at making habit changes if their why is strong enough.
Speaker 2:And so with multiple sclerosis, I had this vision of impaired mobility and my independence potentially being threatened if things went a certain way. And so it was just extremely motivating for me. Was able to change my diet to things that, you know, we know can fuel a body. And of course everybody's different, but I was able to stick to exercise. I was able to do all what I call the outer habits, but the thoughts and feelings and the, almost fear that was driving them was really something that I didn't know I needed until I found it.
Speaker 2:You know, I, I realized I was holding this belief of everything is gonna be okay as long as I can. And for me, was keep walking, keep working, keep doing these things. And anytime our happiness is dependent on an external circumstance, then it's kind of precarious and it's a little bit worrisome. So I really dove into looking at how I was thinking, which, you know, impacts how we're feeling and decided to really build out, that mindset work that is so crucial for all the others.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. So you bring a really unique lens to this work that you were just talking about as a pharmacist who is deeply rooted in lived experience. How did that background shape the way you think about health and where do you see the gaps?
Speaker 2:I think what it helped me get into is habits. You know, I say I am a nerd on habits. I say that it is the vehicle to the health and the life of our dreams. And the reason my background led me there is because of the evidence behind them. So there is a huge body of research behind not only what habits help us have healthier minds and bodies, but also there's a science behind habit change.
Speaker 2:So what I realized pretty quickly was if I become an expert from all these amazing researchers and authors who study how to change habits. If I can, you know, take their wisdom and package it up in a way that speaks to my people so that it really goes from page to practice, it really takes these ideas and makes them tangible, then I just had so much confidence I could help people because I had the science on my side.
Speaker 1:So if you had to, like, choose one habit, you know, that that and I know that everyone's bio individual, so there are different habits that will but and and maybe a better question is not necessarily one habit, but what's one way to make a habit skip? You know? Because oftentimes, right, we we always start out with habits. I do it myself, you know, and and and I ebb and flow, you know, with with habits.
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's a good question. You know, a habit is is defined in the dictionary as a usual way of behaving. And so 40 to 50% of our day is made up on autopilot on habits. So they're happening for all of us, whether we know it or not.
Speaker 2:I like to expand that definition. You can tell I like to redefine things. I define that as the inner habits as well, which are how we're habitually thinking and feeling because we have the ability to influence all of those. And so, I guess I give that little background about habits to answer your question that I think that a habit that can work for everybody and this, no matter who you are is to pick up time during the day and carve it out as you time, a date with yourself. And the reason that this works so well for everybody is that whatever the habit is that you want to be working on, If you have built the foundational habit that you have a space in your day, that is for you.
Speaker 2:You get to insert any habit that you want into that space to give it a season that it deserves. So if I know that I wake up and I have thirty minutes of uninterrupted time where I don't let the world in and I, this is something I show up for myself. I tend to be a morning person, so I love the morning, but let's say I'm working on something with food. Could meal prep during that time or learn a new recipe. If it's exercise, you can exercise.
Speaker 2:If it's meditation or journaling, you can slide it right into that space.
Speaker 1:And,
Speaker 2:you know, so it's really the protected time to be able to say, this is me working on something for me.
Speaker 1:I love that. For me, it's like habit stacking. So sometimes, you know, I always hear from my clients, oh, I don't have time to make a dinner. That's why, you know, I just pick up something on the way home or, you know, I get a fast something fast casual or I get prepackaged meals, you know, and and and I'm and so some you know, and I don't have or I I don't have time to meditate, or I choose to meditate and not cook, or I choose to cook and not meditate. Yep.
Speaker 1:And and for me, like, my habit stacking is is as I'm chopping, I'm doing deep breathing, like, you know, and and and breath work. And so that's kind of like my meditation time and my relaxation time. And and, you know, I even put, like, little stickies on my, you know, don't forget to breathe, you know, when you're chopping, you know, kind
Speaker 2:of thing.
Speaker 1:So it just is, like, a a little reminders, you know, on my countertop.
Speaker 2:Well, and yeah. And if your listeners are are thinking the same thing of, I don't have time for this, it's really cool to think about how whatever meals are the easy convenient ones right now, it's because they're habitual. It's because you know where to get the things in the grocery store. They're in your Instacart history. So realizing that whatever the new, let's say you want a new breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Speaker 2:Just that muscle memory of doing it a few times, that will become the new habit. So it's kinda cool to think of it that way. And it will become the second nature that becomes the convenient thing where if you tried to change it, you'd be like, no, this is the easy part.
Speaker 1:Right? Yep. Exactly. Exactly. So, you often talk about caring deeply about what actually works in real life, not just what sounds good on paper.
Speaker 1:And, what does real life mean to you, especially for someone managing an autoimmune condition?
Speaker 2:Real life means, ups and downs, changes in symptoms, people who need you, people that, you want to be able to be there for, you know, things are pretty on paper, but if we feel like we have to have this competing priority of once life slows down, then I could think about myself then, you know, life never really slows down. And so if we can figure out how to show up for ourselves and keep inching forward every single day, no matter what, even if that's standing still and resting, that that's okay. It can be a part of a forward progress. That is the way that we get to feel proud and accomplished, and that ultimately fuels us to want to do more. But, you know, we mentioned I mentioned these these research greats, and you mentioned habit stacking.
Speaker 2:You know, Atomic Habits, which is written by James Clear. I've never met somebody that, has reached out to work with me who doesn't have it and or read it a few times.
Speaker 1:Right? I I know. I I I've read it, like, three times already, and and sometimes just you know, if I wanna take a little break in my office, I'll just open a I call it, like, an intuitive poll. I just open it up to a page, and I'm like, okay. You know, even though I read this, I don't remember reading this section or whatever, you know?
Speaker 1:And it's just like that habit stacking is so important to me.
Speaker 2:Well, and another another issue that's happening is there's way too much information out there. So people are signing up for free webinars and reading books. You and I both have podcasts and we are well intended. If we are just consuming more and more information without immediately pairing it with how we're putting it to work in our real life, then we're never going to get to feel the benefits of it. And so, you know, a lot of people will ask, well, how much time commitment is it?
Speaker 2:And you know, I have a membership and I don't want you spending a ton of time watching videos or they're there if, and when you need them, but it's really to tap in, learn just enough to get back out there in real life. Learn just enough to start applying it because that's where you're gonna get wisdom. I call that failure goal. Like that's where you're gonna learn things about how this works with you that you can't get in any book or from any podcast.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know? And and I I know, you know, in some of the research that I did, you talk about, you know, perfection, but not in the way that we think about perfection. And so why can perfect how does the idea about perfection, just consuming all of this and trying to digest all of this stuff that's out there all over the place, whether it's peer reviewed research, you know, or on TikTok or Instagram or whatever, you know, wherever people in trying to digest that and thinking about perfection. Can you talk to that a little bit?
Speaker 1:Because I I know you have a really unique perspective on it.
Speaker 2:I mean, we do get actually a little dopamine surge from, like, learning more and it making sense. And so it's so tempting to think that when we're dealing with something tough, like a diagnosis or symptoms that really impact our day, it's really tempting to think that there is an answer out there that there is a silver bullet. And so we just keep looking for it. And if we try different things, but we don't make it a habit, we don't stick to it. We will write it off as, oh, that didn't work versus did we work it long enough?
Speaker 2:And did we try it with this and maybe in this version? And so we really have to be open to have an experimenter's mindset to really put these things into action in our life, because not only are you and I different Lori, but me a year from now is different than I will be three years from now. So we need to learn this ability to road test things because it will change. We will change. I mean, I'm in my forties now.
Speaker 2:I've had times where I was vegan for two years. I had times where I was vegetarian. Then I did this and that in this experimenter's phase and my body was needing different things at different times. So it's just such a skill worth building.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. So it sounds like it's more like action rather than perfection.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yep. I call it the twentyeighty rule where every 20% of your time, and you don't have to calculate this out, but every 25% of your time that you spend consuming or learning something or watching a video, 80% going out and applying and getting real life data on how that thing works for you. And if you try and you know, it doesn't stick the first time, then let's stick with it. We've kind of trained our brains that if we set a goal for something, whether it's silently or out loud, and it doesn't happen the first go round, we kind of train our brains that, oh, she'll forget about that.
Speaker 2:Don't worry. But we want to retrain our brain that we're going to follow through either until we reach it or until we lovingly decide that we wanna put that one down and go after another one.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. So one of the tools you're known for is and I I again, when I was doing research, I love this idea about an energy audit. Mhmm. Can you talk about that a little bit and and tell us what an energy audit is and how you approach it and, you know, yeah, and just what the benefits are?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, audit's not a very sexy word. We probably think of, like, tax audits.
Speaker 1:Right. Although, you know, my my background is in is in business. Right? I I you know, my later on, I'll talk a little bit about my my story because I wanna I wanna ask you about it. But I love the word audit.
Speaker 1:I think audits are fun to do. Right? It you know, just kind of like evaluating things and seeing where you are, like, from a strategic standpoint. So I I love it really spoke to me personally, and I love the word audit for that purpose. But, yeah, tell me a little bit about it.
Speaker 2:Well, audit came from the whole idea really came again, no surprise from the habit research. So habit research calls it monitoring, which really shows that first, if you just get in there and take a look at what's happening with any area of our life, without expecting to change anything, often it will change because we know we're looking at it. But first we need to have a really good idea of what the current state is so that we can decide again, what is our hypothesis and how we're going to tweak it. And then energy is really the currency that is the most universal for all of us.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So for some people, you know, their symptoms may be, musculoskeletal or neurological or thyroid or gut, but all of us can understand that, you know, our food gives us energy, our, our thinking, our movement. And so really using energy as a currency to see how things are working, is kind of where that energy audit came from. But it's, it's grounded in the idea that we want to have good data to see what is really happening in these key areas of our lifestyle so that we can see what is the biggest drain, right? What, where is the biggest bang for your energy buck to start with, to start to see upgrades. The other neat thing about energy audit is that we always can find a place or two that is going really well.
Speaker 2:And we wanna celebrate that, you know, no surprise that, you know, as a coach, I also wanna help people find the, the spots where their brain wants them to focus only on the negative. Then try to bring them back and say, there are good things to build on.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And you know, when I help people with it, it's because we can't see our own blind spots. And so that's one of the beauty is beauty parts of being a coach. I mean, I'm a coach who has a coach because it is, it's impossible to see our own blind spots, just like a neurosurgeon can't operate on themselves. So sometimes having an outsider perspective come in and lovingly, you know, I get full permission from people before I do this. I say, can I tell you what I'm seeing?
Speaker 2:Can I tell you where maybe you have some thinking that you wanna question and, and you want to challenge yourself to, is there a different mindset that we can practice here? Again, those inner habits, because just like working our muscles will drain our energy so will thoughts and feelings that really use up our precious energy.
Speaker 1:What do what do people usually notice first when they when they start doing energy audits? And do they share the energy audits of the I mean, this is fascinating. So do you take a look at it to see if you can see, you know, threads of, you know, through through their, you know, through their energy audits?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think what's most surprising is how See every, you know, if, if people have worked with me for a long time, they know that I'm gonna, we're gonna be talking about how they're thinking and feeling, they know the proof that, oh my gosh, okay, this works. I could see that. But if someone's newer to me and they're coming in, because I do offer a energy audit, with a plan for you to make edits as a way for people to work with me when they first get started, the biggest thing that they're surprised on, I think, is how I will I will usually offer an outer idea and an inner idea, an outer idea and an inner one. And, and so, yeah, I think they notice pretty instantly that, woah, how I'm thinking about this actually really does change my energy.
Speaker 1:I love that. What inspired you to create this type of framework? I I love the idea that it's you know, because my background, again, it's in business. And and I just love the idea about, like, a strategy part of it, you know, to be able to see to see patterns and and then to make, you know, strategic changes and and how we might deal with our health and for the person to recognize that themselves. Necessity
Speaker 2:is the mother of invention, as they say.
Speaker 1:So
Speaker 2:really, I'm my first client and I'm always working on myself first. I really want to get a really good understanding of what's working so that I can then teach it. And so I started, you know, doing this for myself over ten years ago in terms of, you know, instead of saying, okay, everything is terrible. It's like, is that true? What if we break it down to the six key areas of lifestyle that impact our health and happiness?
Speaker 2:And let's get a better picture. And so those six key areas, again, the good news is there it's nothing you haven't heard of. It's nothing that's not out there in the research, but I have packaged it in a way that is holistic because another thing that research shows is when we have frameworks that help our brain understand how this fits into a real life, then we're more likely to stick with them. So you see the same things are coming up over and over again in real life and the science backed. Those six key areas, I don't know if it's worth mentioning because we've we've danced Okay.
Speaker 2:Around the two of Yeah. So the first is mindset again, one that I, I wouldn't have become a coach. Think if I wouldn't have had the drastic change to my life with mindset work.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I always said you can't outnourish a crappy mindset. Yeah. Because that's what I was trying to do. I was like, oh, I can eat better and better.
Speaker 1:But I just wanna pause here. So you can't you can't say that one more time for me.
Speaker 2:You can't outnourish a crappy mindset. That
Speaker 1:I don't know. It's like kind of
Speaker 2:Because nourish. Because you love nourish. I you know where I you know where I think I must have gotten that from was you've probably heard you can't outrun a crappy diet. And when I first heard it, I said, cannot, I can do all these things. I can eat every piece of kale and avoid every piece of gluten that I want.
Speaker 2:If the way I'm thinking about my health and my future and my life is crappy, none of that's going to take. And it proves itself true time and time again. So mindset, I will talk about mindset all day long. The other ones we actually use our mindset to get really good at. And those are food.
Speaker 2:No surprise. If you're listening here, that's a big one movement. These bodies were made to move. So finding, finding that joy, finding what it takes to move consistently, rest and relaxation. So again, I call this my neglected spoke and I call them spokes because it's the habit hub.
Speaker 2:We all have one that we will, we will neglect unless we give a focus. Number five is connection relationships. We are wired to belong. So, you know, when in doubt, if we can strengthen our relationships, our health will improve. And then the last one I call good stresses.
Speaker 2:So these are the challenges we set, the goals that we take on, in the name of going through something tough to come out a little bit stronger on the other side.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah. That's great. I wanna pause here for a moment because this is, where many women like myself start to, maybe get a little overwhelmed sometimes and and confused, and we're doing all the right things with all the pillars of lifestyle medicine or to some degree of doing well. Yet symptoms still seem to intensify in midlife.
Speaker 1:You know, one of the things that surprised me was realizing that food isn't the only input into our bodies. I just recently took some lifestyle medicine courses through Harvard's medical school, and it really changed the it made me realize that resting is okay. I grew up in a time where and I grew up in an in in New England, you know, where, you know, you push through, it builds character. You don't you don't listen. You just keep on pushing through, you know, and and that's the way I grew up, you know, hard work.
Speaker 1:All my grandparents were were immigrants and, like, they they came to the new country and, you know, you have to work hard and make something of yourself. Yep. And I finally realized, you know, in my late fifties that it's okay to rest. And that's also energy. That's that's also doing you know, that's that's a necessary part of it.
Speaker 1:We talk a a a lot about that, and particularly as I was going through menopause and now, you know, postmenopausal and still experiencing a lot of hormone disruption and and sleep disruption and, you know, and and some of the things that that affect, you know, midlife and and as we get older, you know, I I experienced much the same things. I was, diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, when I was around 16 years old. I was already plant based. And back in the, you know, early eighties, which I hate to admit, but back in the early eighties when, you know, I wanted to go plant based, my, you know, my parents, you know, said, no. We were from New England.
Speaker 1:You eat whatever's on your plate. You're lucky you have it. You know? And Yeah. You know, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:And, you know, you sit there until it's done. Well, then I got salmonella, which could have only come from from chicken. And I ended up in the hospital. And that was the only way I could convince my parents that I you know, for me not to eat meat. And listen.
Speaker 1:And I for me, it wasn't the right thing. Everyone's bio individual. I have a partner that is a meat eater. Yeah. You know?
Speaker 1:And and that's okay. He's an omnivore. Yeah. And, you know, but going back to that and and as I got what I found was is that my the the the symptoms that my autoimmune, you know, which was headaches, joint pain, inflammation, you know, sleep disruption, much the same thing that I experienced going through menopause. I found that during the summers, it would get better Because, of course, growing up in New England in the winters, we we had back then, we had canned vegetables.
Speaker 1:You know, the the the frozen vegetables were too expensive. You know? My dad's a school teacher, and, you know, we were always looking for, you know, you know, money savings and that kind of thing. Google New Englanders. You know?
Speaker 1:And
Speaker 2:Our vegetable vegetable was applesauce. Did you those canned pears and
Speaker 1:peaches? Yes. Yes. Yep. There was vegetable.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Exactly. And so, you know, so it was interesting as I as I got older and and I really started thinking about it is during the summers, I would find that I would feel better because my family and my grandparents all had gardens. Yeah. So I was eating fresh vegetables out of the garden.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know? And and, so, you know, it's it's it's interesting that, you know, as I got older and I started, you know, going through menopause and I started going to doctors, and it was prescriptive rather than partnering to figure out. As much as I wanted to advocate- Yeah. A lot of doctors said, oh, well, maybe I'm not the right doctor for you because I'd go in with, you know, my list of questions.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. And I'd always say, I I don't pretend to be a doctor. I absolutely don't. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But I can do research, You know? And, you know, can we talk about these things? And my thyroid sometimes would be hyper, sometimes would be you know, like, all of the things would be all over the place. My sed rate, my a and a, like, every all my blood work would be all over the place. It it was more prescriptive and telling me what I needed to do.
Speaker 1:And That's and perfect. Yeah. Yeah. You know? So I and so I really leaned into food, you know, and really leaned into, you know, the pillars of lifestyle medicine.
Speaker 1:And so, you know, and I had also lived in Asia for twelve years. I lived in China. And so, yeah, I had an opportunity to do some studying of traditional Chinese medicine in the country. My daughter always had eczema even as a baby. And, you know, here before we moved there, the doctors would give her cortisone.
Speaker 1:And at one point the eczema, when she was an infant got so bad that she had to be on a steroid claim. And they said, oh, don't put it on her face because it it it will it it will disfigure her. And I thought, why would I wanna put that anywhere else in our body if it's gonna disfigure her? Like, what I don't understand. And so when we moved to Shanghai and, we I went to a doctor who was western trained, he said, what is she eating?
Speaker 1:Oh. And she needs to eat more of this. Wow. Yeah. And and let me give you this cream.
Speaker 1:And I'm like, oh, is it cortisone or or, you know, or steroid? I really don't wanna put her on that. And he said, no. No. No.
Speaker 1:He said, it it was sesame based, and it had other things in it, but it was botanical, and it helped her. I thought, wow, there's something to this. Yeah. So that's when you know? And and, so, you know, why in your opinion does menopause often amplify, like, sensitivity to, you know, to maybe some autoimmune, at least it did for me.
Speaker 1:And I know everyone is different.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, are just so powerful. I mean, they are just the communicators throughout our body. Yeah. You know, levels are fluctuating.
Speaker 2:Things are changing. I think too many of us do, you know, we're just kind of trained, like you said, in new England or like I in the Midwest, you just keep going. You just keep doing the same things. You, you expect yourself to be able to keep working out in the way you did and eat the way you did. And so there's a ton of change happening in your body, but we, in our minds most likely are just trying to keep things the same versus again, back to what you just said, it's okay to rest.
Speaker 2:It's actually part of the process and it doesn't have to be earned. It doesn't come after something else it's baked into the plan. And so, I mean, that's one, you know, over without getting into the nitty gritty of what hormones are, are impacting, you know, that, that is a never answered that question, but that's the first thing that comes to mind for me is the fact that our bodies may need something different and, you know, we, we wanna keep doing what we're doing and maybe not, not start to build that self trust to slow down enough long enough to listen.
Speaker 1:Sure. I love that. If someone listening wanted to try something gentle and meaningful today, without overhauling their entire life, what would you recommend?
Speaker 2:I would sit down in quiet and ask yourself, what, what do I wanna do? What would I, what would I be so proud of changing or doing, or just making a little bit better and trust what you say. Trust that Don't go off of what someone's telling you, you saw on Instagram, what your, even what your doctor says, like start with where you want to. And maybe it's something that you're scared to say out loud because you've tried it before and it didn't work. And so you're a little shy to state it because it feels like you failed before, but glad is the place.
Speaker 2:And, and sometimes I say, ask someone who loves you, what they think that you want. Because often times We talk about it. You know? You you may think know for your partner or a child, oh my gosh. If they could just stick with this exercise or what do they beat themselves up for?
Speaker 2:So let's start there. And this works. You know, there actually is another amazing researcher named BJ Fogg, and she has two habit absolutes. And number one is it has to be something that we want to be doing. So that's why I always start there.
Speaker 2:I I actually I have a a pre quiz that asks you what I just asked you, but in a few different ways Okay. To help you land where which area of this Habit Hub that I described would be your best place to start. And and then here's what else I wanna say because your brain is probably gonna tell you why I need to do more than that, or I I also need to do this. But really trusting that if you build the skill of showing up, being consistent, and making, a loving adjustment to a habit in one area, that skill is going to translate over to the next habit that you wanna make and to the next area. So if we just slow down and trust that we have time, you know, and we're on the right direction, we're not worried so much about speed.
Speaker 1:I love that. I love that. And,
Speaker 2:and for me, mine was rest. You know, I really did this. I do this for myself. What do I need? What do I want?
Speaker 2:What have I been seeing for so long, but felt like I just wasn't nailing it. And it's also one of the reasons I decided to make it a big picture, kind of a goal for the whole year, because I wanted to try a different strategy because I, my little, my tiny steps weren't working that well. And I kept neglecting rest. I wasn't getting it perfect. I'm vulnerably hoping that I do.
Speaker 2:What about you? Do you have one that you, like, speaks to you first?
Speaker 1:For sure. Right now, mine is movement.
Speaker 2:Okay. Such worthy one. Yes.
Speaker 1:I had a really so a little bit of background during you know, it's interesting when you said ask a loved one, you know, about what you really want. Even as a little girl, I sort of have always wanted to do this. It might it it looked different when I was a little girl and I would and maybe now I call it manifesting back then. I called it just like date. Right?
Speaker 1:Yeah. And but, of course, you know, I I was a shy sort of bookworm ish kind of, you know, teen and just took, you know, very traditional tract of, you know, going into business. I went to school for, you know, economics and marketing, went into business, went did the financing, all that kind of thing. And then about the biggest adventure that I had was moving to Shanghai. I lived there with my family for twelve years.
Speaker 1:And when we moved back here, you know, did nonprofit work, you know, and and that was another adventure, you know, is and was beautiful, and I loved it so much. I've always done nonprofit work, but more on a volunteer level. And and then during COVID, I decided, you know, my very community oriented nonprofit work wasn't happening because, you know, I couldn't go out into the community. So so I decided to go back to school to become, you know, a nutrition a certified nutrition coach. And that's you know?
Speaker 1:And and since then, I've taken a lot of other courses and things like that. But for me, it was really leaning into that part of me. And and and I had done it sort of part time as, like, a side hustle, you know, I guess, you know, you could call me. And but then when I turned 60, I decided I just need to jump into the deep end and and do this full time because if I don't do it now, when will I do it? Yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. You know? And and, you know, and I think for for for me, part that was an awful long way. My kids always tell me I tell long stories, but that's that was a long way of saying I also had a really sedentary job. And so movement wasn't part of what I did.
Speaker 1:And I found out I was I was having a lot of inflammation. And when I have a little bit of movement, particularly like yoga and stretching, and strength training, I find that my inflammation isn't as pronounced, at least for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. You know? Absolutely. Most, most people.
Speaker 2:Yeah. These, these bodies, man, they will tell you how much they love their mood, but I have a big movement goal this year as well. And, yeah, it's, it's interesting. And just to pay attention to, to the little whispers. Yep.
Speaker 1:Yep. And I have a couple of friends that are also entrepreneurs or in, you know, a, a, a non traditional workspace like I am. And oftentimes, we try to get together every couple of weeks, and we'll have walking meetings. Oh, I love that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right? And I'm in Florida, so it's easy right now to do that. Although it's kind of cold here today, but still, relatively speaking, much nicer than elsewhere in the country.
Speaker 2:Where we're from. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You know, we we yeah. We and and we love it because because we share goals with each other, and we we talk about not only professional goals, but personal goals as well. Yeah. And we look at it as you know?
Speaker 1:And so it it it's sort of encompassing a lot of different areas. Right. You know, cause it's mind, body, and soul kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the scariest thing is when people stop having goals. And even if, even if you don't want to call it a goal, that's fine. But like to stop, to stop kind of deciding what you'd like in the future or what you'd like to be different.
Speaker 2:And it's so understandable because it likely comes from a place where maybe they've tried. And I just want anybody listening, to know that there is a different way and find, find, that person that, that helps you realize there is a different way, because you know, if we don't know where we're going, it's like, it's like a GPS, you know, where you don't put in a destination. You're just gonna end up sitting there, you know? And so it could be something It
Speaker 1:you have be a straight line either. In my opinion, it doesn't need to be a Yeah. No. I mean, I've had a lot of different, you know, professional experiences, which has built a lot of skills, but in different, you know, in different industries. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know? And and I've enjoyed every single one of them. Yeah. You know? And, now I especially enjoy this and
Speaker 2:what I'm seeing
Speaker 1:now, which is you know? And I I just so appreciate you being on the podcast. You know? Yeah. But I do wanna ask you, tell me about your podcast, Autoimmune Health Secrets.
Speaker 1:I'm a little obsessed with it right now. And if for anyone listening, we'll link it in the show notes. We'll link your community as well as the quiz that you mentioned earlier. So we'll link all of those things.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Would love it. And yeah, whether you have an autoimmune disease or not, autoimmune is just, you know, a way of saying the human body, you know, I have clients, I have listeners. They're like, I don't have an autoimmune disease, but this just makes sense. But yeah, the podcast really the name kind of says it all where it is no secret that better habits lead to a better life.
Speaker 2:You know, that it being intentional and, you know, doing more of the things that help our bodies and our brains habitually. That's not a secret. What the secret is, is this approach that I'm talking about. How do we do it in a way that feels enjoyable, that is effective? Because at the end of the day, we do want to combat some symptoms, maybe a diagnosis or two.
Speaker 2:And then how do we do it in a way that we make it inevitable, you know, and that's a tall order, but when you know and learn all the reasons that, that we get thrown off track or habits feel hard, it's like we have the answers to the test. So the autoimmune health secrets is I'm teaching the, the ways we get around these detours that are thrown up again, so that we can really keep moving forward in a way that feels loving and not like a chore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. What conversations are you most excited to explore next on your, on the podcast? You share?
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, absolutely. I just, I it's, it's primarily solo episodes.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And so there, I do have, I do have some guests, but I just had a conversation with, a nutritionist, another nutritionist who, works with Hashimoto's, which is one of the most common autoimmune diseases. So we kind of clicked with that and similar approach to what we're talking about. That conversation was fun because I don't often get into, I like to stay in my lane. You know, I like to, get on the experts of, of what the actual nitty gritty is, but she, she broke down gluten and autoimmunity really, really well. So that one was just recently, and I'm already getting people like, oh, I love this.
Speaker 2:I love talking to, you know, a cup of therapists that can really get into again, the movement and what, what is happening with this? Because it's like, we call ourselves peanut butter and jelly because everybody has that plan that they want to follow through on whether it's a nutrition plan or a physical therapy plan or an exercise plan. But then, you know, coming together and saying, oh, this is how we actually do it. It's kind of fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. As we wrap up, if there's one message you'd love women to carry forward from this conversation, what would it be?
Speaker 2:I would say if you want something different in your health or in your life, maybe just be open to try something different, you know, really, with an experimenter's mindset, knowing that, you know, you just, we don't know what we don't know. So, you know, if you feel a intuitive hit from something or a pull to do something, I like to say, don't ever suppress an urge to do something for yourself that future you may thank you for.
Speaker 1:Right. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so, so yeah, if you, but if your brain tells you, oh, I don't have the time or I don't have the money or I shouldn't need support on that. You know, maybe be willing to try to to invest a little something. Again, whether it's time, energy, money for something that's gonna pay me back in the future.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. So it sounds like what, know, maybe paraphrasing just to show maybe a little bit more compassion for themselves.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Oh, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I find especially with women sometimes, right, we don't have that because we're natural nurturers. You know? We need to take care of our kids or in this eat grandkids or, you know, our partners, husbands, you know, whoever is in our family, friends, neighbors. You know? You know?
Speaker 1:And and it's it's, it's interesting. A lot of my clients are always like, I really can't change. Like, I I really wanna change my nutrition, you know, and, like, well, how I eat, but we go out every Friday night. And if I like, how will my husband, partner, whoever, you know, whoever that other person, a friendship group, whatever, how can I still like interact with them if I don't do it in this way?
Speaker 2:Well, in the first, the first thing I would say is you just, you know, she said, whoever she is, she said, you know, I want this, but. And then here's the here F anything after the, is just the wonderful problem that we're going to solve for. Oh, I love that. Even just replacing it with, oh, I want this and, and what comes up. And so, yeah, I mean, you mentioned the lifestyle pillars.
Speaker 2:I call them as folks in the habit hub. The information is out there with our brains. They logically make so much sense. Yes. And I'm just, yeah, I want everybody to know it is not your fault that you're not living them perfectly.
Speaker 2:You're human. I'm human. Humans are, are, they have evolved to seek pleasure, avoid plant pain and resist change. So it takes overcoming being human to do these things. So yeah.
Speaker 2:Love on yourself, give yourself. Don't do it from a place of shame or a place of, oh, I gotta do this, but take the next step. If you do want to change and you want to make these changes from love for yourself and a gift.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Absolutely. Is there anything else that you'd wanna add or, that I didn't ask that you wish that I did, know, ask and that you'd want to share with with, my audience?
Speaker 2:You asked such beautiful questions. I feel like we kind of hit all the different things, and I hope listeners, I hope that you got, you know, some nugget or some question answered. And, yeah, I'd love to. I love learning about new podcasts. I love finding this one.
Speaker 2:And so come hang out with me over there and, it's just such a pleasure to meet you and to get to, to share with you.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, Amy. I really appreciate you being on the podcast. And and, we'll add, you know, everything in the show notes, all of all of your links so people know where to find you and how to find you and hopefully want to work with you.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Happy to talk with anybody and yeah, whatever feels like a big question.
Speaker 2:I mean, let's get it answered.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Thank you so much for being on podcast. Thanks, Laurie.