Nourishing Women Podcast

Today’s episode is another round of Ask Me Anything Q&A with my amazing assistant, Kate, asking me your listener questions. In this episode we cover in detail birth control for hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), how long it takes to recover from HA, how to heal from HA as a college athlete and lab values that confirm or deny HA.   If you are a perfectionist with a missing period or diagnosis of hypothalamic amenorrhea, sign up here for the waitlist to Get Your Period Back Playbook. Enrollment opens May 26th, and waitlist enrollees get first dibs to the limited spots AND early bird pricing. Don't forget to also download our free e-book, How to Eat for Hormones!   Resources for you: Learn more about our services at Nourishing Minds Nutrition. Read testimonials from our amazing clients here.  Join our FREE support group for like-minded women, the Nourishing Women Community for more community & support. Take a look at our online shop, the Wellness Without Obsession Shop.   Let’s hang out! Connect with Vi

If you resonate with being a perfectionist or a “good girl”, you’ll love today’s guest, Majo Molfino, the Latinx author of Break The Good Girl Myth, host of the HEROINE Podcast designer, and women’s leadership expert.   Majo Molfino guides women toward more power and meaning through her unique blend of storytelling, design, psychology, and mindfulness. She has a book, Break the Good Girl Myth that we dive into deep in this episode and she also has a leadership program called IGNITE.    This conversation focuses on how we develop the good girl myth, what are the five myths and how to build creative confidence to break perfectionism beliefs.   In this episode we discuss: How being a female, Latinx immigrant & daughter of immigrants led Majo to develop a good girl mentality The five good girl myths and how they affect every aspect of our lives including our health and well-being. How the patriarchy manifests inside of us women How to build creative confidence through smart experimentation and action. Why

Today's guest is Jessie Johnson, a Board Certified Nutrition Specialist and the founder of Good Farma.  As a leader in promoting sustainable food systems that prioritize transparency + planetary integrity, Jessie brings a pinch of rogue activism to her work.  She believes all food should be easy, all food should be nourishing, and all food should be fair.  Jessie is here to make more than a statement; she is here to make an impact.   In this episode we discuss: Jessie’s work as the founder of Good Farma. Jessie’s journey with an eating disorder and living through the ‘wellness rollercoaster’. What is healthism and how does it harm? Specific examples of how healthism is problematic, perpetuating privilege and morality around food. Jessie explains the issues with food access, why fair isn’t always fair. Food desserts versus food apartheid What is a food apartheid and how their our systemic issues, like racism, involved in our food systems. How Jessie practices wellness without obsession.   Learn more about Je

As we continue to explore gentle nutrition in this series, I’d love to talk to you today about nutrition hierarchy.    Today we will explore the concept of nutrition hierarchy, so what matters most and least when it comes to nutrition. Because I know you, and that you tend to be fixated and worried about “doing it right” when it comes to nutrition.   My  goal is that this episode helps you see clearly the importance of adequacy, balance and variety, and that while individual foods can also be important, they are not at the top of the nutrition hierarchy pyramid.   In this episode I reference the Gentle Nutrition book by Rachael Hartley, and this article by Ellyn Satter.   If you are a perfectionist with a missing period or diagnosis of hypothalamic amenorrhea, sign up here for the waitlist to Get Your Period Back Playbook. Enrollment opens May 26th, and waitlist enrollees get first dibs to the limited spots AND early bird pricing. Don't forget to also download our free e-book, How to Eat for Hormones!   Re

Financial wellness is a realm of wellness that I feel gets left out of the conversation so often, and it’s something I am fascinated with as an idea of a way to practice wellness without obsession. As women, it's common to not feel empowered with education about managing our money, and I hope this episode helps you see that you can practice wellness even through creating financial stability and freedom in your life.   Today’s guest is Brooke Tyler Benson, founder of Not Starving Artists, is a Financial Coach, AEA Actor, and Expert Contributor at Backstage Cast. After graduating with a BFA in Acting, she realized how little the arts industry taught and valued financial wellness. Her mission is to arm the creative freelance community with financial literacy through digital resources, group coaching, and a community of other artists striving for financial freedom. She is your financial cheerleader, here to destroy the "Starving Artist" trope and empower you about your own personal finance game. Find her on Inst

Here’s some honest truth: Weight changes are likely the #1 challenge of choosing to become an intuitive eater. And for most of us? We believe weight loss will give us better body image, when it truly never will.   Sit and think about it: any time you’ve reached your “goal” weight did it feel like enough? Did you feel satisfied with your body? Or did it make you feel even worse? Want to keep going, “just another 5 lb?” Did you treat your body with more or less respect when you reached the elusive goal body you set for yourself?   More likely than not, the answer is that you felt even worse then.  Because how our bodies look isn’t actually what creates positive or negative body image. It’s our thought patterns and how we treat our bodies that do.   So if we can work to instead focus on the real outcomes of better body image, you can hold space for your desire to lose weight but not actively participate in these desires, giving you the ability to focus on the changes needed to get your period back, eat enough, a

After working long hours as a Wall Street consultant, overcommitting herself to friends and colleagues, and putting her health on the backburner, Rachael developed an autoimmune disorder that forced her to slow down. The daily gym sessions, people-pleasing social life, lack of sleep and nonexistent lunch hours had finally caught up with her, and it took three years to return to homeostasis. During the time away from her career she began putting herself first, which opened her eyes to the flaws in our culture, a culture that puts success ahead of peoples’ health and unique pursuits of personal fulfillment. Rachael committed to reconnecting with her true self and began evaluating how the vicious cycle of overworking perpetuates itself in our culture.    Rachael was inspired to start Return To Flow to help burnt out professionals break free from our hustle culture and find balance and fulfilment — whatever that looks like for them. Listen to today’s episode to learn more about the 7 types of burnout and how to h

Welcome to another round of AMA Q&A! Join me and my wonderful assistant, Kate, for our answers to your questions about: Daily challenging of perfectionism and orthorexia Trusting the unknown Avoiding restriction with IBS and food sensitivities Reverse dieting vs. going “all in” for  HA recovery Exercise recommendations for HA recovery Thank you to Primally Pure for bringing today’s episode. I am enjoying the rose tinted lip balm, plumping face mask and charcoal deodorant, all perfect for entering into the spring season. You can use the code NOURISH for 10% off your first order.   If you are a perfectionist with a missing period or diagnosis of hypothalamic amenorrhea, sign up here for the waitlist to Get Your Period Back Playbook. Enrollment opens May 26th, and waitlist enrollees get first dibs to the limited spots AND early bird pricing. Don't forget to also download our free e-book, How to Eat for Hormones!   Resources for you: Learn more about our services at Nourishing Minds Nutrition. Read t

Today’s guest, Lauren Sharpe, is a food freedom advocate and registered dietitian  that is passionate about helping women end the binge/restrict cycle, end food guilt, feel confident in their bodies and stop thinking about food 24/7.  In this episode, Lauren helps explain the true root cause of disordered eating and also explains why things like comparison and progress pictures on social media are negatively impacting your ability to reach food freedom.   In this episode we discuss: Lauren’s journey to becoming a food freedom dietitian. What food freedom means to Lauren and the true root cause of disordered eating. How to remove the control around food and move towards a free and peaceful relationship with food. The harm progress pictures can cause and how to avoid seeing these on social media. How to protect yourself from comparison and perfectionism on social media. Lauren’s top tips for creating a healthy relationship to social media that will positively impact your food choices and body relationship. How

If you are struggling with hypothalamic amenorrhea, you may know the basics of recovery are to eat more and exercise less. But what does it mean to eat more? It’s interesting, the two most demonized macronutrients, carbohydrates and fat, will be the two most important nutrients to consider when it comes to getting your period back.   In this episode, I’ll help you understand why carbohydrates are essential to your reproductive health and your period resuming. One of my favorite things that carbohydrates do for our hormones is stimulate our glucose sensing neurons in our ovaries. Eating enough overall and eating sufficient carbohydrates tells these neurons to communicate with hormones, which are also involved in turning on GnRH secretion to stimulate the specific reproductive hormones involved in your menstrual cycle. But this is just touching the surface on the amazing things carbohydrates do for our bodies and how they help us in amenorrhea recovery!   Listen to learn more and if this episode was supportive,

Mary Jelkovsky is the creator of Mary’s Cup of Tea, an online platform that empowers women to be more confident in their bodies and love themselves unconditionally. After recovering from an eating disorder, Mary started her Instagram account @maryscupofteaa to help women heal body-image struggles and find self-love. Now, Mary Jelkovsky is a published author, TEDx speaker, and women’s self-love retreat host. She also has a podcast called Mary’s Cup of Tea where she shares self-love and body-image advice and talks about all things women’s empowerment.   Mary also just came out with her new book called The Gift of Self-Love which is a workbook to help you build confidence, recognize your worth, and learn to finally love yourself. Written like a letter to a close friend, this self-improvement book provides practical advice and exercises that will help you finally love yourself.    *Please note we do briefly discuss sexual assault in this episode, so if this is triggering for you this may not be the best episode f

Every round so far that I’ve done with Permission Stage Playbook (our online program that helps you make peace with food and body, enrollment reopening later in the fall, click here to join the waitlist), I get the question around if sugar is truly healthy or not to consume. This question almost always comes up when we are in the module discussing challenging food fears.   If you sit and think about it, I’m positive for you too, sugar is likely one of the most anxiety or fear provoking foods you could possibly consume.   And honestly this makes sense given the way sugar is discussed in the media, with health care professionals and any health blog on the internet these days.   Words like inflammatory, poison and enemy are words I’ve heard used to describe how “bad” sugar is for you.   But if you’re working to become an intuitive eater, you are rejecting diet mentality, making peace with food and challenging the food police, that mean girl inside your head that causes judgement and shame if you allow yourself t

Dr. Kim Daniels is on a mission to build an army of women who never deny themselves the food they love, who have left behind the days of anxiety about what they weigh, and who love themselves and their bodies.  And who never diet again. In this lesson we detail through the why and how your weight is not your worth.    It’s rare to find a psychologist who specializes in anti-diet culture messaging and is a Certified IE Counselor, so trust me when I say this episode is a must listen!   In this episode we discuss: As a psychologist, how did Kim come to specialize in helping people develop a healthy relationship with food and body. How Kim helps women “curb” (not “cure”) emotional eating. Tangible examples of mindset shifts one can make to go from diet mindset to Intuitive Eating mindset, and questions to ask yourself to begin this process. Kim shares why focusing on weight loss does not work, and what “not working” means exactly. Context into the misogyny of diet culture and how this impacts us as women. How Ki

Today on the podcast, I’m sharing with you 10 easy ways to cope with a bad body image day. This will be a short and sweet episode, which is perfect, anytime you are having one of these days, a bonus step could be coming to listen to this episode to remind you how to navigate it. The truth is, bad body image days happen.   I find for a lot of my clients, they can happen when they are challenging food fears (and the discomfort of eating them makes their brain perceive they have suddenly gained loads of weight), when they are having a stressful day or week and just generally can occur when things in our life feel out of control. As sad as it is, most of us feel that our bodies and food are sometimes the only thing in our lives that we can control. We want to be compassionate with ourselves when we feel this way, but I also encourage you to not let these negative thoughts dictate your actions and how you treat yourself or feed yourself. Listen to today's episode to learn more!   Thank you to Primally Pure for bri

Today I’m excited to have guest, Meredith Renshaw on the show! Meredith is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist at Free Method Nutrition, a virtual group nutrition practice that exists to equip women with the skills to overcome and the wisdom to move beyond the influences of diet culture. Meredith knows it can be overwhelming to establish a healthy relationship with food, in a world that suggests we should constantly be trying to make ourselves smaller. So often, women are fed lies that happiness is found in the size of their jeans, the number on the scale, or the calories burned in a day. She is committed to setting women free from this narrative.    Meredith champions women to find the food freedom they never imagined was possible, by helping them redefine health, ditch the restrict-binge cycle and embrace intuitive eating. She specifically enjoys working with college women to find peace with their body size and feel confident in their food choices in an environment where diet culture thrives. She works to e

In today’s podcast episode, we are going to be focused on YOU and your story. I share quite a bit about my own personal journey, and bits and pieces of my clients with you, but I think it can be even more powerful to see that SO so many of us have had similar experiences when it comes to hypothalamic or post pill amenorrhea. Enjoy today’s episode where I share YOUR confessions of HA recovery!   Thank you to Primally Pure for bringing today’s episode. I am enjoying the rose tinted lip balm, plumping face mask and charcoal deodorant, all perfect for entering into the spring season. You can use the code NOURISH for 10% off your first order.   Click here to download our free e-book, How to Eat for Hormones.   Resources for you: Learn more about our services at Nourishing Minds Nutrition. Read testimonials from our amazing clients here.  Join our FREE support group for like-minded women, the Nourishing Women Community for more community & support. Take a look at our online shop, the Wellness Without Obs

Casey Zavaleta is a strength coach, fitness educator, and nutritional therapy practitioner based in Toronto, ON. She began her career with Toronto FC in the High Performance Department where she created programs to improve athletes' high performance habits. As a personal trainer, she has found a passion for leading and coaching women to engage with fitness for better reasons than changing their body size. She is currently an educator with DTS Fitness Education, where she is the lead developer for DTS Habits Coach, a course that teaches trainers to help their clients improve their habits and change their beliefs about themselves.   As a former dancer, Casey struggled for many years with my body image and disordered eating, and learned to define my worth based on how my body looked. After educating herself and doing countless hours of internal work, Casey came to a deep understanding that wellness is about much more than external markers such as the size of our bodies or the amount of weight we can lift in the

Today’s episode is helping you to understand and explore what happens in your body when you have hypothalamic amenorrhea. Unlike other hormone conditions, HA is directly caused from stress to the body, namely inadequate intake and excessive exercise. This episode helps explain how this occurs, and why we lose our period when our diet and exercise behaviors have gone too extreme.   In this episode we discuss the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis or HPG axis refers to the hypothalamus, pituitary gland and gonadal glands almost as if they are a single entity. This axis plays a critical role in the development and regulation of several different body systems like reproduction and immunity. The HPG axis produces hormones that cause women to menstruate. Each gland produces hormones in a precisely timed manner allowing them to work in harmony creating an ideal environment for your body.   The HPG axis is extremely sensitive to the environment. Changes in the environment can then affect the HPG axis and hormone pro

Sara Reardon is a doctor of physical therapy graduating from Washington University in St Louis and board-certified women's health physical therapist.  Sara specializes in the treatment of pelvic floor disorders, including pelvic pain, bowel and bladder dysfunction, painful sex, and pregnancy and postpartum recovery. She is the owner of NOLA Pelvic Health, a pelvic health physical therapy clinic in New Orleans, La. and founder of  The Vagina Whisperer, an online resource for pelvic health education to support, empower and educate women worldwide. She is a mom to two boys, wife, Saints fan and wanna-be yogi. You can find her on Instagram at @the.vagina.whisperer where she has over 185k followers.   In this episode we discuss:   Sara’s journey to becoming a pelvic floor PT and then starting her IG account and business, the Vagina Whisperer and NOLA Pelvic Health. Why we need to rethink postpartum care, and why postpartum care for the vagina is so important. How exactly pelvic floor physical therapy works and w

I’m excited to be bringing you a new series for the podcast! You asked for more content on gentle nutrition, so we will be beginning a gentle nutrition series, to help you explore what it looks like to care for your health through a non-diet lens.   You can submit topics you’d like to see in this new series by joining our Facebook group or sending me a DM on Instagram.   In this episode, I cover in detail the concept of body food congruence.  The Intuitive Eating workbook shares this about body food congruence, "It represents how foods feel in your body- that is, how eating a particular food or meal makes you feel...It is about making food choices based on health and body functioning as well as pleasure."   Listen to this episode to learn more about body food congruence, definitions of authentic health and specific examples to help you understand with ease how to apply this in your own life.   I have decided to add Primally Pure back as a podcast sponsor after a two month pause due to incongruent brand value