Grace & Grit Podcast

Last week, in episode 103, I had a great conversation with Brodie Welch, about our addiction to speed, hustle and always doing more and what it is costing us in terms of our health and happiness. Today’s guest, Christine Hohlbaum helps us expand that conversation by sharing a ton of great tips with us on practical things we can do to adjust the speed and overwhelm of our life and give ourselves more permission to pause. Click here to listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

Last week on the podcast I talked about this month’s theme with is “Permission to Pause” and I went into extensive detail about why I believe this topic is so important. If you missed that you might want to check it out. My guest today, Brodie Welch, has been on the podcast before and I value her opinion and wealth of knowledge so much that I have invited her back to the show. Brodie and I cover a lot of ground in today’s podcast, including: Addiction to speed and business and what it is costing us mentally and physically. How to grant yourself permission and space to slow down. Reworking your relationship with time. How to maintain energy integrity. Choosing to Opt-out of stressful living. Click here to listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

Many women I work with think that the #1 challenge they have to improve their health is with food or exercise. While eating more nutrient-rich foods and moving their body more may indeed be a part of the solution, the root of the problem is often the speed at which they are living their life. When we live our life at breakneck speed, piling more and more things on our ever growing to do list, we become mindless and very reactive, which is often what leads to misaligned relationships with food and exercise. Women MUST learn how to give themselves permission to slow down and recover in such a way that they are more conscious of the decisions that they are making, or not making, in regards to their health. Awareness is the linchpin to any kind of change we are trying to make in our lives and in this episode of the podcast, I dive deep into WHY I believe improving your health should START with considering the pace at which you live and what it is really costing you. Click here to listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

This day in age, there is no shortage of studies showing us how powerful strength training is for optimizing human health and performance. And, yet, many women still have fierce resistance to making it a regular part of their life. I get it. It can be overwhelming, intimidating and even a bit scary to step into an arena that you may not be all that familiar with or have had a bad experience in. If you are a woman who understands the importance of strength training but has some fear or resistance that is preventing you from engaging with it consistently, today’s episode of the Grace & Grit podcast is for YOU. *Disclaimer: I cover a lot of ground in this episode but there will likely be a part II because I didn’t want this podcast to be absurdly long. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com  

Today I am celebrating and I’d love you to join me! I may not know you personally, but I am pretty certain that you have achieved a few things in your life that required focus, hard work, and a hefty dose of GRIT. Today the Grace & Grit Podcast is celebrating its 2 year anniversary AND the 100th episode! And, to be honest, what it took to make that happen is the exact same stuff to create ANY kind of success. Listen in to today’s episode and I will tell you more about how I dealt with doubt, failure, and frustration over the past couple of years to make this day possible. Click here to listen now! >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

As someone who has dedicated her life to helping women up-level their health, I am always on the lookout for people who understand female physiology and the unique training challenges that women face. Women, after all, are NOT little men, as my guest on the show today, Stacy Sims, PhD, so perfectly states. Stacy Sims, a nutrition scientist and exercise physiologist, understands female chemistry in a way that very few people do. Her book, “ROAR: How to match your food and fitness to your female physiology for optimum performance, great health and a strong lean body for life” is chock full of research and education to help women and anyone who trains women, optimize performance and recovery. I cannot emphasize how much I appreciate this book. It validates so many things I have long wrestled with as a female athlete and a health coach who works solely with women. This podcast is RICH with insight and tips to help optimize female physiology. Have a listen. You will not be disappointed that you did.  Click here to learn more and listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

Human biology is an amazing thing in that it is equipped to deal with stress in small doses. The problem is, we are dumping way too much stress on our poor little bodies in this day and age, largely due to lifestyle choices. The Grace & Grit podcast is fast approaching the 100th episode and while we have discussed mental, emotional and physical stress intensely, I have only had a few guests on the show to dish out tips on managing environmental and chemical stress. So, I am thrilled to have Tonya Harris on the show today. Tonya Harris is Board Certified in Holistic Nutrition® and graduated from Hawthorn University with a Master of Science in Holistic Nutrition. Today one of the primary focuses of Tonya’s work is to educate people (parents in particular) on how easy it can be to have a safer, more non-toxic home through safer brands to buy, how to read product labels for hidden toxins, and how to do it on a budget. She does this through working with clients both individually and through the online program she created, “The Healthy Home Project.” She has been writing about the health implications of common chemicals in our homes and their effects on our children since 2008, and now blogs on her website at Healthy Home, Happy Family. Click here to learn more and listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

A LOT of women come to work with me because they want to lose weight, and weight loss can be a powerful initial motivator but it often isn’t weighty enough to carry people into long-term health. So I ask my clients, WHY do you want to lose weight, and what lies underneath is typically something that speaks to them wanting to live a bigger life. They want more confidence, they want to move more freely, they want more self-respect etc. So you can see that just having a goal of becoming smaller can feel at odds with living bigger. Well, my guest today, Kourtney Thomas, whose mantra is “Big Arms, Big Life” has a knack for helping women reconcile this type of conflict. In prepping for this interview, I read the following excerpt on Kourtney’s website, which made me all the more excited to interview her today: “I played small, I stayed small. Eventually, I experimented with embracing bigness physically, and that led to the ability to create a bigger life than I ever imagined. While I did work through what it felt like to take up more physical space, my mindset changed right along with my body, what I really learned was that building big arms was always about more. It’s not just about the arms, and it never was. It’s about exploring the possibilities. Shedding old stories, and writing new ones. Bigger muscles, absolutely. But really, bigger choices, and bigger voices.” Click here to learn more about Kourtney and listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

I am entering launch mode for my Signature Program, which basically means, according to online entrepreneurial standards, I should be selling myself and telling you all of the reasons WHY you should invest in working with me. The truth is, however, as much as I want people to be interested in the work that I do, I also want to be sure the people I invest in for the next year of my life are a good match for the level of work that I teach. There was a time in my career, I would have worked like a maniac to convince nearly everyone I encountered that I was the perfect person to usher them towards greater health. Now that I am older and slightly wiser, I realize, I am NOT the right person to help all people and not everyone is ready for the work I do AND… That is ok! I invest a tremendous amount of time and energy into my clients, so it is really important that we are a good match for doing great work together. I believe one of the best ways to begin that process, is to tell potential clients why they might NOT want to hire me. So, if after reviewing this list of NOTs with me (which are filled with great tips too), you are more excited than terrified, then, of course, I encourage you to take the next step. Click here to listen now. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com

It is all too easy to lose traction with our health around the holidays. Often women are doing more on less sleep and compromising their own self-care to bring everyone else holiday joy. It is no mystery why so many women tumble into the New Year a hot frustrated mess. If you want to get through the holidays this year without sacrificing your health (or your sanity), give this podcast a listen. >>Are you loving the Grace & Grit Podcast? Help us keep the mic on! Then head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com