

Grace & Grit Podcast
Courtney Townley
The Grace and Grit Podcast takes the health fairy tale you've heard all your life and turns it upside down and inside out, helping women rebuild their relationship with their body once and for all. Placing the focus on love and respect, rather than the aggressive demands and unrealistic expectations that have become the norm, Courtney Townley is determined to help women mend the fabric of what is driving the female health story.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 23, 2017 • 33min
Episode 084: Reworking the “Cheat Meal” Mentality
“Cheat meals” and “cheat days” are an integral part of the diet culture vocabulary. And while many people could argue that it is just “semantics” and, therefore, no big deal… I beg to differ. Cheating implies dysfunction and deep health is not born out of dysfunction (not by a long shot). If you have every found yourself in a position of trying to make amends with food choices that aren’t necessarily in line with what you say you want for your health, check out this episode of the Grace & Grit podcast for tips and tricks that can help you rework the “cheat meal” mentality. Click here to see the links from this week's episode. >>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

Sep 16, 2017 • 32min
Episode 083: Kitchen Hacks to Elevate Health and Decrease Overwhelm
You may have the best intentions for improving how and what you eat, but if you don’t have some strategies in place for doing so easily, you will never take action on it, or you will fail to take action with it consistently. I get it. Been there done that. Through my own process of working to elevate my health over the years, and hundreds of women to do the same, I have a few (okay…more than a few) suggestions for making shopping, meal prep and even meal time more simple and even fun, so you can easily turn those intentions in to REAL ACTION. If you could use a few new ideas for how to organize your shopping, cooking and meal prep to live a more health-FULL life, check out this episode! >>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

Sep 9, 2017 • 53min
Episode 082: Body Kindness with Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN
Sometimes I think we have come so far in the conversation of what it means to be a healthy woman, and other times it feels like we are having the same exact conversation we have always had using different words. We have gone from: Atkins to Ketogenic Diets Aggressive cardio to aggressive strength training Cosmopolitan Magazine to Instagram “Skinny is sexy” to “Strong is the new sexy” (as my friend, Steph Gaudreau would say, “No! Strong is just strong.) The platforms for these conversations may be new, but the underlying threads of the conversations are, sadly, the same: You MUST go to extreme measures to return to health. Health is a look. Then there are women like, Rebecca Scritchfield, who are working hard to change the conversation and expand the definition of what it means to be a healthy woman. “Most people mistakenly focus on their appearance as evidence of good health (or lack there of), but looks have very little to do with it. You can be healthy and have cellulite, thick thighs, junk in the trunk or virtually any body shape. Health is not just measured physically. Emotional health is an equal part of the equation. What people really mean when they say they want “ health and happiness” is they want to be WELL. The secret to being well is treating yourself well and establishing healthful habits you can feel good about.” – Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN If you are ready to be a part of a different kind of conversation, make sure you check out this week’s episode of the Grace & Grit Podcast and share it with the women in you life who you feel could benefit from listening too! >>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

Sep 2, 2017 • 50min
Episode 081: Hungry for Happiness w/ Samantha Skelly
“I really love being a diet”, said no one ever. Dieting sucks. You know it and I know it. Being in a constant battle with food and exercise is downright exhausting, deflating and not a spectacular use of our 1 shot at this thing called life. I am a huge fan of nutrition and exercise science, AND I think that a big part of dis-ease in the human body has stemmed from people seeking so much outside perspective about what is best for them, that they have become completely detached from their own awareness and insight. Thank goodness there are people in the world like Samantha Skelly, who help women repair the bridge between their body and their mind, so they can stop being a hot frustrated mess and step into being the unstoppable, confident being they are meant to be. If you are ready to care for yourself from a place of possibility and expansion rather than one of fear and shrinking… If you are ready to dive deeper into what you are truly hungry for, do not miss this episode. Click here to learn more about Samantha. >>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

Aug 26, 2017 • 26min
Episode 080: Breaking the Habit of Quitting
Compromising, negotiating and rationalizing your way out of your good intentions to improve your health goals are behaviors that can all too easily become habits. Quitting can also easily become a habit. In fact, the diet industry has been benefitting for years off of people going from diet to diet to diet; it has thrived off of its customers making a habit out of quitting. Gyms too make money on the predication that you are going to quit on yourself. They know that after your initial burst of inspiration to sign-up for a gym membership, it is highly likely that at some point you will stop showing up for yourself (but still pay on the contract you committed to). It is a sad reality, but much of the diet and fitness industry benefits financially from you making a habit out of quitting on your way to your health goals. Which sucks! And, while, the diet and fitness industries need to develop better systems and processes to prevent people from quitting, the quicker solution is found in learning how to break the habit of quitting on yourself. And that is the topic of this episode of the Grace & Grit podcast. >>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

Aug 19, 2017 • 25min
Episode 079: Navigating Your Way Back to Health Smartly
It seems we have become a culture of wanting the solution to all of our health woes to be delivered in 1 nice (and cheap) little package and, man, have a lot of people designed products and programs that promise just that. Look, I get it… It is easier to have someone tell you exactly what to do all the time: what to eat, how to move, which meditation to do, how much sleep to get, etc. And I am not trying to diminish the tremendous benefit of coaches, trainers, and processes that can make the road to stellar health a bit straighter, but at the end of the day… The depth of your health is really dependent on the depth of your relationship with YOURSELF. YOU are the only person who knows if you doing something because it is truly enhancing your life, or because you are just really comfortable settling into the standards of the circles you travel in. YOU are the only person who knows if the things you were doing 5 or 10 years ago to elevate your health are in line with this stage of your life. YOU are the only person who really knows if your body, mind, and soul are being nourished or depleted by your lifestyle choices. YOU are the only person who knows how happy and fulfilled you truly are. Over the past decade of coaching women to reclaim their health and happiness, one of the most common obstacles I see women bumping up against is that they chase so much outside perspective on what they should be doing that they forget to go inside and fetch their own insight. Check out this week’s episode of the Grace & Grit podcast to find out how to start getting reconnected with your own body’s wisdom. Mentioned in this episode: Grace & Grit Signature ProgramWomen’s Health & Empowerment Weekend >>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

Aug 12, 2017 • 46min
Episode 078: Living with MORE intention and LESS stuff w/ Evan Zislis
Living life in the 21st century is a blessing in so many ways. We have education at our fingertip and more freedom to choose than ever before. And… Having so many options at our disposal has increased overwhelm, the time, energy and money we spend on this that just aren’t all that important and we are more distracted than ever before. None of which leads us to a more health-FULL life. Many women I have coached through the years are so busy managing their stuff and schedules that they have lost themselves along the way. Personally, in my own life, I have been on a journey to simplify my life to amplify the things that matter most. It has been no small feat, but every item I decide to purge, every thought I chose to release, every moment I choose to line up my actions with my values… allows me to breathe more easily. So, once again I have invited my friend Evan Zislis to the show to give us some practical tips for releasing the unnecessary things in our life to make room for the things that will help us create true abundance, health, and freedom in our lives. Click here to learn more about Evan. >>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

Aug 5, 2017 • 58min
Episode 077: Nourishing Healthy Hormones (and Poops) with Melissa Ramos
The Grace & Grit podcast is dedicated to helping women expand their definition of health because deep health isn’t a look, deep health is a way of being that extends far beyond the narrow conversation of just food and exercise. Sure, as women, we all want to look good, but we also want to FEEL good and, most of all, we want to be happy. And finding our happy isn’t about adding MORE “to do’s” to our life. Often finding our happy is about being true to ourselves, granting ourselves permission to slow the heck down and honoring the things our body, mind, and soul are telling us. Finding our happy also has a lot to do with hormonal balance. And my guest today, Melissa Ramos, has made art of helping women to do all of those things. I have been following Melissa for years, and I have witnessed her message of hormonal and digestive health spread like wildfire… as it well should. She shares great information with humor AND she walks her talk. Melissa Ramos is a nutritionist with a background in Chinese medicine and the founder of sexyfoodtherapy.com, where she helps women heal their hormones and digestion for healthy ovaries (and poops). If you struggle with PMS, difficult periods, fibroids, endometriosis, menopausal symptoms, or digestive health issues do not miss this episode! Click here to learn more about Melissa Ramos. >>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

Jul 28, 2017 • 38min
Episode 076: A Woman of Grace & Grit: Babeth Schuring
My mother jokes I came out of the womb dancing. I am not joking when I say that my movement journey has literally introduced me to all the best parts of my life from friends to my career to my husband. In fact, movement is what introduced me to today’s incredible guest, and my dear friend, Babeth Schuring. When I started this podcast, I knew I would have her as a guest on this show at some point because she is such a powerful example of a woman who literally moves through live with grace & grit and a testimony to the fact that you can step into your prime whenever you decide to. Babeth set out to improve her own health story several years ago and never could have anticipated the way it would expand her life and the possibilities for her life. Tune into this episode to hear an inspirational story about a remarkable woman who chose to let her curiosities guide her on an adventure she never could have anticipated. >>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

Jul 15, 2017 • 57min
Episode 075: Strengthening Body & Mind Through Movement w/ Kirsty Grosart
The Grace & Grit podcast is one of the small ways I feel I can contribute to helping mend the fabric of the collective female health story. One of the topics, I feel passionate in regards to this, is educating women about how to utilize strength training and movement practices to empower the relationship they have WITH their body. So, I am always on the hunt for guests who have missions aligned with that. Kirsty Grosart is an amazing woman, teacher and mover who helps others expand their movement possibilities far outside the scope of the traditional “fitness” industry. In this episode, we talk about Kristy’s personal transition from competitive athlete to teacher, mindset strategies she uses on the hardest of days, how movement has elevated the level of respect she shows her body and how to build more strength, flexibility, body awareness and control. Click here to learn more about Kirsty. >>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