Grace & Grit Podcast

I am currently in the throws of teaching a new program this year that is really geared towards helping women maintain a high level of self-care during the holidays, and it is really something I should have started years ago. I was compelled to start this program because, every year during the holidays, I see women struggling more than any other time of the year to maintain their health standards. They start putting their own self-care on the back burner to keep up with the demands of the season. They allow boundaries to be crossed and far too many compromises around their own health to be made. They do it all by rationalizing that they will do better come Jan 1. But … January 1 comes and women are exhausted and sick (literally), because of all of the negotiating they did around they holidays, so they fail to do better. It is a painful cycle to watch, and I have had to watch it for too many years. Every year I joke that I am going to take February off because people are so crabby and bitter and sick, and I really believe a lot of that stems from what has happened around the holidays. So…At 6am, every day for 1 month, I have a small but mighty group of women showing up on a live coaching call with me because they have committed to not losing themselves within the pile of stress & consumption that shows up simultaneously with the joy and celebration of the holidays. And I wanted to extend a bit of holiday support to you as well, so today I have invited back to the show, my friend and nutritionist extraordinaire, Sara Bradford to discuss some of the specific challenges that show up around this time of year and how we can navigate them more successfully. To find out more about Sara Bradford and her Community Dump Programs, please visit: NourishRealFood.com Loving this podcast? 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 this time of year are starting to think about how they are going to address their health concerns in 2017. Get ready because everywhere you look for the next several weeks, you are going to see ads for diets and exercise programs promising to help you reach your goals in the quickest way possible with the least amount of effort. Wouldn't it be nice if getting healthy was as simple as just addressing food and exercise? But it's not. Food and exercise are slivers of the health pie, but they do not, by any means, complete it. Sometimes the very thing that is standing in the way of a woman doing what needs to be done to reclaim her health and happiness is the very thing she is most terrified of addressing: A broken marriage A job she has hated for 20 years. An unanswered calling on her life. Beliefs that no longer serve the life she wants to live. These are often the mountains standing in the way of true health, and none of these mountains can be conquered with clean food and a better strength program... to summit these mountains a woman needs a heavy dose of courage... Courage to honor who she is, what she wants and the courage to take action around making it possible. So, I have invited life coach Kate Swoboda, also known as Kate Courageous to the show today to help us dive deeper into the topic of courage. To find out more about Kate and her programs visit YourCourageousLife.com or TribeCLCC.com. Loving this podcast? 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

When was the last time you were grateful for the miracle that is your body? Most women I work with are at war with their body, and I think in large part that is a direct result of the way they are talking to themselves about their body. You have heard me say this before: RESPECT BREEDS HEALTH. And when you go out of your way to be grateful for all of the things your body is doing right, you are a heck of a lot more likely to treat your body in a loving and respectful way. Along these same lines, women are often telling themselves how hard it is to get healthy, rather than focusing on what a privilege it is to care for themselves in a healthy way. What a luxury that you are able to choose high-quality foods, make time to exercise and drink clean water. For many people in the world, these things are simply not an option. You are living at a time when you have a choice in the level of care you administer to your body. How awesome is that? What a privilege that truly is! If you want to improve your health, start with being grateful (often and much) for all that your body is doing right.   Loving this podcast? 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 have been talking about inflammation with clients for more than a decade: what causes it, how to reduce it and how to prevent being in a chronic state of it. Many women I work with tend not to believe in the power of inflammation until they clean up their diet enough and reduce other stressors in their life enough, that when they do something that insults the inside of their body, they feel the effects of inflammation in a very powerful way. The reality is a healthy body will be loud and clear about what is working for it and what isn’t. Unfortunately, most people are walking around in a chronic state of inflammation, so they have practically become de-sensitized to the messages that their body is trying to send them. There is no arguing that the body is an incredible vessel that does some pretty remarkable things to keep you alive and healthy. Cut your finger…your immune system rushes to the site to heal the wound and prevent infection Get food poisoning? Your digestive track will do everything it can to heal you. Overheat at the gym? Sweat comes to the rescue to cool you off! These are all examples of healthy inflammatory responses. While all of this is awesome and helpful, research is starting to show us that our body’s healthy responses can actually backfire on us especially when we repeatedly injure the inside of our body. To help us better understand the power of inflammation and how we can control it, I have invited a remarkable guest to the show, her name is Shelly Malone. Shelly holds a B.S. degree in Nutritional Science and a Masters degree in Public Health (MPH), with a concentration in Public Health Nutrition. She is a board certified registered dietitian nutritionist (RD/RDN) and a member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She has practiced in critical, acute and outpatient care settings in various specialties, including cardiac, digestive and endocrine conditions. Shelly is a featured health contributor for the breast cancer prevention site breasthealth.org and regularly consult for the media as a health and nutrition expert, being featured in Forbes, SELF, Women’s Health, People, Mind Body Green, New Beauty and more. My first book, Inflamed: Discover the root cause of inflammation and personalize a step-by-step plan to create a healthy, vibrant life, was released in June of 2016 and was selected by SELF Magazine as one of “7 Fascinating and Illuminating Health Books That Will Totally Open Your Eyes About Your Health.” To find out more about Shelly visit: shellymalone.com inflamedbook.com Click here to purchase the book on Amazon.   Loving this podcast? 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

Let’s face it ladies, there are an awful lot of things that can go wrong with our lady parts. Nearly every single woman I have worked with over the course of the past 20 years has experienced some kind of challenge with pelvic health: be it pelvic pain, incontinence, prolapse, or a host of other “not so fun” conditions. If we are interested in expanding the conversation of what it really takes to be a health/fit woman, we cannot ignore the very important topic of pelvic health. Health will not be found by avoiding the things that make us healthy. We need to find solutions to the problems including an open and honest conversation around pelvic health. And who better to include in this conversation, than someone who has been studying the issue for well over a decade? Alison Gray is a registered physiotherapist with over 17 years experience, residing in Stratford, Ontario. Although she treats all musculoskeletal problems, she has focused on pelvic pain and dysfunction over the last 12 years. If you are a woman, this episode is a must if you want to preserve and protect the health of your pelvis. Alison Gray is a registered physiotherapist with over 17 years of experience, residing in Stratford, Ontario. Although she treats all musculoskeletal problems, she has focused on pelvic pain and dysfunction over the last 12 years. Alison believes that problems such as pelvic floor pain, dysfunction, prolapse, and incontinence are never normal there are a wide range of techniques and resources which can be used to help guide your treatment and rehabilitation. If you have pain or incontinence, it is common, but not normal. There are many techniques, which can reduce prolapse and pain and prevent long-term problems. To find out more about Alison visit: Facebook Website Loving this podcast? 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

Most women will postpone taking action with improving their health, not because they are lazy or lack drive, but because they feel they need to be perfect in their efforts and they are OVERWHELMED by the amount of information coming at them from the diet and fitness industry. Hear this, sweet sister… Improving your health isn’t about perfection or the latest “quick fix” strategy, it is about having awareness about the choices you are making in regards to your health, and making some different choices more consistently to create a better outcome. What if I told you that there are a few things simple strategies you could start practicing today, to get started down the path to better health, that were simple to implement, sensible and sustainable? Would you want to know what they were? Today’s podcast is all about why I created the FREE 7-day reboot program and why it is different from most challenges you will find when it comes to improving women’s health. Have a listen OR if you know you are ready to register for this FREE challenge, click here.   Loving this podcast? 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

Living life in line with our values (the things we SAY are important to us) is going to first require subtracting things in our life that are underserving us, so we actually have the mental capacity & clarity to focus and give our best to the things we deem MOST important. And that is precisely why I have invited, Evan Zislis, to be a guest on the show today. Evan is doing remarkable work in the world through his organization, Intentional Solutions, helping households, businesses, teachers and people in life transition to simplify and organize their life so they can focus on the things that matter most. He is way more than a professional organizer, Evan helps people connect the dots between their stuff and the impact those things have on not just a personal but on a global scale. Evan believes we have a responsibility to one another and the sustainability of life on this planet, by becoming more mindful of how we behave as consumers. That starts with needing less, buying quality, becoming innovative in how we re-use readily available materials. Evan holds a master’s degree focused in experiential education and curriculum development, which has played a big role in helping him to develop easy to follow programs that create effective, long-lasting results. He is also a regular contributor to several major publications both on and off-line. As if all that wasn’t awesome enough, the man has written a bestselling book titled, Clutter Free Revolution, which is actually how I found out about his work. To find out more about Evan visit:ClutterFreeRevolution.com MyIntentionalSolutions.com Loving this podcast? 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  

Eve Bernfeld and I have been dear friends since we were 10 years old. We have celebrated the highs and rumbled with the lows of life together. We have had the privilege of watching each other develop personally and professionally. As a certified Alexander Technique teacher, Eve dishes out some incredible sight in this episode of the Grace & Grit Podcast about how to start changing your reactive mindset and physical habits that are causing you to waste precious time, money and energy. (I’ll give you a hint…she recommends we start by first stopping.) If you have been struggling with trying to improve your health story but feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of all the things you could be doing along your journey, STOP and then start listening to this episode. P.S. If Eve, the mother of 2.5-year-old TRIPLETS, can implement the simple strategies she suggests in this episode for making lasting change…anyone can! To find out more about Eve, visit her at In Balance. To find an Alexander Teacher near you, visit the American Society for the Alexander Technique.   Loving this podcast? 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 a firm believer that how you start your day is a pretty good indicator of how your day will roll. A day that begins with intention, clarity, direction, and self-discipline will turn out much differently than a day that ignites with stress, fatigue, and frustration. Look I get it…you are busy, and getting up 30 minutes to an hour earlier to set yourself straight feels like the hardest thing in the world. But… What if a powerful morning routine was the gateway for creating the life and level of success you really crave? Check out episode 39 for more insight on the getting the day started in a way that promotes productivity, creativity and drive. To read Hal Elrod’s, The Morning Miracle, click here. Loving this podcast? 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

Every single day I encounter women who are trying to take a giant leap towards a healthier life, rather than simply focusing on the small, seemingly insignificant choices they are making day in and day out. Big change starts most often starts with very small steps which, taken consistently accumulate over time, create radical transformation. The Slight Edge, by Jeff Olson speaks directly to this point. And in this episode of the Grace & Grit podcast, I summarize some of the most powerful lessons presented in this book. If you are looking for insight on how to improve your habits without the agony of having to completely renovating your life overnight, you don’t want to miss this episode. Loving this podcast? Head over to iTunes and leave a review so the Grace and Grit message can spread to more women who need to hear it. To buy the book: Click Here  Looking for more Grace & Grit? Visit GraceandGrit.com