Fuel Your Strength

It's easy to think that health and fitness experts each perfectly, exercise perfectly, and live perfect lives...especially given what you see on social media and the Internet at large. Nothing could be further from the truth, however. Not only is it unrealistic to think that health coaches don't have struggles, it often leads to you setting up impossible standards for yourself. When left unchecked, the cycle of on the wagon / off the wagon can go on for years.

In this episode, I'm letting you in on some of my health coach confessions...habits I'm working on and things I don't do perfectly. My hope is that you'll learn to cut yourself some slack on your health and wellness journey...because you can still make big strides without the stress of perfection.

Remember to find the show notes and other episodes on StephGaudreau.com

On this episode:

• How you put the impossible double standard on health experts onto yourself
• Why perfection is all illusion
• My own health confessions as a nutritional therapist and health coach

Resources from this episode:

• My new site...StephGaudreau.com
• Episode 151 with Paul Jarvis
• Episode 110: Breaking Up with Sugar
• Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook

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If you are looking for a message of reassurance, motivation, and creativity, you have come to the right place. Paul Jarvis writes candidly and openly about completely changing how he lived his life and does business. Today he is sharing why he decided to bring the public along on his journey, and how to balance your life in every regard.

Paul provides a universal message that applies to people no matter where you are in life. Paul talks about so much that I, and others who run their own business, will relate to in a deep way, and is a beacon for us like-minded people.

By questioning why you have the need for 'more', calling yourself out on your bullshit and finding the true feeling of having enough, Paul encourages all of us to 'bleed a little bit'. Whether you run a small business, are a company of one or are just tired of the hustle, Paul will remind you why you got started and how to align yourself with what brings you the most joy in your life.

Learn why it's easier to build an audience when you stand for something, and how to deal with those on the other side of the line saying f*ck you. Question everything around you. But most importantly, believe that you are enough.

Do you already know about Paul? What is your favourite aspect of The Sunday DIgest? Let us know in the comments on the episode page!

• Making people resonate you on a vulnerable personal level
• Ways to optimize balance for your daily life and your business
• Finding the balance between what makes others happy and what you truly want
• How taking care of your body can lead to being more productive
• Why getting bigger as a business can sometimes be a problem

"I don't want to perform in my writing, but the fact that I am sending a piece of writing to so many people and they are consuming it is a performance." (11:29)

"If you share something as yourself, like with your name and your business, like my business is me. Then it's a bit more personal right, the praise is a bit better but then the like criticism is a bit harsher. Because they are not disliking your business, they are disliking your business and your business is you." (16:27)

"I think if there was kind of one path forward then we wouldn't need to have this conversation because everybody would be on that path because that would be the one path. And I don't think that's the way business or life works. It would be so nice if and so easy if that was the case, but unfortunately it's not." (29:18)

"I would rather personally fail trying something that I want to do, than trying something that I don't want to do but want to just get to an end goal for it." (31:04)

"Growth isn't all it's cracked up to be, and business ideas around growth and what science and actual stories from business, they kind of tell two different stories. And it's one of those things where I'm like 'why is nobody else talking about this', and then I'm like, I guess I should.'" (46:07)

Brené Brown TED Talk

It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work By Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Pre-Order Company of One by Paul Jarvis

Sign-up for Paul's Newsletter Here

Harder to Kill Facebook Club

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It's time to say goodbye to Stupid Easy Paleo! For the last seven years, it's been my website and brand. But just like most good things, it was time to move on and welcome a novel concept...being myself. StephGaudreau.com is my new home online (including this podcast), and I'm so frickin' pumped to show you.

In this episode, I'm talking a little bit more about why some things must die to make way for new growth. Their parts must be added back to the soil to enrich it for new things to unfurl. Death need not be scary if we view it as a transformation. I'm acknowledging some sticking points and lessons I've learned, plus telling you all about why this birth is symbolic in all the best ways.

Remember to go check it out now: StephGaudreau.com

Mentioned on this episode:

My new site...StephGaudreau.com

Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook

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If you're making healthier choices in your life, your bound to experience some questions, pushback, or maybe even some flack from the haters. This topic is one of the most common that my community brings up: wondering how to deal with haters. The fierce love answer is that it doesn't frickin' matter what people have to say because it's your life, not theirs. But I realize that's not always helpful in the moment.

In this episode, I'm sharing four strategies for dealing with anyone who gives you guff about your food, fitness, or lifestyle choices so you feel more empowered. These strategies are simple – not necessarily easy – but they'll give you a jumping off point.

Mentioned on this episode:

Loving What Is by Byron Katie

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Molly Galbraith is an amazing woman who is using her organization, Girls Gone Strong, to work towards big issues that are timely and important in the world today. Girls Gone Strong works to provide high-quality free education to women and continues to be a thought leader in the fitness industry. In this special episode, we are tackling important issues such as sexual harassment, marginalization, objectification, and much more.

True health is not about what you can squat at the gym or the number of the scale, it is about creating an environment in which you feel at home in your body. Molly realized early on that health is about more than squats and protein, so she created a space in which topics such as body image, mental health, and body autonomy are an open conversation. Today she is bringing that open discussion to Harder to Kill Radio to help women experience an improved quality of life on a day to day basis.

By creating value, servicing your community and opening yourself up to having difficult conversations, it is possible to create an environment where everyone can envision their own version of health and wellness.

What do you think about the free dialogue promoted through Girls Gone Strong? Let us know in the comments on the episode page!

• Harnessing emotional resilience as your superpower
• How having hard conversations has strengthened the GGS mission
• Rechecking your position of privilege through education
• Ways you can start expanding your own awareness
• Using the skills and resources already available to you to leverage change

"We all had this mission of wanting to spread the gospel of strength training to other women because it had changed our lives so profoundly. So that's what Girls Gone Strong started as, and we had no idea what it was going to be when it started, but I knew in my bones that it would change the world" (5:16)

"I didn't have the visceral understanding of the fact that it's not about diversity and inclusion, it's about dignity and justice" (11:02)

"It's like someone turns on a light when you didn't even know you were sitting in the dark. And for me that has been like the best way to explain [social justice], you can't see it because you just don't have the context for it" (22:36)

"There are all of these different ways that we can create change, and it does have to come from the bottom up and from the top down." (47:17)

"You can do it, and you can start creating massive change quickly. It just might be in your own community, in your own family, in your own little circle, first." (55:44)

Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown

Girls Gone Strong Website

Girls Gone Strong Blog

Free 5 Day Sexual Assault and Harassment Course

Get your GGS-1 Coaching Certification

Mark Fisher Fitness

Elsbeth Vaino Blog

Follow Girls Gone Strong on Instagram | Facebook

Harder to Kill Facebook Club

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Next week is the unofficial start of the holiday season with the arrival of Halloween. The last two months in the year are often the most challenging: food temptations, stressful travel, a dwindling bank account, and awkward family & social interactions can leave your willpower drained. It's common to fall into the "fuck it all" mentality and YOLO everything OR try to strictly diet through the holidays which requires massive amounts of willpower...and sometimes a rebound binge.

It doesn't have to be this way. Not this year and not on my watch. In this episode, I'm sharing a mindset and set of strategies for making it through the holidays without having to dig out of a massive hole come January. Learn simple steps for creating a solid foundation that will carry you through the next two months without the need for old New Year diet routine.

Mentioned on this episode:

4 Tendencies Quiz

The Power of Habit

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After managing her autoimmunity and losing over 60 pounds, Cristina Curp created The Castaway Kitchen to share her healing journey as a mom trying to make it all work. She has an important message to share for those sick of the one size fits all approach to nutrition, and ready for a new set of rules.

If you are looking for a real talk among the absolute craziness of the world today, then this episode is for you. Cristina is dishing out her favourite keto, paleo and AIP tips, and how she got over the numbers game and got healthy and happy. The truth is nobody has got it figured out, especially when you are dealing with autoimmunity. But if you can commit to getting yourself feeling better, you can make small incremental changes to find what works for you.

As women, we are trained by society to constantly be giving in order to prove our worth. It is time to take back your health journey and put yourself first, whatever version of you that is. Today Cristina encourages advocating for yourself, examines how to set realistic weight loss goals, and why you should be listening to your body, plus so much more. Have you had to battle similar weight and health-related setbacks?

Share your story in the comments on the episode page!

• Giving yourself space and being honest with your intentions
• Balancing self-care, when to ask for help and being a new mom
• Curating your life to surround yourself with things that make you feel good about yourself
• Why you should be listening to your body and not an app
• How to have compassion for yourself at any size

"It's a keto, paleo, AIP kind of mashup of all things that construe kind of the last four years of me troubleshooting and testing and tweaking my diet to figure out what I need to do to feel my best, and I kind of put it all in a book." (5:52)

"I think you have to give yourself grace and know that when you mess up it's not like 'ooh, burn to the ground I have to start from scratch'. Like just keep going, pick up from where you left off it's not like, you're not wrong, you didn't do anything wrong, you just stumbled. (13:19)

"Asking for help was huge, and learning to realize that hey, I can for help, it's okay, I deserve the help. It's not because I'm failing, it's not because I'm lazy, it's because I fucking need help and that's fine." (30:42)

"When I committed to truly healing and did that emotional work, it became easier to stick to food choices and lifestyle choices that were truly going to benefit me, that weren't going to be shortcuts for weight loss." (37:20)

"Yes I am for my women and for loving yourself, but I still carry my wounds and its okay if you are still hurting, you know. The same way that my health metamorphosis happened slowly, [emotional healing] happened even slower. (42:55)

"There's so much energy expended into not loving ourselves or thinking we are not good enough, and for what?" (48:44)

I'd love to see you in the Harder To Kill Club!

The Castaway Kitchen

Made Whole Book

Follow The Castaway Kitchen on Instagram | Facebook | YouTube

Primalgirl

Beyond the Food

The Living Experiment

Harder to Kill Facebook Club

Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, is stronger than ever these days thanks to social media and the ever-looming anxiety that there's more, better, different things we could be doing with our time. But the overwhelm from FOMO isn't doing us any favors. Thankfully, there's another way.

In this episode, I dive into the concept of JOMO, the JOY of Missing Out, and why it's just as viable as its evil older sibling FOMO. You'll learn about the connection between JOMO, values, self-care, boundaries, slow living, and presence. It ain't easy, but with a shift in mindset, you'll learn to relish the idea of JOMO.

Mentioned on this episode:

Ep 124 | Boundaries

Ep 86 | Self-Care with Sarah Fragoso

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Dr. Tee Williams is an incredible influencer and wonderful teacher who has dedicated his life to bridging the huge gap between social justice education and coaching. Dr. Tee believes that 9 times out of 10, whatever you are coaching about is going to be embedded in some sort of experience your client has had in a social context. By increasing your self-awareness you can start to think about and understand your blind spots in social justice so that you can compensate for them.

Dr. Tee shares some of the tools to understand the difference between diversity, inclusion, and liberation of social justice, grasping how power and privilege are institutionalized, and discussing inequality. By becoming aware of metacognition, your internalized dominance, and subordination, you can learn active listening and perspective taking, which can lead to radical inclusivity.

It is incredibly important to learn how to negotiate our multiple identities and the intersection of those identities, and how those intersections create new and unique forms of oppression that are situated within our social context. By examining how this fits into socially constructed oppression, you can better construct your own worldview.

By spending the time to build your version of the world and the relationships that you need, you can enact liberation on a day to day basis in the way that you live your life. The way we enact liberation is in alignment with the vision of liberation that we create for ourselves and can help you to understand the past, present, and future for different groups of people.

Of course, our usual topics of fitness and diet are important, but you must understand the social context in which health and fitness exist in to best understand how to relate to your clients and help them improve. When the way you understand the world changes, the way you understand yourself and who you are in the world also changes.

What did you find most inspiring or challenging about today's episode? Let us know in the comments on the episode page.

• Looking at the fitness industry through a social justice lens
• The essential communication in a coach-client relationship
• Critical liberation theory and how you can build the world you want
• Deconstructing your worldview and rechecking your actuality
• Acknowledging your own blind spots in connection to social identity

"Whether you are doing fitness and nutrition or life coaching or coaching of any kind, it is essential that you understand how both social identity, social context, power, and inequality, affect human beings. And therefore how they affect your clients." (9:10)

"It is never as powerful to fight against something as it is to fight for something… when you are fighting for something and you are doing it with awareness right, with critical liberatory consciousness, it allows you to to be of the oppression and not in the oppression." (27:29)

"Until you learn the skills that are necessary to interact with people who are different than you, in ways that do not damage them and do not play into this existing system, you are again operating within this huge blindspot." (34:05)

"Here's what you need to know about the past and the present, and here's what a vision of the future looks like. Heres what I'm doing and here's what I'm learning and here are the resources and people that I am learning from" (40:04)

"I guarantee you that whatever you or your clients are dealing with when you begin to trace the roots of it and really dig deep to figure out what's going on, it will in some way be connected to one or more social identities. Period. (50:41)

I'd love to see you in the Harder To Kill Club!

Dr. Tee's Website

Follow Dr. Tee on Instagram

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo

Foundations of Social Justice Course

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Ughhhh Diet Culture. My first thought is always, "Fuck that shit." And my second thought is that you need something more concrete so that you can begin unpacking the ways that Diet Culture has affected you. If you're constantly playing small in your life, obsessing over your body, and always starting your diet over again on Monday, you might be deeply affected.

In this episode, I'm talking about (from my perspective) what Diet Culture is (and isn't); how it operates to keep women small, distracted, and competing with each other; and some simple steps you can take today to begin opting out.

Mentioned on this episode:

120 | The Scale: Fierce Love Friday

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Follow Steph on:

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I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!