Nourished Fertility

I am thrilled to have Candace Molatore on the podcast today. I have followed Candace on Instagram for quite awhile now, and I have to say I'm obsessed! She is beautiful, with impeccable style, but more importantly- her words and writing speak to me so much. She's like that calm, nurturing and honest friend that you cling on to every word she says to learn and do better as a person yourself. Candace Molatore is a Self-Love Advocate, Branding Consultant and Photographer based in Portland, OR. With a passion for building community, Candace uses her photography and writing skills to broadcast the message of self confidence, body positivity and inclusivity online. She shares her interests, inspiration, tips and everyday life with her audience regularly through social media. With a modest but strong following behind her, Candace continues to spread the message of inclusivity and self-love with high-quality visuals, a strong work ethic and a mission to make everyone feel empowered in their own skin.

Today's podcast sponsor is super special. When I approached Candace to come on the show, I mentioned a charity donation to support a cause that was important to Candace to say thank you for her time coming on the show. Candace also met my donation, and suggested that I share about the charity as the sponsor of the episode, and I thought it was such a brilliant suggestion!

So, today I am honored to tell you about the Jim Collins Foundation.

The mission of the Jim Collins Foundation is to provide financial assistance to transgender people for gender-affirming surgeries. The Jim Collins Foundation recognizes that not every transgender person needs or wants surgery to achieve a healthy transition. But for those who do, gender-affirming surgeries are an important step in their transition to being their true selves. However, access to gender-affirming surgery is impossible for most. Discrimination against transgender people is so prevalent that many transgender people struggle to survive, never mind save for surgery costs. Even for those who have health insurance, coverage is systematically denied. Many insurance policies contain a "Transsexual Exclusion Clause" which excludes all medical procedures related to a person's transgender status. For many transgender people, access to surgery is out of reach.

The Jim Collins Foundation raises money to fund gender-affirming surgeries for those transgender people who need surgery to live a healthy life, but have no ability to pay for it themselves. We recognize that for those people who require surgery for a healthy gender transition, lack of access to surgery may result in hopelessness, depression, and sometimes, suicide. The Jim Collins Foundation is a community-based initiative promoting the self-determination and empowerment of all transgender people.

Click here to learn more about the Jim Collins Foundation and donate.

In this episode we discuss:

• Candace shares her story and life's journey leading her to the work she does today as a self love advocate, branding consultant and photographer

• What impacted Candace in the past with lack of self love and her tips for how she changed the narrative internally of her own self worth

• The origins of the body positive movement and how to respect its origins

• How can we be more respectful to the challenges Black women face of feeling body positive and embracing wellness

• Candace's tips on using social media as a way to uplift ourselves, rather than compare and judge ourselves

• How we can as a collective whole be more inclusive to all body sizes

• How we vote with our money, and choosing brands that are inclusive to all body sizes

• How Candace built a wardrobe and style that fits her body and represents her personality

• How Candace practices wellness without obsession

Learn more:

• Candace's Instagram account

• Candace's website

• Candace on staying confident in swimwear

• Candace on tips for confidence

• Brand mentioned in the episode, Girlfriend Collective

Resources for you:

• Learn more about our services at Nourishing Minds Nutrition. Read testimonials from our amazing clients here. We are currently booking for August with limited spots left!

• Join our FREE support group for like-minded women, the Nourishing Women Community. Live Q&As are hosted every week.

Let's hang out! Connect with Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram

• Victoria's Website

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

It's been a long time since we last had a podcast episode on intermittent fasting and I thought it was due time to an update, review of the research and to have an honest conversation with you about your need for rules.

It's common and totally okay to have questions about what is intuitive eating aligned and what is not when it comes to health trends, and even nutrition research. Because intuitive eating isn't anti-health or even anti-nutrition, and...ALSO...Ultimately, this is your body,and your choice, so if you decide intermittent fasting is for you then it's your choice to make, but I'm hoping I can give you another perspective on this super popular trend.

Let's first describe what is intermittent fasting. Intermittent Fasting (IF) is a diet regimen that cycles between brief periods of fasting, with either no food or significant calorie reduction, and periods of unrestricted eating."

In the episode we discuss:

• What is intermittent fasting and the different types of IF

• The reported benefits of intermittent fasting

• Considerations when reviewing the research on IF

• Potential cons to practicing IF (side effects)

• The weight centric and diet focus of the proponents of IF

• Why IF is inappropriate if you struggle with your relationship with food

• Why we don't recommend IF for our clients at Nourishing Minds Nutrition

More insight into intermittent fasting:

Kelsey's blog post

Previous podcast episode on intermittent fasting

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. Live Q&As are hosted every week.

Let's hang out! Connect with Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram

• Victoria's Website

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

One of the amazing dietitians at Nourishing Minds Nutrition, Megan Perez, is back on the show! Today she's getting personal with you sharing why she is so passionate about PCOS awareness and proper education on this endocrine disorder. Megan is our resident PCOS specialist so I knew she would be the perfect person to come on the show to share with you gentle nutrition practices to support PCOS.

In this episode we discuss:

• Megan gives a life update to what she's been up to since last on the show

• Megan shares with us a bit about why she is so passionate about PCOS, including her personal diagnosis with PCOS this year

• What exactly is PCOS and how to get diagnosed

• Why there is so much stigma surrounding PCOS diagnosis and treatment

• Gentle nutrition practices to support PCOS

• Why reducing inflammation is such a big piece of supporting your PCOS

• How Megan currently practices wellness without obsession

Megan's blog post on PCOS:

Gentle Nutrition for PCOS

4 Different Types of PCOS

Past episodes with Megan:

The Pro's and Con's to the Whole 30 Diet

Why Sleep is Important to Your Health

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. Live Q&As are hosted every week.

The purpose of today's episode is to share the digestive response our bodies have to an eating disorder and how this impacts our gut microbiome.

For the context of this episode, I'm going to refer to eating disorders to include the entire spectrum: chronic dieting, disordered eating, orthorexia, anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating. Since I specialize in orthorexia, I'll really be touching on this quite a bit in this episode, yet all eating disorders (ED) have an effect so this really is an episode to say all forms of ED impact digestion.

According to Marci Evans, 98% of those affected by ED have digestive issues. Specifically functional gut disorders (meaning no structural damage), although structural disorders can absolutely impact those with ED, too. In today's episode we share why this may be that so many with ED struggle with digestive issues, as well as why those with digestive issues are more prone to develop ED.

There are so many mechanisms at play for how the digestive process is affected when we have an eating disorder, in this episode we will review how an eating disorder impacts digestion via:

• The gut brain axis
• The stress response of the body
• Inflammation
• Decreased variety of the microbiome
• Decreased intake of prebiotics (food for bacteria)
• As well as next steps to take as a patient and health care provider

Resources and References*:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30704642

https://healthspaceclinics.com.au/blog/the-role-of-gut-microbiome-in-eating-disorders

https://kelseykinney.com/got-anxiety-heres-how-your-gut-microbiome-plays-a-part/

https://kelseykinney.com/polyphenols-foods/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6047317/

https://marcird.com/improving-digestion-without-obsession/

https://marcird.com/digestive-disorders-eating-disorders-a-complicated-mix/

https://www.thereallife-rd.com/2017/07/eating-disorder-gastrointestinal-issues/

https://www.victoriamyers.net/blog/10-steps-fix-digestive-distress

*Please note that there may be triggering information in the research studies linked.

Mantra for the week: https://www.instagram.com/p/B9DRs8HpTXJ

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 Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

Today on the podcast, we have one of our amazing dietitians at Nourishing Minds Nutrition, Kelsey Pukala, back on the show to explain how disordered eating can be a root cause to digestive issues.

In today's episode we detail through:

• An explanation to what is disordered eating
• What kind of digestive issues you can experience with disordered eating
• Why and how disordered eating can lead to digestive issues
• Why we don't use elimination diets and food sensitivity testing in our practice
• General tips to get started with improving your digestion

Information discussed in today's episode:

Victoria Myers Blog

Meg's Etsy Shop

Episode 83: Digestion Basics, IBS/SIBO and merging Intuitive Eating with Digestive Healing

Episode 66: SIBO, IBS and Digestive Healing with dietitian Kelsey Kinney

Episode 64: Probiotics: the what, how and why

Marci Evans website

Is Clean Eating Causing Your Digestive Issues?

Improve Your Digestion Naturally (and Start Today!)

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 Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

For every guest that comes on the show, we donate money to Loveland Foundation. The Loveland Foundation, a foundation that provides therapy and healing to Black women and girls. We are honored to donate monthly to the Loveland Foundation, and you can learn more and donate yourself here.

I'm going to start this episode off with a rant of how bad diet culture is right now. I live in my non-diet bubble so much that sometimes I forget HOW BAD it is out there. I'm continuing to realize how prevalent diet culture is and how much we need to keep spreading our message. And I get that intuitive eating sounds like a different world. And that's because it is. It's about behavior change and self care actions instead of specific actions of weight loss. It's a world that doesn't exist in extremes and rules and that is HARD for us because that's what we expect these days of diets. But it wasn't always this way. We once had a world where we didn't view foods as something to feel guilty about or induce shame. Once upon a time, mind body knowledge around food WAS the norm because we didn't have an internalized diet mentality impacting it. And today I want to dig into the mind body knowledge part of intuitive eating as I know this can be one of the harder parts to figure out. But the Mind body knowledge is one of my favorite parts of intuitive eating. It opens the door to so much with your eating, and just how you live your life.

So what exactly is the mind body connection? The mind body connection in its most basic definition is that your mind and body are connected, and affected by each other. Our mental state can affect how we hold tension in the body, the trauma response of the body and the pain our bodies experience.

And at the same time, our body can communicate to our minds its needs like when we are feeling anxious (think palms sweating or tightness in the throat), when we need to pee, when we are hungry, when we need to sleep or when we feel happy.

In this episode we discuss:

• Ways to build mind body knowledge

• What you can use the mind body knowledge for with eating and in life

• How this pertains to the IE principle, discover the satisfaction factor

• How satisfaction and pleasure with food is enhanced with mind body knowledge

• Allowing for pleasure in all areas of your life, how this leads to purpose

• Reflective questions to leave off this episode asking yourself

Episodes referenced: Intuitive Eating Principles Part 1 and Part 2, my favorite principle of Intuitive Eating

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. Live Q&As are hosted every week.

Let's hang out! Connect with Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram

• Victoria's Website

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram

• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

There is no perfect or "right way" to nourish our bodies and I hope this episode with guest and eating disorder specialist, Erica Drewry RD/N, helps you discover your own version of health and learn the differences between positive and pathological nutrition.

Erica Drewry is a dietitian dedicated to teaching you how to worry less about food and be more present with things that matter in your life. With over 10 years of experience, she believes your relationship with food is a foundation for discovering your own version of wellbeing and health. Additionally, Erica is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Eating Disorder Dietitian Supervisor. Beyond working with clients, she loves to connect and interact with her community - on Instagram at Aligned Nutrition and her podcast the Aligned Nutrition Podcast. She lives in Columbus, Ohio in her mid-century modern dream home with her fiance and dog Ellie.

Learn more about Erica:

IG: @alignednutrition

Podcast: The Aligned Nutrition Podcast

Website: www.alignednutrition.com

My episode on Erica's podcast, the Aligned Nutrition Podcast.

In this episode we discuss:

• Erica's journey to specializing in eating disorders and creating her business, Aligned Nutrition.
• Why there is no perfect or "right way" to eat and how to discover your own version of health.
• The differences between positive versus pathological nutrition, and how to approach nutrition with more balance.
• The reasons you may feel the pull to lose weight and how to not act upon them.
• How Erica practices wellness without obsession.

Today is the final day to join enrollment for Get Your Period Back Playbook. If you are a perfectionist with a missing or irregular period who is ready to cover from HA and regain your health and fertility, we'd love to have you. Enrollment won't open again until later in the fall.

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 Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

For every guest that comes on the show, we donate money to Loveland Foundation. The Loveland Foundation, a foundation that provides therapy and healing to Black women and girls. We are honored to donate monthly to the Loveland Foundation, and you can learn more and donate yourself here.

Mindfulness has been a buzzword for the past few years and the number of people practicing in the US has tripled in the past decade, but so many don't know the real principles behind it. It's more than simply calming the mind, it involves self-love, forgiveness, compassion, authenticity, and perspective.

After climbing the corporate ladder for nearly a decade, Nina left her flourishing career to take a year sabbatical. She moved to California to unplug and continue her pursuit for happiness while living in an ashram. It was at a peak point of stress sparked by the corporate grind that she took this drastic step to change her life. The outward move allowed Nina to look deeper inward. She wanted to see if there was a way to take ancient wisdom and apply it to modern day stressors and this lead her to an international bestselling book and the founding of Pure Minds.

She runs mindfulness and meditation workshops for the public and corporate sector and in this episode, Nina gives us realistic and approachable tools to begin to let that sh*t go and calm our minds.

In this episode we discuss:

• Nina's journey to writing, Let That Sh*t Go, and how her personal life impacted writing the book and starting a business focused on mindfulness.
• As a critical time to understand what is swirling around in our minds, Nina helps us understand how to begin tackling mindfulness in an approachable way.
• How we can all learn to let go of what we can't control using mindfulness tactics.
• One small way everyone listening can begin to 'let that sh*t go' starting today.
• How members of the BIPOC or LGBTQ2+ community can find their voice and remain authentic in a world where there's been so much oppression.
• How Nina practices wellness without obsession.

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.
• Join the waitlist for our new program coming in May, Get Your Period Back Playbook.

Let's hang out! Connect with Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

For every guest that comes on the show, we donate money to Loveland Foundation. The Loveland Foundation, a foundation that provides therapy and healing to Black women and girls. We are honored to donate monthly to the Loveland Foundation, and you can learn more and donate yourself here.

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 Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

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 prototyping is the key to breaking perfectionism.
• How Majo practices wellness without obsession.

You can find more information on her here and on Instagram here.

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 Victoria and the staff at NMN:

• Victoria's Instagram
• Victoria's Website
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition Instagram
• Nourishing Minds Nutrition website

For every guest that comes on the show, we donate money to Loveland Foundation. The Loveland Foundation, a foundation that provides therapy and healing to Black women and girls. We are honored to donate monthly to the Loveland Foundation, and you can learn more and donate yourself here.