Live Your Life, Not Your Diagnosis™

Gabriella True has not only an inspiring story of overcoming challenges herself, her story also extends to working to bring awareness to a complex and often missed diagnosis of PANS and PANDAS - a neuroimmune disorder affecting children and adults. In fact, after our interview she was getting ready to go to her state’s capital to promote legislation to her local congress. You can hear the passion...

Amy Reinecke  discovered she had Hashimoto’s after having her third child. She is now helping women love their body through healing their mindset. In this week’s podcast, Amy shares her very personal story with growing up in diet culture and developing an eating disorder. And her journey back to loving her body right now, as it is. Amy’s story is so relatable to those of us who grew up dietin...

Let’s all be honest. We push ourselves- a lot. Whether it’s because we have to work, have deadlines, or just don’t want to let anyone down - we test our limits. And it’s especially problematic when we’re in a flare up, or are injured, or sick.  This week, Andrea explores the concept of pushing it - and if we can do it in a way that doesn’t hurt our health. Navigating her recent injury, Andrea...

Ali is the host of the hit international podcast “Challenges That Change Us”. She was running three successful businesses and raising 3 little girls when she suffered a major stroke at age 30. Her fortitude and ‘find what works’ attitude helped her recover, which included learning to read and write again. It also helped her weather life’s many other ups and downs that came after. Ali’s stories wil...

Lauren Zalewski and I are talking about one of my favorite subjects - gratitude. I feel like gratitude has become somewhat of a cliche recently - which is not where it belongs. Gratitude is so powerful, when it’s done right. There are less effective ways to use gratitude - I’m sure you’ve heard people say things like “you should be grateful for this” or “Just be grateful this worse thing over here...

The end of the year is here. Cue the joy, the laughter, the parties, and…the overwhelm. Because let’s get real. The end of the year can bring a lot of baggage - and getting it all done by the 31st (or sooner) can make us a bit crazy.  Today, I’m teaching my go-to tool that I use whenever I’m overwhelmed and have roughly one million things to do in a week. This easy to use tool helps to reliev...

Lee Kilborn is one of those special people that devote their lives to family and service to community. Finding her passion - and absolute talent - early on as a professional volunteer coordinator, Lee made the jump from corporate to work in non-profit. Through her decades in service, she accumulated a volunteer “army” of 1,000’s that would do anything she asked - I know, because I was one of those...

Integrative health coach Michelle Leotta takes us on her story of being a stressed out kid to being a stressed out adult and how the burnout in her life led her to a whole new career. She talks about the frustration of knowing that something was going on with her body, but not getting the answers she needed. Until she finally connected all the dots. She took her frustrations with her health and bu...

Dr. Francesca Owoo is back on the podcast, sharing her knowledge as a therapist and as someone living with a chronic illness who is a caregiver to family members. Dr. Owoo brings her signature straight talk mixed with humor to give us great advice on how to make caregiving relationships much healthier. She also discusses breaking the cultural and generational cycles of feeling like you have to giv...

Helen Mallaburn is a hashimoto’s recovery specialist and nutritional therapist. She lived on the adrenaline of a high stress job, doing lots of sports, working out, and having a very active social life - until her health made her slow down when she developed autoimmune disorders including hashimoto's. She had to reframe her thinking around her health and how to heal herself. She shares her story a...

Dr. Lj Johnson is a women’s hormone coach, specializing in endometriosis, PCOS and fibroids. She’s living with endometriosis herself, and has worked in the health and fitness industry for over 20 years. She’s got quite a story - including being a peppy morning news fitness coach (while feeling like her body was out of control) - and working on The Biggest Loser reality show. She’s got stories and...

Elizabeth Guthrie is a board certified wellness practitioner who is living with PTSD and Long Covid. She’s an expert in Trauma and helps people use natural wellness as part of a trauma recovery program. There are so many questions around trauma - what it really is, do we have to address all of it, do we even have to know why we have it? She gets into the nitty gritty and helps clear up quite a few...

Many business owners are living with a chronic illness. It makes sense - you can work on your own time, put your health first- you don’t have anyone to answer to you. Except then a lot of us realize that we’re not the best bosses, either. And our new beautiful business can tax our health just as much as working in corporate. Sarah Berthon is going to help us with that. As a business owner living w...

Dr. Francesca Owoo is a therapist who focuses on couples and families navigating the complex world of chronic illness. She is passionate about working with this population due to several chronic illnesses within her family. While working on her Ph. D., she was diagnosed with fibroids, stage 4 endometriosis, and adenomyosis. She has 14 years of experience using systemic-based therapies and a cultur...

Dr. Maryska Taylor is a Naturopathic Doctor, Mind-Body Therapist, Clinical Hypnotherapist and Intuitive Healer. She’s living with Psoriasis and practices the same healing methods that she teaches her patients. This episode is a masterclass in what the mind-body connection is all about and how to incorporate intuition and spiritual practice into your healing journey. There’s also a fascinating disc...

Dana Baker-Williams is a Parent and Teen Coach specializing in ADHD and Anxiety, and mom of two. She’s living with Lupus as well as Sjogrens and Raynaud's. But the very sickness that made her have to learn how to walk again also allowed her to be with her kids and see that her daughter was struggling. A whole new career and a thriving daughter came from having to go on disability. Listen to Dana’s...

Army Veteran, mother of two daughters, and positive mindset master. Therease Weaver, who is living with multiple sclerosis, went from feeling total defeat from her MS for years to finding her own solutions to create a fulfilling life. This is a must listen if you have some struggles and need inspiration from someone who refuses to stay down and shares the many ways she doesn’t let her chronic illn...

Ali is the host of the hit international podcast “Challenges That Change Us”. She was running three successful businesses and raising 3 little girls when she suffered a major stroke at age 30. Her fortitude and ‘find what works’ attitude helped her recover, which included learning to read and write again. It also helped her weather life’s many other ups and downs that came after. Ali’s stories wil...

Caitlin Fisher is an anti-capitalist creativity coach, author, and podcaster, on a mission to help people in the neurodivergent, disabled, and queer communities get in touch with their dreams and break the rules that tell us we have to hustle. Saying no thank you themself to the daily grind, Caitlin shares about navigating the corporate world as a person living with a chronic illness - and their j...

Everything has a solution - even in a foreign country when you don’t speak the language and your body is going haywire. You can find what you need, move forward - and still have a great vacation. Abigail Cummings proves that having a rare genetic condition (Bardet-Biedl Syndrome) doesn’t stop you from experiencing everything from going to college, traveling abroad with classmates and traveling sol...

Lauren Zalewski and I are talking about one of my favorite subjects - gratitude. I feel like gratitude has become somewhat of a cliche recently - which is not where it belongs. Gratitude is so powerful, when it’s done right. There are less effective ways to use gratitude - I’m sure you’ve heard people say things like “you should be grateful for this” or “Just be grateful this worse thing over here...

So many of the resources about chronic illness are for the adults - but how do you explain things to a child with chronic illness? Our guest today wrote a children’s book aimed at explaining the concept of chronic illness to a child - in a beautifully inclusive way that encourages bravery and confidence for both the child and caregiver. Mindy is also sharing with us the honest, vulnerable, and lov...

Valerie Bachinsky was diagnosed with osteoarthritis at 27. She was an avid hiker who started having pain when walking downhill - so she decided to go up. Her rock climbing passion began 17 years ago and she hasn’t slowed down since. Valerie is also a nurse who chats with us about surprising causes of inflammation, why a good night’s sleep starts the minute you wake up, and what pain in our bodies...

When we’re diagnosed with a chronic illness, no one talks about how we go through a bit of an identity crisis. How do we create an identity that’s not centered around our illness, yet is different than before because we now have a diagnosis? I explore these questions in a fascinating discussion with Dr. Morgan April Morley about what makes up our self concept. Diagnosed with Lupus, she had to deal...

Pick up your pen and start writing your own story - before someone writes it for you. Paul Forchione brings his own inspiring story about learning to walk when all his doctors said he never would due to his Cerebral Palsy. He catapulted his determination and grit into a business helping others write their stories - no matter how big and impossible they seem. And don’t miss his surprising way to ge...