Real Things Living

He turned 50, watched his energy crash, and instead of reaching for a pill, he threw out cooked food entirely — 16 years later he's run eight marathons and never taken a single medication. Axay Shah, author of "In Nature We Trust," joins Brigitte to explain why he ditched cooked food at 50 and hasn't looked back. His philosophy is simple: if Mother Nature didn't make it, it d...

Before she was a healer, she was numb—trapped under heavy medication for epilepsy and jumping out of airplanes just to feel a spark of life. Hannia Zanana, founder of Be HLTH, opens up about living with epilepsy and the six years she spent over-medicated and disconnected from her own body. She shares the turning point — a face-to-face encounter with a sperm whale — that cracked open her relationsh...

Women are launching businesses in record numbers — and most still won't charge what they're worth, show up online, or ask for the funding they need. Joy Foster has spent a decade figuring out why. Joy Foster, founder and CEO of Tech Pixies, joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living to explore why so many brilliant women hold themselves back from scaling their businesses and how neurosc...

From a hyper-vigilant engineering career built on survival to a life anchored in pure, unadulterated joy—discover how one woman broke through a lifetime of shame to reclaim her authentic voice. Retired engineer turned author, Lena Fein spent decades outrunning a childhood shaped by relentless maternal criticism and hidden shame. She became a high achiever, a communicator, a marketing pro — all fro...

A survivor's poem lived in Isabel Reddy's heart for a decade, and became the spark for a novel that refuses to let 125 forgotten lives stay forgotten. Isabel Reddy, scientific writer and author of "That You Remember", joins Brigitte Cutshall to unpack the real-life coal mining disaster that inspired her historical fiction novel. In 1972, a neglected slurry lagoon unleashed 130 mi...

One diagnosis flipped a scientist's entire life upside down, and led her to research that's giving parents real hope. Dr. Theresa Lyons, scientist and autism mom, joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living to break down what autism actually is — a wide spectrum that can look completely different from one child to the next. She explains why autism is rooted in the nervous system, not &qu...

Sixty thousand people a year get a procedure that could change their pain forever...and most have never heard of it. In this episode of Real Things Living, Brigitte Cutshall sits down with Dr. Steven Falowski, a neurosurgeon with nearly 20 years of experience who is helping lead the charge against chronic pain — without opioids. Dr. Falowski breaks down how spinal cord stimulation has evolved from...

Most people are exhausted not because they're doing too much, but because they're doing it wrong. Dr. Maria Nemeth, psychologist, master certified coach, and founder of the Academy for Coaching Excellence (ACE), joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living to share a deceptively simple definition of success — and the four-part framework that makes it possible for anyone to live with more...

A boy who nearly died after losing his mother at age seven grew up to become one of West Texas' most pioneering oncologists — and he's now telling the full story. Dr. Fazlur Rahman joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living for his second visit, this time diving into his newly republished memoir "Temple Road." It's a book about the literal jungle path he walked from his sm...

Imagine waiting ten days for important biopsy results only to discover the patient sample was entirely lost; meaning someone has to go under the knife all over again. In modern medical systems, this chaotic scenario is more common than you think. Sam Yeruva, Founder and CEO of PyCube, sat down with Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living to discuss how modernizing and digitizing the workflows behi...

Getting hit by a car cracked Tyler's femur — and shattered everything he thought he knew about fitness. Tyler Bramlett, co-founder of WeShape, joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real Things Living to flip the fitness script. After a cycling accident forced him to relearn movement from scratch, Tyler discovered that the industry's obsession with intensity is exactly what keeps people stuck — or inj...

She woke up to a video of her drunk self begging her sober self to change — and that was the moment everything shifted. Hannah Turner is a poet, author, and coach whose debut poetry collection, The Clarity of Chaos, was born in the most unlikely place: a Paris apartment, a year into sobriety, in the middle of writing a graduate thesis. In this conversation with Brigitte Cutshall, Hannah opens up a...

After a 30-year marriage ended, most people wouldn't buy a house alone in rural France. Roberta Samuels did and then wrote four books about it. Roberta is an author, painter, and lifelong Francophile who studied at the Sorbonne, led small-group tours through the hidden corners of France, and ultimately traded her old life for a medieval townhouse in the southwest. In this conversation with Bri...

Grief doesn't ask you to move on. It asks you to carry love forward. Brigitte Cutshall speaks with Enya Flack, an actress, reporter, and Infinity Garden advocate for an honest, heartfelt conversation about navigating loss. Drawing from personal experience — including losing her husband in 2018 — Enya shares how grief reshaped her perspective on healing, remembrance, and connection. Together, t...

A system designed to heal shouldn’t wait for people to get sick. In this episode of Real Things Living, Brigitte Cutshall speaks with Gil Bashe, Chair of Global Health & Purpose at FINN Partners and author of Healing the Sick Care System: Why People Matter. With decades of experience across healthcare, business, and caregiving, Gil shares a powerful perspective on why today’s healthcare system...

Survival shouldn't be a guessing game. Diagnosed with advanced T-cell lymphoma in 2009, Army veteran and attorney Glenn Sturm refused to leave his survival to chance. He built his own integrated, multidisciplinary cancer care team before most hospitals even knew what that meant. Now he's writing the book on it — literally — and the data behind his approach is staggering: a 70% reduction in...

You don't have to blow up your life — or your kids' — to end a marriage. Joe Dillon, co-founder of Equitable Mediation Services, joins Real Things Living to challenge the traditional divorce narrative by treating it as a forward-looking financial and emotional transition rather than a post-mortem of a failed contract. Drawing from his own childhood experiences, Joe explains how staying &qu...

When life serves up a terminal diagnosis or a career-altering shift, most people search for a way out. Tom LeNoble searches for the lesson. From growing up in a Florida shack to becoming employee #57 at Facebook, Tom’s journey is a masterclass in risk, renewal, and the art of "living fully while dying". In this episode of Real Things Living, Tom discusses how to treat resilience as a mus...

What happens when everything is stripped away? In a split second, Dominic Forth went from a honeymoon rafting trip to fighting for his life beneath the surface of the Zambezi River. That "flipped moment" didn't just change his perspective—it redefined how he leads and how he helps others share their truth. Dominic Forth, CEO of Thought Leaders America, joins Brigitte Cutshall on Real...

Stop surviving your circumstances and start thriving through the "adventures" that shaped you. In this episode of Real Things Living, Brigitte Cutshall hosts Rhonda Farrah, a lifestyle empowerment alchemist who shares how she navigated high-stakes life "adventures"—including a federal prison camp stay, a breast cancer diagnosis, and financial ruin. Rhonda reveals how she transf...

Doctors said he wouldn't survive childhood. At 69, Greg Smith is believed to be the oldest living person in the world with his condition...and he's got a book to prove the odds wrong. Greg Smith was diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease) before his second birthday and given a life expectancy of 25 years. In this conversation with Brigitte Cutshall, Greg opens up abou...

The conventional view of healthcare often starts with a problem, but Dr. Peter Kevorkian believes the true essence of health begins with removing the interference to your body’s own brilliance. As a renowned chiropractor and the President of Life Chiropractic College West, Dr. Peter joins Brigitte Cutshall to discuss why optimizing the spine is about much more than "cracking backs"—it’s...

"I walked out of that appointment freaked out... no one seemed to see it but me". Brad Pitzele was a young father losing his functionality to what doctors called "minor" issues—until it became a fight for his life. Brad Pitzele, CEO of 1000 Roads, shares his harrowing journey through "medical gaslighting," a $500 test that changed everything, and why he ultimately bui...

A decorated Special Forces veteran nearly lost everything to the system that was supposed to save him—until he discovered the one tool the body has always had. In this episode, Brigitte Cutshall speaks with Tim Thomas, an ex-Australian Special Forces member dedicated to helping people reclaim their sense of self and energy. Drawing from his combat experience and his own journey with PTSD, Tim disc...

Instead of a long goodbye, imagine a nine-year journey filled with newfound creativity, laughter, and deep connection. In this episode of Real Things Living, Brigitte Cutshall talks with Marilyn Raichle, author of "Don't Walk Away: A Care Partner’s Journey." Marilyn shares how her mother’s late-life discovery of painting transformed their relationship from one of "caregiver and...