"STEEMIT VOICES" #4 || An Interview with Nutritionist & Holistic Health Coach @amy-goodrich
Last time we talked to Personal Trainer & Nutrition Consultant @plantstoplanks... If you missed it you can read the full interview here.
>>>>> This interview series picks the brains of our fellow Steemians, sharing valuable knowledge, expertise, and personal health testimonies that can benefit us all! <<<<<
This week we talk to the lovely and highly-esteemed Steemian @amy-goodrich - nutritionist and holistic health coach - specialising in vegan/plant-based food, and now proudly running a health food cafe, bakery & coffee shop in Cambodia!
1. You used to work as a plant biologist, and are now a nutritionist & holistic health coach/freelance natural health reporter. What lead you to work in these areas?
Our health and freedom. Ever since my hubby was diagnosed with MS we have been on a mission to improve his disease. Soon we noticed medicines weren’t the answer to our health issues so I took up a 4-year after-work/weekend course (Holistic Health Therapist and Natural Nutrition) at the European Academy for Natural Health.
After experiencing the benefits of a healthy lifestyle on our own bodies, it made me think about the health of others too. Though I love studying the cell cycle of plants, helping people find their happiness and health is so much more rewarding. Hence my decision to quit my job as a plant biologist and start helping and coaching other people.
The second reason. Freedom. Since I was a small kid I wanted to explore the world and live abroad. Though being a plant biologist opened doors to travel, R&D centers are always in big cities and I am a nature person!
Quitting my job and building an online presence has enabled me to work from anywhere in the world. Even from a remote small town on the edge of the Cambodian jungle. As long as I have internet, I can work. However things are starting to change a little. We just bought an existing bakery with a friend. Bakery should open this week. Once business picks up again I will start concentrating on a coffee shop and food health café! New challenge coming up!
2. Have I got this correct: you're vegan most of the time. What exceptions do you make and why?
When I just found out about Steemit, over 2 years ago, I was a happy and healthy flexitarian eating animal products in 2 to 3 meals a week. Meeting so many nice vegans here on Steemit (or vegan enthusiasts) has inspired me to take my diet to the next level. These days I live a 99% plant-based lifestyle!
The only exceptions I make once in a while are wild Cambodian honey and an organic egg from our chickens. They came with the house and garden and are so happy we are vegan!
Why do I make these exceptions? Because I know these chickens are having a great life. They roam around our garden, free to go or to stay. We never lock them up! Though I don’t eat their eggs very often (maybe twice a month), I know they are 100 percent organic, free range, and no cruelty.
Same goes for Cambodian wild honey, sourced in the jungle surrounding us. Sometimes my neighbor brings it down when he goes into the jungle to source natural plant medicines. He takes just a little bit and unlike the commercial beehives, the queens that rule these wild hives still have their wings. No clippings. So again, I do not see any issues in having this rare treat once in a while.
3. Have you always been this health-conscious? If not, what kinds of things shaped your current healthy lifestyle?
Nope! I was a very unhealthy university student. Eating pizza, kebabs, and drinking lots of red wine! Struggles with my own health (heart rhythm disorder and high cholesterol which I inherited from my dad’s side) and my hubby being diagnosed with MS opened our eyes that we weren’t taking good care of our bodies and things needed to change.
4. Tell us a little bit about your EatLove.Live website. What kind of info can we expect to find there, and who is your audience (those who know little/those who know much/anyone)?
I started EatLove.Live in 2013 (it was called Body In Balance back then) to share our experiences on the best and biggest journey we took (and are still on) in our life.
Gradually changing our diet and lifestyle has opened so many new doors and it enabled us to find our happiness in life without the constant worry and the need for pharmaceuticals.
On the website I share all kind of information regarding a healthy and active lifestyle, going from how to make the perfect green smoothie and why you should add more turmeric to your life to many flexitarian and vegan recipes to help people make the transition towards a healthier, more (or 100%) plant-based life.
We are all on a different path in life. I would never have thought my hubby to become mostly vegan, but hey look at him now! From carnivore to mainly herbivore. And he is loving it! It took years, yes! But if I would have pushed him to extremes like going 100% plant-based he would have given up a long time ago.
So that’s what EatLove.Live stands for. Helping, motivating, and guiding people – bite by bite if must – towards a healthier and happier version of themselves. Whether they settle for a few years being flexitarian or decide to go vegan straight away. All is good! The focus is on eating a clean healthy diet and being more active.
It’s all about finding the right balance between what you eat, what you love, and how you live. EAT LOVE LIVE!
People visiting EatLove.Live are mostly looking for ways to improve their health, prevent diseases, lose weight, transition into a plant-based/clean lifestyle or conquer existing diseases through food. Some of them are already living a pretty healthy lifestyle, looking for more tips and tricks, while others don’t know much about the topic and seek info to break free from the western diet and habits.
5. You've blogged a little about your (inherited) heart rhythm disorder and high cholesterol levels, and also your husband's diagnosis of MS in 2007, and how you've managed to improve all these things - not even an MS flare up for several years! How on earth did you guys achieve this?
It all started with one green smoothie. Surprise! Surprise! I think you still see our love for green smoothies on the website and steemit blog! From there we gradually added more healthy habits to our life.
From Meatless Monday’s (Veggie Thursday in Belgium) to eating only animal products in 2-3 meals a week to the happy 99% vegans we are today.
Gradually we saw our health improve and felt our bodies asking for more. We just listened to our body and put my knowledge about biology, Holistic health, and nutrition to good use.
After a few years of living a clean, healthy, flexitarian lifestyle, I rarely have any heart issues, my cholesterol levels are normal and my hubby stopped taking his meds to control MS in 2014. No issues whatsoever! Not a single flare-up!
Oh and let’s not forget, food and exercise are important, but our issues also dramatically improved when we were able to simplify and de-stress our life…. And just be happy!
6. What do you enjoy so much about yoga, and how does it contribute to your overall health/wellbeing?
Me time! Even if I only have 15 minutes time, I try to do a yoga session on a daily-ish basis. It tones my body, improves my balance and gives me the time to be with myself for a while.
Though I love the daily runs and fitness training with my hubby too, yoga is something I do by myself. Time for peace and relaxation. Though the yoga I practice is the fast vinyasa yoga, after every session I am so clear, calm and at peace, while feeling energized and invigorated at the same time. There is a great sense of energized calmness I feel after every session. It’s actually very hard to put the feeling to words.
Yoga also helped me get rid of lower back pain and improve my posture while standing and seated.
7. You moved from Belgium to Cambodia in 2014... Do you notice many differences in the general level of healthiness between these two cultures?
Where do I start! Though Belgians aren’t the healthiest people (beers, chocolate, and waffles) more and more people are becoming interested in clean, healthy eating and veganism. Cambodians are just experiencing the start of convenient and processed foods. Plus, they are all sweet tooth’s and sugar addicts.
Cambodia is a developing country. Education on food is non-existing. The recommended food plate in Cambodia states your plate should be filled with 2/3 white rice and the other 1/3 is everything else (meat, fruits, and veggies). Khmer people struggle a lot with skin issues and diabetes numbers are skyrocketing.
Though in Belgium cancers are on the rise! Cambodia seems to struggle less with cancer issues. Might be because big chemical corporations have not yet conquered this part of the world with things like glyphosate. Most farmers still use traditional, chemical free cultivation techniques. Let’s hope it doesn’t change! Though I fear Cambodia will see an increase in cancers too. Maybe not due to farming, but the processed crap they eat these days! And sugar!
8. Is it easy to obtain fresh produce, wholefoods and all the healthy ingredients you desire where you live in Cambodia?
It is easy to get fresh, local, organic produce and we have tons of fruit in the garden. In the capital, I can buy a few other staples (chickpeas, herbs, lentils, etc) and I just found nutritional yeast. Special things like spirulina, goji berries and a few other things I bring with me when I travel. My bag is always filled with foods and cooking supplies when I fly back home!
9. Do you have any particular big dreams for the future?... Changing lives “one bite at a time” or perhaps changing the world one cat at a time? (I refer to your wish to be 'mother of all cats'!) Will your future be concerned with the well-being of humans or cats? Or both!
My dreams are animal/nature conservation projects. Something with big cats would be awesome. We’ll see where life brings us. Anything that has something to do with protecting our planet and its beautiful creatures is a goal!
I would like to support and work on something local. Whether that will be in Cambodia or anywhere else we might settle later in life.
But first, we have to make sure we have a steady income for us to live from and save some for the future too. Conservation projects are usually on a voluntary basis. Next to all that is nature, I love food too! So let’s hope we can make a living from one passion to support another!
If you enjoyed getting to know our dear @amygoodrich better, you can find out more by checking out her latest posts here (and don't forget to do some upping of the current ones!):
WILD FERMENTATIONS | HOMEMADE KIMCHI - A KOREAN PROBIOTIC WONDER
GREEN SMOOTHIE OF THE DAY | BULLETPROOF SMOOTHIE TO BOOST BRAINPOWER AND CURB THE APPETITE
EASY VEGAN LUNCH | RAINBOW ARUGULA SALAD WITH ROASTED CHICKPEAS AND PEANUT SESAME DRESSING
GREEN SMOOTHIE OF THE DAY | GREEN PINEAPPLE MORNING LOVE
VEGAN SUNDAY ROAST | SPICY CAULIFLOWER ROAST WITH RAINBOW CHICKPEA SALAD AND TOMATO VEGGIE SAUCE
HEALTHY BREAKFAST | WATERMELON YOGURT BOWL WITH HEMP HEART AND GOJI BERRIES
GREEN SMOOTHIE OF THE DAY | SOURSOP MORINGA SUPERFOOD BOOST
VEGAN DESSERT | FROZEN MOJITO AVOCADO TARTLET (GLUTEN- AND SUGAR -FREE)
MAKE-AHEAD LUNCH SALAD | POTATO SALAD WITH CELERY LEAF PESTO
* All photos in this interview belong to @amygoodrich*
If you have something to say about health that can benefit others, please contact me to arrange an interview, either in the comments thread below or privately on Steemit.Chat.
To find out what the "Make It Healthy Project" is all about, and how you can be involved in growing this project, please click here.
Great interview with loads of helpful information.
I do have a question for anyone that is vegan or raw vegan, Through videos I've been watching one was saying there was a plateau at around the 15 year mark of like a reversal of being healthy to being very sick, where some were suffering poor health in teeth in gums and other health problems, where others didn't have this plateau is this something you have experienced or know others that have hit this issue?
I haven't been a vegan for that long, but I have many friends and clients who have been vegan for quite a while without any issues. The one thing I'd like to add and might answer your question is that vegans are not necessarily the healthiest people. Although if done right it can be the healthiest diet. Just as with any diet the focus should be on eating real fresh, whole foods. With the number of vegans rising every year the food industry has jumped on the opportunity to earn more money. That's why they are now mass producing processed, chemical-laden vegan food. Look at the grocery shelves. Every year more vegan and gluten-free overly processed foods make it to the shelves. Some of the vegans I know are among the unhealthiest people on Earth, eating only pre-packed meals and other vegan junk food. So to really answer the question you would need a little bit more info about the dietary choices of both the people that see their health deteriorate and the ones thriving on a vegan diet beyond the 15-year mark. Interesting though. Thanks for bringing this to my attention. I will def give this topic some more research.
Great answer Amy, thanks for that. It makes perfect sense to me that vegan doesn't necessarily = healthy, particularly if eating processed food, or not getting enough variation of fresh wholefoods to give a well-rounded nutritional diet. Even though I eat mostly a plant-based diet as you know, I don't think I've actually ever bought anything labelled as 'vegan'!
Unlabeled food is the best. Though we have to be careful with our fresh foods too. I am so happy chemicals haven't found their way to our local market yet. Let's cross fingers it stays that way.
I keep my fingers crossed for you too! It's so hard getting fresh organic produce where we live... the nearest shop to buy fruit & veggies is 16 mile bus ride away, but they only have a small selection, and I'm always suspicious of supermarket food even if it claims to be organic. But what choice do we have? So that's why we want to become more self-sufficient, we just need to move somewhere the land is good for growing because here it's terrible, very poor quality earth and full of rocks!
We kinda have the same problem at our home. Though fruits trees seem to do well on the rocky soil of the mountain, veggies are a different story. Maybe hydro growing might be the thing for us to look into. Have a lovely weekend!
Thanks for the answer Amy, with doing some searching on this also, this seems to be the conclusion also that whole unprocessed foods eaten in a balanced way. Have noticed more and more Vegan foods popping up on the shelf, also alot of food saying natural no artificial additives, healthy foods, when looking at the ingredients they don't marry up to the marketing packaging.
Thank you would like to see what your research brings in also.
Once I have more time I'll def research this a bit better. These days we have so many factors to take into account. There is no one answer to the question what is the best diet. Take care!
I'll draw Amy's attention to this question as I haven't been plant based for that long and none of my friends are vegan so I have no-one to ask! Hopefully we'll get this question answered for you... It's a good one, thanks! :-)
Go here https://steemit.com/@a-a-a to get your post resteemed to over 72,000 followers.
Another amazing interview Dear Joanna ............I enjoy reading about @amy-goodrich very much, she is truly living example. I really wish I could visit her someday 🍒 🍌🍑🌿🍍🍓🍇
Thank you Lena! I'm happy you enjoyed it... me too! ;-) And yes, me too, if ever there's a chance to visit her I would jump at it!
Always a pleasure Dear Joanna..............hopefully someday we will XOXO
Excellent piece! I already adored @amy-goodrich, but it's fun to learn a little bit more. Thank you for all you ladies both do to spread the message of good health for ourselves and for others! :)
You're very kind, thank you! She is one of my Steemit heroes with her achievable healthy tips and not to mention some of the most exciting and tropical looking posts in my feed!
What a wonderful intervivew @woman-onthe-wing. I so enjoyed getting to know Amy better. She is a wealth of knowledge and I love what she brings to the Steemit community. So much to learn from here. An amazing adventurous spirit! Thank you!
She is an excellent source of healthy knowledge and if ever I needed advice or encouragement I would go to her first! Also yes, as you say, an amazing adventurous spirit :-) I'm happy you enjoyed the interview @birdsinparadise, thanks for reading it!
Thank you so much for your kind words and all the love and support you have given me in the past 2 years. Much appriciated dear Joanna ღ ღ ღ
I am happy to support you Amy, you are my health hero! :-) Thanks so much for doing the interview and such interesting answers for everyone to enjoy! x x
Amy - do you see @biglipsmama's question here? Are you able to answer this one? Thanks! x
I'll have a look at it. Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
Absolutely awesome interview! Great to hear even more about Amy! I'll be resteeming this one! Great work, ladies.
Many thanks, I'm happy you enjoyed the interview and appreciate the resteem! :-)