What if your body isn't working against you but has been trying to communicate with you all along? In this solo episode of PCOS Unfiltered: Nourish, Heal, Thrive, I’m sharing the heart behind my new book, Healthy for a Reason, and the message I wish someone had given me years ago. After nearly 20 years in traditional healthcare, opening a gym, navigating my own health journey, and now helping women through nutrition and lifestyle changes, my perspective on health has completely changed. Instead of treating cravings, fatigue, poor sleep, stress, bloating, and other symptoms as problems to fight, what if we started getting curious about what our bodies are trying to tell us? We’ll talk about why more restriction, willpower, pressure, and perfection aren’t always the answer—and why lasting change is often built through simple practices like nourishment, sleep, movement, stress awareness, breathing, and learning to advocate for yourself. I’ll also share why being healthy isn’t just about a number on the scale. It’s about having the energy and capacity to actually live the life you want to live.
Listening is a great place to start, but lasting change happens when you begin putting these ideas into practice.
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This week, I want you to choose one signal your body has been giving you and get curious about it.
Maybe it’s fatigue. A craving. Poor sleep. Tension. Bloating. A headache. Feeling overwhelmed. Or simply realizing you don’t have the energy you used to.
Instead of immediately trying to fix it, pause and ask:
❤️ What is my body communicating to me right now?
❤️ When do I notice this signal most often?
❤️ What might be happening before it shows up?
❤️ What is one small way I could support my body instead of pushing through it?
You don’t need to figure everything out this week. Just notice.
Your symptoms and responses aren’t character flaws. They can be information and learning to listen is one way you begin rebuilding trust with your body.
In Healthy for a Reason, I share 12 practical guidelines designed to help you restore your energy, rebuild trust with your body, and feel more like yourself again.
This isn’t another diet book or a plan that asks you to overhaul your life overnight. It’s a practical guide you can return to throughout different seasons of your life, with simple strategies around nourishment, sleep, stress, movement, body signals, habits, self-advocacy, and support. Each chapter also includes a Pause & Practice to help you take what you’ve learned and begin applying it in a way that works for you.
Please take a moment to:
❤️ Share this episode with someone who feels stuck or is ready for a fresh perspective.
⭐ Leave a review to help more women discover PCOS Unfiltered.
🎧 Subscribe so you never miss a new episode.
Remember:
Your life isn't determined by your past, your diagnosis, or your circumstances. The stories you believe shape the choices you make—and every new choice is an opportunity to create a different future.
⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer
This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.
(0:02) Hello and welcome. So today's episode is going to be a little different because normally, (0:09) you know, I do some solo episodes and I might teach about one concept or I interview a guest. (0:15) But today I want to share my new book with you.So last year I published Healing Beyond the (0:25) Diagnosis and that one was more PCOS specific. And just hearing from different people, (0:35) I decided to write a second one. This one kind of pulls a lot of the concepts from the first one, (0:44) but it's very to the point.So removing the science piece from the first one (0:49) and just gives you 12 practical guidelines to restore your energy and just feel like yourself (0:57) again. So let's kind of, you know, get started. And I don't want to spend the entire episode (1:05) talking just about the book.But I do want to share the words that you might hear the welcome (1:12) um, that you might read when you first open it. And that section is called Before We Begin. (1:20) So let me go ahead and you can see if you are watching on the video on YouTube, (1:26) this is the book right here.You can see it is very, very much thinner than the first one if (1:33) you have my first one. But very easy read, very quick and easy to read. So like I said, (1:45) this is Before We Begin.If you are reading this book, there is a good chance you are tired, (1:52) not just physically tired, although that may be part of it. But tired of starting over, (1:58) tired of trying harder, tired of feeling like your body is working against you, (2:02) tired of following advice that promises results if you are disciplined enough, motivated enough, (2:08) consistent enough, or willing to restrict enough. Tired of feeling like you are doing everything (2:13) right, while still feeling disconnected from your energy, your health, or even yourself.(2:19) Many people arrive at health work believing the solution is more control, more willpower, (2:24) more rules, more tracking, more pressure. But for many bodies, especially bodies that have spent (2:29) years under stress, chronic overwhelm, emotional suppression, inflammation, nervous system (2:35) dysregulation, or cycles of restriction and guilt, pressure does not create lasting change. (2:41) It creates survival responses.The body adapts to the conditions it is repeatedly given. (2:47) And when those conditions feel unsafe, inconsistent, deprived, or exhausting, (2:52) symptoms often become the language through which the body asks for attention. (2:56) This book was not written to convince you that your body is broken.It was written to help you (3:01) understand what your body has likely been responding intelligently to the conditions (3:05) it has experienced over time. The cravings, fatigue, emotional eating, burnout, sleep disruption, (3:12) inconsistency, stress responses, and feelings of disconnection that many people carry are (3:17) not random character flaws. They are patterns, adaptations, signals, communication.And while (3:23) that does not make them easy, it does make them understandable. That understanding changes the (3:28) conversation. Because when you stop treating your body like an enemy to fight and begin (3:33) approaching it as a system that is trying to protect, compensate, adapt, and communicate, (3:39) health work becomes less about punishment and more about relationship.Less about perfection (3:44) and more about awareness. Less about controlling the body and more about learning how to support (3:49) it consistently enough that it no longer has to work so hard to get your attention. (3:54) This is why the practices in this book are intentionally simple.Breathing, sleep, (4:00) nourishment, movement, stress awareness, emotional processing, support systems, small routines, (4:06) consistent changes. None of these are flashy. Most are not new.But sustainable change is rarely built (4:13) through dramatic overhauls. It is usually built quietly through small moments repeated often (4:18) enough that they begin to reshape the environment the body is living in. You do not need to implement (4:24) this book perfectly for it to help you.You do not need to agree with every idea immediately, (4:29) overhaul your entire life in a week, or become a different person by the final chapter. (4:34) In fact, trying to force transformation too quickly often recreates the same stress patterns (4:39) many people are already trapped inside. Instead, I invite you to approach this book with curiosity (4:45) rather than pressure.Read it slowly if you need to. Pause where something resonates. Return to (4:51) chapters over time.Pay attention to your own patterns, responses, energy, emotions, and signals (4:57) as you move through the process. Health is not meant to become another performance, another source of (5:03) pressure, or another endless attempt to earn worth through discipline. Real health creates capacity.(5:09) Capacity to think clearly, to recover more easily, to be present with the people you love, (5:15) to move through life with more steadiness, and to experience your days instead of constantly (5:19) trying to survive them. There is a reason your body responds the way it does. And there's also (5:24) a reason to pursue health beyond appearance, productivity, or control.Health matters because (5:30) your life matters. The way you feel matters. Your ability to fully participate in your own life (5:36) matters.The goal is not perfection. The goal is rebuilding trust in your body. The goal is to (5:43) restore the kind of energy that allows you to feel present in your own life again.The goal (5:48) is learning how to support yourself in ways that are sustainable, compassionate, realistic, and (5:53) rooted in understanding rather than shame. Most of all, the goal is to help you feel more like (5:58) yourself again. Not a perfect version of yourself, not a constantly optimized version of yourself, (6:04) just a more connected version, a steadier version, a version of you that has more capacity for peace, (6:11) resilience, presence, joy, and the ordinary moments that make up a meaningful life.(6:16) Real change rarely happens all at once. More often, it happens slowly through the quiet (6:22) accumulation of supportive choices, honest awareness, and small moments of consistency (6:27) over time. And that is where we begin.So there's a lot to unpack. I think like already just in that, (6:36) right? Um, but I mean, let's talk about that. So, um, I will admit, you know, this podcast has (6:44) evolved.My messaging has evolved around, you know, the people that I work with. Um, (6:52) and that kind of starts back 20, almost 30 years ago now. Oh my gosh.So I was a nurse, um, for those (7:01) who, who may not know. And I was, I was in healthcare. I was a CNA and then a nurse.So in (7:07) traditional healthcare for almost 20 years and a bulk of that was in the ER as well. Um, and when (7:14) I left nursing, it was to open in gym and I was helping people through fitness. And now I'm helping (7:19) women all over, um, through nutrition and lifestyle changes and decoding these symptoms (7:29) as messages.So I was always taught in that traditional, you know, space to just fix the (7:36) symptoms, right? Put a bandaid on that symptom. And instead we need to kind of re rethink that (7:44) we need to think of those symptoms as our body's way of telling us something. (7:50) And I'm a testament to that actually.So, um, you know, in the midst of, of everything going on, (7:57) the changes, I think in the, in my career, obviously that was a big leap of faith. (8:03) I also had my own journey and, um, I was diagnosed with a couple of autoimmune diseases. (8:09) You know, there's some things looking back that I missed.I missed for years, (8:17) things going on with my skin, my cycles, um, my digestion. Oh my gosh. I thought that was like (8:25) normal to eat and have bloating.Um, you know, migraines, the fatigue, they, they used to joke (8:33) with me all the time. I couldn't get through a day without my afternoon nap. So, um, that's what (8:41) this book, it's part of what this book is about is learning how to, to understand and work with (8:48) your body instead of against it.Um, the other piece is, um, just feeling like yourself again, (8:57) that kind of that final line of the subtitle. So this is what I wish someone had given me years (9:07) ago. Um, and I mean, my perspective has changed of course, over the years too, but we, I think (9:17) we feed into so much of push more, do more restrict more.And we've spent so many years (9:26) believing that our body is broken, that something's wrong. Um, and so that's, you know, (9:31) part of why I chose the title and the subtitle and yeah, it's healthy for a reason because, (9:40) um, I don't believe that there is a finish line, you know, yes, this is part of my own journey. (9:46) I think health, it's a top priority for me now.I, if, if my health is failing, (9:52) I fail everybody else and I fail at everything else that I do. And so I listen to my body. (9:59) You know, if I do have a little bit of a headache, I have to start getting curious, you know, where (10:03) am I in my cycle? Did I eat something, you know, am I stressed, whatever it might be.(10:09) And so for a lot of us, it's, you know, energy to, um, to travel, to maybe play with your kids (10:18) or grandkids, to enjoy dinner, um, without any pain, to just laugh with your friends, (10:26) to go for a walk on the beach, to keep promises to yourself and have the energy to keep those (10:32) promises to yourself, to just be present in your daily life. And that's why it is called healthy (10:39) for a reason. Um, and, you know, I, I think that's what being healthy is for.We focus so (10:48) much on looking a certain way. We focus on the number on the scale, um, because that's what (10:54) everybody talks about, right? You know, there's so many things all around us, especially on social (10:59) media, of course, where we talk about, you know, talk about certain diets and people looking a (11:09) new product that they're trying to push, whatever it might be. Yeah.That's the, the sexy thing that (11:14) we can talk about because we can measure it. But what about if it's just living the life that you (11:20) want? And after years, sometimes of pushing through, we don't even feel like ourselves. (11:28) So, um, that is the whole message behind the title and the subtitle.Um, as I kind of just (11:38) mentioned in that intro that I read, um, you're going to find 12 practical guidelines and these (11:47) cover a number of things. Um, but again, super quick and to the point, um, the big overall (11:56) arching one is understanding your body signals. And that can be through hunger, um, and stress (12:03) and sleep.Um, I talk about nourishing without restriction, regulating that stress. Like I said, (12:10) sleep, um, building habits, you know, just building better habits, movement. That's a big one too.(12:17) Everybody wants to talk about exercise, but let's actually talk about moving your body in a way that (12:22) feels good for you. And that isn't restricted by, you know, a timeline in the gym and certain (12:28) whatever weight measurements and, you know, in the gym, like lifting a certain amount, (12:33) whatever it might be. Um, and I even talk about advocating for yourself and finding your support (12:39) system.So, you know, when you go to the doctor, having the knowledge to be able to have a (12:45) meaningful conversation with your doctor and learning how to advocate for yourself and also (12:50) finding the right support. So whether that means it's your team of doctors, whether that means it's (12:55) family or friends, um, or other support groups for whatever you have going on, you know, that's (13:02) important to you. And that is part of what can help you feel like yourself again.Um, so none of (13:09) these things that I talk about in the book are complicated. They're very practical. Um, I didn't (13:14) want to write another diet book.Um, I didn't want to write a book that inspired you for a weekend. (13:21) I wanted to write the book that you can use throughout the entire year. And as I said, (13:27) in that intro as well, pick one thing, don't try to tackle it all at once because of course that (13:33) can add more stress to, you know, maybe what you have going on already.Um, so pick one thing that (13:40) resonates with you. So, like I said, I talk about all these pieces, but depending on where you are (13:46) in your life, what season you, you know, are, what season it is during the time of year, whatever (13:51) that might be, um, something might resonate more with you. So maybe, you know, you need to focus (13:57) more on sleep.Maybe you need to focus more on nutrition and nourishment. Um, and that's fine. (14:04) So just pick one thing to kind of tackle first.And then, um, that way you can kind of use that, (14:12) you know, work on the practical guideline around that topic. And at the end of each (14:18) chapter as well, I give you, um, a pause in practice. So there's, um, just kind of some (14:28) prompts there and some tips for you to really take what you learned in that chapter.So then, (14:33) like I said, if something resonates with you, use that pause in practice to maybe start implementing (14:37) whatever that might be. And then when you feel good about that, go back to the book and find (14:41) the next thing that you feel like you need to work on. Um, so I do want to just kind of read a little (14:51) bit, um, at the end of the book as well, um, under the closing thoughts.And this kind of ties into (14:59) what I was just saying. Um, yes. Okay.We're gonna, we're gonna read this, this last, um, (15:08) little section here. So closing thoughts, the body is not a problem to be solved. (15:14) It is a system to be understood and understanding it takes time, attention, and a willingness to (15:19) treat its signals as information, its symptoms as messages, and its responses as communication.(15:25) Over the course of this book, you have practiced something many people never learned to do, (15:30) slowing down long enough to listen, to notice what your body is asking for before overriding it, (15:35) to recognize that stress, exhaustion, cravings, tension, and even disconnection are not personal (15:41) failures, but signals pointing towards, toward needs that deserve attention rather than judgment. (15:47) The work of health is not built through punishment, perfection, or constant self-correction. (15:53) It is built through relationship, through small repeated moments of support, (15:58) through learning to trust your body enough to respond instead of react, through rebuilding (16:03) safety in a nervous system that may have spent years bracing, pushing, surviving, (16:07) and trying to keep up.Sustainable change rarely happens all at once. More often, (16:13) it looks like steadier energy across the day, more resilience during difficult seasons, (16:18) better rest, gentler self-talk, clearer boundaries, and the growing sense that your body is becoming a (16:24) place you can live in again, rather than fight against. You do not need to implement everything (16:29) perfectly for this work to matter.The breath practices, the hunger awareness, the sleep (16:35) routines, the movement, the journaling, the support systems, and the small daily changes (16:40) were never meant to become another set of rules to perform correctly. They are tools for helping (16:45) you rebuild trust with your body, restore your energy, and gradually feel like yourself, more (16:50) like yourself again. Not the exhausted version shaped entirely by stress, pressure, or survival, (16:56) but the version of you that has more capacity to be present, connected, grounded, and fully alive (17:02) within your own life.Carry what fits, return to what helps, let the process stay human. There will (17:09) be seasons where the practices feel natural, and seasons where you lose your footing for a while. (17:14) The return is part of the work.Every small moment of awareness, every supportive choice, (17:20) every time you pause long enough to listen instead of push, strengthens the relationship (17:24) you're building with yourself. The work you have done here does not end with this book. (17:28) You do not need to overhaul your life overnight for this work to matter.Lasting change is usually (17:34) built in ordinary moments. Slowing your breath before reacting, nourishing yourself more (17:39) consistently, honoring rest, moving your body gently, asking better questions, and returning (17:45) to yourself again and again over time. The goal was never perfection.The goal was learning to (17:51) rebuild trust with your body, restore your energy, and feel more like yourself again. (17:59) Thank you, first of all, for listening, for being here, and just for letting me (18:07) be a part of your journey. So whether you read this book, whether you listen to my podcast, (18:12) and maybe you're coming back week after week, I appreciate you, and I'm honored that you've (18:18) invited me into your life.My hope is that every conversation we have helps you understand your (18:23) body a little bit more, trust it a little deeper, and remember that lasting change (18:28) doesn't come from perfection. It comes from the small choices you make every day.