The Refined Hippie

Using Food as Medicine to Help Aid Recovery with Maria Kelly

Ep 16: Eating healthy should be important to all of us, but when we're ill it should become first priority! Amor Healing Kitchen is there for people facing serious health challenges, preparing delicious, nutritious, and healthy meals delivered right to their door. Who makes these wonderful meals? Volunteer teen chefs. The founder, Maria Kelly, had been a high school teacher for 15 years.  After learning about a similar program out in California she set out to form her own version in Charleston, SC! Amor Healing Kitchen teaches volunteer teens how to cook nourishing plant-based meals, supports local organic farms, and showcases the power of food as medicine to help aid recovery for those going through cancer. We chat about surfing, traveling, and why and when Maria stopped eating animals. We get into the power of eating seasonally, community, CSA's, farmer's markets, and more! 

Dealing with PCOS, Hormones, and All About CBD with Elizabeth Kuntz

Ep 15: On this episode I sit down with my good friend and fellow Holistic Health Coach, Elizabeth Kuntz. After taking a nutrition course in college, Elizabeth found a new passion. She went on to study with IIN, Institute of Integrative Nutrition and now works with clients to help them form healthy habits, encouraging them through diet change, exercise, and being supportive in guiding them to reach their goals. But Elizabeth has had her on health struggles. For years she dealt with debilitating pain and issues with no answers. She soon figured out the puzzle herself, she had PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome). We chat about Elizabeth's story, how she got into holistic health and nutrition, her struggles with PCOS, hormones and anxiety. We also get into CBD, what it is, how it can be beneficial, the hemp plant itself, and it's history. 

The REAL Reason I'm Plant-based

Ep 14: I love plants! I can't get enough of them. I also love talking about the benefits of eating plant-based and what this type of lifestyle can do for ones health. But there's actually another reason why I choose to eat this way, perhaps the most important reason for me spiritually. Not only was it one of the best decisions of my life, but it really does align with my soul. On this episode of the podcast I share the true reason I stay away from animal products as well as what information I discovered that had the most impact for this commitment. I also chat about cultural norms, sweeteners, sugar, aquafaba, meditation, and restructuring our thoughts. 

How I Healed an Autoimmune Disease

Ep 13: My road to holistic health wasn't quick and it wasn't easy! After getting an autoimmune disease, seemingly out of the blue, I tried pharmaceutical drugs. However, I quickly learned they weren't the answer for me when my symptoms actually worsened from their use. I began doing some research and found others who had healed themselves through diet and lifestyle change. And so my road to healing naturally began. I tried different diets, saw different functional doctors, and even traveled to England for an alternative treatment that's not preformed in the US, all in an attempt to heal myself and get to the root cause of my affliction. But before things got better, things got really really bad. My life seemed like it was spiraling out of control, I even ended up in the hospital! However, this story does have a happy ending. Eventually, I did heal myself! By focusing on a whole foods plant-based diet, light exercise,  yoga, and other natural methods, I finally succeeded! On this episode I chat about my story, how I healed, FMT's, gluten, glyphosate, as well as brief history on how our medical care approach became what it is today.

Practicing an 80x20 Plant-Based Lifestyle with Helen Hall

Why don’t diets work long term? Can a lifestyle change be what we ultimately need to keep us at that desired weight? On this episode of the podcast I chat with Helen Hall, the founder and creator of Hushup and Hustle, a lifestyle and wellness brand, and Blender Bombs, a product that has taken the smoothie world by storm in just 2 short years. After gaining an unwelcome 30 pounds, Helen was desperate to lose the weight. She tried many different fad diets, each one ultimately failing. It wasn’t until she started eating plant-based vegan that she saw the results she’d be longing for. Along with her new 80x20 lifestyle change, she began replacing one meal a day with a smoothie. Soon after came the idea of streamlining her smoothie making process by creating nutrient dense blender bombs. She began selling them to her fitness clients and the rest is history. Helen's approach to living 80% of the time on whole food plants (no meat, cheese, eggs, or dairy) with 20% being allowed a bit more wiggle room to indulge (don't go overboard of course), has been widely embraced by those searching for a sustainable healthy lifestyle. Helen and I chat about how she started and runs her business, the different diets she's tried, why they ultimately failed, and how she arrived at the plant-based lifestyle she leads today. We also get into some other fun subjects like the Human Design System, celery juice craze, Modern Medium, our shared high school dream of being fashion designers, and our beloved kitty cats! 

Healing Community and Societal Health with Renee Orth

How can we bring back a sense of community? Can we heal the current alienation our society is feeling? What role does food play in our ability to connect with others? I recently sat down with the super passionate Renee Orth to chat about all things community, food, and bringing back the connection we’ve lost with ourselves, other humans, and Mother Earth. Renee doesn’t consider herself an activist, but rather a food justice and community activator. She’s all about activating people and communities to change the system in a way that benefits their health, happiness, and well being with a strong emphasis revolving around food. Renee’s background is law, however recently she’s been focusing her energy on helping restructure how communities interact, grow food, and ultimately connect. She’s the founder of the Stone Soup Collective in Charleston, SC, a non profit that makes delicious nourishing soups under the model buy one give one. For every soup that’s sold another is given to a person in need or sick. We chat about smaller government, how to bring back control to the people, our current system and its flaws. We also get into the environmental crisis our planet is currently facing, micro farms, and front yard gardens. With Renee’s background being law and her passion for helping communities flourish in a sustainable and responsible manner, she makes the perfect candidate for Mayor of the City of Charleston, one of her many current focuses at the moment. Our conversation is about love, plants, and the power that we as individuals all hold in the destiny of our future and this planet!

Healed and Thriving on Living Raw Foods with Litisha Ashley-Washburn

Ep: 010 - Litisha is a Wholistic Food Practitioner, Living Food/Vegan Food Chef, motivational speaker, living lifestyle/health coach, and detoxification specialist. Her journey began when her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in the late 90’s. As Litisha started researching, she learned that her mother’s illness (and most others out there) had a lot do with the food we eat. It was then that she started eating plant-based, but a horrific car crash in 2013 took things to next level. As she was lying in her hospital bed with multiple fractures to her face, shoulder, ankle, including a titanium plate in her face to save her eye, and a rod with 12 screws in her ankle, the outlook from doctors looked grim. However, she decided to take her healing into her own hands, turning to live juices, foods, and herbs. For 3 months Litisha only drank fresh juices as well as incorporating other alternatives remedies such as chiropractic care, meditation, reiki, and yoga. The results were astounding and the doctors couldn’t believe how quickly she recovered. She was able to not only heal her body, but her spirit as well! Today you would never know she had been in such a horrendous accident.

Litisha has traveled the world, learning, teaching, and sharing the benefits of Living Foods, herbs, and the power of a Plant-based diet! We chat about eating with a purpose, her juice business, LiveLicious, sea vegetables, what it means to eat “living” foods, walking her purpose and living her passion.

Balancing Hormones, Cycle Phases, and Parasites with Shannon Leparski

Ep: 009 - Shannon Leparski is a certified hormone specialist, plant-based enthusiast, blogger, and face behind The Glowing Fridge, a website devoted to women's wellness and plant-based recipes. She's also, most recently, become a published author of The Happy Hormone Guide. After watching in horror a documentary about the true nature of the animal agriculture industry, Shannon become a plant-based vegan overnight. To Shannon's utter delight, her cystic acne soon turned into radiant clear skin, her clothes fit better, and her energy level improved like never before. This took her passion for plant-based living and nutrition to the next level! Her blog, The Glowing Fridge, was born and she received her Hormone Specialist Certificate. We chat about the different cycle phases, the best foods to nourish each phase, parasites, her new book, and more.

The Low Down on Dairy

Ep: 008 - Got Milk? That campaign has been forever solidified in our minds. Dairy milk truly is the perfect liquid. That is, if you’re a calf! Through my research and quest for optimal health I found knocking dairy from my diet to be a no-brainer. But why? We’ve been told for decades that milk does the body good. However, the recent research and science says otherwise. Because of this, many countries around the world, most recently Canada, have removed it from their daily dietary recommendations. On this episode we chat about the rise of milk consumption, what milk does to the body, its components, the best places to get calcium, delicious and healthy alternatives, and the true nature of the dairy industry.

Seeking Health and Balancing Life on the Yogi Path with Derek McKee

Ep: 007 - Derek McKee is a windsurfer, yogi, web developer, and plant-based advocate. He also struggled with some serious sinus and back problems from a very young age. There were days in college that he couldn’t even get out of bed because of his excruciating back pain. From the suggestion of his sister, Derek sought to alleviate his suffering with yoga. Through his practice he saw profound benefits and decided to further his learning by enrolling in a yoga teacher training program. In that program he explored meditation and vegetarianism; he felt amazing, but wanted to deepen him practice. Derek took a leap of faith and moved to Maui. We chat about his transformation, meditation, Maui, juggling social life, health, and the struggles of finding balance.