Fuel Your Strength

It's time to say goodbye to Stupid Easy Paleo! For the last seven years, it's been my website and brand. But just like most good things, it was time to move on and welcome a novel concept...being myself. StephGaudreau.com is my new home online (including this podcast), and I'm so frickin' pumped to show you. In this episode, I'm talking a little bit more about why some things must die to make way for new growth. Their parts must be added back to the soil to enrich it for new things to unfurl. Death need not be scary if we view it as a transformation. I'm acknowledging some sticking points and lessons I've learned, plus telling you all about why this birth is symbolic in all the best ways. Remember to go check it out now: StephGaudreau.com Mentioned on this episode: My new site...StephGaudreau.com Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave me a rating and review on iTunes!

If you're making healthier choices in your life, your bound to experience some questions, pushback, or maybe even some flack from the haters. This topic is one of the most common that my community brings up: wondering how to deal with haters. The fierce love answer is that it doesn't frickin' matter what people have to say because it's your life, not theirs. But I realize that's not always helpful in the moment. In this episode, I'm sharing four strategies for dealing with anyone who gives you guff about your food, fitness, or lifestyle choices so you feel more empowered. These strategies are simple – not necessarily easy – but they'll give you a jumping off point. Mentioned on this episode: Loving What Is by Byron Katie Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave me a rating and review on iTunes!

Molly Galbraith is an amazing woman who is using her organization, Girls Gone Strong, to work towards big issues that are timely and important in the world today. Girls Gone Strong works to provide high-quality free education to women and continues to be a thought leader in the fitness industry. In this special episode, we are tackling important issues such as sexual harassment, marginalization, objectification, and much more. About Molly Galbraith True health is not about what you can squat at the gym or the number of the scale, it is about creating an environment in which you feel at home in your body. Molly realized early on that health is about more than squats and protein, so she created a space in which topics such as body image, mental health, and body autonomy are an open conversation. Today she is bringing that open discussion to Harder to Kill Radio to help women experience an improved quality of life on a day to day basis. By creating value, servicing your community and opening yourself up to having difficult conversations, it is possible to create an environment where everyone can envision their own version of health and wellness. What do you think about the free dialogue promoted through Girls Gone Strong? Let us know in the comments on the episode page! On Today's Episode Harnessing emotional resilience as your superpower How having hard conversations has strengthened the GGS mission Rechecking your position of privilege through education Ways you can start expanding your own awareness Using the skills and resources already available to you to leverage change Quotes "We all had this mission of wanting to spread the gospel of strength training to other women because it had changed our lives so profoundly. So that's what Girls Gone Strong started as, and we had no idea what it was going to be when it started, but I knew in my bones that it would change the world" (5:16) "I didn't have the visceral understanding of the fact that it's not about diversity and inclusion, it's about dignity and justice" (11:02) "It's like someone turns on a light when you didn't even know you were sitting in the dark. And for me that has been like the best way to explain [social justice], you can't see it because you just don't have the context for it" (22:36) "There are all of these different ways that we can create change, and it does have to come from the bottom up and from the top down." (47:17) "You can do it, and you can start creating massive change quickly. It just might be in your own community, in your own family, in your own little circle, first." (55:44) Resources Mentioned In This Show Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown Girls Gone Strong Website Girls Gone Strong Blog Free 5 Day Sexual Assault and Harassment Course Get your GGS-1 Coaching Certification Mark Fisher Fitness Elsbeth Vaino Blog Follow Girls Gone Strong on Instagram | Facebook Harder to Kill Facebook Club Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Next week is the unofficial start of the holiday season with the arrival of Halloween. The last two months in the year are often the most challenging: food temptations, stressful travel, a dwindling bank account, and awkward family & social interactions can leave your willpower drained. It's common to fall into the "fuck it all" mentality and YOLO everything OR try to strictly diet through the holidays which requires massive amounts of willpower...and sometimes a rebound binge. It doesn't have to be this way. Not this year and not on my watch. In this episode, I'm sharing a mindset and set of strategies for making it through the holidays without having to dig out of a massive hole come January. Learn simple steps for creating a solid foundation that will carry you through the next two months without the need for old New Year diet routine. Mentioned on this episode: 4 Tendencies Quiz The Power of Habit Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

After managing her autoimmunity and losing over 60 pounds, Cristina Curp created The Castaway Kitchen to share her healing journey as a mom trying to make it all work. She has an important message to share for those sick of the one size fits all approach to nutrition, and ready for a new set of rules. About Cristina Curp If you are looking for a real talk among the absolute craziness of the world today, then this episode is for you. Cristina is dishing out her favourite keto, paleo and AIP tips, and how she got over the numbers game and got healthy and happy. The truth is nobody has got it figured out, especially when you are dealing with autoimmunity. But if you can commit to getting yourself feeling better, you can make small incremental changes to find what works for you. As women, we are trained by society to constantly be giving in order to prove our worth. It is time to take back your health journey and put yourself first, whatever version of you that is. Today Cristina encourages advocating for yourself, examines how to set realistic weight loss goals, and why you should be listening to your body, plus so much more. Have you had to battle similar weight and health-related setbacks? Share your story in the comments on the episode page! On Today's Episode Giving yourself space and being honest with your intentions Balancing self-care, when to ask for help and being a new mom Curating your life to surround yourself with things that make you feel good about yourself Why you should be listening to your body and not an app How to have compassion for yourself at any size Quotes "It's a keto, paleo, AIP kind of mashup of all things that construe kind of the last four years of me troubleshooting and testing and tweaking my diet to figure out what I need to do to feel my best, and I kind of put it all in a book." (5:52) "I think you have to give yourself grace and know that when you mess up it's not like 'ooh, burn to the ground I have to start from scratch'. Like just keep going, pick up from where you left off it's not like, you're not wrong, you didn't do anything wrong, you just stumbled. (13:19) "Asking for help was huge, and learning to realize that hey, I can for help, it's okay, I deserve the help. It's not because I'm failing, it's not because I'm lazy, it's because I fucking need help and that's fine." (30:42) "When I committed to truly healing and did that emotional work, it became easier to stick to food choices and lifestyle choices that were truly going to benefit me, that weren't going to be shortcuts for weight loss." (37:20) "Yes I am for my women and for loving yourself, but I still carry my wounds and its okay if you are still hurting, you know. The same way that my health metamorphosis happened slowly, [emotional healing] happened even slower. (42:55) "There's so much energy expended into not loving ourselves or thinking we are not good enough, and for what?" (48:44) Resources Mentioned In This Show I'd love to see you in the Harder To Kill Club! The Castaway Kitchen Made Whole Book Follow The Castaway Kitchen on Instagram | Facebook | YouTube Primalgirl Beyond the Food The Living Experiment Harder to Kill Facebook Club Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

FOMO, the Fear of Missing Out, is stronger than ever these days thanks to social media and the ever-looming anxiety that there's more, better, different things we could be doing with our time. But the overwhelm from FOMO isn't doing us any favors. Thankfully, there's another way. In this episode, I dive into the concept of JOMO, the JOY of Missing Out, and why it's just as viable as its evil older sibling FOMO. You'll learn about the connection between JOMO, values, self-care, boundaries, slow living, and presence. It ain't easy, but with a shift in mindset, you'll learn to relish the idea of JOMO. Mentioned on this episode: Ep 124 | Boundaries Ep 86 | Self-Care with Sarah Fragoso Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Dr. Tee Williams is an incredible influencer and wonderful teacher who has dedicated his life to bridging the huge gap between social justice education and coaching. Dr. Tee believes that 9 times out of 10, whatever you are coaching about is going to be embedded in some sort of experience your client has had in a social context. By increasing your self-awareness you can start to think about and understand your blind spots in social justice so that you can compensate for them. About Dr. Tee Williams Dr. Tee shares some of the tools to understand the difference between diversity, inclusion, and liberation of social justice, grasping how power and privilege are institutionalized, and discussing inequality. By becoming aware of metacognition, your internalized dominance, and subordination, you can learn active listening and perspective taking, which can lead to radical inclusivity. It is incredibly important to learn how to negotiate our multiple identities and the intersection of those identities, and how those intersections create new and unique forms of oppression that are situated within our social context. By examining how this fits into socially constructed oppression, you can better construct your own worldview. By spending the time to build your version of the world and the relationships that you need, you can enact liberation on a day to day basis in the way that you live your life. The way we enact liberation is in alignment with the vision of liberation that we create for ourselves and can help you to understand the past, present, and future for different groups of people. Of course, our usual topics of fitness and diet are important, but you must understand the social context in which health and fitness exist in to best understand how to relate to your clients and help them improve. When the way you understand the world changes, the way you understand yourself and who you are in the world also changes. What did you find most inspiring or challenging about today's episode? Let us know in the comments on the episode page. On Today's Episode Looking at the fitness industry through a social justice lens The essential communication in a coach-client relationship Critical liberation theory and how you can build the world you want Deconstructing your worldview and rechecking your actuality Acknowledging your own blind spots in connection to social identity Quotes "Whether you are doing fitness and nutrition or life coaching or coaching of any kind, it is essential that you understand how both social identity, social context, power, and inequality, affect human beings. And therefore how they affect your clients." (9:10) "It is never as powerful to fight against something as it is to fight for something… when you are fighting for something and you are doing it with awareness right, with critical liberatory consciousness, it allows you to to be of the oppression and not in the oppression." (27:29) "Until you learn the skills that are necessary to interact with people who are different than you, in ways that do not damage them and do not play into this existing system, you are again operating within this huge blindspot." (34:05) "Here's what you need to know about the past and the present, and here's what a vision of the future looks like. Heres what I'm doing and here's what I'm learning and here are the resources and people that I am learning from" (40:04) "I guarantee you that whatever you or your clients are dealing with when you begin to trace the roots of it and really dig deep to figure out what's going on, it will in some way be connected to one or more social identities. Period. (50:41) Resources Mentioned In This Show I'd love to see you in the Harder To Kill Club! Dr. Tee's Website Follow Dr. Tee on Instagram White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo Foundations of Social Justice Course Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Ughhhh Diet Culture. My first thought is always, "Fuck that shit." And my second thought is that you need something more concrete so that you can begin unpacking the ways that Diet Culture has affected you. If you're constantly playing small in your life, obsessing over your body, and always starting your diet over again on Monday, you might be deeply affected. In this episode, I'm talking about (from my perspective) what Diet Culture is (and isn't); how it operates to keep women small, distracted, and competing with each other; and some simple steps you can take today to begin opting out. Mentioned on this episode: 120 | The Scale: Fierce Love Friday Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Too often in life, we tend to go toward the things we think we are good at and avoid the things we are not so good at, even though those are the things that could make a big difference in your life. Alison Marras wants you to expand your repertoire and your mind by fostering an exciting relationship with food and your body. About Alison Marras Based out of New York City, Alison is a nutritional therapist, coach and founder of the blog Food by Mars. She is a fellow side-hustle-to-full-time-gig success story and is passionate about building a tribe that fuels each other. After a frustrating health journey and eventual Hashimoto's autoimmune disease diagnosis, Alison took to her blog to find joy for herself while also educating others. Today Alison is outlining a guide for those of you that are frustrated that you don't feel great in your body, and need a starting point. She is sharing her favorite tools that she herself has used when in a state of perplexment with your body, and what lead her to the AIP diet. By identifying your stressors, trusting your body and paying attention to your hunger cues, it's possible to unlearn your diet habits and have a healthy relationship with your body. Alison believes in figuring out what you can enjoy more of, instead of focusing on your restrictions. She is urging you to let go of the math and the calories and whatever prevents you from enjoying something, and instead get more in tune with what your body is trying to tell you. Have you ever had to rebuild your relationship between food and your body? Tell me about it in the comments on the episode page! On Today's Episode Building a healthy relationship with your body and food Going through the process of figuring out what makes you feel best and building on that Signs that it is time to work with a professional to get your health on track Simple steps that you can take to get started in the right direction Quotes "Finally I went back to school for nutrition and really realized, this is what I want my career and my life to be about. Helping others and helping people not go through some of the stuff I've had to go through with my health, and it really became more of a mission." (10:07) "That's kind of how I approach the blog, I don't want anyone to go through this negativity of feeling like they can't have anything, so I really wanted to build awesome recipes so people didn't feel very deprived." (22:10) "I didn't want to now demonize everything or demonize all these foods and be fearful every time I went out. I wanted to enjoy things again, so I really tried to loosen up" (29:19) "This is a partnership. This is us putting our two heads together to figure out how they can find balance and how they can heal themselves and do all this stuff. Because no matter what, you are the expert on you. But it sometimes takes an outside opinion, just like anything else." (49:02) Resources Mentioned In This Show I'd love to see you in the Harder To Kill Club! 5 Day Mindful Eating Challenge Food By Mars Website Follow Food By Mars on Facebook | Pinterest | Instagram Intuitive Eating The Slow Down Diet Book Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

Divorce is such a loaded subject, and for women especially, something that we get judged harshly for by society, friends, and family. For many years, I avoided admitting the truth about my own divorces for fear of judgment. (Sometimes, we're our own harshest critics.) In this episode, I'm sharing my stories about divorce, why I was afraid to date my current husband, and why kindness and compassion about people on the other side of the relationship coin is vital. Mentioned on this episode: Join the Harder to Kill Club on Facebook Follow Steph on: Instagram| Facebook | Pinterest | YouTube | Twitter I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!