March 31, 2025 • 24 mins
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
Frustrated by a healthcare system that seems to address symptoms rather than causes? Holistic nutritionist Brooke Holland understands this all too well. After working in hospital settings where cardiac patients' "special diets" differed from regular meals only by the absence of a salt packet, she knew there had to be a better way to support true healing.
On this eye-opening episode, Brooke shares her journey from conventional clinical nutrition to founding the Rise to Thrive Tribe with her partner—a community centered around vitality, connection, and play. Her personal health struggles led her down a path of discovery when traditional medicine couldn't provide answers, ultimately revealing how proper nourishment could resolve the gut issues that multiple doctors and tests couldn't diagnose.
You'll discover fascinating insights about water quality that few health professionals discuss—how not all water actually hydrates at the cellular level, and simple ways to transform your ordinary filtered water into a powerful healing tool without expensive equipment. Brooke explains the connection between modern farming practices, glyphosate exposure, and the epidemic of chronic disease, offering practical guidance for navigating today's challenging food landscape.
Whether you're looking to make small improvements or completely transform your health, Brooke offers actionable advice from prioritizing the "dirty dozen" organic produce to eliminating harmful seed oils. Beyond just what to eat, she emphasizes the importance of how we eat—cooking at home, sharing meals in community, and practicing gratitude for our food. These simple yet profound practices can shift not just our physical health but our entire relationship with nourishment.
Ready to explore a more holistic approach to wellness? Connect with Brooke at sunbeam-wellness.com or follow her on Instagram @sunbeam_Brookie to learn about joining her transformative wellness community.
Or here
http://www.sunbeam-wellness.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello and welcome to the Empowered Ease podcast.
Our guest today is BrookeHolland.
She is a holistic nutritionistand co-founder of the Rise to
Thrive Tribe.
Welcome, Brooke, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Doing well.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm so happy you're here.
So, brooke, it sounds likeyou're really into like holistic
health, holistic nutrition,food is medicine, all those
beautiful things.
So tell me, like where you areright now, what you're up to.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah so I am currently living in Mexico at
the moment Soaking up the sun,just went for a nice little
beach swim right before this.
Yeah, and yeah, me and mypartner are here together and
we're just living the nomadiclife right now and working on
growing our business and we'repartnered in business and life
(00:56):
and romance and all of that goodstuff.
Usually we do these podcaststogether, so it's nice that I
get a chance to just be solo aswell.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, I love it Well.
So this Rise to Thrivecommunity.
I'm curious about it.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so we came together.
Me and my partner met inOctober of 2023.
And my background in nutritionand his background is more kind
of in the coaching space, men'swork, stuff like that leadership
and we just came together.
We met in the desert of Sedonaat this magical gathering and we
(01:37):
just instantly like fell inlove with each other and we're
playful and everything wasreally surrounded by.
You know, we're doing men'swork and women's work, unity
work.
So a lot of you know connectingin that kind of space and
wellness being the foundationand cultivating authentic
connection and vulnerability andall that.
So we kind of just cametogether and bridged our world
(02:01):
of expertise.
So he saw my passion andexcitement for nutrition and
drinking superfoods andnourishing all the people at
camp.
You know, sprinkling somemagical potions in his cacao
that I would make him everymorning and we instantly just
joined life together and we'relike let's create something.
You know he has a background increating programs, things like
(02:22):
that.
I've been guiding theseholistic health transformations
for about five years now.
So we came together to createthis community called the Rise
to Thrive Tribe and our threepillars are vitality, connection
and play.
And so, yeah, we've kind ofjust been working on this
project together ever since, andit's still evolving and
(02:44):
expanding and we have a lot ofexciting is this like an
in-person community?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
is this like a virtual community?
What kind of community is this?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
yeah, so ultimately it's online right now, but we
love being in person, like wereally.
I mean, that's how we met.
We met in an actual community,you know, on the land and a camp
out, so we love the belly tobelly interactions the most.
So, ultimately, we want to becalling in humans that we love
and that we vibe with, and thenwe can go out into the world and
(03:14):
meet up, do festivals,gatherings, things like that, so
that we can, you know, sharetogether, you know, in person.
However, because we are soconnected through technology,
it's like, hey, we can actuallyimpact as many people as we
really want through.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, you can really find your tribe nowadays with
the internet.
Huh yeah exactly so.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So it's been fun.
Yeah, and stay tuned for more.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I love that.
So I read, uh, that you startedoff kind of working in
hospitals which, like I was,like it was a hospital, like
nutritionist, is that what youwere doing?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, so I can give a little background on that.
I'm a nurse.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So I love it Because I talked to the nutritionist on
the unit I'm on now, like go toher with diet pads and stuff.
I'm like people are askingabout this.
Like tell me what you reallythink.
I love her because she's likeone of the most honest.
People should be like this islike she knows, I'm like tell me
about your experience there.
Let's talk about the healthcare.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, totally, and yeah, so back in the day, I mean
when I was going to school, I'mlike studying nutrition that's
what I have my degree in.
You know, a lot of my educationwas very clinical based, and so
I ended up getting a job at ahospital because I was on the
path to becoming a clinicaldietitian and so I needed to
(04:37):
have the experience, and I'm soglad that I did so.
I worked in the local hospitaland I was doing like patient
meals.
So I was working for thedietician at the time as I was
studying to become a dieticianmyself.
So it was a dietary aid doingpatient meals, putting their
meals together, you know, makingsure that they got the.
You know somebody was going infor surgery.
I'm not giving them food right,like I'm giving them their
(04:59):
clear liquid or I mean, as youknow, you have very specific
diet needs for each individualpatient in the hospital.
However, for me you know I wentto study food as medicine like
that's what I thought I wasgetting into I was more on the
holistic side of things.
I love movement, just connectingin nature, and I really wanted
(05:19):
to help people before they gotto the hospital.
You know preventative medicine,and so for me it was really
challenging because all thesepeople were already at this
point where they were sick andthe meals that we are providing
them, at least at the hospital Iworked at was just not
nourishing food at all, you know, and the only difference
(05:40):
between a cardiac patient and aregular patient was the lack of,
like, a salt packet on theirtray.
Or the diabetics got thesugar-free dessert right, but
we're still feeding these peoplehighly processed foods and it
just didn't really make sense tome.
So I put in my time, I saw whatI needed to see and I got out
(06:03):
of that job.
But I also worked for apediatrician, so I've kind of
been in, you know, the Westernworld, just dipping my toes in
and going through my own healthjourney myself through the
Western lens and learning thatthat really was not the way for
me and how I wanted to servepeople.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Hmm, I love that.
I think there's so for that.
For listeners who don't knowthis like our current healthcare
system is kind of imploding, itdoes very little prevention, if
any at all.
Even the good people who, Ifeel like, want to do prevention
just don't have the time.
They're too overworked to spendreal time with people.
So prevention is really whereit's at and so you have to seek
(06:46):
that on your own nowadays, anddiet is a huge, huge piece of
this.
So tell me a little bit aboutyeah, your, your, how you came
to to this, this work.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, I mean yeah, like I said, I've I've been lit
up about food as medicine for along time.
I studied my first, or I tookmy first nutrition class in high
school and I was like this iswhat I want to do.
Um, so I kind of knew that thatwas the world that I wanted to
be in.
I guess it wasn't until yeah, Imean, during my studies, I was
also struggling with like theworst health of my life, you
(07:25):
know, with the stress of schooland not sleeping and like the
college culture and partying andthings like that, and I was
having some pretty bad like gutdysbiosis issues, and so I was
going and seeing so manydifferent doctors.
Like I said, I worked for adoctor, a pediatrician at the
time, and I was just seekinganswers.
(07:45):
I got ultrasounds done, labsdone, things like that to be
like what is going on inside ofmy body.
Meanwhile I'm studyingnutrition and like such a
paradox, right, quite ironic,and so I felt really let down by
the Western world and like thepeople that I trusted and knew,
like at the office I worked for,could not give me any insight
(08:06):
into what was going on with mybody, and so it wasn't really
until I mean, I left school, alot of the stress had a huge
factor in my health.
You know, as we know, stress isone of the most you know, is
the foundational piece todis-ease.
But I went to my chiropractorback home I'm from like a small
(08:26):
town in Northern California andshe, without me even having to
say anything to her, she felt mybody and was like, oh yeah,
like this is where yourileocecal valve is, which is
what connects your smallintestine to your large
intestine, you know, and I wasjust like in awe because I'm
like I didn't even say anythingand she instantly could feel
where I was having like in awebecause I'm like I didn't even
say anything and she instantlycould feel where I was having
(08:49):
discomfort in my body and my gut.
And so she was really amazing,very well versed in nutrition
and hormones and women's healthand things like that.
So she was a big teacher for meand I really was propelled on a
journey into my ownself-discovery around optimal
health, what that looked likeand felt like in my body.
(09:10):
I woke up to the power ofhydration, which no one teaches
you anything about, you know,and it's like we know we're made
up of water, but that's aboutit.
You know, not all water iscreated equal and not all water
is actually compatible withourselves and is actually
cellularly hydrating us.
So waking up to water was avery big part of my healing
(09:32):
journey that supported my guthealth.
And then, yeah, I also afterschool, I ended up not doing the
dietetic internship route tobecome a dietitian.
I went, I just stopped, Idipped out.
I went to India, I did my yogateacher training.
I was learning, you know,ayurveda and things like that,
(09:53):
and so that's when I reallybecame more plant-based, just by
being in India and eating moreAyurvedically.
And then, yeah, really justswitching into a more holistic
lifestyle, stopping the drinking, switching into a more holistic
lifestyle, stopping thedrinking.
Meeting my best friend when Imoved to Portland who stopped
drinking and he was onto thiswhole superfood protocol that I
(10:15):
didn't really understand.
I was still like I don't knowabout that.
He was doing this whole 40-daytransformation at the time and
we had just moved to Portlandtogether.
I'm like I want to go andexperience all the food, because
Portland's such a foodie cityand he was doing this whole
health thing, you know, which isfunny because, like, I am such
a health person too, but I still, like, wanted to play and enjoy
(10:39):
and indulge.
Um, ultimately, the superfoodsand this whole healing system
that he was tapped into andputting into his body became a
very integral part of my healingjourney and it took me like
over a year to actually get onboard with it, even though I was
living.
We ended up becoming roommatestoo, but then I started putting
(11:00):
this high vibe like beyondorganic, bioavailable superfood
nourishment in my body and allmy gut dysbiosis completely gone
, and I was just like, oh my God, like my only regret is not
putting this in my body sooner.
And this really led me to thiswhole living food movement and
talking about what is going onwith our soil health and the
(11:24):
monocrop chemical farming andthese pesticides and chemicals
like glyphosate that arecompletely wreaking havoc on our
microbiome, causing all sortsof damage leaky gut, autoimmune
disease and so it really led medown a whole expanded rabbit
hole of the connection of ourfarming practices to the chronic
(11:46):
health epidemic that we seetoday.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So how are you putting that knowledge to use
these days?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So this regenerative food healing system is the
foundation of how we guide ourholistic health and lifestyle
transformation.
So it is a nourishment, sothat's yeah, we plug people into
this nourishment and then theyjoin our rise to thrive
transformation program and thenwe have a whole community
(12:15):
support.
We do bi weekly coaching calls.
We talk about different topicsholistic health, you know,
mindset, overcoming limitingbeliefs.
We talk about food, recipe,meals, ideas, things like that,
movement, play, you know, kindof all the elements that make up
our community, which is thevitality, connection and play.
(12:36):
And so, yeah, we've beenguiding people together for this
entire year and I've beenguiding people through this
transformation with just thenutrition protocols, but without
the container, since 2020 iswhen I put this in my own body
and was like I need the world toknow about this nourishment
because it is completelylife-changing.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So what were you saying about the water I have?
Um, it was all new to me, soexpand a little bit on what you
were saying about water.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, so I woke up to water through I don't know, are
you familiar with Kangen water?
So I met somebody who istalking all about I mean it was
this business opportunityultimately, but it was around
these ionizers, these waterionizer machines.
They're called condon watermachines and basically ionize
(13:28):
your water and create molecularhydrogen rich water, which is a
powerful antioxidant,anti-inflammatory.
They're using these machines inJapan.
They're made from the Japaneseand they're using them to help
people heal, and so this type ofwater is really able to get
into the matrix of ourselves andstart to hydrate us.
And so this type of water isreally able to get into the
matrix of ourselves and start tohydrate us.
(13:49):
And so I went down a wholewatering hole on this machine,
which is like a very expensivemachine.
And now they make there's somany technologies to like you
can add molecular hydrogentablets to your water.
There's other like little waterbottles that you can take on
the go that make molecularhydrogen.
I mean there's so many differenttechnologies that structure the
water, and then also justsomething as simple as adding
(14:13):
minerals back to our water,because that's something if we
just have a good quality sourceof water, like a good filtered
water.
You know, reverse osmosis islike super clean, super pure and
filtered, but it's devoid ofthe minerals.
So we're trying to get back tothe water like the natural
flowing waters that ourancestors knew ultimately, which
(14:37):
were structured in a certainway and then they're rich in
minerals from the earth.
So it's important to at leasthave a baseline.
You don't need like a fancywater machine.
I learned that, however, it waslike amazing for me and woke me
up to so much more about waterand hydration in my own body.
(14:57):
But ultimately, having a good,clean source of water and
remineralizing it is soimportant because it adds a
charge to the water which thenis compatible with the charge.
It's like the ionic charge ofour cells to the water, which
then is compatible with thecharge.
We have a.
It's like the ionic charge ofour cells and the water.
So it helps to bring that waterinto the matrix of ourselves.
By just adding a good, you knowlike a I use this tincture
(15:19):
called ionic elements you canget a good.
You know just mineral likebottle of minerals that you can
add.
You know just mineral likebottle of minerals that you can
add.
Or even like a good Celtic graysea salt, um, just to add to
your water.
Add some lime, lemon, boom,like you've completely
reactivated your water.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Gotcha Interesting.
I like that.
I'll have to look more intothat.
Um, let's see here.
So how, what kind of advicewould you give people who are
like listening and thinking likeI need to make some probably
food choice, different foodchoices, because it's hard these
days, food super expensive, allthis craziness going on?
(15:59):
What kind of advice would yougive people?
Where should they start?
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You know, I know eating as locally and as
organically as possible is sucha good, good move, because I
mean, I know that organic is notperfect either as far as like
pesticide residues and thingslike that, but it is a step in
the right direction.
And it is not allowed to haveglyphosate sprayed on it, which
is active ingredient found inRoundup weed killer, which is an
(16:26):
antibiotic.
So there is, like I would tellpeople, look up the clean 15
versus the dirty dozen.
So there's 15, like each yearthey have a list of like the
produce that's going to be.
Here's a clean 15.
You can buy these and get awaywith these, even if they're not
organic.
They're going to be lessexposed to pesticides.
(16:46):
The dirty dozen, those are theones like usually, strawberries,
like any, like berries, um,leafy greens, like spinach,
things like that, are going tobe more exposed to the
pesticides and have that onthere, um yeah, on the skins or
on the fruit, on the produce.
So I would say, do your best toavoid the dirty dozen and to
(17:08):
buy those ones organically whenpossible and then to kind of use
that as a guide to eliminateseed oils as much as you can,
really, to eliminate most thingsthat are processed.
You know if you can go into thegrocery store and kind of shop
around the edges of the grocerystore and getting things that
aren't in bags and bottles andyou know as much as possible,
(17:30):
but really looking for cleaningredients where you can
actually read them, you know ifit's like some crazy word that
you can't even pronounce likewell, maybe that's something
that you shouldn't put in yourbody, you know.
So just learning to eat, as youknow, real food as possible, as
whole foods as possible,eliminating like the seed oils
(17:51):
I'm talking like canola oil, soyoil, cotton seed oil, peanut
oil, things like that If you canreally switch your oils to
healthier fats, that's going tobe huge for you.
And then again, eating asorganically as possible.
And if you have access to yourfarmer's markets I mean because
(18:11):
I'm on, I lived on the WestCoast and in Portland, oregon,
we have like a farmer's marketevery day of the week, so very
blessed.
We know that like not all ofAmerica or the world has access
to amazing produce, but if youdo, going to your local farmer
farmers markets, talking to yourfarmer, asking them about their
practices, getting to know them, you know that their food is
(18:31):
being grown somewhat close toyou know, like getting in touch
with your food and, if you canlike start growing something
yourself, even just as little aslike an herb plant.
You know it's really like areestablishing a healthier
relationship with food.
And then something that is alsoa great way to get more
connected is to start cookingyour own meals, cook with
(18:54):
friends, with family.
You know like that has apositive impact on your health,
even if it's not the healthiestthing.
By just like being in communityand eating food in community is
going to have a positive impacton your health, rather than
just scarfing something down onyour break that you only have 30
minutes for in the car.
(19:14):
You know you're not beingpresent with it and your body's
not really even having thatsignal to tell you like when
you're full.
So slowing down, being moreintentional with your food,
eating in community, eating aswholesomely as possible and this
might sound a little like woowoo for people, but like
blessing your food, you knowbefore you when it's out in
(19:36):
front of you, and just reallyhonoring it and thanking it, and
thanking the land and all theelements and the hands that it
took for that food to get to youand taking a moment is is
something that's really powerfuland super simple as well, and
you don't need to be likereligious or anything to do that
.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Right, I'll just be a practice.
A little gratitude yeah, I likethat, I like that.
So if people want to find outmore about you and what your
partner are doing, how do?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
you?
Yeah, you can go to my website.
It is wwwsunbeam-wellnesscomand you can learn more about me
there and our movement and whatwe're doing and our rise to
thrive transformation.
And then you can find me onsocial media, at um, on my
Instagram, at sunbeam underscoreBrookie B R O O K I E.
And that's my personalInstagram, and then we have our
Instagram for our tribe as well,that you can find through my
(20:37):
personal account.
But yeah, those would be thebest places to find me.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, and I always ask everyone this so what is
your go-to self-care when thingsare getting hard, what's the
thing you do to um, to regulateyourself?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, for me it's definitely spending time alone
doing like a meditation andjournaling.
Like journaling for me is socathartic I'm able to get so
much out that's inside, you know, just getting it out into the
external world is, yeah, I justlove writing.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So I love that, and do you have anything planned for
the future that's coming up oranything we should look for?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I mean, we are gathering a group for I mean, I
know this won't be posted tillactually March, but we're always
bringing people into our tribe,into our community, into a
transformation, you know.
So if you're looking to betteryour health and optimize your
wellbeing and get connected,we're always bringing more
people into our community anyday, any time, like you are so
(21:46):
welcome to that.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So yeah, all right.
Well, thank you very much forbeing here and sharing all the
beautiful work you're doing.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Jenny, appreciate you too,thanks.
Hello and welcome to the Empowered Ease podcast.
Our guest today is BrookeHolland.
She is a holistic nutritionistand co-founder of the Rise to
Thrive Tribe.
Welcome, Brooke, how are you?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Doing well.
Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
I'm so happy you're here.
So, brooke, it sounds likeyou're really into like holistic
health, holistic nutrition,food is medicine, all those
beautiful things.
So tell me, like where you areright now, what you're up to.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah so I am currently living in Mexico at
the moment Soaking up the sun,just went for a nice little
beach swim right before this.
Yeah, and yeah, me and mypartner are here together and
we're just living the nomadiclife right now and working on
growing our business and we'repartnered in business and life
(00:56):
and romance and all of that goodstuff.
Usually we do these podcaststogether, so it's nice that I
get a chance to just be solo aswell.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Yeah, I love it Well.
So this Rise to Thrivecommunity.
I'm curious about it.
Tell me about it.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yeah, so we came together.
Me and my partner met inOctober of 2023.
And my background in nutritionand his background is more kind
of in the coaching space, men'swork, stuff like that leadership
and we just came together.
We met in the desert of Sedonaat this magical gathering and we
(01:37):
just instantly like fell inlove with each other and we're
playful and everything wasreally surrounded by.
You know, we're doing men'swork and women's work, unity
work.
So a lot of you know connectingin that kind of space and
wellness being the foundationand cultivating authentic
connection and vulnerability andall that.
So we kind of just cametogether and bridged our world
(02:01):
of expertise.
So he saw my passion andexcitement for nutrition and
drinking superfoods andnourishing all the people at
camp.
You know, sprinkling somemagical potions in his cacao
that I would make him everymorning and we instantly just
joined life together and we'relike let's create something.
You know he has a background increating programs, things like
(02:22):
that.
I've been guiding theseholistic health transformations
for about five years now.
So we came together to createthis community called the Rise
to Thrive Tribe and our threepillars are vitality, connection
and play.
And so, yeah, we've kind ofjust been working on this
project together ever since, andit's still evolving and
(02:44):
expanding and we have a lot ofexciting is this like an
in-person community?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
is this like a virtual community?
What kind of community is this?
Speaker 2 (02:52):
yeah, so ultimately it's online right now, but we
love being in person, like wereally.
I mean, that's how we met.
We met in an actual community,you know, on the land and a camp
out, so we love the belly tobelly interactions the most.
So, ultimately, we want to becalling in humans that we love
and that we vibe with, and thenwe can go out into the world and
(03:14):
meet up, do festivals,gatherings, things like that, so
that we can, you know, sharetogether, you know, in person.
However, because we are soconnected through technology,
it's like, hey, we can actuallyimpact as many people as we
really want through.
Speaker 1 (03:30):
Yeah, you can really find your tribe nowadays with
the internet.
Huh yeah exactly so.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So it's been fun.
Yeah, and stay tuned for more.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
I love that.
So I read, uh, that you startedoff kind of working in
hospitals which, like I was,like it was a hospital, like
nutritionist, is that what youwere doing?
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah, so I can give a little background on that.
I'm a nurse.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
So I love it Because I talked to the nutritionist on
the unit I'm on now, like go toher with diet pads and stuff.
I'm like people are askingabout this.
Like tell me what you reallythink.
I love her because she's likeone of the most honest.
People should be like this islike she knows, I'm like tell me
about your experience there.
Let's talk about the healthcare.
Speaker 2 (04:14):
Yeah, totally, and yeah, so back in the day, I mean
when I was going to school, I'mlike studying nutrition that's
what I have my degree in.
You know, a lot of my educationwas very clinical based, and so
I ended up getting a job at ahospital because I was on the
path to becoming a clinicaldietitian and so I needed to
(04:37):
have the experience, and I'm soglad that I did so.
I worked in the local hospitaland I was doing like patient
meals.
So I was working for thedietician at the time as I was
studying to become a dieticianmyself.
So it was a dietary aid doingpatient meals, putting their
meals together, you know, makingsure that they got the.
You know somebody was going infor surgery.
I'm not giving them food right,like I'm giving them their
(04:59):
clear liquid or I mean, as youknow, you have very specific
diet needs for each individualpatient in the hospital.
However, for me you know I wentto study food as medicine like
that's what I thought I wasgetting into I was more on the
holistic side of things.
I love movement, just connectingin nature, and I really wanted
(05:19):
to help people before they gotto the hospital.
You know preventative medicine,and so for me it was really
challenging because all thesepeople were already at this
point where they were sick andthe meals that we are providing
them, at least at the hospital Iworked at was just not
nourishing food at all, you know, and the only difference
(05:40):
between a cardiac patient and aregular patient was the lack of,
like, a salt packet on theirtray.
Or the diabetics got thesugar-free dessert right, but
we're still feeding these peoplehighly processed foods and it
just didn't really make sense tome.
So I put in my time, I saw whatI needed to see and I got out
(06:03):
of that job.
But I also worked for apediatrician, so I've kind of
been in, you know, the Westernworld, just dipping my toes in
and going through my own healthjourney myself through the
Western lens and learning thatthat really was not the way for
me and how I wanted to servepeople.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Hmm, I love that.
I think there's so for that.
For listeners who don't knowthis like our current healthcare
system is kind of imploding, itdoes very little prevention, if
any at all.
Even the good people who, Ifeel like, want to do prevention
just don't have the time.
They're too overworked to spendreal time with people.
So prevention is really whereit's at and so you have to seek
(06:46):
that on your own nowadays, anddiet is a huge, huge piece of
this.
So tell me a little bit aboutyeah, your, your, how you came
to to this, this work.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, I mean yeah, like I said, I've I've been lit
up about food as medicine for along time.
I studied my first, or I tookmy first nutrition class in high
school and I was like this iswhat I want to do.
Um, so I kind of knew that thatwas the world that I wanted to
be in.
I guess it wasn't until yeah, Imean, during my studies, I was
also struggling with like theworst health of my life, you
(07:25):
know, with the stress of schooland not sleeping and like the
college culture and partying andthings like that, and I was
having some pretty bad like gutdysbiosis issues, and so I was
going and seeing so manydifferent doctors.
Like I said, I worked for adoctor, a pediatrician at the
time, and I was just seekinganswers.
(07:45):
I got ultrasounds done, labsdone, things like that to be
like what is going on inside ofmy body.
Meanwhile I'm studyingnutrition and like such a
paradox, right, quite ironic,and so I felt really let down by
the Western world and like thepeople that I trusted and knew,
like at the office I worked for,could not give me any insight
(08:06):
into what was going on with mybody, and so it wasn't really
until I mean, I left school, alot of the stress had a huge
factor in my health.
You know, as we know, stress isone of the most you know, is
the foundational piece todis-ease.
But I went to my chiropractorback home I'm from like a small
(08:26):
town in Northern California andshe, without me even having to
say anything to her, she felt mybody and was like, oh yeah,
like this is where yourileocecal valve is, which is
what connects your smallintestine to your large
intestine, you know, and I wasjust like in awe because I'm
like I didn't even say anythingand she instantly could feel
where I was having like in awebecause I'm like I didn't even
say anything and she instantlycould feel where I was having
(08:49):
discomfort in my body and my gut.
And so she was really amazing,very well versed in nutrition
and hormones and women's healthand things like that.
So she was a big teacher for meand I really was propelled on a
journey into my ownself-discovery around optimal
health, what that looked likeand felt like in my body.
(09:10):
I woke up to the power ofhydration, which no one teaches
you anything about, you know,and it's like we know we're made
up of water, but that's aboutit.
You know, not all water iscreated equal and not all water
is actually compatible withourselves and is actually
cellularly hydrating us.
So waking up to water was avery big part of my healing
(09:32):
journey that supported my guthealth.
And then, yeah, I also afterschool, I ended up not doing the
dietetic internship route tobecome a dietitian.
I went, I just stopped, Idipped out.
I went to India, I did my yogateacher training.
I was learning, you know,ayurveda and things like that,
(09:53):
and so that's when I reallybecame more plant-based, just by
being in India and eating moreAyurvedically.
And then, yeah, really justswitching into a more holistic
lifestyle, stopping the drinking, switching into a more holistic
lifestyle, stopping thedrinking.
Meeting my best friend when Imoved to Portland who stopped
drinking and he was onto thiswhole superfood protocol that I
(10:15):
didn't really understand.
I was still like I don't knowabout that.
He was doing this whole 40-daytransformation at the time and
we had just moved to Portlandtogether.
I'm like I want to go andexperience all the food, because
Portland's such a foodie cityand he was doing this whole
health thing, you know, which isfunny because, like, I am such
a health person too, but I still, like, wanted to play and enjoy
(10:39):
and indulge.
Um, ultimately, the superfoodsand this whole healing system
that he was tapped into andputting into his body became a
very integral part of my healingjourney and it took me like
over a year to actually get onboard with it, even though I was
living.
We ended up becoming roommatestoo, but then I started putting
(11:00):
this high vibe like beyondorganic, bioavailable superfood
nourishment in my body and allmy gut dysbiosis completely gone
, and I was just like, oh my God, like my only regret is not
putting this in my body sooner.
And this really led me to thiswhole living food movement and
talking about what is going onwith our soil health and the
(11:24):
monocrop chemical farming andthese pesticides and chemicals
like glyphosate that arecompletely wreaking havoc on our
microbiome, causing all sortsof damage leaky gut, autoimmune
disease and so it really led medown a whole expanded rabbit
hole of the connection of ourfarming practices to the chronic
(11:46):
health epidemic that we seetoday.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
So how are you putting that knowledge to use
these days?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
So this regenerative food healing system is the
foundation of how we guide ourholistic health and lifestyle
transformation.
So it is a nourishment, sothat's yeah, we plug people into
this nourishment and then theyjoin our rise to thrive
transformation program and thenwe have a whole community
(12:15):
support.
We do bi weekly coaching calls.
We talk about different topicsholistic health, you know,
mindset, overcoming limitingbeliefs.
We talk about food, recipe,meals, ideas, things like that,
movement, play, you know, kindof all the elements that make up
our community, which is thevitality, connection and play.
(12:36):
And so, yeah, we've beenguiding people together for this
entire year and I've beenguiding people through this
transformation with just thenutrition protocols, but without
the container, since 2020 iswhen I put this in my own body
and was like I need the world toknow about this nourishment
because it is completelylife-changing.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So what were you saying about the water I have?
Um, it was all new to me, soexpand a little bit on what you
were saying about water.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
Yeah, so I woke up to water through I don't know, are
you familiar with Kangen water?
So I met somebody who istalking all about I mean it was
this business opportunityultimately, but it was around
these ionizers, these waterionizer machines.
They're called condon watermachines and basically ionize
(13:28):
your water and create molecularhydrogen rich water, which is a
powerful antioxidant,anti-inflammatory.
They're using these machines inJapan.
They're made from the Japaneseand they're using them to help
people heal, and so this type ofwater is really able to get
into the matrix of ourselves andstart to hydrate us.
And so this type of water isreally able to get into the
matrix of ourselves and start tohydrate us.
(13:49):
And so I went down a wholewatering hole on this machine,
which is like a very expensivemachine.
And now they make there's somany technologies to like you
can add molecular hydrogentablets to your water.
There's other like little waterbottles that you can take on
the go that make molecularhydrogen.
I mean there's so many differenttechnologies that structure the
water, and then also justsomething as simple as adding
(14:13):
minerals back to our water,because that's something if we
just have a good quality sourceof water, like a good filtered
water.
You know, reverse osmosis islike super clean, super pure and
filtered, but it's devoid ofthe minerals.
So we're trying to get back tothe water like the natural
flowing waters that ourancestors knew ultimately, which
(14:37):
were structured in a certainway and then they're rich in
minerals from the earth.
So it's important to at leasthave a baseline.
You don't need like a fancywater machine.
I learned that, however, it waslike amazing for me and woke me
up to so much more about waterand hydration in my own body.
(14:57):
But ultimately, having a good,clean source of water and
remineralizing it is soimportant because it adds a
charge to the water which thenis compatible with the charge.
It's like the ionic charge ofour cells to the water, which
then is compatible with thecharge.
We have a.
It's like the ionic charge ofour cells and the water.
So it helps to bring that waterinto the matrix of ourselves.
By just adding a good, you knowlike a I use this tincture
(15:19):
called ionic elements you canget a good.
You know just mineral likebottle of minerals that you can
add.
You know just mineral likebottle of minerals that you can
add.
Or even like a good Celtic graysea salt, um, just to add to
your water.
Add some lime, lemon, boom,like you've completely
reactivated your water.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
Gotcha Interesting.
I like that.
I'll have to look more intothat.
Um, let's see here.
So how, what kind of advicewould you give people who are
like listening and thinking likeI need to make some probably
food choice, different foodchoices, because it's hard these
days, food super expensive, allthis craziness going on?
(15:59):
What kind of advice would yougive people?
Where should they start?
Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
You know, I know eating as locally and as
organically as possible is sucha good, good move, because I
mean, I know that organic is notperfect either as far as like
pesticide residues and thingslike that, but it is a step in
the right direction.
And it is not allowed to haveglyphosate sprayed on it, which
is active ingredient found inRoundup weed killer, which is an
(16:26):
antibiotic.
So there is, like I would tellpeople, look up the clean 15
versus the dirty dozen.
So there's 15, like each yearthey have a list of like the
produce that's going to be.
Here's a clean 15.
You can buy these and get awaywith these, even if they're not
organic.
They're going to be lessexposed to pesticides.
(16:46):
The dirty dozen, those are theones like usually, strawberries,
like any, like berries, um,leafy greens, like spinach,
things like that, are going tobe more exposed to the
pesticides and have that onthere, um yeah, on the skins or
on the fruit, on the produce.
So I would say, do your best toavoid the dirty dozen and to
(17:08):
buy those ones organically whenpossible and then to kind of use
that as a guide to eliminateseed oils as much as you can,
really, to eliminate most thingsthat are processed.
You know if you can go into thegrocery store and kind of shop
around the edges of the grocerystore and getting things that
aren't in bags and bottles andyou know as much as possible,
(17:30):
but really looking for cleaningredients where you can
actually read them, you know ifit's like some crazy word that
you can't even pronounce likewell, maybe that's something
that you shouldn't put in yourbody, you know.
So just learning to eat, as youknow, real food as possible, as
whole foods as possible,eliminating like the seed oils
(17:51):
I'm talking like canola oil, soyoil, cotton seed oil, peanut
oil, things like that If you canreally switch your oils to
healthier fats, that's going tobe huge for you.
And then again, eating asorganically as possible.
And if you have access to yourfarmer's markets I mean because
(18:11):
I'm on, I lived on the WestCoast and in Portland, oregon,
we have like a farmer's marketevery day of the week, so very
blessed.
We know that like not all ofAmerica or the world has access
to amazing produce, but if youdo, going to your local farmer
farmers markets, talking to yourfarmer, asking them about their
practices, getting to know them, you know that their food is
(18:31):
being grown somewhat close toyou know, like getting in touch
with your food and, if you canlike start growing something
yourself, even just as little aslike an herb plant.
You know it's really like areestablishing a healthier
relationship with food.
And then something that is alsoa great way to get more
connected is to start cookingyour own meals, cook with
(18:54):
friends, with family.
You know like that has apositive impact on your health,
even if it's not the healthiestthing.
By just like being in communityand eating food in community is
going to have a positive impacton your health, rather than
just scarfing something down onyour break that you only have 30
minutes for in the car.
(19:14):
You know you're not beingpresent with it and your body's
not really even having thatsignal to tell you like when
you're full.
So slowing down, being moreintentional with your food,
eating in community, eating aswholesomely as possible and this
might sound a little like woowoo for people, but like
blessing your food, you knowbefore you when it's out in
(19:36):
front of you, and just reallyhonoring it and thanking it, and
thanking the land and all theelements and the hands that it
took for that food to get to youand taking a moment is is
something that's really powerfuland super simple as well, and
you don't need to be likereligious or anything to do that
.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Right, I'll just be a practice.
A little gratitude yeah, I likethat, I like that.
So if people want to find outmore about you and what your
partner are doing, how do?
Speaker 2 (20:13):
you?
Yeah, you can go to my website.
It is wwwsunbeam-wellnesscomand you can learn more about me
there and our movement and whatwe're doing and our rise to
thrive transformation.
And then you can find me onsocial media, at um, on my
Instagram, at sunbeam underscoreBrookie B R O O K I E.
And that's my personalInstagram, and then we have our
Instagram for our tribe as well,that you can find through my
(20:37):
personal account.
But yeah, those would be thebest places to find me.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, and I always ask everyone this so what is
your go-to self-care when thingsare getting hard, what's the
thing you do to um, to regulateyourself?
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, for me it's definitely spending time alone
doing like a meditation andjournaling.
Like journaling for me is socathartic I'm able to get so
much out that's inside, you know, just getting it out into the
external world is, yeah, I justlove writing.
Speaker 1 (21:16):
So I love that, and do you have anything planned for
the future that's coming up oranything we should look for?
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I mean, we are gathering a group for I mean, I
know this won't be posted tillactually March, but we're always
bringing people into our tribe,into our community, into a
transformation, you know.
So if you're looking to betteryour health and optimize your
wellbeing and get connected,we're always bringing more
people into our community anyday, any time, like you are so
(21:46):
welcome to that.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So yeah, all right.
Well, thank you very much forbeing here and sharing all the
beautiful work you're doing.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
Yeah, thanks for having me.
Jenny, appreciate you too,thanks.
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