January 29, 2024 • 17 mins
"I didn’t realize how much of an impact just the meal I’m eating will have on my whole day"
Discover the transformative power of plant-based nutrition and holistic mental health practices with our guest, functional nutritionist Jennifer. Jennifer's experience illustrates the deep connection between the foods we eat and our mental health. Her story is an affirmation of the positive changes that come with conscious eating, offering inspiration and practical advice for those considering a similar path.
Venturing into the realm of anxiety management, Jennifer shares her transition from traditional to alternative healing methods, underscoring the importance of being seen as more than a diagnosis in the current US healthcare system. Join us for an episode that promises to enlighten and empower, with strategies to nurture both the mind and body.
Resources from this Episode:
Earthlings
If you want to connect with Jennifer, visit the following:
Instagram: @plantbasedjen_
Website: www.plantscriptionwellness.com
_____________________________________________________________________
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving
Podcast.
I'm your host, ashley Kitchens.
I'm a plant-based registereddietitian and virtual nutrition
mentor.
I was raised on an Angus CattleFarm, grew up with a lot of GI
issues and used the power ofplant-based eating to promote
healing.
Here you'll find inspiration,ideas and encouragement for your
(00:23):
own plant-based journey.
I'm so thrilled you're heretoday.
Let's get started.
Welcome Plant-Centeredlisteners.
My name is Ashley and I'm soexcited you are here today.
Thank you so much for tuning in, for listening.
We just really appreciate you.
I'm going to do a quick plug.
If you haven't had a chance togive us a reading and review on
(00:46):
iTunes.
That would mean so much becausewhat it does is it bumps up our
podcast in the nutritionsection, which gets us more
viewership, which gets morepeople learning about
plant-based eating, which we alllove.
That would just mean so much tous.
If you could just take twominutes of your time to do that,
we would just really love that.
(01:07):
Today's guest is Jennifer.
She is a newly practicingfunctional nutritionist with a
passion for plant-basednutrition and mental health.
Jennifer, during ourconversation here today, she
goes in and talks about her ownmental health journey and what
she does today to manage her ownmental health, which I really
appreciated.
Her transparency andvulnerability in sharing that.
(01:30):
Jennifer became vegan almostseven years ago and has never
looked back.
I think one thing that all ofus can agree on, and something
that she says, is that it hasbeen the best decision she has
ever made.
I think most of us can agreethat it's been the best decision
and we wish we would have doneit sooner.
Please join me in welcomingJennifer to the show.
(01:52):
Jennifer, I'm so thrilled tohave you on the podcast here
today to share your story.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Let's just dive right in andstart uncovering your own
personal journey.
I would love for you to go backto the beginning and how the
idea of becoming plant-based, ormore plant-based, came about
for you.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
My sister actually became vegan 10 to 12 years ago.
At that point I kind of learnedabout what it was.
I quickly became vegetarian andthen I ended up watching a
documentary called Earthlingsand I honestly couldn't even get
through.
Like the first minute I startedbawling my eyes out.
I paused it and I was justsitting there and I had my dog
(02:42):
at the time on the bed with meand I was just looking at him,
just thinking about what I waswatching.
I just had this connection ofwhy do I feel like I'm so
against animal cruelty?
I love animals, yet I'm seeingwhat my choices are doing and
causing and I just after that Ijust went vegan and didn't look
(03:04):
back.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow, yeah, that's incredible.
Okay, so for anyone who doesn'tknow what earthlings is and I'm
very similar to Jennifer it wasa couple years into my
plant-based journey that Iwatched it and I was the same.
I was a couple minutes in and Icould not watch it anymore.
I was crying and I was like itwas like there was just
something about it that it washelpful in knowing that.
(03:26):
Okay, this gives my journeymore purpose, and I'm sure that
was kind of similar for you.
It's like, oh wow, there's moreto this than just the food
itself.
So do you remember why he choseto watch earthlings of all the
documentaries?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I think I had seen some other ones before, but
I just remember seeing it onsocial media.
You know people talking aboutit, and so I was like, okay,
let's see what this is.
I could barely get through it,so I'm not really sure what the
rest of it included, because Ididn't watch Yep, yep, same.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I'm curious how that was for you in someone in your
family going vegan, because Iknow a lot of people listening
who are plant-based or vegan orwho are trying to embark on that
journey.
There's a lot of pushback fromfamily members or maybe they're
looked at as weird.
How was that for maybe you andhow you viewed your sister?
Was it like, oh my gosh, thisgirl's crazy.
Or like, how was that approach?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I think my sister really close and we share a lot
of the same views on everythingkind of across the board.
So when she mentioned it to me,I immediately was interested.
I didn't really know any othervegans at the time, you know.
I started researching and Ijust pretty quickly realized oh
(04:37):
yes, this just makes a lot ofsense.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And I think that speaks volumes on your part is
that you didn't look at it aslike a threat to how you were
eating, or it was like you tookthat information.
You actually listened, which Ithink can be a challenging piece
on both ends for people whotransition to veganism and talk
about it but it sounds like youactually listened and took what
she said to heart, versus likeautomatically putting up a wall
(05:01):
and kind of blocking orrejecting what she was saying.
Yeah, okay.
So how was the journey for you?
Because it sounds like it wentpretty quickly, like you went
vegetarian first and then youwent vegan.
So how was that journey for you?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I mean honestly just becoming vegetarian I wasn't
really a huge meat eater anyways, but then transitioning to
vegan probably the hardest partwas really just the social
aspect of it.
Like I didn't find eating thefoods difficult Luckily I love
all fruits and vegetables butyeah, just the social aspect of
people thinking it's weird ormaybe being an inconvenience if
(05:39):
we're out at a restaurant orgoing to someone's house for
dinner that honestly was themost difficult part for me.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes, yeah, how do you feel like you navigated those
situations back then, maybe,compared to how you navigate
them now?
I'm still working on itsometimes.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I mean, back then it caused me a lot more anxiety and
just feeling like sort ofjudged, even though I felt I was
doing something that was good.
Other people don't feel it thatway, I guess.
Now I just try to remember whyI'm doing it and focus on you.
Know, I believe this is analignment with my values and I
(06:17):
believe that I'm helping animals, the environment and my health,
and maybe someone doesn't agreewith that or looks down at it
for whatever reason, but at theend of the day it doesn't matter
.
It shouldn't affect the way Ifeel about it.
Yeah, I just try to focus on mywhy and that helps a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes, yes, it helps you become vegan and it also
helps you stay vegan, which isreally nice, because you kind of
go back to, okay, why am Idoing this?
And it all started, you knowwell, obviously with your sister
, but even just like looking atyour dog back then and just
realizing, wow, there is thisconnection that I didn't really
grow up, maybe connecting myself, which a lot of us don't
(06:58):
Exactly.
Yeah, I appreciate yourtransparency in saying that you
still struggle with it.
I think for a lot of us it canstill be challenging, even a
decade down the road, whenyou're vegan, vegetarian,
plant-based, and I justappreciate your transparency
with that.
But when you transition, maybewhat were some things?
It sounds like it was prettyeasy for you because you already
(07:20):
just didn't really care for meto like fruits and vegetables,
but what were maybe somebenefits that you noticed, or
some specifics that you noticedjust in your own life after
going vegan?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Within my body.
I felt more energy.
I used to have a lot ofdigestive issues too, and those
definitely improved a lot Justknowing that I was feeling more
aligned in who I am.
I just felt better as a person.
I just kind of felt this weightlifted.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, because, like you said earlier, you're
living more in alignment withyour values, which is so
important.
And when you realize that andlike, take action to follow
through with this alignmentpiece, this like shift or pull
that's pushing you in thisdirection, then you're right.
There's this like weight thatshed.
You feel so much better andit's like wow, this is how I am
(08:06):
meant to be living, which is apowerful place to be.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, so energy feeling good, digestive issues
improved.
Was there anything thatsurprised you when you went
vegan?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
before I Made the transition, I kind of just had
this idea of, oh my gosh, it'sgonna be so difficult, so
different to what I'm used to, Idon't know what I'm going to
eat, and then realizing it wasjust such simple Switches that I
was making it.
Really, it wasn't as big of adeal as I kind of anticipated it
to be.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, no, I think that's such a good point and I
like that you said that, becauseI think when we look at
veganism, are going to plantBays, it's like I feel like it's
this huge ordeal and for themost part it isn't.
And I think, like society makesit a big deal because you
really are going against thegrain of like how you were
raised, to, how we live.
So I appreciate you touching onyou know, if you kind of zoom
(09:01):
out and look at these changesthat you're actually gonna be
making, it really isn't thatmuch.
Like you said, you're swappingout your cow's milk for a plant
milk, you're cheese for adifferent cheese, butter for a
different way and even, likequote, meat-wise, you're just
making a few swaps like itreally isn't.
It isn't that big of a deal ifwe really think about it.
So I'm curious, jennifer, howgoing vegan has maybe shaped
(09:21):
your day-to-day life, or evenjust like what you're passionate
about or what you even do for aliving.
So I would love for you totouch on that.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
So now I am a functional nutritionist,
especially as in plant-basednutrition, and what led me to
the nutrition field itself wasmy own health journey and
dealing with anxiety.
Panic attacks and theconventional medicine World kind
of just put me in a box of oh,you have anxiety, take this
(09:50):
medication and that's it.
But for me I really felt like Iguess I have anxiety, but
there's a reason why and what.
What's that reason?
And so I kind of delve intothat, looking at your functional
medicine, nutrition, all thesethings that could be playing a
role, and when I eventually wasable to figure out what was
(10:10):
causing it and being able to fixthat, it really just inspired
me to make a career out of thisand help other people as well,
kind of around that time too iswhen I became vegan and so I
started looking into okay, sohow can this plant-based diet
help even more?
And so that really just Ibecame so passionate about it.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It's just so neat how that all comes together and how
you probably didn't expect thatto happen or expect to be a
plant-based nutritionist.
So what was that like for you?
Even like working through maybesome of the conventional
medicine that you had beenaccustomed to for maybe a period
of time, with your anxiety andwith the panic attacks.
What was that like?
To maybe realize okay, maybethere are some other modalities
(10:54):
that can help, maybe alongsidemedication, to help me feel
better.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I spent a lot of time just kind of researching what
the other options were because,you know, I saw a variety of
doctors and I just kept beingmet with the same feeling
invalidated or feeling like.
I was just another number withanxiety and this is the protocol
and they don't really delveinto why it's happening, I guess
.
And so when I found afunctional medicine clinic who
(11:22):
helped me kind of dive deeper,there's a reason why and we can
backtrack and help to heal thatway.
So just knowing that there isanother option because I feel
like a lot of people maybe don'tknow there's another option,
and so figuring that out wasjust really exciting for me
because then I could go share itwith other people.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, you go from being basically, like you said,
another number where the doctorsmaybe just kind of checking
boxes and like, okay, you havethis, you have that, okay, let's
give her this and this, and itsounds like finding that
functional medicine doctor, andworking as an integrative
nutritionist yourself, you'rerealizing that there's so much
more than just kind of checkinga box, giving a prescription
medication and going on your way.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So how was that for you to realize that there's so
much more than maybe just takinga pill, or that there are other
things that you could do tokind of manage what you were
going through?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean it was just really eye-opening.
I mean I had heard ofalternative supplements and
things like that, but I didn'treally realize how much of an
impact just the meal I'm eatingfor breakfast will have on my
whole day.
I kind of thought, oh, if I gothis natural way, maybe it's
going to take a long time for meto feel better, and so I think
(12:35):
knowing how quickly of an impactthese easy changes could be was
really eye-opening to me.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, and I feel like we're learning more and more
how food has an impact on yourmental health and, obviously, so
many other things as well, butI feel like more and more
research is coming out that whatyou eat does have an impact on
your mood and your outlook onlife and different things like
that, which I think is importantto talk about as well.
So how has your own experience,even with anxiety, panic
(13:04):
attacks, going vegan, goingplant-based?
How has that shaped?
Maybe how you approach workingwith clients?
or even just creating yourpractice.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah.
So I guess just from having myown experience and knowing kind
of what works for me and whatthings to look for, it's helped
open my eyes to think okay,someone comes to me with anxiety
.
First and foremost I want tovalidate them, let them know
what they're feeling I can helpthem with, and that I'm not just
gonna send them a prescriptionand send them on my way.
(13:36):
Also, there's a bunch ofdifferent testing that I've
learned about through my ownexperience.
You know, looking at the guthealth is so tied to mental
health, and so just kind oflearning about these different
ways of looking at things anddifferent testing to do to kind
of figure out what's going on,it's really important also that
it's helped me realize howeveryone is so different and
(14:00):
although someone may have theexact same symptoms, it doesn't
mean that the reason for it isthe same, and so just looking at
each person as an individual,instead of having this protocol
oh, someone came with depressionthis is what we're gonna do,
really looking at itindividually.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I think that's a great point too, because
someone like you said could havethe same symptoms or like, oh
yeah, this sounds just like me,but they're also an individual
too.
Their experiences are verydifferent and they should be,
like you said, approacheddifferently too.
When it comes to, especially,nutrition care, what have you
found personally, besidesnutrition, in helping manage,
(14:39):
like your anxiety, your panicattacks, that you have found
beneficial for yourself?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Meditation and, honestly, something that's
really helped me which I waskind of surprised by, was just
accepting it, because I feellike a lot of people with
anxiety if we're feeling it, wetry to resist it.
I think just accepting yes, I'mfeeling anxious, that's okay,
let's work through this, seeingif I can figure out why I'm
feeling anxious, instead of just, oh no, I'm having anxiety,
(15:06):
like let's make it go away makeit go away, and that's something
I really learned that figuringout why that is but also just
accepting the feeling actuallyreally helps a lot, which was
hard to do, yeah well, I'm sure,like sitting with your feelings
, that is not an easy task to do, especially in the beginning.
(15:26):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's your brain's, like I wanna resist, I wanna
resist, but it can be reallybeneficial, like you said,
feeling your feelings andaccepting that, okay, I am
feeling anxious, I do haveanxiety, but how can you maybe
tap into that to continue tomove forward, versus allowing it
to maybe overrun your life towhere you can't do anything or
move forward?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Right, and also something else is just having
daily check-ins, because there'sa period of times where someone
with anxiety might not feel itand so it's not on your mind.
Oh, I should be still usingthose tools and then all of a
sudden it catches up to you.
So I think just making theroutine of daily doing your
meditation or whatever it may be, to keep you on track, because
(16:09):
it's kind of always a work inprogress, and so I think, just
reminding yourself, just keepdoing those daily things and
it'll work in the long run.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
Like, whatever practice youfind to be beneficial, to keep
doing it.
Don't let one like a few gooddays keep you from continuing
that practice because, you'reright, it can be incredibly
beneficial in the long run tostick with it.
Yeah, awesome, all right,jennifer, so if anyone's
interested in connecting withyou or following you on social
media, where is the best placefor them to do that?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So on Instagram you can follow me.
It's plantbasedgen and thenunderscore and then my website
is plantscriptionwellnesscom.
Speak (16:50):
Plantscriptionwellnesscom , and we'll include those links
below so that you can easilyconnect with Jennifer.
Jennifer, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing your
journey and just beingvulnerable and transparent about
things that you struggle with,which we always appreciate.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was so great to meet you.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You're welcome.
All right, we will catch you onthe next episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Plant-Centered and
Thriving podcast today.
If you found this episodeinspiring, please share it with
a friend or post it on socialmedia and tag me so I can
personally say thank you.
(17:28):
Until next time, keep thriving.
Welcome to the Plant-Centered and Thriving
Podcast.
I'm your host, ashley Kitchens.
I'm a plant-based registereddietitian and virtual nutrition
mentor.
I was raised on an Angus CattleFarm, grew up with a lot of GI
issues and used the power ofplant-based eating to promote
healing.
Here you'll find inspiration,ideas and encouragement for your
(00:23):
own plant-based journey.
I'm so thrilled you're heretoday.
Let's get started.
Welcome Plant-Centeredlisteners.
My name is Ashley and I'm soexcited you are here today.
Thank you so much for tuning in, for listening.
We just really appreciate you.
I'm going to do a quick plug.
If you haven't had a chance togive us a reading and review on
(00:46):
iTunes.
That would mean so much becausewhat it does is it bumps up our
podcast in the nutritionsection, which gets us more
viewership, which gets morepeople learning about
plant-based eating, which we alllove.
That would just mean so much tous.
If you could just take twominutes of your time to do that,
we would just really love that.
(01:07):
Today's guest is Jennifer.
She is a newly practicingfunctional nutritionist with a
passion for plant-basednutrition and mental health.
Jennifer, during ourconversation here today, she
goes in and talks about her ownmental health journey and what
she does today to manage her ownmental health, which I really
appreciated.
Her transparency andvulnerability in sharing that.
(01:30):
Jennifer became vegan almostseven years ago and has never
looked back.
I think one thing that all ofus can agree on, and something
that she says, is that it hasbeen the best decision she has
ever made.
I think most of us can agreethat it's been the best decision
and we wish we would have doneit sooner.
Please join me in welcomingJennifer to the show.
(01:52):
Jennifer, I'm so thrilled tohave you on the podcast here
today to share your story.
Thank you so much for coming on.
I appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
Let's just dive right in andstart uncovering your own
personal journey.
I would love for you to go backto the beginning and how the
idea of becoming plant-based, ormore plant-based, came about
for you.
Speaker 2 (02:19):
My sister actually became vegan 10 to 12 years ago.
At that point I kind of learnedabout what it was.
I quickly became vegetarian andthen I ended up watching a
documentary called Earthlingsand I honestly couldn't even get
through.
Like the first minute I startedbawling my eyes out.
I paused it and I was justsitting there and I had my dog
(02:42):
at the time on the bed with meand I was just looking at him,
just thinking about what I waswatching.
I just had this connection ofwhy do I feel like I'm so
against animal cruelty?
I love animals, yet I'm seeingwhat my choices are doing and
causing and I just after that Ijust went vegan and didn't look
(03:04):
back.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow, yeah, that's incredible.
Okay, so for anyone who doesn'tknow what earthlings is and I'm
very similar to Jennifer it wasa couple years into my
plant-based journey that Iwatched it and I was the same.
I was a couple minutes in and Icould not watch it anymore.
I was crying and I was like itwas like there was just
something about it that it washelpful in knowing that.
(03:26):
Okay, this gives my journeymore purpose, and I'm sure that
was kind of similar for you.
It's like, oh wow, there's moreto this than just the food
itself.
So do you remember why he choseto watch earthlings of all the
documentaries?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I think I had seen some other ones before, but
I just remember seeing it onsocial media.
You know people talking aboutit, and so I was like, okay,
let's see what this is.
I could barely get through it,so I'm not really sure what the
rest of it included, because Ididn't watch Yep, yep, same.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I'm curious how that was for you in someone in your
family going vegan, because Iknow a lot of people listening
who are plant-based or vegan orwho are trying to embark on that
journey.
There's a lot of pushback fromfamily members or maybe they're
looked at as weird.
How was that for maybe you andhow you viewed your sister?
Was it like, oh my gosh, thisgirl's crazy.
Or like, how was that approach?
Speaker 2 (04:17):
I think my sister really close and we share a lot
of the same views on everythingkind of across the board.
So when she mentioned it to me,I immediately was interested.
I didn't really know any othervegans at the time, you know.
I started researching and Ijust pretty quickly realized oh
(04:37):
yes, this just makes a lot ofsense.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
And I think that speaks volumes on your part is
that you didn't look at it aslike a threat to how you were
eating, or it was like you tookthat information.
You actually listened, which Ithink can be a challenging piece
on both ends for people whotransition to veganism and talk
about it but it sounds like youactually listened and took what
she said to heart, versus likeautomatically putting up a wall
(05:01):
and kind of blocking orrejecting what she was saying.
Yeah, okay.
So how was the journey for you?
Because it sounds like it wentpretty quickly, like you went
vegetarian first and then youwent vegan.
So how was that journey for you?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
I mean honestly just becoming vegetarian I wasn't
really a huge meat eater anyways, but then transitioning to
vegan probably the hardest partwas really just the social
aspect of it.
Like I didn't find eating thefoods difficult Luckily I love
all fruits and vegetables butyeah, just the social aspect of
people thinking it's weird ormaybe being an inconvenience if
(05:39):
we're out at a restaurant orgoing to someone's house for
dinner that honestly was themost difficult part for me.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Yes, yeah, how do you feel like you navigated those
situations back then, maybe,compared to how you navigate
them now?
I'm still working on itsometimes.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
I mean, back then it caused me a lot more anxiety and
just feeling like sort ofjudged, even though I felt I was
doing something that was good.
Other people don't feel it thatway, I guess.
Now I just try to remember whyI'm doing it and focus on you.
Know, I believe this is analignment with my values and I
(06:17):
believe that I'm helping animals, the environment and my health,
and maybe someone doesn't agreewith that or looks down at it
for whatever reason, but at theend of the day it doesn't matter
.
It shouldn't affect the way Ifeel about it.
Yeah, I just try to focus on mywhy and that helps a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:37):
Yes, yes, it helps you become vegan and it also
helps you stay vegan, which isreally nice, because you kind of
go back to, okay, why am Idoing this?
And it all started, you knowwell, obviously with your sister
, but even just like looking atyour dog back then and just
realizing, wow, there is thisconnection that I didn't really
grow up, maybe connecting myself, which a lot of us don't
(06:58):
Exactly.
Yeah, I appreciate yourtransparency in saying that you
still struggle with it.
I think for a lot of us it canstill be challenging, even a
decade down the road, whenyou're vegan, vegetarian,
plant-based, and I justappreciate your transparency
with that.
But when you transition, maybewhat were some things?
It sounds like it was prettyeasy for you because you already
(07:20):
just didn't really care for meto like fruits and vegetables,
but what were maybe somebenefits that you noticed, or
some specifics that you noticedjust in your own life after
going vegan?
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Within my body.
I felt more energy.
I used to have a lot ofdigestive issues too, and those
definitely improved a lot Justknowing that I was feeling more
aligned in who I am.
I just felt better as a person.
I just kind of felt this weightlifted.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
Yeah, yeah, because, like you said earlier, you're
living more in alignment withyour values, which is so
important.
And when you realize that andlike, take action to follow
through with this alignmentpiece, this like shift or pull
that's pushing you in thisdirection, then you're right.
There's this like weight thatshed.
You feel so much better andit's like wow, this is how I am
(08:06):
meant to be living, which is apowerful place to be.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
Yeah, so energy feeling good, digestive issues
improved.
Was there anything thatsurprised you when you went
vegan?
Speaker 2 (08:19):
before I Made the transition, I kind of just had
this idea of, oh my gosh, it'sgonna be so difficult, so
different to what I'm used to, Idon't know what I'm going to
eat, and then realizing it wasjust such simple Switches that I
was making it.
Really, it wasn't as big of adeal as I kind of anticipated it
to be.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
Yeah, no, I think that's such a good point and I
like that you said that, becauseI think when we look at
veganism, are going to plantBays, it's like I feel like it's
this huge ordeal and for themost part it isn't.
And I think, like society makesit a big deal because you
really are going against thegrain of like how you were
raised, to, how we live.
So I appreciate you touching onyou know, if you kind of zoom
(09:01):
out and look at these changesthat you're actually gonna be
making, it really isn't thatmuch.
Like you said, you're swappingout your cow's milk for a plant
milk, you're cheese for adifferent cheese, butter for a
different way and even, likequote, meat-wise, you're just
making a few swaps like itreally isn't.
It isn't that big of a deal ifwe really think about it.
So I'm curious, jennifer, howgoing vegan has maybe shaped
(09:21):
your day-to-day life, or evenjust like what you're passionate
about or what you even do for aliving.
So I would love for you totouch on that.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
So now I am a functional nutritionist,
especially as in plant-basednutrition, and what led me to
the nutrition field itself wasmy own health journey and
dealing with anxiety.
Panic attacks and theconventional medicine World kind
of just put me in a box of oh,you have anxiety, take this
(09:50):
medication and that's it.
But for me I really felt like Iguess I have anxiety, but
there's a reason why and what.
What's that reason?
And so I kind of delve intothat, looking at your functional
medicine, nutrition, all thesethings that could be playing a
role, and when I eventually wasable to figure out what was
(10:10):
causing it and being able to fixthat, it really just inspired
me to make a career out of thisand help other people as well,
kind of around that time too iswhen I became vegan and so I
started looking into okay, sohow can this plant-based diet
help even more?
And so that really just Ibecame so passionate about it.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
It's just so neat how that all comes together and how
you probably didn't expect thatto happen or expect to be a
plant-based nutritionist.
So what was that like for you?
Even like working through maybesome of the conventional
medicine that you had beenaccustomed to for maybe a period
of time, with your anxiety andwith the panic attacks.
What was that like?
To maybe realize okay, maybethere are some other modalities
(10:54):
that can help, maybe alongsidemedication, to help me feel
better.
Speaker 2 (10:59):
I spent a lot of time just kind of researching what
the other options were because,you know, I saw a variety of
doctors and I just kept beingmet with the same feeling
invalidated or feeling like.
I was just another number withanxiety and this is the protocol
and they don't really delveinto why it's happening, I guess
.
And so when I found afunctional medicine clinic who
(11:22):
helped me kind of dive deeper,there's a reason why and we can
backtrack and help to heal thatway.
So just knowing that there isanother option because I feel
like a lot of people maybe don'tknow there's another option,
and so figuring that out wasjust really exciting for me
because then I could go share itwith other people.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Yeah, you go from being basically, like you said,
another number where the doctorsmaybe just kind of checking
boxes and like, okay, you havethis, you have that, okay, let's
give her this and this, and itsounds like finding that
functional medicine doctor, andworking as an integrative
nutritionist yourself, you'rerealizing that there's so much
more than just kind of checkinga box, giving a prescription
medication and going on your way.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:04):
So how was that for you to realize that there's so
much more than maybe just takinga pill, or that there are other
things that you could do tokind of manage what you were
going through?
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Yeah, I mean it was just really eye-opening.
I mean I had heard ofalternative supplements and
things like that, but I didn'treally realize how much of an
impact just the meal I'm eatingfor breakfast will have on my
whole day.
I kind of thought, oh, if I gothis natural way, maybe it's
going to take a long time for meto feel better, and so I think
(12:35):
knowing how quickly of an impactthese easy changes could be was
really eye-opening to me.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yeah, and I feel like we're learning more and more
how food has an impact on yourmental health and, obviously, so
many other things as well, butI feel like more and more
research is coming out that whatyou eat does have an impact on
your mood and your outlook onlife and different things like
that, which I think is importantto talk about as well.
So how has your own experience,even with anxiety, panic
(13:04):
attacks, going vegan, goingplant-based?
How has that shaped?
Maybe how you approach workingwith clients?
or even just creating yourpractice.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Yeah.
So I guess just from having myown experience and knowing kind
of what works for me and whatthings to look for, it's helped
open my eyes to think okay,someone comes to me with anxiety
.
First and foremost I want tovalidate them, let them know
what they're feeling I can helpthem with, and that I'm not just
gonna send them a prescriptionand send them on my way.
(13:36):
Also, there's a bunch ofdifferent testing that I've
learned about through my ownexperience.
You know, looking at the guthealth is so tied to mental
health, and so just kind oflearning about these different
ways of looking at things anddifferent testing to do to kind
of figure out what's going on,it's really important also that
it's helped me realize howeveryone is so different and
(14:00):
although someone may have theexact same symptoms, it doesn't
mean that the reason for it isthe same, and so just looking at
each person as an individual,instead of having this protocol
oh, someone came with depressionthis is what we're gonna do,
really looking at itindividually.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, I think that's a great point too, because
someone like you said could havethe same symptoms or like, oh
yeah, this sounds just like me,but they're also an individual
too.
Their experiences are verydifferent and they should be,
like you said, approacheddifferently too.
When it comes to, especially,nutrition care, what have you
found personally, besidesnutrition, in helping manage,
(14:39):
like your anxiety, your panicattacks, that you have found
beneficial for yourself?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Meditation and, honestly, something that's
really helped me which I waskind of surprised by, was just
accepting it, because I feellike a lot of people with
anxiety if we're feeling it, wetry to resist it.
I think just accepting yes, I'mfeeling anxious, that's okay,
let's work through this, seeingif I can figure out why I'm
feeling anxious, instead of just, oh no, I'm having anxiety,
(15:06):
like let's make it go away makeit go away, and that's something
I really learned that figuringout why that is but also just
accepting the feeling actuallyreally helps a lot, which was
hard to do, yeah well, I'm sure,like sitting with your feelings
, that is not an easy task to do, especially in the beginning.
(15:26):
Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
That's your brain's, like I wanna resist, I wanna
resist, but it can be reallybeneficial, like you said,
feeling your feelings andaccepting that, okay, I am
feeling anxious, I do haveanxiety, but how can you maybe
tap into that to continue tomove forward, versus allowing it
to maybe overrun your life towhere you can't do anything or
move forward?
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Right, and also something else is just having
daily check-ins, because there'sa period of times where someone
with anxiety might not feel itand so it's not on your mind.
Oh, I should be still usingthose tools and then all of a
sudden it catches up to you.
So I think just making theroutine of daily doing your
meditation or whatever it may be, to keep you on track, because
(16:09):
it's kind of always a work inprogress, and so I think, just
reminding yourself, just keepdoing those daily things and
it'll work in the long run.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, I think that's a really good point.
Like, whatever practice youfind to be beneficial, to keep
doing it.
Don't let one like a few gooddays keep you from continuing
that practice because, you'reright, it can be incredibly
beneficial in the long run tostick with it.
Yeah, awesome, all right,jennifer, so if anyone's
interested in connecting withyou or following you on social
media, where is the best placefor them to do that?
Speaker 2 (16:40):
So on Instagram you can follow me.
It's plantbasedgen and thenunderscore and then my website
is plantscriptionwellnesscom.
Speak (16:50):
Plantscriptionwellnesscom , and we'll include those links
below so that you can easilyconnect with Jennifer.
Jennifer, thank you so much forcoming on and sharing your
journey and just beingvulnerable and transparent about
things that you struggle with,which we always appreciate.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Thank you so much for having me.
It was so great to meet you.
Speaker 1 (17:08):
You're welcome.
All right, we will catch you onthe next episode.
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much for listeningto the Plant-Centered and
Thriving podcast today.
If you found this episodeinspiring, please share it with
a friend or post it on socialmedia and tag me so I can
personally say thank you.
(17:28):
Until next time, keep thriving.
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