Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to Passioneer Magazine the podcast Well You're here, inspirational stories,
encouraging news, and in depth interviews with authors, influencers, CEOs
and thought leaders. Passioneer Magazine the podcast Bold Ideas, Brave Pursuits,
Boundless Inspiration.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hello, Hello, Hello, Thank you Susan for joining me here
on Passioneer Magazine the podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Be here, absolutely, absolutely Now. I'm really excited to share
you with our audience. But I've realized that there may
be some people that are unfamiliar with you, with your work.
So before we get started, can you tell us just
a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Okay, So, in a nutshell, I'm the Healthy Living Lady.
So my goal is to inspire others to improve their
health and well being. And today that's really tough to do.
It's hard to know what things are the correct things
to eat, and what things are not and what's a
(01:26):
gimmick and what isn't and are there toxins and how
do they get, you know, into our bodies or onto
our bodies. So I'm a bit of a nerd. I'm
an RN, I have an MBA, a master's in health science,
and I like to figure that stuff out and then
put it into real easy language for other people to understand.
(01:49):
So I'm an author.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I love it. I love it. I think that many
of the people that are in my circles, we are
nerds in our own in our own right, like we
love the research. We love to do what we do,
and even though mine might be a different industry, very similar,
you know, I wanted to dig deep into scripture. I
(02:13):
wanted to dig deep into faith. I wanted to be
able to help women And how can we be like
who God has called us to be? Each one of
us is special and awesome and amazing in our own right,
and what does and what does that mean? So I
definitely definitely understand your passion for your being. I love that.
I love that. Now, speaking of being in that field
(02:37):
with many of the people that I have been honored
to chat with over the many years, sometimes there is
a nudging, a prompting, a knowing, there's a moment in
their lives where they say this needs to be done,
which equates to the all that you are now. Did
(02:59):
you have a moment like that along your life's path?
Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yes, it was about thirteen years ago, I had a
health crisis and I had ten medical diagnoses in two
surgeries within like fifteen months, all due to an abscess tooth.
Oh wow, So I lost my health. I could barely
(03:24):
get out of bed. I just had one thing wrong
and then another thing wrong. I had three or four
different doctors, and they, you know, all did what they
could do for me. But part of it is that
you have to be your own health care advocate. You
have to figure out what is right for you. You
(03:47):
have to implement those things. And so after that journey,
after I regained my health, I was like, I need
to write about this. I need to help other people
who have lost hopes that their health is going to improve,
(04:10):
that their weight is going to improve. And so that's
my goal now is to help others to come out
of that like I did.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah. Oh my goodness. You know. I remember my grandmother,
which many of my listeners know I reference to several times,
born at nineteen o eight and wealth of knowledge that
she was well. One of the things that she told
me was make sure you take care of your teeth.
(04:46):
I don't think we understand enough about the connection of
our mouths and how it affects the rest of us.
We get one little pain, we run to the dentist
and it's like yank it, you know, but we we
don't put two and two together. I am so glad
that you were able to figure out that it was
a tooth issue and you were able to take care
(05:09):
of that. Oh oh my goodness, So thank you. Thank
you for sharing that. I'm sure there's someone going maybe
it's my teeth too, that's the one thing I didn't
have checked. Maybe I should go to the dentist and
see what's going on there. Thank you. That's going to
be an AHA moment for someone now with all of that,
and I'm so glad that you are now on the
(05:30):
well side of things, but you also choose to walk
along the path of being an entrepreneur with this wellness.
How was your journey in blending the two together? Was
it easy? Did it feel natural? What's the story there?
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, yes, it did. It made it seemed easy and
it seemed natural. So after my health crisis, after I
achieved wellness, it just I just continued to research and
understand what's beneficial for the body and what's not. And
then it was like, okay, well I'm going to become
(06:08):
I'm already registered nurse, but I'm going to become a
certified health and wellness coach. So then on my website
susanneil dot com, there I have a tab for health
and Wellness coaching, and so it was it was very
natural for me to do that. And I also diversified.
(06:31):
I've been very successful with writing books and publishing books,
so I also became a certified writer coach and that's
on my website too. Oh.
Speaker 2 (06:43):
I like that there are so many people that I
think have a story to share. They have these bits
of wisdom of knowledge, and it's like, please don't leave
the earth with that. You know you can't take with you,
so please share it with them to the rest of us.
So I love that you helping people walk that journey
(07:07):
as as well. I don't think I've ever known anyone
that was certified in that. Bravo, well done. I love that.
I think that adds a layer of security and trust
that the person understands that you're not just making this
up as you go along, but that you're giving a
(07:27):
proven path to them. I love that added layer. Now
with health and wellness, unfortunately, there is so much misinformation
out there now, God bless social media. It can be
a power for good or it can be a room
of chaos. With that being said, what are some of
(07:50):
the most miscommunicated bits of information, misunderstood or just flat
out well myths and lies that come to your practice
most often?
Speaker 3 (08:06):
So I would say it has to deal with white flour,
you know, white flower. We consume so much of our
food with white flour, and from bagels to dinner rolls,
you know, from breakfast to dinner. And in the nineteen
fifties they changed to the wheat to where it became
(08:33):
hybridized and instead of four feet tall amber waves of grain,
it's two feet tall. It's prolific, it's drought resistant. Its
gluten molecule is so large it's hard to digest. But
then the manufacturers strip it of the wheat germ, and
(08:53):
so they leave the starch in there, the carbohydrate, and
they strip the neut so a bag of flour can
sit on the shelf for years and not go bad.
And there's no nutritional value in the flower, and we
(09:13):
are consuming this and that is not the way God
made flour and bread for us to eat. If you
go to Germany, you get these loaves of bread that
are brown and full of seeds and just wonderful and hearty.
That is the type of bread, not the white, fluffy,
(09:34):
devoid of nutrients stuff that we consume in the United States.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah. Yeah, I think that so many people their eyes
are starting to kind of open more and more. I
don't want to seem like I'm bashing social media, because
we're definitely on social media. That's one thing that I
think that we are learning about our own food sources
is other countries are saying no, thank you to many
(10:04):
of the things that we eat on a regular basis,
and we're finding that, oh we didn't know. Let's not
choose option A anymore, Let's support option B instead so
that we can have a healthier lifestyle. So I love
that you mentioned bread that is the most common I
(10:24):
think everyone can make a better bread decision knowing that, oh,
thank you. Now. Of course, with the all that you do,
you have to think about yourself. You are helping others
on so many different levels. But we have to remember
(10:45):
to tap into a little bit of self care and
making sure that we stay as balanced and happy and
harmonious as we can possibly be along our journeys. As well.
What are maybe one or two must have or must
do's for you to keep yourself not only healthy physically,
(11:06):
but healthy mentally and spiritually as well well.
Speaker 3 (11:10):
One is regular dental cleanings. We need to make sure
that we never ever get another abscess too, right, So
there's that one. A massage is just wonderful.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (11:26):
I teach Christian yoga and I really I really enjoy
that and have resources about that. And I'd love to
meditate with the Lord and spend time with him when
my brain is quiet. Yeah, and I'm listening instead of
(11:46):
always talking. So that's just a few.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
I love that. Now. I know someone just said, wait
a minute, that's what Angela. You are not going to
gloss over Christian yoga, Okay, because for so many years,
and this may be denominationally specific, but it was, no,
(12:12):
you're not gonna do yoga. Those words are in another language.
It's doing something that we, as Christians, we don't do,
and for many years people did not participate simply out
of fear. But I'm finding that more and more women
are saying, I don't know if I fully understand what
(12:33):
yoga is, and it isn't. So, of course, if everyone
wants to know more, they should visit your website and
find out the most that they can. But for someone
who says Christian yoga might just be the answer for me,
what is that or what isn't Christian yoga?
Speaker 3 (12:51):
So for me, it's where I focus on God's Bible
Versus during the yoga class, so when you're stretched, because
really it's just a form of physical activity, it's just exercise,
and God knows who you're worshiping. So and I believe
in I've called the yoga that I teach scripture yoga
(13:14):
to where I'm reciting Bible versus and then we have
a Bible verse and we're stretching and we're pondering and
listening and so it's very very stress relieving and we're
just being bathed in the Word of God. So it's beautiful.
And I feel as though God called me to that
(13:37):
calling that was very controversial, and I've been persecuted a
lot for it.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, absolutely, I remember just hearing those conversations of this
is something that we do not do, and I'm going,
I don't understand. If I can do pilates, why can't
I do that? I didn't so I can do aerobics
and pilates and you know cardo and all that good stuff,
(14:05):
and you know traditional calisthenics. But I can't do yoga
all right, And it did not I was a young
person then it didn't quite make sense. But the women
in my circle were not doing it, so it was
easy for me not to do it. And as I've
grown and matured, I said, you know, I really think
(14:26):
that was one of those things that was advice given
out of fear. But like you said, God knows exactly
what's in our hearts, so he knows that we're not
doing that thing, but instead we are doing this wonderful
thing to take care of our bodies. So I love
that you. I love that you said that. Now I
want to ask you about being an author. I understand
(14:51):
you were so many hats, so I have to ask
when did you have time to write a book and
how was that process for you? Was it as easy
as you thought it was going to be. Was it
more difficult than you thought it was going to be.
What was your experience like starting as an author?
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Uh? It was, it was a bit difficult. You at first?
It reminded me of my relationship with God. Okay, the
closer I got to God, the further I knew that
I was away from Him because you know, we're all sinful.
And the more I wrote, and then I went to
a writer's conference, it was like, oh, I had no
(15:36):
idea what I was doing right, but guess what we
can gain knowledge? And so I started attending writer conferences.
I joined a Christian writers group called word Weavers. I
you know, started writing, and I learning. I read books
(15:59):
in the genre that I wrote. I read books about
how to write better. I learned. It was great for
the mind. It was a lot of fun, it was challenging,
and I've been very successful at it.
Speaker 2 (16:14):
I tell you that it is so wonderful to hear
everyone's experience. I think that so many times people think that, oh,
writing is or becoming an author is so difficult. I
don't want to do that. I think that they forget
that with anything that we have done, there's that time
(16:39):
of learning of you know, figuring out what you're supposed
to do and what you're not supposed to do at
the same time. And I think that every author at
the end of it all says, I am so glad
that I did it. It took a moment or I
had to figure out my way, but I would gladly
(17:01):
do it again. And I am so glad that you
decided that you were not gonna let the little bits
and bobbles deter you from sharing your knowledge with the
rest of us. Now, of course, we know that your
book is available on Amazon or wherever books are sold.
So if someone wants to reach out to you, because
(17:22):
again you do so many awesome things and I think
that people are going to want to talk to you,
what is the best way to reach out to you.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
To contact you, go to my website. It's Susan with
the letter you you Neil n E A l dot
com that Susan you Neil dot com and there you
can contact me. You can look at all my different resources.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I love it. I love it, and of course we
will have all of that wonderful information down in the
description below. Thank you again for spending some time with
us here with a passion your magazine, the podcast.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Thanks thanks,