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Read moreWellness Begins With Learning
While guiding others is a big part of coaching, so is continuing to grow and learn. These are some of my favorite books, websites, and other resources at the moment—but this page will always be a work in progress, so be sure to check back!
Please note that these are not affiliate links; I do not benefit financially should you purchase a book or anything else by following a link from this page.
BOOKS
>> Eat to Beat Disease: The New Science of How Your Body Can Heal Itself — William Li MD
>> Nature Wants Us to Be Fat: The Surprising Science Behind Why We Gain Weight and how We can Prevent and Reverse It — Richard J. Johnson, MD
>> The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally— Dr. Jason Fung
>> Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine— Robert Lustig
>> The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World — Mark Hyman
>> Fast This Way: Burn Fat, Heal Inflammation, and Eat Like the High-Performing Human You Were Meant to Be — Dave Asprey
>> Body Love: Live in Balance, Weigh What You Want, and Free Yourself from Food Drama Forever — Kelly LeVeque
>> The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing — Marie Kondo
>> Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life— Marie Kondo
>> Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones— James Clear
>> Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything— BJ Fogg
>> Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself— Dr. Joe Dispenza
>> The Biology of Belief— Bruce Lipton
>> Living Buddha, Living Christ— Thich Nhat Hanh
>> A Course in Miracles (Combined Volume)— Foundation for Inner Peace
>> A Return to Love —Marianne Williamson
PODCASTS
VIDEOS
Sugar: The Bitter Truth— Dr. Robert H. Lustig
Fat Chance: Fructose 2.0— Dr. Robert H. Lustig
What the Bleep Do We Know?!— Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente, and William Arntz
My Path to Holistic Wellness: Part 2
In the conclusion of this two-part series, I’ll share my personal journey toward three additional dimensions of wellness: intellectual, spatial (organizing), and time. Remember, though, there’s no “right” way to move ahead; there’s only your way. Because each individual has a unique path to well-being based on their specific needs.
To read Part 1, which focuses on my emotional, spiritual, and physical growth and healing, please click here.
Intellectual wellness
Growing up, my father always encouraged us to be reading at least three books simultaneously: one fiction (such as “A Fine Balance” by Rohinton Mistry), one that taught you something new (perhaps like “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell), and one to better yourself (a favorite here was “A New Earth” by Eckhart Tolle). This would “feed different parts of the mind based on your mood,” he’d say. And it instilled in us the desire to always be learning and growing—a gift that has continued to give throughout my life.
As an adult, after my divorce, the churches I attended studied books from a wide range of authors. This was atypical to the approach of my past churches, which sought wisdom only from the Bible, and I found it fascinating. A couple of memorable books to note were “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey and “The Celestine Prophecy” by James Redfield. One big takeaway was the awareness that wisdom can be found in many places, and there are universal principles that guide our lives. My father enjoyed this intellectual journey with me, and opened up more about the similar foundational thoughts and principles in his life as a freemason.
This segued into books about mindfulness, meditation, yoga, and learning about the mind-body connection. It took me into fasting and nutrition, too—during COVID, I started reading and learning more about diabetes, as it was one of those things that contributed to how people’s bodies responded to the virus. Having reversed my own prediabetes, I was inspired to learn more so I could support others on their journey to physical wellness. This led to me studying and completing a coaching certification with a focus on wellness. I kept my commitment to my father’s three-book rule, although two were on the topic of some aspect of wellness (“Metabolical” by Dr. Robert Lustig, “The Complete Guide to Fasting” by Dr. Jason Fung) and one was on bettering myself (“Atomic Habits” by James Clear).
Until shortly before he died, my father and I would regularly share what we were reading in letters and phone calls. And I still keep the rhythm of having three books going at a time.
Reading recommendations
The books cited earlier have all helped or inspired me in some way. In addition, today I am reading the following:
🕴 The Magician — Colm Tóibín (historical fiction)
🗣 Digital Body Language — Erica Dhawan (nonfiction)
🧘🏽♀️ The Way of Integrity — Martha Beck (nonfiction)
Spatial wellness
Ten years ago, looking to learn something new, I read “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo. To be completely honest, I was skeptical of her approach for decluttering; not only was I an organized person already, I was also the friend that my friends called to help them organize their homes.
But in 2019, with buzz building around Marie’s show on Netflix, I decided to check my ego and re-read the book with an open mind. I committed to do every single thing in the book in a three-week period. I also read “Spark Joy,” which was her companion of sorts to the first book with illustrative details on how to do the work.
Her approach, aka The KonMari Method™, encourages tidying by category instead of by room so you aren’t picking away at little piles of stuff forever. You begin with clothes, then move on to books, papers, komono (miscellaneous items), and finally, sentimental items. The most difficult category for me during this process? You guessed it—BOOKS!
In addition to writing my name in every book I purchased, my father taught me to write the date and the city and country where I bought it. Over time, I started adding other details. For example, on the inside cover of “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden (bought June 12, 1998, in Lake Oswego, Oregon), I noted that I was “reading on the flight to Miami for Derrick’s funeral.” How could I get rid of these books without losing those memories? To start, I entered all of them—including my notes on the dates, locations, and stories—into Goodreads.
I also had a large number of books in the categories of metaphysics, mindfulness, nutrition, exercise, and more—many of which had not been opened in 20 years. I was keeping them just in case, but as Marie noted, that the wisdom of those books is within me.
After doing a “joy check,” I took 100+ books in total and donated them. I literally cried on my way to the donation place, tears of gratitude for all that I had learned. I still have a bookcase at home filled with books, and I still love books—I just don’t need to own hundreds of them.
I completed my entire home in the three weeks per the directions of her book. It was emotional, cathartic, and I felt amazing! There was an element of mindfulness teaching in her method that resonated with my spiritual practice, along with practicality that tapped into my professional career as an engineer. I became a champion for her method and subsequently chose to be trained as a KonMari certified consultant.
Time wellness
There was a time when I would plan out every waking moment of my day—even when going on vacation. Today, however, I have learned that “time wellness” doesn’t have to mean your every minute is planned: It simply means that you should maximize your days in the way you want. My schedule is structured, but I also build in time for pure fun, or days to do nothing at all. And it works. For example, I typically meal prep on Sundays and Wednesdays, buying fresh vegetables and meats on those days. One of my weekend days is usually blocked off to do whatever I feel like, and the other is spent taking care of my business.
Often, we are most productive when we have tons of stuff to do and we cannot afford to drop the ball, but that doesn’t necessarily align with our need to be well. In fact, it can be a recipe for burnout. When my son was 4 years old, I was married, working as an engineer, and studying toward two master’s degrees—all at the same time. I did laundry, cooked all of our meals, and kept the house clean. And it worked, for a time. But at the end of two years, I was completely depleted. And guess what? When you reach that point, you’re no longer going to be very productive. So the key is to find balance while maximizing your days.
One of the classes for my Industrial Engineering degree was called “Time Studies.” It focused on taking a defined amount of work and finding the most efficient method to do that work in terms of time and effort. I use the 30-minute time sheets from that class with some clients today, because it is eye-opening to see the breakdown of our time over a 24-hour period. It provides a new kind of awareness that can lead to a decision for change.
Many of my clients are wary at first, and understandably so. But once they get organized, and start thinking more mindfully about time, they can all attest to the amount of additional time they now have in their life. They don’t waste time looking for things, they have a process in place for managing their lives, they feel they have control—because they do. And even when things go a bit sideways (as they always do once in a while), they are equipped with the tools to cope and move forward.
I’m moving forward, too
A wellness journey never truly ends; it evolves. Although I’m a coach and a guide, it doesn’t mean that I have all the answers—I might simply be a little further along a particular path than you are, or I might have a different perspective from a different path entirely. And I continue to learn and grow, seeking new perspectives, in every dimension of wellness. I find it through my reading, through my life experiences, and through working with my clients. We’re all on our own journey, and I hope reading a bit about mine can help inform yours.
My Path to Holistic Wellness: Part 1
Everyone’s path to wellness is different—there is no one “right” way to enhance your well-being, because we all have unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs. In this two-part series, I’ll talk about my personal path to wellness in six distinct dimensions: physical, emotional, spiritual, spatial, intellectual, and what I call “time wellness.” We’ll begin with my story of emotional, spiritual, and physical growth and healing.
In my late 20s, I chose to leave my marriage and the strict church environment in which we functioned. Although I didn’t quite realize it at the time, that choice was the beginning of my journey to holistic wellness—a commitment to pursuing well-being in all areas of my life, including emotional, spiritual, and physical health.
But back to that first step. This particular church taught that that unless you did things their way, and believed their way, you were doomed to hell. But in my heart, I believed that the universe/God is loving, kind, and accepting of all people. So after getting my son and I settled into our new way of living, we started visiting other churches in the area. I knew I had found my new community when the minister said, “Wherever you are on your journey/path—be you Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, straight, gay—you are welcome here.”
A different mindset
My eyes were opened to teachers, authors, and new ways of thinking, each with a common foundational belief that we are all good at our core, that all religions are founded on goodness and kindness for ourselves and humanity. For me, it was a comfortable transition from the strict religious environment, because I know the Bible well and could see the common threads in what I was reading and learning.
I discovered one of my favorite books during this period: “Living Buddha, Living Christ” by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is not about the Buddha or Christ, but the principles in their teachings—which the book informs us are one in the same.
One of the many things Jesus and Buddha both taught was being present in the moment. This led me to a meditation practice and into the world of yoga (both of which would have been frowned upon by my past church—yes, even today).
My divorce was not a planned event, of course. And part of life is managing and growing through these unplanned emotional upheavals both large and small. Having the knowledge and awareness of what I’ve learned on my spiritual journey, coupled with a mindfulness practice, continues to provide me with the ability to manage through situations and how I respond to them.
Reading recommendations
Here are a few of the books that have helped me emotionally and spiritually. (For more books on all dimensions of wellness, please see this article.)
A Return to Love — Marianne Williamson
This Thing Called You — Ernest Holmes
Around the Year with Emmet Fox — Emmet Fox
Spiritual Economics — Eric Butterworth
A return to physical health
While my divorce had a positive impact on me emotionally and spiritually, physically it was a bit of a different story, at least at first. As a single mom, I had much more to juggle with work and activities and meal planning and everything else, so we began eating out more. This was not how I grew up: When I was young, all my meals were made at home. We ate breakfast and dinner together, and lunches at school consisted of healthy whole foods. Socially, we visited and ate in other people’s homes. Going out to eat was a very rare occasion.
Now, though, we were getting takeout all the time, it seemed. That meant spending more money. It also meant gaining some weight. Something had to change on both fronts.
Surprise diagnosis
Even after beginning to eat most of our meals at home, though, I was struggling to lose the weight I had added. As always, I figured more exercise would do the trick, but extra miles on the treadmill and additional classes at the gym weren’t cutting it. Nothing was working. I decided to visit a naturopath to see if something else was afoot.
That’s when I found out I was prediabetic.
Me? The one who has eaten healthy for the vast majority of her life? The one who exercises all the time?
Yes, me.
I was shocked, but now I was armed with knowledge—and a path forward. After educating me about blood sugar and insulin resistance and a lot of other concepts that were new to me, the naturopath recommended four action items:
Eliminate all high-sugar fruits and vegetables like apples, bananas, carrots, etc. This meant eating lots of berries and mostly green leafy vegetables.
Build muscle through heavy weight training.
Eat at least 100g of protein per day (I was barely at 50g).
Combine protein, carbs, and fats for every meal.
I had already been taking a raw/vegan/vegetarian approach most days, but it was HARD for an island girl to give up fruits (I was eating bananas and apples almost daily). I went cold turkey. I got a trainer at the gym. It took me three weeks to figure out how to get to 100g of protein a day, but I did it.
Getting better
On my next visit to the naturopath, my numbers were in the normal range. She said if I kept it there for a year, my body would heal itself—and when it did, I could start reintroducing my fruits! My numbers took a bit of a roller-coaster ride for years, though, until I found Levels Health and started wearing a continuous glucose monitor. This gave me information at my fingertips in real time as to how my body responded to different foods. A whole new world opened up for me.
The entire experience was eye-opening, and so was sharing it with family and friends. I learned that several people on my mother’s side of the family—including my mother—were either prediabetic or had Type 2 diabetes. Nobody had ever talked about it, and I had never even through to ask about my family’s medical history.
Now that I knew, and now that they knew I had taken steps to reverse my diagnosis, they reached out for support and coaching. It was a huge step on my journey, one that is perhaps the biggest contributor to who and where I am today.
Reading recommendations
There are a LOT of books out there on diet and physical wellness—these are some of the ones that resonated with me. (For more books on all dimensions of wellness, please see this article.)
The Diabetes Code: Prevent and Reverse Type 2 Diabetes Naturally — Dr. Jason Fung
Metabolical: The Lure and the Lies of Processed Food, Nutrition, and Modern Medicine — Robert Lustig
The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World — Mark Hyman
Body Love: Live in Balance, Weigh What You Want, and Free Yourself from Food Drama Forever — Kelly LeVeque
Click here to read Part 2, which will talk about the remainder of my journey (so far), with discussion about intellectual wellness, organizing, and time management. See you soon!