Wellness Redefined From Diets to Lifestyle Shifts

Have you ever found yourself on the brink of burnout, grappling with the decision to take a step back for your sanity?  This episode is a deep dive into the art of pausing, as my friend Sandy and I open up about the trials left in the wake of COVID-19. We don't just skim the surface; we sink into the grit of physical recuperation, the mental toll, and the financial hurdles that have reshaped our lives. Sandy's resilience shines through as she shares her transformative approach to wellness, moving beyond temporary fixes to a complete lifestyle overhaul.

Turn the volume up for a conversation that celebrates the often-overlooked power of gratitude in our daily lives. We'll unpack the difference between a fleeting diet and a profound lifestyle change, and how to cultivate a mindset that cherishes moderation in all aspects of living.  Join us as we acknowledge the unspoken heroes of mental health: the moments of stillness, the thoughtful reflection, and the embrace of change for a more fulfilled existence.

Chapters

• 0:30 Life Changes and Recovery From COVID
• 7:53 Journey to Wellness and Mindful Eating
• 19:25 Embracing Gratitude and Mental Health

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:30

I need some water. Ja Cradding somewhere to stay, hey, Okay.

Speaker 2: 0:38

Only it's who knows, who knows, who knows, who knows. I just go with a draping, go Sendin' love to my friends and friends. When I'm involved, I'm pissed. We'll be chillin' in the next few days. I'll buy all the books and needs. I'll get the sunshine rivers and trees we need.

Speaker 1: 1:05

When we see, ja, we see your way, just take a least train from the park, we see us say, hey, every month, today, moon up in Las Vegas, I'll leave the park away and let me read a chapter. Today, hey, when the in the city hungry and no eats, I'm food and I'm the food. Treat as a chopper body treat. Hey, to see safe over dinner. Real then Cause what the reason we be there? Who knows.

Speaker 3: 1:29

Who knows, I have no singing voice. But I'm always singing Everyone, everyone. Yes, you're getting a reggae song today.

Speaker 2: 1:44

I've been listening to this song a lot, sendin' love to my friends and friends, sendin' love to my friends, and trees we need.

Speaker 1: 1:52

When do we meet up at the funny room? Just a steam paper, but one is you Like. It's a dream if you got gratitude, so go tell the reggae that can't stop coming through now.

Speaker 3: 2:04

Information you think on your own. Indeed, life is a dream if you have gratitude. I hope you didn't miss that life. Hello everyone. And it's another episode. That song is by ProtoJ and Chronix and it's you Knows.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Who Knows?

Speaker 3: 2:22

not, you Knows.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Who.

Speaker 3: 2:23

Knows. I tell you old age is a thing. Hey, my words get mixed up every time, but I am here. It's been a week. It was a weird week In that in the middle of a busy week, I stopped people.

Speaker 3: 2:43

I stopped. I woke up on Wednesday morning. I wasn't feeling sick, I wasn't aching, I just felt like Like flat-lined, like I didn't feel like doing anything. It wasn't depression. I was just at that point, tipping point, and I made the decision to stop.

Speaker 3: 3:19

And the first thing I did was I sent out a text to my Eitel lunch club To say there's no lunch service tomorrow or Thursday, because I knew I was not going to get my things to do this for Wednesday done, which means I have to do them on Thursday, which means there is no lunch club. And surprisingly, I felt so much guilt about it because I'm like you, know people's routine. I'm encouraging them to change their lifestyle but at the same time, if I pushed myself to go to the kitchen and do the lunch club and do everything, that energy would get in the food. I am kidding you not, it would get in the food. Everythings would go wrong. That it's just stupid, I know, and I'm like after. I'm like. You know what is the right thing to do.

Speaker 3: 4:18

And I'm now at Friday. It's a Friday evening. You got a reggae song and, trust me, when I got up this morning I felt so good, I've gotten so much done. Today I still haven't left the house to go anywhere, but I've been very productive and sometimes that's what you need to do Just stop and just chill. But guess what? I'm not alone this evening. I have my friend Sandy here with me. She's here at Aito retreat and we've been talking and I thought that a conversation with Sandy is worthwhile. I think not only the conversation would be beneficial to everyone who you know, I promote lifestyle changes, not dieting, not radical, just subtle changes that translate slowly and become a full time habit. And, oh, junior, hi, yeah, hi, it's so funny. I'm sorry. My other friend, junior, is also here, so she passed by and so I had to say hi. You know how I go, but we're having a conversation with Sandy, so, sandy, tell everyone.

Speaker 4: 5:44

Hi there, I'm from Toronto, I'm Sandy, like Lorraine said, and I second everything that Lorraine said about sometimes. You just got to take a little bit of time off for yourself.

Speaker 3: 5:58

That's why she's at Aito retreat. So Sandy was telling me about her experience during COVID and I know we keep referring back to that because but whether we like it or not, it is a defining period in our life history, especially our wellness history, because it had to do with our health, not just physical but mental, and in a lot of ways, a lot of us are still in recovery. I know I am. I'm not even going to pretend I'm still recovering financially, I think, even though I've achieved that so much and my, my lifestyle has changed, which means my income streams have changed, which means I've had to adjust a few things, some in a good way.

Speaker 3: 6:55

But we're all in recovery. We're all in recovery from people who we know have been affected, really was really affected badly, health wise, they lost friends, they lost family, they they lost health. You know people are still suffering from long COVID just a whole gamma. And when Sandy and I were talking, she was talking about her experience during COVID and then, coming out of COVID, how it led her to decided to make a total lifestyle change for her total well-being, not just physically but mentally. And so I'm going to let Sandy tell us in her own words about what she did during COVID and what. When did she make the decision to adjust and what she did to adjust, and how is she feeling now?

Speaker 4: 7:54

So during COVID I had actually had been working at home already for 15 years, so that part didn't change for me. The thing that changed for me is I had other people in the house now who wanted to have breakfast, lunch and dinner and I was doing a lot of cooking. There were two kinds of people, I think, in COVID One's that got really healthy and bought gyms and stuff and put them into their house. And then there was the ones like me that is a foodie and wanted to decide it was a good idea for me to write a cookbook at that time and put on my recipes down and at the end of it I gained about 70 pounds, certainly wasn't happy with myself. It led to depression and mental, you know, affected me mentally.

Speaker 4: 8:46

Now, coming out of it, I've lost 40 pounds. I realized that that's the key to my happiness, you know, being healthy, eating properly. You know eating to live rather than living to eat. So I've got a bit of a ways to go. I've got about 25 pounds to go, but I know I'm in a better mindset than I was and I'm eating healthy and I'm feeling better and I'm not letting my tongue decide what I should put in my body. I'm using my head, yes. So that's my journey and that's kind of how I found Lorraine, because I've been to Turks many times, I've never done an accommodation like this and I went. This is exactly what I need, and when I got here and saw the place and met Lorraine, I knew I made the right choice.

Speaker 3: 9:47

One of the things that you just said to me this evening that it's still plain in my head that you emphasize to people that you're not on a diet. Yes, and that is such a thing, that's such an important thing for you to do yeah, it's a lifestyle, because people just think they don't think anything. When you're eating everything, you know everything under the sun. And I'm not saying I mean, if you're writing a cookbook, you weren't necessarily eating bad food, but you were probably eating a lot of food and not having a lot of physical activity.

Speaker 3: 10:22

Absolutely. Your metabolic rate slowed down because one you were confined for a bit. Sedatory, yeah, sedatory every day and so that led to gaining weight, and, of course, we're women, so anything that changes in our thing, it goes to our hips, absolutely it goes to our hips. It's like whoo, and what I would like to know is, though at what point was there something that that triggered you that said okay, I've gained some defunds. I don't like this. Was there a defining moment for you?

Speaker 4: 11:07

Yeah, I think it was a. It was a mental thing. So I wasn't happy with the way I looked. It was, you know, the whole COVID thing and being isolated and all that stuff, and I just I just said this is it Like, this is not the life I want to live. I want to get healthy. I'm obviously getting up in my ears now and now's, you know, now's the time to do it. Yeah, if never, it's now. So that was kind of the defining moment and as I lost the weight, my mental health, got better, and the more I lose, the more my mental hit.

Speaker 4: 11:47

Like I strongly believe, your body and your mental health, they go hand in hand. At least for me. And yeah, so I mean I think the whole you know premises of eating to live rather than living to eat is the way it was intended.

Speaker 3: 12:06

That's the way it should be. Yes, yes, it's people. One of the things I tell people that when you're eating, I always stress about mindful eating. I never promote any form of diet because I truly believe that people everyone's chemical makeup is different, so food is gonna affect each person differently. So this diet and that diet is not forever, it's never for everyone, and so I always tell people just eat mindfully, everything in moderation. If you want to have a slice of cake, have a slice of cake. Just don't have a slice of cake every day. Yeah.

Speaker 3: 12:55

For the whole cake at once If you can't get up and say you're never having carbs, ever. Your body needs carbs, your kidneys, your heart, you need carbs. People are cutting carbs. I was thinking you know I need to cut out carbs and they're doing damage to their body, but they're losing weight.

Speaker 4: 13:18

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 13:19

And then I've seen situations where people have collapsed. They've been on this wellness kick, they've lost all this weight and they're doing these, going hard, and people are like, but you've gotten so healthy and you lost all this weight and no, but if he was on a diet that was cut, he cut, he went cold turkey and removed every form of carb. His heart got weak.

Speaker 4: 13:49

Diets end. That's the thing Diets end eventually. You can't be on a diet, your entire life A lifestyle is forever.

Speaker 3: 13:56

That's why I always stress wellness is a lifestyle. It is a lifestyle whether you're working on physical or mental health, or emotional health. It's a lifestyle. I tell people. It's for emotional health, you know, you remove yourself from situations if you can. For mental health, you take up activities, find a hobby, Find something you love, regardless, no matter how silly it is. One of the things I've done I decided like two years ago I remembered the joy that came from playing vinyl, vinyl records.

Speaker 4: 14:39

Oh nice.

Speaker 3: 14:40

And a year and a half ago I started. I was here. I remember that everything was at my mom's house in Jamaica. I don't even know where it is, I don't know if it's in storage, I don't know if she threw them out, I don't know anything. And I bought a vinyl record player. I noticed it when I came in and I started collecting vinyl to the point where Christmas just gone, what I bought myself for Christmas was for new vinyl records.

Speaker 3: 15:17

Good for you, and trust me, it is. It can become a very expensive hobby, but with those four new vinyl records I spent $100. And it brought me so much joy. Well, that's the important part it brought me so much joy. So when I say find a hobby, find something you enjoy and work it into your lifestyle, and you don't have to do it for anyone else but yourself. You're not eating for others, you're eating for yourself, and it's an amazing thing when it clicks, when something clicks and you realize this is good and you feel good at it. Your cookbook, though. I suspect that when you get back to finishing it, you're going to approach it in a totally different mindset.

Speaker 4: 16:22

You're right. Like I mentioned to you I think I talked in the other day. I know it's whole grains, everything's got to be whole grain, but pasta is whole grain. If it's rice, it's whole grain, and that's not the way I cooked before. But, having researched it and looked into it, that's the best thing for you. And why would you want it not to be whole grain?

Speaker 3: 16:46

Yeah, and I'm thinking, if you're remembering all your grandmother's recipes, being able to translate that into making it a healthier, more mindful version of it is a gift that you can then pass on to your kids and your grandkids. So I'm looking forward to that completed.

Speaker 2: 17:15

Me too.

Speaker 3: 17:18

Oh, my goodness, this has been so nice. So you've heard from Sandy and you've heard me, and we're not going to be hanging around forever and ever. We're going to play our song again. Sometimes I'm glad I don't do video, because if you do, some of the things and expressions that take place while I'm supposed to be trying to do this, so we're going to leave you and we're going to play the entire song, because it's a fun song. This time, listen to the words and enjoy it, and see you next time on. Am I there Yet? A Journey to Wellness.

Speaker 2: 18:07

Good night, I just go with a trapping blues. Trending love to my friends and folks and I suppose I'm pleased to be tillin' in the west in this that provide all my wants and needs. I got the sunshine rivers and trees we need to move away.

Speaker 1: 18:32

When we see jami, see your way, just take a leap straight from the progress. See, I say every man to them on a philosophy, I leave the proper way, and then we read a chapter night when the inner city agree and not eat, I'm fooded on a country that's a chopper for the three dead. To see Separatino. Real, then, is what the reason remain.

Speaker 2: 18:56

Who knows, who knows who knows who knows, I just go with a trapping blues, trending love to my friends and folks and I suppose I'm pleased to be tillin' in the west in this that provide all my wants and needs.

Speaker 1: 19:13

I got the sunshine rivers and trees we need to move away when the rain beats up on the roof Curb just a steam paper. But fun is cute Like it's a dream. If you got gratitude, so go tell the regime. They can't stop what we do now. Information you think on your own Are reserved to the things that you know.

Speaker 3: 19:36

You like that? What do you know if you can't ever change? We need to move away from your poor life things where you're sad, Watch your thoughts be present. That's a mental health statement.

Speaker 2: 19:46

Right there, I just go with a trapping blues, trending love to my friends and folks and I suppose I'm pleased to be tillin' in the west in this. That provide all my wants and needs. I got the sunshine rivers and trees.