Holistic Nutrition - Making Cooking Allergy and Autoimmune Friendly Meals Easy with Amanda Love

In this episode I am joined by Amanda Elise Love, a registered holistic nutritionist and fibromyalgia overcomer. Amanda shares her journey from a sickly child to battling fibromyalgia at 20, and how this led her to a career in holistic nutrition, helping others cook simple, allergy-friendly, and healthy meals. She emphasizes the importance of addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual health collectively and discusses her approach to personalized nutrition and wellness coaching.

Additionally, Amanda offers insights into the significance of addressing trauma for overall well-being, how to encourage healthy eating habits at any age, and the multiple aspects of wealth beyond financial status. 

Connect with Amanda in her Facebook Group, Physical, Emotional, Health Secrets with Amanda Love.

Transcript

Magic Barclay: 1:00

Welcome back to a magical life. I'm your host magic Barclay. And today Amanda, Elise love joins us. Amanda love is a registered holistic. Nutritionist who teaches women how to cook simple but delicious, allergy friendly, healthy meals and to integrate a holistic approach through mind, body, and spirit. Amanda also has a long history of illness which culminated with the diagnosis of fibromyalgia at the age of 20 back in 2010 which caused debilitating pain And affected other aspects of her life because of this. She made it her life mission to teach others how to cook allergy friendly food and lead a holistic life. She holds a diploma as a registered holistic nutritionist and certifications in gut health. Culinary nutrition and more. Amanda is the host of the podcast, physical, emotional health secrets, which has reached over 130 episodes. She's also been featured as a guest on over 70 podcasts and TV shows such as biz TV. She also has been a speaker at many summits and panels. Cross the world. And finally, Amanda is co author of the book trauma to triumph. Welcome Amanda.

Amanda Love: 2:25

Thank you so much for having me.

Magic Barclay: 2:27

My pleasure. Now, what got you into holistic nutrition?

Amanda Love: 2:34

Yeah, what got me into nutrition was the fact that I grew up a very, very sick child. I. Constantly, constantly, constantly was having sinus infections, sore throats, when I was sick, I would be sick for 10 days at a time. I missed so much school and like, I just didn't know what was going on. And adding the fact my parents divorced when I was six and my dad remarried when I was eight years old. And going over there was very mentally not good. So, as a, you think of as an A2, almost 14 years old, that's a lot of stress every single weekend and stuff. And I can look back at it now and be like, okay, that played a part in why. I was so sick. And when I was 14, we moved to Arizona. I was born in California. And I got less sick, but I was still sick every 4 to 6 weeks. Antibiotics. And fast forward, out of high school, I completed personal training program, and I just loved nutrition. Like, from like, 10 years old, I think, I was like, I was into the walking DVDs, I'm a 90s child, so the video cassettes. But, I also was like, I knew you had to eat healthy, like I, I don't know where that came from. Oh, I think it came from, there was this TV show, and I believe they had it in Australia too, but it was The Biggest Loser, and I think they had it across the world. It's a show where and these people are like 400 to 300, they're really overweight, and it was all about losing weight, but now I can look back at it and be like, that's a horrible way, for people to lose weight, but like, I was just addicted to that show. And it always started around my birthday, and I have a January 5th birthday. So, when I did the personal training program out of high school, I completed it. And all of a sudden I turned 20. And I just couldn't get out of bed. I was so fatigued, I was so pained, I was so exhausted. And fast forward to 10 months, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and I was only 20 years old.

Magic Barclay: 5:16

Yes, we did have Biggest Loser here. It was worldwide. TV show, and I think love it or hate it, it actually did spur people on to go, oh, wow, what I'm actually putting in my body matters, you know, it's something we all heard and kind of blocked out. So it did have it's, it's positive reach.

Amanda Love: 5:37

Yeah, and it's funny because I, that, it started when I was 14 years old and it went for like so many seasons in the US and I just was like, love that show and I was like very into the trainers and like I got their DVDs and like I was super into it and I think that sort of spurred on my love for health and fitness too and stuff, but I also took a nutrition course in high school And I loved nutrition. And I also was like, I am not very tall. So I'm like under five, three. And I never played sports, but my senior year of high school, I was like, I'm going to do weight training. And, but of course they didn't teach you how to do weights. They just let you do whatever. So I just did the treadmill cause I was intimidated, but I. Did wait a little bit at home, but I really got into weights when I did the personal training program and stuff But I think a lot of people it's like health is the last thing they want to do But it should be your biggest, like your, your number one thing that you should make a priority for, I feel like.

Magic Barclay: 7:03

Definitely. Now, Amanda, what can your expertise do to accelerate health? We're not just talking to physical, but also emotional and spiritual health.

Amanda Love: 7:14

Yeah, I think that's my expertise is the fact that like I tell people I Dealt with fibromyalgia, so I couldn't get out of bed. I was in so much pain So fatigue and I tell people you don't want to get to a point where you're like that You don't want to do that and like I've told people Okay, so what exactly do we need to work on today? Might be different from somebody else. We're all very different people. we're all in different stages. So, my sister is, has a 7 month old and a 3 year old, so she's nursing. So, what she needs, and she's married, is different from me. Who's two years older, but doesn't have kids and is dating someone. So I think knowing, okay, you might need to work on different things. And that's where I come in. I might help you with. Example would be, okay, let's start with meal prepping. Can we start cooking healthier meals? Or maybe we need to work on just lowering our stress levels getting better sleep. I think people need to realize it's not a one size fits all approach.

Magic Barclay: 8:44

Definitely. Now we also. I really like to delve into wealth here. People think wealth is just the financial, like just the bank balance or net worth or whatever, but it's also personal and emotional wealth. So what would be three top tips that you have for creating wealth? I

Amanda Love: 9:04

I think personally, I think it's very important to, is to deal with the trauma. I think that's the thing. You wanna be your healthiest per for around you. And you can't be healthy and you can't make money if that's your goal, or whatever your goal is. if you're still dealing with the trauma things. Cause the trauma, I always find, catches up to you, right? I think a big thing is, can you slow down? and I had to learn this lesson this year, but slowing down and the fact of, like, do you have to have your mind always going with things? Or can you actually just Lay down on your couch and not have your mind going with 50 things you have to do, but just relaxing and stuff, relaxing, I feel like. Even when we lay on the couch, it's not really relaxing because we're watching, usually watching a TV show, right? for me, I think it's also spiritually, what can you do in your life that is It brings you closer to whatever you believe. Um, I'm a Christian. So, but like, is that time incorporated into your life also?

Magic Barclay: 10:33

And finally, we talk about weight loss here and sometimes, you know, there's some autoimmune going on and nutrition alone isn't enough to lose weight. Have you ever battled with your weight? If so, what did you find worked and what can you offer the listeners who might just. Be, you know, on that stress rollercoaster, which contributes to their weight.

Amanda Love: 10:58

Yeah. So as growing up, I always was like, I'm curvier. I'm more, you know what I mean? I was just like, and my sister was a couple inches taller, right? So she's three inches taller and she's just always been slender. Right. And I feel like I always has been at a healthy weight, but I realized, like a year ago, I stopped caring. I was like, the scale, stopped working, and I was like, And I just, I think that's the thing too, is I want people to realize, okay, if you're dealing with weight issues, what can we do to figure this out? do you always feel like you have to lose those last 15 to 20 pounds? Or are you able to do things with your kids? Are you actually healthy are you dealing with fatigue, are you dealing with pain, or what is it that you're dealing with where it's like that you might lose that weight, but maybe we should work on the fatigue and the pain first and then see if the weight comes off. And like slowing down is a big thing. So are you slowing down and eating your meals? Or are you in a stressed out state? Cause when we're eating stressed out and we're eating, not sitting down, we don't register that we're actually eating food and stuff like that. And that might be contributing to packing on the pounds.

Magic Barclay: 12:39

Some good points there that really unconscious eating pattern is something that doesn't benefit you at all.

Amanda Love: 12:48

Yeah, and it doesn't benefit, it doesn't benefit us, and I'm guilty, I need to get back into being more strict about eating at the table and stuff. Especially, it's especially hard if you're by yourself and you don't have anyone. To like, keep you accountable to that, but for everybody, I think it's a work in progress. Even if we're in the health space, you're gonna emotionally eat sometimes, and that's okay. And I think that's the thing too, is don't beat yourself up if you're not perfect or you don't eat every single meal at the table. Just start with like one meal a day and then build up from there.

Magic Barclay: 13:35

Now, Amanda, how is it that you work with people? Like how can people benefit from your

Amanda Love: 13:43

guidance? Yeah, so I work with people. I do. One on one services where it's like individualized to tailor to what is your health concerns? Okay, are you dealing with fatigue? Are you dealing with sleep? we might work on Building up your immune system. We might be working on meal prepping and then also I do online cooking classes and in person cooking classes. So wherever you are in the world, you could actually Start to learn how to get better with cooking. Cause I feel like that's one of those things where a lot of people nowadays, they just don't know how to cook. It's crazy. Even people, my generation. I don't know how to cook.

Magic Barclay: 14:35

Agreed. I make a point of teaching my sons to cook at least a few basic healthy meals, because it's something that my generation, we all learned as children, but I realized my son's generation. They haven't. So I really do think that is something that's very important when we're raising our, our young people is to really help them learn those skills of self

Amanda Love: 15:04

sufficiency. Exactly. And I, and I like my sister does that with her two kids. And when I was visiting them, she was like the three year old was like, Oh, I want a milkshake, but a milkshake is just like a smoothie with like almond. Milk and like it was just healthy chocolate cocoa powder, but she thought it was a Shake with like, you know ice cream and stuff like that She didn't sit no, but like just teaching your little ones to eat healthy I feel like it's such a big thing and something I'm very passionate about because like They will follow suit and like the two year old eats exactly what her parents eat and she doesn't know any different and stuff like that. I think that's the thing too. If you start them super young, then they're not going to want those sugary things and they'll probably say no when they go to school and stuff or they won't have it as much.

Magic Barclay: 16:11

So that takes me straight to my next question. We're talking all about. Making nutritious meals that are allergy friendly, autoimmune friendly, like really helping people rather than holding them back. How should we language, not only to kids, but to adults, the need. Or I guess the benefits of nutritious and balanced meals. Now, without seeming like we're preaching, how do we say, well, this helps you rather than just feeds

Amanda Love: 16:48

you? I feel like the thing is I think you don't have to tell kids, Oh, this is healthier. It feeds you. It's make it just taste good for kids. I think it's a big thing. And then you could say, Oh. it has this benefit and stuff like that to tell them the benefits of why they're eating it Oh, it's benefit because It helps you with your energy or it helps you sleep better and stuff like that. And then if kids are eating horrible, having the kids, if they're at a certain age, just be like, okay, how are you feeling today? And then letting them see, okay. I feel bad because I ate a chocolate cookie, but telling them it's okay to eat these things once in a while. It's, we don't want to get into a habit where kids just feel horrible if they eat something bad and then they go to their friends and it just, like, they don't feel good about doing it. Kids need to enjoy food, and we all need to enjoy food, and I think as grown ups, we beat ourselves up if we have a cupcake. Okay, it's one cupcake, and what have you else eaten the rest of the week? You've been in Burley Holly the whole week, but you're gonna beat yourself up because you had one cupcake. That doesn't make sense.

Magic Barclay: 18:21

Exactly. Now we've covered a fair bit here already. What is something we haven't talked about that you feel the listeners need to hear?

Amanda Love: 18:30

I think the biggest thing is realizing, food might not be the first step. And that's a big thing I talk about too, or it might, but I also talk about the fact that, okay, what? Is going on in your life and for me two years ago, it was okay. I was going through a season of grief. So that was the thing for me was taking a grief course on zoom because we're going, we were back in COVID times, right? But like taking a grief course and learning. Okay, I need to get through this grief. And then early last year, they asked me again if I wanted to do it and I was like, no, because I was past that stage. And I think that's the thing too, is different parts of your life, you're gonna go through different things. Last year, it was like home environment stuff and just, I had to leave and move to a new state by myself and start from scratch. And then pretty much this whole year, except for maybe the last month, a lot of it was a lot of new changes, but it was also getting through the, the trauma stuff that I had from childhood. And I think that's the thing too, where we got to deal with our childhood trauma because we can't be in healthy relationships. If we have like traumas still that we're holding on to and I had to let go of two friendships This year and stuff like that and like so you have to deal with the trauma It's a big thing

Magic Barclay: 20:29

Definitely now Amanda. We love freebies here. What can you offer the listeners? And where can I find it?

Amanda Love: 20:39

Yeah, so I am offering a free cooking class. And so if you just send me a message and my email is amandaeliselove at gmail. com. That way you could actually come join an online cooking class.

Magic Barclay: 20:59

Fantastic. And where can people find you? Are you on Instagram, Facebook? Do you have a website? Let us know.

Amanda Love: 21:06

Yeah, so I have a Facebook group and it's called Physical Emotional Health Secrets. I have a Facebook, which is Amanda Elise Love and my podcast is Physical Emotional Health Secrets.

Magic Barclay: 21:25

Brilliant. Definitely get on to those, please, listeners. Amanda, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you so much for having me. It's my pleasure. Listeners jump onto that. Holistic nutrition is for all, and it doesn't need to be complicated. Amanda can show you exactly how to implement it into your life for a healthier life, but for now, go forth and create your magical life.