Greenheart Wellness featured in the Chicago Examiner online.
Greenheart Wellness was featured in the Chicago Examiner's online Women's Health section today. You can find the full article here and the behind the scenes Q+A that led to the article below.
Q: Who is Greenheart geared toward and why is it important?
A: I started Greenheart Wellness to reach women (mostly in their 20’s and 30’s) who struggle with issues around food, weight and body image.
With our society focusing more and more on healthy living, we’re constantly bombarded with messages that we need to be doing more – we need to eat more kale, drink more green juice, spend more time in the gym. And while I think eating whole foods is super important, the underlying premise of those messages is that where we’re at isn’t good enough… we are not good enough.
Because of that, a lot of intelligent women are struggling to take care of themselves. They’re fighting their desires, refusing to meet themselves where they’re at and forcing themselves to go where they think they should be – with their bodies, with food and ultimately in other areas of their life.
I really wanted to create a wellness company that took a different approach and worked with women to help them understand that they are perfect and whole exactly as they are. Most women will never hear that from another human being in their entire life. Once that message is reinforced and they can truly embrace it for themselves, a shift will occur. They’ll begin to take care of their health, not because society tells them they should be skinny, but because they believe they deserve to get the most out of life. They’ll find more of a balance and get in-tune with the foods and forms of exercise that work best for their body. More often than not, that won’t be an extreme diet or long hours in the gym.
Q: I see that you offer in-home cooking lessons, as well (super awesome). What kinds of recipes do you focus on? What about those who don’t cook well? Can they still follow the recipes?
A: Coaching people on how to make delicious meals out of whole foods is one of the things I'm most excited to do with Greenheart Wellness. Being a successful cook doesn't require fancy tools or special skills, just a willingness to learn. With the private in-home lessons, my goal is to demystify the process and make it as simple as possible so that even people who are picking up a knife for the first time will feel confident navigating the kitchen after I’m gone.
Q: I know your primary focus is on food and emotional well-being. What about the fitness aspect of well-being? I know you’re big on yoga so I was wondering if that’s incorporated into your focus in any way.
A: Physical activity is crucial to our sense of wellbeing and is an essential form of self-care. With that being said, a lot of women who are compulsive eaters are also compulsive exercisers. So, at times, the work might be to see what life looks like when they spend less time exercising. During that process, I help them identify and incorporate more gentle forms of exercise in a way that is sustainable and balanced.
