pixabay hearts

SOLE food | SOUL food

At the end of 2016, I shifted my health coaching practice from focusing almost entirely on secondary foods—what we put in our mouths—to primary foods—everything else in our lives that nourishes us (or doesn’t).

pixabay keyboardI also set a goal of blogging once a week rather than once a month (or so) and sending my post out by email to my list. It’s been a year since then, and I’m happy to report I am one week away from achieving that goal. Thanks to those of you who regularly read and comment and send me replies by email—in a world where you have plenty of choices for where you find your information and inspiration, I’m touched and deeply honored.

As we move into 2018, I will be narrowing the scope of my practice even more, and this is reflected in the vision and mission I have articulated as follows:

vision

My work is grounded in the belief that women can live happy, healthy lives, meeting all their obligations and honoring their own wildest, sweetest dreams.

mission

I support women 40+ who feel that the only way out of their overscheduled lives involves a plane ticket, a wad of cash, and a change of identity. I coach them in identifying and interrupting the patterns that contribute to their overwhelm and in establishing simple, sustainable new habits that will help them not just survive but thrive in what—contrary to popular belief—can be the happiest, healthiest decades of our lives.

pixabay hearts

from SOLE food to SOUL food

Coaching clients in identifying what secondary foods serve them best will remain an important part of my work; after all, we are what we eat—what we ingest literally becomes our bones, muscles, blood, etc. I don’t recommend a specific style of eating—Paleo, Vegan, Keto, etc.—other than encouraging you to eat whole, SOLE foods.

If you’re just finding my blog, I hope you’ll read the series of posts on SOLE food, in which I mention my idea that the primary foods equivalent to SOLE food must be SOUL food. Thanks to the inspiration of you, my hivemind, I think I’ve finally figured it out!

  • = seasonal: honoring the season of life in which we find ourselves
  • O = organic: fundamental or basic, forming an integral element of the whole, organized
  • U = unique: celebrating our bio-individuality
  • L = loving: self-honoring, serving our best health and highest good

pixabay earbudsI’ll be blogging more about this in January of 2018, but if you want to start exploring it a bit now, dig into episode 3 of my friend Andrea Catherine’s new podcast, Fearless Self-Love, where she and her guest, Sara Hughes-Zabawa, explore the value of self-care. I especially love Sara’s comments on how the season of our lives often serves as a barrier to rather than the inspiration for our self-care.

Andrea’s podcast is just getting off the ground, and it’s quickly become one of my favorites: each episode combines a simple “easeful living” practice, a loving conversation with a creative and/or wellness practitioner, and a courageous self-love tip that comes out of the conversation. (Full disclosure: I’ll be appearing in a future episode.)

I’m off to honor my own need for SOUL food during this season—spending some quality time with family and in the kitchen. (Yup, that’s why I’m blogging at 5:30am on Christmas Eve!)

I’m grateful for your presence in my online family, and I wish you all a peaceful SOLE-food and SOUL-food filled holiday season. As a friend posted on Facebook, Happy Everything to Everyone Everywhere.

Comments

  1. Marine Yanikian-Sutton

    I think this shift from SOLE food to SOUL food is the premise for your second book! I especially love the way you define the SOUL acronyms. Can’t wait to hear the podcast.

    1. Elizabeth Baker

      LOL—you know what happened last time somebody told me, “You should write a book….” Perhaps it can be in our co-authored volume?

    1. Elizabeth Baker

      Thanks, Carlton—looking forward to collaborating in 2018!

Comments are closed.