Shows
Sober & Lit PodcastIntoxicating Alcohol Lies with Meg Geisewite / EP 98Is wine culture keeping you stuck—and lying to you? In this episode of the Sober & Lit podcast, Ruby and Susan sit down with Meg Geisewite, author of Intoxicating Lies, to unpack the myths women are sold about drinking. From “mommy needs wine” memes to emotional manipulation masked as self-care, we explore the dangerous messages keeping women locked in gray area drinking—and how to break free.Meg shares her raw story of alcohol dependence, recovery, and empowerment, while diving deep into the science, shame, and social pressures surrounding female drinking culture...
2025-11-2543 min
Create Your FateEP207: Menopause, Perimenopause & Hormones: Myths Busted and What Your Doctor Never Told You | Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith"If you feel something’s different, it’s different. Don’t let someone tell you it isn’t—you know your body better than anyone else." — Dr. Susan Hardwick-SmithIn this episode:The real difference between perimenopause and menopause (and why even doctors often don’t know it).How misinformation from a 2002 study derailed women’s health for decades.The role of hormone therapy in preventing not just symptoms, but long-term disease.What to look for—and avoid—when choosing a practitioner for menopause care.Get your free 7-day trial to the FateCreator life coaching app!...
2025-08-271h 13
Meg's Reading RoomEp 76: Sharing Books and Whimsy with SusanWelcome in! I'm so glad you're here with me.On today's episode, I am spending time with my friend, Susan.Susan is a mom, military spouse, and lifelong reader sharing books and whimsy on her bookstagram account, @what.susan.reads.Mentioned in this episode:American Girls Collection : MollyThe Royal Diaries: Anastasia HomecomingThe Worst Witch The Best Christmas Pageant EverKristin HannahAtmosphere - AudiobookJulia WhelanThe Oxford YearHenry HugginsThe IncorruptiblesThe Whisperwicks SeriesLibrary GirlThe SwiftsThe Marlow Murder ClubMilitary Mom CollectiveAnne of Green GablesPremeditated MyrtleConnect with me on Instagram @megsreadingroom & @megscollectingcornerC...
2025-08-2029 min
Empowering Midlife Wellness with Dr. SusanActivating Happiness Through Menopause & Beyond: Retreat Details with Dr. SusanIf you’ve been thinking about joining us this November in Costa Rica, I made this short video to walk you through what the retreat actually looks and feels like — from where we’re staying to what each day includes. This experience was created with you in mind — women navigating the beautiful, complex chapter of midlife. Women who are ready to carve out space for joy, rest, and deeper connection — not just with others, but with themselves. You don’t need to come with a friend.
You don’t need to know anyone ahead of time. You just have to be open to say...
2025-07-1733 min
Aggressively Human: Online Business in the Age of AI, Algorithms & AutomationsEscaping Default Decisions: Designing a Calmer Business with Susan BolesIn the constant push for growth, productivity, and squeezing every ounce of output from our businesses, we rarely stop to ask: What if the goal isn’t to do more? What if it’s to create more space?Operating at 150% capacity might feel like the norm, but that’s only because we’re operating with what Susan Boles calls “default decisions.” Instead, what if we focused on building businesses with margin. Yes financial margins, but going beyond those margins to include emotional and energetic margins?“When you broaden your definition of margins, it gives your business a lot...
2025-02-2753 min
Life's too short to count almondsS5 Ep4 : Everything is connectedToday we chat gut health.
We explore the different things that impact out gut, why jumping straight to restriction or elimination of certain foods or a low FODMAPs diet is not recommended. We touch on prebiotics, probiotics and the impact of trauma or out emotional state on our gut functioning.
A couple of gut health specialist dietitians we like are Marnie founder of Fork That and Joanna at Everyday Nutrition.
We also mention this episode of The Imperfect's Podcast with Professor Felice Jacka.
The best things Meg ate this week were...
2024-11-0653 minLife's too short to count almondsS5 Ep3: Are you scared by Halloween lollies?Today we chat Halloween.
Celebrating Halloween continues to grow in popularity and both Meg & Susan have had some positive community experiences that have changed their minds a bit on Halloween.
We share how we deal with lolly overload in our homes, talk about our favourite sweets and as always share the best thing we've eaten this week.
Resources mentioned include The Gamer Educator Instagram account.
2024-10-3037 minLife's too short to count almondsS5 Ep 1 : We're Back For One Short Final SeasonWe're back and we have some news.
After 2 years creating, podcasting and running courses we have decided to stop...for now. We're not sure how long but we both need a bit more time back to focus on our other commitments. We've loved this adventure and hope it has been helpful to thoses who have come along with us.
Favourite things this week - Recipetin Beef Biryani - it's a book exclusive but there's a chicken biryani recipe on the website.
If you're in Narooma check out Honorbread Bakery and Lynches Pub.
2024-10-1635 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 E10 When 'Weightloss Experts' try to talk about body dissatisfaction (Part 1)Just s short episode today, we squeezed in recording this just before watching a webinar on body dissatisfaction.
Entitled ' What to do When Kids Don't Like their Bodies' you would think as Eating Disorder Dietitians we'd be thrilled that more people are talking about this issue. We usually would be.
Unfortunately the 'Special Guest Expert' is not a clinician, not a psychologist but a 'weightloss expert' and 'obesity researcher'.
As soon as Meg saw it advertised she immediately reached out to the host (a parenting expert with a background in education) to...
2024-09-1919 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep9 Weighing kids in school? Hard no.You may have seen in the news that a report has been released by the Australian College of Nursing making the recommendation put more nurses in school (great) to weigh kids (not great.)
Thankfully the pushback has been swift, clear, measured and evidence based and we share our thoughts on the idea. We thought Dr Kyla's response and The Embrace Hub response on The Project were both great ***trigger warning for stigmatising images in the edit***
The Mexican Corn Salad recipe Meg mentioned can be found here, it's delicious.
2024-09-1144 min
Life's too short to count almondsS4 Ep7 : Life's Too Short To Watch "Shockumentaries" in SchoolThis week's episode features Susan's middle and youngest daughters, and their takes on watching That Sugar Film in PE. In a shocking turn of events Susan's youngest daughter got in the car one day last week after school and said "Guess what WE watched today" and sure enough it was That Sugar Film.
Argh, this film refuses to disappear. A heightened conversation ensued!
We thought it might be interesting to recreate the conversation minus Susan's swearing. The interview is in two parts as it was harder than it should have been to get everyone all i...
2024-08-2829 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep6 : The 'real' history of the Mediterranean DietWe have a short (and high energy) chat for you today. We took the opportunity of being in the same room to record an episode straight off the back of our live "Diet Culture Spring Clean" webinar.
We chat about an episode of the 'The Rest is History' podcast about the history of Italian food which is very different to the myths and assumptions that are made about it. It's fascinating and you might want to listen to it here.
Meg's favourite thing this week was Recipetin Eats Dahl - cheap, filling, meat-free and delish!
2024-08-2117 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep5 : Stopping Intergenerational Diet CultureToday we chat about how important it is that we don't continue to pass down diet culture from generation to generation but make a change. We have some practical suggestions on how to do this (cough, cough, come to our FREE Diet Culture Home Detox Webinar tonight!) and share some wins that we have experienced or heard about.
We are opening doors to The Non Diet Way TODAY!!!
Check it out here, we'd love to see you inside!
Meg & Susan
2024-08-1428 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep4 : Olympic BodiesAt this goes out we are halfway through the Paris 2024 Olympic games.
There's bodies on display and a lot of body commentary. Some of it is great, positive, inclusive and recognising that 'fit' doesn't have look and celebrating all the amazing things that different bodies can do. But unfortunately, a lot of it is awful. Objectification of both men and women, body shaming, and criticism, so we chat about that. Makingthe most of the good and managing the bad.
We are loving Ilona Maher's instagram posts as well as lots of Olympic themed memes and hu...
2024-08-0735 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep3 : Ramble ChatThis is what happens when we haven't caught up in a while and don't have a topic planned.
We hope you enjoy our chat today, we talk food, cottage cheese getting out of it's scope of practice by pretending to be a wrap and then go off on many tangents.
This is the butter chicken recipe Meg loves even more than 'the one in the book' and this is the braised fennel recipe that was Meg's favourite thing this week, just amazing with grilled lamb (cutlets or chops) dusted with Chinese 5 spice and a little...
2024-07-3146 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep 2 Life's too Short for Food Myths To Run The Show with Dr Emma BeckettWe're thrilled to bring you today's chat with the fabulous Dr Emma Beckett. Food Scientist and Nutrition Scientist, Science communicator and all round excellent human.
We chat about Emma's new book "You are More than What You Eat", how she got into food and nutrition science, her excellent food print clothing style and much more.
You can find Emma on Facebook and Instagram and fabric designer Kasey Rainbow here if you want to make your own food themed clothing!
The Non-Diet Way Round 3 is coming! Click here to jump on the waitlist and ge...
2024-07-2444 minLife's too short to count almondsS4 Ep 1 We're Back! It's Dry July for many so we chat about alcohol.Welcome back to Season 4.
Today we chat about dry July and alcohol consumption in general including the weird rise of 'low carb or low calorie' alcohol beverages being marketed with a 'health halo', cultural factors influencing alcohol consumption and some tips for reflecting on your own relationship with alcohol.
We have a really big few months coming up. We are launching the Non-Diet Way for the last time this year. Click here to sign up for updates for when we launch in August.
Meg's favourite thing this week was Recipetin Falafel - give...
2024-07-1729 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep27 Season Finale - Revisiting Boring SelfcareBack for the final episode before we take a little break we thought it was a good time to revisit 'Boring Self Care'.
We last spoke about this in October last year but in winter and summer we often need different ways to look after ourselves. From skin checks to bulk cooking, from deciding between early morning movement and a bit of extra sleep, we chat about what helps us, especially in school holidays when the routines can be thrown out.
Meg's favourite thing this week was this cake by the fabulous Yotam Ottolenghi closely...
2024-06-2641 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 26 We Watched so You Don't Have ToToday we share our reflections after watching 'That Sugar Film'.
Yep, we sat down and donated 90 minutes of our life so you don't have to. It was even worse than we expected. Please do not let your kids watch this movie. If you haven't signed the petition to get this awful movie out of Australian schools please do that here.
This was the restaurant where Susan had her birthday dinner and Meg's breakfast wrap was from here and we highly recommend making this carrot cake. Delicious!!
Jump on the waitlist for our next r...
2024-06-1936 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 24 Dietitians Unite?Today we chat about a recent Dietitians conference that we attended. It was a mixed bag and the ongoing clash of weight centric and weigh inclusive ways of practicing was obvious once again.
We also talk about our change.org petition we have just started to make some noise and try to have 'That Sugar Film' removed from being showed in classrooms across the country. Is remains listed as a 'key resource' in the Australian Curriculum and it has to go!
Please sign and share the petition that you can find here.
Susan...
2024-06-0549 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep22 That is not TiramisuIs it rage bait or disordered eating?
Today we chat about social media....again! Yep, it's a constant source of topics, interest, joy and well, rage. The constant trend of people trying to make 'healthy' versions of classic food. This week it was a horrible looking concoction of rice cakes, yoghurt and cocoa to make 'Tiramisu'...no thanks! .
But what can we learn from it and other social media trends, and, as we are in the middle of running our Non-Diet program for parent's of teens how can we use content like that as part of...
2024-05-2928 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep19 What Food Stories (Lies?) Are In your Head?Today we chat about the stories we can tell ourselves about our food behaviour, and how food and body comments, especially about appetite, can get sticky and create harmful beliefs and stories, especially for kids.
We share some examples of times we have heard things come out of our own mouths that on reflection could potentially be unhelpful for our kids. We invite you to be curious about your own food stories and to be careful with any food any body commentary.
This is the Maggie Beer recipe that was Meg's favourite thing this week.
2024-05-0836 minCreate Your FateEP147: Are You In A Drama Triangle? | Dr. SusanIn today's episode, Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith is back to share relationship advice that you will not be able to unhear!This week, we discuss The Drama Triangle, a Conscious Living coaching technique designed to improve your relationships with others...and yourself! Find out how you are writing yourself as the victim (and two other toxic roles) in your life and become the author of your life instead. It's time to write a new story! (One you actually like.)If you are someone who wants to have better relationships with your partner, friends, and even co-workers...
2024-04-1752 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 E17 : Why it matters who is talking about the non-diet approach.Today we chat about our day today when we headed to the University of Wollongong to run a 2 hour workshop on the non-diet approach and weight inclusive care.
We also address a couple of articles recently criticising or critiquing the non-diet movement despite clearly not understanding the approach at all. You can check out Fiona Sutherland's (The Mindful Dietitian) instagram post about the Australian article on her page and a great response to the Washington Post Article here. We're very tired and a bit incoherent but we hope you get something out of this chat!
W...
2024-04-1035 min
The Not Drinking Alcohol Today PodcastSusan Larkin and her journey to finding her authentic self!Have you ever felt the weight of a wine glass tug not just at your hand but your entire life? Susan, our incredible guest and This Naked Mind certified coach, bravely opens up about her transition from stress-induced drinking to a vibrant alcohol-free existence, offering an intimate look at the liberation that comes with breaking free from the bottle. Through her narrative, Susan paints a vivid picture of her past - from her acting days to touring Australia - and how she came to the profound realization that even moderate drinking was dimming her sparkle.Our conversation...
2024-04-0643 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 E16 Is not pursuing weight loss 'doing nothing'?Off the back of Meg's interview on The Happy Families Podcast we dive into some of the nuances of how we see weight inclusive care 'working' in the real world. There was a good question and some discussion on Justin's facebook page that we thought worth exploring.
It was a question about a child in a larger body with low strength and fitness.
Few resources we mention - The Emerging Minds online course (free, targeted at teachers & health professionals but helpful for parents too).
The Size Inclusive Health Promotion resource we mention is h...
2024-04-0338 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 15 How can I reduce UPFs without triggering scarcity mentalityWe got a fantastic listener question this week.
"Hi Meg & Susan, I really enjoyed your perspective on Ultra Processed Foods. It did make me reflect how our family is eating and I was surprised at how high the proportion of these foods is. I'm not worried about them but would like to reduce them but unsure how to do it without feeling restricted or making the kids feel restricted. Do you have any advice?"
So we jump into this topic, and hope you find it helpful.
Meg's favourite thing this week was the...
2024-03-2730 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 14 : Ultra Processed Foods and Meg goes to CostcoToday we dig into the topic of Ultra Processed Foods or UPFs. There's been a lot of noise and chatter on social media and a lot of scary headlines on the back of a large review paper that was published in late February finding associations between UPFs and a wide range of physical and mental illnesses.
So what defines a food as an UPF? To answer this Meg took a deep dive into the NOVA system that is widely used to classify foods into 4 categories from group one; unprocessed or minimally processed, group 2 ; processed culinary ingredients, group 3, p...
2024-03-201h 03
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep14 : Meg's Recipetin Eats Cookbook ChallengeToday we spend the whole episode chatting about Meg's Recipetin Eats Challenge and it's a long one.
In 2023 Meg cooked every single recipe in Nagi Maehashi's incredible debut cookbook 'Dinner'.
Nagi's website was already a favourite 'go to' place for recipes for both of us, it's super accessible, has an amazing variety of cuisines and meals and THEY ALWAYS WORK! So when she released a cookbook it was always going to be great.
We chat about why Meg set herself the challenge and what she learned, how it changed her kitchen, especially her spi...
2024-03-131h 10
STaR Coach Show380: From Inside Out: My Transition from Internal to External Coach with Susan Daniel, ACCMost coaches don’t set out to be coaches. A consistent background among many coaches is the move from some other kind of work where we have grown and developed as human beings before moving into the coaching world. The transition for many coaches involves moving from the corporate sector into entrepreneurship, a journey that has its various challenges and experiences. Whatever your coaching role now and wherever you aspire to go in the future, you’ll find today’s interview to be helpful and informative. Join us!Susan Daniel is a devoted talent development professional who is com...
2024-03-0645 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 12 : When 'Healthy Eating' leads to Poorer Health and WellbeingToday we chat about a phenomenon that we have both seen in our practice. And that is when the drive for the "perfect diet for health" actually completely undermines health and wellbeing. Whether trying to get to the bottom of unpleasant symptoms, achieve a particular aesthetic or to 'be in the best health possible' when people head down a path of excluding foods for pretty much any reason, invariably we see a reduction in most measures of health and wellbeing including dietary quality and social connectedness.
We touch on values, how elite sports can be a risk f...
2024-02-2835 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep11 : A Ham Storm in a TeacupYou may have seen on the news this week a lot of chatter about a 'ham ban' and a 'fairy bread ban' in Western Australian and South Australian schools.
We've done some digging to get to the bottom of the headlines, what the actual situation is, why changes have been made and what it means. (Spoiler alert - ham is not even banned!)
For more background of the 2016 classification of red/processed meats as carcinogenic check this article by Dr Tim Crowe of Thinking Nutrition.
We also touch on some unfortunate reporting and...
2024-02-2137 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 8 Life's too Short to Measure your Life in Numbers with Mari HarrisonToday we chat with fellow dietitian Mari Harrison.
Mari is a non-diet dietitian with lived experience of Type 1 diabetes working with people with eating challenges with diabetes, chronic dieting and after bariatric surgery.
If Mari's 'best thing I ate this week', Joulutorttu, sounds good, check out the recipe she developed especially for our podcast audience!
Check out her 'Am I Hungry ' group programs here.
We mentioned these 2 TED talks - Dr Renee Engeln 'An Endemic of Beauty Sickness' and Dr Michelle May 'Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat'.
2024-01-3142 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep7 : Managing (surviving) holidays, food & routine...or lack of!Back to 'regular programming', we hope you enjoyed out Movement Mini Series, let us know if there is a different 'mini series' topic you'd like us to do.
Today we have a bit of a rambling chat that reflects our headspace by this stage of the holidays. We have loved holidays but we are ready for a return to routine and to some alone time!
We chat about some of the challenges that summer holidays can kick up, especially for parents of teens. This the podcast episode Susan was a guest on to talk about th...
2024-01-2441 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 6 : Life's too Short to Have a Terrible Relationship with Exercise with Nathasha Korbut*******Movement Mini Series********
Welcome to the final in our Movement Mini-series. It's peak 'New Year New You' / New Year's Resolution Season and the diet culture vultures are out in force. So we thought it the perfect time to provide another perspective.
In this series we speak with 5 wonderful Australian Fitness Professionals to provide some support in navigating movement.
Today we chat with the incredible Natasha Korbut, founder of Diverse Personal Training.
We get practical today with Natasha giving us a bunch of fantastic tips for getting moving in a supporting, sustainable, e...
2024-01-2259 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 5 Life's too Short to Have a Terrible Relationship with Exercise with Shreen El Masry*******Movement Mini Series********
Welcome to the fourth episode in our Movement Mini Series.
It's peak 'New Year New You' / New Year's Resolution Season and the diet culture vultures are out in force. So we thought it the perfect time to provide another perspective.
In this series we speak with 5 wonderful Australian Fitness Professionals to provide some support in navigating movement.
Today we speak with Shreen El Masry. Shreen is a body positive writer, personal trainer and intuitive eating counsellor dedicated to helping you find body peace, food freedom and a fun...
2024-01-1742 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 4 : Life's too Short to Have a Terrible Relationship with Exercise with Chloe Sutton*******Movement Mini Series********
Welcome to the third episode in our Movement Mini Series. It's peak 'New Year New You' / New Year's Resolution Season and the diet culture vultures are out in force. So we thought it the perfect time to provide another perspective.
In this series we speak with 5 wonderful Australian Fitness Professionals to provide some support in navigating movement.
Today we speak with Chloe Sutton, Personal Trainer and Founder of The Selfcare Sisterhood. We hear about the positive impact the Movement made on Chloe's Chronic Health Conditions and how that led her t...
2024-01-1545 min
All The Way AliveMeg Wells, Story AlchemistSusan is joined by Megan Wells, Filmmaker + Director, in the first All the Way Alive episode of 2024!Join Susan and Meg, who is also a friend of Susan’s with an interesting “meet cute” back story, while they chat through transitions and life as entrepreneurs. In addition to being a brand entertainment futurist and story alchemist, Meg produces and direct films & commercials, specifically documentaries and multi-episodics that sit at the intersection of brand and entertainment. Meg talks about the process of making stories compelling, and trusting that what she finds interesting, if conveyed in a compelling manner, will i...
2024-01-111h 15
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 3 : Life's Too Short to Have a Terrible Relationship with Exercise with Ellen Masson*******Movement Mini Series********
Welcome to our Movement Mini Series. It's peak 'New Year New You' / New Year's Resolution Season and the diet culture vultures are out in force. So we thought it the perfect time to provide another perspective.
In this series we speak with 5 wonderful Australian Fitness Professionals to provide some support in navigating movement.
Today it's Exercise Physiologist Ellen Masson, founder of Your Movement Space. Ellen is passionate about helping people build (or rebuild) a positive relationship with exercise. Ellen shares about their background that led them to find themself in the...
2024-01-1050 min
Life's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 2 : Life's Too Short To Have a Terrible Relationship With Exercise with Shelley Lask*******Movement Mini Series********
Welcome to the first episode in our Movement Mini Series. It's peak 'New Year New You' / New Year's Resolution Season and the diet culture vultures are out in force. So we thought it the perfect time to provide another perspective.
In this series we speak with 5 wonderful Australian Fitness Professionals to provide some support in navigating movement.
Today, it's Shelley Lask, Personal Trainer and founder of Body Positive Health and Fitness. We chat about her path to becoming a Personal Trainer, the challenges of an industry that so often reinforces...
2024-01-0847 minLife's too short to count almondsS3 Ep 1: Welcome to Season 3!We're back for 2024!
Thanks for joining us, we hope you have had an enjoyable Christmas and New Year. Apologies for the audio glitch at about the 30 minute mark, we get it sorted so please stick with it.
Today we chat about a bit about exercise particularly about the trickiness of The New Year period as diet culture get's it's tendrils in to advertising, conversation and choices.
We also talk about the best food we've eaten since our last podcast. We have a little series in January where we talk to our favourite Australian n...
2024-01-0343 min
Life's too short to count almondsSeason Final : Our 'Christmas Food' chatHappy Christmas!
Today we are chatting Christmas food. Mostly just talking about what we love and how we celebrate with food at this time of year. We also touch on some of the food things we know are challenging for lots of people at this time of year.
Things we mention...
This beautiful podcast episode with singer song writer Gregory Porter. We generally love this podcast but some episodes unfortunately get a bit diet-y and includes weight talk, this episode if great though. Season 1 doesn't have as much but tread carefully if this...
2023-12-1332 minThe Not Drinking Alcohol Today PodcastAn Alcohol-Free Irish Woman Thriving in France?! Meet Coach Susan HodgsonOur guest today, Susan Hodgson, is an Irish coach living in France, who helps expats to drink less and find a welcoming sober community abroad.We discuss how Susan made the choice to step away from alcohol after experiencing anxiety and worried that her alcohol use may be exacerbating it. We also discuss the startling differences between Irish and French drinking cultures and how it can be hard to drink less as an expat when you are trying to find friends and fit into another culture where wine is revered and accompanies every gathering. Finally, we...
2023-12-0950 min
All These PageantryMeet Susan Delano. Elite Ms. Texas Petite 2024You will enjoy this episode with Susan Delano. You can follow her and her pageant journey on IG and FB!
2023-12-0928 minAll These PageantryMeet Susan Delano. Elite Ms. Texas Petite 2024You will enjoy this episode with Susan Delano. You can follow her and her pageant journey on IG and FB!
2023-12-0928 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 30 : Life's too Short to Not Keep Backyard Chickens with CJ SteedmanToday's episode is a bit different. Mostly a good excuse for Meg to pick CJs brains about homesteading and chicken keeping.
We're not tackling a lot of diet culture issues but having a fun, light hearted chat about food, farming, homesteading and backyard chicken keeping with Farmer CJ Steedman.
We chat about different ways to attend to your own food values and priorities, decision making around animal welfare, animals as food and food producers, and some of the wonderful challenges and benefits of growing your own food.
This was a super fun episode...
2023-12-061h 01
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 29 : Keeping eating disorder triggers out of the classroomToday we chat about the activities and tasks done in schools that our clients have identified as triggering, reinforcing or fanning the flames of their eating disorders.
We talk about why we bang on about safe nutrition education, where the risks lie, what to look out for and what to do instead.
We have also developed a resource for teachers so head to our freebies page to download and share with the teachers in your life!
This is the recipe for the best thing Meg ate this week. Enjoy!
2023-11-2943 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 28 : Life's too short to police kids' lunchboxes with Kelly FullertonTotal we talk to School teacher and nutritionist Kelly Fullerton aka 'The Curious Nutritionist'.
Kelly is an experienced primary teacher who has completed further training in nutrition and feeding therapy. She has combined her education and nutrition knowledge to cultivate curious conversations about food with school communities.
Kelly advocates for positive and developmentally appropriate learning experiences about food. She has worked with various community stakeholders in Australia and abroad - schools and other organisations to advise on safe approaches to nutrition education, create curriculum resources as well as teacher and health professional support materials and...
2023-11-2243 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 27 : Talking Body Image with Tweens and Teens.We started working together, doing this podcast and building courses to have a greater impact in the eating disorder space. We love our one on one work, but it's so limited and we want to reach more people.
Recently, Meg has had the opportunity to do this having been invited to get in front 195 primary and high school students in one day running 3 workshops for the first time since 2019.
So what has change? Why is a dietitian mostly talking about body image rather than food and nutrition and how on earth do you manage sessions wi...
2023-11-1538 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 26 : Life's too short to waste time "selling" non-diet living on social media, with Nina MillsTotal we talk to Non-Diet, fat positive dietitian Nina Mills. Nina is both a fantastic clinical dietitian but also founded 'Butter Digital' to help other non-diet, weight inclusive health professionals to build their website and online brand.
We chat a bit about her clinical work especially with client who experience Binge Eating Disorder and the things that commonly co-present with BED such as PCOS, anxiety, chronic dieting and weight cycling. WE also discuss how sometimes people aren't ready for non-diet ideas and philosophies and how we can better spend our time to get the non-diet message out t...
2023-11-0838 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 25 : Blinded by the weightToday we chat about an all too common phenomenon, when a strong weight-focus by family members distracts from clearly seeing the actual situation with someone's health and wellbeing.
Both Susan and I have had clients with siblings who are lower weight than them, and despite our clients objectively having better physical, nutritional, social and mental health than the thinner sibling they are constantly compared to the sibling in a negative light with the thinner (but clearly less well) sibling being held up as an example. It is weight stigma in action.
So why does this...
2023-11-0140 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 24 : Life's too Short to Sweat for Skinfolds with Alicia EdgeWe are so excited for this one. In this week's podcast we have special guest Alicia Edge. Alicia is an Advanced Sports Dietitian, Owner of Compeat Performance and The Compete Academy and all around amazing dietitian for athletes of all levels from weekend warrior to The Matlidas.
We've been fan's of Alicia's for years but her profile really took off when she posted a potentially controversial instagram post explaining how and why the no longer do regular body composition measure including weight. We chat about that, the problem with 'everybody knows' beliefs about body composition and performance...
2023-10-2540 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 23 : The Beauty in Boring Self CareSelfcare is not all bathtubs and pedicures.
In fact, they are pretty useless or inaccessible sometimes in moments of struggle. Today we chat about some of the unsung 'selfcare heroes'. From things we use or find helpful to things we have learned from clients and the nuances of things like exercise and food as self care.
Self Compassion guided practices we mention are here.
As always, get in contact via our social media if you have any questions or comments. And we'd love you to leave a rating or review if you like...
2023-10-1842 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 22 : When you're feeling 'bleugh' in your body 😖We've had a number of conversations recently with people who are worried about their kids bodies. It happens at this time of year every year and we think we might know why. With school holidays often leading to inconsistent eating, more reliance on takeaway, drive through or convenience options and less movement we can feel 'bleugh', a bit sluggish, a bit lethargic, just not quite right. At the same time the weather is warming up so we are seeing more of our body than we are used to. Also this does seem to be a time of rapid growth for...
2023-10-1124 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 21 : What is The Non-Diet Way?Doors to our course 'The Non-Diet Way' Are OPEN! Click here to learn more and sign up.
For the final time this year we are running our 4 week Non-Diet Way Fundamentals course and we'd love you to join us.
Have a listen, why did we make this course and what's it all about.
And, there's still time to join our FREE 'Diet Culture Spring Clean' webinar which is at 7:30 TONIGHT!
Lovedale Smokehouse Brisket slow cooking class information here.
2023-10-0424 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 20 : Advice for supporting 'fussy' teensIn today's episode we answer a listener question we received about supporting a 'fussy' teen to expand their horizons.
Download our 'Make Friends with Salad' salad builder here.
Ellyn Satter Institute resources.
Our webinar Diet Culture Spring Clean is on Thursday October 5, 730pm AEDT sign up here
Doors are open to The Non Diet Way you can sign up here
2023-09-2739 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 19 : It certainly was imperfectIn this episode we discuss a new diet book. Strap in it's a long one.
The author is doing the publicity tour and ended up on a podcast that we usually love...we did not love.
It was a mixed bag but mostly the same only story - big claims, kernels of truth and a whole lot of weight bias. Join us to discuss the good, the 'meh', and the rage inducing.
Mentioned in the podcast - Dr Joshua Wolrich's book " Food isn't Medicine' and Maintenance Phase podcast
Restaurant Meg had he...
2023-09-2054 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 18 : The Matilda's, performance, weight and nutrition in elite sportThe was recorded when we were still having all the feels about The Matilda's World cup campaign. We have a chat about the shifting focus from weight as a measure of performance or progress, encouraging athletes to connect to and trust their bodies.
The risks of eating disorders hiding in plain site among elite athletes, 'state not weight' philosophies and fuelling for the work athletes are doing.
Sign up for our FREE 'Diet Culture Spring Clean' Webinar here.
And see the giant cabbage at our instagram!
2023-09-1324 minEmpowering Midlife Wellness with Dr. SusanCreating the Life You Want with Meg Ellis | Empowering Midlife WellnessThis week I have my dear friend Meg Ellis back, and we are chatting about the science of creating the life that you want! Meg is a Conscious Life Coach and Neurolinguistic Programming Expert, as well as a co-facilitator for our upcoming midlife wellness retreat taking place November 10-13th in Costa Rica.
In this fascinating conversation, we talk about how to create the environment to make your best life possible. Understanding our own psychology we can create the energy which makes positive outcomes more likely. I will tell you how I've used these techniques in my own life and...
2023-09-1249 min
The Beauty of ConflictRethinking Disabilities with Meg O'ConnellThere is an overlooked diversity segment in the corporate landscape, and it’s pretty big.
In this episode of The Beauty of Conflict, Susan and CrisMarie interview Meg O’Connell, discussing disability inclusion in workplaces and society. She highlights the evolving disability definition, emphasizes universal design, discusses asking for support needs, notes the benefits of remote work for disabilities, and stresses representation's significance.
Tune in and learn more about improving workplaces with disability awareness!
For the full transcript, show notes, and resources, visit us at thriveinc.com
2023-09-0732 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 17 : We are back and we have news!After a break to focus on our first course, 'The Non-Diet Way' fundamentals, we are back!
We have loved getting to know some listeners in person as they joined our course and we will be launching again ASAP.
In the meantime we have also been working hard developing a Webinar for The Butterfly foundation's as part of their Body Kind Families initiative. It is free and we'd love you to join us, you can register here.
Here is the article we mention about the risks inherent in nutrition education if you're interested in...
2023-09-0617 minLife's too short to count almondsTool or Weapon? Bonus Pre Season EpisodeJust a quick catch up, planning to just tell you what we're eating but stumbled on a topic that comes up for us with clients quite often.
Enjoy! We'll be back September 7 to kick off Season 2.
Don't forger to sign up to our mailing list at www.megandsusan.co
2023-08-2409 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 16 : Our personal food and body storiesWe're getting personal today and sharing our own food and body stories. While they have definitely been more straight forward than many, we've had our ups and downs, missteps and learnings along the way.
We firmly believe that our past experiences shape our present day thoughts, feelings and behaviours so it's important to understand and appreciate where we have come from to help move forward in the direction that we want our food and body story to go in the future.
Doors to our first ever online course are now open! Click here to find...
2023-08-0240 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 15 : "I just want to eat normally but I don't know how.""Hi Meg and Susan,....I've dieted for so long I don't know what I like. I'm confused I just want to eat normally...."
This was a question we received from a listener and it's a good one and one we have certainly heard in the past. Dieting and diet culture has made food and eating so hard, we hope our chat helps make it a little easier.
It has become so hard to confidently navigate our food choices and eating behaviour because we live in a culture that breeds insecurity, doubt and and disempowers.
...
2023-07-2634 min
Life Talk PodcastEpisode 17: Supporting People with Alzheimer’s, with Meg Pfeifer-BrantIn this episode, Susan talks to Meg Pfeifer-Brandt about how we can support someone living with Alzheimer’s, as well as their caregivers. Although the conversation focuses on Alzheimer’s and Dementia, there is a lot of good insight to help with any diagnosis and with aging in general.
2023-07-2634 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 14 : Non-diet adventures in AIAI is coming and being used in a huge range of online programs, from course development, to podcast support and even meal planning. We've had a bit of a play with a few AI products and unfortunately, there is a huge risk of AI simply proliferating more and more diet culture saturated information.
Sign up to our mailing list for special offers and first access to our upcoming course.
"Have a delicious day" lol
2023-07-1928 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 13 : Dodging Influencers' Diet Culture BulletsJoin us today for a quick mid school holiday chat.
As always we share the best thing we ate this week and discuss a few strategies for dodging diet culture bullets from online 'influencers'.
If you don't yet have it, and need some more help reducing your exposure to unhelpful information online, check out our guide for 'detoxing your metaverse'
Shoutouts to http://funkyfood.com.au and https://www.recipetineats.com/ and Megs country trip lunch https://www.grazewillowtree.com.au/restaurant/
Excellent podcast https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/conver...
2023-07-1218 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 12 : Musing on the Good Food and Wine ShowWe went, we ate, we reflected. We saw Nagi Maehashi (aka Recipetin Eats) live!
We were please to see a love of food without an obvious side of diet culture and Meg was so hungry that she ate a chip made of of bugs!
A pretty light and fluffy podcast his week we hope you enjoy it!
2023-07-0524 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 11 : Be Careful Little EarsOn today's episode we chat about a couple of things we have seen on social media recently that have caused us to have some 'thoughts'. Both were concerning diet culture messages directed at or out of the mouths of preschool aged kids.
Missing both an understanding of developmental stages and capacity for kids to understand nuanced and abstract nutrition concepts, and of the harms of diet culture messages is a recipe for harm, confusion and disordered eating.
Resources mentioned include, The Curious Nutritionist, Sunnyside up nutrition and Foost.
2023-06-2825 minLife's too short to count almondsEp:10 Choosing Joy, Connectedness, and Self-Care Over Weight LossOn this episode of Life's Too Short to Count Almonds, we answer a question from a listener this week about weight loss and diet culture. We explore the harmful effects of diet culture and it's obsession with weight loss and delve into the concept of mindfulness as a tool to help break free from the pressures of diet culture.
We know that triggers such as a change in seasons or fitting into old clothes can be very disruptive and make it difficult to break free from harmful beliefs fuelled by diet culture but the good news is that p...
2023-06-2125 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 9 "Leave them Kids Alone"Unfortunately Diet Culture gets it's tentacles in soooooo early. Today we chat about an, unfortunately not isolated, incident when a health professional gives restrictive diet advice to a toddler. As I'm sure you can imagine, we were unimpressed and ready to rant, and reminded of other similar stories we have heard over our years working in this space. In this instances we have been aware of, there have been resources and grounding to identify the advice as wrong and harmful, ignore it and move on, but this won't always be the case. We chat about the risks of advice...
2023-06-1438 minAll These PageantryMeet Elite Mrs Texas Forever Beautiful USA, Susan HefnerWith over 3500 volunteer hours and a veteran advocate, Susan Hefner is your Elite Mrs. Texas Forever Beautiful USA. Find out more about Susan and her pageantry journey in this week's episode.
2023-06-0932 minAll These PageantryMeet Elite Mrs Texas Forever Beautiful USA, Susan HefnerWith over 3500 volunteer hours and a veteran advocate, Susan Hefner is your Elite Mrs. Texas Forever Beautiful USA. Find out more about Susan and her pageantry journey in this week's episode.
2023-06-0932 min
The Screenwriting Life with Meg LeFauve and Lorien McKenna140 | Writing/Producing Audio Dramas (And Avoiding Gatekeepers) w/ Susan Busa LeshnerPodcasts are one of the fastest growing mediums today (see THIS SHOW), and they can take on many forms. Today, writer/director Susan Busa Leshner discusses her podcast series THE AMERICAN IMMORTAL, and how she turned it from an idea into a quickly growing audio drama with multiple episodes, a completed first season, and a second season on the way!TO LISTEN TO THE AMERICAN IMMORTAL FOR FREE: https://theamericanimmortal.com/TO BECOME A PATRON: www.patreon.com/thescreenwritinglife Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
2023-06-0859 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 8 : Pleasure in food is not always as simple as it seemsThis week we’re talking about pleasure. Pleasure gets a bad name in food and nutrition. Pleasure is associated with “bad” or forbidden foods.
However we know that when people have a peaceful a relationship with food and mostly eat foods they enjoy their nutritional intake is richer and more varied.
Also note the fancy dietetic terms ‘alimentary atresia’ and ‘sensory specific satiety’. Also listen out for Meg’s tummy rumbles!
Meal Planning link to book https://www.megandsusan.co/offers/joKcNMHu/checkout
2023-06-0727 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 7 : Family dynamics in eating and feedingOur eating is often impacted by those around us. Sometimes this is really helpful as it can help us explore new or different food, eat more regularly than we might or help us develop our skills of 'making do'. But quite often, the impact isn't so helpful.
In this episode we chat about 'the space between' parent's and children's eating behaviour, helpful and unhelpful impacts and get really distracted talking about food we've cooked and eaten recently and an update on Meg's #recipetinchallenge
2023-06-0126 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 6: Isn't meal planning part of diet culture?If you asked Meg or Susan 'what is the one thing that helps you with managing food/feeding the family/saving money on food etc' we would both answer 'meal planning'. Sometimes people are surprised that we are such supporters of meal planning because for many people, meal planning has always been a way of 'sticking to the diet' or controlling and limiting food intake. In today's episode we get quite distracted talking about things we have cooked, but also talk about meal planning 'the non-diet way'. How can we use meal planning as self care and keep it...
2023-05-2524 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 5: Don't read the comments?Within a week of #blueygate the producers of the episode that created the social media storm had removed the 45 seconds from the beginning of the episode #winning! So, these storms can lead to great change...but there was a lot of belittling, abuse and dismissing of people who spoke out. So do we have an obligation to speak out? How can we protect our own health and wellbeing and contribute to change? This episode was recorded before the Bluey episode was updated but it's not really about Bluey anyway.
2023-05-1919 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 5: Don't read the comments?Within a week of #blueygate the producers of the episode that created the social media storm had removed the 45 seconds from the beginning of the episode #winning! So, these storms can lead to great change...but there was a lot of belittling, abuse and dismissing of people who spoke out. So do we have an obligation to speak out? How can we protect our own health and wellbeing and contribute to change? This episode was recorded before the Bluey episode was updated but it's not really about Bluey anyway.
2023-05-1819 minSTaR Coach Show338: Creating My Offer: Career Self-Care: Susan Collins, ACCHow do you create products and offers that your clients need? We are covering this topic in today’s episode. Let’s talk about how you can lean into your expertise and be in control of your “talent strategy.” I’m thrilled to be joined by Susan Collins, a friend, and client of mine. She’s a former talent acquisition leader who has had a front-row seat to watching careers rise and fall, always staying curious about why some people thrive and others, though incredibly talented, never realize their potential. With her extensive experience in the corporate arena, she ha...
2023-05-1742 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 4: "Cost of beauty" campaign and the broader cost of dietingMeg made Susan cry by making her watch the Dove 'Cost of Beauty' video. You can watch it too if you're up to it - heads up, it's very emotive and challenging so give it a miss if that's not going to be helpful for you right now.
So we talk about the video and a bit about protecting our kids from toxic messages on social media. We discuss how even though not everyone who diets, or consumes diet culture messages, will develop an eating disorder that doesn't mean that dieting doesn't have a significant cost.
2023-05-1126 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 3; What the fudge is a non-diet dietitian?We went and saw a comedian this week, ended up in the front row and Susan got picked on. #sorrysusan When asked, "What do you do?", her first response cannot be repeated without checking the 'explicit content' box on the podcast. So in this episode we answer the question what is a non-diet dietitian? Talk a bit about what we do we do with clients and why is it a tricky concept for people to get their head around?
2023-05-0426 minLife's too short to count almondsEpisode 2; Basic Principles for Non-Diet CateringThis week we chat about the incredible virtual conference 'Bodytalks; FEASTival of Anti-diet Ideas' that our friend and colleague, Clinical Psychologist Louise Adams is putting on in May. Having catered for Louise's 'Untrapped Program' retreats. Louise asked us to 'cater' for this virtual event. So how would we cater for people we don't know, across countries, timezones and seasons, with widely varying preferences, budgets, food values and health conditions? Tune in and find out!
2023-04-2717 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode 1: Diet Culture and Curating our Social MediaSocial media is not going anywhere and can be a useful way to build community, feel connected, get new and fun ideas, but it is also a cesspool of bad nutrition advice, predatory marketing and impossible beauty ideals. Today we discuss what to watch out for, and ways to curate your feed to create a supportive feed that encourages body trust, connection and food freedom. Couple of our favourite instagram pages to get you started on improving your metaverse algorithm- by no means a definitive list! beauty_redefined your.latina.nutritionist fionawiller feelgooddietitian thenutritiontea untrapped_au shreen_beyoubefree
2023-04-1320 min
Life's too short to count almondsEpisode Zero; Meg and Susan's storyWelcome to our podcast! Who are we and why did we call our podcast 'Life's too short to count almonds'?
2023-03-2910 min
Welcome to the Other Side61. Mortgages 101 with Susan ShortToday I bring on my friend, mortgage advisor Susan Short to explain all things mortgage related for moms during and after divorce. Including:
Why you shouldn't already know everything about mortgages
How to get comfy asking money questions
Different mortgage options for stay-at-home moms, veterans, non-citizens, and more
Calculating what makes a sustainable mortgage payment for you
Susan also shares her spunky story about her first job after getting divorced when she had young kids at home.
Such a fun & practical conversation. Enjoy!
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2023-03-2037 minEmpowering Midlife Wellness with Dr. Susan3 Tips to Transform Your Life With Conscious Life Coach Meg Ellis | Empowering Midlife WellnessToday I’m back with my dear friend Meg Ellis, conscious life coach, and founder of Phoenix 8 consulting. I’m talking with Meg about what conscious life coaching involves, and her three pillars for transformation; including the Enneagram personality test, bringing consciousness to our thought patterns and stories, and the “law of attraction.”
I’ll be sharing some real stories about how this coaching system has transformed my own life and how it could do the same for you!Meg Ellis: https://www.phoenix8consulting.com/about-us/our-team
Create your Fate podcast: https://www.phoenix8consulting.com/podcast
Enneagram test - https...
2023-02-2242 min
Apex Social - with social profession abroad49. 🇺🇸Experience Report American Care Professional -with US Teacher MegMegan (US Teacher) shares her beautiful experiences with our Apex Social Family. Maren and Megan talking about their daily life as an Apex Care Professional. Why Apex Social? What changed for her in her profession as well as in her privat life and self growing process. Megan’s Instagram is https://instagram.com/meg.rizzo?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Apex Socials Instagram is https://instagram.com/apexsocial?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
2023-02-1836 min
The Art Of Being H(YOU)manWhat happens after we lose what we love with Susan HayesSend us a textWe will all experience loss at some point in our lives - it's not something that can be avoided! So what do we do when loss finally knocks on our door?How do we navigate it? How do we soothe ourselves? And what is on the other side of that loss?Today's guest Susan Hayes dives into all of these questions with me!Susan Hayes is the CEO of Active Abundance.She shows women who've experienced a devastating loss and are ready to reemerge how to...
2023-02-1042 min
Started From The BottomInside Jokes and Remembering that Everyone Needs a Pep Talk with Meg LivingstonAn Entrepreneur Focused Podcast on Getting Started.Meg Livingston is the Founder and Owner of Post Accessories. In this Episode I talk to Meg about what it was like for her to start her business out of her apartment as a young mom. She shares how Work/Life Balance is literally just a myth, how she has been able to feel comfortable slowing down in her business, and when you know to give yourself the grace you deserve. I hope you guys enjoy this episode! Follow on instagram for more podcast updates and important an...
2023-02-0857 minEmpowering Midlife Wellness with Dr. SusanMovement For Health and Weight Optimization with Meg EllisLife coach and fitness professional Meg Ellis is back this week talking with me about how to incorporate movement into your life and optimize your weight loss goals. Movement is one of the six pillars of our weight loss program CMWC, and we will be talking about how to make it not only doable, but even fun!
2022-03-1620 min
In the BalanceFind Your Form: Meg Pokrass on Her Journey to Flash FictionSusan reconnects with award winning flash fiction writer and friend Meg Pokrass. Meg discusses her journey from acting to poet to flash fiction writer, how a rare illness changed her life and informed her creative work, and the key lesson she tries to impart to her students. She also shares a few of her flash fiction pieces and she and Susan reminisce about their teenage friendship.
2022-02-2837 min
Create Your FateEP4: Renegotiating Your Commitments to Stay True to Your Intentions with Dr. Susan Hardwick-SmithToday I’m joined by my very first guest, Dr. Susan Hardwick-Smith, Houston gynecologist and founder of Complete Midlife Wellness Center.
Join us as we define and identify intentions to live a life aligned to your big vision. What would it mean to no longer fear "quitting?" The first step: understanding how to renegotiate old commitments to stay true to what you are a "yes" for.
2021-11-0942 minEmpowering Midlife Wellness with Dr. SusanManifesting the Life You Want (or Don't Want) with Meg EllisIn this episode, I'm speaking again with my friend and fellow life coach Meg Ellis about how to manifest (or create) what you want in life, simply by changing your mindset. We discuss how training your mind to pay attention to what you DO want, rather than what you don't want, and believing that it exists, can transform every outcome in your life. Just like the time and repetition that it takes to build physical muscles, repeatedly practicing these techniques can literally rewire your brain to create positive outcomes in all areas of your life. This simple but countercultural technique...
2021-10-2742 min