Duration: 20:36
Show Notes
This Story Needs to Be Heard host Lance Gunkel interviews Carly Ross, former restaurant entrepreneur and current certified health coach.
Carly is a certified health coach with a degree from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She has experience as a chef, restaurant owner, and non-profit executive. She was formerly the Executive Director of JDRF Greater Iowa – an organization supporting individuals with type one diabetes. She also served as the Director of the Des Moines Field Office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants. She opened and operated three restaurants.Carly has always loved cooking and the powerful ways that food can transform our health and lives.
She first took an interest in cooking as a child, and has always had passion for food and spending time in the kitchen. She loved how food always brought her family together. She started working as a restaurant server, worked her way up to management, and then owned three restaurants – Proof, Flour, and Prairie Canary.
After Carly had her first daughter, she realized that the restaurant business, the commute to her restaurant in Grinnell, IA, and the accompanying hours would be challenging. She used her restaurant passions and turned her efforts to job as Director of the Des Moines Field Office of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants and later as Executive Director of JDRF.
Carly’s second daughter was born with some medical issues so she wanted to be more intentional about healthy eating to build a strong immune system. She now works as nutritional health coach and advocates for the importance of eating healthy foods to maintain mental, physical, and emotional health. She also has a new business called The Miracle of Food.
When asked about the negative connotation of the word “diet,” Carly says most people think of restriction, elimination, deprivation, and all the things you can’t have, when really a diet is simply the foods that we put into our mouths. She explains that when it comes to finding the best way of eating for yourself, certainly there are some benchmarks and recommendations that can be made.
Health coaching not only covers your diet, but also ways of living that will generate peak well-being for each person. Carly went on to explain how COVID-19 has created extra stress, but also extra interest in food and food preparation. She claims that COVID-19 has helped people harken back to simpler times, including food preparation and planning.
The stress of the pandemic, along with social media, has increased the awareness of meditation and mindfulness. Carly reviewed the side effects of stress and pointed out that meditation and mindfulness don’t cost anything and help people to step outside the business of the day.
Carly encourages us all to identify what is working in our lives, take a moment to recognize the good moments, and practice gratitude.
Notable quotes:
“I always appreciated that food brought our family together.”
“At the end of the day, your diet has to bring you both health and satisfaction. If you don’t have both of those, you’re not going to feel complete.”
“Eating is a way we recognize the good moments in our lives.”
“Food is a neutralizer of emotions.”
“Getting back to the basics has been encouraging to people."
“Mindfulness practices are a great antidote to stress.”
Resources:
Carly’s Instagram: @TheMiracleOfFood Carly’s Email: Carly@themiracleoffood.com
The Miracle of Food website
The Miracle of Food Facebook page
