A Work in Progress

Things are progressing quite nicely on my new business. I am purposely trying to take things on the slower side to ensure I am giving 100% to anyone I work with, and to make sure that I am not taking on more than I can handle while establishing other components for the business.

I have several active clients and am very grateful for the referrals and opportunities provided by Dr. Denise Karpowicz! I am continuing to network with other local businesses in the field of wellness, and have a few speaking engagements lined up to help get my name out there.

I also have a presentation series on plant based nutrition planned for the month of April.   For my local readers, if interested, you can enroll in one or more of the 4 classes via my website: http://metamorphosismindbodyspirit.com/pages/Store

The details are as follows:

4/4/18 – Plant Based Nutrition 101: Definitions, Benefits and Myths
4/11/18 – So what do you eat?
4/18/18 – Getting started (planning & preparing for the transition)
4/25/18 – Cooking Demo

All sessions are from 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm and will be held at Wonderful, an art studio in Moscow. Each session includes the presentation, handouts and food samples.  Sessions are $15 each, or $50 for the full series.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at metamorphosismindbodyspirit@gmail.com.

*****

If you are looking for a super easy, delicious dessert, I recently discovered chocolate hummus from Don’t Waste the Crumbs. It was super easy to make and absolutely yummy! Your family won’t even know it’s healthy!  I served mine with fresh strawberries and raspberries. I meant to take a picture but we all ate before I remembered to do so!

*****

IMDb: A Work In Progress (2002)

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Cut the Cord

It’s hard to believe that I am just shy of 8 months since my “retirement”.

One of the perks of being a Pru retiree — versus just a regular person whose job was eliminated — is the assignment of a retirement counselor. This person helps you navigate all the paperwork and online updates, and helps answer all questions related to retirement benefits. My assigned counselor was fabulous — responsive, knowledgeable, punctual, pleasant.

Additionally, I’ve had the benefit of a career coach during this time, who has helped with updates to my resume and LinkedIn, as well as offering a lot of professional advice, in general. She, a some-what plant based eater, was supportive of my career direction change and was the person who suggested the IIN (Institute for Integrative Nutrition) health coaching program. (That alone was worth every penny Pru paid her!)

I’ve been blessed to have these advisors in my corner for the past several months. The time has flown by and they were always there when I had a question. I couldn’t have asked for better support.

But it is, as they say, time to cut the cord. Today I said good-bye to my retirement counselor, as she has completed all her assigned tasks to support me. The next step isn’t until I’m really, truly ready to retire, and I’m hoping for at least a few more productive years before I need that. I will also be saying farewell to my career coach soon when my contract expires in early March. With my coach, however, I feel I gained a friend and hope to stay connected.

I’m very grateful for the resources provided to me, and glad I was able to get so much from them. Maybe I would have figured it all out on my own, but certainly not as efficiently, timely or calmly. It is amazing how quickly the time went by and how much we got done during that time. (Of course, the list of household projects remains incomplete, but I couldn’t get them to help me with that!)

Lucky for me, I have so many other wonderful resources in my life — people who inspire, encourage, support and advise — so I’m never flying 100% solo!

None of us does it alone, do we?

IMDb: Cut the Cord (2012)

Unleashed

Around this time five years ago, I winding down on my treatments. I had completed chemotherapy in January 2013 and finished radiation in March 2013. Since that time, I have continued with a pretty rigorous schedule of doctors’ appointments. Seeing my radiologist and oncologist twice a year; my surgeon, urologist, and gynecologist once a year or more.  Throw in all the testing that was required and I felt like I was always on my way to some medical appointment.

During my last appointment with my surgeon in 2017, he gave me the option to not see him anymore — an offer I jumped on.  In the fall, my radiologist switched me to one time per year. And today, my oncologist also unleashed me from her schedule, moving me to a once a year schedule also!  Yea!

I am so encouraged by this news, as it’s a final confirmation that I’m doing ok. Actually, better than ok… I’m thriving! Cancer is no longer a daily thought for me (although it does rear it’s ugly head in my subconscious from time to time). And now I don’t have to worry about always running to a doctor.  Schedule is freed up, I’m saving money in co-payments, and I have a clean bill of health from all my docs. AND my oncologist is interested in learning more about my health coaching business! (She took my business card and talked about how I might be able to integrate into some of their existing programs!)

Life is good.

*****

It’s been a while since I’ve shared any recipes. I continue to add recipes to my new webpage: http://metamorphosismindbodyspirit.com/apps/recipe/

Last week I added several, and the goal is to add some every week.

I am continuing to work my way through Dr. Greger’s How Not to Die Cookbook, which I love! I highly recommend it, as we have enjoyed everything I made from the book. It’s completely “WFPBNO”… Whole Food Plant Based No Oil… so no modifications are needed.

Peace!

IMDb: Unleashed (2005)

The Lotus

Coming up with a  name and logo for my new business was an interesting experience — and harder than I expected!

From the moment I began thinking about this new career, the word ‘metamorphosis’ stuck with me. My own education and transformation took some time and it continues to evolve, but my life and health are significantly different than they were at the time of my breast cancer diagnosis.  For those of you who have been following along since the beginning, you know the evolution that has taken place.

But there were worries and some feedback that, perhaps, the word was too long and unfamiliar. Would people know how to spell it if they were searching for me? I tried out a few other options, minus the “metamorphosis”, but those didn’t resonate with me nor my focus group. I kept coming back to this transformational word and decided to go with my gut.  I needed to do a lot of research to ensure that the name wasn’t used elsewhere, that there were no copyrights/trademarks, and that the domain name was available.

The “mind, body, spirit” part was added as a way to illustrate that integrative nutrition wasn’t just about nutrition. Yes, we need to nourish our bodies for optimal health, but we need our hearts and minds in the right place, as well. Eating healthy isn’t going to help you fully if your life is full of stress, or your relationships are toxic, or your work/life balance is leaning too heavily towards work. My health coaching work will be much more holistic in nature. While the name is longer than was recommended, I am hopeful that people will understand the meaning and will bookmark all the pages. 🙂

When it came time for the logo, I need to credit my graphic designer, Joe. Metamorphosis tends to elicit butterfly images. In fact, when I was researching the name, anyone who had used this word in their business name had also used a butterfly image — and almost always blue. It was cliche’ but I didn’t know what else made sense.  Enter Joe… whose very first images including the lotus flower, which I loved!  A sacred symbol of rebirth and awakening, growing out of murkiness to re-bloom unscathed, the lotus flower had a relevant meaning. And they are beautiful!

Arriving at just the right colors and shapes took several iterations, and I am grateful for the feedback I received from my focus group, as well as for Joe’s patience in the on-going requests for tweaking. It needed to be right, even if it was taking longer than I wanted, since this would now go on everything… website, business cards, Facebook page, tee shirts…

In the end, I am quite happy with the name and the design — and I learned so much in the process!

IMDb: The Lotus (2017)

Off and Running

As I mentioned in my last post, things are starting to move full steam ahead with my health coaching business. I have been working on getting my website complete, along with my Facebook page and all the necessary work for starting a new business (EIN, LLC, credit card processing, furniture, office supplies, business name, logo, etc.). There’s a lot!

Luckily, I have a great group of advisors who have helped along the way, including my outstanding financial and tax advisors (Tom Hauber, Ameriprise, and John Brostoski, CPA), fellow business owners, Donna Simpson of the University of Scranton’s Small Business Development Center, and Joe Morgan, my graphic designer. And, of course, there’s a large group of family and friends who have acted as my “focus group” on things like names and logos and fonts, oh my! There are too many of them to name here, but if you’re reading this — Thank you!

So I’m off and running… Ready to take on clients and the world!  🙂

I will continue to use this blog as my writing space. Although my new website has a blog section, it doesn’t have a “follow” option at the moment. Once the hosting company adds that option, I will likely switch over.  There is content in the blog section on the website, but the posts are generated from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition. They post monthly and there’s a nice variety of topics.

I would like to ask a few favors from my readers:

1. Please check out my website: http://metamorphosismindbodyspirit.com
   There are still a few bugs to be worked out, but it’s about 95% there.  I welcome any feedback!
2. While there, sign up to receive my monthly newsletter.
3. “Like” my new Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/MetamorphosisMindBodySpirit/
4. Share my information with anyone who might be in need of, and interested in, health coaching!

Thank you!!

IMDb: Off and Running (1991)

Network

As an introvert, I have had to really work on building my networking skills over the past few decades! (Yes, decades.) I knew it was a skill that I needed to focus on to advance my career as part of Corporate America, who tends to favor extroverts. I’ll be honest that I had mixed results in this realm simply because I was working with so many different personalities, and some were easier than others to connect with. But, right up there with public speaking, I knew I had to keep at it and it was usually on my annual development plan.

Fast forward to present day and trying to establish my own business: Networking is even more important than ever. While not really a “sales-y” person, I am aware how important it is for me to talk about my new business, share my business card, and talk up my services. It’s critical to my success.

Networking recently paid off in a big way…

Back in October, I had a follow up appointment with my radiological oncologist. We have a great relationship and he is always interested in what I am reading, what I am eating, and what additional lifestyle changes I am making to improve my health. He’s very supportive of me being plant-based and is very encouraging. I shared with him my latest journey to be a health coach. He was very excited about this news and recommended that I speak with Abby (a fabulous human being, well connected in the wellness community, who consults with his practice)…   Out of my comfort zone, I contacted this complete stranger and had a lovely meeting with Abby. She was very enthusiastic about what I was working on and she promised to be an advocate for my work.

A few weeks after I met with Abby, she sent me a message that she had connected with a chiropractor in the area who was looking to expand her service offering, and that I would be a perfect fit. So I reached out to Dr. Denise Karpowicz… another leap out of my comfort zone! We met, connected immediately, and now things are moving really quickly for my business!

I am happy to announce that I will have office space in the Karpowicz Chiropractic Center in Clarks Summit, PA! I have been working on painting and furnishing my office, and Dr. Karpowicz is already referring clients to me.  It’s a fabulous opportunity that would NOT have happened without the power of networking!

So who’s in your network? Who’s your advocate and looking out for your interests?

Who do you need to connect with? And what are you doing about it? 🙂

IMDb: Network (1976)

Elimination

As part of my health coaching course, we’ve spent several weeks studying gut health, how to heal it, and how it impacts overall wellness. In fact, Hippocrates is credited with saying “All disease begins in the gut.”  A healthy microbiome is one of the many reasons it’s so important to maintain a healthy diet (more on this in a future post).

One of the tools to help you start healing your gut is an elimination diet and, as part of the course, it was recommended that students try it out for a few weeks to better support clients who may choose to do an elimination diet.  And so, I decided to try a three elimination diet with my family. My husband agreed to the experiment while my son kind of rolled his eyes.  He’d never be 100% anyway, considering his time in school, school functions or at his Dad’s.  But I figured he’d be 100% while at home.

The recommended elimination diet included removal of eggs, dairy, gluten, soy, sugar and corn.   The intent was to eliminate those foods and keep track of how you felt (better/worse).

So here’s how things went:

• For me, at least, eggs, dairy and corn were easy. My hubby likes eggs for breakfast on the weekends, so that presented a challenge.  I was able to find a yummy gluten-, egg- and dairy-free recipe for pancakes and I would definitely make those again.
• It was a bit more work than usual because I was trying my best to accommodate everyone for every meal, just to keep them “compliant”.
• Day one Ethan indicated he was “not a fan” of the oatmeal I served him (although he loved the pear compote I made for it). But I made him stick with it and found the right blend of flavorings for him to find it agreeable. (For the record, cacao powder, goji berries and date paste as a sweetener. Interestingly, David needed it to be sweeter than Ethan did.)
• Sugar is always tough with Ethan since he’s a sugar addict, but we made progress by freezing any leftover Christmas cookies, and just not bringing sugar into the house. I made an occasional treat, like banana peanut butter ice cream, that made up for the lack of sweets.
• Eating out is difficult. At the end of the first week, we ended up at an Italian restaurant where David ordered a pizza. Total non-compliance. And I had gnocchi, which likely had cheese and egg in them.  (Progress not perfection…?)
• By the first weekend, the boys were cranky. I hadn’t planned well enough for snacks and such. My crabby husband, who ate leftover pizza all weekend, was suddenly mad that the pretzels weren’t gluten free!
• Speaking of gluten-free… this was by far the hardest part. None of us were really fans of GF bread or pasta. I didn’t care as much about the bread, but David did. Toast and tomatoes with mayo is one of his go-to breakfast meals, so he wasn’t happy with that.  I think we could get used to the pasta if we had to. After all, we got used to whole wheat pasta instead of white.
• We did really like the GF pretzels and crackers we tried, and GF breadcrumbs were fine.  I give those with celiac and gluten insensitivity a lot of credit for sticking with that.  I always knew it would be challenging; I didn’t know how much.
• Giving up soy was also tough.  We eat tofu or tempeh a few times a month and many recipes I make use soy sauce.
• Doing this made me get back to healthier lunches. Mostly I ate a baked sweet potato with a veggie. I’m planning to keep going with that.
• With some crazy schedules and David with the flu, we’ve had to abandon the remainder of the 3 week plan.  I think I’ll try it again by myself. While I was hoping there would be benefits to both David and Ethan by joining me, it was really hard carrying them along. Maybe once I’m successful with it on my own, we can have another go.

Moral of the story: Elimination diets have a lot of benefits, but they do take some extra planning and extra work!

IMDb: Elimination (2010)