Transforming Health: Dafne Wiswell's Journey of Nutritional Healing and Empowering Women Against Autoimmune Challenges
Mar 20, 2024Season 1Episode 20
Daphne Wiswell, an integrative nutrition coach and inner healing minister, works with women whose lives have been impacted by a diagnosis & helps empower them to reclaim their health. Her journey into health and wellness began when her youngest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which led to life-changing discoveries about the food we eat and the choices we make. Prepare to be inspired as we discuss how to navigate the maze of wellness information and find joy in the healing power of nutrition.
Dafne shares her unique challenges she faced with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis. Through her story and those of her clients, she shares that taking control of your health is about more than just diet—it's about sleep, managing stress, balancing hormones, and enjoying the journey towards a more holistic lifestyle.
In the end, it's not only about the food on our plates but the hope and empowerment that come from making informed choices. We dive into the importance of nutrition in the face of autoimmune diseases, the external pressures of a toxin-saturated world, and the ways we can combat them without succumbing to fear. Daphne's Revive Her, is her nonprofit venture that extends a helping hand to women grappling with or caring for someone with autoimmune or chronic illnesses. Take a listen for an episode that promises to feed your body, mind, and soul, one insightful conversation at a time.
High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix
Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
Daphne Wiswell, an integrative nutrition coach and inner healing minister, works with women whose lives have been impacted by a diagnosis & helps empower them to reclaim their health. Her journey into health and wellness began when her youngest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which led to life-changing discoveries about the food we eat and the choices we make. Prepare to be inspired as we discuss how to navigate the maze of wellness information and find joy in the healing power of nutrition.
Dafne shares her unique challenges she faced with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis. Through her story and those of her clients, she shares that taking control of your health is about more than just diet—it's about sleep, managing stress, balancing hormones, and enjoying the journey towards a more holistic lifestyle.
In the end, it's not only about the food on our plates but the hope and empowerment that come from making informed choices. We dive into the importance of nutrition in the face of autoimmune diseases, the external pressures of a toxin-saturated world, and the ways we can combat them without succumbing to fear. Daphne's Revive Her, is her nonprofit venture that extends a helping hand to women grappling with or caring for someone with autoimmune or chronic illnesses. Take a listen for an episode that promises to feed your body, mind, and soul, one insightful conversation at a time.
High quality, clean nutrition and beauty products: https://shellyjefferis.isagenix
Thank you for listening to the Words of Wellness podcast with Shelly Jefferis. I am honored and so grateful to have you here and it would mean the world to me if you could take a minute to follow, leave a 5-star review and share the podcast with anyone you love and anyone you feel could benefit from the message.
Thank you and God Bless! And remember to do something for yourself, for your wellness on this day!
In Health, Shelly Jefferis
Speaker 1:
You need to laugh, you need to enjoy your life. It does such good things for your physical health and wellness, and so, if you don't ever do anything for fun, let's come up with a list of things that you would love to do for fun. Okay, they don't have to be expensive or extravagant. You don't have to go anywhere far from your home.
Speaker 2:
Do you get confused by all of the information that Babar does every day on ways to improve our overall health and our overall wellness? Do you often feel stuck, unmotivated or struggle to reach your wellness goals? Do you have questions as to what exercises you should be doing, what foods you should or should not be eating, how to improve your overall emotional and mental well-being? Hello everyone, I am so excited to welcome you to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley Jeffries and I will be your host. My goal is to answer these questions and so much more To share tips, education and inspiration around all of the components of wellness through solo and guest episodes. With 35 plus years as a health and wellness professional, a retired college professor, a speaker and a multi-passionate entrepreneur, I certainly have lots to share. However, my biggest goal and inspiration in doing this podcast is to share the wellness stories of others with you, to bring in guests who can share their journey so that we can all learn together while making an impact on the health, the wellness and lives of all of you, our listeners. The ultimate hope is that you leave today with even just one nugget that can enhance the quality of your life, and that you will. We all will, now and into the future, live our best quality of lives, full of energy, happiness and joy. Now let's dive into our message for today.
Speaker 2:
Hello everyone, welcome back to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelley and I am your host. I hope everyone is doing amazing. I am really excited to introduce my guest for today. She is an integrative nutrition coach and an inner healing minister. She has 20 plus years of experience as a nutrition coach and six plus years of experience leading women's small groups and retreats for inner healing. She works with women who have been diagnosed with an illness and she helps to empower them to reclaim their health. She also has her own podcast called the Conquering Chronic Illness Show and in addition to all of that, she homeschooled all three of her children. So welcome, daphne Wiswell. So happy to have you here and on the show today.
Speaker 1:
Thank you, shelley. I'm so excited to be here with you. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:
Absolutely, and I just love all that you have done and are doing in this world that we are in and just helping others with their health and, of course, empowering women with their health and wellness is huge. And how did you, how did you originally get started?
Speaker 1:
Wow, it's a long story. I'll put it in a nutshell. I actually got started with my love of nutrition when my youngest son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It's an autoimmune form of diabetes. For anyone listening who doesn't know, it's not something that you can fix with diet, because insulin is a hormone that we all need to stay alive, and if your body stops producing it which is what happens when you have type 1 diabetes then you have to inject insulin for the rest of your life or you will die.
Speaker 1:
So our youngest son was two when that happened and I remember going to our first nutrition appointment and they were teaching us different things that we should probably do. But they were recommending things like if he wants to have a capri sun or something, then do the diet or do the light or the things with the aspartame and the sucralose and all that kind of stuff, because it's lowering carbohydrates and that way he wouldn't need an injection and it just something kind of checked. In my spirit I was like that doesn't feel right to me and so I just kind of started doing my own research and I learned very quickly that when you ingest those kinds of things over long periods of time, it can actually lead to insulin resistance, and I thought, well, my kid needs insulin to stay alive. Why would I want him to develop a resistance to that thing because of foods that he's consuming? So I'm not going to follow that advice. So then I just kind of started not trusting the things that they were telling me and I'm not saying that all nutrition and dietitians would give that advice. It's just what we've received, and I didn't trust it.
Speaker 1:
And so I started really diving into nutrition, because I thought it's important for all of us, right, but especially for someone with diabetes, to know how to nurse their body well. And I thought, well, he's so little that we're gonna, I'm gonna learn all these things now. So there's just a habit for him, you know, he just knows that this is how I eat to help my body perform and feel good, and so that's when my love of nutrition started. But then we got all kinds of other stories of autoimmune and chronic illness in my family, and so with each diagnosis I just would dive in and say, okay, how can I help this person? How can I help this person, what can we do about this? And and I wanted to have a really solid understanding of the power of food, and so that's how I, that's how I got started with nutrition.
Speaker 2:
Is amazing. We share so much in the fact that researching and learning about nutrition and learning about what's best for ourselves as moms and for our families. And I can't say I can relate because I, you know thankfully I didn't go through that having children diagnosed with diabetes or any other illness like that. I can't imagine going through that, especially at such a young age. And then when I hear you saying what was recommended, it almost makes my skin crawl, to be honest, because I totally understand I mean to be able to have the recommendation of products that have artificial ingredients, artificial sweeteners.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I went through that with my dad. He had the last few years of his life. He was dealing with diabetes and heart disease and other illnesses, and I'll never forget the moments that he was in the hospital, in and out of the hospital, but that is what they give them right. When you're in that kind of a medical setting, everything that's sugar free has chemicals and artificial sweeteners in it and it's horrible, it's horrible, it's just horrible. And so I commend you for doing what you did, especially with your children being so young. Now he he was your first born, he's my youngest.
Speaker 2:
He's your youngest, okay okay, yeah yeah, well, that certainly explains why you got involved and why you are so passionate about helping others with chronic illnesses, so so needed. Yeah, what? How old is he now? He's 20. Oh, my goodness, okay.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, he's 20. I would like to say that he sticks to everything I taught him, but he doesn't, because he's 20 and he's living his life. But he's doing amazing. He actually just saw his endocrinologist yesterday and he's doing so well. He's taking really good care of himself and that's what matters to me the most, that's wonderful, for sure, yeah, and I hear you about that.
Speaker 2:
We can be the example. We can share so much with them. And then they are off on their own and, thankfully, I believe that what we do and the examples we set definitely stick with them. And it might waver a little bit here and there, but for the most part I believe that when we've done that and we've set that example for them, and that it carries them through later in the years, yeah, because I mean I say that jokingly he really does pretty great, I think, compared to some of his peers.
Speaker 1:
So he doesn't stick to things 100%, but he still eats really well-rounded and avoids a lot of the stuff that we talked about the artificial sweeteners and colors and things that I'm like, oh please don't ingest that poison, right? It's really good, and he's rubbing off on his fiance, he's teaching her a lot, and so I love that so much.
Speaker 2:
That's so great, it's so ironic that we're talking about this, because I shared at this moment. Today I was sharing a post and I've shared this before. But you have to be so diligent nowadays because it's so easy to be I don't want to say tricked or fooled, but it's almost that way, right Because of the way packaging is nowadays, and it has been for quite some time we just didn't know any better. I share a story, and it's not that I'm embarrassed, necessarily, but years ago I tried some products from a certain company and at the time I ordered a kid's shake for my youngest son, who at the time was five, and I didn't think to look at the label because I sued because it was from a wellness quote you know, wellness unquote company and one day he was making the shake and I looked at the label and it had artificial ingredients, it had sucralose, and I went, wow, what? And I said, sorry, bud, this is going in the trash and I tossed it in the trash.
Speaker 2:
It's so bad and people don't understand how bad it is. And you know like, thankfully, it was a couple years later that I discovered the products in the company that I that I use and I've been with now for over nine years. But it was a journey and you have to be very like, you are very intentional and researching and reading and it's kind of a constant. It's a constant journey. I'm excited to know that we have that in common. Doing that and educating others, it's a big deal.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, it really is. And I think I just want to say for anyone listening to that I feel like for a lot of people who you know maybe don't have a serious reason to do that, you know there is no illness, there's no diagnosis or whatever it can feel it's. But you know, I've worked with clients like this and it's like well, that's too much, that's too overwhelming. I don't want to try and figure that. You know it's like just tell me what to eat. And so for those people I would say like I don't know if you've given this advice, but I'm sure you have like, just eat real food. You know, don't buy things in a package because and then, and then people like, well, then I don't know how to cook. You know there are so many. You know, watch something on YouTube. You can learn how to cook a chicken breast and some asparagus. It's not hard and it's really delicious. You just have to learn how to use seasonings and herbs and spices and things that are going to make your taste buds just go.
Speaker 1:
Why haven't I been eating this my entire life? I'll never forget the first time I cooked and ate Brussels sprouts because I had never had them before. It's just not something that we ate growing up and and I thought and I knew that I didn't want to boil them. I don't know how I knew that, but I don't like a lot of boiled vegetables. I'm like that just doesn't add any flavor. And so the first time I cook them, I remember roasting them in the oven and then pulling them out and then jizzling them with a little bit of balsamic and adding some salt, and they were so good. They were so good and I thought why didn't anyone ever feed this to me?
Speaker 2:
Because they get such a bad rap, don't they? But, boy, if you roast them and they're cooked correctly and and seasoned correctly, they can be very good oh they're so good, Even raw.
Speaker 1:
I got my sister hooked on a raw salad that I make with Brussels sprouts and we shave it and make our own dressing and you know, and things like that salad dressings.
Speaker 1:
It literally takes three minutes to make your own salad dressing and then you don't have to read any ingredients because you know exactly what's going into it and they're so delicious, they're so good, and so I think it can be overwhelming, having thinking about like, well, how do I research and how do I know every ingredient and how do I, you know, just eat food that's real and not in a package, and then you don't have to do all of those things?
Speaker 2:
Right, then you don't have to be as concerned about all of it. Yeah, it might take a little bit of time up front, right, a little time of researching or maybe looking at recipes, but nowadays, like you say, everything is just right at our fingertips, so, which you know makes it so easy.
Speaker 1:
So easy.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, takes a little time up front, but once you get the hang of it it really simplifies things so much.
Speaker 1:
Well, I always try to tell people set a goal of like one new recipe a week. You know, if you're just trying to make one new thing a week, surely everybody hopefully has one day off work. You know, do some planning, make sure you have the ingredients, try to cook one new thing and then, before you know it, a year has gone by, you have 52 new things that you know how to cook. Like that's progress.
Speaker 2:
That's such a great. That's such a great suggestion. I think you need to put together a recipe book. I have one.
Speaker 1:
You have one. I have a couple that I'm working on, but I have one. I have one holiday one that I've done and then, after I put that out, people were like can you please give us all your recipes? I'm like, okay, I'm working on it, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:
We're going to have to share that in the show notes for sure. Tell us, stephanie, a little bit more about your work with women, and also you work with other in addition to your family. You have coached other clients who have chronic illnesses, correct? Yes?
Speaker 1:
That's correct, yeah, so I am. In my coaching practice, I work with people by taking very practical approaches to their wellness, and so we might focus on their nutrition, or we might talk about sleep or hormones, or work and stress and life balance. There's so many different things that factor into our health and wellness that don't always have something to do with what we're eating. Some people can have really great I hate the word diets, but some people can eat really well and nourish themselves really well and still be dealing with all kinds of things, and it's because there's other stuff that a regular doctor isn't going to tell you that you need to be paying attention to. And so that's where I come in.
Speaker 1:
I come in to help people say well, have you asked your doctor this? Have you had them test this? Have you thought about taking this approach or removing that or adding this in? There can be so many really simple things Are you getting enough sleep at night? Are you asking people for help when you're feeling overwhelmed? Are lots and lots and lots of things that it can contribute to the breakdown in our bodies, and so I help clients look at and think about all of those things and then take small steps towards improving them, which a lot of times leads to major breakthroughs in their health.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that's wonderful. I know it's interesting because that's why I'm so passionate about sharing this podcast and just talking about wellness overall because, like you're saying, we so many times think of health wellness as our physical health but there are so many components to it, right, like you're saying, how is our sleep? How are you managing stress? Are you getting exercise? There are so many different components, right, that's wonderful that you're working with clients in all those areas, for sure, so needed, yeah.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I mean one thing that people never think about. When I ask them are you making time for rest or play? They're like what do you mean? I'm like, are you making time for rest or play? Like what do you do for fun? How do you rest? Like, oh well, and a lot of times when I say the word rest, people think I'm talking about sleeping, and I'm like no, rest and sleeping are not the same thing. Like your body needs time to be at rest where you're not watching television or scrolling on a phone. Like maybe you're enjoying a sunset, maybe you're just sitting, maybe you're journaling. There are so many different ways that our body needs to just know that it's safe, and we do that by resting and by playing.
Speaker 1:
What do you do for fun? If you're never doing anything for fun, you're doing your body a huge disservice. Like you need to laugh, you need to enjoy your life. It does such good things for your physical health and wellness, and so, if you don't ever do anything for fun, let's come up with a list of things that you would love to do for fun. Ok, they don't have to be expensive or extravagant. You don't have to go anywhere far from your home. Actually, I have a friend that has recently repicked up her love of painting and that's kind of like rest and play for her. She loves to paint but she kind of put it down for a while. She's a busy business owner, homeschool mom, but she's investing time in herself and her wellness by painting again and I just love that. I think it matters so much.
Speaker 2:
It really, really does, and it's therapeutic, right. Something like that. You're doing something you enjoy, and it's quiet time. It's so, so necessary and, like you're saying, having fun laughing. Those are things that are so important for our health and just our vitality. And we get so much noise in the world, right, we get caught up in so much going on around us that I think it's so easy to neglect that part. That is another area that I emphasize as well. Like you need to have that downtime. Like you're saying, you need to have that quiet time, no noise, no TV. It doesn't have to cost a thing. Either walk out your front door and look at the sunset. I mean simple things, right, I'll share just going outside for five minutes and just taking in some deep breaths. I mean it can just be something so simple that can make such a big difference, but it's just so needed, huge impact, yeah, especially in our culture, I think American culture, I don't know.
Speaker 1:
I think this whole thing about the American dream was a big sham. And we're really, when you look at other cultures in the world and how they live their lives and what their schedules and routines look like, they're not like us. They just don't do things the way that we do and we just are at the top of the list for heart attack and stroke and diabetes and all of these things that other countries don't suffer from as much. And I think one has a lot to do with the way that our food is produced and the things that are legal here that aren't legal in other countries. Just talking about that forever, yep, but too, it's just our culture and our rhythm and it's just too much and we really need to reevaluate that each of us for ourselves.
Speaker 2:
I completely agree, and we were talking a little bit before we started recording and I was listening to an interview last night. And back to your point. They were talking about Europe versus the United States. I mean, I've shared this with my students that I taught for many years the difference, one of the big differences in our nutrition system, and we have chemicals that are used in the United States that Europe bans. They don't even want their food.
Speaker 2:
So, we are completely behind in all of those ways and, as you're saying, look at the results. We have all these chronic illnesses that are off the charts and increasing daily the incidences of them, and the most alarming I believe the most alarming statistic is that it's not just in adults anymore. Now it's happening in our children and you experienced it. A two-year-old.
Speaker 1:
What caused the immune system of a two-year-old to just finally? I don't know.
Speaker 2:
It's really unexplainable, I just feel like for the majority and this was mentioned last night in this interview that I watched it's so much environmental and then our nutrition, like you're saying, and so many people, I don't think, understand that. And then the other part of what I was talking to you a little bit earlier about was how we are so quickly to be medicated. And again, this is not to bash doctors or the medical world in any way, shape or form, because there's definitely a time and place for medicine.
Speaker 1:
However, yeah, like when you need insulin to stay alive Absolutely.
Speaker 2:
Yes, you know firsthand, but it's so alarming to hear how many of these chronic illnesses all they do is give you a prescription and then say here, take this, and you're going to have to take this for the rest of your life. Like what oh?
Speaker 1:
yeah, that's what happened to me. That's totally what happened to me, so I didn't play this part of my story. When I was 26 years old, I was diagnosed with two autoimmune conditions Hashimoto's thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis. And I was told the same thing take this thyroid medicine. And then I was put on I don't know six or eight different medications for the rheumatoid arthritis, because I was so young and they were like you're going to need knee replacements by the time you're 40. You're going to have to do that, you know, whatever. I mean full transparency.
Speaker 1:
Like I couldn't walk, I couldn't ride a bike with my husband, I couldn't open a shampoo bottle by myself, I couldn't tie a ribbon in my daughter's hair or tie my kid's shoes. I went out and bought all my kids shoes with those little velcro straps, you know, because I couldn't tie their shoes, because my fingers would not work, and so I mean I had to do something. So I started with all the pharmaceutical stuff. But man, I just felt so much sicker and so much worse that I thought this isn't and I did it for six, seven years because it helped me function but not that great. I mean I'd get all these upper respiratory infections, I'd have to go to the hospital to be treated with IV antibiotics, and it was just awful.
Speaker 2:
So you were dealing with taking these medications and they were certainly not helping but almost making your situation worse.
Speaker 1:
Right. So I and I remember asking my rheumatologist to that's the other thing about doctors, I think, like man, they really didn't study nutrition because that's just not part of their program. So they can't teach us what we, what they don't know, right, it's not their fault. And so I remember asking my rheumatologist like if I change the way I ate, would it do anything? And she was like, oh, absolutely not. Like that doesn't have anything to do with this. And then when I go to nutrition school, this is you know. Years later, years, years later, I learned that what is like 80 90% of our immune system lives in our gut. So of course, what you eat is gonna make a huge difference in how your immune system functions. I dug into research again, did some more study, learned some more things, prayed a lot and Made a bunch of changes and I've been free of symptoms and medications for all that stuff for more than 14 years.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that's amazing and I. Everything that you're saying is so spot-on. You know, I share the exact same thing that it's not the doctor's fault that they're not getting any education in this area. I've heard it's about two weeks out of their entire schooling that they get a little. Any information is very little and I can relate to some degree with what you're saying.
Speaker 2:
I I was dealing with Vertigo for years. I have an inner ear disease and it's horrible. It was awful and I was put on. They thought it was caused by allergy so I was put on allergy shots and then I was getting hydrochlorothiazide to get the fluids, keep fluids out of my body and To count that, I was given Potassium supplements. So when you hear and you experience this, I'm sure you're given one medication. Well, because you're taking this medication, we have to give you this, and because you're taking this now, we have to give you that. It's now ongoing, it's non-stop and right I, I finally same like you, I finally found a nutrition supplementation that helped me and I was able to get off all of that and you know, thank God, never have had symptoms since.
Speaker 2:
And you know it's not. It's like you can't like, share or diagnose anything because of a certain you know product or medication or nutrition that we're consuming. However, when we're putting the right things in our body, our body does amazing things, right, right, and it was Such a testament for me to experience that. I mean, it was incredible. So I I had experienced that for For eight years myself and it's kind of probably like you were the same way Taking it, because I was like scared to go off of it. I had this fear.
Speaker 2:
Well, you know, it wasn't helping, right, it got to a point where later on it got it was getting worse. So it wasn't helping per se. But I thought, oh my gosh, if I go off of it Is it gonna get even worse, you know, yeah, well, I mean, at least when I was taking these medications I could move.
Speaker 1:
I mean I still couldn't ride bikes with my kids, but I could open shampoo bottles, I could tie shoes, I could, you know, get up in the morning and and do things and be a mom, you know, and without them I was like, but let me lay on the couch and I'd hurts to do anything like it's physically impossible to do so many. You know, I'm gonna forget. I have a set of Cut-coke kitchen knives right now that we invested in I don't know 15, 16 years ago because cooking was I couldn't cut things because of how badly my fingers hurt, and so we bought these ergonomic, this, this great. I love cut-coke. I'm not making any money, obviously, for saying this, but I, but I mean we invested in these knives because it made it so much easier for me to cook good food for myself. Which, who thinks about that? Who thinks about their knives? And and how much that matters? But it, but it did it mattered.
Speaker 2:
Well, it takes you back to all the things that you we all take for granted, right, right, just a little simple things that we take for granted being able to do. I just can't imagine what you went through and so so Dealing with. So you had your youngest with diabetes and then you are experienced your own personal health issues, gosh, and and really it all comes back to, to nutrition. That's really what healed you.
Speaker 1:
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:
Yes, I, yeah, there you go. When we're told other things or we're given prescriptions and again, sometimes they are absolutely necessary but when we're getting the proper nutrition, our bodies are amazing, right, I mean, that's what we're meant to get. But because we're getting, our food supply is so, the quality is so depleted, and then we're also being bombarded by so many chemicals and toxins and I feel like it's just this uphill battle, right, I feel like. But at the same time, people like you and me, we're educating and bringing about awareness of things that we can't do. That's in our power, even though there are moments where it's like almost every day you're coming across something or an article or some illness or some product or some chemical. It can be sometimes very challenging to keep moving forward, but we know what needs to happen and we just have to keep doing what we're doing and sharing with the world.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I love that. I know I always tell people don't, don't like well, if I can't eat this or if I can't eat. I think that a lot of people go to that and like that overwhelm again of like well, if I have to change everything, what am I going to do? And I think no. You're going to be empowered, like. We're going to empower you with some new knowledge. We're going to empower you with some new flavors. We're going to empower you with some hope and those things. You know all tied together can bring so much change. And we don't. And that's my thing too.
Speaker 1:
I think being afraid is also very powerful in your immune system. You don't ever want to be afraid. You don't want to have fear that like oh, what if I eat this or what you know? I think, um, I really believe that our bodies are strong enough to overcome Like, okay, if you bought this vegetable and it wasn't organic and it wasn't non-gmail, whatever, this one time, like, you're going to be okay, eat the vegetable instead of a bag of chips, because you know, sometimes you just can't find things.
Speaker 1:
Oh, I'm very blessed I live.
Speaker 1:
I have only lived in two places my entire life, both of them outside major metropolitan areas, biggest, you know, two of the biggest cities in the US, so we have access to great food, you know.
Speaker 1:
And like, when I visit family or different people who live in more rural areas, I think, oh my gosh, I just forget how easy it is for me to access things, because I think everyone can access things and not everyone can, you know it's, it's not always readily available. Like, I can go down, you know 15 minutes to Costco and get my organic grass-stead, pastured meats and eggs and chicken. You know all that kind of stuff, whereas my dad, you know, I don't know where he would get that stuff. He's kind of spend the fortune or drive really far or whatever. You know, he just doesn't live in an area where that's readily available. But instead of focusing on all of the fear messages that are trying to come our way, like if you eat this, if you do that, if you eat it whatever to focus on how we really do have a choice we can choose to focus on well, I can do this, I can change that, I can take this step and to know that we're moving in the right direction.
Speaker 2:
Right, and I love that because that's what I'll share too. It's like, whatever we can do, that's in our control and in our power and it's never going to be perfect and, like you're saying, it's never about, oh, you can't have this and you can't eat that and you can't do this. It's about just being aware and what's going to fuel your body and help you to feel the best overall and be the healthiest, the best that you can. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself, because I'm a firm and huge proponent, like you have to still have fun and enjoy yourself. Have that cookie, if you want.
Speaker 1:
You know we had pizza and wine at my house last night.
Speaker 2:
We made it homemade, we did their homemade sourdough pizza crust.
Speaker 1:
It was delicious. I had all my organic pepperoni and my organic beef and my oregano. I love it 100%, so you can still have the things that you love and enjoy them.
Speaker 2:
Yes, you can, for sure, for sure. Well, gosh, daphne, I feel like we could talk and I know that we could for a really long time, and I love this conversation. Can you share just a little bit briefly about what you're doing with your women's groups? I think that's so phenomenal that you're leading small women's groups as well.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, so we're actually starting a nonprofit. It's called Revive Her and this nonprofit exists to enrich the lives of women who have been diagnosed with an auto immune or chronic illness. So that either means that you have received a diagnosis yourself or you love someone, like, in my case, my mom, my dad, my sister, my son, my daughter, my you know I've loved a lot of people who have dealt with a lot of hard things, and so it's patients and caregivers that we're building this nonprofit for, and we have monthly virtual gatherings where we just spend time connecting with one another and praying for each other and encouraging each other. And then we've had one retreat so far and we're working on planning the next one, so where we just get women together and we just kind of deal with some of the grief.
Speaker 1:
You know I say a lot that when someone's diagnosed with something, then we have to deal with the grief of losing the life that we imagined, and because there's so many things that happen like if it lost the person, they're still here but they're hurting and you can't fix it. And so how do you fix that in your mind and how do you deal with? You know there's a lot of faith questions that come up. So our nonprofit is working to improve the lives of those women so that they can still thrive and live well and live out their calling and their purpose.
Speaker 1:
I think for a long time I really struggled with you know, I was so hyper focused on taking care of my kids and the illnesses and doing the research and all those kinds of things Right. But out of that that was born this incredible sense of purpose to reach other women who have had to navigate those things. And I know that those women have purpose in their lives and if we could remind them of their dreams and their hopes that beautiful things would start to happen in this world, because all of those women would have, like these, clouds lifted and their eyes opened to all the ways that they can still go after those things, even while they're loving these people who are hurting so much. So that's what we do with Revive Her.
Speaker 2:
Wow, that is absolutely beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Well, I will. We will put that information in the show notes for sure, because I'm sure there will be people that want to know more and become involved in some way, and that is really wonderful. I love that and I can relate to when you say you know, when you deal with these different illnesses and you see your family suffer, it really Kind of lights a fire under you to do more right, because that's what I experienced as well, so I can completely relate to that.
Speaker 2:
And, gosh, I just I'm so grateful for having you hop on today and join me, and we're gonna have to do this again, oh I would love that.
Speaker 1:
Yes, thank you so much.
Speaker 2:
I feel like we could go on for a really, really long time.
Speaker 1:
We could make a little series, yes, sure.
Speaker 2:
I just want to be conscientious of your time and our listeners' time, but I've enjoyed this so much, daphne, and where can our listeners find you?
Speaker 1:
On social media. Pretty much everywhere, I'm Daphne, the chronic illness coach, and so I'm sure you'll put that in the notes, because my name is spelled weird, and then my website is the chronic illness coach dot co.
Speaker 2:
OK, we will have all of that in the show notes and any final thoughts you want to share with our listeners.
Speaker 1:
Oh gosh, I just want to remind everyone listening that there's so much hope for you. No matter where you are in your wellness journey, no matter how you're feeling about your progress or lack thereof, Just listening to the podcast is you taking a step in the right direction and improving your wellness. And so just keep taking little steps, just like that.
Speaker 2:
That's beautiful. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:
And thank you everyone for listening.
Speaker 2:
Have a wonderful day and, as always, do something for your own personal wellness and have a beautiful rest of your week and I'll see you next time. Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode. I hope you gained value and enjoyed our time together as much as I did, and if you know someone who could benefit from today's episode, I would love and appreciate it if you could share with a friend or rate and review words of wellness so that more can hear this message. I love and appreciate you all. Thank you for listening and if you have any questions or topics you would like me to share in future episodes, please don't hesitate to reach out to me through my contact information that is shared in the show notes below. Again, thank you for tuning in to Words of Wellness. My name is Shelly Jeffries and I encourage you to do something for you, for your wellness, on this day. Until next time, I hope you all have a healthy, happy and blessed week.