The Active Optimist: Food, Fitness, and Feeling Better Mother-Daughter Special

Julia sits down with her daughter, Irina Erickson, founder of The Active Optimist podcast and a graduate student in clinical mental health at Northwestern University. They get into the connection between mental health, nutrition, and lifestyle—with a focus on what actually works.

Irina shares her own experience with mental health, why she launched her podcast, and what she sees in her work helping others. The conversation covers the role of exercise, food choices, and daily routines in shaping energy and mood, as well as how fashion and self-expression can shift how you feel. They also talk about building habits that support resilience: movement, time outdoors, and real conversations about mental health.

Straightforward, practical, and personal—this episode highlights tools and perspectives you can use immediately.

Transcript

Hi everyone. We are joining today to dive into mental health and nutrition. This is Julia and I have a very special guest with me today, Irina Erickson, who is my daughter, but is also the founder of the Active Optimist and helps individuals that are experiencing mental health challenges. And so today I want to talk to her about her own life and how she has seen nutrition and lifestyle affect herself, but also people that she works with and helps. So Irina, introduce yourself. Speaker 2 (00:50):

Hi, I'm Irina. I do the podcast Act of Optimist. A I made that out of wanting to share my own mental health story as well as things that I learned has helped in just supporting someone's mental health and preventing people from falling deeper where they need to seek out other professional help. And then I also shared stories on there about other people's mental health and what lifestyle changes or strategies they use to support their mental health recovery as well as just general knowledge. And now I'm getting my master's in clinical mental health at Northwestern University. So I'm super excited to work with more kids, adolescents and adults. Speaker 1 (01:46):

Awesome. So in the field of mental health as it relates to working with individuals, what have you noticed most in terms of the challenges that people are experiencing that might be connected to either lifestyle or nutritional choices? Speaker 2 (02:07):

That's a good question. I think in terms of lifestyle, it's so easy to blame social media and everything, which I think that there is a negative side to that in terms of doom scrolling and being on there a lot and also getting to a point where it isolates you. But in terms of just lifestyle and nutrition, I think a lot of it has to do with balancing your work with play. A lot of us as we grow older, forget the play part. And for me personally, exercise is part of my play. So it's a two in one situation. And then nutrition really just supports your body as your mind. It makes you feel sharper, it makes you feel just overall better about yourself. It helps you not ache and quake and feel sluggish, feel like you can't get off the couch or you just don't want to go on that little walk to the post office. So I think it compounds the lack of movement that we generally have, which can often lead to feeling bad about yourself. Speaker 1 (03:31):

Awesome. And in terms of exercise, because exercise is something that we both absolutely love and adore, how do you feel when you don't exercise? Terrible. Yeah. Okay. Explain, because oftentimes people feel like exercise is going to deplete them, and when you're sort of not feeling a hundred percent, you kind of are exercise resistant. So dive into that a little bit more. Speaker 2 (04:02):

I think. Well, I go through stages of not exercising myself generally. Those are stages where at the end of, and I try to get back to my exercising, I am feeling more tired because I do think exercise, especially on the long run, makes you more energetic. I think that also has to do with muscle and metabolism and all that type of stuff. And Speaker 1 (04:29):

I said feeling like sometimes exercise when you're not feeling your best, it's the last thing you want to do. Speaker 2 (04:36):

Yeah, it's the last thing you want to do. It takes time, it takes effort. I think for me it's the shutting off my brain and just doing it as well as the after effects of feeling accomplished that you did it and accomplished that you got over that mental hump. So for me, I do really hard workouts. I also do more what I would consider an easy workout. I think just moving your body in general also helps with the endorphins and helps with those chemical reactions that make you feel good. But also just the feeling of accomplishment and productivity really helps me in just feeling more, having a stronger grasp on my life, feeling more like I'm doing something that I have my life under control and Speaker 1 (05:33):

Myself. That's great. I think you highlighted something that was actually really important that I don't really think about, and I don't think a lot of people think about it is having something to check off the list, meaning that it's kind of going back to that idea of make your bed in the morning where you feel like you've accomplished something. When you set out to exercise and you have exercise, you've accomplished something and that makes you feel good, that makes you feel confident, that makes you feel happy with yourself. So I think that was a really good key point. The other thing that I've loved is just shutting off your brain and just doing it, which sometimes is kind of what we have to do. Speaker 2 (06:17):

Yeah, for sure. And it also makes you feel like a lot of us have goals in terms of our exercise, so it makes you feel like you're committed to that goal and at least you did one step towards it. Even if you, maybe at the beginning of the exercise you kind of are like, is this goal, is it really worth it? But then after it you feel like, okay, at least I did what I had to do today. Speaker 1 (06:44):

And touching on food, which is near and dear to my heart, do in terms of using. So one thing that I found really amazing is I think as a mom I try to do things where you're more caught than taught and eating in a way that makes me happy. How do you think our family culture or the things that you've observed, how have you put them into your life to use food to make yourself feel more alive and better and fabulous? Speaker 2 (07:18):

I think the biggest thing is loving home cooked meals and preferring those over meals that are takeout or just going out to eat. Obviously I love going out to eat, but for the everyday meal, I understand that there's a lot of stuff that maybe I don't want to be eating and that might not be aligned with my goals. And then when we eat at home, you're able to pick and choose what type of food you want, where the food is coming from, how much salt oil you're putting in that food, so it gives you more control over it. I think that's one of the biggest things. Usually my dinners consist of vegetables and meat, so if I was at a restaurant, there would obviously be a starch or a carb there, so I would feel pressured to eat it slash I would eat it. I don't have that much, so I would definitely eat it. So there's that too. Speaker 1 (08:23):

I see. Yeah, definitely. So I love that in terms of getting used to eating food that is just clean and developing your taste buds that way. And how do you manage doing that now that you're living on your own and you're in grad school and you're working and you're doing all that kind of stuff? Speaker 2 (08:46):

I feel like, as I said, dinner's my biggest meal that I eat at home slash make at home for lunch. Sometimes I have jolee, which is very useful, and I don't really eat breakfast. I'm terrible at that. I'm a coffee addict, I'm a coffee drinker, so I drink coffee. I, I've tried to do less sugar for lunch. I am generally out, so hopefully I have a Joey. If not, then I try to do what's there. Sometimes you don't have a choice really. And then for dinner, as I said, usually it's a vegetable and meat and that we generally cook pretty much the same. I wouldn't say it's the most exciting meal. It is very good though because we try to get high quality stuff and then a little variety to make it Speaker 1 (09:47):

Interesting. And have you noticed any foods that make you feel sluggish or foods that make you feel anxious? Not really. I Speaker 2 (09:57):

Think I feel bloated, which makes me feel sluggish. And if I eat foods that make me feel bloated, then after a while, say a week or two, then I would feel sluggish. I eat a lot of red meat, so that kind of helps me with my energy. Speaker 1 (10:22):

That's really great. And you are studying mental health and what inspired you? What do you want to do with that? Speaker 2 (10:32):

My own personal journey as well as my own personal journey and mental health. I think that was the first time that I came in contact with the mental health and mental health services. And I honestly as a teenager, didn't think about mental health at all. It wasn't talked about in my school that much. It wasn't talked about around me. So when I was going through my mental health struggles, it was kind of the first time that I talked to someone. So after that I was actually abroad, so I actually came back to America. And then I wanted to learn a lot more about how to help your mental health, what things you can do outside the therapy office or outside of the psychiatrist's office. So after that I kind of learned a lot just for myself and myself growth. And then I did the podcast to share all the information that I learned because I was like, oh, there's a lot of stuff out there and no one knows like me. So that's kind of how I started the podcast. And then I was working in fashion and then I felt like I really wanted a career that I could see myself there in the long run, and that was more rewarding in the place that I was at. So I dipped my toe into the mental health field and then I took a leap in applying to grad Speaker 1 (12:19):

School. That's awesome. You mentioned fashion, which is the love that we both had. What impact do you think that has on mental health in terms of can you shift your mental health with your fashion choices? How does that working there or not? Or as a consumer, not so much working there, but as a consumer, what can I do when I wake up in the morning and look in my closet if I want to feel happy or what can I do when I wake up in the morning, look in my closet and I feel a bit down? Speaker 2 (12:53):

I mean, for me, I dress up a lot or I wear clothes that are, I find cute and happy. I recently bought a shirt that had a little teddy bear holding a heart on it, which I was found super cute, so I bought it. I think finding those little things helps a lot and just bringing your personality also out of it. I also think it requires a lot of trial and error. I've definitely had fashion mistakes as all fashion do. So I think that's obviously can be daunting to people, but at least you are investigating yourself. Speaker 1 (13:40):

I like that idea because sometimes I feel when you're feeling off and you can't put your finger on it, being curious and investigating yourself, whether that's in fashion and have I moved? Do I need to speak to someone? Am I eating foods that are making me feel not great? Getting curious helps to uncover a lot of things Speaker 2 (14:07):

For sure. And also for me, fashion can push me in a direction that I want. So for example, if I want to feel more in my body or more athletic, then that would maybe be tighter clothes or workout clothes that makes me feel very athletic. If I want to feel more put together and I'm going to get a lot of work done, then maybe I'll wear jeans, which are inherently not very comfortable, but they make you feel put together a nice blouse, a nice shirt. So yeah, that's kind of what I do. Speaker 1 (14:58):

That's cool. And in terms of your, so currently you are managing the cafe called Vital Charm at the Jolie Establishment Establishment, or what do they call it? Flagship. Flagship. Flagship. So when you interact with clients and when you think of the food that you want vital charm to serve, how do you think of that in terms of how clients feel after they Speaker 2 (15:28):

Eat? I feel like that we try to make them feel good. We use a lot of sourdough, which helps, especially for people who maybe gluten is fine with 'em, but obviously has less stuff and makes them feel better and lighter. And then we have gluten-free things. Some of the gluten-free things are specific to that item. So say a pizza, the pizza's automatically gluten-free. We don't have a gluten option. So if they're eating the pizza, then it's a little bit better for them than eating something else. All of our food is very toned down, I would say, in terms of having a few ingredients that come together to make a good amount of flavor. We don't want planned food and having not a lot of extra stuff, not a lot of extra bread and butter and all those type of things. Speaker 1 (16:37):

One thing that you mentioned that I kind of want to elaborate on is when you come to Vital Charm, some things are naturally, and I think something that strikes me is sometimes choosing to eat in a way that makes you feel good or choosing to eat in a way that might be aligned to your goals or not aligned can sometimes make you feel uncomfortable or ostracized or give you anxiety. A number of clients, it feels like, oh, if I want to eat healthy then I can't eat out or I can't eat what everybody else eats. And so I think the idea of inclusivity in terms of not making like, oh, this is only gluten-free or this is only this, but having options to me makes it seem lighter. Your food choices seem lighter. What are your thoughts on that? Speaker 2 (17:33):

Yeah, people can come with their gluten-free friend but also not be gluten-free themselves, or they could also be gluten-free and choose to have a gluten-free option. I think what's the most impactful is people who generally eat a lot of gluten and then they happen to get a gluten-free thing, which is kind of funny. Sometimes they resist and then we give them the gluten thing. But I think they realize that it probably would be better as it is. It's a little hard. The sour can get a little hard. But yeah, I think it's pretty inclusive. We don't scream that we're, because we aren't, our baked goods are gluten free, so a lot of people are super excited about that. Our granola is dairy free. We use the coconut yogurt, which everyone loves. So yeah, I think people are enthusiastic and they also like that it is health centered for sure. Speaker 1 (18:43):

Yeah, I think that's a cool thing just to have a space where everyone is welcome, which I think is important these days to have spaces where everyone's welcome. And one of the things that I love about Julie is that in my words, our only philosophy is health. So it's not that you have to be vegetarian or you have to be a meat eater, you have to be vegan or you have to be this or that. It's doing everything that is going toward your optimal health. So along that lines, what are, say three key aspects of your own life or key aspects that someone can say, Hey, I'm going to try to build these habits into my life that would elevate their overall mental health or make them more, let's say depression proof for something of that sort. Speaker 2 (19:45):

Well, I won't say exercise. I feel like exercise is the obvious one. I would say being outside is definitely helps. Your mental health, just being around the trees, being in a park, there's so many public free parks that so little people go to or just drive by and never stop. And there are, I think the second one would be self-expression. A lot of us can be shut down. So expressing yourself through a specific way, be it your hair color, your makeup, your choice of shoes, your clothing, the way you carry yourself, being super flamboyant, whatever you want to do, adding a little of your personality, your key chain. It could be super small. And then another thing I think would be talking about your mental health with friends. I think it's less taboo than you would originally think because obviously before you wrote a topic, it is very taboo. But once it is broached, I feel like it can be pretty normalized. And you could be undiagnosed, you could be diagnosed with something, but that also just normalizes. If you are diagnosed with something like, oh, I know such and such with this disorder, they're not doing whatever. Maybe the social media or TV shows show of that disorder. It also adds to understanding the complexities of mental health and giving other people grace. Speaker 1 (21:46):

I don't think that's super duper important. Any questions you have for me before we wrap up this podcast? Speaker 2 (21:54):

What do you think most impacts your mental health? Speaker 1 (21:57):

Oh, what do I think positively, positively most impacts my mental health? So first off would be a clean house. I'm one of these people that when my environment is a wreck, I am a wreck. I would say a clean house first and foremost. Secondly, I would say organized eating. So I generally do eat my Jo Life meal delivery. There are times when I don't have it and I literally can't figure out what to eat, or I end up eating a bunch of stuff that are snacks that I'm trying to make into a meal that by the end of the day I usually feel just dissatisfied. I haven't really nourished myself. And so that disorganized eating and also then I become anxious like, did I eat enough? Did I not eat enough?
(22:59)
Am I going to be able to do my workout in the morning? Will I not be able to do my workout in the morning? All of these things. So a clean house and organized eating. And I think third is being in nature. That's a huge thing for me. My house, I wanted, when I found it, I wanted to be able to see the outside from every room in my house. And it's just so important to me to be in nature, to go on walks to, I remember taking the kids hiking a lot when you guys were little, but nature, I made them garden. I mean them do all these outdoor things, but nature is really, really what kind of mellow me out and grounds me. Speaker 2 (23:47):

Nice. Speaker 1 (23:48):

Yeah, Speaker 2 (23:49):

So we share that too. Speaker 1 (23:50):

We do. Well, thank you, marina. I can't wait till our next conversation. This was so much fun and the Active Optimist podcast, I just shared it with someone today is still available on Spotify and Apple, and I'm trying to get Arena to release some new episodes for the Active Optimist. But come see us both at Jolie, our vital charm, and we hope that you guys have a great day. I hope you enjoyed this podcast, the Jo Life Podcast. And if this podcast helped you in any way, I invite you to share it with your friends and your family and whoever you come across that you think might be helped for this podcast. I would love to hear your comments. And you can contact me at julia@thejolielife.com and please follow us on Instagram, the Jolie Life. Our website is the jolie life.com. And it would be lovely if you would subscribe and if you would rate this podcast and go back and share this with someone. Let the ripple effect happen. Let the joly life be the beautiful life that keeps on giving by beauties. Lots of love.