Empowered Ease
Welcome to Empowered Ease, hosted by Jenn Ohlinger—a holistic coach, founder of The Moonflower Collective, and critical care nurse dedicated to revolutionizing women's health. Join us each week as we delve into the transformative stories of healers, health practitioners, and everyday women like you, challenging the patriarchal framework through empowerment and holistic healing. Through engaging storytelling, our podcast highlights each woman's unique journey toward embracing their feminine gifts, trusting their body, and prioritizing their mind, body, and soul. Discover how by empowering ourselves, we can pave the way for stronger relationships and a more balanced world.
Empowered Ease
Brooke Holland; Nourish to Flourish
Hi!! I would love to hear from you!
Frustrated by a healthcare system that seems to address symptoms rather than causes? Holistic nutritionist Brooke Holland understands this all too well. After working in hospital settings where cardiac patients' "special diets" differed from regular meals only by the absence of a salt packet, she knew there had to be a better way to support true healing.
On this eye-opening episode, Brooke shares her journey from conventional clinical nutrition to founding the Rise to Thrive Tribe with her partner—a community centered around vitality, connection, and play. Her personal health struggles led her down a path of discovery when traditional medicine couldn't provide answers, ultimately revealing how proper nourishment could resolve the gut issues that multiple doctors and tests couldn't diagnose.
You'll discover fascinating insights about water quality that few health professionals discuss—how not all water actually hydrates at the cellular level, and simple ways to transform your ordinary filtered water into a powerful healing tool without expensive equipment. Brooke explains the connection between modern farming practices, glyphosate exposure, and the epidemic of chronic disease, offering practical guidance for navigating today's challenging food landscape.
Whether you're looking to make small improvements or completely transform your health, Brooke offers actionable advice from prioritizing the "dirty dozen" organic produce to eliminating harmful seed oils. Beyond just what to eat, she emphasizes the importance of how we eat—cooking at home, sharing meals in community, and practicing gratitude for our food. These simple yet profound practices can shift not just our physical health but our entire relationship with nourishment.
Ready to explore a more holistic approach to wellness? Connect with Brooke at sunbeam-wellness.com or follow her on Instagram @sunbeam_Brookie to learn about joining her transformative wellness community.
Or here
http://www.sunbeam-wellness.com/
Want to support the show? Buy me a cup of coffee and I will give you a shout out on the show….. great opportunity for small businesses!
https://buymeacoffee.com/empoweredease
Join the Newsletter
https://themoonflowercoachingcollective.com/
Hello and welcome to the Empowered Ease podcast. Our guest today is Brooke Holland. She is a holistic nutritionist and co-founder of the Rise to Thrive Tribe. Welcome, Brooke, how are you?
Speaker 2:Doing well. Thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy you're here. So, brooke, it sounds like you're really into like holistic health, holistic nutrition, food is medicine, all those beautiful things. So tell me, like where you are right now, what you're up to.
Speaker 2:Yeah so I am currently living in Mexico at the moment Soaking up the sun, just went for a nice little beach swim right before this. Yeah, and yeah, me and my partner are here together and we're just living the nomadic life right now and working on growing our business and we're partnered in business and life and romance and all of that good stuff. Usually we do these podcasts together, so it's nice that I get a chance to just be solo as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it Well. So this Rise to Thrive community. I'm curious about it. Tell me about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we came together. Me and my partner met in October of 2023. And my background in nutrition and his background is more kind of in the coaching space, men's work, stuff like that leadership and we just came together. We met in the desert of Sedona at this magical gathering and we just instantly like fell in love with each other and we're playful and everything was really surrounded by. You know, we're doing men's work and women's work, unity work.
Speaker 2:So a lot of you know connecting in that kind of space and wellness being the foundation and cultivating authentic connection and vulnerability and all that. So we kind of just came together and bridged our world of expertise. So he saw my passion and excitement for nutrition and drinking superfoods and nourishing all the people at camp. You know, sprinkling some magical potions in his cacao that I would make him every morning and we instantly just joined life together and we're like let's create something. You know he has a background in creating programs, things like that. I've been guiding these holistic health transformations for about five years now. So we came together to create this community called the Rise to Thrive Tribe and our three pillars are vitality, connection and play. And so, yeah, we've kind of just been working on this project together ever since, and it's still evolving and expanding and we have a lot of exciting is this like an in-person community?
Speaker 1:is this like a virtual community? What kind of community is this?
Speaker 2:yeah, so ultimately it's online right now, but we love being in person, like we really. I mean, that's how we met. We met in an actual community, you know, on the land and a camp out, so we love the belly to belly interactions the most. So, ultimately, we want to be calling in humans that we love and that we vibe with, and then we can go out into the world and meet up, do festivals, gatherings, things like that, so that we can, you know, share together, you know, in person. However, because we are so connected through technology, it's like, hey, we can actually impact as many people as we really want through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you can really find your tribe nowadays with the internet. Huh yeah exactly so.
Speaker 2:So it's been fun. Yeah, and stay tuned for more.
Speaker 1:I love that. So I read, uh, that you started off kind of working in hospitals which, like I was, like it was a hospital, like nutritionist, is that what you were doing?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I can give a little background on that. I'm a nurse.
Speaker 1:So I love it Because I talked to the nutritionist on the unit I'm on now, like go to her with diet pads and stuff. I'm like people are asking about this. Like tell me what you really think. I love her because she's like one of the most honest. People should be like this is like she knows, I'm like tell me about your experience there. Let's talk about the health care.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally, and yeah, so back in the day, I mean when I was going to school, I'm like studying nutrition that's what I have my degree in. You know, a lot of my education was very clinical based, and so I ended up getting a job at a hospital because I was on the path to becoming a clinical dietitian and so I needed to have the experience, and I'm so glad that I did so. I worked in the local hospital and I was doing like patient meals. So I was working for the dietician at the time as I was studying to become a dietician myself. So it was a dietary aid doing patient meals, putting their meals together, you know, making sure that they got the. You know somebody was going in for surgery. I'm not giving them food right, like I'm giving them their clear liquid or I mean, as you know, you have very specific diet needs for each individual patient in the hospital.
Speaker 2:However, for me you know I went to study food as medicine like that's what I thought I was getting into I was more on the holistic side of things.
Speaker 2:I love movement, just connecting in nature, and I really wanted to help people before they got to the hospital. You know preventative medicine, and so for me it was really challenging because all these people were already at this point where they were sick and the meals that we are providing them, at least at the hospital I worked at was just not nourishing food at all, you know, and the only difference between a cardiac patient and a regular patient was the lack of, like, a salt packet on their tray. Or the diabetics got the sugar-free dessert right, but we're still feeding these people highly processed foods and it just didn't really make sense to me. So I put in my time, I saw what I needed to see and I got out of that job. But I also worked for a pediatrician, so I've kind of been in, you know, the Western world, just dipping my toes in and going through my own health journey myself through the Western lens and learning that that really was not the way for me and how I wanted to serve people.
Speaker 1:Hmm, I love that. I think there's so for that. For listeners who don't know this like our current healthcare system is kind of imploding, it does very little prevention, if any at all. Even the good people who, I feel like, want to do prevention just don't have the time. They're too overworked to spend real time with people. So prevention is really where it's at and so you have to seek that on your own nowadays, and diet is a huge, huge piece of this. So tell me a little bit about yeah, your, your, how you came to to this, this work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean yeah, like I said, I've I've been lit up about food as medicine for a long time. I studied my first, or I took my first nutrition class in high school and I was like this is what I want to do.
Speaker 2:Um, so I kind of knew that that was the world that I wanted to be in. I guess it wasn't until yeah, I mean, during my studies, I was also struggling with like the worst health of my life, you know, with the stress of school and not sleeping and like the college culture and partying and things like that, and I was having some pretty bad like gut dysbiosis issues, and so I was going and seeing so many different doctors. Like I said, I worked for a doctor, a pediatrician at the time, and I was just seeking answers. I got ultrasounds done, labs done, things like that to be like what is going on inside of my body. Meanwhile I'm studying nutrition and like such a paradox, right, quite ironic, and so I felt really let down by the Western world and like the people that I trusted and knew, like at the office I worked for, could not give me any insight into what was going on with my body, and so it wasn't really until I mean, I left school, a lot of the stress had a huge factor in my health. You know, as we know, stress is one of the most you know, is the foundational piece to dis-ease. But I went to my chiropractor back home I'm from like a small town in Northern California and she, without me even having to say anything to her, she felt my body and was like, oh yeah, like this is where your ileocecal valve is, which is what connects your small intestine to your large intestine, you know, and I was just like in awe because I'm like I didn't even say anything and she instantly could feel where I was having like in awe because I'm like I didn't even say anything and she instantly could feel where I was having discomfort in my body and my gut. And so she was really amazing, very well versed in nutrition and hormones and women's health and things like that. So she was a big teacher for me and I really was propelled on a journey into my own self-discovery around optimal health, what that looked like and felt like in my body.
Speaker 2:I woke up to the power of hydration, which no one teaches you anything about, you know, and it's like we know we're made up of water, but that's about it. You know, not all water is created equal and not all water is actually compatible with ourselves and is actually cellularly hydrating us. So waking up to water was a very big part of my healing journey that supported my gut health. And then, yeah, I also after school, I ended up not doing the dietetic internship route to become a dietitian. I went, I just stopped, I dipped out. I went to India, I did my yoga teacher training. I was learning, you know, ayurveda and things like that, and so that's when I really became more plant-based, just by being in India and eating more Ayurvedically. And then, yeah, really just switching into a more holistic lifestyle, stopping the drinking, switching into a more holistic lifestyle, stopping the drinking.
Speaker 2:Meeting my best friend when I moved to Portland who stopped drinking and he was onto this whole superfood protocol that I didn't really understand. I was still like I don't know about that. He was doing this whole 40-day transformation at the time and we had just moved to Portland together. I'm like I want to go and experience all the food, because Portland's such a foodie city and he was doing this whole health thing, you know, which is funny because, like, I am such a health person too, but I still, like, wanted to play and enjoy and indulge.
Speaker 2:Um, ultimately, the superfoods and this whole healing system that he was tapped into and putting into his body became a very integral part of my healing journey and it took me like over a year to actually get on board with it, even though I was living. We ended up becoming roommates too, but then I started putting this high vibe like beyond organic, bioavailable superfood nourishment in my body and all my gut dysbiosis completely gone, and I was just like, oh my God, like my only regret is not putting this in my body sooner. And this really led me to this whole living food movement and talking about what is going on with our soil health and the monocrop chemical farming and these pesticides and chemicals like glyphosate that are completely wreaking havoc on our microbiome, causing all sorts of damage leaky gut, autoimmune disease and so it really led me down a whole expanded rabbit hole of the connection of our farming practices to the chronic health epidemic that we see today.
Speaker 1:So how are you putting that knowledge to use these days?
Speaker 2:So this regenerative food healing system is the foundation of how we guide our holistic health and lifestyle transformation. So it is a nourishment, so that's yeah, we plug people into this nourishment and then they join our rise to thrive transformation program and then we have a whole community support. We do bi weekly coaching calls. We talk about different topics holistic health, you know, mindset, overcoming limiting beliefs. We talk about food, recipe, meals, ideas, things like that, movement, play, you know, kind of all the elements that make up our community, which is the vitality, connection and play. And so, yeah, we've been guiding people together for this entire year and I've been guiding people through this transformation with just the nutrition protocols, but without the container, since 2020 is when I put this in my own body and was like I need the world to know about this nourishment because it is completely life-changing.
Speaker 1:So what were you saying about the water I have? Um, it was all new to me, so expand a little bit on what you were saying about water.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I woke up to water through I don't know, are you familiar with Kangen water? So I met somebody who is talking all about I mean it was this business opportunity ultimately, but it was around these ionizers, these water ionizer machines. They're called condon water machines and basically ionize your water and create molecular hydrogen rich water, which is a powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory. They're using these machines in Japan. They're made from the Japanese and they're using them to help people heal, and so this type of water is really able to get into the matrix of ourselves and start to hydrate us. And so this type of water is really able to get into the matrix of ourselves and start to hydrate us. And so I went down a whole watering hole on this machine, which is like a very expensive machine. And now they make there's so many technologies to like you can add molecular hydrogen tablets to your water. There's other like little water bottles that you can take on the go that make molecular hydrogen.
Speaker 2:I mean there's so many different technologies that structure the water, and then also just something as simple as adding minerals back to our water, because that's something if we just have a good quality source of water, like a good filtered water. You know, reverse osmosis is like super clean, super pure and filtered, but it's devoid of the minerals. So we're trying to get back to the water like the natural flowing waters that our ancestors knew ultimately, which were structured in a certain way and then they're rich in minerals from the earth. So it's important to at least have a baseline. You don't need like a fancy water machine. I learned that, however, it was like amazing for me and woke me up to so much more about water and hydration in my own body.
Speaker 2:But ultimately, having a good, clean source of water and remineralizing it is so important because it adds a charge to the water which then is compatible with the charge. It's like the ionic charge of our cells to the water, which then is compatible with the charge. We have a. It's like the ionic charge of our cells and the water. So it helps to bring that water into the matrix of ourselves. By just adding a good, you know like a I use this tincture called ionic elements you can get a good. You know just mineral like bottle of minerals that you can add. You know just mineral like bottle of minerals that you can add. Or even like a good Celtic gray sea salt, um, just to add to your water. Add some lime, lemon, boom, like you've completely reactivated your water.
Speaker 1:Gotcha Interesting. I like that. I'll have to look more into that. Um, let's see here. So how, what kind of advice would you give people who are like listening and thinking like I need to make some probably food choice, different food choices, because it's hard these days, food super expensive, all this craziness going on? What kind of advice would you give people? Where should they start? Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 2:You know, I know eating as locally and as organically as possible is such a good, good move, because I mean, I know that organic is not perfect either as far as like pesticide residues and things like that, but it is a step in the right direction. And it is not allowed to have glyphosate sprayed on it, which is active ingredient found in Roundup weed killer, which is an antibiotic. So there is, like I would tell people, look up the clean 15 versus the dirty dozen. So there's 15, like each year they have a list of like the produce that's going to be. Here's a clean 15. You can buy these and get away with these, even if they're not organic. They're going to be less exposed to pesticides. The dirty dozen, those are the ones like usually, strawberries, like any, like berries, um, leafy greens, like spinach, things like that, are going to be more exposed to the pesticides and have that on there, um yeah, on the skins or on the fruit, on the produce. So I would say, do your best to avoid the dirty dozen and to buy those ones organically when possible and then to kind of use that as a guide to eliminate seed oils as much as you can, really, to eliminate most things that are processed. You know if you can go into the grocery store and kind of shop around the edges of the grocery store and getting things that aren't in bags and bottles and you know as much as possible, but really looking for clean ingredients where you can actually read them, you know if it's like some crazy word that you can't even pronounce like well, maybe that's something that you shouldn't put in your body, you know. So just learning to eat, as you know, real food as possible, as whole foods as possible, eliminating like the seed oils I'm talking like canola oil, soy oil, cotton seed oil, peanut oil, things like that If you can really switch your oils to healthier fats, that's going to be huge for you.
Speaker 2:And then again, eating as organically as possible. And if you have access to your farmer's markets I mean because I'm on, I lived on the West Coast and in Portland, oregon, we have like a farmer's market every day of the week, so very blessed. We know that like not all of America or the world has access to amazing produce, but if you do, going to your local farmer farmers markets, talking to your farmer, asking them about their practices, getting to know them, you know that their food is being grown somewhat close to you know, like getting in touch with your food and, if you can like start growing something yourself, even just as little as like an herb plant. You know it's really like a reestablishing a healthier relationship with food. And then something that is also a great way to get more connected is to start cooking your own meals, cook with friends, with family.
Speaker 2:You know like that has a positive impact on your health, even if it's not the healthiest thing. By just like being in community and eating food in community is going to have a positive impact on your health, rather than just scarfing something down on your break that you only have 30 minutes for in the car. You know you're not being present with it and your body's not really even having that signal to tell you like when you're full. So slowing down, being more intentional with your food, eating in community, eating as wholesomely as possible and this might sound a little like woo woo for people, but like blessing your food, you know before you when it's out in front of you, and just really honoring it and thanking it, and thanking the land and all the elements and the hands that it took for that food to get to you and taking a moment is is something that's really powerful and super simple as well, and you don't need to be like religious or anything to do that.
Speaker 1:Right, I'll just be a practice. A little gratitude yeah, I like that, I like that. So if people want to find out more about you and what your partner are doing, how do?
Speaker 2:you? Yeah, you can go to my website. It is wwwsunbeam-wellnesscom and you can learn more about me there and our movement and what we're doing and our rise to thrive transformation. And then you can find me on social media, at um, on my Instagram, at sunbeam underscore Brookie B R O O K I E. And that's my personal Instagram, and then we have our Instagram for our tribe as well, that you can find through my personal account. But yeah, those would be the best places to find me.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I always ask everyone this so what is your go-to self-care when things are getting hard, what's the thing you do to um, to regulate yourself?
Speaker 2:Yeah, for me it's definitely spending time alone doing like a meditation and journaling. Like journaling for me is so cathartic I'm able to get so much out that's inside, you know, just getting it out into the external world is, yeah, I just love writing.
Speaker 1:So I love that, and do you have anything planned for the future that's coming up or anything we should look for?
Speaker 2:I mean, we are gathering a group for I mean, I know this won't be posted till actually March, but we're always bringing people into our tribe, into our community, into a transformation, you know. So if you're looking to better your health and optimize your wellbeing and get connected, we're always bringing more people into our community any day, any time, like you are so welcome to that.
Speaker 1:So yeah, all right. Well, thank you very much for being here and sharing all the beautiful work you're doing. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for having me. Jenny, appreciate you too, thanks.
