Raise your hand if you're a burnt out caregiver. The two seem to go hand in hand.
I'm sharing some self care tips that are working for me and/or that I'm putting into place as a caregiver and while self care has almost become a nails on the chalkboard type of expression to my ears (because it's so overused) the message behind it is important.
Listen to those flight attendants y'all because you need to put your own life preserver on first before you put on someone else's.
Easy to say in theory, harder to put it into practice.
So, let's try together, shall we?
Questions / comments / want to chat directly? Email me at contactbrookehoover@gmail.com
What do Danny from the hit boy band New Kids on the Block and Banana Pudding have in common?
Well, they were initially rejects at the pot luck party in my brain.
Banana pudding for its texture and banana flavor and just not being a super Louisiana type of dessert.
Danny from New Kids on the Block for not being, well, not being the cutest one. And, for my allegiance to Donny - no wait Jordan - no wait Joey. (It varied on the day. Sorry Jonathan, you were too shy.)
But, like a good Southerner, I learned to embrace the pudding which is essentially just a mushy ole trifle when my Aunt Mary brought in her fancier version with the Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies. So long 'Nilla Wafers! And, I also learned to embraced Danny from NKOTB (not literally, yet) because, like a wine, he got FINER with age (IMHO).
I also tell tales on how ice box pies can be lower carb and lower sugar too. Mississippi Mud Pie is just one example of something you can easily make (read : "make" NOT bake) that's Keto-friendly.
Like a church pot luck, there's a little something for everyone in this episode, y'all!
If you would like to read transcripts of this (or any) episode, please check out my YouTube channel www.youtube.com/brookehoover
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TIKTOK https://www.tiktok.com/@whosdatphatgirl
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Because I have a summer birthday, I've never been a HEY LOOK AT ME IT'S MY BIRTHDAY type of person which is SO not Leo of me but I guess it's because I never wanted to set myself up for disappointment.
I usually use my birthday as a reflection time and I thought it was fitting to share with y'all a note I wrote to my younger self when prompted to do so for a writing submission.
The only rule was, you had to start your letter with Dear...
So, I thought in true PHAT GIRL STYLE we would go backwards to go forwards and GEAUX down memory or is it future lane...
If you've been listening to this here podcast for the past nine months or so, you know I've been going through the process of getting a dental implant. First off, I know I'm one of the lucky ones in that regard to be able to have the insurance (and the credit card) to be able to even get such an implant.
But why is dental health equally luxury AND agony? Why are we so terrified of dentists and, oftentimes, even more terrified of the dental bills.
Because dental health IS mental health AND full body health, it's about damn time it be regarded as such. I can't change the medical world, but I can try. My hope in today's episode is to shed some humour (yes, with a u, 'cause I'm fancy and my dog is British) on my own dental plights and traumas and to provide some tips that I've learned over the years including from my aunt Nanny Cile who was a dental hygienist for nearly 50 years and from being someone on a fixed budget but who also needs their teeth, for the biz and just, for life.
The ups and downs of life have often been compared to a roller coaster. Amusement parks are bipolar mofos. The day after, it's always super depressing. Or is it just me?
I used to LOVE amusement parks : the lights, the colours, the almost dying. That was FUN. Or is it just me?
Amusement parks were also scary, death traps where you could get kidnapped? Or is it just me?
From Disney World to Dollywood and every rinky dink amusement park in between (I'm looking at you Fun Fair Park), I experienced some STUFF in the 80's and 90's.
And, I know one thing is true: I was definitely carny folk in a past life and Coney Island was my home.
Today's special guest HUYEN VU (a Functional Health Pracitioner AND Certified Physician's Assistant) was SICK AND TIRED of feeling SICK AND TIRED. After dealing with many health issues including IBS, Huyen knew there was more to feeling better than simply feeling like she was being bounced back and forth like a ping pong ball in a broken health system.
So, she took CHARGE of her health using functional medicine.
She not only has helped heal herself with functional medicine, she's helped her husband and so many other patients both as a physician's assistant and in her own practice as a functional health practitioner.
I WISH I would have known Huyen when I began my PCOS journey.
There is a way out, there is hope and it's within YOU once you feel IN CHARGE of your health and not at the beck and call of a very rushed and harried traditional medicinal system.
Visit Huyen's Website:
https://www.inchargefunctionalhealth.com
Follow Huyen on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/inchargefunctionalhealth/
Click here to visit the WHO'S DAT PHAT GIRL WEBSITE for more!
I have an episode for King Cake, an episode for Beignets and an episode for Biscuits. But, I didn't have an episode for something that I eat every day...until now.
My beloved Overnight Oats needed a special episode for many reasons:
They're easy to make - LEARN how to make more oat-based recipes and how to add in more protein with a few more "hacks" I have for ya.
They're resistant starch - HEAR WHY resistant starch is good for you
They're full of prebiotics - DISCOVER the role or prebiotics when it comes to probiotics and how they exist in a symbiotic relationship
And, of course, stay for all of my tales of breakfast woes of yore while growing up in 1980's Louisiana - from grits to Gatorade and more, I've got some stories for ya.
And, of course, I've got some recipes and tips for ya too.
If you'd like to hear more about how I get HEALTHY FULL SIZE SAMPLES FOR FREE - CLICK HERE TO EMAIL ME NOW and I'll share it with ya!
I've you've ever experienced chronic pain (which is most likely, considering over 51 million Americans experienced chronic pain just last year) then you know is a real pain in the YOU KNOW WHAT.
Today, I'm speaking with Mandy Ryle, a Chronic Pain Specialist and a Certified Nutritionist.
Mandy has been a movement instructor for nearly two decades and it is her mission is to empower individuals challenged by persistent pain to reclaim their vitality and independence. Mandy takes a holistic approach that combines nervous system re-education, mindset cultivation, nutrition coaching and exercise in order to help her clients move through their pain.
I shed some (kinda unexpected) tears today when I talk with Mandy about her pain journey, my pain journey and those of her clients.
If you want Mandy to help YOU on your journey, please visit:
"You Gotta Get a Gimmick" can hold true for burlesque, cabaret and Broadway musicals but WHY oh WHY is it the case for health and wellness?
I used to be a sucker for a good marketing campaign. I used to be a sucker for anything that told me it would provide me instant relief, weight loss and enlightenment. I used to be a sucker for fat sucking (stay tuned to hear more).
And, after so much drama and too much money spent I am now OVER it. (Well, never say never.) In this here episode I'm telling tales about things that definitely did NOT work for me along my health journey from Living Social deals to doctors' recommendations.
Today I talk with long-time friend, fellow actor/writer/comedian Ken Perlstein about his road to recovery. Ken and I met two decades ago when we were part of an improv troupe called 8 Is Never Enough during the Bush Kerry era, doing political and non-political comedy sketch, improv and standup. I admire Ken for his fearlessness in being vulnerable about his recovery journey and his ability to help others. We are talking about Ken's success as an actor/writer/comedian today but also as someone who's overcome so much and is an awesome dad, husband, friend and human. Listen to the whole thing if you want to hear some fun impersonations from some of your fave (or maybe not so fave) political figures.
While Café du Monde in New Orleans is known as the OG of making and selling beignets (fried leavened dough that becomes a golden angel's pillow topped with powdered sugar) and café au lait (coffee with hot milk), there's another beignet place that I hold near and dear.
I grew up having beignets (a fried dough treat, native to Louisiana) every Sunday with my dad after early morning church at Coffee Call in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
But then on my weight loss and PCOS health gain journey I told myself that I could give two shits about beignets. And I (almost) forgot all about them.
Hear tales about how I rekindled a healthier relationship with food, one specific food, and with myself. Learn some donut and Louisiana history and fun facts - stay for the feels.
To READ the TRANSCRIPT of this episode or any prior episode, please visit www.brookehoover.com/podcast
New Year, New You Yadda Yadda Yadda
If your New Year's Resolution has gone by the way side already then, yay! Welcome to the club - wait I haven't done a resolution in YEARS. (Side bar, did you listen to the Season 2 Episode 28 about New Year's Words Vs. New Year's Resolutions???)
Here are FIVE EASY and TANGIBLE organizational tips that are OH so January - and that are easy enough to do in "chunks" that'll leave you feeling organized, accomplished and refreshed instead of overwhelmed.
For me, tackling things that are very hands-on often helps with this time of year which can be SUPER heady and inner worky and jerky for me.
I set out to do this podcast in order to share, entertain and inspire. I didn't realize it'd also help me bring up some of my own sh*t including trauma and patterns. Losing the literal weight, the 100 pounds, has only been a minuscule part of the healing journey. The journey (for all of us) gets easier when we start realizing that the physical and the mental health aspects go hand in hand. I think we are always on a healing journey. Wouldn't it be nice to go through that healing journey with a guide?
In this episode, I'm speaking with new friend, kindred spirit and healing guide LEAH DREW about healing the past and breaking unhelpful patterns in order to live in the present.
Leah Drew is a Mind/Body healing guide whose goal is to inspire you to seek more awareness, empowerment & healing in your life.
Ah, the new year, 2024 is upon us. For SO long, my new year's resolution was "I will lose weight this year" or "I will not eat cake this year". Too vague, too much punishment and, at the end of the day (at the end of the year?) would those resolutions really make me a better person?
So, I started choosing a "word of the year" instead of a New Year's Resolution. Last year, my word of the year was "embrace" which felt SO not-me that I forgot the damn word. This year, I'm choosing something in the vein of embrace but something that feels more gentle and less phony at the same time, "acceptance."
Do you want to join me in choosing a word of the year? Let me know what your word is, y'all. I am genuinely curious.
Let's follow each other on Instagram and keep the conversation going! Click HERE
Transcripts available by clicking HERE
Growing up in South Louisiana, all I wanted was a White Christmas and WASPy cut out sugar cookies with a perfect presentation. But, we were usually wearing shorts and t-shirts on Christmas Day and because my Momma is 110% Rajun Cajun, we never did those cute little holiday cookies. We made Cajun candy (pralines and gold brick fudge) which tasted great but looked like alligator poop.
After years of fighting my heritage and wanting something that looked like magazine perfection, I've finally learned to embrace it and share the candy (and love) with my "Yankee" boyfriend and friends here in New York and New Jersey.
Coach Rita Savoia and I talk about the importance of breath to help with stress and this season is arguably one of THE most stressful times of year so we could all use a little BREATH. Something so simple and yet many of us are doing it incorrectly - including yours truly! Learn some techniques to breathe optimally and to help find peace - even in the line at the airport or mall. We also tell tales about random things from Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” to Sunday dinners with Rita’s Italian family. Find out what makes Rita feel like a PHAT girl (Pretty Hot and Tempting).
USE CODE "BREATHE50" to save 50% on Rita's services mentioned in this episode - CLICK HERE to visit her site
