These are the guiding principles that have kept me consistent in my OrganicMommyCEO lifestyle. These points have guided my decision-making + I attribute them to the reason I am well and wealthy.
I’m a huge believer in functional medicine, and after 10+ years in the healthcare game, I’m certain that this is the way to create lasting, consistent change for the better across all areas of your life.
My personal wellness directly impacts how I am genuinely enjoying motherhood + entrepreneurship. In my online courses, I help women prioritize wellness with these foundational principles, so that they can experience the same.
Wellness
The body is intentionally designed.
When we feed our bodies the unique fuel they need, that optimal nutrition, exercise + rest allows our bodies to do what they were biologically made to do.
We’re not born flawed.
Our bodies have everything they need to heal themselves organically: balance hormones, cool off inflammation, fix digestion, detox waste + pollutants, boost energy + calm our minds. As a result, the body can heal itself.
You can’t out-perform a bad diet.
You’ll never go wrong if you listen to your gut — literally + figuratively.
Our digestive system has a distinct, direct relationship to our brain. The gut-brain connection is the most powerful influence over our lifetime performance.
Our food ingredients are messengers to our body’s cells. When we eat high-quality food, those cells are given clear information + our bodies function at their best. We feel energetic + level-headed. We look vibrant + fit.
When we eat low-quality food, like inorganic sugars, trans fats + processed foods, our cells receive unclear messages. The result is dysfunction: think mood swings, chronic illness, low fertility + poor sleep to name a few.
We can do all of the exercising, sleeping, meditating, body treatments + self-development education in the world, but if we don’t prioritize quality nutrition, we’re spinning our wheels with the emergency brake still on.
Organic is the best investment.
Consuming organically will yield the most return on investment in our lifetime.
You can put diesel fuel in a regular car, and it will still drive for a while, but, eventually, it will break.
Take something like diabetes. The average diabetic requires over $16,000/year in medical services. Instead of eating the cheap food, what would more thoughtful, cost-effective decisions in the grocery store have yielded those diagnosed?
Food is just the tipping point. Beauty, cleaning products + technology can make just as much of an impact on our health. When what we’re consuming is made up of inorganic materials, we’re giving our bodies fuel unintended for them according to nature.
Farmacy over Pharmacy
I believe in consuming anything you can find on an organic farm over anything with a shelf-life or made in a lab.
I get asked “But what about when you’re sick?”
When I prioritized my health according to functional medicine, I noticed an incredibly reduced need for pharmaceutical medicine. I have literally not been sick in years. For the times I’ve wanted some extra relief — like feeling a migraine come on, or recovering from birth — there are simple, holistic alternatives that are available conveniently (and I think work better!).
That said, I am not anti-pharmaceuticals or anti-traditional medicine. Both pharmaceutical drugs + medical interventions can be lifesaving and are incredibly useful if given the right dose/procedure, for the right person, at the right time, and for the right reason.
If you’re sleep-deprived, you can increase alertness + energy with a stimulant medication, but the “right” solution is sleep.
I’m interested in moving away from medication + physical intervention being the only tools in medical practice today.
Numbers aren’t important. Patterns are.
I don’t believe in charting macros, reading labels for calories, or measuring weight on the scale. Numbers alone are a distraction from the true work: developing healthy patterns + eliminating unhealthy ones.
I believe better health is when you quit overexerting yourself for the occasional brag-worthy 5-mile run, and start taking a light jog around the block everyday.
I believe thoughtful consistency is a better metric for wellness.
Motherhood
Children should be treated with respect
I explain situations as I would want them explained to me. I ask if my child wants to hug grandpa instead of ever forcing her to in the name of “respecting your elders”. I don’t drag, spank or yell. I treat my child how I want to be treated.
Biology over social expectation
A lot of what society deems as inappropriate behavior is actually biologically normal, like babies not sleeping through the night until toddlerhood + toddler tantrums.
Teachable moments over punishment
I explain my rationale in every challenging moment instead of punishment, shaming or excluding. This means I get down to eye-level, to speak calmly but assertively with my child + we stand up together upon understanding each other better.
Boundaries with consistency + empathy
“I can see you want to nurse, but I can’t let you just take my boob out without asking” is a common phrase in my house! I’m allowed to have body autonomy + respect just like anyone else, but, especially as mom, I need to have empathy for the fact that boundaries are hard for kids to learn.
Intrinsic motivation
We practice personal motivation over bribery, which means that we give our kids reasons they would want to participate in or avoid an action so that they can choose their behavior instead of exchanging a treat for initiating good behavior. Bribery removes the child’s desire to behave on their own.
Entrepreneurship
You shouldn’t go into debt to start a business.
There’s a difference between investing your time (which also has a dollar value), your existing resources + spending a small amount of money that you know you could pay off within the next 30 days to start your own business — and taking on thousands of dollars of liability to test out an idea.
Start with where you’re at. Validate that you can sell the product or service. Then use those initial small sales profits to reinvest back in your business. Then do it again. And again. There’s no reason to assume huge risk in your first entrepreneurship experience.
Mental prep yields a dramatic Return on Investment (ROI).
There’s no separation between personal + professional lives. You have ONE life. The personality traits that you’ve acquired over the course of your personal life will translate into your professional work in some way.
Self-development sounds like fluff, but it is the emotional work that yields the greatest return on investment for every entrepreneur.
[If you’re turned off by that statement, it means that you especially need to buckle down and do a mental check-in. I love revisiting Jack Canfield’s The Success Principles. Start there!]What’s your organic philosophy?
I’ll keep expanding this list as I think of more guiding principles I use in my life, but I’d love to hear what YOU prioritize and why. Comment below!