Being hailed as “Sex and the City for Food,” The Food Heals Podcast brings together experts in the field of nutrition, health and healing to teach you the best-kept natural secrets to being a hotter, healthier, happier YOU!

The Food Heals Podcast is hosted by Allison Melody and Suzy Hardy- two self proclaimed natural chicks who will rock your world and change your beliefs about health! This sexy, savvy duo provides eco-friendly advice on a variety of issues- from picking the best non-toxic makeup and getting rid of wrinkles naturally to learning about the benefits of a plant-based diet and the healing power of nutrition.

The podcast shares stories of people who have changed their lives in incredible and inspiring ways. Guests include some of the most amazing people in the health and healing industry who cover a wide range of topics including alternative medicine, detoxing, beauty tips, healing yourself. Allison, Suzy and their guests will share tips on creating a better life- whether it be how to be your authentic self, how free yourself from toxic emotions, let go of judgements and anything holding you back in life and even how to quit your job and start your own business- living you passion and getting paid for it. The point is to inspire you- That you are in control of your life and whatever is happening today does not have to be happening tomorrow. When you become aware of what’s not working in your life you then have the power to let that go and adopt new habits, new belief systems, and take the action steps to live the life you want to live!

Today my fellow Podcaster’s Paradise Podcaster Alison Melody is here to share her story about her healthy food journey and how she got involved with the organic movement.

Tell us a little about yourself.

So we host the Food Heals Podcast and it’s really all about helping people get healthier mind, body and spirit. We’re not trying to change anyone we’re trying to give people the tools that they need to help change themselves and make the healthiest decisions that they can for themselves… whether it’s changing their

• diet
• lifestyle
• getting out of a toxic relationship
• job
• really following their dreams

We just really want to be a place of encouragement,  enlightenment and education!

I have listened to your podcast and it is really inspiring and very informative and you really rock it and have lots of fun there!!

I was listening to your podcast as well, you said you were looking to have people from different states and I live in California but I am from North Carolina which  is one of the states you were looking for.

 

1. Alabama
2. Alaska
3. Arkansas
4. Connecticut
5. Delaware
6. Iowa
7. Kansas
8. Louisiana
9. Maryland
10. Mississippi
11. Missouri
12. Nebraska
13. Nevada
14. New Hampshire
15. New Mexico
16. North Carolina
17. North Dakota
18. Oklahoma
19. Rhode Island
20. South Carolina 
21. West Virginia

My story and how I discovered the reason we need to eat well and nutrition and a complete wake up call, growing up having a garden with dad, business… original idea!

I grew up composting, grew up  gardening … I didn’t know that not everyone did that, we had our trash can, recycling bin, and our composting pile, I remember separating everything. And it’s very trendy today to do that, it’s very green to do that, but back then it was just a part of our lives, so I do find that interesting. 

So IDK how old I was … I was young, my entire childhood, … maybe I stopped being a part of it… My dad always had a tomato garden … we had these giant beatuiful  sunflowers that would grow so tall …. I remember I would run away from the bees… it was a really really great interesting. 

We didn’t grow all of our food, we lived in a small town, Chapel Hill, NC. It was a college town so there were lots of grocery stores and restaurants nearby. It was a combination of going to what we had there  the Food Lion, and the Harris Teeter and those were our grocery stores … and also eating fresh vegetables out of the garden.

You know growing up that way, I went away from it to eating processed, for a long time to eating processed food and restaurant fare. And then back to what I ate when I was younger. So it’s full circle and interesting how it come to eating the most organic  local fare that I can.

Wow That sounds lovely gorwing up in Chapel Hill. That’s a college that’s really well known right Chapel Hill?

UNC is really well known for a lot of things, one of them, Tar Heels, Michael Jordan, basketball culture…

It’s a interesting town, it’s very liberal and very wealthy. So I kind of grew up in a bubble and the rest of the time, in the south they say “what’s up Ya’ll?”

So I didn’t know … So it was an interesting childhood so now I have seen more of the world …  some of the people I Chapel. 

and how things work

I’m grateful

I didn’t grow up in a tiny

I grew up in a great house with a garden

lake across the street and a waterfall… It sounds fancy and we played in the creek growing up, and I was always surrounded by nature, and there were animals that ran around in the creek. And it was just normal.

So then how’d you end up in LA….

That is quite a long story… the reason that I ended up with LA, really coincides interview with coming back to more aware of my food… eating organic … it all happened at the same time. 

I was in North Carolina and my mother suffered from MS for many years and it just progressively got worse and worse and she was unable to work and she was taking so many medications and  was unable to work

She just spent her days, she was at the beach, they moved to Wilmington on the beach … she would sit at the ocean ina longing and a sadness, just watching tv and taking her pills, pill after pill, …. every hour and write it down and make sure that pill didn’t give a side effect…  eventually she got diagnosed with cancer… we had no awwareness of what we were eating… and we had moved away from the gardening, they had moved tot he beach and they were eating whatever was close by a to of restaurant food … not eating healthy food… just eating processed food from the grocery store … I had no idea that food healed or food mattered …. 

now the name of my podcast

So when she was diagnosed with cancer…

I remember speficially asking the doctor… does food matter, does what she eat matter for her health? 

And he was like no, it doesn’t matter at all, she can eat an ice cream sundae or an apple, it doesn’t matter. 

And she continued these treaments and she withered away and passed away. first time I started to question life? Why are we here? Why is she and? What is the purpose of life? What is her purpose?  I was having an existential crisis.

I picked up a book … it was all about food and how it affects the body. The premis of the book, if you ate everything you wanted to eat… if you ate the organic version instead of the conventional gmo food you would be healthy! That was my first step. It blew my mind. I had no idea our food was being manipulated. I had no idea what a GMO, I had no clue of what global warming was. I had no clue of what was going on environmentally!

I started to change my habits … I had gained weight … I used to be an active soccer player … IDK … I used to be healthy and by that time and  going through the pain of losing my mom …  not caring what I ate, I was uncomfortable in my body. 

I switched my food to all organic, things started to get better, I felt more vibrant, I had more energy! I lost weight, felt more…. and I was like wow Food matters!

I tried to switch my father, but he did not believe that he was diagnosed with cancer! I could not believe this was happening again. I started giving him organic food! I started giving him vegetables on his plate, I read that garlic kills cancer. And so I was making green garlic smoothies! 

and no sugar

My dad said, you know what, “honey I love you but I wanted to drink my whiskey, drink my beer, smoke my cigars and die my way… ” And tjhat was the ahardest ghing I had to accept,  I wanted to save his life

Do you think he wanted to be with your mom?

they say that when a spouse dies, that the other one  … he wanted to be with my mom, he was heartbroken… he had a lot of tragedies … his brother had been run over by a car when he was young, his dad killed himself, his wife dies … I mean …. he was a broken man .. there’s a lot of emotional components.

I learned a lot about how important it is and that you need to be really conscious of your emotions

who do you need to forgive, what do you need to let go of, and who you need to honor in your life. So you asked how I got to LA? this is how I got to LA, I graduated….

I wanted to be a film a film maker and make films that matter

social justice

foods about film and all the things I was learning!

and why we need to organic 

So I moved to fill and started working with an organization that worked with food deserts… where they had no access to California food, we healthy to interview people in south LA

What’s  a carrot, our carrots are started, we don’t eat no vegetables!

This is Cheetos w e have

chronic why diseases that we’ve never seen before I moved to LA to pursue my passion

work with this organization

that helps

living in LA is a great place before there is a lot of education ain because information but whether there eis a huge need for this info

my video production company

and help people change their lives and go organic

we’re really all about eating vegan and vegetarian

and

One thing I there wanted to say, isn’t it crazy that doctors say…. I had a doctor say healthy people get cancer too it doesn’t matter if you eat sugar and a friend who had throat cancer so his doctor told him to drink milkshakes… because eventually his esophagus closed up and he had to eat out of … 

I was responding to what you said about your doctor… I knew you cou; the hear me…

I know I was talking about my friend who had cancer and they were just like drink milkshakes… then he had a long dint quality of life and got extended when he started seing a nutritionist and he started drinking wheat grass and he ended up having a nice quality of life and hiking…

Its so sad, so many doctors are not trained in diet … we listen to them and they are trained by drug companies and pharmaceuticals… I’m glad he could live a good quality of life at the end…

I’m sorry your dad didn’t try that way.

Do you want to talk about your nutrient environmental movies?

The main one I’m working on now is called Food Heals, it follows these people who have healed their bodies… it’s not anti western, Michael More gotta … it’s how people have done it… we had a woman who had ovarian cancer, the dr said we need to get you into nutrition sugary and get you into radiation immediately… so she decided to do a cleanse

if after 4 months she would do the surgery

she was able to completely reverse her disease by juicing sugary by eating fruits and vegetables only… she also got out of a toxic marriage… learning to love herself and take care of her body…

and were shocked

a new Drs. doctor was like you didn’t have cancer you were misdiagnosed… they couldn’t’ understand that fruits and veggies could heal your body

a really

a couldn’t whether in California… it’s a city

it’s this big music concert

really possible

100s of 1000s of farm workers, that are feeding California, that are feeding the rest of the US

they are treated horribly,

they live in unsanitary conditions

have arsenic in their drinking in their water… they have diseases all over their bodies… there are children suffering

no one

undocumented farm worker

city and govt said it’s gonna cost millions of dollars to get healthy drinking so they did nothing… so these non-profits came together and they got water filters for 27k dollars instead of millions… so now are implementing these filtrations systems

farm workers that are  feeding us

putting foods

same access to quality water

a lot of other issues

things like that that are happening in our backyards and we are completely unawares. I like to bring awareness… 

there are so many food deserts

unaware people who don’t have access … or cannot afford healthy food

partner with so many campaign sand try to help healthy food into school lunch programs

so many what my films are social justice and activism

document the work, that these that’s amazing community members are doing. 

That’s imporatnt getting their sotyr out there… that’s an important part.. I feel like I am just honored to share… you’re one of them the great work that ou are doing?

Do you have a garden at all?

Don’t judge me, we have a yard… I havent’ started the garden… 

we haven’t

rosemary and mint

we have not started yet, I work in the film industry and my husbands a producer, and we both work too much… I know that’s a terrible reason, I really want to make that 

You totally don’t have to apologize. .. if it was up to me we wouldn’t have anything… my husband does it all. My brother’s in the film industry… he worked on like Law and Order and Damages and no he’s started working on some show called the blind spot and he works like for 6 months and then he gets some time off… I would never judge you… I have all to do to grow my own lettuce… part of my show Mike said I’ve been in the garden more then ever… a lot of my guests have shared tips to make it easier and less time intensive.

I’m on the important and I don’t have a garden!

I’m gonna go back and get Organic Gardener inspired!

You’re the one who had the idea to reach out to Organic Gardener Podcast and get some gifts and things to get more reviews on itunes… do you want to talk a little bit about sponsor billions for people?

I love talking about business, I love being an entrepreneur and the swag bags… I did this fundraiser… to raise money for foothills

sponsor who came Everyone a swag bag…

that forced me to reach out to companies that were brands that were organic

face creams and mascaras

and a seed company

that were in alignment get with our mission, donated these products… it was a great learning experience… then I was able to carry it over

one of the things we learn in podcasters paradise is we have to keep getting our ratings and reviews so itUnes keeps us in the top 10 and top 20 in our category

so people like Jackie and I help more people… so to incentivize!

I don’t go on yelp and

if the restaurant said hay we’re gonna give you free meal

I’d say I’d be happy to, I love your food, and I’m gonna come back so here’s your review! So we put together 10 swag bags, we absolutely love your refreshing spray and rose oil

we would love to tell our listeners about it… here’s a little bit about them they all want to be healthier versions of themselves

put together 10 swag bags

full of amazing luscious

We just said on the podcast, hey guys just leave us a review and you’ll be entered into to relieve a swag bag

loved their show

giving them a voice as well

then we would read our favorites on the podcast and then people would have to tweet us or

it worked in our benefit

to get us in iTunes to keep us on the top of the list…. 

it was a great to connect and send 10 of them free swag bags … it’s a great thing to get stuff in the mail so it’s a win win for everyone! Plus it built a relationship with those companies we reached out to…

One of them was the global healing center and I use their products all the time and love their products and now they’ve becoming one of our sponsors so by reaching out and offering them something of value… instead of being like Hey do you want to pay to sponsor your show?! They’re like , we don’t know who you are? No… Instead we established a report with them, we established this is what wed’er doing,

and this is how we can help you! We offered them something of valuable first before asking for asking of something of value in return? So it’s really a win – win situation …

It was so fun, the first time I saw this box. I thought I was reaching out to Nutiva, I got this PR company in NY and she was like we Everyone handle all three of these!  it was so fun to get this box full of stuff. And to be sharing with my listeners at first I was like handle they’re gonna post itunes reviews? But they were so sweet and I could tell they’d been listening. You see your stats on Libsyn etc but to actually hear from listeners was so wonderful and makes you get 

You get people who are like I would love to tell them about your show.

I’ve been a little slow getting my May/about winners out… and I’ll get that posted and my June/Summer contest that is extended to Sept 20, 2016.

Anything with business. Cause I’m not a business type

If anyone is wondering how to start?

how can you get more vegetables on your plate

find out if they are organic as local as possible

The numbers mean something a 9 at the front on the produce sticker means it’s organic and a 4 means it is grown conventionally

• 9 means it’s organic and a
• 4 means it is grown conventionally

Blend them in a smoothie, June fruits are great… make sure if  there’s a 9 in front…. if you can go to a local farmer’s market.

I asked this questions the other day… but I can eat veggies all day long but I struggle to eat fruit, my big problem is it’s messy and I eat a lot in my car…

Best way to get Organic Gardener Podcast sulfites in is make smoothies… suffrages smoothies every single day

full of toxic and substances

eating at home or outside as you can

best way to get fruits in

make smoothies

every single morning

sometimes I make the for dinner

I also have fruit for dessert instead of sugar, 

I always want cookies, and candies and cake , 

force myself to eat

don’t think I’l ever get rid of that craving… 

I actually really enjoy fruit…

I’m mostly vegan, cause dairy causes inflammation

it’s the first source of any type of Make sickness or disease, we really want to suffrages reduce our reduce…

some people are allergic

coconut inflammation yogurts

another way to get the creaminess, surprisingly is avocado….

1/2 or 1/4 avocado I always put banana or avocado….

banana will make it sweeter

avocado will make it creamy

I have so many smoothie recipes Idk where to start… 

so

• blend up some ice
• pick a couple of berries
• avocado
• banana
• fruit
• kale
• powders – Vitamin C or vegan protein
• dates if you have a sweet tooth
• liquid – almond, coconut milk or water

we subscribe to a CSA program

deliver farm fresh vegetables to our door

package

blueberries

wintery foods and vegetables in the winter.

I just make it up as I go along

subscribe, banana

fruit

kale

vitamin c

vegan protein

pea protein

sweeten

it with dates, not like sugar….

extremely sweet but don’t make you crash

love dates

blend it up with some liquid, water, connect, or almond milk

It’s all about doing your best…. progress over perfection

go extreme or too cold turkey, and then they are miserable.

I can only eat vegetables

The more vegetables the better your gonna feel

the health of your family or our

what little change you make

You had those brothers on, one thing they said that I really liked, was that subscribe even if you only go vegan for one day you’re gonna save an animals life. So that was really encouraging, if I can start incorporating a day here and a day here….

it’s interesting one of the big things I got from John’s Freedom Journal even didn’t go as well as I could do to make it better, is I NEED TO PLAN MORE, I think my body is a part of that, cut up what fruit ahead of time,

if you fail to plan, you plan to fail….

OK sunday’s my cooking time, from between pm is I’m cooking for my family. Business is the same way…

If you have a business to you have any advice for our listeners about how to sell extra produce or get started in the industry?

if you fail to plan you plan to fail… if sunday

between 2-5 o’clock

for me, its like I’m working for my business

so some business is not paying yet, I have to schedule time

if you had business, and you had  a meeting or you were meeting with friends, you wouldn’t cancel, so don’t cancel on yourself

I love the Freedom Journal for that,

It makes you be accountable

Final question- if there was one change you would like to see to create a greener world what would it be? For example is there a charity or organization your passionate about or a project you would like to see put into action. What do you feel is the most crucial issue facing our planet in regards to the environment either in your local area or on a national or global scale?

I think there are so many issues, the one that really comes forward to me at this moment… is factory farming and the detrimental effects

and the heath of the animals

I’m not saying go watch a bunch of PETA

factory farming is one of the most unsustainable things we do on the planet. We are clearning out the rainforests that have the potential to heal cancer and other diseases….

habitat

rainforests that are keeping our rich and alive and beautiful

statistics are staggering, 

What you said about eating one vegan meal a day saves one animal and that comes from the film Cowspiracy

if you want to learn more about what I’m talking about

factory

destroying our ecosystem quickly

they are so abusive to animals it will make you cry. If your kids go to the zoo

they are actually the food on our plate, if we can’t tell them doesn’t that mean there is something we care doing wrong?

factory s

ag gag laws 

for example

you can’t film inside of  a factory farm, for the very reason they know  it will expose the injustice to the animals

the people working there, lose all sense of themselves

terrible factory for the factory farm workers its also destroying our planet, our ecosystem, our rainforest… Just watch Cowspiracy! That’s all I have to say…

I like the way you talk about the workers who work there, that’s really empathetic, it’s really nice visionary because, most people only talk about the animals and not many people talk about what it’s like if you work there. What if that was the only job you had and you had to go there every day even if you didn’t approve of it. 

Can you imagine? It would destinies you and makes you uncompassionate yourself… 

They say that the biggest link to psychological damage is how uncompassionate treats an animal…. Let’s finish on a positive note. You’re a rockstar milenial right? I think there is definitely something about the people who are between 30-40 years old in 2016! 

I love millennia’s! I definitely count you in there! Keep on Rockin! So I am women definitely gonna encourage everyone to check out definitely food heals podcast and they have great guests that I know my listeners are interested in…. Thank you for being with us today! Tell everyone how to connect with you.

Instagram, Twitter,

@ the

@allisonmelodytv On Snapchat

spirituality and business

Foodheals VIP club, we we are teaching classes hosting private classes.. food heals…

spirituality, nutrition and business!

Our show notes are at Foodheals.com

teaching private classes

FOODHEALSVIP.com

might have to have you come back just to talk about the VIP club.

I’m super excited to follow you on Snapcahat! I love Snapchat. I think I’m OrganicGPodcast.

Thank you so much!

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