Happy New Year!

This is the first of four posts in my four weeks of wellness series and I am so excited to be starting off this year with a blog that features Joy McCarthy from Joyous Health.  Joy and I met at a Toronto Yoga Mamas event where Joy was speaking about her own health and wellness journey. Joy’s talk got me thinking a lot about my own love of food and when she said things like “eat a rainbow,” I knew exactly what she meant and how amazing it is to eat fresh, colourful and vibrant foods. Her perspectives on health and wellness align so closely with my own ideas for a sustainable and steady start to the New Year!

After her Toronto Yoga Mama’s talk, Joy and I had a chance to speak and we clicked. I realized that we grew-up in the same area and had a lot in common, especially when it came to writing and our love of food. At the event we received a copy of Joy’s second Book, Joyous Detox  (see below for upcoming giveaway details) and I can honestly say that after trying many of the recipes in this book it completely changed my perspectives on how you can eat well, detox and still continue to have love affair with food . As a result of trying these new recipes, our pantry and fridge are packed with brand new additions that have now become staples in our cooking and baking routines. In fact,  I’ve left the book open to the Strawberry Oat Mini Pancakes recipe enough times on a Saturday night that my husband may have made them more than me; apparently that’s a pretty strong hint.

A few months after we met,  Joy  and I had a chance to catch up again and chat over tea. Joy told me even more about her entrepreneurial story, something that developed from a personal journey, and what it was like to continue this journey as a new mom.  Joy’s own struggles with wellness developed into a personal blog, two books (a third on the go)  and a blooming business that she runs with her husband  Walker. I am so happy to share Joy’s story with all of you as this month’s Creative Career Mom!

1. Joyous Health is one of those amazing stories of a personal journey gone public success! Can you tell us a bit more about this journey and how it all got started?

Back in the late 90’s I was suffering from hormonal imbalance. My hair was thinning, I didn’t have regular periods and I basically felt like an “it”. I also had digestive problems, anxiety and lots of dry skin. I was a mess! After a few years of taking medications and visiting many western medical doctors I came to the realization that I didn’t have a deficiency of any prescription medication, I needed to get to the root cause of my health issues and address them naturally. When I made the change, my life transformed, not overnight of course. It took about six months of commitment to my health to start to notice changes like my hair growing thicker again.

2. A blog, a baby girl, a supportive husband/father/business partner and two books! Wow Joy, talk about checking a few things off the bucket list, this is amazing and I imagine you are super busy? Let’s talk about the “b –word” for a second. How do you “balance” work, family life and all of those wonderful extras in between?

Funny story — I used to say “I’m busy” all the time and then I heard a podcast about “busyness” and the person being interviewed disliked the word because she said it implies that you’re somehow more important than someone else, which I’m not. So now, I try not to use BOTH B-words because everyone is busy and who has perfect balance? Well, I sure don’t! But what I do have are rituals that are super important to me and keep me happy. Time with my family, eating healthy, being in nature and being at home makes me joyous. As the old saying goes, home is where the heart is. For me this is very true because home is where my family is, home is where I recharge, home is where my kitchen is and home is where all my healthy food lives!

3. I’ve learned so much from your books, talks and blog; from the importance of morning hydration to “eating a rainbow.” How do you find time to maintain this healthy lifestyle when your schedule becomes super packed?

It’s a priority for me. Everyone chooses their priorities, right? Just like you choose to do up your seat belt when you get in the car. It’s a no-brainer for people to do up their seatbelt and the same is true for me as it relates to living healthfully (and I also do up my seatbelt). If I want to maintain my lifestyle then taking self-care seriously is essential. I can’t be on top of my game speaking or writing or standing on my feet for hours, if I don’t care for my body. I also LIVE by my calendar. I schedule absolutely everything in my calendar. If it’s not in my calendar, it likely won’t happen. It’s funny because four or five years ago, I used to be anti-schedule. And then I found that I wasn’t seeing any family or friends because I was a workaholic. Now I love my calendar because it helps keep me sane!

4. Ok so, in addition to being a best selling author, blogger, holistic nutritionist, you’re also a mom to Vienna! She’s adorable by the way! Maintaining an already established company after the birth of your first child can be a bit of a challenge. I know that you and Vienna start your days with smoothies, the best way to start the day for sure, so you are already passing down those great habits. What are some of the ways that you balance the business and “baby life”?

Thank you so much! Vienna is an amazing little human and having a child was one of the best things to ever happen to me. One thing I learned very early on in Vienna’s life was the importance of being present. When you’re an entrepreneur and a business owner, it’s like you already have a baby! Then having a real life baby really put things into perspective for me. I was doing a crappy job being a mom by checking my emails while breastfeeding and vice versa, trying to take a business call while looking after Vienna was also tough. So I decided that no matter what I’m doing that I must be fully present while doing it. It’s made a huge difference because when I’m with Vienna, that is our time. And when I’m with my other baby, my business baby, that’s our sacred time too!

5. While motherhood and owning a business do have their challenges, some women often find that motherhood can be inspirational and provides them with a new creative perspective. Do you find that motherhood has inspired your work?

Oh yes! Great question! Having a baby was incredibly inspiring for me in the kitchen especially when Vienna started eating food. Now that she can safely eat anything, well… she can’t drink wine or espresso, but there aren’t many foods she hasn’t yet tried and it’s so much fun! I’ve also found myself very inspired to share my journey about motherhood with my community whether it’s Instagram or my blog, I enjoy sharing the journey.

6. You’ve accomplished so much already with all the branches of Joyous Health, it’s a brand that keeps evolving and growing! What are your hopes for the future of your business?

I’m now working on my third book which I’m over the moon about!!! One of the biggest reasons I’m especially excited about this book is that we are shooting the whole thing ourselves! Walker does all the photography for our website and blogs, it only made sense for us to do the whole book and not hire an outside photographer. My third book will be recipes only – 100 of them! Every recipe will have a photo and there will be plenty of family photos in there too. I’ve already started recipe creating and I can’t wait to share the healthy deliciousness with the world! One of my missions for the remainder of the year is to get back to creating more recipes for the blog. It’s been such a hectic year that I haven’t been able to blog as much as I like. That’s going to change because Walker and I had a meeting just the other week an we’ve both committed to Wednesday’s being our recipe shoot day. So from now on, Wednesday’s are shoot days! Last but not least is a project that’s been in the works for months, it’s a Joyous Health first!! We’ve the Joyous Health Business Program to help other wellness entrepreneurs take their passion and create a thriving business. It’s an online program that starts October 10^th. I can’t wait for it to begin! You can find out more information here: joyousbusiness.com

 

GIVEAWAY!

As part of this four weeks of wellness series, I am so excited to be giving away one of Joy’s Books, Joyous Detox , so you can take part in this wellness journey too!

Head on over to my Instagram Page for upcoming giveaway details.

For an extra entry:

Follow Josephine: a Creative Life Blog (follow button on the right sidebar).

 

xo

Vanessa