Today's Watched & Rooted Wednesday feels extra special because today marks 7 years alcohol-free. 💚 For 25 years I was a horrible alcoholic. When I first got sober, I thought I was just quitting alcohol. Ditching the hangovers. I had no idea I was about to create a entirely different life. Annnnnd the greatest gift wasn't better sleep, more energy, or even better health. It was my family. I was given the opportunity to rebuild relationships with my kids and the people I love most. There were bridges I nearly destroyed forever, and over the years, one conversation, one apology, and one day at a time, those bridges were rebuilt. It has not been easy. Some days I wanted to throw in the towel and grab a bottle of Jack! BUT – my kids got their mom back. And now my grandkids get the Oma they deserve. And I was saved. Sobriety introduced to me Big Daddy J 🌱 That will always be my greatest victory 💫 Sobriety also gave me the clarity to rediscover my love of cooking, heal my relationship with food, BELIEVE IN MYSELF, and eventually create this incredible Rooted & Wild community. None of it would exist without that decision I made seven years ago. None of it. One of the biggest things I've learned is that healing isn't just about removing something. It's about creating the life that comes next. I think this is the part sober people struggle with the most! For today's Watched & Rooted Wednesday, I found a podcast that feels especially fitting. If you're curious about the connection between nutrition, cravings, brain health, and alcohol-free living, I think you'll really enjoy it. 🎧 No More Booze with Dr. Brooke Scheller: https://open.spotify.com/show/6ck5UGrj5j4Qv5M3p2m6bJ Whether you're alcohol-free, sober curious, supporting someone you love, or simply interested in how food affects the brain, I hope it gives you something to think about. Here's to healing, second chances, and showing up for the people who matter most. THANK YOU for letting me share this milestone with you. 💚

Quick question — how many times a week are you actually eating beans or lentils? Be honest. Because this episode is about to make you want to eat them every single day. 🤘🏻 This week I am sharing a podcast episode from one of the most credible voices in plant-based nutrition on the planet. Dr. Michael Greger from NutritionFacts.org — Dr. G 🫶🏻 the same doctor from the What The Health lineup 😄 🎧 Spilling The Beans — Dr. Michael Greger 👉 https://nutritionfacts.org/audio/spilling-the-beans/ He covers allllll the goods! 🫘 Beans and lentils — the health benefits, how to prepare them, and why legumes are quite possibly the single most important food group you can add to your diet. 🌰 Nuts — he wraps up with a deep dive into nuts and why they deserve a permanent spot in your daily eating as well. The stat that stopped me cold 🤯 Eating just ONE cup of beans, chickpeas, or lentils every single day for three months could slow your resting heart rate as much as spending 250 HOURS on a treadmill. Two hundred and fifty hours. On a treadmill. Replaced by a cup of lentils. 😂🌿 Dr. G. Totally free. Go and have a listen. 🎧 Come back after and tell me — are beans already a daily staple for you or are you just getting started? 🍑💨

Have you ever actually watched someone ferment vegetables in real time? Because once you see how stupidly simple it is you will never look at a mason jar the same way again. This week I'm sharing TWO videos from The Happy Pear — twin brothers from Ireland who have been living and breathing whole food plant-based eating for over 20 years. Their energy is infectious, their food is incredible & they make everything look completely doable. I love them. 💚 🎬 First — watch this short. It's 60 seconds and it will make everything click. This is lacto-fermentation explained in the simplest way possible. If you read Tuesday's fermentation post and thought "okay but HOW" — this is your answer. 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiS3gDBhuH8 🎬 Then watch this one. How to make sauerkraut from scratch. Just cabbage and salt. That's it. Watch how simple this actually is and then tell me you're not immediately going to go buy a head of cabbage. 😂 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueAVPxQVCac And listen — we are doing this TOGETHER in our upcoming fermentation workshop. Onions, carrots, canbage, beets — whatever you have been dying to ferment. Mason jars. Simple ingredients. Big gut health results. Details dropping soon so keep your eyes peeled! 👀🌿 Watch both. Come back and tell me — are you ready to start fermenting? 👀

This one really changed how I think about everything I eat. Have you listened yet? 👇 Today's share is a short podcast all about THE GUT. Dr. Michael Greger — our guy from the What The Health lineup — has a podcast episode called A Gut Feeling and it is only TWELVE MINUTES LONG. You can listen on your lunch break. On a walk. While you're making your smoothie. Or in the car. 😄 He opens with something Hippocrates said 2,500 years ago — "All disease begins in the gut." And then spends 12 minutes showing exactly why that's still true today and what whole plant foods do to your gut microbiome that nothing else can replicate. Listen. Come back. Tell me — what's one thing you're changing about how you feed your gut? 🎧 A Gut Feeling — Dr. Michael Greger

Have you ever wondered what 50 years of plant-based living actually looks like on a person? Because I have. 👇 This week I want you to meet Dr. Milton Mills — Stanford-trained physician, lifelong vegan, and honestly one of the most compelling voices in the plant-based world. This video is short, punchy, and packed with wisdom from someone who has been living this life for FIVE DECADES. And listen — he drops a line about booty calls with bad food which turned me into an instant fan. You just have to watch it. 😂 Come back here afterwards and tell me — what hit you the hardest? 🌿 Mine is in the comments. No worries. I started with a 6½ minute video. 🎥 50 Years Plant-Based: Dr. Milton Mills Shares His Wisdom 🎬 Watched & Rooted Wednesday