Interview with Erin Stanczyk - Eat Move Rest.

A special guest for International Women's Day 2024—an exclusive interview with Erin Stanczyk from Eat Move Rest. Dive into the insightful questions and inspiring answers, a true celebration of women's strength and wisdom.

Erin, thank you so much for agreeing to this interview and sharing your insights. Firstly, congratulations on the wonderful news of your pregnancy! Wishing you lots of joy and excitement as you prepare to welcome your newest family member. What wonderful news!

Your perspectives are highly valued, and I'm confident my readers will appreciate learning more about your approach to healthy living.

Let's dive into the questions:

1. Can you summarize what you do and define your mission? Why do you do it?

I am a certified Health & Lifestyle Coach along with my husband, Dusty. Together we created the social media brand and wellness website, EatMoveRest.com. We help others do the 3 things we all do every day, better—eat, move, and rest!

 Through our online membership, worldwide wellness retreats, eBooks, meal planner & recipe app, and social media content, we coach others to lean into a more plant-based diet and vegan lifestyle, move daily, and get adequate rest.

We believe that in order to achieve true health and happiness, you have to get back to these 3 basics because they work synergistically together. Once you find a rhythm and develop momentum, the healthy choice becomes the easy choice, and you can look forward to sustaining your upgraded way of living for a lifetime!

2. Balancing family, household responsibilities, work, and self-care can be challenging. How do you maintain a healthy balance in these aspects of your life?

We like to say ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ Starting your day by accomplishing small, simple tasks gives you an immediate sense of confidence to continue onto the greater tasks. We begin with self-care (like exercise and a healthy breakfast), which improves mental health and focus, allowing for a better workday. 

We believe in working smarter, not harder. With an online business and working from home, we’re better able to scale our business and make money even when we’re not working. 

We also believe asking for help is imperative, especially with small children. When we can give undivided attention to our work, then we can work efficiently, complete our tasks, and be better able to be fully present as a family afterwards. 

Ultimately, not everything get accomplished every day, so it helps to create a short-term, immediate to-do listen with 1-3 major tasks, and a more long-term weekly, monthly and yearly vision of tasks to spread out. 

We stick to our daily, non-negotiable self-care (all-things eat, move and rest), and then even if we only accomplish 1 or 2 of the 3 major tasks for the day, we chock it up as a success.

3. Share some tips on maintaining a healthy weight without resorting to restrictive diets.

A whole food plant-based diet has brought us the most success, because you are able to eat a higher volume of lower calorie foods that are also nutrient dense. This equates to feeling physically full, and also receiving the maximum amount of fuel to your cells to energize your day. Plants are also rich in fibre and water, which aids in digestion and strengthens the gut microbiome. 

When you consume foods that don’t have a nutrition label (fruits, veggies, whole grains, beans, legumes, nuts, and seeds) as opposed to processed packaged foods, your body can readily identify, break down, and absorb nutrients and it is less taxing on the body and its organs. All of this equates to better weight management without restriction!

4. If there was one piece of advice you could give to the world, what would it be?

If you can get the basics dialled in, you’ll be better able to access your highest self to be able to do the “inside work.” You’ll feel less dense and more light, energetic, and clear, which enables you to tap into your spirituality, your truth, and find true happiness within. When you love yourself, you can better love and be of service to others.

5. With International Women’s Day approaching, what advice do you have for women aiming to adopt a more holistic approach to their health?

Simply ask yourself—what’s the next best thing I can do for me? With food—add before you subtract. Incorporate more colourful foods into your diet before your swipe your fridge clean. The good will begin to crowd out the bad, naturally. As for fitness—do what moves you! If you like to dance, dance. If you like to bike, bike, and so on. Finally, rest—8 hours of sleep is great, but rest includes so much more. Expert with other forms of relaxation like meditation, spirituality, journaling, breath work, and nurturing relationships. When you eat, move, and rest your best, you give yourself the best possible chance at ultimate health and happiness!

Erin, It's been an honour, and thank you for generously sharing your time! I would also like to take this opportunity to express that this world is a great place because of remarkable women like you. Wishing you and all the incredible women out there a wonderful International Women's day celebration!

Anna xx