Hi! I’m Lindsay and this is my story…

My name is Lindsay (@TheHogga is my personal instagram if you want to creep it!). I began my blogging journey in attempts to fund my travel addiction. I quit my job and for many years I backpacked around the world and wrote about my travel adventures. I saw all the things, drank all the drinks and treated my body like poop. It was fun, but I came home feeling less than mediocre.

It was time to make a change…

The time of change has been a process that will continue until I die. I have realized that we are always in fluxuation and the path does not have an end point. I have always battled with nutrition and my weight. Although I no longer party until 5am in far away countries, I still like my wine… and my beer…. and my pizza. But it took a while until the realization that being unhappy with myself and my life wouldn’t change just because I was changing countries.

There is no end point…

I quit smoking. I lost weight. I fell in love with Yoga.

I always enjoyed the gym and thought yoga was for hippies and 80 year olds. But after taking my first hot yoga class at Power Yoga Canada I realized I was sadly mistaken. I started going twice a week, soon after I started going every day and this summer (2014) I completed my teacher training with PYC.

I recently ran my first 5K and want to continue running – so any advice or encouragement is welcome!

My story doesn’t define me…

My journey doesn’t only involve fitness and better eating habits. It involves working on my insides as well. It turns out, most of us don’t like ourselves very much, but it’s about time we learn to! Loving myself and being for others is something I strive towards everyday.

Why Health Souls?…

Because I want to help people find their thing – you know, that way of being, eating, thinking and working out that they can maintain and enjoy. I want to help YOU get to that point that bettering your mind, body and soul… to the point that it isn’t really work, but something you become passionate about too.

I don’t write as much as I should (or as much as I think I should). Mostly because I spend my time doing technical website stuff, social media and creating things like intention cards and manifesto posters which I am so so so passionate about! Thankfully I met Amber French and she is an amazingly creative writer.

No one is going to make the changes for you. Tomorrow, next Monday or in the new year, are not times to start the change. Now is the best time and do it because it feels good and you want to, don’t make it a chore or hardship.

About Amber!!!

Mom, Employee, Boss, Wife, Friend…… I do all of these things, but they aren’t who I am.
Compassionate, Funny, Kind…. I hope I posses those qualities (on a good day).

But who am I?

I am ME, with lots of stories and baggage and people that rely on me and a family who gets me. Here is my “story”.

I have been on a food related journey my whole life. I have denied my extreme passion for food which has caused me great conflict personally. I have been obese at stages of my life and concerned about my weight my entire life!!!!

I am married and have three extraordinary kids Aaron, Eden and Izzy! They have been my greatest teachers and my primary source of inspiration for close to two decades!!

I love to travel and my husband and I take the kids as often as we can. They have been fortunate enough to visit beautiful places like Costa Rica and Guatemala (Thailand is next on the list!)
Although I have patted myself on the back for not letting my “issues” with food and weight rule my activities and hold me back. It is always in the back of my head. I needed to learn it wasn’t going away and therefore I needed to change my relationship with it.

Once I lost a significant amount of the extra weight…

I turned to food and we shook hands and came to truce and them we hugged and them we became friends and now I consider my food like family! I learn from, research and experiment with my food. Not only for tasty results but with vitamins and minerals and food balancing. My food has had my back for my entire life and when I stopped trying to run away from it, I noticed it nourished and fuelled me, kept me healthy and brought me back to health/balance.
My message as a vegan married to a vegetarian, raising veggie kids in a vegan-ish environment is all about flexibility, pleasure and health.

I want to inspire…

To teach, comfort and celebrate with my food and share the amazing results I myself have experienced as well as the results of the people I have worked with.