Episode 12: Anna Rova of GirlSkill podcast on Food and Wellness in Eastern Europe

This week I am excited to share my interview with Anna Rova, the founder of Girlskill, which is an online media platform, publication, and podcast that empowers women to live a life of freedom, joy, and creativity. In addition to all her incredible work at Girlskill, Anna is a writer, yoga instructor and location independent entrepreneur.

Anna is a former email marketer, and she loves being on stage sharing her knowledge of relationship dynamics, and feminine/masculine energy and power. Born and raised in Eastern Europe, she is on a mission to redefine female success and femininity. She believes in creating a thriving community of conscious and awakened women through her inspiration, tools, and resources, which will help us all build a better, more sustainable world.

On this week’s episode, I got to ask Anna some fun questions that are a bit different from her usual focus on Girlskill – food! So we discuss her upbringing in Moldova, the roles and traditions surrounding food, and their impact on Moldovan cultures and practices. We explore the nuances of health consciousness and wellness culture and why these themes still aren’t seen much in Eastern Europe. Given her location-independent entrepreneurship, we examine how this lifestyle impacts her health and her nutrition, as well as some exciting and big changes coming to her life this year! Anna is such a fun person to talk to, and it was amazing to listen to the ways in which her food journey has changed and grown throughout her life so far! 

Check out the episode above, or download on iTunes and Spotify.

And if you love listening to AnthroDish, please consider subscribing and leaving a review and rating on iTunes! 

Want to learn more about Anna Rova? Check out the links below! 

GirlSkill

Website: https://girlskill.com/ 

Instagram:  instagram.com/girlskillofficial 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/girlskillofficial/ 

 Anna Rova

Instagram: instagram.com/wanderova 

Writing (main): medium.com/@annarova

Resources Mentioned: 

Anna's IG post on motherhood

Anna's blog post on skincare
 

Episode 8: Aaron Schlein on Dramatic Travels and Food as Sensorial Memory

On this week's episode, I interview Aaron Schlein, the host of The Dramatic Travels Family podcast. Aaron got travel fever as a teenager while exploring the world with his grandmother, whom he credits with igniting his passion for travel. Becoming a father inspired Aaron to pay forward his grandmother’s generosity and become an advocate for youth travel.

On the Dramatic Travels podcast, Aaron chats with the world's most passionate and influential travellers, who share inspirational moments from their travels and insights gained from traveling with their kids. Aaron lives in Sacramento, CA with his wife and two children.

Today on AnthroDish we’re talking all things food and travel with Aaron, exploring his inspiration for his own podcast, some fun stories of food on the road, and he has some pretty brilliant tips on how to keep travel and food memories alive. Being a family man, we also naturally talk about travelling with kids, and when works or doesn’t work to introduce new foods to children on adventures. 

Loved hearing Aaron’s story? Check out his podcast for more travel and family conversations at dramatictravels.com, contact him at aaron@dramatictravels.com, or find him on Instagram @aaronschlein

Fun fact! Aaron took a huge chance on me before I launched my podcast, and kindly agreed to guest swap on our respective shows. You can check out my Dramatic Travels interview here - and be sure to check out his other episodes! Lots of great information and inspiring conversations about what it means to be family and how to keep travelling inspired. 

Episode 6: Dr. Beth Jolley's Medical Take on Diet Culture and Nutrition

Today’s guest is Dr. Beth Jolley, a family medicine resident through McMaster University. Beth and I grew up in Peterborough, ON without ever knowing each other, and met when we were placed as roommates at the University of Guelph. She’s one of those rare, beautiful people who is crazy insightful and thoughtful in all of her work, but also very humble about her accomplishments. Throughout our friendship, I’ve always known her to take a uniquely holistic approach to issues, integrating artistic and scientific perspectives into questions about life, health, and wellbeing.

On today’s episode, we sit down and talk about her experiences as a young doctor, and focus on nutrition and diet from her medical perspective. We talk about diet culture and main misconceptions or challenges in tackling this as a doctor, barriers to nutritional knowledge, the level of nutritional education that medical students receive, holistic frameworks to look at health and diet, and eating behaviours at end of life. It's a super fascinating interview and Beth shares some unique and refreshing thoughts on health and nutrition.

Check out the episode here, or download on iTunes, Spotify, or Castbox! 

Resources from Beth: 

• Dieticians of Canada's UnLock Food
• Advanced Health Care Planning
• Brazil’s Food Guide

Episode 4: Syd Boyes on High Performance Sport and Body Shaming

Today’s guest is Syd Boyes. Syd is currently the Sport Development Coordinator for RowOntario and is a former professional rower for Canada. In 2011, Syd made the under 23 Canadian rowing team (lightweight women’s double) and in 2016 she made the senior team that went on to compete at the World Championships. Throughout her rowing career, she has faced good and bad years making weight categories, which lead her to develop a complicated relationship with food and her body. Since quitting rowing, she has become an amazing advocate for women in sports. Today we talk all about nutritional demands of high performance athleticism, body image and food restriction issues arising from weight categories in rowing, and self-love and recovery tactics for young athletes struggling with these issues.

This is a must-listen for anyone out there who is going through this or who has been through this. Syd’s commitment to empowering young athletes never ceases to amaze me, and I can’t wait for you to learn more about her! Check out the episode below, or download on iTunes and Spotify.

Episode 2: Rylee Booroff on Plant Based Diets & Vegan Lifestyles

Today I interview the lovely Rylee Booroff. Currently living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Rylee has has been following a vegan lifestyle for just over 8 years. Prior to moving out east, Rylee managed a vegan restaurant in Toronto. Today we talk about her experiences as a vegan and it’s lasting impact on her life and wellbeing, explore whether or not veganism’s popularity is lasting or trendy for North Americans, and new movements in the Halifax plant-based scene.

Check out her episode here, or on iTunes and Spotify! 

Episode 1: Michael Duguay on Sobriety, Nutrition, and Wellness for Artists

My first guest on AnthroDish is the multi-talented Michael C. Duguay! When I asked him to provide a bio, all he gave me was "failed artist, phony chef" - which I'm sure you will also disagree with as soon as you check this interview out! 

He grew up in Peterborough, ON and has travelled and lived across Canada, picking up jobs in music, arts, and culture - truly a renaissance dude of the 21st century. In this episode he shares his early experiences with food, how food connects to music and other creative processes, how addiction and sobriety have influenced his food journey, and finding balance in recent years for both nutrition and wellbeing as an artist.

Michael is a brilliant storyteller and fascinating/honest dude, so I’m extra excited to share this first episode with you - check it out below, or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify!