We recently connected with Cheryl Meyer and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Cheryl, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

No matter how passionate you are about the job you are doing, always make time for self-love, and self-care.

I was a soloprenuer with my own jewelry design and manufacturing business. I loved what I was doing, creating silver and synthetic stone jewelry for Big Box Jewelers, and my customers included JC Penney, Macy’s, Amazon, Kohl’s, Amazon and more. I used factories in Asia, so I traveled there regularly, and my customers were all over the US, so I traveled to them regularly.

I did everything in my power to be successful and offer creative salable products to my customers. Everything, except, take care of me.

My body started warning me that something was wrong, with pesky little symptoms, but I let them pass through my brain with the speed of light and paid them little or no attention.

At first, they were like a poke in my arm. Then I got the NCIS slap across my face and finally a 2 by 4 came down on my head. I woke up one morning in extreme pain. Every joint and every muscle in my body hurt.

I thought it was the flu and that I could “sleep” it off.

By the 4th day, I recognized something was terribly wrong. I made 4 trips to the doctor over the next month to have tests run. In the end she called me and declared “Good News, there is nothing wrong with you. But since you think there is I am going to prescribe steroids and I want you to seek mental therapy.” Good grief, why would I take steroids if there was nothing wrong. And I knew instinctively there was something terribly wrong with my body and it wasn’t mental. I hurt. I refused the steroids and dug in to find out what was making me so sick and what was disrupting my body.

I found out years later that what I had was autoimmune disease. I was working 24/7 and not practicing any self-care. I was eating on the fly and eating as fast as I was working all day. My diet was processed food, processed frozen food, and processed restaurant food. It was making me sick.

And I thought stress was good for me and that it propelled me to get more accomplished. My stress was so out of control my low cortisol was almost to Addison’s disease. (End up the stress was slowing me down and making me very ill)

Finally, I was a girl interrupted, and something had to change. I could not function.

I was lucky, I had a well-trained staff who continued to run the business, and I started researching. I had no idea what I was looking for, I fell into a series of symposiums run by the Functional Medical community on different health issues. In total I watched 19 of them with multiple doctor presentations.

What first got my attention is that the presenters all had had their own medical crisis and even though they were medical doctors, they couldn’t help themselves. Or they had had a loved one go through a medical crisis, and they couldn’t help. So, they had all returned to the Institute for Functional Medicine for additional training.

The difference in approach is that they no longer listened for the first symptom to prescribe a medication. They listened to their patients. And they looked at the entire body looking for the root cause.

I made notes and found some threads throughout the presentations. Toxic load. Leaky gut. Autoimmune disease. Inflammation.

Since I had no idea what I was looking for at this point, I dug in to discover how to lower my stress, started taking a yoga class, to rebuild my cortisol, then I dug into how to eat to support my body and threw out all of the ultra-processed foods in my kitchen. I bought whole organic vegetables and fruits and began to prepare all my own food. I learned about all the poisons sprayed on our conventional crops and why to avoid them. I learned to eat all the colors of the rainbow and about the different gifts each color offered to my body. I learned to cook so that I could control what I was putting into my body. I learned the difference between “pastured” meats from animals who ate their own specific diet, and conventional meat and how the conventionally ranched animals were fed the poison pesticide and herbicide crops and how the animals were kept alive with pharmaceuticals until they could be butchered to reach my plate. Searching for quality food to eat became a crucial component of my journey back to wellness.

I eliminated corn and beet sugars from my diet and what they had been doing to my body and my brain. I stopped drinking any kind of pop.

I learned all about GMOs and why to avoid them as food.

And I dug into all the products I was using in my home. I looked up every ingredient on every product in my home on a data base on EWG.org. I then eliminated highly toxic items and replaced them with low toxin items. I was appalled that everything I was using had ingredients that were poisoning me. It took me 5 years to clean up hundreds of ingredients and remove them from all the products in my life.

I put a filter under my kitchen sink to remove toxins from my water and started cooking with it and drinking it from stainless bottles. Eventually I put a whole house filtering system into my house so that I wasn’t getting the water toxins through my skin.

I concentrated on how to get a full 7 hours of sleep a night and read sleep studies as to why this was so crucial for me to return to health.

I was in a long term semi-toxic relationship, and he refused to change what he ate or any of his lifestyle habits for after 10 years we broke up. I looked for and found a mate who wanted to go on a “get-well” journey with me. Four years later, I married him and we are still partners in finding ways to improve our health.

I stopped taking over the counter medications and learned about the health downsides of each drug. I found natural solutions to take in their place, like quercetin for hay fever and curcumin/turmeric for headaches and pain.

In five years, I had significantly reduced my pain. Since I went onto Medicare at 65, I found my own functional MD who diagnosed that I had undefined autoimmune disease. We discovered I had 18 food sensitivities to avoid, another giant step back towards wellness. We talked about strategies to heal a fatty liver and to control my Type II diabetes. She recommended a supplement that lowered my acute anxiety. Who knew that it was a chemical imbalance in my body. I was on a treasure hunt with my functional MD looking for the balance of my missing puzzle pieces to return to health.

I started running into others who had similar experiences with their conventional MD’s. I had kept all my research organized in folders on my computer and decided that although I had a BA in English from UC Berkeley, I wanted to return to school to be a health coach to help others.

I sold my jewelry business so that I could be all in.

I wrote my first book It Feels Good to Feel Good, How to Eliminate Toxins, Reduce Inflammation and Feel Great after graduation from IIN, a highly regarded health coaching school. It won 17 awards. My functional MD encouraged me to write my second book, on how I maintained my healthy habits while maintaining a social life, so my second book was born. Feeling Good Living Low Toxin in Community and Everyday Life. It has won 7 awards. Both are sold on Amazon and online at Walmart. I then published a desktop book on Stress Exercises to do throughout the day to take the top off chronic stress in the body.

I had my own podcast for 2 years, and did deep dives into health topics, and interviews with others, who like me, make significant lifestyle changes to return to wellness. It was listened to in 70 countries and finally became #1 on my channel.

Last May I published my first magazine on health as a free flip-book. Feeling Good Magazine. It is loaded with important health information.

I also published a free EBook flip-book Its Not Complicated, How to Eat for Health.

I teach a variety of classes, on breaking the addiction to ultra-processed foods and sugar, on how to take care of our lymph system and I have a membership course coming up early 2024 on everything you ever wanted to know about food and didn’t know who to ask. Food Quality Matters. How to buy, where to buy, find money in your budget for, what all the different toxins on and in it are, how to pick the best most succulent produce, how to store it, how to get the most health benefits from it, and not waste it, how to harness the gifts of the plant food, the essential vitamins and minerals and then each of the colors and the phytonutrient gifts in each one.

I also do one on one coaching and find great pleasure helping others find their puzzle pieces for their own health. I am a regular guest on podcasts and have shared on almost 300 outlets. I write articles for several magazines. I speak to large groups whenever possible.

My bottom line is own your own health. Nothing is impossible. Even the word impossible breaks down into I’m Possible. And you have more power over your health than you have been lead to believe. Although I am not anti-drug, no matter what, adopt my 20 pillars of health to return to and maintain wellness. Chronic illnesses are lifestyle illnesses.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Ten years ago, I researched, significantly changed my lifestyle and eating habits and ditched my pain of autoimmune disease. I returned to school at 67 so that I can help you.

I mentor others to return to wellness through:
My award-winning books https://lnkd.in/gFewCDH My books have won 24 awards.
My first book which has won 17 awards, It Feels Good to Feel Good, discusses the toxins on our food and what to do to eliminate them.

My courses bit.ly/CMHMCOURSES I have classes to break the addiction to sugar, and processed foods, on activating your lymph system, and coming soon, classes on stress and how to release it, and a membership for Food Quality Matters, everything you ever want to know about food and didn’t know who to ask.

My podcasts:
https://lnkd.in/gK7WCBs8
I have several deep dives into health issues, why to eat organic, why to eat the rainbow, what are essential nutrients, why to get 7 hours of sleep and how to do it, why taking care of your liver is essential to your health, what it does, how to eat to support it, what supplements support it. I have a series on depression and all the lifestyle changes you can make to heal it. There is a deep dive on Vitamin N, and how getting into nature can heal. All the pillars of health are a subject of podcasts. And more….

bit.ly/tellmeyourstory1 I also did podcasts where I interviewed others who got chronic illness, changed their lifestyle and returned to wellness.

Private mentoring- My super-power is finding holistic solutions for missing puzzle pieces and coaching clients to success for their health using lifestyle habit changes. I help others return to wellness with the strategies that I learned in my own journey back to wellness. I am especially proud of the results that I have gotten with my Ditch the Standard American Diet course and the testimonials from the clients I have worked with and the results my information as provided them with.

My advantage is I have walked in anyone with a chronic illnesses shoes, and have found solutions to living and maintaining a life around my 20 pillars of health. And I am passionate that everyone should live a life where they “feel great” and are supporting happiness from their body. And since I was there, I am a very caring and empathetic coach. You own your health, but I guide you on which paths to explore to get your best results.

I write for several magazines on the subject of health, and produced my own magazine flip-book in May 2023 that is free
https://bit.ly/FeelsGoodMagLink

I have a free EBook flip-book on how to eat for health- Its Not Complicated, How to Eat The book discusses how we got into this mess where 88% of Americans are metabolically unfit, what NOT to eat and why , and then what TO eat and why its crucial to your future health. https://bit.ly/itisnotcomplicated

I have a free EBook flip-book on Stress, with little short exercises to take the chronic top off of it throughout your day.

I have 2 digital cookbooks in my store in my website at cherylmhealthmuse.com. A digital cookbook to ditch sugar and chemicals and break the addiction to ultra-processed food, and a cookbook with recipes to sustain your new healthy eating without being deprived in any way. I also do a daily recipe on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.meyer3/. What makes my recipes different is that I refer back to the original cook that wrote the recipe, but I help with healthy cooking tips to get the most benefits from the foods, and how to source high quality ingredients. And, sometimes how to replace ingredients with healthier options.

I am a keynote speaker and would love to speak on health to your audience.

I do my best work with others who have chronic illnesses. Autoimmune diseases, Type II Diabetes, Fatty Liver, cancer, heart disease and more to help them own their own health and return to wellness through lifestyle change.

My website is cherylmhealthmuse.com

Contact me at [email protected] for your initial free consultation.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

I believe that sharing what I have learned about health and coaching to assist others to return to wellness is my mission.

You can’t be great if your don’t feel great, and I learned that the hard way. Although I owned a successful jewelry business, I bankrupted my body by putting self-love and self-care on the back burner. As a result I could have bankrupted my business. It certainly interrupted my life. I am now very passionate to help others to not fall into that pit with their own health.

Practicing my 20 pillars of health activates all your happy hormones, gives you strategic brain-power, improves all of your relationships both personal and business. Its crucial to practice them all so that each individual can reach their ultimate potential. I love what I do and want everyone to be the best that they can be. Understanding the power that they already have is the integral step to reaching their potential.

I learned that I was the only person who hindered me from achieving all of my goals. I now encourage others to get out of their own way.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

I believe that succeeding depends on being consistent with my brand, and being authentic and open about my own history in order to connect with others and help them achieve their best health and success in life.

Take back your power and embrace the life that you are here to live.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cherylmhealthmuse.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cherylmhealthmuse/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cheryl.meyer3/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cherylmeyer/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6xGaVEz-DA4rxC9npcpFOg
• Other: My second You Tube Channel for Tell Me Your Story bit.ly/tellmeyourstory1 My email is [email protected]

Image Credits
Photography by Laura Harstad [email protected] www.lauraharstad.com https://www.facebook.com/laura.harstad