The Sober Living Stories Podcast
Welcome to the "Sober Living Stories Podcast." Every Tuesday, Jessica Stipanovic, your host, shines a spotlight on individuals who have undergone remarkable transformations in their lives.
Each guest shares their story giving examples of bold beginnings disguised as endings and life lessons that teach how the darkest moments often hold the key to unlocking the brightest light.
This podcast is designed for those in search of inspiration to make positive life changes. Whether you're sober curious, living an alcohol-free lifestyle, or supporting someone suffering from addiction (sugar, food, drugs or spending, etc.) our episodes promise to leave you feeling understood, hopeful, and motivated to create meaningful transformations in your life.
Join us for powerful new episodes every Tuesday where even the most harrowing of experiences can serve to uplift and inspire. Regardless of your background or belief system, "The Sober Living Stories Podcast" is your ultimate destination for uplifting narratives where hope shines from the most unexpected places.
In addition to featuring our weekly guests, each month on the "Sober Living Stories Podcast," we have the privilege of sitting down with a new addiction author, delving into their story and the wisdom they've shared in their book.
Here's the exciting part: their book becomes the giveaway for that month.
Tune in every Tuesday for brand-new episodes and your chance to win the gift of a transformed life.
The Sober Living Stories Podcast
Healing Eating Disorders: Beyond Food Addiction with Christiane Schroeter
When digestive issues began to show up in her teen years, Christiane Schroeter's aversion to food resulted in anorexia. Later in life, discovering solutions to her health led to educational achievements, a renewed sense of self and a successful career. Our latest episode features Christiane Schroeter founder of Hello Happy Nest | Accountability Coach an accountability coach, who opens up about her journey of overcoming an eating disorder to a path of wellness. Born in Germany and flourishing in the U.S., Christiane's story is not just her own—it's a universal story of finding balance, the importance of tuning into our body's needs, and the undeniable impact of addiction on our lives.
Listen in as Christiane recounts her transformation, learning to see food not as an enemy but as a source of healing and happiness. She discusses in depth the essence of control in battling eating disorders and the crucial role of strong, supportive relationships in her recovery.
From the occasional cake for breakfast to cherishing the simple pleasures of family meals, she illustrates that moderation and self-care can coexist with life's sweet indulgences. Her story is a testament to the power of being real and the profound connections we are fortunate to acquire when we share our true selves.
Join us and be inspired by the strength in vulnerability and the beauty of a life reclaimed through the love of good food and great friends.
Christiane Schroeter started her business as a health and fitness coach in 2013. She has degrees in Foods & Nutrition, a Ph.D. in Health Economics, and 20+ years of experience helping clients transform their daily wellness routines. Christiane has been a professor for 15+ years and earned multiple national and international teaching and publication awards. Most of her clients find Christiane through her Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast (hellohappynest.com), ranked among the top 1.5% globally. To create your daily health habits, click here: Get your FREE Health Habit checklist.
https://hellohappynest.com/
Christiane | Accountability Coach & Top 1.5% Podcaster (@hello.happy.nest) • Instagram photos and videos
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Your story matters.
Welcome to the Sober Living Stories podcast. This podcast is dedicated to sharing stories of sobriety. We shine a spotlight on individuals who have faced the challenges of alcoholism and addiction and are today living out their best lives sober. Each guest has experienced incredible transformation and are here to share their story with you. I'm Jessica Stapanovic, your host. Join me each week as guests from all walks of life share their stories to inspire and provide hope to those who need it most. Hi and welcome to another episode of the Sober Living Stories podcast. Today, I have the privilege of sitting down with Kristiana Trotter, founder and owner of Hello Happiness. Kristiana is a food and health coach with a PhD in health economics and more than 10 years leading wellness classes. She's going to share her story today of overcoming anorexia. That positioned her to help others discover joy and transform their own lives. Welcome, kristiana.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me, Jesse Kamberlich. I'm really excited to be here and share my story with the audience today.
Speaker 1:Excellent. I'm so happy to have you here as well. I love your website. If you can, just let me start from the beginning and see where your wellness journey began.
Speaker 2:I'm born in Germany. You can maybe hear that already with my beautiful accent. As my husband says, don't get rid of your accent. It's sexy. So don't get rid of things that some people call sexy, don't get rid of them, right? So yeah, I still have my German accent, even though I've been in the United States since 1999. So some things, I guess, stick with you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 2:So, born in Germany, grew up there, I went to high school and finished nearly all of my university education and then decided I wanted to study abroad. And then I came to the United States and earned a master's degree as well as a PhD, and I've been always passionate about food, about nutrition, about wellness, and I guess I you know, given that we're talking about eating addiction really didn't know exactly how to take care of my body, which is why I think it's so important that these days now, I help others becoming the best self that they can be, which is also the name of my business. Hello happiness that you feel your body is your nest and that you're taking care of your body in the best way, and that you're also feeling joy inside and out.
Speaker 1:Excellent, excellent. I know often addictions, whether it's we talk a lot about alcoholism or drug addiction, but often what precedes that is a food addiction, a sugar addiction, and we learn that it's not really about the substance itself. But there may be some underlying issues that we need to come full circle with in order to begin living healthy. And I love having you on here, because so many of the listeners are on that sobriety journey or on that recovery journey, and this is another tool on how to say, hey, how am I going to live my best life going forward? So if you can just kind of take us about how you got here and a little bit of your story and then what you offer others, yeah, thank you for asking.
Speaker 2:So how did I get into eating disorder, as maybe use that term as well I've always had a sensitive stomach, and if you have a sensitive stomach, you frequently experience pain after eating. So for me it was I ate something, I had digestive issues and if you think about that, this trigger that you put something in your mouth and then afterwards you don't feel bad. It's kind of like you touch a hot plate with your fingers. After a while you're like I'm not going to touch that anymore, and that's kind of went through my head. I was like I'm not going to eat that anymore, because the last time I ate it I didn't feel very well. And then, of course, on top of that, I was a teenager. I became really interested in food, which is frequently, when you think about addiction, what that happens. But I also wanted to look slender and look in a way that I felt pretty inside and out, so to speak, and the only way that I really felt like would do that was really controlling what went into my mouth.
Speaker 2:And in Germany this is another interesting thing for those of you who have never been outside of the United States we don't have this system set up to where you have a sport when you go to school. So in high school we have PE, but there is not like this oh, you can join the softball team, or here you can go into gymnastics and all this. There isn't really this parallel track that you do, so you pretty much have to figure things out on your own. It's a much more independent framework right there and there's clubs etc. But then you always have to ask somebody to bring you there, so it's not really as incorporated in your school life.
Speaker 2:So I felt a little bit lost, I would say, in terms of what I should eat to take care of my digestive issues or what I should do to take care in terms of my exercise, and I basically just started figuring out things myself.
Speaker 2:And a lot of times when there is a digestive issue and when there is maybe the eating addiction that comes out of it, it's also your way of wanting control over your life that you basically feel the only thing I can control is that. That people that I frequently meet that tell me, oh yeah, I struggled with eating disorders are the ones that say that was the only thing in my life that I had really any say over, and I think that's very true for the way that I really let my life, that I feel that a lot of things were very structured and there were things that I couldn't really have a say in on myself. But the one thing that I felt I could say in on myself is, if I eat this, my stomach might start hurting, so I'm not going to eat it, even though it's crazy that I don't eat more food. But I just don't know what to eat and so I'm just going to not eat anymore.
Speaker 1:It could be a post, something that you had said, and I've heard that as well people who struggle with eating disorders and stuff. It's a way to control and I think it's. It's almost like a flip for people who put down anything else. You know, addictions go hand in hand. Then they're going to go ahead and pick something else up.
Speaker 1:And it's almost like well, this is all I have left, so I'm going to just eat with the least abandon and not, but it becomes an addiction as well, and then you have to put that down in order to continue to strive toward wellness.
Speaker 2:And what's interesting, too, is that you're you're thinking so much about it as well, so a lot of the thoughts in your mind center around this, and it's nearly like, if you think about your brain and there's all these little drawers in there, it's nearly like this eating takes up all of the drawers, right. So there is there are other things in your life, but it's like becomes like so over consuming that the moment you wake up until you go to bed, you think about the food, the calories associated with it, the calories burned and etc. It's nearly like there's no other joy. It feels like that God pushes everything else out, which is very crazy, because nowadays and I think about my mind and the little drawers in there the food and the food preparation and eating has definitely taken a completely different turn. It's in a very happy drawer right now and it's definitely not in a drawer that takes up all of my life, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, change your perspective, change. It's almost like an obsession. You know where you're so consumed with it in a negative way that's detrimental. And then when you do that, flip and get well and make that decision, or and you have the tools to help you do that it's, it becomes a good obsession, like a something that you're you're preparing. Your meal preparation is perhaps enjoyable. It's not something that you're hiding or you're putting to you know. So, yeah, interesting.
Speaker 2:I'm a very competitive person, so for me it was always nearly a way to impress others, right. So how I can? You know I can do this, but when I met my husband and a few other friends along the way that I still actually my friends. What's amazing is that they didn't really care what I ate, or how I ate, or how much I ate, and that was very surprising. So they were like, ok, so cool. But yeah, you want to eat an orange for lunch? That's great. I'm sure you know you want to do this. And for me it was like you're not surprised about this. And they're like, no, that's just, if you want to go for it, go for it.
Speaker 2:And that's what I love about the American way of life too, especially here in California. It's this like you do you kind of thing, and in a very loving way, not in a way where you feel you're alone, but more just accepting you the way that you are. And I think that's what really helped me get out of this, that all of a sudden I thought, huh, you know, they enjoy me just the way that I am, and they don't care what I eat or how I look like or what I do, they just care about the Christiane and the inner values. And all of a sudden it became boring and it became uninteresting for me to tell them about what I ate and how much I ate and whatever, because I really didn't care and it was nearly like you're trying to get some reaction and there was just no reaction anymore. And all of a sudden I thought you know what. I'm so done with this right now. So I figured out different ways of taking care of my body and eating things that actually don't trigger stomach upsets.
Speaker 1:How many years would you say you were involved in an eating disorder?
Speaker 2:So that's a great question, because I thought on my website I have actually pictures where I show my story, and it took me a while to find those pictures. I want to be authentic and I want to share. I'm not this amazing human being. I'm amazing because of what I went through. Right, the struggles make you stronger, so to speak. So I would say, as soon as I became a teenager which is even more interesting because now I have two teenage girls at my own home I became very aware about what I eat. So I would say, 13, 14. And then I also started not eating meat anymore. So my parents were hoping it's a phase and Germany, meat is very important, and that phase never ended.
Speaker 2:So they're like, oh, my gosh, you're not eating meat anymore, the good German girl. And then so 13, 14. So when I went to the United States at the end of my college studies, it really started tapering out. It just kind of ended when I got here. And actually you know what, jessica, I could also have to do something with the fact that I completely started over new friends, new lifestyle, new surrounding.
Speaker 2:So that's my biggest learning and my biggest recommendation to anybody that's struggling with an eating disorder is it sometimes helps to nearly look at it as chapters in your life where you're kind of saying goodbye, you put it in the box and you would say that was serving me well back then. But now I'm going to open this new box over here and it's a completely new chapter. That's really what happened, this new chapter in the United States. As I say, when I look at pictures, I don't even really recognize myself, but I look very different and I can see that I'm not happy and I can see that I'm not healthy and I can see that whatever I was doing was not serving me well.
Speaker 1:It's interesting. You said you were not happy and I was thinking before you even said that she hasn't smiled so much in this interview. Like I mean, I just I thought, wow, she smiles all the time, you know. So I was noticing how happy you are and to just recognize how much you know sadness something can bring, and then once you resolve it and you put it away and that chapter is closed and we're onto a new one, how you can really just it was very simple, very direct and I like that Sometimes nearly like a burden gets lift off your shoulders and like a veil, where all of a sudden you're like what the heck am I doing?
Speaker 2:But it has to come from yourself. So frequently in Germany people were like oh, I think you should really eat more and I think you should really do this. And that's unfortunately making things even worse, because then you don't feel in control, because somebody else tells you what to do. I mean, think about it this way You're going through the neighborhood and somebody has the garage up and you notice the garage is really messy. You don't go to that person and say I think you should really clean up your garage. Do you think that person is going to start cleaning up the garage?
Speaker 2:No, if they want their garage to look this way, you know, so that's, it has to come from them. They have to step into that room and say, wow, I have to do something. And it's the same thing with taking care of your body. You have to kind of step in yourself and say you know what? This is not going to go well if I continue it this way. And that's basically what happened. It was just kind of like you have to flip that switch and in that moment your mind can get you out of it, but it has to come from you.
Speaker 1:I agree. I agree. Yeah, it's an internal decision that only you can make and then, once you make it, you can move forward. So what have you began now, when you began and founded the Hello Happiness, can you talk a little bit about that and why you did that and what you hope it brings to others?
Speaker 2:So, with Hello, Happiness it started to, where I became more open about sharing that I have digestive issues, that I struggled with terrible skin issues, my hair, and that's, of course, all related to not eating properly, not taking care of my body properly and not adding any self-care.
Speaker 2:And the interesting thing is, as I started sharing, I realized that other people have similar issues. So, speaking about you know, you walk around, you look at somebody else's garage. You usually don't say like, oh man, you should really like do something about you know your face or your hair or your body, because it's nothing of your business. But if somebody comes to you after you just shared, oh man, I'm eating these particular foods and they really decrease the amount of bloating that I have or constipation that I have others are like, oh my gosh, I so appreciate you talking about this because I have the same issue and I really tried it and it worked for me as well. So one thing led to the next. I started sharing more success stories about what helped me and starting to literally look at food as a healing substance instead of an enemy. It's kind of like you know, you look at things and you're like this is not a fight, this is actually a friend.
Speaker 1:I love that because there's so many foods I can look at and say I should not eat that or do not eat that or have too much of that. But what do we say that says, wow, this is good, I should eat this, because foods heal. They do they do and focused on the foods that don't, but there's so many that heal.
Speaker 2:And, of course, even like this morning, my children started. They ate a piece of cake for breakfast, and I personally don't have a problem with that. It's not like we only have foods in the house that are healthy. I don't like using that term very much, because they know that they won't eat cake every day for breakfast, so that's just something. My daughter's birthday was just two days ago. They know it's a special thing, that's all right, they live with it, and for lunch it's going to be more fruit.
Speaker 2:You just have to think about it in moderation and in balance.
Speaker 2:The way that I look at it is the more I shared, the more I felt I was kind of this core where more and more people starting revolving around me and asking me questions to share more. So it was nearly like this nucleus where there are all these other things that were coming to me, and I didn't actually think that my story was all that interesting until I started sharing it, and I encourage all listeners as well. Everybody has a story that's worth listening to, and the more you share it, the more you actually feel you're helping others, and the more you help others, the more you help yourself. So that's really what happened and, of course, I'm a professor too, so it's kind of in my nature to teach, to learn and to go through the cycle of making others feel good, because it's really a lot about feeling. You don't need to necessarily think, oh, I need to look good. When you're feeling good, that feeling really radiates and that's what others see and they're like ma'am, did you just change something?
Speaker 1:It's like no, I'm just feeling good, awesome you know, yes, yes, now that you brought that up. With addiction and such, there's usually a couple of components and we covered the physical component. But I was thinking what have been the emotional benefits of you changing your eating styles?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So that's really something I would say. The emotions have to look at food, as we talked about earlier, as a friend, as something that you're really embracing. So before and I'm actually thinking about this right now sometimes when I would go and think about dinner, it would be like, oh my gosh, how can I get around this? And dinner time is coming up, and it was like this Nowadays, dinner with my family, it's like this little party that we have the dinner table.
Speaker 2:We talk about what was the favorite part of your day and we laugh. Last night we played a game, so it has evolved into this social gathering. Yes, of course we eat food and we embrace this, but food is more a vehicle of bringing us together and creating joy and sharing joy. It might not always be a party. There might also be days when somebody didn't have a good day, but along by sharing it, you are feeling that this is a very important part of my day in making us grow and also making us feel as a family that's coming together and that's healing in a certain way, whatever the day brought upon us.
Speaker 2:That's what happened really. So looking at dinner times or breakfast or lunch or even coffee dates with friends as something that's so important. Because if you look at studies that look at longevity, what is one factor that leads people to lead happier, healthier and longer lives? It's always the social health. It's not all those people who work out, it's the social health that's so important. So look at a meal time, especially if you have a food addiction, as something that will make you live longer, live stronger and much happier. And then you're flipping the switch in your mind.
Speaker 1:Flipping it too. I love that because, instead of being overwhelmed like what am I going to make? And it's got to be this big production? No, because the food is the centerpiece. So if you flip it and say, hey, this is for social health, we're coming together, then a three-ingredient meal becomes simple and on the table, and your focus is on the people and the conversation we frequently think, oh, the number of friends that we have in our life are the really important factor.
Speaker 2:It's actually really not. It's really the quantity that is not as important as the quality of the friendships. So if you have friends in your life that keep on telling you, christiana, you're really thin, you should gain some weight, I don't know those are people I want to hang out with. Or, on the flip side, people that keep on like what are you eating? That doesn't look good, you eat that stuff. I don't want to hang out with people like that, because then I become very conscious about how I look or what I eat.
Speaker 2:And if you did have an addiction, it goes like that and you're back in that spiral. Unfortunately, the way that I look at it, addiction is, it's healed but it can quickly flip back and that's something that are triggers you have to be very aware of. So if there are friends in your life that you feel are triggering it, maybe not the right network, maybe you need to hang out with other people that don't do that, and I think the more you share, the better. And if you feel that there are people that accept you for the way that you are, it's the quality of the friendship that is far outweighing the number of friends.
Speaker 1:Do you have a community of people that have helped you get to where you are today and that you continue to? I know for myself, as a writer doing all these other things, I have a highlighted three or four that really bring value to my life and those are the ones that I go to to add to what I'm already doing and to help they help me learn more Do you have that as well as an ongoing approach to what you're doing. Well, that's a brilliant question.
Speaker 2:So I do have a community in real life right here, my at home cohort, so to speak, my immediate family. I also have a book club here and we have an amazing group and I also have a mastermind group where I'm coaching others and those are all over the world reaching their goals. And the way that I look at my mastermind group is I have a specific system with six steps that we follow and I always say goals are great, but you have to start following a system to actually reach those goals. And most of them are female solopreneur or it could be personal related, it could be wellness related, and those are really the success stories that I look at, the transformations that happen there. So I've helped hundreds of others already and I'm so excited that it continues going and growing, because it's all the friendships that evolve and come out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, and they can find you at hello happy nestcom to research all of the things that you offer. Also, what would you say to anyone who is struggling with an eating disorder? Who's listening? That would be helpful for them to kind of get through that and what they could look forward to on the other side.
Speaker 2:That's a great question. So one thing that helps me and I like that you say on the other side think about it as like one step at a time. It doesn't have to be necessarily big changes. I actually just said to my daughter this morning we didn't make any New Year's resolutions and she said, well, I don't know that I believe in them anyway. So maybe don't write down 15 things you need to change today or this week or even this month, but just change one thing and when you feel comfortable with that one thing, then move on to the next thing, and that's really how you should embrace it.
Speaker 2:So I work with people, whether they want to lose weight or gain weight. I frequently say by all means, do not step on a scale for at least a week, because it's at the end of the day, it's just a number and it's a lot of how you feel. How do you feel? Do you feel lighter? Because maybe the scale doesn't show that you actually lost any weight, but maybe that's just how you feel, full of energy and you're going out and you have all these, you know these, this new power, so to speak, from the activities that you picked up in your life.
Speaker 2:So I always say start small, start one step at a time, because then you're really going to see a lot of transformation. So if you struggle right now with eating this order, maybe just start thinking a little bit about your body as your vessel and how precious it is and all the amazing things it does. Don't focus as much on how it looks like, but maybe more focus on what it does for you, because that might really help you the stories that you can share with others, the arms that you use to embrace somebody, the legs that you go for walks, and all these things. So don't think about exactly what's. You know that out. When you look in the mirror, don't look at what's looking back at you, but maybe more think about what you're actually sharing with the world. That's the real gift.
Speaker 1:I would love for you to talk a little bit about, if people did visit your website, what they could find and what you offer that could be helpful to them.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I have three different offers. One of them I already mentioned is called the Mastermind Group. It's a weekly meeting where we do set goals. We use my six-step system to reach those goals and it's really about accountability. So if you think about yourself, when you have things on your calendar, you're actually going to do them. So there's no procrastination that can happen anymore, and I actually have sometimes people that do them just before the deadline but they still got them done. So we have these weekly meetings where we are checking in with each other.
Speaker 2:So it's about overcoming procrastination, but it's also collaboration. So maybe seeing whether there is somebody else that has a journey that kind of overlaps with your journey. And of course, it's also about community. Especially if you are working from home, it creates another point of outlet where you can talk to others. And then the second one is I have a wellness program that's called Journey to Wellness. One of them has a one-on-one coaching component with it, where you're getting a Zoom call with me and I help you set goals, reach goals and hold you accountable. And that's called the Journey to Wellness Pro. And the other version is completely self-guided, independent. So you get access to videos, you get access to handouts.
Speaker 2:You get access to various resources that will help you and, of course, those are all following the system that has helped me overcome my digestive issues. That's why it's called Journey to Wellness, because I'm feeling I want to share my success story and my success story with somebody else.
Speaker 1:Depending on somebody's personality. They can either print out some PDFs and do it themselves and guides and checklist, or they can become part of the community and do one-on-one, or they can do the mastermind. I like that, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:And I think what helps, too, is to think of it as a journey. That's why I called it Journey to Wellness. And also, of course, my podcast is called Happy Healthy Hustle and it's actually doing really well. It's ranked among the top 1.5% global podcasts because I think it's tuning in well with pain points and how people overcame them, so how they came out on the other side. So I would encourage you to tune into that too.
Speaker 1:Can you say the name of the podcast one more time in case they miss it?
Speaker 2:It's Happy, healthy Hustle. I think I'm going to share a freebie here, because I think I talked a little bit about system and structure. So I will share a checklist that you can use to maybe start picking up one good habit that you can kickstart. It doesn't have to be on January 1. You can totally make up your own day. 111 is a good one. Sounds cute, right? Make up your own day and start it, and then, of course, think a little bit in terms of what I said earlier.
Speaker 2:So don't get overwhelmed or beat yourself up if things don't maybe step forward. It's a journey. So sometimes I say one step forward and two steps back, just that's all right. We don't have to feel good every day. We don't have to follow our help journey every day. Just pick it up whenever you get the chance, and that's why that support system is so important. I will share that checklist with you and you can also add your own personal little checklist on there things that you might personally want to add to it and then that might help you kickstart your wellness.
Speaker 1:Thank you. In the show notes I'm going to put the hellohappynesscom, the happy, healthy hustle podcast and the freebie that Cristiana is giving to you to start your wellness journey. Thank you for tuning into the Sober Living Stories podcast. If you have been inspired, consider subscribing and sharing with anyone who could use hope in their lives. Remember to stay tuned for more inspiring stories in the episodes to come. If you are a featured author of the month or to become a guest yourself, visit wwwjessicastapanavikcom.