HSN Episode #12: How to Find Your Passion at any Stage of Life with Alicia Christian
ALICIA CHRISTIAN: And I literally was like, “You know what? Deuces I'm out.” And I literally walked out of that job.
INTRO: Welcome to Healthy Sexy Nutrition with me, Michelle Fox, culinary nutritionist, health coach, and your host for this podcast. I teach busy professionals how to get more nutrition in their bodies, and how to have more fun in their home kitchens. If you struggle with consistency or sometimes forget to make your needs a priority or you avoid planning your meals, you, my friend, are in the right place.
Join me each week for inspiration to increase your energy, discover new recipes, manage your hormonal woes, and so much more. You are a busy professional, but that does not mean your nutrition should suffer. You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
So let's dig in.
MICHELLE FOX: I am so thrilled to introduce you to my new friend Alicia Christian. She is a force to be reckoned with. Let me tell you.
She is an actress, a singer, a doctorate in nursing practice, and the host of the Eating Me Podcast. After over 10 years away from the entertainment world, Alicia is ready to share her ability to engage in audience through her storytelling, sultry and gospel based vocal stylings, or by way of interviewing individuals, sharing stories about how eating has affected their lives on a personal or professional.
Beyond the entertainment room, Alicia is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner. Children are magical and generally want to be their best selves each and every day. Alicia prides herself in assisting the pediatric population in providing preventative health education, as well as treatment to help them lead lives that they are meant to have as they approach adulthood.
In Alicia's words she says, “I'm a jack of all trades that has mastered how to do what I want in this life. What I want to do is a blessing to those that I encounter. The hope is they go out in the world and do the same.”
So Alicia, welcome, welcome, welcome.
ALICIA: Thank you so much Michelle. I'm so excited to be on your show, so thank you.
MICHELLE: My pleasure. Oh my goodness. Just reading your bio lights me up. Every time we talk I get lit up. Looking at your website. Oh my goodness. To my community who's listening, if you have not met Alicia yet, I'm just gonna go ahead and jump to the end. Go to aliciachristian.com because when you see that infectious smile on the front of her page, you'll know why I'm so lit up right now as well.
So again, Alicia, welcome.
ALICIA: Thank you. Thank you so much.
MICHELLE: Yes. So before we jump into our juicy topic, which is finding our passion at any stage of life, would you be willing to play a little rapid fire question session with me?
ALICIA: I would love it. Let's do it.
MICHELLE: Yay. Okay. Okay. Okay. So very important question here. This is gonna determine our friendship, no pressure.
ALICIA: No pressure.
MICHELLE: No pressure. No pressure. Here it is. Sweet, Salty, or savory.
ALICIA: Sweet.
MICHELLE: Okay, we can be friends.
ALICIA: Yay.
MICHELLE: Cause actually really be it’s a little trick question. Sweet is your thing.
ALICIA: It's definitely my thing. I mean, I can do some, you know, salty things, some savory things, but if there's a good cookie or cake, I'm your girl.
MICHELLE: Snatched up.
All right. Cats or dogs?
ALICIA: Dogs.
MICHELLE: Okay. So far you're winning.
ALICIA: Oh, yay.
MICHELLE: I'm a dog, dog mama right here.
ALICIA: I'm allergic to cats. So that's one.
MICHELLE: Yeah, same.
ALICIA: And you know, for those that love cats, I get it. Because they're so self-sufficient. You know what I'm saying? They're just so scary to me. Out of nowhere you'll just see them running around, you're like, “What is happening?” You know, whatever. But you know, but dogs, that's how I feel like, ok. Are we like, what are you doing? But you know, No, I love dogs. They're just so loyal and they're just sweet and they're just unconditional in terms of just how they present themselves.
Yeah. Dogs.
MICHELLE: I agree. I agree.
All right. Your favorite movie of all time?
ALICIA: This is so funny cuz someone just asked me this the other day and I always go back to my childhood favorite movie, which was The Sandlot. I love that one.
MICHELLE: I don't think I know that one.
ALICIA: So it's about these kids that play baseball. And they, um, every, you know, pretty much every day after school or during the summer playing baseball is like the way they connect and they, as children, you know, you have these like, grandiose ideas and so the peop this man that lives next door, he's kinda like a hermit, but he has this scary dog. And so they made up all these stories about this dog and how scary this dog is, and this dog has done this and that attack.
And when they find out they, that he is also a baseball fan and he has all this original paraphernalia from like Babe Ruth and all this stuff.
And so it's a really cute story and I, I know pretty much all the, uh, dialogue and everything. It's just, it's, It's a fun little movie. I love it. It's so cute.
MICHELLE: I love that. I'll have to check that out. I've got three teenagers and sounds like maybe that could be a good family movie for us.
ALICIA: It is. It's literally the best.
MICHELLE: All right, thanks for the tip.
And then last question, and this is definitely not a trick question, is would you share with us one of your favorite childhood memories in the kitchen?
ALICIA: Oh my goodness. One of my favorite childhood memories would be with my aunt and we called her Amy. And so she wouldm like, she had certain actual recipes that no one, she shared with no one, right?
MICHELLE: Oh.
ALICIA: She was that person. Right. But you could watch her do certain things, but then she would tell you to either leave the kitchen because she was doing something that she didn't want you to know about. Like she was, she was that person.
MICHELLE: No way.
ALICIA: But every time I would be in the kitchen with her, she would allow me to stay.
MICHELLE: Aww. So you had special connection.
ALICIA: I did because I was one of the only people, I'm, I'm a southern girl, so we, um, she made greens all the time and I was one of the kids that would sit and drink what's called pot liquor, which is basically the juice from the greens.
MICHELLE: Oh, I love it.
ALICIA: I would, I would drink the green. I would drink the pot liquor with her and have cornbread. And so that was our connection. And so anytime I was in the kitchen, but she knew like I was true blue to her. So she, I, I couldn't tell you. And probably another reason why she would let me say in the kitchen is cuz I, I was a kid, you know, I wasn't like really paying attention to all the ingredients.
MICHELLE: Right.
ALICIA: But I wanna believe I was the special one. I was the special one. I got to book in on all the action. Particularly when she would make greens. That was always my favorite time because I could watch, and I actually am really good at making greens. I think it was because I was watching her so much.
Um, I, I, it was just priceless just to be in there with her, cuz she just was, she didn't measure anything. She was one of those, “Oh, that looks good.” And then she would just kind of go from there. And so that was, that was always like a special time for me to be with her, my Amy. So yeah.
MICHELLE: I love that. And you can tell she had a lot of love for you. That's, that's amazing. I love that bonding.
So now that leads us into our topic today, finding passion. I know you and I have so many similarities with the nutrition, with the entertainment industry, with wanting to help and heal others, and what I wanted to glean from you to share with our community in particular, is I would really love to know more just about your path in finding your passion.
I imagine like most of us, it probably was not a straight line. And feel free to correct me if it was, but would you tell us a little bit about your story and how you've come to find your passion today?
ALICIA: Yes. So, you know, it's, it's wild. I've always known that I wanted to either perform or sing to some capacity.
Uh, I tell people the story. My mother would just entertain. She would let me just entertain her. All the time. And anyone that was at home with us, they would kind of question it. Like, why are you letting this child just kind of like, take over? Like there would be adults there and I'm, you know, center of attention.
MICHELLE: Out of curiosity. Are you, um, are you a fire sign in the the astrological church?
ALICIA: No. So I'm a tourist.
MICHELLE: That is surprising. Okay. Good to know.
ALICIA: I know. It. It's wild.
So I've always been the person that's, you know, wanted to entertain and make people feel good. And so it started at home, right? I started, I, and then from there I sang in, you know, gospel choirs. I was part of the church. It's just, you know, part of the construct.
And once I started singing in the gospel choir and I, and people would actually say to me, “Oh, you can sing.” And I was like, “Oh, okay. This is not just my mom, you know, appeasing me. I, this is real.” And anyone who's sang in a gospel choir, especially ones that are you know, pretty strict with how they kind of manage things. They'll let you know like you're off.
MICHELLE: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
Our people keep it honest for sure.
ALICIA: Okay. You know, and, and I was actually speaking to someone, the abouts actually my, um, voice teacher. Uh, cause you know, he also sang in gospel choirs too. And I was like, Listen, there's a lot of, I mean, even though I had that great experience, there's a lot of trauma from how hard some of these people were.
That's a whole other story. So I started singing with the gospel, uh, different gospel choirs around my, um, the city that I grew up in. And I then was introduced to theater. And that was in middle school. I kind of dibbled in it a bit, but then once I got to high school, my theater teacher, who I'm still really good friends with, he's like one of my mentors. This man saved my life. Like seriously. I, Yeah, seriously. Like I, I was a child. I was always overweight, even though I would love, I still was very extroverted and everything. I still had so many insecurities. and he saw through that, like, he was like, Okay. I see you in a way that you are, you're trying so hard to fight to be seen. I already see you. Right. Right.
MICHELLE: Wow, that's love right there.
ALICIA: Right. And so when I first met him, I was actually in the marching band, um, during band camp one time at Band Camp…
MICHELLE: Love it.
ALICIA: So I, I actually auditioned for the color guard. So the color guard is basically the girls who actually perform with like the flags.
MICHELLE: Oh, that's right. The big old flags.
Alicia Christian: Yes. All those things, right. So I am one of them. Even though I auditioned, I was still like really nervous. Like, “Girl, what did you get yourself into?” Like, “what are we doing?” So I was in the back, cause I just wanted to kind of see what everyone else was doing first before I brought myself to the front.
And that he actually was also one of the coaches for the marching band. And that's where he initially spotted me and he saw me and he motioned to me to come forward. I was like, “Oh my gosh, what did I do wrong? What did I do?” And he said, “You come forward, you're a star.” And that has stuck with me for ever. Right.
MICHELLE: The power of teachers and power of being seen, especially at a young age.
ALICIA: And I think that's so important for kids in general because sometimes you feel inadequate in so many ways when you're trying to figure out, especially in high school, middle school, those years are so weird for kids, you know, trying to figure it out, you know.
And so I shined throughout high school in terms of like performing and all that. And when it was time to graduate, I got small again in terms of just like I probably shouldn't pursue going to New York City. I probably should go with my friends.
MICHELLE: Oh, interesting.
ALICIA: To a school that was a religious cause I grew up in the church and I wanted to be with my friends. It was that battle between do I pursue my dream or do I stick it out with my friends that I grew up with in the church forever? You know?
MICHELLE: And just to pause, just for a point of reference, when you're saying I got small again, you're saying small with your self-confidence?
ALICIA: Yeah.
MICHELLE: Okay.
ALICIA: And just kind of bringing down my shine as who I am as a person, because sometimes I felt like I was being too. And I'm, you know, taking up too much space, you know? Um, and so when that did happen, and I realized like I had a lot of, you know, even family saying to me, you know, listen, you probably should go with them to school. It'll be safe. Um, you'll know some people at school and you won't just be out there by yourself. And then on top of that performing, like, is that real? Is that a real career? You know, like…
MICHELLE: You can't make money doing that.
ALICIA: You can't make money or you gonna be about a starving actor. Like why would you wanna do that to yourself?
So, you know, I'm young and these people, they've lived longer than me, so why wouldn't I believe them? You know, like what I don't.
MICHELLE: Of course, that breaks my heart. But yes, similar messaging. I'm relating to everything you're saying right now. But yes, continue.
ALICIA: No, you're fine. You're fine. So I went to school, I went to HB a small HBCU in Hensville, Alabama with my friends that was also religious based.
It's called Oakwood University now, but it was Oakwood College then. I went there for two years and I was like, uh, no, I can't do this. Like, I literally, I, I tried, like I gave it. Like they say the old college try. I literally, I gave them two years. Okay.
MICHELLE: And was it that you felt more like a big fish and a small pond kind of thing?
ALICIA: Yeah. Yes.
MICHELLE: Okay. Just didn't fit right.
ALICIA: It didn't fit. And this actual school has amazing music department. Like some of, some of the like really well known seniors, like Brian McKnight and Take 6. Um, they all went to this school.
MICHELLE: Oh wow, okay.
ALICIA: Yeah. But the thing is what I wanted to, I didn't wanna be a solo artist. I wanted to get into theater and kind of do that thing, but…
MICHELLE: Sure.
ALICIA: Yeah. So I left and I actually auditioned. I didn't tell my mother I was going home for spring break and I got money from a friend of mine cause I was broke. College kids, be serious. I saw an ad for the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
MICHELLE: Oh.
ALICIA: Um, and yeah, and they were having auditions all around the country and they happened to have an audition in Nashville, Tennessee. And I said to my friend, “I wanna do that.” Like, I want to audition, but I am broke. I don't need money. Like how? He's like, “Listen, don't even worry about it. Fill out everything. I will give you the money because I know this is what’s right.”
MICHELLE: Oh, that was a good friend right there.
ALICIA: Right. So I didn't tell my mom and I on my way, cause I'm from Indiana, Evansville, Indiana, so my trek from Huntsville was, you know, Nashville's on the way, so I might as well just stop Nashville and audition and just keep pushing on home.
MICHELLE: I love it.
ALICIA: And so I did, I auditioned. I was terrified because there were hundreds of kids there. So there's that, and I'm like, Okay, all these kids, and then they're going to other cities around the country. I mean, what, Alicia, at least you, at least you showed up. At least you showed up. So I didn't even think about it.
I was like, okay, I auditioned and I was gonna go home. No one knows about this, but my friend in um, Alabama, So it is what it is, but I wasn't thinking I put my home address.
MICHELLE: Of course you did.
ALICIA: My mother's address.
MICHELLE: So don't tell me, did your mom end up opening the acceptance letter?
ALICIA: So fast forward a few weeks later. She calls me. She's like, so there's, my mom was very, she was very southern like in the way. She's like, “I got this thing in the mail saying you got accepted to the school in New York.” And I was like, “What? Uh, yeah.” What is it? So it says you're going.
And so I said, “Well, are you okay with me going?” And she's like, Well, you know, I'm okay, but why didn’t you tell me?”
MICHELLE: But you can tell she was ready. She knew. She knew what her daughter or where her daughter was meant to be.
ALICIA: Yeah.
MICHELLE: And it's the big city.
ALICIA: Always super supportive of me, like constantly, just always behind whatever I wanted to do. Um, so yeah, I was grateful for that. So I moved to New York, went to the conservatory, did that, and I performed for it a little over 10 or 11 years professionally. And then life got crazy. As life does. And I was dating and just being a New York girl as those things happen.
MICHELLE: Yes. I lived that New York life for about six years and I loved it.
ALICIA: And yes, I got pregnant. And I was like, Okay, well there's that. Lord, what am I gonna do? And so for me at the time, because I was still struggling with just sexuality in general, I was like, Okay, if I, let's say I don't wanna be with a man beyond this point, the likelihood of me having a child again is pretty slim.
So I'm just gonna take the leap and I'm gonna have this baby and see what happens. And. That was rough. That was probably one of the roughest points in my life. I was at my lowest, I was on the verge of eviction. Um, yeah.
MICHELLE: Oh, that's tough. Tough in New York. Cause New York's already a hard city. So if you're floating at the lower levels like life and death every day.
ALICIA: Right. Literally every day. And so I, um, I called my mom and I was like, I, I need to come home. Like I just, I need to come home and regroup. And I just, I guess I have to forget about this whole performing thing, but I always wanted to be a nurse. As a child, I, I, I went to a hospital to see one of my cousins, they had a baby. And I remember seeing this is like, I think I was like seven or eight and I looked in the window of the nursery and I saw these women back there taking care of these babies. And I said to my mom, back then, I was like, “That's what I wanna do. I wanna take care of babies.”
MICHELLE: Aww.
That's right. I had no idea.
ALICIA: Meanwhile, labor and delivery was the last thing that I wanted to get into once I…Well, for those who love labor and delivery, I'm like, Oh, bless y'all. Bless y'all, because it just wasn't for me.
ALICIA: So I went back home. I went to school for nursing because I, I just needed a means to an end really, at the end of the day, like I love…
MICHELLE: And support. I imagine your mom was there to help you raise your daughter, it sounds like.
ALICIA: Yes. Oh, very much.
MICHELLE: Nice.
ALICIA: When I needed to go to clinicals, my mom was retired at the time too, so it was also great company for her, for my daughter to be there because she was living by hearself. So my mom…
MICHELLE: A blessing.
ALICIA: Yeah. It was a blessing for both of them. And my, my, they had the best relationship. So I, it's, it was just, even though it was a hard time, it was necessary because my daughter built a relationship with my mom that I could have never imagined. Right. So, yeah. So with the nursing school, came back to the city after I realized Evansville was not gonna be the mainstay.
MICHELLE: Oh, is that a bit much?
ALICIA: Here's the thing. Like I grew up in Evansville. Evansville when I was growing up, was a great place for if you wanted like a suburban type of lifestyle. Um, but in terms of diversity and really having true exposure to all types of people, not so much full salad.
MICHELLE: Ok. Makes sense. Makes perfect sense.
ALICIA: And you know, for in my family that still lives there, they love it there, you know. It works for some people. It just didn't work for me, and that's what it is. And so I moved back to the city. As a nurse, not even thinking about performing. And I, I did the nursing thing for up until, I mean, I kind of did some things here and there, like performing, like I did some commercial work, but nothing to where I was really going back into it and saying I'm back in the game.
And that didn't actually happen until how we were talking before, when I walked out of my job at, uh, beginning of this year, and I said, I have been suppressing who I really am. For so long, like, I, I just can't do this anymore.
Yeah. Um, and so I quit my job. I got back on every platform imaginable in terms of acting, head shots, my website, the whole nine, and now I'm, I'm podcasting and all the things, you know, just trying to just make it happen as best as I can.
MICHELLE: Oh, Alicia, thank you for sharing that journey with us. That is incredible.
ALICIA: You're welcome.
MICHELLE: Incredible. I wanna actually take just one step back to what you just said. I can't do this anymore. Like in the work you do on the medical side, but also the work that you do on the healing more naturopathic side. Would you agree with me that when we are living outside of our purpose, it can be absolutely exhausting to our spirit and to our bones? Physically, literally.
ALICIA: It really is. And I think for me, like me walking out of that job was me saying one now that I'm like, Look, like in retrospect I'm thinking, okay, I was trying to find purpose in something that really wasn't my purpose. And so I was pushing myself. I've gotta prove, I've gotta prove. That I'm valuable in this space despite the fact that I'm not really happy in this space.
MICHELLE: Right, Right.
ALICIA: And at the time, I didn't know if me going back into performing or whatever would even be possible. So let me just push myself and I compromised not only myself, I would compromise those I provided care for, everything. Honestly, everything was compromised. And so all that to say for people who are in those positions where you are burning yourself out, you're not just burning yourself out, you're everyone around you is affected. Everyone is affected. And so if you are a healer, it's important that you take care of yourself first and set those boundaries. And I wasn't setting boundaries cause I was afraid.
MICHELLE: So you were afraid of setting the boundaries, you're saying.
ALICIA: Afraid of setting the boundaries because I was worried about my employer. Like what will they say if I say, at this point of the evening, I cannot answer any more emails from families that are asking questions about covid related issues or at this point. Can I say that this, you know, even if we do have something that's covid related, because it's not emergent cuz of where I worked at the time, it wasn't something that I could do. So if you caught covid, there's, you would've to go to the hospital like I wasn't working at, in a hospital. Like what am I gonna do?
And I don't wanna downplay covid either. But at the same time, I put too much pressure on myself in a way that just was not beneficial, one to myself or to anyone around. So I literally had to take a look at myself beyond like my job being, my workplace, being an abusive environment. I still had to take accountability for what part I played in it as well. You know.
MICHELLE: And what was your wake up call, would you say? Was it one thing or was it multiple steps growing in that direction?
ALICIA: It was multiple steps. I had, I was working with, another team member that had to step out or, you know, take a, a leave a mental health leave because of the stress of this place.
So that was like Oh. Like, ouch. This is right. This is intense. Like, but I'm still gonna try and barrel through because quote unquote, they need me here. Right.
MICHELLE: Sure. Uh, yes. I think that's the human condition. I think most of us want to feel needed, like there is, that can kind of feel like a drug sometimes. Like it feels good to be needed and wanted.
ALICIA: Exactly.
MICHELLE: And so now the Alicia that I have witnessed, which has been relatively new, and your growing audience that I've noticed, so you're new to a lot of us. Like tell us about some of the passions you're focused on right now.
ALICIA: So right now I am actually the host of the Eating Me podcast, and this has been a long time coming. I was sharing with you before that I've always wanted to be a talk show host. Because I can, I can literally talk about anything.
And I love learning about people in general and their lives and their journeys and how they get to certain points in life. It's just interesting to me because the human experience is not cookie cutter. Everybody has, all, everyone's story is so different, you know?
MICHELLE: Yes, yes.
ALICIA: And I'm, I'm nosy. I wanna know, like, girl, that is good. Like, what? Like, I wanna know. Yeah. So this podcast I started one because of the human experience. I wanna learn about different people's experiences, but also because my podcast is called Eating Me. I have struggled with eating my whole life. I am an emotional eater, binge eating, you name it.
If, if it involves me, like eating in, in excess, I'm that person.
MICHELLE: Yeah. You're not alone.
ALICIA: You know, and I, and, and you know, that's why that was another reason why I wanted to actually start this podcast is because I knew I wasn't alone. Right? Like, I know there's so many other people out there with stories, either around, you know, being someone that overeats or that has struggles with bulimia or anorexia or whatever that looks like.
And so I just wanted to share those stories with the community at large and let them, these people are also in the same position and some of these people are professional people. People you would never even imagine that would be struggling with something that you would think would seem so minuscule in their realm. Cause like they've succeeded in so many things. How could food that has no thoughts or feelings have this control over you? You know what I'm saying? Like you so. Yeah, I, I just wanted to have that voice for not only myself, but for so many other people that are out there that are struggling silently.
MICHELLE: Yes.
ALICIA: So, yeah, that, that's why I'm at with this right now. I'm loving it. It's, it's been, it's been amazing. My, my actual dream is just to be like a podcast host and…
MICHELLE: That's awesome.
ALICIA: I've always wanted to have my own talk show. So this is everything to me. So like, you know, if I do start some other type of project, I'm just letting God just kind of like do his thing with me at this point.
MICHELLE: I've listened to a few podcasts and your energy is just infectious. Like, you can tell how much you care about this subject and how much you wanna bring us along for the journey. So thank you for the work you're doing.
ALICIA: Oh, thank you. I think it's also for me, because I've been plant based. For, uh, since what, 2009? The end of 2009, I went plant-based because I have multiple sclerosis. That's a whole other situation. But, um, even with me being plant-based, I still struggle with all of the things mentally in my head. Right.
MICHELLE: Right.
ALICIA: Like I, I know that being, you know, incorporating more plant based, foods in my diet will help with certain things, but I still have that mental component that I'm still struggling with. And I think that's where some people think like, okay, your plant based. So you have it all figured out, like, you know what I'm saying? Like you are the model, you know, eating person. And it's like, No, sweetie, I'm still struggling.
MICHELLE: Yes. That is I think one of the human conditions. Yeah, I know, I think I shared with you, I went to NYU. And I studied applied psychology, and so I did my thesis on addiction and what I have learned is that, and believed, cause I don't know that I learned this when I was trying the thesis, but I believe every one of us has some type of addiction, whether it's food, alcohol, drugs, scrolling through social media can be an addiction.
The addiction for love, the addiction for sex, like there is that thing that I think we're all constantly searching for. The answers and maybe if you heal it in one way, like, I don't mind sharing. I did have bulimia in college and I danced professionally with the Dance Theater of Harlem. And I was super skinny. I was 115 pounds, but they were constantly telling me, You gotta lose weight. You gotta lose weight. And so, surprise, surprise, I developed an eating disorder. So there was that, but I got the therapy, I did the work. And so, you know, that is healed for the most part. And I have tools to manage that.
But then, Now it's coffee. Like, it feels like it moves to different areas of my life. And this is like, I'm doing a huge, you know, 20 year gap. There's, there's other things that I, you know, addiction, right? And then I healed it, and then addiction, and then I healed it. Right now it's the coffee, because caffeine just is not my friend at all.
Like, that's another episode of me healing my, actually, I'm gonna put that out there right now. We're gonna do an episode of me and my process of healing my addiction to coffee.
ALICIA: I love that. I love that.
MICHELLE: Yes. But all that to say that, Yeah, I think, I think we just gotta keep being curious and keep asking the questions and keep figuring out what works for our own bodies.
ALICIA: Right, and I think that's what's also something I'm learning is learning myself, right As opposed to like taking in, Oh, there's the Atkins diet, or there's this or there's that. And then just sticking to that because everyone else is doing it. Right? It's like finding what works for my body and being okay with that, despite what, cause like when I decided to be plant based, I had family members that were like, “Are you crazy?”
MICHELLE: Well, tell us, tell us more for the listeners who might be saying that right now. Like what do you mean by plant based? Like what? Cause people define that differently. So what does it mean to you?
ALICIA: So for me, and the reason why I say I'm plant based is cuz I still, I consume honey. Okay. But for the most part, I don't eat. Um, foods or anything that contains animal products besides the honey situation.
MICHELLE: Okay.
ALICIA: Um, and you know, for people that are vegan, you know, their whole lifestyle, and I'm talking about clothing, accessories typically are all vegan. I'm not that girl.
MICHELLE: Sure. Okay. And have you noticed differences, cause you mentioned the MS. So have you noticed improvement in your body?
ALICIA: Yeah, for sure. So when I was initially diagnosed with MS, my whole left side of my body, I could, I didn't have gross motor skills. I didn't have fine motor skills for me to lift my arm. It felt like I was lifting like at least 20 pound weights. And I was out of breath. I'm a lefthanded person as well, so because of that, I couldn't write.
MICHELLE: Oh, how scary.
ALICIA: It was almost as if I had a stroke.
MICHELLE: Oh my goodness.
ALICIA: Yeah.
MICHELLE: Wait, was this like a temporary thing, like for a couple hours or was this like a couple days?
ALICIA: It was months.
MICHELLE: Oh, a couple months. Oh my goodness. Oh, Alicia.
ALICIA: And this is when I was in school. Yeah. I was in nursing school dealing with all this. The right side of my body. I could, I had no temperature regulation. So if I put my hand in hot water, I could stall or just completely burn myself. Cause I couldn't feel it.
MICHELLE: Oh shoot.
ALICIA: Um, and with me changing my diet, I'm not saying all of it was because of my diet change, but it did help with I, my energy levels. I was able to get through nursing school. I obviously write again, I can write. It's still a work in progress, but I can actually, even beyond the temperature regulation, when I would touch a person I couldn't even feel. So you touch something, you know you're touching something beyond the temperature. I couldn't even feel that if I put my hand on something I didn't know, but my eyes were closed. I couldn't tell you that my hand was on something. You could feel like it's a arm or it's a piece of wood. I couldn't tell you what it was. And now I can do those things. And I know a lot of it was attributed to me being plant-based.
MICHELLE: Oh, that's fabulous. And how many years have you been plant-based?
ALICIA: Oh my gosh. Since what, 2009, so, there's that many years.
MICHELLE: Okay. Yeah, that's plenty of time to know that this is working for your body right now.
ALICIA: Yes, it's working. I mean, I, I take supplements obviously because with, you know, the plant based. Plant based, quote unquote, like vegan diet. There's certain things that you can't get. So like omegas, B12 and just B complex things like that. I, I do take those supplements to you know, take, you know, make sure I'm actually having that for my daily intake.
But it's been great. And I mean, honestly, even when I wasn't plant based, I never liked meat.
MICHELLE: Oh, interesting. Okay.
ALICIA: The taste of it was just not for me. Certain things like I, I do miss like brisket, like where I'm from and it's…
MICHELLE: Yeah. From the south you said, right?
ALICIA: Yeah.
MICHELLE: Ooh, that would be tough.
ALICIA: Yeah, I do miss it. I do miss like, eating some of those things, but I'm like, I'm okay. Like I said, I could take or leave meat, honestly. But that's not everybody, you know?
MICHELLE: And plus you notice a difference in your energy, like, do I want energy or do I wanna feel like crap? And I love that you're choosing the energy
ALICIA: Right, Exactly.
MICHELLE: Alicia, this has been so wonderful. I just wanna say thank you and where can my community find you?
ALICIA: Oh, thank you so much. So you all can find me. Like Michelle said, you can find me at aliciachristian.com. That's my website. Information about my podcast is on there as well. My, I have a acting reel from like years ago. You can see like, “Oh girl, you've, you've lost weight.” Okay. And then also you can find me on Instagram. I am nurseyleash on Instagram. I'm on Facebook as Alicia Christian, and then I just joined TikTok. I'm, I'm, I feel an old person on TikTok. I'm like, uh, I think I'm the, The Alicia Christian on TikTok. I'm trying to figure out this tick toking. I am aging myself, Michelle.
MICHELLE: It's a lot. I don't even touch it. I let my teenage daughter take over my TikTok account. Don't tell anybody. It's too intimidating for me.
ALICIA: I completely understand. Cause it's a lot the algorithm situation. I'm still, I don't know. I'm, I'm doing my best. How about that? So yeah, those are the places you can find.
MICHELLE: I love it. Well, speaking of doing your best, thank you for showing your bright light. Thank you for continuing to share and pour into the community and just thank you for being you. I appreciate you.
ALICIA: Thank you so much. Thank you. And thank you for your podcast and everything that you're doing. Like I've been following and it's like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. Cause I love seeing black women, empowered, and also sharing healthy eating lifestyle with everyone. Because it's so important for our community just to be educated on eating well and then also just living an amazing life. Like your pictures with your husband, the joy, I'm just like, Oh, they look like they're so much fun.
MICHELLE: We are doing our best.
I love it. Thank you, my friend. We will talk soon.
ALICIA: Yes. Thank you so much again. I’ll see ya.
MICHELLE: Thanks so much for listening to Healthy Sexy Nutrition. Have you been driving, doing laundry or walking around the neighborhood? Sweet. I've got show notes for you at michellefox.com/podcast. Click over there when you are ready. I will let you know that on the page you will find resources to support what you just learned on today's show.
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Big love from your favorite culinary nutritionist and health coach, and until next week, keep showing up for yourself and know that you and your health matter.
You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
