Pursuit of Wellness - Arielle Lorre On Hitting Rock Bottom, Overcoming Addiction, Fitness, Eating Disorders, Transcendental Meditation & Trauma

Episode Date: March 6, 2023

Ep. #10 Today on the show we have Arielle Lorre, the host of the Blonde Files podcast. Arielle is a wellness guru and influencer - she has the best healthy recipes. However, her lifestyle is drastically different to how she was living a few years ago. Arielle has an inspiring story from the grips addiction to living her best life. She's super candid and open when it comes to her experience and tools that have helped her along the way. I hope you all enjoy this episode as much as I did! For Mari’s Instagram click here!   For Arielle’s Instagram click here!   For the Blonde File’s Instagram click here!   For the Blonde File’s podcast click here!   To shop Bloom Nutrition Greens click here!   To download Mari’s workout plan & recipes click here!   From the beginning, Greg and I felt like the Bloom customer was a Target girl, and now our Greens are easier to find than ever. I’m so excited that Greens are available in-store for the first time. You can also find Greens on Amazon, and a special offer just for our listeners - use code POW on the Bloom website at www.bloomnu.com for 10% off.     Produced by Dear Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey listeners, Dan Harris here, host of the 10% Happier podcast. Imagine all your audio entertainment available in just one place. That's what the Audible app is all about. With Audible, you can always find the best of what you love or discover something new. Audible has an incredible selection of wellness titles and originals, like The Light Podcast by Michelle Obama, Work It Out by Mel Robbins, and Confidence Gap by Russ Harris.

Membership includes access to Audible Originals, podcasts, and tons of audiobooks that you can download or stream as much as you want. And as an Audible member, you can choose one title per month from an ever-growing catalog of titles to keep. The Audible app makes it easy to listen anytime, anywhere, whether you're traveling, working out, doing chores, wherever your day takes you. New members can try Audible now free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash Harris or text Harris to 500-500. The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Hi, guys. It's Mari, and you're listening to The Pursuit of Wellness.

Hi guys, welcome back to The Pursuit of Wellness. Today on the show, we have Arielle Laurie. This is probably one of my favorite episodes I've ever done. And I felt like Arielle and I had so much more of a connection than I could have ever imagined. Although our stories are different, there was so much overlap in our experiences. And I felt like we were both having epiphanies as we had a conversation and discovering things about ourselves through each other's story. I don't know if you guys know what I mean by that, but do you ever just meet someone where you feel like, wow, this person really gets me? And I also learned so much from her.

What I appreciate so much about Arielle is she doesn't fluff things up. She was super candid and honest about her rock bottom experience and what that looked like for her. She also gives us super tangible tips when it comes to meditation and wellness and how she basically became the best version of her out of her alcoholism and addiction. Now, I do want to give a little bit of a trigger warning. We do talk about alcohol, drugs, trauma. This is definitely a heavier episode, but it's so worth the listen, guys. This was a really, really good one. I hope you enjoy it,

and I can't wait to hear what you think. Today on the show, we have Arielle Laurie, the host of the Blonde Files podcast. Arielle is a wellness guru and influencer. She has the best healthy recipes. I mean, the best. However, her life is drastically different to how she was living a few years ago. Arielle has an inspiring story from the grips of addiction to living her best life. She's super candid and open when it comes to her experience and tools that have helped her along the way. She's the perfect guest for the pursuit of wellness. And I can't wait to learn

more from her. Arielle, welcome to the show. Thank you. I am so excited to learn more about you. We were just saying we kind of have a similar timeframe of when we started our journeys. So I can't wait to hop in. I want to jump back a little bit because anyone looking at your page, you have this very like calm wellness vibe to you. But after hearing your story, it's so different. things that you think of when you think ideal childhood. I had no trauma, nothing like that. I had a really good upbringing. But as you know, since you've been researching me for a few days, like it all kind of came crashing down when I was like 17. So in what way did it start crashing down? When I discovered alcohol, I will never forget the first drink that I had because especially in high school, I just started feeling really uncomfortable in my skin. I wasn't as outgoing as I wanted to be.

You know, I wanted to be this extroverted, bubbly, like life of the party person. And that's just not who I am naturally. And I just always felt like I was just kind of half a beat off from everybody else. And I wanted to be like the girls who had everything. They had all the right clothes, designer, you know, the amazing cars and, you know in private school like there's a lot of that and I just felt really kind of inferior but I also felt really ashamed about that so long story short I went to a party and those girls were there and I had a drink and it was like all of a sudden I felt comfortable I felt confident the voices in my head telling me that I was like less than and all of that and all in a way. And I was, you know, outgoing and it was a social lubricant, all of those things. And that night I got violently drunk. I remember my dad came to pick my friend and I up from this party and I peed my pants waiting for him to come pick me up. The next morning I was like vomiting

everywhere. And it was like I could not wait to do it again. Whereas next morning I was like vomiting everywhere. And it was like, I could not wait to do it again. Whereas my friend who was there and was also violently hungover was like, I'm never drinking again, you know? And that's kind of like the differentiator, I think, between like an alcoholic and somebody who's like a normal drinker. And so that just set me off and I was off to the races. I think what you said is so relatable regarding feeling uncomfortable in your skin. I felt that way throughout high school. I hadn't discovered drinking yet when I was in high school, but I definitely felt one beat off constantly. One, because I lived in a super wealthy town in New York and I had just moved from the UK.

My family wasn't that wealthy and I just kind of had this hard time entering the space. And I felt like I couldn't keep up with the Montclair jackets. And I couldn't even get Uggs. I was wearing the Costco Uggs and I was mortified. But I personally found drinking in college. And when I think back to that time, I don't consider myself an alcoholic, but I was absolutely abusing alcohol. It is interesting,

like how do you differentiate for anyone listening who may be drinking excessively or using it as like a crutch for their pain? How do you know when you're an alcoholic versus not? That's a really good question. I think that it's kind of what alcohol does for you, not what alcohol does to you. And for me, alcohol was my solution to everything. So I had friends that were binge drinkers, but then they could stop. Whereas I had this obsession. I think that's another component of it. And that's something that I've learned in sobriety. It's like this obsession with drinking. And once you take that first drink, you cannot stop. They say

like the drink takes a drink. And that's what happened to me. Like even if I would say I'm just going to go out tonight and have one glass of wine, once I have that glass of wine, all bets are off. You know, I might not stop for days. And the other thing was that I just think I'm just a little bit chemically different from non-alcoholics because I would drink the same amount as friends, but I would be blacking out, you know, like just from the start. Like I was that girl that was blackout. And another really good thing if people are listening, they're, you know, evaluating their relationship with alcohol. A really good way to tell if you have a problem with alcohol or not is to try to stop. And if you're having trouble stopping, that might be the information that you need. Yeah. No, that's a good tip. And I think I wish

that I had had someone like you online back then. I mean, I wasn't even really on Instagram and they're for sure were not like sober influences or even really celebrities to look up to back then. Being sober wasn't cool. time, almost nine years ago now when I got sober, there was nobody. So I just didn't have any like concept of what a sober life could look like. I thought it just meant that you stay home, you don't do anything, you know, you can't go anywhere, you can't be around alcohol. Like I just had this like misconception. I think it's still so stigmatized and it drives me crazy. It's interesting because it's like the one thing in our culture that's like accepted, but it's awful. Yeah. I mean, you know, I don't judge people and their relationship with alcohol. Like I don't want to be that sober person that's like, oh, you're drinking.

But, you know, I heard somebody say once, like if I'm trying to remember the analogy, it's about like if you don't drink and people judge you, like if you went out and you weren't doing heroin, people wouldn't be like, well, why aren't you doing it? Like, don't you want to do it? But alcohol is just so part of our culture. And, you know, there is sometimes judgment if you don't drink and it it's like, it just doesn't make sense. But I do think that it is getting more accepted, especially in health conscious places like LA, New York, you know, these cities, and just with people kind of embracing wellness more. Like I think that it is more normalized now. What did rock bottom look like for you? Rock bottom for me was living in an empty apartment in

West Hollywood in a blackout from December to February, complete blackout, no idea what happened, a little bit of an idea and it wasn't good. I think the blackout kind of protected me, you know, from a lot of trauma that I just don't, I don't need to like know the details. I was having seizures. I was in and out of the hospital. I had nobody in my life except for my neighbor who was a drug dealer. And I had been doing alcohol, coke, Adderall and Xanax. Those were like my four and they all kind of worked in concert with each other. And I was like doing a chemistry experiment every day. You know, I would have to drink when I woke up or drink at

like two in the morning when I would wake up, fall back asleep, drink when I woke up around seven, take an Adderall to get going a little bit, drink a little to come down from the Adderall. Then in the evening, like do some Coke and then take a Xanax at the end of the night after drinking and doing Coke all night to try to come down. And that was like day in, day out. Towards the end, that neighbor was giving me meth, which I didn't know, but they found it in my apartment and it was in my system. And what happened was, I think my parents called the West Hollywood police to do a wellness check on me because they couldn't get in touch with me. And they saw me through the window, face down on my floor, unresponsive. They had to break in.

They took me to the hospital. Somehow I got out of the hospital, face down on my floor, unresponsive. They had to break in. They took me to the hospital. Somehow I got out of the hospital, went back to my apartment. I have a vague memory of snorting something off the floor. I think it was dust. I didn't have anything at that point. And passing out, next thing I knew, my parents showed up at my door from Rhode Island. I opened the door. I dropped, and I had a grand mal seizure.

What does that mean? A grand mal seizure. What does that mean? A grand mal seizure. I'm probably going to get this wrong, but it was a long seizure that they couldn't get me out of. And I went back to the hospital. I was there for four-ish days, I think, until they stabilized me. And then I went to rehab. So I had a very low bottom. That was after 10 years of, you know, progressive alcoholism. But I always want to say, like, that's not what made me an alcoholic because I was an alcoholic when I started drinking, you know, and there were so many times when I actually could manage it for months. I would just have the one or two glasses of wine and, you know, maintain a job or like

stay in school. And then inevitably, it would just unravel. Right. I'm curious because I talk about trauma a lot on my platform. And I have the tendency, when I look at my old self, and when I was doing things that I treated my body badly, or I treated other people badly, whatever it may be, I kind of detach who I am now from that old self. I literally talk about it like it's a different person. Do you have the same thing? Totally. We were talking before about like dissociating and detaching a little bit from trauma. And I've done so much work around this stuff. And it's not like it was before. But I think there is a little bit of a survival mechanism or something that kicks in. And yeah, I think that even like when I've seen videos of me

talking about it, I kind of go a little bit blank. And, you know, people ask me how I reconcile the two. And I'm like, it doesn't even feel like it was my life. You know, I feel in some ways that I still have that trauma in me a little bit. But it also feels like I'm so far from that person that I was that it's almost like watching a movie and I can have compassion for that girl and I feel sad for that girl. But I'm also really grateful and I've heard you talk about this like where, you know, somebody asked you like if you could take away what you went through, you know, the hardships, would you? And you said no and I wouldn't either. Like I really look at sobriety and everything that I went through as my superpower. And it's like my biggest asset, you know, because it turned me into who I am today. And it's character building. What would you say are the best things that came out of your addiction? I know that's a weird is built on my sobriety. That's the foundation for everything.

And sobriety and the work that I did when I got sober, like taught me how to be a good person. And it gave me so many coping mechanisms and it taught me how to deal with life on life's terms. And I see that a lot of people who aren't alcoholics don't have those skills, you know, and I really am so grateful for this way of life where I can be present and I can accept life as it is. And, you know, I can regulate my nervous system without any kind of outside help. And it also gave me, you know, a work ethic and it enabled me to kind of hone in on my passions and this whole career and everything that I have today

is built on that. So there were just so many gifts. It's like, I can't even pick. I feel like a lot of people who don't hit that rock bottom kind of get okay with living in a mediocre way or they have dull pain that they never realize how to fix because they don't hit that moment and they don't learn how to regulate their nervous system like you have. For anyone listening who may have a troublesome relationship with drugs or alcohol,

what were your first steps to pulling yourself out of addiction? I mean, I didn't really do it willingly. You know, I had to be intervened on because I got to the point towards the end, but I went to rehab kind of sporadically, like throughout the years. It was so scary to me. The idea of a life without alcohol is so daunting that I just had to get to the place that I got to, you know, I had to be so desperate and know that I was completely shit out of luck in order to embrace a different way of life. And so, you know, I'm so grateful that I was intervened on and I was kind of put in rehab for long enough for that fog to clear and for me to see that like, yeah, I really, I really need help here. Like I cannot do this on my own. And when I was in rehab, I did a lot of intensive therapy because I learned that the drinking and the using drugs, that's not the problem. And I think that's a big misconception.

People think you take away the alcohol and the drugs and you're good. I learned that that's a symptom of problems with my thinking and problems with processing my trauma and all of these things that I had to deal with underneath that. So I did intensive therapy and then I found like-minded people who were going through it. And that was like the saving grace really. And I learned how to live sober through watching people who had more time than me and through having a group of

girlfriends that were around my same age and similar interests and all of girlfriends that were, you know, around my same age and similar interests and all of that. And we were doing this together. And that was like, I think the most important thing. I'm really into my morning routine right now. So what I do is I wake up, wash my face, head downstairs, and I grab a big mason jar, fill it with ice, a little lemon juice, cold water, and a big scoop of my bloom greens. Then I head to my gratitude journal, write down what I'm grateful for, take Lulu on a walk, and do some form of exercise. I have been finding this morning routine to set me up for the best day ever. Greens are a huge part of this routine because they set up my gut to be healthy for the rest of the day and digest all of my food how I want it to be. So for those of you who aren't

familiar, my husband and I created our supplement company Bloom back in 2019. Now we are a best selling product on TikTok. We're viral everywhere and everyone's taking our greens. Our goal was to create an all-in-one supplement full of amazing ingredients like chlorella, spirulina, organic vegetable, fruits, et cetera, but have it taste really, really good. So we have five delicious flavors. We have mango, coconut, berry, citrus, and original. I'm currently obsessed with mango, but I highly recommend you try coconut as well. Greens are the easiest way to make sure you're getting in all your nutrients. It's full of organic fruits and veggies, probiotics, and more to help you feel your best every single day. I also have exciting news. We are now available in store at Target and Walmart nationwide.

From the beginning, we really wanted our girl to be able to go shop for greens wherever she is in the US. So I'm so excited they're available in store. You can also find greens on Amazon and on the Bloom website at www.bloomnew.com. I also have a sneaky little code for you guys. You guys can use code POW, P-O-W, for 10% off your greens on the Bloom website. Are you going on date after date and still not finding the one or getting a text back? Well, you're probably doing something wrong. And I am here to tell you exactly what that is. I'm Lindsay Metzeler and I host We Met at Acme. It's a dating podcast that gives you all the rules and guidelines that you need to date successfully. Hey, it worked

for me and now I'm married. So you really should give it a listen if you haven't already. And you can also hear the horrors of dating. Everything that you want to hear is in We Met At Acme, so check it out. Once you became sober, did you realize that you had any underlying issues that you hadn't been dealing with? What were those issues and how did you begin to tackle those? Did you have to first figure out the sobriety and then the underlying issues? Yeah. I mean, there were some really obvious things in the beginning, like really obvious traumas that I had to deal with. And it was kind of interesting though, because I did have issues with eating. I was bulimic. When I first got sober, I would throw up a raspberry, like if I ate one. I mean, it was just

raging. And I don't know if I should say this, but somebody told me who had 25 or 30 years of sobriety at the time, that if I straightened out spiritually, I would straighten out mentally and physically. Meaning if I took care of the sob know, the sobriety and the underlying things, the other issues would probably kind of work themselves out. And that was what happened to me. You know, I didn't have to do anything specific for my eating disorder. And I know that that's not everybody's experience, but that was mine. But that had been a huge issue. And then kind of over the years, especially the first few years, I would just notice things like, oh, I'm really sensitive and I'm really anxious. I run super anxious. I know that you do too. You're nodding. And so that's something that I had to pay attention to and, you know, learn how

to cope with that and learn what helps and learn what exacerbates that, you know? And so there were just kind of little things. And I think ultimately, what really drove my drinking and drug use was that kind of sensitivity, that anxiety that I told you about earlier, like feeling uncomfortable in my skin and feeling like I was different from everybody else. And that was like the main thing, I think, was the anxiety because that kind of like bled into everything. Yeah, I can relate so much. It's really refreshing to hear you talk about this.

With the anxiety, what would you say are your main tools that you use now to handle it? Meditation is number one. I know you meditate too. Well, okay. No, I don't. Not like you. You do transcendental meditation, right? Yes. I've taken one class back in the day and I really want to learn more about it. Like,

what would you say is different about TM to other meditations? So for me, I had tried different meditations over the apps and different platforms and stuff, guided meditations. And I still think there's a time and place for those. And I do use those occasionally now. But I always just kind of felt like I was listening to something and then I was would be done and I was like okay well that was nice and relaxing but it wasn't doing anything for me and when I started this is back in 2018 I started noticing that a lot of people kind of in my orbit who were people that I looked up to who just had this thing about them that you just can't really put your finger on. They were all doing TM. And I was like,

okay, I'm going to try it. My husband started doing it. My parents started doing it. So I was like, I guess that's my sign. And the way that you learn TM is you go and you do a four day class. It's only like an hour or two a day. And I noticed in that first day even that it just brought my nervous system down. And I felt so anchored. Like that's the only way that I can describe it. And I felt energized after, but in like a calm way, I felt like my sleep was better. Like when I started doing it consistently, it was just so crazy effective for me from the beginning. And yeah, I've heard that. I've heard the analogy. So if you think about the ocean and you think of like a small boat on the surface of the ocean, it's going to rock with every single

tiny little wave and current and all of that. And what I learned in TM is that that kind of meditation is kind of like going down to the floor of the ocean where there's still a current, you know, you still might move a little bit, but you're not so like at the mercy of what's happening up there. And it's not so turbulent. And that was like really what I felt. So I'm a little bit of like an evangelist about it. I try not to. I'm influenced right now, honestly. Yeah. It's amazing if you can do it and it does cost money. It goes to their nonprofit foundation, but you can also like scholarship. And if you really can't afford it for anybody listening, like they do like an honor system. They're like, if you can pay $10,

you know, we'll take it. That's amazing. Yeah. So you do that twice a day, twice a day for 20 minutes in silence. They give you a mantra. And I was so intimidated. I was like 20 minutes in silence, like in my head. Are you fucking kidding me? Sorry. But I mean, it was like really scary. And you just think of the mantra and you're going to lose the mantra occasionally. And then you just think of it again and bring it back. And the whole thing about TM is that it's effortless. You're not trying to clear your mind. You know, our brains have thoughts rattling around in them 24-7. And the thing about meditation, and this is not exclusive just to TM, is that like you notice that and you can detach from the thoughts.

And that was like a huge benefit that I got from that because, you know, I tend to take thoughts as fact. Yeah, same. And when I could just kind of observe that, I was like, oh, this is just craziness in my head. Like it doesn't mean anything. It's kind of like observing the thought rather than being the thought. Yes. I think Jay Shetty said, if you say that you don't have time for meditation, you need it more than anyone else. Yeah. And I think that's so true. I'm so inspired by that. I really want to try that. What other tools have you used? Because I know you've mentioned, okay, can you explain stoicism to me? Yeah, stoicism. Well, I don't know. I think I can, but it has a lot of similarities to like a lot of the principles in recovery. And it is

kind of accepting life on life's terms. It's not placing judgment on anything. Like, you know, we tend to be so reactive and assign, you know, good or bad to anything happening. Like, oh, this is terrible. And stoicism is just like, no, this is just what it is. It's like acceptance, like radical acceptance. So I don't know if that's a good definition. No, I love that.

Yeah. Something that I'm striving for. Your story is so inspirational and so refreshing also in the wellness space. I don't think I've come across someone like you before. Do you feel like your audience has become kind of like a sober community? Do you get a lot of questions about it? About sobriety? Occasionally, yes. I do have some people that I'm really close with who reached out to me initially on Instagram trying to get sober. And, you know, I was able to help them with that. And now, you know, they've been in my life for years and that's really amazing. I noticed a lot over the

pandemic that I got a lot of messages. I think people were really reevaluating their relationship with alcohol because when we started working from home and all of that, you know, it's like wine every day at five o'clock. And I think people after a few weeks of that or months or whatever started feeling like maybe this is not the most healthy thing. So I did notice a correlation with that. I always say like my DMs are always open for anybody who's curious, you know, how to get sober or questions if they think they might have a problem. I'm always happy to help in that way but yeah I mean my community is really amazing like they're just really supportive people so let's talk your fitness journey because I know we both started around the same era in the fitness world

how did your fitness journey begin I started doing BBG so if people are not familiar with that, it was bikini body guides, Kayla, it's seen as Australian trainer. And at the time I was like a year and a half or two years sober. And I felt like I had worked on the mental health piece. And I at that point wanted to get in shape. And I knew nothing about wellness, nothing about fitness, nothing about nutrition, nothing like that. All I wanted were abs. Like I thought that if I got abs, that would mean that I was healthy. And BBG was high intensity plyometric training, like a lot of jumping. And at the time, it was just huge. Like especially in LA, there was a huge community here and I did meet a lot of people doing that. And it was like three, I think I was actually doing five days a week of these 28 minute workouts. And, you know, I did kind of like lean out and get in shape really fast.

But what happened eventually was I started tracking macros and I got a little bit disordered and I got a little obsessive. And it's really hard. Like I went from not working out at all to this plyometric jumping around for 28 minutes, burpees and jump squats and jump lunges like day in, day out. And my body just kind of had enough. So what is your routine look like now versus then? Like what's changed? I noticed that my body and my mind respond so much more to mindful movement. So that's like Pilates a few days a week where there's like that mind-body connection. And then resistance training with my trainer, like two or three days a week as well. And that's like some weights and strength training. I don't do well with jumping. I don't do well, like really getting my heart rate up. I do well

with slow, intentional, you know, still really hard workouts. Like I worked out with my trainer last night and I was dead after, but in a good way where I felt energized instead of feeling depleted. How do you feel like your relationship with your body overall has changed since the addiction versus now? I hated myself when I was in my addiction. And even when I started doing BBG, when I was sober, you know, I still was trying to mold myself into something that I thought was acceptable and that I thought would make me feel better about myself or something like that. I never really thought about it that way, but it was not coming from a place of love and nourishment and acceptance. And now I just want to feel good. I want to be healthy and I want to feel good.

I spent so many years feeling like absolute healthy and I want to feel good. I spent so many years feeling like absolute shit and treating my body like shit. So now the biggest motivation for me is just feeling my best. And I do notice that when I make that the priority, my body responds really positively. I can relate to that as well because although my life was better when I was on the fitness journey it was still a form of self-torture and I know that sounds kind of dramatic but it was like it was like let me work myself into the ground because that felt similar to destroying my life through whatever I was doing before. It was kind of like self-harm but in in a healthy way, if that makes sense. Yeah. Sounds a little weird, but. No, I totally get that. And I think there's also an element of control, right? Like I can control this. And

when I was doing like macros and BBG and everything that I was doing at that time, like it gave me a sense of control. And I realized like, oh, I can do this many macros and not feel hungry. So I'm going to reduce them even more. And, you know, I got down to like really low calories. I see pictures of myself now and I was super lean and skinny. And I remember at the time I didn't see that in the mirror. I saw, oh, I need to like lose weight in this area, tone up that area. Like it was never enough. And, you know, ironically, I kind of just had to let go of control. My body told me like I've had enough and I had to stop. Like my hormones were out of whack. My gut health was out of whack. I had no energy whatsoever to do anything because it was all going into these workouts and the tracking my

food and like all of these obsessive things. And like I hit that wall and I had to just stop and slow down. And, you know, slowing down turned out to be the kind of solution that I had been looking for the whole time. I feel like when you've lived in chaos for so long, finding that control is so helpful, but there comes a point where you need to let that go too that's why I feel like the fitness world is such a evolving journey like you never really have it fully figured out because you learn new things or you figure out something that works better for you as you evolve is this around the time that you started your content creation? Yes. So I started my account under the pseudonym The Blonde Files when I started BBG because I was posting before pictures from the neck down. And it was really encouraged

with BBG to, you know, have an account for accountability. And, you know, I would post like before pictures and my smoothie. It's like very Instagram at that time was very basic. The filter is like crazy. Oh my God. Yes. I went through my account and deleted like so many of my old things. And I was just like, wow. I should do that too, honestly. Oh my God. Like it's come so far in such a short amount of time. So I did that anonymously. And I really did build a pretty, you know, a small community at that time. And

then we were talking about this before when I started doing the before and after pictures, those would go viral and they would get picked up by like people and daily mail. And I would get so many followers that way. And so at the time I was like, okay, well, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to throw these in strategically because I knew that that was what helped me grow. Yeah. I did the same thing like that. My entire career was kind of built on this one before and after photo. And after a while, I realized I didn't have any other before photos because I wasn't taking pictures when I was insecure about my body. So you only had one or two to choose from. And everyone was like, where are the others? We want to see more. That was an interesting era in the fitness world. It it was I feel like the wellness scene now is so much more about how

you feel versus how you look I mean they're completely different things as you said like you can have a six-pack but feel like shit on the inside yeah and you know I'm curious how like a before and after would be received now I mean I know that there are a lot of before and after videos and I've done those myself and I know that you do some of those like of you when you were younger and then how much you've grown. But it's the emphasis is on the inner growth. You know, it's not so much the external, I think. Yeah. And I agree with you. I think it's definitely leaned towards people not loving the before and afters from a physical standpoint.

But I do. It's interesting because I feel like I've even become known for that physical change, but to me, it's a mental change. Like when I think of my journey, it's not physical. Yeah. Now that you have a platform where you inspire and help others in the position you once were, do you kind of feel like your career has had this full circle moment? Yeah. I mean, I think that I always, I always wanted to share all those parts of me because I felt like, again, like what we were saying before, like that's my greatest asset. You know, I never wanted to hide my story or hide the struggles

because I think that that's what people crave. Like that's what people relate to most. So that was always a big part of my career from the beginning and of the platform and everything. But it is kind of crazy to see like where it's gone in the last few years, you know? And it's just like we were saying before too, like I'm, I'm so just such a different person from who I was when I got sober, from who I was before I got sober, even from who I was when I started the fitness thing, you know, it's like, we're constantly evolving. And, uh, I don't know. I think that there's so much value in going through those struggles. And people, I'm sure you get this a lot, people will reach out and want to know exactly what the workout regimen is and exactly what the diet is or whatever. And I'm like, figure it out. Find what works for you.

All of our toolkits are going to be different. And there's so much growth and going through all of that and experiencing that for yourself. Like, and what I do is not going to be the right thing for you. And it's not going to be right for whoever's listening. 100%. So you have some amazing recipes on your page. I'm thinking of making the best fucking cookies. Okay.

Should I do the full version or the regular version? Do the regular version. Okay. Really wow them with full version or the regular version? Do the regular version. Okay. Really wow them with the classic? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. What is your go-to healthy dinner recipe? It's very boring right now. I'm doing like brown rice pasta, some broccoli and turkey. I mean, that sounds incredible. I'm a simple eater too. There is this other thing. So I had food poisoning a few weeks ago. The worst. I'm traumatized from that. Like I have never been so sick in my life. You have to tell us where from. Well, here's the thing. Here's the thing. I think

I poisoned myself. So I got salmon and some other things pre-made and I picked them up around three o'clock in the afternoon. I had to go do an errand. I got home at four. I was like, oh, I have something at five. I'm going to go for a quick walk. Left it on the counter, just not thinking because it was like a go, go, go kind of day. Came back, ate some around five. So it had been out for two hours. I was fine. Left it out for three more hours. And at eight o'clock, I was like, I should eat a little bit more so that I'm not like starving in the middle of the night. And I ate it at eight. So at that point, I had been out for five hours. For everybody listening, the rule is two and then bacteria starts growing, which is like so

I can't even think about it. Yes. Yeah. It becomes a breeding ground for bacteria after two hours. Okay. Because I'm bad about things like that. Like, I don't really care. Yeah. No, I don't either. And I had not had any issues with in the past. I don't think that I ever left salmon out for five hours in the past, but I ate it instantly.

I was like, oh, God, this is not good. And I took like a medication for nausea before I went to bed. And then I woke up at midnight, just violently ill. Like I won't even go into details. I'm sure most people listening have had some kind of food poisoning. I'm not unique in this, but anyway, after that, there was only one thing I could eat. And it was this chicken that I would make in the instant pot. And I have the recipe on my Instagram. And you just mix some like soy sauce or coconut aminos with some ketchup and honey and then some herbs and stuff.

You cook it and it's this like honey glazed kind of delicious. I do chicken thighs. So they just kind of fall apart. And then I would do jasmine rice cooked in bone broth. So it was like this really nourishing meal. And I ate that pretty much for like three weeks after I had the food poisoning and that was it. That's why I'm taking a break right now and doing the pasta situation. Food poisoning, you can only stomach so much.

I know. Yeah. I'm still not like 100%. I can relate. I got food poisoning in Vegas and I don't think I'll ever go back. Oh my God. Eating healthy in Vegas is not a thing. Okay. No one try and do that because I had a shrimp salad and I almost died. Oh God. I heard seafood is the worst too with food poisoning.

Oh. Like I think it might be. Yeah. Things were coming out of a lot of places all at one time. I'm glad you're here still with us. What are three non-negotiable wellness habits in your routine? Meditation, going to bed early. I always say like my night routine and my sleep is the foundation for everything else. If I don't do that, my habits the next day

are kind of like I'm just unraveling. So meditation, sleep, and I would say exercise because when I do some form of exercise even if it's just walking I'm more likely to do the other things I'm probably going to make healthier food choices I'm going to feel less anxious I'm going to want to meditate you know and I feel like those three things kind of affect all the other areas of my life in a really positive way love it okay I started this podcast because I believe everyone's pursuit of wellness looks different. What would you say wellness means to you? Oh my God. I feel like wellness to me is just doing everything from a place of self-love and nourishment, whatever that looks like for you. Because I feel like a lot of wellness is trying to fix things and change everything. Like,

I don't know. I just feel like wellness, like real wellness is about nourishment, really. I love that. That was nice. No one said that yet. That was a good one. I don't do well under pressure. No pressure here. And then where can people find you online? Where can they find your healthy recipes? I would recommend starting on Instagram at Arielle Laurie and everything is linked from there. My podcast also on Dear Media is the Blonde Files podcast. And my website is Arielle Laurie dot com. But yeah, Instagram is kind of like home base. Thank you, Ariel. This was awesome. Thank you so much.

Thank you for listening to today's episode. Go comment on my last Instagram at Mari Llewellyn with the guest you want to see next. I'll be picking one person from the comments to send our bloom greens to. Make sure you hit follow so you never miss my weekly episodes. If you enjoyed the conversation, be sure to share and leave a review. See you next week. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest

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