Meet The Newest Member of Ultimate Paleo Guide - Chelsea Brinegar | Ultimate Paleo Guide

Ultimate Paleo Guide is growing!

In order to bring you more content (and better) content than ever, we’re adding to our team.

At UPG, our goal is simple, to bring you the best information on paleo living and research in order to answer your questions and make paleo easy for you and the ones you love.

That’s why, today I’m excited to share our newest team member – Chelsea Brinegar. Over the last few months, I’ve loved getting to know Chelsea and I know you will too. Her insight, easy writing and well researched approach fit right at home with Ultimate Paleo Guide.

You’ll be seeing regular blog posts from her, research and if you’re a part of our VIP community at Paleo Meal Plans – she’ll even be coaching you!

Like I said, I’m excited for Chelsea to be joining our team and I wanted her to share a little bit of her story with you guys. So, without further ado – meet Chelsea!

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Hi, I’m Chelsea

Hi, I’m Chelsea – Paleo Nutritionist and Health Coach for Ultimate Paleo Guide and Paleo Meal Plans. Without exaggerating, choosing to adopt a Paleo lifestyle three years ago changed the course of my life. I am insanely passionate about using whole foods as a means to radically enhance health and well-being, and I love sharing that passion with anyone who will listen.

I haven’t always felt so passionate about my career though. In my “former life” (as I like to call it), I attended Indiana State University and received my undergraduate degree in Communication with an emphasis on Public Relations.

After graduating college, I accepted a marketing job in a rural southern Indiana town and soon realized that I was 100% unfulfilled by it. This was frustrating because being passionate about my purpose in life has always been important to me.

This quote by Roald Dahl has served as inspiration for most of my decisions in life:

“I began to realize how important it was to be an enthusiast in life. He taught me that if you are interested in something, no matter what it is, go at it at full speed ahead. Embrace it with both arms, hug it, love it and above all become passionate about it. Lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only thing to be.”

— Roald Dahl

I was 100% lukewarm about my life at that point. And I knew I had to do something. I just wasn’t sure what.

During this time, I discovered a love for fitness (CrossFit, specifically) and through this endeavor, I fell under the healing spell of a Paleo diet. Not only did my body feel better than ever, but adopting a Paleo lifestyle completely shifted the way I viewed health and wellness. It was no longer about aesthetics and a number on the scale for me. It became about nourishing my body with foods that made me feel great – mind, body, and spirit.

As my passion for whole foods, cooking and health grew, I knew this feeling was what I had been searching for in a career. It felt SO good.

On a whim, I applied to the nutrition master’s degree program at the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon – not really expecting anything to come from it. In a surprising turn of events, I got accepted and almost immediately quit my job. A month later, my boyfriend and I sold everything we owned that wouldn’t fit in my Honda Civic and road-tripped across the country to Portland. It’s been a journey to get where I am now, but I am completely certain that I am doing exactly what I am meant to do. Through my own wellness business, White Hot Wellness, and Ultimate Paleo Guide/Paleo Meal Plans, I get to help people realize the transformative power of real foods.

To put it simply, the life that I’m living now is basically my dream manifested.

My existence has been changed by embracing food in its most natural form, and I love sharing that with people.

A few fun facts about me: a cherry tomato picked right off the vine just might be my favorite food ever. I love traveling and spontaneous adventures; completely inspired by Joel and Adventure Roulette, I once went to the airport with $500 and told the clerk to buy me a ticket to anywhere. I love CrossFit and have been taught so many things about myself and life through it. I love hiking trails in the Pacific Northwest, local coffee shops, and my cat Riggs. Generally, I just love.

Passion, the white hot kind, fuels my life, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I am excited to be a member of the UPG and Paleo Meal Plans community. Here’s to inspiring each other, eating real food, and enjoying life as much as possible – cheers!

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Jill says

January 26, 2017 at 9:55 am

Hi Chelsea,

Your enthusiasm is contagious! I loved reading about you, and look forward to hearing more from you. I’m curious to know more about the some of the things that Crossfit has taught you about life.

I’m a firm believer in finding one’s life purpose and living it out. It’s clear you have. You’re going to inspire so many people!

I’m new to the Paleo lifestyle (been doing it about a month now), but feel exactly how you do: it’s not about dieting or the way I look anymore; it’s about nourishing my body and getting on with living and loving.

I come from a background of Food Addiction. I’ve been in and out of Food Addiction programs (modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous – OA, HOW OA, FA) for 18 years now, most of my adult life. There I was taught that I’d “always be an addict” and that I “couldn’t be trusted around food,” so I’d need a sponsor and The Program the rest of my life.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that this programming was the opposite of being life-affirming. They had an answer to that, too, “it was my disease talking.” Apparently, my life was controlled, and would always be controlled, by my addiction, according to these programs.

Last year I left for good. I decided I would rather rely on God than these human-led programs. I prayed and prayed for help. I researched, I talked about my struggles with others and asked them to pray for me. For over a year, I struggled with all of the programming from these food addiction programs. Maybe they were right? Maybe I’m doomed to a life of food addiction and the only cure is a self-help group?

Then, for reasons beyond myself, I told a friend who had been insisting Paleo was the way to go, that I’d try it. It wasn’t out of desperation, it was if I was led to it. She, like myself, has a lot of weight to lose, but her concern was about food allergies. She had researched and was convinced a Paleo diet would rid her of all of her health ailments. So, we embarked on a Paleo adventure together…

My perspective on food has done a full 180 in the short amount of time I’ve eaten Paleo. I used to “tolerate” cooking, now I absolutely LOVE and enjoy cooking. Paleo recipes are absolutely delicious, and they’re nourishing, which feels SO GOOD to my body I can’t even begin to explain. I keep things simple, and garlic and onion have become my best buds in cooking.

Unlike food addiction programs, i no longer weigh and measure every ounce I eat. I don’t write down my planned meal the night before and then call a sponsor every day to commit it. I don’t have to attend three meetings a week (sometimes driving an hour away), or have to call three people every day to keep my addictive thoughts in check. Paleo has FREED me! Well, actual God has, but He used Paleo has my tool to that freedom from addiction.

I eat when I’m hungry. I eat until I’m full. That’s it. Sometimes I indulge (apples and almond butter is my indulgence as of late), but I tell myself that my old me would be eating Taco Bell or Cheetos, so indulge on in apples and almond butter!

I’m so overjoyed with the freedom I have experienced in Paleo. My life will never be the same again. And for that, I am forever glad!

-Jill

Comments

Jill says

January 26, 2017 at 9:55 am

Hi Chelsea,

Your enthusiasm is contagious! I loved reading about you, and look forward to hearing more from you. I’m curious to know more about the some of the things that Crossfit has taught you about life.

I’m a firm believer in finding one’s life purpose and living it out. It’s clear you have. You’re going to inspire so many people!

I’m new to the Paleo lifestyle (been doing it about a month now), but feel exactly how you do: it’s not about dieting or the way I look anymore; it’s about nourishing my body and getting on with living and loving.

I come from a background of Food Addiction. I’ve been in and out of Food Addiction programs (modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous – OA, HOW OA, FA) for 18 years now, most of my adult life. There I was taught that I’d “always be an addict” and that I “couldn’t be trusted around food,” so I’d need a sponsor and The Program the rest of my life.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that this programming was the opposite of being life-affirming. They had an answer to that, too, “it was my disease talking.” Apparently, my life was controlled, and would always be controlled, by my addiction, according to these programs.

Last year I left for good. I decided I would rather rely on God than these human-led programs. I prayed and prayed for help. I researched, I talked about my struggles with others and asked them to pray for me. For over a year, I struggled with all of the programming from these food addiction programs. Maybe they were right? Maybe I’m doomed to a life of food addiction and the only cure is a self-help group?

Then, for reasons beyond myself, I told a friend who had been insisting Paleo was the way to go, that I’d try it. It wasn’t out of desperation, it was if I was led to it. She, like myself, has a lot of weight to lose, but her concern was about food allergies. She had researched and was convinced a Paleo diet would rid her of all of her health ailments. So, we embarked on a Paleo adventure together…

My perspective on food has done a full 180 in the short amount of time I’ve eaten Paleo. I used to “tolerate” cooking, now I absolutely LOVE and enjoy cooking. Paleo recipes are absolutely delicious, and they’re nourishing, which feels SO GOOD to my body I can’t even begin to explain. I keep things simple, and garlic and onion have become my best buds in cooking.

Unlike food addiction programs, i no longer weigh and measure every ounce I eat. I don’t write down my planned meal the night before and then call a sponsor every day to commit it. I don’t have to attend three meetings a week (sometimes driving an hour away), or have to call three people every day to keep my addictive thoughts in check. Paleo has FREED me! Well, actual God has, but He used Paleo has my tool to that freedom from addiction.

I eat when I’m hungry. I eat until I’m full. That’s it. Sometimes I indulge (apples and almond butter is my indulgence as of late), but I tell myself that my old me would be eating Taco Bell or Cheetos, so indulge on in apples and almond butter!

I’m so overjoyed with the freedom I have experienced in Paleo. My life will never be the same again. And for that, I am forever glad!

-Jill

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