April's Giveaway & An Official Introduction to Lauren Grogan!
We're so very excited to collaborate with Lauren from LaurenGrogan.yoga for April's giveaway! You've most likely seen her grace our social media platforms and website with her big beautiful smile sporting Aha! However modeling is just one of Lauren's talents. By trade, Lauren is a Holistic Health Coach and Registered Yoga Teacher in the New Jersey and New York area. Her business focuses on helping busy people nourish themselves (and their families) with clean, wholesome foods and lifestyle tips, while reminding people of the importance of self care. She loves incorporating yoga into the healing process, too!
I met Lauren years ago in a yoga class. With a ton in common we quickly became friends and I've learned so much from her over the years about taking care of myself and my needs in a natural, organic way.
As I sat down to write this post I started thinking...how can I best communicate the reason why I wanted Lauren to collaborate with us and why I feel its so important to share the work she does? Her work resonates with me, the Aha brand and the life I aspire to lead. While building a brand one can sometimes get lost in the "image" you are putting out there. However, I feel its super important to circle back to what Aha really means to us as often as we can. "Live Light, Be Light" is our slogan. For me, this slogan is a four word summary of how I want and try to live my life. I feel its important to gravitate towards people/things/lifestyles that will allow us to do just that. And so, while brainstorming, my memory was brought back to last June and an example of how Lauren held my hand and helped guide me back to my own truth.
At the beginning of last summer I was diagnosed with a low thyroid condition by my general practitioner. Earlier that year I started to feel very run down and lethargic. Just getting through a full day started to become a struggle. Knowing something wasn't right I scheduled a visit to get blood work done. After a couple of tests my Dr. diagnosed me with an under-active thyroid and wanted me to start on hormone supplements. I was distraught! I hated the idea of having to take an artificial medicine for the rest of my life. Plus-something just didn't feel right about what he was telling me. I was about to turn 41 and I was aware that things change around this time, energy levels, etc...but did I really need to jump on hormone supplements without exploring other options? He told me that while "younger people can sometimes heal their thyroids naturally, it is much harder for people of my age to do so." I guess Ive always been one of those types that never believes what other people tell me until I figure it out on my own. And so, I reached out to Lauren to see if she thought I had any other options. She sat with me and we discussed a different route that I could take. She explained how I could support the changes in my body naturally and that with a few diet & lifestyle changes she was confident I could turn this thing around. She gave me a handful of Do's and Dont's and with a little research on my own I came up with a plan that I decided to try for a few months. I told myself I'd make these natural changes first and re-visit my Dr. in October. If nothing changed by then, I'd comply with the hormones. Zip forward a few months and by October I felt like a different person. I got new blood work done and made an appointment with my Dr. At the end of the visit he looked at me and in a nut shell said “Congratulations. You’ve basically cured yourself of having an under active thyroid".
Have you ever heard the Hippocrates quote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”? Lauren's guidance led me to trust in that, and I was so happy to escape unnecessary medicines.
If you want to learn more about Lauren and her business you can visit LaurenGrogan.yoga (yup, that's actually the link). It's loaded with simple recipes such as these 3-ingredient pancakes! She recently became a mother and has started to offer much more work online such as free podcasts, guided meditations and even webinars. Lauren also started to incorporate nutritious recipes and tips for feeding your little ones. She even has an eBook "Baby's First Foods". Aha followers can use the code babyfood5 to save $5! Check out her most recent blog post on Aha Crafted
To enter our giveaway visit either Aha Crafted's IG or Lauren's IG. We're giving away a pair of Aha earrings of the winner's choosing along with a 2-page PDF of Lauren's Foundations of Nutrition including all of her best tips on eating clean and living a healthy lifestyle!