In October Joy McCarthy visited our White Rock store to talk about her 10 Steps to Joyous Health. After the enthusiastic crowd dispersed, we sat down to find out more about her journey that changed not only her eating habits, but her life philosophy as well.
In October Joy McCarthy visited our White Rock store to talk about her 10 Steps to Joyous Health. After the enthusiastic crowd dispersed, we sat down to find out more about her journey that changed not only her eating habits, but her life philosophy as well.
Joy’s interest in health was literally fed by her mother who always made home-cooked meals. “Eating healthy was always a priority for my parents,” she recalls. “We had the Canada Food Guide on the fridge, and Mum always made sure we had our veggies, and all the food groups. She loved to cook and improvise, and taught me so much.”
In her teens, she upped the ante with a membership at the YMCA fitness centre, and noticed an amazing change in her body, strength, and mood. When her friends ate burgers and fries, she ordered (what she thought was) a healthy sandwich. In her early 20s every day began with bran cereal, skim milk, and blueberries. She took veggies and hummus to parties, as others drank and ate Doritos. She felt good.
And then everything changed. A myriad of health issues developed—with her digestion, a hormone imbalance, hair loss, anxiety—and, for years, no doctors could tell her why. Despite many medications Joy got sicker.
The Turning Point
One night she came home, frustrated and upset, with yet another prescription in hand. The next morning she decided that enough was enough, and she ripped up her prescription slip. She needed a different approach—and she would figure it out for herself.
She went back to school to study holistic nutrition, and it wasn’t long before she figured out she had developed a gluten intolerance. She also began to understand—by keeping a food journal, slowing down, and replacing running with yoga—that food was just one part of health.
“I learned that health is not just about what you eat—it’s how you live your life,” explains Joy. “Within six months my anxiety disappeared, my hair grew back, and all my digestive issues cleared up. I went back to the doctor, had blood work done, and he was astonished to find my hormones had also rebalanced.”
The experience changed everything, and she is now on a global mission to teach and inspire others. She started with her “little website blog” Joyous Health, then wrote a book of the same name, and is now found on YouTube, in magazines, and on television shows across North America (including CBC’s The Goods). She has a line of body care products, consults with clients around the world, is a faculty member at Toronto’s Institute of Holistic Nutrition—and has just released her second book Joyous Detox. There’s clearly more than one way to share the Joy.
This article was published in The Good Life magazine.
