Plant Powered Collective
The Plant Powered Collective Podcast helps women in their 40s, 50s, and beyond live vibrantly and nourish boldly. Hosted by integrative nutrition coach Lori Willinski, each episode blends science-backed nutrition with approachable strategies for hormone balance, energy, and healthy aging. Rooted in lifestyle medicine and personalized coaching, Lori shares her story of thriving on plants since age 14 and managing autoimmune disease with nutrition. Discover how a plant powered lifestyle fuels not only your health, but also your leadership and your future self.
Healthy Eating When Life Changes: Kitchen Systems, Nutrition Habits & Small Shifts That Work
Healthy Eating When Life Changes: Kitchen Systems, Nutrition Habits & Small Shifts That Work
What happens when the healthy eating routines that used to work for you suddenly don't fit your life anymore?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, I'm inviting you to sit at my table while I share something I'm working through in real time: redesigning the systems in my 17-year-old kitchen.
Five months ago, my father came to live with me, and our eating styles are very different. I'm plant-forward. He's a meat eater. He...
Gut Health at Every Age with Aiste Magitman
Gut Health at Every Age with Aiste Magitman
What does a healthy gut actually look like, and why should we care about it long before something feels wrong?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori sits down with Aiste Magitman, pharmacist and founder of Best Gut Forever, for a conversation about gut health, fiber, the microbiome, healthy aging, and the realities of supporting our bodies during busy seasons of life.
Lori and Aiste first met through eWomenNetwork, after another member recognized the connection between their work and introduced...
Become the Leader of Your Nutrition: Small Shifts for Women Who Want to Eat Better
Become the Leader of Your Nutrition: Small Shifts for Women Who Want to Eat Better
JOIN THE FOUNDING COHORT OF NOURISH BOLDLY: SMALL SHIFTS
The four-week experience begins October 19.
👉 bit.ly/4iJ1NbV
You lead at work. You lead in your family. You lead in your community. You solve problems, navigate change, make decisions, and take care of the people around you.
But when it comes to nutrition, do you sometimes feel like you're somehow failing at something you should already know how to do?
In...
Nourish Boldly: Small Shifts | Why You Don’t Need Another Meal Plan
Join Me at the Table
Nourish Boldly: Small Shifts begins October 19. More info: bit.ly/4iJ1NbV
If you know what you should be doing when it comes to nutrition but struggle to make it work consistently in your actual life, I created this four-week program for you.
This is not a meal plan. It is not another set of rigid rules telling you what to eat.
It is an invitation to become the leader of your own nourishment.
Join me at the...
You Know What to Eat. So Why Is Healthy Eating Still So Hard?
Ready to Nourish Boldly?
If you're ready to move beyond simply knowing what you "should" be doing and start building a way of nourishing yourself that actually fits your life, I invite you to check out Nourish Boldly: Small Shifts, my new four-week Plant Powered Collective program.
The Founding Cohort begins October 12 with a special Founding Cohort investment of $797, before the program becomes evergreen at the intended $997 investment.
You'll receive lifetime access to the core program and downloads, plus three months at the paid level of my personal Substack beginning as...
Who’s at Your Table? Friendship, Entrepreneurship, Play & the Relationships That Nourish Us with Beth Housewert
What nourishes us?
At Plant Powered Collective, I talk often about what is on the plate and around the plate. But in this episode, I’m adding another question:
Who’s at your table?
My guest, Beth Housewert, has been at mine for years.
Beth and I met when we worked together at a children’s museum. She led the education department, while I managed development and membership. We worked closely together creating fundraising experiences that also had to be educational, engaging and meaningful for children and families.
Some...
Your Gut Loves Leftovers: A Simple Way to Add More Plant Variety
Show Notes
What if supporting your gut health did not mean buying more food, following another protocol, or eating another giant salad?
This week on the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, we are talking about something much simpler: leftovers, plant variety, and resistant starch.
Most of us have been taught to focus heavily on protein, and protein absolutely matters. But gut health needs a broader conversation.
A salad is wonderful. Spinach in your smoothie is wonderful. But eating the same few plants repeatedly is different from eating a variety...
Corporate Wellness That Works: Mental Health, Nutrition & Whole-Person Performance | Dr. Charity Godfrey
What if employee wellness stopped treating mental health, nutrition, stress, energy, and performance as separate issues?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori Willinski sits down with her friend and colleague Dr. Charity Godfrey for a conversation about what it really means to support people as whole people, especially in the workplace.
Lori and Charity are also co-founders of The Vantage Collective, a corporate wellness collaboration bringing together clinical mental health expertise, integrative nutrition, lifestyle, and leadership experience.
Their belief is simple: how we eat, sleep, manage stress, think, lead...
30 Plants a Week for Gut Health: Your Gut Is Not Asking for Perfection
What if supporting your gut started with adding more, not taking more away?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, I’m introducing the 30 Plants Challenge, but perhaps not in the way you expect.
This is not a diet. It is not 30 vegetables. It is not an elimination plan. And it is definitely not another exercise in nutritional perfection. Instead, I want to use 30 plants as an invitation to become curious about the variety already on your plate and discover simple ways to expand it.
The idea of eating mo...
The Plant Powered Collective Method: How to Build a Healthy Lifestyle That Adapts to Real Life
The Plant Powered Collective Method: How to Build a Healthy Lifestyle That Adapts to Real Life
What if the healthiest lifestyle isn't the most perfect one? What if it's the one that can change when your life changes?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, I’m getting personal about where the Plant Powered Collective Method actually came from.
Long before I had words like Listen, Clarify, Nourish, Design, Practice, Reflect, and Integrate, I was already learning what they meant in my own life.
Brain Health Habits: Why Routine Beats Willpower for Better Memory, Focus & Healthy Aging
Welcome back to the Plant Powered Collective Podcast.
If you've ever wondered why it's so difficult to stay consistent with healthy habits, this episode may completely change the way you think about brain health.
The truth is, your brain isn't asking you for more willpower. It's asking you for better routines.
In this episode, I explore how simple, repeatable daily habits can support memory, focus, energy, and long-term cognitive health, especially during midlife. Together, we'll talk about why decision fatigue happens, how routines reduce stress on the brain, and why small, consistent actions...
Roasted Sweet Potato Recipes for Brain and Gut Health: Seeds, Plant Variety, and Restorative Sleep
Show Notes
One tray of roasted sweet potatoes can become far more than a repeated side dish.
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, I explore how one familiar ingredient can become several delicious, nutrient-rich meals when we change the fragrance, acidity, texture, flavor base, and presentation.
The sweet potatoes began as one of several nourishing toppings at a make-your-own nacho dinner with friends and their three boys. I made extra so I could use them as the foundation for meals throughout the week.
Those extra...
Organize Your Kitchen for Brain and Gut Health: A Plant-Forward Pantry That Invites Curiosity
Show Notes
What if your kitchen did more than store food?
What if it encouraged creativity, made nourishing choices easier, and helped you introduce more plant variety without creating more work?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori explores how an organized pantry and refrigerator can support brain and gut nourishment by reducing friction, encouraging curiosity, and making flavorful plant-forward meals more accessible.
This is not about creating an Instagram-perfect pantry. It is about organizing your kitchen so you can see what you have, combine...
Brain Health for Women: Menopause, HRT, Caregiving and Healthy Aging
Brain Health for Women: Menopause, HRT, Caregiving and Healthy Aging
Brain health is not separate from the life a woman is living. It is connected to nutrition, sleep, movement, stress, hormonal changes, mental and emotional wellbeing, relationships, purpose, work, caregiving, and the environments we create around ourselves.
In this personal episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori begins with the foundations of brain health and explains why the familiar habits we discuss repeatedly still matter. Knowing that sleep, movement, plants, and connection support health is only the beginning. Repetition creates r...
Nourish Your Brain: Small Shifts That Strengthen Your Foundation for Better Brain Health
Nourish Your Brain: Small Shifts That Strengthen Your Foundation
What if every meal became an opportunity to care for your future?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori invites you to pull up a chair for a conversation about brain health that goes beyond nutrition facts and food lists.
Drawing from both current nutrition science and her deeply personal experience caring for her father, who is living with dementia and Primary Progressive Aphasia, Lori explores how the foods we choose today can support our brain, our energy, and...
Brain Health, Nutrition, and Lifestyle Medicine: Small Shifts to Support Memory, Energy, and Aging Well
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori explores the connection between nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and brain health through a personal, practical, and science-informed lens.
This conversation is deeply personal for Lori as she shares how her father’s dementia and primary progressive aphasia have renewed her interest in supporting her own brain health in realistic, sustainable ways. Rather than focusing on fear or perfection, this episode invites listeners to consider how small daily choices can support clarity, energy, mood, memory, gut health, and long-term wellbeing.
Lori explains why brain health is not se...
Whole-Person Wellness for Leaders: Introducing The Vantage Collective | Lori Willinski & Dr. Charity Godfrey
What does it look like when corporate wellness is designed with the full complexity of leaders and employees in mind... their physiology, their emotional lives, their ambition, and their capacity? This episode is your answer.
Today I'm joined by one of my closest friends and most trusted colleagues, Dr. Charity Godfrey, licensed clinical mental health counselor and founder of Lifescape Integrative Therapy, for a conversation we've been building toward for over a decade.
Together, we're introducing The Vantage Collective: a corporate wellness program we co-founded to do something the wellness...
The Gut-Brain Connecti...
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori continues the Gut Health Series with a deeper look at the gut-brain connection and how the gut responds to more than food.
Building on the previous episode about sugar and the gut, this conversation explores how sleep, stress, sugar, movement, connection, and daily rhythm all influence digestion, cravings, energy, and overall gut health.
Lori also connects the gut-brain axis to the pillars of lifestyle medicine and shares a personal reflection about how her own sleep is affected when her rhythm gets stretched by caregiving, business...
Gut Health and Sugar: How Sweet Foods Affect Your Microbiome, Cravings, Energy, and Menopause Symptoms
Sugar is one of those topics that can feel confusing, emotional, and even a little overwhelming. Is all sugar bad? Is fruit too much sugar? What about maple syrup, honey, dates, or coconut sugar? And what does sugar actually do to your gut?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori continues the Gut Health Series with a real, approachable conversation about sugar, gut health, cravings, blood sugar, energy, and midlife wellness.
This is not a shame-filled conversation and it is not about never enjoying dessert again. Instead, Lori breaks down the difference...
What Walking Taught Me About Gut Health: The Simple Habit That Changed More Than My Digestion
What if one of the most powerful tools for supporting gut health isn't another supplement, diet, or protocol?
What if it's something as simple as walking?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Gut Health Series, Lori explores the surprising connection between movement, digestion, the nervous system, and the gut microbiome.
Drawing from both current research and personal experience, Lori shares how intentionally incorporating walking throughout the day improved her digestion, reduced stress, increased energy, and strengthened her overall sense of well-being.
This conversation goes beyond...
Nourishment Is Leadership: Why Your Health Impacts Your Energy, Performance, and Professional Success
Nourishment Is Leadership: Why Your Health Impacts Energy, Gut Health, and Professional Success
What if nourishment was not separate from leadership and professional success, but foundational to it?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori Willinski explores the connection between nourishment, lifestyle medicine, gut health, leadership, productivity, and long-term wellness.
This conversation dives into how undernourishment, chronic stress, rushed eating, and burnout may impact energy, focus, digestion, emotional regulation, and professional performance. Lori also shares a practical client story about navigating IBS while working on the...
Gut Health, Stress & the Nervous System: How Plant-Based Nutrition Supports Calm, Energy & Inflammation
SHOW NOTES
What happens when stress begins showing up physically in the body?
In this deeply personal episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori Willinski shares an honest conversation about the powerful connection between the gut and nervous system and how chronic stress, disrupted routines, caregiving, lack of sleep, inconsistent nourishment, and emotional overload can impact inflammation, digestion, energy, mood, and overall wellbeing.
Lori opens up about a major recent life transition as her father moved in with her while navigating dementia. As she shifted her focus...
The Power of Friendship and Friendship Heartbreak: Gut Health, Stress, and Nervous System Healing
Friendship can nourish us deeply. It can also break our hearts.
In this intimate conversation, I sit down with my close friend, Dr. Charity Godfrey, to explore the emotional and physiological impact of friendship, friendship heartbreak, and healing. Together, we discuss what happens to the nervous system during emotional stress, how heartbreak can affect digestion and the gut-brain connection, and why our bodies often carry what our hearts are experiencing.
This episode blends therapeutic insight with nutritional and physiological perspectives as we explore:
Healthy friendships and emotional safetyFriendship heartbreak and nervous system dysregulationThe gut-brain...Gut Health Travel Tips: How to Eat Healthy, Reduce Stress, and Stay Energized Anywhere
Show Notes
Nourish Anywhere: Gut Health Travel Tips for Eating Healthy, Reducing Stress, and Staying Energized
Traveling or navigating a full season of life can disrupt your routine, your energy, and your gut health. In this episode, Lori shares a deeply personal and practical look at how to stay nourished while supporting a loved one through dementia, managing stress, and being out of your normal environment.
Recorded during a recent trip to Massachusetts, this episode weaves together real-life moments, from navigating restaurant menus on Cape Cod to finding unexpected...
How Legumes Improve Gut Health, Digestion, and Energy
How Legumes Improve Gut Health, Digestion, and Energy
What your bowel movements are telling you and how to support your gut naturally
Download Volume 2 in our Gut Health Series: https://community.plantpoweredcollective.com/offers/GozysFeK
Episode Overview
Even with years of plant-based eating, it is easy to fall into habits that limit variety. In this episode, I share a personal realization. I was not eating enough legumes. While tofu had become a consistent go-to for protein, I was missing one of the most powerful food groups for gut health. Once I...
PODCAST 31 Plant-Based Nutrition, Ultra-Processed Foods, and Midlife Health with William Grand
What if the issue isn’t just what you’re eating… but what’s missing from your food?
In this episode, Lori sits down with William Grand, CEO of NutriFusion, to explore how ultra-processed foods are impacting health and what it means for women navigating midlife.
As your body changes in your 40s, 50s, and beyond, nutrient needs shift. Energy, hormones, bone health, and metabolism are all influenced not just by how much you eat, but by the quality and density of nutrients in your food.
This conversation brings together two important perspectives. A whole...
Podcast 30: The 30 Plants Secret: A Simple Gut Reset for How We Live Now
Episode Summary
If you have been feeling off lately… low energy, brain fog, inflammation, or that afternoon crash… this episode is for you.
In this episode, Lori shares a personal reset moment that brought her back to the foundation of health, the gut.
You will learn why gut health impacts everything from energy to mood to mental clarity, and how one simple shift, increasing plant diversity, can create meaningful change.
Lori also introduces the 30 Plants Challenge, the first challenge inside the Plant Powered Collective community, designed to help you impr...
Podcast 29: The Fiber Gap: Why Fiber Is the Missing Link to Your Gut Health
Episode Description
Most women are not getting enough fiber. And it is not just about digestion.
Fiber is one of the most powerful tools to support your gut microbiome, stabilize energy, reduce inflammation, and improve overall health.
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori breaks down:
Lori also shares her pe...
Podcast 28: The Magic of Nourishing Healthy Relationships: Intuition, Self-Love, and Energy with Heather Green
What if the way you nourish yourself is directly connected to the way you experience your relationships?
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori sits down in her kitchen with intuitive relationship consultant, Heather Green, for a conversation about connection, self-love, and the energetics of relationships.
Shared over a simple, plant-powered meal, this episode explores how small shifts in awareness can transform how we show up with others.
Together, they discuss:
The energetics of healthy relationshipsWhy we repeat relationship patternsHow to break negative cycles with small shiftsThe...# 27 Bio-Individuality Explained: Why Your Diet Isn’t Working and What Your Body Is Trying to Tell You
In This Episode
• What bio-individuality means in integrative nutrition
• Why one-size-fits-all diets often fail
• Lori's personal story of plant-based living and managing autoimmune disease
• The impact of menopause and hormone shifts on metabolism
• What a mid-afternoon energy crash might be telling you
• Research from the PREDICT 1 study on post-meal blood sugar dips
• How to begin personalizing your nutrition in simple ways
• The importance of plant diversity and phytonutrients
• A simple rainbow phytonutrient nourishment bowl recipe
Recipe from T...
Episode 26: Nourishment Beyond Food: Clean Living and Entrepreneurship with Tina Smagala
Nourishment Beyond Food: Clean Living and Entrepreneurship with Tina Smagala
Podcast Show Notes
Nutrition is often defined as the process of consuming, absorbing, and utilizing nutrients from food to fuel, repair, and maintain the body for health and growth.
That definition matters. What we eat influences our energy, our hormones, our longevity, and our ability to show up fully in our lives.
But at Plant Powered Collective, we often explore a broader idea.
Nutrition does not only happen on the plate.
It...
Podcast 25: Eat for Yo... | Mar 01, 2026 001
Eat for Your Gut. Lead with Energy
Your leadership requires energy, clarity, and resilience. And those qualities are deeply connected to your gut health.
In this episode, we explore how eating to support your microbiome can influence focus, mood, hormone balance, inflammation, and long-term vitality. This conversation is especially relevant for professional women navigating midlife, leadership, and high-capacity living.
Rather than focusing on restriction or perfection, this episode walks through practical, sustainable ways to nourish your gut in real life. You will learn how small, consistent shifts can...
Podcast 24: Plant-Based First Aid & Natural Skin Care: Healing Without Hustle with Jodi Scott
Plant-Based First Aid & Natural Skin Care: Healing Without Hustle with Jodi Scott
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, Lori sits down with Jodi Scott, co-founder of Green Goo, to explore plant-based first aid, natural skin care, and low tox living for women in midlife.
Jodi shares the real story behind building Green Goo with her mom and sister on their family farm, scaling the brand nationally, and protecting its mission. Together, they discuss why skin health is foundational to whole body wellness, how herbal first aid supports resilience and...
Episode 23: Nutrition as Nervous System Support
Episode 23: Nutrition as Nervous System Support
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective Podcast, we explore how nutrition directly supports the nervous system, especially during midlife and menopause.
We discuss why rhythm matters more than restriction, how blood sugar stability influences stress hormones, how the gut brain axis shapes mood and inflammation, and why menopause increases our sensitivity to metabolic disruption.
This is not about dieting.
It is about biological regulation.
When...
Podcast 22: Midlife Energy Isn’t About Willpower. It’s About Nourishment
Midlife Energy Isn’t About Willpower. It’s About Nourishment
If you’re tired of feeling tired, this episode is for you.
In midlife, low energy is often blamed on motivation, discipline, or not trying hard enough. But the truth is far more compassionate and far more empowering.
In this episode of Plant Powered Collective, Lori reframes midlife fatigue as a biological response to under-fueling, not a personal failure. She breaks down the science behind energy conservation, explains what midlife bodies actually need to thrive...
PODCAST 21: The Science of Winter Nutrition: Vegetables, Gut Health, and Immunity
Episode Summary
Cold weather changes how your body uses nutrients. In this episode, integrative nutrition coach Lori Willinski explains why eating more vegetables during winter supports immune health, gut balance, and seasonal resilience. Backed by peer-reviewed science, this conversation explores plant-forward nutrition, the risks of excess animal protein, and how the six pillars of lifestyle medicine support health in colder months.
Topics Covered
• Why vegetables matter more in winter
• Gut health and immune regulation
• Micronutrient density vs protein overload
• Sc...
Podcast #20: Autoimmune Health, Energy Audits, and the Science Behind Habits with Dr. Amy Behimer
Podcast #20: Autoimmune Health, Energy Audits, and the Science Behind Habits with Dr. Amy Behimer
A Conversation with Dr. Amy Behimer
In this episode, Lori sits down with Dr. Amy Behimer for a thoughtful, real-life conversation about autoimmune health, energy, and what it truly means to nourish yourself in midlife.
Amy is an autoimmune health coach, pharmacist by training, and host of the podcast Autoimmune Health Secrets. Her work is rooted in evidence, compassion, and sustainability, helping people feel better and function better without perfection or extremes.
Together, Lori and Amy...
Episode 19: Gut Health Foundations: How Food Feeds Your Microbiome
Episode Title Gut Health Foundations: How Food Feeds Your Microbiome
**RISE Into Gut Health: How Food Feeds Your Microbiome and Supports Whole-Body Balance**
Gut health is more than digestion. It influences energy, immunity, hormones, mood, and how resilient you feel day to day.
In this episode of the Plant Powered Collective podcast, Lori walks you through what a healthy gut and microbiome really are, why they matter, and how small, intentional nutrition shifts can support balance from the inside out.
<...Episode 18: What Is Integrative Nutrition Coaching and Why It Is the Heart of Plant Powered Collective
What Integrative Nutrition Coaching Is and Why It Is the Heart of Plant Powered Collective
What exactly is integrative nutrition coaching and how does it fit into real life?
In this episode, Lori Willinski, integrative nutrition coach and founder of Plant Powered Collective, shares the story behind a recent Women in Business chamber event and the questions that sparked a deeper conversation about her coaching approach.
You will learn:
* What integrative nutrition coaching actually is
* How it...
Episode 17: Resetting with Intention. Designing Nutrition for Longevity in 2026
Episode Title: Resetting with Intention. Designing Nutrition for Longevity in 2026
The holidays are meant to be enjoyed. For many of us, that includes sweets, celebratory meals, shared toasts, and a temporary shift away from routine. In this episode, Lori opens 2026 with honesty and intention, sharing how her own nutrition took a backseat during the holiday season and how she is gently resetting without restriction or guilt.
This conversation reframes what a reset truly means. Rather than starting with willpower, Lori explores how designing your environment and building simple systems can make nourishing...
