Developing a healthy relationship with food is imperative to properly nourish your body and live a fulfilling life.    So what happens if, instead, you spend your formative years coping with loss and chaos through restriction and deprivation?   Mandy Gill is a super athlete, ultra-marathoner, and has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Vegan Athletes.    After overcoming her eating disorder and finding joy in exercise, she turned to a plant-based diet and got in tune with what her body truly needed to survive.    Now she’s helping others do the same.   As the founder of the Mandy Gill Fitness & Nutrition Apps, she advocates for healthy living through a life of motion, thoughtful choices, a plant-based diet, self-love, and respect for all beings.    In this emotional episode, Mandy gets vulnerable with Alexandra about her food and fitness journey, her work confronting the dairy industry, and what she eats as an endurance athlete who has made the switch for good.   What we discuss in this episode: The family circumstances that made Mandy face a choice between caring for herself or her family, and how that choice lead to adolescence of restriction and low self-esteem How fitness transformed Mandy’s life and health, and her journey from Paleo CrossFitter to plant-powered ultra-marathon runner The spiritual, mental, and performance transformations that happen when you make the switch for good Why Mandy hasn’t counted a calorie since going plant-based Canada’s Food Guide versus the U.S. Food Plate, and Mandy’s article on this year’s Food Guide changes Confronting the Dairy Council as an athlete, and why humans do not need to consume dairy How Mandy helps her clients eat healthfully vegan Energy Balls, smoothie bowls, and other things this endurance athlete eats for protein Dotsie’s interview on the Rich Roll Podcast (watch the video here) Follow Mandy Gill on Twitter at @MandyGill, on Instagram at @mandygilldotcom, and on her website at www.mandygill.com.  Connect with Switch 4 Good YouTube Facebook  Instagram  Twitter  switch4good.org