The Sonya Looney Show

Sonya has been committed to a plant-based diet for almost a decade. Her interest in and passion for the benefits of plant-based eating has led her to connect to those equally committed to the space.  Cue this week’s episode with Stevan Mirkovich - owner of Planted Expo, a trade show, platform and network to connect Canadians to local vegan and plant-based businesses. Sonya will be speaking at Planted Expo this weekend and had a chance to speak with Stevan leading up to the event. Stevan is a recovering food addict, who experienced overeating, junk-food veganism, and eventually found his way to a plant-based style of living. He has guided hundreds of people in plant-based nutrition, cooking through sharing educational resources to help people transition to a better way of eating. Sonya and Stevan had a fantastic conversation spanning the topics of leadership, cooking, plant-based diets, human connection and more. "“That control piece is an interesting one because the truth is, you’re the only one tha

This week, Sonya gets personal and talks about all the details of her second pregnancy. She shares her experience from the first 20 weeks and some of the lessons she learned from her first pregnancy with her son. Key Takeaways: Why we decided to have a baby now Early pregnancy experience with a SURPRISE My biggest lesson as a parent Knowing when to trust your doctor How self-compassion and acceptance are helping me I’m okay if I am not achieving

After first connecting on Twitter, Sonya was interviewed on Lindsey Hein’s podcast “I’ll Have Another with Lindsey Hein,” where she talks with motivating and inspiring runners. Lindsey aims to inspire and refresh listeners in her conversations with runners of all levels, from your everyday runner to Olympic athletes.  Lindsey is an RRCA Certified Running Coach and coaches runners, writing personalized training plans for all distances - 5K to marathon distances. Lindsey also founded her own podcast network - Sandyboy Productions - which includes The Illuminate Podcast and The Up and Running Podcast. In this week’s conversation, Lindsey and Sonya talked about running, consistency, expectations, time management, and more. Key Takeaways The courage to try something new How she got into running How to stay consistent  How to meet yourself where you are with expectations Getting PCOS and a miscarriage What it means to have a performance you are proud of Powerful mantras How she manages her time Why she lov

Dre Baldwin went from playing NCAA D3 basketball to a nine-year basketball pro. His path to the highest level fo the sport required a level of discipline and toughness that drove him to build his “Work On Your Game” brand to share those tenets with a wider audience.  He is now a full-time entrepreneur who has authored 29 books and participated in TEDxTalks about discipline, confidence, mental toughness and personal initiative. He’s active on YouTube and has a daily Work On Your Game Podcast.  Sonya and Dre had a great conversation this week about how to go from thinking to action, self-belief, building confidence, choosing oneself and more. Key Takeaways Work on Your Game How to go from thinking to action How to deal with comparison Becoming a pro-basketball player and an entrepreneur Self-belief How to build confidence How to know when to quit or keep going Choosing oneself

It IS possible to thrive in motherhood and your career! This is the message that Molly Dickens, co-founder of &Mother actively promotes.  &Mother’s vision is a culture where motherhood is not a limiting factor in how women succeed professionally or personally, and where women can openly express their needs and receive support without retribution. It is a working world where mothers are supported as leaders and sought after as employees. Where the value of mothers in the workforce has become intrinsic such that new structural norms facilitate the needs of the modern family.  The mission is to break barriers that limit a woman’s ability to choose to thrive in both motherhood AND a career. One of organization’s first initiatives is creating cultural and structural change within the sports industry and shifting the narrative. This week, Sonya sat down with Molly, a scientist, writer, advocate, and mother of two. Formerly an academic researcher, Molly became a founding team member of a maternal he

I've spent well over a decade focusing on peak performance- both athletically in my quest to become one of the world's best endurance mountain bikers, but also in business and brainpower.  I used to think the key to peak performance was the focus on mastery: putting in the work to acquire the skills and wisdom to be a top performer in a given area.  While mastery and work ethic are certainly key components to peak performance, I have learned that there are multiple foundations upon which peak performance stands.  So what is the foundation to mastery, work ethic, and ultimately peak performance? The answer is not as simple as one thing, but it is as broad as one category: health.  Oftentimes, we think health is as simple as sick or healthy, but the category of health goes deep and wide.  Health encompasses emotional and mental health, physical health, environmental health, spiritual health, and relational health.  In my training as a health coaching through Vanderbilt's Integrative Medicine Program and work

As an endurance athlete, nutrition is a critical piece of success. In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Stevie Lyn Smith, a Registered Dietitian and avid endurance athlete, to talk all things sports nutrition.  Stevie Lyn is a sports nutrition specialist, marathon runner, Ironman triathlete and adventurer. She knows a thing or two about preparing your body for an endurance event. She founded Stevie Lyn Smith Nutrition Wellness Consulting, PC, and writes for the wellness company, InsideTracker. She has also contributed to Runner’s World Magazine, Outside Magazine, Bicycling Magazine and Triathlete Magazine.  Tune in to hear more about how to fuel your body, weight loss, knowing how much to eat, and more. Key Takeaways Common biomarkers How to lower cortisol All about iron Supplement safety Inflammation vs. anti-inflammation Focusing on sports nutrition Weight loss Knowing how much to eat

What happens when you start running for fun instead of a finish line? In this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with Tina Muir, CEO of Running for Real, an incredible podcast and the largest global community of socially engaged runners, and talked about learning how to run for enjoyment instead of recognition.  Tina hosts the Running for Real Podcast, a collection of podcasts about running, the climate emergency and social justice. She also co-hosts Running Realized with Knox Robinson, exploring running culture.  In addition to her professional running career representing Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Tina is recognized for her story battling nine years with amenorrhea (RED-S), or the absence of menstruation. Tina is the mother of two girls and is supported by Alta Running.  Key Takeaways Running for enjoyment instead of a finish line Burnout Amenorrhea Evolution of self talk Happiness versus success Sports psychology and meditation Passion versus compulsion Climate Change Running realized Social change

Mindset and performance coach Polly Bateman works with clients to recognize negative patterns in behavior and barriers they reinforce for themselves. By facilitating a shift in mindset, Polly helps her clients progress in life to become more fulfilled and happy. Polly believes that we’re our own problem and solution and that everything we need to lead a fulfilling, productive, and happy life is within us. It’s just a matter of moving past our self-imposed limits.   Sonya and Polly talk about vulnerability, coaching, mindset, performance and more in this week’s podcast. Key Takeaways Tapping in to your own vulnerability 3 fundamental triggers  Dealing with your past without it defining your future Breaking habitual patterns Identifying your blind spots What it means to take full responsibility for your life Dealing with rejection and failure  Zone of genius/value

Catharine Pendrel, a three-time Olympian and 2016 Bronze medalist mountain biker, became a new mom this year. In this episode, Sonya and Catharine discuss training during pregnancy, process-oriented goals, overcoming adversity during the pandemic, and more. Pendrel grew up riding horses and later bicycles in Canada. In addition to her Olympic appearances, she has two World Championship titles for Canada and 40 World Cup podium finishes. She lives and trains in Kamloops, British Columbia, and races professionally for the Clif Pro Team. In 2017, Pendrel and her husband Keith Wilson formed Pendrel Racing, a cross-country mountain bike development team created to provide opportunities for the next generation of Canadian mountain bike racers. Key Takeaways Process oriented goals Adversity during the pandemic Approaching training during pregnancy Returning to the sport after a C-section Returning to racing with a baby Shifting expectations Dealing with self-doubt Olympics

How do you feel in your body when you hear the word stress? I'll give you a second to tune in.  We spend so much time trying to avoid stress, but what would happen if we leaned into it?  What would happen if we allowed ourselves to feel it? How we relate to stress is important to making it work for us in a positive way. Oftentimes, we view stress as a constricting, negative input that we associate with feelings of overwhelm and feelings of being unsettled.  Stress can certainly create those feelings in the body, but we usually feel this way when the stressful feelings become unmanageable.  Stress can also become too elevated when it turns into anxiety.  Stress turns into anxiety when we start asking too many questions and trying to predict the future when there is no way to actually do that.  Stress also becomes a challenge when we try to ignore the discomfort it may be causing.  The problem with trying to ignore discomfort is that it will not make it go away. In fact, suppressing the feelings around stress w

Experiencing the outdoors in Canada is a must. The gorgeous landscape is prime for all kinds of outdoor activities. But the terrain can be tricky, so It’s important to make sure you’re informed, aware and safe when enjoying nature.  That’s where AdventureSmart comes in. AdventureSmart is a national program dedicated to encouraging Canadians and its visitors to “get informed and go outdoors,” and offers educational programs, community outreach and special events to help reduce the number (and severity) of search and rescue incidents in the country. During this week’s podcast, Sonya sat down with AdventureSmart’s Executive Director Sandra Riches to talk about AdventureSmart’s work and the work of the BC Search and Rescue Association. They discussed how to plan a trip, the essentials for travel, and how to know when to reach out to search and rescue. Key Takeaways History of AdventureSmart Where to start with adventure safety Trip planning Basic essential kit Group dynamics How to know when to call search and

Leidy Klotz is a professor at the University of Virginia, studying how we transform things from how they are to how we want them to be. He co-founded and co-directs the Convergent Behavioral Science Initiative (CBSI) at the University of Virginia. CBSI works to address climate change, systemic inequality, and other issues that combine the understanding of human behavior and the systems that this behavior creates. He has also authored over 80 research articles and has appeared in Nature and Science, The Washington Post, Fast Company and more.  Prior to becoming a professor at University of Virginia, Leidy designed schools in New Jersey and played professional soccer. His recent book, Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, released in April 2021, focuses on problem-solving and looks to prove why we overlook subtraction and how we can access its true potential. The book taps into why we add “to-dos” but don’t consider the “stop-doings.”  In this week’s podcast, we talk engineering, subtraction, confidence, and

Have you heard of Lifestyle Medicine before? Lifestyle Medicine focuses on chronic disease prevention and possibly chronic disease reversal - things like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes. Lifestyle medicine uses six pillars in order to help patients and individuals optimize their health. The six pillars include: nutrition, movement, sleep, avoidance of risky behaviors, managing stress, and role of social connection. We dive into these topics and more with Dr. Melissa Sundermann, double board certified physician in both Internal Medicine and Lifestyle Medicine.  Dr. Sundermann currently practices medicine with IHA in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is helping to launch the IHA Lifestyle Medicine Institute. She has been featured in several Lifestyle Medicine articles and podcasts.  Dr. Sundermann is plant-based and an endurance athlete. She is a 9x Boston Marathon finisher and a 3x Full Ironman Triathlon finisher. 

Picture this- you just gave a presentation on a topic you're proud of... the hours of preparation and practice that went into creating the presentation, the nerves you had to overcome to stand up and actually give the presentation, and the relief of having it done.  In some cases, maybe you felt that generally it well overall.  If you tend to be more self-critical, maybe you're focused on the one thing that didn't go well instead of the hundreds of things that did go well.  Let's take it a step further- let's say you are receiving feedback on the presentation.  You heard a lot of positive feedback, but that one negative piece stands out in your mind and you can't stop focusing on it. Why is it so easy to focus on the ONE negative thing you thought about yourself or the one negative thing that was said to you?  Why does that seem to overpower hundreds of positive inputs and why do we sometimes even believe the negative things someone said or that we thought even if they aren't true? It's called the negativity

Neal Henderson doesn’t believe FTP-based workouts are enough to train effectively. So what should you do instead? Coach Neal relies on 4-D Power. Want to learn more about what this looks like? Take a listen to this podcast! Neal Henderson began coaching endurance sport athletes in the early 1990’s and founded APEX Coaching in 1999. He has coached several national champions, multiple world champions, and several Olympians. Neal raced triathlon professionally from 2000-2003. He is an Elite USA Triathlon and USA Cycling certified coach and was the 2007 USA Cycling Developmental Coach of the Year. He was also named the 2009 USA National Cycling Coach of the Year and in 2011 was awarded the Doc Councilman Coach of the Year award by the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) for the use of science in his coaching. Neal has been a staff member at the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games as a cycling coach, and has served on multiple coaching committees for USA Cycling and USA Triathlon. In this week’s podcast, Sonya and Neal

We’re big fans of NoMeatAthlete on this show. Sonya recently had the chance to interview No Meat Athlete Founder Matt Frazier (you can listen here) and this week, she sat down with CEO Matt Tullman. Not only is Matt the CEO of NoMeatAthlete, he’s also the co-founder and CEO of 80/20 Plants, Complement, and Plant Bites. His career focus is nutrition-first health companies and driving the movement for plant-based lifestyles. Prior to his nutrition-based companies, Matt founded The Digital Education Company (digest), helping K-12 schools transition from textbooks to technology. He was also the Managing Director of 7wire Ventures, a firm that started, incubated, and invested capital in businesses focused on health, education, and energy. In this week’s episode, Sonya and Matt discuss plant-based diets, business, 80/20 and more.

How do you prepare for an Olympics thats already been postponed and still surrounded with so much uncertainty? Sonya and Leah tackle that, as well as Leah's path to cycling, confidence, motivation, nutrition and more, in this week's podcast. Leah Kirchmann is a professional cyclist from Winnipeg, who races for Team DSM and the Canadian National Cycling team. She represented Team Canada at the 2016 Olympic Games and is training for the upcoming 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. In addition to Leah’s successes as a professional cyclist, she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Arts and Sciences with a focus on nutrition and public health. She is passionate about how diet and exercise can be catalyst for a happier and healthier society. Leah brings her passions for sport and giving back as a R.E.A.L (Relatable, Empowering, Active Leader) role model for Fast and Female - a Canadian charity on a mission to keep self-identified girls aged 8-14 healthy and active in sports. She is also head of the Global Relay Bridge the Gap m

On this episode of the Sonya Looney Show, Ethan Kross, one of the world’s leading experts on controlling the conscious mind, best-selling author and a professor in the University of Michigan’s Psychology Department and Ross School of Business, talks self-talk and his book, Chatter. Kross studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. In 2008, he founded the Emotion & Self Control Laboratory at the University of Michigan. As a leading expert in this field, Kross has been published in many peer-reviewed journals and has been interviewed on several major news shows, including CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR’s Morning Edition. His work has also been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, and more. In this episode, you’ll hear more about his lab, emotion, mindfulness, and problem solving. You’ll also learn more about his book Chatter: The Voice in Our Hea

No one picked me to become a professional mountain biker or to start a podcast. No one picked me to become a speaker where I've been on stages for entrepreneurs, tech gurus, and other athletes. No one picked me to write for dozens of publications over the years. Seth Godin, an author, marketer, speaker, and businessman said, "No one is going to pick you. Pick yourself." I recently was listening to the NoMeatAthlete Radio where founder, author, and ultrarunner Matt Frazier was talking about making the NYT Bestsellers list with his co-authored new book: The Plant-Based Athlete. He talked about wanting the outcome of making the list, but already feeling successful before making the list because of the strong impact the book had on the world and to help serve his purpose. You can still want the desired outcome, but at the same time, you can also find joy and fulfillment without "making a list" or getting the validation from someone else that you are good or impactful. He also talked about starting his blog and t