This is my favourite mocktail!

Mix over ice:

2 tbsp+ elderflower syrup (IKEA sells this, as do many specialty markets and food stores - add to desired sweetness)

juice of 1/4 lime

a 1/4 cup or so of fresh mint leaves, muddled or crushed a bit

soda water to fill the glass

garnish with more lime.

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

I chat with Mitch Cobb, Co-Founder and CEO of Upstreet Brewing and Libra Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer about the alcohol-free drink market, the sober curious movement, and our shared mission to normalize socializing without alcohol.

Mitch shares how he came to start a craft brewery on Prince Edward Island, Canada, and soon after began exploring his own relationship with alcohol, as well some fascinating behind-the-scenes details on how alcohol-free beer is made and marketed.

This is a fun and light conversation around what it means to find your balance and how having a great alcohol-free alternative on hand can make that easier. 

For free tools and resources for making change around alcohol, burnout, or midlife, visit: www.wendymccallum.com/learn-with-wendy

Libra Alcohol-Free Craft Beer: www.drinklibra.ca

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

What is your “one big thing”?

That one area of desired mental or behavioural change that you have been struggling with for years?

How would achieving the permanent change you desire in that area make everything else in your life that much easier?

In this episode, I discuss why we struggle with making lasting change and the three keys to approaching your “one big thing” differently in 2022 so that you finally achieve the outcome you desire.

Tired of making resolutions that only last a few weeks? Lasting change is possible – try different this year, not harder!

 Start changing the beliefs that are keeping you stuck in drinking now: www.wendymccallum.com/myths

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Sarah and I discuss the key things women need to know to advocate effectively for themselves and navigate our complex health care system in midlife, particularly with respect to their perimenopause and menopausal symptoms. Sarah explains why women often require a team of caregivers instead of one doctor, your rights as a patient, the difference between conventional pharmaceutical BHRT and compounded hormones, and what to do if you’re questioning the advice you’ve been given. I share my experience building my own team and navigating the health care system since dropping into full menopause very suddenly in 2020. There are so many great tips in this episode – don’t skip this one!

Grab Wendy and Sarah’s free peri/menopause checklist, here: www.wendymccallum.com/perichecklist

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Karolina Rzadkowolska is a certified alcohol-free life coach whose book Euphoric: Ditch Alcohol and Gain a Happier, More Confident You will be out on bookshelves on January 4th. She’s the host of Euphoric the Podcast, founder of Euphoric Alcohol-Free, and her work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Authority Magazine, Greatist, and Elite Daily.

Karolina shares her personal alcohol story, and why and how she went alcohol-free. Karolina and I discuss our shared views on how it’s all about what you get when you leave alcohol behind, not what you give up, the detox to retox cycle so many women find themselves in, the role of the patriarchy in women’s drinking, and how alcohol impacts our health.

Pre-order your copy of Euphoric now: https://www.euphoricbook.com/

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Join me as I interview Shelley Tait, a mom of three and recovering drinker living with Stage 4 liver disease. Women’s drinking has been rising during the pandemic, and with it, liver disease. Alcohol-related liver disease typically takes years to develop, but as Shelley’s terrifying story evidences, it’s not nearly as many years as you think. You’ll be absolutely amazed by Shelley’s story, which she tells with great honesty and humour. Shelley and I discuss mommy wine culture, kids’ team sports and the parent drinking culture that’s often present there, and how easy it is for women’s “normal” drinking to escalate into a dangerous and destructive pattern.

Are you questioning your own drinking? Start here (it’s free!): www.wendymccallum.com/myths

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Inspired by a song called “I’ve Got No More Fuc#$ to Give” that I stumbled across on YouTube,  Sarah and I share how our feeling of having “no more fuc#$ to give” has shown up in our personal and work lives, and how common a headspace this seems to be for all women in midlife.

We discuss why this is happening, from a social, emotional, and hormonal perspective, and what to do about it if you’re feeling guilty about caring less. We also consider whether this midlife phenomenon isn’t really more a “shifting of fuc#$” as opposed to “having less fuc#$”, and how that shifting might benefit you as well as the other people in your life, including your children. Are you the adult you want your kids to become?

Join Sarah and me for a spirited, fun conversation with an important undercurrent: it’s totally OK to start focussing on you again as you move into your...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below. 

On my 50^th birthday, I reflect on my life to date, my fears about hitting 50, and the surprising (and refreshing!) reality that came with the actual day. I share my goals for this decade including my commitment to having “fun for fun’s sake” and “filling up my joy bucket” to help me in the transition to empty nester that is coming soon.

“This is 50” will be a regular installment of the podcast going forward – sometimes featuring a 50-something guest with a story to share around her 50s to date, sometimes an update on my 50^th year, and sometimes a conversation with the always-popular Bite-Sized Balance co-host, Dr. Sarah Baillie.

Free resources here: www.wendymccallum.com/learnwithwendy

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

My friend, author, and fellow Certified TNM Alcohol Coach, Emily Lynn Paulson, joins me for an honest discussion around why women’s drinking has been rising dramatically during the last couple of years.

We discuss the connection between stress and alcohol, the additional anxiety and overwhelm of the pandemic, and how that has spiked drinking levels and alcohol-related disease, the normalization of women’s drinking as a necessary tool of motherhood through the media, and the science behind the addictive nature of alcohol.

How do you know if it’s time to make a change? Emily and I both believe that labels aren’t helpful and that objective tests for “problem drinking” just keep women stuck in patterns that aren’t serving them. The only question that matters is “how is alcohol making me feel?” and if the answer is “not great”, then you owe yourself the opportunity to explore it...

Watch the podcast, above, or listen below.

Women’s drinking has been rising dramatically during the last couple of years. It’s become our go-to for numbing and escaping the challenges of modern, busy life in a pandemic. The good news is more and more women are questioning their relationship with alcohol.

If you’re starting to wonder if alcohol is still serving you, please celebrate that awareness! Drinking less (or not at all) is a positive wellness choice, and I'm on a mission to normalize that decision.

Join me as I share the 5 keys to making alcohol small and irrelevant in your life. Based on the practical, science-based approach of This Naked Mind, my path to achieving freedom from alcohol has worked for me and thousands of others. It’s like nothing you’ve ever tried, and it’s truly the way to take alcohol out of the driver’s seat. If you’re ready to take back control over alcohol, and drink less - start...