Category Archives: Blog

10 Lessons Learned In My Last Decade

Dear Robyn,

Welcome to your next-decade tour around the sun. Your thirties were at times the most painful and beautiful experiences you’ve had in your life. You’ve learned so much so let’s recap 10 lessons learned over the past decade.

Let me just remind you of some of the things you’ve learned, gained or lost for good reason in your 30s.

2012: You turned 30, called off your wedding to your ex-fiancé and learned that you were stronger than you thought and learned to leave a relationship that was not healthy.

2013: You turned 31 and learned to love your life again. You became adventurous and created seasonal bucket lists to discover what makes/made you happy or to push your comfort zones.

The Face Sky Diving

2014: You turned 32 and were diagnosed with MS. Your eyes were opened to the many different ways of healing yourself. You learned to take care of yourself differently.

2015: You turned 33, became so strong from OCR racing and would meet your future husband. You learned to end a relationship that wasn’t meant for the long term and would learn what truly being loved was like.

2016: You turned 34, and left your career in Toronto to move in with Mike in Ottawa. You put relationships and life first. You would travel to Banff, Patagonia and Tofino and would enrich your life through travel experiences.

Lake Louise Alberta

2017: You turned 35, and you would continue to put romantic and friend relationships first. You would travel to Banff with Mike and get engaged and to Mallorca (Part 1 & Part 2) with a dear friend for a yoga retreat. You would learn presence, communication and trust.

2018: You turned 36, and married the love of your life. You learned to trust love again.

Robyn & Mike Pineault

2019: You turned 37, and after a year and a half of trying to conceive you would conceive twins! You would learn to trust in your body again.

2020: You turned 38, carried twins and gave birth to beautiful babies during a pandemic. You became a mother and learned a new level of resilience after a traumatic birth experience. You would learn how to be a twin mama and thrive at it.

Pineault Twins

2021: You turned 39, and would lose yourself to discover more of who you are meant to be moving forward in this life. You would learn that you are valuable in your career and no company can make you feel less than.

2022: You turned 40 this year, and you have become comfortable with the uncomfortable thoughts of waking up to the world. You prioritize your family, and your close friends. You are always up-leveling yourself and being so present that nothing can shake your focus on building the next 10 years.

xoxo,

Robyn

What Is The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol?

What is the autoimmune paleo protocol? Who created it? What are the benefits of me incorporating it into my lifestyle?

These may be some of the many questions flooding your brain as you research nutrition and gut health related to developing an autoimmune disease.

I personally discovered autoimmune paleo after reading The Wahl’s Protocol (which is a popular book recommended to those diagnosed with MS) and The Autoimmune Solution (which I discovered through Amazon searches for books).

What Is The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol?

I think the easiest way to describe the autoimmune paleo protocol or AIP as many call it for short is a way of eating to support your digestive health. It supports the body in healing the gut (both the stomach and our intestines) that may have been weakened over time by inflammatory foods or exposure to toxins. It then helps restore the microbiome with good bacteria or flora and in turn, supports the body in having an appropriate immune response instead of a chronic inflammatory immune system response.

I may be so bold as to say the goal of the protocol is to increase your quality of life, halt disease progression and even support the body in progressing into remission from autoimmune attacks.

So in short, the protocol provides the body with amazing nutrients that it needs, while avoiding foods that may be blocking our body’s ability to heal. And while there is an elimination phase, I personally choose not to use language like restrictive or strict because then my way of eating becomes something viewed as negative vs. supportive to my body.

Why Focus On Healing Your Digestive Health?

Simple, if you aren’t able to absorb the nutrients you’re eating, a change in diet might not actually help. If your gut wall is broken, food particles will continue to slip through into your bloodstream and trigger an immune system response in the body that isn’t supportive.

Once the gut wall is healed you can then focus on nutrient-dense foods providing our body with the macro and micronutrients it needs to heal and thrive.

Who Created The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol?

My understanding is that Dr. Sarah Ballantyne, PhD is the pioneer leader in creating the guidelines and finding the science to support AIP.

I love this quote by her and how she explains what AIP is.

The biggest difference between the Autoimmune Protocol and other dietary templates is that it takes a nutrients-first approach while considering inflammation triggers. This is where we draw the line between “yes” foods and “no” foods in order to get more health-promoting compounds and fewer detrimental compounds in our diet. 

Sarah Ballantyne

What Are The Benefits Of The Autoimmune Paleo Protocol?

One of the reasons why I chose to switch from the Wahl’s Protocol to the AIP Protocol was because this reason found on Sarah’s website.

The clinical research studies performed using the Wahls Protocol in multiple sclerosis provide additional validation for the Autoimmune Protocol. While there are a handful of foods included on the Wahls Protocol (most notably nightshades) that are excluded on the Autoimmune Protocol, the two protocols are remarkably similar despite the different philosophies that went into their formulation. The Wahls Protocol framework was developed with mitochondrial health as its primary goal whereas the Autoimmune Protocol framework was developed with immune regulation and gut health as its primary goals. It so happens that the nutrients required for mitochondrial health are nearly identical to those required for immune and gut health, hence the high degree of overlap between both approaches.

Sarah Ballantyne

I also chose to switch because I was struggling to get the recommended cups of vegetables in per day and the AIP solution was a little less overwhelming.

How Can You Incorporate AIP In Your Life?

After discovering AIP and understanding the science behind it I then discovered two ladies Mickey Trescott & Angie Alt who created autoimmunepaleo.com and then re-branded to autoimmunewellness.com. They had a really easy way of explaining how to start AIP including 2 printouts that I still refer to. They include foods to eat and foods to avoid. From the link in the sentence before you can sign up for their newsletter to get access to the printouts.

FYI, there were updates published to the protocol in 2019. I would take the time to read these as well before beginning.

Print Resources

Here are 2 resource books on lifestyle and 2 cookbooks to help you get started. There are so many out there but I love the simplicity of these 4 books for starting out on your AIP journey.

Research & Links:

Self-Reliance Challenge: Seed Starting

This year I decided I wanted to learn one new skill a month to become more self-reliant. For April, I chose seed starting so I could learn to grow a vegetable garden this summer.

I shared in my self-reliance challenge blog post that in 2016, I failed at my first attempt at gardening. We had built a raised bed garden but it didn’t have high enough fences and our dogs loved to dig in them. I had small success with a raised bed garden on our back patio last year, in 2021, so I know I can do it on a slightly larger scale this year.

I bought two of these 72 pod seed starting windowsill kits from Canadian Tire. This way I could get my seedlings ready for planting the moment it’s warm enough outside in Ottawa!

Because I started everything quite early in the process, I’ve already had to re-pot basically everything into larger pots before transplanting outside. Our last frost isn’t supposed to be until early to mid-May so I’ve got a few more weeks to go.

Seed Starting
Seed Starting Greenhouse

We ended up getting a greenhouse shelf from Canadian Tire so I can put as many plants as possible near our back window. The one thing that I did learn

Here are the plants that I’m going to attempt to grow this year!

Seedling Plants

  • Onions
  • Cauliflower
  • Cabbage
  • Kale
  • Leeks
  • Pumpkin
  • Cucumber
  • Watermelon
  • Lettuce
  • Delicata Squash
  • Zucchini

Plant Directly Outdoors

  • Carrots
  • Peas
  • Spinach
  • Broccoli
  • Fennel
  • Beets
  • Potatoes
  • Green Onions

Garden Plan

So here’s the game plan for the garden. I had thought about doing a u-shaped garden but I’ll be making one long rectangular one instead for our backyard space.

Wish me luck!!

Using Essential Oils On Babies

We’ve been using essential oils around and on our babies since they were tiny, tiny human beings. Our twins are now almost two and using essential oils (especially at bedtime) has become routine for them.

I usually keep my phone away when we’re doing bath and bedtime but I had to try and capture this moment. Lately, the twins have been demanding that they apply 3 of the dōTERRA’s Kid Collection roller bottles themselves!

They even want to help add 2 drops of Serenity, Lavender, Calmer or Cedarwood to their diffuser or humidifier.

It’s moments like these where I know that consistency in routine really has an impact on them. And I love that they are growing up loving on the oils that we use to support their health.

And while the roller bottles that we use are already diluted with a carrier oil for safety, I must mention dilution rules when it comes to using essential oils on babies. I’ve included a list of dilution rules below that we adhere to when using the pure essential oils directly from a 5ml or 15ml bottle and we’re making a roller bottle to use like one I made previously this year for teething.

There are so many different ways to use essential oils with babies and thankfully dōTERRA has created some truly amazing products. I’ve put together a list of products that we use daily on our babes and created custom starter kits if you’d like to purchase them.

Custom dōTERRA Enrolment Kits for Babies

So I’ve put two enrolment kits together for you. If you live in Canada, you can choose to order either the Canadian or the US Kit. If you live in the US or elsewhere, choose the US Kit.

Babies Kit (Canada)
Purchase
Babies Kit (US)
Purchase

What’s Included In The Babies Enrolment Kit?

  • Kid’s Collection Roller Bottles – Calmer, Stronger and Tamer
  • Frankincense & Lavender Roller Bottles
  • Unscented Moisturizer
  • Correct-X
  • Baby Hair & Body Wash (Canadian Kit)
  • Diaper Cream (US Kit)
  • Body Wash (US Kit)

How To Use These Kits

For bathtime, we use a pump of the Baby Hair & Body Wash as we run the bath to create some bubbles. This isn’t always in stock so we’ll also use the Body Wash to create bubbles in their bath.

Every night after bathtime, after we’ve put fresh diapers on with diaper cream we roll Tamer across their bellies for digest support, Calmer on the bottoms of their feet to help them relax and Stronger on the bottoms of their feet to support their immune system. When they were babies we did a small swipe, and now that they are a bit older we roll it more liberally. You can, of course, buy empty roller bottles and empty half the contents of the roller bottle into an empty bottle and top both with fractionated coconut oil (or another carrier oil) to dilute it further.

I will then roll either the Frankincense or the Lavender in the palm of my hand and add a dollop of the unscented moisturizer. I then apply this to their legs and arms and torso for a quick massage.

And last but not least, we use Correct-X if the babes are dealing with diaper rash. Which usually only happens when they are teething.

Questions

Use the contact form on the website to send me any questions you may have. Or pop into my Instagram DMs and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

dōTERRA Launching In India

I’m so excited to announce that dōTERRA is launching in India in 2022. As someone, who lives in Canada I’ve never gotten involved in another country’s launch before. But there is something about this launch that has me wanting to go all in. I want to help new wellness advocates set themselves up to grow a direct selling business in India.

dōTERRA India

What’s The Opportunity?

This opportunity is for someone who believes in the power of a healthy lifestyle and the beauty of natural products. You may already love essential oils but you have yet to experience the power behind the dōTERRA name and the exceptional products they produce.

dōTERRA essential oils are unmatched by purity and potency. And finally, this company truly has a heart of gold and works to empower everyone who touches their company. From the farmers and the harvesters to the distillers to the wellness advocates and the customers!

The business opportunity exists to build a residual income with dōTERRA in India. This opportunity can lead to financial and time freedom for just the right person who’s willing and ready to put in the hard work it takes to create a business that you’ll love.

READY TO GET STARTED?

This opportunity is for you if…

  • You have the time and energy to dedicate to this opportunity
  • You are curious about the direct selling model and eager to learn more
  • You love essential oils or healthy living

Schedule A Call With Me To Chat

About Robyn

I have been building my essential oil business since 2016. I am a twin mother, an essential oil educator, a yoga teacher, and a marketing leader. I discovered essential oils in 2015 after being diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I’ve shifted my life around to take care of myself holistically from my nutrition to supplements to sleep to stress management to reducing my toxic load to essential oils. I am passionate about helping other women take care of themselves before they ever have to deal with a health scare. And I’m passionate about diversifying one’s income to include the amazing benefits of a direct selling income model.

How Can I Support You?

I have been a part of a Canadian Founder’s team since I got started with this business. Our team (which you’d be a part of) has built their business from in-person classes, reaching out one-on-one with potential customers and online. We have a robust training system for new builders and a great support system for our customers. You can take the systems in place and adapt them for the people in India.

Support Tools

  • Email Marketing Automation
  • Intro to Essential Oil Class Templates
  • Onboarding New Customer Class Templates
  • Continuning Education Class Templates
  • Online Classes to Invite Potential Customers To
  • Getting Started Guides
  • Business Launch Programs
  • Essential Oil eBooks (from diffuser guides to green cleaning and more)
  • One-On-One Mentorship

Product Education

dōTERRA is going to be offering free product education to anyone that wants to join. When the market officially opens they want to ensure their Wellness Advocates are well set up to teach about our essential oils.

Starting Thursday, April 21, Gina Truman (US Founder & Presidential Diamond) will be offering product education training. The first call is at 9:00 am Mountain Time which translates to 8:30 pm India Standard Time. Please send me an email at robynpineault @ gmail . com if you’d like to join.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here is a document from dōTERRA that explains everything about enrollment options, compensation structures, how commissions will be paid out, etc.

And here is the India Compensation Plan:

India-Compensation-PlanDownload

Founder’s Club

What’s really exciting about launching in a new market is that positions in a country’s founder’s club become available. Here are the details for the India market:

  1. There will be 40 positions.
  2. Achieve and maintain the rank of Gold or above for at least 3 consecutive months. You then must hit the qualifying rank for 10 out of 12 months for each of the following calendar years to maintain a founder’s club position.
  3. Be personally engaged in the business in the market.
  4. 90% of qualifying volume must come from India.
  5. 50% of qualifying volume must come from Wellness Advocates who are actively participating in the Loyalty Rewards Program.
  6. Be in good standing and adhere to the Founder’s Club policies.

So what will you receive in return?

Founders will receive a 1/40 share of 1% of the total annual country sales. In a country of almost 1.4 billion people, the growth in this market will be just as large as when the company launched in China.

READY TO GET STARTED?

Schedule A Call With Me To Chat

dōTERRA’s Official India FaceBook Page

dōTERRA’s Official India Instagram Page

NOT QUITE READY TO GET STARTED?

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