Coffee Break Episode 25

Welcome to Living Well with MS Coffee Break #25, where we are pleased to welcome Nicole Zobrist as our guest!  

Our Coffee Break series is your chance to get to know members of our diverse OMS community. In each episode, you’ll join Geoff Allix for an intimate chat with a different member of our global community. Our guests will share their personal stories and talk about their challenges and victories, large and small. We hope you find common cause and a source of inspiration from the stories of these very special people. 

As always, your comments and suggestions are always welcome by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org. We hope you enjoy this episode’s conversation with Nicola, coming to you straight from Portland, Oregon in the Pacific Northwest.

Click here for a full transcript of this episode.

Nicole’s Bio: 

Nicole Zobrist lives just outside of Portland, Oregon with her husband and six-month-old goldendoodle. She was diagnosed with RRMS in April 2020 and found OMS shortly thereafter. She enjoys cooking and baking OMS-friendly recipes, reading, hiking, a great micro-brew, and everything else her local community has to offer. She also is the ambassador of the Portland, Oregon OMS Circle. The biggest change she’s made since her MS diagnosis is finding ways to manage stress – which led her to quit her job and become self-employed. 

Questions: 

• Nicole, welcome to Living Well with MS Coffee Break. We’re so pleased to have you on our program. The purpose of this series is to better get to know some of the diverse members of our community from around the world, and today you’re in the hot seat. Can you tell us a little about your day-to-day life? 

• When were you diagnosed with MS? Can you provide some context on that? When were you diagnosed and how did you initially deal with it? 

• At which point did you come across the OMS program? How was that experience for you? Why did you decide to start following it? 

• I understand that stress management was one of your biggest challenges in adopting the program, and it led you to make some serious life changes. Can you tell us a little more about that? 

• What are some of the other challenges you’ve faced at first in adopting the OMS program? How did you overcome them? 

• When did you first start to see any kind of positive indicators in following OMS guidelines? What were these? 

• You’re currently very involved in the OMS community, particularly as the ambassador of the OMS Circle in Portland, Oregon. Can you talk to us about the OMS Circles experience, and what that’s meant to you?  

• I also understand there’s a new online platform for Circles, so perhaps you can share a little about that experience, too? 

• I learned that you’re passionate about healthy eating. Can you share a little more about your foodie persona, and perhaps some tips to achieving healthier eating habits that have worked for you? 

• Nicole, we are ever so grateful for you being on Living Well with MS Coffee Break and allowing our community to get to know one of its own a little better. One last question before you go, and it’s a bit of a tradition in that we ask it of all our Coffee Break guests. If you tap into your experience with MS generally and OMS specifically for a nugget of wisdom that would help people ease into and better adopt the OMS program, what would that advice be? 

Three Nuggets of Wisdom Straight from Nicole: 

• Everybody’s experience with MS is different. 

• Lifestyle modifications can be such an important tool in dealing with MS. It doesn’t have to be “all or nothing” if you’re working towards living a healthier life. I’m passionate about this because it’s something that feels like I can control when MS feels so unpredictable. 

• Finding community online has been so beneficial. It makes me feel like I’m not alone, especially since I was diagnosed during COVID and haven’t had many opportunities to meet people in person yet. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to start a Circle in my area as well. The online resources are great but I’m looking forward to building an in-person community as well.  

Nicole’s Links: 

• Check out Nicole’s Instagram feed. 

• Read the inspiring blog Nicole wrote for OMS. 

• Find out more about our 2021 Giving Tuesday campaign, mentioned in this episode, here. 

Coming up on our next episode: 

Only 2 episodes left! Next up on Living Well with MS: with the holidays closing in, you’ll want to tune in starting December 8 to meet Karen Lee, the healthy cooking doyenne of The Sensitive Foodie Kitchen, who will help us navigate holiday eating in a healthy way that won’t bust the bank. 

Don’t miss out: 

Subscribe to this podcast and never miss an episode. You can catch any episode of Living Well with MS here or on your favorite podcast listening app. Don’t be shy – if you like the program, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you tune into the show. And feel free to share your comments and suggestions by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org.