Episode 656: How To Turn a Personal Struggle Into a Thriving Niche Blog with Alicia Wolf

EBT656 – Alicia Wolf

Intro 00:00

Food bloggers. Hi, how are you today? Thank you so much for tuning in to the Eat Blog Talk podcast. This is the place for food bloggers to get information and inspiration to accelerate your blog’s growth, and ultimately help you to achieve your freedom. Whether that’s financial, personal, or professional. I’m Megan Porta. I have been a food blogger for 13 years, so I understand how isolating food blogging can be. I’m on a mission to motivate, inspire, and most importantly, let each and every food blogger, including you, know that you are heard and supported. 

[00:00:50]  Megan Porta 

Alicia Wolf from the Dizzy Cook shares her journey about having migraines and turning that challenge into an awesomely successful niche blog that helps other people who have migraines and how they should eat and incorporate food into their lives in order to manage this. Alicia, in addition to talking about her story, talks about some of the challenges of food blogging while she’s going through the illness.

[00:01:19]  Megan Porta 

She talks about the importance of building a really solid, loyal community when you have a blog such as this one, and she gives us ideas about how to diversify your income outside of ad income, whether you have a niche blog revolving around chronic illness or not. This is one of the most inspiring conversations I recorded in a really long time.

[00:01:44]  Megan Porta 

I think you’re going to be encouraged by it and just very inspired by the way Alicia took something that could be perceived as being really negative and embraced it and has turned it into such a huge positive blessing in this world. It is episode number 656. 

[00:02:12]  Sponsor 

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[00:03:05]  Megan Porta 

Alicia Wolf created a food blog after being diagnosed with chronic vestibular migraine and losing her career in design. Her blog is seen as a very small niche and not widely understood by companies. But 10% of the world population lives with migraine attacks.

[00:03:23]  Megan Porta 

Alicia has been able to grow a small website that was focused on helping people with a migraine diet into 400,000 sessions a month with multiple sources of revenue outside of ad income, as well as two published cookbooks. Hi, Alicia. Welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?

[00:03:41]  Alicia Wolf 

I’m doing great. How are you?

[00:03:43]  Megan Porta 

I’m doing good, thank you for asking. I’m super inspired by your story and I cannot wait to talk to you about all of this. We’re going to talk about growing a niche blog with chronic illness and also diversifying your income. Before we get to that, though, do you have a fun fact to share with us?

[00:04:01]  Alicia Wolf 

I do. Fun fact was I was actually one of the representatives for my state to the Intel International Science and Fair when I was in high school.

[00:04:12]  Megan Porta 

Whoa. Okay. Tell us what that means. I have no idea what you just said.

[00:04:16]  Alicia Wolf 

So the intel used to host this big science fair that was for everyone in the world, and they would bring in kids from all over the world who did these, like, amazing science fair projects. And so what I found out was you could go and participate in these events, would win. It was really difficult to be sent from your state because they would only pick a handful of kids to go.

[00:04:42]  Alicia Wolf 

But if you were sent for your state, you would get, like, lots of great scholarship money and all, like, some of the smartest kids in the entire world. So what I had done was created a project that was an early test that could to predict a teen who was potentially troubled. So I developed this test that was, like, different situations and a response to that situation.

[00:05:09]  Alicia Wolf 

So, for instance, like, if someone were to take a candy bar from a store, would they react like, okay, well, I needed this candy bar because I was hungry and the store won’t miss it. Or, I am going to take this candy bar. But then I, like, feel badly about it because I did it because I was hungry, but I have some remorse over it.

[00:05:31]  Alicia Wolf 

Or, like, just the way people would react to a certain situation could potentially predict if they had a certain mentality that could lead them to be troubled down the road. And I give it, I gave it to high school kids and kids in a juvenile delinquent center. And I think this was only possible back then and would not be allowed now.

[00:05:54]  Alicia Wolf 

But it was a really fascinating test and you could definitely see some correlation between the way that, you know, people thought when they were in a juvenile center and the reaction to certain situations from like your average high school teenager. So this was kind of right around the time that like Columbine had happened and we were just starting to have these types of situations and I feel like it’s super relevant today.

[00:06:22]  Alicia Wolf 

But it’s, you know, it was an interesting science fair project that is a part of my history.

[00:06:29]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely. It’s baked into your history.

[00:06:32]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah.

[00:06:32]  Megan Porta 

So just out of curiosity. Curiosity. People who had remorse, were they, were they on the safer end of the spectrum?

[00:06:39]  Alicia Wolf 

So the answers were categorized by like a self centered point of view, a judgmental point of view and a caring point of view. So generally like a very caring point of view. We’re always concerned about others and their reaction to the story, like how their actions would affect others. The people who were judgmental were, well, I would never do that because, you know, I’m better than that or this is, this is just how it’s meant to be done.

[00:07:06]  Alicia Wolf 

And then the people who were very self centered were only concerned with how the situation affected them. And so I found that a lot of Nile delinquent center were thinking very from like a self centered point of view. Like they just worried about how this issue affect them or like their comfort level.

[00:07:24]  Alicia Wolf 

So it was just kind of fascinating to see some of those differences.

[00:07:28]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that is super fascinating to me especially since I have two teenagers roaming around my home. I’m trying to think like, yeah, do they, how do they think? I think fairly compassionately. I hope they’re not going to become monsters as they grow older. I love that though. That’s such a cool piece of your history.

[00:07:50]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. And I mean it’s, it was a high school science project but I did work with some psychologists on it and so everyone had thought that I would like eventually go to the psychology field or go pre med and that just wasn’t my path at all. So a lot of this I’ve had a lot of it kind of shows that I’ve had to redirect my path a few times in my life and sort of go with the flow on what life has handed it to me.

[00:08:18]  Alicia Wolf 

And so I’m hoping to explain more of that today as we get into it.

[00:08:23]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that fits perfectly. Thank you for the great segue if it’s perfectly with what we’re talking about because you have had to adapt hugely. I was just telling you that I was reading your about page on your blog. And I was so inspired because you. You have taken this thing that happened to you that was out of your control, and you’ve turned it into such a positive thing and a blessing for so many other people.

[00:08:48]  Megan Porta 

And that’s kind of what we’re going to dig into today. So to frame that, would you mind, Alicia, just telling us your story with your migraines, your chronic illness, and then how that evolved into your business?

[00:09:02]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah, so I was actually not someone who grew up having migraine attacks. In my history, it was. I do have a history of motion sickness. So car sickness, which now we know. Car sickness and motion sickness as children can often be an indication for migraine in the future. So that’s kind of like an interesting point that I feel like a lot of people overlook, especially the type of migraine that I have, which is called vestibular migraine.

[00:09:32]  Alicia Wolf 

So it’s a type of migraine that doesn’t always come with head pain. It can come with dizziness, vertigo, lightheadedness. Sometimes people will feel like they’re moving when they’re not. One of the scariest situations. That was like, the first indication that I had this was I was sitting in my car preparing to drive coworkers to lunch, and I had parked my car, and then all of a sudden, I felt like we were moving forward, forward, and I slammed on my brakes.

[00:10:01]  Alicia Wolf 

And this can be a natural. You know, I think that happens to people sometimes where you’re parked next to a car and they start backing out and you have sort of that, like, odd sense of movement. But this was happening without anyone moving around. And so I realized, okay, there’s something off with my brain here where I feel like I’m moving forward or rolling forward and there’s no movement at all.

[00:10:25]  Alicia Wolf 

And at the time, I was working in watch design for a brand called Michel, which was under the Fossil brand corporate watch company. And they hire out lots of design for different brands of watches. And so I was working on one of their brands at the time. And I had been there probably like eight or nine years.

[00:10:47]  Alicia Wolf 

And it was really difficult because all of a sudden I had trouble looking at a computer, which was a lot of my job was to, like, you know, pick apart these designs and really be honed in on computers and do a lot of computer work and meetings with people online and overseas in Hong Kong.

[00:11:09]  Alicia Wolf 

And I just could no longer look at the computer without feeling sick. I started to have, like, severe nausea. I started to, again, feel the movement that wasn’t there. And I just started feeling like this dizziness that would kind of come and go. And so I went to all my different doctors and they thought, oh, maybe you have like a head cold or you’re getting over something.

[00:11:34]  Alicia Wolf 

I had some doctors tell me that I was just stressed, that I was anxious because I was, you know, I had. My job was pretty stressful at the time. And I had been covering, you know, a lot of people who had been out on maternity leave and things like that. So they were like, oh, you’re just overly stressed, you need to calm down, get more sleep.

[00:11:57]  Alicia Wolf 

And it just got to the point where my symptoms kept getting worse and worse until they were happening every single day. And at that point I felt like I was no longer safe to drive. So I went to an ENT and they did this whole workup on me and they said that I probably had like vestibular neuritis at some time, which is basically a virus that can affect your inner ear and cause some of this dizziness.

[00:12:25]  Alicia Wolf 

So they wanted me to go to a vestibular therapist to get checked out. So I went to a vestibular therapist and they had me in vestibular therapy doing all these exercises and my husband was having to drive me every day. And my workplace was like, what is going on? Where are you? Like, why can’t you come to work?

[00:12:45]  Alicia Wolf 

And no one was really giving me a diagnosis. And so I couldn’t go back to my workplace and just say, well, I just feel dizzy. Or like people are just telling me I’m just stressed, like, your workplace won’t give you FMLA for that. And so it was getting to the point where I really needed a doctor to step in and kind of back me up.

[00:13:08]  Alicia Wolf 

And none of them were sure about my diagnosis. So I went through probably like four to six weeks of this vestibular therapy and I just kept continuing to get worse and things were getting more severe for me. And one night my husband had to drive me to the ER because I had this vertigo attack where I was just spinning and vomiting and I just couldn’t.

[00:13:29]  Megan Porta 

Oh,no.

[00:13:31]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah, it was horrible. And I left the ER with the diagnosis of vertigo, which now I know is not a diagnosis. Vertigo is always a symptom of something deeper that’s going on. But a lot of doctors just don’t understand vestibular disorders. So there was a doctor here in Dallas who was self proclaimed.

[00:13:54]  Alicia Wolf 

Everyone proclaimed him as the dizzy doctor. And he had this very long wait list. So I got on his wait list and in the meantime I just made this desperate plea on Facebook, and now I see the post years later and can, like, see how far that I’ve come. But I was just basically like, look, my job’s about to fire me.

[00:14:12]  Alicia Wolf 

I can’t. I can’t drive. I can’t work. Like, I’m newly married. I used to love to travel, and this can’t be my life anymore. And so I had a friend who knew a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. And so these vestibular therapists, they didn’t want me to fly because they were like, you know, it could potentially be, like, a paralymph fistula or something where flying could be an issue.

[00:14:37]  Alicia Wolf 

So instead, they. We drove 16 hours out to the mayhem, and I went through two days of testing where they do hearing tests and vestibular testing and everything. And they said, like, look, you don’t have. Have any vestibular weakness. We think you have migraine. And I remember laughing at the doctor. I was like, what?

[00:14:55]  Alicia Wolf 

Like, I don’t get headaches. And he was like, no, there’s different types of migraine. And it’s, like, so much more than a headache. And you can have. You can have migraine attacks without any head pain at all. And that just, like, blew my mind. I think a lot of people don’t realize that.

[00:15:14]  Alicia Wolf 

And so he said, look, like, I’m an ent. Like, this is not my specialty. You need to see a neurologist. Well, that doctor who I’d gotten on his wait list, ended up being friends with one of my coworkers, moms. And so she made a call. Whenever we figured this all out, she made a call to him, and he saw me over his lunch break, and he’s now my current neurologist.

[00:15:39]  Alicia Wolf 

He was like, he changed my life. And he got me in to see him, and we sat in that meeting together, and it was the first time I ever felt validated for what I was going through. And he was like, everything you’re feeling is normal. Like, we can get this under control.

[00:16:00]  Alicia Wolf 

Because I had not been treated for migraine, I went from, like, an episodic attack that was happening occasionally to chronic migraine, which was. Which is a lot harder to break those attacks once you get into a chronic estate. So we really had to focus on a treatment plan that kind of broke those attacks up for me.

[00:16:21]  Alicia Wolf 

And it just took a long time and a lot of trial and error, but together, I mean, I was so lucky that I found him. And just this doctor, he’s like one of a few that really focus on vestibular migraine in this country. And so over the years, I’ve been able to go from these constant and attacks too, in migraine remission, which has been huge for me.

[00:16:47]  Alicia Wolf 

Currently, after having two kids, I’m slightly episodic, but usually I can treat with medications or like natural treatments, like some of my recipes that I do. And it’ll break up the attack for me. So it’s a much better place.

[00:17:03]  Megan Porta 

More manageable.

[00:17:05]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes, more manageable. But I did end up losing my job with the watch design. Yeah. And so I just kind of had to like, I was so wrapped up in my career for so long, and I identified with that. And when I lost my job because I could no longer do it, it was like, what do I do with my life?

[00:17:29]  Alicia Wolf 

And who’s going to hire someone like me? I’m so worthless. And I just remember telling myself that I used to lay on the couch and watch Bravo tv and I was like, what do I do with my life? I don’t know where to go from here. And my therapist at the time, she said, I want you to make a list of all the things that bring you joy.

[00:17:52]  Alicia Wolf 

And we’re going to focus on that list and we’re going to come up with something where you can spend your time and really find what your next passion is. And so I made a list. I love dogs. And I loved cooking. And that was always a big thing in my life, was I just loved being at home.

[00:18:14]  Alicia Wolf 

I loved making meals for people. I loved putting on music and sitting down at the dinner table and serving other people and making people happy through food. And, you know, when my husband and I would travel, like anytime we travel, we try to find a cooking school in another country and take a, take a few classes while we were there.

[00:18:36]  Alicia Wolf 

And so I have a little bit of a culinary background through just doing it through my own fun. And I really leaned into that whenever I was sick. And eventually I asked my doctor, like, if there was anything I can do diet wise to try to treat this because I didn’t want to keep adding on medications, which can kind of happen when you’re in a chronic state.

[00:19:03]  Alicia Wolf 

They want to put you on multiple medications. And I was hoping to have a family soon. And so he was like, you know, these are some of the lifestyle changes you can make. And there was one particular diet out of Johns Hopkins that a lot of people had recommended as, you know, potentially being very helpful for some people.

[00:19:23]  Alicia Wolf 

And I remember seeing the list out there and like looking through the book. One of the books was called Heal your Headache. And which is ironic because I don’t have headaches with my eyes. But I started reading through that book and he had some recipes in there and they were terrible.

[00:19:43]  Megan Porta 

You’re like, what?

[00:19:44]  Alicia Wolf 

I was like, I cannot eat. Like, who made your recipes? These are awful.

[00:19:50]  Alicia Wolf 

And so I remember going on like, my favorite food blogs at the time were like, things like Smitten Kitchen and Dinner, A love Story and like these really like original food bloggers, you know. And I said, I really want a place where I can go and not have to worry. Like someone tells me what ingredients to buy.

[00:20:09]  Alicia Wolf 

I don’t have to spend that extra brain power that I need for healing on what to buy. I just want to have everything kind of spoon fed for me all in one place. And I want to hear about someone else’s story that’s going through this too and what they’re treating it with and what they’re trying.

[00:20:29]  Alicia Wolf 

Not just some WebMD list that doesn’t have any, any personal feel to it. And so that’s how I created the Dizzy Cook and the rest is history.

[00:20:44]  Megan Porta 

Okay. So, so inspiring, Alicia. I can’t even tell you. I just love how this all has transpired for you. At what point, I guess how many years ago did you start the Dizzy Cook?

[00:20:56]  Alicia Wolf 

So I started in 2017 was my original idea. Yeah. Huh. So, yeah.

[00:21:05]  Megan Porta 

And then so you said that your migraines are much more manageable now. How often would you say you still deal with them?

[00:21:14]  Alicia Wolf 

So it’s been tricky. I went through. It took me about two to three years to break that chronic migraine cycle with everything I was doing. And perhaps that took me a little bit longer. I don’t know if it’s because I was so severe or, or because I was really interested in trying to treat them a little more naturally and not adding in a lot of medications.

[00:21:37]  Alicia Wolf 

And then at the time that I was treating, migraine wasn’t the focus that it is now. I mean, now you see commercials for. We have these new anti CGRP meds that are amazing and we have devices now that can be very helpful and that’s a great non medication option. So back when I was trying to treat it, there just wasn’t as much of a focus on it.

[00:21:59]  Alicia Wolf 

So we were a little more limited in options. So it took me about two to three years to finally get to dizzy free days. And then I went through a period of remission and then we decided we were trying for a family, and it wasn’t happening. So I was going through infertility, and we ended up having to do ivf.

[00:22:19]  Alicia Wolf 

And so the hormones and trying to go down that path were a little tricky for me. The lack of sleep with having newborns.

[00:22:29]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:22:30]  Alicia Wolf 

And then with my daughter, she was a big surprise. So she was. She came along about two years after my son, and we were not expecting to get pregnant naturally, and it just kind of happened. And so, yeah, it’s. I don’t know if it’s amazing. A testimony to me, kind of healing my body a little bit or.

[00:22:53]  Alicia Wolf 

Or what. You know, if it was just kind of a sweet little miracle. But after her, I’ve struggled again. I probably have an attack, you know, once every, like, two to three months. I actually just figured out, like, low ferritin is playing a part in that. So that’s something I’m trying to correct, which is, you know, it feels like it’s always.

[00:23:15]  Megan Porta 

Well, it’s an ongoing journey. Right. An ongoing illness is like, you’re constantly learning about yourself and about the illness and about new treatments that come out and new foods that might help you. So I guess that’s one lesson to take away from this, is that if you do have a chronic illness, just to be patient with it and to kind of embrace the journey.

[00:23:35]  Megan Porta 

Right. It sounds like you’ve done that really well.

[00:23:38]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. You just have to be so flexible, and you really have to keep up with the treatment of it, because if you let it go, like, things can change, you know, with hormones and perimenopause and menopause.

[00:23:49]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely.

[00:23:49]  Alicia Wolf 

You know, especially as women, I think we go through more with. With that having to. To kind of be very flexible in what’s working for us and make changes. And that’s definitely something that I’ve learned through this whole experience, is just. You got to go with the flow on things.

[00:24:07]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, right. You do. If you resist it, you’re probably going to suffer a little bit more.

[00:24:12]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah.

[00:24:13]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Oh, gosh. Okay. So many things I want to ask you. How do you. So 2017 is. I mean, that’s an older, more established blog, which is great that you’ve been able to keep it up for so long, especially having young kids and continuing to deal with the chronic illness. And food blogging is no joke, as we all know.

[00:24:33]  Megan Porta 

How do you do it all, and what are some of those challenges that you face?

[00:24:38]  Alicia Wolf 

So I think my biggest challenge throughout this whole time is because I’ve started, you know, quite a bit ago. I think a lot of blogs came about kind of in the pandemic. But I, like, I struggle a lot with comparing myself to other people who kind of started around the same time. And it’s like, well, wait a second, why have I not grown this way?

[00:25:03]  Alicia Wolf 

Or why do I not have this kind of traffic? And I have to remind myself that, you know, dealing with my health challenges and getting to this point is truly amazing. I mean, and I’ve been able to find a career. Like, I’ve. I’ve been able to triple my income from what it was at Fossil, which was amazing.

[00:25:24]  Alicia Wolf 

And I’ve been able to use it to give back to the community, which is so rewarding. And I am have a lot more passion for my job now than I used to in the past. So there, like, are a lot of positives with it that you kind of have to focus on along the way and not just let, like, okay, well, I should be to this place right now.

[00:25:49]  Alicia Wolf 

It just doesn’t work that way with chronic illness. Like, you really have to give yourself a lot of grace and celebrate the smaller wins along the way. And I really think that pivoting to this, this career has helped me really appreciate myself more and understand that, like, I am, you know, a really powerful person, even though I may not feel like it some days, and that I’m doing the best that I can and give myself a lot of grace along the way.

[00:26:20]  Megan Porta 

Oh, so many lessons baked in there. And you are giving back to people in a way that that doctor that you talked about who changed your life gave to you. So he gave you such a gift in just making you feel validated and valued and understood and heard. And now you are giving that to so many other people.

[00:26:43]  Megan Porta 

So I think that is the hugest gift ever because there are other people going through what you’re going through, and they’re in the same boat you were years ago where you were like, what is going on? I don’t know what to do, what do I eat, what medicine do I take? You know, so you are.

[00:27:00]  Megan Porta 

I mean, there’s so much value there. So just to give yourself a pat on the back for that once in a while, because that’s huge. That means a lot.

[00:27:10]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. And it’s interesting now like, that I’ve got this food blog, but I’m able to put in posts about my migraine experience. So I find that on social media, people are really into hearing about my migraine experience. And then on the blog, it’s more of a food focus. People are really interested in the recipes And I find that the income from the food part helps to support the migraine part, because the migraine part just isn’t there as far as attention.

[00:27:48]  Alicia Wolf 

We’re getting there. But a lot of brands don’t necessarily understand it. It’s the way people are kind of making money in it now are to create a course. And at the heart of my. At the heart of the Dizzy Cook, I always wanted it to be free because I remember looking for this information on the Internet.

[00:28:08]  Alicia Wolf 

I couldn’t find any. And I wanted someone like me like, that I could read their story, have these tips. It was all free. I could go back to my doctor and ask about it. So it’s as, like. As lucrative as the course could be. I sometimes have to go back to my initial values of it and think, okay, what am I doing here?

[00:28:32]  Alicia Wolf 

What is the goal here? Is it to make money or is it to really help people and who, you know, what are my values from back then? And I want to make sure they apply now. And so I kind of use the food stuff to help pay for.

[00:28:48]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely.

[00:28:49]  Alicia Wolf 

The migraine stuff, you know.

[00:28:51]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, no, that makes sense. I think that’s smart.

[00:28:54]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah.

[00:28:54]  Megan Porta 

Your niche is so niche, and it’s geared toward a very niche chronic illness. Do you feel like starting your blog and having your social media helps to explain better what you’re going through to maybe family members or friends or just random people you meet? Does it help you?

[00:29:13]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes, I think so. It’s been really interesting to me. I remember my mom came up to me one time and, you know, they’re like, they were pretty close with me and they saw me going through this, but it wasn’t until I published my cookbook and my mom read it and she was like, wow, Alicia, I had no idea you were feeling this way.

[00:29:32]  Alicia Wolf 

Or like, sometimes she’ll. She’ll watch my stories and she’s like, wow, Alicia. Like, I didn’t know it was, like, this severe. I didn’t know. Like, they just. It just helps them understand, like, the daily life and, like, everything that I’m doing a little bit better. And I think sometimes that’s so hard to convey to people who haven’t gone through it themselves.

[00:29:52]  Alicia Wolf 

They just don’t understand the amount of work or effort that it takes to live life like a normal person. You know, every day I have to, like, think about my supplements or what I’m eating or did I get enough sleep or, you know, have I. Am I stressed and did I get enough hydration?

[00:30:12]  Alicia Wolf 

And I think other people can probably get away with it more easily if they miss one of those parts or they have too many drinks at dinner or, you know, they. They go and eat like chick fil A and don’t have to think about it twice. But for someone like me, it can cause an attack.

[00:30:31]  Alicia Wolf 

And so I really have to like. Like, think, okay, is this something I want to do? Or. And like, is it worth it? Consequence. Yes, exactly.

[00:30:41]  Megan Porta 

And so much energy goes into that too. And people don’t realize that, like, how much energy. Mental energy.

[00:30:48]  Alicia Wolf 

Mental energy.

[00:30:49]  Megan Porta 

On thinking about your food and all of that. I think that is one thing. I know. I know these people, and I’m sure you do too. And everyone listening does that have endless energy. And it kind of annoys me because while I don’t have a chronic illness, I do feel like I have extra.

[00:31:08]  Megan Porta 

Like, I process more. There’s things I think through that I think a lot of other people don’t. And I spend so much mental energy that others don’t. So I feel like they take their energy for granted and I just want to shake them and be like, you are so lucky to just be so grateful for this.

[00:31:28]  Megan Porta 

This boundless energy that you have. Because not everybody has that.

[00:31:33]  Alicia Wolf 

I know. I so wish I would appreciated my, like, early 20s a lot more when I can get away with all this stuff because it was. Oh, my gosh, I would. The things I could have done. And what’s interesting is, you know, I always say, oh, I’m in such a niche place, but actually, 10% of the world has migraine attacks.

[00:31:55]  Alicia Wolf 

And 80. That’s 87 million people and almost 40 million just in the US alone alone. And women are three times more likely than men to experience it. So it’s a huge part of our population that is going through it. They just don’t have resources or they don’t have the help, or they’re just trying to take Tylenol and they don’t realize, like, by taking Tylenol a lot, you can actually trigger more migraine attacks.

[00:32:22]  Alicia Wolf 

And there’s just so much information that. That there’s like a disconnect between doctors and the population.

[00:32:32]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:32:33]  Alicia Wolf 

And we don’t have enough headache specialists in the world to manage this amount of people with migraines. So people are just kind of trying to treat themselves or they’ll go on TikTok and try, like, putting their feet in hot waters. I don’t know. Banana peels on their forehead. I don’t know. I’ve seen some crazy ones.

[00:32:53]  Megan Porta 

Oh, boy.

[00:32:54]  Alicia Wolf 

They’re not getting this like actual like science based information and I try to be the liaison and make things a little more palatable by working with neurologists and kind of explaining it in a way that the average person can understand. So like just kind of a middleman to make it easier to comprehend how to do migraine treatment successfully.

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[00:34:31]  Megan Porta 

I was reading about your cookbooks and I saw that you wrote one alongside a health professional. A medical professional, correct?

[00:34:39]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes. So that’s my neurologist.

[00:34:41]  Megan Porta 

Oh, that’s the cardiologist.

[00:34:45]  Alicia Wolf 

So that was our second cookbook and he really wanted to do something that was very like scientifically based. And so we kind of went through like all the science out there for migraine and diet and put it into this Mediterranean migraine diet book.

[00:34:59]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that’s amazing that he did that with you. I love that. And it gives it so much credibility and that adds credibility to everything you produce as a content creator as well.

[00:35:12]  Alicia Wolf 

It’s been amazing building this because I have a lot of health professionals actually reach out to me now or a lot of neurologists reach out to me now with ideas. And they just don’t have the social media presence or the online presence, so they don’t really know how to get it to the patients, but they want to help.

[00:35:31]  Alicia Wolf 

And so again, like I’m able to use my platform to kind of be that connection between them and this information that is new or that people don’t always know or like that we’re just newly studying or what they’re seeing in their clinic because treating migraine changes all the time and especially vestibular migraine I mean, we’re just learning so much more about it every day.

[00:35:56]  Alicia Wolf 

And so having that connection with them, and I’m so grateful for the ones that will do that. Or like, my doctor, who has been, like, a huge supporter of me. And it works both ways. Like, I’m able to send a lot of people to his clinic too.

[00:36:13]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s.

[00:36:14]  Alicia Wolf 

It’s a nice relationship.

[00:36:16]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely. I love that you’ve created that. Would you say most of the people who consume your content are people who also deal with migraines?

[00:36:24]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes and no. So I have a lot of family members who come and try to learn things, and then I have a lot of people who are just interested in brain health overall. I have a lot of people who also deal with other vestibular disorders, so other types of chronic illness. You know, vestibular.

[00:36:44]  Alicia Wolf 

There’s. There’s other illnesses called like, triple PD out there or Meniere’s disease. I get a lot of people with Meniere’s disease who come through and need, like, low sodium change to the recipes. Low histamine is very trendy right now, so a lot of my recipes are low histamine. And. And so I get a lot of people outside of the migraine community.

[00:37:06]  Alicia Wolf 

But it was actually interesting to me. So I went to Tastemaker last year, which is a big food blog gathering, and I thought, oh, gosh, no one’s gonna know me. I’m just like this tiny niche blogger. But a lot of people knew me through helping their friends or their mom or. It’s always, you know, someone who has.

[00:37:28]  Alicia Wolf 

Has migraine attacks. Like, it just never fails. Like, you’re. It’s like that with six degrees of separation. Like, it’s not even six degrees.

[00:37:37]  Megan Porta 

I was gonna say more like three or two. Yeah. I have two sisters who both suffer from chronic migraines. I’m gonna send them your site. I was just telling my husband the other day, I’m like, I don’t know how I slipped through the cracks, but I don’t thankfully get them. But they both are suffering, I feel like all the time.

[00:37:56]  Megan Porta 

It’s just sucks for them.

[00:38:00]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. And, like, migraine is largely genetic, so I think there’s a lot of pressure on people to think, oh, what have I done? And you can’t blame yourself for any chronic illness because a lot of them are genetic. And there’s nothing you. I mean, you could blame your ancestors, but there are triggers that you can manage, but it’s widely like, nothing.

[00:38:23]  Alicia Wolf 

You’re done. You just have, like, a genetic predisposition to it. And it goes back to what I said about, you know, the car sickness as a child. I didn’t know that. Like, that was in my history, but, like, now it. It makes a lot of sense because I had a lot of car sickness as a child.

[00:38:40]  Megan Porta 

So that’s an interesting connection right there. My youngest son has. He gets car sickness. So when you said that, I was like, oh, no, it’s not always the case.

[00:38:50]  Alicia Wolf 

It’s not really worry about. But, you know, it’s just kind of this interesting thing that we sort of know. Yeah. Huh.

[00:38:58]  Megan Porta 

Because car sickness is. Yeah. It’s like dizziness almost.

[00:39:02]  Alicia Wolf 

And it’s linked to the vestibular system.

[00:39:04]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. You can feel it inside your head. I’ve had it before, so I know what you mean. There has to be a connection there. That’s so interesting. Let’s see. I want to ask you. Oh, I did have a question about the migraine diet because you mentioned low histamine, low sodium. Is there anything else that you remove from diets in order to be compliant with a migraine diet?

[00:39:26]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. So there are different types of migraine diets out there, which is why I have two books, and the Johns Hopkins one that I originally tried is meant to help discover if you have any food triggers and then overall help you calm down your brain. So what you do is you eliminate the most common food triggers for a while and then reintroduce them and see if you have any issues with them.

[00:39:49]  Alicia Wolf 

And largely, that’s high tyramine foods. So tyramine, histamine, they’re kind of in the similar range where they’re in a lot of aged meats, aged cheeses, a lot of, like, deli meats, old meat, things like avocado as they ripen, bananas as they ripen, just things that are, like, on their way to ripening, spoiling, that sort of thing.

[00:40:19]  Alicia Wolf 

Leftovers after, like, three or four days, you have to be cautious of. And then overall, just looking at ingredients and going with very minimal ingredients, which is why it works beyond just people with migraine. But it’s like people who are looking for more wholesome foods, like, additive free, not using as many, like, packaged ingredients or reading those labels and, like, understanding what’s in food.

[00:40:45]  Alicia Wolf 

Some of the more surprising things, like glutamate is something that can be a trigger for migraine. And I know, like, MSG is very controversial, but we do see a lot of connections with it with people with these neurological disorders. And what’s interesting about that is a lot of People will say, well, you know, if you’re sensitive to msg, then you would be sensitive to mushrooms or Parmesan cheese or anything.

[00:41:13]  Alicia Wolf 

But that’s actually true because I find that people have varying levels of sensitivity. So like, for instance, you know, if you go to chick Fil A that they have MSG in their chicken, you know, sometimes people can’t tolerate the concentrated amount, but maybe they could tolerate something with a little more natural glutamate, like mushrooms.

[00:41:33]  Alicia Wolf 

I have some people who are so sensitive they can’t tolerate glutamate in like protein powders. And that’s incredibly sensitive to them, like whey protein, pea protein, that sort of thing. Collagen protein is a big one. So I have people like, tell me, well, I get dizzy after drinking my protein powder. And I’m like, well, this could be like a reason is you have a varying sensitivity to it.

[00:41:55]  Alicia Wolf 

So there are people who like, for Mediterranean migraine diet, we looked through studies on tomatoes and how certain tomatoes are lower in glutamate than others and how even like removing some of the seeds and that pulpy, like, membrane from it can lower the glutamate content in tomatoes and make that easier for people who are sensitive to consume.

[00:42:17]  Alicia Wolf 

So it’s kind of all it’s like about helping people understand their bodies and what they might be sensitive to. It doesn’t mean, like everyone with migraine can’t eat chocolate anymore. You know, you kind of have to find what works for you and what doesn’t. So that may be something like low histamine or you may find a connection with, you know, being low sodium or just.

[00:42:40]  Alicia Wolf 

I’ve had people will not be able to tolerate raw onions, but they can tolerate cooked onions.

[00:42:45]  Megan Porta 

So yeah, a spectrum.

[00:42:47]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah, it’s a spectrum and it’s just helping people kind of work through that too.

[00:42:52]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, that makes sense. I can imagine that community is more important in your niche or in any niche that does focus on chronic illness more than any other situation. Just like for my food blog, I don’t have anything that’s really compelling, like, you know, let’s do this together. Mine is more like, here, let’s eat pasta and cheese and delicious food.

[00:43:19]  Megan Porta 

But you have something that really brings people together, where you guys can heal together and just bond on a different level. Is your community super tight knit?

[00:43:29]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes. And I would give that recommendation to anyone who’s blogging with a chronic illness is to really focus on your community and make them number one and answer the DMS and help people check in on people really be invested in other people’s journey and helping them out because the more you do that, like, I have people who don’t even follow a migraine diet anymore, but we’re like super close friends and I know their family.

[00:43:57]  Alicia Wolf 

Some of them I’ve met while I’ve traveled out. And you just form these friendships and like, you get invested in their health journey too. And I’ve just been a part of so many people’s healing that, I mean, it just blows my mind that I get to do this. And it’s so rewarding for me to be able to share this and help other people through my own journey.

[00:44:24]  Alicia Wolf 

And I love, like, for example, someone just pops to my mind. Her name is Liz, and she emailed me desperate a few years ago because she was going to one of her kids weddings and she was like, I feel miserable. I don’t know how I’m going to make it through the day. And so we just kind of work together on like, okay, here are some things that you can change and like doctors to see and like a kind of a path to move forward to at least get you like, hopefully feeling a little bit better by the wedding.

[00:44:54]  Alicia Wolf 

And now she like texts me all the time. She’s traveling, she’s on this plane and she’s on that plane and she’s like, I’m on this boat now and she’s just feeling so much better. And you get to see people grow in this journey and people grow and heal at different speeds. Like, I have some migraine friends who still, who still deal with chronic migraine and they just have had to learn mentally how to sort of find ways to bring themselves joy and focus on new treatments and what’s coming out and new ways, new finding new doctors and new ways to heal.

[00:45:34]  Alicia Wolf 

So there’s just, it’s such a spectrum illness and, you know, everyone just heals at a different rate. It’s sort of like blogging. Like, you just can’t compare yourself to other people. You kind of have to stay in your lane and really focus on what’s working for you.

[00:45:49]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s so cool that you have that opportunity to build those really strong connections, especially with people like Liz that you mentioned. I think you are doing such important work in this world and I think you see that. But I just want you to know, from my perspective, it’s really cool what you’re doing.

[00:46:10]  Megan Porta 

And I think anyone with a niche that focuses on anything like this has that opportunity to really give back to the community and to the world to make the world a better place and to just, I don’t know, serve your purpose in a high, really important way. I think there’s so much opportunity.

[00:46:31]  Megan Porta 

Instead of looking at it as like, oh, my gosh, this illness is causing me to write a blog about this niche. You can embrace it and just do so much good.

[00:46:44]  Alicia Wolf 

And, like, mindset plays a huge part in that. I don’t know. I think I remember, like, telling you that, you know, there was a time that I felt worthless, and then all of a sudden I feel like, wow, people, I’m worth something. Like, people care about me. And a lot of that shift was just in my mindset and finding something that I was passionate about and then just taking that and continuing to pursue that passion.

[00:47:09]  Alicia Wolf 

And I think that’s such a huge part of building a community, is if you can, like, really connect with the people you’re working with and, and who love your content, they will keep you motivated. In those times that you have burnout and you don’t feel as excited about it, they remind you why you’re doing what you do.

[00:47:32]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, it’s really, really important work. So thank you, Alicia, for showing up that way in this world. We need more people like you. I want to ask you about income. So you do have ads on your site?

[00:47:46]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes.

[00:47:47]  Megan Porta 

Do you make revenue? Do you earn revenue in any other way?

[00:47:51]  Alicia Wolf 

So I really, doing something like this, as tricky as it can be in a niche, it does lend itself more to diversifying your income, which I think is really helpful because the differences that I see in between my food blog and some of my friends, food bloggers who just. Food blogs who just do, like, general cooking is they really struggle with being at the mercy of Pinterest and Google.

[00:48:19]  Alicia Wolf 

And so we’ve been working together to, like, try to think of new ways to diversify that income and not be so dependent on ad revenue as a. As a resource. So what a lot of what I do is I’m able to link out supplements and other ways, other things that have helped me heal.

[00:48:44]  Alicia Wolf 

I do. I was able to get. And this is kind of a struggle for me too, because, like, not a lot of brands kind of take the importance of migraine seriously or, like, really understand what I do. So with. I’ve been shut down before by a lot of brands who just, like, don’t get it or how, like, this community needs help or, like, needs their product.

[00:49:12]  Alicia Wolf 

And so it’s been really trying to pitch brands that I feel like are a good fit that I love. Usually the things that I Love have been a good fit for my audience too. So I have an ongoing contract with the migraine glasses that I use and love for working online and working on all my recipes.

[00:49:34]  Alicia Wolf 

I’m able to do cooking classes online for people with migraines. So like teaching them how to cut and ways to cut down on the effort in the kitchen or like how to make yourself a little less dizzy when you’re cooking. And sometimes I’m able to do that through the non profits as well.

[00:49:52]  Alicia Wolf 

So we’ll offer those classes a lot for free through like programs like Miles for Migraine or American Migraine Foundation. I’ve been able to do consults. So just sort of helping people guide people to like, the right doctors, helping them with their journey, helping them with like any questions they might have on, like, what to expect with getting diagnosed, that sort of thing.

[00:50:16]  Alicia Wolf 

And then I’ve also written for other websites, so I’ve done articles for brands like Healthline and Greatest and some of those places where you can get a little bit of income writing for someone else too. And books. Cookbooks.

[00:50:34]  Megan Porta 

Right.

[00:50:34]  Alicia Wolf 

You know, so I have two published cookbooks which are a little bit of a source of income, but they’re not as much as I think I expected it to be. And I don’t know if that’s common with like, other people who come on here. I feel like unless you’re a huge name or have like a huge following, you’re really not getting, especially for your first book, you’re really not getting that advance that like some of us, some of the smaller blogs do.

[00:51:07]  Alicia Wolf 

And so it’s a nice extra income to add, but it’s like definitely not livable even with two different books. So that’s just something for people to keep in mind as, like they publish a cookbook. I think for me, publishing a cookbook was less about the income and more about getting taken seriously in my niche.

[00:51:31]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. I mean, cookbooks can be very credible. They can add to your credibility through Google and for your user as well. So I think that alone, especially since you’re talking about such a serious thing, you’re talking about chronic illness and how to help people. I think that’s huge. Like, I’ve written this cookbook alongside a doctor.

[00:51:54]  Alicia Wolf 

Yes.

[00:51:55]  Megan Porta 

So that I think that in itself is reason to write it and to continue on with the project.

[00:52:02]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. Because like, as patients, you know, our stories are valid, but when you start to share online, everyone’s like, well, you’re not a doctor. And I’m like, well, every doctor I saw up until now got it wrong with me. So, like, how much do. Like there’s a little bit you do have to take something seriously and, and you know, it is good to have scientific information and studies to back up what you’re saying.

[00:52:30]  Alicia Wolf 

But at the same time, a lot of the stuff that worked for me were very small studies or like things that people put down in my comments all the time. I’m like, well, if I would have never tried it, I wouldn’t have gotten. I wouldn’t have gotten to remission. So I’m glad I didn’t listen to you in the con, you know, so it’s migraine’s a little bit of working with the doctor, following studies and following the science out there, but then also taking a chance on some things that may not always have 100% backing to them because a lot of the research that’s going into things are from pharmaceutical companies and what are they going to put their money into?

[00:53:10]  Alicia Wolf 

Things that make them money. So you’re going to have a lot of research for these new meds, but you’re going to have less research for a generic med that’s not going to make them. Them a lot of money or diet especially. I mean, it’s not making anyone money, right?

[00:53:24]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Did you just out of curiosity, I was thinking about the HCU in 2024 being tough on some blogs who were focused more on healthier recipes. Did you happen to get hit by the HCU?

[00:53:39]  Alicia Wolf 

I didn’t get hit up until the end of last year.

[00:53:42]  Megan Porta 

Okay.

[00:53:43]  Alicia Wolf 

The end of last year was, was rough for me.

[00:53:46]  Megan Porta 

Sorry.

[00:53:47]  Alicia Wolf 

I probably. And it’s been rough for my migraine posts 1000%. What’s been interesting is I see Google put to the top posts that are not helpful at all. Like the WebMD posts that just have no information about. They’re not even like really applying to the topic that I’m writing about or the topic that’s being searched for.

[00:54:10]  Alicia Wolf 

But because they have. Have that, you know, WebMD background, they’re being promoted to the top. Someone like my journey that’s very detailed is being pushed aside for like, I think there’s a first article that’s. That got pushed way up that’s about a woman who just took cold showers to cure her migraines. I’m just like, oh.

[00:54:32]  Megan Porta 

Like, oh my gosh.

[00:54:34]  Alicia Wolf 

It just drives me nuts. You know, there’s nothing, there’s nothing that you can really. I’ve done everything that I can do about it. You know, I’ve published my cookbooks. I know That I, you know, I’m very qualified to talk about this. And I just really have to focus on getting that out more through social media, where it’s amplified versus Google.

[00:54:58]  Alicia Wolf 

And so this is just part of pivoting where you just, if it’s not working on Google anymore, try social media. Because that sharing the stuff on Instagram has been, like, huge for me lately. Whereas, like, I focused more on the recipe portion for Google, which seems to, you know, be a better place to focus.

[00:55:22]  Alicia Wolf 

And it’s just outside of your control. So you just have to put your focus into things that are, like, actually working and try different avenues. Pinterest is a great place for chronic illness growth. And again, like, the social media part of things, being in different groups and then doing a lot of volunteer work for nonprofits can help you get your name out there too, and help build some traffic where you might lose it from Google.

[00:55:50]  Megan Porta 

So it’s frustrating, but, like, yeah, going with the flow. You’ve said that a few times just about your journey, which I think is so important. Resisting is never going to get you ahead in this world of blogging. So just, okay, this is what’s happening. And I still have hope that Google will see sites like yours eventually as, like, okay, this is actually the thing that people are searching for and that is actually helpful.

[00:56:19]  Megan Porta 

I’m not giving up. I know a lot of people are like, I’m done. I’m so done with Google. But I just feel like they’re learning too what’s working and what, what they don’t even know, like, what’s going on. Sometimes I feel like I, I don’t.

[00:56:35]  Alicia Wolf 

Think that because, like, I am one of the only site that like, really focuses on migraine diet and migraine diet recipes. And if you were to Google migraine diet, like, you’d have to search on like page eight for me. But I’m the most helpful resource for it.

[00:56:51]  Megan Porta 

Yeah.

[00:56:51]  Alicia Wolf 

So it’s like, how do you reach people? Well, you just gotta depend on like, social media and other avenues to do it. And to me, honestly, that brings, brings a decent amount of traffic just from, from doing that. And then if you’re able to build that through social media, I feel like it feeds back into Google somehow.

[00:57:08]  Alicia Wolf 

But it’s so frustrating. Like, if I were me, like, trying to look for resources on Google back in the day, I mean, I just, I, I would probably keep scrolling to page eight. I was that desperate. So I just hope people just keep, like, scrolling.

[00:57:23]  Megan Porta 

I hope that other people are doing that as well. Yeah, eventually eventually it’s going to even out. I just feel that. So fingers crossed.

[00:57:31]  Alicia Wolf 

Are you seeing that with. With a lot of people like too?

[00:57:34]  Megan Porta 

I mean, I think it, I think that Google is on a journey too, just like we are of figuring out. And I truly do believe that they have content creators and helpful content best interest in mind for all of that. So I think, think they’re just figuring it out too. And I. I mean, slowly things are happening that are more in our favor.

[00:57:59]  Megan Porta 

So for people like you, bloggers like yourself, I think that eventually it’s going to come around. It just has to.

[00:58:05]  Alicia Wolf 

I mean, I did just see one of my posts that got pushed down pretty far, sort of bounced back yesterday. So I don’t know if it’s just the new year or what’s going on, but it. It does seem like things shift all the time. So you can’t quite give up.

[00:58:22]  Megan Porta 

No, don’t give up.

[00:58:23]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah.

[00:58:24]  Megan Porta 

Do you have tips for other people who maybe they don’t have a chronic illness, but maybe they’re, you know, they have an intolerance or sensitivity to an ingredient or have some sort of niche diet, niche blog that they’re running and they just need a little bit of extra help or encouragement. Do you have any tips or advice for them?

[00:58:50]  Alicia Wolf 

I would say my best advice and what worked really well for me was building the community, if you can really, and you can do that through social media. And what I did was I started in groups for that illness and I would just drop links to my blogs everywhere, like, hey, I wrote about this or wrote about my experience here.

[00:59:11]  Alicia Wolf 

And then I started volunteering for a lot of different organizations. And mostly this was just to fill my time. But eventually it allowed me to just like, share my website with people like, hey, you can come here and like learn about me. So I would say that to really invest in, if you are in this space, like really invest in areas that you can grow your audience and not in your traditional ways, like maybe not just through Instagram, but think about these groups, nonprofits who you can volunteer for, places you can write for, like Healthline.

[00:59:48]  Alicia Wolf 

How can you get more eyes on your blog that may not be so straightforward, like just going and posting on Facebook and hoping people find you, but really trying to get involved in these groups and bringing people back to your website and letting people get to know you. That way, if you have good content, people will eventually see that.

[01:00:12]  Alicia Wolf 

So I think that something that’s hard for us is we put so much time and effort into things and it may be Good content to us. But if it’s not resonating with your audience, you really have to be able to shift. And that’s something that I’ve had to do in the last year with my social media, was to really shift.

[01:00:32]  Alicia Wolf 

Like, I used to do a lot of like, comfort food recipes and that was like the base for my blog. And it just wasn’t really working with what I was sharing online. So in the past year, I’ve had to really shift to telling more of my story on things like Instagram and sort of pivot in that way to incorporate recipes but focus them more on, like, how they can help you versus just like, here’s a comfort food recipe that I really like that’s like migraine friendly.

[01:01:04]  Alicia Wolf 

It’s more about, like, how can I help people with this recipe? What does that mean? And so, well, you might have, like a really good recipe that you love and that you eat all the time. You really have to think, like, what makes this recipe different? How can I convey this to my audience?

[01:01:20]  Alicia Wolf 

And like, what benefit is it gonna bring them? And really focus on, like, how I’m helping you through this recipe. Whether it’s like bringing people around the table, maybe it is to bring people a comfort meal. Is it just because it’s like you have. Think beyond, okay, this is just gluten free or soy free.

[01:01:39]  Alicia Wolf 

But, like, why is this gluten free recipe going to change your life? Like, why is this the best gluten free recipe out there? You know?

[01:01:47]  Megan Porta 

Absolutely. No, that’s really good advice. Just thinking through that different lens and yeah. Applying it to everything you do. Really?

[01:01:54]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah. Because otherwise it’s just you kind of end up in this sea of just like, okay, this is just another healthy recipe. And it’s really hard to start as a smaller blogger because there’s so many people out there who are doing it well. So you’ve just got to figure out, like, what makes you different.

[01:02:12]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, I love it. Well, Alicia, thank you. I just really appreciate you showing up and sharing your story with us. I think this will inspire people who have a similar blog or like I said, it doesn’t have to be a blog based around an entire illness. It can be be a gluten sensitivity or soy sensitivity or like really anything.

[01:02:32]  Megan Porta 

And I think it’ll just help people to kind of get in that mindset of building community, doing all the things, the important things that you talked about. So thank you for all of this.

[01:02:43]  Alicia Wolf 

Sure. I, I think one thing that I just forgot to mention, and maybe it was like, it’s just assumed from what I’ve talked about. But don’t be afraid to share your story, because your story is the most powerful thing that you have. It’s what makes you unique in this space. And no one can take that story away from you.

[01:03:03]  Alicia Wolf 

So if you have a journey like mine and it’s. You feel like maybe it’s putting you at a disadvantage, like, use that story to make it your advantage and to really allow you to relate to other people. Because there are other people going through it. They’re just not, like, noticing that other people that they’re just not connecting or they’re maybe not finding you.

[01:03:26]  Alicia Wolf 

And then once they find you, it’s like, oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I found you. You’re. You’re solving this problem for me.

[01:03:33]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Like you felt with your doctor, right? Yes, exactly.

[01:03:37]  Alicia Wolf 

I’m so glad I found you.

[01:03:39]  Megan Porta 

Yes.

[01:03:40]  Alicia Wolf 

And I have people send me those messages all the time. I’m so glad I finally found you. And I just assume, like, oh, you know, what doesn’t everyone know? Like, I’m the migraine food girl. But they don’t. But they don’t. People are finding you every day, and you just have to remind yourself, like, you just have to keep.

[01:03:58]  Alicia Wolf 

It sort of feels repetitive. But if you keep sharing your story and putting it out there, you’ll keep changing people’s lives.

[01:04:04]  Megan Porta 

Yeah. Love it. Thank you so much for everything to end. Do you have a favorite quote that you would like to share or additional words of inspiration?

[01:04:14]  Alicia Wolf 

I do. And I wish this was, like. It’s, like, one of my favorite quotes of all the time. I actually have it in my office printed, but it’s live every day like, Elle Woods after Warner told her she wasn’t smart enough for law school.

[01:04:29]  Megan Porta 

That quote has never been shared here.

[01:04:31]  Alicia Wolf 

Okay, good. Like, is this too cheeky? I don’t know.

[01:04:37]  Megan Porta 

I love it. No, that’s perfect.

[01:04:39]  Alicia Wolf 

It’s true. Because I don’t know if you’re. If you’re a millennial listening to this. You definitely know Legally Bond. And you just know that shift that happens in the movie where, like, she doesn’t feel good enough for something, and it’s like, okay, I’m just gonna lean into, like, what I really want to do.

[01:04:57]  Alicia Wolf 

And I think that was, like, a huge part of my history was like, I didn’t feel good enough to. To be, like, even a food blogger, because, like, I have all these, you know, I have doctor’s appointments, and I have things that don’t allow myself to, to really lean into, like, being the greatest food blogger out there.

[01:05:18]  Alicia Wolf 

But that’s not necessarily true. Like, you have to pursue your passion and other people will start to see that about you and it connects them to you in that way when they see how passionate you are about something.

[01:05:31]  Megan Porta 

Oh, I love it. Great way to end. Thank you, Alicia.

[01:05:35]  Alicia Wolf 

Thank you, Megan.

[01:05:36]  Megan Porta 

Yeah, we’ll put together a show notes page for you. If anyone wants to go look at those. You can head to eatblogtalk.com/thedizzycook tell everyone where they can find you. Alicia.

[01:05:46]  Alicia Wolf 

Yeah, you can find me on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram on thedizzycook. And please share that with any of your friends and family who might have migraine attacks. I have tons of free info and tips on there. And then I have two cookbooks, The Dizzy Cook. The Dizzy Cook is the one that’s Johns Hopkins Migraine diet focused and the Mediterranean Migraine Diet, which was done in partnership with Dr. Shinbae.

[01:06:11]  Alicia Wolf 

So that one isn’t elimination focused, but more about things you can do to help your brain health. And then you can always contact me through the website. I love to hear from everyone.

[01:06:23]  Megan Porta 

Awesome. Well, I hope people reach out to you. Thank you for that generous offer and thanks again, Alicia. And thank you for listening, food bloggers. I will see you next time. 

[01:06:30]  Outro

I will see you next time. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Eat Blog Talk. If you are craving accountability, focus and connection at a low monthly cost, join the Eblog Talk accountability [email protected] focus.