Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashley & Yuri Barber.
Ashley & Yuri, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
We have been married for 11 years, together for almost 13 years, and spent the majority of our time trying to lose weight. We have probably tried every diet, diet pill, supplement, doctor, and fitness idea you could possibly think of. But we continued to struggle not only with our weight but with our health.
Ashley had digestive issues early on in life and in middle school was diagnosed with chronic constipation. Yuri struggled with high blood pressure and both his father and brother had heart attacks within weeks of each other. Diabetes also ran in the family for both of us and we knew we had to stop the generational curse.
Right before the pandemic started, Yuri heard a podcast it said “Chicken is the devil!” That was the start of our vegan journey. Together we researched and earned our certification in Fitness, Nutrition, and Wellness and not only changed our own lives but started helping others change their lives as well.
Ashley no longer has digestive issues. Yuri was able to stop taking his blood pressure medication within a month of transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle and even our son Camdyn has been able to all but eradicate his asthma.
The most important part of our journey though is being able to share our story and knowledge with others going through the same health issues so that we can help them incorporate more plants into their lifestyle and really live a healthier and more balanced life.
We teach that wellness is more than just counting calories and a number on the scale. It’s about the types of food you put into your body, the functional fitness training, and most importantly mindset. Everything starts with the mind and being able to reset and reprogram your mind will lead to success.
Because mindset is so important, we created our podcast, The Strong AF Podcast to focus on what makes you strong. We understand life throws curve balls, but out of that generally comes the biggest growth. We love sharing our stories on the podcast, but our favorite episodes are with our guests.
We love hearing stories of adversity and how these incredibly successful people faced obstacles but instead of letting that stop them, they used that motivation to make them great! These are the stories people need to hear, especially today as so many people are struggling in one way or another.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There have been a lot of bumps in the way. Right as we really started getting in our groove we both encountered injuries. We were teaching group fitness classes, youth fitness classes, and nutrition programs. All of this on top of our everyday workout program led to an injury. The lesson we took away from this is that we have to prioritize.
When we take on too much it causes stress and injuries like to sneak in. We also decided that this would be a great time to move, which with 3 kids and 2 dogs added a lot of stress and limited our space while the new house was being built. This meant we had to rethink our business strategy and do a lot of shifting and prioritizing.
Since then we really transitioned our business to focus on balance because that’s the piece of the puzzle that we had to learn the hard way. We love talking with guests on our podcast about mindset and overcoming obstacles.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are certified fitness, nutrition, and wellness coaches who focus on creating a balanced wellness plan. We are widely known for our podcast, The Strong AF Podcast, and the inspirational guests we feature there. What sets us apart from others is our desire to reprogram the mind and focus on balance rather than calorie counting and the number on the scales.
We’re most proud of being able to reach and have an effect on thousands of people worldwide through our podcast.
We want our readers to know we are working on an amazing new program that will bring balance to nutrition, functional fitness, and wellness in a completely new way.
We also have two children’s books available on Amazon; Teddy Rex, The Healthy Dino that Ashley wrote and co-illustrated with our 5-year-old Camdyn and Hannibal Cares For Animals (The Rhythmic Edition) written by Yuri.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
Life is about embracing change. Change can be really difficult but it can also be a huge blessing which is why we live by the motto “Small Changes, MASSIVE Impact.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://veganstrongandfit.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vegan_strong_and_fit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/388584402220775
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VeganStrongAndFit
Image Credits
David Edwards
