We had the good fortune of connecting with James and Dahlia Marin and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi James and Dahlia, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
We at Married to Health define success not just as the accumulation of money and/or accolades from our profession, but as the ability to accomplish our mission (helping people prevent and cure disease), be healthy ourselves while doing so, maintaining healthy relationships, healthy habits, and as a bonus provide a great living for our family. We have seen all too often provider burnout from not having balance, spreading oneself too thin, or the notion that you have to work until you drop in order to be successful. Over time we have learned that true success is so dynamic, and it should be viewed as a holistic entity encompassing a balance of achievements ultimately forming a health and nourishing outcome. When one realizes this it becomes easy to form the framework of a balanced work environment.

What should our readers know about your business?
Married to Health is an integrative dietetics practice, which means we help our patients use nutrition to prevent and reverse chronic disease. We specialize mostly in chronic gut diseases like Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), but we see a large spectrum of patients with a variety of issues as well. We pride ourselves in going beyond the normal scope of most dietetic practices by not only looking at nutrition, but lifestyle medicine as well to encompass the entire ecosystem of a person in order to truly help them thrive.

The journey to having our own practice was an experience filled one with many eye opening twists and turns. Since the very beginning of us wanting to pursue a career in the healthcare field we knew we were different. We had different philosophies on health from what we were being taught in school and what was being discussed by our peers around us. We formed Married to Health as a result of having nowhere else we wanted to work. Much like a bird building the right nest, we had to build the right practice that we felt would help us to help as many people as possible. Building something that is customized is never easy. It was not only having to research the very best way to provide care, but to also spend years honing skills and understanding who we didn’t want to be, so we can become the people we were meant to be.

More and more we are seeing community as a commodity in the rapidly changing world. Community is about being real with other people so you can truly form a connection that is deep and powerful. This is key for us because we have experienced and learned hard lessons from those around us who try to be something they are not or try to force something that shouldn’t be. With Married to Health we are a real family running a real practice/business, practicing the healthy habits we preach, reversing our chronic disease, thriving in balanced health, and raising a new generation (our 6 year old daughter) in the process. We share not only what is best based on the latest evidence, but what we have seen and experience that it actually works in the real world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
We love SoCal, especially Orange County. We are very much outdoors people so an ideal day or experience to share would be an amazing hike around Laguna Beach or Kayaking around Dana Point followed by one of our favorite places to grab lunch like “Vibe Organic Kitchen and Juice” or “Active Culture”. Getting exercise in the fresh air, while conversating with good company, taking in the views and then refueling with nutrient dense/delish food is our idea of a great time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Shout out to the integrative community, the plant-based community, and all of the advocates who believe in diving deeper into oneself and addressing root causes, not superficial symptoms.

-Nutrititionfacts.org
-Dr. Zach Bush
-Dr. Will Bulsiewics
-The Plantrician Project
-The Rodale Institute
-Dr. Vivien Chen
-Dr. Christian Gonzalez
-Dr. Lifestyle

and many more positive healers and organizations!

Website: www.MarriedtoHealth.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marriedtohealth/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marriedtohealth/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarriedtoHealth

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarriedtoHealth

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/married-to-health-newport-beach

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/marriedtohealth

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutLA is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.