Diane Hayden, Natural Nutmeg Magazine

Meet Dr. Diane Hayden, PhD, an entrepreneur, mindset coach, and speaker who has dedicated her career to empowering individuals in business, fitness, performance, and relationships. She’s built a prominent health and wellness publishing business (Natural Nutmeg & Essential Living Maine Magazines, ELM Publishing) starting with passion, a laptop and a dream.  The result has been a socially conscious print and digital platform that has touched over 1 million people in the last 11 years and now expanded to include live panel discussions with wellness experts and a podcast.

Dr. Hayden holds a Ph.D. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Maryland and a B.S. in Marketing from the University of Connecticut. She has worked as an Assistant Professor at institutions like Central Connecticut State University, St. Joseph’s College, New York Chiropractic College, and Manchester Community College. She is also a published author in peer-reviewed journals and a speaker who conducts workshops on spiritual and personal development. 

And we had the distinct honor of sitting down with her!!

Question 1:  Who is impacted by the work that you do?  Do you have a personal connection to this work?  

Anyone who is seeking help with a chronic health issue that traditional medicine can’t get to the root cause of and cure. People passionate about living a natural, healthier lifestyle to reduce stress, prevent disease, pursue personal and spiritual growth, protect the environment, and build thriving communities. 

I do have a personal connection to the magazines. I’ve always pursued a healthy lifestyle (running, teaching fitness classes, lifting weights, never smoking) and was into fitness since high school. It wasn’t until my late 30s that I learned about natural medicine and supplements, but I’ve always had this intuitive knowledge that the body can heal itself given the right resources. I hated taking any kind of medication (even aspirin) since I was a child. It just seemed foreign to me. It’s no coincidence that I worked for two nutritional supplement companies about 20 years ago. That’s when a new world opened to me as I began working with functional medicine and naturopathic physicians. Everything they taught and practiced just made sense to me. It became my mission to teach everyone I know about not only the powers of natural medicine but the ever-expanding modalities, treatments and products in this amazing industry. Creating the magazines allowed me to reach thousands daily. I know so many people’s lives have been changed due to getting this information out to the public. 

Question 2: While rewarding, purpose-driven work can also require significant energy from us.  Do you have a self-care routine that helps you maintain balance? 

I am fierce about protecting my self-care. I exercise daily, whether it’s walking, lifting, or running. I get regular massage and acupuncture. I meditate daily—even if I only have 10 minutes. I have energy healings and intuitive readings a few times a year. I read personal and spiritual development books and work on my mindset daily. I try to experience all of the modalities my advertisers use to better understand what they do and how to teach and market it to the readers. 

I’ve been very healthy most of my life, but 2 years ago I had my health issues that I had to face. From March 2023 – January 2024, my mom, who was 89, fell twice in a matter of 8 months and broke a hip each time. Then she had a pulmonary embolism. Yes, she lived through all of it. As an only child, I was the sole caretaker and the amount of stress I was under for that time was immense. I knew that stress was typically the root of all disease but I didn’t fully understand that until it happened to me. I was barely exercising and going to the gym maybe once a week while juggling her care, her home, all her bills – and my business and life. After about 2-3 months, I started having tachycardia at night and multiple episodes of PVCs during the day. It took me about a year and a half to eliminate that but I did it through stress reduction, acupuncture, supplements, diet, exercise and mindset. I realize even more now how important my work is – to teach people that the body can heal itself. 

Question 3:  Has there been a particular challenge in your life, where looking back now, you realize it was a pivotal moment in your growth journey? 

I can think of several challenges that have been pivotal in my growth journey. 

1. Failing my dissertation defense taught me about perseverance, resilience, and going after what I wanted. I had to rewrite most of my dissertation and defend it again, but I passed. 

2. My father dying when I was 27 – taught me about how short life is and not to wait to do things, take risks, and be independent.

3. Leaving Market America—I loved this job, but the company was unbearable to work for. It was like a divorce, and it put me on a spiritual path to find my purpose. We are spirits having a human experience. I devoured life-after-death books, past-life books, anything metaphysical and intuitive. I worked with energy healers and intuitives, which led me to starting the magazine. 

4. My heart issues – taught me about the power of the body to heal, made me look at things in my lifestyle I needed to change to be healthier. 

Question 4:  Community and mentorship are so important.  Is there a particular person or persons that you’ve drawn inspiration from over the years?

I’d have to say all of my holistic community practitioners are my inspiration. They are why I do what I do. There are a couple of other people I’ll mention. Dennis Franks – he was my boss at Market America – and the only reason I lasted there as long as I did. He taught me to go after what I want and see it through. His words to me that I haven’t forgotten – whatever you do, see it through. 

My PhD advisor, Dr. Ben Hurley, told me that when you’ve practiced a presentation enough times that you think you’re ready, do it three more times. 

My mom – to make it through 2 broken hips, a pulmonary embolism, and a pacemaker implant in less than a year at 89 years old – that is resilience and inspiration. 

Question 5:  What advice would you offer the woman with a whisper in her heart to lean deeper into her power?  

Take the risk. Tomorrow is going to come and go. A year is going to come and go. 5 years are going to come and go. The time passes whether we do something with it or not. How will you feel 5 years from now if you’re still in the same place as you are today? The regret of not fulfilling my soul’s purpose is much worse than the risk of doing something and failing. I used to be afraid to fail – if I thought I wouldn’t be successful at it, I wouldn’t do it. Failing a defense cured that. Today, I am grateful that happened to me. It was terribly humiliating and embarrassing at the time, but I now realize it was a necessary part of my journey. 

We’re all going to have loss, failure, disappointment, pain, and heartache in our lives, but I believe it happens for a reason—to make us who we are today and push us to fulfill our soul’s purpose. 

Listen and trust your intuition. We spend too much time seeking guidance from outside ourselves. If you listen, your soul and the Universe will speak to you. If you try to do something that’s not working, you keep failing. There’s always an obstacle – the universe telling you this isn’t right for you, so choose another direction. Don’t confuse this with trying something once and giving up – like my defense – but if you are resilient and keep trying, you will succeed.

I tell all my clients that the only people who fail are the ones who stop trying.