February 18, 2025 • 26 mins
Lacy Davidson Ferguson, Holistic Practitioner, Registered Dietitian, and Yoga Teacher, is here—and boy, is she providing an awakening! Listen in as Lacy's warm spirit and practical, real-life principles can help guide you and your family toward ultimate wellness!! "Our bodies have an innate ability to heal and that bliss is our birthright!"--- Lacy Davidson Ferguson.
This is a two-parter (!!!) so grab a notepad and be sure to checkout Lacy's website for taking your first steps!
https://www.lacydavidsonferguson.com/
Please be sure to checkout our website for previous episodes, our psych-approved resource page, and connect with us on social media! All this and more at www.thelylaspodcast.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Lylas.
We are so excited we have aspecial guest with us today and
we are excited to welcome MissLacey Davidson Ferguson to the
Lylas podcast.
If you don't know her already,she is a holistic provider in
the West Virginia area I'll sayWest Virginia and she's got a
(00:24):
lot going on.
But basically, just to give youa little bit of a background
here, lacey is a registereddietitian.
She is currently working on herPhD through WVU.
She owns and operates a farm ina rural part of West Virginia
called Elmcrest Farms and shealso has a storefront called 12
(00:45):
Pole Trading Post, and so we'regoing to talk a lot about how
all of these things fit togetherand really get into this
holistic lifestyle.
(01:10):
I'm going to go ahead andapologize because I think Sarah
and I are a little bit offangirls of you, lacey.
You're the real deal and Ithink a lot of things that we
talk about on this podcastyou're living it, you're doing
it and I really admire that,especially where we come from in
West Virginia.
I really admire just you're.
You're doing it and and andreally, I think, trying to help
(01:33):
the community that you live into see how we can better our
lives by this more like holisticapproach.
So thanks for coming on.
We're excited to have you likeholistic approach, so thanks for
coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We're excited to have you.
Oh, you guys are sweet.
I am so pumped to be here.
You two are my favorite people.
I love what you guys are doingand what you're sharing it's,
it's so needed.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So thanks for having me on.
We're pumped.
We both know you from differentintersections of our life, and
so to be able to share thismoment with you, I think really,
really special, and especiallywith our listeners as well.
Again, because so much of whatyou bring to the table is a very
holistic approach to life, foryourself, but also for your kids
, like you model and live thiswith them, and then with the
(02:19):
community too.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
so we need all the things so I don't know if I did
a great job of explaining this,but tell us a little bit about
your, your brand and kind of howyou got into this holistic
lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, wow, well, that's a really great question.
You know, I've, I think,looking back on my life, I've
spent the majority of it outside, you know, in nature, and so
nature has been my greatestteacher, whether I realized that
or not, you know, as an athletegrowing up, just because that
(02:54):
was what you did.
So I spent a lot of timeoutdoors, you know, on the ball
field or just in the woods oryou know whatever.
And then, as life went on, Istarted to realize just how
vulnerable our bodies are andhow much of an impact what we
(03:19):
consume, you know, whether it'sthrough the foods that we eat,
or the water that we drink, orthe air that we breathe, or the
things that we watch, or thethings that we hear, you know
all of the consumption thathappens really has an impact on
our physical, body and and aswell as our mental.
And so, you know, somewhereduring my, my undergrad
(03:40):
schooling, I started to embracethat more and realize, like,
maybe this is what I want to dowith myself.
You know, this is what I wantto be when I grow up, and and so
, you know, I was pre med, andand when I was doing the
internship part, and and I waswith a practitioner who maybe
(04:00):
wasn't at that time just likesuper ecstatic about what he did
or how he did it.
It had an effect on me and Irealized, like this is not the
path for me.
And so some mentors in my lifesuggested that I become a look
into registered, becomingregistered dietitian, and so
that's the path that I took.
I moved as far away from WestVirginia as I could at the time.
(04:22):
I landed in California, so Ilived in California for a few
years.
That's really where I fell inlove with and found yoga.
So this time in my life, whereI'm kind of shape-shifting and
learning who I am and what Iwant to be, I discovered the
power of nutrition and the powerof yoga like simultaneously,
(04:42):
and those two pieces reallyprovide the framework of like
who I am and and what I believeand how I try to live my life
day to day.
So yeah, that's maybe a littlebit.
Does that answer your?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
question that is, and I think really in talking about
what you all have created andwhat you've started with your
farm and your businesses, andhow you're kind of connecting
all of these things, that's sortof my perception being, you
know what I see on social media,but you are and I visited the
trading post and you're kind ofyou know, not only are you
(05:20):
bringing this to a, you know,rural community, but but you're
really trying to embed this andand help to educate people on
these things and I just wouldyou call it sort of like a
grassroots effort or how it feltwhen you were starting all of
this.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah so.
So what we tend to say, park ismy husband, park and I, we
we've co-founded all of thistogether and with our whole
families involved.
Like this is by no means likethe Lacey show or the Lacey and
Park show.
Everything we do is a groupeffort from our family and our.
You know folks in our communitywho rise up to be as crazy as
(05:56):
we are, but anyway, we all ofthis has kind of just happened
organically.
You know, we initially decidedthat we wanted to eat really
good quality food, and the onlyway that we knew that that would
happen is if we raised itourselves, because we live in
what the USDA would classify asa food desert.
(06:17):
So you know, access to highquality, nutrient dense,
wholesome food is not great.
We do have a Walmart where weare, but some people who live in
Wayne like, even Walmart is anhour or hour and a half away
from where they are.
So anyway, we decided we wouldstart farming and we hadn't a
(06:38):
clue what we were doing.
We both were raised on farmsand so we knew a little bit
enough to be dangerous.
But we found a really greatcommunity of other farmers who,
you know, were more than happyto show us the ropes, and we
learned a lot along the way,like we probably don't do more
(06:59):
things that we've tried than wecurrently do.
So we figured out you know whatwe're good at and what we're
not good at and what what mothernature wants to support us on
in this, this journey.
But anyway, we we just wanted toeat really good quality food,
like it all starts with us andat home, and so in doing so we
(07:20):
ended up realizing well, now wecan, we're raising more than we
can consume, um, and we want our, our friends and family to to
benefit as well.
And so we started um.
We turned what had been parks,families, farm um business into
more of a um, a customer facingbusiness.
(07:42):
You know, it had beenestablished as a business for a
really long time but we kind ofcranked it up a bit and took it
to the next level and starteddoing farmer's markets and
pop-up events and eventuallybuilding what is now the 12-pole
trading post.
So it's just kind of evolvedover time.
And none of it came with abusiness plan in tow, like we
(08:05):
just winged it and figured itout as we went.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, so it wasn't like a masterminded plan here
that you had this vision.
It just really grew organically, it sounds.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, well, I think that the community was hungry
for it too, though, to haveoptions, because, you're right,
whenever you go to differentstores around here, you're
really you don't know whatyou're consuming, you don't know
what is being put into themeats or anything else, and you
know we've lost connection, Ithink, with the fact that we do
(08:38):
have a fertile earth.
You know it's maybe not thebest for farming and other
things here, because themountains or the peaks or the
valleys, but we can still beresourceful, and I think one
thing that I've seen from youall is that you really do focus
on teaching people to go back tothe land.
The land that you do have, evenif it's minimal, can still
provide, and you teach peoplethat as well as part of your
(09:01):
all's outreach right.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
We since the.
Actually, I think before theinception of the 12 hole trading
post, we partnered with BereaCollege.
So backstory a little bit onthat.
So Sarah and I think becamereally close during our trail
running days and I think you'reback to trail running.
(09:24):
All I'm chasing are kids.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Maybe until Perry.
Menopause Jenny.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I'll pick it back up.
But so Park and I started anonprofit called Access West
Virginia I don't know, I'm goingto say 2015, 2016, something
like that because we werehosting trail races, we wanted
to promote outdoor recreationand, at the same time, our local
food systems and just beingoutdoors and plugged into nature
.
And so, as a part of that, wewere eligible for a grant with
(09:58):
Berea College and it was calledGrow Appalachia is called Grow
Appalachia.
We no longer run the programbut we've handed it off to some
really great folks and it'sgrown exponentially.
So check that out if anyone'sinterested Grow Appalachia.
Anyway, we invited anywhere from30 to I think at our peak we
(10:23):
had like 60 families to come in.
They got growing supplies, theylearned about organic gardening
, they learned about organicfood preservation, how to
prepare foods, and it was such aneed.
And so we still, while we nolonger run that program, we
still try to do outreach andeducation through the trading
post and workshops and justtrying to promote what other
(10:44):
people are now doing as well.
So, yeah, super important to us.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
What have you noticed just as in your position as a
professional and then you knowin the community as being, like,
the biggest deficits that we'refacing, no matter where we live
, whenever it comes to nutritionand food?
Like where are we just missingthe mark on this?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You know, I think it all starts with awareness.
Seen the mark on this.
You know, I think it all startswith awareness and there there
is no better time than now, likeI think, now moving forward,
like everybody knows what reddye is now, and and if you would
have asked people, like evenfive months ago, about red dye,
no one not I won't say no one,but a lot of people would have
been like what, what are youtalking about?
(11:26):
No one not I won't say no one,but a lot of people would have
been like what, what are youtalking about?
And so awareness is key, justrealizing that there is a
connection between what weconsume and how we feel, and it
all starts there.
And so having that perspectiveand then knowing where to go for
more information, I think isreally key.
(11:47):
Where to go for moreinformation, I think is really
key.
Beyond that, you know we raise alot of what we consume, but we
also shop at Walmart.
So I think the resources arethere.
It's just harder for some of usin some places to put them
together.
You know, time and income aside, because those are two big
(12:10):
factors that are limitingresources for a lot of people.
But, yeah, I would sayawareness is the biggest key,
and so the more conversationslike this that happen, you know,
the more that we have folksthat stand up for the greater
good and speak out and say thisisn't right, like we can't keep
doing this, we're makingourselves sick as a, as a
society, like the better.
(12:30):
You know, that's my perspectiveanyway.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, with that like, what is your advice then?
Like, if you know, we are allbecoming, like you said, more
aware of the importance ofreading labels, understanding
that some of the foods, some ofthe crops that we're eating from
, are, it's just not real food,it's not the real food that was
eaten in 1950s or, you know,earlier, within generations.
What is your advice then?
(12:55):
Like, if I'm going to go to thegrocery store tomorrow to pick
out things for my family, whereshould my eyes be going in order
to prepare, you know, anutritious, well-balanced meal
that's also affordable?
Like, what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, great question.
I would say first, start small,right, and anyone I talk to
like creating minimumopportunities to fail, because
the first time that we set outto change our lifestyle, most of
us try to change all of it atthe same time.
Like we decide that we're goingto start going to the gym or,
you know, even just walkingoutside, but we're also going to
(13:34):
start eating cleaner and we'regoing to start, you know, buying
a fewer product.
You know all of the things.
So I would say, pick one areaand focus on that.
And if I had to pick one area,I was working with someone to
encourage them to pick one area.
Of course, there would be someconversation about priorities
and and time and money.
But, um, proteins you know,your, your meat, your eggs, your
(13:56):
fish, your, your, um, dairythose, in my opinion, are are
the best places to start interms of food.
Um, just because, by and large,they're the most nutrient,
dense, they're the mostsatiating and they can either be
incredibly nutritious or reallynot nutritious, and so that's
(14:18):
the place that I encouragepeople to start and keep it
simple.
Just flip the package over andread the label.
You know, the fewer ingredientsthe better.
There's nothing wrong withbuying it frozen.
You know, buying it fresh isgreat.
Even buying it already cookedfor you is not that bad.
Just know what's in there andto me that's a really good place
(14:40):
to start.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I've noticed with my kids, instead of saying,
well, you can't have, have thator we shouldn't have that, if I
say, well, let's look at thepackage, let's see what's in
this, you know, because they'llstart to try.
My son can read, my daughter,she's learning.
But, you know, jack will lookat something and he'll be like I
don't know what these words areand I'm like right, do you want
to put that in your body?
(15:02):
I do manage some of the most ofwhat they eat, but I also want
them to try things because Ithink they need to experience
that.
Oh, I ate this.
And then I felt terrible twohours later, like I, I want them
to kind of make that connectionthemselves.
And so my son, you know he's,he'll be 10 soon, but he, he
makes that connection.
He'll be like mom, I drank thatGatorade and I felt terrible
(15:23):
afterwards and I'm like, yeah,because that had more sugar than
you should consume overmultiple days, you know.
And so, just like I thinksometimes, you know, letting
kids experience it and kind ofsee it for themselves, versus
just being like, well, we don'teat that, because that's not a
whole food, like you know,that's not true.
They're going to be exposed toall these different types of
(15:43):
foods throughout their life.
They need, we need to.
I think we should be preparingthem to make those, those
choices themselves of this.
You know what's in this and do?
Do I really want to put this inmy body, like you said?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Bravo, mom, that's, that's the perfect strategy in
my opinion, and in fact that Iwould say that's what propelled
me back to grad school to workon my doctoral degree.
You know, I was realizing withmy patients that knowledge was
never enough, and oftentimes itwas never about knowledge, like
some.
Some folks that came in that Iworked with or have worked with
(16:20):
knew more about nutrition than Idid, you know, like they were
really, really savvy, but stillthey struggled to change their
behavior.
And so one of the things thatI've started to uncover is
exactly what you just said thatit really has to come from this
place of I'm ready, I want toand I'm autonomously motivated
(16:40):
to do this right, like I readthe facts, I know what it feels
like and I am ready to change.
Then the knowledge just doesits magic, you know.
It just sinks in and the actiontakes over.
But I think that's one of thebest strategies that you can
employ with children, and I'vebeen toying with that myself.
(17:00):
You know it's lead by example,for sure, but letting them come
to their own conclusions isreally the best teacher in my
experience.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I think that's so important because I've had I
only have one friend, so samplesize of one here.
But you know, her mom was verystrict in what they ate.
They weren't allowed to havesugar, they weren't allowed to
have any processed foods, and soshe was like I would go over to
a friend's house and, just likeyou know, like as much as I
could because it wasn't allowed,like you know, like as much as
I could because it wasn'tallowed.
And I think that's where for meit was like a aha moment of if
(17:32):
I keep this from them, they'regoing to want it more, it's
going to take them even more.
Let them have access to it.
You know, in small quantity,you know in a kind of controlled
way, but let them access it anddecide for themselves what they
like and what feels good tothem.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, I have to agree.
In our house we try to not keepa lot of junk, but we also have
my kids eat plenty of junk,like Cheetos and whatever is
available.
You saw them chowing down onwhatever they could get their
hands on when we were at thetrading post and so, um, you
(18:10):
know, we, we try to have aphilosophy that all food fits
but at the same time, they canrealize, you know, my, my
five-year-old is is so intuitive.
He knows like, oh, thisbellyache is because I just, you
know, ate two chocolate chipcookies and and I haven't drank
enough water.
So, um, know it's, it's.
In my experience it's.
(18:34):
A lot of us were were raised onprobably the standard American
diet or the sad diet, and and weturned out okay.
Is it the same?
You know our food supply todayas it was 30 years ago?
No, not at all, it's it's.
You know the same productsmight still exist, and, and you
know at all it's it's.
You know the same productsmight still exist, and, and you
know the formulas have probablychanged quite a bit, but we're
still here, right, like, like,we survived it, and I think you
(18:55):
know finding the path forwardthat makes the most sense for
you and your family is is whatit's all about, because
stressing over it is is onlygoing to make things worse.
Worse Right.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with what you're saying and I
know that even from a researchkind of standpoint, and correct
me from wrong ways, but it'slike we did survive it, but if
we look at obesity rates,generation, generation, it's
increasing.
So we survived it but we're notdoing well, right, and and I
think that that's the differenceand I hear people talking about
(19:27):
this a little I did thiswhenever I was a kid and I'm
okay.
What is your mark for beingokay?
Because I guarantee it's notthe same as what your labs are
or what would be.
You know where you could befrom a like a health-based
perspective, and so we may besurviving, but we're not
necessarily thriving because ofall of this stuff that's now
(19:49):
within our, that we're consuming, just overall.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Right yeah, my take on that is moderation leads to
moderate health, right, like doyou want to feel amazing.
Like, do you want to know thatwhen you're 70, you can get on
the ground and crawl around withyour kids or, you know, dance
at your, your granddaughter'swedding when you're in your
eighties?
Like then, maybe you need to bea little more extreme, you know
(20:14):
, maybe you need to be tightenthings up and and pay more
attention and be more aware andbe more discerning about what
you put in your body.
Moderation, you know, leads tomoderate health, and so what are
you satisfied with?
You know what makes sense foryou and your family.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, I love that.
I'm going to steal that thatmoderation leads to moderate
health, because that's such agreat point.
Like, if that's your goal,that's okay, right, like
everything in moderation.
But if, like you're saying, Iwant to be like my mother in law
, skiing with my grandkids wellinto my 60s, you know, down,
down, down the mountain, so I'mgonna do that.
I have to.
(20:54):
You know, I'm gonna do whateverthey did because they, to me,
are the example in many ways.
But growing up because I knowyou grew up on a farm did you
all raise a lot of your own foodgrowing up, or would you say
you mostly consumed what youcould buy at the store?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, so that's that's interesting.
We definitely my grandma, mydad's side of the family we
lived on that family farm and soyou know we always had a huge
garden.
My grandmother was like thegarden extraordinaire, and so we
ate a lot of food fresh fromthe garden during the summer
season, but it was never like athing Like that was just what
(21:31):
she did, you know.
That was just like what we ate.
It was never glorified in theway that small farming is today,
I think.
And we raised cattle.
I don't remember.
I mean honestly, we, mybrothers and my dad all hunted
and so we ate more venison thanwe did beef and didn't know the
difference as kids.
(21:52):
I didn't anyways, maybe mybrothers did, but it was a mix.
It wasn't like my parentsweren't super.
You know we're only eating whatwe raise.
Super.
You know we're only eating whatwe raise.
You know they just did whatthey could do to feed a house
full of kids and and get on tothe next activity.
Like food was never really abig part of our day.
It wasn't something that wespent a lot of time thinking
(22:14):
about or talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Wow, it's so interesting to me just how,
because you know, like now Ilive in the suburbs, right, and
so I don't have a farm, I've gotmy little kitchen garden out to
the side and same thing.
It's more of like, you know,yeah, we eat what we, what we
grow, but it's, you know, it'scertainly not like sustaining us
by any means, you know.
But I just find it sointeresting because a lot of the
(22:41):
food that I ate, at least at mydad's house, he had raised a
lot of the proteins and thingslike that.
And so, just in what you weretalking about, how you spent the
majority of your childhoodoutside and and all of these
things, like my kids, I do feellike we tend to focus or we
don't focus, but we talk a lotabout food and exercise and
(23:02):
health and things, because kidsjust don't spend as much time
outside as they used to.
And it's and I'll be honest,like I don't love it and I it is
something that we struggle withto get them to go outside and
stay outside, like our parentshad a hard time getting us
inside, if you recall, you knowlike it's yes.
You know if it's hot, or youknow I live in Charleston, so in
(23:22):
the summertime my kids are likebeating on the back door like
let us in.
You know sweat pouring downtheir face Like please, I have a
hard time being like stay outthere in the hundred degrees.
Mom will be in the AC, you knowit just.
But it is something that I feellike we have to almost pay more
(23:44):
attention to, just because kidsaren't running around for eight
hours a day outside.
I don't know, maybe that's justme.
Your kids probably are, becauseyou live right there with you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I agree on that point .
I think it's, you know, similarto sugar in the house.
It's like creating theenvironment to facilitate the
change.
You know, like making a reason,or creating a reason to be
outside and not creating as manyreasons to be inside.
You know, just same with thefood approach.
(24:16):
It's like we're all creaturesof nature and, by design, our
design is to seek high calorie,ideally nutrient dense food
right, and to and to conserve asmany of those calories as we
can like.
That is our innate blueprint,that is our design.
And so now our modernlifestyles like don't really
(24:41):
support us in in maximizing thatright, as we've got this
genetic mismatch of of ourbodies are designed to prevent
starvation, and now we're inthis, this world of abundance,
where we don't have to do awhole lot, and so that's a real
struggle for most of us.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
And by design our bodies were supposed to move.
They were not meant to besedentary.
Sedentary, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And so I mean going back a little bit.
You kind of talked about howyou found yourself in this
beautiful transition, where youwere, you know, out in
California learning about food,but that's also where you found
yoga as like a foundation forthings.
So how you know yoga is theyoking of two things.
So how did you find that yoketo kind of build who you are,
(25:31):
and how do you incorporate thatas part of your holistic
wellness plan too?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Pump the brakes.
If you want to hear more fromLucy, Sarah and Jen about how
you can lead a more holisticlifestyle, stick around and come
back for part two next week.
This episode ran a little long,but there was just too much
good information that wecouldn't cut out, so keep up
with us on all of our socialsand make sure to check out the
podcast next week, where we willpick up our conversation with
(25:56):
Lucy Lylas.
We out you.
Welcome to Lylas.
We are so excited we have aspecial guest with us today and
we are excited to welcome MissLacey Davidson Ferguson to the
Lylas podcast.
If you don't know her already,she is a holistic provider in
the West Virginia area I'll sayWest Virginia and she's got a
(00:24):
lot going on.
But basically, just to give youa little bit of a background
here, lacey is a registereddietitian.
She is currently working on herPhD through WVU.
She owns and operates a farm ina rural part of West Virginia
called Elmcrest Farms and shealso has a storefront called 12
(00:45):
Pole Trading Post, and so we'regoing to talk a lot about how
all of these things fit togetherand really get into this
holistic lifestyle.
(01:10):
I'm going to go ahead andapologize because I think Sarah
and I are a little bit offangirls of you, lacey.
You're the real deal and Ithink a lot of things that we
talk about on this podcastyou're living it, you're doing
it and I really admire that,especially where we come from in
West Virginia.
I really admire just you're.
You're doing it and and andreally, I think, trying to help
(01:33):
the community that you live into see how we can better our
lives by this more like holisticapproach.
So thanks for coming on.
We're excited to have you likeholistic approach, so thanks for
coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:46):
We're excited to have you.
Oh, you guys are sweet.
I am so pumped to be here.
You two are my favorite people.
I love what you guys are doingand what you're sharing it's,
it's so needed.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
So thanks for having me on.
We're pumped.
We both know you from differentintersections of our life, and
so to be able to share thismoment with you, I think really,
really special, and especiallywith our listeners as well.
Again, because so much of whatyou bring to the table is a very
holistic approach to life, foryourself, but also for your kids
, like you model and live thiswith them, and then with the
(02:19):
community too.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
so we need all the things so I don't know if I did
a great job of explaining this,but tell us a little bit about
your, your brand and kind of howyou got into this holistic
lifestyle.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
Yeah, wow, well, that's a really great question.
You know, I've, I think,looking back on my life, I've
spent the majority of it outside, you know, in nature, and so
nature has been my greatestteacher, whether I realized that
or not, you know, as an athletegrowing up, just because that
(02:54):
was what you did.
So I spent a lot of timeoutdoors, you know, on the ball
field or just in the woods oryou know whatever.
And then, as life went on, Istarted to realize just how
vulnerable our bodies are andhow much of an impact what we
(03:19):
consume, you know, whether it'sthrough the foods that we eat,
or the water that we drink, orthe air that we breathe, or the
things that we watch, or thethings that we hear, you know
all of the consumption thathappens really has an impact on
our physical, body and and aswell as our mental.
And so, you know, somewhereduring my, my undergrad
(03:40):
schooling, I started to embracethat more and realize, like,
maybe this is what I want to dowith myself.
You know, this is what I wantto be when I grow up, and and so
, you know, I was pre med, andand when I was doing the
internship part, and and I waswith a practitioner who maybe
(04:00):
wasn't at that time just likesuper ecstatic about what he did
or how he did it.
It had an effect on me and Irealized, like this is not the
path for me.
And so some mentors in my lifesuggested that I become a look
into registered, becomingregistered dietitian, and so
that's the path that I took.
I moved as far away from WestVirginia as I could at the time.
(04:22):
I landed in California, so Ilived in California for a few
years.
That's really where I fell inlove with and found yoga.
So this time in my life, whereI'm kind of shape-shifting and
learning who I am and what Iwant to be, I discovered the
power of nutrition and the powerof yoga like simultaneously,
(04:42):
and those two pieces reallyprovide the framework of like
who I am and and what I believeand how I try to live my life
day to day.
So yeah, that's maybe a littlebit.
Does that answer your?
Speaker 1 (04:58):
question that is, and I think really in talking about
what you all have created andwhat you've started with your
farm and your businesses, andhow you're kind of connecting
all of these things, that's sortof my perception being, you
know what I see on social media,but you are and I visited the
trading post and you're kind ofyou know, not only are you
(05:20):
bringing this to a, you know,rural community, but but you're
really trying to embed this andand help to educate people on
these things and I just wouldyou call it sort of like a
grassroots effort or how it feltwhen you were starting all of
this.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Yeah so.
So what we tend to say, park ismy husband, park and I, we
we've co-founded all of thistogether and with our whole
families involved.
Like this is by no means likethe Lacey show or the Lacey and
Park show.
Everything we do is a groupeffort from our family and our.
You know folks in our communitywho rise up to be as crazy as
(05:56):
we are, but anyway, we all ofthis has kind of just happened
organically.
You know, we initially decidedthat we wanted to eat really
good quality food, and the onlyway that we knew that that would
happen is if we raised itourselves, because we live in
what the USDA would classify asa food desert.
(06:17):
So you know, access to highquality, nutrient dense,
wholesome food is not great.
We do have a Walmart where weare, but some people who live in
Wayne like, even Walmart is anhour or hour and a half away
from where they are.
So anyway, we decided we wouldstart farming and we hadn't a
(06:38):
clue what we were doing.
We both were raised on farmsand so we knew a little bit
enough to be dangerous.
But we found a really greatcommunity of other farmers who,
you know, were more than happyto show us the ropes, and we
learned a lot along the way,like we probably don't do more
(06:59):
things that we've tried than wecurrently do.
So we figured out you know whatwe're good at and what we're
not good at and what what mothernature wants to support us on
in this, this journey.
But anyway, we we just wanted toeat really good quality food,
like it all starts with us andat home, and so in doing so we
(07:20):
ended up realizing well, now wecan, we're raising more than we
can consume, um, and we want our, our friends and family to to
benefit as well.
And so we started um.
We turned what had been parks,families, farm um business into
more of a um, a customer facingbusiness.
(07:42):
You know, it had beenestablished as a business for a
really long time but we kind ofcranked it up a bit and took it
to the next level and starteddoing farmer's markets and
pop-up events and eventuallybuilding what is now the 12-pole
trading post.
So it's just kind of evolvedover time.
And none of it came with abusiness plan in tow, like we
(08:05):
just winged it and figured itout as we went.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, so it wasn't like a masterminded plan here
that you had this vision.
It just really grew organically, it sounds.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
Yeah, well, I think that the community was hungry
for it too, though, to haveoptions, because, you're right,
whenever you go to differentstores around here, you're
really you don't know whatyou're consuming, you don't know
what is being put into themeats or anything else, and you
know we've lost connection, Ithink, with the fact that we do
(08:38):
have a fertile earth.
You know it's maybe not thebest for farming and other
things here, because themountains or the peaks or the
valleys, but we can still beresourceful, and I think one
thing that I've seen from youall is that you really do focus
on teaching people to go back tothe land.
The land that you do have, evenif it's minimal, can still
provide, and you teach peoplethat as well as part of your
(09:01):
all's outreach right.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Yeah, yeah, we do.
We since the.
Actually, I think before theinception of the 12 hole trading
post, we partnered with BereaCollege.
So backstory a little bit onthat.
So Sarah and I think becamereally close during our trail
running days and I think you'reback to trail running.
(09:24):
All I'm chasing are kids.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
Maybe until Perry.
Menopause Jenny.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I'll pick it back up.
But so Park and I started anonprofit called Access West
Virginia I don't know, I'm goingto say 2015, 2016, something
like that because we werehosting trail races, we wanted
to promote outdoor recreationand, at the same time, our local
food systems and just beingoutdoors and plugged into nature
.
And so, as a part of that, wewere eligible for a grant with
(09:58):
Berea College and it was calledGrow Appalachia is called Grow
Appalachia.
We no longer run the programbut we've handed it off to some
really great folks and it'sgrown exponentially.
So check that out if anyone'sinterested Grow Appalachia.
Anyway, we invited anywhere from30 to I think at our peak we
(10:23):
had like 60 families to come in.
They got growing supplies, theylearned about organic gardening
, they learned about organicfood preservation, how to
prepare foods, and it was such aneed.
And so we still, while we nolonger run that program, we
still try to do outreach andeducation through the trading
post and workshops and justtrying to promote what other
(10:44):
people are now doing as well.
So, yeah, super important to us.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
What have you noticed just as in your position as a
professional and then you knowin the community as being, like,
the biggest deficits that we'refacing, no matter where we live
, whenever it comes to nutritionand food?
Like where are we just missingthe mark on this?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You know, I think it all starts with awareness.
Seen the mark on this.
You know, I think it all startswith awareness and there there
is no better time than now, likeI think, now moving forward,
like everybody knows what reddye is now, and and if you would
have asked people, like evenfive months ago, about red dye,
no one not I won't say no one,but a lot of people would have
been like what, what are youtalking about?
(11:26):
No one not I won't say no one,but a lot of people would have
been like what, what are youtalking about?
And so awareness is key, justrealizing that there is a
connection between what weconsume and how we feel, and it
all starts there.
And so having that perspectiveand then knowing where to go for
more information, I think isreally key.
(11:47):
Where to go for moreinformation, I think is really
key.
Beyond that, you know we raise alot of what we consume, but we
also shop at Walmart.
So I think the resources arethere.
It's just harder for some of usin some places to put them
together.
You know, time and income aside, because those are two big
(12:10):
factors that are limitingresources for a lot of people.
But, yeah, I would sayawareness is the biggest key,
and so the more conversationslike this that happen, you know,
the more that we have folksthat stand up for the greater
good and speak out and say thisisn't right, like we can't keep
doing this, we're makingourselves sick as a, as a
society, like the better.
(12:30):
You know, that's my perspectiveanyway.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Well, with that like, what is your advice then?
Like, if you know, we are allbecoming, like you said, more
aware of the importance ofreading labels, understanding
that some of the foods, some ofthe crops that we're eating from
, are, it's just not real food,it's not the real food that was
eaten in 1950s or, you know,earlier, within generations.
What is your advice then?
(12:55):
Like, if I'm going to go to thegrocery store tomorrow to pick
out things for my family, whereshould my eyes be going in order
to prepare, you know, anutritious, well-balanced meal
that's also affordable?
Like, what am I doing?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, great question.
I would say first, start small,right, and anyone I talk to
like creating minimumopportunities to fail, because
the first time that we set outto change our lifestyle, most of
us try to change all of it atthe same time.
Like we decide that we're goingto start going to the gym or,
you know, even just walkingoutside, but we're also going to
(13:34):
start eating cleaner and we'regoing to start, you know, buying
a fewer product.
You know all of the things.
So I would say, pick one areaand focus on that.
And if I had to pick one area,I was working with someone to
encourage them to pick one area.
Of course, there would be someconversation about priorities
and and time and money.
But, um, proteins you know,your, your meat, your eggs, your
(13:56):
fish, your, your, um, dairythose, in my opinion, are are
the best places to start interms of food.
Um, just because, by and large,they're the most nutrient,
dense, they're the mostsatiating and they can either be
incredibly nutritious or reallynot nutritious, and so that's
(14:18):
the place that I encouragepeople to start and keep it
simple.
Just flip the package over andread the label.
You know, the fewer ingredientsthe better.
There's nothing wrong withbuying it frozen.
You know, buying it fresh isgreat.
Even buying it already cookedfor you is not that bad.
Just know what's in there andto me that's a really good place
(14:40):
to start.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Yeah, I've noticed with my kids, instead of saying,
well, you can't have, have thator we shouldn't have that, if I
say, well, let's look at thepackage, let's see what's in
this, you know, because they'llstart to try.
My son can read, my daughter,she's learning.
But, you know, jack will lookat something and he'll be like I
don't know what these words areand I'm like right, do you want
to put that in your body?
(15:02):
I do manage some of the most ofwhat they eat, but I also want
them to try things because Ithink they need to experience
that.
Oh, I ate this.
And then I felt terrible twohours later, like I, I want them
to kind of make that connectionthemselves.
And so my son, you know he's,he'll be 10 soon, but he, he
makes that connection.
He'll be like mom, I drank thatGatorade and I felt terrible
(15:23):
afterwards and I'm like, yeah,because that had more sugar than
you should consume overmultiple days, you know.
And so, just like I thinksometimes, you know, letting
kids experience it and kind ofsee it for themselves, versus
just being like, well, we don'teat that, because that's not a
whole food, like you know,that's not true.
They're going to be exposed toall these different types of
(15:43):
foods throughout their life.
They need, we need to.
I think we should be preparingthem to make those, those
choices themselves of this.
You know what's in this and do?
Do I really want to put this inmy body, like you said?
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Bravo, mom, that's, that's the perfect strategy in
my opinion, and in fact that Iwould say that's what propelled
me back to grad school to workon my doctoral degree.
You know, I was realizing withmy patients that knowledge was
never enough, and oftentimes itwas never about knowledge, like
some.
Some folks that came in that Iworked with or have worked with
(16:20):
knew more about nutrition than Idid, you know, like they were
really, really savvy, but stillthey struggled to change their
behavior.
And so one of the things thatI've started to uncover is
exactly what you just said thatit really has to come from this
place of I'm ready, I want toand I'm autonomously motivated
(16:40):
to do this right, like I readthe facts, I know what it feels
like and I am ready to change.
Then the knowledge just doesits magic, you know.
It just sinks in and the actiontakes over.
But I think that's one of thebest strategies that you can
employ with children, and I'vebeen toying with that myself.
(17:00):
You know it's lead by example,for sure, but letting them come
to their own conclusions isreally the best teacher in my
experience.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
I think that's so important because I've had I
only have one friend, so samplesize of one here.
But you know, her mom was verystrict in what they ate.
They weren't allowed to havesugar, they weren't allowed to
have any processed foods, and soshe was like I would go over to
a friend's house and, just likeyou know, like as much as I
could because it wasn't allowed,like you know, like as much as
I could because it wasn'tallowed.
And I think that's where for meit was like a aha moment of if
(17:32):
I keep this from them, they'regoing to want it more, it's
going to take them even more.
Let them have access to it.
You know, in small quantity,you know in a kind of controlled
way, but let them access it anddecide for themselves what they
like and what feels good tothem.
Speaker 2 (17:50):
Yeah, yeah, I have to agree.
In our house we try to not keepa lot of junk, but we also have
my kids eat plenty of junk,like Cheetos and whatever is
available.
You saw them chowing down onwhatever they could get their
hands on when we were at thetrading post and so, um, you
(18:10):
know, we, we try to have aphilosophy that all food fits
but at the same time, they canrealize, you know, my, my
five-year-old is is so intuitive.
He knows like, oh, thisbellyache is because I just, you
know, ate two chocolate chipcookies and and I haven't drank
enough water.
So, um, know it's, it's.
In my experience it's.
(18:34):
A lot of us were were raised onprobably the standard American
diet or the sad diet, and and weturned out okay.
Is it the same?
You know our food supply todayas it was 30 years ago?
No, not at all, it's it's.
You know the same productsmight still exist, and, and you
know at all it's it's.
You know the same productsmight still exist, and, and you
know the formulas have probablychanged quite a bit, but we're
still here, right, like, like,we survived it, and I think you
(18:55):
know finding the path forwardthat makes the most sense for
you and your family is is whatit's all about, because
stressing over it is is onlygoing to make things worse.
Worse Right.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, yeah, I agree with what you're saying and I
know that even from a researchkind of standpoint, and correct
me from wrong ways, but it'slike we did survive it, but if
we look at obesity rates,generation, generation, it's
increasing.
So we survived it but we're notdoing well, right, and and I
think that that's the differenceand I hear people talking about
(19:27):
this a little I did thiswhenever I was a kid and I'm
okay.
What is your mark for beingokay?
Because I guarantee it's notthe same as what your labs are
or what would be.
You know where you could befrom a like a health-based
perspective, and so we may besurviving, but we're not
necessarily thriving because ofall of this stuff that's now
(19:49):
within our, that we're consuming, just overall.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Right yeah, my take on that is moderation leads to
moderate health, right, like doyou want to feel amazing.
Like, do you want to know thatwhen you're 70, you can get on
the ground and crawl around withyour kids or, you know, dance
at your, your granddaughter'swedding when you're in your
eighties?
Like then, maybe you need to bea little more extreme, you know
(20:14):
, maybe you need to be tightenthings up and and pay more
attention and be more aware andbe more discerning about what
you put in your body.
Moderation, you know, leads tomoderate health, and so what are
you satisfied with?
You know what makes sense foryou and your family.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah, I love that.
I'm going to steal that thatmoderation leads to moderate
health, because that's such agreat point.
Like, if that's your goal,that's okay, right, like
everything in moderation.
But if, like you're saying, Iwant to be like my mother in law
, skiing with my grandkids wellinto my 60s, you know, down,
down, down the mountain, so I'mgonna do that.
I have to.
(20:54):
You know, I'm gonna do whateverthey did because they, to me,
are the example in many ways.
But growing up because I knowyou grew up on a farm did you
all raise a lot of your own foodgrowing up, or would you say
you mostly consumed what youcould buy at the store?
Speaker 2 (21:09):
Yeah, so that's that's interesting.
We definitely my grandma, mydad's side of the family we
lived on that family farm and soyou know we always had a huge
garden.
My grandmother was like thegarden extraordinaire, and so we
ate a lot of food fresh fromthe garden during the summer
season, but it was never like athing Like that was just what
(21:31):
she did, you know.
That was just like what we ate.
It was never glorified in theway that small farming is today,
I think.
And we raised cattle.
I don't remember.
I mean honestly, we, mybrothers and my dad all hunted
and so we ate more venison thanwe did beef and didn't know the
difference as kids.
(21:52):
I didn't anyways, maybe mybrothers did, but it was a mix.
It wasn't like my parentsweren't super.
You know we're only eating whatwe raise.
Super.
You know we're only eating whatwe raise.
You know they just did whatthey could do to feed a house
full of kids and and get on tothe next activity.
Like food was never really abig part of our day.
It wasn't something that wespent a lot of time thinking
(22:14):
about or talking about.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
Wow, it's so interesting to me just how,
because you know, like now Ilive in the suburbs, right, and
so I don't have a farm, I've gotmy little kitchen garden out to
the side and same thing.
It's more of like, you know,yeah, we eat what we, what we
grow, but it's, you know, it'scertainly not like sustaining us
by any means, you know.
But I just find it sointeresting because a lot of the
(22:41):
food that I ate, at least at mydad's house, he had raised a
lot of the proteins and thingslike that.
And so, just in what you weretalking about, how you spent the
majority of your childhoodoutside and and all of these
things, like my kids, I do feellike we tend to focus or we
don't focus, but we talk a lotabout food and exercise and
(23:02):
health and things, because kidsjust don't spend as much time
outside as they used to.
And it's and I'll be honest,like I don't love it and I it is
something that we struggle withto get them to go outside and
stay outside, like our parentshad a hard time getting us
inside, if you recall, you knowlike it's yes.
You know if it's hot, or youknow I live in Charleston, so in
(23:22):
the summertime my kids are likebeating on the back door like
let us in.
You know sweat pouring downtheir face Like please, I have a
hard time being like stay outthere in the hundred degrees.
Mom will be in the AC, you knowit just.
But it is something that I feellike we have to almost pay more
(23:44):
attention to, just because kidsaren't running around for eight
hours a day outside.
I don't know, maybe that's justme.
Your kids probably are, becauseyou live right there with you.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
I agree on that point .
I think it's, you know, similarto sugar in the house.
It's like creating theenvironment to facilitate the
change.
You know, like making a reason,or creating a reason to be
outside and not creating as manyreasons to be inside.
You know, just same with thefood approach.
(24:16):
It's like we're all creaturesof nature and, by design, our
design is to seek high calorie,ideally nutrient dense food
right, and to and to conserve asmany of those calories as we
can like.
That is our innate blueprint,that is our design.
And so now our modernlifestyles like don't really
(24:41):
support us in in maximizing thatright, as we've got this
genetic mismatch of of ourbodies are designed to prevent
starvation, and now we're inthis, this world of abundance,
where we don't have to do awhole lot, and so that's a real
struggle for most of us.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
And by design our bodies were supposed to move.
They were not meant to besedentary.
Sedentary, yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Yeah, sure.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
And so I mean going back a little bit.
You kind of talked about howyou found yourself in this
beautiful transition, where youwere, you know, out in
California learning about food,but that's also where you found
yoga as like a foundation forthings.
So how you know yoga is theyoking of two things.
So how did you find that yoketo kind of build who you are,
(25:31):
and how do you incorporate thatas part of your holistic
wellness plan too?
Speaker 4 (25:35):
Pump the brakes.
If you want to hear more fromLucy, Sarah and Jen about how
you can lead a more holisticlifestyle, stick around and come
back for part two next week.
This episode ran a little long,but there was just too much
good information that wecouldn't cut out, so keep up
with us on all of our socialsand make sure to check out the
podcast next week, where we willpick up our conversation with
(25:56):
Lucy Lylas.
We out you.
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