April 19, 2023 • 43 mins
Dani Spies, Clean and DeliciousKeeping or even getting our family on a healthy path can be a major challenge during these crazy times we're in. How about keeping yourself on a healthier plan? How do you do it while integrating your plan into the family? There is a lot of energy telling us what to eat, how to eat it, why to eat it, and it's directed at the family, by the government, media, society, oh the list is long! Help!
What do you do?In this episode of TFBA we have the brilliant Dani Spies. Dani is an author, health, wellness, and weight coach and the creator of Clean & Delicious website and weekly cooking show on YouTube where she teaches her community of over 2 million healthy home cooks how to make healthy eating easy, delicious, and doable. Dani encourages her followers to focus on both real-whole foods AND creating a healthy mindset so they can reach their health wellness and weight loss goals without using restriction or deprivation! She is also the founder of The Don't Diet - a digital course and community that teaches people how to approach their weight loss goals in a kind, sane, sustainable way.
Dani believes in a mind, body, and soul approach to wellness and encourages her followers to do the same!Maureen Huntley is your host, board-certified Integrative holistic and functional medicine health coach, Emotional Freedom practitioner, mom, grandmother, wife, and CEO of her family’s home operations. If you miss any of our episodes, you can find us on Apple, Spotify, google, podbean, pandora, iheartradio podcast, CTR - Radio Network, and more. Deep Breath ~ Exhale ~ It starts with you.
Dani SpiesClean & DeliciousClean & Delicious: Eat Clean and Get Healthy with 100 Whole-Ingredient Recipeshttps://cleananddelicious.com/recipes/https://www.youtube.com/danispieshttps://www.facebook.com/CleanAndDeliciousWithDaniSpieshttps://twitter.com/DaniSpieshttps://www.instagram.com/clean_and_delicious/
Maureen Huntley, MS The Family Balancing Acthttps://maureenhuntley.com/ https://www.facebook.com/maureen.huntley?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.facebook.com/TheFamilyBalancingAct?mibextid=LQQJ4dhttps://www.instagram.com/mohuntley/www.ctrnetwork.com/thefamilybalancingactVIA Character Strengths *FREE assessment:http://maureenhuntley.pro.viasurvey.orghttp://vitalhealthforlife.pro.viasurvey.org
What do you do?In this episode of TFBA we have the brilliant Dani Spies. Dani is an author, health, wellness, and weight coach and the creator of Clean & Delicious website and weekly cooking show on YouTube where she teaches her community of over 2 million healthy home cooks how to make healthy eating easy, delicious, and doable. Dani encourages her followers to focus on both real-whole foods AND creating a healthy mindset so they can reach their health wellness and weight loss goals without using restriction or deprivation! She is also the founder of The Don't Diet - a digital course and community that teaches people how to approach their weight loss goals in a kind, sane, sustainable way.
Dani believes in a mind, body, and soul approach to wellness and encourages her followers to do the same!Maureen Huntley is your host, board-certified Integrative holistic and functional medicine health coach, Emotional Freedom practitioner, mom, grandmother, wife, and CEO of her family’s home operations. If you miss any of our episodes, you can find us on Apple, Spotify, google, podbean, pandora, iheartradio podcast, CTR - Radio Network, and more. Deep Breath ~ Exhale ~ It starts with you.
Dani SpiesClean & DeliciousClean & Delicious: Eat Clean and Get Healthy with 100 Whole-Ingredient Recipeshttps://cleananddelicious.com/recipes/https://www.youtube.com/danispieshttps://www.facebook.com/CleanAndDeliciousWithDaniSpieshttps://twitter.com/DaniSpieshttps://www.instagram.com/clean_and_delicious/
Maureen Huntley, MS The Family Balancing Acthttps://maureenhuntley.com/ https://www.facebook.com/maureen.huntley?mibextid=LQQJ4d https://www.facebook.com/TheFamilyBalancingAct?mibextid=LQQJ4dhttps://www.instagram.com/mohuntley/www.ctrnetwork.com/thefamilybalancingactVIA Character Strengths *FREE assessment:http://maureenhuntley.pro.viasurvey.orghttp://vitalhealthforlife.pro.viasurvey.org
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Welcome to where the screen door slamsand the coffee mug hits the table.
You're listening to the Family Balancing Actwith me, Maureen Huntley, mom,
grandmother and board certified Holistic and FunctionalMedicine health coach. Each episode will explore
the realities of your day to dayfamily life in this modern era of NonStop
(00:24):
texts, memes and technology. Afterall, how do we keep ourselves saying,
hand our family healthy? I'll haveamazing guests and thought provoking discussions,
and we'll take a holistic look atfamily health emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual. Whether it's a microperspective of family involving healthy snacks, teenagers
(00:48):
with an attitude, distressed out,husband's partners, adult children, potty training,
eldercare, grandchildren, college rep ora macro perspective of world events including
blue earthquakes, the brainwashing, media, finances, and oh so much more.
We'll find a way together. Sotake a deep, rapt exhale and
(01:10):
know that you're not alone. Bringon a Family Balancing Act. Thank you
(01:45):
so much for joining us in theFamily Balancing Act, where we are restoring
the heart of motherhood one conversation ata time. If you've been here with
me before, we'll welcome back,and if this is your first time,
it's an honor to have you here. I have a fantastic show for you
today. I'm so excited. Sowhat are you waiting for? Come on
(02:07):
in, pull up a chair,grab a tea coffee or a green juice
because we have a lot to talkabout with my guest, mother of two
and author, Danny Spees. Sheis a health, wellness and weight coach
and also the creator of Clean andDelicious Amazing website and a weekly cooking show
(02:30):
on YouTube, Yes on YouTube,which is freaking Amazing again, where she
teaches her community of over two millionhealthy home cooks how to make healthy eating
easy, delicious, and doable.You'll want to stick around for that.
I'm Maureen your host, board certifiedintegrative, holistic and Functional Medicine, health
(02:53):
coach, emotional freedom technique practitioner,mom, grandmother and CEO of My Family's
Home Operations. If you miss anyof our episodes, you can find us
on Apple, Spotify, Google,Podbean, Pandora, iHeartRadio podcasts and more.
CTR Radio Network. If you'd liketo sign up for my monthly newsletter
(03:17):
and grab my free year round holidaystress less tips go to Maureen Huntly and
may U r e E n hU n t l e y dot com.
You'll also learn how to work withme. I love what I do,
holistic solutions for health and well beingfor women, moms and their families,
(03:39):
getting to the heart and art ofmotherhood, God, boundaries and respect.
So deep, breath, exhale.It starts with Mom, it starts
with you. So recently, Iwent into the crevices of my attic in
(04:01):
search of Easter baskets and spring stuff, you know, all the stuff that
you collected over the years, fromgarage sales, home goods and Amazon to
stuff. And as I was pullingthrough all of this stuff, I vowed
to put it out onto the streetyet again this year. I vowed that
when this season is over, it'llbe on the street. Yeah, hopefully.
(04:29):
As I was about to end myspring fling search, I came across
a binder, a three ring binderthat looked vaguely familiar, and I froze,
staring at it. What is thatdoing here? It should have been
tossed out years ago. And asI stood there with my mouth the gape,
I pulled it out of its boxand opened it up this very dusty
(04:55):
mystery binder. I noticed that theriding was so neat, even clear,
And then the tears started to flowlike a fountain down my face, and
then dropping all the spring stuff Ihad collected onto a heap on the floor.
This feeling came over me of divinetiming, a message from my past
(05:16):
self to my future self. Deepbreath, I tried, but the sobs
that burst forth from my chest.I just was overwhelmed. I had this
overwhelming feeling of sadness, and thenthis gift from beyond shows up. Well.
Then I spent the next two hours, and I really didn't think I
(05:40):
had time for it, but Icouldn't stop reading and rereading my own words
thoughts and prayers for my future self. I kept thinking who wrote this?
I do remember her, though vaguely, as this joyful, happy, glowing
young woman with a wise words ofdreams, hopes and visions. I sat
(06:06):
there crying continually. Actually I was. I was bawling my eyes out,
feeling so many emotions through every partof my body and my soul. These
words I had written breathed through myhead, whispering the joy and fear of
becoming a mother, my baby whowas kicking a lot. So many new
(06:30):
experiences at that time for me,marriage, baby, moving across the country,
career changes, new home, newtown, new friends, excited, fearlessly
stepping into the unknown. This womanme I did. There were writings about
all those I loved, alive anddeceased, dialogues with my primary relationships using
(06:57):
the words that would have been saidto me, and then a stronger me
responding with love yet a strength ofboundary in respect. Wow, what hit
me as I read those interactions.So I realized that they're still happening with
some of those same people, butdifferent but the same. I have changed,
(07:25):
grown, gotten older, but notso sure about wiser, although I
do know I am. I wouldlove to say I'm stronger and my boundaries
are stellar, but I'm still inprocess. Yes, I'm tired of those
old stories and those conversations playing out, And so often I think back on
(07:46):
a friend of mine from a longago who gave me a card with a
tapestry on the front of it,and the tapestry wasn't finished. There were
like threads hanging off of it.But on the inside of the card it
said something to the effect that ourlives are like a tapestry, a work
in progress, all the textures,colors, brilliant, right and faded.
(08:11):
That's our life, the work ofart. There's always work to be done,
threads to be clipped, woven andsown. And that's a good thing.
Hard, but good. Can youhear you're younger, you what would
she tell you today? Would shetell you to love and hold yourself up?
(08:33):
Would you say no judgment? Andyou'd hear I told you never to
do that. But that's not hervoice. That's just a gremlin. We
juggle so much, we take careof so many. You have to take
care of yourself and then take careof all those you love, that's what
you'd say. When did I leaveher behind? I didn't. She just
(09:00):
traveled with me. I just wasn'talways listening to her. She is me
and I am her and I loveher so so we keep trying to get
it right with our family, don'twe. We treat time to get them
on a healthy path and managing itall. But that's such a challenge in
the crazy times we're in. Howabout just keeping yourself on a healthier plan,
(09:24):
And how do you do it whileintegrating your plan into your family and
vice versa. There's a lot ofenergy out there telling us what to eat,
how to eat it, why toeat it, and it's directed at
the family. Oh, by thegovernment, the media, society. Oh,
the list is so long. Whatdo you do? Scream for help?
(09:48):
Help. It's a good thing.We have the brilliant Danny Spees as
our guest today. Danny is ahealth, wellness and weight coach, the
creator of Clean and Delicious website anda weekly cooking show on YouTube where she
teaches her community of over two million, yes, two million, healthy home
(10:09):
cooks how to make healthy eating easy, delicious, and doable. Danny encourages
her followers to focus on both realwhole foods and creating a healthy mindset so
they can reach their health and wellnessweight loss goals without using restriction and deprivation.
She is also the founder of theDon't Diet. It's a digital course
(10:35):
and a community that teaches people howto approach their weight loss goals in a
kind, sane, sustainable way.Wow Mind Blow. Danny believes in mind,
body, and soul approach to wellnessand encourages her followers to do the
same. So thank God for Dannybecause she is here to give us some
(10:56):
Danny wisdom. Welcome Danny. I'mso honored to have you with us today.
Hi, Maureen, thanks for havingme. I'm so happy to be
here. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you are a woman who does it
all girl sometimes sometimes yeah. Well, and you're I have to say,
you're your YouTube channel and also justfollowing you on Facebook, I get some
(11:22):
great ideas. I'm like, thatsaved my butt for dinners and that.
Yeah, no, definitely, Andthey're there quite a few on there that
I'm like, oh, I gottaremember get these. I gotta remember these.
But you have a new a cookbookcoming out, so it'll be easy
for me to just reel through thecookbook I find you looking for them all
(11:43):
it'll be able to have them allright in your hands. You have to
search around. Yeah, right now, that that is great. So a
deep breath, you know that's somethingthat Yeah, deep breath, and that's
I sign everything that way. Idon't know if you noticed, but I
sign deep breath exhale because I couldtake the deep breath and I'm holding it
(12:07):
and not letting it go. Yeah, because when because it's so easy to
just get caught up in in therush of motherhood. And I mean,
I'm a grandmother now and I'm stillin the mode of motherhood. It's amazing,
it is, it really is great. The whole other level. Yeah,
(12:31):
yeah, they just keep piling ontop. But it's it's it's amazingly
different and amazing at the same time. So tell our listeners, how how
did you get here? How didyou start doing this? So, I
mean, the short story is isthat I was coaching clients one on one.
So I was doing health and nutritionalcoaching, weight coaching, and what
(12:54):
I quickly discovered is that many ofmy clients were very well to eat better,
but they truly didn't know how towork with ingredients. They didn't know
how to approach the real whole foodsand how to prepare them in a way
that seems to delicious. And soat the time, I would, you
know, work with clients one onone. I would go to their house,
(13:16):
I would show them simple meals.And then my husband had had suggested
and why don't we you know,film some of these so you just put
them on YouTube. This way yourclients can have a little bit of a
library and you don't have to keeprepeating the same one on one lessons over
and over. And so the shortstory is, as we did that,
and we started putting videos on YouTube, and then YouTube kind of became YouTube.
(13:39):
So it was kind of like thisinside out happy accident because then not
only were our clients watching the videos, but were like, oh, other
people are you know, discovering thesevideos and watching them. So we could
really create some value here and perhapsbuild a business from it. And that's
what we did. It's that isjust it's so cool as I remember you
(14:00):
doing some of that, but youknow you were already well on your way.
I'm playing with sound. If you'rewondering what I'm doing, Um yeah,
I do crazy things like this,but um yeah, it was.
It's been a journey though. Iremember you working very very hard at this,
and I know you're working very hardstill to this day. But what
you have created a two million followerson YouTube. That's incredible, thanks,
(14:28):
Maureen. Serious, it's but itis. It's you know, people we
cheer on, you know, seventhousand followers, you know, but it's
got to start somewhere, and youwere reaching so many, So what what
do some of your listeners, umand your followers say, well, I
(14:52):
would think most people. I think, like some of the big teakeaways that
I see are simplicity factor, right, because what I find is so many
people want to eat better, andthere's so much conflicting nutritional information out in
the world that a lot of peoplebecome overwhelmed, right, And then even
(15:13):
healthy choices we question like, oh, if it's not organic, should I
not buy it? You know?And then suddenly we're afraid to eat a
strawberry. And so I think whata lot of like, what the feedback
that we get is just that theyappreciate just the simple, kind of sane
approach to food. Because I alwaysthe guiding sentence that I've used in my
life and that I always repeat overand over is that you know, at
(15:37):
the base, right, look forreal, whole foods as close to their
natural state as possible most of thetime. Right, use that as your
base because what I see happen andI've been there too. Right, somebody
goes out to lunch and they're like, oh, you know, should I
get Should I get the bacon butnot the bread? And should I get
Like we start to make these likewe think we lose common sense about food,
(15:58):
right, bacon and cheese, omeletbecause I don't want to eat watermelon
because it has too many cars.Right, So it's it's not at all
too so like I get it right, because there's so much information out there,
and so what I really try tohelp people do is just simplify it
back down to the basics, rightof just focusing on real whole foods and
(16:19):
get on that playing field first,right where you're doing that the most of
you most of your time, andyou're drinking your water, and you're getting
your fresh air, and you're gettingyour rest and right, so that you're
actually doing the basics, because sooften people want to jump to extremes and
they're not nailing these core basics becausewhile they're simple, as we both know,
it's not necessarily easy in the worldthat we live in. Right,
(16:41):
So it's like I always encourage peopleto try to work focus on those basics,
and then once you're truly embodying those, then speak a little bit.
Start to play. See does mybody do better with higher fats or higher
carps? Is my body? Youknow? Then you can play, But
until you're there, it's it's notnecessary I don't know if it's ever necessary.
(17:02):
Quite honestly, I think it's it'sa juggling act. I mean truly,
when you've got the media and that'slike, that's fine, whatever,
but you've got so many different placeswhere information is coming from that you become
overwhelmed. You mentioned the strawberry.Well, if you go to you know,
the Environmental Working Group that's on that'son the list and the Dirty dozen'
(17:29):
you know, that's right up therebecause the seeds are on the outside and
they gather around all the pesticides.But the nutrients from a strawberry are very
important. So what what do youdo? Of course you want to have
tried to avoid the pesticides, butyeah, yeah, I thought processes is
(17:49):
right. You always do the bestthat you can do at any given moment,
and then you choose to let thatbe enough because so much of I
believe the health journey is is ourstate of being right, our energy that
we hold, and it's we putso much responsibility on food and that we
forget that it's a relationship and howare you showing up as a piece of
(18:12):
that relationship? And if you areeating steamed broccoli and organic berries, and
kale and all of the things,but you're stressed and uptight and critical and
judgmental. Also not healthy, right, hye. So so there's two there's
two pieces to it, and Ithink when it comes to the we're always
looking for quality, We're always lookingto make those best choices. But whatever
(18:34):
that's going to be in every anygiven moment, once you make the choice,
choose to let it be enough rightand choose to feel good about it,
because that's a huge piece of thepuzzle. I love that it's you're
right, it's we do have anenergetic relationship with everything around us, our
thoughts, our feelings, our food. And if that's why prayer existed.
(19:00):
Over sending energy, it's sending energyinto your food, your energy. You're
receiving the energy back and when youingest it. But how many times has
that been shown to us where yougo to a restaurant and the waiter is
like angry, or the cook andthe back is angry, and you've ordered
this beautiful meal and you're you're feelingfine until you start to eat that meal
(19:22):
and you've just now you're arguing withwhoever you're with, or you're getting testy
with them, and it wasn't therebefore. The energy is everything it is,
so I digress. But you knowfood is just absorb it. We
absorb it. We absorb all thatthat food has to hold coming from the
farm or all the way up throughto our guts, which is which is
(19:47):
true, right, But I thinkyou know to extend on that point.
And I think which is very empoweringto remember, is that also like we
also have an option a choice towhat energy we're going to show up with
any given moment. And energy isfluid, right, and so you can
show up with love and transform maybean energy that didn't come with that same
(20:11):
intention, right. So always Ithink bringing it back to home base,
knowing that don't put so much powerin all of the things all of the
time, do the best you canand then choose to make it bring it
up to your level. Vitamin LR, Yeah, vitamin L like love,
love the food up, love yourselfup. So as a mother and
(20:33):
a wife in an entrepreneur, like, how do you how do you make
this your your whole system work andyou're not like losing it? You know,
a combination of things. One Ialways like, there's lots of I
let lots of paper plates fall allday long, me meaning I've got piles
(20:55):
of blond free right, Like,there's little things that just get done sometimes
and that's okay, right, Soit's never all, you know, done
and organized and perfectly flowing. It'sjust like what's the priority and what takes
president at any given moment. Andfor me, I'm a big fan of
morning routines and journaling, and soI will always ask myself, like what
(21:17):
will always finish that kind of morningroutine with the question what will make today
a great day? And sometimes it'sa to do list like get this done,
get death done. And sometimes it'sa show up with this kind of
energy, like stay in this stateof being and then I get clarity on
what needs to be done. Butit's really at the end of the day,
we really just consistently getting one totwo things done that move things forward
(21:41):
each day. That's really all itcomes down to. Very good, that's
great, and that's a great reminderfor all of us and everything we're doing.
And then you're adding meals into thatand children and now you involve your
kids in your cooking and they're abig part of your story with this How
(22:04):
how do families, How do youdo it with your kids? Getting them?
You know, well, I thinkfor a lot of people, a
good reminder is truly to let foodbe easy. You know, I love
making homemade meals. I love likea Sunday dinner and an elaborate meal.
But most week days we are like, well, you know, I'll do
(22:25):
little meal prep on the weekend,simple foods, some steamed vegetables, some
ground you know, bison, somegrilled chicken, things of that nature,
brown rice, and then just pullinglittle bowls together. Especially my kids are
at that age where they both haveum activities most weeknights, so really are
we all sitting down for dinner atthis kind of chapter, But just having
(22:48):
those pieces on hand and letting themput those put put little bowls together,
little plates together. And I thinkfor anybody you know who's working and has
full time job, and which ismost of us, right, everybody,
or even if you're a stay athome mom, I mean full time full
time that's more than full time job. That's like ot ultimate full time job
(23:08):
is like kind of sometimes truly likelowering the bar and dropping your expectations and
letting everything be a little bit easier. You know, I say, I
would say eighty percent of the foodswe eat are like core staples, you
know, like the bread that Ilike, having hard boiled eggs on hand,
having a handful of steam vegetables readyto go, same things just on
(23:29):
repeat that we love. And thenwhen there is a little time in the
week, maybe one or two timesa week, I'll experiment with a new
recipe or like a real meal thatwe all get to sit down with.
I do think sometimes, like withsocial media, people look and they think
like we're all supposed to be eatingpinchest meals every night of the week,
or that our fridges, right,that's that's it, because you can become
intimidated by that and you like dragyour knuckles across the kitchen floor, going,
(23:53):
I can't do just my family isnot being fed, right, And
that's not the truth. That's nothow you live. That's the truth,
and that's not how most of us. I mean, really, who lives
like that? Even all the starson the pinterest you know, the pinterest
crowd. Although you know, lookingat your highly recommend you go to her
(24:18):
YouTube channel clean and Delicious. It'sfabulous. There's so many great ideas so
many great recipes that easy and justmake it look like you worked a lot
harder than you did. I think, you know, that's why I love
about it, really is You've gota really great niche with that. Yeah,
(24:41):
and the recipes are simple because Idon't I do not make like I'm
a home cook. I don't dolike complicated meals. They don't do things
that have layers and time like.It has to be simple quick. I
try to keep the ingredients tenor undermost of the time. You know,
I just think it has to bedoable or it's not happening right right.
(25:04):
And when you've got family, beit little hands or bigger hands, you're
still managing trying to pull the mealtogether and the family, you know,
get them sorted out. You know, it's like it can be because you
(25:25):
want this to be fun in ateachable moment and a whole bit, but
it gets it can be overwhelming formom. So when you have a client
that and you do take your oneon one clients, and you do have
your your your group coaching mostly right, that's yeah and yeah, and so
when you have the mom who needsto lose weight, or even the dad,
(25:48):
one of them both of them whatever, But the kids are fine.
The meals you've chosen on that Iknow that you that you make and you
put on on YouTube, that areon Facebook, and that are easily transferred
from being a health well it's healthy, but it's also helping the parents manage
(26:14):
their goal of weight loss. Soyes, well, so that's a great
question. And what I find whereinis that and what I teach right is
that food is not like healthy,food is not what creates weight loss.
Not overeating is what creates weight loss, right, And so what often drives
(26:34):
overeating is not necessarily is my foodhealthy or not, Although that's a conversation
to be had, but oftentimes it'sthe judgments we have on our food.
It's the it's the self criticism wehave about what we're eating or is it
healthy enough or is it good enough? And we create so much internal conflict
and stress with ourselves around food.And and because many people do turn to
(26:59):
food because it helps us to regulateour emotions. Right, we will eat
to almost comfort or escape the discomfortthat we created by creating so much stress
around eating the perfect meal or theperfect food. Right, Yeah, definitely,
I know I do this, especiallyif I've had a moment where I've
had, you know, eating anice meal whatever, and there's something happens.
(27:22):
I don't know what. Could bea phone call, could be a
text, could be you know,somebody is coming into the space and just
had like a little explosion. Whatever. I go right for the cookie,
and if I can't find one,I'll make one out of you know,
a cracker, and I'll putter onit. Help me. That's my you
(27:44):
know, I will create it becauseand then even while I'm eating it,
I'm like, I know why I'mdoing this, right. I know that
I'm eating this because I'm upset.Yeah, yeah, I mean that's that's
you know, we truly are ina relationship with food, and so I
think when it comes to health andweight loss, right, weight loss is
a subject that's near and dear tomy heart because I struggled with my weight
(28:06):
for so long, and I didall the diets, and I did all
the things, I studied nutrition,personal trainer, and I still kind of
had a hard time putting the piecestogether until I really started to understand the
emotional components that are tied with ourselvesand food. And so, you know,
for me, when I'm coaching somebody, it's not about this is what
you should eat. Sure we cantalk about healthy foods, and if you
(28:27):
really want to boil it down,it's going to go back to the sentence
we said earlier. Focus on realwhole foods as close to their natural status
possible most of the time, right, And sure we can get detailed about
that, but are we doing that? Number one? But when I am
working with people, often, tome, it's really about you know,
I would say, it's like lowerthe bar, like stop telling yourself what
(28:48):
you should do or what you're supposedto do, and be willing to meet
yourself where you are and ask yourself, what am I really ready to do
today? I'm willing to do today? That might be drink some extra water.
It might be sitting down when youeat your meal. It might be
getting fresh air in the day.It might be eating the croissant that you
(29:11):
want without judging yourself. Right.So it's not always about here's your meal
plan and here's what you're supposed toeat. It's about learning how to create
that emotional relationship with food where youhave your own back, where you are
being understanding and compassionate with yourself.So that you can get clear on how
to move yourself forward. Because onething that I know is true, and
(29:34):
I see it all the time,is that quite often, if not always,
emotional weight precedes physical weight. Andso when you are feeling heavy and
weight down, and a lot ofthat is coming or shame or guilt that
is being generated by your conversation thatyou are having with yourself. This is
(29:56):
not a food conversation, right,This is how do we be a little
bit kinder, how do we createa little bit more love internally with our
own dialogue. And then what happensis the need to self regulate with food
begins to fall away, and itdoesn't need so much attention, you know,
sometimes it's not where the focus needsto be, right, a little
(30:18):
more around self care, another andanother, making another choice, going away
from that cracker with peanut butter,cookies, whatever, and stepping back and
going I'm going outside to ground myselfright now, just taking a breath,
because it's not about the hunger,not about the hunger. There's no hunger.
It's it's exactly I need some love, and I'm going to give myself
(30:41):
this love instead of the love ofgoing outside, taking a deep breath and
just going let it go. Yeah, that's I love. I love the
psychology of food. And I knowthat you've studied this deeply and you really
know your stuff. And there's somany of us in the world today that
(31:07):
especially after you know, the eventthat we had in the past couple of
years, is that the the theoppression that we've placed on ourselves, the
heaviness, and that that's emotional heaviness. And because the obesity rates and diabesity,
diabetes and obesity are rising. Andwhen you talk about the the emotional
(31:33):
component, this is a big deal. Re carding this emotional stuff around.
So when a client comes to you, what is you know, my masking,
what is like the first thing thatyou might kind of put them on
(31:53):
the path to. They'll like,help me, fix me. I don't
know what to do. I'm know, And yet you could see the emotional
weight. I mean, for me, it's always getting clear on what they're
they're what they're wanting the most outof their relationship with food or body.
Right, So I mean the firstconverence, the first chat is always truly
(32:14):
just a conversation really like who areyou, what's happening, and what's going
on in your life? How longhas the way been there? When did
it start? What was different?Now? What was different? Then?
Really we're just like playing investigator,and you know, like I always say,
like I don't have some magic answersfor somebody. I don't. I'm
really just helping to peel back theonion so we can see what's happening.
(32:36):
Because so many people, including myself, right, it's like we all have
this false idea that we're supposed tobe shiny and happy and feel amazing all
of the time. And so thenwhen people do have challenges or negative emotion
or challenging emotions, not only isthere the base discomfort, but then there's
like self judgment on top of it, right, like I'm not supposed to
feel like this way, I shouldn'tbe doing this, I should be and
(32:59):
so and so people become very removedfrom what's happening. And then what happens
is we turn to food to helpregulate or soothe those emotions, and now
we think we have an overeating problem, and all of our attention goes to
food. Right, So what I'mgonna do is just chat, really a
chat, and start to peel backand like let's see what's actually happening.
(33:19):
Yeah, because I know one thingfor sure is that every single thing we
do, we do for good reason. You know. It's not because we're
lazy. It's not because we're idiots. It's not because we have no self
control, it's not because we haveno willpower. Every action we take,
every bite we take, serves apurpose. And when you can create enough
grace and space for yourself to investigate, oh, what purpose does this serve
(33:42):
for me? You get to trulythen begin to move yourself forward. You
really get to understand what needs yourattention. That is beautiful. I can
feel the movement as you we're speaking. It just yes, And that's having
that conversation with ourselves and what isgoing on in your head? What are
(34:05):
you talking? What are you tellingyourself? I mentioned gremlin earlier in the
in the show, it's like thosegremlins. Get them, put them in
the closet, and start listening toreally what your heart's saying and and just
have a conversation with no judgment.That's the that's the biggest piece. To
(34:27):
let yourself be where you are withoutjudgment, To let yourself be where you
are and want to change and letit be okay, let those both live
together. Love that. So whichbrings me to the Don't Diet. What's
that The Don't Diet is? Basically, it's a digital course that I've created
(34:51):
because again I was working one onone with clients um and as you know,
it's like there's only so many hours, right, so many people you
can help when you're working on one. So it basically took all of the
core concepts that really helped me improvemy relationship with food and body and then
create like when I because I usedto lose weight and gain weight and lose
weight and gain weight. So allof the different tools that I kind of
(35:14):
gathered throughout the year that really helpedme sustainably create a healthier lifestyle and drop
that extra weight and not be goingback and forth with it anymore. And
I put those into a digital coursethat have tons like a bunch of resources
and journal exercises and book recommendations andall the things. And then you know,
we also have live calls every monthso that people can ask questions and
(35:37):
I can walk them through anything orobstacles that they might be coming up that
they just need a little more perspectiveon because sometimes, you know, it
just helps to talk to other peopleand to know that you are not alone.
That I mean, if you livein this world as a woman and
you have not been touched by thediet industry or the body image you know
(35:59):
world, or you know or yourtea most women, yeah no, she
doesn't exist. Yeah exactly. Andso I think sometimes it's like sometimes I
know, I like on our call, some people don't want to come on
and chat and you know, shareit in front of a group. And
and I've heard time and time againthat they don't need to because just hearing
other people, the women that dowant to do it, it's like we're
(36:21):
all kind of having the same journeyand in many ways details are different,
but the core conversations are very similar, and so there's so much learning and
so much healing in that group energy. That is great. I love that
you're doing that. And that's availableonline people that can easily get it.
Grab it. Andy, It's ummid. It'll be open again in mid
(36:44):
May. Yeah, so it willbe coming to great timing, coming soon,
yes, yeah, coming soon,looking forward to I know I have
to have loads of water, isn'tthat That's just like so important, so
important. Loads of water. Um, so tell us about now the cookbook
and when will it be out asas we're kind of moving along here.
(37:07):
Yeah, thanks, um. Sothe cookbook is clean and delicious. It's
it's a collection of some of ourmost popular recipes from the blog and a
YouTube channel, along with new recipesas well. And that is available for
pre order now on Amazon or anyreally any major book seller. But the
actual copies will be in your handApril twenty five. So they're available for
(37:30):
pre order right now, but they'llbe out April twenty five. Yeah,
I know, I've pre ordered mine, going pre order yours. He yes,
just go to Amazon and order it. And I think to get this
into the hands of as many women, as many moms, as many families
will be just such a boom forfor their households. It's a great I
(37:55):
think. I mean, if you'rea cookbook person, it's it's a great
resource to have, right because youdon't have to jump on the web and
search for things. You could justhave it in your hand, open it
up and find a simple breakfast,lunch, dinner, snack, sweet treat,
you know, all the kind ofday to day basics so hopefully there's
something in there for everybody. Andyou mentioned about like having an actual physical
(38:16):
book, And for years I waslike always using regular cookbooks because I wasn't
you know, I wasn't really onyou know, Google. Google wasn't around
much. And then and then Istarted getting into using, you know,
getting online a little bit. ButI'm finding when I'm in the middle of
something and I got my Google overmy hands or whatever, I'm chopping,
(38:37):
slicing and dicing, and I lookback at my computer and it's off and
then I'm like trying to use myelbow to get it going again. So
I'm going back to books because halfthe time I'm like or if I have
it on my phone, I'm constantlyhaving to like hold the phone up seeing
my face, you know, makeit work and get the recipe back on
(38:57):
there. And it's like it's difficult. The cook is open. I can
do that. That I can do. You know, you might have something
to hold it down. You putit in those plastic things that hold them
open. Exactly. It's like goingback to you know, the good old
days. It's pretty smart. Therewas like something really good about that.
(39:19):
And also holding a book, it'slike really a good thing. I agree,
and I always I've always been likeI love to read cookbooks, Like
if I'm just sitting around, I'llpick up I just love to read through
recipes and like people's stories. Andso if you're foodie, yeah no,
that's great. Did you grow upcook cooking? Did your mom cook a
lot or your family cook a lot? My family cooked a lot, for
(39:42):
sure. It's funny. I alwaysjoke like my I feel like my parents
are doing meal prep before meal prepwas the thing because they both worked full
time job, so Sunday was likemy mom's cooking daddy and shake big pots
of soup and sauce and lasagnas.Because we were Italian or our kitchen was
a time. My dad was atime, so my mom always cooked Italian
um, so there was always foodwas huge in our house. And then
(40:04):
my best friend who I grew up, she grew up right across the street
from me. Her family was alsolike super into food and cooking, so
she and I were either at myhouse cooking or making, or at her
house cooking or making, or atmy house eating dinner or at her house
eating dinner. It was always likewe always joke were like when like other
high school people were going out onFriday night, we were like making muffins.
So oh wow. And to havethe you know, the the constitution
(40:32):
of a young of a teenager.You know, you could wear that off
pretty fast, so you know,you had no judgment on the fact that
you were eating that. You justknow, just baking and eating and baking
and eating. Yeah, no,I think. And now your kids are
obviously way younger than my kids,but our kids, dear kids, you
(40:52):
know, go to somebody else's houseand bake or cook or it's just your
house only pretty well not a tonnot not a ton. They they even
in my house they sometimes are excitedabout it, and they're not as excited
about it as you would I wouldwant them to be, you know,
like that's because yeah, yeah,you're the go ahead, sorry for it.
(41:13):
No no, no, no,I was gonna say. It's like
you're the shoemaker. You know,you're you're not they don't want your shoes.
They you know, they're like,okay, yeah, fine, you
know how to do this. You'retrying to teach us. Oh, it'll
come out in ten, fifteen,twenty years exactly. Yeah, that's how
I feel like every now and thenmy daughter will make a dinner, like
if I'm not home, she'll cookfor my husband and my son, and
I'm just like, okay, allright, something's happening. No, this
(41:36):
can be done. It's being absorbedit exactly. That is so cool.
So is there anything else you'd likethe listeners to know about your your process,
your your business, you're how theycan work with you. I mean,
I think we really covered it.I mean, if if anybody wanted
(41:57):
to really work with me, theway to do that these days is through
the Don't Diet. So if that'ssomething somebody was interested in, they can
just go to the Don't Diet dotcom and there is a sign up to
get on that waiting list where they'llalso get emails and resources in the meantime.
And if somebody has more just foodrecipe focused, they can go to
Clean and Delicious dot com. AndI also have a newsletter there so you'll
(42:19):
get every every week invite to inbox. You'll get free recipes, all updates,
anything new that's happening. You're prettymuch the first to know. So
that would be the best way tostay connected. That is that is great?
Well, I am so honored againto have had you join us,
and all of this will be listedbelow in our description of the shows on
(42:43):
all of the podcast sites and alsoon Contact Talk radio. So if everybody
just take a moment and just takea deep breath, and next and now
that you're not alone, you arethe family balancing act.
Welcome to where the screen door slamsand the coffee mug hits the table.
You're listening to the Family Balancing Actwith me, Maureen Huntley, mom,
grandmother and board certified Holistic and FunctionalMedicine health coach. Each episode will explore
the realities of your day to dayfamily life in this modern era of NonStop
(00:24):
texts, memes and technology. Afterall, how do we keep ourselves saying,
hand our family healthy? I'll haveamazing guests and thought provoking discussions,
and we'll take a holistic look atfamily health emotional, physical, mental,
and spiritual. Whether it's a microperspective of family involving healthy snacks, teenagers
(00:48):
with an attitude, distressed out,husband's partners, adult children, potty training,
eldercare, grandchildren, college rep ora macro perspective of world events including
blue earthquakes, the brainwashing, media, finances, and oh so much more.
We'll find a way together. Sotake a deep, rapt exhale and
(01:10):
know that you're not alone. Bringon a Family Balancing Act. Thank you
(01:45):
so much for joining us in theFamily Balancing Act, where we are restoring
the heart of motherhood one conversation ata time. If you've been here with
me before, we'll welcome back,and if this is your first time,
it's an honor to have you here. I have a fantastic show for you
today. I'm so excited. Sowhat are you waiting for? Come on
(02:07):
in, pull up a chair,grab a tea coffee or a green juice
because we have a lot to talkabout with my guest, mother of two
and author, Danny Spees. Sheis a health, wellness and weight coach
and also the creator of Clean andDelicious Amazing website and a weekly cooking show
(02:30):
on YouTube, Yes on YouTube,which is freaking Amazing again, where she
teaches her community of over two millionhealthy home cooks how to make healthy eating
easy, delicious, and doable.You'll want to stick around for that.
I'm Maureen your host, board certifiedintegrative, holistic and Functional Medicine, health
(02:53):
coach, emotional freedom technique practitioner,mom, grandmother and CEO of My Family's
Home Operations. If you miss anyof our episodes, you can find us
on Apple, Spotify, Google,Podbean, Pandora, iHeartRadio podcasts and more.
CTR Radio Network. If you'd liketo sign up for my monthly newsletter
(03:17):
and grab my free year round holidaystress less tips go to Maureen Huntly and
may U r e E n hU n t l e y dot com.
You'll also learn how to work withme. I love what I do,
holistic solutions for health and well beingfor women, moms and their families,
(03:39):
getting to the heart and art ofmotherhood, God, boundaries and respect.
So deep, breath, exhale.It starts with Mom, it starts
with you. So recently, Iwent into the crevices of my attic in
(04:01):
search of Easter baskets and spring stuff, you know, all the stuff that
you collected over the years, fromgarage sales, home goods and Amazon to
stuff. And as I was pullingthrough all of this stuff, I vowed
to put it out onto the streetyet again this year. I vowed that
when this season is over, it'llbe on the street. Yeah, hopefully.
(04:29):
As I was about to end myspring fling search, I came across
a binder, a three ring binderthat looked vaguely familiar, and I froze,
staring at it. What is thatdoing here? It should have been
tossed out years ago. And asI stood there with my mouth the gape,
I pulled it out of its boxand opened it up this very dusty
(04:55):
mystery binder. I noticed that theriding was so neat, even clear,
And then the tears started to flowlike a fountain down my face, and
then dropping all the spring stuff Ihad collected onto a heap on the floor.
This feeling came over me of divinetiming, a message from my past
(05:16):
self to my future self. Deepbreath, I tried, but the sobs
that burst forth from my chest.I just was overwhelmed. I had this
overwhelming feeling of sadness, and thenthis gift from beyond shows up. Well.
Then I spent the next two hours, and I really didn't think I
(05:40):
had time for it, but Icouldn't stop reading and rereading my own words
thoughts and prayers for my future self. I kept thinking who wrote this?
I do remember her, though vaguely, as this joyful, happy, glowing
young woman with a wise words ofdreams, hopes and visions. I sat
(06:06):
there crying continually. Actually I was. I was bawling my eyes out,
feeling so many emotions through every partof my body and my soul. These
words I had written breathed through myhead, whispering the joy and fear of
becoming a mother, my baby whowas kicking a lot. So many new
(06:30):
experiences at that time for me,marriage, baby, moving across the country,
career changes, new home, newtown, new friends, excited, fearlessly
stepping into the unknown. This womanme I did. There were writings about
all those I loved, alive anddeceased, dialogues with my primary relationships using
(06:57):
the words that would have been saidto me, and then a stronger me
responding with love yet a strength ofboundary in respect. Wow, what hit
me as I read those interactions.So I realized that they're still happening with
some of those same people, butdifferent but the same. I have changed,
(07:25):
grown, gotten older, but notso sure about wiser, although I
do know I am. I wouldlove to say I'm stronger and my boundaries
are stellar, but I'm still inprocess. Yes, I'm tired of those
old stories and those conversations playing out, And so often I think back on
(07:46):
a friend of mine from a longago who gave me a card with a
tapestry on the front of it,and the tapestry wasn't finished. There were
like threads hanging off of it.But on the inside of the card it
said something to the effect that ourlives are like a tapestry, a work
in progress, all the textures,colors, brilliant, right and faded.
(08:11):
That's our life, the work ofart. There's always work to be done,
threads to be clipped, woven andsown. And that's a good thing.
Hard, but good. Can youhear you're younger, you what would
she tell you today? Would shetell you to love and hold yourself up?
(08:33):
Would you say no judgment? Andyou'd hear I told you never to
do that. But that's not hervoice. That's just a gremlin. We
juggle so much, we take careof so many. You have to take
care of yourself and then take careof all those you love, that's what
you'd say. When did I leaveher behind? I didn't. She just
(09:00):
traveled with me. I just wasn'talways listening to her. She is me
and I am her and I loveher so so we keep trying to get
it right with our family, don'twe. We treat time to get them
on a healthy path and managing itall. But that's such a challenge in
the crazy times we're in. Howabout just keeping yourself on a healthier plan,
(09:24):
And how do you do it whileintegrating your plan into your family and
vice versa. There's a lot ofenergy out there telling us what to eat,
how to eat it, why toeat it, and it's directed at
the family. Oh, by thegovernment, the media, society. Oh,
the list is so long. Whatdo you do? Scream for help?
(09:48):
Help. It's a good thing.We have the brilliant Danny Spees as
our guest today. Danny is ahealth, wellness and weight coach, the
creator of Clean and Delicious website anda weekly cooking show on YouTube where she
teaches her community of over two million, yes, two million, healthy home
(10:09):
cooks how to make healthy eating easy, delicious, and doable. Danny encourages
her followers to focus on both realwhole foods and creating a healthy mindset so
they can reach their health and wellnessweight loss goals without using restriction and deprivation.
She is also the founder of theDon't Diet. It's a digital course
(10:35):
and a community that teaches people howto approach their weight loss goals in a
kind, sane, sustainable way.Wow Mind Blow. Danny believes in mind,
body, and soul approach to wellnessand encourages her followers to do the
same. So thank God for Dannybecause she is here to give us some
(10:56):
Danny wisdom. Welcome Danny. I'mso honored to have you with us today.
Hi, Maureen, thanks for havingme. I'm so happy to be
here. Oh my gosh. Yeah, you are a woman who does it
all girl sometimes sometimes yeah. Well, and you're I have to say,
you're your YouTube channel and also justfollowing you on Facebook, I get some
(11:22):
great ideas. I'm like, thatsaved my butt for dinners and that.
Yeah, no, definitely, Andthey're there quite a few on there that
I'm like, oh, I gottaremember get these. I gotta remember these.
But you have a new a cookbookcoming out, so it'll be easy
for me to just reel through thecookbook I find you looking for them all
(11:43):
it'll be able to have them allright in your hands. You have to
search around. Yeah, right now, that that is great. So a
deep breath, you know that's somethingthat Yeah, deep breath, and that's
I sign everything that way. Idon't know if you noticed, but I
sign deep breath exhale because I couldtake the deep breath and I'm holding it
(12:07):
and not letting it go. Yeah, because when because it's so easy to
just get caught up in in therush of motherhood. And I mean,
I'm a grandmother now and I'm stillin the mode of motherhood. It's amazing,
it is, it really is great. The whole other level. Yeah,
(12:31):
yeah, they just keep piling ontop. But it's it's it's amazingly
different and amazing at the same time. So tell our listeners, how how
did you get here? How didyou start doing this? So, I
mean, the short story is isthat I was coaching clients one on one.
So I was doing health and nutritionalcoaching, weight coaching, and what
(12:54):
I quickly discovered is that many ofmy clients were very well to eat better,
but they truly didn't know how towork with ingredients. They didn't know
how to approach the real whole foodsand how to prepare them in a way
that seems to delicious. And soat the time, I would, you
know, work with clients one onone. I would go to their house,
(13:16):
I would show them simple meals.And then my husband had had suggested
and why don't we you know,film some of these so you just put
them on YouTube. This way yourclients can have a little bit of a
library and you don't have to keeprepeating the same one on one lessons over
and over. And so the shortstory is, as we did that,
and we started putting videos on YouTube, and then YouTube kind of became YouTube.
(13:39):
So it was kind of like thisinside out happy accident because then not
only were our clients watching the videos, but were like, oh, other
people are you know, discovering thesevideos and watching them. So we could
really create some value here and perhapsbuild a business from it. And that's
what we did. It's that isjust it's so cool as I remember you
(14:00):
doing some of that, but youknow you were already well on your way.
I'm playing with sound. If you'rewondering what I'm doing, Um yeah,
I do crazy things like this,but um yeah, it was.
It's been a journey though. Iremember you working very very hard at this,
and I know you're working very hardstill to this day. But what
you have created a two million followerson YouTube. That's incredible, thanks,
(14:28):
Maureen. Serious, it's but itis. It's you know, people we
cheer on, you know, seventhousand followers, you know, but it's
got to start somewhere, and youwere reaching so many, So what what
do some of your listeners, umand your followers say, well, I
(14:52):
would think most people. I think, like some of the big teakeaways that
I see are simplicity factor, right, because what I find is so many
people want to eat better, andthere's so much conflicting nutritional information out in
the world that a lot of peoplebecome overwhelmed, right, And then even
(15:13):
healthy choices we question like, oh, if it's not organic, should I
not buy it? You know?And then suddenly we're afraid to eat a
strawberry. And so I think whata lot of like, what the feedback
that we get is just that theyappreciate just the simple, kind of sane
approach to food. Because I alwaysthe guiding sentence that I've used in my
life and that I always repeat overand over is that you know, at
(15:37):
the base, right, look forreal, whole foods as close to their
natural state as possible most of thetime. Right, use that as your
base because what I see happen andI've been there too. Right, somebody
goes out to lunch and they're like, oh, you know, should I
get Should I get the bacon butnot the bread? And should I get
Like we start to make these likewe think we lose common sense about food,
(15:58):
right, bacon and cheese, omeletbecause I don't want to eat watermelon
because it has too many cars.Right, So it's it's not at all
too so like I get it right, because there's so much information out there,
and so what I really try tohelp people do is just simplify it
back down to the basics, rightof just focusing on real whole foods and
(16:19):
get on that playing field first,right where you're doing that the most of
you most of your time, andyou're drinking your water, and you're getting
your fresh air, and you're gettingyour rest and right, so that you're
actually doing the basics, because sooften people want to jump to extremes and
they're not nailing these core basics becausewhile they're simple, as we both know,
it's not necessarily easy in the worldthat we live in. Right,
(16:41):
So it's like I always encourage peopleto try to work focus on those basics,
and then once you're truly embodying those, then speak a little bit.
Start to play. See does mybody do better with higher fats or higher
carps? Is my body? Youknow? Then you can play, But
until you're there, it's it's notnecessary I don't know if it's ever necessary.
(17:02):
Quite honestly, I think it's it'sa juggling act. I mean truly,
when you've got the media and that'slike, that's fine, whatever,
but you've got so many different placeswhere information is coming from that you become
overwhelmed. You mentioned the strawberry.Well, if you go to you know,
the Environmental Working Group that's on that'son the list and the Dirty dozen'
(17:29):
you know, that's right up therebecause the seeds are on the outside and
they gather around all the pesticides.But the nutrients from a strawberry are very
important. So what what do youdo? Of course you want to have
tried to avoid the pesticides, butyeah, yeah, I thought processes is
(17:49):
right. You always do the bestthat you can do at any given moment,
and then you choose to let thatbe enough because so much of I
believe the health journey is is ourstate of being right, our energy that
we hold, and it's we putso much responsibility on food and that we
forget that it's a relationship and howare you showing up as a piece of
(18:12):
that relationship? And if you areeating steamed broccoli and organic berries, and
kale and all of the things,but you're stressed and uptight and critical and
judgmental. Also not healthy, right, hye. So so there's two there's
two pieces to it, and Ithink when it comes to the we're always
looking for quality, We're always lookingto make those best choices. But whatever
(18:34):
that's going to be in every anygiven moment, once you make the choice,
choose to let it be enough rightand choose to feel good about it,
because that's a huge piece of thepuzzle. I love that it's you're
right, it's we do have anenergetic relationship with everything around us, our
thoughts, our feelings, our food. And if that's why prayer existed.
(19:00):
Over sending energy, it's sending energyinto your food, your energy. You're
receiving the energy back and when youingest it. But how many times has
that been shown to us where yougo to a restaurant and the waiter is
like angry, or the cook andthe back is angry, and you've ordered
this beautiful meal and you're you're feelingfine until you start to eat that meal
(19:22):
and you've just now you're arguing withwhoever you're with, or you're getting testy
with them, and it wasn't therebefore. The energy is everything it is,
so I digress. But you knowfood is just absorb it. We
absorb it. We absorb all thatthat food has to hold coming from the
farm or all the way up throughto our guts, which is which is
(19:47):
true, right, But I thinkyou know to extend on that point.
And I think which is very empoweringto remember, is that also like we
also have an option a choice towhat energy we're going to show up with
any given moment. And energy isfluid, right, and so you can
show up with love and transform maybean energy that didn't come with that same
(20:11):
intention, right. So always Ithink bringing it back to home base,
knowing that don't put so much powerin all of the things all of the
time, do the best you canand then choose to make it bring it
up to your level. Vitamin LR, Yeah, vitamin L like love,
love the food up, love yourselfup. So as a mother and
(20:33):
a wife in an entrepreneur, like, how do you how do you make
this your your whole system work andyou're not like losing it? You know,
a combination of things. One Ialways like, there's lots of I
let lots of paper plates fall allday long, me meaning I've got piles
(20:55):
of blond free right, Like,there's little things that just get done sometimes
and that's okay, right, Soit's never all, you know, done
and organized and perfectly flowing. It'sjust like what's the priority and what takes
president at any given moment. Andfor me, I'm a big fan of
morning routines and journaling, and soI will always ask myself, like what
(21:17):
will always finish that kind of morningroutine with the question what will make today
a great day? And sometimes it'sa to do list like get this done,
get death done. And sometimes it'sa show up with this kind of
energy, like stay in this stateof being and then I get clarity on
what needs to be done. Butit's really at the end of the day,
we really just consistently getting one totwo things done that move things forward
(21:41):
each day. That's really all itcomes down to. Very good, that's
great, and that's a great reminderfor all of us and everything we're doing.
And then you're adding meals into thatand children and now you involve your
kids in your cooking and they're abig part of your story with this How
(22:04):
how do families, How do youdo it with your kids? Getting them?
You know, well, I thinkfor a lot of people, a
good reminder is truly to let foodbe easy. You know, I love
making homemade meals. I love likea Sunday dinner and an elaborate meal.
But most week days we are like, well, you know, I'll do
(22:25):
little meal prep on the weekend,simple foods, some steamed vegetables, some
ground you know, bison, somegrilled chicken, things of that nature,
brown rice, and then just pullinglittle bowls together. Especially my kids are
at that age where they both haveum activities most weeknights, so really are
we all sitting down for dinner atthis kind of chapter, But just having
(22:48):
those pieces on hand and letting themput those put put little bowls together,
little plates together. And I thinkfor anybody you know who's working and has
full time job, and which ismost of us, right, everybody,
or even if you're a stay athome mom, I mean full time full
time that's more than full time job. That's like ot ultimate full time job
(23:08):
is like kind of sometimes truly likelowering the bar and dropping your expectations and
letting everything be a little bit easier. You know, I say, I
would say eighty percent of the foodswe eat are like core staples, you
know, like the bread that Ilike, having hard boiled eggs on hand,
having a handful of steam vegetables readyto go, same things just on
(23:29):
repeat that we love. And thenwhen there is a little time in the
week, maybe one or two timesa week, I'll experiment with a new
recipe or like a real meal thatwe all get to sit down with.
I do think sometimes, like withsocial media, people look and they think
like we're all supposed to be eatingpinchest meals every night of the week,
or that our fridges, right,that's that's it, because you can become
intimidated by that and you like dragyour knuckles across the kitchen floor, going,
(23:53):
I can't do just my family isnot being fed, right, And
that's not the truth. That's nothow you live. That's the truth,
and that's not how most of us. I mean, really, who lives
like that? Even all the starson the pinterest you know, the pinterest
crowd. Although you know, lookingat your highly recommend you go to her
(24:18):
YouTube channel clean and Delicious. It'sfabulous. There's so many great ideas so
many great recipes that easy and justmake it look like you worked a lot
harder than you did. I think, you know, that's why I love
about it, really is You've gota really great niche with that. Yeah,
(24:41):
and the recipes are simple because Idon't I do not make like I'm
a home cook. I don't dolike complicated meals. They don't do things
that have layers and time like.It has to be simple quick. I
try to keep the ingredients tenor undermost of the time. You know,
I just think it has to bedoable or it's not happening right right.
(25:04):
And when you've got family, beit little hands or bigger hands, you're
still managing trying to pull the mealtogether and the family, you know,
get them sorted out. You know, it's like it can be because you
(25:25):
want this to be fun in ateachable moment and a whole bit, but
it gets it can be overwhelming formom. So when you have a client
that and you do take your oneon one clients, and you do have
your your your group coaching mostly right, that's yeah and yeah, and so
when you have the mom who needsto lose weight, or even the dad,
(25:48):
one of them both of them whatever, But the kids are fine.
The meals you've chosen on that Iknow that you that you make and you
put on on YouTube, that areon Facebook, and that are easily transferred
from being a health well it's healthy, but it's also helping the parents manage
(26:14):
their goal of weight loss. Soyes, well, so that's a great
question. And what I find whereinis that and what I teach right is
that food is not like healthy,food is not what creates weight loss.
Not overeating is what creates weight loss, right, And so what often drives
(26:34):
overeating is not necessarily is my foodhealthy or not, Although that's a conversation
to be had, but oftentimes it'sthe judgments we have on our food.
It's the it's the self criticism wehave about what we're eating or is it
healthy enough or is it good enough? And we create so much internal conflict
and stress with ourselves around food.And and because many people do turn to
(26:59):
food because it helps us to regulateour emotions. Right, we will eat
to almost comfort or escape the discomfortthat we created by creating so much stress
around eating the perfect meal or theperfect food. Right, Yeah, definitely,
I know I do this, especiallyif I've had a moment where I've
had, you know, eating anice meal whatever, and there's something happens.
(27:22):
I don't know what. Could bea phone call, could be a
text, could be you know,somebody is coming into the space and just
had like a little explosion. Whatever. I go right for the cookie,
and if I can't find one,I'll make one out of you know,
a cracker, and I'll putter onit. Help me. That's my you
(27:44):
know, I will create it becauseand then even while I'm eating it,
I'm like, I know why I'mdoing this, right. I know that
I'm eating this because I'm upset.Yeah, yeah, I mean that's that's
you know, we truly are ina relationship with food, and so I
think when it comes to health andweight loss, right, weight loss is
a subject that's near and dear tomy heart because I struggled with my weight
(28:06):
for so long, and I didall the diets, and I did all
the things, I studied nutrition,personal trainer, and I still kind of
had a hard time putting the piecestogether until I really started to understand the
emotional components that are tied with ourselvesand food. And so, you know,
for me, when I'm coaching somebody, it's not about this is what
you should eat. Sure we cantalk about healthy foods, and if you
(28:27):
really want to boil it down,it's going to go back to the sentence
we said earlier. Focus on realwhole foods as close to their natural status
possible most of the time, right, And sure we can get detailed about
that, but are we doing that? Number one? But when I am
working with people, often, tome, it's really about you know,
I would say, it's like lowerthe bar, like stop telling yourself what
(28:48):
you should do or what you're supposedto do, and be willing to meet
yourself where you are and ask yourself, what am I really ready to do
today? I'm willing to do today? That might be drink some extra water.
It might be sitting down when youeat your meal. It might be
getting fresh air in the day.It might be eating the croissant that you
(29:11):
want without judging yourself. Right.So it's not always about here's your meal
plan and here's what you're supposed toeat. It's about learning how to create
that emotional relationship with food where youhave your own back, where you are
being understanding and compassionate with yourself.So that you can get clear on how
to move yourself forward. Because onething that I know is true, and
(29:34):
I see it all the time,is that quite often, if not always,
emotional weight precedes physical weight. Andso when you are feeling heavy and
weight down, and a lot ofthat is coming or shame or guilt that
is being generated by your conversation thatyou are having with yourself. This is
(29:56):
not a food conversation, right,This is how do we be a little
bit kinder, how do we createa little bit more love internally with our
own dialogue. And then what happensis the need to self regulate with food
begins to fall away, and itdoesn't need so much attention, you know,
sometimes it's not where the focus needsto be, right, a little
(30:18):
more around self care, another andanother, making another choice, going away
from that cracker with peanut butter,cookies, whatever, and stepping back and
going I'm going outside to ground myselfright now, just taking a breath,
because it's not about the hunger,not about the hunger. There's no hunger.
It's it's exactly I need some love, and I'm going to give myself
(30:41):
this love instead of the love ofgoing outside, taking a deep breath and
just going let it go. Yeah, that's I love. I love the
psychology of food. And I knowthat you've studied this deeply and you really
know your stuff. And there's somany of us in the world today that
(31:07):
especially after you know, the eventthat we had in the past couple of
years, is that the the theoppression that we've placed on ourselves, the
heaviness, and that that's emotional heaviness. And because the obesity rates and diabesity,
diabetes and obesity are rising. Andwhen you talk about the the emotional
(31:33):
component, this is a big deal. Re carding this emotional stuff around.
So when a client comes to you, what is you know, my masking,
what is like the first thing thatyou might kind of put them on
(31:53):
the path to. They'll like,help me, fix me. I don't
know what to do. I'm know, And yet you could see the emotional
weight. I mean, for me, it's always getting clear on what they're
they're what they're wanting the most outof their relationship with food or body.
Right, So I mean the firstconverence, the first chat is always truly
(32:14):
just a conversation really like who areyou, what's happening, and what's going
on in your life? How longhas the way been there? When did
it start? What was different?Now? What was different? Then?
Really we're just like playing investigator,and you know, like I always say,
like I don't have some magic answersfor somebody. I don't. I'm
really just helping to peel back theonion so we can see what's happening.
(32:36):
Because so many people, including myself, right, it's like we all have
this false idea that we're supposed tobe shiny and happy and feel amazing all
of the time. And so thenwhen people do have challenges or negative emotion
or challenging emotions, not only isthere the base discomfort, but then there's
like self judgment on top of it, right, like I'm not supposed to
feel like this way, I shouldn'tbe doing this, I should be and
(32:59):
so and so people become very removedfrom what's happening. And then what happens
is we turn to food to helpregulate or soothe those emotions, and now
we think we have an overeating problem, and all of our attention goes to
food. Right, So what I'mgonna do is just chat, really a
chat, and start to peel backand like let's see what's actually happening.
(33:19):
Yeah, because I know one thingfor sure is that every single thing we
do, we do for good reason. You know. It's not because we're
lazy. It's not because we're idiots. It's not because we have no self
control, it's not because we haveno willpower. Every action we take,
every bite we take, serves apurpose. And when you can create enough
grace and space for yourself to investigate, oh, what purpose does this serve
(33:42):
for me? You get to trulythen begin to move yourself forward. You
really get to understand what needs yourattention. That is beautiful. I can
feel the movement as you we're speaking. It just yes, And that's having
that conversation with ourselves and what isgoing on in your head? What are
(34:05):
you talking? What are you tellingyourself? I mentioned gremlin earlier in the
in the show, it's like thosegremlins. Get them, put them in
the closet, and start listening toreally what your heart's saying and and just
have a conversation with no judgment.That's the that's the biggest piece. To
(34:27):
let yourself be where you are withoutjudgment, To let yourself be where you
are and want to change and letit be okay, let those both live
together. Love that. So whichbrings me to the Don't Diet. What's
that The Don't Diet is? Basically, it's a digital course that I've created
(34:51):
because again I was working one onone with clients um and as you know,
it's like there's only so many hours, right, so many people you
can help when you're working on one. So it basically took all of the
core concepts that really helped me improvemy relationship with food and body and then
create like when I because I usedto lose weight and gain weight and lose
weight and gain weight. So allof the different tools that I kind of
(35:14):
gathered throughout the year that really helpedme sustainably create a healthier lifestyle and drop
that extra weight and not be goingback and forth with it anymore. And
I put those into a digital coursethat have tons like a bunch of resources
and journal exercises and book recommendations andall the things. And then you know,
we also have live calls every monthso that people can ask questions and
(35:37):
I can walk them through anything orobstacles that they might be coming up that
they just need a little more perspectiveon because sometimes, you know, it
just helps to talk to other peopleand to know that you are not alone.
That I mean, if you livein this world as a woman and
you have not been touched by thediet industry or the body image you know
(35:59):
world, or you know or yourtea most women, yeah no, she
doesn't exist. Yeah exactly. Andso I think sometimes it's like sometimes I
know, I like on our call, some people don't want to come on
and chat and you know, shareit in front of a group. And
and I've heard time and time againthat they don't need to because just hearing
other people, the women that dowant to do it, it's like we're
(36:21):
all kind of having the same journeyand in many ways details are different,
but the core conversations are very similar, and so there's so much learning and
so much healing in that group energy. That is great. I love that
you're doing that. And that's availableonline people that can easily get it.
Grab it. Andy, It's ummid. It'll be open again in mid
(36:44):
May. Yeah, so it willbe coming to great timing, coming soon,
yes, yeah, coming soon,looking forward to I know I have
to have loads of water, isn'tthat That's just like so important, so
important. Loads of water. Um, so tell us about now the cookbook
and when will it be out asas we're kind of moving along here.
(37:07):
Yeah, thanks, um. Sothe cookbook is clean and delicious. It's
it's a collection of some of ourmost popular recipes from the blog and a
YouTube channel, along with new recipesas well. And that is available for
pre order now on Amazon or anyreally any major book seller. But the
actual copies will be in your handApril twenty five. So they're available for
(37:30):
pre order right now, but they'llbe out April twenty five. Yeah,
I know, I've pre ordered mine, going pre order yours. He yes,
just go to Amazon and order it. And I think to get this
into the hands of as many women, as many moms, as many families
will be just such a boom forfor their households. It's a great I
(37:55):
think. I mean, if you'rea cookbook person, it's it's a great
resource to have, right because youdon't have to jump on the web and
search for things. You could justhave it in your hand, open it
up and find a simple breakfast,lunch, dinner, snack, sweet treat,
you know, all the kind ofday to day basics so hopefully there's
something in there for everybody. Andyou mentioned about like having an actual physical
(38:16):
book, And for years I waslike always using regular cookbooks because I wasn't
you know, I wasn't really onyou know, Google. Google wasn't around
much. And then and then Istarted getting into using, you know,
getting online a little bit. ButI'm finding when I'm in the middle of
something and I got my Google overmy hands or whatever, I'm chopping,
(38:37):
slicing and dicing, and I lookback at my computer and it's off and
then I'm like trying to use myelbow to get it going again. So
I'm going back to books because halfthe time I'm like or if I have
it on my phone, I'm constantlyhaving to like hold the phone up seeing
my face, you know, makeit work and get the recipe back on
(38:57):
there. And it's like it's difficult. The cook is open. I can
do that. That I can do. You know, you might have something
to hold it down. You putit in those plastic things that hold them
open. Exactly. It's like goingback to you know, the good old
days. It's pretty smart. Therewas like something really good about that.
(39:19):
And also holding a book, it'slike really a good thing. I agree,
and I always I've always been likeI love to read cookbooks, Like
if I'm just sitting around, I'llpick up I just love to read through
recipes and like people's stories. Andso if you're foodie, yeah no,
that's great. Did you grow upcook cooking? Did your mom cook a
lot or your family cook a lot? My family cooked a lot, for
(39:42):
sure. It's funny. I alwaysjoke like my I feel like my parents
are doing meal prep before meal prepwas the thing because they both worked full
time job, so Sunday was likemy mom's cooking daddy and shake big pots
of soup and sauce and lasagnas.Because we were Italian or our kitchen was
a time. My dad was atime, so my mom always cooked Italian
um, so there was always foodwas huge in our house. And then
(40:04):
my best friend who I grew up, she grew up right across the street
from me. Her family was alsolike super into food and cooking, so
she and I were either at myhouse cooking or making, or at her
house cooking or making, or atmy house eating dinner or at her house
eating dinner. It was always likewe always joke were like when like other
high school people were going out onFriday night, we were like making muffins.
So oh wow. And to havethe you know, the the constitution
(40:32):
of a young of a teenager.You know, you could wear that off
pretty fast, so you know,you had no judgment on the fact that
you were eating that. You justknow, just baking and eating and baking
and eating. Yeah, no,I think. And now your kids are
obviously way younger than my kids,but our kids, dear kids, you
(40:52):
know, go to somebody else's houseand bake or cook or it's just your
house only pretty well not a tonnot not a ton. They they even
in my house they sometimes are excitedabout it, and they're not as excited
about it as you would I wouldwant them to be, you know,
like that's because yeah, yeah,you're the go ahead, sorry for it.
(41:13):
No no, no, no,I was gonna say. It's like
you're the shoemaker. You know,you're you're not they don't want your shoes.
They you know, they're like,okay, yeah, fine, you
know how to do this. You'retrying to teach us. Oh, it'll
come out in ten, fifteen,twenty years exactly. Yeah, that's how
I feel like every now and thenmy daughter will make a dinner, like
if I'm not home, she'll cookfor my husband and my son, and
I'm just like, okay, allright, something's happening. No, this
(41:36):
can be done. It's being absorbedit exactly. That is so cool.
So is there anything else you'd likethe listeners to know about your your process,
your your business, you're how theycan work with you. I mean,
I think we really covered it.I mean, if if anybody wanted
(41:57):
to really work with me, theway to do that these days is through
the Don't Diet. So if that'ssomething somebody was interested in, they can
just go to the Don't Diet dotcom and there is a sign up to
get on that waiting list where they'llalso get emails and resources in the meantime.
And if somebody has more just foodrecipe focused, they can go to
Clean and Delicious dot com. AndI also have a newsletter there so you'll
(42:19):
get every every week invite to inbox. You'll get free recipes, all updates,
anything new that's happening. You're prettymuch the first to know. So
that would be the best way tostay connected. That is that is great?
Well, I am so honored againto have had you join us,
and all of this will be listedbelow in our description of the shows on
(42:43):
all of the podcast sites and alsoon Contact Talk radio. So if everybody
just take a moment and just takea deep breath, and next and now
that you're not alone, you arethe family balancing act.
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