Danielle Walker: FOOD. FAITH. FAMILY. GRATITUDE.

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Okay, little food for you. So life. Oh it's pretty Bay,
it's pretty beautiful than laughs, A little mouth kicking four brown. Okay,

(00:33):
super pumped to have daniel Walker on today's episode. She
is just the coolest. She's someone that I have followed
on Instagram for a while and I have her cookbooks.
I mean, I know a little bit about her just
from following her, so to meet her in person was
just amazing. And she was just as awesome as I
thought she was going to be, if not more awesome,
and just so stunning in person, Like I was like,

(00:54):
oh my gosh, she's so pretty and kind and and
smart and has so much to offer, so much wisdom
and so yeah, she's a three times New York Times
best selling author of Against All Grains series. She's a
mom to four, she's a wife, and she's beating an
autoimmune disease with diet and lifestyle. And that's her little

(01:15):
Instagram bio if you want to follow her, she's at
Danielle Walker. And we're gonna talk food, faith, family, and gratitude.
So those are the four things we're going to touch on,
and I just really think you'all are going to enjoy
our conversation, and I had Hillary Scott on last week
and she is like besties with Hillary and was staying
at her house, so I got to actually do this

(01:38):
recording in person when we were originally scheduled to do
it over the phone, but since she was in Nashville, yeah,
I got to meet her and it was just so
so awesome. So I hope you'll enjoy it. And before
we get into that, I did want to let you
all know that the next step bet game, which I
do a lot with Aaron Opria, starts October seven, and
so I'm gonna be signing up, So just make sure

(01:58):
you're signed up before this seventh and you should be
good to go. If you're like, what the heck is
step Bet, Well, it's a challenge where you know, it
sinks up to your Apple Watch, your fitbit, your phone, whatever,
and you have a certain amount of steps that you're
supposed to get today. That's that's it's also that part
is selected based on how many steps you do, like normally,
it's like been tracking you, so you're not gonna have

(02:19):
to do some crazy amount that wouldn't be attainable for you.
But you pay forty dollars you get your money back
a plus some of the pot for all the people
that have lost, which I've lost before, so I've lost money,
but I've also won before and gotten some money. So
if you hit your personal goal you know, every day
and you've got a free day every week for six weeks,

(02:40):
then you get your money back and then some. So yeah,
step bet app. But to enter the game that I'm
going to be a part of Aaron's game, you have
to enter the game code Aaron Opria e r I
n O p R e A. And if you don't
see her name, then you're in the wrong game because
I have joined the wrong game before and that's not
fun because you want to be competing against like or

(03:03):
I'm not competing. You want to be in the game
getting encouraged by people that you know and playing along
with I guess how that's how I should put it,
not competing. Um, So yeah, step that app is where
you can find all that so I will see all
on there because I'm definitely now that fall is approaching.
It's still hot here, but in Nashville, I think we're

(03:23):
about to see the switch like tomorrow, it's supposed to
be in the eighties, where all this week it's been
like a hundred. So I'm super excited about that, and
I'm gonna start walking more, getting my dog out and
getting my kids outside. It's just been so hot we
haven't been able to do that. So I'm signing up
for this game and I'm going to get my forty
dollars back and then some so maybe y'all will join me. Okay,

(03:45):
with that out of the way, um, let's get into
my little chat with Danielle Walker. Here you go first. Okay,
I've got Danielle Walker here with me and Danielle I
think what's super cool is last Thursday I had Hillary Scott. Yes,
and okay, full disclosure, y'all, we're recording this back to back.

(04:06):
So podcasts are fun that way. Sometimes you knock stuff out,
but the way I air it when you're listening to this,
Hillary ran last week, but she was just in here
five minutes ago. And daniel you don't live in Nashville. No,
I don't know, but she's her house is my second home. Yes,
So Danielle and I were originally going to do this
interview over the phone, totally scheduled, going to knock it

(04:28):
out and then next thing, you know, you know, I
hear that she's actually like the same day that we're
on the phone. Basically she's in Nashville staying at Hillary's house,
and Hillary was coming up here to do my podcast
and so and then we were like, wait a second,
I know, small world, and do this in person because
in person is so much that's so much better. And
I'm happy to finally meet you in person because I

(04:50):
followed you on Instagram for so long. So on Instagram
she's at Daniel Walker, but for a long time, were
you at against all Grade. So that's how some of you,
I know, like if you don't, if you started following
her as against all Grain, then you may not know
necessarily that you switched. Yeah, just it was a very
seamless transition, which I think a lot of people noticed,

(05:12):
but I mean, yeah, it definitely says it, which I
can see how in the beginning, probably because that was
your first cookbook and like you were the you're against
all grain, would be against all green girls, Like you're
so much more than that. So you do deserve your
name and your handle, like I Amy Brown was taken,
which is my name, but my Instagram handles Radio Amy

(05:34):
which is fine because that's I am on the radio.
But I've just sometimes but I'm Radio Amy, and so
sometimes when I meet people, that's how they refer to me.
But when I do the same thing, and then even
I introduced myself to people that I only know on
Instagram because they may not know me. If I say, hey,
I'm Amy Brown, totally like who But if I say
right away, yeah, I was like people for a long time,

(05:57):
people didn't even know my first name. It was like
they'd see me on this read or whatever and be like,
you're the against all green girl, and I was like,
I want to be known as my name, and yeah,
I mean we've branched out from so much more than
just grain free recipes, and I've been able to speak
into so many different things. So that's why I was
hoping to get it. But that screen name was taken
for I mean, we tried to get it for years
and it was just this like it was like an

(06:19):
unactive account that was sitting for a couple of years.
Some girl had made it like way back, and the
last picture she had posted was like years back, and
I was fighting for it for so long, and then
all of a sudden one morning, I woke up and
it was switched, and I had no idea that it
was going to happen. So Instagram, how it works, How
it works. Yea. So we're going to start with food,
because well, I know you have so much more about you,

(06:41):
but I mean food, Yeah, food is what put you
out there totally, and it's still, i mean, the one
of the most important things in my life, aside from
like my personal kids and everything. But yeah, no, food
is what I'm all about. And so if you're listening
right now and you're not familiar and you're like, what's
against all grand? Like why is this woman so anti grand?
What did grain do to you? But grain actually did

(07:03):
a lot to you. It did and like destroyed my
body totally. So walk us through your journey to a
grain free diet. Yeah. Yeah, So I was twenty two
and I just gotten married and was diagnosed with an
autoimmune disease UM. It's called all sort of colitis. There's
like hundreds and hundreds of aut immune diseases, but they
all have something similar in common, and that they are

(07:25):
all inflammation like inflammatory based um and that your immune
system is essentially overactive and attacking and otherwise healthy organ
So it's just different for each one. Mine, specifically, my
colon was being attacked. But I mean there's MS, there's
you know, rheumatoid arthritis, where your immune systems attacking your joints.
So there's so many different kinds UM. And I spent

(07:46):
years on really high dosages of medications, and I was
on medical leave from my job, like I could barely
get up a flight of stairs without collapsing and just
really really bad um and the medications were making things worse.
And then they were talking about surgery to remove a
portion of my coal in, but then there was this
whole other like slew of side effects that could come
from that. And then there were these lifelong medications that

(08:08):
they were talking about that also had just this you know,
like handful of side effects. And so I started looking
into food and found that an anti inflammatory diet, which
would cut out things like grains and dairy and legooms
and anything processed so like refined sugar, processed foods UM
would could really help. And I did it. I mean,

(08:31):
it's a kind of a longer story than I just
did it. It It took a long time for me to
really dig in and commit and similar to the elimination
diet and very similar to a paleo diet. That's kind
of yeah, paleo with a couple of things you know
that I had to cut out temporarily, But that's pretty
much what it looked like. And um, but yeah, I
mean we did an elimination diet, and after the elimination diet,

(08:52):
within forty eight hours, my symptoms improved by I mean,
while you could tell that quickly, that quickly, Yeah, it
was pretty crazy, I think, especially because my disease is
in my gut and everything I eat goes through there. Um,
it was really really drastic for me. But I mean
even from you know, now that I've been doing this
for so long, hearing from so many people, it's it
sometimes takes like thirty days for people. But yeah, I

(09:14):
mean mine was like almost immediate, and all of the
medications I had been on previously never worked that quickly
or that efficiently, right, But I mean you had. It
was just so that people know how serious this was.
I mean there was times you almost look, this could
have killed you. Yeah. Yeah, no, I almost died. I'm
not being dramatic, No, no, no, I almost died in
Uganda once um and then a couple of times in hospitals. Yeah,

(09:37):
and it's not No, you're not being dramatic. I know.
I always say that to him, like I was fighting
for my life, but I I can't articulate like how
I actually had to be revived with blood transusions in
the hospital. Like I was so anemic and so ironed
efficient that if I would have not gone into the
hospital another couple of weeks or so, I wouldn't have
made it. Wow. Yeah, and so and that you were
married at the time. It was not something that you know,

(10:01):
you had to work through as a child and a
teenager an adult, like, but you were, you're married before
after you realized. So I got we got married in September,
and I was diagnosed at the end of October of
that year. Oh my gosh. So it's like really really
quick and it's your colon. Yeah, I cannot even handle

(10:25):
if I'm like, I have to go to the back right,
Like I don't know that he would have been able
to know how. So that expedited things. Yeah, I'm married
to like a saint. He's amazing. But yes, I mean
it it expedited things. He had to give me enemas.
I mean, like we're I'm newly weed twenty two and
having to have my husband helped put something up my
my my butt was that that was part of the

(10:48):
part of the one of the medications that one of
the doctors gave us. Um but yeah, I mean yeah,
it got it got real real quick. Okay, So back
to where you started to eliminate certain things, warted to
feel great. So then eventually you were able to nail
down Okay, whoa, yeah, this is what I this is
my parameters. Yeah, this is what I can eat. Ye,
and maybe there's other people that are going through this,

(11:11):
So then you start sharing what you're eating. What led
to eventually you now with like what like three or
four cookbooks or yeah, yeah, because I mean that's like
this is probably not the path you were all. No,
not at all. No. I never thought I would write
a cookbook. I mean I didn't even ever make up recipes. Um. Yeah.
I started a blog more just to kind of keep

(11:33):
my friends and family updated with how I was because
it was kind of like I would get so many
texts and calls every day with like, how are you feeling?
How are you doing? And I was like well, maybe
if I just start a blog, they can all just
kind of go and like read about how I'm doing,
as opposed to having to retell, you know, every time. Uh.
And then I started kind of creating some recipes once
I realized, like I have to eat this way. I

(11:54):
don't want my food to taste terrible. And that's like
it was a real fear for me in my early twenties.
I like, I'm gonna have to eat this way for
the rest of my life, Like I can't do chicken
and just like steam vegetables forever, I will get so
sick of it and I don't think I'll be able
to stick to it if it's that's the case. So
I got into my kitchen and just kind of started
doing trial and error and trying to recreate food that

(12:15):
I grew up eating and things that were kind of
comforting to me, or like things that I liked to
eat around special occasions or holidays, things that like I
was really feeling like I missed. And I started having
some successes on recipes that tasted good. I was like
sharing them with my husband, and then like I take
stuff to his work or our neighbors, and people were
like this is really good and they didn't have to
eat that way, and so he encouraged me. I was

(12:36):
new mom, was a new mom. I think I had
my son might have been like a couple of months old.
And he was like, welly naps, why don't you blog
your recipes? And I was like, I don't know what
a blog is. I also don't know how to take pictures.
Um and he said it my husband's like very techy,
and so he set up a whole blog for me,
and I started blogging the recipes that were working, and
I would take photos with my phone as but like

(12:56):
the best I could. And I started a Facebook page
f or the blog, and it just started to gain traction,
like really quickly, especially when I would put recipes out
that were recreations of things so like grain free dairy
free chocolate chip cookies, or like grain free dairy free
like sandwich bread so I could still have a sandwich.
Those were the recipes that I started to notice people

(13:17):
coming that weren't just like my sister and my mom. Uh.
And after the blog was rushed, shout out to the
sisters in them support, because like, yeah, you know when
you when you've got something like that, and you're starting it,
You've got two clicks. You're like, yes, your screenshot. I
went back, I don't know what I was doing. I
was either recording a podcast or a magazine article something
they were asking back about like when I first started.

(13:39):
So I spent like hours getting all the way back
to my very first post and it had two legs
and it said like my sister Lisa, and I'd screenshot
it and said it to her and I was like,
thank you for always being my number one fan, right
even from the beginning. Um. Yeah. So after the blog
was running for about a year, I got a phone
call from a publisher and they had asked if I
wanted to write a cook book, and honestly I was.

(14:00):
I didn't think it was real. First of all, I
thought that cookbooks could only be written by like Food
Network stars. I just that's in my brain. I was like,
only had Garden and like Rachel Ray are allowed to
write cookbooks? Martha Stewart, Yeah, I'm like, I don't. I
don't think I have the qualifications to do this. Um,
but it's a kind of a fun story and that
you know. First of all, I thought that the way
I was eating could only help digestive diseases like crowns colleitis, uh,

(14:24):
you know, celiac. And as I started blogging and getting
that Facebook page, I just started getting so many emails
and messages and comments from people with just all sorts
of other things, you know, Like I mentioned like from
MS to room atoiter thritis, two people that were helping
their migraines and their joint pains. And then I think
the most out there one that I didn't realize was

(14:46):
that there's this whole community of families with children that
are on the spectrum that are doing grain free, dairy
free diets to try to help peel their gut, which
can help they're just like everything their mental. Yeah. And
so the lady who worked at the publisher actually had
a son that was on the spectrum and he went
to a school where they did a serial day every

(15:07):
Monday where the kids got to like bring in all
their cereals and they would bring you know, like junkie cereal,
like sugar cereals. And he couldn't participate because he was
on a grain free diet. And I had a granola
recipe on my blog that was crunchy and like sweetened
sweetened with honey, and she made it for him every
Monday with almond milk so that he could like participate
in the cereal day. And that's how she found me,

(15:29):
and that's how the publishing, like the first publishing deal
came about. Yeah, so it's kind of a special story.
Like it just it wasn't somebody that was just like
looking to you know, make a book or like get
the next best thing. Like she was like people invested. Yeah,
it was really cool. So it was like it was
a cool conversation and like phone call to get um.

(15:50):
And I had started like thinking about self publishing or
something at that point because I had just been creating
so many recipes for free on blogs. It's like you
just put everything out there for free, and it takes
a lot of time, so chork, and so much money.
I mean we were newlywoods, and I was like we
were like pouring our savings into the blog of just
like recipe development and the ingredients and you know, like
I finally took a food photography class and I bought

(16:10):
like a legit camera and so um, I was looking
finally I was like I got to monetize this some
way or another and the book. Deal kind of came
right as we were trying to figure out what to
do next. And do you know what your most loved
recipe is by people? My Real Deal chocolate chip cookies. Yeah,
that's one of the recipes. It's on my blog, but
it's also in my first cookbook. And I call them

(16:31):
real Deal because I was testing them like a billion
times and we had a group of like college high
school age boys that came in for dinner that we
would have like part of our community that we had
for dinner, and I remember testing them and thinking like, okay,
if I can give these to them for dessert, and
none of them say like this tastes different, or it
tastes weird, or like they just didn't know what was
in it and that it was healthy for them that

(16:53):
I knew it was like a winner recipe. And one
of the guys at the end was like, this taste
like the toll House recipe my grandma used to make
or something, and I was like, I'm like Winner. So
I've called them the real Deal chocolate chip cookies forever.
And that was like the one recipe that I think
started kind of my blog to skyrocket. And then it's
like the most made recipe of mine ever. There's a

(17:14):
hashtag for it on Instagram. Real Chocolate cook is really long,
a really long hashtag. But yeah, I think people just
there's something nostalgic about cookies. And I've heard so many
stories around them too, Like I'll never forget when my
toured for my first book and a mom came out
that was visibly frail and sick, but that was like
out and walking and she came with her little six

(17:35):
year old girl and she just thanked me and was
in tears and was like, I've been bedridden for two years,
and your recipes and like the way that now I'm
eating has gotten me to not only get out of bed,
but but be able to do a pastime like making
cookies with my daughter that I can also eat that doesn't,
you know, hurt my body. And it just was super
specially here because that's I always wanted that for my

(17:55):
kids too, And like I grew up making cookies and
cakes and things with my mom, and I wanted to
be able to make those but also get to eat
them with my kids, because like I could make a
wheat filled with like refined sugar cookie for and with
my kids, but then I'm like, I can't sit and
eat it with them. So being able to make something
that we can all enjoy that doesn't make me sick
with a huge priority for me. I love that. Okay,

(18:15):
so that's your most loved recipe, But what's your favorite?
You have a favorite? I mean that's honestly, that's one
of them. Like we we make and eat them all
the time. Um. But otherwise I would say, gosh, the
new book has a lot of my favorites in it. Yeah. Yeah,
it's eat what you love and it's all like nostalgic
comfort foods. So that's really fun for me. Um, there's

(18:40):
I would say probably in that book. I love lasagna. Yeah,
and it's hard to do brain free and dairy free,
Like that's a tough thing because it's so cheesy and
that's how cheese. Like cashews like a ricotta, like a
cashew ricotta type of a thing which you can buy,
Like there's a brand now that they sell in health
food stores that's made from almonds and it's hill Yeah.

(19:00):
Oh I love that so good. Um. So that's been
like being able to get those flavors. I mean, it's
not like stringy and OUI guy, but it tastes like
it close enough, So I would say that's my favorite,
and that one's and you love. So you also have celebrations,
which is the one that I love, And that's like
where you can really yeah, if you've got if you
need to like dial into something that you're celebrating, your host,

(19:23):
any anything like It's got the recipe, that's like my
favorite book. I think. Honestly, I grew up in a
family that loved holidays, first of all, but what I
found for myself and then also what I found just
from people who have any special diets or food allergies,
anything like that, the time that they feel the most
left out or like the most weird or you know,

(19:43):
ostracized is during those special occasions, whether it's like birthdays
or Thanksgiving or Christmas. And that's also the time where
people fall off the wagon really easily because it's like
all the things they love and the things that are
super nostalgic and they have memories tied to them that
they're like being faced with, you know, at Christmas or
Thanksgiving and they're like, oh, I could just eat it
this this, you know, Thanksgiving and then tomorrow I'll go back.

(20:06):
And for me, it was like I did that for
the first couple of years and I'd end up so
sick afterwards that it just wasn't worth it. Because when
you save all of the wagon, I mean there's one
you know that probably commonly of like oh, I'm just
on a diet, yes, few pounds or whatever, which this
is like used as a lifestyle. You do that, like
you get sick, like your consequences are not a pound

(20:27):
up on the scale, and it's like you could be
in bed, yes, yeah, and I think it. It It took
me a while to realize that. Honestly, it was like, oh,
a little here and there, and it was just this
mental thing where I finally had to come to grips
with like this isn't a diet, this isn't a thirty
day thing, Like this is a lifestyle that will be
my forever. And in order to be able to enjoy
that and to like to be to be able to
stick to it and make it sustainable, something like having

(20:49):
a grain free stuffing at Thanksgiving was like I need
to have that, or like a pumpkin pie. So celebrations
is really special to me because it was like all
those recipes that I was able to pour my heart
into give people a normal holiday, but then not only
give them a normal holiday, but I wanted to create
food that they could have their family, their neighbors, people
who didn't have to eat grain for your gluten free

(21:10):
and that they could just serve one meal and that
everybody would love it. And I did it for a
couple of years with my family just to kind of see,
you know, like what their response would be. And they
all were like, this food taste so fresh, and it
tastes so good, and I'm not you know, like needing
a nap on the couch afterwards like we usually do
after Thanksgiving. And over the years it's become like my
whole extended family, that's all they make now are just

(21:32):
my recipes from celebrations, and that's our Thanksgiving dinner and
nobody misses like the things that they used to eat,
which is awesome. I love that. And so yeah, on
your blog against all Green dot com, you do have
recipes up there, links to all your cookbooks such on Amazon,
but you also have appliances and cook whar you recommend.
And you know, my friend Mary, I was staying at

(21:53):
her house. She lives in California, and I was out
there a couple of weeks ago and I got out
the skillet and I was going to make some eggs
and she goes, oh, Danielle Walker recommended that skelet and
it's like the best one. And I was like, oh,
I need to go order this because I feel like
I never buy the right so it's overwhelming. It is overwhelming.
So I love that you throw out those recommendations, tous,

(22:14):
and you're doing a lot in the kitchen, and yeah,
I kind of know and just know what to trust
and what to buy. So it's not cheap, you know.
So it's like, if you're going to buy something, make
a good investment. And I think you know when I say, like,
it's still all kind of surrounded about food. But what
I've learned over the years is that while food is
a massive, massive player in my health and in my journey,
there's so much more that goes with it, and a

(22:36):
lot of it is like well like wellness things in
terms of like what you're cooking with, so non toxic cookwear.
And it took me years to learn like the different
nuances and the things and like having to change all
of my beauty supplies and my shampoos. Like, I had
no idea shampoo could have wheat in it gluten in it,
and I was like for years, you know, cut out
grains and gluten. But then it was like using a

(22:56):
shampoo with wheat in it, which can still be absorbed.
It's just a lot, and it took a long time.
But so for me to be able to offer some
of what I've learned and just kind of give people
a recommendation without having to, you know, for them to
have to do all the research. That's kind of what
I like to be able to offer to people, and
especially for people with chronic illness, which a lot of
my followers have like to to try to figure out

(23:16):
what to eat, what to buy, and what not to use.
It's a lot, you know. So if they can just
go to my website and just be like, Okay, that's
what she recommends. I'm gonna get this, this, this, this,
and this, and like not have to put too much
thought into it. That's my hope is just to make
it accessible and easy for them. Oh yeah, people like me,
we appreciate. Yes, Well you taught me something though, what
the almond milk in the shampoo bottles. I remember seeing

(23:39):
it on your Instagram and I was like, so I travel.
I was like, how have I never thought of this before?
I mean literally like I would travel and then find
a grocery store. And so it's too sometimes you don't
have time, No, you don't have time, and it's like
the perfect amount. I mean, it's such a great idea
you can And so for those of you that don't know, sorry,
I shampoo bottles are like what three ounces because you

(24:00):
can take them on ton carry on, carry on. So
if you get like say for me personally, I like
to have a macho latte every morning, and but I
don't want to just go get it from Starbucks or
something because it's just not what I don't know the ingredients. Like,
I'm just I like the way mind taste. You can
control it, and I know what I'm putting in my body.
So I will even sometimes I'll just completely concoct the
whole machilt. It's not just the almond. Sometimes it will

(24:22):
be that. But and I'll put it in like and
if I want to sixteen notes, I get you know,
like four or five bottles. Yeah, I'll add some water
sometimes when I get the if I need to an
ice and it'll fill up, but I mean I just
throw those in a ziplock bag and boom, I get.
I mean, I've been on the airplane before and I
start o picking up shampoo bottles and pouring myself what
are you doing? Yeah, And it's not like it's a cocktail.

(24:45):
I'm drinking milk, right, And I'm like, mind, such a
good idea, because so I travel with a lot of
food on the plane and people always ask that. They're like, wait,
you can bring food through T s A. And I'm like, yeah,
as long as it's not liquid. And then anything under
I think it's four ounces, anything under four they don't
even check. I'm like, that's so great. And you can
have as many four ounce bottles, right, That's where you
got to add it up. How many ounces do you need?

(25:06):
And you just buy that many from Target? Idea film.
So I didn't have shampoo bottles after I saw that,
but I did have old breast milk bottles from like
when I used to pump, and I filled them up
with cash you milk and almond milk, and I was like, well,
the good thing is nobody's going to touch these in
the fridge, Like, nobody's gonna steal my cash you milk
because they're gonna think it's breast milk. Do you know,
sake your own milk. So I don't make almond milk

(25:28):
anymore because there's such good brands. My favorite is milk,
and it's just the cleanest ingredients. It's like five so
it's so so clean. There's no gums, there's like no
stabilizers because those things all bloat me really bad. And
that's why I don't go to Starbucks because they have
so much stuff in their almond milk. But Cashi milk
I make homemade because it's so much like creamier and thick.

(25:48):
When you make it homemade and cash you milk, you
don't have to do the like long soak and the
straining process like you do with almond milk, Like you
can actually just blend it and use it as is.
You don't have to strain out the pulp. So I
make that one. But um almond milk, No, not anymore.
I used to, but it's like you have to think
about it because you have to soak them for twenty
four hours and you have to blend in. Then you
have to strain it, and I never had it soaked

(26:10):
when I needed the milk. So I'm so grateful for
brands that that sell it now. Well, I mean that's
probably a huge blessing that you have now that you
didn't have been because when you first started out this,
like there was nothing. Now, you know, you can go
to Whole Foods if you've got on your or a
healthy store or even Kroger now has or h GB
depending on where you're shopping or where you live like
part of the country, Like you can go in and

(26:30):
you can find everything. Yeah, it's so great hill Ricotta
cheese that you like. Yeah, yeah, No. I did an
instant card order in public s while I was sitting
out there to get delivered to Hillaries for later, and
I could get I mean they had everything. They had
like simple males, grain free crackers, they had bone broth.
I mean, they had anything I would have normally found.
Which are you gonna make? You're gonna make Hillary awesome meal?

(26:52):
So when you come live with her for her, we
make I have a dairy free case, so that's like
her favorite and I make it and even when some
time cash you, no, it doesn't have any nuts. Which
is my favorite part. What do you make sweettatos? Yes,
it's so random, like you would not expect it. It
has sweet potatoes and like green salsa and onions and
garlic and um. I put a little bit of arrow
root in it to just like make it kind of

(27:13):
have a little bit of a consistency and the nutritional
yeast um. And then lately I've been doing like taco
meat to taste like the chili's skillet case. So, so
I we make it every time I'm with her, and
then thankfully with our jobs, like we all see each
other on the road sometimes, and so anytime she comes
to California, I make like a big vat for her
to take on the tor bus and I'll kind of

(27:34):
like all my kids and I'll go and see them
and then I'm like, here's your case so for the week.
And so that's what she eats on the on the bus.
If the house is ever full, I have a garage
department great, and it has a full kitchen okay perfect, yeah,
and you can say there, yes, no, I mean that
is the thing we love to do. And her so
her daughter Isasley is like one of my favorite humans
and she loves to bake. So every time we come

(27:54):
like we she and we just she told me that
cakes last night. Um, we bake. I mean I literally
will walk in the door or I got I got
off the bus just this week and like at six am,
it's like guys leaving like Ms Danielle, do you want
to bake? And I'm like, yes, I'm so tired, but
I will bake with you. So that's usually what we do. Yeah,
we cook and we bake and and it's fun. It's great. No,
that is fun. Okay, So yeah, I'm gonna have to

(28:17):
now I'm going to have to make the case. So
and your real deal yes, chocolate chip cookie yes. And
dairy free ranch that's the other one. And oh oh no,
I know about your da ranch. Don't you worry about that?
Those are the other things I think. I'm like, yeah,
those are like the things I'm known for, you know,
with all the recreations. So those are all three of those?
Are those on your they just in cookbooks? Are they
on your reciples? So cases on the blog and the

(28:38):
ranches on the blog. Um, the cookies are on the blog.
Oh boom, so on the you can just get the
peak now and then of course she'll try them out
and you'll want to order her cookbooks, but it's against
all grain dot com. So when it comes to your

(29:00):
whole well being and taking care of your body and
the food that you put in, I mean, there's so
many different ways you can um nurture your body, and
spiritually is one of them too. And so how has
faith played a role on this journey, because I'm sure
there are times. I mean, I know that you've been
open with your faith before, so I we could probably

(29:21):
go there. But you know, when you face something like
a chronic illness like this, sometimes is they're just frustration. Yeah,
it's been a difficult road. Uh, not only from when
I got diagnosed, but we also lost a baby girl
five years ago, shortly after birth. And so my whole
faith journey for the past ten years since I was

(29:41):
diagnosed until now has been bumpy. Um, just a lot
of questions that I didn't have to face growing up.
I grew up in a Christian household, so it just
kind of was this, you know, like easy faith that
I just grew up and I didn't really ever have
to challenge it. So I think the biggest, the hardest
thing was just being diagnosed with this disease is and
and really praying for years for healing, like for miraculous healing,

(30:03):
for where I'd wake up the next morning and have
a new body, because I mean, I was so so
sick and I still am, you know. I think I'm
still trying to comprehend that prayer doesn't always or I'm
not prayer, but I guess that that healing doesn't always
look like what we expected to. And also prayer, like
what we ask for, sometimes it comes in ways that

(30:23):
we don't expect it to. And it took me a
while to realize that maybe I wasn't waking up and
having miraculous healing the next morning, but that that it
was it was God who showed me the way to eat,
you know, and that and that when I think about it,
I'm like, he showed me food and what I needed
to do in its like purest form, the way that

(30:44):
He created it before we started processing and you know,
doing things different to the food. It's just like very
real foods in their whole form that aren't farmed differently
and process differently. And so I'm like, when I really
like sit back and think about I'm like, wow, that's
kind of crazy, and so like, I don't. It's just
so poignant to me that it's not It wasn't like

(31:04):
a bunch of medications or a bunch of different things.
It was like, No, he created food and I'm eating
it just basically the way that it used to be, yeah,
when it was intended to be down and it's that
it's so nourishing for my body and that it's so
healing for my body, and um so that I think
has been huge for me. And then just to see
him use my story to help so many other people

(31:27):
that might be in the same position that we're praying
and praying and praying for healing and that weren't finding
it and then they hear, you know, my story and
then change the way they've eaten and then they're seeing healing.
And so there's this really awesome just ripple effect of
my story and how he's amplifying it. And I mean,
like I just went on tour in January and got
to hear stories, just story upon I mean, I'm doing

(31:49):
this for like ten years and the stories still bring
me to tears, and I'm still amazed with the different
types of people that are being helped. And there's a
woman in one of my stops who was wheelchair bound
from m us It came to my v I p
meet and greet and was able to walk up to
my table and give me a hug without a cane
or a walker, all from all from food. So I
think that has strengthened my faith, even though for a

(32:11):
long time I was like, why, like why are you
letting this happen? Why aren't you answering our prayers? Um?
But to be able to see him like really work
through our hardships and to be able to like really
give glory to him and to see it be used
for something giving giving giving up purpose has been really
really great for my faith. I'm still I still wrestle

(32:35):
with a lot. I still kind of you know, I'm
like okay, but it's still really like to be healed
because it's not been a perfect journey. Like I still
have these flare ups. They're nowhere near what they used
to be. I haven't been hospitalized for ten years since
I switched my diet. But if I'm particularly stressed, if
I'm not taking care of my spiritual health, my emotional
health UM or you know, just if I'm running myself

(32:56):
into the ground, like I can still get these flare
ups that can set me back back a bit. And
there's a lot of times where I'm like, Okay, haven't
I been doing this long enough? God, like you can
you just fix this now? And I'll still spread this
word like I promise. But um so I deal with
that still, you know, I'm still like, okay, when you know,
how do we pray and what do we ask for
and what what does it look like when it's not

(33:18):
answered in the way that we hope for or expect
it to be. And sometimes we don't know we're going
through something, we don't know how it's going to be
used later, And it's so that we can starn't have empathy.
I yes, I think so too. I know it's a
hard like I was. I was telling Hell this yesterday,
But I'm like, sometimes I feel like he keeps me
close to the problem so that I can have empathy

(33:38):
for all these people that are looking to me for
inspiration and for hope. And you know, if there have
been years where I haven't dealt with any symptoms at all,
I start to be removed from the problem a little bit,
you know. So you you kind of push that under
and you're like, I don't really want to think about
those hard times. And so sometimes when I do have
kind of the bumps in the road, it's just a
reminder of like, look how look how bad it was,

(34:00):
Look how far you've come. And this is a reminder
of what these people, these millions of people around our
country are feeling like every day that are just so
sick that haven't yet heard that food can help um.
And so that is good for my heart and for
because you know, you just start to get not cold,
you know, or shut off to it. But when you've
heard something so many times or you've dealt with something

(34:23):
and you're kind of trying to not be super emotional
about it, it's it's sometimes easy to kind of put
like the walls up so that you don't really feel Yeah,
I get that, so but then it's harder to connect
with people. Right, So I have those moments. And then
so you know, with your faith of food and well
being and keeping all of that, like what are your
things that keep you balance? Like what is what do

(34:44):
you look forward to in a day that's going to
feed your um not your physical self with the food,
but but that well being side, the spiritual side, or
just the healthy Danielle side. What's when you're in a
healthy place, because sometimes I mean you are. I can
tell you're very driven, your heart working, you're very busy.
You're a mom, you're a wife, you're an entrepreneur. Like
you've got a lot going on. Yeah, you know, and

(35:06):
you know you're I'm not always the best going around,
but like, so what are do you have to even
if it's you're not the best at it, you have
at some point realize that and then be intentional like
what am I going to do to ground myself? Like
what brings me healthy? Danielle. Yeah, there's a lot that
and I try to really make it priorities. So, um,
napping is one of those things that and that's not
on the spiritual side, but just they be of yourself.

(35:29):
I feel like it's all encompass. Yes, I agree. So,
especially if I'm noticing like my health slipping, or if
I've been traveling like crazy, like I have to schedule
a nap in because otherwise I'll be like I've got
this to do or this to do or you know.
So sometimes it's just like a forty five minute nap
and then occasionally if I can massages. I'm going to
get one today because we're on a break from tour
right now, so and I'm we're taking off tomorrow night,

(35:49):
so I'm like, I gotta get a massaged more than anything,
because a massage means that I can't have my phone.
I can't be thinking about I mean, you can think
about things, but like, for the most part, I fall asleep.
That's the best thing for me is just to shut off.
And then when I'm home, Honestly, even though I know
some people are like, oh, time with my kids are
so stressful, which it is when you're at home, but
when I'm at home, taking my kids on one on

(36:10):
one dates has been really good for me, just emotionally
and then connecting with them and then I think just
to like put any of the mom guilt aside. And
I love doing them one on one because I really
feel like I get to catch everything with just that
one that one because I have three, and to get
to have the conversations and like just have that really
special time that is really really good for me. It
just and I and I am very purposeful that like

(36:32):
there is no work, there's no Instagram, there's no phone,
there's no emails, like it's just me and them. And
even if it's like a two hour outing you know
in the middle of the day, that to me is
really huge. And then my time with my husband at
the end of the day I think is really really big.
It's like when we just talk about everything and you know,
if we need, we pray about things, and it's like
it's just that's like like our special time I think,

(36:54):
just to debrief on all the things, um. And then
honestly two good friendships, like especially with my faith journey
that I've particularly two friends here, Hillary is one of them, UM,
that have just been so understanding and so patient with
my faith journey and always there to talk about but
never forcing Like I kind of grew up in a

(37:15):
household where it was like guilt ridden faith, where it's
like you need to figure it all out right now,
you cannot doubt, Like you need to be at church
every Sunday, you need to be in your in the
devotionals every day. And there's just been a season where
I'm like I'm just trying to figure out what my
relationship is with with Jesus and with God and how
to talk and how to you know, and they've just
been so good in that to bounce those things off
of and to hear that they've had similar struggles or

(37:37):
that you know, we can connect on certain things and
that that they can offer um just knowledge and advice
and the things that they've traveled and like through in
the past, and with no judgment, no judgment, and no
rush to be like you need to you need to
figure this out now, like you need to be back
you know, perfectly walking you know, hand in hand. And
it's just been really good, like just this freedom of

(37:59):
like okay, like I'm working through this and it's okay,
and I'm going to come out stronger on the other side.
So the friendships I think are huge too. Yeah. I
second ago you mentioned your kids and your husband. So
next thing I want us to talk about is your family.
So I'll get into that next. Okay. So when we

(38:20):
were talking about well being, like two things that stood
out to me which I thought, we're awesome, We're part
of you being your healthiest version is carving out time,
purposeful time with your kids and then purposeful time with
your husband. And how y'all can refuel together and look
at whatever you need, whether it's like be alone together,

(38:40):
pray together. I'm assuming maybe have you mentioned having date
nights with your kids, which I want to go into
more about that, but probably also date nights with my husband?
Your husband trying to go once a week. I know
it doesn't always happen. It usually ends up being like
twice a month, but we really do try, even if
it's like a two hour dinner. Okay, So since we're
on that, let's talk about the husband and then we'll
get into the kids in those days, because I think

(39:01):
that that's that's something a lot of us probably need
to take note of. Yeah, because my husband and I
are not dating once a week. Nope, it's not happening.
I know it's hard, and we it's been over the
last year or so. I think the more kids we have,
the more we've tried to put priority on it, just
because life is crazy and you know, with working full
time and me traveling, and we just our best time

(39:22):
connecting is out to dinner and just where we're by ourselves,
you know, across the table from each other. And he's
so we've been together since I was sixteen so and
he was seventeen, UM and so he's my best friend
and like, I mean, I know people say that and
it sounds cliche, but like he really is my person
and we've grown up together and we everything. We you know,
we've faced a lot together from you know, just in

(39:44):
the twelve years that we've been married. I'm like, how
long has it been? Um? So, I yeah. My time
with him is so important and we just feel like
we're better parents when we can go out have our time.
We talk about everything from like my business, to the kids,
to our relationship to it's just everything and we can
cover it, you know, in dinner, and it's it's like

(40:05):
my favorite time of the week. So how do y'all
treat date night? I mean, y'all you have reservations or
just like wherever you feel like going, or do you
get dressed up? Now I'm just dressed up. I mean
we live in California, so everybody's usually pretty casual, like
kind of that Californias behind date night when it's not
like a very formal thing. It's not just like you're
making it happen. Yes, Like he's not like asking me

(40:25):
on a date and making reservations or like anything like that.
It's like I know he's always like once a week,
that's a lot. I know. Yeah, maybe every once in
a while sprinkle that in. Yeah, yeah right now. And
we have like two or three places that are our
go to as we go to them all the time.
And this I'm sure being in California, you have a
lot more options of places you can eat out, although
you guys have such good stuff here, you know, I
mean does eating out is that given you something you

(40:48):
obviously have to Yeah, I don't know, You're not that
person that's like, oh hey, um, yeah, I just I
need do you have any gluten free options? And they
probably think you're just trying to like take care of
your face and no, no, no, Land can not have
gluten well, so so like that's I think we have
our favorites that we know are safe. And like in California,
you can go to a lot of restaurants and they'll

(41:08):
have a designated gluten free menu, which is really cool,
so they'll basically like extract everything off of their main
menu that is or can be made gluten free. And
then I just know now the places we go, like
I know what I can order, I know what I
have to modify, So that's I think we just kind
of go there. But yeah, I mean we don't do long,
extravagant date nights, but it's usually like an hour and
a half or two hours and then we come The

(41:28):
key is to come home after bedtime, because otherwise it
just ruins the relaxation of date night. Because little kids.
I have two of four and a nine year old
two and four year old. You know, bedtime, it's like
you just never know what you're gonna get right. They
could be asking for things for an hour after bedtime
and you're just so frustrated by the time they finally
fall asleep. So we always are like texting. It's usually
my in laws that watch our kids or babysitter, and

(41:49):
we're like are they asleep yet? And as soon as
they do, we're like, great, we're coming home. It's like
eight thirty. We're like super early birds. We don't so wise.
Yeah I didn't know that. I mean, it's so simple
bowl and it's like, okay, I should be thinking of
that too, but you don't. Always Sometimes you feel bad,
like having to have somebody else but your kids to bed,
But they're easier for them, they're easier for babysitters. I

(42:09):
swear they go down for babysitters like that because they
know that they can totally like play the cards with
mom and dad. They're like, oh, I know you'll get
me water if I ask, or like, I know you
if I say my temmi hurts, you'll give me a
snack or that the last night on one page, one
more page, But Mom, come back. I turned the lights off.
I walk up. Mom. I feel like you can't just ignore,

(42:32):
Well you can't. I mean, yeah, I'm just gonna say
we we have Like I'm closing the door if you
talk again. I've gone downstairs before. I've been like, I'm
just like, I'm ignoring it. I can't do this. I
can't do this. I'm tired. I have to wake up
so early. I don't have time for this. My husband's
out of town, and but I'm walking away from him
thinking like I just this is he's gonna be in
therapy one day and he's gonna be like, well, now
you used to yell from my mom and ay, they

(42:54):
will be fine. But we also we realized I probably
when my oldest whose nine was little, if we came
home like in the middle of bedtime, all bets would
be off. It was like the transition from the babysitter
to us than like us being gone and him seeing us,
and then it just was like it would take forever
to try to get him down. So we learned, we

(43:15):
were like, we cannot come home until they're asleep, so
that there's just no issues, and it's it's the best
thing we can do, honestly, And then usually we'll come
home and just watch a show together on the couch,
like we're boring date nighters. It's really just that sounds fantastic, yeah,
isn't it. I'm like, I don't want to be out late.
I don't really want to go see a movie. I
just want to have dinner with my husband and I
want to come home and like watch something on Netflix. Yellowstone. Oh,

(43:37):
it's so okay. I've got a whole list of things
that we need to watch to the topkay, because I've
resisted it for so long because I thought it was
an old Western and like Kevin Costner's and it's a
cowboy and I literally thought it was a period piece
from like back in the day, and I just was
like not into it. But so many of your friends
were like usually watch Yellowstone, and without even really knowing
he was about I kept saying no, okay, and then
I realized it's Modern Day in on Tanna, and it's

(44:02):
so good. Okay, okay, we'll add it because we've got
and there's like a lull right now where we don't
have much to watch. So this is yellow Stone. It's
not on Netflix though, it's on who we bought it
on amazonaz. Yeah. But I mean we're usually so tired
that we literally can watch like one thirty minute show
at night. I mean, it's not it and then we're

(44:23):
like nine fifteen, we're like, okay, time for bed. We're
just tired, Like if I watched one and a half
episodes as a good bit, absolutely, I'm staying up later
on my tour right now. Then I do at home
like I just we go to bed early. Yeah okay,
So now you were we go on date nights and
we come to come home after the kids are asleep.
Wise tip. But then on there's nights that you want

(44:46):
to date your kids, what does that look like? So
I normally do midday for the kids, okay, and it's
like either and they're one on one. It's it's like
all them together, one on one. I love the one
on one. So I realized, and I don't do it
as often as I wish I could, honestly, But when
my middle was born, I realized very quickly, like you
when you go from one to two or one to

(45:06):
three or whatever it is, that time with your oldest
that you had one on one is just so different.
And I remember really like grieving that because I'm with
the baby and I was nursing, and it's like my
husband kind of took the older one, and I just
remember being like, oh, I loved our time by ourselves
at the park or you know, when when it's just one,
that's that's what it is. It's just always you. So
that's when I started it. I was like, Okay, I'm

(45:26):
going to leave the baby at home. I'm gonna take
my oldest asher and like just take him to a
movie and to to um, like get a burger or
something or you know, my my kids love to go
to like the painting ceramics places um so like color
me mine like things like that. So I usually let
them pick um, but I try to. I can't do
it more than more than like a couple hours more
because like either they have to nap or I need

(45:47):
to get back to work, But it feels like it's
just a good amount of time. It's like to go
and have a meal with them where you're across the
table and there's none of the other siblings and the distractions.
The conversation, I just feel like is really sweet, even
with a four year old who does and you know,
can't really have that long of a conversation, but like
you just can get things out of them that you
can't when they've got their brother or sister there. Um,

(46:07):
So we do movies, mini golfing, Um, I mean even
little things like you know, my my youngest now she's
too but she likes to paint her nails. So it's
like a little date with just yeah, so you know,
anything that they want to do, even if it's just
going to the park, just one on one time. For me,
it fills me up, and I think it really fills
them up to so they're not trying to figure out
how to like get above the noise of the siblings. Um.

(46:28):
And I think too, I think like when there is
a baby in the mix, it's super helpful for the
older ones just to feel like they've got mom, you
know for a certain amount of time. Right, Yeah, it's sweet.
I love it. So do your kids eat gluten free?
They do, so they're a hundred percent gluten free. And
then they eat Paleo like of the time, which is
just because I'm fine paleo people that maybe don't. So

(46:51):
Paleo is grain free, dairy free, lego and free and
then refine sugar free. Gluten is is only in in
wheat and barley, rye a couple other things. It's a
protein found in some of those things. Um, so it's
like paleos kind of a step above. And so no lagoons,
no beans, no, which they just don't ever. I mean

(47:12):
if they were to, like if I were to take
them to a Mexican restaurant or something, they would probably
eat some black beans if they had them on their plate.
But it's not something I make in my house. My
kids live off rice and beans from yes, you know
what I mean. They love it, and I do not
make it near as good as they twelve and nine,
So I mean they've grown up eating them like that's
the thing, Like that's I know, that's their feel good.

(47:34):
But there's no way even sometimes where I'm like, Okay,
we gotta branch out, you know, we gotta. And I
try to watch the gluten. And I don't think they
have a gluten intolerance, but you know, you even mentioned
earlier how some parents who have children on the spectrum
like I don't, but there is something that gluten is
doing and it can affect like sugar and gluten like

(47:54):
That's that's why I try to limit it. Now I
know that I they don't. It doesn't make them sick,
but it is doing something to that. And it's like
sometimes if I can't figure out their attitude or their
energy level or yeah, those are all things. So that's
how my kids are. There's they've never been diagnosed with anything.
I've never noticed it. I mean maybe occasional like a

(48:16):
temi ache if they've had it, but not anything like
anything big um. But their attitude. My oldest is when
I so for years, probably until he was three or four,
I was eating that way, but I was giving him everything,
like all the processed snacks with wheat and sugar and
all of that, and I would notice, for sure, like
an attitude, like a little defiance, like not anything huge,

(48:38):
a little bit of extra energy or lack thereof, like
and so since changing, I mean, and I'm like, you know,
I try to take a perspective of this is how
we're gonna eat at home, this is what I'm gonna
pack you. But like, if you're at something, and especially
for the older one, I'm like, if you want to
try something like go ahead. You know you don't have
anything diagnosed. I would love for you to watch and
see like what the correlation is. And he's starting to

(48:59):
know to sit like he's like, oh, yeah, I tried
that cupcake at that birthday party and I don't feel
good today, or you know, something like that. So because
they don't have CELIAC and they don't have anything diagnosed,
you know, I'm I try to keep it that way.
But I also know when they're older, they're probably going
to go eat things. But the other thing for me
is that autoimmune disease can be hereditary. And so while

(49:20):
they don't have anything now, I also didn't until I
was twenty two, and so my thought is like, if
I can get them eating really healthy food that's really
nourishing and good for their bodies, and that's anti inflammatory
and that's easy to digest, which a lot of things.
Gluten is just hard on your body to digest and
that can cause other issues. So for me, I'm trying
to just set them up in a good path for

(49:40):
as they become adults, and that in hopes that they
won't ever be diagnosed with it. So you think as parents,
it's wise for us to take a look at that,
even if they don't have anything wrong, there's there's I
feel passionately, and I don't really have any research right
now to back my feelings. I just feel like there's
something too it. And even with myself, I don't have

(50:02):
a gluten intolerance, but I know that I feel better
when I'm not eating gluten. I do eat Ezekiel bread
so and so the thing and sprouted grains. And this
is again like this is why I still kind of
started to move away from my against all grain logo
as well or brand name. Is I well, I cannot
do any grains. I do think if you are going
to eat them, they should be soaked and sprouted. And

(50:23):
that's what Ezekiel does. And that's if you think about it.
There was I mean, it's biblical. I was just gonna
say so, I mean, yes, people ate grains but they
they the way that they were grown and the things
that they were not sprayed with, and the way that
they were processed, and then there was no bread being
made without those grains being soaked and sprouted and then
like ground and you know, so we've just taken so

(50:45):
many shortcuts in the way that we eat. Even rice
used to be. I mean, people would soak it for
twenty four hours and then rinse it all off and
then cook it and being the same thing like soaked
for a long time. Because what that does is breaks
down the outer barrier that makes a hard heart to digest.
And it's like with the convenience items now of just
buying things and cans or you know, those those old
practices are not happening anymore. So I think there's probably

(51:08):
some people that can't tolerate grains and beans in the
way that we're eating them, that they might be able
to do stuff like Ezekiel bread. And that's kind of
what I always tell people, and like try that first,
you know, like if you don't have to cut out
all beans and grains because you can do I'm soaked
and sprouted, then that's great. Like I would love that
for myself. But so when my kids do eat grains
at home, rice is one of them, usually white rice,

(51:29):
and I soak it and I cook it for them
like in a different way so that their bodies can
process it. And um, I don't really buy them much bread,
but if I were to do it, I would buy
Ezekiel bread too, because I just think it's so much
easier on your body. Yeah, I love it. Um. And
then there's there's something else was going to ask you
to be with my kids, and like snacks. I know
on your I need to go on your blog and look,

(51:51):
but is their recommendations on there? It's like parents listening
like what because sometimes it's it's a it's a convenient thing,
it's a timey thing, Like I can't make my kids
all their snack scratch right. Yeah. So and while I
know you have some amazing recipes, it's just not ideal
for me. So and now we live in a time
where well there's companies that are actually about that and

(52:13):
putting it out there. So do you have Yeah, there's
a list, there's a list on the blog. I'm trying
to think. I think I think if you just did
the search bar for snacks, Um, that would pop up. Yeah,
they would pop up our school lunches. And then there's
a whole snack chapter and eat what you love, and
there's a all homemade snacks of like recreations of like
animal crackers and even cheese it's and things like that.
But then, oh my gosh, my grandma loved like that

(52:38):
was in cigarettes I loved. I never was a goldfish fan,
but cheese it I could go through, I mean a box.
Those things were so good. So there's a whole chapter
of homemade snacks. But then in the back there's a
list of purchase, like you can purchase these snacks to
help kind of make life easier on you. So yeah,
so I mean you can whatever you can't find on
the blog in that chapter. And that's it. Super helpful love.
Which is that came out? What it came out in December?

(53:02):
Oh my gosh, I know, it's crazy, it's going to
be it has what's do you have more books than
the work? Yes? So I am currently writing a memoir. Oh,
it'll be much more. It won't be recipes at all. Actually,
it'll be full story and it'll just be about kind
of my whole journey from even food and my relationship
with food as a child, but then going into my diagnosis,

(53:25):
and I'll talk a lot more about my time in Uganda,
um and kind of why we were there, and and
then a lot more about my spiritual and kind of
faith journey through all of that and how it affects
my relationships with chronic illness and my diagnosis, and then
kind of moves through like starting the blog and the
cookbooks and so yeah, it's gonna be it's a lot.
It's really fun, but it's all it's very emotionally draining

(53:46):
because it's a lot of feelings that I'm like, I
have to feel and write. Uh. And then I have
another cookbook coming out as well, but not until in
the fall, and it'll be like easy weeknight thirty minute meal,
one pot, you know, like cheap pan dinners, so very
like very easy, minimal ingredients um type of dinners. Yeah, hey,

(54:07):
I love that. Okay, So for this last thing, the
fourth thing, let's do gratitude. Great four things that you're
thankful for right now. Can be serious, can be like
not serious at all, Okay, Okay, I'll do I'll do

(54:28):
a little bit. We just we just like to practice
gratitude because that's what brings true joy. It does. It's
so huge, I think, especially if I start to like
go down the rabbit trail of like things aren't going right,
and then you really stop and think about all the
things that are great in your life. It's amazing. My husband,
I would say, is number one. I don't know if
you've said his name. Yeah, I just keep saying my usband, Ryan,
Ryan the husband, and he is just he's always been

(54:52):
He's always been our rock. But I've been on I'll
be on the road for thirteen days and he's at
home with my kids and the pictures he sends me
of the things that they're doing, and just the way
he takes care of them and the way he's like
steps it up. I mean, he did the Star of
the Week poster, which is so something I would normally do.
He was like calling me the other morning, like do
we have any pictures and this? And you know, and
I'm like, I just I'm so grateful for him that

(55:12):
he really steps in and just takes everything and he
never makes me worry when I'm out or never makes
me feel bad or you know, like I just know
it's I know it's taken care of Now. I did
cook a ton of food in advance, and I've been
sending them like instant cart orders to keep the food
in the house stocked. But he's just so great with
my children, He's I love that. Yeah, he's and just

(55:34):
in my health too. He's just always been my advocate
and my supporter. So that's number one. Uh. Number two,
I would say friends socially, because I'm on the road
with two and here staying with one. It's just fills
me up, Like I don't have the friendships like I
have here. I mean I've got friends back combat these
ones are special to me, so I'm particularly thankful for
them right now. Just the good girlfriend is like, it's

(55:57):
just invaluable. And what is the thing on your blog
that's feeding friendships? I saw you Kelly Live. Yeah, and
she's a friend of mine and she was on the
podcast a couple of weeks ago, and um, so what
is that just like a video Yeah, it's so it's
a video series that I came up with that we
need to shoot season two, but we're actually pitching it
to networks right now. Um, it was this thing where

(56:17):
you asked about Hillary. So like every time I visit
a friend. That's my favorite thing to do is just
to get into their kitchen, nothing formal, and I'm not
like making them I'm not like their personal chef. Like
they're in the kitchen with me and we're asking questions
and they're cooking, and it's like my favorite way to
reconnect with a friend that I haven't seen in a while.
And so I kind of came up with this concept
where I would fly to friends houses and we'd get
into their kitchen and we'd cook. And usually it ended

(56:39):
up being where there was kind of like a theme.
So Kelly was about to have her baby, and I
was like, let's make something that like you can have
all this food in the fridge and just throw something together,
and it was all like, you know, fab four compliant,
like her, you know her thing, and um. I did
one out here with a girlfriend who was sending her
kids to public school for the first time and was
going to have to cook lunches. She had homeschooled, and
she was like, how do I do healthy lunches that

(57:00):
aren't just like Pebe and J's. And we did a
whole like lunch box episode. Anyways, it's really really fun
and we did. It was last year. We did season
one and there's just like eight episodes with on your website. Yeah,
they're on my website. So we'll be gearing up to
do a season two at some point. Would you like
to be on one? Sure? I literally, I just like
it's so fun. I already told you you could come
to my apartment exactly, just bring a crew, you know,

(57:23):
my I would love that. And my daughter she loves
one thing that you know, and she never got to
cook at the orphanage, but she cooked in her last
night actually, and it's she has such pride. She doesn't
do it often because she's so busy with she's always
got tutoring, her square work, and and also she needs
her Netflix time. We're working on that. We got to

(57:44):
dial back, but it makes her happy and I love
and she's watching a show that makes her laugh because
she just laughs. It's so sweet. Cooking is something that
I've noticed really makes her happy. And um, like if
she even chopping things or like parsley like some think
she was. She's familiar with some herbs that they had
at the orphanage, and would just that I didn't even

(58:05):
know that she was familiar with she'd be like the
green stuff that will be the grocery store and should
be like that. That's it she recognized. And I don't
know if because she lived with her mom until she
was five and the Orphanage five to ten and then
now she's with us their third life, so I don't
know if she has memories of her mom or cooking
or the ladies at the Orphanage cooking because they had
a big kitchen pot area. I mean it's outdoor, but

(58:26):
would like anything fancy by any means, but you know,
the kids would help. But she was one of the
older kids that would help. And so I was like,
I have got to like but I'm not the biggest
cut so I'm maybe a class but I even just
cooking videos or you know or something or if you
come and we do that, she could like she could
do it, and I think that would be like a
fun layer of her and she would just think that.
It was like that is the one thing. Food is

(58:48):
universal and it doesn't matter how fancy it is or
how you know, but it's like there there there are
no cultures that don't gather around food in some way.
It's like it's a universal thing and not everybody finds
joy in doing it, but I think there is something
so rewarding to people that you're feeling like you're loving,
like that's how you're giving, you know, giving back to somebody,
or you're showing your love that way, or you're and

(59:08):
you're providing, like you're providing for somebody by cooking for them,
like you're if you're nourishing them and you're fueling them.
And so I love that My kids are My kids
like to bake, but they haven't shown like a huge
interest in it yet, so hopefully they will. Yeah, okay,
third thing. Third thing would be this is another last
is just a dumb one, but honest mascara nothing, nothing's dumb. Sorry,

(59:29):
honest honest mascara. So I I like honest brand, like Jessica,
like Jessica Elvis. So I mentioned I mean, I've tried
to be I've been trying to clean up like all
my skincare and everything, just because I'm trying to do
everything for my body that I can to keep it healthy.
In mascaras have been a hard one because like the
regular ones burned my eyes, but they work so much better,

(59:50):
and so I tried all the natural ones and they
never worked. And hers I love it has a primer
on one side and then the mascara on the other,
and it makes them so much fuller and longer than
any like natural one that I've ever tried. And it
doesn't burn and it's non toxic. So love it. Yeah,
I found good. It's a good one. I found it
like like maybe six months ago, and I feel like
I'm like, I tell everybody about it because I'm like,
this is the best like non toxic mascare I've ever tried,

(01:00:12):
so that one. And then um, right now, because I
love fall, I would say I've just started drinking. Like
I have a pumpkin spice creamer that I put in
my coffee. This is the fourth thing. Yeah, this is
the thing. What you use a pumpkin spice creamer and
make it? Okay, well I'll make it. I'll make it.
Make it. I just was like trying to find one
at the grocery store the other day and Callifia Farm
just going to say they have one on but it

(01:00:33):
was totally sold out. Of course, Whole Foods had it
on sale from and so everybody bought it. Yes, I
got there late, and so I did find one on
the road at Target. That's Callifia Farms and it's it's
a pumpkin spice and they use monk fruit sweetener. It
has some gums in it, but for the most part
that ingredients are really clean. I bought that for the bus,
so I would say that maybe I'll just say that's
what I'm thankful for, not even my homemade one right now,
because no, but I want to do the homemak one then.

(01:00:56):
But my problem with creamer though, is the Callida Farms one.
It's pretty big and I only use like a tablespoon
and then it says on the bottle throw used within.
But I'm sure if you're making your own, we need
to be using. Yes, it's fairly quickly. Yeah, I would
say I was gonna say six to six to eight days,
but you can freeze. So one of my favorite things
to do with anything left over is I buy these

(01:01:16):
silicon like muffin mini muffin tins and you pour whatever
you have left and it's just like this big and
it's like the perfect size to pop out and put
into yourself, like a little almond like cremer ice cube.
So I mean, the only thing is that will cool
your coffee down, so you know, it depends, but you
could take just like two out and put them in
the fridge overnight so that they thought out. So if

(01:01:37):
you ever have too much, just freezy. See. So could
I freeze the Califia farm ones? Yeah, totally. Um, it
changes the texture like ever. So because I've red almond milk,
you have to be careful freezing it. Yeah, it's fine.
It tastes fine and it freezes fine, but it'll what
the differences is it won't just mix into your coffee
as well like it might. Yeah, it might, but but
it still tastes whatever. Right, I'm like, unless you're serving

(01:01:59):
it to some buddy, I don't think it really matters.
So what is the name of your recipe? So it's
called Pumpkin Spice Latte. It's on my blog, So Creative
the PSL. You know, it's like, yeah, it's so make it.
It's very easy. It's in celebrations too. But it's on
my blog and you can make it. And I have that,
so I just had never I didn't. Yeah, okay, so

(01:02:19):
I'm gonna make myself some real deal cookie and pour
myself some tea with some pumpkin I don't really drink
coffee and some pumpkin spice latte situation. Then it'll be
fall and I'm pard of my four things fall sweatshirt.
That's what Hillary was on last weekend. I was telling
her about it. But as you'll know if you were

(01:02:39):
listening to the beginning, we just recorded that one an
hour ago. But she we were talking about our favorite
fall things and we have this whole line of four things.
This is for you, but we do we have a
tote so and Hillary she has a heart for Haiti
two and that's what our squall line supports. And so
it was like a whole time we were talking about
that and like the uh, we didn't a limited edition

(01:03:02):
full one like on Burnt Orange, but the Fall things
you couldn't choose them. We chose them, and we put
pumpkin spice on there because it's one of the four.
Because everybody like, yeah, it's so basic. Yes, and whether
it's a candle or a latte, however it is. We
got notes from people They're like, I totally wanted to
buy that, except where you put pumpkin spice, like they
don't like it. There's definitely camps. It's like there's people

(01:03:22):
because I'm like, what when I didn't know there was
people that didn't like it? I think there are, I
mean there is, there's Yeah, there's either like you're either
like an apple person or a pumpkin person. So they
were like, man, if only you would have put apple cider,
I would have bought it, and you were like apple cider.
What I just was totally. I know this because I'm
a food blogger, so I knows comments like like why

(01:03:45):
do you do all pumpkin recipes? I don't like pumpkin.
I'm like, because I like pumpkin, so um, I had to.
There was a year where I had to like develop
apple recipes, which I like Apple too, but I just
love I love pumpkin. It's just it's all for me.
But yeah, there's people that don't like it at all.
So they don't like it. It's me. They were not happy.
We'll have to make a second one. We're done, We're done. Okay,

(01:04:06):
sold him and we're like okay, moving on. That was
you know, you just can't do either the hand somebody
or yeah, it's just the Internet. People can speak their minds,
they do what they do, and they're behind a keyboard
and the new meet them in person, sometimes they're like, oh,
not that, they're just the nicest. Yeah, of course. So um, well,
I love the four things you were thankful for. Good thing,

(01:04:28):
and I feel like we learned about a new mascara
and you got us in the mood for some pumpkin spice. Yes.
And then your husband and your friends. Yes, those were
great and I feel bad now, mom, that can tie
in got your husband, yes, my family, your family, then
your friendships, then your mascara, then your pumpkins in no
particular order, no particular order. No. Okay, So isn't Daniel

(01:04:55):
the coolest? Like she's seriously is amazing, really enjoyed my
I'm with her again. It wasn't that I didn't think
she was gonna be awesome. But you know, you're just
like kind of like that sigh of relief when you
meet somebody in person and they're just as cool as
they are online, because you never know, I mean, sometimes
you might meet somebody and they're a real you know,
Debbie Downer. But also then you have to take into

(01:05:17):
consideration that if you have followed someone online that you
like and then you made them in person and maybe
it's just not their best day. So that's where we
can extend grace and be like, oh, I'm gonna give
him another shot, because you know, maybe they just were
having an off moment, or maybe they you know, had
a rough week taking care of their dad, which has
been my case this week. My dad is amazing, he's

(01:05:37):
been in Nashville, but we've had kind of a rough week.
And somebody said something to me today that I seemed
a little bit off, and I was like, shoot, well,
it's got to be that because I think I've just
been a little bit drained some stuff I've been having
to do with him. If my sister is listening to
this shout out, I know she's been there with him before,
and it's just kind of stuff you don't really want
to do with your parents, you know, like your dad,

(01:05:59):
you know, like they them and stuff, But hey, you
gotta do what you gotta do. And he has a
good attitude about it because I know he certainly doesn't
want me bathing him, and I you know, I'm just
doing what I gotta do as a daughter, and sometimes
we just have to step up and take a deep
breath and handle it. And luckily my Dad's awesome and

(01:06:20):
he's you know, it was uncomfortable at first, but now
we're just making jokes. And I don't think he remembers
like last year when he was really really sick. I
think he's doesn't recall a lot of that that I've
already done some of this stuff. But now he's now
that he's more aware of what's happening, I don't think
he realized. I'm like, Dad, you do know, like last summer,
I already saw all this, like I've already been here,

(01:06:42):
but yeah, I'm having to go down that road again.
So shout out to any and all of you that
happened to be caregivers. I know my sister was on
a couple of weeks ago, only did a little caregiver segment.
But yeah, if you have to go down that road
with loved ones, then you know, high five hugs of
all the things. But all this to say, I just,

(01:07:03):
you know, when someone said that about me and my
demeanor today, I tried not to take it personally because
I was like, you know what, I can kind of
focus on things that I'm thankful for and not but
I mean I just was tired. I think I was
just emotionally a little drained. Maybe it wasn't having I
didn't have my same my my personality wasn't the same
as this person was used to seeing. So then it

(01:07:25):
came across the wrong way. But again that's when you
can give somebody a second chance and know that hey,
maybe they're having they're having a week, you know. So
it is email shout out time, and this one is
from Jennifer, and I just thought this was great encouragement
for me to share my story, but also could be
encouragement to you if you're resisting something, but then you

(01:07:47):
kind of see different things and put in your life
that could be opening up that door that you wouldn't
just shut it, you know, keep the door open. So
this emails from Jennifer. Dear Amy, I wanted to thank
you for being open a about your adoption journey. I
have been my on my own adoption journey for two
years now, and your story has made me think about
my journey's path. I realized as I listened to your

(01:08:08):
struggles and triumphs with your children, that I was letting
fear keep me from adopting an older child internationally, as
my heart had wanted from the very beginning of my journey,
I had been pursuing domestic infant adoption over the past
two years because in my mind, that was less scary
than adopting an older child. I had let my fear
of language barriers, a child's traumatic start to life, and

(01:08:31):
a host of other issues that an older child can
present keep me from my heart's desire to adopt an
older child. After a lot of soul searching and conversations
with my social worker, I am excited to be hosting
a twelve year old young lady from Columbia next month.
If everything goes as hoped, before she leaves to return
to Columbia, I will be able to tell her that

(01:08:52):
I want to adopt her. I've drawn courage from your story,
and I greatly appreciate the honesty about your journey. I
know there is much more to your story that you
don't share with good reason, but I feel like you
share just enough to be real. Thank you well, Jennifer.
I just want to say, like, I'm just so excited
for you having this opportunity to host possibly your future daughter,

(01:09:15):
and that you're going for it, and sometimes it's okay
that that fear is there. I think it's you just
have to work through it. Um, it's okay to still
be scared. But the fact that you're getting the courage
to do something that you wanted to do from the
beginning just makes me so happy. And um yeah, just
hearing reading able to read your email. Maybe to others.

(01:09:36):
Your email might be encouragement to somebody else that needs
to hear something similar. So I love that y'all emailing
keep them coming four Things with Amy Brown at gmail
dot com. And yeah, I hope everyone has a great Thursday.
Don't forget. I know it's only early October, but you
can order your four things to Christmas shopping. Do it.

(01:09:58):
And we have some other fun things in works, like
we're getting a lot of messages asking about our Gratitude
Journal update. Uh that is I mean we are trucking
along with that. We are trying so hard to get
that bad boy done in time for Christmas shopping. Um,
but that you can order closer to Christmas. Like the totes,
we're just encouraging you if you think you want to
get your girlfriends or girls in your life for sisters, mothers,

(01:10:21):
whatever accustomized four things tote where you think of their
favorite four things and put on a tote. Just go
ahead and knock it out sooner than later. I'm not
saying you have to do it today by any means,
but don't wait till the last minute. But because because
because of a lot of cool things that we have
going on, I don't know what our cut off limit
is going to look like. And of course we hate

(01:10:42):
having to tell people that we have to we're at
capacity and we can't produce anymore. Um. And then yeah,
there's that, but there's always the pre made ones which
you can snag. And then I don't think it's too
late at this point, it's October three two. Maybe if
you want to do Some people order four Things customized
totes for Halloween and their kids use it as their

(01:11:06):
candy you know, bag to walk around instead of like
a pumpkin or another like trick or cheat bag. They
use the four Things to to get all their candy.
So that is a fun idea if you were wanting
to do that, I would do that definitely a S
A P. Because it will arrive basically just in time
for Halloween. Um okay, I hope that y'all are doing great.
Oh and to access all that I always forget. Maybe

(01:11:28):
sometimes there's new listeners and I leave you'all hanging. If
you're you've been listening all the time, you're like, yeah, yeah, yeah,
we know where to go radiommy dot com or shop
spat dot com or the Shot Forward. We know all
the ways to get to the totes or all the
things that support Haiti and and Pimp and Joy and whatnot.
But if you are new, then just know all the

(01:11:49):
stuff can be found on my website Radio amy dot com.
That one should be easy to remember. Okay, talk to
y'all on Tuesday, next Tuesday when we do the Q
and A epis so all right? Faith, be kind to joy,
love of life. He can't be kind love life, cast

(01:12:10):
up broth things, little food for yourself. So life ain't
always pretty, but hey, it's pretty beautiful things, beautiful, laugh
a little mouth. Families tightened up because, of course, said
he can't. Your kick in with four with Amy Brown

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Crime Junkie

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Danielle Walker: FOOD. FAITH. FAMILY. GRATITUDE.