Transcript
Speaker: On today's episode of the podcast, I am chatting with one of my dream guests. Fallon Lee is someone I have followed in the online space for years, and I've always been so encouraged by her story. She's a certified nutrition practitioner and a recipe book developer. Thousands of people have been blessed by the gift of her recipes. but I might be a little biased when I say that I think my family has been the most blessed. She is the queen of taking your favorite foods and making them into their most nourishing form possible. Something we all need. Amen. Today, we take you through her journey of putting her Hashimoto's into remission.
Speaker: actively healing her son's food allergies and everything in between that got her and her family to where they are today. Cozy up. I know today's conversation will encourage you the way it encouraged me.
Speaker: Well, Fallon, we're so excited to have you here today. I'm still kind of fangirling a little bit that I get to have you on my show this week. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are? how you got to what you're doing. I really want to hear your story because I think your story will resonate with a lot of people that listen. And I've always found it really encouraging and I know that other people will as well.
Speaker: You're so sweet. I'm so honored to be here. We've chatted on and off over the years. And so this is just such a gift to be able to have a back and forth. um I have confidence we will break down some of these details as we go further on. So this will be like 10 ,000 foot view and then we can get into it. um I'm Fallon Lee. I am the owner and creator of Fallon's Table. um I'm a certified nutritional practitioner and primarily a cookbook author. So I have four real food cookbooks available on my website. that are like my heart and soul of 10 plus years in the real food world. ah
Speaker: transformed into making your favorites the most nourishing thing possible so i love love love getting to be a kitchen creative and otherwise i am a mama of three i'm married to my college sweetheart we homeschool we live in the dallas area and we just have a super sweet life here so i'm pumped to get into all the details of my story um it's a long one but i know we'll chat through that today so kind of the the precursor
Speaker: Short intro I'll give is that I have, you know, again, a decade plus of navigating chronic illness, um allergies with like one of my kiddos. And the business that I have today was birthed out of that desperate desire for healing. We cycled through kind of the traditional Western medical model for a while for.
Speaker: my own Hashimoto's diagnosis for my son's food allergies and eczema. And we just kind of got stuck on this hamster wheel of not really being able to find answers. And so the Lord was really gracious just to drop this world of healing through food into our laps and healing through holistic um approaches. And our lives have been completely transformed. I am now. um In remission, I'm off medication. My son is actively healing from his allergies, is a healthy, happy little boy. And so I truly believe this is part of my mission and calling in life is to ah share this message of healing with the world and that we have such a good God that designed our bodies to restore and heal. And so I'm really excited to get into some of these details, but that's kind of like the...
Speaker: out of the gate here's the big picture and then i'd love to talk more about all the the um details and behind the scenes. amazing I know that it speaks to my heart so much because I feel and believe so strongly that God designed our body to operate in a certain way when given a certain environment. And that idea that mentality just isn't talked about enough in. modern culture, right? I just, since we're getting to know each other too in real time on this podcast.
Speaker: My background is in exercise physiology. So I like got my degree in that. And like, I was on my way to the medical field and I was like. All I knew the body, like I knew health until my own came crashing down. And then I was like, Hmm, maybe I'm not as smart as I think I am.
Speaker: And so I know that there were a couple of things that led me to where I am today and the philosophies that I teach. But what was the first thing that really y 'all started implementing that you really started to notice the biggest changes in yourself and your family? What were kind of those first steps that you?
Speaker: dabbled in. That's a great question and it'll be layered. So I will say our first entry point into the holistic healing world. Was modalities like...
Speaker: paleo whole 30 AIP. And, you know, it was that typical slippery slope where you've got a kiddo with eczema. And so you start by cutting. dairy and then it's soy and then it's gluten and then it's peanuts. And then before long, you know, you just as a mama. are willing to do literally anything. And so we just started cutting, cutting, cutting, cutting.
Speaker: It did help a bit. And I will always stand behind that if you go from a standard Western. diet um to a whole foods diet, you are going to see some incredible change. And so I do think that really was the...
Speaker: Turning point for us was just shifting to real whole food. Our journey has changed a lot over the years of what we do incorporate. And now I really believe that we walk in a lot of food freedom and you know we don't have as many rules around. food at this point. We, you know, stick to real whole food and there's so much behind that as well, but really just changing.
Speaker: what we're bringing into our home, you know, cooking from scratch, reading ingredient labels, not relying on fast food and hyper processed foods. That was huge in our healing. And then really just the basics of evaluating our environment, like you said, so When my son was a baby, again, he had eczema and allergies and a lot of lung issues. And so we started revamping our home. We started turning toward.
Speaker: either you know ewg verified products or just non -toxic products at minimum but again that awareness of ah what am i actually bringing into my home because i did not have it any starting point for this growing up. And that is no shame to the way I was raised or anything else. It's just the world that we lived in that we did not realize that we couldn't just. kind of blindly trust everything put in front of us. And so even just the starting point of really evaluating, okay, what am I cleaning?
Speaker: my home with What am I brushing my teeth with? What am I spraying my hair with? What am I you know consuming? So it's it's a lot to kind of think through, but i I do believe it's one step at a time. So that was kind of my entry point into this world that I live in now that, again, has been. truly one foot in front of the other.
Speaker: a little bit of ah a crazy shift at first out of desperation. It was like we needed to heal. And so we had to do a lot at once. But I do think you can absolutely, you know, do this one step at a time as your capacity allows. So that's where our journey started.
Speaker: And we can talk through, you know, kind of the next several years after that and what that looked like. But um eventually we shifted away from so many of the food rules and still focus very heavily on whole foods.
Speaker: And that has been such a gift for my family. And we've seen incredible healing from that alone. Something I talk about a lot with my clients specifically is.
Speaker: You really can't go wrong when you're eating whole foods. I think it's really hard if you're truly eating food as close to as God designed it as possible. It's really hard to go wrong. Like, yes, there are some things that we need to pay a little bit more attention to. Like if you're not getting enough of certain macronutrients or minerals or things like that, like that might be a shift that you have to make in order to.
Speaker: properly support your body right that's going to look different from the next person everybody's needs are different But... If you're eating food as close to as God designed it as possible. It's really hard to. mess that up i'm convinced right because people try to really over complicate everything because there's always a new diet and there's always a new supplement protocol and there's always a new gadget or whatever and everyone thinks they need everything and it's like i mean
Speaker: i think humans are pretty simple sleep sunshine hydration real food community. ah you know living and eating the way god designed it Really does. best impact us the most, right? Of course, there's always gonna be more nuance. Some people are gonna need more. um What's the word?
Speaker: just targeted support. But by and large, if you're actually... living the way God designed. things work appropriately. So I've always... I think I told you a little bit.
Speaker: right before we started recording but That's always resonated with me the way that you've spoken like that because it's been so simple. Your line of reasoning has always been the same. Even if the way that you've spoken about things has changed, it's always come back to, you know, if you eat and live the way God designed, things will work appropriately. So with that being said, and I do want to get into like how things have shifted for you over the years, but what were some of the things that y 'all first started noticing that was like, oh, this is actually working. Like something is changing. What were those first signs to you that?
Speaker: This is, this is the move. I love everything you said, by the way. I love. when simplicity and attainability are the name of the game. And like you said, there are obviously nuances to each season in person, but I do think we overcomplicate things, you know, so I love that.
Speaker: I... have a vivid memory. of sitting at actually probably the same desk and chair in a different house one day after probably a few months of starting to eat real food.
Speaker: And just having this moment of like,
Speaker: so many of my symptoms are gone. So when I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's, I had probably every symptom under the sun that could have come with that condition. I had migraines, headaches, insomnia, exhaustion, joint pain, back pain, neurological symptoms. I mean, I'm i'm telling you, you name it. And i I probably had it all at once as like a postpartum mom. You know, it's just, it's so much to navigate. And I remember this beautiful moment of just realizing, oh my goodness, I feel so so much better.
Speaker: And, that it you know, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. I had also like lost too much weight because I was hardly eating anything, you know, because when you when you. reduce the list of foods that are on your quote approved list.
Speaker: To so few foods. Naturally, you're going to lead into undernourishment. and so i I also want to you know kind of represent the whole picture that it was like, yes, I found such symptom healing for a while.
Speaker: And. it It kind of also led me into this um trap, I guess. of trying to aim for living a symptom -free life.
Speaker: And so, again, we can get into that a little bit more, but it just, um I do remember feeling like, wow, this is an entirely new world. Again, when you shift from standard American diet to real foods, your body's going to feel it. And so that was incredible. And my son was a lot slower with his progress.
Speaker: but we did start seeing his skin calm down and you know his healing again was so incremental and in hindsight there are things we did or didn't do that now knowing what i know Maybe I would have done differently and that's okay. There's so much grace for that, that after.
Speaker: 10 plus years. You just don't know everything, right? You know what you know, you don't know what you don't know. and And there's so much grace for that, that you get to shift along the way. But I will say for me in particular.
Speaker: The difference in my inflammation and the way that my body felt even after a couple of months of just a real whole food. as maybe misguided or limited as that was in that season it still was just an incredible difference in the way that I felt.
Speaker: So you talked about how. You were cutting, cutting, cutting, and then... you start to see symptoms subside, but obviously something wasn't quite where it should have been. So what was that thing? And what was that next shift into the next season for you? m Yeah, I love this question. So I alluded to that I got Stuck.
Speaker: kind of in this trap of feeling like, okay, now the name of the game is identify a symptom, identify the trigger, remove the trigger. lather, rinse, repeat. and so i felt stuck i felt like i was constantly cutting foods i have referenced on my platform um several times over the years how I got down to 10 to 15 foods. That is not an exaggerated number. I was literally eating 10 to 15 different foods.
Speaker: And so it got to be so debilitating but this was the cycle that I had kind of gotten into. a combination of, you know, I think this quote healing diet world.
Speaker: can sort of perpetuate this mentality as much as it it really... wants to be helpful and there are so many beautiful voices in this realm that I just love and appreciate. But it can be easy. And I think with my personality at that season of my life where I needed something kind of black and white, I wanted parameters. I just was so desperate for healing. And so I just was whittling down foods more and more and more. And so eventually it just felt like, okay.
Speaker: What does it matter if I have zero symptoms? I can't live my life. You know, I can't. I wasn't drinking coffee I didn't eat out at all. i couldn't eat nightshades dairy i mean there were so many things and it wasn't even Just. paleo parameters anymore. It was like,
Speaker: I mean, really ridiculous random foods that I just could not process or handle at that time. And so part of my story that I've shared is that I really had a huge life change from doing a neural retraining program. And I just feel so strongly now about the beauty of neuroscience and how God designed our brains to heal and restore and that, you know, scripture is just full of this idea that
Speaker: our thoughts matter and our words matter and the power of life and death is in the tongue. And so you know it just was this whole new realm that I stepped into to start learning about the power of the brain.
Speaker: And it's, it's very layered and nuanced. And so I think we can hold these truths together that, yes, what we say, do and think matters. And also, we don't have to carry the blame or shame for, you know, being diagnosed with XYZ condition, it can be both and and so I started pouring into
Speaker: retraining the way that I thought about my body, thought about my symptoms, thought about my diagnosis. It changed my life. It was one of the most beautiful elements of my healing journey. um And it was so worshipful, the program that I did.
Speaker: was called dnrs and i think it's now online it was a dvd back then you know whenever i did it but it's a really amazing program that was so life -changing for me and from there i was able to open up into more food freedom gaining some of those foods back that i had avoided for years and i'm telling you i mean silly things like tomatoes i couldn't eat i mean just it was all these random foods that it were it wasn't even like the top nine allergens it was that times
Speaker: 25 i mean it was just so many things that i had cut out and so as i started healing truly on a holistic plane you know we talk about holistic healing and i feel like i experienced that on a deep level in that season of healing you know mind, body, spirit.
Speaker: And so I started to open up my food freedom a lot from there and then eventually kind of got into. um more of ancestral eating and traditional. prep methods and true food freedom.
Speaker: And that was just such a beautiful shift to feel like I could live my life again. and you know have thoughtfulness and awareness, but not feel so confined to my limitations. And so that's where I find myself today to kind of fast forward is that I, I mean, I still have my own limitations that I feel okay with. I don't do well on gluten and that's okay, but. I have so much freedom to.
Speaker: you know Have a girl's night out. I can drink coffee again. I you know i really have very few food limitations.
Speaker: And love building my meals around this principle of what have humans been eating for centuries? What makes sense for my current season? What makes sense for my geographic location and my capacity? you know All these things can interplay in this beautiful way. And I feel like I truly, I love my food. I love the food that we get to make in in my home and the recipes I get to create. It's also life -giving and is so drastically different from those days of eating 10 things on repeat. So praise the Lord for that. Okay. There are so many different directions that I want to go with everything that you just said. I said a lot. Good luck. I love it. Well, I was just, you know, the people listening, they can't see my reactions, but when you're talking about like retraining your brain.
Speaker: legitimately right before we got on, I was finishing with a client. She also has Hashimoto's. And I had just gotten off of.
Speaker: basically a sermon to her like you're doing all of the things you didn't get here because you're not disciplined you didn't get here because you're not doing anything right you're actually you're nourishing your body well we're seeing improvements I think the thing that is keeping you the most stuck is the way that you're thinking about yourself the way that you're thinking about your body and your symptoms and I went into the whole thing like you know scripture says whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is right whatever is pure whatever is lovely if there's anything that is excellent or praiseworthy think on these things. We need to take these things that you're thinking and replace them with what is true and noble and good. Scripture says that we will be transformed by the renewing of our mind. And it can seem kind of like silly to say this to people, you know, when people are looking for physical healing, when when we're looking for
Speaker: like you said, a black and white answer, right? We want. We have this symptom and we want it to go away. Like this particular client, one of the big things right now is she's still not sleeping, right? And we're really working on that, but we're seeing improvements in other areas, but her sleep just isn't. where we want it to be. And I'm like,
Speaker: You know, it's going to take time, right? It took a lot of time to get where we are right now, but it it also takes time to see your body. reestablish safety signals and that doesn't just come with the food that you eat you can eat the perfect diet but if you hate what you're eating if you look at yourself and go if you are constantly like rushing through your meals or rushing through life and never checking in on your body
Speaker: you're not gonna you're not gonna enjoy the life that you live and i think something that you said is really poignant, you know, that shift from symptom chasing to actually living your life. I was talking with another practitioner friend who she was talking with another client. I think it was actually on last week's podcast, just a little plug, but she shared on last week's episode. I think I always forget if it's like a voice memo or if it's an actual. like but ah
Speaker: That she had a client that was like, well, when I do this. Like when I'm healed, basically, then I can live my life. and My friend was like, well, what does that mean for you? Like, what does healed mean for you? Does that mean that when...
Speaker: Your symptoms are all gone then you'll eat out then you'll go on vacation with your family then you'll enjoy coffee or a little treat every now and then what's the what's the goal and i think that in today's culture like I think there's so much that's beautiful about social media I think so many good things can come from social media but I do think I've seen a shift where there's a lot of people
Speaker: falling back into that symptom chasing of oh well I'm just trying to see this be healed. I'm just trying to see this be reversed and like. I believe. that I serve the God that is. a healing God that can heal the craziest things. I've seen the craziest things healed.
Speaker: But also we live on a cursed earth and we're never going to be symptom free. So. Are you enjoying? the the food that you're eating, right? Even just the, again, this is why I love what you do. Cause you take really.
Speaker: you know comforting foods really just fun foods and make them healthy i'm not a recipe person like i tried to build i have a course and i like put
Speaker: recipes in it, but they're not, they're not the best, right? It's just not, I don't enjoy it. I, i you know, my mom's from the South. I'm i'm from the South. I cook by the seat of my pants. Like I just throw whatever in and I enjoy it. It works for me. But if you tell me to measure and just figure it out, I just can't do it. Even your recipes that I've used, I just kind of like use it as a guideline. It always ends up great. I love it.
Speaker: No, she's got all the good things. i just Something about my brain, I can't um can't follow it. yeah I think it's a rebel in me. I'm like, I have to do something different. I have love that. Yeah. But anyways, I love that whole mindset of like, it really does start with retraining your brain and retraining how you think about yourself and your body. And I love that you mentioned it. You said it was DNRS is what it was called or? Yes, it stands for a Dynamic Neural Retraining System. ok And i I'll add real quick, I love everything you said around this. And I i also want to clarify and share my heart because I think, you know, when you're in the Christian sphere,
Speaker: that's That's a... That's a broad term. We'll just say that there's a lot of different opinions about, I mean, you name it, anything. And so I also just want to share my heart to say that like this.
Speaker: idea of brain retraining is in no way some type of manifestation or prosperity gospel or anything like that, because you said this so well, Cassidy, that we live in a broken world. And so, yes, the Lord has a heart to heal. And we see that Jesus' ministry on earth was.
Speaker: rooted in healing i mean everything he did like first thing he does when he goes to a new city is heal and feed which i'm like amen love love love however Sometimes the healing comes and sometimes it doesn't. And so I just want to but even promote this idea. so carefully and wisely that yes, I believe it.
Speaker: that, again, scripture is so clear that we are to set our minds on things above. and um you know, this this element runs through scripture of what we think, say, do, believe matters. However, it's not a magic bullet. I think it changes lives, but I just love what you said and wanted to kind of re -echo that, that this is... um It needs to be seen.
Speaker: in the right context with the right expectation and that we can trust a good and sovereign God to, um you know, sometimes we see the healing and sometimes we're in a broken world. And so it's the both and. And so I just love how you phrased it and wanted to continue that that bit of conversation around it.
Speaker: Yeah, the the even if, right? Like, I will worship you even if. This is something. i've had to grapple with since i was a baby like ah a child actually because my dad has cerebral palsy And so like I grew up.
Speaker: In a home that was like, well, I know that God can heal. So why isn't he healing my daddy? Why is why is my dad not able to walk? Why are other dads able to walk? And. This is not my reality. And that was always like a. um something that I just had to grapple with from a young age.
Speaker: okay, hallelujah, even here, like, even if God never heals my dad, this side of heaven. Hallelujah. Right. Because even if one day he will be in glory and.
Speaker: You know? ah he'll be healed fully. And so we can still serve the Lord with this body that he's given us. Yes. Like, ah obviously I think that. God can heal. Whatever. And, you know, this is what I do for a living, not healing people, but like helping people.
Speaker: nourish their body well and feel better and all of those things right actually enjoy their life But... Even if he doesn't, like, hallelujah, even here, we can we can still serve. We can still walk in joy and we can still enjoy our families and our lives.
Speaker: even if we don't see a complete healing in whatever it is. Yeah that's beautiful. Yeah, and it i'm I'm glad you said the woo -woo manifestation stuff because that's always how I, like, feel when I'm talking about this to people. I'm like, I swear this is not the weird stuff. Like, I have to be very careful with my wording because I'm like, I'm not over here, like, chanting in my closet, like, you know, I will be healed. Right, well its right but right. But it's it's recognizing, like.
Speaker: Again, just constantly renewing your mind. A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I got in an argument, actually. yeah And he was just kind of having a crummy day. He probably didn't eat enough, had a hard day at work, whatever. And I was really working to like.
Speaker: you know, speak. truth and speak life and all those things. And he it was kind of annoying him, right? As the truth does when you're in a bad mood, right? and I remember when we're in this argument, I was like,
Speaker: Do you have any idea how much work it takes for me to look for the good and the truth and the positive in these kind of situations? This is not me just like pretending that everything is okay and hunky dory. i'm I'm very aware of what's going on in the world, what's going on in our life. I'm not.
Speaker: I'm not naive to the fact that this is the reality of things right now. But... I don't believe that dwelling on that and sitting in a little pity party about all of that is going to do anything for us. I think I can recognize.
Speaker: that these are not these things are not the way that we would like them to be but i'm gonna choose hope i'm gonna choose joy i'm gonna choose that we serve a God that is going to make all things well for us and maybe that doesn't look the way that we think it is or the way that we think it should but this isn't this doesn't come easy for me i am actually naturally a debbie downer i am naturally someone that you know i can really easily
Speaker: find all of the negative things that are going wrong with things and be that victim and play that part I played that part really well for a very long time
Speaker: But it sucks. It's the worst way to live. And I don't want to live like that. And so i don I don't remember how our argument ended, but I remember him being like, oh, I guess you're right. or ah and then ah besties again right right but it's it's so true like this isn't toxic positivity it's not woo woo um you know just name it and claim it and you'll be good because we don't know
Speaker: you know, we, who are we to understand the mind of Christ, right? Who are we to fully comprehend all of that? Maybe he doesn't give us full freedom and in certain aspects and that's okay. Again, you even here.
Speaker: Anyways. anyways I can always preach on all of these things. I like had to apologize to my client. I was like, I feel like our last couple of weeks, I've just been preaching to you. I don't know that that's what you hired me for, but that's what's happening. So here you go. So you did all of this work and then you started to move into more freedom. So what were those?
Speaker: Honestly, what were the biggest things? that you started implementing first after that? And where did you notice the biggest shifts in your home and in yourself? Yeah, great question. I had been Drinking bone broth for years and years. um Fun side story. You may know me from the internet famous bone broth hot chocolate.
Speaker: Um, so bone broth had been a huge part of my diet for a long, long time. And that, you know, that comes with the paleo whole 30 AIP territory. Great. And then I kind of got introduced to this idea of more ancestral eating, you know, nose to tail eating, which sounds so overwhelming in this day and age when you're coming from just kind of, again, standard American diet, the idea of eating ancestrally, and the bits and bobs as you know, is often referenced It seems weird, ah but I started really kind of taking these principles in mind and, you know, not just eating muscle meat, getting lots of.
Speaker: collagen -rich food, gelatin -rich food, um you know slow -cooked bone -in meats, these ideas that that really have kind kind of fallen off our radar in a modern culture. We are not nearly as...
Speaker: um conservative in terms of you know using every piece and part, right? Like our ancestors would have made use of every single bit of the animal because they might not have had the provision to just, you know, they didn't run to the grocery store and buy the the chicken breast and be done with it. Like they had to really make use of what they had. And so even something that simple.
Speaker: as applied to a modern context in a modern kitchen of, again, getting lots of um bone broth and and collagen and gelatin. That was a huge, huge improvement in my diet, as opposed to just muscle meats all the time, you know, because there's different amino acids and different protein sources. And so when we're just eating muscle meats, we're not getting that balance that really coats and nourishes our cells and our joints and our ligaments and everything. So that was a huge shift. And then um
Speaker: Here, this is my story. If this is not where you're at, that's okay. I started reintroducing dairy. I do have a blog post on my site, which I know we'll come back to, you know, where to find me. Fallonstable .com is my site. I have a blog post on how I healed and reversed my dairy intolerance. and praise the Lord that it is possible. I went without dairy for over five years. I would get so sick. I mean, to the point that I i remember.
Speaker: a day that my husband bless him had had some kind of meal out we didn't even keep dairy in our home at that point it's some kind of meal out that involved dairy And.
Speaker: um just kissed me and then i was in bed with a migraine for like a full day i mean that's how sensitive i was to dairy in the past and i eat it every single day now so Thank the Lord for that. And so I started reintroducing, you know, we have really good raw milk sourcing around here again.
Speaker: you You choose your comfort level with you know dairy and what you have access to, but even organic dairy that is ideally grass -fed or um you know just the best sourcing you can get. Dairy was a huge part of my healing. And again, that may come as a shock to some. I know that your show, Cassidy, is you know you're talking about all the good stuff and probably have discussed this before. So hopefully no one's like, oh, dairy, what? But I felt that way. I felt so offended when I started learning that this could be a nourishing part of my diet because I had just said, absolutely not for a long time. But it was a big part of my...
Speaker: healing and um thyroid recovery. And otherwise, just, you know, implementing principles of, you know, eating enough. um I referenced that I was very undernourished for a long time. And so even just a baseline increase of my calories, my macronutrients.
Speaker: was huge in my healing in my sleep in my energy in my thyroid and again my ability to come off medication And, you know, within that, getting into the weeds a little bit more, but I think you can set a good foundation here is just having a general familiarity with what your food is doing for you in terms of energy, in terms of protein. um And so this is one way that i i I do pour a lot of time and thought into my recipes that I create is.
Speaker: giving So my Nourish book, for example, has... several pages on like here's how to build a balanced breakfast here's how to build balanced snacks and lunch and dinner and here's some weekly nourishment goals that you can aim for and I do feel that it's all very attainable you know we're not trying to like have a full -time job committed to making our meals work because it shouldn't take that much time. But just having a general awareness of, okay, these are the nutrients that I need to be getting. in a given week.
Speaker: in a given day it's not an exact science you know we we also have to keep in mind like macronutrients isolated nutrients, that's a fairly modern conversation. you know So I like to focus on the big picture of, ah okay, these are these are foods that we see referenced in scripture. These are foods that we know people have been eating for thousands of years. That's what I build my my diet around, my plate around, my food around.
Speaker: And so that really has been a huge shift going from, okay, well, you know, beans are inflammatory. So I don't eat them or greens are inflammatory. So I don't eat them shifting away from that and going, okay.
Speaker: This food... is God -given. It's existed. Forever. How can I make it the most nourishing possible thing? And how can I live in enough freedom?
Speaker: To be. able to incorporate that. I mean, you You know, it's it's the old adage of like. We just know beans and greens are cheap. Thank God for that. Sometimes we we need to make a dollar stretch and we need to feel nourished in the process. And so this whole narrative of like grains are peasant food and don't eat beans. I'm like, no, we're going to make things attainable. And and beans and grains can be incredibly nutrient dense. And so sometimes.
Speaker: we can you know prep them a little bit more and pair them well And. That's so freeing. It's so freeing to shift from, okay, these are the 25 foods that I don't eat into the state of, okay, I know that God gave these foods to the world and how can I make them the most supportable thing possible?
Speaker: and then otherwise just have grace and balance with the rest so That was a long -winded summary of some of the biggest shifts that I have found. post diet culture and now into more food freedom and again, ancestral eating.
Speaker: I love it. And I love that you have a blog post on reintroducing dairy because this is a question I get. All the time, because I also. Went from, I had an anaphylactic allergy, could not have it. And people always ask me how I reintroduced it, but how I reintroduced it was not a safe way. because My husband and I had traveled to visit his brother in LA and it was like a crazy travel day from you know Houston to LA.
Speaker: And we get to my brother -in -law's house and his wife had made pancakes. And I was so hungry that I literally said, screw it. I have my EpiPen. I have Benadryl. If I... Die?
Speaker: I'll at least die with pancakes. like Oh my goodness. That is not a safe way to reintroduce dairy. But it was literally like I just started eating these pancakes and was like. Maybe my tongue's not swelling. um I'm not wow covered in hives. Like I wasn't intentionally trying to heal this allergy. I just like had been making changes and our diet, our lifestyle, you know, all of the different things.
Speaker: And. Sure enough. um after that i could have dairy i didn't like go full force into tons of dairy like i got pregnant with our daughter maybe six months later.
Speaker: And. didn't really eat dairy during her pregnancy just because I didn't really know. what to do much of, but I could have it without dying. And that was a huge thing. But whenever people ask me that, I'm like.
Speaker: I am not the person to ask because... It was not safe how I did it. And I wouldn't recommend that to people because you could die. Because for years before that, anytime we'd go out, you know, my husband would have to say absolutely no dairy. She could die. Like, this is not just like a little like.
Speaker: tummy ache. Like this is, this is a real thing. So let's. Wow. Okay. Praise God for your healing. And I will say on the allergy conversation, I'm glad you mentioned this for multiple reasons. One, just so people can see an example that this is not a life sentence. Our bodies can and do heal under the right circumstances. Like you said.
Speaker: And then I also do have a blog post on allergy healing. um So for more safe and, you know, kind of, okay, because this is my kiddo that has an allergy. So it is like. full mama bear like everything is so careful and gentle and safe so also on my website i have a full blog post on how we are actively reversing his food allergies and it is more than just growing out of it is like inexplicable healing jumps so i'm gonna pocket that
Speaker: um, as well for anyone, because I know there's so many allergy mamas out there, but also praise God for your healing. I love that. Good. I'm so glad. This is why i I love the body of Christ because everyone has, you know, different gifts, different skills. I just, I believe that it's totally possible to see these healings. But when people, specifically with allergies, when people ask me that, I'm like.
Speaker: Yo, know I'm not your girl. I'm sorry. I wish I could be. This is my story, but I. Hey. I can't in good conscience tell you you to do what I did because um it was not a good idea. Yeah, I love your wisdom there.
Speaker: ah So. That was, yeah, I'm glad you have that. And I'm glad, I love what, when we talk about the ancestral eating, because really that.
Speaker: To me, I feel like this simplifies food, right? How have people been eating for thousands of years and not just what they were eating, but how was it prepared? I get this question all the time with how I teach things like generally people who are like, let's say you have Hashimoto's or you're coming from like a hypothyroid state or whatever. Generally people.
Speaker: In this. realm don't do well with like a lot of greens or legumes in the beginning. But i I think people...
Speaker: And I, my theory is that people are just under mineralized, that it's like really hard for them to grasp the nuance. But so there's obviously grace, but I think people really want the black and white, like eat this, don't eat that. And so I get questions like, so should I not eat any greens whatsoever? Should I not eat beans? And I'm like, well, it depends on what your body says, right? yeah If you're responding well to it right now and you can eat. some well cooked greens or you enjoy a salad or you enjoy beans like and you want to incorporate those in your
Speaker: not having any issues, right? Like your digestion is good. You're not having any skin issues. Your temperatures are great. You're just, you're not. responding negatively, go for it. right It's not that deep. we We try to make it a big deal. This is what my my Gen Z sisters say. They're like, it's not that deep, Cass. It's not that deep. So I use that. funny
Speaker: It's not that deep, right? If you like it and you enjoy it, go for it. I have clients, you know, that again, generally people with Hashimoto's or people just in a suboptimal. Thyroid state generally do well, not on gluten, right? This is a general concept that I've had. Like I had a client in the past, she loved baking cookies. Like she just loved it. And she blew all of her family members minds because I was like, you know what? If you like. making cookies and she went like she was like milling her own flour and like making them from scratch and she enjoyed that like she genuinely loved it and i was like if you enjoy that eat the dang cookies like if that's what you want to do and you want to eat that before bed god forbid
Speaker: Go for it. And she was like nine months postpartum. She couldn't lose weight, all of the things, having having all these issues. And I actually had her family members reach out to me because they're like, okay, she's lost a crap ton of weight and she's eating cookies before bed. Like, how does that work? I'm like.
Speaker: See, and that's just the nuance that I think people. don't quite grasp, right? Because we're under mineralized and we want black and white. But everybody's body is different, right? There are general concepts like...
Speaker: Gluten in America is crap for the most part. But... Some people respond fine to it. Other people? don't like you said you're okay with this kind of parameter it's not that big a deal um i had i had a HTMA run recently. And my practitioner was like, you know, you better hope that your GI map looks good, basically. or have gluten And I was like, that's not a big deal to me, right? We don't eat a lot of gluten anyway. I'm i'm not afraid of it. I'll eat bread. I just.
Speaker: revived my starter. My starter's name is Lazarus. I love that. Bring him back to life. Absolutely. but But I don't seem to have problems, but it's not that big a deal. Right. And I think if we can have that kind of open handedness. because Our needs change.
Speaker: day to day, month to month. Year to year, season to season. What works for me right now as I'm a breastfeeding mom, I have lots of littles, like what works for me now might not work for me in 10 years. That's okay. Right. We just got to.
Speaker: Have that flexibility. Like you said, I think that that's. More freedom. But... Just thinking about... food in context of how we've always eaten things, our ancestors, even really, I feel like when people think ancestors, they think like thousands of years ago, caveman, all of that. But it's really, we're not that far removed from people eating like this. It's really only been in the last 150 years yeah that people shifted from eating.
Speaker: The whole animal, right? Nose to tail for those who are new to it is eating the whole animal, not just the muscles. So eating the feet and the bones and the cartilage and the organs and all of that. It's, it's the whole animal because that is more economical. It costs so much freaking money to just buy muscle meat. Like that really does.
Speaker: So expensive. I can get a butt ton of bones and feet and... organs from my local butcher for dirt cheap. Because no one wants to buy it. Exactly. I want it. ah I'll take it. But... It's way more economical. So that's one thing that I think people miss too. when we talk about this because I don't know. I think everyone in the holistic space thinks that you need to make a ton of money in order to.
Speaker: afford eating well. And it's like, Number one, I think the Lord honors us being good stewards of what he gives us. Do the best you can with what you have. but also Can we be willing to adjust our mindset a little bit that it actually is?
Speaker: a little bit more cost effective to
Speaker: eat the whole the whole parts of an animal right it's more cost effective to buy a whole chicken and boil it and eat the meat and eat the broth and take the bones. And if you have feet, even better because your dock is going to be amazing. And so it is more economical. It'll cost less to buy a whole chicken than it does to just buy chicken breast. Like it just does. And it's also going to be more nourishing. And so when we can look at food in context, not just how it's prepared, what it is, but how people have eaten, like in all of history, we never ate sitting in front of a TV or our phones isolated from all of humanity, most people... All around the world. eat outside in the sunshine with friends and they take a little walk afterwards and, you know, they're chatting and enjoying their life and that's just...
Speaker: How we're meant to live. That's not... Weird. at That's ah out of the ordinary, right? It's only out of the ordinary in, I think, mainly just modern America, like Western America, where...
Speaker: Everyone is isolated and I'm one to talk. I'm literally like, I've been eating my snacks in bed while working all day. This is not my um my normal, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Again, this is food freedom, right? I'm not going to beat myself up for eating in my bed for a day because I got to do that.
Speaker: Anyways, I could go all over the place, but. I love how simple that is. And your recipes actually make it really simple to do these things, to cook this way. And it doesn't feel overwhelming. I have your... um Fixin's cookbook, which is just like it speaks to my southern heart with everything like fried chicken and deviled eggs and all of the things. My daughter made your masa cornbread the other day. Okay, I'm impressed. It was honestly, we didn't have any food in the house. Like we really needed to go grocery shopping. And she was like, mommy, I need a snack. And I was like.
Speaker: Okay. go look for any ingredients that we have in the house. Whatever you can find, we'll figure out what to make with it. So she like found some masa in the freezer and we had some butter. We had a little bit of honey and like she pulled it together and I was like. I know exactly what we can make with this. So I gave her the recipe and, you know, she can't read yet. So I read it to her, but she was able to do it. And it was awesome. My husband was really disappointed because he didn't get to eat and eat before. all at it up
Speaker: I love that so much, though. I was trying not to jump in because I'm like, you know, having a moment of such excitement over here. But I love that. And also I tell people that I think Fixins is my most underrated book. So I just super love that you guys have enjoyed it. And thank you for all the lovely things that you said. It's so good. I i agree. I think I saw you post about this however many weeks ago.
Speaker: It is probably your most underrated because it is so good. I mean, maybe not everyone's from the South and like. wants all the covered food. But I think even if you're not from the South, you need a taste of it, right? Like what a sad life to live. yeah like if you don't want to eat fried chicken And mashed potatoes and like all of those things, you're probably living in really sad lights. And you should agree. yeah yeah you should You should. be a little bit more fun. yeah yeah So.
Speaker: I love this. your Your resources really make it really simple for people to implement these things. And you don't need a lot of... Like I can get stuck in the mindset of like, oh, I need to have the perfect setup to make something happen. But you really don't need that for.
Speaker: your cookbooks and the things that you do. So can you kind of like walk us through your cookbooks? kind of how, how they work. I really think anyone in their, in their dogs should have these books. Cause I think your, um your kid's cookbook is my next one on my list. Cause I think my kids would just go crazy making the things right. They're all into that. My, my oldest is only six. So she's just now starting to like.
Speaker: want to cook and do all the things, be a little house maker, whatever. So tell me about. How you got to making your resources. I know it was born out of a love for it. Honestly, how are you so... This this probably sounds...
Speaker: I don't mean this to sound the way it's going to sound, but like, how are you so good at this? Right? like You're so sweet. out of this How was this birth? Like, have you always been, have you always enjoyed cooking and creating things and it just kind of like happened?
Speaker: Firstly, thank you so much for everything you said. It just was so honoring and I was grinning from ear to ear just listening to your feedback here. I...
Speaker: Love what I get to do now. I do think it's very funny that I landed in the world that I'm in. However, I can see the stepping stones of, you know, I come from a long line of really good cooks. I mean, every woman in my family is just a natural. And so I think in a sense, it was kind of just a gifting passed down, but I didn't really get into it until I had to. My husband and I laugh that when we first got married, I think I made spaghetti like four times a week because I wasn't really. aware of, again, you know, making like balanced meals and
Speaker: I kind of knew how to cook, but I grew up with a mom who was a great cook. So it was like, I'm going to eat what she makes. So firstly, good on you for teaching your sweet little six -year -old how to be proficient in the kitchen because that's such a gift. And so you're right that it was completely birthed out of necessity. Once we started eating real food.
Speaker: It was like, oh, I need to know how to do this. And I give, I mean, truly all credit to the Lord here that it just, it came naturally. um i have always been
Speaker: a creative and I've always been sort of an artist in different ways. And I love that art can, you know, be so widely defined. And I think cooking and recipe developing 100 % is an art form. And I think that that's why it appeals to me so much. I am, again, absolutely creative through and through. And so this is kind of where I get to pour my creative energy is into meal and recipe creation and so it was this perfect beautiful marriage of falling in love ah with cooking And then also with what real food can do. And it kind of happened simultaneously, again, out of necessity that we had to.
Speaker: make food at home and know what we were eating and we were desperate for healing. And so all of this kind of coincided together. and you know now so many years in i just i love what i get to do and i love being like the resident you know, host and family chef and you know i do all the
Speaker: Holiday meals. And I'm like, I love. this i i just I love it so much. And so I love everything that you said around my... books and recipes too. I appreciate it. And I truly do feel that it is accessible. um If you're connected with me.
Speaker: on social media or email or wherever you may know, you know, we live in a little rent house. I have a super standard builder grade kitchen. It is not fancy. I love our home. I love where we live, but it is not fully decked out. It is simple. It is a regular, I've got three kids I'm homeschooling. And so I say that to say, I'm just a real mom creating recipes.
Speaker: And I love that I get to do that because I love hearing from other moms in real homes, in real kitchens talking about. truly how much simplicity and freedom and confidence that these books and recipes have brought to their kitchen. And so it just makes me so, so happy. And I have primarily had digital cookbooks for.
Speaker: the entirety of my business. But in the last year, I have also launched spiral versions. So that's super exciting, because I now have all four books available as either an ebook or printed. And of course, you can get both because sometimes you just need different things. But I love being able to offer both of those things so that people can, you know, actually hold it in their hands and have it in their kitchen and hand it off to their six year old when she wants cornbread on a Tuesday afternoon at 3pm.
Speaker: And I love the accessibility of the digital version too, because sometimes you know you're traveling or you prefer to cook on your phone or iPad. And so all that said, I love being able to have both options now. And it's really exciting. And I do think my heart for these recipes and books is to make nourishing easier.
Speaker: And that's really why I do what I do. i want to help you get. the most benefit from your time in the kitchen both in terms of what it is that you're making you know simplicity of recipes and then also feeling confident that you really are nourishing your family and so I just it's such a joy to get to do what I do and I never would have guessed it as like a you know 10 year old girl I didn't dream of growing up to be a you know
Speaker: nutrition practitioner and recipe developer but praise god that here i am and i just absolutely love it I love that because I think. What you said is a really big need. I see that a lot just in... the work that I do is people are just overwhelmed in the kitchen, right? people step in and they're like, I know I need to do.
Speaker: something nourishing, but I don't know what. And it really is a gift to give people just hey, here are the steps like you don't need a lot of complicated ingredients like most of these things all of these things you can get at a normal grocery store you don't have to be buying every little thing from the farmer's market in the right season and whatever like yeah those things are great but like you can go to kroger or ah
Speaker: whatever other grocery stores are around. I know you're in Texas. Well, wait, you don't have H -E -B in Dallas, do you? You have Central Market. We actually do now. We do have an H -E -B close to us, but I got to be honest, I'm a Kroger type of girl. Really? Okay. That's a hot take. I go to H -E -B just for the vibes, right? Yeah. Rice, rice. You know, i'm I'm not convinced. I actually love Aldi. I will go to Aldi. Oh, yes. so Those are like my my bays. When we go back to visit Texas, because we're in Tennessee now, when we go back to visit family.
Speaker: I'll go for the vibes. and the tortillas. which are not great, but I will do that. And the, the what is it? Guacamole, the homemade guacamole there. I will always go back for that. But other than that, you know. It's it's just a vibey place, but...
Speaker: Yeah, so... what Wherever people shop, you can get the stuff in your books really simply in in places. and Yeah, you don't need a ah crazy setup. I mean, my kitchen is under construction right now. I have ah like see have an oven and a...
Speaker: stove
Speaker: And, you know, we just, it works. I can cook whatever I want. I mean, you can really do a lot with, with a little bit. to We lived in a camper for a short amount of time that we. renovated and flipped. I used this example for a client a couple weeks ago. I was like, I was cooking over an open flame. like washing dishes in a bucket while seven months pregnant. Like you can get creative with cooking, right? You don't have to have a really fancy setup. I had an Instapot and a flame and that was it, right? And we just made it work. And was it ideal? No. Would I do it again? Also no. Did I enjoy it? No, but.
Speaker: it worked yeah so you can you know you could do a lot with a little and i think that's a really you know, big need in our community. So I feel like we've gone all over the place and I want to be honoring of your time. So can you tell us?
Speaker: how we can find you. You've mentioned it a little bit, fallonstable .com. Where primarily are you putting out? Are you still putting out education? Like tell me tell me what what you're doing right now because I know things have shifted over the years.
Speaker: You are right. And I've loved this conversation, by the way. Thank you for letting us ebb and flow into lots of different pockets because I think it was great. So yes, my web website is fallonstable .com.
Speaker: I am on Instagram. Fallon Denae is my handle. My favorite place to be is email. I'm just going to be real straightforward there. I love email. So please come join my email list. I like to say it's not like a regular email list. It's a cool email list. I really do enjoy it though. It feels like a heart to heart, you know, sitting down with a friend.
Speaker: I love to be there. And then I also have you know my blog that I do as well. And I will often send out the blog updates to via email. So if you're going to pick a place to go, please come be on my email list. It's so much fun. I answer and read every single one. I love to talk.
Speaker: And yes, I kind of explained my books, but I have four. Cookbook's out currently. I have my nourish book, which is a great entry point, I'd say, especially if you are wanting to learn how to balance your food.
Speaker: It is a combination cookbook and healing guide. And so there's a lot of good tools in there about sourcing, prepping, balancing your meals and snacks. it's my newest baby and i just love it so much and then i have fixins my southern book which we already kind of fangirled about. it's 100 % comfort food, made nourishing. I love it, love it. And then I also have tots, which you mentioned Cassidy, that's my kids focused cookbook. So that is very much
Speaker: nostalgia you know 90s childhood upbringing meets current nourishment goals so we've got like homemade Pop -Tarts and, you know, chicken and star soup. And Oreos made healthy.
Speaker: it's it's so good it's so fun no food dye all vibrant and colorful and fun And then I have my batch cookbook, which is the perfect. like fall.
Speaker: Bulk prep, you know, postpartum recipes type book, great for hosting. That is also, it's hard to pick a favorite. It's like having children. You know, I love all the books so much. So Batch is also fantastic. And that is my OG cookbook.
Speaker: And again, all of them are either digital or spiral.
Speaker: And I have a quiz on my site. If you're like, oh, how do I choose? I have a quiz that you can take to see what your food archetype is, which is fun. And that can help you kind of decide on a book and which one you should grab. But yeah, i like we've talked about, I make all of my books with the intention of just making your life easier and also more delicious. So I have confidence that you'd love it. any single book, but yeah, Fallon's table .com. Fallon Denae is my handle on pretty much everything. Um, Instagram and Pinterest primarily.
Speaker: And that's where I'm at these days. For everyone listening. I need you to know if Fallon can make bone broth. Into hot chocolate. And it actually tastes good. then you need to trust what she does for her recipes. That was a mental block, honestly. Like I saw that and was like, I mean, I'll give it a try, but.
Speaker: gross like that sounds horrible which I tried it with um like chicken broth which that was not the move for me I was like the but beef broth So good. like I love your take on this. People feel real strongly one way or the other, and I always really appreciate hearing it. where do people usually lie on like fall on the
Speaker: I think chicken is kind of the the top choice right now. Really? That's weird. Yeah. But now i I haven't even tried it with beef broth. I'm gonna have to do this soon.
Speaker: I like the beef broth, but I i also kind of like that. I wouldn't say it's bitter. But I just, I like it a little bit better. I feel like it pairs with the cacao a lot better. It makes sense. Yeah. I'm going to try it. I'll do chicken if I make my own stock. But if I'm doing like, if I'm like purchasing a chicken broth and using it, it just doesn't. It doesn't hit the spot for me. It's not as good. so you know.
Speaker: It is what it is. but Fallon, thank you so much for your time. I've really appreciated this conversation. I really appreciate you having me on. This was a blast. If you found this podcast helpful, I'd love for you to take literally two seconds hit the subscribe button and leave a review. Doing so helps to get this podcast seen by more people who need to hear it. Thank you so much again for listening and we'll see you next week.
