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Stay Sparked #27 - "Eating Well"
9 Plays2 years ago
This episode is about FOOD! How can we improve our relationship to what we eat? We talk about some of our old bad habits and share the process and motivations behind our healthy eating patterns. Grab a bowl and dig in!
BETSY'S MINDFUL EATING AFFIRMATION (free download)
HOSTS
BETSY FINKLEHOO is a healer of massage therapy, CranioSacral and Dharma Coaching. She is an 8 year burner and has spent the last several years seeped in the personal development world, cultivating her passion for transformation and growth. Her recent project, The Power Affirmation Journal and virtual group empowers women to cultivate self awareness and healthy habits so they can live in greater freedom, mind body and spirit.
http://poweraffirmation.com/
Click here to get a FREE affirmation for Stay Sparked Listeners!
HALCYON is full-time Love Ambassador. He is the founder of Hug Nation YouTube channel and daily zoom gratitude circles. He is co-founder of the Pink Heart Burning Man camp and the 1st Saturdays project for people experiencing homelessness. In his free time he coaches individuals on how to live joyfully and authentically. His other podcast is "Hard on the 80's."
http://JohnStyn.com
JANUS REDMOON is a 10-time Burner, and has spent the last several years as an advocate for psychedelic medicine research and treatment. He is the founder and CEO of NuWorld Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company providing mushroom-based, all-natural products to improve and maintain health for both body and mind. (Use code "SPARKED" for 10% off)
http://www.nuworldnutritionals.com
MASSIVE Thank you to Dub Sutra for their beautiful opening music. Check out their incredible music catalogue online.
https://dubsutra.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Stay Sparked Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:04
Speaker
On this show, we explore how to stay inspired in the modern world through the most profound lessons from Burning Man, relationships, entrepreneurship, psychedelics, spirituality, travel, and more.
00:00:17
Speaker
On today's episode of Stay Sparked, we talk about food and the journey of eating well.
00:00:23
Speaker
We talked about some of our poor early life habits and some of the ways that we made better habits.
00:00:29
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Also, how do we create healthy habits for ourselves and discipline early in life so that it can pay off for our future selves?
00:00:37
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Enjoy the episode.
00:00:40
Speaker
Welcome to Stay Sparked.
00:00:42
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We are three longtime friends who've been inspiring each other for over a decade.
00:00:46
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We come here with a topic, not really sure where we're headed, but we're excited to get to know each other around these topics and share it with you.
00:00:53
Speaker
Thank you for listening.
00:00:54
Speaker
And if you've been enjoying these, please leave us a review on Apple podcasts, share with your friends, let these sparks travel into the world.
00:01:02
Speaker
I'm Halcyon.
00:01:04
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And I'm Betsy.
00:01:05
Speaker
And I am Giannis.
00:01:07
Speaker
I am the host of the Hug Nation YouTube channel and do the Pink Path group coaching program.
00:01:14
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And I'm a holistic healing arts practitioner and the founder of the Power Affirmation Project, teaching life skills for sustainable happiness.
00:01:23
Speaker
And I am the founder and CEO of New World Nutritionals, a nutritional supplement company designed with products that are intended to improve and elevate your state of mind.
00:01:34
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Nice.
Moments of Gratitude Shared by Hosts
00:01:35
Speaker
And we like to start off with a little gratitude before we get into the conversation.
00:01:39
Speaker
Betsy, what are you feeling grateful for today?
00:01:43
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Well, I am just going to share my gratitude for you guys.
00:01:47
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I am so grateful to be here on Stay Sparked.
00:01:50
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We started this off as kind of an experiment at a gathering.
00:01:54
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We talked about maybe we should start recording some of these inspiring conversations we're having.
00:01:58
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Now here we are 20 plus episodes later and the sparks continue.
00:02:03
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So I am feeling super grateful to get to be here with you guys and for this beautiful unfolding journey of Stay Sparked.
00:02:12
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Hear, hear, me too.
00:02:14
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Janice, what are you grateful for?
00:02:17
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Feel that, Betsy, thank you.
00:02:19
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I am, in this moment, grateful for my partner.
00:02:22
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As some listeners know, and a lot of my friends know, we are expecting a baby around November.
00:02:31
Speaker
And so yesterday, being Father's Day, I was treated to my first official Father's Day, and she loved me up properly.
00:02:39
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And
00:02:40
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serving bed and just we just had a great day together it was really nice and so yeah feeling the love for her she's uh she's great so gratitude for her you deserve it
00:02:52
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Makes me happy.
00:02:54
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My gratitude this week is also in the Father's Day theme.
00:02:57
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I'm grateful I got to enjoy my dad's company as he showed me what he does now in retirement, which is as a docent, sharing the flora and fauna of the Torrey Pines Reserve and got to go on a nature walk with him.
00:03:13
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And then later I got to get a video call from Asher, my bio son, and get some silliness and smiles and laughter.
00:03:20
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with my boy.
00:03:21
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So just a lot of Father's Day gratitude in a very special way for me yesterday.
Reflecting on Past and Present Eating Habits
00:03:25
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And today we are gathered to talk about food.
00:03:34
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Food is something that we, it's a part of our lives that has been from day one.
00:03:39
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I'm continually amazed at how I can shovel in absolute crap into my body and it seems to be able to handle it and continue functioning.
00:03:47
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But as we grow and kind of learn about our bodies and life more, I think we start to learn more and more what is advantageous, what makes us feel good, what doesn't make us feel good.
00:03:59
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And so I'm eager to get into this with you guys and kind of share what we've learned, what works and what doesn't work with us.
00:04:05
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And as we start, I'm curious if you can look back and think of some thing you ate or some food pattern that you have that you look back now and just go, oh my gosh, I can't believe I used to do that.
00:04:19
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Yes, I know.
00:04:21
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I definitely have one.
00:04:23
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So I remember a time in my life when I was in college and I was pretty much living on ramen, which I mean, I think that's probably pretty common for a lot of college students.
00:04:34
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I was just eating ramen all the time and didn't really consider the importance of vegetables.
00:04:40
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And I was just eating like frozen chicken that like, who knows where it came from.
00:04:44
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It came by the like
00:04:45
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pounds and pounds bags kept out of my freezer.
00:04:49
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And now I look back, I'm like, no wonder I didn't do so well in school.
00:04:57
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I can remember when I first was able to shop for myself for food.
00:05:02
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Initially when I went to school I was on a meal plan and then I moved into an apartment and was shopping for food for the first time by myself.
00:05:08
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And my fridge was stocked with grape soda and my cupboards were stocked with Lucky Stars.
00:05:16
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Now Lucky Stars is the generic version of Lucky Charms.
00:05:19
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And grape soda to me, it has to be generic grape soda because the Welch's, the name brands, they try to taste like grape, but the key is it's supposed to taste like purple.
00:05:29
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And so just like this horrific sugar water that I, and in my mind, I just didn't, it was liquid.
00:05:36
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And so what did it matter?
00:05:38
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As long as I was getting liquid into my body, did it matter if it was water or not?
00:05:42
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And I would literally guzzle, just go exercise and I would just drink grape soda afterwards.
00:05:48
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And it wasn't until I finally someone suggested that maybe I should drink more water.
00:05:53
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Like I stopped grape soda and immediately my complexion changed, like my skin changed.
00:05:58
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I was like, oh my God, it does matter what you put into your body.
00:06:05
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I want a sip of purple.
00:06:08
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Yeah, that's, you know, it's funny.
00:06:09
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That's in the, that's kind of a staple in the black community is growing up with purple Kool-Aid.
00:06:15
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It was never, it wasn't great.
00:06:17
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It was purple, purple Kool-Aid.
00:06:18
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There was three flavors.
00:06:19
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There was, there was two flavors really, it was purple and orange.
00:06:23
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And I guess red, also red kind of a thing.
00:06:27
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Yeah, it had to taste like purple.
00:06:30
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Yeah, if it tasted too much like grape, it was like, eh, what's wrong with this?
00:06:33
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I'm with you.
00:06:35
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Yeah, for me, yeah, growing up, our family did not pay a lot of attention to, you know, quality of food.
00:06:45
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So I frankly didn't get a lot of great food growing up, you know, except for like Thanksgiving and such when more family members would come in.
00:06:53
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And early in my adult life,
00:06:56
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you know, moving into college and such.
00:06:59
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I got into competitive bodybuilding for like pretty early in life.
00:07:05
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And you have to pay a lot of attention to the food that you're eating and the quality of the food.
00:07:09
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So I actually got a much earlier than I might have.
00:07:12
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I got a kind of the download and shifted into, okay, I need to pay attention to what I'm putting in my body.
00:07:18
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And that helped a lot for sure.
00:07:20
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That definitely got me on the right track.
00:07:22
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And I would kind of fall off that track, you know, often throughout adult life.
00:07:25
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But during that time, I did learn a lot about how certain foods affect the body and what energize and what took away energy.
00:07:32
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And so that actually got me inadvertently kind of set up pretty well as an adult.
00:07:39
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I did look at food as fuel.
00:07:41
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So I didn't turn, you know, there's a, you know, becoming a foodie and really enjoying food and presentation and taste and texture and flavor.
00:07:51
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That came much later because for quite a while, I was like, this is food is simply fuel for me to do stuff.
00:07:58
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And so I wasn't that I didn't pay that much attention to taste and flavor and such until later in life.
00:08:05
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When you were in the bodybuilding, did you have to just like force yourself to eat as much as possible?
00:08:13
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Yes.
00:08:13
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Yeah.
00:08:15
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Yeah.
00:08:15
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And it had to be, and it had to be like quick too.
00:08:17
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So there was like, you know, whatever allowed me to make things the quickest and then wolf it down.
00:08:22
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It was constantly like 5,000 calories a day, often more.
00:08:27
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And so it was like, okay, what's the fastest way to like,
00:08:30
Speaker
make chicken so that i could uh eat it quickly boil it boiled chicken which is as tasty as it sounds but uh but it got the job done so yeah that was um a lot of that a lot of tasteless food um or not not as flavorful food wow wow that's really fascinating i i'd love to see some pictures of you those those days wow
00:08:57
Speaker
What an amazing experience to get to learn to like see the direct impact that food is having on you in that way, watching how your body changes depending on what you eat.
00:09:07
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I was in the opposite because at those times I was also working at restaurants.
00:09:12
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And so I would just eat the restaurant food.
00:09:14
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And I remember working at Olive Garden and I was like just obsessed with fettuccine Alfredo.
00:09:21
Speaker
I'll just eat this every day.
00:09:23
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I would say there was a good couple of years that my diet was primarily white, you know, white noodles, white sauce, white food, white, white, white, not a whole lot of color.
00:09:34
Speaker
French fries, you know, and I didn't really understand how it was changing my body until all of a sudden I was like, you know, putting on weight and I was not so clear in my thinking.
00:09:47
Speaker
And I just felt heavy
00:09:51
Speaker
And I'm so grateful to now be where I am.
00:09:53
Speaker
I've learned so much on the journey of recognizing I need a rainbow in my diet.
00:10:00
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It's interesting how like there's so much of the awareness of nutrition and food.
00:10:06
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that I got growing up that has since been shown to be problematic or downright false and wrong.
00:10:12
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You know, like the food pyramid with how many servings of wheat and carbs that you need to get.
00:10:20
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So I grew up thinking
00:10:22
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things like pizza and bread were healthy.
00:10:24
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I mean, you need to have a bunch of those servings every day.
00:10:27
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And I still have these old patterns in my mind of identifying bread as a thing I should be eating.
00:10:35
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I should be eating.
00:10:36
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I'm like, wait, wait, wait.
00:10:37
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Now I know that it's no different than eating sweets if I'm eating a bunch of bread and carbs.
00:10:43
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But I just had no idea.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:10:48
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I feel like the system that we learned in really did not set us up for the most success.
00:10:55
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And these days, there's so much more research and science that shows how different each of us are and how we all need different amounts of different nutrients to be able to navigate from the highest and most beneficial way.
Exploring Food Sensitivities and Diets
00:11:10
Speaker
You know, one of the things that I feel has been really insightful is food sensitivities.
00:11:15
Speaker
Because, you know, back in the day, I always thought that if I was allergic to a certain food, that it would either give me a rash, make me sneeze, or like make my throat itch.
00:11:25
Speaker
You know, I never considered that a food sensitivity could be something like brain fog or, you know, these other kinds of things that just didn't feel like mood problems and that sort of thing.
00:11:38
Speaker
And it wasn't until I actually did an elimination diet that
00:11:42
Speaker
that helped me to start to see.
00:11:44
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So an elimination diet, for those of you that don't know what that is, it's basically simplifying your diet for a period of time and then slowly reintroducing certain foods and then tracking how the body responds to the reintroduction of these foods.
00:11:59
Speaker
And it was so insightful, so powerful.
00:12:02
Speaker
It changed the way that I operate and eat now on a huge level.
00:12:08
Speaker
And I wanted to discuss that with you guys around diets, like the first time you'd like followed a diet and, you know, what your, what your experience is of that.
00:12:18
Speaker
So Betsy, you talk about the elimination diet.
00:12:21
Speaker
I think the first thing I did was that, that eat right for your blood type diet.
00:12:27
Speaker
So depending on your blood type is going to determine what sort of diet you follow.
00:12:32
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And yeah,
00:12:33
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Me being a type, I was, I'm according to this, to this diet plan, I'm supposed, I'm supposed to be a vegetarian.
00:12:42
Speaker
And that just struck me.
00:12:43
Speaker
And this is my like bodybuilding like days.
00:12:45
Speaker
So, but more, more towards the tail end where I felt like, okay, well, maybe, maybe I can try that.
00:12:51
Speaker
and see how it works.
00:12:52
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So followed a vegetarian diet for about 30 days.
00:12:56
Speaker
And just within a few days of starting it, I honestly, I felt like Superman.
00:13:00
Speaker
Like I felt like just my energy levels shot up.
00:13:03
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I was bounding out of bed early and just felt great throughout the day by taking in just like plant protein and, you know, following that no animal diet, I kind of got rid of milk and everything else.
00:13:17
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And I felt fantastic.
00:13:19
Speaker
And after 30 days,
00:13:21
Speaker
The thing that I missed was just that chewing sensation of ripping into a steak or something like that.
00:13:29
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That's the thing that I kind of missed.
00:13:31
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So it did work for me.
00:13:34
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But yeah, and I'm glad I did it.
00:13:37
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And ultimately, I don't feel like a vegetarian diet works for me.
00:13:40
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So I kind of stopped it maybe before.
00:13:43
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I didn't take it as long as I probably could have.
00:13:46
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But I'm glad I did it.
00:13:47
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Learned a lot about my body as well.
00:13:49
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So I have no regrets around that.
00:13:51
Speaker
Hmm, that's awesome.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, same.
00:13:53
Speaker
You know, I had an experience with going vegetarian for some time, maybe eight or nine years ago, I thought, well, you know what, I'm just going to try this.
00:14:04
Speaker
I feel I'm, you know, I care about animals.
00:14:07
Speaker
And if I care about animals, and maybe I should, you know,
00:14:11
Speaker
eat more mindfully in that way.
00:14:12
Speaker
And so in those days, I didn't really know about supplementation around plant proteins and that sort of thing.
00:14:18
Speaker
So I just started, you know, not eating meat.
00:14:22
Speaker
And after about two months or so, my period stopped.
00:14:25
Speaker
And
00:14:26
Speaker
And then I carried on not knowing there's a correlation and it stopped for about six months.
00:14:32
Speaker
And so I went to a doctor and it was a Tibetan doctor and we did all these tests and he looks at me and he goes, he goes, you eat meat.
00:14:43
Speaker
I'll take the karma.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:46
Speaker
Sure enough, I went ahead and got a burger the next day and right away my period and cycle started.
00:14:54
Speaker
And so it was really insightful for me to be able to recognize that I do need to eat some meat from time to time.
00:15:00
Speaker
So I've come to eat meat at specific times within my cycle as a woman and somebody who has been anemic at different times in my life.
00:15:10
Speaker
Those animal proteins really are helpful.
00:15:15
Speaker
I was vegetarian for 25 years and then at the urging of some people who are concerned about my complaints of mental struggles.
00:15:26
Speaker
they suggested i introduce some animal protein and i did find that i had a brain fog that i was not aware of until i added animal protein and then it did go away and so i do feel more comfortable and feel like my quality of life is better if animal protein is a part of of my diet right now and i wish that wasn't the case but you know in in my spiritual goals it is a finding that sweet spot between personal sacrifice
00:15:53
Speaker
and quality of life and minimizing harm, but not doing no harm.
00:15:57
Speaker
So we will trade some barbecue recipes after the recording.
00:16:04
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:16:06
Speaker
You know, I feel like on the topic of meat, I feel like what I've also come to really learn and realize is that there is options to find good sources of meat, because I feel like some of my moral concerns around eating meat was because of the industry was so horrific to some of these precious beings.
00:16:26
Speaker
And so to be able to eat meat more locally sourced or making sure it's organic and just
00:16:33
Speaker
you know, eating it from time to time, not every day for me, that makes me feel better.
00:16:39
Speaker
I actually love this term.
00:16:41
Speaker
Have you guys ever heard opportunivore?
00:16:44
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:16:47
Speaker
Opportunivore is like, okay, well, I don't tend to cook meat very often or buy it, but if it comes to me and I know where it's from, then I'm going to jump on the opportunity to have something.
00:16:59
Speaker
My first step up.
00:17:01
Speaker
My first meet after my long stretch was at Burning Man.
00:17:07
Speaker
A campmate offered me, asked if I wanted to have some bubble gum.
00:17:11
Speaker
And he handed me a plate of meat and I was very confused.
00:17:15
Speaker
He said, oh, bubble gum was the name of the pig that my sister raised from a piglet.
00:17:20
Speaker
And then we slaughtered it.
00:17:21
Speaker
And so this is some bubble gum.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I was like, oh, and I checked in.
00:17:25
Speaker
I was like, yeah, OK, that's.
Opportunivore Concept and Dietary Labels
00:17:29
Speaker
That's within my rules.
00:17:31
Speaker
Okay, let's do it.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:34
Speaker
Oh, funny.
00:17:36
Speaker
Now, I don't think that we're intending to come on today and advocate for meat.
00:17:42
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You got to eat meat, people.
00:17:46
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So anybody listening, if that's your thing that you are a strict vegan or vegetarian, I think, speak for all of us, we all support that.
00:17:54
Speaker
That's fine.
00:17:54
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:17:55
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Go with what you know and go with what works.
00:17:58
Speaker
So regarding the term opportunivore, I read a couple of articles and essays where they're writing like there's actually...
00:18:12
Speaker
every animal in the animal kingdom is an opportunivore.
00:18:15
Speaker
There are like we have ideas like like there are some animals out there that are that are vegetarian.
00:18:19
Speaker
They only eat berries.
00:18:20
Speaker
They only like leaves or this any other thing.
00:18:23
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There are video this edit this essay actually linked to video of koala bears eating like snakes, small snakes.
00:18:32
Speaker
A deer was eating a snake.
00:18:33
Speaker
A deer was eating a squirrel like that.
00:18:37
Speaker
All these videos of animals that we think of is like
00:18:40
Speaker
staunch vegetarians or vegans eating other animals or eating other living creatures because that if that's available that's what i'm going to eat that is the prevailing like mindset of literally every animal in the animal kingdom
00:18:55
Speaker
Yeah, they're traditional vegetarians or vegans, but there's a little bug there.
00:19:00
Speaker
I'm hungry.
00:19:01
Speaker
I'm going to eat that.
00:19:03
Speaker
So that describes literally every animal in the animal kingdom.
00:19:06
Speaker
So if we want to be vegan or vegetarian, that's fine.
00:19:10
Speaker
I support that.
00:19:10
Speaker
But that's a moral choice.
00:19:12
Speaker
Totally fine.
00:19:13
Speaker
So enjoy.
00:19:15
Speaker
Enjoy your leads.
00:19:18
Speaker
So I've, uh, in addition to like the dietary choices, one thing I struggle with is some of the sensations of food.
00:19:26
Speaker
You, you mentioned, uh, Janice about the chewing feeling and like, so like,
00:19:32
Speaker
there's certain crunching, gulping, swallowing things that like if I'm super mindful about my diet and I try to eat as best as possible, I still like I really crave these certain like sensations.
00:19:46
Speaker
And so there's something that I. Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:49
Speaker
And so
00:19:50
Speaker
like I'll look at the thing that I should eat and I'm like, that's not going to do it.
00:19:54
Speaker
That's not going to do it.
00:19:55
Speaker
But I have a few like substitutes that, that, that helped that I was going to just share.
00:19:58
Speaker
One is like, I love chips and I will just go to town on a bag of chips.
00:20:04
Speaker
In fact, any bag of chips to me is single serving.
00:20:06
Speaker
So it doesn't matter how big it is.
00:20:08
Speaker
I will keep eating, but like I will sometimes just chop up a bunch of cucumbers or salary sticks and
00:20:16
Speaker
because it is nowhere near as satisfying but i can kind of trance out in those those moments when i would just like shovel chips in my mouth and i can shovel cucumber slices in my mouth or celery sticks in my mouth and then at the end of my zoning out period i'm i feel much better you know i don't have that oh gosh what have i done feeling yeah that's that's awesome you're finding ways to fulfill your need for mastication
00:20:44
Speaker
Because we all need that.
00:20:45
Speaker
Wait, what's the topic today?
00:20:47
Speaker
Oh, mastication.
00:20:48
Speaker
Yes.
00:20:48
Speaker
Sorry.
00:20:48
Speaker
Sorry.
00:20:49
Speaker
Mastication.
00:20:50
Speaker
That's another show.
00:20:52
Speaker
Maybe on the behind the scenes.
00:20:56
Speaker
Mastication is something that's so important to us.
00:20:58
Speaker
And, you know, there's a book.
00:21:00
Speaker
I don't know if you guys have read Breathe by James Nestor.
00:21:05
Speaker
There's this really, really great book.
00:21:07
Speaker
And there's a section in there that talks about how chewing is
00:21:11
Speaker
is a very important part of our body's alignment process and there has been research that has shown how about 300 years ago when food preservation became more popularized there was less chewing right because everything got softer in cans and in jars and so therefore our skulls got smaller
00:21:36
Speaker
And therefore, the nasal cavity got smaller, which then created more constriction in the breathing and sleep apnea and sinus issues became a problem because our skulls started to shrink.
00:21:49
Speaker
And so chewing on meat or stalks of kale or celery or, yeah, there is something in there that is really actually helpful for our breathing.
00:22:03
Speaker
It's really fascinating.
00:22:03
Speaker
If you guys haven't read it, I highly suggest it.
00:22:06
Speaker
So we turned into a bunch of puns.
00:22:13
Speaker
There's even something called mewing.
00:22:15
Speaker
Mewing is like a technique that you can do with your tongue and your mouth and your palate that helps to expand your nasal cavity to help to open things up because we're doing a lot less chewing.
00:22:31
Speaker
Well, I fell for the Facebook ad for the little chewing device.
00:22:35
Speaker
So I bought the thing that's supposed to make my face and skull look cooler.
00:22:40
Speaker
It's working.
00:22:43
Speaker
Everyone's watching the video.
00:22:45
Speaker
It's working.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah, that texture, the texture thing.
00:22:54
Speaker
I think it's an important thing to kind of examine for a lot of people because there's like, the reason I don't like eggplant is simply because texture.
00:23:06
Speaker
When I get it in my mouth, it's just like, I just spit it.
00:23:09
Speaker
I just can't do it for whatever reason.
00:23:12
Speaker
And there's a few foods like that, but those foods are, and often are, you know, some veggies or some sort of food that is ultimately like good for me.
00:23:19
Speaker
So I'm like, all right, so I got to find another way to get those, uh,
00:23:23
Speaker
you know, those nutrients out of there that it gets, that comes in a different texture of food.
00:23:27
Speaker
And something that actually helped me with, let's say, consuming alcohol, there was a, there was a point in my life where I was like, all right, I need to get like a, I had a problem with drinking.
00:23:36
Speaker
And so I was like, all right, I need to take a break.
00:23:39
Speaker
And what I found was that if I replaced
00:23:42
Speaker
that with other carbonated beverages, that got me to be like, that satisfied me on a visceral level, like just a carbonated soda or kombucha or something like that.
00:23:55
Speaker
that just got me drinking carbonation.
00:23:57
Speaker
It was like, oh, I'm feeling satisfied.
00:23:59
Speaker
It wasn't the alcohol buzz, but it was the experience of it without the alcohol.
00:24:03
Speaker
And that actually helped a lot for me to feel satisfied at the end of the day, to be like, yeah, I don't need to drink.
00:24:09
Speaker
It's like having a beer drinking sensation without the beer.
00:24:13
Speaker
And another texture experience, kind of mastication kind of thing, in the same field that helped me a lot to kind of stop drinking, stay stopped drinking for a while.
00:24:23
Speaker
I love that.
00:24:24
Speaker
I think what you guys are both talking about, whether it's, you know, shifting from chips to vegetables or alcohol to bubbly waters, to be able to catch those hooks of things that we know are not necessarily the best for our systems and bodies and efficiency.
Struggles with Food Cravings and Brain Chemistry
00:24:41
Speaker
And so to be able to know how to do that is a whole other practice.
00:24:45
Speaker
right because it's like same thing with like uh we were talking earlier about um sweets or like i wanted a cupcake i was like really wanting a cupcake and i was like well i'll just go get a gluten-free vegan cupcake and feel better about it but it's like it's not really as good
00:25:02
Speaker
It was good, but it wasn't as good as an indulgent, you know, so it really does take willpower and, um, and devotion to wellness to be able to make those healthy choices.
00:25:16
Speaker
And I think it's every day is making those choices.
00:25:19
Speaker
Oh, man.
00:25:20
Speaker
Are we going to talk about sweets?
00:25:21
Speaker
Because I'm coming to you defeated.
00:25:24
Speaker
I have such a hard time with my sweet tooth, especially if I eat sweets today, I want some more later.
00:25:36
Speaker
I want more tomorrow.
00:25:37
Speaker
You know, the few things have been really helpful to me in dealing with it.
00:25:43
Speaker
One is the Hooperman podcast did a thing about serotonin and recognizing knowing what's happening in my brain for that second cookie.
00:25:53
Speaker
knowing that my desire for the second bite is, is it's me dealing with the dip.
00:26:00
Speaker
I'm having the joy of the cookie.
00:26:02
Speaker
And then it's the pain after the cookie.
00:26:05
Speaker
That is my body interpreting that as let's take them up, have another one, have another one, have another one.
00:26:08
Speaker
And so knowing that that dip is going to happen no matter what, even after the fourth cookie sometimes can help me say, stop now, stop now.
00:26:17
Speaker
I'll say sometimes.
00:26:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:21
Speaker
And all that research too about candida as well.
00:26:24
Speaker
I got to go down that rabbit hole for some time because we all have some candida and sometimes it's overactive.
00:26:31
Speaker
And some of the things I've learned about it is that it can actually create cravings because it feeds on that sugar.
00:26:39
Speaker
And so it goes into a signal in our brain that says, oh, I want sugar.
00:26:43
Speaker
I want sugar.
00:26:44
Speaker
Oh, I have a sweet tooth.
00:26:45
Speaker
And it's like, oh, okay, is that actually something I need?
00:26:48
Speaker
Or is that like a bacteria in my body that is, you know, prompting me to eat more sugar?
00:26:54
Speaker
I think that is such a huge awareness to realize that, okay, I feel like I want this cookie.
00:27:00
Speaker
But actually, there's these other beans inside me that want that cookie.
00:27:05
Speaker
And so they have
00:27:07
Speaker
tricked me into wanting it.
00:27:09
Speaker
They have adjusted my brain so that I want it.
00:27:14
Speaker
Now, does that make it so I don't want it?
00:27:17
Speaker
No, but it does, I think, kind of frame the choice in a little bit different way.
00:27:23
Speaker
I will say, Betsy, that you deciding not to feed your candida is very human-centric.
00:27:28
Speaker
I do think it's very bigoted of you of not to think of yourself in front of these poor creatures inside you that are needing cookies.
00:27:36
Speaker
No, those...
00:27:37
Speaker
i should be way more compassionate to those candida those jerks internal battle i really work on self-love i know it's like something i promote but i actually have a little struggle through that screw that candida they nobody invited them they just decided to show up and try to hijack the party it's not what's happening no out out so kill
00:28:02
Speaker
Yeah, that Huberman podcast is something that I have actually like dialed myself into the last few months and I've been recommending it to all my friends because this really, frankly, changed my life a lot in the last few months.
00:28:15
Speaker
And kind of it was I've gotten kind of a reminder that.
00:28:20
Speaker
These cravings and these desires for specific kind of foods, there's chemical reasons for that.
00:28:26
Speaker
It's not just these are not emotional choices.
00:28:28
Speaker
These are there's something chemically happening within us that is making us want to do these things.
00:28:32
Speaker
And if if we just can kind of jump on it early and early in the day and kind of set ourselves up.
00:28:41
Speaker
It makes a world of difference in how the rest of our day unfolds.
00:28:45
Speaker
I've been waking up in the morning and taking electrolytes first thing in the morning.
00:28:52
Speaker
And then going on a walk and getting sunlight in my face and so on and so forth, followed by like a cold shower and then warm shower and then finish like it's important to start cold and then finish cold.
00:29:03
Speaker
And I'm only in it for like 30 seconds at a pop.
00:29:06
Speaker
But by the time I'm done with all that, it's like 8 a.m.
00:29:09
Speaker
and 9
Healthy Morning Routines and Reducing Cravings
00:29:10
Speaker
a.m.
00:29:10
Speaker
And I'm just I'm feeling great.
00:29:12
Speaker
And my desire for sweets has plummeted as a result.
00:29:17
Speaker
And I have a pretty big sweet tooth.
00:29:20
Speaker
And I've been pretty good about when I have a sweet tooth, like my choices for sweets are fairly healthy.
00:29:25
Speaker
Like I like ice cream, but what I'm what I'm eating is like acai sorbet, which kind of gets that it's sweet, but it's not nearly as sweet.
00:29:33
Speaker
And it's got a lot of antioxidants and things like that in it.
00:29:36
Speaker
So it's so it's a better choice to just straight up, you know, cow cow milk ice cream or even like, you know, coconut coconut milk ice cream, which is which is actually.
00:29:46
Speaker
So, but my desires for that are, are really low these days.
00:29:50
Speaker
And it's really just recently because of the choices I make in the morning.
00:29:54
Speaker
So it's really just starting your day off with success will absolutely determine how the rest of your day goes.
00:30:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:30:01
Speaker
I feel like, um,
00:30:05
Speaker
I have been allowing myself some ice cream lately to the point that the people at the local liquor store kind of recognize me as coming in for my, luckily they stock the dairy-free Ben & Jerry's at my corner liquor store.
00:30:20
Speaker
And so I'm like one of those regulars that comes in to just get a fifth of booze, except I just come in and get a pint one at a time.
00:30:26
Speaker
Because if I have two, I'll eat two.
00:30:30
Speaker
But I've been trying to, I've been really trying to
00:30:34
Speaker
to do so consciously and saying i am going to enjoy this you know i am going to indulge in this there's a lot of things i'm doing in my life right now that i am being very disciplined about and uh so that i can have this experience enjoy this pleasure and not just be just totally racked with guilt afterwards however there is and i'm sharing this partially because like i
00:31:02
Speaker
I'm struggling with some food choices lately.
00:31:04
Speaker
I'm really looking forward to this conversation because in terms of my discipline and my choices, I've been doing a lot of end of the day eating more than I would like if I was choosing.
00:31:17
Speaker
And I'm ending a lot of my days full, which then affects my sleep, which then affects the way I feel the next morning.
00:31:23
Speaker
And in that aspect of being very full, it's also affecting my ability to listen to my body.
00:31:32
Speaker
One of my goals in sobriety has been trying to be more in touch with feelings and my body.
00:31:40
Speaker
And so I become more aware of the things that block that or at least the things that turn up the volume.
00:31:46
Speaker
Like if I'm amped on caffeine, that's all I notice.
00:31:49
Speaker
I can't feel other things that are happening in my body.
00:31:52
Speaker
And if I'm full and I feel like slightly in pain and icky because I'm so full of food, I also that's such a loud message.
00:31:59
Speaker
I don't hear the other things that are going on.
00:32:02
Speaker
So these are the parts I'm trying to shift in my brain away from that.
00:32:06
Speaker
Oh, gosh, that's going to feel taste so good.
00:32:08
Speaker
You're so happy during those seven minutes.
00:32:11
Speaker
But then trying to to bring into that choice the awareness of all the things that I'm I'm missing.
00:32:21
Speaker
I hear you.
00:32:22
Speaker
It's a journey of discipline.
00:32:24
Speaker
and finding those places where you can just keep refining.
00:32:27
Speaker
And, you know, one of the sparks that I'd love to share in regards to that feeling full is I learned when I went to this 10 day silent meditation retreat, the Vipassana around filling our bellies three fourths of the way and watching how that changes how we meditate.
00:32:49
Speaker
And so it's, you know, 45 minutes for lunch and this very strict schedule for 10 days meditating and eating.
00:32:57
Speaker
And that's pretty much it.
00:32:59
Speaker
And they recommended doing that three-fourths, fill your belly three-fourths of the way, and then, you know, come back into your meditation and then just notice what happens.
00:33:07
Speaker
And so I got to play around with that and practice.
00:33:09
Speaker
And some of the days I would fill myself all the way because the food was so good.
00:33:14
Speaker
And then in my meditations, I actually got hungry faster.
00:33:18
Speaker
I couldn't sustain as long as I could when I would simplify and not fill my belly all the way.
00:33:25
Speaker
And so it was really a very insightful practice to notice when I started to get to that point of feeling full and then pausing there.
00:33:33
Speaker
And one of the things that I really love getting to pay attention to now is my body signals when it's time to stop, right?
00:33:41
Speaker
There's two signals that our body gives us is one is a deep breath.
00:33:46
Speaker
You might not notice it when you're eating food, but usually there's a moment where you take that deep breath and your body is getting to that place of feeling full.
00:33:56
Speaker
And then the other is sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtle as a burp.
00:34:00
Speaker
And that's like the indicator like, okay, we're at that threshold point.
00:34:04
Speaker
You can pause, right?
00:34:05
Speaker
And it does take determination and, you know,
00:34:09
Speaker
energy to be able to not eat the last bit of like Thai food on the plate or the delicious food that's there or the last bit of ice cream because it just tastes so good.
00:34:18
Speaker
And so it is a continuous showing up and recognizing in the much bigger picture how this is going to impact
00:34:25
Speaker
how I move through my day.
00:34:27
Speaker
And you're also speaking to at nighttime, feeling full before you go to bed.
00:34:32
Speaker
It's a beautiful experiment also to see what happens if you don't eat for two hours before you go to bed, right?
00:34:41
Speaker
Or eat and then go right to sleep.
00:34:43
Speaker
Notice how the sleep patterns are.
00:34:45
Speaker
Notice how you feel in the morning, right?
00:34:48
Speaker
I know for me personally, it feels way better if I don't eat for a couple of hours before I go to sleep.
00:34:54
Speaker
I can sleep all the way through the night and then I feel refreshed in the morning.
00:34:58
Speaker
And I actually notice as well, I'm hungrier in the morning if I eat before bed.
00:35:05
Speaker
And so then it just perpetuates more food, more food, more food.
00:35:09
Speaker
And so I love this journey of getting older and getting to explore what works for the body, what doesn't work for the body, trying on new habits and
00:35:17
Speaker
things to be able to see what what it really works for me yeah yeah and that's um that's something that is good to acknowledge is that it becomes the older we get that it becomes more important that we actually have to start paying attention to stuff because we're not able to get away with like and i'm i'm a big chip eater i've been a big ice cream eater like friend i love french fries my whole life i would go like several weeks with eating french fries every single day um
00:35:45
Speaker
in my youth, but you come to a point where you're not able to get away with that anymore.
00:35:50
Speaker
And so it's important.
00:35:51
Speaker
The sooner we can establish some good practices for ourselves around food, the better.
00:35:58
Speaker
Even now, it took me a little later in life to, well, I don't know, later in life, maybe mid-30s or so before I started really being
00:36:06
Speaker
okay i can't do that anymore as much as i used to do that anymore and i'm reaping the benefits now um it took like your years for that years of doing a practice you know following that practice to be like like i just saw somebody like i'm 55 years old and i just uh interacted with a lady um last week who was 66 she looked older frankly she looks several it's like it's you know several years older
00:36:32
Speaker
And when she found out I was 55, she definitely had a look like, wow, you don't look 55.
00:36:38
Speaker
And I almost like saw this kind of play out in her face like, wow, he looks so much.
00:36:42
Speaker
He's only like 11 years younger than me, but he looks 20 years younger than me.
00:36:45
Speaker
That's like, that's not crazy.
00:36:47
Speaker
So thanks to genetics on part of it, but also it's like, you know, getting getting our food habits under control or getting or just being mindful about it.
00:36:56
Speaker
is something that benefits us.
00:36:58
Speaker
The sooner we get our heads around that, the better.
00:37:00
Speaker
So it sounds like we all have kind of gotten to that with various levels of success.
00:37:08
Speaker
And what's allowing you, Halcyon, to kind of maintain your good habits these days, as much as you are maintaining good habits?
00:37:19
Speaker
You know, I was just thinking like this would be a good time to pause and re-listen to our habits episode that we did, you know, because it's certainly related.
Dietary Decisions and Brain Adaptations
00:37:28
Speaker
One of the things that helps me is thinking about how my brain chemistry works and how a tough decision today is an easier decision tomorrow.
00:37:40
Speaker
You know, and so that that as you the first time you make a you say no to that piece of cake, you're forging a new path in the brain and it's really hard.
00:37:49
Speaker
But the second time it's a little easier and the third time is a little easier.
00:37:53
Speaker
And so every time that I do make a tough decision, I'm trying to visualize and think about and feel into that I am gifting my future self this choice.
00:38:06
Speaker
Because present moment self really wants to finish that Thai food, really wants to go to the store and get a second thing of ice cream.
00:38:18
Speaker
But future me is going to be really happy and just over time really be pleased by my choices.
00:38:27
Speaker
I remember seeing a fridge magnet that said, nothing tastes as good as being thin feels.
00:38:35
Speaker
And I think there's something to that, you know, maybe not the being thin, but being healthy, you know, nothing tastes as good as having a healthy body and feeling good in your body feels.
00:38:48
Speaker
And so I try to lay that on top of my decision making process.
00:38:58
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:38:59
Speaker
And, you know, I feel like it's also really valuable to know how to cook.
00:39:05
Speaker
Right.
00:39:05
Speaker
And know how to stay inspired on what to make.
00:39:09
Speaker
Right.
00:39:09
Speaker
Because I feel like here we are in this conversation on stay sparked.
00:39:14
Speaker
How do we stay sparked to eat, you know, in ways that really help us feel good and feel fueled and not just like eat boiled chicken.
00:39:26
Speaker
You know, I feel like that that's been the biggest thing for me on my journey of making these choices is finding recipes that are really delicious, that are really healthy, that are balanced, that are easy as well.
00:39:39
Speaker
Like I have probably four or five specific ones that I really love to use and modify and depending on the season as well.
00:39:49
Speaker
In Ayurveda, there is so much insight and information around different types of foods for different types of year, more warming foods in the colder months and lighter foods in the warmer months, different hearty salads and superfoods and different types of proteins.
00:40:09
Speaker
And I feel like that has really helped, especially in a busy lifestyle.
00:40:14
Speaker
Right.
00:40:15
Speaker
I mean, I don't have kids, but I can't imagine what people that have kids like trying to eat healthy and maintaining and always have stuff on stock.
00:40:22
Speaker
So for me, my my personal spark is to make big batches of things that are going to last for a few days.
00:40:29
Speaker
I can modify and change up and and keep me going.
00:40:34
Speaker
Yeah.
00:40:37
Speaker
I agree with all that.
00:40:38
Speaker
And there was also the switch.
00:40:41
Speaker
I want to talk about this for brief moments.
00:40:43
Speaker
I think I know where you guys are coming from on this, but I think it's worth conversing about the switch from conventional to organic or to non GMO.
Switch to Organic Foods and Mindfulness
00:40:56
Speaker
Did you make that switch?
00:40:58
Speaker
And if you did, what were the results of making that switch?
00:41:02
Speaker
How did you feel about making that switch?
00:41:04
Speaker
For me, it was a thing where it's just, I would always see how, how much more expensive often organic was than the other stuff.
00:41:11
Speaker
And I was like, well, is it worth it?
00:41:13
Speaker
Can I afford that?
00:41:14
Speaker
That's any other thing.
00:41:15
Speaker
But when I made the mental switch, like, all right, I just need to, I just need to switch mostly organic.
00:41:22
Speaker
And yeah,
00:41:23
Speaker
I found that I was able to like, when I just was like, all right, this is what I'm doing now.
00:41:27
Speaker
I was able to, you know, miraculously afford it all of a sudden.
00:41:31
Speaker
It's just like, Oh, I can, I can do this.
00:41:33
Speaker
And I felt the difference, um, whether that was placebo effect or not, whatever, it kind of doesn't matter.
00:41:38
Speaker
I felt the difference of eating mostly, if not all organic.
00:41:41
Speaker
So I've never, I never looked back.
00:41:43
Speaker
I've been probably doing that for close to 10 years now.
00:41:47
Speaker
And, um,
00:41:48
Speaker
It's the thing I'm not a stickler about it because eating out for dinner is usually not organic.
00:41:52
Speaker
When you go to a restaurant, that's fine.
00:41:55
Speaker
But when I'm cooking myself and Betsy, your tip about really getting your your your mindset around cooking for yourself is a big one that definitely helps control the quality of the food you're getting in your body.
00:42:06
Speaker
But yeah, paying attention to organic has been a big boost for me.
00:42:11
Speaker
So how about you guys?
00:42:13
Speaker
That's good for me to hear.
00:42:16
Speaker
I am not a stickler and in fact, I'm
00:42:19
Speaker
there are certain uh leafy vegetables and things that i at one point heard some or saw some list about here you know the dirty 13 and like certain uh vegetables are more apt to retain or have pesticides and things on it and other ones are are less likely to be impacted by uh by non-organic farming and so i i'm kind of looser about some vegetables and fruits than others um
00:42:49
Speaker
But it is, I'm not strict on it.
00:42:52
Speaker
And hearing your results, maybe I will be a little stricter about it.
00:42:57
Speaker
Yeah, I definitely made the switch.
00:43:00
Speaker
I'm really grateful I did too.
00:43:01
Speaker
And I went through the same process.
00:43:03
Speaker
It's so much more expensive.
00:43:05
Speaker
And what's the difference anyways?
00:43:07
Speaker
Am I going to really notice a big difference?
00:43:10
Speaker
And then I slowly started to shift and same as you.
00:43:13
Speaker
It's like, actually, I can't afford this.
00:43:16
Speaker
And I noticed a difference in taste.
00:43:18
Speaker
I noticed a difference also in my moral considerations around what are the farmers doing?
00:43:25
Speaker
If there's people out there that are farming and putting pesticides and all kinds of GMOs on the food that they're growing, what is their consideration around the earth and the care of the actual earth?
00:43:39
Speaker
And to me, that's what really is important to consider, that there's these people out there that really care and they are doing things in sustainable ways and not just trying to do it in bigger, better, more ways.
00:43:50
Speaker
And so, yeah, I try and also pay attention to the dirty dozen or dirty 13, whatever you call it, certain ones that are more important to pay attention to.
00:44:00
Speaker
Same thing with meats.
00:44:02
Speaker
I also find I have a sort of a rule of thumb.
00:44:05
Speaker
I don't usually eat meat from restaurants because you just don't know what kind of hormones and things like that are put into these animals.
00:44:14
Speaker
And it's like, if I can go without it, okay, okay.
00:44:17
Speaker
And so, yeah, I feel like that that is a big consideration.
00:44:20
Speaker
It's not easy.
00:44:21
Speaker
It's not always easy to be in that mindset.
00:44:25
Speaker
But after some time, it does get easier.
00:44:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:29
Speaker
Some shifts are definitely easier than others.
00:44:33
Speaker
But as long as we're feeling good about it,
00:44:36
Speaker
And it could be, you know, and a lot of things doing, it's important to kind of remember that a lot of the things that are worth doing are not easy to do.
00:44:43
Speaker
So it comes into tapping into that sort of like, you know, commitment and sort of mindset, that discipline mindset.
00:44:51
Speaker
Okay, I'm going to end up doing this for myself.
00:44:54
Speaker
And again, that's something that has gotten easier as I've gotten older because I'm just, I'm able, because I'm able to see the benefits.
00:45:00
Speaker
I'm able to see, to, to,
00:45:01
Speaker
know that I'm reaping the benefits.
00:45:03
Speaker
So, so one good decision and seeing the results of one good decision really does feed the, you know, all the decisions to come after that.
00:45:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:45:14
Speaker
I feel like you're talking about mindfulness.
00:45:17
Speaker
And I think we are all kind of speaking about mindfulness throughout this conversation.
00:45:22
Speaker
And I think that as we're getting closer to completion of this conversation, maybe we'll close it up with some closing sparks.
00:45:28
Speaker
And since I got one brewing around mindful eating, I feel like that is such an incredible resource.
00:45:38
Speaker
There's so many books.
00:45:39
Speaker
There's so much research.
00:45:41
Speaker
There's so many beautiful practices that encourage mindfulness while eating.
00:45:47
Speaker
I started getting into it a couple of years ago and started to practice these different things like just pure presence when tasting food and chewing food and swallowing food.
00:45:58
Speaker
I even got so inspired, I created an audio affirmation called mindful eating, and it just uses affirmations to help program the mindset around the whole process, smelling the food, bringing the food to the mouth,
00:46:11
Speaker
chewing for an extended period of time, you know, swallowing it before taking another bite.
00:46:18
Speaker
And I noticed listening to those affirmations really helped me to start to, yeah, not shovel things in or, you know, be multitasking while I'm eating.
00:46:28
Speaker
And yeah, so I'll say my closing spark is mindful eating.
00:46:31
Speaker
I love that.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's,
00:46:35
Speaker
My grandfather would say grace before every meal, and it wasn't like a thank you, God.
00:46:39
Speaker
It was just thank you, like an opportunity to be thankful for the food that's in front of you.
00:46:44
Speaker
And since eating is something that we do every day, it's a great opportunity to take a pause and infuse some gratitude and some mindfulness into whatever you're doing.
00:46:55
Speaker
I think the spark that I wanted to close with is just I find that
00:47:01
Speaker
The most impactful part of my dieting choices is when I'm shopping.
00:47:08
Speaker
I have to make my good decisions while I'm at the grocery store because that's a single moment in time that I can be, yes, good choices.
00:47:20
Speaker
If I make a bad choice and I get a bunch of chocolate that I'll just save for a rainy day,
00:47:26
Speaker
I can make good choices all day long and then one slip and suddenly I am, oh, I do have that chocolate that I have that I was saving.
Grocery Shopping and Influencing Eating Habits
00:47:35
Speaker
And so if I if I don't have it in the house, there's a good chance that I will make it through those weak moments.
00:47:43
Speaker
On the other hand, if I do have a, you know, like I just realized that I just ate the last of my baking chocolate chips because that was the only chocolate I had around.
00:47:52
Speaker
And so I'm like, do I replace the chocolate chips for the next time I bake?
00:47:55
Speaker
Or do I just make sure that I keep the house clean from temptation?
00:47:59
Speaker
So shopping is where all my dieting has to happen.
00:48:03
Speaker
Nice.
00:48:03
Speaker
Hey, don't be bad mouth and chocolate.
00:48:08
Speaker
I love chocolate.
00:48:09
Speaker
But we know how it feels about chocolate.
00:48:10
Speaker
I feel the same.
00:48:13
Speaker
And, you know, it's I feel like my closing spark really is about I just have to kind of beat the drum about mindfulness about around our around our eating choices.
00:48:25
Speaker
It's the whole realm of food and how we interact with food.
00:48:28
Speaker
It's so easy to be on autopilot.
00:48:31
Speaker
with this because we've been eating our whole lives and so it's just one of those things like oh it's just i'm hungry i'm just eat whatever and the more like thinking i have around this area the more mindfulness i apply to it like when during when like housing like you say shopping and really having that moment or make making a moment of you know being mindful about what i'm getting and then
00:48:55
Speaker
when I'm eating, like Betsy is saying, that this is a really fantastic thing to sit with a meal and really pay attention to the flavors and the texture and how it feels and how certain combined bites feel.
00:49:10
Speaker
And I've just gotten a lot of
00:49:14
Speaker
you know, the idea of setting myself up for success and being mindful around food and how I think about it and how I approach it and the stuff that I bring home just kind of sets me, sets me up for success.
00:49:26
Speaker
I'm able to have one good choice follows another and follows another.
00:49:29
Speaker
And I've gotten to a point in my life where I'm, I, I, my relationship with food is I feel pretty healthy as a result.
00:49:36
Speaker
Uh,
00:49:37
Speaker
You know, moderation.
00:49:38
Speaker
Like I still like my French fries.
00:49:39
Speaker
I still like the other stuff as well, but I'm able to be mindful about it.
00:49:42
Speaker
Be like, yeah, I've, I've had, you know, been good all week.
00:49:45
Speaker
I'll have some French fries today.
00:49:47
Speaker
And so yeah, mindfulness around.
00:49:52
Speaker
Yes, I'm laughing because just the other day I was like, I really want some French fries.
00:49:56
Speaker
Why do I want some French fries?
00:49:58
Speaker
I really want some French fries.
00:49:59
Speaker
Go have some freaking French fries.
00:50:01
Speaker
I went to this restaurant and had a really amazing thing of French fries and I was like eating them, fully enjoying them, thinking about all the other things I ate for the other part of the day.
00:50:10
Speaker
It was like all this superfood and healthy stuff.
00:50:13
Speaker
I was like, okay, girl, you deserve this.
00:50:15
Speaker
Don't feel guilty about it.
00:50:16
Speaker
Go for it.
00:50:18
Speaker
It's mindfulness and everything in moderation.
00:50:21
Speaker
including moderation, right?
00:50:26
Speaker
All right.
00:50:27
Speaker
Well, thank you guys for having this conversation.
Conclusion with Affirmations on Mindful Consumption
00:50:29
Speaker
Hopefully you guys out there are feeling sparked, maybe feeling a little hungry as well.
00:50:34
Speaker
Love to close it up with a little inspiration on where you guys can find more of our work in the world and our voices.
00:50:41
Speaker
So
00:50:42
Speaker
Alcy, and you want to share a little peek into where people can find you?
00:50:45
Speaker
Yes, you can find links to my daily gratitude circles and morning broadcasts and t-shirt store all at johnston.com, J-O-H-N-S-T-Y-N.
00:50:57
Speaker
And, um, as I mentioned, I've got a nutritional supplement company called new world nutritionals.
00:51:02
Speaker
It's spelled N U world nutritionals.com.
00:51:06
Speaker
We have a bunch of products that are designed to, uh, help with all things, you know, about mindfulness and that you're improving your, improving your mental state and alleviating symptoms of anxiety, depression, ADHD, uh, even PTSD, um,
00:51:22
Speaker
you know, dementia, other types of things.
00:51:24
Speaker
It's getting a lot of good results for a lot of good people, all mushroom based products, and you can use the code SPARKED to get 10% off of all of our products.
00:51:33
Speaker
For those people that don't like to eat mushrooms because the mouthfeel is disgusting.
00:51:38
Speaker
The powdered version.
00:51:39
Speaker
Amazing.
00:51:40
Speaker
Thank you.
00:51:42
Speaker
And you guys can find me on poweraffirmation.com and on the socials, Betsy Who on Instagram.
00:51:49
Speaker
I am a holistic healing arts practitioner and I
00:51:53
Speaker
inspire people with mindfulness practices.
00:51:56
Speaker
I'm a coach with embodiment practices, meditation, movement.
00:52:02
Speaker
I love getting to help people to get in right relationship with their thoughts using the Power Affirmation Journal.
00:52:08
Speaker
And I run some courses online, also do all kinds of wonderful retreats and lots of ways of spreading the sparks of staying
00:52:16
Speaker
happy, staying joyful, and navigating life's challenges with as much ease as possible.
00:52:22
Speaker
And eating is a part of that.
00:52:24
Speaker
So yeah, check out poweraffirmation.com.
00:52:26
Speaker
And there's also in the show notes a free gift for an audio affirmation for mindful eating.
00:52:34
Speaker
So check it out and we'll close it out with an affirmation, shall we?
00:52:37
Speaker
Yes, please.
00:52:40
Speaker
All right, awesome.
00:52:40
Speaker
So affirmations are statements to help focus the mind and really help us to choose mindfully on how we want to think and feel.
00:52:50
Speaker
And so if you like, you can close your eyes.
00:52:54
Speaker
Of course, if you're not driving, take a nice deep breath and repeat these affirmations.
00:53:02
Speaker
I choose mindfully what I consume.
00:53:06
Speaker
I choose mindfully what I consume.
00:53:09
Speaker
I choose mindfully what I consume.
00:53:14
Speaker
I make mindful choices on my eating habits.
00:53:17
Speaker
I make mindful choices on my eating habits.
00:53:21
Speaker
I make mindful choices on my eating habits.
00:53:25
Speaker
I am present.
00:53:27
Speaker
I am purposeful.
00:53:28
Speaker
I am passionate.
00:53:30
Speaker
I am present.
00:53:31
Speaker
I am purposeful and I am passionate.
00:53:34
Speaker
I am inspired and sparked.
00:53:37
Speaker
I am inspired and sparked.
00:53:40
Speaker
I sure hope you guys are.
00:53:42
Speaker
I sure am.
00:53:42
Speaker
So thank you for listening and we look forward to hearing from you guys.
00:53:46
Speaker
So leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and we will keep staying sparked.
00:53:52
Speaker
They have Spark people.
00:53:52
Speaker
Thanks for listening.