Latest / She’s Smart / Christine Dunst - Nutrition and Health

Transcript

Christine Dunst - Nutrition and Health · She’s Smart

0:00
Thank you for being here. I want to start with Embody because it's been hugely
0:05
important to me and our work together.
0:08
And I really want to understand how you came to it and why.
0:12
So Embody, we're a team of integrated, holistic nutritionists and health coaches.
0:18
We work one-on-one with clients as well as corporations and group coaching programs.
0:24
But since the beginning of Embody, 10 years ago, we've been seeing people virtually.
0:30
So it's been in our business model from day one. We have both aspects.
0:35
We have that one-on-one aspect, but we also have this beautiful virtual practice
0:40
that really can target a lot of people.
0:44
You've been able to connect to more people doing it that way.
0:46
Absolutely. Even our Connecticut clients, sometimes they can't come to you or
0:51
taking an hour and a half out of their day doesn't work. So having these virtual
0:55
sessions really matter.
0:57
A lot of people ask me, like, how can you possibly connect with people virtual?
1:00
You really can. And some people, they need that space to become comfortable
1:07
with you until they can really connect in another way.
1:10
So I feel like virtual connects you in a different way.
1:13
I reached out to you because I was finally ready to make some health changes in my life.
1:18
And I was like, you know what? It's time. We've been diving deep in this COVID
1:22
and the feelings that it's brought up. And I was ready.
1:25
What are other people coming to you for? Is it for that change or other things?
1:30
Yeah, it's a great question. The majority of the women I work with now,
1:34
they're in their late 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s.
1:36
I have people in their 70s that I'm working with.
1:39
And it's really, you know, of course, I want to look good. I want to feel good.
1:45
But it's so much more, right?
1:47
It could be I'm overstressed. I'm not sleeping well. My hormones seem like they're out of control.
1:53
I work a lot with paramenopause and menopausal clients.
1:56
I work in gut health. They all tie together in this beautiful web.
2:02
A lot of the gut health clients, you know, they're constipated, they're bloated.
2:08
Christina, I have this lower belly pouch that I can't figure out.
2:11
We look at a client way beyond just the nutrition.
2:15
It's so important because we also work with women on healing the relationship
2:18
they have with themselves, as well as food, they go hand in hand.
2:24
We always transcend nutrition when we work with any of our clients.
2:28
It is gonna get into your sleep, stress levels, self-care rituals,
2:33
supplements, movement practice. We're just so much more than just nutrition.
2:37
If you are suffering with gut health, autoimmune, or your hormones are really
2:42
in a place that you don't feel like you're in control, you have to look at all those pieces.
2:47
That's where we see the most success with our clients. Yeah.
2:50
But you asked why we started Embody. The word embody really means so much, right?
2:57
Like our vision 10 years ago, we want to help people embody wellness where they are.
3:03
What it means for you is different than what it means for me.
3:06
And we meet everybody where they're at, which is huge. We also have some male clients.
3:11
A lot of my female clients want me to work with their husbands because their
3:14
husbands won't necessarily listen to all the changes they want to implement.
3:19
So I have a good deal of clients, husbands that I work with,
3:23
and a lot of very high level executives.
3:25
I have a group of women in their low 20s. And I'm doing more and more teenage athletes.
3:33
And it means so much to me to empower these women at that age.
3:37
If I knew how to eat well at that age, how to take care, how
3:40
to be kind to myself all of these pieces of that
3:43
age I take it very seriously when a
3:45
client wants me to work with their daughter it's a
3:48
big deal it's a lot of responsibility a huge amount of trust too that's a huge
3:52
amount of trust for you for that they're giving to you which is just a testament
3:56
as to who you are honestly and when I'm working with my clients to empower them
4:01
to make changes in their lives you might not think that they're watching but
4:06
you might see something in a month,
4:07
two months, three months down the line. I've seen it with my own children.
4:11
They don't jump and meditate, but then I'll see them do something for themselves
4:16
to take care of themselves.
4:17
And I sit there and I'm like, it's so important because we do watch.
4:23
Grayson made his own meditation space. I walked into his room one night and-
4:27
I'm like, Grayson, what's going on, buddy? And he goes, well,
4:30
I'm creating my meditation space because he saw mine.
4:33
That's incredible. And he'll come in and meditate with me sometimes.
4:36
He doesn't last the whole time. Yeah, yeah. But he'll do the breathing.
4:39
And for their sports, it's really good for them to be able to sit and focus for a little while.
4:43
So he does it. And his space is hysterical. It's got like a snowboarding trophy
4:47
and a snowboarding jersey.
4:49
It's amazing. Crystals that my sister sent. Amazing. My sister.
4:53
And it's like on the floor. It's fantastic. I think it's amazing.
4:56
And I know he's really into his sports.
4:58
The potential of having that awareness is only going to increase your athletic
5:04
performance times a million.
5:06
And for young kids to realize that, wow.
5:10
It's pretty amazing. It blows your mind. I wouldn't have seen that had I not
5:12
started incorporating that into my life and making it important that I get it in.
5:17
A million percent. And I'm not sure how you grew up. I come from a family of
5:20
five. I saw my parents work really hard, but the whole idea was work hard and
5:26
that's how you're going to achieve.
5:28
I never saw this relaxation.
5:30
Not a lot. And then we have to reparent ourselves.
5:34
Your comment in the very beginning is so spot on with what I feel if I would
5:38
have known that in my teen years, in my early 20s.
5:43
I wanted to, since we're talking about meditation, talk about self-care rituals.
5:48
When we work together, creating those rituals was very important.
5:52
Explain to us what the ritual is and in your mind what it would look like or
5:58
how you do yours. Yeah, absolutely.
6:00
So I'm going to just back up and what is even self-care, right?
6:04
Self-care in our definition is whatever thought or action brings you to your highest self.
6:12
We're not going to always be our highest self at all times.
6:15
It's just not possible. But the beauty of creating rituals is something you
6:21
do every single day for yourself to bring you to that state.
6:24
It can be a thought it doesn't necessarily
6:28
have to be an action i love getting my nails
6:31
done and hair and all that stuff it's not to say that those aren't self-care
6:34
pieces they absolutely are rituals are
6:37
something you do in a more reverent way every
6:40
single day how i work with every client is meeting them where
6:43
they are because your rituals should be different than mine
6:46
because we're different we're bio-individual and so i
6:49
never self-impose a client to
6:52
have to meditate or have to do a breathing practice because for some people
6:57
it could be singing it could be playing the piano it could be going on walks
7:02
so all of those pieces can bring them to their highest state i'm happy to go
7:07
through my personal rituals if you like,
7:11
everyone wants to know okay i have a lot of my toolkits so it depends on where i'm at.
7:16
But I do certain things for myself every single day,
7:20
no matter if I'm on vacation, no matter if I'm in a really low mood,
7:25
all of these things I think of as anchors to pick me up and kind of creating
7:30
what I like to think of as resiliency in my body and in my nervous system.
7:35
The second I wake up, and this has kind of shifted my world.
7:41
I started doing this almost 10 years ago. I've been doing different versions of it.
7:46
I do not look at my phone. It was a huge habit I needed to break because the
7:51
second I woke up, I would look at my phone.
7:53
And that would just spiral me.
7:56
It wouldn't help me be a creator of my life. It helped me be this reactionary,
8:00
let life take me kind of thing.
8:03
And that's not what I want. I want to be a creator of my life.
8:06
The second I wake up, I do a meditation. It's a gratitude meditation,
8:11
but it's a breathing practice.
8:14
I've been a meditator for 20 some years, but my breathing practice has evolved.
8:19
And I think it's the breath work that has truly created my nervous system to
8:25
just calm down and not be as reactive.
8:30
So my breathing practice is a deep belly breathing practice derived from Andrew Weil.
8:36
You inhale for four to five breaths.
8:39
Hold for five breaths, and then exhale for six to seven breaths.
8:44
The longer you exhale, the more you're stimulating your vagus nerve to get into
8:51
the parasympathetic nervous system state, getting you out of fight or flight.
8:56
The more you're conditioning your body just like you work out,
9:00
the more you're practicing that every single day, your nervous system starts to shift big time.
9:07
Instead of practicing it at times of trauma or stress, you're practicing it
9:12
when you have the highest consciousness in the morning.
9:15
If you think of manifestation or what you want to create in this life.
9:19
You need to be at a certain vibration to do so.
9:23
All the spiritual teachers talk about this in different ways.
9:27
But what really helped me is I do my meditation practice at night,
9:32
but the breathing in the morning just helps me handle it. anything that's coming my way.
9:39
I do it for about 12 to 15 minutes. I literally started with one minute every
9:44
single day and I was committed to it.
9:47
I always have my hands on my heart.
9:49
The hand on your heart stimulates your vagus nerve to say that it's safe.
9:53
It's very interesting for those of you who are parents or even if you're not
9:56
parents, to your kids when they're upset, like, honey, it's okay.
10:01
You put your hand on their chest or you put your hand on their back.
10:04
And to me, it's like this beautiful act of kindness to myself to say I'm safe
10:09
to really just decompress my existence for 12 minutes.
10:15
I do think of gratitude as I'm doing it.
10:18
I do think of a white light protecting me as I'm doing it. And then when I'm
10:22
done with my meditation, I practice this all the time with clients.
10:27
Maria, I know we had an affirmation and mantra. I do my mantra.
10:32
I end it all the time, my breathing practice with what I'm focusing on.
10:37
And then I say, I want to be a channel today.
10:40
How can I best serve this world today? I've started my day that way.
10:44
Did I have to wake up earlier to do this? Yeah, just a little bit at a time,
10:49
even on vacation, I might not get the full 12 minutes, but I'll get a few minutes
10:52
in and I'm not going to be super stressed about it.
10:55
You can't out supplement your way for stress or take all these different herbs.
11:01
It's this interior work.
11:03
That's changed my existence. I do the hot water and lemon in the morning.
11:07
I do ashwagandha and matcha in the morning every day.
11:13
Ashwagandha is adaptogen that helps your nervous system really adapt to stress.
11:19
So if you're lower, it brings you up a little bit. If you're up there with anxiety,
11:23
it brings you to homeostasis.
11:24
I do that in the morning. And then the second I drop the kids off,
11:28
I will not schedule a client until I get my walk.
11:31
When I do the walk in the morning, it's cortisol lowering a million percent. It's outside in nature.
11:38
Anybody who knows me will see me in parkas and 50 hats.
11:42
I will get outside in the rain and the snow.
11:45
Sometimes I talk to people. Sometimes I bring in a lot of learning and podcasts
11:49
when I need to be stimulated.
11:52
But a lot of times I'm praying. I connect to people who are no longer here with
11:56
me, who I want to just talk to.
11:59
And I pray during that. If you see me smiling on the road, you can figure you're talking to someone.
12:06
Has anyone ever appeared in those moments?
12:09
Yeah. I talked to my father over here, who I was very close with.
12:14
And I talked to my sister, passed on. Sometimes just the sun on your face feels supported.
12:21
I feel like the universe is with me, not against me. I'm supported and cared for.
12:27
It's also my creative time for business. Things come to me all the time when I let myself have space.
12:33
So that's a huge thing. And then, you know, I have other rituals, of course, I work out.
12:37
And then I have a whole set of night rituals that I do as well.
12:42
Every night you do the same ritual? Not necessarily. I really listen to what
12:46
I need, but a lot of nights I do.
12:48
But the morning one stays the
12:49
same. It's just what I do. It's what I truly need. My kids know it. Yeah.
12:53
My husband knows it. Tonight, I do various things. I want to hear yours.
12:57
I've created new ones as we've worked together and moved on and realized what...
13:02
Best for me. It's changed a bit. I used to work out at 5.30 every morning.
13:07
I'd wake up, get into the gym and get it done. That happened because I was afraid.
13:13
It was never going to get done. A fear that I was going to put on weight.
13:18
All these fears were sitting there.
13:20
Over the last six months, I've really been thinking about what is helping me.
13:26
How am I my best self? I have to move every single day.
13:28
It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's a strength workout,
13:31
a spin, a walk with the dog, anything. I will move my body.
13:35
It is how I release everything that's inside of me. It is how I feel the world and the earth.
13:41
It's movement. So every day is the movement. But I wake up in the morning now
13:45
and don't look at my phone.
13:48
I've started trying to read the Wall Street Journal on the weekends.
13:51
Jeff Bezos was talking about how he does not look at any technology when he wakes up in the morning.
13:58
He calls it putting around his house or wherever he is. I thought,
14:03
this could really work for me.
14:05
I love it. So my alarm goes off at 530.
14:08
I take the dog out. I light all the candles in my house.
14:11
I pay Losanto the rooms with whatever I feel we need. And this doesn't take
14:17
long. This is like a five-minute ritual.
14:19
Then I have my lemon water or I'll have some celery juice and then I sit.
14:25
And it doesn't always become a meditation. Sometimes I'm just feeling the energy
14:30
and I've created this visualization in my mind of the energy surrounding me.
14:38
I feel the ground beneath me. By that time, the dog's barking and needs to come inside.
14:43
It's time for a cup of coffee. I've been doing that since the summer,
14:47
even in Rhode island even in california when i'm not home i feel like i need
14:50
it more you don't feel grounded that connection you need yeah and it's and then
14:56
the workout is scheduled every day but i've stopped.
15:00
Beating myself up when it doesn't happen by a certain hour that i have decided
15:06
in the day it had to happen but i wake up at 5 30 you have to prioritize to
15:11
get it in if that's important and And then what happens is the day goes on, right?
15:16
Things are thrown at you that weren't on your schedule or that you weren't planning
15:18
for. If I didn't have those 15 minutes in the morning, the grounding disappears.
15:23
What do you do during the day?
15:26
Do you do any little ritual during the day? I walk Ollie.
15:30
You walk? Oh, I walk. I take him outside. Can I tell you a fun little story?
15:35
So Maria and I, we sort of live close to each other now.
15:39
And you didn't know I saw you doing this. And I loved it so much. Was I dancing?
15:44
Was I singing? You were dancing. And it brought me so much joy,
15:48
Maria. I'm not kidding you. She had these big headphones on.
15:51
And she was in her own world dancing. And you didn't even care.
15:55
You didn't care who was around. I've stopped giving the fucks.
15:57
I really have. And what I find when I'm running, because I don't get to run very often, it hurts.
16:02
It's not as comfortable now as it used to be. Of course. But I will find that
16:06
I put on great music and my body wants to move and it wants to dance.
16:10
If a beat comes on, I will shimmy down Pettle Creek and Gold Hyde.
16:15
And I'm so glad you got to witness this experience. It brought me happiness.
16:19
But I was bringing that up because that's a form of self-care.
16:22
Music can be that pause in the afternoon.
16:26
Even when I was driving over here, I needed to come down a little bit. And I had my chanting on.
16:32
It's such a huge thing. And it doesn't require money. It just shifts your energy.
16:36
Turn on that music and dance around.
16:38
The kids will walk in the house and I'll just be dancing. And they're like,
16:40
are you okay? I'm like, join me. And it's so fun.
16:45
Growing up, the kitchen was always a big deal. We always had music playing. We're cooking.
16:49
Whenever I'm home with my sister and we're together, there's music.
16:52
Playing and we're dancing and cooking. It happens here when I'm with my wives.
16:57
So we're doing the dishes together at 11 o'clock at night and the wives are dancing.
17:02
You can't change the circumstance that you have to do the dishes at 11 o'clock
17:05
at night. But you got to make it fun and joyful.
17:08
Your kids are going to see that. Are they dancers?
17:11
They're very funny dancers. What inappropriate it is. If anyone has seen Maria
17:15
dance, I mean, I think I've seen some African dancing.
17:19
I studied it in college. I didn't know what I wanted to do.
17:22
And I always I just wanted to dance. You just started in Africa.
17:24
I studied African dance. And my dad saw the class assignments. And he goes,
17:28
Is this a course? And I'm like, yeah, because I was looking to minor in dance.
17:33
On the weekends, I would go to these drum circles. Oh, I think I was doing it at Disneyland.
17:38
I'm pretty sure. When we went to Disney World, there's African land in Epcot.
17:43
And there was this amazing group of African drummers. I was like, this is my moment.
17:49
And I just let loose.
17:52
It was so fun. The crowd was cheering.
17:55
And they're like, who is this woman? And I'm like, well, it is part of me. Yes. And I do. I love it.
18:02
Can we talk about, I know we're talking about rituals, but part of those rituals
18:05
and self-care is supplements and how you're adding them into your life, right?
18:10
And as we age 45, we're all talking about perimenopause and how our bodies are
18:18
changing and what we need to add in.
18:21
And I know we have talked to doctors and holistically, what are some pieces
18:24
that you have found have helped your clients add in? And I really want to understand collagen. Yeah.
18:30
I really want to understand creatine. Yeah, creatine. Because there's a buzzword now with creatine.
18:34
The perimenopause, just for those who may not be as familiar,
18:37
it's approximately 10 years prior to menopause.
18:41
Menopause, the definition is really when you stop menstruating for a full year.
18:46
I have some clients who are in their late 30s who are in perimenopause.
18:52
And it's different for everyone. So Maria, you're 45. I'm 49. I'm almost 50.
18:58
And some of the critical pieces is that when you enter in perimenopause,
19:03
or you're in perimenopause or menopause and beyond is your gut health is critical.
19:08
You have to actually metabolize the hormones, right?
19:13
You have to expel the hormones, you have to have a really clean gut.
19:17
So your body is set up for these hormonal changes. That's really important. That's.
19:24
With our clients. Now hormones are changing. Tell me about this expelling of
19:28
them because I haven't heard that before.
19:29
Yes, we have a lot of people come to me and they're constipated in their 40s.
19:34
How does your body detoxify?
19:36
It's how you go number two. That's why I'm going to talk to every single client about their digestion.
19:41
And it's also through sweating. If you're not going to the bathroom every day,
19:47
then you can be getting blocked or you can have excessive estrogen in your body, for instance.
19:52
And that's where you might have heard like estrogen dominance.
19:55
Okay. The other thing too, is like your blood sugar at this age group,
20:00
regulating your blood sugar and focusing on a protein intake is really important.
20:06
Even for myself, what I've experienced, let alone the hundreds of women I've
20:10
worked with, is that your body requires it differently at this age.
20:14
We lose three to 5% of our muscle mass starting in our 30.
20:19
I used to be a vegetarian. for 25 years before I started being a pescatarian.
20:24
And now I eat everything.
20:26
And my body requires it differently now. And I feel different.
20:32
So many women, when they come to me, they're in a deficit, not only in a deficit
20:36
of protein, a deficit of fiber, a deficit of hydration, a deficit of magnesium
20:42
of vitamin D. Another big one is B12.
20:46
Iron is something I'm always looking at in ferritin levels. So when you're talking
20:50
about the supplementation at this age group, I'm always looking at those pieces
20:55
as well as in perimenopause and menopause, because it's really critical.
21:00
And then that gets back to the gut health piece, because you may be eating some
21:05
of these, but your gut may not be absorbing them.
21:08
And then you might be deficient through lab testing, feeling more anxious,
21:13
different symptoms that
21:15
could be a deficiency in your vitamins and minerals, which is another important piece we work at.
21:21
The other piece with paramenopause and menopause is the stress component.
21:27
If you're going to somebody for your nutrition and you're not focused on your cortisol.
21:33
That's where we're missing the boat because if you're constantly producing cortisol,
21:39
this fight or flight state all the time, what's happening is more blood sugar,
21:44
you're producing more insulin in the body.
21:45
And that could really be a problem for the lower belly.
21:49
And that's what it kind of manifests into that we hear a lot about.
21:53
Does that add into the inflammation? Yep. So that's why looking at the nutrition,
21:59
the supplementation, the stress levels, so critical in this stage of life we're at.
22:05
And then layering on that is the sleep piece.
22:09
Good sleep is so critical if you're
22:12
going to a nutritionist just for food and you're in
22:14
the stage you need to really be looking at all those pieces emotional
22:18
eating and craving sugar
22:21
could have something to do with there's two hormones at
22:25
night when you sleep adrenaline and leptin and when those are off balance you're
22:29
not getting enough sleep then those are haywire oh you're going to be craving
22:34
more sugar and also not have as much control over that emotional eating as you
22:41
would if you would have slept beautifully.
22:44
So we work on the sleep piece.
22:47
A ton in this stage of life. Our moods can be impacted when our hormones shift,
22:52
when the decline in estrogen, progesterone to stop.
22:55
When we're declining, we can be more anxious. It's a big sign of paramenopause
23:01
or depressed and different symptoms like that.
23:04
So instead of just going the route of trying to medicate, not to say that that's
23:10
a beautiful route for people who need it, Absolutely.
23:13
But there's also all these other factors to really play at and really work towards
23:19
so that you're giving your body all these different chances to do it holistically as well.
23:23
I love that you mentioned the anxiety part of it because I never thought that
23:26
the hormones were affecting that because I might become more anxious flying again.
23:30
Everything changing in my body and the anxiety level. And gut health is pretty huge with anxiety.
23:36
Deficiencies can cause more anxiety in your body.
23:40
And dehydration can cause blood sugar dysregulation. When blood sugar is dysregulated,
23:47
you can be more anxiety prone. Some women who come to me may be intermittent
23:51
fasting, for instance, and not eating till noon, but they have a high level of anxiety.
23:55
And it's interesting because their blood sugar could be really dysregulated.
24:00
It might not be the best thing for them to be doing that.
24:04
And it's interesting when we look at what's best for them and explore a different
24:09
way in the morning, my anxiety is different.
24:12
I don't feel it like I used to feel it. It's like a very pronounced results
24:17
that I see over and over with my women.
24:19
But it's not just having their blood sugar regulated. It is looking at that
24:23
whole picture with their sleep, self-care, supplementation, gut health.
24:28
It's looking at that whole piece within our practice process.
24:32
I would say 75% to 80% of my women come in and they have problems with their
24:37
anxiety and with their stress levels.
24:39
In addition to wanting their body to look a little different,
24:42
the anxiety and stress is pronounced.
24:46
Yeah. And when it comes to protein, it's protein, protein, protein.
24:50
You don't really know, and everyone's different. How much do we need?
24:54
Like we need twice or half of our body weight in water.
24:58
And then how much protein? Yeah. So everybody's different.
25:01
And there's calculations that you can do on your program. What I try to work
25:05
with women on is that they get 30 to 40 grams per lunch and dinner and about that for breakfast.
25:11
So you're looking at in the 90s, it differs if you're an athlete,
25:16
it differs in how active you are.
25:19
And I also care a lot about bioavailable protein.
25:23
I'm not talking about doing three protein smoothies a day.
25:28
That's not bioavailable as eating complete amino acid profile.
25:33
So what that means, it's like a chicken breast or a piece of salmon,
25:36
a piece of beautiful grass-fed beef, and then vegetarian protein that I really love are hemp seeds.
25:43
So three tablespoons of hemp is 10 grams of protein. I love my eggs.
25:48
One egg is six grams of protein.
25:50
It's really hard for women to think about how I get 20 grams of protein.
25:57
So I meet them where they're at. They come to me having a bagel in the morning
26:00
or oatmeal or something that's going to dysregulate their blood sugar.
26:05
Then I try to meet them with a protein source, like the trifecta I always talk
26:10
about, the protein, the healthy fats, and the fiber.
26:14
And fiber are the beautiful vegetables. Some clients, they're not going to want
26:19
to have a smoothie, and that's okay.
26:21
I'm happy to talk about our smoothie because I know Maria loves her.
26:24
I hope you're still doing the Embodied smoothie?
26:26
Almost every morning. Amazing. What do you put in it? I love the chia Truvani.
26:31
Amazing. It is like Christmas in a cup, double. I'm in a double smoothie so
26:34
Ben, my husband, can have it.
26:36
Maria's talking about the Truvani. That's the name brand.
26:40
You may know her as the food babe on Instagram. It's one of the cleanest proteins in the market.
26:46
The other one is Be Well by Kelly.
26:49
She has a beautiful whey protein, which might be better for certain people.
26:54
Be Well by Kelly also has a beautiful vegan form as well. Truvani,
26:58
what Maria was talking about, is a vegan.
27:00
Plant-based, super clean. Go ahead, Marianne. Oh, I love it.
27:04
It's my fave. The first time I tried it, I was very skeptical.
27:07
I'm very skeptical. And then over the years, it's my ritual too.
27:10
My protein shakes, chia Trevani, blueberries, and then depending on the day,
27:15
either spinach, arugula, kale, maybe a combo.
27:18
Then I add chia seeds, flax seeds, and half oat milk, half water.
27:25
I have found that I love oat milk now. I've switched from almond milk. I really like the milk.
27:30
I have found that the days that I have my protein shake, I don't snack in the
27:36
afternoon. I'll have whatever I can for lunch.
27:38
But the days I don't have that protein in the morning, I'm grabbing for the
27:43
popcorn or the organic Pringle things that I get. All of the little snacky stuff.
27:49
The little snackies, which for me, not that they're not fun and I can have them, I don't digest.
27:53
When I've worked with Christine, the biggest issue for me was constipation.
27:57
I've dealing with it since I was a child. We really looked at all the pieces
28:01
that I was putting into my body.
28:03
That's what stops me up, literally.
28:06
When I'm having all the beautiful things, the salads with the chicken and the
28:12
hemp seeds and the vegetables, everything slows.
28:16
And for me, that's the biggest thing. Biggest. And that was one of Maria's success factors.
28:20
The root cause was gut health, right? And you weren't probably getting enough.
28:24
It wasn't just fiber. It was also absorption of your nutrients.
28:28
And that's why cleaning up the gut lining and all that. In your smoothie,
28:32
you have fiber. So putting one tablespoon or two?
28:35
One tablespoon for each of us. So two tablespoons. Two tablespoons.
28:38
Amazing. And then Maria is also getting 20 plus grams of protein.
28:42
So not only does her Truvani have 20 grams, the chia seeds have protein and chia also has fat.
28:50
So you'll never see in our smoothies just...
28:56
Fruit, or just protein, it has to be that trifecta.
29:00
And that's why it's so important, Maria, you're not just doing spinach,
29:05
you're rotating your cruciferous veggies.
29:08
And that's really important because your gut needs that.
29:11
So I'm always working with clients on diversifying their cruciferous vegetables, which is huge.
29:16
I can talk forever about the benefits of them.
29:20
The other thing is I always make sure a client has a healthy fat.
29:23
So Maria chose chia, you can choose avocado, you can choose maybe a little nut butter.
29:29
And I love your combo with you used to do almond milk, you do some water now,
29:34
now you want to do a little oat milk does have more sugar.
29:37
But how Maria is balancing it is with the protein.
29:42
It would be interesting to see a glucose monitor to see if your blood sugar
29:46
would be raised with how you're drinking it with milk versus almond,
29:50
or is the protein really stabilizing it?
29:53
Oh, I've looked at those and I haven't done it yet, but I'm curious.
29:57
They're really fascinating.
29:58
There's so much collective data on eating more protein, it stabilizes your blood sugar.
30:04
It's looking across cumulative data from all these continuous glucose monitoring,
30:08
but it is individual as well.
30:11
What raises your blood sugar might not raise mine.
30:14
I would have to say out of my 10 years, the number one recipe that's in our
30:18
cookbook is what we're terming body nourishment protein smoothie.
30:24
It's pretty huge. I've seen result after result with this because once again,
30:29
clients come to me, maybe having five grams of protein in the morning over and
30:33
over. Christine, this is a game changer.
30:35
I feel like protein too. It's almost like lifting weights. We were all kind
30:38
of afraid of it for some reason. A million percent. Right. We didn't know what to do with it.
30:42
And it was the fear of, I'm going to get bulky. I'm going to be this.
30:45
I'm going to be that. And it was just...
30:47
Complete misinformation i want to go into exercise but first
30:50
can we talk about the book since we're talking about recipes of
30:53
course yeah so christine published a book over the summer
30:55
right that's when it came out and it's like a seven day reset but also these
31:00
beautiful recipes in it so some of my favorite recipes i wrote them down oh
31:03
i love the smoothie obviously i do the protein balls and they're always in the
31:09
freezer i love it and guys those protein balls amazing for your kids there's Oh,
31:14
yes. Grayson grabs them. I wish Easton would.
31:16
The Super Seed Wormslaw. Everybody loves it. It is so easy to make.
31:21
And the egg, all of that. I love that. And then the crustless frittata,
31:26
which I actually made last night for dinner. I love that.
31:29
And then, as you know, I love chocolate and I love the Super Food Bark.
31:34
There was a point at which I was making that for every event I went too.
31:39
Love it. And it's just this dreamy little silky chocolate.
31:43
You bring it to people's home. Oh, I make it and bring it to them.
31:45
I love that. I was being really careful in the beginning of what I was putting
31:49
into my body because I was really trying to make this effort to heal and change.
31:54
I was in the freezer all the time.
31:55
I'm going to make it again. It was just so delicious and melty.
31:58
There's so many recipes that I love.
32:00
I don't have a ton of desserts in there because the cookbook,
32:04
what I really wanted to do was curate it. It has 60 plus recipes in it.
32:09
All anti-inflammatory, all focused on nourishment.
32:13
It is gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, no refined or processed anything.
32:19
All of that's curated based on results from my clients, not only tangible results
32:25
such as weight loss and feeling incredible, but Christine, this is so easy. My family loves it.
32:31
And when I hear that, that's a win-win because it's so stressful when we want
32:35
to take care of ourselves or take care of our family. And when you can have
32:38
one recipe that does it all. It's so great, right?
32:42
And even for you and your husband doing the smoothie. It's so what I'm seeing
32:46
the ripple effect, which is beautiful.
32:48
The cookbook has a curation to it, which is really important.
32:53
And then it also has what Maria was alluding to a seven day meal plan.
32:58
If you just did the meal plan for seven days, I've seen it and I have results
33:03
from clients, people feel good after just a week, even if you don't want to commit to that,
33:09
just try to swap and upgrade a few meals a week, start there,
33:14
you don't have to start with this complete overhaul.
33:17
But maybe it's like, you know what, I'm going to try this one or two,
33:20
or I'm going to try this smoothie for a few days a week. And how do I feel?
33:24
And I think that's a really huge thing.
33:28
Another thing with a cookbook that I'm really proud of is I'm all about collaboration here locally.
33:33
I love the women I collaborate with over the past 10 years here in Connecticut.
33:38
And we have five incredible women chefs who contributed to this, which is beautiful.
33:44
The whole reason I put this together is for my clients.
33:48
Every time I work with clients, I want it to be easy and simple and not having
33:52
them go all over the place for recipes. So I wanted to make that really simplistic.
33:56
But also, I wanted to give back and the proceeds go to an organization that
34:02
matters greatly to my family.
34:05
And I, it's A-N-A-D. And they support women with eating disorders.
34:12
They have helped my sister tremendously when she was going through her battle.
34:18
Not only my sister, my whole family needed the support. My mother dearly needed the support.
34:24
And they were truly angels on this earth for what they've done.
34:30
I'm thrilled that I can use what I've worked on for the past 10 years to support
34:37
this organization and to have women feel empowered and to care about their own kindness and worth.
34:45
It's a beautiful thing. All the proceeds go to that.
34:48
It's a great organization. The piece about ANAD, which is how I refer to it,
34:53
is when I suffered from eating disorders. I was talking with a friend about
34:57
this the other day because I wasn't sure how much I was going to share.
34:59
There's still some shame that sits in there, which I think a lot of people who
35:03
have dealt with that, there's still shame involved in it.
35:07
It's not the eating that's the problem. There are deeper issues,
35:11
but it comes out in that way because it's one thing you can control.
35:15
I'm a controlling person by nature. When I left school to get help,
35:20
there were no beds in hospitals. So they put us in a rehab facility with alcoholics
35:25
and drug addicts because they didn't know what to do.
35:28
This was back in 99, 98, a long time ago. Went back to school.
35:34
They asked if I would help be a speaker for that. I went into my health class
35:38
at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
35:41
It was one of the massive amphitheater rooms.
35:44
I did a whole talk on eating disorders to 300 students.
35:48
Maria, that is beautiful. was terrifying.
35:52
But also, I think it helped me. Three girls came up to me afterwards.
35:57
Thank you for this. Thank you for talking to me about this. When I saw that
36:00
you were giving the proceeds to them, I bought two books and was like, how much more can I buy?
36:05
Because it is an amazing organization. I just loved that you did that.
36:09
And I don't know if people know
36:10
what happened to your sister and if you're willing to share that. Yeah.
36:13
And thank you for sharing about you.
36:16
I honestly, I believe this with all my heart, the more we can break down the shame,
36:23
the more we can have these conversations, you will be so shocked at how many
36:28
people have had some sort of disordered eating, even not a full-blown eating disorder.
36:33
That was one of the reasons why I shared what my family went through and what I went through.
36:39
I also went through an eating disorder in my early 20s.
36:42
My family never knew, my sister never knew until way later when I shared everything with her.
36:50
And so what happened is my beautiful older sister, she was two years older than
36:55
me, she passed away almost six years ago on November 2nd.
37:01
The anniversaries are always a heartbreak. She had a 20 plus year battle with her eating disorder.
37:08
And in honesty, it probably was even longer than that.
37:13
It was a heartbreaking time to see somebody who had the world, truly had the world.
37:21
She had her doctorate degree in physical therapy, so smart, so beautiful.
37:26
From the outside, you would never understand what was going on with her.
37:32
But we had to really see that, had to see that for the last 20 years. My kids had to see that.
37:39
And it was really influential with why I decided to go back to nutrition school.
37:45
There was a part of me that I've already healed myself.
37:50
And I just wanted so badly that my parents weren't needing to suffer like they
37:55
were, because really suffer when you see somebody you love so dearly go through this.
38:01
The reason I shared all that on social media.
38:04
And the reason I even went back to nutrition school, one of the reasons was
38:09
that I thought I could help her because she was so science-based.
38:14
We tried to reason with her from spirituality, from different angles.
38:18
And I thought the more knowledge I can bring, potentially that could help.
38:24
So that was one of the reasons I went back to school, to support her and my
38:31
family. Now, looking back.
38:34
After I shared everything about my sister, which was probably one of the hardest
38:38
things I've ever had to do.
38:41
And I haven't really talked as much about it because I'm still in a healing place with it for sure.
38:47
But I have to say that hundreds of women came out after that writing me my friends
38:54
from high school that I had no idea people in college writing me.
38:59
It was mind blowing. And then I just started thinking, gosh,
39:04
if we could just be honest and vulnerable, we can really impact change.
39:10
If I am working with somebody who I know had disordered eating,
39:14
nobody understands fully unless you've been in.
39:16
It is a form of hell that you're in. You put yourself in that very dark place
39:22
and it gives me a level of compassion that you can't ever learn in school unless you've been through it.
39:30
If we could just influence that one person to care about themselves,
39:34
it's really their families that are being influenced.
39:37
It's hundreds of people that you are helping from that one person realizing their worth.
39:42
And that's what keeps me going every day. I see it in my clients.
39:46
I see them have a different relationship with food. I think it is honoring my
39:50
sister. I believe in that. Absolutely.
39:53
My sister saved me twice. If it wasn't for Christina, she saved me twice.
39:58
It was the toughest love, the most necessary thing to say because no one knows what to say to you.
40:05
No one knows how to treat you. My parents were terrified.
40:07
My mom blamed herself or thought I was blaming her. And it was never about that.
40:11
My dad was just broken. because he's like what
40:14
she's just disappearing and my best
40:17
friend danny hi pooper um she
40:21
flew home from dartmouth and was like what is
40:24
going on and those were
40:28
the people who were honest the ford
40:30
fine came out a lot and ben knows to
40:33
this day fine is not fine fine is never fine is
40:36
maria saying she's fine in about two hours she'll figure out what she's
40:39
really feeling and then we'll discuss it yes christina really
40:42
dragged me out of dark places that one she was
40:45
your earth angel you have to think of these people but your path
40:49
was meant to do so much more in this lifetime think
40:52
of all those pivotal moments and those people who have picked you up off the
40:57
floor and you have to be so grateful that you were receptive for it sometimes
41:02
with this illness and what we saw and i think sometimes young girls are like
41:07
oh it doesn't matter it's okay it really takes such a toll on.
41:12
On every organ system in your body, on all your mental factions.
41:18
I'm so grateful that your sister Christina picked you up and your friends and she's a rock star.
41:25
Yeah. Can we talk about we're totally over time, but I don't care.
41:28
Love it. If you're okay, I want it.
41:29
I do want to touch on exercise because it's so important.
41:33
You mentioned before that as we age, you lose three to five percent of your
41:37
muscle mass, 30 to 40, you've lost 5% of your muscle mass.
41:42
Main reason I want to bring this up is that as we age, I just think about when
41:46
I'm 70 or 80, if God blesses me, the grandchildren at some point,
41:50
little ones I get to run around with, you need to be strong enough to physically move around.
41:54
I want to be able to open a can. I want to be able to go up and down stairs.
41:57
And it all starts now. And even the flexibility of getting up and down from a toilet or a chair.
42:03
It's so much greater than your weights.
42:07
It's huge to acknowledge that. It's the strength piece.
42:12
Heavier weights three to four times a week.
42:16
Your definition of heavier might be different from mine. And I,
42:19
in fact, I just really started getting into heavier weights within the past
42:25
year. It's been a huge change.
42:27
I've been a Pilates girl and a yogi, majorly in a bar and sculpting.
42:33
And those are all beautiful mechanisms. But as far as building that muscle,
42:40
the heavier weights, I can't even tell you the difference I feel with my energy levels and strength.
42:47
I feel so much stronger. And I noticed it just in a small way,
42:52
like getting all the groceries and just the strength I have now is so different than a few years ago.
42:59
It also boosts your metabolism. There's so much to strength training. It's really huge.
43:05
I always recommend to clients, if you don't know where to start,
43:08
really invest the time to go to somebody who can help you. I have a ton of injuries.
43:14
So I was really nervous about doing heavier weights.
43:18
But when I had somebody who was really watching my
43:22
injuries and helping me learn i am
43:25
learning how to do this safely it's so
43:28
empowering love lifting the weight
43:30
now you so and i do i've switched since we've worked together i used to just
43:37
want to do cardio i remember that and i still do but my cardio varies from a
43:40
really tough spin class to hiking with the dog in the woods that's beautiful
43:43
just to balance it out and i do strength training three days a week
43:49
So I do heavy weights two days a week. Amazing. And that is a full body day.
43:53
I just do lower body and abs. And I get that booty. Yes.
43:57
And then I love the bar class where I can feel the sinews and the deep,
44:03
deep burn that makes me want to scream. I like that feeling. It helps.
44:06
I agree. And that's what I do. And then I do my Pilates or a bar class. I love my bar classes.
44:13
I do a lot online and I am always encouraging.
44:15
I'm doing form. Oh, form is wonderful. started to
44:19
grasp it i was afraid of it because i'm afraid of change
44:22
i don't like change yeah but then you
44:25
get into it and you're like no this actually works for me yeah so i've
44:27
been doing form and then i do aloe fit for my bar class amazing i love some
44:32
of the trainers on there they're wonderful and i feel like you get a good balance
44:36
you don't have anyone guide you the reason i don't have guidance is because
44:39
i've been an athlete since i was i don't know i grew up swimming my water polo and then dance.
44:46
And yeah, I've been in a gym. I was a personal trainer for a while.
44:51
So I used to teach step class and kickboxing.
44:53
One of my wife's jokes that I should go back to doing it. That can happen. So I know the form.
44:58
I'm comfortable. I actually prefer it because I can do it on my own.
45:02
And I love that because the big thing is to be really smart about the weight
45:05
training, especially as you age.
45:06
When I have women who are in their 60s, they're at a different level
45:10
right than when you're at your 40s or they
45:13
might not have ever strength trained in their entire life so i
45:16
do recommend trying to go to a trainer there are also some wonderful online
45:21
trainers you can do online i feel like for form now if you're gonna start lifting
45:25
weights yeah somebody's got to show you i agree i'm so grateful for the guide
45:29
for my injuries i'm stronger i'm in i'm training and
45:34
to build muscle, but I'm training to rehab in a way that's super intelligent.
45:38
I broke my femur bone before. So it's a huge break and shattered my kneecap.
45:43
And so that's, you know, squats and all this stuff. I have to be really smart.
45:48
So it's such a difference. You need those weights. Part of what I do and what
45:51
you do that I know is balancing that with beautiful walks for the cortisol, for your mental piece,
45:58
for getting into visceral fat, all of the goodness, cardiovascular health,
46:02
mental health. It's really huge as well.
46:05
I want to talk about the ice baths and the saunas because they're beautiful
46:09
biohacks and really important in the sense that they're good in so many ways to detoxify you.
46:17
So the saunas are a beautiful detoxification method. You have to remember it's
46:22
to detoxify your body, you're sweating.
46:26
So I'm a big believer in that it also calms your nervous system.
46:29
Going in a sauna regularly can help your anxiety levels, it can help your moods.
46:34
A lot of times the saunas have different light therapy as well,
46:38
that correlates to different parts of your body. So it is a mood elevator.
46:42
It's an energy elevator.
46:45
Beautiful for you. How I talk to clients about using those is a few times a
46:50
week, if you have one at your house, a daily practice is a beautiful thing.
46:54
You just have to be smart about your hydration before and post it.
46:57
You have to be smart about the length of time you're in it.
47:00
Everybody's different. Even if your friend can go in it for a half an hour,
47:03
you have to be really intelligent with what your body can do.
47:06
So I'm always talking about specific electrolytes before and after you want
47:11
to replenish so you don't feel depleted and you're getting all the benefits.
47:14
The thing about cold plunging is remarkable. It stimulates your mitochondria.
47:19
Your mitochondria is your energy production.
47:21
What I love about the cold plunging is that it is bringing you this energy boost
47:28
that you, it's hard to get other places, right?
47:32
But it's also incredible for this meditative process.
47:37
The times I was in a cold plunge, everything stops around you.
47:42
And it shows you what is really going on in your mind. To me,
47:46
it's a very big mindfulness tool for your body.
47:50
There's so many other health benefits as well. I use them in different ways
47:54
and they are biohacking in different ways.
47:56
Let's say you can't get to a cold plunge. You can put a cold shower on for a
48:01
minute or two, which I love to do.
48:03
That's been another little morning hack of mine.
48:06
I do a very, very cold shower.
48:08
Maybe I'm up to 45 seconds. I love the heat, guys. I'm a sauna girl.
48:12
When I do the cold shower, I tap my heart and underneath my armpits for my lymphatic system.
48:19
It's beautiful for your hair. It adds shine to your hair, but it enlivens you.
48:25
It is those little hacks you can do at home.
48:28
The other biohack I'm obsessed with is my trampoline.
48:32
There's also more studies with menopause and paramenopause with the jumping.
48:36
You're trying to build bone density and it's really powerful to jump.
48:41
For me, I use it like my walks. It's like this huge release.
48:46
I dance, Maria, on my trampoline. I put my trampolines outside.
48:49
It helps my mental clarity. When I have back-to-back clients,
48:52
I will go on there for like two minutes and just bounce.
48:55
And you just bounce. I bounce, I shake. If you study the vagus nerve and getting
48:59
into parasympathetic, sometimes the shaking and the somatic experience brings
49:04
your nervous system down.
49:05
So that's probably one of the reasons why you love dancing. Your body releases.
49:10
The vibrations. The vibrations. And the jumping is a lymphatic release.
49:14
That's huge for detoxification.
49:16
As you're going into these changes, these few minutes to clarify your lymphatic
49:24
system so things can flow. is huge.
49:28
The other biohack I love is my Epsom baths. I do baths every night.
49:33
I don't have a sauna, but my baths have Epsom. Epsom pulls toxins from the body.
49:38
Epsom is high in magnesium.
49:40
It's part of my nightly rituals. It calms my nervous system.
49:44
I am sweating from those. I replenish afterwards too.
49:50
I love the cold plunges and saunas, but I also love to give people options of
49:55
what's actually accessible in their home.
49:57
Yeah, which is important. And the trampoline, I get questions all the time. I love my jump sport.
50:02
It's a more economical version. Maybe it was 250 on Amazon, 200 ish.
50:09
So there's ones that are much more expensive, but I love it.
50:12
I've had it for 10 or 15 years and it's perfect.
50:16
My trampoline's in there. I don't jump on it. I always felt like I had to do
50:19
some sort of class while I was doing it, but I'm going to put it Listen to podcasts
50:23
on it, talk to friends on it.
50:25
In the wintertime, sometimes get my steps on it because I just do this very
50:30
light bounce and it stimulates.
50:32
I feel like it's giving me so many benefits and I feel elevated when I get off my, it's incredible.
50:40
I always ask three questions. My first question is, what is something you've
50:44
changed your mind about recently?
50:46
Yeah. So we, it's not necessarily recently, but I think it's important.
50:50
You and I I spoke about it a little bit earlier on. I was a vegetarian for 25 years.
50:56
And I started eating fish maybe 10 years ago.
51:02
I was really tuning in and listening to my body. I haven't had beef in 25 years.
51:07
Four years ago, I was just craving a burger like no other.
51:12
I asked my husband to have a bite of his burger. And it was so delicious.
51:17
What was really fascinating is when I was working with a functional medicine
51:20
doctor, I explain my craving to her.
51:22
I'm very connected with myself, my cravings. And I always look at,
51:27
what they mean for me, I asked her to get my iron and ferritin checked.
51:31
And lo and behold, it was low.
51:34
My ferritin was really deficient. It showed me how intelligent your cravings
51:40
can be if you look at them that way, instead of like, this is so annoying.
51:44
Why am I craving sugar again?
51:45
There's always a reason behind it. For me, mine was truly physiological.
51:49
I was deficient in ferritin, which is your iron storage.
51:53
Before I was like, nope, I don't do meat. I don't do fish. But now it's just
51:57
like, yeah, I eat everything.
52:00
There's huge freedom. And I think it was my last layer of just clearing that
52:06
out and letting my body take the lead and not tying into listening to what this
52:11
influencer is eating for a day. You'll never see me do those things.
52:16
Because I feel that you need to build that connection within yourself of what
52:22
works for you, period. And then my new recent excitement is chicken.
52:28
I know it sounds random, but yes. So chicken, I've started to integrate.
52:34
Being a vegetarian, it grossed me out. I just wasn't into it.
52:37
I started integrating it and my body loves it. Once a week, I make the whole
52:42
roasted chicken. Yes. And it's Thomas Keller's recipe.
52:44
It is the most simple thing in the world. So delicious.
52:48
I place thyme and rosemary in the cavity and then cover it in salt and pepper. Then...
52:54
You stick it in the oven. No oil, no butter, nothing. The whole chicken.
52:58
You know, Maria, I never made a whole chicken by myself. Oh, this is a good recipe.
53:01
It's the easiest thing. I literally put it in. I have the automatic timer that
53:06
you put in and it sits outside so it tells you.
53:08
Delicious. While it sits there, I can prep other things or watch a show.
53:12
It comes out and it's delicious. The boys love to eat the skin.
53:15
It's crispy and delicious.
53:17
It's a meal for two days. The extras, Ben can put in a salad or I can take with me.
53:21
You have to try our chicken salad recipe. I haven't tried them yet.
53:24
Yeah, I think you'll really like it.
53:26
If you do these roasted chickens, they're going to be, oh, good. And it's so easy.
53:30
I love rotisserie chicken. And this is the version that I know what's in it.
53:33
You're making it yourself. You know that it's organic.
53:36
That's a big thing with rotisserie, guys. We have to really care about it as
53:39
we age. And that's a whole other topic.
53:42
Yeah, I did some research on which ones to get. It's huge. Now that makes you
53:44
want chicken. But tonight's taco night.
53:47
Maybe you'll make chicken tacos. Amazing. So what's the most random thing on your bucket list?
53:52
My bucket list. I've been pretty privileged to get so many things off my bucket
53:57
list, which is so exciting. I'm always dreaming.
54:00
I've been a dreamer since I was super young. My daughter loves Paris.
54:04
Maybe her past life, I'm not quite sure. She talks about croissants.
54:08
She talks about the fashion. She's obsessed.
54:12
Since very young, we had birthday-themed Paris things, everything.
54:17
I've been to Paris several times for work and got to travel a bunch.
54:21
But I want to see that through her eyes. It's something I think about all the
54:25
time. I want to take her to the Paris Opera Ballet. She's a big ballet girl.
54:29
I want to surprise her and just have tickets and get on a plane and show up at the Paris Opera.
54:36
So if you see me do that someday, it will be a dream for me.
54:39
It's beautiful when we want to see things through our kids' eyes, right?
54:43
Absolutely. Something new and fresh. So fresh. I know it's going to happen.
54:47
It's just a question of the timing. We'll see. If you could give your younger
54:50
self one piece of advice, what would it be?
54:53
Oh, I'm gonna take a deep breath because I love this question so much.
54:57
I would say you're worthy of your own kindness.
55:02
You deserve it. To gift that to yourself and your thoughts, not just your actions.
55:09
It's like this anthem. I want to scream from the mountaintops,
55:13
this deep level of kindness.
55:14
All of my clients and Maria, I hope you have taken this too from our work together,
55:19
the term grace, I will use giving yourself grace with your eating,
55:24
grace with not pushing yourself to work out to the nth degree and all of these pieces of grace.
55:29
And there's no shock that my daughter's name is Grace.
55:33
I always knew that word meant so much to me when I was really young.
55:38
But that kindness as a
55:42
middle schooler, a teenager, and gosh, in my 20s, I was just really hard on myself.
55:49
I look back and I'm like, I would have achieved the same results.
55:52
I know I was a type A and all these things.
55:55
I would have achieved the same results, but so much kinder.
55:59
And that's what I'm really working on with clients. It's beautiful to have goals
56:03
and want certain results.
56:05
There is no need for meanness in the process.
56:09
And just this like beating yourself up and shame and guilt, all of that causes inflammation.
56:14
I believe in that. It's not just Christine. Science, Dr.
56:18
Will Cole wrote a beautiful book about that, about the science of shame and
56:23
guilt and what it really does to our bodies.
56:27
That's really how I want to live. It's how I want to teach my daughter to have kindness and grace.
56:32
My son, just really how I want to live and nobody's perfect.
56:37
No. Like what you said, you still have to work on it and we're not stagnant.
56:41
So I would just hug that little girl and give her kindness.
56:45
One of the things I say to my clients all the time who are really working on
56:50
this grace, peace and kindness is think of when you're talking to yourself and
56:56
looking at the mirror and you're saying all these negative things,
56:58
think of you talking to your five-year-old self.
57:02
Would you ever tell a five-year-old that? Would you ever say this to your daughter?
57:06
And everybody is shaking, Maria is shaking her head no, or your son, your children.
57:12
I think of that a lot. And that actually, it's a reparenting process.
57:16
It helps you so much to look at yourself as this beautiful, vulnerable,
57:22
non-tainted little thing that deserves kindness.
57:27
Nobody's perfect. But if you can catch yourself in those moments,
57:30
that's what starts to change the behavior and just to be like,
57:34
you're here, I have compassion for you. Yeah.
57:38
So I did a tremendous amount of work on myself and reparenting and meditating with my little self.
57:46
Thank you for being here. I loved her. It goes by so fast. I don't even know what time it is.