Latest / All Figured Out with Andrea Barr: Figuring Out Work, Life and Parenting / 28. Becca Harris on getting an ADHD diagnosis, being pregnant, and how that's shaped her work as a dietitian

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28. Becca Harris on getting an ADHD diagnosis, being pregnant, and how that's shaped her work as a dietitian · All Figured Out with Andrea Barr: Figuring Out Work, Life and Parenting

0:00
The motivation there was that I was actually diagnosed with
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ADHD. And all of a sudden, a lot of
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things started making more sense in my life.
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And one of those things was how I ate.
0:13
Welcome to the all figured out podcast.
0:15
I'm your host, Andrea bar. My guest today is one of my best
0:20
friends in the world and we met during my one and only degree in
0:24
business and Becca's. First of three degrees, which we
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will be getting into in this episode.
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She's amazing. So she joins us today as a
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registered dietitian who specializes in nutrition for
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ADHD. She's the founder of the
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nutrition junkie as well so you can find her on Instagram.
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She is amazing content for anybody who has ADHD and is
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looking for some advice or tips on how to kind of manage their
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nutrition in a really easy helpful way, I personally don't
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have ADHD, but I find her content.
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So, inspiring and actually has been really helpful during
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pregnancy, which sometimes I feel like I Do you live on the
1:01
ADHD Spectrum in pregnancy but that's a story for another time.
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Anyways, I invited back out onto the show because she has a
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really cool career Journey. Where, like I mentioned, she got
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three degrees and on top of that, she has a diploma and as
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she says, a slew of certificates and has had a number of
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different types of jobs, she received an ADHD diagnosis
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within the last few years and her professional designation as
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a registered dietitian also came in and around that time.
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And so with all that she has stepped.
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Opt into the world of Entrepreneurship back is also
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currently pregnant. So you can see all the reasons
1:35
why I needed to have this, gal on the show to chat with me
1:38
about all the things, including her career Journey, ADHD
1:42
nutrition, all the stuff. So we talked about her career
1:45
and life Journey, getting an ADHD diagnosis later in life,
1:48
her pregnancy Journey, thus far, and just so much more back.
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His story will inspire all of you, but particularly those of
1:55
you who might be feeling, like, you're just not sure what the
1:58
right quote unquote, right? Both should be in your career.
2:01
This is a story of not settling for mediocre careers.
2:04
When your heart is pulling you in the direction of knowing that
2:06
there's just something better out there.
2:09
I hope you enjoy. You're listening to the all
2:13
figured out podcast, I'm your host Aundrea bar.
2:18
As a career coach for parents, a mom, an entrepreneur.
2:21
And someone who spent ten plus years in the corporate world, I
2:24
still don't have it all figured out and maybe you don't.
2:27
Either this podcast, I'll share tools and strategies that I use
2:31
as my clients and in the many areas where I don't have things
2:34
figured out. I'll be bringing you some
2:36
amazing guest experts to help us fill in the Gap.
2:39
So tune in each week as we explore how to make career and
2:42
life decisions that truly work for you, your family and your
2:46
big goals. Let's make moves.
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Becca Harris, I don't know that I've ever actually used your
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full name. I normally just call you Vee.
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We've been Pals for over 10 years, thank you.
3:00
So, so much for coming on. The all figured out podcast,
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it's so lovely to have you here. Thank you so much for having me
3:07
andreea bar. Oh my God!
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How weird. Okay, so for the audience and
3:14
hey, maybe I'll learn something to to get to know you a bit
3:16
more. I want to hear your career story
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from your own words of how you got to be.
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Becoming The dietitian that you are today and the very unique
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specialty that you have as well. Yeah.
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Where to start? I feel like my career Journey
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has been somewhat of a maze. I like that.
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Yeah, it I've kissed a few. I career frogs.
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You could say, but no, as you know, I started out in
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criminology when we were in University together.
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And I do actually think that those Beginnings kind of tie in
3:54
to where I ended up today because criminology is all About
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the like social psychological reasons why people do what they
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do, which I feel like can relate to business relates to nutrition
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and curly to like literally everything.
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So it all started with crime, not your crimes, not that we
4:13
know of. But then leaving University, I
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actually started working for the provincial government here in
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Ontario, and I was doing some work with Justice technology.
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So still kind of on the crime. Half.
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But I found government work to be much too slow.
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So I did the opposite and I went into sales.
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So from there, I worked in renewable energy and then Tech
4:40
sales and events. And while I really liked the
4:43
pace and I loved working with people I did find it a bit
4:47
stressful meeting, kind of like the arbitrary targets of others
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and so that's kind of where I started.
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And thinking, like, what, where do I want to go?
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I've tried government, I've tried sales, what else is there,
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but throughout my like, Teenage hood and into school and stuff
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like that. I had also worked in restaurants
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catering, my mom's dietitian, I always had a passion for food
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and nutrition and I found myself continually being drawn to you
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like how food can impact mood mental health, all those
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different things. So few years ago, 2017, I
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decided to go back to school and do another undergrad.
5:37
Wow. Big decision.
5:39
Big decision. How did you make that decision?
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Good question. So again, it took a lot of
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reflection and a lot of that happened in my last sales job.
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I did have a manager who Kind of created a bit of a toxic
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environment in the workplace and it really got me thinking like I
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love the job that I was doing but working for somebody who was
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causing anxiety and a lot of the employees every every day it
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made me realize that the job can be amazing but who you work?
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For it will ultimately impact you and your well-being in your,
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your position. And I ultimately came to the
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conclusion that I And I didn't want to work for anyone else
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ever again in that role. And then going back to the
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nutrition point. I was like, how can I get
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credibility in this space so that I don't need to work for
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anybody? And I can be the credible source
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of information and start my own practice, and that's kind of
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what led me to go back to school.
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Amazing. Oh my goodness.
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And then you have picked a really Thing and I think what,
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from what I've learned from you are really needed Niche.
7:02
Can you tell us more about that Nation to what would inspiration
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was? Yeah, so I focus on individuals
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with ADHD and like the nutrition implications around that.
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So how ADHD can impact your habits, your food habits and
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nutrition but then also how nutrition can positively or
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negatively impact your ADHD symptoms. and the motivation
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there was that I was actually diagnosed with ADHD at the tail
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end of my schooling, my second schooling period.
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And all of a sudden, a lot of things started making more sense
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in my life and one of those things was how I ate because I
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felt like a lot of the suggestions and recommendations.
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Never really felt like they were tailored to me and I think
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that's why I was so interested in food and nutrition was it
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didn't really make sense to me. Oh, I was times.
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I was like, I'm going to get to the bottom of this.
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And so when I found out that I was But I had ADHD things kind
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of started to make a lot more sense and I realized that I
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could help a lot of people in this area as well.
8:15
Well, what are some of those examples?
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Like what are some of the threads that you can?
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Now look back on your life and be like, oh well, that makes
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sense. Like what are some of the I
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don't need the word symptoms but, you know what I mean?
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Yeah, I mean executive function or executive dysfunction.
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Can be a big thing with ADHD hours and it is.
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Something that I struggle with so that can include things like
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prioritizing tasks organization, time management and just factors
8:45
like that, which can ultimately play into food and how you e.
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So if, when you go to make a meal, you feel extremely
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overwhelmed by the meal planning process, because you don't know
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how to prioritize the steps in a recipe or not a recipe.
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It's can kind of put you off from making meals at home.
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And so, then you might resort to more convenience foods which can
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be perfectly healthy, but it can definitely impact you and your
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food decisions. But then, there's also things
9:18
like being getting distracted and possibly forgetting to eat
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or if you're hyper focusing on a certain task, just not
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remembering to either, eat, hydrate, exercise, all those
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things. So yeah, I work a lot with
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mainly women but But we work together to kind of find
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processes and things like that, that can help them get on track.
9:46
Wow, that's so cool. I mean, I, I've taken so much
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from your content. You put out amazing content
9:51
online. Hear something of an influencer
9:54
I would say you work with Brands.
9:56
I'm prettier horns. I know you're going to be
9:57
annoyed at this, but, but honestly, I've learned, I
10:04
imagine ADHD is a spectrum. If I'm on some poor do partial
10:07
portion of that Spectrum, I'm sure.
10:09
However, I don't have ADHD, but I've learned so much from the
10:14
content that you put out there, because I think there's some
10:16
elements of just like, you know, when you're feeling overwhelmed,
10:19
especially as a new mom, I really resonated with a lot of
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your content about like, convenience foods.
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That really sticks with me a lot where it's like, yeah, don't be
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reaching for packaged foods for all of your food sources, but
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don't beat yourself up when you do because like you just said,
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they can be perfectly. Nutritious mind like, Done,
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right and done and like, balanced way.
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And yeah, there's just so much of that, that's like, really,
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like hit home with me. And I'm not even somebody who is
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like your target audience. Oh, thank you.
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I actually remember, we were on a trip together.
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Was that last year? And you at one point asked me,
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if I thought that you could potentially have ADHD symptoms,
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do you remember? This is like, I don't think so.
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I'm not a professional in terms of being able to diagnose you,
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but I'm not sure that I think so because we started packing our
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suitcases. At the same time, you had
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finished packing, your suitcase, had your makeup on, you're ready
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to go. And I think I was just sitting
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on my phone with like clothing everywhere.
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Now, that guy, I could not get that task done in an orderly
11:24
fashion but but you looked great doing it.
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And you look relaxed and happy and that's all that counts,
11:33
right? Yes.
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Okay. I want to switch gears for a
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second. I find this platform has been
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kind of cool where I mean, I'm only a couple episodes in as we
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know, but I've been really interested to ask people just
11:45
about there. Actual profession because
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there's so many people who I work with my career coaching
11:50
clients or who might be listening who are just exploring
11:52
like a total career pivot. I think it's really interesting
11:55
to just explore. What's out there?
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Could you break down? What a dietitian is.
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What's the difference between the different types of like, you
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know, nutrition based service providers out there people who
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are accredited people who aren't what is what is your profession?
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What kind of schooling went into it?
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Give us the skinny. Yeah, yes, so a dietitian.
12:16
The dietetics field, it is an accredited position.
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So we do have a college who governs us, it's provincial in
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Canada and I believe each each state in the US, has a college
12:31
as well. And so you basically have to
12:34
abide by certain standards so that you're not impacting or
12:39
injuring the public and so it is very much not And that's not the
12:46
right word, but you do have somebody Who You're reporting
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into on an annual basis. You basically have to say what
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your goals are for the year and you do have the college looking
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out for you or looking out for the public, just to make sure
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that you're not causing any harm, whereas an uncredited
13:09
profession. In terms of like nutritionist
13:11
and holistic nutritionist and stuff like that, they may not
13:13
have that college. They may be Stream Lee good at
13:18
what they do, putting out credible information, but they
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don't have that almost like layer of security to the public,
13:25
if that makes sense. And it is it is a bit of a
13:29
journey to become a dietitian. So, here in Canada, you do need
13:34
an undergraduate degree in nutrition and that does include
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things like biochemistry and Physiology and all of these
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things that I Really struggled with.
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I can't believe you had to go back and do that.
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Oh my God, that's how bad I wanted it.
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And then once you finish the undergrad, which you are able to
14:00
accelerate in a lot of instances, if you do have a
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previous degree which I did. So I was lucky in that regard,
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you do apply for either an internship position or a
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master's program that has an internship.
14:14
Up included in it. And so I went the Masters route
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which also included the internship and so you have to
14:21
put in a certain number of hours in placements.
14:24
So that'll be in hospitals or food service, or even industry.
14:29
So like larger corporate corporations and stuff like
14:32
that, which is pretty cool. I was one of the more fun ones I
14:36
did. But yeah, so it's a longer
14:39
journey. And then once you're finished
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the internship, you actually have to write a Final exam.
14:46
That's a lot of work. Yeah, it's a lot of work.
14:49
Let's get away from it. No, well that's, I think it's
14:52
good to know. It's good to know how much
14:54
education goes into that. And I imagine as you're kind of
14:57
talking, I was thinking about somebody who has.
15:00
Maybe I'll use the word comorbidities, like things that
15:02
are like medical medical issues or like, yeah, have disease or
15:08
whatever and how important it would be for them to go to
15:10
somebody who is so highly educated for their Nutrition
15:14
support or that sort of thing, and how you should be governed?
15:18
Like, I imagined. Can you get, have you ever heard
15:20
of anybody getting disqualified from the board?
15:23
What would be the word getting their license?
15:25
Taken away? I haven't heard of anyone having
15:28
their license taken away that I know of, but I have heard of
15:31
people being like penalized for certain things.
15:36
So, they do take it very seriously, which is good for the
15:39
public, okay, I guess it's good for us, too because it keeps us
15:43
in line. But it's sad.
15:46
But no, I do think that there's a huge advantage to working with
15:49
a dietitian because they're not necessarily just prescribing
15:53
like a one-size-fits-all diet. We're taught from day one, that
15:57
everybody is unique and that you have to work with people on
16:02
figuring out what works for them.
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Because what works for me isn't going to work for you.
16:07
Not going to work for what works for me isn't going to work for
16:10
most people. Hmm I mean while we're on that
16:12
topic, I'm going to like it. Say the opposite of what you're
16:14
saying, where you're like everything is custom?
16:16
What are some of the things that you notice with the clients that
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you work with, or the placement that you've done?
16:21
What are some of the most common threads of just well-being?
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That everybody can Implement just some, like, some little
16:27
tips. Well this is so is like such a
16:30
general answer but like finding like a satisfying more positive
16:35
relationship with food where you're not constantly stressing
16:39
out over what you're eating. A lot of the times Counting Like
16:44
caloric density of foods and stuff like that can be extremely
16:47
stressful where you become a little bit more obsessed with
16:50
what you're eating. And so what I have found
16:53
generally is that what makes a more peaceful relationship with
16:58
nutrition and food is kind of letting go of those things and
17:03
just figuring out what feels good to you.
17:06
So again it's going back to being customized to the person
17:09
but just establishing what healthy And what feels good to.
17:13
You feels like mmm. That sounds good.
17:16
That sounds lovely. And I should bring up the fact
17:19
that you are also a pregnant Mama to be.
17:23
It's true a human. We were swapping stories about
17:27
kicks and everything. Before we started recording, how
17:30
has this work supported you in this journey of becoming a
17:33
first-time mom and that sort of thing in your pregnancy,
17:36
honestly. So, I don't even know if I
17:39
mentioned this already, but I do have my own company.
17:42
Any and I was seeing clients last year but I have decided not
17:48
to this year and so I am focusing more on creating more
17:53
sustainable passive income streams where I don't need to
17:56
necessarily trade time for money and becoming pregnant.
18:01
Definitely pushed me to realize that that was the route that I
18:05
wanted to take, because I want to be present in my kid's life
18:10
and I want to work. Work.
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I love working, but I want my work-life balance to kind of
18:18
represent that. It's definitely really pushed me
18:22
to kind of rethink what I'm doing in my day-to-day.
18:25
Yes, I think you have such a gift in in widespread
18:29
communication to, like, you clearly resonate with people on
18:32
a wider scale. I imagine that you're an
18:34
incredible one-on-one dietitian. Anybody would be lucky to work
18:37
with you one-on-one, yo, but I think you definitely do have a
18:41
gift in the neck for just knowing what people need where
18:45
they're at in their life. And I imagine you probably, just
18:48
get so much feedback that people are like, oh my God.
18:50
Gosh, this like poster this ebook or resources, like really
18:54
changed the game for me because you're really speaking to like
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where a person's at. Well, thank you, yeah.
19:01
Okay, so you have experienced a wide variety of different types
19:08
of jobs and I know you know you have used the word or the phrase
19:13
job hopping and I just want to know is what are some pros and
19:16
cons that you've experienced and having different types of jobs
19:18
throughout your career in like really exploring different
19:21
avenues for what your career could look like?
19:24
Yeah, well I think that ultimately job hopping Is what
19:28
got me to where I am today, so I wouldn't trade that passed for
19:34
anything and one of the reasons I would job hop.
19:40
So much was that I would work for maybe like a year or less
19:45
and I would just become so bored.
19:46
Once I learned everything about a role in a company, I would
19:52
just start to get really bored and then I would hop onto the
19:55
next thing. But one pro I would say is that
19:59
I was constantly learning. So I was kind of developing new
20:03
skills and meeting new types of people discovering new roles,
20:09
new companies constantly. And I think that, that was a
20:12
massive Pro because I was able to kind of dip my toes into a
20:16
variety of different career paths and kind of narrow down
20:20
what I like versus what I didn't like in a job position but also
20:24
I guess leadership to in the type of That I want to be in my
20:28
my company. Yeah, 1000%.
20:31
I can see that. And you were saying even just
20:33
the threads. It's so interesting.
20:34
When you look at the threads of your past and how they come into
20:39
the world that you're in today, like where you're probably like
20:41
criminology. Like why would I ever use that?
20:43
Let's plug the fact that you actually have a podcast called
20:46
unsavory is True Crime, eats food, like how like what a, what
20:52
a combo, and what a combo of like, where you come from and
20:57
What might seem like a random past, help me?
20:59
Yeah, no it's definitely like a passion project side passion
21:03
project. But kind of merging those two
21:07
like two things, nutrition and crime together.
21:10
It's almost just made me feel better about the fact that I've
21:15
bounced around so much. I'm like, finally, these things
21:17
kind of unite. The first undergrad is being put
21:21
to use. No, but you said another,
21:22
getting your intro, you said about the fact that it's all
21:25
about kind of like getting Understand why people do what
21:28
they do and that's it sounds like that's exactly what a
21:31
dietitian is and what you do. It's like helping a person,
21:34
helping a person uncover, why they do what they do as well.
21:38
Yeah and I think in a lot of ways is what you do to.
21:41
Oh my gosh, this is true. My business degree consumer
21:46
Behavior. Actually know this is true, my
21:48
specialization was in consumer Behavior, which is human
21:51
behavior. Really.
21:52
Then why do people like by what they do or do what they do, or?
21:56
Yeah. Okay.
21:57
Okay. Wow.
22:00
Wow. Oh yeah but I also think too
22:03
like hopping around so much going back to your original
22:07
question, has kind of forced me to make these incredible
22:11
connections that kind of circle back a lot of the time and maybe
22:15
you've found this as well with your your past career and now
22:20
but I'm constantly bumping into a lot of the same people.
22:23
Maybe they'll reach out. I'll reach out to them and It
22:27
does create opportunities now that I maybe didn't even think
22:32
about hmm past when I was making those connections.
22:36
That's a really cool point. And what else has time giving
22:38
you, like, if you had gone straight into a dietetics right
22:42
out of high school? Do you think that you would?
22:45
I don't know? Do you think anything would be
22:46
different for you apart from like making those types of
22:48
connections? Do you think that like the power
22:50
of time was really on your side? Honestly think if I'd gone right
22:54
into it, I would have probably been questioning my choice a lot
22:58
more than I am now, not because I don't thoroughly enjoy it but
23:04
because I wouldn't have kind of tasted what else is out there.
23:08
And I do think, for me personally that was an important
23:12
path for me to take. That's such a good reframe.
23:15
Kind of like dating exactly that it had to date a few frogs, have
23:19
you guys. Yeah, for you but your night and
23:22
Shining Armor Dan, the tall, dark and handsome, Dan
23:25
biederman, and don't tell Dan that will cut that.
23:33
Oh, that's cool. Yeah, that makes sense.
23:35
And I think that that gives people some hope that your past
23:40
experience has can really help you.
23:43
Like instead of being like, oh man this is so irrelevant to
23:46
what I actually want to be doing.
23:47
Have I just wasted 10 years of my life in this career that I
23:50
don't love? Yeah, the reframe.
23:52
I like what you're saying is Well actually not like it's
23:54
going to make you more certain and more clear as to what you
23:57
want to do and hold on. I actually have a story to kind
24:01
of add to this because as I said I used to work in event
24:06
technology sales and so I had a lot of experience and at events
24:11
and working with like apps on site and so when I entered the
24:17
world of dietetics is a student. I found out that they like the
24:22
The like dieticians of Canada was actually looking for an app
24:25
for their conference and so I reached out to them and I was
24:28
like, hey, I can help you with this.
24:30
And so I was able to get in basically, with all of the, the
24:35
bigwigs within dietitians of Canada and help them develop.
24:39
An app for the conference, I was sent to the conference for free.
24:43
I was put up there. It was the most incredible
24:45
experience. I did that.
24:46
I think for two years or three years, two years but I wouldn't
24:51
have had that opportunity. Otherwise.
24:52
Now I have those connections within dietitians of Canada that
24:56
I wouldn't have had otherwise so having that previous experience
25:02
definitely helped Propel me in my career now and at least with
25:06
the networking part. Oh my gosh.
25:08
See, there you go. Well, this story.
25:10
That's how would you ever have known?
25:13
How could you have ever predicted that that experience
25:17
in app development? Like seems cool but random?
25:22
That, that would and it was that's I think when you came out
25:25
to visit Vancouver, and we got to spend some time together.
25:28
Yes. So amazing brought me so many
25:32
good things so to get things. So that's so it's really cool to
25:36
hear more about the just the profession of being a dietitian.
25:41
What dietetics is and all of that if we switch back over to
25:44
ADHD, my unscientific belief is that I just feel like there's
25:52
More and more people in my realm in our friend group alone, like
25:56
my best friends in the world of women in their 30s, being
26:00
diagnosed with ADHD at this point in life.
26:04
What do you know about that? And why do you think that that
26:06
might be happening? Or it may even correct in this,
26:10
in this train of thought that this just seems like to be, you
26:12
know, people are finally getting diagnosed and why is it
26:14
happening so late? Yeah, no, it's a good question
26:17
because it absolutely is happening.
26:19
And it's happening mainly for women.
26:22
In their 30s or 40s or 50s or 60s.
26:25
It's actually, it's kind of wild here because I do hear a lot of
26:28
people's personal experiences and stories, and it is kind of
26:32
wild to see almost this. This group is generation of
26:35
women who are finally, like discovering themselves, either
26:39
midlife, or what have you. And unfortunately, a lot of that
26:45
is because the ADHD diagnostic criteria is more centered around
26:51
like a male die. Gnosis.
26:53
And so, even when I went through my diagnosis, which was not that
26:57
long goes two years ago, two years ago, I was asked for my
27:04
Elementary School report cards. Like I'm ready to get that
27:07
crying me. My mom.
27:10
Do we buy my stuff? My mom does a horde of it and so
27:13
she had them which is great. But when they ask me, I was
27:18
like, are you kidding me? But the reason that is a, like a
27:23
qualification in order to get a diagnosis like through a
27:26
psychologist and stuff like that is because oftentimes males are
27:31
disruptive in class as children, whereas with females it might
27:37
show differently. So younger females, might be
27:40
more like the Daydreamer types. They might not, they might be
27:44
distracted, but they're not distracting others.
27:47
Sara Lee. So just shows up in women
27:50
differently than it does and in males.
27:53
So that's kind of why there has been this surgeon in females,
27:59
figuring out that they have a diagnosis and a huge contributor
28:01
to that is Tick-Tock we're going to be enough and just females
28:06
realizing that these are some of the symptoms of ADHD in
28:11
themselves and just acknowledging that, that might
28:16
be something. Have.
28:18
Yeah, well, it's just such a like you don't get to spend time
28:21
in anybody else's mind. So how would you know that your
28:24
mind might be operating and operating in a different way in
28:28
a world that's I imagine not geared towards supporting those
28:31
with ADHD. It's not like it's a physical
28:33
symptom that you can see or you exactly touch or feel or
28:37
whatever and that I imagine is really hard.
28:40
Yeah. For sure.
28:41
And one of the sad things for like females, A Fab specifically
28:48
is that a lot of the times it does come to a breaking point
28:53
before we get diagnosed is something will happen or we're
28:59
just really not doing well in our work life or social life or
29:03
what have you and then it kind of forces us into a diagnosis.
29:06
So we're not able to be pre-emptive because the field
29:12
the medical field hasn't really set us up for Success here.
29:16
What are some of Symptoms that often show up for for women.
29:20
Yeah. So I mean it is it is a lot of
29:24
the same like there is some overlap but it just shows up
29:26
differently in us. And I, as I mentioned there's
29:29
things like like daydreaming things like just the executive
29:36
dysfunction, so possible, poor time management which really
29:41
impacted me when I look back on it, it impacted me a lot and
29:46
it's definitely why. Why I work so well under
29:48
pressure is that I'm so poor. I have such poor time management
29:52
unless I have somebody kind of cracking a whip over me and just
29:58
other executive dysfunction things.
30:00
So they might not necessarily be the most organized or some
30:06
aspects of their life might be extremely organized and
30:10
extremely regimented because they figured out that that's
30:13
what works for them but then you look at other parts of their
30:15
life and they're extremely Organized.
30:18
So there's yeah, there's a lot of different different symptoms.
30:21
I could pull up a list here if you want.
30:23
No, no, that's really interesting because I wonder if
30:25
there's, if there's people listening or like you said, on
30:27
people on social media are Tick-Tock who are like, oh my
30:29
God, what that's me. Who knew him and just feeling
30:33
seeing heard understood by somebody that they've never met
30:37
on a social platform, but that's kind of cool.
30:39
Do people really rag on social media but I think there's some
30:42
benefits to it. I do too.
30:45
I do too especially With this. Yes 1000% I know we've gone all
30:52
over the place but I'm so curious.
30:54
So you have discovered in your career that dietetics is your
30:58
passion nutrition is your passion.
31:01
Entrepreneurship is the route that you wanted to pursue and
31:04
you're doing so well in that and now you're planning for a baby
31:08
coming and you're pregnant. And so I want to know like what
31:11
are you loving? What are you finding challenging
31:12
was that whole experience been like for you?
31:16
Oh well, at first it was a huge challenge.
31:21
I'm sure you can attest to this but the first trimester can be
31:27
challenging. It can be, it can be tough.
31:30
And with this pregnancy I was actually on anti-nausea
31:34
medication. That really kind of dragged me
31:38
down. It made me so tired and I was
31:41
still nauseous throughout it. So I was constantly Lie, asleep
31:46
and puking's. So, it took a lot out of me and
31:50
I actually, I did almost have to take an entire, like two months
31:53
off because I really had no other choice.
31:58
And so that has been extremely challenging not to mention, I
32:01
did spend the majority of last year pregnant because I did have
32:04
a miscarriage earlier. So to do that for the majority
32:11
of the year was definitely a challenge especially when you
32:15
You rely on yourself and the work that you get done and it
32:18
was the first year of my business.
32:19
So that was absolutely challenging but the second
32:24
trimester has been amazing so far.
32:29
Yeah, I feel like the energy and motivation is up.
32:32
And I mentioned this previously but just my desire to want to be
32:36
present for my my child. It's definitely kind of forced
32:40
me to re-evaluate things kind of set up systems.
32:45
Like consider consider more like passive income streams and how I
32:49
can kind of set myself up for success as a business owner but
32:53
also as a parent. Yeah, hmm.
32:58
Well thanks for sharing about your miscarriage.
33:00
Obviously, I knew that you had gone through that but you know
33:02
it's something I'd never actually really considered was
33:06
The unbelievably challenging aspect of the fact that if you
33:11
like for yourself, he went through a miscarriage.
33:13
So you've done the first trimester twice.
33:16
Mmm, like, that's horrific. You know, we all talk about like
33:21
the first trimester, so bad but now s is great.
33:23
Like you just said that, but it's like you had to do the
33:25
first trimester twice. Yeah, that is shit.
33:30
No other way to put it. Yeah, I only had to do it for
33:33
about two months. But I would say, the recovery
33:37
was pretty rough for a few weeks like it's definitely a challenge
33:42
to just mentally get over. Get over that.
33:45
I mean I still think about it every day.
33:47
It's one of those things that I think is just now part a part of
33:50
me but in a lot of ways it weirdly did motivate me and I
33:57
think that maybe it's just my perspective of life and stuff
34:00
like that. But once I did kind of settle
34:04
into the fact that I didn't UND and came to terms with it.
34:08
I feel like it really motivated me in my career.
34:11
Wow how so I feel like I just weirdly had this this like
34:18
Inspirations push to do better to help more people to like get
34:24
my message out there so that I can help others.
34:26
Even though it wasn't necessarily about Pregnancy.
34:30
So that ADHD, it really just made me want to help women even
34:36
more. Yes, supporting the tribe.
34:40
Mmm. Yeah.
34:41
Well, thanks for sharing that. Be of course.
34:44
I love you. No idea.
34:46
I want to hear talking about everything that you have going
34:49
on. You're no longer take you on
34:50
one-on-one clients, or don't try banging down her door, but I
34:54
know you're working on some really cool stuff and you're
34:57
having to really check LOL, you're focusing techniques to
35:00
and I've got some cool timers and things like that.
35:04
Actually, let's talk about that before we get it.
35:05
I was going to ask you and we will get there about what you're
35:08
working on. But how are you what are some of
35:11
the tools that you use to focus like this?
35:13
I'm leaning in here to get some inspiration for some of the
35:16
projects I'm working on. Yeah yeah.
35:18
So it's still work in progress. I have days where I'm incredibly
35:24
focused and that I have others where I am not And so I have
35:30
found that there are certain things that work for me that
35:32
might not necessarily work for you, but for me, time, walking
35:36
is out of the question. I am not a Time.
35:39
Blocker, what works best for me, for focus, is to have a list of
35:44
things that I need to accomplish that day, that week.
35:48
And then I like to have a regimented morning and evening,
35:52
but the day itself has to be more free-flowing where I can
35:56
kind of Take my creativity, where it needs to go and my
36:00
motivation where it needs to go, as long as it's on that list.
36:04
So that's how I kind of structure my days and then I
36:08
have started to try using a timer.
36:10
So I know I said I'm blocking doesn't work but I have
36:15
especially with writing to just sit down and write for like 20,
36:21
30 minutes just to kind of get it, get through some of the
36:25
roadblock that happens at the beginning.
36:27
When you're first starting to write something in timers have
36:30
been helpful in that, but again, I don't time block necessarily.
36:36
It's just all time walk for specific amounts of time for a
36:40
task, but if that task ends up, taking me a little bit longer, a
36:43
little bit less time than than it does, I just kind of Let It
36:46
Go. Yeah, no, they're different like
36:49
time, blocking would be putting, I'm even look thinking.
36:51
So interesting people who are like, you know, different have
36:55
different patterns of personalities or whatever.
36:57
I resonate with that. Like, I'll put something in my
36:59
calendar and I never actually do it at the time that I've said I
37:02
was going to do it. But if I have a list and I say,
37:05
OK, I could just have to get all this done today and I can just
37:07
be free-flowing with when it happens.
37:09
What you're saying is that you if you the inspiration strikes,
37:12
the sit down and write that that's when you set your timer
37:15
but you haven't said at 11 a.m. I'm going to sit down and do
37:18
this because that's so contrived.
37:20
And that's a lot of pressure, I imagine exactly.
37:23
Yeah. Oh you also talk to me about the
37:26
putty. What is the putty that?
37:27
You use that you put on your Instagram stories.
37:29
I wish I had it right now, you can't see, but my hands are like
37:32
fidgeting like crazy over here and not that, I'm not having a
37:35
great time because I am. But so there's this party that I
37:42
use is basically, it's the best called Crazy, Aaron's sensory
37:48
putty or Thinking Putty but in crazier, this crazy, Aaron he's
37:54
crazy, but he makes a good product.
37:58
But it's basically this putty that does not dry out, so if you
38:01
forgot to put it in its back, in its case, it's still pretty.
38:05
When you go to it the next time and it's just something that I
38:07
play with, because I have a tendency to either fidget or
38:12
like my legs when I'm sitting at a desk and that's definitely my
38:16
ADHD speaking. But I find that it really helps
38:18
me Focus. If I have something to do with
38:22
my hands, While I Work. Cool.
38:25
Well, I feel like I could Could use that to actually.
38:28
Now that I think about it, when I went back to coaching school
38:31
to Royal Roads. The first day, I remember
38:33
walking into the room being like am I in the right classroom
38:36
because there was these group tables set up and in the middle
38:39
of the table, we're basically these really weird strange
38:44
objects like blinky's and like I'm trying to think like blocks
38:50
and like I was going to say something looked like sex toys
38:53
or something, I don't know. Like really weird like all sorts
38:56
of strange. Objects.
38:58
And then but you're sitting like we were sitting there for hours
39:02
and hours every single day, this like intense and block at the
39:05
beginning of the end of this program but obviously I find
39:08
coaches are very empathetic so they're probably trying to like
39:11
really cater to different types of Learners and so yeah, that
39:13
was like the method to the madness.
39:15
Absolutely. And I love like I love hearing
39:17
that because I feel like that is a coach or a professional.
39:21
Who was accommodating to other peoples like learning styles and
39:24
fidget Enos. I love that.
39:26
Yeah. Yeah man.
39:28
I was like kindergarten but it might is this Elementary School.
39:32
I'm not becoming a teacher. What's going on here?
39:35
And then I found myself like reaching for this like little
39:37
bucket of like funny things and just fine with it.
39:39
So there you go. That's pretty cool view from
39:42
useful. Yeah.
39:43
Okay, so what are you? So you're using your timers,
39:46
you're using your putty. What are you working on during
39:48
the day, tell me everything. What's coming up for you?
39:50
Yeah, so as I said, I'm trying to kind of create more passive
39:55
income streams in my business and That's it's going to be made
40:00
up of a few things. So right now I am currently
40:02
working on an e-book. So it's a nutrition for ADHD or
40:08
is who are pregnant and so it's kind of all about obviously the
40:13
nutrition implications and stuff like that when you're pregnant
40:16
but then also taking into consideration the experience of
40:21
an ADHD are and even things like having to go off medication if
40:25
you choose to and stuff like that.
40:27
So working on that ebook right now, which will be out late
40:32
February, I think, fingers crossed, it'll be honest.
40:40
But I believe you said this episode might come out at the
40:42
end of February. So I think the check out my
40:45
website, how your little? Yeah wait and can I can I get
40:48
any like can I download the e-book by the book and use it?
40:52
Give it. I'm pregnant and struggling to
40:54
find. Right, the right nutrition
40:57
resources. Absolutely.
40:59
I'll give you a free copy. Oh my gosh, you generous thing.
41:06
But yeah, no. I will have a pre-sale at the
41:08
the beginning. So, likely until mid-march I'll
41:13
have it on on sale so come and check it out.
41:17
But then other than that, I will be working on a course.
41:20
I had this huge ambitious goal that I would be done it before.
41:26
Giving birth but I don't think that's going to be feasible.
41:29
So later this year it'll be more of a ADHD nutrition Basics
41:35
course because I do get asked on the regular a lot about like
41:39
working together but also just a lot of nutrition questions and
41:42
so I'm kind of assembling more of just like that yet Basics
41:47
Basics course on on nutrition with ADHD.
41:50
So cool. And then the third thing, which
41:53
I feel like I'm very excited about right now and it's maybe
41:55
you Because I was working on at this morning, is my blog, and I
41:58
really am trying to work on monetizing that crew like ad
42:02
revenue. And so I'm kind of working on
42:06
the back end of my blog but then also pushing out new content.
42:09
And yeah, that's what kind of what kind of contents on there.
42:14
It's same. Same topics or I know you used
42:16
to have recipes. Is it so recipes and things like
42:19
that? Yeah.
42:19
So it is becoming more like nutrition 80s.
42:24
You nutrition specific. So there are Blog articles on
42:27
nutrition topics that relate to ADHD.
42:30
But then also kind of more easy recipes and I'm working on
42:35
putting out more content with recipes with like fewer
42:39
ingredients fewer steps that are just easier to kind of to bang
42:43
out when you're hungry. Well, I mean this, this audience
42:47
here are working parents, so I think that ADHD or not, that
42:50
sounds like a pretty good deal, less ingredients quicker, all
42:55
that also is Just thinking about you quitting out of course, how
42:57
cool would that course? Be the fact that you're not
42:59
going to be creating one of those courses?
43:01
I imagine, that's, like 200 hours long and requires you to
43:04
sit for like 2 hours at a time. Like, I feel like it's going to
43:07
be sharp and smart, and to the point and really hones in on
43:12
different learning styles, or information actually Gathering
43:15
Styles. Exactly.
43:17
I'm really trying to kind of focus on like the multimodal,
43:20
like learning, like ways of learning, because I've thought
43:23
about this so much, like, do I? Video, do I make it audio?
43:27
Do I make it both? Do I make people read stuff?
43:30
Because a lot of people with ADHD hate to read including
43:34
myself sometimes and so yeah it's taken.
43:39
I think I have it figured out now but I do want to be able to
43:42
offer it in a way that is accommodating for for everyone
43:46
who wants to kind of get that information.
43:49
I love that. It's very inspiring, very
43:51
inspiring. And the what would you say?
43:54
Rebecca Harris, What would You say, you are still trying to
43:57
figure out. Oh, that's a good question.
44:02
I would say it's a really good question.
44:06
I did think about it before but now I almost want to change my
44:09
answer, do it do it, go off the cuff, I'm still figuring out how
44:14
to be a business owner and I think a lot of that is going to
44:20
be ongoing. I don't think that I will ever
44:22
have it figured out necessarily and it kind of goes back to just
44:28
being a Constant learner and wind to constantly learn, I
44:32
almost don't want to have it fully figured out because I
44:34
don't want to stop learning new things.
44:38
And so right now I would say I'm trying to figure out more
44:41
sustainable sources of revenue, but I would say in a few months,
44:46
it's probably going to be something completely different.
44:48
Probably going to be how to be a present Mom.
44:51
I love it. I think that's great.
44:53
That's a beautiful sentiment, okay?
44:56
And before we say, adios, we're can everybody.
44:59
D, find you. I know you're all over all over
45:02
the socials. There's so many ways people can
45:05
connect with you, but what are your favorite places to hang
45:07
out? Yeah, we find me on my website.
45:11
So that's the nutrition junkie and junkies but with a why as
45:15
it's the nutrition junkie.com or you can find me on Instagram or
45:20
Tick Tock at the nutrition junkie.
45:23
Again junkie with a Y and if you do want to check out my podcast
45:27
that I co-host it's called unsavory.
45:30
You can find it anywhere, you find this podcast.
45:32
Probably, yeah, totally and we'll link that as well.
45:36
It's so good. Just tell, just tell the
45:38
audience a bit about like, do your own explanation of
45:41
unsavory? It's so it's so good and so fun.
45:45
And interesting. Yeah well you kind of summarized
45:48
it pretty well earlier but basically we cover stories of
45:53
either crime or scandal in the food industry or Wellness
45:56
industry. And we talked about some of the
46:00
Nuance in those scandals but then also kind of break down
46:05
some of the myths that may have come from them.
46:07
So it's very fun to create. I feel like both my co-host
46:13
there and I learn something new every episode.
46:16
So while it is a passion project, it's another form of us
46:20
learning but we try to kind of like teach something new in each
46:25
episode. Oh, it is.
46:27
So it's so good. I'm up.
46:29
I don't know if this is that this makes me weird or what I
46:31
have such a fascination with Cults or like groupthink and all
46:34
of that and so many of the episodes do so many scandals
46:38
related to food or just in general like intersect with
46:41
groupthink or Cults or whatever. So yeah, you like that sort of
46:44
thing. Oh my gosh.
46:45
Check it out. There are some wildly scandalous
46:47
things that have happened in the food industry.
46:49
One of my favorite, one of the first ones, I think I'd listened
46:51
to was the maple syrup is because I was like, wait, what?
46:54
And that was as a Canadian that It's just all so weird and
46:59
hysterical and yeah, I love. It's like, such a wholesome
47:03
Canadian Crime Story. Okay, go check it out.
47:07
We'll put that specific one in there, but scroll through and
47:10
pick a company or a diet that you've heard about that you
47:13
wanna learn the scandalous. Itza.
47:17
Okay. Back at.
47:18
Thank you. So, so, much for joining me
47:20
today. I learned so much about you and
47:22
your profession, and your story. And I just love you and I can't.
47:26
Wait to keep seeing what you what, you put out in the world
47:29
to support women with ADHD or just women in general.
47:34
Thanks, Cal, thank you for having me.
47:35
It's been so much fun to fun. Love you, love you.
47:39
Bye. Thank you for listening.
47:42
You can access all resources mentioned in this episode via my
47:45
website andreea bar.com / podcast and let's chat on
47:49
Instagram. I'm at andreea bar coaching and
47:51
I reply to every DM. I get if you loved this episode,
47:55
don't forget to quickly. Hit that button on your podcast
47:57
app to give me a five star rating and drop in a review.
48:00
It would truly mean the world and if you're like me and love
48:04
to share things that you love, send this episode to a friend
48:07
who you think would appreciate this topic.
48:10
Thanks again for listening, and I'll chat with you next week.