Realfoodology - 21: No Bullsh*t with Chinae Alexander of Press Send Podcast
Episode Date: February 17, 2021The insightful (and hilarious) Chinae Alexander of Dear Media's Advice Podcast "Press Send" chats with me about finding balance in 2021. Chinae's candid approach to health, wellness and life is a mu...ch needed reprieve from the stressors of today. Check our her podcast on all podcast platforms! Show Links: https://instagram.com/chinaealexander?igshid=3jtqnlxjzmdt https://www.chinaealexander.com/ https://www.presssendpodcast.com
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on today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. It wasn't about the weight. It was about letting
go of some of the control I was trying to have over my life. And that is manifestation of anxiety.
Hi, guys. Welcome back to The Real Foodology Podcast. I'm your host, Courtney Swan. I am
so happy that you're here. Today's episode is with one of my good friends,
Sinead Alexander. We actually met through the internet, through the old Instagram a couple
years ago, through a mutual friend. And then we ended up meeting each other briefly when she was
visiting in LA. And I just adore this girl. She is absolutely hysterical. She speaks her mind and I love that it's, you know, she's just no bullshit
and she has really, um, she has really great advice and just a really, I believe to be
level-headed perspective on many things. And we dive into her health and wellness journey.
We talk about her podcast, Taco Bell, uh, mental health, and so much more. It was a really
fun episode. She's hilarious. I was trying not to laugh basically the entire episode.
Also, I've already said this a few times in the podcast, but go watch her stories on Instagram.
I mean, go give her a follow, but definitely go watch her stories. She is one of those people that
I always make sure that I catch her stories because they're hilarious and just absolutely
relatable. And yeah, it's just, it was a really fun episode. So with that, let's go into the
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and returns. Before I get to the question, I just have a little disclaimer. As always,
these answers and this podcast are just for educational and informational purposes only.
I am an integrative nutritionist,
but I'm not a doctor. And I don't know you personally. I don't know what's going on in
your body. So just know that this information on this podcast is not a sub for individual
medical or mental health advice, and it doesn't constitute a provider patient relationship.
As always, talk to your doctor first. Today's question actually comes from a series that I started
doing on my Instagram. I put up a little text box in my stories and I was like, all right,
guys, let it rip. Just tell me all of your health assumptions, uh, that you believe whether or not
they're true or false. And I will answer them. One of them that I got, I really wanted to touch
on the podcast because I think it's really important was corn is not that bad for us. And the, okay, so I'm just going to dive into it.
So the thing with corn is yes, that's true. Corn as a food itself is not bad for us. It's great.
The problem is, is what has been done to our corn in this country now. And then on top of that corn is put in literally, I don't even know the actual percentage,
but I would say upwards of 90% of our food of our processed foods, at least. So what's happening
is that we are now using this corn that, um, I believe it's 90% of corn in the United States
is genetically modified.
And the reason why this should cause you to pause and be concerned is that that means that this corn has a lot of pesticides on it.
And on top of that, the DNA has been altered.
And I'm not going to say whether or not that is good or bad for us, because the true honest
truth is that we don't know yet. We have some
short-term studies out right now, but I think we forget that GMOs have actually not been out for
that long. And the studies that we have seen have shown massive tumor growth and growth in rats,
which is something to be entirely concerned about. So, but we don't really know. We can kind of guesstimate
right now, but we don't know what the long-term health effects are of these GMOs that are being
put in our food. And that alone for me is what causes me to be concerned and to pause and take
a step back because we can have all the studies for what we know right now, right? And of course,
we trust science as it
unfolds. But that's what we have to remember about science is that it is forever evolving.
And we find out new things. And what we knew five years ago may be different now that we know today
because we have more information on it now. And so that's the deal with GMOs is that it's only going to be time that will truly
tell us what the long-term effects are. And look, there may not be any. And I, God, I hope that that
is true because we are just infiltrating our food system right now with GMOs. So I'm hoping
that we find that it doesn't really have any sort of effect on our health. But I will say that there are studies that show that we should be concerned. And one of them being just the toxic
load of the pesticides in of itself. And then something that I already touched on that is also
a concern is that, again, it's not necessarily about the corn itself, but we are eating so much
corn as a population now. I would bet you money that pretty much any box of
food that you pick up in your pantry right now probably has corn in it. It will probably say
contains, it usually says like contains wheat, corn, or soy, the top three ingredients that we
find pretty much in every single processed food across the board. And so what's happening is that we are eating so much of these few foods and not getting
enough of other foods in our diet. And our bodies are kind of being like, we've had enough, like
stop feeding me only corn, soy, and wheat, or stop feeding me so much of it. We are meant to have a,
you know, a rainbow for lack of a better word of, of different, you know, varieties of foods in
our diet. And we've really, um, zoned in to just these few foods and we're eating a lot of them in
mass quantities. And sometimes we don't even realize. So that's the deal with corn. Um,
if you're buying corn, I would highly recommend if you want to keep, if you want to keep away from GMOs, buy organic corn, organic corn by law cannot be GMO. And that's great. Corn in the cob. Love it.
I don't have any, any nutritional qualms against it. Um, it's more of everything
else that I mentioned. So with that, let's get to the episode.
Um, Sinead also, so I have my podcast producer Drake joining us today just because I thought
it'd be fun to have him on as well love it um yeah well thank you so much for coming on today
I'm so excited to have you thank you for having me I love that we're pretending like we haven't
just talked for like an hour yeah we just recorded her podcast and here we are back to back baby
no I'm having so much fun this is actually like the highlight of my day.
Me too.
This is great.
I love it.
And it's just so good to see you.
I think the last time I saw you in person was in a SoulCycle bathroom like two years ago.
Truly, which, you know, life kind of feels like a SoulCycle bathroom right now,
but like less cleanly.
So it doesn't smell like Le Labo.
Exactly.
Same, same. We're all the same. And I'm doesn't smell like Le Labo. Exactly. Same.
Same. We're all the same. And I'm so glad to see you, Drake. It's nice to...
I mean, I was hoping...
I mean, I kind of expected a different Drake to be
here, but this is also good.
Everyone always says that. Oh my god, I came
up with an unoriginal joke for the podcast.
He ruined my name,
but that's another show.
Well, it's funny because people know me for working in music.
And so whenever I'm, you know, I loop him in, everyone's like,
Drake, the Drake.
And I'm like, no, God, I wish.
Sorry, Drake.
Drake's crying.
What's, are you okay?
Oh God.
Okay.
So for everyone listening, Sinead, why don't you give everyone a little bit of your background, what you do.
Just kind of give your story.
Now I'm going to start crying.
I'm like, who am I?
So I am a content creator on Instagram and I actually like spend a long time
working in like the corporate,
like quote unquote real world.
I was a marketing director for eight years and then I owned an event planning
company,
which I ran.
I still own it.
I just don't take clients anymore because I am so busy with content creation.
And I mean, also super happy to not be an event planner right now, you know? Yeah. Like what are they doing? They just planning
Zooms. I mean, honestly, I have a friend who is, is planning pick remote picnics for people. I
don't know, man. It's a rough, it's a tough world out there out there,
but, um, yeah, so I content create on Instagram. I talk about body image and I just talk a lot of
bullshit to be honest. Like a lot of my content is just like, just talking about whatever.
It's amazing though. It's super relatable. And I love your insight and like your no bullshit approach.
It's really refreshing.
It's funny though, because like in my captions,
I tend to be more like serious and thoughtful.
And then people that watch my stories,
I'm like talking about like,
like that Craig had a fart that woke me up.
Like, so, you know, we're, we contain multitudes.
But yeah, I live in Brooklyn with my boyfriend, Craig, and my
really cute dog and just suffering through this pandemic like everybody else.
Oh God, I know. I feel you on that. So I remember I found you on Instagram a couple years ago
through our mutual friend, Jeanette. Shut the kid up. And yeah, I mean, that was like my favorite
thing about you when I first discovered it. Well, there's a lot of things that I really love about
your account. I love how honest you are. I love your approach to wellness. It's very relatable.
And I love how outspoken you are about things like you just, or at least you, you seem like
you aren't scared to speak the truth. And whenever you do that, like your rants
that you've been going off lately on Instagram are fucking incredible. And they're so relatable.
Like I just find myself watching all of them being like, yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I feel the same
way. Let me just say it is it is always such high praise from another creator that they'll actually
watch your stories. They're like, I'll tune into your bullshit here.
Like, let me look at your thing.
Like that actually is like such high praise.
So thank you.
And yeah, I do love to complain.
I do love to complain on the internet
and that is relatable.
Oh gosh.
I just, you know, because life is already dark right now.
And I just want to go online and laugh and feel like I'm not alone.
And also like be like, yeah, girl, I feel you because I'm in the same boat.
You know, it's refreshing.
True that.
True that.
Yeah.
Do people say true that anymore?
True that?
I don't think so.
I don't think so.
I don't even know.
I'm going to get canceled.
I'm getting canceled on this podcast.
This is really exciting.
Organifi now has kid stuff.
They just released two kid products. One is called Easy Greens, and it's a refreshing green apple juice where kids will never know that it's packed with veggies.
And the other one is called Protect.
It's a delicious wild berry punch like the Kool-Aid that we used to have as a kid,
but without any sugar. This is really exciting. And if you've listened to the podcast for a while,
you know that I'm a huge fan of Organifi and most specifically because every single product that
they make is glyphosate residue free. So you know that you're going to be able to give these powders
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for sponsoring today's episode. God cancel culture. You know, I've been getting so nervous
about cancel culture. That's one thing also about you that I, I just, I love that you're like no
bullshit and you're super honest. Are you ever worried that you're going to get canceled because
you're so honest? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to get canceled.
I'm like, for sure.
I don't know for what, but I mean, yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, not for like some racist thing or homophobic thing or like sexist thing, but I'm going to, I'm going to offend the wrong person.
Or at least I'll get canceled by all the brands that work with me,
one or the other, like it'll happen. You can't, what are you afraid you're going to get canceled
for? Well, again, I feel the same way. I'm not like, it's not like I have any skeletons in my
closet or I'm concerned anything's going to come out. Like it's nothing like that. It's just that
I've seen, well, okay. So recently I had a little tiny
blip of a thing happen where this guy was going after me because I liked a comedian's videos.
And look, this comedian tends to put out more content right now that tends to lean more on the
conservative side. But at the end of the day, like he's making a lot of jokes. It's all supposed to
be in good fun and humor. And he took screenshots of me
liking these videos and then posted in his stories that I'm a white supremacist because I liked these
videos. And it's shit like that, that I'm scared of because I'm like, and so then, you know, cue
all of his followers coming at me being like, I can't believe that, you know, you don't use your
platform to not denounce white supremacy and all this stuff.
And I'm just like, wait, what?
Like, one, I did that.
And also, like, I don't know.
It just, it got so wildly overblown.
And so I'm worried about the little things, you know?
Right, right, right, right.
I mean, yeah, it's, people are really aware.
And we have too much time on our hands at this moment.
So people
really care about everything. And so I think that it's not that I'm not afraid of people.
I mean, people have taken pictures of my backyard and sent them to me and be like,
is this your house? And I'm like, uh, that I'm scared of. Um, am I scared? I'm going to say,
like, I offend people all the time. So I'm kind of used to that.
It's actually like,
if I truly believe this,
like I think if you're not somewhat polarizing in this day and age,
it means you have no opinions and you're boring as fuck.
So to me,
I'm like,
I'm like,
if someone doesn't like hate you or not like you,
then you,
that means you really don't have an opinion or a point of
view because at this point like especially being a creator online you need to have a point of view
and you have to stand for something um and like honestly like when when the election was happening
we don't need to get into politics but like I actually was more offended by people that said
nothing than people that were like, I love Trump or whatever.
Like, I'm like, you know what?
I'm like, at least you have balls to like say your viewpoints and let people do what they will.
I don't like the like, I'm going to please everyone thing because at the end of the day, you're pleasing no one and you're just a boring person.
Yes. Fuck yes. I love that you said that. No, it's amazing. Cause you know what? That's,
I'm trying to tune more into that mentality because I will fully admit I am a recovering
people pleaser. Um, it comes from childhood, learned a lot of in therapy, but you know,
and so I'm starting to be more outspoken about things because I do have an opinion. And I think, you know, especially like my whole thing is health and we're going through a crazy health crisis right now. You know, there's a lot of things being revealed about our food industry and the way that we operate in this country and how, you know, specific groups of people don't have access to fresh food like they should. And I'm becoming more and more
outspoken about that because you're right. Like I have to, I have to have a fucking opinion,
you know, and I can't be scared to speak my truth in that just because I'm going to offend some
people. And you're right. I mean, more than ever, people are just getting offended at
the drop of a feather. So yeah, you can't, you can't curate your opinions or life for other
people. And that goes for people that are like not content creators,
like anyone listening that's just like, you know,
having opinions in their daily life.
I know so many people don't want to offend people around them.
But the thing is, is like when you don't speak your truth,
then other people are not,
they don't feel like they can speak their truth around you.
And you don't know
who needs to just hear one other voice that is telling the truth. And that will be like, oh,
now I can do that. Like I feel at liberty to do that. And so it was interesting even during like
the election, like me speaking out about, you know, about my views. There were a lot of people
that were like,
I live in a place where no one believes what I believe. And so this helps me feel like I'm
supported in some way because I don't have direct support. So you never know who you're kind of
encouraging, whether you're talking about, you know, activism or just like, hey, I'm dealing
with a, you know, miscarriage or I'm dealing with, you know, ideation or whatever, like, hey, I'm dealing with a, you know, miscarriage or I'm dealing with, you know,
ideation or whatever, like, or even talking about therapy. I know, you know, you and I both talk
about therapy and mental health and, you know, we don't know kind of the positive ramifications of
that. Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah, you bring up a great point. And like you said, it, it,
it opens the door for other people to then live their truth, speak their truth, um, you know,
speak up for what's right because then they realize that they're not alone. Uh, and this
is another thing that I think you do so well is that you're very honest about your mental health,
your struggles with anxiety,
your struggles even in your fitness journey, which is amazing because I'm sure so many people following are like, yeah, fuck, I can still relate to this because I'm going through this right now.
I mean, I remember you, I watched at one point you were talking about how you went on this fitness
and like health journey and you lost all this weight and you were like, you know, according to the photos and like by the book of health or whatever, I was supposed to be
like at my happiest and my fittest. And you were like, I was actually my unhappiest. And you said
something like, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you were like, you know, I gained some of
that weight back and now I feel so much more comfortable. I'm happier. I'm not restricting
myself. I mean, that's amazing. That's really important things that people need to hear. Totally. And you know, it wasn't even like
the fact, like the weight gain wasn't the thing that made me happy. It was not living. Yeah. Not,
not living a life based on like needing to prove myself, you know, and, and that did coincide with gaining weight,
obviously, because I wasn't like tracking my, everything I ate, you know, and, and also like,
for me, I'm like, oh man, I just want to care about other stuff. Like, honestly, like I'm so
tired of just thinking about calories and working out and like feeling guilt surrounding
food and exercise. And then looking at Instagram and seeing someone that posted more of a progress
photo than me or like, Oh, they have one of those weird bikinis that people liked back then. And
they look better than me when now I look back, I'm like, Oh, thank God I dodged that bullet. But, but you know, it's, it's these, it's the cycle that you get in of control. That is the,
the bad thing, you know, it's overly controlled and that can be with food. It can be with exercise.
It can be in relationships. It can be really with anything work. Um so for me, it wasn't about the weight. It was about letting
go of some of the control I was trying to have over my life. And that is manifestation of anxiety.
Okay. So what did that control look like for you? Just for people listening to see if
maybe they're going through that right now. Oh yeah. When it was like the worst it was.
Yeah. Let's go back to the deep dark place. No, no, it's fine. I talk about it all the time.
Also we don't have to go there. No, no. I love it. I love it. Um, so basically
I lost weight kind of like on my own. I didn't know anything about fitness and I just like
started going to the gym and
eating like healthier because I literally made a bet with my guy friend that we could do it
at a baby shower. We were literally drunk in a baby shower and we're like, should we get fit?
Like, let's see if we can do this. And then we did. It was kind of crazy because I didn't have a lot of self-confidence issues before that.
Honestly, I thought I was the baddest bitch on the block, like my whole life.
And even like when I was at my heaviest, which was like 225, I thought I was so pretty.
And it was such an inflated sense of confidence.
And I needed to be taken down a few pegs, to be honest.
Oh my God. I also had to tell you a story from the, like literally the other day, but, but going on with this part of my,
my journey, I basically lost a lot of the weight pre Instagram pre like talking about,
I mean, it's not pre Instagram, but pre talking about fitness on Instagram or any of this shit.
So I actually did it in kind of a more healthy way of like,
I just like, like the information of this. Yeah. I went to the library, how I figured out how to
weightlift. I didn't know anything about fitness. So I was like, I don't think I want to jump
around. That doesn't seem like me. I don't like, like, I'm not going to embarrass myself in a
class. So I went to the library and I checked out Arnold Schwarzenegger's Encyclopedia to Modern Bodybuilding.
I didn't even know that existed.
It is this.
It is so thick.
It is a six inch thick book.
It's huge.
I literally would take pictures of the pages and take it on my phone to the gym and be like, okay, this is what I need to do.
And like, I actually loved learning
about it. I mean, I wasn't trying to get to be a bodybuilder certainly, but I was like, you know,
a chest press is a chest press is a chest press. Whether I'm trying to like have these huge, like,
I don't even know what the muscle name is. Like these huge, like, I don't know so whatever the boob part is for the guy oh pecs oh I wasn't
trying to get big pecs but you know I was like a chest press I just don't need to do it with like
400 pounds or whatever they do so that's how I learned I loved learning about it that's when
fitness was really fun for me I was also like I was eating according to a plan. And I really liked that because I like
structure. Plus I was like, Hey, this food actually tastes good. And I'm seeing health
results, all of that. So then comes Instagram, all of this. And that's when like the unhealthy
kind of mentality came in. I started doing BBG, which I can't say enough that I hate BBG.
It's like Kayla, it Itzen is bikini body.
It works for some people.
Personally, I found it extremely restrictive.
It's a little culty.
What is it?
What's it called?
Bikini body guide, which first of all, like the name is like not good.
No.
Like you can only wear a bikini if you do this.
Plus, she was like 19 and like weighed one pound,
which I was like, I'm, yeah, I'm like,
and no shame to her body type,
but me trying to do workouts that a 19-year-old can do,
it's not good.
My knees broke.
My knees broke.
You know, like these are 28-year-old knees.
They weren't meant for this. And so, um,
it's not that I don't think it's, it works for people. It just, for me, it became too regimented
and too calorie focused and things like that, which I had never really thought about.
And then comes the Instagram like comparison thing, the side by sides.
And then I started to get a following.
And then I felt this weird pressure of like, I need more progress on my body.
And then I was getting cast and fitness campaigns and all of this stuff.
And I was like, okay, so now there's this expectation for my work that I need
to look like this. And then I was like, you know what? I'm sick of this. What a better message is
for me personally is like, I can be healthy and I can embrace wellness, but I also can not have
to control every single thing that's going in my body.
And also I can go back to just having fun with fitness and wellness and not have it feel like
this ball of expectation. And so that's kind of what I did. Um, and then the panty hit and
I've probably gained 20 pounds during the pandemic. Shout out to anyone that's gained 20 pounds.
It's fine.
I don't.
The quarantine 20.
Oh my gosh.
And you know what?
I didn't even weigh myself really,
but I was just like, I can feel it.
You know, but I just, you know what you do?
You just buy bigger pants.
And then you just, yeah, you move on. And like, I'm back to like working out regularly,
but I'm also not like going back to
that unhealthy mental place of like oh my god my pants don't fit I've gotta punish myself I'm like
you know what I've had a I actually like while this time has been very dark I have I did have
a really good time ordering a lot of delivery for six months. Probably my boyfriend and I like ordered delivery
like a lot. And, uh, it was so fun. It was so bad, but it's so fun. It is fun. And you guys
support your local restaurant. Totally. And that is the exact lie. I continue to tell myself,
um, of like, you're upholding the entire economic structure of New York by ordering
this overpriced delivery. But, but truly like, I was like, you know what? I want to just survive
this. I want to actually find some joy in this. And if that for me is nachos, fuck everyone.
Nachos. Well, and this is a really important message for people to hear because, you know, we hear so much
it's hammered into us that health is all about our bodies and, um, you know, weight and hopefully
we're getting away from the weight part of it, but it's so much more than that. And it's so much of
your mental health as well. And it all plays a role. And if you're at a place where you're like
restricting or going down these crazy paths of trying to get into this unattainable,
um, you know, size four or six jeans or whatever it is, that's just as damaging as if you were
just, you know, eating fast food every day. In my opinion, it's, you know, like you have to find
something that's, um, relatable and attainable because it's meant to be a lifestyle, not
something that you're like, no one, well,
maybe some people can, but I don't want to live this way. Like can live in a life of just
restriction for the rest of their lives. Yeah. And also I think like we have to look at things
more like 360 and that's kind of what I've taught myself during quarantine to do a little bit more
is don't segment the feelings about your body
from like your mental health, from like your environment, you know, your environmental kind
of like things that are happening around you. Like, you know, yeah, it's really easy to get
hard on yourself and be like, Oh, I feel like I've been so unhealthy. Oh, I feel like I'm not
doing all the things I I'm not moving as much as I usually do like like I mean I don't like count my steps because I'm not like yeah you know I'm not like
you're not into that no no no no I could it could never be me it could never be me I'm no no shade
to anyone counting their steps but no I it's just like know, I can't be like, I got to get my steps in. I can't say that and be like cool with myself, but like you're, you're not, you're not moving the
same way. But, but if we were going to think about like, oh, I I'm just not being healthy. I'm not
doing all these things. It's like, yeah, but the world is on fire. Look outside. Also, you're trying to just protect your mental health.
You're trying to literally protect your mind during this time.
You're trying to have comfort.
You're trying to have safety.
You also are staying inside and like doing these things
because you're trying to protect others.
Like there's so much that you have to think of
other than just I'm not eating the way I want to eat.
And I'm not moving the way that I used to, or I should be. And I think it's, it's especially
important right now because we're all going through like a collective trauma and that needs
to be addressed and like put a pin in that. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I think to a certain extent,
we just have to, we have to be more compassionate with ourselves in this time period because yeah,
we're going through a collective trauma, you know, and no one's going to get it right or perfect.
And I mean, at this point we've got to do everything we can just to stay afloat.
Totally. And also have fun, like have a little fun in your life. You know, like, there is a certain part that like,
you know, I like to have plans. And I like to, you know, like I said before, like,
even like with eating and stuff like that, like, I like to eat on a plan, but also like,
so much of of our life right now is obviously like, uh, food and television. And like, if, if one or both of
those things like needs to be up to on the fun factor for you do it. Like this is not forever.
Hopefully God, hopefully God, I know. Oh God. I can't even go there. I'm going to start crying.
Well, and you know, I feel like a broken record saying this, but I keep
saying like, you have to figure out what works for you. And so something I do, because I really
believe in finding a balance in all of this. So what does that look like? That means that
if I want pizza, I'm going to eat pizza, you know, and I'm not going to, I'm not going to
keep myself from doing that. But one little trick that I do, and this is just personally what works for me. And if you're down, you're listening and you want to try this,
I try to make my pizza at home. I buy organic tomato sauce, organic cheese. I try to make it
as healthy as I can instead of just ordering the Domino's. And again, if you're ordering the
Domino's, no shade, but there's ways around where you can really lean into those comfort foods and
have what you love while also like putting a healthy twist on it, you know, not making it feel like you're restricting or
keeping yourself from the things that you love. Totally. And I would say like one of the things
that's really helped me actually is, and one of the things I've learned through kind of like
rehabbing out of that time where I was really hard on myself is like, if you do have like a little Caesars hot and ready box on a Friday night, I mean,
I'm not speaking from experience or anything like the next day, not going into it being like,
oh man, I got to like make up for what I did. It's like letting the day end and it being over, like letting the day be over and like
eat normally the next day, like, or, or an exercise normally like this, this making up for
some behavior is, is it's really toxic. It's toxic in wellness and it's toxic in relationships.
It's toxic in your mental health.
Like, oh, I had a really down day.
Like, oh, like tomorrow it's gotta be better.
It's like, well, it's just tomorrow.
Like whatever it is, like.
Clean slate.
And I think so many people are like,
I still hear this on Instagram,
which is just shocking to me.
People like working off my brunch.
And I'm like, I'm like, what are you talking about?
What are you talking about? But you're working off a meal that you just ate like a normal human.
Yeah. I'm like, give me a break. This is so this is it's really bad for people to be in that
mentality. And I think that we don't hear these small coded ways that we feel guilt in eating and, and drinking and existing.
Yeah.
Particularly with women's bodies.
There always is some punishment for existing.
Whether it's punishment existing in your sexuality or punishment in
existing as in your intelligence or,
you know,
just physically. And it's, it has to
stop. It's such bullshit. And like, and I think we participate it, participate in it in small ways
and we don't even know. Oh yeah. You know, the people I hear saying that are primarily women.
Maybe it's because I don't find men that interesting and I don't follow a lot of them,
but I'm sorry,
Drake.
I love you.
I was,
I was going to postmate you some lunch too right now.
Oh my God.
It's over.
A hot and ready.
Well,
that's a whole $7.
So I'll, I'll Venmo you.
But,
but seriously,
like,
like it's not that I don't find men interesting. I just don't find men interesting online. Yeah. I feel you. But seriously, like, it's not that I don't find men interesting.
I just don't find men interesting online.
Yeah, I feel you.
You know, like, it's not my thing.
Like, unless they're, like, doing pottery or something.
I just don't want that to invite that energy into my life.
And I'm not trying to, like, look at your thirst traps.
But it really is, like, something that I feel like it has been, you know,
promoted heavily by the people it hurts the
most. Yeah. We're just recirculating it, you know, and we're punishing ourselves. And then we're
also, well, and then I've seen so many people trying to punish other people online for doing
certain things. Like, I can't believe that you're promoting this or, you know, whatever. Oh yeah.
It's, it's so toxic and I couldn't agree more, you know, and, and this is
coming from someone who, um, you know, health is my profession. And I would say too, like,
yeah, if you have that little Caesar's pizza or whatever, fine, enjoy it because you're having it
because you wanted to enjoy it. So don't spend the whole next day then punishing yourself because
then what's the point of even indulging in that? Yeah. And I think also like everything doesn't have to be like emotional, you know, like, like
I think we put a lot of emotion into particularly food and like, like, I think it's great to
have joy or something like that, but like having it be bad or like be like equate like a value to it. I think that's a lot of why I,
you know, there were so many bad foods. Yeah. And I'm like, that mentality really hurt me.
You know, of course there's foods that are, are nutritious or better for your body. And I don't
think that's attaching an emotion, but there's just like,
there's just like whole guilt culture with eating that I just personally do not subscribe to. And,
and it was very harmful for me. Yeah. And I think you're touching on something that's
really important. There's not per se like good and bad foods, but what I tell people all the time is
check in with yourself, check in with your body.
You know, if you're eating something that an hour later, it makes you feel like you have to take a nap and you know, you're super sluggish. You don't have energy or it quite literally makes you feel
like shit. Don't eat it. It's not about something being bad necessarily. That's more you honoring
yourself and being like, man, I had that pizza last night and, and it was great. And I enjoyed
it in the moment and I'm not going to punish myself, but man, I don't feel that great
after I eat it. You know, it's, it's more of making that switch because then at least for me
personally, I found that when I, when I let go of all the guilt of foods being good and bad,
and I just kind of allowed myself to eat whatever I wanted, I started reaching for the foods that
made me feel better. And does that
mean that I don't ever like order a, you know, pizza or whatever? No, fuck no. I still do that
too. But I find myself reaching for more of these foods only because it makes me feel better in my
body, you know? And, and I think when you have that switch, it, it's already healthier, you know,
in, in your mindset, because you're not, you're not like punishing yourself. You're just like, okay, mental note, that gives me the shit.
So I'm not going to eat that again. You know, like little things like that, at least for me,
that helped me. Quarantine. There has been a journey with realizing what food gives you the
shits and living 24 seven with your partner. Like you really, and you, you don't even, you,
you discover those things about yourself and you
discover these things about them too lovely it's a journey drake's doing uh an eyebrow raise like a
very knowing eyebrow raise it's a test living with somebody during quarantine i'll just i'll just
leave it at that yeah he moved in with his boyfriend like right before the panty hit and it's been wonderful right yeah the panty i can't even
i i honestly feel like um this time is like a living testament to like relationships
absolutely like romantic and friendship oh totally absolutely and family oh yeah we have
been through the ringer.
Let me just say that.
Like, it's so funny.
So many people write into my podcast and they're like,
me and my boyfriend are like fighting more than usual.
I'm like, yeah, sounds about right.
I'm like, yeah, that sounds accurate for what's going on.
Congratulations.
You're like everybody else.
Also, my dog is saying hi. He, he, he feels y'all's energy.
Hi Dingo.
He says hello. Sorry. I don't mean to interrupt the podcast with my dog, but.
Okay. So, so now that we know kind of your background and your story, what is your,
your kind of your like fitness and health journey look like now, or do you have
any thing that you go by? Um, so I, I really did learn kind of like what eating style works for me.
And I try to stick with that. Like I do kind of an 80, 20 rule, like most people, like,
you know, 80% of the time I try to like eat really what makes my body feel best. And then 20% of the time I really fuck around.
Which, oh yeah, it's like,
I wish I was a person that like the 20% was like,
I like to go to like five star meals at Michelin star restaurants.
Like when people are like,
ooh, I'm really splurging on the ahi tuna tonight.
I'm like, no, that's not how I fuck around.
I fuck around with Taco Bell hard.
Chalupas, come on.
Like, we don't.
Oh, chalupas.
You know, like, I wish I was more highbrow.
I'm not.
So that's, so it's like 80-20 special occasions
and things like that.
Like, there's no restriction on any of that.
And then working out, I hate working out at home so much.
So I did buy a peloton before
quarantine hit the fan yeah like before all this and um you know what my boyfriend gave me so much
shit about buying a peloton and then i was like when this all happened, I was like, ha, see, they're on back order. Um, so we
have that. I, I really like it. I do. I do. I find it. I find it to be much more difficult than
soul cycle, actually, which is interesting. Um, my friend who was a soul cycle instructor also
thinks that really, Oh, is it Jera? Yeah. I love Jarrah. She's like, it is harder than soul
cycle. Um, but also I do go to the gym now that our gyms are open. It's very safe. And it's,
you know, I, I really debated back and forth on like, do I take that risk? But because there's
such strict guidelines at our gym, I'm like, this really helps my mental health.
And we get tested and we're very safe.
And so I was like, I need to do this and I need to just make sure I'm adhering with like distance and all of that at the gym.
So we do that.
And I'm thinking about getting a Nintendo ring fit.
I don't even know about this.
It hooks up to your Nintendo Switch
and there's this like Pilates like circle thing.
And then you put this thing on your leg
and you fight through like these adventures.
And you're like, it's like do 20 squats
to like beat this monster.
Like I don't even want to do it as a workout.
I just am so
curious about it. That sounds so fun. It also kind of reminds me of that Kegel game that you
were talking about earlier. It does kind of remind me of a Kegel game, but Nintendo Switch has not,
has not made a Kegel thing yet. I'm sure it's on the horizon. But yeah, I love the intersection of tech.
I love anything technology and wellness.
I think it's cool that that's moving in that direction.
And I think it's cool that like, you know, this is accessible for people that do need to work out at home.
So I'm just curious about that.
And then I tried meditation and I hate it.
So I'm not going to do that. I also have been like microdosing mushrooms, which is yes, which has like really been so great.
I love microdosing. I think it's, I think it's like psychedelics are like the next stage of like,
you know, mental health and things like that. So big, big fan of that.
It's funny.
I said, I said it on my Instagram.
I was like, yeah, I tried mushrooms
and people were like, how did you cook them?
They thought I like had never had like a real mushroom,
like a food mushroom.
And like, I was like,
actually, I just like swallowed them really fast because it tasted really gross.
And they're like, they're like, I'm like,
you know, I'm talking about magic mushrooms, right?
And they were like, oh no.
So I'm clarifying here on the podcast.
We're not talking about magic mushrooms.
No, I'm not talking about lion's mane or shaga
or whatever the hell people put in their drinks. No, not that. Real magic mushrooms. No, I'm not talking about lion's mane or shaga or whatever the hell people put in their
drinks. No, not that real magic mushrooms, which are great. I love this. I mean, and the science
is out too. Like there's a lot of amazing studies that show that it really helps with depression,
anxiety. It helps me a lot with my anxiety. It's an amazing thing. And I think there's so much stigma with this kind of thing that I'm sure it's like the same stigma that we'd had. It's like everything is scary until it's not. And so, you know, obviously there's, you know, should be regulation around it or of some sort if it becomes like more mainstream, but, but certainly like, I'm excited to see more research
coming out about, about mushrooms and psilocybin particularly. Yeah, I am too. It's really cool.
Um, I, yeah, I've been wanting to try microdosing. I've just, um, done more of, you know, the
traditional like trip if you will. Yeah. Which is really fun. You know, like the, I, the micro dosing,
it's really interesting because you don't, you don't feel high at all, or you don't,
you don't go on any sort of trip, but you do feel like lighter and happier. And it just like
the day feels very like lifted. So I've just been experimenting with it. I haven't, um,
like I haven't gone full into, like, this is my lifestyle.
But certainly, like, it is something that I think is worthy of exploring if you so choose to go down that path.
Yeah, I fully agree.
And what better time than right now?
Totally.
I mean, if you.
You don't have a lot to do.
If you start seeing your dog flying around the room, you've taken too much.
That's my microdosing tip.
Oh God, I love it.
Um, so, you know, since this is a health and wellness and a food podcast, I want to ask you,
what are some foods that you have tried to love, but you just absolutely cannot get down with no
matter how like healthy they are? Um, uh, grape leaves, hate them. Olives, hate them so much.
Hate olives. People that like olives. No, they're terrible. There's so many good foods. You don't
need to eat olives. Wait, but have you heard of the olive theory? So does Craig love olives?
No, he hates olives. Oh, well, okay.
What show is that from?
I think it was from How I Met Your Mother.
But it's called the olive, I mean, you know, obviously made up.
But he was saying that you should find a partner that if you love olives, someone that hates them, and then vice versa, because then the person that loves them will eat the persons that hate them.
So, like, you'll take their olives out of the martini.
I totally understand that. And I think the persons that hate them. So like you'll take their olives out of the martini. I totally understand that.
And I think that's a great theory,
but that isn't a world where you can just,
like you cannot avoid them.
We can very easily, we just never have food with olives.
Can I just say like we went, oh my God,
one time we went to,
and I hope my friend doesn't listen to this and kill me,
but her boyfriend was like gonna to make dinner for us.
This is the first time we really hung out with her boyfriend.
And he was making dinner for a bunch of our friends at an upstate house.
This was like years ago.
And we were like, I was like, I'm a control freak.
So I was like, what is he making?
Because I was like, if I need to supplement some shit, because if it's nasty, like we can't die in the woods.
And she was like, he's making this like salad and I was like oh like what's in it what's in the salad first of all I'm really
thinking he's making a salad that's not a meal for me that's not a dinner for me I need something
that's more substantial she's like no it's more of like a, it's tuna fish. Like not like, don't think like salmon grade tuna.
Like think about like full on canned albacore.
Yeah.
Like tuna, olives, tomatoes, and like bread or something.
I was like, oh, oh.
We're going to get talking all the way.
Legit.
It actually didn't taste that bad, but it was a hundred percent like olives just an olive salad it was olive salad with tuna on top of it
i can't hot tuna was that no no i mean like yeah if you have to ask if it's hot if that makes it
even worse like you know it's pretty bad.
So yeah, olives, hate those.
Sun-dried tomatoes, ugh.
Oh, I love them.
Oh, you know what?
I don't like Mediterranean food that much because it's all that kind of stuff.
It's a lot of foods I don't like floating in oil.
And no shade on, I love like certain Mediterranean foods, but a lot of them have like the grape leaves, the sun dried tomatoes, the olives, it's all in there. Um, I also wait, there was a fruit.
Oh, honeydew. Fuck honeydew. Oh, I agree. Oh, honeydew is disgusting. It's so bad. And it's
also the, like, I feel like we hate it now because you always get
it in like the grossest settings to like on like an airplane, like you're in like an overseas flight
and it looks like it's been sitting out for 10 hours and you get little chunks of honeydew and
it's, I've eaten honeydew once that I liked one time. And that means it's not a good food. You know, like if you've eaten it a hundred times
and one time it was good, it's not a food we should eat. Um, and then I also hate papaya.
I know that's like, everybody loves papaya. I think it tastes like a fart.
It tastes like it smells. It smells so bad. I don't know that I've ever noticed the smell of papaya,
but now I'm going to have to test that out.
So one time I was in Nicaragua on a trip
and I had this bungalow to myself.
I was on a brand trip, a press trip.
And I had a bungalow to myself
and we were in the middle of the jungle on the beach.
I wasn't going to lock like my door, like deadbolted.
It was like a really nice resort.
And so in the morning I woke up and well, in the middle of the night,
I woke up and I heard all this banging downstairs and like plate smashing
and all this stuff in the downstairs of my, my bungalow.
And I was like, okay, this is where I die.
Somehow I drifted off back to sleep, which I was really afraid for my life.
I'm not sure how I fell back asleep.
But then I went down and apparently monkeys had broken in to my room
and they ate everything.
But you know what they left?
The motherfucking papaya on the table.
And I was like, you know what?
These monkeys, they opened my refrigerator.
They didn't even eat this papaya.
See, they don't even like it.
So, you know, if like a rabid group of monkeys
that breaks into your villa doesn't even want the papaya
and it's sliced for them on the table, it's not good.
I mean, that's enough for me.
Wow.
What a disjointed story that I took 10 minutes of this podcast to tell.
This is amazing.
Oh my God.
They're like, we really try to keep this to 30
minutes. No, this is great. I'm so sorry. I love it. No, this has been, uh, you're so fun to talk
to. I love it. This has been great. Um, okay. So what are some of your foods that you just love
too much to give up despite them not maybe being the healthiest?
The aforementioned Taco Bell chalupa steak.
I'm not some heathen.
I go for steak supreme.
Like, we're not, we're not, like, suffering, you know?
Also, I love pizza.
I'll never give a pizza.
Nachos.
And there's something about restaurant cheese
that really is more gooey than like homemade cheese.
I don't know what it is.
What kind?
Are we talking like queso or like just a cheese plate?
Queso. I'm from Texas. So queso or like oh wow cheese plate so queso i'm from texas so queso is like yeah you know queso is like a religion yeah um but like when i see people trying to like
make like a healthy queso i'm just like i don't know man it's supposed to be velveta with rotel
you know and you just put in the microwave it's just what it's supposed to be like it's supposed to be velveta with rotel you know and you just put in the microwave it's just what it's supposed to be like it's supposed to be plastic i get that you're trying to make this out
of nuts but just don't eat it you know just like just be like this is not a food i eat and don't
just don't try to make it out of cashews you know it's it's velveta needs to be just its own project.
And then also, I would say like a lot of Tex-Mex is really like, I can't give that up.
Yeah.
I'm going to have to agree with you on that.
Tex-Mex and queso for me.
Because I grew up in Texas as well. And I mean, yeah.
I feel like Tex-Mex is its own like food group that I'm never going to be able to get rid of.
Well, and also people from California are like, we have the best Mexican food.
I'm like, well, that's not true.
I'm sorry.
It's just not true.
It's just not true.
I feel like, yeah.
What is the difference between it?
I feel like California, it's more like they smother it in like chilies and they love to stuff or like, or like green chili, um, stuff it with French fries.
Whereas Tex-Mex is just like as cheesy as you can possibly get it, which is what gets it for me.
Cheesy, greasy. We fuck with pickled jalapenos. We do not fuck with black beans. We only fuck
with refried beans and they need to be liquid, liquid poured on the plate. You know what I mean?
It needs to be like, you can't tell it's beans.
It just looks like a liquid that's congealed.
That's what it needs to look like.
Our rice does not have vegetables in it.
It's orange.
We don't know why it's orange, but it's orange.
Like it doesn't need to have vegetables in it.
Like that's not it.
It's a lot of flour tortillas, not a lot of corn tortillas cheese california i
feel like either it goes like taco truck like authentic mexican like you know onions cilantro
mode and like 10 different types of salsas yeah or it goes like the french fries stuffed in the
burrito yes i live for that i live for that. I live for that.
Well, we're going to fight you out back after this.
No, but also like, but also Texas,
like a breakfast taco is so much better to me than a breakfast burrito.
I agree.
Oh my God, with the flour tortilla.
Do you remember Taco Cabana?
Oh my God.
Taco C was like a primary food group for me when in like the drunk food
category. Oh, same. Also in high school, we used to sneak out. Sorry, mom and dad, if you're
listening, we would sneak off campus. Like we would skip classes just to go to Taco C and get
a huge vat of queso and just dip flour tortillas in it. And, and, and you know what? That was the
happiest point of my life. Me too. Can we go back to that?
I mean, I was like, yeah, I don't care what this has in it.
And the best flour tortillas were either,
there were two types of really good flour tortillas.
We're not talking about mission.
No offense to mission.
But like, we're not, we're not,
that's not what's our project right now.
They were, you knew they were going to be
really fucked up good if they were like
a little bit see-through
because so much lard
or like very flowery
where you had like
all the extra flour
was on your hands
and it was like pillowy.
Yes.
And you also knew
your life was about
to be fucked up
in the best way
if you walked into the restaurant
and there was a lady
there making the tortillas
like in the middle
of the restaurant
and you were like,
okay, it's on.
It's fucking on. Bring us a basket the tortillas like in the middle of the restaurant you were like okay it's on it's fucking on bring us a basket of tortillas and they would bring like little thing of butter
like why don't we do this also california you have to pay for chips and salsa what is that
wait do you yes most well all the new york all the new York restaurants, you have to order that.
Texas, that's on before water.
That's true.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, immediately before you even get your water, you already have your salsa and your chips.
Yeah.
I mean, they come, they're like, my name is Janet and here's the chips.
They don't even care if you order food.
They want you to have the chips right away.
Right away. even care if you order food they want you to have the chips right away right away going back to the taco bell thing i have loved taco bell for my whole life but then courtney actually made organic
taco bell and it changed my life and i'll i haven't eaten taco bell since that because not only was it
better tasting and or all organic,
it was actually cheaper.
Yeah, we made it cheaper.
Well, is it because you didn't pay like $30 in Postmates fees?
Well, that would have been a factor, but no,
we just went online and we looked exactly how much it would be to do.
Well, we were able to make it cheaper because we did.
Was it four?
I think we did like four meals.
It was like if you order like a meal for, actually, maybe we did it for two. It was maybe, I can't
remember. What did you make? So I made a crunch wrap and those were always, or I'm sorry, not a
crunch wrap. Oh my God. Cheesy gordita crunch. I also love making a crunch wrap, but for this one
specifically, we did a cheesy gordita crunch. Yeah. So this is actually something that we've
been doing. It's like kind of a joint effort between Drake and I, we've been doing on this
podcast where, um, we're trying to make healthy food more accessible for people in general and
to give them other options that are, and we were going into this, we were like, uh, this is going
to be really hard. Like, we're not sure if we're going to be able to pull this off because
essentially we wanted to make healthier versions of like our favorite fast food for cheaper. And we were both like, I don't know,
here we go. Like, it's probably not going to happen. And so far, every single thing that
we've recreated has become, it has ended up being cheaper than the fast food thing, which is crazy.
Like I was not expecting that. I mean, if you can make it cheaper and better tasting and healthier,
like I think that, I mean, besides Velveeta, don't, don't make, just don't make it.
I won't, yeah.
I won't fuck with your Velveeta.
You can make queso, but just don't try to make a Velveeta cheese block out of anything.
No.
It's a dollar. I feel like food accessibility is such a huge issue. And also like the,
the jump from getting food that is healthy,
tastes good.
And people understand that they can have it at a price point that is still
like available to them.
It's so difficult.
Like,
I mean,
truly like that, I feel like needs to be. It's so difficult. Like, I mean, truly like that,
I feel like needs to be like shouted from the rooftop.
So kudos to you guys.
Also now I want a Crunchwrap and you guys are in LA.
You're in LA and you can't make me one from home.
And I cannot simply Postmate a Crunchwrap.
But we can send you the ingredients.
Actually, yeah.
You should tell me what I need to cook
and I'll try it.
I will.
I'll send you some stuff
when we get off here.
But because I will.
And next time,
hopefully I see you
within the next like year or two.
God forbid we're in this
for another year.
I know.
I'm like,
when I finally see you again,
I would love to make you one
because I will say
he was like freaking out
and he's not like, well, he's learning to be healthier now. But when we first met, he was
like all on the Taco Bell train. And again, no shade to that. Like I'm here for whatever anyone
wants to do. Um, but it was cool because when I made him these cheesy gordita crunches, he was
like losing his mind and which, you know, so good. That makes me feel really happy. And I want to do a video where
we do a blind taste test and I taste which one's better. Please, please blindfold me. Let's make
it weird. Oh my God. Let's do it. Also. I'm a little bit scared because yeah. Yeah. Maybe mine
won't, well, maybe mine won't live up to it, but no, I it will and also i mean the fact that it just hasn't been
like sitting in some plastic bag for 45 minutes um on the way to your house like anything will
be better than that also another project i want to do the bean and cheese taco the bean and cheese
burrito with like no onions no red sauce is my order so i'll need one of those too when we film
this okay writing this down maybe this is what you. So I'll need one of those too when we film this. Okay.
Writing this down.
Maybe this is what you guys can do to promote both of these episodes.
There we go.
There we go.
But I need, I want, but I really want Courtney to make it for me.
Because I want her expertise and her loving hands.
Man, if only I could send like a drone.
No, we're going to do a follow-up video episode to this in one year,
marking our anniversary
of this podcast.
And we're going to do
a blind Taco Bell
full menu taste test.
Oh my God, let's do it.
I'll do Crunchwrap Supreme.
We got Cheesy Gordita Crunches.
What was the other one?
Bean Burrito.
Yeah, Bean Burrito.
Chalupas.
Ooh, those little cinnamon twisties.
Yes.
Oh my God.
I feel like I just air fry that bitch.
We're going to go.
I'm so hungry.
Wait,
can we just go to New York?
I want to get the fuck out of LA.
Come to New York.
Book tickets now.
It's still weird here too.
Not as weird as LA.
Um,
but,
but yes,
let's,
let's mark our anniversary in this way.
I would love that.
Let's fucking do it.
It would be so good.
Oh, man.
Well, I mean, I feel like we're kind of coming to a close here.
I don't know if there's anything else that you want my listeners to know,
something maybe we didn't cover about mental health, you know, anything.
Tell us about your podcast.
Yes, tell us about your podcast.
So my podcast is an advice-based podcast.
I have
amazing guests like Courtney on, and it's every Wednesday and it's called Press Send.
We called it that because you can email us and press send on your queries, your problems,
your needs for advice. We talk about sex, relationships, body image, family, literally
any problem that you might have. One girl,
her boyfriend kept getting Charlie Chaplin tattoos. It's really runs the gamut. And, um, we try to have a lot of fun, but also have some like good heartfelt conversations. So
find me over there and definitely listen to Courtney's episode with me.
Yes, please do. And also Sinead, you're so good with advice. So I definitely recommend that
podcast because she, you just give really great, no, you know, no bullshit advice. It's great. It's really
refreshing. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Well tell everyone where they can find you besides your
podcast. Yeah. You can find me in the podcast. Um, and you can find me on Instagram at Sinead
Alexander, C H I N A E, spelled like every other Alexander in history.
And wait about three to six months to find me on TikTok.
I'm going to be TikTok famous then.
Once I figure out how to use the dang thing.
And yeah, just come along and hang.
Definitely follow her on Instagram.
Her rants on her stories are hilarious
and truly like a
just a shining beacon of light during
these dark times thank you for
just saying that because I sometimes
feel like I'm just talking into a void
no it's great
well thank you so much for coming on today Sinead this was really
fun thanks for having me guys
yeah guys. This is a resident media production produced by Drake Peterson and mixed by Chris McCone.
The song is by Georgie. As always, please don't forget to rate and review the podcast.
It really helps me in this show a lot.
See you next week. I know that smile is funny.