The Bossticks - Yovana Mendoza On Raw Veganism Vs. Meat Diets, Detoxes, Internet Scandals, & Finding Healthy Balances In LIfe

Episode Date: September 14, 2023

#609:  Today, we're sitting down with Yovana Mendoza, formerly known as "Rawvana," a raw vegan influencer. Yovana has transitioned to a non-vegan diet after a health scare and is here to talk about what she's learned throughout her transition to animal-based foods. Yovana is a Mexican-American wellness and healthy living content creator & in addition to sharing her life on social media, she focuses on self-love, self-discovery, and living a balanced life with her family. Today, Yovana joins us to discuss all things raw veganism, how it negatively affected her body, what she's learned about herself since incorporating animal protein into her diet, and how to deal with an internet scandal.   To connect with Yovana Mendoza click HERE To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE To subscribe to our YouTube Page click HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential.    Our newest product, le spoon Body Sculptor is available for pre-order beginning on 9/12/23. Designed from scratch, and oversized as always, LE SPOON BODY SCULPTOR is made of aluminum in a proprietary shape that allows for easier body sculpting.  The silicone handle allows for a no-slip grip, ensuring your tool goes where you want it to go. This episode is brought to you by Vegamour With Vegamour, you're able to have visibly thicker, fuller, shinier, longer hair, all without the harsh ingredients. Vegamour's products are 100% cruelty free and not formulated with any harsh chemicals. Visit vegamour.com/skinny and use code SKINNY at checkout to get 20% off your first order. This episode is brought to you by Ritual Ritual knows it's basically impossible to get all the nutrients you need from your diet 100% of the time, so they made a multivitamin that helps you focus on what's important. Like filling key nutrient gaps to support foundational health. Go to ritual.com/skinny to receive 30% off your first month. This episode is brought to you by Conair Introducing the new Curl Secret by Conair, your new favorite styling tool for effortless curls. Shop Curl Secret by Conair, exclusively at Ulta. This episode is brought to you by Westin Hotels At Westin hotels, there's amenities and offerings aimed to help you move well, eat well, and sleep well, so you can keep your well-being close, while away. Find wellness on your next stay at Westin. This episode is brought to you by Lume Lume's starter pack is perfect for new customers. It comes with a Solid Stick Deodorant, Cream Tube Deodorant, two free products of your choice & free shipping. Visit LumeDeodorant.com and use code SKINNY to get $5 off a Lume Starter pack. This episode is brought to you by Green Chef Kickstart your clean eating routine this year with 80+ weekly options featuring nutritionist & foodie approved recipes. Go to greenchef.com/60skinny to get 60% off and free shipping on your order. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a dear media production. Before we get into Yovana Mendoza's episode, I wanted to tell you that we are doing a pre-order. Okay. This is an exclusive pre-order on Shop Skinny Confidential. We have entered the body category. This is a category that I have been wanting to enter for so long, but I really wanted to do it right. So I went to you guys and I asked you what you wanted about two years ago. and so many of you came back that you wanted a body sculpting tool.

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We're doing a pre-order right now. And I'll definitely do some video on this so you guys can see the visuals. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness.

Welcome to the Skinny Confidential. Him and her. Uh-huh. 2018 comes around, and that was the year that I started to really feel like, okay, this is, like, I'm really not feeling great. And I always felt hungry. I would carry a bag of supplements everywhere I went. Like, I would take so many supplements. And then at the time, one of my team members that was with me, she was vegan for 10 years.

And she had just switched to eating animal protein. And she's like, what if you just incorporate some eggs into your diet? Like maybe this will help you feel better. And that's when I started to like toy around with the idea, like, maybe this is what I need to do because I've already tried eating all the tofu, all the tempe. And so once I got married, it was like, okay, I want to be a mom eventually. I want to get pregnant. So I kind of have to think about like my body and my health a little bit more seriously.

We've got a story for you today on the podcast. Yvana Mendoza, formerly known as Ravana. A lot of you might recognize her as Ravana. She used to be a raw vegan influencer. And today, she's talking about how she transitioned to a non-vegan diet after a health scare. She'll tell you all about her story, creating healthy living content, her life on social media. She has millions of followers. And she went through this crazy transition in front of a lot of people.

And there were a lot of haters and trolls. We also talk about her experience with incorporating animal protein into her diet. and of course how she deals with internet scandal. Yovana's super open on this episode. I think it's like you've never seen her before. Yovana, welcome to the Him and Her show. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. I am so curious how you even got into raw food to begin with. Like, is this something that you saw on a commercial? Did you read it in us weekly? Did a friend tell you about it. Like, how do you even get into raw food? So the way that it happened, it was 2013, and I had just had my surgery to get implants. So I got an implant surgery. The doctor was like,

hey, you know, after surgery, you can't drink, you can't smoke because I was smoking cigarettes at the time. I was like drinking and just like being like a normal, just person, you know, I was living in Mexico City working. And I was like, okay, well, I guess I'm. I'm going to use this as like a little detox. Maybe I'll lose some weight. So then I got the surgery and I was like for the first time in my life, like in bed just like with myself. I can drive. So I don't know why, but I started asking myself questions. Like what's my purpose here? I started realizing that I wasn't truly like happy and like nothing excited me in life. So I came up to my dad and I was like, hey, like, I'm going through this.

Like, what do you think I should do? Because at the time, I was already taking anxiety meds. And so he's like, hey, go to this place called Optimum Health Institute in San Diego. And you're going to go detox there. And he had been there because he's always suffered from a lot of allergies and addictions to, I'll all get to that. So he's like, go there. You'll detox.

You'll eat raw foods and drink juice and get massages. And I was like, okay. So I was there for a week. And then after a week of, so I got there and all you could eat was raw foods. And I had never heard of this term. Like I knew about vegetarianism, but I never knew about raw foods. So a lot of the people there that were there, they were actually sick. They had cancer or had diabetes or high blood pressure.

And I was the youngest person there. So then I started feeling really good. Like I just started feeling like a lot of energy. And I was like, oh my gosh. like maybe this is what I need to do. Just like change my, like do this for a little while. And then I ended up staying two weeks. And then at the second week, I was like, okay, I think what I need to do to feel better is to stop drinking alcohol.

So how often were you drinking? Like I was having blackouts every weekend. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. Just like I didn't. You're getting after it. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It was just like I extended my party season from college to. you know, being in my 20s. And so... A lot of people do that. I may have been guilty of that at times. It was fun, but I feel like I was getting to a point where it was just getting out of hand.

And I realized that it wasn't leading me down a good path. So I grew up Christian, you know, I believe in God and Jesus. And so I knelt down like one day, like random, like I hadn't prayed in years. And I was like, God, like, I need help. Like I know that I have to stop drinking alcohol, but I can't really do it in. alone. I need like a higher power to help me. So honestly, like after that day, I just didn't really feel like that much of a craving. I did have like a few drinks after that. But that was like the thing that I was like, I have to substitute whatever I was doing. So I went to a total extreme of eating

raw foods, juicing. I got a juicer of Vitamix. Like I was like, I'm going to do this. I got books and then I went back to Mexico City and I started doing this and I was like, who's like even eating this way? Because I kept the raw foods after the detox. Would you say you have an addictive personality or was it just something you're just like partying a lot? I definitely feel like, so alcoholism does run in my family from both sides from my mom and my dad. They don't drink anymore. No one like barely any, a lot of my family members are actually an AA because it's like a known thing. I definitely feel like I have addictive extreme tendencies, which I am like always like I'm very aware of that. So I try to like keep myself balance and check.

And when just to go back for one second, you said that when when you decided to go to this clinic after you got your implants that you were unhappy, looking back before that what was making you unhappy? Was it the alcohol? I think it was like when you drink, you get into a depressive state and like alcohol alcohol is like a like I don't know if you've ever had just like the Sunday what do you call it like when Sunday scary we've had a couple of the Sunday scary I thought 20 of the Sunday no but you know that just felt like my life you know I want to be careful on how I say this but I think there's people who obviously really struggle with addiction and can't partake in substances at all because it just doesn't fit their psychological makeup or

their personality. Then I think there's some people that have just got into this habitual social drinking space, right? Like, Lauren and I did that. And I don't think people realize how much that stuff affects their system until you really get it out of your system for a while. And we've talked about it on the show taking long, long breaks and it completely changed our relationship. But I think sometimes people, they go through life like, hey, I'm a little depressed or I'm a little off or something's not right. And they don't think like, hey, well, I'm drinking alcohol every single week multiple times a week. And maybe they don't have quote unquote an addiction or a problem with it like some people in an AA do or whatever. But I don't think they really understand

what it's like to have it out of their life and how much different you feel when your body completely detoxes from it. A hundred percent. And that's what I felt. Like I had never had it completely out of my life for many years. And I think when I experienced that, I was like, like I kind of felt like how I felt when I was younger like 15, 16 when I didn't drink. And, um, and I felt great. And I started, you know, at this place I learned about the importance of getting sunlight and like exercising and walking and like what is a chiropractor and colonics and wheat grass juice and all like I was introduced into this wellness world that I was like, oh my gosh, is this amazing? Like I was just, I don't know why I was.

so attracted to it. So, um, so I left there and I like stopped smoking because I was smoking like half a pack of cigarettes. I lived in Paris. I went to college and I lived in Paris for like three and a half years. So like I picked up the habit of smoking cigarettes. And I just started living my life differently. And then as I was doing this, I started sharing it on my personal social media. Like I started sharing like the juices that I was making, the smoothies. And then like my friends started asking like, oh, what are you doing? Like, what's this recipe? And it kind of, like, there was a word of mouth that, like, people started just following me on, like, my personal Instagram and Facebook. And then one of my friends was like, you should open up a blog. And I was

like, what's a blog? And she's like, it's this website and you'll, like, write on there. You can put your recipes. And, like, I want to see all of that. You should do it. And I was like, okay, I'll do it. So I did it. And it was like kind of like my little hobby, you know, like afterwards. I would go and like I was so excited to like write on my blog and stuff. And and then eventually I was like, who else is doing this? So I went on YouTube and I found some people that were raw vegans. And I was like, oh my gosh. There's like there's like a whole community of these people. Are we talking like freely the banana girl? Is that like the is that the moment in time? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Frily the banana girl, fully raw Christina and of some other people. And I was.

like, oh my gosh, but I was like, they're like, like, this is like a lifestyle. This is like a thing. So then because everywhere, I was living in Mexico City, I would go to restaurants and I'd be like, I'm raw vegan. People would be like, what's that? Like this is like 10 years ago. And then they were like, they didn't even know what vegan was. They were like, oh, can you eat cheese? I'm like, no. So then eventually I was like, I said, I want to learn more. And I want to help people because I was getting so many questions. So I signed up for IIN for Institute of Integrated Nutrition to become a health coach and like learn more about holistic healing. And then I found Dr. Graham who was like this raw food chiropractor doctor who wrote a book,

the 801010 diet. And so I reached out to him. I went to all of his retreats. And I got like really into it. I was like, I want to know everything there is to know about raw foods. And I want to teach people because I really think. thought that that was the healthiest way that you could eat. And at this point, what are you noticing from eating raw? Like, looking back, what are the things that you were, that you were like so obsessed with this way of eating? Tons of energy, but I almost felt like high, you know, like a, like a, like happy all the time. A lot of energy. I was exercising, running a lot. And I just felt like very clear-minded, But now looking back, I was like kind of like in a cloud.

Like I was not very grounded at all. It was like kind of like a high, you know? But I felt really good. And I think a big part of it was because obviously I cut out all these things. That's the thing I always ask. All these like bad things. People in this space is, you know, and I'm sure we're going to get into some of the meat and some of those choices. But what were some of the things that you cut out immediately?

Like obviously you're saying smoking. or alcohol, meat, dairy, I mean, grains, I mean, anything cooked. All I ate was raw foods, raw fruits and vegetables. Like, give us a day in the life when you're eating raw. Like, tell me, what are you waking up? Raw means you can't cook anything? You don't cook anything. So you wake up, I would eat like half a watermelon.

I don't know, fruit, usually half a watermelon or like five mangoes. And then for lunch, it would be like an asci bowl or a smoothie with just fruit. can add granola because that's cooked. And then dinner would be like a huge salad with like an avocado dressing. Can I ask maybe an ignorant question? People always get mad at me with these, but I understand ethical choices around going vegan or plant-based, right? If you have a problem with eating meat, I don't understand the health perspective, which I'm sure we're going to talk about, but I understand the ethical reasons. I don't understand at all why people would feel inclined to not cook their food.

Explain it to them. Yeah, because I understand, but he needs a little. So the reason is, I mean, this is what raw food is will tell you is because when you cook food, you like, kill all the nutrients. So you're not getting the nutrients from the food. So you're cooking the fruits and the vegetables. And so when you eat them raw, you're eating them in their purest form. And so your body is like absorbing everything better.

Okay. Which like now to me doesn't make sense because it's really hard. hard to digest a lot of these foods that I was eating, like the big salads. And so since it's hard to digest them, it's hard for your body to extract those nutrients too. Here's what I will say, and I would like, you're the perfect person to ask this to. If someone gets diagnosed with a disease, and they say, okay, I'm going to focus all my energy on fighting this disease. And I'm going to cut out smoking and I'm going to cut out alcohol and I'm going to cut out meat and I'm going to cut out cut out, you know, processed cheese and just gets really, really, like, specific with their diet

and changes to vegan. Yeah. They are obviously going to feel better because they've cut out alcohol and smoking and the shitty meat. And so this is where it becomes tricky. Yeah. Because they're obviously going to feel better that they've cut out all these toxins. Mm-hmm.

But I think where we're running into a problem as a society is people are becoming complete extremist. Yeah. Yeah. So keep going with your story because I feel like you're the perfect person to talk about it. Yeah. So I mean, I have one of my really good friends. She had cancer, thyroid cancer. And so she went on a raw foods diet for like a couple of years and went through all this like healing. And she she healed. And I feel like the diet. Now she eats normal. Now she eats everything. But yeah, I think that's what happens to a lot of people. They like cut out all these things and they think, oh, meat was the problem. Dairy was the problem. They think all these things was a problem when in fact it was the processed food.

It was the junk food. It was the alcohol, the cigarettes. Or the shitty meat. Or the sugar. Yeah. Where's the meat coming from? Exactly. Where is the meat coming from?

So that's where that's that's what I thought. You know, like I would, I would tell people like eating meat is like like it's, it's so bad for you. Your arteries are going to get clogged up. You're going to like feel lethargic. And it's and because also I was just. feeding my my like I was just getting information from like a bias like from just the plant base and the vegan movement so and that's all I wanted to know too like I was completely close to everything else because I really thought that this was like the healthiest way of eating but after a few years like

my body just started to not feel as great like the first two years you know I felt really good and I feel like part of it was because my body still had like nutrient reserves you know but eventually like I started feeling like my my my period went away I didn't have a period for for like two years which was you know off and then and then the raw food is would be like oh that doesn't mean that you're not ovulating like it's like it's okay if you don't have a period so yeah yeah yeah like the like so um yeah so eventually I went to get blood work done and then I was deficient in some things. And so I was like, okay, I'm going to my, I was already craving cooked food. So year three, I include cooked like sweet potatoes and beans and rice. And I just switched to a vegan diet.

So I switched to a vegan diet. And then I felt a little bit better. But then it just, it wasn't great, you know, like my, my gut wasn't like my digestion wasn't great. My hormones weren't getting better. My iron levels, like, were never, like, at the optimal. And so... Do you were measuring this stuff with a, with a doctor as you were, as you were progressing? Yes, yes. I was measuring. Ever since I switched to a vegan from raw vegan to vegan, I was like measuring and, like, I, like, I was never, like, super, super deficient, but I was never at, like, a good optimal level. And then I could also, I got to a point eventually where I had to just be honest with myself and be like, okay, like, is, like, do you really feel good? Like, do you feel like,

do you really just, like, is this really working for you? And just get that, like, and once I had that conversation with myself, I was like, okay, I'm going to really do this. So I started to seek out doctors, like vegan doctors and being, and being open about this. Like, hey, listen, I'm not feeling great. But there's something that you also have to speak on. Simultaneously, as this is going on, you have a huge following. Yes. How much anxiety are you having? Your name on YouTube is Rawvana.

Yes. Okay, so you are known as the raw food girl. Yes. So I can only imagine at that time, because I remember that time, when the trolls were really out. I mean, they're still out. So what happened? You cook a sweet potato and people lose their sugar.

Like, when you're cooking a sweet potato all of a sudden, what's going on? Like, you got to take us through, like, because you're almost living two lives. You're living like this parallel life where it's your real life. And then you have this online persona. For sure. Yeah. So I forgot to mention that. So as I'm going through this journey of being raw vegan and vegan, I'm also sharing

all of this. So my social media starts growing. And then eventually I changed my name to Ravanna. So everyone called me Ravanna. Like even my parents called me Ravanna. My sister, my brother. And also one thing, so when I started my YouTube channel, I was a lot of, I was, the only Hispanic, Spanish-speaking vegan on YouTube for like three years. Like there was no one

else on there. And she's not going to say this, but you were, I mean, you still are huge. This is not like, you didn't have like a couple thousand followers. Well, I imagine that community rallied around you as well. Yeah. Because you, you were one of the only ones. I was, I mean, I, I like helped like the, that community grow in Latin America. Sure. So yeah, that's, that's actually like how my, how my social media started. So when I, I, I like, I like, I like, I like, I like, I got on YouTube and I saw all these people doing raw foods. I was like, there's no one doing this in Spanish. Like, there's no one. Like, why is no one talking about it? It's like, there's no information on, like, raw foods, vegan, veganism. And so I was like, I'm going to do it. And so I went back to live to San Diego

to my parents' house and I started my YouTube channel. And it just also all, like, it all like really aligned. Like, I found a guy who was like, he found me and he's like, hey, I want to help you start a YouTube channel. So he would come to my house. He would film. He would edit. He would do all of these things. And I like didn't really have to do much. So I was like, oh my gosh, it's like meant to be like everything is just happening. And I was really and like I was helping a lot of people. I was like it's like I don't I don't want to make it seem like, oh, veganism is all bad. Most of the people that follow me and that followed me at at the time were people who were just trying to eat more fruits and vegetables. And so that's bad at all. I think where you maybe get into some difficulty is when people go so extreme and they make it their identity.

Yes. Like your diet becomes who you are. Yeah. Which is always kind of a strange thing. It's like if if if the majority of who you are is based around the food you're eating, that's a weird position to be in. Oh yeah. Yeah. For sure.

And then that's what happened to me. I mean, it became part of my identity. It was like my name and like and it was, yeah, the social media like it just exploded. It grew a lot. And so as I'm like starting to not feel great on this vegan diet, I'm like, you know, having millions of people follow me. So I have ebooks out. I'm, you know, I have my app. I have, I'm working with brands. So it's this whole like brand that I've built on veganism. Like I was like I had the flag. Like I am the vegan Latina. So what's the first little trickle of the sweet potato? How did you, how did you implement the lentil? into this conversation. I was joking. Was it really a sweet potato

that said people? It was a pumpkin. Well, that was like when I first, when I went to, when I started eating vegan and I remember, you know,

this is, this is why though. Listen, I know people, people on the internet are wild. The reason that I personally have never been able to take anger on the internet seriously.

Yeah. I'm going to see again, like, I've just never cared about what people, are flustered about is because I am now sitting on this show learning that people are mad that somebody cooked a fucking pumpkin. And they've lost it.

I need to hear like the pumpkin story. I'm facing. Tell me. I mean, there's a video on YouTube where I'm like eating my first cooked food and I don't know how many time I see a bad comment. I'm like, are you one of the people that's mad about the pumpkin? That's what goes through my mind.

And listen, it's completely warped my idea of what I perceive to be reasonable to be upset about. and now I just discount what everyone's upset about because I can't trust the glasses on the internet anymore. Yeah, well, the raw food community was not happy, actually. I bet they're going to be pissed about this. Yeah, I remember when I went to a raw food festival and Canada, and I was a speaker, but I was no longer raw vegan. Like, I got some looks.

But I think when I went from raw vegan to vegan, it wasn't that big of a deal because I feel like a lot of people, most of the people were happy because they're like, like, I don't have to be raw vegan, you know? Or like they didn't feel... It was a little bit of a relief. It was a little bit of a real. And it was just like, there's obviously more vegans than raw vegans out there.

So let me ask you this. I imagine at the time when this is going on and you're in this microcosm where you're getting maybe some flak, it probably feels, you know, intense. Right? People are attacking you online and you're in this community that feels very sizable because it's this cause me the internet. But if you then went to somebody maybe outside that community, said, hey, I'm in this big fight, this person's really mad that I cook this pumpkin. They would think that they were crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it was, I mean, but for me, it was a big deal. Because I was, I was, I was truly, I didn't eat, I did not eat one cooked

thing for three years. Like, even everything, like, even I wouldn't even eat, like, raw or like cooked cashies. Well, I'll say this about you then. You are disciplined. So when you get on the video and you say I'm eating my first cooked food and you eat a pumpkin, what's the reaction? Tell me exactly what it's like. Most people, like I said, were happy. They were like, they were like, oh, like you're listening to your body, like, good for you. And I feel like I hadn't been, like I had been raw vegan for three years. You know, it's not like I had been rob vegan for like 10 years. And yeah, it wasn't, it wasn't actually that big of a deal. It was a big deal when I said.

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she was the blonde vegan and she switched to the balanced blonde. And when she made that switch, I will never forget how she got attacked. I mean, it was out of control. Yes. Well, she, that's when she made the transition from vegan to animal protein. So that's another transition that I made. Yes, that was like, I mean, that's, that was four years ago. That's the one where the pitchforks come out. That's, yeah, that's the, that was the bomb that exploded. Okay. So what, so after the pumpkin, how does it transpire? So after the pumpkin, I'm vegan for three years. And this is when my, this is when my everything, like my brand really grew a lot more because I was vegan. So I could reach a bigger audience. So it wasn't just like raw food challenges. It was like I could, you know, more people could

actually do this. So that's when I had like my ebooks coming out. And so that's when I had just like everything just grew more like because I was yeah I was reaching broader audience yeah so then 2018 comes around and that was the year that I started to really feel like okay this is like I'm really not feeling great just my digestion my gut my hormones and just like mentally I was always like very anxious and I always felt hungry like I didn't like I was like why am I always hungry I was eating all day And so that's when I started to work with vegan doctors. I would literally like carry a bag of supplements everywhere I went because I was like, okay, this is for my iron, for my zinc.

Like I would take so many supplements. And it was like not really working for me. So I moved from San Diego to L.A. in 2018. And then at the time, one of my team members that was with me, she was vegan for 10 years. and she had just switched to eating animal protein. She's like, what if you would just incorporate some eggs into your diet? Like maybe this will help you feel better. And that's when I started to like toy around with the idea.

Like maybe this is what I need to do because I've already tried eating all the tofu, all the tempe, you know, adding more protein and blah, blah, blah, blah, and like nothing was working. So then I got married at the end of 2018. And so once I got married, it was like, okay, I want to be a mom eventually. I want to get pregnant. So I kind of have to think about like my body and my health a little bit more seriously. Question.

Was the was not eating animal products specifically a health choice or was there a moral reason as well? It was more of a health choice. So you didn't have a problem incorporating eggs from a moral standpoint? No. I mean, I obviously I, when I was vegan, it was kind of like, oh, a three and one. You're helping the animals, the planet, and your, in your health. So, but it was more for health.

reasons. So when I, when I started to, like, I finally made the decision. I was like, okay, I'm going to eat eggs. I'm, I'm like decided. This was the beginning of 2019. But I wasn't ready. I was like, okay, this is the real truth. I had just launched my program, an ebook that year at the beginning of the year. And that was a big reason. I was like, I can't do both things at once. I can't launch this thing that I've been like working on for the whole year and, you know, invested all this money in R&G. And so I'm going to like stack them. So I'm going to launch this. And then I'm going to come out and like say what I've been doing. And so that like, you know, like looking back, I feel like I maybe would have just been like straight up honest from the

beginning, you know, and that's like something that I learned and that I like, you know, take responsibility for. But at the time, I was like, I just need to try this out for myself and like see what happens. So that's when I started eating eggs. at the beginning of 2019. And then after like two months of incorporating eggs, how, so I, I felt, I honestly didn't feel like much of a difference at the beginning. Also, I had CBO. So that was like the thing that like helped like made me change my diet. So I found out I had Cbo and CBO is small intestinal bacteria overgrowth. So anything I ate would make me blow like a like a pregnant woman. And I would have, I would go days with diarrhea, days with constipation, days with

area days like that like for months. Oh, Christ. It was bad. It was really bad. And so I was like, I went on this very strict Sebo diet. This is when I first started incorporating animal protein. Quick question. Yeah.

Did they ever tell you what the root cause of Sebo is or what they think it might be? Well, I think it's just, just I wasn't eating my gut properly. So it was like an overgrow. I think it was just too many carbs, like too much, too much sugar in my, in like an overgrowth of, I think after just so many years of just like my body not digesting properly a lot of these foods. And then you add the stress from just, I was like working so much at the time. I was like 12 hour, you know, work days like filming and just traveling so much. And I wasn't really taking care of myself. So then, yeah, I start, I go on this strict SIBO diet and I start

feeling good. I add eggs and fish. Like, those were the two things I added. I had to completely cut out all grains, all fruit. I only ate like veggies and fish and eggs for like two months. And I started to feel like a little bit better. But then that's, so then the news came out that I was not eating animal protein. Oh, do you mean? The news. Like, did someone like take a picture of you? Yes. I think that's what Brent told me. Someone took a picture of you while you were eating. It was a video. Okay, tell me, tell me about that. So what happened was that I was in, I was in Bali. I was on a trip with like these bloggers. And one of the girls, when we got back, she posted a blog on her YouTube channel. And I was eating fish in the video. And she, quote unquote, forgot to take it out. And she has at the time like nine million followers on YouTube. So the video comes out. And and then an hour later, she's like, shit, the video, you're eating fish. I took it down already.

I'm going to repost it and like cut that part out. But by that time, like, there was already like videos on YouTube of people being like Yovana's eating fish. So when that happened. I'm trying to. Ravana is eating fish. So that is what, I think that's what like, I think that's why the news became like so viral was because the way that the news came.

came out. It was like somebody outed you and then they were looking at you like, hey, you're not being truthful about the content. To all your followers. What is going on in your head in your home when this happens? Like, are you crying? Are you laughing? Are you indifferent? I was crying. You were crying. I mean, I was crying. I was like, I mean, this is like the consequences of like not being honest. Like I, I, this is, yes, people made a big deal out of it. And it was like just the perfect, perfect story to like, you know, influencer with millions of followers gets caught eating fish, you know, you know, and so it was like this thing where I knew that, but then I also, I was like, there's nothing I can do about it. Like this is just the way it happened. And all I can do is just

like sustain the storm. Yeah, I mean, not to pick on on you specifically. Obviously, you've had to pay the price for a lot of this and go through the repetitions of, you know, people online attacking you and stuff. But I think this is, it's a problem for a lot of people that start to build a brand and a specific niche that they then grow out of because it's like your livelihood and your living and your identity and your community is based in this whole life. And that doesn't, not just for diet, but there's a lot of people that, you know, whether it's fitness or health or whatever, whatever field they've chosen, make up beauty. And they pigeonhole themselves. And then they can't evolve out of it because they've like, they've niche so hard down into this specific thing. Right.

And I think that's going on. So I always tell people, like, you got to really like be careful what you do and what you put out on the internet. Because for sure, especially if you're building a business off of yourself personally, you're going to personally change, especially, you know. I think though there's this is a two-pronged approach to this. You have to be able to change your mind. There has to, like, I understand that people think, oh, because she ate like this, she has to eat like this for the rest of her life. That is an immature thought process. You have to be able to change your mind.

And if you're following someone and you're not allowing space for them to evolve and change their mind, then that's a you problem. It's really not the creator's problem. But I think what you're saying is you got in some hot water because you had built a business and were monetizing off of a specific lifestyle and then you changed that lifestyle. Yes. And people found out without you being able to tell them first. For sure.

Or sure. That was the scandal. But yeah, I totally, yeah, I agree with that. like I really, I labeled myself as like, I am vegan, you know, so I really learned to not label myself. Yeah. And to, I think it's okay to have like a niche, but like your person is like, yeah, like everyone has, is going to evolve and change. But it was just so sudden and no one really expected it.

So I think that was a big part of it. And the vegan community is also very like, they can be very mean because I don't know why. They're just like not like the nicest people. Like all my quote unquote vegan friends that I had at the time, they just like completely like nixed me out of their life. Like are they still vegan now? Some of them. Not all of them though. I think, well, listen, we've had Paul Saladino on the show and Paul not to pick on you, but he went through a change to where it was carnivore MD.

And now it's Paul Saladino because he's saying like he's incorporating other things other than just meat. There's fruits and there's honey and there's all these things. And he used to be raw too, right? Yeah, he was raw vegan. Yeah. I did hear. I did listen to that. But no, I think we're people, especially what I was saying earlier, people who make diet their identity, they tend to be in my experience.

And again, like just interviewing a lot of people, the people that are the most touchy about people may be questioning their lifestyle because it's become, it's no longer, hey, I've chosen this diet and I think it's healthy. And it's like, no, this is who I am. And if you attack people who they are, that's why I think they get so upset, right? For sure. Yeah, yeah, because it becomes like your identity and then you become part of a community that you meet other people who think like you. So it just you feed off of that. Yeah, it's hard for me to talk to people that are so far on the meat side and so far on the vegan side because I'm personally trying to get to the logic of like what is the healthiest for myself, my family. Yeah. But sometimes that can't happen because if you question their way of life, it's like you're not questioning the diet anymore. You're questioning them as a person. Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah, they take it very personal. Yes.

Yes. So, yeah, I had definitely fallen into that at one point. And I think I was just, I was like, health is like the main reason I got into this. And that doesn't feel like it's, like it's my priority anymore. So I was like, I need to go back to why I started all of this. And it was because of health. It wasn't because of veganism. It was like to feel good.

So, yeah, the news. blows out. It goes viral all over the world. And it was like, like, from one day to the next, it was like just, you know, you're at the top and like everyone loves you. And then like the next day, it's like you're getting hate on every single thing. Like every single post for a year, at least, was getting hate. Like, so I was like, at one point I was like, do I really want to keep doing social media? Like, it was just a lot, you know, because I was still putting myself out there. But then I, But then I thought about it, I was like, this is what I love to do. And I'm going to just focus on the people that do care.

Because the haters were just really loud. But there were a lot of people that were supporting me and who wanted to know what I was doing. Like, they were, they were curious. And so I focused on that. And then I knew that eventually, you know, some other news was going to come out and I wasn't going to be like top of mind. And I just focused on my health. And I just became like very open to trying whatever it was that I needed to try to like be good and be healthy. And so that's when I learned, you know, about grass fed meats. And we went, my husband and I visited a farm in Orange County. And we saw how the how the cows were grazing around and what they were eating. And even though I wasn't comfortable eating meats yet, I was, it was, I knew that I needed. to educate myself on the other side to just make better informed decisions and also just feel good

about what I was doing. You mentioned off air that when you were eating raw, that you were feeling like hair loss. Oh, yeah. Is that something that when you started eating fish, you felt immediately better? Was that a process? It was a process. And it was a process to switch from being vegan to eating animal protein. because I did feel like guilty for eating protein, not because not so much because of the animals.

I just felt like, like it was just weird. Like I was vegan for so many years. And so it was like a process too. So for the first year, I was still eating like a lot of vegetables and just fish and eggs. Like I wasn't really eating much. So I didn't see much changes in my hair. It wasn't until I moved to Austin two years ago that I got pregnant and that when I, as soon as I got pregnant, I was like, okay, I'm going to get serious about my health. And so that's when I started eating more protein and that's when I saw the change in my hair. You probably felt that way about meat because in a way, it's a little, it's a violation that, like, you eating fish was like put out there.

Yeah. To me, that's kind of a violation of. of your privacy. And so I could understand why even behind closed doors, you have anxiety about eating something. Yeah. Because it's like you associate that with being attacked. Yes. Yeah. I definitely have like gone through therapy until like work through the trauma because it was so. And it's a unique trauma because you can't like call a friend to talk about this because it's what you went through is it's it's not like something a therapist hears every day. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, but it was, it was a lot of online, online hate, yeah, for a long time. There was also, like, what did you say this year was? It was like, like, 2019 or 2018?

2019. Yeah, there was like a weird period time, 2019 to 20, and obviously through 2020, where people were just like revved up online. Yeah. It was just like, yes. People were just throwing heaters out in the comment section. I know. For anything you said. From a health perspective, what were the things you notice different when you were, I'm not even, say raw because I think that was so extreme. But when you were vegan and then when you started incorporating animal protein, like what were the main differences you noticed? And also give us like the bad stuff too. I mean, maybe they're like you notice. Yeah, I want to know the good. You want to know all the things. I don't know if there's any bad things. I think once I really like adopted like eating animal protein, I was okay with eating it and I was eating it more frequently.

I started feeling more of the benefits. And brain fog was one of the big things that I would feel when I was vegan. Like I was just, since I was hungry all the time, it was really hard for me to focus and like not think about food for like three hours or two hours even. So that was like one thing I really, I noticed. Another one was just like more grounded. Some, my digestion, obviously. Like huge difference. Like no more bloating.

Like I don't even know what bloating is. now. That is one thing I think is a myth when people say if you have animal products, you're not going to have good digestion. Yeah. Right? I think like that's just patently false. That if you, oh, so that your digestion is going to improve if you don't eat animal protein. Yeah, that's what I thought too. Yeah. That's what I thought. But then your, so talk about poop, your poop, your poop is just not the same when you're vegan. It's just like, what do you mean? Like, it's just water. Like, it's like a little bit more watery. Like, it's not like fully, I don't know. That was like my case and I and I know some vegans. I mean, listen, again, like people have come on the show and talk about like if you see an

animal going to the bathroom outside, like it's not, he's not like shotgun spraying water out of his ass. It's just like a solid dropping. Right. That's how we're meant to digest as as mammals, right? Yes. As humans. I think. But then it becomes just like a norm in the vegan. Like when you're vegan, it's just like, I don't know. It's. Listen, if you're about to like, launch off the toilet seat and shotgun blast your way, like, your asshole out of yourself. Like, that's, that's probably not good, right? I'm just calling it what it is. Also, your body's not absorbing food as well.

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the number one meal kit for eating well. So what are some practices that you do now to pick out your meat? Because I feel like you are very thoughtful about your health. And I would love to know, like, do you make sure things have certain standards when you're eating them? What is your diet now? So when I moved to Austin two years ago, like I said, that's when I really, I mean, you know, Texas is so meat.

Like, meat is so good here. Like, you can get it from really good sources. And so I started eating a lot of it. I read the book, Real Food for Pregnancy. And I learned a lot there. And I was like, because I had had a miscarriage before. And I was like, okay, I need to, like, really dial down my nutrition during this pregnancy. I started going to the farmer's market.

So I try to get most of my protein from the farmer's market, which is, like, local farmers where I live from. There's like a pork person, lamb, chicken, beef, selfishly, which farmer's market. There's some really good farmers markets out here. Dripping Springs. Dripping Springs. It's really good. Is it on Saturday or Sunday or both? It's Wednesday. Oh. Yeah. It's on Wednesday. Yeah. I'll send you the info. Yeah. It's Wednesday in the, yeah. Yeah, I'll send you the info. Yeah. Maybe I'll come meet you there sometime. Yeah. And you can show you what to get. You'll like, you'll love it. It's actually voted one of the best farmers markets in Texas. I'd like a date there. It's totally. It's totally. It's totally.

different from like a California farmer's market because you go to California and you see all the veggies, all the fruit. Here you get like all the meats. And there's even like a local seafood guy there. So it's really good. So that's where I try to get most of my things. And then also, you know, sprouts or even H.EB has some like good quality like grass fed, grass finished. So that I'm really, yeah, that's really important for me. Like for us for Dorian, my husband and I, like he's like we're both very very picky about like what the quality. And I feel like it makes all the difference. Sure. We get our raw milk also like every week there's a pickup or every other week we pick up our raw milk and raw cheese. You got to give me all these hookups. I'm going to give me all these hookups.

I don't have a raw cheese dealer and raw milk dealer. By the way, it's so good. It's been so hard to get right now. It's like I'm like what is going on? It's a commodity. It's a commodity. Richardson Farms ran out. the one on Barton Creek. I think so. Paul Saladino is the one that talked about it and I was getting Richardson Farm and now I'm trying to find like a dealer to go out milk. I have you. I got you. You get on this co-op.

It's a whole thing. So basically like I, this pregnancy actually I've actually focused even more so on protein because I've been doing more weightlifting. When I first met Brent, I was in my first pregnancy and I was going to him. like two or three times a week, but I was a little bit, like, hesitant to lift much because I was like, I would always tell them like, I don't want my legs to get big because I was coming from like a Pilates background or something. I can hear Brent's response to it in my head. Yeah, he'd be like, they're not going to get big. And so, but I, I wasn't like, I wasn't, I was still in like that

mindset where I want to be like, I thought weightlifting would make me bulky. Now in my second pregnancy. When I found out I was pregnant, I was already like weightlifting. And I just work out from home like dumbbells. But I have noticed that ever since I started to eat a lot more protein, just I have more muscle and I have less cravings. And your body composition shrinks. Yes. That's the craziest part. It's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't get bigger. No. You know what else? This is so weird. I haven't talked about this enough. I've noticed, too, that the skin on my body and on my face. Mm-hmm.

Now, the face could be from mewing and mouth taping. Your skin looks amazing, by the way. It's, I swear to God, lifting weights like that your skin gets tighter to the muscle. It's not that your skin's tighter because you have muscle underneath. But I do think mewing, and I'm obsessed with mewing right now. I'm can't ching. Listen, not to single women. Tongue posture.

Not to single women out here. I'll tell you. Okay. But basically mewing, mewing and mouth taping is like a workout for your jaw in the same way, weights is. But not to single women out here, but I think when men that weightlift hear women say they don't want to get too strong and too big and too bulky. I said that. But we roll our eyes with like, do you understand how hard it is to put on muscle? That's all we try and do. You don't understand that we've been ingrained. We've been ingrained to believe that. And then I think there's a lot of women,

and I've talked about this a little bit, who are genetically thin and long and lean. Yeah. Who come on social media and they're just genetically like. that and they say they do a certain workout and they say they eat a certain way when a big part of it is that they're just genetically like that. There needs to be more conversation around lean women who lift weights all the time. Does that make sense? Yes, that makes sense. A single disadvantage for men, women, anyone in the world. There's not one disadvantage for having a little bit more muscle mass. Oh, no, I can just from like even a structural statement. But I was the same way. I was like, I don't want this to get big. I don't want that to get big. But I noticed.

that my pants now are are falling off me not because because the body composition is shrunk. Yeah. Do you notice that? No, I still have my trust. It takes a year and a half. And again, like, not to pick on a vegan diet. And I think we're going to have somebody on here soon that can speak about, you know, how to properly get the right protein sources if you choose that lifestyle or that diet. But in order to build muscle, obviously, you need abundant protein. sources in order to sustain it. And I think that's like sometimes when people start to struggle with body composition and they're wondering why maybe their skin is getting looser or they're gaining a little bit of weight or they're not having that composition. It's because you need to do the muscle building

and you also need the protein to sustain it. And it's hard if you're not getting the right sources. And there's ways to do it as you know, but it's challenging. I have some business that I need to talk to Yvana about. First of all, what are wellness things that you do in the morning? Before that, can I just say that I feel like this conversation in 2019, I don't think people would be ready to hear. Like, I feel like there's been such a bad connotation on red meat that people are finally realizing and might including myself that like it's actually really good for us and it's not bad. And we need it for everything. So I'm just so happy that we're all opening up to this because I think you have to be,

you have to be open to other ideas. you know, even like no matter what I think, I always try to leave space to hear other people's opinions because it's like what you said earlier when you, when you almost aren't at request for coaching and you can't hear any other ideas besides yourself, it becomes too intense. Yeah. Well, people have to be, we've talked about this on the show. People have to be very careful with extremes because extremes get answered with other extremes. People wonder why there's so much political strife in this country is because some people on both sides went so far left and so far right where it's kind of hard to distinguish where the middle is now. And as it relates to plant

based and meat is like you see this huge push for veganism or plant based diets. And now what do you see? You see a huge push for going all carnivore, all meat. I think people have to be careful with that too. Like there's a middle ground that exists somewhere. That's probably a reasonable choice. But that's the problem with the internet is the loudest, most extreme. voices get the most airplay. Of course. Reasonable people kind of just fall by the wayside. And like, okay, like people like the clickbaity, loud, extreme stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It calls people's attention. Yes. Yeah. Really quick before we get into wellness and beauty, did I hear that you got your implants removed. Yes, I did. You have to just talk a little bit about that. I got them removed in

2019, too. And that was part of my healing journey after I started eating animal protein because I started learning about breast implant illness. And even though I didn't feel like I had like big symptoms of it, it just, I had, well, I was going to initially change the implants, but then I started looking into it. And I was like, maybe I just take them off because I started hearing about like the hormone imbalances that you can have. I thought maybe that could, that was affecting my hair loss because nothing was helping my hair. I felt like nothing was helping it. And so then I was like, I'm just going to remove them because my body like never really accepted. I always had issues with them. And did you notice anything afterwards that was better or worse? I just felt like better like,

you feel lighter. Lighter. Yeah. Yeah. I can't explain it. I get what you're doing. I just feel I felt, I think it was part of the brain fog, the hormone imbalance. I feel like that played a big role in it. And my hair could have been affected by it too. Your hair looks beautiful, which is why you have to tell us before you go beauty and wellness things that you do in the morning and the night. So I'm really big on skincare, like non-toxic skincare. What's your favorite brand? Cocoa Kind is one of my favorite brands.

And I big about, oh, and tallow. I also use tallow. That's tallow on my skin. Talk about that. The best. Super hydrating. Like, I've noticed that just keeping my skin hydrated helps me from getting, like, lines on my forehead or, like, lines that I see sometimes around my eyes. So I've really doubled down on, like, hydrating my skin.

So tallow is beef fat. And beef fat is essentially the oils in it. The fat in it is, like, very similar to the oils that our skin produces, so our skin, like, absorbs it really. well and it doesn't clog up our pores. So I use that as a moisturizer. Now, here's the thing. After Paul Saladino's episode, I went and rubbed beef fat all over my face and my arms because I don't give a fuck. I will rub fucking manure on my face if it's good for it. But the only problem was is my daughter's like, you smell because I smelled like beef tallow. So I went and I was like looking for companies. I found one. I'll post it on my Instagram story. That's a small business. It's amazing.

that does tallow and they like mix it with some essential oils. Is there a brand that you like or are you actually going for the epic beef tallow? Oh no. There is a brand. I just found it. I can't remember the name. Something at Tufanorganics or something like that. I might have it in my office.

Yes. Yes. You need some tallow. I'm telling you, you need a little tallow. You some on the lines, the cursive lines. I'm telling you. Interesting. So, yeah, I found a brand that.

mixes it with olive oil and Jehovah oil and not with coconut oil, which I use the coconut oil for my, coconut oil and tallow for my belly and for my body, but not for my face. Yeah, you don't want to use coconut oil on the face. Okay, so what are some other things that you do, wellnessy beauty? I have, so I use a rosemary oil on my scalp before I wash my hair. So I feel like that's helped the hair growth. And I just rub it all over my scalp before I wash. it and then I like to make a mask, a hair mask with eggs and honey and olive oil. So I mix that and then I just put it on my hair. And then I wash my hair. So that's one thing I do for my hair, my skincare. I do like to use the ice roller. Oh, you're so sweet. I love it. I got you balls.

Oh, thank you. We've come a long way from the raw days. I know. A long way. I don't. Now even be fat all over my skin. So yeah, those are some things I like. to do in the morning and evening. And where can everyone find you, follow, you, support you? What is your next endeavor? You are 32 weeks pregnant. Yes, I am 32 weeks pregnant. Thank you. I'm about to be a mom of two. Everyone can find me on Instagram at Yovana and my YouTube channel. I have two, one in Spanish, one in English, and the one in English is Yovana Mendoza. So they can follow me there as well. I think your story is so cool. And I think it's very courageous of you to be be able to evolve like this on social media in front of everyone.

Because my fucking God, does everyone have an opinion? God damn. Oh my gosh. Everyone does. But you just like, I mean, you've been on social media for many years. You just get like tough skin and then you don't, I don't even read the comments. You don't even, you just know. Or if I read something, I'm like, okay.

Yeah. Thank you for coming on. I will see you at the farmer's market and at Brent. Yes. Yes. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Giving away one body sculpt.

All you have to do is tell us who you want to hear next on the podcast. We love your feedback. Let me know on my latest Instagram at Lauren Bostick and one of you will win the body sculptor. Also, go stock shopshopskinneyconfidential.com.