The Liz Moody Podcast - Brocc Your Body’s Carissa Stanton—Anxiety, Healing From Heartbreak, and The Best BTS The Bachelor Story

Episode Date: January 22, 2020

Carissa Stanton is a recipe developer, healthy living aficionado, and advocate for destigmatizing mental health. We sat down at her brand new apartment to have a super fun, girly chat, where we talk about: A crazy behind the scenes story about what it’s like to actually appear on The Bachelor—this had me dying laughing!! How she transitioned from her full time job to being self employed, including how much money she saved first and how she knew when it was the right time How meditation has helped change her life The mental trick that helped her change her cravings so she actually WANTS healthy food Her long journey to learning to love her body and not compare it to other people Her breakup with her fiance after six and a half years of being together, and how she actually convinced herself to go through with it Her two genius and super specific tips to move through the pain after her breakup Why she loves being single Her anxiety journey and how she combines Eastern and Western practices to go from extreme panic attacks to the thriving, happy life she has now Being “money driven” and how money actually works in the influencer world—with real, hard numbers! You can find Carissa at broccyourbody.com and on Instagram @broccyourbody. We’d both of course love to hear your thoughts and reactions to this episode, so please tag her and me—I’m @lizmoody— so we can continue the conversation over there. Enjoy! PS: The Actually Delicious 10-Day Detox is on sale for 30% off but only through the end of the month. Snag it here so you can do it whenever you want! PPS: Healthier Together is officially a number one best-seller! You can get your copy on Amazon or at lizmoody.com/cookbook. Please keep sending me your creations on Instagram—they make me so happy! This episode is sponsored by Garden of Life, one of my all-time favorite brands. I LOVE putting their collagen in my smoothies (I use the unflavored one three or four times a week) and they just debuted chocolate and vanilla varieties that include a few other types of organic plant-based protein. By using these links, you help let Garden of Life know that you found them through this podcast, which I massively appreciate! This episode is also sponsored by Simple Mills, a company that makes some of the best grain free snacks and baking mixes you can buy. On this week’s episode, I shared how much I love making quick weeknight dinners with their grain free pizza dough and how delicious their soft baked bars are, but honestly, you can’t go wrong with any of their products! You can get a whopping 20% off your order on SimpleMills.com by using the code “healthiertogether20” when you check out. You can also find Simple Mills at Publix and Whole Foods nationwide. Healthier Together cover art by Zack. Healthier Together music by Alex Ruimy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello, friends, and welcome back to the Healthier Together podcast. I am your host, Liz Moody, and I am a journalist and cookbook author living in Brooklyn, although for all of January, Zach and I have actually been staying with his parents in Berkeley, which is in California. It's in the Bay Area, and we've been soaking up all of the sun and family time that we possibly can. This is my first year, honestly, with the flexibility to do that kind of thing. I left my full-time editorial job almost a year ago last February, and honestly, I just wake up every day feeling so great.

grateful. I've gotten to do a ton of hikes with my dad and my sister. And Zach and I went down to LA last week so I could do some amazing podcast interviews and see friends down there, which is always so, so lovely. And of course, the sun, did I mention the sun? I have such a hard time with New York winter. So the sun is fueling my soul. Speaking of gratitude, your feedback on the last episode of the podcast with Claire Bowen has just been so abundant and amazing. And I'm so glad that so many of you moved and inspired by her story as I am. I have an amazing episode today, but it's definitely a little bit lighter. I thought we could use something that was really fun and chatty, like sitting on the couch with girlfriends, but we also delve into some really serious issues. You know,

I love these conversations to be real and honest and inspiring, but I also like it to feel like you're sitting and like having a glass of wine with us. And we're all one big H.T. family. So our guest today is Carissa Stanton, who is known on Instagram as at Brock Your Body, B-R-O-C-C- Your Body. Carissa is a huge advocate for anxiety and mental health and particularly for destigmatizing, taking medication for those issues. So we talk about her whole anxiety story and how she's blended Eastern and Western practices to take her from having these debilitating panic attacks to having this thriving, beautiful, amazing life that she has now, which I found crazy, inspiring and really helpful. I love hearing,

you all know that I struggle with anxiety and it's gotten better and worse at different times, but I love hearing what works for other people because I feel like you can take those little snippets and try them yourselves and have, you know, a better mental health experience. So I love hearing other people's mental health stories. Krissa also recently broke up with her fiance. So that was crazy. I found that out during the episode. and we get into recovering from heartbreak, how to know if you're with the right person, and how you get the guts to go through with a breakup and a ton more. That, like, my heart is seizing even talking about it.

I find it so brave and inspiring to end a long-term relationship like that. And we really get into all of that and her tricks for sort of getting over a breakup and dealing with those things I thought were really, really helpful. We also had a conversation that really inspired me, which was about her body image. journey and the mental trick that's actually helped her change what food she craves. We get into money, including actual hard numbers, which you know I love. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but I believe that it only hurts and disempowers women when we're told that it's not societally acceptable to talk about money or wanting to

make money. I've always been a huge advocate for sharing salaries and using hard numbers and being really transparent because how else will you find out if you're making what you deserve? So I loved how honest Chris was here. and I love that she did not back away from wanting to make money or saying that she's money-driven. It was honestly so, so refreshing. Finally, this is fun. Chris's sister was on The Bachelor and she made it all the way to the hometown dates,

which means that Carissa herself was actually on The Bachelor. And she tells a super fun behind-the-scenes story at the end of the episode that had me dying laughing. So Bachelor fans out there are just people who want to know like what's really going on behind the scenes of reality TV. Definitely stay tuned for that. I hope that you love this episode and absolutely love Carissa. You can follow her on Instagram at Brock Your Body, B-R-O-C-C, your body. And as always, I would love if you would screenshot as you're listening and tag both of us. I'm at Liz Moody.

And tell us what you're laughing at, thinking about, resonating with, all of that. Okay. Before we get into it, two super quick things. One, mine and Zach's 12th anniversary is coming up at the end of the month. Yes, 12th. We've been together forever. since college. And I thought it'd be really fun to start a tradition on the pod where we do a Q&A and talk about our relationship. I think it'll be really fun for us to look back on. And also

hopefully really fun for you, since I get a ton of questions about Zach and our relationship and how we make things work and all of that. So if you have any questions or things that you want us to talk about, this can be about our story, relationship advice, fun, silly stuff about each other, like newlywed game style. DM me on Insta. I'm at Liz Moody so we can include. it in the episode and then definitely make sure that you are subscribed to the pod so that you don't miss it when it comes out. I think it'll be early February. Okay. Second, the actually delicious 10-day detox sale ends on January 31st. So definitely snag a copy while it's still more than 30% off. It's over 60 pages of nutrient-packed, vegetarian, grain-free, dairy-free recipes with

shopping lists and workouts and more. It's all really, really thoughtfully designed. Honestly, I spent way too much time thinking about the nuances of all of this, but I wanted to think about it too much, so you wouldn't have to think about it at all. You just kind of follow the checklist and go down. And plus, you get to eat pizza and tacos and cookie dough bites. Yes, really all of those foods, but they're all very specifically intentionally designed to nourish your body and give you the fuel that you need to heal and to feel your best. So you can find the link to the detox in the show notes or you can just go to Liz Moody.com. It's on the front page. So you can find it very, very easily there. I've gotten so much good feedback from everybody who's already done it, saying that it helped

massively with bloating and gut issues and acne and anxiety and even losing some of that unwanted weight that I think some of us have after the holidays. I like to call it hitting your happy weight. I think it helps your weight stabilize where your weight is meant to be. And I hope so much that it can help you in the same way. So check that out on lizmitty.com. Okay, I think that's all I have for you today. So let's get into this. week's episode with Carissa Stanton. I hope you love it. All right. Thank you so much for having me to your very new home. You're like a home, I guess home renter probably, right? Yes. But it's still like an exciting transition. You just moved to L.A. from San Diego. And do you feel like a real

actualized human now? Yeah. So I'm like finally all settled. I've been here for like two weeks, but I love L.A. I feel like it's like my place where what do you love about it. There's just like always so much to do. San Diego is amazing. It's so pretty, but it's just, like, sleepy. Yeah. Everyone's settling down. All my friends have, like, husbands. And I'm 28. So it's like, I'm in this, like, stage where I feel like you're either, like, if it's your personality type to, like, want to get married and, like, have kids, like, that's what you're doing. Or if you're, like, kind of like, like, go better. You could go either way. You go either way. And I'm definitely going in the other way. And all of my friends are, like, settling down. So I felt like I was like, I need to move. Was it hard to me? I think a lot of people are like, oh, I should move or like I should make this job transition or something, but it's scary. And it feels like there's like too many pieces to get into place to do it.

It was hard to sort of make that call. And it was. But like I'm lucky enough to where like my job, I can like, I could like literally like decide tomorrow that I want to move back to San Diego. And I could. It's not like I'm like starting a job. And I know like there all this stuff. Like I can work from anywhere. But yeah, it was definitely a huge step like doing it. But I would come to LA a lot just for like events and stuff like that. And every time I was here, I had so much energy. And I was like, oh my gosh, like this is totally where I need to be. I also think that people sometimes underestimate how easy it is to just go back on stuff anyways. Like you can make a decision. And then it's not, it doesn't mean that's the rest of your life. And I think that's true whether you have like your job or

other like you can try something out. And if you hate it, you can move back. And if you really want a different type of job again, you can like go back to that kind of job. Yeah. It's like only a big if you make it a big deal. Yeah. It's like a good attitude to life for sure. And you had like, so you had a full time job. So that was sort of another big sort of taking a leap transition, right? Yeah.

I was just talking about this today. Actually, I was literally a full time admin, 9 to 5, just like a little over a year ago. I had a full time job. That's crazy. Yeah. So this like definitely all happened so fast. So January of last year, I started working part-time. I was doing real estate.

And it's kind of when I started like actually making money off of my Instagram. And I was like, okay, I'm going to start pursuing this. But I was kind of scared to like make the full leap. So I kept doing real estate part-time. And then I didn't quit that until three or four months ago. Yeah. So, okay, walk me through that. When you were like a little baby, were you like, I'm going to be in real estate.

Was that like a goal? for you? So I majored in kinesiology. Which is sports, it's just like the human body, how it moves, how it works. That's cool. So at first I thought I wanted, well, first I thought I wanted a major in biology just because I like science, my nerd. And then it was too much chemistry. I couldn't do math. Like, it was too much. So I switched to kinesiology. And I was like, this is cool. I've always loved like fitness and nutrition. And I've always loved cooking. And I thought that I could be a physical therapist. And then you have to work in, like you do kind of like an internship, I guess, and you're working with patients.

Okay. And I thought I was going to be helping like football players run again, like, you know, deal with their injuries. And it was all like really old people and also people that got in car accidents that were my age and like couldn't eat without a feeding tube and like stuff like that. And I was like, this is too much. Like I could not handle it. It's a lot of emotional way, especially if you have sort of your own. mental health struggles. I think that's like a lot of emotional weight to take on. Yeah, like, I definitely advise with people a lot. And like, I don't know, it was just too much for me. So then I was like, I'm going to do corporate wellness, which is like big companies, you know, they like hire you on to like help their employees, like eat better and exercise and that kind

of thing. And then nobody told me that that wasn't like a real job. Like there's only a few jobs out there. And they don't pay very well. And I'm very money driven. So I was like, what am I going to do. And my friend was leaving her job that I took over in real estate. And that's what my mom did. So I basically just wanted a nine to five. Like after I graduated, I was like, I want to, like, I want to work full time. Like, it sounded so cool to me. I remember being so excited about getting a job when I graduated from college. Like, I just desperately wanted college to be over so I could go work. And I just want to grab myself then and like shake myself. I'm just like, this is, you're getting, Like you're literally, your only job is to learn.

Like, enjoy your life. Why are you rushing this? I know. Working you get to do for the rest of your life. Yeah. Like, why are you trying to hurry this up? Luckily, I was, so I was a server in college and I stayed at my restaurant job for a year and, like, traveled and, like, kind of did that whole thing before I started working.

But I've always, like, working has just been like my thing. Like, I love it. I don't know what it is. I think it's because, so like you have anxiety and stuff too, right? I think it's because like it almost like if I'm so busy, like I'm never anxious when I'm working and when I'm like doing all this stuff. So even when I got hired at my 9 to 5, I kept my serving job. So I would literally go into work from 9 to 5, start my serving job at 5.30 and then get off at like 11.

I worked at a Chinese restaurant and I would just come home like reeking of like orange chicken. and I would just like shower, go to bed, do it all over again. So, okay, so I agree with you. I think that being busy helps my anxiety a lot and I use it as like a solve for it. But I also think that when I use it as a solve for too much, it like backfires until I get super anxious. A hundred percent. I feel like that's just the balance of life. So like I didn't realize that I was using it to mask my anxiety.

I was just like, oh, I just like have a great work ethic. Like a monk like 23 year old who like understood the intricacies of your brain? Not at all. So I just like recently was like, why do I like dread coming home from work and sitting down and watching TV? Like, why am I not wanting to do this? And then I'm like, oh, it's because I'm crazy. And because you're alone with your. Yeah.

Yeah. So now I like force myself to do it because I'm like, okay, you need to like chill. You need to breathe. And like, you know, you have to kind of like figure out like a way to do it that works for you. Yeah. Is there a different way like that you can be alone with your thoughts that it's not anxiety inducing that you've learned over the years? Yeah, I just like, I mean, meditation has helped me so much. Now I like go throughout my day and I'm so busy. And then before I kind of like chill out, watch TV, do whatever I read. I'll meditate for like 10 minutes to just kind of like really ground myself. And that helps a ton. Do you do a specific practice? I use headspace.

Oh, cool. Just like their 10 minute meditation. Literally, like the 10 minute guided is like a jam. Is it Andy pudding combstone? Yes. Love him. He's really cute. Yeah.

Yeah. Okay. So you were working two jobs for fun. Yes. And for money. I'm money driven. Like, I was just like. Yeah, we're going to talk about that.

That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, I worked two jobs for a while. And then as soon as I quit the restaurant job is like when I started doing my food blog. because I was like, okay, what else can I do? Were you always interested in food and did you have an innate sense of how flavors went together and all of that? Yeah.

So, I mean, ever since I can remember, like, I've just loved eating, love food, love cooking. I think some people are just born, just loving food. Like, I have some friends that like don't really care about. That's my little family. My family is very much like a eat to live family. and I cannot comprehend it because I literally wake up in the morning like thinking about breakfast and then I finished breakfast, being about lunch and I finished lunch thinking about dinner. I remember like when I moved in with one of my roommates in college.

I was making breakfast one morning and I was making, I did like scrambled eggs with corn tortilla, avocado, black meat. I was making this like crazy breakfast. And she was like, you know like every meal you eat doesn't have to blow your mind, right? Like you can just eat, like, you can just eat food one day. And I was just, that gets really mad at me for that. Especially because with restaurants, I'll do that. Like, I'll spend hours researching because I don't want to, like, waste a restaurant meal on, like, not the best one.

And he's like, we have our whole lives to eat food. No. Sometimes you can't wait a meal. Yeah. I know. I went to dinner last night with my agent, actually. And she was like, have you been here before? And I was like, no.

And she's like, oh, okay. And I was like, but I know. what I want to order and I like ordered everything for us and I like bet it. You have to do it. So were you always like actually developing recipes or just cooking from cookbooks? Yeah. So it took me a while to actually start making up my own recipes. But when I was growing up, I was always like wanting to help my mom in the kitchen. And then my mom and my dad both cooked. And then my neighbor was my mom and dad cooked very traditional foods. Like my mom would make chicken Dijon and like a hamburger stew and, you know, pasta and just really traditional food.

And then my neighbor was very, he's Japanese. So I remember he made me like terriaki burgers one time. And I literally ate like six of them because I was like, what are these flavors? Yeah. Like this is amazing. Yeah. And he taught me a lot about more like ethnic type of foods, I guess. and he taught me a good amount about cooking and all of that. And then whenever I'd go to like my

friends houses, I would ask their parents, hey, like, what do you put in that sauce? Like, that's really good. And I was just kind of like, I was always curious about it and really interested. And then it wasn't until later in college that I started making my own recipes. And I kind of used it now as like an outlet, like I use it to kind of like recharge, I guess. And it just really helps like center me me and calm me down. So I, yeah, it's so dumb. It's like therapy. You know, has it become like, I think a lot of people have a hobby and then they make it their job and then like, oh, this isn't like therapy more. This is hard work. And I have to think about like now if a certain amount of people like your recipe or don't like your recipe, that can impact your income, you know? And does it,

Did it ruin it for you at all? No, because I kind of built my brand off of what I was genuinely eating. And I, and my followers just love seeing what I'm cooking and what I'm eating. And it's just so authentic. And I just got really lucky because I did try for a little bit to be like, okay, this is my job now. I'm making money off of this. I need to take this seriously. And I kind of like lost engagement.

And people really just enjoy when I'm home at, you know, six o'clock and I'm making dinner and I'm showing it and I'm doing it real time. That's like what they want to see. And it's like really easy. Like it's just genuinely what I'm doing and what I'm eating. So you take the pay. I've seen your like set up on Instagram and you use artificial light and you like take your shots at night sometimes. Sometimes. I mean, it depends.

Like winter, yes. Yeah. Because it's late. Because it's late. Yeah. And then during the summer, I usually try and use natural lighting as much as I can just because it looks better. And you said on one of your photos, like, I'm so glad I realize you guys actually don't care about this photo and you just want to see delicious. But do you think that?

Because I try to tell myself that. But then I'm also like, Instagram is a photo based platform. Totally. And you don't like, do you actually think people are fine with like a whatever pick? Like, how much you beat yourself up about picks or think about it? So I'm not going to say I don't care because I do. but I think that I've noticed that I can put out like a beautiful photo. And if it's not a recipe that people feel like they can easily make,

people like to see on my page stuff that doesn't take a lot of time or effort or money, I think they're really after the recipe. Like I can post a beautiful photo and if it's something that's like a little more intricate or if it's something that, you know, maybe wasn't. my favorite recipe that I've ever made, like, it doesn't do as well, no matter what the photo looks like. And do you actually, like, do you pressure yourself to come up with new and interesting stuff all the time to make for your dinner?

Yeah. I wouldn't say that's probably the hardest part is like, sometimes I'll be like, like, everyone's like, what's your favorite recipe you've ever made? And I'm like, I don't think you guys realize that when I finish a recipe and I like finally nail it and it's going to get to make it again. I don't make it again. Yeah. Like, I have to make new things.

Like, you guys would be mad if I was like, oh, making this again. You'd be like, okay, cool. What's next? So, yeah, I, like, never really get to, like, eat a lot of the food that I make unless, like, it's, like, one time. Where do you get the inspiration to, like, keep it going? A lot of times it's just, like, what I'm craving.

Sunday, I was, like, I really want, like, take out, like, Asian food sounds good or, like, steak sounds good. So I made, like, I just, like, made a recipe up in my head of, like, whatever was sounding good that day. Sometimes I'll just go to the grocery store and like walk around and like see what's on sale and like buy that. Like the eggplant was on sale. Oh, I hate eggplant. You do?

Yeah, I like really want to like it. I went to, I was lucky enough to go to Dan Barber as this like famous chef and he has one of the best restaurants in the world, which is called Blue Hill. And I went there with just like a special event type thing. And he made eggplant and I still hated it. And I was like, the best chef in the world made me eggplant and I still hate it. it and I still hated it. I just hate it. It's so spongy. It is. How do you like, do you? Like, slimy too. I love it. It's so weird to me. Like, I'm just literally like, what is this vegetable bringing to the table? You know, versus like a crisp fennel or like the release or what?

It tastes like black licorish. But like the bulb is just sort of a faint and it's so different because you can use the little feathery fronds and you can use the bulb and then the seeds are also delicious. And just egg plus just like egg blend. I love it. I. I love it. I. I like the emoji. I love the emoji. It's like, I don't know, I think it's so good. Like an Asian stir-prite eggplant. Oh my God, I love it.

I get me a little sponge. Are you a texture person? Like, super texture person. Like, I like avocados in stuff. I, to this day, can't eat an avocado on its own or like avocado toast, which is such a unpopular opinion because I think it's too much texture with not enough flavor. And it bothers me. Like, the ratio is wrong.

This is too much activity in my. mouth for not enough taste but explosion. Exactly. Yeah. So I'll like have like an avocado moose or like I love it in a smoothie or stuff like that, but I can't do that sounds so interesting. Yeah, big texture person. Do you like like French onion soup with like a like a like kind of like soggy bread?

Does that get you going in a bad way? I like it. I wouldn't say it's my favorite. Okay. I like it. I'd rather have like a crispy bread on the side that I could dunk. Yeah. What's your favorite food?

My favorite food in general. Like in life? That's the hardest question. Are you going to say eggplant? No, I'm going to say. I'd love if you said eggplant and I just like slam shot my podcast gear and laughed at. It's just like, we're not doing this interview anymore. You're like, I'm out.

This is not what I thought it was going to be. God, I don't know. This is, that's way too hard. I really like, I love like Mediterranean food. Like hummus. No. Like a really gorgeous Greek salad. Yeah.

Or I just like really love Pita. bread too. I mean, if one were to just call carbs of food, that would be my favorite food. I wish I was that person that was like, actually, I don't need bread on the side. I can't even imagine. Oh, it's so good. I can't even imagine. Okay, so how, now that we're talking about bread, how do you define, like, what a healthy diet is to you? How did you come to your definition of that? That's a really good question. So, for me, food just means so much to me on. so many different levels. I think a healthy diet to me would be eating the foods that make you happy, not all of the time, not 100% of the time, but it would be being able to eat the foods that make

you happy and finding a way to eat the foods that are good for you and nourish your body while still being happy about it and still enjoying your meals. So do you mean happy in like I could be eating this bag of skittles? Or do you mean and like, yay, I like this bag of skittles right now? Or do you mean happy in terms of like actually supporting your neurochemical processes that make you happy like in the long term by eating the food that you're eating? So I mean, eat foods that you enjoy and that make you happy just purely based off of like your taste buds and how you feel in that moment. and also being able to realize that, you know, you need to eat foods that are nourishing your body and giving you the energy that you need to go to work, work out, do all the things that, you know,

make you feel whole. But I don't think that you need to be sad and eating kale in order to nourish your body. You know what I mean? I think that people get so confused and think that. They need to be doing a particular diet or they need to be, you know, eating super clean all the time in order to lose weight or be healthy or any of these things. I think that with my page and like my whole thing is just showing people that can still eat really, really good food and be healthy. And it doesn't have to take a lot of time. It doesn't have to be expensive.

So what do you think about? Like, do you think about whether gluten's good or bad or dairy's good or bad or anything like that? I think that people have intolerances. Like, everyone's so different. So, yeah, people definitely, gluten's bad for some people. But you don't think gluten's universally bad. No. Or dairy is universally bad.

No. I think that processed foods universally bad. But I think that if eating processed foods once a week is something that you want to do and that makes you feel good. then I think that you should do it. Do you eat processed foods? Yeah. What's like the least typically healthy thing you've eaten recently? I had pizza for dinner last night.

Yeah, I smelled that. Yeah, it's in my fridge right now. She like opened her fridge and I was like, do you have pizza in there? Because your house was really good now. Yeah, I mean, I had pizza for dinner last night. I had a cheeseburger for dinner on Saturday and french fries. I love fast food.

Like, I love trash. food. And I don't eat it often at all. Like, you probably eat fastly like once every two or three months. So you love trash food, but like, is there a mental diet? Like a lot of people like, yeah, I love trash food. And I would love to eat healthy. But it's really hard for me to persuade myself to choose the healthier thing. Is there like a mental dialogue that you have that makes that easy? I think that education is so important when it comes to eating healthy and happy and like looking forward to that. So the other day I was researching, you know, hormones and having, you know, hormonal

imbalances and foods that you can eat to support, like, healthy hormones. And it was like, you know, a lot of cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli and kale. And like, I was just learning about this. And I'm like, and then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, a kale salad sounds pretty good right now. And like, I just feel like if you educate yourself and you learn about how foods support your body, you're more inclined to eat them. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And, like, I know that, and just being really in tune with your body, I know that if I go to McDonald's, which is right across the street from my house, and get a burger and fries, I'm going to feel like, shit. I'm not going to be able to go out and have drinks with my friends because I'm going to have a stomachache or I'm going to be, like, exhausted. And then the next day, I'm not going to probably want to wake up for my workout, which makes me feel really good. Yeah.

So it's just kind of being in tune with your body and doing that, like your cravings will change for sure. I love one, that idea because I think it's really heartening the idea that like you won't be craving. Like you'll actually want to eat this stuff soon enough if you continue to do certain things. But I also, I think something I did when I was first starting to eat healthy because I also like grew up eating total trash. Yeah. Was I would let myself eat the McDonald's or whatever. And then if I was crazy, I didn't let myself eat. literally whatever I was craving.

And then I would just be super like sit there and be aware of how do I feel afterwards, like literally do it as a practice. Yeah. And it is crazy how gnarly like eating McDonald's. This podcast is like clearly not sponsored by McDonald's since we're hating on it. And I feel really bad. But it's crazy how quickly if you pay attention, like you don't feel good. Your body's like, no.

Yeah, I know. I 100% agree. And I think that people don't just pay attention to their own bodies. I think that people message me all the time and we'll be like, you know, I cut out dairy because I thought it'd be good. Some person they follow cut out dairy. So they think they need to stop eating dairy. And I'm like, well, how does eating dairy make you feel? Do you get, do you have a stomach ache?

Do you break out? Like everyone's like, oh, well, I heard that this, this, this. And it's like, well, everybody is so different. I'm lucky enough to where like I don't have any food intolerances so I can eat whatever. But I went to this like event and this girl was on a panel and she was talking about how she stopped eating gluten, dairy, soy, sugar, all the stuff and how amazing and great she feels. And all these girls are out in the audience taking these notes. And I'm like, hey, guess what?

Like, you're not her. Like, you don't need to stop eating these foods and you're going to be miserable. And if you're stressed out when you're eating. That's my number one thing. I'm so glad you're going to say that. Yeah. Like, your body's not going to absorb any of the good nutrients. And you're going to have digestive problems no matter what you're eating.

Like, you're, if you're in bite or flight, you're not digesting anything. Totally. So it's like people who get really stressed out about food and then they feel like they have intolerances because everything upsets their stomach. I'm like, stomach is upset because you're stressed. And I think that's such a frustrating thing. I think a lot of people, though, it sounds like you really eat to have energy and to feel good. But a lot of people see health or at least their entry point to health is because they want to lose weight. Have you ever struggled with body image or sort of what's your relationship with your body?

Yeah. So, I mean, I think everybody struggles with body image. Just going to put that out there. I mean, people will, I get this question so much because my sister is 5'2 and weighs like not even 100 pounds. And I have more of a curvy body. And I always, I always have been like I had muscular legs and like a big butt. And everyone's like, oh my God, like how do you not compare yourself? And I think it's so important to just, first of all, before I address the question, to just realize that people, like a Victoria's Secret model, no matter what their diet or workout is, a lot of people

are never going to look like that. You can eat exactly what they eat. You can work out exactly how they work out. And you're not going to look that way. So like you need to just put that in your head. Yeah. That's why they're Victoria's Secret model. Yeah, exactly. So I'm never going to look like my sister. We even have the same frigging DNA, but I'm never going to look like her. And I'm totally fine with that. And I think that it took, it takes a while to get to that point to realize like you're never going to look like Emily Rodikowski or whoever that girl is. So accepting my body has definitely been a process and it fluctuates as you get older. Like all of a sudden the other day, like I was looking in the mirror and I was like,

oh my God, I slightly like on my arms. Like that's new. And that's never like the best feeling. And I'm not going to lie and say that I'm like, oh, whatever. I love it and this is my life and I traveled a lot during the summer and like gained a little bit of weight and it's definitely it's tough and I know that it's kind of a trend right now to be very body love and self-acceptance but I also think that it's okay to be like you know I think I'm going to try and lose a couple pounds because you know I put on a little bit of weight and

you know my jeans are a little bit tighter and that doesn't really make me feel good but I think you have to approach it with a lot of love and self-acceptance and appreciation for your body, which took a while. But I think that I'm definitely at that point where I love my body. I'm super healthy. I'm in shape and can do all of these amazing things like, you know, walk around and, you know, get my steps in for the day. And I know a lot of people can't do that. So yeah, it's definitely been a process.

But I think that I'm at the point now where, like, I'm confident and I'm very self-accepting of my body. But I definitely, like, go through phases where I'm like, okay, like, I think I kind of want to, like, you know, eat clean and start working out again because it would make me feel really good. And I want my pants to buy my pants to buy. Yeah. Was there anything that was really helpful to you in that process? like something somebody said or something that you realize you could flip in your own mindset. Not really. It just like happened with age.

Yeah. A big thing for me is like I was in, I was engaged. I was in a six and a half year relationship. We broke up nine months ago. I probably should have told you this before. This is kind of like a lot of people ask me about my breakup, which is kind of something that I didn't really talk about much, but a lot of people ask about. So that's also a huge reason why I moved is because he lives in San Diego and

I was like, okay, I need to get out of here. But a little bit after we broke up, it's kind of, it's really different being single and on your own and not having a man to tell you, wow, you look really good today. You're like, wow, your butt looks really good in those pants. You know what I mean? Or even honestly, the like reinforcement of sex. Like it's like period. Just having text with somebody who loves you makes you feel sexy in your body. 100%.

It makes you feel so good about yourself. So being I like didn't I've not like dated or like done anything. So I've been just like straight up on my own for the past eight months. And it was like rough at first because I was like, okay, I'm single. Am I going to start dating? Am I, am I hot? Am I sexy? Like I don't know anymore. Like I don't have somebody telling me this. So that was definitely and that's also when I was traveling a ton and like gained a couple pounds. So that was like a definitely a really like hard point in my life where I was kind of trying to figure out do I like my body? How do I get to that point? And I think it's just like it's just a lot of like looking inward and nobody said anything or nobody did anything. It was just kind of like me reflecting and doing a lot of soul searching. And I also, I feel like there's a lot. I follow a lot of great like body positive accounts on Instagram, which is so helpful. You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast.

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All right. Let's get back to the episode. Who do you like? Who can people check out? So I follow Allie. Avo Queen is her handle. And then who else? The bird's papaya.

Love her. Who else is out there? Do you follow Chenet? Alexander? No. Oh, she's a great one. Really? Okay.

I'm like blanking right now. But I think that people say that like social media is so harmful and like whatever. And I'm like, not if you follow the right people. It's so empowering. Like I scroll through my feed and I feel awesome every day. You're like ready to take on the day. Yeah.

Like it's crazy. So it's just important also to like see who you're following. Like if you're following Victoria's Secret models or like these influencers that are just posting themselves in bikinis every day. That's also like not going to get you where you need to go. That's so. Yeah. And it's also like why.

Like why are you following, you know, a Victoria. you like what is that making you what are you hoping that will bring to your life i think is there i it's really interesting i think to go through your feed as if it's sort of like just very intentionally and every person being like what am i hoping this person will bring to my life what am i hoping this person will bring to my life i didn't realize you just that's such it i was just talking to my friend at lunch about how i think that um i haven't had like a really serious breakup i met my husband when i was 21 and i wish we'd met or like later in life but we didn't um but I think it's one of the bravest and hardest things that a person can go through because I think

that as humans, all we want is to be loved. And then if you have that in your life and leave it for whatever reason, it's just the bravest and hardest things. It was really hard, especially because so I met my ex-fiancee, or engaged at 21. And I remember meeting him and being like, oh, I don't know if I'm ready to like be in a serious relationship. But he was the best, nicest, amazing person. And I was like, oh, well, I have to date him because he's awesome. Like, what would I be doing if I didn't pursue this? Like, that's stupid.

So then dated him and he was, he's great. Like we're luckily on good terms. But I still have nothing but the best things to say about him because he's an amazing person. I just personally was like, I need to be independent and like on my own. And it was literally the hardest thing that I've ever had to do. I am so happy that I did it. But it was really like an eye opener because I'm like, how many people are like in relationships that like don't want to be in them and don't have the balls to do it?

Oh, I'm like a strong. Like I feel like I'm a strong like confident person. And I barely did it. Like barely. It was so hard. What gave you the strength to do it? I mean, I, like, just knew I had to. Was there like one day where you were like, okay, I'm going to do it too?

Like, I just feel like it's the kind of thing. I'd be like thinking, even Zach and I have gone through bad periods for like a month or even two months. And I've been like, is this it? Is this the end? But the idea of actually on a day saying that to him is. So that's what I said. My heart literally just like, yeah. So I was like, the day that it happened, I was like, okay.

So he's coming home from work right now. I can either break up with him. He's going to kick me out of our apartment. I'm going to be homeless. I'm not going to know where I'm going. And my life is going to be turned upside down. Or he'll come home. We can order takeout.

It was a Friday night. We can watch a movie. I can just go about my life. So making that game time decision. But you so are. Option A. Yeah. And I'm so glad I did.

You're like freaking out. It just feels so hard. Like I don't think I would be able to do that. I really don't. I think that's because again, I think my biggest fear is that I won't be able to find somebody to. I have such a fear of lack of love, I think, in my life. And then like I'm not enough to be worthy of love.

And if I already had somebody who loved me, even if it wasn't exactly perfect, I just like the fear that I couldn't find somebody else to love me. It's so scary. Even like right now I'm like, okay, I'm 28. I want to have kids. Like, I haven't had kids. And then, like, what, like, six years? And I'm like, wow, I can't find anybody any day.

I live in L.A. Janet Jackson, she had a kid at, like, 50. You're going to go. I'm good. I'm going to, like, freeze my eggs or something. I have a lot of friends who have done that. And they do feel, like, a sense of freedom, you know? Yeah.

You're like, okay, cool. You can, like, take a chill of all. And then I'm sure once you do that, you, like, find your husband the next day. Like, that's just how life works. Yeah, I'm sure. Is there anything that helped you get over the breakup and, like, kind of get through those Yeah. So I have a couple things. So I wrote in a journal before I did it, my feelings. And like, I had very strong feelings that I wanted to be independent and I wanted to be like on my own. And I wanted

space away from him. So I wrote those down when I was having those like really strong feelings. So I would look back like if I was ever like missing him or I found out he went on a date with somebody. I would go back and read those and just get really comfortable with how I was feeling. That's super smart. And then like I am such a. advocate for a rebound. I don't think that you should ever get into a serious relationship after a breakup, but I think like a hookup for like a couple weeks or whatever. Remind yourself that there's other people out. Totally. I think people are like, oh, I just got out of a breakup and like I don't want to and taking me time. Yeah. Like you should take your me time. But I think that if you're struggling

and you like are kind of feeling like down, I totally had a rebound and I thought it was great. I think I'm trying to get my sister and do this right now because she's going through sort of a bad breakup. But then I was, but then I've been single for the pat. Like, so I had my little rebound for a little bit. And then I literally have not dated since. And I told myself when I moved to L.A., I have to start dating. So I'm going to start dating. But what's better about being single than being in a relationship?

Oh, I just like love being single. It's the best. I just, I don't know. I, it's not even like my ex was overpowering or anything. He let me do whatever I wanted, really. I just. I don't know. But you're making decisions for two people at all times in a relationship.

Like you're always considering another person and you should be. And I think it's different when you're just making decisions considering yourself. I think I'm just like maybe very selfish. Even though I may not want to admit it. I like to be able to be like, I like to be alone a lot. And I think that being able to just like be alone and really get comfortable with my independence has been really important and something that like I definitely needed to do. Yeah, I love that. Yeah. I want to touch on something you said earlier because you said that you're

never going to look like your sister. And you had to sort of become okay with that. And I feel like I know I'm never going to look like Emily Radatowski. But it's still like, I don't know, it makes me feel bad that I don't still. Sometimes I'm just like, what would life be like if I could go through life looking like that? Or I had that advantage. Was there like, and I think especially, especially, Actually, my sister's really beautiful, but we're so far part in age that, like, people don't really compare us. But, like, I think it'd be very, if you had somebody that close to you that everybody decided was like that's, just sort of the normal American standard of beauty, it sounds

like. Yeah. I don't know how I'd mentally, like, did you resent her ever? Was there, like, was there a, I don't know. How do you work through that? No. I think my sister's a bad example, though, because I know her so well. And I know this is going to sound so bad.

but I know, like, bad things about her. And I, like, I know what she's amazing. She's an amazing person. But I know that just because you look that way doesn't mean that your life is perfect. Right. Which would probably be helpful in, like, because then you could take that and apply it to Emily Redd. I really shouldn't look at how to say her name. Nobody knows.

Nobody knows. But, like, yeah, if you're like, oh, looking like that doesn't change your life in the way you expect it. Yeah, I think it's almost worse. I can't say anything. Emily Redrickleflip. This is sponsored by Emily Rodney. She actually has like a really cool clothing line now and she has these naked silhouette women earrings that I really want. So I would like, if you were listening, Emily Reddishke and you'd like to sponsor this podcast, that would be super great.

It is not sponsored by McDonald's. I think, yeah, but I think it's almost worse because I do know my sister so well. I know that just because she's literally stunningly beautiful and gorgeous and naturally skinny and eats fast food all the time. it's like bizarre. She's a freak. I know that it doesn't make her life perfect. And I know that she struggles with a lot of the same things that I do. And so I think that's a bad example because I do know her so well.

But yeah, you know, whoever these influencers are, it is really hard to compare yourself and because a lot of people post, you know, it's a highlight real, whatever. So I think that, yeah, I mean, it is hard to not. to not think, oh, if my legs were skinnier, you know, my life would be so much easier. Like, those thoughts crossed my own all the time. And I can catch it and say, like, you're being dumb. No. Does your sister think she's beautiful? Yes, but she has insecurities as well. Things that you wouldn't think she'd be insecure about. And same with, like, all of my girlfriends. I see some, like, my friends who I'm like, oh, my God, you're so beautiful.

full so stunning, whatever, and they're like, oh my God, like, I look fat in that picture. And I'm just like, well, people probably would say the same thing about you. Like, you're the standard of beauty for probably a ton of your followers. And the fact that you compare yourself to other people is probably like, whoa, for them. Yeah. So I think it's just important to just like make it a conversation and to talk about it more. I think that people put a lot of these people that they follow on social media like on a pedestal and it's just really important to talk about things like this, about your struggles, about your successes and just kind of like your life as a whole. I think people really appreciate it. And I think it's something that people really resonate with

and that a lot more people may be doing on social media. Okay, well, let's talk about your struggles. Okay. You've been really open about sort of like your mental health journey, which I love personally, just as somebody who really struggles with anxiety. So can you tell me a little bit about that? You got your first panic attack when you had your first period? Yeah, which is really interesting. It was the night before I got my period for the very first time. I had my first panic attack.

And did you know what was happening? Or did you a lot of people when they have their first panic attack think it's like a harder. I even so, yeah. Like I had a panic attack a few months ago and I thought I was so over this period of my life. And I was, I know so much. about anxiety and I still was telling my husband and my friend that I thought I should go to the hospital because like what if something was actually physically wrong with me this time?

And they were like, no, like we really swear it's panic attack. I know. And it's crazy that you can still do that. I've been having them for, God, 20. Like when did I get my period? Yeah. I don't know, whatever, a long ass time. Yeah.

I've been having them. And still, it happens to you all the time. Whoa, this is the time that I go to the hospital. It's going to, I'm actually dying. Yeah. So I, so that was the. Did you know what it was? No? No, I thought I was getting, I thought I had food poisoning. I was nauseous. And then I thought I was getting the flu. And then like, I don't know. I just thought all these. I thought I was like, what did you do? Did you like go talk to your mom or your dad? Yeah, I was at dinner. I was at a restaurant with my mom. I was at my mom, my mom, my mom, my mom, whatever. It was like kind of a big dinner. And I was like, I'm going to throw up. Like sitting at the dinner table. I was like, oh my God, I'm going to throw up. I don't know what's going on.

I think I need to leave. Like, I think I need to go home. And we, like, left the restaurant. And I remember, like, feeling okay. And then all of a sudden I'd be like, oh, my God, no. I think I'm going to throw up and, like, just kind of, you know how it goes away. Yeah. And I had no idea what was going on.

And I think my mom was just kind of like, oh, you know, stomach ate? Like, what's your deal? Has your mom or dad had any experience with anxiety? Yeah. My mom, my mom gets anxiety. My dad. So, like, did she, was she able to at some point recognize it as such? Yes, for sure. And I remember my mom used to be like, oh, yeah. She used to tell me like, I get anxiety and like sometimes when you have a panic attack, it's kind of scary. And she kind of like would like tell me about it. And I was just like, okay, whatever. Like, that's never going to happen to me. Like ignored her. So yeah. So the first time that it happened, I got my degree the next day. And then it was actually not that bad. My anxiety didn't start getting really bad until high school. When I started driving, it's really like I would have to be. I would have to be.

panic attacks, like sitting at a red light. It was weird. Like, I felt like trapped almost. And it's funny because I posted about this and so many people were like, I get that too. I get that too. So it's really common. So I remember like one time I was on the dance team and I was driving to a basketball game to go cheer the basketball game. And I was like halfway there. It was like 10 or 15 minutes away. And I had to pull over and call my mom to come get me because I was freaking out. And I like had to miss the basketball game. And my mom took me to the urgent care because I thought I was dying. And I had been there like five times in the past like four months. And the nurse practitioner, whatever was like, knew me. And she was like, when are you going to stop coming

in here? When are you going to take care of this? Like she was like, what are you going to do about it? And I was kind of like, shit, you're right. And I think the interesting thing and the like, I feel very lucky that I was able to kind of figure out like the more Eastern medicine side of things. My neighbor was an acupuncturist. So she would come over and give me acupuncture like when I would come home from having these panic attacks to kind of like help calm me down. And she had a lot of herbs.

And I was, you know, really into that. And it helped, but I still got the panic attacks and I still had them. So that's when I decided that I was going to start taking medication for it. How old were you? I was 16. So I started with Prozac. Now I take Lexa Pro, just kind of like, oh, switch it up, which I have had great experience with both. But I think it's interesting to, you know, kind of like hear both sides.

It's like I did try a lot before I started taking medication. I think people get confused and they think doctors are so bad because they just prescribe medication for everything, which is true. There are doctors that do that. But I think there are situations where you should be like taking medication for something. So I'm like a huge advocate for that. I don't know how you feel about that. But I definitely encourage people not to just pop the pill if you are, you know, stressed on. about work and you feel anxious.

There's certain, I get general anxiety all the time and I deal with it. I meditate. I do yoga. But there are like certain chemical imbalances that you can have that cannot be treated with a change in your diet or exercise or meditation. That's something that you need to get help for. So did the pill, did starting to do medication, did that eliminate the panic attacks? Yes, totally. Like it changed my life.

sure. When was the last time you had like a actual like versus sort of low grade generalized anxiety? When was last time you had like a full panic attack? Full one panic attack is when I was, so I was taking Prozac for forever. And I think it kind of like started to wear off. And I started getting panic attacks again. So this was probably like seven months ago, maybe or like six months ago. You were on it for like over a decade. Yeah. And then I was like, I think I'm going to switch it up. Like I'm starting to get, you know, pretty bad anxiety. Like, and I was traveling a ton and all of that, which I don't, we were talking more earlier.

We don't like to fly. No. So I was like, all right, I need to get on like new medication. So I switched then. And since since I switched to Lexpro, I haven't had any panic attacks, but I still get anxiety all of the time. Like if I'm like in LA traffic, you know, trying to get somewhere and I like feel so anxious, but that's, I can definitely manage that. How do you manage it?

Sounds so dumb. But like breathing, breathing exercises and meditation helps a ton. And working out helps me so much. Like I definitely, I try and work out like five days a week and it just helps me like feel normal. Those endorphins just like really get me going. Do you think that any workout helps with anxiety or are there like specific ones that you think are more helpful? I think that any workout really, just kind of like waking up and like getting movement in and like it's kind of just like a routine that helps me feel normal. And yeah, just like the endorphins of it.

And for breathing exercises, are there ones that you do specifically? No, just like deep deep breath in through the nose, out through the mouth, just kind of like helping me ground myself. Have you thought about going off medication or sort of is it something that you feel like you're going to be on for the rest of your life? What are your thoughts on it long term? I don't really know. I wouldn't, I have no problem being on it for the rest of my life. I'm that big of like a believer that it really changed my life to where I'm like, why would I? Well, do you feel, I guess one question is if you feel any negative repercussions of it.

Like some people will say their sex drive is lower or like their high highs are blunted while their low loads are blunted. Yeah. I'm on such a low dose. that I don't. You don't experience negative parts of it at all. No. My memory is pretty bad, which is a side of fact. Oh, really? And I think that it's not like terrible, but like it's definitely not the best.

I mean, I'll deal with that for sure to like not have panic attacks because they're like bad. Yeah. Oh, I mean. Like it ruins your life, literally. Yeah. I mean, the time when my anxiety was the worst was like I didn't have a life. Like I was just like, oh, this is my, I live in bed. You know, and it's a very shitty feeling.

It's very hopeless as a feeling thing. And I think there's something really about your own brain and feelings and emotions like betraying you. I'm sure people who have bodily problems, like, as well, it just feels like, what are you doing? Do you take medication for your anxiety? I don't. And I'll take clonopin occasionally when I fly. But I don't, honestly, because I'm afraid of it. Okay.

A lot of people are. if you're anxious, you're scared to take any pill. Yeah, I don't like messing with home o, like the homeostasis that I've achieved. And I think I, if I wasn't afraid of it, I, my anxiety is also grounded in a time that I had a seizure when I was like doing drugs and really thin on the beach in Brazil. And I think because it, it was stemmed from like a brain thing, I'm like, I don't want to mess with my brain. And if I hadn't thought, had that thought, I think when my anxiety was the worst and I was completely gorophobic and like wouldn't leave my house for months, I would have taken something.

Yeah. But I don't want to fuck with it. Yeah. I know that's why I don't do like Molly or ecstasy. Everyone's like, you've never done it. Like I feel like it's like a right of passage in college. And I'm like, no, because I do not want to mess with my serotonin. Yeah.

I mean, that's fair though. Like, that's really fair. Yeah. Do you have depressive issues as well or is it largely just anxiety? Just anxiety. Yeah. But I think that I think that people with anxiety and depression, um, I'm like just a very big advocate that if you have it, that you should definitely not be scared

to see your doctor for help because it's just feel like so many people are like ashamed. And like I'm just like. And I also like that you can marry both. You're not just like, oh, I took this pill and thus I don't need to eat well or work out or meditate. It's like it's both for you that's making you feel totally. And I do take such a low dose of it that. I was saying, like, I still get anxiety. Like, I don't feel like a robot, you know?

I still cry all the time. I still get, like, I'm super happy. Like, I, it's normal. I just don't have severe panic attacks anymore. I can drive my car. I can see in on the traffic. Yeah, I was going to ask about the driving. Like, are you totally fine driving?

Totally fine. My sisters just developed a fear of driving. And I don't know, like, for fear of flying, which I have really badly, you can comfort yourself with statistics till the end of time because like chances are you're not going to be in a plane crash, you know? And the statistics are really in your favor. And they are in your favor for cars, but way less so. And you also have to drive way more. Like the thing people always rule me for fear of flying was like, you're way more likely to die in the car on the way to the airport. And that was just to make me feel better. So I'm not scared about like getting in a car

accident or dying. I am, I have anxiety about having anxiety being stuck in the car in traffic or in a light. Oh, that's what my anxiety. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, do you know what I'm saying? Like, you know when you get anxiety about your anxiety? Yeah, I think that's the most, that's what creates agoraphobia and panic. And also, I think a lot of people with anxiety, like for me, it was, waiting in line at the supermarket. I think it's something about, and which is interesting with the red light thing, too. It's something about being in a situation that you're like, pretty much like you can obviously leave your car and you can leave the supermarket line but mostly you're you're supposed to stay there you know you're supposed to stay in that situation it'd be really

weird if you did i've done that a few times like literally drop my shopping cart and like abandon shift at the at the supermarket but yeah i think there's something about moments of waiting which maybe also connects back to your not liking to be home alone with like your stuff like what can I'm just sitting there like staring at a light. Yeah, so I definitely have anxiety about being, getting anxiety sitting in my car. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So you don't have anything you can tell my sister to make her not afraid of dying in a car? Nope. I yeah, I don't get scared about that. I tried. I like should. I should be scared about that. But no, I'm just scared about like getting stuck. Have you done therapy? Yes. Yeah. What are your thoughts on

therapy generally? So it's funny because I went to therapy when I was like having, you know, anxiety and it was so long ago. It was in high school. I remember that it helped. She taught me, like, certain ways to, like, deal with it and, like, you know, breathing in the, what's it called when you, like, touch your, like, you, like, do certain, like, points where you, like, touch your thing. Oh, like tapping? Yeah. I forget.

It was so long ago. And I remember I have a bad memory. Yeah. So I don't really remember. I remember that, yes. But now when I go to therapy, and like, I'm a huge advocate for therapy as well. Now when I go, I'm just talking about, like, my fucked up life. Not really, like, my anxiety anymore because I feel like I'm, like, good.

Like, this happened with a friend this week or blah, blah, blah. Yeah. And, like, just being, like, work and life in general. But do you go every week? I did when I was back in San Diego since I moved. I don't have a good therapist. If anyone has a good therapist or me in L. I actually have one that a friend told me I should go see if I did move to LA.

So I have one I recommend. Yes. Finding a good therapist is so hard, though. It's literally dating. It's like dating. Yeah, it is. I actually, my dad, he is a therapist. And so is my mom and so Zach, both of Zach's parents.

Oh my God, no way. That's so crazy. Yeah, we're like a crazy couple. My best friend here is a psychiatrist. Yeah. But I'm like, she can't help me because she's my friend. Right. And also, even somebody she recommends.

could be like it's a little weird. But my dad always says you should go to at least two or three appointments before you like commit to a person. And also he says, and I thought this was a really hot tip that you can email people and ask them to do like one comp session or at least a comp call. Because like I think I was going to say that's a great way to lose $500. Yeah, exactly. I always say I have enough money to go to therapy, but I don't have enough money to find a therapist because you need to see so many people. And it feels like a huge waste of money. But my dad says you can just like ask, even if it doesn't say it on their website or anything,

and be like, I'm trying to find a therapist. Can I just do 20 minutes to see if we vibe? And they'll usually say yes. So smart. Yeah. It's like a hot. I'm going to steal that from you. I'm going to post it.

Because so many people ask me, they're like, how do I find a therapist? Liz's dad. My dad has all the best advice. That's great. He needs an Instagram account. Yeah. Okay. So let's talk about money because I think money is fascinating.

And I don't think, well, this is actually my final point about therapy, which is that it's hard to find a good therapist, I think, because people still won't talk about them being in therapy and the best therapist you get through referral. And if nobody's talking about the fact that there is probably the same with medication, like, if I don't know people like you are on medication, I'm not going to be like, oh, you can be a functioning, happy human on medication. You know, I think you need the examples. Which is why I talk about it as much as I possibly can. I think it's so important. When I was my most anxious, literally the only thing that made me feel better with seeing people living happy, healthy lives with anxiety. Like, I would search for them

on Instagram didn't exist, but like on YouTube and in articles. And I was like, I can someday be like that. And I think that like you're doing that probably for so many people. Yeah, that's like my goal. It makes me feel really good. Like when people message me and just say like, you know, you help me like get help or whatever maybe. Like that I'm like, okay, cool. Like my life is literally complete. Yeah. I feel like that too. Does it, do people ever message you with judgment about taking medication since you're sort of a wellness. People will be like, I used to have really bad anxiety. And I started using these essential oils.

And now I don't have any anxiety anymore. Or like, oh, I changed my diet and it totally changed my life. And I'm just like, that's so rude because do you think I haven't tried sniffing lavender? Right. Yeah. I've tried it. People like, hello. Like it's just so rude and I answer all my messages and I will like tell what do you say?

I'm just like I know you're trying to be helpful but like I just want to let you know that this is very offensive and they'll be like what are you talking about? And I'm just like and I just like don't respond. Like I'm just like you have to just know that this is offensive. You can't say things like that to people. And also like I'm not asking for advice really. Like I'm letting you know what's working for me and you know trying to be open about it and I'm not asking you for diet tips. on how to like get rid of my anxiety. Right.

You know, but I think that's a, that's a huge, I think that's a huge, I think that's a huge thing in general is like there's such a difference between times when people are asking for advice and not asking for advice. And I think when people aren't asking for advice, you know, there is a time and place to say what work for you and your own experience, particularly if you have a platform that's sort of designed for that. But yeah, I think our bodies are all so different. Yeah.

Yeah. Can you explain why? Just for like somebody who would not understand it all, why that is insulting? Yeah, I think that it's just insulting because if you are somebody that's gone through any type of mental illness or any type of illness in general, you know that most likely you've exhausted every option to not have to take a medication every day. It's not something that I want to do at all. I would love to not have to wake up every morning and have to remember to take a pill and, you know, go to the pharmacy and refill my stuff, whatever. It sucks. And have a perfect

It's memory. Yeah, and we'll be able to remember what I ate for dinner last night. But so, yeah, so I think that you have to really take into account that just because I'm open about it and sharing it and I am, like, proud of where I am today doesn't mean that I wanted to, you know? Like, I really didn't want to. And I tried everything. I tried it all. And I have a blog post that shares that. And that's what I was talking about when I did get this message.

So like that's also what kind of irked me a little bit because like clearly she didn't read it. But yeah, I think that if somebody's being open and talking about, you know, whatever it may be, unless they're asking for advice, just like, don't give it because you don't know what they've been through. And odds are whatever you're suggesting, they've probably tried. And it's just rude. You talk about a few other things in that blog place.

Like, CBD, do you still take CBD? Yeah, I love CBD. Is there anything else sort of like that is sniffing lavender equivalent that you do regularly is sort of part of your anxiety wellness routine? I spray my whole bed with lavender every single night. It helps me sleep. It helps me relax. Like all of these things definitely help.

So, yeah, so lavender spray by my bed every night. CBD, I take it probably every night before I go to bed. And then sometimes if I'm feeling anxious in the morning, I'll take it. Meditation, like I've talked about that a hundred times. Sponsored by Headspace. Not really. Well, just, it's 10, the fact that it can be 10 minutes and it can have such a drastic effect is crazy. I also think with meditation, sometimes you're like, I need to sit for a really long time or have a pillow or whatever.

And the fact that you could just, like, put your headphones on and meditate for 10 minutes is insane. I also thought meditation was different than what it is. What did you think it was? I thought it was, like, zoning out and, like, going. into this like different world where your mind is empty and you are just like, I don't know, I thought it was like such, so much of a bigger deal than it is. All it is just sitting and breathing and focusing on your breath. Well, I think that can be tricky too though because then people are like, if that's all it is, is it really making a big difference? And that's why I think it's interesting.

I'm always looking when I'm trying to convince myself to meditate. And I have a meditation practice, but I sort of like, I spent so much time talking myself into it. I was looking for people who had great experiences so I could convince myself that it was worth it because it didn't feel like much. It felt like what am I doing? Uh-huh. But the thing is too is like sometimes it doesn't work for people, you know? Like I think that if you try it and you're like not really feeling it, then like don't do it. You know what I mean?

I would say try it for like a little, like at least I would say like a month and then see it doesn't work for you because I also find I thought this was interesting when I first started meditating. I got more anxious before I got less anxious. Totally. it like stirred stuff up. Well, it's sitting and doing nothing. You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast. This is definitely the time of year that I want to eat a little bit healthier, but I also want hardier, more comforting food,

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So that's why you're always on the go, go, go. So let's, how, would you say money is like the main thing that drives you? Do you want to be rich? I do. I do want to be rich. And what does rich look like to you? Owning a home that I can have a family in and I want to be able to, you know, support my family, send my kids to college, all that good stuff.

Yeah, like, I'm definitely money driven. I don't need, I don't want to be like insanely loaded. I just want to be like comfortable. I love though when people, I just feel like there's people, Marie Forleo talked about this when I interviewed her too, where she's like, people are so shy to say that money is a driving force, especially people when they're in an industry that's based on helping people. Totally. And I don't think they're.

they need to be separate. Like, I think you can do both. I think they are, they go hand in hand. Like, how do they go hand in hand? I think the more that you're like genuinely trying to help people, like, money is going to follow. Like, because you're putting that good energy out into the universe. So good things are going to happen to you. So if you are money driven, then the money will follow.

Like, whatever, whatever your goal is will happen for you. if you are genuinely trying to help people, that is your goal, which is mine 100%. But yeah, I'm not scared to say, like, I'm money driven, like, at all. I think it is funny, though, because a lot of my followers don't realize they're like, wait, how do you make money? And I'm like, do you not see the ads that I do on the page? I think that they... How do you?

Like, let's sort of roughly break down how you do make money. Because I think it's, it is... People don't get it. People don't get it. And every time I do an advertisement, it's very clear. Like I will say ad and all of that. I think people just don't realize like this, the amount of money brands pay. Yeah.

You know. Oh my God. I was mind blown by it. So I like had my Instagram account for a long time, but I didn't do any sponsored because I was working full time as a journalist. And then I stopped doing that in February. And I started doing sponsor content. And I was like, oh my God. Like, you spend people, brands pay thousands of dollars and it takes the same amount of time as like writing an article, which people pay $300 for it.

So this is the thing. It's like comparing it to a brain surgeon. Okay. So they get paid, what, like half a million dollars a year or whatever it may be. And every time they go into a surgery, it takes them two seconds. But they have all the prep. Yeah, I went to school and, you know, all that. And I think when I think about that when I, because.

I think people, it frustrates me when people get mad at sponsored content because the tons I'd say like 98% free content. And the thing that lets me do that, which takes so much time is the fact that I have sponsorships. You know, like the reason I can bring this podcast to people is because I have the sponsorships. And the reason I can make all these recipes for people to have for free is because I have sponsorship. Yeah, I know. A lot of people like don't get that. And it takes so much to like build the trust of the people that of your audience. Um, the thing that is so different.

And I think it's why influencers are getting paid so much money is because we're not just saying, I'm not saying like, hey, buy this candle. I'm saying, I love this candle. It smells so good. Like going on about it about why I love it and I'm vouching for it. So it's not just like a billboard where it's like you see something. It's not just like product placement. It's like these people genuinely vouching for your product.

So then if you like brands reach out to you or do you have a manager or an agent, so they reach out to your agent or manager. And then if you haven't already used it, will you say no or will you say like send it to me and I'll try it or how does that work? It depends. Most of the time, I have a lot of like long term sponsors partners that I work with, but I will do like the one-off and usually it's brands that I've heard of and that like I tag and use and they see that and then reach out. But if it's something that I've never used or tried, I'll like immediately like Google it and look and like see what they're all about, their ingredients, read their Instagram, whatever. And then if that goes well, then I'll have them send product. And then if I like it,

then I'll do an ad. But that hasn't happened in a while. I feel like that was more like when I was first starting to do, you know, sponsorships and stuff like that. Now I'm lucky enough to where it's like mostly just brands that like I do use and love and like work with. I had that experience recently where a brand reached out and they offered me a $50,000 contract and I looked at their ingredients and I had to like say no to it. It's the hardest thing ever. The most like I'd never thought in my life I'd be able to say no to it.

Like it was so hard. But I had a lot of money. I could not recommend it. It wasn't for like, it was for like a long term contract. Yeah. But like it just, it was,

it was so hard. I had a, I'm not going to name them, but I had a fast food company reach out to me, wanting to work with me and do a sponsored post. And it was so much money. And I was like, I can't do it.

I know. But the thing is, okay, they're going to pay me, what, five grand for like this, you know, series.

And then, and then what, nobody trusts me anymore. And that's how I felt about this brand, but I was like, well, nobody will trust me, and I'll have $50,000. Yeah, you're like, and then I can buy a car. Go to Disneyland. Yeah, like, what? But no, it's a hard decision.

So it's 100% of your income from brands, or how does that work for you? Yeah, so right now, I also am still, like, so new. Like, I didn't really start making money until a year ago. So, like, I'm, like, kind of just whirlwind. So right now, yes, I would say like 95% is from brands. And then I just released an ebook. And I did one in the fall. So I have like a seven day like reset.

It's basically like centered around whole 30. But it's seven days because Lord knows I can't do 30 days of not drinking. So I just released that. There's a bunch of recipes and stuff in it. So was making money off of that. And then decided to like donate like all of it to Australia, which was nice. I was like kind of lost a lot of money there. But yeah.

So I'm looking for like other ways to make money that's not sponsored content because I want to be promoting myself and like not just only other brands. Yeah. Like bringing value to your audience in different ways. Yeah. So ebooks is great, a great way to do that. I want to start doing more of that. And then eventually I want to write a cookbook. It's like a huge goal of mine.

So I'm big. think cookbooks are super fun. They're not big money makers. They're not big money. But they are a decent chunk of change. The thing they don't tell you for cookbooks is that you are responsible for the photography as well. So that comes out of your van.

So that's usually like half of it. That's expensive. But it's still really cool and fun and you get to be part of people's. And you do make money. I don't want to say like you don't make money. No, but I'm not when I think about my cookbook, I'm not like, wow, I'm going to be rolling in the dough. I'm like, okay, this is cool.

It's so cool to see yourself. in people's homes and to have people like when people make your recipes from online it feels really, really good. But when you see that somebody like keeps your cookbook on their shelf, it just is a really cool feeling for sure. Yeah, I'm really excited. So that's something that I want to do. It takes a lot of time, I know.

So that's a goal. And then eventually I want to have a product line. Fun. What would it be? I don't want to say. I'll say once because I literally haven't done one ounce of work. Can you just say like rough? Like is it, you know, beauty food. Okay, food product plan. I want to have a food product. Yeah.

That's super exciting. When you quit your full-time job, did you have a certain amount of money saved? Or how did you sort of deal with that transition? I saved like six months of living. Oh, wow. I'm also like a huge, I like prep for everything like too much. You know what I mean? Like every time I like go to Mexico, we bring like a hundred different types of like medication and like stomach pills because one time I like got in Mexico. You know what I mean? Plastic anxiety. So I'm, yeah, totally.

So I was like, all right, I'm going to say it's like six months. If I don't make a dime, I'll be able like find a job and like whatever. So I saved a good amount of money. And I think that that's also important. I get a lot of people that ask me about like becoming a blogger and like when did I decide to do it full time. And it takes a long time. How long were you doing it not as a job before you were able to like make it a job full time?

It took me two years. Okay. And that's like I'm literally just creating. And were you waiting until you had enough brand interested? Like how did you know that it was going to be able to support you? Once I started, I was making like a decent, a good amount of money before I quit my job. Like it was like and I was growing in a very rapid pace to where I knew that like it wasn't going to just like end anytime soon. Does that make sense?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Is there something that you think, like, made you grow? Or was it, was there a tipping thing? Or did it just happen? So when I first started my page, I was posting a lot of pretty photos. Like, I would be like, ooh, I'm going to post like an avocado toast that looks really cute. And then I would try and make, like, it's really embarrassing. If you scroll, like, really far back, I would do like smoothie bowls. And I remember I'd be like, and I would like, I would see. I would do what I saw other bloggers doing, which was like pretty pictures. And I would use like cauliflower instead of iced because I saw people doing that.

I remember like making smoothies. It tasted like shit. And I was like, I don't want to drink. But I would like post it because that's what people were doing and it looked pretty and whatever. And then I remember one day I posted a bowl of chili and it was a really good recipe but the picture was terrible. Did you like debate about posting? I was like, should I post this is pretty bad. And I was like, whatever.

I'm just going to do it. It blew up. Like what was like the best performing post I ever had. And I was like, oh. That's interesting. care about my disgusting cauliflower breakfast smoothie. They care about the stuff that I want to eat. This is great. And it was like kind of just like, okay, whoa. These people are like me. They like what I like. And this is great. So it sounds bad, but like it's so easy for me.

Everyone's like, oh, isn't it hard to like cook all the time? I'm like, no. Like I cook when I want to cook. And when I go out, I take pictures of that too. Like, I think people just like to see somebody that's like really just like normal and balanced and goes out to eat when they want to go out to eat and cooks quick and simple and inexpensive meals. So what is your day look like? Like, what's a normal day look like for you? Wake up, check emails, go work out, come home, meditate. And then I cannot work from home.

So I have to get fully ready. like I will like do my hair, my makeup and like get ready like I'm going to work. And then I'll go to like a coffee shop or something like that and check my emails. And that ranges. It could be an hour. It could be like five hours sometimes just kind of depending on like what I'm doing that day. If I'm doing my newsletter or like just like little things like that. So that always ranges.

And then I'll go to the grocery store, come home and make something for dinner. And then that's like an ideal day. Sometimes like today I had an event. I don't know. So are you not like planning content in advance? Are you literally just posting your life in real time? Yeah. And you don't get nervous about, I don't know, having content for next Wednesday.

You have no idea what will happen. No idea. Yeah. Interesting. I know. It's very special. Yeah. Like, yeah.

Like I don't, it doesn't, and it doesn't stress me out because I just know. know that I'll be fine. Like you'll make a dinner on Wednesday and be able to post it or you'll, yeah. It's very, very authentic. Like I, yeah. Interesting. Okay, you said you couldn't do Whole 30 because you couldn't not have, not drink for that long.

And I really want to ask. But I'm so, I think there's a lot of people in the wellness world who are either like fully sober and they're like, this didn't work for me. And then there's a lot of people in the other world who are maybe drinking like, Quite a bit. And I think drinking in a healthy way, but still including alcohol part of your life, is something that is fascinating to a lot of people. So how do you balance that? So it's the same thing. Like you have to listen to your body. Like I work seven days a week. I work every single day. So it's like I can't be hung over for a day. Like I have to like cook healthy food. And like I don't know if we've ever made a salad when you're hung over, but I fucking sucks. So it's like I love it. I love it. working too. So it's like, I want to be able to do the things that I want to do. And drinking heavily more than one day a week is not in the cards for me. So I definitely pick either like a Friday or a Saturday, usually a Saturday where I go out and I'll have three to four drinks and like go out.

And like that's like a fun night out. Otherwise, I'll have like a glass of wine another like one day a week. So I drink like two days out of the week. And are you sort of making that as a conscious decision? or you just like in tune enough with your body that your body doesn't feel like it on those other day? It's, I'm not like, oh my God, I really want a glass of wine right now, but I can't because it's a Tuesday. Like if I want to have a drink, I will. But yeah, generally, I just more so like want to have a drink on the weekend because that's like when my friends are available and it sounds good. And that's what I want to do. But yeah, it's not really.

Have you ever thought about being sober? like doing the sober curious thing or not drinking for length of time? I just don't think that it's like an issue. Like I'm never like I regret drinking last night. I feel so terrible or like I made a really bad decision or any of that. I've never really, nothing bad has ever happened from it except for like sometimes like I'll get a headache because I did have one too many drinks. So I feel like unless there's like an issue there, that I just don't really have any desire to like stop doing it because I don't feel like I need to.

Yeah. I'm kind of like, oh, like I'm not one day going to be like, oh my God, I have to stop eating broccoli. Like I'm just going to try it out. You know what I mean? Like, whoa, why? What are you in broccoli? Like, what's with you broccoli? Like your life in general doesn't, it doesn't feel like you limit or restrict really anything.

Which is I like. I think that that's a really healthy approach. Like if you can be in tune enough with yourself and what makes you feel good and want to make yourself feel good in that way and you're not like this is fully off limits. I think that's like a very nice way to. Yeah. I was thinking about the other day and I was like, I don't think I've ever like been like, oh, you know what? Like I'm like not going to get bread on my, or I'm going to like not have a bun on my burger. Oh my God. I can't imagine. I actually can't imagine. I don't think I've ever done that. I went to a restaurant for lunch and they didn't have like a bread basket and I was so sad. And I was just like, why is this there? And my friend was like, we're in a lay. Like, why would they have a

bread basket? It would just waste a bunch of food. And I was like, yeah, but I like my bread to start my day. Okay. And last thing before we ask the questions that I ask everybody, can we talk about the fact that your sister was on The Bachelor? Yeah. What do you want to know? Has a rabid fan base. Well, first of all, I would love to know if there's anything that happens behind the scenes of the show that you found out about that like, We wouldn't know watching it. I'm going to get sued by ABC or whatever. You didn't sign shit. NBC.

I actually might have. She did. Did she get the hometown date? She was on the hometown date. So I have a really good. So you were a family member? Yeah. Oh my God.

That is fascinating. Okay. Speaking of not having a drinking problem. I don't. But they, I got a little glimpse into like the behind the scenes. So we're waiting for, she was on Ben. end season. So my sister is Amanda Stanton, by the way. Blonde, two kids. That's my sister. So she gets the hometown date and we're waiting for them to come. And the producers are like, oh, like, okay,

do you guys want any food while you wait? Do you want any, like any alcohol? And my dad and I were both like very not wanting to be on camera. Like I, that's just like not my thing. Like I'll talk to my phone on my story all day. But the second it like flips. It is on me. I'm like, oh, my God, I get weird. So I was like dreading it. So I'm like, my dad's like, yeah, let's get some like Jack Daniels and like have like a Jack and Coke. And I was like, okay, cool.

Yeah, I'll have a Jack and Coke. Next thing you know, I'm like wasted. Oh no. Did they bring you like a super strong drink? Yeah. I know it's like part of the thing is that like when you're like, how is there all that drama? I know part of the thing is the producers are like plying the women with alcohol all the time.

And depriving them of sleep. Oh. And also they don't have any like. books, TV, anything, right? No, no music. That's great. I know. So that you're drunk. Is your dad drunk? Wasted. My dad was like, fine. Everyone was fine, except for I was just like, I don't know what happened. And I also like didn't really drink that much until later into college. So I was like a new drinker. So how old are you at this time? 23. Okay. Yeah, 23, 22. Okay. So I was like not like a very experience. So I was like not like a very experience. So I'm,

I'm like ripping shots. Like once they're like getting ready to come. And it was so bad to the point where they couldn't even use it as like, oh, the sister got really drunk. I was so blacked out that I was making no sense. Oh my God. So if you watch her episode, I'm in it for 0.5 seconds. But before it aired, I didn't know any of this. So I'm like waiting for it to air and I'm like, okay, I'm going to get fired from my job.

I'm going to make a huge idiot of myself on national TV. Oh, my God. How long is there between when it's shot and when it's shown? Like, how long were you, like, dreading this for? Bad memory. But, like, months? Four months. Oh, yeah.

Months. So I thought I was, like, I was literally, like, getting, like, looking for other jobs because I was like, there's no way I'm going to be able to keep it on. Oh, my. I remember, I was, you know when, like, they do the interview where you're, like, sitting there? Yeah. I remember, it's a blur, but I remember doing a headstand in that room. And they were all, like, laughing.

There's some footage that ABC has of me or NBC, whatever it is, that's like, I'm terrified. Oh, my God. But then it aired and you were like this. It aired and they didn't show it because I remember sitting and like talking to my sister and she's like, so like, like, what do you think about Ben? And I was like, what are you? I'm like, did you like him when you, was that, that was the very first time. Like, that really is when the family meets the person, right? Like you haven't, and you haven't like talked to her on the phone right.

So you don't really even know your sister's feelings on the guy. Yeah. And I'm just like, wait, you like this guy? Like you hide. And she's like, yeah, I really like him. And then I remember talking to him a little bit. I remember asking him if he believed in Bigfoot. And he was like, what the fuck?

I just feel like it has to be so weird for the families because the people on the show are essentially, they're not manipulated, but every trick in the book is used to make them feel very strong feelings very quickly. And then for your family. you just are like, well, you've been gone for three weeks and now you want to get married. Like, it just feels like, okay. Like, we kind of understood what was going on. Right. But she really, like, at that point, did she think she could really, like, marry him?

But, like, I don't think when she got sent home, like, I think she was sad. And I think, like, once you get back to reality, you're kind of like, oh, okay. I always compare it to playing, like, beer pong. Did you ever, like, beer pong in, like, college? Yeah, for sure. You have no idea how it's, like, the bachelor. Okay. Listen. So right now, do you care if you ever want to be a Pong game? No. Like, it doesn't

matter. But when you're playing, you want to win so bad. Like, you get so into it. You know what I mean? Right. So you think it's more about the competition than like the falling in love? I think it's such a competition. And then I think there is like bring feelings into it, bring a cute guy into it. It's just like, it's just crazy. I think I understand my people act psycho. But I also think that there's, are people on that show. I'm not going to like name names, but I think there, I have watched it. And there's some people where I'm like,

I think that they actually like have prop, like are not mentally stable and should not be on TV. And I think that they like pry on those people. And I think it's not okay. Like I'm not a family. Yeah. That's interesting. I don't know.

Just for like good television they bring them on. Yeah. And like I get it. That's their job. But I'm just kind of like, I don't know. Do you think the producers really want the people to fall out? Like they want people to find love or do you think they don't care? I don't think they care.

Was it weird for you when your sister went from, what did she do before? Was she like, I assume she wasn't like famous before? She, no, she was the stay at home mom? So was it weird for you when your sister went from just like being a stay at home mom to being like, she has a million Instagram followers? Like was that strange. It was so weird. I remember we'd like go to the mall and people would like ask to take photos with her. And I was just like, what?

It was really crazy. But I mean, it's just so normal now that I'm just used to it. So it's so it's and it's just such an interesting way to become famous because people probably feel like they know you in a, I don't know, and invested in you. And it's different than becoming famous like for acting or singing or something. Well, yeah, it's almost like not worse, but when people see her out, they'd be like, oh my God, hey, how are you? And like want to chat. Like I feel like if you were to see like Brad Pitt. Yeah.

Or like, yeah, like J-Lo or something, you just like stare and be like, oh my God, that's her. Right. And people like just go right. People aren't like, oh, wow, you're a celebrity. They're like, oh, hey, like, let's talk about The Bachelor. And it's like sometimes like so annoying because we'll be like in a rush or something like that. And I'm just like, oh my God, like really like you guys. Does she, is she happy that she went on the show?

Yeah. I mean, she's had so many career opportunities from it. She's the clothing line now. She wrote a book. So what's the book about it? It's like her life. That's crazy that you go in the bachelor and then like people. like really want to know about your your life and yeah i mean yeah she there's like some dirt i think

on like some of the guy like she was engaged from the show from the paradise one right yeah so i think that like people are like so interested to like hear like the dirt the dirt on that which is like it's pretty interesting do you remember was it like crazy when she got accepted were you guys like i was like oh my god and we were just like waiting for her to like be sent home you know did you i assume you watch and wait so when you watch it Do you have no idea whether or not they have won? Like, because it's a- I think technically they're not supposed to tell you the family or whatever,

but like we obviously like knew like, okay, she got to hometown. And then like a couple- And that's probably when you signed like an NDA or something. Yeah. So that's cool. Hopefully I did it. Yeah. But, yeah, and then she got sent home like a few days later.

But did you, did she. And she blames me for getting sent home because I was so drunk. Does she actually? Kind of. Oh my God. Like what's her? Ben Higgins is just like, this is your family. No, I always wanted to like ask him.

Like, do you ever talk to him again? No. Does he live in L.A. or anything? A lot of them do. I don't think so. It's so funny if you like saw him out and you're like, I did a headstand. Yeah. He'd probably be like what?

But like, did she, when she get kicked off, does she just like come right home? And then you would obviously know that she didn't win because she's home, right? Yeah. Yeah, we were like, oh, okay. But she's not allowed to tell you she didn't win. So I'm confused between, like, what I'm supposed to say and what is real. But yeah, we knew, obviously. But she's not, we're not supposed to tell.

Right, right, right. I just think it must be so, like, if you get sent home on, like, the third date, obviously everybody knows you didn't win. Yeah. You know, like, really scared. I remember because, like, she left and we were like, she going to come right back. And, like, because that means she got sent home right away.

You know, like, the longer they're gone. The better. And so she just, like, kept going and going. Yeah. And then you get a call for hometowns, right? You haven't heard anything from her, and then the producers call you? I think she called. I think she was like, hey, like asking questions.

That's so weird. It was really crazy. It was like, it's just such a weird little, I mean, I love it because I think the point of life is to have as many unique and interesting and dynamic experiences as possible. And like, it's very cool that you get to have this like experience that a lot of people don't have access to and that she got to have this experience that, like, a lot of people don't have access to. And I think that's so cool.

It's like why I like being a journalist because I get to live these, like, little snippets of other people's lives. Yeah. But it's still so weird. It's just such a weird world. It is. The Bachelor. It's real.

There's some, like, they're like hardcore fans. You don't watch the show, though. No. So, yeah. People will come out to me and be like, oh, yeah. Like, I know. I know Greg. He's like, he was on it.

And I'm like, oh, hey. I assume everybody just like at all affiliated and is all hanging out. And I watched her season and I watched a little bit of the season after and that was it. So I don't know anything else about The Bachelor. Except for that they don't necessarily air it. It's actually very nice that they didn't. Like they could have, you know, sort of turned you into a hot mess on national TV. They have hardcore blackmail against me.

And it's nice. Like it's actually, I feel like good. That is really nice. That's a nice move of. But I think that the footage was impossible to make interesting because I was that big of a mess. I really want to go watch it now to see like everybody, how everybody else is acting, knowing that you're wasted, but without that being cut in. Because like you act differently when there's a wasted person in your midst. Totally.

I think that people didn't even, my parents and like whatever, like nobody really realized how wasted I was because everyone was like freaking out that like there was camera crews around. and their attention was elsewhere. Yeah. That makes sense. So I don't think anyone really knew until I, like, sat down and was talking with my sister and making no sense. And she was just like, oh, my gosh. She was so pissed. Especially because you have the sister dynamic too.

And she's like, this is important to me. And you're like, she's literally still not of me. She's still not of me. Okay. Well, I have a few questions that I always ask everybody. First of all, do you feel successful and why or why not? Yes, I do. because I help people every day.

And they reach out to me and tell me how I've helped them, whether it's starting to cook again, whether it's in the mental health aspect. Yeah, so I think just being able to help people is kind of how I measure my success. And I think that I've done a great job of doing that. So definitely. What's the best way to spend 20 minutes every day

in terms of living a healthier or happier life? I would say meditating. Do you like meditating? No, I can sponsor my headspace. I wish. Andy, call me. I know. He's so cute.

But like just sitting down. I would say meditating or going on a walk outside. I love that. Okay. What is a purchase that you've made recently that's made your life healthier or happier? My immersion blender. Because I have documented on my Instagram, me trying to blend soups in my blender. and it explodes all over me because I'm the worst.

So definitely made me happier. It made me healthier because I can make more recipes. You made more suit. Is it not bringing myself? Mine's KitchenAid. Okay. It's good. I feel like they're kind of like all the same.

Have you ever been to somewhere in the world where you're like, these people really got it right in terms of living a healthy, happy life? And if so, where was it? Italy. And why? What's? Because they just like walk everywhere and they are always like sitting and eating and drinking wine and I feel like they just got it got it going on.

Are you Italian? No, I'm not Italian at all, but I really... You look like you could be. I'm French Moroccan and then... Ooh. Yeah. And then my dad is like just sort of like white. Like if you're 23 and me, it would be like, you're white.

You're white and French Moroccan. But I really want to date an Italian, so. I'm always telling my dad. He's like, you know, coming to that age where he's sort of grappling with his mortality and not being able to do the things in his body he wants to do. And I'm always like, go to Italy. there's like 90-year-old men on bicycles, like riding around town. And I think if you don't ever stop doing those things, your body like won't hopefully.

Just keep doing it because your body can sometimes do it forever and ever, you know. And obviously that's not true for everybody. But I think Italy is the place I've seen that the most. Yeah. And I really love that. It's like a Tuesday and everyone's drinking wine, laughing and eating and like having a blast. What is one big mistake you've made and what's one thing that you feel like you really got right? kind of like what I was saying earlier.

When I first started my blog, I thought that I needed to be posting what other people were posting, like pretty food and things I wasn't necessarily eating. But I thought that people would like and I thought that would help me gain a following. So I would say that was my biggest mistake is not really being true to myself when I first started my account. And then I forgot the question. What's one thing you really got right? One thing you really got right, being myself and being able to be confident in who I am and put that out there and just be authentic. I think that people have really reacted well to and connected with.

I think that's really come through for me and talking to you. And I'm curious that if somebody said, like, I don't know who myself is or I know who myself is and I don't know how to be that. Like, what would you say to them? Because I think that's, you're so good at it and it so clearly emanates from you. Um, that's a really good question because just, just being confident and like kind of like baking it till you make it type of thing. Whatever it is that you are, just own it and do it. And it's like if you, you can literally do anything. And if you act confident, people will believe you. So I would just say like no matter what it is in life, like if you want to do it, just go full

throttle into it and odds are that you'll be successful. Bake it until you make it. I swear, it works. That's what I literally live my life. Like, I have no idea what I'm doing right now. Like, all I know is that I built a successful brand off of my Instagram page and I have a talent, which is cooking. But like, that's not what got me to where I am now.

Like, it's just being straight up confident and myself and just putting myself out there. I love it. Yeah. Yeah. That's my new motto. Thank you so much. for taking the time to chat with me. Yeah, thank you. I hope you love that episode and you felt

like you were hanging out on the couch with us in her apartment. And I don't know, I just hope it felt girly and fun, but also inspiring and real and all of those things. You can find Krissa on Instagram at Brock Your Body. I'm Atlas Moody on Instagram. We would love to know your thoughts and reactions and feelings to this episode. I would love your take on The Bachelor's story because I thought that was really funny and also the mental health stuff and the breakup stuff, all of that. Love your take on all of it. So definitely screenshot. Tag us on Instagram.

We would love to continue the conversation over there. And then, as always, if you're loving this episode, I would love to hear about it on iTunes. If you could leave a rating and review, it is one of the most helpful things that you can do for this podcast. And I massively appreciate it. It also is really nice for me to know what episodes you're liking so I can put in more of those types of episodes. So if you love this episode, head over to iTunes, do a quick rating review. I promise it only takes like two minutes. And also the other really, really helpful thing you can do.

do for the pod is tell other people about it. It helps other people find it. It helps inspire other people. And I hope that it helps other people on their own health and wellness journeys. And also to not feel so alone. I think a big mission of my podcast is I think that loneliness is I think that loneliness is one of the biggest health issues of our time. And I think being healthier together, all of us here in this family is we're creating a little community that helps assuage that loneliness and that makes me so, so happy. So please share the podcast with somebody else that you think would love it, that you think it would be a great part of their life. I would appreciate it. And I hope that they would appreciate it too. All right, I love you all. And I will see you on the

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