The Liz Moody Podcast - Lauren Bosworth—Life After Reality TV, Overcoming Depression & Anxiety, and Starting A Bad-Ass Business

Episode Date: March 18, 2020

On today’s episode, I sat down to chat with Lauren Bosworth, the former star of Laguna Beach & The Hills and the current bad-ass woman behind Love Wellness. We recorded this right after self-isolation for COVID-19 had begun, so it had to be virtual not in real life like most of my episodes, so please excuse any audio quality issues (although I worked with my editor to make it as good as possible!). This is a scary time, but I wanted to have this episode mostly NOT be about COVID-19, although we do of course touch on it briefly. If you want more resources and support around that, please come hang out on Instagram—I’m offering a ton of guidance, community, and fun dance parties there. But I hope this episode is a bit of a respite. Lauren talks about: How being on reality TV as a teenager impacted her personality Her secret to making homemade food healthy & delicious Her depression and anxiety journey and how she finally got the diagnosis that allowed her to heal How she deals with life-inspired anxiety, like the COVID-19 virus The cooking show cancellation that ended up being an unexpected positive Her breakup and why she’s embracing being single The practices she does daily for her mental & physical health How she started her mega-successful business, and her advice for any other entrepreneurs You can find Lauren on Instagram at @lobosworth, and we’d both love to hear your reactions to this episode, so please screenshot and write any thoughts or questions that come up as you’re listening and tag us both (I’m @lizmoody). All of the products form her amazing, woman-empowering company, Love Wellness, can be found at lovewellness.com. Enjoy! PS: 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 focused on immune-boosting staples here, including the Oil of Oregano I take whenever I am sick, the elderberry I take preventatively, and the Garden of Life Ultimate Care I take to support my gut health. You can find Garden of Life at Whole Foods, but the best way to support the podcast is to use the links here, which I’ve also put on my Instagram highlights. By using my links, it just tells Garden of Life that you found them through the pod, and it doesn’t cost you anything extra, so I’d massively appreciate it. This episode is also sponsored by Califia Farms! I’m a huge fan of all of Califia’s non-dairy products, but I especially love their non-dairy creamer (the one in the carton). I’m a huge fan of making caffeine-free lattes, with super weird flavors like Birthday Cake, Carrot Cake, and Churros, and I love using the Califia almondmilk creamer as the base for that, since it makes it super creamy and delicious. It’s also of course great in coffee or tea! You can find Califia Farms in pretty much any grocery store, or you can get 20% off online orders at califiafarms.com using the code “healthiertogether20.” If you need help deciding what to buy, hit me up on Instagram—I have lots of thoughts! I can’t wait to hear what you think! 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 Healthy You Together podcast. I'm your host, Liz Moody, and I am a journalist living in Brooklyn with my husband and my very cute cat, Isabella. What a weird time. I'm recording this on Friday, March 13th, and the last 48 hours have been crazy because of the COVID-19 virus. Tom Hanks was diagnosed and the NBA was canceled. There was the European travel ban and I don't know, it just feels like everything. all the sudden became really crazy and people became very aware of it. People started canceling plans.

And like most New Yorkers, Zach and I are practicing social distancing, which should help, will hopefully help slow the spread of the virus, which means that we are pretty much hold up in her tiny New York City apartment right now. So I'm sharing a lot of tips to cope with all of this on Instagram. So definitely come hang out over there. I have like healthy comfort food and immune boosting tips and things you can do right now to feel good without leaving your heart. home, but I don't want to detract too much from our episode with it here. So go over to

Instagram if you want to know about that stuff, if you want sort of that type of content. But generally, stay safe, stay sane. Make sure you're giving your day structure, even if it's been disrupted, take care of your mental health in any way you can, online therapy, home workouts, meditation, all that kind of stuff. And if you are feeling especially anxious on the last episode of the podcast, I sat down with one of the country's best holistic psychologist or psychiatrist, Ellen Vora, for an Ask the Doctor episode that is all about anxiety is literally two hours of actionable advice, including physical and mental changes to help alleviate anxiety. It's literally just like every single thing you can do for

anxiety. And it's also very calming and soothing to listen to. I'll listen to it back sometimes when I'm feeling anxious. And Ellen's voice is just very peaceful. She makes you feel like everything is right in the world. So it's the episode just before this one. So definitely check that out if you're feeling anxious. Today's episode is actually the first one that I have ever recorded virtually. I usually prefer to be in person with my guests, but obviously the circumstances didn't allow for that. So I ask you to excuse any like weird blips in the audio, although I worked with my editor to make sure it sounds absolutely as good as possible. I'm like a super perfectionist about these things. So these little tiny things just drive me crazy. And I hope that you won't even notice them,

honestly. It's an episode that I'm super excited to share, though. I chatted with Lauren Bodge. who is the founder of Love Wellness. You may know Lauren or Lowe from her time on Laguna Beach and the Hills or her massively successful women's health company, Love Wellness. In this episode, we talked all about Lauren's journey, including what life was really like behind the scenes during her reality TV days. She even shared some stuff that, like, I didn't realize about how it affected her mental health and her self-perception and her image of herself and how the world treated her and all

of that. She also talks about how she was going to have a cooking show and that ended up not happening. And that whole thing ended up being this huge unexpected positive in our life. And I was really interested in how she kind of turned that circumstance around. We talked about her breakup and why she is embracing being single. And then we also do a really deep dive into her experience with depression and anxiety and everything she did to turn her mental health around from these little tweaks to larger lifestyle changes. We recorded this episode this morning.

So we do talk about the coronavirus a little bit. I didn't want to put out a whole corona-centric episode because I think there's a lot of that in the world right now. But I do think it's interesting how people who have anxiety deal in extra anxious time. So I wanted to get Lauren's advice and thoughts about what she's doing to keep her mental health good right now. So we definitely talk about that. Lauren's company, Love Wellness, is also doing incredibly well. They're now sold in Ulta, which is incredible. It's awesome.

And so I got her to share some advice for anyone who's interested in starting their own business. And I really liked what she said. I'm definitely going to apply it for a few things that I have coming down the pipeline for all of you. You can find Lauren on Instagram at Low Bosworth. And we would both love, love, love to hear reactions to the episodes. So please screenshot it and write any thoughts or questions that come up as you're listening

and tag us both. I'm Liz Moody. And then all of the products from her. amazing woman empowering company, Love Wellness, can be found at Lovewellness.com. I hope that this episode provides a little bit of light and positivity in what I know is a scary time. I love to think of this community is a big family all hanging out together and having interesting and informative and funny and empathetic conversations. And I think in times like this, that sort of thing becomes even more important. We are all in this together,

whether that togetherness is virtual or not. And I love you all. And I really hope you enjoy this episode with Lauren Bosworth. All right. Lauren or do you prefer to go by low or Lauren actually because your PR person said Lauren. And then I was like, I thought it was low. Lauren or low. Honestly, I introduce myself as Lauren because people are like, low, what? And I'm like, it's Lauren. They're like, got it. That's the name I know. I actually remember when you like when you first came into my consciousness and your name was low and then Lauren Conrad's name was LC and I remember being acutely aware. Like I've always had sort of names I hated and being like, oh my God, they took these names that everybody had and they turned them into cool names. And I remember

being like 12 or 13 and just thinking that was the smartest, most like genius thing that you could change your own name in that way, you know? Yeah, for me, you know, when I was a kid, I was Lalo. That was my nickname. And then it just changed. It just changed into Lowe. I don't know. Just a pet name from my parents, to be honest. Did you have stuck? Did you have younger siblings or? Yeah, I have a younger brother and an older sister, but I have a cousin who's the same age who couldn't say Lauren. And so he said Lalo and, you know, so he named me really. Yeah, that's what I was where I feel like when people have kind of like weird names, it's because, yeah, like somebody couldn't pronounce their name as kid. I also think names, I think a lot about names because I changed my name when I was 13. I was

Carrie Ann until I was 13 and then I changed it to Liz, which is my middle name. And I do think that our names sort of like change our personalities a bit. Like, do you feel different when you're low versus Lauren, you know? Yeah, I guess Lauren feels more just like who I really am. And low is kind of this professional, always on persona. Do you know what I mean? Oh, that's interesting. Yeah, that's really interesting. Okay, well, I like to like go way back. I like to go to childhood, to start. So let's start when you're a kid. What did you think you're going to be when you grew up? You know, interestingly enough, I always wanted to be a doctor, a dermatologist or a plastic surgeon. So finding myself in the wellness space is sort of adjacent to that, I suppose.

We have a good wellness advisory board of doctors so they get to share amazing information with me. But I just find human biology to be fascinating. It just is something that has always really, really interested me. And in college, I just kind of struggled with a pre-med pre-rex, you know, like, chemistry and all these things. So it didn't end up being, you know, my path. But I always thought that I might end up being a doctor or working in health care in some way. How did you, did you like have any health issues as a child? Or were you exposed to a friend or family member at health issues? Or like sort of where did that come into your consciousness? You know, I've always just been kind

of a hypochondriac, to be honest with you. Same. Very much. And I really think that was sort of the origin of it when anything would go wrong. I had to get to the bottom of it. I was just, super fascinated. And I think that's really where it began for me, which is sort of interesting, you know, like your anxiety creates interest in things. I think it's so interesting. And we're going to talk about this later for you. But I think it's so interesting, the positive directions that our anxiety can actually take us in our lives. This thing that we think of is this like beast of burden or negative thing. It can, it's guided my life in all of these amazing places. And I feel like it's in a lot of ways done that for you as well, which I think is fascinating.

Yes. Where did you go to college? I went to UCLA. Okay. And was it weird transitioning between like being, like, did people give you shit in college? Because they were like, oh, I saw you on TV. Yes. So actually, I started at UC Santa Barbara.

And I was so bullied and had such difficult time that I transferred to UCLA to be a little closer to home, to be with a little bit of a different Democratic. graphic and in LA, you know, it's the home of the entertainment industry. And so it was much more normal to have somebody who was working in entertainment kind of like on campus and in the social scene versus my time in Santa Barbara where kids would like yell slurs at me when I would walk down the street. And I was, you know, 17 at the time just graduated from high school. My first week of college, the first episode of Laguna comes onto TV. And I went from being a normal kid in the dorm to being a not normal kid in like 60 minutes. Like it happened immediately. Oh, I didn't realize. I thought it

came out while you guys were all still in high school. Not for me. So there were a few people that were in different ages or I guess different grades. And so we were seniors in high school when they recorded that very first season of Laguna. And my very first week of college when I was a freshman is is when it debuted on television. Oh my God. That's like, that's like horrific. I like,

I genuinely can't even imagine that situation. Were you, like, did you feel cool when it got? I'm just, I'm so, no, no,

I did not feel cool. I felt like I wanted to hide and that has kind of been my experience through it all. But I feel like you were like a sane one on the show. You weren't like, one of the hot messes, you were like the cool friend that sort of gave everybody good advice, I feel like. Yeah.

Like you came off well. You know, thank you. That's kind. When I first participated, I made a deal with the producers. And I said, I'm never going to show my personal life on this. I'm happy to be the person that is, you know, sort of a secondary character. I was very comfortable in that role. I never wanted to date anybody on TV or sort of get down and dirty with other people.

and this was really before reality TV was even a thing. So I had like foresight that I didn't really even predict. You know what I mean? I know. And there's like a 17-year-old. Yeah, I need this decision as a really young person. I think because I was just a little uncomfortable and it ended up serving me well. But I think because of, you know, just public perception of people who were on reality TV and

the gossip blogs. You remember Perez Hilton was really big at the time. It was just a very weird experience. And so I'm sure that people that watched the show thought, wow, this is so cool, these interesting lives. But being on the inside, the experience was very different. It was, I felt embarrassed all the time. And, you know, I truly have spent like many years trying to kind of escape a reputation that I think that I perceive to still be there, but other people don't necessarily perceive to still be there. Do you know what I mean? Other people are like, wow, it was so cool. And I'm like, no, it's so embarrassing. So is the reputation you're trying to escape? Is it like a perception of yourself? Or what would you say that reputation is? Well, that's where

it's still sort of murky for me, right? Because, you know, people that I know or meet either think that it's really interesting and cool that I was on the show or they're like, oh, a reality TV star. Like, I don't want to be friends with you. And I live in New York City. So you have some people that are like that. You know what I mean? And so I think for me, it goes both ways also. I think for me, kind of the red thread from the experience is that I have gained a really interesting platform to, communicate with an engaged audience and I have always from the beginning used that audience or communicated with that audience in what I feel to be a really positive way and for good because that's just who I am as a person. And so even though on an emotional level, it's sort of weird being in the

public eye, I really have made peace with that and I have a really comfortable and normal life and a huge group of really great friends. And so I would say that I'm like pretty happy day to day. You know, I wouldn't change it. Even though it's been challenging, I really acknowledge and recognize what the opportunity has given me. Okay, so let's talk about how you actually like got there to that place mentally, to that place where you're the successful businesswoman with an incredible women

empowering business now. you went to college. Did you, you tried to do pre-med? Did you drop out of pre-med? No, it was just sort of like the original classes that you had to take. So I ended up studying art history, which I really, really loved. And, you know, it was a combination of, like, religion and history and aesthetics. It was a very, very, it was something that felt very fulfilling to me on a day-to-day level.

So I graduated from UCLA in 2008. The show ended in 2010. So I was, you know, continuing to work all throughout when I was in college. And then, you know, being on the hills was my full-time job for a number of years. But can we talk about that for one second? Oh, sure. Yeah, I'm just, I'm curious if you were having this sort of like mixed relationship with it and you were embarrassed, what was the impetus to sort of keep going back and keep working on it? It was a really high-paying job.

and it was kind of something that I didn't want to turn down. I thought, you know, this is a little uncomfortable, but I also can't put Pandora back in the box. And so I thought, I'm just going to ride this. It's the best job I can have as a 19 year old. Yeah. Was having, honestly, like, that kind of money is that, I remember when I turned 18 and it was just, like, weird to have your own money in any sort of way after getting like, what a $20 allowance every week? And was it weird to be that age and have that sort of financial freedom?

It was very thrilling. I have always been a particularly independent person. I'll give you an example. When I moved into my dorms in college when I was a freshman, I said, mom and dad, I don't need your help. I got this. And I got in my heart and I packed. And I literally moved into college by myself.

Oh, my gosh. And everybody around me is like crying and being like, Oh my God, I'll miss you. And you're just like, eh. Yeah, I was like, I got this. So I really appreciated the financial independence. And so I think for me that, you know, that is also part of why I continue to do it. You know, I feel really comfortable on my own and making my own decisions.

And participating in the show allowed me to, you know, be in charge of my own life. Were you thinking in like a future focus sense at that time? Are you like, oh, if I like put this money away, it'll set me up for the future. Or if I gain this platform, I can do whatever I want later. Or were you just like a normal 19 year old? Gosh, no. This was in, you know, 2006, 2007, 2008. The influencer didn't exist yet.

Nobody was like forward thinking about how to turn a reality TV job into a career in any way. Yeah, that's crazy. Because now people like go on The Bachelor and then they have 800,000. thousand Instagram followers. Yeah. Yeah, just to like launch, just to launch themselves. Right. That didn't, that didn't exist back then. For me, no, it was just really about being able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle, to be honest with you. You know, I felt like an adult and like I could afford to have an apartment and a car. And as an 18 year old, that is pretty awesome. And you would just like, would you just drive down from college and shoot some scenes and then drive back up, essentially?

Well, in college, the hills was on. So we went from the hill to then the hills. So the hills was shot pretty much exclusively in L.A. And so I was at UCLA. I had classes. You know, I had my class schedule, which was not all day long every day, you know, a couple days a week for a few hours. And then I would get my call times and I would go to work during those off hours, you know. It's so funny. that you would like think that it really was sort of like a job with call times and stuff like that because the people when you're watching it, it's very much portrayed as like, oh, Lauren just happened to go to the bar and then the cameras were there, you know? Yeah. I mean, yes. I think we know about reality TV now that it's not to know that it's not

normal TV shows. Do you feel like it changed your personality at all? your personality was like developing because you're sort of acting a character but as yourself and then you're also at that. I mean, that's the years when literally your frontal lobe is developing and you're so you're trying to figure out who you are as a person while portraying a version of who you are as a person. I would say that I, um, and I think to my benefit became a much more cautious, careful and introverted person as a result. I was always, outspoken and out there and popular and opinionated. And I still am those things, but just within

a very specific group of people, you know, people that I trust. I think one of my biggest takeaways was that, you know, I sort of can compare to like the cancel culture that's happening right now on a large scale with all people like, you know, you say something wrong, you do something wrong, and people like lose their minds on you. And I just got a sense when I was really young, during that time that I needed to be really careful all the time. And so I would say that that is sort of the biggest lesson that I have taken with me and probably has had the biggest impact on how I behave and how I see the world and interact with people. I'm really careful with how I communicate with people, how I go into new relationships with people, how I operate as a business person.

you know, caution is always kind of at the forefront of my mind when I am making decisions. I think it's such a valuable lesson, although the cancel culture sort of drives me nuts. Like I think it's one of the most powerful things you can do in your personal life and your professional life to say, I was wrong about something. I admit that I was wrong. I've learned from my mistakes and I've grown. I think that's one of the best things we can do is people. And we've created this society where people are terrified.

to admit they were wrong of her. So they'd rather like not, you know, grow and learn publicly. And I feel like that's really a sad side effect of everybody piling on when anybody says something that's at all, you know, that they could learn from or grow from. Yeah, I agree. You know, the reality is the internet is still kind of new. I mean, it's been around for a while. But, you know, in terms of like human history and how we are dealing with it, it's just this. bizarre thing, you know what I mean? And I just think that if something weird happens to you online, it's just a totally foreign experience. And so it doesn't, it does not surprise me that, that people don't take ownership over over stuff. It doesn't surprise me at all. Yeah. It's

interesting. It's interesting to think about because it is, we are sort of in the nascent phases of all of this. And I think we forget that because it's hard even to remember a time before we were on our computers and on our phones and stuff all the time. But it's interesting to think about how to progress in the next like 20, like what will our relationship with all this be? And will we have figured out a better social etiquette around all of this stuff in 20, 30 years or 10 years even, you know? Yeah, hopefully. I don't know. So you were in college. You were shooting the hills. You were doing your classes, art history. Did you have any idea what you wanted to do after college? You know, at that point, I was working a lot in the entertainment space.

and that was kind of as far as I could imagine. I was like, well, I think that I could, you know, have a career in entertainment in some capacity as the host of a show or, you know, something like that. And I definitely didn't want to do reality programming again. Something that I was always really passionate about and remained to be very passionate about is cooking. And so I moved to New York in 2012. and I went to culinary school and just working with my agent at the time on a deal with food network.

And I kind of thought, okay, like I would love to be in the food space, combine, you know, my entertainment background with my passion for food. And so I went to culinary school, which was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I went full time. So I got a culinary degree after I went to UCLA and started creating a lot of content that was food related and cooked all the time. And I still, I cook on my Instagram stories and those are my most popular Instagram stories. I get like hundreds of thousands of views when I'm like cooking food online, which is so funny. Because I don't do it for a living. It's just, you know, a hobby.

But at the time, I thought, okay, it would be really awesome to be a TV chef because it allows me to combine, you know, this entertainment background that I know really well at this point with my passion for food. And so sort of like got into negotiations with Food Network Cooking Channel and then that deal fell apart. And it was around that time that my health started to go a little wonky. I think I had been working towards that goal for a number of years, you know, through the education, through like the constant content creation. I had really kind of thrown myself into it and was really dedicated to it. And, you know, when that didn't end up coming to fruition, I felt really lost and I was also not well. I was depressed. I was anxious. I was dizzy all the time. I felt totally out of whack. I had never felt like this before in my life. And a couple months later, I discovered that I was suffering from really severe vitamin deficiencies.

And it was really through that experience, like being in that period of crossroads that I, I kind of formulated my next plan, which was to start love wellness based off of this personal health experience that I was going through. I didn't know that you were working. I knew you went to culinary school, but I didn't know you were working on a cooking show. Do you know why that deal sort of fell apart? Or was it not communicated to you? Not really communicated, but the powers that be in entertainment changed their mind all the time.

So I'm not really sure. It could be that I didn't have a big enough social media following or they decided that, you know, it was too weird for somebody on this kind of show to move to that kind of show. I'm not really sure, you know. But what was interesting was that I was creating content on my own at that point on YouTube and on my blog and the content was so, so popular. And so it was really surprising to me that it didn't end up working out. And this was back in like 2015 when you could still be on TV and it was still interesting.

Now to me, like unless you're on Netflix, like TV is kind of dead. Like people with cooking programs are getting 10x viewership on their YouTube channels and they are on a show on Food Network that gets, you know, 98,000 people to tune in. So sort of what is important from a platform perspective has definitely changed. But at that point, TV was still like a king. You know what I mean? If you were in entertainment, you wanted a TV show. You didn't want a little digital series. And so when it didn't work out, it was like, this has been my identity for a few years. I've been preparing for this for years now. I've been working so hard at this. And to kind of have the decision be made felt like, oh my God, like what do I do now? But I think this sort of silver lining through. it all was that because I went to culinary school, I learned a tremendous amount about nutrition and how food is medicine and how it can heal the body. And because of culinary school,

I really started to change the way that I was eating and I started to tell my wellness story as a result of it. At one point on YouTube, I created a little series called The Alternative, which was how to make stuff, but with all alternative ingredients, you know, like gluten-free pancakes, you know, almond milk, whatever it was. And so I was already starting to lean into that health and wellness direction because I had a personal passion for it and I had learned a lot of really great information through my experience at culinary school. And so, you know, from a content perspective, the evolution was actually pretty natural for me.

And then when I got sick, I started to talk about that as well. And the response that I got was really positive. And so it helped me kind of formulate how I wanted to move forward. Would you say that that I think I'm really curious. So I want to get into your whole health story and your wellness story because obviously I'm so interested in that. And I think that the listeners will be as well. But I also think that there's something really impressive about, having this dream and having this dream not come true or taken away from you and how like in the

days, weeks, months that follow that, how you deal with that mentally and how you get the motivation to try another thing and just sort of what's going on in your processes, both in sort of like reframing what your life can look like. If there's anything sort of you can tell us more esoterically and emotionally about that time right after, I would love it. Well, I remember my agent called me and I was home and he was like, hey, like this is not going to happen. Like, we're not moving forward on the deal. And I remember just laying on my bed in my apartment for like five hours. And like, I don't remember if I was like crying or just kind of like laying there, but I felt like I was in total shock. And I was already experiencing some of like this

depression and anxiety. And so I think to have a blow like that happen really kind of put me over the edge emotionally. And it was a really difficult time. Do you know what I mean? It was like I was so close to something that I was genuinely so excited about and to have it not work out because, you know, some executive, you know, in Chelsea Market decided that like we're not going to do this. It was like pretty shocking to me. You know what I mean? And in a lot of ways, it gave me a lot of free time because I sort of took a step back from it and was just sad for a number of weeks, but I'm somebody that doesn't do very well when I sit around with nothing to do. My brain is a very active and creative place,

and so I just wanted to continue to do something. And at that point, I started going to my doctor's appointments and starting to kind of experience roadblocks with trying to get better or even trying to identify kind of what was wrong with me. Do you know what I mean? You know, sort of like this weird moment where, you know, the work stuff fell apart and then all of a sudden I was like experiencing very bad depression and anxiety along with a host of other sort of like low grade mysterious symptoms. Which you found out later eventually was vitamin deficiency, which I'm curious about because you were eating quite well, I assume, because you'd gone to culinary school, you were interested in wellness and all of that. Was there like an underlying cause that was making you have

vitamin deficiencies? Yeah. So I have some genetic mutations that make it difficult for my body to absorb certain vitamins from that. Yeah, that's one of them. And so it's so interesting that you know that way more people are like clued into this now that this was in 2015 and like nobody knew what that was. You know what I mean? Yeah. I still think it's pretty like an, you know, Yeah, I mean, I only know it because I'm a journalist and it's like the thing that that people cite as the, it's the root of a lot of problems that people have. And I think people are just sort of becoming aware of that right now. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, you know, I was eating healthy. I was doing my best. And, you know, in a lot of ways, despite the vitamin deficiencies, probably my diet at the time helped me from being like totally in the pits. Do you know what I mean? Because I wasn't feeding myself well, organic, local, all. of the stuff. And so that probably was my saving grace, why I just like fully lose it. Um, because with severe vitamin B and D deficiencies, the effects can be very neurological. And that is exactly what was happening to me. And truly, the doctors would just say, you're just stressed out,

Lauren. And I was like, I was like, yeah, I am stressed out. But I feel something physically in my body is wrong and nobody can tell me what it is. I mean, I would wake up and the first second I would open my eyes, adrenaline would run through my body and I would be anxious from the time I woke up until the time I like, you know, took medicine at night to go to bed. Like my body would vibrate the entire day because it was so anxious. I think that women also like I think if a man went into a doctor's office and he said those same symptoms, they would be testing him for stuff. And I feel like women, it's often just like, oh, you're being hysterical almost, which I find really frustrating or like it's hormones. Yeah, you know, my doctors were all pretty sympathetic, but nobody had any

good answers for like a year, more than a year. And I think that is frustrating in a very common experience. Because once you go to the same doctor, like three or four times, they do start to take you way more seriously. But those first initial times, they're like, eat better. you're just stressed out like get some exercise meditate and i will say that all of those lifestyle changes do help dramatically um and i implemented those things and and they did help but for me i just had the sense that i had some something underlying that was um physical as kind of the root cause of what i was dealing with and you know i was right for sure i would say that the circumstances that were happening in my life simultaneously certainly didn't contribute or make me feel better,

if anything, it compounded it. But my baseline was just way off. And so it put me at the drugstore all the time with like prescriptions and in the feminine care aisle because I was having all these gut issues. I was getting yeast infections all the time. I was like so sensitive. My body was so sensitive. It was so inflamed. Every part of it, my brain, my gut, like the whole thing. was just out of whack. And I think it's a pretty common experience, you know, with these, you know, genetic mutations that we're talking about, with the type of food that we're eating, you know, a lot of food has preservatives and antibiotics in it. We take antibiotics. We pop them like candy. We take ibuprofen at like the slightest feeling of a headache. We take antacids constantly.

And all of these things can really disrupt your microbiome, which is the home of the immune system. which really keeps you healthy and happy system-wide. And so I think at its core, like that was really the problem. And it was just affecting every part of my body. And it took me a really long time and a lot of doctors and a lot of trial and error to figure that out and to get back to a place where I was just baseline healthy. You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast. I've gotten a zillion questions about boosting my immunity recently.

so I'm going to take a moment to update you on a few of my go-toes. You all know that I am obsessed with Garden of Life oil of oregano. That one is my absolute go-to when I'm actually sick or just about to get sick. Like when you feel that little tickle in the back of your throat, I just put eight drops in water and chug it down. I actually really like the flavor. I think it's spicy and kind of tastes like pizza, but if you don't like it, just add more water. And I do it a few times a day and it almost stops whatever it is that's about to get me sick in its tracks or it shortens the duration of my sickness. and I just feel so much better, so much faster.

I don't do it every day preventatively. For that, I rely on my elderberry. Garden of Life has two elderberry products, a syrup and gummies, and both are amazing. The gummies are a little bit too amazing, actually. They taste way too good, and I end up eating more than the recommended serving almost every time. There are a ton of studies pointing to how elderberry helps boost immunity, and Garden of Life combines their elderberry with zinc, echinacea, and more to give it even more

of a powerful effect. The syrup also has zero sugar, which is amazing. I do one or the other pretty much every day, especially in a time like we're going through right now. Finally, let's talk briefly about gut health. So much of your immune system has to do with your microbiome. So if you're trying to stay well, it is so important to keep your gut healthy, especially in times like this. I love taking the Garden of Life Ultimate Care probiotic, which is the most powerful probiotic that honestly I have ever tried. It has 100 billion CFU. use and it includes a blend that's clinically studied to restore gut health. You can find Garden of Life at Whole Foods, but the best way to support the podcast is to use the links in the show notes. I will also

share them on my Instagram highlights along with way more immunity info on the saved immune boosters highlight. If you swipe up from there, it just tells Garden of Life that you found them through the pod and it doesn't cost you anything extra. So I would massively, massively appreciate it. All right, let's get back to the show. So how did you eventually get, how? How did you eventually get, how How are you able to eventually solve that mystery? And is there any advice that you would give somebody who's maybe feeling off or not well now that they could get to that faster? Yeah. So it was interesting because at that time, it was more Eastern medicine doctors, naturopaths, that were really focused on the gut first.

And all of my Western medicine doctors were focused on the vitamin deficiencies. And now that has shifted. If you go to like your general MD, they will recommend probiotics. They will recommend that you take a look at your gut. But, you know, five or six years ago, it was sort of less the case. There was less information on probiotics and all of this stuff. So it was really by combining like the best of the East and the best of the West into a more natural approach to health and wellness that really helped me get better. And so I would say, like, if you have something going on, be willing to go to more than one type of specialist.

And I would also say, and I spoke to somebody about this recently, it's really hard and I think irresponsible to discount some type of practice that works for somebody else but doesn't work for you, right? I don't think it's really responsible or kind, you know, because, listen, like, Prozac may work for one person, but it might not work for another. Meditation works for one person, but not for another. Acupuncture works for one person, but not for another. Crystal healing works for one person, but not for another. And so I think you have to be really open and kind to yourself and just be willing to kind of jump in and see, does this work for me? or does it not? And just remember that everybody's health journey is very unique and specific. And so it's really about changing your perspective to just being open to more than what, you know,

the legacy products at the drugstore say that they can do for you and, you know, what the prescription your doctor writes you say it says that it can do for you. I think that's really my biggest takeaway. I agree with that completely. I think that everybody's health is so unique. And I think it's actually one of the problems with people getting a lot of their information from like the internet or podcasts like this one or influencers is like I think you can get the information, but you need to take it with this huge grain of salt, which is that this is information and your body is your body, you know? Yeah, that's the hard thing about the internet is that generally speaking, it's opinion based, not fact based. And so, you know, you can get really

good information somewhere, but somebody totally disagrees with it or vice versa. But it is sort of frustrating for me as somebody who sort of sits in the wellness space to like read articles from journalists at one point that say, like, we have to only listen to doctors in science because this is proven and this is what's right. Because for a lot of people, they are doing other things that are maybe more Eastern medicine or more accepted in different cultures that work for them also. And so like I'm not into woo-woo stuff. But like, where do we draw the line on what is acceptable and not acceptable? And like, how do you call?

There's also really interesting. There was an article in the Atlantic recently that was like, we don't want to believe Reiki works. We have no reason to think that it should work, but it seems to be working. So like, what's up with that? You know, like, I do think that there's room for things that can't be quite explained by science. Yeah, I attribute that to the fact that like, like you said, five or six years ago, we weren't even really aware of the microbiome. And now we're like realizing what a huge function that plays in our body. And I'm like, if that was five or six years ago, how many other parts

of our body are going to sort of appear to us like that later, you know? Yes, 100%. And I will say, I did Reiki once and it was wild. What happened? Okay. So I did Riki. And I think I did an hour long session and the Reiki healer like moved down my body and put her hands above my knees. And my knees got so hot like on fire. So she wasn't touching them. She was just holding it above. No, she wasn't touching them. Just holding them above. No touching. No touching. Oh my God. And her she put her hands above my knees and she kept them there for like the whole time. Then she kept like flicking her hands down and I would feel the energy shoot through my legs, so weird, like this release of energy. And this session, I thought, went by in like literally five

minutes, but I had been laying there for a full hour. I was like in a complete trance. Wow. Felt all of these physical things happening within my body. And it blew me away. Blew me away. That's so interesting. Yeah. I mean, I just, I think it's so. And that's why I think if you can, it's hard because this stuff does cost money. And I'm always hesitant to be like, well, you have to try it yourself to see if it works. And I think that's why people are looking. for these experiences that they can live vicariously through people because not everybody has the money to go try everything themselves. But I do think if you can, it's really, really interesting.

So let's talk about some of the stuff that did work for you. Obviously, vitamin supplementation was huge in your journey. And I think let's talk about that in a second. But what other practices, you know, you were on medication for depression at one point, right? Yeah, I was. And it would help for a time and then it kind of wouldn't help. Do you know what I mean? So it was sort of an up and down experience for me and, you know, tried different medications and can never really find one that was like the perfect one. And I think a lot of people have that experience with medication. But it also feels really good when you get that prescription from your doctor because you're like, okay, like there is light at the end of the tunnel. Like there is like, I have, yeah, you're like, I have something to try. And so, you know, these medications are just like really. specific with different people's biologies. And some people find a medication that works for them. And like, they take it forever and it's awesome. And then for a lot of people, it just works for a little while and then it doesn't work. And so for me, I think when it comes to my mental health and

wellness, I really needed to look for alternative things that were a little more like tangible, physical, real that would help me feel better. So I learned how to do transcendental meditation. And that really helped my anxiety more than anything else. Because when you do, TM, it actually releases stress from the body. You can like see these like crazy like heat maps and stuff. Like you can like literally see stuff happening in the brain, which is wild. So TM was sort of a Can you say quickly what TM is and like how it differs from other forms of meditation? Yes. So transcendental meditation is a form where you put your feet on the ground and you're supposed to do 20 minutes sessions twice a day and you have a mantra, which is private and you just focus on the mantra and you say it over and over and

over again. And the idea is to just focus on the mantra so that the mind goes blank. And it's really hard to do. But I've also learned that like you can't be so hard on yourself because your mind wanders and then you have to just peacefully bring your mind back to your mantra. And for me, I would say that it's the most powerful meditation that I have tried because I also do headspace now and, you know, listen to that for 15 minutes, which is more focused on kind of breathing exercises. But I would say that anything that you can do that allows you to focus on one thing and just get out of your anxiety brain is really, really helpful. And it does help to actually change the stress in your body, which is really cool. Like that's scientifically proven.

So TM, like I said, was really kind of a first line of defense for me. And then I really started to take exercise more seriously. I know in legally blonde, they say like exercise with endorphins. and endorphins make you happy, it's true. It's totally true. And the other things, more sleep or trying to get better sleep, drinking more water, you know, maintaining that healthy diet. Truly, these are all lifestyle changes that your doctor will prescribe to you. But most people don't take those lifestyle changes seriously, you know, like the doctor tells you to do that stuff and do you actually really implement it a lot of the time. No. Right. Or you do for like a little bit and then you

do. Yeah. And I actually did and I've been able to maintain a much healthier lifestyle. I would say at least 80% of the time day to day. And I've been doing it for years now. And I am back to a place where I just feel good every day. I sleep through the night. I love going to work. Like I'm better. You know what I mean? Yeah. That's amazing. I might. My dad is actually a psychologist, and he often will tell his patients, there's a bunch of studies that show that exercise is more powerful than antidepressants for depression and like 20 minutes of exercise a day. And so he'll literally like prescribe them exercise. And it makes a world of a difference. What type of exercise do you do specifically? So I go to SLT, which is a cardiopalati studio here in

Manhattan. But in the time of COVID, I won't be going. So I actually have a mirror, one of those like exercise mirrors in my apartment. So while we work from home, I guess I'm going to just get on my mirror and see what's on there. I think Tracy Anderson's on there. I'm going to do like dance cardio and Pilates, I think. Yeah. There's also, if you know, do you know Bethany Myers, have you heard of her? Yes. She's awesome. The Become project.

And she used to be an SLT instructor and now she has this. So it's like a similar vibe. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. And then I'm also friends with Melissa Wood and she has great workout videos too. That's like low impact. They're not too long. And I would say that something that I used to do when I was really anxious was I would go

to these high intensity cardio classes every day. sometimes twice a day because when I was in that class, I wouldn't have anxiety. And so I was like, it was sort of like this 60 minutes of relief for me in my poor brain and body. But now I actually exercise less and still have like the same kind of results because I think I just eat healthier. It turns out I don't need to do that intensive cardio so many days a week. You know, lower impact stuff really does work for me. Strength training works for me.

And frankly, like I have sort of. eased up on my workout program. Like I go to SLT three days a week. And that's kind of good enough for me. It's manageable. And I think that's the most important thing is like doing something that is manageable and maintainable so you don't get burnt out on it. Yeah, I agree completely. I also think it's much easier. Like anxiety is my biggest health issue as well. And I think that it's much easier for me to put into place these processes to live a healthy life because I know I'm helping my anxiety and it's a form of almost taking care of myself. And I think it's much harder to get yourself to work out regularly. For instance, if you're just like, I hate my body, I need to work out so that I love,

like, so that I don't hate my body as much because I need to like pound it into shape. I actually think it's like a hidden blessing if you can figure out how to associate all of these lifestyle changes with a way to feel really good, you know? Yeah, for sure. Okay. So what were you eating at like were you always a healthy eater? What was your eating journey? No, I was not always a healthy eater. But I grew up, you know, eating normal stuff like kids do, like Blue Box Mac and cheese and, you know, Taco Bell and just, you know, like normal trash American food. And it wasn't really until I moved to New York and went to culinary school that I was like, wow, there is a whole other universe out here, like the farmer's market and fresh vegetables and how amazing a salad can be

and how satisfying, like, a delicious, you know, like, piece of chicken with, like, ratatoui together can be. So for me, I think one of the things was really trying to kind of eliminate carbohydrates. And I also discover that I have a gluten intolerance. And so, like, I would love to eat that piece of chicken and ratatooie with like a delicious piece of bread also but like it's just not very good for my body. And so I really focus on high quality animal proteins and then really high quality fruits and vegetables, nuts, olives, cheeses, things like that. And I have worked that that kind of diet, which is kind of a pseudo-mediterranean diet really works well for me, but it doesn't work well for everybody. But I would just say that by switching to a primarily plant-based diet,

with really nice animal protein, you know, a couple nights a week, helps me operate at sort of like the highest level and really trying to cut out like preservatives, processed food, food that comes in a package, that type of stuff has really helped me significantly. And a lot of people think that like healthy food is boring and you went to culinary school. Are there any tricks that you use to make your food like easy to make on a weeknight and also really delicious and also really healthy on top of that. Yes, you need to like make a bunch of oil-based like sauces and dressings that you just put in your fridge that are made from like herbs and spices and all different kinds of things. And just to use that to make your food way

more delicious. I mean, there's all different kinds of recipes for like cool sauces that are, you know, like just olive oil and herbs and garlic. thrown into the blender, you know, and you like put that on top of your chicken and it's delicious. And so I would say that really, really utilizing those nuts, herbs, spices, and oils and vinegars really make a world of difference in flavoring your food or otherwise like boring, basic food. I agree that completely. What about alcohol?

How does that fit in? I drink alcohol. I typically stick to tequila on the rocks. If I'm feeling really naughty, I will have a vodka martini. And that's kind of it. I don't drink a lot of wine, actually, because the sugar content is pretty high and it makes me feel sick to my stomach. I like wine, but I can really only tolerate like one glass before I start to feel a little bit sick to my stomach. I've just never been big on sugar.

I don't like dessert. Like, I actually, like, don't really like dessert. Oh, my God, I'm so jealous. I'd be so much healthier if I just didn't like dessert. Yeah, I'm just not a sweets person, and I never have been. And that applies across the board. Like, wine, ice cream, whatever it is, like, give me a salty olive and I will be in heaven. But, you know, give me, like, a really sweet glass of wine and, like, ugh, my worst nightmare.

Does, do you find the alcohol contributes to anxiety for you? or do you not think that that's related? Oh, no, there's definitely a connection for sure. If I, like, go out and have a bender night, I feel it for a few days afterwards, for sure. And so you started eating the way you ate mostly to feel better and then also because you're excited about food and culinary school. How did body image play into that? And sort of how was your body image with, you know, being in the public eye and having to

see photos of yourself and having to see yourself on television? It's always been a challenge for me because I, have a really healthy normal body. You know, like I'm a size four, sometimes a size six, sometimes the size two, depending on like the time of the month, you know, like my hormones really affect how much like I like blow when I'm getting my period. And so for me, it's, it's always been a challenge because I've never been that like tiny, tiny stick figure woman. Do you know what I mean? And when you see yourself on camera, it definitely adds 10 pounds. And I'm somebody that's never really been satisfied when I see like a photo or a video of myself and be like, oh, wow, I'm like so

beautiful. You know what I mean? I think I'm like pretty normal. And so, you know, I'm always striving to, to just look good in clothes, feel comfortable in my body. But I also just understand that like genetically, my body type is just not that super thin, wafy kind of body type. And like to do so I would have to literally starve and I love food. So for me, it's just about getting comfortable with my curves. And as I've gotten older and sort of gotten like more comfortable with my sexuality and like personal relationships, like, it turns out that like guys like like like like like like you have an ass and that you like have boots and something to hold on to. And so I think those experiences have really helped me get sort of more comfortable like having like a very feminine shape.

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I love that. Were you ever? tempted by, you know, I interviewed a woman who on the podcast a little bit ago and she lives in LA and she's very open about her plastic surgery and she talks about how incredibly common it is in L.A. Were you ever tempted by any of that or were you always able to just sort of love yourself in the middle of that? I think, you know, for me, my, I've always had sort of a complicated relationship with my body. Do you know what I mean? So I've definitely been been tempted, but I think as I've gotten older, I've just gotten more comfortable with myself. But like, I love Botox. Like, fill me up, Doc. So you do, is Botox sort of the only thing in that arena that

you do? Or do fillers or any of that kind of stuff? I haven't gone down the fillers route yet. Fillers make me pretty nervous because I've seen a lot of women who are my age get fillers and the shape of their face actually changes. And it's a little shocking to me. And so I have not done anything like that. What I have started doing, which is kind of in the same universe, but I've started getting these lymphatic drainage massages. And I'm somebody that bloats really easily and holds onto water weight and starting to do regular lymphatic drainage massages. Truly, in the past few years, has been the biggest change or like changer to my physical body in terms of just being able to shrink down and like pee out all of this water weight that's like been stuck inside

me for a really long time like my ankles always like swell up and after I have a lymphatic drainage massage my body like looks normal and like not swollen for a few days it's really remarkable and do you do the ones where they like put the magnesium or whatever on you and then they like wrap you in the saran wrap you then do it okay what is it like you i go to the studio called ricari and they have this Italian machine that they operate by hand that kind of just like squeezes your whole body. And then they sort of like follow the routes of your lymphatic drainage system within your body and just kind of like push everything into them. And then later that day you're supposed to like exercise or take a steam shower, drink a bunch of water to help with like the release of all of that water. And what's interesting

is and this is not scientifically proven, but they say that like by squeezing all of your fascia, it helps to kind of like release all of these like old dead fat cells that are just kind of sitting in your body and help actually flush them out of your body. And truly like my body looks different now than it did six months ago. And I haven't been exercising that much more. Like it is pretty wild. That's so interesting. I will have to, I haven't tried one yet, but I will have to try one.

This has been the rage like in Italy and France forever. and it's like just kind of coming to America. And now I know why it's so popular there because like literally my body looks different. It's crazy. Wow. So you said that relationships were also a really key part of you learning to love your body. Can we talk about relationships for a second? Sure.

Totally. I feel like you were in, were you in a really serious relationship and like moved in with somebody at one point in New York? Yes. Yes. So I had an ex and it was kind of all during the time. of like the depression, the culinary school stuff, all of that. And our relationship didn't end up working out. And we were very close. You know, we had a home and a dog. You know, I thought he was the

one. And it didn't end up working out. When we broke up, I was like 30, 31. And it really felt like the end of the world. And it's taken a few years for me to really kind of move beyond that and kind of be comfortable with myself again. In fact, I was in my apartment and I was in the kitchen the other day getting ready for work. And for the first time, maybe ever, I had this really. I had this realization, like the light bulb went off. And I was like, wow, I'm alone and I am happy. Oh my gosh. That's okay. Can we explore that though? Because like I have so many, I'm married and I love my husband. I was 21 or something insanely young. But I have so many girlfriends who are brilliant. They're doing so well in their careers. They're so beautiful. And they're around our age.

And all they can think about is like they want a relationship because they want babies and they can't be happy with everything else they have in their life because they're missing this one element. So how did you, like, what would you say to? I never know what to say to them. And like, how did you get to this place where you are so happy by yourself? I don't know what to say to them either because every other day I still want to be in a relationship. So I think I've just gotten to a place where I'm not feeling obsessive about it anymore. And I've realized that me on my own is pretty good. and that I have lived a really happy, consistent life, even if it hasn't always felt that way for, you know, almost two years now. And so I think it's really just kind of like taking stock of what you actually have.

Like, I have an apartment, I have a car, I have a job, I have great friends, and trying to find some like solace in that. But I really think it's the loneliness element of it that makes it really challenging. And I dated somebody recently and we broke up. And the hardest piece of it has been the loneliness. You go from having somebody who's like in your life and your person all the time to being alone. And I think because of the internet, like we're connected, but we're more alone than ever. And so we're all just sort of like craving companionship more than anything. Like loneliness is like a huge problem for a lot of people.

Oh, I think that loneliness is like the epidemic of our time. Is there anything that you do to assuage the feeling of loneliness in your life? It's really challenging, you know? It's truly just feelings that come and go. You know what I mean? Sometimes I lay in bed and I think about my beautiful family and parents that live in California and I'm like, why do I live in New York? Like, what? And then I remember I have this kick-ass business that we operate here and I've lived here for eight years and my life is here. And so I sort of like find peace in that. But it's a challenge. You know what I mean? And I think you can even be in a relationship and have a partner and still feel really lonely. Yeah, I also think that because it's harder to make great friends too. Like I know people who feel like they have the relationship part of their life sorted and then they're like, well, I also would like all these great girlfriends. I like this like tribe that you see on social media that people have.

And that's harder to do these days as well. Do you feel like you're sort of sorted in the friendship arena? Yeah, I have really wonderful friends. I have like a great tight-knit group of people that live in New York. and in LA also, even though I'm there with much less frequency. So I really have sort of like a New York family that I rely on every single day, all day long. And how did you make, how did you find those people and how did you turn them into your family? Gosh, I don't even remember.

You know what I mean? I think just I have always had really long-term friendships and it's just really about consistency more than anything else and about honesty and establishing boundaries. and just like truly I think honesty is the right thing. You know what I mean? Like as an adult, like you should be willing to say like, hey, I'm not comfortable with that or like, I don't want to do that. But also be able to tell somebody why you feel that way. And within this group of people that are my friends, we are all sort of on the same page in that way.

And so they're just like really kind, respectful relationships where, you know, the love goes really deep, you know, because I think we are willing to be vulnerable. Do you have any tips for getting over a breakup, especially for somebody, who also might be struggling with mental health issues that would compound the difficulty of that? My tips are to get a hobby. And I know that that sounds crazy, but I've just started to have more hobbies and like plan stuff for myself on the weekends to like stay a little bit busy. And that has really helped me because apart from that, no, I have no tips. It's going to suck for a while. And it's just until, you know, your brain starts to process and heal, you know, the division that you're going to get better.

So in the meantime, just try to stay busy. Well, I think that's a tip unto itself, though, like giving yourself permission for the fact that it's going to suck for a while. That's huge. Yeah, just acknowledge that. It's going to suck. Yeah, for sure. Okay. One more sort of mental health question.

And then I want to get into the incredible business that you've built. When you have bouts of anxiety now, is there stuff that you do? Like, we're recording this remotely, which I never do for podcasts, because. of COVID-19 and everybody's sort of self-quarantining right now and anxiety is is high in the world at large. And I think if you already had a history of high anxiety, that can be especially difficult. So what do you do, whether it's something like that or something at work or something else in your life that's spiking anxiety? How do you deal with that? I think, you know, the first thing is I was able, because I went to therapy for years, kind of like in between all of this happening, which was really,

really helpful. And you said your dad's a psychologist or, you know, something in that area. And for me, talk therapy really was really helpful. You know what I mean? And I think it was really helpful for me because I was just able to express my emotions and like let it out of my body. And, you know, doing that helped me process. But I've also been able to change my relationship with anxiety. So instead of now being like, oh, my God, I have anxiety, which still does happen. Most of the time I try to be like, oh, I have anxiety.

Oh, hello, anxiety. I'm not going to melt down because I have anxiety. Instead, I'm just going to manage my anxiety. and I'm going to do something about it. So it's really about sort of like trying to make friends with it instead of fighting it, if that makes sense. And just doing things that like help you get through the moment, whether it's like you take your prescription medication that you know is going to hit in 20 minutes

and help you feel better or you go for a walk or truly even just me having the conversation with myself of like, you know, I feel anxious right now and that's okay. instead of I have anxiety right now and letting it spiral into like a panic attack. Yeah. Is there anything that you can do? Do you still have panic attacks or no? Rarely, rarely. I will say though that like last night, which was, I'm not sure when this episode is

coming to come out, but yesterday was March 12th, which was like the market took like the biggest hit ever. I'm worried about my business. I'm worried about my friends' businesses. Everyone in New York City is melting down. over coronavirus and trying to escape the city. I was pretty close to being a little panicky last night. And so I made myself a panic dinner.

I cooked. What is a panic dinner? Well, I just mean cooking is very meditative for me. Okay. I went the kitchen and I cooked for like an hour. I chopped a bunch of stuff. It helped me feel a lot better. So like I like tried to do an activity that takes my mind off of it.

And that is helpful for me. Are you going to leave the city or are you going to stay in the city? So I, my friends and I have a place up in Bedford. So just a couple like 45 minutes an hour outside of the city. And so if things get really weird, then we can like retreat to Bedford. But we are currently working from home at Love Wellness. We started working from home yesterday. and I'm just trying to see how it goes day by day.

I think, you know, we live in these apartments and I live alone. So it would be very challenging for me personally to have to be alone in my apartment for like almost two months. And so having sort of a backup place to go where I can be outside feels like a sense of relief for me. But, you know, I think in New York it is probably going to go that way because that's what's working, you know, in China, in Italy and these other like really like hot zones. really it's the self-isolation that is helping. It really is, it's really up to us people who are healthy to stay home to prevent the spread. So it's like you have to be willing to participate in isolation for the greater good. Yeah, I completely, I sort of went off on that on my Instagram last night because I still see younger people who are like, oh, cheap flights and like I'm going to go party and whatever.

And I'm just like, even if you're feeling healthy, like it's, it's a societal responsibility, which I think is, you know, I think being in this as a community is really important in a time like this. Yeah. Absolutely. It's like, cool. You're young and healthy and, like, think that you're fine. Well, you might be a silent carrier and give it to an elderly person who then dies. So, like, do your part. Okay.

Stop being an asshole. I do think that when you have anxiety, it can be tricky to decide why. actions to take because sometimes you're taking actions that are because you're because of your anxiety and sometimes you're taking the actions that should be taken that are preventative or just useful. And I think that's true in business and in life. Like they say to trust your gut and stuff. And I think when you have anxiety, literally your gut is often messed up microbiome wise. But also it's harder to tune in with your gut because like if I trust my gut, I would never get on a played because my my gut is always like well the plane's going to crash and you're going to die um so how do you

navigate that like with something like COVID-19 how do you navigate what actions you should be taking and then also I would love to hear how that pertains to your business as well how do you trust your gut and how do you know when your guts being anxious well I think what's challenging is that we have a federal government that is in disarray from a messaging standpoint so there's no single source of truth here in America. You know, you can listen to who. You can listen to the CDC. You can listen to your state government or like your mayor. You know, it's really difficult to kind of understand, like, the real facts. Thankfully in New York State, Governor Cuomo is doing a really good job of just kind of taking charge of the situation here and implementing practices that are sort of like

different than like federal guidelines. And so for me, I think it's just trying to find good sources of information. And right now the good sources of information are telling you to self-isolate for, you know, the benefit of, you know, the general public to have food on hand if you need to stay home for a few weeks, to stay home if you are sick. And, you know, that's kind of it right now. You know what I mean? And so I'm following all of those guidelines and we have expressed to everybody that works with us to follow those guidelines. And I think that's really kind of the best we can do. You know, I think that watching too much news is a little bit challenging because, you know, like, and listen, like, I'm not somebody that doesn't trust news in America,

but I think that there is a lot of just sort of fearmongering happening and like we can't help ourselves but talk about it. And if you just get in too deep with it, you're going to be anxious. Like last night I was watching the news and I was pretty anxious, you know, and like all of a sudden in New York City yesterday, it felt very different here. Everybody was a grocery store. Everybody was working from home all of a sudden. The NBA was canceled the night before the Met shut down. So it was just like one thing fell after the other. It was like over and over and over again. And so, you know, I think it's just about taking a step back and thinking like, okay, you know, I'm going to be fine. I need to check the news every day, probably twice a day to see what the updates are.

And apart from that, I'm going to just do my work in my apartment and make some food and try to a little exercise on like an at home app and watch Netflix. Like what else are we going to do? And check on your parents. You know what I mean? Yeah. I definitely think that it's not like instead of being anxious, maybe calling the people that you love and checking in like doing those sort of actionable

things. And I also think it is like an opportunity for forced self-care almost. Like take it slower. Take it easy for a second. Like slow down and take care of yourself. And I think it's an interesting. forced opportunity for those types of things. Yeah, I think so too. And I think just making a plan, get out a piece of paper, and write down what your plan is, even if it's just like, I'm going to start

working at 9 o'clock every day. I'm going to take a little break at noon to maybe get some fresh air and not touch anybody or do some exercise in my living room. I think like having a plan every day is going to help you with your anxiety. And so that's what I'm planning to do. I haven't formed exactly what my plan is yet because we just started working from home yesterday. And, you know, I own this business. So like I'm making a lot of decisions in real time. So I haven't had time to make a personal plan yet. But I think just making a plan, you know, keeping a schedule. If you go to work every day, that's your schedule and you have to kind of adapt to a new schedule. That's just sitting in your living room. I think for people with anxiety, structure is so critical.

And like the structure of even if you're working from home, like waking up at a certain time and putting on clothes and all of those types of things, they're critical for mental health. I think for all people, but really for people with anxiety especially. Yep, I got fully dressed this morning. I have on my hair is in a ponytail. I don't have shoes on. But it's a New York apartment. I don't think you need to have shoes on. Exactly. Like I'm dressed and, you know, we did our team call this morning right before we got on. And. We're going to do team calls like all day. And, you know, we're going to figure it out. Today's day one from working from home at Love Wellness. You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast. Hello, beautiful people. I have a brand new sponsor for this week's pod that I am so excited to share with you, Califia Farms.

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I have a lot of thoughts. As always, I have a lot of thoughts on everything, as you probably know, now. Anyway, I cannot wait to hear what you think. Let's get back to the episode. Yeah, so let's talk about love wellness. I would love, I'd love it almost like to hear about it from the beginning. You had this vitamin deficiency and then you started taking vitamins and obviously they massively helped transform your health. But I also imagine that it was scary to like embark on this whole new endeavor after you'd been burned with the cooking show thing. So can you talk us through that? Yeah, of course. So when I first started the company, um, I, in addition to the other

stuff, I was dealing with just kind of like feminine health issues because of my gut. I was just getting like recurrent infections. It was just really challenging. Like soap would throw me off. Like detergent would throw me off. Like having sex with a new stranger would throw me off. You know, it was just very, uh, like sensitive and out of whack. And it's because I just like didn't have a good like microbiome happening. And it really requires. working with doctors that took me seriously to point me in the direction of better products for women, which were very few and far between in 2015. And I think that's part of why it was such a challenge. Like a women's probiotic was like very novel. Like there was maybe one or two on

the market and like little funny brands, mom and pop brands. Do you know what I mean? No legacy brand had made a clean cleanser yet that was like pH balanced for that part of your body and that didn't have fragrance in it. Tampons had fragrance in it. People were still using duches, you know, like antifungal creams at the drugstore have crazy chemicals in them. Do you know what I mean? So there were just very few options for women that were more naturally derived, clean,

actually formulated with women's biology in mind. And it's because most of these products were invented decades ago and have just been sitting on the shelf ever since. And research in terms of women's health has come a long way since that. point. And at least, you know, we understand that women's vaginas are the own special microbiomes, have a pH balance, and generally kind of like how to take care of that part of your body. Do you know what I mean? But it did take working with doctors to be like, use this, not that, use this, not that. And I really saw an opportunity once I got better to establish a new,

modern, clean, body positive brand that hopefully we could grow to scale that could replace a lot of what was being found at the drug store in the feminine care aisle that had been made by legacy brands forever invented by men and had never really been changed and really weren't supporting women in a super body positive way. And so honestly, I wasn't even hesitant. I just jumped in. I thought, yeah, people might make fun of me for a little while because we're making personal care products, but I don't really care because making all of these little changes for me like really helped me. And I feel like women need to know that like this is the path forward. And so I just started the company. I had a little bit of savings. You know, we started with five products. We did, well, I say we, but it was really just me at that point. I operated the company by myself until the end of 2017. So I did minimum order quantity orders with, you know, like small manufacturers that were willing to work with me, a thousand units of each product, which to me at the time felt totally overwhelming. But now we're doing, you know, like a million, million, you know, unit orders of products, which is crazy. And I just started.

I built my own Shopify website. I had a friend who was a photographer, like do some product imagery for me. you know my doctors at the time helped advise formulas and kind of like what I should say about everything and then I just did it and from there it grew I expanded my medical advisory board to have some really amazing female doctors on it you know people that live like in DC here kind of all over it's a really interesting spread and now we have like hormone specialists and urologologists nutritionists all kinds of people that that help to guide our formulas and create our content so it's a very cool sort of wellness team that we have put together that kind of like helps create really

like what the brand is. But yeah, honestly, I just started. I just threw myself into it. And it helped me get better. Not just the products helped me get better, but just doing something helped me get better. I love that. And I have so many questions. First of all, this wasn't your first business, right? You had this like party box business before. I forget about that. I'm just curious what you learned from that business, if you learned anything from that business that you sort of put into place for this that made it such a runaway success. Yes, I definitely learned. So party in the box, that company was called Revelle Rehouse.

And it was a really fun idea at the time. This was like maybe 2013, 2014. And we wanted to send out basically like a complete party set that was well designed for like your batch of that party, your baby shower, whatever. And it turns out at that time, it was really challenging to source, you know, 30 different items that all look to keep together and put them into a box that was like size and space efficient and cost efficient and get it out the door. And so that business failed. But one of the biggest takeaways was like, you got to pick stuff that is small, that is cheap to ship, that has high margins and stuff that people

will order over and over and over again. And so that was kind of like sort of my baseline, guidance or like takeaway from that business for sure. But I'm so thankful that I had that experience. It was like going to business school, but in real life. And was love wellness immediately successful or were there sort of hiccups getting it off the ground initially? You know, I wouldn't say it was immediately successful, but because I have an audience, there was definitely interest. I think for me, I have really learned. how to operate an e-commerce business. So when it began, like, I didn't have any experience in marketing or performance marketing or how to set up like an, you know, email list and all of these

things. And so I really learned over time. And so I would say that the products were always really popular and always worked well and the people that bought them loved them. But the hiccups definitely came in learning how to like actually operate a business successfully. Yeah. How do you learn that like were you calling up people in your life for advice or were you like Googling the stuff reading books yeah all of that stuff um thankfully you know i kind of talked shit on the internet earlier but the internet actually has pretty good resources if you're trying to start a business all different kinds of technology exists all different kinds of API all different kinds of things that you can plug into your website to increase visibility increase sales increase retention understand user data

and so you just have to try stuff and you know running a business is really just trial and error, trial and error over and over and over again. Do you know what I mean? Like, we run ads and then enough people see the ads and they stop working. And then we have to make new ads and keep running them through the funnel. We're constantly changing our creative. We're constantly thinking about what products are we going to bring to market next because, you know, there's like a life cycle for all of this stuff. And you have to get comfortable with that. It's like, if you're a new business owner and something's really working, it's not going to work forever. And so you have to get comfortable with that fact and always be ready to sort of like,

like manipulate and move on to the next thing. And then you touched on this earlier, but your products are sort of in the feminine wellness area. You have products to treat yeast infections, UTIs, things like that. And I do think that that's an area that people are still very embarrassed talking about. And I think that's a big reason why it hasn't been addressed. Are you not, like, would you tell a friend that you had a yeast infection? Would you, how are you not embarrassed about that stuff?

I mean, yeah, I have. I think for me, you know, as like the figurehead of this business, you just sort of have to be comfortable talking about this stuff. And, you know, what's interesting about having a background and entertainment is that I learned how to be really careful and press savvy. But at the same time, I was on reality TV. And so like I've already exposed myself. And so it doesn't really seem like that big a deal to me. And, you know, if you own a business in this space, you just have to kind of be willing. to suck it up and talk about it. And I would say from a messaging perspective, we kind of sit in the middle between like really old school gross messaging that you're like, eh, that makes me feel bad about myself and is sort of like new wave, ultra feminist messaging that a lot of brands have taken on like big ovary energy. I'm like, we're neither of those. I just want you to feel good about taking care of your body and know that good products exist to help you if you need them. You know, if you're a customer, I do not need you to shout about your vagina from the rooftop. Most people are not comfortable doing that. But what you shouldn't feel is so embarrassed that you have by your

problem that you don't take care of it. Do you know what I mean? So that's what we're trying to hone in on is, hey, there are resources available for you and they're well made, you know, and this is something that you can feel good about. What advice would you give somebody who has an idea that they think is great, but they don't really know how to start. Would you recommend somebody build a personal brand so they have an audience like you did first? Or do you think you don't necessarily need that to get a business off the ground? I mean, I would say it certainly helps, but I think that we also live in a time that like if you can figure out your Facebook advertising and your message, you know, you can have a lot of success just kind of putting it out there. Good product, good message.

You'll be okay. What's step one though? Like if somebody's just like, I have a great idea. Step one is like, what's your idea? And then it's like, okay, can you actually get a product made? Can you actually afford to place an initial order and hold on to some inventory? Because that's where a lot of people in consumer product companies have a hard time out of the gate, you know, is they have this great idea, but they don't have enough capital to actually go get inventory. And so they can't really even beta test their idea. And so they try to raise money off of just an idea, which is really hard to do, like extremely hard, unless you're a multiple time on, and you have a proven track record of success. And so, you know, I would say, though, that a lot of manufacturers, because kind of times have changed, are willing to work with you if you want to do a really small run of some kind of order. You can get samples made. You can get really scrappy in 2020 in terms of getting prototypes and at least initial

product to, like, get photographed and put onto a website. You just have to be creative and be willing to go for it. I love that. And if somebody wanted to start with one love wellness product, is there like a hero in your mind? There's many, but I would say that our good girl probiotics are definitely a fan favorite. So their probiotics formulated specifically for women's health. So they help to support and maintain a healthy vaginal tract and healthy urinary tract. And it does so by just increasing good bacteria in that area, which keeps your pH in the place where it should be, which is acidic.

And that acidic pH helps to prevent infection, irritation, et cetera. So it's something that I take every day. It's probably our most subscribed to product because literally people buy it month after month after month. That's amazing. Okay. I have a few questions that I ask everybody. And I'm excited to hear your answers today. So one, what is one product that you've bought,

recently that's made your life healthier happier? Hmm. I'm trying to think because I love products. You can say a few too. Sometimes people have a hard time coming up with one, so maybe you can say a few and then we'll make up for those people. I got this ice face roller on Amazon for like nine bucks.

And I don't know if it makes me healthier, but it certainly makes me happier because it helps to reduce all the swelling in my face when I first wake up. So I have one of those too. I keep it in my freezer and I'll like, it does. It makes some drastic difference. And I actually was talking to a dermatologist friend and she said that the cold does decrease inflammation. So it has longer term, you know, anti-acne, anti-aging effects.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So that's cool. Is there ever been a place in the world that you've been where you're like, the people here really got it right in terms of living a healthy or happy life? Yeah. I mean, I think like Italy, AmalfiCo. they are nailing it there.

They have fresh seafood every day. They have amazing local produce. They get to eat pasta and they're fine. I would say that like the Mediterranean anywhere in the Mediterranean, like they're doing a great job. This is a total personal question, but what do you think about New York City versus L.A. for, you know, living your best life.

I'm from California. I live in New York now and I'm always like, should I move back to California to, you know, be outside all the time and not have winter, especially because you had vitamin D deficiency and all of that. Yeah, I mean, God, I don't know. New York is really interesting in that, like, I think that we're really kind of, like, on the forefront of, like, new exercises and food and all this stuff, and everyone's very intense about their wellness routine.

And so it kind of keeps you healthy. But at the same time, the energy that just, like, reverberates throughout the city, I don't think is particularly good for your body. On the flip side, you can get out nature in L.A., You can get green juice everywhere, but I also get bored in L.A. And like, that doesn't really help my mental state either. Are you? Do you think you're in New York, like, long-term foreseeable future? At least for the foreseeable future, you know, work is here. And so I don't have plans to go anywhere anytime soon. What is the best way to spend 20 minutes in terms of making your life healthier or happier?

For me, it's cleaning my room. clean room, clean mind. I feel good after I clean my room. I thought you were going to say meditation, but I like cleaning your room better. Yeah. It's like, it's interesting. It's fun. Is there, do you feel successful?

And if so, was there like a moment that you started to feel that way? I think towards the end of last year, you know, the business is really starting to scale. And to see it just compound every day is, is pretty exciting. Yeah. It's, I mean, it's, it must feel so, I don't know. I just, I also think it's interesting that you went through this mental health crisis in your 20s and, you know, try different businesses like the party box. And I think also it's, it's a really inspiring message for people that you can have this

immense success in your life in your, you know, early 30s. There's, there seems like more pressure these days than ever to be like a billionaire and super successful and have your life figured out by the time you're like 22. and I think it's really inspiring that people can sort of try different things, have different things network out and then have that big success later. I personally am like, oh, that gives me hope. Yeah, but I mean, I think like to be 22 and Kylie Jenner and like that's such an anomaly and like, yeah, we hear about that stuff all the time. But like most people are successful in their 40s and 50s and 60s. Do you know what I mean? Even 30 to me is like it feels early. To be honest. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, and I think that's almost an important message to hear because more and more the stuff that was modeled that we see on social media is those young anomalies and the people who are quietly successful in their 40s and 50s and 60s aren't getting that same press or social media play, you know? Yeah, and they don't have Instagram. So like what?

Yeah, probably has something to do with their success as well. Yeah. We live within our demo, you know what I mean? We see stuff within. like our millennial generation, you know, so like you know about stuff that you're exposed to do. Yeah. What is one big mistake you've made and one thing that you feel like you really got right? Hmm. And start us with the mistake so we can end on a positive note. Sure.

One big mistake. You know, I'm trying to think about it. You know, for me, mistakes don't really feel super negative. you know, unless it's like, oh, I didn't pay that tax bill, which has never happened to me. But, you know, I'm actually having a hard time coming up with something because I really use mistakes as learning opportunities. And I'm a very rational thinker. And so things like that don't really get to me in a super emotional way. Is there anything that you wish like, like we talked a little bit earlier about having anxiety and depression actually end up with these incredible positives?

arguably you wouldn't have started love wellness if you hadn't had this whole sort of negative health journey. And I think that it's hard to frame stuff like that. But is there anything that you would take back or that you sort of regret looking back on or that you would change if you could go back and erase it? Or do you think it all contributed to you being where you are right now? I think it's all contributed to where I am today. But that's how life goes. Even like the network show and all of that. Yeah, you know, I think that I'm going to be successful in a totally different way and in a more meaningful way with what I'm doing now. That's amazing. I might have a cooking show at one point, you know.

I'll turn to chef. I don't know. Yeah. I still get to cook every day in my own home. So it's not like that was taken away from me. Right. And I also think that's an important thing, too, is that like your journey is never over. So something that you thought maybe didn't move your country.

career forward at one point could absolutely move your career forward 10 years down the line and we just don't really know how that's all going to work out. Yeah, you just don't know. Is there anybody, anything, I just want to end on, you've shared so much wisdom on this episode, but is there anything that you would say to somebody who's like going through it right now, maybe in terms of their anxiety or depression or with feeling like their life isn't working out the way that they want it to from the place that you are? Is there anything that you would say to them? Yeah, I would just say, comfortable being in your discomfort. And the more comfortable that you are in your discomfort, the more quickly that it passes. Be willing to sort of like laugh at the state of affairs. Do you know

what I mean? Like, yeah, like it really sucks right now. And just kind of acknowledging it kind of helps to lighten the mood. So that's what I would say. I love that. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. Yes, of course. Thank you so much. This has been great. All right, I hope you enjoyed this episode with Lauren. I would love to hear your thoughts, feelings, reactions, so definitely screenshot it and tag me on Instagram. I'm at Liz Moody and Lauren is at Lo Bosworth. And if you did love the episode, I would so, so appreciate if you would go on iTunes

and drop a quick rating or review, it makes a huge difference for other people finding the podcast. And if you think anybody that you know or love would enjoy this podcast, please send it to them. I would massively appreciate it. And I would love to grow our little family. All right, stay safe out there, but more importantly, stay sane. We are all in this together and we will get through it.

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