The Liz Moody Podcast - The Morning/Evening Routine Episode—Peek Inside The Routines of Shut The Kale Up, Kale Junkie, Minimalist Baker, Rachael’s Good Eats, and The Cutting Veg (Part 1)

Episode Date: April 15, 2020

Welcome to our first morning/evening routine episode! We shake things up a bit in this episode by going inside the morning and evening routines of some of the wellness world’s biggest celebrities. You can listen and just enjoy a sneak peek, or steal some of their genius ideas to try at home! This week, Part 1, includes: The Morning & Evening Routine Episode is here! Peek inside the routine’s of wellness world superstars, including: Minimalist Baker on How To Start A Journaling Practice, Dry Fasting, and Simplifying Down To Essentials Kale Junkie on How The Pandemic Impacts Eating Disorder Recovery & Finding Time For Your Partner While Full-Time Parenting Rachael’s Good Eats on Motivating Yourself To Workout, Skincare Secrets, And Structuring a Productive Day The Cutting Veg – The Best Online Workouts, A Genius Tidying Up Secret, & Making Time For Healthy Meals Shut the Kale Up on Being Gentle With Yourself As A Mom and Human & Finding Strength Through Struggle Stay tuned for Part 2, with five more power women of the wellness world! 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 brought to you by one of my all time favorite brands, Garden of Life. I’ve been taking Garden of Life probiotics for more than four years. Their Mood Plus probiotic is formulated specifically to help with stress and anxiety, and it’s made a huge difference in my mental health. Zack also takes their Once Daily Men’s probiotic, and their RAW Vaginal Care line is an amazing secret weapon against any UTIs or yeast infections. Their Ultimate Care Probiotic is also a must-have in times like this, when we’re really trying to boost immunity! This episode is also sponsored by Skinny Dipped almonds, which I’m 100% obsessed with. They’re roasted almonds with a super thin layer of chocolate, and they also have a coating of maple syrup and sea salt that gives them a sweet & salty quality that’s utterly addictive. They’re truly one of my favorite snacks, and I can’t wait for you to try them. Get 20% off your order using the code “healthiertogether” on skinnydipped.com. 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. If you're new here, I'm your host, Liz Moody, and I am a longtime journalist and cookbook author living in Brooklyn. And it is lovely to meet you. I have such a fun episode to share today. I know that we normally do long-form interviews with borderline inappropriate questions. That's sort of my signature. But I thought since the rest of our lives are all topsy-turvy, it would be fun to switch it up here too. So I interviewed five of my favorite women in wellness about their morning and evening routines.

It's the same kind of like free-flowing, fun conversational style that we normally have on here, but it's all about sneaking a peek into the way that these women have constructed their routines with the hope that you can both get that like pleasure of voyeurism that we all love, but also maybe steal a few pieces that resonate and try them for yourself. I know that it can be hard to have a routine right now with so many of us working from home, starting to full-time parent when maybe we had help before, and just having our normal structure generally completely upended. But I think that in times like these, routines can become even more important.

Morning routines can energize you. They can help you set your focus for the day. And they can set you up to really have your happiest, healthiest, most satisfying day possible. And then evening routines, on the other hand, they can ground you and calm you so that you can get your best night's sleep ever and show up even better the next day. There's honestly no better time to start to work on your routines than right now. I'm personally taking extra steps to take care of my mental health during this time. And I found so much in these interviews to be incredibly inspirational.

Whether you're looking for healthy breakfast info or struggling to stick to working out or trying to lessen anxiety or trying to start off your day in a healthy way while taking care of kids and trying not to kill your partner, this episode has some amazing tips and tricks to try. If you love this episode, I have a part two coming out with more amazing. amazing guests, including Zero Waste Maven, Lauren Singer. She's the founder of Trashes for tossers and the package-free shop. And then celebrity nutritionist Kelly Levex. She's the nutritionist for people like Jennifer Garner and Jessica Alba. And she wrote Body Love, which is like a mega

bestselling book. So definitely make sure that you are subscribed so you do not miss the Part 2 episode. Also, a ton of you have been asking me to release weekly episodes during this period of time where we are all staying home and, you know, maybe you're looking at. for a little bit more distraction in life. So I am happy to announce that I will start doing that next week. I'm going to play around with the format a little bit, but in general, every other Wednesday I release little mini episodes that might be catch-up interviews with some of my favorite past guests or new wellness people. They might be Q&As with me. Maybe a casual conversation with Zach. I know a lot of you guys were asking for just me and Zach chatting about

what our lives look like now in self-quarantine and all of that. So any of those types of things. Our normal long-form episodes will stick to their normal schedule every other Wednesday, so you'll hopefully get the best of both worlds. And of course, if you want to hang out even more, I'm always on Instagram. I do a live dance party every single day at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, and we all go crazy and shake it out and dance to one song. And it has honestly been such a cathartic break and a high point in my day. So come and dance with us. We would love to have you. And of course, I would love to hear your thoughts on the episode today. So please screenshot and tag me in any of today's guests with your favorite takeaways,

little tips you might be trying or any follow-up questions you might have over on Instagram. I'm at Liz Moody. All of my guests say they're sort of social handles and how you can find them in their section of the episodes. You can easily find them and tag them. We would love to continue the conversation and we cannot wait to chat. All right, my lovely, lovely humans, I hope that you are staying safe. insane and I hope that you know that I love you and I'm here for you. This is all showing how incredibly resilient that we humans are. So enjoy this special morning and evening routine episode.

All right, Dana, welcome to the podcast. I really appreciate you hopping on with me. For those the few people who are listening who are not familiar with you or what you do, could you give us a little bit of background? Oh, of course. So my name is Dana Schultz and I'm the author of the food blog Minimus Baker, which I guess we've been doing full time now for about eight years. And our recipes are largely plant-based, but we cater to a lot of different special dietary needs. And all the recipes are simple. So 10 ingredients are less one bowl or 30 minutes or less to prepare. Yeah, I love that year.

I mean, I just feel like anytime I Google anything for a recipe, you're the number one thing I find every single time. It's just like, oh, you want to know how to make cashew milk? Like, Dana's got you covered. Yeah, I enjoy cooking so much. And I mean, we've been doing it for so long now that we have like just this huge, I mean, like probably thousands of resources and recipes now. So it's fun when people find our stuff and enjoy it. Yeah, it's amazing.

Well, we'll have to get you back in the pod at some point to do your whole story. But this episode is all about morning and evening routine. So first of all, I would love to know what you see as the. point of a good morning routine. Is it to set up your mental health for the day? Is it to make you more productive, more energetic? What are you sort of looking to set yourself up for in the morning? Yeah, I would definitely say it's more for mental health and just like the general outlook for the day. I think my morning routine has evolved and it's always evolving just to kind of serve where I'm at. but yeah, it's generally so I can have like a more chill centered kind of grounded start

to the day versus waking up and just jumping into an otherwise like hectic day. I mean, because there's so much to do during a day, but if you can kind of calm and empty yourself in the morning, I think that that's really important. Totally. Okay. So what time you wake up and sort of what are the non-negotiable steps to set you up for having a great day? I ideally, I wake up sometime around 7.30. Sometimes if I get to bed super early, I'll wake up around 7. But I wake up and I get our little dog, Rosie, out of her kennel. And we go downstairs and, well, I guess first I brush my teeth and tongue's great before I grab her and put on some exercise clothes. And I grab Rosie, we go downstairs. And then I try and get her to play with something.

while I try and meditate. Sometimes she doesn't cooperate and I have to kind of break my meditation. But in general, I try and kind of get her to play with something. And then I use the app Insight timer to do somewhere between like a five and ten minute guided meditation. And I have also tried other types of meditation or sometimes I'll just sit and take, you know, 10 deep breaths because that's really centering and grounding. And it feels so good to get awkward.

oxygen into your blood. And then I will jump into my journaling practice, which I've been doing now for, I don't know, like 10 plus years. Oh, wow. Yeah. And it's kind of evolved. I mean, I think it kind of started out of more of a rigid structure thing. Like, I have to do this. And now it's just kind of like something that I do to check in with myself. And generally, I write down any dreams that I had because I have a pretty consistently vivid present dream life. And I wake up and I usually remember, you know, tons of details and emotions from the dreams that I had. So I try and get those down because I do believe that our subconscious mind is always sending us little messages and peeking our awareness towards different emotions and problems in our life. And so write down any

dreams and then I ask myself three questions. And I forget exactly where I, I'm sure like one of the journaling how-toes I got this from but I essentially asked myself how I'm feeling today how I could feel better and what I'm grateful for and that usually takes me like five or 10 minutes to get through and how specific are you with what you're grateful for like I interviewed kelly levick and she like never will say the same thing twice but I think that so she has like a deep level of specificity do you have a deep one or will you like be grateful for your dog multiple days about. Yeah, if you looked at my gratitude list, it would probably be very similar each day, but it's, I think it's important to speak, you know, words of gratitude toward everything in your life

that you are grateful for that day. And I don't really like to build structure or limits on what that is. And depending on how much time I have or like what type of headspace I'm in, and also, honestly, what place in my cycle on that, I'll just be really emotionally sensitive. And I'll think about how amazing it is that we can breathe air and I'll just sit there crying. And then other days, it's like, yeah, I'm thankful for this day. I'm thankful that I'm alive. Moving on. Got it.

That's interesting. I do. I have the same sort of, I went off for hormonal birth control like a year ago and it's been so interesting. And also honestly gratifying to like feel, because I believe that we're on this planet to like feel as many feelings as possible and experience as many things as possible. So to feel those swings throughout the month is so satisfying to me. I love it.

Oh my gosh. Our bodies are incredible. They're incredible. If somebody, so I've wanted, and this is funny because I'm literally a professional writer and I love writing since I was five, but I've wanted to start a journaling practice for years and have not been able to get myself to do it. So is there anything you would say to somebody who's like maybe been toying with the journaling practice about like why it's so great or how you could actually just like dive in and get started? Well, I think the reason it's great. It might not be for everyone. I think that I am the type of person who is an external processor. So I have to get my words out, whether it's speaking to another person or just writing them down, I can't just internalize things. So if you're the type of person who figures your problems out all on your own and your own head, then maybe journaling isn't the tool that you need. But for me, it's just like it's almost like a palate cleanser every day. It's a check-in. And one of the things that I did last year, I took a one month sabbatical from work and I went through the book, The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron, I believe. And it's pretty popular at this point. Lots of people have talked about it. And I'm sure many people on this, your readers have probably heard about it. But it essentially encourages you to do three pages of just like thought vomit where you just like wake up and you write three pages of anything. just like your conscious thoughts.

And I think getting back into that structure helps me kind of dip back into my routine a little bit deeper because previously before I did that workbook, I was letting my journaling practice slide a little bit. So I don't know. If people are looking for a little structure, I would recommend the artist's way book. Otherwise, if you're just looking to implement a little something every day, I do find it those three questions of how am I feeling today? how could I feel or do better and what I'm grateful for.

I mean, that doesn't take more than five minutes if you're succinct. Yeah, I love that. I'll definitely incorporate that into my morning routine. Okay, so you journal, you meditate. Do you do any other sort of practices? Do you jump into breakfast? So I've been playing around with doing dry fasting, which is, it's different from intermittent fasting

because intermittent fasting allows for beverages. and the idea is just to kind of give your body a break from processing anything. And so I've been trying to not have anything to drink or eat before 10. So if I'm up at 7.30 and I've meditated and journaled, then I take my dog on a pretty long walk. We'll walk somewhere between like two and three miles and then come back. And that's when I'll have like supplements. I'll have a big mug of like hot lemon water with ginger and turmeric.

and then once I've kind of gotten hydrated, I'll have some breakfast. And recently I've just been doing a big plate of fruit because that's been sounding really hydrating and energizing as the weather warms up. With the dry fasting, that's really interesting. Is water included or no? So no, it's not water or food. And I know that it sounds kind of drastic and, of course, do your own research. But essentially, after you get done eating your dinner in the evening, which I'm

ideally I'm eating dinner around like, you know, 7, 7.30. And then maybe you finish drinking your water and having your treats by 8. And so then maybe you wouldn't drink or eat anything until 8 a.m. the next day. So it's not like, I bet you people do it accidentally all the time. But I'm the type of person who otherwise would drink water like until the second they go to bed and the second I wake up just because I have been told like you need to be hydrated constantly. And so I'm just experimenting to see how my body responds to... Have you felt a difference at all? I'm still figuring out.

This is like probably my sixth week of doing it. And at first, I noticed that it really helped my digestion. Like I was having probably TMI, but I love talking about bowel movements. Like I would have a bound movement almost first thing in the morning doing it. And I was like, wow, this is cool. And then now that my body is like adjusting to it, my digestion has just kind of been like reorienting around it so um you know for some people who for instance would wake up at like 730 and have a shot of coffee like they'll probably have a bowel movement

right away but if you're limiting your beverages until 10 or after maybe you wouldn't have a bowel movement because you haven't started you know waking your body up until later in the day so I have noticed that my digestion has been changing and um yeah I think that it's good to give our body's a break and I'm playing with a less is more approach to really just diet and and well I guess yeah just food and beverage right now just because I think in the past I have thought oh I have to be getting X amount of protein and I have to be getting you know 18 fluid you know fluid ounces of water every hour and all these things and I'm just I'm toying around with a less is more approach to see if my body responds well. I love that I also think it's so

important to tap it. I think, and I think it's much harder than people think to tap into what their body actually wants and needs because we are given so many messages around like this much water and this supplement and blah, blah, blah. And I think it's, it's a enviable skill, but a skill you actually have to work to cultivate to figure out what your individual body wants. And it's harder to do than people think. Yeah. I mean, honestly, arguably, it's probably impossible to eat entirely intuitively because even like this dry fasting concept is something that I was you know I found and someone else came up with and I've been researching but ultimately it's another prescriptive method for optimal health and I have to try it on and see how it feels to me right but yeah I mean

I don't know if anyone really eats intuitively because we're just taking on so much messaging and so much information and we've watched our parents eat and they've fed us and they've made us eat a certain way and we have to like really deconstruct everything and start from scratch sometimes to build back up to what really feels good to us and yeah yeah I mean for me I think it's really exciting to try different things so I'm always experimenting with my diet but um yeah I can report back later if it's if it's been yeah yeah um I mean I think it's all about the mindset you go into it with if you're like go into something and you're like dry fast it's going to work it's going to cure me, it's going to save me, or if you're going to it with this like sense of curiosity of I wonder

how this will work in my body, you know? Yeah, totally. All right. So is that the whole of the morning and then we dive into work or are we missing anything really cool? Nothing. Well, I do have a stretching routine that I do every day to keep my body limber because I tend to have, I don't know, like a lot of inflexibility in my muscles and my joints and I have some back problems. So I'm just trying to keep my 30-year-old body from not morphing into an 80-year-old body overnight. So I do like a 10-minute stretching routine just to kind of limber me up. And then I'll either take a really short bath or a shower and throw on something comfortable and walk downstairs to my in-home office and get to work.

Love it. Okay. So evening. What are we doing in the evening? So in the evenings, I usually try and turn down from work sometime, hopefully around six. Like last night, I actually ended up working later because of my whole, I have, my freezer broke, so I had to deal with that for two hours. But usually I'm trying to stop work between like 6, 6.30.

And then, you know, wind down with my husband. We'll kind of both come downstairs and play with our dog. And I'll have some sparkling water with great fruit bitters. I don't really drink that much because it doesn't. doesn't really feel good to my body. So I've just been having that as like a little mocktail. I love sparkling water and bitters. I think it's the best hack for sodas. I've been talking about this for years because I'm just like, why isn't you can get bitters in any flavor, essentially. And you add a few drops of it to sparkling water and you have this like delicious soda that's

totally good for you and actually helps your digestion, digestion instead of, you know, hurting it like a normal soda would. I know it's wild. I actually went to a bar maybe three or four years ago and all of my friends were drinking and I, you know, wasn't drinking anything. And the bartender was like, oh, well, I'll get you some soda water with great fruit bitters. And I was, I was like, okay, great. And it was so delicious that I checked like four of them. And then ever since then, I've just been doing it because you're right. It feels like something special. You have, you can still engage in what's going on socially with a drink. But it tastes like a refreshing tonics that might have alcohol in it just because it's the flavors the bitters give.

But yeah, I just, I mean, and I love that I could, I could drink like five of them if I wanted and there's no real negative consequence. Yeah, they're amazing. Huge fan, huge fan. Definitely you should try, if you like grapefruit, you should try lavender is my favorite. Ooh, I'll have to try that. Delightful. Okay.

And then you have your moktail. Yeah, so then we kind of wind down. And if I have some more energy to give in the kitchen, I'll cook us something. If not, then we'll order, you know, take out from a restaurant or walk to a nearby restaurant and grab some dinner. And then we usually either, if the weather's nice, we live in Austin, Texas, and we've been having great weather this spring and even the winter.

So we have a fire pit out in our yard. And so sometimes we'll eat dinner around our fire pit and kind of sit out there and talk and listen to music and that feels really dreamy. And we always have great conversations when we're outside. Otherwise, we get sucked into Netflix and watch Tiger King until our eyes fall out. And we crawled to bed at 11 and we're like, what happened? Which is fine. There's beauty and balance in both.

But yeah, I would say it's either we have dinner and watch a show on Netflix or, you know, HBO and then crash or we'll eat dinner by our fire pit. And do you do any sort of skincare rituals at night? or anything that's the equivalent of your meditation or journaling at night just to get yourself in the right mindset for bed? Yeah, I try and ideally, I try and get to bed around 10.30. That's like my sweet spot when I feel really good getting to sleep. And I like to, I haven't been wearing makeup for quite a while, well, at least during quarantine.

But even when I do, I wear very little makeup. So I just, I wash my face with Manuka Honey. I just get my face wet, take a tablespoon or so of Minutes. and massage it around. And that feels really meditative because it's kind of like massaging your jaw and your face. And that feels incredibly relaxing. And then I get a washcloth really hot under hot water. And so it's like steamy. And then I place that over my face for like 30 seconds and let it kind of steam. And then I wipe it off. And then I've been really into this beauty brand called LOLI, L-O-L-I. And I don't use a ton of skincare products, but the two of theirs that I love is a blue

cornmeal water toner. And then they have something called an aloe blueberry jelly. It's just like an aloe, basically, an aloe gel. So I tone with the blue cornmeal water and then I moisturize with the aloe and put on some chapstick and obviously brush my teeth again because that's very important. I floss every night, brush my teeth, tongue scrape, and that's really about it. Go to bed by 1030, hopefully. Both of those skincare products literally sound like their pies or something that you could eat. I know, it's crazy. I found out about the company on a podcast. I don't have any affiliation with them or anything. I just try a couple of their products. And I like that they're, I think that they're a zero waste company. So everything they send is in glass and paper. And,

And I mean, it's just like really top of the line ingredients. And my skin has just been incredibly happy and calm since I started using it. So I think I'll just stick with that for a while. And as long as my skin seems to be liking it, I'll stick with it. Yeah, I love it. I mean, there was so much food for that here. And I'm like, I want to talk to you about so many little tangents now. But we'll have to have you back on for a full episode because I think that we would have quite a bit to talk about.

But this was so wonderful. And I feel like there was just like so many inspiring little bits of information here that we can all kind of pick and choose from it and try for ourselves. So thank you so much for sharing. Oh, my gosh. How fun. I love hearing about other people's routines. I think that there's something to learn from everyone's routine, even if it's just,

you know, to kind of ponder. So yeah, it was an honor. Thanks for having me on Liz. Yay. I am here with Rachel DeVoe. Thank you so much for coming on the pod today, Rachel. Thanks for having me. The last time I saw you was when you were in Seattle, the book tour. I know when I could travel casually for a book tour.

Never taking a little bit of a day. It was so magical. Seattle is such a phenomenal city. It's so beautiful. That was like my favorite probably book tour stop one because the event was so much fun. And I really appreciate you guest starring with me at that event. It was so fun. But then also just the city is fabulous. The people were so nice. Everybody who came out, to my event. I was like, I want to be your best friend. These are the coolest people ever, you know? It was just wonderful. And we've been actually having like the best weather the past few days. I think today is supposed to get up for like 65. And you have your roof deck, which is like living the dream. Yeah. I feel like I'm kind of set for a quarantine over here. I'm doing the best. You got a dog,

you got a fiance, you got a roof deck. Like, what else do you need in life? Yeah, what else do I need? Can you really quickly, just for people who maybe aren't familiar with you, can you tell us who you are and what you do? Yeah, I'm Rachel, like Liz said, I'm a dietitian, a personal trainer, founder of Good Sweat Guide, and yeah, I've just been surviving through this quarantine, literally working out in my kitchen. Right, literally right here. So, yeah, that's about it. Rachel does literally, and I think since this is going live on Wednesday, you'll still be doing this when I kind of don't want you to ever stop, but you do live workouts on Saturday and Wednesday, am I right? Yes. I feel like that's a good schedule.

We're just going to keep that going. They are so good. They're some of the best workouts I have ever done. You will be sweating like something very sweaty. I don't know what animal is super. You be sweating like a Liz Moody in the New York summertime. Oh, my God. They're phenomenal, though.

So everybody should definitely go to Rachel's page and check out the workouts and know that if you do the live ones that somewhere in New York, I'll be sweating along with you during that time. They've somehow been getting harder. I think the last one that we did yesterday, Brigger said it was the hardest one. Well, you're probably getting like too strong for your own good because you're working out every day. Well, yeah. We need to like have you sit on the couch and eat goldfish for a few weeks and then come back and train us. Well, that sounds nice, actually. So we're doing all the other hours of not working out in the morning.

All right. So let's start with morning routine. What do you look for in a morning routine? Like, are you trying to, do you wake up like lacking energy and you want to bring energy into life to try to decrease anxiety? Like, what's the point of a morning routine for you? Well, I think especially during this quarantine, it's crucial to have a morning routine. At least one day a week, I'll let myself sleep in, not wake up to an alarm. but the other days of the week I really try to wake up to an alarm.

Lately it's been like 7 a.m. And then I like starting my workout. I know I've mentioned this before, or starting my day with a workout. I know I mentioned that before. But it truly just puts me in like the right mindset for the day. It makes me more productive. And it just honestly wakes me up.

And the days I do the lives, it puts me in like the best move, especially because it feels like you're doing it together, like with a group. It really does. It brings back that group fitness feeling where it's shocking how much more inspiring it is to do it with other people. Like I can't even explain the feeling, but it is very inspiring to, you know, know that people are with you. You're all doing it together.

You're sweating together. You're dying together after you're doing burpees. Like, I love starting my day with a workout. And then do you eat before you workout or do you consume anything or just like jump into the work? No, I'll usually have like something small, like half of an RX bar or like a handful of fresh fruit and nuts, my paleo granola, just something small and then I'll have my pre-workout to get me ant ready. And what pre-workout do you use? It's called roots. Nutrition.

It's like a paleo pre-workout. Yeah, yeah, I know them. Yeah, junk-free ingredients. I've been using it for like five years. Yeah, that's how I usually start. I work out and then after that, I shower and then come down and I literally have a smoothie like every single day, every single morning. And then, wait, what's your smoothie formula? My smoothie, 90% of the time, it's my peachy green smoothie.

It's from my added sugar detox ebook. So it's very low in sugar, unseen almond milk, ice, frozen peaches, macha, frozen spinach. Blackseed, vanilla protein, Camus powder for vitamin C, and then I've recently been putting in spirulina. Oh, that sounds great. Also, with the matcha kind of like has a dual function of some caffeine to wake you up and then breakfast as well. Even though I've kind of, I don't really get the, I don't really get caffeinated from

matcha anymore. Oh my God, really? I feel like I have a little, like I've wanted it. We've talked about the smoothie before and I've wanted to try it, but a tiny bit of caffeine gives me massive, like, macho would give me a panic attack. Yeah, straight up. Oh my gosh. So you don't drink coffee?

Mm-mm. I don't drink any caffeine. I'll have a little kombucha occasionally. Like I like kombucha, but I can do about half of a serving. And that's, and I'll do that when I'm like really tired. I'll have maybe like 15 milligrams of caffeine and I'll be like, whoa, I'm awake. Okay. So I'm getting a bullet with the caffeine because it's in the pre-workout as well.

And so you're like real caffeine. Well, I don't drink coffee either, but I've resorted to like pre-workout and mantra. But I have to take like more and more almost like every time because I can't feel it. Because it's a drug. It's a real drug. Why do you not do coffee? It's too acidic for my stomach.

So I found this out through college. It would just give me the worst, worst stomach aches. So interesting. Did you find that out? I remember you used to keep like food diaries of everything you ate to come out to the root of your gut issues. Yeah, there was like one year in college where it was getting so bad, like all my digestive issues. I would just have stomach cakes all the time. I thought that was just the normal thing. And then I started like keeping a record of what I was eating, what made me feel that way.

And then by the end of it, I think coffee was one of the last things that I removed. And I was like, it's not worth it for the pain. So I made the switch to macho. And it's been good. You get double benefits and packed with antioxidants and I have it all every day. Okay. So I'm going to, we'll keep going in a second, but I'm very curious about with your shower and stuff because I feel like this is a mystery to me. Your hair looks really cute when you're doing the workouts, the live workouts. I'm like, how does her hair look so cute?

And then it just always looks cute after. So like how do you, when I work out, my hair becomes a hot mess. and it's a big problem for working out. When you shower, are you doing something special? Are you doing something special when you work out to keep your hair cute? And then when you shower, you're like washing it and redoing it. I really try to only wash my hair like once every five-ish days. And so like in between, I'll just do dry shampoo.

And so when I'm working out, it's always back in a ponytail. If it's in a bun, that usually helps too, like not getting the ends wet. and then I'll go take a shower and put it in a bun so I don't get it wet. And then after I take the shower, I put it down immediately so it can dry and then I'll do like a little bit of dry shampoo. And then do you like re-curl it every day? Like every other day or like maybe just touch up a few. Okay. It's like truly been a mystery to me for a very long time.

It has. I had to ask. It's just your hair looks so good all the time. And sometimes I'll look at you during the workouts and I'll be like, angry. Well, like a lot of the times during my workouts, I don't usually sweat that much like on my scalp, but during the lives, I don't know what it is, but I just work out so much harder because I think I'm just, you know, you're trying to motivate everybody. Yeah, so I would get out harder. Okay, so after your smoothie, does Bridger drink the smoothie too or is he doing his own thing?

No, he usually does his own thing. He has a coffee and then goes downstairs, which is his office area. So he gets to work from home. And that's really nice. It's like an actual workday. Like he gets ready, makes coffee, says, okay, like, have a good day. I'll see you later. And then goes downstairs and works. And we don't see each other until either lunch or like dinner at the end of the day. And he was working out of the home before quarantine, right? It was like half and half. He has an office in Kirkland. And so. So it's like 30 minutes away, but he gets to work from home as well. Oh, that's really nice.

Yeah, it's really nice. Have you guys, do you feel like quarantine has made your relationship better or worse? Like, has it been like snippy? Like, there was an interview with Zach Shepherd and Chris and Val and they were like, we literally can't even sit next to each other right now. We hate each other so much. I think the different levels in our house, we have three levels. I think that is literally what is like saving it right now.

So we're not annoyed with each other. He works on a different level. And then I'm on the kitchen living room level the whole day. And so we're like split up for hours, which is good. So you don't like have to hear him on calls all day and be like, I literally want to murder you. No, but I was telling him if we were still in our apartment from last year, because we just moved in this house last year, I don't know what I would do. Because it was only 500 square feet. And so that's where we are right now.

It used to be the case where I would be like blending us, and he would try to be on a call. And it was just like not okay. We would get so mad at these. Yeah. Well, and I feel like it's worse when you're like, I always, I'll ask Zach to be quiet so I can like do an Insta story or something. And I know it's my job and it's real. But for some reason, like being like, I need to talk about coconut sugar for a second. It feels so dumb to ask him to be quiet for. Yes. Yeah. Then you feel weird. You're like talking and then he's like actually doing like a business call. And you're like, It's awkward. I can talk about a smoothie, you know, yeah. I can love it. Okay, so after breakfast, do you do any sort of like, do you do skincare stuff? Do you do morning pages or meditation or anything else?

I don't do any meditation. I feel like. You have to. No pressure. No, like, well, I know that so many people do and like it works for them. But I feel like my morning workout, if I get like a good sweat, sometimes I don't, like, I don't have the motivation to do it. It's like a crappy workout.

But if I get like a really good workout, that is like my source of meditation, I guess. And then I'll do just my face oils after the shower and then I'll come down and have my smoothie. So it's nothing crazy. And then once I have my smoothie, that's when I'll like sit at my computer right here and do emails, get what I need to get done. That sort of thing. Okay. So I have a question about the work stuff. But quickly regarding the motivation to work.

out. Do you have any sort of self, like, what do you do on the days you don't feel motivated to work out so that you do it? Well, it's kind of like a give and take. Like, you have to take inventory on your body and like, am I really just unmotivated or am I sore to the point where I shouldn't be working out? I should take a rest day. So you kind of have to like check into yourself there. And then if it's just unmotivated, I just usually go through the motions and make myself. do it, take my free workout, try to write out like a workout. Usually what helps for me is if like I don't know what to do. Like now I feel like I'm really having to crank out the workouts that I'm filming every day and like post, which is fun. Like I love doing that. But sometimes now it's like,

okay, the pressure's on. I'm like, I can't even put a workout together because I don't even know what's what my mind is doing. But if I just pick like five exercises and put them in a circuit and then just do like 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off and like write it down, then I can get through it so much quicker than if I were like sit there. Try to think of this exercise, do it, you know. Yeah, I like that. I also feel like the pre-workout seems like a little bit of a ritual for you. Like you've almost been like if I do the pre-workout, then I will hopefully get to do the workout. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Okay. And then for once you sit down to your emails, do you do hard stuff first? Or do you do mindless stuff first? How do you do?

sort of structure in what order you do this stuff in your day? I usually try to answer the most important emails and then I'll make a list of what I need to do that day. Could be make this recipe, edit this workout, format the workout, program it for tomorrow. If I have a job with a brand, like think about that, make this call. So I'll like make a list of all the important things to do. And then I feel like I could be better with like scheduling a time to check my emails throughout the day. Like I always tell myself I want to do that, but it's just so random. Like sometimes I'll check on my phone. Sometimes I'll check on my computer.

But it's usually just scattered. I'm not. So you'll just make the list though and then just like plug through the list. There's no like like some people will say you should do like the most difficult tasks early in the day. And then other people will say like you should do the stuff you're dreading later and do the easy stuff early. so you have like wins early in the day. And I really struggle with which order to kind of like. I do too.

When you're making your own schedule, I could wake up and do a recipe first or I could do a blog post first or I could do something for the podcast first. And sometimes I get so overwhelmed with all my options that I lay on the couch and just don't do anything. I think a lot of it is like the time of day. Like I need to make a recipe before 3 p.m. Because of the light in our kitchen because that plays a huge factor.

So it's like, I know I need to get up it this time to be able to work out, to be done working out by this time, to answer my emails by this time. So it's kind of like I need to be in a consecutive order to be able to get things done. And then maybe that means I'll edit my videos on the couch at night while I'm watching TV because I can kind of do that mindlessly, you know. But like things like taking calls or making recipes, like that needs to be done. earlier in the day. Right. That makes sense. Okay. So for evening, what are we looking for in an evening routine? When does the wind down from the workday sort of start? Do you have a set stop time every day? I never do. I really, I never do. It's usually just around the clock, which is, you know, it's bad. But during this quarantine time, I feel like I, it's almost like, I don't know, I feel inclined to

keep putting out like recipes and workouts that people can do. Like it's inspiring to me when people say that the workouts are helping them so much right now. So that's like my motivation. Yeah, I mean, I'm using both hands. That's, I mean, that's so nice. That makes my day when people say that. So that's what motivates me to keep putting them out and like working really hard on them. But wind down is probably like six-ish. That's when I'll start making dinner usually. and then me and Bridge will usually watch TV while we eat dinner and then we'll clean up and then we even watch like binge watching the OC. Oh, that's a really good one.

It's a really good one. I forgot about that one. Yeah, that's a great one to like, we're doing New Girl right now, which is awesome. We used to watch that. Yeah, I think finding those like comfort foodie binge shows is like very necessary. necessary right now for sure yeah for sure one thing i do not like is they took it off hulu which we were watching it on and so now we have to we have to buy each episode on amazon crime like we looked everywhere that's really annoying so it's like a dollar every time that we buy an episode but

it's worth it like they're like a solid hour and they're also like outside on the beach all the time living their best life like a virtual vacation and it's kind of it's it's it's either sad or funny i can't tell what it is but like we start talking like just discussing the issues that they're having in the show, like, there are friends during the day because we don't have any, like, social interaction. Oh, my God. I love that. Why did Marissa do that? Like, it doesn't make any sense. We have, like, a serious conversation about it. Like, it's, I mean, that's because it is crazy how much as couples you talk about, I've started doing, like, my non-quarantine or non-corona conversation topics of the day. I share in Instagram now because, like, it's hard. You don't want to just talk about coronavirus. all the time. But there's also just nothing going on in our lives right now for most of us. You know, healthcare workers, frontline workers, of course, they have a lot more stuff happening.

But most of us are just sitting at home. And I literally don't have anything. I'm like, hey, Zach. And he's like, hey, we don't get anything else to say, you know. I know. I had Bridger come up in the kitchen just hang out with me last time while I was making dinner. And I was like, well, like, hang out with me because I don't see you like, you know, all day. And he was just on his phone. I was like, you know what? Just go downstairs. Like this isn't, this is, we don't have anything to talk about. Yeah. You said that you've been like pumping out content. Obviously you have and you're doing a really good job of taking care of your audience and it's really admirable. And I'm just curious if you're doing anything special to take care of yourself right now during this time, especially because you've,

you've been hit in a way, I think, that other people have it in terms of you. You had to cancel your really major life event at your wedding, which is so sad. And obviously, you know, there's a spectrum of pain and I don't want people to come at me and be like, well, you know, you're alive and you should be grateful for your life. But like canceling a wedding is a really, really major thing to do. So I'm just curious how you're taking care of yourself right now. Well, to go back like last month, the two weeks like leading up. to having to cancel the wedding was like the most emotional two weeks ever. It sucked because the whole time leading up to when we got engaged to like playing the

whole thing was the most positive, fun, happy experience we both had. There was no stress whatsoever. I think like having a wedding planner down in Cabo helped a lot with that. But yeah, it was just the best experience and we were having so much fun. Like it wasn't stressing. at all at all. No. And so then this happened and I'm like, okay, well, this makes sense. Like, this goes, you know, in line with wedding planning. And so then we had to cancel or postpone, I should say. And once we like made that decision, it was kind of like, okay, like, I can, I can deal

with this. But like leading out to it, there was so many unknowns. It was like in limbo, like, we didn't, we didn't know what was going to happen. So that's why it was like so emotional and whatever. So it's been, I'm fine with it now. Like I wouldn't want this huge dark COVID cloud over it anyways. And so let's just like wait it out. But I think some of the things that I've been doing is going outside when it's really nice out, which has actually been a lot here in Seattle. And I've been going on runs, which I am not usually a runner, like at all. If I do go on a run, it's usually like a mile on a treadmill before I work out.

And so this has like totally changed my mindset. Like I love going outside now. I love going on like, you know, they've actually been like two to three mile runs, which is pretty good for me. And it's just like enjoying the outdoor. So that's like my me time. And then like FaceTiming my mom.

I don't get to see her right now. And then I don't know. Just like being in the kitchen and baking. That's always fun. So that's some of the things. Oh, and organizing. In the beginning of the quarantine, we said each we're going to work on one level of our house at a time per day. That's smart.

So you each kind of have like a planned way to do it. Yes. And I mean, it only really took out like three to four days of the quarantine. But we got it like all done. We cleaned out every like nocking cranny, deep cleaned everything. When windowsills, drawers, like took everything out. the kitchen. So that has made me very happy. We did that too. And honestly, it was, I love it because it made the house more livable for the quarantine time as well. Like it made it easier for me to cook

and it made it easier for us to spend all the time. And just be productive. Like having a clean space just makes me feel light and like, I don't know, good, happy, productive. Okay. So any other sort of like evening wind down things? Um, I mean, I'll do like my skincare routine right before we go to bed, which is just washing my face. I'm crazy. I'll tone it. Vitamin C. Go-to products?

For cleanse. Yeah. I usually do the naturopathica. Allo gel cleanser. It's super gentle. Also, Indy Lee has a good cleanser. And then for toner, I'll do Indy Lee. Vitamin C, I'll do either cocoa.

kind versed for natural apathica and then as i do eye cream so tata harper um versed biosance those are my three and then a good serum is biosanct vitamin c rose oil it's my favorite or it's in a black bottle it's really expensive but it's so worth it um the very very nurse daughter? Yes, that's it. Yeah. So good. That's amazing. Yeah, it's so good. It smells like heaven, too. Yeah, it really. And then... Okay, so we'll do skincare. And then, like, a few times a week since I'm doing these videos and I live in Seattle, I'll do like fake tan. Yeah, the Isle of Paradise, right? Yeah. I love that stuff. That stuff is magical. It's so good. So I'll do that a few times a week. I'll do either like the face drops, put it with my face oils and do like a few drops a couple days a week. Or I'll do like the full body Isle of Paradise foam. And it's good. Yeah, you are like phenomenally tan given that you live in. I feel like it's my excuse that by I'm making these videos.

Like I have to be, you know? Yeah, sure. Yeah. It's your job. It's your job. It's my job. Yeah. Okay.

Do you guys like read to go to sleep or how do you actually sort of and do you have a bedtime? The bedtime has been like, it's been pushing back a lot. Same for us. I feel like time has sort of lost a lot. of its meaning in quarantine. Before it was probably like 10.30 we'd try to go to bed. Now it's like 11 to midnight. So we don't.

Anything goes. I feel like if there's ever a time to just be like, 100%. I'm getting by here. It doesn't matter. Yeah. Yeah. So no,

we kind of just transition from, you know, watching TV, take Ellie outside. And then we all go to bed. And she sleeps right between us. Perfect. Yeah. I love that. What a kettle muffin.

Well, that sounds like a lovely day. I feel like you're going to come out of this quarantine so fit. It's going to be already so fit. Yeah. No, I will do. I'm literally, people are like talking about how they're, you know, they're like, oh, I'm so nervous. I'm going to gain all this weight in quarantine.

I don't really care. I don't think of my body in that way in general. But I feel like I'm doing more workouts than I've done in my entire life. Like it's crazy. And I'm doing it because I know that if I do the workouts, I will be able to cope with the rest of the mental stress of the situation so much better. It's just become so much more important for me to have a outlet to shed my feelings in that way. 1,000%.

Like there's no secret that moving your body and exercising, even if it's 10 minutes, like doing a quick stretching session, it'll just put you in a better mindset and like set you up for. a more positive day. I mean, I feel like you're a living, living proof of that. Thanks, Liz. Well, thank you so much for taking the time to chat. Of course.

You're listening to the Healthier Together podcast. Oh, my gosh. I am so excited to share today's sponsor with you. If you follow me on Instagram, you know I am absolutely addicted to skinny-dipped almonds. I remember the first time I tried them years ago when I had a full-time editorial job. I looked at the package and I was like, eh, they're chocolate-covered almonds. What's the big deal? I've had chocolate-covered almonds like a zillion times in my life.

And then I took a bite and my mind was absolutely blown. The whole idea behind Skinny Dipped is that they use a super thin layer of chocolate, which, in my opinion, translates to a much better flavor profile. The ratios are just way better. Also, because there's way less chocolate, you're eating more of the healthy part of the snack, the almonds, in every single bite. They're 100% real, largely organic. organic ingredients with no artificial flavors or colors, no weird sugar alternatives, and they're

naturally gluten-free. But honestly, there's so much more to them than that. I've spent way, way too much time thinking about this. But I think the secret is that there's this thin layer of maple syrup and salt that's between the almond and the chocolate. So, okay, you bite into them, and there are these bursts of different elements. First, you get this powdery outer layer, which has fun flavors like raspberry and mint, and we'll get to the amazing flavors in a second. But first of all, okay, so we have the powdery layer, and then there's this creamy, rich chocolate layer, and then there's this burst of salty, sweet, almost caramel notes before the final toasty, crunchy nut. They're truly addictive, and you don't have to feel bad about eating them,

because mostly you're just snacking on almonds. You can get 20% off of your first order using the code healthier together, like the name of this podcast, on their website, which is skinny dipped.com. S-K-I-N-N-Y-D-P-P-E-D dot com. Again, that's a whopping 20% off with the code healthier together on skinny-dipped.com. I cannot wait for you to try these. I truly have a problem, and I am so looking forward to you having a problem with me. All right, let's get back to the show.

All right, Nicole, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Can you start off just by telling everybody a little bit about who you are and what you do? Sure. Hi, Liz. It's so nice to finally be able to do this with you. I've been, you know, so long, just an admirer and someone just who just loves you and everything that you do. So I'm Nicole. Very mutual. I love it. My name's Nicole and I'm otherwise known on Instagram. And on my blog is Kael Junkie. I am a mom of two boys, ages three and five, Gavin and Hunter. I am a former attorney. And it was not my passion. It was something that, you know, I fell into the trap of doing what my parents really wanted me to do. And I pursued that path for six and a half years and realized that my passion was actually in the area of recipe development because I love food. But ironically, at the same time, I was suffering from an eating disorder. So it took me a long time, years of therapy and a lot of soul searching together. get through that period in my life and develop a healthy relationship with food so that I could ultimately share my passion for healthy cooking and recipes with other people. So, and that's where I'm at today. I love that. And we'll get into your morning and evening routine in a second,

but I'm actually really curious, and I've heard this from a number of my followers who are just maybe closer to having recovered from an eating disorder, has the pandemic and how we've shifted in our eating, has that impacted your thoughts in your body or sort of re-triggered eating disorder feelings? And if so, have you dealt with them? If not, how have you kept those at bay? You know, it's really interesting. Being in this pandemic, I'm not as active as I was before. So pre-pandemic, I was, I'd wake up, I'd go exercise first thing in the morning. I'd have a lot of personal and free time to schedule my day as I plan to be more active. Now that's not possible. and I am baking and I'm eating and my body has changed in a three and a half to four week period.

My body is a little softer and that has been a little bit challenging to deal with. But it hasn't triggered feelings of binge eating or going down old paths of an eating disorder. And I think because I've come to a place where I know that bodies are meant to change. Our bodies are not meant to be in one static shape or form throughout our whole lives. And these things are temporary. We go through ebbs and flows, times where we feel better in our skin. We feel more active. We feel like we're thriving.

And other times in our lives where food is an emotional eating is exactly what we need to do to cope with situations in our life. You know, we are in a global pandemic. We are in a situation where, you know what? Food is comfort, and I take comfort into soothing that part of me with food and also at the same time soothing that with going outside and being active, but in very different ways than I would before. I love that. Okay.

So was going and working out, was that a critical part of your morning routine pre-pandemic? Yeah. You know, my, ironically, when I was suffering from my eating disorder. I never had what they call excessive over-exercising or binge exercising. I never overdid the exercise component. I always had a really healthy relationship with that aspect. So over the years, you know, my day would always start with activity and whether that would be hot yoga or Barry's boot camp or something really challenging.

That one hour in my morning is so critical and so. important for me to deal with stress and things that just are out of my control that come my way through the day that, you know, it was like, it was like my indispensable part of the day. If I couldn't do that in some way, shape, or form, it really threw me for a loop. So did you work out every single day before? So I did not. So I would, my routine was I would train with, I have a trainer, two days a week. So that's just strength training. I do a Barry's boot camp class twice a week. And then the other days of the week, I'd either do, I'd do something really low impact. Like, I'd go for a walk or I'd do a yoga class. So I wouldn't be like over-exerting my body

seven days a week because I feel like truly, if you do want to see the benefits, you know, from your workouts that you put in, you need to let your body recover. And I, I think there's this mentality still of doing more, more and more is better for you, but actually scaling things back and giving your body, allowing your body to rest and heal those muscles so that you can come back stronger is really where it's at. Yeah. So what have you been doing without that access to leaving your house, essentially? Yeah.

I would honestly, so for the first week after this all happened, I was kind of like, all over the place. I would go on social media and I would see all of these Instagram lives, fitness trainers doing hosting all these workouts. And I was really excited by that at first because I was like, wow, it's so empowering and so wonderful that we have these great people that are providing free resources for people to stay connected with their community, for people to be active and sweat, but it also created a sense of anxiety in me because I didn't know where I should be spending my time. Now I am at home with my boys when normally they are in preschool. So if I only have 30 or 40 minutes a day, I didn't know. I floundered to answer your question. I floundered

for the first week. I was grumpy. I couldn't figure it out. And then by the second week, I started just settling with my feelings and truly asking my body, what is it need right now? Whereas before my body truly needed to be pushing heavy weights and lifting heavy things and being in the gym and getting that type of endorphin release, really what my body needs right now is softening. I'm softening into a world that feels out of my control right now. And what I need is yoga. I need fresh air going on walks. I need things that are easier on my body so that I can feel more at peace with myself.

And in turn, because I'm not lifting crazy heavy weights, my body's a little softer. But it is what it is. And I am embracing it all and just trying to give myself grace and comfort knowing that this is a temporary reality. and how we react right now is really key for our mental health and trying to keep our stress at bay. Totally. Can you walk me through what it looks like from when you wake up, like what time you wake up and then do you do a walk or yoga now? What does it look like? Yeah. So because Greg and I are both at home the night before we have to coordinate. So this is like super key or else we flounder. He's also working full time right now and he's got some conference calls. So we each have to carve out our own. own like hour for ourselves. So first thing when I wake up in the morning, I wake up around

six o'clock, maybe 10 or 15 minutes before then because I wake up, I go in the kitchen, I put on my coffee. The kids are generally not up yet. And that's like my 15 minutes of grounding time to just not be giving of myself to anybody else, but really taking care of me. So I have my coffee, I do a lemon water every day just to kind of get my digestive system going. And that really helps. And then I sit down and I usually do my social media post first thing in the morning so I can do that and engage with my community because I love doing that. I don't, yeah, it's my, it's my time where I can see everybody. I can see what other people are doing. I can connect. And that having that sense of community is important to me to just as part of my routine,

set my day off on the right foot. After that, I make a smoothie and then the boys start waking up and coming out and asking for food. So I make them their breakfast. Greg gets up. I get them ready to start the day. Pre-pandemic, I'd feed them breakfast and then take them to school. And then that's when I would have my hour of workout, whatever I was doing. So now, you know, now that they're home, it could be a walk in the morning or if I'm doing a virtual training session with my trainer, I go out into the garage, I take my computer, I do a Zoom session, and that also like having face to face with somebody that I know and that's really familiar is really helpful for me. But I try not to get too attached to any one thing because I know

that things might change. Greg might have a last minute call that comes up. might throw off that routine or that one hour a day that I get for myself. So I try to have a routine, but I also try not to be too set and too rigid in it. Because if, you know, there are chances that and things that come up that really prevent them from actually happening the way I want to. So trying to give myself some grace in all areas right now. And what's in your smoothie? My favorite smoothie. It is the smoothie that I have pretty much the same thing.

Every day, it is a frozen banana, almond milk, I throw in some ice cubes, cook cow powder, peanut butter, and a protein powder of choice. Usually it's collagen, but other times it's like a plant-based protein powder. And maca also, because it's so good for hormones. Once in a while, if I have spinach around, I'll throw spinach in there. but I kind of like a dessert type smoothie for breakfast. It makes me happy. It makes me feel like I'm having dessert for breakfast.

And what do the kids get for breakfast? The kids are super picky. Well, one of them is super picky. My older one's super picky. So he's all into, he's obsessed with honey. So whatever it is, so if it's a waffle, he gets waffles or pancakes or toast with yogurt, but whatever it is, it has to have honey on it. And he's obsessed with wetter spoon and he needs to have like, he doesn't want the squeezy bottle.

It needs to come in like the container and he has to like take a spoon and do it himself. And if it's not like if there's not honey on the edges of everything that we do, he gets to cut. And he will like lay on the floor and have a tantrum. And I'm like, it is 20 in the morning, Gavin, like, come on. Get it together. Oh my God. I can't even. We can't.

Okay. So do you, and when you and Gavin are meeting the night before and you're having like, or you and your husband are meeting the night before and having like your touch base, is it just like, is it more logistical or is it ever emotionally based? Like I really need this time for myself. Can you cover in the morning? Or is it more like I have a call that I absolutely have to do? Yeah.

You know, so for him, it's so interesting. We're very different in that way. Greg is very much. logistical in the sense that he'll come to me and say, Nicole, I need you know, you to help me with coverage from 9 to 10 and 10 to 11 because I have these calls. Whereas for me, I might not have a conference call or I might not have something, but like I need personal, some personal space for me to thrive and to be my best, even if it is like, Greg, can you handle the lunchtime situation?

today with the boys because I'm going to go in the bedroom and just take some time to close my eyes to reset so that I can come out and be better. And at first he just, he doesn't really get that because his mind doesn't really think that way. He's all about like, I have meetings from this time to this time, whereas like I'm more of like my mental health needs this amount of time for you to help me. So I think it's been like a really good period where we're learning about each other and really what our needs are. And for him, it really is more like being like just scheduling, pure scheduling. For him getting his work done is like paramount.

And for me, sure, getting, you know, my recipes and getting all that stuff done is important. But I'm trying in the content that I create for my work, I really try to pour my heart and soul into it. And if I don't have any freedom and flexibility in my day to clear my head and think about what I want to share with my community, I don't do a good job of that. And then my work and my content and my stuff suffers. So he's trying to understand and learn like the difference between he's got a corporate job that's very like cut and dry. And mine, what I'm doing is much more creative.

It's much more fluid. And I need him to bend a little bit more. to help me. Well, and also, like, that doesn't, it doesn't make it less important that you don't have, you know, a conference call at a certain time. It doesn't make the work you're doing less important or necessary, you know? Yeah. And interestingly, you know, the other day, his boss was on the phone, they were talking and he was explaining to his boss, like, look, we don't, we don't have child care right now. I, you know, I can't do X, Y, and Z. And the boss said to him, well, have Nicole watch the kids. Like, why can't Nicole watch the kids? And I'm like, you know, like first, number first and

foremost, we are a team here. So we tag team. But she knows what I do. And I think there's this underlying assumption that because you're in a corporate job, it's more important than what I'm doing when in reality we're two 50, 50, 50 equal earners in this household. We're two 50, 50, equal partners and parents in this household. And we don't, we really do try to respect one another's jobs, even though they look really different. But that like, it like super offended me, actually. Yeah. And I was like, I was so offended. I was like, did you tell her that like I work too? That it just, just because I'm not doing what you do doesn't mean what I do is any less valuable or respected than what you do. So yeah, absolutely. Okay. And then last one about question about

the morning routine. A lot of people wish they could work out every morning or want to get in that habit, but they feel like they don't have time or can't find the motivation. And I'm really curious about your perspective on this, especially because you did used to have a corporate job as a lawyer. You did used to be really pressed for time. You still are like being a mom and doing a full-time job. So how do you make time and make that a priority? And what would you say to those people? So I would really just say if you don't schedule it, it doesn't happen or it makes it really hard. So even when I had the corporate job and when I was like pressed to be in the office by 8.30 a.m. every day. I made it a priority because I thought about my mental, my mental health.

It really was never about physical, the physical like, oh, I'm going to, you know, go work out. So I look like X, Y or Z. it was really about I need to get my mind right. And in order for me to do that, I had to set my alarm every single day early. So whatever I had to do. So at times, you know, when I was in law school and when I was practicing law,

it was 5, 5.30 in the morning. Sometimes it was 4.30 in the morning. And I really like hate to say that and hate to like, but it was a priority to me. And so I feel like getting into a routine where you schedule things, for yourself and also make it fun. Like if you're doing something that feels like a chore, it's not sustainable and it's not going to be fun.

So like ask yourself, like what is it that would make you feel good at 530 or 6 o'clock in the morning if morning is your only time to get it done? Maybe that's a dance class. Maybe that's just getting outside and going for a walk or a jog or something. but what would bring you joy? And because like, I don't know. I feel like sometimes people think like the gym is like you go into this intimidating gym.

You don't know what to do and it feels like a punishment kind of like because you don't, you're just like lost in there. So really just trying to like schedule things, make it fun. Don't take it so seriously. And think it about your mental health because that is what's going to make you a nicer person, a more calm, patient human being is just giving yourself that gift of time for yourself to move your body in whatever way. I love the idea of making it fun too.

When I feel like I should move my body but I can't motivate myself to do anything else, I'll put on my favorite songs and I'll just dance around the house until I'm sweaty. And it's a workout. Like I feel sweaty and good at the end of it, but it's always so easy to motivate myself to do that because it's just fun, you know? Totally. There's this thing I saw called Dance Church or something that I saw. Yeah.

I have a few friends that we might do that together. I really want to do that because that sounds so much fun. Well, I'll tell you when I get the info, you can come do it with us. I would love to do that. Like, oh, like sweat and have fun and, you know, just it doesn't matter so much what you do. It's that you're moving your body and you're actually enjoying it and celebrating the fact that we do have a body that moves and that we can do these things. because I know that, gosh, you know, as a former athlete, I, you know, I don't know if you knew this, but Greg and I met when I was, we were both competitive road cyclists.

So we would both, we had bikes. And I was racing and he was racing. This was, I was practicing law, but this was like my little hobby on the side. And what was I saying about that? I lost my train of thought. About workouts being fun? Yeah. So.

Or that we should be grateful that we have bodies because. Yeah. Because like when I'd get injured and I would have to sit home and I couldn't do anything, it's like the actual, it's like the worst feeling in the world. So I think I try to keep that in mind too is like, gosh, you know, it should be fun and we should be really grateful for the fact that we can do this right now because there are a lot of people that actually can't and feel stuck in their bodies and have no release, you know? Absolutely.

Okay. So talk me through nighttime routine. Is there anything you do specifically to sort of unwind at the end of the day to the set yourself up for a great night's sleep. Yeah. So it's taken me a while. So I'm obviously, I'm on social media a lot. And I have, I could be on catching up with friends or checking emails, gosh, until 10, 11 o'clock. And I realized that in doing that, I, I put my phone down. I couldn't sleep for another hour. So I now have to put my phone down about an hour and a half before bed. I have to put it in another room. And I keep just a traditional alarm clock next to my bed because

I need my alarm clock to wake up before the kids. But that small act has really like changed everything for me in terms of like being able to get a quality night sleep. So an hour and a half or so before bed that goes into the other room and I have to shut it down and tell myself like everything is going to be there tomorrow. Nothing is like, you know, I'm not out here saving lives. Like, everything's going to be okay if I'm, if I'm not on. And also that, um, putting my phone down just in general, um, to be with the kids around dinner time. And as they get older, I notice that they notice when I'm on my phone a lot or I'm staring at the staring at it or trying to do videos of them or whatnot and I'm trying to be a little bit more mindful of that and be more present.

So that's part of my routine is like I'll show them on my Instagram like once or twice, but then I put my phone down and try to be connected and engaged with them, get dinner on the table, which is always kind of like a really hectic part of our night because the boys are like super picky and sometimes one doesn't want to eat and they like fling food across the table. and Greg and I just look at each other and we're like, how are these our offspring? But then, and then after that, we get through the dinner situation. And then I'm in charge of bath time. I give both boys a bath and get them to their rooms.

I put Hunter down for bed. That's like first thing, which gives me a little bit of reprieve after that, that I can sit down on the couch with Greg and Gavin and just chill for 30 minutes. that I'm like just, I need that time, whether we're just talking about the day or we get on and play a game together, just having that 30 minutes where I'm like only focused on one child. And I feel like the night's winding down is really, is really a fun part of my day. And then after that, we get Gavin down, Greg or I, we sort of take turns and tag team on that because it's a little challenging at times with nighttime too.

But then after that, it's my time finally to sit down with Greg and have time just the two of us, which during the day pre-pandemic and even in this situation, we'd always kind of struggle to find our time to let the workday go and to sit and look at each other to hold hands, to talk about our day, to share, you know, things that went on and we never get a chance to do because, you know what, when you do bring kids into the picture, whether you like it or not, a lot of times it does become routine and it does become like all about the kids that it's easy or it was really easy for us to forget about Greg and Nicole as a couple and as individuals versus like being mom and dad all the time.

So that's our like 30 minutes or 45, maybe an hour. Sometimes we don't talk. We just, you know, I'll lay on the couch with him and put my feet in his lap. And like literally that is just heaven. Sometimes we don't even have to talk. It's just nice to, you know, have that release. And that kind of helps me ground. And from there, I put my phone in the charger.

Or I'm sorry, before that I prepare my caption, my Instagram content for the next day, write my caption, put my phone in the wall, and then get in bed and close my eyes. Is there anything that you would tell people who have sort of lost that intimacy or connection because of child care? Is there something you guys did intentionally to bring that back? I will tell you, we started going to therapy. And that really, that really helped because there was a period like about six to eight months ago where I kind of felt like, like are we just just mom and dad or are we Greg and Nicole, a couple, a team, how do we get that back? And I, and I realized that, I thought, okay, let's just, let's just go to therapy. Let's see if we could get

on the same page or find some tools or ways that we can communicate better our needs and to just kind of bring the focus back to one another. And we go every single week now that the pandemic started, we're not doing that, but we'd go every single week and we really got some tools to like listen more to one another when we speak small things that we'd talk about things that were unrelated to the kids during that time after they went to bed, unrelated to the kids, how we feel, what our hopes and dreams are, how we can support each other and achieving those things that are completely independent from the children so that we could like not lose sense of who we are. So I think, you know, my advice would be just is first and foremost to

communicate your needs and that if you have a loving partner who's in it 100% with you, that they're going to give you that. They're going to give you that space to be yourself and to share what you need. And in return, you have to be a good listener and a good support system to hear what they need and then try to deliver or meet them at least halfway into like what they need from you. It's a give and take. And I think, you know, the one thing I also realized

is that I'm selfish and I think I need me and my own needs and I, for a long time, all I could think about was what I needed. But you know what? I have a partner who also has his own needs too and I really need to be sensitive to that and to to listen with an open heart and cater and give to him what he needs as well. I love that.

That's some good wisdom right there. Well, we will have to do a full episode with you soon because clearly we could talk for much longer, but that was a lovely little sneak preview of Nicole Modick, morning and evening routines. Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me. Of course. Thank you so much for having me. And I miss you.

your face. You're listening to the healthier together podcast. Okay, friends, let's chat about gut health for a second. We're washing our hands a ton more lately and we're using lots of antibacterial soaps which makes restoring your gut bacteria even more important. Having good gut health is also super critical for keeping your stress levels low and your immune system supported, both of which are obviously really key right now. Taking a probiotic is always important but right now it's honestly more vital than ever.

You know the Garden of Life, probiotics are my absolute favorite. They're formulated by Dr. Promutter, who is a world famous MD, and they're totally free from any weird additives or fillers. And I also love, love, love, love, love that the probiotics are targeted. So there are ones with specific strains for women's health, men's health, vaginal health, mood, prenatal care, kids, and a ton more. I find the best results personally when I mix a few kinds, so I'm getting a wide array of bacteria like I would be in an ideal natural world. right now I am mixing the mood plus which is the purple bottle it's my all-time favorite I absolutely love it I find it makes such a huge difference in my anxiety and I'm mixing that with the ultimate care which is the orange bottle and I take that at times where I really want to

support my gut in an extra special you know over-the-top way it makes such a huge difference it's like truly the most powerful probiotic that I have ever tried I'll basically alternate days and honestly I feel so good when I take them consistently I can can feel a real difference in my gut health, in my anxiety, just in how I feel overall in my life. You can find Garden of Life on Amazon, but the best way to support the podcast is to use the links in the show notes. I will also share them on my Atlas Moody Instagram highlights, along with way more gut health info on the saved gut health 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 appreciate it. And please tell me if you try them. I love when people share our stories about what a huge difference the probiotics have made in their health and life. So hit me up. I would love to hear. Now, let's get back to the episode. All right, Sarah, welcome to the podcast. Well, thanks for having me, Liz. I'm so excited to be here. Yay. So to start off, why don't you just tell us a little bit? You have a very interesting background, and I think you're sort of unique in influencer Landia, which is fun. So can you tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do? Yeah. So for those that you don't know, my name is Sarah. I am I like to think I have two identities. By day, I am a graduate student in health economics and getting my PhD at Wharton. And then by night, I run my blog, The Cutting Veg, which is the whole goal of it is to make healthy living and healthy eating easy and accessible for people. I think too often we look at this influencer space and we see people, you know, thinking I can't be healthy. I don't like, I can't be these people. And for me, it's all about making it more accessible to people, whether with recipes or

fitness or lifestyle, that is my goal for the blog. I love that. So let's see how accessible your morning and evening routines are. So let's start with morning. How about? What do you do sort of when you wake up to put your, first of all, actually, I'm curious, what do you view as the function of a morning routine or an evening routine? Do you do it to like set yourself up for productivity or for mental health benefits or

something else entirely? Yeah. So for me, I'm a student. And so for me, the morning routine is to get my brain and my body into gear to get ready to learn. A lot of times I start classes at 1030. So for me, from the time I wake up until the time I go to class, it's all about warming myself up and getting myself ready to sit in lecture a lot of times for six hours and get myself comfortable with the idea of, all right, we're ready to learn, we're ready to absorb

because that's the best part. And my favorite part of the day is just learning new things. All right. So how do you get yourself ready to learn and absorb? All right. So generally on the weekdays, I wake up at around 6.30. Oh, my God. Yeah.

I just find that for me, it's just, I, it depends, obviously, like by the time I go to bed, because you know with graduate school, we are waking up and going to bed at really weird times sometimes. But generally, I like to get up at 630 just because I like to have a start to my day, an early start. And I like to work out first thing in the morning. I find that I don't do it if I don't work out first thing. And so I normally when I wake up, I drink a huge glass of water because that gets me hydrated. And I find I work out better if I do that. And I am, well, the first thing I do is I love to work out to online videos. So like I know on YouTube, there are great workouts from pop sugar. I know now berries has workouts on Instagram, which are so. super accessible. And honestly, I would be so surprised if I get abs from, I wouldn't be surprised if I would get abs from them because they are so hard. But yeah, and normally I go, my building,

I live in a huge apartment building in Center City, Philadelphia. And normally my building has a gym downstairs that's open. So after I do whatever workout video I do, or if I choose not to do it, I go down to the gym and there's weights and there's a cardio machine. And I really enjoy going down there and having that time to get myself ready and energized for the day. Yeah, Pop Sugar Fitness is like such a hot secret. I was asking for the best free online workouts on my Instagram and like 50 people said that and I'd never even heard of it. What type of workouts are they?

Oh, okay. Let's dive into it. So my favorite ones are the kickboxing ones. I think it's Christina DePaolo on Instagram. She has these kickboxing workouts that are so good. and I feel like my obliques are 100% because of Christina. Like she is, she is a beast and she's amazing. And then also they have hit workouts and yoga.

And I do, Rainier Pollard is another one of the instructors who is amazing with hit. But it's all kinds of stuff. A lot of it is dance workouts. I'm not super into the dance workouts personally, but the kickboxing and the hit are where it's at for me. And it's just totally free on their YouTube? Yeah. I mean, they have one. They have ones you can pay for, but for me, I mean, I'm a graduate student. I don't make a lot of money from grad school. So for me, having free workouts is usually for me where it's at. And how long do you usually work out for in the morning? Like an hour to an hour and a half. I don't want to ideally, ideally, the workouts are like 45 minutes a piece. And then I like to, that includes like stretching time, of course and like doing things like that. So for me, that's like a good. But, but of course, if I'm really,

busy or I have an exam or something, I shorten that to maybe 30. And do you work out every single day? Or if you don't work out some days, do you just like have this extra hour and a half of your life those days? Yeah. So the days I don't work out are generally the days that I have been up super late doing like a problem set or doing reading. And I generally work out, I would say, four to five days a week. And the days that I choose not to are the ones where I get to sleep in a little bit of extra time. Got it. So it's workout or sleep? Exactly. Exactly. Okay. Any other steps? Is there like a breakfast you usually go for or skin care or anything like that? Yeah. So I guess, so once I get done working out, I come upstairs. I generally don't eat breakfast, funnily enough, until like 11 o'clock, just because my body is just not hungry, usually, until that time. So generally what I do is when I'm finished working out, I drink a whole bunch of water. The time, I guess I get done around 8.30 by the time I like get dressed, go down to the gym, come back, and then take my shoes off and decompress. And generally during that time, it's the time I clean. I find I do not clean my apartment unless I do it like right after I work out in the morning.

Oh, that's so interesting. You just do like a daily tidy? Yeah. So just like sweeping up the, wiping down the countertops, vacuuming up the floors if there's dust. And usually I choose only one thing like one clean. I don't do a huge clean in the morning. I'll do like one thing. So like on Mondays I'll like wipe down my bathroom.

On Tuesdays I'll like dust wherever needs to be dust. And it makes housework. Yeah, it makes housework so much easier if you're just doing only one task a day versus like doing all of the tasks on one day. Yeah, that's like kind of genius, honestly. Yeah, no. And so for me, that's like my time that I do that. And then generally after that, after I've gotten all dusty and all dirty from cleaning, that is the time that I then do my whole bathroom morning routine. So generally I quickly hop in the shower. I put my hair up. So it does it. I generally only wash my hair at night. So like I just quickly shower off whatever sweat I have. And then I hop out. And then I and then I wash my face. I use, um, the products that I use

are either Franklin and Whitman, which is a local company here in Philadelphia. They have really good all natural. I'm all about the all natural cleaning stuff on my face. So I do the Franklin and Whitman. And I'm also and um, also the Coco kind products I use as well. And I use them because they're really affordable. Like I said, I'm a graduate student. I have a stipend that's like not very large. And so for me, having these beauty products, it's just, it's a great way to have all natural beauty at an affordable price. I love that. Okay. Are there any other key morning routine things like meditation or mantras or anything else you kind of do to get yourself ready to sit your butt in a chair for six hours? Yeah, I guess what I do is while I'm washing and doing my face, and I also, I do my hair,

usually in these times I don't, but I generally like curl my hair with my straightener, and that's kind of like how my hair is. But when I'm doing that, I kind of think about what is, I call them what is at stake for the day. So for me, as a graduate student, I have a lot going on. I have a lot of different projects and research, like research opportunities and exams and all kinds of things. And so for me, I think, okay, what are the things that are absolutely need to be done today? And when I think, like, oh, I really don't have anything due today, I call it like a low stakes day and therefore it, like, lowers my anxiety. So for me, I suffer from anxiety sometimes and knowing what's due and what's not and thinking about it in the moment and in the present rather than projecting to the future,

it allows me to like get in the headspace of like, you know what? Like today is going to be like a really easy day. To give yourself a break, it's going to be okay. Is there anything that you do on days that you know might be a harder day to mentally create that resilience to not have anxiety that day? The only thing I can really think that I do is I really make sure in the night before to give myself a little bit of a break. So like whether that means meal prepping breakfast so that I have it to go or, you know, not working out and sleeping instead, things like that.

I don't do any mantras or any meditations or anything. For me, it's all about making my life easier. the morning so that if I have an exam that day, I can just go and that is my, that is my task for the day. And then when it's over, it's the best feeling in the world. I haven't had an exam in so long, but I do remember the feeling afterwards of being like, oh my gosh. Or if you feel like you did really bad and you're like, you like beat yourself up for it. I remember that distinctly as well. I think we all have PTSD regardless of where we are in our lives from like exam time and just like going through the process of like taking an exam. Yeah, for sure. I also think it's funny. Like,

when you're in college, you can convince yourself that the stakes are so high when they're not really at all. Like, unless you are going to grad school, your grades don't really matter that much outside of like flunking out. But you just like, I remember pulling all nighters and being like, I need to get like an A. And really nobody is asked to see my grades since I graduate. You know what I mean? Like it did not matter at all. For sure. I think with graduate school, the whole goal is to make sure you pass to keep your stipend, at least in Ph.D. land. And then once you, once you go through that and you pass your qualification exam, they don't care. They're like totally cool with it. Okay. So what about evening routine? Is there stuff you do? Like, is it anxiety related to sort of

decompress from the day? Yeah. So when I get home, I generally, I get home pretty late, actually. So some nights I'll get home at like 8, 8.30. There's certain things I can only do in my graduate school office that, you know, caused me to be home really late. So when I get home, I generally like take off all of the clothes that I wore during the day and I put on like very comfy, you know, I have inside clothes. So for me, like changing from my outside to my inside clothes is like a very, you know, a good signal that, you know, we're going to be moving on from the day's activities and we're going to be taking some time for ourselves. And then generally I'll have either dinner prepared, especially if it's during the week. I don't generally cook dinner during the week. I have like

meal prepped things that I have in my fridge or in my freezer, so I'll take that out and I'll eat that. And I love watching, if it's been a really stressful day and I'm very tired and I'm not doing blog work, I love watching trash YouTube videos, things that just like, like things that, I mean, I can kind of relate to a little bit, but generally it's like, you know, 20 year old girls who don't have like any, you know, of the stresses of an adult. And for me, like, that just helps me, like, put in perspective, I guess, what is important and what isn't. I know that sounds very philosophical and bizarre. But I like it. I like it. I guess it's my version of reality TV. I don't generally watch TV or have the attention span for like long episodes of TV, but like a 10 minute YouTube

video, I can totally, I can totally do that. Any YouTube channel recommendations that we should go check out? Well, I don't know if calling them trash is a good like the people themselves. Any like low like like easy to watch fun engaging content we could go check out on YouTube. Remy Ashton and Alicia Marie are these two girls from L.A. who are just like, yeah, we're living our life doing our thing. And there are people I always turn to. I also just love, I love Shane Dawson. Like I think he's hilarious. And I also will also alternate between depending on how long I've been staring at a computer because my work as an economist causes me to. stare at a computer for way longer than I would want to. So I will also listen to podcasts as well,

just like listen to a pop in a podcast and like just kind of stare at the like just stare like eat. And for me, I love Keep It. I think it's before, you must remember this. Anything that's like about old Hollywood or Hollywood now for me, it's just like a really good or the morning toast. I love that as well. I think they're hilarious. There's a great YouTube channel about old Hollywood. that's called Be Kind Rewind that I feel like you would love. It is so good. Oh, that sounds great. And she has like a very ASMR-y voice.

So you kind of like get relaxed just listening to her talk, you know? Wait, that is genius. I love that. I think that I love all the ones also where they go through the fashion from like the entire century by decade. I think those are also just like really like nice decompressing kind of things. Yeah, I love that. So you just, you watch some like fun YouTube videos or listen to a podcast and then head to

bed? I have a little bit more that I do in between then. I like to, I have like a, I'm slowly working on my nighttime skincare routine just because I haven't really found the exact lineup of products that I like to use. So after I eat dinner and like whatever little snack, I always like to have like a, I have to have like a piece of chocolate or something sweet like before I go to bed. For me, that's generally, I love honeymamas. The chocolate is so good. Also on, eating evolved, like the evolved chocolate is also one of my favorite. So I'll eat that and then I'll usually go into my bathroom while listening to another podcast and I'll do my nighttime skin to care routine, which generally consists of like washing my face, putting on a moisturizer. I love the

pharmacy has this resurfacing night serum that I really like. The honey glow, right? Yeah, yeah, that one. It's really great. And so I do all that. I have to make sure, like, all of my makeup and everything is off before I go to bed because I know they say that all the time. And I'm on Sunday nights, I'm better at that than others. But, but making sure I have all my makeup off is like my number one, my number one thing. And then generally I, after that, I go into my, go into my room in my bedroom and I kind of just like catch up with all of my friends. You know, I get so many notifications on my phone that like if I don't I feel like I need to like say good night to the people who I didn't get a chance to respond to during the day just to make sure that like you know you don't

want to you don't want to make someone feel like they they didn't hear from you or at least I feel bad as a friend and especially because most of my friends live in like New York or you know a lot of them are from college for me like just touching base with them at the end of the day is it's always a good a good practice that I have and then yeah and then I get I mean I'm in I'm in my comfy close at that point, and so I just change into my pajamas, whatever those are. And then I generally go to bed. If on a good night, I'll go to bed at 1130. But on a not so good night, I can go to bed between midnight and 2.30.

And it all depends on what my schoolwork is. I feel like these days with like quarantine and stuff, time doesn't really exist anymore. So I'm just like, no. What is time? I know, I know. And for me, it's like, it's so funny because normally with school, I'm on like a very set schedule and now that classes are all online. A, it cuts down on my commuting time significantly. So I have a lot of, I have a lot of time. I generally walk. That's also part of my morning and evening routine is I walk to school every day for the most part unless the weather is absolutely terrible. And that's like a good 30 minute meditation that I do. So you don't like listen

to anything, you just like walk in your head? Sometimes I'll listen to music. I'm the kind of person that will listen to the same song on repeat over and over again for 20 minutes because I just get really into a song and really, really enjoy it. I feel like I would hate it by the end of that. Like I would start off loving the song and by the end of it, I would be like, this song is terrible and I want to shoot it in the face. Generally, I get that feeling the first time I listen to a song.

I'm like, I really don't like this at all. Like the like Duelipas don't start now. I needed that song. But now I love it because I listen to it over and over again. I kind of conditioned to myself to like it. Interesting. Yeah. I'm going to say I also, in the morning when I'm walking, I also listen to like the daily or, you know, what a day.

One of the morning show podcasts where I just get caught up on like, for me, current events are really important, especially as a healthcare economist learning about, you know, maybe potential new leads. on research, like for me, that is really important. I want to, I'm curious because you obviously are pretty fiscally focused, both in just living a frugal life yourself, but obviously you're an economist as well. Are there things that you think people are wasting money on with like their wellness routines? Oh, that's a great question. I mean, I love, I love a workout class as much as the next person. For me, you know, I have found that I can get as good of a workout and without the and without the stress of making sure I make the class on time, especially on the weekdays,

as I can if I were going to a studio. So for me, I love workout classes, but I don't find them super essential, especially when I'm in a period where I'm trying to make sure I don't spend all of my stipend and all of that. And then also, I mean, some of the, like for me on my personal account, I mean, I know people love supplements and find that some supplements are super beneficial and I take a probiotic, but there are a lot of supplements that, you know, the FDA can't regulate them because they're neither food nor drug. And so we can't really say whether or not a certain supplement works for

another person because they don't need to have research to show that the supplement actually works. And so for me, you know, there are certain supplements that I take, but I don't think that we need to be taking supplements in the volume that a lot of people are. So for me, like thinking about my budget and what's important to me, I choose not to take a lot of supplements personally. Yeah, I'm a big fan with supplements of like you should know the reason you're taking it. Like, yeah. You should have an exact, you shouldn't open up your medicine cabinet and see a bunch of stuff and just be like, oh, I'm taking it because I saw this person on Instagram taking it.

It should be like, oh, this is for my gut health. This is for my anxiety. This is like for this reason that I'm trying to solve. And if you don't have a reason for it, it shouldn't be there. For sure. And I think that it needs to be intentional. And I think you also just need to be honest with yourself once you start, if you choose to take a supplement to really hone in on whether or not it's beneficial to you or not,

instead of just kind of blindly, blindly continuing to take it. Because again, like the FDA can't regulate it. And so, you know, it's all up to being your own advocate in that case. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, this was awesome. Lots of good inspo. I think I'm going to try the cleaning trick myself because we like, like,

It's hard these days because we're like living and working and not leaving our house. So it's gotten messy up in here. So I think that'll be useful for us. Oh, absolutely. Highly, highly recommend. It makes it so much easier. Awesome. So where can people find you?

Yeah. So you can find me on Instagram at the cutting veg. I also am on TikTok now, which is a little bit different from my Instagram in that I am doing a lot more health economics over there. So if you're interested in learning a little bit about it, I'm also at the cutting veg there. And then my blog is the cutting veg blog.com. So you can find me over there as well. All right, Jeanette. Thank you for taking a second to chat with me today.

I really appreciate it. Oh my gosh. Thank you for helping me. For the people who might not, it's hard to say this because I feel like everybody knows about you. But can you just introduce us to Shut the Kill Up and your brand and what you do really briefly? Yes. So my name is Jeanette Ogden from Shut the Kill Up. I created this five years ago.

this being an Instagram and I thought I was just going to share my life to, you know, maybe 100 people and then more people started, you know, following and sticking around on my journey. And I think it's really special. I am a health enthusiast, a mom, a wife, a yoga instructor that I want to get back into that actually. but overall just a good human. Yes, you really are. And you're a good human to the world's cutest children that I've literally ever seen in my life. So you and AJ make beautiful and very kind, good-hearted babies, it seems.

Thank you. Super high energy, too. Yes, I'm curious about that. Like, how does, let's talk about your morning routine. This episode is going to be all about morning, evening routines. But you have, how old is Cole and how old is Elliot right now? So Elliot is four years old and Cole is eight months. Okay.

So how does that work into a morning routine of any sort when you have two young boys? It's chaos. It's seriously chaos. It's never really consistent. While I try to keep that consistency, it like changes every day because of their moods. And, you know, the way they wake up, if, you know, they're, their needs. So when we wake up, it's usually around 6.30 a.m. sometimes a little earlier if Cole decides to just be a little jerk and, you know, wake us all up. But it's usually 630.

And what I like to do is I literally like to like just hang out in bed for a few minutes until Elliot wakes up, which is almost immediately after Cole wakes up because they can hear each other. and after that I pump. I'm exclusively breastfeeding. So usually at night, Cole doesn't really nurse. It's kind of a weird thing because when you're nursing on demand, they usually wake up in the middle of the night to nurse. But Cole is so different.

So he probably nurses maybe once every night. And then in the morning I wake up feeling like a little engorge. So I like to pump. And then I like to get into the kitchen and make, a little bit of hot water with lemon. And then I sip on it while I'm, you know, changing Cole's diaper and asking Elliot how he slept and if he dreamt anything because he loves to talk about his dreams. And then we basically just start making breakfast.

So whether it's waffles or pancakes, like today we made pancakes, eggs, toast with avocado, that sort of thing. but that's kind of like our morning routine. And we just chill once we're eating and then we play a little bit. So it's very low, like, you know, like slow and kind of chill. Do you and AJ wake up at the same time? Because I feel like I remember from the episode of the podcast, we recorded that he stays up later at night than you.

Yeah, he still stays up a little bit later than me. But for the most part, we wake up at the same time now. And so it's like a whole family situation in the morning. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Being together. And sometimes it's really happy and like upbeat. And other times it's like, oh my gosh, another day of this.

Like, are you kidding me? Is there anything you do in the morning to sort of like ground yourself or to set your mood for the rest of the day? You know, I don't get that time right now. I really don't. For me, when I start to ground myself, is when I make myself breakfast or like I get to sit down while the boys are playing and I get to focus on what I want to do for work or, you know, what I want to share to the world, that sort of thing. I get like a few minutes to sit and actually do that. And that's when I feel like I get,

you know, my time. Okay. And what about, are you a morning workout person? I know I feel like you've been, you said on Instagram recently that you've been sort of like off and on with the working out with the pandemic and all of that. But let's say like pre-pandemic and then now where does the working outfit in? Oh, it's like night and day. I used to wake up every morning at 5.30 before the boys would wake up and I would go work out at 6 a.m. And in a in a gym. In a gym. In a gym, yes. In a classroom setting with a ton of people. I'm not really a I can't motivate myself to work out. by myself. It's very hard. And I don't, I don't, I don't, I'm not saying that I find motivation in others, but I definitely feel like, okay, I'm going to go see my friends and we're going to go do

this thing together. It's like a community thing for me. And I, it really fills me up. So right now, I feel like I'm motivated to go walk outside rather than just work out and get some bands or whatever it is and work out at home. I'm not really working out at all. I'm not really working out. all, to be honest. Do you feel a difference in like your mood or your energy with take? It's interesting because we always talk about all the benefits of working out and you're almost doing a real life case study of what happens when you take it away. Oh yeah. I feel not as happy, not as energized. I'm not saying I'm like super down or anything because I'm very, very happy and fulfilled with my life. but man, working out takes the edge off, working out allows me to feel like I got my hour

to myself in. That's kind of my form of meditation. It feeds my mental health, really. And not just my body or how it looks or whatever, because to me, I'm still fitting into the same stuff. It just mentally, I feel way more fulfilled with working out rather than just to be. taking a walk is so beautiful and I love it. But it's, I don't feel like I've gotten me time through this whole pandemic, like at all. Yeah. I think that's really hard. I think that for moms especially and dads out there for parents, I think that finding

little moments of me time is almost impossible these days. Is there anything you're doing during the pandemic, maybe not morning or evening routine related, but to kind of keep that sanity and that connection with yourself so you can keep showing up to be this amazing mom? To be honest, no, it feels like at night is when I get a little bit of quiet time and I just want to lay down. But since we co-s sleep, Cole's literally right next to me. And even when I'm on the couch with AJ watching something, like it feels like I'm not fully present because I'm constantly like, okay, what am I going to do tomorrow to, to, like get the kids, you know, like going.

Because it seriously, it definitely feels like such a shift. And we feel it only because we're always so active outside with friends. I'm always hanging out with other moms. So it like I've kind of been struggling this whole time. Not in a bad way, like awful. Because I know that I'm strong enough to mentally strong enough for me to be like, okay, it's just temper. Like I have to, I'm going to get through this.

I'm staying positive through it all by talking to friends and family and AJ. But it's still like it weighs heavy on me. And I'm focusing on my kids. You mentioned that in the evenings, that's like a little bit of you time. So let's go into evening routine. What is the nighttime look like for you guys? So after I make dinner and we all eat, I usually grab Cole. and I take him in the bath with me.

And then shortly after I wash him and, you know, play with him for a little bit, I ask AJ to bring Elliot in. So it's the three of us in this tiny little tub. And after Elliot gets in the bath, I ask AJ to take Cole and to get him dressed up and, you know, ready for bed while Elliot and I play for a little bit. And then once I wash him and, you know, we get, we get all washed up. We get out and then AJ takes Elliott and starts the bedtime stories and all that while I nurse Cole to bed. So we basically just tag team and like, you know, get all that situated. And then once they're both down, AJ and I like to snack on something. Like we get into the kitchen and we're like, that's who we whip out the good snack so that the kids don't eat it.

Like when? I mean like the huge kitchen with the peanut butter or like the Emmys little. like peanut butter, coconut cups or whatever they are. Yeah. Yes. And the popcorn and the puffs and the, you know, all those, all those goodies. And we actually just like sit down and we talk about how we feel or, you know, work, the coronavirus. Like, you know, just conversation about whatever we feel like.

And then I end up calling it like a night after like 930 or 10. and that's when I lay down and I respond to DMs or I think about what I want to write about. Lately, I've been in my notes a lot, just jotting things down, how I'm feeling, what I'm going to share. Because I think it's important to share feelings as you're going through them because then you can relate a little bit more, you know? Yeah, absolutely. How would you say that all of this is impacting your and AJ's relationship? it's so hard it's so hard because he's not working right now all of his shows got canceled and he's not playing any music so it's just shut the kale up you know and while he

loves doing what he does and like managing some stuff like we have help as well like we have a team so for him it's like well when do i get time for myself to to write music and you know because when all of his gears out in the living room or in the kitchen, like the kids are constantly like, oh, dad, you know, and he has to put it away or whatever. So he's not getting any time to work. And it's been challenging. So we just try to communicate as much as we can, kind of laugh it off because this time is crazy for everyone. I'm not saying that we're taking it, you know, way worse than others because that's not true. We're super grateful for home and food and family, but I think a lot of people don't see like the bigger picture of

we don't share everything, you know. So it's just kind of trying to navigate through that. What about with skincare? I know that you have your awesome collection with Cocoa Kine. Do you do any sort of skincare routine in the morning or the evening? Yes. So I forgot to mention that. But right before I get into the bath, I like to use the oil to milk cleanser from Cocoa Kind. So I'll like lather it up and kind of leave it there for a little bit while I get in the bath and then I rinse it off. But I definitely get that time like out of the bath. I'm able to like lather up with coconut oil and use all my toners and moisturizers,

which I feel so grateful for. That's that's kind of like my little time and my treat that I get where I get to, um, use my little products and stuff. Do you have, so you have the, the oiled milk cleanser, and then obviously you have your mask. Are there any other products, cocaind or otherwise? I mean, your skin is phenomenal, and I think everybody would love to know how to get that skin on their own face.

You're so sweet. Well, I do drink lots and lots and lots of water, and then I eat, you know, like whole foods for the most part. lately i've been like you know eating more snacks than usual but that's okay um i love evan healy that brand is so great and then the sun potion rose water is like heaven i spray it you know anytime i'm i'm like in the bathroom i'm like oh i forget to you know and i'm just like spraying it all over the place but those are the things that i really feel like have have helped just moisture you know my face retains that moisture and just feels nice and soft usually.

Love it. Okay. Are there any other sort of like things you would say to other moms out here who are trying to establish a little bit of structure, find a little bit of sanity in their days during this kind of crazy time we're living in? Yeah. I would say no matter what you're doing with your kids, I feel like this is such a temporary time.

So give yourself, cut yourself some slack. Um, if you're able to take a little break and like step away and go for a drive, because I've done that before where I'm like, honey, I'm just going to go for a drive, which he's always so encouraging. He's, he constantly tells me like, hey, how about you go for a drive and I'll stay here with the kids and we'll play and do this and that. But I always feel so guilty leaving. So I feel like leaving the guilt aside and having that drive or going to grab, you know, coffee like curbside. Because at the coffee shop, here like they literally bring them out to your car. So even doing that, stepping out for like 20 minutes

makes such a huge difference, which I need to take my own advice. But again, just staying present. And even if you don't get around to like doing all the things you have on your list, that's okay. Because the world is feeling it and it's okay to slow down. It's okay to not do these things that you're so used to. And I'm learning that to just adjust and be present with the kids. Because to them, like I see them and they don't know anything that's going on. And I think that's so beautiful because they still find things to do. They still find days being fun, whether I think they're fun or not. AJ constantly reminds me of that where he's like, Jeanette, they're not going to remember this time in their lives. Like, trust me. They're having

such a great time because they're just playing. They're playing. They're playing. They're playing. they're laughing, they're enjoying whatever they're doing. And yeah. Have you guys had to explain to them, like why they can't go see their friends or stuff like that? Yeah, I've tried to explain that to Elliot or... Yeah, obviously not to Cole. Yeah, no, Cole doesn't get it. But I tried to explain to him.

I did this morning because he asked if he was going to see his girlfriend, Carmen. And I was like, hey, remember I told you about that coronavirus that's going around? Well, it's this little ball with tons of spikes and it usually like lives on your hands or, you know, anything people touch. And so if you go touch and you put it in your face or in your mouth, like it could get inside of you and then you can get sick. So you can start coughing. You can get fevers.

And I don't know if I told you this, but we were very, very sick in January. Yeah, I remember that. And AJ didn't get it, right? It was you and Elliot. Yeah, both boys got it. So both of them. Okay. Yeah. And now we're hearing that California might have gotten a run through like November through January. Who knows? Who knows? But we were very, very sick. Same symptoms. The boys didn't get it as bad as me. But and then I tell them about that time. I'm like, do you remember when mom and you and Cole were sick? And he's like, oh, yeah, I do. I was like, we don't want to get that sick again, right? And he's like, no.

And I'm like, okay, so we have to stay inside and, you know, take care of others. And he'll just like, be like, oh, okay. And then run away. So he doesn't really like process it. Yeah. But yeah, I've had to explain it that in that way. But again, he still doesn't fully get it. Yeah.

I mean, I think in some ways, and I'm obviously not a mom. So all of this was like with such a grain of salt. But I think some of some kids will remember this time positively is a time. where they got to spend like a ton of time with parents who perhaps they weren't getting to spend that much time with otherwise. I know. I know. I mean, we both work from home. So it's a little bit different where, you know, we're with them all the time. But I think about that often where moms and dads get to stay home with the kids. And I just wonder how that is. You know, that's really cool. And that's so positive, like such a positive reinforcement that you just said that where they get to spend more time with their kids. Yeah, I love it. Well, as always, I'm blown away by your positivity and the way that you view the world is just so lovely and sunny and inspiring. So thank you for taking a second. No, thank you. And I have to say

your dance parties that you do, so cute. I seriously wish I was coordinated enough to like try and do that online. Oh my God, I'm not. Like literally people message me every day and they're like, oh, you're like so brave to do this. And I assume they're saying I'm brave because I'm not a good dancer. No, no, no. No. I just, I look at your videos and like, you're like, who's coming with me? You know, and you're dancing and so happy.

I'm like, gosh, I totally wish that I had that confidence to dance like that. Well, you should just come to the dance party. I love. And you don't have to be on the video. And I dance like a crazy person to give people permission to dance like a crazy person. I love it. It's seriously super cute. I love it.

Thank you. Yes. Thank you very much. I love it. Well, this is so lovely. It was nice catching up. And I wish you and AJ and Elliot and Cole all the best. Thank you so much.

You too. I hope you guys loved this episode and took away as much as I did from these amazing women and all the incredible wisdom that they shared. If you did love it, make sure that you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss part two when that comes out. And also, if you wouldn't mind terribly, taking a second to rate and review the podcast on iTunes, is one of the best ways to support the podcast. It's free. It helps small creators. I'm doing it for all of my favorite podcasts just because I think, especially during a time like this, free ways to support small creators really go far. And if you know anybody who you think might

benefit from the episode, I would so appreciate you sharing it with them, spreading the love and growing the healthier together family. All right. I love you guys. Have a great one. When you think about strength and resilience, like your ability to feel energized, to recover well, to stay strong as you get older. What do you think that actually comes from? Most people say working out or good nutrition, and yes, of course that matters. But there is a biological foundation

underneath all of that that most people are completely overlooking. I have been diving deep into this lately with the team at timeline and what I've learned has genuinely shifted how I think about my own health. Every single movement that your body makes every step, every workout, every muscle contraction

depends on energy produced at the cellular level. And at the center of that is your mitochondria. Here's the thing that nobody tells you, certainly nobody told me, starting around age 30, our mitochondria naturally become less efficient. More get damaged, more become sluggish, and over time, that impacts your energy, your strength, your recovery, and your resilience. Most of us respond by pushing more. We're like noticing these things and we're adding in more protein.

We're trying to fix it with more supplements. We're trying to do harder workouts. And those things do help. But timelines research suggests that we also need to be supporting the cellular machinery underneath. And that is exactly what their supplement, mitochondria, does. It contains urolithin A, which helps your body clear out damage mitochondria and support healthier ones so that your cells can produce energy more efficiently. Because this is happening to your cells, it's going to impact your entire body, your immune system,

your muscles. One study found that taking mitopure increased muscle strength by 12% in four months with no change in exercise routine. It's going to impact your energy, your sleep, your skin, your cell health impacts all of this, and urolithine A keeps your cells healthy. Timeline has done over 15 years of research and testing on this one product, urolithin A, which, by the way, most of us lack the gut bacteria to synthesize naturally. That's why many of us need to supplement it to get the benefits. This has become a staple supplement for me. It is my top way to support how I want to look and feel as I age. Support your cells and how you

age with mitopure gummies from Timeline. Visit Timeline.com slash Liz and save up to 39% on your mitochondere gummies. That is timeline.com slash Liz. If you have headaches, allergies, brain fog, skin irritation, or you've been dealing with hormone issues, you are especially going to want to listen to this ad. Every single thing that I just listed has been linked to chemicals and household cleaners. One study found that regular use of cleaning sprays was associated with a lung function decline, comparable to smoking 10 to 20 cigarettes per day. Synthetic fragrances are a well-documented migraine trigger and a number of studies have linked ingredients in common household cleaners to fertility issues, thyroid dysfunction, mood changes, and more because of their impact on our endocrine

systems. Luckily, you can just make one simple swap and you can eliminate all of those risk factors that you get from common household cleaners. Branch basics makes cleaning products that are plant and mineral based, completely fragrance-free, and made safe certified, meaning they are screened against thousands of known and suspected harmful chemicals. And best of all, you literally use one product, but you mix it with different amounts of water to make your kitchen spray, your bathroom cleaner, your laundry detergent, your produce wash, your glass cleaner, literally everything. It does not smell. It does not give me headaches. It does not give me rashes or itchiness from clothes because you are. Remember, we're using this for laundry.

We're using this for literally everything, and it works so well. Everything gets so clean. And I know that I'm protecting myself from all of those long-term issues, too. And I'm protecting my kittens who are much tinier than me, so anything they're exposed to has a much greater impact on their little tiny systems. And they're running around on their little paws and then they're licking them. So I'm protecting them too. Branch Basics is now available at Target.com, Amazon, and branchbasics.com.

so it's easier than ever to make the switch. And if you want to grab their premium starter kit, you can use code Liz Moody for 15% off at branchbasics.com. That's code Liz Moody for 15% off the premium starter kit at branchbasics.com. And when they ask you where you heard about us, please make sure to mention the show. That is branchbasics.com and use code Liz Moody.