The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #65: Niki Connor, The Holistic Vegan Chef - Inflammation, sleep routines, holistic recipes, and candida

Episode Date: June 6, 2017

Holistic Vegan Chef & Health & Nutrition Counselor Niki Connor, joins Lauryn & Michael to discuss tips for preventing exhaustion & inflammation, why you should cut out chemically processed foods from your diet, the importance of creating a sleep routine, and Niki shares a recipe for making an at-home holistic smoothie. We also hear the trio talk about what candida is & the affects it can have on your body and Niki breaks down the basic science behind ayurveda and how it holistically relates to diet, the mind, body, & soul. To connect with Lauryn click HERE To connect with Michael click HERE This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential Bombshell Body Guide and Meal plan.  tired of combating inflammation & bloat? Want to feel lighter and sexier? Check out lauryn’s latest 7 day meal plan. In this simple & super effective plan you’ll find: + tsc grocery list with every ingredient you need for the 7 days. + what the f*ck to do when you love carbs guide. + quick and delicious recipes: breakfast, snacks, lunch, dinner and dessert. You will also find 28 weeks worth of fat burning, muscle toning, 27 minute long, effective workouts you can do at home with no equipment. USE PROMO CODE: HIMANDHER at Checkout for 20% Off

Thanks for downloading this show from PC1. Before we get rolling, here's a word from one of the folks who helped bring you this podcast. This episode is brought to you by the Skinny Confidential Meal Plan and Body Guide. Okay, if you guys didn't know, I have a meal plan and an e-book of all my workouts, which you can do while you're in front of Real Housewives at home on your carpet. When I'm in a pinch or when I'm traveling, I do this all the time. I actually use my own guide. And then my meal plan is basically I gathered all the meals and recipes and snacks and skinny tips and put it in one spot.

You can even get some skinny cocktails in there that are my favorite. And I also have all these little hacks. So definitely check it out. Go to members.theskinnyconfidential.com and you can use the checkout code him and her for 20% off. That's members.theskinnyconfidential.com and use the checkout code him and her for 20% off. All right, let's get into the show. The following program is a podcastone.com presentation. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie.

And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential, him and her. It's Tuesday, we're live live we're bright-eyed we're bushy-tailed we are back with the skinny confidential him and her podcast happy tuesday happy tuesday here to bring you home rocking in the morning and here we go michael's adapted this new accent that he's doing on snapchat kind of makes me want to stab my eyeballs out if i'm being honest it's like this crazy i don't i't, how would you describe your accent? Maybe do it for everyone.

No, well, I'll do it in a little bit. But the whole thing is I really, like, I consider myself like a method actor. You know, I go, I change, I go into character and I just really embrace these things. And I invented this character. I don't know what he is or what it is but he lives in the swamp in my mind down in the bayou and he cooks up gumbo and crawfish and then i just like go into a really like kind of dark place with it and that's i don't know i developed this character so that's what i have to live with we're back for those of you who don't know us or this is your first time listening to the podcast we wanted to go ahead and kind of reintroduce ourselves so if you're a listener maybe turn it down because you already know all these fun facts michael and i have known each other since we were 12 yeah and she's been chasing me

that whole time he likes to think that but just like his accent that's imaginary we weren't dating the whole entire time no i don't know if we would have made it if we were no we weren't dating the whole entire time no i don't know if we would have made it if we were no we weren't dating the whole entire time we actually i think you were my first boyfriend when i was 12 13 and 14 you were my second because i was a player okay you were 12 so that we broke up i went for an older guy and uh kind of left michael in the dust a little bit in high school so i had to fend for myself i had to get out there in the dating world, fend off some wolves. Maybe I shouldn't call my exes wolves. And then we got back together in college when we were 21, reconnected.

Michael took me to Vegas. And the next thing I know, I woke up next to Michael without a top on. And I was wearing a tiara on my head, and I was holding a bottle of champagne. Well, I wanted you to feel classy, you know? Oh, I felt classy. So, I wanted to get you that crown, bottle of champagne. You wooed me.

I wooed you. I wooed that top right off. Kevin, our producer, is dying laughing, because I feel like he can just imagine the situation. Okay, so let's start with you, honey. Why don't you tell the audience a little bit about yourself? So traditionally, I'm a businessman. I never thought I was going to be doing a podcast. I have a couple of brick and mortar businesses, one being a company called Jetbed, which I run with my father. It's been a family business that we started 10 years ago. And then I have a marketing agency called Bostic Media, where we help other brands and businesses and personalities grow and market themselves and brand themselves, particularly on the internet, not so much on

like print or TV. So I've been doing that for the last 10 years as well. And then I'm an investor and invest in small businesses, particularly startups, and then we help them grow and brand as well. And so a lot of people have the misconception they hear the Skinny Confidential and they think that it's Lauren and I and that we're full partners. The Skinny Confidential is Lauren's business. It's her blog. It's her brand. And it wasn't until, I don't know how many years, five, six years in that you brought me into your brand. And I really didn't have much of a choice. I would just wake up in the morning and the Snapchat camera would be on me. So when Lauren brought me into the brand, we started getting a lot of different questions on relationships, on business, on branding,

and primarily on Snapchat and Instagram. And we just figured, hey, we're getting a lot of these questions and it's helping people on an individual level, but maybe we can create a medium that could reach a lot more people. And so we decided to do a podcast together. Well, let's be honest. We were in Mexico drunk off ginger margaritas and you thought the podcast would be a good idea. I jumped at it. I always just really wanted a radio show. So I thought this could be good. Okay. Well, to be honest with you, I was really excited about being in my pajamas, not having to wear makeup and shoot photos and be able to just talk because I do love to talk.

And then we used your brand as a springboard because nobody was going to know what the hell the Michael Bostic show was. No, no one was going to know that. They do now, though. So I might, you know, you never know. You got to be careful. I might have a solo act coming. I'm not threatened by it.

I'm not going anywhere. I'm just kidding. Okay. So I'm Lauren Everett. I'm the creator of the blogging brand, The Skinny Confidential. Now I'm a podcaster. I started The Skinny Confidential when I was at San Diego State. I was completely bored, unstimulated, going to school, in and out, come with my briefcase, leave with my briefcase. I was bartending, teaching pure bar, Pilates, kind of doing everything. And I just wasn't

feeling it. I was bored, bored, bored. So I wanted to be able toates, kind of doing everything. And I just wasn't feeling it. I was bored, bored, bored. So I wanted to be able to create some kind of platform where I could connect women from everywhere, mostly starting at San Diego State in one spot. So I figured a blog was the perfect place to do that. I wanted to share my tips and tricks for health, but also I wanted to hear other people's tips and tricks. So I figured a blog, we got to do it. I met with a web designer and it all kind of went from there. I was blogging for two years and then I wrote a book that's on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and the rest is history. I've been blogging every single day for the last six or seven years. So here we are with my husband who's

not wearing serum on his forehead and we just wanted to kind of just introduce ourselves to anyone that hasn't listened because we were on two podcasts this week the lady gang and the bitch bible two of our favorites so maybe if there's any new listeners that just gives us a little bit context and i can't remember which episode number they were on um but we had the lady gang on a couple weeks back, and they made me extremely uncomfortable talking about childbirth and female issues. Marbles coming out of buttholes. Yeah, things that

I should probably have never learned about. And then Jackie Schimmel, who runs the podcast The Bitch Bible, she's been on two episodes, both titled The Bitch Bible. Actually, if you just look up The Lady Gang and The Bitch Bible, you'll find both episodes. So we have a lot of fun with them like going on their shows even when they completely gross me out i feel like you liked it in a sick weird way i like some of it but i don't want to hear about marbles coming out of girls buttholes i feel like you're actually

inquisitive i'm not inquisitive about that nobody's that inquisitive are you sure i'm a hundred percent positive okay i have grosser stories than marbles coming out of buttholes, so we'll have to have the Lady Gang back on again and get really, really gross. And then, when Cletus gets here, he wants to know all sorts of things. So that's the accent I've been having to deal

with all weekend, just so everyone can get a little taste of that. He's down making butthole gumbo and crawfish and all sorts of things. Michael, I can't with this. It's too early for that. All right. So it's been a crazy busy week and I just want to kind of go over what's been going on.

Well, it's been kind of like a shitty week. Literally shitty week. So Lauren and I have a condo up here in L.A. that we use when we're up here working. Primarily we live in San Diego and we're down there, I'd say 80% of the time, 75% of the time, but the other 25, 20% of the time we're up here in LA in a condo that we have and we're not there a lot. So when I say it's been a shitty week, this week we came to our condo, got to LA, was ready to set down. We had our two chihuahuas with us and we had our sister mimi with us or lauren's sister who's now i guess my sister since we're married and i was we're ready to settle in

and get to work and i walk into the place and he literally screamed shit because there was like shit water from the sewer everywhere over flooding the bathroom i didn't know about it lauren and i were traveling in new york and in fr in France for the earlier portion of the month. And so we, we haven't been in the place in like three weeks. So I don't know how long this flood of a sewer flood was lasting, but the whole place was a mess. And I do this thing when stuff like this happens, where I don't go in the area that he's screaming about.

I just kind of like disappear into the walls so I don't have to deal with it. Like, I'll be like, oh, it's time for my conference call and walk out and walk across the street and get a green juice. Or you'll sit there and complain about it. Like I wanted it to happen. Like, yeah, like I'm the one that decided to place a bunch of shit water into our bathroom. I feel like it's really strategic of me though. So apparently what happened is the pipes were backed up and the neighbors, every time they were using their bathrooms, were just flooding into our unit. And since we weren't there for weeks, we didn't know about it. So basically, I had to get insurance involved, I had to get us out of that place,

get a cleanup crew in there. Then I had to check us all into the Beverly Hills Hotel with the dogs. We roll in looking like a bunch of bums with shit water everywhere. The Beverly Hills Hotel, the reason we picked this hotel, by the way, is because they let dogs walk around the property and they had

these little bones that said Pixie and Boone on them, our two chihuahuas. They had a huge plush pink bed and two little bowls for them that were striped and really branded to the Beverly Hills Hotel. The dogs loved it. Everybody was in heaven but me because I'm sitting there dealing with this situation. The dogs are eating bones. Lauren and Mimi are like out by the pool and like getting their nails done. And meanwhile, I'm just having a meltdown dealing with this, dealing with contractors. Lauren's complaining the whole time. I was disappearing into the walls still right into those Beverly Hills palm print walls. All in the meanwhile, trying to like get our meetings done and get work done it's just just a mess it actually wasn't that bad you

i mean you just over exaggerate it was fine it was not bad for you because you guys just got pampered the whole time i had to go in and out back and forth to the unit anyways i'm not complaining i've decided on my tombstone like when i die i wanted to say it's fine because that's everything that he freaks out about i just say it's fine and then i disappear into the wall what do you think my tombstone would say shit damn it it's not like you know it too that's why you're smiling it's just a reactionary thing like something happens when i remember something like oh shit no i'm gonna tell the whole audience why i have a problem with the word shit so michael does this thing when we're asleep like dead

asleep it'll be like seven in the morning. And he springs out of bed like a cat. You know, when a cat springs out of bed and screams shit. And I'm like, what? And he's like, Oh, I forgot to get water bottles last night. Like it's the most stupid thing you can ever think of. Like you don't need to say shit. So Mimi and I always make fun of Michael when he says shit, because he'll say it for reasons that are just not a big deal. I mean, it's not that I'm, I know it's not a big deal. It's just one of those things where it's like, it's just a reactionary word. I got to work on it. I got to like do something that, to replace the word. I might do one of those like buzzer things that like hurts you every

time you say it. Like a dog shot caller? Yeah. I would love a shot caller for you. Speaking of cats, I did a good job this morning waking you up. Lauren does this thing where she makes me wake her up like a cat. And I really don't really, I never really understood what that meant. You're getting it. I'm getting it. But I think it's like you got to give like a little pet, then like a little pat, and then you got to exit the room.

Yes. And then you got to come back in and do like kind of like a little bit harder pet. And then like, but there's a formula to it and I haven't quite figured out the exact formula. You did good today. But if you, but let me just tell you guys something. If you mess up the formula, you're going to have hell to pay. You messed it up the other day.

Tell everyone what you did. It's like Medusa rising from the dead when you, when you, when you do it the wrong way. I will literally cut him if he wakes me up the wrong way. Because sometimes the way you wake me up is like too heavy and masculine I need like a very feminine way to be woken up I've learned for any men listening that you can only ask maybe one to two questions in the morning before 10 a.m that's one or two too many though I just I can't be asked questions in the morning. I would say like, hey, how did you sleep? That's a no-no.

Don't do that. Because then she's going to be reminded that you woke her up out of the sleep. Okay, so when we first started dating, he would wake me up and ask me 400 questions before noon. And at first I wanted to be like the polite, cool, chill girlfriend. And then I decided, no, that's not my personality. I really need to like let this guy know that i don't want to be asked questions before 10 no questions who was it was it i learned this actually was this on the lady gang or the bitch bible where they said don't ask every single

girl in the world doesn't want to be asked questions the bitch bible no because you call with questions that you can answer yourself you got to answer your own questions i can't answer i want to do a poll i'm going to do a poll on Twitter when this episode launches and says, how many questions can I ask in the morning? And I'll ask all the women out there. You did learn though today, he came in, he did a little tap.

Like you said, he exited the room. He came back and he did two little taps. He exited the room. Then he came in and he whispered as softly as he could. And he bet me really slow. And then I started. Your whisper is creepy. Not as creepy as your accent. I feel me really slow and then i started your whisper is creepy not as creepy as your accent i feel like i was about to be hurt and you just like pet me really

slow that was like a really breathy whisper yeah well that's how it feels when you when you're waking me okay oh my god um yeah so you woke me up in an okay way. I'd give it a B. I would have liked a cup of hot tea. And you told me when we got married that you were going to buy me a coffee and tea warmer by my bed. So you could put a cup of tea there. And I haven't seen that come to life yet. You told me a lot of things when we were going to get married. A lot have not come true.

I told you I would itch your back even if I had a manicure. And that's never come true. Yeah, that was a fucking lie. But what can you do? They're vows, Lauren. They're vows for a reason. It's a holy promise to your husband, to your king. Oh my God, kill me.

So I'm excited for the show today because I am not doing well in the health department. I'm not feeling good. I'm not looking good. I was doing good for a little while. I was doing vegetables and working out a lot. And over the last, I'd say six days, ever since the shit water situation, I have been letting myself go. My skin looks like sandpaper, not doing hot. You do need to really, really start paying attention to your skin. We're going to get into that in another podcast. Today. We're going to talk about your health.

So Michael and I, over the next month and a half, are going to cut alcohol. We're going to cut dairy. We're going to cut white carbs, and we're going to go really, really soft on red meat. So I'm excited to have a holistic chef, our friend Nikki Conner on the podcast today, to really kind of kickstart this thing that we're doing. There's been so much socializing with alcohol and dairy and meat that I'm ready to cut it. And when I cut something,

I get gnarly and I get intense. So I'm going to make you do it with me, honey. Well, you're good because you know all the stuff to do. And I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable, but I have not really, I've done a little, like I've always consistently worked out and been somewhat healthy. I consider myself a moderate person, but I'm really trying now to dive into my health as I'm getting older.

I just hit 30, which means I feel like I'm on the other side of my life now. And I need to figure out how to stay healthy. I need to, I need to create habits and behaviors that are going to make me consistently healthy because I feel like I have a lot of things that are counterproductive. You know, I work out hard and I, you know, I work hard. But when it comes to eating right and being healthy, I know I need to step that up. You don't say. All right. So we're going to get Michael on a health kick with Nikki.

And then hopefully one of these days we can bring a skin expert on and you can get some skin tips. Yeah. So I'm hoping that she's going to come on and you can get some skin tips. Yeah. So I'm hoping that she's going to come on and we're going to get a lot of value for the people listening. Maybe we could help change some other people's lives, help them get some healthy habits. You know, people like you that really take a lot of time to study this stuff don't, I think sometimes you don't understand for people that don't do that and don't make it a priority.

Like sometimes it becomes overwhelming when you're listening to all the experts and you kind of just want a starting off point where you can say, okay, these are some things that I can start doing to change my habits and to start trending in the direction of being healthy. But, you know, when someone comes in and they're saying like, you need these lima beans or you need these vegetables, you need this dressing or you need to have these vitamins, like it becomes so much and it's so overwhelming to somebody that's a novice that people, you know, you're kind of setting yourself up for failure. So I'm hoping today that Nikki is going to give me the starting point of what I can do to get my stuff in order. Okay, you guys. So I have some questions for Nikki about Candida. I think it's something that people really need to hear. And I also have some questions about salad dressings. I want to know how to make a bomb ass salad dressing. I'm just going to kind of sit back and listen. I'll jump in when I can, but I don't a bomb-ass salad dressing. I'm just going to kind of sit back and listen. I'll jump in when I can, but I don't even know what candida is.

Never even heard that word in my life. Well, let's not do it in your accent, because I can't imagine how that would sound. All right, all right. Here we go. With that, we want to tell you guys about Blue Apron before we get into the interview with Nikki. So, Blue Apron. We love it. Who's ready for some home-cooked meals, boys and girls?

I am cooking up a storm, and I got the trick for you. Well, Michael did make me the spiced zucchini enchiladas with creamy lime and tomato rice two weeks ago, and I am hooked. Listen, I am no joke. The weeks that we've been working with Blue Apron, I have become increasingly more proficient in the kitchen. Well, it certainly helps that all the ingredients are completely laid out for him. Are you telling me that you're not impressed when I whip up a peach honey glazed chicken with mashed sweet potatoes, collard greens, and Thai basil? I'm impressed. I am. So, Blue Apron has established partnerships with over 150 local farmers, fisheries, and ranchers across the United States. And as a result, Michael is now an at-home chef.

Yes, ma'am. So for less than $10 per person per meal, Blue Apron delivers seasonal recipes along with pre-portioned ingredients to make delicious home-cooked meals. I love this because I hate going to the grocery store. I don't know why. I'm just one of those guys that I just don't like it. I don't like trying to measure out portions. I don't like trying to figure out how much to buy either under buy or over buy. So what I like about Blue Apron is they just deliver exactly what I need every time. There's no mess. I have everything that I need. Once it's done, I just clean up the mess

really easily and move on. It's really simple. I actually clean it up. You cook, but let's get real on that. It's flexible. It's easy. It's guaranteed. Check out this week's menu and get your first three meals free with free shipping. Go to blueapron.com slash him and her. You will love how good it feels and tastes to create incredible home cooked meals with Blue Apron. So don't wait. That's blueapron.com slash him and her. Blue Apron. A better way to cook.

All right, guys. Don't go anywhere. We will be right back with Nikki Conner. Hey, everyone. It's Caitlin Bristow. Starting May 30th, you can Conner. Hey, everyone. It's Caitlin Bristow. Starting May 30th, you can listen to my show, Off the Vime, with Caitlin Bristow every Tuesday on Podcast One. Hear me take on taboo topics and unfiltered advice. I'll also be dishing with some amazing celebrities.

Oh, and did I mention there'll be wine? So grab a glass and join me every Tuesday on PodcastOne.com, the new Podcast One app, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts. This is the skinny confidential him and her. OK, guys, we are here with a super exciting guest. She's a holistic chef, health and nutrition counselor whose mission is to heal people. She also brought us homemade spinach artichoke dip, basil pesto hummus, turmeric hummus, all which are very anti-inflammatory. Welcome Nikki Connor. Hello.

Thank you for having me. Thank you for being here. Welcome to the show. I'm a little nervous because I feel like Michael needs to be taking notes of everything you're about to say. I'm going to drill this into my brain. Please, please. I'm trying to nonchalantly manipulate him

into hearing everything you're saying so he can start eating more greens. Okay. Start off telling the audience all about you because I've interviewed you on the Skinny Confidential before, but I just want to hear, you know, your kind of story and how you got to where you are now as a holistic chef. Yeah, it was quite a journey. Actually, I grew up with a very healthy lifestyle. My mother was a model, my dad was an athlete. And I've been going to the gym since I was like 10 years old. Probably not very safe, but I enjoyed it. And I was lost for a little while wondering what I really want to do with my life. I dabbled a lot of things. I was an athlete. I did some modeling. I moved to New York with no plan and was always around people who hated their jobs. And I thought, okay, I'm working a nine to five, but I'm miserable. I don't care

if it pays bills. I'm miserable. So I was on a run one day and I was like, what makes me happy? Helping people and being healthy and fit. So I dropped everything, put myself through nutrition school, got my degree. And then I started my business as a health counselor that led into cooking because my clients didn't know how to cook healthy. They were all coming to me saying, I hate the food in my office. I don't know how to cook healthy. I don't know what to do. I'm constantly dining out for work. And so I thought, you know what? My friends and family like my food. I'm just going to fake it and just become a chef. Fake it until you make it.

Fake it until you make it. So I became a personal chef cooking in people's homes. My sister happened to be an editor at Vogue. And so she started bringing my food to her office. People started asking for it and I started charging. So I was delivering healthy foods all around Wall Street and Condé Nast offices, and it was doing really well. And I didn't have the confidence, though, because I wasn't a professional chef. So New York is a very intimidating environment in the food industry, as you know, whether you go to the restaurants competition alone. So I decided to go to culinary school, but all the schools in New York were tailored towards people

who don't have to have a job outside of school full time. So I moved back to California, found the right school, moved with the Bay Area, had no life for seven months, put myself through a two-year program in seven months. Wow. And became a chef. And ever since I've become an official chef, I guess you could say, it's been great. What I do is I work as a personal chef. So if someone just

wants healthy, delicious food, I'll do it. Dinner parties, catering, private dinners. But if they have a specific health condition, whether it be an autoimmune condition, cancer, things like that, I know exactly how to do a diet for that. That's so cool. I want to start with something that we were talking about at dinner, which is a lot of people struggle with candida. Is that how you say it? Yeah, it is.

Okay, I just want to make sure I'm saying it right. Wait, what is candida again? Because, so, you know, I consider myself somewhat informed and educated, but when it comes to the health subject, no, when it comes to this subject, not so much. And so I'm going to be, I'm going to be jumping in a lot, trying to figure out, ask questions. What's this? What's that?

And at the same time, I'm going to see, maybe we'll go through a lifestyle shift here and I'll get my life in order. Hopefully. Okay. So tell the audience and Michael what Candida is. So Candida is yeast overgrowth in the body. The reason it's become more well known now is because we're overdoing it with medications. We are killing all the good bacteria in our bodies, which is why now all of a sudden you're hearing about how probiotics are so important and yogurt

and things. You can't cancel it out. The problem is we're masking all our illnesses with all these antibiotics. I mean, I used to do it too when I was a kid. Who wants to be sick? You get a cold, you go get a Z-Pak from your doctor. The thing is we're becoming immune to that, and we're needing stronger and stronger antibiotics. The problem with that is it's killing the good bacteria in our body, so we're not able to fight disease on our own. So we keep relying on medications.

And if you overdo it with antibiotics for too long, I've had this with a few clients, you get candida overgrowth, which is yeast overgrowth throughout your body, interior and exterior. So it's everything from like your starchy deodorant is feeding the yeast like it's it's terrible wait wait wait wait wait wait wait so you're giving me an excuse not to wear deodorant as if i needed one i wish no no let's let's let's edit that part out no okay when you say that what do you mean like you're a starchy a powdery starchy deodorant can feed the yeast feeds on sugar starch and vinegar as far as what's in your diet and what's in your cosmetics so if you're using like a good natural deodorant you're okay what if you're not using deodorant then i'm dying over here who cares if you die we're just talking about me and my candida growth you're good so how do you like

okay so take me for example how would i figure out if i had something or am i just going through like is is maybe ignorance is bliss here in this situation well um unfortunately a lot of people come to me don't fix don't want to fix anything until it becomes a problem so a lot of people just overdo it they go hard at life with their diet and their lifestyle and then all of a sudden a disease occurs and they don't know how it came about i think it's about living a preventative lifestyle amen and um i personally i have an autoimmune disease. I have Hashimoto's hypothyroidism. What is that? I have an underactive thyroid. And for most people in my case that I've worked with, they have weight issues.

Their symptoms are very extreme. So I ignored mine for a long time because I never had extreme weight gain. I never had major goiters or anything like that. And then all of a sudden sudden my hormones went completely crazy. I actually went to the gynecologist and was like, I'm not pregnant. Why am I not getting my period? What is going on? My hair's falling out. And then my eyebrow guy was like, I think it's your thyroid because your eyebrows are falling out. And I was like, I don't know if I should take advice from you but i will check he was right wow i got my thyroid checked and i refuse to take medication so i monitor it with my diet alone um so i have a few flare-ups a year where i'll just have pms for like

a week i get um goiters um what's a goiter um like swelling in your thyroid like your thyroid controls your metabolism your hormones so it's very very important part of your body for men and women. But usually it also controls your metabolism. So hyperthyroidism is when like, I mean, I'm kind of jealous of those people. Like they have no, they can't gain weight. They have a hyperactive thyroid. Mine, people always ask me, they're they're like oh how do you stay lean like because i make an effort like i work hard at it like what are some things that you do at home

that that people could do that would help with candida and help with what you have i have to you work you got you've got to give a shit about your body like i'm sorry that's the bottom line is you've got to love yourself you've got to want to make yourself feel good because I'm not a doctor. I can't take your blood, but I'm very intuitive. And I have had so far, I've not, I've had a hundred percent success rate with my clients because I know what it is. And I tell them, I'm like, this is what I think you're dealing with. If you want to marriage Eastern and Western medicine together, no problem. Let me help you with what I can do.

And then you can go to your doctor and get blood work done and confirm that if you want. Every single time, it's exactly what I've thought it was. Because with candida, a lot of people, it starts out with like a yeast infection or something like that. And then all of a sudden, you know, and unfortunately with things like google people go into like you know oh that's me that's me a k-hole where they're all of a sudden like i'm dying 100 i have cancer what am i going to do from the yeast infection where does it go does it go to something yeasty in your body like how do you know that it's so what you're consuming in your body it's it's just non-stop so it's you need to go on a completely preventative diet for at least a couple months

i've reversed it in 30 days for people before so i want to back up a little bit just to get a little bit of understanding what do you see as the most common like when someone comes and sees you i know you get varying cases and varying different things going on but what is like the most common, like when someone comes and sees you, I know you get varying cases and varying different things going on, but what is like the most common issue you see with people when they come to see you? Like what is the number one thing people are doing that's causing some problems in their life? Inflammation and exhaustion. Oh, let's talk about it.

And so exhaustion just meaning like they're overworking, they're not sleeping enough. Fatigue. Yeah. Fatigue. And then inflammation is caused by what? I mean's bad diet okay yeah and so um do you think fatigue's caused by bad diet too certainly okay yeah so what i want to break down each one i want to start with fatigue okay what can someone do right now at home if they're feeling fatigued for instance you said vinegar wasn't the best and i wanted to ask

you about this later but can they take a shot of apple cider vinegar vinegar is so good for you okay i recommend it for everyone okay take a shot every day even if you have that's great i even you make dressings with it there's a lot of great things you can do even if you have candida overgrowth apple cider vinegar is safe okay that's i was wanting to ask you that okay so like balsamic vinegar things like that you need to take a break from that for a little while till the inflammation really comes down in your body okay so they have fatigue at home what can they do what are like three tips that they can do or something they can go buy or eat like what what i mean and to break it down even more okay what can you is it just i mean obviously sleeping more

would obviously but how like for people that have trouble sleeping and getting to sleep what can they do what can i what can they put in their system or in their diet to make them sleep more i firmly believe in um a routine create a sleep routine like shut yourself down slowly you can't just like lie down and say sleep i for one cannot do that i have a routine i do i'll meditate or read a book depends where i am i drink valerian root tea which that's a melatonin doesn't work for me at all valerian routine is great and um just shut your phone off and put it in the other room or put it across the room because that's the worst all of a sudden you realize you're in like an instagram k-hole two hours later in your bed and you're like oh and what about diet what are things like they should avoid if they're feeling fatigued oh man simple carbohydrates okay um i would say that and chemically processed food's just making people sick and exhausted.

Greens, greens, greens. Hide them however you can. The more leafy greens you add to your diet, you're going to have energy and vitality. You're going to look better. You're going to feel better. Whether you're blending in a smoothie or eating more salads,

you need to eat live foods to feel more alive. I don't believe in one like quick fix diet for everyone. I believe a plant-based diet is beneficial for everyone, but I work based on bio-individuality. So I analyze someone's specific body type, their specific needs, and I'll add more goodness to their diet. I don't go to them and say, this is wrong and bad. You better throw this all out. That can freak someone out because this is

an emotional experience like changing your life for the better it's a process it's not like you know of course in the first 30 days you're gonna see a big change but if you want to maintain that you've got to get into the right mindset with it you've got to think to yourself like do i care about myself like do i care about my diet i had a client who came to me after having a heart attack and becoming a grandfather. And he thought, oh my God, I have another reason to live. Like I care about myself. Like I want, and he, he has a cattle ranch and realized like, okay, maybe I should eat a little less red meat. Maybe add some more greens. He would write me emails after I gave him all the advice that like

made me inspired me. Like this guy's attitude change because when you start caring and you realize, wow, I feel so good. Like why would I want to eat crap? Like today coming here today, like it's national donut day. That sounds awesome. But donuts make me feel like crap. Like I don't want to eat stuff that makes me feel like crap. Okay, so are you noticing, I feel like dairy makes me feel fatigued. Is that a weird thing? Oh, no. That is very common. We're the only species that consumes the milk of another animal.

Which I think is creepy. I've always thought it's creepy. It is very creepy. You know what I mean? And there's that old joke about the guy that first figured that out. Like, what was he doing? You know? Right.

Exactly. Like, might as well just go drink, like, might as well just go drink like might as well just go drink like monkey milk you know like what the hell i know so dairy makes me feel tired and so does simple carbohydrates of course that's just heavy and then um sometimes red meat is that normal no that's very common and you know what else we're sugar addicts i know and we're constantly we're jolting and crashing ourselves every day. I mean, the thing is, if you think about when you go out drinking, okay, you're having like a sugary cocktail and then you're like, God, I want a pizza.

You think that you're just craving carbs, but what you're craving is more sugar because you're coming off of the sugar. Simple carbs have sugar. Sugar fires off the same receptors in the brain as cocaine and we're addicted so i don't believe in like a zero sugar i believe in balance like i eat fruit i love my life i love chocolate i just it's about preparing it in a way that your body isn't going to go crazy you know speaking of drinking alcohol you decided it's been a few years now that you decided to cut alcohol completely it's been almost four years now that you decided to cut alcohol completely. It's been almost four years.

I haven't had a drink. But I will say this about Nikki. You're one of the you don't it doesn't you don't notice that you're not drinking. You know what I mean? Like you can be like you're out partying. Oh, yeah. With the best of them. I get water wasted.

Yeah. Well, some people, you know, when they're not drinking and, you know, I don't not condone drinking one or the other. But I'm saying some people, I can't go out without doing this or I can't go out without having a drink. That doesn't seem to be an issue for you. No. Um, I just, I firmly believe that my body sees alcohol as poison. It doesn't make me feel good. Um, even for my birthday last year, we went wine tasting in Napa and I was a designated

driver. Everyone loved it. I had a blast. That sounds fun. Yeah. I went olive oil tasting olive oil's amazing right that's that's a thumbs up yeah oh everyone big time so what are thumbs up like give us a couple foods at trader joe's that anyone can get that you like i mean like

for instance i know you think turmeric's amazing yeah like give us a couple hot words that we can go by. I would say turmeric, nuts and seeds. Okay. Especially in raw form. I mean, when I'm cooking for people, a lot of times I'll toast nuts, but I never buy it that way. I always buy raw. I prepare everything from scratch by myself. How do you toast nuts?

I'll show you. Oh, okay. Sounds good. There's different methods You use for different nuts Because like Walnuts are larger than Say you know Pine nuts

Things like that Berries Leafy greens Sweet potatoes Contrary to its name Sweet potatoes Are actually not a potato What do you mean?

So if you have A nightshade allergy You can still have Sweet potato Oh Yeah So it's still A starchy vegetable, but it's not the same. And it's very high in beta carotene, more so than carrots, actually.

So you highly recommend sweet potato? I highly recommend. I eat sweet potato almost every day. Okay. Yeah. And there's different ways. I mean, you just steam it and blend it and stuff. I mean, I make it with sauces.

I love it what about grass-fed butter that's great if you're having any dairy it should be grass-fed okay always okay so what are the no's because i i feel like i feel like i'm doing a lot of the no's how much time do we have no's um look i have a lot of people who come to me and are like i can't afford an organic lifestyle and say look do what you can with what you have i mean if you don I have a lot of people who come to me and are like I can't afford an organic lifestyle And I say, look, do what you can with what you have I mean, if you don't have a farmer's market nearby Or you don't know a trusty farmer Just buy organic as much as you can

And the problem is the word natural and all natural You can legally call any product that And it could have 1% of that product is natural. So it's all marketing gimmick. So annoying. I know, right? We're being lied to on a daily basis. So I would say just think about read the ingredients.

If you can't pronounce it. I mean, there's people who can't pronounce acai, quinoa, turmeric, things like that. But if you can't pronounce it, it's probably not a food. Okay. Did you guys hear that? If you can't pronounce it, it's probably not a food. Eat real food. So look at the ingredients.

Yeah, look at the ingredients. I always say if it's over five ingredients, I'm probably not going to have it in my house. And even if you look, I'm a vegan, but you know i get i get paid to cook meat for people too luckily i temperature control i don't taste anything i don't eat any of it i just um i go by my instincts and it works i mean they think that i ate the chicken i bake for them but i didn't even touch it with my hands wow but um i have my ways but i I would say working on what makes you feel best. Because a lot of times people are obsessed with cleansing all the time. All these, oh, let's go eat like crap and let's do cleanse.

You're yo-yo dieting. You're messing with your metabolism. I do think that a spring clean and something like that is essential. But if you're constantly going back and forth, your body's having a battle within itself i think you should just be on a detoxifying diet you know what's you know what's difficult though like for people like me and i could like i said i consider myself somewhat educated but where like if i'm starting out and i'm like okay i want to get my life in order i want to get healthy i want to make changes. I think a lot of time it's overwhelming because you and Lauren are very educated on these topics and you're both very healthy. And I try to, you know, I try to take Lauren's tips and

eat what she, what she feeds me sometimes, even though sometimes it's difficult, but if it's just me and I'm alone and I, what's the, how can I start out? Like, what are the things, how would you start someone that's just in a very simple way to start going down a healthy path add a smoothie a day just start out with that because if there's foods that you're unsure about like I don't want to drink greens like what is this what is kale what is that just hide it in a smoothie like make a smoothie you can make it delicious there's so many great ingredients give us give us a holistic smoothie that everyone out in the audience can do at home okay this is what i make all the time i do one banana spinach and then i add like a couple dates and then i'll add some almond milk i usually make my own but if i don't i just get the unsweetened kind and then i'll add um it depends on that day like sometimes i'll add i use

an organic vanilla protein powder or i'll use just pure cacao powder and then i'll add some cinnamon because cinnamon helps stabilize blood sugar and um so if you're having i firmly believe in like eating fruit blending vegetables if you're juice, because you don't want to get your blood sugar spiked through juicing fruit too much. But if you add a little bit of fruit, like, you know, and then I definitely add a good fat, like a scoop of almond butter or a peanut butter or something like that. And that fills you up for a few hours. I mean, it's great.

And anyone can have it. And I have it after working out, but even on a day that I'm not, I have that. And I don't feel guilty because I know I'm having good fats, protein, leafy greens, getting your antioxidants, all the goodies in there. Sometimes I add, like I switch it up.

I don't believe in having the exact same thing every day. Sometimes I add some spirulina. Sometimes I add some maca. Maca is very high antioxidantant it also boosts your testosterone so it's like a natural viagra for man i add that to your smoothie all the time i roofie you with maca like every day and you don't even know it oh i know it i knew something was going on and by the way i totally like the smoothie you and i are on the same page I do mine first thing in the morning. Should I be doing it after I work out?

Well, personally for me, my metabolism works best when I do fasted cardio. I actually work out on an empty stomach. Oh my God. That's so gnarly. I can't do that. It's really gnarly. I know. But for me, like.

I do the same thing. Yeah. I didn't have a. I will not lift weights on an empty stomach or i'll pass out okay maybe i do a lot of weight no i do i do pilates or cardio on an empty stomach and then i make sure i eat within 30 minutes of finishing my workout even if you ate before you should always eat within 30 minutes of your workout because you need to get a good high protein meal in so that you feed your muscles it doesn't matter if you're trying to build muscle or not you've got to feed your body

properly because your your body's breaking down muscle tissue when you're working out. And if I'm eating before working out, like if I know I'm going to go do a workout with weights, I have something light. Like I have, sometimes I'll just have like a spoonful of peanut butter and that's all I have. Or I'll have like a little oatmeal, something that's light that you're not going to feel sluggish.

Okay. That's a really really good tip a lot of people think they just need to go and hit the gym over and over and over and they'll get in shape but i would say speaking of my own experience i think diet's like what 80 it is you're right it's the 80 20 yeah yeah i want to know all about inflammation as you know i had jaw surgery two years ago i still deal with inflammation after i fly if i have a glass of red wine like if i blow up like my face just like is very sensitive and i've done um i do ice rolling

every morning i do a lot of cold water on my face i do lymphatic drainage i jump on a trampoline i bought a fucking small tiny trampoline that's in our foyer that's amazing that i jump on to get the drainage going but i just feel like sometimes i don't eat the right things to fight the inflammation so what are some tips have you ever done um like elimination so a lot of times when people come to me and they don't know what's going on i'll say like take something that you know you have all the time and take it out for a week and keep a diary and tell me how you feel a lot of times that's gluten for people or it could be a nut that they're allergic to um for you having all around inflammation i would say adding more anti-inflammatory foods you should be like what antioxidants. Okay, but what's a couple foods that are so anti-inflammatory?

Turmeric. Okay. Berries. Actually, nuts and seeds are very anti-inflammatory. A good... Since I know you eat fish, like a fatty fish like salmon is actually really good for inflammation. I find salmon so boring. I don't know why.

I wish I liked salmon. I just find it so boring. What about truffle pasta? No. I mean't know why. I wish I liked salmon. I just find it so boring. What about truffle pasta? I mean, I love truffle. I would say my two favorite foods in the entire world are truffles and chocolate. That sounds pretty good. And it's all about balance. I mean, if you keep telling yourself, no, I can't have that, and you restrict yourself

so much, you're probably going to binge on it. So I think have a little bit. If you can't stop thinking about pasta for a couple days, then just have some. If you really want pizza, just do it in a better way for yourself. No, we've talked about it on the show a lot, moderation. I think people go to the extremes and then it makes it difficult because you crash or you take it too far. And you can go the other way with it. You can be almost too healthy. You you can go the other way with it.

You could be almost too healthy. You've got to live your life a little bit. Because then if you have something, your body's like, what the hell is this? Like, okay, I go to the airport and if there's a sourdough bagel, I'm going to freaking eat it because I'm at the airport. Okay, what else am I going to eat? The salads at the airport are so boring. And it's like fake lettuce. It's like fake.

It's terrible. So I'm like, you know, I i'm just gonna eat a freaking bagel and live my life like if i the way i live my life every day personally at home if i live that way socially i would have no social life yeah you know because i'm kind of a freak on my own i'm like very you know my diet is a specific way because i know what makes me feel good but i still go out and eat french fries like i'm human i love it i love it that's balance i have two things that i really want to talk about yeah the first thing and i i want to try to pronounce this without your help okay are you veda ayurveda ayurveda yeah did i say it right ayurveda okay i don't want to practice that okay i talk a lot about this on the Skinny Confidential and things that you can do like, you know, valerian root or my favorite one. I can't even think of it right now.

It starts with ashwagandha. Am I saying that right? Yeah, I love that. I put that in my smoothie all the time for anxiety. I really feel like it has helped my anxiety. Yeah, it really helps. Is that crazy? No, I swear by it too.

Okay. So I want to talk about that a little bit and open up the conversation for people that don't know what that means okay so ayurveda is about 5 000 years old um it's basically the science of holistic healing it comes derived from india and um what it is it's about all what the way I work with it is because it's about bioindividuality. Everyone's body chemistry is different. So I recommend for people to take a dosha quiz. So your dosha, there's three different types that people can be. Most are more than one like i'm a vodacafa which means i run cold and people say oh it's because you're

a vegan you're malnourished yeah i don't think so vodacafa means like i run cold i need heat and i need that's why i love like spicy foods things like that someone who's okay so that's me too yeah so someone who's a pitta runs hot they need to cool down and a lot of times people can even be on like anti-inflammatory diet but if they're not addressing the ayurvedic approach as well they can still have problems so what's the first one again how do you say it again vada okay there's vada and then there's pitta and then what's the other one kapha and that one's just like in the middle yeah kaffa is like the middleman um and pitta i mean i i had a client who was a pitta and had gone through all these different healing methods before meeting me and i said you know i really think we should

check your dosha and find out what it is it's literally people check a dose you literally take a quiz online because it's a legit quiz online because if you don't want to pay to see an Ayurvedic practitioner, um, the reason like I work with everything with people, cause I believe like everyone needs their specific, you know, approach to how to heal themselves. So you can just take this quiz and it's about your personality, not just in your appearance, how you process, how your metabolism is, everything. If you like spicy food. Exactly.

Mine would be yes, yes, yes. For me, like a vata tends to have cold hands, cold feet, which is why I... I think I'm in the middle. What's the middle one? Pitta? I just grabbed this hand. Your hand's a little sweaty and palmy. No, I'm bone dry right now. I'm feeling good.

Okay, so they can take this quiz online and find that out. I'm going to send you the link so that they can take the quiz. My hands are freezing right now. Mine too. Lauren's a doucher. That's not one. That's not one? Okay, so what are some foods that are, I want to say this right.

Okay, Ayurvedic foods what are are you okay so there's many different herbs and spices that support it so when you find out what your dosha is a good thing to do is you can find herbs and spices to cook with supplements to take or teas to drink that can support it so that like i had a client who was a pitta and i said look i don't want you to feel like you can't live your life. So if you go out and you actually eat spicy food, drink this tea. When you drink this tea, it'll help cool you down. Just so that you know that you're prepared.

So that you can just feel, you want to feel good all the time, right? So I am a firm believer in dishes like kichari, which is a healing. It's sprouted mung bean and basmati rice dish but like who has time to make that like how do you even like here's my thing i don't even know what a mung bean is so so when when this is where this is the part where i start to get overwhelmed because i'm like i want to do these i need to get my dosha in order i need to mung bean i need to like i like i just i go into extreme fear mode because i'm gonna say okay i'm going to whole foods and i have to walk up to somebody like yo where are your mung beans and i don't know if that's even a thing to ask for and so this is where i start to get so why not

adding so you know what adding just adding some good herbs and spices that you can cook with like even what you saute your vegetables with like you can just be you say oh i'm gonna use hingvistok okay i know it sounds forward too that's a little overwhelming what about this what about something that's good oh saffron's great curry yeah turmeric ketchup not ketchup that is sick that is sick shit but so okay so all these different things like if you're okay seasonings dressings what is a very like what's a healthy dressing that someone could because for me i have i have trouble getting the vegetables down i could do broccoli and do kale but i need to have something to put on them to do it i need to trick my body

you know he wants a dressing so what i do is um to get people to like kale i like to make a nice nut dressing that's very creamy because you it sounds funny you massage the kale so you know you when you take like curly kale it's kind of hard and it's like bitter it's like sandpaper right but if you take like a creamy dressing you literally you you i mean i'm sort of safe you use clean hands you massage the dressing and you soften the lettuce a little bit. And once you get the dressing in there, it's so flavorful that anyone will love a kale salad. Okay, so instead of massaging Michael's neck every night like he makes me do, I'm going to start massaging my kale and putting my heart in that. Fabulous.

Yes. So how would they make a nutty dressing? Like what's a simple, simple recipe? A nutty dressing. A good nutty dressing. So what I do is I take raw cashews. I blend it with Dijon mustard. And then I zest a lemon.

And I put lemon zest in there. And then I add a little water and garlic, salt, pepper. You just blend that up. It's freaking delicious. That sounds amazing. See, I could do that. How many nuts should we do? Like a handful?

I'm not one to measure. Like what? Two handfuls? One handful? It depends. If you're doing like one serving size, I would say one handful. But I like that with kale because it's a tough lettuce. You can make a bunch of kale salad at once and then you can have it for a few days and it's not going to become a soggy salad.

A lot of times when I'm, because as a personal chef, sometimes I go to someone's house, I make them like five days worth of food at a time. I always separate out the salad so that they just throw the dressing and shake it up. Boom, it's done. But with something like a kale salad, you can pre-make that and it's going to be fresh for a few days. I am going to make you a nutty dressing and pour it down your throat. It sounds really phallic. Before we get into the deets about poo poo tea, I want to tell you guys one of my favorite things about summer. If you follow me on Snapchat, you know I am absolutely obsessed with Kopari. My two favorites

that they do are the coconut melt and the sheer oil. I love to rub the sheer oil all over my face before I put makeup on and use it as like a makeup primer. And then I'll even take it down to my chest and put it on my collar bones to make them really pop. I feel like it gives you the best boobie glow. I actually did a post on this. If you guys want to read about it, it's called boobie glow. Just Google boobie glow, the skinny confidential, and you can read about how I use Kopari exactly, but it's so lightweight and perfect and it has this incredible beach smell. My other favorite is Kopari's Coconut Melt. So basically this is the ultimate multitasker. It

does everything. This is like the ride or die that I bring when I'm traveling I just throw it in my carry-on or bring it in my purse and you can just like throw it on your arms you can use it on your legs you know how like if you're wearing a short skirt and like your spray tan's kind of like I don't know crusting off well you just put it over that and it just really pulls everything together so it looks like a nice beautiful sun-kissed tan. Another one of Kopari's standouts is their Coconut Body Glow. So basically this makes you shimmer all over. I'll put the Coconut Melt on my legs and then I'll put Kopari's Coconut Body Glow on top of that and it just gives you this really pretty supermodel shimmer. All of Kopari's products are free of sulfates, silicones, GMOs, and parabens, so it's very on brand for TSC readers.

Say aloha to your best skin and hair this summer with Kopari. Go to koparibeauty.com slash skinny to get 20% off your order. That's kopari, K-O-P-A-R-I beauty.com slash skinny for 20% off. Koparibeauty.com slash skinny. Okay, so I want to talk about something that you gave me the other night. It was actually like a gem of a tip. You told me about, Michael, cover your ears,

like a poo-poo tea. Yeah. Michael, I'm going to roof you with a poo-poo tea. And it's been a great show. Tell the audience about this poo-poo tea. All right, well, I'm a to roof you with a poo-poo tea. And it's been a great show. Tell the audience about this poo-poo tea. All right. Well, I'm a very open and honest person. So I'll say that some people have slower digestion than others.

And a lot of times when we travel, no matter how much water we drink, I drink, if I'm taking a five-hour flight, I'm drinking at least three liters of water in five hours. I get a lot down but i can see you can still you know you can be kind of backed up when you travel so i recommend that people take an aloe supplement but that can take like 12 hours to work but if you're feeling like crap you get to your destination you have an event to go to like what are you going to do there's certain teas that i will drink for emergency situations like that where you will wake up and go and you're you're going to be good to go so what's the tea called you should i can leave it i'll leave the link on my blog if you can't think of it right now but it was like a chinese tea that you showed me on amazon it's called ultra slim

and you know all those like fad model teas. Flat tummy tea. Yeah. Those give you cramping and bloating. They're not organic. It's just, it's terrible. The tea that we're talking about is like organic Chinese tea. It's organic Chinese tea. And it doesn't cause any cramping. I don't recommend it on a daily basis because it does dehydrate you. So what I would say is if you're going to like a pool party or you have an event to

go to and you're wearing a tight dress or you're just constipated or it's like called fourth of july tea like right yeah right so you just drink a cup i drink a cup like during like after dinner and then by the time you wake up in the morning like you're gonna clean out and feel great you need to make sure you drink a lot of water with that okay but um i drink it only if I have like a photo shoot or an event to go to. I feel like this could be very dangerous. Yeah, I'm going to make it for Michael and I'm going to put the natural Viagra in it. You got to practice with it.

My mom drank it as a morning tea. She's a real estate agent, so she was like at a lot of houses. Did she like drinking it every morning? No, she drank it in the morning. She was at work. Oh, she accidentally drank it one morning instead of at night. Yeah.

Okay, I'll repeat. This is my worst fear to get on a flight and have this tea. Then I would just, oh my God. I'd be like, land the plane, land the plane. I'm not going in that bathroom. Nobody wants to go number two on an airplane. Okay. Okay.

Okay. So everyone that's listening, give them a couple of tips that they can do at home like before you go a send-off we'll have you on the blog again yeah that's that anyone can do okay guys start making smoothies at least one a day make a great green smoothie um i think that it's good to alternate so having like oatmeal one day, a smoothie another day, maybe a side bowl another day, that's high in sugar. I would only recommend that once a week. But a green smoothie is essential because there's different ways you can make it healthy. I'm going to share with Lauren great things you can add to it that are healthy and can make it taste delicious

so that anyone can love their greens. I love it would say doing that also um adding more healthy snack foods is great so that you're not binging on the bad stuff like have some raw nuts in your bag have a good apple with some nut butter like little things that can help keep your metabolism up keep you going keep you energized i need something other than an apple i can't deal with apples textures. Like when Michael chews an apple in front of me, I want to strangle him. When Lauren is irritating me, I know that if I just pull out an apple and chew it, she can't stay. It's like her. She can't stand the texture.

I can't with that texture. Good to know. I will not eat apples. So what's something else I can eat other than apple? Veggie sticks. I love apples. Okay. I love a banana.

Carrot, celery, jicama. Bananas are great. Bananas make you fat. I mean, come on. Give me a break. And what about dates, too? I love a banana? Carrot, celery, jicama. Bananas are great. Bananas make you fat. I mean, come on, give me a break. And what about dates, too? I love dates. Dates are great. There's so much sugar, right?

Well, they're pretty low glycemic, but they're so high in fiber. Okay. It can actually cause a reversed effect because if you have too much fiber, you're bulking up your body too much. And your digestion can be really off. So I would recommend like if you're going to have dates, just have like a few at a time. They're delicious though. So like don't eat it out of the bag because I've made that mistake before and I felt really sick.

You know what I do with the date is I cut the date open and then I put raw almond butter in the date. That's amazing. And it's like so satisfying. Yeah, that's a great snack. Go on with your other tip. No, I recommend that. I got distracted with the texture of the apple. Oh no, no and it's like so satisfying yeah that's a great sorry go on with your other no i recommend that i got distracted with the texture oh no no it's fine and also um a lot of people you know there's it's great that we've cold pressed juices out there but i think

people should um consider the fact that it's like having a meal i wouldn't say like drinking a green juice with your meal it's like having two meals okay and this is my final question okay for someone like me like and if i want to figure out what issues i'm having or if i have any issues yeah what is i don't want to say that because there's multiple tests but what's like the one test that you would recommend to get like a full not like a checkup like to figure out what you could have what you what you don't have what's missing what what you need like what's something that someone can do that's cost effective where they can go and like figure out what you could have, what you don't have, what's missing, what you need. What's something that someone can do that's cost effective where they can go and figure out some things about themselves? There's actually a questionnaire that I send to my clients because I do free consultations.

And they share their health history with me as well. And then we go over what the issues are and how to move forward. And I also, what I do with clients and even with my friends, I send them a list of like key ingredients to have at home that you can just add to your diet so that if you're trying to change your life for the better, you don't want to have all this crazy information. You don't know what to do with it. I just say, Hey, here's some things you should have in your kitchen. Just go buy these things and you'll realize you have it around. You can just like throw it like, Oh, I'm just going to add some turmeric to this or i'm going to add i'm going to use stevie instead of you know chemical crap i'm going to use um you know a raw nut butter instead of like skippy you know just little things

that you can switch out because the more good things you add to your diet the less you're going to want the bad stuff all of a sudden you're going to start looking at billboard and say oh i don't want to eat that fast food because you just feel so good. Where can they find this test? Where can they find you? They can contact me and I can send it to them. I'm happy to do so. I'm Holistic Chef Nikki on Instagram.

My website's going to be up within a few weeks. And you have to spell Nikki because it's only one K. Yes. N-I-K-I. Yeah. So Holistic Chef Nikki on Instagram. Can they DM you? Yeah, they can DM me. And I'm Holistic Chef Nikki

at Gmail. They can email me too. Okay. And you'll send them the quiz that they can take. Yeah. I can send the dosha quiz. I can send the health questionnaire, things like that. I love it. Yeah. So we will have Nikki back on the blog too. Maybe you can make the Skinny Confidential readers like a grocery list. I would love to do that. Yeah, that would be amazing. Maybe you can make the skinny confidential readers like a grocery list. I would

love to do that. Yeah, that would be amazing. And you can include a lot of, are you Veda? Are you Veda? Are you Veda? Foods. Yeah. Because I'm really interested in learning more about that. I mean, I'm always trying to learn and research and connect. I mean, I obviously don't know everything, so it's really amazing. Neither do I. There's always more to learn. That's why I'm constantly continuing my education. There's new studies coming out every year, which is what makes my job fascinating for me. And I love what I do. And I just want to help people. Well, you're amazing at it.

You guys follow her at HolisticChefNikki on Instagram 1K. And we will have you on the blog. Thank you so much for being on with us. Thank you for having me. I love you guys. being on with us. Thank you for having me. I love you guys. Oh, we love you. Start of a new life for me. Yeah, I'm gonna put some maca in that tea.

Poo poo tea. If you guys want more health related podcast episodes, make sure you're joined in the secret Facebook group. You can tell us everything you want, what you like, what you don't like. Let us know. Also make sure you guys are subscribed and you've

rated and reviewed our podcast. You can find me on Snapchat at Lauren Everts and Michael at Michael Bostic. We will see you next week. Thank you for all the support as always. Thanks for listening to the Skinny Confidential, him and her, with Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic. Download new episodes every Tuesday at podcastone.com or subscribe now on the Podcast One app. who have roots and ties to theater. Who so far would you ask? Well, let me tell you. We have Rainn Wilson, Neil Patrick Harris, Josh Gad, Dana Delaney, Brian Cranston, David Copperfield, Matt Walsh, and so many more yet to come. It's called Geffen Playhouse Unscripted with me, John Horne. You can download it on the Podcast One app, or you can subscribe now on iTunes or at podcastone.com.