The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - #94: Dr. Mona Vand - Therapy, Relationship Stress, Plant Based Diets, Food Combining & Living Outside The Box

Episode Date: December 29, 2017

On this episode we sit down with Dr. Mona Vand to discuss the uses of therapy, how to navigate a stressful relationship, choosing a plant based diet, food combining and living outside the box.  To connect with Dr. Mona click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential 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

The following podcast is a Bostik Media production. Hey guys, if you've seen me working out on Instagram story and Snapchat with Kim Kelly, you know that we are putting a lot of effort towards the Skinny Confidential Body Guide. A new meal plan is coming in January and so are workouts. I am so excited to share it with you. To get the latest, all you have to do is go to members.theskinnyconfidential.com and use him and her at checkout for a 20% discount to all listeners. You guys can now find my full-blown meal plan. I wrote down everything I ate for two weeks and put it in this meal plan. And the

fitness guide is basically 27 minute workouts that you can do while watching Real Housewives. There's also a community of women that you can connect with on the platform and talk back and forth. It's really kind of the ideal health and wellness experience. And I'm so excited for January with Kim. You guys are going to love what we put together. So again, go to members.theskinnyconfidential.com and use code him and her for 20% off. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic.

And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the Skinny Confidential, Him and Her. Aha! Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. Today we have Dr. Mona Vand on the podcast. On this episode, we discuss stress and relationships, therapy, plant-based diets, living outside the box, food combining, and skincare routines.

For those of you who don't know us, I am Lauren Everett. I created the Skinny Confidential seven years ago while attending San Diego State University. I was bored as shit and wanted a place to connect with women everywhere. So I was in a sorority for five seconds and they told me it was $800 a semester. And I thought, screw that, I'll start my own online with women everywhere for free. And then the Skinny Confidential idea came into play. Seven years later, and it's a YouTube channel, podcast, community, and book. And I'm Michael Bostic. I'm an entrepreneur and business owner. I've developed and helped to develop multiple brands over the last 10 years. I thrive on operating businesses and helping other businesses grow, just like the Skinny Confidential. Wow, taking credit again.

All right. Well, some things never change. So we took a little break. Everybody's taking a little break. End of the year, holidays. Everyone kind of checks out. What was that joke you were telling me or that you read? It's like happy let's reconnect after the holidays week.

Yeah, it fucks me up, honestly, because you can't get anything done. And even if you want to get stuff done, you can only get your own stuff done. Like you can't, if you're working with somebody, you're partnered with somebody or you're collaborating with somebody, like everybody's checked out. We took a social media cleanse on Tuesday. I think Tuesday. Yeah. We just completely said that we were going to take a day off social, no Instagram stories, no Snapchats, no podcasts, no blog, no nothing. Nothing. Radio silence. Tell them what we did. We just stayed in bed watching Wes Anderson movies.

Which was so good. For those of you guys, I mean, I think a lot of people are fans of Wes Anderson, but if you haven't seen his stuff, you got to watch The Life Aquatic, Royal Tenenbaums, Grand Budapest Hotel. I feel like they need to start with Royal Tenenbaums like we did and then progress to the Grand Budapest Hotel, which is just all my dreams and thoughts and visions in one place. Moonrise Kingdom.

And then go to Life of Aquatic. No, the Life Aquatic. But that's actually right after the Royal Tenenbaums. So just go on IMDB and figure out the order. But anyways, love Wes Anderson. We literally sat in bed and stuffed our face with Postmates, Naked Cafe, What Up, Buckwheat Pancakes, and quesadillas. You were doing some weird burrito situation. And we laid there and ate watermelon jerky and watched Wes Anderson. And it was heaven. I didn't look at my phone.

I don't remember the last time we did something like that. So we got to slow down for a little bit, but don't worry. 2018 speeding back up. We have a lot of awesome guests coming in January for you guys. We have Jillian Michaels, Amanda Cerny, Kelly Levesque, who is a second time appearance, also known as Be Well by Kelly, Sex with Emily, for those of you pervs and sex freaks, and Dr. K to name a few. So we're excited. We have a lot coming down the pipeline. Yeah, there's a lot coming up. I'm also doing a lot of fun content for 2018. We just planned my content calendar for the Skinny Confidential. There's going to be so much beauty, wellness, and more real shit posts because that's what you guys seem to like. So I feel like before we get into this episode and our tips, we need to

talk about Christmas. Do we really need to talk about Christmas? You're such a scrooge. Let's just glaze over it. We just did the same thing every year. Everyone gets together with the family. The old usual. Somebody has a couple too many drinks. Mimi. And, you know, same old deal.

Mimi was the drunk this year. She was the town jester. Yeah, she was. I told her she can't mix champagne and tequila. We got a little too excited. Mimi and I were doing a couple of champagne moments. She maybe did one too many. And we were coming from Michael's parents,

going back to my parents. And she went up these stairs. We have these super tall stairs. They're like the tallest stairs in the entire world. I've fallen down them like a million times. But she went up to hold my dog Moose or my dad's dog and she was holding him. And all of a sudden, Michael and I were at the bottom of the stairs and she flung across.

She evil cuneivaled out of the house. She flung. I mean, she slingshotted out. Yeah. And I felt bad because I was relentlessly making fun of her the entire night and the following day. But the only reason being is that I fall down a lot and you guys never let it go. So I had to use this opportunity to get my revenge. But tell them how you fall down in the office. Cause I've never seen anything worse.

No, I just trip sometimes and it's not, it's not the best, but he trips over the dog, the dog carriage. Yeah. I'm not the best on my feet sometimes. So anyways, Mimi, let's get it together. Stumbles. And with that, let's get into the him and her tip. Lauren, do you want to go first? You want me to lead in? I'll go first because my tips about smells. Oh God. No, like good smells. Not my no deodorant smell. That's another story. I'm going to talk about smells that everyone likes. So lately I have really been playing up the whole holiday smell. I talk about this on my blog. So lately I have really been playing up the whole holiday smell. I talk about this on my blog. I feel like the word smell maybe isn't the right word. Maybe

scent. Okay, scent. You're grossing me out with smell. Holiday scents. So I want to tell you guys a few ways that I make my house smell really good. So every morning I diffuse oils in my oil diffuser. I have this oil crystal ball diffuser that I got at Whole Foods. People have asked me the brand and I just honestly randomly found it at Whole Foods. I've looked for it on Amazon for you guys, but I can't find it. So check it out if you're in Whole Foods. I love mixing tangerine and lemon in the morning. I'm just all about the citrus when I wake up. I want that little zing. All of my oils are through Young Living and you guys can Google the Skinny Confidential essential oils for info. I kind of break down why I like

each oil. I have a diffuser in the kitchen and in our room. So those are always going at all times. I think it creates kind of an ambiance. Along with this situation, I also have my holiday potpourri brewing on the stove. I actually did a full video on this on my YouTube channel, but just to give you a quick recap of the recipe, it's homemade cinnamon spice potpourri. This recipe is completely by my stepmom at Burlap and Crystal on Instagram. She is a genius with decorating houses, setting tables, holiday decor. And she told me about this and I have made it for the last five years. So I take spicy apple cider. I like Trader Joe's the one gallon. I do one gala apple,

two oranges, eight cinnamon sticks, six whole nutmegs, a dash of cloves and pumpkin pie spice. If that's overwhelming, again, like I said, you can go to the Skinny Confidential Potpourri and it'll give you the whole recipe. And what I do is I just throw it into a small pot on the stove. And when people are home, I turn on the stove and leave it on the lowest simmer. Don't forget to turn it off though when you leave. I just like leave this on the stove and it lets out this beautiful scent like a cartoon of holiday goodness. Another thing that I've been doing

and I've talked about this on the episode with Kim Kelly is I've been buying eucalyptus plants. So you can put them with your flowers and just put them, I guess, in a vase by themselves or you can even put them in your shower for an herb shower. You can hang it kind of on your, uh, what's that thing called, honey, the shower, the shower head. Yeah. Okay. You can hang it on your shower head and you get, like I said, this herb shower. It's amazing. And eucalyptus is going to wake you up. So in the morning, it's like lovely.

It sounds like a lot, but it's actually super easy to do. And if you don't want to do that, you can always just buy eucalyptus spray and spray it in the shower. And I'm telling you, it's so invigorating. And then of course, to wind down the night, I do essential oils at night. Like I said, I have a diffuser in our room I turn it on every night Michael can vouch for me and I like to do a lot of lavender at night because it's calming I feel like that's very basic bitch but you know that's just what I love and then I also have this spray it's by this company she's a TSC reader. It's Kpure. So on Instagram, it's at K-P-U-R-E. And she has this settle down spray that's a medley of essential oils. And I spray it all over the dogs, all over

my pillowcase, all over my acupressure pillow. And I don't know what it does, but it puts you to sleep. So that is how I've been incorporating smells into my home during the holidays I would love to hear your tips and tricks on this leave them on my latest Instagram or let me know on Twitter sense what did I say smells oh god you're so weird with the smells okay what's your tip so my tip is not so much of a tip as it is a thought this week we're going into the new year and I was I was just thinking to myself, okay, what can my tip be this week? But then I said, okay, no tip, kind of a tip, but mostly a thought. So for those of you that have listened to this show for a while, you know that I've always been a fan of launching fast, whether it's launching your business, your blog, your brand,

your podcast, whatever it is, launch quickly and then adjust along the way. When we launched Jetbed, my business that makes beds for corporate and private aircraft back in 2008, there were so many flaws with our initial products. There were customers beating down the doors. People were complaining in the beginning because the product wasn't fully up to par. And that was a good thing. It ended up being a really good thing and probably saving the company because we needed that feedback from the customer to adjust our product and perfect it so that it could accommodate the needs of all the customers that we service now. And if we didn't have that data in the beginning and just tried to launch a perfect product from the beginning, we probably would have never succeeded.

So we launched quickly. We got ahead of the market. We took customer feedback. And now today we're the largest betting company for private and commercial aviation in the world, which is pretty incredible. Same thing with this podcast. If you go back and listen to the early episodes, you will hear the sound quality is not completely up to par. Our speech was off. There were interruptions. The format was off. We listened to all that feedback from everyone who wrote in and emailed and worked hard to adjust and improve

along the way. We still do, but it's still a constant work in progress. Learned vlog, same thing. It's been through so many changes and renditions to bring it to where it is today. How many times do you think you've changed it and adjusted along the way? I mean, I refine it every single day, but as far as revisions, I think there's been five. Yeah, exactly. So when you're launching anything or working on yourself, stop waiting for perfection because I hate to break it to you. It's never coming. What? It doesn't exist. What? It doesn't exist unless you're my wife. Your idea of perfection is not mine and mine is not yours.

So if you're looking for something, it will never be. So you're saying I'm perfect. You're perfect, but baby, you're the only thing in the world that's perfect. Brownie points. Instead, what I suggest is working towards improvement, work towards constant and steady progression. That's where true accomplishment and happiness lies. With constant and steady progression, day by day, little by little. When you chase perfection, you do not have the ability to ever be satisfied or happy because it doesn't exist.

It's like chasing the end of a rainbow. So launch fast, listen to feedback without taking too much offense. Take that feedback and make adjustments where you feel adjustments need to be made and work every day to improve yourself, your brand, your business, your blog, your podcast, whatever it is. People appreciate the journey and respect the grind. They do not respect perfection. And that's my tip. Okay, honey, good tip. Thanks. So as a pharmacist, Dr. Mona Vann understands wellness at a chemical level. Most pharmacists believe in filling prescriptions and she believes in a healthy lifestyle. Wellness stems from diet, exercise, and mindset.

Mona teaches her health methods to over 100,000 people on a daily basis and regularly appears on the media. Mona has been featured on NBC, The Telegraph, The Doctors, and more. You can tell Dr. Mona wants the best for her community and has a genuine passion for wellness and beauty. You guys will see this in this interview. She is so passionate and cool, and her skin is glowing. She's all about smart decisions, and I personally love her methodology. So welcome to the show, Dr. Mona Vand. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her.

Okay, Mona. So you're so disciplined and creative, I feel, by watching your Snapchats and your Instagram when it comes to food. Have you always been like this? So I don't even like to use the word discipline because it's so easy. And when you kind of teach yourself how to like, like the right foods and like do it for the right reason, you get into this flow. Like, I swear I'm never deprived. Like, of course, sometimes like if I smell French fries, I want them, but I'll go home and like bake some sweet potato fries, like in the oven with like some sea salt and I'll get that fix. So it's never like a discipline thing. But as far as like self-discipline on a whole, I really think I got that from college because before, like when I was in pharmacy school, I literally had a fear that I was going to fail out because if you fail out, you like stay back an entire year. And like, so I think I learned how to

be like really rigorous and self-discipline then. And talk to me about pharmacy school. Like we got to go back and discuss this whole entire journey. So I didn't know it. Well, actually, when I was in high school, I wanted to be a news anchor. But I'm Persian and Persian parents are very like, nope, doctor, lawyer, like you pick one. So I was like, all right, I like science. So I decided to try pharmacy school. I had no idea like what being a pharmacist would be like.

But really, my parents are like traditional and they're like, this would be a great job for a woman. Like you have good hours, you know, when you have a baby. So I just decided to go for it. So I went into like a direct six year program, like when I was 18. So I didn't get a bachelor's or anything. It was just like six years straight to your doctorate. And I loved what I was learning. Like you would probably love it too. Like you're learning about like, you know, different foods, how they affect your body, like medication, like how they're metabolized, like how, you know, just all these really cool things. Um, one of the biggest things too, is when you're, when you're learning how to

actually treat something, the first thing you're supposed to do is like lifestyle modification, diet changes, exercise. You're never just supposed to like put someone on medicine. So I loved what I was learning and I was like ready to graduate. Like my dad lives in LA. So I knew I'd come out here and like start my life. So I passed my boards, was like excited. And then I started working and like literally day one of my job was like, had this moment of like freak out where I hated it. I didn't want to do it. I went home crying and I was like, this can't be my life like forever. Especially because for people who don't live in LA, you drive around and you see people just like having lunch all day or like laying by a pool. And I was like, what am I doing wrong? Like I studied so hard. These people don't even seem like they're working. So a lot of them aren't, a lot of them aren't, a lot of them aren't, but

also a lot of them, you know, one thing about this city is like, even though it's enjoyable, a lot of people are hustling. So I learned that you could, I was like, okay, what can I do creatively to like, actually, and you know, enjoy my life. So that's when I started like figuring out what else to do. Basically, I spent six years in like $200,000 in student loans, getting this degree. And then I was like, but I don't want to do this. So I had to have clarity. Yeah. Now what do I do? So how did you make the transition from being in the pharmacy to doing what you're doing now? So, um, I think, you know, this is really funny because now I'm like so entrepreneurial and like my career is such a big part of my life. Um, but

back then I didn't have this side of me yet. Um, I guess I hadn't like explored that yet. And I think some people, you don't even realize the side of you that you have, if you haven't had something like push you to that level yet. So I got into this relationship that I thought like was going to be like the guy I married. I was like 27 and it was like perfect on paper. Like, you know, everything you'd think you want, like, you know, Harvard business school, like great. Of course there is one of those relationships I'm sure girls can relate to where you're like, not yourself. You feel like you have to be a certain way or you're like walking on eggshells or perfect. So it was so bad. Like I lost weight,

like not, you know, when you're like that stressed that you lose weight, there's like two levels of stress. There's one where you like overeat and you're like munching, but when it's like true stress or like upset, you like just don't eat anything. I lose weight, Michael, and I should get divorced before bikini season. Maybe that's why I'm never hungry. I never really analyze that. Lauren gets on this big kick that I'm not attached to food. Maybe it's just that I'm so stressed all the time that I can't stomach anything. True distress will make you lose your appetite and you don't even realize you've lost it. You just can't. So I was just in this really bad place, but you know, while I was in the relationship, I just assumed like once we got married and I had

a kid, like I wouldn't really have to work as much. I'd probably be home. So that's the truth. I don't even really like admitting that. But that's what I thought. So towards the end of the relationship, I decided to go see this therapist. This is a woman in L.A. And I was like and I went to her and I'd never been to a therapist.

And she was like, how can I help you? And I was like, you know, I'm in this relationship. Like I don't know what to do. And I remember her being like, well, I don't think you should break up yet. Like, you're not ready. I want to help you get strong first and let's figure out if it can work. So I was like, okay. So I went home two days later and just like broke up with him. And I think I did it as like a test, but once I did, I just did it like cold turkey and then continued seeing her. And she said something to me that was like, probably one of

the most important things anyone's ever said to me. She was like, you know, he's not the right guy for you, but it's your fault too, because you're boring. And I was like, I'm not boring. Like I'm funny. Like I'm like, I have friends and she's like, no, but you're not even interested in your own life. Like you're a pharmacist. So what? Like, is that interesting to you? Like you're just waiting for someone else to come make your life interesting. You know, he goes to work, like you go to work and come home and like, what is that even fun for you? Like, you're just relying on someone else. So, and I was like, well, what am I supposed to do? Like, I just spent like six years in school and I have this career and she's like, I don't know, figure it out, like do something. So that was like a month or two. And

then that's when I was like, blogging was like new. And I was always so obsessed with like skincare and just health and beauty. And I was like, maybe I can do this. And are you plant-based at this time? Wasn't plant-based. Yeah. I was like basically eating sushi and cheese, but nothing else, which is like how everyone who wants to go plant-based, those are the two things they can't give up is like sushi and cheese. But I was still really healthy at that point, just hadn't gone plant-based. So then I started like figuring out, you know, how I could maybe start a blog or like, you know, just put my, put myself out there and like, just create leverage, I guess. That's how it started.

So how did you get into becoming fully plant-based from there? So actually that's really interesting. My, um, my brother, like a year or so after that was going to a cardiologist. He was having these like heart palpitations. And they worked with one doctor, wanted him to like get this procedure done. He went to this one doctor who was like, you're just stressed. I want you to lose 20 pounds and go vegan and come back to me in like two months. And then I was like, told my whole family that we all had to go vegan to be supportive.

I was like, we can't all sit at a dinner table and like he can't eat anything that's rude. So I did it and we all did it, but I'm the only one who actually stuck with it. But that's kind of what gave me that push. And then I just like never went back. Did your brother lose 20 pounds and go back? He just actually did now, but this was like four or five years ago. So now he lost it, but he didn't. And did he cure everything that was going on by losing weight? He, you know, he ended up like not actually going vegan. He didn't lose the weight. He got the procedure done. It's still, the palpitations didn't go away, but now he's like

lost the weight. He eats much healthier and he's doing a lot better. So that's amazing. Yeah. Can we go back a little bit? And I don't want to get too personal or go into your, your therapy sessions, but just talking about therapy in general, when you were doing it, I've, I've been thinking about it, not for any other reason, but I was thinking maybe it'd be good for me at some point. When you were doing it, were you going more than once a week? Were you going once a month? Were you going twice a week? Like what did you find to be the best balance to get actual value from that therapist? You know, I, first of all, would recommend therapy to anyone. It's like, I still see her five years later. She's like an amazing woman. And now I almost call her a life coach because

when something important is going on in my life, I go see her at the time. I was like, so this was like a really bad breakup. I'm sure like everyone's had, I was like on the couch for two months, like really depressed. Like thought this was like the love of my life. Um, and the thing about her is like, she would not let me go back. You know, she was just like, until he calls you and gives you good enough reason to go back, like, you know, just gave you that self-esteem that like a woman needs that sometimes gets knocked down when you're in a terrible relationship so um at that time there was like one I was going like every week or two but one week I called her three times that week really expensive so it's a phone it's a phone thing or it's a in person but like I was just if I had like a really bad day and like or so let's say

I think he sent me an email and I didn't know how to react to it. Like I'd call her. The thing is like when you find the right person, they're so committed to you. And then, I mean, it's almost like they're part of it. Like she's gotten like even a little emotional in some sessions. Um, and I remember her telling me, it was actually really cool. She said this thing where like, you know, men get over things really quickly, but then it hits them later. Whereas a woman, it takes like eight, six to eight weeks to like, it's actually like detoxing oxytocin. It's like a chemical thing you have to get out. So you have to like get rid of all this stuff. And then literally seven and a half weeks later, I was like, felt better. It was the craziest thing. I swear to God. I've seen my friends break up with

girls and they're like, yeah, I'm so done. And they go run around and then like, you just see them like crumble later and they're like crying. I'm like, what's going on with you guys? I'm like, you were just like, that's your future. No, no, no. Well, I think that I like,

I like the idea of therapy because I think, you know, the busier you get in life and especially when you add a career into the mix and you're an entrepreneur working at a business, you're doing things on such a fast, rapid base all the time. And it's hard to stop and be like, okay, wait,

what do I actually think of all this? You're kind of just making decisions all day long and moving forward at a really rapid pace. And you don't have time to sit back and be like, wait a minute, why am I making these decisions? Why am I doing this? So I think for me, I'm thinking that might be beneficial because I need to sit down and extract all of the different thoughts that are going through my head and analyze what they all mean. Honestly, if you would have met me five years ago, I am a different person. Like I would have never, like, it's, it's so weird. People used to tell me, like, I always kind of had this, like,

like sadness. Like I wasn't, didn't, it wasn't depressed, but like, I just kind of had this like mellow sadness. I wasn't like full of life and energy and like happy. And we just like really from that hit the breakup with him was the best thing that ever happened. Cause it forced me to like figure it out. But we go through, we went through everything. Like, you know, what's been troubling me? What am I holding onto? Like, how do I, and what I really love is I'm, I'm very proactive. Like I'll say to her, I don't really like how I react to this. And it's like in different situations in life, like let's fix it. And we'll like work through it and go through it. But I would recommend it if you could. You seem like somebody that when something happens, you want to solve

that problem right away. Always. That's how I am. Yeah. And you know what? I do definitely right away. And now people will always say to me like, well, you're so like strong and like confident. And it's so crazy to hear that. Cause I was, I was like super weak before, like very emotional. So for someone to say that is like really eyeopening. I mean, I think it's practice being confident and being strong and being, um, you know, knowing what you want and doing you, it's all practice and reapplying those practices every single day. Understanding certain things aren't, you're not able to fix certain things the way you want them to be fixed all the time. Oh, losing, like knowing that you can't have control

over everything. That's a big thing. Yeah. It sounds like with your parents, they put you in a box and told you that you had to kind of stay in that box. And when you were in that box, you maybe, it sounds like you felt sad. And then the second you were able to break through that and do you and do it on your own terms, you felt almost liberated. Yeah. And you know, like my parents, I had a very weird upbringing. Like my, they divorced when I was like two, my dad and brother moved to LA. I was in New York with my mom. So I was like separated from my brother. Like, I think there was a lot of, you know, there's just things that everyone goes through like in their past. But, um, I remember my mom, I love her. She has good intentions. Remember her saying like, Mona, no one likes their job. Like that's just

the reality of life where she goes, so just do something that's going to like make you money. And like, that's, what's important. So that's why I was like, okay, so I'll work at a pharmacy. I'll make like 130,000 a year and that'll be great. But clearly like quality of life. I mean, even when I started working in a pharmacy, I kept taking pay cut after pay cut for a job environment that was better because like quality of life is everything. Yes. It's everything. I totally agree with you. Yeah. So now that you're doing what you want with your blog and your Instagram and your social media, what is the difference in your life? Oh my God. Like I'm just so happy now. Like even, even like the whole like health path that I went on and like going plant-based, like there's just

something about taking such good care of yourself. That's like, it's really like self-love and self-respect. And I think some people can call it vanity, whatever way you want to look at it. I always tell people it's the right choice. Like if you want to look hotter, it's the right thing to do. If you want to live longer, it's the right thing to do. If you want to like love yourself more and care about yourself more, it's the right thing to do. And I think all of that kind of took into play. But just like knowing you're waking up doing something you love every day.

I mean, I even like went from having my own place to like renting a room out of my friend renting a room out of my friend's apartment for like a year or two to like, even that was still better. You've had a journey. I've had a journey. Like it still was better than like going into that pharmacy. Well, I think like the biggest overall like arching theme here is like, yes, if you want to take care of yourself, that's obviously great, dude. But there's a lot of people that, you know, there's a lot of people that live really fast and really hard. And if that's what makes them happy, they can do that as well. I think the main point here is just not telling people that they have to stay in a box or in a, in a line. They can basically live life on their terms, however they want. And you don't want to live for your parents or your sister or your boyfriend.

I hear so many young people like, well, I have this great job and I'm making this amount of money, but I hate my job. It's like, listen, you could go and take another job or another career path that makes you less, but it makes you extremely happy. Like at the end of the day, the monetary gain is not ever going to make you happy. Of course not. It's never like, no matter how much you make, that's not what's going to be the driving principle of happiness in your life. You need to find something that you like to do every day. And if that means you take a pay cut or maybe that industry doesn't have as much, you're better off doing that because you're going to enjoy it more than making the extra money for something that you hate. I want to talk about self-care. What are

a couple tips that the audience can do at home that maybe you do that are things that just have to do with wellness and taking care of yourself? Like sometimes the littlest things can just make you feel like a million bucks. Like even if you're like, let's say you're like really busy, stressed out. I actually remember when I was in school and I had no time to even like get out of sweatpants sometimes. This is especially good for new moms who like stay at home all the time and like, don't feel like they need to change. Like literally taking a really hot shower, like washing your hair, putting in a hair mask, shaving your legs and putting on lotion. Like just that alone, even now talking

about it, I'm like, Ooh, it sounds so nice. I know. I'm like, I want to do that tonight. Right. Just, you know, not just like running out of the shower, slapping it on, like, just take those like 120 seconds and like, do it for yourself. Like even my skincare routine morning and night is like therapeutic. I can't wait to talk about your skincare. You know, like I think everything should just, just think about it as like a way to care for yourself. Like, and it shouldn't just be something you go through the motions because when you actually enjoy it and like do it for yourself, like you'll just get more benefit out of it. What about eating or drinking? Is there anything that you do in the morning or at night? That's just something that you do that has to do with wellness. I think like routines really big

for me. And I think keeps you, um um, it doesn't have to be like so rigorous I think some people get stressed when they have to like stay on the same schedule But some kind of routine just keeps you in balance and it kind of like it makes it easier than like trying to figure out What to do every day? so one tip I always give people because I always say like When you're sleeping your body's in a natural state of detox because if you think about it's like eight hours or six hours Whatever that you're not breathing any pollution, like you're not eating anything, like you're just resting. And most

people don't have a fast like that, like that long. So when you wake up, the first thing you put into your body is so important because your body, it's almost like this machine that's like stopped working for a little bit and kind of like allowed itself to clean out. So now it's like ready to absorb anything you put into it. So if you wake up and have like bacon or like a bagel with cream cheese, even if you're not plant-based, like think about the, like, that's, is that the first thing you want to like put into your bloodstream and like, what's going to get absorbed? Or like a hazelnut latte with 800 grams of sugar. Exactly. This is not the first thing. I hope that wasn't the first thing you had today. What was the first thing? I drank a bunch of water. And then what? Then I had this. Oh, that's all you've had all day?

I knew that I was like, I saw Lauren's bright blue eyes like swing over in my like laser beams right now. That's all you've had all day. Listen, let's, let's not use me as the case study. We do that enough. So would you recommend, I've heard a lot of people say, and this is what I do. I do water with lemon. The first thing I, when the first thing I do when I get up is I drink water and lemon because I heard from Cameron Diaz and this is like really stuck

with me that you're like a flower when you wake up and you want to water yourself. It sounds weird and like sexual. I'm going to give her that because I love Cameron Diaz, but, and I agree that that's the first thing you should have because it's really alkaline and it's really going to like set your body. We always want to be alkaline. Um, that's the first thing you should have because it's really alkaline and it's really going to like set your body. We always want to be alkaline. That's the first thing. But I would say after that, like any kind of like green juice or green smoothie is like the best thing. Even if like a lot of people will say, well, that's not going to keep me full.

Totally fine. Just have that first and have something right after. Okay. So what do you do? You wake up, you have your water and lemon, you do a green smoothie and then what? But the green smoothie too, I feel like I need to give this tip because. Yeah. Give us the whole rundown of what's in the green smoothie. Well, cause everyone's like rushing in the morning. They don't have time to like wash the kale and the spinach and like measure things. So like I

take little sandwich bags and I pre-measure them either like three nights before or like the night before and it's all in there. So all I have to do is literally just like pop it into the blender. So it's kale, spinach, coconut water, banana, and like apple and lemon. Easy. And you put it in a bag. So you just pour the bag in the blender. Literally pour it in there. It's so easy. And I think a lot of people think you have to use some kind of like milk-based, like almond milk. You don't have, water or coconut water is amazing. Like what coconut water do you like? I like, I mean, my favorite one is Harmless. That one's a little more expensive. It's like $800 for one set but I mean it's really good it's really good to drink in a smoothie you can get

a cheaper one because you don't the taste isn't like as strong so it's okay coconut water is still good it's hydrating okay so you do your green juice and then what then um usually like an hour later I'll have like a batch that I already made of like I do quinoa oats instead of like oatmeal so I like it because it has a little more protein. Um, it's a little more substantial. So you literally cook it the exact same way you would oatmeal. Like, I think it's like the measures like one to three and I make them chocolatey. It's the best thing in the world. It's basically like having chocolate oatmeal in the morning. So I do like, I boil quinoa and then I'll add cacao powder, like a little bit of coconut milk, a little bit of cinnamon. And it's literally like gooey chocolatey oatmeal. That sounds amazing. It is so good. Are you taking notes? Because I'm

not getting any of this stuff in the morning. You need to get rid of your hazelnut latte. Get your sandwich bags out. Get your sandwich bags out. First things first. First things first. Cacao, can you speak on the benefits? Because I know there's tons, just if the audience doesn't know. Okay. Cacao is something if you haven't had, you need to have. It's first of all, one of the highest antioxidant foods that exists on the planet. So it's basically the true form of chocolate. It's like the cacao plant. So it's what chocolate comes from. Chocolate naturally is vegan. So there's, you know, that's where it's just like a plant. And on its own, if you try this powder, it's super bitter. So you have to sweeten it with something. But when you throw it into like a smoothie with a banana, like that banana acts as a sweetener. If you throw it into oatmeal with

like a little bit of like stevia or cinnamon or like a dash of maple syrup or something that will act as a sweetener. That's a great tip. It's amazing. It's so good. I mean, I feel like there's so many things you could, you could make like nice cream with it. Nice cream is like my go-to. Okay. Tell us how you make it. You guys, all you have to do is take a frozen banana and some cacao and like a little bit of almond milk and blend it and you will have chocolate ice cream. And you put it in the freezer? You don't have to, like I eat it right away, but if you want that like really frozen ice cream, you can put it in the freezer and like save it and have it later. But I usually eat it right away. Okay. I'm going to text you tomorrow so you can send me the brand you use and we'll put it in the show notes for the cacao. Oh, good idea.

Cause I'm sure there's 800 million brands. This is also like for your kids. I always try to like give little tips. It's almost like you're telling them they can have chocolate ice cream for breakfast and it's literally an amazing smoothie, but they think it's ice cream. I love that. Do you have any like little tips like this for snacks that you can speak on? I mean, is there like any little tricks we can do? So avocados, if you see me, I like literally have an avocado in my purse at all times. Like it's just with me. I already ate it today. You certainly don't have an avocado in your purse, Michael. It sounds weird, but it's really, especially when you're traveling. Like if you can't.

No, I love it. I'm obsessed with it. If you can't find anything healthy at the airport, like taking a really boring salad and like throwing an avocado on there will make all the difference. Sometimes I'll just slice it in half and like dip crackers in it. It sounds amazing. It's like guacamole, but you don't have to do anything. Please don't tell her this because she's going to literally carry a bag of avocados, but

it's going to be me carrying it to the airport. It's super discreet. You can put it in your man purse. I saw that video. You do have a man purse. The last thing I need to be doing right now is carrying like five avocados in a bag because we have to travel and I know she's going to throw them. I have my Gigi crackers. I have my chia seeds. Oh my God. Gigi crackers and an avocado is like the best airplane snack. Yeah. And it fills you

up. So don't be so judgy when you're asking me for one. I do like avocado. Okay. So you do an avocado in your purse. What else? What are little tips and tricks that the audience can do at home? Um, I always have grab and go fruit. Like when it's like Clementine's like apples, bananas, things that I can like grab out the door is like an easy one. Um, I'm a huge fan of like raw, like raw snacks. So like any health food store, you can find like little raw, like bites, like goji bites. Um, this is something you can even make at home. Like literally Google any recipe, like, you know, almond butter, oat bites. You can like make your own. It's like three ingredients. It tastes kind of like a cookie. It's oats, almond butter, oats, almond butter, coconut flakes, and honey. Amazing. And you cook it? No, no bake. You literally just roll it up,

put it in the fridge. Like there's so many variations you can do. And I mean, it's still sweet. Like you add some kind of like sweetener, like honey, but it's so much better than like a granola bar. And you know, some people will ask like, you know, it's still sweet. And like, you could even add chocolate chips. Like it's way better to know what you're putting into your body, like versus like buying something that's been overly processed. And like, you know, you probably don't understand some of the ingredients and it's way less expensive and those you can freeze and keep in your freezer for like months. That's perfect. And just pop them out into the fridge.

I have looked at your Instagram and I've noticed that you talk a lot about how people, I don't know if they give you shit, but it seems like it's kind of like a thing. They talk about how fruit has tons of sugar and you can't deal with that. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Because I saw it all over your Instagram. I did do a deal with that. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? Cause I saw it all over your Instagram. I did do a post on that. So people are so scared of bananas and I think it's so funny because like, yes, the banana has sugar, but the same people are also like eating protein bars. I have to do a pause for one second, like on air. Um, remember when you were drinking,

or when you were eating a banana and your sister was drinking a stone IPA? Oh my God. Yeah. I don't want to put her on the spot, but she basically yelled at me for eating a banana and she was like sucking down an IPA. And I'm like, what do you, I'm like, I think the banana is probably better than the IPA, right? I think so. Right. Like, I mean, people forget like, sorry, God, no, no. I mean, that's a perfect example. It's just wine. It just shows you like what, what's the kind of put out there. Like, you know, that's a perfect example. It's just wine. It just shows you like what, what's the kind of put out there. Like, you know, whenever there's like an article or something like almost like our people are so obsessed with protein where it has to be like the biggest thing. Like you don't have to be scared of bananas. Like the oatmeal you're buying at Starbucks

probably has more sugar or like, you know, the bacon egg sandwich you're getting somewhere, or even like the protein bar that has protein in it. Like it's at least 15 to 20 grams of sugar. So don't be scared of fruit. So you're into fruit at every meal. Go for it. Fruit. So I do have a thing where I only say fruit in the morning. Okay. Food combining is something that I, I practice. And I think a lot of people get really overwhelmed with food combining. I'm overwhelmed. You have to, you have to break it down. I used to be too. All it, all basically like to make it really simple, just separate major food groups. Like when you have like starches and proteins and fruit, just separate those three. So the easiest way to do it is to have fruit in the morning and then have like starchy things like

rice, bread, pastas at lunch and then have like your protein at dinner. So if you picture your GI tract, like in your stomach, like it's almost like a train track. So Melissa talked about, did she do this too? Tell us, because I want you to like recap. Like if, if, you know, if one's going, like you can't pass the other. So basically when one food's getting digested, another food has to wait for that to get digested before it can like actually get absorbed. So you have to eat things that are absorbed really quickly first and digested quickly first, and then eat the things that are digested slowly later got it so you could start with like fruit and greens in the morning like a smoothie and then you could move to you know i like eggs a lot eggs are protein so have that for dinner have that for dinner yeah exactly i have it for lunch usually

if you listen if you have it for lunch and you can wait three or four hours, I don't like to give people those hours because that's super overwhelming until you've like really done it for a long time. So the easiest way to do it would even be to have like all starches one day and all proteins the next day or do starches first. But just know the order goes fruit, takes about 20 minutes to digest, then you can have anything else. Then starches take like two to three hours and proteins take like four hours. Good. So let's do this because for someone like me, who's a novice, I try to study up a little bit on this kind of stuff, but what do you see as the biggest problems or biggest

mistakes people make with their diet? Like, or the biggest misconceptions, right? Where you're saying people say, this is part of my diet. I do this all the time. And you're like, that's a big problem or it's a mistake, or you wouldn't recommend it it. Like where would you say the big no's are? I think the biggest no or biggest problem is people who try to do these like really, really fast detoxes or try to get something done really quickly. Because if you, like, of course, if you starve yourself and only have like juice and lemon water for three days, you're going to lose weight. But are you going to do that your whole life? Like that's never going to be sustainable. Not unless you're really stressed. Exactly. It'll just eventually disappear. That's a common theme between all the people that we have on our podcast that talk about weight loss is they say these quick, you know, juice cleanse and it gets

skinny fast. Like you're not going to do it for the rest of your life. So it's obviously all about lifestyle. I want you to speak on lifestyle and how you really practice what you preach and, and what you do every day and your routine and like all of that, like give us all the details. So I feel like I, and I told you, and it wasn't like this before, you know, my last year of pharmacy school, I had like a little more time to breathe. I was like on rotations and I, I, that's when I decided to like join a gym and I've always been really into fruit. Like Persians just eat a lot of fruit growing up. So it's always been something I've liked, but I definitely didn't eat healthy. I would eat like, so once I started working out, I remember saying to myself, like, I always like, didn't like my midsection area. Like I was like

pretty thin, but like not a hundred percent comfortable. And I was like, okay, it's September joining a gym. My goal is to like, look how I want to look by June. And I gave myself literally, it's like nine months. And I think that was like the smartest thing I ever did because I didn't get frustrated. Like throughout the whole time I started in that. And once I like found something I like to do, I used to hate going to the gym. Like the thought of it just made me cringe. I hated working out. But once I joined this gym, what I liked was I was taking these like cardio kickboxing classes. And I think that was the first time I did something like that fun and like a group setting.

And I was like hooked. And literally I've never gone back like to this day. Like I just love finding something that just gets my adrenaline going. Like someone like Melissa, she loves like really slow, like controlled movements. And we actually talk about this, like totally fine. We like completely different things, but you have to find something that like speaks to you or that you can like relate with because then you're never going to want to do it. Like the biggest thing I say is like it shouldn't be a chore. Like I love the way I live. Like there's nothing hard about it.

Like I enjoy it. Like, you know, when you work out, like when you get that high after working out, which I used to hear people say and roll my eyes so hard because it sounded like, like the endorphins and I never understood it, but it's like, you feel strong, especially for women. I think it's like a moment where you just feel like you're doing something for you and it almost makes you feel like strong and powerful. And I just like love that feeling. Absolutely. I mean, I get clarity. That's why this morning I was like all frazzled in the morning she woke up like a like an angry cat like just like screeching and scratching literally I looked at him and I said move out of the doorway I'm going to the gym and I just went and did Pilates

and it changes your whole entire mood completely you just like take a minute it's it's like you have to deploy um logic over emotion and I can do that when I go to the gym. Wait, wait, wait. What? I'm going to replay that clip over and I'm going to edit that into this episode and replay it over and over and over and over. No, it gives you clarity. Like you can see everything clearly after the gym.

So maybe I shouldn't talk to you in the morning until after the gym. Is there anything that you do at night that is a routine? Is like, tell me about when you get home and you turn work off. Do you, do you get off your phone? Or do you turn it off? Yeah. Good point. So for anyone who's listening who has their own business or has something like, I actually,

I really don't turn it off much. And I think it's frowned upon, but to me, like, I don't think it's a bad thing. I care about it so much that it's like a hobby to me. You also just said you love the way you live and you love your life. So I feel the same way. It's like, I don't want to turn it off. Right. That's, I mean, what I'm doing for my career, my job is like what I actually love to do.

And it's honestly just such a blessing. And I hope that like everyone can at least like just even find the courage to explore that and figure it out because money is important, but you loving what you do is more important like and if you love what you do like you'll figure it out so I don't I tend not to turn it off but my relaxing is like when I get home I really need it like quiet for a little bit like I'm the type of person I need like quiet in the house like at some point so it's always like a candle I'm usually like on my couch curled up with like a blanket laptop that's like my coziest setting ever is like my laptop and a blanket in my couch I would love to sit on my couch but I've never sat on it in the whole three years we've lived

there because it's a white couch but go on I'm getting tips with the blanket put a blanket on that's what I just mine's light gray so I've had I feel like I have someone come wash it every month just throw a beach towel down there and just lay down. Get like a really chic white, like throw. Okay. And you can sit on that. Okay. So sorry. You sit on your couch with your blanket and your laptop. Usually I have my TV on, but I don't, it's on mute. It's really weird. Just like having it on in the background for some reason relaxes me, which is a little odd. But, um, again, I'll just kind of wind down and like, you know, think about like what, what content I want to like blog, whatever. I'm also like very engaged with my community. So I'm constantly like posting polls, reading comments.

I try to respond to literally every single comment if I can. So sometimes at night when I'm like on my downtime, I'll like read through and like see what people want me to talk about or what I can do to help. So, and what about drink eat? What's, is there anything that you drink before you go to bed? Um, usually I'll have like a tea before I go to bed um I think I was telling you earlier so I launched this like no coffee challenge a couple months ago just because my followers wanted to try it and I get I was telling them I get my teeth whitened like twice a year and every time I get them whitened I take like two or three weeks off coffee or like dark foods like you're when you get your teeth whitened you're supposed to do. So I was taking

a break this time and just haven't gone back. And it's been like two or three, two and a half months. And I'm really enjoying it. Just kind of feeling like lighter. Like if I ever really crave a coffee, I'll have it. I'm not going to give it up forever. There's no way. But I like just going through these. This is like my form of balance. Like, all right, I'm going to take a month or two off coffee. I know I'm going to drink it again, maybe like on Christmas. You're not opposed to coffee. I love it. I was reading this study the other day. Honestly, I can't remember who, but maybe Val or whoever's going to edit this after

can find the article and link it. They're saying that coffee is linked to decreasing heart disease. Well, I mean, it's full of antioxidants. Most foods have good and bad, right? I mean, coffee's acidic. So that's like one thing where it's not tea is better in that sense. You know, cold brew can help with that. It's, it's less acidic when you get cold brew coffee, but you know, it's definitely got health benefits. Like I like it. I don't think one cup a day is going to harm anyone. It's

usually the stuff you put in it. That's bad. What about alcohol? What's your favorite cocktail? Tequila soda is like my go-to. Tequila soda, any lemon lime? Tequila soda, water and lime. Okay. Yeah. I'm not like a big drinker. Like I've never been like a happy hour girl or anything, but, um, when I do have a drink, it's usually that. I like it. I like a tequila soda kind of girl. I want to talk about skin. I think that your skin is stunning. It's glowing. That's the first thing I noticed on your Instagram. I really feel like you lead with your skin, which is, that's very much, that's very TSC. I love it. What is your routine in the morning and night? And do you think that your diet has affected your skin in a good or bad way? Oh my God. A hundred percent. Like I, people tell me now I look younger

than when I did in my twenties and 32, which is like the best thing a girl wants to do. Yeah. You look great. Um, but I think first of all, plant-based diet, it's been like a huge factor. Dairy is like the one thing, even if you don't want to go vegan, you whatever, like try to avoid dairy. It's so bad for your skin, acne, mucus buildup. It's just not a good idea. Um, but going vegans really helped. I honestly think drinking water has helped. Like I never used to drink water either. I love sharing these things because I never used to do all these things. It's not like I just was born and was like super into health and wellness. Like I didn't like any of it, but you can train yourself. You can train your taste buds to like certain things. Um,

you want, once I started drinking water, I'm like addicted. Like I have to drink water all day now because your body gets used to it and like craves it. That's how I am with facial. You can trick your mind into anything. I can't like start the day without facial massage. You can. I love watching that too. I'm obsessed with it. It's like I lose 20 pounds in my face. It's amazing. It's really good. Anyways, I'm going to drink more water. I'm drinking as we speak. Okay. So go on. Um, honestly too, if you ever like getting your makeup done, I'll look at you for this. Um, if the, when I, when I'm not drinking water, I'll see creases in my makeup and it's like the most, it's like the most instant like thing to work for your skin. Um,

so anyway, that's like, that's just drink water. Um, my favorite food for skin is definitely berries. Okay. Like blackberries, blueberries, like so much. They're really great for like brightening your skin antioxidants. Um, like when I was saying that, you know, all food or all things can have like good and bad components, fruit and greens and vegetables literally have nothing bad. Like there's just like no negative to it. There's no like toxins. There's nothing that's going to make worse. So like the more of that you can get into your diet, like even, I always say like sneak

them in. I'm big on sneaking things into like food. I love like what, um, I've seen this on Instagram a lot, like just adding a bunch of kale to your pasta to add volume. Oh yeah. And it kind of like shrinks anyway, once you eat it, I've even like gone so far as to like chop up little pieces of like broccoli or kale and put it in like oatmeal, which is like super, super tiny. And it's, it's worked for kids like this. Obviously I can eat it on my own, but like, well, I have a lot of friends with like two year olds who don't eat much. Should I do that for my husband? Should I chop up broccoli?

No, but I don't have a problem. I'll eat anything. You will? Really? If it's put in front of you, leave it. If it's put in front of me, yeah. A lot of men are like that, though. I feel there's a lot of lying happening.

Name a time that you put something in front of me that I haven't eaten. I just think you pick. The other day, you made me a cauliflower pizza, right? You ate the whole thing, though, and I wanted that for myself. I wanted you to have a slice. But the point is, is like, I'm very much, if I know what to do, I'll do it. But I'm so wrapped up in so many other things.

Like health should- He doesn't want to think about it. No, health should be a priority. And it is in certain aspects for me. But at the same time, I have other priorities. So I just need to shift those priorities. But if someone says, okay, Michael, like you're working right now.

And like, here's your lunch. I know that sounds bratty, right? It does. Here's your lunch. And it's all this green, right? It does. Here's your lunch. And it's all this green stuff and all this great stuff. I'll eat the whole thing. I'm not going to sit there. You're a three-year-old and grandma's making you pancakes.

I'm not going to sit there and like cry about, oh, this is too healthy. Like I'll eat it. I just won't go and prep it. And also I don't, maybe it's because my dad goes to the grocery store like every minute. He's basically lives in Costco that I have this big, um, like I take a terrible reaction to going grocery shopping. I don't want to do it. Even like to like a whole foods or somewhere.

I don't like it. Okay. I mean, I'll go and I'll do it. Because dad did it your whole entire life. So you just like, don't want to do it anymore. I just think like,

I just don't enjoy the grocery store. Well, that's why you go call Postmates or Instacart. Do you guys use Instacart? It's like my, I had got it last night. Yeah. I just,

I got to get like, I think I got to get excuses or like assholes. You know what use Instacart? It's like my I had got it last night Yeah, I just I gotta get like I think I gotta get Excuses are like assholes. You know what? I think i'm gonna get with you. I'm gonna get with tanya I'm gonna get with melissa. I'm gonna get with kelly all these people that have been experts on this show to come in And i'm gonna say like each of you can give me five to ten things and i'll just make A cart that gets delivered to me every month. Okay, you could just say I have a list that I get every month Every every week actually i'm literally to leverage and just reach out to everybody. Here's my Instacart and then it'll come to me and then I don't have to think about it. Okay. You know what I mean? I want to go back to your skin. Okay. I want to know. I know I'm like

very, very excited for the skin. I want to know everything. So I, I always like, there's so much, not, not like bad effort, but there's a lot of time and effort that goes into it because it's like a priority to me. Um, one of the things is like morning and night routine. Like it's the same, like every morning, every night. I mean, I get excited about it probably because I just love skincare. But one thing I feel like some people do when they wash their face is they're just kind of slapping it on, especially when you get a product, like not nothing against Neutrogena or Clearacel, like drugstore products are fine, but those are really for acne. Like if you look at the active ingredient, it's either like salicylic acid or benzoyl peroxide. And if you have acne, I understand wanting to treat it,

but I don't think your cleanser should just be for acne. Like use that as like a toner. Like the cleansers I use are always so nourishing. They're like full of antioxidants. They're hydrating because you're not just trying to treat acne. Like you actually want the texture to be nice and you want to have a glow. What are some cleansers? I'm a huge fan of Sulwhasoo. Okay. I've never tried that. It's like the number one skincare line in Korea. It's all ginseng based. It's absolutely amazing. Like it's super natural. I mean, even when you smell it, it smells like woodsy. It's like very clean and natural. Okay. I love Sulwasu. SK2 is a Japanese one that's really good too.

I love that. Right? Their essence is really nice. Their water essence. So doing also, I don't know if anyone, if you get facials, do you ever get facials, Michael? I do. You do? You know when you, okay, that's great.

I was going to go right past it. I'm proud of you. Yeah. I told you, if you tell me what to do, I'll do it. Amazing. When's the last time you got a facial? It's been a little while. I had this huge beard before we, like last week, Lauren had this meetup and she made

me shave it because she thought I was going to like gross out all the women. And so I shaved it off. Now I'm pissed because I have- She looks like Kris Kringle. But whenever I do that, I don't get the facials because I'm like, you know, you can't get there anyway. Do you ever do sheet masks with your beard on? Because I always wonder how that would work for a guy.

It just kind of lays on top of the hair, but I it sometimes your hair must be so dewy after though it looks like a pubic hair situation no no it's not ideal um Lauren likes it sometimes because she says it feels like she's with someone else which maybe I should be concerned you know what I mean like maybe I should be concerned about that a little bit but so she could have like three variations I could do one day I could do clean shaven then i can do like a beard and then i can do a mustache that doesn't need your whole story that's how i keep my ladies interested you know lady at this point you should wake up before her and just have the mustache and just surprise her one morning i had it for a long time a huge one for a long time if he does that and um she liked it for a while yeah okay so anyway it's like you know like kurt russell

and tombstone i was like that okay so so more products like give us all the products that you what i was saying was when you when you get a facial you know how your skin feels so dewy and like that's how you should feel every time you do your skincare routine like that doesn't just have to be a facial so like they agree in the morning and at night it should just feel like dewy's my favorite thing in the world like i live for that right i want to like tattoo dewey on my forehead anything's possible um anyway so that's so skincare routine is huge i'm like the biggest laser fan i've been getting lasers since i was 24 um which probably was like a little aggressive to start but i have a huge hyperpigmentation problem.

I think if you have, if you have like ethnic skin or all of tone skin, like when you go in the sun, like any little dark spot will get darker. You don't go in the sun. Now I don't. But like I did when I was younger, cause I didn't, I used to go in tanning beds when I was like 19, 20. I had no idea. Your post on like the pink mask i was like dead serious to be literally spirit animal like that's me i don't i don't even want to be in the sun if like i'm in the car me neither i don't want to be near the sun because i feel that i already get enough sun exposure when i'm like walking to my car from the market when i'm wearing a hat but it's just enough like i did a podcast with dr dennis gross he's like a big skincare expert. And he said, and this is a stat I might be botching a little

bit, but it was recent. He says that 10 minutes of incidental sun exposure per day is basically like he did the math and it's like basically laying and baking in the sun for five straight days if you do it over your lifespan. You know what else he said? He said, sun does not equal youth. Oh my God. If you look sun-kissed, people think I'm like, just wear bronzer. I get a spray tan every week. I can't because it just makes you look glowy. Like I'm fine with getting a spray tan.

Like the sun is honestly one of the worst things you can do for your skin. Wrinkles, pigment, everything. And also like take out the vanity, skin cancer. Like it's just bad for you. Like all around. Like, you know, if you're vitamin D deficient, take a vitamin D supplement. That's what I do. A hundred percent or eat foods that have vitamin D in them. Exactly. People say that to me a lot. I hope everybody goes back to like the pale movement because then I'll fit in. I'm like, I told you guys I've been here for years. Do you want to know one time I was driving? If I, I now I keep sunscreen in my car.

I have one in like every purse, but, um, I was driving and I didn't have any. And I was like, I can't be in the sun. So I wrapped a scarf around my face, literally hit a car. I was parked because I couldn't see. I'm like jealous that that happened to you and not me. That's the commitment I have. That's such a good story. I love that.

It was like a little, just like a little nick. That's amazing. It was worth it. A little nick for this, like for staying out of the sun. I love it. For your skin. She's like, I killed someone, but look at my skin. So you stay out of the sun and you're very strict with your products. Laser laser. Anything else? Cause I have hyperpigmentation sun mustache.

Is there anything that you would recommend to get rid of that? Um, so serums are like going to be your number one best friend. I mean, so anyone, if you don't use serums, basically it's like, oh, usually water-based. And it's just so the molecules are so much smaller that they can really penetrate into your skin. I mean, you know this. So serums using like, if you're using a lightening agent, let's say like, let's say you want to use like a retinol, which is great for like exfoliation and lightening. If it comes in a lotion and it comes in a serum, choose a serum because it's going to be just more potent. So you're going to get more bang for your buck.

They are expensive, but it's really worth it. They'll last you at least six or seven months. So try to think of it as an investment in that. Ingredients that I would look for if you have like hyperpigmentation is like ferulic acid, vitamin C, retinol, and azelaic acid, which is something you usually need prescription for. But those are the three. You can use a combination of them, anything like that. I usually alternate. Every couple nights, I'll do a different one. Everyone needs to moisturize, even if you have oily skin. Some people, I think, are afraid to use moisturizer if they have oily skin. But a lot of times, that's your body overcompensating. So your body's always overcompensating for something. It's really smart. So if you're producing a lot of oil,

you could be dehydrated and it doesn't know what else to do. So, you know, you can get like, there's so many moisturizers out there that are like mattifying and, you know, won't, won't actually make you oily. So that's a huge thing for me is to always stay. I love being so oily when I go to bed, I want like oil all over my face and arms. Cause you know, the more oily you are, the more anti-aging you are. Yeah. I want to be like, like oil me up, lube me all like everywhere. Do you ever like? Good to know.

Got it. Oh, you know what? For anyone who's listening, who breaks out from oils, cause sometimes I go through stages, like it depends on what my skin's like. You can take an oil and put little drops into your moisturizer and like mix it. So if you don't want like such a strong oil on your face, it's a really good combo, especially in the winter. I love that tip. A couple drops of oil in your moisturizer. So anyone that breaks out, that's an amazing tip. And it just like, it almost like makes it thinner, the consistency and you can rub it off. It's so nice. Or mix it in your foundation. I could talk about this for 500 hours. Is there something like strange or uncommon or unconventional that you do,

whether it's in your business or your health routine or your skincare routine, that people wouldn't think to do that you think maybe brought you success or maybe changed your life? Something that maybe people wouldn't think of, that maybe it's a little weird or different. Anything that's not conventional. Not conventional? Not conventional. different anything that's like not conventional not conventional um

or something that you've done consistently that maybe people wouldn't think to do that's made a difference that's a hard question i'm trying to think of something i know it's kind of like an intense question because i think sometimes people like do things you're like wait i didn't realize that was making a difference but i've done botox since i was 22 and a lot of people since i was 25 okay i've been doing it since i was 25 and a lot of people don't agree with that. Since I was 25. Okay. I've been doing it since I was 25. I mean, I think that it's just really, if you get it in the right place and you get someone that knows where to put it. Yep.

You just do a little bit. I call it baby Botox. Exactly. That's what I was told when I moved, when I first like got back to LA, like I think I really got even more into skincare and that's what I like learned. That was the best thing. Guess what? I get so many compliments in my forehead.

Your forehead looks great. Like it's, you know, cause you can get, I've seen 22 year olds with like permanent lines. And honestly, I hope this doesn't, all of this doesn't sound vain. Like if you, it's all in what you care about. Like if you, if you don't mind, like some people like lines and don't mind crow's feet, like that's fine. But if you want to keep really smooth, like youthful looking skin prevention is so much more important. Like don't wait until you're like 40 50 because at that point botox won't really work 100 you're gonna have to do so many and that's when things look unnatural i think people i think this is actually something right maybe what's gonna i knew i was gonna pull something out what's

unconventional is that people think i'm like extremely intense especially when it comes to like skincare or food but skincare especially because they're like, your skin looks great. Why are you doing so much? Like, why would you do Botox at 24? Why are you doing all these? Especially like if you've gotten a laser before, right? Oh yeah. I mean, you look crazy after like your, you look like red, like a burn victim almost like it's awful. Um, so I think doing those things early on and preventing is so important and that's how you actually get the results. Like don't wait until there's like a problem to fix it. It's the same with like health too.

But you just said something and you're so right. And I've never actually thought this until you just said it. You said that a lot of people will wait until they have the problem until they're 40, till they're 45, until they're 50. And what happens is they end up getting fixed then. And so that is when I think personally, my opinion, it can look overdone because it's almost like you waited too long. Exactly. If you're doing like lasers consistently, um, even like photo facials, microneedling, vampire facials like this, you won't need a fac facelift but if you do nothing and then you get

older and like you just hate the way you look I mean your face and your skin is so personal you know it's something that like matters to everyone it's the first thing people see and it's like it affects your confidence so much especially like anyone has ever had acne I know I have like it's it's really hard so you will get to a point where you want to fix it and then that's when it's going to look fake 100% I totally agree with you it's like to a point where you want to fix it. And then that's when it's going to look fake. A hundred percent. I totally agree with you. It's like your teeth, your skin.

You want to take care of your teeth. You don't want to walk around with bad breath. Of course not. I mean, this is how I feel about it. Everyone's different. Me too. I don't think anybody wants to walk around with bad breath. And if they do, that's kind of weird.

A couple. I mean, like nobody's like looking to like, that's not like their goal for the day. Like, well, I better get some bad breath and hit the street. So there's one kind of hard hitting question that I want. So you talk a lot, like it sounds like a lot of these shifts or changes occurred later, right? Like you stopped going in the sun or you started like enjoying your workouts or you started thinking about a different business. Was there something that happened that caused this shift

where you just say, okay, listen, I need to take a step back and analyze all these things and make these priorities? Like what was that? Was it an event or was there just something that was going on or was it that breakup or just like, I need to get all these things in order? You know, I was kind of a late bloomer for like everything.

I think one of them was that I was like literally in school for so long. Like at 22, 23, 21, I wasn't partying because I was like studying at the library like every night, 23, 21, I wasn't partying. Cause I was like studying at the library, like every night. So it's like all mapped out kind of. So once I, and you know, I didn't have a chance to get like, really have time to work out. Like I'm totally empathetic to people who are like in school or like have crazy hours. I just like, didn't want to do anything else. Um, so that's when I really started like exercising, getting healthy. I think like one of the most important things I want people to know is that like, even if you think you hate it or it's not the kind of person

you are, or it's like later in life, you'd be so surprised what you actually like have inside of you that you don't know. Because I never would have thought, I remember specifically saying I could never go vegan. That's ridiculous. I could never stop eating meat. Like those words came out of my mouth and now I'm like the exact opposite. So I think if you just give yourself a chance and if you're trying to eat healthy or trying to work out and you don't like it, keep experimenting different things. Like maybe try hiking, go to a yoga class, like do like a really high intensity, like dance class, like do something with a friend. And eventually something will click if you just stick with it long enough. And then like, there's just no way you can't love it because it's just, it just feels great.

So if someone's out there who's listening that really wants to get on a healthy track, like you're on or they want to lose weight or they want to tighten up, what's a couple tips that people can do with food or drinks, um, or even movement and where can they start? Um, I think one is to definitely, like I said, find something, find some kind of movement, like try to get a sweat in like at least five or six days a week, like whatever you have to do. When it comes to diet, regardless of what you're eating, if you're eating plant-based or not, I would say to try to simplify your meals. Even people, I actually get this a lot, people who are wanting to go vegan or start to go vegan will send me dms and say that they're really bloated or they've gained weight from

going vegan and a lot of times when you go to these places and they're just combining all these different things together to make it taste like meat that's not always a good idea either so if you can keep your meals simple and clean like clean is my favorite word to use like minimal ingredients at least know what you're doing know know what you're putting into it. And just, that's actually how I first like lost my tummy weight was I was still eating meat and everything, but I just ate really clean. Like I would only eat like raw almonds and walnuts, like plain oats, salads. Like I would make everything myself and I would never get like sauces and things out, creams. And then it just worked. I like it. I also like that tip where you said that you pre-make your smoothies. So all you have to do is just take the bag and pour it in. I mean, you really just

don't have an excuse then. No. And I think you see, even like saying that some people will see me like, let's say putting them in a little sandwich bags and like make fun or like that's so extreme, but it's actually like so easy. It's what you're, it's making it less extreme in the morning. Like I'm not taking that time. I just popping it in. It's easy. I mean, I think the point of this whole interview too, if I can give like a theme, it's like, do you, if that works for you to do your bags in the morning, then I think that you should do that. Right. Find what exactly, like find what works for you and then roll with it because it's not

going to be the same for everyone. I love it. Where can everyone find you? I'm on Instagram. I'm at Dr. Mona van, actually everything at Dr. Mona van. Oh, that's can you spell it out just so they know? Yeah. D R M O N A V A N D. I love it. And what's your website? Dr. Mona van.com. Easy, easy, easy. Thank you for coming on. That was so much fun. So much fun. Hope you guys loved that interview with Dr. Mona. I will be on her YouTube channel with Mona,

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