The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Healthy With Nedi - Diet Tricks, Wellness Tips, & Food Modifications with Neda Varbanova

Episode Date: May 17, 2019

#189: On this episode we sit down with our friend Neda Varbanova who is the author and face behind the powerful health and wellness blog and brand; Healthy With Nedi. On this episode we discuss diet tricks, wellness tips, food modifications, and healthy recipes you can use to replace unhealthy foods. To connect with Neda click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) WOO MORE PLAY is the all natural and organic coconut love oil that is changing the way we have sex. With only 4 all natural ingredients WOO is the perfect personal lubricant to spice up your sex life. That's just the pre-party.  Now Get ready for the after party with WOO FRESHIES! All Him & Her Listeners will receive 20% off your entire order plus free shipping when when visiting www.woomoreplay.com & using promo code skinny20 at checkout. This episode is brought to you by Blender Bombs, a nutrient dense "bomb" that you can add to your blender when you're making a smoothie to make it a meal replacement or eat plain as a snack. They are full of essential Omega 3 and amino acids and fiber. The ingredients in the Blender Bombs help keep your blood sugar from spiking when you have a smoothie with fruit and help curb sugar cravings.  To try Blender Bombs and receive 20% off your order go to www.blenderbombs.com and use promo code skinny20 This episode is brought to you by FabFitFun Sign up for FabFitFun today! These boxes ALWAYS SELL OUT! Use our code TSC to get $10.00 off your first box! Go to fabfitfun.com to sign-up and start getting the box for a life well-lived! - that’s over $200 for only $39.99!  Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Feeling fresh, feeling sexy, feeling hot, feeling spicy. So is Michael, because Woo More Play just launched their latest product. As you guys know, I'm a partner with Woo, and tons of you have tried the coconut oil lube. It's the best lube on the planet. You can eat it, lick it, suck it, fuck it. We've discussed this multiple times before, but this is the new launch. Okay. The freshies have dropped. They're a natural fresh towelette made with organic cranberry, aloe vera, vanilla, and coconut water. So you can clean up.

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The girl who's got to go. Use your wipe and you're golden. I've talked about this a lot on the podcast. As you know, I had a little UTI problem. I was prone to UTIs all the time. Every time I had sex, I tried everything. And the only thing that worked was coconut oil. So that turned into woo lube and now the freshies. So the freshies have organic cranberry in them, which is amazing for preventing UTIs. You're going to get all delicious ingredients. They're all natural, like I said, and organic. I know you guys are all going to want to try these amazing, delicious coconutty wipes. So all you have to do is go to woo more play.com. That's w O O M O R E P L A Y.com and use promo code skinny 20 for 20% off guys. I also want to say these fit in your purse. They're so cute and they come in this vintage cigarette box that is so chic. Again, that's woomoreplay.com promo code skinny20.

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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!

I got so much support and messages from so many people that they've had the same thing, if not worse. They were sending me pictures and it was really nice to get that. And then you also get like the critical side of that, you know, where people are like, well, she's so healthy. Like, how does that happen to her? Like, what is she doing wrong? You know, like she's a joke. You always can get negative on any side of the story and you just have to ignore that because people like to hate. Hey, hey, hey, everybody. Welcome back. Welcome back. That clip was from our guest of the show, our friend Nettie from the popular blog Healthy with Nettie.

On this episode, we were talking diet, health, food replacements and smart food choices. My name is Michael Bostic. I'm a Syrian entrepreneur and brand builder. Across from me is my wife, Lauren Everts. Michael, why do you do an accent? I don't think I do an accent. You are. You do an accent sometimes. Does anyone else notice it? It's such a distinct accent that I've never heard of. I think I have a little bit of an accent. I don't know what it is. Listen, guys, I'm dealing with two duds right now. Taylor said he's too tired to do a proper intro for me and I wanted to do something special. Lauren is falling asleep at the switch. I'm going to have to carry this intro.

I just had some nitro cold brew. I'm okay. And I'm drinking ginger tea. We're going to talk about that in a second. This is a wellness-inspired interview with Healthy with Nettie. If you guys don't know who Healthy with Nettie is, I have featured her on the Skinny Confidential multiple times. Nettie and I have had some fun nights together. She has this thing called Nettie Martini. And basically, it's vodka, muddled mint, cucumber, and a little bit of lime, I think.

Deadly. It's deadly. We've actually hung out on about four multiple occasions. And she orders these drinks. And I can't drink them. I'm sorry. Netta, I can't have them. They're so strong. Last time I had this drink, guys, I came home with one eye open and stuffed my face with chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't very healthy with Netty. No. You know what, though? It actually is, though, because there's no calories in it. Anyway, if you want the specific martini recipe, you can Google healthy with Netty martini, the skinny confidential, and it'll pop up for specifics.

So how did you first get turned on to Nettie's content? You know, I was Googling fiber. I was so curious about fiber and her post on all the different ways to make GG crackers came up. She has this one blog post and it has all these different things you can do with gg crackers and so i started looking into her and i saw we had mutual interests so i think we just connected on instagram story which is badass god 2019 is a weird world we live in it's a weird world but you know what i like about it is it curates people's interest so you know if there's synergy you know what i mean yeah and now we've been you know we've been international with her. We've seen her all over the place. New York's here. So the internet's a weird place,

everybody. Switzerland. And now the podcast. Yeah. Since this episode is so wellness inspired, I decided I'm going to give my favorite wellness tip right now at the moment. This is simple, but it's something I have been doing every single day and I feel like everyone needs to know about it. So instead of buying tea bags, okay, I've been making my own tea. And how I do that is I buy huge ginger cloves at the market right next to the ginger cloves. So no excuses are turmeric cloves. And then next to that is mint. So I buy turmeric, like the cloves, ginger, and mint. I take it all home. I clean it off, and then I make hot water, and then I pour it in a cup, and I'll put my mint in there. I'll put my ginger, my turmeric, and then I add some lemon. Sometimes I add CBD to it. You could add cayenne.

You could add a little four-sigmatic. You could mix it up here. I have so much fun making my own tea. This sounds so simple, but when you have the ingredients on hand, it's so much tastier than a teabag. There's something about it that's just so much more delicious. So that's my little wellness tip. I thought I'd share that with you guys. I noticed myself doing it every single day and I'm like, I need to share this with my audience.

Today I added ice instead of making it hot and it's the most delicious iced tea. You could add whatever you want to your tea. I'm kind of over the teabags, though. I'm really into the freshness. You know, Michael? Yeah. I'm not over teabags. Be teabagging later.

Who doesn't love a good teabag? I actually have a good wellness tip. Oh, God. This is sort of a recommendation, but something not to do. On Friday night, about 2 in the morning, I was really hungry, and I Postmated McDonald's, Big Mac, 10-piece chicken nuggets, and fries. And I felt deathly ill the next day. So a health tip, don't do that.

And there we go. That's your health tip? Yep. It's volume 500. Since you and Taylor shared your interesting, I don't know how interesting Taylor's was actually, wellness tips, let's move on and get to the actual expert. Netta is the creator of Healthy with Netty, a healthy lifestyle brand and blog, and holds a master degree in food studies.

She's a certified health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She believes that healthy eating, fitness, and a positive outlook are the keys to realizing true health. Healthy with Netty has been featured in Elle, Well and Good, Healthline, and The Skinny Confidential. She's partnered with many well-known health and wellness brands, and she is a badass. I think you guys are going to love this interview. She has so many tips and tricks that are easy for anyone to do. With that, welcome Netta to the show.

We're going to take a quick break to get everyone real healthy, okay? I want to tell you about blender bombs. Most of you guys know what these are, but if you don't, boy, are you missing out? So here's the story. I follow Naomi from Southern charm and I saw this Instagram post where she posted a before and after. And in it, she wrote about how she's just really tightened her body up and how she did it was with intermittent fasting, which we've talked about multiple times on this podcast. And then she also used this product called Blender Bombs. So what it is, it's like this round ball, okay? And it has all the nutrients and healthy fats and fiber that you need. So you make a smoothie normally. You do your greens, maybe some fruit.

You could do a little unsweetened almond milk, some ice, maybe a squeeze of lemon. And then you put your blender bomb in the smoothie. And what it's going to do is it's going to help your blood sugar from spiking. A lot of the times we have a smoothie and it spikes our blood sugar. This is so great. And Naomi recommends this too in her post to break your intermittent fast. So if you're looking for more guidance when it comes to intermittent fasting, I know we've talked about this all the time, definitely look into blender bombs. You keep them in your fridge. They're in this really chic packaging.

So this product was created by this badass hustler who's also a TSC reader. Her name is Helen, and she wanted to find something that could help her tighten up, but she also wanted to feel satisfied. You know what I mean? So she created Blender Bombs and it's a nutrient dense superfood bomb designed to make your smoothies a meal replacement. It's filled with tons of healthy fats, nutrients, chia seeds, just like raw goodness. If you're traveling and you're like me and you're on the go and you're going to the airport and you're in your car and

you're everywhere, keep these Blender Bombs like in your purse. So easy. You can order them online, www.blenderbombs.com, and you get 20% off your first order by using code SKINNY20. Now, you can only use this for the Blender Bombs, which shouldn't be a problem because, I mean, that's what you want. Also, plus you get free shipping on orders over $60. You can also stalk Instagram. It's at Blender Bombs, and the creator is at Hush Up and Hustle. Enjoy. You can also stalk Instagram. It's at Blender Bombs and the creator is at Hush Up and Hustle. Enjoy. You'll love these. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her. Sometimes I ask you stuff on this show and you don't even respond. Anyways, Lauren, we're live. It sounds like you're taking a piss on air.

I'm not. I'm just pouring my natural spring water into my hydro flask. We're both with glass bottles. Yeah, let's do a little cheers again. Cheers. We love to cheers every time we see you. We do. We're always cheering. Tomorrow we'll have some neti martinis.

Yes, we're going to have. Why don't you just tell everyone what's in a neti martini before we hop into it? If I have a neti martini, I'm out for a few days. I was like blacked out when you gave me one of those. That's what I should have brought instead of brownies. It's true. You should have.

Anyways, the neti martini consists of vodka, muddled cucumber, muddled mint, a tiny splash of fresh lime juice, and no sugar. And sometimes I even tell the bartenders that I'm diabetic because they like to sneak some sugar in there and uh it's really not cool so it always works you say i'm diabetic to the bartender yeah wow i mean i feel like that just take like finesses the situation it kind of scares them they're like okay i can't fuck with her yeah that's good i like that you know why they're probably in there like these craft cocktail guys and they're like we got to balance this cocktail guys. And they're like, we've got to balance this cocktail. And like, listen, the Nettie Martini is like 99% vodka. So they're trying

to like balance it out. I get why they're doing it. We don't, we don't care about balance. All we care about is keeping the sugar out of our drinks. Exactly. I, someone asked me the other day how I micromanage the bartender in a nice way. There's ways to be really nice about knowing what you want. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with knowing what you want. I agree. If Michael, if Michael came to a bar and ordered a rusty nail the way he wants it, there's nothing wrong with that. When was the last time, if ever, that I ordered a rusty nail? You never know.

I don't even know what that is. Introduce yourself to our audience. Give us some context of how you got into the health and wellness arena. Okay. Hi, everyone. My name is Neda Varbanova. I'm the creator of Healthy with Nettie. I created my blog three years ago as a platform to share healthy recipes. And that's really my true passion to create recipes that, for example, if you want to have

lasagna, I'll make a pomini lasagna that has zero carbs. Or if you want to have like a big bowl of bolognese pasta, I'll do zucchini noodles or cauliflower crust pizza, just substituting healthier things and to show people that they can still eat healthy and lose weight and have flavor and all of that. So, so have you ever been overweight and had to adjust your diet or is this something that you've just picked up along the way? Because it sounds like your whole brand is modifications. Yeah, no, I've never been overweight. I've pretty much been the same way, but I think moving from Bulgaria to the States, I was in a big shock. I was 12 years old when we moved here and I've never really seen obese people, which is very sad because it was a culture shock.

And then being in middle school and high school, the food in the cafeteria was just so bad, like pizza and tater tots and burgers and fries and nachos with cheese. Michael, Michael fucked with a breadstick. Fuck man, I fucked with all that cafeteria food. So I actually, in my last year of high school, I ended up changing the menu at the cafeteria, which was really interesting. I started a health club and I think that's when my passion for health began. What do you mean you changed the menu?

I literally like went to the principal and I said, we need to make some changes. Honestly, that's inspo some changes. Honestly that's inspo. I feel like that's something I would do if I had kids or something. I'd be like you know, Dr. Belding or whatever his name is. Mr. Feeney. Okay so you started changing the menu and then I know you started, you got into school, right? Yeah.

Okay. Tell us a little bit about that. So my undergrad, I started business and marketing. And then after when I graduated, I felt like something was missing and I needed a little something more, you know? So that's when I did a year at the nutrition school at IIN. And during that year, I also interned for Tanya Zuckerbrot at F Factor. And she's been a role model for me since I was 16. I love her. She's like a big sister to me. And interning with her, I learned so much. And after that, I decided to do my master's in

food studies and nutrition at NYU. So I just graduated last year. Wow. If you could give someone that's listening out there one piece of diet advice that you think is a game changer, it could be something simple. What would it be? I would say stop dieting and focus on making healthy eating

a everyday thing instead of eliminating foods, add more wholesome foods, organic, unprocessed, you know? When you say that though, you know, like, so that makes a lot of sense to me, right? And we've talked about it and we've shared some meals together. I think where people get overwhelmed is they don't know where to start. I heard a good piece of advice.

They didn't tell me if this is wrong, where they were saying instead of going into the guts of a grocery store, which is where you find like products and not food, like we find all like the packaging and bad stuff, like stay to the perimeter where there's vegetables and fruits and meats and all that stuff. Like I think people just don't know where, like including myself a lot of time, people don't know where to start. They don't know how to stock their fridge.

They don't know how to stock their pantry. So like when you think about that stuff, what are some tangible takeaways? And what are the first place you say like, listen, have this, this, this, and it could be a few things I did a blog post today on that actually unhealthy fridge food swaps I think reading ingredients and nutritional labels is so important because there are so many food products now that are marketing as healthy but just because a label says like it's all natural or it's gluten free or it's low fat,

it doesn't mean it's healthy at all. What's an example? Give us an example. Like today you said Ezekiel bread. You like that. I like Ezekiel bread. Yeah. Okay. For example, I don't know, like cream cheese, low fat cream cheese, right? it seems like it's good because it's low-fat but where is that dairy coming from is it from organic grass-fed cows probably not right if it doesn't say on the label and i wouldn't recommend anybody to have cow milk from um that's not grass-fed or organic because those cows are given antibiotics and growth hormones and other medication that end up being in us like once we consume that what do you think of shake shack because last night michael was eating shake shack devastated last night i had it i had a moment of weakness and it fucked me up

because i've been eating healthy lately and then i had that it just threw me into a tornado and it's it was devastating because i he felt horrible afterward did. And I hate to say that because. And did you eat the bun too? I ate everything. Here's what I'm trying to get at, because I think we're going to start to get into very high with you high level, like, you know, food supplementation and all these different topics. But when you, like when I personally think about my pantry and I won't think about going to the grocery store, and it's something that Lauren, I'm putting on your to-do list. We need to clean out. We have about a thousand containers of nothing and beans and a bunch of shit that I can't eat So it's like I'm thinking like what if I'm myself who's not as knowledgeable about you as you and Lauren a lot of listeners aren't

About how to eat and what to buy at the grocery store like what are what are some staples are like listen? I always have this in my pantry I always have this stuff in my fridge because they're like a list of like five to ten products that you just have on hand? We both always have dates. I love dates. Dates are good, but dates are going to get me through about four minutes of the day. Oh, she brought me dates. She knows I love dates from Dubai, honey.

Yeah, but I can't live off of dates. Okay, I'm just saying. That's a snap. We both love dates. Okay, go on. They're good, but they're also very high in sugar. Just one. I like a date.

Just one date. One date is good. I was just trying to explain that to my grandma. She would have like two or three. I'm like, okay, this is not healthy anymore, you know? Eating too much. Yeah. So what are those staple items?

Okay, so let's say for fridge items, I love Kite Hill products. They're vegan. You can get yogurts. You can get cream cheese. I also like Mykonos, which is, they have amazing mozzarella cheese that you can put cream cheese I also like mykonos which is they have amazing mozzarella cheese that you can put on pizza I like to get avocados lemons eggs any leafy green vegetables I like to have cauliflower rice on hand because that's super easy to make a healthy meal out of and I'll get some wild salmon organic chicken and that's pretty much my staples for the fridge.

And then pantry, I would say tahini. I love tahini. I love tahini too right now. Flax seeds, chia seeds. I love flakers, crackers, any nuts like cashews or Brazil nuts or pistachios. I'm also obsessed with palmin palmini noodles explain what that is because i feel like everyone who's listening needs to try this you guys so palmini noodles um it's a pasta it looks like spaghetti but it's made out of hearts of palm and it's i think the whole serving is like four grams of carbs two grams of fiber it's two net carbs um it is so delicious it literally tastes like pasta it's so filling you feel great after you don't feel bloated or anything and it actually fills you up so it's a great i'm obsessed with it but here's

the trick that you taught me you said when you drain the noodles you said put almond milk over them so it kind of offsets the taste yeah Not the taste, but like there's like a... It removes the acidity. Yes, yes. And that's a really good tip. Some people don't mind the vegetable taste. Other people find that it tastes a lot like a vegetable. So I always say you can soak them like 30 to 60 minutes before you're ready to cook with them.

You can use any nut milk or other milk, and then you just rinse them off and you add them to your already made sauce. What's a meal that you could make for your significant other that's quick, easy, and healthy? I would do, my go-to is honestly zucchini noodles with bolognese sauce. That's literally ready in 20 minutes. It's so easy. Listen, I think we're, especially on this show, for people that have been listening a long time, I think everybody knows you got to eat healthy. You got to cut out bad food you got to add more fiber you got to you know whatever you're doing that's i think that like this audience is is evolved and

they're smart enough to know all of that at the surface but like me and like myself it's like as long as we have the options and we know okay this is what i can cook and this is what i should have in my pantry and this is what should be my lunch and like that's where i think we're at now, especially on this show. And so for me, it's, and I think for a lot of people, it's trying to figure out, okay, we know all the basics, but now like, what, like, how do I modify my diet and how do I start eating healthier? And what should I have on hand? And what should I not have on? Let's start with how to make a pizza at home. How do you make a pizza at home? Cause I know you do it in a specific way. Cause this last night was a perfect example. I was like, shit, I had nothing in my pantry pantry i didn't know what to eat to eat i

was hypoglycemic because i worked all day and i was like late and then i got home like fuck i ordered postmates and it was a bad decision eating the shake shack but if i would have had stuff on hand maybe i could have made myself something that would have been a better choice tell them how to make a pizza i agree that that's why it's always nice to have stuck in a stock in the freezer and the fridge in the pantry. I honestly, I always say if I have a snowstorm and I'm stuck at home for a week, everybody come over because I have so much food and I'm stocked up. So what are like five things that people should have in their fridge that they could make dinner with, especially for Michael?

Okay, so tomato sauce, I would say. Well, that's in the pantry. You can have cauliflower rice. You can have a few different vegetables like spinach and onion and mushrooms. And then you can get some organic chicken. Or if you're vegan, you can have tempeh or tofu. And you just create a simple stir fry. Just takes 10 minutes, literally. You just throw it all in the pan throw it all in the pan you can add some tamari sauce you can add some sriracha for an extra kick sesame oil if you like that see if i had these options i'm all in tell us tell us about the pizza everyone wants to hear about the pizza so i make my own cauliflower crisp pizza but if you're lazy to do that um

cauliflower foods the ones they have amazing one i like their jalapeno yeah the jalapeno one and they have plant-based crust as well and that's literally ready in like 15 minutes it's so easy to do um if you want to make your own crust you know that takes a little bit more time but it's super simple you just take the cauliflower you put in a blender so it becomes like cauliflower rice and then you steam it a little bit just in a in a hot pan but no oil nothing just put it in that way the water from the cauliflower evaporates and after that you can add parmesan cheese oregano salt pepper and some one egg and you mix everything together and then you put it on parchment paper you bake it

for i think 10 or 20 minutes i have the recipe on my website and then when you take it out what i do is i flip it over on a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper and then you put it back in the oven that's how you prevent it from getting soggy oh mine's always soggy yeah because if you keep some soggy pizza my pizza's always soggy yeah and you're like looking at me like is it good do you like it and i'm like listen this thing tastes like it was thrown in the washing machine i'm trying oh my god you sent me your meal plan to try yeah if someone's out there and they're listening and they want to try like a meal plan what is what is can you walk us through three days of eating like let's do monday tuesday wednesday okay let's start with for example monday um you can start with a chia seed pudding you can add

unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk you can add some cacao. You can add coconut flakes. And I put a little bit of stevia. And then you just basically put it in the fridge overnight. And the next day, it's done. You just add some fruit. That's a great tip. Yeah. For fruit, I would just do berries because they're low in sugar.

And they have highest fiber from most of the fruits out there. You can take it on the go. You can eat it, whatever. Then for lunch, I would do a large salad with a lot of greens, a lot of veggies. If you go to a salad bar, I would always skip the quinoa and the brown rice or whatever grain it comes with. It's just unnecessary. You don't really need that. You're going to get so full if you add five, six different veggies in there, like broccoli, asparagus artichokes you know and then if you need an afternoon snack i love raw rev bars they're so good they're plant-based they're gluten-free

they're high fiber high protein very low net carb as well and low sugar and for dinner i would do if i'm at a sushi restaurant i would order soup and a salad with some sashimi, get my rolls wrapped in cucumber instead of rice. That will save you a lot of carbs and calories. Because two rolls of regular sushi in a restaurant that uses regular white rice is equivalent to five to six slices of white bread. Did you hear that? Yeah, I like white bread. Did you hear that? Yeah. Two rolls of sushi is equivalent to two to

five pieces of white bread. Taylor, five to six pieces of white bread. That's a lot. I mean, yeah. And we don't know that I feel like. Yeah. Okay. Give us another day. Okay. Another day. I love Mickey's English muffins. They're so good. You can find them at Whole Foods in the freezer section. And basically like just toast them and you can add some smashed avocado or what I'm really obsessed with lately is this roasted red pepper spread. It's Bulgarian, but also other Eastern European countries have it. It's called Lutenica or Akhvar. I think you've tried it or I've told you about it. I bought this because of you. It's so good. So that's a good breakfast to start with. And then lunch, I would do maybe a lentil salad with some grilled salmon and some steamed

spinach on the side. If you want a snack in the afternoon, again, snack is not necessary. But if you want something, in the afternoon, again, snack is not necessary. But if you want something, I love Gigi pizzas. That's super easy to do, like Gigi crackers with some tomato sauce, a little bit of cheese or vegan cheese, and you bake them for 10 minutes on 400. And you got yourself a great snack. And then for dinner, I love cauliflower rice. I'm like obsessed with that. I said it a few times. What do you throw in there?

I like turkey, bacon, and mine, and peas. So I just made this new recipe that I came up with. It's cauliflower rice with arugula, steamed asparagus, olives, tomato, and cucumber, and some spring onion. And then I put sumac on top. And the dressing is just olive oil and lemon super simple and you can just top that with chicken or any choice of protein that you like super simple and so good let's talk about drinks and when I say drinks I mean alcohol and non-alcoholic yeah what

are you seeing with that do you recommend people just drink water is there something I mean are you like a fan of spindrift like? Like I am. I love their grapefruit Spindrift for soda. If you're going to, like, if you're going to drink soda, I always say like try Spindrift, put some basil in it. Like, is there any drinks that you love that you drink every day? And it could be alcohol too. Wait, let's take a quick break and let's talk about FabFitFun. This box is like Christmas in the mail. When I get it, I sit down, I involve myself, I unwrap every single thing specifically. I lay it out, usually do a flat lay. It has fashion, it has beauty. But the best part is, is that it's actually full size products that you want on your

vanity. So FabFitFun has a simple mission. They allow women everywhere to discover new products while including must-have brands that you know and love. So the brands are brands that you see on Instagram all the time. You see your favorite celebrities using them, maybe your favorite blogger, and they're even brands that your friends and you talk about. I think that it's so cute to give a gift that keeps on giving. So basically what you do is you order a box as a gift. You could do this for a bridal shower, bachelorette party. Anyways, for a baby shower, you get four gifts a year for the price of one, really. Standout products for me in the box, the Kueh sunglasses. Kueh Australia has the best sunglasses, guys. I wear them all the time on my

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TSC to get $10 off your first box. Go to FabFitFun to sign up and start getting the box for a life well-lived. So easy. Just go to FabFitFun.com and use my code TSC to get $10 off your first box. Happy shopping. Well, I honestly am a big water drinker. I mostly drink water all day long. I've never really been into juices, like even when I was little, you know, if I went to a restaurant, I would just order water with lemon. That's it. I'm not into carbonated drinks at all. Like I don't really like champagne. So if you get bored of just drinking water I always say then spice up your water and add some chlorophyll drops in there that makes it so good and has like some chlorophyll has peppermint in it it gives it like a little kick

it's very refreshing it's detoxifying or you can add rosemary or mint ginger cucumber strawberries it's like a detox water and it gives it flavor, but it's all natural without any additives. So for me, it's always sticking to water. What about alcohol? Alcohol, wine is great. No, like one or two glasses is not going to hurt you. It's only two grams of carbs.

It's not much sugar. The problem is where people are going out and they're having mixed drinks and they'll drink like vodka with Red Bull or I don't know, Jack and Coke. That's when it becomes a problem because you start drinking sugar and you're not realizing it. Especially with those Jack and Cokes, you'll have like three or four, it's like drinking four Cokes. Oh, stick to just clean liquors you know vodka and tequila are great and they're zero carbs so that's why i'm always drinking in that martini you've been super open on your platform about how you've been dealing with hives yeah is

there anything that you've found that has worked for that and can you walk our audience through sort of what what that's been like and what it's been like sharing online yeah I mean it was really difficult because like you said I mean you're the one that told me I should speak to my followers about it I'm so glad I did because most of the feedback was amazing and I got so much support and messages from so many people that they've had the same thing if not worse they were sending me pictures And it was really nice to get that. And then you also get the critical side of that, where people are like, well, she's so healthy. How does that happen to her?

What is she doing wrong? She's a joke. You always can get negative on any side of the story. And you just have to ignore that because people like to hate. Anyways, my hive started like a year ago and they would just come out super randomly, always in the same exact spots, last for about like four days and then go away. But they left little marks on my face. I'm still trying to figure out like what's causing it. I've been to so many different doctors. I've done so many blood work tests allergy everything

comes back normal so from speaking with a lot of my followers and going to a naturopathic doctor i think it could be dairy gluten and sugar oh the main reasons yeah so i've been avoiding that since january i've been like really strict with it. And now I've decided to cut out eggs. And as much as I love eggs, I've noticed that on the days when I've had the hives, I've always had eggs that day for breakfast. So I'm just going to take a little break. Not completely cut them out. You know, if they're in baked goods, I think it's okay.

But having scrambled eggs every single morning, you know, maybe too much for my body at the moment. I mean, that's crazy. I think it's so cool that you opened up on social media about it. You also have opened up about your grandma and her depression. Can you talk to us a little bit about that and why you decided to open up? I mean, what's unique about you is that you are this healthy living blog where everyone is always going to you to get recipes. I'm, I have screenshotted so many of your Instagram stories. I love your content on Instagram stories,

but then you decided to open up about your grandma. I had so much respect for that. Can you talk about why you decided to sort of show that part of your life? Yeah, I opened up because we literally thought that we lost her and that she was going to die. I've never seen her so depressed and so down. Last summer, like, I had to move basically to Greece most of the summer. And one day, I remember I was supposed to go somewhere and I was just sitting with her. And she was just sitting on the floor staring at the wall. Like, nobody was there.

The dog didn't even exist. Nothing. And I didn't know what to do like we tried everything you know I mean everything you can possibly think of from antidepressants from different psychiatrists therapists walks in the park hugging trees acupuncture yoga I mean you name it we did it her psychiatrist had told me to look into ECT and I just thought that he was insane. Like, why would I do that to my grandma? Explain what that is for people that don't know. ECT is an electrical shock therapy. It shocks your brain and basically they have to put you under anesthesia. You know, it is dangerous. It has some risks like memory loss or confusion but in the end the result works very well for suicidal patients so when he first told us about it i just completely ignored him

there's a big stigma about it and people associate that with the movies from back in the day how they like shock your brain and clockwork orange yeah and you're like shaking and going crazy but that that's not how it happens these days is it painful no you don't feel anything she doesn't even remember the process so one of my followers reached out and she said um i i want to tell you you know we almost lost my sister and the only thing that helped her was ect and i want to connect you with her son he will explain more and honestly i spoke with him the next day i flew to gree Greece and I checked my grandma into a hospital. And that was it.

She started doing therapy. It took 12 sessions and she did three sessions per week. So what does it actually do? What is it like? What does it change in the brain and the way you think? Some sort of like chemical reaction. I'm not really sure exactly like how to explain it. And when they're doing the therapy, are they like coaching her and saying like hey, this is what it's about it last ten minutes so they put you on their anesthesia and

The doctor said that they give her something for the nerves. So she's not like shaking or anything and You have to do it three times a week very consistent the first two weeks or You know just horrible because nothing seemed to be changing. And I was just thinking, oh my God, what are we doing to her? It's not working. Like, this is just like horrible, you know? And, uh, after the eight sessions, she just started, you know, laughing and, you know, coming back to life, even seeing the light in her eyes was, I mean, like a blessing. And, uh, after, I'm shaking right now because it's just so emotional.

And after 12 sessions, they said, you can take her home. I tried to take her home after 10 sessions. They said, it's too early. Like, let's do two to three more sessions. We'll let you know when she's ready. And it worked out perfect that she was ready to go on our family vacation last year with all of us. And we're just so grateful

to have her back you know like you never know when this could happen again or what it is so I just try to enjoy every single moment and not take anything for granted wow I mean maybe like I almost think that that is so stressful like everything you've been through like maybe it's even like stress that's causing your hives that's maybe could be like sometimes your body reacts you know what i mean like it could just be your body like reacting back i had a really weird i don't know if i ever talked on the show but lauren's heard it a million times one day i got to share the pictures on social i had like a really strange freak reaction one time i'm gonna show you the pictures in a minute like when we're talking i'll bring up not not now but like my whole body and face broke out in aggressive hypes like just out of nowhere one day lauren i went to lunch or dinner whatever we did the worst you've ever seen like i know

i woke up in the middle of the night i was like i felt funny and i looked at lauren i was like hey do i have something like does my face look good she just looked at me like holy shit and then i knew right the way she looked at me that i was fucked up. So I went to the doctor. They couldn't explain it. Went to the emergency room. Went to all this. They were treating me like patient zero, wheeling me around in a wheelchair with like a mask on.

All the other patients were like, what the fuck is that? I don't even know how to explain it. And to this day, they don't know what it was. I'm not allergic to anything. Had all the tests. Did all the blood work. Nothing came back. It was just like a freak out when my body just completely shut down taylor who was back there my mom's calling

him like she was like where the hell is michael i haven't heard from him in days because i was just in this like how long did it last for taylor how long did that last like a week about a week i remember your mom calling me early in the morning and legitimately actually thinking oh my god michael's dead that's insane i don't know i just think while you and lauren are talking i'll pull up the picture i'm sure i'm sure you will i'm sure you have it on your desktop it's his favorite story to tell this is a freak thing i was like but it's crazy what the body can do i think that like sometimes when your body does weird things and you can't figure out what's happening like you should also pay attention the days you eat eggs where you extra stressed. Because stress sometimes brings out things.

Stop. See? Okay, well, now we're going to have to put it on Instagram. No way. I can't even. We're going to have to show this. I don't even know how to explain this. This is crazy.

Mimi's going to have to do an Instagram quash. Listen, I thought. All right. Have you ever seen the movie Braveheart? I mean, I thought mine was bad. Let me see. Let me see. Listen, Taylor.

That is scary. And it was all over his face. No thought mine was bad. Let me see. Oh, my God. Listen, Taylor. That is scary. And it was all over his face. No, it was everywhere. It was like, we're even talking like down under, you know? I was like, Lauren, it's okay if you like. I didn't even know that. Can you not? I looked at myself.

It was all over your balls? I looked at myself and I was like, Lauren, if you need to leave me, I understand. Like, I get it. Like, you may need to go. But it was on your penis. You know that like in Braveheart, like how the dad, like the creepy dad, like lives in the attic and his face is falling off. Like that was me.

I had this super high rise in this place. And I just would sit there in the dark with like a robe and a hood on and just like stare out at the world. Like, I'm never going outside again. Yeah, I look like that. Like Taylor's pulled up the guy from. Oh, my God. Ryan Reynolds.

Insane. OK, that did look like you actually. But guys, if you want to see what he looks like google ryan reynolds deadpool no i'll share it on my social i'll have to share this because people need to see this because this is probably not what you were expecting throw an ashville filter on there and you're good to go wow yeah people and then it just went away like on its own so it went away like i went to the er and then it was there and it went away like slowly but like the discoloration of the skin probably took eight nine months to completely dissipate away so you

should feel like you look like a fucking supermodel right now to this day i do not know what caused it i have no idea i'm not allergic to anything i wasn't particularly stressed michael's rash an autobiography by Michael Bostic. I wouldn't wish this rash on my worst enemy. No, no, no. Okay, let's do a little plot twist. We need to get to this. So you are so beautiful, you guys.

And you have to look at her Instagram. She's like, you're glowing, you're beautiful. What are some beauty tips that you would give our audience? And it could be like, give us some like also beauty wellness tips. Okay. Well, I would say beauty starts on the inside. So it is what you eat, right? So I have to say, I always start my day with warm water and lemon.

I love that. Even when I travel, I email the hotel ahead of time and I ask them to arrange a tea kettle for me and leave some lemons in there. What else do you do when you travel? I feel like you have some good tips. Wait, hold take a plot twist for a minute. You brought us Beverly Hills hotel boxed cookies or muffins? Brownies, zucchini brownies. Tell us how you micromanage this. But

the brownies are not on the menu. You had to get the... No, they're exactly my recipe. I, you know, because if we were, if I had a kitchen here, of course I would bring something. I have to, right? I mean, Chef Nettie in the house. So I couldn't come empty handed. And I emailed the concierge and they maybe thought it was like some sort of a weird request. So they connected me with the chef. And the chef said, sure, you know, we can do that.

But some of the ingredients, like we have to specially order because monk fruit sweetener you know or fiber syrup like they're like what the fuck is that you're telling me that the beverly hills hotel did not have monk fruit sweetener on hand i cannot believe it so yeah i sent them my recipe of zucchini chocolate brownies and they made them and i had a little taste just to see they They taste good. So she brought us Beverly Hills wrapped up zucchini brownies from her website that she had the chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel make and order fiber syrup and monk fruit. You know what?

You sound like my kind of girl. You said something extremely smart there. And future guests should listen. You don't want to come to this show empty-handed, bring brownies, bring treats, bring gifts. That's a very smart strategy. Hold on, I need to go back to your travel requests. Go on, because I'm sure you have a lot.

I mean, that's pretty much it. You make sure there's a kettle with water and lemon. Yeah, sometimes I've been like crazy when I'll literally ask them to empty out the mini bar, because I don't want chocolate and chips and shit like that. Just like if it's not there, out of sight, out of mind, you know, and then I'll go today. I went to creation and I stocked up my mini fridge with juices and I got some bone broth and I got this delicious chocolate chia seed pudding for breakfast, you know, just like having healthy options. I like that instead of having other things that, you know, are there. And if you can come home after having a few drinks, like you can be tempted to that and now it's not there so i'm not gonna have it there's nothing worse than

coming home we've talked about this at a hotel and you're like kind of like buzzed up and they're like ma'am would you like a warm cookie and it's like sizzling like a cartoon with like smoke above the cookie and it's like melting and it's like a delta cookie oh my god it's so hard you know it is and last night i came home after dinner and i ate very small dinner because you know it was i didn't have that much time to eat right so i came home to two chocolate chip cookies next to my bed i'm like are you kidding like i've stayed here a few times like i come back because they love me they They always take care of me. They always upgrade me, you know, and they should have in their system that I've requested.

I don't want the nighttime cookies. Did you eat them? I didn't eat them. But this morning when I woke up, I woke up at 3 a.m. from jet lag and I'm like sitting there. They're staring at you. They're staring at me. I just smelled it and I put it away. I had some fruit and then I went to work out.

See, it sounds like what you do that's different than a lot of people is you plan ahead. I plan ahead. I'm disciplined, you know, and when you're prepared, then you will be successful. What do you bring on the plane from New York to San Diego or from LA? I'll either make a salad. Just like I love iceberg because it doesn't wilt like spinach would so i would do iceberg salad with cucumber a little bit of avocado some green onion and then i'll throw some grilled chicken or grilled shrimp and it's super easy or um now i'm not eating gluten but

when i used to i would make gg crackers because they're so easy to travel with and they're so easy to Take on the plane. Like I just make four gg sandwiches and i'm good to go and they're filling Um, that's what I do. I like gg sandwiches. Yeah, they're so good and I love raw rev bars like those are literally like always in my bag because High fiber high protein low carb. They're vegan three beauty products Probably skincare for this audience that you're obsessed with that are in your bag so i recently started using barbara strom she's amazing and i can't even pronounce one of the uh serums it's like hyaluronic or something

it's that one i love it i'm sure you've tried it. Yeah, Michael. Michael knows better than me. She was just on the show, too. Yeah, I saw. So I just talked to her about it. I like her face cream, too. It's amazing, especially in the winter when your skin is getting dry. I mean, here in LA, it's not like that. But in New York City, we've had such a cold winter.

I also love Sunday Riley's caffeinated eye cream. It really removes dark circles. And it's not very expensive it's totally affordable it's great and i've been using a lot of tracy martin stuff they're non-toxic and all clean products so yeah i pretty much cleaned up a lot of my skincare makeup and everything because i was going crazy i'm, what is causing my hives? There's a store in New York where you can literally bring all of your makeup, your toxic shit, and then you sit down and they'll do your makeup for you. And then you leave with all non

toxic products. It's called Credo in Soho. And it's amazing. That's such a good idea. Yeah. What is the book, a podcast, um, television show that you would recommend to our audience? Any kind of resource. Well, I just started watching Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. So good. What's that? It's not like a documentary. It's just like a fun, easygoing.

It's the one about the woman that starts to be a stand-up comedian? Yeah, yeah. No, you never saw it. It's hard to get into shows with Lauren because she'll get into like one episode and then give up. But I just downloaded The Sopranos because you told me when we were in Stade. And I just started watching. I've never seen it. Can you believe?

So I'm on season one, episode two. The Sopranos is the best show that's ever existed in life. I've watched it three times through. Tony Soprano is my crush. Yeah. You'll fall in love with him. So cute. You'll like, I'm obsessed with him.

I'm going to just work towards that. I'm going to get the big gut. I'm going to bald gonna bald out when you wear your robe you sort of look like him you like let everything hang out in front of me i feel like in front of everyone else you're like all buttoned up and tight but then you just let everything hang out yeah with you and just we're past the effort stage i guess you dicks down your leg i can't help that. Oh, man. Where can everyone find you? Pimp yourself out. Instagram handle, website, everything. Healthywithnetty.com.

Instagram is healthywithnetty, N-E-D-I. That's pretty much all I use. And follow her stories, you guys, because you'll be screenshotting so many things. Thank you for coming on. Thank you for having me. So much fun. Thank you for the brownies and thank you for teaching Lauren how to

not make a soggy pizza. Of course. You do a lot of things that are soggy. We won't get into that. Next time I'm back, we definitely have to cook instead of going out. We'll do one night when we stay in and cook. Come over to my house and you can do it. I'll just drink wine. Just move in next door and then I... No, I'm going to have you making

Nutty Martinis. You've got to contribute to something. Okay, I'll do that. I can do that. If you make a neti martini, we're never going to get to the meal. We're just going to black out and pass out. One time we went out with neti. She literally blacked me out off neti martinis. Michael goes, I don't think vodka's your drink.

I don't think vodka's. I mean, listen, the neti martinis are strong. They are strong. We like them strong. Yeah. Thank you for coming on. Thank you. Since this episode is wellness inspired, I am going to give away a TSC body guide meal plan.

All you have to do is leave your favorite part of this episode on my latest post on Insta. That's at the skinny confidential. Get specific. Tell us what your favorite part was. We're always taking notes on what you guys like and don't like. And on that note, we'll see you on Tuesday. It's my birthday, May 21st. What up? And Jessica Alba's on the show. Fun times. See you guys next week. This episode was brought to you by Blender Bombs. If you don't know what a Blender Bomb is, you guys are missing out. I ate them the whole entire weekend.

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