The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - How To Break Through The Obstacles In Your Life & Focus On Getting What You Want Ft. Saman Munir

Episode Date: December 29, 2022

#530: On today's episode we are joined by Saman Munir. Saman is a Toronto-based certified trainer, Under Armor representative,recipient of American Influencer Award for International Fitness Influencer of the Year2021, mom of three, a proud Muslim woman and the newest addition to the Evolve You app’s all-female global training team. Today we discuss how to break through the obstacles in our lives and really hone in and focus on getting what we want most out of life.  To connect with Saman Munir click HERE To connect with EvolveYou 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) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by AG1 You take one scoop of AG1 and you're absorbing 75 high-quality vitamins, minerals, whole food supported superfoods, probiotics, and adaptogens to help start your day right. This is the best option for easy, optimal nutrition out there. Go to athleticgreens.com/SKINNY and get a free 1 year supply of Vitamin D + 5 travel packs with your first purchase. This episode is brought to you by Live Conscious Beyond Collagen® is your secret ingredient for bringing out the full radiance of your skin, hair, & nails—promoting skin elasticity and firmness. For a limited time, get your next purchase of Beyond Collagen® with an exclusive 15% OFF for TSC listeners only. Go to www.weliveconscious.com/skinny or use code SKINNY on their site. This episode is brought to you by Mindbloom Mindbloom is the leader in at-home ketamine therapy, offering a combination of science-backed medicine with clinician and guide support for people looking to improve their mental health and wellbeing. Go to Mindbloom.com/TSC and use code TSC for $100 off your first six session program. This episode is brought to you by Perfect Snacks Don't go nuts this holiday season, Fuel yourself with Perfect Bar: The original refrigerated protein bar. Go to perfectsnacks.com/skinny to find out how you can try their Refrigerated Protein Bars for free. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. This episode is brought to you by Botanic Tonics. Okay, so they have this wellness tonic. It's called Feel Free. It's like a healthy productivity enhancer and an alcohol alternative. How I like to take this is I get a little Feel Free. I get them at Sun Life or I buy them online, and then I'll take a couple sips and go on a walk with a friend, and it just gives you like all the good vibes. Very much like plant medicine. There's kava in it and other ancient plants. I definitely recommend that you look into it. Obviously do your own research, but the kava gives you like a feeling of calm and relaxation. It's like a wave that washes over you and helps

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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. I was a makeup influencer first before even I became a fitness influencer. I was just, you know, going on YouTube videos, watching makeup. And I wanted to see how to do hijab in a different way. And at that time, know, going on YouTube videos, watching makeup, and I wanted to see how to do hijab in a different way. And at that time, there was no hijab videos. And that's how I

started. I started posting pictures on Facebook with different hijab styles, with makeup. Then my husband's like, you know what, there are not a lot of Muslim couples doing workout together. And I just started posting. It was like a whole journey that I was just like, you know, let's just do it. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the Skinny Confidential Him and Her Show. That clip was from our guest of the show today, Saman Munir. And today we're talking all things health and fitness to round out the year. Saman is a Toronto-based certified trainer, Under Armour representative, recipient of American Influence Award for International Fitness Influencer of the Year in 2021, a mom of three, a proud Muslim woman, and the newest addition to the Evolve U app's all-female global training team. With that, Saman, welcome to the Skinny Confidential, him and her show. This is the Skinny Confidential, him and her.

All right, let's get some context. Give us some background. Where did you grow up? Where were you born? Start with that. Okay, so I was born in Toronto, Canada, but when I was six years old, I moved back to Pakistan. And I came back when I was, I believe, 13 years old. So I studied there from grade two to grade eight. And then I came back here in grade nine. And then since then, I'm here. You moved when you were six years old to Pakistan. Correct. Why did you decide to move? It was my parents' will because they wanted us to learn the culture and the religion, get more closer to the family because we didn't have any family. So it was only my parents here. So they said, OK, let's go back home. But my my father he was there for six months because we thought

that we're going to stay there forever but that didn't happen so after six months he's like I cannot find a job I don't think I'm going to stay here so he moved back and we stayed there for seven years and what is it like without him without him what is it like explain it to someone who's never been to Pakistan what oh my god it's just a different world. Totally different. There's a lot of differences like school, education wise. It's a third world country. You know how it is. So it's nothing like Canada. But then again, you have your family there. You have your culture, your religion and all that stuff. I mean, it's here as well. I felt like I was more closer here in Canada than I was in Pakistan.

So, but it's the family aspect that we have the whole family there. So when you say it's a third world country, you know how it is. Explain more on when you said that. It's not clean. There is load shedding. There is no electricity.

There is no water. If you're rich, you're good. And if you don't have money for middle class, it's just not enough. It's hard. And what is that like growing up as a six-year-old being surrounded by that? It was tough.

It was especially my father not being there and he was in Canada. So he would come visit us once a year and that was really tough. So it was all my mom. She practically raised all three of us. And when your dad came back, did you guys like freak out?

Oh, he would come visit us every December. Okay. So winter holidays. And he'll come with us, stay with us for two weeks, and then he will leave. So we'll be excited. Yeah. To see him. And was his thought that you guys were better being closer to family while he was working?

Correct. Yeah. And what was, I imagine that's a bit of a lifestyle shock when you go from Canada, which is not a third world country, and then you go back and he's going back and forth. So how did that feel as a young girl? So it was obviously difficult for us because we grew up without him, right? And he also got into really bad habits staying by himself. And that's when my mother decided in 1990, or I believe that we're going to move back. We will actually went back to Canada just for a visit. We said, okay, you know what? It's been seven years. You've been coming over. We want to go and visit you now. So when my mom saw my dad,

he's sick and he has diabetic and he had alcohol issues and alcohol is a big no-no in our religion. And my mom was like, that's it. No, I'm going to stay here. I'm going to stay here with you. But I think he had some other issues as well. And after a year or two years later, he left us. He's like, I can't live with you guys. He was so used to living independent. And then he's like, I'm going back home. So he left us. So do you think in hindsight, he was kind of maybe doing that setup, but like was kind of trying to take kind of an easy way to maybe leave without actually having to like officially leave yeah so i i was in high school i remember and i was coming back from school my mom told me she's crying she's like your dad left in a way it was i felt good because he was very abusive when he used to get drunk and that was really tough on my brother my sister sister, and myself, and we were just tired of that lifestyle.

And my mom obviously never said anything. She'd just take it in and all that stuff. So when he was gone, we were kind of happy. We were like, okay, you know what? That's it. It's not going to happen anymore. With your religion and you can't drink, how does one even try alcohol if you can't drink?

Was it something that just happened when he was away and you don't know? There's a lot of good and bad Muslims, right? There's like, in every culture, in every religion, there are good and bad people. So obviously, there are a lot of Muslim people who do drink and all that stuff. But with him, because he was all by himself, nobody was there to say anything. So he just went on like, you know, because he was living on by himself. So I think he just got in the habit of drinking. Did your mom uphold a really religious household when your father wasn't around? Yes, she did. She prays five times a day. She still does till now. She reads Quran and she always told us, you did the same thing, guiding

us on the right path. This is not the right thing. So for her to see him doing all that was so difficult, was so difficult, but she couldn't do anything. Because it's also, I mean, it's also a culture where divorce is not common, correct? So that's also like a very taboo thing. And when you have, your mom was probably in such a tough position raising all of you. And then there's this alcohol abuse going on. And then she's like, well, what am I supposed to do? Cause she's supposed to hold everything together. Absolutely. Because culture and the people, what are people going to say? That was the, that was what I been raised with. What are people going to say? So obviously there I've been raised with. What are people going to say?

So obviously, there was no divorce, but then he left us when we came back to Canada. Is that how you felt like everyone surrounding you was what were people going to say or more like your mom? That's what my mom felt like what people were going to say because that's how she's been raised. I think a lot of people in that generation thought, what are people going to say? Or they were comparing. I feel like there was an element of like, they were brought up on what... And now I think it's more like, who cares? Who cares? Right. No, everyone's like throwing themselves out there. Like, we're just seeing what works. But with my parents and other parents that were their age, I feel like the same kind of like keeping up with the Joneses energy.

Correct. It was always like that. What people are going to say, we can't do this. We can't do that. Your father's not here. You're not allowed to go here. You're not allowed to do that. So there was a lot of restrictions and all that stuff.

And did you have a positive experience with your religion when you were young? Was it all good? I mean, we've had a lot of different people on this podcast talk about positives and negatives. I always had a positive because my mom was there for us. So she's always said, you know, have faith in God because you will get through it. Just pray five times a day. And I tell my kids the same thing. I said, I don't care if you do well in school.

Just pray five times a day. Be on the right path. And that's it. That's what I care about. Because when you're a good Muslim, you will do good things. So for me, it's all about that. Is there a prayer schedule? Yes.

What's the schedule? So one is like before sunrise. Then one I just, before I came, I prayed. And then one is at three o'clock. And then one is at the sunset. And then the last one, the fifth one, is after the sunset. Hold on. I have a question.

Is this in your calendar with alarms? Or do you just automatically do it because you've been doing it since you were little? We have an app. I have a question. Is this in your calendar with alarms or do you just automatically do it? Because you've been doing it since you were little. We have an app. You have an app. Yeah. But obviously with the timings, like you get used to it, you know, okay, you know what? It's three o'clock.

It's time to read. It's like sunset. It's time to read. And then it's like nine o'clock. It's time to read. And is it the same prayer every time or are you actually like, you know, praying for something or praying for people or is it the same every time or different times? It's the same every time, but it's little or more.

It's the same Arabic words that we're reading. So yeah. That is discipline. Yes. I mean, that really, what I think that teaches severe discipline, even to your children. Absolutely. Yeah. Even the, did they wake up before sunrise?

They do. I do. Yeah. Can you take notes here did they wake up before sunrise? They do. I do. Yeah. Can you take notes here? Maybe she's going to start praying here. No, I think that this, this shows discipline. It shows what, after a long time, something that builds up, there's a lot of different things that this shows to a child. I think, you know, religion's always a tough subject, but I think religion, like religion has brought a lot of great things to the world. And it's also, you know, brought a lot of bad things, but if you have, I think religion has brought a lot of great things to the world. And it's also brought a lot of bad things. But I think the morals that religion, especially to young children, it can be a very positive

impact on young children's lives because it gives them that kind of frame of morality. It gives them that discipline. It gives them a higher power. I think that's great. Where I think sometimes it gets out of hand is when people abuse it or they misinterpret it and they use it. Or force it on the kids where I think sometimes it gets out of hand is when people abuse it or they misinterpret and they use it or force it on the kids I cannot force it I tell like I wear hijab I tell my daughter you're 14 I'll tell you I'll guide you but if you don't want to wear it don't wear it well the best thing that you can do I think as a mother is show them correct you when

they see you doing it exactly I think it has nothing to do with saying you have to do this you have to do that like when they see their mother my daughter watches me meditate all the time and the other day she you know she's two and she was laying there with her eyes closed but she said told me she was meditating so because she's seen me do it and if she hadn't seen me do it and I told her meditate meditate meditate she probably wouldn't absolutely all right how did you come back to the United States I know you said your husband's from South Africa. How did you meet him? Tell us the story. I thought you said South Africa.

No, he's from South Africa, but Canada. She's in Canada. No, I know you're in Canada, but you said your husband's from South Africa. You said United States. You said you actually said United States. It's okay. Sorry, guys. You said your husband's from South Africa.

Correct. Not United States. How did you meet him? Tell us that story. So we met in Toronto. We met in Toronto and I did tell my mom about him. And my mom said, hell no. What was the reasoning? Because he's South African. Why? Why? Why? Why? I want to understand that. So religion does not say that. Islam says that you can marry another Muslim person. Does not matter what country

they're from, but it's the culture. It's the culture because she's been raised that way. She knew my father was not there. She's like, okay, what are people, like I said, what are people going to say? Someone got married to South African, her father left and now she's doing this and she's doing that. So that was really hard for her to digest that my daughter is going to get married to a South African. First of all, she did not even know. Like when you say South Africa, she thought it was not a Muslim person. I said, no, mom, he's Muslim. His background is Indian. He's still, but no, it has to be Pakistani. What if he wasn't Muslim? Would she have been even more mad? Oh my God. Let's not even go there. Really? Let's not even go there. Let me ask you this. Is that

a generational thing with your mother? If your daughter grew up and married someone who's not Muslim, what would you do? I can't do anything. I can't do anything. There's nothing that I can do. I prefer my daughter marrying a Muslim. I don't care what color. I don't care what background. I don't care if he's a convert. I would love her to marry. But if she finds somebody else, what can I do? I'm not going to disown her. She's still my daughter. Right. You can't control it. Exactly. Whatever happens. Yeah, it happens. Okay. So when you introduced your mom to your boyfriend at the time, what did she do? What did she say? What did she do? She was like, no, this is not going to happen. It's never going to happen. You are not going to marry him. So the way I introduced was like, I met him and then we knew each other for a couple months.

And then I told my mom and the whole family came over and my mom like said, OK, but she's like, nope, it's not going to happen. I'm not happy with this. It's never going to happen. So he left. He went to South Africa. Wow. In front of him, she said.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. In front of the whole family, not just him, the whole family. She's like, nope, not happening. So a lot of this is like a family decision everybody gets together and it's like we're all here we're all making we're all part of this yeah you had an opposite experience you said i don't give a fuck what my family's saying i'm just gonna do what i want that's not true i can't just it wasn't as much of a group consensus i guess in my case so when your mom gives you this information are you like laughing because you're going to do it anyway? Or are you freaking out?

No, I'm not going to do it. I will go with her will. I can't because she's been so much hurt from my dad and I didn't want to hurt her further. So I said, okay, fine. Then I won't. So there's people out there that are not marrying the loves of their life

because of their parents is what you're telling me. Yeah, who could be? But now the time has changed. People out there that are not marrying the loves of their life because of their parents is what you're telling me. Yeah. Well, could be. But now the time has changed. So what happened? We're not going to do that. How did it end up working out? Okay.

So he came back after one and a half year and he's like, I'm coming back. I said, I was still not married or anything. So there was nothing going on. So he's like, I was like, yeah, but my mom said no to you already. And then what happened what once I got a text message and at that time I was going to the gym and all that and my brother goes who's is that your trainer I said no it's it's Fahim and and he goes oh he's back I say yeah he is I so I told him the whole situation and he's like okay I'll talk to him with me

so he came over again after one and a half year and i think at that time when he came it was 23 he was only i think 23 or 24 i can't remember he's two years younger than me and for that time he looked very young and now after a year later he looked he i think he was working out he looked more built so he looked more better and then my mom was like okay but even that it took her a while to accept him and now it's like oh my god i wish my son was like him he's the best son-in-law i love him so much quick break to talk about AG1 Athletic Greens. We have been screaming praise about this business, this brand for so long.

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And what are you saying? Maybe we're not going to be that strict in other areas. We're not going to be that strict. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. When you say that strict to someone like me who grew up very free-flowing, kind of beat to the tune of my own drum, I don't think I understand what you mean what do you mean very strict like give me some things like some little details that

is very strict like I will allow her to marry whoever she wants to marry I'm not gonna be like oh no this guy is like South African or he's this or he's that from that background I don't care what is other things that happened that were so strict you look back you're like oh my gosh that was so strict oh my mom didn't allow us to go to the malls girls don't go to the malls girls don't go to the gym girls don't do this girls so it's like we never did anything you stayed at home until i started working did you have to cook clean like keep up the house she wanted me to yeah she wanted to teach me how to cook. I hate cooking. I'm sorry.

That's something I can't do. You guys got something to call me here. I can't cook. So when you decide to marry him, what was the wedding like and how quickly did you guys have kids? What is your family like? I want to get into your entrepreneurial endeavors

after that. But first, tell us when you guys got married, what was the wedding good vibes? Was everyone on the same page when you had kids? Oh, everybody was on the same page when we got married. Everybody was happy wedding good vibes? Was everyone on the same page when you had kids? Oh, everybody was on the same page when we got married. Everybody was happy. They were happy that it's happening.

Then when my daughter was born, I was working before my daughter was born. I was working as a document specialist in an aerospace company called Honeywell. And me and my husband decided that once we have kids, I'm not going to work. I'm going to stay home, take care of the kids. And that's exactly what we did. So I left my career. And then when did you decide to get into what you're doing now? Tell us exactly when you had the epiphany to start what you're doing and how that sort of started. So I was a makeup influencer first before even I became a fitness influencer. When I had my daughter, I was just, you know, going on YouTube videos, watching makeup, and I wanted to see how to do hijab in a different way. And at that time, there was no hijab videos. So I said, you know what,

maybe I should start doing something on Facebook. And that's how I started. I started posting pictures on Facebook with different hijab style with makeup. I started getting like business from other brands, like Islamic brands, it starts sending me hijabs, starts sending me makeup from different brands. Like I got Too Faced, you know, you name it, all types of makeup. And, you know, just started doing videos and all that kind of stuff. I did that for seven, eight years. And then my husband's like, you know what? There are not a lot of Muslim couples doing workout together. Why don't you create another account and start doing fitness? Because I always liked fitness. I was always in it, but I was not, I didn't have the positive

mindset. It was like, how can I get skinny? How can I just lose weight? How can I be a size zero? So that was my mindset. So at that time I said, okay, you know what? Let's just do it. He suggested it. That's why it's called SFM underscore fitness. Someone my name and then his name Fahim. And then we both have the same last name. So we started off. And then a week later, he's like, I'm too busy. You do it yourself. So I started doing posting everything on on my Instagram page, on my fitness page. And I started going to UFC. That's after my third child. I said, okay, you know what? I'll join the gym. And when I started joining the gym, I started posting videos on my workouts from the UFC gym. And I started tagging UFC. So UFC gym said, you know what?

You don't have to pay any membership. Just keep on tagging us, promoting us. And just from there, it started from one to the other. And then I started tagging all the brands, Under Armour and all those other, you know, Nike, Adidas. And then I emailed everybody. And then I said tagging all the brands, Under Armour, and all those other, you know, Nike, Adidas. And then I emailed everybody.

And then I said, you know what, I would like to collaborate with you guys. And then Under Armour was the only one that came back to me and said, okay, you know what, we will take you as an influencer. And what were the workouts that you were doing? Oh, just like normal workouts, like kettlebell, functional training, HIIT training. My form was not even good because I just started. And I just started posting. It was like a whole journey that I was just like, you know, let's just do it. I think people like that, though. I don't think they want the perfection at the end of the tunnel. I think they like to see the evolution of the person. I'm even like

with TikTok, like people just like like to see what's really happening. I feel like what kind of messages do you get from your community? Oh, they love it. They are so inspired. They want to do it. Even the male, the guys, they will message me like, oh, we can't even do what you're doing. We're so proud of you. And all types of messages, positive. And there's some negative as well. Well, I imagine, especially from what you explained coming from Pakistan and the culture you come from and saying that women aren't even allowed to go to the gym in some cases, it's probably inspiring to a lot of women that come from your culture to see you not only doing these things, but building a substantial career at the same time. So I imagine you get a lot of, I mean, that must make you feel good to get those kind of messages. Correct.

That is true. Yeah, because I would say like my mom was a bit different, but I know that a lot of Pakistani parents do allow, they do give a lot of freedom to their kids. I think my mom was in a situation because she grew up that way and because my father was not there, so she was strict with us. But I know a lot of friends of mine who are Pakistani who have a lot of freedom. They go out, they travel with their friends, even they're not married. But with me, it was not, I had no choice like that. I could only travel if I'm working. Do you like living in Toronto now? Do you ever miss living in Pakistan? No. Never?

No, I love living in Toronto. I don't think I want to go back, no. And why? Why don't you want to go back? It's just the way things are. Like there's no electricity, there's no water. I do miss my family. My sister lives there. She lives there. She moved from here to there after she got married. But I think the lifestyle here is so much better. It's busy. I mean, I understand like, you know, she has a good lifestyle too because she doesn't have

to work. She has maids and she can do whatever she wants. But I like the lifestyle here more because there's more security. There's more opportunities. A lot of things. I think I'm just so intrigued because I've never been there. And when you've never been somewhere, you can look at pictures all day long, but it's not the same to actually go there and feel it and smell it and see it. And so I think it's I keep asking you so many questions about that because I've never been there. And I think a lot of people listening probably have never

been there. So it's interesting. The pollution itself, it's just horrible. Like 3,000 times worse than LA, right? Oh my God. I don't know about LA, but it's really bad. It's really polluted. Yeah. So now that you have your business, what are you working on now? How are you growing the business? How are you evolving it? So I'm a trainer with, obviously, for EvolveU. I'm their sixth trainer. So I've been doing that plus with Under Armour. I've been working with them as well. So I've created a program with Evolve U called Focus Program. We have like beginners, intermediate and advanced program. So it's like

a hit style program. Anyone can do it. It's not like you have to be an athlete to try the program. Do you have equipment? No. So for my program, athlete to try the equipment. No, no. So for my my program, you don't need equipment, maybe a dumbbell. But for the beginners, you don't even need to use that. So there's no body weight. Yeah, no excuses. It's like literally less than 30 minutes. And it's for everybody. It's for everybody. Like I said, you don't have to be an athlete. You anyone can do it. And do you have any products that you're working on? Are you doing anything in the business world or is it just focused on the app that you're doing right now? Focused on the app right now.

Yeah. Are you guys just growing and expanding it? Cool. What advice do you have for entrepreneurs that maybe are starting something new and they're nervous? So that's not my app. That is Chrissy Chella's app. Got it.

Right. So I'm just a trainer. No, but you're also very entrepreneurial. What you started and what you did with your makeup and everything. I don't do anything with makeup anymore. I'm done with that. But I mean, you have entrepreneurial spirit. Yes, I did.

Yeah, yeah, no, no, I did. I did. Like I work with a lot of brands and stuff like that. You know, just even people ask me right now, how did you got with Under Arm? I said, just email them, tag them. They watch your stories. They do watch your posts. They might not reply to you, but it doesn't hurt to, you know, email everybody.

I also think too, if you're listening and you want to work with a brand and you don't want to like tag the brand big, you can always tag the brand small. So if there's a brand that I absolutely love that I'm dying to work with, like let's just say Yeti because I have one in front of me.

What I'll do is I'll tag at Yeti, post my Yeti, but I'll shrink it to be really, really, really, really small so no one can see it but Yeti. But they can see it. There you go. But they can see it. And then that's like a way to just get attention to be like, hey, I love your brand. I'm a big fan.

But you're not obnoxious about the tag and like annoying your audience. True, true, true. I think that has worked really well. You are a mother. You're a wife. You have a business. How do you balance everything? Oh, my God. Do you have like a very set schedule? It's not easy. Oh my God. It's tough. Well, because all three of my kids go to school. So it's easy for me to, you know, drop them off

to school. And that's when I do my workout videos and all that stuff. So right after they're like, you know, in school, that's my time to, you know, do whatever I can do, like my emails and my workouts, my recording and all that stuff. What about nighttime though? Because it's a lot to wind down at night. Especially we have a two-year-old, like I said. Who is it? We have a two-year-old.

Oh, wow. We have a two-year-old and a four-month-old. Do you have any wind down tips? Last night she was up till 10 p.m. I remember at that time, oh my goodness, it was tough. Like my husband helped me a lot. I'm not going to lie my husband helped me a lot I'm not gonna lie he helped me a lot like he will get up at nighttime and do whatever you're looking at he does too no he does he does I'm looking at him like you're gonna put me on blast don't help

yeah but I'm so lucky that my husband is very very supportive like even through my pregnancy he helped me a lot after I had them like, like, you know, giving them a bath, making them food, everything, like he really took care of me. All right. Let me tell you about Mindbloom. This is actually going to blow your mind. Mindbloom is the leader in at-home ketamine therapy, which offers a combination of science-backed medicine with a clinician and guided support for people who are looking to improve their mental health and wellbeing. I initially found out about this through a girlfriend who was struggling with depression so bad. She had done sort of everything and she finally tried at-home ketamine therapy and it changed her life. So Mindbloom connects

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This is a really cool tool to have in your toolbox for mental health and wellbeing. I've heard so many good things about this. You can let Mindbloom guide you and just really help with your mental health. Right now, Mindbloom is offering all our listeners $100 off your first six session program when you sign up for mindbloom.com slash TSC and use promo code TSC at checkout. You're going to go to mindbloom.com slash TSC promo code TSC for a hundred dollars off your first six session program today. That's mindbloom.com slash TSC promo code TSC. All right. So recently I organized my entire fridge. I just wanted it streamlined so Zaza could open up the refrigerator and grab a healthy snack. I have the fruit in one place. I have the

cheeses. I have the meats, everything so she can grab it. And of course, I also have snacks. And one of the snacks that we have are perfect bars. So these are made with freshly ground nut butter, organic honey, and 20 organic superfoods. But most important to me is that each Perfect Bar contains 17 grams of protein per bar. So Zaza can grab that. She gets a little treat because they have flavors like dark chocolate chip peanut butter, coconut peanut butter, and salted caramel. But she's also getting the protein.

And really important to me, they're made with all whole food ingredients, and they contain no artificial preservatives. So I store them in the protein. And really important to me, they're made with all whole food ingredients and they contain no artificial preservatives. So I store them in the fridge. I like to keep them cold. You can grab one after a workout. This is like such a great way to wind down at night with a cup of tea or a snack. Like I said, they're all non-GMO, project verified, gluten-free, soy-free, kosher, and low GI. The one that I'm personally into, and so is Michael, is the dark chocolate chip peanut butter with sea salt. So good. It has like the perfect texture and the sea salt's absolutely delicious. They also come in snack size and the snack size is great to travel with.

I just pack them in Zaza's lunch or I'll put them in the diaper bag and they have six grams of protein in the snack size ones. Absolutely amazing, delicious. Perfect Bar knows it will be love at first bite. So for a limited time, they're offering you a chance to try their refrigerated protein bars for free, you guys. So here's how it works. You sign up for email or text and upload a picture of your receipt from your local grocery store, and they'll reimburse you for the cost of one bar directly into your Venmo or PayPal account. Pretty cool, right? All you have to do is go to perfectsnacks.com slash skinny to get a free perfect bar today. That's perfectsnacks.com slash skinny. You get a free perfect bar today. Happy snacking. It's important to have a husband that helps, especially if you're going to work. My thing is if I'm going to work, then you got to help. It's like a 50-50 thing, right? Absolutely.

Yeah. I have like a friend that the husband won't change any diapers. They won't wake up. That's not fair. I feel like that would end in divorce with you and I. Well, I think it's strange. I mean, I want to help, right? And my children, I don't, like, obviously I want to help my wife,

but I also want to help my children. I always find it strange when guys like set lines in the sand and like, I'm not changing a diaper and I'm not doing this. Like, oh man, you know? I honestly thought it was like our culture lines in the sand. I'm not changing a diaper and I'm not doing this. I honestly thought it was our culture thing, but it seemed like it's everywhere. It's not just a cultural thing. Some men just don't want to do it.

I think you're right. I think there are some cultures that are stronger with that masculine feminine line. But I think there is any culture where someone's like, I'm the man and you're the woman. They kind of create these weird weird rules that I don't think need to exist anymore. Correct. I think it's probably more damaging at this point than helpful, right?

Yeah. And that's how my parents were. Like my father would drink coffee and he would not pick up his cup. What? Yeah, he would just drink coffee and leave it there. And then my mom has to pick it up. Oh, I thought you were saying like he wouldn't even drink the put put the cup to his lips. Like she was like holding the cups. I was like, wow. I was like, well, maybe we're going to try that one. Actually. I am pretty

tired in the morning. I thought he was like sitting back and he's being like, put the coffee to my lips. Put your coffee cup away. You got to put your coffee cup away. Yeah. Michael's pretty good. I got to give my, I would give Michael a 10 out of 10. I mean, he woke up with the baby three times last night, I think. I was asleep. Yeah, she does this thing. She's like, don't worry. I'll get up in the night. She doesn't get up.

That's not my specialty. You know what? My specialty is carrying the baby for 10 months. There you go. You're welcome. I carried the baby for 10 months. You can wake up a couple times in the middle of the night. I'm sorry. I really, truly feel like that. I don't care if that's delusional. I like

literally sometimes when he's like carrying all this stuff, I'm like, well, I carried the baby. Yep. So did you and your dad ever recover? My dad passed away when I was pregnant with my daughter. I'm sorry. Yeah. My dad passed away when I was so, yeah, he called my mom and he asked to, you know, forgive him. And my mom said, yeah, that's fine. You know, come back if you want to. My mom is very forgiving. That's one thing that she taught us. You know what? Just forgive someone. It's okay. Life goes on. I agree with your mom. It's, I feel like it's liberating and free for the person to be able to, you feel. You have that peace of, exactly. You have that peace of mind. Yeah. So you are very into fitness. It's a huge part of your life. What are some wellness food tips

for our audience? What are things that you grab on the go? Breakfast, lunch, dinner? We would love to hear it all. I'm not going to lie. I'm not very disciplined when it comes to food. I don't lie. If you if you're like I eat McDonald's. Great. No, McDonald's. But I try my best. I love sugar. I just ate sneakers before I came here. I love the honesty. What I would say is like, obviously eat your vegetables, your foods, your protein. That is a must.

I mean, I do eat healthy food as well, but I indulge. There is no way that I just can't eat. I just can't eat clean all the time. No, it's not happening. I love my brownies. I gotta eat it. I love my cookies. Is there any food that we need to try that you would always eat in pakistan that's so good that we probably haven't

tried because we're have you tried butter chicken because that's the famous thing that every briyani chicken briyani oh what's that oh no maybe we've tried i don't know what's butter chicken butter chicken is like it's chicken cubes marinated in like yogurt and like spices and a little bit of butter and everything. Yeah. You gotta try butter chicken and naan. This could be your one dish you learned to make me. What kind of yogurt?

Greek? No. Just any plain yogurt. Just plain yogurt and butter. Yeah. No, no. But it's been cooked. It's been all marinated with spices and all that.

Don't cook like that. I'll look it up. I'll look it up. Yeah. Butter chicken, biryani. Chicken biryani, meat biryani, veal biryani. Ooh, veal biryani. Sounds good. Yeah, it's so. Yeah, butter chicken, biryani, chicken biryani, meat biryani, veal biryani. Ooh, veal biryani sounds good. Yeah, it's so good.

I'm a big veal fan. Okay, you got to try the veal biryani. Okay, I got to try it. I got to come to Toronto because I feel like you probably know the spots to go to. Oh, absolutely. If you could leave our audience with a piece of advice that you think would really change their life, out of everything you've learned in your life, what would it be? Just do whatever you want to do. You know, don't let people tell you what to do, what not to do, especially for the

Muslim girls. Like, don't let your hijab prevent you from doing anything. A lot of people, girls think, you know, they're hijabi, they cover themselves, they can't do this. You can. Explain what you mean by that. Because there's a stereotype, like, you know, you hear it all the time, Muslim women don't do this, Muslim women are oppressed. That's not true. I'm a mother. I have three kids. I have an amazing husband. I do whatever I want to do.

And he's very supportive of what I do. So I don't want people to think like, you know, Muslim women are oppressed. We're not. If you ask my husband, he's going to tell you straight up, he's oppressed. And I say, shut up, you're not oppressed. Well, I think you're right. Especially in this culture, if you see people that are ignorant and see a woman covered up, they think, oh, somebody

must be forcing her to be covered up. Exactly. Right. And they think, oh, they're not allowing her to uncover. Yeah. And that's my choice. It's not his choice. It's not anyone's choice.

It's not my parents' choice. It's my choice. Because I had it on when my sister put it on, and then I took it off. I was like, you know what? I'm not comfortable. I don't want to put it on my job. And then when I turned 23, I just decided, I'm like, you know what? No, I want to put it on. You know, what's interesting that you just say that at the end is that one of the reasons I wanted to have you on on the podcast

is because exactly what you just said. I feel like a lot of people think, oh, you're oppressed. But to me, when I looked at your page and saw what you were doing, you didn't feel oppressed at all. And so I think that's an important conversation to have for someone to come out and say, I want to wear this. I'm not oppressed. I'm doing whatever I want. That's cool.

Well, I think the difficulty is in some places there are obviously people that are oppressed. Correct. And in those cases, obviously they're not making that choice. Correct.

But it's not, that's not applicable to everybody. Absolutely, yeah. That's true. That's not what Islam teaches us. I think that's where the culture comes in the oppression comes from the culture not from the religion if the religion doesn't teach that is this just some bad characters taking advantage of misinterpreting the quran or something like that yep yep yeah so they've taken this frustrating though for someone like you who doesn't feel oppressed at all right no

yeah yeah because it is, I mean, especially if you, it's a beautiful religion, but to your point, there's a lot, I mean, in any religion, there's a lot of evil that comes out of any.

And I think if you have these kind of people that can take advantage and like twist words and then. Makes a huge difference. Yeah. I think it's awesome

what you're doing. I think it's really cool. And you're beating to the tune of your own drum. Where can everyone find you? Tell us how they can work out with you. Give us all the details. So you guys can find me on Instagram, SFM underscore fitness, even on TikTok, SFM underscore

fitness. And then if you can download the app, Evolve You, there are six trainers. We're all doing like there's yoga, there's barre, there is HIIT. My program is called HIIT Focus Program, which like I said, it consists of three levels, beginners, intermediate and advanced. And you can try whatever you want. And like I said, you don't have to be an athlete. You don't have to be super fit to try my program. It's for anybody and for anyone, especially for the moms who don't have time because it's less than 30 minutes. You don't need to, you know, you don't need a gym membership and you don't need much equipment,

just a dumbbell or maybe a resistant band. It really is no excuse. Nope. You can do it when the kids are screaming. Absolutely. You're sleeping. Yeah, sleeping. Well, mine's not sleeping until 10 p.m. So I'm exhausted. Thank you for coming on. It was very nice to meet you. Thank you. Everyone go follow. Thank you so much. Wait, don't go. Do you want to win a TSC beauty and wellness package for me? It's a great way to Thank you so much. I hope you guys are relaxing so you can feel so rejuvenated for a new year. Cheers.