Well with Arielle Lorre - 28: DR. MONA VAND - The Ultimate Girl Talk

Episode Date: October 23, 2019

In this episode I talk to Dr. Mona Vand about all things beauty and wellness - mind AND body. We discuss everything from turning passion into purpose to managing stress, boundaries with social media, veganism, how to read food labels and clean beauty. We also talk a lot about Transcendental Meditation as Mona is the first guest I have had on who does it too!    If you haven't already, you can support the show by leaving a review and subscribing. I appreciate you! ❤️   Follow Arielle on Instagram: www.instagram.com/ariellelorre Follow the show on Instagram: www.instagram.com/theblondefilespodcast  Follow Dr. Mona Vand on Instagram: www.instagram.com/drmonavand Visit Dr. Mona Vand's YouTube: www.youtube.com/drmonavand Visit Dr. Mona Vand's website: www.drmonavand.com   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Auto-hure with Sunny Cars feels as if the children not be made. Giselsrand, the sand-vorder. Actis-vercere, verdwined. Vacanty can chaotic

but who zorgloose an auto-hurt says, Uno dos no stress. No, no-vervicted costs, always full-ledged. So, would auto-hue

without your re-sadviseur or sunnycars. combe. My guest today is Dr. Mona Band. Jonah is a former pharmacist and wellness aficionado who believes health comes from movement, nutrition, and the mind. She regularly posts super informative videos on all topics ranging from diet to skin care on her

mega popular YouTube channel. And she is the queen of valuable content over on Instagram. So make sure you're following her. This is like the ultimate girl talk episode. We had a blast talking about everything from diet to lashes to skincare, clean beauty. And I was so excited because she is a fellow transcendental meditator. That's right. She does TM also.

I know a lot of you guys are interested in meditation. And so we get into it and talk a lot about that. And it was just so much fun talking. So I hope you guys enjoy this. If you like this episode or if you are just enjoying the podcast in general, you can show support for the show by leaving a five-star review and subscribing. It makes a huge difference in getting the podcast out there among the sea of podcasts. And I really, really truly appreciate it. Everybody who has already done so, it really means the world to me.

So with that, let's get to the episode. I'm Ariel Lori and this is the Blonde Files podcast where I talk to experts, influencers, and inspirational people in the world of wellness and beyond. All right, so I'm here with Dr. Mona Van. Welcome. Thank you. So happy to be here. Thank you so much for coming.

I feel like it's too bad that we're not actually recording this because she looks very chic right now. Oh, thank you. I'm like sure like schleppy growth. It's a hot day. And she's like in this. All black always pulls off a little bit of chicness. Totally.

Totally. Sorry. Top bun, all black and you're like good to go. Yeah. I think I can't remember if I heard it on a podcast or I was reading it like while I was preparing for this and you said that you like to have your lashes done and your brows filled in and a spray tan. And I said to Kennedy like, this is my kind of person.

This is literally all you need. Yeah. And you don't have to. It saves your skin because you're not clogging your pores with makeup. Yeah. And it just gives you like a glow. like you feel awake. Yeah.

I'm very open about like beauty things that I've done and I've done everything, like surgeries and I did threads recently. I was actually looking at your stuff and I saw you post about threads. I do it all and like microblading and lashes and this, that, and the other. But I always tell people like I do it all so that I can like roll out of bed and not do anything. It's a do more so you have less make use. Yeah, it's what did we decide? Unnaturally natural.

I actually just saw you post. about the last place you go and I've been looking for a place in New York and I saw them but I sometimes when you go into a studio it's not as good but I feel like I would trust your opinion so I might check them out so I maybe not I wouldn't so I had not the greatest experience today but it was maybe because I didn't communicate to them like I'm very usually I'm very particular about what I want and I've been going there for years and they always do a great job is it always the same technician oh no okay no so I just use whoever because I'm here like different times And I always book last minute.

And I always, they last like three weeks, sometimes a month, like a long time. And today, and I don't know, I'm going through a phase where I'm trying to like wean myself off them a little bit. So I like them more like sparse and like kind of and I didn't tell her that. And so she did like the full, like I felt too full for you. And I was like, I have stripper lashes. Down as you don't look. But yeah, yeah. They always feel worse to yourself.

Yeah. And they give you a foot massage while you're doing it, which is like what sold me. me. But also I feel like when you know when someone's a good technician if the lashes don't twist, I've had them literally for seven years. And everyone's like, oh, like, do they ruin your lashes? And I've gone through probably four or five people. Everyone except for this one person in L.A. I went to were never, ever twists. And so they were perfect. But I tried someone in New York a week ago, and they're already like twisting and hurting. So I need to keep finding. So you need to share with me. Who did you go to in L.A.? That's my biggest problem. She's called Little Lash Girl.

Okay. She's on, I hope I actually help her business. People listen to this. It's on Third and Crescent. Okay. Not third, a little after Crescent. I can't think of the Cross Street. She's just like, she works out of a little studio.

She's honestly incredible. There's been like twice where she's been like, you need a little break, so let's take wait a week. And she's super honest. Literally never had any pain. None of them twisted off. None of them come off. Like, it's just a really good job.

I need some more good in L.A. Because I just go to Blank Bar. I don't know if you've been there. I've heard of that, but I haven't actually been. They have a bunch of locations now, so it's super convenient. Okay. And I bet everyone didn't know that we were doing a podcast for lashes. Maybe edit some of this after making sure.

But yeah, I mean, it's super convenient, but they never, they last like a week, and they're always twisting, and so. That's how you damage them. Yeah. So title this, tips on launch extensions. It's 101. Yeah, so I like to, like I said to you before, really kind of like learn about people's own journeys with wellness. You have a really interesting background and education. So I'd just like to rewind.

And were you always interested in wellness? Or when did you decide to go this route? I mean, I didn't know what I wanted to do in high school, but just being Persian were raised very, like, education focused. So it was either like, am I going to be a doctor or a lawyer? It's kind of like the only profession you know. And pharmacy at the time was kind of a newer, like, hot career, especially for women, because it was like you can apply to this program,

you go six years straight, you don't have to reapply to grad school, you're already in it. You know, you can do three or 40 weeks at 10 or 12 hour days. So if you have kids, like, these were all things. I was like, okay, this would be like a great job for a woman. And I was like, let me just enroll into it and then I'll see where it goes. So I loved studying it, actually. I liked that I was getting a degree, but then from day one just hated it. I didn't really start getting into wellness or health until my last year of pharmacy school because the workload kind of slowed down. The first five years, I was just living the library. I was like actually bring a pillow to library with me. Wow. We would take naps in there,

like during finals. Oh my God. So my last year when I were on rotations, I like decided to join a gym. I was like, I really want to try to get fit because I was, you know, not 100% where I wanted to be. And then I just, I think when you find a workout you like before that I didn't like it, I like discovered cardio kickboxing and it was so fun. And that just kind of started my like addiction, obsession to wellness. And then when I moved to L.A., um, And my dad lives after college, I started working as a pharmacist but hated it. But then I was surrounded by L.A. culture where everything's like health and wellness and yummy little cafes and vegan food. And that's kind of where it all, you know, grew from there.

Yeah, I'm so curious because there's like such a large discrepancy between pharmacy and medicine and like this kind of holistic wellness lifestyle. So how did you kind of try to kind of transition. So I liked studying pharmacy, but then I hated working at a pharmacy. And I felt like I wasn't using anything I learned. People would just come in with prescriptions for everything. And I just, honestly, to be totally real, I hated the day to day. I didn't want to walk into like a CVS every day. It's like, who wants to walk into like a fluorescent lit with like lame music? It was so bad. Especially after all that work. I was like, oh, finally, I get to live my life. And then I was like, oh my god I have all these student loans and I can't leave and I was it freaked me out um so then I would

start then I was just like maybe I don't like the hustle and bustle of retail so after a year I like quit and went to a independent pharmacy which was like Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and it was super chill it was like closed door so basically I didn't ever have people coming in we just did stuff online and I was like this is great I can wear whatever I want no then like after two years of that I was like okay and I'm still not fulfilled so I think I realized um it was was more what I missed in college was there was always his end goal. And I feel like when you're not working towards something, you get very bored. You're like, I'm just going to the same thing. It doesn't really matter what I do. I just have to show up and do my job and leave. And there's

nothing that's ever going to change. So blogging was just kind of up and coming then. And Dr. Oz was really big then. And I was like, maybe I can do this. Actually, one of the first friends I met in LA was a news anchor for KTLA. And she was like, you should be like the medical expert that comes on. So that was my original career goal. I was like, okay, that's what I want to start. How can I be that person for like the Today Show and whatever? No, social media wasn't even a thing yet. So that's where it started.

And then, you know, years later, kind of turned into this. I'm kind of curious. This might be such a random question, but like, did you have a, what was the craziest thing that happened when you were a pharmacist? Did you have, like, drug addicts coming in and trying to, like, fill opioids and stuff? Oh, yeah. We had, actually, maybe. first day ever training as a pharmacist in California. They made you do like a week or two of training at Rite Aid. That's where I was working. And I was in Venice. And people in California are way more

demanding just so you know, like in Boston or like, you know, upstate New York. I worked a little bit at pharmacies. If a patient gives you attitude, you kind of give it back and that's just the end of it. But it is not like that. And I like this one guy was like standing over the counter being like, you guys like don't even look like you're working back there. Or what are you guys doing? and I said something back to him, like I kind of snapped back at him. Like, well, you can't actually see what we're doing. And I was a woman. I'm sorry.

And then she was like full on had a freak out at me like, you're not going to be behind that counter all day. Wait, I'll jump over that counter and kick your ass. Like wait until you get out of work. I'm going to be waiting in the parking lot for you. And like no one even jumped in to help me. And I remember like crying that day. And I was like, I can't do this.

It's horrible. But then I've also had like the people who get their opioids every month. And then every month, it's like three days early. Three days early. And especially at independent pharmacies, a lot of the owners when they know patients, you know, as a pharmacist, you can use your best judgment to override it. Sometimes they'll be like, he's fine. But I was always very like, this is my license.

I don't care. Like, I'm not going to do it. And so one guy was actually a lawyer, but he was like an addict and was just like, would threaten pharmacy laws at me. I'm going to sue you because you're putting me at harm on the patient. Like we'd get crazy people that would try to. I was like, I don't care. Even when I go to pick up a prescription or something, I mean, it's like even with the education

and not saying that anybody is better than anyone else, like people still treat pharmacists like shit. They literally do. They just think and there's something wrong with their clerk call. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I got more asked for the bathroom key or for like, you know, how much is it? Like it was very rare.

Can I ring this up here? Yeah. Or not understanding why, like, let's say we had to look over their other drugs to find an interaction. It's just the level of respect. for like anyone at a pharmacy is just always really low. So I just didn't like it. So what were the steps that you took? Like when you knew that you wanted to pursue something else,

did you feel like you had to like, like you were kind of stuck there and you had to see it through? Or did you just make a decision to leave? What was that like? Well, I definitely, the student loan thing was huge and I was worried about that. But so I was kind of like, okay, what can I do? Once I kind of figured out, I actually asked a friend of mine at the time, she was really into web design and my first idea was to be a private consultant so I'm like maybe people

can pay me to be their private pharmacists you know like like maybe like elderly people like to go over their prescriptions and kind of manage them so I was like I need a website so I asked her to help me build a website and then she was like no no no you need to go see markey costello and figure out what your brand is and like the word brand was not a thing this was like 2011 or 2000 yeah 2011 so I called Markey Costello's office, which she's like, you know who she is? It sounds familiar, but now. She's, like, the hosting guru. Like, she teaches people how to host.

I think she taught, like, Ryan Sechrest and, um, what's the guy on E? One of the main ones, Jason's something. Yeah, he's the thing she, like, managed him for a while. So I went, I was like, oh, I want to have a meeting with Markey. And they were like, everyone has to first do her boot camp. And I was like, okay, so you have to pay, like, $500 and do this, like, 20-person bootcamp where you have to go up and, like, read off a teleprompter, which for me at the time, I had never, I was dying.

So I had to go through this like all day boot camp. And, you know, I was working as a pharmacist. I was like, like, $500 was like a lot for me to like invest in that. Then I could do a meeting with her where I think I had to pay more even for the one hour meeting. And then I told her my idea. I was like kind of told her what I was going for. And I'll never forget.

It was like January 10th, I think 2013. And she was like, I love this idea. She's like, we're going to call you the model pharmacist. kind of like the model citizen. And she's like, if you work hard at this, there is no reason why it shouldn't work. And I remember like literally tearing up in the meeting. And she was like, are you getting emotional? And I was like, yeah.

I think it was like the validation that I needed to be like, okay, maybe this is like what I could really do with my life. So from them, you know, for then I was like, okay, let me build a website. And she was like, why don't you start taking my classes? You need to learn how to speak on camera and you've got to start doing like videos. So then I did like six months over classes and learned like how to like connect to the audience and speak in front of a camera, which I think helped a lot. Then built a website. Then, you know, lots of bumps in the road and eventually realized that websites were not the thing and it was all about social media.

So like maybe almost a year and a half or two years after that actually started with social media. So there's a lot of delays. Yeah. What was your family? Were they supportive? Or were they like, what are you doing? I definitely more like, what are you doing? Well, actually, when I first went to the meeting with Markey in the first like seven or eight months, when I was building it, I didn't tell a soul because I didn't want any judgment on it. And it's funny, I was working at the pharmacy from nine to five. Then I would drive for an hour in traffic to the west side and go sit in her class for like two and a half hours, like three days a week. But I loved it. Like I loved caring about something again because I felt like I just, what was I coming home at five and like watching TV? So once I actually built it, they definitely were. like, well, how are you going to make money? You have a pharmacist is such a great job.

Like they didn't see. They didn't really get super supportive until they actually saw me making money, which was like years later. Now they're like my biggest man. Yeah. That's always the thing. Yeah. Like for people who don't understand it, like once they see that you can actually make money, it's like even like with my Instagram, because I had a day job before. I was in substance abuse counseling and it was like, you know, very respected. And, um, and nobody understands. like the Instagram thing when I was like, no, I'm going to actually leave this and go pursue that. And then it's like as soon as I got some campaign or something and it's like a recognizable brand. Right. A big brand wants to pay you. Yeah. Exactly. And like then it makes sense.

Totally. How did your how did your lifestyle change throughout that? Well, I was really I, I was working full time and doing it full time for almost like three years. I think it's been like all it's now I'm going on like two and a half or three years of just doing this full time. But But I remember like one or two years and do it. I spent all my free time working on it. I think honestly when Snapchat came out, because I started with Instagram, when Snapchat came out, that's really what taught me how to speak on camera because it was all video and it was like I could connect to people and I was talking to people.

So that really, really helped me. But I mean, even my friends, I actually like got into a lot of arguments with a couple of my friends at the time because they were like, oh, do you want to like go to the beach? and I was like, I was so obsessed. I wanted to do it. And I remember my mom saying to me once, like, well, how long are you going to do this? Like, you're putting so much work into this. And I was like, I'll do this forever for free if I have to.

Like, I like it. What else am I going to be doing with my time? Like, I'd rather do this than watch TV or, like, sit around or sleep. So it was a lot of work then. And then finally, when I started, like, actually making money that I could leave the pharmacy. Do you have any tips for somebody who might be, feeling stuck where they are and they want to branch out. Like you probably get this question a lot. I get it from people. And sometimes I don't really know how to answer it because I kind of, I mean,

I worked for three and a half years on the Instagram while I also had another job, but I didn't have the plan that I was going to leave. I just kind of made like an abrupt decision. And so there's a lot of fear around that and it ended up working out. But like I don't have, I mean, it sounds like you, you were preparing and you were taking the steps. Well, what's, Actually, at one point, when I first went to launch my website, I ended up kind of an acquaintance friend of mine who was like, oh, can I, let me invest. And he was like, I'll invest. I'll match your salary at the pharmacy and we'll make this huge. And I was like, oh, my God, someone wants to like pay me money.

So this was, I literally gave up 65% of my brand. I got it back. But I had no idea what I was doing at the time. All I was thinking was I don't have to work at the pharmacy. So that derailed me for like eight months. And during that time, he, you know, basically. paid me my salary for like nine months so I didn't if I got to quit I was so happy but then when that clearly didn't work out because it makes no sense to have someone own your personal brand like who

I didn't know what I was doing when I got it all back I was like okay now I have no money and I had to go back to the pharmacy so picture being like yes I'm free and then you have to go work again so that's humbling yeah right so it's definitely not always like a clear path yeah the last pharmacy I worked at I will say it was a private owned and the owner was really really really cool and I was super transparent about what I was doing and they needed a manager for the pharmacy and I didn't want to be a manager so our kind of like negotiation was I'll put my name as like the manager which I didn't want that responsibility but you need to be very flexible of my hours so I would literally work 10 hours one week and 30 the next which really helped me but that was like a good balance

I think one thing people should focus on if they hate what they're doing is to think about what they would be good at and what they could bring value to because I think it's so easy to look at social media like oh I want to post photos and get paid for it and I want to live like a blogger and I just want to have that life for example like I love fashion but I'm not a good fashion blogger I don't take good photos like my my photos are not ever going to be as good as someone else's and what's interesting is even though that was never my focus there was a long time on Instagram where I wanted my, I tried so hard to make my page look like so cool and edgy, but I'm like, I'm just not good at that.

And when I finally let go of that and focused on the content I am good at and put my energy towards that, it just worked out better because I know I can't win that game. So let me just focus on like what I can win. Right. Yeah. And that's so powerful, like knowing what you're good at and then using that to help somebody else, right? And that's ultimately what you're doing.

I mean that your information is so helpful. Thank you. heard you know j shetty yes i think he said the difference between purpose and passion is that when when i'm going to butcher it as i butcher every single quote that i try to do on here she knows they're always checking on the phone like while i'm as i'm doing it um but he said like the difference between purpose and passion is that purpose is when you take your passion and you help somebody with it i love and i was like oh yeah that's like totally that's actually such a good point too i remember i've had the same therapist since I was like I mean a lot I think almost eight years now I actually did a video with her

she's amazing but I remember when I was she was always very supportive because she got it and I remember her saying something about what I was doing and I was like the beginning I was like well I just want to make a lot of money and she like kind of stopped and was like well really try to find a bigger purpose than that because that won't drive you and I think in the beginning you just you're excited I want to make a lot of money and like have fun on camera but when you make it more meaningful it just you know you're you're you're you're serving people more. Yeah. And I think it will help you the long run.

Yeah. My husband always has really good advice around that too. And like he's older and he's very successful. So he's really good with that kind of advice. And like whenever I get kind of derailed and like, which I have a lot, especially over the last few months, things, you know, it just gets frustrating being like lost in numbers sometimes. Oh, I completely know what you mean.

And he's like just like put all that out of your head as much as you can. And like when you wake up, just think of how you can be helpful. to the audience, whatever, you know, however you can do that. And everything else will fall into place. And I'm like, oh, yeah. Like, you stop fighting it. I feel like that's honestly how my YouTube channel grew because I had tried it like a year or two before that a couple times and it was just not good.

And then when I did it last time, I was like, you know what? This is for my Instagram audience. I want to have a hub where I have longer form videos for them. And this is just to serve them. I didn't really think like, I'm going to try to like win on YouTube. And then I think with that intention, it just did, now it's doing so much better than my Instagram even. Right. But I think it's just your purpose towards it.

Yeah. I love that. So how did your business kind of grow once you did leave the pharmacy and you were pursuing this full time? So I got one, before I like signed with like a manager or anything, I got one brand deal in from like this was actually sole lawsuit and I loved them. I was just Googling them because I heard you talking about them somewhere and I was like, I love them. everything. I love, but I'm switching to clean beauty and I haven't really taken a look at them in a while to figure out if, because I'm, they don't, I have to see if they're clean. I'm really going to all non-toxic so it makes me sad, but I absolutely love them. And they reached out and offered

me like an amazing deal and I remember being like, oh my God, like I was, I was so excited. And that was a little push for me. And then I launched an online course, which I actually ended up shutting down now. But I think those two things kind of gave me like the little. little push to go for it. And then once I had enough, I was like, okay, let me just try to continue this. And then just kind of, you know, took off from there. I'll need to pick your brain about clean beauty because I just did an inorganic acid test and I have like a lot of environmental toxicity. And we're trying to figure out why. Like you did a blood test. Yeah, urine test. Oh, urine test. Yeah. But so, you know, I use mostly non-toxic, but it's not

like all clean by any means and I'm so nervous to part with all of my skincare. There's so many, I was nervous too, but there's so many great ones that have like actives. Okay. Okay. Cool. Well, we'll talk about it here too. Yeah, we'll get them.

So in your eyes, what are the pillars of health? A few different pillars. But like what do you, like for you? Okay. What are the pillars? I think I understand. I think one is eating clean. I'm huge.

I know I feel like a. broken record. I talk about eating clean all the time, but it's like truly the answer to everything. I feel like when someone's like, how do you stay in shape? I eat clean and I exercise. Like it always goes back to the basics. There's no like hack to it. That's why I hate any diet that doesn't promote, I hate any diet that doesn't promote clean eating. Like if it's pushing like high fat, like that's my issue with the keto diet. I don't like pushing cheese and bacon. and a ton of red meat. So as long as you eat clean, I'm good with it.

So eating and then movement. I think any form of exercise, they both give you benefits in different ways. You know, eating clean is making sure that like your cells are staying healthy and you're staying healthy and you're detoxing. Eating is even a form of detox. Making sure you're nourished. Exercise is preventing osteoporosis and arthritis and making sure that, you know, your joints and your muscles and everything functions well for as long as.

as possible. I always like to tell people to think of, think about when you're 60, 70, 80. Like, do you want to have to use a walker and be hunchbacked? And it's, you know, just to feel bad. You want to be able to run around with your kids or grandkids. And I think too many people focus on looking good versus actually being healthy. So those are really my main things. Like, just do what's good for your overall body. Yeah, it's so true. And especially with social media the way it is now and everybody just wants instant gratification and to do the before and after. and no really thought about like repercussions or down the road what it's going to be. No. Interesting.

Especially to the girls. I mean, I think so many girls will just not, not all girls, men too, but mostly women, will just not eat a lot. And you can eat super light and you will be skinny, but it's not going to make you look good for long. Right. Like malnourishment is not, it's not cute, it's not healthy, like long term you're going to regret it. So don't get the instant gratification for damage long-term results. Right. Yeah.

And like messing up your hormones and your thyroid and everything. And your health overall. There's just so many bad things that could come with it. Yeah. So you've been pretty vocal about going plant-based. Can you talk about that transition? And I know a lot of people have like this misconception probably that it's hard to do that and not gain weight.

People sent in questions and that was a common one. It was. Yeah. It's actually interesting because I have to work harder to not lose weight plant-based. I think because I grew up, like, you know, my parents, like, it's very Persian. Like, I grew up loving fruit. Like a salad, Shira Aziz is this Persian salad that's basically just chopped cucumber and tomato. Oh my God, it's the best thing ever.

It's so good. Lemon, olive oil. You don't know. I have, I eat it at every meal, like breakfast, lunch and dinner. My mom or dad would make me like a little bowl of it. So I think I had a taste for healthy food. So when I first went vegan, I would just eat like a big bowl of that one night for dinner, which to me it was huge. It would fill me up, but it's literally just cucumbers and tomatoes.

So that's not enough to hold you over or if I want fruit. So I think that you have to make sure you're eating the right way. You can easily gain weight when you resort to the fake stuff. You resort to like a lot of pasta or bread. But I also think that was years ago. I think we have so many amazing options now. Like there's no need to even eat like white flour pasta anymore. Right.

You can get like lentil pasta, brought in rice pasta, quino pasta. So there's so many great alternatives. I actually went plant-based because I was almost there anyway. I pretty much just ate like sushi once in a while. I would eat cheese. And then my brother was having these heart palpitations and he was seeing this cardiologist. And the guy was like, the doctor was like, you're overly stressed. You need to lose 40 pounds.

And you need to go vegan. Wow. And so I was like, okay, well, we should all go vegan to be supportive because I just didn't want, I felt bad that he had to like go through that himself. And then I just loved it. And it was so easy that I just stuck with it. That's amazing to find a cardiologist. Yeah. To do that.

My dad's a cardiologist. Oh, really? I mean, he has his. What are his thoughts on plant based? Oh, my God. He, I don't even, he's probably listening to this right now or not right now. But yeah. He, I mean, he serves kind of a different clientele.

they're not, you know, they're in a different socioeconomic class usually. And so I think they're eating a ton of fast food. So I don't think veganism, plant-based, is even a conversation. I think I think the most actionable thing that they can do is maybe like have one less Big Mac kind of thing. And up your statins. Up your state. Yeah.

I think that's honestly understandable. Yeah. I like to try to be as realistic as possible. Actually, so many of my, like, audience now have reached out, like, college students and they want them in. I've really been trying to share more, like, relatable, easy, like, on the go versus, like, you know, here are restaurants I like so that everyone can feel like they can, you know, try themselves. Yeah. Yeah, so what is, like, a typical day of eating for you, keeping in mind that everybody is very different, but just so that's somebody who might be thinking about it. And I know you have a lot of videos on this and you share about it, but.

No, no, it's okay. we can share. I love to have either organic berries or juice first thing when I wake up, just because, you know, when you wake up, whatever you eat first really gets absorbed the most. So I like to always start with that. And then I'll go for either like an oatmeal. I'll do quinoa as oatmeal where you just cook it, you know, almond milk, cacao. That's really good. Or I'll do sometimes like an avocado toast. Sometimes I'll do like a protein smoothie if I'm running out the door. It's easy for me to just grab one at a place in L.A. and that's usually my breakfast all the time.

If I'm out and there's nothing vegan, I'll usually do a side of potatoes and like a side of avocado, and that usually fills me up. For lunch, I guess it varies. I love like a big salad, but a warm salad. So with lettuce, but then also, I never, now, because I'm so conscious of making sure I stay a healthy weight, I never just eat like a veggie salad.

So I'll do like a lettuce and some kind of grain or maybe some chickpeas and like some cooked vegetables, some fresh vegetables. I just think the mixture of it is so yummy. Usually a lot of oil and vinegar. Sometimes I love a good vegan Caesar dressing. It's my favorite. I also love like spaghetti squash, things like that.

For dinner, sometimes I'll do like a stir fry. I'll do some kind of like vegan pasta. I've been really liking tempe. I try to throw in like some kind of vegetable of everything I'm eating. I always try to make a point to do that. And then I'm pretty big on like. like raw nuts, like I'll do walnuts or some like, or even pumpkin seeds, something like that midday. Are you still food combining? I food combined like 70 to 80%. I mean for the most part,

it comes naturally to me. And honestly, the biggest one, the proteins, like fruit I always eat on its own. It's rare that like maybe once in a while I'm really craving something and I'll have fruit in the middle of the day. Combining proteins and starches, I actually don't like to do this very often because I find that the meal is really heavy when I do that anyway. Like those are, to really, really dense foods. So I've kind of just learned to not do that, especially because I have, I bloat very easily. Me too. So if I eat more than like three or four different kinds of food, like in a meal, it's not good. So I try to just stick to one. Are there any supplements that you take that have helped you with that? I've tried a lot and nothing has worked. I'm actually still

on that journey. I recently saw Dr. Lecos. Okay. I found him on the Goop podcast. He's incredible. I've seen a couple different nutritionists and doctors, but he's a functional medicine doctor. So what's really cool about him is he's an MD. And so he can prescribe. He's gone to medical school, but he's also very holistic. So he's got both sides of that. It's very like functional medicine. So part of my regimen that he's putting me on, let's see what happens.

A couple digestive enzymes and supplements, but then also meditation. He's like insisting I do this brain. FM meditation where you listen to this music it's an app and the music hits like certain brainwaves that you can't register and he gave me we had like an hour and a half consult the first one and he gave me this whole scenario he's like okay I want you to close your eyes and picture this like blue light around you and then I want you to literally imagine your body healing and I want you to picture positive emotions the whole time and he said it's like truly healed people it's crazy so I've been I just actually started my first day of it but I love you to

I love it because he's, you can't call it to him like, oh, that person's a quack or they're too natural. No, he's an MD and he's natural. So he just ties them both together. I will say there's something to the meditation thing. I mean, obviously we know that like if we're, how we eat is going to affect whether we bloat or not too. Like if you're going to scarf your food down and if you're like watching TV or on your computer looking at your phone, you're expending energy doing that. So you're not going to, your digestion isn't going to be on point. but also just stress in general.

So I'm very vocal. Like I do TM, which is 20. I do TM. I love TM. Life changing. Did you take a course? Yeah. That's the only way I learned.

Yeah. I tried it for years and then finally I went to the David Lynch Foundation and it was literally one day life changing. Yeah. Me too. I remember the first day that I went because you did the three or four days ago. Yeah. It's the first day I learned.

Yeah. I was like, why was this so easy in a course? What? I could not believe. I was like telling everyone. I feel like I'm an evangelist. list like but because it works it's so profound and I noticed that even like so I've been doing it for like a little over a year okay and my bloating dramatically reduced really in general but I've

also been working with somebody who is doing guided meditation and inner child stuff and so really yeah like an energy healer uh no so he's actually a clinical nutritionist by trade that's what he went to school for but he works mostly with like autoimmunity and PCOS and healing that through healing like past traumatic experiences and adverse childhood experiences yeah he was on my podcast I'll send you the episode is he in LA or New York he's in Texas so he's remote yeah oh please I need yeah okay yeah and it's crazy like the studies that are coming out you know about especially about autoimmunity and adverse childhood events and stress holding it in your gut Yeah, but that's like your chakra.

Yeah. And that's actually what I'm realizing was like Dr. Lechos was kind of like we went through what, you know, what happened between the ages of two and four. And he was like, fuck. Yeah. That's what it was. Yeah. So there's crazy.

Yeah, it's so crazy. It makes so much sense. I mean, your body holds on to energy. And like, I started having these issues with my gut and with my hormones. And it's all interconnected anyway a couple years ago. And it's like around the same time that I was starting to like process this big trauma that I had, like at this point, maybe it was like eight or nine years ago. But I had just kind of put it out of my mind. Like my brain couldn't cope with it. So it was just stuffed away. And then it started

to come up. And then all these health things started going on. So like, yes, I have a gut and dysbiosis, right? And I have a hormone imbalance. But there's also this massive trauma that's trapped in your body. And it needs a way to come out. And you've actually seen it work for you? Yeah. I'm still like very much in the process of it. But yeah. Wow. That's great. Yeah. So cool. Yeah, I mean, I think people need to know there's actual data on this. Like, it's not just woo-woo. Yeah, it's not woo. Yeah, I was going to say I would link Justin's thing, but they can go back and find Justin Janoska. Oh, yeah, because you know, he has a lot of studies and stuff like that. So that's great.

Yeah, I think a lot of, I think, you know, we want the answer. Like, I know for me, I wanted the answer to be medication. And so I went the medication route for many years. And I took steroids. It's for my gut. Right. And then I thought it was just diet and exercise, which are huge, obviously, but, like, there's so much in between. For even, like, for bloating for me, I didn't even realize it was bloating until, like, a year and a half, two years ago.

I just thought I had, like, a fatter stomach, quote, unquote. Like, I remember I literally discovered it because I went to a doctor and wanted to do cool sculpting. I was like, I can't get rid of this, like, pooch I have, like this little, and they were like, this is, like, massive distension. and this is not fat at all. Like, you're just really bloated. And I was like, oh, my God, like, what's going on?

And that's when I figured out there was obviously you can diet and exercise. I could be like 20 pounds lighter and I would still have it. Right. Yeah. It's not, it's different. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Interesting. Do you have food sensitivities?

I do. Okay. Yeah, I have, like, it's actually funny. Some of the things that I love to eat the most I'm a little sensitive to, like, almonds, quinoa, I mean, dairy that I don't like anyway. But, yeah. Is there anything that, you know, that you would universally recommend people stay away from,

or do you think it's just totally individualized? Dairy. Yeah. Dairy is one thing I just say to everyone, not to go on a tangent, but even if you were, I mean, just dairy in cleanest form, let's say you're like on a farm and you have a cow and you are getting the milk yourself, there's still so many growth hormones in that

that are meant for a baby cow, not for a human. No other animals drink the milk of another animal. So you're already getting things. that aren't intended for human. But then on top of that, let's think about from the time it comes from the cow's milk to your Dorito, the amount of processing and stuff that happens to it, first of all, you know, the cows are given antibiotics, they're given like hormones so that they can keep producing breast milk.

They're given antidepressants. All these things is going, you know, into your mouth because that's, it comes to them. You are what you're, yeah, exactly. So I just think there's so many reasons to, to, to, you know, to. avoid it. It's at least avoid it in like processed food and like bars and chips and things like that. Like if you want to have it just, you know, from a farm, I would say that's at least better. Yeah. And everybody always wants to know about skin care and dairy is like one of the main things like sebum production and all of that. Right. Inflammation. I mean it's very acidic so it causes

inflammation. I literally have had people like one girl on my YouTube, this woman left a paragraph comment about how she has eczema and she knows it's worse with dairy but one day she had a big thing of mac and cheese she didn't care she's like what do you know two hours later she broke out in like full rashes even a girlfriend of mine her son who was like three one time he or what he was like two or something and i think he was eating it was formula or something and as soon as she stopped he completely stopped like it was like oh asthma his asthma literally went away wow so there's so many stories i mean it is an acidic food and it is an inflammatory food there's no way to get around that so if you have psoriasis or eczema or any kind of inflamed acne it's going to make it worse yeah so okay

so let's move to skin care since we're kind of there already and everybody wants to know yeah we were kind of talking about it before but um what what are your skincare essentials um so skincare essentials just like ingredients or everything well yeah let's do like morning and night okay so morning and night I mean I cleanse morning and night sometimes morning I skip depending on like how I slept if I feel like my skin's fine I don't always cleanse the morning um hyluronic acid is like an absolute must ingredient I think I've been using it for like five or six years it's just so hydrating in a serum I actually use probably like two to three different serums I think everyone should invest in a serum over multiple moisturizers it's going to give you way more like

benefit. So I'll use a hyaluronic acid serum morning and night under like whatever moisturizer I use. Then I'll usually use some kind of like antioxidant serum. And then in the morning it's always sunscreen. I'm crazy about sunscreen. I get hyperpigmentation and I have melasma. So if I'm not like I'll my my skin will just get very spotty. Sunscreen in the morning. And then at night, same with a cleanse, hyluronic acid, what some kind of serum. And then I'll usually do a little more of like a hydrating moisturizer or I'm really big on sleep masks. I actually love them. They go on like clear and I feel like they always I always wear them on planes. If you feel like your skin gets a little bit dry, not naturopathica has a really great

balm that I use. Almost kind of feels like a thick Vaseline. Not thick. Like it's hard when you, when you touch it but then when you warm it in your hands, it like melts in your hands. Okay. And it really, really just like it's like almost like a repair cream if you feel like you're like dry, irritated. It's great. What SPF do you like? It is such a struggle. Oh my God. You need to watch my IGTVs on SPF. I have two of them. Honestly, I'm not even trying to self-promote. They're just so there is so informational. Because I've researched SPF like no other. So basically I like to only use zinc 20% or higher because if you're going under zinc 20%, you're not getting full UBA and UBB. And when your SPF says like SPF 30, it's actually only legally, only has to refer to UVB, which, you know, it was like sunburn.

But what they don't have to take into consideration is UVA, which is like skin aging, you know, wrinkles, melanoma, even they don't have to. Like there's so many things that they don't have to put in there. It's just for sunburns. That's crazy. It's crazy. So if you get zinc 20%, you're covered for UVA and UVB. or if you get zinc maybe like 15 or 30 somewhere around there but it's combined with titanium

dioxide then you're probably good at 30 but just to be safe because I don't remember the exact calculation I just go over zinc 20 okay and there's two amazing ones that everyone needs to get one is by juice beauty it's a cc cream and literally I have it on right now it's lightly tinted flawless I mean it's dark in here I have no makeup on I only wear this it's like a light tint and there's literally no white residue. I'm going to let you try it after this. It's the most, honestly, it's the best product I've ever used in my life. I'm going to go buy it right after it too. I don't even know how. I'm like, why can they make a product that has no white chalkiness, but no one else can? Clearly possible. Every single, I mean, I need to go watch your IG TVs and I need to try

this, but I feel like I've tried everything. I feel like you want to try it right now. Yeah. Because I want your reaction. I'm so curious. I have makeup on my face, but I'll just put a little bit on my arm. Real time. I think we're going to get this after podcast. Yeah, where do you buy it? You can get it online, but you just, I mean, you're going to be. Oh, I've seen this before.

Oh, it's incredible. Oh, my God. I've used juice beauty before, but I've not used it. It's Juice Beauty is completely non-toxic, and this product is more SBF. It's like a higher SPF factor than anything else, and it's literally not white. What? And it smells like lemon grass. It's so nice.

Oh, my God. Right. Oh my gosh. I know. It's amazing. Wait, that's crazy. Okay, we're going to the store. You need to buy it.

It's so good. It feels so good too. It feels really good. It gives you almost like a little glow. And it's not heavy. Like if you don't want makeup, it doesn't have to be heavy. But you can,

if you want a little more. But there's a little like dewyness to it. Yep. Oh my God. We need to find it. Will you write it down or take a picture? It's a miracle product. You usually have to look on the back of the package

to know how much think is in it. Uh-huh. It's just not like, Just because it says SPF 30, it's not going to tell you. Exactly. It's such a good point. Make sure you look at the active ingredients. That's where you find everything.

Okay. I would never have known that. No. Okay. And zinc is the product everyone's afraid of because they're like, oh, it's too white, but this is not white at all. No. Not at all.

And it's got antioxidants. Like, it's just a great product. I love it. What are your other, like, hero products that, like, you cannot live without? Naturopathica actually has a good SPF 32. It's white. but it goes on after like a few minutes it doesn't it doesn't leave your skin white so if you're if you really don't want any tint maybe like for men they might like

that more I like that one too so those are both great for hyaluronic acid osa is I don't know if it's O S-E-A yeah they have a really really amazing serum which I was so happy to find because I used to use ones that weren't clean beauty and they're super clean okay so that's a really amazing one too okay any ingredients that you will absolutely not put on your face? I mean obviously like things that are not clean but right is there anything that you just don't like to use um there's nothing that I don't like to use to be honest even when it comes to clean beauty it's so hard because I'm a pharmacist I can't even remember all these chemical names because what falls under a pair it's not going to say paraben right there's different

things that fall under parabins so I honestly think the easiest thing to do is find a source that will do it for you. Like Falling is a great one in New York. EWG.com like that they have a I mean a great source but you still have to look up every product and ingredient and will give you the rating whereas something like falling everything they care you know is like a hundred percent clean. So salates, parabins, fragrance. Fragrance is a new one that I just realized was yeah you know how it's like not regulated yeah it's sad yeah okay okay so good right? I know. I'm like, it smells a nice.

I know. I'm, while we're on this podcast. I have a swipe up two of my stories if you want it or you can just find it. They have, I think it's on Nordst Journal. Or they have their website. I don't know.

Where to buy juice beauty. Okay, so what is it like a typical day in the life now? Typical day in the life. Right now is actually different than usual because I've been traveling a lot. I'm kind of like back and forth. but normally I wake up, I'll make like a little bit of tea or coffee, I'll wash my face, brush my teeth, then I'll go meditate, meditate for like 20 minutes, then I'll usually like look at my phone after for like 20 or 30 minutes, then eat some breakfast, then go work out,

and then I feel like I really start to like get into work, maybe like 1130, and then honestly sometimes I'm working till maybe like 10 or 11, obviously with like little breaks in between, but it depends on what I'm working on how focused I am on like whatever my project is but so half the time I'm working on looking at different brand deals that are sent my way planning out like what kind of content I want to create like writing blog posts planning out my YouTube videos and then other days are where I'm actually shooting YouTube videos so on the days that I shoot I usually like to start at like 10 I don't work before because I need to I don't want to be to I'm all I'm going to be thinking about my videos. So I always bullet point them the night like the night before. And then that morning

usually will shoot for like at least four hours. Do you have somebody shoot for you? Yes. Okay. I cannot. I have so much respect for YouTubers that do it all themselves. I will not. I just, that's actually like another thing. I know my strengths. And I've tried to, I literally tried doing it. And I remember it took me five hours to get the file onto the computer and then right at the last hour it like failed and I was like I'm done with this. My videographer literally sends it to my editor and I'm like I want nothing to do with that process. Yeah. Well that's a good tip for people like know your strengths and know what you can delegate and find people who are better than you at those things. And you can have you can have like I know what I like. Like I have very strong taste and opinions

but I can't creatively put it together. Right. So if I were to even if I knew how to edit I wouldn't be like this font would look great and this sound, this is like, but if someone does it, I can be like, no, I want more of this vibe. I just can't do it myself. I'm not good at it. Yeah. Okay, so working in social media, digital media, how do you set boundaries with that? Because I know that's something that I really struggle with lately and I think a lot of people do. Setting boundaries of your personal time and yeah, and just not like work hours and something where you don't have traditional work hours. Like I know for me, sometimes I'll get up and I try not to jump right on my phone, but sometimes it's inevitable and it really kind of can set your day up for like to just be all over

the place. But like then you can work late into the night and you can work seven days a week. So how do you kind of manage that and make sure that you're keeping healthy boundaries with that? You know, I don't have like a stop time or like there's definitely, I have days especially in the weekends where I'm like, let's say I get like a cute latte and I'm like, I should take a picture. And then I'm like, I just don't feel like it. So there's always like a few days a month where I'm like, I just do not feel like picking up my phone and recording this. Like I just don't want to and I kind of honor and respect that. But I don't, I'm not one of those people who feels like pressured by it.

I guess I do sometimes, but I honestly go into more of a grateful state because I think because I've had the other side of it and I've worked in a pharmacy. I was literally working in pharmacy for eight years. And I'm just so grateful that I get to do what I do now and I'm like more successful with it and I'm happy. that I'm usually just like, okay, well, I could have a worse job. So, you know, just document it, record it. One thing that helps is I'll film it and not post it until later. So sometimes, you know, you don't have to, because I really put a lot of thought into like what I'm going to say in my commentary

and the caption. So I don't like to have that interrupt what I'm doing with someone, but at least just getting a quick snap of it is good. But I will say I'm going to start putting my phone like in the other room for the last hour before bed and when I wake up because I want to have a little more of like a clear head while I meditate and not be so stimulated. So my mornings I'm trying to like for the first hour just not be on my phone. Yeah, it's hard. It's really hard. It's really hard to like I know I know for me like if I

check a couple emails or something like or text or anything and then go to try to meditate, it's almost like this pull. I know. You have this pull like you have to put it in the other room. You have to. But it's so much better if you can just not have it at all. I know. Do you meditate? Do you do your second one at night or in the afternoon? I always miss my second one. You do. It's so hard because I want to do it at night, but I was taught that you can't. Too much energy. Too much energy. So I just have a hard time stopping midday and doing it. I'll honestly like never do the second one. I know I'm supposed to. Now that I'm doing the Brain FM one too, I'm going to try to, I just do them right after. So it's like 30 minutes the morning. Yeah. But I'm like, what's more important? Right.

Than my mental well-being. Yeah. It's so hard that second one. But so like when I, I started doing it, I was really religious about it. Like, whenever I start things, I'm really gung-ho. And I am very compliant and I do it exactly. And then I kind of like lose interest. And I never wavered with the morning one, but the second one fell off. But I noticed like a difference. Like I wasn't having the same benefits. And so I've really when I didn't do the second. When I reincorporated the second one and I haven't done it this trip and I felt it. It is like, I can't even explain. I mean, we're all different. My husband, he doesn't do the second one because He doesn't have a time in his day where he can like, hold on, guys.

I'm going to close my eyes. Yeah, right. He does sometimes. Same with my parents do it. My dad. He was like, I want to get a sign for my office at work that says like BRB meditating. Wait, did you go to the course with your parents? No, no, they did it before me.

My husband did it. My wedding planner did it. I started hearing from all these people about TM. My husband and I went to dinner with this like 90-year-old couple who, we know because they're sober and we're both sober as well and they've been sober for like 50 something years but they're so energetic and just like this buoyant energy and so youthful and I asked them what the what their secret to youth was and they said TM and I was like okay so all of a sudden all these people around me were doing it and so I was like all right and so that's that's just so incredible yeah but

yeah the second one is there's something about it that it's like the first one kind of gets almost to that place. And then like I can have a good day and then this the second one kind of like solidifies it. And it's just like a blanket, like a warm blanket. And I'm happier. And you feel happier immediately. Happier immediately and like anxiety gone. I mean I really started to struggle with anxiety in the last couple of years just out of nowhere. And I'm sure it's related to the trauma stuff and just different things. And just circumstantial. Life is stressful. And it was almost eradicated like immediately when I started TM. Wow.

Yeah. And do you always keep yourself the two minutes after? No. That part. I did it first. I did it first. Sometimes I will. Like if I don't have anything going on after, then I'll, I'll do it.

But yeah, no, usually I did at first. And they said that like if you come out of it wrong, then it can mess up your day. Yeah, but I haven't really found that. I haven't either. But I will say when I'm meditating in a group, like whenever I go back, for like, it's so insane in the difference. When you meditate with someone, oh my God, like the brainwaves you guys both have and the energy, I go into like a trancey, like high state immediately.

Yeah, my husband and I do it every morning. So nice. Yeah. My girlfriend was like staying with me for a couple months in L.A. And we would meditate in the morning. And it was so much better. Yeah, I've never done the group one with TM. Have you?

Well, what took a course in the first day was just us. Then the next three lessons was like three. of us. Okay. So it was like a small group. Yeah. Yeah, it's so powerful. And again, this isn't woo-woo. There's so many studies with TM about the benefits. No, they see the brain matter and your brain change. And they even say with TM, there's studies that show if your head is laying down, like some people want to lay down and meditate, those same brain waves don't fire. So you have to be sitting straight up. So there's lots of data on it. Yeah. Yeah. So Kennedy, you're next. Well, you were the one who actually, you were the first person who told me about it.

And I think it was actually the day that you interviewed me for this job. You were like, I started doing TM and then my job took off. And I'm like, I want to do that. When's my job going to take off? You know what I mean? Oh, my God. And then, but I just, after you mentioned it, I just heard so many people talking about it. And I meditate every morning, but I just use like an app, you know.

And it's helpful, you know, for sure. But every single person that I've heard talk about T's. just as like my life has been transformed. And it's different than the apps, like, they give you kind of that relaxing experience. Of course. They calm your mind, for sure. Which we all need it to some extent. But I know that this is different.

Take a course. I wish I did it three years ago. I don't know why I didn't do it earlier. I guess I didn't believe that it would work. And then finally I was like, you know what? Let me just try this. Yeah, I found with the apps because I started with like Headspace and a non-two. A few different ones.

Yeah, that's what I use. But I found like I was just, like it was just another distraction. Like I was just listening to someone talk and kind of like, and pay attention to my breathing and I just wasn't getting the same thing. And like if I said that I think yes, like the time that I started TM and when things career-wise started kind of taking off, they were aligned. I don't know if there's like a correlation. But I also like you just kind of feel more aligned in general with your life, right?

And like you can feel more gratitude. And you can, you're just clearer. and you can see things more clear and you're taking the time out of your day to sit there and be quiet and observe and like notice. So I don't know like, well now that I know you more, yeah, now that I know you more, what I can say is I think that it aligned you with your goals and your long, like, what you wanted long term. And in turn, that's going to make you a successful person because the more in tune you are with what you want, the easier it is to achieve it. So that's probably, you hear like really successful. people who do not to like turn this into a TM thing too but it's so interesting I've never

podcasted with anyone who's done it and oh and I'm always like TM and people are like what's that so this is fascinating to me but you hear you know there are so many highly successful highly functioning people who do it and they'll say like in interviews oh yeah like I get most creative ideas like in that second one or I get like so it's really there's actually that's such a good point I feel like for anyone listening to know, one thing that held me back from meditation for so long was thinking that I'm not supposed to have thoughts during it. And I would hear you will be like, you know, thoughts will come and go, but in TM they teach you that you are supposed to have thoughts.

You're not supposed to be like, I shouldn't think about anything that takes the pressure off. But, you know, every time we have thoughts, you just come back to your mantra. But that, like, I'm doing it wrong going away. It helps so much. So, you know, it's normal to be like, oh, I thought about you in my meditation either day. not like I you know one can think about nothing right so that's fine have you ever had this happen like they told me when I was in class that it might happen and not to act on it but they're like you might feel overwhelming feelings of love and like affection for people and like there will be times

where I'm meditating and be like I like love so and so I need to text them because you say don't take action they're like don't take action right away after your meditation I haven't had that happen yeah it's so interesting I just know there's been when I meditate there when they're that group, I literally feel a body high. Yeah. Like when I'm done, I felt like very tingly. I almost like wasn't sure if I should drive, which was so wild. Like that happens when I'm meditating in a group.

Okay, well, podcast is over. We're going to turn the lights down and meditate. Can you two give me a TM classic right now? We're doing a new segment on the podcast. Listen to us. TM talk. No, I want to go do it when I get back in LA. Yeah, you should.

It's great. I keep kicking somebody. Okay. So let's get to listener questions. before we wrap. I have a question. Okay. I think it's...

She's like, I'm a listener. I'm a listener. Actually, the first time I heard you speak was that positivity charge. Oh, amazing. And I loved it. Like, I just, I loved everything you had to say. But my question is about plant-based, because I know a lot of people have reservations

about going plant-based knowing that it is a typically lower protein diet. do you make it a priority to get a certain amount of protein in your diet a day? I don't think about protein, but I think about nutrient density. Okay. So I'm like, this is have enough like protein fiber, like good fat versus like is this just kind of like an empty carb. Okay. So as long as I'm getting a lot of nutrients that I feel okay.

I also really want to say that everyone is so different, which I know is a kind of cliche to say, but it's really true. Like I've had all my genetics tested and for example, it would be a very different. it would be very hard for me to have bad cholesterol. Even if I were to eat red meat every day, it would be hard. I just have this gene that makes it good. Luckily, I don't eat it anyway. If someone, if a woman has PCOS, it's really hard to tolerate high carbs.

So a vegan is super difficult, and I, like, have empathy for that. You almost have to treat PCOS like someone who's diabetic, or you have to watch your carbs and do higher protein. So I think it's easier for some people than others. I think it's still possible, but I just, I don't want to. to make people feel bad and we're like it's so easy and like I whatever I eat might not be the same for someone else's like body type or body makeup. Totally. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. But I yeah, that's, I feel as long as I'm focused on something being nutrient dense, that's when my weight

stays healthy. You know, when you look back at yourself from years ago and you're like, oh my God, like, when I look back at photos, I was like, oh, whoa, it was way too skinny. And I wasn't trying to have it. I just, I wasn't paying attention to the food I was eating enough. I'm interested in the genetic testing. Do you recommend that? Obsessed. Okay. I love a micronutrient test and I love genetic testing just so you can, and obviously nothing's

going to be like 100%, but I just like to know, like, okay, here's something I should watch, here's something, you know, I'm more likely to get this. There's just so much available. And the cool thing about like DNA genetic testing is you only have to do the test once. Right. So even though it costs, it might be a little bit pricey, it's a one-time investment and then it can help you long term. Yeah. Love that.

Okay. We already covered this one. Do you have any favorite healthy, easy, low-carb snacks? Healthy, easy, low-carb snacks. What's low-carb that I love? I mean, I do love doing like a guac or any kind of dip with crudette. That's one of my favorite things. So whenever I'm at a restaurant, I'll always ask for a set.

Even if they don't have it on the menu, I'm like, the key is to look at the menu and look at every dish. And, okay, this salad has carrots and this dish has a cucumber. I know you've got carrots and cucumbers in the kitchen. So I'll pick apart every meal and then I'll be like, can you bring me these on the side? And they will. Yeah. And Hickama is a really good one. Uh-huh.

Hickama is like, guack. Yep. Oh, it's so good. So good. Because it's like crunchy and it feels spilling, but it's so full of water. So it's great. Do you still use high frequency? High frequency.

Oh, the device. That I only use it if I have a breakout. Okay. Yeah. I love those. That wand. I love it too. She actually, I know.

who this girl is. She said, best collab ever. Oh, she's doing high frequency. Do you see results? Do you see results from it? You know, I, to be totally honest, I haven't had a breakout in a while, but whenever I did have one and I would use it at Kate Somerville's where I used to get my facials, it would help so much. Yeah. What do you recommend to women with low energy levels who sleep enough? Who do sleep enough? Yeah. To look at your B vitamins and to look at your vitamin D and your iron. I think people don't he'd mention to vitamin D enough and so many people are deficient and it can definitely cause low energy. Maybe we need some vitamin D today.

I take vitamin D3 synergy every day. You do? Yeah. Morning routine. Do we kind of cover that? Should I go over again? Yeah, no. It's redundant.

We'll replay. Do you have skincare tips for post-workout? Post-workout, actually, yeah. I like to wipe down my face with something, whether it's like a makeup wipe, like a, what's the water called, having a blank right now? Micellar water, anything just to kind of get the sweat and bacteria off. And then just like, I won't do the whole skincare routine again, but I'll just do like hyaluronic acid and a moisturizer like that.

What workouts do you do? I love weight training. I see the best results when I wait train. I think because I'm smaller framed. So it takes heavier weights to like make me look toned. I love yoga. I love Pilates. I love resistance training.

Basically anything but high intensity and cardio I'm down for. I also really quick like to put on like a really good skin ingredient before I work out because I just have this thought that like when you're sweating and more things are going to absorb into your skin, I might as well penetrate some goodness into my skin. So I'll put on like a really good serum before. That's a good idea. I'm going to start doing that. How do you conquer craving?

and I butcher that. How do you conquer cravings and overindulging? You know, when I have a craving, I've found ways to kind of eat what I want. I never really deprived, so I don't have that many cravings. But when I have a craving for sweets, I found that for Sigmaatic hot cacao

is the most amazing drink at nights, taste like hot chocolate, or I'll do like an herbal tea with cinnamon that will kind of distract you. I think a palate change is what people need when you go from like something garlicky and salty maybe you just want something a little more like refreshing and that will help yeah that's a good idea and yeah i heard you talk about like you don't have cravings because you're and if you do you just find a way to make it healthier and

that's what i've always done and like i get i get asked that question all the time too and i'm like i don't have cravings like okay i eat what i want like i find a way to do it yeah and like if there's something that like I'm really craving okay I'll have it like in a healthier version and then the craving is gone exactly like it doesn't have to be like vegan pizza or like actually the other day last last weekend I was just craving like vegan like chicken wings like something you know like almost like a fast foodie and I found a place and I totally like once in a while yeah I was like I'm so excited and I got like a whole order of these like crispy little soy nuggets so sometimes I'll just like do it but that's you know rarely yeah I think it's healthy to give in one

in a while. Like my craving was for vegan chicken wings. People are going to be like, what? Oh my God, yeah. They're so good. They taste like regular chicken wings. Same thing. Yeah. Yeah, no, my cravings are usually for like kind of healthy. Right. It's like, I'm craving it outside. But it's interesting that you said, like you grew up eating kind of healthy food. I think that makes such a difference because I did too. Like you like parents always cooked, like really fresh food. We were so fortunate in that way as I'm sure you were. And so I have sympathy, empathy for people who grew up eating like yeah junk food yeah and like don't know what like a fruit is like there are people there are people there are so many people we like I mean Persian cucumbers like we're

three years old walking around eating a cucumber like so then you grow up like to learn to like that I remember in college my second year we had like a sweet and I had a grapefruit and literally my roommate was like what is that I'm like what yeah they just don't they never snacked on fruit ever it's so sad and it's so prevalent and we just don't really see it on the I feel like maybe there will be a shift now because millennials are so health conscious. Right. Right. I don't think that even like our parents were like that.

No. So maybe we're going to start a new generation of it. Yeah. Let's hope so. How do you read food labels and what ingredients do you avoid other than animal products? What's interesting is when I look at a food label, if there's too many things, if there's a chemical, if there's like one or two sometimes, like if there's a gums, it depends, like, you know, what the situation is. But I usually just go for things that have all actual food. So if it's like banana, cinnamon, coconut oil, almond flour, then I'll, you know,

I'll have it. But if it gets into too many processed things, never do any like lake dyes, food colorings. I really try so hard to avoid anything that says natural flavor because it scares me. That term can literally mean anything that comes from the earth, including an animal. so even like on a vegan product if it is not it's very unregulated so that's what I try to avoid yeah that's why Lara Bar is like I don't love the taste of Lara Bar is more than everything but they never have natural flavor so I'm like that's the only bar I'm going to eat I mean there's a few more but that's one that you can find almost everywhere I stick to it and natural flavor is in so much so much even some like organic vegan snacks you don't know and I'm like this could literally mean anything

right they can take it from anal glands of an animal which is actually common oh Oh my God. I'm serious. Look it up. It's so gross. It's terrifying. And they also purposely create these natural flavors to have the consumer almost feel like an addiction to it because then you're going to keep wanting to eat it. So it's really interesting the things they do.

Aren't they excitotoxins? I don't know. Okay. I mean, I'm sure it ranges. Yeah. I don't know. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on.

I had so much fun talking to you. Thank you for having me. It was so fun. It's such a fun, normal conversation. So where can everybody find you? On everything, it's the same. It's Dr. Mona Band, so DR. Mona Band. And I will link everything below in the show notes. Okay.

Thank you. Thank you.