In this riveting episode, Nika dives deep with entrepreneur and podcaster, Trey Kauffman, as they explore the nuances of mindful eating and the importance of self-awareness in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Trey shares his personal journey toward self-discovery, revealing how he overcame the confines of corporate toxicity and societal expectations to embrace a life filled with gratitude and purpose.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into the dangers of Orthorexia, a lesser-known eating disorder rooted in an obsession with eating foods one considers healthy, and the fine line between prioritizing health and succumbing to obsessions. Nika and Trey emphasize the necessity of looking inward to find true happiness, rather than seeking external validation or trying to fit a mold.
Beyond just food, Trey delves into his spiritual awakening – a profound realization that the key to his happiness wasn't held by anyone but himself. Through his story, he illuminates the path for others to demand better for themselves, challenging them to find joy within and to craft lives that resonate with their authentic selves.
Join us for a heartfelt conversation on mental wellness, entrepreneurship, and the relentless pursuit of personal contentment.
Note: This episode was recorded in 2022. Trey Kauffman is not just an entrepreneur but an advocate for demanding a life filled with meaning. His mission? To empower you to reflect deeply, challenge norms, and find the happiness you truly deserve.
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DISCLAIMER:
*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business or personal success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
In this riveting episode, Nika dives deep with entrepreneur and podcaster, Trey Kauffman, as they explore the nuances of mindful eating and the importance of self-awareness in maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Trey shares his personal journey toward self-discovery, revealing how he overcame the confines of corporate toxicity and societal expectations to embrace a life filled with gratitude and purpose.
Listeners will gain valuable insights into the dangers of Orthorexia, a lesser-known eating disorder rooted in an obsession with eating foods one considers healthy, and the fine line between prioritizing health and succumbing to obsessions. Nika and Trey emphasize the necessity of looking inward to find true happiness, rather than seeking external validation or trying to fit a mold.
Beyond just food, Trey delves into his spiritual awakening – a profound realization that the key to his happiness wasn't held by anyone but himself. Through his story, he illuminates the path for others to demand better for themselves, challenging them to find joy within and to craft lives that resonate with their authentic selves.
Join us for a heartfelt conversation on mental wellness, entrepreneurship, and the relentless pursuit of personal contentment.
Note: This episode was recorded in 2022. Trey Kauffman is not just an entrepreneur but an advocate for demanding a life filled with meaning. His mission? To empower you to reflect deeply, challenge norms, and find the happiness you truly deserve.
CONNECT WITH THE GUEST:
CONNECT WITH NIKA: https://mtr.bio/nika-lawrie
Instagram: instagram.com/biohacking4babes
TikTok: tiktok.com/@biohacking4babes
YouTube: youtube.com/@NikaLawrie
Facebook: facebook.com/biohacking4babes
SUBMIT A QUESTION OR REQUEST A TOPIC:
I would love to hear from you! Please record your question or topic request to be featured in a future episode: https://www.speakpipe.com/NikaLawrie
DISCLAIMER:
*This podcast and its contents are for informational purposes only and are not intended to replace professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always consult your physician or a qualified health provider for any questions concerning a medical condition or health objectives. Additionally, the advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for every individual and are not guaranteed for business or personal success. Use discretion and seek professional counsel when necessary.
Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Trey, welcome to the show. I'm so grateful to have you here today.
Speaker 2:Me too, nika. Thank you so much. I loved our first conversation and I'm looking forward to having a follow-up one, and it's just, it's been so cool getting to know you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, same here. Thank you again for having me on your show. I will be sure to share that link with all the listeners today too, and I loved having the conversation, so I really was excited to invite you on my show as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Well, that sounds great.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So today we're going to kind of talk about clean living in the sense of like eating healthy and taking care of our bodies, but I think we're going to kind of break it out into a couple little topics. So I want to talk to you about food marketing, because I can get on my soapbox with food marketing.
Speaker 1:So you may have to rein me in a little bit, but I would love to have this conversation with you about food marketing and some of the things that we need to be aware of and kind of what they're, what they're pitching to us, which is kind of BS, I think we went into that a little bit. Then I would love to talk to you about the mindset around eating, because I know that was something that was really important to you, that you've kind of changed and really addressed in your own life and so.
Speaker 1:I've been that. And then finally talking about orthorexia and taking this healthy living to the extreme and where that line might be. I know it's kind of different for everybody, but I'm excited to deep dive those topics with you.
Speaker 2:Me too, me too yeah.
Speaker 1:So before we do that, can you tell me a little bit about yourself, share your backstory, what you do and how you got interested in living healthy?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, I think, like so many people, for the longest time I was waking up, going to a job that I was not passionate about, I had very little motivation to actually make any change in my life, or I guess, I don't know. If the motivation wasn't there, if I lacked direction, whatever it was, you know, five, six years ago, uh, things just started to change for me when I I I I give credit to podcasting so much because I started listening to people like Tim Ferriss and Kevin Rose, who I've been following for a long time, and even Joe Rogan to a certain extent I know his name's kind of dirty right now, but he does have some very good conversations with everything else too, yeah absolutely.
Speaker 2:And so as I kind of started to realize that there are other people living these lives that actually want to live and it's not just, you know, silicon Valley, billionaires, people, everyday people who have really cool stories I just I started to question you know, what small areas could I improve incrementally so that I could have greater results, uh, long-term? And so you know, everything from meditation to considering you know what I was putting into my body. It just it all was up for question and review and audit. And so, directly related to healthy living, I've always been relatively healthy.
Speaker 2:You know, sugar I was never a big consumer of, but there were times in my life where I would kind of let those morals for lack of a better way of saying it kind of slip. And you know, I put on some weights. I I usually comfortably rest at 165 to 170. I've been upwards of 185 before and you can really see it in my face. And so when I the last time I really decided to start cutting it out, that's when I started discovering intermittent fasting, time-restricted eating, um, that's when I completely cut out sugar and that's when I really started to focus on, you know, the running and, uh, the, the weight training aspect, and I don't know, it's just. It's been a fascinating journey ever since, and there's been so much in relation to mindset that's allowed me to get there. Um, and then you know, I'm sure we can talk about it later, but I, I, I quit drinking just over two years ago now too, which that was probably the biggest change in my life. That's just had such a profound impact.
Speaker 1:Do you mind sharing a little bit about that and what that journey was like, maybe?
Speaker 2:Yeah, not at all. You know, I, I lived it up in my twenties. So, you know, I, I, I wanted I wasn't a rock star, but I, I tried to. You know, I tried to pretend like I was. I was one and you know, there, you know, to a certain extent there were times when I barely had $10 in my checking account because I prioritized drinking and having fun and doing the botulist things. And you know, it was fun and good for a little while.
Speaker 2:But at some point, as you get older, you realize that certain things start to take a toll on your body and I just started to question what was it? Was it worth it to me? Was, you know, feeling like crap for one or even two days following a drinking binge worth it? Was it worth not having money or disposable income in my account to actually do the things that I wanted to pursue? Um, so, I know I'm condensing things a lot, but there was a time and I well, I was actually at a wedding in 2019. Um, I drank the night before at the rehearsal dinner and then I was kind of standing at the wedding thinking, you know, I'm not going to drink today, I'm just going to, I'm going to see what a wedding is like, sober. And so, as I stood on the outskirts of the dance floor because I sure as hell wasn't going to dance sober I started thinking about, you know, what I actually wanted to accomplish in my life and I started laying out, just you know, very loosely, 10 big goals that I wanted to, you know, like, do in my life and actually, you know, go out and pursue.
Speaker 2:And I don't know how it happened, but I decided, you know, I'm going to take a year off of drinking. I'm just going to see what I can do in that timeframe, um, and so that was October of 2019. I subsequently laid out 10 big goals, um, and then I accomplished a few of them, and then, unfortunately, you know, 2020 hit and, uh, covid hit, and so some things just weren't feasible during that time, such as going to a silent meditation retreat, which I would still love to do. But, you know, october 19th, 2020, rolled around and I realized I don't want to drink anymore.
Speaker 2:I my, my peg count looks nice. I my, my body feels good. It's just there's no value in it for me. And so I, I, you know, 850 ish days later I'm I don't really see myself turning back. There are times where I'll smell red wine. I think, oh, I missed that. But I'm fortunate that I have the foresight. I have the ability to look back in retrospect and say it's not worth it to me, it's not worth my financial freedom, it's not worth the freedom of feeling good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, that's so key and I think a lot of times we don't know the freedom and we don't know the good feeling until we've gone through kind of the battle of quitting, whatever the addiction is. We really struggle whether that's and not saying that you were addicted to alcohol but it was just part of your life and if we don't take the steps needed to overcome that struggle, we don't know that freedom on the other side.
Speaker 2:You're absolutely right and I appreciate you making that distinction. I struggle with it too. I did not have a chemical dependency when it came to alcohol and I make the point to clarify that because I've got no shame in my relationship with alcohol. I know it wasn't great, but I also I've had enough conversations with people who specialize working with addicts that I just don't want to devalue the struggle that they're going through. For me it was an overnight decision, which I know not everybody has that luxury to say I'm going to quit and then just not do it anymore. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Yeah, well, I still. I commend you for deciding to do it. I think you know one. It's a. It's a hard decision socially to make sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And especially when you have, um, a community of people around you not saying that there's anything wrong with them, but that's that's the commonplace thing is to drink and, to, you know, be socially, um, uh, drink socially and have those relationships and that kind of sense. Um, so it can be a hard thing in that sense, and then just the work to heal your body too is powerful too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean that social aspect is very important, I think, overlooked a lot of times. Because I mean, what do you, what do? What do people do when they get off of their nine to five job and they go to happy hour? Happy hour is it's, it's it. It sounds sexy. I mean, it sounds like something that you get to do. It's an opportunity to I don't know. I think we brand it as an opportunity to network or to let loose and I mean that's all well and good, but that's you know, for me, if I got off work at five when I was working for somebody else and I went to the bar and I stayed there for three hours, that's, you know, eight o'clock at night, and then I'm not going to do anything the rest of the night, I may be lucky enough to get an hour of TV in, but I'm certainly not going to do anything productive. I'm just going to fall asleep and then be dehydrated the next morning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, man, that dehydration will catch you for days. I know, I know, I know. Well, trey, thank you for sharing your story. I think it's powerful just for the listeners to know that really, anyone can decide to make those changes at any moment in their life, whether that's giving up alcohol or quitting sugar or just eating more vegetables, whatever it is it's. It's that snap moment of I'm going to make a change and you can make it happen, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:It's. I thank you for saying that everybody can make the change and you can make it happen. Yeah, yeah, it's um. I thank you for saying that everybody can make the change, and, I think, a lot of people. I was there, I mean it's. It's all about mindset and I had a very fixed mindset for a long, long time and that's really what helped me back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that Understanding your mindset around whatever you're interested in quitting or changing is really, really important. So I'm glad we're going to talk about mindset around food here in a little bit. Um, first I want to talk about food marketing, cause I think this is something you and I can both probably both get on our set boxes about that. Um, what are your? What are your just initial kind of gut reaction thoughts, and then I have some kind of questions for you.
Speaker 2:Uh, I mean we may have talked about this previously the fact that sugar is so marketed to children, I mean it's. It may sound hyperbolic to say that you can equate it to marketing cigarettes to anybody, but I mean it. That's essentially we are. We are training these kids to want to put poison in their bodies, and that's I mean, alcohol is a poison, sugar is a poison. It is not healthy. And the fact that there are so much of these, so many of these commercials just showing kids having fun while eating sugar while the parents stand by idly, I don't know it's. It's, uh, the way our marketing is set up in this country, especially. We don't have to get into it, but especially in regard to drug marketing, we're the one of two countries that allow drugs to be marketed. Yeah, it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:It is. We as Americans don't tend to realize how the rest of the world is functioning and how kind of up in the arms the rest of the world is about these kinds of things. A lot of countries, like you said, have completely banned medication and prescription marketing on television and radio and direct to the public. I mean, I am a big proponent for that because I'm sorry. If I need a prescription I should then have to go see a doctor or a you know a medical provider who's been trained and educated on this. I need to have the tests and the result information to show that I actually need this. And then, if you get me started on the functional medicine side, a lot of times you can actually just avoid the prescriptions altogether by changing the way you eat and your lifestyle. But why I should be the one going to the doctor asking for a prescription, that just baffles my mind. I don't understand.
Speaker 2:And asking for a prescription that you probably can't even pronounce. Oh, it was that one commercial with the lady.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's mortifying. And then I completely agree with you in the sense of how we market to children. I think you equate it to cigarettes to adults, but I would equate it as cigarettes to children.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:This is, you know, I think about. We see all the cereal commercials, right? Well, you're literally giving your kid dessert for breakfast. I mean it would almost be healthier to give them cake than you know than because at least the cake maybe it doesn't have all the colors like the. You know, yellow and blue dye colors that are going to cause behavioral issues. So you know, it really is that big of a deal. And I had a conversation with my daughter a couple of weeks ago. Her friends at school were eating a specific type of granola bar and it was kind of one of those mixed granola breakfast ones and she's like Mama, it's healthy, I promise it's OK. So I was like mama, it's healthy, I promise, like it's okay. So I was like, all right, we'll go look at the box at the store and I'll let you know what I decide. And it sure enough it looked healthy. It was one of those you know. Quote unquote um, you know, high protein, great bars, good energy. You know it had the. It had a mountain climber climbing up the mountain.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:You know, and I flipped it over and I think it was 29 grams of sugar in each bar to feed that to my child. I mean that's more sugar than an adult should have in a day and that's just one little granola bar, let alone, you know, the Pop-Tart she's fed for breakfast at school, or the you know all the other junk that's coming in the food all day long. And it broke my heart to see how how much we're lied to and how much our children are lied to.
Speaker 2:I know, and I, I, I certainly don't envy you. I, I, I doubt I'll have kids at this point in my life. Man, I have always wondered if I did how. I would, of course, want to feed them the same way in which I've found my health and happiness. But when it comes to their social networking, they're then seeing kids splurging or binging on Halloween candy and knowing that I would have to in order for me to feel good about being a parent, I would have to say no, I'm sorry, like you, should not be putting that in your body. I don't envy you. I don't envy parents who have to, you know, make the decision between a child's. I don't want to say happiness, candy does not equate happiness, but their attitude, I guess, based on what they're eating, it's tough.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I think I was having a conversation with a couple of friends and I was talking about how, walking through the standard grocery store, it feels like walking through a field of landmines, especially for myself, but mostly with my child, because all of this sugar is at eye level. You walk down the main hallway of I won't name names, but the largest grocery store provider in the country, and literally everything lining the walls is sugar um, processed, highly processed and full of weird chemicals and dyes and you know, and it's just like why is this?
Speaker 1:this is not food. Like, this is not, it's not even food anymore. Why are we doing this? So, but it's. It's a struggle going to the stores with children just because of that reason.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 2:You know at one point I want to bring up too is you know, they the food. In regard to food marketing, they try so hard to make it sound healthy, and we it's still to, at least my perception, and I'm nowhere near the expert you are but they still try the battle between fat and sugar. That is still a losing battle, because everything that I see says you know, reduce fat. No, fat, fat is not inherently bad for you, it's just there. They're putting that on there because it makes it seem healthy when there's so much added sugar that it just it's replacing that fat, and it's it's. It's mind boggling.
Speaker 1:Well, and I think the thing that we need to be really clear about is that fat does not make you fat sugar sugar and processed foods make you fat and it's it's all about how your body processes those chemical compounds.
Speaker 1:And you know fat. There's. There's debates and conversations about types of fat. You know you want high quality, good fats. Those are vital for your body and when you're buying something that is low fat or no fat, those vitals, extraordinarily important fats have been removed from the product, but then they're replaced with sugar. Like I mean, will you turn over a yogurt that has, you know, low fat or no fat yogurt? And then you know, you, look, you compare it to the normal yogurt. And then you know, you look, you compare it to the normal, just regular um yogurt of the same brand. The low fat or nonfat yogurt is going to have two to three times more sugar in it and the way our bodies process that, that's what inevitably ends up becoming, especially the belly fat around you know our mid sections, um, that so many people struggle with.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's, it's absolutely terrible and I yeah, um, I don't, I don't have anything else to say on that. I just I wish I don't know. I mean, you obviously come from a food background, I come from a marketing background and the I've I get so fed up with the advertising industry because they try so hard to hide the real details of a product, just to, you know, make a few bucks and that's just. It's so detrimental for the average consumer who, I'm not going to say, can't think critically but there's not. They have not been educated enough to be able to make the proper decisions for their health and wellness. And we rely so much on our physicians and our doctors when you know you made a great point previously doctors are great If you break your arm, you're getting a car crash but they are not trained in nutrition and we have to understand, we have to make an effort to understand what is best for our bodies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean I think that's the biggest takeaway when I go around trying to teach or educate or go on podcasts, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:The biggest thing is our population has not been educated on what's really going on with our food, with our personal care products, with basically all the products that we're using in and out every day, and we've not been educated on how they're impacting our health and wellness and, it's most importantly, the health and wellness of our children and the generations to come. There's basically been a, you know, a huge experiment for the last hundred plus years with all these chemicals and all these toxins and all these things that have been put into our food and our personal care products, and we really do not know the long-term effects on the human race, us a species. But we've also really started to see that there's a pretty drastic effect to other species, other animals and the planets, and you know, I mean we could go into a whole other conversation down that road, but to see the detrimental effects that these chemicals are having on a grand scale, there's no doubt that they're having an effect on us as a species as well.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I mean if you're comfortable with it. I would love to talk a little bit about sustainability and specifically in regard to meat products, because I don't know. I don't know. I mean I read Eating Animals by Adamron Fowler a couple of years ago and at that point in time I kind of decided to cut out most meat out of my life, but I I've slowly reintroduced it when I've gotten, I should say so, I feel comfortable eating those meats again. But you know, if you go to the store and pick up a chicken from Purdue farms, I'm like that is chock full of hormones and all sorts of terrible stuff for your body. So to your point, we don't necessarily know. You know long-term what that's going to do to our bodies, but I don't know. I mean, is it sustainable to, you know, feed 320 million people grass fed, antibiotic free, hormone free chickens? I just, I don't know the answer to that question. I'm curious if you have any insights.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I, my feeling in the longterm is, no, that's even even to that extent, no, it's not feasible, I think, right now, the very best option.
Speaker 1:So I, I'm like you, I have not given up meat, um, but I look at meat as a side dish, it is not a main course, um, so when I, when we make food, salad is usually the main, you know. So when you think about your plate divided up into you know three quadrants, right, so you have one large quadrant which takes up half side, and then you have the other half which is split into two. So my meat will fill one of those smaller portions on the half side and the salad, or whatever my veggie is, fills up the whole half side, if that makes sense. And then you know, maybe a starch, if we do a baked potato, or usually we'll do like a second veggie or something like that, or usually we'll do like a second veggie or something like that, and so I think it's okay to eat meats if you're doing it in a conscious manner, right, Long-term, no, I don't think you can sustainably feed 8, 9, 10, 12 billion people that we're moving towards very quickly.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Simply because there's just not enough landmass to manage space for that many animals, the amount of animals you need for that. So we're we are going to have to figure out how to minimize that.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:With that said, when it comes to eating meat, I am like you. Um, I love butcher box. Um, I use them. I've used them for years and I will tell you the meat tastes amazing. And I'm not even trying to promo ButcherBox here. I am a diehard fan. The meat tastes better than anything I've ever bought in the store. I like the process.
Speaker 1:I've never had an issue with them, and the biggest thing when I look at it is two things. One is the lack of chemical toxins and hormones that are in the animals, and so I can kind of go into that. But the other side of it is the nutrient value. These animals have been treated well. They've been fed the things that they're actually supposed to eat, opposed to. You know, there was the report a couple of years ago that cows are being fed old candy that was being ground up with the wrappers.
Speaker 1:You know, um, they're feed fed GMO, um, uh, feed so corn and and soy and wheat, and most animals can't process a lot of those, um, those types of seeds, and so that can cause issues. They become extremely stressed and so when you have that cortisol and the hormones running through your body, that inevitably ends up in you, the human once you eat that meat product, and so that becomes an issue as well. And then I know there's a lot of debate around GMOs and whether or not they're safe, and my issue with GMOs, above the fact of them being genetically modified, is that they are soaked in herbicides and pesticides. So, planted, the seeds are neon blue or neon red or neon green, like you think about a corn kernel right.
Speaker 1:And they're this neon color when they go into the ground because they've been soaked in these chemicals, and then, on top of that, they're sprayed continuously while they grow. And so you know, once those are harvested and processed, those chemicals stay in that plant and then they're fed to the animal that you're going to eat, and then those chemicals go into the animal and then those eventually end up in you as well, and so it's this whole continuous cycle that becomes a huge issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I appreciate you bringing up the fact or bringing up GMOs. I don't know enough to have an educated conversation on that, but I've gone back and forth in what I've read online that I appreciate that insight because I don't know enough to be dangerous with that topic of conversation and I see people who I respect defending GMOs. I see other people I respect saying that they're terrible for you. So it's good to have that conversation and to get a better understanding. Because, going back to food marketing, just plopping that on a packaging saying non-GMO, you know that makes it look good but that doesn't necessarily make that product healthy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, that's a big big thing. It doesn't necessarily make it healthy because once those even if it comes from a non-GMO kernel, you think like wheat or something like that once the germ grain has been removed and those things are highly processed and then they're bleached and all those things. You know all the processes that it goes through to become like this white powder, that they then dye orange to become a cracker or something you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean it doesn't necessarily make it healthy at all. I think you know. For me, my perspective on GMO kernels or feed is I think there is still debate out on whether or not a genetically modified organism is healthy for us.
Speaker 1:I know, that there's some correlation that they're starting to see with infertility in animals who eat GMO feed, and so that, I think, is sort of a red flag and definitely needs to be investigated more. My bigger concern is whether or not the genetically modified organism is healthy or not for us all. The chemicals in it's been doused on, you know is the issue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely, that makes perfect sense.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, so I don't know. Back to the BS label claims, though I think there's so many we could just keep deep diving into all of them, but I wanted to ask you how did you really start to change your mindset around eating? What was that process? And did that play into reading labels and thinking about how you know, how you approach buying food differently too?
Speaker 2:Yes, you know, like I said, I've been on and off with my health regimen for years. I it drastically changed about a year ago over the course of the pandemic, really, when we were not going out to restaurants because we weren't allowed to. You know, I, I I may start to make more food at home, and I realized that this isn't that hard. I can follow directions, um, and then, at that point in time, I started shopping on the outskirts of the stores, as opposed to the inner aisles, you know where all the whole foods are, um, and as I continued making food for myself, I realized that I get a lot of value out of that. And also, I'm not missing restaurants, and I say that very carefully because I know restaurants struggled a lot over the pandemic and they still are. And you know, I of course, want to support small businesses because I'm a small business owner myself, so I am careful to say this.
Speaker 2:But I also realized that restaurants were not adding value to my life, and I went through a financial program last year with Christina Wise and I started treating my personal finances like a business, and so I kept track of every penny I spent in 2021 and continue to do so. Because of that, I was able to run a financial report on all of my food intake and I realized that when I was eating, making all of my meals, each meal at the average cost was around $3 and 50 cents. If I go to a restaurant, I'm spending easily $20, $25. And how many meals is that that's? You know? That's close to 10 meals and that's uh, the the.
Speaker 2:The economics aren't there for me and I don't get enough value out of going to restaurants where I would be able to spend that money elsewhere and get exponentially more value. So it became an economics thing for me. And then, as I started learning more about ingredients and oils and the way things are cooked, I obviously want to know that I'm cooking in non-hydrogenated oil, making sure that I am not increasing inflammation in my body, and I just I don't know what restaurants are using. Obviously, cost savings occur by using cheaper oils and I don't know. It's just not worth it to me. So that's over the course of the past year. That's when things really started to change.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think you know I've had the same relationship to changing my perspective on food. I was a huge. You know I was a diehard restaurant person. You know I used to eat out almost every meal all the time. I'd always go out. It was, you know, social, with friends or something to do, or, you know, I'd go pick up my mom and we'd go eat dinner or something, and and it was just this relationship that I had. But once I started going down the health you know rabbit hole, I really started to understand like I have no idea where what's in this food, where it came from, you know, especially when you open up the environmental toxin side of things it's like horrifying.
Speaker 1:But you know you think about the oils too. I mean, that's a that's a huge impact on your health and yeah, I have the same thing. And so, you know we still eat out, but it's, it's minimal, it's, you know it's here and there we do it, usually for special occasions, um, or if we're just like extraordinarily lazy and tired. You know, there are those days still like I am not a perfectionist but I would say you know, 90, 95% of my meals come from cooking at home and you know whether that's, you know, meal prep or eating leftovers from the night before, or if that's just snacking from the house, you know I'll make a meal, an entire lunch meal, from just like bits and pieces that I pulled together from the house.
Speaker 1:You don't have to cook something every single time. There's plenty of food in that sense, but one you know. I'll give you an example from last night. So my fiance and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary and we went to a fancier restaurant. We knew it was going to be expensive and it was a delicious meal. But it costs us $150 to go and that's a good chunk of money for one meal, right, and it was good. But both of us left for like it wasn't $100. Good.
Speaker 1:And you think about the amount of food that you can buy and put in your house for $150. Now, I know this is kind of an extreme case, but you know that's enough food to feed us for probably a week or so you know I mean so it's, it's really being aware of those costs and and how they impact you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it it's. It's going to come down to mindset, and I'm I'm not saying there's absolutely no value in eating out. Perhaps for me that's what I'm saying, but I know people get a lot of joy from that and people's social networks thrive because they get to center themselves around friends around a table, and that's fantastic. It's just something that I decided a while ago that it does not bring value to my life and I don't know, I know it can be. I know we're going to get into orthorexia in a moment. I think that ties closely into it, but it can be. Making the decision to better yourself can be very lonely and you have to be prepared for that, um, and I, I don't know I, I there's some judgment around the word lonely because I, you know, I love spending time alone, um, but I also, you know, I enjoy having friends and close relationships too. So it's just, it's a balance.
Speaker 1:It's a balance for sure. Yeah, I totally agree. Um, what do you think it takes to commit to a healthy lifestyle? I mean, you've kind of mentioned it can be lonely, but what are some of the things that you've experienced?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, um, I mean for me to commit to a healthy lifestyle, and I I don't want to go too far to the extreme just yet, but you know, just moving, getting outside, exercising and moving has always been vital to my life and running and staying in shape. So, you know, as an example, I don't get out of breath walking up the stairs, which I know is a problem for, unfortunately, the vast majority of America. Um, but just being conscious of what you're putting in your body as well, I, you know the what I drink. I drink water, I drink coffee and I, on very special occasions, I'll drink kombucha. That's, those are the three things that I drink. I drink nothing else.
Speaker 2:I honestly could not tell you the last time I had any sort of pop or soda or whatever you want to call it. You know, probably I was probably coerced into drinking some mixed drink when I was still drinking. But aside from that, I don't know, um, and just I mean, I know it can be difficult to create or to make your own meals. I I'll give credit to I discovered an app called meal line, um a couple of years ago, and it's fantastic because it allows you to meal prep and it allows you to meal plan, that it's super easy to follow the instructions and on top of that it creates an ingredient list and then you can connect it to your shopping app and then it puts all that stuff in your shopping list and you just press checkout and go and it made the barriers to eating healthy a lot lower and that app truly changed the way I eat.
Speaker 1:It's called MealLime.
Speaker 2:It's a very dumb name. I will say that every single time, but it's meal and lime combined. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:I will share it in the show notes too, just so you can find it. Yeah, I think you know I used to use I think it was AllRecipes a long time ago.
Speaker 1:This was years ago, but they do a similar thing where you can meal prep and then it just prints out the ingredient, the uh, ingredient shopping list, at the end, and so you know exactly what to do. And it was really helpful when we first started eating healthier. And now I just kind of know what we like and what we're going to do and I just kind of can mix it all together. But, as you're, getting started. It's really helpful to have those tools.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely. Um, you know I'll share a story. So last summer we went on vacation for a few days and, of course, you know, when you go on vacation you're tempted to eat out. I meal prepped for the entire vacation. I made all of my meals ahead of time, which I don't recommend anybody do, unless they want to go to the extreme. The extreme, but I mean that's, that's how far I'm willing to take it for the sake of my own health and wellbeing. I, you know, I made meals for every single meal and all all three or four days. And you know we did end up going out to eat, but I, you know, I I just hung out with friends. I didn't grab anything, which, you know, sometimes I feel bad about being in a restaurant not wearing anything, but it's just.
Speaker 1:This was for the sake of me and I I was totally comfortable doing so. Yeah, what do you think? So you know, talking about the orthorexia I know we had a little bit of a conversation prior to recording this, you know. So the so the kind of generalized definition of orthorexia is an unhealthy focus on eating in a healthy way, and so basically the idea is that it um, you take it to the extreme where you know, um. One example is people won't go to holiday gatherings at mom's house anymore because there's sugar in the in the food and there's cookies there and they just can't be in that situation. And so the idea is that you're so focused on eating healthy and precise on everything that you eat that it interacts or it causes issues with your social relationships and your daily lifestyle. So it's kind of that extreme. Where do you think that line is? Maybe for yourself or in general, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 2:Sure, you know I discovered that term pretty much right after we spoke for the first time and you know my judgment around it. When I first emailed you I thought it was a silly made up you know psychological disorder that psychologists were putting together so they can make money off of insurance claims. But I read more into it and I listened to the nuance that you sent over and I can certainly see how that going to the extreme with your health and diet and nutrition can cause problems. I mean, you talk about going to your parents' house for a holiday meal or not going, rather because there's going to be food there that is not good for you. Now, to me that sounds like you're not going because you're going to be tempted.
Speaker 2:I have no temptation. I can go to a bar and hang out with friends and I'm not going to drink. There's no temptation to do so. I can be around a birthday party and see a cake and I have zero desire to eat anything sugar. I remember how it feels and I remember the fake feeling in my mouth and I want nothing of it. How it feels and I remember the fake feeling in my mouth and I want nothing of it.
Speaker 2:So if you decide to not go somewhere based on the food that's going to be around you and you're, you're, you're afraid of eating it, that's. I think that would cause an issue. I, I don't know, I have not gotten to that point and I hopefully we'll never get to that point, but I can see how that could cause issues, psychological issues with you know, the fear of being around um, unhealthy products. I don't really know how to answer that question because I guess again it goes goes back to the relationship with myself and understanding what's actually important to me. What has, you know, value? I want to be around my friends and family and the food that's around me or the drinks that are around me have absolutely no effect on that. So I don't know, I don't recommend people go as extreme as I've gone, because I can see how it can cause issues, but I've been fortunate enough to be cognizant of that as I've gone through it.
Speaker 1:I think that's the key. I think if you continue to be aware of where you are at on that line and as long as you feel like it's not interrupting your daily routines, it's not interrupting your relationships with loved ones and significant others, then I think it's your prerogative to be a little extreme. If you are really, you know, determined to eat clean and eat healthy and care for your body and take care of it, there's nothing wrong with that and you shouldn't be put down or discouraged for doing something like that. I think it's just always watching that line to make it where it doesn't turn to the too far point. If you start to see, oh, I can't go see mom, or I don't want to hang out with my friends at the restaurant because I can't eat, you know, then I think it's you should probably look for some help.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I can. I can definitely see how orthorexia can turn into anorexia. I can. I get that? You know, for me, I I'm cognizant of my weight. You know, I weigh myself almost every day. That is one of you know. It's not the most important metric, but it is a metric for me and I make sure that I maintain the weight that I'm comfortable with and I make sure that I eat enough to stay at that weight, or I'm even trying to put on a little bit of weight now. That's why I've stopped intermittent fasting, and so making sure that you are still getting the right nutrients for yourself, as opposed to, you know, just laying a blanket statement that I want to eat healthy. Make sure that you're putting the right things in your body. I think that is the most important thing you should focus on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I usually tell people not to worry about the numbers specifically, because the reality is that you will. You will be in a range even throughout the day. You're going to be lighter in the morning and heavier at night, no matter what you do or what you put.
Speaker 1:I mean literally no matter what, and so I think, understanding that the number can be just a flexible number, you can have a range that you're comfortable in, but I think the most important thing is understanding where your body feels the best and wherever that number is. Where you feel the best, that's the range that you want to stay in, and and ultimately, it comes down to just what you're putting in your body. Are you eating whole, real foods or are you eating highly processed, nutrient deficient foods? And you know it'll it'll change your weight depending on what you decide to put in your body.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And you, you bring up the most important point. It's about how you feel. My goal and I've said this out loud a number of times my goal is to feel good all of the time, and that obviously depends on what I put into my body, but it also means that I need to put enough into my body. So as long as I feel good all of the time, that is me, you know, accomplishing my goals. Um, obviously that that goes deep with you know. Alcohol goes deep with you know putting sugar into my body, making sure that the things I'm putting into my body are adding energy to it, not detracting and just adding value to my overall health and wellness.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's, you know, something I say pretty much everywhere I go all the time, but for people to understand that sugar, you know I think of it as a chemical toxin, but sugar, you know, and I will say I do eat sugar occasionally. It's not often, but I do eat. You know I'll have a cookie here and there, or ice cream from you know, time to time. So I don't think it's this thing that you have to completely remove from your life forever. If that's your choice, do it, but if you don't want to, that's okay. The thing to know about sugar, though, is that it's a negative nutrient, so, one, it provides you no nutritional value whatsoever, and, two, for your body to process it, it actually extracts nutrients from other parts of your body in order to process sugar and move it through your system and digest it, and so understanding that you're actually not only not providing anything of health to your body, but you're actually removing the little bits of health that you do have in your body by eating that sugar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's a great point. I think that's just so important for people to understand in here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Well, trey, this has been phenomenal. I want to ask you I have a couple of quick fire questions at the end, but I have two questions now. One is there anything that you want to share for somebody who wants to start a health journey that we maybe haven't touched on today?
Speaker 2:Find a well, yes, find a coach. Find somebody you trust, like I mean, like yourself. Find somebody who has been doing this work. I mean, I know you've mentioned here and previously about a functional nutrition, which I've looked into a little bit following our previous conversation, but to me that just seems like such a better solution than just relying on your general physician to provide advice for you that they're not necessarily qualified to provide. Um, and you know, I, while I do love running alone that's actually my preference or working out alone. There are people within your community who will be there to help you get fit, to help you find something that you can be passionate about. That doesn't necessarily mean you need to go out and run a 5k or, you know, compete in a, you know a weight competition, go out and play disc golf that that was a big part of my life for a long time. You're going to end up walking a couple of miles doing so. Just movement is so key that I don't think we appreciate that enough.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, and I think you know the. I think there's a misnomer about you know we have to go do CrossFit or some extreme exercise in order to be quote unquote healthy. The reality is you just need to get your body up and moving, like, go for, you know, go for a brisk walk for even 10 minutes If you can do that once a day. Or, you know, take your kid to the park and run around with your kid, or whatever it is, just get up and move. It doesn't have to be this extreme hour-long gym workout kind of thing. If that's your prerogative, go do it by all means. But I think, especially coming from a female perspective, for women, a lot of times we actually overwork our bodies and so understanding where that line is and knowing that it doesn't have to be this extreme sport every time we go to the gym, so yeah, absolutely Great point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so my my second question before we get to the quick fire uh, trey, where can people connect with you and find more about you and specifically about your podcast as well?
Speaker 2:Sure, well, I would highly recommend you go to themosaiclifepodcastcom. Search for Nika and then you'll find our conversation. It was a wonderful conversation and that's where you can find all of the episodes of the podcast 133 now and I love having conversations about how we can live our very best lives, and so much of that, I've realized, is about how we feel and how we feel based on what we put into our bodies. But I speak with authors. I speak with entrepreneurs, people from all over the world just who are living their best lives and everything they've had to go through to get there. If you'd like to find me on social media, you can find me at Trey Kaufman.
Speaker 1:Perfect, and I will link to everything in the show notes too, just to make it as easy as possible. So, trey, are you ready for the quick fire question?
Speaker 2:I'm ready, let's go.
Speaker 1:Okay, perfect. So my very first one what is your favorite or most impactful book, podcast or documentary, and why?
Speaker 2:Great, great question. Most impactful book was, or is, ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. I read that at a time where I was so confident, borderline arrogant, I stopped to question how, what was, what were my decisions being uh, motivated by? And I realized so much of that was ego.
Speaker 1:And so I have a much better relationship with my ego now because I think I think you had a similar question for me on your podcast and I think I told you the journey of Islam. Islam which you, if you have not read, you have to read because I think you will love it, cause it's right along that kind of checking your ego and understanding you know reality, like where are places in the world and how we should interact with the universe as a whole. So it's phenomenal.
Speaker 2:I love that. Yeah, I do have it on my list, so I'm going to grab it. I appreciate that it's phenomenal.
Speaker 1:Okay, so my next question for you what is your best toxin-free or eco-friendly living tip?
Speaker 2:Be self-sufficient. You know I that can. You can take that any number of ways, but when it comes to health and wellness, learn how to make meals and snacks that you love. I make a very spicy, very good salsa that I make weekly and I absolutely love it. I mean it makes two big bell jars for probably three bucks, whereas you buy a small bell jar at the store for $5. Make things that you absolutely enjoy. Eating healthy does not mean you have to eat things that you don't enjoy. There are ways that you can have things that you actually love and are really good for you.
Speaker 1:I love that For me, I know, you know, when I started eating like real whole foods, I'm like man. The flavor in these things, like especially when you get like real farm grown organic foods like strawberries, are always a good example. When you eat the conventional store strawberries, I'm like these are gross. And then you eat real like I grow strawberries every summer and I like I count the minutes until they're right because they're just so tasty and good and so I think, yeah, understanding that you know eating healthy does not have to be gross.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then find a farmer's market to your points. Um, a store bought blackberries I used to have. All the time I bought blackberries from the farmer's market. Last summer I I can't eat store bought blackberries anymore.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, I totally agree with that. How funny. So my last question for you what does living consciously mean to you?
Speaker 2:Living with integrity you know I put together a manifesto for myself this year and that's the first one on the list is to live with integrity. And integrity can mean whatever you define it as for your own life, but for me it's a lot. So much of it is, you know, not sacrificing food quality, not sacrificing things that I put into my body, making sure that when I'm asked a question I'm going to answer it honestly, even if it's a slightly uncomfortable question. I just, you know, there are we. I try to remind myself and I know it sounds grim that we are going to die relatively soon and if we are not treating ourselves or giving ourselves the best opportunity to live long, healthy and happy lives, then I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me. So for me it's living with integrity and living my truth, no matter what the cost.
Speaker 1:I love that, I mean, I totally agree. I think, remembering that you could die at any moment, as morbid as that is, it's such an empowering tool because it just drives you to do your best every day and do what you can to make an impact in any way that you want to.
Speaker 2:Perfect, absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:Love it Well, Trey. Thank you so, so much for coming on the show. I'm so grateful to have you here and the information you shared, and just I commend you for all the good things you're doing too, so thank you.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was such a pleasure. I look forward to talking again soon. I loved having this conversation and I love, I love learning from you, so thank you for the opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, appreciate that, thank you.