Live Coaching
How Michelle is putting the Healthy back into Southern cooking
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November 6, 2020 - Episode #37 - Live Coaching - How Michelle is putting the Healthy back into Southern cooking
As if it is not hard enough to be healthy ourselves, we need to make sure our family is healthy. This can seem like an overwhelming task especially when it comes to providing meals for our family. Join me and my client, Michelle Kunder in this LIVE Coaching podcast episode. This is a "mini" coaching session so that you can get a sneak peek of what it looks like to meet with a Health Coach. Both Michelle and I are girls from the deep South and understand how challenging it can be to feed your family healthy while holding true to some Southern tradition. Although this is an abbreviated coaching session, it is packed full of hot topics! We discuss processed foods, sugar, reading a food label, chemicals and preservatives in foods, navigating the grocery store, emotional eating and mindfulness. After listening to this, I think you will see that health coaching is more about empowerment and brainstorming. It is fun and encouraging! If you are like Michelle and you need someone to help you "fill in the blanks" when it comes to your and your families' health, consider booking a 1 hour virtual session with me! Go to https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/coaching.html#/ Read Full Transcript below Where else to listen: (note: Google is only available on android devices)
FULL TRANSCRIPT November 6, 2020 - Episode #37 - Live Coaching - How Michelle is putting the Healthy back into Southern cooking Speaker 1: Hey there, it's Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. I'm so glad you're joining us today on this podcast bonus with live coaching. Yes. live, health coaching right here. As a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I empower women on their health transformation and I'm finding that there are so many misconceptions about health coaching. I’m doing this so you can get an inside sneak peek of what it looks like to work with a health coach, and you can gain perspective of what it feels like to have someone in your corner to help you identify those obstacles; those mindset blocks that are holding you back from your healthiest you. Coaching is a personalized strategy. And if you find yourself needing some help to get you jump-started, hey, I've got your back! Consider booking a one hour virtual coaching call. I want you to get the customized help and support you need. Go to inspire healthy harmony.com and look under the coaching tab. Now let's get started. Speaker 1: Right, let's get started. I have with me today, Michelle Kunder, and we are going to be doing a little bit of live coaching for you. So Michelle is joining me from the great state of Georgia. Welcome Michelle. Speaker 2: So glad to be here. How are you doing? I'm doing good. How are you, Jennifer? Speaker 1: I'm good. I'm so glad that we get to do this together. So I want to ask you as we start this little mini coaching session. So as we start off, what would you say is your main health goal? That is your top priority. Speaker 2: Right now? My main thing is cooking better for my family. Like you said, I'm in Georgia. And so I grew up cooking Southern, and that's what we like to eat. And I know that I can, I want to keep some of those Southern roots, but at the same time I can also, I want to lose the Southern fat that comes with cooking with a Southern roots. So I'm looking for a healthy, healthier, um, this way to cook and also the eat, like, you know, just snacks and things like that. I know that's kind of sometimes where we end up going for the convenience and that's not the best either. And so I'm just looking for some, some things to know and to be able to fill in these, uh, these blanks to help me in just cooking better for my family and doing better as a whole in the household. Yeah. Speaker 1: Awesome. That's awesome. And I like how you put that filling in the blanks. And I think that's so much of what coaching is. You know, most everybody that comes to me, they really know what to do, but they have some blanks that need to be filled in and that's where I can certainly help. So with this health goal in mind, what is something you're doing right now? I call those wins. What's something you're doing right now that you know, you're doing really well. Like you're, it's, it's helping you work towards this goal. Speaker 2: Um, well, one thing is I am looking at labels and trying to do what I know from there, which is if there's a lot of hard words that I don't can't pronounce very well is probably not the best for me, but there's still just some things that I'm like again, I know staying away from the processed food and all entirely is the best, but sometimes it's just not the most convenient. And so I just want, I just need to learn a little bit more about the label reading and what are some things I need to look for to go with and maybe some things to look for to stay away from definitely. Speaker 1: Okay. And I love how you said, first of all, you're cooking at home, which is huge. I mean, that is, that's just a big win right there. You know, when we have control over what we're, you know, consuming because we're preparing it at home, that's a really big win. And so that's just a very easy, um, building block so that we can have success on our health journey. So I love how you're being diligent in, in eating at home. Speaker 2: He has been, and he prefers to eat at home. So we try to do that as much as, as possible. Speaker 1: Well, yeah, smart woman, smart woman. And I've heard about your cooking. I've heard. It's really good. So, um, so this'll be a fun, this'll be a fun talk today because both of us are Southern girls. I mean, surely our listeners can hear that. Right. Right. I mean, then y'all might want to, uh, adjust some, uh, some settings there on your headphones, but I'm from Alabama. Michelle is from Georgia. So yes, deep Southern roots. How do we be healthy and like maintain our Southern flare. Right. We want the food to taste. Good. Um, so let's kind of dive into, uh, what you said about food labels. Um, you said that you're looking at food labels, you kind of know what to look for, but it, it ends up being really confusing. So, um, tell me some things that you're looking for, uh, when you look at a food label. Speaker 2: Um, well, I'm, I'm looking my main thing right now. I look to make sure there is not any monosodium glutamate. I think I said that. Right. Um, the MSG. Um, so I do notice that we've not been doing that for years, cause my daughter, um, she has, um, epilepsy, uh, childhood epilepsy. So she has seizures. And so I know that's one thing that can maybe trigger those. So we try to stay away from that as much as possible but I definitely look to make sure that's not in there and if it is, then I will put it down and choose something else. Um, but the other things I'll try to look at, I look at the sugars, but again, that's kind of where I'm, I'm just not very comfortable or very confident, I guess, in knowing like what is the right amount of sugar in say a, just for an example, as yesterday, I bought a healthy with my finger quotes. You can't see that, but with my healthy, um, option for some cookies and looking on it at compared it to some that I had some of the other cookies that were, did not claim to be healthy and the sugars were about half, but also the cookies were a lot smaller and the serving size was smaller. So to me in my brain, I'm thinking it's probably really the same amount of sugars, but the sugar was different. It did not have high fructose corn syrup. I know that's another note though. I try to stay away from that. It had cane sugar. So I guess that's probably my main thing is I know a little bit of what to look for, but I'm still not so confident in knowing to be able to buy the things that I can get away with. Speaker 1: And here's what I'm hearing from you. And here's what I want to make sure to emphasize to everyone you're being mindful about your choices. Like you're being aware and you're like, okay, there's another, there's a, there's some things I need to be looking for. You, you hit on one of my hot topics and that's MSG and MSG is monosodium glutamate. Of course, MSG is a lot easier to say than that. Big, long, scary chemical sounding word. Um, but you know, the, the way it sounds should be an indication, it sounds like a chemical, it is a flavor enhancer, it's a preservative and it's just a disaster. The body rates that as toxicity. And so, um, MSG is one that we definitely definitely want to avoid. And it is in some very popular products. Speaker 2: Yeah, it's crazy. Isn't it? It's the, I didn't know what it did. So I love learning that and now I know what it does cause I just, I just knew it wasn't good. I wasn't sure why or what it was. So that's awesome to learn that too. Speaker 1: Shocked you the most, when you found out this particular food item had MSG, what item was that? Speaker 2: Oh goodness. I mean, there are so many, I can't even, there's so many because I'm telling you I pick it up and I see it has that. And it goes back down. I'll tell you, it's, it's easier for me to tell you what I will still buy that I know that has it in it, but I do it when I know she's not going to eat or I do it just on a pinch every once in a while. One of those is the, um, the sausage that you get, like the link sausage or the, uh, what do you call that? This Polish sausage, that kind of thing. It's in there with just probably a lot of other things it's not in there. I do try to do the more healthy one, but almost all of them still have MSG in it. But again, just about everything, um, that's flavorful and tastes really good has the MSG in it, but these cookies didn't so that, that, Speaker 1: No that's yeah, that's good. You know, I think I was most shocked to see that, you know, the, the ranch flavoring packets are a commonly put in, uh, casseroles or other Southern dishes just for flavor enhancement. Season salts, even if it's listed as like Italian seasoning or great seasoning, everyone needs to turn it over and look, if it has MSG, that's a no-go um, the regular ranch salad dressing, um, which is so wildly popular, um, that has MSG in it. Um, but I've also noticed, you know, some of the chips that my kids like, Oh, every once in a while. Yeah. I mean like Doritos and Cheetos and some other things they have, not only do they have all the awful color added to it, but they've got MSG, so it's, it's hidden. And it just seems so innocent because, Oh my goodness, it tastes so good. How can this be bad? But we know that when we're looking at processed foods and we're looking at consuming all of these chemicals and toxins and preservatives and artificial colors and artificial flavors and artificial sweeteners basically junk, it really weighs down the body. And so it's preventing the body from working efficiently the way we need it to work so that we're healthy so that we feel good. Um, and you gave the example of MSG with your daughter and I mean, she has probably a sensitivity to it. She has a history with epilepsy. So you're saying. Speaker 2: Very bad headaches, very bad. Well, not just her, I've noticed it with us too. We just kind of childhood up. But I do know that if, if we ever have a diet like that, usually we're going to get a headache. Somebody is going to get a headache. Speaker 1: Yes. Yeah. Um, and I've noticed the same with me. I didn't, it took me a little bit to recognize it. Um, but I, you know, again, the, it goes back to that mindfulness, how do we feel after eating certain foods? Because once we kind of identify, Oh, wait a minute, I ate this. And now my, I feel like this, um, we, we start to make maybe some better choices. Would you agree with that statement? Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know what I think with you saying that? I think one thing I've said at several times this past week, cause I've had just kind of a rough sort of stressful. We got a lot going on. Um, and I keep saying, Oh, this is my comfort food. So it feels good while I'm eating it, but afterwards it's not so comforting. So I need to think that way and think about, okay, what feels good now, or do I want to feel good later? And you know, now and later, so I need to find something else to make me feel good now. And that will make me feel bad later. So that's love. Speaker 1: And I, I just like how you put that because I think that's something Michelle, that we all do. We're turning to something for comfort. We're turning to something to numb the pain. And so when we're turning to food, uh, to numb the pain, um, then you know, afterwards what happens, we might have some temporary comfort, but then we feel very guilty and there you feel ashamed for making a bad choice. And then that cycle kind of perpetuates itself. Right. Speaker 2: Well, I've done it now. Might as well go ahead and eat this Reese’s too. Speaker 1: Yes. Yes. I know I've been guilty of that myself. Um, and I think it's just that again, that practice of mindfulness and okay, I'm shoving this food in so fast, no matter what it is, I'm shutting this food in so fast. What, what emotion am I feeling right now? Can I take a pause and kind of analyze what's going on with me? Am I stressed and angry and upset? Am I sad and be mindful? And that makes all the difference in the world. Speaker 2: That is, I love that. And I have, if I am not like so crazy busy going, you know, doing everything, trying to do everything, then I can do that. I can at night, for instance, after like, say 10 o'clock, I'll feel like I want something and I can think then, cause it's 10 o'clock at night. I'm not doing much anyway. And I've learned to think, okay, am I really hungry? Or am I just thirsty? And you know, try to do water or do, if I am feeling like I'm hungry, I try to do something healthy, like a, you know, nuts or something like that instead of a bowl of cereal. Um, but when I'm busy and I'm going crazy busy, that's when I'm not slowing down enough. So I love that you said that. So that'll help me to be more mindful when I'm busy. And I think I'm going to throw something in my mouth. Hold on, hold on. Feel the feelings for a second. Okay. Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. It's so important for us to just be aware of what we're going through in that moment. And like you said, just pause and I like how you said, um, am I really hungry or am I thirsty? So often we think we're hungry and we're actually thirsty. And, um, I will, I will remind all of our listeners because I like to kind of dig into weight loss. Cause I had so many clients who struggle with weight loss. You know, if you're dehydrated, you're going to have a really hard time losing any kind of weight. I mean, when we're dehydrated, even though like a 1 to 2% dehydration, we tend to hold on to belly fat. And so we have got to be pushing water and we're going to find that we're energized. We feel better, um, when we're drinking lots of water. So I like how you are mindful of, Hey, I'm going to drink some water and make sure, you know, I'm taking care of that thirst and not just assuming it's hunger. Speaker 2: Yeah. We have done that the last few years. We've pushed the water, love the water. And even in my kids now that if they come to me about any complaint, I asked them how much water have you had today? Because again, with the headaches and all that too, it does, it helps with those kinds of things too. So I count that a win too, that we love the water in this household. Speaker 1: That's an absolute, massive, massive win. Um, I wanted us to get back to the food labels real quick to kind of wrap up that little section. Um, the food labels. What's really confusing. Michelle and I, I think you'll, I think I'm sure you've seen this. We've all fallen prey to what is really clever marketing on the front of the packages. They, they do a great job of making it look like it is a healthy choice. They use these keywords and there's just literally millions and millions of dollars that's spent on marketing solely meant to deceive us so that something looks healthy when it's really not. Um, and so they do a great job of that, but it's our responsibility to do what you've done. Turn that product over and look at the food label. And when we look at that food label, my role with them is very, very simple. First of all, I look at that ingredient list. If that ingredient list is so long and so lengthy, and I feel like I need to rely on my chemistry class in college to decipher that label, then Houston, we have our problem. Right. And then it is, it's just not a good thing. What are some other things on that food label that you find confusing or overwhelming? Speaker 2: Um, again probably the, the carbs and the sugars and the proteins and all those things. Like some of those things are good and you, you hear y'all eat more protein. Um, but how do I know if this is a good product for protein or, or not? So those are some of the specific ones that I can think of. Speaker 1: And I love how you're being mindful of that. And you're looking at that and you're thinking, okay, protein and carbs and fat. Like I need to be aware of that. Um, my role of them for this is really simple. If I can just offer a suggestion, that would be helpful. Um, I think if we can stick more to those real whole foods, those foods that reside mostly on the perimeter of the grocery store spending most of the time in the produce section, it's when we get into the middle of the grocery store with all of the packaged convenience items, those are the ones that are more processed. And when it's more processed, what that means is they've done something to it so that it can be shelf stable because the name of the game for these food companies is simply money. It's not our health. And so they need it to sit there on the shelf for a while in case it doesn't move as quickly. And, um, if we can kind of keep that real whole foods in mind and spend a majority of our grocery budget on the perimeter of the grocery store. So we're getting our protein from those meats and, um, from a little bit of dairy and from eggs and from nuts, I heard you say, you like to snack on nuts, uh, nuts and seeds, and then just packing our, I was going to say buggy, but, and see, you know what I mean, when I say buggy, right? The grocery buggy and there's other people that use the word cart. Speaker 2: Absolutely push the buggy, who's got the buggy, go get me a buggy. Speaker 1: We gave our listeners the two different options. Okay. So, having your grocery buggy full of produce, you know, from, from the produce section, the fruits and vegetables and trying to get lots and lots and lots of color and that way we're not having to do quite as much figuring out, you know, is this healthy? Is it not how much protein, how much sugar, the main thing I look at with regard to sugar, if it's something that I'm, it's going to be like a little bit of a treat is if sugar is listed as one of the highest ingredients, meaning if it's one of the first listed ingredients, it has the highest amount you alluded earlier. You said you already look for high fructose corn syrup and that's fantastic. So keep doing that. Then they had a lot. Speaker 2: Of names for sugar. That's not that they try to make you not know that there's sugar in there so that I do notice that too. Yeah. And sicker. So very addictive. Speaker 2: Yeah. Most definitely go without, for a day and you'll see how addictive. Speaker 1: Right. You're right. And, and again, you're, you hit the nail on the head. There are so many different words for sugar. There are over, uh, the last I looked, uh, when I was studying this, there was over 50 different words. Speaker 2: That right there will show you that, that their intent is to get your money into tricky, to get your money instead of really caring for you. Yeah. That makes sense. Yeah. That makes me want to just boycott and not even do any of it. Right. Speaker 1: And so I think it's just making those healthier choices most of the time, most of the time, um, and spending more time with our fresh fruits and vegetables, those things that do not require a food label where we don't have to think about like avocados, they don't have a food label. I know they're a healthy fat, I know they're phenomenal for me. And there I've got some broccoli and an Apple. So that's what I mean when I say real whole foods. So, um, as we had kind of chatted, uh, throughout our little mini session here about this food strategy at sticking to real whole foods and kind of how to navigate the middle of the grocery store and looking what to be wary of when it comes to reading those food labels and then finally being mindful. What sticks out to you the most? What's your biggest takeaway from our session today? Speaker 2: Um, well I think, like you said, just if it has a label then that is going to, it needs to be a very small portion in my buggy, if at all, and let's keep those things that are not labeled with the, all the ingredients lists and things like that, let's keep those. Um, but those in the buggy and keep the ones that have the labels on the shelf. So, uh, definitely, definitely that. And also knowing that the MSG and that makes me want to even, I'm a researcher too. I like to go and look and see and learn. So knowing now, um, that that is for flavor. I wonder what other words that I don't know is also for flavor. That's not good for me. So that's going to make me want to go and check that out too, and kind of dig into that a little bit more just to be even more mindful of it. Speaker 1: I love that. I love that. And we'll keep talking about this. Um, and you know, I think the biggest thing that I keep in mind is if it, if it looks like a chemical, if it sounds like a chemical, it's probably a chemical, you know, I mean, like that looks like a duck walks like a duck. Um, so I mean, I think that's the main thing. Um, cause we can get a little bit overwhelmed trying to figure everything out. And, um, we're busy, we're busy mommas and we're busy wives and busy business women. And this has got to be simple. So, um, I so appreciate you joining me today and um, being willing to come on here. Speaker 2: I will. I thank you. It's, it's been fun and I love, love learning. And I mean, again, just getting that, that help to fill in that, to fill in the blanks a little bit is super, super important to me. So I thank you so much for your time. Speaker 1: You're welcome. I'm glad we could fill in the blanks for you today. Y'all these mini coaching sessions is what it looks like to work with me to work with the health coach. If you love this, if you know, you could use some support and you need some help filling in the blanks, will you please check out the coaching [email protected] that when, till we meet again, have a healthy and happy day. All right, Michelle, let's both tell 'em together in unison. Bye y'all. Have a good one. Bye. After listening to this, I think you will see that health coaching is more about empowerment and brainstorming. It is fun and encouraging! If you are like Michelle and you need someone to help you "fill in the blanks" when it comes to your and your families' health, consider booking a 1 hour virtual session with me! Go to https://www.inspirehealthyharmony.com/coaching.html#/ |
