#202: How CBD Helps Improve Your Overall Wellness With Brooke Alpert

Welcome to The Conscious Pivot Podcast with international speaker, business mentor, bestselling author of Pivot, and your host, Adam Markel. The Conscious Pivot shares the stories and wisdom of people who have successfully reinvented some area of their business and personal life. You'll gain powerful insights into how you can fully embrace new opportunities, increase your performance, and master the art and science of innovation and resilience. So please join Adam as he guides you on your conscious pivot.

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Conscious Pivot Podcast. I'm your host, Adam Markel, and I'm sort of chuckling to myself because this was take 2. I flubbed my own name on the first take just a second ago, which is always fun. Just every time I think I have something in my life sort of sussed, Like knowing my own name, then the universe has this wonderful way of just bringing me right back down to reality. And where it's a great process because I think more than anything that I've learned at this point, humility is so important and in so many ways. I've had a lot of wonderful successes in my life. I'm not going to speak about those here and now, and I don't mind speaking about them. But frankly, I learned so much more from my mistakes and from the moments where I either was humbled or. Or was just able to find humility through a much gentler process. And those are more of the things that have taught me and have informed my life in ways that have brought about what I want most, which is peace and joy and just love, feeling love for myself and for others. So it's just, it's one of those curious things I think we see all around us in the world right now. And I've been wrestling with this just the last couple of days actually, and I'm only realizing it even in this moment. that I was watching a TED Talk, and I won't say who was giving the talk, but it was kind of a viral talk that was discussing how success favors the bold and how being bold is so important. And I agree with that. I think that in many ways being bold is quite important. And at the same time, it's sort of a bit of a riddle in that seeking to be bold, I think it really triggers the ego quite a bit. And people start to Pretend in ways that they have all the answers or that they are all that and sort of the antithesis of humility. And somehow or another, that energy of knowing and that energy of boldness and confidence and passion even attracts a lot of people to them because it seems like they have the answers. And that's a very attractive force in the universe. But again, the riddle for me, or at least the thing I'm curious about, is whether you really need to sort of whether you can maintain humility and also still succeed in life. And I think there's a way to do that. I know I've seen it, I've experienced it, and I've also experienced what it looks like when we forget some of those lessons. And the universe then has a way of giving us big— some moments of clarity that are sometimes gentle and sometimes not so gentle. So that's an interesting lead-in to the fact that I have a great honor today to— Converse with somebody that I've never met before. She was referred to me and we've actually had this particular discussion on our books for several months, but the pandemic kind of interfered. And just as we were getting ready to hit the record button, we were just kind of talking about what we were each doing in this interim space. And her name is Brooke Alpert. I'm gonna read a bit of her bio because I think there's some really wonderful things to learn about her. And then we're gonna dig right in. And as we love to do, just sort of follow the breadcrumbs, see So, Brooke Alpert is a certified holistic cannabis practitioner, a nationally recognized nutrition expert, and a bestselling author. Brooke's interest in cannabis, particularly in CBD, came from trying to help her husband manage his debilitating autoimmune disease. Seeing what CBD could do for her husband, Brooke brought CBD into her private practice and saw many of her clients' overall wellness improve. Her clients' positive reaction led Brooke to go back to school to become a certified holistic cannabis practitioner. Having to navigate her husband and her clients through all the options and seeing how many of the products out there were not actually adequate led Brooke to create her own brand of CBD products. We're going to talk a little bit about that today. Brooke's nutrition and cannabis expertise has led her to be featured on national television regularly, including Good Morning America, The Dr. Oz Show, Today Show, Access Hollywood, and more. It's just such a pleasure to have you on the show finally, Brooke. Welcome.

Thank you for having me.

Yeah, you and I were chatting just before we hit the record about what we were up to. But before we get to that, I want to just say, so you've got a very impressive resume— CB— I was going to say CV is what I meant to say, but I started to say CBD. You've got a very impressive CBD. What's— what's not part of that bio that I just read that you'd love for people to know about you?

I don't think I've ever been asked that question. I think, you know, I'm a mom on top of that all. So it mentions my husband, but I'm a mom too. And as much as I'm so proud of my career, I'm, you know, incredibly grateful for my 2 children and getting to experience the highs and lows of everything that's been coming, you know, since day one of being a mom has been incredible for my business, for me as an individual. And for my growth as a mother. So I think it's an important part of the whole story here.

Yeah, maybe just a little bit, right? With everything else, there's also this responsibility for other humans that's in the mix somehow, right? Just a small thing like that. I'd love to just get a sense of what was the pandemic like for you? What has it been like for you? And I know you and I were talking about how we found some peace outside of where we, we typically spend our time. Maybe we can start there and see where it

Sure. Well, I live in New York City, so we can say the beginning of the pandemic was— this was a rough place to be.

The epicenter, really. Yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, I think the craziest thing about living in New York City is, you know, we live in apartment buildings. I'm on the 22nd floor of the building I live in, so there's no way to really be isolated or to avoid people. I mean, even throwing out the trash, there's exposure. So, you know, we were incredibly fortunate to be able to take our kids out of the city for a few months and go live in the country where there was just space and where I could open a door and they'd be in the backyard, even in the freezing cold, because we were up in Massachusetts where it's freezing basically until May. But to have that freedom and that privilege of having another place to live was such a blessing for us. And we were really— there was such incredible moments for us during the pandemic that— was able to sort of shine a beautiful light on something that was really tragic and terrible. It's obviously still occurring now, but it made us closer as a family. And as a working mom, to have that sort of time with my kids in that intensity and the highs and lows of it was a real— you know, I feel like it's something I'm going to constantly look back on and remember with incredibly wonderful memories.

Resilience. It's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. And in times of massive change and disruption, the kind of rapid change that we're all experiencing as leaders, as business owners, as entrepreneurs, we have to learn how to not only increase our own resilience, but that of our teams. So right now we have a powerful opportunity for you to find out just how resilient you are. Some years ago, my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken. And all you have to do to get your own free resilience leader assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. Would you share one of those moments, one of those beautiful moments that you can recall back?

Yeah, you know, I actually ended up making a photo album of our time in quarantine just because I felt that this is a moment in time for my children that, you know, in 10, 20, 30 years they're going to be talking about. And I thought having sort of this album would be amazing. And one of the pictures there is I had a business call and it was over an hour and my kids were losing their minds. And I ended up just sort of like trying to sneak under my desk to hide and they found me. And of course, my husband took a picture of the 2 kids basically sitting on my back while I'm trying to have this call and take notes. And my face looks like it's terrorized because I am. I'm terrorized by my children. And it's still kind of amazing. That picture brings back, you know, this level of intimacy that, you know, we don't normally have this time. And it really sort of captures a moment. And it's something that was so stressful in those 60 minutes, but yet in hindsight is the funniest thing that happened.

Oh my God.

So yeah, I mean, the picture's hilarious. I should post that one day. Maybe I will.

I would love to see that, Brooke. In fact, you just gave me the chills because I was sort of imagining, you know, there's that old black and white photo of John Jr., John Kennedy Jr. under his dad's desk, like when JFK's in the Oval Office. And I think it was either Caroline or— I can't remember which one. But just that whole idea of just this— the world within the world, right? It's— you know, we have this professional world, and this adult world that we live in, and yet, the kids' world within that world is just a different thing entirely, of course.

You know, all walls were really broken down. And even on Zoom meetings, or even when I was doing podcasts, or what, you know, there was an expectation that at one point, point, one of my kids would come in and there was something comical where— because pre-pandemic, I would have been mortified. You know, my life of a working mom and being a mom were completely separate and segregated. And if it wasn't my kids coming in, it was whoever I was talking to's kids coming in. So it was just— or something happening to interrupt the flow. And we all just sort of went with it. And that's been, I think, a really, really nice part of it all, is sort of integrating our lives into our working lives as well.

Yeah, and something so beautiful about that. We— I never know exactly why I start these shows in the place that I do. I've really opened myself up in that moment as we start to what spirit or universe or just how I'm being guided in the moment to say something. And it's so curious because I think when we allow ourselves to just sort of flow with things that are flowing with what is, it's remarkable where we can find ourselves led. And we started this idea of what's humility and how important is humility in our world to our success and everything else. And what could be more humbling in the best way, not in a bad way at all, but just like the humility of being on a business call and trying to maintain a professional, whatever, and taking notes and all the rest, but your kids are climbing all over you and you're being tortured, as you said, in the moment because you're not able to pull back and go, I'm gonna laugh— not just laugh at this someday, but this is one of those priceless moments that's gonna get captured because my husband was just like, you know, right on point to take a picture of this circus happening. How cool. I mean, really, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Oh, I feel your emotion even right now. That's just so beautiful.

Yeah,

yeah. I mean, I think there'll be pandemic stories and anthologies and stories of people's lives that will include Moments like that where we've been able to— where we'll look back at this and find these little, not just rays of sun, but like full-on moments that you go, wow, I can actually integrate a life in a work life, business life, a career life with the life of a mom or a dad or others. And you go, wow, I didn't know that was possible, right? For years, we've been just sort of this whole debate about work-life balance. I'm curious, what's your beat on the concept of work-life balance now?

No, it's bullshit.

Good. Love it. Yes.

You know, I think to begin with, as a working mom, a work-life balance, there is no such thing, right? And my life is my life. I was able to physically segregate the two. But even when I was in my office, when I still went to an office every day, it was completely intertwined where I'd have a few hours of patience and work with that. Wait, I need to sign up a daughter for summer camp or get this doctor's appointment or responding to another message from a teacher or something. For me, it was never a clean break when I was in the office. I was always— I still had one foot in the parenting moment because there was always stuff thrown at you. And now working from home, today they're in school in person, but most of the time, you know, they're often in remote. It's really just an incredible juggling act. And some days I can really catch all those balls and other days I'm dropping a lot. And, you know, I think that Ever since the beginning of the quarantine, I've become a lot more gentle with myself of this is the best I can do today.

Yeah.

And like, that's okay. And if I can't get in my workout and my healthy eating, my job, then quality time with my kids, I'm just going to do the best that I can. And I think a lot of that made me a better practitioner as well as like a better spouse and a better parent, a better daughter. You know, I think it goes back to that humility and humbling moments of I can't do everything that I set out to do every day, but I'm just going to do the best I can. I might need a lot of CBD to help me through, but I'm going to do the best that I can. And I'm going to put my head on my pillow every night just knowing that, okay, tomorrow's another day. Versus I really used to beat myself up when I didn't accomplish everything. And that's really been left in, let's say, 2019 at this point.

Yeah, interesting. So I wanted to know how being gentle with yourself evolved. Like, was that— is that something that's been difficult for you in your life to just sort of be gentle with yourself?

Yeah, I mean, I'm a New York City woman who runs 2 businesses solo. I have 2 kids. I have a sick husband. So there really isn't that time to make myself the priority or to have kindness towards myself. And I think that one of the blessings of the pandemic, one of many, is really sort of bringing that kindness to myself. And just the way I would talk to one of my patients or I would talk to my kids, like, okay, you didn't get an A on a test or you didn't eat perfectly or you weren't feeling great, like, it's okay.

We're gonna live.

You got through today. Yeah, so the bar was set lower, but it's a lot more pleasant.

Wow, that's so interesting because I'm a native New Yorker. We live in California and we jockey— I think we were talking about this— jockey between San Diego and a little island off the coast of Cape Cod, which is where we went for our— what my wife and I call our second honeymoon. We spent 7 months there without our kids because Yeah, because our, our littlest ones— I don't know, what are the ages of your kids?

6 and 12.

6 and 12. So our youngest is now 20 and our oldest is 28. So they were all out of the house. We were empty nesters for a little while until the pandemic hit. And then we had 2 that were in college that were coming home and we're like, what? Talk about cruelty. We waited 28 years for this moment. Now you're coming back? So in the end, we ended up going off to Massachusetts. And as you said, it gets chilly there, especially Until summer months, but just the ability to be okay with things not just perfect. I know where a lot of people are recovering perfectionists. That's what I say about myself, but I don't know that we ever really recover from that, the idea that in our minds, things have to be a certain way in order for us to feel good about ourselves. I think this pandemic is— I surf now. I love the ocean. I've spent a lot of time in the ocean my whole life. And there's a point, we talk about humility, Where if you don't have humility in the ocean, you're easily prey. And I mean, not prey to sharks, but prey to the waves, prey to Mother Nature. You're dead meat in the ocean if you don't have respect, a really healthy respect for its power. So I feel like when the pandemic hit, it was like one big wave and people got hit and pummeled. And it's just like when I was a lifeguard at Jones Beach back in the day, you see the look on people's faces, they're joyful, they're smiling and laughing, and then they get hit with one of those shorebreak waves and then they're like— Petrified, like, what? You know, like they just saw a ghost, but then it goes away. So like 6 seconds later, they're back up on their feet and they're, oh, oh, this is like a rogue wave, no problem, you know. And they're back to having fun and dancing, and then the next wave hits them, and then it's— there's a different look on their face. Or they're in a rip current and they're getting kind of pulled away from the shore, and now they can't stand, and then that joyful look Turns into a scared and panicked look. And that's when we knew as lifeguards we had to get in the water because that person was freaking, and the next moment they could be out of sight. And I think that's what the pandemic was like at the beginning, that people got hit with that first wave and thought, ah, you know, this is going away, or, you know, it's like a bad flu. As soon as the season is done, we'll all be fine by spring or summer. And then it was one wave after another wave after another wave, and it was this relentless set of these big-ass pummeling things, and nobody knew when it was going to end. And I think still even a lot of uncertainty around when the waves are finally going to stop crashing on us. And at a certain point, there's this humility that emerges from that, where even our desire to sort of have things be perfect takes a backseat to what you just described, which was just, hey, can we just live each day in some meaningful and enjoyable way without everything having to be perfectly sequenced for the future so that someday we're, I don't know what, deserving of our respect and love? I know that was a bit of a ramble. I apologize. Is there anything that I just said that you just want to respond to before I go on? No, no, no. No,

you know, it's funny. A year or two ago, for my 40th birthday, we went to Costa Rica and my now 12-year-old, I guess she was 10 at the time. Yeah, I guess 10. You know, I always say you don't turn your back on the ocean if you're in the water. You never turn your back on the water. And she got pummeled hard and she learned a lesson and she became scared. And I said, as long as you face it, you'll never have anything to worry about. You know, because then you'll see what's coming at you. And I think that, you know, obviously as a Long Island girl, Jones Beach hits me hard, but to connect that with my daughter as well. But I also think that really sort of lends to this pandemic. As soon as we sort of acknowledged this is not going away anytime soon, this is our current life, this is how we have to live, I think it made it a lot easier. You know, I think it's the acceptance phase of the stages of grief, you know?

Yeah.

I think that it really made it a lot easier for us once we realized a month into our quarantine, This isn't— we're not going home anytime soon. This isn't ending. Life isn't going back to normal anytime soon. And it made it a lot easier in the coping skills because you just sort of accept where you are. And I think that you can do that day to day as well. It doesn't have to be a giant year-long pandemic or something. But I think just sort of accepting this is my life now and I can only do the best I can in what I have and just keep facing forward is really important.

Do you think we'll go back to ignoring these lessons once the pandemic is in our rearview mirror?

You know—

What do you think, like, as a New Yorker? Because growing up in New York, we're, as you say, really gung-ho, high-energy, angsty people, right? It's like, move forward. You're on the street in Manhattan, you don't look anywhere, right? You don't make eye contact, you don't look right or left, you go where you're— straight ahead. And if somebody's in your way, well, you know, like They better move because I'm not stopping. Are we going to go back to that, you think?

You know, I don't think so. If you think about history and people who lived through the Great Depression or who lived through really intense times, it truly shaped them into their older life. And, you know, I dealt with a lot of patients in my nutrition practice whose families were from the Great Depression and hoarded food and had really specific relationship with food. And that affected them and affected their children and their grandchildren. Children. So I don't think so. I don't know what we're going to take away from this yet. Obviously, it's still a long time to really learn what the lesson is. But this has clearly shaped us in somehow, you know, in another way, between the mask wearing and, you know, the hand sanitizer and hand cleaning, neither one of my children have gotten sick. You know, this is normally cold flu season. Summer is filled with disgusting viruses, you know, whether it's Stomach bug or like hoof and mouth disease, like whatever.

The rotavirus. I remember that from when our kids were little. It's

awful. Right. And so we've had none of that. So there's stuff to learn and take forward. It's going to be interesting. I mean, how many times, you know, when you worked in an office, like you'd go with a cold, you know, like you'd be sneezing.

Somebody in the next office is hacking away and you're like, oh God.

Right. I mean, goodness, we clear your throat on the street now and people part away from you, you know? I think that there's— I can't imagine normal looking like the past. I can only imagine there's got to have to be some sort of new normal that's going to happen.

Yeah. And gosh, it's just so interesting because we've learned a lot, including that we can work differently, to be able to get work done in a remote place. Of course, to work remotely, to even, you know, the school thing I think is quite difficult. And yet at the same time, if you're How's your kids' experience been with that? I mean, our kids are— our youngest are in college, so they're taking all their classes online. And frankly, got to say, while they miss the campus and the parties and all the stuff, right, that we know you're actually paying for to go to college, the classes themselves have been great. The teachers have really been able to adapt, and I think they're getting a lot out of their online classes. It feels like that. How's it for your kids at their age? Where they're at?

You know, for my older one, it's actually been great. We come from a place of privilege that both my daughters go to a private school here in New York City. So it's super small. The school was really flexible and sort of was able to make their own rules to work for the students. And there's such a blessing there. And while a lot of people decided that, you know, to leave private schools if you're doing it remotely, I've never felt like my money was better spent than during the remote days. You know, my little one was in kindergarten when the school shut down, and that was a challenge for her. But this year, you know, the months that they have been in remote, she's adapted incredibly well and is very comfortable with it and has become so independent. So, you know what, my kids are— they're learning, they're being challenged, they're finding independence. I'll take it. I'll take it.

Wow. The pace of change over the last couple of years has been rapid. And if you're a leader, a business owner, an entrepreneur, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Every day it's something different and something new. But the one thing that I've learned in performing at the height of all of those roles has been that we must be resilient. In fact, it's the unsung hero in every success story that you will ever hear about. And it's the reason why my team and I created the resilience assessment that more than 5,000 business leaders across the globe have taken, and all you have to do to get your own free Resilient Leader Assessment is go to resiliencerank.com. It takes less than 3 minutes, and it's our gift to you for being the leader that you already are. Other free resources and tools will accompany your score instantly. So go to resiliencerank.com and find out just how resilient you are. We were watching a video this morning. My wife Randi just showed it to me of this little girl, maybe she's 2 or 3, and she's walking around. Her parents are filming her. Everything she sees in the street looks like a

hand

sanitizer

thing.

And I'm going, what? Yeah, it'll be fodder for sociologists and scientists and the like to be writing about this for Generations, I'd say. I want to talk a little bit about the pivot in your life that led you to be a practitioner the way of CBD in particular. And I use CBD, my wife does as well. And our son is in a marketing business that's among the products that they digitally promote are CBD products. So I'm a big believer. I'm sure there's a lot of people in our audience that are as well. And there may be some people that still are confused about it or don't understand it or still think, you know, maybe it's something's illegal there. Maybe you could tell us a little bit about how you got

Sure. So I've been a registered dietitian for around 15 years. I've had a private practice and my specialty was weight loss for the first, let's say, decade. And I loved what I did and I talked to people about food and exercise and pooping. I was like, this is the dream job. And while I was helping so many people in my office, my husband was just someone who I wasn't able to reach. So he suffers from an autoimmune disease called autoimmune peripheral neuropathy. Which is really just a broad term for incredible pain from his knees to his toes and his elbows to his fingertips with really limited mobility, stamina. He's not really able to stand or walk for any length of time. So, you know, he's legally handicapped because of it and it's a progressive disease. So, you know, when I was pregnant with our second daughter, it had progressed to his hands right before we had her. So it's really hard as a health practitioner To not be able to help your partner. So, you know, poor Todd. I had him on every diet that I could think of that would work. I learned about something called the Wahls Protocol, which was introduced by Dr. Terry Wahls, and it was this protocol for MS. And she basically cured or brought herself into remission out of MS, you know, with this insanely strict diet. So, I mean, I had him eating liver and cabbage for like 3 meals a day for a period of time. And Anytime I'd go to a conference or I would be—

Oh, poor guy.

Anytime I'd be like, oh, another doctor. And at one point I was trying to take him to Tijuana for stem cells. I mean, we really— we were going there. And he finally sat me down a couple of years ago and was like, hey, how about you just be my wife? No more diets. Nothing helped and nothing made him feel well enough to make any of the restrictions worth it. And, you know, I joke in hindsight that I almost wish he asked to see other people than to ask me to stop giving him a diet because I felt very helpless.

Yeah.

And to see him struggling taking care of our children or just sort of living a quality of life, it's hard. And so Todd is what we always, you know, I came up with the term cannabis-friendly, which is a really polite word for a pothead. And he's In hindsight, I think been self-medicating for years. And I started around the time that he asked me to not be his doctor. I started seeing some really cool research about CBD and pain and CBD and PTSD, and 2 of which Todd suffers from. He has PTSD from a childhood operation that went bad. And I basically brought— I found a decent quality one of a brand that I thought I could trust. And I said, I said, eat whatever you want, but how about you add this in? And I don't know much about it, but it's made from pot. And he was like, sure. That he was very open to. He's like, there's no liver, there's no cabbage, I'm down.

Right. You give a guy choices between liver and pot, I think we get, you know—

That'd be my next book.

Would you like this chocolate or would you like this chalk? You choose.

And within about a month or two of him taking the product, We were trying to teach my older one at the time how to ride a 2-wheeler bike, which any parent knows is brutal, even for the healthiest of people. And he was really able to participate. And this is something where he would normally sit on the sidelines. And we looked at each other and we said, well, what was the difference? And the only thing that had changed was the adding of CBD into his lifestyle.

Hmm.

And so from there I said, all right, I did some research and it was just sort of self-education at this point. I learned a lot about CBD and anxiety and a light bulb went off for a lot of my patients who are binge eaters and emotional eaters. A lot of that stems from their anxiety, right? They're anxious eaters, they're emotional eaters. So about a handful of my patients that I had a nice relationship with or a long-term relationship with, I said, listen, I'm really interested in what CBD could do with your anxiety, therefore your emotional eating. Let's give this a try. And so there's around 5 patients that I tried it with around the same— it was the month of August a couple of years ago. And all 5 of them had an incredible change. Now, as their practitioner, I had been giving them all the tips in the world of how to handle their emotional eating. We had food diaries. We had kitchen curfews. We had planning ahead. We'd only shop for certain things that they couldn't binge on. And it was all barely making a dent.

Yeah.

And then all of a sudden, we really addressed the anxiety. And suddenly, they were just like, all right, my kids' goldfish aren't that interesting to me. You know, anymore, or I don't need that extra glass of wine or whatever it was. And that's when I said, I need to learn more. And if I was going to recommend it to more patients, I needed to be, well, better educated than just sort of, you know, Googled EDU, you know? And so I went back and the whole time as I was, you know, in school doing my training to become a cannabis practitioner, I kept just sort of hearing the sound in my head and it was CBD is like The ultimate wellness vitamin. And I was like, this is a true wellness supplement. I've been using it for illness with my husband, but this is like the ultimate wellness vitamin.

Because it's addressing the root? You're getting to the root cause of why somebody binge eats or does other things that ultimately create the inflammation and the pain in their bodies?

Exactly. Exactly. The ultimate goal of CBD is to help your body maintain homeostasis.

Yes.

Right?

So it just wants— Equilibrium, right? Is that basically the balance feature?

Exactly. So it just wants to keep you okay. And when we're not okay, so if we're not sleeping or we're suffering from pain, anxiety, all of that is we're a bit out of balance. And not to minimize those conditions, but really the body is overcompensating or overreacting and it was on a tilt. By taking CBD, it sort of triggers the body to bring you back into that balance. So I start looking for a product that felt like a wellness product to recommend to my clients. And everything was pills, tinctures, gummies. I mean, I wrote a book anti-sugar. I cannot recommend gummies to my clients. There's just nothing that screamed wellness.

Yeah.

And so I did what every dumb entrepreneur does when you can't—

Oh, wait, I want to hear this one.

I went and created my own. And so, you know, I couldn't find what exactly what I looked for. And so I went ahead and created Daily Habit. I wanted a CBD product that screamed wellness, that felt wellness, not another pill to take for all my clients who take so many medications and supplements, not a tincture where you pour oil into your mouth, not a gummy that's part of a treat. I wanted a wellness supplement. And that's what Daily Habit is.

What's the distinction then between— because I'm getting a sense that the gummies have sugar in them. And that's the issue with that. And I'm not sure what the oil tincture, what's challenging about that, but I'd love to just get a sense of what distinguishes the product that you created. And by the way, I think what you said is a great piece of advice to entrepreneurs. I mean, I'd say it's been said before. I don't know that people pay attention to it truly in the sense that this is not— that when you see this truly something that's missing in the marketplace, something that you believe in, not just something you go, oh, that's missing and I should get involved in that because, yeah, that's its own issue, right? Because being in business is excruciating on a good day. So if you don't love what you do, I mean, there has to be this combination of both, you know, something that, that is valuable and something that you have a true interest in. Otherwise you quit, right? People will quit easily on a good day, but on a bad day, it's that much more profound. So what is it about you looking at the products that were out there and deciding to create something? What is the delta there, the gap that you filled?

Sure. So Daily Habit, it's the first full-spectrum CBD powder. And so our product is a powder. So it's something that you can add into your smoothies, you mix into your coffees or your teas.

Mm-hmm.

It is not another pill to swallow. It's not a tincture where you're using a pipette and a droplet and putting oil into your mouth. It's a powder. And powders to me are like the ultimate wellness vibe, right? So you put powdered greens in your smoothies, you put powdered collagen in your coffee, And so that's where I really wanted Daily Habit to fall into. I wanted it to be in that cabinet with your products that you do to optimize your health, not in your medicine cabinet that you take when you're not feeling well. And so that was the distinction.

So that's— there's a mindset piece there, right? I mean, I realize the powder is different in other ways, but there's a mindset component of it, right? Is that what you're getting at?

Yeah. You know, when you scoop a powder and you put it into your coffee and you blend it, right, whether you're making a Bulletproof coffee or a regular coffee, whatever Whatever works for you. You put a scoop of powder into your smoothie, you're making a commitment to yourself that, hey, I'm doing something to make this better, to make this better for me, to make me feel better. So all of a sudden you have this beautiful cup of coffee that you've turned into something that sets your day up for success, right? Mm-hmm. Or your chamomile tea at night, to know that you're drinking it to help you have a good night's sleep with Daily Habit in it. So it really was a mindset about how we're using the product. And I wanted to move CBD from the illness world into the wellness world.

I think that's a very powerful distinction, honestly. I mean, I'll ask you more of a technical question about bioavailability. I'm no great— no expert on this, but let's just say something that's more bioavailable is better for us in the sense that we're getting what we're after in spending that money and committing to taking something versus something that may— we might come out with the next time we hit the bathroom, right? And it's gone and you go, okay, that was really expensive. So is your— the product that you've created high in bioavailability and other things that would be, you know?

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm all science. So for me, I really needed something that was scientifically proven. I needed to know that the raw materials that we were working with were the best that I could find and the best that I could source. So for me, most important was that it was grown in the US, or all of our hemp was grown in the US, and that it was organically grown. And because hemp really can just soak up anything from the soil, so it's really important that any hemp products that you're using or traditional cannabis products that you're using are all grown in clean soil. So for me, that's organic soil. The great thing about hemp is that it can really clean polluted areas, but that's not the hemp I want to be consuming. So let hemp clean up some wastelands, but then—

Different issue.

Exactly. So I really wanted clean hemp. And then I wanted— our base is coconut powder, and it's twofold. So one, our base is coconut powder, which is 50% MCTs. The MCTs are those healthy fats that are really well known for brain health, for function, for quick thinking. So any of us that sort of struggle thinking quickly, those MCTs, like that sort of fat, it actually feeds your brain for brain energy. So I thought that was a really great combination. And then the coconut powder that the MCT is from, Turns into a beautiful non-dairy creamer when you mix it into drinks. So it acts as if like you're putting a non-dairy cream on top of your coffee. So not only are you getting this awesome wellness supplement, you're getting these really healthy fats that are great for your brain. And then you have this beautiful cup of coffee that you wouldn't have had without it.

Right.

Or you would have needed carbohydrates and sugar to make it taste better. So it really was a multifaceted So when you combine all of that, those healthy fats with really high-quality CBD, the bioavailability is incredible and the effects are really great.

I really hope you're enjoying this episode of the Change Proof podcast. If you've not yet gone out and gotten your own copy of Change Proof, it's not too late. Right now by going to changeproof.com and not only getting the book and all the bonuses there, but getting access to our proprietary resilience assessment tool. It'll just take you 3 minutes to do, and it's something that will really help you to utilize the book even more effectively to create practices and rituals and habits that will increase your mental, emotional, physical, Again, go to changeproof.com to get your copy today. So this is, in the sense, it's preventative, and it's also something that would be almost like an intervention of sorts for people that are already finding they have inflammation or illnesses or Pain that's the result of inflammation. There's a lot of autoimmune things that are out there that people don't know what to do about. It's sad. My mom died from— passed away from an illness related to that. And everything from fibromyalgia to Crohn's or Epstein-Barr. I mean, there's too many to count, right, that are just sort of these misdiagnosed, undiagnosed, but people are walking around in pain and that's sort of the big picture, right?

Absolutely. So our product, again, since I really promote that we're the wellness product, so someone like my husband who needs really Mega high doses of CBD to sort of really chip away at any of his pain or his anxiety. He needs massive doses. So while he uses my product because he likes it and we have tons of it always around the house, for true treatment, Todd needs higher doses. And that's when I recommend people to use a more medicinal product, right? So you use something with— that's in pills or droppers where you can get super mega high doses in small amounts. For us, it's the people who are healthy that just are looking to feel better, or the mom who's anxious or can't sleep because she's stressed about bills. Or— I don't want to stereotype moms, dads, but I just really relate to the moms, you know, the mom struggle. And so for a lot of people who like that glass of wine at night, we've often found that using CBD or making a cup of CBD has really taken away that need for the mommy juice, as some people call it. Right. Because they're able to sort of get that shoulders— those shoulders to go down from their ears to back where they're supposed to be by using Daily Habit. And I think that's a really also great option. So it's replacing alcohol for a lot of people, which is great because alcohol then affects your quality of sleep and then you start this vicious cycle. But it's for people who just need a little bit of help to get through their day. And to be honest, I think that's all of us at this moment.

Yeah, back to humility, right? Yeah, I don't think we don't get more points in heaven because we try to do it on, on our own. And things that do help that are, are not addictive or habit-forming— I mean, the name of the product or the company is called Daily Habit, but this is not a habit-forming substance, is it?

No, it's not habit-forming, but it's a habit that you can be proud of, and it's something that's fine if you want to add this to your coffee every single day. A couple of times a day, you are totally fine and safe. Now, really important, CBD is very different than traditional marijuana. So CBD will not get you stoned, high, or give you the munchies, which are the 3 questions I get.

There's no THC in CBD, right?

Well, there's minute amounts, right? So full spectrum CBD can have up to 0.3% THC or less for it to be considered legal. So these plants are grown to sort of max out at that amount. And our product, depending on which production run, it does have amounts of THC that show, but not enough to sort of affect you in any sort of psychoactive way. So it's just enough to make the CBD more effective.

Completely different question, but I'm just curious about what have you seen in the grow world? I mean, have things changed so radically? I mean, obviously in the last election slate, more states have become— THC is either recreationally legal or not criminal. And, you know, Schedule I, the— it's likely under the current administration that there'll be at least a discussion beyond the House of Representatives about declassifying marijuana as a Schedule I drug. So are you seeing anything in the grow world that is interesting?

I am. And, you know, living in Massachusetts for those 6 months, Massachusetts has fully recreational marijuana, is completely legal. So in the time that we were living there, we had around 3 dispensaries all within 15 minutes of our house, which nothing is close to us where we live. And there was 3 dispensaries. You're able to grow your own plants. So I was in the garden. You're up to have— I think you're able to have a couple of plants per adult in the household. So I was growing 6 plants.

Hmm.

Just to really learn. And, you know, I've never gotten to have that quality time with the garden. So to really learn the growth cycle and really understand the plant, even though it's not the plants we use for my own product, but it was really just for personal use and just to watch it grow and to learn about the cycle at this hands-on level was amazing. And it's really incredible. And what it does financially for states and counties and towns is unreal. Yeah. So I think that there's so much more work that needs to be done. And I think that as we continue to legalize it, we need to really take accountability of the people who are still behind bars for working with the same product that is now becoming legal. And that's something that I feel really strongly about, whether it's working through the Innocence Project or elsewhere. You know, it's kind of insane that the product that I'm working with or that I'm playing in the dirt with in Massachusetts has people sitting behind bars here in New York. Yeah. So it's a real systemic issue. And, you know, and I think that But as the regulations get looser, I'm hopeful that it's going to have a more positive effect on the people who suffered negative consequences of working with these plants.

Yeah, that's a topic that we won't address at the moment. And the depth of that is staggering. It's really difficult to make sense of that. And it is, it's a very involved discussion about how it is that we move forward as a nation to just be better. I mean, it can't erase the past. There's no doing that. There's no making it right, I suppose, by somebody that was arrested for something years ago and has spent time in prison for an activity that is now legal in many, many places. But there is the opportunity to do something right now to arrest that situation itself from perpetuating. But again, we're going to see things unfold. I think the big picture for me with this is that this is something that has a lot of stigma and stereotype associated with it. To the extent I imagine you, every chance you get to speak about it, for one person to even hear this and go, you know what, maybe I'll look into that a little more, maybe I'll try that and see, you know, maybe it's better than having a couple of glasses of wine before bed, or maybe it's better than another cup of coffee to keep me going through the day, which only ramps up my anxiety, or eating something that makes me feel better but ultimately inflames my body so I can't walk or run or sleep or something. I mean, there's just better ways to do stuff. And that's— I just applaud the fact that you did something about this when you realized that what you were looking for wasn't there.

So

really cool, Brooke. Yeah. On behalf of all entrepreneurs everywhere, well done. Well, I love this conversation and thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. Thank you.

Thank you for having me. This was great.

Yeah, way cool. It'll be in the show notes, but you'll be able to find out more about Daily Habits. It's dailyhabitcbd.com, of course, so you guys can check all that out. And I want— speaking of daily habits, I have a daily habit of my own that is a waking habit, actually, that I like to think of as a ritual. I started it so many years ago, and I'm going to remind myself and everybody who is listening or watching right now about that. And that is that we get a chance, if we're lucky, to wake up And today, of course, we all did. This wouldn't be happening if we didn't all wake up, but it wasn't guaranteed last night when we went to bed that we would get to wake up. I didn't get a contract for that. Did you, Brooke?

Not yet. I'm

still waiting. I'm a former lawyer, so I'm always curious whether anybody gets that agreement. But so the chance and the prospect of us getting to wake up again tomorrow is not an ordinary thing. It really is a blessing. It's special. And it's something we can can really feel grateful for. So today I've got my shirt on that says, I love my life. I'm looking at this brand new copy of the I Love My Life Challenge Workbook, which just launched, just got into stores a couple of weeks back. And it's 12 years ago that I first sort of gave up a habit, an old habit. My old habit was I put my feet on the floor in the morning and I would sort of grunt and just bemoan, even for just this couple of seconds, I had to do what I was about to do. Start a day I wasn't excited about, work in a job I wasn't thrilled doing, feel as though I was sort of selling myself short, selling out even for the money, because being a lawyer for me at that time was very successful financially. But ultimately, it was this sort of this energy and a mindset to go back to what you said earlier, Brooke. My mindset was, this is a drag, but I'm a warrior. So So I wouldn't sit in that too long. I had kids and responsibilities. I'd just stand up, get in the shower, get a cup of coffee, and start my commute into Manhattan. And it put me in the hospital at a certain point, and with what felt like a very, very real cardiac event, which wasn't. It was an anxiety attack, a panic attack. And something had to change at that moment. And I didn't know what that looked like at all. And I just committed to doing one small thing differently. A couple of weeks after that, I committed that when I put my feet on the floor to start the day, the first thing that I would say and feel was just love. I wanted to feel love for my life. And it was the result of watching like late night, couldn't get to sleep, watch this Jerry Maguire movie again. And this wonderful scene where Jerry has this mentor, Dickie Fox, and Dickie is talking about his life and how he's had a lot more, as many failures as he's had successes kind of thing. But he loves his life. He loved his wife. He wanted to just impart to Jerry that that was a form of success that we didn't have to settle for, but that we were blessed to actually be able to have. And so I thought, geez, that just made so much sense to me. So I got up that next morning, I put my feet on the floor, and instead of my habit of just sort of grunting or cursing or whatever, I said, I love my life. The first time I did that. And it's been 12 or so years later, and it spawned a TED Talk and a book and a lot of other things. And so I I really believe in habits, Brooke, and daily habits, in fact, waking daily, all day long habits that we consciously create. So you've been a perfect guest for us to have that discussion. And again, just wish you the best and appreciate you.

Thanks so much.

Yeah, wonderful. Everybody, if you'd like to share this episode with somebody that you think might benefit, maybe it's somebody that might be open to the conversation around CBD or anything else, please do that. And if you haven't subscribed, we'd love to have you join our community. And you can leave a comment. We're always happy to get your feedback as well. But for now, I'll just say ciao.

Thanks for listening, everyone. We hope you now have the tools and greater insights to navigate your own pivot. Help us inspire others by sharing this episode and leaving your comments over at adammarkel.com/podcasts. For more tips, strategies, and support as you consciously pivot into a new business and lifestyle you Love? Join our Pivot community on Facebook at pivotfb.com.