The Simple Macronutrient Rule That Ends Cravings, Crashes & 2pm Burnout | Kelly LeVeque

Blood sugar saved me. Understanding the science of blood sugar was something that freed me from food drama. And that's how I came up with the Fab Four, which is protein, which breaks down to amino acids, fat, which breaks down to fatty acids, and fiber and greens. It's what I use for everyone. Like, it is the foundation of health for longevity. It's not a quick fix. It is slow as you go, but it changes lives. Because if I can get someone to balance their blood sugar, regulate hunger hormones first thing in the morning, even with a really good breakfast, I see the downstream effects of no 2 PM crashes, no late night cravings, even blunting caffeine obsession. Like, there's so much there where you don't feel like you're white-knuckling it with your pantry and your fridge. You just really feel balanced.

Today on the Being Brigid Show, I'm joined by Kelly Levesque, holistic nutritionist, celebrity health coach, founder of Be Well by Kelly, and New York Times bestselling author of Body Love and Body Love Every Day. In this behind-the-scenes conversation, we're talking about the science of blood sugar, creatine, and Magnesium for Women Over 40, Building a Wellness Empire While Raising 3 Boys, and exactly what Kelly's doing in her own kitchen, in her gym, in her mid-40s to gain muscle and feel her best, in addition to a sneak peek of her latest project that will be releasing soon. Hello, Kelly!

Hello, my sweet Brigid Titgemeier! It's so good to see you.

It's so good to see you too. Where do we even start?

Well, honestly, we've been chatting for a half hour before we even started this podcast because that's how we are. So we can start anywhere you want to start.

So I sent Kelly a lot of questions this morning and said basically that we'll need 3 interviews to get to all the different angles of her life that I want to be able to cover in this episode. So we're gonna go in a lot of directions, but I think that the best place for us to start is just acknowledging the work that you've done in the last 15 years. Yeah, bringing the science of blood sugar to so many millions of people around the world and really sending home that message of the role that blood sugar plays in our hunger hormones, sex hormones, energy, body composition. Can you summarize the work? If you were to summarize the work that you've been doing for the last 15 years, how would you explain it?

Yeah, well, I will say that blood sugar saved me. Blood Sugar Balance saved me. Understanding the science of blood sugar was something that freed me from food drama. I spent the end of high school and all through college reading every single diet book and trying to make those diets happen in those years. Like, oh, I'm gonna do South Beach, I'm gonna, you know, they were Atkins, low carb, this. But once I understood the science, I felt free to eat what I wanted, go out to restaurants, know what would make me feel energized, calm, regulated, and like have all my cognitive faculties as well. And so what was interesting to me was my senior year at USC, I took a course called Nature of Human Health and Disease in which I had like a final project thesis I had to present on type 2 diabetes. So I really started to understand all of the macronutrients, what they broke down to in the body, and how they either drove cravings and crashes and burnout or how how they supported sustainable energy throughout the day and calmed hunger hormones and balanced sex hormones. So I feel so indebted to that class because it sent me on a trajectory away from business and finance, even though, you know, I run a big business now, towards nutrition. And called my dad in tears, Dad, I need to be a registered dietitian, I need to be a doctor. And he was like, good luck to you, honey. That ship has sailed, you got to graduate. So I spent years after I graduated in cancer and genetics, I went back to school for nutrition and sat for a clinical nutrition board exam. And so I'm a certified clinical nutritionist, holistic nutritionist, and, um, and blood sugar became really the foundation of the work that I do and what I teach. And so what's so fascinating about blood sugar is that, um, you have your 3 macronutrients, you have— and you've I've talked to your audience and your community about this forever, but protein.

Pretend like they know nothing.

Okay, so if you know nothing, you should know that you have 3 macronutrients. You have protein, you have fats, and you have carbohydrates. And when you eat those things, they are digested by stomach acid and enzymes into something. And it's just like the, you're breaking them down into individual units. I always imagine a brick wall and like if you were eating protein and the protein was like a piece of chicken or steak and that's a brick wall and you're chewing it and digesting it, your enzymes and your hydrochloric acid dissolve the mortar absorbing each brick unit by unit, which are amino acids. And your body is made of 20 different amino acids. And your body takes up each of those bricks and puts them together into different forms of walls. And that makes up your collagen, your ligaments, your tendons, your muscles. It makes hunger hormones, it makes regular hormones, it makes neurotransmitters. Like, proteins make everything in your body. Like, they are the building blocks and they start You know, they— anything, any proteins that you eat, because it's an essential macronutrient, we have to get it from our food. So even if someone is vegan, fruititarian, like pick the most fringe diet on the planet, like it doesn't matter who you are, if you are human, you must eat protein to get those amino acids to make all the things in your body, those building blocks of everything. And so, um, what's cool about amino acids is they're not going to have the— a direct effect on blood sugar. If you were to have a steak, you're— it's not the same as having a piece of bread or even like pineapple or, you know, all that. We'll— and we'll get to carbohydrates. So because they're breaking down to amino acids, those amino acids come into your bloodstream and they're distributed to your body and rebuilt into different things.

Yes.

So amino acids regulate the majority of our hunger hormones. When we are eating enough protein, we feel satisfied. We are regulating hunger hormones, um, like ghrelin, which I call the gorilla hormone, and neuropeptide Y. There's now dozens of hunger hormones screaming at us to eat. And you know what's interesting is we have nerves that innervate our gut that are searching for essential amino acids, and they're searching for fatty acids, and and our body feels calm and relaxed when we're getting what we need. And that makes sense. Think— if you think about it, like, I need amino acids to survive, then there's going to be mechanisms that are searching for— it's checks and balances that those are arriving in your body and you're able to heal, um, you know, perform at your best, stay balanced, build muscle mass, and feel energized. So I love protein. I think it's made an amazing comeback, but it doesn't have a spike and crash in the same way as carbohydrates. So protein breaks down to amino acids. Then you have fat, fat, which breaks down to fatty acids. So you can think about things like avocado, olive oil, coconut oil, you know, nuts, the fat in eggs like egg yolks, fat, fat on grass-fed beef. The most famous, your own, you know, your omegas, omega-3 fats from salmon, sardines, all that good stuff. So fat breaks down to fatty acids. Fatty acids are also essential. We know that, um, you know, if you've heard of Fatty 15, even we just discovered a saturated fat, pentadecanoic acid, which is an essential fatty acid. Then you know you have your omegas like 3, 6, and 9, all essential for our body to get our hands on these fats, um, so that we can survive. Again, as you have essential amino acids, you have essential fatty acids, but fat breaks down to fatty acids. It has no effect on blood sugar. And this is, you know, when people go ketogenic, for example, and their diet is mostly fat, their blood sugar is pretty flatlined. And a lot of times there's no— very little blood sugar available to them, and their body starts actually even burning fat for fuel instead of sugar. So protein breaks down to amino acids, fat breaks down to fatty acids, and then you have this bucket of carbohydrates. And carbohydrates, there's a vast, you know, variety of the different types of carbohydrates that we can have. But a lot of things fall into this category: vegetables, fruit, grains, beans, and then anything processed from grains. You're thinking cookies, cakes, flours. And so when you think about that first bucket of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, beans, those are called cellular carbohydrates. Cellular carbohydrates are wrapped in a fiber cell, so you actually have to chew through them to digest them, and they have a lot of fiber present in them, meaning that they have less, or what would be like, uh, glucose. So what's so cool is that, um, all carbohydrates break down to blood sugar, but the speed at which they break down is based, and how much is present is based on their composition. So you have your cellular carbohydrates, which are whole foods, and you have your acellular carbohydrates, and these are things that have been processed out of their fiber cell. So you can think about like orange juice, for example. That's really easy to picture. An orange, it's all wrapped in fiber, but when you squeeze it and the juice is in a cup, that is the fastest spike and crash in blood sugar because there's nothing holding it back. You sip that orange juice, it goes into your stomach. There's no digesting of the quote-unquote mortar here, right? It's just, it's hitting you like a freight train. It's being absorbed through your epithelial lining in your gut. It's going into your bloodstream and You can picture that orange juice just flooding your bloodstream. So your blood sugar's actually going up as it's digested. And that is the, you know, like the fastest, quickest increase in blood sugar. And your blood sugar goes up based on the quantity of orange juice you're drinking. So not only is it the type, but it's also the quantity. So you're drinking that orange juice, the blood sugar, your blood sugar's going up. Your body releases a hormone called insulin from your pancreas. Insulin's job is to pick up that orange juice and put it away. It's gonna put some in your liver, it's gonna put some in your muscles, and then if there's excess in the bloodstream, your body will look to package it into a triglyceride and store it as fat. So it's that, that process of that up and down. But if you look at that whole category of carbohydrates, you know, people will bucket it and be like, carbs are bad for you, go low carb. But there's such a drastic difference between processed acellular flour-based crackers like rice flour crackers versus rice. And, you know, rice is pretty dense in carbohydrates. It has, you know, high glycemic index. The quantity of carbohydrates per serving size is high. But there is a difference between those flour-based rice crackers and rice itself, just in its structure. So I always like to teach people that if you wanted to balance your blood sugar, what would you focus more on? And that's how I came up with the Fab Four, which is protein, which breaks down to amino acids, fat, which breaks down to fatty acids, and fiber and greens. And that is to focus on those carbohydrates that have a lower quantity of glucose per serving and a higher fiber quantity. Because what that fiber does, as we talked about, is it's this matrix that locks up the, the glucose. And it's like nature's way of slowly releasing a drip of glucose into your bloodstream instead of that freight train of orange juice, right? If you're chewing through, let's say, a cucumber or a carrot, or you're having some beans, that, that fiber is locked up that sugar and you really have to work to, to release it. So if your base— the base of your meal is protein, which doesn't break down to glucose, fat, which doesn't break down to glucose, but two essential macronutrients, and then you're focusing those carbs on your fiber and greens, those lower glycemic, higher in fiber matrix foods, you're naturally allowing for the slow release of glucose, a little drip of carbohydrates into your bloodstream, so that insulin— your pancreas isn't overreacting, it's releasing a little bit of insulin to slowly put that sugar away for you. And you see what I call an elongated blood sugar curve. We don't have a high spike and a hard crash. We have a natural elongation of our blood sugar curve. It doesn't mean that acellular carbohydrates are off the table completely. It doesn't mean that high, um, you know, high glycemic grains like quinoa and rice are a never eat. But we know that when we pair protein and fat and really fiber-based foods like your low glycemic, non-starchy vegetables, your broccoli, your cauliflower, your asparagus, your cucumber, you know, pick your favorite cabbage slaw, whatever, sauerkraut, throw that in there for probiotics. But if you're pairing those things, there's a, there's a gel, a fiber matrix that releases a gel that slows down the absorption of sugar too. So carbohydrates, like I said, it's this vast, quant— like category, but they're very different. And for a lot of people, they, they didn't understand that, and they would get stuck in this place of, I have to be low carb, no carb, or it's never going to work. And that, that's a really hard diet to live by. And so what I found was to proactively get my clients, the readers of my books, my community at Be Well by Kelly, to look at a plate and go, cool, do I have protein? Great, check. Do I Is there fat, healthy fat? Great, check. Is there some fiber and greens on my plate? Check. That's the foundation of your plate because that supports that, that elongation of your blood sugar curve, sort of like the blunting of the absorption of sugar from other foods and allows you to feel regulated, full, and calm because it's regulating your hunger hormones and it's not allowing for this huge surge of insulin. So when we have a huge surge of insulin, it has a cascading effect on, on your hunger hormones. Like, if you have constantly elevated insulin, your body can't hear leptin, which is, you know, a hunger hormone coming from fat cells that tells you that you're full. And you have an exaggerated response in ghrelin, where your body— it's the gorilla hormone, I say. It's like you're snacking all day, you're reaching for food, you can't stop. If you have elevated insulin, it has downstream effects on your sex hormones. Elevated, chronically elevated insulin causes excess androgens in the body. And we have, you know, in excess we have diagnoses like PCOS, but we have irregular cycles, we have weight gain, we have body hair where we don't want it. Like, it, it impacts everything. Like, when I think about if you want energy, if you want satiety, if you want sex hormone balance, it— all of it starts with blood sugar balance. And if you think about the way nature created food, it didn't imagine us in a warehouse somewhere refining grains to the point of flour dust that would cover our entire gut lining and be absorbed at such a fast processed rate. So, um, do— does my family have processed foods? Do I have cookies? Yes. But like, the awareness there of how to get back on track, how to stay balanced, how to stay regulated. I mean, the Fab Four has been my, my freedom, you know, and it's, it's top. It's what I use for everyone. Like, it is the foundation of health for longevity. It's not a quick fix. It is slow as you go, but it changes lives. Because if I can get someone to balance their blood sugar, regulate hunger hormones first thing in the morning, even with a really good breakfast, I see the downstream effects of no 2:00 PM crashes, no late night cravings. I mean, the even blunting caffeine obsession, like there's so much there where you don't feel, you don't feel like you're white knuckling it with your pantry and your fridge. You just really feel balanced. So that was my rant. How was that?

15 years of work summarized in just a few minutes.

It was great.

But I think that it speaks to the power of the methodology that you've been sharing for so many years in that we're how many years later, it's actually more relevant than ever before. And more practitioners, you know, a lot of conventional doctors like OB-GYNs who have large platforms and other people are like speaking to the fact that blood sugar balance is the core of perimenopause and menopause transitions and, and so many other places that it's like, this was an extremely niche topic when you started. Yeah. And you know, at the time I remember reading your book because I was working for Dr. Hyman at the time, and we had been, you know, Dr. Hyman wrote The Blood Sugar Solution so many years, um, before, I don't know, that was like maybe 2010 or something that he wrote that. Yeah. And so we were, I was seeing it all in clinical practice at the Cleveland Clinic, like the things that you were talking about in your book, we were implementing on a clinical basis and seeing these results. And it was like no one else was really talking about it. And now today you see practitioners left and right that don't even identify with functional medicine or wellness and are, you know, very much like science-based practitioners or evidence-based practitioners that speak now to the benefits of blood sugar. So I think that it really like honors the work that you've been doing, the fact that, you know, you've impacted so many lives with the Fab Four and that more and more doctors are getting on board with this message.

I'm really grateful that this was the like diet lifestyle. I don't even want, I don't want to say diet because it's just foundational, but the science that I was able to learn at a young age because it was, yeah, I mean, it's truly impacted. It is how I feed my kids. You know, it's like just, there's just this layer of science where my kids are like, okay, mom, we'll eat our fiber. You know, like, and sometimes it's a fight, but like, they just know what to expect. Like, they know what's gonna be on their plate. And like, if a lot of times you're naturally using fat in food, you're roasting veggies with olive oil, you're, you know, like, you're serving up natural forms of fat, like, on their plate. But they, they know how important it is for me that they eat protein, that they eat a form of a vegetable. Like, it's, it's just part of how we roll. And, um, and I'm just— I'm grateful to be able to pass that science down to them. Like, when they don't know why they're so hungry, and I'll point back, I'll be like, well, remember, like, you had a pizza party at school today and like, I don't know where the protein is on that pizza. And they're like, oh yeah, you know? And I'm like, I think we should have some leftover chicken or like whatever. And then if you want, you know, that me to make that homemade popcorn, we'll get to that, you know? But it's, it's that science that you can just pass down that will, I mean, it's never gonna go away. It just, you know, it's the foundation. So I'm, I'm, I feel really blessed that it was what I learned first.

Yes, I couldn't agree more, especially in seeing all of the women. I was just reading from a client of ours earlier this morning who was, you know, sent to Weight Watchers in 4th grade with her mom and how pervasive that is for our age demographic whose moms were so heavily marketed to by the diet industry that, you know, it's like an entirely— what she had said is like the reason that she had joined our programs was because she didn't want to leave that same impact, like the same imprint from a diet and food struggling standpoint for her whole life on her daughter as she became a mom. And like how much, you know, that really does impact every aspect of the things that you love most outside of even just yourself.

Oh, that's honestly— your kids are— the minute you become a mom, like, they become the reason. And, um, they definitely— I mean, they've ignited a fire in me like I've never had before when it comes to, like, food and their health.

Yes, yes, yes. Which we're going to talk about. Let's take it back to the start. So you were in cancer and genetics and then decided that you were going to start a nutrition business business, and you've talked about how you would see nutrition clients on your lunch breaks. Um, talk about those early days of building, and then also like how quickly everything happens for you. Because we met in 2014, but even from an outsider's perspective, or like a semi-outsider's perspective, like we, we weren't like very close at that time, it seems like you were overnight achieving so much success so quickly. And so like you went from cancer genetics to seeing nutrition clients at lunch to working with Jessica Alba and Jennifer Kerner and Chelsea Handler and Molly Sims and published your first book that was an overnight success, New York Times bestseller. Uh, you were like investing in Thrive Market and Element and huge brands as they were literally just at like the very early days.

Yeah.

Oh, like walk us through what that felt like. Yeah.

Um, well, it was kind of crazy. I, I will say for any moms listening, like starting a business before you have kids is it's definitely going to be a lot easier than when you have a family. Like, I look at some of my friends starting businesses and I'm like, geez, man, you like barely get time for yourself and you're like squeaking in hours here and there. We talked before the podcast started, like, it, it, it's hard to be like sort of the bottleneck for your business. Like everything needs to go through me or I need to, you know, like be the face. And that can become pretty difficult when you have, when you prioritize your family time. So I was lucky enough to start the business before I had kids and I have always loved health and nutrition since that senior year at USC, and I tried to find a way through business to work in the space. And so I worked for large medical companies in cancer and genetics. What I was able to do was share cutting-edge research on tumor mapping, molecular diagnostics, all kinds of like new studies that were coming out with physicians and I was reading PubMed, I was reading Google Scholar, and I was able to translate that science, sort of like dumb it down a little bit for my audience. And I did that not only to physicians, but the team members that I was managing, teaching them how to translate science. And so I was actually really lucky because that career allowed me to take something that would seem really difficult to understand and pull out the key points and then create an action step on how we could translate that science into a habit in real life to change our life. So I'd always wanted to be in that space since college, but I was trying to do it in a workaround way. And ultimately, one of my best friends, we were like on a walk in Brentwood, walking around the Country Mart, and she was like, I'm so sick of hearing about all the things you're obsessed with nutrition. You should just like go back to school and make it your career. So at first I went back to a health coaching program and, you know, after I graduated college, my dad actually cut me off the day right after I graduated and was like, you would better have like saved or have like figured it out. And, and so I had a job when I graduated. It was important that I like had that lined up before I left. But so I put myself through school, I put myself through a health coaching program and was like, okay, I respect a lot of people with letters behind their name and I feel like I need more than this. I had imposter syndrome. I felt like I couldn't— even though I could translate the science of blood sugar, all of, you know, the insulin studies coming out that would teach you about, you know, hunger hormones or how it impacts sex hormones. Like, I just saw a study the other day that showed that insulin— elevated insulin predicts severe symptoms in menopause. So the more elevated your insulin is, the worse your hot flashes. Like, though, all of the symptoms that come with with menopause are worse when we have elevated insulin. And that happens years before your menopause starts. It also predicts not only worse symptoms but earlier start. So you're like, well, what can I do? I can balance my blood sugar and I can push all those things off. So I felt like an imposter. I ended up going back to, um, I first put myself through all my pre-med sciences at Santa Monica City College, and then I took, um, on, then I took all my nutrition courses at UCLA and then took a couple, um, online through Berkeley, UC Berkeley online. And then I was to sit for my clinical nutrition exam. And then I felt like, okay, I, I can talk.

How old were you then at that time?

Well, so that was in 2012 and 2011 and 2012. And I, and I was born in '83. So what did that, what did that mean? I was 20, almost 30.

20. Okay.

Yeah, I was, I was married in 2012 and I was 27. So yeah, I was like, I was, I was like 29, 30, almost 30. So I think, you know, people are like, I'm too old, like I have to have it all figured out. And I will say the number one thing that I learned is that you're never too old and you should always follow your passion because when there is so much fire and passion behind what you're doing and you're so excited about it it creates an energetic vacuum where you're just pulling things to you. And it, like, it can do nothing but, like, create energy, excitement. You see people go viral, you see them— it— they're coming from a place of, like, I can't not do this. And that's where I was at, like. And so I graduated, um, with, you know, I got my clinical nutrition degree, and then I was able to start seeing clients. And I started seeing all my friends for free. Like my husband's friend Ned, his soon-to-be wife Misha was getting ready for her wedding. I took her to Whole Foods, taught her to grocery shop. I made her throw around kettlebells at a tennis court near our apartments in Brentwood. I gave her a meal plan. I taught her blood sugar balance. Like she lost 30 pounds. It became like one of my first transformations. I call her my golden child because she let me— she did it and she let me do it with her. And to this day, she looks exactly the same., you know, as her wedding day, which is crazy to me because I'm like, kudos to you. She like is obsessed with it. She's— she works out, she feeds her kids the same way. Like, I feel like I made a real impact on her life. Another one of my first clients is my friend Todd's dad, who had, you know, elevated bad cholesterol, and I worked with him to incorporate the Fab Four Smoothie with high doses of fiber and psyllium husk. We improved his cholesterol ratio. I got a call from his cardiologist, like VIP cardiologist in Newport Beach, like, can I send all my clients to you? It It was like these validating moments where I'm like, okay, I'm not an imposter. I know what I'm doing. I can help people. And so like the first half a dozen to 10 people I worked with for free, I was just like, I need to know that I can do this. I will give you all my time. And it was, it was like I was at Cedars-Sinai in scrubs talking to doctors. I would run across the street to Coffee Bean. I'd put on my, you know, Citizens jeans and a little blazer and meet someone to like talk about what they ate that day, you know? So I, I remember, and Chris and I at the time, like, I was so inspired by this work. My husband was a corporate attorney, and he had been a corporate attorney for 7 years. I met him when he was in law school, and we got married. And, you know, he had a big firm job, and he would work there for 14, 16 hours a day, have nightmares about clients. So inspired by me, he was like, I want to be a screenwriter, I want to write a screenplay. And I was like, go for it, babe. And he like— I was like, you can have a year. He took like 18 months, wrote a screenplay. But like, at that time, we had to sell one of our cars to like have money in our savings account to pay our rent. But it's like, it didn't get me down. Like, I was just like, we can do anything. I had this delusional, optimistic idea of like what was possible for us. And I remember driving— we had this like Toyota Tacoma for my dad's tow yard. And my dad used to, um, you know, own a towing company, and people would— how he'd impound cars, and sometimes people wouldn't come back for them. And those were like all my cars through high school, and just absolutely to, you know, just trashy bad cars. But I remember at one point driving this Toyota Tacoma which had like an actual tape deck and like one of those tapes with a wire you could put in that would connect to your phone. I remember driving this to one of the nicest neighborhoods in Beverly Hills, um, Beverly, uh, Beverly Park. And these are like billionaires that live in this neighborhood. It was my first client that was actually worth a billion dollars. I parked up the street and hoofed it to the house and like went in the service entrance. And the guys were like, oh, we have valet, you know, we have someone who will park your car for you. And I was like, it's okay, I found street parking. Like, I was so embarrassed about my car, you know.

But it's so relatable. It's so relatable.

It's like, you know, I, I feel lucky that I also started at a time where on Instagram I could share one slide that was about a study and put a caption and give people those actionable steps and people would actually read it and they would feel impacted by it. Um, so it was a different world. It was a different world.

But I, I—

Moonlit, Be Well by Kelly, like, it was a side hustle for 3 years. And I, I always say, like, I jumped off a curb, not a cliff. It was a lot easier for me to do that. Um, you know, I didn't do it until I had a book deal. And again, that op— like, delusional optimism. I had a friend named Anne who wrote an interior design book that ended up being, you know, published by a big publishing house and was in, um, at West Elm, and she had a party She like was an influencer in LA and was like, come to my party. Okay. You know, I'd like met her at another event and I came and I was like, wow, that's pretty awesome. She's like an author. I was like, can you go to Alfred with me for a coffee? Can I like ask you about publishing books? She told me everything. I love women who don't gatekeep. Like, she's just like, okay, you can either get an agent or not get an agent. If you get an agent, it's great. They'll make you write a proposal. You go to, you know, you go— she'll present those proposals to like imprints at big publishing houses, you'll fly to New York, you'll, you know, get to present. And then maybe, you know, if people are interested, you go to a bidding war, you get your imprint, your publishing house, and then you'd write your book. And I was like, okay, I literally cold emailed a dozen agents in health and wellness. Even like I met one when I got like the responses, I only got 3 responses to all 3 were willing to meet. But when I got to New York, so I put myself on an airplane, paid to fly, fly Chris and I out there. Met with two of the agents and then didn't end up getting me to meet with a third agent because she was on bed rest with twins. Um, but like ended up picking my agent. And one of the agents I met with was like a history book agent. Like, I was willing to do— I was willing to publish this book with anybody, you know what I mean? Like, I was like, let's go, everybody needs to learn about the Fab Four. Um, and it was crazy times, man. Like, I I was proud of myself though.

It—

when I look back, there were all these little decisions like, just, oh, I think I'm gonna, I'm gonna just see about that. It's like, if you can keep your mindset of like, you're not thinking, oh, like, there's me publishing a book and it failing, and like me not earning back my advance, or there's me like, what if people don't like it, or what if it doesn't work? Like, you gotta cross that bridge when you get there, and you have to take these little itty-bitty that's sort of like preparing for a marathon where you're like, I'm just gonna go see if I can run a mile. Like, not, oh my gosh, can I, you know, can I run 20-some miles in 4 hours or 6 hours? Like, it's really truly like one little step. And it was, I guess I'll just cold email as many agents as I can find on the internet and see who writes me back. And then it's like, oh well, they wrote me back, so now I have to fly to New York and meet them. Them because they're willing to meet with me. And then it becomes them being like, well, write a proposal and I'll see if I can pitch it. And then you get a little bite from a publishing house and you're like, well, I guess I have to fly back and try to pitch myself to these people. So it just becomes like these little steps that then create a cascade of where you're almost putting the monkey on somebody else's back, and then they put it back on yours, and you're like, okay, I can take another step forward. The same. It's, it's the same thing that has kind of created every step in this career, from like writing books to then writing courses to starting the podcast. Like, you email a couple people, you're like, I think I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna start a podcast, can I interview you? And Andrew Huberman writes you back and is like, sure, I, I'm gonna be in Santa Monica. And you're like, oh God, Amber, Amber, he was going to come to my ugly green, green and brown Brentwood apartment and tape on my West Elm table.

Oh, he was your first guest, and he was my first guest.

But like, he also didn't have a huge podcast at the time, but I was, I was very impressed with the science he shared at a MindBodyGreen conference, and we met. And it's like all these little steps where you put yourself out there a little bit and you ask a question, you ask for something from the universe, and it says yes, and you take one step and you don't chicken out and you just say, okay, let's just see what this looks like. And I would say like, that's how I've, you know, that's how the whole supplement line has been created. And, you know, a total divergent product, which is my meat masher. Like, I, I'm not in tooling of industrial or industrial design, but I happen to have invested in a company called Canopy, which is a waterless humidifier for for, you know, houses that have dry air or like babies in nurseries that don't— it's the only humidifier on the market that doesn't put water in the air and create mold. And I was like, that is so smart. And that was created by a company called Doris Dev. And so, you know, you reach out to the CEO of Canopy like, hey, like, who created this for you? Oh, it's Doris Dev. Mind if I can have an intro? I just want to talk to them about this product I want to make. And they're like, oh yeah, we could totally do that.

That?

And you're like, well, how much would that cost? You know? And it's just like, I don't wanna make it sound easy 'cause it's not. There is this, like, you have to have a little bit of faith and you have to send the, you have to put the question into the universe and wait for it to respond.

So let's get into the supplement line in a second. But I do have a question because you're such a rare human in that you have such a hard work ethic. Thanks. But you're also able to stay so grounded and seemingly unaffected by all the success that you've had. I'm interested in your parents and like what role you feel like they played in that.

Okay, my dad is the man. Um, so we joke with my dad that he's Peter Griffin from Family Guy because— and not in a bad way, but like he has like a little bit of a cute dad radiator tummy and he giggles like nobody you've ever seen. Like he just like doesn't take life too seriously. But the man, my entire life, was up at 5 AM and would go to a tow yard and manage tow truck drivers and a storage— you know, his, his whole yard was for storage, like big-rig trucks and RVs and boats. And he, like, he dealt with it, you know. It was like people would get their car impounded for a DUI, and maybe they were like doing drugs, and they would come into his office in San Clemente with a gun, like hold at gunpoint, like, he— and he just like let everything roll off his back. He came from a family where his dad was a bigwig attorney in Fremont Place, which is like by Larchmont in Mid-City LA, like gated bougie neighborhood. And my dad was the black sheep. His two brothers were like an attorney, like their— his dad and my, you know, my uncle was an attorney, like his— my grandpa. And then the other one was was, um, a CPA. So they had these professional jobs. And my dad went to Vietnam, and he went to University of Wisconsin for a couple years and USC for a couple years, and he was like slower to graduate. Got into, um, you know, got into cars, worked at Allstate. My mom was his boss. She was like running a team of like dudes, you know. And he just was like a funny guy, like he's like a goofball, giggly goofball, but who works so hard. And my whole life He didn't, he didn't nitpick anything. He always told me and my sisters like how great we were and like was there for us and supported us and, you know, never talked poorly about our soccer coaches and never like, never blamed our teachers. Was always just like, what are you gonna do about it, honey? Like put the onus back on us to show up differently on the field, to show up differently in our classroom. And the only things he had 3 rules. Rules, and it was don't do drugs, don't get knocked up, and get yourself an education. And if you do those 3 things and you like punch your ticket and graduate college without like anything holding you back or any responsibilities, you know, like babies are a blessing, we know that, but like maybe not— I think at any stage of life now that I'm a mom, but also like it would have derailed a little bit of my life if it was when I was younger and And I just took that really seriously. I was like, wow, okay, I can totally do that, Dad, you know? And it was like these little rules, and otherwise we were— it was great. It wasn't, it wasn't nitpicky, and it wasn't about being perfect, because my dad always told us, C's for degrees, baby. Like, he was not an A+ guy because he got, you know, he grew up, he got a lot of He had a lot of serious lectures from his dad about his grades and how bad he was doing. And like, and he, in my opinion, is the most successful of his brothers. He's an entrepreneur. He owns triple net leases, he owns properties. He's living, you know, he's just living a light, easy life. He's really grateful. He has a strong faith. He used to drink when I was little and he stopped drinking when I was 5 and never drank again. He's been a sponsor to, you know, my cousins and family friends. Like, he just is— I mean, I like think my dad walks on water, if you can't tell. Like, he just— he's amazing. And my mom was a stay-at-home mom. She was my room mom. She was involved in everything. She, um, believed I could do anything. She like entertained all the performances and all the outfits when I was little. Um, and all that, you know, like, and I think having 3 daughters, she got really nervous when we got to high school about all the things my dad was nervous about, you know, like, I don't, you don't want to get them wrapped up in the wrong crowd. And she got, became really strict with us. So like, I had really strict, I read a really strict high school, um, kept me pretty innocent. And I'm actually really, I'm grateful for that. I do feel like, and we've taught her and I have talked about it, it did create like a little bit of a rub where she was like really holding us, trying to like hold the control. And my sisters and I were like, yeah, bye. But, um, but yeah, I was at their house last night to celebrate Mother's Day. It was like, you know, we couldn't get together on Sunday, so we were just in there in their pool, and Chris was barbecuing with my dad. And they're— I feel really blessed to be down here, you know.

COVID—

I was in LA forever, and COVID brought me down to Orange County, um, and I get to see them often. They're at Sebastian's baseball games and Toshin's soccer games. And, um, yeah, family is everything to me. And, um, I had to change a lot of my career to make time and space for all of that. Um, but my parents played a huge role in who I am, and I'm really grateful to them.

That is so beautiful. I've actually never heard you like go in that in depth about each of them, but I, I I just have a feeling based on how close I know that you guys are and, you know, it came from somewhere. Yeah. How you are as a human. Yeah. And then you've really like changed, you shift a lot of, I think that people would be surprised at how much you prioritize your kids over work in most opportunities that you can while still running a successful business. So do you want to talk about that and then we can get into the product line?

Sure. Um, yeah, you know, the minute Sebastian was born, we had a really hard traumatic labor and delivery, and I always knew that I would be obsessed with my children and really want to spend time with them. Um, you know, I— what's funny is when I was in cancer and genetics and starting this nutrition business, I thought this would be my fun flexible mom job. Like, that's what I was trying to build was like a part-time fun flexible mom job, and then there was too much passion behind it, and that went kind of went gangbusters. And then I was like, shoot, did I just be like, you know, the earning potential of having courses, a supplement line, you know, A-list clients, it totally eclipsed my husband's law career and his earning potential. He would like, he would have to be an owner in the businesses that he represented to be, it just like the exchange of like his time for what he was making versus like, exponentially building a business, um, it just didn't make sense for our family. For the person to stay home, um, I— to be him made the most sense. And so, um, that was really hard for me. It's something that we work— we talk about, we work on all the time, is like, I don't want to resent Chris for being the one to stay— that gets to stay home with them. And so I have to keep iterating this life to free up time for my kids. Um, but since Sebastian was born and since we, you know, like had such a rough start, like I really felt the need to like really be around my kids as much as possible. And I over the years have had to strengthen my boundaries. It's a lot harder in the beginning where you're like, how do I iterate? How do I change? How do, how do I create another stream of income? Or how do I create a stream of income that doesn't require me. So when Sebastian was— leading up to delivering Sebastian, I would see 6 to 8 clients a day, and then I'd spend 3 to 4 hours creating plans, writing emails, following up, sharing resources. Like, I was working more than I should have. That was not the picture of wellness. And then, um, once Sebastian was born, I had taken 3 and a half months that I pushed to 4, where I was not seeing clients. And that was that— that was like the first real time I took brand deals. So Primal Kitchen paid me to post about their products, something I was already using. Morgan Zanotti, who was like— call her a co-founder with, with Mark Sisson— was a friend of mine. I loved her. Also, we were pregnant at the same time. She's a mom of 3 boys, and she was like, dude, you need a maternity leave. Like, take a brand deal. We'll do a year-long deal with you. Like, like, we'll give you some buffer. And that was like the first time where I was like, oh, like, I get why these people do brand deals. Like, that is— that's such a nice relief because it wasn't, you know, it wasn't an hourly rate requiring my hourly presence to be paid. Like, you can't get sick, you can't miss it for our kids, you know, your, your kids' soccer game, or like, you can't miss those hours or you don't get paid, and then you can't pay for your life. So I, I quickly realized like, oh my gosh, I need to figure out different streams of income. I remember being at USC and I you this, we talked about it before the podcast. If you, they were like, if you wanna be a millionaire in LA, and it was, you know, the, um, one of the business classes I was in at SC, you need 5 streams of income. And it can be under the same business or it can be you own real estate and you get, you know, a rent check and then you are a speaker and you get speaking fees or you have products and you get product, you know, you, you're selling goods and you, you make money that way. And that like really hit home around then when I was like, okay, I see my clients, I have now a couple of brand deals that are only the brands that I trust and would recommend to my friends and family. How do I think outside the box? And I remember Jenna Kutcher had courses at the time and then taking care of babies actually, Cara, this mom who, if you are a mom, you realize that she has this amazing sleep course that you can take online and everyone when Bash was born was taking it it. I, I DM'd her again, these little steps, and I was like, oh my gosh, I love your course. Like, I would love to produce a course around the Fab Four. I know people read books, but sometimes they don't, and the course format just felt like so easy to read and watch when I was like nursing Sebastian. And like, it really helped me figure out, you know, sleep is such a struggle, like, how can— and she's like, oh, my sister who runs our courses lives in LA, you should meet with her. And literally gave me her sister. So I met with Kara's sister Brigid Titgemeier, and she showed me the back end of Kajabi and was like, this is what a course is, this is how you build it, this is the insurance you need, this is the legal, like, you know, um, you know, documents that you need attached to your course so that you can release liability. These are the— this is how you get a video team. And it's like, once you know, once someone doesn't gatekeep, when someone shares with you, you're like, oh wow, like, this would be amazing. Yes. And so I, I, like, you know, I spent, um, like 3 months scripting out these courses. But the thing is, is I always like to have homework. So I emailed Juice Box Media, which is my video production team at the time, and I was like, hey, can I put you on the calendar for these dates? So I booked the dates of when I was going to film, I booked my hair and makeup gal, and I was like, now I have a— now I have a deadline. Because being an entrepreneur, it's very difficult to impose self-imposed deadlines. It's true, it's really hard. So you have to put, like, again, put that monkey on someone else's back because then they'll give you a deadline when you have to be somewhere. You have to be here to pitch to publishing houses, you have to be here to, like, and scripted and ready to go to, like, tape these courses. And so that was it. Like, I sent, you know, I booked Dennis, we taped it at my parents' house because I didn't have a house at the time, you know. I got my hair and makeup gal there and I was like, all right, here Oh, and then you tape, you get the videos back and you realize, oh my gosh, it's just like the backend of a Facebook page. You just like plug and play these videos into the courses. You can add little quizzes at the end, you can put a PDF attached to it. And then all of a sudden, I don't need to be seeing a client for an hour sharing the same science I share over and over and over again. And it can be accessible to people who maybe don't have the price point to meet with me personally and maybe don't learn best from a book. And then I put the course up, and like, there are courses ranging from $45 to $1,500, $2,000, and I just priced it at about $250, and I waited. And I was like, oh my gosh, we sold some courses. And then I was like, there's my third stream of income.

Okay.

And then it was like pretty obvious that I was going to come out with supplements next, and it was just going to be the protein powder. I've since had added creatine, magnesium, amino acids. And there's, um, 2 more to come. So I'm excited about that. But I've done that really slowly. Like, for a long time, the only thing I had was grass-fed beef isolate. That's the hardest— that's the hardest barrier to entry though. Like, I had to come up with $300,000 to buy that protein powder, and I did that by leveraging the down payment from— for our first home. And it was something we did— we invested in that protein before we even bought a house here in California, which is a quite expensive place to buy a house, I will say.

Yes. And you didn't know if it would work out.

And I didn't know if it would work out. And it was a really big risk. And I think that there is a little bit of that that has to happen when you wanna do, when you wanna play big. And, and I only was confident enough to do that because I had seen for, you know, from 20, let's say 2018 to 2020, what it would look like to sell for— as an affiliate, I'm selling other people's products. I'm seeing how the links— I'm seeing the clicks. I'm selling courses. I see that my audience is responding to those courses. And then their first question is like, well, what protein powder? And for me, when I was contracted with my first book, I actually purchased pea protein. I spent $10,000 to buy like a very small pallet of pea protein in San Diego with our manufacturer. And then I freaked out because I got pregnant, and I like, oh, I don't really know how I feel about plant proteins and heavy metals and bioavailability of that protein. I'm trying to be everything to everybody and not like alienate plant-based or vegan people. But now that I'm pregnant, like, I really think animal protein is important. I really think like anti-nutrients are a thing, heavy metals are a thing. I like can't in good conscience— so I just sat there like on the shelf at my manufacturer from when my first book came out, like around 2017 is when I bought this. I had Sebastian in 2018. Protein. And then when I called them in 2020 to make the grass-fed beef isolate, because I had been using a grass-fed beef isolate but I had stevia and I wanted to do it with monk fruit and I wanted to use organic cacao, organic vanilla bean, like the cleanest so you could drink it when you're pregnant, breastfeeding, all the things. They were like, that's a great idea. And I was like, how about that pea protein? Can I get a credit on that pea protein? And they were, they were really good to me. They're like, yes, that's expired, that's long gone, we've reallocated that. Like that, you know. But, um, it great. So that was like the first, the first step into supplements. And there were times when I had to go out of stock. Like, we would, we would sell and vanilla bean from Madagascar wasn't available, and they're like, do you want to use vanilla in the flavor of vanilla? And I'm like, no. Like, and that's, you know, I'm really proud of the fact that I have been so meticulous about sourcing. And some people will say, well, you have me too products. You have a protein powder, you have a creatine, you have amino acids. But every single one of those products was a need for me. Um, so the only grass-fed beef isolate at the time was sweetened with stevia and alkalized cacao— not cacao itself, but like alkalized cocoa, not cacao. And it didn't have— it had vanilla flavoring, not vanilla. And I wanted it from— I wanted to be Swedish grass-fed beef with EU standards because all they use is water and heat to extract it. So there's like all these real nuances where even today when you look at a lot of the grass-fed beef isolate, there's really, you know, venture-backed companies right now that have grass-fed beef isolate. And you'll look on the back and it'll have a trademarked name like HydroBeef or PrimeBeef. And the reason that it's trademarked is because it's a set, you know, it's a recipe and it's being cut with collagen so it dissolves better. So they don't get the bad reviews of like it clumps together. Well, it clumps together because there's naturally occurring collagen, but we don't extract it with chemicals. Chemicals or enzymes, and we don't cut it with collagen to make it look like it dissolves better because we really want—

it dissolves better and it's cheaper.

Yeah. So it's like, those are— that's fine. Like, that, that— but, uh, I do, you know, like, I'm not the kind of person to be like, here's a head-to-head comparison ad. They've done that to me, you know, other brands. But like, for me, I'd rather just share on a, on a, in, you know, on a platform like this and be like, this is why it's so important to to me. We are sourcing pasture-raised, grass-fed beef that is fleshy bones. We use heat and water like bone broth. We extract the protein without chemicals or enzymes. It's dried, dehydrated, and then we add organic vanilla bean powder and organic monk fruit powder. That's not— that's not an extract. And it comes together to give you like a really beautiful flavor. And I'm so sorry, but you do have to use a under, you know? So it's like, you know, it could be easier and cheaper to use a trademarked grass-fed beef isolate that's cut with collagen that dissolves better, that has a little bit less of a malty flavor. But the reality is, it's like, I put it in my kids' smoothies, I put it in their muffins, I put it in their, you know, like we're making recipes with it for my family and for my audience's families. And the whole reason I came out with the protein was so that I could drink it pregnant, breastfeeding, share it with my kids. And then I've, I've maintained those quality standards across the products. So like our—

you've also carved out an entire like segment that I feel like was missed for so long with protein powders, which was primarily targeted to like men, CrossFitters, bodybuilders, that are like women that, that are moms that are trying to like get enough protein. And I feel like until your protein powder came out, um, that didn't really exist. As people like thinking about that as an actual market?

Yeah, it was. I think I did make protein okay again for, for people who weren't like bodybuilders, you know, like I, it, and it is still to this day like the Fab Four smoothie with protein. Like it's— I don't have it every day. Like I've been drinking it for years and years and years, but it is my— I like go back to it again and again and again. I may get on a yogurt kick with some protein and some berries and like nuts and hemp hearts or whatever. I may get on like a Teton grass-fed beef sausage egg avocado combo with the boys. Like, but it's like anytime I feel like my hunger is all over the place, or I, you know, it was the holidays, or I like, we went on vacation, like I come back and I'm like, I just need to, like, I need to have regulated energy, I need to be regular with bowel movements, I need to depuff, I need to like feel like my skin is glowing, doing, I go back to it and I, and I just get on a kick on it again. And I'll go for like 6 weeks and I feel amazing. And then I might use it in the afternoon. Like, that's the thing, is like, it's just a tool. It's a tool in the toolbox. It's a really easy way to, like, if you're making a full Fab Four smoothie, to get to a 30— if you could do like a scoop and a half, like a 40-gram hit of protein. And if you're really going for 1 gram per pound of body mass, which You know, I'm perimenopausal. I am like normally cycling. I'm actually still— Julian turns 3 on the 25th. I'm still actually nursing him once a day, which is like— I'm like, oh my God, I'm like more of a pacifier than anything at this point. But he's my last. And I like— and it like, I went through phases of being like, oh my God, get off me. I don't want to nurse you at all. To like being like, how am I still nursing you? You know, to being like, oh, this is cozy cuddle, cuddle puddle time. Time. So yeah, you know, it's, it's a tool, and I really care about quality. And, you know, along with like 1 gram per pound of body mass, like, I am, um, I— my sleep gets disrupted with my boys. Like, Sebastian's been a bad sleeper since he was born, and I hate to label him, but it's just we're constantly working on like, does he have, does he have some form of sleep apnea? Because he's a mouth breather. And you can go down my podcast rabbit hole. I like, I'm like, I'm a dental podcaster. Like, everything is like airway health and like palate expansion. I— but it's just, you're following the path of like me as a mom being like, what is wrong? Like, why are my kids' teeth crowded? How can we open their palate and their airway? How do I get more oxygen to their brain? Um, so come with me on that journey. But, um, yeah, yeah, it's— it— so like, I've been, you know, high-dose creatine on days like that.

Um, and let's talk about creatine and the why you felt the need to create the creatine that you did and how it's different than others.

Oh, I'm so excited I was able to contract this type of creatine, 'cause, you know, I'm not Thor, and I'm not like a big brand doing it. I'm a little peanuts mom brand. So let's talk about it. So creatine comes from China, India, or Germany. And the vast majority is coming from Asia. And it's a creatine monohydrate. And then there's this company called Allschem, in Germany, and they source all the raw materials that they use to synthesize creatine in Germany. So it's totally insular to Germany when it comes to quality of product. They've been in business for over 100 years. They're the brand who's known for CreaPure. So CreaPure is known to be the purest, one of the purest creatines on the market, 99.9% pure. And this is really important because is, um, there was a report recently that showed that, you know, when you're synthesizing creatine and producing it, it can create byproducts that can still be present in your creatine. So there was a study comparing Chinese creatine to German creatine, and what they found was chemicals like DHT still present in the creatine found being sourced from China, not present in the German source. So we have to remember Like, you can do testing, third-party testing, and be like, is it what it says it is? Is it creatine? But nobody's looking for impurities in there. Nobody's looking at the micronization of it. And so what Allschem then created was this line from CreaPure. They were like, well, what are the reasons why women don't take creatine? Well, one, there weren't a lot of studies on us. No one was saying like, oh yeah, creatine can help, help you become regular if you have regular cycles. Oh, creatine can help in labor and delivery, um, if there's any oxygen deprivation for your baby. Oh, creatine can help recycle ATP, um, you know, so that you have more bursts of energy, which can then help you lift heavier and longer in the gym to hold on to lean muscle mass. As a woman, it's not going to make you bulky. Oh, creatine is not only used in your ovaries and your muscles, but oh, by the way, creatine is a, is a way to create energy. So what are we seeing? We're seeing cognitive improvements. We're seeing, um, when someone's sleep deprived, high doses of creatine, 15 to 20 grams, can make it seem like there was no sleep deprivation at all. Uh, it improves mood. Like, there's so many mechanisms. And it's when you actually understand that, uh, when you use ATP, it becomes ADP ADP. Like, instead of 3 tri, it becomes a 2. All it's doing, creatine, is donating a phosphate group. It's becoming ADP again really quickly. So it's just recycling kind of like old energy really fast to create energy again. So it's just like giving your cells and mitochondria more energy, which is like, um, it's amazing. Every single organ in your body and your brain and your muscles, we all need— it all needs energy, and we can be in an energy-deprived state. So it makes sense that it makes sense that creatine is— you're seeing benefits of creatine in all these places. But what happened was, is CreaPure, they're like, why don't women take it? Well, there's no studies on it. Or they report like what feels like bloating, GI side effects. Well, what can we do about that? Why are the reasons why there's bloating, GI side effects, and everything? Well, if it's larger particles of creatine and it's not micronized to a very fine powder, powder, it can be not absorbed properly and then it creates an osmotic effect in the gut and you can have GI side effects. So what they did is they took basically CreaPure and they created a very fine micronized version, which just means the powder is ground to an even smaller level. So it absorbs beautifully in the gut. So you don't have those GI side effects. So you have better bioavailability, less GI side effects and CreVitalis, is this new brand from AlzChem, which is the brand I'm contracted with, and the, the product I source is actually the product that all the researchers in women's health are using, and they are funding— they're giving researchers this product. They're supporting, and, uh, the research for women specifically across, across Europe and the United States. So I had Abby Smith Ryan on my podcast. She's done research research in all of women's health, especially in like menopausal years, and all of her research is done on Crema Tollis.

So, wow, I didn't know that.

Yeah. And so when you talk about like, oh, we're going to use this study and we're going to tell you like this, you know, creatine is supportive of women's health, or it's supportive of regular cycles, or supportive of menopause, you know, menopause and, um, uh, you know, cognitive function, but they're not using the same creatine that was used in research, like, cool. But also, like, if someone has GI side effects, bloating, they're not absorbing the same amount, then are they having the same experience? I don't know. Probably close to it. But wouldn't you want it to be something that could be sustainable for them for more than just like a couple of weeks? So I'm— I didn't think I'd be like creatine obsessed, but it's one of the— it's one of the products in my line that, like magnesium, that I have to take every day. I'm just like, oh, I feel a difference if I don't put creatine in my coffee. And some people will be like, don't put creatine in your coffee, it degrades it. But the minimal amount of degrading versus like the habit of actually drinking it every single day, I'm like, I'd rather just be consistent.

And then from a magnesium standpoint, you combined magnesium with L-theanine and GABA and B6. Can you give us an overview of why, why you combined those additional ingredients outside of just magnesium?

Yeah, so we have a magnesium blend with sucrosomial magnesium, which is a liposomal magnesium. So it's a powdered liposomal magnesium for absorption. Like, it— that and magnesium bisglycinate in our product are the most bioavailable magnesiums on the market. So you want to know, like, is the magnesium you're taking just making you poop, or is it actually being absorbed into your body and helping 600 enzymatic processes happen in the body? We know that, you know, low levels of magnesium are linked to a multitude of, of problems. And we want to have normal magnesium levels. Magnesium is also a cofactor in creating energy, ATP. Like, it, it's a basic that everyone should be taking. So I wanted to create something that didn't have a crazy osmotic effect in creating like loose stools, but actually was bioavailable. And so I, I picked again, so sucrosomial magnesium, which is a trademarked magnesium from Italy. And magnesium by glycinate. So mostly about bioavailability there. Then when it comes to L-theanine, that's an amino acid that's present in, um, green tea, and it has the ability to kind of induce like alpha brainwaves, which is like a light meditative state, and supports the production of dopamine, serotonin, and GABA. And so it is supportive of the neurotransmitters that make us feel relaxed. Relaxed and almost in that like light meditative state. And then GABA is a neurotransmitter that really— it's like having a glass of wine. It like takes— it's a calming neurotransmitter, so it makes you feel relaxed. And so why I created this magnesium was because I was taking a bioavailable magnesium, and then I was taking a magnesium with, um, L-theanine and GABA and B6, which also helps the absorption of those and is a cofactor.. So I was taking both of them separately and I was like, it would be really nice if this was one product. Like if I got the bioavailable magnesium and I got all these like yummy sleep benefits or the relaxation benefits before sleep. And because as you can tell, I get going and then the day ends and I'm like, I need to relax. So, so I— yeah, there's very few nights where I skip magnesium because it's just, it's so relaxing and supportive of my sleep.

Yes, yes, yes, same, same. I actually still haven't tried your magnesium, but I need to.

I'm going to fix that.

I need to. Rarely am I like, oh yeah, this is amazing, for when I haven't tried it myself. But we do— there's a number of people that I've recommended your magnesium to in order to— obviously I'm like always shelling out your protein powder in every opportunity that I can.

Um, we love—

is, um, I love the combination. And also because as women are going through perimenopause, GABA is actually the first thing to start to shift that can increase that anxiety and insomnia and other symptoms that women feel even when they're taking magnesium oftentimes.

Yeah, no, I love it. I'm obsessed.

Okay, let's wrap up. Um, I know we're a bit over time, but I'd love to just hear a brief snippet of your new passion project that you're working on. Can you give us a sneak peek of what that looks like, oh my goodness, I'm so excited about this.

So the new book, the movement, it's called Sweet Deal, and it's, um, it's basically a parent's pack to have better boundaries around sugar for our kids. What I found in blood sugar, right, is I know how blood sugar is affected. I'm serving my kids up the Fab Four, and then there's sugar being used as an incentive, bribe, or reward at every turn. So whether that's at school and my son is doing math problems and he has gumball goals, and if he gets them right, he gets a gumball. My preschooler at the time was like, if you on the dot all day, you get a jelly bean in your baggie. The end of the week, you get a baggie of jelly beans. Like, what we're doing with sugar is making it the incentive on things that should be— we should be internally motivated to learn, do, have fun with. We've actually just changed the goal. We've changed the endpoint. We've changed the destination to be sugar. We're using sugar as a way to soften adversity, challenges, to make difficult things not seem difficult, cult. And what we're basically implying to our child is that you can't handle hard stuff and we're gonna have to sugarcoat it so you can. And I get it, like, I've been at the Christmas card photos and been like, if you guys just smile, I will give you a sucker, you know? And then I'm like, here's a vitamin D, B propolis sucker, you know? Like, whatever the case may be, like, we've all done it, like, reward rewards, bribes, and incentives with sugar is like the easy button. When you feel exhausted, when, um, your children aren't listening, you're like, oh, how do I get them to listen? I'll use sugar. So here's what I've witnessed, and it wasn't as bad when Sebastian was little. I really felt like I was in a bubble, like I would feed him his food and it would be great, and his little preschool was like, oh, just like send him with his lunch. And he wasn't involved in sports and he wasn't in higher grades, and he's only in first grade right now, but I will tell you, he is in sports every single season. And when you look at a game, when you look at a game, they are, um, you know, they go play a soccer game or a basketball game or baseball game, and they are handed a goodie bag at the end of that game as a re— it's basically a participation award, sugar reward for moving their body. And what we're doing is we're conditioning them that every time they work out, they need a sugar reward because they did it instead of like, actually, baseball, basketball, football, soccer should be really fun innately. You should love to be here with your teammates. You should be on the field. You should be, you know, like, you should be just loving this, you know. That is the reward. Like, learning the new way of math that your parents don't understand, that's the reward. Playing the soccer game with your buddies, learning teamwork, scoring a goal, being recognized, that's the reward. But we stopped recognizing kids because we felt bad that someone might feel left out. And we started like medicating kids with sugar, like being like, here, or rewarding, here's, here's sugar for all the things that you should really have internal motivation for. And when I started to look into the numbers, I was like, okay, we talked about taking care of babies. When Bash was little, I knew exactly what his wake window would be, should be at specific age, how many naps you should have on average, how much sleep you should have. But when it comes to sugar, or you start to look around and ask parents, do you know how much sugar your kids should have? Most people can't answer that question, and they have no idea how much sugar their kids are eating. So when you look at the guidelines, it should be no more than 6 teaspoons a day, or around 25 grams of sugar. Our children on average have 70 grams of sugar a day, 17 teaspoons of sugar, and that's coming in the form foods we don't know have sugar, like ketchup, but in granola bars, yogurts, crackers, and then in real instances where they're handed a candy, a cookie, a Gatorade. And the reality is it impacts their immune system, it impacts their metabolic health and their blood sugar, it impacts their— mostly the things that drive me, knowing that like when I look at my children, they look metabolically healthy and they're very active. And I think a lot of people would be like, but I did it when I was a kid and my kids are so active. There's all these like kind of excuses or, you know, you validate like, oh, it's gonna be fine. But the internal motivator, the internal motivation and the drive piece for kids to do hard things without rewarding themselves or creating a conditioned response that they need sugar or a dopamine hit after something like that, that is so critically important for their success as an adult. Everything around us is quick fixes, like it's quick fix to the phone, dopamine hit. Quick fix to sugar, dopamine hit. And like, I worry about them pairing sugar with school, pairing sugar with sports, and pairing sugar with sanctuaries, which are, depending on your religious affiliation, your church, your simple. Like, it happened to me when I was a kid, you know. I got a donut after going to church. My dad would take us to 7-Eleven, we get a Slurpee after church. Like, I mean, it's, it's real. But when we talk about disrupting those 70 grams of sugar a day, it's very easy to do that if we look at the places where they shouldn't be rewarded, which is with sugar, which is learning in school should be a safe place for kids. Sports, where you're really trying to teach them about being, you know, movement, leadership, teamwork, recognition, should really be about that. And then building a relationship with God, whatever, you know, whatever your religious beliefs are. Like, these should be 3 sacred places where if a family did have a child with with metabolic dysfunction and they want to sign them up for soccer because they're like, well, we'll get them some movement. And then after soccer, someone's bringing in a tray of Krispy Kreme donuts. It's totally derailing that child's metabolic health. Like, it's unfair for that family. Are they supposed to homeschool their kids, not involve their kids in sports, and, you know, Bible study at home? Like, then you're alienating families who are working hard to protect the metabolic health of their children, especially in especially when there is signs of metabolic dysfunction. And the chronic diseases that are happening at younger and younger ages, like fatty liver, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and blood sugar imbalance, pre-diabetes, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome— like, we can't put our head in the sand and pretend this isn't happening.

But not to mention anxiety and depression.

There's a chapter on that, you know, and we look at teen girls, and you look at all of Chris Palmer's work and you're like, okay, someone needs to say something, right? Like, what if— and I just like imagined, you know, you read Anxious Generation, and I will, I will always to this day praise Jonathan Haidt for the work that he's done in showing that if you can get a bipartisan movement of parents who see the problem and say screens are a problem, social media is a problem, these kids need better boundaries, and we need to come together to do it because what happens is, is when we don't come together as a group and we don't, we don't really hold those boundaries together and someone doesn't, then all the other children feel alienated and the dominoes fall parent by parent that don't want to alienate their children. And they say, well, I don't want them to feel left out, so I'm going to do this. I did a survey before writing this book. 84% of parents said they give their kids treats and sugar when they don't want to, to avoid alienation.

Wow.

And I sent this survey to my audience. These are people who care about health, who feel like they understand blood sugar balance. They care about metabolic health. They are probably more on the forefront, and they are saying, I don't want to be doing this, but I don't want my kid to be the weird one. I don't want them to feel left out. I feel like I'm constantly making compromises. Sizes. So it's kind of this thing where you're like, what if? And the simple rules are no, no unplanned sugar ever. So you look at Jonathan Haidt's work and it's very simple strategic rules. So mine is no unplanned sugar ever. What does that mean? Your teacher in kindergarten who has a candy drawer can't just pass out a candy to a first grader who is in her class to say like, hey, here. No unplanned sugar. You can't be the mom when we have like— when we're gonna have a pool party that goes like, I just brought the clamshell of cookies Ralph's. Like, that's really unfair. Like, if you think about it, there's no informed consent, there's no ability to say no. It's like a sugar bomb that no one was expecting, that we didn't ask for, that's being used by that person to create joy and memories. And all of those things are valid, but I, in the book, am going to give you hundreds of different ways to recognize children, to connect with them, to feel feel— to make them feel your love in a way that isn't sugar-sweetened. So no unplanned sugar ever. So it's sugar as a celebration, not a reward, incentive, or a bribe. So the question is, am I using this food product to create a different behavior or outcome? You have to ask that question as a, as a filter. And if your answer is like, I'm using this as a reward, incentive, or a bribe, then we don't give the sugar. So a celebration for a for sugar looks like, "Tasha, it's your birthday. Come home. We're gonna make cake and use frosting and sprinkles, and we're gonna celebrate your birthday." Sugar as a celebration in sports looks like, "Hey guys, we didn't have treat bags the whole season. At the end of the season, we're gonna have a team party. We're gonna get ice cream at the Scoop Deck in Dana Point Harbor. I'm gonna pass out trophies, and we're gonna celebrate an awesome season as a team." That's a celebration. That's not a reward. Award for running on the field. That is a celebration of a team for showing up all season long, and here's your, your trophies. That feels so different than a kid being on the sideline, being sitting out, or maybe even running on the field and looking for the mom who has the treats. Because I can tell you, as a coach of 5-year-old ASO soccer players, these kids are looking for the end goal. They want to know what the treat is before they even get to the field. And like, that isn't why we're here, you know?

Right.

Um, and then no sugar until high school. So this is like, you shouldn't have vending machines with sugar on campus. You shouldn't have Kona Ice, you know, like trucks in the ASO parking lot. Like, your child shouldn't be able to buy sugar for themselves in these spaces. And then the last one is like no sugar in things that shouldn't have sugar, which would be like the fourth rule is really like the home front. It's really like empowering parents to say like, if your kids have sugar-sweetened ketchup, could you try Primal Kitchen ketchup and see if we could get them, pull the sugar out of ketchup, pull the sugar out of your yogurt, pull the sugar out of your marinara sauce. Like start to be a label reader scout and look for what's in here. Like, is it a food that shouldn't have sugar that has hidden sugar in it, and can I find an alternative? And on a school level, that looks like working with, you know, the vendors and the contracts to say, how can we lower the un— like, the hidden sugars in these foods for kids? And that's a longer play, but those first 3, so easy. You're just like you're not giving sugar without consent. You're not using sugar to change behavior, and you're not giving children the freedom to buy sugar in an environment that's supposed to protect them.

I mean, as I'm still in the stages where I don't think I can fully appreciate the significance and importance of this, but it's one of those things where like I am so obsessive about just see— once you see the problem, you can't unsee it kind of thing with the phones and the screens and, you know, even just kids. We just went to the aquarium and like my kids don't have, you know, any iPads or anything. And we're just like around all these kids that are like taking selfies of themselves with the fish at the aquarium. And my kids are like, it's like you can't even take kids into normal everyday places and not be bombarded with other people who are doing things that are not in alignment with their health. And the sugar thing, I'm sure like as parents, you know, who have older kids are like, yes and yes and yes. Your work, Kelly, is so unbelievably important. Today has been so amazing. I feel like we covered a million bases, which I feel very satisfied with. Please tell everyone where they can find you and benefit from the work that you're putting out into the world.

Oh, thanks. Um, so I'm at Be Well by Kelly on Instagram, on TikTok. Um, on my website is bewellbykelly.com or kellylevac.com. Well, both of those places will take you there to blog recipes, podcast episodes, All the supplements, the Meat Masher, my first Homeline product. And what else? I mean, I think that's pretty much it. My books are Body Love and Body Love Every Day, published 2017 and 2019, but totally relevant today. Like, I'm like the retro jeans that are back in style. So you really are. The science is still sound. Enjoy that read.

Kelly, thank you for being here. I know you don't do a lot of interviews, so the amount of time that you just spent with me, I truly value, and I know that my community will too. Thank you for tuning in to the Being Brigid Show, and I'll see you next time.

All right, thanks.