The Skin You're In - Coffee with Chrystal #alittleQC

Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. Hope you enjoyed the music I'm playing. Thank you. Good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning. I am playing with things. I have been geeking out while we are here in sheltering in place. And it's one of my favorite fun things to do. I actually forgot to grab Instagram. Ah, normally I grab them first, but in all of my geeking out this morning, I totally, totally forgot. Sorry, Instagram. Hold on one second, y'all. Let me fix this. See, this is what happens when you try to do too much. Then you start forgetting things. Okay, so I love seeing where you all are going live from. I love it. I love it. And I am going to be going live again this morning with my friend Michelle because there were some things that we talked about offline. And I was like, you know what? I want to have some of this conversation with other people. So I'm going to be bringing her on in just a second. And while I do that, there's a couple of things I wanted to make sure you know. And because I was Did I leave that somewhere? See, this is what happens. And Jesse's not here this morning, so he can't help me. Okay, well, I'll have to tell you about it. I went and got it. I went downstairs, I got all organized and ready, and now I don't know— I now don't know where I put it. So I'll have to tell you about it. Okay, so there's a couple of things Hey Michelle, hold on, I'll bring you on screen in just a sec. Let me know when you're, uh, on Instagram. I'm live on Instagram too. Um, so there's a couple things that I wanted to tell you about, and now I'm just totally not together. Totally not together. I mean, what did I do with that? Okay, so somebody messaged me and asked me about fragrances because we had talked about this fragrance that my mom uses, and I did that on Wednesday, and y'all were asking me about how to, you know, what the name of it was, and I shared that with you yesterday. And then, let me see, and then I, then somebody messaged me and they were like, oh, you can't hear me, Michelle? Okay, and then they were like, um, you, you— but what about your fragrance? And this is why I needed to have it, but I can't get up because if I get up, y'all will see what I have on from the waist down. I don't want to traumatize you. Oh my goodness. Okay, so, um, here's what I want to tell you about that I'm not together enough to show you. Um, so basically I— oh, this is so much fun. This is what happens, y'all. Hold on a second. Hold on a minute. Oh, this is, this is my whole situation today. So there's this fragrance that I wear, um, called— I'm not even going to tell you what it's called. That's what I wanted to show you. And I don't know where I put it. Anyway, um, it's a fragrance that I wear when I go somewhere. People always are like, what are you wearing? What are you— somebody said don't get up, don't get up. Um, there's this fragrance that I wear, people are always like, oh my gosh, what is that? Like, it is a signature hallmark. You, you know that Chrystal Hurst is coming Okay, you know that Chrystal Hurst is coming. And so, um, people ask me all the time about what it is. And so I, I didn't want to tell people because— can you hear me now, Michelle?

I can't hear you.

You still can't hear me? Okay, I'm gonna hang up and call you back. Um, so anyway, y'all, but when I have to tell people about it Uh, when I have to tell people about it, y'all, it's a problem because the name of it is, um, the name of it is— some of y'all already know, y'all already know what it is. No, it's not jeanette. My grandmother wore jeanette. Get on Instagram, Michelle. Get on Instagram. Hold on, y'all, I'm trying to fix Michelle. This is, this is my life. Instagram. Some of y'all know, some of y'all know what it is. Some— I think somebody said it on Instagram. Y'all, so when somebody says, um, what is it? I'm just like, I do this. I'm just like, y'all, it's called Black Woman. That's what it's called. That's what it's called. And it's this little oil. People are always like, what's in it? I don't know. Um, you know, is it organic? Probably not. Um, you know, is it made with essential oils? I doubt it. But is it like Hallmark? People know. Here Priscilla goes again on Instagram. What's going on in here? But when people— when I wear it, people know it. They know it. So here's the deal, y'all. I have— Priscilla actually gave some to Beth Moore. And, um, the thing that you have to do— yes, it's in my— it's in my shop. Okay, this is why I'm telling y'all, because somebody was like, can you tell them about the perfume that you wear and where they— where you get it from, the fragrance that you wear? So the thing is, I, um, there Priscilla goes again, y'all. She's my heckler. She's my heckler. Okay, you have to wave in Instagram, Michelle. Have to wave. So basically Priscilla gave it to, uh, Beth Moore, and what you have to do is tell people when they wear it, they have to go easy on it. You have to— you can't like douse it on everywhere. You have to be judicious in its use. You don't use much. You don't use much because if you use too much, um, it's not going to— it's not going to go well for you. So Priscilla gave it to Beth and Beth put it on, um, serendipitously, if that is even a word that fits in that sentence. But the thing is, she— her husband was like, what is going on? What, what is that? Why do you smell Beth was like, because I have black woman all over me. Oh y'all, it's a thing. I've given it to friends and I'm just like, listen, just, just be careful. Don't, you know, don't, don't go over the top. Don't, don't do too much, um, because it will totally, positively, um, be be smelled. And then you, you, you will not, um, you, you people will smell you coming a mile away and you'll smell good. You'll just smell like too much. You'll just smell like too much. Can you hear me now, Michelle? Can you hear me? You can? Okay, great. So I need you to say hi to me on Instagram so I can grab you. Like you're in there, but I need you to like wave or give me a thumbs up. Y'all, I ain't even gonna lie, these are my pajamas. I just rolled straight out the bed this morning. See, Michelle got cute, she put on a little chambray, a little kimono. Okay, you say something to make sure I can hear you, Michelle. I can't hear you now. Oh gosh, okay, I'm trying to grab Michelle. Michelle waved a few minutes ago. Okay, here she is. Go live with Michelle. So I got her on Instagram. Now I'm trying to work out the whole YouTube situation. This is what happens when you roll out of bed. I was like, we did this on Monday, we got it, and now we're having all the problems. Goodness. All right, here comes Michelle on Instagram. I can see you, I just can't hear you.

Can you hear me now?

I can hear you now. Come on, Verizon.

Okay, then I don't need these then.

Okay, well hopefully we won't have feedback.

Okay, okay.

So now all I need you to do is say— is accept my invitation to you on Instagram.

Okay, don't decline it.

Don't decline it. Oh Lord. Okay, okay, here we go. What happens when you— when you think you're bigger than y'all? Oh no, I think we're gonna have echoes. Instagram, let me know if you're hearing an echo. Priscilla said, Michelle, I love you. Priscilla gets on every time I go live, every single time on Instagram, and she just starts heckling. She says, what's going on in here? What is happening? Then she starts waving to people. Do y'all have an echo? Y'all okay? Y'all all right on Instagram? I think they're okay. Maybe they're okay. Oh nope, they said they have an echo.

Okay, is it because of me?

It's because you're not wearing headphones. So here's what we're talking about today. Try it again and just see what happens. Here's what we're talking about today. So Michelle, y'all, so I'll let her tell the story, but the— but yeah, I can hear you. Awesome. But the bottom line is Um, Michelle and I have been friends a long time, and we have a history where, um, we have had seasons. Now on Instagram, I'm looking at your ceiling or something. I'm not looking at you. So this is the Thelma and Louise, Oprah and Gayle situation. Okay, so basically, uh, in our 20s I remember Michelle trying to figure out in the midst of friendship, in the midst of, you know, just we all are in our 20s, we're trying to figure out our lives. But I just remember Michelle having a struggle like we all do. But we talked about it later where she was kind of just trying to figure out based on friends and peers and all that, you know, feeling confident in her own skin, being comfortable in her own shoes, what was her style? Style. What did she like to do? Because she was always doing stuff with friends, you know, hanging out with friends. And, and it took her a minute. And when she started figuring out who she was and all that, I kind of— I was a little offended because she kind of like, in order to do it, was a little separate. She was a little like— she left me alone, kind of. And I was like, what's wrong? She was like, I just need to do me. That's how I felt. I don't know if that's what she intended, but that's how I felt. But Michelle, uh, is truly, truly her own person. I mean, truly her own person. And, um, the way she dresses, the way she eats, the way she takes care of herself. And so from the skin you're in, that's what we want to talk about today, um, you know, what it looks like to be comfortable and confident in the skin that you're in, but from a physical, emotional, and social standpoint. Uh, because I think Michelle has figured it all out, and she's figured— I mean, we're all evolving, but I do think there's a reality that you get to as you get close, as you get older, right, Michelle? Okay, you half on the screen again on Instagram. You got to scoot over to your right.

What?

To your right. To your right. Thank you, Jesus. Right there, right there.

This is my left.

Oh, sorry. Well, it looks like the right on my screen. Whatever. Now you're in the right place. Okay, so she figured some things out. And I just want her to kind of talk to you about that and teach us all. Teach us all, Michelle.

Michelle.

Okay, so if you're like, I actually have no idea who you are— I always do this, and I think this is so redundant. Every time I do this, I think this is so redundant, but then somebody always says, I'm so glad you did that because I really didn't know who you were. Okay, so my name is Chrystal Hurst, and I've been going live almost every day of COVID-19 to give you a little QC. A little quarantine content so you can exercise some quality control in your everyday life, even in the midst of this chaos. And this is my friend Michelle. Um, if you have known— good morning! If you know nothing about her, you will in a minute. And then I also went live with Michelle this past Monday. That was some laughter and some tears. I'm talking to you on Instagram and I did not bring you on screen on everywhere else, so here you go. Okay, now you're half on the screen with the YouTube and the Facebook people.

Who, me?

Yes, scoot over.

What do I—

I don't know, move your phone, move your phone. No, no, no, not that way. Jesus, help her. Okay, keep moving, keep moving over, keep moving over. Keep, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep, keep. Hello, there you go, right there. Look at Jesus, look at you.

You know, I don't know nothing about this.

I know, but that's all right, I will guide you. So anyway, so we already went live on Monday. There was a lot of laughter. Some tears, some serious, some funny, some happy, a lot of happy because Michelle brings the happy. And, uh, she sang, she sang loud. And so, so we're gonna try to, we're gonna try to, you know, be informative today. But basically, here's what you need to know. I'm going live to be helpful, going on to be helpful. Basically what I'm doing whenever I do a podcast or a blog I share it with everybody. And then if there's like extra stuff, like extra conversation or extra commentary, I share it with my inner circle. Let me tell you what that is. The inner circle is basically people who said, I love what you do and I want to support you. I want to support you because, listen, uh, microphones and lights and cameras and all the things, you know. So me going live on a million channels is— there's services and they're like, listen, we want you to do what you do, so they help out. Um, there's multiple levels, but only one is open at right now— open right now because I'm in a 90-day experience with everybody else. So, um, when you go there, you'll, you'll see what I mean. But that's what this is. And so when we do bonus content right now, everybody needs a little bonus. So I'm doing it, sharing it with everybody, and then on Sunday night it gets archived in the Inner Circle Library. You want all-time access to that stuff, that's where you can go for that. The other thing is that I believe that we're better together, and there are conversations where I'm not the only expert, I'm not the only person who has great experience. I'm not the only person who knows something. I'm not the only person who's been there and done that. And so what we do in the Facebook group is take questions that we know you have and we share them so we all can give our thoughts, our opinions, our prayers, our experience, and we share that. That is free and that's on Facebook. So all you have to do to find that, the Sister Circle on Facebook, is go to chrystalevanshurst.com/facebook. Facebook group, and then you will find that group there. Okay, so that's a little bit more about me. Now let me jump off of me and let me get to, uh, Shelly Shell. Shelly Shell!

Yes, you're too early in the morning to be hyped. Okay, no, it's not.

No, it's not. Don't even lie. You can be hyped no matter—

my co-workers do not talk to me until 11 o'clock.

Yeah, but, but you came on here the other day and we're live perfectly fine.

I took some sugar. I ate some sugar.

You took some sugar this morning?

No, I was like— I was hyper this morning or last time?

Well, you— to me, both. You were hyper in both scenarios.

I'm pretending. I'm kidding.

You're pretending? Oh Lord Jesus.

Okay, now yes, lowering my, my thing.

Okay, so that way I can see all the comments everywhere. Okay, so here's what I need you to do. If you think that these conversations are useful Uh, please share, um, because sometimes the only time people will see these interviews is if you share it with them. Okay, that said, Michelle, talk to me about the 20s, because I think you know what I'm talking about, where you just were like, I gotta— I need to do me. I'm trying to— I'm trying to do you. I'm trying to— and I don't even know who I am. Explain what that felt like, um, and explain— well, explain— explain what that felt like. Explain the discomfort in that, because we're talking about um, you know, the skin you're in and being comfortable and confident there. Um, but what did it feel like when you weren't?

You kind of feel lost. And I think that you— and you feel anger. And that anger that you have, you take it out on other people because you don't know, I guess, how to express it.

You took it out on me. I just want to say that out loud.

Okay, wow. Okay, you—

it was a passive-aggressive kind of, I didn't know what was wrong with you kind of, why were you acting like that kind of.

Well, I couldn't— I didn't know either.

Yeah, I know, I know. I'm saying that for all the friends out there, so when your friend starts acting weird, it may or may not be about you. That's all I want to say.

Yeah, yeah. Um, and then at some point I thought, because I saw everybody else, you know, you know, the most, most of the time the normal thing to do once you get out of high school is go straight to college. Um, even if you don't know what you want to do, your parents encourage you to go to college. But a lot of people have no idea what they want to do. And I don't, you know, the older that I get now, I see college is not always the best thing to do. You do need to do something I don't think you need to sit around the house and do nothing, but you need to do something. If college doesn't necessarily support what your gift is, then maybe go to a trade school or something. I don't know, but you do need to do something. But I don't, I don't know if I would say college is always the best for everybody. That's just me. But at some point I figured, I, I know God has a plan for me, something, so I need to, um, figure out, figure out what it is. And so if that meant separating myself from everybody else, and I need to do that in order you know, to hear from God. Because I think the voices of other people, they really like confuse God's voice, and you're like, I can't hear what you're saying. You know, people always give an illustration of, you know, you're in the classroom and the teacher is in the front talking, and everybody else is talking, and then they talk softer and softer than the teacher does, or everyone— someone would go, shh, I can't hear. So sometimes you just have to pull yourself away in order to really hear, because I don't think God yells at us, you know. But I don't know if that makes sense. I just— I needed to pull away from myself because I had no idea what was going on. I, I needed direction. I just knew God had a plan for me, so I needed to figure out what that direction was.

So you felt— you felt lost. What other words would you use to describe how you felt when you started noticing the need to pull away?

Um, lonely, anger. Um, would I say resentment? Maybe resentment, yes, because it looked like everybody else knew what they wanted to do but I didn't. So I think there was some resentment there. But in that, I never wanted to be anybody. I can promise you that. I never wanted to be anybody else. Never.

And I think some of that too was— I mean, you, you were a new Christian because remember, tell them how we met in the hallway at church. I mean, like, how we remember— I mean, we had met, but how we, you know—

well, we would always be on the school bus, and when Chrystal Hurst doesn't know your name, she'd be like, hey girl, hey girl. So I was like, she doesn't know who I am.

I mean, so Don't tell my secrets.

Oh, I mean, oh, okay. Yeah, hey girl. I was like, okay, so, but then we, we really, really met, you know, at Tashara's birthday party. Um, well, yeah, when we always see each other in the hallway at church and, you know, so you, you felt like I wasn't really—

well, I think too at church, you were a new Christian. And I think some of the novelty— you can correct me if I'm wrong— I feel like some of the novelty of hanging out and being around us, because we were— I mean, we clicked. Hey Tiffany! Tiffany Maltby Johnson is on.

Um, hey Tim!

Was that, um, you know, you, you wanted to grow, like you wanted to learn, you wanted to grow. So a lot of that was too you know, trying to figure out, okay, if I'm a Christian, what should I be doing? You know what I mean? And like, do you feel like that kind of—

I think that's amazing. Yeah, yeah. I think that's anything with life, you know what I'm saying? Like, if you're new to something, then you need to hang around, or you want to hang around people who are living that lifestyle. I mean, you can't grow if you don't— I mean, you can't grow by yourself. No man is an island. So, um, is that the question? Is that what you're asking me?

Yeah, like, yeah, you, you, you wanted to connect because you were trying, you were trying to grow. But then I think there was a certain point where you were like, okay, the people that I'm hanging around to trying to grow, their voices are confusing me because I'm not them. And I'm trying to, I'm trying to figure out how to be me, but I can't figure that out because I'm, I'm, I'm right, because they're in— I'm allowing their influence to be greater than it needs to be.

Yes, I would say that. Yeah, you're very good at articulating a lot of words sometimes that I just can't— I mean, like, you're good, you're good.

I just like to repeat it to make sure I'm, I'm hearing you correctly.

Yeah.

So somebody asked, how old were you? So I know it was in your 20s, but how old do you think you were when that came, when that started coming, where I needed to break away?

I felt like I needed to break away. Yeah, in order Okay, well, I came— I became a Christian at the age of 19. You were? Yeah, at the age of 19. So we were like, I don't know, um, it was probably my late— for, I think, for a long time I staggered through life, you know, hopping in and out of things, um, trying to figure out, do I like this? Now I don't like that. Do I like this? No, I don't like that. Just— but I just stayed busy, I think. Yeah, stay busy in life just because you got to keep moving. Just, just don't sit there and do nothing. I had to keep moving. And probably— wow, I was close to 30s, huh? Probably like maybe around 26, 27, I thought, okay, enough of this. Enough, enough of, um, I don't know if Enough of being— trying to be in somebody else's life. Figure out what your life needs to look like.

And I want y'all to know on YouTube, I heard you about the background noise, and I gotta— that's geeky situation. I gotta figure that out. Basically, my mic is picking up the noise from my computer. My fan is working hard ingesting Michelle's video and audio. And putting out the live. So I will click it, click it off so when I'm not talking, y'all don't have to deal with the extra noise. I hear you and I will work on it. Um, but I think, you know, do you— okay, so, but at that time when you started doing that, when you first started pulling away, when, you know, I noticed it, but it feel like— it feels like— was it— do you think it was easier for you to figure out you when you moved away? Because when you, you know, you went school. You know, y'all, she, you know, she started school in her 30s, and we talked all about that, uh, on Monday. So you can get the full story on Monday, or her full, uh, her story is in my book. She's Still There. I basically was like, if you want to know how to discover your passions in life, look at Michelle. So, so you, you were away, like, you were busy with school, so you pulled away then in a positive way. Then when you became a nurse, you started moving and traveling. So do you feel like being by itself allowed you to have a clarity to who I am and what I want to do.

Yeah, again, for me, because for me, I'm not— I mean, I am a people person. I do like being around people, but a lot of times I like to withdraw and be like, okay, because, um, I function— I say I function 50/50. I function 50% of the time with people, the other 50% of the time I have to like pull myself away and recharge. I have to. I just You know, I always say, like, can I say what I told you? Organized chaos.

Just say whatever. Say whatever you need to say.

I trust you. Oh, I say Chrystal Hurst's house is like organized chaos to me. It's just, there's so much stuff going on. And because I'm single, I do like to be by myself, but then at times I do need to be around chaos. For a moment because, yeah, I love—

yeah, well, listen, I, I am my own person and I need to be by myself for a little bit. And, and, and, and the children— listen, Jesse was like, I want to give you— this is years ago— I want to give you, you know, a weekend away, you know, put you in a hotel room. It's probably when he was working and traveling. And, you know, I want you to be by yourself. And then I was like, can y'all leave?

Can y'all leave?

I, I, I, I don't want to leave home to have peace. I actually want to enjoy being alone in my own home without the stress of having to pack a bag and go anywhere. I just want to be here and like declutter and wash clothes and do my hair and sit in front of my own TV with my own— I mean, you know what I mean? And so anyway, so just recently, um, the boys— Jesse got the boys out of the house for a while. And, um, I was so happy because I think even for the extroverts, we all need recharging time and we all need alone time to actually connect with who we are minus the noise. Which is, which is why COVID-19, you know, as terrible as it is, I think we're up to 180, 185,000 deaths, I believe. It's terrible. And then I've got friends right now who are, while they don't have relatives who are sick with the coronavirus, they have relatives who were sick with other things and they can't be with them, you know, or they can't, they can't hold their hand. They can't be with them when they check them into the hospital. So there are a lot of horrible things that are happening right now. And as I mentioned before, you know, we've got something going on in our family too, my husband's family, where it's just, it's tough. It's tough. And, um, so I'm not minimizing that, but I am saying for a lot of us, we have more uninterrupted quiet alone time, even with kids, even with kids, because you're not racing around. And I told y'all yesterday, put those kids to bed, give them quiet time where they cannot call your name. Create that. So that's just a sidebar from the time management conversation I had yesterday. But I think right now we are, we are able to be more still, more less rat-racy. And I think in that we can actually discover what do we like doing with our spouse, what do we like watching on TV, what do we want to do with our kids. Okay. Oh yes, look at the, look at the, the blossoms on the tree because I'm going for a walk outside. I mean, we have more time to notice what's around us, and I think notice what's in us. And so I think what you created by separating for work and school, um, we all have gotten a little bit of that. The question is, are we going to take advantage of it? Okay, so fast forward, fast forward. How would you describe yourself now? Describe yourself as a— describe your personality and describe your style.

Me? No, it's me. No. Um, my personality, I would say that I'm loving, I'm generous, um, I'm happy, I'm— I can be sad, um, I can withdraw. Are these good words too? Am I— I never— I just, I don't, I don't know. I'm not the most articulate when it comes to words. It takes me a minute. Like, I, I noticed that, um, because I— my thoughts, um, my head just goes and goes and goes and goes and goes. And sometimes I can't come up with the right words at the time that I'm put on the spot. But then when you and I, we hang up or something, I'll be like, oh, this is what I meant. So it takes— sometimes it takes me a minute to let the word kind of, you know, to marinate in order for me to explain what I'm trying to say. Um, uh, let's see. I would say I'm a compassionate person. Um, I don't know, I guess that's it.

So I would say she's fun. I would say she's eccentric. I would say she is adventurous. Oh yeah, yeah, you're adventurous. I would, I would say that you love doing new things. I would say that you're a learner. I would say that you are funny. Um, you know, I would say— okay, now describe your style. How would you describe how you dress? Because y'all can just get a picture of who she is by looking at her hair. That's, that's all I want to say.

And if you look—

yeah, you had blue hair. Okay.

Purple, pink. Yeah, it don't matter to me that I'm a nurse, you know what I'm saying? It don't matter. What, is my hair color gonna stop me from serving you? No. Okay, now if I came in there, I don't know, dirty or something, maybe that'd be different. But I think also the older that I get, the more I get like, it's all about comfort. It's not about necessarily about style, it's about comfort. But I do want to look cute, you know what I'm saying? So, um, my style, I guess you could say eclectic. Yeah, I— no, it's Bohemian.

Bohemian. Bohemian what?

Yes, chic.

Listen, I was— before you said it, I was like, it's Bohemian. And y'all, Michelle looks cute. If I put the stuff on that she put— well, first of all, I don't think what you wear matters. I think how you feel in what you wear matters because the confidence that you have with whatever you put on, that's what comes through. And that's why you can see people that look crazy, but you'll say they're cute, and you're like, I could never wear that. It's because they love it, and the love of themselves and the love of what they have on comes through. So that's, that's the thing. And so Michelle will have on— I'll just be like, did you—

wait, I got— wait, let me see these things I got on right here. Oh yes.

Totally mismatched, but totally you.

Yes.

Okay, somebody said, where do you shop? I'm not going to start taking questions, but I happen to see that one.

Um, oh, my new store that I love, uh, oh my gosh, what's called Free People. I love—

that's expensive.

It is expensive. Um, but y'all, do we need tons of clothes? No, we don't. You can look in your closet and see how many times have I worn that. Oh, I've only worn that maybe twice. So really, half the time you don't need a lot of stuff.

Yeah, you need to come back to that because y'all, Michelle is also a minimalist.

Uh, yeah, and every time she moves, she gives stuff away.

She don't keep stuff, she don't accumulate stuff. She was like, everything I own has to fit in my car when I move. She don't carry no U-Haul, she don't ship no pod. Like, she packs up her whole house every time she moves in her car. And whatever cannot fit in there, she just gives away. Yeah, but to your point, if you're not buying a lot of clothes, you can afford to spend money on clothes that will last and that you love.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, sometimes I hate Walmart, but I do shop at Target sometimes. I hate Walmart.

I'm sorry, Target is losing their brains. I'm like, listen, I know y'all are trying to be Anthropologie, but you're not. So you need to take your prices down. Y'all are getting a little full of yourselves anyway. Yeah, but Free People, uh, yes, yes to Free People. Okay, so you are not just confident in your style, but you're confident in your, um, I mean, I, in your, like, you're silly and it doesn't— and you don't try to tone it down really. Like, you're just like, you walk into a room and you're just like, you're gonna get what you get because this is who I am. So, so how do you think you arrived at that? Because you used to be a lot more conservative, like, in front of people. Now you're just like, they get what they get. Okay, let me ask you this. Has anybody ever rejected that? Did anybody ever make you feel— okay, tell me about that.

Um, some people are like, you know, it's a little— you're a little too much, can you tone it down a bit? I'm just like, oh, okay, well, and bump you. I mean, then I wouldn't say that you don't necessarily change for that person. I mean, you offer a little bit of respect with how they feel about that, but I mean, I don't— I wasn't doing anything like that wasn't biblical. I was just being myself. If that person doesn't like it, I— okay, maybe you're just not the person for me to communicate with very much. I don't know. I know, I'm sure sometimes I could take it down a notch, but you'll still do that.

Like now you'll say, like, if we out in public, if we out in public, you'd be like, is it, is it too much?

Yeah, sometimes.

I mean, not a lot.

Yeah, I want to be respectful. Yes. But I mean, yes, there's maybe there's different versions of you, you know what I'm saying? And you just figure out where that version fits in that situation without you um, not— you still want to be yourself, but you just figure out where you fit in different scenarios.

Yeah, I think, I think you have to identify— in order to be comfortable in the skin you're in, be, be in your skin. But there are— there's a spectrum of you. So like, on the spectrum of people, there's a spectrum where you live. You know, sometimes people— in fact, we did a live with Jonathan, the four of us, me, Chrystal Hurst, Anthony, Jonathan. We did a live for Generate And somebody messaged me and said, are you okay? Because you were so quiet on that live. You were very, um, like thoughtful and, you know, slow with your words. And like the silly, excitable Chrystal that I normally see, like she wasn't anywhere to be found. But there's a spectrum of Chrystal, right, Michelle? Like there is the— yeah, there's that.

Yeah.

And then there's the very serious Yes, thoughtful, deep. Or, I mean, there's that. And so for somebody who hasn't been around, they'll go, wait, what's wrong with her? When really there's a spectrum of Chrystal Hurst, you know what I mean? And I think there's a spectrum of, you know, there's a spectrum of Michelle too. I think we all have that, and we shift along that spectrum based on, you know, being respectful, honoring who we're around, what fits, how well we know somebody. And, uh, but I think, you know, when you've gone behind that, you know, when somebody has pushed you to be quieter than you are, less fun than you are, more serious than you want to be, less serious than you want to be. You know when, because you don't start— you, you don't feel good.

You don't, you don't feel kind of withdrawal.

Yeah, you don't feel at home. You don't feel it. Yeah, you don't feel at home. So, okay, let's talk about food, because part of being comfortable in your own skin is how you've chosen to eat. Y'all listen, this is the problem. When we have our Thelma and Louise, Oprah and Gayle scenarios. Yeah, see, yeah, I mean, I'm crunchy. I mean, you know, in this cup, I mean, I've already had a couple cups. This was, uh, roast, um, what's the one, that roasted dandelion leaf tea, which by the way is great for detoxing your liver. And we all—

for the liver, yeah, trust me, trust me.

If you own this Earth and eating any kind of food that you're not growing yourself You need a detox. And then, um, then also hibiscus, which is great for a lot of things, um, including a lot of things.

I'll just say that.

But, um, so it's not that I can't do it, you know, but y'all, Michelle is doing it. And so when we go on our Thelma and Louise things, Oprah and Gayle things, uh, she— I just want to say you hog the food. That's what I want to say. She, she gets online and all she wants to eat— and this was— she's a vegan now, but before she was a vegan—

well, let me not— let me say this. I am a person that chooses to eat whole food plants. I want to be labeled as a vegan.

What is the difference?

Because I'm, I don't care about leather. I will wear— if I, I will purchase—

it means it's all the things about animals.

Yes.

Oh, okay.

Yes. I don't care about that. So plant— so I I prefer to eat whole food plant-based diet. That's how I choose to eat. Yeah.

Now let me tell y'all, Michelle is not— she is not 105 pounds. Michelle is, is not eating 205. Oh Lord, you're not eating plant-based total. I mean, like, it's not like a weight loss decision alone. This is an overall health—

yeah, okay. So tell the lifestyle—

tell the people, uh, why you chose that lifestyle, because you kind of didn't choose it and do it. You kind of were on and off, on and off, on and off for a while.

Yeah. And then you kind Remember the time I was a vegetarian and I ordered pizza from— was it Domino's or something? And then with no cheese. You remember that? I think it was— I was in my 20s. You were like, what you doing?

What's the point of pizza if you don't have the cheese?

I know, right? And I know, and I think, I think when I called Domino's, they were like, so you don't want no cheese? So what you want on it?

If you were in California though, they probably would have said okay. But over here in Dallas, they were like, what you, what you talking about?

'80s, '90s, I think. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I mean, veganism, or, you know, that wasn't like— what? They were like, what is that? Yeah.

Okay, so, so why did you start? Because this is what y'all need to understand. Now if we do anything, she's like, okay, there's a new vegan restaurant I want to try.

I'm just like, yeah, okay. Yep, I do. Because I need, I need to seek and figure out stuff first. You got a plan, you know what I'm saying?

You do.

My people perish from lack of planning. And that what the Bible—

listen at you trying to quote scripture.

Yes, about eating, right? Okay, so I just, you know what, being in the medical field, and I wouldn't say this bothers me, but this concerns me, that people come to the hospital and they expect the physician or the healthcare to know to, to cure everything. You have a list, a bag of medications. Sometimes you don't even know why. Our eating habits— change our eating habits. I just think that my health and my life needs to be in my hand first of all, and then if I need help, then get it from, you know, the medical field. But, um, I just decided, you know, I'm not— I'm not— I don't think I'm ever going to be 100 50 pounds. That's— I don't, I don't even know if I want to be there. I don't even know if that's realistic. But Chrystal Hurst, remember Oprah said— I don't know if you remember that— she said healthy is the new skinny.

Yeah.

So that's where I am. I think I was there before all she said that, but that kind of puts a little thing into perspective. Yeah, exactly, exactly. So I started off with just not eating, you know, like red meat, and then from red meat I stopped eating like chicken and turkey and stuff like that. And then I went from vegetarian, and then I went to veganism, or a whole food plant-based diet. And so I just chose to do that because, first of all, I love how I feel. Um, secondly, I know that I'm getting my fruits and vegetables and beans and rice and all that kind of stuff in, stuff that we need. I, I think, I feel that I should be eating. I have noticed some things have changed about my body. Can I say I don't have a lot of gas?

But somebody's wanting to know, how is that possible if you're eating beans? Doesn't be— don't beans cause gas?

Yeah, they do, but a lot of other stuff inside your system— all this sugar that we're eating ferments in the body. It lowers the immune system. The meats that we eat, it sits in the body because you don't— I mean, how often do you have a bowel movement? My bowel movements are better as well.

How many are we supposed to be having a day? Let's talk about that.

Well, if you were, you know, realistically, you should be having one after every meal, but I mean, most people don't. I don't like soy. I don't— I try to, I try to stay away from soy because soy mimics estrogen in our body, and that's not really good, or something about it. No, I don't like soy. I don't— I try not to do soy.

I mean, I'm not gonna die if I So do you eat meat at all, ever?

No.

Okay.

No, I have been a strict plant, whole food plant-based diet person for at least a year. Oprah solidified the word, but California really helped to show that, um, there are so many other options out there that— I mean, there's so many vegan restaurants out in California so that, you know, people don't look at you crazy when you say, oh no, I don't eat that, I don't eat this. I mean, there's whole restaurants. Yeah, that are just—

that's because California caters to options. Yes, a lot of options.

A lot of options for, for a variety of eating decisions.

Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan, vegetarian, plant-based, organic, you know, locally grown, you know, farm to table. I mean, it, it—

California helped. California helped. Yes. And now that I'm out of California and I'm, you know, in Maryland, then I watch a lot of YouTube channels and then I figure out how to cook the stuff myself. There's in the grocery store, like there's options of so many.

One or two, just one or two. So how do you plan and prepare for one?

Oh, well, I mean, I still make a lot, a bigger portion and then just put the containers in the refrigerator, but You know, some people like will go ahead and put this stuff in a little tiny container. In the morning, I get up and make my stuff. I mean, I already have— like, if I work 3 days in a row, then, you know, before I go to work, the day before I go to work, sometimes I look at YouTube channels or I'll read cookbooks or whatever and figure out, okay, this is what I'm going to eat for lunch, this is going to be what I'm going to eat for breakfast, and I will portion it out when I get up in the morning. And, you know, instead of doing it the night before. Just because I'm just lazy like that. I mean, yes. So I will cook a larger portion, but then just portion it out in the morning and serve myself when I, you know, before I go to work.

Somebody—

my lunchbox is heavy.

Somebody asked this question, um, and I think there's a good, good question to interject right now. Um, when you're trying to break sugar cravings, did you have— you used to work at a bakery, so how did—

I sure did.

So how did you break the craving for sugar?

Who said I broke it?

That's why.

No, no, I still— yes, no, I did not break the craving for sugar. I do eat it less just because, you know, I think the more knowledge that I obtain, um, it makes a little bit easier to not eat as much sugar. I, I substituted with other things. Like this morning I made some yogurt some coconut yogurt, no sugar added. I put some coconut flakes in there, that's naturally sweet. And then I put some blueberries in there and chia seeds. Okay, so that helps with cravings. I'm not saying I don't eat sugar because I do. Lorna Doones are vegan, uh, Oreos are vegan.

So yeah, yeah, give a couple of other examples. Do you use monk fruit sugar?

No, I don't like artificial sweeteners at all. So I use honey. See, again, I'm not purely vegan because that's an animal. People would see that as an animal.

Agave.

And I use agave. I use maple. Or I try to just be more mindful of the sugar that comes from the fruit itself. I try to make that the thing that satisfies me.

So Michelle did share some of her favorite vegan YouTube channels and we added them to the resource page. For those of you who already are on my email list, the resource page, we just keep updating it. So if you have the link, you can just go back there anytime. For those of you who are not on my email list or weren't until Tuesday, then we're going to send an email out tomorrow with a link. So you'll get that. But I would love Michelle, when we get off the phone, off the line, off the Zoom or Skype or whatever we're doing. I would love if you, when you have time, when you have time, if you would like, if you can easily like write down like a meal plan for a week, or maybe next week while you eat, write down what you're eating. And then I can share that just to give people an idea of what it looks like for you to, you know, to eat the way you're eating for, for a week. And I mean, you know, I want to just say that there, I mean, I think it does take time. I think while you can, I mean, I think that sometimes our health necessitates fast, immediate changes. And the sad thing is, is you don't want to wait until your health dictates that you have to do it and you have to do it right now, you know? But I, but I also think what you did, because you were figuring it out and you would try things and you'd be interested, you know, it goes back to you being a learner. You gradually made these changes and then you just, right, because you loved it and you loved how you felt, but, and because you had explored recipes and different foods gradually, then making the shift wasn't stressful. I think a lot of times the reason why people struggle to make the shift in what they eat is because they try to do it all at one time and then they can't, they can't keep that up. It takes so much energy and they don't. So I would say, I mean, well, you can tell me if you agree with me or not. Do you think that it's wise for somebody to explore gradually, or do you think, no, just, just cut it off and quit eating meat?

No, gradually. Gradually. Yeah. Just like if you're losing weight, it's not good to lose 25 pounds in a month. It's better to do it gradually because then more than likely you're not going to gain that back.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

So besides, besides feeling good, like what changes have you noticed in your body? From the way that you eat? And when you say feeling good, what does that mean?

Well, feeling good, like I have a— I don't know, I have a sense of— well, I guess my serotonin levels are up. You know, I do. I don't feel as depressed as I used to, like, hmm, like sad. Honestly, the bloating was the biggest thing for me. I was asking a friend of mine, I was like, did I take antacids all the time? All the time. I was always taking antacids.

Really?

Every day. Yeah. And I couldn't figure out why. But, um, now that I noticed that I, I'm on a more of a plant-based diet, I can't think of the last time I took an antacid. So I've noticed that change. Um, my blood pressure— I think my blood pressure was starting to elevate.

I guess you figure at 50, you know, stuff starts changing, your body starts talking to you.

Exactly. Yeah. So I would notice my blood pressure was getting a little high. And so, um, I was at work and I took my blood pressure and it was like 117 over like, I don't know, 72 or something. So I mean, I noticed that my blood pressure has changed. Um, I'm— and you know what, guys, people think that because you're on a, um, whole food plant-based diet that you know, your labs aren't good, like, you know.

Oh yes, what about protein? That's the question people always want to ask. I know it's the tried and true question because you can't possibly get enough protein if you're not eating meat or drinking, or drinking milk.

Yep. No, nuts have protein, beans have protein, broccoli has protein, spinach. I mean, on average, I think we as women need maybe 30-something grams of protein, but I mean, you get it from fruits and vegetables and legumes and nuts and beans.

And what about the argument about complete proteins? You can get protein but you can't get the complete proteins.

Sure you can. Sure you can. Like beans and rice, that's a complete protein right there. I mean, you can— you can get it from quinoa, you can get it from oatmeal, you can get it, you can get it. I'm not deficient in anything. The only thing that, um, a vegan diet is deficient in is B12, and you can Squirt that in your mouth right here. That's it. Or you can get it from nutritional yeast.

Nutritional yeast.

How do you—

that's right. How do you use nutritional yeast? You sprinkle it on? Nutritional?

Yeah, you just sprinkle it. It has the taste of cheese, you know what I'm saying? And somebody pointed— chia seeds as well. Somebody else pointed out that cows don't eat meat. Cows eat the grass, right? So where the cows get all the stuff from? From the grass. Good point.

Yes.

So I mean, I, I feel, I feel in order for me to thrive in life that I, I don't need um, animal products. And I love kombucha. Love, love.

Have you tried making it yourself?

Oh, that's next. I already found a company that I'm going to order from so that I can make my own.

Okay, get your own mushroom situation going. I mean, I ask these questions because, you know, people— so the standard American diet, spelled S-A-D, It is a sad way to eat because it sets your body up for disease. And listen, y'all, I mean, I am not vegan and I had Wingstop last night and I enjoyed it. They put sugar on the fries. I mean, it's horrible, but I enjoyed it. And let me tell you something, I woke up this morning and I knew that I had eaten bad and I felt it. So, so the reality is, is that when you choose to eat foods that taste good on your mouth, you know, what is that saying? A minute on your lips, forever on your hips.

A lifetime on your hips.

A lifetime on your hips. It's more than just your your, your, um, your hips and your weight. It's about the health of your blood cells and what they need, the health of your organs to function well. So, um, so what I have done is I eat less meat. I eat less meat, and the meat that I do eat, I, I try to make high quality, um, which I'll tell you, when you buy high quality meat, you will eat less because it's expensive. High-quality meat, y'all, is expensive.

Wait, wait, wait, you can— we can pay for it now or pay for it later.

Exactly, exactly. And some, you know, go ahead.

People ask me, isn't eating, you know, whole foods, isn't that like expensive? Fruits and vegetables— fruits or vegetables are cheaper. Yeah, than all that stuff in the middle. It's—

I mean, all the stuff in the boxes.

Yes. Yeah.

And I will say, you know, organic is expensive, and I know everybody can't afford to eat that way. So here's what I want to tell you, what somebody told me. And y'all, I'm going to try to keep my eyes on Instagram on this thing because I already know we're going to go a little over— not much, but a little bit. Um, so, uh, but I'll keep my eye on and give you a warning. Um, so years ago, the lady who taught me about making bread, and she had a vegetable co-op— remember when I had the vegetable co-op, Michelle? And I had a group of friends and we used to go during the summers, we would go to the farmer's market. Everybody would take a turn and we would put in a bulk order. And then you would, when it was your turn, you would come home and have to divvy it up. So you would buy, you know, whatever, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, what is it called? Uh, uh, in the Bible they had not a shekel, uh, anyway, a pence. No, it's a, it's like a biblical word for a vat. That's not it, but of sweet potatoes, or you'd buy a huge box of lettuce and then you would bring it home and you'd have to divide it up. And so when it was your turn, it was your job to go pick it up and divide it up. And so the friend had an organic fruit and vegetable co-op, a bushel, that's what it is.

She had a bushel.

She had an organic fruit and vegetable co-op. And I was like, I can't afford to do that. She said, well, let me just encourage you to shop the edge of the grocery store. Just don't go in the middle. Just don't go in the middle.

Yeah.

Shop the edge.

Yeah.

Because all the alive food is on the edge. Everything else, if it can sit on your shelf for 6 months or a year or 2 years, it's because it's dead. So it doesn't have nutritional, nutritional value. It'll feed you, but the nutritional value that it's giving you is so little. It's just, you're not getting what you, what you need. And so, so I would encourage you to do that. And that's what I did. I just tried to eat more fruits and vegetables. Um, and I shopped and did what I could afford to do. And just know that, you know, God made our bodies miraculous. They are designed to keep us alive and to, to give us what we need even when we're not eating it. It starts figuring out another way to get us what we need. So our bodies are amazing, um, and don't feel guilty, you know, if you can't. But I would, I would say look at your grocery budget and see what you're actually spending money on, because the processed foods are more expensive. They just are.

Yeah.

You know? Yeah.

So, so, and if you can't always eat organic, I was going to say there's certain— I mean, if you have to peel the skin, don't worry about getting organic. If you're going to eat the skin, yeah. But there's, there's a list.

I don't know. Strawberries are on the Dirty Dozen. If you're going to eat strawberries, if you're going to start choosing what to buy organic, look at the Dirty Dozen's list. Start with that.

Yeah.

Because strawberries grapes. I think they have so much pesticides. Kale, all that.

Yeah, yeah.

And people start getting—

there's a few—

go ahead.

There's a few movies to watch, like Forks Over Knives, What the Hell, Forks Over Knives, Game Changers, Super Size Me. They're really good. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I watched a video. Charis took a health class within our homeschool co-op. My friend Heather Harbaugh, who I still all my homeschooling friends who taught me so many things. She taught this class, health. Now, health was not like learn how to do like, uh, CPR, which they did learn that, but she was like health, health. So she watched this video about the processing of meat, the processing of pigs for hot dogs. I've never eaten a hot dog since.

That's not true.

I've eaten kosher hot dogs. I've eaten kosher hot dogs. I've never had— girl, I looked at what— I was like, what? What?

You saw What the Health though? Did you watch?

What the Health? Yeah. Is that the one with the guy juicing? No. What's the one with the guy that juiced?

You talking about the guy who came out with the, uh, the juicer? Yeah, Breville.

Yeah, I can't remember what the name of that is, but yeah, What the Health is good. And the thing is, it's about how you think, you know. We, we all know that how you think affects what you do, right? It flows down. So instead of trying to follow a diet— and I'm all about looking things up and finding recipes. Oh, Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, that's the one.

Yeah, that's right, that's right.

Um, thank y'all. Y'all are so helpful.

What diet for a new America?

Yeah, there's a lot of—

why is that?

So, so you have to know that if you can think about it differently, it will influence what you are motivated to do because you understand it, you know. But you understand— we'll put a list of some of these movies in the resources so you can watch it. I will say where I was going with that is if you, if you think you're going to be healthier by juicing, first of all, you need the fiber. Only really, really sick people who need the nutrients fast need to juice. And if you juice, do not juice traditional. You gotta juice organic because all you're doing is multiplying the pesticides in your system because everything that you juice goes into your cell, multiplied faster. So, but you need the fiber so you can blend foods or all those different kinds of things. So I just wanted to put that in because somebody will go, "Oh, juice," but then they're juicing food that's not organic and you're ingesting those pesticides at an accelerated rate. Okay. So we talked about you being comfortable in your own skin. We talked about what you're eating to be healthy in your skin. And I just wanted to talk about confidence because being comfortable in your skin, you know, but When— if you were to say, I'm confident, what does it mean to you to be confident in your own skin?

What does that mean?

What does it mean? If— okay, first of all, do you consider yourself to be a confident person? Would you say I'm confident?

Yes. I mean, but I would think, who, who is confident 100% of the time? I would say for the most part, yes. Yes.

And what do you think helps you the most to walk it, walk around meeting new people, doing new things, going to new places, you know, not being at whatever you may think your ideal weight is. Instagram, you have a minute and 53 seconds before it shuts off, and then we'll take questions. So we'll kind of round this question off and then we'll take questions on YouTube, Facebook, and Periscope. What has helped you to be more confident?

Accepting that I am who I am. Not to say that I will— I cannot evolve, But this is— I'm the— I am the— I'm the last creation of this right here. There's not another person like me. Yeah, it will never be another person like me. So I need to own this is who I am. I'm not saying I will never change to be better, but I can't be anybody else. Yeah, I can't. Yeah, I don't want to be anybody.

When we try, we're setting ourselves up for failure because it's not possible.

It's false. Yeah, it's false. You're just being— you're not being true to yourself. So I mean, I— when God made me, when God made Chrystal, when God made all, all of you guys out there, that was it. He— there's no other mold again. There will never be another one of you again. So why not be the best of what God created?

So good. So, so, so very good. Okay, so I'm gonna sign off now, y'all, on Instagram so it doesn't cut me off. Okay, we'll see if you want to continue on YouTube or Facebook or Periscope. All right, so I want to take your questions, and I didn't say this out loud this time, but if you have questions and you had them already, go ahead and post them again because y'all, I can't— it's just— it's— there are currently 1,100 of y'all on here on all these different platforms, so I'm doing my best, okay? And we can't take all of them, but I do want to catch some of them. So that we can make sure we answer your questions and that we're helpful to you. Michelle, while we're waiting for questions to come in, um, what are you looking forward to most? What is the thing that you're looking forward to trying food-wise? Because you're always trying something new. What's the next thing you're like, okay, I've been looking forward to doing this, trying this?

I'm gonna figure out how to make my own cheese.

But what kind of cheese? Out of what?

Oh no, cashews. So I haven't done this yet, but I want to— wait, I want to make my own cheese and I want to make my own nut milk.

I have a juicer that— well, no, it makes nut butter, not nut milk. But you know, you can make nut milk. I could teach you that.

Well, okay.

I know how to make almond— I know how to make almond milk.

Okay. Okay, how do you make— I know you soak it overnight, right? Yeah.

And then you put it in a blender or something like that and grind it, and then you put it, you put it in cheesecloth.

I mean, that's the manual way to do it.

How?

What? You don't put dates?

If you want to sweeten it. Yeah, if you want to sweeten it. Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I haven't been able to.

Listen, I'll be ordering stuff. My husband's like, what is that? Because the Amazon box, you know, it's always coming. And I'll be saying stuff to him like Well, this is my cheesecloth.

He just looks at me and go, so am I turning into a pioneer woman like you?

But yes, everybody is turning into Chrystal Hurst. That's what I'm telling you. I told him yesterday, I said, y'all made fun of me for years. Y'all made fun of me for years, years, y'all. They gave me a hard time. Tell them about the shark. What happened with the shark situation? Me, you, and Charis? Laughed at me. What happened with that?

Yes, because Chrystal Hurst is like, we're gonna use up everything. Yeah, we're gonna get this shark, we're gonna cut the fin off, do this, that, and that. And this, Karris, I'm gonna have you wear the shark, the shark outfit.

Just, Chrystal, but why did you say that? What? Because I— what did I tell her to do?

You told Karris, you were like, yeah, when you're done with that, I need you then to sweep behind the refrigerator. I need you to pull it out. Yes. Whose mother says pull, pull out?

A mother who wants her house to be clean. You have to pull out the refrigerator and sweep behind it.

You by yourself pull out the—

It's on wheels, it's not hard.

The refrigerator is on wheels. I know it has a little—

It has little things on the bottom, little—

I'm curious with you. Okay, yeah, but most parents I need you to pull the chair out and sweep under the table. She was like, I need you to pull the refrigerator out and sweep behind the refrigerator.

And Charis— and then Michelle went into this whole diatribe about, I need you to go get the shark, I need you to skin it, I need you to make a shark suit.

Ah, what?

I just wanted my house clean.

Wow.

Okay, somebody has— somebody has asked, and a lot of you have asked, I've seen in the comments about the, um the oil that I talked about, the Black Woman Oil, which I will have to show you on another day because I can't— I don't know what I did with it. I went downstairs, I got the calendar to show you, I got the Black Woman Oil to show you. What I can tell you is it's on my website, chrystalevanshurst.com/shop. Don't ask me what's in it, don't ask me what it's made of, I don't know. All I know is people ask me about it so much, I made it available. So there you go. Um, okay, so let me take some, some questions Okay, so Keisha Brewster says, I live in California, what are some of your favorite vegan restaurants?

Golly, wow, the— now I can, I can see it. Oh golly, I can't think of the names anymore. I mean, there was the Mexican restaurant that I love, that there was— can I come back to that one? Because I need to look them up, I don't remember the names anymore. I think I don't remember the names anymore because I figured out you need to figure out how to make it yourself. But yes, I will tell her because vegan restaurants aren't cheap either.

I just want to say that.

No, they're not. They're, they're not. But because it's processed, you, you— it's processed, but it's still good though. Anyway, next question. What's her name? Keisha.

Keisha Brewster.

Keisha, I'm coming back to you.

Yes. And now my, my computer's frozen. I mean, you know, it is what it is. I'm picking up my phone to look at the questions. So, Kisi, your name is going to stay on the screen a very long time because I can't seem to unfreeze my computer. Oh, it's time for me to get another computer. I've been holding out. A really good app—

there's a— yes, that people need to download if you're like curious about vegan places, it's called Happy Cow.

And that's like knowing what to eat out?

Yes, it will— you put what city you're in what city you're in, and you can put in vegan or vegetarian, and it'll give you places that have vegan and vegetarian options.

Okay. All right, let me go look. I'm looking on Facebook, y'all, so I could actually see the questions, and then hopefully my computer will decide. I need a new computer. It's— and when you do these things like this, it's like it's sucks up all of your computer juice.

Cafe Gratitude was my favorite.

Oh, I went there with you. Is that where we had the pizzas? We rode bikes.

Yes, we rode bikes and we went to Cafe Gratitude. That was one of my favorite places. Favorite.

Okay, so here we go. Uh, somebody— and they're giving suggestions. Michelle, do you know, um, look in the comments, y'all, because y'all are helping each other out.

Um, oh, Veggie Grill. Veggie Grill.

Veggie Girl. Okay, what about, um, somebody said, do you know your Enneagram number?

My who?

I knew she was going to give you a response like that. So there you go, that's the answer. Um, what are your views about turkey meat? Like, why can't you eat the healthy meats?

Oh, that's because I choose not to eat without nitrites and nitrates.

Why can't you do that?

I mean, you can do that, people can do that, but that's just I, it's just like, I just like, I choose to wear what I wear because that's what I like. I like how it makes me feel. I have no problems with people eating those things. That's just what I'm choosing for myself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay, what about cauliflower? Somebody said, I heard that it's a man-made vegetable and not good for you.

Cauliflower? I mean, I don't know if it's man-made or not. I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of things that could be genetically modified., you know, cross-pollinated or whatever to make some. I'm sure there's a lot of things, but I don't, I don't know if I take it that deep. I just know it's a vegetable, you know what I'm saying? And it's okay, and it takes on flavors of a lot of things. I put it in my oatmeal.

Do you take a multivitamin?

I do, and I take collagen, and I take vitamin D, and I take a lot of things too.

I'm looking for it right now because somebody's asking me what it I'm looking for—

looking for what?

My vitamins. So it took me a long time to be willing to buy the vitamins for the over 40 person. I was not— are we taking the same one?

Yes.

Did I tell you about these?

Yes.

Yeah, so I took these because my, my midwife told me— yes, I had a midwife, I had 3 children at home— but I, um, she told me that you can take the prenatal vitamins Uh, that are prescribed, but they're synthetically put together. So she was like, take whole food vitamins. You'll have to take more of them. So when I was pregnant, it was like 6 pills a day. She said, but they're, they're dehydrated and natural. So you'll still get everything you need. So I've just taken, and so I took prenatals forever. And then I, um, started taking the—

so she told you to take these, that brand right there?

Well, first it was a different brand and then that company bought got bought out. And so she was like, I'm not confident about how they're putting it together now. So she told me to buy it from another company.

So— oh, okay, okay.

And I will say that if you're in childbearing age, you should always be taking, uh, multivitamins. You always— a prenatal. If you can get a natural prenatal. When I was in my 20s, my doctor told me— a traditional doctor told me, she said, do you want to have more children? Because I saw her when I already had one. I said, yes. She said, then take prenatals and don't stop until you're done having children. She said just be ready.

Are you— why are you taking prenatals?

No, I just switched to the 40+ because I had an issue saying that. No, girl, listen, I threaten Charis all the time. I'm like, Charis, do you want to have a baby together? Let's do— let's do Father of the Bride Part 2. She's so offended when I do that. So offended. Okay, yes, and prenatal vitamins are amazing for your hair. Y'all, I'll put that in the resources too. So if you want the resources for that, then you can, um, do that. Okay, so let's see, I'm looking, uh, vitamin D. How do you deal with vitamin D, y'all? Oh, we didn't talk about exercise. What do you do? What do you love to do for exercise? Yeah, I have vitamin D too. What do you do for exercise?

Well, what I do, I try to find— so there was Chrystal Hurst. You remember Tiffany, right? Tiffany Carmier?

Yes, who still is looking fine. She's still fine.

I love Tiffany. I love Tiffany. And, um, she— back in the day when I used to exercise with her, she's always talk about— I mean, she's been into exercise for as long as I can remember. And, um, we always go outside. We would always exercise outside. We would carry our weights, and then we would use like, um, the benches that were at the park.

So you were lifting your own body weight?

Yeah, we were, yeah, lifting our own body weight. Or we would New chair.

Somebody's asking, somebody's asking what they are, so I was just showing it again.

Oh, okay. Oh, okay, keep going. Um, so sometimes what I'll do is I'll get a jump rope, that's the cardio right there, and then I'll get weights. So you got cardio and then you got weight-bearing exercise to help with, you know, your bones. I'll ride bikes, I'll go to the park and walk. Um, I bought some resistance bands, so I'll do that. I'll find something to do. I— the reason why I love California is because I love to hike. Oh my gosh, I love hiking. Love it. Oh my God, if I could move California mountains to Texas—

shoot, California weather—

that too. Yeah, that too. But you know what, I'll be okay without the weather if I can move the mountains, because I love hiking. I love it because it pushes you. You— once you climb up that mountain, you just look down, you'll be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that I did that.

I don't like working out with you. You make me feel like I'm unfit. Y'all, Michelle, I, I— she just is like a machine. She's a machine. She runs fast, she hikes fast, and then she's all, come on, hurry up, you can do it, come on. I'd be like, go ahead, I'll catch up.

Oh, that's because, you know what, something— the other day I exercised with somebody, a co-worker, because we're, you know, we all hang around each other. So, you know, um, I pushed her and she was like, no, you don't have to come back for me. And I said So this is something that Tiffany has always taught us. Like, everybody is on a different exercise level. And whenever you're done, like, whenever you reach that— wherever we were supposed to— like, we were supposed to run from A to B. Once you've reached B, if that person is still at A, go back and get that person, run with them. Because not only that, but you'll encourage them, but then you'll get extra exercise yourself.

So you're not a gym rat?

Oh, yeah, when we could go to the gym, yeah. I would— I was in a rhythm. Like, I was getting up at 3:30 in the morning because I had to be to work at 7 to go exercise. Yes, I do. I need something. I need something. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

All right, I was looking for questions. Y'all are like, I love hiking too.

I'm the slowest. Oh my God, that's okay, because once I'm done with mine, then I'll come back and get you.

You come back and get me. I know she comes back and gets me, and I'm like, that's all right, just keep going.

I know, right? That people— and I told her, the achiever in me is like, you're making—

you're reminding me that I was slow. I don't— just go, just go. It's— I— it's—

oh, that's not how my mind is thinking.

I know it's not how your mind is thinking. I'm just saying that that's how my mind is thinking. I'm scanning for more questions.

Oh, that's where my compassion comes from.

I know, I know, I know. I'm, I'm, you know, I'm broken on the inside. So I do want to see if it'll— Valerie said, how about a shout out for her 44th birthday today? Come on, Michelle, let's sing to her. Happy birthday. Now let's do the other one. Here we go. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday. Yay! Happy birthday, Valerie.

Okay, okay.

I don't see many questions. Let me, let me look one more time. I was trying to make sure we got your questions in since we already, since we already went over. I keep telling them I'm only gonna go for like 15 or 20 minutes, and that's not what's, that's not what's been happening because I start talking and then, you know, there you go.

I'm still on that question from that girl that asked about my favorite restaurant. Yeah, just not only that, I mean, when I was in LA, I went to a lot of places, but then, you know, I had an assignment in, um, close San Diego. So I would, I would be all over the place.

Yeah. I mean, I, I like going to the— I used to like going to the gym because I didn't like being outside. Um, and now I can't imagine running on a treadmill when I can run outside.

I know.

I love the— I love a spin bike. I do not have a Peloton because I don't have a place to put one, but I would love one. Um, and I— but I mean, honestly, I go to the gym with my earphones in when a spin class is not in session. And I ride. I make my own spin class. I used to teach spin, actually.

Yeah.

And then I love the elliptical machine, but I haven't really done a lot of weightlifting. What do you do for— because I hear over a certain age— my Enneagram Chariot is 3. I'm gonna guess Michelle is a 7. That's what I think. I think she's a 7.

What? I don't know. What are y'all talking about?

The whole thing.

Don't talk about me in front of my face.

Monique will confirm that, but I think you're a 7. But anyway, Um, yeah, so, so I, I like, uh, I don't— weightlifting, strength training. What do you do for that, Michelle?

Oh, I just— I've— well, I, I use at least 5-pound weights. Like, if I go— if I go— we'll walk around the park, then I'll have the 5-pound weights and I'll make sure you kind of keep them up because it works all of this right here. And it does kind of lift your— what do you call it— elevate your heart rate and Um, I get on YouTube and stuff like that and look at different ways of doing like home weights and things like this and this and yeah.

Okay, so you're in Maryland. Um, people are asking what's your favorite, uh, what's your favorite restaurant in Maryland?

Um, what's the— oh gosh, I'm not good at names. Maybe I need to take something for my memory.

Nothing for that, I'm just getting older.

Hush. Um, I see it in my head right now. Oh, my favorite is called Shook. Oh my gosh, I think a lot of it does— they don't advertise that they're vegan, but they are a vegan restaurant. It's like Mediterranean. It is the bomb.com, or how the— how these young people say now, it's fire.

Is that the new word?

That it's fire. I'll be like, what does that mean, girl?

I ain't doing nothing but recycling words we already used, right?

Yeah, it's called Shook. I love it, love it, love it.

Any other recommendations for where you are right now?

Um, what's one that I always go back to? Um, gosh, I see it now. It's in College Park. This is why somebody's gonna say, oh, the neighborhood was such and such. Um, I've been eating— hold on, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

It's all right, you didn't— when you think of it later, you can text me and I'll put it in the resources.

It's called New Vegan Cafe.

New Vegan Cafe.

All right, Farewell is good. Also, Hip City Veg is good.

Favorite snacks? I think that might be the last question. What are your favorite snacks?

Um, honestly, I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. Like, what I'll do is I'll get strawberries and blueberries. I try to eat blueberries every single day, but I will cut up carrots, and I love bell peppers, like the red ones.

You eat them with what? Anything.

I may eat hummus, or I may just eat it by itself.

Do you make your own hummus?

Not yet. I need to do that too. I want to know how to do— I need to find a good recipe for hummus. You have a good recipe?

That's how you're supposed to say it.

I want— when you— you've been to Israel? Yes, I have. They have like the best hummus.

It's like ridiculous. It's just like, is this how hummus is supposed to be?

I know, right?

And you have hummus with every meal. Every meal has hummus.

Yes, I want to figure out how to do that. So hummus, I want to figure out nut butters, nut milk. What's the other thing I said? Hummus, kombucha, kombucha.

Yeah, how to make your own cheese. You said you want to make your own cheese.

Yes.

Oh, I think this is a great question, so I'm going to come back to this in just a minute. ChrystalEvansHurst.com. If you're not on my email list, please get on it because that's how I can send you the link to the resources page where anything that we've talked about that has a link, we can share it with you. And then if you want to know more about— somebody said, what's Black Woman Oil? ChrystalEvansHurst.com/oil.

Shop.

If you are looking for community, then check out, uh, the Facebook group, chrystalevanshurst.com/facebookgroup. If you are looking for where all of these lives go when they have had seen their final days and they are now in their final resting place, that's chrystalevanshurst.com/innercircle. Okay, I think this is this last Somebody said frozen grapes is a good snack.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, too cold on my teeth though.

Uh, okay. Oh, somebody said, will you interview a guest about menopause? But somebody else before that— I thought that was the same question— said, uh, can you speak to healthy eating and how it affects female stuff like menopause?

I don't— I'm not an expert, I'm sorry. I just know what I researched from my—

I'm sorry, I Yeah, but I do know that there's a friend of mine who had fibroids that kept her from getting pregnant, and she changed the way she eats and got pregnant. I don't know that— you know, there's a lot of stuff, and you got to do your own research.

Research.

We don't want you to say Chrystal and Michelle said it, but what I can tell you is that what you eat affects your body. And some of the stuff that we are struggling with, seeing surgery, getting cut out all this other stuff. Not all the time. I mean, listen, if you need the surgery, get the surgery. If you need the radiation, get the radiation. I'm just saying sometimes you just need to know that there's an option. There are options, right, that can change the game if you change the way you eat. If you change the way you eat, and a lot of the— especially for women of color, a lot of us who are dealing with fibroids, we're feeding the growth of those fibroids.

Exactly.

By what we're eating. We're feeding them. So, you know, they may not disappear, but they may not grow and be a size of a 4-month-old child if you quit feeding it.

I agree. You know, I agree. What you put in is what you're gonna get out.

Yep, yep, yep, yep. Y'all, so listen, you have to love the skin you're in. You have to, because nobody else is going to love it as well as you are, because you're the only person who's in the skin you're in. That means as, as much as you can, as fast as you can— and it does take time— you, you need to just decide that while you can get better, the core of who you are is God-given.

Yes.

And it ain't gonna change, you know?

Right.

If you've always been the funny life of the party, quit trying not to be. If you've always been a reserved person who needs to be alone to recharge, don't let other people drag you out and make you somebody you're not.

Like Right.

Just learn to love the skin you're in and, you know, do the work. Um, do the work. Figure out based on people who love you, what they say about you, that they celebrate about you, the, the friends, the family, and major on the majors and stop majoring on the minors. Um, and learn to love who you are physically. Yes. Feed yourself well emotionally based on your personality. Mentally, what do you need to do in your life so that you are a mentally stable person? Uh, Michelle, one time you actually told me, uh, you, Chrystal, you might need to see a counselor because I was asking you questions. You were like, I don't, I don't know, I don't know, you might, you might need to see a counselor because it's okay to say you don't know. It's okay to say you don't know. I, I literally am like, I don't see one because I have Chandra I have Michelle, I have Priscilla, and I drive them crazy and figure it out before I ever need to pay anybody. And I say you need to talk for your own mental health. So if you don't have safe places to talk, if you don't have a friend, if what you need goes beyond the expertise of your friends, then you need to, for your own mental well-being, get out of your own head, get that stuff in front of you so that you have somebody objective who can say that is incorrect thinking, or this is another way that you need to look at that, or this is why this is unhealthy. So I want you to know that it's up to you to take care of you. And when you decide that this is my skin, this is what God gave me, I'm going to treat it as best I can, but I'm going to stop apologizing for who I am, and I'm going to major on what God gave me, what he created to be, what he created me to be, then you will learn what it is to be free. And there is nothing else like being free to be you in your own skin, right, Michelle?

Yep. Yeah, I totally agree. Look, I wanted— there's this quote that I wanted. I don't know if I'm quoting it correctly, but it says, take care of your body, it's the only place you have to live.

That's right.

The only place you have to live.

That's right.

So whatever you put in, that's what you're gonna manifest out. That's— can you say manifest out? Is that Is that godly?

I mean, yes, it is godly. Everything, if it's true, it comes from God. Yeah, so we have to stop— this is a little bandwagon thing that I have— we have to stop getting weirded out by people who are New Age or people who are not believers or people who are a little bit out there when they say things that we're like, oh, they said it, but you know they don't believe in Jesus. But listen, half of the people out here that are saying New Age things that are saying things, they borrowed it from the Bible. All they did was take it and spin it and make it sound current, but the truth came from the— it came from God's word. So stop being weirded out. I'm always like, if somebody said it and put a spin on it but it's biblical, I'm fine with it. I mean, you know, they don't have to— so you just need to understand that if it's true, and that's why you need to know your Bible so you know what's true, because the Bible says that Uh, the Holy Spirit lives in our temple. It basically says that who you are and the Holy Spirit in you is living in a house that is not designed to last. This house right here, what people see, that's not you. That's not you. That's just the physical house God gave you to live in, right? And if somebody paid for $100,000, $150,000, $200,000, $300,000, $500,000 for you to live in a house, you would take care of it. You wouldn't want it to be broke down. If the pipes break, you would fix it.

So why would—

why do we do any less to the houses, the physical bodies that God gave us to live in? It's the only one you get to live. You don't get to move out and get into another one on Earth.

Can't move. Okay, permanent.

So take care of it and honor the soul of who you are. I think that the Michelle who is comfortable in her own skin is a better Michelle than the Michelle who was trying to craft her life to make sure people would like her.

Oh, of course.

I'm saying that as your friend. I'm saying I like the real Michelle better than the 'I'm trying to figure out what you like about me' Michelle, because then you know what you're getting. You don't have to guess.

You don't have to, you know So you're not gonna be offended if I say, Chrystal, turn off the lights, and I'm gonna put that because I need my sleep.

I go to her house, y'all, I'm gonna say this, then we're gonna get off. I go to her house and Michelle needs her sleep. So if you— and if, you know, she didn't say anything at first, she just started doing weird things. So she would close the door, you know, turn off the light, but then she started stuffing a towel in the— like, you know, when we were younger, we would sleep together in the same bed, you know, because you're young, you're in your 20s, and you just spend the night. Listen, after a while she was like, you got to get out because I stay up, I stay up, I keep lights on, my computer is glowing. She kicked me out. And then, you know, then, then stuff the towel with the— stuff the door with the towel because she's like, I don't want— you know, then she just had all these peculiar things because she was used to living alone, and I'm used to sharing my space. So I just was like, you just, you know, I've been— I've never— when I was growing up, I— Priscilla and I shared a room until we were seniors. Then I went to college and had a roommate. I, you know, I never— then I had kids.

I've never like lived alone.

She started having all these requirements of being in her space, and I was like, am I not welcome?

Why do I feel not welcome? Go to bed.

Yeah. So, you know, anyway, but then I just realized, oh, it's not— it's not about me at all. It's just her saying I have the right to be comfortable in my own home, and I love you, but I'm still going to be comfortable. And now she's not offended when she comes to my house and I said, listen, you are welcome to anything in my refrigerator, but don't take the last of anything.

Don't take the last without saying something to somebody.

I've learned how to be free. She just takes something. I'd be like, how you know I wasn't saving that? We've learned to communicate. When you get comfortable in your own skin and you love the people that you love, you learn how to communicate and say, I love you, but this is what— this is what I need, and I, I will negotiate with, with you if I need to, but I'm going to communicate with you who I am and what I need. And that frees the people up around you to love you the way you need to be loved.

Yeah, but it needs to go both ways.

It does.

If both ain't— if both ain't comfortable, then yeah, you got to speak up. Somebody's gonna be offended. Yep.

Okay, all right, we've been on the phone for 90 doggone minutes. Get on my email list, we'll send you— I know, I know, but I just decided instead of trying to rush and then I cut it off and then we talk for another 30, 45 minutes, I just decided to let them get the whole thing.

Okay.

All right, y'all, I will see you on Monday, 7 AM Central. Tell your people, and I don't even know who's coming, but whoever it is, it'll be good because I love sharing conversations with y'all. Share this if you enjoyed it, share it, and we will talk to you later.

Signing off.