Wake Up and Read the Labels with Jen Smiley

Jen Smiley, it is so great to meet you finally.

Cool. I'm so excited to be here with my pal Hal. So thanks for having me on. Hopefully, together, both of us can help bring awareness to this problem of not understanding what's really inside of our food.

Yeah, I, I, I told you before we started recording that I, I think I share your stories more than anyone. In fact, what is Real quick, before we even get started further, what's your Instagram handle so people can follow you?

Okay. It's an easy one. Everybody listen up. It is called Wake up and Read the Labels.

Wake up and Read the Labels. Very straightforward. You know exactly what it's about. So it's crazy. I just organically found you and I am such a freak about reading the labels. Freak's probably not the right word. I'm very mindful. That's a much better word about reading labels. And you know, for me, I, when I found you, I'm like, oh, my gosh. She's, she's doing the work, she's helping people. She's waking them up to, like, the fact that, you know what, what it says on the front of the packaging, Right? Low fat, all natural, super healthy. Change your life, help your focus. Right? It's like all these marketing buzzword benefits and that's what people buy most of their products by without turning it over and being like, what's actually in it.

Yeah.

Right. So let's do. Actually, I got this. Before we forget, you told me a story about your husband that was endearing to me. It was Miracle Morning related. So before we dive into your work real quick, can you retell that story?

Absolutely. So my husband, Seth Smiley, who now works with me at Wake up and Read the Labels, he acquired a law firm. And, you know, he was still going through having clients from when the former owner had it, but then he got, he had a downfall where he didn't know how to get clients anymore. And so he was really struggling with, I was a stay at home mom raising two babies and he's the breadwinner. And so he's trying to figure out, how am I going to keep making this work? And so all of a sudden he attended this conference for four lawyers and he came home with this book called the Miracle Morning. And he started waking up at, you know, the crack of dawn. It was maybe 4am and I see him laying on the couch, I see him have a journal, all these things. And I would wake up, I love to sleep. And I'm rolling out of bed, trying to make my Coffee, looking at him, saying, what the hell are you doing? And so it got brought to my attention that he does the miracle morning. And then when you reached out to me, he told me that's. That's what I've been doing. And his life has completely turned around. He's even got a guy running his law firm for him so that he could really help me with this. So he's more doing it on the side. But with that being said, he let me know before we got on this podcast. Hey, Jen. I went and I did the Miracle Morning today. And he looked at his last entry, which was December of 2022, and the last thing he wrote was, I'm going to get Jen the miracle morning. And I said, oh, my gosh, the miracle morning and I have found each other. The affirmation works. It's meant to be.

It is in God's perfect timing. It's serendipitous. Yeah, I love it.

Yes.

So let's talk about you and your work. Where did the idea of reading the labels or wake up and read the labels, where did that start?

Yeah, so you kind of hit the nail on the head when you said that you found me organically, because I, too, started this very organically. And it started with everyone thinking we were eating freak food. So you. You now, you hit the nail on the head, saying, hey, I. This is a freak thing. Whatever. So what had happened was my husband and I got married in our mid-20s, and we both are slightly overweight. Inflammation's high. He's taken Nexium for heartburn from breakfast, lunch, dinner. I am struggling with my weight. My hair is falling out. All of a sudden, I'm going get. Yeah, breathing test because I can't breathe when I lay down. I have silent reflux. I'm looking for inhalers at the bottom of the bag. So I like to tell people, like, do you have a moment in your life when you see a picture of it or you remember it, that this was a pivotal moment? Everything changed for you. For me, it was leaving a workout class. I used to be the girl in the back of the class, out of breath, red face, looking at everybody else thinking, why can you do this? And I can't? Right. Why can I just not do cardio? And so I have one pair of workout pants that fit. My sports bra is hanging on by one hook, and I'm defeated every day. But this one day, when I kind of woke up, I'm walking home from my workout class. I have a premier protein shake and I'm sure a lot of you listening can agree that you probably drink protein before, after, because it's the, the society has created, you know, this protein shake and this protein bar.

Mission that we should all do it. Not that it's not right or wrong, but as I'm drinking it, I, I, I'm very detailed. So I read, you know, I'm eating so many carbs, or I'm eating so much protein and not eating much sugar. Well, I actually flipped it over and realized that the, the ingredients list went from the top to the bottom, and it's like the tiniest font ever. But after the third or fourth word, I no longer could even pronounce these ingredients. I could not recognize them. So at that moment, I felt my heart drop. It felt like gray clouds came over me, and I felt kind of betrayed. I thought, have, have I been doing all the wrong things? What's going on? And so how do you want to know what happened next?

Yes, I do. I'm on the edge of my seat.

Yeah. So I run home, I open my pantry. I start to look at my salad dressings, all the condiments, my milk, my everything in there. The prepackaged salads I used to get from Trader Joe's, thinking I was being healthy, I started realizing a lot of these ingredients are on these labels. So then that started the wake up mission. Every morning I woke up kind of like, you have your miracle morning. My mission was to go to the grocery and find foods made with ingredients I could pronounce. Now, that took five, six, seven years. Going to different groceries, trying out different ingredients, different brands, all these things. But when I had it all together, I actually had a family member. 56 years old, diagnosed with prostate cancer. All of our family thought my husband and I ate like freaks, right? But our inflammation went down. I'm not looking for an inhaler. I have confidence now. My skin is glowing. My husband, he went down to belt sizes without really losing any weight. It was inflammation, right? So the family is looking at us now going, huh? You look, you look happy. You look energized. Maybe there is something in the freak food you eat. So with this family member, I just went to the grocery, loaded up eight bags, and like, here's your biscuits, here's your barbecue sauce, here's your pasta, here's your ice cream. All the foods you love. This is it. Within three months of waiting for robotic surgery, okay? There was no treatment during this time. He lost 35 pounds, got off of blood pressure and cholesterol medication. And his PSA number, which tracks your prostate cancer levels, it actually was decreasing in his blood work every two weeks. So when that happened, I thought, I think I might have a responsibility to share this with more people.

I just resonate with so much of what you're saying. It makes me so happy.

Yeah. Just matters into my own hands, organically helping him. I was also a spin instructor. So people, I had 200 followers on Instagram, and I started posting, you know, here's my turkey sandwich after I work out, here's my pasta. I'm making the night for my family. And these women started coming up to me saying, I, how are you eating pasta and turkey sandwiches? And you're looking and feeling good. So I started taking them grocery shopping, filling up their cart. They said, this looks foreign to me. And I thought, really? And within, like, three days, their bodies start changing. Their inflammation is going down. They now have endurance. They're coming from the back of the class to the front of the class. And word of mouth spread in the gym. I develop groups, I develop an online course. And here I am now on the miracle morning.

That's amazing. That's amazing. The, you know, you mentioned inflammation a couple of times, and I know that when I had cancer and was doing all the research I was doing on, you know, what causes cancer and how do you beat cancer naturally, and what are, you know, how. How can you set your body up to be free from cancer and all these things? What makes someone susceptible to cancer? And the word inflammation came up that. That cancer is essentially a response to inflammation, and it's the body's response to excessive inflammation. And so you think about how many foods are inflammatory and how many people have cancer, and you go, could there.

Be a correlation, a connection that nobody's talking about?

Yeah, yeah. That people aren't talking about. Exactly. So, in fact, let's talk about it right now. One of the things you do is you shed light on the food industry's deceptive marketing tactics. Right? The front of the packaging says all the right things. So you buy it, you drink it, you eat it, and you never think twice about it until you're at the doctor, until you're. You're dealing with, you know, you're overweight, whatever. Whatever the problems are. Can you talk a little bit about the deceptive marketing practices that you shed light on?

Yeah, for sure. So you gotta think of a product as the brand or the products. Billboard. 98% of it is selling tactics. And that's really what. See, right. First of all, no one's revolutionized the way you grocery shop. You go to the grocery, you likely buy the same brands or you're driven to something that says dairy free, zero grams of sugar, gluten free, assuming it's healthier. And those options can be. However, the companies also know that. So they can make the product gluten free or dairy free, but they can still have those inflammatory oils and flours and mostly preservatives. It's the preservatives that are getting us. You know, in the 90s, there was 10,000 grocery items on the shelves and today there's over 50,000. So the fact that we are actually confused, that's very real. The food industry has created consumer confusion. If you go to the grocery and you may see, you know, 10 rows of Oatly and it's too, let's say it's two columns 10 rows wide and it's center, it's eye level. Well, there's people like Oprah who have invested in it. So there's a lot of money. They can, they actually go to the grocery and they can pay to be at your eye level. They can pay to be there at the end cap when you're making a turn around the aisle. They can pay to be there right there by the register. But you got ethical and clean brands that are trying to go against the grain and use real ingredients such as mulk or three trees. They.

Yes.

Yeah. They don't have the funds to put their stuff to compete with something like oatly or silk. So unfortunately, we're at a situation where there's a lot of consumer confusion. You're going to your doctor, you're hiring a nutritionist, a dietitian, and they're giving you a piece of paper that still says watch your calories, watch your carbs. Eat dairy free, eat sugar free. And then you are alone at the grocery looking at 20 different dairy free yogurts. Probably picking it if it's a lower price or has no added sugar. And so it's really not your fault that you're trying to be healthier, but you're not seeing any difference in your, you know, fatigue or inflammation when you wake up in the morning.

Yeah, you, you mentioned. It's funny, I just took my last sip of Three Oaks.

The oat milk the other day. Malk is my favorite. Well, three trees. Sorry, Three trees. Yeah. And then. And malk is my favorite. In fact, I don't know if they're making anymore, but they used to have their maple pecan milk, which was die For Christmas time.

That just. Oh, that. That warmed my heart.

Yeah. Yeah. It's like. It's heaven. It's so good. So what are the problems that you see that people face when it. While reading labels?

Yeah, Well, I think we've been trained in and we've been conditioned to believe, and there's even apps out there. If you track your calories and your carbs and, you know, the calories in and exercise, and that's going to get you where you want to be. Now, if you restrict your calories, sure, you can lose weight, but you can still be inflamed. You can still have ibs, your skin can still be screaming red rosacea, you can still have headaches, you can have joint pain, all these things. So until you actually start focusing on what no one's talking about, which is the ingredients, you will still feel signs of inflammation. And I know you brought up inflammation. I think inflammation has come on the radar more. More since COVID has happened. And so what. What is inflammation? Well, it looks different for everyone. It's basically your body screaming or talking to you and telling you what's going wrong. And so a lot of people don't realize that there are symptoms. They feel every morning, every day, after every meal. Maybe they don't sleep well at night. All these things are your body's inflammatory markers or response, and likely it's being triggered by the food you're eating. There's definitely other toxins we're exposed to, but food is something that we're constantly putting inside of our body, and food and health are very connected.

Yeah. I want to address something that you. I think you said this before we started the recording, and that is you. You said, you know, I'm not a doctor. I'm not a. Like, say that part again.

I'm not anything. I'm just. I'm a mom and a wife. No, I said I like to let people know that. Like, hey, I am not a doctor, I'm not a nutritionist, and I'm not a dietitian, because people will ask me that. And we do need those people, and they do a lot of great things. But I want people to feel empowered to know that what I'm doing, they can do themselves as well. Like, you don't. There actually is nothing out there that will certify you in ingredients and reading the labels. There's only these programs that teach you one medicine or they teach you how to read the nutrition facts. So I've just kind of taken it upon myself, seeing the client Results, the results speak for themselves and we've changed thousands of lives. That I'm like, I, I need to keep spreading this message and let people know they can spread this message as well, completely.

And here's what I, this is why I want, I asked you to repeat that and I want to highlight it is our society, for probably a century, I don't know the exact timeframe, has conditioned us to only trust authority, right? Or to trust authority, right? Like, oh, they've got the coat, they've got the title, they've got the acronym after the, or the, you know, the letters after their name. Like, yes, these are the people. But there's a problem and it's that our society has been corrupted, right? Industries have been corrupted based on wanting to make money. And I'm going to give you a really solid real life example. When I was in the hospital and I had cancer, I asked my doctor and this was almost a rhetoric, it was a question, I was asking him to test his understanding of nutrition versus just prescribing chemotherapy. And I said, doctor, can you tell me what part diet plays in my recovery, in healing my body? And he said, and mind you, on paper, this is one of the most well known successful oncologists for leukemia in the world. And he said, it doesn't matter, it doesn't make a difference as long as you do the chemo.

And like, my jaw draw and I'm like, I'm like. And I just kind of nodded my head and just took the info and, you know, and left his office. But in my head I'm going, you, you understand that's completely false, right? You understand that the, the food you eat arguably has the biggest impact on your body and it will wait. I'm not a doctor and I love, I saw someone the other day in this debate and they were winning the debate and I forget the details, but the person said, what credentials do you have? What qualifies you to speak on this?

Yeah.

Said, I'm a, I'm a father, a human being that cares. And I can read.

And I think about you, right? Like, I'm a human being, I'm a mom who cares. And I can read, I can read the labels. I don't have to have a certification or a degree. And here's the thing, if you have a certification or degree from an institution that's funded by an industry, such as the pharmaceutical industry, that profits off of sick people, do you see the conflict of interest? And do you see that while your doctors and I know I'M getting passionate. But while your doctors may be wonderful humans that are brilliant and that want to help, but they weren't taught how to. How nutrition is going to heal you because there's no profit in them teaching you how nutrition. Like, I just. Jen, what I love is what you're doing. It's an unplugging from the matrix that we're all living in that I think more and more people are waking up from.

I have a couple things about that. I love how you summarize that, but some I had someone tell me one time, I forget who it was. They said, we don't have health care here in America. We have sick care.

Yes.

And the only way to get cared by a doctor or, you know, like you said, someone with the credentials is to be sick. And so when you are sick, they treat you, they treat the symptoms with some medicine and then they go away. It's like, hey, you got diagnosed with cancer. We're going to give you chemo and goodbye, good luck. Right. Doctors have historically received no nutritional training. In fact, in their four years, most of them spend fewer than 20 hours on nutrition. And I can't tell you how many doctors follow me because they're like, this stuff is mind blowing. I've never seen these things. I would love to send some patients to you. Or they send their patients to a nutritionist or a dietitian because it's in the system. And they're like, our nutritionists and dietitians aren't even talking about that. I have registered nurse come in and join in our programs because they say, I'm so tired of seeing these children suffer from constipation or prescribing ADHD or they have skin irritations. And it's also relative to what we are feeding our children, which, by the way, did you see Lunchables? Got some type of contract now they're going to be in all the schools.

No.

Yes.

No.

I don't know if it's public schools or what, but they. You'll start seeing them in schools next year. I'm like, really? We're feeding our kids that. I want to have a reading the labels lesson at schools. I've tried it with my own schools, my children, but they are like, mom, we are freaks. We don't need to let everybody know about that. But I think it would be very valuable to watch, you know, fourth graders stand up and try to read the, the ingredients on their, say, goldfish or their ring pops their Twizzlers and then give them something made of real ingredients, and they can see the difference.

And that is what I love that you do, by the way, in your. In your videos, right? The. Your Instagram story videos is that you. You say, hey, here's a product that's very popular, like, oatly, right? You know, or. Or. Or a yogurt. And look at the front of the label. You know, it sells you. This has got no, you know, no sugar added, blah, blah, blah, blah. All these great things and no dairy. And then you turn it over, you're like, so here's the. Here's. Here's what's really in it. But what I love that you do is you go, here's the alternative. Let me. Let me show you a similar product. Like, you did this. You know, you showed, like, an almond yogurt that was full of a bunch of preservatives. And then it was Coco yo, which I also eat Coco yo. Right? And by the way, I have to, on a personal note, have you. I don't know if they have this where you are, but I used to eat Coco yo until I discovered what I believe is the best tasting, not just coconut yogurt. It's the best thing yogurt on the planet. It's called Coco June.

Oh, Coco June. That's a good one. I agree. I love it.

Oh, you have tried that one?

Yes.

Okay. That's my favorite. So Coco June. And then I buy these organic coconut chunks that are just chunks of, you know, tai young coconuts. And I put that in the Cocoa June for a little bit of. Anyway, so that's, like, my favorite. That's my dessert every night. But I wanted to mention one other thing on the topic of, you know, you don't have. You're not a nutritionist, all of those things. And the point of this is not to badmouth anybody. It's to empower people to realize that you need to take responsibility for your health. Right? Doesn't mean you don't trust your doctor, and you don't let your doctor help you in the ways that they can and that they're more qualified than you are. But at the end of the day, you cannot delegate your health. You cannot close your eyes, go to sleep right? And go, I'll just do whatever they tell me to do, and that's all I'll do. When I was diagnosed with cancer, it's okay. It seems like I have to do chemotherapy. The best holistic doctors in the country won't see me. Other, like, they said that that's my best chance But I'm going to relentlessly research and apply every holistic practice known to man, known to mankind. Right. Because it's my health, I have to take ownership. But what I wanted to mention to you was the nutritionist aspect. So I was sent a nutritionist in the hospital. Right. And the advice that they were. And again, they have a degree in this and the advice they're giving me, I'm like, how could you tell me to eat these things? And I'm looking at the cafeteria menu. Then I would go to the cafeteria at the hospital and I'd see people that were had on chemotherapy, dragging their chemo tower around, eating, drinking a 32 ounce soda, eating pizza cake pie, hormone infested hamburger meat. And the doctor told them that was healthy, that was fine, that was okay. And so did the certified nutritionist.

Yes. You know, we just had a team member have a baby. And I'm looking at this now. Check this out. This is Oreos, Coke, grandma's cookies, some peanut butter. Like, I forget what is that called? Munchies, like peanut butter crackers. This is what she got after she had a baby. And it's like at this moment when your body's supposed to be healing, replenish.

All the nutrients that it just.

Yeah, you're breastfeeding. I am just, I'm like, omg, this is, this is sad. But I do. Thank you. I'm very appreciative that you mentioned, mentioned how I formulate my social media content showing what people are attracted to and what they're buying. You know, for a certain amount of time, people are like, stop showing us all the things we're buying. Wrong. Show us what we're buying. Right. The issue with that is if I just come out and say, hey, drink three trees. For all these reasons, it does, it does not resonate with people because they don't know it. When you call out what they think is healthy, like Lee and silk and blue diamond, then they, they stop in their tracks and say, oh my gosh, I drink this. What's wrong with this? And then I like to show them that, hey, there actually is a swap for everything. And these options are becoming bigger. There's more brands showing up on market. Just one of the issues is that they're not able to go to every grocery store. So a lot of it is you have to order online, but also can be good because I think after Covid, people are moving to more rural areas and so you can get these things shipped to your door and not spend time at the grocery yeah, that's funny.

So I moved 30 minutes outside of Austin to acreage to a rural area. And so I have Urban Remedy organic gluten free, non GMO salads delivered to me every week. So those are my lunches. I have Stoke organic juice delivered to me every week. Right. So yeah, so I live out in the middle of nowhere, but, but I can, you know, you can still get all the things.

Yeah, because you're informed and you're aware and you know what you're looking for and you figured it out and that's all it takes. It's a little bit of work in the beginning and then you just cruise control through it.

That's it. And that's like in general, that's what I always say for people that are, when it comes to eating healthy is like, you first have to decide that you want to eat healthy and then you can find it countless options that taste amazing. Because people have that idea like, I want to eat things that taste good. I go, I only eat things that taste good, but they're extra. They're all organic, gluten free, you know, non gmo, grass fed, pasture raised. Right. All those things. Now I want to ask you this because I'd imagine some people listening. I know this is a common objection. It costs more to get the healthy stuff.

Yeah, I'm on a budget.

It costs more. What do you, what would you say to that?

Okay, let's start it off with this. I say that it costs money to be healthy, but it's expensive to be sick. So what Most people don't realize they, they are spending a lot of money on food. And it's because they are starving all day. Meaning they're waking up, they're having their morning ritual, coffee, tea, protein shake, and they can't even make it to lunch because A, they're either tired and they need another cup of coffee or they need a snack because they're starving or maybe they feel like they're going to pass out, they're feeling flu, like they don't feel good. So right there, they've had three meals or drinks and it's only lunchtime. Well, then you get to lunchtime, you want another snack, maybe you're craving something sweet. And then you get to dinner. And so if you abstractly think about it, you've consumed, you know, maybe 10 items or six different meals or snacks. When you eat clean and you choose real foods, you actually eat less food. You take less time off of work because you're not dealing with aches, pains, Going to the doctor, you're taking less medication, and you're happier, and so you are achieving a more optimal life. So that's it, y'. All. It's. Overall, you actually save money because you eat less, your blood sugar is more balanced, you're not craving food as much. Society has created this idea. We need three meals a day. General Mills told us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If you wake up and you're starving, that's indicating that your blood sugar level is out of whack and you should look at what you ate the day before.

Interesting. No, it's. It's such a good point. And I think that for anybody listening, I think that what you said in the beginning, which is that, yes, it's more expensive to eat healthy, but it's more expensive, right, To. To pay the doctor. And, you know, in fact, the number one cause of bankruptcy is health issues. Right?

It's that you pay the farmer or you pay the pharmacy. It's a choice.

Yes. There you go. That's a. That's a memorable one. I like that. You pay the farmer or the pharmacy. And so here's the thing. I'd rather pay the farmer because, yeah, you feel better, you have more energy, and then you don't have to deal with cancer and this and that. Like I did. And I wish I would have known this earlier, because when I was in my 20s, I did not read the labels, and I fell for all of it. I thought I was so healthy because I was. I was vegan. So I ate vegan ice cream, which, if you look at the back of vegan ice cream, you know, unless I'm sure you've got. You'll feel a good alternative, but. Right, but it's like. It's like 30 ingredients. Eight, you know, 80% of which are preservatives or sugar. Right.

You know what I tell people? Imagine you go into the grocery store, and everything is a clear, clear box or a clear product, and it has no brands, no colors. Would you know what to do? Like, everybody would just stop and go, oh, my God, all the cornflakes look alike and all the ice cream looks alike. What do I do? And so you have to be aware that the vegan word is drawing attention to that ice cream. And that may be why you're falling for it, thinking it's healthy. But, my gosh, yes. What if all of it said made with 43 ingredients or made with 78 ingredients? Kids snacks made with 140 ingredients? You'd be like, no, why would I want to eat something with 100 ingredients? But good chick fil a and get a meal with a drink, you're going to be eating, like, 100 ingredients.

Totally. I saw you say something on your, I think it was on your social media once, that food labels help to create the life of your dreams. What. What is that about? What do you mean by that for sure?

So just like you with the miracle morning, you kind of, you know, set your day up in the morning when you are choosing food labels made with real ingredients and you're starting your day with real protein or real, a base in your protein shake. Real coffee made without mold and toxins, real coffee creamers made with real ingredients. You actually, the day is yours. At that point, you're not going to be starving, you're not going to be fatigued. You'll be able to get more stuff done. You're going to have a more option, optimal or optimistic outlook on your day.

That's a great way of putting it. Like I, I for one, One way I say I'll. I've said it before, is most people eat for taste first. In fact, that's all they eat for. Like, you think about when you go to the restaurant, you look at the menu, what are you doing? You're going, ooh, that looks good. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. That would really hit the spot, right? Like, it's an emotional decision. And for me, the shift is that you need to decide that you're gonna value the consequences of what you put in your body first and the taste second. And yes, the taste can be a close second. Like I said, I only eat things that taste amazing. But all whole food, organic, on and on and on. I'm curious, what's your typical breakfast, lunch, dinner? Do you have a general flow to what you eat?

I mean, it varies. I'm not, I'm not like, super ritual every day. Yes. Coffee. I'll either put some ghee in there, bulletproof ghee, or I love a mocha. So I'll put some cacao in there with either maple syrup or some raw.

Honey and not, not artificial chocolate flavoring.

Exactly. Right. No, I read, I once read that chocolate is not candy. Chocolate is food. And so Tootsie Roll and Hershey have made us, conditioned us to have this certain texture and flavor when we eat chocolate. But no, it should come from the cacao bean, the cacao tree. And there are tons of benefits of the raw cacao, but it makes a amazing mocha. Like you said, it tastes Better. It doesn't taste artificial anymore. And so I generally don't eat breakfast. But I tell people, be in tune to your body. So for women, if you're. You're on your cycle and you're craving more sug, then you'll often find me eating some type of pasture raised pork or some pasture raised eggs in the. In the morning for breakfast. There's also clean bagels out there, such as suzies and paigls. So for everyone that loves bread, there are plenty of really good options. Then I'll get into lunchtime. Lunchtime could be. It's usually leftovers. So I like collard greens with bacon. I love a good turkey sandwich. I'll do a salad. But my real meal of the day is dinner. Dinner could be lasagna, some etouffees, some gumbo. I'm here in New Orleans. We have a lot of southern dishes, but meat live. We love fried fish. My kids love taco Tuesday. So all the foods we're all eating, we're just grocery shopping a little different and finding those foods made with real ingredients.

Awesome. What oil do you use to cook? Because I know, you know, seed oils is one of the most inflammatory things that we put in our body. And it's in most foods that we buy. Potato chips, you know, snacks, you name it.

It's everywhere. Yeah, the American diet is Super High at Omega 6s, which is promoting the inflammation. It's coming from the seed oils. It's also why people go out to eat and they order grilled chicken or grilled fish and they get vegetables and they still feel terrible the next day. Eyes are puffy, headache rates are tight. It's because of the oil it was cooked in. So for listeners, make sure you request it cooked in butter, even if it's not good, clean butter, it's going to be better than that oil. But I use avocado oil mostly and then also have extra virgin olive oil. And the best one comes from Greece.

Oh, the best olive oils from Greece.

Yes. I just went to Greece last summer and I was like, whoa, I need to elevate my extra virgin olive oil. We were going like, instead of a wine tasting, you were doing olive oil tasting. It was amazing.

Wow, that's really, really cool. Do you have any client transformational stories of people that you've worked with that have read the labels and you know how that's impacted their life?

Absolutely. So one, she was going to a GI doctor, getting scopes, having reflux, having issues, and they kept prescribing her Medication and she says, you know doc, is, is there anything I can do about my food? Could that help this? Oh, no, nothing can happen with the food. Okay, so it's a two year long GI pain. Now she joins and within two weeks it's just completely gone. She said, I've never felt better. After a colonoscopy, endoscopy, multiple imaging. Imaging, yes. And trial on meds. Food. Food healed her. That's gi. There's other ones who have gotten injections for psoriasis. She used to wear long sleeves. She was super self conscious about her psoriasis. She went from creams to pills to actual injections. She was Cuban and she says, I love my rice and beans. And she loves to cook all her. Her ethnic foods. It's not ethic. Ethnic, ethnic. There we go.

You left me and out. That's right.

There you go. Just one.

This one.

Yeah. So she started switching out all of her stuff. It is completely gone. She has confidence. She's wearing short sleeve now. There's definitely the depression one lady, her husband passed away, she would go to work her mid-60s, come home, just sit on her couch, watch TV, vegetate. Waking up every night. She said she would throw up in her shower. She went to the dentist because she was starting to have trouble with her teeth, I think from the vomit. And the doctor told her, hey, you should. I mean the dentist gotta be a biological or holistic one because they said, we think this could be food triggered as well. Why don't you look into a gluten free diet? She tried gluten free, felt a little better, but nothing ever changed. Started reading the labels, understanding what she was looking for. No longer waking up, no longer throwing up. Got her teeth fixed from that dentist. But the most important thing was after work. She said it was the first time in her adult life she looked for a hobby. And so she started taking up tennis and becoming happier instead of sitting on the couch. Vegetating.

Amazing. Have you written a book yet, Jen?

I have not read it.

Write a book. The world needs that book. That's. You know, you said something earlier that really resonated with me, which is when you experience the benefits of reading labels, you felt a sense of responsibility to share it with others. And like for me, when I did my miracle morning, the reason I was like, I have a responsibility to share this with other people because it's helping me, it's helping those I've shared it with.

Right.

I have to write a book. And so I'm, I'm passing that on to you now that I think that you writing that book is pretty cool.

I started the process with two companies, and then I was just like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be so time consuming. But I know it's something that has to be done.

Guess what the miracle morning is. How I wrote the miracle morning is I did it during the morning. And so you wake up an hour earlier. I think your husband's right. Watch the movie, read the book, check it out, and then get that book out there. Because I do think that, I mean, I could talk to you all day and you and I could. Yeah, we could start our own podcast on this. Because I'm so passionate about it. You're so passionate about it. You're so knowledgeable, and I'm so grateful that you are doing this work. Where can people follow you, find you, work with you? What's the best spot?

Absolutely. You can check us out on all social media platforms, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, where you can just look up, wake up, and read the labels. You can also go to freemorningguide.com to discover three common foods, killing your energy and ruining your day.

Free morning guy. I should have got that. That's a good URL. Freemorningguide.com.

I'm gonna get free miracle morningguide.com.

The guy that I do my marketing with, he's been a blessing to me. Become a really good friend. His name is Hugo Fernandez, and he told me he worked with you a long time ago.

I worked with Hugo for years. That's amazing.

Yes, I found or yeah, I found Hugo about two years ago, and I was just like, you are amazing. I mean, he has. He's brought so much value to help me grow as a business person and get my voice out and everything.

Yeah. If you look so many of these book covers on the wall. Hugo designed those.

Wow.

Yeah.

Super cool. Yep. Hugo at Just Digital.

Tell Hugo I said hello and it was great to hear his name. I haven't talked to him in a while.

I will for sure.

Well, Jen, wake up and read the labels, everybody. This is so important. You can't just read the front and read the marketing messages that are deceiving and then trust it. You've got to read the labels and follow Jen because she does it for you and she does it better than anybody I've ever seen. So, Jen, I appreciate you. I'm so grateful we connected. I want to keep our relationship going because I just. I love what you're doing.

Thank you. It's been a pleasure and I appreciate you reaching out.

Awesome. All right, goal achievers and members of the Miracle Morning community, follow Jen on all social media channels. Wake up and read the labels. I follow her on Instagram and check out freemorningguide.com to find out the three foods that are that are what, Jen, what are they doing?

They are ruining your day and killing your energy. And they got clean swaps. So it shows you a protein, a milk and a bread, a bagel. And it shows you all the the things that are wrong with it. But also it shows you a clean swap so you can keep eating those foods you love and feel good.

Perfect. Awesome. All right, goal achievers, I love you so much. Thanks for tuning in today. Keep reading the labels or start reading the labels and we'll talk to you all next week.

See ya.