Abundantly Well with special guest Shemane Nugent

All right. It is the beginning of a new year, and you're probably, I'm guessing you have some health goals. Yes. And things you want to reach. And if you're like me, that's really important to you, because this is the temple of God. This is a vessel, and we need to have energy and we need to feel good, and we need to be strong in order to accomplish everything God has for us. Whether you're a mom at home, whether you're a CEO, no matter what it is, we've got tasks that are significantly important in our lives, and we need to have the body and the health and, you know, to go after all that. So when you find someone who has got it together and they are rocking life and they look awesome and they feel awesome, and they are rocking the whole health game, you want to know how are you doing this? How are you staying so fit, so well, so vibrant? So if you want to know some secret inside information on how this woman gets it done, then you're going to want to stick around and listen to Shamayne Nugent, who has got a wealth of wisdom that she's going to pour into you.

Well, thank you so much for having me, Hannah. I really appreciate it. And you and I were talking a little bit beforehand. It's not easy going through what we've gone through, you and all of your beautiful kids. I mean, what. What a blessing. But it's a constant struggle, is it not, to just maintain and try to juggle all the things, especially that women that we have. And after I got sick and almost died from toxic mold exposure, I made my health a priority, and I'm not apologetic for it. I'm diving in deep because this is my one and only vessel for God. I can't be of service to God or to anyone else if I don't have the health and abundance of wellness to do that.

Right? That is so true. And I want to call attention to something you said, because you said when you got sick and you almost died from mold exposure, you made health a priority. And this is a problem that I see is, fortunately, you tackled it, man. You figured out what you were lacking. You made it a priority. You went after it. Too many people don't make it a priority until the results come in and they're too sick and tired and out of shape to do anything about it. It's like, wow, if I had known, I would have spent more time, I would have moved my body more, I would have eaten a little better. And I don't want Us to get down the road and be in that situation, you know, where, like, I remember it was. It was really difficult caring for my. For my mom before she passed a couple of years ago. And it was hard. But, you know, she. She was a busy mom. Her. She had five kids and ran a business. She was an amazing woman, did so much. But health was often at the bottom of the list, you know, and it broke my heart for. For her, but it also. It made me, like. Well, I feel that conviction of, like, you know what I want. I want to live up my days with such health and vibrancy and that I'm able to complete the task that God has for me here.

Absolutely. You know, I've seen this for so many years. I've been a fitness instructor since 1980. When I was in college, I gained.

So you were there with all the leg warmers?

Girl, I rocked the leg warmers.

Was there ever a better era than the 80s? I'm just saying, you know what?

No. No, there wasn't. I think that was the best era. We didn't. It was the best. Good. We had it. Except for the bottle or can of hairspray with the Mile High.

And it had to be Final Net.

Yes, I will send you. I. I actually did a video. I had a cable aerobics video, and I had the white leather pleather belt and the white leg warmers with the Reebok shoes. And, yeah, I was rocking it. But I. I gained the freshman 15. I did that. It seems like everything is, like, action, reaction, you know, certain things lead up to a time and moment in your life where you go, you know, I can't do that anymore. And it doesn't happen until we hit rock bottom. And I realized I literally. I didn't wake up one day, and I was 30 pounds heavier than I am now. It just happened, you know, over the course of high school years. I was an athlete in high school. I was a state champion swimmer two times. Then when I got to college and I wasn't working much, I was still eating the same amount, and I realized I couldn't do that. So I started. I became a group fitness instructor. And I realized that over the course of the years, I've trained thousands of people and even instructors. I started working for Zumba, and I traveled all over the world. I trained instructors for Zumba in London and Paris and Australia and probably every state. It's the same thing. People come for an hour of number one distraction, Number two, to sweat and to smile and to have fun. We Are all so busy. But I see it in women so often, we put ourselves last.

Oh, yeah.

Where we need to do what the flight attendant has always said, put the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping others, you know?

Right, right. You know, and that's one thing with all the research I've done around the mom brain, we are actually that caring for yourself is one of the most counterintuitive things a mom could do, because her brain is wired to always put her kids first. Like, that is an evolutionary response of her brain. Once you become a mom, your brain literally changes. Like, you can look at a MRI and your brain has changed. Now the priority is keep my kids alive. So everything becomes. That's why we lose focus. That's why we can't remember what we were going after when we walk in a room. That's why we're distracted, because we're always, like, scanning, what are the potential threats for my children? But what this means also is we are the ones who will put ourselves last. I call it totem pole syndrome. And then everything kind of crushes on you, right? And then if you. If you're not happy, ain't nobody happy. If you're not strong, everything's falling apart. So how did you make this, like, when you made this a priority, she made. What were the first things you did?

Well, first of all, I love to work out, so I. I fall in that category. And I know there are a lot of people who just don't enjoy it, but I. I was a gymnast when I was growing up. I was a college cheerleader. So I love dancing and being active. And when group fitness came around, I realized that if I taught a class, yes, I had to be at the gym at a certain time. No ifs, ands, or buts. I had to be there. But once I was there, it was such a blessing to be. You know, I couldn't just. Just kind of wade myself through it. I had to react like. Like there's, you know, everything depended on it. And it really was a blessing because I got a great workout doing it. But I saw, looking back at me, all these amazing, smiling faces, and it was just. It buoyed my. My spirit. It kept me going. So that, number one, making fitness a priority is a really big part of your life in my book. Abundantly. Well, I want to walk with you, alongside of you. For those of people in your audience who have never worked out before, do not fret. You can get a good workout. Have you ever done a hiit workout, Hannah?

Yeah. Yeah.

You can sweat in 15 minutes. Am I wrong?

Yes, yes, absolutely.

Great workout in 15 minutes. And if you only allow yourself 15 minutes, you can sweat. You can do some strength training and stretching at the same time, but it has to be a priority. And what one of the things that I recommend to people is. Well, there's a couple things. Write it into your planner every day or at least three times a week. Fifteen minutes. And I wrote a book a few years ago called four minutes to Happy. The. The secret is that if you set aside just a few minutes a day for yourself, you're probably going to end up loving it, loving working out, if you find the right instructor. And nowadays there's so many online programs that you could do, those four minutes or 15 minutes are going to turn into something longer. And then what happens is you're going to drink more water.

Yeah.

Going to eat healthier, because you're not. You're going to look at the, the donuts and go, well, I just burned 200 calories on a spinning ride or whatever it is.

Yeah.

You know, do I really want to make up for it with the donut? You're just gonna, your, your taste buds are gonna react differently. So I think exercise for me is the most important thing.

You know what? So I want to talk about that a little bit, because I talk to a lot of moms, as you know, and moms will say, it's just, I don't have time for it. It's too complicated. I was talking to this one person and they were like, well, I, I, this is kind of funny, the laugh. Because, you know, you know, our brain, you know, what we're doing. Well, I saved a bunch of exercises that I saw on social media, and I have this file with. I'm like, all right, how did that help your strength? How did that help your. You saving things? And I was like, let me tell you why you're making this so complicated, because that's what moms will do. We will overcomplicate drinking 2 ounces of water. We will, we will overcomplicate anything, because then if we make it complicated, we can validate not doing it right. So what I told her was like, okay, first of all, wellness exercise when you are a busy mom, especially when you're at home with them, it happens in the pockets. Yes. So what if. What is preventing you from putting on, like, one of your favorite songs, turn it up and dance with your kids around the house? Like, what is preventing you from doing that? I remember the kids. There was, There are certain Songs that would repeat worse. I was like, all right, every time that work is up, we got to do a squat. You know, they're having a great time. Next day, I'm like, I had no idea how much that worked. My glutes, you know, is that we just make it so complicated. But what if we could make this fun? Because I'm sorry if it ain't fun. I don't want to do it.

I'm with you. We have so much in common. We need to stay in touch. I'm with you. I'm the grandma that I want to be on the trampoline with my grandkids. I remember one Thanksgiving, I walked in to my. My stepdaughter's house, and probably 10 little kids around and dogs and all the things. You know, the kids were running around, just happened to run in front of us, and they were playing some type of game with, you know, laser tag type things. And I just went, can I play? And they go, yeah, we're playing Star Wars. You can be Princess Leia. And I went, cool. I'd rather play with the kids than talk to the adults sometimes. And so.

Okay, so you like the kids table, too?

Oh, I mean, I love the kids.

Oh, my gosh. Y. Yes. I got to be grown up table is so, so boring.

It's so boring. I got to be Princess Leia for an hour and had a great time.

Oh, that's so fun. Well, last time I was at home, my nephew had this immersive, like, the virtual reality video game girl. I was working up a sweat on that thing, like, I'm dodging everything, and I got my little. Like, the saber. It was so much fun.

I need to try that.

And I think, you know, we have.

Gotten so serious, and so much has been going on in our lives, especially our world has been turned upside down with the pandemic and staying at home. And people have gotten so serious. But, you know, it's about having a childlike attitude. And we know that what Jesus loves.

You can't become like a child. You cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. Yeah, he's not talking about going to heaven. He's talking about entering that place where he's flowing through you. God is just flowing through you, and you show up to expand his kingdom here in this world. But we can't do it unless we can develop that childlike. Think about it. Curiosity, playfulness. If we can foster those two things in our life, what can we not do?

Exactly. And, you know, unfortunately, with social media these days, there is A lot of criticism. I've, I've actually even had death threats because I'm a hunter and because I'm married to Ted Nugent. I'm sure that has something to do with it, but there's a lot. There was a part of my life where I was afraid to put anything out there because of the backlash and the criticism. I've learned a lot from Ted because he doesn't let anything bother him. And I realized that, you know, if the critics are calling you out, they're going to do that anyway, no matter. I mean, no matter what. Even if your Mother Teresa, which they did for her, so. And Jesus.

Let's talk about the number one most ridiculed person. Right.

Canceled before there was a cancel culture.

Yes, yes. Oh, my gosh. And he even told us, he said, look, you're going to be blessed. You're. It's all going to come back to you a hundredfold with persecution.

Yes.

So understand. And that's the thing, like when you're showing up strong, when you're like mastering your health, your money, your family, people don't like that and they will try to find fault. So if you. We have to decide who, who am I making? God, People's opinion or God's opinion?

This, like, which one is it going to be? You know?

Yeah, yeah. I'm serving a master, so who is it going to be? Who am I serving today?

That's right.

So powerful. Oh, my goodness. So let's talk about. Abundantly. Well, because when you talk about walking with someone like arm in arm, you literally are doing this. So first of all, it's a beautiful book.

Thank you.

I know you're so proud of this. You have to be so proud of this.

I am. I'm very proud of it. I'm so grateful to my publisher, Skyhorse, that they, they put that together. They worked with me, they walked alongside of me every step of the way. They. And number one, they believed in me. And, you know, here I am. Let's, let's, let's talk about the elephant in the room. Married to a rock star doing a Bible based wellness book. How crazy is that? But they believed in me. And here's the other thing that I keep thinking about, Hannah. If God put me here for a reason, I end my faith and freedom show with Esther for 14. Who knows if you stay silent during this time Scott shows. If you stay silent, you and your father's house might perish and deliverance would come from some. Somewhere else.

From somewhere.

But if you. We have To. We've been born for this time and we have to trust that God is walking alongside of us. And if he's open these doors for.

Me, I'm going to walk through them absolutely unapologetically. That's what you have.

It's tough at times. I'm.

Well, I mean, but we're, we're. We made the cut. Like, you've got to understand, God's not going to allow anything into your life that's not going to eventually grow you. You know, Romans 8:28 is always true. Like, he works out all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. That's all things. That's the things that you think are working out and the things that you don't think are working out. They are all working together. So he uses everything, even the persecution, even the, even the trauma, even the, Even the fear. He will show you who he is in that place. And I am telling you, she may. The longer I've been. I mean, we're both, we're both over, you know, over 55. And the more I've had experience in the kingdom, the more I realize that people who climb to the highest mountains have been to the darkest, longest valleys. And how you show up in the valley will reveal if and how you show up on the mountains.

It's so true. I mean, we're all sinners. We all have had struggles in our past. And I, I write about some of mine in my book because I want to let people know, you know. Yeah, it might look like I'm living the life. I have a whole set of different problems than everybody else does. And. But the most important that we have in common is that we are human beings. We are all flawed. And what I love about you is that your messages, especially for moms, and that you asked, you know what kept me going. I also realized that I needed to set a good example for my son. And when I got sick and almost died, I remember being on oxygen and I could barely get out of bed and my son had attract meat at school. And I remember thinking how daunting it was to get in my car and drive to the school. And once I did, I looked at the bleachers as if it was Mount Everest. Like, how am I gonna climb up those bleachers? But I had to be there for my son. So we all need something. And if we use our kids, our grandkids, or our spouse, our family, anything in our life to, to encourage and motivate us to stay on course that, you know, these bodies are God's vessel, and he gave them to us for a reason to continue to do his good work. And it's not easy. I like. And I'll admit I just had a handful of Fritos. I like food.

Oh, man. Mine are peanut M&MS. Girlfriend.

Oh, we have so much in common. I tell you what I remember.

What? When. When we were fasting from sugar. Okay. And then Blair, we were meeting at one of the kids shows or something, and he walks in, he gives me a kiss. I'm like, I smell peanut M&MS. He's like, I caught him. I was like. And I did. I wasn't like, oh, we're festive. I said, where are they? Where are they? Please tell me you got with you. Tell me you have them on your person. I need those. But, yeah, it's. It's not about living this life of perfection, but it's about understanding that we're all in the process. So it's. If we make this. I call it the montage illusion, like, we think transformation in our lives is going to happen like it happens in a movie. You're going to have this cool soundtrack, and all of a sudden, like, you know, a minute 30 later, you're just. You're, like, sliding into the blue jeans and. And your skin is clear. And now you have, like, vibrancy, and you're making it to the top of the bleachers. That is not it. It is how you show up every day. And when you're talking about kids being that reason, I call it the ER Formula. Not that we have to go to the er. Hopefully not. But we turn our excuses into reasons because children can be your excuse. I can't go to the gym. I can't get up early. I can't keep the house clean. I can't. You fill in whatever because of the kids. What if you turned it around? And what if kids were the reason you get up early, the reason you exercise, the reason you keep your house clean? We get that choice. And when it becomes important enough, you will show up. You will always.

I wrote a story that actually happened to me. I was on a flight, and I heard that the flight attendants, they were behind the galley wall, so I couldn't see anything. And I heard them counting to 10, and then they would stop. And then all of a sudden, they walk around the aisles and everything. And then they'd come back maybe a little while later, and they'd count to 10 again. And they did that several times. And I got to see what they, they're doing, what are they doing? And they came back to the galley and they were doing squats. So I, I, I complimented them, commended them because we've all got a, we all have pockets of time, Pockets we will find in the morning when I, while my coffee is being, while I'm making my coffee, I will do a few stretches, do some neck roll, shoulder rolls, you know, stretch my upper back and my legs, my, my hamstrings. And even if it's just pockets of time like that that counts, that all adds up. Five minutes, five times a day makes a difference.

It's so, so perfect example, I will, in the afternoons, I throw the ball for, for my daughter. I take them on a really long hike in the morning, but then I throw the ball for my dogs in the afternoon. I was like, what if I just did like a squat every time I threw the ball, Earl? The next day I'm looking at that toilet, I'm like, I need to bend my legs to sit down. This hurts really bad. Oh. I was like, that is incredible. You always think it has to be of huge proportion, but we don't understand that every little bit matters. When I would empty the dishwasher, I remember doing those squats. I remember having a, like, for just one, one chorus, I would even just lean over on the kitchen counter and do some push ups.

You know, we just, I'm going to.

Have to do, make it big so we have an excuse not to do it.

If you can make it big and go to the gym for an hour, kudos to you. I mean, go for that. But if you don't have the time, we find time. If, if you say you're busy, but if your child called their teenagers or whatever and said, mom, can you bring something to school? You would drop whatever you're doing and, and do that. All I'm suggesting is we do that for ourselves.

Yeah.

One of the things I wrote about in my book also is, you know, when you're holding a baby, okay, you're holding your child, you look at the child and you would there be nothing that you would do to protect that child? And you hear them, you know, you just look into their eyes and you would do anything for them. We need to start thinking of ourselves in that way too, that we need that love and attention to give to ourselves. And it's hard as women because we're givers. And sometimes that's all we know how to do, especially if we're caretakers. My mom had a Stroke a couple of months ago. And it's, there's a lot of work, a lot of work that needs to be done. But my brother and I, and so many other my cousins, we all pitched in and we all like rotated our schedules so that we could help her and, and do that. We need this right now. If you're at a place in your life where you think there, you're too far gone, you've never worked out, you're looking at 20, 30, 40 pounds extra. The problem is the United States. We've been sold a bad bill of goods that supersize everything and fast food and eat in the car. We need to get back to our roots, get back to living off the land, eating God food. The closer it is to the hoof, the ground or the tree, the better, and the less processing, the better home. Cook your food and eat organic. If I'm a bow hunter, so we know where their source of sustenance comes from. It's not fed up with chemicals and steroids or antibiotics. So it's healthier for us. And I want to encourage everybody, don't ever think that you are too far gone to start an exercise program or for that matter, to start eating just a little bit better. In my book, I also talk about some food swaps that you can do. Like, who doesn't love mashed potatoes and gravy? Like, come on, mashed potatoes and gravy. But do you need the mashed potatoes and gravy and the bread and butter so we can make some small choices that, that aren't drastic? Like, I'm not talking about, you know, giving up your favorite foods forever, but for a short period of time and for swapping them with healthier alternatives.

Yeah, yeah. And the thing that really gets me is that I just feel better. Like, you know, I just feel better when I'm fueling my body. I just have more energy. I don't get sick. I, I, I feel better in my skin. And so I want that, like, that becomes why I want to eat healthier and why I want to eat organic and why I want to, you know, cook my food and make sure it's exactly how it should be and nothing is like stuck in there. And one thing I have to call attention to is in your book abundantly. Well, it's not just, here's some strategies and tips. I mean, you talk about getting past trauma, you talk about shame, you talk about the things that keep us riddled with in the poor habits. And so you go to the heart of the issue. And when you talk about walking someone through, I know it's a 40 day journey. So much significance in the 40 days, so much significance there. And I know that was by design for you, but to make a journey, a 40 day journey and to be able to get past all the, all the criticism that you have over your body or getting past any of the, you know, the lack of self worth, all of those things you touch on, all that. You are like a true friend that says, all right, here's what we're going to do today, we can do today. Like, this is just when you have a friend that's like, hey, I'm calling you. I know you're going through a time and we're just gonna, just get through today. And that's kind of the energy that you show up with in this book. Like it's a new day and this is where we're going to go with this. And I got you. And I just want to recognize that because I know a lot of health books are strategy and that's it. And if it just came down to strategy, we would all be rich and thin and gorgeous, you know, but it's not, it's about getting past whatever is eating away at us. And you do that and you do it beautifully, Charmaine. So thank you so much. It's like this is a beautiful gift that you've given people.

Well, thank you. And it's part of our journey. I think we've all gotten to this, this place that we are at in our lives because of what we've been through. And if we can use some of the childhood traumas that we've had or even, you know, you have that co worker that just says nasty things to you or whatever it is. Sometimes the emotional toil really does affect our overall well being and even the ability to, to lose weight and get in shape. You look at, you know, people who they call gym rats or whatever, and I go through, take an assessment at the beginning of the book. Take an assessment where you at. Be honest with yourself. Because if you can't be honest with yourself, this book probably is not going to work for you.

Nothing's going to work for you.

I want to, I want to help. And if you, I know some people who have been through much worse things than I have. I share some of my own personal stories, obstacles and tribulations with you and I tell you how I got through it. And there, there's really no right or wrong way other than, okay, we've all had a past, you know, if you took look at the book of Esther, look at Esther. Esther didn't. I think it's the beginning of Esther. It says she didn't use her past when she was moving forward. And that's what we've got to do. So the past is the past. Let's move forward. Let's walk in God's grace. It's a gift to us. We've got an incredible gift. We have God's grace. Like, yeah, okay, let's go, girl. Come on.

What is your excuse? You literally have the power that rose Jesus from the dead in you at Ephesians 3:20. This we have to get like really clear on. And this would be a great way to just begin going after your goals. Is he says that we will do exceedingly, abundantly beyond what we can think or hope or imagine, but is because of the power at work in you. So when you understand grace, like through Jesus, we have the power to do what we naturally cannot do. The more we understand grace, the more we have to hustle and grind. And it's so freedom. It's just freedom. And I know that's what I mean. Faith and freedom. Let's get to it, right? You want freedom for people and you're operating in poor health. If you're struggling to get a full breath of air walking upstairs, if you're struggling with. With skin conditions or gut conditions, God doesn't want you that way. And it tells us there's healing in his wings. But it starts with, with deciding, making a decision that first of all, I'm going to do what I can do and I know God is going to do what I can't do. And together we're going to, we're going to get this thing done.

Absolutely. And I share my journey of getting sick and almost dying from toxic mold because sometimes there are things in our life that are no fault of our own. Environment, illness and things like that. And so. Okay, now what do we do with this information? I never thought I'd be writing a book about mold. I'm doing a documentary called Killer House. I did one actually, but now I'm doing a docu series. I've written a book called Killer House and I put everything out there because, you know, the Bible does talk about mold. And I do believe I have a chapter in this book about spiritual warfare. Something that we might not be thinking about when we're talking about weight loss and getting healthy. What does the devil not want you to be?

Of course he doesn't want you to be healthy because Then you can actually fulfill your purpose here in this world.

Absolutely.

He will strike you in your body and cause you to be pulled away from your purpose. And not on your watch. And not on my watch. I think that's why God brought us together. It's like, no, no. We're going to get healthy and we're going to get our purpose fulfilled.

That's right, Absolutely. So I so believe in that. I've seen so many people struggle, and I think it's just a combination. What sets my book apart. When I was talking to the publisher and they said, well, what's different from any other diet or fitness book? Well, I don't know of any other books. There's a lot of great diet books out there with recipes. I do have some in this book. There are a lot of fitness books and talk about strategies. You should only do hit workouts. You should only do Zumba, which is my favorite. You should only do CrossFit or whatever it is. If you don't address the spiritual, if you don't address the emotional, you look at somebody who's like so fit and they're in a bikini at my age at 62, which is something I'm not going to be doing. I'll just say that. But for people who can do that, great. But are they joy filled? Are they happy inside? Sometimes we use exercise as a crutch as well as another addiction. And again, there's no easy way. You and I have talked about this a few minutes ago before we got on air. It's. It's a constant struggle. It's just to keep our head above water and to put one foot in front of the other with all of the, the things that are chaining us to this world, all of the obligations that we have. But I'm. I want to walk alongside people. I want to help them. I've struggled with things in my life. I've struggled with my weight, struggled with my help, my health. So I think we can do this together. And as mothers, as women, we're stronger.

We are. That's what I say. We're stronger together. So. All right, so where can they find out more about you and what you do and get all your stuff?

Well, thank you. My faith and freedom show is on Real America's Voice. That's@real AmericasVoice.com it airs every Sunday at 10:00am now, if you're in church and you can't watch, you can always watch it. Like you could go to RealAmericasVoice.com right now. And watch all the shows that I've done. I've had incredible guests. Kirk Cameron, Charlie Kirk, Don Trump Jr. So many pastors. Pastor Anthony Thomas, Pastor Dave, Brian. Incredible. I'm. I just feel blessed to have this platform and my website is shemaine nugent.rocks. r O C K S. I'm on social media. I'm Instagram. Sometimes I do dancing Fridays. I'm just silly. Sometimes. I will.

I will. Silly. Fun like yeah. Again, if it's not fun, why are we doing it? Let's become childlike. Let's sit at the kids table.

Yep, that's where I want to be.

Well, I will be right there with you. Thank you for being here and just your heart to serve other women is beautiful. You are beautiful and your heart is even more beautiful. So thank you so much for what you're doing.

Thank you so much, Hannah. Appreciate you. God bless.

God bless.