Entrepreneur, Mom of a 3-year old lost 20 lbs. eating with spices! Listen to her favorite spice!

Hi, this is Nagina Abdullah, and I am here today with Christine Hanson, entrepreneur and founder of Sleep Like a Boss. Christine, please say hello. Let us know what you did with yourself in Spice Yourself. Skinny. And tell me about your favorite spice.

Hi. So I'm so glad to be here, and I love to support you because you literally changed my life. Like, I know that's, like, such a corny sentence, but it's really true. And so I decided to start with Spicy SAP, Skinny. Well, first of all, because I knew you, and I really liked what you did. And then for me, it was time. I wanted to change my diet for a long time, but I was just overwhelmed, to be honest. You know, I was like, I have cookbooks. But then it's just, you know, so sophisticated and getting all the different recipes together, having to just write them out and things. It's just, I don't have time, you know, I'm running my own business. I have my family. And also, one of the things that I always said was, well, I had my first daughter. I'm going to take care of my body again after our second baby, because, you know, in the meantime, getting pregnant again, why would I do that? And so me and my husband, we kind of really slipped. Like, we never had truly bad eating habits, but we kind of indulged a little bit more than we should. You know, a glass of wine pretty much every evening, some fast food once a week, then it was twice a week, you know, whether that was pizza or burger or something like that. And then when the program came out, I had really decided, okay, we are having secondary infertility issues. And I was like, because I know about how the body works. I was like, okay, I'm ready to really walk the talk and do some changes. And I saw your program, and what I loved was that everything was done. You know, you have the mental menu, you have the shopping lists, you have the meal plans. And I was like, okay, I'm going to sign up for this, and we're going to do this. And I told my husband about it, and he was like, okay, fine, if you're going to cook, you know, So I was like, okay, let's do it. And so we signed up. And it was my. It was such a revelation because it changed all my patterns, you know, like, batching everything up, going grocery shopping once a week and really looking at that trolley full of healthy food, you know, like. And I'm one of these stalkers who looks at what other people buy at the supermarket. I look like, oh, what do they buy. And I was so proud. I was like putting all of this healthy food there, a nice color of the rainbow kind of thing. And then we started cooking and it tasted so nice, you know, it tasted so nice. And the smoothies in the morning and lemon water and I, I felt really proud, you know, I felt really proud that instead of all of those hipster Instagrammers and foodies, I was actually now kind of a little bit one of them, you know, because I really treated my body right. And then things just started to shift. You know, after the first week I had already lost two pounds or even three pounds. And so that was in November. And then I just kept going. You know, we stuck to it. We didn't stick to it religiously all the time. So weekends it's just, we both of our families are here. So every Sunday we go to either my parents or my husband's parents. So there's no way that I can ask my mother in law to, you know, to not include a huge dessert and stuff like that. But that was fine. You know, I really noticed that I started to feel better and started to exercise twice a week, just half an hour. And results after weeks and weeks just were incredible. Like I steadily lost weight. Like I, I don't know how quick, I didn't weigh in all the time. I'm more of a believer of how I feel. But every time I did weigh myself, I had lost some pounds. And now in March, actually just last week, I weighed myself in and I was from, I went from 77.7 kilos to 68.8, which I remember because of the numbers. So that's nine kilos, that's 18 pounds. And really I'm never depriving myself of anything, but it's just, it's become a whole new way of living. So when I go into the supermarket, I just look at different foods, I just grab different foods. And we have a very small, cute little health food store very close by. Not a chain, it's a private owned little store. And I love going there. And yes, it is a little bit more of an expense, but I know that the quality is just amazing. You know, they have free range chicken. Their eggs are from chicken that are basically being moved on the grass every couple of days so that they always have fresh grass and stuff like that. So all of these things just make me happy and I feel really proud. You know, when I do my smoothie in the morning, I just feel, yeah, I just feel very like a good mom, like a good wife, like a Good. Me. And then obviously, see, when I look at myself in the mirror, it's incredible. And I'm wearing trousers that I had put on the pile to go to the Salvation army because I was just like, you know, like the Miranda moment with the skinny jeans, and I was just over it, and I had to put them aside because I wanted them to go away. And then I was like, let's just try them on, and they fit again, you know, so it's. It's really, really cool. And I'm looking forward to continuing and going even further. So not that I want to be skinny, skinny, skinny, but there's just a little bit more that I want to get rid of. And it's just. It's not my main goal. My main goal is health, but it's a really nice side effect. And, yeah. So now when I tell my clients as well, look, this is what you do. This is a side effect. This is what happened to me. It's really cool. Oh, yeah.

Amazing. Oh, my gosh, Christine, that is so fabulous. I mean, you really, it sounds like, have made a lifestyle shift. And it's not something that is in any way dreadful or hard. Like, it seems like you're enjoying going grocery shopping, which sometimes can seem dreadful to go to the grocery store, but you're going there, enjoying it, having the different colors in your cart. I love that. And what's so amazing to me is that you are a sleep coach, and so you really understand how important it is to sleep, right? And also to take care of your body. And it's like once you start integrating these different things, the weight drops off. And so you started. So you made some shifts in what you were eating, and you saw those results. And I really love how you said that you feel like a better mom, a better wife. So tell me a little bit more about that. Why do you feel like a better mom and a better wife and a better you?

So I think we really model to our children what we want them to be like, you know, and before I, you know, we wouldn't eat dinner together. My daughter would eat a little bit earlier, and then we would have our dinner, pretty quick dinner together afterwards and follow the tv, my husband and I. But now, you know, there's a cooking process involved in the evening. It's really nice. We have foods together. And whenever she always gets. She can always try from our plate. Like, I never force her to do anything, but I always know that when she sees our plates, when we cook something, it's really healthy. So for her Growing up with that and having her helping prepare food, you know, because there's so many veggies, she always gets a little bit, you know, she can help prepare and things. And so I think just. It's just a really important message and something. Which is probably vain, I don't know, but I like it, is that I just feel that I look better, too. You know, I feel I look like a young, dynamic mom, something that I always wanted to be. And I have my age, which is completely fine. But, you know, I just. I don't know, I feel different. I walk differently, I dress differently, and I'm a proud mom, and I just think I look better, and it's just making me more confident, I guess. And so showing her that and showing her how to respect your body and how to respect yourself and take care, you know, really take care from the inside out. It's just a really important message, I think. And so that just makes me feel amazing. And also for my husband, you know, like, when he saw the before and after pictures, he was like, wow, I didn't even notice. And then he actually looked and he was like, yeah, and you feel different. Where did your legs go? Yes.

And your before and after pictures, Christine, are incredible. And I mean, you look so beautiful in the first before picture as well. Like, you have a very pretty dress on, and your hair is done, your makeup is done. You look great. You look super polished. So I'm like, almost like, okay, can it look any better? Like, is there any look any better? Because she looks so good. And then the after picture, though, is like, wow.

You know, it's so funny because I don't have my hair done. It's like in a bun. I don't wear any makeup on the second picture. Like, none, but it's just me, you know, it's just the way the pride and the ease and it's. Even though I was never unhappy with myself, I'm a happy person. I love. I always was in terms of myself. So that's not it, but it's. Yeah, I'm even more confident, let's put it that way, you know, so it's. It's funny.

Thank you. So tell me a little bit about, like, some of the clothes that you can wear now that you couldn't wear before. Like, do you feel yourself fitting into different clothes? Cause nine kilos is a lot. Like, that's a change. Like, I could just imagine. So there's some different dresses, different clothes that you're able to wear now.

Yeah. So I looked at My measurements and I don't remember what I measured, but my legs lost. I lost like 4cm circumference on my legs and around my waist. I think it was also something like four or six. So first of all, they don't pinch me anymore, which is a nice feeling because, you know, I think even subconsciously, even if you. If you can get into your trousers, but when they kind of pinch and tweak you everywhere, you're constantly reminded that they're just a little bit too tight. So now they're not, you know, now they're great. I actually have to wear a belt with some of my trousers. And then also dresses are really, really cool because my stomach has gotten so much flatter. Like in the before picture, I'm actually wearing Spanx without. It's so much better, you know, and.

So much more comfortable without wearing Spanx.

Right.

That does the job. But it's kind of nice when you don't have to wear it.

And you saw the. The whole just, it was like, jeez. Yes, yes.

Oh, my gosh. Oh, Christine. Okay. And so one more thing. I'm. Because you are an entrepreneur, you have a following, you are helping women get healthier. How do you feel like, like, do you feel like this transformation that you've gone through has impacted or has benefited you as a businesswoman, as an. And as an entrepreneur? Like, has that changed anything for you in that side?

Yes. So first of all, the energy thing is huge. So I noticed that a couple of weeks ago, I went to have a business lunch, and we were at some gorgeous Italian place, and I had big fat pasta dish with cheese and all kinds and cream. And at 3pm I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was exhausted. I was exhausted. And I was like, it can't just be the food. Can't be it. And then two days later, I went again to a business lunch and I had a dish with fries on the side and I ate all of them. And again, I had a huge crash in fitness. And I just noticed, okay, there's a pattern there. And then we won holiday for a week where I went back. Like, it was a place where you got lots of pizza, fast food, and it wasn't Tenerife. So very touristy. And I was just, okay, I'm not gonna care. I'm just gonna eat whatever I want to. But I was so tired by the end of the week, like, I was exhausted. I went to bed at 9pm with the kids because I was. I was done for the day. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was like, why? I'm on vacation. We're at the beach. I'm getting sunlight because it was winter, so it was really dark here. And then I had sunlight and I was exhausted. And it was the food. It was really, really was the food. So energy level wise, huge difference. And then secondly, for my clients, a lot of them have issues with their guts. They don't know it, but changing their nutrition, they heal, they start to sleep better. You know, they have less inflammation, the cortisol levels start becoming low again. Their blood sugar levels are all evened out. And now that I can really say, look, this is what I've done. This is how I do it. This is what I have experienced. I just feel so much more honest and genuine and I can really, you know, talk. I know what I'm speaking of, you know, because I know it's always more powerful if you have your own story, but it's really true because I can really show them. Look, it's totally doable. I'm still happy. I still go out with friends on the weekend and we'll have whatever we're having, you know, but look at how. How big the difference is. So, yeah, for me, in the health kind of sector, self care sector as well, it's huge because, you know, treating yourself with that kind of respect just changes you for the better. I feel.

Yes. Oh, my gosh. And I can imagine just having like, the foods that we eat in sys are really good. Good for your gut. I mean, they're like, absolutely. They're like superfoods with spices. And so you're getting the best of everything. And when you're healing your gut, I can just imagine that also improves your sleep as well. Because your food is digesting easily. You're comfortable when you're sleeping. You're not feeling like all of these kind of just like uncomfortable feelings. And so it's just like another benefit as well. Amazing. So, Christine, thank you so much. I will have one more question. This is the fun one. What is your favorite spice? And I know it probably is hard and tell us what you like to use it on.

My favorite spice is turmeric or curcumin because I didn't know it before. And then I learned about all these amazing attributes that it has, you know, in terms of weight loss. And so I put it everywhere. Like, all our foods are yellow. I put it into my smoothie, I put it on my pasta. I put it into, you know, because it's such a light, like, it doesn't have that much of a taste. Like, nothing as powerful. I really use it as a beneficial sprinkle everywhere. Like pretty much everywhere. I just love it. I think it's. It's so subtle and yet the benefits are huge. So I really use it everywhere.

Oh, that is such a good one. I just actually had some eggs where I sprinkled turmeric on my eggs. And the thing about turmeric is it decreases inflammation and that's just not externally. It's also internally. Like in your belly. There is a lot of times extra inflammation. When you decrease that, your belly goes down and it also helps to block fat. So that's a smart one. Christine. Good one. Good job. We're going to have to get together for some turmeric te whenever we get a chance to be in the same city.

Definitely.

Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing. Congratulations on your transformative weight loss and your lifestyle shift. I'm so excited for you and for your family and thanks again.

Thank you so much.