Episode 471: Rock Your Purpose with Vitality

Hello everyone, this is Rebecca Green for the Winey Plousa Podcast, and I am very excited because I get to talk to the fantastic Dr. Tanji Brewer. Thank you so much for being here with me.

It is a pleasure to be with you today on this amazing day here in Chicago, and you are in Buffalo?

I'm in Buffalo, New York.

We didn't talk about that, so tell us the weather in Chicago In Chicago, it's about, I would say, maybe 65, but in Chicago, that's almost summer. And I was—

oh yeah, I understand.

You know, I understand. I will tell you that it is, it is, uh, rainy and yucky here today, but summer's coming. I told you I'm a summer girl and summer is coming.

Yes, it's coming. One of my favorite months too as well, getting that original vitamin D, right? Yes. But it does everybody smile. You see people in grocery stores are like, hello, hello, a little bit more conversational.

Oh my God, it's so true. But I want to tell everybody about you because you are a fantastic lady. And if you can see her, if you're watching this, she is gorgeous and accessorized and I feel like I need to be wearing more stuff.

You know, y'all, first of all, it's hilarious because she's catching me. I just did a 5K run with the group of ladies that I'm transforming their bodies. So we prepared for a 5K. So I still have on my 5K clothes. But no way. Yeah, we could still— when we work out, right?

We don't like what we're wearing.

Hello.

Good for working out. Okay, so I need to change that thought.

It's so funny when I see people um, online saying, I am doing my makeup because it makes me feel prettier to work out. And I'm like, you go, girl, you go! But anyways, let me tell you about Dr. Kanji. She is the dynamic founder and CEO of Stylish and Fit LLC, known internationally as the Transformation Coach. Her mission is to empower individuals to rock their purpose with vitality through fitness, nutrition, personal development, and fashion. Dr. Tanji is a certified personal trainer, licensed fitness instructor, certified nutritionist, national speaker, author, and wardrobe stylist. With signature programs like the Lifestyle of Vitality Challenge and Circle of Vitality Virtual Challenge, she's helped countless people reshape their bodies, boost their confidence, and reclaim their health. A recipient of a citation from the Oklahoma State Legislature, Dr. Tanji is on a mission to transform lives globally, one confident, stylish, and healthy person at a time.

So now everyone sees why I am so excited to talk to you.

Like, holy moly. Okay, let's start with how did you know? What was the calling to be a transformation coach? How did this happen?

Wow. So how it happened for me, years ago, I would say it started, number one, my desire for, I would say, fitness and seeing people transform started when I was literally just in middle school. And I would see people on the campus, and maybe they had like this beauty to them, and they didn't just know it yet. And so I started this club called Originality. Tangy, and I would take them and sort of redo their style in 8th grade. So they let me have the club. It's so crazy. And then when I got to— and I was also a runner, and that's how the passion for fitness started. So I was cross-country and track when I got to high school too, as well. And what I found out was that what I ate changed the way that I ran. And I was like, whoa, this is amazing. So I remember going home, running to my parents, Rebecca, and I said, I'm not going to have McDonald's anymore. I'm no longer going to have pizza. And here I am, like a little preteen, and just going in and saying, I'm no longer having these things because I want to be this great runner. So fitness started for me young, and then the whole fashion portion. But then years later, I would understand the calling even more, and which is when I was managing about 100 reps and managers at a Fortune 500 company, and my mother was diagnosed with high blood pressure. And she called me from South Carolina at the time. I was in Oklahoma. And I was like, OK. She said, I'm going to do it the natural way. That was in October. I told her that I was pregnant. And then she was telling me that she was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Well, I was carrying life, right? And her life was being in question. And so 2 months later, she had a pain in her chest. And she went to the doctor. And it was too long of a wait. And she left. And she passed away in her sleep. So Rebecca, how many women, right, how many women say my health can wait? How many women will say, you know, I have to deal with the kids. After the kids graduate, then I'll tend to myself. So my mom literally was looking at her watch, waiting in that line, and left, Rebecca. And mother of 6 children, pastor's wife, taking care of my 97-year-old grandfather. Like doing all the things for everybody. And she was like the superhero for me. And at that moment, when I had my son— because remember, I was pregnant when she passed away. And I had my son. And I said, it's time for me to pursue purpose. I resigned from my Fortune 500 company. And I was doing extremely well. And I started my own company, Stylish and Fit, to transform bodies and lives. And that's when I started with my first group of women. And I took someone from a size 22 to a size 6. And that's when I knew, okay, transformation is my thing. Wow.

Oh my gosh. I mean, you know, I didn't expect that answer. That was a, that was a fantastic answer. Wow. So there is so much behind that. And yes, you know, I can see how much you love what you do, and I can see that it works from you, the results that you're getting. What do you think makes what you're doing different? Why is it working?

Wow, because I have the recipe. I believe, Rebecca, the recipe for transformation. Number one, it is— or in these ingredients, for example, my Fitness Focus 5 that I incorporate during the transformations, because it's not just about your cardio. Well, if you're just doing cardio, you can be breaking down your muscles. You're doing too much. You're not doing strength training, which We know that strength training is important to continue to take care of this body, and then stretching prevents injury. So everybody I found, Rebecca, they were not like incorporating all of these important fitness elements in their workouts. And then I discovered that their nutrition too as well, their environment of their body was not at the pH that it needed to be. So I incorporated that, and then the community aspect, and then speakers too as well that were like experts in their game to bring the knowledge to the participants, I understood, wow, this— these are the ingredients for the transformative journey. And that's when the light bulb really went off for me. But then I understood this, that after I was transforming these bodies, it wasn't just about the weight loss, because we know skinny isn't necessarily healthy, right? It's about the healthy mind. It's everything. And some people are just naturally voluptuous. But what I realized was this, even more than inches or whatever, it's that purpose was being revealed on a greater level. And so that's why I started saying I help people rock their purpose with vitality, because it's not just about getting in an itty bitty, itty bitty, teeny weeny polka dot bikini. It is so that we can walk our purpose with greater energy and greater vitality and longevity than ever.

I love that. I love that. The whole— it's so much more than losing the weight. And, and I can tell that you have such a good mindset. Can you tell everyone, what do you think is behind your thinking? What do you, what do you think? What is your mindset?

My mindset is that we're only given one body that makes us have legal access in this earth. And when you have the connection that you're not just doing the transformative thing for just the present, but for longevity, right? Because we all have the power in our hands to change the very health, heart, and esteem direction of our life. And it's just a decision. And so for me, that was the connection. That's the connection there.

Wow.

Well, I'm going to take your mindset with me for the rest of the day. Let's hope it continues from today because you're getting me going.

I'm like, OK, I got to go do my weights. And I got to go get on the treadmill.

Well, yes, Rebecca, that's the thing. And here's what I will always say to Rebecca is that the most important transaction is not in the business room or the boardroom. It is on the fitness floor between you and yourself, because that's going to cause many more transactions. And people that operate on a high frequency, success rises to that person anyway. And so the more that you are energetic and you have that energy, then success is going to attract itself to you, right? So you're going to find yourself more productive. So when you go and get on that treadmill, whoo, you're gonna like maximize your day more than ever.

Yeah, it makes me feel amazing. We just have to—

we have to prioritize it, schedule, schedule it, fit it in, make it part of our day. That is part—

so, so let's talk about all the busy moms Listening, let's go there. Yes. Okay.

I'm thinking about where I'm fitting it in today. Can you talk about like, how can they make it part of their busy day?

Absolutely. So busy moms, hello, I'm one of those, right?

I know.

And it's like every single second you're looking at how do I maximize this day? Yes. So I get it. So kudos to you for all that you're doing. Number one, give yourselves a pat on the back. But here's what I want to say. You want to make sure that you understand that you are in control of your schedule. And there are two things. There are excuse and excuse. Excuse, they're spelled the same way, right? An excuse takes your power away. You go, OK, well, I have this meeting. I have these three meetings. I got to take the kid over here. I got to do this. An excuse, spelled just like excuse, inserts your power in. So if you say, excuse me, kids, mom's got to do this. And then the job that you're on, like say you're taking a call that you know you don't have to be seen on, go and walk and take the call, right? Get up and move those steps. Because people who are sedentary, Rebecca, like even 2 hours or more, the Surgeon General says it's like smoking a pack of cigarettes.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I feel so—

you know, I'm sitting at my computer right now.

So like, I can't— oh, I lost her.

Technology, we love technology.

Love it.

No, but like speaking of technology, I can only sit here for so long.

And I need to get up. I need to move during my day, or I feel like crap if I sit here all day.

That's good though, Rebecca, that you're feeling that, because that's your body's way of telling you that it needs to move. Remember, a body in motion stays in motion. A body at rest stays in rest. So if we want to continue to get things even in our lives in motion, like we got to think about that, the correlation between purpose and moving our bodies, it's so huge, right? We're going to maximize our purpose more when we take care of this body more. So even if you're sitting, get up, do some squats. You know, get up and do some butt kicks. I was recently at the DMV. Whoever has to go and get their stickers done and all of that, if I'm ever in those lines, I am doing calf raises. If I'm outside, I'm doing squats too. And people are looking at me. Rebecca, I am literally at my son's basketball game, and I'm doing— on my chair, I'm doing dips for my triceps. And the kids— Mom, my son is like, Mom, all the kids say that you work out while the game is going on. I'm like, well, it's only during halftime, it's only during this or that. But that's where you got to say, excuse me, like, I got to get my workout in. Because the world is our fitness playground, right?

Yes, yes, we can be fit, we can be fitting it in in places that we don't realize.

I love that. And I think that that is a mindset shift. So let's talk about, let's talk about mindset more because I hear a lot of mindsets that are working against them. So can you talk about what kind of shift you're looking for?

Yes, that mindset shift has to go from first making sure that you don't have any disappointments in life and that you're looking at the woulda, shoulda, couldas, right? Because I always say that a mountain amount of listed disappointments is like mold. And that is the acronym that I came up for it, right? So MOLD, a mountain of listed disappointments. So when that sets on the mind, some people feel like they're too far gone. They feel like, well— and they sit in their disappointments. They're disappointed about the way that they look, right? They look and go, wow, I just feel like I'm just frumpy. And I just feel like I'm way too here to get there, right? And so they don't— you don't move. But when you understand— that now is the time when you turn that word backwards. Now backwards is W-O-N. You're on the winning team between you and yourself. And it is a game that you can just pick up that bat and continue to swing. And you'll see the different things begin to shift and change in your life. Because a lot of times, Rebecca, here it is. When your body is not well, your mind is not well because the gut is like the second brain. And so it produces serotonin. But when cortisol— is produced more, and people are in the sympathetic more than the parasympathetic, that causes all kind of fog and craziness. The hormones go crazy. So people think that their mind is being depressed when really it's what's going on in their body. So first, you have to understand that the time is now, right? You got to have that shift, and you got to not go the what-shoulda-couldas, right? And it's no more mounting up lists of disappointments. Look at where you are. Take the clothes off, right? Appreciate every part of where your body is so that you can be grateful and give yourself that grace. And then say, okay, now, Rebecca, it's time, right? You give yourself that high five and you say, I'm ready to let this be the best year in my health that I've had in a long time.

Oh, yes, yes. And I love that you say now, like, let's not worry about the past. Let's not worry about what you're— what you're feeling guilty or upset about.

Because people—

I hear people say, I can't believe that I got here.

I can't believe it. Yes, yes, yes.

We all, you know, whether it's our bodies— and many people in the dating world, they went through a divorce, they're like, how do I get here? Like, literally, I'm— they're like— so life happens, but what you do to change the way that you're— you know, you appear to yourself. Because really, it's a self thing, right? It's a self thing. It's like, why not be healthier now? Why not have more energy now? And it just takes getting up and doing something different than that you've been doing. So maybe you've been eating more processed food. And it's like, OK, you know what? I'm going to cook dinner today. I'm going to go get a salad. I showed you the salad that I had, right? For lunch. And I'm always like, everything that we do, we have to be intentional. Because when you're intentional, you're dimensional. You begin to go to more.

Oh my God. All of the little things that you—

all the little— what do we call those?

Catchy phrases? The catchy phrases. It's really working for me. I like the catchy phrase.

Thank you. I'm an acronym girl, Rebecca, and I'm a catchy phrase. I love it.

I love it.

So when people start something, they're, you know, they're gung-ho. They might not see results right away, right? Or they might feel like, how do I keep going? How do I stay motivated? Can you give them some advice?

Oh, absolutely. First, when you do it, I'm always happy that people are getting started. So yes, you know, I've transformed over 1,000 women, okay? And so I've seeing when the journey starts. Some have, like, results sort of right away in a few months. And some, it's like a little slow burn, right? Slow burn. But what's happening beneath the surface, right? And many people look at the surface, but there's so many other things. There's your heart. There are your organs, right? And some people, I'm like, wow, you're stopping the drinking now as much and all these things. And now you're helping your liver and your kidneys. And you're doing this differently. And so I— tell people that everything that you're doing is a part of a beautiful, beautiful new journey in your entire life that you get to recreate. And so have fun and celebrate those small wins. And so we look beyond the surface because I say don't look at the scale because a lot of times you're gaining muscle, then your inches, right, your, your inches will, um, go smaller, and then you may gain a little bit more weight. So always say Celebrate the wins and look at the journey as— and like, make it fun. That's another thing. Make it fun. Do things like social exercising. Instead of saying, OK, girlfriend, let's go have a drink, let's go to have a little Mexican and eat the bottomless bowl of those chips, let's go to, you know, this park. And, you know, let's bring some fruit. And then we're going to sit and talk a little girl tea, you know? Like, do something with your girlfriend that is making a deposit in her and you at the same time.

Love that. My mom always says, why is it always about food? Why does everybody want to meet for food? I'm like, that's true. We do say let's meet for dinner, let's meet for lunch.

How about let's meet for a walk? How about that?

Yes, yes, let's go to this mountain and climb it.

Yes, I'm there. Let's do it.

You would do it, Rebecca? That would be fun.

Oh, I would do it. You know I would do it.

Yes, high five.

So I think that what I see, what makes me sad, is when I see women who I would describe as they're in survival mode through their day versus like the thriving through their day. So what would be something to shift them from surviving to thriving?

Yes. Oh, wow. First, to me, surviving is someone who is on that hustle. And they believe they're trying and trying instead of just allowing life to happen. Because when you're in— start with the mindset. When you're in the mindset of, number one, gratitude, or just believing that you can achieve something, then what you think about, you think about, you bring about in your life, right? When you're thinking about— so I don't know if you remember the Law of Attraction. I don't know if you've ever read The Secret. I love that book, right? And when you are operating in a realm of peace and expectation, for your life, and even for seeing, okay, I'm expecting that my body is going to change, I'm expecting that I'm going to get healthier, so I'm going to make healthier decisions. When you lead your life like that, that's when change happens.

That's good. So, so it's, it's our intention. Yes.

What we're thinking, what we're thinking, what we're thinking, those small things too, like making sure you set yourself up to win as well. So in your bag, your grocery or your handbag, make sure you have things like nuts and maybe some sliced apples if you know you're going to be shopping for a long time. So I also do wardrobe styling too. We went over that. So when I take my clients, right, to the mall, they're like, oh my gosh, I would have stopped and got that Annie Anne pretzel. And I'm like, no, that's all sugar. Not what you want. So I always say bring some nuts, bring some raw walnuts and raw almonds. So in my purse, those are the things that I have in my car. I only have— I always have water. If I'm going to a networking event, then I'm always taking these extra things because it is really up to you. Because no one is going to control how you take care of your body but you. So you got to set yourself up for success. And even though you didn't make a workout in the morning, you have to allow the flexibility to land at a later part of the day. Because if you didn't eat at some point, you're going to eat during the day. Well, working out is just as important as eating.

Yeah, you know, and I, and I made the decision, I don't know, like a year ago that exercise every day was non-negotiable.

Oh, love that. That's a yes.

Right. So I was like, I don't care what else I do in my day.

I have to fit it in every day.

I love that. Oh, well, I know that's— that is great. And that's how it has to be. It has to be that non-negotiable. And it's a— yeah, it's the relationship that you have with self, really. That's one of the most powerful things that we get to do because we can't control a lot of things. We can't control the weather. Can't control what's going on in the news, right? But we can control this domain, this thing that we dominate over, right?

Which is this body.

Yes. And to me, that's where the empowerment comes when you go, wow.

I want to talk about how fabulous you look. Let's talk about fashion.

Oh, fashion. Okay. And they haven't even seen me like dressed up. I'm literally in workout stuff, but I love—

I can't believe this is your workout clothes. Okay. So I—

we kind of touched on that you even think that we should look fantastic while we work out. But tell us about fashion and how that plays into our feelings of success and confidence.

Oh, yes. Everybody, I feel, Rebecca, has a signature style. It's a signature beauty apart from everyone else. And it's how you feel from the inside out to express yourself. And fashion is an attractor, right? People are attracted to those that exemplify confidence and beauty. And what I have found is that when women are not secure— and men too— in how they look, they may stand in the back, they may shift their clothes a little bit, their voice is not as powerful, right? Because they kind of shrink And I've seen this happen many times where when I see the transformation happen, I'm like, wow, she's speaking more, she's going out more. There's something that clicks when you understand that you have this personal style. And what I found personally, Rebecca, say if I've even gone to the grocery store, I've walked out with new clients simply because of what I had on. I'm going to events. I remember there was the speaker that came in the event. It was my energy. And she also was like, oh my gosh, your clothes.

She stopped, came back, gave me a hug—

big, well-known speaker— and went back to the stage. And then her and I met at the hotel afterwards and became really good friends to this day, right? There's something about the way you present yourself to the world. I always say that the world is our one-way, right? The world is our one-way. And we either bring energy in or we pull it out. Your clothes matter. Everybody has a style. And just like everybody has a power color, when you wear that color, it wakes you up. Is purple your favorite color? Well, pink.

Pink is my favorite color, but I do purple. Purple's probably a second.

Are you hot pink or are you baby pink?

Any shade of pink. Any shade of pink.

Any shade of pink. Okay. Hot pink is my power color. So I always say you gotta have your power color somewhere. Well, the majority in your wardrobe.

I love that. And your energy, I mean, people probably hear it if they're listening, they see it if they're watching. Your energy is just so, like, attractive.

It's just, it's, it's def—

I could see how it's a magnet to people.

Well, thank you.

For sure. Do you have myths that you want to bust that people think about fitness or food or both.

Yeah, first, I mean, it's not like you don't have time. Everybody has time. The President of the United States has time to work out. Like, yeah, everybody does. Everybody has time. So let's take that myth away, right? It's how you value your time. And when they say, oh, the gym is way too expensive, well, the world is your playground. And in your home, you can have your own Yeah. So I really encourage all of my clients to have weights, everything at their fingertips. When COVID happened, weights were like, what, $100 for a 5-pound weight because it was so in demand, right? So know that you got to take that away. And then two, thinking that, oh, if I begin to lift weights, I'm going to start to look like a dude. No. Women— people who lift weights have a 30% to 40% more chance— I mean, more longevity than those that do not. It protects your entire body. So lifting weights is huge and paramount.

Well, and I get confused and, you know, and I need to do more research on this. I was saying to my son— my son is a huge weightlifter. He loves to lift weights.

Yes, he's buff and he's buff. And I'm like, but I don't want to be buff. So am I doing heavy weights or light weights?

So you want to do lighter weights. So you do more, more reps and less weight. And then when you get into hypertrophy, then you do more of the weight. And that's when the guys are like, they do like 2 of those and they throw the weights down, you know?

I mean, yeah, I—

he's trying to do as much weight as he possibly can.

And I'm like, yeah, no, we have very different goals, Maxwell. Yes.

Yes.

So what about a shift in our eating? Let's tell them like a small shift they can make with food.

So in your eating, um, make sure that you are looking at adding life to everything that you eat. I always will say every time you lift your fork, you want to ask yourself, what is this about to serve me? When you eat food, it releases a message to the body. Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin D. All of these things. So every time you eat, you look at this plate and go, what is this about to serve me? And that will make you think things differently. So let's just say you're eating, for example, a turkey sandwich at somewhere like Panera. If you were to break that sandwich down, you go, okay, the bread is dead food, the cheese is dead food, the turkey is dead food. I just have some lettuce on here that's just water. It's not even nutrient-dense like the leaf— the deep leafy green ones. So you'll go, okay, what can I do? Well, instead of the cheese, I'm gonna have avocado because that's a healthy fat. Instead of that lettuce, I'm gonna ask for some spinach or some arugula because that is higher in nutrient density. So you can make those small changes that way by subbing some of those things out. Ask yourself, what is this serving me? A side of chips or a baguette? It's all dead food. Why do I want that apple? Because it's going to give me the fiber. It's going to give me quercetin, right? It's going to give me the things that I need in my body to continue to maintain optimal health.

Such good advice. It's like little shifts all day. Yes, little shifts all day. Well, I want to thank Dr. Tangy for joining us today and sharing so many amazing insights with us. And I want to remind everyone to spend every day laughing, learning, and loving.

Thank you for tuning in to the Winey Palooza podcast. If you like what you heard, please be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. While you are there, leave a review. I love to hear your feedback. Thank you so much for listening. Until next time.

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