103: Owning Your Wellness Story with Marni Wasserman and Jesse Chappus

Namaste. It's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. This episode is brought to you by Uveda. Yuveta is a modernized Ayurvedic supplement company that takes certain issues that we have, such as mood, joint, joints, immunity, digestion, and creates these custom little packets exactly for us, infusing ancient Ayurvedic herbs with modern vitamins and minerals. I take the mood formula daily. It is great if you work a stressful job, had adrenal fatigue, ever suffer from anxiety or even depression, and it really heals you from a fundamental and holistic level. So if you want to try it out, head over to Uveda. Y-O-U-V-E-A.com, use the code Sahara and you'll receive 35% off your first order. And they now ship to almost every country globally. So check it out. If you live internationally, they may be shipping to your country too. And they just added India. Guys. 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I have a little shop up there with my favorite four Sigmatic products, so you can try it out. And you can also get 15% off any four sigmatic product using the code Sahara. I am so excited to announce to you that my master class with Shaman Durek called Awaken youn Powers is now out. You can find it on my website. And this masterclass is for you. If you are ready to stand up as a conscious leader in the new paradigm. It is seriously a pitta fire packed masterclass all about really tapping into your own innate potential. From my Ayurvedic and his shamanic background, we talk all about how to emerge as a leader, break through perceived blocks and limiting beliefs and things that are keeping you playing small and how to truly embody radiance and success from the inside out so you can be a magnet truly for opportunities. And instead of, you know, going out and hustling after them, they'll naturally just gravitate towards you and just diving deeper into, you know, getting whatever you need, whether it's client gigs or corporate speaking gigs, but from an energetic place of just vibrating at that level that you will imagine as a frequency with the exact engagements or clients that you are looking for. We also really tap deep into finding your authentic voice so you can stand out in a saturated media place because you are so uniquely you and that will help you build and cultivate your soul tribe. We also dive deep into using the Internet as a tool to raise consciousness and how to fully rise up into your embodiment, your truest form, the you that you were meant to be. So I'm so excited excited for this masterclass to be out. It has four 30 minute lessons, a live Q A at the end which will be me and Shawn and Durek answering any of your questions live. We'll have a private Facebook group to connect with the tribe and an Instagram follow train and comment pod where everyone follows comments and engages on one another's post again to cultivate that tribe. So if you're Interested, it's only $35 the early bird raid before August 1st or $50 after August 1st and you can head over to my website iamsaharrose.com you'll find it. It's called Awaken your powers and I am so excited to have you. I'm also stoked to announce that my book Eat feel Fresh, a plant based Ayurvedic cookbook is now available for pre order on Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, Target, Walmart, wherever books are sold. This is my book baby. I went to India to shoot all of the photography. It is alkaline, it is refres, it is global. I believe that Ayurveda takes many shapes and forms because it is a living science and it's time for Ayurveda to open its doors to different countries, ways of eating different ingredients and of course making it plant based. So many vegans out there who have wanted to practice Ayurveda but have shied away because of the amount of ghee and dairy can now experience Ayurveda. So I'm so excited for Eat Feel Fresh to be out. You can order it, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, wherever books are sold. And I will have some pre order order bonuses including signed book plates, bookmarks, webinars, all sorts of stuff. So stay tuned for that. All you have to do is show me your receipt and I will be sharing with you all of the bonuses I have in store for you now. This episode is amazing for all of us out there seeking to own our wellness story, because that's exactly what Marnie and Jesse did. So if you don't know Marnie and Jesse, they are the hosts of the Ultimate Health podcast, which is an incredible podcast on all aspects of health. And Marnie ended up going through some major health problems herself. She was following a vegan diet. She actually wrote numerous books on it. And then her own health problems and digestive issues made her have to revisit the way that she ate. So she changed her diet and bravely enough, she healed. So we talk about that and, you know, just the importance of really showing up authentically and not being afraid of change. Because, you know, in the social media world, sometimes we feel like we have to remain stagnant to who we are. Like, oh, I already posted that I'm this, so I have to forever remain that way. But this is a really good episode that shows that you can change and you're always evolving and always showing up in new ways. And you have to be courageous and just own who you are and not be apologetic about it. We also talk a lot about how self care is the new paradigm of wellness. They've interviewed tons of people and they put together their own pillars of health. So we talk about that. We also speak about just authenticity in the wellness space. Again, authenticity is a major theme here on Highest Self Podcast. But anyone you meet who is successful, they are authentic. So I'm so excited to play this episode for you and I know you're going to love it. So without further ado, let's welcome Marnie and Jesse to the Highest Self podcast.

Welcome, Marnie and Jesse.

It's so great to have you here.

On the Highest Self podcast.

Thanks for having us.

Our pleasure. Thank you so much.

So the first question that I would.

Love to ask you is what makes you your highest self?

All right, well, I'll go first. I think one of the first things that comes to mind is being connected to the things that I'm doing. So I guess that's presence being very Present and knowing when I'm going through certain things that I'm fully connected to that experience. And there's a couple more things that came to mind being asked that question that I had thought about. And another thing is being vulnerable and very real with people and with myself. So, you know, constantly working on that because that's an ongoing challenge. But being able to be vulnerable with my audience, with my people, with Jesse, my partner, and making sure that I'm being of integrity.

Love it. And for me, it's getting to do the work I do, which is our podcast, which is really cool, and getting to do it with Marnie. So we're in a relationship outside of the podcast and we co host the show together and being able to work together and, you know, have our relationship as well, it's just really cool to have that dynamic and have the two different aspects. And I just feel really blessed to be able to, you know, share our message with the world and have this platform that's being listened to by so many people.

So love that. And I love how you guys are. And I'm going to ask you guys more about this too, but you're in a relationship, you're engaged right now. And also building this podcast, which is just such an incredible project for partners to, you know, have together a shared vision that you're actively creating. And I mean, I'm sure you've just learned about each other so much just in the creation of this podcast.

Absolutely.

Yeah, totally. And it's interesting that we're like, within the podcast. It wasn't planned this way, but as time goes on, we have different roles in different areas that we're passionate about and that we excel at. So for me, I'm into like all the techie behind the scenes stuff and how all that works. And for Marnie, it's more the community building and connecting to the listeners. And don't get me wrong, we both love the full spectrum, but it's nice that we have these individual passions within the podcast to put our energy into.

That's so great and it's just so helpful because oftentimes the things that you don't like to do, the more tech stuff or the more social media stuff, you have to either hire out to do it or you just don't do.

As good of a job.

But it's so great that your partner naturally wants to do those things because that helps. Helps accelerate your growth so much too.

Totally. And it works for us.

So I would love to know more.

About your story and what got both of you into wellness.

All right, so going back, it's a really hard one to answer because I feel like I've always been into wellness and health and nutrition from a very young age. I was that kid that loved to eat fruit, loved whatever healthy, quote, unquote food labels that was out there, and I was always after them. And I don't know what sparked that. I constantly try and think about that, like, what got me so interested in eating well and living well from such a young age. I actually became vegetarian very early on, thinking that that was the healthiest way to eat. And at that time, that worked for me and I was following that path. And that led me to personal training, led me to a degree in kinesiology and health sciences, which led me to become a nutritionist, and then I became a culinary che. So it's just so fun to me. Following that path of. It really did just start with I loved to eat healthy, clean food. And now it's just opened up so many doors for me. And it's just nice to see that at age 36, I'm still following that, still love to eat food. And now my definition of healthy food has totally changed. And now Jesse and I have the opportunity to share this message to the.

World and continue to learn. I think that's an important part of this whole thing too, where having the podcast and continuing to do research every week for the guests that are coming on the show. We just have this built into our life, this constant learning, which I love so much.

Totally. And we'll talk more about this. But sometimes that's like the beauty of nutrition and wellness and also the headache about it, that it's always changing and you're always learning more things and you're.

Like, who do I believe?

Yeah. And sometimes a lot of people, like, I don't have a health crisis story or something that happened to me, which got me into health. And I know that's the case for a lot of people yourself. And it's funny that somewhere along the lines, and I'm kind of in it right now, where my health journey is really shifted because health challenges have come at a later time. So now it's really opened up so many doors for me to take this health journey even deeper now that I've discovered certain imbalances. So it's just so amazing to constantly be learning and discovering new things about yourself.

And it's interesting. My story is kind of like yours, Marnie, where for me, I've just always had a passion and pull towards eating Healthy and being healthy. And it's just continually evolved over time. And for me in university, I didn't really know what I wanted to do when I got into university. And I just found myself gravitating towards biology classes, science classes, eventually ended up in kinesiology and just learning about the human body and how everything works. And just I remember loving anatomy class in university and just learning about the body and all the different structures in the body. And it's just been this continual evolution and learning and passion that's just continuing to unravel up until today. It's just been an awesome ride.

I love that. And then how did you guys meet each other and then kind of decide you want to create this shared experience, this podcast together?

So Jesse and I, both being in the health world, had our own individual brands. Jesse was a chiropractor and I was doing my thing teaching cooking classes. And we both had websites and blogs. And at one point Jesse had reached out to me to contribute to his blog. And we didn't know each other, it was just again, through the wellness space. And so we were in touch from that point forward. It took a couple of years. I was actually in a relationship, in a marriage in fact, so there was no further communication there. And then later, along the lines when I was interested in finding a partner, a life partner that was somewhat interested in all the things that I was into, I remembered this guy named Jesse Chavez. And I knew that we had been in touch a few times. We've seen each other at a few health shows, different expos that were around, and we started connecting through Facebook, we started hanging out, we started going for bike rides together and eating kale chips and kombucha together. Over time, it developed into a relationship and Jesse was living outside of the city that I was in. There was a four hour distance between us. So we were doing the long distance thing, but it was over a period of time, which was really nice because we got to develop that friendship first.

Yeah. And it was actually, I think three years or so that we were long distance before I eventually moved to the city Marnie was in, which was Toronto. And we lived there for a year together. And just a year after that we ended up moving back out of the city to my hometown. And now we're living here and we're just, you know, seeing where life takes us right now. We're really happy where we're at.

And the podcast came because of Jesse. You know, Jesse was, he was adamant on us starting a podcast together and I couldn't even wrap my head around it. And this was over three years ago now. The medium wasn't as big as it is now, and Jesse was pushing for it. Pushing for it. He actually had a previous podcast, and he was like, marin, we got to do this. We got to get this out there. Even just for fun on the side, let's just get our message out. Let's talk to people. Let's have conversations. And it's because Jesse, the podcast got started and he knew all about it.

Yeah, I just love everything about it. The fact that you're connecting with these different health leaders and again, continuing to learn. So you're preparing for these interviews and continually filling your mind with all this great health information. And again, I love the techie side of it as well. And it was something we could do together. And as Marty mentioned, I had a taste of doing it from. It was about a year before I hosted another health podcast. I think it only went six or seven episodes with another health leader. And I just had a taste for how awesome this medium was. And, you know, I just pushed Marnie and pushed Marnie, and eventually, you know, she decided to go for it with me. And we've just never looked back.

I love that. And it's so amazing that both of you were just on your own, independently, interested in health and wellness, because I feel like a lot of times in a relationship, it's like one person who is and the other one who's like, you know, being dragged along.

So for those of us who are.

Maybe in a partnership, that the other person's maybe not as into health, taking care of their body, like, what do you think we could do to kind of, like, bring that person along on the journey with us?

I think the saying always goes lead by example. Do what you know how to do best for yourself, and hopefully the important people and if not the most important person in your life will follow along. And if they don't, you know, I can. I can totally understand that can be very challenging. Depending on how adamant you are on what your health standards are. It can be tough to be eating a certain way and have a partner that. That's picking up fast food. But that isn't necessarily the core of their relationship. There can be other areas that they can have a happy balance on. So I would say find those things that you are in most agreeance on and try over time, if you can, to find those little habits and healthy traits that you can start to infuse to your partner if it's not there. But we are very lucky and we're so grateful that we are both on the same page because it would be challenging. We both have talked about that if we were with a partner, we talk about past relationships when it has been a challenge to not have someone on the same page as yourself.

Yeah, I think you just have to lead by example. I'm sure it can be tough, and it's tough again for Marnie and I to answer this because we both came in it as health leaders and people that were so passionate about this message and this lifestyle. But I can only imagine leading by example and, and showing your partner through that example how good it can feel to, you know, have extra energy and all the other benefits that come with living a healthy lifestyle and hopefully in a healthy way, not pushing it upon your partner, but hopefully, you know, if you finish a book that you just think maybe there's a certain chapter that your partner would really connect with and enjoy, start to pass that along. And again, don't be pushy about it, but just have it there and gently offer it. And hopefully after your partner gets a little bit of a taste and hopefully feels some of the benefits from doing some of these things, they can become addicted to it as well and start to follow along suit.

And a podcast is another great way. I know that's cliche as all of us being podcasters here, but that way you're with your partner and you can listen to something in the car and you never know what will land with a book. It could be hard. It's like, let's read this chapter together. Or as you said, just giving it to them. But a podcast can be a really healthy way. And we've had testimonials from a lot of our listeners sharing that, you know, just by having it on in the kitchen or in the background, their husband's like, oh, you know, what's, what's this, you know, I hear about coconut oil or whatever it is and wanting to learn more and being a little bit inquisitive. So I think there's a lot of different ways and you have to assess your own situation. But don't give up because, you know, you can absolutely see changes, I think, within your own family unit. And if you don't, you gotta assess how important that is to you because you do not want to, you know, let that wear and tear away at you for years to come.

And I do love that podcast suggestion because it's such, you know, it's so easy to listen, to say like a 45 minute hour show. And with a lot of the podcasts, including ours, we're kind of distilling a whole book down into that hour. So we're taking, like, the best of the best from that book and that information and compressing it down in a way that, you know, somebody can just dissolve in an easy, easy way, at least for me. I mean, different mediums are gonna resonate with different people, but I would say try different mediums and see what works.

Totally. And, you know, we're always sitting in car. We always have, like, time that we're just, like, chopping vegetables. And that's what I love about podcasting. It can just fit into those little moments. So you guys have interviewed a lot of people. You've been doing this for three years, and I'd love to know, like, what have you learned about wellness from interviewing so many people? And what are kind of the trends that you're seeing right now?

Yeah, interviewing so many people, we learn so much. And you mentioned this before, you know, it can kind of be overwhelming at times because you'll have a guest on one week and they'll be, you know, talking about the benefits of eating a certain way, and then the next week, it can be the polar opposite.

Right.

And one thing Marnie and I have done with our show is we make sure and not, you know, bottleneck things in and only get guests that stand behind one way of living or eating. So we're trying to always bring the full spectrum of guests on so our listeners can hear about all these different techniques and way of eating and way of living, so they can make decisions for themselves and test this stuff out and see what works best for them. And for me, what I've really learned doing all these interviews is that it really does come down to the fundamentals. And a lot of these leaders are saying the same things in different ways, so they have their own little spin on different things. But it always comes back to things like the diet, getting enough sleep and properly hydrating with good, clean water and exercising, moving the body, connecting with amazing people in your life. So having a great support system and network of friends and family, and you just hear these things over and over again. So I think, in a way, our podcast is a way for people to hear it in a bit of a different angle over and over again. And hopefully, eventually, when they hear it at the right time or the right way, it can resonate and it can begin to apply. Because that's the other thing, too, where you listen to one of these shows and there's so much in it, you can't apply it all the next day or right after you're done listening. So I think it's just important to give people all the different tools, all the different information, and then let them pick at it as they go along and continue to play with it.

I totally agree, and I think that's really valid point because we do dig into so many different topics and subjects, and even for us, I'm constantly hearing it over again. And then one day I'm like, you know what? I really gotta take this on. Even with your interview, Sahara. It's like, okay, I'm really gonna make sure that I am doing my oil pulling now, because I've heard it so many times, but now I heard in a way that I really want to take it on. So it's just. It's so fascinating to lear this for yourself. But one of the biggest changes that I've made over the years after interviewing all the amazing guests that we've had on the show, is I've really changed my diet. I have gone from a vegetarian diet, which I alluded to earlier, to now I'm not eating a vegetarian diet. I'm not eating beans and grains and soy. I'm eating more of a paleoish diet. And I've really changed things up for the sake of my health, for the sake of an autoimmune condition, for digging deeper at what's going on and trying to understand how the diet plays a role in my body at this phase in my life. At a different phase, it played a different role, and I felt great. But now really paying attention to that. And I do thank the guests on our podcast and our podcast for pushing me further to dig deeper into my health. So that's been one of my big transformations over the years.

Totally. And I think for a lot of us at the beginning, we think health looks like this, and especially because what is popular in the wellness space is, like, changing so much, then we, like, actually when we tune into our bodies, it's no longer working. And just the process, I think a lot of us have been, like, vegan, vegetarian, and then maybe shifted away from it, then maybe came back to it because maybe we went too far the other way. So I'd love to know more just.

Even about that process, because I just.

See it happen with so many people that they are really tied to remaining vegan or vegetarian, but it's obviously not working for their body. So what was that process of shifting like for you?

It was a tough and a long process it took me a while to become a vegetarian in the first place, and then I was for seven years. And it took me a long time to get my head around the fact that maybe this diet isn't working for me anymore. So after seeing blood results, talking to different people, both in person, whether it's a health practitioner or a guest on the podcast, it took time for that to marinate and for me to really understand, understand what that meant. And because I became vegetarian for both health and ethical reasons, I had to put that aside. Well, not the health reasons, the health. I had to shift my focus and this is health in a different way and understand that ethics means a lot. And I'm an animal lover, but I have to do what's best for my body. So it was over the course of about two, I'd say two, three years for me to reintroduce animal protein back into my diet. And it did it very slowly. I started with eggs and then I went to fish and worked my. And just checked in and made sure I was okay with that and how did it feel and how did it taste and how's my body responding? And as I started to be on top of my blood work and making sure that things are moving in the right direction and knowing that what I'm doing is actually helping my body and I'm not harming it anymore. And I think I realized over time that I could have been harming it with all the. Even though it was a clean vegetarian diet, just the grains and beans were very heavy on my digestive system, causing problems, I realized that now I was in a place that I was starting to heal and, and once I confirmed that and felt that it was very easy to commit to this way of eating and I've never looked back now. So even though at one point I wrote the book Plant Based Diet for Dummies and that was my mantra to the world, was convincing people that the plant based diet was the way to eat. So it was really hard to kind of shift that. But once I realized what I was doing for my health, it was a no brainer.

I think that's such an important point too. I was going to bring it up the fact that as the author of Plant Based Diet for Dummies, you had amass this following of people over the years who went to you for information on eating plant based and different recipes and that lifestyle. So I think it was interesting for you and you might want to talk about this a bit, how that unfolded with your audience as being somebody who's a public figure and making this switch. It's different if you're doing it at home behind closed doors, but you're somebody that's got an audience and people that are watching everything you're doing. So share that a little bit.

No, it's good that you bring that up. It's true. There was like literally two sides of this. Yeah. Me doing this at home, figuring it out with my family, talking to Jesse about it. I don't know if I can do it and let that sink in for a couple of years. I think it took me probably at least a year, year and a half before I publicly let my audience know what I was up to. But I never lied to people. I always say if people came to my cooking class and said, are you vegetarian? And I had made the switch already, I'd say, no, I'm not. But I was not posting the eggs I was eating or the chicken I was eating.

Yet you were still in a testing phase.

I was still in a testing phase.

I didn't necessarily know if this diet was going to be long term or if it was working for you.

That's very true.

So you gotta be careful.

Yeah, that's true. And I wasn't totally confident yet and knowing how I was feeling with my body, but it took me time to get that information out there, and my audience responded far more positively than I had imagined. I just, you know, I expected total backlash and lots of angry people. And there, there was a handful of them, if not more. But if not more than anything, I had people coming forward saying, thank you so much for being so honest and so real and so vulnerable about your story. This is allowing me to take a look at my diet and shift things. And I may have become vegetarian because of you, but now I'm realizing that my diet needs to change too. So it was really nice to be able to be that voice to help people move forward, just like I had people on the podcast be that voice for me. It was nice for me to lead people in a direction to follow their health.

And it's incredible too, hosting the show, seeing how many of the different health leaders had a similar story where they had played in the plant based world. And over time, they realized at least that it wasn't working for them. Maybe it was right away, maybe it was over time, but the fact is, this story kept coming up over and over again, and it just led to you being open, at least partially led to you being open to the idea of maybe there's another way.

Yeah, exactly. And it was hard, you know, to have a book and have a cooking class that was built on plant based nutrition, to know that me as that public figure was going to have to shift and it was going to have to change and I was going to have to be identified as something different.

Totally. I mean, I can so relate. I used to be raw vegan, so when I shifted away from that, I was again so fearful. And it's interesting because a lot of the people who follow you or anyone does not even mean that they're necessarily 100% plant based. We kind of just assume they are, but maybe they're just following you to learn more about plant based cooking, but they never even thought that you were 100% plant based or not. So I think a lot of times we're like, we feel like our audience thinks of us as a certain way.

And we have to, like, keep up.

With that image when really, like, it's all in our heads.

That's a good point.

Yeah. So that's amazing. And I definitely have seen that story happen so many times. And I think it's really great for people to, like, stand up and just say, like, yeah, this was working for me before and now it's not. And I'm going to keep being open and vulnerable with you guys and can understand if you don't want to follow me anymore, but this is the direction.

That I'm going in.

Well, I think it makes the message even more powerful when it comes from somebody that has been in that world for a period of time and then stepped out, rather than somebody that's just always touted this diet as the best.

Exactly. Yeah. Because a lot of people have never even played in the other realms, so.

They don't really know it's the best.

Because it's just what they've grown up eating.

Exactly. And it's just been so interesting learning about my community through this process and having their stories come to light or sending me private messages and sharing their experience. It's actually been, you know, just so humbling and so amazing.

Totally. So we've definitely seen that kind of trend of people opening up, being more vulnerable. What are other sort of wellness trends that you guys have been noticing?

I've definitely noticed the ketogenic diet trend over the last year or two, and we've had a number of guests on the show talking about this diet. We actually had a guest who is really prolific in the paleo world. Come on. And surprisingly, when I did the research for the interview, Sarah Ballantyne talking about the Keto diet not being all it's cracked up to be. So again, you always have that division, but that diet's been really hot. And I know the episodes we publish on it, people are searching it out and trying it on. And I personally don't think it's depending on the person, obviously, but for your average person, I don't think it's necessarily a diet that, that I would recommend. But again, trial and error. Everybody needs to try this stuff on and see what works for them. And that diet continues to be really hot today.

And to elaborate on kind of the trend of the ketos also, just high fat in general, just eating more healthy fats. I think people are catching on to that and the benefits of eating more fat as well as eating grain free, not just gluten free. It's about grain free. And, and we're grain free because it works for our digestion right now and our health. And it's just, again, just like Jesse said, you got to experiment with it, see what works and try it on. But the health benefits, now the science is coming out for people to understand the relations to autoimmune conditions and, you know, other chronic diseases and how these ways of eating can be truly beneficial, not just for the right now, but for the long term.

Long term, totally. Yes. And I mean, even in Ayurveda, traditionally, it's so grain focused. And in my cookbook, I have a lot of grain free recipes because, you know, thousands of years ago we didn't have like genetically modified grains and crops and all these autoimmune conditions that have resulted from it. So we need to like continually change and reevaluate and see, like, is this working or am I just doing it? Because that's how I've been taught.

Yes, definitely. Always have to be evaluating, testing and seeing what works.

Totally, yes.

So the other question I wanted to.

Talk to you guys about is fruit. I know fruit is such a controversial thing in the health world. Some people, like Medical medium, are all about the fruit. Some people, Candida Spectrum, Keto Spectrum, they're saying it's a lot of sugar. So what have you guys kind of learned about fruit?

Well, back in the day, I didn't mention this before, but I actually did a vegan vegetarian diet for a number of years. And during that part of my life, I got to this one point when I was eating a crazy amount of bananas. And you can actually see a picture on my Instagram where I have a whole counter full of bananas behind me. And when Marnie and I Met actually, I would make this breakfast for us that involved about five bananas, and I would mash them up and make a pudding out of it. And then I would put all kinds of superfoods, green powders, nut butter, honey. It was just like this concoction of superfoods in a banana paste. I called it banana mush. So I've explored around and been heavy fruit at different points in my health journey.

You were also marathoning.

Yeah, that's a good point too. Yeah. So back in the day, I was a marathon runner, so I was burning a lot of calories and pushing it with the running day in, day out. But, yeah, for us now, where we've evolved to, I mean, we rarely. We consume fruit. We have maybe an apple with some nut butter as a snack, some berries. We put berries in our smoothies. We're actually reevaluating our smoothie.

I made a smoothie this morning, and I'm like, we gotta listen to Sahara. We gotta.

Yeah, Since I'm talking to you, we're reevaluating our smoothie. Waste.

I love my smoothie in the morning, but we're balancing out a little bit more.

You could do room temperature.

Just don't do frozen.

Yes. Yeah. So we're figuring that out. Yeah, you mentioned that this morning we're having our smoothie. We gotta figure this out.

So.

But yeah, so basically for us now, it does come down to our berries in our smoothies.

Apple, maybe a little bit of dried fruit. Like you're doing a little bit of dates here and there, but that's it. Yeah, like, we don' twe're not, like, eating oranges or bananas anymore. Once in a while, I do crave a banana, and I'll put it in the smoothie. But I also. I wasn't eating half as many bananas or fruit as Jesse was. But I. At one point in my journey of healthy eating, I'd say it was probably when I was in high school, fruit salads for breakfast and lunch. I'd have it twice a day. I was under the belief system that fruit was so healthy, but I was eating so much of it with a big, huge dollop of cottage cheese on top. And it's interesting, looking back, that that was what I called a meal. That was actually lunch. So now fruit is just something in between. But smoothie would be probably the only meal type of thing that we would have it in.

Yeah, we're not anti. Like, we were just in Florida, so if, like, there's some oranges, you know, locally, we'll consume those or seasonally.

That brings up a good point. Like in the summer when cherries or raspberries or blueberries are in season, like you're not gonna stop me from eating fresh strawberries or buying a pint of them. So I think that's a really important point to bring up is our body is meant to consume certain foods at certain times and during the winter season we don't need a lot of fruit. And especially we're not living in California, we're living in Canada. We got four hardcore seasons and you know, in the summer it is beautif hot weather and there is so much beautiful produce. And that is when your body can, I think, tolerate it and digest it a lot better and you crave it a lot more and it tastes better because it's in its prime. So I think that's a really important point to end on there.

Totally. Yes. Yeah. I mean, we see so many people eating all this pineapple and papaya and coconut water and it's like snowing outside. It's like, do you really think that would have grown locally, seasonally?

Such a good point.

Yes. So I'd love to also know about what are the non food related wellness things that people should be more paying.

Attention to, I would say. And Marnie and I are working on this right now, creating more balance. So, you know, you can be eating all the right food. And we were just talking about fruit and this is out of the realm of food, like you said. I think people really need to evaluate, are they creating time to, you know, go for a walk with their partner, time to play, time to disconnect from their devices. And it's often seen as in today's world, as a sexy thing to, you know, grind it out, push, push, push. And for Marty and I, we've, you know, been caught up in that world at different phases in our entrepreneurial journey. But right now specifically we're well aware of that and we're trying to create balance. And I think people really need to take a full picture and look at how much balance they have within their life and make sure they have it.

Love that. So true.

And sleep, I think sleep is a really, really important one and something that we're constantly working on. And well, I think we've pretty much, I wouldn't say nailed it, but we're really good now about getting to bed between 10 and 11, making sure we're getting good quality sleep in a dark room. And if people are making sure that sleep is a priority for them and putting it first, like before so many other things. And maybe canceling their schedule or canceling their Netflix show date for the night or whatever it is, making sure that sleep is a priority. People are again, talking about wellness trends. You know, this is, I hate to call sleep a trend, but I think people are realizing that the importance of it, Jesse said about being, you know, sexy to be busy. People think it's sexy to get so little sleep. It's not sexy. You're just, you're not going to look very sexy if you don't get good sleep. So put that sleep first.

Well, I think part of it too, with both things we named, they don't cost any money. And a lot of times when people get into this, especially early on, you know, it doesn't necessarily feel like you're doing a lot if you're not out there buying the latest superfood or, you know, investing in something maybe more expensive that's, you know, a little bit harder to obtain. And sleep is free. It's easy. But so many people out there, including ourselves at different times, like Marnie said, we're getting better at it now, but just push that aside and don't really give it the credit it deserves.

Absolutely. And I think people like Arianna Huffington and Deepak, and they're talking a lot more about sleep and it definitely hasn't been sexy in the past. And, you know, we see a lot of these, like, business entrepreneur personalities, like, yeah, don't sleep. Sleep three hours a night so you can get more things done. But then we're realizing, realizing that, like, you're not going to even be a productive human if you're just chronically exhausted.

100% love that.

And I'd love to close off with your six pillars of health. What are they?

All right, so we've addressed a few of them already, but we'll dig back into them. So our first one is hydration and making sure that you are getting good quality water in and making sure you're getting enough hydration in your body every day. So Jesse and I are big fans of if you can get your hands on spring water or at the very least, having filter, filtered water at home. Jesse and I have a big Berkey system, so it's on the counter.

I just bought one and I just don't know how to set it up. It's been sitting there.

It's really easy every month.

Do you have to change the filter or something?

No, with the Berkey, it's super easy. So you have to prime the Filters. There's some stuff you have to do when you get it initially, but the maintenance after it's initially set up is pretty easy. It depends if you have the additional filters you can get or not. But if you're doing the basic filters, you just need to give them a scrub with like an abrasive sponge type thing every maybe six or eight months. It'll be in the instructions, but once you get it going, it's super easy. And then depending on your water, there's like these arsenic and fluoride filters you can add to it. So.

Perfect. I'm excited.

Oh, yeah. Love it. We absolutely love our big Berkey. And we should have gotten bigger. A bigger one. Yeah. So, as I said, so using drinking good quality water every day, starting in the morning with a lot of water and making sure throughout the day you are sipping on water water and using reusable glass water bottles, et cetera. So big on hydration.

And the next one is food. And we're just big on basically going out there and testing out different healthy diets, seeing what works best for you, depending on where you're at in your health journey. It depends on, obviously, if you have a certain health condition too. So there's so many different healthy diets, quote, unquote, out there and finding what's right for you. And. And the biggest thing for Marnie and I is just telling people to just eat real food. So consuming local when possible, organic when possible. Just the basics. It really makes a big difference. Quality is everything.

And sleep. So sleep is, you know, is huge. And we are committed to a dark room. We always make sure that we have, you know, blackout blinds, door closed if you need a sleep mask. That's a really important part of sleep. So not just getting to bed on time, but making sure your sleep hygiene in your room is set up for good quality sleep, as well as your bedding, having maybe some organic bedding or bamboo sheets, cotton sheets, something that you're sleeping on that's not infusing chemicals into your system while you're sleeping. It can make a huge difference. So we are, we are big on our setup of our room and how we sleep.

And our next one is movement. So this one is going to really depend on the person we talked about before. How is training for marathons, running marathons. And I'm on the other end of the spectrum now. So for me, movement is going for a nice long walk out in the sun. And Marnie and I are doing yin yoga now. We're doing that a Couple days a week, we actually have this awesome yin and restorative class we like to do. So it really depends on where you're at and what's going to work for you at that time. But for me, marathon running was wearing me out and it was just too much. I did that for a number of years and now I've gone the other way, so. So finding a type of movement that works for you. And the biggest thing is just fitting in movement throughout the day. So we're on our chairs a lot, we're working behind our computers, we're recording podcasts, we're editing and doing different things. But for us, it's all about having those breaks throughout the day. So we have a dog. And the great thing about her is that she won't let us sit for too long. So every once in a while she'll come in and maybe start barking a little bit bit, and the three of us will get up and go for a walk. So having different little triggers, you can set alarms on your phone or whatever works for you, but making sure you get these different little sets of movement in throughout the day is just so important.

And the next one is self care. So finding time in the day to take care of yourself, doing something that's just for you, whether it's journaling, whether it's meditation or going to a yoga class or a spin class, or just sitting alone and looking at the birds, whatever you need, a bath, essential oils, doing that beautiful morning routine that I know that you recommend, and giving yourself a massage and dry skin brushing, all that stuff is about taking care of yourself. And I think, again, I hate to use the word trendy, but it is trendy these days to take care of yourself. And people are starting to learn more ways and more techniques to take that time and find ways to do that. So build that into your schedule and find ways to love yourself up.

And our last one is spending quality time with family and friends. So having a great network of people around you where you can spend time, disconnect from work and this is just so important for. I'm sure you can relate, Sahara, where as a busy entrepreneur, you have so much going on and it's so easy to just get stuck in the work pattern and getting caught up in the next thing and the next thing, and having that disconnection with family and friends and spending quality time with loved ones is just so important. We talk about this on the show all the time, how you become like the five people you surround yourself with most. And we're just so careful about the people that we're spending large amounts of time with and we really go out and seek amazing people and put that time in and we feel very grateful because we have so many good people around.

I couldn't agree more. And yes, community. In Sanskrit they say kula and it's like the basis, the foundation of everything. So I love those. I love how you clearly defined them all and have shared them with our community. So thank you so much for being.

A part of the highest self podcast.

It really means a lot to all of us. Thank you for interviewing so many amazing people for being one of the pioneers in the health podcast world. It's truly amazing what you both are doing. And when are you guys getting married?

July 15th. Coming up soon this summer.

Oh congratulations. I can't wait to watch all your pictures on Instagram.

Oh thank you.

We're excited.

Thank you. Namaste.

So if you loved this episode, be sure to join us on the Awaken your Powers masterclass where we'll be talking all about abundance. Again. Head over to my website, iamsaharose.com you'll see the Awaken your Powers masterclass with Shaman Durek and we are so stoked to have you. And again, don't forget to pre order your copy of my my book Eat Feel Fresh available on Amazon wherever books are sold. Save your receipt so I'll be able to offer you all the pre order bonuses I have waiting for you. If you loved this episode, I would love to send you a free gift which is the first half of my Eat Right for your mind body type ebook. This is an unreleased book different from my book Eat Feel Fresh which is going to be out October 2nd in big bookstores nationwide. To get the first half free, all you gotta do is leave a review on itunes, take a screenshot before you hit send, and send that screenshot to me at Sahara S A H A R a@eat feelfresh.com and I will send you back the first half of my unreleased book Eat Right for your mind body type Namaste.

It.