081: How To Create Your Own Healthy Habits with Hollan Hamid

Hi, I'm Natalie Jill, fat loss expert turned high performance coach. When odds are stacked against us, how do we shift and create everything from nothing? How do we level up when we aren't feeling it yet or we've had a big setback? On this podcast, I'll be talking to some of the most inspiring and courageous men and women on this planet who at their worst learned how to achieve success greater than they ever dreamed possible. Leveling up and creating everything from nothing. Holland Hamid's journey of health began 12 years ago when she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes and the doctor warned her that after the pregnancy she had about a 60% chance of developing type 2 diabetes. To top that off, she was struggling with endometriosis and kidney stones and had had surgery twice to try to correct it, saying that she was just shy of her 30th birthday. She felt that she was too young to be dealing with all these health issues and she decided to take her life and her health into her own hands. Today she is a vegan and a raw food chef and a cookbook author who has totally turned her health around and strives to inform others of the healing properties of food and choices. On this episode, I dive deep with Holland asking why she feels vegan is the answer for her, the difference in between that and the benefits of other plant based diets and more. Join in today and learn exactly how Holland he made levels up and creates everything from nothing. Today on Leveling Up, I've got Holland Hamid who is an award winning vegan chef. She is a cookbook author and she helps people reclaim their health on their own terms. Thank you so much for being here today, Holland. I am so excited to chat with you today.

I am so thrilled to be here. I am just so excited. I love your podcast, so being able to be a guest on it is definitely a dream.

Thank you for being a guest. Now you are this award winning vegan chef and you have got all these great things working for you right now, but that is not always who you were. Can you take us back to who you were before all of this and why this is so important to you?

Absolutely. So to take you back from the start, I actually grew up in San Francisco. I never actually completed high school which led me to think that I didn't have a lot in my future going. And after I had my first son, I actually just loved being in the kitchen so much that I decided to go to culinary school. And from there it just has grown as I've evolved And so about 12 years ago, I was facing a lot of health problems. I was overweight and. And I took myself on. That's when I found out about eating a vegan diet. And it worked really well for my body. And from there, I started realizing if you have your body, but you don't have a relationship with yourself and your inner self, you really have nothing. And so from there, I really started diving in deep and surrounding myself with people that lived a life that I wanted to live and a life I could be proud of. And in between there, I owned a restaurant for six and a half years to really start to understand about food and my food. And when that was no longer serving me or my growth, I sold it. And that takes us to where I am now, which is about to launch my cookbook and my membership site.

Wow. Okay, now tell me. Because a lot of people, they'll look at it's a health problem or it's an overweight series that connects them to food to begin with, whether it's a vegan diet or whatever it is that they decide the route they go down. But for a lot of people, it also does stay sort of surface level. Like, they just want to lose the weight. They just want to lose the weight. Dive in more about. I would love to know what was the health problem that you were facing? And then also, how did this idea of the relationship with yourself come about? Because not a lot of people ever really get that connection on why that's so important.

Well, I do remember I had had my third kid. It was right before I turned 30, and I went to someone's house, and I don't have a scale at my house. I'm someone who's like, you can't define me as a number. But the scale won that day, and it really defined me as a number. And I just remember feeling so low, and I just felt like, God, I really don't have control of my body. I don't really know how I got here. And I just started learning about health. And I was just so intrigued that foods could actually be what was causing my body to be overweight. And so I kind of threw everything away. I changed to a vegan diet 12 years ago, and I think for about six years I was, like, heavy into everything. I was, like, raw. I mean, I've done everything. Like, it was like, oh, if I just level up. Oh, if I have a six pack. But I wasn't connecting to the fact that, like, I wasn't connected to my body at all. Like, it was just about the way I looked and that people would think I looked good, therefore they would think I was taking care of myself. I. But I was really missing the fact of taking care of myself.

So this is important because I think a lot of people will go to like the fat free, sugar free jello and they're like, oh, I'm eating healthy, but it's not actually fueling your body.

No, I mean, this is a perfect example. Right. It's just today I have this interview. This is a really big interview for me and there's so many different things I could do. But for me today it was so important to connect with myself and to go to yoga. And I think there's so many that we have things that make us feel good and then we go against it. Right? Like, I love the way, like I love the way I feel when I'm eating healthy. And then we switch back completely to eating unhealthy and we become our own worst enemy.

Oh my gosh, I love that you said that. Because one question I always ask clients, especially in the fat loss and nutrition space, is I'll say, ask yourself what this food is doing for you. Because like, something in the moment might give you that instant gratification, you know, gratify satisfaction. You feel good in the moment. Like you pick up the M and Ms. In the moment, but like, then you're mad at yourself after. So it's actually not, it's got this counter problem after.

Yeah, it's like you're almost more upset with yourself for doing it. And you know, it's just this crazy thing. And you know, I work with private clients, so I'm lucky enough that I get to hear what people's theories are on food. And I used to, even six years ago, I would have theories on food. I would have said that I could save everyone and their life with a vegan diet. And then just like the universe has its way with you. I found myself very low emotionally and was like, oh, what am I selling to people? Like, I may not know what's right for someone else, but I have the tools to start asking questions of people. And so it's really become important to me to understand where people's food beliefs come from and also explain what you mean by that.

Food beliefs.

So they're food beliefs, right? Like, fruit isn't good for me. I cannot eat carbs. Carbs make me blow up. Right? Like, if I have that, it's going to throw my health off. And I just like really want to know where these actually come from because we take little bits of information from even people like you or people like me and we don't think of their whole journey and we take one little section of that journey and we adopt it like it's fact and truth.

Yes. Like carrots have sugar. I love that.

Oh yeah. Like, oh, I can't have fruit as too much sugar for me. And believe me, if you do no fruit, you can drop a lot of weight. I also have done it for long enough periods that I see when I don't do fruit, it affects my personality so much I become rigid. But it's for me to see that, like, do I become rigid when I'm not eating fruit? And is that true for everyone or is it true for me? So I really want people to start breaking up their own beliefs and testing it out on their own body.

Okay. I want to and I'm not. I didn't forget about the relationship with self because I want to definitely dive into that. But I want to go, I want to ask you some hard questions about vegan. Are you open to it? And I, and I really want to do this from a place of informing because I do think there and I want to be clear. I'm not a vegan but I do teach an unprocessed natural food diet and I do believe in the power of planning plants big time. So for me and I, and when people come to me because typically they'll come to me when it comes to diet for fat loss or aging. Like they're not happy with how their body is responding to aging or fat loss or pain. Something around there. And I think you and I both agree on the importance of plants and how plants can serve us and help us help our bodies heal. But what I want to know is the details about vegan specific versus like a plant based diet and why one versus the other and the. Do you feel everyone needs to be vegan or can there be a combination? Like I would. I want to dive into that more and understand for people.

Yeah, I mean I definitely am trying to get out of thinking I know what's right for everyone. But I think the difference between vegan and plant based and I mean plant based means it actually it originated from whole foods is kind of the way I see it when you're being plant based. Right. Like plant based is an apple or a smoothie. Vegan includes any food that doesn't include animals. And so I feel like vegan kind of came about, it was more of an animal rights movement. However, so many people Saw health with it. That, I mean, plant based wasn't even a term when I went vegan. And I feel like it came out of moving vegan away from being about animal rights and moving it into the health benefits of.

Interesting. Okay, so when people are vegan, when I. When I meet someone who's vegan and who's passionate about it, usually there's one of three reasons that I've seen. Either animals, they like strong attachment to that, which I understand. Religion is another one. And then the third one is the health one. But the health one is where it gets a little muddy because sometimes the understanding around the health and vegan doesn't add up. Or they have, like you said, partial information and they're applying it with partial information. Or they think they're being healthy with their vegan diet, but what they're eating is not healthy.

Absolutely. Like Oreos and lay's potato chips are vegan.

Right. But they're not healthy.

But they're not healthy. Like, I do not feel good if I eat those foods. Exactly. You know, and I deal with it all the time. People are like, oh, I tried a vegan diet. It didn't work for me. And the thing is, I think everyone needs to know where they're at. Like, for me, it's a hard one, because when I went vegan, it was for health reasons in terms of, like, consciousness or animals. Like, I can say those are definite bonuses for me, but I'm not even that much of an animal person, which is. I find it ironic, but there is a piece of that for me. But for me, it was health. And when I went vegan, I mean, I changed so many different things, and it opened me up to this huge variety of the plant world and what you could eat. And, you know, being a chef, I was able to turn those into incredible dishes. But it was health stuff for me. As soon as I went vegan, I had endometriosis and horrible periods for my whole life, and it was like they disappeared.

So, Helen, this is where my questions come up. Like, for example, for that. So do you think the health issues change because of not having animal products in your diet or because of the flood of vegetables and plant based foods you were adding in? That's what I know.

It's funny because I always kind of try to break this down. Like, was it me? Was it dairy? I don't react to dairy. Could it have been like even an additive or a preservative or something that's done? But all I knew is that one Part of it affected my health so greatly that I wasn't willing to add anything.

Got it. So it's almost like you didn't really know, but at this point you feel so good so you're not going to mess with it.

Yeah. And I'm 12 years into it. I mean, it's definitely my lifestyle. People ask me what I shop for and most of the time I'm like, what do you shop for? Like, I just don't know anymore because those are really only the products that I see. And you know, it's just my norm. Just like someone grabs for chicken, I grab for broccoli.

Yes. Do you believe that somebody could heal and be healthy eating a heavy plant based diet if they're not fully vegan, if maybe they do have some fish in their diet or some eggs or what's your feelings around that?

I mean, I'm talking to you right now, right?

Yeah, but I'm curious and I want.

To have a real conversation about it.

So there's no judgment or like I'm not, I'm not offended. I'm genuinely really curious. I'm always wondering about that.

No, not at all. I mean, I would love to think that way. I always say there's about 5% of me that's a very righteous vegan that I've learned, you know, to kind of shut off. But the truth is I realized it was so humbling. But my grandfather passed away and I had visited him 12 days before and the man was 92 years old. He had a great quality of life and he ate more meat and cheese than I have in my entire life.

Got it.

And it's just humbling. Like I was like, oh my God, I'm teaching people how to live longer and I'm only 42. Like, how about I teach people about vitality in their days and starting to understand about how foods make them feel, how they aren't choosing themselves with some of the foods they're putting in their body.

Yeah. So what do you, what you brought, you brought up some, that some people get very like self righteous about it about. Why is that? Because that is, I've noticed that too. Like there's some vegans that I talk to and it's, it's similar to you where they embrace it for their life and they see its place, but they also are open minded. So, okay, somebody else could be healthy with a lot of plant nutrients and still eating animal products, but there's some that are just downright mean and nasty.

They really are.

But why is that because if you truly are standing for good and health and animal like why mean to other humans? What are your thoughts on that?

I mean I think that right, you are what you digest, right? And I know it because I look at my Instagram compared to like what feed my husband sees. And I think when you are vegan and you are in the community, you see so many things that are wrong in this world that have to do with animal agriculture, you see so many things where, you know, people have diabetes, people are really struggling and I think a lot of people think vegan is the magic pill. But the problem is just like making a change in your life in any sort of thing, right? You are going to plateau. Like I have been vegan, but I also have like worked on my health in all those 12 years with figuring out different things. And so I think it happens is people get so righteous, right? Like the first two weeks they are like, oh my God, my skin's clear, I'm this, I'm that. And their system hasn't gotten used to it to where you have to level up again. And so they think they can fix everyone and they think they can fix the whole planet by it. But I find it a turn off as well. And like for most of the vegans I talk to that are really righteous, like I'm like, how long have you been vegan? You know, and it's like a year and a lot of them, I'll see them in two years and they have so much shame because they're not vegan anymore.

Right, got it.

I don't know why in life and veganism we hold people to a much higher standard than we had for ourselves before we had the knowledge or even a higher standard that we have for ourselves now with knowledge.

I've always felt that I would be open minded to. I know I don't like vegan. For me, I mean I just, I know I'm very comfortable with how I eat and what foods I have and I, and I thrive with that on my own. I do respect my people that are vegan. But I'm always curious why the extreme, like it can only be this way? Because I just believe that everyone's built different, we have different blood, we have different needs and I do change right.

On top of it. You have all those things, but your needs of your bodies change with age, with activity, with everything.

Yes, yes, but I will 100%, I'll share my views that I'm a full believer of a whole food, natural, unprocessed food diet so you get all the nutrients from that. So heavy, plant based. And if you are using animal products to really look at, you know, what type of. Are you really doing? Grass, finished and fed, you know, animals. Are you doing ones that were treated humanely? Well, all of that. So I believe that we take in the energy of what we're eating. So if you are eating animals that were abused and injected with hormones, antibiotics, you're taking that on. I believe that personally.

Yeah, I'm a believer with you there.

So then if I'm understanding correctly, you do feel that people can make their own choices and there's exceptions to rules. You like it for you.

I love it for me. And like, let me be clear, my household is Vegan. I have three children that are about to turn 20 down to 12 years old, and my kids aren't vegan. And this is the thing that I've been humbled and I think a lot of them haven't because there's something humble, very humbling when you believe in something. And then, you know, my children that I grew, they get to come up with their own theories on things.

Yes.

I mean, that was a leveling up for me. It really was.

I think that's a truly amazing way to live on that. So what do you think about. I'm just. I might. I don't know how you react to this one. I know you said you're not an animal person, you don't have animals. But what do you think about when people have dogs and they feed their dogs vegan food? Like, dogs. I have always thought they're meant to eat raw meat or food that's in, you know, the wilderness. So what do you. What do you feel about that?

Oh, my God, that's so humbling to me too. I was just complaining yesterday that, like, somehow the only vegan in my house is the one that has to feed the cats.

Okay.

Because cats can't be vegan. And I have two cats.

Interesting.

Okay, well, I think it's just kind of like everything, right? It's just like people having their own beliefs on stuff and just like the person that feeds their dog vegan, like, there's other people who are overweight that like, have consistent food for their animal that's maybe not great for their health. Yeah. My cats have humbled me. I like. I pretty much live on a bird sanctuary. I'm in Hawaii. I hear the most amazing birds in the world.

Very rough life you have living anymore.

I know, but my cats do leave me birds on.

Oh, wow.

And so that's another leveling up where it's like, I see it and I'm like, oh my God, what did I bring to this beautiful bird sanctuary? I brought, you know, I brought bird killers in and I have to humble it and know it's a way of life.

Okay, I have a few more questions about vegan specific diet. And the reason I'm asking a lot of this too is because I know a lot of my followers follow my nutrition. So I really wanted to bring this in so they can have another understanding of this. So I'm going to ask you some. They might be basic to you, but they're not basic to a lot of us. So when someone says like raw vegan versus just regular vegan, how do you define the difference?

So the difference between raw vegan and vegan is just the cooking of food. Raw vegans, if you're a strict raw vegan, you don't heat up your food. I don't know, is it past 128 degrees or something? So you're using no oven, you're using no cooktop. A lot of your foods are dehydrated. I would say it's a much heavier nut based diet. I've done it quite a few times and it definitely isn't for my body. However, I know people who are raw vegan that are really incredible and are very strict on it and it works very well for them.

And what's the benefit of it? Is it because you're not killing the nutrients by not heating it? What's the theory behind it?

The theory behind it is it's just in its whole form. If we were out, although, you know, it's become like, I don't think back in the day we would have had dehydrators to make buckwheat or anything like that. Yeah. The thought is, is that it has all of its nutrients and so nothing's been cooked out. I have a really hard time processing a lot of raw foods outside of salad. Like, if I eat raw broccoli, I will be in a lot of pain in my tummy. And when I eat cooked broccoli, I feel fine. And so I think it's so important for everyone to start realizing what works for them. And not because if I listen to a lot of health experts, I would be raw.

Got it.

That would have been my next level up. And I got there and I was like, no, this doesn't feel good to me.

Okay, my next question. This is another one I'm sure you get all the time. How do you get your protein?

I want to have a shirt that says how I get my protein, which is, I pay zero attention to my protein intake. Zero. I'm not a big. I'm really not a big bean eater. I would say like a more European. Like, I love potatoes. My body does really good with them. It does really good with different things. I try to get a variety of different fruits and vegetables because all of them have amino acids. And I believe my body has the ability to take amino acids and turn it into a complete protein, just like what happens with animals.

Got it. Why do you think such the concern from people about where do you get your protein when you're vegan?

It is so funny because do you know anyone who has a disease because they're protein deficient in the United States?

I don't, but it is a real question. And as somebody who looks at. But I will share that I do teach using protein to help with appetite, help with cravings, help balance foods, help insulin spike. So I would be interested more in that side of it. Yeah.

You know, it's a kind of funny thing because it's like, what are thoughts on food, right? Like, what is like an actual food or complete thing? And I think it's also super important to know if you're like, trying to eat to be a superhuman, you want to pay attention to that. Like, to me, I'm a chef. I don't even want to run a marathon. I love doing yoga. I love having vitality. But I'm also not trying to become like, a superhuman.

Yeah. What's the connection to another. Another random question you probably get. Maybe you don't, but why so much? I always see, like, yoga associated with vegan. What do you. What's that about? Do you think? Do you think. Is it like the chicken or the egg question? Like, is it because they're the type of person that's into yoga, they're now into conscious eating that way, or is it because they're vegan, they're now finding. What do you think about that?

God, that is so funny. You know, the funny thing is, is I was really into Pilates and I was really into working out hard, hard before that. And I just kind of came to yoga. And the reason for me with yoga is that it's such a head trip, right? Like, I'm 42, and I was going through a pretty hard time maybe about eight months ago. And whenever I'm going through a hard time in terms of, like, you talk about level up, like, I always ask myself like, what can I do to level up here? Like, I'm feeling pretty low. And at that time, for some reason, it just came to me. It was like, do 30 days of yoga.

So, yeah, that's never come to me.

I was like, wait, what?

But I like it.

Yeah. And so I found a studio here. It's called Waves Yoga. And it's just incredible place. And I walked in, and it's under infrared lights, which is really incredible. Oh, that's cool. But the teacher that I walked into, her name's Lulu. And that woman is so downloaded. Like, I go there and I. You know, my body has changed because of going so much. However, like, I'm really there for the head space. Like, I hold yoga poses, and I don't know if this has to do with being vegan or not. And anytime I'm in a hard pose, I really try to see how it. How it's on the outside of my life. Like, what am I facing right now that's really hard? And how can I just hold space for that and space for growth in it? And so, yeah, that's why I do yoga is because I found working out really hard gave me more anxiety. And so for me, there's this calmness that comes with it. And I feel like. Like, every time I come out of yoga, I feel like I've been awakened. But it feels.

And I totally get what you're saying with that, but it just seems to me like every yoga instructor I know is vegan. So that's why I'm like, is it. Does one come before the other? Just so it's just a thing.

And probably because they talk so much about consciousness. Right, Got it. Of not hurting things, of not. So I guess it would be like kind of a natural evolution.

Interesting. Okay.

Yes.

Okay, now I want to circle back to something you said earlier. You were mentioning about the relationship with yourself. Can you talk a little bit more about that and what that means and where that came from?

So I've been really lucky in my life. I don't know if it's manifesting. I'm still kind of moving into this, but I've had a lot of opportunities, and a lot of things in my life really show up for me in incredible ways. And I'm starting to really understand why they have. And anytime I have a very strong. A strong want for something, and I don't allow negativity to get in the way, it's delivered. Right. Manifestation. And so I had won Wheel of Fortune with my husband on the show. We won $52,000.

Oh, my gosh.

I had $10,000 of that left. And I really, really wanted my own restaurant and kitchen. And I thought restaurant that was for sale for $9,000, which is unheard of. Heard of.

Yep.

And I turned that into it. But so in all that time, like, anyone looking at my life would have been like, oh, she has it all together. She's married to the same man. Kids from the same man. Restaurant growth, one wheel of fortune. And I was so low in my life.

Why? What was that? Why do you think that?

I think that like. Like, a lot of people, right? You think when you get to a place that you're gonna have the happiness. If you play the rules of life right, there's gonna be, like, you know, the pot of gold at the end of it. And to me, the pot of gold is happiness. And so I feel like once I had all those things, like, I had enough money in my bank account. Right. Like, I feel like, you know, it gave me, like, a little upper on this island with owning a restaurant. It made me look professional. And I had my husband, and we had three beautiful kids. And I was driving home, and I was like, it's my dream house in my dream place, and I'm in my dream car, and I have never been so miserable in my life. And so I went into the closet on my floor. I wrote a poem about it. I felt like I cried enough to fill the whole closet with tears. And I just felt so, so low. And what I started realizing is I had put so much on the outside world, so much on how my body looked, so much on how I look to other people, that I had completely forgotten about myself.

Wow.

And at this time, I actually was. I had been in talks for about a year with Food Network, and I couldn't believe it, because something like that, an opportunity, you think you'd be like, oh, I'm on top of the world. I live on this little island, and Food Network wants me without me even trying. But what it really created in me was anxiety. Like, people are gonna see I don't have it all together. People are gonna see the holes.

Like, I'll be found out. Like, I'll be.

I'm such a fake. I'll be found out. And lucky for me, I. I kind of did. What I did with my diet was like, this is within me, and I can figure this out. And there's mentors all around, and there are people that are happy and successful, and I need to start talking to them and not to the people that, you know, I always say, like, it's not my quote, but, you know, like, are you asking Fish how to fly? And I realized really quickly I was asking Fish how to fly, and the answers I were getting were really horrible. And so we talked about having some mutual friends in common, but Lewis Howes didn't have that popular of a podcast back then at all. And I had reached out to him, and he became a really good friend of mine and mentored me and started getting me into some different leadership trainings, and I just really started digging deep, and I started getting really honest with myself. And. And every time I wasn't being honest with myself, I would try to bring someone in my life that could help me find that honesty.

Wow. That's really good. That's really so. And that has. Has that impacted you now with what you're doing today and, like, wanting to write this book and step out that way 100%.

I mean, I feel so much freedom in my life right now. And, like, I have highs and lows. I mean, I get annoyed. I have things that come to me, but I'm so grounded in who I am, and I'm so clear with what my purpose on this planet is, which really is just to help others.

I love that when I first started this interview with Holland today, I said, when I share what you do, what do you want me to say? And you said, I loved your answer. It was, I do what I'm called to do, what I feel like doing. And I don't know that anyone's ever answered that question that way to me. So I love that.

That definitely is what freedom is to me. And it took me a couple years to really get it. Like, everyone's like, oh, what do you want to do with your. And I'm like, I just want my life to be like it is now. I want to have the freedom to choose where I put my energy and my time. And I love helping people. Like, if someone falls down or if someone faints or has a heart attack, I am the person that runs to their side. Like, I just love being needed. And what I'm learning is that I've spent 12 years really trying to come up with a recipe for health and the recipe for happiness in my life. And I do feel like I'm really at a point where I get to share that and share it with other people, and I don't have any. I have a few tools, but I don't have, like, a roadmap to get there. But I can guide People and hold their hand and really want to be a reminder that all of it's possible.

So good, so good. Holland, I do have another question. It's something I ask every guest on my show and I'm curious your take on this because you've been there before. If someone is in their own personal rock bottom spot, maybe it's their health, maybe it's their finances, whatever it is, maybe it's the low time when you were feeling what they mentioned you were feeling. If you were to give them some advice on how they can start leveling up and creating everything or nothing, what would you tell them to do that they can start shifting?

So I would remind them that the lotus grows from mud.

Oh I like that.

I would remind them my favorite favorite saying or quote from A Course in Miracles which is he who is sure of the outcome can wait and wait without anxiety. And so I would want them to look at the way they want their life to be in all different areas of their life and who they are and how to show up. And I would give them some tricks and tools that hopefully would get them there.

So good. So good. Where can people find you and when can they get your book?

I believe my book I just am sending in my last edit so it will be about eight weeks. It is for pre sale on Holland hawaii.com when I wrote the book, it definitely is all of my recipes and different things. It's really about having food in the most healthy comfort way there is. I like to think of myself as more of a home cook than a chef. But what I learned very quickly is that although there's very little information on how to actually do it as a lifestyle. So that's where I created the membership site where it really is like my recipe to health how I doctor so.

You can find that@hollandhawaii.com as well.

Yes, absolutely. Both of them are@hollandhawaii.Com and I am an author. All social media under Holland Hawaii.

Awesome. Thank you so much Holland.

Thank you so much. I so appreciate it and I hope everyone can have health and happiness and be able to write their own story.

Yes, thank you. Thanks for leveling up with us today. Please share this episode if you found it helpful so others can join in and don't forget to hit that subscribe so you don't miss miss out on future shows. And if you would leave me a five star review. I appreciate those so much. I read all of them and it's how I know that I'm giving you information that you find valuable and come interact with me over on Instagram @nataliejofit. I read all the direct messages and comments over there. Make it a great day. Creating everything from nothing.

Sam.