Podcast Episode #241: Staying on Track During a Stressful Time

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Subscribe to Real Food Liz! 

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Parenthood! with Liz Wolfe NTP

Diane’s stress management supplement recommendations

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You’re listening to the Balanced Bites podcast episode 241.

Welcome to the Balanced Bites podcast with Diane Sanfilippo and Liz Wolfe. Diane is a certified nutrition consultant, and the New York Times bestselling author of Practical Paleo, The 21-Day Sugar Detox, and co-author of Mediterranean Paleo Cooking. Liz is a nutritional therapy practitioner, and the best-selling author of Eat the Yolks and The Purely Primal Skincare Guide. Together, Diane and Liz answer your questions, interview leading health and wellness experts, and share their take on modern paleo living with their friendly and balanced approach. Remember our disclaimer: The materials and content within this podcast are intended as general information only, and are not to be considered a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Liz Wolfe: Hey everyone, it’s Liz with Diane.

Diane Sanfilippo: Hey.

Liz Wolfe: Hello friend.

Diane Sanfilippo: Hello.

Liz Wolfe: So I have exciting news.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} What’s that.

Liz Wolfe: According to my research about coffee, I’ve been doing a ton of research about coffee, and pregnancy, and just coffee and humanity in general, and things are just always so unclear. Some studies say one thing, some studies say another. But I found this really interesting research that basically suggest that having your coffee with a little fat and a little sugar actually mitigates any of the potential negative effects of coffee. Maybe that could be around cortisol, around blood pressure, things like that. But giving your body a little bit of the good stuff could actually be of great benefit.

Diane Sanfilippo: So interesting. So I typically put some coconut milk in my coffee, and sometimes I’ll put a teaspoon of maple syrup in there; but I think that sometimes is going to become all the time.

Liz Wolfe: I think it should be all the time.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: It’s just one of those things; for the most part, the type of stuff that we teach with the real food and eliminating any kind of refined this and that is on point, but every once in a while we get some interesting science and some interesting suggestions about mechanisms that might indicate that we can take of ourselves in a little bit more of a fun way. So cool! Let’s hear from one of our sponsors.

Diane Sanfilippo: Pete’s Paleo is a friend of the Balanced Bites podcast. They’re bacon is insanely delicious, and sugar free, and their premade paleo meals make your life so much easier when everything is getting busy and getting real food on the table is still a top priority, as it should be. Pete’s Paleo is now offering a 30-day gut healing kit containing bone broth, gelatin gummies, instant organic soup packs, and an E-cookbook. It’s the perfect complement to any anti-inflammatory diet. Get yours today at www.guthealingkit.com. Use code GRABACUPPABROTH to get $25 off; that’s an amazing deal. It’s GRABACUPPABROTH, C-U-P-P-A. And you can grab that code any time at www.BalancedBites.com to just read it and make sure you’re typing it in right. You can also use code BALANCEDBITES to get $5 off any of their regular meal plans. Check out www.PetesPaleo.com today. Pete’s Paleo; bringing fine dining to your cave.

1. News and updates from Diane & Liz [3:17]

Liz Wolfe: Alright, with that; did you run off, did you scurry off and put some syrup in your coffee?

Diane Sanfilippo: I didn’t but I should have.

Liz Wolfe: It’s a good idea. I mean, I’m saying. We put fat in our coffee all day long, but I think adding some of that a little bit of a supply of quick glucose to the body is going to really lower any kind of stress response.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, I could see that. I could definitely see that.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Love it. So what are your updates?

Diane Sanfilippo: So, updates. Quick reminder again about the entrepreneur’s event in Austin. So if you’re coming to PaleoFx definitely join us for; it’s my Badass Business Mastermind. It’s not associated with PaleoFx; I know some people have emailed me, and there’s been some confusion about the two different events. This is just a very small event, maximum of about 25 people, so it’s going to be awesome. Lots of hands on time. You can read more about it linked from BalancedBites.com/events. You also don’t have to be at PaleoFx; so if you live anywhere in the Austin area and you just want to come in for that event, you can get the details on that and join us for it.

Also, the Balanced Bites Master Class. Everything is moving along with that, so just kind of stay tuned; for our listeners, stay tuned for details on that coming up. I don’t know what else; I think the only other update or little reminder I wanted to give folks is something I’ve been talking about for the last week or so, and that is the invitation to “my house.” {laughs} Not actually my house, because as I’ve mentioned, it’s a one bedroom apartment, can’t fit many people in here. And I’ll invite you to Liz’s house; home on the web, as well.

To join us back on the blogs when it comes to comments and questions. Because I feel like the last few years of social media; not to say, don’t engage with us on social media if you have a question, or whatever. But, I think that, and I’ve seen a bunch of you guys from the podcast comments doing this, so I appreciate that and thank you for that. But it’s hard for us to track down all these comments, so I am going to be making this a priority for myself to, when I log into my website, just clicking on that comments tab and going there first when it comes to what I’m responding to on a day to day basis.

Because I want to encourage you guys to come into the blog, make sure you’re there so that if I’m pointing you to a post, or to a page, which I often do. A lot of times folks ask questions, and there’s something that we’ve already talked about a lot of times here on the podcast for example; and this way, you know, you’ll be right there. I can send you over to a post or link you up. That is super easy. I can very easily link you to something when I’m commenting in a reply already on the blog, versus if I’m over on Facebook or Instagram or have to go dig and find a post, it’s just a little bit more hectic. So I just wanted to extend that offer again. Let’s bring it back to the blogs, people.

I think it will be great, and everyone will feel a little bit like they’re being heard more easily, which for me is always the goal. I don’t want someone to throw something out there and it kind of gets lost in the shuffle. Because even if a comment goes by a couple of days, it’s so much easier for me to click and find those comments in the blog versus, especially Instagram is one of the worst for trying to ask a question, because I literally have almost no way to track back if there’s a lot of comments there, it’s hard to really find that. So there’s that. That’s my only other update. What about you?

Liz Wolfe: I’m just shocked that Instagram doesn’t give you notifications just a little bit better.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah. Yeah, it’s like they do, but then; I don’t know that people realize this, and you know, first world problem, {laughs} but you know when you have tens of thousands of people following and asking questions and commenting and whatnot, your little screen for recent activity does not show that much.

Liz Wolfe: No.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because the recent activity will include likes, for example, and one photo that’s been posted will fill up that screen with likes. So if you asked a question yesterday, I’m going to have to go back to all my pictures and find your question, and it’s just not practical. So yeah, we can’t actually see them. I mean, you guys can imagine how that happens, but yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So, my updates. I feel like I have to throw in something about Baby Making and Beyond, even though I don’t have a whole lot of news. We’re still, I mean…

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Give us anything! We need to know anything.

Liz Wolfe: Ah jeeze. Tell me something! So beta testing is on track I believe to begin in late May. We do have some experts on board that we need to coordinate with on some material, and I am the major delay in that. I just; I can’t. I can’t find; there’s no time! I can’t find any time. It’s not there. I need to be able to sit down for 8 hours, like I did with the book, you know work for like 12 days straight and bang this stuff out.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, we’re going to talk about that in this episode.

Liz Wolfe: Yes, we are. At this point, it’s just like scrapping together an hour or two at a time, it’s just so hard. And then always something happens; like the kid gets a fever, or we have to not live in our house for 3 months, and things like that. So, I’m just trying really hard, but I hope people can appreciate the fact that at the end of the day, I’m so freaking; I’m toast. I’m just toast. And there’s a point at which I can’t stay up any later and just bank on the kid sleeping through the rest of the night so I can get 5 hours of sleep straight. I’m just trying to juggle these things.

I know, excuses, excuses. But we’re going to do our best to really reach as many people as we can who have been waiting with the beta test, because I just, I feel like…

Diane Sanfilippo: They’re all waiting to have a baby, by the way.

Liz Wolfe: I know; don’t do that!

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m just kidding {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: If you're a person that is so excited about this program, I want to assure you, and this is probably very bad for my business, but I want to assure you that if you’re waiting for this program, you probably already have 90% of the knowledge and information that you need, if you are that excited to consume this type of information you’re probably right there. And I’ll be able to provide some; maybe some reassurance in the program, but don’t want {laughs} to get pregnant for this program to come out; please. I love you, please don’t.

But, it’s really my fault. Meg is totally on top of things. But please, go join my Facebook group. It’s a private group; it’s called Parenthood! With Liz Wolfe, NTP. There’s a ton of good stuff going on in that group. It’s not exclusively like a crunchy, hippy, home birth thing. The whole point of this program is to not just try and gear people that way, because it’s not right for everyone. It in fact wasn’t right for me, as much as I wanted it to be. This group is meant to support all parents who are doing what they’re doing with love and wanting to learn and wanting to support other parents. So there is no dogma, there is no judgment, and at this point I feel like we’ve been able to shut down any kind of dogma or judgment fairly quickly and compassionately for folks. So I really want it to be a safe space. So join that group if you’re up for that kind of thing, because that group is obviously and for sure going to be the first set of people that’s going to hear about the beta testing and updates and all of that, because they’ve just been so hopeful to one another and to me. So I’ll be letting the community there know about updates first.

Diane Sanfilippo: Cool. We’ll link to that. I know a couple of people had asked and had trouble finding it, even though I know you spelled it out.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah that’s weird.

Diane Sanfilippo: We’ll link to the group; I know you have to request, I guess.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: But we’ll link to it in our show notes, too. So if you’re driving and listening or out jogging or at the gym, you can always go to BalancedBites.com or RealFoodLiz.com and make sure you grab the notes there. I think they typically go up on BalancedBites.com first.

And I just want to throw this in before we move on to our next segment, that I know as an entrepreneur and a solopreneur that you feel a ton of pressure, especially because you’ve told people what you’re working on, to deliver on it by a certain time. {laughs} Pun intended.

Liz Wolfe: Ha, ha! Oh, that was funny. I didn’t even get that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Get it?

Liz Wolfe: I didn’t get it.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh gosh, I’m so funny. Ok, I know you feel a ton of pressure, and I know as listeners, and I listen to other people’s shows and they’re talking about projects they’re working on; for the most part, I tend to have a mindset of, it’s going to take as long as it takes, and sometimes we just want to talk about it, because to kind of say that there are no updates when there is an update, it’s just maybe not moving as fast as you want, or whatever. I still think it’s valid to kind of give the check in and the update; but I just want to say this. The fact that life and baby and all of the non-work stuff just takes priority; I don’t see any reason to apologize for that.

Liz Wolfe: Thank you.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think that’s totally appropriate. It’s the first year-plus of your baby’s life, and I think it was extremely…

Liz Wolfe: Hilarious?

Diane Sanfilippo: No, I just think, you know…

Liz Wolfe: That I thought I could do it? {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Maybe. Maybe, maybe that’s it. I don’t know, I don’t know what the word is. I’m at a loss for the right word right now. I appreciate that you wanted to get this done by a certain time, but I also think in hindsight, down the road, you won’t regret having made the baby the priority, you know. And I think it also makes the most sense, for the fact that it is a program about baby-making and beyond. It’s not about just before you're pregnant; it’s not even about while you're pregnant. It’s about kind of that whole time frame, and you’re still in it. So, I think for you to give yourself that piece of grace; it’s only been a year since you had her. There’s always time to work. You can’t ever get the time back of your child being a certain age. I’m trying to remind my mom now that I’m pushing 40 over here, and she can stop helping with some things {laughing}. You know, I don’t think as a parent that will ever go away, but anyway I just wanted to give you that.

Liz Wolfe: Thank you.

Diane Sanfilippo: Maybe just, you’re ok. You’re ok!

Liz Wolfe: Thank you, I needed that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Why do parents always say that to their babies? {laughing} You’re ok.

Liz Wolfe: You know what; I actually don’t say that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ugh, you’re not ok; you're bleeding! {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: This is really interesting, I don’t say that. But, because; so, it’s just so interesting. I think parents say that more for themselves; like, you’re ok; right, right? You’re ok. To reassure the kid, but I feel, for some reason when I used to say it I felt like I was telling her how she should feel and that she shouldn’t feel hurt or sad or stunned or whatever. Because I always; so many times in my life I’ve felt that the narrative about my own feelings has been different from what my feelings actually are, and that always felt like this weird disconnect for me. Like, I feel this way, but I shouldn’t feel this way.

So, it’s probably completely ridiculous and nonsensical, but in those moments where I feel like I want to say you’re ok; instead I’ll say, I’ll kind of just narrate what happened.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Like, you fell down and that hurt. I’m right here. I don’t know why, but it brings…

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} You're such a good listener. That’s such a good listener way to be.

Liz Wolfe: I’m trying really hard. There are just, there are certain things that I just can’t figure out how to do in parenthood. I just can’t change who I am, even though changing who I am might in some ways make me a better parent. There are things I just can’t get past. {laughs} But there are a few things that I can pause and remember in that moment; I want to do something a little bit different here because it makes me feel more connected, and I hope it makes her feel more connected, so I’m going to do this thing. {laughs}

Overarching parenting philosophies with tons of rules and regulations have not worked for me, but finding those little things that make me feel more connected and more emotionally; what’s the opposite of discordant? Harmonious?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Has been really, really cool for me. But you’re right, that’s a thing! You want to say; you’re ok, you’re ok! You’re fine!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And maybe they are. But if she’s not, I don’t want her to feel like it’s wrong. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: You what I think, too; it’s actually, what I actually think is a better thing to say is, you’re right to feel that way. Like you’re ok; it’s not just, you’re ok; it’s whatever you’re feeling is ok.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah!

Diane Sanfilippo: Ooh. Alright, this is total tangent.

Liz Wolfe: That’s alright.

Diane Sanfilippo: We’ll have to take this one on in another episode. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: The Balanced Bites podcast is sponsored in part by the Nutritional Therapy Association. The NTA trains and certifies nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants, including me; I’m an NTP, emphasizing bio-individuality and the range of dietary strategies that support wellness. The NTA emphasizes local, whole, properly prepared nutrient dense foods as the key to restoring balance and enhancing the body’s ability to heal. Nutritional therapy practitioners and consultants learn a wide range of tools and techniques to assess and correct nutritional imbalances. To learn lots more about the nutritional therapy program, go to NutritionalTherapy.com. There are workshop venues in the US, Canada, and Australia. Fall registration will open June 2016. I know the price is increasing next year, so do not wait. If you see the NTA as part of your future, get started now. You won’t regret it.

2. Shout out: Nutritional Therapy Association [16:47]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, I’m going to do a shout out. Are we all ready for a shout out?

Liz Wolfe: ‘K.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. Are all two of us ready? So this is a quick shout out to the NTA, the Nutritional Therapy Association, who is one of our show sponsors, because we have awesome news. For any of our listeners who are NTPs or NTCs, I know we have tons of those types of guys and gals. The NTA has granted us permission to award 30 continuing education units for NTPs and NTCs who successfully complete the 21-Day Sugar Detox certified coaches program in its entirety; and we will probably have another enrollment for that program at some point, I’m not sure when, but within the next maybe 6 months or so. But we’ll find out when. I believe if you are currently a certified coach, we have a little link in our group. So if you’re just hearing this for the first time for some reason you did not see it in the group, make sure you check that out. But obviously our group currently is just a couple of hundred and growing in terms of certified coaches.

But, this is kind of a little perhaps foreshadowing as well for the Master Class. So for those of you who are NTPs or NTCs, or want to become one, or are enrolled in the program how, or have been thinking about it, etc. Cool stuff on the horizon coming from us in terms of additional studying that you can do along these lines that will provide you with some of those CEUs. So, long story short, I’m thinking that even if you’re not interested in being a 21DSD coach; which, totally cool, whatever works for you. But we will probably have sort of CEUs going for the Master Class, as well. So I’m pretty psyched about all of that, thank you so much to the NTA. We love them; we love having them on board as a sponsor. And that’s about it.

Liz Wolfe: Very cool.

3. Today’s topic: Stress management [18:46]

Liz Wolfe: Ok, today’s topic.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes!

Liz Wolfe: We’re going to talk about staying on track, and we can talk work, food, whatever. Staying on track during a stressful time.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: This kind of is growing out of our recent conversations; I mean, am I right?

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, totally. Like, the whole fatigue thing, which I feel like the fatigue situation is when we’re dealing with a stressful time, right? I mean, and for some people a stressful time is all the time, and for some people it’s much more punctuated. But yeah, for sure.

Liz Wolfe: Ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, ok. {laughs} Should I throw out my caveat now?

Liz Wolfe: Yes, and then I’ll throw out my caveat. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok. So, as you said, we’re kind of following up on last week. And I know that last week, it kind of was a little bit of a; Liz’s getting advice from Diane type of episode, which it just happened to unfold that way about the specific topic at hand. But I want everyone to know about me; if you’ve been listening for a while, maybe you know this, but if you’re new to the show maybe not. I’m really not that organized of a person. {laughs} I’m not super neat; I try my best, I want to be neat. I don’t like to have things kind of be strewn about; you know, if my clothes aren’t all put away, I don’t like that it’s not done. It just doesn’t become a priority for me.

So I’m not one of those people, when I start talking about; get a paper planner, and write this down, and blah, blah, blah. That’s not normal for me, that’s how I deal with stress, is I create the structure because I have to. And I will only do it because I have to do it, because I know that things cannot get done without some kind of order. And the truth for me is that because I’m this rebel personality, as annoying as that is, I very much am driven by; well, I’m going to deliver on this project that I’ve committed myself to, and so I’m going to do whatever it takes to make that happen. But I’m also not going to sacrifice who I am and what I’m all about to do that. So in order to get the thing done that I don’t want to do, I’m going to find a way to do all the things that I do want to do and fit it into a structure.

So we were talking about that last week, where you’re like; well, if you want to work out, and you have to record the podcast, what gives, whatever. Well, the truth is I’m scheduling my days so that I don’t have to say something gives; I don’t have a child, so I don’t have those slightly less predictable things that will come up. Which, obviously that’s a bigger issue as a parent, and Liz and I are going to do, almost like a she says, she says point-counterpoint on how I’m approaching things and how she’s approaching things to try and get all this stuff under control.

But I just want you guys to know, I don’t typically like a schedule; I don’t like to be scheduled, I don’t like things on my schedule.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: I don’t like appointments that are not something fun for me; I don’t like appointments for calls. I have a team call every week that I’ve chosen to have; I don’t like having that on my schedule. I like talking to my team, I like when we’re done with it because it was a good thing to have done, but I don’t even like that it’s on my schedule. So I’m just putting that out there, so when you guys are hearing this, you’re not thinking; well, she loves to have her whole day scheduled out. No. I do not. {laughs} I do not. {laughs} I do not.

Liz Wolfe: This is why we have never, ever recorded a single podcast at the same time on the same day on a repeating schedule ever in 4 years. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} Ever! In the beginning, did we do it?

Liz Wolfe: I don’t know!

Diane Sanfilippo: Like a few weeks maybe when we were doing them; they were live, in a sense.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, somebody could maybe listen.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Potentially.

Diane Sanfilippo: For a few weeks. But that was when neither of us had much else going on.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Yeah, there was very little on my calendar at that point. But that’s ok.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: You know, I actually don’t have a caveat, now that I think about it. I think you pretty much touched it all.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well are you typically a schedule person? So, let’s just think before baby, would you have had a schedule written out, do you like having a schedule, do you like doing things that are planned and consistent and you’re crossing them off and whatever; or, did you have less order to the day before the baby.

Liz Wolfe: It’s such a good question, and I don’t have; I mean, I guess if I had to give a one word answer it would be no. But, I will say that there were many times that I have bought a paper planner, gotten all the stickers, had little note cards, really started setting the structure for really great organization, and really I think I had more fun with buying the planner and moving the stickers around and organizing things than I actually had executing the things that they were there to support.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: So I don’t know what it is. I like getting a new planner, I like writing things down.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think everybody does like that part too.

Liz Wolfe: I think everybody does, too.

Diane Sanfilippo: If you don’t like office supplies and stickers and pens.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Sharpies!

Diane Sanfilippo: Then I’m not sure, yeah. The best.

Liz Wolfe: I agree. But, for when I was really; when work was my number one priority and the thing that I could think about, sustainably and when I was in a time of my life when I felt like my sense of, I don’t know. In that space, I don’t even recognize myself anymore from back then, just because I’ve had to let everything go. But I probably was most effective when I hired somebody to be the organized one. I hired someone with that personality type, Amy, who is amazing.

Diane Sanfilippo: Ok, that’s because you’re an Obliger, so you like to have someone to answer to.

Liz Wolfe: Oh yes. I had to.

Diane Sanfilippo: Even though you were the boss.

Liz Wolfe: That was literally the job description; it was, I want you; like, her folder in my Gmail is Amy the Boss.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughing}

Liz Wolfe: Like I hired her to be the boss of me.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: And did an amazing job. And we still, you know, we’re still working together a little bit here and there, but both of us became moms this year and it’s just been complete reshuffling, figuring out how things are going to work. But that was definitely; I couldn’t force myself into being a consistently and sustainably organized person without someone kind of holding that; like cracking the whip. So I would love to be an organized person.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, so that’s why we have this podcast every week, because I do that.

Liz Wolfe: You are; yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m the one who’s like; Liz, we have to record. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: And I’m like; ok! Yeah, I can do that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah totally. But I would love to be that way.

Diane Sanfilippo: Well, I think it’s fair to have the desire to be the one who can uphold and do all that stuff without needing the outside influence. But I think it’s more important to just know yourself, and I think that’s part of what we’re talking about here, because we’re going to go through our ideas and what works for us, but everyone has to know what works for you. And I think that for you, you kind of hit the nail on the head. When it seemed to be going the best was when someone else; despite the fact that you’re the entrepreneur and you are the boss, right; she was kind of the boss of you in that sense.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: And you really did deliver. So, with right now, you're in a situation where even if you had someone kind of cracking the whip on, let’s say, Baby Making and Beyond, it’s a different stage of life. So it doesn’t mean that you’re going to deliver in the same way.

4. How we tackle things [26:16]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so let’s kind of talk about how we do tackle things now. Because you’re still getting things done; even if it’s not {laughs} at a pace you think you want, or exactly as planned. Some things get done, you’re still here.

Liz Wolfe: Here and there. I mean, we still have a podcast.

Diane Sanfilippo: We still have a podcast. I still get emails from you.

Liz Wolfe: Yes. Now and again. We still have…

Diane Sanfilippo: I see you posting on Instagram, because that tapes from Ace of Base and very important things.

Liz Wolfe: Yes! See, that’s the thing; ok, so I think that I do have, and I’m sure this is something that other people feel as well. I have guilt about; well, if I can’t do everything, should I just do nothing. So there really is; you have to be in the right mindset, you have to have the time, you have to have the spread to really work on something substantial, say Baby Making and Beyond, but watching my kid while my parents clean out their house, that’s a chunk of time. So I’m like; ok I’ll take a picture of this cat video that they found while they were Konmari-ing, or whatever that concept is.

Diane Sanfilippo: Tidying up, yeah.

Liz Wolfe: And posting it on Instagram, and people are like; I see you on Instagram. I see you on Facebook, are you not getting any work done. You know; if you have time for that, don’t you have time for this. And, no.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh, that takes 30 seconds. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Literally, it takes 30 seconds. I made a little video today about the sunscreen that I use and put it on Instagram. That took 15 minutes, and half the time I was nursing my kid on one boob, and half the time…

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: You know, I mean those are things that you don’t have to bring whole-hearted focus to.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah.

Liz Wolfe: So it’s a totally different thing. I forgot how I got there.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, yeah. So you had a point here.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing} Somewhere in there.

Diane Sanfilippo: You did have a point. No, you said, if I can’t do everything should I just do nothing, and I think that’s a good sort of entrepreneur; that sounded very New Jersey. Entrepreneur. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Dunkin’ Donuts.

Diane Sanfilippo: Entrepreneur. I can’t say that word now. Solopreneur, maybe you’re working a day job and trying to do stuff on the side for whatever the passion is that you’re trying to turn into a business. There is a sense of overwhelm; I think a lot of that comes from social media. I mean, you and I both remember what it was like to literally have social media just be Facebook.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: Like, when we started our websites, it was the website itself and Facebook.

Liz Wolfe: And Twitter, a little bit. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Yeah, you’re right. A little bit Twitter, but mostly people were getting our updates via RSS to email, it was coming through email. So this whole sense of overwhelm, sense of comparison to the degree that it exists now, I think was way less. And I think that everyone needs to figure out; what’s the thing that you actually can manage, and also maybe don’t hate doing. Like, it doesn’t seem like you hate posting to Instagram, and you can manage it, so go with it. And if it means that you can’t manage to write new blog posts every week or whatever the case may be, then you don’t.

I also think probably one of the biggest tips that all entrepreneurs; and I’ve mentioned this on the Badass Business podcast; things that we need to be aware of are using something for multiple purposes. So, perhaps you made a video that goes on Instagram, but maybe the caption could just be expanded upon in a few more sentences, and that’s a blog post.

Liz Wolfe: So true.

Diane Sanfilippo: That could be ok.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: And that’s one of the things that we do with this podcast. We make video clips from them; we’re putting clips of quotes on Instagram, whatever else. A reminder to everyone; I don’t do any of that. I don’t do any of it. Liz and I sit down and we record this; it takes us however long it takes it, and then that’s the last thing I do for this podcast every single week. So, if you have someone to help you, that’s it. If you don’t have someone to help you, then you don’t have to worry about creating a million things every week. Because here’s the other side of that; most of the people who are following us are overwhelmed when we try and create too many things every week. What?

Liz Wolfe: Did you hear that?

Diane Sanfilippo: What.

Liz Wolfe: That was super weird.

Diane Sanfilippo: What happened?

Liz Wolfe: It went, following, following, following, following us. Ok, you're fine. I thought when you said whoa, I thought you were responding to that. I’m sorry. Sorry Scott.

Diane Sanfilippo: No, I just, I actually was responding to myself and my amazing thought process there.

Liz Wolfe: I’m so sorry.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} I’m just kidding. It’s ok. So, you're ok. {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} You said it too.

Liz Wolfe: You're right to feel that way.

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m just throwing it out there for people who are overwhelmed, and entrepreneurs and the whole social media blogging, etc., thing we can create one thing a week, and that’s ok. For a while, Liz, I don’t know if you remember; for a while I didn’t blog. I didn’t do anything except this podcast every week. I mean, that’s the only thing that hit my blog every week for at least a year.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

5. Getting big chunks of work done [31:26]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright.

Liz Wolfe: Ok, I had an epiphany while we were talking about that.

Diane Sanfilippo: Oh my gosh. What.

Liz Wolfe: So, as far as the things that you can manage versus the things that you don’t necessarily have brain space for in any given moment, I think the key is to recognize when you are using the time that you could actually be going more in depth with a task to just do a bunch of little things that maybe aren’t the best use of that time. So, I can always Instagram; there are things that I can always do. But when I really get that chunk of a couple of hours to actually work, I often find myself doing all those little tiny tasks.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: Instead of muting those things and really working on the big thing. So I think that’s task mastering a little bit.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s a good point. So for me, I can identify the chunks of time ahead, because I can control that. But for you, maybe it’s recognizing this pattern and that sometimes you didn’t anticipate that you were going to have this hour or two; but when it crops up, maybe having something that is written down or planned out that’s like, when I have this hour or two hours, this is the next thing I need to do. You know what I mean? So maybe you don’t know this will happen tomorrow, but it’s kind of like; when that opportunity presents itself, here’s the thing I have to do. And on it are a list of things to talk about; like, what to do first. I mean, I think the thing that you don’t want to do is the thing that you have to do first. It’s got to be like the hairy, ugly, whatever. The frog {laughs} whatever the expression is anybody wants to use.

And here’s my other thing I was going to say as a tip, because you mentioned doing these little things; they have a lot of instant gratification, right? Like, an Instagram post; there’s instant gratification. Writing a section of Baby Making and Beyond has no instant gratification, so it’s really hard to force ourselves to do that type of work. But what I do {laughs} and this cray-cray, because I don’t know how many people might do this. But I have work rewards for getting work that I don’t want to do done. So, here’s work that I do want to do; I want to design stickers for my teams planners that we’re going to be using.

Liz Wolfe: Oh my god.

Diane Sanfilippo: It’s a shiny object to me.

Liz Wolfe: Of course you do. Because you're a designer! You're a designer.

Diane Sanfilippo: Right, but there’s something you might want to do. Maybe you actually want to write another blog post about something skin care related.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because you’re really into it right now, and it’s kind of top of mind and you’ve been researching, but you have this other big project that you also do want to work on. You and I; we have a lot of big projects. And we want to work on them; we actually just want them to be done.

Liz Wolfe: Yes!

Diane Sanfilippo: We don’t really want to work on them, but we want them to be done. But in order to get them done, we have to do that stuff that we don’t want to do first. My experience in the last few weeks of working on another big project that I really don’t want to do, but I really do want it to be done; I’m feeling awesome getting the stuff done that I hate.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I feel so good crossing it out, and being like yes! I did that.

Liz Wolfe: {laughing}

Diane Sanfilippo: I’m so glad I did that, because now I can move on and it’s not weighing on my mind anymore, and I actually think that the emotional space that that takes up in our brain is very heavy.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: How much space and energy working on something big takes, you know.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, yeah. It’s like leaking energy, almost.

Diane Sanfilippo: Totally.

Liz Wolfe: You want to get that energy back.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because you won’t stop thinking about it because it’s that important, and you have to do it and you want to do it; but it’s just, thinking about it takes a lot of energy, but it doesn’t help it get done. {laughs} You know. So, interesting.

6. Doing the big hairy scary things first [35:18]

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, so I definitely think we need to motivate people to get those hairy, whatever, big scary things done first, but we do need to always break things down into what can be done in about an hour or two hours.

One of the things that I really like doing, and Liz at some point I know you were saying you will have more daycare or something like that, and I do think that that will give you maybe a little bit of the reprieve that you need in terms of time, and mental space that’s disconnected for that short period of time. I really like to work at a coffee shop. You guys have seen me doing this for the last few weeks, because I feel a sense of, I have to get something done before I leave.

So if I go there in the morning, I’ve worked out, I’m eating breakfast, and I’m going to stay there until I need to go home and eat lunch. But before I close my computer, I have to be able to cross something off; or, the other thing is, I have to make really good headway on something even if I couldn’t finish it, at least I kind of really dug in and my brain is ready to get right back into it the next time I open my computer. For me, that really helps. I don’t know what you can say, what have you seen working. Because you have gotten some work done; so what has happened in busy mom life that is actually helping?

Liz Wolfe: Ha!

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I’m not sure. I don’t know; I don’t know if I can answer that yet. I’m working on it.

Diane Sanfilippo: What actually transpires the days where you are able to get an email written, or a blog post or what have you. How does that come to be?

Liz Wolfe: So it’s either after the kid goes to bed; you know, something that should take an hour ends up taking 3 hours because like I said, I’m toast, my brain is not working. It’s kind of like when you’re reading the same page over and over and over again of a book and you’re just not retaining any of the information.

Diane Sanfilippo: That’s what happens to me every time I read.

Liz Wolfe: Well, yeah, I mean.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I know. I know. But, it’s that, so it’s either at night and you’re kind of taking a gamble on how much sleep you're going to get, or it’s on the weekend. So I was just talking to my husband today about how; man, it’s just kind of a bummer to work on the weekends when that’s literally the only time that we could have as a family. As a 3-person unit. But right now, she spends time with her dad and I work for a couple of hours at a time. So that’s kind of where the time is coming.

And I really am borrowing from family time. But it’s the least borrowing that I can do right now. We also have an amazing friend who takes care of our little one along with her little one, and they kind of have fun, they play outside. It’s a good situation while I go off into another room and work. But I don’t know, I’m learning. I have no idea, so feedback from anyone is welcome.

Diane Sanfilippo: So I think what you said about the weekend time, and feeling like you’re borrowing from family time. I get that; I definitely get that. But I think it’s also; what I see happening is, for me and it sounds like this is happening for you too. When the time is that much more meaningful, it hyperfocuses you as best {laughs} as best as possible right? To actually do something meaningful in that time.

Liz Wolfe: I do believe that with this scenario. Yeah.

Diane Sanfilippo: You know what I mean? So, this is one reason why I like working on vacation, and people think that that’s crazy and it’s not disconnected, and whatever. Obviously, we all know, I usually don’t care what people think when it comes to stuff like that {laughs}. I love to work on vacation because there is always this little bit of down time that I can get something done, and then I’m like; great, now my reward is I get to go to the beach, or whatever.

So, in this case, and we did this just yesterday; so today is Sunday. Yesterday, I went to the gym in the morning, I did my workout, then I went and worked on a project for a little bit, and hiking was on our calendar yesterday. I was like, we’re going to go for a hike after lunch. And for me, that made the time of work that much more sort of meaningful. Like, I really need to focus and get this done now, because then I have this other time here.

And I think, kind of what you were saying before about spending time on little things, like just ending up Instagramming or doing little things instead of getting the big stuff done. As much as it sounds maybe cheesy to schedule the quality time with your family, I think that does help you divide; ok, I did my work. Now I’m going to spend time with my family and not be thinking, “I should be working.” Or vice versa, you know what I mean?

Liz Wolfe: Yes. I’m really, really struggling with that right now, actually. That articulation of things. It’s so hard, because that’s not the orchestration of the day, that’s the mental capacity to put a hard line in between the work and then turning that off, and turning on the family thing. Because I always am thinking of the other when I’m doing the one.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, that’s; I mean, then this is perfect that we just verbalized that.

Liz Wolfe: Yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: Because I think, I definitely struggled with that too, a lot, and typically in the “I should be working” realm. I don’t typically struggle in the “I should be spending more time” because I don’t have kids, and it’s just Scott and I, and we’re together like 24/7. I don’t even feel guilty checking my phone at dinner together, because we are together so much.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: That we’re like, I don’t have anything else to tell you, you saw my whole day. I don’t need to tell you what happened today. But I do think that when it comes to the work and not feeling guilty about not working, this is really helping punctuating the time; it’s so important for people who are entrepreneurs, because when you have a 9 to 5, you leave work at work. And when you’re an entrepreneur, you don’t.

Liz Wolfe: Mm-hmm.

Diane Sanfilippo: And you will always have that feeling of guilt. Because there’s always more we can be working on, but I do think that this is where the people who have always been good at scheduling themselves win. Because they do delineate and I think this is another one of the things where personality types can dictate this too; but for a lot of people, the boundaries create freedom.

Liz Wolfe: Totally.

Diane Sanfilippo: So giving ourselves those boundaries of; now I’m working. Ok, I don’t need to be thinking I should be with the baby, I should be with my husband, I should be doing this. No, I should be working now. This is when I’m supposed to work. Everybody else’s expectation of me is that I’m working right now. This is when you feel guilty for Instagramming when you should be writing or whatever it is.

Liz Wolfe: Yes, yes.

Diane Sanfilippo: If you want to feel guilty about that, I think that’s warranted, right? Letting yourself be distracted and all of that. And that’s actually what works for me. Where I’m like; no, I have to get this work done now, because I’ve arranged the rest of my day to go for this hike, and I don’t want to cut short on that. I don’t want to say, no we can’t do it because I didn’t get my work done that I needed to get done. So I’m not going to let him down, so you're not going to say to your husband; “no, I can’t because I didn’t do the work that I needed to do.” I mean, look it might happen some days {laughs} it doesn’t get done, but you know what I’m saying.

Liz Wolfe: Oh, it’s all so true.

Diane Sanfilippo: Give ourselves that pressure more.

Liz Wolfe: You know what, I have an assignment out of this now.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I mean, really there are a lot of things where I’m like; I can’t do that, it’s just so hard, I haven’t found that balance yet. But there are some things I can own and I can do, and that’s definitely one of them.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yay! You might need to put Bosswoman Amy back in charge of some things.

Liz Wolfe: I know.

Diane Sanfilippo: So, ok. So, let’s see. What else did we want to talk about; breaking up big tasks. I feel like we talked about that already. We talked about that last week, but do you think that’s something, the concept of breaking up these big things, right, if you think I need to write this whole module, for example, that’s just not doable. So it doesn’t get on the list. Let’s say Liz has two hours; that’s not something that can be start and finish in 2 hours.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. I think my biggest barrier to that has been; and for me it’s always talking about barriers, because sometimes I need to talk that stuff out. My biggest barrier to that is, first of all it’s hard for me to say, I can’t do X with these 2 hours. You know, it’s scary to say I can get maybe 3 paragraphs of really hard scientific good writing done in 2 hours, and so instead I’ll say, oh I’ll try and do it all in 2 hours, and then nothing gets done.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: So, I mean part of it is just being honest with yourself.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: About what can get done in that amount of time, and not being frightened by the fact that it seems like so little, because the little things are what add up to the big things. So I definitely think breaking up the tasks like that, and you have a little example written here in our document; instead of saying, I’m going to spring clean my entire house, break it up into bathroom products, kitchen drawers, kitchen cupboards, pants and shorts. {laughs} That’s funny. Pants and shorts. Yeah, I mean, you want to put those in different places.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: But yes, I mean break it up. That might be a little harder to do with work, because sometimes that involves actually really conceptualizing where that task is, and the entire scheme of things. And it might be different from day to day. This is our status this week, and these are the tasks we can break out. And then the next week, we might have to reintegrate certain things, break things up differently. It really takes a willingness to spend a minute; whether that’s when you’re nursing your kid or when you could be taking a little break and watching Bravo {laughs} to conceptualize the outstanding tasks that you have, and how they can be broken up for the upcoming work session that you have to give to it.

Diane Sanfilippo: 100%. And I think also if someone else is expecting the thing to be done, the work to be done, we need to; this is the part where we know ourselves, right, and managing our stress. So this is about staying on track, and part of staying on track is staying on schedule during a stressful time. Knowing ourselves well enough; and some of this is hard to do because we’re taking on new types of work that we’re not sure how long it will take. But if we’re honest about it with ourselves; for example, like you said, writing something that’s going to involve a lot of science, whatever. You’ve dealt with that already with writing your book, so you know how long some of that takes.

That’s one of the things that I had to do some of the stuff I’m working I am obligated to turn it into someone else, and I had to tell her; here’s how much time this will take. And I realized how crazy some of it sounded when I was like, these three things will take me a whole week. And she’s like, ooo-kay. And I’m like, that’s how long it’s going to take. I’m not going to be shy on how much time it’s going to take, because that’s only going to hurt me in the long run. I’m going to tell you; if anything, I’m trying to stretch how long I think it will take because then I at least buy myself a little bit of time, right? But if I’m too eager or too overly ambition and unrealistic, it doesn’t actually help anything. It doesn’t get anything done. So, I think that’s a good point there.

7. Staying on track with healthy eating during times of stress [46:58]

Diane Sanfilippo: When it comes to keeping ourselves on track, let’s talk about staying on track with food and healthy habits. Is this something that you have felt at all has gone haywire for you, with managing work, managing baby, managing all of that, or have you felt like everything seems pretty on the up and up and legit.

Liz Wolfe: It’s certainly changed I feel that I don’t have; or I haven’t figured out how to find the time I used to have. Because we’re just adjusting; she eats three meals a day, I’m trying to cook a kid 3 healthy, diverse meals that will expand her palate and nourish her body, three times a day, and thinking of myself in there, and also I don’t want her to choke so I’m cutting things into little pieces. I mean, it’s like; meal times are a completely different animal than they used to be. And I’ve found it difficult to think about and prep and plan and create food that is as nourishing as maybe I was able to do when she was 6 months old, and I could just plop her into the baby Bjorn; you know, reclining bouncer thingy with the organic cotton cover that I really like, and fix a meal for 30-45 minutes. Now, it’s like, “Mom! The meatloaf!”

So I just don’t have that time, so it’s been hard. And I have found that; it’s kind of funny, I was talking to my mom the other day about, you know what I really like about pizza as a concept, is that it’s a ton of calories, fat, protein; it’s got the meat, it’s got everything all in one place, and you can just have one giant piece of pizza and you're done. And she’s like, wait, isn’t it bad that it’s got a ton of calories all in one place? And I’m like, no man. Sometimes I need to just have 5 bites of food and know that I’m going to be metabolically ok, and know that I’m going to be nourished, and I’m going to be full for the next 4 or 5 hours.

So I don’t know; that’s not offering any actual suggestions at this point, but just maybe some solidarity to people who are just trying to figure out how to get enough calories and enough nutrition in a really short period of time {laughs} without sitting down.

Diane Sanfilippo: I think that’s why a lot of people like shakes.

Liz Wolfe: Yes! I totally see, I totally see the value of throwing a bunch of stuff in one place and drinking it. I get it.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: I get it now. Please do not reach out to me about Shakeology, though; I’m not interested. {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} So, to that end. People ask me every single day if I get tired of eating the same thing, or; this is #sarcasm, my favorite question. Do I worry about not eating something different, for the sake of nutrition and variety. And for the record, if you haven’t heard me say it before, I’m not a worrier; so people have asked if I worry about combining fruit and meat; do I worry about eating the same thing every day. I don’t worry about much, you guys. Pretty much I just worry about not getting in a car accident on the highway because somebody is driving like a crazy person, and just not making it to see another day. So when the only thing you’re worried about is just being alive on this planet to enjoy things every day, you really don’t worry about much else. {laughs}

So, sorry to be a little dark there, but I just cannot be worried that eating a salmon bowl every day could be an imbalance in my nutrition; also because I think it’s probably some of the most nutritious food I could possibly be eating outside of organ meats. Wild caught fatty cold water fish plus seaweed salad plus greens plus starch, all the stuff I’m getting there, is pretty much as good as it gets, you guys. So no, not worried about that.

And also, when I find something that I like to eat, I am somebody who likes the familiar. I don’t want to go to a restaurant and try something new on the menu; I don’t want to deal with that. So for me, I have figured out how to cook things that are going to be done in under 10 minutes that are healthy and easy and I like them. Now, of course, I’m not cooking for a one-plus-year-old to deal with all of that as well, so that’s different. But I feel like, just as adults, a lot of us make this harder on ourselves than it needs to be. If you like variety, figure out how to have consistency in the variety, and change one or two things up at a time that are easy to change up. If you don’t care about variety, go with what’s easy.

And the last thing anybody needs to worry about in a stressful time is; is this the most balanced, perfect nutrition that I could be getting? Because what I think is most important is that you’re just not eating crap. {laughs} You're supporting your health, you're eating things that are nutritious, and if that means it includes some dried mango; which I know we love to joke about being this treat indulgent food, but in the context of a healthy diet, eating some fruit here and there nobody is freaking out about that and some of us probably need more of it than others, right.

I just think that we need to just know what we can rely on; I mean, I’ve been eating salmon bowls for months, and now that things are stressful, guess what. I’m still eating salmon bowls. I made one in under 10 minutes this morning before I went out the door to the gym, and I’m not saying that to be like, “Look at me, how fancy I am.” I’m saying that to be like, this ish is easy. I’m not doing anything that’s really complicated. If you saw me make it in the kitchen, you’d be like; wow, I can’t believe how easy that was. I promise you, it’s easy. Because I’m not slaving over the stove; I’m definitely not. We don’t with most of the food that we’re making.

So I think that’s one of the reasons why creating healthy habits all along; consistently getting in the habit, getting into a situation where you’re not left to make a lot of decisions every day about this stuff, sets you up for success when things start to get stressful. Because we heard it time and time again from our listeners; people who have said, I’m so glad I was eating this way because this big thing came up with my family, or at work, and I already had my healthy habits in place and it was just so much easier to keep things healthy when I already knew what to eat. Right? If you’re trying to reimagine your nutrition every day, and then all of a sudden you’re in a really stressful situation, you don’t need to be adding decisions about nutrition to that.

Liz Wolfe: Maybe I should…

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: You know, because I’ve been doing these two different things.

Diane Sanfilippo: Do you need to order some more Pete’s Paleo meals?

Liz Wolfe: Yes, I do actually. Very badly. Well, I mean I need my house back so I can have a freezer to keep them in.

Diane Sanfilippo: Also that.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah. Also that, that’s important. I need to; I feed my kid the exact same food that I would eat. Why am I just making her; why aren’t we eating the exact same thing, and then I can stop thinking of new varied tastebud experiences for her, and think about it for both of us and just make more. I don’t know. There’s no logic to what I’ve been doing. This is good.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Many, many epiphanies during this show, my friend.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs}

Liz Wolfe: Many, many. I don’t need variety, but if I’m trying to bring that to her palate, then why not just make a little bit more and I’ll eat the same thing.

Diane Sanfilippo: That sounds good to me.

Liz Wolfe: Duh. DUH!

Diane Sanfilippo: Maybe I wasn’t sure why that wasn’t happening in the first place.

Liz Wolfe: It makes no sense. It’s because I literally, I don’t know why. {laughs} because for a while, I was just giving her green beans and coconut butter crumbles, and I wasn’t going to eat that. But now, she’s old enough to pretty much eat everything that I eat.

Diane Sanfilippo: Mm-hmm.

Liz Wolfe: I just need to get on the ball here.

Liz Wolfe: Our podcast sponsorship today comes from Vital Choice, an online purveyor of the world’s best wild seafood delivered right to your door; because juggling a busy life shouldn’t mean you have to forgo healthy meals. At www.vitalchoice.com, you’ll find wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, tuna, sable fish, and cod, as well as prawns, crab, and scallops. You’ll also find grass-fed organic Wagyu beef, free range heritage chicken, fresh frozen organic berries, and dark organic chocolates. Make a vital choice by eating the highest quality food you can. Vital Choice; come home to real food.

8. Diane’s stress management supplement suggestions [55:18]

Diane Sanfilippo: One other thing I want to mention, because I know we need to get to our next segment here before we wrap up this episode. This is really important, and it’s something that; look, we have so many more notes we didn’t get to, oh my gosh.

For me, this has been really important. I have talked about supplements that I take for dealing with stress, adrenal fatigue, anxiety, all that stuff. I’m going to link to this stuff in the show notes from this weeks’ episode. You guys have asked me all over the place; what are you taking, tell me what your taking. I will put the links in the top of the show notes; Diane’s stress management supplement recommendations. I’ll put them in there.

I started taking some adrenal support preemptively. So years ago, if you guys heard a few weeks ago the episode that we did that was right after Practical Paleo when I was really super stressed out, and I started taking adrenal support basically after the book was off to print. I don’t remember, I may have started taking it a little bit sooner than that, but that was just not the right way to approach it. I think maybe I started taking them a few weeks before that. But what would have helped is if I started taking them as soon as I started working on it; which the project I’m working on now, basically as soon as I started focusing on it, I started taking some adrenal support.

Because what happened was, one day I was sitting there at lunch with Scott, and it’s kind of happening at this moment because I need to take a little bit more of this support right now. But I was sitting at lunch, and I couldn’t get a deep breath. That for me is the tell-tell sign, it’s the red flag; {laughs}, it’s the, ok you’re stressed out. I couldn’t take a deep breath; can’t sit here and get a good yawn in, and that for me is a sign that I’m really stressed. Because we all physically handle stress differently, but my body, this is what happens physically when my emotional stress gets too high.

Lucky for me I’ve been here before so I know the sign, and it’s knock; it’s whispered in the past, and it’s knocked, and this time it was like, flag really big red flag. So I started taking the adrenal support right away, and it has really helped me. I’m able to wake up pretty early without an alarm. It’s helping me to calm down at night. I’m taking a few different things throughout the day. I’m also taking some HCl to support my digestion, which; look, I know the way to get it working optimally is to be in rest and digest mode and to not watch Bravo while I eat my lunch.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs} Did you see my note.

Diane Sanfilippo: I did.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: I know, totally. But for me, that’s just stress relief. I’m like; I want to tune out, I don’t want to be able to look at work, so I put on Million Dollar Listing New York, or whatever it’s going to be, or Housewives. But taking that support before you have a crash; I personally I vote that way every time. Don’t wait until it’s too late. I mean, this is the same reason we talk about eating balanced nutrient-dense diet regardless of a diagnosed health condition. Let’s not wait until we have a health condition diagnosed to get the wakeup call. I mean, look, if you’re already there you’re there. It is what it is. Let’s not beat ourselves up for it. But just because I don’t have Hashimoto’s, for example, doesn’t mean I shouldn’t still pay attention to nutrition that’s going to support not getting there.

So same thing with this whole fatigue thing, and being overly stressed; setting up the lifestyle as early as possible to nip it in the bud, basically. It’s been helping me a ton, and I feel like this is an element of knowing yourself, being a little more mature, also just having the experience and recognizing what’s happening very acutely as it’s happening. Like, oh that’s what this is. I’ve been here before. I don’t want to get to the other place I’ve been before as a result, so let me do what I know to do now to prevent that. So I’m doing the best I can, but I did just want to mention that, because in the context of all of this other stuff, I’m also doing that. Also taking the supplements.

9. #Treatyoself: Beauty Counter [59:54]

Liz Wolfe: Very good. Alright, so, Diane do you have a treat yoself. A #Treatyoself of the week?

Clip: Three words for you; Treat. Yo. Self.

Diane Sanfilippo: I do. So thanks to you, my friend, I am treating myself to some new Beauty Counter products.

Liz Wolfe: Oh man, it’s so addictive.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yes.

Liz Wolfe: I can’t stop.

Diane Sanfilippo: Also for stress relief {laughs}.

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Buying and applying makeup works fabulously. Also washing my face multiple times a day from the gym or whatever, I’m somehow now obsessed with washing my face, which I haven’t done in years. But the charcoal soap I feel like I just love the way my skin feels after using it. And I’m kind of obsessed now with having a new beauty routine. I’m not going to give up my makeup, but treating myself to a bunch of new stuff from Beauty Counter. So yeah, that’s my treat.

Liz Wolfe: Yay! Ok, so in that vein, then maybe; I put this on Instagram today but maybe I’ll put it out to podcast listeners as well. So, obviously I made you sign up with Beauty Counter because I wanted to work with you on it because I knew you’d love the stuff. So what if we did any new customer who makes a Beauty Counter purchase through, we’ll say your Beauty Counter link, which is just http://www.beautycounter.com/dianesanfilippo/.

Diane Sanfilippo: Alright, we’ll link to that in the show notes.

Liz Wolfe: Yeah, we’ll link to it in the show notes. And forwards the purchase receipt to me; [email protected] through the end of April; this is not forever, so if you’re listening to this in the future {laughs} this is probably expired, but through the end of April 2016, which will be just a couple of days after this podcast airs, so you can’t wait. You need to go actually pick something and buy it now; I’ll send you a free sunstick, which is one of my favorite products right now that Beauty Counter has. So go, and do it now, and forward your receipt to me.

Diane Sanfilippo: Very cool. Oh, this episode is going to air on my birthday, April 28th, this Thursday!

Liz Wolfe: Oh em gee, happy birthday!

Diane Sanfilippo: How fun.

Liz Wolfe: I’m sending everyone sun sticks to celebrate your birthday.

Diane Sanfilippo: {laughs} For my birthday. Yeah so you guys will only have 1, 2, 3, 4 days to do that. Ok, so don’t forget, BalancedBites.com get this episode link, and get all the details. We’ll put all the details that Liz just talked about in there. So if you’re like; what did she just say, what do I have to do?

Liz Wolfe: {laughs}

Diane Sanfilippo: Ahh! We’ll put it in the show notes.

Liz Wolfe: Fun.

Diane Sanfilippo: Yay, cool. I love it.

Liz Wolfe: Alright, well that’s it for this week. You can find me, Liz, at http://realfoodliz.com/ and find Diane at http://dianesanfilippo.com. Join our email lists, please, for free goodies and updates that you don’t find anywhere else on our websites or on the podcast. While you’re on the internet, please leave us an iTunes review. We’d greatly appreciate it. See you next week.