All “Good” Things in Moderation: The Missing Key to the Abundant Life – Podcast Episode #5

Transcript & Timeline Natural Living Family Podcast, Episode 5

The contents of this presentation are for informational purposes only and are not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This presentation does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

[0:00 – 0:23] Prelude

Dr. Z: “All things in moderation” is not a Bible verse. And people are misquoting the Bible, A. And “All things in moderation” is very misleading because all good things, as I’m trying to explain, all good things in moderation means consuming healthy, not harmful, not toxic things at all.

[0:27 – 0:57] Intro

Dr. Z: Hi! This is Dr. Z!

Mama Z: And Mama Z! And welcome to our fifth episode of the Natural Living Family Podcast.

Dr. Z: Each week we invite you into our home to talk about how you can master the art and science of natural living. And we share the very same tips and hacks our family uses every day to enjoy an abundant life.

Mama Z: So come on in and get comfortable because, after all, you’re now part of our family… our natural living family!

[0:58 – 1:25] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Dr. Z: But before we dive into all the fun today, we’re excited to share a special note about today’s sponsor.

Mama Z: As a special gift to our Natural Living Family Podcast listeners, Thrive Market is giving you 25% off your first order.

Dr. Z: Plus a free 30-day trial. Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com to find the special link so you can redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

[1:30 – 2:49] The Diffuser Blend Reveal!

Mama Z: I’m so excited to tell you what’s in our diffuser. Everybody always asks.

Dr. Z: The reveal, the diffuser reveal.

Mama Z: So this one is very special. This is called mocha delight. We have two drops of coffee essential oil, two drops of cocoa essential oil, and two drops of vanilla essential oil. Or if your diffuser requires smaller amounts, it’s just equal parts of coffee, cocoa, and vanilla.

Dr. Z: Well, you actually think that it is. But I poured it. And the coffee came out a little bit more.

Mama Z: Oh, see, the last of time I used the coffee, it came out as slow as myrrh.

Dr. Z: I literally had to open up the lid. And then I was like, “Ugh.” So I was in a rush. So I didn’t get my pipette. And I opened it up. And I poured about 100 drops.

Mama Z: We are going to be so perked up. We are going to just fly through this podcast today!

Dr. Z: I know! I love it! For those people who are streaming, if you didn’t know this, for our friends in the podcast world, we have this up. We videotape this, put it up on YouTube and Facebook and other streaming places. And people can see. We have our Healing Power of Essential Oils book right here. We have our diffuser, family pictures and stuff. So everyone is like, “What’s in your diffuser? We love your diffuser!”

[2:50 – 7:50] How Dr. Z and Mama Z Survived the Master Class Launch

So anyway, we love it. Hey, welcome to the show! This is episode five. And we are going to be talking all about living in moderation, but in the right way. We are going to discuss why, in my opinion, following the adage, “All things in moderation” will get you in trouble as you strive to live a natural, abundant life.

But before we do, a little payback at Mama Z for throwing me under the bus in episode two. So if you didn’t listen to episode two, Sabrina, we’re talking about our origin story. So many people ask us how did we meet. And you’ve got to listen to it. It’s kind of fun. But Sabrina told the story of me falling asleep in her closet last year during our big Essential Oils for Abundant Living master class launch.

And long story short, I found myself, because our servers crashed. We had 165,000 people attending this event. It got global. It was viral. So many tech issues that required my absolute, nonstop attention. I ended up working 40 hours straight. I didn’t sleep. The only thing I ate was an acai bowl. And I had some matcha tea.

Mama Z: He wouldn’t even accept food.

Dr. Z: I couldn’t.

Mama Z: He’s like, “I can’t. I can’t even stop.” I go, “Okay, I’ll make liquid beverages.”

Dr. Z: She’s so sweet! And the thing is, I don’t know about you, but rest and digest. Usually speaking, when you eat, especially a good meal, a big meal, you’re not going to be energized. And for me, I do a lot better on an empty stomach. That’s me. And if I do eat, it has to be really light. So I stuck to acai bowls and matcha.

And so I’ve never done that before. God willing, I’ll never have to do it again. But something happened. I think I got delirious at one point. And I was just in the bathroom wrapping something up. And I was so exhausted. I saw Sabrina’s closet with this lush, 20-foot-tall carpet, it seemed like at the time. It looked like a bed. And I was like, let me just lay down for a second and rest my head. Next thing you know, Sabrina’s like, “What are you doing?”

Mama Z: I was up to go to my exercise class at 5 o’clock in the morning. And he’s in my closet.

Dr. Z: Well, here’s what happened, though. A few weeks ago, what do you think happened to Mama Z? We’re under this super tight deadline, The Essential Oils Diet, which, by the way, you can preorder everywhere books are sold: Amazon, ChristianBooks.com, Barnes & Noble, Target, Walmart, all these great places.

The Essential Oils Diet book, manuscript, what we called the first pass pages. And what is, the publisher literally—our publisher is Penguin Random House—the publisher sends you a packet in the mail of all the pages of your book, like 400 loose leaf pages of our book that we have to get it by hand. Are you kidding me? I love my publisher. Alyse, if you’re listening, my editor, I still can’t believe it. It’s so archaic. We are doing things by hand. But I love it because you see things on paper—and people that are watching—I have it on paper instead of my iPad because you can see things better on paper. And they make you edit on paper.

So Sabrina was editing the recipes. And like Sabrina has the tendency to do, it’s the seventh inning stretch. And it’s the day before the deadline. And she has to do it all at the last minute. And she was working—

Mama Z: Well, not all at the last minute. I had been working on some of it.

Dr. Z: You’re Procrastinating Smurf.

Mama Z: No, I’m not!

Dr. Z: You are Procrastinating Smurf. You are a very beautiful, high maintenance, procrastinating Smurf. I love you. I’m a 10-gallon hat. We talked about that in another episode. You waited. You waited until the last minute.

Mama Z: Well, we were also prepping a lot of different things. And sometimes it is crisis management mode—

Dr. Z: Excuses! Excuses!

Mama Z: But we had a variety of things that we were doing all at the same time.

Dr. Z: Anyway, what do you think happened to Sabrina? She was working on our dining room table. We were hanging out together. I’m at a point where I’m done. I couldn’t help her anymore because these are her recipes. I’m like, “Honey, this is all you. I did the rest of the book.”

Well, I find her on the floor in the dining room, curled up like a kitten. And, by the way, check Instagram because it’s on our page.

Mama Z: You did not!

Dr. Z: I did. It’s on the page on Instagram. I want the world to know that it’s just not me who falls asleep on the floor when they’re working through the night.

Mama Z: So the carpet underneath the dining room table looked really comfortable. And I got my little heating pad because I was sitting on it. And then I had my blanket.

Dr. Z: The blanket you’re using right now, right?

Mama Z: No. It was my big, plushy one. And it’s so big that I folded it. And it’s so funny because when I saw the picture, it’s literally folded perfectly. I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it.

Dr. Z: It’s so cute. So go to Instagram. Look up Natural Living Family. And because our Instagram is connected with Facebook, just go to the Natural Living Family Facebook page and check out Mama Z. Give us a heart. Give us a smile. Give us a love. Anyway, I’m not the only one.

[7:51 – 14:08] What “All Good Things in Moderation” Means

So all good things in moderation. And I’m doing air quotes, “All good things,” means—this is so important, y’all—I can’t even begin to stress how important this is. When I got this, it was like a revelation from God. It really was. It made all the things in the world make sense to me after this, not just in health and nutrition, but all of life.

By the way, that smells really good. I’m glad I poured like 100 drops of cocoa in it!

All good things in moderation means you can consume healthy stuff, but in balance. So let’s talk about nutrition first. All good things in moderation means that you should eat healthy stuff, but in balance. All good things in moderation means when it comes to non-food related stuff means you should exercise, the good way of exercising, but in balance. It’s about doing good things.

Now, there are harmful ways of eating. There are harmful ways of exercising. There are harmful ways of doing everything. So here is really the bottom line. It’s don’t overdo it. Proverbs 25:16 says this. And this is really what got me. “If you find honey, eat just enough. Too much of it, and you will vomit.” Literally, you will get sick.

Philippians 4:5, and this is something I think we need to flesh out because people take Philippians 4:5 out of moderation. But this is going back to Proverbs. Honey is good. But you’re not supposed to eat a ton of it. Now, Philippians 4:5, when Paul says, “Let your moderation be known unto all men,” that’s King James.

Folks, I’m saying that because, A, that’s not really what we say in today’s language. The Vulgate Latin reads, “your modesty,” so let your modesty be known to all men. The Syriac and Arabic version, instead of moderation, it’s meekness or humility. So think of it this way: “Let your meekness be known unto all men.” “Let your humility be known to all men.”

Why am I saying this? “All things in moderation” is not a Bible verse. And people are misquoting the Bible, A. And all things in moderation are very misleading because all good things, as I’m trying to explain, all good things in moderation means consuming healthy, not harmful, not toxic things at all because if you consume a harmful product, a toxic product, if you have toxic thoughts, if you exercise in a way that puts too much burden on your joints, you will not experience an abundant life.

All good things in moderation means there’s no room for bad things. For example, we avoid sugar, processed sugar like the plague. We don’t touch it. But we’ll have honey, maple syrup, coconut crystals. And I’ll end with this, and I’ll let Sabrina chime in. She’s been very patient. Thank you, babe.

The dangers—and this is key—the danger of this modern-day proverb of “All things in moderation,” is that it gives you license to do unhealthy things. And it builds in cheat days. And it produces this cheat day mentality. And for us, cheat days are not even an option. Sabrina?

Mama Z: I had a trainer that said, “It’s not the cheating that kills you. It’s the consistent cheating that kills you.” And when you build that in, then you’re already planning for the next one. So it’s important to remember that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit. And we need to put the right things as fuel in our bodies.

Dr. Z: So, again, think of it this way. When someone says, “All things in moderation,” what they’re trying to do is they’re trying to say, “Hey, a little bit of bad stuff won’t hurt you.” And I would argue that’s not the case because what we’re dealing with is scientifically, for those science geeks out there, we’re dealing with a phenomenon known as bioaccumulation and biochemical buildup.

And so, yeah, maybe eating a genetically modified tomato that’s been sprayed with pesticides once won’t kill you—and it won’t kill you, by the way—but eating that every day for the rest of your life, you’re getting little micro doses of genetically modified organism, micro doses of pesticides, micro doses of chemicals that will ultimately burden your metabolism, cause you to gain weight. It will start to dampen your immune system, destroy your gut health. And you will find yourself battling issues in the future, like autoimmunity, cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia. It’s just not one thing. It’s a culmination of many.

So this mentality, all things in moderation, well, where do we draw the line? Having a cigarette once in a while? “Well, it’s moderation.” Or do you treat cigarettes as carcinogens, cancer-causing agents, and don’t touch it? “All things in moderation!” Cheating on your wife, “Well, just once in a while won’t hurt me. All things in moderation.” How does that make you feel seriously? Just in moderation?

Mama Z: No!

Dr. Z: I’m being a little extreme here.

Mama Z: Hello, no!

Dr. Z: Well, in moderation, what’s wrong with it?

Mama Z: It’s not a good thing.

Dr. Z: Well, that’s what I’m talking about! So when you go extreme… So, me, I was essentially a drug addict. You listen to episode two of the podcast. You hear my story. I was an alcoholic. I smoked a pack of cigarettes a day. I was abusing cocaine, narcotics, taking ecstasy, smoking pot every day. I was a wreck. I really was.

And I will tell you, coming to know Christ, changing my health habits, there is no moderation with those things. I’m not going to go back to smoking pot. I’m not going to go back to ecstasy, doing cocaine. I’m not going to go back to going on benders and smoking. Abstinence is the key to things that are harmful.

And this goes to all things because when you start focusing on those things that produce life, that includes your thoughts, your emotions, how you spend your money… “Oh, all things in moderation. Just go to the casino. It’s just one paycheck.” That’s what happens. And I’ll tell you something. That’s where addiction starts.

[14:09 – 17:00] How to End Cheat Days FOREVER

So our book The Essential Oils Diet, we really cover the importance of not having cheat days at all. So what’s our solution, babe? What’s our solution to not having cheat days?

Mama Z: Well, we make great, healthy snacks that are for the abundant life. It’s literally for abundance in your body, that are healthy, nice snacks. And, again—and I’m sure you’ll probably talk about it—there have been a couple times that Dr. Z over here, he’s had one too many healthy cookies. And he likes cookies.

Dr. Z: See? All good things in moderation!

Mama Z: I’m not as much of a dessert person at all.

Dr. Z: I like my cookies.

Mama Z: He does. In fact, I think we had a list that said three things on it.

Dr. Z: Oh, no, no, your to-do list.

Mama Z: It’s my to-do list, was, “Love and respect your husband because he’s amazing,” or something. And then it was—

Dr. Z: No, “Appreciate your husband because he’s the best. Love and respect Eric.”

Mama Z: “And make cookies, lots of them.”

Dr. Z: Number three!

Mama Z: So my honey over here was noticing that his pants, they weren’t fitting so good.

Dr. Z: I had to get fat pants. And that is actually going to be a topic of a future episode, fat pants. I have a fat pants story. And I’m not ashamed to talk about it.

Mama Z: Yep, so all good things in moderation because even the healthy snacks because we always have our alternatives. We have worked very hard. I’ve worked with a lot of our old family recipes and made sure that we dialed it in. And every once in a while, it’s not a bad thing because all the ingredients are healthy. But even a little bit extra on a regular basis, eating lots of good cookies is also not good.

Dr. Z: See, that, to me, is the meaning of all things in moderation. But you have to add the word all good things because part of my fat pants story isn’t that I fell off the wagon, I went on a bender and went back to my favorite Frosty dessert at Wendy’s, which, by the way, was my favorite thing. I used to love getting out of work. I used to work at a bar. Get out of work, grab a smoke, eat my Frosty, drive home. That was my thing. I loved it. I really did. And then I would finish that out with beer and drinking and going to the bar with my friends. That was my idiot lifestyle.

And I will tell you, part of my fat pants story is I went out of moderation with the good things. But I still never went back to the bad things. And I’ve learned a valuable lesson there. Yes, a cookie can be not full of sugar, not full of gluten, not full of bad ingredients. But you can still have too much of it. Just like the Bible says, “Eat a little bit of honey, not too much or you will get sick.”

[17:01 – 19:14] Why the New Book Is Called The Essential Oils Diet

And we’ve got to call the elephant out in the room, too, because we get a little bit of criticism for the book title. The Essential Oils Diet comes out in May, May 2019. And, again, you can take a sneak peek at EssentialOilsDiet.com. We wanted to call it The Essential Transformation because that’s what this is.

Mama Z: Or The Essential Lifestyle.

Dr. Z: It is a lifestyle book. And for those people who have shared with us, “Well, diets are demeaning. And they’re derogatory,” which we understand they are, it’s not about losing weight. But, unfortunately, the vast majority of people need to lose weight. The minority needs to gain weight.

And so when we created this plan, our publisher’s like, “Look, we totally understand. We respect where you guys are coming from. But it’s not going to sell. People aren’t going to understand what this is. And they’re not going to find it. So when they go on Amazon and they go on Google, they are going to type up, ‘healthy books, diet books, weight loss solutions,’ whatever, they’re not going to see Essential Lifestyle or Essential Transformation and be like, “Oh, I want that.”

So I will tell you, there was a happy compromise there where in the book, we have two plans. One is called the essential fast-track plan where it’s like a 30- day boot camp, which is designed to really reset your metabolism and taste buds and get you in place where you feel like you’re in control of food again. And there are other things, detoxing your life, turning off the Wi-Fi at night, and following Mama Z’s Toxic Home Makeover thing that she put together, which is brilliant.

And then after that 30-day Boot Camp, we transition people into this lifestyle approach, which is designed for the rest of your life. And that is where you and I, Sabrina, have really worked on the last 15 years of developing strategies where we’re not tempted at all. So if we want cookies, we know how to make them. We know where to get them. If you want pizza, we have pizza every Friday. It’s our pizza night. But it’s gluten-free. It’s cauliflower crust.

Mama Z: Right, we rotate the different crusts that we make. We rotate all the different things that we do to keep a lot of variety in our diet, but keep it spiced up. And it helps.

[19:15 – 22:35] How to Keep Your Abundant Lifestyle Fresh and Fun!

Dr. Z: And this essential lifestyle phase of our protocol is really a commitment to a better way of life. And that’s what we want to invite you to do. I want to challenge you to totally throw away this cheat day mentality and to think about living a lifestyle that, if you live in moderation of the good things, meaning you cut out the bad things, it will serve you well.

And, Sabrina, when we were talking about what we wanted to cover today, you had some really insights from your old personal trainer and some coaches about the importance of a flexible routine. So cover some of that stuff about mixing it up because that is really key to this. How do you maintain a lifestyle that is exciting and that you were basically setting the stage so you’re not tempted to fall into a trap where you’re doing things you know you shouldn’t be doing?

Mama Z: Right. And just like I alluded to before with the pizza, not eating the same things all the time and rotating what you do. And so our kids know that Monday night is a breakfast night. And they know Tuesday is salmon or tuna on Tuesday. And sometimes we’ll have a salad with it. Sometimes it’ll be our salad that has those things in it. Sometimes it’ll be a steamed salmon. Sometimes it’ll be baked. We rotate all of the things that we do.

And then we have different nights for different things. So it’s Thursday night. So it’s taco Thursday.

Dr. Z: Best day of the week! I love taco Thursday!

Mama Z: Yep, so there’s a vegan taco dip up there. So we have lots of options for the kids so that we keep that variety is the spice of life, and making sure that we intermix all different good bioactive foods so that it’s part of what we’re doing. It’s part of what our kids are indoctrinated into when they’re younger so their taste buds are the way they are. And when they’re little and they’re picky, then we make our avocado pudding and hide different things they’re not eating in there. And then it warms their taste buds back up to those things. And it’s really so much more in balance than you would think.

And even rotating the vegetables and things because you know we’re not going to be able to have all of our vegetables from the garden every single day, although that would be amazing. And in this climate, we get that a lot more. But think of it like this: we would not go to the gym every single day and do the exact same work out every day. First of all, we would burn everything out. And then it would lose its effectiveness because we’d be doing the exact same thing every day.

So the same kind of thing, just like our food and our exercise, we also want to feel that way, too, about essential oils because essential oils are great. And they’re great to be worked into what you do. But we rotate our protocols, as well. We intermix different things with essential oils. Take some things out, put some things in, and rotate our protocols to make sure that they’re also effective all the time.

Dr. Z: But, before we talk about that, here’s a quick note about our sponsor.

[22:36 – 23:14] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

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[23:15 – 27:31] Redefining Freedom in Nutrition…And in Life!

Dr. Z: So I started thinking about this. I started thinking about where did we go wrong? Where did we go wrong with this mentality that we’re restricting what we eat based off of numbers, based off of, “Oh, I’ve got to watch out for my points,” or, “I have to go a percentage of fat, or a percentage of carbs.” And it’s like we totally threw it out of the window just the God-given common sense that we had, our ancestors had, which is you eat what’s available to you. You eat fresh fruits and vegetables in abundance, without having to think twice, Oh, I’m at my carb limit. Again, all good things in moderation.

And people are forgetting that there has to be balance. And that’s really the underlying theme of this whole discussion. That’s why Sabrina is talking about you can’t do the same exercise all the time. You can use the same essential oil protocol all the time because your body will become resistant to things because your body won’t be fed what it should emotionally, spiritually, mentally.

And so it really inspired me to look at how we eat in a whole different way. And I saw, even myself, falling into a rut. And it gets easy doing the same thing all the time, eating foods that might satisfy your taste buds. But you realize, you know what? I need to eat a whole rainbow approach of foods. All my foods can’t be brown and green. What about reds, oranges, and blues?

Mama Z: Right, and when I met you, all you ate was brown or green. So it’s important. And it’s important to have that flexibility in your routine.

Dr. Z: And that wasn’t moderation. I was in excess. And for our friends who are exercise enthusiasts, I want to encourage you to think, too, about balancing and having a moderate approach to especially your high impact. A lot of our friends are into CrossFit. And some of them are long distance runners. I will tell you, I will promise you—and this is the chiropractor coming out of me—you will have musculoskeletal joint issues if you continue it for any length of time. We have not been designed by God to run dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of miles a week. And our joints will wear down.

Now, having a run here or there, doing a marathon, like your Mount Everest as just a bucket list, great. Awesome. Good for you. But you will be very hard pressed to find a marathon runner in their 70s or 80s that don’t have issues, back issues, knee issues, feet issues, and more things, neck issues. Same thing with CrossFit.

So, again, all good things in moderation. And so we would encourage a more balanced approach, more lower impact, elliptical work, aqua aerobics, band work, calisthenics like walking, gardening, that sort of thing. And so when you think about this whole concept of all good things in moderation, it really puts things into perspective like, wow, am I being a good steward of my mind, my emotions, of my thoughts?

And very similar, you can’t spend all your day praying. You can’t spend all your day worshipping God. You can’t spend all your day reading the Bible. It has to have a balance to it because you’re not going to be able to work.

Mama Z: Right. And we do pray without ceasing. You are probably meaning like in your prayer closet.

Dr. Z: Well, I mean literally. I don’t know about you, but I’m not praying while I’m working.

Mama Z: I am!

Dr. Z: You’ve got to focus.

Mama Z: No, I am focused.

Dr. Z: When I’m writing my book, I get it. But I’m in the words. I’m in the words and I’m writing. It’s this mentality of just a balanced lifestyle.

Mama Z: Right. And in that balance that we found, I can’t tell you the last time I got on a scale. I know how I feel. I know how clothes fit and all of that stuff. But I used to get on that scale all the time. And for those people that need to be accountable and that’s your way, that’s great. I know people who take off all their jewelry just to weigh on a scale. And it’s like, no, we have to get to the place where we’re not bound by that.

But when we are eating healthy, nutritious foods that our body is going to naturally go to the weight that is meant and designed to be if we are doing what we need to do for our body and for our fitness and our all around abundant health.

[27:32 – 36:53] Transitioning into the Abundant Health Lifestyle

Dr. Z: So, to give you a little sneak peek into the book because we found this was really important to help people understand, “Okay, so what should I do? What’s good?” And that’s really the question. At this point, I don’t think anyone can really argue. They’re like, “Okay, I get it. A little bit of this.” What did you say when we were talking yesterday?

Mama Z: Yeah, and it’s so important.

Dr. Z: “A little bit of leaven?”

Mama Z: A little bit of leaven leavens the lump. You look at just a little lump of dough and you add some yeast into it and you get a whole, big fat loaf. And it’s the truth with a lot of different things. And so when people are on their health journey and if you’re just starting, be encouraged because sometimes you have to live minute by minute to figure it out. Sometimes it’s hour by hour. And sometimes it gets to be day by day. But it’s really important no matter where you are at in your health journey.

I remember when we started. And I always said, “I am never going to forget where I’m at right now because other people are going to be here.” And I remember how I felt. And some people, like you went from one side of the spectrum all the way to the other side of the spectrum, no problem.

But I’ll never forget a doctor friend had said, “If somebody is on Oreos all the time, it’s going to be a really hard to transition to go all the way to this if they’re not like you, who would just scrap it and be able to do that.” And not everybody is like that. So we get them on Newton’s O’s. And as their taste buds are changing, as your taste buds are changing, you adapt and grow.

Like I remember helping a friend transition from junk bread at the store to a gluten-free bread to the eventual…I don’t waste the carbohydrates on the breads. I do things that I want and are going to be an added bonus to my life. And so if that’s something that you feel like you have to have this piece of bread with an egg or whatever, maybe that’s not the best thing for you, especially if you’re trying to lose weight and doing other things and there’s other stuff. So eventually we want to transition.

If losing weight is very important to you, then maybe the things that you have in your sandwich, we want to put that on top of a salad instead. And I always encourage people to do that because that’s a good transition. And just remembering where you start.

And honestly praying about the next thing that God has you to work on, whether it’s in your diet or in other areas of your life, believe me, He will show you. Sometimes you’re like, “Oh, man. I wasn’t ready for that.” But it’s so true. God will show you that next area to tackle. And, again, all things in moderation that are good are really important to keep in balance with that.

Dr. Z: In the book of Psalms, chapter 19, the psalmist says, “Lord, free me of hidden faults.” And we don’t know. And I’ll tell you, as I continue to research, as we continue to live, as we continue to communicate and commune with our natural living family, we’ve learned so much. And I know there are things right now that I’m not going to do probably five or 10 years from now because I just haven’t been awakened to that piece.

Mama Z: Right, it’s an evolution.

Dr. Z: So whether it’s not using the microwave or turning off the Wi-Fi at night or whether it’s completely abstaining from sugar or whatever it might be, its line upon line, precept upon precept, realizing that we are all under construction. And the key that I have found is to first being open to the conviction that there are things that definitely have a detrimental effect to your body, and not excusing.

And this is something that, as extreme as I am, I’m the cold turkey person. I cut things cold turkey. And I would not recommend, by the way, cutting sugar cold turkey tomorrow unless you are prepared emotionally for it, and mentally because you will most likely, like me and thousands of other people, go through heavy detox. Sugar has been shown to be eight times more addictive than cocaine.

And it is a rough transition. If you want to cut sugar cold turkey, watch out. Sweats, night sweats, shakes, headaches, aches, literally you’re detoxing off of heroine. And that’s something that people sometimes aren’t ready for.

So what we want you to do is to think about the weaning effect, thinking about the substitution effect, thinking about what can you do to set yourself up for success and having those new no’s, or having one of Mama Z’s naturally sweetened desserts that you can find on our website, something that you can go to in that crunch.

But realizing this, and I hope and I pray that there is a conviction that just spreads across the land that people recognize that we truly reap what we sow. And a little bit of something bad is still bad. And I want to encourage you that there is a solution for that, and not to excuse it. And that’s something that breaks my heart when I hear people, “Oh, yeah. It’s my birthday. So I’m going to go do this and that.” And then they regret it. And then they feel bad. And then they feel sick.

That, quite frankly to me, seems very ingenuous, seems out of integrity. And people don’t realize they’re not being true to themselves. And as one of our coaches, Shauna, has shared with us, when you are in integrity and alignment with you, yourself, your morals, your subconscious, when you do the things that you know to do, the world opens up in a whole new way.

And these little micro doses of acting out of integrity with yourself, doing something you know you shouldn’t, that’s why I hate that phrase, “All things in moderation” because it really excuses people. The term “cheat day,” maybe it’s more real for us because our kids are so young. But cheating is a big deal. You don’t cheat at school. We are at such a fundamental level with our kids, we’re teaching the basics: don’t hit people. Don’t bite people. You don’t lick people. You don’t cheat. That’s where we are at.

One of our sons, he cheated on a test. And that was a big deal.

Mama Z: And he was so little, he didn’t really know that that’s what he was doing.

Dr. Z: He was cheating. He looked and he got in trouble in school. You’re not supposed to look at someone’s paper. He was in first grade.

Mama Z: And my sister was at the same age. And she said, “Well, I didn’t get that wrong! I just copied it off of so and so’s paper. They got it wrong!” It’s totally innocent. But when you’re awakened to that’s what it is—

Dr. Z: He was mortified.

Mama Z: Yes, absolutely. Then we’re accountable after that.

Dr. Z: So what happens to us? This is not a beat down session. And I don’t want you to turn off the show because I’m talking like this because I love you. We love you. But the reality is why is cheating acceptable for adults? And then the same adults go to their kids and punish them for cheating at school? It’s a mentality that I don’t want you to cheat.

And having a natural living lifestyle, adopting the fun things that we do are all life-giving. And that’s where all good things in moderation comes into play.

Mama Z: And believe me. In our book, we have some of the most amazing dessert recipes that our team at our publishing company were like, “Oh, my gosh! We can’t wait!” And even when we were working on them, the different people were like, “I can’t wait to make these!” So you’re not going to miss out on anything, that fear of missing out thing. You’re definitely not.

Dr. Z: Yeah, no FOMO, fear of missing out, FOMO.

Mama Z: Yeah, you’re not going to have any of that because you will be empowered. And you’ll be excited. And one thing I like about our recipes is even the ones on our website that are there now is it just opens the door. And I want my recipes to be a springboard for you to make changes and adaptations for you and your family. It would be my desire to see that thing written up and changed and everything to modify it for your family because it’s just a starting point. And let God lead you and guide you to where you’re supposed to go after that.

Dr. Z: Yep, yep. It is a blessing to know that, like the Bible says, we reap what we sow. And if we’re going to sow good, healthy things in our bodies, we’re going to sow good, healthy thoughts into our mind, sow balanced, positive emotions in our spirit, we’re going to benefit. We’re going to reap that reward in every area of life.

[36:54 – 40:03] A Biblical Approach to Nutrition

And so we want to help you. We really do. And we want to help navigate this diet fiasco that we’re going through: Paleo, keto, whatever. It’s like all these different ways of eating that have ultimately caused confusion with folks. And they’re like, “What do I do?” And I really want to encourage you all to let’s get back to the basics.

Now, we are not vegan. But we eat a very heavy plant-based diet. Why? Because that’s how God designed us. Adam and Eve only ate raw fruits and vegetables, and their [descendants] for all we know for thousands of years. It wasn’t until the flood that God said, “Okay, you can eat meat.” And so we have to think about this. We’ve been designed by God to eat fruits and vegetables, healthy grains, legumes, and nuts.

And any diet that restricts these foods, I’m telling you flat out, are unbiblical. It doesn’t make any sense. And the people that are on diets that restrict these major food groups, they find themselves literally dealing with depression, chronic anxiety, stress. And you see people. And we’ll talk more about diet because this is a really important topic because we want to help you live according to your biochemistry.

And that’s something we’re definitely going to be talking about because Sabrina and I literally have to eat slightly different. We have different biochemistry. We have different blood types. We have different ancestries. And I do really, really good with black beans. She doesn’t. I do good with wheat. She doesn’t. And we think about these things. And there’s a reason.

And we want to help you walk through it, not just happenstance, but educated. We want to help you walk through it scientifically because it really makes sense when you look at it.

Mama Z: Right. And when Eric mentioned wheat, we’re not talking like the conventional wheat. Tell them a little bit about even when you went overseas how it was different.

Dr. Z: Oh, yeah. And we’ll talk all about this. It’s all in the book, too. We’re talking non-GMO, completely organic grains that are sprouted, like the wheat our ancestors ate. There’s something known as the Italian paradox where people go to Italy. They are flat out celiac, like allergic to wheat. They could die. They go to Italy, the Italian paradox, and they eat freely.

I’m telling you, we’ve gotten scores of feedback from our natural living family members, scores of reports online. They go to Italy and they eat pizzas and brands, and they’re fine. Why? Because Italy doesn’t allow the genetic modification that we do. Italy doesn’t allow Roundup to be sprayed on the wheat at the levels that we do. And if you don’t know this, it’s a whole another topic that we’ve got to talk about. But the way that America does farming, most countries are banning our food. They don’t even allow the import of American produce.

So it opens up your eyes. And so I just feel very blessed and encouraged that we’ve learned, quite frankly, the hard way. And our story will develop more and more as we share some of our struggles. And some are like, “Wow, why am I dealing with this health issue?” We find out it’s because of X, Y, Z. We’re going to keep on sharing that with you all through this podcast and through the things that we do.

[40:04 – 45:34] Embracing Your Personal Health Journey

But to wrap up on this because I feel it’s something that I want you and I hope that you walk away with this challenged. I really do. I hope that you feel inspired. I hope that you feel motivated even to look at yourself and to wonder, Okay, how am I living? Am I living in a way that honors my body’s temple of the Holy Spirit?

And I want you to celebrate your successes. And this is so key because we can always look at the person next to us and then feel shamed. And that’s not the point of this, not at all.

Mama Z: No, we want it to be such in a nonjudgmental way, but just to inwardly reflect on what you’re doing and to be encouraged to take those low-hanging fruit items. We always talk about that low-hanging fruit. And start with those things first, some of those areas that you really need to cut back in and transition.

And that’s one of the reasons why we love the local health food store. We can’t wait. We’re doing a local health food store tour. And the thing about that is that when you go to a local health food store, and all the ones that I’ve seen… And I love talking to the owners of health food stores just because of their passion, not only for the local community, but also for people on the journey because we are all on a journey. And they have food for wherever you’re at in your respective health journey. And I love that because you can always be transforming and transforming better and better every year, and challenging yourself in different areas.

Dr. Z: So before you eat something, I want to challenge you to think Is this good for me? If you don’t know, look at the ingredients. And if you don’t know what the ingredients are, consider looking them up. And it really is one of those food by food by food, ingredient by ingredient by ingredient.

And you’ll be surprised when you look at that box in your pantry and it has the ingredient has maltodextrin in it. You look up maltodextrin online. Just do a Google search. And just let the information just explain to you what that is. A.k.a. it’s another form of sugar. It’s a processed form of sugar that has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, cancer. You start to think, Wow, what’s saccharine? What’s aspartame? What’s this? What’s that?

And then you start to awaken. And the amount of foods and the amount of ingredients that you can eat gets slimmer and slimmer and slimmer to the point where you know you have your core. And you’re like, “Okay, I have more control over this.” You know what to buy. You know what not to buy. You walk through our diet book. You read the list of foods that you shouldn’t eat, the foods that are good for you. You read other books. You start to learn. Next thing you know, you get a good grip on this. You really do. Eating should not be a hassle.

And the one thing that really aches my heart is when we hear people tell us… And it’s always a lot of people. It’s not just one. When people tell us in our community, “I don’t know what to eat anymore,” they literally don’t know what to eat anymore. There’s so much confusion out there. And not to shame anybody. But literally people have been victimized by misinformation, by extremely savvy marketing, by the way.

And ultimately what happens is people are led down the train where they buy useless, unneeded supplements, powders and pills and get on diet plans that don’t serve them well. And, again, this mindset, this concept of all good things in moderation, just go back. And even think, what would Jesus eat? What would Jesus do? I used to love that back in the 80s and 90s, the wristbands. Do they even have those anymore? What would Jesus do, WWJD? What would Jesus eat? I’m going to start one. Put it out there.

So, anyway, y’all, a little more sober of a discussion then we had. I hope

that you found it inspiring and challenging. I’ll take the blame on it to being a little more sober than the others.

Mama Z: But you can do it. You can do this.

Dr. Z: This was my topic. I asked Sabrina to be a little bit more upbeat and peppy. She got into my somber mood with me. We’ve got to balance each other out, babe. The last couple episodes, you’re like, “Yay!” and you’re telling your fun stories about nursing in the bathroom.

Mama Z: I’ve just found in all these years of coaching people that it’s important for me just to be nurturing and encouraging, especially when it comes to those transitions because it’s just so important. And in a nonjudgmental way, we have to look at things. I was raised in such a nonjudgmental community of our family and stuff like that. And I really felt like because of that, I was able to grow.

And so I like when people are able to discover things on their own when we’ve given them the tools. We give them the fishing pole and they’re able to do amazing things with it. And I really and truly believe that every single person watching this and listening to this is going to be able to adapt things in their life. And they are going to see fruit fast.

[45:35 – 47:47] The Journey of 1,000 Miles Begins with the First Step

Dr. Z: And here’s a promise. You just start. Just start this concept of trying your best to consume just good things. Just start one ingredient at a time, one food at a time. I promise you there will be a shift. It’s like a spiritual shift that you will start feeling in a good way more proud of your life, that you will hear God even say, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful with little. I’ll give you much.”

And just wait. Whether it’s a weight loss goal or a certain body image that you are looking for or energy level or whatever it might be.

Mama Z: Or even if it is to gain weight.

Dr. Z: Yeah, gain weight for people that are looking to gain weight. Sleep better, a more robust satisfying sex life. One person that’s going through our essential oil diet 60-day challenge said, “I don’t want to be angry at my kids anymore.” And I’m going to talk about the challenge in just a minute before we end. That’s a sneak peek for those of you who want to join us in a community in something, by the way, that’s free. We want to help you.

This is our gift to you, especially for those people who really want to dive into this essential oil diet lifestyle. We want to walk you through a 60-day challenge that we’re going to nurture you and help you and give you the tools that you need to succeed. And that’s the benefit. Those are the benefits, I should say. They’re multi fold: joy, peace, love, the fruit of the Spirit.

So I want to encourage you that this is as much a spiritual endeavor than anything else on the planet. And you’ll see, for those of you that really have a heart to serve the Lord, that you will be able to minister to a greater capacity, that you’ll have the energy and stamina and the heart to be able to give more, and that you won’t be a statistic like so many pastors and missionaries that are dying, 50, 60 years old of heart attacks because they are, quite frankly, eating themselves to death because they just don’t know, ignorance of the truth that you reap what you sow, and only all good things in moderation. So this has so many ramifications for so much of your life. But just start. And expect. Have the faith and expect that great things will happen.

[47:48 – ] Episode WrapUp

Anything else, baby girl?

Mama Z: I think we covered it.

Dr. Z: Well, love you! I kind of feel like I spank them a little bit. But are we going?

Mama Z: We’re good.

Dr. Z: A little spanking? Not really? A punch in the arm?

Mama Z: No, I think it’s encouraging.

Dr. Z: I feel bad. I look at her and I’m like, “Uh, is that too harsh?” She tells me I’m too harsh sometimes.

Mama Z: He’s the harsh Smurf.

Dr. Z: Harsh Smurf, okay! Thank you, folks, for listening and tuning in. Join us next time when we are going to shift the discussion and talk about the importance of discipline, hard work, and healthy goalsetting so that you can enjoy an abundant life.

And I’m doing air quotes when I say the word goal because I’m going to talk to you about how I don’t set goals in the traditional sense, and why I don’t create vision boards and why this has actually helped me become more productive and successful in my business. And we are going to talk about Mama Z, tell her story about how she had to pick 1,000 weeds before she could play with her friends when she was a kid—true story, by the way—and how this helped to develop an unbelievably insane work ethic.

She’s the hardest working person. And I mean this, by the way. We actually had an argument about this this morning and yesterday because we argue because we are real people. You do. You work harder than anyone that I know. And don’t ever believe that I don’t think that. Seriously. And I have it on record. It’s on YouTube, Facebook, and our podcast. You can’t say I didn’t say this. Ha!

There are so many golden nuggets that we’re going to cover, that we are going to share about helping you stay focused, the importance of not compromising, and tips that we have learned on how to enjoy abundance. And I’m not talking about just having a fat wallet. We are talking about living a well-balanced, fruitful life in every area.

[49:40 – 50:47] Natural Living Tip: Immune-Boosting Shot

Mama Z: And to wrap up today’s show, we have a natural living tip for you.

Dr. Z: You are in for a treat because I’m going to share with you my famous immune-boosting shot, the same one that Mama Z and I used to cure ourselves of pneumonia when antibiotics didn’t work. Now, here are the ingredients:

1 serving liposomal vitamin C
1 teaspoon raw honey
1 teaspoon unrefined coconut oil
1 to 2 drops of our immune-boosting blend of essential oils
¼ teaspoon organic pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon powder
Tiny pinch of pink Himalayan salt

And what’s in our immune-boosting blend of essential oils? Well, it’s super easy. Just equal parts of cinnamon bark, clove, eucalyptus, lemon, orange, and rosemary. Now mix all of these ingredients together and take with water once or twice a day at the onset of a cold or flu. And, as you may have guessed it, our favorite place to get most of these ingredients for my immune-boosting shot, like the organic pumpkin pie spice, raw honey, coconut oil, and Himalayan pink salt, is Thrive Market!

[50:48 – 51:25] Sponsor Spotlight: Thrive Market

Mama Z: And as a special gift to our podcast listeners, Thrive Market is giving you 25% off your first order.

Dr. Z: Now, keep in mind, Thrive Market’s prices are already 25% to 50% off. And now they’re giving you an extra additional 25% off your first order, plus a free 30-day trial.

Mama Z: If you’re like me, you will definitely be making a grocery run this week. So why not give Thrive Market a try, and shop from your home?

Dr. Z: Simply go to NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com to find the special link so you can redeem this deal on the show notes from today’s episode.

[51:26 – End] Outro

As a reminder, you can find all of the natural living family podcast episodes and show notes and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilyPodcast.com. And while on our website, please don’t forget to sign up for the weekly podcast newsletter, which will give you a personal invite to join our private Facebook group so we can connect one on one, me, you, and Mama Z, and so you can meet our group of thousands of natural living lovers just like you. And don’t forget, please, please, please subscribe to this podcast. Leave a review.

We love you! We appreciate you!

Mama Z: We do. We do.

Dr. Z: We love hearing what you have to say about our show. So God bless you all. We’ll talk soon.

Mama Z: Bye-bye!