Healthy, Happy Holidays Thanksgiving – Podcast Episode #45

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 – 1:25] Prelude to Healthy, Happy Holidays

Dr. Z:We’re talking if you’re on vacation and you’re out you could go get a day pass to the local community center, YMCA, for maybe 10, 20 bucks. I know 20 dollars might seem like a lot of money, but how much are you going to spend going out to the bar with your friends drinking drinks? How many people do that? Do you know that the day before Thanksgiving is the biggest bar day of the year?

Mama Z:No.

Dr. Z:More bar sales than any other day.

Mama Z:That’s so weird.

Dr. Z:No it’s not, it makes sense because everyone is coming home. It’s the agnostic holiday of our country. Christmas is for Christians; everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. It’s an American holiday. It has nothing to do with religion, so whatever religion you are, all the college students are coming back home… I mean, it’s more travel on Thanksgiving than any other day.

Mama Z:So make sure you workout a lot that day and stay home with your family.

Dr. Z:But think of it though: coming from that world, I used to go… and you go hang out with your friends. You do this, you go to the bar, spend 50, 60 bucks on drinks and you’re eating bad food.

Mama Z:So don’t do any of that.

Dr. Z:No, 20 dollars. Be healthy. Be strong. Enjoy yourself. But, again, we’re putting things into perspective.

Mama Z:I love it because we get to go to church on that Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I love that.

Dr. Z:I don’t go the bars anyway, any more.

[1:26 – 1:53] Intro to Healthy, Happy Holidays

Dr. Z: Hi, this is Dr. Z.

Mama Z:And Mama Z. Welcome to episode 45 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 same tips our family uses each and every day to enjoy an abundant life. You’re going to love today’s talk.

Mama Z:Come on in and get comfortable. After all, you’re one of the family: our natural living family.

[1:54-2:54] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea

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

Mama Z: Are you looking to quit the coffee habit?

Dr. Z: Tired of the after cup of joe jitters, and the unfailing mid afternoon crash?

Mama Z: Well, we have a solution for you, and it’s called Matcha Green Tea.

Dr. Z: Matcha green tea is a staple in our house, because it is rich in antioxidants, can help your body fight disease, burn fat, and will give you sustained energy all day long.

Mama Z: If you’ve never tried matcha before, what are you waiting for? You and your kids are going to love it.

Dr. Z: Here’s the best part, our favorite brand is giving you a special starter discount as a gift because you are Natural Living Family Podcast listeners.

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

[2:55 –5:10] Introduction to Healthy, Happy Holidays, Diffuser Reveal & Your Reviews

Dr. Z:Well hey there, everybody. Welcome to the show. This is part two of healthy, happy holidays. We’re going to be sharing our top five healthy holiday tips: sit back and relax, boosting immunity, working out smarter, not just harder, BYOF, bring your own food, and be truly thankful.

Last episode, episode 44, we shared the first two. We’re going to cover numbers three, four, and five today. The last episode was a good one.

Mama Z:Yes, very good. This is the second part of that.

Dr. Z:Mm-hmm (affirmative). I really enjoyed that one. Got to give last episode a plug because we covered a lot about stress and a lot about how our families had different experiences during the holidays. So between my and Sabrina’s experiences, we can pretty much relate to everybody. And so we’re going to flip the switch. If you missed the last episode, you might want to press pause, go back to episode 44, listen to that, and then you can be in sync with us, because we are going to help you thrive, not just survive, this holiday season.

Mama Z:And overcome all of that.

Dr. Z:All right. Before we begin, what am I smelling? I like this one.

Mama Z:Yes you do. You liked it when I was making up a lot of my holiday diffuser blends.Back at Santa’s school, I heard our dean of students, he was with all these kids and he says, “Ho-ho-ho-holy peppermint sticks, kids, you’re looking really cute,” and I was like, “I love the name of that: holy peppermint sticks.” So holy peppermint sticks: it’s five drops of peppermint, three drops of wintergreen, and two drops of cinnamon.

Dr. Z:Mmmm,I like that wintergreen and cinnamon.

Mama Z:Upstairs, I said, “Dr. Z is going to love this,” because over the weekend you were like, “Ooo, I love that.”

Dr. Z:Yeah, I like them all. Awesome.

Mama Z:Holy peppermint sticks. Enjoy it.

Dr. Z:Cool.

Mama Z:Cool.

Dr. Z:What else we got? How about this: happy Thanksgiving.

Mama Z:Yes, happy Thanksgiving.

Dr. Z:Thanksgiving is in a couple days.

Mama Z:Yes. Hopefully you’re putting all of these amazing things together with your holiday so you’re able to relax, connect with one another, and have an amazing week.

Dr. Z:Amen.

[5:10 –8:12] A Thanksgiving Prayer For You and Your Reviews

Dr. Z:And let me just say a Thanksgiving prayer for everybody.

Father, we thank you so much, Lord. We just thank You, God. We thank Youfor the gifts of life that you’ve given us. We thank Youfor the gift of family and fellowship. And like we’re going to talk about later, I’m sure, we remember that You appreciate and You value gratitude, because we enter Your gates with thanksgiving and we enter Your courts with praise, like the psalmist says. So Lord, we just come together in unity and I pray, Lord, for a spirit of gratitude to be spread upon everyone listening, and, Lord, that our natural living family online will have their hearts full of thankfulness for all the things that You’ve done for them, in spite of the disease that they might be battling, in spite of a tragedy that might be happening, in spite of some of the normal days’ stressors, aches and pains, just things that seem to get us off our game. 

Help us ignore these giant things that seem so big to us but in reality, they might not be as big as what they really are. Help us put things into perspective this season, right now. Help us focus on the gift that we have through Christ: that we’re going to spend eternity with You, God, that by Your grace our lives can make a difference, and that we can help, and that as we’re driven by purpose, driven to live out our destiny, we could bring blessing and favor and peace to everyone around us.

So I just thank You, Lord. In spite of our circumstances, help us walk by faith. In spite of what’s happening, help us to praise You and say,“Hallelujah anyhow!” And may that be our chorus and anthem through this holiday season. May everyone have a wonderful, healthy, happy Thanksgiving, and go all the way through to Christmas and New Year’s. Amen.

Mama Z:Amen. Awesome.

Mama Z:We’re going to read a nice review. This is AXI_1981 from Switzerland.

Dr. Z:We’re international, it’s official.

Mama Z:Love it. “Absolutely love your podcast. Five stars.” Thank you. “Dear Dr. Z and Mama Z, I absolutely love your podcast. Listening to a new podcast episode every Monday is my weekly highlight. I love how you guys complement each other, and how you not only talk about natural living and essential oils, but also about living in faith. You both are very authentic and genuinely inspirational. God bless you and your family. Alexandria from Switzerland.”

Thank you so much.

Dr. Z:Amen. I love that. Hallelujah. Thank you, we appreciate it, y’all.

Mama Z:That’s so cool.

[8:13–17:55] Healthy, Happy Holidays Tip #3: Working Out Smarter, Not Harder

Dr. Z:All right, let’s dive right in. Last week we covered stress. We just say sit back and relax. Last week, we covered our tips on how not to let maybe the past or some of your fears or whatever might be affecting your holiday season this year. We also covered immunity boosting, because it’s really hard to enjoy the holidays when you’re sick. We do know it’s flu season for a reason. It’s colder outside. The viruses are more active and people have a tendency not to eat as well and do other things. They’re not exercising as much, which is why we want to go into number three. We’re going to kick it off with working out smarter, not harder.

You, as the fitness guru… By the way, I can’t wait. Chris, I don’t want to say nursing our wounds, so to speak, but we’re just recovering from the big push of the Hope for Breast Cancer launch. Chris, our video/audio extraordinaire, editor and producer and all around a great guy, we just push, working around the clock, to get out the documentary.

Mama Z:Nursing your wounds? You’re so funny. Listen, this is in all honesty.

Dr. Z:It’s been nonstop.

Mama Z:I left on Monday to go to my workout at 4:30. Dr. Z was just leaving the couch from working all night until 4:30 AM, and then I woke him back up at 10:00 and he continued to work after that. We are committed to excellence in everything that we do, so when I was on the way to my workout he was on the way to the bed. So I didn’t see him there that night, which was kind of a good thing because I was going to take a picture of him over the weekend. He is a bed hog. I said, “I was going to take a picture of you over the weekend.” He goes, “Aw.” I go, “No, because you’re a bed hog.” You had your feet on my feet and then you angled all the way across the bed.

So I actually had one night where I had the bed to myself. So I was like, I did miss you, but hallelujah. Mr. bed hog over here. He is…

Dr. Z:I’m not even going to retaliate, because I’m just going to take a picture of what you do in bed and it’s going on Instagram, end of story.

Mama Z:Whatever that is.

Dr. Z:Anyway, what we’re working on now is Mama Z’s exercise class.

Mama Z:Yes.

Dr. Z:Fit 40 and Beyond.

Mama Z:I love it.

Dr. Z:I love that, I do. Chris and I were working on it, that’s our next little project. Then we’re working on your upcoming garden masterclass, but because you are the group fitness guru of the family, talk to us. How do people stay focused during the holiday season? You’re a mom. You have four kids. You’re a wife. How do you do it? You work.

Mama Z:I always recommend starting your exercises as early as you can in the morning. For you, you went and worked out at 9:30 this morning, but for you that was… You got out of bed and went and worked out at 9:30.

Dr. Z:Yeah, I woke up at 9:00.

Mama Z:Yeah. That kind of thing. But normally, I work out at 5:00 or 5:30. Well, this morning, because I had two workouts yesterday… I did my normal morning workout and then Esther and I did our last mountain challenge of the season, so I was a bit sore this morning. I actually switched my class to an 8:00 class, so right after I dropped the kids off early I went right to working out.

So make sure you schedule your things early in the day so that you don’t have an excuse not to do it, because you’ll build up every excuse under the sun, moon, and the rainbows to not do exercise, so set yourself up for success to get your workout out of the way.

And enjoy it, because a lot of times, for me, I am doing my normal morning routine but I feel so energized. I completely wake up, really, during my workout, and I have a chance to focus and meditate and all of that stuff, and then I’m ready to start my day. You’ll have a lot more energy and you’ll actually sleep better if you’re working out. So for a lot of you that may have sleepless nights during the holiday season, maybe upping your exercise game will help with some of your sleeping.

When we go out of town, I have my favorite place that I workout in Midland, and that’s one of the things that I enjoy when we…

Dr. Z:You make a good point. If you’re traveling, like we do, find a local place to workout.

Mama Z:That’s right. I have a membership to a few different gyms here, but they don’t have those gyms there, even though a lot of places that we travel there are corresponding gyms in those places. But plan that out and plan your week out and schedule your classes because that’s something that’s going to be really, really important to make sure that you stay on your game, because just because you’re traveling doesn’t mean that you’re going to get a whole week off there. Your body doesn’t say, “Okay, I’m going to take a whole week off,” because it needs to be functioning and you need to do the things that make your body function in the best capacity.

I love group fitness. Group fitness is one of the best things that you can do if you are very social. But I’m excited for my workout class to come out because it gives you that group fitness feel in your home, which I love as well. One of the things that you want to do is you want to make sure to do some kind of high intensity interval training, whether that’s on land or in the pool, and get your heart rate up there and make sure that you’re moving that lactic acid out of your body. Of course, eating the right foods does help as well to fuel your body with the right things, but making sure that you’re staying active is a stress reliever and it’s going to help you burn calories and it’s going to help your body function at its best.

Dr. Z:Yep. Some options would be Orangetheory. How much is that, by the way, for just a single class? 20 bucks?

Mama Z:Something like that.

Dr. Z:I mean, you might be like, “20 dollars?” Here’s the thing. Put it in perspective. You’re on vacation. We’re talking if you’re on vacation and you’re out you could go get a day pass to the local community center, YMCA, for maybe 10, 20 bucks. Just think of it… I know 20 dollars might seem like a lot of money, but how much are you going to spend going out to the bar with your friends drinking drinks? How many people do that? Do you know that the day before Thanksgiving is the biggest bar day of the year?

Mama Z:No.

Dr. Z:More bar sales than any other day.

Mama Z:That’s so weird.

Dr. Z:No it’s not, it makes sense because everyone is coming home. It’s the agnostic holiday of our country. Christmas is for Christians; everyone celebrates Thanksgiving. It’s an American holiday. It has nothing to do with religion, so whatever religion you are, all the college students are coming back home… I mean, it’s more travel on Thanksgiving than any other day.

Mama Z:So make sure you workout a lot that day and stay home with your family.

Dr. Z:But think of it: coming from that world, I used to go… and you go hang out with your friends. You do this, you go to the bar, spend 50, 60 bucks on drinks and you’re eating bad food.

Mama Z:So don’t do any of that.

Dr. Z:No, 20 dollars. Be healthy. Be strong. Enjoy yourself. But, again, we’re putting things into perspective.

Mama Z:I love it because we get to go to church on that Wednesday night before Thanksgiving. I love that.

Dr. Z:I don’t go the bars anyway, any more. But still, it helps me, because I always hear this: “We’re not rich like you.” Like, I don’t know who you’re looking at.

Mama Z:We’re not rich.

Dr. Z:We are people and we’re blessed. We’re blessed to be here. We’re blessed to be able to do this.

Mama Z:And we’re thankful.

Dr. Z:Yes, and we budget our money.

Mama Z:We’re thankful that you guys like our podcast and that you’re with us and you’re doing life with us.

Dr. Z:Yes, because we budget our money knowing like, “Hey, we’re going to be doing this,” and if you’re going to go to a hotel, maybe consider finding a hotel that has a good, healthy breakfast option and a gym that you could workout at.

Mama Z:A workout gym.

Dr. Z:And if you have kids, with a pool.

Mama Z:Because you’ve gone to breakfast at places. I never do. I bring the food suitcase and I enjoy my breakfast in the room.

Dr. Z:Well, I’ll say Embassy Suites is a really cool tip for a lot of folks that have a few kids, because you get free-

Mama Z:I even brought my own eggs to Embassy Suites and my own milk and my own other things.

Dr. Z:It’s the best budget-friendly, healthiest place because they normally have a nice little workout area. They have omelets cooked to order. They have fresh fruit.

Mama Z:We went to one where they washed our windows.

Dr. Z:That was Chattanooga.

Mama Z:That so cool. We came out and they had a little sign on the card: “We washed your windows and stuff.” That’s cool.

Dr. Z:You know what it was? I actually have it. I saved it. It’s something that I look at on a regular basis. I should’ve memorized it by now. I look at it to remind me of giving above-the-top customer support in our business, but it says, “You deserve to see Chattanooga without any distractions today, so we cleaned your windows.” It was something that sweet. It was very cute.

I was like, “How nice.” They went and they paid someone to clean my windows and they left a card on the windshield just to tell us, just so we didn’t think anyone was doing weird stuff. Like, who’s going to clean my windows? Anyway…

Mama Z:They’re like, “I stayed somewhere and I think my windows are cleaner. I didn’t have bug guts all over there any more.”

[17:56 –28:39] More Tips For Staying Fit In This Holiday Season

Dr. Z:So here’s a healthy holiday tip. We recommend, especially during the month or two… all the way through. Because if you get your habit in now, you’re not going to be tempted to go rogue. To help you stay fit during this holiday season, of course, we’re going to cover food in just a few minutes, do high intensity interval training. We recommend three times a week. And high intensity interval training is a wonderful way – it’s also known as burst training. A lot of these places, like local…, we go to Twisted Cycle, or Orangetheory has it, or whatever gyms you go to. You go to Seung-Ni when you go to Midland…

It’s basically a wonderful way of utilizing your natural metabolic and energy reserves to expend a lot of energy and then recuperate and spend a lot of energy and you go all out for 15, 20, 30 seconds and then you kind of relax and then you go all out. It’s smart. Now is not the time to go to the gym and run on the treadmill for five hours. That’s actually counterproductive. We talk a lot more about in Mama Z’s upcoming exercise class.

If you only have a half an hour, that’s all you need. You don’t need to invest and hour or two a day in exercise, but if you get a half hour we want you to workout smarter. And the thing about it, for those of you who are science geeks, I’m going to drop a couple of medical terms on you. This is really about the hormones, leptin and ghrelin. If they’re out of balance, you’re going to experience fatigue. You’re going to battle unhealthy food cravens. You’re going to tend to snack between meals. You’re not going to actually feel full when you eat, which is going to tempt you to overeat, and you’re going to gain weight.

Ghrelin is the hormone that initiates meal consumption and it contributes to weight gain. Leptin – this is the key – leptin is the long term regulation of energy balance. It suppresses food intake. Leptin is the hormone that tells your body you’re full. So a problem with people that are overweight or if they have insulin resistance, is they eat, they eat, they eat, and three, four plates later they’re just not full. Next thing you know, they’re engorged. They have to loosen a belt buckle or two because they ate too much, but their brain didn’t realize that. And so one of the ways of helping balance those hormones, literally, is high intensity interval training and exercise as a whole. That helps, that really helps. Also eating the right way.

So a couple of cool little tips for you is, “Well, what do I do if I’m tired?” Well, what do you do?

Mama Z:I love to utilize essential oils, especially because it’s… Why are you tired? Are you tired because you didn’t have good sleep the night before, because then it’s time to do a detox bath before you go to bed: use relaxing essential oils like camomile, vetiver, lavender, in your diffuser, and massaging your feet. Try getting that 8 hours of sleep as well if your body is really needing to recover. Then, is it because you’re waking up early and you’re just overall tired? Then perking yourself up with eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, in an inhaler is a good way to do that. Or, is your body tired because you’ve got all this lactic acid buildup?

One of the things we love is using Calm, Natural Vitality’s Calm. You just dissolve this material in water and you drink it, and because it’s magnesium you don’t want to drink it with food. You want to do that in between, either breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner, right after you workout, or before you go to bed. You want to get that lactic acid out of your body. Of course, the detox bath does help with that, too, but this is a great way to do that.

So figure out what it is. Is it because your hormones need to be balanced? One of my favorite hormone blends is geranium,ylang ylang, and clary sage. Sometimes, it can be thyroid-related, and so if you need to boost your thyroid one of my favorite blends for that is clove, myrrh, peppermint, and lemongrass, those together. You can mix those together in a 5ml roll on bottle. I like to make an actual blend and put it in an empty essential oil bottle. So once I’m done with an essential oil bottle, or you can buy new ones on Amazon. I sanitize the ones that I’ve used before and put my new blends in there. Then I usually take and look about a third of the way up with the essential oils and then filling the rest of that up to the top with fractionated coconut oil or organic jojoba oil.

Really identify what’s making you tired and try to go to the root cause. Is it because you are eating food that’s not good for you? Well, it’s time to make some healthy, positive changes and you can easily start with The Essential Oils Diet or go onto our website as well.

Dr. Z:Yeah, we don’t want lethargy, we don’t want fatigue, we don’t want, “I’m just not motivated” to be an excuse. That’s something that we can help you with. One thing we realize is that the more you exercise, like Sabrina says, the more energy you’re going to get.

Mama Z:Absolutely. And have a buddy that you exercise with. When my dad retired, I had given him this book over and over again. He didn’t want to read it. Then his doctor said read,“Younger Next Year,” and he was very enthusiastic because he wanted me to share it with the Santas, but I had already tried to share it with him a number of times.

Well, it was in a perfect timing from when he actually retired and it said, for men, “Make working out your new job.” So every morning, my parents, that’s the first thing my parents do together during the day: they go to the gym. They have their routine: they go to the gym together, they come home, my dad makes breakfast, my mom takes a shower, they eat breakfast together, then my dad takes a shower. They have the whole schedule. I literally will call them and I’ll look at the clock, “Oh 8:30, my mom is probably in the shower.” My dad answers, “Hello? Your mom is in the shower.” It’s like clockwork.

Work those things into your schedule. Have a buddy to do it if it’s harder for you to do it on your own. And if you do group fitness, then you’ll start making friends within the classes that you do, and those people will be looking out for you if you’re not there. But that’s going to help a lot.

Dr. Z:So if you need a boost, which I get, we recommend going to our website and typing up “matcha” – M-A-T-C-H-A. It’s a very good, non-habit forming, natural, gradual caffeine energy boost. It’s not like coffee, which typically gives you a spike up and spike down. People get withdrawals. Highly addictive because of the extreme amount of caffeine in it. Problem with a lot of coffee is the way that it’s processed: a lot of mycotoxins, fungi. It’s one of the most pesticide-ridden products on the planet.

So we’d rather go to matcha and match we love! That’s a nice thing.

Also, we have a respiratory blend: that you could add equal drops of peppermint, eucalyptus, tea tree, lemon, and rosemary. This cleanses and soothes your airways, and we recommend applying this topically with dilution, of course – you always want to dilute with a carrier oil  – over your chest and neck right before you workout. It actually helps. It’s like an energy booster.

Mama Z:You actually did it on the race, right before you raced.

Dr. Z:Oh yeah, and even this morning when I woke up and I worked out.

Mama Z:I was like, “I know what he’s doing.”

Dr. Z:I’m on it. Peppermint’s been proven to open up your airways, increase athletic performance. I call it, you know, tongue-in-cheek, legal blood doping. It actually helps you breathe better, increases your blood flow, and it helps you…

Mama Z:And it was really funny, because the kids are like, “What are you doing?” I said… what did I say? “He’s legally blood doping.”

Dr. Z:You did say that.

Mama Z:And then Elijah is like, “That’s really funny, he’s legally blood doping. Hah hahhah.” And then Bella goes, “Legally blood doping.” It was so funny.

Dr. Z:You can inhale this blend. You put it in an inhaler, personal inhaler. You can diffuse it: four to six drops in your diffuser. And I’m telling you, it works.

Here’s the other thing: okay, “I work out, I’m sore, I’m tired, I can’t do this any more.” We have a wonderful recovery blend: equal parts of wintergreen, peppermint, Roman camomile, helichrysum, lavender, marjoram, basil, rosemary. Wow, that’s a lot. But if you don’t want to have marjoram? Don’t worry. What if you don’t want to have rosemary? Don’t worry. Between wintergreen, peppermint, Roman camomile, helichrysum, lavender, marjoram, basil, rosemary, you have enough options that will help you have wonderful, wonderful… soothing inflammation, helps with pain, and you can rub that over your achy joints and muscles before and after you workout. Again, always dilute it.

Mama Z:I was going to say, when I was training at the Olympic Training Center for speed skating, we knew that certain days were those kind of workouts, so back then we put the Bengay on before we went to do it. Your legs felt a lot better than they did without it.

I remember that and I’ll be like, “Oh my goodness, my legs are a little on the sore side. Got to work through it, this recovery this morning.” Definitely, putting those things on prior to leaving where you’re staying or your house to go and exercise with that recovery blend can really help, and some of those same ingredients also help pep you up. So it could help wake you up and pep up those muscles as well as soothe them.

Dr. Z:Yeah. It works. It’s wonderful.Anything else before we go to number four?

Mama Z:I think we’re ready for number four?

Dr. Z:Healthy happy holidays tip number four: bring your own food. But before we cover that, a word from our sponsor.

[28:40 – 29:07]Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea

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

Mama Z: Are you looking to quit the coffee habit?

Dr. Z: Tired of the after cup of joe jitters, and the unfailing mid afternoon crash?

Mama Z: Well, we have a solution for you, and it’s called Matcha Green Tea.

Dr. Z: Matcha green tea is a staple in our house, because it is rich in antioxidants, can help your body fight disease, burn fat, and will give you sustained energy all day long.

Mama Z: If you’ve never tried matcha before, what are you waiting for? You and your kids are going to love it.

Dr. Z: Here’s the best part, our favorite brand is giving you a special starter discount as a gift because you are Natural Living Family Podcast listeners.

[29:08 – 34:39] Healthy, Happy Holidays Tip Number #4: Bring Your Own Food

Dr. Z:Okay, this is controversial. This caused a lot of problems with my family.

Mama Z:Yes.

Dr. Z:This was something that my…

Mama Z:I will tell stories about this until the last breath I take.

Dr. Z:So we get it. We get it, we get that this is sensitive. But here’s the thing though: things…

Mama Z:Do you want to be sick when you go somewhere? No.

Dr. Z:Things are so much easier and much more socially acceptable now. Like, we just went to Disney World. We go to Disney World a couple times a year. We have season passes. We went to Disney World and they had their Mickey Not-So-Spooky Halloween Festival at Magic Kingdom. So they close Magic Kingdom early at 6:00, and then everyone can go hang out and dress up and do trick-or-treating. Even Disney World has it set up where they have allergy-friendly treats. So you go and you either trick-or-treat, you get candy, or you say, “Hey, I want a token.” And they give you little blue tokens that you collect.

So the kids are happy. Whatever the kid gets, they’re happy, as long as the kid gets something.

Mama Z:They even let us keep some of the tokens. They’re like, “Just keep them.”

Dr. Z:Yeah, they’re plastic. So you redeem the tokens for allergy-friendly… They had squeezy fruits, they had… What did they have?

Mama Z:They had taro chips, all the different vegetable chips. So they had good options. They also had ones that were allergy-friendly, but then they also had sugar in them. So they had for every kind of allergy. They had the dairy-free option. I mean, they had a whole chart.

Dr. Z:But this is where we’re at, though. You go to Disney, you say, “I have food allergies,” they actually have a gluten-free menu, and they make the chef come out to make sure you’re good.

Mama Z:And once you’ve gone there once, they actually always say, “We’re sending the chef to your table.” They know.

Dr. Z:Here’s what I’m trying to say: Disney acknowledges allergies. Everyone acknowledges allergies. It is socially acceptable to have food sensitivities now. There are so many diets that people are like, “I don’t know, whatever you need to do, take care of yourself.” 20 years ago, people thought you were crazy. You eat what’s on your plate: the “clean plate club.” Nowadays, people are more afraid that you’re going to have some kind of anaphylactic attack than they are.

All I’m trying to paint the picture – and Disney goes way above and beyond this – is that it’s so much easier now to go to your family, to go to your host, your hostess, and say, “Hey, I have some food sensitivities. I plan on bringing some of my own food.” And call them ahead of time.

Mama Z:And even, I would say, be on the proactive end. If you are the host or hostess, when you’re inviting a family over, find out if they have any allergies, and then properly label your food. I have a label maker. I’ve done it before where I’ve just printed out labels from the computer and then put, “It’s dairy free,” you know, blah blah blah. I mean, it’s not hard to do that and to be the hostess with the mostest. It really isn’t hard. If you have a heart to serve people, then you always want to look for those opportunities, or make sure that you have things that are allergy-friendly available knowing that people are going to have X, Y, and Z.

SoI know when I invite this particular family over, they can’t do this, this, and this. So I mark anything that is… So they know all the things they can have.

Dr. Z:We just went to the Truth About Cancer event last month. Truth About Cancer hosts an annual event and Ty and Charlene Bollinger, they’re very well known. They had Elle Macpherson there, Carol Alt, Robert Kennedy, some celebrities, some models. I remember, though, when they had the speakers little dinner thing that they had, whatever it was called: a little mix and mingle.

Mama Z:They had options for everybody.

Dr. Z:Yeah, but they said Charlene was very specific. She said, “Carol…” because Carol Alt, supermodel, remember, back in the ’80s, ’90s, “we have raw food for you.” She’s a raw foodist. It didn’t matter what you were, what you are, because our good friend, David Jockers, eats a keto diet. You had anything from carnivore keto people to vegan raw foodists. When you host an event, you might want to consider, like Sabrina says…

Mama Z:Even at Esther’s birthday party. We eat mostly a plant-based diet, but we do have meat every so often and we know where it comes from and how it lived and all that kind of stuff, and how it was processed. But when we do, we want to make sure that we have options for everybody, so that’s usually when we do those thingsis when we have gatherings, and that’s the time to do it and really be that hostess with the mostest.

Dr. Z:But if you’re not a hostess, though? This is what we’re trying to share, is BYOM.

Mama Z:Yes. And I said be proactive. If you are the host or hostess, really be the one with the mostest, for sure.

[34:40 –44:09] 5 Steps for Bringing Your Own Food

Dr. Z:We have five tips, five little steps to do.Just know that you’re not a burden. Just know that you have to take care of yourself and your family. Just know as well that you don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you’re going to be tempted. This is the rule of thumb: if you know, when they pass around pumpkin pie, that you’re going to be like, “I really like pumpkin pie but I can’t eat it because I know it’s got junk in it,” bring a pumpkin pie that you can eat to pass.

Mama Z:Right. And if you are eating out places, I’ve had so people say, “I feel like I’m a burden.” I actually had the director of food and beverage from a Las Vegas hotel tell me that, “You are not a burden. We are here to serve you. We have certain things set aside so that we can accommodate all of you, and even moreso, we want to accommodate you because we would not want you to eat X, Y, or Z and then you be sick and then blame us, either.” So make sure you always make accommodations for yourself, wherever you go, whether it’s at somebody’s house or a point of temptation. You can easily bring small dishes of a few things like an appetizer, a side dish, some of those other things that you tend to really like, and you’ll find…we find more than not that people are like, “Oh wow, there is …wow they have this?” Every time.

Dr. Z:Every time.

Mama Z:And most of the time, those little side dishes are the ones that are completely gone. We’ll have planned out those leftovers, and there aren’t any.

Dr. Z:Five little steps here. Step one: call your host or hostess. Let them know that you have very specific food sensitivities or allergies or you’re on a special diet, and tell them that you plan on bringing your own dish.

But here’s the thing. Step two: ensure to them that you don’t want to be a burden and you don’t want to press upon them your food requirements and you look forward to spending time with them. You don’t want to be like, “Hey, I’m vegan keto. You’ve got to make me food.” Don’t do that. It’s so stressful just to manage your own meal and you’re being a host or hostess. You don’t want to put upon them the stress, because at the end of the day, they’re going to be clueless. If they don’t know what this type of healthy living looks like, they’re not going to know what to do. So just tell them, “Hey, I’m going to bring some dishes that pass. I’ve got you covered. But I just want you to know that I’m going to be doing this, okay?” Just king of get their, hopefully,  acceptance.

Mama Z:And then what I always say is, “Don’t worry. Normal people like them too. I know I’m not normal, so it’s fine.”

Dr. Z:But here’s the thing about number three, though. This is key. At the party, at your get-together, don’t make a fuss about what you’re doing. I mean, really. Don’t draw attention, because what will happen is that if you draw attention to the healthy, awesome-tasting food that you’re bringing, you’re going to make your host or hostess self-conscious. And I’ve experienced this. I’ve seen this, where now they might feel threatened or they might get offended. Simply eat your food. Enjoy the fellowship. And like Sabrina says, have a little label. Every time she ever goes places, she has a little label card and says, “This is what it is. This is dairy-free, sugar-free pumpkin squash souffle,” or whatever it is. Just don’t make a big deal about it.

Mama Z:And always, always, always bring your host or hostess a gift. Always. It’s really important, whether you’ve made body products yourself, or you’re putting together little things for the holidays, always bring them a gift, because you want them to know your gratitude for being there. And remember that the Bible is very clear: your gift will prepare a room for you. That could be physically gifts, that could be just your personality, but I try to do that in all of those different ways because I really want people to know that I want to be there and I appreciate them.

Dr. Z:Amen. And number four, kind of a repeat of what I said earlier… again, these five steps and how to bring your own food: if you have any weaknesses, and I think this is most important of all, then be sure to prepare a healthy version of what you want to eat that fits your personalized health protocol. And again, if it’s pumpkin pie, if you love pumpkin pie, if you love whipped cream, and if you know you’re not going to be able to eat the Reddi Whip and junk pumpkin pie that might be served that is full of sugar and cream and things that might make your body feel yucky, make a healthy version. And I’m telling you, even if people don’t eat it, at least you’ve got something. This is what we do. This is key. This is an absolute must for parents. You have to have good treats for the kids.

Mama Z:Right. I’m going to tell you one of the things that we do: we’ve talked about our plug-in cooler and that’s the cold stuff that we bring. What I always do is I take things out piping hot, I let them cool for like 10 minutes, then what I do is I put…I take a box. You know about this time of year, everybody is getting boxes, whether it’s Amazon or things coming in the mail or whatever. So save a box that’s going to fit your casserole dishes, or have one of those warm-up zip-up things, but even if you have a warmer like that it helps to keep it in a box so that the heat is contained. I put a couple of hot pads down because whenever you go somewhere you don’t know if people are going to have hot pads or not, so I try not to take up any of their serving utensils or hot pads, and I just bring it and I have my last name on a label thing on it.

Dr. Z:Come ready. Be prepared.

Mama Z:But what happens is that we have a couple hours drive when we go those places. By doing that and then closing down the box, like fold the sides over each other, I make it so that there’s no shifting room. If there is, then I use extra hot pads or whatever. And by doing that, by the time we get there, it doesn’t need to go in the oven; it’s still warm. I think that’s really important: that way you’re even less of a burden and you already have thought about that stuff ahead of time.

Dr. Z:Yeah. You don’t want to walk into someone’s place with a raw pumpkin pie and be like, “Hey, can I use your oven to cook?” We actually did that at one point and that caused a lot of stress to a hostess, and I realized I can’t do that again. It was a rookie mistake. You don’t want to be a burden, and just realize, as you know if you ever have hosted, it’s a lot of work. And I see what Sabrina does to make sure that she has a wonder get-together for our friends and family when we host things.

Mama Z:I don’t think anybody has ever brought their own anything. If anything, they always ask.

Dr. Z:Just bring us cash.

Mama Z:No, stop.

Dr. Z:Number five in bring your own, and this is something when you’re eating out, when you’re eating at places for family get-togethers, whether it’s a home or wherever it might be, I would suggest – especially if this is the time of season where you battle unhealthy cravings – you could use essential oils. In The Essential Oils Diet book, we have our hunger-curbing blend, and what I want to do is, at the natural living tip at the very end of the show, so stay tuned. I’m going to give you our healthy craving blend and I’m going to show you how to use it. All right?

Mama Z:I’m going to add a number six on there, and that’s to pray, especially if you have conflict if you’re going into a place. Really invite the Lord to be a part of your celebration prior to getting anywhere, because you never know what kind of environment you’re going to go into. It could be different based on a different day or whether they’re having a good day or not good day or whatever is going on. Make sure that you prepare yourself in prayer.

I know we always pray before we leave and a lot of times when we’re getting close we start to pray for the family and it’s really important to start and end with prayer because, really, we want to usher in the Lord’s presence wherever we go. I think that’s important to not forget that throughout the holiday.

Dr. Z:And here’s a nice verse. First Corinthians 1, verse four and five: “I always thank God for you, because of His grace given you in Christ Jesus, for in Him you have been enriched in every way.” So don’t believe the lie that you don’t have what it takes, A, and don’t believe the lie that you can’t be a blessing to someone, because I’m convinced – and this is something God really did on my heart a while ago, a few years, several years maybe. I had the revelation that I don’t care who it is: president of the United States, the Dalai Lama, the Pope, a police officer, a PhD, I don’t care. I can bring value and be a blessing to anyone.

Mama Z:Absolutely.

Dr. Z:Even if it’s just shaking someone’s hand and smiling and saying how much you appreciate them, that could make their day. So when you walk into a family get-together, a work function, or whatever it might be during the holidays, walk in with the intent that you want to be a blessing to everyone, and know that you can be a blessing.

Mama Z:Awesome.

Dr. Z:Yay.I’m looking at my notes here.

[44:10 –48:21] Healthy, Happy Holidays Tip #5: Be Truly Thankful

Dr. Z:Number five. Healthy happy holidays habit #5: be truly thankful. Again, this the is spirit of Thanksgiving. We’re going to have some different tips for Christmas, of course, but this is similar, very similar.

Here’s an interesting quote from the Dalai Lama: “The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” Let that sink in for a minute. How much do you really appreciate what you’ve got going on right now?Basically, gratitude. How grateful are you for all the little things, for everything? W. Clement Stone takes it one step further and says, “If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.” And we want to leave you with this. What are some of the favorite ways that you like to show your gratitude by sharing and helping people?

What do you like to do?

Mama Z:I love to find out what their needs are and make them body products or things that they need and I think that, I love to… I have a heart to serve. That’s always been one of my things and one of my love languages, is acts of service so that’s one of my favorite ways to do that. When I know you’re going through something, I try to fill those needs as well. And so I think that’s important even on a friendship level or in an environment that you’re going into.

Dr. Z:What better time than now to serve, to help? There’s no lack of need. I mean, there’s an insatiable amount of need that I know, churches have, soup kitchens have, community centers have for volunteers. And, especially now, when people are traveling, people are dealing with year-end… I remember year-end was a nightmare when I used to work in corporate America… year-end deadlines, all the things. It’s really potentially a hard time and stressful for a lot of people.

You hear the proverb there: when crap hits the fan, what happens? People aren’t serving. This is the time when the nursery at church is starving, desperate for people to help, right? So how about this: make it an intention for you and your family to do something, to serve, to go out of your way to be of help. I would even say get outside your comfort zone. Do something you haven’t done before with the homeless, with people that are marginalized, and people that you know that it’s on your heart on you’re like, “I don’t know what to do.” There are organizations, I guarantee you, that you live near by that are designed to help, just like the person just is on your heart.

Mama Z:That’s great.

Dr. Z:You need to do it. We encourage you to foster the thanksgiving and gratitude that you have by sharing that with as many people as possible, and also literally count your blessings. I do. I encourage it. Have a gratitude journal. If you haven’t done it, do it now. Every single day, make it intent for the rest of your year to get out a little journal and write down 3 things that you’re grateful for that day. It could something as, “Lord, I’m really grateful that I got that front row parking spot, because it was snowing bad and I had all five kids with me and I didn’t… I’m so grateful for that. It really made my life a lot easier,” to, “Praise God. I got my paycheck just in time. I was able to pay rent.” Whatever it might be. Maybe you’re grateful for the beautiful wife that you host a podcast with.

Mama Z:Who is that?

Dr. Z:Or the wonderful audio/visual extraordinaire that is hanging out with us during our podcasts, or whatever it might be. But write down three things every day and have a journal and consider maybe making this a practice for the rest of your life.

Mama Z:That’s awesome!

[48:22 – 50:19] Mama Z’s Bonus Natural Living Tip!

Dr. Z:That’s all I got. I’m done.I do have my Natural Living Family tip, though. What else you got?

Mama Z:Well, I’m glad because you totally stole my tip. You said to have a tip ready.

Dr. Z:Oh, what’s your tip then?

Mama Z:I was going to say about the gratitude journal, if you have a health journal, have the gratitude part take over and start it with a scripture every day on thankfulness, but then also put all the things that you’re thankful for, and go over those each day because you most likely have more things to be thankful for than worried about. We know the opposite of faith is fear, so we want to focus on the things that are positive and uplifting and all of those things.SoI’m glad you have a natural living tip, since you stole mine.

Dr. Z:We’ve got two tips, then. You got a bonus.

Mama Z:Bonus tips!

Dr. Z:Well, we love you all, we really do. We appreciate you and we hope that you’ve enjoyed this little two-part mini-series of how to be healthy and happy and prosperous during the holiday season. And let us know. Really. These are one of those podcasts that we do that we really look forward to your reaction. Email us. Go to NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. Sign up for our newsletter. Get our email address. Let us know what you think. Let us know your healthy happy holiday tips. Leave a review wherever you’re listening to this podcast and just say, “Hey, love the show. Here’s my tips.” Whatever.

This is a community effort here. And, especially when you join our newsletter, you get an invite to be part of our special Natural Living Family Facebook group, with over 5,000 people. We want to hear your tips there, too. This is a great place to hangout: a great place to chat and to share. Who knows? Maybe next year we’ll share your tip.

Mama Z:There you go.

Dr. Z:Cool.

Mama Z:Well, in closing, we have a natural living tip for you.

[50:20 – 51:43] Natural Living Tip: How To Combat Holiday Food Cravings

Dr. Z:All right, what do you do when you have cravings that are just running wild? Let me tell you: essential oils can help, especially if you are addicted to sugar. Equal parts of cinnamon bark, clove, ginger, grapefruit, orange, peppermint, and black pepper. This helps promote healthy metabolism, helps promote proper good hunger cravings, it will help manage unhealthy cravings, calms your stomach, lifts your mood. It’s also a diuretic stimulant and it’s calorie-free, for those people who are counting their calories.

If you want to stop that craving in its tracks, we recommend adding four to six drops of this blend in your diffuser. We suggest adding one to two drops of this blend into a vegetarian gel capsule, fill it up with some olive oil, and take that once a day, or you can dilute it with some carrier oil and apply it over your abdomen, back of thighs. Believe or not, this can also help with cellulite, so any other problem areas that you might have.

This healthy craving blend is multi-purpose and it’s featured in The Essential Oils Diet with other blends that will help you reach your ideal weight and curb unhealthy craving.

[51:44 –52:30] Sponsor Spotlight: Matcha Green Tea

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

Mama Z: Are you looking to quit the coffee habit?

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Mama Z: If you’ve never tried matcha before, what are you waiting for? You and your kids are going to love it.

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[52:31 – end] Healthy, Happy Holidays Episode WrapUp

Dr. Z:Well everybody, we thank you so much. We wish you a very healthy, happy Thanksgiving. We hope you enjoyed the show. As a reminder, you can find all of the Natural Living Family Podcast episodes, show notes, and transcripts on NaturalLivingFamilypodcast.com. And while on our website, don’t forget to sign up for our weekly podcast newsletter, which includes a personal invite to join our private Facebook group so you can connect with Mama Z and I and meet more than 5,000 other natural living lovers just like you. And don’t forget, please subscribe to our podcast and leave a review. We absolutely love hearing what you have to say about the show.

And as always, this is Dr. Z…

Mama Z: And Mama Z…

Dr. Z: Our open prayers that you and your family truly experience the abundant life.

Mama Z: God bless.

Dr. Z: Goodbye.