Season One: Episode Twenty Four
Health, Nutrition, and Self-Care with Kelly Cullen
Kelly Cullen is a Naturopath, holistic health practitioner, nutritional consultant, and weight loss specialist. Kelly studied at Eastern Michigan University and the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences. She received her certification as a naturopathic practitioner from the Trinity School of Natural Health. She is passionated about helping people reach their full health potential. Kelly has a holistic health practice in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Kelly is married to her Dublin-born sweetheart and has three children.
Kelly's Website
Disclaimer: Always contact your doctor first about your health. The information shared here may not apply to everyone and is not meant to take the place of a plan that you and your doctor have in place.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW
Jessica: Kelly, I'm really excited to finally get to talk to you. It's been such a long time and I'm so glad to have you on the podcast.
Kelly: Thank you so much for having me, Jessica. I'm really happy to be here. I'd like to start by just thanking every teacher listening today. I have three kids in public schools and the work that you do is just so important and I just want you to know that you're all very appreciated.
Jessica: Thank you so much. Can you share how your health journey began?
Kelly: Yeah. When I was eleven, I started getting chronic headaches and digestive issues. I literally couldn't leave the house without bringing some type of pain reliever with me and I wasn't satisfied with just covering up the symptoms. I really wanted to get to the root of the issue so I went to a Naturopath when I was twenty-two and she really helped me to get to the root of my issues.
Jessica: And what types of changes have you seen for yourself as a result?
Kelly: Definitely more energy. I had chronic fatigue. Today, thankfully, I very rarely get headaches. My digestive health is much better and fewer of the hormonal imbalances and things that I had before.
Jessica: And did you end up seeing the Naturopath for quite a while or was it a short period and then you made those changes?
Kelly: Yeah. In the beginning I probably saw her once every month or two for a few visits and then over the years, you know, if there was something that I personally couldn't figure out or you know work out on my own then I'd, you know, stop and see her. Typically with my own clients I say, you know, let's meet and then meet again in a month and then for follow-up, you know, every few months depending on how they're doing so...
Jessica: You've been in the field of helping people with their health now for over ten years and earned your degree as a Naturopathic doctor year. So I know this is something I honestly hadn't heard of - this type of role. So I would love to know more about it. What exactly is the role of a Naturopathic doctor?
Kelly: A Naturopath really looks at the whole person. For instance, not every diet is good for every person. I check body chemistry for every client. I would make different recommendations based on blood type, based on body chemistry numbers that I check. Really the important thing is to look at the whole, the whole person. You know, so often somebody will come to me and say, 'I have this. What can I take?' And I have to kind of rewind and say, 'Well, let's look at the basics. Are you sleeping? How are you eating? Are you drinking enough water?' And a lot of times just looking at the foundations can, you know, help with so many areas. And then we'll look at other things like herbs or whatever if the foundations are in place and there are still issues.
Jessica: A Naturopathic doctor is very different from your personal physician then.
Kelly: Yes. So the foundations are huge. So I like I said, sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, emotions - those are all huge parts of health. We would always look at natural remedies for things and I am always very clear with every client that I never would ask anybody to go against what their medical doctor is telling them to do. I like to work along with medical doctors and find natural remedies for health concerns that people might have.
Jessica: That's great. I will say I've gone and read quite a bit online, both on your site and then just googled some different things about Naturopathic doctors, and the information in it really sounds amazing. I love that it's simply not taking more medicine to treat symptoms, but actually helping with preventative measures like removing things that aren't what's best for an individual - either from their diet or lifestyle. I love that you educate as well as encourage on the responsibility that they can take for their own health, which I also love that. You shared a couple of things that you recommend. Can you tell us a little bit more about what types of things you recommend to help individuals with their personal health?
Kelly: Probably water is the number one and I know it sounds so simple and basic and obvious even, but honestly most people are not drinking enough water. We should be drinking about half of our weight in ounces of water everyday. If I have a client with high sugars or high salts, I would say, you know, even more than that and if somebody drinks a lot of caffeine, they would need to increase that water even more.
The two types of water that I recommend are either distilled or reverse osmosis. And the reason these types are so important is because I like to call them an empty water or a thirsty water. So when you drink those types of water, it can absorb the toxins in your body and help carry them out. When we drink tap water, it's full of things like chlorine and fluoride and it just doesn't have any room to grab onto toxins and carry them out. So you can get a lot of benefit from drinking the right kind of water. And sipping throughout the day is important. I don't recommend drinking a lot all at once. You don't get as much benefit.
Then also, you know, eat the rainbow. As much as you can get a variety of color from your fruits and vegetables, the better. The more you can eat food closest to the form that God created it, the better. And then I really do focus on digestive health a lot. If you're not breaking down those foods, then no matter how healthy you eat you're not going to get the benefit of it.
Another one of those foundations that I had mentioned is exercise and you know it doesn't have to be that intense one hour workout every day. You know, 20-30 minutes walking, biking, whatever you'll do and making to incorporating some strength training is important so...
Yeah. And then sleep. A lot of people think that they're getting enough sleep, but they're not really sleeping well so making sure that you're prioritizing sleep is really important too.
Jessica: And where do you get the distilled or reverse osmosis water? Do you buy it at a specialty store or can you get it from somewhere like Walmart or Meijers?
Kelly: Yeah, so I have a reverse osmosis system in our kitchen. I bought ours on Amazon for about $250. I can't remember the brand of it right now. But make sure that it filters out fluoride and chlorine. Those would be two important things. And I don't recommend ones that alkalize your water because our stomachs should be acidic to be able to digest our food. So we got our reverse osmosis on Amazon. You can get a table top distiller. That's another option. Those start at about $100, really depending on size and everything. But - warning - if you do the distiller, there's work that you have to do to it every day. You have to steam distill it to make sure the ph is balanced so it's a process which is why I prefer the reverse osmosis because all I have to do is change my filters every six months.
Jessica: Yeah, that's a lot easier I think than fitting in the daily task. That's a lot. And then you're also a holistic health practitioner, is that correct?
Kelly: Yup.
Jessica: So what does that role look like?
Kelly: You know, it's honestly very similar to what a Naturopath is. Really looking at the whole person. In fact, they just renamed the program that I finished. They renamed it Holistic Health Practitioner, so really very similar
Jessica: Something that's always of concern for me and I don't feel like I do a fantastic job with is the nutrition aspect for my family. So how has what you've learned affected the value that you place on health and nutrition for your family?
Kelly: Yeah, you know, I think it's important for parents to make strides always to feed their kids healthy foods, but to use grace as well. You know, if my kids go to a birthday party they can have brownies and ice cream. So I try to allow for that, but, you know, I always laugh - my kids know that when they pack their own lunches that their lunch has to include a fruit, a vegetable, healthy fats, and a protein. They've just gotten into that habit and my kids drink primarily just water. It's very rare that they'll ever have anything else other than that. They know how strongly I feel about how bad sugar is for your body and so we really prioritize limiting sugar. And I think that those kind of key things right there. Fruits and vegetables, drinking only water, and when you make changes with your kids, I think it's really important to make small changes because it can become overwhelming. Not just for the child, but for you. So you know, have them taste things. Have them help you cook and buy the food and prepare the food. They get more interested in it and I think that they're more willing to try things that way.
Jessica: Yeah. I know that one of the things that we struggle with is the school lunches because we pack a lunch for our girls. They very rarely purchase from the lunch line. Even though there are some healthy alternatives, but one of the things we struggle with is getting that vegetable in. So do you pre-package or you know, go ahead and slice up carrots and prepare vegetables. Are they in like a container for them to just grab and go? Or what does that look like for your kids?
Kelly: So every, every other day I'll chop up, you know, their favorites. Carrots, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers and store them in a container in the fridge. So I think when it's ready - I know even for myself, I'm more likely to grab those healthier options when they're there and ready. Having it there, tasting, you know, just encourage if they're trying new things to just try a bite. And not to force it. Not to make a big deal of it. All they have to do is take that one bite. Whatever rate works for you. If it's every week you want to try a new vegetable or whatever works for your family.
Jessica: Yeah. I like that advice too. And I know you also mentioned sugar. And as I was prepping lunch today for the girls and I, and I was just looking at the ingredients and thinking about how much sugar is just in everything. It's like sugar is added to so much and so how, how do you find the foods that don't have that additional sugar? Or that are, I'll say, sugar free, but I think you know what I mean. Just finding those really good foods.
Kelly: Yeah, it just takes a lot of time to figure out what you like. It takes a lot of reading labels. I encourage every client to read labels. Even things like jam and peanut butter, you know. Peanut butter isn't supposed to be sweet and jam - the fruit in it is sweet enough. Things like applesauce. Just read labels because there are options that don't have that added sugar. So just make it a habit and then my kids absolutely love a recipe that I make of cookies and they call them our healthy cookies. And they're made out of almond flour and sweetened with maple syrup so, you know, other natural sugars like maple syrup, raw local honey - those would be better options than you know the processed sugar.
Jessica: I think you posted that recipe.
Kelly: I did. Yup. On my Facebook page - yup.
Jessica: I'll link that and put it in the blog so that other teachers have access to it.
Kelly: Perfect.
Jessica: That'd be great. So what are some things that we can do to help our families. I mean you've shared a little bit, but what are some things we can do to help our families make better choices?
Kelly: You know, one thing that's a pretty easy switch is switching from canned vegetables to fresh or even frozen vegetables. Honestly canned vegetables don't really count in my opinion for a vegetable. They're just pretty void of nutrients so making that switch. And if you're going to cook your vegetables, lightly steam them or sauté them or roast them. When we boil our vegetables, it really cooks out a lot of the nutrients. You know, switching from white rice to brown rice. You can even do half and half while they're adjusting. We really like a brown rice pasta. When we were originally using white, just regular white flour pasta, we switched to a brown like whole wheat pasta and then over to the brown wheat pasta. And that's really just what my kids have known and loved.
You know another thing is to switch the way that you're storing your foods so so many people use plastic containers. They really contain hormone disrupters and so I would recommend stainless steel or glass to store your food in. Even water bottles. I don't recommend plastic. I use a stainless steel or glass for water so that's another really important thing to remove toxins from your - from your everyday life and plastic is a great way to start.
Jessica: Something that you have written in the notes that I'd love for you to share is instead of thinking how you need to restrict yourself, think of adding the good things to crowd out the bad. Does mindset have a lot to do with it as well? Being open to new things?
Kelly: Yes. Absolutely. Yup. So many people think of, you know, having to eat healthy as a punishment. You know. But when we understand that God made our body to require these nutrients and these amazing foods that He put on our earth that fight cancer and all of these other diseases. I look at these amazing foods as, as a good thing that I'm just so thankful for. You know? So yes, mindset is a very big deal in it all.
Jessica: I know for me, one of my daughters will eat pretty much anything. Our oldest daughter will eat anything, try anything. And our youngest is extremely picky and so like you said, starting small, giving her small things. Are there ways to help our pickiest eaters branch out and try healthier alternatives?
Kelly: Yes. Smoothies are, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do that. For years, you know, I would make smoothies for my kids and I would add a handful of spinach or kale or something in there and they never even knew it. And then one day my son caught me and he saw me putting it in there and he's like, 'Mom, I don't like spinach.' I said, 'Buddy, I've been putting it your smoothie for years.' And he just kind of had to stop and think and it was kind of a mind thing for him and he's like, 'Okay. I'll do it.' You know. So that's just a wonderful way to add a serving of greens. I think that kale or spinach are the best way for smoothies. Just watch that you're not adding a lot of sugars, but you know, fresh fruit, some plain organic yogurt if you tolerate dairy okay. A little bit of honey if you want it a little sweeter. So yeah. That's a great way to hide. And I like to say smoothies cover a multitude of sin for those that don't like vegetables.
Jessica: Love it. And then I'd like to talk a little bit more about nutrition because there was a quote that I saw on your Facebook page that said 'Fitness is 20% exercise and 80% nutrition. You can't outrun your fork.' I love this because we can get in this rut of thinking that we can eat whatever we want and then simply just go work it off. That's - that's not always the case. So what are some ways that we can eat for the better?
Kelly: Like we were talking about earlier, mindset is so important. Instead of thinking will this make me fat, think is this going to feed my body the vitamins, the minerals, the healthy fat and protein that my body needs so yeah, I think mindset is so important. So just having that understanding that yes, exercise is important, but nutrition is - is way more important in my opinion.
Jessica: Do you recommend diet plans or an overall concept for eating well?
Kelly: You know, there really isn't one diet that works for everyone, in my opinion. I mean there are general rules, you know, cutting out processed foods and sugar and make sure you're eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and things like that, but you know, we all have such different body chemistry, body types, you know, even your blood type. I would recommend different things based on that so really the most important thing, like I had mentioned earlier, is real food. Whole food. Those to me would be the key things to look out for.
Jessica: A lot of teachers will be like, 'No! Don't ask this!' but coffee. So many people love coffee. How much is too much and is this a healthy habit?
Kelly: Well, hopefully some of you will be pleasantly surprised for me to say that I don't see an issue with one cup a day. I wouldn't recommend more than that. You know, so many people they wake up and they're so tired and really look for that coffee to wake them up. Honestly most people are dehydrated when they wake up and I think a lot of people are just - that's why the feel so tired is because they're dehydrated. And so start your day with a glass of water. That's one of the best things that you can do when you first wake up. And then, you know, one cup of coffee a day I think is okay. My one caution with coffee is that a lot people use those little plastic coffee pods and they're, I don't want to use brand names, but you know what I'm saying, and like I said earlier it's really important to remove plastic from our lives as much as possible when it comes to food. And even worse is heating plastic and consuming so that those heated plastics can really, really just cause a lot of problems with toxicity. With endocrine disrupters throwing off hormones and things like that. So if you're gonna have coffee, just brew it the good old fashioned way. The other thing is that coffee typically contains a lot of pesticides It's one of the highest sprayed foods.. Organic when possible would be a much better option for coffee there.
Jessica: I did not know that. I didn't know it was sprayed heavily. Is it the beans then like on the plantations?
Kelly: Yup. Yeah.
Jessica: Interesting.
Kelly: And another thing to keep in mind too is what you're using in your coffee so a lot of those flavored creamers have hydrogenated oils in them or a lot of sugar so I use just a little drop of maple sugar when I have coffee. Stevia is a good option too or coconut sugar and so try to stay away from those creamers that have lots of ingredients in it. I always say you should be able to pronounce what's in your food and try to stick with five or less ingredients on any packaged food that you eat.
Jessica: Okay. And as teachers we're really pressed for time at lunch. I know many teachers who have lunch breaks that are thirty minutes that are really more like twenty minutes by the time their students have left their class or they've gotten them to where they need to be and so what are some recommendations for teacher lunches?
Kelly: Salads are really great. And you know, I recommend changing it up. Making it interesting. So many varieties of good salads out there. I don't recommend iceberg though. Not a whole lot of nutrients there. Things like spinach, kale, romaine, spring mix. Those would be good for the base of your salad.
You can make a sandwich out of Romaine lettuce wraps or a like a whole grain wrap. I like Rudy's whole grain spelt wraps. You know, always make sure you have got a lots of fruits and veggies in there. Yeah, I think those would be a good option as far as lunch.
You know, leftovers are always a great option too. If you, you know, the night before your meal make, make a little bit extra and then it's easy to bring in and heat up for you.
Jessica: Good ideas. With short lunch breaks a lot of teachers eat snacks throughout the day. So what are some great ideas that are practical and can be grabbed easily between classes?
Kelly: Again, fruits and veggies are a great option and then nuts and seeds, I think, are great to have on hand too. You've got some good protein in there. Some healthy fat. I do recommend keeping nuts and seeds in the fridge whenever possible because they can start to grow mold even before the expiration date. For those that tolerate dairy okay, I like a plain organic whole milk yogurt and then add a little bit of maple syrup or honey to it. I make my own trail mix and I put pumpkin seeds, raisins, and cacao nibs in there. It's kind of like chocolate without the sugar and it's got like a crunch to it so that's something that I like to keep with me a lot. Just keep on hand.
Jessica: Right now we're in that season of kind of flu and you know we've had some cases of strep throat and some different things going around our school. As teachers we're surrounded by younger students, especially those teachers who work with elementary age and younger, and so sickness is kind of common especially in the winter months. So what are some natural remedies that you recommend for fighting common illnesses, such as the common cold or other, I'd say, more simple things that you might see in the winter?
Kelly: Well, I think it's important to keep in mind that sugar weakens your immune system so avoiding sugar whenever possible. My kids don't eat a lot of sugar at all, but if, you know, they're fighting something then I, you know, we just completely cut out sugar altogether. Some ways to support the immune system would be elderberry is good. It comes in a syrup and that's great for fighting viruses. Olive leaf extract is wonderful. Silver is a great for just an overall immune boosting product. And then probiotics. When we take probiotics, we're boosting the good bacteria in our gut. Most Americans have about 20% good bacteria and 80% bad where we should have the opposite ratio- 80% good and 20% bad. Probiotics, yeah. The majority of our immune system is in our gut so probiotics are another good way to boost your immune health too.
Jessica: And are those things that you would take all year long? Or do you wait until you have symptoms and then decide to take some of it?
Kelly: Yeah, that's a great question. Herbs you don't really want to take long term because your body can really adapt to it. For things like elderberry, you know, you take it during the week and take a break on the weekends. Or a week or two on and then a week or two off. So with herbs you really want to rotate. Probiotics my whole family takes year round just because, you know, with the immune system, with gut health, with all of that I just think probiotics are really, really important. And then for things like, well, silver I take regularly. But then olive leaf extract we would just take if we're fighting something and you can never get enough of vitamins and minerals from your food too so keep that in mind.
Jessica: How can we prevent sickness from taking hold before it becomes something much bigger?
Kelly: I think again that reducing sugar, exercising regularly, reducing stress, getting enough sleep, make sure you're eating right. I think that these are all just really key to keeping that immune system boosted.
Jessica: Part of your job is being a weight loss specialist as well and so I know you consider every client's individual needs and I would imagine that each person has a different regimen of what they need to successfully reach their goals for health. How do you determine what's best for each client?
Kelly: Every client that comes through my door gets what I call RBTI. It's the way that I check body chemistries so through urine and saliva. So based on the numbers I check - sugar, ph, cell debris, and urea - and based on those numbers I make recommendations. When our body chemistry is balanced, we just heal more easily and we lose weight more easily so this is a really important piece in every consultation. There are so many ways that our body actually holds onto weight as a protective measure and this is a concept that I had never heard of until about a year ago and whether it's toxic emotions or a body that really needs some detoxing, your body really does hold onto fat because our toxins are stored in our fat. Your body needs that fat to protect itself from the toxins so detoxing is another really important tool for weight loss and just for really overall health.
Jessica: I have to say I've never done a detox 'cause there's, I would say, fad detoxes out there that you read about and some of them sound dangerous to me. So what are the types of things you would do in a detox?
Kelly: One of the most important things to keep in mind is that you never want to start a detox if you don't have regular bowel movements and this is something that most people don't feel comfortable talking about, but it's something that I talk about with every one of my clients so I really have no problem going there. But just to really make sure you're regular because if you're not and you try to detox, you're just stirring up toxins that are going to be stuck and then you can get sick. You can really have some bad reactions so make sure always that you're regular first.
Another thing to, you know, to know is there are things that you can do every day that's just a gentle detox so things like dandelion root tea. Honestly it doesn't take very good, but it really is good for the liver so, you know, I would drink a cup of that usually every day or every other day. I have an herbal cleanse that I put a lot of my clients because it has things like chlorella that just kind of naturally do an overall detox for the body. It's very simple. You basically stay on your normal eating regimen. You just maybe want to maybe eat a little bit lighter, but all you do is take two capsules two times a day in between meals and it just very gently pulls toxins out of the body so that's kind of a favorite among my clients because it's so easy to do. They don't have bad reactions or anything like that so... There are so many ways to do it and probably could be a completely other interview just on detoxing, you know. There's so much to talk about, but yeah. Make sure you're regular. Make sure you drink a lot of water during detoxes and it doesn't have to be intense where you feel really sick.
Jessica: Do you have clients online as well as clients who come to your practice physically?
Kelly: Yup. I can do remote clients as well.
Jessica: Yeah. And are you able to send them the test then so that they can get their levels tested?
Kelly: That's the hard part about the remote consultations. I can instruct them how to take their own ph for urine and saliva, but the other things really they would need to come see me for, but there's a lot that we can do without them coming. Like the ph we would work on. That's a really huge piece for health is getting ph balanced and then we'd talk about blood type and try to kind of work out what would be the best ways to help you reach your health goal based on those things.
Jessica: For the month that this podcast episode airs, you're offering Afternoon Ti podcast listeners 15% off your products and so thank you for doing that. I think that's fabulous. What types of products are available or where would they go to find information on these?
Kelly: Well, it really it would be through... probably the best way would be to email me or private message me. You can go to my Facebook page. It's Kelly Cullen Holistic Health Practitioner and you can send me a private message there. I have a website. It's www.kellycullennd.com. And that's an 'n' as in Nancy; 'd' as in dog. That's a good way you can email me. Digestive health is an area I focus on with products. Detoxing and then a lot of people are interested in immune support as well like you had mentioned.
Jessica: Great! Thank you.
Final Questions:
1) Tea, Coffee, or Something else that suits your fancy
Coffee, herbal teas, green tea
2) Song/Artist/Genre - very eclectic
Bethel and Hillsong
3) What you do every day (or try to do) -
I try to give every day to God and do my best at loving others. Another thing I'm trying to be really intentional about: really trying to give my kids undivided attention when they're looking for it.
4) Get in touch with you -
Website: www.kellycullennd.com
Facebook: Kelly Cullen Holistic Health Practitioner
Pinterest: KellyCullen7
Health, Nutrition, and Self-Care with Kelly Cullen
Kelly Cullen is a Naturopath, holistic health practitioner, nutritional consultant, and weight loss specialist. Kelly studied at Eastern Michigan University and the Blue Heron Academy of Healing Arts and Sciences. She received her certification as a naturopathic practitioner from the Trinity School of Natural Health. She is passionated about helping people reach their full health potential. Kelly has a holistic health practice in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Kelly is married to her Dublin-born sweetheart and has three children.
Kelly's Website
Disclaimer: Always contact your doctor first about your health. The information shared here may not apply to everyone and is not meant to take the place of a plan that you and your doctor have in place.
TRANSCRIPT OF THE INTERVIEW
Jessica: Kelly, I'm really excited to finally get to talk to you. It's been such a long time and I'm so glad to have you on the podcast.
Kelly: Thank you so much for having me, Jessica. I'm really happy to be here. I'd like to start by just thanking every teacher listening today. I have three kids in public schools and the work that you do is just so important and I just want you to know that you're all very appreciated.
Jessica: Thank you so much. Can you share how your health journey began?
Kelly: Yeah. When I was eleven, I started getting chronic headaches and digestive issues. I literally couldn't leave the house without bringing some type of pain reliever with me and I wasn't satisfied with just covering up the symptoms. I really wanted to get to the root of the issue so I went to a Naturopath when I was twenty-two and she really helped me to get to the root of my issues.
Jessica: And what types of changes have you seen for yourself as a result?
Kelly: Definitely more energy. I had chronic fatigue. Today, thankfully, I very rarely get headaches. My digestive health is much better and fewer of the hormonal imbalances and things that I had before.
Jessica: And did you end up seeing the Naturopath for quite a while or was it a short period and then you made those changes?
Kelly: Yeah. In the beginning I probably saw her once every month or two for a few visits and then over the years, you know, if there was something that I personally couldn't figure out or you know work out on my own then I'd, you know, stop and see her. Typically with my own clients I say, you know, let's meet and then meet again in a month and then for follow-up, you know, every few months depending on how they're doing so...
Jessica: You've been in the field of helping people with their health now for over ten years and earned your degree as a Naturopathic doctor year. So I know this is something I honestly hadn't heard of - this type of role. So I would love to know more about it. What exactly is the role of a Naturopathic doctor?
Kelly: A Naturopath really looks at the whole person. For instance, not every diet is good for every person. I check body chemistry for every client. I would make different recommendations based on blood type, based on body chemistry numbers that I check. Really the important thing is to look at the whole, the whole person. You know, so often somebody will come to me and say, 'I have this. What can I take?' And I have to kind of rewind and say, 'Well, let's look at the basics. Are you sleeping? How are you eating? Are you drinking enough water?' And a lot of times just looking at the foundations can, you know, help with so many areas. And then we'll look at other things like herbs or whatever if the foundations are in place and there are still issues.
Jessica: A Naturopathic doctor is very different from your personal physician then.
Kelly: Yes. So the foundations are huge. So I like I said, sleep, nutrition, hydration, exercise, emotions - those are all huge parts of health. We would always look at natural remedies for things and I am always very clear with every client that I never would ask anybody to go against what their medical doctor is telling them to do. I like to work along with medical doctors and find natural remedies for health concerns that people might have.
Jessica: That's great. I will say I've gone and read quite a bit online, both on your site and then just googled some different things about Naturopathic doctors, and the information in it really sounds amazing. I love that it's simply not taking more medicine to treat symptoms, but actually helping with preventative measures like removing things that aren't what's best for an individual - either from their diet or lifestyle. I love that you educate as well as encourage on the responsibility that they can take for their own health, which I also love that. You shared a couple of things that you recommend. Can you tell us a little bit more about what types of things you recommend to help individuals with their personal health?
Kelly: Probably water is the number one and I know it sounds so simple and basic and obvious even, but honestly most people are not drinking enough water. We should be drinking about half of our weight in ounces of water everyday. If I have a client with high sugars or high salts, I would say, you know, even more than that and if somebody drinks a lot of caffeine, they would need to increase that water even more.
The two types of water that I recommend are either distilled or reverse osmosis. And the reason these types are so important is because I like to call them an empty water or a thirsty water. So when you drink those types of water, it can absorb the toxins in your body and help carry them out. When we drink tap water, it's full of things like chlorine and fluoride and it just doesn't have any room to grab onto toxins and carry them out. So you can get a lot of benefit from drinking the right kind of water. And sipping throughout the day is important. I don't recommend drinking a lot all at once. You don't get as much benefit.
Then also, you know, eat the rainbow. As much as you can get a variety of color from your fruits and vegetables, the better. The more you can eat food closest to the form that God created it, the better. And then I really do focus on digestive health a lot. If you're not breaking down those foods, then no matter how healthy you eat you're not going to get the benefit of it.
Another one of those foundations that I had mentioned is exercise and you know it doesn't have to be that intense one hour workout every day. You know, 20-30 minutes walking, biking, whatever you'll do and making to incorporating some strength training is important so...
Yeah. And then sleep. A lot of people think that they're getting enough sleep, but they're not really sleeping well so making sure that you're prioritizing sleep is really important too.
Jessica: And where do you get the distilled or reverse osmosis water? Do you buy it at a specialty store or can you get it from somewhere like Walmart or Meijers?
Kelly: Yeah, so I have a reverse osmosis system in our kitchen. I bought ours on Amazon for about $250. I can't remember the brand of it right now. But make sure that it filters out fluoride and chlorine. Those would be two important things. And I don't recommend ones that alkalize your water because our stomachs should be acidic to be able to digest our food. So we got our reverse osmosis on Amazon. You can get a table top distiller. That's another option. Those start at about $100, really depending on size and everything. But - warning - if you do the distiller, there's work that you have to do to it every day. You have to steam distill it to make sure the ph is balanced so it's a process which is why I prefer the reverse osmosis because all I have to do is change my filters every six months.
Jessica: Yeah, that's a lot easier I think than fitting in the daily task. That's a lot. And then you're also a holistic health practitioner, is that correct?
Kelly: Yup.
Jessica: So what does that role look like?
Kelly: You know, it's honestly very similar to what a Naturopath is. Really looking at the whole person. In fact, they just renamed the program that I finished. They renamed it Holistic Health Practitioner, so really very similar
Jessica: Something that's always of concern for me and I don't feel like I do a fantastic job with is the nutrition aspect for my family. So how has what you've learned affected the value that you place on health and nutrition for your family?
Kelly: Yeah, you know, I think it's important for parents to make strides always to feed their kids healthy foods, but to use grace as well. You know, if my kids go to a birthday party they can have brownies and ice cream. So I try to allow for that, but, you know, I always laugh - my kids know that when they pack their own lunches that their lunch has to include a fruit, a vegetable, healthy fats, and a protein. They've just gotten into that habit and my kids drink primarily just water. It's very rare that they'll ever have anything else other than that. They know how strongly I feel about how bad sugar is for your body and so we really prioritize limiting sugar. And I think that those kind of key things right there. Fruits and vegetables, drinking only water, and when you make changes with your kids, I think it's really important to make small changes because it can become overwhelming. Not just for the child, but for you. So you know, have them taste things. Have them help you cook and buy the food and prepare the food. They get more interested in it and I think that they're more willing to try things that way.
Jessica: Yeah. I know that one of the things that we struggle with is the school lunches because we pack a lunch for our girls. They very rarely purchase from the lunch line. Even though there are some healthy alternatives, but one of the things we struggle with is getting that vegetable in. So do you pre-package or you know, go ahead and slice up carrots and prepare vegetables. Are they in like a container for them to just grab and go? Or what does that look like for your kids?
Kelly: So every, every other day I'll chop up, you know, their favorites. Carrots, cucumbers, celery, bell peppers and store them in a container in the fridge. So I think when it's ready - I know even for myself, I'm more likely to grab those healthier options when they're there and ready. Having it there, tasting, you know, just encourage if they're trying new things to just try a bite. And not to force it. Not to make a big deal of it. All they have to do is take that one bite. Whatever rate works for you. If it's every week you want to try a new vegetable or whatever works for your family.
Jessica: Yeah. I like that advice too. And I know you also mentioned sugar. And as I was prepping lunch today for the girls and I, and I was just looking at the ingredients and thinking about how much sugar is just in everything. It's like sugar is added to so much and so how, how do you find the foods that don't have that additional sugar? Or that are, I'll say, sugar free, but I think you know what I mean. Just finding those really good foods.
Kelly: Yeah, it just takes a lot of time to figure out what you like. It takes a lot of reading labels. I encourage every client to read labels. Even things like jam and peanut butter, you know. Peanut butter isn't supposed to be sweet and jam - the fruit in it is sweet enough. Things like applesauce. Just read labels because there are options that don't have that added sugar. So just make it a habit and then my kids absolutely love a recipe that I make of cookies and they call them our healthy cookies. And they're made out of almond flour and sweetened with maple syrup so, you know, other natural sugars like maple syrup, raw local honey - those would be better options than you know the processed sugar.
Jessica: I think you posted that recipe.
Kelly: I did. Yup. On my Facebook page - yup.
Jessica: I'll link that and put it in the blog so that other teachers have access to it.
Kelly: Perfect.
Jessica: That'd be great. So what are some things that we can do to help our families. I mean you've shared a little bit, but what are some things we can do to help our families make better choices?
Kelly: You know, one thing that's a pretty easy switch is switching from canned vegetables to fresh or even frozen vegetables. Honestly canned vegetables don't really count in my opinion for a vegetable. They're just pretty void of nutrients so making that switch. And if you're going to cook your vegetables, lightly steam them or sauté them or roast them. When we boil our vegetables, it really cooks out a lot of the nutrients. You know, switching from white rice to brown rice. You can even do half and half while they're adjusting. We really like a brown rice pasta. When we were originally using white, just regular white flour pasta, we switched to a brown like whole wheat pasta and then over to the brown wheat pasta. And that's really just what my kids have known and loved.
You know another thing is to switch the way that you're storing your foods so so many people use plastic containers. They really contain hormone disrupters and so I would recommend stainless steel or glass to store your food in. Even water bottles. I don't recommend plastic. I use a stainless steel or glass for water so that's another really important thing to remove toxins from your - from your everyday life and plastic is a great way to start.
Jessica: Something that you have written in the notes that I'd love for you to share is instead of thinking how you need to restrict yourself, think of adding the good things to crowd out the bad. Does mindset have a lot to do with it as well? Being open to new things?
Kelly: Yes. Absolutely. Yup. So many people think of, you know, having to eat healthy as a punishment. You know. But when we understand that God made our body to require these nutrients and these amazing foods that He put on our earth that fight cancer and all of these other diseases. I look at these amazing foods as, as a good thing that I'm just so thankful for. You know? So yes, mindset is a very big deal in it all.
Jessica: I know for me, one of my daughters will eat pretty much anything. Our oldest daughter will eat anything, try anything. And our youngest is extremely picky and so like you said, starting small, giving her small things. Are there ways to help our pickiest eaters branch out and try healthier alternatives?
Kelly: Yes. Smoothies are, in my opinion, one of the best ways to do that. For years, you know, I would make smoothies for my kids and I would add a handful of spinach or kale or something in there and they never even knew it. And then one day my son caught me and he saw me putting it in there and he's like, 'Mom, I don't like spinach.' I said, 'Buddy, I've been putting it your smoothie for years.' And he just kind of had to stop and think and it was kind of a mind thing for him and he's like, 'Okay. I'll do it.' You know. So that's just a wonderful way to add a serving of greens. I think that kale or spinach are the best way for smoothies. Just watch that you're not adding a lot of sugars, but you know, fresh fruit, some plain organic yogurt if you tolerate dairy okay. A little bit of honey if you want it a little sweeter. So yeah. That's a great way to hide. And I like to say smoothies cover a multitude of sin for those that don't like vegetables.
Jessica: Love it. And then I'd like to talk a little bit more about nutrition because there was a quote that I saw on your Facebook page that said 'Fitness is 20% exercise and 80% nutrition. You can't outrun your fork.' I love this because we can get in this rut of thinking that we can eat whatever we want and then simply just go work it off. That's - that's not always the case. So what are some ways that we can eat for the better?
Kelly: Like we were talking about earlier, mindset is so important. Instead of thinking will this make me fat, think is this going to feed my body the vitamins, the minerals, the healthy fat and protein that my body needs so yeah, I think mindset is so important. So just having that understanding that yes, exercise is important, but nutrition is - is way more important in my opinion.
Jessica: Do you recommend diet plans or an overall concept for eating well?
Kelly: You know, there really isn't one diet that works for everyone, in my opinion. I mean there are general rules, you know, cutting out processed foods and sugar and make sure you're eating plenty of fruits and vegetables and things like that, but you know, we all have such different body chemistry, body types, you know, even your blood type. I would recommend different things based on that so really the most important thing, like I had mentioned earlier, is real food. Whole food. Those to me would be the key things to look out for.
Jessica: A lot of teachers will be like, 'No! Don't ask this!' but coffee. So many people love coffee. How much is too much and is this a healthy habit?
Kelly: Well, hopefully some of you will be pleasantly surprised for me to say that I don't see an issue with one cup a day. I wouldn't recommend more than that. You know, so many people they wake up and they're so tired and really look for that coffee to wake them up. Honestly most people are dehydrated when they wake up and I think a lot of people are just - that's why the feel so tired is because they're dehydrated. And so start your day with a glass of water. That's one of the best things that you can do when you first wake up. And then, you know, one cup of coffee a day I think is okay. My one caution with coffee is that a lot people use those little plastic coffee pods and they're, I don't want to use brand names, but you know what I'm saying, and like I said earlier it's really important to remove plastic from our lives as much as possible when it comes to food. And even worse is heating plastic and consuming so that those heated plastics can really, really just cause a lot of problems with toxicity. With endocrine disrupters throwing off hormones and things like that. So if you're gonna have coffee, just brew it the good old fashioned way. The other thing is that coffee typically contains a lot of pesticides It's one of the highest sprayed foods.. Organic when possible would be a much better option for coffee there.
Jessica: I did not know that. I didn't know it was sprayed heavily. Is it the beans then like on the plantations?
Kelly: Yup. Yeah.
Jessica: Interesting.
Kelly: And another thing to keep in mind too is what you're using in your coffee so a lot of those flavored creamers have hydrogenated oils in them or a lot of sugar so I use just a little drop of maple sugar when I have coffee. Stevia is a good option too or coconut sugar and so try to stay away from those creamers that have lots of ingredients in it. I always say you should be able to pronounce what's in your food and try to stick with five or less ingredients on any packaged food that you eat.
Jessica: Okay. And as teachers we're really pressed for time at lunch. I know many teachers who have lunch breaks that are thirty minutes that are really more like twenty minutes by the time their students have left their class or they've gotten them to where they need to be and so what are some recommendations for teacher lunches?
Kelly: Salads are really great. And you know, I recommend changing it up. Making it interesting. So many varieties of good salads out there. I don't recommend iceberg though. Not a whole lot of nutrients there. Things like spinach, kale, romaine, spring mix. Those would be good for the base of your salad.
You can make a sandwich out of Romaine lettuce wraps or a like a whole grain wrap. I like Rudy's whole grain spelt wraps. You know, always make sure you have got a lots of fruits and veggies in there. Yeah, I think those would be a good option as far as lunch.
You know, leftovers are always a great option too. If you, you know, the night before your meal make, make a little bit extra and then it's easy to bring in and heat up for you.
Jessica: Good ideas. With short lunch breaks a lot of teachers eat snacks throughout the day. So what are some great ideas that are practical and can be grabbed easily between classes?
Kelly: Again, fruits and veggies are a great option and then nuts and seeds, I think, are great to have on hand too. You've got some good protein in there. Some healthy fat. I do recommend keeping nuts and seeds in the fridge whenever possible because they can start to grow mold even before the expiration date. For those that tolerate dairy okay, I like a plain organic whole milk yogurt and then add a little bit of maple syrup or honey to it. I make my own trail mix and I put pumpkin seeds, raisins, and cacao nibs in there. It's kind of like chocolate without the sugar and it's got like a crunch to it so that's something that I like to keep with me a lot. Just keep on hand.
Jessica: Right now we're in that season of kind of flu and you know we've had some cases of strep throat and some different things going around our school. As teachers we're surrounded by younger students, especially those teachers who work with elementary age and younger, and so sickness is kind of common especially in the winter months. So what are some natural remedies that you recommend for fighting common illnesses, such as the common cold or other, I'd say, more simple things that you might see in the winter?
Kelly: Well, I think it's important to keep in mind that sugar weakens your immune system so avoiding sugar whenever possible. My kids don't eat a lot of sugar at all, but if, you know, they're fighting something then I, you know, we just completely cut out sugar altogether. Some ways to support the immune system would be elderberry is good. It comes in a syrup and that's great for fighting viruses. Olive leaf extract is wonderful. Silver is a great for just an overall immune boosting product. And then probiotics. When we take probiotics, we're boosting the good bacteria in our gut. Most Americans have about 20% good bacteria and 80% bad where we should have the opposite ratio- 80% good and 20% bad. Probiotics, yeah. The majority of our immune system is in our gut so probiotics are another good way to boost your immune health too.
Jessica: And are those things that you would take all year long? Or do you wait until you have symptoms and then decide to take some of it?
Kelly: Yeah, that's a great question. Herbs you don't really want to take long term because your body can really adapt to it. For things like elderberry, you know, you take it during the week and take a break on the weekends. Or a week or two on and then a week or two off. So with herbs you really want to rotate. Probiotics my whole family takes year round just because, you know, with the immune system, with gut health, with all of that I just think probiotics are really, really important. And then for things like, well, silver I take regularly. But then olive leaf extract we would just take if we're fighting something and you can never get enough of vitamins and minerals from your food too so keep that in mind.
Jessica: How can we prevent sickness from taking hold before it becomes something much bigger?
Kelly: I think again that reducing sugar, exercising regularly, reducing stress, getting enough sleep, make sure you're eating right. I think that these are all just really key to keeping that immune system boosted.
Jessica: Part of your job is being a weight loss specialist as well and so I know you consider every client's individual needs and I would imagine that each person has a different regimen of what they need to successfully reach their goals for health. How do you determine what's best for each client?
Kelly: Every client that comes through my door gets what I call RBTI. It's the way that I check body chemistries so through urine and saliva. So based on the numbers I check - sugar, ph, cell debris, and urea - and based on those numbers I make recommendations. When our body chemistry is balanced, we just heal more easily and we lose weight more easily so this is a really important piece in every consultation. There are so many ways that our body actually holds onto weight as a protective measure and this is a concept that I had never heard of until about a year ago and whether it's toxic emotions or a body that really needs some detoxing, your body really does hold onto fat because our toxins are stored in our fat. Your body needs that fat to protect itself from the toxins so detoxing is another really important tool for weight loss and just for really overall health.
Jessica: I have to say I've never done a detox 'cause there's, I would say, fad detoxes out there that you read about and some of them sound dangerous to me. So what are the types of things you would do in a detox?
Kelly: One of the most important things to keep in mind is that you never want to start a detox if you don't have regular bowel movements and this is something that most people don't feel comfortable talking about, but it's something that I talk about with every one of my clients so I really have no problem going there. But just to really make sure you're regular because if you're not and you try to detox, you're just stirring up toxins that are going to be stuck and then you can get sick. You can really have some bad reactions so make sure always that you're regular first.
Another thing to, you know, to know is there are things that you can do every day that's just a gentle detox so things like dandelion root tea. Honestly it doesn't take very good, but it really is good for the liver so, you know, I would drink a cup of that usually every day or every other day. I have an herbal cleanse that I put a lot of my clients because it has things like chlorella that just kind of naturally do an overall detox for the body. It's very simple. You basically stay on your normal eating regimen. You just maybe want to maybe eat a little bit lighter, but all you do is take two capsules two times a day in between meals and it just very gently pulls toxins out of the body so that's kind of a favorite among my clients because it's so easy to do. They don't have bad reactions or anything like that so... There are so many ways to do it and probably could be a completely other interview just on detoxing, you know. There's so much to talk about, but yeah. Make sure you're regular. Make sure you drink a lot of water during detoxes and it doesn't have to be intense where you feel really sick.
Jessica: Do you have clients online as well as clients who come to your practice physically?
Kelly: Yup. I can do remote clients as well.
Jessica: Yeah. And are you able to send them the test then so that they can get their levels tested?
Kelly: That's the hard part about the remote consultations. I can instruct them how to take their own ph for urine and saliva, but the other things really they would need to come see me for, but there's a lot that we can do without them coming. Like the ph we would work on. That's a really huge piece for health is getting ph balanced and then we'd talk about blood type and try to kind of work out what would be the best ways to help you reach your health goal based on those things.
Jessica: For the month that this podcast episode airs, you're offering Afternoon Ti podcast listeners 15% off your products and so thank you for doing that. I think that's fabulous. What types of products are available or where would they go to find information on these?
Kelly: Well, it really it would be through... probably the best way would be to email me or private message me. You can go to my Facebook page. It's Kelly Cullen Holistic Health Practitioner and you can send me a private message there. I have a website. It's www.kellycullennd.com. And that's an 'n' as in Nancy; 'd' as in dog. That's a good way you can email me. Digestive health is an area I focus on with products. Detoxing and then a lot of people are interested in immune support as well like you had mentioned.
Jessica: Great! Thank you.
Final Questions:
1) Tea, Coffee, or Something else that suits your fancy
Coffee, herbal teas, green tea
2) Song/Artist/Genre - very eclectic
Bethel and Hillsong
3) What you do every day (or try to do) -
I try to give every day to God and do my best at loving others. Another thing I'm trying to be really intentional about: really trying to give my kids undivided attention when they're looking for it.
4) Get in touch with you -
Website: www.kellycullennd.com
Facebook: Kelly Cullen Holistic Health Practitioner
Pinterest: KellyCullen7
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