Hey there.

It’s Robin, and you’re listening to Healthy Habits for a Healthier Home.

I’m here to help you create a healthier life one simple shift at a time.

If you’re a mama ready to ditch toxins, clean up your family’s nutrition, and build daily habits that support your well being, you’re definitely in the right place.

Each episode is packed not only with education, but practical tips and tools to help you transform your health in your home without that feeling of overwhelm.

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Now let’s get into this episode.

Hey, y’ all.

Welcome back.

I am super excited to have Christina with us here today.

She is a proud owner of Cheers to Health.

She’s got over two decades of experience in pediatric nursing.

She’s a mom of two.

She’s kind of transformed based on one of her children’s health journey, which I feel like is the story for most moms when they kind of find a different avenue.

So I’m super excited.

She’s got some really great things to share with us that they’re doing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to come and talk to all of us.

I’m excited to introduce you and have you introduce yourself.

Really so welcome.

How are you?

Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

Just honored to be here to share this space with you.

And thank you for everybody who’s listening.

We really appreciate your time as well.

Absolutely.

So I’m always curious what prompted you to want to go into nursing?

Because that was your first kind of step into health and wellness.

Yes, it definitely was.

So when I was in high school, I wanted to go into fashion merchandising to be a buyer.

Then I volunteered for Helping Hands and we went to this place called.

It was in Disney, and it was a place where cancer patients were able to go and stay there.

They got to go to Disney World.

And it just really opened my eyes.

Like, oh, my gosh.

Like, this is so awesome what they do for these families, you know, because they endure a lot.

Yes, they do.

So after I went there, a seed was planted and I was like, man, I want to be a nurse and help these people, help these families, help these kids.

I started my undergrad for nursing.

I went, I got my bachelor’s degree, took my boards, and right out of graduation, I started working on a pediatric hematology oncology, bone marrow transplant floor.

So I’ve been a nurse almost 17 years and well over a decade I’ve spent my time in pt, monk and bone marrow now, before I even knew about nutrition, holistic living.

I as a young nurse, you think you’re going to change the face of medicine and nursing.

So I was 22 at the time and I was like, man, what are these kids eating?

You know, this, that we have to be able to get them something healthier.

That seed little did I know was going to, you know, roll over and grow.

You know, nothing happened.

And you know, made big hospital systems that I worked for.

So I went to another health care system that was just strictly pediatric bone marrow transplant.

And you, you have pediatric ensure and Mac and cheese and pizza and all these things where these kids have no white count, they have no immune system whatsoever, they have sores in their mouths.

Just so many complications.

So fast forward, Covid happened and we started changing things in our home.

And for me personally, like for my body, I did a whole 30 like years ago because I was just very gassy.

I would get like a pat, like an itchy patch, kind of like an eczema patch.

I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m so tired of feeling like this.

So that’s kind of when I first also saw the connection between food and how it affects our bodies.

But again, I didn’t have that fully connection yet.

So I started a school clinic on my kids school.

It was as natural as you can think.

Force of nature, disinfectant, active spray.

I mean it was curated so beautifully.

Diffused essential oils and well, I want.

To stop you for one second.

How were you able to do that at your children’s school?

Is it a private school?

Private.

A private Christian school.

So I did have say as to what came.

They were awesome.

And letting me steer that because they did not have a school clinic when we’re coming back from COVID Gotcha.

So if it was in a public school system, I’m sure it would have been extremely different.

But very grateful to have that opportunity.

Absolutely.

That’s amazing.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Very.

Another different side of nursing still, you know, living my healthy lifestyle and we move up here.

I did like general basic, you know, pediatric nursing.

Now I work in pediatric mental health, which has been extremely eye opening to the challenges that our youth face every day and lack of support.

You know, they don’t sleep, they’re eating all these things.

So my nursing career has definitely taken me along a path.

Like I’ve seen birth, I’ve seen death, I’ve you know, participated in many events that are difficult and, you know, mourned losses of, you know, patients that we loved dearly, families that we grew really close to.

And it was just time.

I just recognized, recognized it was time for me to just kind of put that part of my nursing career to bed after being in it for so long.

And it’s funny how so.

When I started in pediatric oncology, I thought, I’m going to be a clinical educator.

I’m going to do this forever.

I’m going to know everything.

And God knows the plans that he had for me.

It was not that.

And so when we moved up here, I just didn’t fully align with our Western medicine model because learning more about the body.

Then I decided to go to nutritional therapy school through the Nutritional Therapy Association.

I was like, all right, I gotta do it.

I have to, you know, learn more.

I want to start my own business.

I want to be in control over what and how I can help people, rather than following orders and just doing things that I think can be managed a different way.

Can I ask you a question, just out of pure curiosity?

I know there’s, you know, lots of rules and red tape and things like that that happen within hospital settings and things like that.

So from your perspective where you are now, what would you say were some of.

And even then, you know, some of the biggest challenges, knowing some of the things, you know, that other people either didn’t want to know or hadn’t been educated yet.

So in nursing school, I had this discussion with somebody.

Today we are taught to work alongside the Western medicine model and physicians.

So in nursing school, we get anatomy, physiology, pathophysiology, pharmacology, learning how to take care of patients in med, surg, ob, pediatrics, mental health.

But we don’t really learn about why the body functions and dysfunctions.

In NTP school, I learned that.

So having NTP and a nurse together, that knowledge, it just helped a lot.

So there is no really preventative education.

They’re still doing formula.

They do pediature, they give antibiotics for cold viruses, they give Tylenol around the clock for a fever instead of just letting the body naturally fight it off.

So then you’re prolonging that illness that that child has, right?

You’re suppressing system.

And then if you say something, depending on the doctor that you’re working with, some physicians don’t like to be questioned.

So.

And I really, I like to say, I know that there are amazing physicians out there.

I have worked with phenomenal oncologists phenomenal nurs, practitioners.

They exist 100.

And we need people like that.

But when somebody doesn’t want you to question them, I don’t really vibe with that because as a nurse, we’re taught to advocate for our patients.

Yes.

And we are taught to understand why you’re choosing to do something.

And it is our responsibility to know that, you know, and it is also.

Your responsibility to give them all their options.

It’s not just one way or the highway.

And I think my kids were never in the hospital, but my mom has dementia and she’s been in an I’m care.

Been her caretaker for a lot of years.

And they do not like when you question them, and they do not like when you say, I don’t want that.

And that’s okay, you know, got to get comfortable in your skin to be able to voice those things and whatnot.

But when you’re working alongside somebody, that makes your job very difficult.

I want to say a couple of things.

I.

There are amazing doctors out there.

There are amazing nurses.

Unfortunately, they don’t get good education.

They get educated in their little specialty area.

They’re not educated from a holistic lens.

It’s very departmentalized.

And I think I’m hopeful in the next decade or two, things will transition a little bit because there are the functional people out there.

There are the integrative people that are coming more to the surface.

And I just encourage.

And anybody listening, I encourage you to think about your body from a holistic lens.

Your heart doesn’t beat without the blood flow.

Right.

Your knees don’t bend without the, you know, the joints and the tendons and the muscles.

Like, you know, we don’t.

We’re not just departmentalized organs.

We are a one being.

You don’t just get a virus.

One place.

The virus is in your body.

And so we have to figure out why and why is it not recovering from it.

And.

And there’s a slew of like the.

Under what we call root causes.

Right.

And our.

Our doctors, pediatricians, surgeons, they’re just not taught that.

So I hope my prayer is that the education system will catch up for nurses and doctors, and they need to be having nutrition in there.

One of the things I found really fascinating, which I tell the story all the time, because when my dad had heart surgery, he had to be in ICU on that floor, you are not allowed to be served sugar.

Okay.

Which I was like, well, that’s cool.

And that’s interesting, except they gave, you know, sweet and loan whatever.

But.

But I was like, why is that?

I mean, I knew why, but I was like, why is that?

And they said, because their immune systems are so suppressed right now while they’re here.

And I said, oh, okay, but tomorrow or the next day when he gets moved to floor four, his immune system is going to be rocking so he can get sugar again.

You know, I was just like, what?

So I go to say that, you know, it’s like.

And I say this often also.

Common sense sometimes just flies out the window.

And I think we’ve got to get back to some common sense.

Really.

Not because these doctors are taught to prescribe and treat.

Yes, they put band aids on top of band aids on top of band aids.

And what happens is you tell people, I go, you’re working with your primary, your endocrinologist, your cardiologist.

Those three people do not communicate to each other.

They are making their own plans, prescribing their own medications.

And then you have.

Your primary was like, oh, well, you know, go back to them and see.

I hear it so much.

And I had a bet with this one lady.

I go, okay, when you go to your endocrinology appointment, I bet you $5 that they’re going to tell you they can’t do anything.

I was right.

Go to your cardiologist, they always say.

So she’s like, yeah, you were right.

It was a waste of my time.

I go, unfortunately, yes, because like you said, our body is it.

It does not function without the other you.

I break my pinky toenail, I’m gonna walk weird.

Everything is connected, everything.

Without one, you don’t have the other.

And that’s the part where they’re missing that piece.

Because you can’t just treat your thyroid.

Okay, well, why is that thyroid not working?

You got to go back to your foundations.

Blood sugar regulation, digestion, sleep, stress, all of that.

So my biggest, like, scratching of the head comes with.

I do believe in functional testing.

I do believe that it’s important to test and have an in depth test and testing done for different reasons to discover some of these things that are happening that could potentially lead to the root cause.

But I don’t want functional and integrative to turn into supplement pushing because that’s what I see.

And I’ve been to several different ones.

My kids have been to several different ones.

And all.

Although each of them have helped us in different ways, the supplement pushing, it’s just as bad as the drug pushing.

You know, it’s like, yes, I do understand we have to sometimes boost a level of something.

If you’re not at a satisfactory level, I do understand that, but why are we not at that satisfactory level?

What’s the dysfunction?

Which pathway is not working?

Are we not absorbing?

Are we not detoxing?

You know, it’s like those are the bigger questions that I still feel, because it’s.

It’s not as regulated, I guess.

I know there’s different things, but.

So, again, we have a long way to go, but we’re making strides.

And yes, people like you going into something and then having that awakening moment when you realize, I have more to give because I know more now and I can’t.

I’m being stifled over here.

I have to get out of this box so that I really can impact more families.

So that leap for you now you’re still doing pediatric mental health?

I still do pediatric mental health.

I work part time at a surgical center.

So I haven’t left nursing completely.

I just have left the hospital bedside.

Gotcha.

Okay.

And then you’re also doing the cheers to health.

Yeah.

So I want to talk about that, which is great, because I think, again, you’re, you know, you’re.

You’re balancing.

Right.

Trying to find it in the pediatric.

Mental health part that you do.

I would love to talk about a little bit about what you’ve seen, because it’s a big conversation, and there’s a lot of parents that are dealing with that, with their children.

I just want to say I had never done mental health.

Like I said in the beginning, it’s been an eye opener to see, as I would say, more, the teenagers, they will literally say, I can’t deal.

I can’t go to school.

I have social anxiety.

A lot of.

I want to say, majority of the kids that I’ll talk to, they don’t do any extracurricular activities.

Nothing.

Because it’s overwhelming.

Because it’s overwhelming.

They.

Whether they’re getting bullied.

And I’ve said this a couple of times.

If we think about when Covid happened five years ago, those kids were.

Those teenagers were in middle school at the time.

Middle school was a very formative year for.

For kids, their sense of identity, who they are.

I have two boys.

I know the challenges.

They’re.

They’re doing hormone shifts, and they’re just trying to find their voice, their place when the world shut down.

Even kids that were like three and four, like, I had.

I was talking to somebody yesterday.

Her second grader is still in speech therapy because when Covid happened, they were like four.

And the whole math thing Just didn’t help their speech.

So if it’s affected little ones, imagine how it’s affected kids that need it.

We need social interaction.

We were not meant to be virtual everything.

Yes, that’s just how we are as a human, as a human race.

So a lot of kids, you know, and I try to tell them, I go, look, you’re going to endure some sort of grief, a death, a loss, you know, going to college.

I go, you need to get this right up here as soon as possible to understand that.

Because if not, you will struggle.

Because in the functional world, you know, there’s certain tests like neurotransmitter tests and gut test testing.

And personally we’ve had that done in our house and it was extremely eye opening, like to see the correlation between gut and brain.

And when your neurotransmitters are not balanced, what that actually causes for the child, then on top of it you add the device that literally is their appendage, the food, and then you.

Right in the gut, in the food part of it.

And so it’s never a one thing, it’s always multifactoral.

And so we have to be able to look at all of those facts.

It’s going to be different.

It’s bio, individual for each person.

And some people are really affected by the lockdown and other people didn’t phase them.

And it depends on what their families did at the time.

Absolutely.

Family handled it differently.

Like my family, we, we continued living and went out and stuff, but some people weren’t like that.

And you know, a lot of kids are abused, they have traumas, they have griefs.

And then let’s say their parent died at the age of nine and now at 14 they’re acting out because.

And I’ll try to explain to that parent if this happened at this age at 9.

It’s difficult to really process that where at the age of 14 they really understand what happened and they’re still going, trying to process that loss because it’s challenging.

Like we’ve suffered loss in our family personally.

And my kids were like in upper elementary and it affected them more in middle school because of that development and their concrete way of thinking.

So it’s trying to.

And there’s also again, like you said, lack of parental involvement.

These kids don’t sleep.

A lot of kids do not eat breakfast and even some kids will not eat breakfast or lunch and they’ll get home just like I’m not.

A lot of kids don’t have an appetite, they’re not hungry.

A lot of.

I just, I would love to do an experiment where you take them out of their current environment for a month and you just switch it up.

And there’s no electronic and there’s no, there’s.

There’s a group for community interaction and there’s book reading and there’s projects and there’s getting serious about.

Yeah.

Like, I would love to remove them and they’re eating nutritious foods and you’re.

You’re gonna start getting hungry up.

If you’re, if you’re not hungry at breakfast, you’re cortisol and your melatonin is definitely, you know, you’re in.

And your hunger hormones, your brain says he.

Correct.

They’re just, it’s.

Everything’s messed up.

So.

But again, I feel like where you’re at currently, there could still be a lot of things added to what you’re doing.

Not you particularly, but the center that could take it to the next level.

And that’s the Right.

And that’s the western part.

And so for you, I imagine that’s emotional for you, it’s hard for you.

You’re doing the best you can and they’re very lucky to have you.

But now that you know something completely different.

Yeah.

So hard because, you know, I still work for a health care system.

I do my best and say what I can say that’s appropriate.

Yes.

And you know, just like, hey, look, mom and dad, have you, you know, looked at artificial colors?

Have you looked at this?

Just to plant some seeds.

That’s great.

You know, even just resources.

Resources is another thing that is lacking for these kids.

And also talking about mental health because not even just with kids, with, with adults, there’s been quite a number of first responders that have taken their lives recently and for God knows what reason.

And it’s tragic to even hear that kind of stuff.

But health care burnout is a real thing.

And we’re taught that, okay, just, you know, put it, put it away and we’ll deal with it.

Like, I have had kids when I worked in oncology.

They would pass.

I would want to cry and.

But I’m taking care of another family.

I don’t want to freak them out, you know, so it, it’s tough to, to compartmentalize that.

And I think that we also need to do a better job at learning how to communicate what’s affecting us and how it’s affecting us and saying it’s okay to talk about your feelings.

Especially with boys.

Especially with men.

Yep.

Because if not, they’re Gonna do other things, whether it’s drugs, it’s cutting, it’s watching illicit things online, gambling, drinking, all these other.

And what they’re doing with that is they’re coping.

Yeah.

Teaching.

How do we cope with something?

And nobody’s perfect.

Right.

We all have our flaws.

But if we’re able to work and teach that there’s better and healthier ways to do something, I think that the youth and the adult race would be better off because there are so many people on anxiety medications and depression and for years.

For years.

And then at some point, when you’re on it for decades, it’s extremely difficult to come off of.

Absolutely.

So it’s.

I have really strong feelings around that.

I think that anybody that is being recommended an SSRI should have a genetic test, because there is a genetic test to tell you how your body would basically respond to the different SSRIs.

And I think that it’s a huge, huge disservice to give a random pill to somebody when.

When we know for sure that they could react in different ways.

You know, when there’s a simple blood test to tell that and how more.

Much more effective it would be and less trauma, traumatic.

And how they’re like, well, we have to try one.

Sometimes it doesn’t work.

Well, we shouldn’t have to be doing that.

Like, it’s 20, 25.

We know we have this test and anybody who’s going to be, you know, prescribed one of those, it should be part of the protocol.

Well, it’s like putting a band aid.

It’s a band aid.

It can be life altering for some people.

And there is a gal.

Her name slipping my mind.

Her.

Her husband’s name was.

I want to say Howie, but it wasn’t.

But it was something like that.

He got like a new job and he was super stressed and wasn’t sleeping, so he went and they gave him an ssri.

He thought it was a sleeping.

Like, he didn’t know what it was.

His name’s Woody.

After being on it, it was making him worse.

And he was having, like, panic attacks and all of these things.

And he asked the doctor, and the doctor’s like, you have to give it six weeks.

You know, you have to give it six weeks.

And she was traveling or something, and he ended up taking his life.

It’s an unfortunate thing.

We have to just be more cognizant.

I feel like when we are prescribing things to make sure it’s done in the safest way possible, especially is.

Sorry, Kim Whitsack.

Yes, yes.

And she created Woody’s Law or something like.

Or trying to do something.

And she’s trying to educate fda.

Yes, yes.

Yeah.

But.

And you know, there’s kids on these medications.

Oh, yeah.

100.

Instead of addressing.

And it’s again, getting to the root cause.

Well, what has happened in your life that has led you to this?

And.

And I do believe that there is an emotional component and there is all those things.

But your gut health is very much connected to your brain health.

And your brain health is your neurotransmitters.

And it is.

And your neurotransmitters.

Cause they’re excitatory and their inhibitors.

And again, if we’re not looking at any of that, how do we know what we’re actually treating?

Right.

It’s.

For some kids, it might not be all up in their head.

It might be in their gut, and their gut’s telling their brain that they feel a certain way.

So again, if you’re listening to this podcast today, I always say investigate, do your own investigative research, reach out, talk to multiple people before just going with one person’s recommendation.

Because it does matter.

And it might take a little bit longer and it might be a little bit more expensive upfront for some of these tests.

If we can help somebody with their gut health and repopulate in their microbiome and ditching and not having inflammatory issues or if they have overgrowth of a Candida or Siba or whatever it is, it directly affects your brain.

So we have to take that into consideration when we’re saying these kids have anxiety and depression and all of these things.

It doesn’t just happen.

You don’t just get cancer, you don’t just get diabetes, you don’t just get arthritis.

Is that’s not how the body works.

I was just going to piggyback what you said about parents or anybody doing their own research.

I always tell people you have to be your own advocate.

Absolutely.

Don’t be afraid to question doctors, because guess what?

They’re human.

They make mistakes just like everybody else.

Yeah.

And they don’t know you really well.

They may have five minutes with you if that.

You know yourself better than anybody else.

So if they push aside what you’re saying, find somebody else, find your.

And part ways with them.

You are not bound to them.

You don’t know anything to them.

They don’t know you from their neighbor, basically.

But it’s coming to a point in health where we have to know more kind of than they do in a sense, because if we don’t ask questions, then we’re just marching orders and, and just basically being robotic with our health.

Well, and you’re just going through the American system, which is going to give you the American outcome of care.

You’re going to have the standard treatment, feel the standard way.

And like you said, it may cost more, but how much does your health cost?

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I mean, obviously everybody that listens to my podcast knows I’m like a die hard, die free.

Well, die hard funny, but a die free advocate for the sheer fact of what it causes and what happens to these kids when they ingest ties, most of them.

And I think for some of them, maybe they have like what I call silent behaviors.

Silent things that are happening that are being caused by ingesting ultra processed food and dyes and additives and things like that, that, that aren’t maybe like your typical hyperactivity or your typical impulsiveness and things like that.

And again, how does that affect the brain?

You know, because again, our brain is fully connected to the rest of our body.

Brains, you know, it’s, it’s.

They’re still developmenting, developing their whole brain from back to front.

I was reading in a book, like, your frontal lobe is like the last thing to develop, but something.

I have a conversation with my kids and again, this is just my personal opinion and where we stand as far as, like, trying to help our kids.

We, we’ve put a taboo on feeling anxious.

Right?

Like it’s.

If you’re, if you feel anxious, you need to be on something immediately to numb out.

And I think, you know, what I’m trying to, what I’ve tried to, you know, explain to my children is that feeling anxious is a normal feeling sometimes not progressively where you’re in a ball on your bed.

No.

But if you’re going into a situation that is a change that is unknown, that feels off, out of your comfort zone, if you’re not feeling a little bit anxious, that would be odd.

Right.

If you’re on something that numbs down all of that, then that’s also something.

It’s like we, we should feel anxious.

It kind of revs us up.

It gets us ready for something that’s unknown.

And it’s up to us to have the conversation of, you know, I’m feeling anxious about this because it’s an unknown, because it’s new for me and I’m a shyer person.

But then it’s reframing that and saying, this could be exciting.

This could open a whole new door.

A whole new world for me if I just give it a chance.

Yeah.

Or it could be a sign of danger.

We want to know if something is not the situation for us.

So.

Absolutely.

Hey, let’s like look at the pros and cons, right?

And I have two teenagers I refuse to raise men that don’t communicate their feelings.

So in my home, like, hey, how are you guys doing mentally?

You guys struggling with something?

Everything good.

I get so many times a kid will tell me, well, my mom doesn’t need to have access to my phone.

It’s mine.

I go, no.

If you are under the age of 18 and if you’re living under their roof, it your parents have every right to do whatever they want because that is your parent.

But you also have these kids that are very entitled that, oh, it’s a mine.

No, I’m sorry, let me not hear.

Until you live on your own, you.

Want to pay the bills, then it’s your own.

But you are your parents responsibility until you’re out of the house.

Right.

And I’ve seen kids too with and they order, they have Amazon stuff.

They order a bunch of things that they shouldn’t do.

And parents again, have no clue.

So it’s also getting these parents to just be involved in their lives.

Oh, and I feel like I’m interfering with their privacy.

And no, because then if the school calls you, hey, we found a vape in their backpack.

Oh, I didn’t know go through their backpack.

Like why would.

Well, and, and also I think for parents, I’m just going to defend parents for a second because we didn’t grow up with this stuff.

Right.

We grew up with different things, but we didn’t grow up with everything at our fingertips.

Yeah.

And so that’s a new world for us to try to navigate.

There needs to be strict boundaries.

Your kids thrive on boundaries.

All children, all adolescents, as much as they kick back and scream in like a toddler, they thrive on those boundaries and they also respect.

And so when, when we’re just allowing things for ease re look at what you’re doing and how are you communicating with your kids?

What is the family dynamic?

Are you having sit downs and asking what was the high of the day, the low of the day?

You know, what is going on?

And I, you know, for me, I used social media as a tool.

Like when I would see something that I felt that was inappropriate, I would say, hey guys, I just want to have a conversation around this.

Like this is what.

What do you see when you see this?

What is What.

What does your brain say?

Because I have a different, you know, I’m obviously, you know, much older than you guys, and it always led to such great conversation.

And, you know, what they saw was very different than what I was internalizing as a parent.

And I would say, well, you might see it that way because you’re basically conditioned to that.

And.

And they’re so desensitized.

Sensitized.

Yeah, desensitized to what they’re seeing.

But I’m like, from an adult perspective, this is what adults see.

Right.

And so when you’re posting something like this, it screams out a lot of things.

So I’m just trying to help you guys be aware of what’s being screamed, because the kids that are posting it are screaming it, but nobody can hear them.

So it’s about having that conversation, you know, that.

Hate to use the word narcissism, but it’s like when we grew up, if you were in a picture alone, that was strange, you know, it was very strange.

If you didn’t have your group of friends with you in your picture.

It was like, nobody took a picture.

Now it’s like one with your friends.

And 20 million.

I have girls.

But 20 million by yourself, you know, and it’s just like, why do you need all these pictures?

Like, what?

And it doesn’t have to be perfect.

Like, there’s no perfection.

So it is a struggle because it’s what they see, it’s what they know, it’s what they’ve grown up with.

And it’s like, so continually.

I just say to any parent, conversate, conversate, conversate.

Limits on things, too.

Social media, like 15, 16.

Read the text messages, but sit down with them to explain to them why, like, I’ve had to do with my own kids.

I go, I trust you.

I don’t trust the millions of people and the things you have access to because you just don’t know.

There’s child predators on game.

There’s child predators on social media.

Yeah.

And heaven forbid you’re on that situation.

I’ve seen it at work.

It’s happened.

No, absolutely.

That’s the last thing a parent wants to deal with.

So set your limits.

You can cut off your Internet on their phone, you know, because you want them to start winding down at a certain time.

So I.

What I.

What I think is interesting about that is the addictive properties of a phone, and parents have it, too.

And so it’s like, how do you put the limits on.

When you don’t have limits?

For yourself.

And so that is something together as a family.

Exactly.

I was just about to say that that’s kind of like creating healthy habits.

It’s.

It’s a family thing.

But again, it’s going to look different for everybody.

And I think having multiple kids really does kind of show you that it.

Does, because there are two.

Like, I had this conversation with my kids.

I’m like, the way I parent you, I can’t parent your brother.

Right.

You’re two totally different people.

Right.

The way you see things, the way you learn things, the way you feel, it’s different.

And you know, like you said, if, you know, one parent is on their phone all the time, then the parent can’t tell the child.

Yeah.

You have to get off your phone and the child’s gonna say, well, you’re on your phone, so why should I do if you’re not doing?

So we have to be that example for our kids.

And then the traits that we’re teaching them, the lifestyle, the nutrition, the sleep that, God willing, will roll over for their kids so that way they can understand.

Like, I think there’s a really big disconnect between our health because our body is inside, like, all of our organs.

Right.

Right.

You can’t see it.

Can’t see it.

We can see losing fat, gaining fat, building muscle, losing muscle, having acne, not having, and having eczema, all that stuff.

If we really try to connect with our body more, it will make more sense as to why we’re doing certain things.

Yeah.

Really have to get better thinking like that.

How is this going to make me feel?

What is it going to do to me inside?

What is it going to do to my cells?

I had a doctor on the show who was also at the community viewing for To Die for.

And one of the things that he said that really resonated and literally has stuck with me is that we see all the external.

Right.

So, like when a kid has dies, we see the outbursts, the behavior, things.

But what is happening for that kid on the inside?

Yeah, his brain’s inflamed.

Right.

We don’t see that, but that’s what’s technically happening is inflammation of the brain.

And I just.

Ever since you said that, it’s like it’s just to shift in my perspective to seeing things a little bit differently.

And what you’re.

Exactly what you’re saying, it’s like we can’t see a lot of the things inside.

You don’t see Candida, you don’t see over.

You don’t see inflammation, you don’t see, but you feel it, you don’t feel good.

And so that’s the connection.

So I want to kind of pivot.

You’re doing this, but, you know, you decided to start creating Cheers for Health, which is more aligned with where you want to go with what you know and your, you know, your skill and your practice base.

So what are you doing with Cheers to Health and where do you see it and want it going in the future?

So Cheers to Health is my business as a nurse and nutritional therapy practitioner.

So my overall goal with my business is to empower and educate individuals and families on how to live a holistic, balanced lifestyle.

Teaching about nutrition, sleep, cleaning products.

I mean, just everything that touches our skin, gets near our skin, and really promoting that.

We can control the external world.

We can control it to a certain extent.

Like, I carry my own sanitizer, my own lotion.

I carry essential oils with me.

I can control what I bring into the four walls of my home.

I control the food I buy, I control the essential oils I buy.

I control my laundry detergent.

I control what I am exposing my family to.

It didn’t look like that.

And I really like to make a point of that.

Like, when I work night shift, years ago, I would get kfc, Taco Bell, Chick Fil A.

I know.

I was like, oh, I got to get something for a while.

Come and go.

I would get Starbucks.

We would go like at 12 to 1 in the morning, go down, get Starbucks.

Then once I.

I started bringing my own K cup, I started bringing my own creamer.

And for months, I’m like, oh, my gosh, I need to get rid of my cure because of the microplastics.

Finally, we switched over to a French press.

So me and my husband, now we grind our beans again.

That was a transition for us, right?

I call them 1% shifts.

You know, it’s like you can’t go from.

You can’t make a 180 overnight.

And so it’s about so.

So tactical and tangible for people to walk away with.

What are five areas that you recommend for parents to kind of start digging into?

I call it ingredient.

Being an ingredient detective.

But it’s like, what are your five areas off the top of your head that people can say today, like, okay, I need to look at those five things.

So definitely household cleaners.

We use them.

I’ve cleaned my counters probably like five to ten times today.

Why?

Because you spray droplets.

Inhalation goes into your body systemically.

So that’s a Big thing those are, you know, kitchen counter, glass cleaner, bathroom cleaner.

Laundry detergent is another thing because we’re washing our clothes and it’s on our skin.

Yes.

Medicine cabinet.

Medicine cabinets are filled with like Sudafed and Tylenol and Motrin and Mucinex.

Most of them have artificial colors in them.

They’ll have polysorbate, they will have polysucralose, some other ingredients that are not warranted if we’re trying to help our body.

Medicine cabinets, another one.

Those are easier things to kind of start looking.

Not that you have to switch everything out.

Food containers.

What do you store your food in?

Do you store it in glass or do you store it in plastic?

Your water, what are you putting your water in if it’s plastic?

And easy switch is to go to a stainless steel cup.

I don’t know how many that is.

Even just sleep, just trying to get at least eight hours of sleep.

I think that’s a huge one that people miss the boat on, especially working men and women.

But I just think in general work, work life balance is an issue for most adults and in our country, I’m not saying every country because I do think there are countries that do it a lot better than us.

They do.

So I think that is an area in which I, I would.

Another like prayer and hope would be that corporations would start bringing some of this health and wellness into their institution or not in their corporations so that people can function to the best of their ability.

And you know, not because people think they’re being efficient by working, you know, 18 hours a day.

And really you’re not, you’re less efficient because your brain is taking like 2.

Or 3 Celsius or like oh, I need an Adderall to function.

Right.

And if you need that then you need to call one of us so we can help you out.

Right, Right.

That’s not a 100 ideal for your body.

So I, I do like a whole non toxic thing.

But I would love to know like we.

I like Branch Basics.

I’ve been using them for years.

Okay.

So as far as cleaning products, what’s.

Do you have another favorite?

So Branch Basics.

I use force of nature to clean.

Okay.

I do have a link for them if anybody wants.

It’s super easy.

So you have the little cylinder, you fill the water to the line, you put in the capsule, turn it on, it does this amazing solution transferred into the bottle.

It’s good for two weeks and it’s safe.

In fact you can use it for babies, pets.

I mean it’s amazing.

I’ll put the link in the show notes for everybody.

And I just go look at the whole science behind their product because it is pretty amazing.

Yeah.

I always tell people, too.

I go, don’t believe me?

I go, yes, I’ve done the research for you.

Just, I’m sure, like, you have.

But it’s good education to know what’s out there.

And I would rather give my money to companies who give a hoot about what’s coming into my home than some major company that is just mass producing to make money off of the consumer force of nature.

I like Molly Suds for the dishwasher tablets.

I use PRC for our hand soap and dish soap to wash dishes.

I use Active instead of, like, Neosporin for our cuts and scrapes.

Okay.

So that’s kind of like for.

I’ll put all that in the show notes so you guys can kind of look it up.

Yeah.

But it’s.

They’re great.

And I will have to say, I mean, praise God, we really haven’t been sick in a long time.

If it happens, it’s once.

Like, I got sick during my Christmas break of NTP school because I was pretty stressed, which made total sense.

Right?

Right.

But other than that, we have.

Because people think, oh, my gosh.

Well, the cleaner doesn’t smell like it’s clean.

I go, you’re smelling chemicals and fragrance that can cause respiratory issues, endocrine issues, carcinogenic issues.

So that’s a really big misconception.

Just because it doesn’t smell clean doesn’t mean it’s clean.

If it smells clean, you’re likely inhaling chemicals.

So, you know, fragrance.

And fragrance I always talk about is a loophole for anybody who’s new to the show.

Right.

Everybody’s new.

You know, it.

It allows you to put multiple chemicals into something without disclosing actually what it is.

So if you see a product that has perfume.

Perfume or fragrance, you definitely want to avoid, because on any app, like EWG, think dirty clear.

Yep.

They ranks 7, 8, 9, 10.

Because you can just have that one, one ingredient and it’s going to knock them all out.

Exactly.

Like, we used Native and I thought it was good.

And then it was at one point.

Yeah.

And then they sold out and switched.

And I was super bummed.

Yeah.

So, like, even for shampoo and conditioner, we use attitude.

Okay.

I’ve been really happy with their stuff in their EWG Certified.

And again, so if you’re starting out on your journey and you’re like, I don’t know where to begin.

I think EWG and like a app like that, even like the Bobby approved app for food, like, I think Bobby approved, it just helps to ditch some of the overwhelm because you can say I need a shampoo without going to the aisle and actually reading every ingredient.

You can do search bar.

Right.

And then you can see who has it and where you can get it from.

Exactly.

And you can pick, you know, like I just listed up like seven things to swap.

But I would say probably cleaning would be the best one because we, you, we clean a lot in our house.

So I would recommend, if you’re going to start there, that might be a good place to start that way.

Because let’s say if you have teenagers and they’re helping clean right, you want to minimize that exposure for them.

Especially now with all these teens having endocrine issues and hormonal imbalances, you know, so those are pretty good places to start.

So I’m super excited that you’ve, you know, kind of gone through your journey and you expanded your knowledge and now you’re, you know, starting your own company and, you know, really going to be able to help and make a difference not only in your area, but other places just because of the virtual aspect.

But in your area, you know, you and I have been talking for months and you really wanted to do something for your particular area you live in.

And so tell everybody what that you’ve kind of put together, number one, to show that it’s possible that it doesn’t take, you know, an influencer or a highly, you know, influential, you know, person with a lot of money to make changes.

Yes.

So my dad is like, we need to do a Maha movement in Palm Coast.

I was like, okay.

He’s like, well, let’s do it.

I’m like, okay, like, what do you want me to do?

So I hand selected some individuals that are local holistic healthcare professionals, meaning that their view on health is holistic in the sense that we look at the whole body, nutrition, everything.

Not so much with the western medicine model.

So my dad knows the mayor, so he, you know, put it kind of just an idea of floating.

And we met with the mayor.

So we have the support of the city of Palm coast to start the Palm Coast Flagler Health Initiative, which is awesome.

We’re so excited and we’re.

Our overall goal is to get to bring community together in regards to health and nutrition because we know the.

The epidemic of just chronic health and that it’s getting to our youth.

Fatty liver Disease, kids are on pre diabetic medications, the anxiety, the depression, the mental health, the lack of education.

So it’s more putting this information out to our community and showing them that, look, we’re normal people, we have a vision of what we want to do, of how we can help locally because Maha is a massive movement.

So we’re just bringing something to what we can do here to the people.

And that is the idea of Maha.

I mean the Maha Action Group.

The idea is that, you know, it is one giant umbrella.

And then they really want each area, each city, each what county to take initiative and start things because that is, you know, we can’t expect that the people at the very tippy top are going to be able to change our health all over the place.

They’re going to put some things into place and they’re going to, they’re starting the conversation and they’re going to work on their portion of things.

But it’s still up to us as community, as our family.

And after I went to the Florida State capitol, when I was driving home, you know, that’s what I was really reminded of is that, you know, we, we can fight for change, which I absolutely will not stop doing until it happens.

But at the same time, the educate, it always goes back to education and being an educator at heart.

You, you don’t have to know everything, but you just have to know one or two things to teach somebody else.

One or two things.

And getting together with your community and sharing that vision, sharing those things together and the research and the things that are happening and then educating the community, that is what Maha is all about.

It is about the transformation, giving permission, mission for us to get busy in our areas, doing things to impact the health of our children, whether that be in school system, you know, in just your local neighborhood, your community, whatever.

Like what you’re doing is amazing and I think it should inspire hope to other people.

And yes, your dad might have known the mayor, but people that work in these positions are supposed to speak to their constituents.

They’re supposed to support support, unless you have an outlandish idea, but you’re supposed to support what people are asking for.

And, and by just giving that support, it just kind of allows it to kind of ripple out to the rest of the community that, oh, so, and so the mayor is supporting this.

Not to say he’s going to be have his hands in the pot and doing all of the work and, but it’s just having that surrounding support from people above.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So even, you know, they can work with their mayor in their local city.

And 100.

Yeah.

Just put it together.

So we have our first event May 31.

It’s called our summer Wellness Jam.

So we’re gonna have.

We’re gonna be showing the documentary To.

Die for, which is amazing.

Yes.

And we’re gonna have clinic pickleball clinics for the kids.

We’re gonna have a kids workout class.

We’re gonna have a demo of some exercises that they have there.

So just really highlighting and showcasing the Southern recreational Center.

Just getting families involved together, getting them active, getting them moving.

We’re going to have phenomenal giveaways that.

I’m so excited.

I don’t want to say it yet.

Like, I want to just keep people on edge.

Yeah, you’re good at that.

Yeah.

So it’s really exciting.

And some of the giveaways, I’m just so honored and humbled that these companies have donated.

That’s.

And I really.

The point is to highlight companies that are doing good, like we said earlier, to give our.

Yes, they’re more expensive because I hear that.

Oh, but it’s pricey.

You’re paying for quality.

You’re paying for somebody who is doing extensive research and has had help.

Just like Branch Basic story, Branch Basics.

The founder.

Yeah, we had major health issues.

She went through the holistic journey and then she’s like, oh, my gosh, my house cleaners.

She went through that.

She endured that to now give us the gift of cleaning, having good cleaning products for our home.

That work, you know, so it’s really like shifting also our perspective.

Things are going to cost more, but your health, again, is priceless at the end, you know, So I want to.

I always challenge the money aspect because Branch Basics.

I mean, I would have to really do a little.

Do a little bit of digging, but you buy it in a concentrated form and then you’re just using it the little bit and you’re mixing it, you know, with the distilled water or whatever the recipe is for that particular thing.

So I don’t buy anything else.

I don’t either.

So I don’t really like.

I mean, for me, they even last a little bit longer, you know.

And again, I think it depends on what you have going on, but I don’t go to the store and buy a bunch of cleaning products.

And I think.

I don’t think I’m over.

I think it’s actually saving me money because I don’t even go down the.

Aisle ever, you know, and the bottles that come with the.

With the Kit, you only have to buy it if it breaks, right?

I haven’t.

I’ve only bought one bottle.

And probably, like, the last few years.

I haven’t ever replaced mine, but I’ve.

Had, like, somebody broke it on accident.

But, you know, like I said, the concentrate, it could probably last me, like, two months, probably.

But it’s worth.

So, again, I think you have to do the.

The math part of it.

It might be a little costly up front, but you’re not buying it all the time, you know, and it’s.

And.

And the other thing that I think is.

It’s kind of comical is people buy multiple different cleaning things for the same thing because they see a commercial, they see an advertisement on the front of the thing, or they think that they need this to do this, so they have all these half bottles or, like, quarter bottles sitting.

And so, again, you know, because the same conversation comes up a lot.

I’m sure you get the same thing.

But, like, eating healthy is expensive, and everything’s expensive, first of all, today.

But when you are ditching the processed stuff, you’re able to take that money and apply it to the healthier stuff.

So it might cost a little bit more in that respect, but it really should balance out.

It should.

Because if you go to the grocery store, like, I’m there, like, scratching my head.

Soda Mac and cheese cereal is, like, $7.

Right.

Like, you could probably buy organic chicken for $7.

Exactly.

Or at least buy, like, organic vegetables that are frozen.

So, again, it’s like changing that mindset.

Exactly.

Which is not easy to do.

And I get that.

Yeah.

But if you really look in your pantry, and again, I’ll tell my kids, I go, we’re not.

I’ll buy ice cream every once when I’m like, that’s expensive.

I can buy something else for us.

Like, I don’t buy them Oreos.

I buy them the Newman’s Own organic Oreos, like, every once in a while if I’m at Sprouts.

Right.

And they.

Honestly, they taste like Oreos.

Like, they absolutely do.

No, they absolutely do.

They’re so good.

So I just went to the store.

It was kind of sad because it’s like, nothing is, like, healthy in an Easter shape.

Not that my kids even want a lot of junk food, but it’s like.

It’s just nostalgic, right?

You get the bunny at Easter.

So I was just annoyed.

And so I was like, you know what?

I’m gonna figure it out.

I went home and I looked on Pinterest, and I Saw like the Easter egg shaped peanut butter cups and I’m not a baker and it’s.

There was no, like cooking time, but it basically was peanut butter.

So obviously organic creamy peanut butter.

Yeah.

It was flour, which you could use almond or coconut and a little bit of maple syrup.

And it’s healthier.

And my kids are getting Easter egg shaped chocolate and peanut butter.

I love that.

That’s so cute.

It’s the little things.

Kids will adapt to what we bring in our homes and what we help them to understand.

And I will say, yes, there does.

Come a point explaining to them.

Explaining.

And they know.

But when they go out on their own, what has driven me to want to do the work I’m currently doing, like with dyes and things, is because when they are in your home, you are doing everything.

They’re aware of what you’re bringing in, all that.

But when you put them in college and now they’re shopping for themselves and as much as they know what brands we use and all, it is really hard.

And it just got me really, like, fired up because I’m thinking, why are my kids having to go in the grocery store and having to be an ingredient detective at 18 and 21?

Like, it shouldn’t be that way.

And so it is about getting this stuff out of our food system.

And so I will not stop fighting until those things are done.

And at the same time, I’ll just keep educating along.

Education, education, education, education.

Exactly.

And I love that you’re doing your back to your alliance, but I love that you’re doing your first initiative as an outside event with movement.

Because again, we get this bad rap and, and I work with a lot of moms, right.

That it’s like, I hate the gym.

It’s like, well, why do you have to go to the gym to exercise?

It’s like you can do tons of different things.

Yeah.

Find a sport.

Go play pickleball.

Right?

Pilates, yoga, I mean, hip hop.

But in our minds, it’s like, when we’re gonna get healthy, we have to get to the gym.

It’s like, no, I hate the gym.

I actually hate the gym.

I don’t have to go to the gym to work out.

I can do things at home.

I like to go in nature.

I mean, I don’t limit myself.

I love pickleball when we play.

But it’s, it’s just changing that mindset.

So I love that you’re doing an outside event where you’re doing things to get people moving and being in community, I Think is super important.

Yes.

Really exciting.

You know, like we’re going through it and community just brings just a sense of not being alone and just you can encourage each other, we can learn one another.

Your alliance going.

Do you see doing like workshops, I mean do you see having like a building with these people like all incorporated and together?

You’re not.

Honestly, I don’t know.

I do community talks, nutrition talks, focusing on mental health, focusing on breath work, seeing where this goes in.

When I posted it, I mean I had not I.

But we have had such good feedback just from businesses.

Oh my gosh.

I love what you’re doing and I want to help and it’s just been like, oh wow.

It’s been really well received and people are really excited, which I’m very happy about.

And God knows where this is going to go.

I love that you don’t have a complete vision because it will allow you guys to go where it needs to.

Go, which is exactly.

My dream would be to have a one stop shop, to be able to walk in some place where I can hit the chiropractor, massage, an education class, something like it all encompassing.

I think when, when you have everything in a one stop shop kind of way, it’s more engaging and you’re more inclined to do the things because you’re already there.

And I wish like wellness centers would pop up like that.

So I.

That’s been on my mind.

Well, we’ll see what happens because like I said, people go out of county for so many services.

I have done quite a few talks.

So I tell people I don’t teach perfectionism, I don’t do calorie counting, weight loss stuff, macros.

It’s really making it as simple as possible.

Less stress and enjoyable.

Because once these people start seeing, oh my gosh, like I feel so much better and I’m drinking more water, even little.

It’s little things like that that make the biggest difference in your health.

You know, we have one body and if we want to continue to age well, I want to continue to move, hopefully have grandkids one day and I want to be able to keep up, want to be able to be a strong mom for my kids.

Age well with my husband and teaching my kids.

What I’m doing now is setting you up for success as you get older.

Sometimes they give me heck.

Oh, but you know, we don’t need.

And you know they deal with it.

But they’ll pick up a food thing and say okay, biogenated ingredients, I’ll put it back.

They Know they know that I won’t buy that stuff.

Yeah.

But again, telling these kids and making them understand why I was just about to say it’s.

It’s like not just the.

No.

But it’s the understanding of what that ingredient actually does to your body when you.

Exactly.

And they’ll more likely to understand.

And just like in the document, the documentary to Die for.

You hear these kids, I had this funny thing in my brain and they know when something’s off.

They know.

Absolutely.

It’s.

We have to be more.

It’s also teaching the kids to write, to be more in tuned with the signals your body’s trying to give to you, I think is also an important conversation.

You’re doing so many amazing things.

I love hearing your journey and just hearing where you started.

This is why I tell my kids all the time because I have one getting ready to graduate.

Like wherever you’re going to dip your toe is definitely not where you’re gonna end.

It’s just.

No.

I mean I don’t know anybody that’s in the same job as you know.

It’s like because you grow as a person and a human and you learn and then you have an experience and that experience shifts you.

And so being open minded to all of that, you know, and then, you know, just allowing for God to kind of, you know, meander.

That guide you.

Exactly.

I like I told you I thought I was going to be P Tong PT Monk forever.

And if you would have told me, I would have like launched a business.

I’ve recorded some radio segments.

I’m like, yeah, right.

I right, exactly.

I just never, never thought that would happen.

I really did.

You know, back then you weren’t ready for this.

Right.

You weren’t ready to even hear that.

Everything comes in its own timing.

I was not there yet.

So as we wrap up, I always ask for some non negotiables.

Currently what are a few non negotiables?

You have to show up as your best self every day for you and your family.

So I very big about self care.

Love it.

I’ll get my nails done once a month.

I’ll try to make time with my friends, do a mom’s night, even just having a day night with my husband, getting time away from the kids, working out, coming off night shift.

I’m really focusing because I’ve done it for almost 20 years.

Trying to get myself on a normal circadian rhythm.

So going to bed, I would normally go to bed between like 10, 11, I’m trying to go to bed way earlier than that and doing a devotional reading a lot more.

I’ve made a commitment to myself to read at least a few pages a day before I wasn’t.

So just trying to be more grounded in my mind and just be more connected with my body and just really enjoying my kids and talking to them because I know my time is going to go really quickly with them and I sometimes just cry thinking about it and I’m, you know, you’re in the same situation so you can attest to those feelings.

So really just embracing.

We homeschool and I love it.

Just really enjoying the time that we have together.

Yeah, I love it.

And you’re doing amazing things and you’re really showing up for your kids in a way.

Not only are you helping to educate them, but you’re showing them what a strong mom is and what a strong woman is and that the life’s going to take you all over the place, but that you keep showing up as your most authentic self.

And when something is unaligned, you remove yourself and you create other opportunities for.

Yourself where it feels more aligned, you know, God.

God in everything.

And just really brought him.

Yeah, absolutely.

So, all right.

So.

So I know that you guys are leaving today with definitely a few 1% shifts.

I’m going to drop the information we talked about in the show notes, take away something today that maybe you had not thought about, whatever that might be for you and your family, and just get curious.

Pick a 1% shift that you heard throughout this conversation that you know you want to get curious and try on and just see how it feels for you and or your family.

And if nothing else, give yourself some self care.

Thank you again for tuning in and I will talk to you guys next week.

Bye.

That episode had so many great takeaways.

I hope you feel inspired and more empowered to make small 1% shifts on your wellness journey this week.

I’d love to hear what resonated with you.

If you want to leave a review, share your thoughts and let me know how you’re going to be implementing these 1% shifts into your life.

And don’t forget to subscribe and share this episode with another mama who could use a little little wellness love.

Want to stay connected?

Join me on Instagram and Facebook at Live Life Balanced with Robin.

Check out my we*****@***********************in.com for more resources and grab yourself some freebies while you’re there.

Until next time, I hope you find peace, love and light by breathing, being present, and allowing for all possibilities to come your way.

See y’ all next week.

Love to y’ all.