Special Guest Ellen DiVietro Shares Wellness Tips!

Welcome to organizing with these, where we simplify and organize our lives for the better. I'm Deanna Ball, your host, here to guide you towards a more organized and enriching life. Together, let's explore practical strategies, inspiring stories, and expert advice to simplify every aspect of our lives. Are you ready to embark on this journey with ease? Let's start.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back listeners to another episode of Organising With Ease. We're so glad you're here. And if this is your first time tuning in, welcome to the show. Today, we have an incredibly inspiring guest, Ellen DiVietro. She is a certified health coach and independent consultant with the nation's original in home food tasting company.

As a result of her own health issues and severe allergies in her family, she learned the importance of smart eating. She is passionate about helping busy families save money, save time, and more ease in their evenings. Ellen is on a mission to empower, guide, support, and educate busy women to be in control of their health, where they focus on simple, healthy cooking so that they can all eat well, have more energy, and be there for their family. Celebrating her 25th year with the food company, she has consistently received regional and national recognition, has reached major career milestones. She recently collaborated with colleagues to create an ebook filled with recipes and health tips.

Ellen is a 36 Rockland County, New York resident, married 38 years with 2 adult children. Their approach makes wellness achievable even in the busiest of lives. And I know you'll walk away with some valuable tips. So let's just jump right in. So, Ellen, thank you, thank you again, and welcome to Organizing with These podcast.

So we would like to hear a little bit about your journey. So what led you to become a certified health and wellness coach? And what drives you, actually, your passion? What is your passion for promoting healthy living? Okay.

Well, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to be here with you. This is great. And, what drove me? I'm gonna say I can thank or blame my son, for starters. I started I started learning a lot about food and wellness when he was born.

He was born with severe allergies, so that kinda headed me in the direction of just paying attention and learning. And, then about 15 years ago, I had a diabetes, I'll call it a scare. I was prediabetic, and my doctor wanted to put me on medication. And I said no because diabetes ran, like, both sides of my family everywhere. Oh, wow.

Okay. No. I'm gonna come back and see you in 12 weeks. And in those 12 weeks, I made one minor change in my life. And I went back to see him 12 weeks later, and my blood sugar and everything was fine.

And that simple one little change I made, do you wanna hear what it was? Yes. But of course, you're killing not only me, the suspense, but also the listeners. What was that one little change that happened? I think what it is is more of an impactful little change.

So please share. Yeah. Well, I'm a very firm believer in small changes to get bigger results, and that one little change at that point for 12 weeks, I just pulled the word sugar out of my life, and that was it. Completely. Completely.

Sugar. Okay. I didn't I didn't go into, you know, carbs and all the other things, but just the word sugar. And, and that made a huge change at that point 15 years ago. And, yeah, that was kind of like a big shift in my lifestyle.

And then about 12 years ago, I had I'm gonna call it a Lyme disease scare. And I never got diagnosed with Lyme disease, but it was just more, at that point, awareness of inflammation in your body and ways to combat it. And that was when I pulled gluten out of my life. So that's two words already. So it's sugar and gluten.

Okay. Alright. Yeah. And then and then just, you know, things that I had gone through through the years. My daughter had some health things that had happened.

And just these changes, much of it was food. Right? And it was lifestyle and moving. Right? Starting to exercise more and just these changes.

And then I noticed that people started coming to me asking me for advice on things. And I said, okay. Wait. And I started researching things with people, and then I was like, okay. Let me just get a health coach certification.

And that kind of, like, sparked me to say, okay. Let me be a and get a health coach certification. And still, I have people coming to me all the time, or they'll look at pictures of me, and they'll go, oh my god. You look so much younger now than you did years ago. Like, what have you done?

And I'm like, food, diet, exercise? Like, not diet not dieting, but food and lifestyle. And Yeah. And we hear about that all the time, like daily. Right?

This is what we this is part of our culture. This is what we hear about so much. But to actually implement it, to make it that part of that, what you had just mentioned, that lifestyle change, to get actually the entire family on board is always a challenging part. Don't you agree? Yeah.

I I hear a lot. It's like the word diet. Like, somebody will say, I'm on a diet. I'm eating this way, but then their kids are eating another way, and their husband's eating another way. And it it just can get really crazy.

So Yeah. I I just like to have simple ways like, okay. Get the kids involved with cooking. Get the kids involved with planning. One of my friends, her kids, they were adult children at the time, And she assigned everybody a night of the week to be responsible for dinner.

And I Really? That's actually a really nice that's actually a really good idea. That's a really good idea. And put it as, like, a meal planning on the calendar. Right?

Ready to go for the family. Who was responsible for it? So my friend, she would have meals prepped in the freezer, so she would season up proteins in different ways. So when she opened her freezer, she knew what these meals were going to become. And her kids had a choice.

They could either pull something out of the freezer that she had already prepped, or they could be responsible on their own for paying for dinner for the family. So she was getting them to take things out of the freezer to use that turned out to be healthier choices. So she was Yeah. I could I could probably think that it's not only healthier choices, but it's actually also in regards to the time. Right?

So it's less time to have that stress, that less time to figure out what to be eating because you already had planned it out and you already have it right there in front of you, and you just need to just follow the directions of the recipe and warming it up or whatever it needs to be done. Right? I mean, I'm a true believer of meal planning. So this is actually taking it to another level and actually involving the family, which I think is a phenomenal example of what can be done to involve the family. I don't you agree as far as getting the family involved?

So did you get your children also involved with, with the family as far as the cooking and the meal planning since you did you did mention that your children have different, you know, different things of, health healthy eating that needed to be done? Well, my son learned how to read labels in the supermarket before he learned how to read because with all of the allergies that he had, I needed to make him aware. And I know that through the years, I've heard some parents, you know, they they stress and they go crazy trying to get food shopping done on the way home from work, or they run to do it themselves. And when my kids were younger, I would make it a journey. I would take the kids to the supermarket, and it didn't matter how long it took because they were I used to call it I let them loose in fruit and veggie world.

Yeah. Where they could pick out something that we haven't had before, and then we'd take it home and figure out how to make it. But we we had to, you know, be aware of the allergies, but my kids were always I'll use the word daring when it came to trying new foods because I empowered them. And they were involved in it at an early age, so when I hear some people say, you know, their kids are picky or, you know, they're they're very selective as to what they'll eat, my kids would always try anything and everything because I put it out there for them. Like, hey.

What what new things are we trying now? And, okay. So the first time I walked into my daughter's house, when she got her own house, I walk in and on her refrigerator, there was a board, a wipe off board with the days of the week and what they were having for dinner every day of the week. And inside, I said, she was to me. But outwardly, I did not even acknowledge it because I didn't wanna say anything like, oh, she learned this from me.

But, you know, what you do, whether good or bad, is gonna have that effect on your kids. Right? Yes. It's so, so true. It really, really is.

So for our listeners, what kind of tips, since you did mention picky eaters, for for those families that do have picky eaters, what are some tips that you can already start to get them more involved and get them to, like, broaden their their, I would say, their food palate? K. Well, for starters, when kids are involved in the process, right, they're more apt to want to try it because they kinda take ownership like, oh, I made that. You know? It's like they they had that that that role in what was happening.

So they would do that. And you know what? When it comes to picky eaters, I'll start with, like, a way to head off the picky eating to begin with is that you're the one that puts that food on their plate. So if you give them things that are good or along the lines of what you wanna be having them eat, then they're not gonna know of the other things. Like Right.

My kids, I don't think they had McDonald's or Burger King until they were able to drive themselves. Right? So we Wow. Okay. They didn't So you okay.

Because so you didn't you didn't have that like, you didn't incorporate that in your, like, you know, after school pickups to go through the drive through. Right. Right. Right. I mean, that's what we did because partly because of food allergies.

But but, you know, realizing that, you know, yes, pickiness is gonna happen because they're also gonna be subject to, lunches at schools, right, and other parties and things. So with picky eaters, just trying to incorporate small things You know? Yes. If they want chicken fingers, right, or chicken nuggets, you can make a healthier version of a chicken nugget instead of, you know, the frozen chicken nuggets. So you can make those things healthier versions and also just incorporate, you know, a little bit of broccoli or a little bit of carrots or a little bit of things, and then they'll start eating it because it'll be there in small be there.

Right. Yes. In small portions. And not making a big deal over it. Right?

Oh, okay. Right. Just make it it's like a part of your routine. There's nothing, like, big or major about it. You're just doing it, and that's just like making it like a flow, nothing like a statement of, like, oh, we're having whatever.

Right? You're just making it like, oh, look, This is for dinner tonight. There you have it. Right? Like, simple.

Dinner dinner is here because if you make a big deal over it and if you get emotional about their eating or not eating, then they love seeing those reactions from you. If you're gonna act like a maniac about them eating something or trying something, they're just gonna love it because it's it's entertainment for them. Right? Right. Right.

And then they don't eat it. That's the problem. Right? Then they don't eat it. Because they're watching you do headstands and cartwheels trying to get them to eat it.

Right. So so that's it. Like Yeah. So, yeah, that's a that's actually a really good tip. So, yeah, I could I can actually, relate to that as well where even you you know, you have mentioned that you have 2 different children.

I also have 2 different, children as well as far as their eating and their menu pallet as well. But if you don't make a big deal out of it, like you just said, it really it actually makes a big difference. So at the beginning, I was one of those moms like, oh my god. You have to eat your peas. You have to eat your vegetables.

But then I realized the more I said it, the more it never got to be, like, eaten. Like, it was just kind of, like, pushed off to the side and maybe, like, 1 or 2 just to satisfy the the ask of me, the mom. Right? So I kind of put I just basically just said my to my husband, like, let's just, like, take that off the plate and no pun intended. Right?

But I didn't know that way. And let's just see, like, roll with the punches. And let let me tell you that actually what you're just saying is so true. The less you emphasize on it, then they actually turn around and make the decisions, and they feel more independent. K.

And, also, they see what you're doing. They watch you. K. My mom said to me oh my god. She used to say to us when we were younger, do as I say, not as I do.

And my response back to my mother basically was, what you do speak so loudly. I can't hear a word you're saying. Oh, there you go. Because your kids are gonna watch you. If you're, you know, if you're on a, I don't know, restricted maniac of a diet thing, it's gonna start those food phobia things and food blocks with the kids.

Mhmm. So they watch what you do. If you're whatever. I don't need to go into detail, but No, I know. No, no, no.

It's true though. But I mean, it is true. And if you start young and then they grow older, like middle school and high school, they all see all of us. They see that. It's like the reflection of.

And that's why it's really important to get everybody on board. And so, as you know, I organize pantries, which I just so love, and I do know about the allergies. So there are some pantries that I've had to organize where it's just like, you know, in that free zone or there's this allergies, you know, allergies or there's this specific snacks because these are the ones or this is the organic ones because of the friends and things of that nature. But it can get a little bit tricky because when you have those play dates and then you have the ones that can eat anything under the world, right, under the sun. Right?

Can you relate to that? Like, what what tips can moms and households do when you do have the ones that come to the house and, kind of just say, you know, what else do you have to eat instead of this organic? That that because the only reason is because that actually has happened to me. And I was like, oh, okay. Okay.

Like, you're the healthy house. Well Not the junk food house, the healthy house. But I guess but I guess play dates from from both angles. Right? With my son, right, being highly allergic, I was I was reluctant to send him on play dates.

And I would I would be certain that I educated the parent right before my son went on a play date. You know, these are his allergies. This is, you know, what needs to be what needs to be safe for him. And there was one play date where I went to pick him up from the play date, and he had something smeared on his sweatshirt. Oh, okay.

And I said to the mom, I said, what's that? She goes, oh, oh, his younger brother was just eating peanut butter. Wow. So I I went over in, like, half a second, like, tore the the sweatshirt off my son's head. And I said to the mom, I said, okay.

I'm gonna say this again that he is allergic to peanut butter and peanuts, and this could have been a really unhappy picture here. And but just you know, you need to be certain from both ends. If somebody if somebody is coming to your house, right, when kids would come over, I would always just double check with the parents. Hey. Is there any allergy or food sensitivity I need to know about?

Right? Looking at it from both ways. Both ways. Yes. And No.

No. No. It's true. Yeah. And just and just because, you know, you serve healthy food in your house, we're not a totally organic maniac household, but there are things that you know, dips.

You can make dips. Just don't make them with dairy. You know? There there are ways to do things. Like, kids love dipping things.

Right? K. So whether it's, like, a bean dip or a hummus or, you know, some kind of sour cream looking dip, Kids can dip. There are chips that can be eaten, so it's not that it has to be veggies and totally healthy, healthy stuff. There are chips and there are things and there are cookies that can be had too.

So Of course. Absolutely. But actually, you know what? All of this for the kids actually can be also applied to adults. Wouldn't you agree?

I mean, like right? I mean, like so I guess that comes back to what the parents do or the adults do, the kids then will follow. So if the parents also eat the dips with the bite, that's one of those one of those, you know I don't know. You would say that that would be kind of like what we just had talked about, the follow through of. Yeah.

There there's something fun just to share with you in terms of, like, veggies and and eating veggies. So there was something that I I always end up making for the holidays, and I've brought it places when I've gone. And it's a veggie bundle. So you A veggie bundle? A veggie bundle?

I love the name of that. Tell us more about the veggie because I need some help for the holidays. So tell us more about the veggie bundle. So a veggie bundle, you take cucumber. I normally use seedless cucumber.

Okay? And you cut it into slices. You cut out a hole in it. So your cucumber slice is like a napkin ring. Okay.

Okay. Visualizing this. Yes. You can. Yeah.

That's what that's what I'm explaining instead of just showing you. Right. So your cucumber slice, picture that as a napkin ring. And what you're stuffing into the napkin ring are different veggies. So you can stuff, cucumber sticks, carrot sticks, red pepper, yellow pepper, not green pepper.

I don't like green pepper. You stuff those veggies through the napkin ring, right, the cucumber slice, and you serve them on a platter. And you can serve them with different dips too, you know, whether it's hummus, whether it's, you know, some kind of bean dip, right, or even a sour creamy type cheesy thing. And there was one there was one holiday. It was Thanksgiving a few years ago where I was asked to bring, you know, crudites, and I'm like, okay.

She's asking me, the foodie one, to bring veggies and dip. So I'm like, okay. How am I going to make this different? And I made those veggie bundles with 2 different dips on the side, and there I'm looking around the room. There were, like, 20 people there, and I'm looking around the room, and everybody is hanging onto a veggie bundle, picking out the veggies and just munching on them.

And I had this one woman comes over to me, and she goes, oh my God. That's my husband over there, and he's eating vegetables, or that's my kid over there. My kid never eats vegetables. But it was fun because it was like that little veggie bundle that wasn't just your normal, you know, veggie platter. It was it was cute.

No. That's actually cute. I mean and, also, you know what? It's inviting. It looks really good.

Yeah. Right? So you have to try it. Like, you have to taste that. I mean, I can't I'm going to be taking I'm stealing that from you.

I'm just letting you know. I'm sharing that. I'm sharing that tomorrow. On the record right now. We're on the record right now.

And all to the listeners, if you have not tried this veggie bundle, let me tell you something. I think this is the best takeaway for the holidays. And so I mean, and not even just for the holidays, for any place. Even for your own home. Right?

I mean, like, you can just do it in your own home. But, yeah, that's I mean, that's just I just think that I like that. That's a really good one. I like that. Okay.

So picture like, packing those veggie bundles in a kid's lunch. Mhmm. Like, that would get a kid to eat veggies. It certainly would. Yes.

And the thing is that it's already sliced. It's already washed, And it's easy. It's finger food. It's finger food that they can snack on. Right?

At its best, basically. At its best. Because that's what we want. We want to have our kids eating that healthy healthy route. Right?

Now do you do you think that aside from the eating that we need to because we hear this a lot on social media and just any statistics or any type of news, you know, articles that one reads. It's all about also hydration. So what is the importance, and can you share a little bit more about how being hydrated is really essential in one's day to day life? Okay. Well, I'm just gonna use a a quick example, and that is when you wake up in the morning, your body is as dehydrated as as if you sat on a plane for 5 hours without having a drink of water.

Would you ever do that? That's like flying, I guess, from here to California. Yeah. I guess, I'm already I'm already parched. Like, I'm already parched just listening to you telling me I can't have water within 5 hours.

Like, what is that? Right? So so you would never do that. Right? So why do why do that to your body?

So, is it just with with hydration? Right? It helps you remove waste from your body. Right? People say they're constipated.

Well, the first question would be, and how much water are you drinking throughout the day? And chances are great they're not drinking enough, okay, or taking the time to drink enough water to help remove waste from their body in all different ways. Some people would complain about headaches. Right? And the first question if people have, like, headaches all the time is, okay.

Tell me how much water you're drinking throughout the day. And there are sometimes you end up with headaches because you're not drinking enough water. Right? All your organs in your body need hydration. And when people started telling me that I was looking younger than I did years before, Part of the change, I was thinking like, okay.

So what have I changed? You know? Yeah. I changed, you know, the sugar and and the gluten at that point. Right.

But, also, what I was doing was when I was getting up in the morning, I was drinking warm water, not cold water, warm water with a little bit of lemon juice in it. And that kinda like lemon, right, lemon or lime, they perk you up in the morning too, but you're also hydrating your body. And things that that I feel with water is you don't wanna drink, like, 12 ounces at a time, or the or it's been said, you know, drink water before a meal. You know? Yes.

We hear that a lot, like an 8 ounce glass before right? Before you eat or when you go out before you go out for dinner. When but when you drink that much water at a time, if you're drinking like a solid 8 ounces at a time or 16 ounces at a time, you're you're, like, drowning your body. You're, like, throwing too much water in there at one time. So I don't have it with me, but I do have my coffee with me.

But I usually I usually keep a 20 ounce carafe. Okay. So for the listeners, I actually have my Stanley Cup full right here, and I've got my I've got coffee in hand. So I'm a I do both. Yes, I do.

But, but, yeah. So you, Ellen, cheers to our to our coffee to our coffee on this one. Cheers. But just just drinking, like, I'll usually have like, if I'm going out for the day, I'll have 2 20 ounce carafes in my car. Okay.

So I just believe in sipping water throughout the day because you're just consistently hydrating your body instead of drinking, you know, a whole water bottle at once. Just, you know, little little sips, couple of tablespoons throughout the day. Doctor. So let me just go back. You had mentioned you had 20 ounces, so you drink then a total of 40 ounces in a day.

So I hear there's all these statistics out there. You need to drink like 68, 63. Mean, like that and you just had meant fortune, do it 40. Do you have is there a range that people should actually think about trying to consume their water on a on a daily basis? Like, what is that range?

Okay. Normally, it's half your body weight in ounces. Okay. And, no, I don't weigh £80. My my my coffee cup is 20 ounces.

Okay. And then I'll usually use, like, the same size cup and I'll have, like, a cup of chamomile tea later in the day. Okay. So it's not just water that Okay. I was referring to.

Well, yeah, it is the 40 ounces because that's guaranteed me 40 ounces of water. But then it's the 20 ounces of coffee, and then it's the the cup of chamomile tea later. And then it's more glasses of water throughout the day when I'm home. So it is Alright. But it's but it's just thinking of, you know, again, those small changes.

You know, if you Small changes. If you are not drinking water at all, then start with that warm water in the in the morning with a little splash of lemon juice. You know? Start with a carafe or a tumbler or a cup or a mug of some kind, and just start sipping at it. Just start somewhere because, again, small changes.

Or actually just go back to thinking about being on an airplane from, like, you know, the East Coast going to the West Coast and having nothing to drink. That would make you thirsty no matter what, and that would be a really good start. Like, it's an excuse. I'm going on a plane. I gotta start drinking.

Right? I mean, I would think I would think that that would be it. So for our listeners, what three simple actions, if they can start today, to to improve their health and wellness aside from starting with dehydration? Are there any other like, there's 3 tips that you can probably share for for the for our listeners? Okay.

Three things. We'll keep it simple. Super simple. Right? Okay.

Super simple. Yeah. And of course, if you have others and you'd like to share, we would love to be able to hear all about that so that we can incorporate it into our daily lives, maybe even starting today or maybe even starting tomorrow. But just simple and easy, actionable things that we can already incorporate. Because of the holidays, it's always important to I would think that we still need to continue our health and wellness journey even during the holidays.

Yep. And now is a great time to start. So today you can start with the hydration. Right. Today start with that hydration.

Yes. No excuse. Let's do it today. Let's get it done. That's what I call it.

G I d, get it done. Absolutely. Just realize that the importance of taking care of yourself, Because if you're not taking care of yourself, you're you are absolutely no good to anybody else. So start doing things that can get you to get to bed at a reasonable time. Right?

How many of us are up at 5 o'clock in the morning or 6 o'clock in the morning? Right? And then you ask that same group, okay. What time do you get to bed? 1 o'clock?

Oh, well, that's not good because you're only getting, like, 5 hours sleep or 4 hours sleep. So start doing things and be aware of what your nighttime routine is Mhmm. And start getting to bed earlier. Okay. There's something that I started doing because I may go to bed a little earlier than some other people in my house.

So I started putting an ear plug in. So For sleeping. For sleeping. Yeah. So what I would do is my left ear hits the pillow, and my right ear would be up.

So I would only put one earplug in. I would put, like, one of those foamy earplugs in my right ear. Okay. And this way, I'm going to sleep with my left ear down. Right?

So that's in the pillow. But by having one one foamy ear plug in my right ear, it's blocking out all the noise of the house. So whoever else is up making noise or watching TV, I don't care because I'm not hearing it. But, you know, also, you won't be able to hear, god forbid, something happens in the middle of the night. Right?

Some people are like, I can't I can't do earplugs. What if? Well, if you roll over, the other ear is gonna be up anyway, so you're gonna hear. Right. So but just sleep, getting to sleep.

And I I kinda started the ear plug thing just to help me go to sleep. So whatever it takes for you to be able to fall asleep earlier. And also just being active. And when I was talking with one of my friends a while ago, he said, I used to go to the gym 2 hours a day, and I can't do that anymore because I'm too busy taking care of everybody else. And I said to him, okay.

I understand that you can't go to the gym 2 hours a day, but what can you do? And he said, what? I said, what can you do? And he told me what he can do. I said, okay.

When are you gonna start? And he said, tomorrow? And all I said to him was, hello, my friend. Good answer. It's it's 8:30 in the morning.

What can you do today? Right. There you go. That day he got started. But just moving doesn't have to be 2 hours of of 2 hours a day at the gym.

Moving can be, what can you do for 10 minutes? What can you do for 15 minutes? Just start a daily walk. Get up and dance. Like, put music on and dance.

And the fun thing is also an idea is to grab a friend and start a little text group and just type the word done to each other. Just grab a friend and have that little bit of accountability. So you're getting something done together. Right? You're both holding each other for Since you just mentioned that as an example, do you actually have an accountability text group for you when you do?

Do you really? Yes. We started it, last year in January, right after the holidays, And that one friend who said that he couldn't get to the gym every day There you go. Is is one of the first members of that group with me, and he pretty much virtually has not missed a day since then. Look at that.

It's so but, see, that's something to be said about accountability. Because if you do have that partner, things really get done, and you feel good about it. Yeah. I think Because we all have that slump once in a while, like that in the not in the mood moment. Right?

But if you have someone like your cheerleader behind you, then anything is possible. So I really like that. It's staying consistent. A cheerleader. I beg your pardon?

I love what you said about having a cheerleader. Yes. A cheerleader. It's somebody it's somebody to cheer you on. But if you're missing a couple of days, it's kinda like that reach out to say, hey.

Is everything okay? Mhmm. You know? So we started with just at that point, that day, we started with 4 of us in the group. We've had some people that have come and gone, but now we have 11 12 people who are in our group.

Nice. And it's just but it's just done. We and whether it's like, we have one person who is in a in the martial arts hall of fame, and then we have somebody else who does, chair yoga, and it's whatever and anywhere in between is what people are going to do, and it doesn't matter what they're doing as long as they're doing something. Right. And I'm pretty sure that aside from it being a game changer, if one's lifestyle, it actually is kind of fun.

Don't you think? I mean, it's kind of fun to be able to talk to your friends even now it's like this the the text messaging, but it's actually, like, engaging. Like, so even though you might be doing it solo, you still have your friends that they can still somewhat be part of what you're doing. I think that's kind of cool. Right?

You know, and for anybody that's going to start their own little accountability text group, you you know, it can be taken further. You can say, you know, done, and this is what I did. So depending on what you want it to do, you know, you could take it to any level you want to. And with with my group, these people don't know each other. So I'm gonna have, like, a Zoom meeting at some point next month just so they could meet each other, and we could talk a little more about other health things.

But having some kind of accountability, no matter at what level, I think is a it's a great thing. Right? I think so too. Yes. Because it it's it's, like I said, it's a cheerleader.

It's that motivation. Right? It's, it keeps you fresh and inspired so that you don't because we do have those days where we wake up and we're like, Ugh. Like, right? We all have that.

Right? Like, Ugh, here we go again. It's 5 AM. And now, you know, with the I don't know about you, but I do have it takes me a good at least 2 to 3 days for any of the time changing that we have, so the fallback, spring forward. So that also has a lot.

Right? I mean, I wish they would just on a side note, I wish they would just leave the time zones alone. But that's not that's a whole another topic on itself. Right, Helen? The real topic?

We're not going to go there. We're not going to go there. Totally not going to go there. I am jealous for those 2 other states. They don't have to deal with it, but that's another issue.

But I do think that that really makes a real big difference on accountability and also on how things can get done. Like so you just really just did amazing. You just said small start. Taking sips of water to start that with that hydration. Right?

You got your vegetables. Get those small. Now does that also apply to, like, the fruits as well? You can kind of do the same. Right?

Because they're kind of on the same line with that. Because there are some kids that actually don't eat any type of fruits. So right? So how do you incorporate some of that? Because I know that a lot of parents would like to have the fruits and the vegetables put together.

So what do you aside from the protein and everything else that goes along with it? Again, with fruit, start small. What I've been also happening is that parents think their kid has to eat a big bowl of fruit, and they put this big bowl of fruit in front of a 4 year old. And it doesn't have to be that way. You know, take a strawberry.

Right? One strawberry, 2 grapes, couple of slices of banana. Right? Start small, but just introduce, but introduce color. Kids like color.

Kids like dipping also. So think about what you can dip a piece of fruit in. You know, it could be, I don't know, could be a little bit of peanut butter or almond butter, or it could be, I don't know, Cool Whip. Right? But just Like, something fun fun for them to tie nope.

Yep. Mhmm. Just just dip something. But, you know, realize that, portion sizes for kids, those portion sizes can be really small, and that's all they have to be. Look at the size of a kid's stomach.

You know, we think that that sometimes our children need to eat the same portion size that we eat, and we have to realize that, you know, as I said, a strawberry, 2 grapes, couple of slices of banana. It doesn't have to be much. You know? And if you're trying to figure out what your kids' favorite fruit is, make them a little fruit salad and see what goes first. Oh, that's a good idea.

That's a good idea. No. No. No. That is.

That is. Well, I can actually tell you that, for our house, we do have for the grapes, let's I'm just talking about grapes right now. We have the green grapes, and then we have the red grapes. So we have some that eat only red grapes, and we have some that only eat grape green grapes, and then we have some that don't eat any grapes at all. So there you have it.

We have a house divided on the grapes. But it but it's kinda easy to figure out, like, what the favorite fruit is. Yeah. No. No.

It it really yeah. No. No. So, like, for me, I like all types of fruit, which is that's why when you open up my fridge, I'll have like, and I know that the majority of the fruits, that that that will be mine. But, again, you know, the others just kinda, like, pick and choose, which I think is fine.

I think giving that array of a variety for them to kinda taste it and try it out is not too bad. Do you do you think that's a good idea that they just if they see it in the fridge, they might be able to be more inclined to try it themselves or not? Does it have to be, like, literally placed in front of them, especially for the smaller ones as opposed to, like, the middle school and high schoolers and and older? If you're the one that's serving your child a meal, then you serve it. Uh-huh.

If if your child is at the age where they're gonna go in the fridge and find their own things, what you have in your fridge is what they're gonna find. You know, for people that say, my kid is eating junk. My kid is eating whatever. It's, well, who's bringing it into the house for them to be eating? Right.

So if you have you know, like, out on the table, if you have, you know, a bowl of clementines, you know, an apple or something, right, and you have a fruit bowl out there, bananas too, and these things are visible all the time, well, if your kid's hungry, they're gonna grab a clementine. They're gonna grab a banana. They're gonna grab an apple because it's there. If you have in that same bowl on your dining room table, if you have cookies and cookies and cupcakes and donuts, well, then that's what they're gonna grab too. So it's what you're showing them is what they're going to eat.

So what do you see the most difficult struggle with your clients for them to overcome an entire like, because it all it's really all about the family, and the family has to be engaged. What are what or is there maybe 1 or 2 common denominators that your the clients that you work with have that they are struggling with? And and and what type of resolutions were given? It's basically the indecision as to what to eat for mealtime and not taking the time. Time is a big thing.

Time. And people making last minute unhealthy decisions. Because it's easy. Because it's yeah. It's like I can't figure out what I'm gonna make for dinner.

We'll just order pizza or, you know, somebody will have, like, every takeout menu under the sun in their possession. Right. And then, you know, things that that I offer are simple hear that word, simple recipes. I love that word. It's just because you know what?

Simple is a really good word because it's actually it it's not a daunting word, like have to. You know? Like, simple. Yep. Simple simple recipes, simple solutions, simple ways of, you know, yes, you can you can prep some meals and have them in the freezer.

I love to encourage people to shop for if you're shopping at the supermarket, shop for meats and your proteins that are on sale. Okay? Look at the the flyers ahead of time. Know what's there. Having recipes at your fingertips and being able to season things up and have them in the freezer, that's a game changer too because when you're done with dinner tonight, you can pull what tomorrow night's dinner is gonna be out of the freezer and put that in the fridge to defrost.

So Yeah. Simple solutions that way. And another like, if you're starting if you're starting somewhere with meal prepping of some kind and you've done nothing ever before, explore batch cooking. Okay. Batch cooking is where you can cook up, let's say, £4 of chicken at a time and use that chicken.

So it's kinda like making a big chicken soup. Right? And then you have that chicken that you could use for different recipes. So you can divide that chicken into smaller portions and either refreeze it. Okay?

So you can have, you know, chicken salad, chicken enchiladas, chicken slice it up and serve it with steamed veggies. You can do different things with it. So start again, starting small, keeping it simple. Those are amazing tips. That is just amazing.

I cannot get over the fact that, you have just given such inspiration on wanting to stay, like, clean and healthy, but you make it fun. You make it like so like you just said, those words. Simple. Right? And it's like, uh-oh.

We got something. We got something. We're juggling here. I don't know what we're juggling, but Ellen, I think, is going to describe something about juggling. What are we going to be juggling here?

Because I was actually going to go towards that, but Ellen has just jumped the gun on us here. And, I'm going to have you take it away because I'm not going to spoil this one. So, listeners, get ready. That's all I have to say. Ready, set, go.

Ellen, you're on. First of all, I don't juggle. I don't know how to juggle. I am I'm just a very firm believer in keeping things fun and keeping things simple, and that's it. You have to.

Because you have to. Should I tell you the story? Tell me tell us the story. Tell the listeners the story. Let me tell you this little story.

So there was one one time I was doing a presentation, and the whole gist of my presentation was going to be the ball is in your court. The ball is in court, which really is the ball. The ball is in your court. Right? Correct.

So I asked my husband to take pictures of me, and in my hand, I had a little smiley face spaldeen. Okay. And I had I had some koosh balls. And my husband said, what is the deal with these balls? They're so silly.

And I said, well, my theme is the ball's in your court. And he goes, well, you need a basketball. And I said, no. I like to have fun and get things done and keep things simple and playful. There you go.

Hence the colorful and colorful. And colorful. Hence the hence the the koosh balls on this ball game. So that is it. So, yes, I did I did a great job with my the balls in your court presentation.

Balls in your court. Yes. It sounds like it. It's just it's keeping things simple. It's knowing that, you know, small changes are gonna lead to bigger results.

And just have fun and get things done, and that's it. Yes. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much, Ellen, for all of these fantastic insights. So where can our listeners connect with you and to learn more and get started on their wellness journey?

Okay. Well, connecting with me through my website is a good idea. You know what? There's I know that there's gonna be a link that you're gonna have posted somewhere because Yes. Well, talk to the listeners and let them know what you're offering.

So for those of you that would like, I do offer a complimentary mealtime consultation. So in 20 minutes, we can, you know, talk about things and talk about ideas that might make sense for you. So that is my gift to you. Thank you so much. And so we will there is a link, like Ellen had mentioned, and we are going to add those onto the show notes down below.

So again, thank you so much, Ellen, for taking the time today. And we are all well on our wellness journey. Thank you so very much for joining. Until next time. Thank you, Diana.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner. And if you're anything like me, you want to be ahead of the game, organized and stress free so you can actually enjoy the holiday with your loved ones. This month on Organizing with Eads, I've got something extra special just for you. We're all about preparing for Thanksgiving in the most efficient and fun possible way. And to make it easier, I've created an exclusive Thanksgiving meal prep checklist.

All you have to do is click the link in the show notes to get a copy of it for yourself. This guide walks you through everything from making your guest list to planning your menu, decorating your space, and even for some last minute reminders like defrosting the turkey, prepping for the appetizers. So whether you're hosting for the first time or you're a seasoned pro, this checklist will keep you on track and stress free. So what are you waiting for? Tap the link in the show notes, download the checklist, and start planning your perfect Thanksgiving.

Share it, please, with your friends and family as well so that everyone can stay organized and have an amazing holiday. Happy prepping. And remember, step by step, little by little, we'll make this your best Thanksgiving yuck. If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe to Organizer With These podcast on your favorite podcast platform and leave us a review. Your feedback helps us grow and reach more listeners like you who are passionate about living their best lives.

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