In Episode 95 of The Holistic Nutritionists Podcast, Natalie Douglas and Kate Callaghan share their social isolation tips and how to overcome social isolation without feeling depressed or anxious.

• Tips on eating well during isolation
• Managing trigger foods + “picking”
• Some of our fave iso food discoveries + Kate’s new obsession with lollies baby carrots
• Making movement happen + what we are doing 
• Nourishing your mental + emotional health
• Relationships in Iso
• Getting crafty + creative

• The Body Coach
• Yoga Glo
• Buckwheat Seed Bread
• Spirit Hacking by Shaman Durek 

Intro 0:00
Hello and welcome to the holistic nutritionist podcast with your host Natalie cay, Douglas, thyroid, viola and Kate Callahan, the holistic nutritionist. net and Kate a degree qualified dietitians and nutritionists, certified fitness instructors, speakers and authors. If you love unfiltered banter on edited bloopers and authentic heart sharing, then we are your ladies. Now it’s time to sit back, relax and get ready for our latest tips on living your healthiest life possible.

Natalie K. Douglas 0:37
Hello, friend, it is Nat here and I am just jumping in real quick before we get started to let you know that I will be hosting another free thyroid masterclass on Tuesday, May 12 at 10am Australian Eastern Standard Time, which is going to be filled with super helpful and super hopeful information on identifying thyroid issues, and holistic healing. And I will also be opening up the doors for 20 women to join me in the next round of thyroid rescue starting at the end of May. And honestly guys, my heart is just so incredibly full after the last round has just wrapped up this week, actually. And I really couldn’t have asked for a closer knit knit group amazing results and incredibly positive feedback. And it just makes me so excited to do it all over again, really soon. So I will be sharing more information around how to sign up for that in the coming week or two. So keep an eye out on my social media. And please DM me if you have any questions. Let’s jump in. Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. We just had a little bit of a blooper reel before starting I find it really hard to introduce the podcast when you’re here for some reason, because it’s not formal enough to be like new guest Welcome to the podcast. It’s so amazing to have you here. But then it’s it’s too casual to just be like sob sister

Kate Callaghan 2:21
on my bed because I’ve also just been talking for 20 minutes. True two minutes a minute feels weird to say hello in the middle of a conversation.

Intro 2:33
Right?

Natalie K. Douglas 2:34
Yeah, that’s right, peeps, no, this is our data spy now I’m sure

Kate Callaghan 2:39
a day to try that if you know someone

you know, 10 minutes and just say hello, how you doing?

Natalie K. Douglas 2:51
Maybe I will try that. I’ll try that on someone who knows me relatively well, first? No? No. Yeah, I’ll see how I go over a pullback. So we’re talking all about being in isolation or semi isolation, whatever you want to call it, and just a few different tips on how to make your life better, or what we’re doing because it seems appropriate for starters, and we thought why not? Why not join in on a bit of a positive flip of side of this whole situation? So okay, because I love food. I think I really would love to start with food in terms of tips to I don’t know deal with nutrition in this time and more from like a What are you doing? Like is there is there things that are working for you or tips you have in relation to the whole food side of things?

Kate Callaghan 3:50
Yeah, I think it’s the way we view our food at the moment is also kind of, we can extrapolate that to how we view the whole situation. And so some people are going to view this whole COVID-19 lockdown bubble situation as an opportunity for growth as an opportunity to make changes for the better to really look at their life and see where they can improve. And other people are going to go into panic mode go into fi mode, just freeze sit on the couch, watch Netflix in eight miles all day because I don’t know if they’re actually sold out at the supermarket. But you know you can go into that freeze mode but I really encourage people to step back and go okay I’ve got this time of relative quiet unless you’re a frontline health worker and thank you to those people who are out there on the frontline looking after the people. And but if you’re at home and you’ve you’ve got some time off work, especially if you’re in somewhere like New Zealand and you’ve been given a subsidy from the government you’re paying to sit at home at the moment and not work then make the most of So food wise, I mean, we know that all our health comes from what we will not allow health, a lot of our health comes from what we put in our mouth. So the food we put into our mouth gets broken down into vitamins and minerals and proteins and fats and carbohydrates, which literally make up the functioning of this, the cell and the structure of ourselves throughout our body. So what I’m doing, and my food at the moment is a bit nutso, because I’m trying to get at least 10 cups of veggies in every single day. And if you can do that, then more power to you. And for me, I need to for all of the antioxidants to heal my body from cancer. And so what I do, I get to organic, local veggie boxes. every single week, I get one on Wednesdays, and I get one on Saturdays. And why I love doing this one, it’s local, so I don’t need to rely on out of

out of region, region, that’s an area whatever

area produced so there’s less travel involved, and less emissions and less potential spread of the virus. And but I also really love to support local and you’re going to get that seasonal produce which is going to be a better source of nutrition for you. And what I found with the local veggie boxes is I often get things in there where I have especially the local local one here down the road. Sometimes I have no idea what to do with the things that they put in there like green tomatoes. What do you do with green tomatoes, he fry them apparently paint them red. So I get all these purslane and post things really rich in omega threes and I get these delicious baby carrots which like the lollies and lots of bring capsicums and

baby carrots like Wally’s reached a new level that deprived?

Very much no sugar at the moment.

Have you ever had a baby carrot fresh out of the ground and God Holy crap, man, that is amazing. I haven’t in my

Natalie K. Douglas 7:07
use of life. I haven’t yet had well, Unity’s

Kate Callaghan 7:09
need to come over to Wanaka. And next time you come if it’s baby carrot season, I’ll make sure it is I’ll have some for you. They are amazing. You won’t laugh. You’ll be like holy crap. I’m really good.

Intro 7:21
Yeah, you’re right. I did

Kate Callaghan 7:22
have apples and they were amazing. The apples are good as well. So we go we go local foraging around here as well and leaves people of apple trees. So you just go and we get a couple of apples from the tree and raspberries. And but yeah, so the seasonal produce these foods that I would never usually use. But I loaded with all of these wonderful nutritional benefits, like green tea matters, or personally and what do I do with this? Or what do I do with all of this garlic, but I haven’t got so much garlic. And so I do a little Google search, I look into books like thermals and simplus flow where she goes on how to use things like your baby carrot tops. And so it’s one getting your head in a different different space and getting more creative with the food and getting a greater variety and reducing your waste as well. So that’s the big thing that I’m loving at the moment is trying out different different things. One thing I will say is I tried jackfruit

Natalie K. Douglas 8:18
that already really

Kate Callaghan 8:20
well I tried it it’s a it’s a

kind of like chicken but not Yeah, you’d I didn’t write it maybe this better. I tried the the KFC from Luke Heinz eat more vegan and I love his book, Love, love, love, love his book. He’s got so many good recipes in there. Maybe his chocolate didn’t last very long and devoured it but yeah jackfruit if someone’s got some better jackfruit recipes for me, please send them my way. But right now that last candle jackfruit is our our dire situation food.

Natalie K. Douglas 8:57
Maybe you could make a jackfruit and baby carrot to

Kate Callaghan 9:01
look if I can post you these baby carrots wouldn’t because

you’re missing out anyway. What are you doing food?

Natalie K. Douglas 9:15
Sorry, okay. I am. Well I like what I’ve been doing is trying to use up everything that in my cupboard that I’ve pushed to the back. And I said to myself that I don’t have time to use. So like different flowers or nuts and seeds that I haven’t used up or different random ingredients that I’ve just bought thinking that Oh yeah, that’s amazing. I’ll use that in that one recipe sometime when I have time. So I’ve just been trying to be really creative with that and just googling like I had. Some only have I think I had like cassava flour or something in the cupboard and I just googled what to make with that right? I’m just trying to be creative with that side of things. I’m also making sure that I’m still doing food prep, so that I’m not, I’m not stuck without food. And that helps me really make good healthy decisions. So what I’ve been doing is making sure that every time I’m cooking, there is leftovers for at least one to two days. And I’ve also been trying to make things where I can recreate it the next day. So for example, if I’ve done like a roast chicken with veggies or something like that, having the like making a vegetable soup and chucking the leftover chicken in there, or if I’ve done something with mints creating it in different ways. For example, one night having Polonaise with zucchini noodles, and then the next night, cutting sweet potatoes in half and stuffing them with the leftover Polonaise and adding some extra vege on the side, or I’ve been making a fair few like vegetarian curries, just because they last long, they taste delicious. And it’s really easy to just kind of put together in the morning and then leave to cook for most of the day. And then it’s all done. So I’ve been trying to do that, outside of that. Some other tips that I’ve been giving, a lot of my clients have been not to keep a lot of trigger foods in their house. So the kind of things that you find hard to stop eating once you start, or the kinds of things you find easy to replace actual real food with. So an example might be if you’re if you love a certain gluten free toast, loaf, or whatever. And but you find that whenever it’s in the house, instead of actually having a meal, a lunch meal with vegetables, and some kind of protein and some healthy fats, you just grab a couple of pieces of toast and put whatever on top. It’s not that having the toast is wrong or bad. It’s that it’s crowding out the other more nutrient dense stuff, and everyone’s different. Not everyone has that relationship with gluten free toast, it’s just an example. Or crackers or deep soul, things like that. Again, if it’s if it’s crowding out other things, try and focus on developing the healthy habit of doing some food prep and making sure it doesn’t replace your veggies before bringing it back in. Another one a nut butters and nut butter jars that a lot of

Kate Callaghan 12:31
people rack energize.

Natalie K. Douglas 12:33
Yes, a lot of people have issues with and I think that it’s it’s something that’s really easy to overeat. And it is very energy dense. So if you’re doing less activity, and you’re eating more super hyper palatable energy dense food, you will probably start to put on some weight that is maybe not healthy for you. And I think that it will again be one of those things because it’s quite feeling, it will end up replacing more more variety in your diet in the way of vegetables or other high quality or nutrient dense foods. So just being mindful of what those foods are for you. And trying to not make the situation harder for yourself actually make the situation easier for yourself. I’ve also been recommending that people do exactly what I said in terms of in terms of not stopping doing food prep, especially those who are working from home, still prepare your lunch, still prepare your food for the day, cause it is so easy to get into this space where you’re like, well I’m at home, I can just cook something up when you know in the middle of the day when I’m hungry. And I’m finding that one of two things happen there for a lot of my clients either they don’t end up eating anything at all because they just want to keep working and get things done. Or they go to the cupboard and they end up just picking up food. That is exactly what I described before like, you know, a carrot stick or a you know, a few tablespoons of nut butter or a piece of gluten free toast with some butter on it or something like that instead of actually being mindful sitting down having a meal and making it really balanced as you would if you were going to work or had your day planned a little bit better. So an easy way to do that is just making sure that you make plenty of dinner so that they are leftovers for lunch. I think that can is really helpful. And then I also think still scheduling in some breaks. Try not to eat at your computer while you’re working. Try and sit in the sun if there’s some sun in your backyard or in your apartment or in your balcony, and try to make sure that you are eating mindfully and slowly being grateful for the food. That you have, and really saying this as an opportunity to nourish your body, there’s a lot of fear around contracting the virus and all that kind of stuff. And the one of the most powerful tools you have is the food you choose to put in your body, and the way that that supports your immune system. So you can either see that as an opportunity to feel empowered, or you can, you know, make excuses essentially, to have all of the foods in your day that don’t optimize your health. And it’s a choices. It’s not that anything’s right or wrong, it’s just a choice. And if you want to make a decision that is going to support your immune system support, also your mental health during this time, eating really well is incredibly important for how you manage your emotions, how you concentrate in your day, how you deal with your children. I don’t know about you, but I get very irritable and anxious if I have sugar. And it’s not that I never have it. But I certainly do not let it in my diet on a daily basis, or I just can’t function I really turn into a toddler.

Kate Callaghan 16:17
Yeah, later, later, do not buy the bulk napoletana ice cream noted.

Natalie K. Douglas 16:26
I actually just don’t like I can’t even have honey in the house because I’ll just go and you know, if I’m not being conscious of what I’m doing, while I’m waiting to decide what I’m going to have for lunch, just a little bit of honey on the spoon in the nut butter jar. next minute, I’m not hungry for more real food, I do more. So it’s just about being mindful around that and knowing that if you are feeling anxious or stressed or fearful, you’re you’ll I don’t like using willpower but your consciousness around making decisions that are going to make you feel better in the long run that kind of resilience that is going to be a little bit lower if you’re emotionally being exhausted in other areas. So I think it’s really about making your food situation as easy as possible to nourish you. Mm hmm.

Kate Callaghan 17:31
It looks a little veggies. You know it’s really yummy. What I’m loving at the moment is tell me veggies sauteed in Misa.

Natalie K. Douglas 17:38
Oh, I’ve never tried that. So,

Kate Callaghan 17:41
it’s so good. So I get an urban hippie Misa paste, and I’ll put a teaspoon of that in maybe half a cup or a quarter cup of hot water and are associated veggies off with that then you might add a little bit more water than quite the drying out and it’s so good. And then you have it with what I have it with this morning. I had some raw beetroot dip. I had some CD, CD bread, the buckwheat seed bread from brown paper bag nutrition. So if you Google that buckwheat seed bread brown paper bag, nutrition, amazing. Avocado on that. And then some organic goat haloumi was my brunch today. So good. Delicious. Yes. Try the me so especially if you’re not if you’re like I don’t like veggies closer.

Natalie K. Douglas 18:25
I actually made the best veggie soup the other day. And I was so proud of myself when I hit it from my husband hopefully. I don’t know how I do. I mean it was in the fridge, but I was just like heat it behind some vegetables. Isn’t that so mean? It’s just that he hasn’t cooked this whole time except for one curry. And yeah, anyway, I’m not gonna bring my marital distributions to the podcast.

Kate Callaghan 18:49
Ah, no.

Natalie K. Douglas 18:53
Hopefully he doesn’t start this way.

Kate Callaghan 18:55
Yeah.

That’s okay. He

Natalie K. Douglas 19:00
does lots of other things. I’m just being a window. It’s just because I received love through food.

Kate Callaghan 19:06
I do love language. Yes. Yeah, me too. The extra one.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:13
Okay, so food aside, what about exercise? What about movement? Have you got any tips for people or even what you are doing at the moment?

Kate Callaghan 19:23
So around here, I think we’re in a unique situation, Randy, because we live in wide open spaces. But so many people around here have upped their game in terms of the exercise. I see people out running and biking all the time. It’s very easy to socially distance here because there’s no many people in this little space. And we live really fun. And yeah, I think this is an excellent time to start to integrate more exercise into life and think about doing something that you enjoy and that’s going to make your day better. You know, just dragging yourself out of bed to do and you just regret doing it the whole time. If you don’t like running, don’t run. If you don’t like weight training, maybe get over it and do some now. That’s what I’m doing at the moment, I’m slowly reintegrating exercise at the moment. And it’s been a bit of a roller coaster over the past few months with chemotherapy and dropping my hemoglobin levels. And then a hemoglobin for those of you don’t know is responsible for carrying oxygen around your body. And so if your hemoglobin levels are low, it makes it difficult to exercise at any kind of intensity. But for the past month, we’ve been in lockdown for five and a half weeks now. And so for that time, I’ve been doing yoga pretty much every single day. And my amazing yoga instructor Nikki from hot yoga fusion has been moving all of her classes online to zoom, which has been awesome, because I adore her classes. But I also if I’m not doing one of her classes, I really love the yoga portal. It’s called Yoga glow.com. And they have the computer version. And kit is that cool laptop like, you know what I’m saying?

Natalie K. Douglas 21:14
Like, I don’t know. Yes, I’m sure

Kate Callaghan 21:16
the non phone option.

A desktop version? Yes.

Intro 21:23
All right, well,

Natalie K. Douglas 21:24
this is like trivia, I like it. Do I get a baby carrot?

Kate Callaghan 21:30
What is the thing that’s not a phone.

But I think they have it as an app as well on the phone. But I would really recommend doing the desktop version, because then you can actually see what they’re doing, especially if you’re new to yoga. I love it because you can customize it to the duration. So you might only have 15 minutes to do a bit of yoga. And you can choose your level. So obviously if you’re just starting out, don’t go for level three. You can choose your instructor a few of my favorite instructors would be Stephanie Snyder, Katherine beauty, Amy ability and Claudine Lafond on them. And I think it’s 18 US dollars a month. So it’s cheaper than one single yoga class. And you can try it out for I think one week trial, or 15 day trial, yoga glow.com. But also on YouTube. I like I think his name is the body coach. Yeah, the body coach, Joe. He’s an English but he does really good at short workouts. So it’s really what I would recommend people do is start small and start short rather than going on unless I do an hour of exercise, it doesn’t count. That’s not true at all, you could do 10 minutes. And that’s going to be better for you than that, sitting on the couch for that 10 minutes. And then you might find that you felt good during that 10 minutes. So you might do another 10 minutes later. And it might be different, it might just be jumping around your lounge room just dancing, get on your favorite music, your favorite playlist and just dance like crazy. And again, choosing something that brings you joy gets your heart rate up and it’s a bit of a sweat on. And so I’ve been doing a little bit of Tabata workouts as well, to get a bit of intensity in the money introduce those in the last couple of days. And so that’s 20 seconds of exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest, you do that eight times through, mostly you working as hard as you can. And in those 20 seconds of work and having that 10 seconds of rest. So when you get to that four minutes total, after eight rounds of 20 seconds on 10 seconds off, you’re completely shagged and can’t go again. And research has actually shown that this is just as beneficial for you as a half hour run on the treadmill. So I know what I would be choosing especially if I was pressed for time. I mean a lot of people right now and saying that we have a lot more time and in one way we do but I think if your parents as more children kind of don’t they’re always they’re always just there

Yeah, they’re right

Intro 24:02
there.

Why are you still here I

Kate Callaghan 24:08
love my children love them

might only be able to get in a 10 minute workout and that’s totally fine. Or include them or even just go for a walk set up an obstacle course outside, have fun with it include them when we get dropped down to the level three because we’re still at a look for so everything online shopping is all almost the lockdown like came out on lockdown. We can’t get anything which is great for the wallet. But when we may have to level three, we’re gonna get a slackline Oh fun. Yeah. And so we’re gonna put that up between two we’ve got two massive pine trees and put that up and have some fun on that. That’s exciting.

Natalie K. Douglas 24:49
All of those ideas. I am the only things I’d add. I’ve been finding it really beneficial to actually get up and get Get out of the house or get up and move my body. So I found that if I start my day, which has always been the case, even pre isolation or lockdown, I find that it just sets me up for the day really well mentally. And it really helps me get into a really good headspace around my day, whatever it is going to look like. And it also, for me, whenever I create a routine out of something and a habit out of something, it just becomes something that requires less thinking and less decision making, and is just something I do. So I found that to be really beneficial. I’ve also found that at one point all out, like what I was doing is I was just waking up and thinking, I’ll just do whatever today. And I found that that actually didn’t work very well for me. So what I’ve done now is I will go across a week, I’ll cycle through something that is, so I’ll cycle through a run because I am actually really enjoying running at the moment, which is interesting. Anyway, I’m running. So I run and then the next day will be something that is bodyweight and that in that category. So there’s still choice based on how I’m feeling but there’s at least less choice. So it doesn’t take me so long to make a decision and and reduces the chance of me just being like I can’t decide I’m not going to do anything. So bodyweight so that could be if I’m feeling super energetic, then it could be something that is like a hit interval type workout, or it could be polarities, or it could be a bar class. So studio that I had started at doing a trial for reform of palot, ease ba and palot ease. Before this all happened, they went online, and I’m actually really enjoying the classes, I didn’t realize how wake my stabilizer muscles are until I started to do all of this polities and bath stuff, I think I’m very strong from like a compound lift type thing. But it’s yet it’s been humbling. Anyway, so and also interesting with coordination. So then the next day after that will be something that is gentle. So it could be a walk, or it could be a yoga class, and then I’ll cycle through that each day. And of course, you know, I’m not going to force myself physically I feel I’d really don’t want to run today, I would just switch it for something else. But I found just having that container has helped with me not ending up running three days in a row and then being completely sore and fatigued or as helped with just creating less, kind of less decision fatigue, because there is some structure to it. I’ve also been really enjoying learning to surf again, which has Oh on and I used to just make the excusive I don’t have time, you know, I’ll do it when I’m on holidays, which is not often. And so I leave very like five minutes away from the beach, so I have really no excuse. And so I’ve just been grabbing my board and going for a surf. And that’s been really therapeutic, a nice and a really nice way to actually spend my afternoon some days when I can. And I think my most of my, my kind of tips, but I agree with you do what you enjoy and make it a priority. Because I really think that exercise is one of the most important things for mental health. So just making sure you’re moving your body every day,

Kate Callaghan 28:45
absolutely perfectly outside. And if you can’t get outside, to exercise, or even just go and stand on the grass for 10 minutes just for that grounding, it’s really really beneficial for you to help them well being. And, and and i was saying as parents, it’s hard to find that time with the children around. So what we do so from my husband especially, he is a noticeable difference in his personality when he doesn’t exercise

for everyone’s benefit that he does.

And so we have an understanding that in the mornings, I will do yoga, and he will look after the kids and there’ll be times when the kids will come in and jump on me or Olivia will go next to me and try and do yoga as well or it’ll poke something and be annoying. And but most of the time he looks after them keeps them out and vice versa when he’s doing his workout. I’ll look after the kids. So it might be worth if you’re in a similar situation to me with kids at home and they’re always there. Talk to your husband or partner significant other and say hey, this really means a lot to me, I feel I’m going to be a nicer person to you, to me and to our children and the whole dynamic is going to work a lot better. If we both get a little bit of exercising or even just maytime Yeah, just having that conversation though you need to have that conversation. You can’t expect your partner to know what you’re thinking. No, you cannot

Natalie K. Douglas 0:18
I’ve just thought of something, then actually, as you were speaking about that, how, I mean, I’ve found it like a conversation I’ve been having with a few friends and also just thinking about myself is also relationships during this time, as in with your partner, a lot of people are in a situation where it’s the first time that they’ve spent this much time with their partner. And a lot of people in, you know, perhaps somewhat stressful situations in amongst that. And I think that, you know, I mean, personally, I’ve seen it either go really well and bring people closer together, or really not so well and drive them apart, what I found really helpful. So bone and I, that’s my husband, we actually spend a lot of time together even previous because he is a firefighter, so he’s home a fair bit. And I work from home. So what I’ve found beneficial to kind of still keep some novelty or excitement in our relationship, instead of just dislike you’re here all the time, is we do often where possible work in different rooms, so that I’m not just with him all of the time. And then I, you know, I can, feels like there’s a lot of quantity time, but not a lot of quality time. We also try and check in with each other at the beginning of the day, just in terms of how, how much resilience we have that day emotionally. So, you know, if we’ve had a bad sleep, or something stressful has happened that’s on our mind, just kind of checking in to let the other person know, hey, you know, I’m feeling a little bit emotionally sensitive today, just letting you know. So that if you happen to have a, you know, a reaction that is maybe not exactly matched to what the situation is, instead of them going into a story about, you know, whatever is happening, they can think about in their head, oh, well, we checked in earlier. And I know that he or she is feeling a little bit emotionally sensitive today or sleep deprived or worried about something or anxious about something. So I’m going to take that into consideration and not take it too, personally, or see how I can create space and just kind of mini checkins around that. So that that doesn’t end up in these, you know, and we haven’t had any of these situations recently good, which is great. But just so it doesn’t end up in this trigger off to trigger and not being able to kind of move past it. And then I’ve also been really liking still, like going for walks together at the end of the day as a way to kind of round out our day and talk about how it was and then making sure that we are still making quality time for each other. And having like a, you know, a date night at home. Or we’ve been playing family trivia with my side of the family, which has been really fun. So I think it’s important to still nourish your relationship, even though you feel like Well, I’m spending all this time with this person, it’s really important to still take care of the quality of those interactions, I think.

Kate Callaghan 3:47
Absolutely. I agree with with stop working watching Netflix at night instead of just sitting and talking. Because through the day, kids are always there. That’s already time to really connect as lovers. Yes, exactly.

Natalie K. Douglas 4:05
I think it’s important it is. And I’ve tried to I have a bad habit of just wearing pajamas a lot of the time and that I really need to get address puffy pajama

Kate Callaghan 4:19
pants

Natalie K. Douglas 4:21
so that I’m not just looking like us. I mean, I’m all about slob slob life most of the time, but there’s a line

Kate Callaghan 4:30
of cross.

Natalie K. Douglas 4:33
So I’ve tried to get dressed most days of the week, which is good for both of us.

Kate Callaghan 4:44
Funny, funny. All

Natalie K. Douglas 4:45
right. What about mental health? Is that where we should go next?

Kate Callaghan 4:49
Let’s go to mental health. I think the biggest thing and the simplest thing that anybody can do for their mental health right now is get into meditation. And that is If If I had a gun to my hand and someone said, What’s one thing you can do for mental health? Exactly what someone would do is hold a gun to your head saying that no, this is weird. And now I

can go back now.

Natalie K. Douglas 5:15
Just roll with it. Commit commit. Yes, if that’s your unique, very unique situation, I can see why you would say that meditation,

Kate Callaghan 5:26
I would say. And I really love the one giant mind app. And I have mentioned this many times before, here and on my social media, and it’s a free app. And it’s one it’s the first meditation challenge de resource thing that I’ve done, where I haven’t felt like I’ve been failing in meditation. So you have a 10 day challenge. And I took you through all the benefits of it and how to meditate. And then I think there’s a 12 day and then a 30 day, and then you just ongoing so I meditate for 15 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes at night. And that 15 minutes the morning, again, sometimes it can be by myself, or sometimes five minutes into meditation, I might have a small child in my lap.

But yes, start small start with even if it’s just two minutes, and this one don’t mind, APA teaches you that the wandering mind that we all think of as failing. And meditation is actually part of the meditation process. It’s part of your mind clearing out the junk of the day. So it’s, it’s a good thing to acknowledge those thoughts and allow them to come through and not think they just have to be sitting there with a completely empty space of a head for an hour sitting in lotus position in India. Yes. analogy, a such good analogies right now.

Natalie K. Douglas 6:49
Failing it, we should get a desktop version is this podcast out?

Kate Callaghan 6:55
Moving on meditate, what would you say? Um,

Natalie K. Douglas 6:58
I think choose wisely what you are consuming. So

Kate Callaghan 7:05
I have a sip of sip of tea them? Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas 7:13
I think that the media,

I don’t consume much media, because I think that there’s a lot of I mean, it’s their job is very much to create headlines and stories and news that is clickable. And yes, of course, there is facts behind what they’re sharing. To an extent, though, I would be very mindful of how much you consume, because it’s just lead you into this fear state and this feeling of being disempowered. So stay informed, but no, no the line for yourself, if it’s something that makes you super anxious, then don’t be the one in your house to get the updates of what you need to be doing in order to not get arrested or to you know, keep everything to be following whatever the recommendations are in your country at the time. You know, outsource it to someone else in in the house that maybe doesn’t feel that same anxiety or if you are you want to get the updates or look into what’s going on, set a time frame for yourself or amount of the stuff that you’re going to consume. I think it’s really important to be mindful of that and recognize what you can and can’t control and consume the stuff where it’s going to influence your choices or your behaviors, not the stuff that is just going to get you feeling anxious and, and worked up. Likewise, I think choose who you’re talking with, if there are people in your life that are completely in that same really anxious fi driven state. And there’s a choice with whether you interact with them regularly or not. Then if what you need to do is not have as regular conversations with them, then be mindful of that. I also think doing a social media cleanout is a really good thing to do right now if you’re and this doesn’t necessarily have to relate to people sharing COVID stuff, it could be anything So scroll through your social media and anything that you read, that makes you feel anything less than you are any if it makes you feel any kind of negative emotions or guilty or have any shame or whatever it is, then unfollow and create a feed that is uplifting. That is funny that is inspirational, so that when you are on social media, if that’s where you choose to spend some of your time. It’s a positive experience and not one that leaves You feeling anxious or fearful or guilty or anything like that. And then I also think making time for joy and play. And I really like watching funny videos. Or if I’m choosing something to watch on Netflix or anything like that I will watch something either uplifting, or I’ll watch something really funny, because we don’t need more of the negative stuff in our life right now. And then I also think trying to connect with your friends or your family daily, preferably by somewhere where you can actually see them. So whether that’s FaceTime or a zoom call, or Skype, or whatever it is, that works for you, I think it’s really important to still make sure that you are connected in the ways that you can right now or if you’re, yeah, whatever it is organized trivia night, so your family or your friends, I think it’s really important not to forget how much community connection, play, all those things are important in relation to that. And I also think if you’re a mom, trying to have constructive conversations with your partner, about, you know, if they are now at home, whereas previously, they would have been at working all the time, instead of you continuing to do all of the things for everyone. If your partner has more space in their day, then talking to them about Okay, so I know I used to do this for you or for us or for the family for the kids over the time. Can you can you take over this for now. And just trying to see things as a team and delegate where you can because it’s really important that you have time to check in with yourself to nourish yourself and to have time to manage your own stress and emotions as well. So that’s what I would say I think in relation to mental health, anything to add from that, Kate or any thoughts?

Kate Callaghan 12:13
Nope. Nailed it. To where to next?

How about we finish on a little bit of personal development? What’s your favorite podcast audiobook Kobo? cattlewomen?

put me on the spot. Um,

Outro 12:29
I’m actually

Natalie K. Douglas 12:32
I’m really and I don’t know if I’ve shared this on the podcast before. But I’m enjoying ultimate you by Sharon peace. And it’s a book. I’m not sure if it’s an audio book as well. It’s definitely a hardcopy book, I

Kate Callaghan 12:44
think, you, you Yeah.

Natalie K. Douglas 12:48
It’s all about becoming the best version of yourself. And it explains the reasons why we develop certain coping mechanisms throughout our lives based on our experiences in childhood, our relationships in childhood, or our relationships going throughout our life and offers reframes and different ways to shift patterns that no longer serve you. And I found that to be really beneficial. And I’ve also been, I mean, I listen to so many podcasts, but I can’t serve listen to something specific, really specific at the moment in relation to personal development that’s coming to mind. However, what I’ve been listening to a lot is the YouTube channel of the holistic psychologist. And that’s been really, really cool. So there’s lots of little mini videos about re parenting yourself without trauma, or about all these different different kind of aspects of psychology, with practical recommendations of how to actually start to shift that stuff. And I found that to be really, really, really interesting and really empowering. And the reason why I’ve been looking into more of all of that kind of stuff is, personally I’ve been taking this time to actually do a lot of work with a therapist around dealing with my own childhood traumas or things that I just haven’t really on a very deep level dealt with, and where I can see them showing up as patterns in my life and in my relationships that don’t, that no longer serve me. And things that, you know, when I catch myself in a reactive state to something that’s happening now, I’m able to start to link that the strength of that reaction to something that’s happened in the past or some way that I’ve had a relationship with someone in the past and when I say relationship, I don’t mean romantic relationship. I just mean relationships generally, with parents or with people who have looked After me or just in situations that I’ve, I’ve been in, and I found it, honestly, to be very exhausting, but incredibly liberating. And it’s been really, really powerful stuff. And I think it’s a great time to do some of that work, if you’ve got the time to also integrate, because it’s all well and good to kind of bring up a lot of this stuff, and to go through that kind of work. However, if you don’t have the time to actually integrate what you learn from that, and it doesn’t really in my experience, it doesn’t really serve me to the same degree as if I make space to journal to integrate to practice. And I think that that’s a really important piece of the puzzle. So I’ve been really enjoying to doing a lot of that. So that was a really long answer to what podcast or book I like. What about you any any podcasts, books, audiobooks that you’re loving at the moment?

Kate Callaghan 16:05
So the book I’m reading at the moment is called spirit hacking by shaman juric highly recommend it. Maybe start with his podcast interview on the Melissa Ambrosini show. And then he recently did maybe last week. Oh, yes, I listened to three quarters of that. So fun. Yeah, he’s amazing. So Sharman juric. I’m really devouring all of his information at the moment. And I also love Ben Greenfield podcasts if I just need to tune off tune out a little bit but also learn a lot when Peter t shirt. And there’s a new meditation one as well that I’ve been looking into but I haven’t actually checked it out yet. So stay tuned for that. But definitely the spirit hacking book. Highly recommend.

Natalie K. Douglas 16:48
Nice. I’ve also been listening a little bit to the Sam Harris podcast. And I find him interesting though, if you don’t subscribe, you kind of listen to a certain amount of the podcast which is which is fine. I just haven’t made this official yet. So that’s been a choice. And what else have I been listening to? I honestly I don’t know why I can’t recall them because I listened to so so many that I just forget the names but I think of more I will share next time we record

Kate Callaghan 17:25
anything else Kate like any other things that have been enriching your lockdown experience like cross any, any other law activities. I have been bit crafty. They might have been to my Instagram, I made my own jewelry hangers. I got some driftwood from the lake and some nails and he only stabbed myself with a butter knife once and some twine. And so now all of my earrings and my necklaces are hanging up on my walls and on these beautiful pieces of driftwood. I’m actually quite proud of them. If I do say so myself to do that interest, right that

Natalie K. Douglas 18:00
my necklaces get next level tangled. And I don’t have that kind of patience.

Kate Callaghan 18:05
We need to get some driftwood.

Natalie K. Douglas 18:07
I do. See if I can find some. Let’s cool. I don’t think I’ve been doing much craft. I have a puzzle. But I’ve actually been quite busy to be honest in terms of work and stuff hasn’t slowed down for me. So I haven’t. I mean, my main career, my own creative outlet has really been learning to surf again. It’s been a creative learning was learning to surf again. It’s a it’s taken up some mental and emotional energy because I had some negative experiences when I was younger when I was surfing. So it’s it’s actually been like a nervous and exciting process. But yeah, I’ve just been doing puzzles. And I think I’ve really been using creativity in the kitchen as well. So I’ve definitely done more cooking and being more creative with what I’m preparing as well. And I think that for me has been really therapeutic too.

Kate Callaghan 19:07
It is okay that it’s like a meditation. Yeah. And we have kids in it. Yes.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:13
Yes, I haven’t tried to complete to children hanging off me.

Kate Callaghan 19:16
Actually, it’s actually a really good lesson in developing patience and being open to how they see the world. Just taking a step back and going actually why am I rushing? And is it that big of a deal that we get a bit of shell in the mix that we have to then scoop out? No, because it brings them joy. It really loves cracking eggs. He sucks at it, but he really loves so you know, it’s a tie of like, okay, I’ll let you crack the egg. Take some deep breaths while you do it.

Natalie K. Douglas 19:52
Yeah, I think you know, I think this whole lockdown experience there’s there’s a choice. How you see it. And I don’t think that means you can’t validate the challenges that you’re facing in your life. Whether that is, you know, in terms of just the physical situation you’re in financially career wise, loss travel plans, it’s, it’s not about invalidating what you’re feeling at the moment. But it is really about choosing to find the silver linings or choosing to find things to be grateful for, because the more you train yourself to look for things to be grateful for, the more you’re going to find them and say them, and whether or not you like these experiences happening, whether you like it or not, and you can, you’re the only one that can change your experience of what have hat org, Guess how you’re experiencing this based on how you choose to perceive it. And all these tools that we’ve mentioned today are just that to make it easier for you to shift your perspective and to shift your, you know, your biology, your mindset, your energy, all of that kind of stuff to a to a place and in a way that is going to make this experience something that is not completely and utterly overwhelming. But where you find opportunity in the areas where you can grow or can connect more with the people that you are actually living with. or learn more about yourself or put more time into your nutrition or whatever it is I think it’s really your choice in how you view what’s going on.

Outro 21:44
Great

Natalie K. Douglas 21:46
thank you.

I really you know what I really actually do want to try the baby carrots now that matter you so I can’t like because I can’t get there. I want to so they actually like lollies you’re missing out. Maybe you should make them into something like besides just being baby carrots like can you make them into something if they’re so sweet.

Kate Callaghan 22:13
They’re legit good by themselves. Why getting broke? Why fix it?

Outro 22:20
To Shea to Shea.

Natalie K. Douglas 22:22
Okay, cool. Well, I think that’s it I think that’s a pretty pretty good summary of of making the most of this situation from from what we’re doing. Is there anything you wanted to add before we wrap up?

Kate Callaghan 22:35
No, I’m surprised have had this amount of time with you before small children have come in. Yeah, congrats. Good job. Yeah. Still alive.

I can hear them. stuff. All right, well parent out there.

Just in case anyone needs to know.

Natalie K. Douglas 22:54
Yep. And I guess we’ll continue some more conversations next time.

Kate Callaghan 22:59
Sounds good.

Outro 23:01
Thanks for tuning in to the holistic nutritionist podcast. Remember, we love to make the show relevant to you. If you have any questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, just submit them to podcast at naturally k Douglas calm and we’ll get them answered for you. Also, don’t forget to subscribe rate and review the podcast on iTunes and share it with a friend. And if you’re looking for more info about how we can accelerate your journey to optimal health. You can find me Matt over at naturally k Douglas calm and Kate at the holistic nutritionist calm. See you next time.