Welcome to Episode 345 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast, hosted by Melanie Avalon, author of What When Wine Diet: Lose Weight And Feel Great With Paleo-Style Meals, Intermittent Fasting, And Wine and Vanessa Spina, author of Keto Essentials: 150 Ketogenic Recipes to Revitalize, Heal, and Shed Weight.
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Listener Feedback: Lauren - Thank you!
Listener Q&A: Annie - How can we live a “normal” life, when we are always inside an expensive bubble full of products and of denials that most take for granted?
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TRANSCRIPT
Melanie Avalon: Welcome to Episode 345 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. If you want to burn fat, gain energy, and enhance your health by changing when you eat, not what you eat, with no calorie counting, then this show is for you. I'm Melanie Avalon, biohacker, author of What When Wine and creator of the supplement line AvalonX. And I'm here with my cohost, Vanessa Spina, sports nutrition specialist, author of Keto Essentials and creator of the Tone Breath Ketone Analyzer and Tone LUX Red Light Therapy panels. For more on us, check out ifpodcast.com, melanieavalon.com, and ketogenicgirl.com. Please remember, the thoughts and opinions on this show do not constitute medical advice or treatment. To be featured on the show, email us your questions to questions@ifodcast.com. We would love to hear from you. So, pour yourself a mug of black coffee, a cup of tea, or even a glass of wine if it's that time and get ready for The Intermittent Fasting Podcast.
Hi, everybody and welcome. This is Episode number 345 of The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. I'm Melanie Avalon and I'm here with Vanessa Spina.
Vanessa Spina: Hello, everyone.
Melanie Avalon: I have a huge question for you, Vanessa.
Vanessa Spina: Oh.
Melanie Avalon: I don't think I've asked you this before.
Vanessa Spina: Okay.
Melanie Avalon: Let me know if I have.
Vanessa Spina: Okay. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: Are you still packed or are you still unpacked?
Vanessa Spina: Oh, I'm totally unpacked.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. I haven't asked you. Aren't those the same thing?
Vanessa Spina: You're talking about our luggage?
Melanie Avalon: Okay, so this is like a thing in my family. I know I've talked about this on the show before, probably with Cynthia or Gin. We had literally, like, an hour-long conversation one dinner, because somebody was like, “Are you still packed?” And then somebody was like, “No, are you still unpacked?” And they were like, mind blown moment. It's like the same thing, but only if you include the word still. If you say, “Are you packed? Are you unpacked?” Those are different. But if you say, “Are you still packed? Are you still unpacked?” It's the same thing.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah. Yes, yes. So, I am officially unpacked.
Melanie Avalon: You're unpacked. So, you are not still unpacked. And you are not still packed.
Vanessa Spina: Right.
Melanie Avalon: This really bothers me. It really bothers. It bothers me that including the word still makes them the same thing.
Vanessa Spina: Right. Right, right.
Melanie Avalon: Okay, that's my word moment for the morning. Okay, so your items are not in your suitcase anymore.
Vanessa Spina: They're all washed, folded, put away, and yeah, I need to do it when I get home. It's like if we have a party or something, I can't go to bed until everything is clean. [chuckles] I just don't want to wake up to a mess or a packed suitcase. Just get it done. No matter what it takes, [laughs] you have to stay up late.
Melanie Avalon: I actually love that moment, like when you get back and you're taking all this stuff out and it takes so much longer than I think it will, as does packing.
Vanessa Spina: It takes so long. It really takes a long time because I figured out it's the micro decisions that you have to make. Because I was like, for years I was like, “Why do I hate packing so much?” And I'm like, “It's because I have to make like 1000 micro decisions of what to take.” And every single thing you put in your suitcase is a micro decision that you're making that you may wear that and then everything you're not taking is also like a micro decision. So, it's like you get decision fatigue. It's just more the mental aspect. But I did something amazing [chuckles] that changed my life after we got back from Denver. We got back and I was like, I've been wanting to do this for so long. And I finally did it and it just leveled up my life so much. So, we got back and I was like, Pete, everything we took to Denver is all the stuff that I like and I wear and everything for summer. Because the winter stuff is like away. Everything that I did not pack, that's in my drawers and in my closet is just there. I don't like--
Melanie Avalon: Did you throw it away?
Vanessa Spina: No, but I put it all in a suitcase. Some of it, I try to donate clothes on a regular basis to charitable causes and I love doing that. But I was like, sometimes you're not fully ready to let it go. But I was like, “Okay, so I'm just going to put it all in a suitcase.” And all the stuff that I wasn't quite ready to, I just put it in a suitcase and I cleared out my drawers. So now when I open my drawers, I just have the stuff that I love. Every time I look in the closet, I just have the stuff that I love and that I wear. And so, when we packed for this trip, it was like 100 times easier because I didn't have to make all those micro decisions. I just took everything in my drawer [laughs] and put it in the suitcase and then took everything out and put it back in there. Life changing. I swear, the last three months have been so much easier to just get dressed and do things because I'm not wading through the drawers, through all the other stuff to find what I want. When I open the drawer, it's just what I want. It's just like mind blowing. But it was amazing and I want to do it again for winter stuff.
Melanie Avalon: Okay, this is crazy. I have a follow-up question and I have a very similar system I've implemented. Question, so this suitcase now that's full of these clothes that you don't wear, are you going to take that suitcase to goodwill or do you have goodwill?
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. So, we basically give it to our church here that helps mostly migrants and victims of sex trafficking. So, it's great because it's like all women's clothes. And what I do is I know the stuff that I want to get rid of right away. But sometimes you're not ready to let go of something because it has, like, sentimental value. If you had it for a long time or you're just like, I might wear this sometimes. So that's the stuff that I put in the suitcase. And then if I don't think about it or use it, like, usually six months or a year later, I open it up again, and then I look through if there's a couple of things that I'm like, “Oh, my gosh, I haven't seen this in so long. I can't wait to wear it.” I'll wear it again. But mostly everything is like, no, it's in there for a reason. I purchased it and I kept it in my closet or my drawers out of guilt because I spent money on it.
So, I felt like I had to keep it. But I don't actually wear it. I don't want to wear it. It's been in the suitcase for a year, so now it's ready to go to the final stage, which is donation. So, I think it just helps with that stuff that you're just not fully ready to let go of. But I'm ruthless. Usually when it comes to clothes, I'm like, I haven't worn that in six months to a year. It's gone. I know that's not as easy for everyone. Like, Pete is with clothes he has a really hard time getting rid of stuff, so I kind of have to do it sometimes for him. But I find that that intermediate step can help if you're struggling to just let go of things, especially if they have some kind of emotional value or something.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. We have such a similar system. So, one I have contemplated doing the thing you mentioned where you get back and you had packed the stuff you really loved, but I can't do that. I'm not at that point. So, kudos to you. I do something very similar, which is, I have a big black trash bag. Actually, I have a hamper. Oh, I use a hamper. Okay, so I have a hamper in my closet and it's the throwaway hamper. And then I have a trash bag in it and I try to every day-- Did I tell you this? Do my throw something away mantra.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, that's a great way to do it.
Melanie Avalon: I say in my head, “Throw something away every day. Throw something away every day.” And then I walk around the apartment, and I try to take one piece of clothing and put it into the bag, and I try to actually just throw something else away into the trash, something from the apartment, unless it's donatable. And then I wait until that fills up that hamper, and then I take the bag to goodwill, and I do the same thing you did, where it's like, if I haven't thought about. If I think about it and I try to find it, I can go dig through and find it, but I haven't done that yet. And then also something you can tell yourself is like, “Okay, let's say that there's one outfit that you regret throwing away. It's so worth it to regret that one outfit and throw away all that other stuff.” It's just worth it because it feels so good. Like you said to, “Ooh, it feels nice.”
Vanessa Spina: I think I've had one moment where I was like, “Oh, I missed that thing that I donated or got rid of,” but it's like one out of so many other things. Like you said, “It's just not worth it.” And it feels amazing to declutter. I try to be as minimalist as possible. It's getting more challenging [chuckles] as we expand our family, but I still try to be as minimalist as possible. And it is such a game changing thing, like, for your mental performance, for your productivity, and just for how good it feels. I think one of the reasons we feel so good when we're at a hotel is because you have such few things. Like, you just have the essentials and it feels so good. And as women, we in particular can't relax unless our space is organized and clean, or else everything talks to us. Like, the pillow talks to us, the blanket, the throws. like, straighten me, pick me up. Everything talks to us. [laughs] So when you're in an empty room or a really minimalist or clean organized room, you can just fully focus and nothing talks to you and all the noise is gone I find.
Melanie Avalon: It's so true. I was reading a study about that, actually, because I've noticed that if I get really stressed or overwhelmed with work, I will have to like-- everything has to be organized all of a sudden. And it's not because I'm procrastinating. It's because I literally, all of a sudden, cannot handle things not being straightened up. And there's some, wait, is that nesting as well also? I feel like they gave some bird mother term to it, which the other day, Vanessa texted me. She was like, “I have to come back and nest.” And I was like, “What is that?” [laughter]
Vanessa Spina: Because there was a little nest emoji with, like, three blue eggs, like the Robin eggs.
Melanie Avalon: I’ve never seen that emoji before. [laughs] It's got, like, the little blue egg in it.
Vanessa Spina: [laughs] Yeah. I was like, the holidays, our baby moon has been incredible, beautiful, like, everything I wanted. But I'm feeling restless, like, I need to go home and nest, and that is basically, like, I need to get our space ready.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. So, I think that is maybe the same thing.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. It happens usually in the, like, specially, in the third trimester, which I'm now in, where you're like a bird, like, mama bird fluttering its wings around. You're just like, “I need to make this place clean.” Suddenly, everything has to be clean, organized, and you have to get everything ready. Like, the nursery, everything becomes priority number one. It was actually taking away from my enjoyment being away, because I was like, “I need to be home and fixing stuff.” And I was talking to Pete about it because I need to nest. He was like, “Okay, [laughs] I'm really enjoying being here, but I need to be home now.” So, our biological instincts are really powerful and amazing, but, yeah, that's the nesting.
Melanie Avalon: Is it, like an ongoing thing, the nesting experience? Like, are you nesting for a month until the baby comes?
Vanessa Spina: It's pretty much going to be from now until baby comes. And it's been interesting having other girlfriends go through it too and being pregnant at the same time as other friends, because we'll be going for a walk and getting coffee and talking, and they're like, “My apartment is so dirty. [laughs] I need to clean everything.” And it's just like this primal urge that everything needs to be clean. Like you find yourself, I was cleaning when you open the freezer and on the freezer door, there's like, this plastic whatever, and then there's, like, these folds. I was cleaning inside the folds because [laughs] I was like, “They're not clean enough.” It's another level of clean freaking or whatever.
Melanie Avalon: I do think they use the word nest in that study. I read about when you're stressed and you have to clean--
Vanessa Spina: Like a stressed bird. Just like, I need to make my nest. Yeah. That's so funny. I love that you read a study on it.
Melanie Avalon: I did. I was also reading, I think, yesterday about cowbirds. Are you familiar with these?
Vanessa Spina: No.
Melanie Avalon: Apparently. Where was I reading this? I think it was actually talking something about narcissism. Apparently, these birds, they know that other birds assume that the eggs in their nest are their own, so they lay their eggs in other birds’ nests. They, like, outsource that [laughs] because they're like, they’ll deal. [laughs] They'll assume. I do think it was, like, something about narcissism and we literally-- Oh, yeah. I think it was in Peter Attia? Was it in Peter Attia’s book? I don't know. I'm all over the place. It was something about how we're so consumed and we can only see our own perspective of the world. And cowbirds know this. I don't know if they actually think about this when they're laying the eggs, but yeah.
Vanessa Spina: That's really funny. So, they outsource it that the other bird will raise it because it's so preoccupied with itself that it doesn't realize it.
Melanie Avalon: Wow. So much we can learn from the animal kingdom.
Vanessa Spina: That's fascinating. That's really fascinating.
Melanie Avalon: I know. One last little thing. Okay, so you've been, like, crazily cleaning for hours. Do you know what I've been doing for hours?
Vanessa Spina: What?
Melanie Avalon: This will be way-- by the time this comes out, this will be way in the past, but the Taylor Swift Eras movie is coming out.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, I can't wait too.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, you're seeing it.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. I mean when I can, I'd love to. Yeah. I didn't go to the concert, so for me, it's going to be like.
Melanie Avalon: Is it going to come out in Prague?
Vanessa Spina: I think so.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, my goodness.
Vanessa Spina: Wait, is it going to theaters first? I just assumed it was going to be on Netflix.
Melanie Avalon: Oh. No, no, no, this is a theater experience.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, okay. I'll have to go to that.
Melanie Avalon: Mm-hmm.
Vanessa Spina: I'm sure it'll come out here like every movie comes out here, just like it does in North America.
Melanie Avalon: Well, it comes out this weekend.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, okay. I got to find out when it's coming out.
Melanie Avalon: So, I counted up how many hours I've spent. I think I've spent 10 hours talking about things that you think, like, the unpacking will not take that long. I was like, “Oh, it will not take that long to individually glue sequins to my Taylor Swift bodysuit, incorrect assumption.” I have spent about 10 hours gluing sequins to my outfit while listening to audiobooks prepping the show. It's epic, my costume.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, I can't wait to see a picture.
Melanie Avalon: I'm going to dress up. I'm going to be T Swift in the flesh. So, yes. I love projects like crafting. [chuckles]
Vanessa Spina: Me too.
Melanie Avalon: It's therapeutic.
Vanessa Spina: I love Michaels. I wish that's the one thing actually they don't have here. Makes me sad.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, man or Hobby Lobby.
Vanessa Spina: They don't have it here? No. I used to go there a lot. Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: Although I went to Michaels, and I was like, “I need sequins.” And he was like, “What are sequins?” And I was like, “Am I at Hobby Lobby? Where am I?”
Vanessa Spina: Pretty sure they have, like, an aisle of sequins.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. So, I had to go rogue and find them myself. I wish you were here. We could go together.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, that would be amazing. That would seriously be amazing. I'm trying to figure out a Halloween costume, because we have a Halloween party coming up, and I have not thought about it at all.
Melanie Avalon: Could be Taylor Swift.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah, yeah. [laughs] I think I need to find something coordinated for Luca and maybe something that's good for pregnancy. You know fun like--
Melanie Avalon: What if you're, like, Humpty Dumpty?
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. Because I was saying pumpkin. A pumpkin is, like, the cutest baby costume ever. I was like, I think Lucas a little bit too big now, so maybe he could be a two-two. You know, he really likes Thomas, Thomas the Tank Engine and all that. Like, maybe he could be a Thomas. But, yeah, I'm thinking I got to find something that unifies-- a unifying theme and I don't have time for that right now. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: You can outsource that to me. I'll think about it for you and then I'll report back.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. I think I was telling you we wanted to do last year like Prince Charming.
Melanie Avalon: What if you do Alice in Wonderland?
Vanessa Spina: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: There're so many characters in that.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. You know, it's so much easier for that kind of stuff in North America because you can just go to any costume store, and they'll have a family set or, like, a Target or something. But here it's more like Amazon. So, yeah, maybe this weekend I'll spend some time on it [laughs] if my nesting gives me a break from everything else.
Melanie Avalon: Maybe you could do something with the nesting. Maybe you could be a bird.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah.
Melanie Avalon: Maybe you could all be birds. Different, different birds.
Vanessa Spina: He would love that. Oh, my gosh. He loves birds.
Melanie Avalon: You could be a flamingo, like, all pink.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. I need to find something funny that has a big belly.
Melanie Avalon: A hummingbird. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait what's a real-- A peacock, a peacock.
Vanessa Spina: I love how excited you are.
Melanie Avalon: Then you could do, like, rainbow. Oh, wait, but they're male so.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah, Pete would have to be peacock. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: Pete can be the peacock. You could be the flamingo. Luca can be a penguin.
Vanessa Spina: We'll workshop it.
[laughter]
Melanie Avalon: Oh, okay. Shall we answer some listener questions?
Vanessa Spina: Yes, I would love to.
Melanie Avalon: Okay. To start things off, this is actually some feedback I got on Instagram. So, I asked her if I could include it because I thought it was just such a lovely little story. So, this was from Lauren. She messaged me and she said that she did her first half fasted marathon. She said, “Just wanted to say thank you for all the education because it gave me the confidence to trust my intuition and go for it. I used to have a terrible relationship with food and hate my body. Now I have a great relationship with food and love what it can do. I'm so happy with a sub two time. It was really interesting feeling my body switch into ketosis around Mile Nine as so many other runners started to flag. Fasting is such a superpower. We need everyone to know.” Then she put the little emoji with the heart eyes and she said, “You are a legend” with a little smiley face, XOX.
So, thank you so much for reporting back. Lauren. First of all, I'm thrilled that you have had that mindset shift surrounding your relationship with food. And it's really exciting because you know, I'm not a marathon runner. I really like hearing from listeners who are implementing fasting with athletic endeavors like that and how it goes and it's so cool about. that really must feel like a superpower to switch into ketosis when people are starting to hit the wall. Any thoughts, Vanessa?
Vanessa Spina: I love it. I'm always telling people that if you're doing, usually long-distance running, that is the perfect exercise for being fat fueled because it is 60% to 70% of your VO2 max. You can just be fueled from fat. And I have so many athletes who are out there just killing it, reporting back to me that they're doing keto and people just don't believe them and they're setting new records. They're using it as such a competitive edge and people call it bonking when you hit the wall and it's because you run out of glycogen. But if you're running off of fat, then you're never going to hit that wall. It's just the perfect exercise for that, as long as you stay well hydrated using electrolytes like LMNT or something, because you definitely want to maintain your hydration and all that.
But yeah, that's so cool that you actually felt your body switching into ketosis and other people were starting to flag. It happened to me once with Pete and my father-in-law, we were on this crazy hike that he said was only going to be an hour or two and it was like four hours and it was in Utah and it was so hot. No one else was around because were like insane to be doing this. And at the end they started slowing down. But I had LMNT with me and I just ate protein when we had our snack and I had LMNT and I was like busting it out of there. I was like, [chuckles] I couldn't even see them anymore. I was going so fast and they both were like just dying in the heat. And my father-in-law still talks about that hike. He's like, “I don't understand what was going on, but you were gone, you were like turbo mode and were about to pass out.” [laughs] So, yeah, it's being fat fueled. It's amazing. It is a superpower.
Melanie Avalon: It is a superpower. And that sounds so miserable. Oh, my goodness. Which actually is going to relate to my answer for the next question. Have you done a marathon or a half marathon?
Vanessa Spina: It's not my thing. No.
Melanie Avalon: Not my thing either.
Vanessa Spina: I'm like, “I'll cheer you on and everything from the sidelines.”
Melanie Avalon: I won't even cheer you on. [laughs] Does that require sitting outside [laughs]
Vanessa Spina: Standing for a long time? Yeah. I have a really good friend whose husband does them a lot. So, I'm like, “Go, Cody, you're killing it.” But I just have no interest at all, at all, negative interest. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: I'll throw the like welcome, the celebration party.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. Nice.
Melanie Avalon: Indoors at the end.
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. It's just not appealing for me, but I know it is appealing to lots of people.
Melanie Avalon: And like I said, it relates to my answer for the next question, which I'll let you read it, but I'll set it up so that the context is I had asked for questions in the Facebook group IF Biohackers for Terry Wahls. Dr. Terry Wahls, who I interviewed this past week, actually, I think, or the week before. She is so great. I love her. She's just so inspiring, because you've interviewed her, right?
Vanessa Spina: Yes. So inspiring.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. So definitely listeners check that out. I think it's-- yeah, it should have already aired by now. She almost started crying on the show. It was very, very touching when she was telling her story. So, yes, we talked all about her studies on diet, including fasting for multiple sclerosis specifically, but it applies to autoimmune conditions as well. So, this question we did not get to and I thought it was a good question for our show, actually. So, would you like to read it?
Vanessa Spina: I would love to. So, Annie from Facebook asks, “How can we live a “normal life” when we are always inside an expensive bubble full of products and denials that most take for granted? Don't eat this or that. Not that water. Oh, wait. Yes, that water, but not too much. No Wi-Fi, no gluten, no fortified anything? No, no, no and take tons of supplements and expensive. Doctors and treatments yet we are expected to live a stress-free life this way. So, we just accept and try. But does anybody really get better and happy in this bubble?”
Melanie Avalon: Okay. I loved this question also, I just want to say, Vanessa, I like how you read question.
Vanessa Spina: Aw. [laughs]
Melanie Avalon: Because you read that with character. I felt like Annie was here with us. [laughs]
Vanessa Spina: Oh, that's awesome. I try add some dramatic flair.
Melanie Avalon: It was good. I liked it. I feel like it's your theater background coming out.
Vanessa Spina: I know. I feel like, I'm auditioning or something--
[laughter]
Melanie Avalon: We are like reading sides here constantly. [laughter ]It's interesting because it's, like, the blend because you don't want to go full out character mode you know but you tend-- [laughter] I literally think about this when I'm reading questions. I'm like, “You got to be objective and narrator, but also have some character. You've nailed it.” You've got the talent.
Vanessa Spina: Did I get the part? [chuckles]
Melanie Avalon: You got the part. [laughter]
Vanessa Spina: Can't wait to tell my mom.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, so good. Okay. I can't, I'm going to start crying again from laughing. Thank you for the question, Annie. I have so many thoughts about this. I know this is something I know I've experienced this. I know so many people experience this. And Annie was talking about it in relation to autoimmune conditions, but it's also something I just feel a lot of people in the health sphere, people on diets, even people doing fasting, like, people who are making choices about what they like, she said, about what they do or don't eat, supplements, foods, doctors, treatments, a lot of people are constantly making these decisions for their life and it can feel restrictive. And then, in addition, some people come from a baseline of feeling great without doing or feeling okay at least without doing this, and then they do this and they just feel better, whereas some people feel really awful if they don't do these things. And then doing this helps them feel better.
So, there're layers of, I think, a feeling of necessity surrounding it. I'll start with what she said at the end, which is, “But does anybody really get better and happy in this bubble?" So, I would encourage you, Annie, to think about what you mean by happiness. First of all, what you mean by happiness and where that happiness comes from and what that means. Because if happiness, this is all just my thoughts, my esoteric thoughts, but to me happiness is a transitory temporal state of feelings that can come and go and that's okay. And if that's the end goal, if happiness is the end goal, you're probably not going to find it, because it's not something-- it really, really does matter on how you define it though. It's a lot of semantics, actually yesterday I interviewed the creators of the Forks Over Knives series, like documentary, and then all the books that go with it, they have a new book called Wellness to Wonderful, which is really good. It's about a full lifestyle approach to health and wellness. We actually talked about this because their barometer is, is life wonderful? And we talked about the difference between wonderful versus happiness and how feeling like your life is wonderful and you are content and satisfied is different than like a transitory state of happiness.
First of all, I contemplate what you mean by happy and where is that found and how it relates to what we were talking about a second ago with Vanessa, is stress and happiness and suffering and pain, and what you enjoy and what you don't enjoy is so relative. So, like, racing literally sounds like the most awful experience to me. Like, you could not pay me. And like I said, even just being outside watching people race is not pleasant to me. Some people love it. They love it. What that says to me or something like traffic. There are some people, like my mom, she cannot stand traffic. Like when we are in traffic, she just is so upset. Whereas when I'm in traffic, I'm like, “Oh, this is great. I can listen to more podcasts.” I really don't mind it. I think it's like a fun time. So, I think the point of that is that literally, any situation that you're in, somebody could enjoy it and somebody could not. So, any experience you're in is relative. You decide how it affects you on a deeper emotional level, and it's completely okay to have. And we talked about this yesterday in the interview, which I'll put a link to in the show notes. I think the show notes for it are going to be melanieavalon.com/wellnesstowonderful probably.
So, we talked about how even feelings, we'll say, like, negative feelings and positive feelings, but really, they're just pleasant and unpleasant. Like, there's no good or bad or right or wrong. They just are. Or it's like one of my favorite authors or I actually really recommend reading Amy Johnson's book Just a thought. It's so cute. It's like this really small little book. It's super short. It has an endorsement from me in it, which is very exciting, right alongside, like, Deepak Chopra. But in that book, she talks about the weather and how there's the sky and how you are the sky and the weather is your experiences and what you're going through. And the weather can be so many different things and it can be crazy and it can be, “bad, like a thunderstorm or it can be a clear sky, but either way, there's actually a clear sky behind that.” Like, you don't change. So, defining yourself and your happiness by your experiences is not sustainable for lifetime satisfaction. And I know that's a lot of words. So, it's like, “How do you do this?” I mean that’s were like, I find so much value in seeing a therapist every week, reading books about this. A lot of people benefit from meditation, prayer.
So, I would try to have a sort of mindset shift surrounding all of that. And then as far as the actual things you're doing, like feeling like you have to-- like Vanessa was so eloquently reading with a slight inflection of character, you know, don't drink this water, drink a little bit of this water, except maybe not, like all of that stuff. Remember that, that is your choice, I think having agency in your own life is one of the most empowering things ever. I'm all about-- And I'm not saying that she's doing this, but I think we live in an epidemic of victimhood today where we think we're a victim of everything, of our own circumstances, of the world, when really, it's really empowering to have agency. So, all these choices that you're making, if you can reframe them as they are, I mean, presumably that's why you're making them. Hopefully, you are making the choices that help make you feel better and that is your choice.
And you actually don't have to do any of them. I think that's freeing to know, like, you are the person in control here. You're choosing-- you don't have to do anything. You are choosing to do things because they make you feel better. And even for me, because if you look at the way I eat and the things I do, it looks really restrictive. I am so happy doing it. It makes me so happy to use that word, which has problematic semantics surrounding it. But I feel really good in the dietary choices that I make because I have found the foods that I love. I think that's important. Making sure that within this paradigm of these gluten, not gluten foods you can and can't eat, finding the foods that you really do love, I think that's really important because you can definitely do that. There are delicious foods and your tastebuds will change. So, I think paying attention to that, defining a diet that you do love and telling yourself that you have agency, making those decisions and that it's okay to not feel okay. Like, that's okay.
And it's also okay if you do want to have a day where you're just like, want to lament. And I mean, I don't want to say like a pity party, but that's okay too, if you want to have those moments as well have those moments. But hopefully the ongoing theme can be one of agency and empowerment. And for the question of, does anybody ever really get better? Again, I think it's a matter of what do we mean by better? Because everybody's always on a spectrum of health. So, you can monitor that with how you’re reacting to things and your health markers and all of that. But that's always going to be the spectrum. So, I wouldn't even make that the end goal. I would really work on the mental and the emotional wellness behind it. That was very long. What are your thoughts, Vanessa?
Vanessa Spina: I have so many thoughts on this. [chuckles] The first one, I mean, just as a blanket overview is like, if doing this stuff doesn't make you happy and doesn't lower your stress, makes you more stressed, then I think that's a big indicator. Whereas you and I, I talk to you most days, like every day, you're always happy. I feel like I'm always happy too because it does make us happy. It's not like you're happy one day and another day you're like, really--you're always happy when I talk to you. I feel like I am too. This lifestyle that we've chosen and following the science and biohacking and everything, for me it has tremendously improved my overall state. And it's given me access to be able to work on the other stuff, the other deeper stuff, like doing the deeper work. One of my favorite quotes is, I don't know if I'm going to say it properly, but it's sort of like, “If you do the hard stuff, then life gets really easy whereas if you take the easy way out, then life is always hard.”
Melanie Avalon: Oh, that's a good one.
Vanessa Spina: [laughs] It's one of my favorites and I live by it because sometimes the stuff that we do, just like you said in your question, Annie, sometimes the stuff that we, does feel hard. But at the end of the day, if it does make life easier for you, then I think it's worth it. Whereas taking the easy way out sometimes feels easy in the moment, but not doing the hard work it can lead to making life harder. And it applies to so many different aspects of life, whether it's like health or business or work or relationships. It applies to everything. So sometimes I find you have to work and put that work in and then life gets really easy and really amazing. One example I could say is learning all of this stuff, doing all of this stuff has made me go from being obsessed and addicted to food and feeling really unempowered and unhappy and trapped in my body to feeling effortlessly lean. I don't have to think about, really food much at all anymore. I just eat to live. And I enjoy my meals when I eat them. But I have all this energy freed up now to go and live all my dreams and take that energy to feeling good, being in a good state, and then being able to work on the other stuff. Like you brought up about that analogy of the sky. You know, one of my favorite, favorite authors, aside from Deepak. I love him, Deepak Chopra-
Melanie Avalon: Who? I don't know his name.
Vanessa Spina: -he's amazing, is Michael Singer.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, yes. Oh, we talked about-- I forgot, we both-- We love this book. Yes.
Vanessa Spina: Oh. The Untethered Soul, I feel like it was a culmination of every book I've read on meditation and mindset and work and everything. And I just listened to his new podcast while we’re in Greece and it was just so amazing. One of the things he talked about is how a lot of us are just stuck in this worry stack where it's like a stack of books and you're just worried about, say, the top item on your list. And then once you figure that out, then you just go to the next one on your worry stack and you worry about that. And it's just like no matter what you do, whenever you solve whatever problem, you're just going from one worry to another. Whereas if you just let go of all of that, and he gave this analogy of, like, a kid who knows that he's got a shot coming up, that he has to have a school mandatory vaccine or something. And he spends two weeks dreading the shot and worrying about it. Whereas the actual shot is like 2 seconds. I had one yesterday, [chuckles] intramuscular injection for pregnancy. The actual shot was like not even 5 seconds, like when the needle goes in everything.
But why spend all of that time worrying and anticipating the things that could go wrong in life when you could just let go of all of that and just fully experience life? And you're going to have fear in your heart. You're going to face your own heart and the fears that you have in it and everything. [chuckles] I know I'm growing really deep here, but that's all that self-work that is about mindset. And it comes through doing meditation, reading books about that inner monologue and the inner voice and the inner narrative, how you talk to yourself and what you're focusing on. Like, what state are you in right now? Are you concerned right now? Are you worrying right now? Or are you taking a moment to be mindful and set a positive intention for the day? Spend some time focusing on gratitude, shifting out of a fearful or worried state, stress state. Stress is just another word for fear. So, a lot of us are in a fearful state a lot of the time and there are things that we can do to feel good. So, it really comes down to, “Does this stuff make you feel happier?”
Like you have to do a self-assessment, like you said, Melanie, and be like, “Does this stuff make me feel better or does it just stress me out?” And if it just stresses you out, then it's not worth it. It's not worth doing. If, on the other hand, it does make you feel empowered and it is giving you tangible results, you're seeing benefits in your health and your physique and your energy levels, if you are feeling and seeing those benefits, then it's worth it for you. But you really have to take that assessment and see if this stuff is helping you. And I'm going to say, from your question, sounds like it's not making you very happy to do this stuff. Maybe you're just having a bad day. Maybe you're just feeling overwhelmed, because I know it can be overwhelming. Every day it seems like there's a new thing, there's a new supplement or there's deuterium depleted water, and there's all this stuff. And you have to kind of say, like, “I can't do all of this stuff, but I can do one thing and I can focus on one thing.” And that's a really important concept, I think, when it comes to all of this and biohacking is, you really want to do one thing at a time and really integrate that thing.
Like, if you want to get into cold exposure, focus on cold exposure and just adding in that one thing. But if you try to add in cold exposure, red light therapy and AI Bike and this new kind of fasting and blue light blocking glasses and you're adding in everything at the same time and trying to drink the deuterium depleted water, it's going to feel overwhelming. So, I really suggest just slow things down. You don't have to do everything. You can just do one thing at a time, focus on that thing, and that's how you're going to be able to assess each thing that you try. Like, does this one hack actually improve my life? Whereas if you're doing all of them at once, it's going to be hard to assess individually each thing. So, I think that's what I would say.
Melanie Avalon: I loved that so much. I love talking about this with you. Follow up thoughts. One, I forgot that we both loved Michael Singer so much. I think we talked about that like a while ago.
Vanessa Spina: A long time ago. Yeah. He's just so, so incredible. And he just released the new season of his podcast, which is like every episode is 45 minutes to an hour and it's just the best thing ever, I think. It's called The Untethered Soul, Michael Singer Podcast.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, the podcast is called that?
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. Each season is only like four or five episodes, but it's incredible. You want to listen to each one over and over again. But the book, yeah, The Untethered Soul, itself is incredible. And then the second book, also amazing. \
Melanie Avalon: When did he release that podcast you said?
Vanessa Spina: So this one just came out a few weeks ago.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, like brand new. He didn't have a prior season.
Vanessa Spina: And then there was a season 1, which I think came out like a year or two ago. And then he also has this course, which is like The Untethered Soul, which I did and Pete did a little bit with me. And it's a video course, but it's very similar to the podcast episodes, except it also has the video component to it. But the podcast this season is just mind blowing. It's amazing. So, I guess it's kind of like you want to be dedicating some percentage of your time or life to spending it on the mindset and mindfulness, consciousness, meditation, all of that really helps. I think it's something that you don't just do it once. It's something that you have to actively maintain.
You have to be reading books on a regular basis about it, doing meditation on a regular basis, putting in that work that makes life easy. You have to put in the time to do it. But I do find that the stuff that we do on the health and nutrition side, it helps to provide clarity, because for me, with food and everything, it generated so much noise in my life, and especially fixating on my physique and just food in general and being obsessed with food, once I figured out some of these concepts that we talk about a lot, like protein makes you really satisfied, so you don't have to think about food anymore. The noise just fell away. And then I was able to focus more on these other things, these other aspects as well. So, they kind of go hand in hand, I think.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah, to that point. So, two thoughts. One, I really like what you said about evaluating what is and isn't working, and I'll put a link to it in the show notes. But in the Newsweek piece that I got to write, which was about my personal diet history and a little bit of my biohacking journey, the way I ended that, which is what I feel very strongly about, is that one of the most freeing things in my personal, “biohacking journey” was when I did have the realization that I don't have to do all these things. I was in this world where I was like, “I have to do all of this stuff.” I was like, the picture I can see in my head is me religiously clinging to these diet tips and techniques and biohacking things because I thought they were saving me. And that was really stressful honestly. And when I had the epiphany that, “Oh, I actually don't have to do any of this, and I can just do what makes me feel better and it can be additive, that was really freeing.” So, I think getting out of this overwhelming mindset of having to do all the things, you can still do all the things, but just that mindset of having to do them and feeling trapped by them is so different than choosing to do them. So, I like what Vanessa was saying about kind of taking stock of what you are doing and what is benefiting you and what's not and letting go of what is not benefiting you.
The second thing I was going to say was, no I forgot. I will say though, for her part about how can we live a normal life? So that's another thing where it's semantics, like, “What is normal?” Oh, I remembered, first of all, you get to decide what is normal and what you want your life to be. I don't see any reason to have to adapt to what society calls normal. The mosaic of all the people in the world is what makes society so interesting in my opinion. And then last comment. So, Vanessa was commenting on how she and I are often very happy, which is very true. I just want to clarify that I still have. Okay, well, first of all, when I was reading that Michael Singer book for the first time, The Untethered Soul, that was in my, like, what I call my dark time, I probably still seemed happy to other people. But even during that-- that's when I was really having a lot of health struggles and challenges. I still saw it as separate from who I was.
So, it never really colored my thoughts about the world and myself and my happiness. And even today, I'm so grateful and I really enjoy life, and I really do feel happy the majority of the time. And I can still feel incandescently happy while having very stressful things happening that I'm not enjoying, that are not fun. And those can exist simultaneously pretty easily for me. Like, even when really bad things happen, either in relationships or with business or work or stress, it's all separate to me. It's just what I'm experiencing at that moment. So, I'm still happy.
Vanessa Spina: I love everything that you said there. I have to say on the first point, I'm so glad that you said that, because I think a lot of people looking at you or being fans of you from listening to the show for a long time, would just assume that you are doing all the biohacks, that you have all the biohacking devices and you do all the biohacks. So, I think if there's anyone listening to the show who's been inspired by you over the years, it's probably really great for them to hear you say that you don't feel, like, the pressure to do all of them because you are known as, like, top six biohacker in the world. It's great that you don't feel some kind of pressure to do all the things and that you give yourself the grace and the time to just do what feels approachable and accessible and whatever in the time, you don't overwhelm yourself with stuff. So, I love that you said that. And then I also love that you mentioned that you're not necessarily happy all the time. I don't want to project a fake reality either, of course, life is still hard. [laughs]
There're still difficult moments. I sort of was referring to in general, your disposition, and I feel similar, like an overall state or disposition, whereas we both interact with a lot of people. And I always know, like, you're in a high vibe. I feel like I'm often in a high vibe, but we get there intentionally. I every day, set my intentions. I put myself in a state of thankfulness. It doesn't mean that I don't encounter hard or challenging things. I typically like to frame them as challenging because challenges bring out the best in you, but it's more of a disposition, and I feel like we both work at that. And I think, like I was saying it goes hand in hand with the fact that all the stuff that we do on the health and lifestyle also supports that. But the things that you and I find joy in and that support our health and happy mindset or happy disposition may not generate that for other people. It may generate more stress or a feeling that you're not keeping up with everyone else or you're not doing as well. It could generate all kinds of other feelings that I can't speak to. So, it's all about assessing yourself with anything that you do in life, with any job or any activity or anything that you pursue. Does this actually make my life happier? And if it doesn't, then you have to reevaluate.
Melanie Avalon: It's interesting because with the biohacks, I really came to a similar place. Like, I still do most of the things. My mindset is just completely different surrounding them. And then yeah, commenting just quickly on the perpetual happiness or high vibe thing. Something else from Amy Johnson's book that I really like. She points out that unpleasant experiences that may happen that you don't want to be in, that are happening. Like, when those happen, we think it's all consuming and it's the way it's going to be. And that's all we see when really it literally is going to pass. You don't even have to do anything, and it'll pass. And what I mean by that is bad things can happen, and we think that we have to fix it. It will pass. And the fact that you don't have to even do anything is kind of mind blowing. When things happen to me that I don't like being in that experience of, I literally see myself in it, and I see it as this is like a temporary, transitory thing that I am not enjoying. I'm very open about that. You can accept that I am not enjoying this happening right now, but it's not me. I'm still happy. I'm still great behind it and it'll pass.
Like, the thing that happened two nights ago was when I was working on my Taylor Swift sequin bodysuit and I was trying to get, like, glitter acrylic sparkle stuff to spray on it. So, I bought, like, three different ones. That stuff is so toxic smelling. And one of them, I didn't realize it, but it was broken, so it leaked, and it was everywhere in my apartment. So, my entire apartment was like fumes. I do not do well with fumes. When I was experiencing that, I was like, this is not fun. I am not enjoying this. This is not, um-mm, but I saw it as just something happening to me that would pass. Like, it's not me because I'm good behind it all. So, I hope that helps, Annie. [chuckles]
Vanessa Spina: Thank you for your question, Annie. And I hope that this gave you something to think about.
Melanie Avalon: Yes, yes, let us know. And also, because I'm assuming she has an autoimmune condition, so sending love with all of that, I was thinking we could answer because it relates Laura's question, hers was, “If we had a limited budget, what supplements would you prioritize?” kind of ties in. And then she says, “What makes you happy and grateful.”
Vanessa Spina: Yeah, that's perfect. That's perfect. Why don't you go first?
Melanie Avalon: Okay. So, Laura, she's asking, “If we had a limited budget, what supplements would you prioritize?” And this kind of relates to what we’re both saying before. I definitely had a great epiphany relief moment when I realized I didn't have to be taking all the supplements all the time. That was definitely a potential point of stress for me. And realizing that I'm taking these to help me. If I don't take them, that's okay. And also, yes, like Laura's asking, evaluate what would you prioritize? So, I think, as a baseline, making sure you're getting all of your nutrition is really important. So, looking at your diet, what are you getting all your nutrition and trying to get that from diet, especially, like, limited budget, you can get a lot of nutrition in whole foods and meat and egg yolks. There's a lot of really affordable ways to get nutrition from food. I think it can be hard, even with food, to get enough magnesium from your food. So, I would prioritize a magnesium supplement. It can be hard to get enough vitamin D depending on how much you're outside. So, I would prioritize a vitamin D supplement.
And then again, I think on the supplemental nutrition side of things, those are ones that most people are probably deficient in, and then beyond that, from there, seeing where else you might be deficient. And then beyond that, it’s for me personally, I benefit so much from digestive enzymes and HCL. So that's something for me. So, if you struggle with digestion and those really help, that might be something to prioritize, but that would be a case-by-case basis. When I just step back and think about what I want to say, like fun supplements, like supplement that's not dire because it's not nutrition related or digestion related. There is a reason I made serrapeptase as my first supplement for AvalonX. And it's just because it has such a profound effect on me, on my inflammation, on my sinuses, on so many things. So, I would personally prioritize my serrapeptase. I'll put a link avalonx.us and the coupon code MELANIEAVALON will get you 10% off sitewide. MD Logic did recently release a vitamin D supplement. It's a capsule supplement. I take a liquid form, but they released a capsule for people who like that, so that's a good option. And then I have a magnesium as well. I have two magnesiums on avalonx.us, digestive supplements I do want to make a line in the future. Right now, I take Pure Encapsulations brand. Yeah. What are your thoughts on supplements, Vanessa?
Vanessa Spina: So I really don't take that many to begin with. So, I feel like I really prioritize because I find that if you take too many, it gets overwhelming and then you just stop taking them. Like, I've been there so many times. I take magnesium. It's the number one supplement that I travel with. I don't leave home without it. I now take Magnesium 8 by AvalonX every single day. I take it every single night, I give it to friends, I had it with me when we were in Greece. I've been wanting to share this with you, actually, for a while, but being pregnant, you have to be even more careful about the supplements that you take. And I trust your magnesium more than any other out there. So, thank you for making such an incredible supplement. But if I had to choose one, it would be that, honestly. And then magnesium citrate I always take with me when I'm traveling as well, because I feel like sometimes it complements it just to have the extra, but also sometimes when I'm traveling and I'm eating different things, if I don't feel like I'm as regular as I am when I'm at home, it really--
Melanie Avalon: Natural CALM.
Vanessa Spina: --yeah, it's the best. What's it called? Natural Vitality CALM.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah.
Vanessa Spina: And they have a smaller version of it, which is usually I have the big ones at home, but they have the smaller one that's great for travel. I always take with me because it's same with Pete. If he has any issues, just he's like, “Do you have the magnesium citrate?” I'm like, “Yep.” So, it's super helpful. That's, like, my number one. Right now, I'm taking a prenatal and I take prenatal or a multivitamin by Thorne. It's probably the other brand that I trust as much as AvalonX. And I mostly take it because of vitamin C, because I eat so, like, keto carnivore and carnivore-ish. Vitamin C, I think, is something that I would take on its own, but because I'm also pregnant, I just take a prenatal, and it's got everything. But on the days that I eat liver, as you were mentioning, trying to get the nutrients from your diet, then I don't take it because I don't need the folate. It's in the liver.
The other supplement that I love is L-carnitine. I'm fascinated by it. You actually do mostly get it from meat, which is where the word carne comes from. But I found some really interesting research on how it also, it's one of the transporters that helps you be fat fueled. So, it helps shuttle fatty acids into your tissues to be oxidized for fuel into your mitochondria. And so, I always take L-carnitine. For vitamin D I actually take cod liver. Like, I have cod liver in cans. And whenever I make, like, tuna salad for myself or Luca or Pete, I just put some cod livers in there, and it makes it taste extra good, extra rich because it's so fatty. But the cans I get come with cod liver oil. So, I take the oil out and I put that into a jar and I keep that and just use a dropper and put droplets on that. It's basically very similar to what you get with vitamin D drops, but it's actually the pure form. So that's kind of like a hybrid getting it from your food versus supplement. But if I don't have cod liver, then I will take a vitamin D supplement and I try to get in the sun as much as possible.
And my other one, last one is red light, because I really do consider light to be a nutrient. And so many of us are deficient in especially red light. And our mitochondria actually need red light to activate the chromophores or cytochrome c oxidase on the electron transport chain. So, I think that because of our modern lifestyles, we are actually deficient in this nutrient. So, I use red light every day so. I know you do too, although, I just thought it would be fun to include it in there.
Melanie Avalon: Just really quick, one, do you have my NightCap?
Vanessa Spina: I think so, yes, I do. But I've been meaning to ask you about it.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, to ask what it does?
Vanessa Spina: Yeah. Because I knew the Magnesium 8 would be fine for pregnancy, but I haven't taken the Serrapeptase yet or the NightCap one because I hadn't asked you about those yet. For some reason, the Serrapeptase scares me to take while pregnant. I'll probably wait until after. I'm sure it's safe, but I'll probably wait until after. But, yeah, tell me about the NightCap.
Melanie Avalon: First of all, I totally understand the pregnancy concerns. So, the NightCap, it's magnesium threonate, which is a special type of magnesium that crosses the blood brain barrier. So, it's basically the only, I mean, there might be some other types in small amounts, but this magnesium, if you take it will go into your brain and there're a lot of studies on it for memory and mood and rest and relaxation. So, it's a great complement to Magnesium 8 and we made it as a standalone because there was no way we could get the therapeutic amount of magnesium threonate into the Magnesium 8 blend. So yes, we wanted people to have the option to take it as like a brain boost or like relaxation. So, it's great. It should be completely fine for pregnancy. It's just another magnesium essentially.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, I'll try it. Yeah. So, you take it both with the eight?
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. So, you can take either whenever. I like taking a Magnesium NightCap at night, appropriately enough. But the studies actually usually do a biphasic dosing, like in the morning and evening. So, it won't make you tired per se, but it will help you sleep at night.
Vanessa Spina: Ooh, I'm going to try it tonight.
Melanie Avalon: It's great. I've had so much amazing feedback of people.
Vanessa Spina: That's what I was going to say is I've been wanting to take it because I constantly see people saying what a game changer it is.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, yeah. I'm so happy we're talking. Yeah. So that's at avalonx.us. And I was just going to say really quick, vitamin D. Did you know, do you like mushrooms?
Vanessa Spina: I love them. I have chanterelles in my fridge right now that I just got, I'm obsessed with mushrooms.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, wait, “What is your favorite mushroom?” I know this is not--
Vanessa Spina: Probably, chanterelle. [laughter]
Melanie Avalon: This is not important. Stop this train. Stop this train. [laughter] Bring it back. Okay.
Vanessa Spina: I just love because they're not part of the vegetable or fruit. Like, they're their own kingdom. It's so interesting.
Melanie Avalon: They're crazy. And what's it called? The whole network of mushroom land. It expands underneath the ground, and they talk and it's a whole thing. Did you know you can put your mushrooms outside and charge them to fill them up with vitamin D? I just learned this because they produce vitamin D, so if you put them outside. The article I was reading, I have to fact check this, but it said you could get your daily requirements of vitamin D by putting your mushrooms outside for, like, 15 minutes.
Vanessa Spina: That's amazing. That's so cute.
Melanie Avalon: I know. Charge up your little mushrooms. Oh, it's like Mario Kart.
Vanessa Spina: My mushies.
Melanie Avalon: I love mushrooms. They're so good. They're like umami. They're just ahh, they're so good. I went through, like, a mushroom phase where I was like, “Oh, try all the mushrooms.”
Vanessa Spina: Okay, so what's your favorite? We have to end on that.
Melanie Avalon: Yeah. So, I did go through that phase, like I said. I did really like oyster mushrooms, but I didn't really digest them as well. I just eat every night. Okay, wait, portobello and baby bella, wait, there's ones that are the same. It just has to do with the timeline of their life. That blew my mind. It kind of blew my mind because button mushrooms are white, cremini are brown, okay. These are all the same mushroom. I didn't realize this. So, button mushrooms are white. They're like the toddlers or the babies. Then there's cremini, which are brown. Those are like the teenagers. And then there are portobellos, which are brown and larger and those are the adults. They're all the same mushroom, which is-- so when you go to the store and it's like, they're the same mushroom kind of upsetting. Kind of like the fact that tea leaves are all the same plant that blew my mind. That was really upsetting to me to learn that green tea and black tea are the same thing. I like those that I just mentioned because they're really easy for me to digest in my scallops. It's not very adventurous though.
Vanessa Spina: I love it. I love that we both love mushrooms. All the fungi fans out there will be loving this little bonus segment as well.
Melanie Avalon: I know. Should we answer her question about what makes you happy or grateful.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, yeah. I mean, you, this podcast, my family, just being alive, the power of the mind and mindset, even just, I'm thankful for thankfulness and how powerful it is to just sit down and write down what you're thankful for in any moment. Because there's always something, no matter what you're going through, there's always something that you can be grateful for. And it gives you just such good vibes. It shifts your state, it's empowering. And it also just moves you up the emotional scale so you feel happier. I love the power of appreciation. I like to go on rampages of appreciation. It's such a powerful, underrated tool, and you can access it any moment and it's so amazing. So, I'm just thankful for everything, for podcasting, for the Internet we can talk right now, technology, for mushroom. [laughs] What about you? I could go on for another hour, so I'm going to stop.
Melanie Avalon: Same. There're so many things. Don't get me started. Well, yes. I'm so grateful for you and this podcast. It's just so wonderful. Every time I text Vanessa, I'm just like, so happy, so grateful.
Vanessa Spina: Oh, for listeners. Sorry.
Melanie Avalon: Oh, listeners. Oh, yes. Oh, we're so grateful for the listeners. Something that I think about a lot. I am so grateful that my job and what I do in life is what I love. I am so grateful that what I get to do essentially every second of my life is my work. Not that I'm working my whole life, but my work is my love and my joy. I'm not having to clock in somewhere I don't want to be. I get to do what I love and I get to interact with so many people and share it with other people. I'm just so, so, so grateful for that. I can't even express enough. And then just all the things, like you said, “I could just go on and on and on.” And my relationships, my family, all the people in my life, I just really, really treasure. So red light. I'm holding a red-light thing in my hand right now. So many things. Okay. On that note, [laughter] this was like the mindset episode for listeners.
These show notes for today's episode will be at ifpodcast.com/episode 345. It will have a transcript as well as links to everything that we talked about. So definitely check that out. You can submit your own questions by emailing questions@ifodcast.com or you can go to ifpodcast.com and you can submit questions there. And you can follow us on Instagram. We are @ifpodcast. I am @melanieavalon, and Vanessa is @ketogenicgirl. I think that's all the things. Anything from you, Vanessa, before we go?
Vanessa Spina: Just feeling so much thankfulness. [laughter]
Melanie Avalon: I know. All gratitude.
Vanessa Spina: Thank you for that wonderful question.
Melanie Avalon: I know, I know. Thank you, Laura. All right, well, this has been wonderful, and I will talk to you next week.
Vanessa Spina: Sounds great. Talk to you.
Melanie Avalon: Bye.
Thank you so much for listening to The Intermittent Fasting Podcast. Please remember everything we discussed on this show does not constitute medical advice and no patient-doctor relationship is formed. If you enjoyed the show, please consider writing a review on iTunes. We couldn't do this without our amazing team, administration by Sharon Merriman, editing by Podcast Doctors, show notes and artwork by Brianna Joyner, transcripts by SpeechDocs, and original theme composed by Leland Cox and re-composed by Steve Saunders. See you next week.
[Transcript provided by SpeechDocs Podcast Transcription]
STUFF WE LIKE
Check out the Stuff We Like page for links to any of the books/supplements/products etc. mentioned on the podcast that we like!
LINKS
BUY:
Melanie's What When Wine Diet: Lose Weight And Feel Great With Paleo-Style Meals, Intermittent Fasting, And Wine
Vanessa's Keto Essentials: 150 Ketogenic Recipes to Revitalize, Heal, and Shed Weight
The Tone Device Breath Ketone Analyzer
The Melanie Avalon Biohacking Podcast
More on Melanie: MelanieAvalon.com
More on Vanessa: ketogenicgirl.com
Theme Music Composed By Leland Cox: LelandCox.com
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