Episode 62: How Your Mindset Is Holding You and Your Health Back with Catherine Howard

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Episode Description

In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah are joined by anti-diet dietitian and health coach, Catherine Howard. Catherine delves into the importance of mindfulness and mindset when it comes to general health and health behavior change. Do you feel that you’re mindful in life? Or do you feel that you go through life a bit mindlessly at times? Or, have you ever experienced negative self talk around your health goals? If you answered yes to any of these questions, this episode will be a great start to help you reflect on how incorporating mindfulness and shifting your mindset could turn your life and health around.

Catherine Howard is a dietitian and owner of Catherine Howard Wellness. She coaches busy professionals who want to heal their relationship with food and their body so they can stress less and focus more on what means the most to them. Her signature program, The Food and Body Acceptance System, combines evidence-based nutrition education and weight-neutral health behavior change to empower participants and support their long-term health and wellness. Outside of work you'll likely find Catherine cooking, baking, practicing yoga, hiking, cycling with her husband, thrift store shopping or enjoying local food and drinks in the Pacific Northwest.

Be sure to follow Catherine @catherinehowardwellness!

Participant #1:
Hello, everybody. Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Upbeat Dietitians podcast. In today's episode, we are joined by a brand new guest. We are joined in this episode by Katherine Howard, who is a dietitian and owner of Catherine Howard Wellness. She coaches busy professionals who want to heal their relationship with food and their body so they can stress less and focus more on what means the most to them. Catherine's signature program, the Food and Body Acceptance System, combines evidence based nutrition, education and weight neutral health behavior change to empower participants and support their long term health and fitness. Outside of work, you'll likely find Catherine cooking, baking, practicing yoga, hiking, cycling with her husband, thrift store shopping, or enjoying local food and drinks in the Pacific Northwest. We are so excited to share this episode with you altered day and enjoy. All right, Catherine, welcome to the podcast. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited. We're so glad to hear. Thank you so much for joining us today. So we like to always start with our guests by having you kind of introduce yourself, talking about what a day in the life looks like, what you do for work, education, hobbies, all that good stuff. So give it a go. Yeah, great. So I guess I'll start with education. That takes us the furthest back in time. I went to Cal State Long Beach for my undergrad degree and graduated in 2010, and then for my internship to become a dietitian. I was at Central Washington University, so that took me from Southern California to the center of Washington, and I passed my Rd exam in 2011 and stayed at Central to do my Master's program. Graduated in 2013. And at that point, I had a lot of mismatched work experience. I had kind of grown up doing a lot of volunteering and childcare and working in restaurants and food service was kind of my connection to nutrition. Going into school, I worked at a bakery for a long time, which was super fun, and I also volunteered in some hospital settings during school and in public health and other clinical spots. But after finishing my Masters, my first job out of school was a phone based health coaching program, and it was all remote. And this was in 2013. This is like feels like forever ago, but before anyone was talking about telehealth and remote work, that was my first job out of school. And I worked in that job for five years, and now I do similar work. I work for a company that offers this health coaching, and there's also a mental health component, so I can refer people to a therapist. And then separate from that, I have a private practice where I do health coaching using weight neutral, nondi approach. And that's so my clients can shed their food rules and work on body acceptance. And that allows them to free up mental space to really focus on what matters to them. Some hobbies things I'm doing in my free time these days. I'm riding my bike a lot. My husband and I love road biking and I go hiking. I love yoga. I love thrift store shopping and making playlists on Spotify and cooking, baking, usual dietitian stuff. So daily life is pretty kind of standard. Just like making coffee, making breakfast, checking messages. And my schedule for work, it might include spending some time writing and researching for stuff that I'm doing either for social media or just work for a client for my private practice stuff. And then I'll have appointments until about four. I'll make dinner and sometimes that's when I get work done later in the evening or going out and getting a walk in later in the day. Netflix on the couch, reading a good book, hanging out with our cat. That's kind of what the evening usually looks like around here. Yeah. So that's about me. Cool. It is so crazy that your first job was telehealth. Yeah, nine years ago. That's crazy. When I was telling people about it, there were all kinds of misconceptions about phone based work, about work from home. People thought I was just like kicking back, doing nothing. But I found it a really great way to access people who might otherwise just have a lot of barriers to getting connected with a provider, being able to take time out of their busy schedule to go to an office. And then there were things that I didn't expect because we were phone based. Maybe this was just me, but I felt like because someone was in their own world, whether it was at their job or at their house or in their car, I felt like they were more comfortable sharing what was challenging, disclosing to me instead of having eyes on them or being in my space. And I don't know, I think it was a really amazing experience and I love that I get to continue doing that work today too. Yeah, I feel that way too. With a lot of clients. I feel like the best breakthroughs I've had with certain people is like when they are in their own kind of comfortable space versus like one on one. Especially with a brand new person that's just meeting you and then being in, like you said, your space, like them coming to you, to your area can be a little bit intimidating and they often, especially in the beginning, don't really want to open up. So yeah, not the point of today's episode, but it definitely is very interesting. I feel like the tables have turned very drastically and now, it's definitely the majority is leaning towards that, like work from home life. Yes, absolutely. Well, let's get into the bulk of today's episode. So what we really want to discuss today is kind of just mindfulness in general and how mindfulness and mindset. How they all play a role with our health morning behavior changes. Because Emily and I always talk about on here how when we're trying to improve our health. It sounds like you're on the same page. Catherine. Kind of like removing weight out of the equation because our weight is not a behavior. And focusing so much more on those health promoting behavior changes. And it sounds like mindfulness and mindset can be a huge part of that. So we really want to get into that today. So our first question for you, Catherine, is what even is mindfulness and why does that matter when it comes to our health? Yeah, and you put it so poignantly when you're talking about the connection to behavior change. And I'm going to talk a lot about that today before I dive in to kind of define mindfulness and how it's connected to health. I'm curious what comes to mind? Do you guys, when you think about mindfulness, like, if one of your clients asked about it or if it came up on your radar in your non work life, what does it mean to you? What comes to mind? When I work with clients on. I think of mindful eating. First and foremost. I'll talk about not being distracted while we eat. Like not eating at the desk at work. Not watching TV. If we can try to limit that eating pretty slowly so we can get into our hunger and fullness cues and just all the other principles of mindful eating is what I often would think of. Same with me. Exactly that. I think fan of mindful eating. But I was thinking about it, and I was like I was kind of thinking about it in a non dietitian approach, like a nondiagiction mindset, what is mindfulness? And I feel like I think of being just very intentional about doing and not I think of mindless activity, like mindless scrolling on your phone or mindless eating or whatever it is that we're not really kind of in the moment. Absolutely, yeah. Whether it's in the context of more of the dietitian lens of mindfulness, which is like, specifically applying it to eating, or like what Emily is describing just being intentional and limiting distractions related to attention more broadly, that's exactly what we're talking about. And maybe it's helpful to think of this broader category or definition of mindfulness as something that can be like a starting point or an initial place that a lot of people find helpful to learn about and explore before layering in these other pieces around, like what to eat or how much to eat or doing activity. These other things that we tend to have, like guidelines around and I think of mindfulness would really be like the core piece to think about and mindset is like something to layer on top of that, but both really support any kind of behavior change that we're talking about. So yeah, you guys have a lot of background knowledge of Mindfulness for sure. And when we talk about mindfulness, I'll talk a little more about kind of like structured practices or what we hear about in modern cultures, everyday discussions of mindfulness based practices. But I'm curious if it would be okay if we spend like two or three minutes where I kind of walk you through a practice that would be focused on mindfulness. Okay, I'm going to give you an option you guys can choose. So there's mindfulness based meditation or something that would be more like a breathing practice. Emily, I'm impartial. Do you have a preference? I'm feeling more breathing right now. I don't know why. Take me through it. Yeah, so just a little side note. Some people find that focusing on their breathing is really unhelpful, really stressful. And if you find that there's any kind of negative experience, discomfort, go ahead and just skip this and zone out while we talk. Don't be mindful while we talk about this breathing technique. But the idea is to bring your attention to your breathing and then slow it down. So I'm going to walk you through a couple of steps that you can follow for first noticing your breathing and then slowing it down. So without changing the pattern of your breathing, how deeply you're breathing, just pay attention to the physical sensations or any sound that you notice related to your breath. You might notice cool air that you breathe in or warm air that you breathe out. You might notice a sensation of your chest or your belly rising and falling with each breath. So you're just bringing your attention to your breath and noticing the sensations. And after you've done that relaxed, just natural pattern of breathing, inhale and just hold at the top of your inhale for 3 seconds and then exhale and hold at the bottom of your exhale for 3 seconds and then return to your natural breathing pattern.
Participant #1:
And you can kind of cycle through that where you start with your natural breathing and then just inhale and hold. Exhale and hold and then return. So what was that like? I could take a nap right now. I love things like this. Emily and I are both very high strung, pretty anxious people. And so I think we need more of this in our lives. This is great. And also your voice is made for this kind of thing. I'm loving this. I can imagine you on one of those breathing apps or like one of those kind of taking us through it. I was thinking about it. I was like, why did I choose? I was reflecting during that. But very mindful. But I'm also a big fan of, like, block breathing, whereas I always imagine the square. I used to do that when I get, like, super la. Hanna said, we are very anxious individuals, so thinking about breathing sometimes makes me a little bit anxious, but it's good because then I was like, wait, am I breathing right now? It's good to reflect on, and you're already familiar with breathing techniques and how they might produce an effect, so to speak. Hannah, when you said that you felt like you could fall asleep, it sounds like you felt calm, like you felt relaxed. Hopefully I wasn't just like, droning on and making no in a good way. But often what people will say after that is something to the effect of, I didn't know that I was stressed until I felt more calm. Yeah. And that's where I think this type of mindfulness, some people think that it has to be attached to in response to acute anxiety or getting cut off and having that fight or flight response in the moment when you're in traffic behind the wheel, and that's what you're supposed to respond to. But actually, if we kind of take it back to the habit piece and talk about how incorporating something like this as part of your typical day, even outside of an acute stress response or anxiety or anything, can have a beneficial effect, and in addition to feeling more calm, we'll talk more later about some of the beneficial effects. So another note to keep in mind is I know that you guys talk a lot about intuitive eating. It's central to my practice in the work that I do, and there are so many ways that, especially if you've read the book, there are actionable ideas that connect to mindfulness and connect to mindset and how you're thinking about things. So as we move forward, for anyone who's listening, who's already familiar with intuitive eating, know that that framework is really helpful to just kind of pick some of these ideas and use those as examples that you're already familiar with. So in terms of, like, a definition of mindfulness, the best definition that I've heard sounds something like mindfulness is being fully present and aware of where we are and what we're doing and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what's going on around us. And there are variations on that depending on who's describing it. But there are also commonalities and things that are helpful in terms of observation without judgment. So keeping things neutral is very aligned with mindfulness and that calm release of judgment. This is really key and key for intuitive eating, too, which I know these two things go so hand in hand. I always tell my clients, like, if you notice that you overeat, for example, it's going to be helpful to assess that experience judgment free, and asking yourself, what led to me overeating? Was it because I wasn't being mindful or because I haven't eaten in like six 7 hours and so I got too hungry. But it's like going into that self assessment again, not judgmentally because getting mad at yourself is never going to help in a situation. So I think that's a huge piece for all of this. But intuitive eating in general is all about the judgment free neutral zone. Absolutely. And another thing that you're describing is like noticing patterns and noticing those patterns without judgment. Analogy that I use a lot with clients is like pretend that you're a scientist and just gathering these observations and seeing what you can learn from it. Instead of feeling like you have to judge it, you have to label it. It's either bad or good. It's either perfect or terrible. That's where the Mindset piece comes in. So we'll talk more about that for sure. And for some people, it's helpful to contrast Mindfulness against what it isn't. And that would be to what we were talking about earlier in terms of distraction. So feeling in the present moment instead of being distracted. And then another thing that would be kind of like what Mindfulness isn't is autopilot or feeling like you're just kind of caught up in reaction all the time. So going back to what we were saying earlier about being intentional, it's very much part of that definition. Something that's challenging about Mindfulness is that it's learned through experience and practice. So a lot of people hear about it. And that's one of the reasons why I wanted to kind of go through the practice. Because for anyone who's listening and wanted to follow along, that is how it becomes more accessible. It's just by trying it and seeing what happens as a result of doing it and kind of exploring different options. But there are lots of things that we know and do that we learned through experience. No one could just tell us how to drive a car and we'd be like, all right, good to go, give me a license. We have to learn and practice and make mistakes and figure it out. And the same is true with Mindfulness I mentioned. Mindfulness is very accessible. It doesn't require paying a ton of money or spending a lot of time learning it in order to do it. It's something that does take practice but can be incorporated into every day. It doesn't take very much time. And with practice, it eventually becomes a little bit more automatic. It is sometimes helpful to be intentional about fitting it in, like maybe have a reminder that prompts you to do it initially, but then after some of that practice and repetition, it ends up coming more naturally and more reflexively instead of just being that thing that you're kind of familiar with or that you've heard about one time in the past. Yes. I always bring that up with like hunger and fullness cues because not everyone always has those because of years of chronic dieting or whatever it may be and so maybe a good goal I set with someone is trying to eat like every three. 4 hours or so and that may not be like a natural thing they tend to do is like. Oh. It's been 3 hours. I'm going to go eat now. And sometimes setting alarms or things like that can really help to make them more aware of it and then eventually the alarms won't be helpful anymore. They'll kind of be able to notice of hunger and fullness cues more naturally and be able to kind of get in that rhythm without having that regulated stimulation telling them, hey, you don't have this queue right now, but you probably should eat something. And eventually you'll kind of have this internal queue, internal wisdom to kind of tell you when to eat. Yes, absolutely. Such a good example. Yeah. I think maybe a more very straightforward question kind of for you that our listeners might be wondering right now is we kind of talked about how to be more mindful and kind of went through that practice. But do you have any other additional. I guess like strategies about how they might be able to implement some mindfulness and then we can also start kind of getting a little bit into mindset. Yeah, absolutely. So another strategy that I like is visualization. So if we're kind of going back to that general idea of bringing your attention to the present moment instead of being distracted. Whether that's something outside of you or being distracted by thinking about the future or thinking about the past or layering in judgment the idea of setting yourself up with something that you can imagine yourself experiencing or like a beautiful landscape that you would love just enjoying. Like sitting on a bench in your favorite. Most beautiful place and knowing that inevitably your brain is going to pop up with thoughts. There's going to be stuff that comes up. And if you can practice just noticing that the thought has arrived and deciding not to engage with it and like chase it down and interact with it, that can be helpful. So some people picture like a thought, it's like a cloud coming into view. It's like, okay, the cloud is there, but I'm not going to be like, why is the cloud here? This is the worst cloud ever and I'm not supposed to be thinking about clouds. And the way that was first described to me was if the thought coming in was like a balloon. So you can kind of just kind of set yourself up with your own visualization and give yourself that opportunity to recognize that the thought has arrived and deciding to just let it be instead of engaging with it. There's like an analogy that I like to describe for people who maybe are having a hard time like experiencing any kind of benefit or if they aren't sure that it's going to be helpful for them. I describe an analogy that's kind of like a snow globe where if you imagine yourself as if you're in a snow globe and that snow globe is kind of constantly agitated. Constantly shaking. And there's all this stuff around you. Maybe it's messages coming in on your phone and what you're seeing when you're scrolling through social media and emails that are grabbing for your attention and things related to work responsibilities. Finances. Don't forget this person's birthday. Like all kinds of stuff that's just grabbing for your attention. It's swirling around you in the snow globe. And you can imagine a mindfulness practice as just kind of like hitting pause and letting all of that stuff just gently settle. And it's not that that stuff went away, it's still there, you're still responsible and you're going to get to those things, but it gives you some space to help avoid shaking things up again. You have a little bit more opportunity to be intentional with what actions follow next and you're likely to experience more calm, more focus and just being able to choose a direction to go from there instead of feeling kind of disoriented. I love that. I feel like I live in a chronic snow globe state and so that was like a really good example. And you're so right. When you are in that snow globe state, it can be really hard to navigate, like which snowflake you're going to tackle first, which thought you're going to take care of first because there's just so many all around, but you kind of like let it settle. You get to kind of pick and choose more intentionally, which snowflake, if you will, that you want to kind of tackle first. I love that. That hit home for me. That was a good one. Glad you liked that. Yeah, I like the balloon one as well. Imagine that you don't want to pop the balloon and causing disturbances there. Just kind of acknowledge what's going on. I want to hear about your kind of shifting gears now to more of kind of that mindset aspect though because I just want to hear your thoughts on my side, honestly. So kind of the second half of this episode and kind of we can obviously tie in mindfulness to go very hand in hand together, but how does our mindset impact our ability to incorporate some of these health promoting behavior changes? Because I think that's something that oftentimes gets ignored. A lot going on or people don't even under, I guess acknowledge kind of the mindset aspect of it. So I want to hear from you. Yeah, we can kind of think of mindset as our internal conversation, the chatter of how we talk to ourselves. And it's like you said, often overlooked. But it's a habit. It's something that's learned and reflexive. It happens really automatically. And I think of thinking about thinking is something that we're not really trained to do. But when you start noticing your thinking patterns and how they influence the decisions that you make, then you can kind of work your way backwards and say, okay, if my thinking was different in this way, maybe my decision making would have been different in that way. And it gives you a little bit of opportunity to play with without changing anything else about my life. What if I just made a change to that automatic thinking? And would it open up opportunities in terms of decision making? And when we're talking about people finding the way of doing things, that works best for them. Often when we hear about mindset or changing thought patterns, like if you're reading an article that someone else wrote, it often feels really inauthentic. It feels kind of like, okay, I'm glad that works for you, but this doesn't sound like anything that I would think. So I encourage people to play with what I think of as filters for thinking. Where you can kind of ask yourself. When you're noticing your thinking is going unhelpful. If it's kind of trending negative or it's part of patterns that have led you down a path that you're trying to avoid. You can start asking yourself like. Okay. That's the thought that pops up. But is that really true? Just kind of that simple challenge of the thought that popped up automatically at least gives you that pause. So similar to the mindfulness piece, it's kind of layering that into thinking. More specifically, it gives you that pause so you can be more intentional about where your thinking goes and where it takes you from there. Another example of one of those filters would be especially when we catch ourselves thinking well, I can't do that and I can't do this, or this is too expensive, and I heard that I'm supposed to do this, but I can't do that. To shift the focus to what you can do and focusing on where you can take action, even if it's just the tiniest little thing, it's the next step that you can do from the position you're currently in that shifts your focus into being more solutions oriented and untangling the knots for yourself instead of just kind of like stewing in that discomfort of what's not possible. And then a third kind of filter is asking yourself what you would say to a person who you really care about, who like, as if they were coming to you with the same challenges. And that can kind of shift your thinking to be more rational and more compassionate and more solutions oriented, but often, you know, takes people from feeling like, oh, I'm just like lazy, that's why I'm not doing this thing. Or I'm never successful whenever I try to reach a goal that harsh, negative self talk. If we can shift as if we're having that conversation and imagining a person we really care about, who we'd want the best for, the whole conversation changes and we have that power to shift it really simply and easily. I love that you said mindset is a behavior because it's so true. And I think it's something that's glossed over so often. We focus on more of like these external behaviors, like how we eat or exercise or whatever it is. But people don't try to remember. There's a quote, there's a quote somewhere where it's like your thoughts become your words and your words become your actions, but it's much more in depth than that. But it starts in your brain, kind of your lifestyle becomes very reflective off of your thoughts and whatnot. I also really liked all the filters you talked about. Filters is such a good way to put it. I was like thinking I was like methods or something like that. I like how it's like different types of filters. I also really like they were all really good, especially the last one where people are so harsh on themselves. And I think a lot of people would not be as harsh to a loved one or something they cared about and would not talk the same way to the individual as they do to themselves. So you deserve grace. Absolutely. No one is perfect. You don't need to put as much pressure on yourself as the world thinks we need to. Definitely. Yeah. When I've heard friends say things like the kind of self deprecating like, I'm so bad I did this, sometimes my response is like, don't talk about my friend that way, don't talk about yourself that way, don't talk about my friend that way. But kind of shifting that perspective of like, yeah, you are talking about yourself and if you are imagining another person talking to you that way, it would be miserable. You'd feel really awful and it would probably be super stressful and you wouldn't want to talk to that person again. So if you can recognize that in yourself, that you can use that more compassionate, graceful approach with yourself, try it out, see if it has some kind of positive impact. See if it allows you to find that authentic, true to you voice that encourages you and lifts you up to do the things that you want to be doing. Yeah, I really love that and I really appreciate how you're giving so many takeaway practices our listeners can actually go and do. I know I'm going to try these things. Like, I'm loving all this. So I guess like our final question to kind of continue with that, like take away, take home things, what are some other ways, whether it be in terms of mindfulness and mindset or separately from that, different ways that our listeners can improve their wellness without dieting. Yeah, so this kind of actionable piece, I love that this kind of ties everything together because when you're giving yourself time and space to kind of hit pause and get calm and listen to yourself and identify your personal goals, not in terms. Of like what you want three months from now or six months from now, but really thinking long term about the person who you want to be and using that rational, calm, compassionate perspective and setting yourself up to have goals that are aligned with your personal values.
Participant #1:
That's how I support clients ultimately is kind of using this mindfulness piece and mindset to then determine what it is you're working toward and making sure that that's realistic and actionable, but also connected to the person that you want to be. And then kind of another tip there filter to use would be if you're having a hard time coming up with that, imagine yourself fast forward 50 years, 60 years, and imagine you're at a party, there's a bunch of people and someone's introducing you to other people who are there. Imagine what you want that person to say about you. And it's probably not going to be along the lines like, this is Shelby, she's done every diet and she's lost £70 over her life. Like, none of that's going to matter. If you think more about the person who you want to be and the things that you've developed over your lifetime, that's going to guide you, that's going to be your North Star for setting meaningful goals. And then you can work your way backwards to identify what you're doing in your current routine in your everyday life. What are your current habits and where do you have an opportunity to make a small change and experiment with that practice? Get comfortable with that new thing, and once that's comfortable, take it a step further. And it's a skill that you ultimately develop and practice that carries you through and you can't really predict what those future habits are going to be, but you learn to show up in this really calm and neutral and rational and solutions oriented way. It's a shift in decision making that allows for the formation of habits, making sure that you're giving yourself time because it's going to take trial and error, it's going to take practice, it's going to take repetition before a new thing comes more naturally and happens easily, but eventually you'll get there. Like, you can't predict what it's going to look like or how long it's going to take, but it happens and kind of staying flexible with yourself and encouraging yourself in the mindset ways that we talked about and then also getting support if you need it. I think now more than ever, especially over these past couple of years, we're hearing a lot about mental health support, but the work that I do as a health coach is a similar form of support and kind of talking things out and noticing where your challenges are and seeing where you can overcome those barriers. But from a really non biased place, it's not talking to a friend or a family member who's going to carry other stuff into that conversation. So those would be kind of my takeaways from taking it from these ideas and things that you can incorporate into your typical day to the broader impact that it can have and how it can relate to developing healthrelated goals and have health related outcomes. I think one of the reasons why I'm getting so jazzed about this is that you are demonstrating how dieticians and health coaches and any other professions similar to that may do so much more than just like, say, eat this many calories or this many servings of veggies, and that our health is not just those surface level things. It is so much more than that. And oftentimes individuals, I think, kind of steer away from seeing a therapist, a dietitian, any kind of similar professional like that because they just think they're going to get that standard surface level advice and it's so much more than that. Like, that surface level advice might be great for some who need that, but most of us already know those general things and need to really get into the deeper stuff. So I'm just, like so excited that you're sharing all these things and it's like really driving home that there is so much more to health and wellness than just eat less, move more, go to the gym this many times a week. Like, there's so much more to it than that. So thank you for giving us all that perspective on all those different aspects. Yes, the fact that you wanted to have a conversation about it is amazing. I'm so happy that you guys are doing what you're doing and I think accessing people in the places where they are, like on social media or through a workplace health program, that someone's like, oh, my employer offers this for free, like, why not check it out? Or Working with me. It gives people an opportunity to be more empowered in their decision making and to work off of facts instead of fads and sound bites and clickbait honestly, all that. Yeah. Our last question for you. I feel like you've already answered, but this is always a fun little section where we like to kind of leave the remainder of the episode for a final thought section. So this is why we like to joke that if anyone were to listen to any part of this episode, like if you could sum up in one to two sentences everything we've talked about. I know we talked about a lot, but we love to hear from you kind of what your final thoughts are on everything we talked about. I would say set aside time for yourself to be calm. That would be my sentence. That's amazing. I would get that like, tattooed on my body somewhere. That's great. I think everyone needs to hear that. And it's what it comes down to and it sounds so easy and it is simple, but it takes being intentional about it. And there's not only like social media and other distractions. There's just kind of the weight of the world and the human experience these days that makes it really difficult to prioritize that time. So I'm going on and on. I'm saying too much in my final thoughts to elaborate on why I stand by it. Yeah, I think that's important. Okay, well, let's get into our bonus question. I feel like we've had such an amazing conversation. I think it'll be so fun to end on this note. So our bonus question is a place where we kind of like, take the load off and we talk about whatever rate and talk really want to. But today the bonus question is what is the best vegetable and the best fruit? And Katherine, we let our guest go first. So what is your take on this question? Okay, so I have been loving carrots. I think carrots are the best vegetable to me these days, just, like, peeling them, especially shredding them, and it gives me an excuse to pull out my food processor. I love a kitchen power tool, so that's fun. And when I don't feel like washing the food processor, the cheese grater works great. So lots of options there. And then for the best fruit. I've been making this mango based salsa lately, and I love it. And even if I can't find good mangoes in the grocery store, fresh, it works great with frozen, like, chunks of mango. And it's just lime juice the mango, jalapeno, cilantro, red onion, salt, and pepper. And I love it. I love it with a fish taco. I love it with some chips. That sounds so good. I love a good mayo salsa. Oh, my gosh. Okay, what about you guys? Emily, you go first. I'm still thinking. Okay. I think my favorite vegetable is going to be a sweet potato. That's a good one, because there's no form of sweet potato I do not like. It's a very versatile potato or vegetable. Best fruit. I'm stuck on this one because I love fruit. Fruits are my favorite food group. I know if that's like that is a food group. I'm like sitting here thinking. I'm like if you're a scientistian, Emily, I don't really talk about this.
Participant #1:
I'll give you my top three. Fair. Give me my top four. Okay. That's where I draw the line. So my top four are going to be kiwis, strawberries, mangoes, and pineapple. That's all good. Top four. And it depends. I think it's like, I don't know. Strawberries are never bad. I've never had like strawberries are always in anything. They go and they're always good. But I like to be more of my individual self and not choose the cliche fruit. So I think I'm going to go with kiwis. Oh, you narrowed it down. Wow. I'm so proud. Usually I'm the one who has this problem, so I'm very shocked. It's because fruit was brought into it. That's true. That's why I get all stressed out ariana, I gave you 30 seconds to decide. Thank you. It didn't help a whole lot because I still don't know. I'm usually the one who's very indecisive, and I don't like picking favorites because I like everything. But I do think I'm going to go with bell peppers for my vegetable. I just love a good bell pepper. Most veggies, I don't love just eating by themselves, but those like an apple. I just love them that are like red onion because it goes in everything. They're really good. Pickled top two. And then I was going to say watermelon for my fruit. But then you brought up mango. Both of you guys did. And mango is like the clear winner for me. Mango is so good. Even frozen. Like you said, Catherine, even frozen. Mango is just like top tier, for sure. All very different answers, except for mango. Mango unites. Yeah. Cool. So we like to end our kind of giving you, Catherine, the floor to promote whatever you like. How can our listeners find you if they want to hear more from you, work with you, whatever it is you want to promote, this is your time to shine. Okay, well, I have three different options. First of all, email me if you want to because I just love connecting with people and talking about this stuff. So if any of this resonated with you and you want to ask me something, you can email me at catherinehowardwellness@gmail.com and then Catherinehowardwellness.com is my website, and that's where you can find more about services, scheduling, a discovery call. There's also, my blog is there, and I've written a ton about mindfulness and mindset in the context of health behavior change and lots of non diet health behavior change stuff. And then at Instagram, I'm on Katherine Howard Wellness. Type that into whatever internet you're using and you'll find me. Something will pop up. Well, we will link all those down below so you guys can find all of that, but that's a wrap. Catherine, thank you so much for joining us today. This is definitely a one of a kind episode for us. We have not touched on this very much, so this will be such a great episode for our listeners. We appreciate it so, so much. Thank you. I loved being here. I really appreciate the work you guys are doing, and I'll be following along as you guys continue. So great. Well, thank you. Cool. Thank you, everyone for listening to today's episode. We definitely go be sure to go check out all of Catherine's links. We will include everything in the episode description or hacker and all of our social media stuff. So you have to find her either way, whether you like it or not. But we will see you all next week and otherwise. Have a great rest of your day. All right, bye, guys. Thanks for listening. Bye.