FUEL the Hustle: Healthy Eating for Ambitious Women ft. C.J. Robinson

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Summary

One of the hardest things for a lot of us entrepreneurial, ambitious women—nutrition. Feeding ourselves in an efficient way that powers us through our busy lives. That’s where CJ Robinson comes in.

CJ shares her journey from a high-stress corporate career to becoming a nutrition coach, specializing in helping stressed millennial women. She discusses the impact of burnout on nutrition and eating habits, emphasizing the importance of addressing nutritional deficiencies and changing eating mindsets, balancing entrepreneurship, stress, and healthy eating, highlighting the need for education and mindset shifts around food. That’s her mission! We talk mindful eating, what it means, the best ways to eat to fuel your hustle, how to transition from pre-prepared meals to meal planning, and the baby steps we can take to create that!

For full show notes, head to⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠coachellyn.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and, of course, follow me on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OR check out my ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for more!

Keywords

nutrition, burnout, stressed millennial women, corporate career, entrepreneurship, eating habits, meal planning, mindset shift, education, stress, health, wellness, mindful eating, scheduling meals, removing distractions, pre-prepared meals, meal planning, healthy eating habits, misconception, nourishing diets, business owners, tracking food intake, gaining nutrients, eliminating foods

Some Takeaways

• The impact of burnout on nutrition and eating habits

• The importance of addressing nutritional deficiencies and changing eating mindsets

• Challenges of balancing entrepreneurship, stress, and healthy eating

• The need for education and mindset shifts around food Scheduling meals and removing distractions while eating can improve digestion and enhance the enjoyment of food.

• Transitioning from pre-prepared meals to meal planning can be a gradual process, and it's essential to focus on knowing what you're eating.

• The misconception that eating healthy is expensive can be addressed by making informed choices and prioritizing nourishing diets.

• Business owners should prioritize nourishing diets as the foundation for their energy and productivity.

• Tracking food intake and focusing on gaining nutrients rather than eliminating foods can lead to a more balanced and sustainable approach to healthy eating.

Sound Bites

"I'm really excited to dive into this with you today."

"I'm just super passionate about it."

"I'm kind of jealous that you even came from a social media related background too."

"Digestion starts with your eyes and sense of smell."

"Transitioning from pre-prepared to knowing what I'm eating."

"Focus less on eliminating and more on gaining nutrients."

Chapters

00:00 Mindset Shift: Transforming Eating Habits

25:36 The Art of Mindful Eating: Scheduling and Removing Distractions

28:04 Transitioning to Healthier Eating Habits: From Pre-Prepared Meals to Meal Planning

34:40 Dispelling the Misconception: Eating Healthy on a Budget

42:45 Nourishing Diets for Business Owners: The Foundation of Energy

47:33 Balanced Approach to Healthy Eating: Tracking Nutrient Intake and Gaining Nutrients

About C.J. Robinson

C.J. is an AfN Cert Level 4 Nutrition Consultant on a mission to energize, nourish, and educate female entrepreneurs with simple, personalized nutritional guidance, strengthening their foundation so their businesses can flourish and they can savor every morsel of life. She has calm and approachable with “big sis” energy. Serene, by-the-sea vibe. Nurturing and empowering. C.J. turns complex nutritional advice and science and make it simple and actionable for you, like a nutrition fairy godmother.

Website | onherplate.com  IG | @onherplate_

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TRANSCRIPT:

Ellyn Schinke (00:01.861)

Hey CJ, welcome to the Burnout Proof Podcast. It's great to have you here today.

CJ (00:06.08)

Hello, thank you for having me. It's so great to be here.

Ellyn Schinke (00:11.237)

Yeah, absolutely. I'm really excited to talk to you because I feel like when you initially sent in what you wanted to talk about, firstly, it resonated tremendously because it's something that I have personally experienced about like not getting enough nutritional needs and not eating enough to be able to fuel my hustle. So I'm really excited to dive into this with you today. But I'm really curious, how did you get to doing the work that you do and how did you get to particularly serving stressed millennial women?

CJ (00:38.734)

Yeah, so my background isn't in nutrition. I'm not somebody who has always been perfectly healthy, far from it actually. So maybe not the traditional route, but I spent almost a decade in startups, tech startups in London, in content and marketing actually, and kind of worked my way up the ladder there. Throughout my 20s, I...

didn't know how to deal with the extreme stress and pressure, imposter syndrome, very masculine energy way of working. And on paper, like I loved my job, but the reality of it just left me feeling constantly anxious, stressed. I was getting ill all the time.

I was just burnt out. I was just burning the candle at both ends constantly. And so to kind of counteract that, I just had a really poor diet. I was drinking gallons of wine a week. I was eating a lot of like chocolate, fast food. And at the time, because I was in my twenties and partying and having a good time on the weekends and things,

I was like, work hard, play hard. Yeah. Like, you know, I was really vibing with that. But looking back now, I'm like, good God, that was not a good choice. But so that was my background. I got made redundant just before the pandemic. And during that time, I was actually starting to get into nutrition a bit more and health. And I worked for Health Startup.

So I was kind of getting into that world and the wellness industry was becoming very interesting to me. And when I, just before I got my redundant, actually, I'd started to train as a nutrition coach, just on the side, it's like a hobby because I was really interested in it. And then, yeah, I got my redundant as part of the pandemic and I just kind of took a bit of a leap.

CJ (02:54.19)

And I trained, I qualified as a nutrition coach. And that was kind of the start of my kind of, you know, journey to starting my own business and coaching. And I actually started out in weight loss. That's what I was specialized in. I still am very passionate about helping women avoid diet culture, avoid the diet trends and, you know, not go down that route. And I've worked with many, many women on

Ellyn Schinke (03:11.173)

Mm -hmm.

CJ (03:23.918)

losing weight in that kind of healthy, sustainable way. But the more recent tangent was, I guess it was kind of any entrepreneur will understand that you go through pivots, right? And you kind of connect with what really is meaningful to you. And I suppose in short, that's what happened to me. At some point, I just really kind of thought, you know what, I'm going to connect with what I have experience in. And that is being chronically burnt out. And as a business owner now, I kind of...

I obviously understand a lot of the roller coaster ride that is being a female entrepreneur. And so there's a lot that we're missing in terms of nutrition when it comes to running a business. So I guess that's a really long winded explanation as to how I got here. It started out, yeah, not nutrition, but it ended up in nutrition. And now I absolutely love it. And...

Ellyn Schinke (04:01.907)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (04:07.397)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (04:19.593)

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

CJ (04:21.838)

I'm just super passionate about it.

Ellyn Schinke (04:26.117)

Yeah, yeah, I always like to ask this question kind of unrelated to the nutrition side of things. But I always like to ask this question for people who've made a pivot because I was one of those people. Like I science is completely unrelated to what I do now. What was it like making that pivot for you if you don't mind my asking?

CJ (04:42.414)

No, not at all. As in the pivot from weight loss to burnout or to nutrition.

Ellyn Schinke (04:49.093)

So more, yeah, to nutrition as a whole, like from your previous corporate career to nutrition, what was that pivot like?

CJ (04:58.926)

I mean, challenging, obviously, because I think it's scary. The first job I got out of uni was a social media intern job for a startup. And bear in mind, this is like, I'm talking 2014. So Twitter was like the main, or ex now, but Twitter back then was the main kind of account Instagram hadn't really kicked off. Yeah, I know, it's Twitter. But...

Ellyn Schinke (05:22.885)

Nobody calls it X, I feel like. It's all Twitter.

CJ (05:28.238)

Yeah, Instagram was like, was not even a thing for especially for businesses really. And it seems so strange to think that that was 10 years ago, but that is just how it was right. So that was kind of my loop in. And so I was just on this treadmill from there. I didn't change jobs. I stayed in the set. Well, I changed jobs, but I stayed in the same industry. I stayed in marketing. I stayed in startups the whole time. I think I job hopped maybe eight times, seven times, like a lot.

because it's just the way of startups. So to go off that treadmill where you've got a really like well -paid job and you've worked, you know, almost a decade towards a certain career path and then you switch, that is challenging to get through. I think it's exciting, but it's also challenging because it's just scary. And I was lucky actually because when I did get made redundant in the pandemic,

Ellyn Schinke (06:22.149)

Yeah.

CJ (06:26.638)

It was my brother who has his own business. He said to me, look, we need someone to write content for us part -time. So, you know, to start coaching and start doing your own thing, like have a bit of security. I also moved in with my in -laws, so I was paying less rent. Like it all kind of fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle to enable me to get that launch pad off. But that's not to say that it wasn't a risky, challenging, scary move, right?

Ellyn Schinke (06:47.653)

Yeah.

CJ (06:55.47)

But it was exciting too, because it's exciting to pursue what you wanna pursue.

Ellyn Schinke (06:56.677)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (07:03.813)

Yeah, I'm kind of jealous that you even came from a social media related background too, because I'm sure that was helpful in starting your business. I feel like that was the biggest thing that I really had to. Fortunately, and I will always say fortunately, I know network marketing gets a really, really bad reputation. I started in network marketing and I'm really grateful for that time because I feel like I never would have considered entrepreneurship if I hadn't done network marketing.

CJ (07:13.006)

I'm sorry.

Ellyn Schinke (07:30.245)

And I feel like network marketing got me very, very comfortable with like social media marketing. So I'm kind of jealous in that sense that you had a social media related background prior to starting this. Yeah, thank you for sharing that with us. I had very similar experience. I feel like it's a balance of being able to look at the nervousness and realize that there is excitement in that nervousness, that it's not all negative. So I appreciate you sharing that with us.

CJ (07:37.55)

Ha ha ha!

CJ (07:53.006)

Yeah.

Yeah, no, of course.

Ellyn Schinke (07:59.685)

One of the things I wanted to kind of go with from here is, so you wanted to work out with people who are chronic, or you wanted to work with, excuse me, people who are chronically burned out. What are some of the things that you saw from a nutritional lens in those women who were chronically burned out? Like, what are some of the things that they were doing that were like, you knew you had to help them nip it in the bud?

CJ (08:21.71)

Yeah, I love this question. The first thing is not eating enough. I think there's a lot of women who, this is very generalist, but again, I'm talking from experience of many of the women that I've worked with, it's either a case of they're eating too much of a poor diet, or they're just not eating enough. But either way, both of those things come to the same conclusion, which is that you're nutrient deficient.

like either you're eating too much of the wrong things. So like high processed foods, loads of sugar, like barely any nutrient dense meals, or you're not eating enough food altogether. So, you know, I actually see a lot of women who, when you look at their meals, like they're not unhealthy. I wouldn't consider them unhealthy, but it's just not enough. So for example, I had a client recently who,

We actually compared her week one food diary to her week six food diary. And in her week one, she was eating a bit of Greek yogurt, a handful of almonds and a pear for breakfast. And on paper, it's like, you know, that's, that's healthy. Like there's good stuff in there, definitely. But when you actually break it down, there's barely any protein. It's not really energy dense. Like it, that's so, that's probably about 350 calories all in.

for breakfast, perhaps even less depending on how much she actually ate. So fast forward to week six and she's now eating like two scrambled eggs, smoked salmon on rye bread, on like two slices of rye bread for breakfast. Like high protein, high fat, nutrients, like there's just a big difference. So I think that's the first thing is not eating enough of the nutrients that they need. And the second...

Ellyn Schinke (09:55.077)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (10:15.205)

Yeah, yeah. This resonates so much with me. I literally just took a health program. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. I literally just did a health coaching program where that was my biggest takeaway was that I wasn't eating enough and I didn't realize, I feel like I'd fallen into the same trap. You know, it's the hustle of entrepreneurship that I never thought I would be this person also. I never, I love food. I'm Italian. Like I never thought I would be the person who forgot to eat and I was,

CJ (10:21.134)

No, no, no, go, go.

CJ (10:25.902)

Mmm.

Yeah.

CJ (10:39.15)

I'm out.

Ha ha!

Ellyn Schinke (10:44.485)

literally forgetting to eat or rushing so much into my workday that it was just grabbing what was accessible and what would just fill my stomach in that moment. But yeah, it was it was literally like maybe a 350 calorie breakfast. And now I think I probably eat a 700 calorie breakfast that has like minimum 30 grams of protein. And that was the biggest thing. That was probably the biggest thing that my coach drilled into me is that you need to eat more.

CJ (11:00.718)

Yeah, love that.

Ellyn Schinke (11:08.805)

you need to eat more consistently and you need to eat more protein. So I appreciate the reiteration of that because I feel like I hear so often that people will be like, no, most people get plenty of protein in their diet. And the more I hear to actually talk to people who have a nutrition background, speaking to women, I'm realizing how false that is. So I appreciate an added voice in that.

CJ (11:29.006)

yeah.

CJ (11:33.358)

I would beat that drum all day long. I think it's, the most common thing I hear is I'm not a breakfast person. And, but then I also ask them things. I look at their food diaries. I also ask them things like how hungry they are throughout the day. How much, you know, they're also saying, I'm like, I can't stop binging in the afternoon. Like between 4 p and 6 p I'm binging so much.

I get the 3pm slump or like post lunch slump and I'm so tired all day. And I'm like, hmm, you're not a breakfast person, huh? But you're getting all of these like habits and behaviors around food. If you were a breakfast person, which I'm going to be honest, everyone is a breakfast person. You wouldn't have these issues. I do think though that with a lot of women,

Most women in particular, whether you want to lose weight or not now, you could well be in a time where, you know, you don't need to, you don't want to lose weight. You're happy the way that you are, right? But I think years have gone by where the diet culture is just so ingrained. Plus the fact of, remember when you used to go to school and all you'd have is like a bowl of cereal, like Frosty's or...

Ellyn Schinke (12:42.917)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (12:51.589)

Yes.

Ellyn Schinke (12:56.261)

Mm -hmm.

CJ (12:58.575)

you know, in the UK, it's like Frosties or Coco Pops, which is like all sugar. And you just had like a small bowl of those and that would be it. Like, again, I'm not blaming parents here. Like that's just the way the nineties were, but it still makes you grow up with that thought of, I don't need a big breakfast. And so those two combined, I think have made women almost scared to eat breakfast and they're not like...

Ellyn Schinke (12:59.205)

Hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (13:04.581)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (13:12.357)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (13:26.085)

I agree.

CJ (13:26.83)

encouraging the appetite first thing in the morning. I mean, let's also mention that if you're chronically stressed, you're most likely going to have cortisol running through your body more than usual, more than you should. Excess cortisol when you wake up, I mean, you should have cortisol when you wake up, that's the natural hormone that you have. But if you have too much of it in your system, it actually suppresses appetite. So when you say I'm not a breakfast person,

Ellyn Schinke (13:52.293)

Yeah.

CJ (13:53.134)

I don't have any appetite. Like it's just a combination of all of those things. So addressing that is really an important thing to do, I think.

Ellyn Schinke (13:59.397)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (14:03.493)

I love it. We're like basically calling bullshit on so many of the things that happened to us all growing up and that happened to, I mean, I remember vividly when I was in college, I dated a guy which it's again that BS of comparing male physiology when it comes to nutrition and diet and whatnot to female. But I remember I dated a guy who A, it really pissed me off that he could lose weight purely by just like not drinking beer for a week. And I'm like, screw you, it is not that easy for me.

CJ (14:17.838)

Yes.

CJ (14:26.03)

I know.

Ellyn Schinke (14:30.565)

And then the second thing is he would just, I'd be like, how do you stay in such good shape? And he's like, well, I only eat when I'm hungry. And now I fast forward to being an entrepreneur. And, you know, even though I'm, I teach this and I teach burnout and I am a burnout coach, there are still situations that I get into where it is a high stress season. And I do have to kind of figure out a new balance and navigate a new season for myself.

did experience that I did experience the high cortisol and the appetite appetite suppression. I didn't know that that's what was going on because the nutrition side of things is the stuff that I don't feel necessarily is like my strong suit, which is why I bring people like you in to speak on it. But like I didn't know that I just knew that I wasn't hungry. And here I was thinking, you know, my entire upbringing had been we'll just don't eat when you're not hungry. And so it just wasn't eating. But then I look at my day and I've maybe eaten 1000 calories over the course of my day. And that is

CJ (15:00.814)

Yeah.

CJ (15:07.826)

I'm sorry.

Ellyn Schinke (15:23.365)

not good. Like, I feel like we're hitting on so many things. I also appreciate that you said we've got to forgive our parents because when I think about it, I feel like my mom was raised in a lot of the like kind of fat phobic women need to be thin stuff that I was experiencing too. So like I remember some of the diets that my mom would go on when I was growing up and I feel like she was in it right there with me. So I can't really judge her for any of the decisions.

CJ (15:39.406)

yes.

Ellyn Schinke (15:53.669)

that she kind of imposed on me because she probably thought she was doing right by me. And I thought she was doing right by me.

CJ (16:00.494)

Yeah, yeah. They had less education than we do now. And I don't mean I was lucky, my mom, if she did diet, she didn't make it known to me. So I was really lucky in that respect. I know a lot like, you know, like you just said, a lot of women, you know, did have those diets kind of pushed on them or at least they grew up with like understanding that their mother was going on these kind of diet, doing these kinds of diets, like the cabbage soup diet and whatever else.

Ellyn Schinke (16:06.149)

Hmm.

CJ (16:30.51)

the special K diet, like good God. You know, all of those like came out. So, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, I think we have more education available to us, but my, I guess my approach to coaching is the education is 50, the education coaching is 50 50 because I just don't think.

Ellyn Schinke (16:34.469)

Special K and Slim Fast were the ones that stick in my brain.

CJ (16:57.294)

I don't know how effective it is. It could be like really being controversial here, but I don't know how effective it is to just slap somebody a meal plan and just say like, you know, this is the portion sizes you need to eat. This is what you need to eat. Go forth, fly the nest, my friend, and you'll be grand. Like it does work on some level because you're being told what to eat, right? But what happens when that meal plan isn't there?

Ellyn Schinke (17:18.765)

Yeah.

CJ (17:26.67)

Like there's still no education for you. You're still going to feel lost and confused and you're still going to fall into the same traps. You might have a bit more awareness of what you were eating versus what you should have been eating, but there's still no real basic knowledge of, okay, this is the food that my body needs. This is how much it needs. And this is why, or this is how I can feel energized. And...

Ellyn Schinke (17:34.149)

Hmm.

CJ (17:53.262)

motivated, focused in my everyday life and happier and avoid burnout. Like unless you have that education, I just, I just don't know how you're going to get there on a permanent basis, you know.

Ellyn Schinke (17:55.461)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (18:02.341)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (18:07.141)

Yeah. Yeah, agreed. 100%. Okay, so we touched on the not eating enough or not eating enough good things. So that nutritional deficiency, what are some of the other things that you noticed in some of the women that you were working with?

CJ (18:23.182)

yeah, I mean, my, my second one was because we touched on it, but my second one was, was definitely avoiding breakfast. I mean, I think, I think the, the other one is, I mean, it's not, yeah, I mean, it is food related, but I think the eating habits play a big part as well, like the mindsets around food. And this kind of goes into, again, like we've diet cultures, weaved its way in there. but again, I, I,

I had a client recently again who said like, this is great. I can eat potatoes now. And I was like, what do you mean? You can always eat potatoes. Potatoes are great. And she was like, no, like I just thought that they were bad. Like they make you gain weight and stuff. And I'm like, no babe, like potatoes are like the best.

Ellyn Schinke (19:02.181)

I'm out.

Yeah.

CJ (19:18.222)

They are the best. They're so nutrient dense and so versatile and easy to eat. And I think a lot of, again, comes into the lack of education here, but there's a lot of people who are fearful of food and have a kind of warped relationship with attitude to the food that they eat. And so...

Ellyn Schinke (19:19.749)

Heheheheh

CJ (19:43.278)

I think they don't understand the true power that it can have over them, both negatively and positively. I think they just think of food as like, just almost like an inconvenient, when you're busy, like food is just an inconvenience that just gets in the way and, you know, I have to eat, but I just don't have the time. Whereas I see food as like a joy in my life. It is an opportunity multiple times a day where I can genuinely like take bites of food.

and feel really good and feel good afterwards. Like I'm really passionate about good tasting food. And that comes from learning how to cook, that comes from meal planning and meal prepping and like sorting your shit out when it comes to food and fueling yourself basically. But again, until you have those eating habits and that willingness to learn about food, I think food will always be this kind of.

inconvenience that gets in the way for them. And yeah, I think that's, that's a bit of an issue as well that the kind of the eating habits, like, so many people eat food at their desks and check their emails and scroll and whatever while they're eating. And, you know, I just don't think that. Sorry. You know, all of that.

Ellyn Schinke (20:56.485)

Stop calling me out.

Ellyn Schinke (21:04.453)

here like, this is so me.

CJ (21:07.63)

you've got your bowl of ramen as we're talking right now next to you. But yeah, it's... Is it?

Ellyn Schinke (21:14.181)

My breakfast bowl is literally sitting right next to me as you say this. Like it's right there. It's right there.

CJ (21:21.326)

That's so funny. That's so funny.

Ellyn Schinke (21:26.085)

what you're saying about like food being an inconvenience. I resonate so much with that because I love food. I love good tasting food. I also feel like I've come to a point where I'm starting to realize that nutritional and good tasting food doesn't need to be labor intensive to make. I'm starting to realize that, but I do still feel like I wish when it was meal time I could hit a pause button in my day.

CJ (21:53.998)

Mmm, yep.

Ellyn Schinke (21:54.533)

that I could just pause, I could eat and enjoy my food, and then I could unpause and then the rest of my day would continue. I think that's part of the reason why so many of us, like we do, I think speaking as one of those people, we do love food, we do enjoy food, but it doesn't seem like there's enough hours in the day, which I think speaks more to how we've structured our day than it does to anything else. I will totally cop to that.

But like, what are some things that you would recommend for that person? Because I bet if I'm resonating so much with this one, I'm sure there's a lot of people listening that are probably resonating with this as well. Like, how do we get out of that? What are some of the things that we can do to stop treating food as this inconvenience in our life?

CJ (22:39.054)

Yeah, it's a good question. I think there's a couple of things I think to help yourself out time wise, obviously, you know, you've got the basics of minimize the time it takes to actually get that food onto your plate. So, you know, meal prep plan, my god, like not enough people plan their food. And it literally takes out so much stress of the food and makes it feel like less of an inconvenience and more of just a

this is here and I am going to eat it. I think the issue with food, if you haven't planned your meal or meals coming up is it takes up more headspace. And so mentally that doesn't sit well with them. They're like, I have so much going on in here. I don't need the hassle of food in here as well. Like my headspace is so limited. Take that away, plan the meals, prep the meals when you can. Or, you know, there's a lot of like, I put things on my Instagram and stuff, but examples of...

how you can give yourself that nourishment within like 15, 20 minutes in a lunchtime. So that's the first thing I would say. It's a bit of an obvious one, but it does make a difference, I think, just to remove that headspace, or sorry, just to free up that headspace. The second thing is, so I guess it's more of a mindset thing, but when I, I mean, the people who haven't worked in corporate,

you know, I don't know if they'll resonate with this, but if you have worked in corporate before, you know, lunch breaks are quite, I don't want to say mandatory, but you usually would take a lunch break, maybe not an hour, but you'd, you know, sit with a mate, you'd talk to talk to your colleagues or you'd go out and you'd get food and you'd bring it back like, or you'd go for a walk, like whatever it is, there's even if it's 20 minutes, half an hour, you'd still have that block of time.

to go and get your lunch or to talk to a colleague, whatever it is. Introduce that back in, because I feel like when we start running our own business and we don't have that kind of block there over lunchtime, I think because now we can work to our own schedules, which obviously is great, and that's why we do what we do to be managers of our own time, but you need to...

Ellyn Schinke (24:43.973)

That's a good idea.

CJ (24:58.286)

introduce that back in. It's like that, I think it was Stylist magazine in the UK that did like a campaign maybe like five years ago and it was reclaim your lunch break. And they were trying to get more women to, you know, utilize the whole hour of their lunch. And I'm not saying you need a whole hour, but even 20 minutes to half an hour is enough for you to get the food on your plate, sit somewhere that's away from your desk and just eat your food and enjoy it.

Ellyn Schinke (25:14.597)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (25:21.701)

Yeah.

CJ (25:27.662)

Then you can go back to it. But in the grand scheme of things, 20 minutes, half an hour is really not a lot of time. I think it can go so, so quickly when you're when you're like in the zone and you look at the time, you're like, my god, like two, three hours has gone by and I've like, I've barely had a sip of water. You know, it can go by quickly. But I would say that's another good thing to do, right? Like put the structure back into your day and be like, right, half an hour, I'm just going to eat my lunch.

Ellyn Schinke (25:36.037)

Yeah.

CJ (25:56.59)

And yeah, lastly, mindset.

Ellyn Schinke (25:57.093)

Yeah, it's literally making me realize that I should just block it into my calendar. Sorry, go ahead.

CJ (26:02.158)

Yeah. Yeah, no, no, I think you should do that. Like, it doesn't take long, but we schedule everything else. So, you know, scheduling your lunch break. And yeah, lastly, mindset, you're not going to do anything unless you're actually willing to do it. So again, maybe this comes with the educational side of things, but if we're looking at screens or working while we're eating, it hinders digestion.

It can even hinder nutrient absorbency as well. So, you know, even though you're eating some of the good stuff, it's not necessarily like your body's not necessarily welcoming, welcoming it in as well as it could do. You know, any form of distraction is going to inhibit that. So especially if you're someone who struggles with IBS or, you know, any, any gastrointestinal problems, I would definitely recommend.

eating away from distractions. But this is also going to help you enjoy the food. I think a lot of the time, when we're eating and we're distracted, you can, like your brain can think, this tastes good, but it doesn't really go beyond that. If it even goes to that. Whereas if you're actually sitting down and you're looking at your food, like your digestive process starts with your eyes and your nose, not actually, it's actually before you put it in your mouth.

So you go through all of this process and this is actually gonna help the digestive process more. Because even the look and the smell, the gastric juices start being created in the stomach, right? So, you know, then you're tasting it and you're like, this is so good. I'm really enjoying this food. This makes you love food more. It's like, this is what I'm saying. Like food is meant to be joyful. It's really, it's a really positive thing in our lives.

if we're lucky enough to have it. And that's the other thing, like enjoy it because you're lucky to have it. Like, you know, I just think that's important to remember. So again, long -winded way of saying that I think it's important to really remove the distractions from when you're eating.

Ellyn Schinke (28:04.229)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (28:08.101)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (28:16.325)

I like the notion that digestion starts with your eyes and like your sense of smell and that it is a like full sensory process. That to me, it's a education piece you were talking about before. Like just thinking about that and knowing that entices me to do that more than somebody just telling me don't eat in front of a screen and don't eat when you're distracted.

I really like that. I also, it's kind of making me think back to the moments where, like, and the things that I've done to start to actually be a better eater. I'm not perfect at this by any stretch of the imagination. It's still a work in progress for me, for sure. But I feel like one of the best things I did when I was in a super busy season, I think one of the best things I did was I did do like pre -prepared meals. Like I would, those were times where I would get meal delivery and get my meals sent to me.

CJ (28:53.166)

I'm sorry.

Ellyn Schinke (29:10.085)

and taking off, it was almost like they did the planning for me. Now that is economically prohibitive for some people. It is expensive to do it that way. That's why I would tend to only do it for a season. Like when I was in a really, really busy season, I would do that. And then what I've actually been doing probably over the course of the last six months is I stopped doing pre -prepared meals, but I started to go to like, we have Trader Joe's in the States and I started to go to Trader Joe's and they have a lot of stuff that is essentially pre -prepared.

CJ (29:21.71)

Hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (29:40.709)

but it allowed me to plan out my meals and buy my meals in a way that it was almost like I was doing the preparation for myself. And then slowly but surely I've been moving more and more to, I don't meal prep quite yet, but I think purely for me, knowing what I'm gonna eat. Like I know that, and I am a very repetitive eater and I don't think that's a bad thing at all. I know some people can't be a repetitive eater, but I have basically have the same thing for breakfast.

CJ (29:41.454)

Yep.

CJ (30:01.326)

Mmm.

Ellyn Schinke (30:10.437)

the same thing for lunch and then my dinners change usually from week to week to week. But like even that I found of just knowing this is what I'm eating takes the burden off of it as well even if I don't pre -prepare. That's kind of the next step in this transition that's been happening since last fall where my eating really, really got off track has been going from pre -prepared to Trader Joe's pre -prepared to starting to prepare things to just knowing what I'm eating.

CJ (30:13.838)

Yeah.

CJ (30:31.694)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (30:38.565)

And I think that's something to think about as well for anybody who's listening to this is I don't feel like it has to be like this sudden switch where all of a sudden, I think that's how a lot of us interpret it is. Okay, now starting next week, I need to start planning and meal prepping all of my meals and that sounds so frigging daunting to so many people. That's kind of how I did it. It's like these little, almost like baby steps.

CJ (30:47.214)

Hmm.

CJ (30:53.742)

Yeah. Yeah.

CJ (30:59.47)

Yes, and that is, I'm glad you said that because that is one of the first bits of advice I give to not even just clients, but anyone who I kind of end up advising or talking to about it. Baby steps. You really don't have to start off with a huge amount of things. Just make a list of maybe a few things that you could do in week one. And I could be, I could like those three things, it could be like, right, I'm gonna prep one meal.

and I'm going to go food shopping on Tuesday and I'm going to eat the same breakfast for three days running. I mean, it could be one of those things, but you know, it depends what your schedule's like and how busy you are. But I think baby steps is a really great plan because like you say, it's daunting. It's definitely daunting if you're not used to it. And I think there's also that element of just acknowledging that...

it's new habits and new ways of eating that you're introducing into your life. And like anything new, you don't need to be good at it straight away. You don't need to be a natural at meal planning and prepping. I've been doing it for years. So to me, it's second nature, but I didn't used to do it. I didn't grow up doing it. I certainly not. So, you know, it just takes a bit of time and practice like with anything, but I think it's super important. Well,

obviously super important for people to do. But I think one of the biggest things that people tend to overlook is how the, I kind of call it the nourish and neglect cycle because it kind of plays into how foundational a nourishing diet is to your business. Like I think it should, I kind of think it should be the foundation layer that you build your business on top of. Because if you think about it,

the food that you eat is the energy that you produce, right? So if you don't have a certain amount of energy or it's not good energy, then how are you expecting yourself to show up in your business in the way that you want to for your clients, for your audience, for yourself, and then, you know, that leaks into for your family, for your partner, for your friends, you know, it leaks into your life. So I think as business owners, we have so much going on.

CJ (33:26.734)

So you've got all of these things like finances, operations, like revenue, like whatever else in stacks, in a kind of pyramid shape, at the bottom of that pyramid needs to be a nourishing diet. And so however you get there, and it's gonna be unique to you, right? Like you just explained how you go through different, I guess, transitions and ways of getting that nourishment in.

Ellyn Schinke (33:54.629)

Mm -hmm.

CJ (33:55.406)

There's no one right way to do that. But as long as the end result eventually gets you to that point where you have that nourishing foundation that is unwavering and that is supporting your energy in your business, that is the end goal. And I guess somebody like me as a coach can help you get there in your own unique way, but it's really down to you to build that.

Ellyn Schinke (34:23.173)

Yeah. OK, I have one final question that I feel like you probably get asked a lot, and I know there's inevitably probably somebody who's thinking this. What do you say to people who think that eating healthy is expensive?

CJ (34:40.994)

I mean, to be fair, it can be, yes. I'm not gonna deny that, especially when, God, what a question. I could go down a rabbit hole, try not to. So when people say like...

Ellyn Schinke (34:58.821)

I need to ask.

CJ (35:00.238)

Yeah, that was totally fair. So, I mean, obviously I can only speak for the UK here. And we have currently a real issue with cost of living and how expensive everything is at the moment. And when people, including myself, preach organic produce is best when you're eating meat, sustainable, grass -fed beef, like all of this kind of stuff.

It is more expensive. I can't deny that it is. And it's again, it kind of restricts certain people. It's not very accessible. And that's why I tell people like, it's kind of like in tears, right? So I had a client actually was asking me all about this to be fair. And I said, look, if your budget allows it, then yes, I would pick organic.

I would go as local and fresh as possible, as seasonal as possible. Like all those ticks, I would do it if your budget allows it because I'll take veg for example. A lot of supermarkets where the veg comes from, they use a kind of pesticide that has glyphosate in it. And that's toxic to the body. It's not regulated or restricted.

But it can hinder things like fertility. It's like, it's pretty serious. And over time, it's just, you know, it's, it's not good. But this is just what is used globally, actually. And however, obviously, veg and produce at the supermarket is going to be cheaper than perhaps a greengrocers or a butchers or a fishmongers, right?

Ellyn Schinke (36:32.933)

Mm -hmm.

CJ (36:50.19)

So again, you go kind of a tier down and you think, well, my budget went to stretch to the top tier, but I'll get things from the supermarket. It's still okay, it's not gonna kill you. And it's better than eating completely processed foods, right? It's still a good thing to do. The bottom tier I would say is, and sadly, this is the reality for a lot of people now, is where you can get...

like a bag of, I don't know, like hash browns for less than a pound where a bag of three courgettes is like 250. So with that scenario, I would say, yes, there are many cheap options that are ultra processed. However, you can also get, there are some ways around it. A bag of peas in certain places is still like about a pound.

Ellyn Schinke (37:39.941)

Yeah.

CJ (37:47.214)

a bag of frozen peas or a bag of sweet potato fries, a bag of wedges, like whatever it is. And I think meat and meat especially is kind of getting quite expensive. But, you know, if you go to your local butchers and you get like a, you kind of say to them, like, I want a cheap stewing joint or like, this is extreme to some people, but liver that you can just chop up and put in a bolognese. Like there's,

Ellyn Schinke (37:49.317)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (38:02.693)

Yeah.

CJ (38:17.07)

There are ways around it, but again, I'm not talking really extreme cases, because that's different. And to be honest, I doubt many female entrepreneurs listening to this would be in that position. I'd be very surprised. But if you earn enough, middle and top tier are more than fine. If you can go to the top tier and your budget allows it, definitely go for it. Definitely go for that.

Ellyn Schinke (38:39.973)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (38:45.125)

I've also seen, and I don't know how effective these are, but I've seen that you can get, because I'll be honest, organic produce is never something that I reach for. I tend to get the not organic produce. But what I have used in the past, and actually I literally, I'll admit, just went on Amazon to see if it's still available on Amazon, the like,

CJ (39:10.446)

Haha.

Ellyn Schinke (39:11.525)

fruit clean or the cleaner sprays. Like there's ones that you can use that are sprays for your fruits and veggies to help at least clean them when you get them home from the store. I don't know how effective those are against like taking off like the pesticides and whatnot, but that's something that when since that is something that I do that I know I'm not necessarily somebody who can get like the top tier organic produce. I will get some I've used those sprays in the past and I don't know how effective they are, but it gives me some peace of mind that at least.

CJ (39:20.206)

Mm -hmm.

Ellyn Schinke (39:41.157)

I'm making a good financial decision when it comes to my food and I'm also making an effort to clean my food when I get home. So that's something I've used. Yeah, no, no.

CJ (39:45.39)

Yeah.

CJ (39:49.55)

It's a balance, I mean we laugh, but it is a balance and it's, you know, it's still, I would always say wash your food regardless, right? You know, especially if it's like food comes wrapped in plastic and things like that, you know, it's not ideal, but at the end of the day, we don't live in an ideal world. So, you know, we can't be too like snobby and picky about certain things. The fact is that you get the nutrients in your body.

Ellyn Schinke (40:00.837)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (40:13.509)

Yeah. Yeah. As a microbiologist, I feel like it's the lesser of two evils to wrap your food in plastic. Yeah. Yeah.

CJ (40:21.87)

Yeah, yeah, so it's really about getting the nutrients in your body. Like that's the kind of the priority. And, you know, while I'm in the camp of, you know, yeah, as I just said, like seasonal, local, like blah, blah, blah, blah. I appreciate not everyone is and can be. And to be fair, I allocate like most of my money is spent on food. But.

I'm a nutrition coach and it's one of my biggest passions. So that's kind of understandable. I know that it's not the same for everyone. So, you know, I'm just going to say get the nutrients in your body. That is what counts.

Ellyn Schinke (40:58.853)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (41:03.269)

Yeah, yeah, I also like that you mentioned the frozen section because I am a big fan of frozen vegetables and frozen fruits. Yeah, I have my fridge, I always fully stocked with frozen veggies and frozen fruits. I'll even put frozen spinach in my smoothies. That's one of my favorite things to add to smoothies actually. Yeah. Awesome, okay, well.

CJ (41:10.222)

yeah.

CJ (41:16.75)

Yes.

CJ (41:20.558)

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. And you know, put frozen berries in your smoothie.

Ellyn Schinke (41:29.093)

Yeah, that's who honestly don't use ice ice is a waste do you use frozen? Vegetables or fruits in your smoothies if you're gonna do yeah Yeah, cuz then it makes your smoothie like a smoothie consistency and it's nutritional and it tastes better than ice does so win -win I feel like I've gotten down my Smoothies down to the point where they are not only like man. I have a smoothies now that are like

CJ (41:33.646)

Yeah, frozen berries!

CJ (41:46.318)

Hot take.

Ellyn Schinke (41:57.829)

pretty damn high calorie considering it's a smoothie, like lots of protein and they have like veggies, some fat, like some some fruit. Like I have, I love my smoothies. That's like, if I don't have time to make like a legit lunch, I throw together the smoothie in the middle of the day and then I might have like an afternoon snack so that I'm still like making sure I'm consuming enough calories. But yeah, if anybody needs a smoothie recipe, I got you covered.

CJ (42:08.814)

Yum.

CJ (42:25.086)

my god, yes.

Ellyn Schinke (42:28.517)

Heheheheh

CJ (42:28.814)

Love that.

Ellyn Schinke (42:32.677)

Awesome. Well, I feel like we're at a good wrapping up point. So is there any other kind of final little nuggets and little details or even just important reminders that you feel like you want to to wrap up with right now?

CJ (42:45.326)

Yeah, I mean, if you're wondering if you're eating enough food, chances are you're not. So just make sure you are eating enough food, like document your breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and just decide whether you're in the camp of I'm just not eating enough, or I'm eating like loads of food, but it's not necessarily the right food. And...

Ellyn Schinke (42:54.213)

there.

CJ (43:13.71)

Just know which one that you are. And just to give like context here, I'm not saying you need to count your calories, but the average sized woman at reproductive age should be roughly on between 2000 and 2400 calories, which is.

a lot. And when you add that up in my fitness pal, just as an example, like that one, you know, one of those tracking apps, and you just add in a bunch of meals to see what that equals, I think your mind will be pretty blown. And you will think, my god, I'm only eating 1500 calories a day. I mean, depends on your size, obviously, like I am like a teeny tiny human. I'm only like I'm talking four foot 11, like I'm tiny. So

Ellyn Schinke (43:53.957)

Yeah.

CJ (44:06.766)

I generally I'm pregnant at the moment. So I definitely need more calories than usual. But usually I don't need that many calories. But I'm tiny, the average size woman, however, yeah, would need over 2000 calories. And especially if you move a lot, you exercise and things like that, which obviously we should all be doing as well to avoid burnout. I'm sure you've spoken about that before. But yeah, so.

I would just, that's what I would do is just, you know, first act is just sit down, write out what you usually eat and just figure out which camp you're in and go from there.

Ellyn Schinke (44:42.981)

Yeah. Yeah, I feel like it was insightful for me to even track my food for just a couple of days, like max like a week and see where I'm at and see what my protein was at and see what my calories were at and see how much fiber I was getting. And then from there, make a, even just like a rough meal plan for, okay, this is what an adequate amount of calories and protein and fiber would look like.

CJ (44:50.286)

Yes.

Ellyn Schinke (45:08.549)

And then my plan moving forward, because I just wrapped this program with my health coach, my plan moving forward is on some sort of intermittent basis, like maybe every month or every couple months, do the same thing, track for a couple days, see where I'm at, am I where I wanna be and if I'm not, adjust.

CJ (45:14.926)

Hmm.

CJ (45:24.174)

Yeah.

CJ (45:28.302)

Yeah, for sure. And just to quickly add on to that as well, because yeah, I think that's a great idea, because we just don't do that. Or most people don't do that. A lot of people tend to think, again, probably from diet culture and previous dieting attempts and things like that, it's always, what should I take away? So it's always like, I need to cut my sugar. I need to cut my fat. I need to cut x, y, z. They don't think about what they need to gain. Like you need to gain protein, you need to gain...

Ellyn Schinke (45:53.029)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (45:57.637)

Yeah!

CJ (45:57.966)

vitamins, antioxidants, minerals, iron, like magnesium, this is the stuff that you need to gain. So while yeah, we need to limit sugar and, and, you know, trans fat and things like that. That's, you know, a good thing to do. But I would say focus less on that and focus more on what you can gain into a diet as well.

Ellyn Schinke (46:21.317)

Absolutely. I will say I haven't been in elimination at all. That's something that I, my health coach and you are very aligned in that sense of I have not focused at all on what to take out. In fact, I've probably eaten more Trader Joe's peanut butter cups in the last three months than I have the last nine months. But like I have been focusing on feeding myself more consistently, eating enough food and getting enough protein and.

CJ (46:26.094)

Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (46:48.165)

It's shockingly difficult to get back up to the 2000 number on a consistent basis, but that's the goal and that's what I'm aiming for. So that's, I think another big reason why it's like not elimination is you're nowhere near the calorie target we probably want you to be at right now. So don't worry about eliminating things. Eat all the things almost in that sense. Yes.

CJ (46:56.846)

Yes.

CJ (47:05.806)

Yeah. Add things on. Yeah, add things on and then you can start eliminating. But yeah, totally. I totally agree with that. Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (47:15.621)

Yes.

Ellyn Schinke (47:19.653)

Love that. Okay, well, if there's anybody who's listening who's like, okay, I love how CJ thinks I wanna learn more from her. I'm gonna put all of your links in the show notes, but where would the best place be for them to get in touch with you?

CJ (47:33.646)

Yeah, so Instagram probably is the best way we spoke about, obviously, before we hit record about the joys and the highs and lows of Instagram. But I think Instagram at the moment is where you can reach me easiest at handle with CJ Nutrition Coach. And I mean, my website is feelgoodfoodclub .co .uk. I'm actually going through over the next two months, this whole

Ellyn Schinke (47:42.981)

Heheheheh

CJ (48:02.19)

rebrand relaunch of services and it's super, super exciting. So more to come on that and I can't, so I can't really give you, well, I would give you details, but I also can't because they're not here yet. So definitely Instagram for the time being. And you can also on that, there's a link to sign up to my like launch list where you'll be the first to know about the new services or tailored to female entrepreneurs on.

Ellyn Schinke (48:20.261)

Beautiful.

CJ (48:30.03)

literally what we've spoken about. So if you, yeah, as you said, if you have been interested in that, then definitely do that.

Ellyn Schinke (48:33.829)

Hahaha.

Ellyn Schinke (48:39.173)

Heck yeah, heck yeah, absolutely. I love it so much and I'm excited for you and your new kind of relaunch rebrand. That's always a fun chapter to navigate in business. So I'm pumped to hear how that goes and to see what your new services are. Yeah, well, awesome. Thank you again so much. I loved having this conversation with you. Yeah, go ahead.

CJ (48:49.55)

So exciting.

Yeah, and I decided to do it in...

CJ (48:58.894)

No, no, I was just going to say, I decided to do it in my third trimester, which is also just a fun thing to do. Why not? My first baby as well. So I'm like, I'm pushing myself to the edge and I'm loving it.

Ellyn Schinke (49:18.085)

This is what cracks me up about women that are high achievers and I literally said this in a podcast I did the other day like we do it to ourselves sometimes and That's why I think it's so important for us to realize and to be consistent with this work as we do we do it Hell yeah, I'm popping out my first baby, but sure let's throw it let's throw business rebrand and relaunch on top of that like That's hilarious Well, if you get overwhelmed, you know who to call I can help

CJ (49:28.302)

Yeah.

CJ (49:37.614)

a rebrand. Why not?

CJ (49:46.99)

Indeed. yes, you're the first person on my speed dial, definitely.

Ellyn Schinke (49:52.805)

Awesome. my gosh, my cheeks hurt right now from grinning. Thank you so much for this. This is a very fun, very fun way to end it too, because I'm absolutely dying over here. And yeah, I just appreciate you sharing everything with us today. So thank you so much.

CJ (50:01.294)

Yeah.

CJ (50:08.142)

Yeah, no, thank you so much for having me. I, yeah, as I say, this is like, these are the hills I die on. So I'm really happy to come on and talk about them. Yeah.

Ellyn Schinke (50:21.029)

Yeah, heck yeah.