Better Food Habits for Busy Business Owners Without More Overwhelm with Kelly Miller (Part 2)

0:00KellyThat's the goal. My goal for any of these people that hear this that listen to, to either one of us.

0:06It's: did you go to bed with gratitude? Do you love your body and the skin that you're in? And can you wake up excited for the next day? I mean, if any of those are out of whack, we need to work on those, and maybe food is the answer for some of 'em.

0:21Maybe SEO is the answer for some of 'em. But we need to work on that first, and that's what's really important, and that's what you're gonna care about when you're at the end of your life.

0:30CrystalWelcome to the simple and smart SEO show podcast!

0:32I'm your host, Crystal Waddell, here to bridge the gap between SEO strategy and real world business success. By bringing you insights, stories, and conversations from the SEO community and beyond.

0:43Grab a coffee. Or your favorite tea. And let's dive into Smarter SEO for your business.

0:48How have you used the client language that you found or your customer comments to name your products?

0:54KellyI named it Our Rooted Kitchen. I changed my bio from, " I'm helping women get back to..." Like, blah, blah, blah,

1:00blah. I just keep it simple. Like, we cook and grow things here, and then people come into my DMs. They're like, "Oh, you're growing a business," or, "Oh, you're growing herbs.

1:09You're actually growing a garden." It's... I keep it really, really simple as far as those types of things. I don't know if I have the right keywords in my bio or in my products right now, but the woman who is out there, or who I wanna attract or repel, like I don't want her to think that this is just an easy button.

1:27It's a relationship with food, and, and I've named a sourdough book Alive In Your Hands, because it's a relationship with your little starter. It's alive.

1:36It's active. Like, you really do have to take care of this thing if you want it to do what it's supposed to do to give you sourdough bread.

1:43I named Our Rooted Kitchen. It could've been the, it could've been your, but I want to instill community, so I used the word our. And fun fact, rooted, I just like 'cause I love the roots. I want them to understand that we grow things here. In kitchen, I just want you to get back into the kitchen a

2:00little bit or get comfortable with a few things so that you don't lack confidence.

2:04' Cause to your point, so many of us have all those noises in our head, and we're like, "Well, I gotta be, I gotta do, I gotta eat, I gotta read labels. Oh, my goodness, it can't be this. It has to be organic." And I watch women just go back to pizzas, cauliflower crust pizzas all the time 'cause that's like, "This is safe and easy."

2:22Like, oh, my gosh, no. There's so many things out there that are just as quick and easy and cost-effective. So that's why I named it the way I did. Because even if it doesn't 100% re- connect to that person, at least it'll repel the wrong person. That's some of the things, the thoughts I put into them

2:38CrystalYeah.

2:38And I'm feeling so convicted right now because I know you and I have talked about food for a long time, and I'm one of those people that just has a terrible relationship with food. My story is that I, gained a lot of weight over the years. I had a child. I lost the weight almost immediately, and then, gained it back slowly over time. I went on a GLP-1 about a year and a

3:00half ago, and I've lost 35 pounds. Retained 98% of the muscle, most of it was fat loss, so I'm really excited about that. But over that time, my food habits have not improved, so it's like most women or most people who probably go on some sort of weight loss drug, if you don't change your habits, it's gonna be hard to come off of that medication and, continue maintaining your weight. For someone like me, I'm sure you've told me many times but tell me again, please, like,

3:29KellySorry

3:29Crystaleven start?

3:30Because when you're busy, you want the easy button, and the easy button for me has been, like, Fair Life protein shakes, they've got a whole bunch of protein in them, and they are chocolate. I like them. I can just grab them and go, another thing that I've done which may be a little bit better, also worse, I don't know buying Chipotle.

3:47I buy a catering bag every week and then, do my portion sizes and meal prep that way.

3:52KellyThat's interesting

3:52CrystalYeah, that's been one of my best improvements so far, 'cause I'm actually eating somewhat real food. But what, where do you start?

3:59Where do you start

4:00when you're busy and you're just trying to get the control back in your life to say, " Ah, I know that I could be doing better, but I don't know how to do better"?

4:08KellyWell, first and foremost, anyone who's listening to this, I have a very old little cat, and Crystal's a beautiful gem of a focused person. She just kept talking right through it. So if you heard my little cat trying to get attention, I swear... And he's a black cat, so if you believe in black cats on or like your emotional support, I swear he came in here and he was listening to you, Crystal, and he's like, "I need to come in here and absorb some, some of these vibes."

4:32You do it step by step, and you honor where you are. So I first wanna honor you that you're trying. I have other women coming into my DMs as I talk more about food expressing, "Yes, I'm on a GLP-1," or some sort of, hunger limiting or peptide concoction. I don't know all of them, but I know that they're used in many different ways, and they're, they're fear when going off.

4:54I have one woman who said, "Yes, I'm very afraid of gaining the weight back because I don't know if I

5:00resolved my relationship with food." And I said, "Well, welcome. I'm happy you're here. Let's just talk through this and what can you do?" So a lot of it, to what we've been talking about this whole time, it's what can you remove that might be getting in your way?

5:13What can we work on and/or heal? And is it a food addiction? Do you need to talk to somebody that really can help you through a food addiction? I have a woman who's addicted to Coke right now that I'm trying to work with, and I'm not skilled at that. I can teach her how to cook, but remove the sugar...

5:32CrystalWe say Coke and we mean

5:33Kellycoca-Cola. Yeah, soda, Coke. Aw, I didn't even think about that. So yeah, and, and another one is addicted to Doritos.

5:40I am not a, a food addiction coach. I'm a here's what it is, here's how good it is for you, get in the kitchen. But I would say it's steps. And working with somebody, having those hard talks, listening, having someone support you, and, and being honest.

5:54Because if you were to send me a message and saying, "Kelly," and you have actually sent me this message, " Kelly, I'm

6:00walking through the grocery store and I have no idea what to fill this cart with. Where do I start and what do I do?" You're like, "There's your, there's a topic for a blog post, girl. Tell me what to do."

6:08And just being real, so then that's what I'm trying to create now for you. A little basic, not the whole book, 'cause the whole book, giving this whole thing to you is not gonna help you. You're not gonna sit down and put this in your lap and just be like, " Oh, this is, this sounds good," if you're not curious about it.

6:27You know, just like if I'm not curious about taking apart an engine, I'm not gonna go do that.

6:31Crystalmy son, he loves to cook, and we've cooked together. But one of the problems I've had with cooking and going to the grocery store is that you spend so much with all the extra stuff. Or, if you're gonna make something, you may not be able to use those ingredients for multiple food things that week. And it was so expensive. And I thought, "I thought eating at home was supposed to be so much less expensive than eating out." So then there's that other issue of convenience because

7:00It's conveniently less expensive to go get these little things that we're used to having prepackaged versus making it from scratch.

7:08So it's like, how do you overcome that?

7:10KellyOh, well, that is learning your flavor palate and starting with mimicking one or two of those flavors, getting those spices, and then using those spices on different whole foods. So I have a tic-tac-toe board. So if you can draw a tic-tac-toe board, you can draw the nine whole foods that we talk about. Leafy veg, vegetables fruit, nuts and seeds, grains, beans are the plant-based, and then you have egg, seafood, and meat at the bottom.

7:36So if you shop the grocery store and you have that mental map in your mind, you can add different types of ingredients and keep it basic. So maybe one week you stock with some rice, maybe in the next week you do pasta or, you know, whatever. And you... But when you start to think about, "Hmm, I like Chipotle, so I like spicy, salty, maybe fatty."

7:58Chipotle has a lot of,

8:00like, sour cream and avocado and let me get those types of flavors, and that's what I start. I start helping people swap their pantry as far as if you wanted to swap out something, like you said, that was packaged. " Oh, we're a Kraft Mac and Cheese family." Okay, well let's, let's swap it with real cheese, and let's teach you a technique so that you can keep doing that at home.

8:21But then figuring out the flavors that you like. Maybe you like more Mexican flavors or more Mediterranean flavors of, of briny olives and lemons. And when you have those staples, they last longer, they can be applied to so many different meals. You can put them on chicken, on shrimp, you can put them on beans, you can put them on greens, and that's what I teach.

8:41There's six little cooking techniques. There's really only three. Can I chop it? Can I cook it on the stove? Can I bake it? So when you pull a, an ingredient off the shelf and it's a, a whole non-processed ingredient, those couple tips you should be able to know what to do with it. So if I took your son and said, "Hey, bud, here's...

8:57What are the flavors that you like?" And that's where we start. That's what I

9:00started with my kid. I had her do this little checklist with her and her best friend. " What do you guys like to make? 'Cause I'm sick of making stuff that you don't want." And then we started with that, and we made it a little bit healthier, made it a little bit at home.

9:10But I don't love cookbooks for that exact reason. I don't love meal plans for that exact reason. ' Cause you go buy everything, and then if you're not uniquely curious, you're not gonna use it again.

9:21CrystalYeah, it falls off pretty quick.

9:23I gotta share one of the best pieces of advice that you ever gave me was like, "Don't start your day with sugar." And so I think about that all the time, and since I've been on the GLP-1, it's been a lot easier, because I just don't crave that as much anymore.

9:36And like I- if I go to the pantry, like my go-to emotional food used to be Oreos. But for the most part, I don't really want Oreos anymore. I actually am craving food that's better for me now. It's just a matter of figuring out what that is.

9:51Kellythe full quote is, "Don't start or end your day with sugar," because it just sets your day on a rollercoaster of glycemic. And I think as busy women in today's

10:00day and age, the best thing that we can learn how to do is control our sugar spikes. And controlling your sugar spikes will control your cravings.

10:07So it's like three parts, and then getting more nutrient-dense food, your palate will start changing. So I mean, I don't know exactly what a GLP-1 does, but from some of the other nutritionists that I've worked with, it is reprogramming the way your body manipulates sugars, to my knowledge.

10:23So then that's why you're not craving those, 'cause it's a little bit shorter microdosing with a GLP-1 than, like, putting yourself through a cleanse or a boot camp or doing it slow. Because it, it takes time to reprogram your palate and your body when you've been on Oreos as your emotional support, or ice cream.

10:41That's why a lot of us like fatty ice cream at night. It's like, "Oh, yeah, give me that cookies and cream ice cream."

10:45CrystalThat was my big hangup before... controlling my cravings. Now it's more of okay, now I need to direct my cravings, and just, and really again, just getting the control

10:56back into my life. Because before I never had it, so I

11:00never thought about it.

11:00I just figured this is the way that I am, you know, I'm gonna binge on some things every once in a while when I get stressed out.

11:07And I'm gonna eat like garbage and pretty much feel like garbage most of the day. And there's really nothing I can do about it. But now I realize, oh, there are some things that I can do about it.

11:16I just think that this is a huge opportunity for other women like myself who are now in a new frame of mind.

11:22I never thought about I want to cook for my family.

11:25Again, my son loves to cook. It's something fun that we do together, and I'm his sous chef. Now I need more ideas on how to do this because, my mom might have taught me some things, 30 years ago, but I don't really remember them. I didn't put them into practice. So just building the muscle and starting is like, "Oh my gosh, how do you start?" So I think that might be the question a lot of women have as they're listening.

11:46KellyYeah, how do you start?

11:47for a lot of us, we're, we're now becoming aware of the fight or flight nervous system deregulation and/or survival mode. Like, they used to be badges of honor we used to wear. Like,

12:00"Oh, I can do it. I'm stuck in survival mode," or, "I'll just, fight through it."

12:03But when our bodies are in these situations, I feel like that's when we grab the sweets, that's when we grab the bingeable foods or, or we look at food as a, as a reward or ... it's kind of a form of self-harm. It's like, "Oh, I had a bad day. What the heck? I'm just gonna eat this whole bag of Goldfish while I watch The Bachelorette."

12:21I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've done that and then felt crappy the day after. But the point is now with some tools that people are told, we can support our nervous system with food.

12:32And with the tools that we have now and, and some of the verbiage around nervous system regulation, what I've been doing is looking at my Maslow's, I have a little chart.

12:42CrystalThe

12:42KellyMaslow's hierarchy of needs.

12:44CrystalYep

12:45KellyAnd when we can connect food, yes, food is our base. If we don't have food, safety, warmth, and rest, we can't do more. And understanding that food is something that we can't live without, food is something that can help

13:00suppress that nervous system deregulation. And if we feed ourselves right, it, or at least better, a little bit better each day, or give our body the nutrients it needs, we don't need the supplements.

13:12We don't need the fake bars or, or protein trendy foods, you know, protein Pop-Tarts. Like, that's not gonna help you when it's got 50 grams of sugar in it. But if you gave yourself, like, a balanced meal, you're gonna feel better. And then in time, it'll reprogram your body and your taste buds. But there's no easy way.

13:30But I'm, I guess what I'm saying is for those who aren't or are on this journey and they want something, sometimes it's just the connect at knowing that this will help your brain. Like, your body's, your body's made to absorb the nutrients, and it, it, it will help you feel better. And then self-trust and the confidence and doing it again and again.

13:50Like, I bet that feels amazing to sit down with your kid after he cooked it, and you're like, "Hey, I even helped." You know? And then it's like, "Oh, I wanna do it again."

13:58CrystalIt does, and part of that's

14:00the dopamine, the good feeling of, having accomplished something.

14:03But it's also... I can relate it back to the evolution of my business journey as a solopreneur. Because in the beginning, I was like, "Oh, I gotta do more. The more that I do, the more successful I'll be."

14:14And it was like, burning the candle at both ends, working a full-time job, getting up before, working after, and I just made myself absolutely sick. And then, fast-forward, I discovered SEO and realized, oh, this is a better, energy efficient way of driving traffic to my website, right? So I was able to reclaim some of my life. But now we're back in this shift of, oh, crap, I gotta do something else because Google is taking away this traffic. But I like the time that I have been able to reclaim in my life.

14:45Never before in my life besides the last couple years, have I thought about the more traditional things, and I think this is something that a lot of people are thinking about. I wish I could grow my own food, I wish I did have time to just

15:00unplug and be with my family and, like you said, cook with my son and enjoy this feast that we created with our hands. Oh my gosh. But those are such different goals and such a different outcome than what I've been chasing for the last 10 years. Because 10 years ago, I wanted to be a girl boss, 10 years ago, I wanted to build my empire.

15:20And have a six-figure, seven-figure, eight-figure monstrosity of success that I could point to and be like, "I made this," and now I just want to show off this, my, my son makes the best pasta. It's the chicken Alfredo. gosh. I feel the same pride in sous cheffing his chicken Alfredo that I would if I had a $10,000 month in my e-commerce store.

15:46KellyI love that

15:46Crystalwhat do you do with that? Because they're not necessarily competing, they are so different, and it's weird, like, when you spent so long trying to build a business and you realize, my gosh, it's these very simple things that are

16:00actually better for me. That bring me equal or more joy.

16:03And it's oh my gosh. I'm like, "Is this a midlife crisis? I don't know."

16:07KellyYou just summarized everything that I said in a story. Because when we hear other's stories and we realize that it's okay, and we realize that, hey, Crystal's doing this with her kid.

16:22And it feels good, and she's okay saying it, and maybe I'm okay admitting it, so I can have an hour-long start to my day with a slow coffee. Or I can do that and, and take just as much pride and enjoy life versus getting that big sale.

16:38And the, the narrative around it is what we all need right now.

16:42And I think that's huge. So yeah, I, I just made a decision that none of my books will be digital anymore, none of my cookbooks. I might do some little gag gifts, you know, $9, here's this PDF on sourdough.

16:55But if you want one of my books, you're gonna pay for it.

16:58And it's probably not gonna

17:00be cheap because it's printed in the States most of the time, and I believe we should have our work here instead of shipped from across the world.

17:07And that costs a little bit of money. And we had a, a stretch of time in our family last year where Ian was out of work for almost five months, and I could not, I could not order my cookbooks from China or India or any- I couldn't. When here's someone who is as talented as he is could not find a job locally, I just couldn't do it. So that was part of my decision, but second was the experience.

17:29I want women to have this big monstrosity or a smaller book, whatever it is, sit down, this is a, a little Pampered Chef book. It's the only thing I have in front of me. But sit down, cook with their son, have a tea with their girlfriend, whether it's virtually or abroad, and have that experience because we're allowed to have 'em, and still be boss women, and still be like, "Wait a minute, I love my freakin' life."

17:53That's the goal. My goal for any of these people that hear this or that, that listen

18:00to, to either one of us, it's did you go to bed with gratitude? Do you love your body and the skin that you're in? And can you wake up excited for the next day? I mean, if any of those are out of whack, we need to work on those, and maybe food is the answer for some of 'em.

18:15Maybe SEO is the answer for some of 'em. But we need to work on that first, and that's what's really important, and that's what you're gonna care about when you're at the end of your life.

18:24CrystalMan, that is so good.

18:28Okay, so if someone is resonating with this right now, I feel like I could go ahead and ask you a whole bunch of other questions about SEO, but I feel like this is more of a moment where if someone hears this they're connecting, they're feeling like, "Wow this might be the piece that I've been missing and I wanna learn more." Like, how can they find you? Where can they connect with you? Give us all the details of how to get in touch with you.

18:46KellyWell, a couple months ago, I almost shut down my very SEO keyworded side of my personality.

18:53Which is Health Coach Kel, K-E-L, one L. And I, but then I Googled myself, Crystal, 'cause I'm

19:00like, "What would Crystal do?

19:00What would Crystal tell me if I wanna shut everything down and go full force in Our Rooted Kitchen?"

19:06Which is just three random words, like I said, to attract or repel my ideal client. And Crystal would say, "Well, you're already everywhere, and you've been doing this for over a decade now as Health Coach Kel. Don't give it up." So that's where you can find me.

19:19Every platform except for LinkedIn, because I didn't think it was professional to be called Health Coach Kel on LinkedIn back in the day, so I removed it.

19:26I don't know if it's available. I don't care. But anywhere you want to find me, I love Instagram. I'm over on YouTube now creating more stories about my cancer journey, my sourdough, my no parchment paper antithesis approach.

19:39And reasons behind my, what, I think we're at 12 million views of my sourdough don't use parchment paper Instagram reels.

19:47It's insane. We're 12 million.

19:49CrystalWow!

19:50KellyKel, healthcoachkel.com, healthcoachkel@gmail, Health Coach Kel everywhere. You can find me.

19:55CrystalYeah.

19:55And so are you still doing the sourdough kit?

19:58KellyYes

19:59Crystalthat's something that Asher

20:00and I are gonna do together. Can you tell people how to get that?

20:02KellyWell, you can go to my website and you can get a starter kit which has my dehydrated starter. It's raised with organic bread flour filtered water, and it's, it's really strong. Women are hydrating it within two to three days, making bread right away. It comes with a step-by-step every question that I had to think about as a beginner little mini booklet called Alive in Your Hands: Your Sourdough Beginner Journey.

20:27It shows pictures. It gives you steps if you wanna weigh it, if you wanna use measuring cups, and pretty much just your little cheerleader inside your back pocket. And then I have some videos on the website of things that I've done wrong, a walkthrough, all at healthcoachkel.

20:41Thank you.

20:41Crystalokay, Kelly, this was so fantastic. I'm grateful for your friendship. I know life has been difficult for both of us in different ways over the last few years. I always come back to your voice in my head, and I'm very grateful for that.

20:54Everything that you shared today, is gonna help so many women, and, can't thank you enough for being on the

21:00show

21:00KellyThanks, Crystal. You know, you coined the term health elf in my pocket... crystal's voice in my ear is like, "You're my little health elf in my pocket, and I can just ask you questions."

21:10And I think we all need someone like that. And yeah, I'm here for it, so if you need me, find me, reach out, and we'll, we'll find ways that work together and connect to what you need right now.

21:19Thank you so much for having me.

21:20CrystalThat's awesome. All right, guys, I'll catch you next time.