Food And Mood Connection

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Feeling happy, feeling motivated, feeling like a rock star, like it helps. It definitely does. And I definitely notice a significant difference in my mood when I eat and stick on the healthy eating.

Welcome And Why It Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:19

Welcome to the Absolute Dogs Text in a Squirrel podcast. I'm Lauren Langman. I'm one of the world's leading dog trainers, and it's my mission to help owners become their dog's top priority. In each episode, you'll discover how to gain trust and communicate with your dog like never before, creating unbreakable bonds that make you the most exciting part of their world. Food

Health Scares And Living Longer

SPEAKER_00 0:39

for life, food for us. Now, we are another part of the dog team, right? Like one of the things I think about, I had a horrible scenario a couple of weeks ago. A really good friend of mine died of a heart, a heart problem very, very suddenly, no warning. I'm not saying that food would have changed things, but I definitely know that when I eat well, I feel better. And I like to think that we're doing the best we can with what we've got. Tell me about your food journey a little, because I know I've been on a similar journey for different reasons, heart reasons for me, I know for you a different reason. But tell me about the food journey and what do you do to hopefully help us be here as long as we can, as well as

Fibroids And Rethinking Surgery

SPEAKER_00 1:17

we can.

SPEAKER_01 1:17

So aging, just like we all do every day. But also, I I found out that I've got a significant fibroid. And the recommendation from the doctors, which is fairly standard, is to have a full hysterectomy. I'm a bit reluctant to go through that significant of a surgery. Because that's like a six, eight week off, isn't it? Yeah, and and probably all said and done, up to six months of being back to 100% normal.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

And that's if you get back to 100% normal, because I know that some people after major surgery are like that never get back to 100% normal because of the operation.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

And I'm such an active person, I'm thinking, do I really need to be off my feet for the for the length of time I wouldn't? So there's ways that I can do uh help my body out through good health. And we've got a good friend, Ruse Roseanne, yeah, who I spoke to and chatted about how I can do things better with my diet. Yeah. So since then What have you changed?

Cutting Back Meat Without Dogma

SPEAKER_01 2:12

I don't eat meat. So that's one of the significant changes, and that's a personal choice. I'm not for or against, but there's a lot of hormones in meat. Yeah. So they're animals. So I've eliminated meat from my diet. It doesn't mean that I never ever eat meat, but I've reduced it massively. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:28

And I would say the same. Like for me, that's really helped me think about it. Like, I don't really eat meat. I don't really eat things like pizza on a day-to-day basis. No, however, if I was out and I really wanted pizza, I would probably still have a pizza and it might have pepperoni on it, but I don't typically eat meat. No, pepperoni is probably one of the worst meats that you could eat as well because it's pretty carcinogenic. But at the same time, we're talking once in six months or once in three months, or when was the last time we went out a month ago, six weeks ago? Yep. It's that scenario, which I think is very different to your day-to-day living and cleaner living. I think ideally in the perfect world, of course, there's a space for we don't do any of this. However, there's also living and the art of living. And if you're going out from you with your friends and there's something you really fancy on that menu that you would never have at home, I think there's a pay a space and a place for being a little human.

SPEAKER_01 3:15

100%. And the big things I've noticed, like when I look at photographs of myself, I've been here in the Devon for 10 years. I look younger. Oh my gosh, do I ever? And I look at pictures of when I first arrived here 10 years ago. Yeah. And I think it looks significantly different in my face, less slimmer in your face. Slim much slimmer in your face. This much puffiness. Puffiness and acne, like my skin.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Yeah. I feel better. Teeth look better. Yep. Eyes look brighter. I feel better. Yeah. Just overall. So I live younger. It's weird. It's like honestly, I swear that Michelle is like some sort of like robotic sort of anti-like you've you've got younger and younger. And so I'm like, she's like on program. Yeah. This is how she's programmed. She's programmed to be younger by 10 years, and now she's programmed to be younger by 12 years. And I'm like, how has this happened as a program? I just believe that's what's happening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

And I'm not AI did it. I'm not, yes, exactly. We've plugged us into AI. No, we have not. This is live. But it I feel so much better. And I do notice now it's not a hard choice not to have meat. It was at first. It absolutely was. But I feel so much better. I actually don't want the pizza with pepperoni anymore. I'll have the pizza with vegetables. Yeah. The pepperoni actually makes me feel feel I don't feel good after I've eaten it. I notice I'm more bloated.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

You just got to get to that place with chocolate and ice cream and donuts and pancakes. I must confess that is hard. I'm not letting her get away with that. She's like, no, I don't. I'm like, yeah, I know, but you do the other.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Yes, I bring to my ice cream's my my Achilles heel.

Grab And Go Staples That Help

SPEAKER_00 4:37

So I think on a day-to-day basis, let's get some practical, sort of like some some ideas and some tips because I think people often like to have something they can do. Yes. So something they can go to or something they can have or something that might work for them. So what are some of your quick, easy day-to-day wins that you think actually it's cleaner living, it's cleaner eating, but also it's not too difficult?

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Boiled eggs from here at Bowerland. I've always got boiled eggs in the fridge. So making sure I've got something really quick and easy to grab. And I know eggs are animals. However, they are jam-packed full of really good nutrients. They're complete with their amino acids. We also watch how they grow here.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Yes. So the chickens for me here, they're so wild and they're so out there and they're so able to just wander. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 5:17

And I contribute to their diet because I get my cuttings from my veg and my fruit that I don't put in broth.

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Everything, don't they? And I fed them this morning. I fed them a loose mango and whatever we were chopping up in here. And they loved me. They looked happy as pigs in mud. They were just so happy. It's sunny. They look really pleased with the weather. Chicken should only ever live in the sun.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Oh, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

So chicken should only ever live in the sun. They should never live in anything else.

SPEAKER_01 5:39

No, and the eggs peel really easily. The yolks are absolutely stunning. They're bright yellow, and I just feel good.

SPEAKER_00 5:45

The brightest yellow, aren't they? They really are the brightest yellow.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

So that's one of my top tips.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Always hard-boiled eggs. Um, you like all of those. Okay, some easy go-tos when you're hungry at home or when you haven't got a lot of time to prep something. Apple. Have an apple, fresh fruit.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Have fresh fruit there, ready to grab and get bananas, apple, um, things that I don't have to do anything with. Yeah. So bananas come with their own packaging. So I can pop. They're ready. They're ready. Peel it off and eat.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

The other thing I love is one thing we've replaced at home, and and I really think it's a good replacement, and I genuinely don't think I ever need to eat the other again, is actually a like a cauliflower rice. Yes. So we actually have our cauliflower rice ready to go in the freezer. We always have bags of cauliflower rice ready to go. So we don't ever think, oh, we haven't got any cauli. Like it's always ready to go. Yes. And we just grab it and go from there, and that really works. It bulks out a meal. Say, for example, I'll ask you if you want to stay over for dinner, or someone if if they want to stay for dinner and we haven't got enough, we just bulk it out with cauliflower rice, sweet potato fries. We've always got some sweet potato fries and we've always got some cauliflower rice ready to go and some eggs. Yeah. Because eggs, cauliflower rice and sweet potato fries. And really, you know, when you're thinking about what makes you happy, one of the things that makes me really happy is bulking out meals and having enough for everybody. Yeah. It makes me really happy. I was thinking about our good friend Emma. When Emma's here um and she says she's staying, then I'm always like, oh, how can we feed Emma as well? So we'll just add in more of those things. So the eggs, the sweet potato fries, and the collie rice always just bulk into a nice meal.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Yeah, and avocado. Again, it's got its own skin. They ripen quite quickly.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

Peel it and I'll eat it with a spoon. Absolutely delicious. And and then making a like fresh guac. Like what's in your guacamole? Oh, favorite guacamole. I love it. Made it in a guacamole. Kat made one the other day. And oh my god, I came home. It was supposed to go with like a taco meal. The tacos were like some sort of plant-based taco. Delicious, absolutely delicious. Anyway, it I didn't get to the taco because basically I got home, it was like 11 o'clock at night. I was hungry. So I loved the guacamole. Yeah, it's great. It was great. Oh, it's so delicious. Well, but it's got a kick to it because he

Flavour, Colour, And Better Cravings

SPEAKER_00 7:45

does it a bit like you, where it's got a little hot sauce in there too. So a bit of a spicy, spicy guac.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Ginger, lime, lots and lots of lime. I put red pepper in mine, so finely diced red pepper, spring onion, or red onion. Ginger write my shopping list as we go. Ginger, grated ginger. Ginger's really good for you. So that's a staple. There throughout the day, I'm always having ginger in something. I don't put it in my omelet, it doesn't quite go. No, it doesn't go in omelet, does it? Not at all. But grating our juice. Yeah, grating our juice. Lemon and ginger in water. I absolutely love heat, hot or cold.

SPEAKER_00 8:17

Um that's the funny thing, actually. Leslie, our good friend Leslie, she's probably lost about three stone, I would guess now. Oh, and she looks amazing. She's looking amazing, she's moving better. Um, and uh lemon and ginger is probably one of her quickest go-to's. So she goes to lemon and ginger a lot. And actually, I gave her a glass the other day and it was cold, and she was like, Oh my goodness, I didn't realise I could drink it cold. And I would like having it hot. Come on, Leslie, it's cold. You don't want to drink a personally, I'm not someone who can drink a hot drink when it's hot. I know that a lot of people who drink coffee can because I think the coffee fix is there. For me, because I'm not a coffee drinker, I'm kind of fortunate that I just don't drink hot drinks when it's hot. It doesn't make any sense to me. Yeah, so for me, I'm like, no, I would drink a cold drink, so I would drink a like a chai um or a matcha, a love matcha. So, so yeah, the cold lemon and ginger. Um, some of my easy go-tos for me would be fruit fruit pots. So it's having a fruit pot, so my fruit pot tends to have in it blueberries, mango, strawberries, whatever fresh fruit you've got around, maybe some apple, I love little oranges. I don't put banana in there because they mush up. I don't put melon in there because they digest at a different rate. So my melon goes all on its own, so I tend to have melon on its own. And I don't really love papaya, there's something slushy about it. I'm not a texture thing for me. I love passion fruit. Passion fruit is my favourite, it's going on my shopping list. Yep. I'm loving to write my shopping list whilst I'm here. Yeah, big fan of kiwi. Huge fan of kiwi. Especially you can get those golden ones as well. So you can get the yellow ones and you can get the green ones. Both of them. I prefer the green, the bit the same. I like both. I like both, but I think the variety of the colour.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Now, talking about colour, like I was also gonna write down rainbow chard because I like rainbow chard. What are we why are we thinking colour?

SPEAKER_01 9:52

So there's different nutrients, different minerals, different vitamins, different amino acids in the different colours. So if you can hit those different colours, the rainbow in your diet, you're gonna help your dot your body hugely. So it's that variety, really getting that variety in. Pomegranate, um, I absolutely love the texture, the crunch. I really like pomegranate. We're adding to Lauren's shopping listing and trying to go for fresh, big green.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Great, wherever you can, fresh.

Frozen Fruit And Fast Smoothies

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah. What about frozen versus fresh? Because I've got space for frozen in my head. And the reason I have it, I'm just gonna say where I am at with it, but at the same time, I'm absolutely happy to counter it because I know very little about shopping and food. Um, I'm good at eating it. For me, the frozen, the good thing about the frozen is it's immediately fresh and frozen, so it's caught at the point of the best point to use it. Yeah, so that for me makes sense. And I use a lot of like this morning, I had a really nice smoothie. It's probably one of the best ones I've had actually. And my smoothie was blueberries, it was pineapple, it was a physician, it was what did I have in it? Figs, I had some dates, I had macca powder, creatine, collagen, probiotics, probio. That was a tiny bit of shream. I don't like shroom really in my smoothie. I I have to be a bit careful how much I put it. I put it in omelet. I struggle on smoothie. One other thing that I added, oh, a couple of cups of ice and a banana. Oh, nice. So, and it was the most delicious thing this morning. Sometimes you just get it better than others. Sometimes it's too fluidy, sometimes it's this tasted creamy, but it had no milk product in it. But it tasted really creamy, it tasted really good. So I suppose what I'm saying is the frozen really helps because it means I haven't got to have all those things fresh.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 11:33

So that kind of it gives me three things. One is it's packed fresh, two is it has huge variety because I can use a lot of different variety, and then three, um, the convenience of having, yeah, I suppose it is again varieties, the convenience of it all there. Properties-wise, though, I don't know. And I suppose I don't know always where it comes from. I'm I'm buying from a company called Packed, or I'll pick it up in the soup. I'm putting it back on my shopping list, frozen fruit. So yeah, it's it's there as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

But things like blueberries, I love on my own. So getting a whole pack of blueberry. Yeah, fresh fruit is uh my my go-to. However, having things in the freezer makes sense. It does make sense. Yeah, and it makes sense. But frozen blueberries specifically, they're picked when they're the frozen ones are picked when they're ripe. Yeah. So that means it's packed full of the antioxidants. The fresh ones that you buy, they're picked before they're ripe and they're ripen in the store.

SPEAKER_00 12:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

So they're frozen at peak ripeness, and you've got all the nutrients in there, it's locked in. So actually, a frozen blueberry is technically better for you than a fresh blueberry, depending on where it's come from. Yeah. Because it depends on the distance it's traveled. Yeah. So it's really interesting. But also from a convenience perspective, if I'm running late, I can grab some fresh fruit from the fridge or freezer, sorry, put it in a blender, put in some coconut milk or coconut water. I always have some powdered something in my cupboard. I know I put you off smoothies when I put this in, but I love blue-green algae. Yeah, all gold wolf. It's spirulina. So I put that in mine. It makes it like I just can't go with the taste yet. I love it. I absolutely love it. I put a bit of honey in, it makes it look bright blue. It looks like a smurf drink. But it's that's my go-to. My I'm running late. I need something quick, big, huge blender cup of it. And it's really refreshing at this time of year. And I'm getting lots of good things out of it. I'll put add some chia seeds because the protein in chia seeds, very good with fiber, and it helps me feel a bit fuller. Yeah. But just having some some good tips, but I've noticed I'm really excited about eating. Like I'm talking to you guys about it. The flavor of my food, I'm noticing more and more the less processed food I have. Yeah. So I appreciate the textures, the flavors, and the experience of eating really good food.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah. Yeah. Which makes for me complete sense that actually it it it improves our overall wellness.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, and some of the go-to's. So my what I realized now, uh, hindsight's 2020, or the reason I would go for processed

Soup Maker Meal Prep For Travel

SPEAKER_01 14:00

was a convenience. Oh, massive. So pasta used to be my go-to. So boil some water, throw the pasta in, take a jar of tomato sauce, chuck it on, and that's it. Easy, there's you do that.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

And it's so filling. And when it's cold, it's such an easy like this feels great. But now I'll go to even when I've been at competitions, you suggested this was like take the soup maker to the show with you, have it ready to go. Yep. The soup maker takes 20 minutes. You can put it in, leave it alone, and off it goes. So it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 14:26

And I'll prep a zip top bag of my mix of things for a soup maker. And my go-to is I'll take cauliflower flat for florets, cashew nuts. I love a cashew, handful of cashew nuts, I'll pop in an onion, a diced onion, a little bit of herbs, depends what I've got. I like thyme and something like that. Herbs, herbs, and dried is as well, good, garlic, and that'll be in a zip top bag in the freezer. Ready to go, put it in. Pop it in the soup maker, add some coconut milk in.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

I think that's what people really struggle with is knowing what to do. Yes. Absolutely. And I was just thinking, you you there's a health retreat.

Health Retreat Invite And What You Do

SPEAKER_00 15:03

What do you want to tell people about that health retreat? Okay, because it's an invite, isn't it? It's an invite. Like if you can be here in person, it will change your life. If you can't be here in person, then come and join us online. Oh, yeah. It will change your life. We've had people from New Zealand, we've had people from Australia, we've had people from America, we've had people from Canada, we've had people from Canada in person, we've had people from America in person, we've had people from Australia uh online, we've had people from France online, we've had people from Switzerland online, we've had people from all over the UK, Scotland, Northern Ireland uh in person. Yep. Like, what are we gonna learn?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

It's we're gonna learn about food and eat together for a whole week, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:40

So it's actually a catered for week. You will come and you will eat with us for a week.

SPEAKER_01 15:44

You will also help. So you'll learn to the different tips and tricks to how to prep. And you won't know this, but we had the lovely folks from Belgium here last week, and I made that strawberry dessert. Oh, lovely. I was on the live last night. So my passion is also cooking for dogs, and I did an AOK 9 live once a week. They were asking and begging in the chat, can I please show them how to make that? Yeah. So next week on the dog live, I promised them I would show them how to make the human version of this strawberry, and I'll have to share with everybody next week.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

It's just delicious. It's just no, I think they're gonna have to come. They're gonna have to come. They're gonna have to come arbitrary, or they're gonna have to come to a life.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

I tell you what, hands down, if I've got strawberries in the fridge.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

Oh, that's such an easy go-to.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

And some coconut milk in my cupboard, that is dessert.

SPEAKER_00 16:32

It is, and it's such a good dessert. You know what I've not done, which we should do, I think. I think this would be really nice, is make it into a smoothie.

SPEAKER_01 16:40

Oh, I was gonna make it into ice cream.

SPEAKER_00 16:41

Yeah, I think it would.

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I think it would definitely smoothie.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

It would smoothie like a drink, like a good, sort of fun, filling, like protein shape.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Definitely.

SPEAKER_00 16:50

Definitely. And you could add some of your like herbs. No, you could have not herbs, we would have herbs with it. Um you could add some of your like probiotics, and you could add some of your creatine and and magnesium and yes, collagen, because none of those taste of anything, and you could actually make that like almost a super, super sort of um pushy drink.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

Yeah, we could. I I was my thought was to make it into the screen sure as well. All I'm thinking is I could travel with it on the road. Yeah, definitely. Definitely one of those easy ones to go with, isn't it? Absolutely, and you could freeze it and then defrost it

Protein Myths And Plant Based Proof

SPEAKER_01 17:20

as your go-to smoothie when you're driving.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Well, I have to say, I have I've changed my health sort of decisions, choices, lifestyle enough to actually change my whole vehicle because I'm on the road so much. Yeah, what I realized is it's not easy to be on the road. Like it's really easy when we take the motorhome. The motor has been really easy, but we're on the motor, we're on the road so long. And for example, when we went to Scotland the other day, it took us 16 hours, just too long. So we have a vehicle now with a with a fridge in it.

SPEAKER_01 17:47

So I'm gonna pull up. I'm I'm thinking of one of the things that has been so uh I must say I haven't been a hundred percent supported always by becoming less meat and really more vegan. And I've had several conversations with people, and people are really concerned, and all in a good way, that I'm not getting enough protein. So that is one of the eating a vegetable diet can mean that you're not actually getting the protein that you should. And I've got a I replaced my scale, and you can see on here my protein measure. I can share it with you guys. I'm gonna share personal information. The orange line is high, is high. So that's having cut meat out of my diet.

SPEAKER_00 18:37

My protein is above average. And I think it's just it's like busting the myth, isn't it? The myth is that the protein isn't enough there. But again, guys, you want to learn it, come on the health retreat. Come on the health retreat. Come on the health. When is the health retreat?

SPEAKER_01 18:50

November 27th.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

So November, that's November 2026, depending on when you listen listen to this one. We're gonna be there. We're gonna be you're gonna be coming in the house, you're gonna be sharing some cooking, you're gonna be sharing some dinner, you'll be chopping beds, you'll be shopping together. Yep. And if you want to do it online, you can do all those things online and then step back and go, I'm not gonna be too crazy here. It's an amazing fun week.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Oh, it'll be really fun week. And we'll also we'll we'll share with you tips on swap-outs as well. So I will eat fish on occasion. I do a take on tuna fish. Like I like a tuna fish sandwich myself. It's one of my favorite lunches. So I've adapted it and made it vegan. We'll show you things like that. How can you make it vegan and not have fish? But if you wanted to have fish with it, you could. If you wanted to do flatbread with it, you could, or you can make it the way that we make it without bread.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

One thing I really like about what we do is I would say we're quite flexible to make it work. Yes. But I've noticed that when we've worked together, we will adapt it to make it work. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

So I don't put nuts in my my food. I'm on a detox at the minute. So absolutely no nuts or seeds, but we give you the option of including that in what you eat.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

Or for example, when Michelle said she was having the cashew nuts in the soup, that might be when she's not on a detox. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 20:05

Yes, absolutely. So we'll we'll walk you through all of that. There's options as well.

Fasting Preferences And Feeling Human

SPEAKER_01 20:10

I know fasting's a big thing in. It's an interesting one.

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Like loads of people love to fast. We've got friends who fast. Um, I personally don't fast, it makes me too frustrated. I I'm not a nice person when I fast. So I want chewing. But I want dinner. I'm I'm okay till about four o'clock, and then four o'clock onwards, I think like the poor people that have to be around me. So I personally don't inflict that on anyone because I think it's not fair to inflict that on anyone else. But I definitely believe, Michelle, that there's a way through it for everybody, whatever their health might be. And we're here to back, help, support. We believe it's really good for you and your dog because you are a better dog trainer when you are that little bit more mobile, that little bit more springing your step, that little bit more, I don't know, fiery, feeling good, feeling happy, feeling motivated, feeling like a rock star. Like it helps. It definitely does.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

And I definitely notice a significant difference in my mood when I eat and stick on the healthy eating. So I'm a much happier person, I'm a much more confident person, a much more optimistic. And it helps me out with my dog training. So the dog can ever when I'm like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

Better family member, better dog trainer, better dog owner, better dog lover, better person all round. So come and join us, Health Retreat. Here's your personal invite online in person. We would really love to see you. And most of all, you're gonna make a massive difference to your own

Bake Offs, Recipes, And Final Push

SPEAKER_00 21:25

if life, if you can't do it, then at least get on some of the AOK9 lives. Absolutely. Come on a bake off for dogs. You're doing bake-off for humans now.

SPEAKER_01 21:32

I am this Saturday. We've got our bake-off for humans, and I'm really enjoying doing those because I'm able to share different recipes that I'm making for myself. So the human bake-off that's coming up Saturday, I've got a new beet salad that I made. So I'm not a fan of beets, but I want, I know they're so good for you. They're really easy to get in the shops. And I was like, I've got to find a way to get my beets into me that I enjoy. So I'm excited to share that recipe, is one of the recipes on the health.

SPEAKER_00 22:00

The strawberry has to be on every one, I think. So I still think you do adaptations, adaptations of the strawberry, like just zip it up a bit. So it might be the ice cream version. There is something about it might be the smoothie version, it might be the dessert version, but everybody loves that dessert. And actually, we had a night the other night, didn't we, where we had a lovely student cook for us. Yes. And it became probably the most popular dessert to the point that no other fruit got eaten that evening. No. Just uh that dessert. Yep. Anyway, guys, you've been amazing. Check out the health retreat, check out the bake-offs, check out most importantly, yourself and make yourself a healthier, longer living person. We'll see you guys real soon.