Curb Cravings and Raise Healthy Kids | Kelly LeVeque

2 biggest deficiencies women have during pregnancy, and I'll kind of throw a third in there, but, you know, protein is probably the biggest, healthy fats is the next, and then after that it's things that build your blood, just generally speaking, which is green leafies, it's beets. It's part of what you talk about, you know, your, your, you know, the FAB, your number 4 on your list. And so to create a new organ, a new person, and a new— or like build, even building the placenta, it is so much blood, it's so much collagen, and your body's using so many stem cells. And so it's really, as you mentioned, is just create these stem cells. Protein. You have to have protein.

Welcome back to the Ancient Health Podcast, where we educate you on real health solutions that will help transform the way you live, feel, and overcome disease naturally. I'm your host, Courtney Bursage, along with Dr. Josh Axe and Dr. Chris Motley. We're so happy you've joined us. Let's dive into today's episode.

Hey everybody, Dr. Josh Axe here. Welcome to the show. This week on our podcast, we have a holistic nutritionist, Kelly Levesque. She works with a lot of celebrities. She wrote the book Body Love. She's also a mom of 3, and she's somebody I followed for years in terms of learning a lot of her health insights and ways to balance health and family life and just generally being our best selves. And so excited to have her today. Kelly, welcome to the show.

Hey, thanks Josh. I'm so happy to be back and like, it's just really great to see you.

Well, you know, one, one of the things that I know that you and I share in common is this idea of, you know, are there are, there are certain things we have to have in our diet, right? And so, you know, a lot of times I see this happen to where people kind of go really far one way or really one far another. Now I do believe that sometimes there's a time and place for that, right? So we have kind of the vegan diet on one side, and maybe we have carnivore or even Lion diet, something like that, far on the other. And I, I actually do think there's a time and place sometimes for some of those certain seasons in life, certain conditions, if we're talking about personalized nutrition. But I think what you teach really is relevant to the masses of people who are looking to lose weight, burn fat, overcome disease, get healthy. And so I want to ask you about sort of what are those foundational pieces Before I ask you that question, though, that's going to be question number 2. What sort of got you into this field of health and nutrition?

Yeah. Okay. So what got me in was I spent 8 years in cancer and genetics. I actually went to undergrad for business finance and realized when I took Nature of Human Health and Disease my junior year at USC, came home that summer, cried to my dad and said I should have been pre-med.. And he went, that's great, honey, but I've been able to support you through college. So when you graduate, you're on your own. And USC is a, you know, like most colleges, it's a price to pay. And so I said, how can I get into the health field from the business angle, from a business angle? And so I went into cancer and genetics. I spent 8 years in cancer and genetics, really focusing on genetic pathways that grow tumors, focused in women's health, ovarian cancer and breast cancer. I was on the imaging side. It's— it was profoundly eye-opening and also equally scary to know that there were really healthy people coming into these offices with cancer. And also on the flip coin, people that weren't taking care of themselves coming in with cancer. And as you dive into the research, and I was sharing this research with oncologists, you know, an increase in A1C increases your chance of cancer. And so there were things that I said, wait a second, I've always loved health and nutrition. I've always loved being able to distill down this information and make it accessible to my friends and family. There might be a career in this. And there are things that are in our control. Yes, you've heard the saying that your genes are the gun or the bullet and your life choices pull the trigger. I just really wanted to inspire my family and my friends., and I was talking about it at a lot of parties, a lot of hikes with friends. My girlfriend Angela finally said, enough's enough, go back to school. And so I went back to school to become a health coach at first and ultimately went back to school to get all my pre-med sciences and my nutrition courses through UCLA and UC Berkeley and took the clinical nutrition exam, but ultimately wanted to just empower people with things that would make a difference in their outcomes. We know that our food choices implicate our chances of having cancer, of having diabetes, of having heart disease, of having stroke. I mean, we can't just close our eyes, live our life, and then wake up in our 40s, 50s, and 60s with our body failing us. And especially I feel that now as a mom of 3 boys, my husband and I just did full body MRI scans through Ezra. There are other brands that do that, But I like to take— I like— I think knowledge is power, and that gives us the opportunity to make really important decisions for our longevity. And so I'm super passionate about it, and I have been since I was younger. But I think I didn't really see a future for me working in the hospital system as an RD because there are too many contracts with big, large businesses where the tray goes to the room and there is milk and cornbread and waffles and pancakes. The patient has diabetes. Like, I didn't see myself in the position to make real change in that. So ultimately, it was a winding road to get to where I was. But I started my private practice in 2012, and I took it full time in 2015 and wrote my first book in 2016. So it doesn't happen overnight. But I think if you have the passion and you're sharing it with the people that you love, you really can make a difference in people's lives and how healthy they are at a later age. Everyone's like working for retirement and trying to get to be able to enjoy their life. I'm like, why aren't we enjoying our life now? Feeling the best that we can feel now. And also setting ourselves up to be hiking at 75 with our grandkids.

Yeah, yeah. By the way, I love your background, being able to go and learn about, you know, genetics and cancer and hormones and all the things you were able to learn. And you mentioned their A1C levels, and so for everybody, you mentioned that's, you know, it's blood sugar, and it's, it's just such an important part of Well, most conditions, I mean, we know that essentially I would say the majority of conditions are related to either stress and cortisol release causing inflammation or it's food. And then that's also causing blood sugar imbalance. Well, the same thing happens if anybody has worn any device like an Oura Ring or Whoop band or any of those sort of devices. One of the things you'll notice is that when you get, have anxiety, your blood sugar, you know, spikes. I wore a Levels patch. Have you ever seen, you know, I don't know if you, you have any of your patients ever do or clients do glucose monitoring, but you know, it was really interesting to me. It's like, wow, if I was on a, you know, if I got really work, you know, worked up about something or got stressed about anything, how, you know, how stress in a very similar way to eating, you know, eating sugar, how that affects your, your insulin. And so for everybody listening, I mean, really one of the absolute keys to healing your body and to, you know, staving off cancer is to keep your blood sugar levels balanced. And one of the things I know that you do, Kelly, and working— before we started filming, you know, you had talked about working with Halle Berry, you know, you're working with her now and Jennifer Garner and just some, you know, incredible Hollywood talent. You know, what are some of the core principles that you teach them that help them, you know, feel and look 10 to 20 years younger, but also getting them looking really fit, like someone like a Halle Berry or Jennifer Garner for an upcoming film?

Yeah, I'm so glad you asked because this applies to everyone. They specialize in being phenomenal actors and they're interested in health, but they need the basics. And I think, as I said earlier, I love to distill the science down into the basics. And so when it comes to blood sugar balance, I know there are hacks out there and things you can do and supplements you can take, but the reality is our body needs essential things, and those essential things actually support blood sugar balance as well. So those 4 things are protein. So I think amino acids from animal-based proteins to plant-based proteins based on your lifestyle. Fatty acids. Those are your omega-3s, right? That's coming from fish. You can get fatty acids from nuts and seeds as well. Those are plant-based. They're slightly different, but they're still important, right? And then fiber and leafy greens. So when I think about fiber, I think about vegetables and fruits, but primarily vegetables as a source of fiber, but also things like avocado. They serve up an amazing amount of fat and fiber. So you're kind of hitting both buckets. So protein, fat, fiber, and leafy greens or vegetables deep in color. And the vegetables deep in color piece, we're looking for antioxidants, we're looking for polyphenols, we're looking for carotenoids, we're looking for lutein, zeaxanthin, all these things that protect our brain and fight that oxidative stress. And so it's interesting to me that you just brought up stress being something that causes your cortisol to spike and you can see a change in blood sugar on your Levels glucose monitor. I don't think people realize that blood sugar can change when we're not eating too. So the times when that happens is really aggressive working out, saunas, for example, things that really stress our body and our body goes, ooh, is Josh running from a bear? We should give him some sugar, some glucose. So your body dumps all this glucose into your bloodstream, your blood sugar spikes and crashes. And this can happen also for moms trying to get their kids out the door, for people getting ready for a presentation at work, like people overcaffeinating. And so, so many times I'll sit down with clients and they're undereating the essentials. Protein, healthy fats, vegetables, fruits, whatever it is. They're significantly undereating, and we'll get to what they're undereating, but they're stressing their body in a way. And what they don't realize is they probably have a crash in glucose that's increasing anxiety, that is also leaving them full of insulin in a state where their body's probably not burning their own fat for fuel or in a very calm, easygoing state. And they think, oh, this is just who I am, or this is just how I feel. And I go, no, actually, when you're stressing your body, let's say you're taping a scene, or Josh, you're being interviewed for the morning news, or you're presenting to your team, you may feel good going into that fasted. You may feel really sharp, but it's so critically important to come out and fuel with the things that balance blood sugar. So protein has little to no effect on blood sugar. Fat, no effect on blood sugar. When you talk about fiber-rich veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, and even nuts that are kind of that mixed macronutrients of protein, fat, and fiber, we're just seeing a very little blip on our blood sugar monitor. I use Levels. I love Levels. I invested in that technology. I think what I've seen in practice is when I put Levels on a client, what is so amazing is they do the work, they see the data, and it doesn't make them stressed out about food. It actually allows them to learn about their food choices. It gives them freedom to eat a little bit more. And what I love about what I call the Fab Four, that protein, fat, fiber, and greens, is I use it with clients who are getting ready for these big movies. I use it for myself when I look at the plate. Or when I'm making a smoothie. So many times the smoothie is just full of fruit and there's no other macronutrients in that or like critically important pillars of health like that protein, fat, fiber, and greens. And I use it with my kids. So it really is applicable to everyone. And you don't have to know blood sugar science to look at your plate and go, I guess I just have salad and like some— they're trying to be healthy, but they're undereating protein, or they're trying to be healthy and there's no produce on their plate. Like there, it's such an easy checklist to say check, check, check. Oh, I feel really good about my food choices. You can do it at a restaurant.

It's great. Kelly, can I ask you, it was really interesting when I, when I used my Levels blood glucose monitor and I would, it was interesting, like I would notice if I would eat too much fruit, that's when it would spike. And so like, for instance, if I, I, I tend to do coconut milk in a smoothie and I'll do some like bone broth protein or collagen protein, probably usually about, probably close to 50 grams is about what I do there in the morning. And then what I'll do is I'll add in some fruit. And I noticed if I did about 3/4, a half a cup of fruit, about like, you know, something like that, I was good. But if I did like a, even a cup or more than a cup, I would notice on my, I was like, okay, whoa, that's too much. And so it actually allowed me to really dial in about doing 3/4 a cup. That's what my body can tolerate. It was really interesting. And then, you know, certain foods I thought, well, there's no way that this is going to affect my blood sugar, did. Like I thought potatoes would cause my blood sugar to spike, but surprisingly it didn't actually affect me that much versus certain fruits. Like if I had a banana or other things, I saw a much bigger spike. So anyways, it's pretty fascinating too that, you know, certain things, certain foods actually affect people differently. How, how much do you encourage your clients to also listen to their body? Is there any level of also kind of trying to dial in? And by the way, I think what you're doing is, I mean, you're hitting the foundations, right? Protein, healthy fats, fiber, and nutrient-dense, you know, green leafies and things like that. It's just, it's right on. It's what most people need. But how, how much catering do sometimes you need to do, do for people?

Well, I want to touch on the fact that in the beginning of my career and when I first started teaching blood sugar balance, I had some people say, you're demonizing fruit. And I'm like, I'm not demonizing fruit. We just have to be— you can't deny the fact that eating fruit on an empty stomach is going to cause a massive blood sugar spike. Putting too much fruit in your smoothie is going to derail your goals because what happens is we have these artificial senses of hunger that come from a blood sugar crash. So on average, your blood sugar goes up for 90 minutes and comes down for 90 minutes. And in a standard American diet, it can deviate 30, 40, 50 points up and 50 points down. That's milligrams per deciliter. And in the reality of it, I can make a smoothie, and my Fab Four Smoothie recipe actually keeps fruit to a fourth to a half a cup. Fourth, if you're making pineapple, mango, or banana, something tropical and very high in sugar, and a half a cup. And people, I know that people are going to use the half a cup scoop or they're going to eyeball it, but I'm using a half a cup for low glycemic berries. And they're like, you're demonizing fruit. I'm like, no, what I'm actually doing is I'm lowering your curve, your blood sugar curve, so you don't deviate up 30 points or 40 points from your smoothie because it's liquid, it's digested faster. I don't want you crashing and being hungry and needing a morning snack. Neck. I want that smoothie to sustain you, which means you absolutely have to have protein in it. You have to have fat to slow down the digestion of that meal. Fiber also slows down the digestion of that meal so that it's not like drinking orange juice. We're slowing you down. We're elongating that curve. I'm not demonizing fruit. Please don't not put fruit in your smoothie. Add those polyphenols, add those blackberries, those blueberries. These are, these are so protective of our cells. But again, everything is in balance and I think people think balance is staying still. Absolutely not. Your body is creating the state of homeostasis and you can support it. And so a Fab Four smoothie on average is a 9 or a 10 on levels, and we see no more than at the highest a 20-point deviation. But on average, we're like under 10. And I get DMs all the time for people who get on levels and say, oh my gosh, my Fab Four smoothie. I am, you know, I'm not even hungry till 1:00 in the afternoon. That's never happened to me with a smoothie. Or I'm not thinking about lunch. And that's because they're not crashing into lunch. They're actually just satisfied. And then without the crash, they don't feel this immediate hunger. They kind of go, hmm, I'm kind of feeling hungry. And I always say, please back it up. Like, if you're all of a sudden, you realize at 1 or 2:00, oh my gosh, I'm so hungry, please back it up and make sure you're making your lunch or ordering your lunch at like 12:00 or 12:30, because I don't want people at a state where they're so hungry that they overeat. But I also— it's amazing what can happen when we really understand the science. And so you also said you put 40 grams of protein in your smoothie, sometimes closer to 50. Protein has been demonized in the last decade, maybe more, especially when we're talking about global warming or we're talking about health and TikTok, Instagram, if they're getting small sound bites of information and they really don't understand your neurotransmitters, your hormones, your epithelial lining of your gut, your skin, your muscles, your hair, like everything is made of amino acids, of proteins. I am breastfeeding. I breastfeed my boys. I'm lucky to do this, I realize, because I have my own business. But 18 months to 2 years, I am giving all of that protein, all of those essential amino acids, all of those nutrients away to them. Like, I need to be having 1 to 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body mass. And that is, like, shocking to people. And when I sit down with clients, I'm like, 100 grams a day. And if you can prioritize breakfast, what we see is a decrease of cravings at late night. That afternoon slump that you have, it doesn't happen. The cravings you have for chips, crackers, salt, all those things totally, totally lessen. And so you think about all these things like Ozempic, like, why is it working? It's working because people don't crave food anymore. Guess what? Protein does that too.

Yeah, it's so good. One of the things that I discovered working with patients in the past who were, who were pregnant or even, you know, these conversations with my own wife is that two biggest deficiencies women have during pregnancy, and I'll kind of throw a third in there, but you know, protein is probably the biggest, healthy fats is the next. And then after that it's things that build your blood, just generally speaking, which is green leafies, it's beets, it's part of what you talk about, you know, your, your, you know, the, the FAB, your number 4 on your list. And so, you know, to create a new organ, a new person, and a new— or even building the placenta. It is so much blood, it's so much collagen, and your body's using so many stem cells. And so it's really, as you mentioned, is create these stem cells, protein. You have to have protein. And so it's big.

It's also really counterintuitive for women. I think we feel like, ooh, if I'm eating all this protein or if I'm adding amino acids or even like creatine has become popular, for example. Again, it's like cyclical, I think. Yes. They're like, well, I'm doing HIIT training. I don't want to get bulky. And I will tell you time and time and time and time and time again, when I get someone having— and these are women, me included— I'm having my smoothie, and I told you before the show, I'm having 3 ounces of ground beef on the side of that smoothie to really just up my nutrient density to get that protein in. I don't think about snacking. I don't think about food in between. And the weight falls off. Like, it is amazing to see. And it's not— it's what's left is a very strong physical body. And the women that I work with are like, I have never been this strong. And I think I was undereating protein. It's like every single time.

And it's so— hey, Kelly, you, you mentioned this earlier, and I didn't want to— I, I didn't want people to miss this because you had symptoms yourself when you weren't getting enough protein, right? I think you mentioned your hair and a few other things.

Yeah, I mean, I will say, so this is my, um, I just had Julian, my third son, 4 months ago, and After Sebastian, my first, I felt good. Like, my blood sugar was balanced. I felt I was back to myself and energetic. But then I got pregnant with Toshen. I got pregnant with Toshen. And he's— so Sebastian's 4 and a half. Toshen is 2 and a half. So this is 5 babies, or 3 babies in 5 years. Not 5 babies. That would be a lot. But 3 babies in less than 5 years. And after Toshen, I had postnatal depletion. My hair was falling out, my skin was dry. Dry. My nails were cracking and peeling off. I did not look— really, it was very clear I had anemia. My ferritin levels were in the tank. And when you think about that, and you mentioned all these things that you need when you're pregnant, all the blood building things, all of the collagen, this is not a joke. Not just thinking about me. I had major postnatal depletion. It was showing up on the outside of my body. I was feeling tired. I had brain fog, doing my job was hard. And I nursed Toshin for nearly 2 years, and I know I wasn't taking it seriously. When you are a mom and you are pregnant and you are breastfeeding, I was focused on blood sugar balance, but I wasn't focused on the quantity of protein and food I needed to eat. I was balancing my blood sugar every meal, eating whole foods, but I wasn't taking it seriously when it came to really taking a look at my day and saying, well, how much am I getting in because I had to have iron infusions when I was pregnant with Julian to get my— and I eat red meat twice a week. I eat Force of Nature ancestral organ blend at least once a week.

I love it. My favorite.

So good. I think this has been shocking to my community that I take eating red meat seriously. I take eating organ meat seriously, and I still had such depletion. And so I built it back up. But let's talk about iron and iron deficiency in pregnancy and iron deficiency in young children. It is irreversible cognitive decline. I am I can't stress this enough. It's a nutrient of concern with the NIH. And so when you think about being pregnant and you think about those critical nutrients, iron, vitamin D, zinc, these nutrients come from animal proteins. And we can't— I mean, I can't stress it enough. I was taking it so seriously and my numbers were in the tank because stress because my body needs more nutrients when I'm stressed, when I'm the breadwinner for my family, when I have two young toddlers, when we're buying our first family home. When you think of what we're all kind of dealing with when we're going through the pandemic, it's like, wow, my body took a major hit and I don't want to not take it seriously for Julian. That's his future.. He, he requires these nutrients to, for neuroplasticity, for connecting neurons, for his IQ is, is implicated based on my iron and ferritin levels, which is crazy.

It is crazy. And then just, just for everybody listening and some of the stuff that Kelly said here, and just to break this down, just super practical for everyone to take away. You know, she had mentioned, by the way, I'm a, force is a nature. It's a, it's a,. It's a brand you can buy ground bison and beef where they add in some liver and heart and you actually don't even really taste it. And so they've done such a good job with their blend of, it's 100% grass-fed. They add a small amount of organ meats in, but Force of Nature, I think they're fantastic. We just started using them recently and love 'em. The other thing Kelly mentioned here is organ meats. And listen, now you can eat liver and I, and sometimes I'll do chicken liver and onions and garlic and cooked up in coconut oil and and it actually over time, like I think you'll actually start to like it. You can use some ketchup with it. Just giving somebody, people some practical stuff here. So anyways, I think that that's something you could do. But if you're like, I am not gonna eat organ meats, then you can take capsules. You know, there's a lot of great brands out there. I know we got 'em at Ancient Nutrition, but there's also, there's a lot of companies you can get 'em on online. You know, look, look for ones that are raised in Iceland or New Zealand or just somewhere clean. Okay. That, that, that you can get those. And then also she mentioned building blood, green leafy vegetables, beets, lots of red meat and organ meats. And then maybe, you know, you also want to take— there's an herb in Chinese medicine, dang quai, that's typically good. You can take some iron, easily digestible iron supplements. But I'm just saying this because like my wife noticed a really big difference when she's building her blood around pregnancy. And I really think if we've got, you know, women postpartum who also have even like just that fatigue and that just sense of like, I just don't have it in me. And, um, and sometimes depression. Now, now there's obviously some things hormonally going on, but I think postpartum depression, I think definitely something that can exacerbate that is when your blood is deficient. I mean, it's really, it just starts to show up everywhere. So anyways, I just wanted to add on to what you were already saying because I just think it is just I'm glad you brought it up because it's just so important.

It is. And you bring up the postpartum period and we're talking about that. And I mean, I'm in it. I know how easy it is to run around and help all the boys and get ready for my workday and jump into that and grab a coffee. And then all of a sudden I turn around and I haven't eaten, but I've caffeinated. And that's kind of a recipe for major anxiety. I would say that I am not an expert in mood disorders or those types of things. I feel like my husband jokes that I've been pretty even keeled. He's like, you're just like a big ship and you just cruise along. But I even will say, like, 3 babies and worrying about them. And if there's a day where I undereat and overcaffeinate, I know what I'm doing to myself. And I even feel anxious. I'm like, why am I thinking that? Taking a real inventory of what your sleep looked like. And it's hard to control that in the postpartum phase. Like, I'm in the first 4 months. I was up feeding the baby in the middle of the night last night. It's not like I wasn't. And just taking an inventory of what are the controllables for you and starting your day with protein is so controllable. And I think intermittent fasting becomes really popular, but this is not the phase of life to do it. Yeah. So get up. And if you work out in the morning, I would say if you work out in the morning in the first hour or so, then you don't have to eat before if you don't want to. But I'm pushing my clients to eat within 90 minutes of either their workout or waking up if they're a woman, especially in a stressful period like any type of pregnancy, postpartum, work stress, or if they just kind of lean a little bit more that way because we don't want the food choices to also be adding to the stress that your body feels. You want your body to feel safe so that it can be its best self.

Yeah, that's so good. As we're talking about food, obviously this is the foundational part, and supplements are for supplementing the already really healthy diet. What are some of the supplements that you personally take? Walk me through your daily regimen.

Yeah, so every morning I take a multivitamin, which I'm taking a prenatal by WeNatal. I am an advisor for them, so I helped them formulate that. Really proud of it. Methylated vitamins, everything that you need. I think one of the biggest things to look for if you're taking a multi or if you're taking a prenatal specifically, sometimes even the prescription ones are not methylated at this point in time. And you're like, yeah, what are we doing here? If folate and B6 and B12 are so critically important to neural tube and development for your baby, let's make sure that those are actually being absorbed. Absorbed. So a methylated vitamin, methylated B multi. I take an omega-3, so I'm using an anchovy version of that. I think if you're a vegetarian, definitely I recommend an algae oil versus a seed, right? Because that needs to be converted to long-chain omega-3. So make sure that you're sourcing that right. I take a probiotic every morning, and then And in my multivitamin, it also has antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin, so I'm not adding anything there. And then at night, I take magnesium, and I'm pretty simple. I think people are surprised. Oh, sorry. And a vitamin D on top of that. So in the morning or at night, it kind of just depends. But I don't think people realize if they're taking vitamin D, they need to be taking magnesium for that to be available and bioavailable in their body. Those are really great symbiotics, if you will. Like, they work well together. So, yeah, so multi omega-3, vitamin D, probiotic, and then at night, magnesium. If I feel like maybe my digestion is a little bit off, I might add another probiotic at night. But other than that, it's really like whole food based. I love keeping sauerkraut and fermented veggies in my fridge as added probiotics. If I'm feeling snacky, I'll go in the fridge and just take a spoonful or a forkful of that. Cleanse the palate, crunch, and I'm good.

Which is also good for sugar cravings, right?

Mm-hmm.

Definitely. Yeah, that's good. Yeah. You know, I, I wanted to mention that one of the things that's so interesting that I know that I've continued to, you and I both I'm sure continue to learn as we've read research over the years is how, you know, the, the importance of the absorption of certain, certain nutrients are based on other nutrients. And, you know, we've all, you know, we've probably read the research on, okay, vitamin D and how it relates to vitamin K, or vitamin D and how it relates to magnesium, right, in terms of absorption, or calcium and magnesium. And but even also then you've got boron and, and, and strontium and then phosphorus, all these different things that are responsible for each other. But one, one of the points I want to make for everybody listening is, is that this is why a healthy diet is even more important. Because, uh, as Kelly said, let's say you're taking a vitamin D supplement, you know, one of the benefits if you just ate a big thing of steamed spinach, uh, and grass-fed beef where you're getting a good amount of maybe magnesium and some of what you just had, it's going to help you better— and you have some healthy fats there, which is also really important— but it's going to help you better absorb the vitamin D supplement you just took. And So if you can take it with very, very nutrient-dense foods as Kelly's been talking about, it's actually going to help you absorb your supplement better. And the most important supplement for vitamin and nutrient absorption of all the rest of your supplements is probiotics, which Kelly mentioned she takes once, sometimes twice a day. So anyways, I think that those are just fantastic recommendations. You know, I, one of the things is I followed your channel over the years on Instagram, which by the way, if you're not following Kelly on, on Instagram, you should. She's got a great channel and she's always posting some family-friendly photos and recipes. But talk to me, what are some recipes that you're just loving right now for you and the whole family?

Yeah, well, I always go back to the Fab Four, so we can talk about the recipes and I'll just break down where we're getting those veggies. So my kids really love curry. So one of the things too, I think that's important to know. So I have some courses around blood sugar balance for kids. I have the Fab Four Pregnancy, which is for when you're pregnant. Fab Four Under Four is for kids. And so that's about understanding how kids learn to eat healthy and what the research tells us and then how to balance their blood sugar. So important thing, because I didn't tell you that my kids eat curry, is that there's something called the flavor window, which is in the first 18 months of life. And the more that you can introduce a variety of flavors and foods to your children in the first 18 months, that's, you know, on average they're eating around, you know, 4 to 6 months. So you introduce that, the real food. Then that variety really matters in that next year because you can introduce foods less and they're accepted, versus when we move into 18 months and older, when you try to introduce more variety, more flavor, different types of vegetables, actually the number of introductions before they accept it doubles. So let's say you want to introduce curry and you introduce in that first 18 months, they may accept it after the first couple of tries. Whereas when we're talking about toddlerhood and independence, it may be— the research says sometimes upwards of 20 to 30 introductions before they're accepting that food. And so really getting that variety in is important. I knew that research feeding my kids, and I knew that bringing them into the process also improved that. So I have kitchen towers, kitchen towers, which are like little stools in the kitchen that are safe for kids to be a part of it. Kitchen knives, kids-like size utensils, all the things. And I even wrote a blog post on how to get your kids involved, like even ripping cilantro off of stems. So my kids have been involved for a long time. So I don't want people to listen and be like, my kids would never eat curry, or they'd never eat chili, or the foods are touching, or they're mixed together. I realized how much work this was, and it changed. You have to change your mind shift. You have to be okay with your kids making a little bit of a mess in your kitchen. They're going to shake the seasonings on the veggies to be roasted, and there's going to be seasonings on the counter and on the floor. And so there are lots of options to get them involved like that I share online. But the recipes that we love is we curry. So sometimes I'll make my own curry, but Mike's Organics curry, if you've ever had it, is absolutely delicious. They have it on Thrive, and I'll take a protein, I'll simmer the protein in Mike's Organic curry, I'll roast some veggies, I'll put them together, and I'll mix it with my 50/50 rice, which is half cauliflower rice, half white rice, because I'm not keeping my kids on a low carbohydrate diet. Like, I really focus on that. But I do make sure that I'm adding— that they're having those starchy carbohydrates with protein, fat, fiber, and greens because we know through the research that when we add those things together, the digestion slows, the blood sugar curve elongates, and it's not a spike and crash for them either. Because when you think about kids, how many times have we taken a kid to a birthday party? They have the dessert, 90 minutes later you're dealing with a flailing tantrum. Like, this is— this this is absolutely a part of the process. And so there are strategies I have going into birthday parties. My kids eat before they go. And it's not even if I don't have time to get them, like, a full meal, I'm like, here's a pack of lupini beans, here's a Chomps beef stick, here's some olives. They're eating them in the car or between soccer and the birthday party or whatever it is, because one, it's like, if they want to just go and play at the park for the birthday party or swim in the pool for the birthday party, I'm not worried about pulling my kid out of the pool to eat the pizza. And if they end up having the dessert or whatever, I'm also, how are we rolling into protein next to balance their blood sugar? So, yeah, we love curry, we love chili, we love tacos. I mean, I'm Southern California, so So Sebastian knows how to make our guac, which is so cool. He's using the garlic press, he's squeezing the lime into the bowl. But my favorite place to play and teach with my kids and where they seem pretty calm actually, is when they join me in my space. I think we segregate so much of our education with kids where we're like, now we're sending you to Kumon to learn math, or we're going to this piano teacher, or let's do some flashcards or practice your name. And I am I'm like, all right, guys, who wants to be my sous chef? And I mean, the other day we were in the cul-de-sac riding our bikes, and they were like, Mom, we want to be your sous chef. What are we making? And I'm like, that was one of those moments where I'm like, I'm not going to forget that. Like, they're having so much fun on their bikes, but they actually just said they wanted to be my sous chef. And we came in the kitchen. They each have their little towers. I have two. They have their cutting boards. My little guy isn't big enough yet, but Everybody's involved. And then what happens is they're trying— my youngest, or my middle guy, Toshin, Bash was really accepting of all the food. And when I look back at Toshin, I was really busy. It was like 2 kids, business, house, all the things. I wasn't as calm in the kitchen with Toshin as I was with Sebastian in maybe that period, that really important period. He's definitely a pickier eater than his brother. But I see him now seasoning the veggies and he's eating raw broccoli covered in extra virgin olive oil and seasonings. And I'm like, trying not to bring attention to it. I'm just kind of like peeking at him while he's doing it. Yeah, don't give up on your kids. Just don't label them as picky. Introduce, introduce, introduce, and then look for where's the protein, where's the fat, where's the fiber and greens, which are those veggies or the produce deep in color. And if you have that on your plate and you're adding potatoes or rice or something that is a starch, their blood sugar is going to be balanced and be okay because they're really active and you're getting them the basics that support the slowing down of that digestion.

Yeah, it's so good. We, we see the same thing with our 3-year-old. From 1, from 1 years old to 2 years old, we really tried to introduce so many things into her diet. And we see it now. I mean, it's like we, we sent her to preschool here and we put all kinds of things in her thing. We had, I think we had turkey and a bunch of, some fruit and some veggies and stuff. And just as like the thing that she eats most of, like we just put a bunch of zucchini in there and she just ate a whole, like a literally a whole zucchini. And so it's just, you know, over time and And there are certain things where we're like, you know, she's like picking out, she was picking out, we had this, Chelsea made this stir fry with water chestnuts and she like sat there and picked out every water chestnut. But then by the end she just stopped and was eating the water, you know? So eventually sometimes you don't know, but what you're saying is, I mean, sometimes it'll just click. So you just, you have to be persistent. You have to stick with it. I have these childhood memories of my sister growing up and my dad and my sister would standoffs because my sister would not eat peas.

Peas.

Yeah. And my dad's like an old military guy and they would just, I remember my sister falling asleep at the table because, you know, he would just be like, you're not getting up from that seat until you finish your peas or whatever vegetable it was for the evening. And my sister just, you know, sometimes she would give in, but sometimes she just, she'd just fall asleep at the table.

So we, we grew up in Clean Plate Club, so you had to clean your plate. Oh, Times have changed now, and you want your children to be able to have opinions and things. But if you're trying to really get the acceptance to food, the research does say give them as much independence, autonomy, and leadership in that space as you can. I mean, with Toshin, on the days where he's not at preschool and bashes, and I know I'm going to the Ecology Center, which is like our little everyday farmer's market or going to the grocery store, he's in the cart with me. And I know, again, it's a little bit more work, but I'm like, bud, what veggie do you want to pick? You get to pick any one of those green ones. Pick your favorite green one. And then it's like, okay, he's going to chop it. He's going to help me season it. The more involved he is along the whole process, the more acceptance that happens.

Yeah. So again, one of the things I love that you were doing here and you were sharing this is that there's a study that came out recently on this. Basically, they found that, you know, in terms of kids being successful later on in life, one of the greatest things you can have them do is from the age of 2 to 5 years old, help and do chores. You know, they're helping in the kitchen, they're helping unload the dishwasher, they have their chores they're doing on a regular basis, and it actually helps eliminate and, or at least greatly reduce entitlement and boost work ethic. And so anyways, I was just noticing a lot of that as you were kind of doing that, and so that's a very and you know, it's a great thing not only for their physical health but also for their mental health and success later on in life. So, so good. Last couple questions for you. Hey, what, what is one of the pieces of nutritional advice or something you've learned in the past 5 years that has sort of just really, really changed or improved your life in some way?

You know what, I, I would say I like to really keep it pretty simple when it comes to— there was a study on homemade food versus eating food out, and what it basically said was you're across the board increasing nutrient intake, decreasing chemical exposure, and creating an environment in which you're calming down to eat slowly. And it's like all of these benefits came from making homemade meals. And it is with a busy family with 3 kids, it is enticing to be like, well, let's DoorDash, or let's go pick up, or let's go to that restaurant. And it's funny because I am not the kind of person that says I never eat at a restaurant, or we're not going to meet friends, or we're not grabbing food and going to the beach. That's not my reality. We're purveyors of the restaurants. We support local restaurants around town here by the beach. But one of the things I really focus on every single week is the number of meals I'm making homemade. And that's something I stress with my clients because you really know what goes into making the meal and you really are getting the benefits of it every single day. And so that would be something that I would just really encourage people to do. And that again comes to being a product of not living— I used to live in the mecca of Los Angeles where I had air wands and juice bars and organic this, organic that. And I moved to the suburbs with my family, and the access to those type of restaurants is no longer at my fingertips. And really leaning into that time in the kitchen with my family, that time at the farmer's market with my family, it's a stage in my life, but it naturally and easily made us change our diet in a way that we're really respectful of the amount of time it takes to grow this healthy food, to make this healthy food. And it's funny because we played this game with my boys at the table, High Low Buffalo. And high is, what was your high of the day? Like, what are you grateful for? What are you thankful for? Like, um, low is, okay, something didn't go right, you felt a little funny about something, it was tricky. What'd you and then Buffalo's like, add something funny or whatever you want to share. And recently, my 2.5-year-old, because he's finally playing, like, there was a point where we go, hi, low Buffalo, tasha nini. What's your hi? And you go, poopidoopy. And now he's on this like a broken recorder. He's like, for this beautiful meal and all this beautiful food. And it's Sweet, because it is like such a special moment for our family. And I grew up with a family that had dinner every night, and it's a priority for me as holding space for my boys and ensuring that we're all together for that time to talk about our day or to be grateful to God for everything, all the blessings in our life, and to work through the tough stuff together.

It's so good, Kelly. You know, that I, I, I read a recent study that went through the number one, uh, habit that creates more family connection is family dinners, you know, or family meals just in general. And so I know that that was something growing up in the Midwest, in Ohio. I mean, we just, you know, so many family meals bringing our, our family together. And I love the really practical, uh, you know, High-Low Buffalo, which, uh, which we sometimes do a little bit of that. The Buffalo one though, that's actually new. I haven't, I haven't heard it called that. So it kind of added in the fun sort of thing of what happened today. So we're probably going to start that in the Axe household. Thanks for that bit of wisdom there.

I can't take credit for it.

I'm sure someone else came up with it, but hey, you're the first I've heard that tack on with, so thanks for that. Hey, Kelly, where can people find you at?

Yeah, so I'm online at Be Well by Kelly across the social media platforms. My book is Body Love Every Day. I also have a food journal. The Body Love Journal. And then on my website at kellyloveck.com, we sell a grass-fed beef isolate protein. I have courses on balancing your blood sugar. I have a course actually on the Fab Four Smoothie that's, you know, every Black Friday we give that away with purchase so that people can really start to understand how to make a blood sugar balancing smoothie. So lots of good stuff over there at kellyloveck.com. And I'm on Instagram. I am sharing how to, how to not go crazy raising 3 boys and not end up in the ER with lots of stitches.

So that's so great. Yep, it's so great. Um, well, hey, I want to thank everybody for watching. I want to thank Kelly Levesque for sharing her wisdom with us today. Kelly, we're really grateful for you. And I want to encourage you, hey, if you're not subscribed to the podcast, please subscribe. And also, hey, if you've been loving the content we've been putting out, please, uh, go to Apple and Spotify and leave a review. We'd love to hear what you're loving about the podcast right now. Again, everybody, hey, thanks so much for listening. Thanks again to Kelly for sharing her wisdom with us today. Have a great week. Hey, Dr. Axe here. I want to say thank you so much for listening today. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to like and subscribe to the show so you don't miss a thing. Also, if you're in search of more natural health content. content, You can follow us @healthinstitute on Instagram or subscribe to our newsletter using the link in the show notes below. Hey, thanks a lot and have a blessed week.