Episode 11: It All Started with a Pea

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3D LILA Update [1:05]

Have you been keeping up with the 25 Day Advent Challenge? We are now into our 2nd week. Those burpees and planks can be brutal. Don’t give up! Join the fun and share your hilarious moments on Facebook.

Interview with Springer, founder of Gingerworks Health and Nutrition [3:25]

LILA interviews her friend, Springer Huseby, a Certified Nutrition Consultant at Gingerworks Health and Nutrition. She loves to teach her clients how food can be used for therapeutic purposes. She also helps people with chronic health concerns heal themselves through food. Gingerworks focuses on individual health coaching, but Springer also enjoys working in the corporate wellness work space.

Once upon a time, Springer was not the health-conscious person she is today. About 7 years ago, while working in the technology industry with LILA, she found herself tired all the time. She struggled just to get through the day. In fact, she admits that some days she would lock her office door so that she could take an afternoon nap under her desk!

With nothing medically wrong and out of desperation, Springer sought out a health coach for advice. After making some very small changes to her diet, she found that she started to feel better. Inspired and refreshed, she left her marketing career and made the jump into working in the nutrition field.

Food: from beige to the full rainbow [8:30]

LILA and Springer share the story of a friend who was an adult picky eater. She didn’t like any food with color — everything on her plate was beige. With some help from Springer, this friend began to eat healthier by simply adding frozen peas to her diet. That led to other new foods and soon enough was eating  better and subsequently, feeling better.

Springer explains the importance of making a connection between how you feel with the food on your plate. Once your body has an exposure to good, healthy foods, you will want more of them. We just have to listen to our bodies.

Holistic living: it’s not just the food component [12:46]

Although food can have a huge affect on our health, Springer notes that just making changes to your diet sometimes is not enough. You need to consider a whole-body approach to health. In your desire to become a healthier person, beyond the food component, consider including exercise and evaluate your mental, emotional, and spiritual health as well as your environment. Focus on the things that bring you joy and happiness.

Balance: establishing healthy boundaries around work and play [14:45]

Springer has a passion for working on-site with companies in the Bay area. The corporate wellness movement has grown with businesses understanding that attention needs to be given to the health of their employees. Springer teaches employees that they need to make conscious choices about their health and not leave their commitment at the door when they come to work each day.

She suggests finding creative ways to take a break and move during the day, to separate ourselves from our computers, phones, and desks. This is key to dealing with stress management. Also, we must have a plan when it comes to our food choices.

This topic really resonates with LILA. She shares the struggle she had in her own life when work had been her priority. Add in her poor choices about food and exercise, and LILA found that she needed to “restart” her focus on her health. And this is how 3D LILA was born!

Diets don’t work [20:38]

There are so many different kinds of diets and people go from one diet to the next, searching for the magic bullet. But Springer explains that diets don’t work. At their core, diets are based on deprivation. This is not a healthy way to live.

Instead, we need to explore the concept of bio-individuality — the idea that there is no one perfect way of eating that works for everybody.  We must find our own unique recipe of foods that feeds our bodies.

This all makes sense to LILA. If we are unique human beings, why wouldn’t what we eat be unique to each one of us?

Stodge, Brown Rice, and Roku [25:25]

LILA has some fun asking Springer some personal questions. We learn about Stodge, her favorite food, and her favorite cool technology.

Be brave [28:11]

LILA really enjoyed Thanksgiving this year as a vegetarian. She found that decisions concerning food were much easier . How was it for you? Did you find it hard to be brave?

Join her on the journey. Everybody has a story—LILA would love to hear from you and learn more about your story. Would you like to be on the show? Contact us!

Significant Quotes:

Springer
“I am a true believer that a lot of the healing process starts with food….starts with a healthy gut.” [5:13]
“Thank goodness I had an office at work….because I was taking a nap everyday under my desk.” [6:18]
“We started with frozen peas.” [10:08]
“Your body is screaming with information if you take a second to listen.” [11:21]
“There’s healthy food out there for everybody, if you’re willing to try.” [12:41]
“No surprises. We’re spending a lot of time talking about stress.” [17:15]
”What is food to me might be poison to another.” [21:44]

LILA
“She would look at my plate and be like ‘well, that thing on your plate is green so I will not eat it’.” [9:00]
“How did you get her from [eating] beige tones to the full color of the rainbow?” [9:29]
“So you don’t have to start with eating kale everyday.” [11:54]
“San Francisco people: everybody looks like they just walked out of REI.” [15:15]
“Within the office, access to salt, sugar and fat was kind of epic.” [19:22]
“Part of why I do this entire show is a bit of drinking my own Koolaide around the concept of being brave.” [28.41]

Links Mentioned

3D LILA 25 Day Advent Challenge:  https://3dlila.wordpress.com/3d-lila-annual-advent-fitness-challenge/

Gingerworks:  http://www.gingerworkshealth.com/

Thistle:  https://www.thistle.co/