Raw Freedom

Episode summary:

[00:01:02] Getting to Alanna Minta Jordan
[00:10:01] Alanna’s journey into Naturopathy from Art
[00:18:08] Where to start with Plant-based Lifestyle
[00:21:38] Is WHY enough to make change?
[00:25:12] Her Transformation
[00:31:19] Better nutrition with the Family
[00:34:25] What is raw food?
[00:37:09] Mini experiment for a high raw lifestyle
[00:38:17] Why get rid of coffee at breakfast?
[00:40:05] Exploring limiting beliefs for eating raw
[00:41:50] Connect with Alanna

[00:44:08] Final Five
[00:44:16] Definition of Serenity
[00:44:59] Master 1 Skill
[00:45:41] Recharge Method
[00:46:54] Geeking Out
[00:47:26] Ideal Day
[00:48:45] Take Away Message

Listen to the full episode

Meet our guest,

Alanna Minta Jordan is a certified Naturopath and plant-based coach with 33 years personal experience and is currently living between Bordeaux, France and central Maine. She specialises in helping busy moms manage their weight and teach their kids how to eat healthy.

www.naturominta.com
https://www.instagram.com/naturominta/
https://www.facebook.com/alanna.minta
http://bit.ly/PBBNaturominta

transcript

transcript created by Castmagic AI, may include errors

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:00:02]:
I knew that, like, I’d found a way of eating that appealed to me, but also made me feel very free. Like, it was freedom from from being paranoid about getting sick, freedom from the paranoia of yo yoing with my weight yo yoing. It was just like I felt this huge dark cloud that was over my head just disappeared, like it was gone gone.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:00:25]:
Are you ready to reclaim your life from exhaustion and expand the possibilities of what life can be? If so, I’m your guide, Evelyn Pacitti, work life geek and engineer turned resiliency coach on a mission to redefine how we work, live, and utilize our energy. Each episode, I dig deep with my guests as they share their stories, spark, and strategies for developing our own unique work life blend. This is Engineering Serenity. Episode 14, Raw Freedom with Alanna Minta Jordan.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:01:00]:
Thanks for having me.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:01:02]:
So to get started, I want the audience to get to know you a bit better with a few basic questions. Are you ready? Absolutely. What is your full name and pronouns?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:01:15]:
My full name is Alanna Minto Jordan, and it’s she her?

Evelyn Pacitti [00:01:22]:
What is your age ish?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:01:25]:
I, I just turned 45 last week.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:01:29]:
What industry do you work in?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:01:32]:
I am a naturopath and plant based coach, and so I help busy moms specifically to with weight management and raising healthy families, but I can help other people outside of that scope with just my concentration.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:01:49]:
We’ll dig into that more. How many hours do you typically work per week?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:01:56]:
Oh, I do not count the time that I spend working because it’s a passion. Man, I have no maybe 50 hours or more.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:02:09]:
Yeah. Do you like your career?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:02:12]:
I love my career. I love my career because it it fulfilled me with a deep sense of purpose and bringing back positivity to this planet. And just, I just feel like I’m sharing knowledge with other people that can help them get out of a rut. So yes. Absolutely.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:02:35]:
Oh, positivity for the planet. I’m gonna come back to that 1 for sure. On a scale of 1 to 5, how would you describe your work life blend today where 1 is not really very well balanced and 5 is, that seems good. I feel okay.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:02:56]:
I would say that I do need to, let’s see, on the scale, maybe, like, 4. I feel like it’s very difficult for me to balance my life because I have 3 kids under the age of 6. So that is really tough. Finding time for myself, finding time for my profession, making time for everything that I want to be doing in a day is just we all have those challenges. So I think that, yeah, if I’m giving it a 4, I’m actually optimistic. But I’m optimistic in general. I think anywhere between a 3 and a 4, and I know that it’s gonna get better here on out. I think that I’ve I think we all go through rough periods and I feel like I’ve been through a lot of like growth and change over the past couple of years.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:03:52]:
So, yeah, I know that this is just gonna keep getting better even though they’re gonna be ups and downs. Like, I just I feel like I’m in the right path.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:04:02]:
That’s great. And that awareness of it is a journey that it used to be worse, that it’s getting better, that you’re in a all of that, I think. Yeah. That’s a great example. Thank you.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:04:13]:
Where do you live? I live in Passac, France. It’s near Bordeaux. I’m originally from central Maine, though I do go home every summer to enjoy being with my family and go biking and enjoy the forest. And, yeah, it’s I’ve got the best of those worlds near near the ocean in France and in the forest and near the mountains in Maine.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:04:40]:
Amazing. That answers my next question. What culture were you raised in?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:04:46]:
I was, yeah, I was raised in Central Maine and went to a mag a math and science magnet school in Northern Maine limestone. So it was like a very we’re like 5 minutes from the Canadian border and just like in the middle of the boondock boondock. So that was like, it was nice having that culture of being at home, but also living away at a boarding school. And, yeah, I’ve always been a very creative person, but having that math and science background is like a younger childhood. I think it was really enriching.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:05:25]:
How do how do you think that feeds into what you do with the creativity and the the work that you do now?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:05:33]:
It’s funny. I when I was in going to Mount Holyoke and I need to figure out what I was gonna do with the rest of my life, I was hell bent on working in in environmental science. I wanted to do something to help protect the planet, and I was very aware of what was going on with with the environment in general and also, like, animal welfare. I was a vegetarian at the time. Unfortunately, I had a couple of professors who really like, I was depressed in college, like my 1st year of college just because everything seemed so doom and gloom and just I was just very I was overwhelmed by all of the information that I was getting in regard to like how humans are treating the planet and how the planet is going on its trajectory toward mass extinction and things like that. And so I just decided to, like, from my mental health, I needed to figure out something else. Like, I needed to work in a different field. And I also I I really loved art.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:06:33]:
I’ve always loved art history. So I decided to get my major in art history, minor in French. And I ended up working at 1 of the most well known contemporary foundations in the world, the Cartier Foundation in Paris. And so I was a fine arts registrar for 15 years and traveled the world and blah blah blah. And it was there was always this very deep connection between the analytical side of things, like tracking artwork, making sure it was in good condition, talking with the insurance companies, like coordinating with, lenders, making sure that everything was, like, taken care of from a very, analytical side of things. But then there was also the creative side of things like communicating with the artists about more philosophical standpoints in regards to the condition of their artwork. And so I feel like there’s always been this nice meld of science and creativity. And I feel like today, I’m, I’m a naturopath.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:07:33]:
A naturopath is basically helping people teach people how to take care of their bodies, how to take care of their minds, their well-being in general. Really take a look at the global, their global situation and give them advice on how they could improve their sleep, their movement, their, if they’re, like, certain of course, they’re the way they eat because I’m a plant based coach. They’re including more fruits and vegetables, like how they prepare their food, like where they’re getting their food, like looking at the labels. And then of course, phytotherapy, are there herbs and other tinctures or elixirs that they could be using to help complete the picture? And there is a creative side to it because I have to be very motivating. You have to motivate someone. You have to tell them stories. You have to touch their their soul. You have to ignite a fire in order for them to want to do it.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:08:28]:
So it’s it’s this nice blend of this is your plan of action with these, like, scientific details and, like, the reasoning behind why I’m asking you to do what you’re doing. And then there’s the creative side where I’m trying to, like, motivate you and inspire you. And then, of course, like the social media, making videos and, like, use that creative twist to motivate people. So I feel like in a sense, like I’m coming full circle because I, I always wanted to do something to help the environment and help the planet. So I feel like by promoting plant based living, even if you don’t have to be totally vegan to to work with me. Just that, like, carbon and impact imprint on the planet that is being, like, improved, so to say, is my contribution back to this need to help the planet. And I’m also fully I’m fully convinced that eating more fruits and vegetables, like, for anyone, like, is just going to really open themselves up to a lot of a deep sense of well-being and just, like, their body will shift over time. Sorry.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:09:39]:
It’s like a bit a wounded answer to your question. But yeah.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:09:44]:
But that’s exactly.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:09:45]:
Kind of my strange

Evelyn Pacitti [00:09:48]:
No. It’s perfect. These are exactly the kind of juicy answers we’re looking for here. I wanna know. Okay. So you’ve come back around to this sort of reconnection with the earth and the environmental sciences and helping the planet. Where did that shift from moving from art back into the naturopathy happen? Where where did that stem from?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:10:11]:
Yes. So I got into naturopathy because I basically, I got pregnant with my partner. And then while I was pregnant with my partner, my mother who had been severely obese her entire life, she fell ill with her 3rd round of cancer. And I had seen her, like, suffer her entire life above and beyond, like, being overweight, the obesity. She also had diabetes and asthma and just limited movement. She couldn’t go on hikes with us, things like that. She could do a lot of stuff, but it always limited her. She had a failed lap band surgery, just like a lot of stuff that she had to deal with for 30 years.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:10:54]:
And so I I was helping take care of her the pat, like, the last few weeks that she was alive. And she actually she ended up passing away when I was pregnant with my son, with my first son. And then a year later, I became pregnant with twins. And after the twin pregnancy, like, my weight had always fluctuated my entire life. Like, I’d always yo yoed and used to smoke, like, lemonade better, like, to go to the bathroom. I know a lot of people do that. I used to I was anorexic at 1 point. I had a very poor relationship with food.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:11:32]:
My entire life, I felt like I would follow in my mother’s steps, and because she was overweight, I would be overweight. So it was like I was tortured basically for the years.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:11:43]:
Just if

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:11:43]:
I I think a lot of women, a lot of humans have this pressure on them, But I think a lot of it goes unspoken. It’s the silent, can be a silent demon for a lot of people like the paranoia of putting on weight and raising weight and blah blah blah. So basically, when she passed away, I was like at a turning point in my life. Like, I knew I had to change jobs because having the 3 kids, I wouldn’t be able to continue doing what I was doing. I had actually applied for for the direct the directing position of my of the logistics department, the Kearny Foundation. And I didn’t get the job because they were afraid of me having 3 kids, which that’s a whole other story. But, yeah, I just at that point, I was like, you know what? I need to make a change. I had put on £35.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:12:34]:
I was having health symptoms. I was having heart palpitations, ear ringing. I was, I was just dealing with a lot of really screwed up health symptoms at the same time as all of this drama with my dog and having the 3 kids. And so, I just said, I’m gonna go back to school. I’m going to learn how to really sustainably using raw food because I had heard, I had done research and I just saw so many amazingly transformational stories. So I studied with a raw food expert for I took her year long program. I’ve actually been working her with her for 3 years and I’m gonna continue working with her. And I went back to school to become a naturopath.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:13:20]:
So basically what I explained. A naturopath, basically, our goal is to educate people and we do we go through an anamnesis with each client. And basically, we’re asking very specific questions on, their health history, family’s health history, just like a lot of, like, even everyday day to day questions. Like, how how do you prepare your breakfast? Like, how do you go to bed? You’re basically, like, trying to knit not nitpick, but get all of those little tidbits of information to make the best, like, plan of action for them according to their goal. If their goal is to release weight or if their goal is to sleep better, like, everything that you collect, all of that information that you collect goes into processing, like, the best plan of action for that person, basically. So, yeah. I decided that I needed to better my life for myself because I’d spent 30 years, like, paranoid. I saw I witnessed my mother go through all of that ordeal.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:14:26]:
And so I just decided enough is enough. Like, I want to do something with more impact, and I want to yeah. I want to help people. I wanna help people better their lives. I wanna help women really sweet if that’s what they wanna do for health reasons. There are a lot of people that feel like they are on the brink of developing diabetes or maybe they can’t move as or maybe they they’re just depressed or maybe they just wanna release weight. I know there’s, like, a big stigma around weight loss. I’m very careful with the way I talk about it.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:14:58]:
I prefer to say use the word the term weight relief. But I think there’s I think that body positive and weight release can coexist. So I’m gonna stop. Another question.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:15:12]:
No. That body positivity and the term weight release, it’s actually something I picked up before you specifically called it out as, like, this beautiful way of thinking about I’m releasing that excess weight. Because I think in many ways, our body wants to be in a sense, in a place of harmony and balance. Like, it doesn’t want to be overweight. It doesn’t want to be that. And that idea of finding the way to remove those barriers so that you can return to that homeostasis by releasing things, it just it feel yeah. Very approachable. Is that something you recognize in your work?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:15:49]:
Yeah. It’s definitely of course, there’s the emotional side to it. And then there’s science based facts. Like, when you are overweight, you are more susceptible to heart heart disease and sleep apnea. And they’re like there’s just this flu of things that can happen to you as you gain weight over time. And I just I feel like, unfortunately, there’s a lot of myths that that make it difficult for people to release weight because they’re unaware of what they could be doing to simplify getting the proper nutrition and also being happy with how they’re feeding themselves. And there’s a lot of there are a lot of addictive substances out there that keep people hooked, keep them in a holding spot. And I think that thinking that you need to have excessive amounts protein, that’s like a huge myth.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:16:36]:
I think that also the plant based movement, it’s great, but you have to be very careful because there are a lot of really chemical based products in the supermarkets that you do not wanna be relying on for your the core of your nutrition, like all of the vegan burgers and things like that. You have to look really carefully at the label because there are a lot of addictive chemicals in them. So most people are unaware that these, like, things are contributing to the reason why they’re unable to release weight. Being afraid of not getting enough protein, being afraid of not getting enough calcium, being afraid of not getting enough iron. I spoke to someone the other day who was saying like, yeah. I’m afraid of not eating meat because my doctor is telling me I need to eat red meat for iron. So it’s there are all these, like, myths and, like, limiting beliefs that we’ve been fed over time. And I I believe that these without necessarily wanting to become a 100% vegan, like, I believe that there’s a lot of wiggle space in, like, making change in your life and making small changes over time and like witnessing how you are metamorphosizing and changing is so powerful.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:17:47]:
And as you witness yourself changing, it just reinforces that new belief system and you become a new person. So above and beyond the nutrition, I like I’m wanting to help people become more at peace with themselves because that’s, like, what hap that’s what happened to me. So I wanna share that.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:18:08]:
That metamorphosis process that you talked about and being able to recognize that. Do you have any suggestions? Because especially with something like doing a change in your eating habits and your dietary habits, moving into more plant based. My first impression is that can take a long time. So how could you stay committed or connected to that metamorphosis process when it’s not an instantaneous change? It’s not an instantaneous high that you get by eating sugar, for example. Yeah. How do you help guide people through that process and stay connected to the metamorphosis?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:18:46]:
That’s a really good question. I’d say that the first step in process is really identifying your why. It sounds cliche. A lot of people start with this, but it it really is true. You need to understand what you are doing and why you’re doing it Because you if you have no reason to be doing it, then you’re gonna jump you’re gonna fall off the wagon. So I think, firstly, like, being very aware of what you would love to achieve in your life and what you’ve tried so far and recognize that maybe it’s not working. If it’s not working, then maybe that means you do need to switch things around. And once you have that, like, vision and once you have that information inside because I believe even like physical markers, like having a vision board or having daily reminders can be extremely helpful to change that mindset.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:19:33]:
Okay.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:19:34]:
Once you have that set up, I would say just taking a really simple like action step and applying it every week. And once you get that action step in place, then you move on to a new 1. First 1 for me is getting like proper hydration throughout the day because I believe that a lot of people who are struggling with being overweight, they’re chronically dehydrated and they’re also not getting the proper vitamins and minerals. So their body is, like, seeking out these minerals and vitamins and overeating as a result. So for me, first step would be getting proper hydration. And just through simple, the simple act of drinking a huge glass of like lemon water when you first wake up, and then having fruit for breakfast, and cutting out the toast, and cutting out the dehydrating foods because they have no water content in in them. So it’s yeah. Just finding little steps and applying those and allowing people to have a little bit of wiggle room.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:20:31]:
I don’t really like the idea of having a fixed menu plan for someone when they work with me. I like the idea of taking them in this new direction, but customizing it according to their need. Because I feel like a lot of people also get scared when they see, oh my god. I have to totally change everything I’m doing all at once. They feel overwhelmed and it just I I don’t think it works very well. Other people want a menu plan. Like I’ve worked with people that like, wants to know exactly what they’re gonna be eating every morning, noon, and night. So it it depends on the person, but I find that most people don’t want to be like caged into a box and feel like they have to be following a very strict menu plan.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:21:13]:
And then, of course, as you’re making these shifts yeah. As as you’re making these shifts, like, you you witnessed yourself focusing on how you’re feeling. Are you feeling? Do you have more energy? Like, feeling more optimistic? Are you really eating weight or are you sleeping better? And just like observing those, like, shifts. It’s it’s pretty powerful as well.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:21:38]:
Do you find that people’s why is enough? Sometimes I find that we have strong whys. Like we want to be able to play with our children. We want to be more engaged and present yet the circumstances of our lives or our perceived circumstances of our life is not enough to take action on that why until it gets really bad.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:22:04]:
I do believe that a lot of really people who are successful with achieving their goals, like, a lot of them have had to bump up against some pretty difficult, you know, periods of life, illness or losing someone. So, yeah, I think that this makes your why even stronger when you have to go through hardship. It is it’s a process. Like, you have to want it. I can’t work with someone and be like, oh, you’re gonna lose weight tomorrow because I’m the most amazing coach in the world, and you’re just gonna lose this weight because I’m gonna tell you exactly what you’re gonna do. There is you have to invest in it just like anything else. So if I believe it’s all a question about priorities, and I also do think that there are emotional barriers that can arise. So for example, I mentioned phytotherapy earlier.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:22:54]:
I work with back flower elixirs. So this is like a back flower elixir. It’s a system of flower extracts that was developed by doctor Bak in the 19 thirties. And today, there are like a lot of different companies that have taken this, like, heritage and run with it and have created other flower elixir systems. It’s supposed to work like homeopathy. It’s basically vibrational quality to the different flowers and plant, And each 1 speaks to, an emotion. So if someone is having if they’re feeling, like, hopeless about their situation or if they’re feeling like they’re not learning from their old mistakes, like, these flower answers are designed to help support you through your journey. So if you’re feeling like, for example, large, like, I this flower elixir I just recommended it to someone.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:23:54]:
And I can read you a little text if you wanna hear it.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:23:58]:
Go for it.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:23:58]:
The red flowers of this inches of the large are to help those who lack confidence in in themselves. Or just for the kind of people who, although they may have the ability or capacity, capability, do not believe it in believe it of themselves and so they stand back in the shadows allowing others to take their place. So consequently, many of life’s opportunities pass them by because of their lack of self reliant. If an an opportunity comes their way, they’re trying to say, I wouldn’t possibly be able to do that. Full of doubt about their own ability and afraid of failure. So it goes on. It just these flower elixirs are Yeah. Each 1 speaks to different emotional situation that the person could be going through.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:24:44]:
And so when you say, when you ask me, is having a why enough? I do think that there are different ways of supporting your emotional, like, your state of emotion to help you move in that direction. And of course, there’s like meditation as well. There are other, like, modalities that you can use to try to help shift your mindset. Because I do think mindset is the most important to all of this well-being and transformation.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:25:12]:
Can you talk a little bit about your transformation? So you highlighted a bit that you you lost your mother. You were pregnant with with 2 kids. You were dealing with the change in career. And that’s was that was the catalyst for you to start to make these changes. How did that journey work for you? Was there anything that stuck out? Were you also struggling with exhaustion? I think it’s hard to detangle since you are pregnant, which brings its whole other level of complexities. But I’d love to hear more about, yeah, that journey and how you’ve found this point of balance.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:25:47]:
Yeah. I lost my mom when I was pregnant with my teeth, and then I had the twins with the his twin brothers. So when I had these 3 kids under the age of 2, and I had £35 to lose, Like, I just I was exhausted all the time, depressed, and I had these other health symptoms I’d mentioned. I didn’t mention. I also had periodontal disease. So it just I felt like I was falling apart. I’d already been plant based. I became vegetarian at the age of 12, but was eating way too much dairy and really high fat and a lot of processed foods.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:26:24]:
So I basically, I just I hit the wall physically. I’m paranoid about being overweight and then like actually having it happen to me. Like I felt, oh, no. Like, I stopped breastfeeding because I lost the weight when I breastfed. That was like I was like, oh, this is amazing. And then when I stopped breastfeeding, the weight just started pie like, packing on and I was like, oh my god. This is this is my worst nightmare coming true. And yeah.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:26:50]:
So I just I knew that I wanted to continue to be eating vegan, but I knew that I wasn’t doing it in the right way. I knew that stress from losing my mother was definitely contributing to poor food food choices that I was making. And I knew that if I didn’t change things, then that I wouldn’t have the energy to take care of my 3 kids. So I just, I just rallied my energy. And like I said, I educated myself with raw foods. I went a 100% raw vegan for about 7 months And I lost, I lost the way I, all of my health symptoms started improving, disappearing. My confidence skyrocketed. I knew that I’d found a way of eating that appealed to me, but also made me feel very free.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:27:38]:
Like it was freedom from from being paranoid about getting sick, freedom from the paranoia of with my weight. It was just like I felt this huge dark cloud that was over my head just disappeared. Like, it was gone. Gone.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:27:55]:
And did that contribute also to the confidence? Because that’s also something that I don’t usually hear in that journey of healing is that that increase in confidence.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:28:05]:
Yes. Yes. There’s a huge increase in confidence and just it’s crazy when you, like, learn to break down these limiting beliefs that we all hold and we all are, like, fighting. We’re we are our own worst enemies and we are our own best friends in the sense that there are just like so many things that we, like, create in our universe that we don’t realize as we’re growing up. And, yeah, it’s it’s crazy. It’s really crazy how empowering it can be to, like, to understand better nutrition, understand that you don’t need to be, like, worried about getting all these excessive amounts of protein, understand that you can get really amazing bioavailable nutrients and all the plant food. Like, it’s just it’s very empowering. It’s very empowering.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:28:56]:
And I think it’s really inspirational that you are able to do this transformation and this sort of this sort of redesigning and reengineering towards your serenity while at home with 3 young children. You were able to find that bandwidth in that space in the midst of that phase of your life.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:29:17]:
It was total chaos. Could be still partial chaos right now, but, yeah, it was total chaos. But, yeah, it I think that for other women who are battling, like, weight management, who are battling maybe other health issues, I just wanna share with them there are ways out and these ways out are not only just for yourself, but for your entire family. To give you an example, there’s a book that I was reading a couple, maybe 2 months ago about a raw, a low fat prescription diet for children. And this doctor basically gets into the nitty gritty of how even, like, a low fat diet for children can actually be extremely helpful in terms of your cardiovascular system. A lot of people think kids, we don’t have to worry about giving them high fat diets and all that. This doctor actually, unfortunately, had to do an autopsy on 1 of his, like, 7 year old patients who had passed away, and he had already seen, even though this young child was very thin and fit looking from the outside, he’d already, like, identified signs of cardiovascular disease in her heart because of the thickening of the walls of her vascular system. So, yeah, it’s the things that you can do for yourself and your kids today will pay back a thousand fold for your children in the future.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:30:40]:
So I I like the idea of it’s not just weight release for parents, but it’s just getting the entire family on a healthier path. And also breaking down that idea that if you are trying to release weight, you have to eat totally different from the rest of the family. I don’t believe that. I think that there’s a way of melding the 2 and really making it a win situation for everyone in the family. And it can be a challenge. It can be a challenge, especially when not everyone is on board. But that’s like where my expertise comes in is like helping you navigate, helping you find tips and tricks and, like, just different tools to get around those ITSPA.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:31:19]:
So as you’re going through this, how do you see integrating your journey and transformation with your family? Can you give some tips on, like, how that kind of work? Or I can imagine tran doing a quick transition or not a quick transition, but switching to a completely raw diet could be surprising for a family or children who are not youth eating that way.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:31:43]:
I do. Just to to clarify that point, I’m not a 100% raw today, and I don’t, like, I don’t put people on a 100% raw diet, but I do recommend a high raw lifestyle, meaning like as many living raw foods as possible. IIIA little bit I’m a little bit more flexible than a lot of like health coaches that do focus on raw foods. I do think that you can find ways to to balance things out and compromise. But I do think that, like, the majority of raw food key for for really great health. And so a very simple thing is just like eating, like, fruit for breakfast. When I when my kids were when my twins, they weren’t even 1 year 1 years old. They were drinking green smoothies.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:32:29]:
They were drinking green smoothies, and I was picking them like fruit and ice cream. So just like super simple stuff like that, like having a banana and ice cream with some with some green powder mixed into it or having a spinach, mango, banana smoothie, like all of these are really healthy foods. And so they’re super simple. A lot of kids actually really like them because I find that a lot of parents, we have the tendency of projecting onto our kids and thinking like, oh, they’re not gonna like that, so I’m gonna offer them this. I’ll give you a very good a good example. I went on a school class trip with 1 of my sons, and the teacher was like, oh, like, they were giving them for a reward. And I was like, oh, it’s a shame, like, that you’re giving them candy for the reward. Maybe you could find a thing that’s a little bit up there.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:33:24]:
And so the next time I went to the class trip, the teacher was like, you actually inspired me, so I bought dried fruit. So she bought banana chips and dried apricot and, like, prunes and all sorts of things. And you know what? The kids didn’t say a word. They loved it. She handed out the dried fruit, and she looked at me, and she’s, I’m amazed. She’s, every single time I’ve gone on a class trip, I’ve given them M and M’s and Smarties and, like, chocolate chocolate candy, processed candy. I just assumed that’s what I’d have to give the kids to make them happy. But, like, doing this, I see that’s not the case, and they were, like, all super happy.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:34:00]:
So I think that a lot of us project onto our kids like, oh, they’re not gonna like the broccoli. They’re not gonna like the green beans. They’re and just like the thought of that puts that energy out there. You know what I’m saying? Like I said, it all comes back to mindset. The mindset and, like, doing simple things. The simpler it is, the more sustainable it will be. If you try to make it too complicated, you’re not gonna do it. You know?

Evelyn Pacitti [00:34:25]:
Yeah. So first off, I wanna know what is your definition of raw food? I’ve seen different definitions, and I’d love to see know your definition of raw food.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:34:35]:
I, yeah, I live a high raw vegan lifestyle, and raw means that it hasn’t been cooked over 40 degrees. I think it’s 113 Fahrenheit and 40 Celsius. And when you alter foods by cooking them, there are differing viewpoints on on on these subjects just like a lot of subjects in nutrition. Right. Raw food is our point of view is that it modifies the vitamin and mineral content in the foods to some extent. In in things like tomatoes, lycopene actually increases when you are cooking it in like any fruits of vegetables with vitamin c. The vitamin c, like, is definitely damaged and watched out when you’re cooking it. So the idea is to have the digestive enzyme, the minerals, and the vitamins at their, like, top top level.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:35:34]:
I would argue that, like, potatoes, for example, when you cook them, when you steam them, and then you let them cool, the fiber and the the starch and the potato actually becomes a resistant starch that is scientifically proven to help feed the microbiome to help feed your gut bacteria. So that’s like an example of a food that is cooked that I think is beneficial. So my standpoint is that the most like raw living foods like fruit, don’t cook your fruits, don’t cook apple sauce, don’t make pies with cooked fruits. Keep your fruits raw. Keep your greens raw. Like, I wouldn’t necessarily I do it sometimes for my family, but I try to, like, add greens into the dishes at the end when they’re still raw rather than cooking them into the food. Just different examples of, like, ways that you can have more raw foods in your lifestyle without totally changing the way you eat. Sprouts, for example, has a great, like, raw living food that you can make at home with your kids.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:36:36]:
Super easy, like alfalfa sprouts, broccoli sprouts, mung sprouts, mung bean sprouts, lentil sprouts. There are just so many, like, sprouts that you can grow. Fun activity and a sprout can have up to 40 times the nutrition than the adult counterpart, like the actual vegetable that’s grown. And what’s great about sprouts is you can be living in the middle of the city and you can still grow sprouts. You can have your own, like, miniature garden in your apartment. You don’t need to have tons of space outside, and it is cheap. It’s super cheap, Ecological.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:37:09]:
That was actually gonna be my next question is for someone who wants who’s been really inspired by what you’ve talked about for releasing weight, starting to deal with their emotional blockage, maybe starting to explore raw, what’s a great first experiment that they can do? Something that feels easy and approachable no matter where they are in their journey.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:37:29]:
I would say the first would just would be like switching breakfast. I think breakfast is like the easiest meal to to work with. I would say, like, start with a very large glass of lemon or lime juice in your water. Very large glass of water. It helps flush out your system after sleeping all night and your body is like wanting to get rid of toxins. And then just like having fruit for breakfast. Whole fruit, you can make a raw apple sauce, you can make banana and ice cream, You can make a fruit salad. That would be, for me, step 1.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:38:04]:
And if you wanna add greens, spinach in your smoothies, or green powders, that would be yeah. Definitely means that 1. Get rid of the coffee. Some people are gonna hate me. Keep saying that, but you get at least reduce the coffee. Why? Caffeine is it’s really hard on your adrenal glands. Though a lot of people get addicted, and it’s just they’re running on running on the caffeine. So it can be really detrimental long term and it’s also extremely dehydrating.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:38:37]:
And so, if you’re trying to release weight, sample, and you’re like dehydrating yourself with coffee, you may actually end up overeating because you dehydrated. So it definitely it doesn’t help in that regard. But, yeah, it’s you’re basically like you’re running on empty with caffeine. Not a great thing to be. And to me, I used to drink lots of coffee. I used to drink probably up to 6 espressos a day when I was working at the art foundation. Like, I had the espresso machine right outside my office. I could hear people, like, putting the money in and having the freshly ground coffee and I could smell it, you know.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:39:19]:
And I felt, oh, wow. Like I have so much energy, like I’m so energetic. And then I started thinking about it. I was like, no, I’m not energetic. I’m energetic for about half an hour, and then I just wanna crawl into a hole and sleep for 5 hours. So I like realized that and you can even find like graphs online that show you like it does give you energy because your adrenal glands are pumping the adrenaline and then like you crash and you’re you actually have less energy for a longer amount of time than you have more energy. So it’s just this false sense of feeling better, and it’s like a lot it’s a for me, it’s another limiting belief that you have to have coffee to have energy. I think it’s a limiting belief that we’ve and we’ve bought into, most of us.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:40:05]:
Leaning into the limiting belief conversation, I’m thinking about your breakfast suggestion to have only fruit. My first limiting belief would be, oh, I’d burn through the fruit super fast and I’d be hungry by 10 o’clock or something like that.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:40:18]:
Mhmm. But you have to eat more. You have to eat larger quantities of fruit. When you look at it from a purely caloric perspective, you have, like, your the size of your stomach. Like, they’re really, like, interesting images you can find online. You have your stomach filled with, like, with oil. You have, I don’t know, 300 calories of oil. So, like your stomach is basically empty with this little line of oil, tiny little amount of oil in the in the bottom of your stomach.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:40:47]:
Then you have your stomach with with, I don’t know, meat and cheese. So the line gets a little bit higher and you can see the meat and cheese. Then you have your stomach with, like, maybe rice and beans. So the high the volume is a little bit more. And then you have your stomach filled with fruits and vegetables and greens and it’s totally full. So yes, you are. Why is it maybe difficult in the beginning to be eating more volume? Because we’re not used to it. We’re used to eating very high calorie dense meals.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:41:13]:
They take up a very small amount of space in the stomach. So it does take time to adapt. But once you adapt, I swear, like, when I do eat some cooked meals with with salt in them, I feel so dehydrated. I never felt that way before. I feel chronic, feel really dehydrated and I in my entire body. So that tells me that my body has gotten used to having all this hydration and feeling, yeah, just feeling like things are moving, feeling like I’m alive with all this amazing hydration. So, yeah, it can take some time in the beginning. But

Evelyn Pacitti [00:41:50]:
Super interesting. Thanks for that example. If people wanna learn more about you or your work, where can they learn more?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:42:00]:
They can go to my website, www.naturalominta.com, And then in terms of social media, I’m most active on Instagram at naturominda, and then you can also find me on Facebook at Alanna Minto Jordan. So, yep, people are welcome to send me messages, like, if they have questions, if they wanna learn more. I offer an 8 week program that helps basically give you a nutritional framework for how to release weight more sustainably. And like I said, my philosophy is not necessarily like boxing people into becoming vegans, but giving them the knowledge that will allow them to piecemeal things together and make a system that works for them. I’m really about helping people find their solution and not like feeling like they have to do, just follow a meal plan. So that’s my philosophy. And I’ve worked with clients that are not vegan, but have become, like, more and more plan b, and it really works well for them. So you can just send me a message or yeah.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:43:11]:
Great. If I could give you 1 piece of advice, it is like, it really is possible to find a way to enjoy food and also feel healthy and, like, release weight. There there are ways of doing it, and it’s just a matter of getting accountability and getting the tips and tricks that, like, really speak to your situation. And I think that yeah. And also using phytotherapy, like, emotional the emotional support with floral elixirs, or it could also be phytotherapy. Like, they’re actually extracts from tree that can help support your different bodily systems as well. So they’re just there’s so many ways to, like, to find more peace with the way you are, the way your body is functioning, and still have fun eating because I know, like, we all wanna eat something that is delicious and makes our mouth water.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:44:07]:
Then then I’ll wrap up today’s conversation with the final 5 questions that I ask everybody on my show. Are you ready?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:44:15]:
Yes. Ready.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:44:16]:
Okay. What is your definition of serenity?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:44:22]:
My definition of serenity would be to feel at peace with the way your life flow is going. Just feel like you’re in a flow and things are just happening the way they should be. I don’t think that, like, serenity necessarily means that everything is going perfectly in your life. It just means that you’re able to, yeah, you’re able to get into this flow and deal with whatever whatever issues may arise because, yeah, let’s face it. There’s always something that’s gonna arise. Yeah. Whether it be for you or 1 of your loved ones.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:44:56]:
Right. That’s a beautiful way to put it. If you could master 1 skill instantly, what would it be?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:45:05]:
I’d love to learn how to fly. It’s dead. Can this be a superhero skill or does it have to be? No.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:45:14]:
I love it. Superhero skill. I’ll take that was my next question. Like a plane or actually you just flying like a bird?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:45:21]:
No. No. Just me flying. Yeah. No. But in terms of skill, there’s always so much to learn. I wanna learn more about, like, phytotherapy. I wanna I’d love to become an herbalist.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:45:32]:
There are just so many things on this planet that I wanna learn. Yeah. I’d say I’d I keep delving into what I’m doing right now.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:45:39]:
Nice.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:45:40]:
Yeah.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:45:40]:
What is your favorite method to recharge during the workday?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:45:46]:
Meditation. Meditation absolutely is the is the best way of charging. I’ve been for years, I was meditating every morning. With the kids, it’s a little bit more complicated because they tend to wake up early and there’s a lot of chaos, but I do get, you know, to meditate during the day and it just yeah. Total reset. It’s a total reset and it’s yeah. You think, oh, you may think I’m losing 20 minutes of the day and actually you’re gaining, like, more than 20 minutes because you in my opinion, I just feel like I I just feel like I’m able to work so much more in a more concentrated, more creative way. Just like create creativity bubbles up after I meditate.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:46:34]:
Extremely helpful.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:46:36]:
And that was my next question was how long, but 20 minutes you mentioned.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:46:42]:
20 minutes. 1? Minutes. But I believe that people even if you only have 10 minutes, start with 10 minutes. Or even if you only have 5 minutes, start with 5 minutes.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:46:53]:
What are you geeking out about right now?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:46:57]:
What am I geeking out about right now? Last night, I just went to a workshop on Deva’s contemporary flower elixirs. So I’ve I’m geeking out about what I learned last night. I learned about how to help children of at different ages of life deal with common emotion. So, yeah, I’m geeking out about that.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:47:21]:
Oh, cool. Assume you’ve achieved the ultimate the optimal work life blend. Describe your typical workday.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:47:32]:
My typical day? Because I feel like I’m working in a field that just I feel like I’m working in a field that is my life. I don’t see it as, like, workday. I see it as just, like, a day. So I say, like, my ideal day work doing yeah. Doing actively doing things to feed my profession. Waking up in the morning, meditation, workout, and maybe, like, doing some social media while I’m working out, which is what I’m already doing. And then in the morning, working on the most important tasks of the day, either working on a program for clients or working on a specific program for a specific client like a personalized naturopathic program. And then after lunch, get some more movement or meditation and then doing more of what I do in the morning and then in the evening, spending time with my family and spending time in nature outside.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:48:32]:
But I do feel like helping other people is so important to me that I don’t really care if I have to be doing that in the morning, the evening, even on the weekend sometimes. It just it feels good for me.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:48:45]:
Thanks for sharing your insights. Is it naturopathics and raw food. Sharing how not only it can influence you for, weight release, but also the impact that it has on our families and also your journey on how you have gone from a world of analytics and then into the creative spaces as well as your own journeys and struggles with exhaustion and those things and how you viewed the shift in lifestyle to to move through that metamorphosis. Thank you.

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:49:16]:
Thank you. It was awesome. And as we leave, being able to share with you

Evelyn Pacitti [00:49:22]:
And as we leave, is there 1 thing that you’d like the audience to take away from our conversation today?

Alanna Minta Jordan [00:49:29]:
I would like people to be listening in who are feeling hopeless. I just like them to know that there’s a way out even if they feel like they’re not wanting to give up delicious food or feeling like it’s been too long, they’ve been overweight for too long. No. There really is a way out and I’ve seen so many examples of people pulling themselves out of difficult situations. So there’s a way out.

Evelyn Pacitti [00:49:56]:
Intrigued or inspired by today’s episode, but forgot the details? Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered. Visit engineering serenity.com for a complete summary of today’s episode, including timestamps, links, and other resources for your adventure. Wishing you strength and serenity, Evelyn app.