Eating Your Veggies with Lisa Sheeper

Get in touch with Lisa Sheeper
650-714-1611
Lisa@teamsheeper.com

Summary

In this episode of the Ginger and Chocolate podcast, Lindsay Hiken and Lisa Sheeper discuss the journey to a plant-based diet, addressing common misconceptions about protein intake, the importance of fiber, and the role of stress in digestive health. Lisa shares her personal experiences with veganism, IBS, and the benefits of cooking with whole foods. They also explore practical tips for transitioning to a plant-based lifestyle, including meal preparation and the positive impact of pets on mental health.

Takeaways

• Transitioning to a plant-based diet can be gradual.
• Protein can be easily obtained from plant sources.
• Fiber intake is often more critical than protein.
• Stress management is essential for digestive health.
• Cooking with herbs and spices can enhance flavor without added salt.
• Sprouting beans and grains is an easy way to boost nutrition.
• Dogs can provide companionship and reduce stress levels.
• Meal prep can simplify the transition to plant-based eating.
• It's important to listen to your body and adjust your diet accordingly.
• Veganism can be sustainable and enjoyable with the right approach.

Sound Bites

• "Fiber is more important than protein."
• "I can't go back to meat."
• "Stress plays a huge role in IBS."

Keywords

plant-based diet, veganism, nutrition, IBS, healthy living, protein, fiber, supplements, cooking tips, stress management

Thanks for listening to the Ginger and Chocolate Podcast. Check out our website at gingerandchocolate.com to get in touch with us. Follow us on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram @ginger_and_chocolate_podcast; and please subscribe to the show and select automatic downloads on your podcast app.

Transcript

Lindsay Hiken (00:01.218)
Hi, everybody. Welcome to the Ginger and Chocolate podcast. I'm your co-host, Lindsay, and Mike is out for the day. But I have a guest. She was a show favorite back when we did it before. And she's back, Lisa Sheeper. And welcome, Lisa. How's it going? Yeah, of course. If you guys have listened to Lisa before, or if you haven't, we she's a dietitian. She's also married to my triathlon coach. And they

Lisa Sheeper (00:15.891)
Thanks for having me.

Lindsay Hiken (00:30.738)
are vegan and they've got a very healthy diet which I aspire to and an envy. But regularly just like fuck it and eat a hamburger. we're going to talk today about about all things. Diet healthy living that kind of thing. IBS which I have and I believe Lisa you have some some of that too so we can talk about that as well.

Lisa Sheeper (00:38.525)
you

Lindsay Hiken (00:59.98)
So first tell a little bit about, because some people might not have heard the prior podcast, tell a little bit about your background and becoming a dietitian and sort of maybe your journey to veganism.

Lisa Sheeper (01:12.635)
Yeah. So, it started when I was pretty young, my mom was vegetarian. And, so I grew up in a vegetarian type house. I mean, my mom would eat vegetarian. So I watched her doing that, even though she would prepare regular meals, meat type meals for the rest of us. I actually kind of gravitated more towards that. She also was, she was a writer.

still is. And she wrote columns for the Mercury News when I was growing up, and it was called Penny Pinchers. And it was how to, there were seven kids in my family, and it was how to make meals, healthy meals, she was very healthy, for a large family on, you a lower budget. So we started eating tofu when I was pretty young. And that kind of stuck. So

between her, you know, starting that way. think I was always a little less on meat. I really wasn't as a big meat eater until more like high school. I was swimming and our coach got all these coupons to Carl's Jr. And if you, you swam a good workout, I was just like this one summer, he was handing them out left and right. And so I was eating a lot of burgers and stuff. It was right before I went off to college.

And I went to college and ate in the dorms and was not impressed with the meat. And kind of from then on, I just kept gradually cutting back on my meat intake. So, and I met Tim right around then, my husband and your coach, and he was a very healthy influence. And so when it came to trying to, I was struggling to figure out what major I wanted. And between

Lindsay Hiken (02:49.377)
Hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (03:06.831)
his influence and my mom's influence, I settled on nutrition and became a dietitian. And, and then, but still ate a little bit of chicken, fish, Turkey, kind of the white meats. And I remember distinctly one, one camping trip, Tim came back from a run and said, I'm going to be vegan now, right now. And so we,

kind of transitioned to that for him. I was cooking vegan meals for him and started eating a lot of that myself and just gradually, you know, more and more. So for me, it was a very gradual transition until my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's seven years ago, seven years ago. And my mom, again, very pro health was trying to figure out what to do if there was anything she could do to help them out. And

Lindsay Hiken (03:47.15)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (03:54.222)
.

Lisa Sheeper (04:03.479)
Tim actually heard a podcast about, Alzheimer's solution. And it was a couple of researchers down in Loma Linda, California, and they were plant-based. And, I did more research on it and I talked with my mom about it. thought for her, it would be a great thing because she already was vegetarian. And she talked with my dad about it and they went, they went vegan and I went with them in order to help support them.

So that's kind of the transition. So I really didn't become completely, or I would say 95 % vegan until about seven years ago. But since then, I've definitely embraced it. I teach it. I feel most comfortable with it. I will occasionally have something that is more on the vegetarian scale. So something with a little dairy in it or

Lindsay Hiken (04:45.431)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (04:59.031)
egg or something in it. don't eat scrambled eggs or anything like that. I don't actually seek out those things. But if it is in there and I'm kind of either don't have a choice or traveling or just feel like trying something, I will have a little bit of that. for I'd say, you again, most of the time, I'm fully plant based and love it.

Lindsay Hiken (05:03.886)
All

Lindsay Hiken (05:19.566)
That's great. That's awesome. It's awesome to hear two seven years because there's so much noise on online about being vegan or not being vegan. And, you know, I've heard people say, it's not sustainable. These people who are

Lisa Sheeper (05:22.738)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (05:38.702)
vegan influencers aren't really eating vegan the whole time. They're just saying they are just things like that. And so it's good to hear someone that I know and trust who you have no reason to say you're vegan when you're not you're not on, you know, you're not an Instagram influencer trying to pretend. And so the reason I've heard so much about, they're not really eating is because people think they can't get enough protein.

Lisa Sheeper (06:04.719)
yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (06:06.338)
That seems to be like the big P word. Like if you're eating vegan, you cannot get enough protein. I'm just wondering, do you ever feel like deficient? Have you had any blood work that shows that you're deficient? I feel like Tim would not be able to perform at the level he does if he was protein deficient. But what do I know? I'm an accountant. I'm not a dietician. So talk a little bit about like protein and what you do and how that really happens, you know, with an actual vegan diet.

Lisa Sheeper (06:33.095)
Yeah. Well, I mean, I think I may not be the best example of that, but you touched on it with Tim. I mean, he was an endurance athlete and he did, I don't know if anybody knows about the Epic Five, which is the race in Hawaii where you do five different Ironmans in five days on five different islands. And he did that completely plant-based and he did not have any problem. And I can tell you, you know, he's still

Lindsay Hiken (06:59.438)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (07:03.441)
He doesn't compete doing the endurance stuff quite as much, but he does these long bike rides and he'll be gone almost the entire day. And he's totally plant-based. He is 100 % vegan. think he is swayed from that one time when he was on a multi-day mountain bike event and he and his partner, they had to find where, navigate where they were and they got lost, had no food.

And came upon somebody who made them, I think a chicken meal and he didn't have a choice. That was it. That was the only food and he ate it. And that was the only time that I can think of. And he's probably been vegan for. Gosh, I'd say like 12 years or so, or maybe even 15. And that's it. And he is completely sustained it. No problems. He's stronger than I've ever seen him. I feel stronger as well. I mean, I noticed.

Lindsay Hiken (07:38.882)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (08:00.295)
The biggest difference for me from when I went vegetarian, so I was still having dairy and eggs and things like that. When I went from that to fully plant-based, I noticed for my workouts that I wasn't as sore and I wasn't as tired. And it was a pretty big difference. was pretty surprised because I would do a workout that would normally make me pretty

Lindsay Hiken (08:18.505)
Mmm.

Lisa Sheeper (08:28.893)
tired afterwards or pretty sore, really more sore the next day. And I was like, this is really going to hit me tomorrow. And this was again, initially, so it was only a few days afterwards. And I was shocked because I wasn't sore. And Tim notices that too in his recovery, it's so much faster when he's fully plant based than before when he wasn't. So he's like, I'll never give it up. I I'm shocked watching what he can do.

Lindsay Hiken (08:33.805)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (08:42.883)
Huh.

Lisa Sheeper (08:57.223)
being fully plant-based. And we get our protein. I would say our main source of protein is tofu. We have tofu a ton. And of course, I'm an older woman now and tofu is a great way to, it kind of mimics estrogen. And so that helps with hot flashes. And so I definitely embrace tofu. I don't have any problem with tofu. It plays heavily in our diet. Soy milk.

Lindsay Hiken (09:03.883)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (09:12.899)
Lindsay Hiken (09:22.264)
and

Lisa Sheeper (09:24.075)
soy of all different forms. At a mommy we have tempeh, but the main one is tofu. So that, and then, you know, rice and beans and we use a lot of hemp nutritional yeast. I make almost every vegetable dish I have with some nutritional yeast. put it in almost anything. And it's, it's amazing because things that you wouldn't think of having a lot of protein like hemp, these little hemp seeds.

Lindsay Hiken (09:31.15)
So.

Lindsay Hiken (09:43.562)
Uh-huh. I love that stuff.

Lisa Sheeper (09:52.049)
You sprinkle them in something. make my own breads and I put them in breads and it packs a punch for how much protein it is. have high protein breads with just putting in that. So, then flax and chia seeds. And so it's actually, I never even worry about the protein that I'm getting and I feel completely fine. I've had blood work. Nothing has been amiss. So.

Lindsay Hiken (09:55.639)
Lindsay Hiken (10:06.946)
Wow.

Lindsay Hiken (10:21.294)
Huh, okay. That's good.

Lisa Sheeper (10:22.171)
Yeah, so we don't have any problem. think what most people should be focusing on is where do they get their fiber from because the American diet, or even a kind of more healthier American diet usually is pretty low in fiber. And we even try to make sure we get enough fiber. So I think we don't struggle with the protein. We just try and make sure we get enough fiber. yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (10:45.942)
Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure I'm not getting enough. In fact, I know I'm not getting enough fiber.

Lisa Sheeper (10:51.717)
Most people aren't you are not alone. are among the the you know, masses. Most people do not get nearly enough fiber. So yeah, it's not the protein. One thing that we do supplement with though is a vitamin B 12. So even though I've had mine tested and everything was fine, I think it's still something that we supplement with. And, you know, and Tim does do that and vitamin D.

Lindsay Hiken (11:16.513)
What form? What form do you guys use? do an oral spray or do shots? OK.

Lisa Sheeper (11:21.745)
We do, we do a gummy because the latest that I was just reading about recently was that ones that are in like multivitamins, those actually can kind of, I don't remember exactly how they put it, but they can be not as good. They kind of get mixed up and sometimes they're not as active as a typical, a gummy V by V12 vitamins. So we do that.

And then we take a gummy vitamin D, which we found to people in our household, you're grabbing a gummy real easy because it's kind of, it tastes good. It's easier to swallow. And I have found that everybody tends to take those. Whereas when it was in a capsule form, people weren't having it. So that's what we do. And those are the only two supplements that we take on a regular basis.

Lindsay Hiken (11:49.134)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (12:00.908)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (12:08.937)
I... Right.

Lindsay Hiken (12:15.606)
Okay, okay. I actually take B12 right now because I take a like a bio boost and it has B12. the bio boost is taken and I can't tell you everything in it because I don't remember but it's taken with a subcutaneous shot and then I now have B12 they send me as well and it's taken also with a subcutaneous shot. So I learned how to do that. It's actually pretty easy because you don't need to

do muscles or veins or anything like that. It's just a little prick. So I'm taking that now and I'm hoping that as I eat less meat that that will help that form of B12. We'll see, we'll see what happens. But so far it's helped me feel just taking these bio boosts and the B12 has helped me just with some fatigue issues that I've been having. And I like it.

Lisa Sheeper (12:57.96)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (13:13.286)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (13:14.126)
I was at first I have, I actually would never have given myself a shot. But I have girlfriends that were doing it. And they were like, it's super easy. It's just this little tiny needle. And I was like, let me see. Let me see this needle. Like, let me see. Because and it's tiny. So I was like, okay, I'll try it. I'll try it. Because I have tried to eat plant based before. And I used a spray like a B12 spray. And I think

Lisa Sheeper (13:38.921)
yeah, right, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (13:42.474)
It was not the B12 that was my issue. think the real issue is that for me when I eat plant-based is that I am lazy and busy and I don't put together a good enough meal. And you shared with me a whole host of different types of meals and suggestions. So you've definitely coached me on that and given me really good ideas. And what I'll do is I'll end up reaching for a lot of processed vegan stuff, you know, a lot of

Lisa Sheeper (13:52.21)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (14:10.599)
Yeah, right. And there's a lot of that out there for sure. Yeah, yeah, you can. You can eat Oreos and Coke and that's vegan. But it's certainly not healthy. And there's a lot of vegan fast food that yeah, same thing. It's really not that healthy. So I think you do have to be a little bit careful. that's a good way to kind of transition.

Lindsay Hiken (14:12.014)
processed. Yeah, you can eat like garbage and eat vegan, you know.

Right.

Lindsay Hiken (14:28.236)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (14:38.707)
You know, people always ask me about the plant-based burgers, the Impossible Burger. um, and I'm, uh, they're a good transition. They're not healthy necessarily, but they're healthier than a meat burger. So I think whatever's going to get people to transition to more plant-based. And when I work with people, I don't say they have to be full, full plant-based.

Lindsay Hiken (14:53.868)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (14:57.72)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (15:05.841)
I want them to try and transition as much as they can to a more whole food plant based. So when you look at whole foods, then you're getting more of less processed. And that's always my goal. And it is for my clients too, just try and do that. And it's not as hard as people think.

Lindsay Hiken (15:05.848)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (15:13.006)
Mmm.

Lisa Sheeper (15:30.499)
I spend a lot of time doing it because we, you know, I enjoy it. So I'm trying to think of new ways to prepare foods. but that being said, I do spend a decent amount of time, but it's more for just kind of trying things out. It, when I'm cooking, I don't spend a tremendous amount of time. I can make meals pretty quickly. And I mean, people are kind of surprised. It's like,

Lindsay Hiken (15:36.269)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (15:47.149)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (15:54.167)
Okay.

Lisa Sheeper (15:57.511)
It's already ready and it doesn't take that much time and it's really getting used to shopping and it's just going to be like anything at the beginning of it. It's going to be a little bit harder. I remember transitioning. I was like, it took me a long time to go grocery shopping. But then after that, now I can fly through the store because I know exactly what I'm buying. It's just like you, when you go grocery shopping, you know what you're getting. And then I know what I make when I come home. And we all kind of

Lindsay Hiken (16:05.217)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (16:18.966)
Right. Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (16:26.137)
rotate around probably the same, maybe six or seven things that we like to prepare, I think, for people that are cooking. And I do the same thing, the thing that I try and change up are maybe the spices that I use. So my meals are really similar, but I'll throw different vegetables in or I'll throw different spices in and that changes the whole dish. different grain makes a difference.

Lindsay Hiken (16:33.044)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (16:47.2)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (16:52.162)
So it's not that hard. Yeah. yeah, that's true. That's true.

Lisa Sheeper (16:56.987)
Yeah. And I keep, I usually will make a pot of greens, make, make a, you know, I'll make it in the, the rice cooker, a different type of grain. And then I keep that separate and then I make the vegetables and I keep those separate. And then I usually make enough for two nights so that I cook one night and then basically reheat the next night. So I'm trying, I try to make it so that it's as easy as possible on myself so that I don't have to cook these big meals.

Lindsay Hiken (17:06.177)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (17:14.444)
Okay.

Lisa Sheeper (17:24.527)
every night. So I think in a lot of ways I'm actually cooking less than most people do. Yeah, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (17:24.674)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (17:29.238)
Really? Okay. That's, that's good to know. And I feel like one of the things I was worried about was the protein. I'm trying to, you know, take all this extra processed food. And that that's probably what's making me not feel so great is drinking all the extra.

Lisa Sheeper (17:46.759)
Yeah. Cause usually there's a lot of fats. There's a lot of chemicals, you know, there's oftentimes sugars in it. Yeah. You know, instead of having, mean, we will have occasionally I'll use like the tofu sausage type. Actually they're not even tofu. They're the, the fake sausages and one brand in particular. I can't even remember the name of it right now, but I tend to like that one. And I use it as like a condiment. I'll cut up a couple of them in smaller pieces and I'll put that in.

Lindsay Hiken (17:51.32)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (18:16.399)
with tofu and vegetables and then put some different seasonings in to make it, you know, just kind of give it a different flavor. But we don't do a whole lot of the processed things, you know, and again, if you just switch up your seasonings, that can make a big difference, get some different sauces that you like or make some different sauces too. And that makes a difference as well. And you can use tofu and you can put these different sauces on it.

Lindsay Hiken (18:17.955)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (18:29.794)
Right. Right.

Lindsay Hiken (18:34.797)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (18:39.809)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (18:44.749)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (18:44.792)
and it takes the flavor of the sauce that you're using.

Lindsay Hiken (18:49.752)
Yeah, that's what I've understood. And that's something I'm kind of committed to working on is preparing tofu because a lot of times I don't like the texture of the tofu or something. And I'm like, ugh. But then I've gone out to eat and I've had tofu that was delicious. So I know that it's possible. It's more of me figuring out how to cook it in a way that I like. And one of the things I've noticed, which is a

Lisa Sheeper (18:58.757)
Okay.

Lisa Sheeper (19:05.511)
Right. Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (19:14.003)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (19:18.835)
.

Lindsay Hiken (19:19.736)
which is not saying anything good about the meat industry or the American diet, is that it's almost like a addictive food to a certain extent for me. Like I start missing it in the sense of like just the flavor of it or something. And it feels to me the similar way that when I give up sugar feels like it's addictive.

Lisa Sheeper (19:30.781)
Absolutely.

Lisa Sheeper (19:45.949)
No, it is. They make it that way on purpose.

Lindsay Hiken (19:50.018)
Good point. So they're mixing other things in the meat a lot of the times and yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (19:54.835)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of times there's salt. That's how they plump up things, absorb more fluid than they can sell it for, you know, because if it's got a more fluid in it, it weighs more. Therefore they can sell it for a higher price. Do you know what mean? Cause they're, they're selling you sometimes these plumped up chickens with a lot of water in them. And so you're, you're thinking you're getting more.

Lindsay Hiken (20:02.574)
you

Lindsay Hiken (20:16.246)
Yeah. Right.

Lisa Sheeper (20:22.557)
but you're paying for a lot of additives too. they put, mean, anything that has a lot of salts and sugars and fats, that is something that's very addictive and it's very hard to, as the saying is, eat just one. You know, I mean, if you're having chips or something, it's hard to do. I can't do it. I can't, there's certain things I just don't have in the house period because they're too addicting. You you just, you get that salt,

Lindsay Hiken (20:26.199)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (20:40.086)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (20:47.917)
Right.

Lisa Sheeper (20:51.503)
hit in there and it's like, man, I need more of that. Yeah, I mean, that's just the way it is.

Lindsay Hiken (20:52.91)
Yeah, that's true. I love to eat popcorn with a little salt on it with a lot of salt on it. And that's one of those things that, you know, I can't have in the house because I'll if I buy a bag of pre made popcorn, I'll eat the whole bag and then I'll be like, well, the whole bag was only like 250 calories and not that big of a deal. But it was probably cups and cups of salt, you know, to be honest. Yeah, so

Lisa Sheeper (21:09.384)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (21:18.311)
Right. Yeah, I use a salt substitute. it's a lower. So it's, I still use one that has salt in it, but it's sodium and potassium. So it's totally acceptable. My family doesn't even realize that that's what I'm using. And I don't cook with it, but for flavoring afterwards, if somebody wants salt, then that's what I give them. So they're getting at least half, if not less. I think it's like,

The one that I'm using, has about 40 % salt and the 60 % is more the potassium. So that kind of thing, you know, can make it. And then what I do when I make popcorn is I have this little bowl. It's like a silicone bowl that I got off of Amazon. And you just put the popcorn kernels in there. is, it has popped it the best that I've ever had, way better than putting oils in there. And then I'll oftentimes use a teeny bit of vegan butter. I mean, like maybe a couple of

Lindsay Hiken (21:50.158)
okay.

Lindsay Hiken (22:09.112)
Wow. Mm-hmm.

huh.

Lisa Sheeper (22:16.125)
teaspoons full and then I sprinkle that over the whole bowl and then I like to have a little bit of the low sodium salt and then nutritional yeast. It's really good, so it kind of makes it stick to it. It's really yummy. I was surprised. I thought I would never like that and I actually really do.

Lindsay Hiken (22:17.827)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (22:23.516)
huh. That is good. I've done the popcorn. Yes.

Lindsay Hiken (22:35.674)
I bought an air popper because I was like, okay, I cannot keep buying these bags. So could buy an air popper and make an appropriate amount for myself and Josh. And I did see a recipe to put nutritional yeast on it. So I did it. And I really liked it. And Josh loves it. He's like, when are you going to make that popcorn with that stuff? He has no idea what it is. He doesn't care. He just knows he really likes it. And so you don't cook with salt, sounds like you just don't even put it in there.

Lisa Sheeper (22:37.745)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (22:51.452)
Yeah.

Right. Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (23:00.979)
No, I try not to. mean, every once in a while there's a seasoning that has salt. There's one that I like, umami, but I don't, I try not to use it that much. And again, I find that if, if you cook without salt, I use more herbs and spices and things. Um, and then afterwards, if somebody wants a little bit of salt, that's when I let them, because it's on top of the food so that when you, you know, bite into the food, you get that flavor. Whereas I found if you

cook with it, kind of like dilutes the taste. It's the same thing with sugar. I was making these muffins. During COVID, for my son, I came up with a bunch of different sugar-free and fat-free muffin recipes. But he would be like, they're not sweet enough. And I would sprinkle literally like, I mean, just a pinch of sugar on the top of them. And you get that flavor when you're biting into it.

Lindsay Hiken (23:33.229)
Right.

Lisa Sheeper (23:58.875)
And that's stronger in your mouth than, you know, because it's on top. That's what I found. And so that's why I don't salt and I try not to use much, if any sugar when I'm making baked goods. So, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (23:58.894)
Lindsay Hiken (24:04.79)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (24:12.203)
Okay.

That makes sense actually to have it be the first thing that hits your tongue, then you can taste it without having the whole thing. Okay.

Lisa Sheeper (24:19.559)
Yep. And we don't cook, I don't cook with oils either. I cook with, usually I just put a little bit of water when I'm sauteing things. And, and then again, I'll use nutritional yeast. I'll sprinkle like on the vegetables and tofu and it makes like a creamy, almost cheesy sauce. I put, I use so much nutritional yeast and it's loaded with, with protein and it's, it's fortified with B12. So we're usually doing pretty well with that.

Lindsay Hiken (24:28.204)
Mm-hmm. Huh.

Lindsay Hiken (24:37.251)
Lindsay Hiken (24:42.519)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (24:48.386)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (24:48.723)
you and then you put the spices on and everything, or I use broth. So one of the when I'm cooking, so the broth does tend to have some sodium, but I try and use a lower sodium one, you can make your own. again, I think there's a balance between making it something that people are going to actually do. Where if you use a, you know, rather than a lot of people, you know, making your own broth is much healthier. But, you know, I don't do that. So

Lindsay Hiken (24:53.195)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (24:57.038)
Mm-hmm. Uh-huh.

Lindsay Hiken (25:06.701)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (25:12.142)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, I follow I like to listen to rich rolls podcast and I know his wife I've got their cookbooks, which I've got a huge array of beautiful, like plant based cookbooks. I don't go into them very often, but they're there. They look great. But I just remember reading through and she was like sprouting her own beans and things and I was like, I can't. I was like, I don't know.

Lisa Sheeper (25:27.357)
So do I.

Lisa Sheeper (25:31.302)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (25:37.459)
I do that. I have them on the counter. I got my jar of them. I'm looking at them. Yeah, super easy. And again, another great source of protein. You can sprout just about anything.

Lindsay Hiken (25:45.047)
Is it?

Lindsay Hiken (25:48.91)
How do you even do it? Because I was looking in her, it seemed easy, but then I also was like, don't know. Yes, yes, please, sure. Yeah, awesome. That's great. Super excited because this is not something that I've done, but I've wanted to do it. OK, let's see. Oh, OK.

Lisa Sheeper (25:54.483)
You want me to show you the jar? Okay, hold on a second. I'll be right back. I'll grab it.

Lisa Sheeper (26:04.307)
Here's who you are.

Lisa Sheeper (26:09.725)
So I ordered the lids off of just Amazon. The jar is just a regular jar, Mason jar. You put the top in and I don't know if you can tell, but it's a very fine screen. And this one is different sprouting mixes. I put, it's funny, it's on Amazon, it's called Holly's Mix and it's a bunch of different lentils, different kind of beans. And then I do broccoli sprouts.

Lindsay Hiken (26:15.851)
are.

Lindsay Hiken (26:20.098)
Look, okay.

Lindsay Hiken (26:31.724)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (26:35.938)
Uh-huh.

Lisa Sheeper (26:40.15)
And I forget what else, but you can sprout kind of anything. The only thing I don't recommend sprouting is alfalfa because those tend to be higher in E. coli, even when you're doing them straight from the seeds. But these, yeah, I mean, I just put the seeds on the bottom, fill it up with water about halfway. You soak it overnight or for a few hours, drain it off. And then from then on, you just...

Lindsay Hiken (26:51.47)
okay.

Lindsay Hiken (26:56.754)
huh.

Lisa Sheeper (27:04.531)
rinse it with water twice a day. And then I just leave it like on its side and it drains out and see, I mean, this is, this has been going for a while, but they're live. So this was down to about halfway after dinner yesterday. And it just not halfway. Maybe it was about up to here, but you can see what happens overnight. mean, it's

Lindsay Hiken (27:09.078)
Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (27:19.296)
huh.

Lindsay Hiken (27:25.422)
So when you rinse it, you just put water in it and then you just dump it back out.

Lisa Sheeper (27:28.529)
And then I dumped it out and then I just, I have it sitting on my, I have a window sill and I just have it sitting there and then you rinse it twice a day. I rinse it in the morning and I rinse it in the evening. That's it. And then they're just growing. And then after a while, sometimes it'll be stuffed full and then I just put it in the fridge, but it still keeps growing even in the fridge. So it's great because I mean, you know, these are expensive and these are the freshest you can get.

Lindsay Hiken (27:40.493)
Wow.

Lindsay Hiken (27:46.136)
huh.

Lindsay Hiken (27:55.009)
Yeah.

Yeah, and they're tasty.

Lisa Sheeper (27:57.915)
So you can sprout so many different things, but anyway, that's sprouts for you. So easy. have, and there is even, I have a friend who got it and she, she sprouts. There's a little thing that she bought. That's like a rack and she can put two jars in there, the same size jars camps with the same lids and they just hold them in there and then it drains off. And she just, you know, so she sprouts different things. put mine all together, but you can do so many different things when you're sprouting.

Lindsay Hiken (28:01.912)
Well, that is easy and that looks like something I could do.

Lindsay Hiken (28:16.245)
huh.

Lindsay Hiken (28:24.397)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (28:28.386)
That's awesome. That's all right. Koa, the dog Koa has, there's deer, which is totally fine. Listeners, this dog is not a big dog. I'm not sure he could take down a deer.

Lisa Sheeper (28:30.387)
There's my dog barking at the deer. Sorry. I know, there are. I'm actually, I'm watching them up above, but he barks at those, so.

Lisa Sheeper (28:42.035)
Are you? No, no, he just is, you know, protective of us here at those dinner.

Lindsay Hiken (28:47.182)
Yeah, I have a couple of those two they've been locked out of the my office right now and have a little beeper that I beep if they if they bark and it's not it's on a collar but I don't have to put the collar on because they know if the collar is sitting there that it will make a beeping noise and they don't like the no I mean it they because they both had the collar on in their lifetime and so

Lisa Sheeper (28:56.754)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (29:04.103)
Right. Yes.

Lisa Sheeper (29:13.619)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (29:15.182)
They it's not a shock collar because I don't I don't think those are great. It's a no no. But now I just look look at here. I call it your necklace. Here's a necklace. I'm putting it on the coffee table. You know what this means. And they've been quiet so far. I have the little beeper here in case. But all right. So no oils. And you know you do make it sound very easy and fun. And I think.

Lisa Sheeper (29:18.523)
No, not my favorite either.

Lisa Sheeper (29:28.275)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (29:36.947)
Yeah.

It's really is not that hard. mean, I, that's my favorite part about it. That's what I, that's what I specialize in is working with people to transition to being plant based as much plant based as they want. mean, again, I don't say you have to be fully plant based. think that if you, if you started out over here and if you, you know, this is eating a ton of meat and this is fully plant based.

Lindsay Hiken (29:51.982)
Hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (30:05.347)
just gradually getting yourself over there. And I've had clients that it takes them a long time. Well, you saw my transition. It was not overnight by any means. It may be going from vegetarian to plant-based was pretty much overnight. But the rest of it, the transition was pretty, know, a long transition. And I think it's whatever works for you.

Lindsay Hiken (30:11.246)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (30:26.702)
I'm here.

Lindsay Hiken (30:31.47)
Do you recommend that people, so say, so for me, my ideal lifestyle in terms of my food would be vegan because of animal welfare issues. That's my main, I mean, I know there are health benefits, but for me, animal welfare is a big, big thing. And every time I eat meat, I'm like, I'm so sorry, you know? But I try to eat, you know, I try to eat the ones that are like,

Lisa Sheeper (30:43.995)
Yeah, same.

Lindsay Hiken (31:01.24)
those supposed to be happily in a pasture and humane. then, you know, if you watch any documentary, like I watched, you are what you eat, not too long ago. And then, you know, they're like, well, 90 % of humanely treated pasture raised animals end up in a factory farming situation before they are killed. And I'm like, well, that, you know, that's not what I was aiming for.

Lisa Sheeper (31:24.627)
No.

Lindsay Hiken (31:26.124)
I'm just paying more for meat that is being treated mistreated. So that, doesn't make me very happy. but anyway, so do you recommend that someone in my situation, you know, do this transition of like going slowly from being meat eater to vegetarian to, vegan, or do you recommend someone rip the bandaid off and just do, you know, just go straight over to being a vegan?

Lisa Sheeper (31:55.581)
You know, it really depends on you. I think there's pros and cons for both. You know, you definitely hear where people go just, well, Tim did one day to the next, he was fully plant based. But I think it depends on the person. Some people just, they can't imagine it and it's just too much. I've had people will do it for 30 days so that they know that they can go back if they want to. And oftentimes once you give them

Lindsay Hiken (32:08.206)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (32:19.298)
Okay.

Lisa Sheeper (32:24.463)
a jumpstart of 30 days, they're okay to go forward or they'll kind of go, well, I'm going to have it on weekends. I'm still going to have meat or I'm going to have, you know, special occasions or whatever. So I think it really depends on you. What is going to be easier? Sometimes going fully plant based quickly is easier because you don't have these, well, in this situation, I'll do it this way. Or, you know, this time I'll have meats or I'll have dairy or whatever. think

It can be easier, but for some people it's so overwhelming, they won't do it. So you kind of have to just decide what's right for you.

Lindsay Hiken (33:00.952)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (33:04.512)
Okay, that makes sense.

Lisa Sheeper (33:06.727)
Yeah, but you know, there's so many ways to do it now. It depends. You know, there's so many different companies now that will deliver either fully prepared meals. He's just seeing those deer, sorry. But they'll get either fully prepared meals that are plant based or they'll, you know, get the kind that like Blue Apron where you have, they deliver the ingredients so you don't have to shop and they give you everything and you prepare it.

Lindsay Hiken (33:15.786)
Yeah. It's okay. That's totally fine.

Lindsay Hiken (33:33.026)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (33:34.791)
But that helps a lot for people. Sometimes they're not necessarily super healthy, but it's better. Again, it's better than a lot of the alternatives out there.

Lindsay Hiken (33:37.57)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (33:41.537)
Right, right.

Lindsay Hiken (33:50.156)
Right, yeah, makes a lot of sense. I'm gonna think about what will help me with this transition. People who listen to the show know I've tried many, times and failed, but I feel like every attempt is better than no attempt because I get time a month or three months or six months or some time being vegetarian.

So now my dogs are barking, so we're all good. But, you know, I'm going to think about what what would be best in for me, because I do kind of feel like. Ripping the bandaid off scenario is good for me because of the way my brain works, I'm sort of an all or nothing black and white type thinker. And so if I get into a gray area, I'll easily just be like, well.

there's meat in this gray area. So now I'm going to just eat this meat again. So one other thing, you know, I wanted to make sure we talked about is about IBS symptoms and, and issues and kind of what that, what that looks like. One thing I will just quickly say in terms of the, the eating like protein powders and things that have a lot of like, cause I'll get like chocolate flavor and I'm like, yum, yum, it's vegan, but

Lisa Sheeper (34:56.242)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (35:14.382)
It will have, and it'll say no sugar, but it will have like sugar alcohols in it. And I don't know what those are, but I do know that they've been really bad for my IBS for flaring it up. I've noticed that, yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (35:18.663)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (35:24.593)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, we talked about it on a run once that we both suffer from IBS. I'm more SIBO, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. I've been tested for that and was positive. And I've struggled my whole life with that from a young age. I remember my mom, you know, went full on into, she bought her own grinder for grains.

Lindsay Hiken (35:29.731)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (35:43.469)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (35:53.474)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (35:53.647)
and made this whole grain bread. And I was loving it and had it for breakfast and then lunch. And then about three o'clock, I was getting these horrible stomach aches. And it was probably from that whole grain bread. It was just a little bit too much for my gut. And so that's kind of what started it. But yeah, it's...

Lindsay Hiken (35:58.862)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (36:18.149)
It's a challenge and I've got to say sometimes being plant-based is a little bit harder maybe for that, but I just, can't, I can't go back to meat. I can have a little bit of dairy and a little bit of cheese, no, not cheese even really, but a little bit of egg sort of, but if it's in something, but I will never go back to meats, never, no meat. It's just, I can't do it. And again, it's a lot of the animal, you know, I just, can't do that for me. So.

Lindsay Hiken (36:26.711)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (36:33.122)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (36:38.104)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (36:44.139)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (36:47.429)
You know, I've tried the low FODMAP diet. I don't know if you've tried that. I think that's definitely something that works. And it's funny because I am a dietitian. It was hard. It was very hard. It took me a long time to figure out exactly what foods I could have. I even went to the source, the Monash University was the ones that started.

Lindsay Hiken (36:53.098)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Lindsay Hiken (37:01.293)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (37:10.508)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (37:13.425)
the or develop the low FODMAP diet. So I went and got their app and try and use that. But it was very specific, maybe almost too specific. And I was using, you know, trying to combine it with other ones. And they were saying you could have this food, but the Monash was saying, no, you can only have it this amount. And it was a lot trickier than I thought. And I thought, God, people, you know, and I have this knowledge of nutrition. But

Lindsay Hiken (37:16.238)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (37:33.782)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (37:40.3)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (37:42.225)
I gotta say of everything, that's the only thing that actually worked for me. But I wouldn't, it's not sustainable and you're not supposed to be on it for a long time.

Lindsay Hiken (37:47.043)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (37:50.785)
No.

Lindsay Hiken (37:54.198)
Yeah, yeah, I barely made it to a minute and I don't think I did it perfectly. I just got from my my doctor was like, here's a list of things that you can eat and cannot eat. And we're going to do this and then we're going to do, you know, re entry or whatever and see what the problems are. And one of the things I noticed was that there were certain things on there that I felt like.

Lisa Sheeper (38:01.682)
Yeah.

Right.

Lisa Sheeper (38:09.256)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (38:19.798)
I didn't feel like caused an issue. I'm trying to think of an example. I can't think of one off the top of my head, but then when we did the reentry, I had stopped eating them. And then we did this, rolled them back into the diet. And now I felt like something in my stomach. And I'm like, but I didn't used to feel that when I would eat whatever. you know, so that was a little bit of an issue for me. I already know that dairy is a huge problem for me. It's a problem for...

Lisa Sheeper (38:45.713)
Yeah, it is for a lot of people.

Lindsay Hiken (38:48.47)
And within the African-American community, the bulk of us are lactose intolerant, although eat a lot of dairy in the diet. I know like I'll have and I'll eat it. I'll be like, Brie, and I'll just eat some. And basically, I'm doing this assessment of like, is it worth the pain that I'm going to have later? And in some cases, I'm like.

Lisa Sheeper (38:50.631)
Yes.

Lisa Sheeper (38:57.831)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (39:12.466)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (39:14.752)
It is. then of course later I'm like, that's not, it wasn't worth it. wasn't worth it.

Lisa Sheeper (39:17.043)
It wasn't worth it. Now I go through the same thing in various other foods. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (39:21.998)
It's a hard thing to really deal with, I've found. mean, one of the things that's helped me, but I don't really want to have this as a long-term solution, is my doctor has given me like a prescription to take. But I don't want it to be that like I have to take something after I eat all the time to keep from having stomach cramps. know, that just seems like that's not really...

Lisa Sheeper (39:48.019)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (39:51.214)
going to be a good long term solution.

Lisa Sheeper (39:53.745)
I agree. I just won't do it. mean, I remember starting with my traditional doctor and then I went to a naturopath because I just, you know, I ran out of options with my traditional doctor. She said, I can give you antibiotics, even though she's the one of the most, you know, outside the box type person at Kaiser where I am. But she said, I can only prescribe

antibiotics for you, can't prescribe herbals. So I went to somebody who could, and I used those. And, like I said, they would help some, but I found the only thing that really worked was a low FODMAP diet. And I stayed on it for months, which you're really not supposed to. And then I found that I was having some other issues from being on the low FODMAP for so long. So I would try and reintroduce things and then I would have the problems again. And luckily it just, I think it just, for me, it flares up.

Lindsay Hiken (40:24.054)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (40:29.826)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (40:34.649)
did you?

Lindsay Hiken (40:39.861)
Right.

Lindsay Hiken (40:43.928)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (40:49.127)
badly at times. And it's, I think for me, it's mostly stress, even a good stress, even good stress. If it's too much, it comes around the holidays and it's, you know, it's, it's a happy stress, but it's still a stress for me, it seems like. And I think for a lot of people, that is one of the big triggers. And it takes me a while to kind of relax in, you know, and,

Lindsay Hiken (40:50.285)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (41:08.802)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (41:14.119)
just I start, I go back a little bit to the low FOD map closer. I may not go completely, but just follow it a little bit more. And it seems that my gut seems to kind of calm down a little bit, but it's like this balancing act back and forth, back and forth. And yeah, I've found some things that tend to trigger it more so than others, but for me, I don't think it's a food thing. I think it's a stress thing because I'll go along and eat these foods and I'm totally fine.

Lindsay Hiken (41:18.254)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (41:42.594)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (41:42.843)
And then all of a sudden I'm not anymore. Well, to me, that's not a food issue. don't have, I have things that I may be more sensitive to food wise, you know, like the, the weeds, but, I don't think I'm allergic to any foods. It's just things more intolerances or sensitivities.

Lindsay Hiken (41:46.83)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (41:53.166)
sure.

Lindsay Hiken (41:59.712)
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:05.943)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (42:06.897)
And I think there's a lot of people that are like that and it probably is a lot of stress. And I can't even say I live a high stress lifestyle at all. I just think that that's just the way, you know, and that's why it's meditations and yoga's and you know, exercise. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:20.64)
Yeah, yeah, I agree. Exercise is so important for me for my stress, but meditation is also a key component. And I do have a high stress job. And and I agree, you know, with the exception of dairy, and sugar alcohols, which every time are going to get me with the exception of those two things.

Lisa Sheeper (42:42.043)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (42:47.392)
I do to go through these cycles. So this medication my doctor gave me, I'll go months and not use it at all. And then I'll have this cycle of like where my stomach is just cramping, like and it's debilitating. And then I'm like, well, I'm to do it because I got to get through life. And

Lisa Sheeper (43:02.461)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (43:05.272)
For me, I stress just plays a huge component in many areas of my life. We talked about it when we were on that run, but I'd kind of forgotten about it until you just brought it up. It's like, if I think about it, the most stressful times at work, I switched jobs recently. the driving force behind switching firms was that I had a boss who was incredibly

hard to work with. She's a ball of stress herself and would just put that on everybody, you know, and I was getting to the point where I would wake up and the first thing when I woke up, I'd have a pit in my stomach about, okay, I got to go look at my email. And I know there's going to be emails from her because she would get up at 430 every morning and start firing off emails. And in fact, I talked to Tim about it because Tim was trying to encourage me to

Lisa Sheeper (43:49.105)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (43:57.398)
you know, put myself first with my exercise, not and he was saying, you know, it shouldn't be as exercise. We don't want it to be an additional source of stress, but do something for yourself. You know, he was saying, do something for yourself before you check the email, because once you check the email, it's going to be all over. And, know, and he's completely right about that. But the way that I was interacting with this person, I could not. I just couldn't get myself to take care of myself first.

And I had a lot of IBS issues, you know, I was with her for over five years and the last couple, as she neared retirement, forced retirement, the firm was going to have a, you hit a certain age, you got to retire. She didn't want to do that. So as she neared that age, she got kind of, kind of crazy and just became, you know, more of what she already was. And that's where my stomach just started clenching up and I would have

Lisa Sheeper (44:31.376)
Okay.

Lindsay Hiken (44:52.546)
you know, everything I ate would cause some sort of cramping or backup or whatever.

Lisa Sheeper (44:57.361)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (45:00.078)
switching jobs is a change. like he said, it's a good, this is a good change, but I'm kind of in that phase again, where it's a little stressful because it's a whole different ball game. I don't know these people. Um, and I have been having some issues, but on the other hand, the job itself, like no one's crazy. Everyone's acting like a normal human being. And so I do have a little less of a pit in my stomach and it seems to, um, have helped the situation somewhat. Uh, so I'm, I'm excited about that. I'm excited about that.

Lisa Sheeper (45:16.979)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (45:25.971)
Yeah.

That's good. mean, I think we have to really work towards reducing the stress, you know, and, or how we deal with it. That's where I am. Cause I don't have a tremendous amount of stress in my life. And I even, I realize I have to deal with even how I, how I handle positive stresses. And I think that that does make a difference, you know, how, how you deal with that and taking care of yourself and the exercise.

Lindsay Hiken (45:48.814)
Mm-hmm.

Lisa Sheeper (45:56.795)
always helps. I live in Santa Cruz and I live by the ocean. So I take my dog out every day to the beach or, you know, to the forest. And that helps a lot, I've noticed. So I think, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (45:58.926)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (46:06.734)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (46:10.702)
I live near the ocean too and I'm the opposite. Like I don't go down there very often and every time I go down there I'm like, look, I can breathe. It feels great.

Lisa Sheeper (46:19.985)
Yeah, it is. It's something about being at the ocean. And they've even said that it's just, it really does. You know, it's like being in the forest, forest bathing. I think it's the same thing at the ocean. You actually feel it. And I feel so much less stress over here and it relaxes me. And I feel like this positive attitude. I try, well, I have the dog, thanks to you. And it, it,

Lindsay Hiken (46:27.778)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (46:36.043)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (46:42.402)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (46:46.511)
It makes it, you know, it's kind of, I do it every day because he needs to get his walk in. And I just think of the best, it's best for him because I can have him off leash. And so it does, it makes a big difference for me.

Lindsay Hiken (46:51.64)
Yes.

Lindsay Hiken (46:56.128)
Yeah. For those of you who don't know, a woman I know, Karen was had messaged me and she put on Facebook that she had some puppies that she was like.

they needed a home, she was fostering them or something and super cute. And I messaged her and asked her about just said, they're adorable. me, you know, what's the deal with them? And she told me a little bit. And that very day, this was like early in the morning and that very day I went to a team run and Tim randomly said to me that

the family was looking to adopt a dog and I was like, I just happened to have found a dog and I think I connected you with her or connected Tim with her and supposed to be a lab, a little lab puppy, right?

Lisa Sheeper (47:41.202)
Yes, we did.

Lisa Sheeper (47:46.183)
Yeah, he's not allowed. But it is funny because she was right here in Santa Cruz and I actually see her. She's become one of my best friends. So we, the dogs get together all the time and we get together. And so that was, you. Yeah, he's a chihuahua mix of some kind. He's definitely got a lot more in him because he's bigger. But yeah, maybe that's why he's barking at the deer, but it's, yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (47:54.926)
That's so awesome.

Mm-hmm. He has a lot of chihuahua, right?

Lindsay Hiken (48:09.763)
Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (48:13.302)
Yeah, I have a chihuahua mix too. you know, she's she's bigger than a chihuahua. She's like 20 pounds. And same kind of deal. She was not described as a chihuahua. But a friend of mine who has an actual chihuahua said, you know, no one looks for a chihuahua. They just find you. I think that's true.

Lisa Sheeper (48:24.435)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (48:32.111)
It's true. When we found out that he had Chihuahua in him and that they all did, Corinne just flat out said, no, no, will not accept that. Like, well, I think they do, but they're both they're bigger. They're like 30 pounds. So they're they definitely have other in them as well. But yeah, they're great dogs. So it's been a great addition. And they did they help with stress, too, because you kind of petting them really helps with that as well. So, you know.

Lindsay Hiken (48:40.372)
You

Lindsay Hiken (48:50.007)
stuff.

Lindsay Hiken (48:55.351)
Yes.

Lindsay Hiken (49:00.13)
taking yourself too seriously. My dog's definitely, you know.

as much as I can. work from home. I used to work from home all the time. Now I work from home three days a week and you know, I would sit at my desk and not get up and just be sucked into the stress of whatever and they will come in and be like, you will now come play with us or you will walk us now. you're whatever it is you're doing is not as important as us and I will get up for them. Maybe not for myself, but I would get up for them and go, okay, well, let's go outside and throw the ball.

Lisa Sheeper (49:10.589)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (49:19.239)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (49:27.185)
Right. And that makes exactly, I didn't walk. I mean, I've been here for, we've been living here for about seven and a half years. And until we got him, I would walk on the beach definitely. And I walked a fair amount, but I didn't walk every day on the beach. And now it's every single day, every morning, pretty much I'm out there on the beach unless I go somewhere else to walk. it, those dogs, you know, they make you.

Lindsay Hiken (49:45.963)
So good.

Lindsay Hiken (49:50.124)
Right.

Lisa Sheeper (49:53.287)
do something that's really good for yourself. So I think it's great and the companionship and.

Lindsay Hiken (49:55.182)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Lindsay Hiken (49:59.448)
Yeah, all of that the unconditional love they're so happy to see me when I get back, you know, a good friend of mine from the team, Leah, I think you know, Leah fine. She got a dog, you know, her kids are out of the house now and she just got a dog and man, they are in love her and that dog right now. And it's so great to see how much joy it's bringing to her because that's been my experience to

Lisa Sheeper (50:01.585)
Yeah. yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (50:17.447)
Yeah. Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (50:25.518)
Well, I think we're at the end of our time, but the basic message today is you can take care of yourself. You know, you can eat a plant-based diet. is not that, it's not that complicated. You can get enough protein by eating, you know, it doesn't have to be something you focus on and freak out about and try to de-stress and, know, animals, dogs are a good way to do that. I think.

Lisa Sheeper (50:33.672)
No.

No.

Lindsay Hiken (50:49.644)
So yeah, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast. It's been super fun for me and informational and inspirational. And I know that you do coach people like you mentioned on becoming more plant based or completely plant based. So what I'm going to do is put your information in the show notes so that people who are listening to this episode who are interested can reach out directly to you and talk to you about that coaching. So. All righty.

Lisa Sheeper (51:04.264)
Yeah.

Lisa Sheeper (51:13.661)
Sounds good. Yeah, I really enjoy it. I think it's fun to watch people kind of transition and enjoy it themselves too and find that it's really not that hard.

Lindsay Hiken (51:19.725)
Yeah.

Lindsay Hiken (51:23.404)
Yeah, exactly. Hold on for a second. I'm going to say bye to our listeners, but you and I can stay on for just a second. thanks for listening, everybody. Go to wherever you listen to your podcast and like and subscribe. It really helps us get it out there. We appreciate it. And we will see you next week.

Lisa Sheeper (51:29.905)
Okay.