Written by Christopher Kelly
Sept. 22, 2014
[0:00:00]
Julie: Hello and welcome to the Paleo Baby Podcast. I'm Julie Kelly and today I'm joined by Shanti Landon, mother of five and blogger at lifemadefull.com. Her site was inspired by the changes that she and her family were forced to make after her husband, Chris, was diagnosed with celiac disease.
Shanti, welcome to the program. I'm so happy to have you today.
Shanti: Thanks. I'm excited to be here.
Julie: Great! Well, I really enjoy your blog. I was actually going through it the last few days in preparation for this interview again and I kind of lost touch a little bit. So I was going through and looking and I was giggling to myself about one of the post that you posted recently about the toddlers and the mess under the table. I was really relating to that because I think I sweep the floor probably three times a day. It relates pretty nicely to how frequently we eat. So…
Shanti: Yeah. Do you have a dog that can help clean up?
Julie: No. You know I grew up with small dogs and I really am realizing they're worth their weight in gold at least in how much they clean up the floor.
Shanti: Yeah. It's better than a rumba at times.
Julie: I know. I keep saying to Chris, "We really need a rumba." Well, for people that aren't familiar with your blog and your background do you kind of like walk through, like tell us a little bit about your story and how you began in this world of paleo and I am really interested because our stories are kind of similar.
Shanti: Yeah. So my husband, Chris, he was diagnosed about four years ago with celiac disease and it was about a ten year process to get him diagnosed. He kind of started with just seasonal allergies and had never really had any issues growing up with his health or anything and as the years kind of went by his seasonal allergies just got worse and worse and worse and he was like doing Flonase three times a day and he was on like multiple medications and just constantly it like year round just having allergies.
And so he went to multiple doctors and they basically they did the skin allergy testing and they're like, "You're fine. I mean you might have some allergy to trees or mold, but I mean other than that you're fine." And so he just kind of figured he had to just get used to living that way and then it kind of developed into more intestinal issues I guess.
He started to just have intestinal pain and so he went to the doctor and they did lots of different tests and they're like, "You're fine." And he said, "No, I'm not fine. I feel really sick." And he was losing a lot of weight and then he just started to have a lot of anxiety and he's not an anxious person at all. Like he just would be up at night like not able to sleep and there's nothing in particular that he was stressed out about, but he was just unsettled all the time and like he would describe it as feeling like his blood was like vibrating.
Like he just could not calm down and just be calm. Like he just constantly felt like something was wrong. So he just felt like he was going crazy and finally kind of at the climax he just had a conversation with me and said, "Shanti, I think I am going to die and I want to make sure that everything is in place for you when I die. And so here's all the information that you'll need." And just kind of went through all of that with me and he --
Julie: That must have been so scary.
Shanti: Yeah. And I mean it was like this slow gradual decline. So it wasn't like this huge shock like, "Oh, my gosh, he's going to die." It was like, "Okay, yeah, that's really what it feels like is he's going in that direction." And the frustrating thing was that none of the doctors believe there is anything wrong with him and they just kept telling him, "You're fine. You might have IBS, but you're like basically you're okay."
And he's like, "No, I'm not okay." And he just really felt like he was going mentally insane because no one would believe him except for me. And at that time he was down to about 130 pounds and he's six feet tall. So you can imagine he was pretty emaciated and so he went into work that day and just happened to have a staff meeting and one of his staff members, he's a teacher at a high school. He noticed that she didn't have any bread on her sandwich at the meeting. And so he's like, "What's that about?"
And so she said, "Oh, I have celiac disease and so I can't eat wheat." And so they just kind of started chatting and he after hearing her was like, "Oh, my goodness! Like I think that's what I have." And so he called his doctor on his break. He called his doctor and said, "I want an appointment for this afternoon." And so he was able to get in and he told her, "I think I have celiac disease. I'd like to get tested."
And she initially said no. Yeah. So he was like, "What do you mean no?" And she's like, "Only two percent of the population has celiac disease. You don't have that." And he was like, "I don't care what you think. I want to be tested." And so he thank goodness was like totally advocated for himself and got the test. And sure enough a couple of days later it came back positive.
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And so initially we were just so thrilled that he had a diagnosis. Like I mean we're just so happy. And so he cut out all gluten and then he gained like 20 pounds, but he just really wasn't feeling that much better. And so he continued to go to the regular conventional doctors and just continued to kind of get the same response and then a friend recommended a naturopath that's pretty close to us. And so he went to her and she pretty much saved his life.
I mean she did a whole bunch of series of panels of tests and ultimately came back and said, "You have a leaky gut. And so basically your intestines are permeable." And we had never heard that term. We have never even -- no doctor had ever even mentioned that. And so of course he did all the research he could on what leaky gut was. And so as we were researching that I saw the paleo diet kind of pop up here and there and I was like, "What is this paleo thing?"
And so I got the paleo diet book and read it and I was like, "Oh, my goodness." It was like reading his story again. So initially I was just cooking two separate meals, one for him and one of us, me and the kids and it was just getting to be too much. So I was like, you know, I mean it seems like he's eating really healthy food we may as well just switch our whole family. So I did. I switched our whole family and then after like a couple of weeks and just meat and vegetables I'm like, "Okay, this is so boring. I have to come up with new stuff."
So I just created my blog as kind of a way to inspire myself to come up. It started as just kind of weekly meal plans because I could not think of anything to make. So and then it's just kind of grown from there. So that's the long story.
Julie: Yeah, I mean, but it's funny because I mean it's not funny. But it's interesting because I mean that's one thing that I could point to that has been kind of the most healing about all of this is that every time I talk to somebody else and hearing that other people are going through the same thing or have been through something similar the degrees to which people have been ill is different obviously, but for the most part like there's this kind of resonating thing in a community where everybody's kind of been scarred by this.
And even if it's not you directly like for me, I still find it really easy to relate to a lot of our clients because I may not have been sick personally, but my better half, my partner was really, really ill. And watching somebody go through that and caring for them and also being kind of the cook in the house and kind of have to steer the boat even though you're not the one that's ill it's kind of it's interesting. It's another perspective of how we all kind of go through this in this community.
Shanti: Right. Yeah, when we were in the midst of it I felt like I really needed a support group. Like I wish there would have been a support group. Of course at the time you don't know like what you need support for, but like if you could know that you needed support for that I think it would just be awesome if there was, I don't know, maybe there are support groups around, but I felt like I really needed some encouragement and someone on the outside to say, "It's okay. I've been through this too and there is another side and it gets better."
Julie: Oh, definitely. So I want to talk a little bit about the transition because I think that's something that's really challenging for a lot of people especially people with families because it was one thing when it's just Chris and we had already transitioned to the paleo diet and I was on board with that. I just did it because it was easier and like you I didn't want to cook another meal.
But then when he had to transition to AIP diet I was just like, "Oh, more? I have to cut more?" And it was really overwhelming at first. So how and for you, you did it and you already had kids. So what was that transition like? Did you do a lot of planning or did you just kind of jump in with both feet?
Shanti: Yeah, it was hard. I mean the good thing was that my kids were all still young. And so four years ago my oldest would have been about six and a half, seven. And then my youngest was like a baby. So it wasn't like they were teenagers and I was trying to switch their diet. So that was like a huge plus. So if I could any advice I'd sway switch while your kids are still young if you can.
But it was hard. I mean I think because I grew up with the standard American diet and I mean I ate cereal every day and probably every night like sugar cereal at night. Like I just I think the hardest thing for me was just realizing, okay, there's no more quick like throw pasta in the pot or a box of macaroni and cheese or just give the kids some goldfish you know like those were like just my go-tos.
And so it wasn't like slow transition because since Chris was so sick and we had to make the change which I'm actually thankful for now because I don't know that I ever would have changed if he hadn't have been sick. But because I had to just jump in with both feet and say, "Okay, we're cold turkey and all that stuff. Let's get rid of it all and just let's all be that way."
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I think that helped a lot because it wasn't like I was trying to balance like here we can have goldfish today and tomorrow we can't. Like we just didn't have it in our house and so Chris is very budget minded and so he said, "Okay, how are we going to do this because this food is a lot more expensive than buying our macaroni and cheese."
And he just reworked our budget and we cut out other things that we used to do and basically doubled our food budget in order to get to where we were. So yes it was hard, but it really wasn't that bad. I mean honestly, there could be so many things that would be so much worse and so much harder to deal with. So to me just having to change our food seemed like okay, it's something I can do and we can cut our budget and change it where we need to in order to do the best we can.
Julie: Yeah. And I think that's important point. I talk to people a lot about that and we're transitioning and I try to point sometimes you do have to make a few sacrifices, but really I think in the long term a year from now when you're feeling better and you look back I don't think you're going to miss those things the same way you think you're going to miss them now.
And not only that, but I think you develop new things that you do. For example, people all of a sudden are excited about going to the Farmer's market, whereas before that was never part of their life. Now, I go to the Farmer's market a week. I know I'm really lucky to be able to do that, but there's other things that are better than going to this restaurant you've always gone to, but you can't absolutely can't eat anything at. So yeah.
And then do you -- I mean you said that you don't think you would have changed if your husband wasn't sick. I mean what are like the results that you've seen for yourself and for the kids, the people who wasn't necessarily about celiac when you changed. What were some of the things that maybe surprised you when you changed that you saw?
Shanti: Well, the first change that I would say I noticed in myself was I had had joint pain like since I was a teenager and so and I had been diagnosed with osteoarthritis and took a leave pretty regularly just to deal with that. And so when we changed our diet I stopped taking any type of medication because I wanted to know whether I would actually notice the change or not and my joint pain within a week was completely gone.
I woke up in the morning one day and I was like, "Oh, my goodness. Like I don't feel stiff, I feel like a completely different person." And so that was the biggest change for me and then also my cycle is like completely regulated. I had not had regular cycles in years and those just got regular completely regular.
And then our second oldest son had really bad asthma and allergies and eczema and when we changed our diet -- he basically every winter would get pneumonia. A couple of times he had pneumonia. He was on albuterol and throughout the winter because he would have asthma really bad especially at night.
So he completely got off of all that and he has not had any asthma or allergies or eczema really at all since we changed his diet. And now there have been times where he because our kids are old enough now where I give them kind of the option to when we go out to eat I let them pick because I really want them to kind of own what they're eating. And so he's learned over the last few years that dairy especially for him is just a huge aggravant.
So he'll avoid it whenever he can, but if he goes to a birthday party and eats some cake and ice cream and then comes home you can pretty much guarantee he's going to have a stuffy nose and just be more irritable. And so luckily he's old enough now that he realizes that. So he's making choices on his own not to do that, but yeah.
Julie: I think that's great because I wonder about that. My daughter is still tiny and she's never known anything different than the way we eat, but we're really curious and I think my husband's really paranoid about what it's going to be like when she's out in the world and making choices for herself. And so I'm curious to see what the parents of older kids how they approach that and let them make those choices.
And I think I'm really on the same page with you because I've also seen my mom transition my three brothers who are teenagers and younger and I'm glad that I don't have to transition an older child.
Shanti: Oh, that would be hard.
Julie: It is. It's really hard because the emotional attachment to food is still there and I mean I remember when I was a teenager and what I was eating and just like out of convenience and out of you know. You just don't care as much about what you're eating when you're in that. So I think to give your kids the empowerment to be able to go to restaurants and say, "You know what, that really makes me feel poorly when I eat it and I'm just not going to eat it." I think that the best that you can do is really --
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Shanti: Yeah. And then just pray that the outcome is anything good. I mean, I figure okay. I'm just planning on. I'm sure during the teenage years they're going to like go off and do their thing, but I'm hoping that in the end they'll kind of come back around. But I think it helps like since Chris was so sick and they all saw that, that even though because four of our kids are adopted. So they're not genetically related to him so I can't be like, "You're at risk. So be careful."
But our oldest is and so, but even so like they each have their own risks and so I just use Chris as an example why. And we also did -- I don't know if you're heard of 20 [0:15:51] [Indiscernible] before.
Julie: Yeah, we did that as well.
Shanti: Oh, okay, yeah. So we did that for us and all of our kids and it was great because we were able to see some of the top risks for them and tell them, "Okay, here is your result. This is what you need to watch out for as you get older."
Julie: That's really cool. Yeah, we've done that with Ivy as well. It was really funny. She was tiny. I think she was like four or five months old and we did it and Ivy is like a pipe hat to get the saliva. She thought it was a funny game because [0:16:20] [Indiscernible], but yeah, it is. It's really interesting to see that. And I think just, but the awareness piece I think is what's missing, right, and that with the teenagers I didn't have that.
If I would have known that what I was eating had something to do with my acne I probably would have cared a little bit more about what I was eating, but all the dermatologists and all the doctors said, "No, no. It's nothing to do with what you're eating. It's just your hormones are changing, blah-blah-blah."
But even that they didn't even suggest that the food could be affecting my hormones or my lack of sleep or all these things. So I think it's great that you can give a teenager just that little bit more of awareness I think is huge step up. I mean think of how long it took all of us to realize that our food actually affects our health. That's really cool.
That kind of like transitions a little bit to where I wanted to talk to you about. Kind of your experience with conventional medicine versus naturopathic doctor you talked a little bit about that and your story about how you struggled with the conventional medicine piece for a really long time and then the naturopathic doctor kind of really put the rest of the pieces of the puzzles together for you and our practice is a functional medicine practice.
And that's kind of what we try to do on a daily basis is get to the root causes of things and put all of those puzzle pieces together and I just kind of wonder when he was going through all this with the naturopathic doctor like what other tests was Chris doing and we focus on like the adrenals and got health and I know he found that he had a leaky gut. What did you guys find most helpful with that whole process?
Shanti: I think probably the biggest thing like the initial thing that came up was his vitamin D was at like four. It was like really, really low. And so that was the first thing that she said, "You have to get on a vitamin D supplement." And he noticed the biggest difference in his anxiety level when he started taking vitamin D. Like that's when he felt he started to calm down a little bit.
So that was really big and then she also did a food panel test that had like 200 foods or something that she tested him for which was incredibly helpful because even though I had things like garlic and cinnamon and stuff on it which was completely overwhelming because I'm like, "What are you going to eat?"
He basically ate like plain meat and vegetable for two years like that until it took about two to three years until he could start to kind of expand beyond that, but anyway. Those two things and then yes, the adrenals were big and then just healing his gut. So she gave him multiple supplements and I don't even remember what they were, but now he actually takes something called CeliAct. I don't know if you've heard of it.
Julie: Yeah.
Shanti: And that was like I think probably the final thing that really pushed him over the edge into normalcy because even though we eat mostly paleo now like we'll eat rice a couple of times a week or we'll eat potatoes here and there. We're not 100% paleo and that works really well for our family, but he's just so thankful to be able to eat some of those things now.
And I don't know. The CeliAct has enzymes and things in it that people with celiac often don't have. And so it's just helped him to feel overall a lot healthier. So I don't know. He doesn't take it every day, but it was definitely a huge piece of the puzzle of his health for sure.
Julie: That's great. I mean that's one of the things I was really happy to read in your story and to hear you kind of bring out in your story because I think you know. I don't think it's a misconception, but I think it's not ever talked about enough that I think food is definitely where it starts. It's starts with food, that's a great book.
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But it's true and it does start food and I think changing your diet people change the way they eat and they see huge improvements, but for a lot of people who are either severely damaged or have underlying autoimmune conditions that have been left undiagnosed it's not where it ends. Food can only do so much. There's often times a lot more healing that needs to take place and I think it's great that you guys talk about that and you take it a step further because I don't think a lot of people put that two and two together and they go paleo or they go autoimmune protocol whatever for a year or two and they hit a wall and they're like, "Oh, this just doesn't work for me."
When in reality it is, it's doing all that it can. I mean you might need to do a few more things. So I think I'm really happy that you guys are open and talk about that because I see that a lot with clients is that they're just kind of confused. "You know I read all these books and I got all these information about my diet, but I still have this big gaping hole that I just don't understand why I'm not getting better."
So I think that's pretty great. The other thing that you talked about that I think is an interesting piece that I'd love to talk to you more about is the budget piece. It sounds like you guys did a little bit more planning than we did in terms of how to make it work financially. Kind of just like, "Oh, I guess we're going to spend our money on this food now. So okay, great."
We're just kind of rolling with it, but it is probably better to do a little bit more planning. So how do you go about that? You have much larger family than we do, but I mean I think that's more the norm. What do you do on like a weekly basis? Do you guys set it out monthly or do you just kind of have like your routine that you do for shopping and meal prep?
Shanti: Yeah. We have a monthly budget. So for our family of seven and we live in northern California it's $1,200 and I stick to that. So once the money's out then like we're eating stuff from pantry or whatever, but we generally like that's about where we need to be. And I buy like when I can buy organic I buy organic or grass fed if I can, but I've had to kind of say, "Okay, well, this week we're a little bit tight so I'm just going to buy conventional chicken. It just it happens."
So I do what I can with what we have. So but to me like I think the importance of not just falling into the temptation of, "Oh, my goodness that box of crackers is like so much cheaper than this other box of you know." Because I'll buy some gluten-free crackers or like avocado oil, potato chips or whatever for the kids and it's really tempting sometimes when you see them side-by-side to be like, "You know what, like do they really need the organic olive oil potato chips when they're trice as much as like the ruffles."
But ultimately I just feel like, "Yes, it is important." And I mean there's going to be times where I bought ruffles before. Like I'm not a perfect person, but I try my best to kind of stick to that because I know if I start being lenient then I'll be lenient in other areas too and I really want my kids to know like I'm not a hypocrite. Like I really feel like this is important and I value your health. I don't think that I should give you guys all the junk and then Chris and I will eat healthy all the time which I think is struggle a lot of times too as a parent because you feel like, "Well, I mean they feel fine. They're good to go. They're not going to notice the difference."
And so it's tempting to just say, "I'll just give them the junk." And of course again sometimes my kids will get junk, but we do our best. And I think like Costco is amazing now. At least our Costco is. Like they offer so much stuff and so I do almost all of my shopping at Costco now. And then for the things that are like a little more specialty items like coconut aminos or something I still go to Whole Foods for this types of things.
And I feel really thankful that I can because I know that that's a luxury to be able to go to Whole Foods and get a bottle of coconut aminos is a luxury. So but again like if I needed to I would cut that out and just simplify. Yeah.
Julie: Yeah. I think that's great. The other interesting thing that I'm dying to talk to you about because this is like obviously Ivy is only 11 months old, but homeschooling is a hot topic. And the more and more I kind of get closer to as she grows up it's just is happening so fast. I feel like I have to start thinking about these things sooner than I thought I would.
But I've just I've seen my brothers go through the traditional school system and my mom homeschooled some of them for a couple of years and then put them back in school. And for no other reason the food piece is holding me back from even like the most. I mean we live in Santa Cruz which is a pretty liberal hippie-dippy place.
[0:25:22]
And even like the more liberal schools I just feel like the charters and such that's the piece they're missing. I feel really frustrated because if they just get the food part right then I would have no problem sending her to school. But do you obviously I think it obviously makes it a little bit easier homeschooling with the food, but what do you think about that and do you talk to kids -- do you work that into your homeschooling lessons? Do you think that that's something that -- is that one of the reasons why you homeschool?
Shanti: Yeah. It's definitely a piece of why we homeschool. I mean when we pulled our two oldest out of school they were in first grade in kindergarten like in the middle of the year we pulled them out. And at the time I don't think we had changed our diet yet. So that wasn't part of it at that time, but now it definitely is. I mean I feel like it is so much easier to not. I don't have to worry at all about what they're getting at school because I mean that's basically lunch and snacks that I'm like I know what they're getting because they're at home.
And then just the pressure of being around peers who are all eating most of them probably are going to be eating a conventional diet which is totally fine. I don't care what other people do. I only care what my kids do, but I just know, I mean it's already I can see my oldest especially because he goes to like youth group on Wednesday nights and he'll come back and be like, "They had like root beer floats or whatever."
And right now my kids are doing -- I'm doing the 61 No Junk Challenge on my blog -- 61 Day. I'm sorry, 61 Day No Junk Challenge. And so I asked my kids if they wanted to participate and it would involve basically no Halloween candy because it goes through Halloween and then part of the deal is that if they still want to go trick or treating that they either donate their candy or sell their candy to the dentist. But basically you can't just eat it on November 1st.
So I wrote up a contract and said, "If you want to participate I would love it if you guys participated. You get paid 20 bucks at the end of the challenge and then you get a day of video game time which is like huge in our house because I don't give a lot of video game time. But at any time you can pull out. I don't want it to be my thing."
And so right now they're doing the no junk challenge which means like really no sugar, no wheat, so anytime if we go out to eat they have to get just a paleo meal basically. And but like that would be impossible I think for them to do if they were going to school and it's hard enough just having to go to church or go to a friend's house or go to nana and papa's house and not be able to eat the things that they would probably just allow because they don't want to deal with the pressure or whatever.
So I think it's huge. I really do. And it makes me so sad when I see the "healthy" menus at schools and I think, "Oh, my goodness! Like who is determining that that's healthy? Like I don't understand."
Julie: It's really upsetting like really upsetting.
Shanti: Yeah. And I feel like I mean I think that there's definitely a movement going and so I feel like you know in the next five to ten years I wouldn't be surprised if there were some changes made or some options, but I mean that's big, a tall order to change our whole school system.
Julie: Yeah. It's complicated because it's from the bottom up and from the top down. It's like this weird no man's land. I used to work for a company here in California called Revolution Foods and they started out as a healthy lunch company and I think to their credit I think they are still trying to be healthy as possible. They use mostly all organic ingredients and things like that.
But there's still quite a bit of sugar in their meals. They're still trying to pander to like traditional kid food like pizza and chicken nuggets and that kind of stuff. So there's still a lot of sugar there. There's still a lot of gluten. I don't think it's like the right paradigm shift. I think that they're doing the best that they can, but they're also constricted by the government regulation.
So they can only do so much and also sell meals to schools because schools are restricted by how much money they can spend and all that. So I do think we need kind of more a larger paradigm shift that comes both from the bottom up. So I think we have like as parents keep putting pressure on the school system which I think by homeschooling and taking your kids out of the system that is pressure on some level. I think bought some seats, make money for schools.
So if they're not there then they're not earning for the school, but you've got a pretty big following, so what advice do you give to parents with kids that are in school?
[0:30:03]
Shanti: Well, I mean I think you just do the best you can, again, and live with what you have. I mean I think it starts with educating your kids. I think that's probably the most important thing instead of just saying, "Here's your healthy lunch. You need to eat it." I think it's really important like I've shown my kids all the documentaries like Food, Inc. and Forks Over Knives. I mean I've shown them everything, but I want them to understand all the sides.
I don't want it to be like, "Okay, the paleo way is the only way and this is what you need to be preaching." I don't want it to be like that at all. I want them to really just kind of know what works for their body and what doesn't and then to just think of it as it's just them. Like not to worry about what other people are doing and to be confident in their choices and if they go to school with a healthy lunch that the kid needs to be owning it. They need to be the one that's motivated and inspired and I mean I'm fine with some bribery in my house.
If that's what works I mean I'm not going to like totally overdo it, but like for my no junk challenge paying them 20 bucks a lot of people might be like, "Well, that's ridiculous. I'm not going to give my kids $20 to eat healthy for two months." But I'm like you know I mean that's what speaks to them right now where they're at. And when they're teenagers maybe it'll be something different.
But I really want them to be excited and motivated and inspired to eat healthy. I don't want them to look at it as this punishment and I think that's part of the reason why I love baking so much because even though baking all the time is probably not considered paleo I just love to be able to bake my kids healthier desserts that make them feel like they're still getting treats. You know what I mean?
Like they're not these totally deprived children and so I just I love to bake. I love to and I mean we probably have dessert a couple times a week, but it's just one of my favorite things to do and I think if I had more time we'd probably just eat dessert for dinner, but so that's probably better that I don't. But anyway, yeah, did that answer your question?
Julie: Yeah, no, definitely, definitely. And then on that in terms of your advice for other people what are some of your top ways? I mean you got a huge family and you're obviously cooking a lot. So what do you do to save time in the kitchen?
Shanti: I'm really just all about simple. So I don't make a lot of recipes over again. Like I'll make them maybe if it's a great one I'll make it a couple of times here and there, but I think because I'm a food blogger then I'm constantly like, "Okay, I need to come up with something new because I need new content anyway."
But I'm really just all about taking a couple of ingredients and then putting them together into something simple because that's why pretty much all my recipes are going to take like less than 20 minutes to half hour to make because I just want it to be easy and I want someone who -- I mean I'm thankful that I don't have to work outside the home, but most of my readers do work outside of the home.
So if they have to work outside of the home I want to make it as simple as I can for someone to be able to come home and just pop something in the oven or chop up some vegetables on Sunday night and just get them ready to go so that and I try and put those tips in there like as I'm writing a recipe. If there's something you can do ahead of time I try and note that so that it makes it even less time consuming you know.
Julie: Yeah. Do you think that's gotten a lot easier for you since you guys have changed your diet? Do you think that you -- do you enjoy cooking more now or do you still feel like it's a more of a challenge?
Shanti: Yeah, I enjoy cooking. I mean I go through, I kind of go through phases where like for a couple of weeks I'll be like you know I love this and I'll make a bunch of new recipes and then for like a month I'm like, "Ugh, I don't want to cook at all." And so that's when I go back to my old recipes and just like pick something that's really easy. Yeah.
Julie: I think that's great. And then how do you feel about like getting the kids involved? Do you have any budding chefs in the house?
Shanti: Yeah. My second oldest in particular like he really loves to cook I think just because he loves food so much. But I mean all my kids they love to help in the kitchen and for a while like when I'm really on top of it so because we have five kids it works out really well because they each have a day of the week and so like Monday they're the one who prays at meals and they're the one who helps in the kitchen and all that kind of stuff.
So and then Tuesday is the next kid. So it works out really well --
Julie: So you're saying I need to have more children.
Shanti: Right. You need to have four more then it rounds out. But so when I'm really on my game then we do that on Monday nights. My oldest he helps me in the kitchen and then Tuesday we just keep going down. But I mean realistically that probably happens like a week of the month or something where I actually get each of them in the kitchen each night.
So but really that's the ultimate goal, but yeah. Especially my girls they love to help me bake and so pretty much anytime I'm baking there and they're helping me with that. But when it comes to dinner a lot of times I am cooking while they're doing something that's keeping them occupied anyways. So yeah.
Julie: Well, that's great. Well, I so enjoyed talking to you. Before we go, what are you working on right now? People obviously can find you at lifemadefull.com, but are working on anything coming up or anything you'd like people to know about you and where they can find you and more about you?
Shanti: Well, yeah, just my blog and my Facebook and Pinterest. And I'm working on a book right now. It'll come out in digital format hopefully by November and it's called 30 Days To A Life Made Full. And it has 30 days of paleo dinners, 30 days of at home like crossfit type workouts that are just really easy like level zero workouts and then 30 days of like inspirational quotes and just snippets basically.
Julie: Oh, that sounds fabulous.
Shanti: Yeah, that's it though.
Julie: Awesome! Well, it was really great talking to you, Shanti, and I hope that you enjoyed your time with us and I look forward to your book and let's stay in touch.
Shanti: Thank you so much. It was nice meeting you.
Julie: All right. Thanks.
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