Nourishing the Body, Nurturing the Soul with Stephanie Cansian

Tricia [: 00:00:00

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Mealtime Magic and Mayhem podcast. I'm your host, Trisha Clark. And today I have with me Stephanie Kansian. She's a copywriter and email marketer who can categorically confirm that Central New Jersey does, in fact, exist. She lives there with her husband and her dog, and when she's not writing, she's strength training. Rucking, you have to explain that one to me. Reading, cooking, and or baking. So she's super active on Instagram. I'm excited for you to get to know her. She's got a really fun background, and I seem to keep bringing people into my world that are multi, passionate human beings. And from what I know about you already, I would say that applies from being a foodie, a former barista, a copywriter, you've published a book, you've got all kinds of stuff going on, but we really connected over food. So welcome. I'm so excited that you're here.

Stephanie [: 00:00:57

Thank you so much, Tricia. I'm really happy to be here.

Tricia [: 00:01:00

All right, so I always love to start with a fun engagement question. A big part of my business is really amping up the conversation around the table, and so I love to ask questions that are open ended, and then I usually love to dig in with a backup question of why. Because I feel like you get to know people at a deeper level when you ask those questions versus how was your day?

Stephanie [: 00:01:19

How was work?

Tricia [: 00:01:20

So what are your most treasured family recipes?

Stephanie [: 00:01:25

Let's see. That would be my grandmother's triple chocolate cake, my grandmother's Jewish apple cake, my father's meatloaf, and my mother's gross out delight.

Tricia [: 00:01:37

Gross out delight. Tell me a little bit more about that before we move on.

Stephanie [: 00:01:41

My mom was very creative in the kitchen. She still is. She was constantly experimenting with new ingredients, new things, always trying to get the kids to eat their vegetables. And we went through this phase where suddenly there was ramen in the house, and as kids, we loved it. So my mom was trying to figure out ways to make ramen and noodles and things good, and she came up with this recipe that was basically bow tie noodles, ground beef, cream of mushroom soup, and veg all mixed together. And she sent it down. We're just like, EW, gross. Because we're kids. And she's like, well, it's just called Mom's gross out delight. Then. And so she's like, you all have to try some. And we did, and we loved it because it was noodles, like ramen, and it was beef, which we liked. And the cream of mushroom soup kind of covered the vegetables so we could ignore them. That was one of those things together, and we would eat it. So I don't know where she got the idea. I don't know where she if there was a recipe, I have no clue. But from that point on, it was Mom's gross out delight.

Tricia [: 00:02:46

That's hilarious. That is one of the best stories. We had this casserole that my mother always made, and it was this layered casserole. I've never had it, and as an adult, none of us have been able to replicate it. And there's no written recipe, but it was like rice in the bottom. I don't want to say like a layer of brown ground beef. I'm sure it had some seasoning in it. I don't know what it was. Like some stewed tomatoes, some cream style corn, and then was topped with paprika or something. And I remember my sister tried once, and I think I told this story on another episode of my podcast too, but it just cracks me up. And so one of my sisters tried to replicate it, and she got confused. And instead of paprika, she put cinnamon. I mean, it's like a good dusting all over the top. It was so bad. It was so bad.

Stephanie [: 00:03:38

I have a story like that from an ex. I was living with an ex, and he insisted that his mother had boiled cucumbers. And I looked at him and I said, are you sure it wasn't zucchini that your mother used to boil? And he's like, no, it was cucumbers. So he made boiled cucumbers one night, and I was the best girlfriend. I took a single bite and promptly said, no, thank you, but thank you for letting me try this dish that your mother made. He was a trooper. He refused to admit that he was wrong and ate the entire thing, but never made it again.

Tricia [: 00:04:20

Did you ever find out if it really was cucumber or if it was zucchini?

Stephanie [: 00:04:24

No, never did. Never did. That remains one of the singular memory from that relationship.

Tricia [: 00:04:34

I'm not sure what's more disturbing, the idea that it might have actually been cucumber or that he didn't know the difference between cucumber and zucchini, but I feel like we could do a whole episode on that. Wow, that is an interesting experience. Okay, so tell us a little bit about your background and your relationship with food. I know you grew up in a Jewish family, and you've talked about that food was a really integral part. So tell us a little bit about that before we get into the rest of the conversation, because I think it's a really important part of your story.

Stephanie [: 00:05:03

because at some point in the: 1960

Tricia [: 00:07:52

So how did you see that impact your life as you got older? Because once you move out of the house, then what does that relationship with food look like?

Stephanie [: 00:08:02

That's where in college, suddenly you're away from the house, you get to make your own food, and suddenly you realize that you have money and you can go out and buy a box of Ring Dings and no one can tell you not to. So there's that period where you kind of go a little crazy, especially in college. You buy pizza, you buy all this stuff that you were never allowed to have at home, like sugary, breakfast, whatever. And for me, because I grew up in a household that was very food aware and loved experimenting with food, I started experimenting with foods and other foods that I wasn't very familiar with. I remember very clearly being in my college dorm room and coming up with a recipe for chicken tortilla soup in my hot pot, using, like, lime flavored tostitos, canned chicken soup and a jar of salsa.

Tricia [: 00:08:55

I'm going to have to remember that and write that one down for my son, because he's always like, mom, what can I make in my dorm room? Brilliant. Actually, yes.

Stephanie [: 00:09:05

g, going to the food court at: 02:00

Tricia [: 00:10:38

Interesting. And I so understand that. And I even think the other part that sticks out to me that you haven't mentioned, but when you grow up in a house, that's that food aware and you have a plethora of food, you also don't realize when you go to college that you had probably a plethora of even though you had all those foods available. There was a plethora of healthy foods mixed in there available. And when you go off to college, that's not what's handy. It's not what's close. You don't have a lot of space. You're with your friends. Like, social becomes more important. Just getting by becomes more important. I remember at that age, I ate a ton of canned tuna, but everything I mixed it with, if I ever see, I don't care if I never eat another can of tuna, but it was it was ramen. It was mac and cheese. It was the packaged things and the things that, even though you might love them, those things that used to balance out your diet and fill you up in the midst of it with the nutrients just aren't there anymore. It's not that you don't like them, but it's just at a different level. And so now you're filling your body with all the things that are easy and convenient, and then I truly believe that those foods even contribute more to the emotional eating. Right, because they taste so good in the moment, and then you don't want to stop eating them. As much as I love vegetables, trust me, there's a point where I want to stop eating them. That's not going to be the case with a bag of doritos.

Stephanie [: 00:12:04

Right.

Tricia [: 00:12:05

And so college is a very interesting time where all that's concerned, and I can see that being a really drastic shift for you.

Stephanie [: 00:12:13

It was. The other thing I didn't realize is that I didn't realize how much I focused on food until I got around people who weren't we would be going to someplace of like, oh, my first question would be like, oh, what's there to eat? And they would be like, I don't know. Why? What do you mean? You're not thinking about that? No, I was like, oh, people don't think about food all the time. What is this? So growing up with plethora of food, going to college, things that are convenient, things that are cheap, things that will emotionally fill you and then kind of leave you empty a little bit later, that kind of became like, oh, this is just what it is. And then after college, the behavior doesn't change magically. So after college, I started working. I moved to a house with roommates, and suddenly it was like, all these eating habits did not change over. I wasn't suddenly eating salads again just because I was out of college. It was like, well, can we afford a pint of rice and wanton soup this week? And you're so focused on just on work and everything else that then food again becomes that comfort, but it also becomes, I don't want to think about it. And then suddenly there's this push pull of, I don't want to think about food, but I have to eat, but I'm also unhappy. What can solve all three of these things at once? Yeah, pizza.

Tricia [: 00:13:31

Right? Well, I don't know about you, but I know historically, if I decided I was going to lose weight, right, it was this all in mentality. It didn't start with a mindset shift. It started with, I have to I need a very limiting lens. And then you go all in trying to change all your habits at one time, and then you wonder why you feel like a failure, and you can't stick with it after you've obsessed about it, and you've been so great for two or three weeks, right? And then you're like, this sucks, and I'm done. I don't even care if I'm fat. It's just such a vicious cycle. So for you, what was the moment where you were like, okay, this has got to change? How did that come about for you?

Stephanie [: 00:14:13

y health seriously. In around: 2011

Tricia [: 00:16:31

So do you remember what the first decision you made was? What was that one thing that you decided was going to make you feel proud of yourself?

Stephanie [: 00:16:38

. And so here I am in January: 2021

Tricia [: 00:18:53

How did that make you feel? Did you notice a difference? Did it take you a while to notice a difference of eating more protein?

Stephanie [: 00:18:59

So I started with a focus because I'm a very goal oriented person. I like having a goal to hit. So I think, okay, if I can hit this amount of protein per day, then I win. I can have whatever else, but I have to have this amount of protein per day. And once I started hitting that, I realized that all the other stuff I was eating, I didn't want it as much. I never restricted anything. Nothing was ever off the table because I don't deal well with restriction at all. So everything was on the table. But it became a matter of, have I had my protein yet today? And if the answer was like, no, I haven't had protein today, okay, let me have protein first, and then I can figure out what else I want. And as I started doing that, I realized that some of the foods that I had previously craved was kind of falling to the wayside. It wasn't that I didn't want them anymore, it's just like, I don't need them right now, I can have them later. That became a really huge shift because before it was like, oh, I'm craving this thing. I must have it now. And now it's like, I'm craving this thing, but I don't need it now. I can have it later. And then later on it's like, you know what, I really don't need the thing. But it was never a no. It was never a no, you can't have this. I never said that to myself. It was always a did I hit my goal? If I did, I can have it. If I didn't hit your goal first, then you can have it. And that's where I started with this whole protein first mentality of like, have I hit my protein first? And then once I've hit my protein, I can have whatever else I want.

Tricia [: 00:20:32

Well, and I know as women we typically don't get enough protein. And I'm in my early fifty s, and the older we get, the more protein we need and the more important it is for us to build muscle and to do that strength training. And again, I'm no health coach. I'm not a nutritionist. But I love this conversation because so much of my work is around food. But I think it's really important for people to understand that there is a balance and our bodies do need certain things. And I've realized that the more protein I eat, the longer I feel fueled. Definitely, it keeps me full longer. As you were doing that, what were some of your go to things when you said, I need to add in a little bit of protein? Because I know for I can speak for me specifically, but I know there's a lot of women that struggle with, well, how do I get that much protein in without eating meat all the time? And so were there things that you gravitated toward to help you get that protein count up that were simple shifts that weren't about having to cook all the time?

Stephanie [: 00:21:32

Yes, absolutely. Because I was working. I have a dog that I take care of. I didn't want to be cooking all the time. So simple things I did, I gravitated very quickly towards protein shakes, very specifically a protein shake that had vitamins in it. So that way I knew I was getting my good amount of vitamins even though I was eating vegetables and things. Like, it's always good to have that balanced vitamin profile, but those were easy because all you had to do was mix it with the liquid of your choice. I was usually either an alt milk or cow's milk or water. Mix it, drink it, give yourself ten minutes, and then you usually feel fine. A lot of people don't like protein shakes because the taste is weird or it's a weird texture or whatever. I did so much with protein powder. I made it into pudding. I made it into ice cream. I did so much with it, like, mixing with oatmeal, but not a lot of people like that. The other thing I did, which when I told my mom about this, she was like, you did what? Now is I would buy value, pack chicken breasts and cut the breasts into like three to four ounce pieces and air fry them for like 20 minutes of 400 degrees in the air fryer. And they were basically chicken snacks. And I'd throw them in a tupperware, and whenever I got the urge to eat something, whenever I felt hungry, but I didn't know what I wanted to eat and I felt stuck, I would just grab a three to four ounce little chicken breast and chew on it while thinking about what I wanted to eat. And usually by the time I was done with the chicken snack, I wasn't that hungry anymore.

Tricia [: 00:23:11

That's a great idea. That's a great idea.

Stephanie [: 00:23:13

The most amount of prep work you had to do was cutting the breasts up into portions and then just throwing them in the air fryer. Or if you don't have an air fryer, throwing them in the oven for like, 40 minutes on 400. Just put some seasoning on it. You're done nothing fancy about these at all. You want something that's just finger size, grab and go. So while you're sitting there and you're feeling hungry and you don't know what to eat, you can chew on this chicken snack and be like, okay, I can think clearly now. And that was the point of that, is I wanted to be able to think clearly to make good food choices.

Tricia [: 00:23:45

That makes sense.

Stephanie [: 00:23:46

And if that meant eating like a three to four ounce piece of chicken just to get my head cleared, then that's what I did.

Tricia [: 00:23:52

So I think the most important thing I'm hearing out of this or that I'm picking out of this, is that you also really learn to listen to your body and what your body needed, like, really listening to, do I need protein? Is it protein that I need right now? Am I going to have this thing and then am I still hungry and really listening to what your body would tell you? Now, as I say, that the other thing I'm going to mention about protein and know I love yogurt as a high protein snack, but a lot of people are lactose intolerant or dairy free. So just FYI, my own personal find is that the Chabani Greek yogurt is lactose free. So if that's your struggle, the Chabani Greek yogurt is amazing. Great way to get ten or 11 grams of protein in. Hard boiled eggs are a great option. Edamame is a great option. So there's lots of ways that little ways we can add more protein into our diets without feeling like we have to cook all the time. I think the chicken snacks or anything you can meal prep ahead of time is great. And I'm not recommending anybody spend hours in the kitchen because on Sunday, prepping for the week. Just pick one or two things, start small, have them ready for that grab and go like she talked about, because that's really when I find you get in trouble, is that grab and go. I'm in a hurry. Now what?

Stephanie [: 00:25:09

And the best thing about the chicken snacks was that if you just needed a serving of protein and you didn't want to cook, you could take two or three of those pieces, throw it into a salad, cut it into strips, put it in a sandwich, and turn that into your meal. So, yeah, I'm done with the hours of cooking. Unless it's a big holiday with the family coming over, I'm done with the hours of cooking. If it takes me more than 30 minutes to cook, it means it's a big occasion. But like you mentioned with the Greek yogurt, greek yogurt is good or dairy free. Greek yogurt can be a good protein source. You just have to check the protein. And if you want to up the protein, you add your protein powder to the yogurt. There's a double portion of protein for you.

Tricia [: 00:25:51

You can add chia seeds. There's so many ways to dress that up and add some other nutrients. Okay, so how long did. It take you to get to your 100 burpees? Did you get to your 100 burpees?

Stephanie [: 00:26:01

I did. It took me about eight months to get to 100 burpees. I started January, and by August eigth, I could do 100 burpees in a day. I think it took me about an hour to do it because I broke it up into places. And then after that, I said, well, now I want to be able to do 100 burpees all at once. I just want to be able to do 100 burpees just in a row. And that took me, I think, another five months to do that. Over the course of me doing these burpees, getting my goal, feeling so proud of myself, I wound up losing 30 pounds.

Tricia [: 00:26:39

That's awesome.

Stephanie [: 00:26:41

That was never my intention. My intention was only to just feel proud of myself and get to this goal, and I did it. The weight loss was the side effect of the choices I was making to get to my goal.

Tricia [: 00:26:54

Congratulations to you. Thank you. One, obviously you've already said you're goal driven, but I love that consistency and that drive. To hit that one goal and really taking the stuff that had been the baggage that comes with wanting to lose weight and kind of shedding that and being able to shift your focus and your mindset to approach it in a different way, I think is really amazing. So congratulations to you on that.

Stephanie [: 00:27:22

Thank you.

Tricia [: 00:27:23

I know that when we first started talking, your whole thing is eat for your goals, not for your feelings. And I think your story really drives that home about setting one small goal and meet that and how can you go after that goal even more or in a different way? What can you add to it and then just see what happens? I think we really have to take the pressure and the expectations off of ourselves to be perfect and to do it in just this way or the way people say we have to or shoulds, because I feel like just creates more chaos.

Stephanie [: 00:27:56

Well, absolutely. During my process of trying to get to my goal, I actually injured myself because I was doing burpees incorrectly. So for about a period of two weeks, I could only do maybe one a day because I had hurt myself. It was incredibly frustrating, like, oh, no, I screwed myself up. What do I do? I might as well just give up. But no, it was a matter of, okay, I did this the wrong way and this is what happened. Let me course correct, because I still want to make my goal. I still can make my goal if I can learn from this experience and move past it. That injury actually was probably one of the best things to happen to me because it taught me that I was doing something wrong and I had to go back and figure out what I was doing wrong, learn from it, and then correct myself, which took another couple of weeks to figure out the correct form to do. But from that point, I actually got better. It became easier to improve because I had taken the time to figure out what I'd done wrong the first time. Anytime there's a kind of a setback, it's always a matter of if a tire blows on your car, you don't puncture the other three tires and just say, oh, well, you just get the one tire fixed and you continue on with your day. It's a pain in the platoon, but you still move on. It's the same thing if you mess up. You learn from it, you fix it, and you just keep going. You can't let one small thing just completely derail you because no one would progress that way if that's what happened all the time.

Tricia [: 00:29:28

So true.

Stephanie [: 00:29:29

So getting injured was probably one of the best things to happen to me on my burpee journey because it taught me how to do burpees correctly rather than what I thought I knew how to do. And I got to my goal despite the setback. I got to my goal probably because of my setback.

Tricia [: 00:29:46

Somewhere in there you also found a love for strength training because you've been training for something recently, right?

Stephanie [: 00:29:51

So after I hit my 100 burpee goal, and after I hit 100 burpees all at once goal, then I thought, all right, let's see if I can do 100 burpees every day. And I did that for a solid, like seven months. So that was over like 20,000 something burpees, something like that. And at that point I'm like, okay, I've done this now what else can I do? And that's the best question. It's like, I've accomplished my goal. What else can I do? How else can I challenge myself here? So that's when I started like, all right, well, I'm stronger, I've got muscle. Let me try strength training and really building my muscles to create a strong body that's going to keep me going for the long haul. So that's what I started doing. And I'm only a couple of weeks in, maybe a month or so in, but it's been a much different experience, but still incredibly worthwhile. And my protein numbers actually went up, so that means I get to eat more, which is great.

Tricia [: 00:30:52

So on the subject of food, I know you love getting super creative in the kitchen. You've talked that you love to prep components for when you need quick and easy meals. But how have you found the balance of being a foodie, being creative in the kitchen, eating for your goals and maintaining your family's traditions and the way you pass down those recipes? How have you been able to balance all of that?

Stephanie [: 00:31:17

It comes down to that mindset of kind of like, I'm craving this thing now, but I can wait till later. There's a part of me that really loves being able to spend a full day in the kitchen cooking an elaborate meal, but then having a whole group of people really come and enjoy it. That's the payoff for me, is being able to feed everybody good food, have everyone come together and really enjoy it. But that only happens a couple of times a year. So I know at this point during the year, we're already making plans to have this big family dinner. I don't want to burn out and be sick of the kitchen before that happens. So for this time before that, I'm just going to keep things very simple, very easy. If I go to the store and there's a new fun ingredient, I'll pick it up and try experimenting with it. But I'm not going to go crazy. That allows me to get a little creative, keep my goals on track. And then when it's finally time for those big dinners, those marathons in the kitchen, it's like, all right, now I'm ready for it. I'm excited. I've got all these new ideas that I've been kind of building up over the course of time that I can try, and it makes it for a much more enjoyable experience, because when you put that amount of pressure on yourself very consistently, it no longer becomes a joy, it becomes more like a job. And that's something I never wanted. I will leave that to my brother, who is a baker. I never wanted cooking to be my job. If I'm going to cook something elaborate, I want people to be able to enjoy it and I want to be able to enjoy the experience.

Tricia [: 00:32:49

I love that you bring that up, because you know that so much about my business is even though cooking and food is really just my mechanism, right? I am obsessed with food, and I love cooking, but it's because for me, it's a means of creating connection and strengthening and repairing connections. And so anybody who's listening, or if you're watching this on YouTube, I don't know if you noticed, but as soon as Stephanie started talking about those two times a year that she gets to spend the day in the kitchen and cook for her people, her whole face, her whole body, the octave of her voice changed, and she got all excited. Like, you could see the energy. It was palpable. And that's really what I want people to understand that mealtime can be. And you're really creating that experience for the people that you're serving those couple of times a year. But what I also saw is that you're really serving yourself. When you do that. You're serving yourself the things that bring you joy and a way that you can do the things you love that also bring joy and nourish other people's bodies and souls. And that's just absolutely beautiful and exactly what I want this podcast to be all about. And so I love having these conversations to break down. Like, what was the shit that was in your way, and how did you get through that so that you can create these moments, even if it is twice a year, it's not about eating family dinner and an elaborate meal every night of the week. Nobody got time for that.

Stephanie [: 00:34:11

No, nobody has time for that.

Tricia [: 00:34:13

And so I just really appreciate you sharing your story, and I hope that the listeners get something out of it. I have a couple more questions for you. I want to know more about this garlic miso butter ramen with chicken that you love and the marinated cucumber salad. And if you would share that recipe with us so I can throw them in the show notes, because it sounds fabulous. We've already talked about ramen, so I feel like we either got to put mom's gross out dish in here, or we're going to go with garlic miso butter ramen. Maybe both. I mean, it's up to you.

Stephanie [: 00:34:42

So the garlic butter miso ramen, I discovered this ramen from EMI ramen. I'm not sponsored, not an ad. This is just a ramen I really, really enjoy. It is high protein. It is high fiber. I think it uses like, pumpkin seed as a base, low sodium and really great flavors and vegan. What I did is I got some of it. I tried it out, I really enjoyed it. But then I thought, okay, what else can I do with this? And I used to get one of those meal delivery kit things that you get in the mail, and one of the recipes they had was for a miso butter spaghetti almost with some pork. And I remember thinking, oh, this is really good, combining the miso and the butter. And then I got the idea like, hey, what if I add garlic in there? Because garlic makes everything better.

Tricia [: 00:35:30

It does.

Stephanie [: 00:35:31

Then I thought, okay, so I've got this garlic butter miso. What could I put it on? I'm like, oh, I've got this really good ramen that I could put this on. I think that would work really well. And then I've got my chicken snacks in the fridge that I could throw on as well. So while the ramen noodles are cooking, because they do take a while to cook, because they're not your typical wheat base, they're like a seed base. You brown the butter, you get the garlic. You add your miso into the pan. You stir it all up, add a little bit of the pasta water to make a sauce. And then once the ramen is done, you drain it, throw it into the pan, mix it all up, and then throw your chicken in, mix it all up. You can garnish with some green onion, and that's it, you're done. It's usually done within 15 minutes if your chicken snacks are already prepared. If your chicken snacks are not already prepared, you throw the chicken in the air, fryer first, and that takes 20 minutes.

Tricia [: 00:36:18

Okay. It inspires me. I'm already like, okay, so let's say you don't want to start with pumpkin seed noodles. You can use a package of ramen and not use the seasoning moms out there that are super busy, and you've got ramen around your house. You could use leftover spaghetti noodles that haven't been drowned in sauce. You could add some chicken broth and make it a miso soup and put a hard boiled egg on top. There are so many things you could do with that to stretch. I mean, think about repurposing leftovers into something with that base, and so that's going to be fun. And I can see all sorts of ideas that can be stemmed just from that one recipe.

Stephanie [: 00:36:55

If you have, like, some steamed broccoli or some leftover steamed broccoli, you can throw that in there too. I've done that. You can probably also work with some spinach or any other kind of green. Yeah, it's a great base to just kind of add things with, and it's just a matter of which flavors you like.

Tricia [: 00:37:11

I love it. So Stephanie has a book called Change the World in $10 or Less. Right. And it's like, 100 tips on how to make life more interesting and more fun. And we're all about fun here at mealtime, magic and mayhem. Like, food should be fun. Life should be fun. It's too short for it not to be. So tell us a little bit about your book where they can find it and and anything else you want people to know about you.

Stephanie [: 00:37:32

Sure. So I wrote the book while I was actually going through my burpee journey, because I realized, as I was feeling better about myself, I thought, okay, what else can I do? I thought, you know what? I've always wanted to write a book. What do I know about? And I thought of all these little stories that I had in my past that kind of, like, either changed my own outlook on life or shifted my outlook on life. I thought, you know what? Let me just put all these together into a book. There is a lot in there that has to do with food because I'm very food focused, but a lot of it is just celebrating the joy of being able to experience food and experiencing food with others and bonding over a connection. One of the tips I have is to have a potluck dinner with your friends where you pick a house and everyone brings a dish. Or if you can't meet up, I think, because this was still during the pandemic. So it's like, if you can't meet up, have a cutthroat kitchen over zoom where it's like you each have the same ingredients, and you see what each other can come up with. And just as a way to spend time together, also get creative, and also make food for people. I know one of the ones that another person commented on recently was getting some really beautiful little donuts or desserts from, like, a bakery and just photographing them very artistically and then sharing them with people just to make something beautiful for no other reason. Actually, you have access to this. Enjoy it, share it, and then share the food with people.

Tricia [: 00:39:04

I can't imagine a donut not making somebody smile.

Stephanie [: 00:39:07

Right?

Tricia [: 00:39:07

Honestly?

Stephanie [: 00:39:08

Yeah, it's a donut. Make something beautiful with it. Share it, enjoy it, enjoy the experience of it. That will feel more fulfilling than just simply eating the donut.

Tricia [: 00:39:19

Yes, absolutely. We'd have this Memorial Day party every year, and it was really like, working in this really cool melting pot. And so what we would do is we would provide the burgers and the hot dogs, and then we would have everyone else bring a dish. And what was so fun is I remember a guy from Sri Lanka brought fried rice, and our friends from Lebanon would know baba ganoush, and our friend Delia, who's from China, would bring egg rolls, and it was just this. And our other friends make really good brisket. And so everybody would just bring the dish that they're most proud of. There was no theme. There was no, like, this is the menu. Everybody brought the dish that meant the most to them every year. And the menu was always I say the menu, but the buffet, if you will, was always different. But we learned so much about foods, cultures. They felt comfortable, seen, heard, and loved enough to be able to bring something close to their heart, to our house. We felt loved because they chose to share it with us. And it's just such fabulous connections. You're right. The potluck is just I got goosebumps. Potluck is just, like, one of the best things ever for that reason. Because, again, it's a way for you to learn about people at a deeper level. Like, food is the ultimate icebreaker.

Stephanie [: 00:40:41

Yes. You can learn so much about a person where they come from, where they are, just by what they would bring to a poplar. Like you said, people bring food that they're proud of, and it's great finding out about these people without even have to saying anything. You can just say, oh, this is so good. And they're like, oh, I can get you the recipe, and you just start the conversation. I love being able to do that with people. I love being able to just start conversations, get people excited about themselves and their own history, their own passions. And I love seeing people come to life like that.

Tricia [: 00:41:16

And you've really proven and I think you're a great example for everybody who's listening or watching that you can have both. You can have the baked goods. You can be healthy. You can lose weight. You can keep it simple most of the time and then go out with a bang when it serves your heart and it feels right. There is no cookie cutter approach for anyone, for any family, for any one person. It's about finding what works for you and then really leaning into that. So beautiful. Thank you so much for joining us. Where can people find you and connect with you if they want to know more about Stephanie Kansian, I am most.

Stephanie [: 00:41:56

Active on Instagram, so you can find me under my username SL Canzian, or you can go to my website, stephaniecansian.com. But mostly I'm on Instagram. I'm not going to lie. I love it.

Tricia [: 00:42:07

Yes, you can watch her daily routines and stories. I discovered that's true.

Stephanie [: 00:42:11

I post my daily routine every day because I've gotten a lot of people who are like, wait, how did you lose 30 pounds? How did you do that? You're a writer.

Tricia [: 00:42:21

As if that means you just sit on your butt all day.

Stephanie [: 00:42:24

Exactly. It's like, no, I go for walks. I go for rucks, which is basically a weighted walk. I put a weight in my backpack and I go for a walk. That's right.

Tricia [: 00:42:34

I did forget to ask you about rucking. Thank you for clarifying that.

Stephanie [: 00:42:37

No problem. It's one of the simplest exercises you can do. It's literally put a weight in your backpack and walk someplace. And I listen to a podcast while I do it. And it doesn't even feel like exercise. Yeah. At my desk, if I'm feeling any kind of way, I get up, I do ten burpees, I go back to work. Keeping it simple is key and knowing what my body needs. After a long time of listening to this person, that person, this diet book, that diet book, this, and I finally was just like, no. What do I need to do to make myself proud?

Tricia [: 00:43:09

Beautiful. Well, thank you again for being here, you guys. Anybody? Her book is available on Amazon. It's changed the world in $10 or less. You can find her on Instagram. And we will sure to put the garlic miso ramen recipe in the show notes and the links for you to get in touch with Stephanie. We will see you or hear you on the next episode. Thanks so much.