#69: Elevating Women One Meal at a Time with Carly and Carmen of Radiant Knowing

A Nutritionist and Dietitian duo, Carmen and Carly help women unlock the clarity and confidence they need to nourish their bodies holistically and age-proof their health while creating a simple and sustainable plan for feeding their family.
In today's conversation, they give actionable tips for moms to help them level up and not get stuck in the stress and anxiety of everyday life. They love to help moms revolutionize their systems to get more organization and structure in their lives. We talk about the freedom of planning and how they have an incremental process for elevating women one meal at a time. I hope you find this conversation as insightful and empowering as I did! Enjoy!

Get their snacks list: 365 Days of Nutrient-Dense Snacks for Busy, Health-Conscious Moms. That's an entire year of healthy snack ideas—done for you!
Find them online:
www.radiantknowing.com
IG: https://www.instagram.com/radiantknowing

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Transcript

[00:00:00] to the Plan to Eat podcast. Where I interview industry experts about meal planning, food and wellness. To help you answer the question. What's for dinner. 

Roni: Hello and welcome to another episode of the Planty Podcast. Today I have a wonderful interview with Carly and Carmen of Radiant Knowing. They are a nutritionist and dietitian duo who have teamed up to create this business where they help busy moms.

Unlock clarity and confidence, so that they can nourish their bodies holistically and create simple and sustainable plans for feeding their family. And we just had a wonderful conversation. They both give some really actionable tips for, um, for moms and really for anybody who's doing kind of like the, the homemaking, the, the child caring part of a household.

To [00:01:00] really help you like up level and not just get stuck in the stress and anxiety, um, little whirlwind that can happen. Um, they're really into, you know, specifically empowering mothers, into kind of like revolutionizing some of their systems. Getting more organization and systems put into place so that they can find a little more freedom and a little more time in their life.

We just had a really great conversations today, and I know you are going to love it and enjoy it. Carly, Carmen, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.

Carly/Carmen: Thank you for having us. We're so happy to be here. Yeah, thanks Roni. We love you guys.

Roni: Oh, well, we're so happy that we found you and connected with you. And, um, so before we get started, why don't you both just tell us who you are and what you do for a living?

Carly/Carmen: Oh, how fun. Yeah. Um, my name's Carly Knowles. I'm a registered dietitian and I live in Portland, Oregon with my [00:02:00] partner here. Yeah. Carmen Shaw business partner. Hi everyone. So my background is a certified nutritionist and Carly and I Met because of a previous job that I had. That was very exciting. Yeah.

Yeah. Carmen, Carmen ran an event planning business. She owned her own business for 18 years and she actually planned my wedding. And that's how we met, which is just such a fun little twist of a story. Yeah. And we knew we wanted to be buddies, but it. It wasn't until we had, uh, babies just a few years apart, but really connected in that mother space, that new mom space that we became good friends.

And then years later, business partners, but, um, what we do, that's kind of the, the longer answer. What we do is we, um, we own a business together called radiant knowing, and it's focused [00:03:00] on holistic nutrition and wellness for busy health conscious moms.

Roni: I love it. That's amazing. So, uh, Carly, are you also a nutritionist? Is that previously what your main focus was?

Carly/Carmen: me. Yeah, registered dietitian. So I've been a dietitian for almost 10 years. So I did my master's program, got my master's degree at Bastyr University, which is this really incredible school in Seattle. Washington and, um, I worked in hospital for a handful of years and inpatient in the, um, ICU and then also in outpatient, diabetes and weight management clinics.

Um, what's really ironic is, uh, Portland's small. So we're in Portland, Oregon again, and um, The office that I used to work in at this hospital now my husband works in. And it was, it's just a funny story. We [00:04:00] have worked with the same people and Carmen and I know a lot of the same people and Portland's just this fun little community or big village.

Don't you think that we It is. Yeah. So I sometimes I still I bring that up because I feel like sometimes I'm still in that community space but officially out of the hospital system. I've been in private practice for, um, let's see here, like five almost six years. And I threw in a couple babies in there. And, uh, yeah, yeah, and now we're full time this full time doing this work.

Roni: That's awesome. Yeah. So tell me a little bit of the story of how, so you guys got connected through the event planning, but then how'd you guys decide that you wanted to start this business together and help, you know, help the moms in the world.

Carly/Carmen: For me, even back when I was doing the event planning, you know, that's such a big [00:05:00] moment in someone's life, right? And it's this complex. Series of steps that you take to get to this glorious end goal, right? in doing that, you know, I could see how, how women were struggling with feeling good and in their bodies, right?

You know, and all the expectations of showing up on that day and Being your most vibrant self. So it was actually in tandem of doing that work that I became certified as a health coach so that I could begin to weave a little bit of that in to the work that I was doing in this event space and also seeing how food in general brings people together, like in this communal space in this [00:06:00] communal way, you know, so it really the seed was, was planted for me many, many years ago in doing that work.

And then wanting more of that, right? So it was this really beautiful opportunity to take all the systems, right? Like, all the mastery required to take a big, complex goal. And bring it into the day to day, the practical reality and how we work towards that goal. So what was so cool about that is that all that transferred now into how we serve women.

In the space. And then Carly with years and years of the deep nutrition knowledge. It just was a natural union for us to come together with those backgrounds to [00:07:00] really like, we'd like to say we want to elevate women one meal at a time, right? One meal at a time. And we do that with bringing these beautiful backgrounds that we have.

Yeah, when we, we met in that event space and Carmen just stood out to me because she was such a different type of, um, space holder than like you might think, Oh, how does event planning lead to wellness, right? But. You hear her describe that like she wanted to serve women on a deeper level and connect with them more holistically in that space and it's her business so she got to really run it how she wanted and that stood out to me as the on the receiving end as the the bride to be and we just we knew there was something in our future because I was I've always been in women's health I worked at you know the places I've told you about but it was always like in the serving of women that you Lit me up the most and I just [00:08:00] found the needs of women to be, um, more specific and just, just what I was drawn to.

And so I, um, got married and then I, a few years later had, um, my first child and she had been, she has twins by the way. Let's just acknowledge that because that's pretty remarkable. Takes a whole other level of system. Oh, to do that. And so she and I, we kind of went like under, you know, we both like went back into our caves in those couple of years because we, I was working on my business and training at pregnant and she was in the weeds with those little, little twin girls who are now seven.

Um, but when I got pregnant, we started to reconnect about just the struggles that mom, unique to moms, that we encounter every day as too, like, I don't know, I'd say fairly high achieving women who work their buns off in life [00:09:00] and have a lot of education and experience, like, We're starting at the bottom, you know, like mothering levels you, it levels you.

Oh, eating that humble pie, man, like it really levels you and it's, and it's just the most transformative and beautiful thing as well. However, we were kind of stuck, we were lost a little bit in starting over. And the systems were both like, you know, these, I don't know, strategic Queens. I don't know how you want to like, spin in a good way organized.

I want to say type a, but we're, you know, we're system. We're, we're systemic. We're, we're, um, organized and it's. Why we're able to do what we do so well because it's, it feels really natural to us, but mothering is not those things naturally. It's like the chaos and the wild and the unknown and unpredictable and it requires so much surrender, which is.

[00:10:00] Beautiful. And it has so much medicine to teach us in that. Right. And so we started unpacking that and we started really talking about that. And it was, it became like a therapy for both of us to like, wow, mothering's hard. Mothering levels us. Like that's like where we started, but it turned into this.

Conversation about this concept that as women and as mothers, we were unique beyond like the needs that we have mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, really start to, to shift away from the main general group. And the whole focus is on the children. Everyone's focus. Everybody. You know, we all, we're, we're so, you think about postpartum, everyone wants to hold the baby and it's like the mom that needs the holding.

The baby of course does, but everyone's going to hold the baby. So baby's good. [00:11:00] You know, it's this mom piece and we've called it a come on drum. We want to get kind of silly and lighten it up again. We can like bring it out a little bit, but Carmen and I are like, okay. Your history in planning and being this, like, incredible space, physical and emotional space maker.

Okay. And me with nutrition and this ability to connect with people and connect dots. Carmen's great at that too. We're like, this belongs in this conversation. And we, we know there's room for more of that. God, there's room for more of that. And it took a few years because we had to get these little babies moving in the, you know, in a growing up and moving in the direction where we could find more freedom and more capacity and time.

But here we are, and we've been doing this now for almost a year together. And we're on a big mission. [00:12:00] Yeah,

Roni: I love it. And part of that mission is this. Elevating women one meal at a time, which I think is so poignant, such a beautiful phrase that you guys have created around that. Um, so let's talk about that a little bit. How does, how do you go about helping elevate women in this sort of way? Are there? You know, like what are the increments of this elevation, you know, like, how does it start?

Carly/Carmen: well, you know, we, we did a, we did a fun kind of daunting calculation of how many meals, truly, are we responsible for in a young bringing up these young people and for one kiddo, it was something like, 19, 710 was that the number 19, 710 meals, three meals a day for eighteen years, like not to get all crazy, but like there's a little dose of reality.

[00:13:00] So yeah, so there's that. So there's that. So that's That's a, that's a lot of planning, right? That's a lot of getting organized and doing it when your energy is low, when your pockets for finding time to not only plan and prep and, you know, all the pieces that come together A to Z to get the healthy, oh, and then healthy on top of it.

Right, right. So we were like, you know, we, we really are excited about shoring up the foundation, right? It's like, for these women, how do we bring more nutrient dense, whole food, mineral [00:14:00] rich, all the colors of the rainbow? On to the plate, right? And so like, that's the up leveling a bit. That's like increment one, increment one first step, right?

Is really, um, bringing some attention and intention to how we create our plate. It's the, we talk about with our clients, we talk about how, you know, you, you first start. Like intellectualizing nutrition, like you learn about macronutrients, you learn about, you know, phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals, you know, how it interacts with your body, maybe even what you, you don't feel good when you eat certain foods and you kind of start there, but it's a very intellectual endeavor.

And as a dietitian with a master's degree in science, like God, can I [00:15:00] intellectualize it? Yeah, but like that becomes so unrelatable at a certain point. So it was, it was taking that into, it was like bringing that back into the kitchen and the home space, the family dynamic. So we, we say. First you learn, you know, about what goes on your plate, how to maybe organize a balance plate or, or compose a balance plate.

We have something in our business called Radiant Knowings Balance Plate that we made this little visual, uh, plate to show people how you break down. Yeah, macronutrient specifically where we're focused to our audiences is women ages 35 to 55. It's kind of that midlife zone and it's in, it's the, the, um, a lot of moms that have maybe like grade school kids and on seems to be really when, when moms are starting to want some more meal support.

Um, so that seems to be where we're. where we're at. But anyways, you start with this like inner circle [00:16:00] of nutrition and it's the foundation. It's the literal building blocks, both physically in our bodies, but from our perspective in our process that we take our clients through. And you have to start there because that's where we, we start with the brain, we intellectualize it, we create like that system.

And then how do we make that Um, how do we make that a, a, a reality? Because dieticians especially, we're so good at talking about that, but then how do we get that food on people's plates? And one of the tools we use is plan to eat. For example, we love, we love having your meal planning, tool available.

Like truly it, it helps our clients. We use it with every one of our clients. Plan to eat is absolutely our favorite. Meal planning tool that we've found, you know, and what other hacks? What other time saving hacks? What other kitchen tools can we recommend? What [00:17:00] other? Um, time blocking and that's that like system, you know, the system or the organ organization those tools that we bring in because it's not just enough to say, go off and eat more protein, have a great day, busy mom who's burnt out and exhausted, low energy and and and and oh, during cold and flu season, you know, like, good luck.

So it's, it's helping them literally. Start with their mindset. Change habits. Change the way they talk to themselves. It's moving into their physical body. It's organizing their time. It's organizing their kitchen so that it all can come together to bring food to the table. And then from there, this is where we get really excited into this Elevating women space, that, that, you know, tagline we use, but we mean it, it's our core mission, elevating women one meal at a time, [00:18:00] where that applies is, so let's say you have the nutritional foundation, okay, and look at this like ripples, okay, so there's your center.

You have this nutritional foundation. You're very clear and confident on what your nutrient needs are as a mom for more energy to feel better in her body to, uh, sleep better to have less anxiety, be less irritable, you know, like the symptoms of motherhood. Okay. And then from there, you're able to plan and prepare and serve that food more readily, more easily, with less effort, with more organization.

And what if it actually, in the end, bought you 30 minutes more time? In a week, 30 minutes. Okay, so we're talking about scraps, scraps of minutes, but for a crazy, wild, busy mom with kids like holy smokes, 30 minutes is a game changer. Oh, it's everything. [00:19:00] It's everything. It's everything to layer it to just give you an ounce of care.

Just an ounce and it starts there. Right? Yeah. So, so you get that 30 minutes, right? And you're, you get a stop and maybe sit down or ask yourself like, oof, why do I feel this way? Or as we coach our, our clients, you know, to, to look inward, to get self aware, to take a 30, 000 foot view and kind of look at what, what's going on and what do I need?

Ask yourself, what do I need in this moment? I need to sit down and just rest. We hear that a ton. They're just go, go, go, go, go, go, going. You know, you're in that kind of fight or flight mode all the time. So you get that 30 minutes to just like, and then think of how much more productive making dinner might actually be.

If you were grounded and present before, maybe you realize you're even starving, you're [00:20:00] starving. So you give yourself a little snack before you make dinner. And now you get to be even more present and more, you know, intentional. And then what happens in a few weeks after practicing that? Here comes that next ripple.

Maybe you have like two hours, maybe you're like planning system and your, your meal prep, like actually came through and it helped you and like, wow, plan to eat in there and like, okay. I didn't actually have to go to the grocery store a second or third time. And I actually even saved a little bit of money.

And, whoa, whoa, whoa, there's like some more freedom and open space and, okay, well, maybe I'm actually gonna go to that workout class now. Because now it's not half an hour, now I just bought myself like two more hours. So it's that next increment, okay? And then here's the one that just like gets us so excited.

So then, now you've created the nutritional foundation. [00:21:00] You've figured out your efficiency hacks. You bought yourself a little more time, you got organized, you implemented your meal planning tools. And now maybe you have this system that you can rinse and repeat. And what if, in that system, you're able to ask for support from a partner? You're able to ask, you know, your village, that village that we're supposed to call on, you know, maybe you can say, Hey, I have all the ingredients for dinner Tuesday, and I can do it. But if you did it, then I could get that class in. Or I could not show up frazzled to dinner. Or I could finish my work day and feel competent and communicate my needs at work to show up in this place that I also want to succeed and thrive in.

Like, what's [00:22:00] possible for you? If that ripple keeps growing, and that's when we talk about elevating women one meal at a time, we want to do our part to move the needle even one notch to elevate women in the world, in life, and it sounds kind of like, it sounds a little, I don't know, cheesy even, but like, there's a, there's a real history of moms and women, um, working really hard, you know, um, Without a lot of love and support historically.

And we really want to change that because we believe that the world is so beautiful and so, so, um, organized and so, uh, effective and full of love because of the mamas, mamas are. are pretty miraculous. So, that's how we, that's how we got to the elevating women. Yeah. One meal at a time. But we do truly believe that it starts [00:23:00] with nutrition and the, the real food that goes on your plate.

Roni: Well, that's a beautiful, all of those things. That's so beautiful. Like the, I love that you talked about it as like a ripple and like being able to picture it that way. Um, but I also, this is something that, um, you know, we talk about. That plan to eat is, you know, there are certainly certain personalities who are more drawn towards organization and structure and systems, right?

Like some people, like the three of us, um, are people who kind of like crave that, right? And there are some people who are like, I like to be spontaneous and you know, there's like freedom and spontaneity, but I feel like there's so much freedom when you create a system and you have that organization, right?

Like that's, that's That's all of what I got from what you just said is like, once you get these things in place and everything feels like, okay, it's like now turning like clockwork. Like now I have so much more freedom. And I have this, like, Empowered aspect of this freedom to be able [00:24:00] to get the things that I want and the things that I really need out of my life.

Like it kind of made me think of, um, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, you know, like you have like very basic needs of like food and shelter and water and you go all the way up to the top of the pyramid. That's like self actualization and it's almost like getting that 30 minutes to like sit and think about yourself is like.

I just got 30 minutes of self actualization because I didn't have to pay attention to the food and the water and the shelter and all the things.

Carly/Carmen: Yes. Roni, you see it. You can see it. And it's, that is what unlocks the transformation. Yeah. Right. It truly is. Totally. Yeah. And when we can put these systems and these tools in place to reduce the overwhelm, reduce the overwhelm, reduce the anticipatory anxiety, you know, I mean, it's all of the unseen that we carry.

As [00:25:00] moms, as, as moms, as women, right? And, and these are the tools. This is, this is a way to reduce that so that we can stay more in the top of the hierarchy, right? That's the goal. That's the goal. That's the beautiful transformation. And it, what's really cool is we've learned through practice, through trying it on.

We, we run nutrition programs for women, we run group, we've done one on ones, and we've spent the last year really fine tuning our process. And what we found is we don't need Because like the three of us, we love a good plan, right? Like, I bet we plan other things in our life, too. Like, you know, I, hey, wink, wink, wink.

And we, we just inherently see that value and feel it in our bones. However, like you said, not everyone does. Well, we've learned how to do that for people. Because... they come to us for nutrition. We don't need them to [00:26:00] come to us wanting the same things. Like we can, as long as we can agree that, you know, these are, are your symptoms and we can help you with them and that you want this outcome, we can hold that space in the middle, the vehicle that gets you from point A to point B.

And we have so many versions of doing that for people. And that I think is important to call out because that's why. That's why we're doing this. Because it brings us joy. It comes naturally. We, we love doing it together. We teach each other, Carmen and I, so much about how to do that in these different places that we've served over the 30 collective years that we've been doing this.

And so it's just, it's, it's a joy when someone gets to come to us and kind of let go. They get a say. They get and we have one specific person in mind to even that was like, I don't, I'm not this linear person that wants like a calendar of meals and, [00:27:00] and we really helped that person that, you know, lives a little more organically in, in the way that they process the world.

We, we still were able to. To help that person feel seen and heard and take them through a process that wasn't overwhelming to get the outcome that they wanted, and that's been our biggest joy truly is like cracking the code on how to serve our women too. Cause everyone needs a little something different.

And when, and when we say holism, that's what we're referring to. It's not just to get to the top of the pyramid so that you can access that whole of you, which is definitely a part of what we're saying, but it's the holism too, in that each person is unique. Each mom has a different set of demands, a different set of obstacles, limitations, food preferences, intolerances, like, you know, the subjects go on and on and on.

And so to remain, to remain, um, [00:28:00] understanding of that and compassionate to that so that you can truly serve truly, not just a limited version is, is important to us. And that's, that's where we define holism.

Roni: So you already mentioned that you guys have your own like idea for what a balance plate looks like. You've talked about using plan to eat, but I have a feeling that there are Potentially moms who are listening, we're like, yeah, all of this sounds great. But like, where the heck do I get started on, you know, elevating myself to this, to this point.

So like, aside from, you know, figuring out the balance plate and maybe using something like plan to eat, like, what are some other tools you guys could share, that might help somebody try to get to that next level?

Carly/Carmen: Absolutely, it's a really great question. It's a great one. You know, this is gonna sound a bit interesting, but we, we really like to try on [00:29:00] that breath, breath work. Like, I know. It's a really great starting place too. It's a huge starting point because... You know, this, this is a journey. This is a process developing, you know, having a framework to go about this and a plan, you know, we need to kind of step by step and we need to ease into it sometimes, right?

And so there will be those days, even with the plan in place, there will be those days that we, you know, it just didn't work out, you know, everything ran behind and you're, you show up and you're frazzled a bit. Right. Right? So, arriving in the kitchen space and just taking a few deep breaths, it's that transition.

It's like that let go, the chaos is still gonna be happening, but can we [00:30:00] for just a moment step out of it? And I think the breath, like just taking a few deep breaths. Makes a huge impact. We show up into the kitchen, maybe a little bit more relaxed. A little bit more intentional. Because you know what?

We're going to prepare the meal anyways. So, let's take care of ourselves. Yeah. Right? Well, and research shows that we actually, with breath work, you can switch from that fight or flight, what's also called the sympathetic nervous system, into a relaxed state or rest and digest mode. How appropriate, right before dinner.

By doing breathwork. It's really powerful. Like it's not just some woo woo thing that we're recommending. We're rooted in, in the science behind it too. So you can access just a little, it might [00:31:00] not bring you peace, you might not. You know, be able to maintain it for that long, fine. Let's, let's start, like, let's be really realistic about that too.

I have a four year old and a two year old, like, breathwork's not gonna take me more than about ten minutes, okay? But those ten minutes are gonna get me through it. You know, the chopping or get me to the place where I have my mise en place in place. All my ingredients are out and ready in little bowls so that I can cook faster.

Um, so it's a good place to start. It also allows you to ask yourself, how am I really feeling? It goes back to that conversation we were having earlier. Like, am I really hungry? Well, how hungry are you? So a tool we use to help people tune in to their hunger and fullness cues is to, to put it on a scale.

So not a scale to weigh yourself. No, no, no. To put it on a number scale from one to 10. How hungry am I? [00:32:00] Well, it's, you know, and you start intellectualizing. Well, it's five o'clock. I should be really hungry because I'm about to dinner and I'm like, no, no, no. You took that, those breaths. You slowed down for a second.

How am I really feeling? You know, I'm actually not that hungry, but I'm going to check in again because Carly and Carmen, the dietician nutritionist team, told me that when I'm in fight or flight, I might not have as much hunger as I actually physiologically have. So you just get these little check ins.

It's like, you know, it's, it's the hustle culture has taught us. has conditioned us out of that. And then being a mom is like, it's like hustle culture times 50. It's just insane. So you It's, it's a fabulous starting place. Tune in, take a deep breath. I'm clapping over here. I know no one can see me on the podcast, but like, I'm like, come on, you can do it!

Another thing we suggest, another great, [00:33:00] um, tool would be And I know you guys love this idea, too, is, um, is meal prep, you know, these, these efficiency hacks. So, in our, in our course, Nourish 2. 0, we talk a lot about efficiency hacks because that's that second ripple, right? It's like buying yourself these slivers of time that add up to be more substantial so that you can think about something outside of just your basic needs.

And efficiency hacks like... Carmen is so good at this, especially, I love hearing it, when you come home from the farmer's market with all your produce, like, tell them what you do. immediately, I call it processing my veggies. You know, I take the time to wash them right when I bring them home.

I wash them. All of them. All of them. Yeah. All of them. Now, I did not used to do this. You know, I just [00:34:00] bring everything home and shove it in the fridge and deal with it later, but I found that it saves me so much anxiety during the week when I have to do all of that at once. So I bring the beautiful vegetables home, and it's sort of my process of being more intentional too, and honoring this beautiful food that I just got.

So I'm taking the time, washing them, chopping them, and putting them in the fridge. And it's great. So I'm that much further ahead when it goes to be the time to prepare the actual meal. My kids. Can get in the fridge and all the veg, like they're more likely to help themselves to a chopped carrot than if the carrot was shoved in the drawer, you know, they're just not going to go to that.

So I think for our [00:35:00] family, it's just made access to nutrient dense food more readily available by just doing that one thing when I bring the groceries home. Yeah, she's so good at that. And, and, you know, and that's not for everyone, but it is one of the many hacks that you can try on. Another one is to, when you make your dinner tonight, for example, you make you, let's say it's going to be, uh, uh, you know, chicken breasts and some yummy tomato sauce and, and, and.

You, instead of just doing what the recipe calls for, and this is a tool or a function of Plan to Eat that we love, you can batch cook. So you can double, triple, quadruple your recipe. And instead of only cooking off the, you know, four chicken breasts that it asked you to do, you cook off eight. And what can you then make on a Thursday with that?

That's so much easier. Or now you have lunch sorted out, or your [00:36:00] kids, you know, you can put it in your kids lunch boxes, or It becomes dinner the next night, chopped up in a pita with some hummus and lettuce and fresh veggies. You know, so it's, it's that. Batch cooking, it's meal prepping, and they each have, you know, subcategories in them, and it just lights us up.

Like we, this is what we do for a job. Like we get to spend time Learning that stuff so people don't have to go search around for all the answers that they can because we also know that they won't we won't that's, you know, everyone has priorities and we chose to prioritize food nutrition, and your overall wellness and so we get to be those, those people that.

You know, can help you in that place. And that brings us just, we just love it. We love it so much we can hardly stand it. And on that note, Carmen and I, another, another place someone could start is Carmen and I spent weeks, [00:37:00] hours, Hours, weeks, weeks and hours, over and over and over and over. Creating a list of 365, so an entire year's worth of healthy snacks that are rich in protein, fiber rich, healthy fats, like all the things that are in our balance plate.

We decided to take that off of mom's list. Like, what should I eat? We hear moms say all the time, Oh, I just, you know, binged on these crackers or, Oh, I didn't know what to eat. I had, you know, another cheese stick. Like how much mozzarella can I eat? And those are great. And we love a good cheese stick and crackers are awesome.

But like moms would need variety and they, they. Just, it's like, what are you, Google it, like, what do you do? So we're like, okay, the meals seem to be more easily found for moms, but it's the snack ideas. And, and women, I think diet culture has caused, you know, it's, it's the repercussions, or women are terrified of snacks, or some [00:38:00] of them, like snacks mean I'm going to get fat, or snacks are inherently packaged and processed.

Well. We took all of that worry and, um, guessing, guessing work out of it. And we created an entire year's worth of healthy snacks. We mixed it with, um, some store bought. So on the days you need it, you, we have some recommended store bought like there's these amazing little salmon smoked salmon boxes you can get at Costco that we love and recommend.

Uh, and then we have, uh, really easy kind of like pre, pre made foods you put together to make a snack like deli turkey, maybe that cheese stick, maybe some apple slices, but we've, we've taken the, the mom brain out of it. You don't have to use your brain. We, here's the bridge into finding a little more peace for yourself.

So. That's on our website. You can get that. It's free. Um, and we, it's tools like that. Like that's, again, [00:39:00] that's the stuff that really is a great place to start because you can intellectualize it all day long. You can systematize it all day long, but if you don't have the tool right now and you need it to, you know, be available, like it's.

It's, it's, it can be discouraging and we don't want that.

Roni: Well, I'll definitely make sure we link to the snacks in the show notes so that everybody can grab that. And I love the, of course, I love the idea around, you know, meal prep and things like that. Um, but I kind of want to go back to talking about breathing and breath work because I do feel like this. Is like lost knowledge that we are like regaining now in like modern society. It's been something that people have not talked about for a really long time, in my opinion, and it's starting to get more a little more popular. I think it's so interesting how we often parents often will, you know, like if you're, your kids, you know, having a bit of a tantrum or, whatever in kind of an [00:40:00] anxiety space, like parents will say, like, why do you take three deep breaths?

You know, like there's like a coaching aspect that parents do with their kids a lot. However, The same thing isn't reciprocated on themselves often when it comes to like, I'm having kind of a panic attack right now. Um, the thought really doesn't come to mind of like, how can I make myself feel better?

Like you, you know how to coach your kids oftentimes and how to like make them feel better. Take a deep breath, you know, calm down. It's not that big of a deal. And yet, like for ourselves, we're like having a panic attack. And you forget yourself to like breathe. So I really love that you brought that up because, uh, because I do think it's often lost on adults that like, we can do the same thing too.

Carly/Carmen: Totally. I have to, I have to jump into and, and this is totally my role in our relationship, but I'm like just a fierce fighter for mothers. Like I just, I'm going to protect moms for, oh God, I just have like, anyway, so what I [00:41:00] want is where I want to start and then we won't spend too much time there, but what's so important to remember is.

Is we we've forgotten to take care of the moms and it just we just have to say that like that's why we're focused on it. And could we help women in general? Absolutely. Could we help men? Oh, yeah. Nutrition is diverse and and readily available. But we're choosing to help moms because of what you just said.

We, we are so quick to help all the little ones around us or bring people together and take care of them, that we often either sacrifice ourselves or feel the mom guilt if we were to give ourselves too much of that attention or energy or take it away from someone else's cup to fill ours. And sometimes we even feel obligated, like it's our role.

That's our job. We've been, you know, conditioned and taught that that's it. And there's little elements of all that that are definitely worth pondering and feeling [00:42:00] into for your family and your dynamics and your expectations. And we know that if a mom isn't Being cared for either by herself or by herself and her community, it's going to be really hard for everyone else to thrive.

Not because I want to say we're the center of attention. No, no, no. It's because we do so much for the family and families look very different. And every, you know, different families have different roles for different people in it. I really believe, as a majority, the women in families with kids are working their butts off.

So, if the breathwork is a way to help give her a win, a win, or like that moment for herself so that she gets a little care, like, it is such a perfect way to start, and it can't end there. And that's what that's all. [00:43:00] I'll turn it over to Carmen now, but like, it's great. We can't end on the breathwork. It's a fabulous entry point, though.

Fabulous. Yeah, yeah. And I think, you know, um, we, we like to think about bringing ritual in, you know, we, we coach. Moms a lot and breath work is a form of ritual right that you can tap into just like having that beautiful mug of tea that you go to. You know, and that's a non negotiable. You're always going to have that tea in your pantry because that is like five minutes of you time, you know, so I think the candle, the candle on the counter, like even if we're just lighting that one candle, it's, it's the reminder that we are [00:44:00] worth this five minutes to care, to care for ourselves.

Yeah. Yeah. And like the candle is such a cool, we call it, um, like kitchen meditation or like using cooking as a form of meditation because you gotta do it and we're here, we're, we're feeding our families. Like it's really beautiful. And what if we could, maybe we can't stop and take a breath. Maybe the kids are screaming and this doesn't actually sound that relaxing.

Well, we recommend sometimes that women will light candles in their kitchen. Ideally a non scented one so it doesn't interfere with the cooking, the delicious cooking smells. Um, but every time you look at it, you like give a little, say a little mantra to yourself in, even in silence, or you celebrate yourself for a second.

And it's, it's when you're conscious of it, like you see the flame and it sounds kind of woo and far out, but it's, [00:45:00] It's not, it's like the smallest little tiniest moment of ritual for a mom because maybe she's not getting it anywhere else. Maybe she is and maybe she isn't and what a cool, cool opportunity to just celebrate all that she's doing.

Yeah. And we like to say our peace is our power. That's a fun mantra. Like it just takes a minute. Not even a minute. Three seconds. My peace is my power. Okay. Alright. You see the candle and you think my peace is my power. And sometimes they're just words. Because it's chaos. Around you or because you're really trying this new recipe or cooking technique, but it's powerful.

Words mean something. And if you wake up every day and say that to yourself, or you look at a candle every time you cook and you say that, like, it starts to. [00:46:00] You know, implant and the seed, you know, gets planted for again, one of those ripples like what else is possible down the road. If you really start to embody that.

Roni: love that. Uh, makes me think there was, Period of time. I don't have it on my phone anymore because, um, I got a little too like accustomed to it, but I used to have a note on my phone that would like, or a reminder on my phone that would come up every morning, you know, that was like, you're powerful or whatever, you know, like a little mantra like that.

And I. I got rid of it just simply because it was like, I learned to expect it every morning at seven o'clock and it kind of lost some of its meaning. Um, but it's still something that I often like every morning, like it's still even now that there's not a reminder on my phone. It's something to think of.

And it really is, I think the, the power of like your thoughts really affect your actions. And, um, so I really like that you guys encourage encouraging other ladies to do that.

Carly/Carmen: Yeah, yeah, it seems unrelated to nutrition in a, you [00:47:00] know, like, so how are you a dietitian nutrition team again, but. But it's the wholism. It's like looking, making sure that we shed light on all aspects of, of whole women and whole women's health, because we really believe that it's there that the healing is really available to us.

So it's, yeah, their words are powerful actions, cooking meal, and it's, and it's all packaged together and it's really It's a pretty cool, pretty cool thing if you're open to it.

Roni: Yeah, well, and I think if you are, you know, creating more home cooked meals is something that's a big desire of yours. Having kind of that up leveled mindset is can be really important for that because when you're stuck in the moments of stress and anxiety, it's so much easier to default to, you know, getting takeout or going through the fast food line.

Um, so having that up leveled mindset to me feels. It's totally applicable to [00:48:00] being able to let peacefully get dinner on the table every night.

Carly/Carmen: Absolutely. Yeah. Part of our program that we, our course that we made, there's a piece of it that's mindset because it really does start there. Like it, it's, again, it's. Bringing all those pieces together because we get, we're, we're really crafty. We're smart. We're smart. You get in your own way, you know, and especially if you're, you're able to be, uh, if you're an overthinker, we can say, or, you know, you get that hamster wheel spinning.

Yeah. It's something that we, we can do to help set us up for success. And when it comes to habit change, any habit change of any type. There's a really big mindset component to it is, you know, the psychology of it is very interesting and something we also like to work with our clients on.

Roni: Well, I won't take up your whole [00:49:00] afternoon, but why don't you tell everybody a little bit more about your course as well as where they can connect with you if they want to learn more about what you do.

Carly/Carmen: So our course is called Nourish 2. 0. You can find on our website, radiantknowing. com under courses, and it's a 21 day group program It's a hybrid where we get to work with you and we're going to look at your nutrition and we're going to build a framework for helping you get your meals on the table, these beautiful nutrient dense meals, we're going to help you connect the dots on where you might be having obstacles, right, where you're over and over again doing the same thing and not getting results.

So we're going to help you shed some light on what might be happening for you personally there. Yeah, we're focused on again, women ages 35 to 55. It's we, [00:50:00] you know, in in the nutrition world, it's called midlife, whether we like that name or not, it is it is and there's some unique needs to midlife women.

And so we're gonna Really fortify the the vessel as it relates to that time frame in life. And that includes a whole list of really, um, easily accessible. And then some that needs some support nutrition, um, you know, initiatives. And we walk people through that in our course. And it's exciting. And there's this group element that.

We all get to be together to witness each other as we make some of these changes. And just as moms, it's really nice to hear some of the, the things that we can relate to each other about and realize we're not really that alone after all, and that we start to really think of each other in the process as we're learning new tools and trying on new ideas and finding what works for us.

Um, and there's a big piece of Plan to Eat, a big element there as well. Our framework [00:51:00] ties into Plan to Eat, and we have some really fun recipe tags that we use to help organize within the app, and we walk our clients through that, and it's just, it's a blast, and we've, we're just having so much fun with it.

We'll probably run the next round in the new year. Probably get through the holiday craze. Cause as moms dangling, that's where all the magic is. Right. Mom magic. So we'll, yeah, we'll probably, um, start back up in January. So again, radiant knowing. com and then, uh, it's under online courses. You can read more about it.

Nourish 2. 0. Um, we do work with a select group of one on ones as well for moms that are looking for some more, um. More customized support. So it's that's definitely more of like a clinical experience to maybe work on some specific symptoms that are unique to you on top of the the [00:52:00] command drum or the symptoms of motherhood.

And let's see what else we're starting our own podcast. That's exciting. So stay tuned online on our website for that. And then that snack list, we'll make sure to give that link Roni. So you can share that. Cause that's really just this. We refer to it. We use it all the time. We talk about that.

But it's nice that we don't have to like engage in thinking about what else we want to eat for a snack. And we probably have a lot of it at home already. So we'll make sure you get that as well.

Roni: I love it. Well, I really appreciate you both taking the time to be with me today and there's been a great conversation. So thanks so much for joining me.

Carly/Carmen: Thanks, Roni. Love you guys. Thank you. Thanks. 

Roni: Thanks for tuning into today's podcast. There are going to be links in the show notes to the snacks that Carly talked about also to their website and all the places that you [00:53:00] can connect with them online. Carly and Carmen often run a webinar where they help, um, give some more helpful tips and tricks.

And so look out for that in the future. If you would like to learn a little bit more about some of their processes and you can support the plan to Eat podcast by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts and share this episode with a friend, with, um, a mom in your life so that she can feel a little bit more empowered today.

Thanks for listening. And I will see you again in two weeks.