Create The Best Me

Finding True Health in a Filtered World

• Christiane Schroeter • Episode 30

Share episode

Send us a text

Christiane Schroeter, founder of Hello Happy Nest, discusses the importance of authenticity in the journey to wellness. She emphasizes the value of genuine connections, the dangers of body image issues, and the significance of embracing failures. With insights on mindful eating, the episode delves deep into finding true health beyond societal expectations.

  • Meet Christiane Schroeter.
  • Understanding Body Imaging from Girls to Women
  • The Truth About Getting Fit
  • Five Pillars of Health
  • Debunking the myth of protein shakes and the natural way of building muscle.
  • Success story of someone overcoming body image and eating disorders.
  • The importance of authenticity in food choices and the pitfalls of light products.
  • Overview of Christiane's wellness program, mindset tools, and the significance of real food over meal replacements.
  • The practicality of quick and easy recipes for those with a busy lifestyle.
  • The power of embracing failures, the importance of genuine friendships, and the concept of high five for failure.
  • The importance of creating boundaries and questioning relationships, starting within the family.
  •  The significance of self-awareness and the role of children in pointing out body image issues.
  •  The hope for a generation where body image is less of an issue and the role of continuous learning in this journey.
  • Resources and tools to help individuals overcome eating disorders and body image issues, starting from one's own household.
  • Addressing the issue of loneliness and the value of joining wellness programs for community and support.

 Dive deeper into your wellness journey! Check out Christiane Schroeter's program and embrace a life of authenticity and Happy Nest. Don't forget to share this episode with friends and family!
 📕 Resources:
Healthy Habits Checklist  https://hellohappynest.com/product/health-habits-checklist-to-optimize-your-wellness/
The Good Life book by Robert Waldinger M.D and Marc Schulz Ph.D  https://a.co/d/4CX7x0L
Christiane's Instagram Reel on cookie baking https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrvkXViswzt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
 Courses:
Christiane Schroeter's wellness program  https://courses.hellohappynest.com/courses/Journey-to-Wellness
Free Master Class: “Uncover the 3-Part Plan to Start doing sh*t and Kickstart your Wellness!” https://dogged-inventor-1378.ck.page/91c961255f 

📨 Newsletter:

https://createthebestme.com/newsletter/

👀 Connect With Me:

Website: https://createthebestme.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/createthebestme

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carmenhecox/

TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@carmenhecox
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@createthebestme

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/carmen-hecox

📽️ Video Request:

https://forms.office.com/r/LvLV1AsBfv

Carmen Hecox:

Welcome to Create the Best Me. I am Carmen Hecox, a personal development coach, and I am so excited to be connecting with you today. Whether you're listening to the podcast or joining us on YouTube, my goal is to help women navigate through midlife challenges with compassion, inspiration, and empowering conversations. Each week we'll dive into thought-provoking topics, designed to build self-confidence, overcome invisible women's syndrome, and find the courage to create the best version of yourself. I'll also be joined by expert guests who will share their wisdom and insights, so make yourself comfortable and let's embark on this journey together. Well, hello there, fearless midlife trailblazers. Welcome to Create The Best Me. If you are new here, I am so glad you made it here. If you're a returning listener, welcome back to the one and only place where we encourage and empower women in midlife to pursue their dreams and live life to the fullest. I am Carmen Hecox, your host and personal development coach. Today's guest is Christiana Schroeter. Dr. Schroeter is a professor in agribusiness department at Cal Poly. She's published articles on food, labeling, and obesity. A food and health coach, fitness expert, wife, mom of two amazing girls, and has her own podcast called Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast. Let me just say, Dr. Schroeter is not your typical professor. She's beautiful, intelligent, and extremely funny. We had a minor glitch in the recording and when we reconnected, this lady had me belly laughing. Today, Dr. Schroeter will be discussing empowering change with body imaging and eating disorders. She will be sharing her opinion and expertise on this subject, and she may have a surprise gift toward the end of the show, so you'll have to tune in for details. Let's tune into the conversation now. Christiane Schroeter, welcome to Create The Best Me.

Christiane Schroeter:

Well, thank you so much for having me Carmen.

Carmen Hecox:

I am so glad to have you on the show. Can you briefly tell the audience who you are and share what led you to specialize in body imaging and eating disorders.

Christiane Schroeter:

Awesome, so, I will actually help the audience a little bit too, because of my unique first name born in Germany. And my first name, you kind of pronounce like Christi Ah Na. So there's like a little bit of like a Na at the end. And that makes it extra fun there. So think of like, really like, uh, rolling off the Christiane and we are in good shape, so to speak. So how do I start really my story is that I share about body image and how it maybe helps us navigating through a more positive outlook on life. Because I experienced it myself. When I grew up in Germany, during my teen years started become really obsessive about body image or what I should be eating to follow into maybe a certain clothing size, to see a certain number on a scale. And really that was very unhealthy. So in a certain way, when you think about addictions you might have um, tendencies or you're more prone to fall into certain addictions. And that's definitely been my addiction that I'm looking at food items. I'm looking at, you know, especially when you have bad days, I'm looking at my body and I'm starting to become overly critical about certain parts of my body that I don't love. And that's something that I've been working on really hard now with my children, to raise them with a healthier outlook on food items to make sure that we understand food is nourishing and we don't need to punish ourselves when we look at our own bodies. And using the language to describe people that's completely irrelevant to the outside, but more focusing on inner values. So it's definitely been a healing journey. And that's why I think it's so important to be here today and share some of that journey with you as well.

Carmen Hecox:

And let's add here you're also a doctor am I correct a PhD

Christiane Schroeter:

Uh, correct. I, I have a PhD in health economics. Wrote my dissertation actually about obesity. And speaking about obesity is we frequently think about obesity, in terms of like measuring it with BMI or body weight or waist circumference. And I want to emphasize while those are measures that physicians are using, at the same time, it is really something that we need to think in terms of chronic diseases. So as soon as somebody has obesity, they're usually struggling with another host of chronic diseases. So my dissertation really focused on changing the price of food so that people will have access to food items that will maybe lead to a healthier lifestyle and also a healthier body and prevent some of those chronic diseases. Which is really health economics in a nutshell. So it's connecting the prices to the cost of healthcare, to the cost of prevention and increasing your lifespan.

Carmen Hecox:

That's great. I know this is something you said that you struggled with as a young girl, have you seen the perception of body images or body imaging evolve over the years?

Christiane Schroeter:

Um that's a great question. And because I read a lot about it, first of all, as a person that experienced it, you look at it with a different, with a more critical filter. But I also read a lot about it because I'm a mom. And I read a lot about it because I'm a professor. So I see a very vulnerable population twice in my day. Once at home, I see my daughters and once in the classroom, I see my female college students that are for the first time living on their own and making food and lifestyle decisions on their own. So I feel it has changed and it has maybe become to the point to where we're trying to be more accepting at the same time. And that's really important. I noticed that during the pandemic, because we're so much on Zoom calls that it has actually somewhat taking a step back. So it's really like you're taking two steps forward and taking one step back. During the pandemic, when we didn't interact with each other, where you're really seeing the whole person and you can give each other hugs. And it's completely different to see people in life than via camera. It has maybe taken a little bit of a backseat to, let people really embrace you and your inner self compared to just seeing you on zoom camera and then focusing on every little nitty picky detail. Plus there's actually a lot of research there that shows that if you have confidence and body image issues, being on zoom makes that even worse.

Carmen Hecox:

Really?

Christiane Schroeter:

Because you tend to look at yourself, it's just really unnatural. It's like looking at yourself in a mirror when you're speaking. And, that is also something that especially if you struggle with your body image, makes you feel exceptionally uncomfortable about everything that you say. So for me, I always emphasize to my daughter, have a few high quality relationships and then meet those people in person. Don't worry about social media and reaching out and sharing pictures. Just meet them in person because you will grow up with a much healthier perception about who they are. Then just sharing images and picking the best and editing them and putting on a filter and like posing. And what's your, really your goal with those images is maybe just creating jealousy. And when you meet each other in person, all it's just falling to the side because you just want to have fun.

Carmen Hecox:

Yeah You can't add a filter to yourself when you're face to face

Christiane Schroeter:

Nope.

Carmen Hecox:

How do body images and eating disorders manifest differently in women that are older as opposed to young girls like your daughters Is there a difference?

Christiane Schroeter:

Um Um I've actually seen both sides of the spectrum. So I've seen that, my daughters sometimes want to describe people. I say, who's that? I've not heard that name before. And then they're starting to describe the person and it starts with like a very let's say exterior description of the person. And I'm like, no, no, no, no, I don't need to know all this. Can you just like in in broad strokes, describe the classes you take with her or whether she was on your basketball team. Because I don't need like the hair color and all this detail I'm, just like describe to me what she likes and, who she hangs out with and that might actually make more sense to me. So I noticed that, that they become more aware about it, but at the same time, what I've also noticed is as we grow older. And you're going into pre menopause, perimenopause, your metabolism changes. So it's like the teenagers where the metabolism changes and they grow into adults and it's the adults on the other side of the life cycle, so to speak, where the metabolism slows down and then frequently people fall back into an eating disorder because they become so overly and hyper aware about the hair, or their body's changing, or wrinkles appearing, and then the body is maybe not responding to exercise or nutrition as it used to, that there's that population there as well. So that, means the term diet in our house, I totally tried to eliminate that. But frequently I have clients in my coaching business, Hello Happy Nest, reach out to me and it's frequently a client that has tried pretty much every diet that you can imagine, but has not experienced any outcome because they're just focusing on weight. And then I know there is a little bit of that body image issue in there too, because we shouldn't be focusing on body weight, in general, it shouldn't add to our happiness, whether the scale changes or not. So yeah, I've noticed it's not really pegged to a certain to a certain age, but it becomes more prevalent during certain age frames. And it's maybe also because that second population tends to have more time to worry about that. So maybe empty nesters, and all of a sudden this becomes like a huge focus, really.

Carmen Hecox:

And then especially I think now where I think everyone wants a quick fix. Because I know there's that fad where a lot of people are now starting to take, diabetic medication to get that quick fix. Because I'm not supposed to look like this. This is what I should look like.

Christiane Schroeter:

Completely agree and I think that is something that we need to become very humble that wellness is not a quick fix ever. It's definitely something that takes time. And I have a funny story because I teach a six pack abs class I'm also a fitness instructor. I seriously Carmen I have people that ccome to my 30 minute ab class. I want to emphasize 30 minutes of abs. That's a long time, but still they leave the room after 30 minutes and lift their shirts and check out whether the abs look different.

Carmen Hecox:

Not going happen 30

Christiane Schroeter:

It's cute in a certain way. But you know, it's like, well, let's talk in like three months. It takes maybe, a good, I would say, 8 to 10 weeks to see any type of toning in your muscle. What's not fair is that usually it goes much quicker to lose that muscle, but that's just how we are. Our muscle, our body is so smart that if you don't use it, you lose it. But it takes a long time to build it. It's just like learning a language. You're feeling like, man, I'm still not fluent. And then if you haven't spoken it for a while, you're like, I forgot everything. Well, don't be so hard on yourself. Or not on your body, not on your mind. Just have fun with it and things will fall into place.

Carmen Hecox:

So, tell me something, because this is something that my husband and I always tend to bring up because it's not fair, women and men, but Why is it that it's so easy to gain weight per se, but it's so hard to gain muscle?

Christiane Schroeter:

Yeah that's a great question. So in general, it's just that fat is the easiest calorie to consume if you think about it. And muscle, which is also related to your protein intake, but I want to say that's a very important but, also related to your workout habits, to your exercise, kind of forms that second pillar. So if you think about your five pillars of health, so to speak, nutrition is important, exercise is important. You're also, and that will help your fat as well as your muscle is sleep. Mental health is important. So not constantly thinking about, did I just eat something that has fat in it? That's very important to your mind is very important. And then of course, social health. So sometimes working out with others makes you push yourself a little bit harder in my group fitness classes. I see that all the time, people that are maybe doing it in a friendly, competitive way, pushing themselves harder. So if you want to really build muscle, I would encourage you to line all elements up and not just thinking about, oh, I just need to get this protein shake in general. And in general, that's like, if you work with me as a health coach, I'm like a very, like anti shake person. Because I don't think that you need to necessarily spend a lot of money in building muscle and getting your proteins. You can get this in a very easy and quick way. And I'm all about easy, accessible and affordable. You don't need to spend money to build, muscle at all. So don't focus as much on the fat as just, you know, keep moving and you're going to see the muscle come in there. It takes time, but at the same time, it's something to where, if you think about this, revolutionary, right? It just makes sense that your body stores the fat first, especially as females, because it's survival, right? And so it's a, it's a very natural thing, that we have abdominal fat because we're trying to protect the body that might grow in there. Or that you have fat in other parts of your body because it's protecting organs. So it's, it's survival, so to speak.

Carmen Hecox:

So, can you share a success story of someone that overcame a body image and an eating disorder that you worked with?

Christiane Schroeter:

Yeah. So I've, I, because I work a lot with college students there, what I noticed is in my classes, it's truly a welcoming and warm environment. And I can't stress that enough. If you think about if you have body image issues, or even if you don't terrible and uncomfortable situations that we all go through. Let me, let me start the list: buying jeans, um uncomfortable like, they all look horrible, they feel horrible, whatever. Buying swimsuits, terrible. And the third one is going into a rec center. So if you're thinking about, you're struggling with your body image, you're not feeling great about yourself. And then you're going to recreations and they're where, people look good when you walk in. And they work, they know what to do. And everybody seems to be like all, you know, in a group and you are like just looking in. So I'm a fitness instructor and I work at a college gym. And I really, really emphasize that I'm pulling people into my classroom. So I frequently see college, um, especially females struggling with their body image and they later on reach out to me and say, if it wouldn't have been up to you, I don't know, I would have gotten out of bed. But if, if if you were, you were waiting for me, I knew it. Because you asked me for my name the first day and then you asked me when I didn't come back to the class and you reached out to me that I have to come back and you also in your classes shared little snacks and little ideas how to take care of your body and it really made me realize that I'm hurting myself more than I'm helping. So I frequently hear that the words that you use, especially as a fitness instructor. And the way that you design your classes should really focus on the whole holistic human being and not just kind of like, oh, okay, here we are working our glutes. Well, why are we working our glutes? Maybe it helps our posture. Maybe it helps, increases, uh, when we are going to go for a run. Maybe it makes us faster. So it's not just an aesthetic thing, but it's a functional thing. It helps us every day. And. I've heard numerous stories where people didn't experience that same language in other gyms and it really pushed them down and that they appreciate that so much when I, when they started working with me of how I really give them a 180 in terms of their way of looking at themselves in the mirror and they realize they're already beautiful the way that they are. And just by showing up, they're gaining that happiness.

Carmen Hecox:

So it's more of that you turned their perception around to I'm not going to have that bikini body, but you're making it more logical like this is for my wellbeing. I'm doing this because this is going to allow me to climb stairs. To, move things around the house, carry the baby, you know, just everyday life things.

Christiane Schroeter:

Exactly. And that's, Bikini Body is a a very great, um, use of a word that's maybe not ideal. Bikini Body, Summer Body. There's even like this perception about the freshman 15 among college students. Which is also complete BS because we all would probably, we all would probably change our body if we would go through that big lifestyle change, right? So it's not just college students, but I've had other individuals actually that had a lot of transitions in their life. Maybe, went through a divorce or anything else and their bodies really changed, which is, frequently when you're gaining or you're losing weight that reached out to me afterwards and they said, I'm so grateful I wanted to lose 10 pounds. And you talked me out of it and I didn't look at the scale and at the end of the program, which with you, which is 21 days, I went on the scale and actually lost 15 pounds. I didn't even think that was possible. So that's really something that if you take off your blinders of constantly stepping on a scale and watching what's happening. You might get healthier and it might have that body weight that you had in mind, but it wasn't your sole focus because you were actually starting to think about other things about the, way that your body could move, as you mentioned, picking up children or the way that you felt, or maybe you felt, you could sleep better at night because you went outside. So all these positive side effects we're way more important than just the number of the scale. And then, Oh, you step on the scale and you, realize, oops, it actually, it led to a lighter body weight. Yeah, you, but it's not the ultimate outcome. No,

Carmen Hecox:

And I was on your website and I noticed that, and I'll reiterate what you just said before you said that diet is a word that, in your household that you don't like to use. I noticed that on your website you talked about that it's almost as if, though, you shifting people's mind as to how they perceive food and having a different relationship with food and being able to make decisions that make sense for their body completely and also integrate movement as it's kind of like drinking water or taking a shower.

Christiane Schroeter:

Correct so, the way that we are raised just with regard to body image also very much ties into verbiage that we're using. So for instance, foods that are good for you and foods that are bad for you So there's the good and the bad, right? It's just like in a in a movie where there is the, the good guy, the bad guy, and then like, and the good guys, you know, you think of like the boring foods, the fruits and vegetables and blah, they probably don't taste good, and there's the bad ones, there's the candy. So how does it make you feel when you grab one from the candy side? It makes you feel bad because you're eating a bad food. It's like you're feeling guilty and, shamed into this. That's not really how it should be. So growing up in our house we certainly do have foods here that I would say we eat in moderation. Which is, let me just say like Oreo cookies or Reese's Pieces, peanut butter cups, or anything like that. If I were not to have that, it would probably lead to the fact that my children would seek them out somewhere else because I'm depriving them of the experience. And I'm depriving them also of creating a more holistic outlook. So they basically learn that we eat them in moderation. I never use the word really treats because it also makes the bad foods look as if you need to earn them, which is also not correct. Because a treat could also be a fruit or a treat could be watching a movie or a treat could be going for a walk or a treat could be getting a massage. So it doesn't have to be necessarily food related. So, the way that I look at foods and I'm using it also in one of my podcasts episode on the Happy Healthy Hustle is that I really say we should maybe look at foods and we should normalize how we are describing them. So if you look at the nutrition label, which lists calories, fats, fiber, et cetera. Don't focus as much on calories, especially if you were maybe struggling with eating disorders or body image. Because as soon as you start thinking about the calories, it makes you calculate in your head. And as soon as the calculation wheels start, it's like a never ending circle and you're going down that road. You're like, Oh my gosh, hold on, this has that many calories. So don't do that. If you need to look at the nutrition label, what I do is I tend to look at sugars that are hidden in certain things. For instance, spaghetti sauce shouldn't have a lot of sugar. Or breakfast cereals by all means, or yogurts, right? A lot of the fruit yogurts have a lot of sugar. And then I tell my kids if you want to eat that fruit yogurt, it's basically like eating a piece of candy. So you choose you can eat that yogurt or you can eat something that's equivalent to it. Or you can have a drink at Starbucks. Or you can have a Reese's peanut butter cup. So I give them choices and that makes it more in their control instead of saying you can't have any of that because we're just focusing on only eating good foods. And I sometimes hear people also saying clean, clean foods. It sounds very sterile. It doesn't sound necessarily always fun. And so I try not to use that language either. What I really focus on is maybe just, a more holistic outlook on things and just figuring out what works. Because sometimes you just don't have time to cook a meal from scratch. So you may need to take shortcuts and there might be ingredients in there that you don't want to eat on an everyday basis. But you know what? That's just how life is. It's not always, amazing. We don't need to strive always for perfection. Just try to make it as doable as possible and just go with the flow, right? To stay happy and healthy and hustling along.

Carmen Hecox:

Yeah, yeah, because you are right, if we have that stigma in our head that if I eat this, I'm going to get fat. If I eat this, then, I'm going to continue to lose weight. And I think that having that mentality puts that stress. And sometimes I feel like okay well I'm trying to be per se, a good girl and only eat the good stuff, but I'm not losing weight. Why am I not losing weight? And could it be the stress that I've endured and just, thinking good, bad, good bad, which decision do I make?

Christiane Schroeter:

So I have actually a couple of stories, from clients. Uh, one of them was, it was a couple and the female really wanted her husband to loses weight. But she didn't want to put him on what she said a diet, right? And I said, you know, that that's you. So she kind of deceived her husband and always buying a regular ice cream and a diet ice cream. And then she would basically, the identical containers. She would just put that diet ice cream into the container of the regular ice cream and give it to her husband, who would then think he would eat a regular ice cream, but he actually ate the diet ice cream right. And, um, that is, you know, if you want to lead that lifestyle to where you have the mind thing, one thing, but it's actually not. First of all, I think my family would have figured out that immediately. And second of all, I don't need to lie to them and tell them this is actually, regular where it's not. It's not really honest and it's definitely not raising my children in a very authentic way, let's maybe say it like that. And they already told me a long time ago, don't buy these things as light because we don't like it. It's just watered down original version. So we don't need to necessarily do that. It's a fair thing, right? I totally get that. And the second story really is that if you want to really enjoy the real thing, maybe just eat fewer, right? So if one thing could be cookies in our house, right? We have a baking sheet and maybe instead of putting these 8 ginormous cookies on there, maybe we just make them a little smaller. And I make cookies for all of the students in my classes. There is a famous Instagram Reel on my account, I received over 1 million views now where I'm loading the cookies that I made, the chocolate chip cookies. I'm loading them into a container for my students because I have hundreds of students and it's a lot of cookies that I'm loading. And so people probably thought, what is this lady doing with all these cookies? But at the same time, I want to emphasize that's the health coach that I am. I want to make a normal for a health coach to give out chocolate chip cookies. And are they, as big as my head? No, but they're a normal size cookie. Because if you Google, I always tell my students Google that shit, but if you Google this, that says, how the evolution of a size of cookie has changed. Those things are ginormous now, and they weren't always that big, they just kind of like super sized and ballooned up. So just make it a little bit smaller, and then I know I can make cookies for all of the students in my classes. Because if I would make them ginormous, I would, I mean, it only takes me two days to make them from scratch. If I were to make them really large, I would seriously get some muscles from carrying them, but it also would take me much longer. So normalize it and eat the regular version. You don't need to lie to yourself and feel that you savor every bite. Make it a social aspect. Make it a special thing. And maybe there's tradition with it. Now that we're walking into the holiday season, don't feel like you need to think about the calories that you're eating or points. If you think about Weight Watchers or anything like that, right? We are not a walking calculator. Just have fun. Yeah.

Carmen Hecox:

Exactly. I know that for a while I used to plug things into my phone. Oh I ate this because, I had an app that would calculate my calories. And I would tell my husband, I ate 1200 calories today. I've been doing it for X period of time And I'm like and nothing happened.

Christiane Schroeter:

Right.

Carmen Hecox:

And I deprive myself.

Christiane Schroeter:

Mm hmm. Yeah, and I love, you know, that you kind of kept track of it and then you realize it didn't lead to anything. I mean, I'm sorry it didn't lead to anything but at the same time, that's just how we sometimes think about it was a struggle and then you expect that the struggle was worth it. But at the end you look back and you're like, all this work and nothing. That seems like a very joyless way to live my life and absolutely not what I support. So that's why my company is called Hello Happy Nest. Because I want that body image aside, your body is your nest and you need to think about making it a happy nest. And you kind of need to say, hello, body here you are, I'm embracing you for what you are. Let's figure out what makes you happy. Let's figure out what keeps you around for a long time and how I can take care of you in the very best way possible.

Carmen Hecox:

And I remember, after I had my daughter, because I had my daughter older in life. I wasn't happy the way I looked afterwards. And I did join some weight loss program. And I remember they gave me like, uh, I ate like tons. I had a lot of food. And I used to tell my husband, there's no way I'm going to lose weight. This is a lot of food. And believe it or not, I lost a lot of weight.

Christiane Schroeter:

Yes,

Carmen Hecox:

And I didn't and I didn't work out and I lost weight

Christiane Schroeter:

You know, and, and, that's, I love that, that you put that in perspective. Because frequently people equal losing weight with dieting, dieting with starving, starving with uncomfortable, lightheadedness. Going through life and not being able to complete functions. Oh, I've had a lady the other day and she reached out to me and she said, I'm just going to tell you right now, if you put me on another diet, I'm already forgetting names right and left because I'm so lightheaded. I don't even know I can fulfill my job. And I said, this is not way to lead your life. Especially not if you are a hustler, right? Which I always say, you gotta keep your things all lined up and you need to make sure that you nourishing your body in a right way. So for me, exercise could come in a lot of different ways. Maybe just, stairs. Parking your car further away, carrying shopping bags, pushing a stroller, cleaning the house. I mean, there is, it's not necessary for you to become a member of an expensive gym. There's a lot of different ways you can work out and lose weight. And I also, in my program, have a lot of tips and tricks that get you there really fast. And you're not going to be like slaving hours in the gym to see a lot of definition in your body.

Carmen Hecox:

So, Christiane let's talk, about this cause you're big on helping people embrace who they are love themselves for who they are, love their bodies and live a healthy life. Let's say somebody went to your website, they're like you know what I am so tired of this body image and my struggles with food but I need to lose weight. How would you help them? What would program give them?

Christiane Schroeter:

Yeah, that's a great question. So the goal of my program is to create a journey to wellness. And that's also the name of the program. It's never, never like the, it ends right here. And at the end, we're all giving each other a high five because who lost the most weight? Oh my gosh. Do you remember that show? The Biggest Loser? Yeah It's not the biggest loser. So if you want to be on the biggest loser, don't contact me. Right? I could be, telling you a lot about what not to do, but we're not doing rapid weight loss. Um, you might lose a lot of weight, but we're doing it in a very healthy way. Right? So, at Journey to wellness, I have two different tiers, so to speak. I have a total self guided option, which is the person that's motivated all what they need is videos. And my videos are really fun and bubbly. They're only five minutes long. There are even five minute workout videos. You don't even need to change yourself into a workout outfit to do the five minute workout videos. The recipes that go along with it, and there's a lot of mindset tools. And I even have, different handouts where I recommend hair, skin care. Um, different ways that, of course, you can support your body to be its happiest. And then there is an option where I also do one on one coaching. And in that option right there, it's really the guided. I will help you figure out who you are and what you feel has been neglected because it's really what it comes down to to help you start your journey to wellness. And those are, people that, frequently it really comes down to thinking about what's really my goal here. Because I immediately said, let's not think about just body weight. What's your goal? Why do you want to become healthier? And then frequently, there's another story there. And that's really what we're focusing on. Those are the sticky notes you want to put on your mirror right? And those are the ones that keep going. And there's amazing results from clients that have worked with me in terms of turning your life around. I'm not a biggest loser person and I'm not a before and after picture person. We never ever do that. For two reasons, because, it's a very, um, it's actually kind of shameful to take before and after pictures, especially the side profile or in the underwear or anything like that. And then secondly, I also think that that's really manifesting that it is just about how you feel. And maybe people like kind of suck in their stomach and that's just not like, just breathe. Let the air out it's good, we're all moving along. And then thirdly, you know, I said that already earlier, but I'm repeating it again. I'm also not a replace your meal with a shake person. We're actually eating food. So welcome to using plates and silverware. We are not just like drinking through sippy cups right here. Yes. So that's important that on my website, I really emphasize that it's for you if you want to lead a normal life and if you want to start your journey to wellness. I welcome you to take that journey with me.

Carmen Hecox:

And, the foods that you or the recipes that you I'm assuming you put recipes together? Are they recipes that are easy to put together require very little work cause I mean I don't know. I don't have time to cook. I try to cook quick, easy, fast. Everybody's going to eat whatever I'm going to eat.

Christiane Schroeter:

It's quick and fast. Because if you've kind of, kept track of the different things that I do, so I'm a full time professor, I'm a fitness instructor. I also work as a Red Cross instructor. I have the two kids and my day is only 24 hours long. And I just mentioned that sleep is important to me. So somehow we get it all done. I know you can do it. It's basically foolproof family favorites. Yeah, because I'm a marketing professor, I'm using that word right now. They are tried and true. And if my kids like it, then it will pass the test, so to speak, and it will make it into our family favorites vault. And also, speaking of that, there's no funky ingredients. And no, long prep time. So sometimes I look at recipes and I'm like, first of all, I don't even know what part of these things are. And then second of all, when I just read the title, it's like that already doesn't sound good. So for instance, I have friends, we made this tater tot casserole that my friends really like. And that's also in that program right there. And I have a lot of friends that when I go over to the house for potluck, they're saying ah, can you bring the tater tot casserole? I know I like that one a lot. And, that one is an amazing recipe. If you prepare it you can actually have leftovers. It's even great on the next day. And it's also something that is a very social dish because, did you grow up eating tater tots?

Carmen Hecox:

I did, my husband hates it when I say it but I did.

Christiane Schroeter:

Mm hmm. So that's maybe connecting a family story to a dish, which is another unique thing that you might have, to where you're bringing in some experiences from your own life. And there are the other emphasis that I have in my program is a branching out and learning new things. So there are maybe recipes in there, very simple and easy. And maybe I'm asking you, you could do it this way or if you want to try something a little bit different, you could do it and buy this ingredient that's maybe not familiar to you this way. So it's flexible. It doesn't have to be done in a certain way to be amazing. It could be totally, used with, what I call easy swaps, right? Because in our life, that's just how it works you. Yeah, I mean, you basically just hussel along and you're like, all right, so here we substitute this for that. And I don't like this for that. They will still be amazing no matter what. And if my kids can make them, I think we have high hopes, for everybody. Even if they feel like they're sitting in the kitchen on fire. You got this. I've actually, um, Carmen, I have to tell you this story. Um, on the one on one coaching, I've helped somebody make a smoothie. One-on-one We were in the kitchen because she said my smoothies are never like creamy. And so I said there's a secret method. And so I showed her, we got our blenders out, and I showed her and then, to say, this is how it works. And then she texted me later and said, what a difference. I'm so grateful because you buy a blender and there's recipes in there, but it's still, there's still an art to making it, just perfect and super smooth. And especially, if you're just kind of new to the idea of a smoothie, you're really like, well, I don't know, like you want to be just like what the recipe promises. Um, flavorful, uh, filling, and of course, maybe ingredients that are individually tasting amazing and not just like, oh, this is a green smoothie and it tastes great. Yes.

Carmen Hecox:

I won't let my husband listen to that because I've made him buy me a vitamix. He might say oh Christiane said that there's a formula to making the right smoothie You don't just need a vitamix

Christiane Schroeter:

I have a vitamix too. And have you tried the soups in it, Carmen?

Carmen Hecox:

I haven't.

Christiane Schroeter:

So in my program, I have a lot of soup recipes and the soups are amazing. And in my program, I also have a mac and cheese recipe. And it's all like Vitamix. It's pretty much like that machine replaces so much in your life, like the mac and cheese from Kraft Foods. Just make it yourself. And it's way cheesier and it's not as yellow because it's in reality, when you buy the Kraft mac and cheese, this is not naturally colored. Sorry about that. But it's, it's totally customizable. You can throw in whatever cheese rocks your boat and it becomes your mac and cheese a la Carmen, right?

Carmen Hecox:

Mm hmm.

Christiane Schroeter:

Made from scratch and the sauce seriously just takes three minutes.

Carmen Hecox:

Wow. Yeah, my daughter loves mac and cheese but she only likes Kraft.

Christiane Schroeter:

Ah, she hasn't tried it yet. Maybe as a freebie of this show, I should share my mac and cheese recipe. How does that sound?

Carmen Hecox:

Ah, that sounds good.

Christiane Schroeter:

And well have a little bet now and, and what you should do is try it and let me know how your daughter likes it.

Carmen Hecox:

I'll have to. She's a ten year old. You know how those are.

Christiane Schroeter:

Yep. It's not too long. My daughter is 13 now that I went through this myself. And, um, there are certain things that you feel you can't substitute, but give it a try.

Carmen Hecox:

So tell me, how can friends and families support loved ones who are facing challenges with body image and eating disorders?

Christiane Schroeter:

So in general, I would say you've got to create boundaries. You have to think, especially as a mom about, how does your daughter use social media? Are these people actually friends on social media? What does she post on social media? So her image to the world, but also how the world interacts with them is something you can raise them in an, I don't know, I would say in a, not as controlling, but a more healthy, natural way. Right? So I always tell my clients, we used to have helicopter parents. Now we have what's called lawnmower parents, right? So it's not just like hovering over you, but it's like, hold on, let me get a lawnmower. I'm going to remove every obstacle. So you have the easiest way. And if you have any trouble, just let me know and I'm going to get the weed hacker out. I'm going to make it even easier. Right? So you don't want it to be that. They need to fail because failure is great. And that's how we learn and actually always normalize failure. I'm like, okay what was the best part of the day and what would it be fail it for today? I can't wait to hear it right in the evening and I love it because that's how we empower each other It's like high five for failure. Woo! Awesome! So when you think about your own life, I would nearly encourage you and there's a amazing book that's called"The Good Life, write down the friends that you have and they will change on your lifestyle or your depending on where you are in life, friends come and go. But write down who they are and what you appreciate about them. And focus more on the quality of the relationship than the quantity. So you don't need to have 200 friends because think of your friends as like a garden. We don't plant 200 different veggies either, because you're like, I have to eat all of this too. Why in the world did I do this? Right? So you have to think a little bit in terms of what do these people bring to me? Are they criticizing me when I'm wearing a weird shirt that has maybe stains on it from breastfeeding my daughter? Or are they embracing for me that I'm breastfeeding my daughter? Are they looking at my house weird when it's not organized? Or are they just coming over because they want to see me and laugh with me? And that's just what you need in your life. So you need to create boundaries that are natural. And you need to question relationships and it starts also in your family to where sometimes you're like, hold on, what did I just hear there? Right? So let's maybe kind of rewind and change the dialogue a little bit. And I tell my children too, I'm not perfect. If you catch me saying something that you feel is sounding odd to you, please correct me. Because I'm always learning too. And, especially you asked me at the beginning of the podcast where are we heading? I'm hoping we are heading into a generation where maybe body image is less of an issue, but there's so much work that needs to be done. It needs to be started at the household and with the friends. So I tell my children, if you catch me, say something funky, just say it. And I will do my best in replacing it or eliminating it as much as I can. Um, we are all learning from each other.

Carmen Hecox:

What are some resources or tools that you would recommend that people begin to use to help them overcome any eating disorders or body image issues?

Christiane Schroeter:

So some easy tools well I mean it starts again in your house right there. Think about what you own, right? Do you have the ability to maybe not look as at yourself as um shaming yourself into wearing certain clothing? Or looking at yourself in the mirror excessively or stepping on the scale excessively. So some easy tools are get rid of that scale. I know that's easier said than done. Maybe don't constantly look at yourself in the mirror. Or I work at, you know, in a training room when I teach my Red Cross classes and it's all glass and people always walk by and look at themselves in the glass. It's really funny when you sit inside and you teach CPR. Or using an AED, and then somebody walks by and looks at themselves. So try to watch that, and it could be that family member or friend that says, Yeah, you just look at yourself again. Ahh!, I didn't even know, right? So catch yourself, ask your friend. Can you maybe pay attention if I do that? And at the same time, think a little bit in terms of people you look up to and why you look up to them. Are you looking up to them because of how they look or who they are? Are they maybe celebrities that are sharing a great healthy body image and a story that resonates with you? Or are they just celebrities because of how they look on the red carpet after they have gone through excessive styling, image consulting, and of course, probably Photoshop. Right? So you need to think a little bit about, your home, your happy nest. Right? Your friends and also resources in terms of, using your friends as a support system to watch what you are doing. Because I tell my children all the time, I'm very honest with them, I've had it eating this water, if you feel that I'm using words to describe foods, or if I'm not eating properly, you can say, Mom, I'm kind of worried about you, and I would like that you stick around. Can you maybe make sure that you're, I mean you're also a fitness instructor, can you make sure, and I'm like, oh my gosh, guys, I haven't eaten lunch yet, here we are. So you need that you need that friend that's honest and that tells you what's happening and that little support system and then you actually need to listen to them because you trust them and you love them. So those are all easy resources. And then, of course, join a group where you will, if you don't have accountability partners, you find them because in reality they're all there. Some people just join my wellness program because they honestly, I have to tell you Carmen, loneliness is a big issue. Sometimes people just join the wellness program and they say, I just want to find friends. Actually, I'm just curious to meet some other people. And then I'm like, awesome! Welcome to the club! And I call them, my nest friends. Because, again, my company is called Hello Happy Nest. So they're my Nest friends. And then we are just building community because it's hard to find friends and it's hard to find friends that are honest and authentic. And they might struggle with the same issue because it seems everybody's life on instagram is just so perfect. So that's ah and filtered and maybe very, discouraging, right? So just feel that you are embraced in a community and think about resources that you can do instead of like, paying a lot of money and, and maybe hiring a personal trainer. Gosh, I tried that too after I was pregnant and this person created this total unrealistic workout plan. I was like, I'm not going to come here five days per week. I don't know what you're thinking. I have a child. And I was like, there's no way I could work with you. I mean, you didn't even ask me what my life is like. You have no idea, right? I was like, yeah, that's not good. We need to look at the whole person.

Carmen Hecox:

So Christiane how can people get to know you better or Where can they find you?

Christiane Schroeter:

So if you want to see me in, fun videos, I post a video every day on Instagram. So that's my main social media platform, and they are funny, they are, empowering and encouraging, and they frequently talk about, fun things that I might meet or have tried, and actually I also show recipes that didn't turn out well. I don't photoshop out the crappy parts. I'm like, well that didn't go so well, right? Um, that's alright, because it's, it was an experience, maybe tried something that didn't work out so well. So on Instagram, it's on hello dot. happy dot. nest. Um, then check out my website. It's hello. happynest, all in one word, dot com. There's also recipes there and there's the article I mentioned earlier about the five pillars of health, where you need to think about if you want to change your outlook on your wellness, you need to look at all elements. During the day and just incorporate a little bit of everything. And then of course, my podcast, it's called Happy Healthy Hustle. There's the episode we talked about earlier about using labels for food that are maybe not bad and good, but rather rewiring or thinking in terms of what they do to the body and how we can savor them and not punish ourselves when we try to eat an Oreo cookie. Because it is the number one cookie in the world. So by all means, you don't want to cut that out of your life.

Carmen Hecox:

Everybody needs an oreo.

Christiane Schroeter:

Yeah, it's a fun company they've been around forever. So may as well just, I mean, why? Right.

Carmen Hecox:

Exactly. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming on. I will include all of your links in my show notes and on my website so that if people want to read more about you, they can find all that information.

Christiane Schroeter:

Thank you so much. And I already made myself a mental note to catch up with you about some mac and cheese.

Carmen Hecox:

Oh yes,

Christiane Schroeter:

too.

Carmen Hecox:

yes, let's, let's not forget about the mac and cheese. You will find a link to Christiane's mac and cheese on my website. So she, giving away that freebie.

Christiane Schroeter:

Let's get in touch about that. And we're going to have a little cook off and tasting session about that. Thank you, Carmen, for having me. I had a wonderful time and I look forward to catching up soon.

Carmen Hecox:

Likewise. Thank you. I don't know about you, but Dr. Schroeter is absolutely amazing. She's nothing like any professor I had when I was in college. Her explanation to why it is easy to gain weight and difficult to gain muscle is valuable. She explained the five pillars of health, sleep, nutrition, exercise, mental health, and social health. And the importance of incorporating all the five pillars to burn fat and build muscle health. She also explained the reason we gain weight faster than we build muscle is because fat is an easy calorie to consume while muscle is related to our protein intake. If you are just left, inspired just like I am to get more information about Dr. Schroeter, head on over to createthebestme.com/ep030. You will find all of Dr. Schroeter's social links, website, her podcast, Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, her yummy mac and cheese recipe, and she's also giving away a free healthy habit checklist. So stop what you're doing and head on over to createthebestme.com/ep030. Thank you, Dr. Schroeter for coming on the show and sharing your amazing insights, humor, recipe, and checklist. If this episode resonated with you please subscribe to stay updated. Join me next week when we'll talk about the topic of mental health. This episode is a must listen to episode, so be sure not to miss it. Until then, keep dreaming big, take care of yourself, and remember you are beautiful, strong, and capable of creating the best version of yourself. Thank you for watching. Catch you next week. Bye for now.