Eating Well Outdoors | S2E8 (E018)
Maybe you’re a long time outdoor enthusiast, or maybe you are just starting out. But you might also be wondering, is there something out there that is healthy to eat while in the backcountry or just even during airplane travel that is super convenient. And YES there is. It’s called Heather’s Choice! Listen to Evie & Toréa’s conversation with Heather all about the birth of this innovative company and what its taken to grow it all while working through some of her own health issues along the way.
In This Episode
How Toréa discovered Heather’s Choice (02:35)
Heather’s story with health (04:01)
The triple dog dare (09:29)
Relationship between food and inflammation (13:01)
Struggle of finding healthy food for backcountry (14:58)
Using Heather’s Choice on an airplane (16:45)
The start of Heather’s Choice (17:18)
Scaling up and expanding into REI (20:10)
Finding the right people to support the journey (22:34)
Shifting our relationship to food (26:43)
Heather’s enjoyment of the outdoors (31:37)
Finding your community of people (31:30)
Toréa Rodriguez 0:00
Hey, everybody, I wanted to pop in ahead of today's episode to announce something very exciting. What's happening is our very first wilderness reset retreat. So all I'm gonna say is there are only a few slots remaining for this. And if you have any interest in coming on this once in a lifetime event to Montana, to really experience a safe environment for growth, get some firsthand experience with the outdoors, implement all these things that we've been talking about on the podcast for the last two seasons already, now is your chance. So I will include the link to those tickets in the shownotes. So if you have any interest whatsoever, make sure that you snag a spot because this might be the only time we're doing this one.
Evie Takacs 0:45
Yeah, I'm so excited because it'll, it'll really be a combination of the things that we talked about on this podcast of getting outside resetting your nervous system, spending time in community with other people, learning some new skills, like I'm really, really excited personally to be a part of this, because there are some skills that I lack. And I'm excited to learn from other people. And I'm excited to facilitate some of the workshops in this retreat, and it's going to be in a beautiful location and just a nice recentering of the nervous system in the body in health. So I'm really excited for that.
Toréa Rodriguez 1:16
Absolutely. And now let's get to today's episode.
Welcome to the Wildly Optimized Wellness podcast. I am your host, Toréa Rodriguez. And I'm joined by the lovely co host, Evie Takacs. Both of us our Functional Diagnostic Nutrition practitioners and we love working with women from all over the world, through our virtual programs, helping women not only feel better, but actually achieve that vibrant, no holds barred version of themselves, they've been missing for a long time, and how we actually get there. Well, that is what this show is all about. Now, please keep in mind that this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. And if you like what you hear today, we would love for you to hit that follow button, leave a review in Apple podcast, share with your friends, and keep coming back for more. Let's start today's adventure shall we?
So welcome back, everybody. And we are so excited to have this guest on board today to talk about all things eating in the back country and eating in the wilderness and how we can actually stay healthy doing it. But I'm also excited because I first learned about this company through Kickstarter many, many years ago. And part of why it's so special to me is that was during the time where I had already gone through my own health transition. I've learned how to not eat a whole bunch of processed junk food and had transitioned over I was eating paleo at the time, and I wanted to go on a backpacking trip but I couldn't really find anything that was like gluten free or there wasn't like a bunch of like highly processed potato flake based instant meals. And when I found out about this company who was dehydrating wild caught grass fed, like all the fun buzzwords, I was all in and totally sponsored that Kickstarter. And so now I'm delighted to introduce Heather Kelly. Heather, why don't you give us a little bit of an intro about you and how did Heather's Choice come to be like, take us back to before the Kickstarter if you wouldn't mind.
Heather Kelly 3:32
Sure. Well, thank you so much for having me. My name is Heather and I am calling in from my hometown of Anchorage, Alaska. Yes, I'm very Alaska proud. So try to make sure everybody makes sure that to know that they have an invite to come to Alaska anytime.
Toréa Rodriguez 3:48
And if anybody has never been it is probably some of the most amazing territory I've ever been to. And my favorite favorite trips of all time I've been quite a bit so I need more.
Heather Kelly 4:01
It's a magical spot. Pre Heather's Choice, I was born raised in Alaska, I went to school in Bellingham, Washington. And while I was there I was a collegiate rower, so got up at O dark 30 every day to go row and be out on the water and just get kind of into the outdoors and that way of just getting comfortable spending a lot of time outside. I also spent my summer months as a raft guide. So there was a period of time where I would either be rowing oar boats for crew or I'd be oaring rafts in the summer months as my full time job. So there was a really good stint of time there that all I did was be outside and it was lovely. While I was in college. I even though I was exercising probably 20 to 30 hours a week. I was also very very sick. I had full blown autoimmune condition psoriasis head to toe and I felt like a leper. And this was a new experience for me just being like, whoa, I'm eating dorm food. I'm exercising a whole ton like, how come I don't feel awesome? Yeah. So that led me down the path of learning everything I could about sports nutrition, and I ended up graduating from Western with a degree in evolutionary nutrition.
Toréa Rodriguez 4:07
Ooh fascinating.
Heather Kelly 4:10
Yeah, it, it's, oh my gosh, I keep you here all day just talking about that. We also won our fifth and sixth national championships while I was there at Western, so I got to oar in the varsity eight, boat, my junior and senior year and help my team win those consecutive national championships. From there, I also realized that my relationship with food as a college female athlete was super sticky. Super messed up.
Toréa Rodriguez 5:51
Right, which happens a lot in people's health journeys to I mean, yeah, it's a fine line between restricting your food for health and then restricting your food and then now there's disordered eating happening. Yeah,
Heather Kelly 6:06
yeah, the whole gamut.
Evie Takacs 6:08
I think a lot of people Yeah, go through that at some point.
Heather Kelly 6:10
Totally not a unique story. And thankfully, I had stumbled across a book called nourishing wisdom by Mark David and came to find out that he actually had started a school called the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. So I packed my stuff up, I moved out to Colorado to pursue my raft guiding career thinking that I was going to be a whitewater guide in Fort Collins, but then also came to find out that the Institute for the Psychology of Eating was conveniently located in Boulder right down the road for me. So ended up figuring out that becoming a whitewater guide was not what I wanted to do with my life. I was making no money and just hating every second of it. And so I borrowed the money and went to the Institute for the Psychology of Eating and really kind of started my path down becoming a professional nutritionist. So I started working with CrossFit gyms, doing sports nutrition with athletes there, got my professional certification from IPE and found myself building an online business at age, what am I out of college 20 to 22 years old, all of a sudden being like, wow, I have a book of clients. I have a website. I'm traveling to go do nutrition seminars at CrossFit gyms like I had made it. Flash forward to a couple of years in and I realized I was living in Boulder, Colorado, in an air conditioned apartment, driving my air conditioned car to an air conditioned gym, and I hated my life. Right? I was like, What am I done? Like, I created this, this thing. That's super awesome, right? I have time freedom. I'm making great money. I work for myself. I'm 24, 25 years old, like you would think that I had made it. But I really started too long for being back home in Alaska. So I moved back to Alaska, the summer of 2014. And years prior I had percolated this idea to start a line of dehydrated food called Heather's Choice. And the name came from my mom who had said that she was going to create a line of baby food called Heather's Choice when I was a wee one, but she never did. So I yanked the name from her. And the summer of 2014, I was living back in Alaska stoked to be home, just getting to be outside packraft, hike, whatever. And I had a good friend of mine, who sat me down and was just like, what is it going to take for you to start this business? Like, I know you're doing the consulting thing, the coaching thing, but like, clearly, you have a passion for dehydrated food, the stuff you're making a super good, like, what's it going to take? And I was like, Well, I have no concept of what it takes to actually, I didn't even I don't think that manufacturing was even in my vocabulary, right? Like, I didn't have a concept of manufacturing a food product. So my buddy drove me down to Cabela's bought me the largest commercial dehydrator they had, which was the size of a wine cooler, helped me get an EIN number and a business license and said I triple dog dare you to do this.
Toréa Rodriguez 6:47
Love it.
Evie Takacs 7:19
Wow.
Heather Kelly 8:06
So that was like, say August of 2014. We're coming up on the summer of 2022. So it will be eight years that I've been running a food business and I can't tell you how I've done it.
Toréa Rodriguez 9:48
I can I've watched you up level all these years. You know, it's like I was lucky to find out about you and lucky because we both have a mutual acquaintance in Alaska. To introduce me to what you were doing, I also felt very grateful and privileged to be able to find that and be able to support your Kickstarter because you were making something that I needed. And I knew that other people who were into the outdoors, I'm really concerned or even mildly concerned about what it was that they were eating while they were out there needed something like this. Right. So, yeah, I mean, what a great find. And I've been kind of an avid fan ever since. And munch on a Packaroon, and every now and then so yeah, love. Yeah.
Evie Takacs 10:33
Yeah. When Toréa first told me about, about Heather's Choice I actually had the thought of like, you know, that's actually a really good idea. Because I always wonder, too, I have friends that spend time in the outdoors. And I'm like, they're probably not eating great stuff. And so I wouldn't think like, oh, there's like, this other alternative. And so I like it was more of that thing. Like, wow, that's actually genius to have, because most people who I mean, I'm speculating, but most people who want to spend time outdoors and want to do that stuff and backpack and do all that and camp, like, they're most likely health conscious anyways. So like, they probably don't want to be eating the stuff that's commercially available at, you know, Cabela's or something.
Heather Kelly 11:14
Totally, yeah, it's definitely all good timing. You know, I also had followed a paleo diet since college. So it was super geeked on that I had just a really good background on sports nutrition, and what it takes to actually eat for performance. And then I had also this sort of a yearning for food that actually felt nourishing, right, because I was pretty well recovering from a really mucky relationship with food. So Heather's Choice, what people don't maybe know about it is that it is, in a lot of ways, kind of my perfect storm of it sort of checks all the boxes of what I was looking for. And, again, just timing is everything. Because when I started the business, there was the main, big conglomerate, freeze dried food companies flash forward to now there's probably, I bet I could probably drum up 35 to 50 companies that do something similar to what we do today, because the market continues to demand better for you options. But I definitely think that we were one of the first that were willing to just go for it and say, There's got to be something better.
Toréa Rodriguez 12:24
And thank god too because you know, people who don't have the kind of education that you have, and think about putting themselves into these high endurance type physical activities when they're going outdoors for backpacking, or summiting a mountain, or whatever it really came down to. I mean, I've been out with so many people where it comes down to calories in, I need x number of calories in order to do this. So what's in their packs are like, tons of Twixes, and Oreos, and all of this stuff that is granted its calories, but it's not actually giving your body the fuel that it needs.
Heather Kelly 13:01
Right. Yeah. And I'm sure that you gals talk to your audience about this quite a bit. But it's the same in our day to day life, right, we can find ourselves in that trap of trying to eat a certain number of calories because we're calorie restricting, or we're bulking or whatever the case may be. And if there's one thing that I just now feel like I have a spidey sense for, but don't know, like how to solve the problem at a really large scale, is do you know, when you see people and you can just tell they're inflamed? Like you can see it in their skin?
Toréa Rodriguez 13:34
We see it all the time.
Heather Kelly 13:35
Oh, my gosh. And like,
Evie Takacs 13:37
yeah, we're nodding yes.
Heather Kelly 13:39
So it's so hard to see because you know that 90% of that is food related, and that there's a solution for that. And when I hear people talk about going on extended backcountry trips, and not caring about the quality of food they're eating, it's just like throwing logs on the fire of inflammation, you're pushing your body to the extremes you're out in the elements, you're probably in like a pretty adrenaline-y, like, sort of new to your nervous system environment. Like there's so much going on. And then on top of that, you're going to throw really crappy quality food that your body's like, blah! What do I do with this? Like, yes, oh my gosh, it's such a storm for injury or a bad trip, or whatever the case may be
Toréa Rodriguez 14:30
Or flat out sickness like you can just get really sick eating that kind of food when you're putting your body into those extreme physical demands. You can absolutely get all sorts of like illness just showing up not chronic illness, but like full on like GI tract like illnesses, you know, and having options and choices like this is so important.
Heather Kelly 14:51
Totally, totally, totally. So yeah, my passion for quality food knows no bounds.
Toréa Rodriguez 14:57
I love it. I love it and I Can't wait to see what else you come up with. Because what it's done for me your company, what it's done for me is it's opened up a world of me being able to go back and re enjoy those activities. Because I used to do a ton of backpacking and stuff before I got sick with Hashimotos and had to revamp the way I was eating and take a look at all of the functional medicine. And that's what led me to doing this. Now Evie, and I do functional medicine with our clients and do health coaching. And you know, so we can look at the deeper stuff. But once you make that commitment, and shift over the way that you're eating, and how you're nourishing yourself, and then you want to go back into the outdoors, do it. I mean, even as little as a few years ago, you could go into a place like REI, or Outdoor Equipment or whatever it happens to be. And the choices that you had on the shelves were still pretty shitty, to be honest. And I know it stopped me from going out backpacking until I can figure out a solution myself. That wasn't me, with my dehydrator, trying to come up with recipes to do it on my own. Right, which is how you started.
Heather Kelly 16:00
Oh, yeah, I started with little teeny, tiny tabletop dehydrators. And even still, just like playing with food is really fun and dehydrating food is really fun. But you know, it's a ton of work, even if you wanted to go on one weekend trip and dehydrate the food yourself more power to ya and I hope you have all week to do it.
Toréa Rodriguez 16:24
I was gonna say it took me two weeks to prep up all of the food that I would need for a two night backpack trip. Yep.
Heather Kelly 16:31
Sounds about right. Yeah, we just do that on a really large scale.
Evie Takacs 16:36
I was looking at your website, which I mean, there's a lot of great options on there. I'm actually really interested in for someone who doesn't even really need this food, I guess like because I don't backpack.
Toréa Rodriguez 16:45
Airplane food
Evie Takacs 16:46
So how did this come about? Like? Yeah. Oh, great idea. airplane food. Amazing. Yes. Okay, I actually will be getting this for my summer trip.
Toréa Rodriguez 16:55
I took some of Heather's meals on my trip to Dallas last week, specifically, because I didn't quite know what I was going to be getting myself into. And yeah, super easy fix.
Evie Takacs 16:55
Yeah, that's perfect, actually, because, yeah, that works out. So I'm curious what that process was like for you just as a business from doing it maybe at your home and then getting into stores? Or is it online? Like, I'd love to hear about that. And I think that's really cool to hear and learn more about business.
Heather Kelly 17:18
Yeah, it started illegally. I came to find out so there's that. Yeah, it started.
Evie Takacs 17:28
Probably more common than people think
Heather Kelly 17:29
Oh my gosh, yeah, it turns out again, if I had known all of the things that I needed to do, in order to do this the right way, I never would have started. And that's true with every business. If you had any concept of how hard it was going to be, you'd never do it. But I started just cooking everything in crock pots and then putting them in the dehydrator, dehydrating them, hand packing hand labeling and shipping them to people because I started my website, thankfully, on a Shopify platform, which if anybody ever wants to do anything, and ecommerce just launch on Shopify, as far as I'm concerned, it's the best. But very quickly, I figured out that I didn't have the right permitting for said food dehydrating and shipping across the country. So that was probably end of 2014 through mid 2015, I didn't have a way to make product. And so I did what a lot of companies do, which is outsource or in the food world. It's called co packing. And so I found a co packer who was willing to make the product for me in Colorado, and then ship it from there across the country to our customers. Unfortunately, as with all co packing situations, you can't control the quality, right? Because you're not physically there witnessing the product, just talking about like what your specs are in this than the other. So from 2015 through the end of 2017. There was a two year stretch there where like, just quality control and managing production from 3000 miles away was like my whole life. And it was it was a dark period really like doing the Kickstarter campaign in 2015 was a whole thing. And I bet you didn't get your food until the very end of 2016. Like whatever you had pledged for. Because I was hustling to figure out how to make this stuff with a co Packer model. Yeah, flash forward to the end of 2017. My boyfriend Brad had come on as my operations manager. We had done some angel investing and I was just like, we got to figure something out. So we moved the entire business back to Anchorage, Alaska. We bought an old coffee shop in Anchorage and converted it into a full blown commercial kitchen and Instead of making things in crock pots now we were using a 40 gallon steam kettle, which is basically like a witch's cauldron.
Toréa Rodriguez 17:37
Wow.
Heather Kelly 18:23
So you go from making like eight servings of grass fed bison chili to 150 servings at a time. It was like, how much salt do you add to 150 servings of something, right? Like it's it was just a whole process to scale the recipes up to that size. And, again, this is 2018 that we've now moved into this kitchen, we're fully permitted and we're making things at scale. And me being a crazy person, I simultaneously went and pitched the business to get us into REI.
Toréa Rodriguez 20:45
Well done
Heather Kelly 20:46
So yeah, we got into REI in the spring of 2019. We also got into Sportsman's Warehouse, we got into a whole book of independent retailers. We launched in Amazon that year. And so now today, you can find Heather's Choice in 37, REI stores, 17 Sportsman's Warehouse, we have our own website, Heatherschoice.com, about 150 independent retailers across the country. And we also have a guides and outfitters program. So it's really diversified.
Toréa Rodriguez 21:21
So good, yeah.
Heather Kelly 21:22
But it has all been contingent on us being able to make enough product because we still to this day, make everything in 150 Serving batches. So wow, little baby batches.
Evie Takacs 21:37
That is amazing. That is incredible to hear seriously, like people don't think about this stuff, like when they see the bag or they see the product. And that's why I wanted to ask you because like this is incredible to hear that you've scaled it in that way and that you had that discipline and that determination to figure it out. Because like you said, if you knew that this is what it would take in the beginning, maybe
Heather Kelly 22:00
No!
Evie Takacs 22:02
But the fact that you were like, you know, at this point I'm in I've got to figure it out. Like that's the reason why people love certain products is that story. And that is so inspiring to hear that you were able to figure that out and make it work and your spread in all those different stores and all those retailers. That's amazing.
Heather Kelly 22:19
Yeah, it's I feel like my entrepreneurial journey has been super bumpy, super hard, super rocky. And I bet a lot of entrepreneurs feel that same way. But I
Toréa Rodriguez 22:32
Same, we're nodding our heads on that one.
Heather Kelly 22:34
Oh, my gosh, it's so freaking hard. But I will honestly say that, it's been really important for me to have that determination of, I will just figure it out. Right. It's just the next thing. And I will say that I have tons and tons and tons and tons of business mentors and advisors and people that I call on for each individual aspect of the business. Like Currently, I have a CFO who helps me on the financial side, I have a board member who really coaches us on all things sales and what our sales strategy is, we have a consultant that helps us with the manufacturing, like none of this is Oh, look at me, I did this all myself, like no-no-no-no no like this is really me as an entrepreneur, recognizing that I know little to nothing. But there's a hell of a lot of people out there who have done this before, like pieces of this before in a different capacity, who are more than willing to step in and help me at whatever stage that I'm at. So I feel like that's been just such a critical part of my journey is making sure that I'm aligning myself with the right people at the right stage of the business.
Toréa Rodriguez 23:54
What I love about what you just said is that your experience as an entrepreneur mirrors exactly the health journey for somebody going through, you know, learning how to heal themselves from chronic illness or some other kind of autoimmune disease, or whatever it happens to be is that if we were to look at that, and try and figure it out all by ourselves, most of us would just accept the disease for what it is and not even try. But because of that model of you always having a mentor and always reaching out and having the right practitioners on your team or having the right coach to help you through those things. That's what creates people having success in their health. And it totally applies to having success in business and entrepreneurship. And I love that we're talking about this together because a lot of times our clients now get to a point where they're in remission enough but then it's like, well know what it's like well, now you get to actually go live your dreams and do your dreams, but it's the same process that you just learned to go out and do that. So that's really cool
Heather Kelly 24:53
Yeah, absolutely. I definitely advocate for finding the right people. and surrounding yourself with the people who have done or are doing what it is that you want to do. And I had a conversation earlier today with a woman who started Noosa yogurt. I don't know if you gals have seen that product
Toréa Rodriguez 25:12
I know about Noosa yogurt. Yeah. N O O S A, Right? Yeah,
Heather Kelly 25:16
incredible product. So for me to have the opportunity to get on the phone with her and ask her questions about how she grew and scaled her business like to be in every natural food store in the country. I mean, we're not to that point. But
Toréa Rodriguez 25:31
yeah. Is she in Boulder by chance?
Heather Kelly 25:33
She is.
Toréa Rodriguez 25:33
So total random aside, I remember finding her yogurt at a farmers market before she was commercial. And then years later, it shows up in the market. And I was like, hey, that stuff's good.
Heather Kelly 25:48
Right? Yeah. So for me to get on the phone with her and be like, Oh my gosh, like, can you give me just some high level mentorship on what's the most important thing I need to be focusing on and growing and scaling my business? And who do you know that I should talk to that does angel investing for women owned food businesses like that has been such a critical part of my journey is just following those little breadcrumbs of the next right person that I need to meet? Because again, it's all been so bumpy, rocky, complicated, difficult to navigate. And I would not be here today, if it weren't for all the business mentors that I have.
Toréa Rodriguez 26:28
So good. You know, you mentioned earlier on in your story about how you had full auto immune and psoriasis and all of that stuff. I'm curious, you know, how, how has nature played a role in your healing process from healing from that? Yeah.
Heather Kelly 26:43
When I was in college, and I guess, predating College, just for everybody's background, my mom is the ultimate hippie health food lady like, that is what we did on the weekends was we went to farmers markets. And still to this day, that's what my mom does is go to all of the markets and buy all of the things love it. And so I had been raised on good quality food. And then when I got to college, and all of a sudden, I was eating skim milk, and cereal and donuts and trail mix. Like my diet was terrible. Yeah, that's when all of a sudden, this psoriasis that I didn't even realize was a thing sort of went from dormant to rampant really fast. And wow, that process of recognizing, wow, my food is what's causing this shifting to a paleo oriented diet or a primal diet, healing myself completely. All of a sudden, it was like, Whoa, there's something to this good quality food, I also have to recognize that my relationship with food and calories is super wacky from my college days, getting into the outdoors and being in a community of people who were healthy, happy, active, fit, just ate and drank to their heart's content and like didn't worry about it. They just modeled for me that you could be a happy, healthy fit person without having to obsess over calorie counting. Yeah. So once again, it feels like I surrounded myself with a really good community of people that I really looked up to and wanted to learn from, and especially going on trips, like, I've done the Grand Canyon six times now. So spent six months of my life rafting that river. And so cool, that community of people, they don't care how many calories they're eating each day, like, sure. If I come and say, Hey, I'm gluten free, and I want to follow a gluten free diet, they will help as much as they can to offer options for me or like, you know, leave the bread off of my scrambled eggs in the morning. But they don't really have the time the patience or the wherewithal to like give two shits about how many calories I'm trying to eat a day. Right? And right being out again, like in really extreme conditions. For me, the Grand Canyon was one of those moments that like my first Grand Canyon trip really kind of changed my tune as far as my relationship with food because I was super cold. It was December when we launched. I was oaring a two to 3000 pound raft. I was the only female boat captain. I was the youngest person on the trip and like my priority was to perform. So like keep my boat upright. So all of a sudden it was no longer How do I eat so few calories that I looked good in a swimsuit. It was like how do I eat enough to make sure that I actually feel awesome behind the oars? And I feel like to this day those times when I go into the outdoors on On an extended backcountry trip, and I'm pushing myself to my physical limits, my body actually feels it's best, it feels strong, like I feel healthy. And what I'm eating isn't the main event, right? Like, it's the thing that supports me to do the actual thing that I'm there to do. So the outdoors for me is just kind of that, that place to go and kind of reset, if I find myself sliding back into some pretty funky habits with food.
I love it, it's so amazing to hear you talk about it, because you're talking a lot about how you feel when you leave the thought spirals behind about how many calories and what is this going to translate into in terms of what my bikini looks like, or, you know, all of those things, that's a different kind of thought spiral that we know now is affecting our nervous system and how our nervous system is operating. And, you know, for you to focus in on I want to feel strong, I want to feel healthy, I want to be able to enjoy this activity that I'm doing and not attempt to do a 2000 foot pitch without feeling like I'm dying because I under ate, you know those kinds of things. So it's really cool to hear you say that. Being outdoors is one of those things that helps shift both the mindset and the nervous system piece of it, because that's something that Evie and I are talking about all the time on this podcast is like, we really want to get people into a place where they can recognize that nature has a way of doing that and providing that for us without us having to over think it.
Yeah, and I also think another piece of being in the outdoors. Like I told you gals before this, I was outside in the garden, trying to get this garden planted because our growing season is so short, and just getting kind of lost in an activity getting into that flow state and getting so engrossed by what I'm doing, whether that's in my garden, or it's rafting, or it's hiking, or it's hunting or whatever, all of a sudden, again, food doesn't become the main thing, like you suddenly forget, like, oh, yeah, I am hungry, I should probably eat a meal that is sufficient enough so that I can get back out there and do more of the thing that I'm like, excited about. And, again, I've done a lot of coaching with people on the relationship with food and eating for performance. And this, that and the other. And I feel like where the wheels fall off the wagon for people is when what they eat becomes the main thing in their life. That's what their whole life revolves around
Toréa Rodriguez 32:42
the primary focus
Heather Kelly 32:43
Oh God. And it's like, you've already said it, if you can get people fired up and excited about accomplishing something, like going on a backpacking trip, or starting a business or starting a family or whatever it is, like, if they actually have something that is energetically exciting, and lights them up. All of a sudden, you don't want to make crappy food choices. Yeah. Because it's going to deter you from being able to do the thing that you're actually inspired by. And I just, I don't know, I could go on and on and on about this.
Evie Takacs 33:25
I just I so for people who can't see like my hands on my I'm just like, you are saying this so perfectly. Like I don't know if I could say it any better. And I just really hope this drives home for people because again, like I said, I think everyone has this story to an extent of like disordered eating disordered behavior around eating, I certainly am not immune to that. I've come out of it just recently, the past few years. And that was a shift for me. I stopped feeling like food was the main event in my life. Because for me, like the binge eating that I was engaging in was not a binge eating issue. It was a career issue for me, right, I was teaching at the time, I didn't know what my life was going to look like I had, you know, I was going through a quarter life crisis. And as soon as I made that shift, and I had more things in my life that lit me up and made me excited, and that I could focus on and that I actually genuinely felt good at the food focus just went away. It was like food was just a part of my day. It wasn't my day. Yeah. And I see that and clients were like, the next meal is what lights them up. And I just so badly in like, you know, working and helping and supporting them to get out of that if like, why not have the next family outing be the thing that lights you up, or the next workout that you get to do or the next anything that is nourishing aside from food because other things are nourishing besides food too. And so I just I'm so happy that you're talking about it in this way and that you're saying it in this way because I think that is like that secret that people like that's the secret thing people are looking for and it's not Not a secret at all right? Everyone's looking for the next diet the next thing and it's like, no, it's about finding joy in other parts of your life, that basically just puts the food aside. And it's not as big deal anymore. Like it doesn't, it's not the thing that you wake up looking forward to anymore.
Heather Kelly 35:15
Yeah, food becomes ideally kind of your, your sidekick, right, because I can definitely attest to like, being the person who gets excited, like what I'm going to make for dinner, right? Because there's a whole component, it's not because of even the meal itself. Like, that's not the entirety of it. It's the experience of cooking the food, having a glass of wine with my boyfriend sitting down at the table together, enjoying a fire outside, like, there's a whole event. And what actually ends up being on my plate is just a small part of that excitement and that experience. And I feel like if people are really struggling with their relationship with food, and they feel like Oh god, I'm that person who's just like food as the main event. It's all I think about day and night, and it's stressing me out. Like, find a coach who can sit down with you and can really ask you those questions of what are you here to do in this lifetime? Yeah, because this, isn't it, like it might feel like it, but it's not. And it's been wild for me to to now be the CEO of my business, and to have a staff of 10 to 13 people. And to realize I now have 20 Something girls, who were college athletes that worked for me who are directly looking at me and modeling my relationship with food. Yeah. Right. So like, if I have super weird, disordered eating behavior that I'm modeling for other young women, like not super cool, right, right.
Toréa Rodriguez 36:54
It's so fascinating. So good, thank you so much, because I think something that both Evie and I have worked on the last couple years is really shifting that narrative and how we coach other women in relationship to their health and what that means, because so many women come to us, you know, with long term autoimmune issues or chronic illness, and they've used food in a way to get them some healing. But then now it becomes such a myopic focus, right? It becomes a trap, they're terrified of going out to eat, because they might get a flare, and they're terrified of, you know, introducing legumes back into their diet, because AIP told them not to, and you know, all of those things, and it's so liberating when you can finally work with a client, and get them to focus on so one of the things we have them focus on is setting their goal, but it's it goes above and beyond the health goal. It's like no, what's your purpose? Why are you here? Like, let's talk about those goals. And how can we relate the health and wellness into that, and achieve both at the same time. And so it's really refreshing to hear you say that, because, I mean, many people need to hear it, basically.
Heather Kelly 38:03
can't say it enough. Can't shout it loud enough from the rooftops like, Hey, you're not here just to be a human who, who eats and sleeps and dies, like you've got big, big work to do in the world. And food needs to be something that enables you to do that bigger work.
Toréa Rodriguez 38:23
Yeah, super cool. Have you do you have any other questions for Heather while we've got her here?
Evie Takacs 38:28
Yeah, Heather, I'd love to hear what you currently do to stay active and things that you do out in the wild. And you know, what's your kind of your fun thing that you're doing the work on your health lately?
Heather Kelly 38:39
Yeah, it's definitely shifted, because I own a dehydrated food business that caters to people who are in the outdoors. And it's been an interesting evolution for me as a woman to realize in my 20s, that was super cool, right, like late 20s. Like, all I wanted to do was go pack rafting, and go on backpacking trips, and raft and bike and like that, that was my thing. Right? Now, I'm 34 years old, and my boyfriend and I bought our house just about two years ago. And we are so geeked on like, mission make this house awesome. We have a German Shepherd Dogs, we have chickens, we have bunnies, we've got gardens, and like, literally in my spare time, my free time, I probably am digging in the dirt or, you know, just fixing up the house and doing things in that manner. And it's just been a really interesting evolution to realize, oh, I can be the leader of this business that caters to people in the outdoors. And this business can do that without me having to be the number one spokesperson of my business, right like yeah, I go to work most Isn't the week and I'm in the office most days of the week, I'm not galavanting around the states on backpacking trips promoting my product, because that's not where I'm at in this stage of my life. So I feel like right now, what keeps me really active is just the enthusiasm and excitement of homeownership and gardening and love living in Alaska in the summer months, like, I have so many projects that I'm just itching to do. But again, it has been a bit of an evolution away from maybe the more like adrenaline junkie backcountry sports to like, you know, gardening.
Toréa Rodriguez 40:39
Yeah, I love it.
Evie Takacs 40:41
That’s perfect too, too. That's great.
Toréa Rodriguez 40:42
Because there's a lot of different elements to the outdoors in nature that can be incorporated, that don't have to be the big bro sport thing. Right? It can be as simple as getting dirt underneath your fingernails, while you're planting seeds in your garden like that is just as much of a health producing outdoor activity isn't Oh,
Heather Kelly 41:03
yeah, I'm super, super geeked on it, and just really enjoying the phase that I'm at in life. And also actively, like I say, growing a business, growing a team and having fun with all of the challenges that come with that.
Toréa Rodriguez 41:19
So good, so good. Is there anything else that you would like anybody to hear about health and the outdoors and their relationship to that, that you could pass along?
Heather Kelly 41:30
I feel like we kind of touched on this already. But I think the big thing is finding your community of people, which is easier said than done. But when I religiously did CrossFit, it's because I loved the people that I trained with when I was rafting every spare moment of my waking time, because I loved the people that I got to go boating with. And now even within the business of Heather's Choice, like we're really picky about who we hire and who we bring into the business, because we spend almost every waking moment with these people working. Yeah. And I just really think that there's probably a lot of people that you have as clients who are trying to do this all alone, and are wondering why things aren't sticking, wondering why it feels so hard, wondering why they don't have the willpower to go do the thing. And it's like, man, if you can get in with the right, expansive community of people who maybe are already doing the things that you desire to do, your journey will be so much easier.
Toréa Rodriguez 42:39
And this is exactly why we run a community. So when people come and work with us, they have a built in community for the program. And they have a built in support community after so yeah, super cool. Well, Heather, thank you so so much for coming on and talking to us today and being part of this podcast. And we appreciate everything that you've gotten to share today. And if anybody wants to check out Heather's Choice meals, trust me, you do not have to be planning a backpacking trip. You can use them for just about anything. Airplane trips, snacks, quick breakfasts, they're totally worth checking out. And they're super yum.
Heather Kelly 43:14
Thank you so much. Yeah, if people want to learn more, they can visit us obviously, at Heather's choice.com. They can find us at a local retailer near them and come say hello on Instagram, and they'll get to see a little behind the scenes of what we've got going on with our business here in Alaska.
Toréa Rodriguez 43:31
Yay. Awesome. Thank you so much. We'll put all that in the show notes. Thanks again, Heather.
Hey, thanks for joining us for this episode of the Wildly Optimized Wellness podcast. If you're ready to dig deeper into your health, stop playing the Whack-a-Symptom game, start testing to get better guidance, you can find more about Toréa at torearodriguez.com and you can find Evie at holisticallyrestored.com. Want a peek into what it's like to work with us? Come join us at our Optimized Wellness Community. You can find the invitation link in the show notes below. And if you have a question for the show, you can submit your question under the podcast section of torearodriguez.com. Finally, if you found something helpful in this episode, don't forget to leave a review, hit that follow button or share it with a friend. They're gonna love that you thought of them. Until next time, see you outside!
