Welcome to the Radiant Soul Sisters Podcast!
Episode #8
Today my guest is Kristen Coffield, Founder, The Culinary Cure & Cofounder, Better Than Gossip
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If you want to read the transcript, check it out below:
Susan
Oh my goodness, I am so excited to have with me today, my friend Kristen Coffield from The Culinary Cure. And for all of you listeners out there, I just want you to know you really can develop friendships through social connections. So I happened to meet Kristen socially during COVID. I believe we connected on IG first, and we had several mutual friends. And then we actually got to hear each other’s voices through Clubhouse. And that is where we began building our relationship. But when it was solidified, was when I had one of the best times of my life and definitely a highlight of this year. I got to spend several days with Kristen, in Connecticut while I was filming for shows about CBD and Huntsboro Hemp for Kristen’s show that is streaming live Better than Gossip. And ladies, if you haven’t checked out an episode, you really should do that as soon as you can, because there’s all kinds of great information out there for women of all ages. But when Kristen and I saw each other live and in person and could hug each other’s neck, I felt like I had known her forever. And that is a true gift guys. I was so excited. Kristen, thank you for choosing to join me and spend this time with me today on the radiant soul sisters podcast.
Kristen
Oh, Susan, it is my pleasure to be here. And I think you’re right. It was Clubhouse when we heard each other’s voices, that the connection went to the next level. And I don’t know about you, I was on Clubhouse a lot. Now I’m not on Clubhouse at all.
Susan
All right. You know, and I’ll speak to that just briefly. The most interesting thing is through Clubhouse I connected, like you said at the next level or have a deeper relationship with some people that I had been connected with on Instagram, right. And so I don’t spend time on Clubhouse anymore. And I’m like, that’s kind of interesting, because that is where I developed deeper relationships rather than on Instagram or Facebook. Right?
Kristen
That’s so true. It’s something about hearing people’s voices. And I was on Clubhouse every single day Monday through Friday, because I was doing my 15 minute powerful morning routine. And I was hosting a fifteen minute rum and talking about The Culinary Cure. And the Culinary Cure is really, I’ll just give you just a quick bio about me. So I’m Kristen Coffield. I’m an author. I’m an educator, I’m a culinary disrupter. So I teach people how to use food to really change and empower their lives. I’m also the co founder of Better than Gossip with the amazing Amy Schmidt. And that was a collaboration about women and brands that support women and women owned brands. So those are my two, my two businesses. And I have been doing The Culinary Cure since 2014. And running coaching programs and corporate coaching programs, and really just kind of teaching the average person every single day on Instagram what they can be doing to make better choices with the food they eat. And I know you’re passionate about that too.
Susan
Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Kristen, there’s one other thing that I love is I’m developing relationships and getting to know people. It’s always interesting to learn about your childhood. And so can you tell us one of your favorite memories from growing up?
Kristen
Well, I had an interesting childhood because my mom was divorced when I was six years old. So my mom was a single mom with two little girls. She lived in a fourth floor apartment walk up. And I just want to kind of share this little story when she had a shop in town called Cliffhangers because she couldn’t really go into New York and have a big job. She really needed to stay close. We were in a small town in Westchester, New York, and I could walk to her shop after school, which I did. And then we would go to the grocery store. We’d go pick up my little sister and she had to park the car in this, she had up parking spot that was about four blocks from where our apartment was. So she had to carry those groceries and she had to get her two little girls from where she parked the car. And we could cut through this, it was kind of like, I don’t know, it’s kind of like a rocky, public land sort of thing. So we would walk from where the car was parked and we would go sit on sunset rock is what we called it. Basically, she just needed to put those groceries down and take a break. So we would take a break at sunset rock, my mom, my sister, and I and you know we would just sit there for a minute. And for her, it was probably just a little moment of calm between where she parked the car and leaving work. And then she was going to have to get to her fourth floor apartment walk up. Which is eight flights of stairs with her groceries and cook dinner. But in that moment, at sunset rock, we could just sit for a minute and look at the sunset.
Susan
Oh what a wonderful memory. And you’re right, can’t you as a mom, and now a grandmother, can you imagine what those moments of stillness meant to your mom? That every day, you know, kind of that pause, that time she pushed that pause button between work, and home life, or work and at home.
Kristen
Yeah, and it’s – you know, think about it. And I’d like to tell this story too, just because it’s so stunning to me when I think about it. So when my mom had to do laundry, she had to go down the eight flights of stairs carrying her laundry, the building was a big U. It was a big U. We were G seven, but it went all the way to you know, A to probably, I don’t know M. And she had to carry it down those eight flights of stairs, go around, go through the courtyard around the back of the building into the subterranean laundry room, hope there was a laundry machine available, put it in, go back up, go all the way back around. Because she has two little kids in this apartment. And then when she had to move it from the washing machine to the dryer, she had to go back down again and back down again to put it you know, get it out of the dryer. And I can actually remember me saying to my mother, mom, I don’t have any clean underwear and my mother saying just turn a pair inside out.
Susan
Hey, girl, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? But also, I want to say I want to ask you or talk about one other thing there, right? Think about the steps she got. Right? We want it so simple that we want our laundry rooms near our bedrooms. Or I can remember when we lived in the house we raised our children in, we had a laundry chute. They dropped their laundry down the laundry chute. So we took about 10 steps from the laundry room to the laundry chute to get all the dirty clothes, right? So we were cutting out steps. Now how important is that movement to stay healthy?
Kristen
Well that was her workout. Literally, her workout was her daily life and, and it’s so different. I just became I know you and I have talked about grand parenting. And I just became a grandmother in May. And it’s so interesting to well, first of all, my daughter is an incredible mom. But it’s so different than when we raised our kids. She orders her groceries, she lives in an apartment building and they are delivered to her door. Her dog walker comes and takes the dog out. They’ve got all these developmental things. And I mean, I looked at her and I was like, honey, I am so glad you survived childhood because we didn’t have any of this.
Susan
I’m glad they learned right. You know, I’m like, wait a minute. How did y’all learn anything? When I see all the toys and different things. Yeah, it’s a whole different world I think in raising babies, but then again, let’s go back to our moms. When our moms had us their moms probably said the same thing. You know, they didn’t have seat belts in cars. They just laid the baby on the seat. And you know, when you went to stop, you know, you put your arm out, right? Somebody’s got the baby so, life is always changing and always moving forward. You know, Kristen, you have been an entrepreneur for a long time because not only do you have the Culinary Cure, but you were a chef for a while. I believe I remember you telling me and there’s so many lessons in being an entrepreneur, and a wife, and a mom, and all of that all of the hats that we wear. So what is probably the biggest lesson that you’ve learned about yourself as an entrepreneur?
Kristen
That’s a great question. And my mom was an entrepreneur too. So, my sister is an entrepreneur. So I come from a long line of women who, you know, have great ideas. And, you know, I am going to tell you a quick little story that’s an entrepreneur story. I picked up my youngest daughter at school, she was probably in fourth grade. And I was listening to NPR on the radio, and they were talking about this new thing called YouTube. And I remember in that moment thinking that what I do would be so perfect for something like a YouTube. But at that time, nobody had their cell phone where they could film themselves. We didn’t, you would have had to have had literally professional equipment and lights and the whole thing. But I never forgot that moment. And it’s one of the lessons that I think entrepreneurs need to really take to heart. Right? Good ideas don’t happen in a vacuum, all kinds of people are having these good ideas. At the same time. If you have a good idea, you should bring it to people who you trust, who you can vet the idea with. And if you think you have a really good idea, you should chase it down. You know, don’t let the idea pass you by. Because really, I did at that point, I had three kids at three different schools, and I still was running a business at my home and it seemed daunting. But if I had jumped in, it would have been really an incredible opportunity. So timing is everything as an entrepreneur.
Susan
Yep and I think too. I think I hear you saying also listen to your intuition. You know, listen to your intuition, even when the tasks seem greater than you. Or, you don’t know how I’m going to take that next step. Right? Well, you know, we’ve touched on the fact that you had three children, you’re running a business, they’re going to different schools, they’re becoming teenagers and young adults as well and what you know, work life harmony. I think in work like harmony, not work life balance, because I really think work life balance truly doesn’t exist. But I believe harmony exists. And it’s because you can be out of balance, but you can still have harmony, that beautiful symphony of life playing right? So what are some of the lessons or things you’ve learned about work life harmony, or how to keep things peaceful and flowing?
Kristen
Well, I can, I can share so much wisdom now. Through it and if I could go back when I think and of course, we can’t go back. The past can never be any different than it was. But I will say, I am a firstborn type A get it done kind of gal. And I think I was too tightly wound, you know, I had the big family calendar with everybody’s stuff, color coded. And, you know, I was keeping all the balls in the air and I was tightly wound, and I couldn’t let go of the outcome. And it didn’t make it lovely for everybody around me, but it really wasn’t great for me personally. So if I was going to give some advice to my younger self, younger women who are trying to balance you know, being entrepreneurs, with a family and make it easy on yourself and compartmentalize things. Because it’s really hard when you work out of your home, to not be at work 24/7 and parenting is work too. So compartmentalize, let go of the outcome. Like don’t be a perfectionist. I think that’s probably my biggest thing that I would say if you want to have harmony, and happiness. You can’t be a perfectionist and get completely bent out of shape and have an amygdala meltdown. Every time things don’t go the way you want them to.
Susan
Oh, I agree with you and you know, midlife wisdom is wonderful. Right? Midlife wisdom is wonderful and going back you can look back and say, well, if I’d done it that way. But you said some magic words there. The past has happened, we can’t change it, we can only look back to gather lessons from it. Right? And also to share those lessons with our daughters and with our next generation of entrepreneurs coming up. So hopefully, they can live a little bit better than we did. Right?
Kristen
Exactly, exactly. Order the groceries, get your groceries delivered, you know. Like, if you need to do those things, take the bath, you know, lock yourself in the bathroom with a good book, and give yourself an hour. Take that beat, or that pause when you need it and sit on sunset rock. Because those are the moments where the magic in your life happens. And you’re going to miss them if you’re too tightly wound, about how everything, the perfectionist, you know, mindset that it’s all got to be this way. You know, you lose the magic, you lose the spontaneity, you lose the joy.
Susan
I agree. So now in this stage of life, you know, I talk about radiance, and I talk about letting your radiant soul shine. And we’ve already hit on it a little bit. But what is something or some things that you do everyday to make your radiant soul shine?
Kristen
Well, I think the first thing that we’ve all got to remember is you really got to keep the oxygen mask on yourself. And don’t we just as women, I don’t know where we got that message that we need to just like burn the candle at both ends. And, you know, look great, and be a great housewife, and you know, perfect business woman, and the perfect daughter, and mother, and all of that shit. When in fact, what we’ve really got to do is make sure that we’re doing that self care, so that we’ve got the energy, and the resilience, and the bandwidth, to kind of be all things to all people because I hate to say it, but it’s really true. That a mom’s role in many ways – and in some families, it’s different. The woman may not be the, you know, may not be the primary caregiver for kids, but there is a certain amount of being the glue that holds everybody together. Because of the way I think women’s function and the way their brains function. Right. You know, my husband’s really great at this thing right here, right now. You know, I’ve got to do this thing, and this thing, and somebody needs that. And I’ve got a kid who needs something else, and they’re in another state. So taking care of yourself so that you can be the best version of yourself for the other people in your life.
Susan
Absolutely. And, you know, you mentioned that air mask in that airplane. And I can think about the first several times I flew with children, and they’d say that, and I’m like, oh, hell no. Man if we got to put these masks on these children, right? Because of that protective instinct, right? But when you really understand the truth of it is, I might not have enough oxygen to be able to put those masks on those kids. But when you really can take that scenario, and shift it into life, right? That’s exactly what it is and what you’re saying and that self care is so important.
Kristen
And that’s sort of the whole premise behind The Culinary Cure, is how do you use what you do every single day. You have to eat, you have to drink liquids, you have to sleep, you have to move. So how do you optimize those things so that you have more bandwidth for all the other things that we want to do? Right? So that there’s lots of bandwidth so we can help all the other people in our lives that need parts of us but that we have enough left over for us to do the things that are important for ourselves as well.
Susan
So I am going to ask you this one extra, one extra question because I know it and I know it Wow. But what is your big, big, biggest bugaboo about what we need to do to take care of ourselves?
Kristen
Well, there are two and they kind of like go together. You know, I’m always talking about hydration. Yeah, and I always tell everybody, every one of my programs starts with a hydration. It takes two weeks to get properly hydrated. And I’m here to tell you if you’re listening to this, there is a good chance you’re drinking water but you’re not properly hydrated. And so proper hydration is a practice. And most people don’t realize that. So we start with hydration. And I’ll just give every everybody a tip who’s listening, eight ounces an hour, eight to ten ounces an hour for eight to ten hours a day, starting with the first beverage of the each day. So I do fourteen ounces, of you know, lemon water. I boost it. You know, I’m always doing posts on Instagram about what you can add to your lemon water to make it even more beneficial. But the the hydration leads right into the second most important thing, and these two go hand in hand, which is restorative rest. And if you’re not properly hydrated, you’re probably not getting great sleep. And you don’t even know it. That’s the thing, you just don’t even know it.
Susan
Well, and I love your tip about drinking eight to ten ounces every hour. And so I have really learned to do that. And there’ll be times during the day when I take my ten sips of water because you talk about that somewhere on Instagram. You know, if you take ten big sips, that’s about ten ounces of water, right? I’ll think oh, thanks, Kristen. Because I do drink a lot of water. I will not say that I paced it throughout the day until after you know chatting with you and being with you. So I love that tip. And I just, I wanted people to hear it. Because when you do check Kristen out on Instagram or in the social medias, you will see that, that she is very much about the hydration. But as she mentioned, it does overflow into your rest and many other areas of your life. So, I’m super excited that our listeners can connect with you.
Kristen, thank you so much for being here today. And I have one more question for you. But before we get there, I would like to know what you brought along for our listeners and how they can connect with you.
Kristen
Well, I have always a little freebie to get started. And you know, it’s a little healthy habits starter guide that talks about the hydration and the sleep and you know, just kind of like an entry level little guide that people can get and and then there’s my book, of course. My book, How healthy People Eat an Eater’s Guide to Healthy Habits. But all of these things are available at TheCulinaryCure.com. And I think I gave you a link for the show notes. And people can just click on that link to get their free guide. And people can also just sign up for a free fifteen minute consultation if they just want to say, hey, I heard you. You sound really nice. And I just thought we should chat. You can do that. Or if you’ve got a specific question you know, I just love to meet people! I love to help people! And at TheCulinaryCure.com, you know, a couple of times a year, I teach people in a twenty one day detox and reset program, which is really effective and helpful.
Susan
Absolutely. And of course in the show notes we will list all the places where people can catch up with you and connect with you. So everyone can look for that.
Kristen
And Susan, and let’s not forget, they can go to BetterThanGossip.com and watch your shows, and learn from you about wellness and CBD and all of that good stuff.
Susan
Thank you. And I will let Kristen tell us this before we move on. So tell us Better Than Gossip is for…
Kristen
Ageless advice for timeless women. Because some of the best information, need to know information is being shared intergenerationally.
Susan
Yes. And you know, we’ve also talked about this a little, this is a little bit off but we’ve also talked about this, how much we can learn from the younger generation. But we also can learn from our older generation, right? And then we have stuff to share in both directions as well. So I love being connected with younger women as well as older women, right?
Kristen
Because aren’t we all kind of, you know, like, you and your daughter’s and me and my daughters you know we wear the same jewelry, wear the same clothes, and we listen to the same music. and so it’s this kind of melding generation that we are.
Susan
Absolutely, absolutely. That’s a great point. Great point. If you have enjoyed this episode today and it has you thinking about how to put yourself first while living your life’s purpose and having work life harmony, be sure to connect with me at SusanCrewsCo.com or on any of my socials at @SusanCrewsCo. If you’d like to bring energy to your next event, I am always available to talk with you or to lead your group in a great informational session or a great conversation. Once again, you can find me at SusanCrewsCo.com.
So Kristen, my last question for you today. In looking back in all that we’ve shared and thinking about who needs to hear that one tip for that one piece of advice. What is it that they need to know from you?
Kristen
That everything you do today, everything you eat, everything you drink, your habits, will affect your future wellness. And so understanding the power of right now, to set up your future, personal and professional success is the most important thing that everybody needs to take away from today’s show.
Susan
Absolutely, absolutely. Healthy living is important for all of us. Once again, thank you for being here today. And I hope everyone has enjoyed another episode of The Radiant Soul Sisters. So many thanks to Kristen for being here. And until next time when we will shine the light on another soul sister. I hope you are living in your work life harmony. Till then I’m your host Susan Crews and you can find all of our episodes resources and community on my website at SusanCrewsCo.com.
