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Want to help your whole family achieve epic levels of health — without compromising on fun?!

There’s no one more qualified — or more inspiring — to talk about this topic than Erin and Dusty Stanczyk.

Back for their second appearance on the show (they first joined us for Episode #455), they’re here to share even more insights on how to nourish your body, embrace rest, raise a thriving family, and have a whole lot of fun along the way.

Tune in to discover: how to start incorporating plant-based habits into your life, the easiest ways to add movement and rest into your routine, the unconventional ritual that’s enriched their lives, their surprising experience with plant-based pregnancies, and the life-changing impact that eating more plants can have on your overall well-being.

Plus, Erin and Dusty give us an inside look at their daily routines, from co-sleeping to homeschooling, and reveal the one book they’d add to every school curriculum.

This episode is as strategy-packed as it is inspiring. So if you want to level up your health, set your family up for a lifetime of thriving, and live a more nourished life, then press play now — this one’s for you!

About Erin and Dusty Stanczyk

Erin and Dusty Stanczyk are certified health and lifestyle coaches, worldwide retreat hosts, authors, and creators of the lifestyle brand and website, EatMoveRest.com. Together with their three children, Max, Liv, and Zoe, and their Bernese Mountain Dog, Beau, they inspire and empower others to get back to the basics, by doing the 3 things we all do every day, better — eat, move, and rest.

In this episode we chat about:

• How food can become a powerful tool for self-discovery, healing, and transformation (3:37)
• Practical tips for transitioning your family to a plant-based lifestyle with ease (7:32)
• The simplest, most effective changes to kickstart your fitness journey (17:35)
• Why resting more is the secret to thriving — and how to make it happen (21:51)
• The unconventional ritual that has profoundly enriched their lives (30:50)
• Should you limit how much fruit you feed your kids? Their surprising approach to this question (36:19)
• How they navigate moments when their kids are exposed to unaligned food choices (37:59)
• Their experience with plant-based pregnancies and whether it’s possible to thrive as a plant-based mama (44:31)
• The life-changing impact than plant-based eating can have on health, energy, and mindset (48:32)
• The must-read book they’d add to every school curriculum (53:23)
• A behind-the-scenes look at their daily routine, from co-sleeping to homeschooling (55:49)
• Why homeschooling works for them and how it’s shaping their kids’ lives (61:50)

Episode resources:

• SheLaunch (join here)
• Mastering Your Mean Girl by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Open Wide by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Comparisonitis by Melissa Ambrosini (book)
• Time Magic by Melissa Ambrosini and Nick Broadhurst (book)
• Eat Move Rest (website)
• Eat Move Rest (Instagram)
• The Happy Healthy Plant-Based Cookbook by Erin & Dusty Stanczyk (book)
• Eat Move Rest Club (website)
• Three Feet from Gold: Updated Anniversary Edition: Turn Your Obstacles into Opportunities! by Sharon L. Lechter CPA, Dr. Greg Reid, and Napoleon Hill (book)
• The Good & The Beautiful curriculum (website)

Prefer To Read?

The following transcript has been automatically generated and not checked for accuracy.

Melissa: [00:00:00] In episode 635 with Erin and Dusty Stanzik, we are talking all about plant based living, how to get your children to eat more plant based. We’re talking about how to move more, how to rest more, how to literally be the best, healthiest version of yourself, plus so much more. Welcome to the Melissa Ambrosini Show.

I’m your host, Melissa, best selling author of Mastering Your Mean Girl, Open Wide, Comparisonitis, and Time Magic. And I’m here to remind you that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word. Each week I’ll be getting up close and personal with thought leaders from around the globe, as well as your weekly dose of motivation, so that you can create epic change in your own world.

and become the best version of yourself possible. Are you ready? Beautiful. Hey, beautiful. And [00:01:00] welcome back to the show. I’m so excited about this episode because we have Aaron and Dusty back on for the second time, celebrating the launch of their first book, which I am so excited about and truly believe that every single person needs this book in their life.

Now, for those of you that have never heard of Aaron and Dusty, they are certified health and lifestyle coaches, worldwide retreat hosts, Authors and creators of the lifestyle brand and website, eat, move, rest. com. Together with their three children, Max, Liv, and Zoe, they inspire and empower others to get back to the basics by doing the three things we all do every day better.

Eat, move, and rest. And I truly believe that we can all be doing those three things better, no matter where you’re at on your journey. I’m sure you can eat better. I’m sure you can move better and I’m sure you can rest better. So this episode is going to be so inspiring for wherever you are at on your journey.

And for everything that we mentioned in today’s episode, you can check out in the show notes and that’s over at melissarambrosini. com [00:02:00] forward slash 635. Now, without further ado, let’s bring on the super inspiring, vibrant, colorful. Aaron and Dusty.

Aaron and Dusty, welcome back to the show. I am so excited to have you here. But before we dive in, you guys know the drill. What did you have for breakfast this morning? 

Erin: Our favorite meal that we have almost every single day. It’s our Green smoothie that’s loaded with lots of greens and fresh tropical fruit or frozen lots of superfoods in there.

And lately we’ve been making our plant based pancakes a lot. 

Dusty: Pancakes on repeat. Mostly because the kids. I feel like we didn’t eat pancakes like ever. And now I don’t know what I would do without pancakes for breakfast. Exactly. But they’re amazing. Of course, Aaron makes them from scratch with all the right ingredients and yeah, protein [00:03:00] pancakes for the win every day.

Melissa: I mean, they’re so delicious. We do pancakes on the weekend on Sunday mornings and it’s just delicious. But yeah, we would say never had pancakes before we had Bambi and now we have them all the time because they’re so good. 

Dusty: Yeah. Whatever the kids want. Yup. 

Melissa: Yeah, exactly. Now guys, congratulations on your first book.

This is so exciting and I want to celebrate you. I know how hard it is to get a book out into the world and you guys have worked so hard on this. It’s just amazing. And so congratulations. Now, in the book, you talk about transformational nourishment that goes beyond what we just eat. So, what is transformational nourishment mean to you?

And how can we use food as a tool for self discovery and healing? 

Dusty: Oh, man. 

Erin: Well, as many of your viewers might know, since we’ve podcast [00:04:00] before, our brand is Eat Move Rest. So yes, we do go beyond the kale or beyond the plate, so to speak. We say there’s three things we could all be doing better, eat, move, and rest.

They’re the three things we all do every day, but we could be probably doing them better. And so, you know, we kind of feel like food is really like the entry point for most people because it’s so tangible. And because we have to do that multiple times a day just to survive. So we can either, what we put into our mouths at least three times a day is either helping us or hindering us.

And we have found so much success on a plant based diet and lifestyle. And we’ve truly become like we harness food as a way to medicine, essentially, and it allows us to feel our best and have energy. So we feel like we want to move and we move our bodies daily, which honestly, you know, it kind of wears you out.

It helps you to sleep better. It kind of gets the jitters out and you sleep [00:05:00] good. The next morning you feel dialed in and you’re ready to repeat the cycle all over again. 

Dusty: So. And it’s transformational because you are what you eat. You know what I mean? I just heard from an older lady who was like, I’m having a realization.

And she’s like, we always heard it, you know, as kids growing up. And now it’s just like, but it means something new. You truly are what you eat and it makes a difference. And then you hear scientists and, and these, these doctors and people saying your cells, like you’re a new person every seven years or, you know, whatever the statistic is.

And it’s like, okay, so. Yeah, we are actually transforming our hells, our lives, but our bodies even I’m like, I turned 38 like two months ago and I was getting my haircut today. And she’s like, she’s like, wait, you’re 38 years old. And I’m like, yeah. And I’m like, but I feel like I’m 28 or 18 and it’s, it’s crazy.

It’s like, we are transforming so much. So yeah, we’re like, we have to share this with the world. 

Melissa: [00:06:00] Absolutely. I thought you were going to say you have no gray hairs because I’m 38 and I have. Literally at Christmas time last year, my husband found two gray hairs, my first two gray hairs. And I blame it on having a child and going through all of that, but I only have two apparently.

Dusty: That’s amazing. I’ve got more than two. Aaron probably knows better than I do. I don’t, I don’t look, I don’t keep track. I’m definitely, I saw a picture of my dad. I think gray 

Erin: hair is better than no hair. 

Dusty: Totally. I saw my dad, a picture of my dad when he was 40, so just a couple years older. And he, and he wouldn’t mind me saying this.

He was fat, he was gray, he was all of these things. And I’m like, I look like a teenager compared to my dad at 40. And so, you really are what you eat. It makes a difference, you know. And genetically. We’re identical. Like we look the same, but I’m like, our lifestyles are so different. [00:07:00] Lifestyle really does matter, you know?

So we’re realizing that for sure. 

Melissa: 100%. And you guys are such a beautiful postcard family of what it means to live a healthy. Abundant, happy life. Like you guys really do preach, eat, move, and rest. And it’s how you live your life. You follow what you guys do on social media and the proof is in the pudding.

You know what I mean? Like you look at you guys and you go, wow, obviously what they’re doing is working. Now, for someone listening who either wants to switch their family to more of a plant based way of living and eating, or they want to raise their family from scratch. Maybe they don’t even have kids.

This is really inspiring and exciting, but it’s not always rainbows and butterflies, especially if you’re switching. Like I feel like it’s easier if you embody this before the kids come along. Because like my daughter, she doesn’t know any different because she’s never [00:08:00] experienced it. Anything else. But switching can be a little bit more tricky.

So what are some of your go to strategies for making plant based meals that kids really enjoy? And are there any tips from the book that can help parents ease into this transition with younger children? 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Melissa: You 

Dusty: know, I think first just to start. Like what you just commented on, like, we are like, what you see is what you get with us.

We have our eMoveRest membership and you know, we do our Friday afternoon club calls. And one of the guys that follows us, Jonathan, he was like, you guys, when you evacuated for the hurricane, he was like, you were cooking meals in your hotel room. For us, we don’t even think about it. Right. And, and he was like, you guys literally are.

You’re living proof. You’re not just doing it for YouTube. You’re not just doing it. And so, yes, that’s true. And so thank you for recognizing. Thank John. I, we told Jonathan, thank you too, because it like [00:09:00] reminds me like, Oh yeah, I, I really want to do this and I really love this. And so I think that’s actually a good answer too, for, for your question is like just fully embody it.

You know, it’s maybe not necessarily embody it as in like cold Turkey. But identify, start identifying with this way of living and it will be so much easier, right? Because if you’re still stuck or, or identifying as, you know, the meat eater or the overweight person or whatever it is, like, in fact, this is what our call was about last weekend too.

We were like, you have to change that, that self identity. And then it becomes so much easier. You embody it fully and yeah, your spouse, your kids. They come along with you, you know? 

Erin: I feel like it’s really important to add before you subtract when you’re transitioning to this lifestyle because it can be really easy to be like, Oh my gosh, everything that I’ve been shopping for and filling the fridge [00:10:00] with is just expired and not healthy and it’s processed.

I’m going to sweep it clean. And then you realize you have nothing left and you don’t know where to start. So a better place to start is to simply, next time you go to the grocery store, go to the shop, primarily the produce section, begin to work more colorful living foods into your diet in the form of fruits and vegetables and shop bulk bins for the grains and legumes and beans.

And honestly, the, the place that we started is where we still are today. And that was with the green smoothie. We got our blender out. That had been in storage for about two years since we had gotten married. And we’re like, why don’t we actually get this thing out and use it finally? That’s so weird to think that there was 

Dusty: a time that we weren’t making smoothies.

I’m like, 

Erin: What? So, I mean, we did what we’re doing now. We got on YouTube and watched other YouTubers making healthy plant based recipes in their blender and we did it, and it made it fun and easy to pack in All of these [00:11:00] add before you subtract foods, like all of these fruits and veggies, we weren’t used to consuming in mass quantities, we could put them in the blender, maybe add in a superfood powder or some chia and flax, which we’re still doing all of that, like I said, because we eventually, after some trial and error, found some recipes that were So, yeah.

forward to them in the morning. And on top of that, they made us feel good. So that reward system began. And then that’s what keeps you coming back, coming back and getting into that like, Oh, now I have a little bit of momentum and this isn’t like so much like of a chore. I’m actually looking forward to eating healthy because it also tastes good.

So that’s going to be critical for like, If you’re trying to help your kids transition and your husband transition, you got to make it taste good and make you feel good. So we always say like, 

Dusty: do it like with like Aaron saying, add before you check. If you love eggs in the morning, make your green smoothie with your eggs.

Fine. You know what I mean? Like we, we’re not dogmatic. [00:12:00] We’re, we’re not judge, judgy vegans. You know, we tell people all the time, I don’t, I don’t care what you’re still eating. Just add this in, right? Just add this in, just add this in. And before you know it, they’re like, well, my, my breakfast got smaller and smaller.

My, you know, my egg portion got smaller and smaller. And yeah, so I think that’s, that works. And then, 

Erin: and then to be honest, 

Dusty: It’s 

Erin: tofu scramble tastes so close and we have a recipe in our book coming out. We also have one in our app and that’s been kind of a go to for us because eggs were the last thing that we let go of and then finally we’re like, okay, let’s try the tofu scramble.

I’m sure it’s nothing to call home about, but we really love it. It just takes a couple of like seasonings and spices to make it. You know, look the same, taste similar. And I’m going to add one last thing, Melissa, 

Dusty: to make this the longest answer you’ve ever had on the podcast. I’m going to keep, I’m going to keep going.

Include the kids, [00:13:00] right? Because like you said, with Bambi, Max and Liv, they don’t know any different and they will eat it because they helped make it, right? So, it’s like, yeah, just bring them along. That’s why And 

Erin: especially with like the pancakes or the waffles, they always want to lick the batter and I’m like, great.

There’s no raw eggs in here to worry about. They 

Dusty: eat the batter more than the pancakes some days, or the waffles, you know. The pancakes, the waffles are the same recipe. It’s just a matter of how we’re making them. And most days, Max is like, Dad, I want waffle batter. I’m like, boy, you eat as much of this batter as you are.

It’s 

Erin: essentially like a porridge or like an oat based smoothie, if you want to call it that. But to 

Dusty: them, it’s like they’re eating like cookie dough, right? And so include them. That, that’s, that’s been the best for, for us. And that’s why we keep them in on YouTube. So many people are like, you got to get your kids off YouTube.

I’m like, I know, like part of it scares me, but also we hear from so many other parents that are like, my kids love seeing [00:14:00] your kids and we’re like, yeah. It’s the 

Erin: whole monkey see monkey do thing. 

Dusty: Right, right. So. Anyway, 

Melissa: 100 percent like they copy everything, which is so sweet. And yeah, it’s very easy to go, Oh no, don’t come help because it makes more mess in the kitchen.

Like some days I’m like, Oh, and she’s like, can I do it? And I’m like, yeah, yes, yes, you can. I’m like, I’ll surrender. The kitchen will be a mess. But I always say yes to her, like yesterday morning, she’s like, can we make green juice? I’m like, yep, we can make green juice. And I’m there, I’m like, I’ve got to clean the juicer and I’m going to do this.

But it’s such a powerful thing to include them. Like she is in the kitchen with me every day. She will at least do one thing in the kitchen with me every day, whether that’s Oh my gosh. Cut something up or blend something or lick the batter or whatever it is. But I try and include her and it really does make such a difference.

And so I want to encourage everybody listening to get your kids involved in the cooking [00:15:00] process because it really does move the needle. And you know what 

Erin: else too is the having a garden or even if it’s like countertop growing sprouts. Like the kids won’t sit and eat my salad with me anymore. Liv did for a while, but she’s wised up now and she’s more like Max, but we’ve grown kale in the garden and there’ll be out there picking it and munching on it and it’s hilarious.

And I’m 

Dusty: like, no way, man. I’m not eating that kale. It’s girls, but he like loves it. Right? 

Melissa: Yeah. 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Melissa: Yeah. It’s so sweet. 

Dusty: I was thinking about this at the, at the gym earlier. I was like, okay, so. Here we were, you know, looking at houses and doing all these things. And I’m like, okay, we’ve got three kids now we’re trying to save money in college and, you know, all these things.

And, you know, we’ve got these financial goals always. And I’m like, but how much of a gift is it to be doing this for our kids? Lifestyle lifestyle. I’m like, yes, of course we’re going to take care of the kids. [00:16:00] In fact, another one of our older followers said this, she was like, what a gift to give your kids because.

Well, yes, Max is going to get car keys and go through the drive thru and he’ll probably eat junk food, you know, just like we did, but he’ll get to, you know, maybe college or shortly after. And he’ll say, Oh, I remember those smoothies that, that I helped mom, dad with, or, you know, whatever it’s like, it’s like ingrained in them now and it’ll come back, right.

If, if they would happen to veer off, it’ll come back. And so I’m like, yeah, what a gift, you know, besides, you know, just being parents and taking care of them in all the different ways. It’s like. How, how nice that you were not feeding them junk. Right. You know, I feel so sad for the kids that I see that are eating the junk and they’re already overweight and all these things I’m like, man, it’s so sad.

So, yeah. 

Melissa: Yeah. I think about that too. When I see kids that are eating junk food and they are overweight and I’m like, they don’t know. It’s like, it’s our role as the parents to support them and to educate them and [00:17:00] to teach them. And. Yeah, I just want to give them some green smoothies and some yummy food, some healthy food.

Dusty: I’m like, I always want to like slip a little YouTube, like, business card and be like, hey, you know, I’m not, I’m not trying to be, you know, I don’t want to get, you know, intrude, but you guys might like some of our family and family recipes or something. Like, I’m like, how could I get to these people?

Because I saw, yeah, I saw a mother daughter at the store the other day and it was sad, you know, and I’m like, man, this could be like the rest of this child’s life, unfortunately. So 

Melissa: one of the many things I love about you guys is you make this way of living so attractive. Like you really do. Like the meals are family friendly and they’re not bland.

They’re not boring. They’re not tasteless. They’re absolutely beautiful. And you make movement fun. You make resting fun. So for someone who wants to start. moving and resting more, like, what are some of the easiest [00:18:00] changes that you talk about in the book that they could implement straight away? 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Erin: I feel like with movement guided workouts, it’s the easiest way and do it at home.

You don’t have to have an entire gym set up. We actually started out in our garage and we have continued to do so. We’ve just kind of like built upon our collection of hand weights and things like that over the years. But really just like. a soft surface to move on and flip on YouTube and find free workouts.

Like start with something that’s like 15 minutes, like below, like bare minimum, you know, like 10, 15 minutes. If you feel good, keep going. But like, even that’s going to be amazing to build upon and it just keeps your mind focused and there’s just so much you can access online. That’s what continues to keep me.

On track, but also I would say, do what moves you, do what sounds fun to you without having like this plan, [00:19:00] like, Oh my gosh, it’s so brainy. I have to do splits and I have to lift this body part today and that body part tomorrow. And should I do cardio too, or should I not? Like, don’t overthink it. Just do what excites you.

Dusty: That’s what I was going to say, because even today I mentioned I went to the gym, which. I would like to go to the gym more, but to be honest, I would rather just enjoy my workout time and my favorite thing is to ride my bike, you know, like full spandex Lance Armstrong, I love it. And it’s so fun for me and no, I’m not getting big and strong, you know, like I want to be.

But it just makes me happy, right? And it’s so good for my cardio, obviously. It’s good for my heart and all these things. I know it’s great for me, even though this, there’s this pressure to be, you know, like the lifting. Man, which I still try to do, but the, but it’s so much, I enjoy my life literally better when I’m on my bike and maybe that’s dance for you.

[00:20:00] Maybe it’s, you know, like Liv loves her gymnastics, you know, whatever it is. In fact, I follow a gal on Instagram. Who also just had a baby and she was doing gymna like Olympic gymnastics. And she was like, I haven’t done this in 20 years. And it was really cool. Number one, cause it was, you know, it’s amazing how they flip, but I’m like, how cool to like, come back to that and then just do what, like Aaron said, do what moves you, like, what do you, Just want to get up and go do start there, you know, 

Erin: even sometimes in the evenings here like a friday night We’ll do like a family dance party.

Yeah, we’ve got this like glowing light up here above the kitchen cabinet 

Dusty: Yeah, it 

Erin: like flashes to the music and the kids just love it and i’m like I didn’t realize this but I just had a whole second workout and i’m like 

Melissa: exhausted 

Dusty: Yeah, yeah 

Melissa: Yeah, beautiful. And I think also it’s like tuning into what season of life you’re in like you have three kids You For you, Erin, like getting to a class or getting [00:21:00] to the gym out of the house is probably a little bit trickier than just doing it at home.

Like for this season in my life, I just want to do like a 20 minute YouTube workout on my floor in my lounge room. And you know, being really pregnant at the moment, like I don’t want to drive somewhere. I want my daughter to see me working out. So it’s always like just tuning in to. What feels good for you, what moves you, like you said, and doing what is like the path of least resistance, you know, and just moving your body.

Like, even if it is just going for a walk or whatever it is, just getting that movement in. And I think again, like what you said before, monkey see monkey do like she loves watching us and then she’ll just copy us. And it’s so beautiful to do and for her to witness that. So. I love that. Now, what about resting?

How can we rest more? What are some of the strategies you talk about in the book? Again, a lot of people that are grabbing [00:22:00] this book probably have one, two, three, four kids or something like that. So rest can feel like, what’s that? 

Dusty: Yeah. It’s the toughest one. We always 

Erin: say it’s the toughest. It’s so much more than eight hours of sleep every night.

Dusty: Yeah. And it’s the rest, right? So it’s Eat, Move, and The Rest. And it is. And the through line in the book and in our lives is probably including the kids again. And so for me, You know, I do my best to spend 20, 30 minutes on the floor in the dark and you know, we’ll do movie night or whatever with the kids.

And then Max and I spent some time out here together on the floor. We don’t talk, we stretch, we breathe, you know, we, we do all those quiet time things. And I can’t remember if it was Andrew Huberman or, you know, one of these podcasts. What was he, I think it was Andrew Heberman, non sleep rest, I think is what he was talking about, and how powerful.

Yeah, 

Erin: non sleep deep rest. Yeah, non 

Dusty: [00:23:00] sleep, yeah, something like that. And I’m like, okay, so I can do, and, and I, I struggle with sleep, you know, I’ve had bouts of insomnia, again, whether it’s because of work or projects or whatever. So whatever I can do to calm myself down in the evening, again, stretching helps laying out like some yoga, stretching, deep breathing.

And then this idea of just resting, like it’s okay to just sit and do nothing and like stare. Right. And we just turned our clocks back. So it’s getting dark really, really early. And I was sitting by the window yesterday. I didn’t tell anybody this. I like sat there and I looked at my flowers because I love the landscape and I just looked at them for like 10 minutes and it was so weird and it was so uncomfortable and I’m like, but this just like did something to my soul, you know, and so any, anything you can basically to stop, to slow down, [00:24:00] to rest is.

It’s good for you. 

Erin: Yeah, I used to have this mindset that if I didn’t get a good night’s sleep Then my next day was gonna be shot. I’d probably be grumpy I’d be extra like hangry and just snacky because it’s always more difficult when you’re sleep deprived and just like i’ll just Wait till tomorrow for tomorrow to be a better day, but there are so many other ways you can rejuvenate your mind, body and soul in restful ways.

And I feel like we neglect a lot of those things, like the breath work or the meditation, even if it’s just for 60 seconds sometimes, like whether you’re overstimulated or like, Too drained and tired, just taking 60 seconds to do some deep breathing. Like I always like to do box breathing, where you like inhale for four, pause for four, exhale for four, pause for four, and visualize that box.

Or doing like inhale [00:25:00] for four, exhale for seven, like that really helped me through labor for like my last two. So just really simple. Dumbing it down like that. Some of these things actually like they were will help you even if you were sleep deprived. So if I had a really bad night’s sleep, I don’t even let myself get out of bed until I’m like, rested in bed for like at least 10 or 15 minutes before I get up.

Dusty: Yeah. So this is a funny one. Well, first I will say that the breathing, I didn’t wear an Apple watch for years. And then all of a sudden I’m like, okay, it’s, it’s fun. It’s helping me to track exercises. But my favorite thing on the watch is the breath. And I can’t set it to four minutes. Four minutes is too long.

I don’t have four minutes, but I can do two. So I set it to two minutes and it alerts me. Maybe every four hours and I do two minutes of deep breathing and it completely resets whatever’s going on. And then the last thing, 90s style poops. [00:26:00] Have you seen these Instagrams? 

Melissa: What is this? 

Dusty: You have to go to the bathroom without your phone.

Melissa: Oh, okay. I was thinking this was some weird position or something. I was thinking AC Slater sitting backwards 

Dusty: on the AC Slater. No, this is like, I, it’s true. Occasionally now on purpose, I’ll be like, okay, I’m just not going to take my phone in there because otherwise I’ll be in there for way too long. And I’ve got kids and all the things, but I’m like.

Why not? Why not take, why not take two extra minutes or two minutes to just not be looking at my phone? 

Erin: Yeah, you can do that. Read the shampoo 

Dusty: bottle or whatever. 

Erin: When you’re in the checkout at the grocery store, too Like I don’t know if this is like as rest as rest gets but it could be locked into the rest category.

It’s like Taking a break from overstimulating your mind, like let your mind be bored or be present with whoever is [00:27:00] your cashier, like maybe make actual eye contact. I feel like we don’t do that anymore because, you know, I’m guilty of it where I’m waiting and I’m like checking emails while they’re 

Dusty: putting 

Erin: everything into the bags and we should allow our brains to just idle a little bit and get more present and have that human to human connection.

I feel like that That feels like rest to me. 

Dusty: There’s Elsa, the older gal named Elsa. So Aaron loves her because of the frozen movies at the grocery store. And now, and she knows us and she’s, she like sees me and talks to me and she’s like, I don’t even, I can’t get my phone out or be not present because she wants to talk, you know, follow 

Erin: her now.

Yeah. 

Dusty: Yeah. And so anyway, so yeah, that’s, that’s a big one and nothing makes you feel more human than a conversation with. You know, someone who was a stranger who maybe now is a friend, like the person at the grocery, you know, it’s, yeah, stuff like that matters, makes a difference. [00:28:00] 

Melissa: And I think we Make up in our minds that we have these false urgencies without emails, like, Oh, I’ve got to get back to it.

So like we squeeze in checking emails and checking our phone in any pocket that we have on the toilet, in the post office, at the bank, whatever, because we have told ourselves that these are like urgent and that it’s really false urgencies. And I think being a parent, you kind of just squeezing stuff in working, you know, when you can.

And I get it because I’m, I’ve been there and I do it, but when I don’t do it, when I don’t take my phone into the post office, when I don’t take my phone into the bathroom and I just breathe and I just be present and I engage with someone, I feel so much better, so much better. You know, it’s like, I’m not rushing to quickly check whatever I’ve got while I’ve got two minutes while Bambi’s in, you know, with Nick or whatever, like, you know, that sort of energy.

It’s [00:29:00] stressful. 

Dusty: Oh yeah. Yeah. It’s like, it’s like who needs Xanax when, when two minutes of breathing like completely fixes you. Right. And it’s, it’s real and it works. 

Melissa: Yes. And I just wanted to go back to something you said, Dusty, about the Apple watch. So my husband did not have an Apple watch for ages. He got one and I was like, there’s too much Bluetooth and wifi.

What are you doing? And he’s like, babe, it’s on aeroplane mode. And I’m like, Okay, whatever. But he has an alarm go off, like, I don’t know exactly how often, but multiple times throughout the day that says drink water, you know, like it, it reminds him to get up and go get some water and drink water. So whatever you’ve got to do to support yourself, whether that’s putting reminders around to do one minute of box breathing, do 10 squats, drink water, you know, whatever it is, you Help yourself out, support yourself until they become so deeply ingrained within you that [00:30:00] you don’t even have to think about it.

Cause a lot of the things that we’re talking about, like you and I, we don’t have to think about them. It’s like brushing our teeth. We just do it now. But for someone who is transitioning to more of a healthy lifestyle, you got to support yourself, put post it notes around your house or do whatever you can do.

To support yourself whilst you transition to a more healthier lifestyle. 

Dusty: Yeah. Yeah, definitely. I think the post it notes is big. Aaron, you got post it notes all over closet, you know, for, for many different things, but it’s so true. I think make the easy choice, make the healthy choice, the easy choice, right?

That starts with the grocery store. Obviously it starts with what you have in the fridge and yeah, whatever you can do to make it easy. 

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. What’s one unconventional practice or ritual either around food, movement or rest that has deeply enriched your [00:31:00] life and that you think more people should try?

Erin: Hmm, I would say as far as food goes, something that I don’t think a lot of people do is like recognize that some foods are living and some foods are dead. And I’ve never been like a 100 percent raw vegan, but I always. try to incorporate as many living foods as possible. So we’ve kind of done this, it’s been coined as like a raw till four diet and lifestyle.

We’re not like super rigid with it, but I think that has truly like transformed our health, like beyond just going vegan. So just, you know, the green smoothies and juices for breakfast, fresh fruits and like raw rainbow salads during the day and doing like our more. Um, heavy hearty cooked meal at dinnertime has really, really helped with digestion, mood, energy, just vitality.

So if you think about like what is a living food, if you look at nuts, for example, if you have a bag [00:32:00] of roasted, salted, sweetened, smoked nuts, whatever you want, try and pop those in your garden and cover them. And then next to them, plant like some raw almonds. And you’re going to find that one does nothing and one will sprout, that there’s life force inside of it.

And so if you think about eating that life force, like life gives life. So going back to you are what you eat, I feel like that might be unconventional thinking for a lot of people. But when you look at it like that, and when I first heard about this idea of living foods and foods medicine, like. It just made so much sense to me, and I came from this background of being told that fruit is too much sugar, too many calories, fruit makes you fat, all of these things that had me in this, stuck between a rock and a hard place because I had this, you know, sweet tooth that I was led to feel guilty for, [00:33:00] but came, come to find out, like, after a little bit of experimentation, I felt better eating lots of fruit in abundance.

It’s not gaining weight, having better digestion and elimination. So I kind of busted that myth for myself. And now I feel like we’ve really lived that way ever since then. And like I said, we’re not super rigid with it. We’ll have our pancakes in the mornings and stuff now, but I feel like that, that was kind of like the unconventional thing for us.

It was really a game changer. 

Dusty: Yeah. What Melissa, what was it? Ask me again. I missed it. 

Melissa: What’s one unconventional practice or ritual around either food, movement, or rest that has deeply enriched your life that you think more people should try? 

Dusty: Yeah, I mean, it’s hard, it’s hard to say anything different than that.

I think it’s, for me though, it’s been, and for both of us, but it’s been like the spiritual [00:34:00] aspect of the plant based diet for me. Because. We come from Nebraska, Midwest, you know, US, the, our license plates, um, on our car state, the beef state, like that’s the slogan, right? You know, we grew up heavily ingrained with hunting, you know, and all of these, all of these things, which is very American.

It doesn’t matter where you go. Uh, I mean, it’s worldwide, you know? And so for me, I was like, okay. I can’t be a, and I can’t do this. I can’t, you know, my family is going to disown me. My grandpa, you know, all of these things. And, and now it is so different. In fact, I’ve got a friend who we talk once a month on the phone and he.

They found that we became friends because of our channel. They’re not vegan, but they, you know, they, they like the channel and stuff like that. And he was telling me about like fabrics. He was like the difference between cotton and linen and wool and you know, the [00:35:00] plastic workout clothes and how they all have a frequency.

And I was like, dude, think about the food though. Think about the food and think about. The frequency, think about the energy you’re taking on when you consume a piece of, you know, animal flesh versus like Aaron was just saying something that literally has a spark of life. You know, you can’t see it, but you can feel it when you eat it.

And for us, after 10 years, I’m like, I am like a spiritually different person. And one of the most like amazing compliments. It’s from your aunt, who’s not a super like compliment type of person. In fact, she’s sometimes the opposite. When Max was little, she was like, I’ve never seen him whine or fuss or cry.

And she was like, and I think it’s because he’s a vegan. She’s Indian. She’s a hundred percent Indian. So, you know, Ayurveda and all this stuff. And I was like, wow, I’m like, yeah, she 

Erin: was raised [00:36:00] vegetarian. 

Dusty: Yeah. And I’m like, I think, I think there’s something to it. I think there’s something to it. Um, The gift, like we talked about for the kids is health is one thing, but the spiritual aspect, another banana, um, where we did not pay them to eat bananas on, on screen, by the way, for this.

Melissa: Okay, question for you. Do you limit their banana intake a day? Like how many is too many? Because if I let my daughter go for it, she would probably have 15 in a day. 

Erin: I, it is a little difficult just because you want to make sure that they’re getting a well rounded and balanced diet and they will fill up on fruit in general if we’d let them just only eat fruit.

I mean, Max would eat an entire watermelon if we let him, but. You know, it is, it’s trickier with kids, which going back to like the raw foods, Dusty and I would probably be full blown raw vegans if it wasn’t for having kids. So yeah, we do. I mean, we try to let them enjoy fruit, you know, three times a day before or with meals, but we [00:37:00] do try to keep the balance too with other things.

I’m a 

Dusty: stickler. I’m like, no, you need your beans and your rice and I, you know, all, especially for Max. I’m like. Yeah. Come on, we gotta like, get big and strong. So yeah, it’s, it’s tricky for sure. But at the end of the day, like you just, some days you just want the kids to eat something. And it’s like, just eat anything.

You want five bananas? Prime. You know? 

Melissa: I know, and I’m like, well, yesterday she had three plums, and then she’s like, sore tummy, mama, and I was like, what? Maybe three big plums in a row? Was not the best idea, hon. And she’s like, yeah, she goes, I don’t think so. I won’t do that again. I was like, okay. But you know, Nick and I just laugh.

We’re like, she’s asking for an organic banana, like most three and a half year olds. are not asking for organic bananas, you know, like they’re asking for junk and, and packets and things like that. So we’re super grateful for that. But I’d love to know a [00:38:00] practical thing. Like, what do you say to your kids?

Like if they see other children, maybe they don’t, but if they see other children eating animal products, what do you say? Or have you not come across that? Like literally what do you do? 

Dusty: We have 

Erin: come across it a little bit now that Max isn’t like, we go to a homeschool meetup once a week and like sports, you know, afterwards they’ll, parents will give the kids a snack to go home with.

And I don’t know the, I feel like they, they hear so much of what we say when we’re talking with coaching clients and shooting YouTube videos that they’ve already kind of been aware to it as far as like our stance on it. So, they, they seem to just be like, why are they eating that? That’s not healthy.

Like, that’s what they think. So, we really haven’t had to, you know, explain it too much. It’s 

Dusty: so weird, actually. It just started happening. We don’t ever, we don’t say the V word, right? We don’t call ourselves a vegan. We don’t say this stuff because we don’t want [00:39:00] to make it a thing, an identity. 

Erin: And we don’t even really try to label foods that much as healthy versus unhealthy.

We just. Yeah. Talk to them about how people have, make different choices as to what they eat. 

Dusty: Yeah. But now Max is almost six and like Erin said, being around other people, he’s recognized, you know, or we’ll be on the phone, you know, FaceTiming grandma and he’s like, wait, grandma, you eat meat? You know, or whatever.

And like, so he’s kind of like recognizing and asking. But every time I tell him, I’m like, Hey, do you want, you want to try fish? Do you want to try, you know, chicken or any of these things? As much as we, we don’t necessarily want him to, I don’t want to like create weirdness around it. So I’m like, if the kid really wants to try something, I think it’s probably healthier to let him make those decisions.

But he understands, he’s like, and he, he says this all the time. He’s like, dad, we’re supposed to take care of animals. And I’m like, Mike, that’s, and that’s not something we said, you know, but he, we’ve got a little turtle that we, that we caught on the [00:40:00] street the other day and we brought him home and now he’s living with us and, and we have rats.

Okay. Running around the back, eating the dog food and all the things. And he’s like, dad, we need to set up some rat traps. And then the next day. I put out the like the rat things and he was like, dad, wait, this is not right. We’re supposed to be taking care of all the creatures. And I’m like, I’m like, dude, you’re right.

You’re right. You know? So he’s making these connections and yeah. 

Erin: Well, here’s something that I think impacted him early on. That was like divine timing was. We were going over to my, um, aunt and uncle’s for Thanksgiving, and we were telling him how like there’s turkey at Thanksgiving. So we walked into their house and he’s like, where’s the turkey?

Where’s the turkey? Yeah. He was, he literally didn’t know. He was looking for a bird. He was looking for like a bird. He thought he was going to see a turkey in their house. Right. And I’m like, no honey, it’s, it’s that thing. With feathers, walking around. It’s the big thing on the countertop. And so then he made this connection.

I think his heart was a little bit broken. Oh yeah. [00:41:00] Yeah. Not alive. And then he saw people eating this dead animal. So I think that was his first real experience. And ever since then, he’s kind of been like a little off foot. 

Melissa: Yeah. I don’t know. Do your kids, are they like, why mama? Bambi, like a million times a day is like, why mama?

Why? Like even things like, I don’t like her swimming in chlorine pools. So like we’re building our dream home and we’ve got like an ozone pool and I don’t like her swimming in chlorine pools. And so she’s like, but why does some people have chlorine pools? And it’s like, in my head, I’m like, how do I explain this?

I’m like, because they don’t know. And she’s like, but why don’t you just tell them? And I’m like, not as easy as that, babe, not as easy. And like, you know, she’s like, but why do some people do this? And why do some people eat that? And I’m like, well, cause they don’t know, honey, that there’s healthier options or things like that.

But yeah, but then she goes, yeah, but you tell them mama. 

Dusty: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Max is a big one for Max was smoking. 

Melissa: [00:42:00] Yes, actually the same thing. Cause we pick up rubbish on the beach and I said, don’t you pick up the cigarette, baby? I’ll do that. Like, I don’t want you picking that up, but she was the same. She’s like, but why are they smoking?

And I’m like, they don’t know, honey. And now again, she’s like, Mama, go tell them. 

Dusty: Yeah. Well, and it’s hard, but, but even then, you know, grandpa, Aaron’s dad, you know, will be outside and he and he’ll have a cigar or, and, and brown drink. Like, 

Erin: what, what’s grandpa always drinking? Drink Grandpa a scotch 

Dusty: and a cigar.

Her dad, her dad’s a physician, but like so many other physicians. Cares not about his health. So Max is like, Max is like, okay, but dad, but why is grandpa? Why is grandpa smoking? No, it was cause grandpa’s a doctor. And I’m like, well. It’s hard. Yeah, I don’t know. It’s just a choice, you know, sometimes people do things that aren’t necessarily the healthiest.

I 

Erin: think what it is, is that we all have different pain thresholds. We all have different rock bottoms. 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Erin: [00:43:00] Thankfully, I feel like both of our rock bottom was more shallow than many people’s. Like, I just don’t tolerate pain. health problems. Well, I’m very like, hypochondriac, I’m a hypochondriac. both 

Dusty: are like, let’s fix it.

If something’s off, let’s fix it. 

Erin: Type A mentality. You know, if you, if you, someone tells you this is good for you, do it. We’ll go home and we’ll do it. And I feel like a lot of times, like, there’s two different types of feel goods. There’s like, You do this bad thing and it gives you a temporary feel good.

And then there’s doing good things that give you a long term feel good that might not be quite as dramatic, but like it takes more commitment and more time for those things to get easier and more enjoyable to do, as opposed to just like, I’m going to do this bad thing. Cause I get this really quick high.

And then, yeah, I think a lot, like I was saying, a lot of people don’t realise that these are not good for them but they make them feel [00:44:00] good, so they keep doing them anyways. 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Erin: Until you hit that rock bottom or that point of realisation where it’s like, okay, fun’s over, you know. Like, I’m finally realising I’m not invincible anymore.

And for us that happened early enough that looking back it was a, it was a blessing. I’m glad that I had all of the health struggles that I had because wouldn’t, we wouldn’t have even stumbled upon like food as medicine if it wasn’t for those. Those trials that we had to endure. 

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. Now, I cannot not mention the fact that you have had three vegan, well, plant based, whatever you want to call it, healthy pregnancies, amazing, beautiful, natural births, and you’re raising three little plant based angels.

So, for someone who thinks you cannot do that. Because, I mean, I don’t know about you, but I copped it a lot from a lot of people. You can’t be vegan when you’re pregnant. You can’t raise a vegan. Like, I [00:45:00] copped that a bit. What would you say to that? I mean, look at your three beautiful children. Like, again, the proof is in the pudding.

Erin: Yeah. Right. Yeah. I mean, what can’t you get from plants? With the, aside from the whole B12 argument, which is, we’ll save that for another day, but the science behind B12 and where it really comes from, I mean, everything. is there, and our numbers don’t lie when we go get our blood work done, when we step on a scale, if you want to bring weight into the equation, with the kids even, they’re just, they’re so vibrant, they’re so energetic, they’re right where they need to be as far as growth, height goes, weight goes, all of that stuff.

They’re intelligent, Max is extremely gifted in sports, he’s so coordinated, but we didn’t really, we weren’t willing to gamble on it. We really, truly armed ourselves, armed ourselves with the knowledge that we needed to do it our very, very best, thankfully being, you know, [00:46:00] going back to social media in this day and this information age that we live in, you know, it’s easy to find people who have already pioneered the path and who have all of the information for you.

I mean, we looked to. I love plant based juniors on Instagram. I follow their stuff and bought their book and Dr. Greger, nutritionfacts. org and Forks Over Knives. And there are so many physicians with young children who are all plant based. So I feel like we really went into it by first educating ourselves, be confident that it was a smart decision and not just like an experiment.

But then like you said, the proof has really been in the pudding. And we told ourselves, we still tell ourselves every step of the way. We’ll course correct when we need to, and so far this feels like such an abundant path. You know, been let down, so we’re just continuing on. 

Dusty: Speaking about the gym, again, I saw the gal, one of the main trainers who just had her [00:47:00] second baby and she’s like, I’m done and she’s miserable and she gained like 30 or 40 pounds and all the things.

And every time we talk, she’s like, Oh, I just love you guys, but I could never eat that way. And my doctor says, I can’t, you know, you can’t do it. And while you’re pregnant and all these things, and I’m like, mean, you know, meanwhile, you’re asking what Aaron’s secret is, right? What you’re like, what is Aaron’s secret?

How does, how does she just, she didn’t just have a baby. And, and she’s like, I, here I am, you know, like twice the size as I’ve always been, what, you know, what’s your secret? And I’m like, well, we talked about it, you know, we talked about, you know, again, the foods that you’re eating. And then I think too, about how many thousands of years have women been having babies.

Not only, you know, yes, doing it on a vegan diet is one thing, but then having the baby at home like Aaron did this time, which was also very controversial, I’m like, okay, people haven’t been eating loads and loads of meat like we are now, right? And you look at [00:48:00] so many of the other people around the world and what they’re eating is so much less meat, so much less meat.

And. Like, come on, like, this just seems natural, this seems normal, you look at the way our teeth are and our digestive tracts, it’s like, we’re made to eat this food, and if you trust that, and just kind of watch yourself, like Aaron has, you find, like, this is optimal, you know, this is optimal, and, The births are easy and it just works, you know?

Melissa: Yeah. Well, I mean, look at your beautiful children. The story that you shared before about your aunt saying that about your kids. My dad does that with Bambi as well. I heard him having a conversation with one of his friends when he was introducing Bambi to one of his friends. He’s like, She’s never had a sniffly nose, she’s never been sick, and it’s truly honest, and my dad eats whatever he wants, and drinks whatever he wants, [00:49:00] and he’s like, Just Melissa and Nick, they’re just so healthy.

And it’s all that beautiful food that they give her. Look, she’s just never got snot coming in. And I was like, thanks dad. Like I heard him say that and I thought that was so sweet. Yeah. Just really sweet. 

Dusty: We get these validations. My brother, my little brother just got married last month and my grandpa, the same grandpa that I was worried about.

The mall, like the, the one person I did not want to find out that, that I was a vegan was my, it was my grandpa and he got prostate cancer again, because he’s a hunter, you know, and all the things. So the last 10 years, it’s been difficult, right? We can’t bond over those foods and the hunting even, and all the things.

At my brother’s wedding, he called me over and he said, you know, you don’t look like all your cousins, like, because all my cousins are, you know, getting like round and, and I’m like, I know grabs and. And he was like, keep, keep doing what you’re doing. And I was like, Oh my gosh, was that just like grandpa validation?

And it felt really good. [00:50:00] 

Erin: And did they, they also asked for us to print our ebook and send it to them so they could start making our recipes. 

Dusty: They’ve been, you know, even though grandpa has Hans and he eats lots of meat, very healthy, very active, but he’s like 86 years old and he had a prostate cancer scare.

You know, it’s not, it’s one of those things apparently manageable and all these things, but it scared him enough to want to know more. So he went from like, not like liking what we’re doing to now being like, what’s that green smoothie and all these things. So literally I spent 150 printing out. Our ebook, cause you know, I can’t send them the ebook is that like, what, I think grandma has a smartphone now anyway.

So they’re on board now too. And so, yeah, similar to your dad, the proof is in you. People see you doing it, whether it’s having babies or just raising kids or, yeah. And even 

Erin: though like with my dad being a physician, even though he’s not like walking the walk, he will [00:51:00] say that, yes, this is like optimal, what you guys are doing is great.

And he’s like, So, I don’t know what I’m doing, but I definitely, he always tells his patients to go follow us if they want to learn about nutrition and food as medicine, which I think is really cool. 

Melissa: That’s so sweet. That’s really, really sweet. I love that so much. And you know what Nick and I say is like, It’s just for some people, it’s not a big core value and that’s okay.

Like for us, for you and for me, like health is such a core value. I would spend a lot of money on organic food. Like I don’t go out to dinners, I don’t, you know, get taxis and I don’t buy a lot of clothes and things like that. But like health is such a core value for me and for our family. And so for other people, like, it’s just not a big core value and that’s okay.

Like they’ve got other core values and we don’t judge. We just go, just not a core value for them. And that’s all good. [00:52:00] 

Erin: Yeah, for sure. We just continue to lead by example. We’re never trying to like twist anybody’s arm or saying you have to be a hundred percent vegan, but nobody can argue with more color, more fruits, more veggies.

And we always kind of consider, you know, the body is a temple and we’ve always both treated our cars that way since high school when we got together. We always think about, you know, you would never put the wrong type of fuel in your car and you would, we would wash them every weekend and detail and vacuum inside and out and we kind of look at our bodies in the same way as like a fine tuned, like, Beautiful red sports car.

Yeah. 

Dusty: And we, that’s always what we tell people. And then they walk away thinking a little bit harder about it, you know, and, and then the, the same thing, like the analogy, I can’t, there’s a story that goes with it, but basically there’s a, the rich, the rich old man that finally, you know, Decides to retire with all of his millions of dollars and then he gets sick.

Right. And it’s like, it doesn’t matter how [00:53:00] much money you have or, or, or anything. If your health is not in check, nothing matters. Right. We, we want a thousand things on any given day, unless we’re sick, we only want one thing and that is to be healthy. And so we’re like, okay, yeah, we’ll put in the work now while we’re young and it’ll pay off.

Right. Absolutely. 

Melissa: Absolutely. Okay, guys, let’s pretend you have a magic wand and you can put one book in the school curriculum of every high school around the world. Let’s presume your book is in there. Imagine getting that book. Imagine. So good. But what is one other book you would choose? And it can be on any topic.

Dusty: Yeah. Oh man, that’s a tough one. It would have to 

Erin: be, I think in the self help category, something mindset wise. 

Dusty: Yeah. Do you have one? Well, I 

Erin: think, well, We’ve been talking a lot about this book that kind of started our journey called three feet from gold by Greg Reed [00:54:00] Yeah, and just this idea that like don’t give up keep pushing keep moving forward keep digging in life Because you literally could be three feet from gold, right and you see those pictures online You know where the guy’s chiseling away in the mountain and there’s a rock of gold But he decides to turn around and call it a day.

Yeah It’s, and it’s just a reminder too, we’ve been looking at Zoe, who’s taking a very long nap, our six month old. Oh goodness. 

Dusty: She’s had, she needed that one. And 

Erin: I was like, you know what? If babies decided, nope, I just don’t care about crawling or Nope. Walking isn’t for me. You know? Yeah. Like, have you ever seen a baby not crawl and not walk and then not run?

Dusty: Yeah. 

Erin: So they don’t give up because they know that the only direction to move is forward. 

Dusty: Yeah. So, and I think I would agree. Something similar to that. I love three feet from gold. In fact, we set up an interview with, with Greg, which is kind of surreal because now that we have our book, you know, all of a sudden get all these opportunities to connect with other authors and stuff, so I’m excited to talk to him, but that was, [00:55:00] that book changed our lives and it would be so great, especially if you’re like teenage kids to read because we don’t learn about that stuff.

It applies to business, entrepreneurship, health, wellness. Relationships, all of these things, it’s the mindset is so powerful. And yes, we’re teaching our kids how to, how to eat, you know, and be healthy. But the one thing that I’m always really wanting them to get is this, this powerful mindset of we don’t say I can’t, right.

We, we’ve never say I can’t, we figure it out and we don’t stop. We continue, we push through, we ask for help, you know, all of these things. And I think that. Yeah, that book is a good one. So, 

Melissa: yeah, I love that. I’ll link to that as well as your book in the show notes. Sounds good. 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Melissa: Guys, talk us through a typical day in your life.

Three kids working from home. Talk us through what time do you wake up? You all co sleep as well. Are [00:56:00] all three kids in your bed? No, we’ve got 

Erin: a bonus bed mattress that’s like wedged between the bed and the wall. Like, so usually it’s like one, maybe two kids get down in there if we’re lucky. Or me 

Dusty: or it’ll be Aaron and all the kids and I’ll get my own little floor bed to myself.

Erin: As much as we’re ready for our own space, we’re like soaking it all in. I’m like, I just don’t want them to leave yet. I just love these times. It’s hard. That baby breath and just all the snuggles. 

Dusty: I can bottle that breath. 

Erin: Yeah, I mean, we, we try to get up around. Not as early as we would like to, but usually around 730 or eight, brush our teeth, do our oil pulling, get outside, try to get barefoot in the grass and see that morning sunlight and all that kind of stuff.

It sounds really fancy, but it’s usually kind of chaotic. Oh, very chaotic. It doesn’t happen in a very streamlined fashion. There’s always some screaming. 

Dusty: I’m like, Max, get in here. Get out. He’s wearing Christmas pajamas. If you guys follow us on Instagram, you maybe saw yesterday. [00:57:00] Matt or was it Sunday? Max was outside in the sun with his Christmas pajamas because now, of course, it’s November 1st, which means Christmas time and it’s like 83 degrees.

Right. And I’m, it’s always hectic and chaotic, but again, we’re soaking it up. The mornings are so fun. 

Erin: And then we come out here, we do our smoothies, our breakfast. I usually want to sneak out and do my garage workout right away. So the kids are usually right behind me and we’ve got like our little rebounder trampoline that they love to jump on while I’m lifting weights and sometimes Liv will pick up the little pink two pound dumbbells and copy me and Max is chasing lizards and frogs and.

There was a massive cockroach on the palm tree today. I’m like, no, don’t go there. 

Dusty: But 

Erin: it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s, that’s usually what it is. As 

Dusty: much outdoor time as possible, you know, especially in being in Florida, which is great. It’s, it’s hot here. So, you know, we can’t sit outside all day because we get hot and the [00:58:00] kids get hot.

So we take, we take lots of walks, you know, throughout the day. I’ll do work while you’re outside. Our lunches are usually a little bit less structured. We’re 

Erin: kind of grazed. Yeah, we have 

Dusty: massive breakfasts. We have, again, especially since the kids, we have the green smoothie and the pancakes and the fresh fruit and all the things for breakfast.

And then lunch is usually a little bit more simple, you know, more fresh fruit. And more outside time, you know, always tons and tons of water. I don’t have to set a reminder on my watch for water. I’m I, I’m always drinking, but I do need to set it to remember to breathe, which is also, uh, necessary. And then we can, we try to do early dinners.

I think you’ll come in from a workout. I usually do mine later in the afternoon. We like switch off. Erin does morning workouts. I do morning work. Then she works in the afternoons and I do [00:59:00] my. Bike rides or gym sessions and then early dinners, you know, if we can make dinner 530 or 630, you know, that’s ideal for us 

Erin: Oh and Homeschool in the mix.

Yeah. Yeah, we’re giving it a shot. We’re gonna see how we feel by the end of this year, but It’s really rewarding, but also some days it’s really like pulling teeth. So we’re going to see how, how things pan out, but I’m really excited. 

Dusty: Liv, Liv is, so she’s three now, but she is whip smart and will do anything, especially to please mom.

Erin: I think it’s girls and boys are a little different, especially when they’re young. All they want is to be outside and be active and you can’t really like, That’s one of the reason we wanna homeschool that. We don’t wanna, you know, have him be sitting in a, in a chair inside all day. So, 

Dusty: but it’s also tricky because he just wants to be out.

It’s a balancing act running around. It’s a 

Erin: balancing act. But we, we’ve squeezed that into our day to day. 

Dusty: He’s doing good though. I mean, he read, we’re, you know, just, just for [01:00:00] other parents, you know, also we’ve recognized. Every child is different, you know, some, we’ve got friends that are Max’s age that have been reading for forever.

And then we feel like terrible parents. And then the next day, Max is sounding out and writing Barracuda on the chalkboard. And I’m like, of all the words, like, like that’s a big word, bud. That’s really good. Kids pick things up, whether it’s food or learning or any of these things, but they, but they might not do it at the same time.

So. Side note, don’t feel bad if your kid isn’t fastest reader or the, or the most athletic or whatever, like just, just love them, give them time. And they’ve all potty training. Max didn’t potty train till he was like, what? Three and a half and Liv was potty trained like right away. So it’s, 

Erin: I think we’ve just realized if you don’t pressure it, put pressure on yourself or pressure on them, less forcing in life and just letting life happen, it unfolds at the.[01:01:00] 

Dusty: And that’s, that’s part of our daily routine too, is to try to live every day, like a Saturday, obviously we have to work, but we’ve tried to do this, like, hey, while the kids are young, let’s just have fun all day, every day, obviously working, getting the things done, but like how much, what a blessing to spend this time together and with kids, so.

Make it through the day, dinner, 5. 30, 6. 30, showers, early. We usually do a movie for the kids and it, or unless we really need them to go to sleep, then we’ll watch a grownup movie. So then they’ll actually fall asleep early. Bedtime is, is still tricky, especially now with, with Zoe, we’ve all gotten thrown off, but that’s, that’s pretty much it.

And every day is the same. 

Melissa: I love it. Thank you for sharing. Do you follow a homeschooling curriculum? Because. Nick wants to homeschool Bambi, all of our kids. Like he wants to homeschool and I’m a [01:02:00] little bit more, how will I fit that in? And he wants to do it. And I’m like, okay, babe, like if you want to do it, I am all for that.

But he is so for the homeschooling. He’s just like, I don’t want to put her into a system. He’s like, I can’t. And she’s three and a half. So we kind of thinking about it now, but do you follow a curriculum or anything? Is it the good and the beautiful? Do you follow that? 

Erin: Yeah, we do have that one. No, we just joined.

There’s a community called Classical Conversations, and they meet once a week, so we like that community component. I feel like this is just the beginning for us. Like, we, there are so many homeschool groups and different modalities for learning that are popping up all over the place now. I know there’s some that are geared more towards like outdoors and wildlife, 

Dusty: and 

Erin: some geared more toward learning like practical skills and classical conversations is like a classical education.

They’re learning Latin and like 

Dusty: all kinds of 

Erin: like classical music. It’s, it’s a starting point. I’m [01:03:00] like, there’s so much. So I just need to like, put my blinders on and pick something and just start doing it. So that’s what we’ve done with that. And then kind of weaving in the good and the beautiful and just like, whatever feels natural.

Like, what is he really good at and feeling drawn to right now? Like, if it’s alligators. We’re learning to read. Let’s make it all about learning how to read and write and spell and draw alligators that day. So yeah, it’s, and I feel like, but let’s kind of like starting solids, like don’t put that much pressure on yourself or them, like I was saying earlier, like, especially for the students.

Dusty: Yeah. 

Erin: Like with food, they say under one just for fun and I’m like, that, that just gave me a sigh of relief so I didn’t have to feel like so worried that I was doing it right or wrong. Yeah. But we’ve kind of tried to enter into homeschool with that same mindset and just to make learning fun and realize that we too are learners.

We’re lifelong learners, so. 

Dusty: I think the peace you come, comes from like looking at. Isaiah, our [01:04:00] nephew, who your parents adopted, who was behind, frankly, and now is like the smartest kid in class. And it’s just, again, to be like, a reminder to say, don’t overpressure yourself. And, you know, for you especially, like, I’m kind of with you, like the homeschool thing.

I’m like, Oh, this is hard. This is hard. And sometimes I wonder about structure, but I’m like, but at the same time, like we can change, we can always make changes. And. The kids adapt and they grow and they’ve learned so fast when they’re ready. And so, yeah, it’s 

Erin: finding a little bit of a community component helps a lot.

It just helps you to kind of gauge like, where are we at and what should we be doing and how to do it, right? 

Melissa: Yeah. I like that idea of doing it in a little community or something, even if it’s just like one other family and having that accountability and going, okay, well you do this, I do this. Like, I like that, but like.

The pressure of like me doing everything. It’s like, I [01:05:00] still want to work. I love what I do. I’m like, Nick, if you want to do that and go for it. But yeah, I love that so much. And it’s such a beautiful thing that we can do for our children. So I’ve got three rapid fire questions for you now each. Are you ready?

Dusty: Yes. Yeah. 

Melissa: Okay, cool. What is one thing that we can all do today for our health? Just one thing that we can start today. 

Dusty: Yeah, I would say drink more water again. Like you mentioned, drink more water, no matter what it is. I mean, the kids were just sick again. We, Max has never been sick until recently. And then he was really sick, which was really scary.

And the only thing we could get him to do is drink water. And that’s what you always hear. And I’m like, okay, it’s super important when we’re sick. But shouldn’t it always be important? Makes me feel, you know, amazing. That’s why I drink so much water. So that’s what I would say. Start and it’s easy and it’s small.

Like start there, right? 

Erin: I would [01:06:00] say going back to mindset, just remembering like this phrase I always tell myself, how you do anything is how you do everything. So just make smart choices, good choices, good outcomes. Yeah. 

Melissa: Yeah. I love that. Thank you. Okay. What’s one thing that we can do for more wealth in our life?

Dusty: Yeah. Decide and commit those things. When I talk to other people who, uh, you know, ask about real estate investing and all these things that I’ve, that I’m having fun with recently, the biggest hurdle for people is that they, they lack decision and they lack commitment. And so those are very hard things, right?

But decision fatigue is what. Stops us from that, the thing, the, the decision and like decide and then commit, commit to it, whatever you decide on finally, even if it takes you years, commit to it and just don’t quit. Don’t quit. [01:07:00] So, and that’s, that’s helped us and helped me. 

Erin: Yeah, definitely consistency and just perseverance.

I remember my mom telling me. When they started their medical practice, she’s like, the first day we had one patient. 

Dusty: Yeah. She’s 

Erin: like, I would say it took us about five years to really like hit our stride. Yeah. So I kind of had that in the back of my mind as we started eating the rest. But then, you know, I think in order to maintain that consistency, it couldn’t have been done without first having passion.

Right. And that came through like our mess and our mess became our message. And there was so much passion behind it that like. We thought, you know, even if we don’t grow our wealth from this, we’re going to keep doing it because this needs to be shared and because we’re passionate about it. Yeah. So I think if you can start with that passion, like you really can’t go wrong.

The only way is up. Totally. 

Melissa: Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. What’s one thing that we can do for more love in our [01:08:00] life? 

Dusty: Oh, gives love. Give love, that’s a hard one for me. It’s a hard one for me. I am a very tough love person. My little brother is like the most sappy, lovey person on the planet. And I am the opposite, unfortunately for Aaron and my mom and everybody else.

I’m hard on everybody and I’m trying and I’m recognizing if I want love, I have to give love and it’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard, but it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s working and it has worked for, for me and. Yeah 

Erin: This is like a really concrete little thing you can do, like, I’ve done this before many times, like, find a childhood picture of yourself that you really love and make it your wallpaper on your phone or tape it in your bathroom mirror somewhere where you’ll notice it all the time and whenever you notice yourself doing that stinking thinking and you’re going to negative places, like, or beating yourself up for whatever reason, like, Look at that childhood [01:09:00] picture and remember that is who you are talking to in your mind.

So just like love on that person that you are that the child inside of you and it really like it’ll bring tears to your eyes. Like, why am I so hard on myself? You know? 

Dusty: Yeah. 

Melissa: Yeah, absolutely. I love that tip. Guys, this has been so amazing. Congratulations again on the book. I’m so excited for people to get their hands on it.

You are helping and serving so many people with your retreats, your books, your app, all of the stuff that you guys do, even just your YouTube. Everything is serving people. So how can I and the listeners give back and serve you today? 

Erin: Yeah, we would absolutely love it if you guys would pre order our book and.

Buy one for yourself and a loved one, someone who you think could benefit from it, or at the very least, like, set it out somewhere in your home when you get it and make it a conversation piece. It could be the entry point to someone else’s transformation. 

Dusty: Yeah, it’s, [01:10:00] it’s a piece of, of art. I think Farron and I too, besides The valuable information inside.

We wanted to make it beautiful, including the kids and, you know, their little fingers and all of the things. So yeah, buy the book. That would be the most amazing thing for us and share and tag us, you know, share, share on social media, tag us, give us a follow, a like. Whatever, whatever you can, any, any of it matters.

So, 

Melissa: well, I will definitely include it in the show notes. I want to encourage everybody to go and get your copy, buy it for a friend, be that angel in someone else’s life, because you never know what other people are going through, whether it’s a health thing, like physical health thing or a mental health thing.

And this book could be the catalyst. That really shifts a lot for them. So thank you guys for coming back on the show. Congratulations. And I’m so excited for this book to be out in the world. 

Dusty: Yes. Thank you. 

Melissa: Pleasure.[01:11:00] 

I hope you got a lot out of this episode and I hope you feel inspired to move more, to eat better and to rest more as well. And if you love this conversation, like I did, please subscribe and follow the show and leave me a review on Apple podcasts if you haven’t already. And as a thank you, I would love to send you my wildly wealthy guided meditation.

So just send an email with a screenshot of your review to hello at Melissa Ambrosini and I’ll send you that beautiful meditation as a little thank you gift. Now come and tell me on Instagram at Melissa Ambrosini, what you got from this episode. I want to hear your biggest key takeaway from this episode.

Come and share it with me. And before I go, I just wanted to say thank you so much for being here, for wanting to be the best, the healthiest and the happiest version of yourself and for showing up today for you. You rock. Now, if there’s someone in your life that you can think of that would really benefit from this episode, please share it with them right now.

You can take a screenshot, share it on your social media, email it to them, text it to them, do [01:12:00] whatever you’ve got to do to get this in their ears. And until next time, don’t forget that love is sexy, healthy is liberating, and wealthy isn’t a dirty word.

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Thank you so much for listening. I’m so honored that you’re here and would be SO grateful if you could leave me a review on Apple podcasts, that way we can inspire and educate even more people together.

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P.P.S. Please seek advice from a qualified holistic practitioner before starting any new health practice.