How to embrace Healthy Living

On this episode of Diva Tonight - We talk to Pamela about a holistic approach to nutrition

https://butterflyholisticnutrition.ca

Instagram: bartonpamela 

Pamela helps her clients with weight loss and how to get yourself on track 

We talk about your reason why and how important it is

Are you looking for a reason to get back on track with your physical health



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Transcript

Carlene 0:00

Hi, I'm Carleen, and this is D.Va Tonight. Hi, I'm Carleen, and this is D.Va Tonight. We are having a great day here in Toronto, and I have a fellow Canadian as well. Her name is Pamela Barton. She is a nutritionist. She's got more of a holistic approach and obviously registered holistic nutritionist certified here in Canada. And she can help you if you live in Canada, which is amazing. Pamela, how are you? I'm fine. How are you, Colleen? You know, I'm good. I'm a little, I'm gonna be honest, I'm a little bit tired. It's been a busy day for the show, but it's a good day, right?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Yeah, we're recording this late today, so I guess it's okay to be tired, right?

Carlene 0:50

It's the end of the day. I realize that because we've lived for so many years under the circadian clock, that it really is different to work at night. And I didn't realize it. I thought I was a night owl. There's a difference between being a night owl and working at night. So for those who want to know more about you, where are you based and what do you do?

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Yeah, so as you um introduced me already, I'm a registered holistic nutritionist here in um Canada. I'm based in Ottawa, but um these times, but also before everything happens online, right? So I'm I'm saying often it doesn't matter where we live these days anymore. You know, I see my clients online and they're now all over the world, which is kind of exciting too. So yeah, I've uh branched out and I'm also an educator and a speaker on the topics that I really like, like tonight, talking to you, for example. And I also have a background actually in organizational management and from the corporate point of view, and that helped me in my own finding myself as a holistic nutritionist and how I want to help and how I want to approach this whole topic. Due to my own experience with mental health, but also all the challenges that leaders and employees face in the corporate world, I have just recently created an online course called the Metabolic Energy Reboot Program. So it's brand new and it comes with a free webinar training. And it's basically a blueprint and an implementation program to fast track your efforts to achieve more sustainable energy levels. And I noticed that we really need these, especially in those times of the pandemic, because we have seen so many people struggle, juggling this, uh, working from home, juggling this, working for an employer at home, going back to work, going back home. You know, it's super stressful, and people are looking for ways how they can help themselves to kind of stay on par with with their energy. So that's what I'm focusing on right now. And I see a lot of people struggle with their mental health, and it expresses itself in low energy, right? We feel lethargic, we don't feel up for doing much, and we feel depressed, and that puts a lot of stress on us again because we need to perform, we need to do our job, we we want to do all the things we want to do, right? So we we get into this state of anxiety, and we don't really know how to how to cope with this and come out of it. And this is where I specialize and this is how I help people, and I approach this from a body approach, a metabolic approach where I guide people through the nutrition because that plays a huge piece in energy and also mental mental health. Uh, we're addressing the stress that we all have these days, right? And and the sleep issues, because all of these pieces need to come together for optimal health. And all of these pieces have really received a huge setback for most of us during the times that we're in right now.

Carlene 4:03

What you've addressed is very important. What we are talking about on the show is our relationship with ourselves, but also the relationship we have with our overall health and our mental health. Because in order to do our everyday task, to make it to work, to take care of our friends and family, if you're a parent or you know, um, you have kids, you are married, everything affects you in one way. You know, if you're one day you're running on four hours sleep, you know, it affects everything. It's internal. But before I ask any more questions based on what you said, I hear a little bit of an accent. Is it because you're from Ottawa or do you like where were you born? Good question.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I'm actually German. Uh so I've immigrated to Canada about 10 years ago, I would say, and that's where the accent comes from.

Carlene 4:52

Yes, I did sense it. So you know what? I do not know lots of people from Germany, but I did have some clients that I worked for about a year ago, and your accent made me think of them, but I didn't want to make the assumption, so I was like, I'm hearing a bit of European accent there, and it's definitely not French, uh, you know, because you said you're from Ottawa, but German is that your mother tongue, or yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

Yes, I grew up in and I actually I was already 34 when I came to Canada. So I spent most of my life in Germany, and you know, definitely great things in Germany from what I see.

Carlene 5:28

I is I think education-wise, from what I've learned, there's a lot of supports there if you want to study and if you want to do well.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Yeah, the great the great thing about it is there are no tuitions. You don't have to pay tuition. So if you're a European uh citizen, you can go wherever you want in Europe and you can study for free. You only have to basically cover your um costs of living, uh, you know, if you need an apartment, but you don't have to pay tuition. So that's amazing, right? We don't have that in Canada, and that's a huge benefit. And people people make use of it. They they really study a lot and they they get uh multiple degrees just because they can, right? And it it doesn't throw them into debt so much.

Carlene 6:13

So that that's that's a good good aspect. It's amazing. I think you know that will give you the opportunity to try different things and you know learn where what you're supposed to be doing in life, you know. I think the we're getting off topic here, but obviously the search for like what you're supposed to be doing in life, like your career path. And if there's one less thing that you have to think about as far as like tuition is concerned, that's always amazing. And I think I always say, I'm like, that's the one thing about Europe, you know? Um, if only I was born there, you know. Maybe I would have gone to law school, right? I mean, I originally wanted to do that, but it changed. But getting back to what you said about, you know, sleep and uh the body and everything affecting each other, what do you think a person needs to start with, especially now? You said, you know, we're we're a little bit more stressed.

SPEAKER_02 7:06

Yeah, so when we look at, you know, the root cause, we in our natural health world, we always talk about the root causes of whatever manifests, right? So if we talk about depression or anxiety or any mental health challenges that we're dealing with, we want to be looking at, okay, so where can it come from, right? Where in our body might be a problem that we can, you know, help to resolve to help us feel better. So I I have a very bodily approach to this. Um I'm not I'm not a psychotherapist, but I do know that there are some things we really can implement in our life and and and that we can change and watch, you know, to make things better for us. So, for example, if we're looking at bodily causes, for example, we're looking at blood sugar dysregulation and obesity. So we know, for example, that if our blood sugar is not regulated well enough, we have a higher chance of feeling depressed and thrown, you know, off the horse more often. And that is something that we can really control with nutrition. Um, therefore, we know, you know, some rules that we need to follow. And of course, chronic stress. I mean, who doesn't have stress these days, right? I mean, we don't need to argue that nobody has stress, we all do. Um, the problem only is with chronic stress that it has also an inflammatory effect on the body. And we also know that inflammation can trigger and promote, you know, depression and anxiety and mental health imbalances, if you will. So we definitely need to look at how we respond to stress. And of course, there are environmental factors as well, for example, mold exposure, right? So those things we're not thinking of those, but there's a connection between depression, anxiety, and mold exposure. And now that we're spending so much time indoors and we can't go anywhere, sometimes we're not aware that where we live is maybe a mold infestation somewhere. And then we, you know, it adds to the load that we're already carrying with our daily life, making things worse for us. Air pollution is a big, big trigger as well when we come from a body point of view. And um, of course, I know we talked a little bit about this before the show, things like leaky guts or gut dysbiosis is very, very highly associated with um with depression and anxiety. And that's where nutrition plays a role again, right? We have to make sure that we're eating to maintain a good gut health, and we have to watch the behavior that that we are adopting, if it's good or bad for our gut health. That's something definitely that we can change and that we can influence for our mental health. And then, of course, there are things like you know, loneliness and and trauma, and that is, you know, uh plays a big role right now, right? We have the social isolation, and it's it's directly linked with a greater incidence of depression. And actually, in fact, I just looked that up. The the depression rate has tripled uh since the pandemic started. And when we look at all these factors that I'm talking about, I mean, right, who who wonders about that? That's pretty pretty obvious. So the social isolation plays a huge role, and then of course, trauma. And trauma, almost everyone can relate to trauma, and COVID-19 is actually categorized as a traumatic event because it affects all of our lives, and we might know people who are affected directly by it or have lost their lives. So traumatic events always you know play play a role as well in our mental health. And then, of course, things like sedentary lifestyle, right? We're not moving as much because we're sitting at home, right? We're not we're not out and about. So all of this is really impacting our body and it affects our well-being. But also things like sleep deprivation, and funny enough, people don't really sleep enough these days, where everybody says, Well, you're staying home, you can sleep all day. Yeah, but not really, right? That's not really what's happening. And the trend is actually that we sleep less than we actually did before. And we watch, we binge watch more Netflix, right? We're scrolling through the phone, uh, we're working on our computer, which also exposes us to artificial light all the time, which again, we already know that it affects the mental health as well. So, as you see, there's so many aspects, and we can put a check mark behind all of these now with COVID and what we're experiencing. So, actually, staying mentally balanced is very challenging in itself, but especially right now, and when we look at it, of all the things that are happening at the same time, we can really safely say we're in full-blown survival mode right now, because we have so many things we need to deal with on a daily basis. And then on top, the we have the pandemic with all of these things. And uh, being in full-blown survival mode can really tip the scale for many people and throw them into mentally uh unbalanced states. And that's really what we're what we're seeing and experiencing here. So, from a body point of view, we can do a lot to at least address, you know, the things that we can address, like nutrition and stress and sleep, to really increase our resiliency and to deal with the things that we can't change right now.

Carlene 12:52

Yeah, I guess what you're saying, well, you know, the routine, we have to try and keep the routine the same, even though the circumstances there may be life changes or things like that.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yeah, so actually the depression rates have tripled uh since the pandemic. And we can actually really see that, you know, um people are sitting next to their fridge basically all day, right? So we've seen a change in how people behave towards food. So people who have, for example, eaten regular meals when they could go to work and go out the house and do their things, now it just kind of sorts of blends in, right? The the fridge is always there. So you just open it all day long and you just take out and you're snacking and you're snacking and you're snacking, right? And your pads get a little tighter, right? I mean, there's because it's convenient and it's there, right? And so we're losing a little bit of how we used to behave and kind of sort of, ah, it doesn't matter, you know, like I'm sitting here at home in my sweatpants anyway, so who cares? And I think this is really we're contributing with our behavior, right? We're contributing to making things worse, right? So we're we're tipping the the scale there slowly with you know our mindset around you know how we eat, when we eat, and what we eat, right? And oh, I need comfort food, I need comfort food, I'm sitting at home, right? Yeah, you can only eat so much comfort food before it shows, right?

Carlene 14:22

So that's you know, I'm I'm laughing because it's so true because I I've been snacking more and I talked to my doctor because it's like, is it a combination of? But uh these all these things are uh play a factor in it. And yes, we're spending so much time inside that it makes it a little, we're getting a little more complacent. And I think it takes a lot of um, like, you know, how you were talking about like your background as an organization, but structure, uh, routine, self-control, like having that self-control and wanting to be like, you know, I I like for me, my weakness is sweet, and like, you know, the hardest thing is to walk into the grocery store and not pass by the candy aisle and decide, you know, I'm gonna get my favorite candy today because I love that and it tastes so good and I don't care. But then now I'm thinking, I'm like, oh my gosh, I have this much weight I have to lose right now because of those late night snacks that I did for the last few months in the winter because I wasn't playing volleyball as often as I normally would. The only exercise I was doing was going for walks, and I probably wasn't increasing the amount of walks I went on over the period of time, or you know what I mean? So yeah, I think whoever is listening, if you are listening, you know, I'm sure a lot of people can relate that, you know. Yeah, I'm snacking more. So now what Pamela, like what advice do you have for me? It's hard for me not wanting to go to the fridge, it's right there, and or go to the cupboard and get my favorite snack. I'm gonna get some chips, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Absolutely. And I think everyone can relate, you know, even even us nutritionists, we're we're doing the same thing because you know, we're creatures of habit and we're human, right? And life is hard, and whatever we tell ourselves, right? So we all do it. The thing is, you can't throw your fridge out of the house and kind of say, you know, you're not allowed to come back in. So that's not an option. So as long as we have it in the house, it's really hard to abstain because we know it's there, right? We're also smart because we knew we bought it. So it like cheating ourselves in this respect is not gonna work because we we know that it's there anyway. And in a moment of weakness, we we're there and we're snacking. And and we will always find a million excuses why now is a good time to eat it, right? So really the best advice here is because we're kind of confined to where we are right now, is to not have it on hand, right? And as you say, it's hard. You pass the candy aisle and you see it, and then you grab it and you take it home. But then it's kind of hard to tell yourself, but I'm not gonna eat it, right? Because what's the point? You bought it, so you know you're gonna eat it. So really we have to we have to um make that conscious decision not to buy it. But again, and this is something I talk often about with my clients, that is also super hard if you don't have a why. If you don't have a why, you should not buy this and not have it at home. And this why needs to be pretty strong and needs to be a driver for you. Because if it's sort of like, yeah, why, okay, because I shouldn't eat it, right? When it contains a should, it's not gonna work. You're gonna buy it anyway. So you really have to, you have to have a plan for yourself and a reason why you're not buying these things to not end up snacking all day long, right? So you have to really make a plan and have decisions around this. For example, you're only gonna do meals, right? Proper meals, um, balanced meals, and I only have all the stuff for that in the fridge and nothing else, right? So yes, so you need a plan and you need a strong why. You wanna do it that way. Otherwise, you know, it's just too tempting. And if we have it in the fridge, we're gonna eat it or in the pantry.

Carlene 18:24

I like that. A strong why. I think um that will definitely be a reminder. But I think, like you said, having a plan, especially because everything in life, you know, you if you're gonna take care of your skin, you have to have a plan, you have to have a regimen. Even now, because the hair salon isn't open, we've had to find alternative ways to take care of our hair. And I realize that, you know, even hair care takes work too, because you have to have a regimen. You're gonna wash your hair a certain this day of week, you're gonna do these certain things, you're gonna make sure you trim your hair, like, and you know, maintain it. And now you have to keep up with that routine. And once you fall off, other things happen. Like everything affects you. Your overall health affects your hair, it affects your skin, it affects everything. And you have to have a reason why you're going to do this if you plan to have a long life. I guess we can we can't prevent things from happening in life, like you know, the chances of getting hit by a car or all these other factors that come into play. But you said, like you said, um, if you have a why or a plan as to why you want to be healthy and have a healthy lifestyle, because you feel better.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I have this conversation with all my clients because I said, we don't need to work together if you don't really know why you're doing this, right? Then it's a waste of time and it's a waste of money. Um, and it's also not enough that you you tell me, well, my doctor told me I should lose weight, or my doctor told me I should, you know, uh get rid of my diabetes. That is like someone else's motivation, but not yours. So I'm always having this conversation around why are you here today? Why are you wanting to work with me on your health goals? Why is that important to you? And why is this a must? You know, if it's just a nice to have, and uh yeah, you know, I have nothing better to do, and I'd rather do something else, then you're probably not going to be very successful. And I mean, this goes for all the areas in life, but especially when it comes to health, we have to realize that we have to make room for ourselves and we have to make room on following up on our own health and well-being. Um, and that that needs to be a must and not a nice to have, right? Because we also want to prevent from you know getting sick everything that we can do, you know. And and the good thing is with diet, we have full control over that because we are the ones who decide what we're eating, at least when we're an adult, right? Not so much as a kid, but when we're an adult, it's our decision what we put in our mouth, and nobody else's. So, you know, we we can really build a healthy lifestyle and healthy life around our life once we know why we do this, and once we have made a decision, how we want to show up in life and how we want to, you know, move forward, and how we want to reach our goals in life, you know, all of these things. It all plays together, and that's again the holistic approach. We're not working on one single thing over here, it affects your entire life because it's how you show up in one thing is how you show up for everything.

Carlene 21:42

If you're saying if you're always late, then that's the impression that people have of you, right? Like you, and then I guess it affects other places in your life. But I guess with even with your health, you're saying that if you're if you used to do it, I think it's it's like when you stop doing it, or if you You don't have people who are pushing you or having that same lifestyle. You are what you eat, or you are the people that you hang out with. So I guess it's good to have people that have that same mindset that can then that encourage you when you get discouraged or you fall off the bandwagon, right?

SPEAKER_02 22:17

Yeah. Community is so, so important. I can I can never emphasize this enough. You have to surround yourself with people who who think like you or aspire like you, right? And and help you and support you along the way. Because we are we are designed that way, right? We're we're herd animals, so to speak, and and we thrive in a community versus alone, right? And if you are if you have a very ambitious plan but you're by yourself and nobody supporting you, the chances that you're not reaching it are much higher than if you have all the support you can get and you have your people cheering you on, right, and and uh applauding you every step of the way, then for you it's much, much easier to reach your goals. And that's why you know being surrounded by people uh that are supporting you and helping you is is super, super important.

Carlene 23:13

So you touched on, I was gonna ask you what advice do you have to give clients, but you said to me that the main thing is the reason why. So can you help us like, you know, are we building a vision board? Are we putting a plan in place? What does that look like? If if if I'm ready and I want to work on my reason why to start eating healthier and trying to exercise a little bit more and get fresh air and get back to a regular routine.

SPEAKER_02 23:43

Here's a little bit of background info to that. Um, there has been studies, and it's actually super interesting. I I love this stuff. People analyzed success rates of people who achieve their goals and who don't. And they and they figured out that 92% of the people usually don't reach their goals, which is a very high percentage. I was really shocked because that's like the majority of us. 8% of people seem to achieve their goals. So they were they were asking themselves, okay, so what does those people have that the others don't, right? And what the studies have shown is that those people had a very strong drive to to reach their goals. And they had a very strong why in themselves, so an internal motivator to change things and to succeed in whatever they wanted to achieve. And it was interesting because I started looking into how do you determine your why? Because most of the whys are very superficial. It's born out of an idea of I really should do this, right? Or I should really lose my COVID weight. And then okay, I'm looking for something to do. But this I should do this is like a very weak why. Because why is that important is my question, right? So why actually do you think uh your life would be better if you were if you were losing this weight? So you have to dig a little deeper, right? Maybe you uncover some fears that you feel like you're not attractive anymore if you're gaining weight, right? Or you fear that you might get a heart condition, right? So we're we're unpeeling the layers of your motivation to change. And we need to do this fairly often. So even if you say now, oh yeah, okay, so I don't want to get heart disease, right? But then again, I would ask you why? Why is that important to you to prevent that from getting, right? So we want to dig deeper and deeper to really uncover the the motivation that would then drive you. And even when it gets rocky and when you hit obstacles or challenges or you have a bad day, your driver and your why is there to guide you back on the path. And it has really shown that those 8% of people have really uncovered their strong why and they were motivated to keep going, even when it got a little bit rougher and harder along the way. And so it is really finding this deeper motivation. And I just recently did that exercise with a client of mine when she was saying, I'm looking for this motivation and I'm looking for this driver. And we were digging very, very deep and unpeeled the layers, and we came to her deepest fear that if she would not succeed in reaching her goal, she would lose her credibility as a human being. And I mean, if you look at this, it's pretty deep, right? Because that basically speaks to our instincts. Because if we were looking at it from an animal standpoint, if we're not worthy anymore to be included in the herd, right, we have to die, right? So that is pretty deep stuff. So once she does discovered for herself that her deepest why is to keep her credibility, that was so eye-opening to her because she says, Yes, you know, there's no other way for me to move than in this one direction, you know. The the other direction that I was in before does not make any sense anymore. And and this is really what we need to get to this very strong why. Why do we have to change? Because also I have clients who have uncovered that they don't want to change anything, it's not really that important. And that's also good if you discover that because then you know you can stop trying to do what you're doing and just do something else, right? So we always want to know why are we motivated to do whatever we're doing.

Carlene 27:50

When we set goals or we set things that we want to do, you have your goals in mind and then you have your motivator. But if you don't keep up with that or rem keep reminding yourself, you kind of forget. It's kind of like being an athlete, right? Athletes train several days a week. They have to do this routine. You know, even for me as someone who used to dance, it's like, you know, I have dance class at this time, some of that, and then at home, I have to practice the routine if I want to make sure that I'm on recital night, that I have a great performance. It's it's like anything in life. And I guess, like you said, if you can be a student of life, I think it's it makes you a little bit more successful, right? The same things that you were doing in university at work, if they have a good trend or a good pattern, then you figure different things out and then what works for you. But I think I like what you said though, because if someone says, you know, maybe I don't have a reason why that I want to lose weight, I just know I should lose weight, but I don't have that motivation. I don't really, you know what I mean? If you're happy, like it's there's one thing, it's like consistency, right? To stay at the same weight or to lose weight, right? Either way, you have to do something if you're gonna just stay. I'm gonna stay at this weight, I'm fine with it.

SPEAKER_02 29:09

Absolutely. And I and I think that is an absolute valid point, but then own it. You know, I'm always saying then own it. Don't go around saying, well, I really should lose, but you know, I'm quite comfortable where I am, but you know, I really should like don't. Okay. So just say, you know what? I'm fine. It's fine the way it is, and I love my life and I love what I'm doing, and you know, own it because I actually have friends who are, you know, medically speaking, uh, obese. And they said, I love it, you know, I loved, I love food and I want to enjoy this, and you know, that is part of who I am. And I said, kudos to you, because this is exactly what I want people to to uh come to that conclusion, right? It's if if you like the way things are, don't try and mess with it and change it because other people think you should, right? This this shoulding is not really helpful, so own it, right? Or if you don't want it, then change it, okay? And I mean, is it gonna be easy? No, it's not gonna be easy, okay.

Carlene 30:14

But even to own it, you said own it, even owning it is hard. It's hard because you have there's always other people with their opinions, and yes, we can all say, you know, it takes a long time to be confident in yourself and what you're doing, but other people's opinions is is what you have to battle with. And you're like, you know, there's so many people that say, Well, uh, you need to lose the weight, you know what I mean? And and then you have those discussions in your head, and that's where it's like, maybe I should lose the weight, you know, because you know, other people are influencing that, and owning it means that you are confident in yourself, and that there's certain people that are though the people that own it are confident and they're okay with it, and they have strong personalities, and they're not gonna let anyone say otherwise because this is it's your life, and they have a strong why.

SPEAKER_02 31:10

It goes both ways, right? Because they know why they they want to live a certain lifestyle and they wanna, you know, like live the way they want to live. They have they they own that because they know why it's important to them, right? They have found this this connecting piece that makes them themselves in a certain way, and and so it requires um personal work on both sides, right? As you say, it requires personal work owning it, and it requires personal work changing it. You know, no matter what, you always have to do the work, you choose which side you're going. That's basically it, right?

Carlene 31:49

Yeah, I think that is a very strong message in terms of a reason why. So many things to think about during this pandemic, but I I do want to say the one thing I want to ask you before we wrap up is what advice do you have for clients who are struggling to get along during the pandemic? You said you have to figure out your reason why, but in the meantime, for those stressors, that's a lot of stress. A lot of people are depressed.

SPEAKER_02 32:17

Absolutely. Yes, they are. And it doesn't really matter in this case if you're single and you're living alone, or if you live in a family setting and you're all getting on each other's nerves, right? In both cases, you would struggle. So, really, my advice here is is this this is a phase for introspection, and it's a time for looking into who you are as a person. So if you're living by yourself, so you're by yourself, you have nobody else, um, use the time to look at yourself and and have a look at if there's something you want to work on for yourself or something you want to learn, something to want to you want to change, right? Make yourself a priority and work on yourself. And there's always something, right? And even if it's just say, I take a new course or you know, I want to learn a new skill set or an instrument or whatever it is, right? Just decide on something that you enjoy doing and that now you can devote the time to because you can't see other people. Some people have used the time to reinvent themselves, and that's actually the best opportunity. You will probably never get this opportunity again where you have so much time for yourself to focus on yourself, and where you can really say, I'm looking on who I am and and how I'm showing up, and preparing myself for when I get back out there, and you know, try and work on some things that need some improvement, and there's always something we can find. So, those is that's the advice I would give to people living alone and who feel like they're too isolated and they get depressed. Really focus on yourself right now and foster the relationship with yourself and try and improve things by yourself. Um, people who live in a family setting, they probably want a little bit more space, especially when they don't get along with each other. So I would say when you feel it's getting too much, and for example, I can relate to this sometimes. Oh, my kids are home, we're doing homeschooling, my husband works at home, I'm here at home. It is a fairly small space for 24 hours seven days a week, right? Um, a lot of people can relate to that, and it's it has nothing to do with having strong nerves, it's just too much sometimes, right? So creating some space, and and what I do, for example, is I go for walks, and I mean I know every single tree in the neighborhood, right? I've I have given them names because I love trees too, yes, you know, but it is they're my friends now. I visit them every single day, but they're actually good for us, right? Connecting with nature can calm us down when we're a little stretchy, right? So we we go outside and you know, we we um we hug the trees, we look at the flowers, we look at the birds, you know, whatever, whatever makes you happy. Uh just connect with nature so that you can calm down and you can let this stressful situation at home behind for for this period of time. And then when you come home, you feel uh more relaxed and calmer. Of course, not if you take all your problems with you. So really try and leave that at home and and just concentrate on nature and tune into the sounds and you know, feelings of a wind, temperature, all these things can take your mind away from the stressful situation at home. When you feel calmer and you come home and you can really start conversation at home and express your feelings. I think honesty right now is super important because we all feel it, right? It just comes out in certain in different ways, and that's most often the problem, right? Our kids or partners, whoever we live with, expresses and feels their emotions differently, but when we look closely enough, we're all kind of feeling the same thing. And so just having a constructive exchange about that will often foster more compassion with each other and more understanding that you know we can't change the the outside right now, but we can change the way we interact with each other. Try to really come together as like we're in this together. And I know it's difficult if we have no space from each other, but really try and get these nature breaks in, they're super, super valuable. And then again, you know, just try and find a new routine with each other. Maybe you have to change things uh up a bit, you know. If you've always done the same thing and it's getting on your nerves, then just try to, you know, change small things. For example, go on walks together and play games like Ice Spy or count how many dogs you see just to change things up a bit every time you walk. You can do things like play board games together instead of video games, you know, to schedule some some uh um family time. Also choose something that you like to learn, and everyone picks different things that they want to learn, and then you come together and you show each other what you've learned during that day or that course. You know, just try and be creative. And we all are, right? We just have to reconnect with ourselves and we really have to see what's working for us to foster more understanding and less annoyance, right? If you will.

Carlene 37:49

Yeah, and that's great advice. Thank you so much, Pamela Barton, for being our guest on the show. It's always great to connect over Zoom. If what people want to find you, how can they connect?

SPEAKER_02 38:02

Yes, so they can have a look at my website, which is butterfly holisticnutrition.ca, all one word, very longword.ca. You can also watch my metabolic energy reboot masterclass. It's a free training, and you can find that under metabolicenergy solution.com. I can be found on social medias. I have a Facebook group uh that's called Heal from Tired to Energetic. You can find me there. And um, you can find me on Instagram, under Barton Pamela, you can find me on LinkedIn. So just Google me. I should come up, or not Google me, use an alternative machine like DuckDuckGo, for example. Um, so you'll find me. And yeah, I'd be happy to connect with you, and you can, you know, connect with me and uh ask me questions.

Carlene 38:53

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge, and I wish you a great summer, and I hope that 2021 will be a great year for you and your family. My pleasure, and I wish you the same. Thanks so much, Carleen. Thank you, Pamela. Hi, I'm Carleen, and this is Ziva Tonight. We have a special guest. This is his off the album in the end. The single is barely holding on.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

You can spend your whole life on a work it out. 35 living on the bed. And when your heart stops beating and you're underground What's it alive worth living? What are you worth now? Was it a life worth living? What are you worth now?

Carlene 43:08

Hi, I'm Carleen, and this is Diva Tonight.