#10: Interview with Crystal Melanson on Functional Health and Wellness

Join us for an interview with Crystal Melanson, a board certified holistic practitioner and nutritionist! We talk about her approach to functional health, how to get your family onboard with dietary changes, and food as preventative healthcare.

Find Crystal online:
Website: https://www.crystalmelanson.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrystalMelansonFertility
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalmelanson.ccn

Find the recipes from this episode:
Crystal's Tajin Recipe
10 Moroccan Tajine Recipes

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Contact us: podcast@plantoeat.com

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Transcript

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[00:00:00] 

I'm Riley and I'm Roni. And this is the plan to eat podcast, where we have conversations about meal planning, food, and wellness. To help you answer the question what's for dinner.

Roni: Hello everyone. Welcome to The Plan to Eat podcast.

Riley: Today we interviewed Crystal Melanson a board certified holistic practitioner and nutritionist. She specializes in natural fertility, helping couples maximize and mend their fertility naturally to conceive and have healthy pregnancies. 

Roni: Today. We talked with her about her functional medicine approach to health. Why it's important to be in tune with your body and how to implement little changes that can have an impact on your overall wellness. We hope you enjoy.

Welcome Crystal. Thank you for being on the Plan to Eat podcast. 

Crystal M: Thank you so much excited to be here. 

Roni: Yeah. So let's just get started with you telling us a little bit about yourself and what you do for a profession.

Crystal M: Yeah. So I live in Northeast, [00:01:00] Colorado right now, and I have two young kiddos. I have a three and a half year old and a 18 month old. So I am busy with that and my virtual practice. So I am a functional fertility practitioner now as is my main job, but, I've worked a lot with food and nutrition throughout the years. Yeah. My little bit with my, my path is I definitely started to get interested in health and nutrition in high school, through my own struggles, which I feel like a lot of people come into this world with that. So I had chronic hives as a kid, a lot of digestive issues and some real serious joint injuries.

So I was able to see firsthand how powerful nutrition was and how that helped my body. So I went to college for dietetics. And then started working as a nutrition counselor and a personal trainer out of college. And that was fun, but it was, it was a hard job and it was just being in the office [00:02:00] all day.

And I felt like I had a lot more creativity to explore. So I went to culinary school and specifically I studied, um, It was a natural chef school. So we studied how to work with foods in a healthy way and work with restrictive diets. Um, since I needed that myself and really understanding that restrictive diets still deserve to taste good and like people need to enjoy how they eat.

And so that was really fun. I graduated and combined to my work. Private chef, um, mostly and then worked, part-time doing nutrition counseling as well. For, for quite a few years, as I continued and got a few advanced cert certification. So I became a functional diagnostic nutrition practitioner and then a clinical nutritionist.

And then in my first pregnancy, the stress on my body and realizing what I could handle, I kind of stepped away from the [00:03:00] hands-on work as a private chef to really focus on my virtual practice. Now. 

Riley: I love that you are doing something for people , what you get to do for people is such a place of compassion because, you know, firsthand. 

Crystal M: hundred percent. 

Riley: And so I think that that's just, just amazingly beneficial for people. When you're working with somebody who's in that place of like, uh, they're they haven't found healing yet, and that's so stressful and that's so, weighty for them.

And so knowing that you understand them in that way is, I mean, that's gotta be just so beneficial for people when they begin their journey with you.

Crystal M: Yeah. Yeah. I I wish I had that more understanding when I was going through the process myself. So it's good to have that community that you can find.

Roni: I think it's amazing that you have so many degrees and certifications. As you've been learning for a really long time. 

Crystal M: I really love to learn. Um, I have kind of like a reading problem. I've tried to do fiction books now, too, so it's not just all learning, but now I love to study. I [00:04:00] really, this is my passion and mission is helping people with their health. So. 

Roni: great. So, um, if you don't mind, do you want to tell us a little bit about what your methods are? So like if somebody came to you and they, um, you know, have a reason for coming to you, they're having some type of symptoms. What are, what are kind of some of your basic basic methods to help somebody decide what's going to be a good change?

Crystal M: Yeah. So, so now my virtual practice, I specialize mostly in fertility. So I went through kind of my own journey of being diagnosed with PCOS being told I would never get pregnant naturally. Um, I'm an IVF baby. So I had my own kind of mindset coming into. And I used these methods to help heal my fertility.

And I've been blessed with two children naturally now. So I've become very passionate in helping that demographic. And it really, [00:05:00] it starts with this understanding that we're all different, right? Our bodies react different. You have. Histories and backgrounds different concerns. And so we need to have that realization that we can't just be treated at all the same.

Um, and that what's affecting you on a surface level, also has a deeper component and that we really need to understand that all aspects of our health affect us. Right. We can't just compartmentalize everything. And so I use kind of a combination of. Talking and understanding that the history, as well as functional labs, which are really helpful, um, they are different from what you get at the doctor's office, where they're not diagnostic.

We're not just trying to diagnose you and label you with something, right. It's really used in this way of seeing patterns and trends and finding where those deeper issues are. Those triggers as areas that need to be supported. And [00:06:00] that, that can be really helpful, um, to get. Strategy and clear direction.

And then of course, you know, using nutrition as a foundation, but also our lifestyle, our environment, and our mindset, putting it all together. 

Riley: The holistic way of looking at it and not just one. 

Crystal M: Well, you have to right it. It's kind of ridiculous that we got to. Thing where we think that like, oh, your heart health is over here. Your digestive health is over there. Your, where you predict, like, who said that? Or like I'm one person, as far as I can see, I don't understand how this is all disconnected. 

Riley: And I personally had my own health journey. And I can just say that, um, when you. I have one person not evaluating the whole picture. I mean, you feel like you're missing out, especially over time when that person's only looking at one thing and not looking at the whole picture, um, you feel like you start to feel like they're not [00:07:00] seeing you and your problems and like just tryin to, 'em put a bandaid on one thing instead of recognizing that it's a whole picture.

I don't know if that's what I found in my own journey. It's just like, you're not seeing it all. Like, why aren't you, you're only thinking about this one thing, but what about this? And, 

Crystal M: And I think it's important to take that, like your experience to right? And listen to you. Like, you know, your body, you have your own intuition. And I think that's underutilized in healthcare too. 

Roni: So you obviously work mostly with, uh, women, people who have uteruses, right. To be 

Crystal M: Um, for, for the most part, I do work with men, um, cause they're part of the puzzle too. Um, but yeah, mostly with women's health.

these.

Roni: Okay. So then do you make it, so if you're talking about somebody with, um, trying to change their nutrition, particularly that somebody already has a family, how do you help them integrate those changes into their life so that, it's easier and not so stressful. And maybe, you know, maybe their is a little resistant to making the same [00:08:00] changes that the one member of their family is trying to make.

Crystal M: Yeah, that can definitely be a struggle. And I think it's taking it and small steps that you can stick with. Right. So a lot of times with clients the first week, I want them to just. Uh, Bob observing of their life, right? Like really observe like, okay, what time of the day am I struggling with what meal is the most difficult?

What am I buying at the store? Right. If you have these goals of being like gluten-free or something like that, like observing really how much of your life that is. And that can be really helpful is to just change your mindset first. And then start with one meal a day. So oftentimes it's like breakfast, like let's just focus on breakfast, get it the way we feel good about working in for four or five days.

Right. You feel consistent about that then we can add on the next step. Right? So the key is really. [00:09:00] To be consistent and sustainable with changes. I think we have to, you have to push yourself out of your comfort zone, right? You have to be willing to get uncomfortable, um, to some degree, but also be confident with the small wins that you may get the same time. 

Riley: Do you find that people have, um, have trouble like kind of getting their families on board with these things? 

Crystal M: I think it's beneficial to have a conversation of why you're doing it, you know, include everyone in your goals. so that you can all have that same understanding. And often if you're doing something to better your health, like that's only going to better your family's health. Right. And we want everyone to feel good.

So I think talking about it is important, but you can get them involved in the process, right? Like, If you had kids be like, Hey, you want to help me pick out a recipe together? Like what sounds good to you give them control. And some of that independence of like, Hey, I have these five recipes. What [00:10:00] was twin sounds good to you.

Right? So that they feel like they're part of the process. Um, you know, if they go to the grocery store with you, let them be like, Hey, what, what vegetable do you think looks really cool today? Like, let's try something different. Let them pick it out so that they they're involved. 

Riley: Yeah, I love that. Do you find that people. I have a preconceived idea of what this looks like in their life. Like, um, when they have, when they're told you need to, these are the modifications to your diet, that would be really helpful. Do people have this preconceived idea that it's going to be a, I know you mentioned in your bio that food, like this can taste really good, but do you think that people have this preconceived idea that it's going to be horrible and.

Crystal M: Yeah. Well there's, for some reason, a lot of women automatically think that. A healthy diet for them is Keto or zero carb. I'm like, no, that's not true. So that's, that's one myth for most people with, you know, these goals that it's like, no, that's, that's not [00:11:00] necessarily true. And. I think we get stuck in this box, right?

Where there there's actually research where I believe it was about 10 foods that we're eating the same 10 foods every day. and.

so people freak out. If you try to take away some of those foods, because they feel like nothing's left, but then let's not focus on what we're taking away. Let's realize that there are so many other foods out there, like so many options that you can try.

And so even with restrictive diets, What we'd say restrictive, right? I'm doing air quotes where we really it's just restrictive at first because we have to open our mind that there's so much out there that we can't eat and enjoy. 

Roni: a great point. I, when I you're saying that, and I'm thinking about the things that I eat and I'm like, yeah, that's probably pretty true. Like 10 is.

Crystal M: But I mean, I do it. I do it often. You get comfortable and that's why you just sometimes need that little push and [00:12:00] that support to see outside of your own blinders. But it's there, right? Like the same vegetable can be cooked. 20 different ones. Right. People that say they don't like vegetables. No. Like I, you know, I call BS on that because you just don't like vegetables that you've tried or the way you know how to cook them, but there's so many vegetables and you can cook them so many different ways that I'm sure you can, like it. 

Riley: Yeah, I, you said that thing about comfortable comfortability. It's like total, you get into this comfortable. These are the things I make. These are the things I enjoy. Um, one thing that, uh, me and Roni have talked about that. Before is that a really awesome thing about our friendship is that when we get into this meal planning, rut of that really comfortable meal plan, we can ask the other person, like I need some ideas.

Um, I'm sure that people feel that way, working with you working alongside you, especially with your chef background that they can say, okay, give me some ideas. Or do you provide recipes in your program or how 

Crystal M: Yes, I do provide [00:13:00] recipes. It's, it's two parts where I feel like starting out, you know, recipes meal plans can be helpful to a point. We don't want to be reliant on it. It can be helpful to a point while you're learning about your body and what is good and what's best for you, but you want to get to that more independent side of things where.

Relying on someone to tell you what to eat. Right. 

Riley: Yeah, absolutely.

There might be somebody listening to this podcast today who thinks that they may not have like an underlying health condition or that they, um, are just fine.

Do you feel like people should evaluate their diet or evaluate their bodies, um, in different seasons of their lives? to maybe make some adjustments, are the kind of changes that you recommend to your clients, things that you recommend forever, or is it like different phases of their life and different seasons and things like that?

Crystal M: Yeah. Um, well, to answer that part, I think there are phases where we might have a healing phase where we have that [00:14:00] short-term goal. We're trying to heal your body, which can look a little bit different as we've transitioned more into maintenance, let's say, right. But also. I feel like a huge part of our mindset with health that's broken is like, forgetting about being preventative, like proactive in our healthcare.

Right. Waiting for an issue. You know, a lot of women and moms, we wait until we're completely burned out and you're like, I've lost all my hair and like I can't get out of bed. Right. And so I think it's important to evaluate this and understand that. Also, we can get used to feeling bad. Like I talked to a lot of women that after they've gone through some changes, they're like, I really, I didn't even realize how bad I felt because we're just used to it.

You've become comfortable with that even. And we want to look out for our future health with what we're doing now. And I think that [00:15:00] can definitely entail checking in on, on those deeper things that? we aren't thinking about every day. 

Riley: You answered that question beautifully. I know my question was really confusing. Sorry. 

Yeah. I like that idea around preventative health, um, and why it's like, why that should be encouragement for somebody to evaluate themselves and that they want to live to 120 or whatever it might be. 

Crystal M: Yeah. And also with nutrition and diet, right. Where some people are like, I find I don't have digestive issues. Right. Um,

our, our symptoms can manifest in many different ways where, okay. You might not have digestive issues, but like, how has your mood, you know, do you have depression, anxiety, how's your skin?

Do you have joint pain? And then, you know, for me, how are your cycles, your fertility, right? Where things are not. So one plus one equals two and her mindset where things can manifest and our nutrition and how we're eating is really foundational to [00:16:00] all of that. 

Roni: We just talked, with, uh, somebody else on our podcast, her name's Mackenzie a couple of weeks ago about, Like tracking how you're feeling, all of these things. Do you have resources that you have people use to kind of get used to paying attention to these different areas that they might not pay attention to? 

Crystal M: Yeah. So I think there's the mindful, no side of it, of how you're feeling throughout the day or your body symptoms, um, with women too, you know, I like to actually check in on things like your blood sugar, right. Something that people have never really thought about, or they might think. I don't have diabetes.

That's fine. Right? Where once again, there's a lot of time in between having a disease and not, or, um, looking at your cycle in a different way. I think information is empowering and the more information, the more connected we are with our body, the more we can really help it. So I think having that mindfulness is very [00:17:00] critical.

Roni: So then when, uh, when somebody comes to you and they've been realizing that they've had some of these issues, do you, are you mostly focused on the diet and nutrition aspect of things or do you, encourage different. Movement or, you know, like meditation or any of these other things that might contribute to their like holistic package of wellness. 

Crystal M: Yeah. So there's, there's four main frameworks that I really work with. And one Is understanding where are those deeper triggers that inflammation that's hiding. Right. And that can be helpful with the functional labs or health history. Um, but then there is the nutrition. And then there's exercise movement, right.

Which is incredibly important. Um, there's then mindset. What are we telling ourselves? How are, how is our environment affecting us, right? What is everything that we're exposed to affecting [00:18:00] us? So I think you really have to come at it from all angles to have the best chance of results.

Roni: Is there a hierarchy? At all where you feel like one is the, the Mo the most important of the four.

Crystal M: I mean, unfortunately not really. I think to make it doable, we have to break it down. Right. Where, okay. What, what is the first piece we're really gonna think about? Like, I always layer in the changes. We can't expect to just change everything overnight. That's that's crazy. But we, we want to understand that these foundations.

Pieces are, are that right? Like you have to build, if you're building a house on a faulty foundation, it's just going to crack, it's just going to continue to have issues, right? So you have to work on each of these pieces, the nutrition, the mindset, the movement, the environment, right? To some degree, um, to make sure that in the long run, you have the [00:19:00] best chances as well. 

Riley: This is, this question is transitioning a little bit. Um, and I don't know about your childhood. Obviously you had health problems that you worked through over your life. But I'm just thinking about like my own daughter and how I want to instill a lot of these things into her childhood so that they are for her lifetime.

She knows them and she implements them. What do you do with your kids in that way? I get to meet just because of your history. I feel like you'd probably be really in tune to kind of helping them navigate these things and, and prevent them in their own.

Crystal M: Yeah. Well I think, you know, with young kids, it is, is getting them involved, right. Is, is important. And just talking about it, right. Talking about how their body feels so that they have their own. connection to their body. And realize an exposure, right? Like if, if you can start exposing your child to lots of different foods and flavors and textures from the very beginning, that's going to help a lot.

Um, and not [00:20:00] assuming they're not going to like something, right. Like I wish I could eat, um, liver. It can be a powerful food, but I can't do organ meats. Right. But like we had some, some healthy Patay. My three-year-old loves it. My baby loves it. I'm like, okay, I'm not going to assume they're not going to like something just cause I don't like it.

Um, and just exposing, making it a fun thing to, to try different foods. 

Riley: I'm laughing just because one I'm in the same boat with liver. Um, I take a liver supplement

need to, I know it's so good for me, but, but then thinking about that with my own daughter, just how I've given her foods and I've been shocked that she just devoured them. And that, that assumption level with anything, it just, I assume things that aren't true about her.

Um, and, 

Crystal M: it's going to be too spicy. My toddler loves spicy foods, 

Riley: So does my daughter, she loves it. Yeah. Um, I'm thinking about the same thing with like exercise, like, oh, I shouldn't do that. We come with these preconceived ideas to any of the things that you're talking about [00:21:00] and like, assume that it has to be this way or assume that this diet is the one that I have to do.

You've mentioned keto or low carb, and it's like, kind of like, we have to just like put away all those assumptions and have this renewed perspective and okay. It doesn't have to be the way I assume it is. 

Crystal M: Yeah, what's right for you. 

Riley: Where are you going to say something else there about. 

Crystal M: I was just also going to say that the exposure part is important. And also for older kids, for adults, even that if we have like picky eaters is realizing that they, they did research that it takes at least 18 times to be exposed to the same thing. Before you even know it enough to, to know if you like it or not.

Right. Where a lot of times you might try a food once and you give up where if we just keep having it, that, that little exposure, those little tastes here and there, we can actually change our palette. We can change what we're comfortable with. And so that's a huge key that. You know, [00:22:00] with kids, even if they aren't eating it, they aren't touching it, but maybe it's on their plate.

Right. Or it's right. It's on your plate. They're seeing it. They're just being constantly exposed. That's going to help a lot with their comfortable, um, level of, of trying new foods too. 

Riley: interesting 18 times. I haven't heard that before, so I'll have to keep that in mind. 

Crystal M: Yeah. Yeah, And it sounds like a lot. So keep going.

Riley: Yeah, it did sound like a lot. I was going to shift gears a little bit, um, and just talk about, um, functional medicine and like why you're in favor of this approach. And, I know we've talked a little bit about it, but I'd just love to hear more. So people who maybe are new to functional medicine and that kind of thing, I could have a little bit more understanding.

Crystal M: Well, I mean, I'm, I'm in favor of it because it works and like, you know, it helps me, it helps so many others. And I just like how it makes you feel too, that, you know, you are valuable and you deserve to feel good in all aspects of your health and journey. [00:23:00] Right. And it's, it comes from this perspective that you are.

You're multi-dimensional right. And so is your health and wellness. We have to have it in this multi-dimensional way to look at things. You aren't just a test result on a piece of paper. You aren't just a diagnostic gnosis right. Like if I, if I was just the girl with PCOS or. I have what's called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is a genetic condition.

These things that I could say I could be affected for forever. Right. Um, that doesn't feel good and feeling like you're a victim or feeling helpless that just hurts. It hurts so much. And I love functional health approach because it feels empowering instead. Right. And then. You know, we can really help ourselves despite what we're experiencing now. And that's what I found the most valuable part of it. 

Roni: One thing that we talk about [00:24:00] with meal planning that we really love is just the taking control of the things that you're eating is really empowering. And it sounds like, it sounds like that's what you love to foster in people as this impact, this idea of empowerment around what they're consuming and how they're healing their bodies.

Crystal M: And it's the education piece, right? Like, I don't think you should just be told what to do. You need to be educated on why you're doing it. That's why people make changes. No one in the world likes to be told what to do. Right. And so when you have that education, then you can go, you can go look for recipes for yourself.

You can do the meal, planning yourself. Right. You can make those changes because you understand why you're doing it. And that feels good. 

Riley: Yeah. My personal experience with functional medicine has just been that I have learned to become my own champion. Like I am in control of my health and I can take control over these aspects. And that's when, like, that's maybe like, not the number one benefit of this, but it's one thing that I have found [00:25:00] just like in like that idea of empowerment, but like, I get to be my own cheerleader and I get to, kind of take control and like be in charge of how I feel and like take, take ownership of it and then make changes to help myself. Um, I don't know if you find that with your clients that they over time just feel really inspired to like, be their own like health advocate. 

Crystal M: yeah. I mean, that's the underlying mission of my whole thing is, is understanding how much power you have, right? Like who's to tell you your too old to get pregnant, or, you know, who's, who's to tell you how things are going to be. And. Especially when you are going to be starting a family and having kids like that empowerment piece goes so far and other parts of your life, that's really important 

Riley: Yeah, it absolutely does. I'm just thinking. Again, thinking about my daughter and just feeling like I'm her mom, nobody else has her mom. So like, if I'm not fighting for myself, how can I [00:26:00] fight for her? And how can I teach her to have fight for her? And so like in the same way, like fighting for my own health and teaching her to do the same for herself and then fighting for her and her health.

And I don't know, I think it's beautiful, honestly. Um, cause it just feels right to be able to do that for her and for myself. I literally almost just started tearing up right now.

Roni: Oh,

Riley: I feel it's really silly, but.

Crystal M: No, it's not silly. I think, I think it's important. And you know, I work with women after they become pregnant and the pregnancy journey, and you can just see how these things, they just grow. Right. And that part of like speaking up where you can foresee, if issues are gonna arise, you understand when your body is off, you understand what foods make you feel good.

So it's really important. 

Roni: Is that a big part of how you help people personalize their diets is just, uh, having. You know, pay attention to what makes them feel the best. 

Crystal M: So, yeah, there's, I mean, there's the two sides of it. There's [00:27:00] the. Scientific side where I do like to look at, what do we understand? What foods are inflammatory, right. If you're having issues, what foods do we know are more inflammatory than others? Right? Like I said, what is your blood sugar balance?

Do we need to evaluate that? Which we can have real data on? Do we maybe have nutritional deficiencies? Right. So you can use that part of it, but then you tie it to. The other mindfulness where like, okay, you had this, this test says, you're fine with gluten, but you, you know, you throw up every time you eat it, like, obviously that doesn't work for you or you don't feel good.

You feel hung over the next day after you have a certain food, like you have to have that side apart of it where like science is never going to get to, um, that I foresee where I think it's smarter than our own kind of intuition. And, and you have to piece the two together. So we have tools and strategies we can use to help you [00:28:00] on your way.

Right? Because those just generic things, they don't really work, but then we have to have your own mindfulness, your own commitment. Right. If I could tell you what to do, but if you're not going to do it, it's not going to change anything. So we have to also have like, how is this going to work in your life too. 

Roni: That's super important. I think for any change or goal that you're having is to kind of, uh, work it backwards, be like, what do I have the mental capacity for? What do I have the time for all of the different aspects? It's really easy to just try and jump into something because you want things to be better immediately without realizing the repercussions that it has throughout your whole life.

Of, um, you know, if you're not used to cooking home cooked meals every day, you know, or even some of the times, like that becomes a much bigger, you know, time aspect then, you know, probably what you're used to.

Crystal M: Exactly. So you can work it together. You don't have to, not, everyone has to spend five hours meal prepping on Sunday and have everything planned [00:29:00] out. Right. You can maybe plan three dinners that week, right. That you're cooking at home. You can, um, we have different ways that we can plan it. That can actually work for you. 

Riley: Yeah, we're definitely in favor of that. When we're encouraging people to just get started with meal planning, we tell them just, what does your week look like? Do you have two nights where you could cook at home plan, those two nights of dinner that is progress. Um, if you just do that and then once that gets easy, then you can do the next thing.

And once that gets easy, you can do the next thing. And then you're planning two weeks at a time and you're just crushing it. And so I'm sure the same idea applies there. 

Crystal M: A hundred percent. And like when you're looking for recipes and you're going shopping and maybe you're getting, going down a different aisle or to a different side of the produce section, like that's just going to open your mind as you are, are, um, making those small changes too. So. 

Riley: So I would, and I talked a little bit about your current business, but I would love for you to just tell our listeners, um, what working with you looks like, and then where they can find you. [00:30:00] And I guess how. I don't know what, what you look like in this space, and this can be how you build a community around this. 

Crystal M: So I work completely virtually now. So I work with women all over the world, which is super fun that we have that connection now. Um, and I work with women that are wanting to prepare to conceive for their very first. I work with women that have experienced loss or miscarriage, or even those that have been struggling for years and maybe doing treatments or medication.

From, from all aspects of the journey and with women and men. And, um, I, well, I honestly, I'm not like the practitioner that you just see once and I send you on your way. I really believe in having those intimate relationships so that you can go through that process and have someone to have you the support and hold your hand if necessary to make all of these changes, because it can sound overwhelming.

That attention is important to me while we [00:31:00] of course add in the scientific side of maybe the labs or these other strategies that we use it at the same time. So, um, it's, it's important to have. The education of what we can Do and what's important for our health and our fertility, so that we are feeling good and the whole process.

And when you're trying to get pregnant, like you've said, right, it's it's about your child too. Right. And when you start to mother yourself, now, you're your mothering, your future child. And really building that in as you take care of your own body.

Riley: Do you work with people, after they've given birth to, in that postpartum period? 

Crystal M: Yep. Yep. That's also an important, important part. So wherever you are in your journey, when that's kind of your goal of, of helping your reproductive health too, and definitely. Mom's postpartum periods, not easy. So that's an important part, but Yeah. [00:32:00] so I, I am, I do have a group of free group on Facebook that you can join.

Um, you can also find me at crystalmelanson.com and on Instagram, I'm sure you'll have some of those links. So I'm, I really love to chat with people. So, I mean, don't ever be shy to just like start a conversation with. 

Riley: Awesome. We'll definitely put all of those links in our show notes and. I know that there are people listening who are going to contact you, because I think that they want that one-on-one and intimate approach. And, um, people in this journey, whether it's fertility or whether it's postpartum or whether it's just changing their diet, like they need the support and that like one-on-one aspect of what you do is, uh, really compelling in my opinion.

So. Awesome. 

Crystal M: Thank you guys so much. 

Roni: Well, thank you. We do like to ask our guests one last question, which is what recipe have you been loving lately?

Crystal M: Oh man. Well, I really, I love flavor. So I like [00:33:00] to make different type of Moroccan dishes. So I like different Tagines, in the winter time with lots of those warm, um, Moroccan spices and, you know, cinnamons and things like that. So that's probably my favorite at the moment. 

Riley: Would you, do you have a recipe? You'd be interested in sharing. We can put it in our show notes. 

Crystal M: I probably do. I will, I will look and see. 

Riley: Okay. Awesome.

Thank you. 

Roni: yummy. It sounds really

Riley: Yeah, it does. I love those flavors too.

Roni: Well, thanks for joining us today. We really appreciate taking the time and giving us all of this awesome info.

Crystal M: Thank you. so much.

Roni: We hope you enjoyed this episode. And if you did, please share it with someone and subscribe to our podcast. Wherever you listen to your podcasts.