The Story Behind Devotion Nutrition: Fueling Your Body with Joy with Dana Lynn Kaye

If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ll know how much I love Devotion Nutrition. Their protein powders and recipes have been a staple in my kitchen for years, and I’ve been shouting their praises from the rooftops—so finally getting to sit down with Dana Lynn Kaye, Devotion’s founder, feels like a long time coming!
But Dana’s story goes far beyond just creating a killer product. Struggling with binge eating from childhood, she spent years feeling trapped in cycles of restriction and frustration. But through structure, routines, and mindset shifts, she found a way to break free. A simple daily log helped her stay consistent, turning healthy habits into second nature—and that transformation sparked something bigger. 

Recognizing the massive gap in the market for high-quality, delicious, and versatile protein powders, Dana set out to change the game. Devotion Nutrition was born from her mission to help people fuel their bodies without sacrificing taste, flexibility, or joy.

In this episode, we dive into:

• Dana’s journey from binge eating struggles to fitness enthusiast and entrepreneur
• The daily habits that helped her rebuild her relationship with food
• The creation of Devotion Nutrition and how it’s redefining protein supplementation
• Her go-to recipes (which you need to try!)

References

Connect with Dana:
Instagram (@danalynnkaye)
Tik tok (@danalynnkaye18)

Learn More about Devotion Nutrition:
Visit their website
Instagram (@devotionnutrition)
TikTok (@devotionnutrition)
Facebook (Devotion Nutrition)
Devotion Nutrition Creations Facebook Page

Audio Stamps
00:00 - Dr. Rentea shares an update about the next round of The 30/30 Program, starting in April.

04:15 - Today’s guest, Dana Kay, owner of Devotion Nutrition, shares her personal journey of struggle, resilience, and transformation that led to creating her protein powder company.

08:29 - Dana shares her struggle with binge eating since childhood, which ultimately led to treatment after a traumatic life event in college.

12:14 - We learn how structure, routines, and mindset shifts played a key role in Dana’s recovery, highlighting the

All of the information on this podcast is for general informational purposes only. Please talk to your physician and medical team about what is right for you. No medical advice is being on this podcast.

If you live in Indiana or Illinois and want to work with doctor Matthea Rentea, you can find out more on www.RenteaClinic.com

Premium Season 1 of The Obesity Guide: Behind the Curtain -Dive into real clinical scenarios, from my personal medication journey to tackling weight loss plateaus, understanding insulin resistance, and overcoming challenges with GLP-1s. Plus, get a 40+ page guide packed with protein charts, weight loss formulas, and more.

April 30/30 registration.

Transcript

0:28

Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Guys, we have a really special episode because I have been following Dana. She is not only very inspirational in the fitness industry, her lifestyle, how she lives it the truly heartfelt way that she shares about how you can live a lifestyle that's really healthy and, aligned with who you want to be, but also she shares a lot about. her history with, disordered eating and really how she got past that. And I just have not found a lot of other people over the years that really understand all these aspects. And she's also the founder of devotion nutrition, which everybody listening, you know, that I for years now have been preaching the message. And I was so excited. I've been following for years. And then I was finally like, can we get you on the podcast? Because you're amazing. And I would love everyone to hear your story. So. Dana, can we start out with where you tell people who you are a little bit about you just that people that are new, just can know a little bit. Ah, yes. Thank you for having me on. My name is Dana Kay and I do own Devotion Nutrition, which is a protein powder company. It's been around for a decade, but it really happened because of my story and because of the journey that I've taken. So, that's kind of like how I'm paying it forward now with my brand. But in order to really launch a brand with not just great products, but a really powerful message and to really, really help people. I do believe I had to take the journey and the tough journey that I did in order. To get to where I am today and I always have to probably cry one, one every time I do an episode and I talk about myself because it's very, very powerful to me to tell my story because people, I understand the struggle and if you come to my social media and you see the pictures of what I look like now, a lot of times people will quickly judge and they'll say, Oh, she doesn't understand. She doesn't get it. And what I've been through, really has been a battle that many people are going through and they sometimes don't get to see where the possibilities because many people give up on themselves and many people believe that it's not possible for them. But it is because I was the teenager who struggled. I was the girl who was yo yo dieting and trying to find something that worked. And I was always trying to figure it out. You know, this is years and years before social media, before people were telling us really how it was, before we understood what a real healthy lifestyle was. And I really believe that I had to claw and grab and figure out and fail a thousand times a billion times. I mean, and to figure it all out and to have it click finally, I mean, I'm going to be 45 this year. And I have a 12 year old daughter who is now in a similar struggle that I was in. And I think that's a whole nother thing, but I looked at her and I'm like, Hang in there because it's going to click for you I understand mommy does her stuff and she's seeing me already kind of past that struggle hump, and I'm now feeding her with the knowledge that, I'm so fortunate that I've now gained through the years, but I always tell her, you have to go through, it's going to be easy and it's going to be a struggle your whole life. And when I say struggle, I don't mean struggle, but I mean, it's going to be work and effort. I was not born with some crazy metabolism. I was not born with beautiful, these genetics that I was able to eat whatever I wanted. It was quite. The opposite. So, that's really how devotion came about was through my struggle and then wanting to help people on a larger scale, and I just spoke about how I just said to you before we went to record, why did I do these products well because People struggle with protein, they struggle with hydration, and I say this to my own daughter, I can't do the work for you, you know, you have to do the work. I can offer tools, but we all have to do the work for ourselves and really, really want it. So I'm living proof. I feel that you can take it wherever you want to go because my before pictures prove that. I'm not being negative about myself, but I'm no one special. I'm just a woman who wanted it really bad and just went for it. And I put one foot in front of the other every day, every day, every day, every day. But you, okay, I love this, this is an amazing introduction, but it's, it's funny having followed you for years though, when you say nothing special, but with your kids, you were like, you had twins and everything, and you got up early to exercise and you started to make the protein loads to take to work. I'm hoping some of this we can talk about because I love how you brought up that this was before social. And then you've also talked at other videos about how social also confuses people because there's too much information. And, but the point is, I think that. You really figured out over time what works for you. And then also, obviously, it's been a blessing that you've given so many tools to other people. But I love in your story how you have had to work through the things, and I'm sorry, it is a different message when that's the case. I feel like me too, when you have had to live some of these things, you understand it at a very different level versus just like intellectually that the science verse. having to actually make it work in real life. So I love that you gave that introduction. I wonder if we can bring it back to, about one out of every three people that struggle with their weight has a history with binge eating disorder. And for listening, even if you haven't officially been diagnosed with this, if you have any tendencies of wanting to eat a lot of food at one time or feeling out of control with food or anything like that, this can be in this sort of binging tendency category. And so I'm wondering, would you be willing to share a little bit about. Maybe what that looked like for you, when did you start to notice my relationship with food is actually a struggle? It's maybe not looking like other people around me. So if I take it back to elementary school, I can remember, sitting at the, the lunch table with the other girls and first of all, I was so excited for lunchtime. I just thought about food all day. I wanted to know what was in my lunch. I was excited to unpack and see if there were snacks in there. If there were treats in there, if my mom packed me a cookie, my mom was very healthy. And tried to pack me these balanced lunches and nothing was off limits and everything was very balanced. There was always fruit, there was always cookie, but for some reason I was more excited than other kids for lunch. And then I remember eating very quickly and then feeling like I just wanted more. I wasn't satisfied. And I remember going home and asking my mom if she would pack me another sandwich. And my mom was like, Tina, one sandwich is enough for you. And that was when my struggle began because it was like I couldn't eat enough and I wasn't ever satisfied. And my world started to revolve around food. Then I couldn't wait to get home to make afternoon snack. And then it became where I kind of knew I was eating, you know, I make instant mashed potatoes and it was like a weird snack, but I wanted to make a big thing of mashed potatoes And my parents were working. So nobody was home to see what I was doing. And it was like, I was eating faster because I felt like if nobody saw me do it, it didn't count or something. And for a while in elementary school, I kind of got away with it where my mom didn't know what was happening because it wasn't showing on my body yet. Because naturally, you can see my frame now that I'm on the other side. I wasn't a big girl but everything started kind of filling out because I started putting on weight but then I think as kids, we don't really feel self conscious until maybe we get into our preteens and like I went into. Right. I went into middle school and I started looking at the other girls bodies, or if we all had to put on uniforms for softball and, the girls all wore the pants and I was a little more snug in my pants or my tennis skirt or whatever, and then I started noticing that I looked different in the clothes my belly was bigger or whatever, but at that age, I wasn't really. Putting together that the food was what was doing it, I guess, I didn't really care. I wanted to look like the other girls. And yet I was so obsessed with food so that's when my battle started to begin wanting to look and feel a certain way, but also. having this obsession with food and then turning it into where my mom would comment not negatively but she'd say sweetie one sandwich is enough or you had your serving of dinner and I'd be like can I have another piece of salmon or can I have another whatever and it was like You know, and she would say stuff. So then I felt like if I wanted more, I'd have to sneak it or put it in my mouth. Would you kind of learn, right? Yeah. Yeah. My parents would go to bed and I would go down and make another peanut butter sandwich. But then my brother would say, mom, Dana was eating peanut butter sandwiches when you went to bed. So then she would say to me. Why are you still eating at night then it became secretive because I didn't want her to know. So you know what I'm saying? It was a whole, And so I have so many of these stories too. My sister was like, Oh, you had a sandwich under your bed. I was like, what are you talking? You know, when you hear these stories, you're like, but that's obviously happened. Yeah. You've shared on your podcast how you did get treatment for it. And what do you think changed after that? Cause I think people think somehow getting help is like. I don't need to do this or I don't think that we realize how much getting help can change our perspective on things. Did you learn anything going through it? Okay, so all through high school I was with this struggle. In high school, I fell in love with fitness. I would stand at the grocery store and they were putting out fitness magazines, muscle and fitness, and I fell in love with the aesthetics of a very fit body and muscles and, what the women look like on the cover. And I would buy the magazines. I also followed my mom around the gym with a trainer and my mom had degenerative disc disease. And so she needed to strengthen her core. So she got a trainer. I would go with her between loving the aesthetics of working out and then going to the gym with my mom, instead of just sitting there, like some kids would just sit there playing on their phones. I mean, this was back in the early nineties. I'd sit there, and just watch my mom. And every time that they would do a machine at the gym, They would get off and then I would watch what they were doing and I would do it. And I loved the way it made me feel. And I loved what the, results were supposed to bring these muscles and, this curvy body. So I got into fitness and I was lucky that I caught that fitness bug early because I also knew that treadmills and doing the recumbent bike and, you know, all those things were part of this healthy fit body. So I wanted that healthy fit body. And aesthetically, I did not look like that at all, but I just wanted to do it. I wanted to be into fitness, but doing all of that made me hungrier because now I'm lifting weights. And now I'm doing all this cardio, and now I'm hungry, and so now I'm coming home and I'm eating an extra bowl of cereal, two bowls of cereal, I'm doing all that. So my body is changing, but now what happened was, I didn't know how to eat properly. I didn't have education as far as, in the magazines, it was, eat one chicken breast, steam broccoli. And, drizzle some oil. And I'd be like, really? And as a 15 year old, 16 year old, this is the diet that they put into a magazine to tell you this is how you should eat back in the 90s. That's all the information was. So I would try to do these crazy diets. And I would try to eat just a chicken breast and I would take Tupperware to school like I was a bodybuilder as a high schooler. But meanwhile, I would be starving. I would be so hungry because I was Playing tennis and playing softball, and doing those activities. So I'd get home, I'm starving. And then I would binge. So then that's when binging happened for me was all the way back in high school because I would restrict. Not restrict like I never had anorexia or any of those types of eating disorders restrict meaning I thought I was doing this to try to be a fitness person and that's all the information They ever gave us in the magazines or the books. There was no social media. I didn't have a coach So I'm trying to figure this out myself. So I'm thinking okay Well, they just eat chicken and broccoli and they just eat rice So I'm trying to eat like that and even if I survived Three perfect days, you know, and I'm like, Oh, I'm doing perfect. I'm going to look like the girl on the magazine cover. It always led to a binge because really I was under eating. I wasn't eating carbohydrates. I wasn't eating enough healthy fats. Yes, I always knew that protein was important. So I was always getting in my protein, but I was missing macro nutrients. And then what would happen was I would say, okay, now I wasn't perfect. I had a binge and I'd come down on myself. I'm oh, I'm not perfect and then I'd feel upset about myself and I'd be angry at myself and then I'd say, okay, now I have to do back on this diet back on all the cardio back and it's that cycle that starts and it's under a strict cycle. I mean, this is a really well known thing and it's interesting. It's actually like you have to lean into being supportive after a binge, right? But everyone's inside. And so it's, and to punish yourself to say, I just ate all that and now I don't deserve to eat the next day. I mean, people do that even still with the holidays, they'll think Oh, cause I had a big Thanksgiving meal. I'm like, what do you mean? The next morning I wake up, I have my oatmeal, I have my, I'm back on track. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you for walking us through that. Cause I know so many people that are listening, they're either going through it or have gone through it. And I think it's comforting to know that you can go through all that and there is something on the other side where it can look different. I wonder, do you think there's something that might have been comforting to hear back then? If you'd heard this one thought, this one sentence, it might have helped you. If there's someone that's listening that's going through it. Well, to get back to where you said, okay, so that's where I realized it was happening. You brought up the fact that I, went to treatment. And so this cycle went all through college, my senior year in college. And now through college, I also was struggling, same struggle, just now I'm in college doing it. And my senior year, the guy that I was dating all through college was killed in a car wreck. And with him dying. It brought my emotional binge eating to a head. Finally, I know nobody ever knew about it with my own private battle. Everybody kind of was like, what's the day? And I like, you know, we go out to eat. I'd be eating so much and I'd be dog jawed and then I'd be back on a diet. And I think everybody knew okay, she's all over the place, but after he passed away in one month, I gained like 30 pounds, 40 pounds. It was a lot of weight. Then I just binged almost every day. I'm just eating my emotions. I didn't know how to handle that. And the whole thing flared up. And so I call it a food addiction. I mean, it was what was happening and this cycle that I couldn't stop. It finally was so obvious to everyone with this crazy weight I'm gaining and I finally just broke down to my parents, to my mom and I was like, but I remember printing out, about eating disorder. I never considered myself a person with an eating disorder or with any type of food addiction. I didn't know emotionally. Nobody ever talked about that, but I, I, I was looking it up. I printed it out and I went to my mom and I was like, I think this is me, you know, like I was like, I, I have a problem and I'm using food and I'm not even feeling myself eat anymore now I just eat to like fill this void and it's like, I don't even remember what I ate, all I know is I want to eat more, and you're seeing me fill out I look back at the pictures my face is filling up my body's filling out, I mean so they're all like, there's no denying it. So I got checked into the Renfrew Center. It was a place for girls with eating disorders. Overeaters anonymous. It was a whole thing all about food and I stayed for 30 days. And here's what I think. I was tired. I was tired. I was tired. And I, I remember just being on, on a, I felt like I was on a hamster wheel to hell. I kept saying, or a rollercoaster. I kept saying to my mom, this is exhausting. And I need to know why I'm doing this. And I can't have food, have a hold on me like this anymore. So the thing that changed me, and I just said this on social media was when I got there and the therapist said to me, Dana, it's not about the food. Yeah. And I realized I was like, I have other things that are, I have tools that are missing. I don't know what to do. Like help me. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to live healthy or eat healthy or balanced or any of these things. Not that my mom didn't teach me, but my mom never had the struggles that I did. I wasn't talking about my emotions the way I should have. I didn't have any tools when I wanted to binge or what all the things I was missing so much and I really do believe because now in my line of work, I am friends and talk to so many people who, have been obese morbidly obese. And the main thing that I see with people is they're like. I wasn't educated. I didn't know. I did eat my emotions. I came from this situation, that situation food was my only friend. So, that was a big changing point when they said, Dana, it's not about the food. And that gave me hope because I realized food was not going to rule over me anymore. Food was not going to control me anymore. I was going to take control over my life and get off this crazy, crazy, crazy road. Rollercoaster, ride. Yeah. Oh, okay. I love that you bring up not only that it's not about the food, but when you said that you just didn't have the tools, because it is so complicated to figure all this out. And how would we have all the tools? And of course it's not something that, oh, my parents didn't love me. I mean, I feel like I grew up with a two physician household. They loved me. They were always trying to do everything. And yet there is something not there, right? And so just very powerful. Thank you for sharing this. I think that it really gives people hope that it's like, look, we do ultimately need to keep searching until we find some pools that sort of that we fill out. I would say with mental health and everything, can we fill out the toolbox enough that you've got something in there for the scenario that you need? Cause it's different for everyone, right? So. I love that. That's so beautiful. And I feel like you talk a lot about this, on your podcast and online, you just have created a lot of processes that I see very supportive to you, like routines that you're in with exercise, things that you make for yourself. If you were sort of talking to, the average person out there sort of managing things on this ongoing journey. Cause I love how you don't make it sound like I figured it out. Now I'm just here to share. It's easy. That's sort of like a false hope. I wonder, what do you think are some of those daily habits, or maybe mindset shifts what do you think are things that help you day to day to, to keep doing this and figuring it out and not maybe succumb to, if you ever want to binge, or things like that? Well, like you said, I have a lot of routines and I have a lot of structure. I do believe that people thrive in structure and routines and regimens and things at You make a lifestyle. So what? And I'm constantly that word. Lifestyle is like, I know it's like I'm beating a dead horse with that word, but I it is truly my lifestyle. What I do, how I live, the habits that I've created that are just part of who I am, the way that I think, the things that I do. And that is what's truly transformed me and then kept me on the other side. And taking me away from these other bad habits. I had to break a lot of bad habits. I had to reframe my thinking about things and it was a lot of work. It's, it's not like it's, Oh, it's so easy. That's the thing. It's like, I. Like you said, it's complicated, but then there are people like me that want to help people break it down to say, look, it's not complicated, but you have to do it in like little steps, make little changes that turn into big changes, right? Yes. Yes. Oh, totally. Cause it's so funny. I feel like, probably when you look back 20 years, you're like, oh, there were all these little, now you're a radically different person. Right. But it's like, oh my Lord, all of it didn't happen overnight. What do you think would be like the top one or two tips for someone? I always like to ask like the person that they're at the beginning, they're struggling, they're like, I can't get consistent with exercise with my protein intakes all over the place day to day. Where do you think is a nice place to start for people? Okay. First of all, I love writing things down, putting my goals, get it out of your head. Write down every, you know, Sunday or whatever day starts your week. That is how I truly, downstairs still to this day, back from when I finally lost my first chunk of weight, is my, is my book. And I have a, it was 21 weeks that I dedicate to changing it. I mean, I gave myself time. I didn't say, okay, 21 days and I'm gonna be a new woman. Like, no. I was like, Dana, give, I gave myself 21, I'm like, okay, this is, from this to this, this is what we're gonna do. And this is. How we're going to change and I, every page was a day and every day I wrote down every stupid thing from like, I'd like to take my multivitamin. I'm going to get in my water and it was real basic stuff, real basic stuff, but stuff that I knew these are the things that have to be. priorities in my life, my, what, my health. So whether it was how many, my step goal, it was the meal plan that I made for myself. So I was like, these are the foods that I'd like to eat. This is what I want. This is what I'd like my day to be. Now you have to be realistic. You're not going to be perfect every day. And next to each thing, I had a little checkbox. I still do this to this day. I'm 45. I still wake up in the morning and I make my list with little checkboxes and there's something satisfying about it. So satisfying. Isn't it that little dopamine hit? It's like, I'm like, I did that. I, and I do, I mean, I mean, and it could be a. It's stupid and or it sounds to me, but like brush my teeth, it can be whatever you're struggling with. It like, okay. And then you want to see, I accomplished that, like to see that, like, look, you're doing this important stuff for yourself. So if you, if you are like overwhelmed, you're like, I have to start somewhere. And then you say, okay, the areas that I struggled the most. Are say my steps. I'm really sedentary and I really need to try to get in 5000 a day right now. Like, I think that people who overshoot. Okay, you're going to get there. But let's start somewhere where it's doable. If you're at 3000 a day, like go to 5000. And like, these are your step goal and take your vitamin, your step goal, you want to get in, fill your water jug twice. And then these are the things I'd like to eat. And if protein's your trouble, First, just worry about these are the items that will help me hit my protein. So, you know, if it's the yogurt, the egg, a scoop of devotion, like what are the things that you love, put those out, start there. If you say I'd like to weight train or do a stretch class. Three days a week, put it on the three days that you want to do it. And if you couldn't do it that day, move it to another day. But like major, and it holds yourself accountable. It's like a little, it's like your little journal. And I, that journal is still downstairs. I showed Bijou once. And I was like, I'm telling you on it. Cause I am always trying to get her. I'm like, okay, set your goal for the week. What do you want to do? You know, she'll say, mom, I want to take my five mile walk. I want it. Go write it down. And so I start small and eventually you will master those things and then those things become, okay, whatever. Like this is just what I do. Like, of course I'm doing this. Then you add to that. And that's how I got, now, what is this, 25 years in the making, now, like those things I don't have to write down, those are the things that I do, now I have bigger goals that I write down. Totally. Totally. That's how you start. I mean, we have research on this, that when you write it down, it is very different than just this, we actually don't hold information well in our brain, like the way that our brain processes things. So, I like how you said this, you're like, it's intentional, it might be basic, but it orients you, right? So, I'm always like, Yeah. You what? I'm sorry. Where do you give your focus and attention? That's what's going to grow, right? So just we think it's so basic to write it down. But then, like you said, it becomes just part of your like habits of conscious body, right? Like it's running on autopilot. I love that. I think about one of the best things I ever heard. And this has been like running my life with because I do the every day. What am I going to do that? And I put, so it's three things that I have to do, two things that I want to do. And then one thing I'm willing to let go of. Because most of us make to do lists that are just trash in the sense of like, there's too much on it. We have this one thing, like just let it go today. It's not the priority. It's not the thing that's going to get you further. But realizing what are the things that like legit, like we know something has to get done today. And the things you want to do,. Maybe you want to actually take a rest. You want to do a walk and you're going to actually make it a priority. And it's not just the taxes need to be done. Right. So I love this, that you still do this. I don't know. I'm not just between me and you. I don't know how people do it. That don't make a list. Like I do not understand how they live their life. How do you do it? I can't even get my day going until it's out of my head and onto the paper. And then I see what my day is like, because sometimes, sometimes I'll be like, Oh my God, I have so much to do today, I have so much to do today. Then I put it on paper and I'm like, Okay, it really wasn't that much stuff. I can totally do this. But I think that with weight loss, fat loss, all the different things that people want to accomplish their fitness goals. It's very overwhelming when it's all swirling up here, because you're only worried about getting, you're looking at your before, and you're thinking about where you want your after to be, and it's like, okay, that's, that's overwhelming, but if you just worry about today, Today, and then you worry about tomorrow when tomorrow gets here and you worry about all of a sudden you have those 21 weeks under your belt and that was the first 30 pounds I ever lost. I was like, holy cow, I did it because I took it one day at a time for 21 weeks, one day at a time, and they, finally this book is full and I'm like, I did it. I did it. Holy cow. But because all the and then by the time that those 21 weeks came, the things that I started at the beginning of that little book were Seems so ridiculous. I was like, well, of course I'm taking my vitamin. I just wake up, I have my day, I make my breakfast, I take my vitamin. so that didn't even have to make the list anymore. Now there were other things that made the list because now you're not a newbie anymore. Now you're like onto another level, you know? Totally. I love how you bring this up. It's like, we're really never starting over, right? We always have this experience. We're coming from things. And I was doing the math. I was like, wait, 21 weeks is how many months? It's like, yeah, we're at the five months mark. It's almost like half a year. You're a different person, right? If you're not writing things down, time passes very quickly. I mean, I don't know about you, but I can't even believe that we're almost in March. We're recording this in February. No, I'm freaking out. The year is flying. And I was sitting there and I was like, yeah, I went to a business conference in January, wrote out, it was really cool. She got butcher paper and we wrote down like quarterly. And then we were writing all this stuff already. So much of it is done. And I was thinking if I had not sat my behind in a chair, flown to Dallas, Texas, sat in a chair, wrote this out, thought about my year. I would have gotten nothing done because you don't realize how quick it goes. How, when am I going to do it? So I'm so glad that you brought this up because I thought you're gonna be like, start with getting your water. Of course you didn't say that. I love that. I love that. And okay, I want to switch gears a little bit. So, obviously I love your devotion nutrition. You guys have not only protein powders, you have, hydroflax, which is flavors for water, all of that. So, catch me up to speed. When in your journey were you like, Oh, I want to start this company. How did you come to that? Well, once Things started clicking for me with nutrition. Like I said, from a young age, I always knew protein was important, but even if you overcome or get to the other side of. Binge eating, emotional, all those things doesn't change the fact that you love food, doesn't change the fact that we love sweets, and that we want to feel satisfied. And so once again, I had found myself because, you know, through all of that ups and downs, ups and downs, I ended up having kids. I had my son and I gained 70 pounds with my son. I gained 55 pounds with my twins. And. And I'm the type that if I say I'm going to do something, I do it. And so after the twins. I was like, okay, I'm ready to get in the best shape of my life. Like it's time. Let's do it. I have the tools to do it. I have now more knowledge about nutrition. So I started getting back in shape and I realized that just eating chicken, salads, eggs, all that stuff was not going to keep me devoted. It was very difficult because then at night I found myself craving and I also found myself missing. A lot of like the foods that felt off limits like brownies and things like that, sure, we can have those things in moderation, but could I eat them every day? Could I every day have that piece of chocolate, have the things, right? No, no. So, the thing that I loved was protein ice cream, and I was buying other brands of protein, and I was adding pudding, and I was pudding mix, I'm doing all this stuff, and every night I'm making this protein ice cream, so that was really helping me. And then I was trying to make protein waffles out of different proteins and it was really I was buying different proteins and I was like, oh, I can't stand this protein taste. They're also very dry and they taste like cardboard. One time I actually even got a protein pancake stuck in my throat. I thought I was good. I was like, this is the end. Like I was like, she died of a protein pancake. They were like sawdust. And I was like, okay, this is terrible because. I'm doing all right with the other foods like I'm doing, but something's got to give like I can't do this forever without feeling like I've got I need like the full picture here. And so I was using a protein powder that I finally loved. And it turns out there was a lawsuit that they were amino spiking. My ex husband found an article that they were claiming 27 grams of protein a scoop. They did third party testing and there were only 12 grams. And it was filled with Dramatically different! And it was filled with a bunch of amino spike, meaning it's creatine and all this other crap that looked like protein on the nitrogen test. But it turns out that, and I used to wonder, it was really cheap. It was expensive. So I thought like, Oh my God, I'm like, I'd buy like five tubs at a time. I'm like, Oh, I'm winning. It was only like 29 a tub. I was like, Oh my God, this is amazing. Well meanwhile, no wonder why I had the worst gas ever. Like my stomach was always bloated. It was just a mess. So I broke down. I was so upset because I felt violated. I mean, I had my mom using it. I had my best friend using it. I was telling everybody about it. Like you guys tell everybody about devotion. I'm telling everybody about this protein. Meanwhile, it's a big fraud. The company gets in a lawsuit. Then they start testing other protein companies. They're all coming out as frauds, and I was like, this industry is disgusting. So I'm third generation in the flavor industry. Out of coincidence, my parents have a lab. So I go into the lab, and now we didn't do any protein products. We're a beverage company. But I went to the lab, and I was like, can you guys buy me protein? And can we flavor a protein? And I started making my own. And then I started kind of looking at what was on the market and what people liked and what people didn't like. But I was like, my protein has to be versatile. It has to. Not only make a great shake, which I don't like the watery shakes. I want it to taste like a milkshake. I want it to be like a thick, satisfying shake. So I was like, I want it to be like a thick, amazing shake. But then I also want to make like my family, like banana pancakes. I want to make pudding and I want it to make coffee creamer. I want it to do everything. So it was like a very big, you know, yeah, out there. Totally. Yeah. And there was nothing. And, but, and I said, I don't want it to taste like protein. I want it to taste delicious. And I want my kids to not even know that it's protein. So for two weeks, I have a question. Did your family, like, I'm just curious. Cause I feel like I've never heard this part. Was your family like, you're crazy. This isn't going to work. Or were they like, totally, we can make this happen. I don't think anyone verbalized. I think they were like, my mom's always been my biggest cheerleader. Cause she's a food scientist. And she was like, look, we'll figure it. She developed like, okay, I love that. Okay. So she was like, we're gonna figure this out. Plus, my mom was desperate to find a delicious protein powder. So she's like, we're going to do it. And then, we also had some of the top product developers. And so I went to like the head guy and he had developed some Ben and Jerry's ice creams and Twizzlers. He knew what he was doing. So I said, All right, like I'm going to pull the top guns here and we're going to like really play around and and nail this. So we picked the most delicious cocoa for the brownie batter. We picked the most delicious vanilla for the angel food cake. We were really playing around with our top ingredients. And then I also said, well, whey isolates are really watery and they're dry, so it has to be a blend because casein, which comes from like cottage cheese, is what gives that thickness. But I was like, okay, it can't be too thick because people are, it's going to be like too much that it can't make a shake. So I came up with that 80 20%, 80 percent whey isolate and then 20 percent casein, which gave it just enough body that it could bake. Just enough body that it can make like a delicious, thick shake and a pudding, but still be where if you just wanna shake it up and pour it into your coffee, it could make a coffee creamer. So we like nailed it with the ratios. Yeah. Oh my gosh. This story. I love hearing this. I, God, I feel, I find the best products come out of like, listen, I need to solve my own thing. like, like when I, my clinic, well I was like, I want that. Yeah, exactly. I was like, this is really weird how I'm building my clinic, but this is what I would've wanted, I would've wanted. A Q and a, a this, a that, a meet with her once a month, right? So it's like a Frankenstein. But it's so funny when you bring this up, because when I'm thinking about when you were like, Oh, it's a deal with the old product, right? Like the one you were using, Oh, it's a deal. It's cheap. It's like, so my parents have a nutraceutical company. No, when you're sourcing ingredients, it's expensive as hell to have something that actually is a good product. Right? So when people are buying multivitamins that are like 2, I don't care how many millions they're making in a batch. You can't get the ingredients for that cheap. Yeah. Somewhere they're cutting a corner. So it's fascinating when you sat down and now I'm like, okay, of course, all your flavors are so amazing. I knew that there was the history with the flavors, I always ask patients cause they'll be using some random, whatever. And I'm like, do you like it? And do you, do you see yourself sticking with this daily for the, you know, let's say the foreseeable five years, they're like. Absolutely not. I'm forcing it down. I'm like, can we please change? Because you're not going to stick with it. Let's just stop the madness. It's not going to work long term. I mean, I do recommend yours,, but at the end of the day, you have to like it. People stop being under the delusion that you're going to force some nastiness down. It's not going to happen long term you're not doing it. So if I find a way that you like it, like the way, like some people say, well, I don't like shakes and I'm like, we'll make a pudding, you know, and put some fruit in it or, Oh, you don't like pudding, then make your coffee creamer with it or make pancakes or make a batch or whatever. You have to find the way that you want to eat so that you love it. So that you look forward to it. Not that you're ready. You know, Something that I think is like incredible about your company. I'm going to do a plug for a second here. So on your website, it's devotion, nutrition. com, right? Like I feel like I go to, but don't even know what I'm typing in. Okay. You have all the recipes there. There's like, are there thousands at this point? I feel like there's so many. It goes back to 2015. So yeah, I mean there are Okay. Like there's a lot, literally because there's so many. So you can literally, everybody listening, we're going to have all this in the show notes. You can literally write like cookie dough. You can write whatever you want. Right. And it's always like a protein version of it. And then recently here you came out with, and it's like one of my favorite books, it's all marked up your cookbook and it's literally just so nice. The pictures, the recipe lists, like all of it, all the different categories that you're talking about. And, and it's exactly like you said, like I made the other day, I just took like a scoop of the brownie batter, did it with a little, like a fourth of a cup of water. Right. So it's like, quote, unquote, pudding, dip the strawberries in there. I'm like divine, like that's your, you know, whatever special occasion. And it honestly, it's legit good. Right. So anyway, there's a million things I make. I have a question for you though, because I know how certain things you're making for you, your loved ones every week, are there? I don't know if you can pick because I don't know if it's allowed, but are there two or three of your, like, these are my favorite recipes. I make it all the time. The loaves, what is it where you're like, this really works for busy people or tastes really good. For me, the loaves are my thing. The loaves are my jam. I make eight loaves a week or a double it sometimes, Greg will be on his loaf kick, so then I'll have to make sure I make. Some for him. The loaves have been a game changer for me because they are very satisfying. They're filling, they're a great size. They're 30 grams of protein. I travel with them. I took them to Australia. I grab'em in my backpack. You can freeze them and take them with you. So the loaves are my favorite also, because they're very versatile. I make cinnamon loaves. One week I was making gingerbread loaves over the holiday. There are only four ingredients, so it's just such an easy thing to whip together and to wrap up and take on the go or I'll have a quick zoom or something meeting and I'm like, oh shoot, I need something very quickly, but I'm starving. It's a no brainer. I pull a loaf. Toast it, you can put a little nut butter on it if you want, you can put some jelly, and I just eat it up so that's a game changer. I love the loaves. Banana bread and cake and my banana brownies. I make those every week for the kids. I have those on my stove, and I also put them in the Tupperware in the fridge, and when we're busy, and it's a rush, I mean, they're just made of bananas, oats, eggs, devotion, I mean, it's all things that you're gonna give your family anyway. So instead I blended it into this yummy brownie, put a little chocolate chips on top. And now the kids are eating these and they can eat it for breakfast. I'm like, I don't care. It's made from oats and bananas and stuff I would have wanted you to eat anyway. Totally. Totally. Okay. These are so good. I'm going to make sure in our show notes that we link to these recipes and also the videos of you making it because I feel like you, you give these little tips of like, don't over bake it because then it's dry as hell and you're not going to like that. So I think the reason people need to follow channels like yours and sort of your information, it's because if you make it wrong, then you're like, Oh, that didn't work for me. And it's like, no, you kind of did it wrong. And then you were blaming how you made the product. Right. So this is going to be so good. And I can't recommend this book enough because I mean, honestly, I keep this and there's like one or two others in my kitchen. And it's like, you need these ideas. And I do love with the lows, how it's like. Making things that you can change at the versatility because we get sick of the same thing all the time. I mean, I love how it's like, sometimes I'll make it with applesauce, sometimes with pumpkin puree. So it's like, there's a little different using the different flavors. So just super, super good. This actually leads to another thing. When you talk about Lowe's and traveling, a lot of people that follow me, they have businesses, right? And they have businesses. They're professional women. We're all busy. I don't know anyone that's in my life that's not busy. And so I wonder, do you have any, tips of kind of juggling that and then the priority of keeping ourselves healthy and well at the same time? I know some of it we've already kind of touched on, but if you kind of had to like summarize it. So yeah, busy. I mean, like you said, I, have a business. I have three children. Who are in busy years of their lives. I think, the preteen to teen years are very busy where they now want a social life too. And now I'm driving everyone to sports and all that and then running my house, running like I get it, you know, and I think that that's why a lot of people resonate with me because they see I mean, right now, I don't have a cleaning lady. I don't have a housekeeper. I'm doing my own laundry. We're throwing this stuff. We're do everything I'm running the show and I'm very busy. And so the busier you are and the more successful that you want to be at taking care of yourself, the more organized that you have to be and the more flexible you have to be. So when I say that is. You need to stop saying, I missed my opportunity to get in my workout because I was busy and it's like, no, don't do that. I don't have a lot of time. If I walked for 10 minutes this morning, maybe I'll get to then after work today, I'll do another 20 minute. I fit it in where I can. If my son is playing soccer, I'll walk the soccer field a few times before the game. Like you have to become creative and you have to carve out that time. Okay. You have to have the time. To make the loaves to do your food prep to do your thing. If you are prepared and you carve out that hour on Sunday to whip up some chicken breasts, hard boil some eggs. Put your loaves in the fridge and pop them. And it's like, all of a sudden you've created this successful week for yourself, rather than saying, I was tired on Sunday. I didn't do it. Well, great. Now you're going in the fridge or you're going through the drive thru or you're. You're grabbing some little tiny protein bar that isn't going to keep you satisfied for very long. And you're not setting yourself up for success. And yes, we are all busy, but I believe that it's Maximizing your time and fitting it in when you can and the little things add up just like I said, if you could only, do stuff here, just get it in, you know, just do the little things when you can do them. I because I know there's some days where I'm like, it just didn't work. I just it's just didn't work. And that's okay. But, you do have to try to make an effort the majority of the time. Yeah, so I'm successful because I'm not perfect, but the successful days have outweighed the ones that I have not been successful, you know, totally. Perfection's never the goal. I love this thing of don't miss it two days in a row, right? So one day a kid six on that, you know, something's popping up. But more days than not, what are we doing? And like you said, those are going to outweigh all the other stuff. And no one even cares about that other stuff. Everyone's only just seeing you win with the big stuff. So that's so good. I like how you brought up the flexibility. A hundred percent. If you can't pivot, forget it. Cause life's never going to be perfect. We're not going to be like, that's what I planned. And that's what happened. Not if we have kids and other things going on. And that has to be your mindset. You have to want it so badly that you find a way not an excuse and I know that that's used a lot But it's like I remember when the babies after my twins were born I got myself a double stroller and instead of putting the babies in their cribs I put them in the stroller and I'd do a million laps around the neighborhood and I would just walk and i'd let them sleep In the stroller because mommy needed a walk. They needed a nap and it was like, okay, now we're all, I'm finding a way here. I know that it's not easy after you have babies and you have this and that, but it's like, now I have a dog. So instead he's going to come on the walk with me. I've got to just figure out the ways to make it happen. You know? No, it's true. It's fighting for the solutions instead of continually redefining the problems, right? People come to me, they're telling me all the things that are wrong. I'm like, great. Tell me what you want. They have no idea. They've spent no time, the vision, how I'm going to prep it, how I'm going to take little steps toward it, but they're really invested in what the problems are. And we have to move past it. Cause otherwise we never create a new vision of reality. Right. So this has been, yeah. Okay. One more thing. Cause I think, you know, I know with getting steps and it's hard for people in the one thing that I said was I wanted to find a way after I had my kids and they would be taking their naps or I couldn't leave the house because I was in New Jersey and it was cold. I remember we bought a used piece of exercise equipment, which you can go now on Facebook marketplace, there are people getting rid of their old junk all the time. If, if you go on a mission right now and you're like, I'm going to get a recumbent bike. For my house. Somebody's going to sell it to you for 100 bucks or maybe not even or somebody's giving it away. And if you then say, okay, I'm going to cycle for 10 minutes this morning. I'm going to do 10 minutes when the kids get home from school and 10 minutes before. Now you've just done 30 minutes of some physical exercise, right? Or a little treadmill, or if you could stick it in your garage. It's Finding those little things to do. And then you don't have to do it all at once. Just find the times, do it. And then that 10 minutes and the 10 minutes and the 10 minutes, they're all going to add up and mean something rather than doing nothing. Yeah. I mean, they've proved this a hundred times in studies that it doesn't matter if you do a big ass workout session, or if you do these 10 minutes, three times a day, it's literally the exact same thing. I am the biggest fan. If someone is able again, I know everybody has different ability levels, but the walking pad. You don't need an expensive treadmill. The walking pads are 150 or less. Now I understand again, you have to see based on the weight requirements. Sometimes it might be more if we're trying to get over 300 pounds. So again, there's different, considerations with that. But like you said, so many people are trying to give this stuff away. If you're willing to come get it or, you know, in some capacity. Like there's so many answers or if we just walk back and forth in your kitchen, two steps back and forth, like, like whatever there is, we can find an answer. Even if your neighborhood isn't safe to walk in, there is a way, but the perspective, I find it's like every day you have to get up and be like, I'm going to fight for this. And that's the hard part, right? Like every day being like. Gosh, darn it. I'm going to make this a day that it happens. And that's the part that I think people are really missing because it's exhausting when life is always fighting you too. And that's what clicked with me. I finally, when people say like, well, what, what made you different from somebody else is like, because I. fought for it. I continue fighting for it. You just keep showing up and you fight for something that you want. So if you want it bad enough, you fight for it and you fight for it every day. Cause every day I'm in the same battle of sure. I'd rather just order in a pizza and hang out, you know, whatever. I say it all the time. Like, Oh, I wish we could just do that. I wish we could just do it. But like, I know that that's the easy way out. That's not really what I want. And I think about how will I feel after I do that? I'm horrible. I won't feel good about myself because that's not getting me to where I want to feel I want to feel empowered every day that I made healthy decisions for myself, one after another after another after another and that's where it adds up. So you've got to ignite that fire and then keep going back to like, why am I doing this? Because how do I want to feel? How do I want to feel? Totally. It's never about the aesthetics. It's the feeling different. So I know that everybody's going to be The aesthetics are the cherry on top. The aesthetics, that's the, that's the fun part. Like that's the stuff that we're like, that'll come. Just do this work. The aesthetics, I never knew what my body was even capable of really looking like. I've taken all the way to where I'm a fitness model. I didn't know that I had, I was like, that's crazy. You don't know what you're capable of because people haven't done the work. I look at these women. I know under that body, she's got this crazy physique. She's got an amazing body, but she's just not hanging in long enough to get herself there. I'm no different. I'm just a woman who hung in long enough. Yeah. Oh, right. Super inspirational. I want you to tell people, how can they find you? What are the channels that you're on on social? Can you tell us how people can find your company, how they can get the protein powder? Tell us all the things that people can get in touch. Sure. So Instagram, I do a lot of stories on Instagram all the time. I love connecting with my Instagram cause I've been there forever and I've got like such a fun, loyal following. So that's just Dana Lynn K Dana and then L Y N N K Y E. Same thing on TikTok, but there was an 18 at the end. My kids stole my other name. I don't know. Something that happened. I don't know what the heck happened there. And then, so I'm on TikTok, I'm on Instagram. Devotion is on Instagram, just under devotion, nutrition. Same thing with TikTok. We're on Facebook, we're everywhere. We've been around for almost a decade. Devotion nutrition.com is the website. The company is small, but we're active everywhere. I mean, I have my eyes on every platform. I do have a team that, helps me where, you know, a small team, but everyone who is on my team is so passionate about the brand and educated about the brand. So there's lots of people helping all the time. And we have a Facebook page called devotion. Nutrition creations page. I'm in that. I love it. Yes. Isn't that a fun page where people post, you know, people, again, we're going to have this in the show notes, all these links, but I want to tell you, I really feel like you are a channel worth following because it's not toxic diet culture stuff that's happening. It's very realistic, very inspirational. And also I want to say thank you for you and your company. I think you really platform people that have had a real experience and then yeah. are, I want to just say like good people and sharing actual journey and also very generous with the content as far as lots of recipe development and things that to be honest, everyone's benefiting from something that they potentially are never paying for. And again, like there's just so many benefits here. You should really everyone listening, you should follow these channels. Cause I think that. What we're sort of bathing our brain in all day long, what we're consuming has such an impact on how we're going to live our lives. So thank you for coming on because I really hope that more people are able to find you and your company because I just think it's doing so much good in the world. So thank you so much for coming on today. Thank you. Well, thanks for having me and sorry I got so emotional, but I'm telling you like that's how much passion I have for what I do, my story, and I really truly do want to help people. So I hope everyone listening takes away some good stuff today. I love it. Just show us how passionate you are. Thank you so much. I know everyone's going to benefit so much.