Food As Culture, Memory, And Medicine For The Body And Mind

Your plate is a mirror. Not just of taste, but of attention, memory, and the way your body asks for care long before you feel unwell. We sit down with a chef, speaker, and wellness advocate whose mantra—make your food your medicine—turns everyday choices into a healing practice that’s rooted in culture and guided by presence.

We start where most of us rush past: the market. Why busy shoppers often pay more for worse produce, how pre-sliced greens hide older stock, and why price “deals” can signal hidden processing that taxes your gut. From simple hygiene rituals to DIY prep and smarter sourcing, we lay out small, reliable steps that improve digestion, sleep, and mental clarity without sacrificing flavor. If you’ve ever felt trapped between “healthy” and “tasty,” you’ll hear how to redesign familiar meals—keeping stews, porridges, and local staples—while swapping oils, methods, and seasoning so the plan sticks.

The conversation dives into the gut–brain connection with practical takeaways: what late-night eating does to your sleep cycle, how overheated oils blunt alertness, and why moderation should follow your personal history, not trends. We also unpack food memories that shape lifelong aversions and show how knowledge, gradual exposure, and reframing can rebuild trust with foods that serve you. From pepper myths and family patterns to micro-gardens in sacks and weekday water therapy, this is a toolkit for real life in a fast city.

Walk away with a kinder way to feed yourself: be present when you buy, intentional when you cook, and curious when your body speaks. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a reset, and leave a review with the one small change you’ll start today—what’s the habit you’re committing to?

Transcript

Welcome And Why Food Matters

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Okay, hello beautiful people, mindful partners. Welcome back to Mindfully We To Michi. The podcast, the space where we slow down, breathe deeply, and explore what it really means to live well from inside out. And today's conversation, I can assure you you're going to love it, especially if you love food. And um like two three years ago now, I had the other half of the spurs thing in the studio, and we talked about food. So this conversation touches on something we all do every single day. Eat. But maybe we don't always do that consciously. I can literally see you roll your ice to Michigan even eating mindfully. Yes, eating mindfully. At the beginning of the season, I did say I was embracing all forms of becoming from the loudest to the most silent. And food and dieting is one of those loud, silent things that we don't understand why it um affects us. Um everybody is on a diet, there's one diet that is gonna work today, and the other one, and there's a drug there, and we do not understand why we sometimes how we look and how we see ourselves is directly proportionate to where, what, and how we feed our body. There are many eating disorders on the mental health spectrum. So, you see why we should talk about food. My guest today didn't just choose food as a carrier. She will tell you, because I don't know a lot of people say, Hey, she left here for here, she chose this as a healing tool. She's a chef, she's a speaker, a wellness advocate, and the voice behind the powerful message make your food your medicine.

SPEAKER_00 3:17

Good morning, good morning, and it's so good to be here today.

Meet The Guest And Her Mission

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Ah, the people that know you know you, and the people that don't know don't know. Yeah, um, but what a lot of people know, or well, if you followed you well, is you left the corporate world to build a nutrition-focused food brand and the whole movement around making a food you're medicine. So maybe that's a good place to start. Why? Yeah, okay. So why?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Well, because we're actually nothing without the food we eat. And the interesting thing is, we don't just eat with our mouth, even though that's what we pay attention to the most. We eat with our eyes, actually, our five sense organs, yeah, with our nose. Yes, yes, the things you listen to affects your mind, affects who you are, affects how you turn out. The things you see can make you excited or frightened, can make you lose sleep or gain sleep. The things you perceive, if you inhale something that is harmful to your body, you still won't live well. We haven't even put anything into our yet. Yeah. Now, the skin also, what it puts on your body goes through into your body through your pores. So it's very it's just very important to know that food isn't about what goes into your mouth alone, and it's an outright, you know, disrespect for you, yourself. It's an outright, you know, disrespect to you yourself for you to go about not paying attention to these things. Because when life happens and it happens deep, you know, we we end up pursuing so many things. So you hear people say this okay, so this is why I'm not eating right, I'm busy, I don't have the time, I don't have the money. But have you noticed when issues come up, the money would always come out, so we don't always have to wait till then. So for me, it was just the interest in seeing that people can live better. Well, my journey started from somewhere in Ogba. We're talking about this money, right? So I've always I've always lived in Ogba. Oh nice.

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Oh, yes, I was born in Ogba. Ah, okay, I'm better. I'm way better. I was born job then. Got married and moved to Ogba.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

I was born in Ogba, so when I got married, I moved to Abu Legba. So when we're going to return back to Ogba, I was like Ogba again. I lived on my life in Ogba. But well, I mean Ogba. So um, those years, so what I saw first, my mom used to sell in an open market, and one thing was very common people came to buy what they were going to cook. But there was one thing I observed. Those the middle class and upper class seem to get the worst food items. Yes. Yes, the middle class, upper class seem to get the worst when it comes when it comes to food items, at least those days, and it became a concern. They spend more, they get less.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

Wow.

Redefining Food Beyond Taste

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Because the middle class and upper class are usually very busy, sometimes impatient. Fast food. Fast food. So you see, they come to the market to buy something, they're in their cars asking for what they want. They're looking for where to park, they can't even find. So even when they are buying, they are not paying attention, they're trying to look out for their cars where they are parked. And but the one who came by herself with two children, you know, one behind her, one in front of her, is standing patiently, waiting, supervising what she's buying. She's even ugly and then getting it at the best price. Yet she's getting the best quality because she's present. But the other person isn't getting the best because the person is in a hurry, he doesn't have the time. So for me, it was injustice. It didn't make sense.

SPEAKER_02 7:16

Let's just take a moment and let that sing. I know you thought that she just said something, but let me break it down for you as a mental health advocate. You've just told me that the reason I would I would go to the market and say, okay, this food is this tomato, tomato is um uh oh, this is 500 naira, and I'm seeing those ones that the I and I'm not taking my time to check whether it's fresh enough and all that, is because I am not present enough to begin to think about how I would eat before I eat. Thank you.

Market Injustices And Mindless Buying

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Oh, goodness. And you know the women selling in the open market. Let me not say women, women and men selling in the open market aren't so exposed. Some don't even have the knowledge, or they don't even know the impact of what they are doing. Everybody's just trying to fight competition, sell for less and make more money, not minding what they have to cut off in the process. So a lot happened, and my heart just couldn't take it. I found myself correcting those women. Oh, you can't do this, oh, this is not fair. So, one very practical experience that happened nine out of ten times and still happens till date, actually, especially for those who live in cities like Lagos, and you patronize the women in the open market. You're buying something like Ugu, for instance, and many people have gotten used to this habit of slicing it there in the markets, and then you say, Madam, slice them and they come back. Let me tell you one thing they drew. Except actually, many Nigerians are just so let me tell you one thing they do, except the except the person doesn't have the old one. That one you picked is not the one the person will slice, because they need to sell out the old one. So they don't display those ones because if they display it, you're not going to even stop by in the first place. It won't look fresh enough. So they display the new ones, you pick the one you want, and then as you're walking away, she's timing you, she drops down and brings another one from inside. So and then you get home, you cook, and you're wondering, where is this? I don't know, where is this coming from?

SPEAKER_02 11:03

You know, you know the interest what you just said now, it's a social, it's a social. Um it just tells us that as our our social fabric and currency is well broken because it's completely broken. Again, we didn't think that food was going to take us this way, where you're going to so let me when did it come turn from you know serving or cleaning this injustice to being um something that you wanted to, you know, that it turned to your brand healing. The food now became healing. You've told us the first part. The first part is you go to the market and you see that these market people are being unfair to the people who to those the upper and middle class because they're oh they're rushing, they'll they have to get home, work, and all of that. So, when did it turn to healing for you?

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Okay, so you know when you have a brand, it evolves over time, and um, when I began to see differently was I realized the implication of those things and cutting off those things, what it would do to our health. Some of the things used for preservation, very harmful, something like cow skin. Before, in the past, you realized that cow skin in your house. Mamma, for this cow skin. You know, if you buy pomor today, by tomorrow your whole house is smelling. But have you noticed now that you buy pomor three days after it's still looking okay? We haven't asked ourselves why. And then this means of preservation. Okay, but you know, it's the fact we're still going to eat, but we're going to pay more attention, and then we're going to drink. So that's what I had to be. So my mom must smell. So yes, so I began to answer those questions. What do I do if I don't want to cause corners? So that was what led me to where I am.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

Then I realized that mere doing that can bring ailing. Let me, very simple example. My husband came back one day and said, From today and forth, everybody entering this house, you must wash your hands at the door. And I was like, it's back again with all of it. You know, it's a very posh private man, you know. Very posh private. Meanwhile, meaning it is from the other side. So I kept saying, What's all this? Anyway, let's just do be a one problem. From that day, my second son who fell sick all the time stopped falling sick. We can't explain it. Let me take you back to COVID. COVID was a clear example of what something as simple as washing of hands can save us from. But how many of us are still paying attention to this? So over time, I began to realize the implication of every little action. And that was how I began to, or the brand began to evolve into this. So I began to research more. So, which of this is am for what can we replace with this? How do we manage this particular ingredient if we have to use it? So that was when I started by promoting having things done yourself, DIY, rather than getting the already made one in the market. So from research, I began to see that something is, you know, one kg unprocessed. I mean, the one they haven't processed, one kg is 3,000 naira, for instance. The processed one is 2.8. Why are we not asking questions? It's supposed to be more expensive. So there's something that has happened in the process. So I began to encourage customers to focus on getting things done themselves, monitor what you're buying, know where you're buying from, and then get things done yourself. And I realized just doing that, before we even talk about removing the calories, doing this, doing that, just doing this can save you a whole lot.

From Advocacy To Healing Through Food

SPEAKER_02 14:45

Okay, so you see, I was telling you when you're looking at the compound when you're coming into the studio and all that, and and I was telling you how I grew up. Um, I was a very sickly child. Very, very sickly child. My stomach was very sensitive, reacted to a lot of things. And I ate everything. So that's that's the paradox of my life. Like I love food, but I can't eat food that much. Yeah, I remember growing up. I wake up in the morning before I say good morning to anyone. I'm going straight to the fridge to take um uh mismark, milk of magnesium. I if not that day is but I will still eat food. Jimstad, you know, I I could I don't have a favorite food, I can eat anything and everything. In fact, my mom, God rest or so, would say, just dress up poop for tomishe, she'll eat it. But my stomach wouldn't let me do certain things. And I had I grew up um with a huge farm. Okay. We had we had a poultry, we had the upper moody class, like you said, we had a poultry, we had uh fish two fish ponds, uh, mangoes came directly from the tree, glava, salsa. Like now that everybody's shouting sous up, I'm like sassop, I grew up with sarsop. You know, my style we made koshal directly from I cannot remember. Maybe, maybe titles though, maybe mackerel, yeah, is the things that were bought in the market. And I'm wondering if my parents did that because they were, you know, they were like we were very sensitive children, and that was the way they could help us. And I'm listening to you now, and I'm thinking that is there any way that we can get back to at least you're talking DIY, at least it was our herbs, our peppers, and all of that that could help us. And this is not even about um um cutting cutting cost, it's about health. Of course, yeah. It's about health because the truth is when the body is not good, the mind will not be settled. So, so the question I'm trying to ask really is how then do we manage these things? Because whether we like it or not, this is Lagos. You know, people want so how do we manage these things? I still cook from the scratch, I make my bread from the scratch, I do a lot of things from the scratch, I love it. But how do we, in the face of everything that they say Lagos is?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

Okay, so I would say first is just pay attention. Let's even start from there. Just be aware and be interested. Because it seems like some people are not even aware at all. They're not even interested. Is it does it look nice? Uh food is not just about the uh the appearance, it's more about what it will do to you. It's not even about how is how you know the aroma that comes from it, it's especially for people with the one from Uru, for example. In kill. Yeah, but it's still very nice when you make food out of it. So it's not really about the aroma, and it's not also about think about who's making it, who's cooking for me, who's preparing that thing for me. So we need to be aware first. And the next thing is be intentional. So be intentional, and then as you're intentional, let don't let your final decision on what you eat be about the price.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

You just remove the the legs of the table.

SPEAKER_00 18:26

As difficult as it sounds, yeah. I am not saying you should go for what's expensive because it doesn't also mean that's best quality. But let that not be your final decision, let price not be your final consideration when you're trying to make that decision. So um, the next thing is pay attention to the source. And then, like you said, you have a little space in your house. I actually think it is a sin to build and not create a garden. If you don't do so, oh no, no, but let's look at it very well. If we all don't do that, where are we going to have gardens from? Don't we know the importance of plants? So it's not right for us to build a whole space and not have a garden. If it's your space, create a garden. If your space doesn't allow you to build, I mean to have one, create them in sacks and bags, especially the things you use daily. Those ones.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 19:20

Do you know spring onion grows very fast? Really? Just put your onion into your sack and nurture it. Spring onion grows out of it very lovely, very nice. Your bitter leaf.

SPEAKER_02 19:34

I mean, oh, yeah, so I saw it.

SPEAKER_00 19:36

I saw it. And then the one I have in my small garden, there's a woman who comes from opposite, the house opposite every day. You see her come in the morning, she'll pick a few leaves, wash them, and chill every morning. I can always better she will come. So let's start from there. And then the next thing we do is let's the same way we create time for work, create time for religious activity, let's create time for food. Yes. Because food actually controls all other things. If you aren't if you are hungry, you can be productive. If you're sick, I mean, if your body doesn't carry you any longer, you have to sign out of here. Yeah, you're not doing anything here if your body can't carry you any longer. So every other thing you're doing depends on your body, and your body largely depends on what you eat. So it's very important. Let's pay more attention to it.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Like, I'm holding myself. I'm holding myself because I want I don't want us to, you know, I don't want us to give too much information and people don't catch.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

Okay.

DIY, Sourcing, And Safer Alternatives

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Um, but you're giving me a lot to think about. Like, I'm I'm looking at my notes, I'm like, so we should just put your notes aside and let's just have this conversation. And I'm thinking that if we could impress some people on ourselves, how important it is for us to think of what we want to eat before we eat it, or before we even cook. We might then begin to um let's be honest, uh a lot of people don't think, and I'm and and and and this is we're talking brand here. Everybody's thinking, oh mindfully to Michelle, you're supposed to be talking about the money. A lot of people do not think that how you eat what you eat affects the mind. But then we have anorexics, we have people with bulimia, we have the relation your relationship with food, and we don't even know because we are a people who don't know or wouldn't want to know. And when I'm looking, and I'm I'm thinking of how we can bring this stomach, is the second heart. I'm sure you've heard that of course the stomach is there, that's where you know, like the stomach is there, and I I carry my heart in my stomach. That I didn't know that until I didn't know that, you know, why I had of course now that I'm in the world of psychology and psychiatry, I now understand why my stomach was what um was giving me issues when I was because my head thinks my stomach feels I carried all my pain in my stomach. So I was it was when I was um when I started therapy and I was talking to my therapist at some point and I I I hit on a particular memory, and for about 20 days I was just stooling. I was just stooling, and then she said to me, She do you know your heart is in your stomach? And I'm like, Oh I said, and she said that she noticed when you're anxious, you poop, or you or or you uh what's what's the other one that we may talk about? Blue. Yeah, so my question then is how do we how does your brand help people understand this gut health, mental health connection? And what should we do?

SPEAKER_00 23:14

Okay, so well, I would say one way we are helping people is through awareness, like we're doing communicating now. And then for a lot of people, actually, they've been referred to us, we've had people being referred to us, you know, they've done all of the other treatment, but it's now about their diet. You know, one gap that we have been able to fill by the grace of God is most nutritionists and dietitians would recommend what people will eat, but the people struggle with it because it's boring. You hear things like people on their journey to wellness or those who are just you know health enthusiasts, they're just concerned and they're like, I mean, I can't live by it. So, where we come in is we look at that seemingly boring meal plan and then create excitement out of it. So, what we do differently is that we take it and then we relate it with what you're already used to. So, take for instance, you're on a diet, you're going to still find your wedding in your diet, your foreira in your diet, unlike what the regular meal plan will look like. That you're seeing everything you weren't eating before. But we put all of this and then we look at what we can replace this with, what can we replace this with, and then we've seen people grow, get better, you know, improving their health drastically. I mean, I remember a particular incident, the man battled stroke. And at some point, he couldn't stick with his meal plan. And I just told the wife, leave it, just leave him for me. Every day we're going to deliver lunch. And we did that, we continued all sorts of food. I, in fact, this person helps me learn. We had to do a lot of research, came up with different things. So you're not supposed to take oil again. What do we replace with? You're not supposed to take this kind of oil. What do we replace with? Oh, you need to have very minimal oil, and this person is used to having oil run over his food. So, how do we go about it? We began to look for different things, we began to discover different things, something as simple as paprika powder. I mean, I discovered the magic of paprika powder in that season. And we began to do it. I mean, one of those times we made porridge, planting porridge, he didn't like it because he doesn't like anything that is not ripe or sweet. And he had planting porridge and he kept saying, But this is sweet. And then he requested again another day. Back and forth, we discovered, oh, just adding sweet potato, putting this, doing this makes it a bit different. And then you realize that one relationship between the food you eat and your mind is that what you eat can help you sleep better, and what you eat can help you lose sleep. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 26:44

Do you know why I agree? Again, story.

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Okay. Some people will say, Go ahead. So some people will say, Oh, I have not been able to sleep for two, three days, and we'll say, No problem. By the time we are done with you, this is what you should eat. This is what we are prepared. As far as you follow the rules, you're going to sleep very well. By the time you wake up the following day, you're going to be mentally alert.

SPEAKER_02 27:05

The truth is many people don't believe that what they eat affects them, the stress level and even anxiety. Like you said, you know. Again, I'm trying to hold myself. In other 42 years I knew my dad, for example, he didn't eat EBA.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Okay.

Sensitive Stomachs And Growing Up With Farms

SPEAKER_02 27:28

And in his mind, Eba was for suffering people. And I will explain. Not because he was looking down at you know, but it was for because the memory of EPA for him was so bad. He lived and he married an Jebu woman. So you can imagine this Jabu woman who eats Eba with a boy. Now marry his man who doesn't level an or you know that. But here's the thing he didn't eat Ebba because when he was staying with a family member, um the family member's wife would make him make his Ebba on a donkey. Okay. You know, is literally like saying he should eat in an incinerator. And Abaja Lomalu, oh my goodness, I did not say you people that don't understand Europe, I apologize. What do we even call aboajash in English? No idea, no idea. Yeah, Luma final nothing. The moment my father started to make it his money, nothing was going to make it again. Nothing was going to make him eat ever again. And in all the 42 years that it was alive with me, I did not see. Even when the whole family eats ever, my father is looking at you guys like, are you guys okay? That's that's the relationship that most of us do not know. Like you just you just don't say I don't like a food.

SPEAKER_00 29:19

There's a memory many times there's a root cause, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

Um so that would lead me to the question, you know, because you are it I know that it's not only food that you do, you do plenty right now. How can we then, you know, marry this memories that might make us averse to certain foods, especially foods that are even good for us. You know, how can we, you know, bridge that gap on the way to wellness? Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 29:54

So I would say that I also have things I didn't like, kinds of food I didn't want to see for the same reason. For the same reason you just shared. Too much of it, you've had it, you've had enough of it, and you've told yourself, D D I escape. I would never taste it again, you know. But as we grow in knowledge, uh knowledge is powerful. So, first I think you should gain knowledge. Just be interested in knowing the implication of what you're eating. Just be a little interested when you pick up that item, just check again what's good and what's harm it can do to your body. Just check. Let's start from there. Then ask yourself why you don't want to eat that thing. There are many things I eat today that I would say, many years ago, I would say things like, Oh, I don't eat this, I don't eat this, I don't eat that. So I realized eating a thing is in the mind. How you uh how you train your mind to accept something like every other habit, you can learn how to eat anything. So one way I know that I managed that feeling was I had to take myself back. Why did you make this decision? I didn't realize it was because I had too much of it. So why did you have too much of it? It was available, it was cheaper, it was accessible to us. Okay, so is it still accessible? Is it still good? Is there anything you can do about it differently? So, some of the things I didn't used to like, I still eat them, but differently. Some I promised never to eat because I didn't like the taste the first time. I study the benefits, then I eat it like medicine. We need to be comfortable with eating food like medicine, eating it not because you like it, but eating it because it's medicine for you. Oh, yes. Take for instance, some of us like to fry our oil, heat the oil until you know now. Do we know just that? Yes, I'm not bleaching now. No, no, but if you now know that it can cause you to have fatigue, cause you to cause you to begin to have some level of memory loss.

unknown 31:54

Oh, what?

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Oh, yes. Over eating your oil, that's trans fat. It affects your ability to remember things, it affects your ability to stay mentally alert. Can you see what topping is like? So it affects your ability to stay mentally alert. So if you now understand this, you now want to say, okay, you know what? Let's do it this way. Let me start by um hitting my oil for eating my oil just twice this week if I used to do it every day. Let me start by doing it twice a week. Okay? Can I progress to once a week? Can I now do it once a month? After a while, guess what? The new habit also becomes a lifestyle. Whatever it is we're doing before is a lifestyle because you did it continually. If you do this continually, it's going to become a lifestyle as well, as well. Then the next step for me is the things you don't want to eat, make sure you are not seeing it. If I don't, if I shouldn't eat it, I shouldn't be seeing it. So you come to my house, for instance, if I have to offer you any kind of soft drink, soda, any kind of drink, we have to go and get it. So the embarrassment of having to walk to the Malam to buy it or wherever, or you know, the nearest uh store. So you don't drink soda at all? We don't even have it at home. So we my my children will only take it if they go outside and they are given.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Okay.

Practical Mindful Eating In A Busy City

SPEAKER_00 33:17

And um then they bring it home. Or maybe once in a while, so they don't feel left out, you know.

SPEAKER_02 33:21

Sometimes it's that's going to lead me to that's going to lead me to moderation.

SPEAKER_00 33:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

That's going to lead me because someone is listening and like, ah, these spelly people, they have come again. They want to take the joy, the only thing, the joy out of our lives and all that. You know, where is moderation in one of this? But like you said, because Almo, I won't lie, that's especially that um of other stew, it's or maybe it's just in our minds because they said that if we don't fry it and all that, so where do we find the balance in there?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

So the balance is like of other steel, I'm not saying you won't hit your oil, but over bleaching. You already know the implications. So if you're going to bleach times, I mean 100%, you can now reduce to 50. And then you now know that you should replace that meal with many other things. Can I now have vegetables? Some of us are so used to taking rice and steel, yam and steel and all of that. But instead of steel, can I now have vegetables? Instead of um steel, can I now have a four? You know, things like that to replace the regular ones we have been taking. And then the moderation, like I said, people are different. Know the state of your body, know your history. Yeah, know your history. If you notice that your mom had diabetes, your grandmother had diabetes, your great-grandmother had diabetes. For instance, you already have a sibling who's diabetic. What does that say to you? That says that there's something you have to be careful about. Yeah, now why I say know yourself is because sometimes, please note this. Many people think, oh, it's in our blood. That's why we are like that. It's not true. Sometimes it's your eating pattern as a family. Yeah, you know that the things you eat in your family right now is um largely from what you were raised with. There are some things your parents never attempted. You haven't is also attempted in your married life to cook, except for those who exploit a lot. There are things you've never eaten. You don't even know they exist. Because you are not introduced to them.

SPEAKER_01 35:16

So there's a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yes, that's why when you travel, eat food, not just rice. Yes, not just rice.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Don't go for your regular food that you know. Try something new because you'll be amazed that you like it. And then if you like it, you can continue. You add that to your menu. So I would say explore, find out what other people are eating, find out what other tribes other what they're eating in other continents that are readily available in your community. I I think we should go as natural as possible. You can't be wrong with you can't be wrong with going natural.

SPEAKER_02 35:47

I I actually agree. Um you know, and that will lead me to food meats. Okay. You know, like I'm a right girl. And there are some people, uh, of course, there's modressing everything, but I love my spice. I love my spice. And I also know that um some eastern cultures would rat would do more spice than any so let's talk about the pepper um myth. Is it true that it's too much of course too much of everything? But you know, the way your brands eat it, is it is it true that it's not good? I can't even ask it in good faith. I can't ask that question in good faith. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:37

Okay, so I think whatever you say, good or bad, is relative to who is eating, the state of your health, and what's good for you. And um also the time, the times you consume them. So someone else may say, I I am in between. I like pepper. I mean, I grew up in Lagos, so I like pepper, like I really love pepper. But on the other side, the meals I can also eat with less pepper. Like, I maybe because of my experiences, I've sort of trained myself to accept everything that is good. Yeah, but I would say that for another family, pepper is an issue. These days, people don't even eat as much pepper for different reasons: age, ulcer, people are beginning to develop all sorts from it, and then they are minimizing it. So, is it LD? Is it not? I can't even say it's not because for my uncle, yes, my uncle lived, if I'm correct, maybe 94 or 92. All my adult years, I never saw my uncle visit the uncle hospital. He didn't even used to take medication because he didn't believe in it, and he lived till 94, older than my dad, who was careful, you know. But my uncle it it he ate a lot of pepper. In fact, when you serve his food, he always had you know, this attagibum by the side.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

Yeah, so there has to be atagibum.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Then he would pour it into his soup.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Chili oil, for God's sakes, chili oil.

SPEAKER_00 38:03

You can't you can't eat anything, my uncle has left. Without oh my god, it was like that, but he lived very long, and my uncle will tell you his good health is because he eats a lot of pepper that is medicinal. So that's what I'm saying. Whatever you say is good or wrong is also relative to the state of your health. And I honestly believe in moderation. That's why when I talked about soda earlier on, I'm not crucifying anybody who's taking it, but I'm saying don't over-induve it. Because I also, yes, and I also know that there's sugar in other things. So sometimes you are supposed to be all out of the food side.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

Yes, it breaks down to be sugar, isn't it? All that food.

SPEAKER_00 38:41

So some people say if I don't take animal protein, how do I get protein? Plants have protein. Actually, all the plants you're eating have protein. I'm not saying eliminate these things, but I'm saying eat them in moderation. Have you tasted juiced orange? Like take your orange, normal fresh orange, juice the orange, put in a bottle and put in your refrigerator and take it much later and tell me which you prefer. It's as nice as the soda you're talking about. It's training, like I said.

Gut–Mind Link And Making Plans Tasty

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Let's take a brief pause. Okay, let's just take a brief pause, um, bring ourselves back to our body wherever you are. I invite you to just soften your shoulders, take a slow breath in, and gently breathe out. And I want to invite you to ask yourself quietly how does my body feel right now? Am I tense? Am I relaxed? Am I tired? Am I hungry? Oh calm. Remember, there's no right answer, just awareness, just awareness. Because healing often begins when we start listening to our bodies instead of rushing past them. Take another deep breath in. So you and I know that part of the myth of a food vendor or business, the food business owner is that they're usually fat and unhealthy. If you could see her, it's totally what has been your experience?

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Um, number one, I'm that I'm that food vendor for lack of better words. I'm that food vendor. I'm that food business owner who doesn't sit to watch others work.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

All right.

SPEAKER_00 40:55

I also need to burn calories like you're doing.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:58

So um I think that's one secret people need to learn. Even if you have help around you, people assisting you with everything. You have a nanny, you have a cook, you have a driver. Learn to do things yourself.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

We're not bashing the fact that you're gonna afford that. We're just saying do things yourself sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 41:15

Why are you doing that? You're doing that so you can stay healthy. Yeah, so sometimes bend and put on your shoes yourself. You're actually stretching your body. So do it for your own good. Not because you don't have people around, but sometimes intentionally do it for your own good. I was going to help an elderly woman, about 78 last week. She wanted to put on her shoes, change one of you know the other comfortable shoes to the comfortable. And I went down to help. She didn't allow me. I kept splitting, and she said, Please allow me. I want to stay early. And that got to me because I mean she had everything at her disposal. But she said that, said, I want to stay early, allow me. And I left her. So that's understanding that. So I would say I'm that intentional. If others are working, I also get to do the little I need to do. Sometimes I just told myself it to get up. So I see a lot of food business owners. We go for events together, we see them. You just find one very big chair, very comfortable, and you sit down, you're giving instructions all through. You came here, you haven't done even 500 steps. So I'm intentional sometimes. Another thing I intentionally do is to take, see how I can keep my the number of steps I want to take in a week. Have my reminders. If I watch Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday is gone already. It doesn't look like I'm going to meet up this week. So I do things like I drive, park on the side of the road, and I'm going to the other side of the road and actually take the overhead bridge, walk through and get to the other side. Do what I want to do and I walk back. So I do something, things like that, apart from the way I also eat. So I also realized that it's not everything that's available that you should eat. And you shouldn't also eat it out of proportion. I how did I even get there? But I'm one person that yes, I like that thing, it tastes really nice, but I can eat it and actually stop. When I want to, I can actually stop and allow the rest of the year.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

I think I can answer that for you quite easily because apart from you coming, you know, the brand food is medicine, it is is you are this is where mindfulness comes in, you know. Um, I was telling someone the other day uh on Saturday at about I think about 6 30 a.m. and the person I was charting, I was like, uh, where is why are you doing up? It's Saturday. I said, Oh, my bread is having the second rice. And he was like, What? I said, Yeah, I make my bread from it's having the second rice, and I bread, yeah, because I'd rather do that. I know exactly what's going into my bread, and I know when to stop, actually. You know, I know exactly what I want to, I prepared the amount, and I'm one of those people that I would love to. I I love to cook, like I said, I don't like to eat, I just want to see people enjoy the food. So I think that's that's that's where you are. Like you want to see people enjoy and live, right? So, because it is more service to you than it is actually eating, it um yeah, it's it's soothing to see people. Yes, yes, yes, yes, it's so fulfilling. I swear down, I'm telling you. Oh my goodness. So before I let you go, um um one thing, emotions and digestion. You know, from your research, how do they how do they walk? Hang in hand.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

Okay, so emotion and digestion, which is also why we talk about not eating late at night.

SPEAKER_02 44:52

So should I play what your husband said when he came here? Eating late at night.

Sleep, Stress, And What Dinner Does

SPEAKER_00 44:59

Why I talked about not well, the thing is if you don't want to eat late at night, don't stay up late. Well it's difficult, but just try. Make up your mind. I would retire to bed early. You know, it's when you don't retire to bed early that you start looking for what's not lost. You go to the freezer and then everything looks like food, you walk around, you're just bored, and all of that. And even if you must keep something like vegetables, carrots, things you can munch on cucumbers, and then that can at least help heal. So um, late night eating makes your body metabolism react. And what that boss does to you is that you find it difficult to fall asleep. If you're not able to fall asleep when you should, you remember you have to wake up when you should wake up, especially if you have appointments or you have work to do. What that does is you have less sleep. The following day, you are irritated by anything because you are not feeling well. A part of you is not rested. Mentally, you're not rested. So you come up in the morning, you are irritated by everything, you get to work, is you have not done one hour, you're already tired, you can't wait to close and go home, and then the old day passes, you're not productive. If you're one who works virtually, I mean, you you realize you walk from home, you realize that one of the challenges you have is you have milestones you're not able to meet. You just don't feel like doing it. One of it is you've not had good enough sleep. So indigestion doesn't allow you to rest well enough. Enough. So that's why you need to look at what you're eating. One of the things I think, especially if you live around us here in Lagos, you can easily incorporate into your meal is cocumber.

SPEAKER_02 46:37

Coco is well, I see. I don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 46:40

Apart from helping with your hair, your skin, your eyes, it also helps a lot with digestion.

SPEAKER_02 46:48

I don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 46:49

And one thing I don't like cucumbers. Why is it a taste? I just don't like it. Okay. Have you tried combining with different things? Oh, definitely. What if it's blended with other kinds of vegetables?

SPEAKER_02 47:02

I drink it. I'm not saying I don't, you know, especially, but if I must take cucumbers, I will blend it or or or was clamanting. Uh uh juice juice, yeah. Thank you. I'll juice it with ginger, definitely with ginger and turmeric.

SPEAKER_00 47:21

But alone. So I I think one thing that can help is maybe have a glass that you use every two, three days, and you say, you know what? Every day I'm taking this as my medicine. It's not because I like it, it's because it medics. And you just take it because again, if we're giving supplements, we'll take them. Okay, that's another thing I wanted to say. If as a lady, as you're nearing 40, even as a man, you should begin to ask your doctor what supplements you can take to boost your health because of the kinds of food we are exposed to in our environment. Yeah, especially if you're not very intentional, supplements can help you a lot. I mean, invest in them. The good thing is, many supplements you have 30 to 60, 90 tablets at a goal, so you're not buying it again in the next three months. So just buy them, have them stored, and then every now and then just take your supplements. But one habit I think anyone who's listening to me, if you already're not doing this already, one thing you can change from here now that is so simple, affordable, accessible, easy to do, is water therapy.

unknown 48:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:24

Okay, so can we can you set a reminder on your phone that wakes you up at 5 30 a.m. every day? And can you now have a special water bottle that will be by your bedside every day before you go to bed? You have water in it, you have it by your bedside at night. So when you wake up, whether 5 30, 5 a.m., 4 30, depending on how early you're able to wake up, you drink at least 75 Cl of water instantly. The first thing you're going to notice is by the time you're going to use the by the time you're going to the washroom, the kind of urine, the kind of urine that you'll be wondering, whose urine is this? That's first. So that's helping to flush your system. And the next thing you notice is you're going to most likely have boil movement that morning before you leave the house. You work better that day. You'll be more mentally alert when you get to work.

SPEAKER_02 49:14

What if you've got that? I've done that for upwards of 10 years. Beautiful. I have is actually I graduated from 750 C out to 11 later. One liter, yeah. In the mornings, and and um I know that it's sounding like we're giving rules, but if we are holding on to life so much, you don't want to die yet. Or live on LD. Or live unhealthy. It's it's your food is what you take into your body, the kind of water, the kind of drink. You know, it does matter, and that's the essence of this conversation. And I think that what we're going to do, uh, I'm gonna uh Tobia and I will walk around with you. I think that the week that we um we uh we have this episode run would have uh uh like a one-week challenge on and let's see how people that's good, yeah, you know, on on on uh on our pages will invite you to collaborate and see how let's just start. Let's just start. I like that. Let's just start because I know for a fact, and for those who are wondering to Michelle food, I know for a fact that if your stomach is healthy, your mind is healthy. Your mind is healthy. Oh, yes. I know for a fact they're soothing, and that is why people think that they eat chocolate and they're happy, and people think that you know these we have emotional foods, we have emotion. Some people eat their emotions. I purposely didn't go there because we would have more than an hour, it's like you know, people eat your emotions, there are people that comfort food and the people who would in a and and in that category when I'm going through stuff, food is the last thing, last thing, last thing on my mind. Like, and I can I can just eat one kind of food for up to three months. I'm not kidding, one kind of food, like my husband says, Is it by this year? It's I don't eat a bike. Is it there? Was a time that it was just that manga. I have it once okay for three. It's not easy for my family because I'm cooking for them, I'm not eating, and they're like, Why? I mean, we can go into that. Thank you so much. It's terrifying coming. But before you go, yeah, pick one, okay.

Memory, Habits, And Oil Truths

SPEAKER_00 51:47

Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah. Would you rather live in an apartment in the city or a mansion in the country? An apartment in the city.

SPEAKER_02 52:03

Why? I would have thought you would have picked the country.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

Actually, an apartment in the city. I don't know, there's something with me about I'm not how do I put it? I'm looking for better words. Luxury is not a is not it's not a thing for me.

SPEAKER_02 52:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 52:24

So my interest more is an impact people. So anywhere I can find them. I so apartments for me is looking like a place I can find everyone. Oh city is looking like a place I can assess everyone. Okay, and it's looking like it for me.

SPEAKER_02 52:40

Oh, okay. So I get it, I get it. We're we're single from a different for me, for me, yeah. The city is fine, but for me to what what the country would mean for me is for me to go rejuvenate to come back to the city.

SPEAKER_00 52:56

No, she said, no, maybe because I've always lived here. I can't I can't have my recreation anywhere. Why do I have to go?

SPEAKER_02 53:04

So you see, that's that's I love this this this this differences and practices because I grew up literally on the farm, and my father would take us to my father would take us hunting, would drive on roads on yes, in Nigeria. Yes, you know, we drive on the roads and we go into the bush and we actually hunt. Um we'll climb hills in on the street and all that. So yeah, the country is is very endearing for me. The city is where we come to work, and you know, the country is where we go to just have life lived. I I don't even like the beach, to be honest, in Lagos. It's busy for me, it's it's not restful. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you for work, humming, appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 54:04

One word, one word, your body is the only place you can ever live. So please pay attention to it. Perform a food audit today. Make a list of everything you're eating, and then begin to write out the frequency with which you eat them, research the health implications of all those things, and then begin to recreate a new list. I mean, form new habits just like you formed this once because your body is the only place you have here to live. If you don't have it anymore, you have to exit. You have exited as simple as that.

SPEAKER_02 54:49

I was going to say because I had written down in my names that we're going to do uh it's um choose one to do, but you already actually said every single thing, so there's nothing for me to repeat that. Thank you very much for her bright Fion. She is the CEO. Is it CEO? Okay, CEO of Ebom Soups. That personally, that is where I get all my eastern and south south and south eastern food soups or her afang. That's why I get it. Let's not, you know, no. Ah, oh, you make one cocoa. Thank you so much for coming. Today reminds us that wellness isn't always found in the big north, sometimes it's in small intentional choices, isn't what we cook, isn't what we eat, in whether we listen to our bodies or silence them. Food can be comfort, yes, it's also big culture, connection, and yes, healing. And perhaps the journey isn't about perfection, remember, but presence, presence about choosing nourishment over neglect, about learning to care for ourselves the way we care for others. It'll thank you very much. And of course, this is uh the production assistant today. Thank you, Toby. Yeah, you get to find you whatever you feel like it's Toby's not too much here, right? Thank you so much, Toby, for being there. Remember that if you want to sit with this conversation longer, we have a space on WhatsApp, it's not a place to judge, it's not a place to advise and all that, it's just for a place for us to come together and see. So, if you want to be part of that, please um, you know, check the show notes, and of course, in the show notes, we'll have links to how you can get um or it's young's book, Make Food Your Medicine. I think is that's not the only book you have. I have two. Love yourself, love your neighbor, love your country. Above all of this, love God is the essence of your being. I am Ulotsu Michael Cuckoo. Stay mindful.