Ep 2: CrystalRistal - Unapologetic Bites

@CrystalRistal is a Tiktok content creator and Mom. Crystal shares her story and life lessons along the way to becoming unapologetically her true self after a divorce. We talk about everything from how she creates her food content, her love for Red's Chicken Chorizo, and so much more.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Real Life Unwrapped Podcast by Red's All Natural. A podcast dedicated to telling the amazing real life stories and lessons learned by the incredible people who love our frozen burritos and breakfast sandwiches as much as we do.

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Crystal Ristol's TikTok content is a household favorite of Minnie. Her real life commentary paired with amazing food recipes earns her thousands of views a day. Episode two with Crystal Ristol starts now. What was like Crystal Ristol, unapologetic bites? Like, what was like day one? What did that look like?

SPEAKER_02 0:33

When people would talk about TikTok, I was like, this is stupid. What are you guys talking about? Like, I don't get the hype. But I learned very quickly that I was getting like all of my recipes, anything I wanted to eat was coming from TikTok. Like it was no longer um, you know, Googling or going to Food Network or anything like that. So I spent years just scrolling. And then it was, I think I started, I think it was June of last year. And I just thought, you know what? I'm I was 42 at the time, and I thought, what am I even doing with my life? Like I just wanted to see. I don't know if I was in my midlife crisis stage, but I just wanted to see, okay, how will people react? Can I do this? Is this something that people will like? Because I love my favorite content is mukbongs. Like the messier, the better. And I know it triggers so many people. It was really just to see if I could do it. And it started out a little bit slow, you know, and it was so scary. Like I was shitting my pants. Um, because the first person that like said something slightly mean to me, I just thought, okay, I'm done. I can't do this. Um, like everybody hates me, I'm a loser. But I just, my kids were, they were excited for me in the beginning, like, mom, just do it, just do it. So I just kept doing it. But now I've gotten smarter and I have so many like filtered words that so I don't see certain comments, and I never go to the review comments section because it will people are ruthless, you know. There's so many keyboard warriors out there that uh it's scary, it really is. I got my first hate email a couple weeks ago, and I was like, oh my god, that sucks. That that hurt my feelings, but you know, I'm real. It hurts. If it doesn't hurt your feelings, I don't I don't trust you. But so that's how it started. I it was just like kind of fun, and now it's just grown into something that I love all the people that follow me and comment, and I I I love the engagement, and it made it's made me realize that okay, I'm not just a weirdo. Like there's so many people who swear and are goofy and silly, and it's almost like therapy, sort of exposure therapy, maybe I think a little bit cheaper than a therapist.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

In your TikTok bio, you describe your page as unapologetic bites. Tell us more. It could say anything. Why unapologetic bites?

SPEAKER_02 3:17

I am never gonna apologize for eating the food I do. Like I have grown up, my mom cooked meals, you know. I remember goulash and pot roast, and she just always had a dinner ready for us. So, and we grew up watching Food Network every weekend, and food has always been something that excites me because it's it's just it's fun. I love experimenting and eat, I think mostly like a seven-year-old would eat. Um, I don't yeah, I am not fancy, I am not bougie, I you know, I just I eat the things I feel like most people love and maybe are afraid to eat, or because um afraid that they'll be judged for eating it. Like, I mean, my love for mayo, my love for cheese, like that's not my problem, that's your problem, you know. So I'm just I'm not gonna be sorry about I just I I like what I like.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

So has staying true to yourself and being unapologetically you been something that has always come easy to you, or has that been difficult?

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Yeah, no, that that is something new, um, probably within the last six, seven years. It um I so I was married and I went through a divorce, and we got divorced in the the end of 2019. So grew up and born and raised in Minnesota, moved here to Wisconsin to be with him. And you know, you're young, I was in my 20s, you think life is just set, like going through a divorce in a state where you have no immediate family besides your kids really does something to you. And I think I had to find my new identity because my identity was a wife, a mom. And I think the more I healed from that divorce, the more I truly found myself, as stupid as that might sound, like it helped me to just not really give a fuck. I mean, I care, I care what people think, of course. It's been a learned thing, it's been progress. It's I've had to work at being that person, but um, I will say I love that person now. Like I I I can't looking back, I just think, oh my god, ew, who what were you doing? You know, but so that's sort of it. I guess I can thank my divorce for that.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

If you could like think back, like or even like what you do every day, are there any like practical steps? Is it other podcasts? Is it books? Like, what helped you actually like tangibly heal and like find that inner voice? Like, was there anything that you didn't particularly, or did it just take time away from that person and and kind of almost you had to be your own person because now, like you said, your identity wasn't as like you're forced to, you have no other choice, you know.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

I mean, I had to just, you know, after the hurt and after the heartbreak and after realizing, like, okay, you're gonna be okay. You just you don't have any other choice. But I will say, um, so I have a twin sister, and then I have an older sister, also, she's five years older. We were not close um growing up. Like, we were close, we were sisters, but I think for you know, from until like 18, we all hated each other, you know. It was just um sisters just, you know, hate each other until they're older. But she really I owe so much of my healing and my getting through all of that to her because she just really like she came out of nowhere, like a bat out of hell, and she didn't sugarcoat anything and I didn't listen to podcasts. I hate reading books, like I can't I can't focus. I think the only book I've ever finished was actually Fifty Shades of Grey. So if that till do anything, but um I do like audiobooks, but I didn't know it was just my friends and my family, really, and my kids, you know, because they needed they needed mom not to be, you know, spiraling and um get her shit together.

SPEAKER_00 7:29

So I love that. I'm proud of you.

SPEAKER_01 7:31

Thank you. So how do you approach creating your content? Because so much of your content is around what you're eating. Are you building out meal lists for the week, or how do you go about choosing what content to make?

SPEAKER_02 7:42

Well, it's mostly I do like have a little you've probably seen it in some videos, or I have a little whiteboard on the on my fridge that I'll write down ideas. I try to stick to it, um, but I get my ideas from watching videos on TikTok and then trying to throw my own twist on it because honestly, TikTok is where I get most of like what I want to eat. And mo a lot of times it happens, you know, I'll be scrolling during my lunch break and see a video and like, yep, that's what we're having. I'm hungry for that. So when I have my kids too, so we do like week on, week off. So I have to sort of like edit the menu of what we're gonna have when I have them because my one daughter, she just she hates everything that I make. Not really, but she's very picky. Um, and my other daughter is she'll eat anything that I make. But it's really just I just get ideas from TikTok and try to make my own little take on it.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

Do you have any goals? Like, do you consider yourself an influencer? Yeah. Like, do you want to do this full time? Yeah. Do you have any? Because I know some people I talk to are like, oh, like this is my goal. If I I can only get to like this level of followers or this much money, like this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

Honestly, the so I don't know if you saw my onion boil video, but that one has like 22.5 million views, and it's that's where I've gotten most of my followers from, but I remember like watching the follower count go up and just kind of wanting to go hide and just never do it again because it's scary. You know, the more eyes you have on you, the more um judgment will come, or you're more susceptible to hate. And I don't really have any goals to be honest. I mean, I like that it helps me pay some of my bills, and I mean, I'm not rolling in the bank from it, but it's fun to just throw up my camera and film what I eat, edit it, and then it's you're you're done. You know, there's the engaging with your followers because you don't I don't I don't like it when you know people have all these followers and they just never like a comment or reply. It's like, you know, that's not very nice. So if I don't reply to every comment, I actually you know I feel really bad because I I read everything, but so goals, um, I'm not gonna quit my job. I'm not gonna ever do that. I'm still gonna be me. But yeah, would I like to pay off a shitload of bills? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Would I like to take my kids to Bora Bora? Fuck yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Trying to balance fun questions with my like Dr. Phil episode questions, not trying to be too serious. What has it been like raising a teenager on social media that you're also on social media too? Has there been like any challenges?

SPEAKER_02 10:34

I'd be lying if I said they didn't have social media. Um, they have TikTok, they don't post videos, they're not allowed to. But my youngest, she reposts all my videos, so she's allowed to stay on TikTok. I've never, they're not on Instagram, um, not on Snapchat, so TikTok's really the only one. It's scary because at this age of their life and phase of their life, they're going through so much. And the school they're in is way bigger than what I I mean. I graduated with like 42 people. Theirs are like 400. So it's harder for them. So they have to be very careful of I guess the internet. Um stuff you see on the internet's not real and you can't believe everything. And yeah, you have to be careful because there are weirdos out there. But I think they I know in my heart and in my gut that they're smart enough to not feed into that. Um, but I keep an eye on them for sure. They, you know, my mom's senses are pretty good when it comes to if they're doing something they shouldn't, or if something is bothering them from what they saw. Like, it's because it's real, you know? It's so real.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

So I would be doing a disservice if I didn't ask you about the chicken chorizo. Ooh, let's do it. How did you ever like first try it? Like, how did you fall in love with it? Oh my god. I just I gotta know it.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

It was love at first fight. Back in March, before I started my TikTok, um, my boyfriend Brad and I, we had gone to Sedona, and I remember getting in a swimsuit and thinking, ugh, I've really like I, you know, have kind of, I mean, I had gained like 11 pounds, and for me, I'm very petite and short. Like, that was a lot for me. So I thought, okay, I need to, we're gonna get back and I need to get my shit together. So I needed something that was quick and easy because I only have 10 minutes. So I don't, I can't be making, I'm not a meal prepper. I just don't have time for it. So I don't know what I think I was probably at what did Woodman's? I saw the burritos, and because they were in the Woodman's has these like organic aisles and like gluten-free aisles. So I'm like, I'm gonna walk down this aisle and feel healthy and smart. And there they were. So I grabbed a bunch of different flavors, like um, maple chicken sausage was one of the first ones I tried, and then the turkey sausage. I really liked the turkey sausage, but then they weren't there anymore. So I'm like, I'm just gonna grab chicken chorizo. And let me tell you, the choke hold that that damn burrito has on me. I'm not kidding. Like, I will hyperfixate on foods, but then I get sick of them after, you know, a month or two. This has been going on for what? July, August, September, October. Since July. So I don't know what you guys put in it. I don't know, but don't stop because I will be at your offices, like sitting outside.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Well, we will definitely have to send you something in July for your uh our one-year anniversary together. I'm curious, uh, last question as it relates to the chicken trees or burrito. You have famously kind of broken the mold as you've been like all about chicken trees though in the microwave. I know! Um versus the air fryer. Like, again, there's no right or wrong answer. We just think it's like way better in the air fryer, but I'm curious, like, is it just a time thing that like draws you in, or is it like you just love the texture? Again, this is like your answer. There's no right or wrong answer here.

SPEAKER_02 14:20

It is the texture. If you know me, you would know that I love like gummy foods and chewy, like it's I don't know, it just it does something to me. So I honestly don't even think I saw the air fryer instructions or directions until like I don't know, probably my 20th burrito, and I'm like, I don't have time for this. So I just kept doing it in the microwave. And I did try though, I do, I'm not saying I don't enjoy the air fryer. I I do. It's just I prefer the softer, gooey gooey, delicious microwave chorizo, chicken chorizo.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Well, I'll give you the last question, but so appreciative of your time, so thankful that you eat reds, and so thankful that so many people are gonna get to like know Crystal Ristol like more. What's one piece of advice you would leave someone who's struggling to find that inner voice or feels like they're trapped in that, like I'm just a mom, I'm just a a wife, like though those titles are important, uh, but is like striving or or longing to kind of like break out of those shells, like what piece of advice or story, or like um, honestly, I think it's just as simple as stepping out of your comfort zone, stepping out of that routine, that schedule, that just just going for it.

SPEAKER_02 15:50

Because, you know, I fear lives in my head and worry and it can really get the best of me. Um, but I I think it's just believing in yourself. And if I could tell my younger self it would just stop being so scared. You know, life is just honestly way too short. Simple as that.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

To find out where you can find Reds burritos and breakfast sandwiches in your area, visit our website at www.redsallnatural.com.