E146: Healthy Can Be Simple

E146: Healthy Can Be Simple with Tina Gravalos

Join Nutritionist + Recipe Creator Tina Gravalos, as she gives us easy tips to make healthy simple and delicious!

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[1:28] Valerie LaVigne: Welcome back to The Women's Empowerment Podcast. I am very excited to introduce you to Tina Gravalos! Tina is the founder of simply Tina, where she shares simple and sustainable nutrition for all lifestyles. Tina loves creating easy to follow recipes with a healthier twist that anyone can whip up. She believes that food should be enjoyed, no matter where you're at on your wellness journey. Welcome to the show.

Tina Gravalos: Hey, thanks for having me.

VL: Yeah, it's such a pleasure to finally get to do this I know that we've been chatting about it for a little while. I love following you. I love seeing your wellness journey, your growth on Instagram, especially like the incredible food photos you take, every time I go to Instagram, I'm like, I need to eat this. I'm so hungry now. This looks delicious. Oh my goodness. Amazing. So I have to ask, How do you come up with all these incredible recipes?

TG: I get asked that all the time and sometimes people just think it's really this like complex process but I I'm really intuitive so a lot of stuff just comes from things that I love to eat or I see someone else create something and I immediately am like, oh, I can use the similar kind of recipe but tweak this this this or oh I have a better option I can add like you know a different fruit or like mix it up and so I kind of just like lean in with my intuitive side and it doesn't sound as exciting but it works.

VL: That's amazing and I love this whole simplicity, behind your brand. I mean, simply, Tina, how and I always talk about what when I talk about habits like how can we simplify it, how can we make it easy. How can we make being healthier and nutrition and, you know, what we're eating every single day, How can we just keep it really simple, but keep it really healthy so I know that you like to talk about the basics too. Can we jump right into that?

[3:48] TG: Yeah, absolutely. So, I, my brand didn't really start out this way. It was so when I went to nutrition school I kind of thought you know I had to be this perfect nutritionist and I had to eat a certain way and I had to try all the superfoods and I had to share all that all the time and that's kind of what led me, spiraling down like a health crisis of my own. I found myself binge eating a lot of things in my car and secret, and this was during school and even afterwards as well. And I would you know Monday I'm going to start this diet or you know I'm going to drink all the water and do all the things but it did not work for me. And then one day I was just like I don't want to feel this way anymore. So I kind of just sat with myself and was like, What do I need to make me feel good, what is going to turn my health around, and I started to really go back to the basics of what nutrition is I whipped out my textbooks again and I have this one is literally like 700 pages, and it's literally called like the fundamentals of nutrition. So I went and I started reading I didn't read the whole thing because that's so I went in and just, okay, what are the basics, what do I need, what can I feel my body with, and it's basically just taking out all the complication of things and going, Okay I need protein I need healthy fats, I need carbs in each of my meals, and it doesn't have to be this like elaborate recipe every single time it can literally just be like a piece of chicken, some vegetables and rice like very simple, so I just broke everything down. That way, and I started noticing a difference right away with like my energy like I was feeling stronger, all the things and then that's where simply Tina came into play.

VL: Wow, thank you for sharing that. I think it's really powerful to hear that, especially coming from someone who is like, seen as a leader in the industry, right, and I feel that pressure to as a as a fitness teacher and as a studio owner like you have to look a certain way you have to be active all the time you have to be doing things all the time and you know they're you're human beings still.

TG: Exactly, exactly.

VL: And the pressure doesn't make it easier, that's for sure so good for you for sitting with yourself, and you know really having that compassionate conversation with yourself and recognizing that, hey, this isn't where I want to be, but you also have the tools to change that, and you did it!

TG: You didn't change that so it wasn't easy but there was a you know there was a lot of two steps backwards type thing one step forward, two steps like a lot of that, a lot of tears. A lot of you trying to explain things to like my family and my friends and they were just like, Oh, you're fine. It's okay, and like, not a lot of people understood and just a constant battle of all the, all the elements.

[7:09] VL: Well, that is a massive courageous leap that you've taken so I really want to acknowledge that first and foremost, and it does lead me to questions for people who maybe don't have the tools or the, you know, maybe, maybe they're not there with the mindset yet, and they don't have that same courage so do you have any advice in terms of like the the mindset and the emotions and like the mental health piece of you're going into those physical changes like actually changing what you're eating.

TG: Um, I think the thing that helped me the most was setting intentions for, like, every area of my life, and instead of saying okay, you know, I, you know a lot of people they make New Year's resolutions and it's like I'm going to run every single day, but they don't run, they never run so they set themselves up already for failure.

What helped me was setting the intentions okay I want to feel stronger I want to feel energized, you know, I want to get better sleep, all these things so what I did was I took those intentions and was like okay well what can I do to make all of those things happen. So, the stronger part could be well I'm going to go for a walk, twice a week maybe started off twice a week, or the Energize piece I'm gonna start incorporating more like vegetables and this and that into my meal so I started very small like that instead of making these huge goals that once you you know you make those and you fail and you just don't want to do it again, and you go into this like cycle of the same kind of thing.

That was pretty much the driving force for me around changing everything and also not listening to everything else around me, because there's so many things, it's like, eat this. Don't eat that, or do this, don't do that, my friends eating kale, but like when I eat kale I feel terrible like it's just, you really have to focus on what's good for you and run with it.

VL: You and I are living a parallel life! [laughs].

We always talk about intention. Well, not always but we often talk about intention on this podcast and how important it is to be intentional when you're creating a new habit when you're setting a goal, and it's not so much like, I want this goal I want to run, or I want to, it's I want to feel. It's how do you feel, and why do you want to feel that way. And, you know, as you're describing it in your own experience, I'm thinking about like, yeah, that's how I started back into my workout routines, it was, it wasn't like one day woke up and was like,

Yeah, I should probably get back to working out at 5:30 in the morning again, it was okay you know what, something needs to change. I need to add more movement. I was feeling really low about not being able to lift heavy weights that I used to really like it changed a lot, but you know a lot happens in a year when you're not at working out, And it started with walking every day and just a little bit more every single day, and once I hit those 10,000, steps a day like that was my main goal. Took me two weeks to get there consistently.

And then, you know, another month went by where I was doing that I was like okay I feel more confident in myself, not listening to anyone else exactly like what you said. And I guess this is just like another example of it but then I was like, Okay, I'm ready to workout again I'm ready to lift weights again. And it's okay and it was almost like I had to prep and prime myself with this, these little things to build that confidence that the simple walking like everyone can walk.

If they're trying to start their movement practice, you know, it's free. And then, you know, and then now I'm on like week five of lifting weights again and I'm actually tracking the weights that I'm lifting and I'm like, Finally it's starting to lift a little heavier I'm still not where I was. But yeah, I have to start somewhere and you have to you have to be like really compassionate really gentle with yourself, but still have that little push. So yeah, I'm so glad you said that because I feel like the intention piece is so it's so huge and a lot of times.

[11:51] TG: When I work with clients, it's one of the questions I asked them to have like, how do you want to feel or how do you want to show up in your life. If you have kids, like how do you want to show up for your kids and you can see like they're kind of taken aback by the question because like no one really asks me that usually with, you know some people have seen health practitioners that are just, you know, they get in there and they prescribe you with whatever it is and all that and they don't get to like the root of what's really going on or what's really going to help someone move forward.

VL: And when I have consultations with my clients and I ask them what are their goals for, whether we're training together. If they say, or if they start by saying you know I want my summer body or I need to look like this for my wedding. I can almost guarantee you that if that is your goal, that's okay, but just know that it's not sustainable, whereas if someone says, I want to show up better for my kids, I want to be able to go climb this mountain, and live this healthier lifestyle. That is a lasting intention that God has an intention that creates lasting change. So asking those deeper questions really gets the wheels turning so that's amazing that you that you offer this with your clients.

And when people are working with you, so you are mentioning that, you know, it's the intentions of not just the nutrition side of it, you were talking about how, like, when you were looking at it how do you want to feel in different areas of your life and you just kind of gave an example of asking your clients, how do you want to feel with your kids around your kids. So what are some other kind of areas of life or other questions that we can maybe ask ourselves, as we're figuring out our intention.

TG:I would say about gratitude like going back to what are you grateful for every single day, like what do you when you wake up in the morning, what's like your first thought if someone says to you, the word gratitude. So, I find that if you can set up a practice like that like a gratitude practice and ask that question in the morning and even at night to like I do both, but it helps to.

It helps to set the tone to for like what you want in your life like sometimes I'll wake up and I'm just, I'm grateful for this body that you know, I, that allows me to wake up in the morning to get out of bed and all those things. And I find that it helps it trickles down into everything really.

VL: Yeah, that's amazing and I've actually spoken to you about this before, but you have an abundance journal, and abundance practice can you share a little bit more about what this is and maybe how we can create our own abundance practice?

[14:47] TG: Yeah I get so excited I talked about this. I started this, I want to say I think it was January or at the end of last year and I just one day was, I think I saw something that kind of triggered this thing in me to start writing about things like happening, day to day So, literally, it could be something like, I found this parking spot in front of the restaurant that I'm going to or somebody bought me a coffee or I, you know, went out for lunch with my mom and she bought me lunch like little things like that.

So I started writing it and it's not like I don't sit there and write like pages and pages it's literally I'll write the date and I'll say like one little like bullet point of whatever it is.

And then I started noticing these cool like shifts in my life where I would rate the abundance part, be grateful for what happened and then cool opportunities are coming, like I would get a new work opportunity or I would get something else for free.

A company wanted to send me something that I really enjoy little things like that and I look back at it, like daily now to from the beginning of January and it's so cool to see it evolve, and all you need is literally a notebook, and just a pen, or you can even do it in your phone if you want, and you'll see like a huge difference in your life a guarantee it. I'm gonna stamp that approval, I guarantee you that you'll notice a difference.

VL: I want 100% agree and I have done this before but I will I use it as like a gratitude journal but really it is like, I'm grateful for so much abundance in my life. And at first, I promise you I rolled my eyes! “This is so dumb, whatever”

This is so dumb, like whatever, I'll try anything like whatever like I'll try it I guess. And I joke about that with people and I was like, listen, I know it sounds all crazy. Yeah, but it freakin works, and I think it was within two weeks, which is not that long of a time, to be honest, huge shifts Yeah, my mood was incredibly different. The things that were being attracted into my life like or that I was attracting into my life like it was so amazing. And you notice that like that one bullet point, turns into three bullet points, and then there's four bullet points and then five and then you're like, Oh my God, I need a new piece of paper because so many things I'm grateful for today, and yeah it's really amazing and I will definitely also say, I guarantee it.

TG: And as someone who would again roll their eyes but, yeah, definitely roll their eyes which is so funny, but another cool thing is, so I started also. So like in order to like receive your, it's nice to give as well so I want a recently put in my story, Starbucks gift card and I said, whoever wants to get a coffee like coffee's on me literally that same date, so I play roulette sometimes on the oil g website for anyone in Ontario. And I was just playing like It's like my guilty pleasure. I won $550 And I was like, oh, cool like abundance, so that was really, that was so amazing I remember I measured that and I was like, I love like guilty pleasure I feel like it's so why should I need to ask everybody now.

I'm like, roulette. Like what, oh my god I love it when you, when you said that on, on Instagram and your stories I was like wait what. Yeah, I was very surprised but I loved it. That was so much fun.

VL: I mean you offer, like I said you offers so many great tips and tools and practices and recipes. I mean, everything, like I feel like you do it all. How do you do it?

TG: Oh man, I wish I had a clone some times. I just, I'm really, really passionate about what I do and ever since switching my brand to simply Tina and getting into more of the recipe development side, I just, I love love love love what I do and I feel it I can do it for hours on end and the time just goes by so quickly, but I, what I really love is when people messaged me thanking me for sharing a simple recipe or just a simple tip, whatever it is that I get so emotional sometimes because I just want everyone to feel amazing and you know the way I take my photos too I try to make it simple like how I just replayed it and just instead of having so many different things around the photo like obviously those pictures are beautiful you see online but sometimes you make the recipe, it doesn't look anything like the photo so I tried to do it that way and so I think entice people to, to make this stuff and make it approachable.

VL: That's what I was gonna say you definitely make it approachable and exciting, and like I just find when I go to your, your photos I'm like, It's fun, it's fresh, it's exciting. Like, I get excited about food for people listening who are thinking like, Oh, totally inspired to simplify! What would you say is this the best place for them to start?

[20:41] TG: I have this thing called “My Feel Good Kitchen” but I just randomly came up with, But it's basically the process of, you know, going to the grocery store, and literally just going in with opening an open mind and kind of scanning the aisles and seeing what you're called to sort of so if it's like broccoli or whatever it is you can, you know, go in and look at it and just really like think about, okay, like what can I do with this, what can I do that I would actually enjoy like I, there's so many vegetables that you're underrated and everything that people just seem them and like it doesn't taste great but like there's so much you can do.

And I find like people get discouraged with the taste of things so it's like, what can you bring to that broccoli like what flavors do you love. So if it's like garlic or like onion powder, whatever it is like just kind of think about it in a way that you enjoy, and literally take it from there and then it's even the whole process at home, like the whole cooking aspect and like cutting everything the way you like it and, you know, putting in the pan, the way you like it and the plating aspect and sitting down to eat it like it is just a whole, like, a whole thing from the beginning to the end and I, I like to talk to clients about that like just go to the grocery store like just literally browse, they're like yeah but you know I don't like this, like so don't pick that Pick something you like, it's like really that really that simple.

VL: I like this, like, kind of like a ritual, right, like you're going in, you're allowing yourself to just be intuitive. I mean, I am definitely someone who comes in with a little bit more like the masculine energy. When it comes to this kind of thing I'm like okay, I've got my list.

But I am the person in our house who does the grocery shopping, I typically make the meal or at least I prep them or organize them however, so I'm going to put you on the spot here, and maybe you can help me.

So I love brussel sprouts

TG: I love them too girl!

VL: But my partner Craig doesn’t like them. But I want to be eating brussel sprouts. So, sometimes they'll eat them. When I make, so maybe like some ideas about what I can do with make them yummier.

TG: You can either make them into chips, so they're like crispy so I will like I'll cut them off but then I just rip off like the leaves, and then I will either put it out on my hand and with like just like olive oil like salt and pepper or you can even add garlic in there, but you can do it in the oven too to get them prosphere And like literally they'll. They're crunchy like chips so that could be something you could try, or even, I don't know if you guys eat bacon or anything but you could whip it up with bacon on the pants so delicious that way,

VL: MMMM That sounds good! I never thought of that!

INSTAGRAM | @simplytinag

WEBSITE | www.simplytina.ca

Check out her website for offerings, virtual workshops, recipes, and nutrition consulting.

VL: I really wanted to say that, like, I wanted to acknowledge you for bringing to the table. I like to bring into the episode that you know the journey really has a lot to do with the mindset and the emotion, and more of the rest of your life. Even though I'm such a foodie too! I'll eat just about anything or I'll try to rephrase it that way.

But, you know, there, there are a lot of different, I guess, voices, online, or heard growing up for that we're coming into contact with her we're like, do we listen to you. We follow and really like keep saying, you know, tap into your own intuition, connect with what you saw something really cool yesterday someone shared with me like I started making my to do list as things I want to do things I have to do and are things I don't want to do. And then the last thing was things people want me to do other people.

And I thought, Wow, that's so cool and then they said something along the lines of, I don't usually even get to that third part of what other people want to do much happier that way.

And I think that's so important is to like be so self aware that you just keep reconnecting with you and what your body needs and what your, what you want, and what makes you feel good, I don’t like kale either.

TG: Yeah it's honestly it's not the best like it's really not that great and to be honest, kale started off as like garnish on the lake. Thank you. It's not like says the nutritionist I'm like listen, and also kale, is like not great for your body. So I mean, we could ditch the kale. I always tell people my kale, that stuff is for the, the, the dressing in the deli window.

VL: Yeah exactly, it's just sitting as decoration, that's not real food. Yeah.That's so funny. I love that. I always tell people it's like the diva green because you have to massage, you, you do you got to get in there with like the olive oil is a whole, whole thing. Please don't get massages every time I'm treating the kale better than my own body here.

Okay, my dear, we have a final rapidfire segment. But before we jump into it, I want to ask you if there's anything else you need to hear. Before we jump in?

TG: I'm just gonna say that. You got this to people, whoever is listening to this, and if you want to make the changes like you got this, just literally run with it. It's my line, “run with it, run with it.”

RAPID FIRE

1. What are you currently reading? What’s your favourite book?

I'm actually not reading anything, I am a super nerd and I read my nutrition books like that's, that's what I'm doing. Sounds exciting. No, that's great. I mean, like I said you're a leader, you're a teacher, you know, you need to keep educating yourself.

I gotta keep up with the trends.

2. What do you love most about being a woman?

What do I love about being a woman. I feel like about being like fearsome like strong and empowered and really talked about that already, but I feel like that is just associated with being a woman like it's just so many components of that and we've been through a lot of stuff in our day.

3. What does empowerment mean to you?

Empowerment means that. Oh man, a lot of things but I feel like I've set boundaries for myself, and sticking to those boundaries and not letting other external things get in the way of my life purpose and all the things that I love doing.

4. What are you currently working toward?

I really want to have my own studio where I can have a kitchen and a little store in there and do all of my food photography and stuff there so I'm really pushing to get that done.

VL: Well, this was an absolute blast, you are so hilarious. I'm just so happy that you are following this incredible passion of yours, and you do amazing work for people, and like I said, following your journey in the beginning you mentioned that you have grown in such a beautiful way and the way that you share that with people is so approachable. Yeah like that simplicity. It's refreshing, and I feel like there's so much heaviness expectation, you know, mixed messaging. You teach, and you read, inspire in such a whole, beautiful and amazing way so people need to follow you, they need to chat with you!

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!