How To Be WellnStrong

46: Really Very Crunchy | Emily Morrow

• Jacqueline Genova • Episode 46

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I don't consider myself to be the "crunchiest" of people but I do aspire to add more of a crunchy touch to my life, so I was beyond excited to speak with Emily Morrow, creator of the hilarious Instagram account, Really Very Crunchy. Emily has garnered over two billion views and over two million followers in two years with comedy sketches about the stereotypical “crunchy” moms. Her mission is to relieve pressure from being the perfect mom and bring lightheartedness to the serious issue of the toxic chemicals pervasive in today's world. In today's conversation, Emily and I discuss simple swaps for a crunchier lifestyle, how to balance crunchy choices with non-crunchy ones, how to navigate both family and friend relationships as a crunchy person, and so much more!
 

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*Unedited Transcript*
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Jacqueline: [00:00:00] Well, I'm super excited to connect with you, Emily. I literally first heard about you about Two weeks ago, and right away, I went to your account and I messaged you the other day, but I called my mom and we were just cracking up for a solid hour, just going through all of your videos because we were like, this is us, like, especially the Thanksgiving one that you made.

Um, but you're just like, I, your content resonates with us both. And we're just, we're huge fans of, of you and Jason and your work and everything you're putting out there. So I'm really excited to just chat with you today about your new book and about the crunchy lifestyle and just. Yeah. All things health and wellness.

Emily: Cool. Yeah, I, I'm a little intimidated. I feel like you might be the first health and wellness podcast I've been on. I've been on like lots of homeschooling ones, which I feel very confident to talk about. Ginny Urich, A Thousand Hours Outside, like I [00:01:00] feel really good about that. Health and wellness front. Hmm. I mean, I do my best, but I'm also not like super studied. I'm definitely someone that's like, Oh, drink lemon water with a pinch of salt. Okay. Like I'll do that. That sounds great. I don't know. Like.

Jacqueline: Emily, where we're literally, we're on the same, we're on the same wavelength. And I think you had mentioned to you at one point in one of your messages, like you just, you're self taught right. And in your books too, like you're not afraid to say that I'm the same exact way. No medical background.

I actually went to college, um studying economics and finance. But I started well and strong back in 2020 started off as a wellness blog, got a lot of integrative doctors to contribute content. But I started the podcast last May, so I'm still a newbie. I have about 43 episodes published so far. I've been able to speak with some really, incredible people whom I've admired for so long in the health space.

So if anything, it's just been fun for me to have the opportunity to sit down with people [00:02:00] that I otherwise, you know, never would have imagined speaking with. but no, I'm, I'm the same way as you. And I think quite honestly, the brightest minds And the most intelligent people that I've learned from are the ones who are self taught, right?

The ones that don't necessarily have a medical degree. So I think you're brilliant. I did read your book. I couldn't agree more with everything that's in there. And yeah, I'm just super excited to share it with listeners.

Emily: Oh, thank you. That's super encouraging. I appreciate that.

Jacqueline: absolutely. Well, I'm excited to be your first health and wellness one, but, um, to, to kick things off, Emily. So I was, um, I was chatting with my dad the other day, too. He's always like, oh, who are you interviewing this week? So I give him my little rundown. I was like, oh, this woman named Emily Morrow. So again, we go to your Instagram account He was cracking up and he's like wait , but what is what is crunchy actually mean?

Like what what is that term and I had to pause and try to figure out like the best way to describe it to him So I am curious Emily like what like how do you [00:03:00] define crunchy? You

Emily: Anybody who is more natural minded, like seeking a more natural way of living. So I think it's sort of an umbrella term. It could. Means somebody who likes to spend a lot of time outside or it could be someone who's into homesteading It could be someone who's into health and wellness like there are so many different sex of crunchy And so my character in my videos is sort of like encompassing all of them I can't say that I am A perfectly crunchy person, like I aspire to be, but definitely have my shortcomings.

But yeah, just someone seeking the most natural way of living.

Jacqueline: I love that. Yeah. It was funny too. As, as he was going through the reels, he's like, wait, like, is she, is she serious about this? Or like, is she also mocking it? And I was like, no, I think it's a little bit of both dad, but

Emily: Yeah,

Jacqueline: yeah,

Emily: totally both. When people are like, is this [00:04:00] real or is this satire? I'm like, yes.

Jacqueline: Emily. It's the perfect combination. Honestly, it's the perfect combination. But, um, you and your husband Jason have been doing this for a while. From my understanding this referring to creating content. So, can you just share with us, like, how, how did this all start?

Emily: Sure Jason is Really into video editing. He is self taught on editing video He originally started out as a journalist and that was sort of like his favorite way to Share news was through video. Um, and then That didn't last long because we lived in a really tiny town in Georgia, and I was like, we have got to do something else.

I just wasn't really into the place we were living. And so we decided to move abroad and teach English in South Korea. And, um, whenever we were over there, he just started a little YouTube [00:05:00] channel so we could share About our adventures with our friends and family back home. We

didn't really intend for it to take off or anything, but we did get 7, 000 subscribers, which back then we thought we were like a big deal.

Jacqueline: Yeah, I mean, hey, 7, 000 subscribers today is, like, still a lot, too. I

Emily: I know. Honestly, it was really cool. And even sometimes like when we were in South Korea, people would recognize us like, hey, I watched your apartment video. You're the reason I'm over here. So It was

cool. That kind of spurred us on to continue creating content. And we kind of dabbled in comedy, but when I go back and watch our comedy content from back then, it is so bad.

So bad. But you have to start somewhere and we put ourselves out there and we thought it was funny at the time. So, hey, uh, uh, Yeah, it's pretty much been all Jason. He wanted to continue [00:06:00] creating content. But at this stage in our life, like we had kids settled down a little bit. He's like, what could we even make videos about?

Cause he just wanted to feel that passion. And I was like, I don't know. I'm not interested. We used to like, every time we made a video in South Korea, we would fight because he would be like, Directing me and all this stuff and I'm like I'm at a tulip festival. Like let me just enjoy the tulips I don't want to be here making a video So I was super reluctant to even say yes to him because I did not want to spend my days fighting You know, like we had kind of moved past it and I was done with the video content.

Anyway He has followed me in everything I wanted to do. He went to Korea three times. He sold everything we had to live in an RV. Like, I have all these big visions always, and he's always just gone along with it. [00:07:00] And so he's like, Emily, just this once, could we please make fun of you? Like, you are so crazy.

You are hilarious. Could we please make videos? So I said fine and I didn't think it would go anywhere and I was pretty sure after like 15 videos We would get tired of it because we didn't have any followers or anything and then we would just give up but by our eighth video It went viral And so, yeah, there was no quitting.

Jacqueline: I absolutely love that. Well, first of all, I don't think that your first videos were as horrible as you think they are. I think we're always more harsh on ourselves, right? So I'd love to go back and see some of your first videos have to do some uh some digging 

Emily: yeah. Oh, no. We did

this series. We did this series called Scooter Patrol, and it was about like a husband who had amnesia and he was a police officer in the States. But [00:08:00] because he had amnesia, they sent him to Korea. I don't know, like, we had this whole story, and, um, yeah, it was just really bad. It was not feasible, believable, but, uh, so, if you're

interested, you can look up Scooter Patrol.

Jacqueline: But honestly, I was thinking that too. I was like, where do they come up with all these brilliant ideas? Like, I mean, you could say there's only so much you could like milk of like being crunchy, but like, there's just so much opportunity and there's so many different like lenses to approach it.

So how do you guys come up with all of those ideas? Like, do you have dedicated like brainstorming sessions or is it more so just like, you'll be doing your everyday routine and all of a sudden be like, Oh, this would make a really funny content piece 

Emily: It's a little bit of both, honestly. We, a lot of times, I'm doing something, and I'm like, this is hilarious, what in the world? Or, I'll see a video of someone else doing something like this. [00:09:00] I don't know if you've heard of the content creator Rose Uncharted.

She, she's in the health and wellness, um, arena, but she posted this video once about how we haven't correctly developed, um, Well, we've like stopped ourselves from developing by not Going through the stages of development when we were an infant like some people skip crawling and stuff like that And it affects your brain development and she was doing this very serious video about Learning to crawl correctly so that she could get her like Emotions in line, and like, just develop everything appropriately, um, Make her, increase her brain, brain plasticity.

And, I like, saw this video, and I'm

Jacqueline: And you were like brilliant.

Emily: hilarious. This is [00:10:00] so funny. Like, she was totally dead serious. But, It's funny, and there's so many things like that in the health and wellness world

that are like, What am I doing? I mean, like, I haven't done a video on this, but the whole, like, bum sunning thing, that's hilarious.

I feel like my content is very family friendly, so I haven't,

you know, uh, gone there, but there are just so many things. People are drinking their urine.

That's funny.

Even if it is beneficial, it's funny. So yeah, a lot of times I'm just like, learning about how to live a healthier life, and then I'm like, It's so funny.

Jacqueline: But it's so true. And like, especially now in the age of social media, like there's just the craziest of like, regimens that people are doing. And I think a lot of it is just because like the more extreme you are, right? Like that's what the algorithm likes. So people are just putting these crazy, like not science backed claims [00:11:00] out there and getting all these followers.

But like the irony is to your point, . It's like free content for you to just use and create videos from. So I absolutely love that. But.

Emily: know. I sometimes worry like, people are gonna go through my, Who I'm following and some of the people I'm following, I'm like legitimately following for quality content. But then there are a few that I'm like,

Jacqueline: know.

Emily: of ridiculousness and I love it. And I, I like, I have to applaud them for the constant search of the greatest, 

most peak wellness.

Like, that's great that they're trying to better themselves. Some of it I cannot get behind. I have not, uh, consumed my own urine and I'm not sure that I ever will.

Jacqueline: Honestly, Emily, I would love to sit down with you and Jason and just, like, be part of that brainstorming session, because, I mean, I haven't, I've probably watched, two tenths of all your video content, but, I mean, there's just, I have so many ideas, [00:12:00] like cold plunges 

Emily: I know we actually, we really want to start cold plunging. We tried to do the whole shower cold plunge thing. 

It's worse. It's way worse because it's like dappled, you know, and it feels like shocking every time it hits you instead of just like the submersion. Um, so we're thinking about getting a cold plunge tub thing, You know?

Jacqueline: You should do it. Yeah. Yeah. 

Emily: yeah. Do you

Jacqueline: The Murasco, the Murasco Forge ones. When I, I live in an apartment right now, so I can't really put it anywhere. But um, when I get a house one day, God willing, I'd love to have the Murasco Forge ones that are like sheer ice baths. But I, I take cold showers. I haven't actually ever done like an ice bath, but to your point, I feel like it would be easier than a cold shower.

So I'm trading myself. We'll 

Emily: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And there's so many potential

hilarious videos there, for

sure. Maybe, hey, what's, what's the brand again?[00:13:00] 

Jacqueline: Morozco Forge. You should reach out to them. 

Emily: We should just both reach out. Like, could we get a, like, a BOGO here or something?

Jacqueline: Yeah, exactly. I'll just come fly and I'll, we'll do it. We'll film content at your house. I love it. But, um, Emily, so going back to. Being crunchy, right? It can be intimidating, and I feel like many people today are just so overwhelmed by all the information out there on non toxic lifestyles and things to look out for and be aware of.

So with that, What advice could you offer to anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed when embarking on this journey, right, to trying to live as naturally, as close to the earth as possible?

Emily: I feel like the first step is just simplify. Simplify what you're putting on your body. Simplify the foods you're consuming. Don't worry about buying all the extra stuff. Like when you think about our ancestors, they [00:14:00] didn't have all the extra stuff. You know, they're just living their lives. So first, simplify.

Get rid of fragrances, uh, get rid of inflammatory seed oils, you know, like the basics, stop using single use plastic, um, all of those little tweaks you can do. And then from there, try and build healthy habits that are attainable for you. And don't feel like you have to do everything perfectly. It's totally okay.

Like if you have an area, I don't know, say, Painting your nails like I see women do that. They're like I'm crunchy, but I'm not gonna give that up It's like well cool, you know, do your best if that brings you that much joy then do it personally I'm not going to but that was easy for me to give up. Like I'm a pretty lazy Self care person.

I don't I never get a haircut [00:15:00] never dye my hair like All the crunchy things are super easy for me because I'm like, Oh, cool. That means I don't have to do anything.

Great. Yeah. 

Jacqueline: No, I hear you. I love that. It's, it's truly about that though. Simplicity. And I feel like, again, like people embarking in the wellness space or on their wellness journey, it's like, Oh, have to do all these things, have to dedicate, you know, two hours of a morning routine to do my cold plunge and my 30 minutes of meditation and take, you know, 20 different supplements, but it's really not, right.

It's just about narrowing down. Three key focus areas. Um, so I love that. And also too, I mean, you know, like there's, there are natural remedies for almost everything. And I think you said you're part of a crunchy mom Facebook group. But, um, what are, what are some of your favorite resources, Emily, I mean we were talking about being self taught like where have you gone to like learn everything that you you've learned over the past decade

Emily: I love books. See, I prefer a [00:16:00] physical book over any kind of content creator because Anybody can throw up a video and be like, this is true. And I feel like if you go get a book, at least there were like streams of editing, 

most likely, you know, that it

had to go through. I'm not, yeah, I'm not saying like everything out there is totally true and should be followed, but it feels like it's a little more credible to get it from a real book.

So I have some like old, um, 90s, natural medicine books that I love

flipping through. They have like so many good recipes, good advice. I'm trying to think of my favorite. It's like, uh, healthier child A to Z. I think that's what it's called. And it actually lists like the natural remedy and then like the allopathic.

Medicine that would be used. Yeah. So you can [00:17:00] kind of line it up and see everything. And it gives like every single health issue that you could ever think of that you might encounter with your kids. And I love that book

so much. 

Jacqueline: There's this there's this one book by dr. Robert Mendelsohn I think it's called how to raise a healthy child in spite of your doctor. Have you read 

Emily: I have heard that. I think I might have it on my shelf. I can't guarantee that I've read it. I've probably flipped through

it. 

Jacqueline: would love it. 

Emily: Yeah, I should get that. 

I love books like that. Um, there's a book called Simply Living Well that was like one of my first crunchy books. She's more onto like the zero waste.

Train, but there's a lot of crossovers. See like that's a crunchy. That's a sect of crunchy or in my book I talk about how like you're on the spectrum of crunchy. Yeah, so she May not be like, I don't know Julia Watkins is the author I don't really know where she lands on like wearing natural fibers and stuff like that or like the [00:18:00] Health and wellness, but she's zero waste and because of that you have to make your own Mm hmm Remedies and stuff because you're not buying plastic bottles of whatever they sell at the pharmacy, you know so I learned a lot from her book.

Yeah, I just love checking out books reading what other people have to say hearing real stories about someone in a situation not just uh Factual, you know like a list of what you should do. I want to hear how it changed their life and

Jacqueline: hundred percent. 

Emily: it Yeah.

Jacqueline: I love that. I'm the same way. That's why I love the community, like the homeopathic. Community, and that's a train that I jumped on. I want to say three years ago, a co worker was like my wife's taking this course. Like, I really think you would be interested in it. Um, it was one of Joe at Calabrese's courses.

I don't know if you're familiar with her, but she has. Yeah, she has like all these awesome courses on like beginners like intro to homeopathy and I just [00:19:00] was floored by sitting in those like monthly meetings with a group of, I don't know, 40 or so women just recounting stories of how they used Arnica and Apis to avoid bringing their child to the ER after like a bee sting or a traumatic accident.

And I didn't really believe it like when I, the first month or so. But then, like, the more I actually started doing research and, like, again, just hearing these affirmations from these women, I was like, there's actually something here, so you're going to crack up. But I dropped, like, 300 on homeopathic kits and went home to my family and was, like, trying to teach them, like, all of the things to use.

And I, Put together like protocols for like my dad and my mom. So I mean, my mom has been pretty consistent. My dad, not as much, but point is that like that really opened my eyes to that whole community.

And again, like I absolutely love that. Like there's people out there, right. That share similar sentiments as myself. And just because it's not publicized on social media doesn't mean that they don't exist. 

Emily: I know. I had [00:20:00] a, I had a similar experience with homeopathy. Like, my son was having a hard time sleeping. He had already been sleeping in his own bed, like sleeping well. You know, whenever you're a mom, they're like all these different phases of like, OK, we're co sleeping and they need this nighttime support.

But anyway, he was like five and, um. Struggling, waking every night, having issues, and I'm like, okay, we're like, drinking tart cherry juice, we don't have screen time, he's getting plenty of sunshine in the morning, that's like, prompting his later production of melatonin, and, you know, like, I'm doing everything, and I definitely, like, he has We rubbed magnesium on his belly and like just everything I had done at all and I decided to try Um boron sleep calm for kids

Jacqueline: those in my cabinet.

Emily: Yeah, and I was like, this is so fake.

Like this [00:21:00] is not real. This is not gonna work at all I already like I I I already decided. And the first night that I gave it to him, and I'm telling you, we're, we're talking like six months every single night, waking with night terrors. And we had like started therapy and I gave him that sleep calm

Jacqueline: He was out.

Emily: and he slept through the night the first time.

And I was like, what? What? Real? This isn't real. But then we kept doing it and it was like. A non issue. He didn't, like, we dropped out of therapy because it was like, he didn't need that. That wasn't the answer. And everything, I don't know, like, everything just fell into place. He just needed that. And I still can't.

Like, I still have a hard time believing it's real, but it totally is! We've used the Allergy, we've used, like, so [00:22:00] many different of their blends, and I really love them. I haven't ventured much into, like, the singular You know, like just knowing I kind of depend on them to tell me What to use but there's just so much out there.

It's hard to learn at all So right now that's working for us, but I I hear that it's even more effective if you don't use the blends

Jacqueline: Yeah. If you were like coming over my apartment later, I would just open up my cabinet and show you like I shot from Boron and Helios. I don't know if you've heard of Helios. They're based in the UK. But I like Helios cause you could get like these massive bottles. It's just more cost efficient, but I'll have friends come over.

I'll open my cabinet to like, I don't know, grab salt or something. And like, you literally see their eyes widen when they see like all these homeopathic remedies. And I'm like, yeah, it's just my homeopathy. They're like, do you take all of that? And I was like, no, you take it. Like if you're experiencing [00:23:00] something, it's not like a supplement.

And then I'll proceed to like educate them on the basics of homeopathic. It's or homeopathy. I always pronounce it. I switch. Is it homeopathy, 

but then it's like a homeopathic protocol, 

Emily: that's what I say,

yeah. But I also, when I was reading my book for the audiobook, they're like, yeah, that's not how you say that. For so many things, so, like this whole time, I've been walking around as a Crunchy Mom saying PFA's instead of PFA's. It's funny.

Jacqueline: Yeah. 

Emily: Why isn't it PFA's? So like I go to read my book.

I like I've even heard other people say PFA's and I'm like, that's not how you say

Jacqueline: Yeah. 

Emily: Like why are they reading it like that? 

Jacqueline: Just, just own it. Just create it how you think it should sound. 

Emily: Yeah, so definitely don't ask me for pronunciation, but you know, I always say PFA's. People who are using words, but pronouncing them wrong [00:24:00] is usually a sign that they're reading, that they're readers, because they read it somewhere and learned it and maybe just didn't know how to say it correctly.

Jacqueline: Exactly. I love it. Wait, I'm so excited to see you have an audio version two coming out. Oh my 

Emily: Yes. It is, I am so excited about the audiobook. Like, it is, It was so fun. And I feel like you get more of my tone and more of the jokes. Some of it, like I went on a ladies podcast and she was so sweet. She read my book. She loved my book. But she read me, uh, an excerpt and she was like, this just really spoke to me.

I was like, that is not at all how

I meant that. Yeah.

But, good! I'm glad that you loved it. That's wonderful. But, whenever you listen to an audiobook, you know, you kind of 

Jacqueline: Yeah. 

Emily: kind of hear how I mean it, so.

Jacqueline: And there were, there were definitely like really funny points, um, in that book. Like I w I was sitting at a coffee shop nearby as I was reading through the PDF and I just like had points where I would just laugh out loud [00:25:00] because I was like, this 

is literally so 

true. But, but one thing I, I really did love Emily that you mentioned is that like As you've continued in your journey, you said, try your best to be unoffendable and also try not to offend and that it's better to meet people where they are and try to understand where they're coming from, whether you're the one giving the toxic hand soap or the one receiving it.

And that is so spot on. And one of the topic areas that I really wanted to cover with you, because when I meet new friends, right, or observe something that. Someone's doing in their routine that like may not be the healthiest thing for them, but they genuinely do not know any better I always like pause and I say like hmm like should I should I say something or should I not so how do you go?

About educating people without offending them.

Emily: sort of have a hard and fast rule not to say something unless I'm [00:26:00] asked. So, then, if they ask me about one area, then I could kind of, like, work it into the conversation somehow. And I think it's really helpful to not say, like, I noticed you drinking out of a plastic water bottle. It's like, you can take Your knowledge and say, hey, did you know this about drinking out of a plastic water bottle?

You know, you don't like direct it at their behavior. Don't use you language um But I definitely think it's better to preserve your relationships. Don't feel like you have to educate. It's not really your job to convert people to living a healthier lifestyle. I mean, if you are really concerned about someone you love, like your spouse.

Then I would say they're going to be more open and receptive to whatever you have to say, but just like a buddy Um, I [00:27:00] think it's probably best just not to say anything And then if they're curious they can ask you and if you're living a certain way and they can see a noticeable difference Then that opens the door for conversations, you

Jacqueline: Yeah. I love that. Does that approach differ if you're speaking to someone in your family, like your broader family too, versus a friend, or is it the same? And I, like, the thing that comes to mind is your Thanksgiving reel when you were like, in the turkey, like, cooking it in plastic, like, just kidding, I'll make the whole meal, I'll bring everything.

But how does, how does that approach differ, if at all?

Emily: Yeah, um, I wouldn't say much. I guess it depends on how close you are. How much are you talking to them? Um, I, like a couple of my aunts I feel like I could, but I also have random cousins that I would never reach out and say anything to them, you know? Um, It is really [00:28:00] tricky and it's kind of, I'm in a funny position because now I'm this comedy content creator.

So a lot of people didn't even know that I was crunchy before they saw my videos. And when we started making videos, we didn't tell anybody. We just started putting them up and the account grew on its own. We did not tell anyone. And so, People started seeing my videos that have known me for a long time and they're like wait Do you really think that way? Like sort of I mean, I'm not judgmental. I'm not judgmental. That's not

me. You know me.

Yeah, but yeah, I definitely Don't use canola oil if that's 

Jacqueline: Yeah. That's so funny. I love that. I think it isn't. It's just, it's funny how God works because to your point earlier, like you and Jason had no plan or intent, right. Of like growing to be this big and you just kind of put together, what did you say? Like 12 videos just for kicks and then it just kind of took [00:29:00] off.

Emily: yeah we we 

just started posting every single day and we didn't expect that it would go anywhere, but we had this goal to post a video every day for a year. And yeah, the Lord definitely has blessed us. We are so grateful to get to be self employed, work for ourselves. Jason gets to work from home. We get to homeschool our boys together.

Like it is a total dream what we've been given. So we definitely want to steward it well. But it's also kind of scary, because like, wait, the internet could crash tomorrow, and we've

put, like, all our eggs in this social media basket. So,

Jacqueline: understand. Well, Emily, I mean, now you have a book, so like, 

you know, you're kind of, you're kind of offsetting that.

Emily: We'll 

Jacqueline: Um, we'll see. No, I, I have full confidence that you'll find multiple ways to get your message out there, but, um, you also had a really funny reel. I'm just like recalling all these videos I watched in the past week where someone was like sitting across from you saying, can you tell us the message of your [00:30:00] book or something to that effect?

And you were like, we're all going to die, which, which of course is true, right? But I, I guess my question is, how do you strive? And I struggle with this too, right? To live A crunchy life and mitigate the harms from living in this toxic world while also not making yourself crazy with stress, right? Because we could become literally like paranoid about stepping out, you know, in in nature because of the air quality or not wanting to go out to a Coffee shop because the coffee is not organic.

So like how do you find balance?

Emily: It. Has come from years of feeling panic and anxiety. I allowed anxiety to consume me and I know how it feels to live in fear. And it is not fun. It is not a life I want to live. Like I'd rather abandon the whole crunchy thing all together. If I couldn't figure [00:31:00] out the balance thing, I just decided that stress.

The stress that I was putting on myself, the worry and anxiety, was far more damaging than Non organic coffee,

you know, so Just live the best you can and I say in my book I talk about how when we go out to eat and things like that Of course, I think about the food like how am I not gonna think about it?

But I don't allow it to scare me. My body is efficient at getting rid of the bad stuff Stuff like I take care of my body every single day. So that when I have a moment where I eat something that isn't the best for me, like I don't have to stress about it. It's not a big deal. Sometimes it doesn't make me feel great.

That's true. But anywhere you go, there are healthier choices that you can make, you know? So I feel like, uh, it's just not worth it to become [00:32:00] scared. That's not how we're meant to live. Mm.

Jacqueline: 100 percent agree with that, too And there's also all these studies to that show like if your body is in a stressed state When you're eating a meal like you actually won't extract the nutritional Contents or value of the food you're eating because your body's in that fight or flight state and I feel like that's why we're all kind of walking around with dysregulated nervous systems, especially a lot of us in the health space because we do know so much and 

not to say that ignorance is bliss, but I think sometimes like there's a healthy balance, right?

Like it's good to be aware and cautious, but If it makes you fearful of going out to dinner with a friend, right, then that's not necessarily the healthiest because then you're also isolating yourself and in an age where social connection is so needed, you know, we don't necessarily need another fan to fuel the fire, I guess 

Emily: Yeah, I know. Totally. Yeah, loneliness is on the rise, and there [00:33:00] are so many things keeping us from real human connection, like our phones and streaming services, whatever we want. We can be so pacified in the walls of our home and totally comfortable, but then when you step back from that, like, it's not real.

You're not having real experiences, real connection, real conversations. And I always think about like, when I'm on my deathbed, am I going to look back at my life and be pleased with how I've lived it? And I think that, I mean, I know a lot of people do that, but I feel like that is so important to do whenever you choose whether you're going to hold so tightly to your convictions 

Jacqueline: hmm. 

Emily: going to be a little loose with them.

Jacqueline: Yeah. No, that's so true. I love that. And I've noticed too, even for myself, like it really comes down to intentionality. And I feel like I, I mean, the more you're following grows, right? Like on your social media platforms, I think the easier it is to [00:34:00] become more immersed in that world.

That isn't necessarily a real world, right? And then you start to kind of like blur the lines between who are my friends, right? My Instagram friends than my real friends and what's more important. So I kind of had a, an awakening, so to speak, a few months ago where I was like, I need to be more intentional about setting up time to actually have conversations, live conversations with my friends.

So like this past Saturday, I hosted a little fun movie night at my apartment downstairs. I invited like, 15 or so friends just to get together and watch a movie in person, right? Not just be watching something and texting and you really do feel better afterwards just from like two hours of connection So I think that's something that It's really, um, you know, underrated when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle too.

And one thing too, Emily, so going back to this, this book and all my notes, I flagged so many different pages cause I was like, I have to just screenshot this and send it to my mom. But, um, [00:35:00] yeah. You have this spectrum in your book that goes from silky to scrunchy to really very crunchy, which I absolutely loved.

Can you explain the difference between those for listeners?

Emily: Yeah, so Silky is kind of, um, the go with the flow, convenient, conventional type of living. Um, in my videos, I do a bit where I wear this t shirt that says Coke on it. It's The fans have deemed it the Coke mom, and so I would say the Coke mom is definitely silky. She's just, uh, living her life, doing whatever.

You know, not even concerned about wellness. Um, and then scrunchie is where you're kind of like, you buy organic food, but you maybe buy, A lot of processed organic food, or you know about the [00:36:00] dangers of VOCs and things like that, but you still burn scented candles sometimes when you want to. So Scrunchie is really someone who's pretty well balanced, I would say.

Um, but maybe also just not willing to give up some of those conveniences 

and luxuries of the silky life. And then Really very crunchy. I've already explained. So yeah, it's a fun spectrum and I say like sometimes I'm pretty scrunchy. I, I don't really think I'm very silky in many areas anymore.

But yeah, well, I mean I admit in my book that sometimes, for nostalgia's sake, we'll go get a custard from Culver's because we just like have this whole past with their custard.

It's like part of our relationship. It's weird. Um, so, you know, like, I know that it has corn syrup in it. I [00:37:00] have looked up the ingredients and I am appalled. But, It's still fun, and it's still nostalgic, so that would be pretty silky of me, I guess. Um, and then, you know, sometimes, like, my mom will give me leftovers or something, and, when I'm down at her house, uh, and she'll, like, put it in a Ziploc bag, and I don't say anything, and I'm, I, take it.

who am I?

Jacqueline: Does your mom follow you on social?

Emily: Yeah, she does, and she's pretty, Crunchy in some ways, but she's definitely like I always tell her she'll be like saying something. I'm like, you're 62 It's too late for you. Anyway, like do whatever you want, you know

Jacqueline: I love that. 

Emily: so 

Jacqueline: Well, she tries. 

Emily: yeah, well jason's grandmother is in her 90s and i've gone over there and she's like microwaving some Styrofoam and I'm like you [00:38:00] should not be doing that like definitely don't do that And she's like are you 90? Or am I? I'm like, okay, salty. Uh, but I guess you're right. Yeah.

Jacqueline: That's hysterical. Um, one thing too I did want to touch on. So we spoke about simplicity before and how that's really like, that's key, right? In, in being as crunchy as you can. But what are some of your favorite Crunchy things to do for those who have a budget, right?

So I feel like this obviously like aligns with the concept of simplicity, but just right now, like what are like five or six things that people out there right now they're on a budget, they want to be crunchy. What can they do? What substitutes can they make in their lifestyle?

Emily: Um, definitely open your windows, let fresh air in your house. Uh, air quality is a huge thing that you should be focusing on. [00:39:00] So, let the fresh air in, um, vacuum regularly. That's another way to improve your air quality. Get rid of plastic. I know I just said I accept Ziploc bags.

I promise it's very rare. And I promise I wash them and then put something in it and give it back. Um, but get rid of single use plastic. Like, stop using grocery bags. at the store, uh, take your own grocery bag, stop using those produce bags, um, stop storing your food in plastic. It is not that expensive.

You can get glass containers for like 20 bucks and use those to store your leftovers. Um, start meal planning. How can you fuel your body with healthy food if you're not prepared? You know, like, it is so hard if you don't have a plan. It is so much more tempting to reach for something easy and convenient and quick when you [00:40:00] don't have a plan.

So, meal plan, one of my favorite things to do is I cook my breakfast at night so that it's easy for me to just heat it up, like, and I know I'm having a wholesome, good, Breakfast like frittatas are amazing to do that with um, and Then you start your day off, right? And then for lunches I always eat leftovers from my dinner the night before so like it just makes the day Go so much more smoothly And I know that i'm eating well, and I don't ever have to stress about that aspect.

So definitely meal plan um Get shoes that fit your foot shape. I am like so on a kick of foot health. I know it's super trendy, but People are getting messed up by wearing the wrong shoes and it's not that hard to just choose A shoe that has a wide toe box,

you 

know, like it. Yeah, have [00:41:00] you tried the barefoot shoes?

Yeah. Yeah. I've tried several different brands

Jacqueline: Yeah, I, I just got a pair of paluva and I'm like so excited to try them because I have like, I'm new to all this and I hear so many wonderful things, but yeah, that's, that's spot on.

Emily: if you look at old people's feet and you see how they're like turned in and then they have a hard time walking because They've been cramming their foot into the wrong shaped shoe their whole life like Why would you want to do that? You can prevent bunions. It is preventable. Um, so definitely just get a wide toe box shoe.

I prefer the like super minimalist barefoot type shoe for sure for like healthy foot movement. And even going barefoot, if you're a stay at home mom you don't have to buy Expensive shoes. You can just step outside barefoot, you 

know, like whatever you're doing, do a barefoot

Jacqueline: Yeah, exactly. To that point too, can you educate listeners on the benefits [00:42:00] of grounding?

Emily: shirt, it is so good for you. Connecting with the earth, um, improve circulation, uh, decreases inflammation. It helps you sleep better, uh, increases heart rate variability. Gosh, there are just So 

many benefits to grounding. Yes. It's like, if you look it up. It just like goes on and on and on. Um, even expedited wound healing,

which sounds crazy, but just like all of these amazing benefits, it's like, why aren't we connecting with the earth?

Um, and people message me pretty regularly asking my opinion on grounding sheets, which I've never used them. I'm sure they're great, but it's like, 

why don't you, why don't you, just go

outside? Just 

Yeah, 

just go outside. You don't have to buy those really expensive sheets. You just 

spend some time [00:43:00] barefoot.

Jacqueline: Exactly. Isn't that funny? Like we feel the need to have to like create ways to like even create another separation between us and nature to like still kind of reap the benefits, but like without actually going to. 

Emily: Yeah, 

Jacqueline: source. 

Emily: oh I was just Hanging out with jenny urich the creator of a thousand hours outside. I love her so much. I love her movement. She's amazing She has so many amazing books out there But she gets all these messages about does this count as time outside? Does this count my kids are in the driveway, but they're in cardboard boxes Does that count like why do we have to complicate everything if you're outside you're outside, you know, like just it Be outside.

You don't if I'm in the garage, but the doors are open. Does that count? Which it is kind of funny to like think about, but just go outside.

Jacqueline: The questions people ask so funny I am so while I don't actually like walk barefoot like so i'm in greenville, south carolina I live in an [00:44:00] apartment building when I go home. I'll try to walk barefoot. But um Here I I pretty much opt to either wear like grounding sneakers when I go outside, which I think are really cool Um but I will always like touch a tree.

So like, I literally, like you can call me a tree hugger and it's so funny cause I was walking with my mom when she came to visit me a few weeks ago and I would just be, we'd just be walking and like people would be, you know, like just walking around us and I would go up to a tree and just like put both of my hands on it and just like stay there.

I'm like, mom, come here, come ground with me. 

And she would like, look around to like see if anyone was watching and like come up and touch the tree. I'm like, mom, like, what do you care? And I've had times where people literally have come up and like, What? What are you doing? I mean, I'll tell him about grounding and the benefits, and they're like, like, so interested, like, wow, like, really just just from touching nature.

And I'm like, yeah, and it just goes to show you super simple practices that people just aren't aware of. And I think like, to some point, Emily, like we are, or those of us who may not [00:45:00] like know about these practices are aware. Of them in the sense of like when you go on a hike, you just feel different right after being outside in nature all day, but they can't quite pinpoint why so it's just a matter of explaining this is why because you are coming in contact with nature.

You are grounding. Um, you are earthing. So I like being the educational. I guess, like, channel for those folks.

Emily: That's awesome. Yeah. I think you're right. It is intuitive. Like we know what is good for us. When you sit on your phone for. three hours scrolling You can feel it like it doesn't feel good to walk away from that and it's because our bodies know that it's not good for us 

Jacqueline: Exactly. 

Emily: so right.

Jacqueline: Yeah. And I am curious, Emily, what are, like, two or three things that you are absolutely, like, we have to have this in our home? So you spoke about air quality before. Do you even have, like, do you use an air [00:46:00] filter in your home or do you live 

Emily: I do. I have an air doctor. I have

an air doctor, but it, it feels kind of pointless because we're like in the country. Our air quality, it, it's almost never on. The air doctor, like it's not, you know, it's like a very low,

but it never like kicks up unless I'm cooking. So yeah, I feel like our air quality is pretty great.

Um, what else?

Definitely. Yes, water filters. We have a reverse osmosis. I wish we were on well water, but our house Like didn't have a well and that costs like mega money to dig. So yeah, it's so expensive to dig a well. So we've just been using a reverse osmosis that remineralizes. And then I add, um, real salt to my water.

So yeah, it's not, you know, it's not the perfect, uh, solution, but I feel better about it than tap water.

Jacqueline: Yeah, no, I hear you. I had [00:47:00] a conversation. I'll send you the episode. I want to say a month or so ago with, um, Jen and Rusty Stout, they created this company called healthier homes and they basically just build non toxic homes for people like.

everything from the ground up and I read their book and to the point about information overload, like just became hyper aware of everything around me. And even like my apartment building, I was like, it was a relatively new building, but like, has everything had time to off gas and you know, what was the soil quality that it was built on and was there mold when they were building it, if it rained.

So like all these like rat holes that I went down. But, um, how did you, like, when you bought your home too, like, how did you, I guess, make it, like, as healthy as possible, right? Like, did you do a mold test? Any other, like, due diligence items, before purchasing it? Because I know you guys have moved so many times,

Emily: hmm. 

Jacqueline: so is that ever, like, in your mind?

Emily: It has been in my mind and we even made some choices in our home for [00:48:00] budgetary restraints, like we have vinyl plank floors. It drives me crazy. I'm like. I am like touching plastic. I'm touching plastic and I hate it. Like, I don't even wear plastic clothing. I've given up all polyester and all of that.

But my floors are plastic, but it's what we had to do because it's what we could afford. We could not afford bamboo or wood, which, I mean, there are so many Like finishes on all that, that

it's all technically toxic. Like all of it is

bad. Um, but you know, like we did try to make like, we got low VOC paint and, uh, we got carpets that weren't treated with PFAS or flame retardants.

Um, there are little things like that you can do. And. Even, like, we don't have all organic beds right now. I am looking at purchasing some mattresses, but I [00:49:00] use cotton sheets, you know, and natural fiber bedding. So, there are ways to build your home and make it as crunchy as you can on whatever budget.

Definitely would, um, Recommend a mold test for people, I, but you can also see signs of mold, like if there's previous water damage or the floor is swelling somewhere, or there's like a wave in the wall, you know, like there are little clues, um, but we haven't had any issues, so fingers 

Jacqueline: That's good. You're good. Yeah. It's what, it's just, it's about controlling what you can control. Right. I feel like that's like the consistent theme with everything and then 

just making the healthy choices where you can. 

Emily: Yeah, 

Jacqueline: love 

that. 

Emily: down wool rugs so that I can walk

on wool instead. 

Jacqueline: you're going to laugh too. My sister came a couple of weeks ago to visit and she was on this kick of just throwing out everything that was not like cotton or wool or good [00:50:00] materials in her closet.

So she came and went through my closet and we threw out Emily's like a solid, like. Two full trash bags of clothes that were just either acrylic or polyester things I still had from college that I didn't even like really pay attention to you I just assumed it was cotton but it's crazy like the materials that you know Clothes are made with today and like Mm hmm. largest organ and people don't really think you know Think of that 

Emily: Yeah, fibers break down so like that is rubbing off onto you and even like in the water, you know, when you wash that stuff, it's shedding microplastics and 

adding to the issue with plastics in the waterways and all of that.

So it's just, You're not aware of the impact that you're making until your eyes are open to it.

Then you're like, oh my goodness What 

Jacqueline: Yeah. Once your eyes are open, like, you can't go back, you 

know, like, you really can't. [00:51:00] But, um, Emily, I, I absolutely love your book. I'm super excited for listeners to also pick it up. I have a hard copy coming in, too, because I love to, similar to you, like, circle and write notes , but, um, this was so much fun.

I'm so excited, to share this with listeners. And where can they find you and also get a copy of your book?

Emily: sure So my platform is called really very crunchy and conveniently my book is called really very crunchy So I'm on yeah, that's a really good Good idea on my publisher's part. I'm on all the social medias, Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat. Is that all of them?

Jacqueline: Wow. All of them.

Emily: So, all of them, you can find me there.

And then as far as my book, anywhere books are sold online. So, Books A Million, Barnes Noble, Amazon, Christian Book. Everywhere, you 

can 

buy books online. Um, I will be in some physical stores as well. [00:52:00] So,

Jacqueline: Exciting. And what is the most important thing that you hope readers take away from your book? much. But if you could 

Emily: yeah, I know, it's so hard. Hmm. This is probably not what I would have even said yesterday, but choose humility in all you do. Be humble because it can be so tempting to become like this. holier than thou. I mean the subtitle to my book is a beginner's guide to removing toxins from your life without adding them to your personality because it can be so tricky not to add them to your personality even on accident.

So just approach everyone with the most generous outlook that you can. Every interaction, try to be positive and humble and loving. Always

love So yeah, 

Jacqueline: I love that. Well, I'm such a [00:53:00] big fan of you and your work., I'm super grateful to have connected with you. My very last question though for you is what does being well and strong mean to you?

Emily: this is where I should have listened to other people's

Answers. 

Jacqueline: I like it. I like it on the fly. Cause then you don't have time to think about it. It's 

more authentic. 

Emily: Well, and strong, um, intentionality, like being intentional about making the best choice for you and your health. And if you're doing the best you can, then I think you will be well and strong.

Jacqueline: Beautiful. Well, Emily, I'm so excited for you and for your book launch. Um, please let me know whatever I can do to help support. But, um, yeah, I'm really excited to share this with listeners and I hope to have you on again soon.

Emily: Thanks. Thanks so much for having me. This was fun.


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Jacqueline Genova

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