The Transformative Power of Family Meals

What are the key components of a healthy family? Today we’re going to zoom out beyond diet and exercise to examine the cultural and environmental factors that play a role in influencing our habits. When we can create a healthy, connected, and upgraded environment, habits like eating well become automatic.

On today’s show, you’re going to hear my interview with Chalene Johnson on The Chalene Show. We’re going to explore the fascinating intersection between family, connection, and health outcomes. You’ll learn about the transformative power of a shared family meal and how your environment influences your habits. This episode also contains conversations on the cultural context of cravings, how to approach shifting the habits of a picky eater, the science and marketing of processed food, and so much more.

We all have the power to affect change, and that authority begins in our own homes. This episode will give you the tools and science you need to begin transforming your own family culture. Enjoy!

In this episode you’ll discover:

• What percentage of Americans have been diagnosed with a chronic illness.
• How poor health has been normalized in our culture.
• The key ingredients that are necessary to create a healthy family.
• Why connection is an important piece of family culture.
• The number one factor that influences your longevity.
• My experience growing up in two separate family cultures.
• The role that environment plays in behavior changes.
• What culture is, and how to influence your microculture.
• The connection between eating behaviors and health outcomes.
• What it means to be a benevolent leader in your family.
• Strategies for handling a picky eater.
• Why cravings are cultural.
• The definition of ultra-processed food.
• What percentage of the average American child’s diet is ultra-processed food.
• How offering choices can help shift behaviors in your children. 
• The relationship between obesity rates and family meals.
• How to find creative ways to eat with your family during busy times.
• What you can expect inside the Eat Smarter Family Cookbook.

Items mentioned in this episode include:

• EatSmarterCookbook.com -- Preorder your copy today & claim your free bonuses!
• HVMN.com/model -- Save 30% on your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ!
• Organifi.com/Model -- Use the coupon code MODEL for 20% off + free shipping!
• The Chalene Show

Join TMHS Facebook community - Model Nation 

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Thanks to our Sponsors

This episode is brought to you by HVMN. One of the major reasons that people give for not being able to cook home-cooked meals on a consistent basis is not having the energy to do it. Energy can be one of our greatest assets, and it can also be one of our greatest deficiencies. Obviously our lifestyle factors play a huge role in the availability that we have to access energy. But there are a few recent discoveries that are adding to the energy equation. Like a few things ever have numerous studies, including a study published by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, or the FASEB Journal, found that exogenous ketones can be up to 28% more efficient in generating energy than glucose alone. This is about cognitive function, if this is about energy, you've got to utilize these ketones. But not just any run of the mill ketone esters that had its time in the sun, but something far better has been brought to the world by HVMN. Go to hvmn.com/model and you're going to get 30% off your first subscription order of Ketone-IQ. Ketone-IQ is now clinically proven to improve our cognitive performance and also bolster our energy for sports performance. In fact, studies have found up to 15% increased mean power output after recovery by utilizing ketones. And the bioavailability of Ketone-IQ is in a league of its own. Check out Ketone-IQ today. Go to hvmn.com/model for 30% off your first subscription order.

This episode is brought to you by Organifi. All of my family, my kids in particular, I make sure that they're getting in a concentration of whole food-based micronutrients several times a week at minimum, most of the time every day. And for me, especially for my kids, and in particular with my youngest, I love the formulation of red juice and these kind of red, blended red and blue hued super foods and the Organifi red juice, because he loves the way that it tastes and it's just packed with real food nutrition. So in particular, we've got açaí that's in there. In the Journal of agriculture and food chemistry found that açaí actually... Not just theoretically, it actually raises participants' anti-oxidant levels demonstrating how effectively it's absorbed by our gut. By the human digestive system, we actually do absorb the anti-oxidants, it's not theoretical. There's a resonance here, and açaí actually has an ORAC value of 103,000, this means that it's about 10 times the antioxidants of most fruits that you're gonna see in your produce aisle, so it's again, getting our kids' growing bodies the anti-oxidants in their concentrated source, but it's kid-tested. Parent-approved tasty, another ingredient in that red juice blend is actually blueberry. And researchers at the University of Michigan published data finding that blueberry intake can potentially affect genes related to fat-burning, again, stacking conditions for healthy metabolism. Head over to organifi.com/model, and get 20% off their red juice blend and also their green juice blend, their incredible gold, everything they carry actually, it's a really, really special thing that they have going on. Go to organifi.com/model, that's organifi.com/model, to get 20% off. Again, kid-tested, parent-approved. Definitely for our kids, red juice is a huge winner.