We are on the island of Kawaii today for a very special episode
of Grounded Wellness with Bethany Hamilton.
There are few people in the world whose presence feels like
a living embodiment of strength, grace, and deep rooted faith,
and Bethany is one of them. Bethany is a professional
surfer, author, speaker, wife, and Mama 4.
In this conversation, Bethany opens up about what it means to
truly live well physically, mentally, and spiritually.
From her grounding daily practices to the perspectives
that carry her through life's waves, this episode is a
heartfelt dive into resilience, intuition, and holistic Wellness
from one of the most inspiring voices of our time.
Whether you follow Bethany journey since Soul Surfer or
you're just discovering her depth beyond the headlines, this
conversation will help you reconnect to your own strength.
Let's dig in. Bethany, thank you so much for
being here today. We've been in touch for a while
now. We met for the first time a
little over two years ago in Kauai, and you were pregnant
with your daughter, your youngest, Alea, and I had my
youngest, Otto, with me. I remember he was like in the
carrier and we got acai bowls. So I've been following along
with you for so long. And as I was getting ready for
this recording, I was researching you even more and I
found out that we have a lot of really interesting things in
common. Do you want to hear some of
them? Yes.
OK, so obviously on my toes. Now I know I can't wait.
The obvious one is we have the same name.
Yes. OK, we're both blonde.
That was on my list. But another obvious one.
We're both really into health. We have the same favorite Bible
verse. I think this is your favorite
verse. John 1635.
Yeah. Yeah.
That was like, on my Facebook profile, like my bio, like, all
throughout college. We're similar ages.
I'm 36. I think you're 35.
We both dated our husbands nine months before getting engaged.
Isn't that good? Yeah, and I think I heard you
say that your husband has a teaching degree.
He does think that is mine. That is wild.
OK, We have a lot of similarities here.
And you've described him as like a ball guy before he moved here.
What was his? Sport.
He did mostly football, but I think he dabbled in a few
different sports as well. OK, My husband, he's a track and
stuff and yeah. OK, so not quite the same
sports, but that's that's so funny.
I just loved that most of our audience is probably very
familiar with your story. Yes.
When you were thirteen years old, you were attacked by a 14
foot tiger shark. You lost your arm in the attack
and then 3 1/2 weeks later you got back into the ocean and
started surfing again. So I'm sure a part of you was
terrified to go back into the water.
But to what extent were you afraid, and how did you overcome
that fear? Yes, so Oh my gosh, I would say
I am far from fearless, though a lot of people describe me as
fearless. And when my whole life kind of
came to a halt in that season, my biggest fear was not of
sharks at that point, but of losing surfing.
So I didn't know anyone who surfed with one arm.
I didn't know, you know, I didn't even know anyone who had
limb difference, let alone like surfed.
And so for me, I felt very fearful of of losing my greatest
passion in life at that time, like I was winning every surf
competition I entered up just about for my age group and I was
like the one to beat. And you can tell that I was
heading on a trajectory for a professional surfing career and.
And not just a professional surfing career, but becoming to.
Be one of the best. And so, yeah, as soon as I got a
hint of inspiration that I could try to surf with one arm, I was
dead set on trying. And of course, there was fear of
sharks. But I think my fear of losing
surfing was greater than my fear of sharks.
And I think for anyone who knows the ocean, yeah, sharks come
close to the beach sometimes. But for the most part, like,
where I lost my arm was really far out to sea and kind of like,
more of a eerie location, so to say.
And so when I first went surfing, I went where it was
very shallow, like you could stand up and just like a foot
and a half deep. And then over time, I slowly,
you know, well, first of all, I figured out how to surf with an
arm. And then from there, there was
no turning back. And then over time, I slowly
overcame that fear of sharks once I started surfing, all the
normal breaks. And yeah, I think for me, it
truly was just facing my fears and not letting that fear hold
me back. And, you know, I definitely have
a more tenacious attitude or like I'm a go getter in life and
that helped me. But I also feel like God gave me
this passion for a reason and this gift and talent.
And so it was just God working in and through my life.
And lo and behold, I continued surfing and kind of continued on
a very similar trajectory. Maybe not quite the same, but
I'd say it became a more beautiful life than I could have
painted. Yeah, absolutely.
And you touched on something really interesting with fear.
It's like a lot of us have fears, but I think it's
important to think like, what is the cost if I don't do this?
Yeah. So it's not necessarily about
just doing it and overcoming it, period.
And it's like thinking about like, what do I lose if I, if I
choose to not push myself a little bit?
Yeah. Very soon after all of this, you
were then launched into the public eye.
You became instantly famous. You were travelling around the
world speaking and and talking to people and encouraging
people. What was that like for you?
Yes. So oddly enough, like, my
parents decided to, like, let me go and make a public name for
myself at 13. And I don't know if they fully
knew what they were doing. You know, we lived a very simple
life. And, you know, my parents worked
like, multiple jobs and we lived here out in Hawaii, where the
cost of living is very high. And we were just like kind of
barely scraping by throughout most of my childhood.
And so when they kind of sent me out, I mean, they came with me,
of course, but like. Was it you who were like I
really want to do this or were they like this would be really
cool you should try it. I would say it was a mix.
So what's crazy is they interviewed me in the hospital
and I was like, well, maybe God will be able to use my story to
encourage others. And that was like 13 year old
Bethany. Nobody said that to me before.
I said that like it wasn't something my parents like
ingrained in my mind. It was just something that came
out at me. And so I think I always had that
heart. And I like I see how my mom
raised me too. For example, on Christmas, even
with our low income, for one gift, we would go and buy like a
well for a community who didn't have clean water.
Or we'd buy like some goats to support a community who needed
more food. So like, my mom was very
thinking outside of our family, like loving our neighbor, even
if we didn't know that sort of thing.
And so I think I grew up in a household of like not always
thinking about ourselves and thinking of others and the need
in the world. And so then when I lost my arm,
this was before social media was super viral.
Nowadays people can become known overnight through a viral social
media video. But I would say it's very
different in the sense that often times they're also
forgotten very quickly, too. But my story went truly viral,
like household name all over the world, like little Bethany gets
back, especially once I started surfing again.
Yeah. And so I started surfing again
and then it went triple viral. And and then lo and behold, I
went on to write my book. And little 314 year old Bethany
was like, let's write this book so I never have to tell my story
again. But I didn't understand the
whole concept of like, you got to go on a book tour and then
you tell your story over again and again and again so you can
promote your book. Yeah.
And so over time, like, and then I started motivational speaking.
So I I've been making this joke like I do the two scariest
things in the world. I surf with sharks and do
motivational public and public. Literally, yeah.
Everyone's a lot of. People like really don't want
nothing to do with all of that, but.
But you had purpose that was greater than your fear.
Right. And so I think with speaking I
knew that I could help people, even though I started off really
bad at it and over time I got better and better at it.
Like imagine a little 14151617 year old Bethany didn't always
have much to say. So you really had to dig it out
of me. But there's also like really fun
moments along the way where I was very like, honest and real.
I think that's kind of hard to come by nowadays.
And so people just loved that an yeah, it's just been such an
amazing journey. And I'm so grateful for even all
the hardship and seeing all the good that's come out of it and
still having such a beautiful life.
And now I'm a mom of four and it's just such a joy.
And now I'm surfing with my children.
And I'm not a super bribing parent but I do bribe my
children to surf because I know it's like a hard 1 to overcome
the hurdle of like fear of waves and getting pounded.
What do you bribe them with? Well lately it's like gummy
bears are a dollar for my 4 year old.
So the other day he's like I can have a dollar.
His face lit up. So he surfed and challenged
himself and he had fun. I.
Feel like bribery gets such a bad rap and obviously it can be
overdone and done in a way that isn't healthy, but also, like
all of us, incentivize our children in different ways.
Yeah, and a lot of ways. Like I would not show up for
many things in life if I didn't have a reason beyond, you know?
That's how it works in the real world.
Yeah, but I definitely try not to use it too much.
And you can't. Surfing, it definitely helps
because surfing has like this, there's this hurdle you have to
overcome. And like, for example, my 10
year old, he's a total shredder now.
And I fully bribed him. And I asked him the other day.
I was like, are you glad Mama bribed you when you were little?
He's like, yeah, thanks Mom. Yeah, I mean it can be an
effective parenting scratch, even used correctly.
Yeah, And he had a really, like, he didn't like getting splashed
in the face. Like, it felt, you know, he
didn't like, it took him a while to get used to getting, like,
just flash. Yeah.
But he was also, like, a little natural.
And lo and behold, he became a great little surfer.
And I love that he gets to enjoy surfing with me, but he also
gets to just enjoy the. I think it's such a special
place for children to spend time in.
And for sure, yeah. How did, how did that whole
experience, starting with the shark attack and then, you know,
being this public figure known worldwide, how did all of that
shape you into the person, the mom, the wife that you are
today? I heard say what's a blessing is
I wouldn't say all that shaped me.
I would say more surfing and my faith in God shaped me more than
anything. And then on top of that, my
family and I've always been very grounded in like my faith.
And, you know, for me, going in the public eye was really
uncomfortable. So coming home and jumping in
the ocean was like my regulator. Yeah.
Like it was my place of freedom and my place to just be me.
And and then my faith in God really grounded me in a lot of
ways where is like a lot of the other stuff was uncomfortable
and I didn't really enjoy it, but I knew there was a purpose,
especially in helping others. And so as I wrote my book and
then we made the movie Soul Surfer, and then eventually my
documentary Unstoppable, it all just kind of came into place.
And yeah, it was just so beautiful to be able to like
encourage people because I think all of us face hardship and
continually throughout life. And we need that hint of hope.
And I have had my hints of hope along the way.
And so. Yeah, it's obvious.
Like how much people cling to your story, like people are in
desperate need of that encouragement.
And I think you're just this living example of that and it
resonates with so many people. I want to talk about your
Wellness journey a little bit, yes, and man motherhood, because
those things seem to be very intertwined for you.
But tell us about how your Wellness journey started.
It was after becoming a mom. Is that correct?
Kind of. So I started to actually get
into health in my teenage years. So it started off really cute.
We didn't have social media. We were the no hydrogenated oil
club girls. You guys were way ahead of the
time. Ahead of our time, yeah.
But then as an athlete, I wanted to perform well, so I was
competing as a professional surfer and I also didn't get my
period for most of my teen years.
And so lo and behold, my parents won a auction item to get a live
blood analysis from a local like integrative health doctor, and
they didn't want it. So they gave it to me.
Wow. And I took that and I ran with
it. And it was very eye opening to
just see my blood and have it explained out to me.
And so that was the very start of my health journey.
Do you still do those? I haven't done one in years.
I did. Should go do that.
A few years ago. It was interesting, yeah.
Yeah, so anyway, that like was very eye opening and motivating.
And and then from there I like I really took an interest in just
educating myself. So I read a lot of books along
the way. And but then Fast forward to
motherhood after I had my second, I was also in the season
where I was filming my documentary, so I was super
duper active. I was also competing and I was
pushing myself super hard, but to the point where I wasn't
sleeping well. So I was like waking up at 3:00
in the morning, which I realized in hindsight, I wasn't getting
enough calories. I didn't have any eating
disorder, but I wasn't. I simply wasn't eating enough,
which I think a lot of people don't eat enough in life.
Especially busy moms. Yeah, especially busy moms.
So I was just running super hard.
I was also like, I would have coffee before I have breakfast
and then I would, I was even getting into like intermittent
fasting, which I kind of cringe on all this now.
And I know some people like that, but for me it was super
detrimental. And if I'm going to be really
honest, what really was my wake up was me like snapping at my
children. So I was super easily agitated
and I think it was because I was running off cortisol and my
hormones were kind of getting disrupt and I just wasn't in a
good place. Or for example, there's a few
moments in my kitchen where I was always dropping things.
Like my body was kind of like shaky almost, but it wasn't like
super noticeable, but I would just drop stuff a lot and then
it would break and shatter and. It was more frustrating than
that. Oh my gosh, as a mom, I was
like, you know, like you just want to kind of Lanza.
I was like ball crying. Like I'm like, is this normal?
And then one day I was like, I don't think it's normal to be
ball crying because I dropped something on the ground and it
like made a mess. Like I don't think that's
normal. And so I just kind of went down
a podcast Bunny trail. My brother was also having some
health issues and so he was studying stuff and we would ping
stuff back and forth and I ended up kind of getting into the pro
metabolic like mineral dense diet.
What does that look like? So basically what it looks like
is eating breakfast within 30 minutes of waking and in that
breakfast is high protein, like 3 or 4 eggs and fruit or you
know, some potatoes or something like that.
And then maintaining a similar meal plan throughout the day and
making sure I was getting for me like close to 4000 calories.
So I probably went from eating like 2000 calories to doubling
my calories. It's a big increase.
Yeah, and and then never eating coffee on an empty stomach,
eating things like organ meats. Like I would eat random things
like bone broth and bee pollen and just like, great.
Still eat all the food groups. You know, I also have started
eating a lot less than nuts and seeds, which I tended to eat a
lot of that before for some reason, I don't know why, but
like maybe more than your average human eats nuts and
seeds like I just always have. Eating well, I did the same
thing. When you do that in excess, at
least for me, like it didn't sit well in my gut and just, yeah,
it wasn't the right. Yeah, and then I was also dairy
free, so I started incorporating dairy, mostly raw dairy, raw
cheese, raw milk. My brother's a dairy farmer, so
I do have access to Refresh raw milk.
And I felt such a big shift over the next like 3 years.
Like I went from pretty like struggling to thriving.
Like I have amazing energy. I sleep way better, you know, if
I wake up in the middle of the night and like, OK, what did I
eat? Like, what's going on here?
Like, you know, it's very rare that I wake up in the middle of
the night aside from having to nurse my children.
So, you know, being a professional athlete, pushing it
really hard, working a lot, high stress, high pressure, wanting
to get my body back, so to say, because I was in the public eye.
But it's really different too when you're not only in the
public eye, but like, I literally live in a swimsuit.
And so, yeah, just after having a baby, like, working really
hard. And then I was filming my
documentary, so I'm on camera all the time.
So there was just a lot there to unpack.
And basically these diet shifts that I made made such a big
difference to the point where, like, nobody's convincing me
otherwise because I feel amazing.
I'm way more mentally, emotionally stable and I'm not
snapping at my children, which is absolutely devastating and
super hard and. I love your honesty in
mentioning that because I think all of us can relate to that.
It's happened to all of us, and I think it's really helpful for
any moms listening to hear there are things that you can do to
support your body. So the better mental headspace,
so when the frustration or the triggers do come, yeah, you can
handle it in a better way. Yeah, and I think all of us
struggle with triggers. It's not like I'm perfect now,
but I'm definitely not where I was.
Like, you know. Set your body up for.
Success. The child would spill the glass
of milk, but it was like a $5 glass of raw milk.
So we were like, stop spilling the milk.
You know, like truly crying over spilled milk.
I know that phrase exists for a reason.
That's happened multiple times in our household.
That's one. Thing if it's like pasteurized
and like the cheap affordable milk, but like we're talking the
there's. Like raw milk that hurts in your
soul. I would literally like be
spreading it on my skin because they would, like, spill it all
over and like, OK, we're going doing a facial and hurting a
facial here. Raw milk facials, everyone.
Yeah. I really can empathize with moms
and just like the pressures and the workloads and like that
undernourishment and drinking coffee excessively and like
really not caring for ourselves in the way that we need because
culturally, like a lot of that has been promoted.
And so when I share stuff on online, on social media, it's
because I'm coming from a place of like, I've trialled by error,
I've made a lot of mistakes. I'm like, I dragged my husband
into intermittent fasting. The poor guy was like shriveling
up alongside of me. Like I need food, but we're not
eating till 10 AM, Hun. Like we just kind of went down
some weird Bunny holes. And even some of that was
recommended by integrative health doctors.
And I just, I don't believe in that now.
And I think the body thrives when you're not running on
cortisol and you're supporting your hormones to thrive by
eating well, like not doing so much in the day that you're
super stressed out. You know, we're getting in
nature, we're getting some sunshine.
We're like working on our relationships, we're checking in
with God and we're also like managing the lighting in our
home like so I really do look. At lighting, that's a big one.
Health as a a full spectrum of like, there's a lot to unpack
and once you start unpacking it like you just there's something
new to continually learn and I think that's something I've
learned is just being teachable and not being so close minded
that, you know, we're missing out on health and growth and
healing and. And I think different things
sometimes work for different people.
Like what you described how you eat sounds very similar to what
I do now. I I did used to do a lot of
intermittent fasting and I still do it sometimes because
sometimes I just feel like my body needs a cleanup like yeah,
let's activate some autophagy. It's clear my head like it, it
feels good to me, but you can definitely overdo it.
And now I do it at, you know, the appropriate times of the
month and less stressful times in my schedule and what not.
So there's a lot of intricacies. That's really interesting too,
because I've noticed whenever I get sick, for example, like you
naturally fast, but I swear I always look amazing after I get
sick. I'm like, whoa, why am I looking
so good here? Like so I think like listening
to the body and, and checking in, but I do think like some
things have just been normal ties to an extreme.
And I like that your podcast is called grounded Wellness.
Like I just think grounding our Wellness is so important beyond
going out in nature and like stepping on the grass, but like
grounding ourselves, like checking in with like, does this
make sense? Am I thriving?
Is this actually working and not just doing something because
it's popular or celebrated, like or has been promoted, you know,
as good? I think just like getting back
to the basics is so important. And I agree.
I'm just so grateful. Like I literally went from like
that crying mom because I dropped something and kind of
snapping up my children to like way more calm, way more level
headed, like, you know, able to like handle the spilled milk.
And yeah, I just, I feel like it's a night and day difference
for me. And I feel I'm just so grateful
for the journey because I think I can also like, share it with
other people and help other moms out there.
For sure, I think a lot of moms get so caught up with caring for
their kids and just their To Do List and everything around the
house that often times they just kind of forget to to care for
themselves. But we think about it in this
way. We have this thing that we say
like self health. So like self-care I feel like
has gone. Too extreme.
Yeah, yeah. And to us, like at primarily,
pure self health means taking care of yourself and
prioritizing your personal Wellness so that you can better
show up for the people around you and pour into their lives
and fulfill the purpose that you were called to do on this earth.
And so I like thinking about it that way.
It's like it, it can be selfish, but it doesn't have to be right?
It can actually be a really selfless thing.
Was Wellness a priority in your family growing up?
No, I wouldn't say health was much of A priority.
And actually, that's something that like entering in the
motherhood, like, I feel like my mom lost her health in
motherhood, like to the like the end of like, she didn't care for
her health as much as she should have.
And she kind of slowly quit surfing.
Like, I wish my mom was surfing with me, not like taking me to
surf and sitting on the beach. And so when I entered in the
motherhood, I was like, OK, I'm going to give myself the time
and space to like, take care of myself after I have a baby so
that I can go surf with my children, which is what I do.
I surf with my children. And so I'm able to enjoy them
not much more. And while my whole family, like,
does appreciate like certain elements of health and, you
know, when we get together for a family dinner, it is pretty
healthy. I think there's just been, it's
just been like kind of a rough journey as well in the health
aspect for a lot of my family members.
And so, yeah, I think, you know, sometimes I'm like, oh, I need
to kind of mellow out. But, you know, as a mom, there's
also the whole element of like caring for your Children's
Health and being ahead on that. And I've seen in my children,
they're they're thriving in life in a lot of ways.
And I know it's because of what we're giving them nutrition
wise. We take care of our health.
They know a lot about health. But also like there's some
elements like my son is mouth breathing and I'm trying to like
problem solve that. And it is kind of a big
challenge. That's a big one.
And his nervous system is way more short.
Like he kind of reminds me of when I was more short nervous
system mom. Like I was struggling because I
was, my nervous system was like stressed out to the Max.
And so I see like he hasn't slept well for years.
And so we're kind of on this Bunny trail of like figuring out
his breathing and like, what do we do to help him develop
healthy breathing as he entered, like grows up?
And so there's just so much to unpack and learn.
And like, that's another thing I didn't even mention.
Like breathing well is so important.
Like I'm a mouth breather too. So I've tape my mouth at night.
Makes a big difference. It seems like, you know, my
bedtime routine seems kind of extreme.
Oh my gosh. Literally sleeping is important.
Like greasing my bag. OK, so I was telling Bethany,
yeah, I sleep here. I flew in yesterday and my
luggage didn't arrive and they had no idea where it was.
It finally arrived today, thank God.
But last night, OK, everything was in there.
My clothes for today. I should have brought you a
little sleeping. Here the thing I was the most
sad about was my all my sleep stuff was in my bed.
So like I really needed to sleep well last night I didn't really,
it was wasn't the worst, but I didn't, I have so many sleep
things and I'm like, it may be like some people may see it as
excessive. And I'm like, there are so many
things in our worlds that are working against us.
Like, why not implement these little tweaks that make a big
difference and make you feel better?
Yeah. No, I can relate to that so
much. So we travel a lot and I know a
lot of people couldn't handle the sort of travel we do.
We bring our all our children, we're on the road like three to
four months a year. Wow.
And so that's why I invest so much into my health so I can
keep up with this rigorous travel schedule.
I actually travel with like sleep gear in my purse now in
case our bags ever get. Lost I'm doing so I.
Have like this little bag as my vagus nerve stimulator mouth
tape. What's your plus nerve
stimulator? So this is something I just got
and I it's like for when you're kind of having like your blood
rushing, you know, as I was merely.
Feeling that last night, yeah, I sleep and being so upset that I
didn't have my sleep stuff. So I got an ad on Instagram but
it's like you put it on your vagus nerve and it kind of
stimulates. So you wouldn't feel it on
certain parts of your body except for nerves.
And so you put it over your vagus nerve and it can help you
calm down. And I've been using it now for
like a year and I'm super grateful for it.
Like anytime I'm feeling like uptight as a mom, I'll do that.
And. How long do you have to do it
for? It's just a couple minutes, so
it's not like a big commitment. So I just have it in my purse
all the time. And anytime I feel that like
kind of, you know, getting uptight feeling, I'll do that.
I kind of want to hear your whole sleep routine now.
Can you walk us through it? For me, my sleep routine is
actually like, spending like an hour and a half getting our
children to sleep. Yeah, like, I've set an alarm on
my phone at like, 7:45, get the children to sleep.
Half of the time we're just finishing dinner and then my
husband's reading to the big older children, and then I'll go
and nurse my little one. Hopefully she'll go down.
Half of the time she doesn't so she ends up staying up late and
then I'll snuggle my 4 year old to sleep and he really thrives
on mom snuggles. If the very least dad snuggles.
And then either my husband carries, bounces my baby to
sleep, our baby to sleep, or we take her in the stroller and
she'll conk out in the stroller and then we transfer her.
But sometime in that window, we turn the lights down like we
have our house now all lit with orange lighting or red lighting.
So everyone's supported to have their circadian rhythms more
attuned to nature. And and then I do just like
clean my face, put the, you know, moisturizer on, but not
too much around my mouth because I got to put the mouth tape on.
So since we've been going down the Bunny trail of my 7 year old
not breathing well, we took them to a special dentist in Oahu who
specializes in airway dentistry and I think my husband and I
both have airway issues as well. So now I got this little thing I
stick up my nose and it opens your nostrils.
It is night and day like. Hey I need my.
Nose is wider and now I feel like this flood of air coming.
So I put the nose thing in, put the mouth tape on earplugs, eye
blankie after we read a little bit and the babies are all
sleeping, you know, talk to hubby and then we're we're out
and I usually fall asleep within 10 minutes.
So sounds. Like I went from like to my
sleep routine. I went from half teen to like
you know sometimes it would take me an hour to fall asleep.
I try not to look at my phone. If I am looking at my phone
after I put the children to sleep, I have red blue light
blockers on. Do you do the red light setting
on your phone where you can make the screen all red?
No, show it to you. It's really easy to make it
super simple. Yeah, you then you just you
program it so you click the side three times and then it goes to
red mode. I'll send you a blog post about
it. But it's easy.
Oh my gosh, yeah, I haven't done that.
I need to know about these nostril things because same like
another add this to the list of similarities.
But I have like airway. I'm realizing that I have a
small airway also. Yeah.
And I started using for a little while.
Breathe right strips. Totally.
And then you put it on top, but then it's kind of.
Adhesive. It's so intense.
Like 1 adhesive 1 and I felt like I was ripping my skin off.
Yeah, I didn't like it. Was intense so.
Like I love the the feeling of it, but if yours doesn't have
that and it still gives that same effect, I would.
I guess. I guess they were designed for
people who snore. So if you snore, it's likely you
have airway issues. So you put it in your nose and
it kind of just spreads your nose apart.
It's not uncomfortable. It's totally doesn't help me at
all. I don't know the name.
Of it, that's fine, I'll send you a picture.
I'll send you a picture of whatever it is.
Oh my gosh, 7 year old like he loves putting it in.
He's he wants it because he feels the difference and even
all our children are getting mouth TAFE on as well because
they all are opening their mouth.
We've been on this rigorous, like trying to retrain them to
hold their tongue on the top of their mouth and close their
mouth all throughout the day. And it's honestly pretty uphill
battle. Like, I don't think, you know,
it's pretty hard to get your children to close their mouth if
they're accustomed to leaving their mouth open all day.
But the chances are like that's going to become such a big issue
in their adult life and it already is an issue.
Now it's known that you'll have more cavities if your mouth is
open and your mouth breathing. Affects the bacteria in your
gut. It's having proper oxygenation
makes that the gut situation so much better.
So it's like, it's so frustrating with health because
on one hand I want to be like, it's simple, but I do feel like
we're in a time where there is just more issues because of the
way our diet and how a lot of things are just not as natural
as they used to be. And so, yeah, as a very, a very
health conscious family, there's a lot to unpack.
And yeah, I keep talking about this because I kind of take the
burden on as mom. I'm like, Oh my gosh, like I
should have way more empathy on my 7 year old.
Like, you know, he's a little more short tempered.
He gets more impatient with like noises and lights and stuff like
that. And it's truly because of like
his nervous system is just not as regulated and calm.
And so for him, he gets like he's a little more up and down,
even though he's such a joy and he's such a sweet kid, but it's.
Just just having that knowledge and understanding, it's probably
helpful like even if you're, you know, just starting in the
process. Oh my gosh, It's like totally
helped us be more patient with him.
Just understanding like, Oh my gosh, breathing is such a key
component to health. You can be, you know, doing a
lot of good things for your health, but if you're not
breathing well, like it's literally one of the key
pillars, I think, to good health.
And so, yeah, we're slowly unpacking all the things.
I've always thought that surfers have got to be the most healthy
athletes out of any sport because you guys are.
In. Outdoors, you're grounded when
you're surfing, I believe, because the water, all the
minerals in the water are conductive with the the earth.
You're getting sunshine, fresh air, like minerals in the water.
I mean, do you feel like that among like this community of
surfers that you know, like are they generally pretty healthy
people? I want someone to study this but
I just feel like surfers have to be super helpful.
No, I think surfers have a lot going for them.
And just the fact that we're spending time in nature and
getting sunshine and, you know, grounding in the ocean.
I feel like that's why I mentioned when I was a little
girl, like coming back to the ocean and surfing after being in
the city and having people interview me and being in front
of a camera, it was a lot on me. And so coming back, surfing was
such a grounding place for me to go and just be myself and kind
of regulate. But yeah, I think a lot of
surfers naturally have way more health than much of the
population because we're slowing down too, and we're getting in
nature. And it's such a place to be
present. You're not bringing your phone
with. There's not a bunch of
distractions. And yeah, I think.
Circadian rhythms are probably so on point because a lot of
times you guys are out there early in the morning at sunrise.
Like makes me want to start. Yeah, whenever we're running
hard, you know, getting in the beach and surfing a lot, I feel
like my whole family, we're all just conking out so fast.
Yeah, this is how it's supposed to be.
We should be going to bed tired. Yeah, as someone who's in the
sun a lot, what does your relationship with the sun look
like? Yeah, I mean, sometimes I get
kind of sun thrash, I'll be honest, But I tried to make my
sun hours between, you know, like getting out of the sun
around 11:00 AM, if not covering up from 11, it's 2:30 or three.
But as a mom, sometimes my window to go surf is midday, so.
During that time. Put like cover up with a long
sleeve rash guard and sometimes I'll even surf in the hot or
just put a really thick coat of sunscreen on.
So yeah, I mean, I don't think I'm like have all the answers
there. And like my skin's kind of
thrash from the sun, but it doesn't look like it.
It looks great. You know, like sometimes I,
yeah, it just kind of depends on the day and time.
But I also, I've been embracing the sun more and just like, and
I feel like for me, it's been a place of healing to just get in
nature and get some sunshine on and slow down and be present.
And so whether I'm surfing or at the beach with my children, I
feel like there's more pros and cons.
But I will say, like, I was a part of a documentary recently,
Fed a Lie, and it was all about the seed oil movement in our
food industry. And there's a lot to unpack
there. I would highly recommend
watching that film because I think a lot of people are
doubters, but I started cutting out seed oils like five years
ago now. And it's we don't really bring
it in our house. And you know, we'll still eat
out sometimes, but we don't eat out much and we eat a lot less
nuts and seeds than we used to. And I feel like I'm way more
resilient to the sun than I was say, like 10 years ago when I
was consuming a lot of that. Like I would just kind of have
that fried red look where is now.
I still get I still will get sunburned, but it's not as bad.
Like, it's more of a like natural sunburn, I would say.
That midday sun, yeah. We've noticed that in our
family, too. We've been avoiding seed oils
for probably about a decade, but have gotten way more serious
about it in the last couple of years.
Yeah, and I do feel like it's made a difference with burning
much less. What role has your faith played
in your Wellness journey? Oh my goodness.
I feel like it's so like the grounder of all grounders for
all the ups and downs and challenges.
And actually like before we started recording, I like had a
little like started crying because I was like thinking of
all the stressful things in my life.
And you know, I, as much as I love getting in nature and the
ocean, like the most surest thing I feel like in my life is.
Knowing that God, his grace is sufficient for me and everyone I
share life with. And that's been like my greatest
grounder through all the ups and downs and the trials.
And even 13 year old Bethany, like she had such a resiliency
that I can only attribute to God.
And yeah, Fast forward now and like the ups and downs of
marriage and motherhood and business and all the many
challenges and just like family dynamics.
And there's just been a lot in my life that's been extremely
hard. Like I would say like the last
four years has been like the hardest season in my life and on
so many different levels too, that I am just grateful for my
faith. And I look to God to be the
author and finisher of all the hard things and all the ups and
downs and most certainly my faith.
And to kind of be able to forgive myself at the end of the
day when things don't go perfect, or be able to forgive
my husband for the wrongs he does to me or whoever we may
share life with when things don't go right.
Being able to carry ourselves in a way that's grounded in what
God calls. And he calls, first of all, he
promises his grace and forgiveness on our life.
And like, I think much of the world is so angry and bitter and
resentful for one thing or another.
And that can be so disruptive on our heart and mind and overall
health. And while I don't want it to be
for my health, I do think it contributes to good health
because I'm able to like, let go of like the bad things and like
the frustrating things or the mistakes I might make along the
way. Yeah, absolutely.
That's beautiful. We have a lot of moms in our
audience, and I know there are probably some moms listening who
maybe they want their family to live a healthier lifestyle, but
they either don't know where to start or maybe they're going
through financial struggles and feel like it's unattainable.
What would you say to encourage anyone in that position?
Oh my goodness, yes, I've been thinking about this a lot.
And I recently launched a podcast as well.
And I've actually been trying to find someone to help me do a
episode on like living healthy on a budget.
Because, you know, for my family growing up, like a lot of times
we did eat really convenient food and we ate a lot of like
Taco Bell and Burger King growing up.
And it really played a toll on my mom's health.
And I would say everyone's health, but even more so on my
mom's health to the point where she had a lot of thyroid issues.
And I remember when I was like a young or a older child, but
young teenager, like she would just be laying in bed and I
would go and like spend time with her in her bed because she
had health issues from all the like poor lifestyle choices.
And it kind of like put a fire under my butt to like really
take care of myself. And so I think there is so much
you can do that doesn't cost a lot of money.
Like literally there's so much you can do.
And I think starting with like, focusing on your connection with
your family, so putting away the distractions and the noises and
trying to unravel like any disconnects that may be
happening between you and your children or you and your
husband. I think like, that is the number
one thing I would suggest for health, being connected as a
family. Yeah.
So turning off the TV, putting away the devices, getting in
nature and spending time together and like really
building your relationships as a family and trying to unravel any
challenges that may be happening that need focus and not
ignoring, you know, some of the things that may be kind of like
this seems off, but I can't quite pinpoint why.
I like keep trying to figure out why.
Yeah, I think God gave us that intuition for a reason.
As moms, it's important to tune into that.
Right. And like, I've just found with
my three-year old or my, my now 4 year old, like he was such a
hot head for, for like a while. And I think that's just like the
season of barbaricness where like from 2:00 to 4:00 about
they're kind of barbaric and they just like cannot hold it
together. So you kind of have to hold it
together for them. And once I just like figured
that out, like, instead of being like, hey, go lay down in your
room for like you're being naughty, Like go lay down in
your room. Not that I tell him he's being
naughty, but in my head I might be thinking it.
But now I'll like grab him, hug him and sit on the rocking chair
and literally it'll be resolved in 2 minutes and then we move on
with our day. And so like simple shifts of
like, is this the best method for this child?
Like really trying to key in on their needs and sometimes they
truly need that connection. And so that's been such a big
shift. Like I literally saw my 3,
three-year old girlfriend like always being kind of crazy and
like screaming and like kind of like having a lot of meltdowns.
And then I would just like, you know, snuggle him, look him in
the eye or trying to change the subject if he's like kind of
getting riled up. And it's been so cool to see the
change in him. And it's been like made our
house a lot more peaceful. Granted, he is getting older, so
maybe he's kind of growing out of that barbaric season.
I think that's so key though, like trying to find ways to
connect through the discipline, through the correction.
Like that's been huge with my kids too.
Like not just not that there's not a time where you can like
send your kid to a room for a time out, but like, I don't know
if you can maybe go on a walk with them or just creating an
opportunity to connect with them and then talk them through it
versus just kind of like, OK, punishment is done, let's move
on. Or like I've found with my older
boys, I'm like, they know right and wrong.
They know and they're up to no good.
And so if I feel really heated at them and I'm like wanting to
say things that I shouldn't say or raise my voice in a way that
I don't want to, that's when I actually really appreciate time
out because I would rather get space from them than damage them
with my words or tone or like anger.
And then we work through it later on.
So I feel like there are times and places for certain methods.
And we are pretty like more on the lines of respectful,
peaceful, but we also have like more of a balance, I would say.
And sometimes like, yeah, we just have different approaches
per the situation and. For sure the age matters, the
kid matters. Like there's a lot to consider,
right? With discipline, you home school
your kids. We do as well.
My kids are part of a homeschool pod.
Why did you guys make the decision to homeschool?
Well, I homeschooled from 6th grade on.
So I went to a public elementary school and then I homeschooled
because I was becoming quite the little athlete.
And where we live it was a 40 minute drive to school.
So it was like an hour and a half driving every day.
Plus it was a very average school and we couldn't afford a
private school. So lo and behold, I started
homeschooling and I just loved that.
I feel like I developed a lot of good things by doing home
schooling. And granted, I started traveling
internationally pretty young. And so I also learned a lot
through travel and through work ethic in my sport of surfing and
the various things that I did. And I just knew that was
something I always wanted to give my children.
But also, I'm still doing motivational speaking and we
still travel a lot, so we really can't keep up with the normal
school calendar and we're not willing to like, devote our
calendar to the school calendar. And so it's been, yeah, it's
been super amazing. I love having my children close.
We have great relationships, so I love being with them all day.
Like, I'm not like, granted, my husband and I both work from
home and he helps kind of teamwork, you know, we have our
podcasts. We do.
I do motivational speaking and she's kind of helping running
the show. So we're kind of bouncing in and
out all day long and you know, we can touch base.
But then I'll go and like, for example, yesterday I took my my
children and my nephews to go skate at the skate park.
And it's a lot more than just skateboarding.
To me, it's like putting in time to develop a skill.
And I hire a coach like once or twice a month.
And I love the coach because he teaches in a different way than
I do. So they're having this
opportunity to learn from someone who I think is really
respectable. And yeah, I just see them
growing in different ways in the life that we're living.
And, you know, I think a lot of people are like, I can't afford
it, but half of my friends are living on a single income and
they're all homeschooling their children.
And I know it looks different for everyone, but I feel like
where there's a will, there's a way and you can learn to budget.
You know, I know that there's different views around this, but
it's just really interesting to see.
Like all my friends are, you know, we live in the most
expensive place in the world, Kauai, and they're all living on
a single income. Their husbands are working super
hard and they're making big sacrifices to live the life that
they want to live and raise their children in the way that
they want to raise them. So yeah, I just have a lot of
thoughts there, but I love being able to.
I think like adults should raise children and not children
raising children. So that's one reason why we home
school, we want faith to be the foundation of our education too.
So, you know, we're able to have a slower morning and we have
like a Bible study every morning.
And I feel like that would be really hard to do if we were,
you know, trying to hustle out the door to school and even
coming home from school. Yeah, I was just going to ask
like what is an average day look like for you guys?
Our oranges are like kind of all over the place.
But yeah, a lot of time at home, my children see my husband and I
working too. They're kind of integrated into
it. So I think that's really cool.
Like my they get to kind of be a part of it.
We try to explain a lot Like my my 10 year old now he just
turned 10. He is seeing the insurance and
outs of the way we do things. And I think that's like
priceless. And I'm hoping once he turns 13,
he is an assistant to my husband.
So that's the sort of vision I have.
Like, my husband will be raising our boys in particular as they
go from 13 to adults. Very cool.
Yeah. So there's just two.
Like, I want them to be healthy. I want them to have character, A
lot of these things that they won't be taught in school.
I want them to understand finances, taxes, and yeah, I
feel like a lot of schooling is a waste of time.
And so trying to take our time and make the most of it in a
shorter increment. So a lot of our school days are
very short, like less than two hours and and then we're getting
in nature. Also, we have a unique setup
where my parents live on property, they live in our guest
house. So my boys are often with their
grandma, she's educating them in her own unique way or they're
helping serve her. And so they have like a lot of
exposure to different people, like from young to old.
They're very hands on with my daughter and they can converse
with any age very well. And I think that is really
beautiful. And so that's the many reasons
we're homeschooling. There's so many more.
But yeah, I also like with the way cell phones are being used
for children now, You know, young boys are being exposed to
pornography very young. And I don't think that I want my
children around boys who are exposed to pornography because
they are maturing and talking about things they shouldn't be
at such young ages. And so that is in the school
system, whether you want to face that or not.
And so that's a major reason too, why we're keeping our boys
home, just to keep them away from that as long as possible.
And it's amazing, like how intrinsic the desire to learn is
in kids. Like I am so not a mom who is
concerned with like how my kids are testing or any of that
stuff. I could not care less because I
see them everyday and I'm with them everyday and I see how
they're developing and growing and learning and I'm like, I try
to encourage each one in, you know, whatever they're
interested in at the time and you know, they are doing well in
writing and like they seem to be on pace.
I don't actually know because I don't test them, but I just, I
don't know. I think if you're like spending
the time with with your child and like really just know them,
know their heart, know where they're at, know their
interests, like everyone's that's going to develop in
different ways. And it's, it's really cool when
you're like, with them enough to really like see that.
And and then I think that kind of takes away the concern of
like, are they on track? Are they on track?
And it's like, you know, you know how they're doing.
I don't know. It's just like.
Yeah. And even if they're not on
track, like maybe that's another reason why they should be home
schooled. Like I have a friend, her
daughter is very, very smart. Like, she could like, memorize a
book in a couple of sittings. And then she wasn't doing really
well in school and her teachers were like, kind of suggesting
she go on medication or, you know, like, she's just not doing
good. And my friend was like, but
like, what I see in my daughter is very gifted and she's very
smart. And so lo and behold, she's
going to homeschool her. So that's going to be really
interesting to see how her daughter thrives or doesn't.
It's we'll see. Yeah.
But I really, I just wanted to throw out some recommendations
because whenever I listen to podcasts, I love hearing
recommendations. Yeah.
So I really love the Unhurried Homeschool.
I've read that book like 3 Times Now.
And I keep reading it because I just want to keep on top of
things. Yeah.
And it's a very simple, very painless read, very short.
You can read it in like a few days, a few sittings.
And then the other other influencer I like in home
schooling world is the Charlotte Mason.
So I forget the book I liked. I can send it to you and you can
put it in the show notes though. But those were like the two
biggest influences I had. So if you are interested in home
schooling, like it doesn't have to be like this super crazy
endeavor where it's just overwhelming and it consumes
your entire life because we do a lot outside of schooling.
And, you know, my children are often like, baking in the
kitchen or creating something and yeah.
I helped him say, like, it's not necessarily about taking the
public school system into your home, right?
It's kind of creating your own system.
Right. And and two, I think the timing
for children too, is like a lot of pressure is being put on like
a four or five year old to hurry up and learn to read.
I started my eldest son learning to read at 4:00 and it was such
a painful uphill battle. I took my 7 year old, who he's 7
now, and I started him at six and it was so enjoyable.
Yeah. Like he learned, like he learned
really easily. I did do a little app with him.
We don't do much tech, but I did this one app where he could
learn, eh is ah, you know, pretty quickly and he had a lot
of fun with that, especially because he doesn't get to go on
screens ever. But he learned to read so
painlessly. And so I think sometimes like
the pressures are coming on too young and he didn't really need
to learn to read. Like I would say we spent a lot
of time reading though. So I we would read aloud.
That was another influence I had was the read aloud family.
So we read aloud a lot like we've gone through.
There is a book called the read aloud family.
I never did read it. I just heard a podcast on the
women who wrote it and I was like, OK, we're going to be a
read aloud family. So we read aloud a lot, like
we've read a ton of chapter book series and it's interesting
seeing my 4 year old like the proof is kind of in the pudding.
You know, my 4 year old, his vocabulary is incredible.
Like sometimes I hear him talking like how are you talking
like that? Like no one in our family talks
that well, you know, like I'm kind of come from like a more
slang background. I'm like a surfer and don't have
like the best vocabulary or way of speaking even though I am a
motivational speaker. But just seeing my 4 year old,
I'm like, he has been in the room with the big boys reading
all their books, reading aloud since he was a baby.
And so it's just been like so cool to see.
And then that family, my 7 year old's like he's almost over the
top. I'm like, dude, we're not
reading right now. Like we got to go do other
things. We got to do house chores and
like take care of life. He's like, no, let's read.
He's like that like nagging. So sweet.
Kind of. Kids like who see their parents
read too. That has a huge influence on
them. And like, I mean, Adam and I
read, but not that much. I mean, I wish I had more time
to read, but it's not like I have that much time to read.
We basically only read a devotional and then I'll read
like maybe a half a chapter at bedtime.
Yeah. But otherwise, all our readings
with them. One of my favorite authors for
young children between maybe 7 and 14 is SD Smith.
He's like ACS Lewis. What the green number series?
I don't think I've. Oh my gosh, you need to get
these book series. OK, like the it's like this
battle of like bunnies and wolves and birds of prey, but it
reminds me of like a Lord of the Rings slash Chronicles of
Narnia. Like on that level, the
intellectual like kind of battles that the characters
have. It's very much the fight of good
and evil and the character stories.
Maybe a little too much violence for some parents, but they're.
Silenced with a purpose. Yeah, I mean, it's kind of real
life if you're really breaking it down.
And the fact that it's Bunny is it maybe feels a little less
violent. Granted, my 4 year old kind of,
you know, he's usually playing in the yard with swords and
stuff and sometimes I'm like, oh, we might have read that too
soon to him. Boy stuff.
OK, we're going to have so many good things to put in the show
notes. I'm so excited.
How do you guys navigate screens in your home?
So I'll be honest, I wish I did a better job as a mom because a
lot of my work is on my phone and we live in a smaller house
now so my children see me getting work done.
But for a while I did have all my social media on a different
device and I loved that. But my device broke so I got to
recover all that and it's been a while and I even bought a new
phone and then the new phone wasn't working good.
But I will say if you're a mom that struggles with like social
media addiction, if you can get your social media off your main
device, game changer. Really good advice.
Like game changer for me. Like, instead of being in the
grocery store and randomly scrolling just cuz like, you can
just live normal life and not scroll all the time.
Yeah. Setting a boundary, I think as a
wife or a mom, like, if you can hone in on your own issues first
and foremost. But I knew early on I wasn't
going to have our children on devices.
And, you know, it's interesting. I'm like, seeing stuff on social
media and like, people are blaming the tech industry, but
in my opinion, it's actually comes back to the parents.
You know, we need to take ownership of how screens are
being used in our household. You know, you're literally the
gatekeeper to your household. So if you're blaming the tech
industry for your child having issues because they're on
devices, like, I just think that's a bit backwards.
But yeah, we don't, my children don't go on devices.
The only time they're on devices is if we're on an airplane, and
otherwise we'll have. Time we do it too.
A movie night like a long road trip.
Yeah, we'll have a movie night, OK.
Movies are so different because like you're all watching the
same thing and you're experiencing it together versus
the device. It really puts you, puts a wall
up, it puts you in your own world.
Right and we do do like audio books is one of our favorite
things. So sometimes when the boys are
doing chores, we'll throw on an audio book and especially my 7
year old really likes that because he's usually resistant
to doing chores. And then, yeah, I think I'll
probably hold off as long as possible.
And then we'll walk through it with them and try to equip them
to say no to pornography and not be an addict to the device, so
to say, and not allow the device to rule their life.
And yeah, I've been having some really insightful conversations
around this. And just the dopamine effect and
addiction levels that children are starting so young now is
really alarming. And I think we're in a time of
air as a society and we're going to look back on this time and
think like, wow, we really jacked things up.
So I think just like really diving deep on this topic as
parents is super important. And just because all their
friends are doing it doesn't mean you have to do it too.
Like to me that's the stupidest way to parent is just just do
what everyone else is doing. Like not necessarily.
Like you literally need to be the gatekeeper of your own home
and choose your family's life. I want my kids to grow up being
OK with not doing what everyone else is doing, and I think that
we can do that now with like foods, with technology, just get
them really comfortable with like living life in a different
way that goes against. The brain, right?
And it's like a lot of my life too, like, you know, we are
using technology a lot. And so I talk about this with my
eldest son in particular. I'm like, this is what we're up
to and I try to explain to him. So he knows that, you know, a
lot of what we're doing has a purpose and we're creating, not
consuming with most of what we do.
And so I think like I loved that was a quote I heard somewhere
along the way is like create more than you're consuming.
And so trying to create a household that is doing just
that, like we're creating more than we're consuming, unless
it's book reading, because we do consume quite a bit when we're
we're reading. I heard your husband say
casually mentioned in a podcast episode that you guys try to be
intentional, intentional about calling your children children
and not kids. And I have like a guess on kind
of the intentionality behind that.
But can you explain why you've made that decision?
I mean for me it's actually not that deep.
It's more of just like kids is a nickname for It's like baby
goats. Oh, no way.
Like a kid is a baby goat and I don't know how it made it so way
over it's to humans, but like, I don't know, we just call our
children children like that's. So funny, I didn't think I was
thinking that's just. It was more like.
Reference or something for them like.
It's literally just like our own little like pet peeve thing.
I tried to mostly say children in this episode but I feel like
kids slipped out a few. Times you're fine.
I'm not offended at all. It's literally just our little
like pet peeve thing. I don't know why we just call
them children, not kids even though like it's fine.
I try like whenever I say children I I feel like it sounds
so formal to me. Like it?
It's weird how our language truly is changing and you look
at language as a whole and you know, I'm certainly not a
language expert, but now that I'm homeschooling my children,
I'm like, Oh my gosh, my example of language is not great.
There's like such better language out there.
Like I just the way I communicate is a very simplistic
and our society at large, like the way our language is slowly
getting Dumber and Dumber. Like, I don't know, I just.
I think the way you communicate is really unique and special
because you can't not be authentic.
Like you're such an authentic person that you say what you
mean and you're not like thinking like, how is this going
to be perceived? Like you can just tell that
you're just yourself and that's like super rare and awesome.
I mean, I really think honesty is a lot lost our in our
society. And I think, you know, a lot of
how I live my life, it comes from the Bible.
Like, you know, for example, thou shall not lie like that is
a commandment because when you lie, it destroys your life and
it destroys that connection with the people around you.
And so trying to live as honest as I can, I think it is really
important. Granted, I know there's
sometimes when you kind of like, let's just like not go there
when you have some confrontation with someone because like
there's likely just no working through it, but I don't know.
I think there can be wisdom in that too sometimes.
Sometimes and granted, like my sister-in-law sent me a Bible
verse recently and it was like with your brother, like work
out, you know, try to work through your conflict to the
best that you can. You know, I forget the exact
verse. I don't have that memorized.
But yeah, I mean, like, I think lying can come in different
forms. And sometimes it's something
that kind of creeps into our life over time and we slowly
start to just accept it as truth, even though it's not
necessarily truth. And a lot of society wants to
live by, like, my truth versus like, having some basic truths,
for example. Let's get really nitty gritty
here with some intense stuff like pedophilia for example.
Much of society is starting to accept it as normal and it's
actually really not good. And that should not be accepted
as good and true and right. You know, I recently saw a post
on Instagram that says 200,000 people saw this and it was an
older fellow engaging with a younger girl.
She was 16, he was 26. Nobody mentioned pedophilia in
the entire comment section. And I'm like, how is society at
large normalizing something that is not OK?
And it's truly because we're losing truth and honesty and
nobody wants to step on anyone's toes now.
Now because we just don't want to have conflict.
We're conflict adverse. And so, yeah, I've just found in
my life, a lot of the bigger pains come from not being honest
and not being truthful and not being willing to work through,
you know, some of the challenges.
And I'm realizing that's not working.
And yeah, I mean I am more honest I would say, but like I
am also choosing to be more honest because I don't see the
opposite approach working. Yeah.
And it's, it's helping others when you can be honest and
vulnerable. But going back to what you said
about like when everyone can define what their own truth is,
that could that can lead to such a dangerous place in society.
Like, rather than acknowledging that there is absolute truth.
And for me personally, I don't want to have to figure that out
in every situation. I would rather like trust in
what God says is true, Yeah. There's just kind of no limit,
no end to what is right or wrong, no clear answer to that
when everyone is defining that for themselves.
Right. And and that's the thing too is
like, I think a lot of society at large too.
You know, I had a conversation recently where we were talking
about the lack of moral foundation and having a moral
foundation as a society at large kind of keeps everyone in check.
It like curbs where we're going. But we are losing so much of
that that we can't necessarily pinpoint why are things so
messed up? Like why is there so many issues
in this, this and this? And it's because of this like
watering down of moral truth and that foundation that we so
desperately need. And yet I believe that even with
that in my life, I still need God to, like, hold me tight and
carry me through, like my mistakes along the way or the
mistakes of my neighbor, so to say.
And so, yeah, I just, we have to fight for truth.
We have to fight for what is good and right.
And maybe that's simply by the way you raise your children.
You don't have to be like out there on the streets, like
trying to fight it all, so to say.
But maybe it's just the way you do it in your own home.
And, you know, I don't think it's healthy to also like be so
politically engaged all the time and like, seeing all the issues
of the world constantly is like, no one can really handle that
healthily. And so that's why I like, let's
come back to like, let's not spend so much time on social
media. Like that in itself could help
our health so much. Or maybe it looks like training
your algorithm to send you health content and like comedy
stuff that makes you laugh and being like just in tune, like
with what you're consuming so that you can like not be so
stressed out all the time and. I love comedy.
I feel like the older I get the more I just want to laugh and
like my husband and I've gone to a few comedy shows lately.
We we saw Jerry Seinfeld. Was that it was.
So good like, and he's, he's getting up there in age now, but
he was amazing. And then we saw John Crist.
A couple months ago too it. Was so fun, you would love him.
Wow, I need to find these. People, I'll send you some of
his stuff. OK Well I wanna close out with a
fun rapid fire. OK, wait, before we get out too,
can I just say primarily Pure's deodorant?
It's so amazing. Thank you.
I feel like the deodorant industry blew it so hard at the
start of natural deodorant. Like when we go back like 15
years to Tom's deodorant, that was the worst that did not work
at. All I mean, that's why, that's
literally why I was like, OK, I need to figure this out on my
own because Tom's didn't do it, right?
And it's possible. I know it's possible because
I've been using just baking soda and coconut oil.
And that worked. Yeah.
But I wanted my husband to do it.
And he wasn't, didn't want to like rub stuff on his arm.
So I was like, I've got to figure out how to do it.
And I spent so much time in my kitchen creating almost 200
different versions. Well, I was just kind of on this
passion project. Yeah, of course I wanted him to
use it, but I just, I needed to figure this out and finally had
a version that I was happy with. Yeah, but anyway, I've been
using that, you know, y'all's deodorant for like 10 years now
or I don't know. How long really have you guys
been around that? Yeah, I feel like from very
early on, like, yeah, we just always loved your deodorant in
February. I even like got a couple other
deodorants along the way. Like in a pinch, you know, you
run out of deodorant and you go to the grocery store to see what
you can find and they didn't work as good.
So I always feel so bad, though. I'm like, how many people tried
Tom's deodorant deodorant and then never went back into
natural deodorant because they're like, there's no way.
And so now there's a way people, there's good deodorant out
there. Family Feud deodorant.
It's amazing. Well, thank you so much.
I love that. I appreciate you saying that.
OK, What is the most strange thing that you have ever done in
the name of health? I mean, I think for most of
society like the enema scene is a little too much.
So do you. Coffee enemas.
Yeah, we've been doing like a special type of coffee enema.
My husband and I even got my husband into it.
How cool is that? That's rare.
He's like he's deep on the health journey and he's doing
coffee enemas. I.
Think he like, you know, a lot of mornings he'll wake up not
feeling amazing. And I think he has some like
adrenal fatigue stuff going on. And so we're trying to problem
solve, you know? Have you done a few colonic?
I actually, well we just did a big old parasite cleanse which
was super fun. And so we were doing, we did 2
enemas a day, we were doing 1 coffee and one ozone.
Ozone. Water.
Amazing. Like I felt so good.
Like that's. So funny.
I was literally, I was showing my daughter these questions.
I was like, here's the rapid fire.
So I was like, what do you think she's going to say for the
strangest health thing? Yeah, she was.
She said coffee enemas and ozone.
I was like, I don't think she's doing ozone.
I don't know if. She's got, well, that's funny,
Someone just gave us a ozone machine.
I'm like, OK, fine, we got to use it.
Like stoked. We got this because they were
moving a while and they got rid. Of a generator too, but I feel
like that's super rare. Yeah, so we got that.
I actually feel like I need to be using it more, like drinking
ozone water or something. But yeah, so we've been doing
that and the parasite cleanse was really interesting.
I've been wanting to do one for like 5 plus years, but I kept
having babies. So I hadn't been.
I didn't do it until finally I caved and I was like, I have to
do it now. Which one did you do?
I did what was it the sanctuary Wellness?
OK, it was, you know, for example, it was all plant based,
which I'm not big on that, but I just cheated a little and did
the mother load of bone broth throughout it because I wanted
to make sure I was still getting protein.
And wow, a lot came out I didn't like I'm not really good at
picking out the parasites, but I had something called what was it
a roundworm or it was like AI forget the name.
It's like a roundworm, but it's not an actual parasite, but it's
like a toxic build up and they become these like hard long worm
like wow, toxic. It's filled with all different
types of toxins and they're just sitting in your gut.
I think I lost like 5 lbs of gut matter wow in that cleanse.
So now I think I'm going to do it like at least once a year.
Do you have a guilty pleasure? I would say like Newman's Oreos,
Yeah, Yeah. I mean, that's like.
Simple mills ones. Oh, are they?
I don't know if we have, maybe we have.
They're like gluten free coconut sugar.
Are they like seed oil free? Because the Newman's have seed
oils in them and we'll still eat them every now and then.
I've got I can't remember. Some simple mills stuff does
have sunflower oil, but I feel like these ones might not not.
I'm not positive though. Yeah, I feel like a lot of my
guilty pleasures are like ice cream before bedtime.
But I don't even think it's that bad actually, because when I
went through that season of adrenal fatigue and kind of like
running on cortisol, one of the things that helped me was eating
a bedtime snack. So I started having like cheese
and fruit or milk and honey or ice cream and like some, some
sort of protein and that helped me start sleeping better and not
like waking up wide awake at two or three in the morning.
And so, you know, that's something that's not celebrated
like eating right before bedtime.
But that literally helps change my reality from going from like
waking up wide awake at two or three in the morning for an hour
or two to like being able to sleep through that window.
I might, like, wrestle a little, but yeah, you know, that's why I
said like, sometimes you have to do what isn't actually popular.
So eating right before you go to bed is super unpopular.
But that helped me in that season where I was like super
fried and my adrenals were thrashed.
And that came from the pro metabolic community.
And some of the advice I'd received, like I did like a live
blood analysis and a hair mineral test and just kind of
looked in on things. And there is just a lot going on
in my gut too. But slow and pull, Fast forward.
We're slowly cleaning things up. What is 1 trending health craze
that you're not buying into? I don't know.
I mean, I'm not a big fan of intermittent fasting, but I
liked your statement of like a little bit here and there once
in a while. But there's a lot like the no
salt, the no fat, the vegan. There's no fat still trending.
I think some people maybe still fall for it, but I think the
vegan for sure not into the vegan movement, plant based
movement. Yeah, agreed.
What's your morning drink of choice?
Oh well, this morning I had lemongrass tea with a little
lemon and honey. It's.
Lemongrass here on the island, right?
Yeah, you can find it. We grow it in our yard and we
make it all the time. It's one of my favorite.
If I could bring this to market, I feel like everyone would fall
in love with it. Yeah, but I just like a good
espresso with coconut milk, Adam and I like to make like a
coconut milk cappuccino. I'd say orange juice is my
favorite breakfast drink, though.
OK, but coffee is like a given. Yeah.
You know, we're having that regardless.
Yeah, but if I can have fresh squeezed orange juice, I.
Love fresh squeezed orange juice?
It's the best. What's your go to healthy snack?
Oh I really love jello. Like as a mom, I have jello in
my fridge all the time. Jello or do you?
No, I make like jello from gelatin.
OK, OK. I was going to say that doesn't
fit. Yeah, everything that we're
talking about, like I'll get mango juice, fresh lime juice
and a pinch of sea salt or an electrolyte, and then I mix that
with the gelatin and make jello in our fridge.
So I have that all the time so. So smart.
So you put it into like a bowl or something?
In a pan and then you slice it up.
It's literally like the old fashioned jello but like a
better version, no? Gummies and we'll like pour it
into silicone molds and then have like gelatin based gummies,
but I've never thought of just making that as like.
I just have a span of it, yeah. And it's just like, I think as a
mom, if you're the type to forget to eat, then having
something like jello is such a good food and it's not that
expensive. Like you just have juice and
gelatin. It's actually really easy.
To yeah, it's super easy. So I almost always have that in
my fridge at all times. And then the children can grab
it too. And it's a good solid snack as
far as it has protein and carbs. Yeah.
And yeah, so that's kind of my good one.
Snack What's your favorite way to reset in 10 minutes or less?
I think going for a walk, jumping in the sauna or laying
down and listening to the Bible with my vagus nerve stimulator.
Love it. Bethany, thank you so much for
being here. Last thing, I know you have a
big heart for encouraging young girls.
There are any young girls that are maybe listening today
alongside their moms? What advice or encouragement
would you leave them with? Oh my goodness.
I would just say always be teachable.
Like I think good if you're willing to learn and grow and
push yourself. And also, like, listen to what
your mom says because it's likely she has some years of
wisdom under her belt. I still go to my mom to this
day. And so just knowing that my mom
is there to serve and protect me and not like, you know, make my
life miserable is so important. And just being teachable
continually. And now that you don't need
easy, you just need possible. So good.
Thank you so much. Yes.
My pleasure. Thank you so much for tuning in.
If you enjoyed this conversation, make sure to
follow Grounded Wellness on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, or
subscribe to our YouTube channel.