What’s up
Everyone. Thank you so much for coming back to the fit to fat fit experience podcast. You guys know that I appreciate each and every time he gets tuned in to this podcast, I try my best to make this podcast awesome. Amazing and awesome. Um, and hopefully I do that. Hopefully you guys do find value in this podcast. Um, today’s episode, I am bringing on the CEO and cofounder of paleo FX. Some of you guys might’ve heard of paleo FX, it’s a huge symposium once a year, all the big names in the paleo industry come out to this thing, and it is humongous. Uh, I mean, ginormous. Uh, so luckily I was able to connect with Michelle because this year is actually the first year I will be attending and speaking at paleo effects. So I’m super, super excited about that. I’ve heard nothing but good things from my friends like Sean Stevenson, Abel James, Melissa Hartwig, um, all kinds of people about, um, how awesome paleo effects is.
And so I’m really excited to finally be there in Austin, Texas. I think it is, um, may is when it is, I will look up the dates for you guys and have those in the show notes. But, um, Michelle Norris is the CEO and cofounder of pay the effects. And in today’s episode, we go into a little bit of her background of how she got into paleo and the first place and her opinions on the paleo diet, for example, but also the background and how she got started in pay the effects and what pay the effects is and what it does for the community and how it’s evolved over the years and what paleo effects might become in the near future and what it can do for you. Right? So, um, I think this episode is very informative and there’s a lot of valuable gyms from a nutritional standpoint, from a physical fitness wellbeing, a mental and emotional standpoint, as well as an entrepreneurial standpoint.
Um, so if there’s an entrepreneurs listening, I think you could also learn some valuable lessons by listening to this episode, before we jump in our show is sponsored by a drop an F bomb.com. I know it’s so weird when I have to say that drop an F bomb. So as you guys know, I like high fat foods. Um, I love my fat drop an F bomb. It makes eating fats so much more convenient, so much more tasty. Um, because when I coached people on doing keto, for example, or eating high fat foods, it’s hard because people struggle with the, you know, what am I supposed to eat? And it’s hard. Like what if I’m on the go with my kids or I travel for work? What do I bring with me? It’s hard to bring cheese and eggs and, um, high fat foods with you in your pocket.
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It’s easy to get in protein and carbs, but it’s hard to get into the high quality fats. That’s why I like drop an F bomb. If you want to check them out and go to drop an F bomb.com, use my discount code fit fat fit for 10% off your order. It tastes good. It’s delicious as high as the highest quality fats out there. And like I said, it just makes it so much more convenient. So check them out. I drop an F bomb.com use code fit to at fit for 10% off. Our next show sponsor is none other than quest kito.com. I’ve been with these guys for a while now. Uh, well, quest nutrition actually, quest ketos, fairly new, um, but I’m a huge proponent of who they are, but so basically quest makes, um, healthy food tastes good and they make it so much more convenient.
And so that’s what quest Quito is about, especially for the keto industry, a prepackaged frozen meals. Yes, they are, you know, more convenient type meals. So they are frozen, um, and things like that, but they taste really good. They make eating KIDO so much more convenient. Um, especially when you’re on the go, you don’t have time to cook just the other day. I remember coming home with my girls and not having a lot of time to prepare any food. You know, all the meat was still frozen. All the vegetables hadn’t been cut up and, you know, I wanted to get them to bed at a decent hour. So I decided not to cook and just warm these up in the microwave, heat them up. And, um, I think I had a bacon, egg, and cheese, uh, sausage biscuit, right? Which is like a replacement for an egg muffin.
You warm it up in the microwave and you eat it. It tastes good. My girls love it. The cinnamon rolls by far one of the best cinnamon rolls. You will find it’s a Quito cinnamon roll you guys. So if you’re missing these types of foods, doing KIDO, check out quest, kito.com and their foods are amazing. One last quick announcement before we jump into today’s episode, you guys, for those of you who are looking for something that is not really say keto is not your thing. Um, you know, I have a lot of different programs on my website that I’ve launched over the years. And I am actually just announcing now that I’m relaunching my fat to fit program, the same program I did over five years ago, that helped me lose 75 pounds. But not only that help thousands of people from all over the world lose tons of weight, you guys, and become healthier.
It’s a six month transformation program with all the details of the meal plans, the grocery list, the workouts, um, the, um, the demonstrations of the exercises in the workouts. It’s the exact same program that I did. Like I said, that helped transform thousands of lives from people all over the world. It’s a transform.fit to fat, to fit.com. You can check out it’s, it’s been relaunched. Like I said, with the new company, I’m super excited to relaunch it. Um, this is my baby. This is what got me into, uh, you know, on all the TV shows was me losing the weight and getting other people to do it with me. All the transformation stories are remarkable. Um, and this is like I said, what put me on the map. So definitely check it out, transform.fit to fat, to fit.com. And, um, if you’re looking to make a true transformation, not just a, a 30 day diet or 60 day diet, this right here will help you. It will help set you up for a true transformation change in your life. All right. Let’s jump into today’s episode with Michelle Norris.
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All right, Michelle, welcome to the fit to fat, to fit experience podcast. How are you doing today?
I’m doing great. Thank you so much for having me on drew.
Hey, my pleasure. Um, it’s, it’s an honor, to be honest with you. Uh, so I first heard you on a podcast with Abel James. Uh, who’s a friend of mine back in the day, and you’ve done like rod Blow’s podcast as well. Um, and so, yeah, I’m a big fan of you and also paleo effects. Um, but for my audience, you know, that might not be familiar with what pay they were fit FX is, or your background may be, could kind of start there with, with, you know, what your background is and how, how paleo FX came to be, which I know is kind of a long story, but we have time.
Yeah. So yeah, it is a long story. Um, um, so my background is kind of all over the map. Um, I like to call myself a multipotentialite because I have a whole lot of different interests and I’ve done a lot of, uh, gone to school for a lot of different things, but, uh, I’ve been a trained chef. I was a project manager before, um, halo effects existed. I used to build Starbucks for a living and, uh, kind of done a whole lot of different things. Um, I’ve been an event planner for over 20, 20 something years, probably now like 30. Now that I say that it’s been over 30 years now. And, uh, so, um, it’s just interesting how everything kind of came to be with paleo effects. Um, your, your fans probably also were w might not be familiar with the ancestral health symposium, but some of them might, and back in 2011, when the ancestral health symposium began, um, Keith and I went out there for that and he spoke at, um, the event and when we were leaving, we were on the runway at lax.
And we were like, um, one of the things with ancestral health symposium is it’s a decidedly academic symposium. So it’s very science driven, very, um, you know, lots of abstracts and, you know, that type of thing and, um, studies and going through, um, we’re a little bit more, um, you know, just everyday people don’t are aren’t that interested in it. And so, um, we thought, you know, I was on the plane with Keith and I said to him, you know, it’s great. This was really wonderful. We geek out on the science, but at the end of the day, when we get home, all of our clients just want to know what do I eat? When do I eat it? When do I work out? What do I do to work out? You know, all of these things. Um, they, you know, they’re glad the science is there, but they really have no interest in a lot of riots.
And so, um, we just realized that there was, um, you know, there was something missing that we needed the practical side of things. So paleo FX, obviously paleo F of X, which is the math function. Paleo FX is decidedly academic, and is decidedly not academic and is, um, very practical hands on where the rubber meets the road, that type of thing. So we are, um, you know, high impact, high action, um, just totally it’s, it’s a blast and it’s not, um, it’s not academic. I mean, there is a lot of science that gets presented at pillow effects, but it’s presented in a very different kind of, I always say that we’re kind of rock and roll and kind of conference. We are. So, um, it’s a lot of fun. It’s, um, it’s a, it’s a good time.
Yeah. And I think that’s why it appeals to so many people, right. If it could, because your average person, isn’t going to go to a science conference and even really be able to comprehend what is being taught. People want to know, okay. Basically, what are you trying to tell me? What do I eat? Right. Like so many people all the time, even for me, I have to break it down for a lot of my followers, but that’s because you know, that people aren’t interested in the science as much, they just want to know, okay, what does this mean for me? What do I do? And, and that’s fine. And, and, and I think there’s, uh, you know, we each have, um, our own different ways of looking at our own health and anyways, um, but how my question is, how did you get into paleo or did you grow up eating paleo? Um, I think, I remember hearing you, you grew up, uh, you have celiacs and so kind of, I wouldn’t be interested to know how you got into the paleo diet, if you will. And talk a little bit about that. That’s a whole other long story. We’re fine. We got plenty of time.
I’m going to try to shorten it now. Um, uh, so, uh, interestingly enough, you know, I did, I grew up very, um, my mom was a good cook, not an, like I I’m a, I was a trained chef. So as a trained chef, I, my specialty was Italian. So I made my own pasta and I made my own pizza dough. And, um, my mom, you know, growing up, we ate pretty close to paleo. Um, you know, we did obviously eat bread and that type of thing because, um, but, uh, we did eat a very whole foods diet when I was growing up. Not a lot of my mom didn’t have a lot of money for, you know, junk or junk food or anything like that. So I did kind of grow up that way. So it’s interesting to kind of return back to your roots, but, um, my, um, what happened is, Oh, gosh, now it’s been 13, maybe 13 years ago, 14 years ago.
Um, uh, I went to paleo and then a year prior to that, Keith went paleo and my husband, Keith and I are partners in paleo effects. And we’re also partners in gyms and that type of thing now. But, um, back then, just when the internet was still in dialogue, um, he was on the internet a lot with Rob Wolf and with art debating and, and I’m talking to them and they were started telling him, they knew that Keith was very interested in nutrition and, you know, he’s been a, he was a former bodybuilder, um, mr. Virginia runner up to mr America. And that he always liked dabbled with nutrition and was looking for things. And so, um, and I knew how much he worked out and that type of thing, cause they really, they all talked quite a bit. And so they started telling him about paleo.
So Keith decided to try it out, um, and it just really worked for him. And what was interesting is Keith had a hereditary form of high blood pressure and the doctors had gone so far as to tell him the last time we had gone into the doctor that if he didn’t get it under control, that they wanted to put him on, uh, the satin. And so, um, he was like, um, he just kept trying to find something else. Cause he just was not interested in doing that keeps background before paleo effects and the gyms and arcs fit. And all of that was, um, he was an engineer in the pharmaceutical industry. And so, um, kind of a totally different turn to come this way. So he knew that medications, that the pharmaceutical industry, um, built the whole industry around maintaining diseases, not curing or preventing them.
And so, um, he didn’t want to do that. So when he tried out the paleo diet about maybe four weeks in, he, um, he got his blood taken at work every 58 days for, they did a blood drive every 58 days there, the red cross came there. And so every time he would go get his blood drawn and of course they do his blood pressure. And then they’d give him a little lecture about his blood pressure and the whole nine yards. Well, after he had been payload about, well, I think it was right at four weeks, um, they came and did his blood pressure and um, walked away and he was like, well, hold on. He’s like, what was my blood pressure? And they said, Oh one 20 over 80. And he was like, what he goes, are you sure? He goes, can you teach again?
And they said, sure. And so they took it again sure enough, one 20 over 80. And he was like, all right. Um, Hmm. So he thought that was real interesting. And then he started checking his own blood pressure. He had had a blood pressure cup at home and because he would check it for, you know, from time to time for his high blood pressure. And he was checking his stuff, his blood pressure every day, and he’s never had high blood blood pressure since. So that was, that, that of is how, um, it started in the family. Well, what happened is Keith started reading a whole lot about celiac and I literally had stomach pains and cramps and just felt awful every single time that I ate. And he kept saying, well, I think that you might have the celiac. You should probably get checked up.
Now, Keith is not a person that will beat you over the head with anything. So, so it took him a while to convince me to do this. And so, um, I, like I said, I, I made my own pizza dough and my own pasta. And we were, every time I was making anything for dinner that Keith could not eat, that was not paleo. He would make his own dinner. And so it had been, and it had been about, I think it had been close to a year. He had been paleo and, um, I was making pizza and pasta. One of the kids’ celebrations, I think there was a birthday or something. And, um, he there, he was making his own dinner and I looked at him and said, you’re never going to have my pizza or pasta again, are you? And he said, no. And he said, I really think you should get yourself checked out.
I really think that you have celiac. So I did, I went to the doctor and I got tested and I was tested, of course, back then they tested for the wrong antibodies. And, um, so I tested negative, but all of my symptoms and everything I had told the doctor, he was, felt fairly certain that I had it. And so, um, he said, um, you know, uh, while he was talking to me, this was kind of hilarious. He was talking to me and telling me how they were going to do this biopsy and they were going to cut my colon and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And while he’s talking to me, he’s literally falling asleep. Like he keeps nodding off while and it’s, while he’s talking, not me. And I’m thinking, uh, yeah, I don’t think I would eat cutting into my colon. And then I kind of thought about the whole thing and I thought, well, this is kind of invasive for you to go cut my colon.
I mean, like, why don’t I just like remove that food from my diet and see how that goes. And, uh, so I did and about literally three weeks. Okay. So I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia chronic fatigue syndrome IBS. I had also been diagnosed with early onset, rheumatoid arthritis. And so literally three weeks into paleo, everything was gone. Like all of it was gone. And then for the very first time in my entire life, I had migraine headaches since I was 17. I finally actually had control over my migraines. Um, for the most part I had, um, you know, uh, hormonal changes during my cycle, but, um, where I had migraines during that time, but that was it after that. And then the only other time that I would have a migraine is if I had a trigger, one of my triggers and I pretty much try to stay away from those.
And so, um, it was just really odd, but the honest thing is, is that when I first went paleo and I got healthy, I was not happy about it. I was a writer. I was a food writer for, um, another company and I wrote pasta and, uh, pizza and all these types of Italian recipes. I did not, I very, very sad diet. And, um, and I was in denial and I really believed that at some point I was going to be able to figure out how to put all of this back into my diet. And, um, and it wasn’t until I had been on the paleo diet for about six weeks. What had happened is I, we, our son played baseball and it had been about maybe 12 weeks. We hadn’t seen all of the parents and, um, I had gone pillow in there. And then now, you know, women that are on the side diet do all this yo-yoing. So we have every size from, you know, whatever. I had every size from six to 12 in my closet. And I kept them because I would go back and forth.
Um, so I, um, I hadn’t really noticed that I had been dropping in songs. And when we went to the game, all of the parents that had not seen me for like 12 weeks were like, Oh my God, you look amazing. You’ve like lost so much weight. You look so vibrant, you look so healthy. What have you done? And then that was when the light bulb went off. That was when I was like, Oh, okay. This stuff could actually help people. And, um, and then I quit writing for the other, um, website and I started my own website and kind of took off from there.
That is so interesting because it’s so cool, especially because you know, the pasta and those kinds of things were part of your brand in a way. And you’re like, man, now I discovered this and now I’m going to have to, you know, tell people, okay, maybe you shouldn’t eat these or, or this and that. So I think that’s pretty interesting, but at the same time, he can’t really deny the results and like how you felt. I think what’s, what’s interesting to me too, is that, you know, your husband did it for a year first and you, I mean, I don’t know how it was during that year, year. I mean, you said he cooked for himself and, uh, I don’t, if you looked at him like, man, you’re weird. Or like, why don’t you just eat these foods?
I totally did. But you know, he had done weird stuff from time to time. He would try all different kinds of diets and, um, you know, all kinds of different stuff. And so I, I didn’t look at him too weird, but, um, I, but this time was the first time he stuck with it and I mean, it had been a year. So I knew at that point he was probably going to keep it. And, um, and it was just real interesting because, you know, yeah. If I wasn’t making something he could eat, then yes, he would make his own dinner. I didn’t make pasta and pizza every night of the week or anything like that by any means. And we ate fairly, I believe still fairly healthy for the, you know, con we didn’t have a lot of junk food in the house. We didn’t have a lot of, we didn’t eat, eat it, um, like fast food restaurants or anything. Um, but very occasionally. And, um, so we barely healthy for the most part, but, you know, having pizza and pasta in our diet and not watching, you know, soy and that kind of thing. And what turns out is I’m allergic to soy too. So, um, kind of an interesting thing. So going paleo really, uh, helped me figure that out as well. So,
Yeah, it’s really interesting because I can, um, I can definitely relate because of the, for example, the sad diet, you mentioned that, and, you know, I grew up in the eighties and a lot of us grew up with these foods thinking that these foods aren’t that bad for you, or they’re not that unhealthy for you, you, you know, you’re trying to get seven to 11 servings of grains, like we’ve been told and that’s kind of the way I was raised. Um, but what’s interesting is, you know, I became a personal trainer, I got healthy, I got fit. And then when I did my fit defective fit journey, it was crazy how quickly when I started eating, you know, sad foods for six months straight, how quickly my health turned from this healthy fit guy, you know, eight and half percent body fat to all of a sudden, you know, 32 and a half percent body fat and 269 pounds.
And, uh, developed a nonalcoholic fatty liver disease within those six months. It’s just crazy how quickly your body can change eating those foods. And we don’t realize that because so many times we focus on our outward appearance of like, okay, if I eat this food, yeah, it’s gonna make me gain weight versus what is this gonna do to my organs? What is this gonna do to, um, you know, like for example, you said you had fibromyalgia and all these lists of other things, IBS and stuff like that. We don’t realize how food affects us on a cellular level. And so it can be scary. You know, I just had a, um, a speaking engagement is past weekend where I was telling people about how quickly my body changed. And it, it is scary from both inside and outside perspective.
Well, you know, what I find interesting is that we think that I’m not real sure where it is in our thought process, that it doesn’t come into our thought processes, but if we’re eating the diet that we use to fatten up cattle, what do we think, do we really think it’s going to do something different for us? I mean, like that’s, I started thinking about that and thought, well, that’s just kind of ridiculous why in the world would we ever think that we could eat the same diet that we feed cattle to fatten them up in this country and, and be okay. I mean, and the thing is, is that our cattle, you know, and I, obviously this is confined animal feeding operations, not in factory farming, not, you know, grass fed and pasture raised type of animals, but, um, which is, you know, what we obviously, um, subscribe to. But, um, the thing is, is that if in that respect, but the majority of this country eats food that comes from Kappos. And the simple fact of the matter is they’re all sick and it’s because they shouldn’t be eating that either. But, um, anyway, it’s just kind of an interesting thing to me that, yeah, we don’t, we don’t realize that.
And it’s also a good analogy too, for people to realize, yeah, that’s that, but that’s the way we’ve been taught, you know, from commercials to companies, to government telling us this is what we’re supposed to do. I mean, even doctors were telling us back then, this is the way it is, you know, this is what’s healthy. And so you’re relying on these people that you look up to and like, okay, this is what they say, but now I think there’s an awakening. And, um, you know, people are becoming more aware of the newer science and people are certain to take control of their health and you guys are doing a great job of that, especially with something like pillow effects, which is huge. Um, how long, how many years have you guys been doing paleo effects now?
Since 2012? So, um, this will be our seventh. Wait, no six, sorry. Oh, that’s right. Okay. Yeah. So, um, it’s going to be our six show, so, um, yeah, it’s, um, it’s interesting how fast it’s grown in, how big it’s gotten.
Did you guys expect this type of response to that? I mean, did you expect it to grow this much?
Um, we expected it to grow. We had, okay. So our first initial intent when we came home from, um, the ancestral health symposium, when we first had the idea for paleo effects was to do a little conference at our gym and do like, you know, do movement sessions, do some talks and panels, and to do some cooking demonstrations at our gym. We figured at that point, once we saw how things went, we would, you know, we were thinking about maybe if not doing it at the gym, then doing it at this small venue here in Austin. And so, um, and then we figured we would just grow it as a years. And, um, what happened is we had someone that got involved at the beginning that was like, you know, we, you really should do this as, you know, big, you shouldn’t, you shouldn’t go small, you should go big and, um, convinced us to do that. And, uh, we did. And it’s been interesting. Yeah, we’ve been pretty humbled by the fact that so many people have planted their, you know, paleo effects flag and, and gotten on board and gotten involved in been just huge supporters of us from the beginning. So, um, and yeah, it’s doubled in size every year. And then it tripled in size in 2015. So we were pretty excited about that.
Wow. Yeah, I would be too. I mean, most people would, that is, that is amazing. Um, those numbers are just, are just shocking. I didn’t know that, to be honest with you, but, um, I definitely hear all about it and this will actually be the first year that I am coming out there, which I’m excited about. Um, because I feel like, you know, maybe at first it was just the purists, you know, you know, all, all those hardcore, I don’t know what you call them, paleo, uh, fans, or, you know, paleo purists, if you will, but now it’s branching out to more of the mainstream and, you know, it’s getting out there to your everyday average person to where everybody, almost everybody knows what they’ve heard of the paleo diet. Right. And so I feel like it’s growing in popularity, popularity, especially with, you know, the weight loss industry, the fitness industry, which is kind of what I’m a part of too, and my audience as well. But, you know, I, I’m definitely trying to pass on the education that I’ve learned from, from you guys and, and like people like Rob and Abel James and Melissa to pass it on down, cause that’s really what needs to happen. And now there’s so many avenues like podcasts and, uh, YouTube and social media instead of just commercials on TV.
Crazy. Um, yeah, we, uh, what I find interesting is in 2012, there was only one paleo New York times bestselling author, and that was Rob. And now we are in, uh, we’ve lost count. There’s we’re somewhere in the thirties or forties of New York times bestselling authors that identify as paleo, which is really incredible. The one thing though that I want to make sure that your particularly your listeners, if they’re not very familiar with paleo effects is our conference is not just about the diet and not just about nutrition. Our conference is about an holistic lifestyle. And so you’re going to come to pillow effects and find that there’s, you know, obviously there’s some things on diet and nutrition, but there’s a lot of stuff on sustainability on, um, mindset on spirituality, on lifestyle, um, happiness, um, movement sessions, obviously just it’s all across the board because paleo is not just about the diet, it’s about an entire lifestyle. And that is in my opinion, removing toxins from your life in all aspects, which is, you know, not just your food, but also in your home in your life. And, um, you know, which includes toxic people. So we are, that’s really what the whole thing is about. And, you know, we need to move, remove as many toxins from our food as we possibly can. So it’s one of them to know it’s really a very holistic approach to, to a, um, a very cool lifestyle in my opinion, because it’s a very sustainable lifestyle.
Yeah. And one of the things I’ve learned about transformation is how much of transformation is mental and emotional versus just physical, right? You could give somebody a diet and maybe they’ll do it for a little while, but if you can get them to transform their, uh, their emotional wellbeing, for example, that right there is going to be more lasting than in my opinion than just then just changing up the diet. But the two are so connected, right? That your diet, what you put inside of you and the mind body connection as well. And there’s a connection to food too. And before all this, you know, I think a lot of people don’t realize the powerful, emotional connection that we have to food. Uh, but it’s meant to be that way. Right. And food isn’t just meant to be put in our bodies and digested and crapped out.
There’s so much more to it than that. There’s, it’s it’s information. Right. Um, so I think that’s awesome. You guys are doing that. And, um, I, I’m interested to know your take on okay. You know, it’s become popular and the way I see it, you know, I see so many diets that wants to become popular, then you kinda have to kind of weed out, um, certain parts of it where once it becomes mainstream, then everybody’s trying to put that label on almost anything and market it. Right. And then it becomes more about the bottom line. What kind of concerns you have, or do you see this in the end, the paleo industry with now that it’s so big, how do you guys kind of manage that a little bit?
Well, one thing that we do is, um, all of the vendors that come to payload effects have to meet pretty stringent requirements for us. We have them, um, all signed contracts that state that they understand what our, we have an entire banned ingredients list. They kind of all have to jump through all those hoops before they can come to paleo effects, because we want to make sure that whoever’s at pillow effects is providing the right types of, um, products to our, um, to all of our audience. And so that they feel comfortable that everything has been vetted. Now, this is the thing though, obviously like you’re saying with paleo, there’s going to be, you know, there’s not one paleo diet. I mean, like I have a completely different paleo diet than Keith does to some extent, um, because there are items that I can eat that he cannot, and there’s items he can eat that I cannot.
So, you know, the only thing that if something falls into like the paleo sphere, you know, some people can eat potatoes and rice and some people cannot. So we do allow some of those things. So people just have to, you know, make sure that they’re doing, looking at at ingredients and making sure that there’s not something in there that they don’t tolerate well. But, um, for the most part at a paleo FX is paleo and primal. And we, um, we have a lot of, um, we also have a lot of sustainability partners that come in that are vendors and we have a lot of biohacking. So, um, these are just the, you know, some of the things that we do, but I, I do, um, I think that as paleo grows, yes, we’re going to have people start trying to claim that they are paleo-friendly, I’ve already seen it.
I’ve seen things say they were paleo-friendly fortunately that’s trademarked. And, um, in, you know, a lot of times we get that taken care of pretty quickly. Um, but the thing is, is that, um, you know, the, it’s just really doing your homework and really knowing what works for you and what doesn’t, and that’s, that’s all, any equals one. Each person really is responsible. Um, it’s not just your right, but it’s your responsibility to, um, you know, be your own health advocate. Um, no one else can do that for you. Like you can. And the simple fact of the matter is, is that doctors may understand how you’re feeling, but you’re the only one that knows how you feel. So, um, if you are in, you know, eating something that doesn’t agree with you, you’re going to be the first one that knows that now. I mean, I’m not, I’m not going to know whether or not, you know, you’re okay with potatoes or rice or with, you know, whatever the case may be.
So, you know, you’re going to have to be responsible for making sure, you know, what those things are. I have, you know, I’ve got kind of a laundry list of things I can’t do. So I just have to be careful. And I just have to be really mindful because the simple fact of the matter is, is that our, um, our entire food supply is, um, you know, proliferated with stuff that’s not good. And you know, just about everything you see in the market just is got soy in it and has, you know, all kinds of junk in it. So you just have to be real careful. And really, if you’re sticking to mostly whole foods, you don’t have a whole lot to worry about, you know, your, those are pretty clear ingredients. So if you pick up an Apple, you’re likely getting an Apple and when you’re, you know, pick up a steak, that’s what you’re getting is a steak. Or when you pick up a thing of cauliflower, that’s what you’re getting. So you don’t have to look at labels with that, but, you know, there are some things, a little, you know, um, you know, salad, dressings or things like that. You just have to be real careful.
Yeah. And I think, I think there’s a place for convenience foods, uh, you know, especially with our society and the way we live, you know, if you have kids and you’re taking them all over the place and you’re, you’re, you have to travel for your work. It’s yeah. It’s hard to pack a steak and vegetables in your bag and bring it with you. So I do feel like there’s a place for, for those kinds of things, but at the same time, um, I do feel like with any diet, you know, it’s going to become mainstream like that, and there’s going to be options of like, you know, paleo donuts and pay the cookies and yeah, you’re eating paleo, but you’re still like, there’s, there’s still that whole food, um, uh, notion that you need to be aware of like, okay, is this a whole food?
And as is the majority of my food that I’m eating is it is a whole food, or has it from these other process, uh, you know, even though they fit under the category of paleo, I re I did a gluten free experiment, just a little, a couple of years or three years ago, as you can tell, I like to do experiments, but it’s interesting. I feel like everybody should experiment with their body to find out what’s optimal, but just kind of to show people that just because something has a label doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy. And I did it with the gluten free craze, that’s going on, you know, you go to any store and you’ll see this gluten free section of gluten free pizza and bread and cookies and crackers. And yes, it’s gluten free, but I feel like people associate that with like, okay, if I eat this, this is going to make me lose weight.
But in reality, it’s not, it’s not healthy food. It’s just as unhealthy, if not more unhealthy than the non gluten free foods. And so I ended up getting, I think I gained 20 pounds in two months eating gluten free foods. And then the second half was to educate people on, okay, if you are going to be gluten free stick with the whole foods, here’s how you eat. Here’s what a typical day should look like. If you have to stay away from gluten, for example, now I’m not saying you can’t have a treat every once in a while. I’m okay with that, but, uh, be smart about it. Right. Uh, so
My whole thing is, is if you’re going to have a treat, then make sure that it’s something that you really, really like, and you enjoy and enjoy every bite of it and not, and don’t beat yourself up about it either. Um, cause there are people that do that, that go through that whole day. And I think that’s almost worse, more damaging is beating yourself up over, having something that you enjoy. And so I, yeah, I completely agree. I don’t think, um, you know, the paleo treats and things that are out there, obviously they are not meant for every day, but neither was, this is the other thing. Neither was cakes and cookies and all of, and cupcakes and brownies and all of that. None of that was ever meant for every day. Those were all usually meant for celebrations or some type of special occasion and we’ve turned it into, Oh, I’m going to have this every single day.
And so that is where the change needs to come. Is that mindset of what it is, what is really truly acceptable food on a daily basis. And the thing is is that if you’re, if you have a sweet tooth, which lots of people do and I’m can tell you I’m guilty of that as well is, um, you know, is going to fruit instead of having opting for a dessert or a treat and only keep the treats and desserts and things like that for special occasions. I mean, I just, that just helps so much more, especially if you’re wanting to maintain weight loss or to, um, not have, you know, weight gain.
Yeah. It’s interesting. Our mentality when it comes to dessert or comfort foods, you know, that’s where people tend to eat their emotions, right. Uh, you know, I had a stressful day, therefore wine and Brown is it is tonight. Or, Hey, I had a great day, let’s celebrate wine and brownies, you know, so it’s finding that balance and shifting your mentality. And unfortunately it’s really hard for people. And this took me doing my fit to fat, to fit journey, to realize how powerful that emotional connection to certain foods are. Especially if we grew up that way. Like if our parents taught us, Hey, you know, it’s your birthday or, Hey, it’s a Friday it’s it’s pizza night or, um, you know, whatever it is, we kind of grew up with like those sentimental feelings towards certain foods. And we think, okay, well this is then we become emotionally connected to food in that sense. And not saying that that can’t be healthy, but for the most part it’s, it’s over done, especially here in America. Um, shifting gears back to paleo effects, I feel like we’re going from the diet to pay the effects a little bit. I kind of want to talk about paleo effects because I think it’s a great event that people should look forward to and, and attending. What do you guys have coming up this year? It’s in June right now. It’s May 9th, May 19th. I’m sorry.
That’s okay. It’s May 19th through the 21st, it’s an Austin, Texas. We take over the entire Palmer event center and we have quite a bit of changes from if there’s people that have been to the event from years past, quite a few changes, we have changed up the floor a little bit and, um, we’re going to be bringing in some new elements to the event that we’re pretty excited about. Those are we’re finalizing the details on a lot of that stuff, so that will be coming out and you can check that out on our website and on our social media, paleo effects.com and Facebook paler effects and Twitter and Instagram pill affects. And so, um, you can check all of those out there and get all of the latest updates on, on everything that’s coming. Uh, once we finalize a lot of things. So, you know, we have some new people coming like yourself through, and then, um, we have, uh, dr.
Josh Axe, which we’re really super excited about. We have art debating coming, um, who are, it’s not spoken publicly for awhile. So we’re really excited about that since he really just released his book. And then, um, Jordan Ruben, um, and we were working on a couple of other big names that, um, once we get them confirmed, trust me, they will be out, but we have, you know, a lot of the, um, Rob Wolf will be there, Mark Sisson. Um, Norka goddess, uh, Chris Kresser, um, just going through the, I will miss people, Sarah Valentine, that kind of, you know, there’s all whole lot of people I’ve missed. Cause we have over a hundred speakers that come to this event and it’s three days of, um, hands-on, there’s talks and very interactive with the audience, uh, panels, very interactive, the audience workshops, both classroom and movement workshops and cooking demonstrations, again, very hands on and, um, very interactive with the audience. And so, um, it’s just a really fun event and, uh, yeah, we’ve got a lot of really cool things coming, so
Yeah, it’s going to be really exciting. And uh, I like, uh, dr. Josh Axe, I met him on the dr. Oz show and I’ve been following him since then, so that’s cool that he’s going to be there as well. Um, now I can’t remember what year it was that you guys had some kind of, um, fitness event of some type kind of like a CrossFit slash athletic event. Are you guys doing something like that as well? This year,
We actually do it every year. It’s the paleo effects fit score of our answer to, to the combine, to the football combine. So it’s for the, um, you know, athlete, everyday person can find out where they stand and it’s kind of, um, on, you know, on a fitness scoring level that isn’t, and we have a competition every year and, uh, we, it kinda, it kind of levels the playing field a little bit, um, so that, um, someone like yourself or by husband can compete with, you know, someone that, you know, sits on the couch three or four days a week and they can just kind of see where they are at, but it’s, it kind of helps level the playing field because it puts them into a category for, um, you know, everyday people. But it’s a, it’s a great, uh, uh, it’s just a really great, um, competition and there are some really cool new changes coming to that this year as well. So we’re kind of excited about that.
That is cool. I’m excited to see that, uh, in person this year. So, uh, definitely people listening, uh, you have a lot to look forward to in Austin and I’ve heard so many cool things just about the city of Austin, right? Like I haven’t been there yet, but a lot of cool companies are in Austin and I just, how long have you guys been out in Austin now?
We’ve been here the whole time. We, um, we’ve had the event here in Austin every year and yeah, a lot of great companies are here. Um, we have, um, on it is one of the, one of our is always one of our partners at paleo effects and there they are located here in Austin, in Byron Medica, who is a big sponsor of ours is also in Austin. And, um, it is an incredible city and, um, it’s a fun city, obviously live music capital of the world. And, uh, but it’s just a, it’s a cool experience to come to Austin. It’s a really, um, cool vibe, lots of entrepreneurs in Austin. And it’s, um, since 1991, I believe it is Austin and this may have changed, but I haven’t anything about it changing, but since 1991, I was the highest educated town in the country per capita.
So it’s a really cool city and just a really, just really great, um, welcoming people here, um, and a lot of fun things to do. Um, and then we’re located at Palmer event center, which is right on lady, um, lady, bird, Lake, lady, bird, Johnson Lake. They just changed the name of the like, apologize for getting that wrong. But, um, it’s always been like Austin, but, um, they just changed it to lady bird Lake. And so we’re right there on the edge of the, uh, downtown. So we got a gorgeous view of the skyline of Austin. Um, the, um, uh, the capital is not too far from where we are, so you can see that it’s gorgeous and then the UT towers. And so, and that’s a beautiful campus. Um, so just a lot of stuff to do here as well, but, um, it’s going to be a really cool fun time.
Yeah, no, I think it will. And I, uh, I know on it’s out there and, uh, I, we, Marcus is a good friend. He’s cool. I, um, I didn’t know they were partners with you guys, but that makes it even more compelling to come.
Yeah. And we just have some really great people that are involved. Yeah. Our Aubrey will be coming back and, um, Oh, uh, just it’s, it’s just, so I can’t even tell you what, uh, this is definitely something I would want to go to if I didn’t even, even if I didn’t own it. Um, because, um, particularly our panels are really super compelling and like I said, highly interactive with the audience, the audience gets to ask questions at all talks and all panels, um, unless the, unless the speaker chooses to take there that time to continue on with whatever they’re they’re talking about. Um, and that does happen occasionally, but very rare, most, most speakers welcome questions. So, um, it’s, it’s just a really cool, um, experience. I can’t even say, I just always call it a three day paleo party. I mean, this is one of those things too, is if you feel like you’re weird and you go to dinner and you have to ask for all these substitutions and your food and all of this stuff, um, or you ask where all of your food came from or the origins, or what have you, or what kind of oil here serving or whatever, or you carry around your own butter or salt.
Um, this is where you’re going to find your tribe. These, these people are gonna make you feel normal, so you’re not going to feel like you’re alone. And so it’s a great group of people and it’s just a lot of fun and there’s just tons of networking opportunities at halo effects as well. And, um, it’s a big, huge party. We have, uh, we’ve got a lot of social events as well, uh, tied to Halifax. Yeah. And where do you guys
See it going in the next few years? Um, you know, other cities international, uh, what do you guys foresee happening?
The plan is international. Um, we had thought we would have been out of the country by now, but what we realized was we weren’t ready. And so we decided to do everything to get ready, and we’re working on that right now. And that’s building the infrastructure of paleo effects so that when we go out of the country, the last thing on earth that we would want to do is go out of the country and be a complete flop. And so the big thing is, was building the infrastructure so that when we did go out of the country, that we could have a team that would be overseas, that could, um, put together the event and know what they’re doing and us be able to come in in the last 10 weeks and, and be able to finish it up and walk in and, and run their show.
So, um, that’s the plan. We, more than likely will go to Australia first. Um, we’ll either it’ll be Australia or London, but, um, we did go do some scouting to go overseas a couple of years ago and realized we were definitely not ready. So, um, that’s, that’s the plan. And then more than likely what you’ll see is some very small events happening within the next year around the country. Um, not that we will always keep the big daddy in Austin. Um, but we’ll probably do like some, one or two day events around the country, um, in the next year or so.
Well, if you guys ever make it out to you tell it me and Melissa Hartwig. No, we’ll take care of you guys. There’s a couple of us here in UTA. Just kidding. There’s quite a few actually. Um, but yeah, I know it was crazy. Have you ever been out to Utah?
Um, I plumbed through Utah. Yeah.
Yeah. That’s most people’s answer
When I’ve come through Utah, I’ve actually texted, um, Dallas and Melissa and said, Hey, I’m in your town. Um, but I’m only here for, you know, an hour and at the airport, but, um, anyway, it’s, uh, yeah, I’ve, I’ve been up in Oregon, spent time up in Oregon, but I have not spent time in Utah. I just, I want to do
Well. I know you guys are super busy ever. You guys say, you know, you pretty much don’t sleep at all. You like you rest up all year round just to, just to make it through these three days. So, um, yeah, I won’t take up too much more of your time, Michelle. Um, but we will put all the links to the, um, social media and the website that you mentioned. Is there anything else you wanted to point people in the direction of websites or, um, any, anything else like that, that we can put on the show?
I can tell you one of our, we, one of the things that we launched last year, and we actually started playing around with it a couple of years ago with some entrepreneur stuff, because we realized how many entrepreneurs are in this space. And so we have a new event. Um, we didn’t irrelevant last year, um, for, um, it was health entrepreneurs up facts, but we have partnered with, um, Alex sharpen. I don’t know if you’re familiar with him, but he’s an incredible guy. And we partnered with him and we have launched a new, um, event called E FX, which is evolved entrepreneur FX. And you can go to efx.com if you’re interested in that, but it’s, um, really helping, um, entrepreneurs take their business to the very next level. And the thing is, is that my husband and I have done lots of masterminds, lots of business events, lots of entrepreneur events and everything, and nothing has ever given us the tools and the actual, um, what are the things that we need to actually do every day, um, to actually grow our business scale up and, and make changes in our business that will, you know, be conceivable and you will be able to see the results, tell this, um, event.
And so, um, we went and, um, took a look at all of the content and went through it ourselves. Our team went through it and it’s changed our business drastically. And I can just say from a personal point of view, it’s amazing, amazing in our, in our business. And so that’s why we chose to partner with them because one of the things is you can go to, you can go to all kinds of masterminds and entrepreneur events and get that raw and motivation. And Tony Robins is out there and, you know, John Maxwell and all kinds of motivational speakers, the thing is, is that most entrepreneurs, particularly in our space who, um, want to be conscious capitalists and want to do business with a purpose, they don’t need more motivation. Um, what they need is actual, you know, skillsets and things that they, they can do every day to actually grow their business more.
So, um, it is, uh, it’s been a game changer for paleo effects. And so if you’re, if you’re, uh, if your audience is interested in something like that, E F x.com and, um, you’ll come out to Austin and spend a couple of days with us and we’re gonna change your life. Um, our first one is March 24th, 20 March, 24th and 25th. And we’re planning, um, right now we’re trying to, um, get the dates figured out so that we could have one right there at the same time as paleo effects, we’re coming for payload effects that can come for this as well. And so, um, and anybody that buys the tickets for EFX, we have a special deal for them for paleo effects. So, um, I’m hoping, um, that we’re going to be able to get those dates worked out. We’re trying to make sure we’ve got, we’re not crazy. We, we, well, we are crazy, but that’s beside the point what, um, we are going to be moving our offices too. So that’s why we’re trying to work out all those things. So if you go to the website, it’ll tell you once we decide on those dates and everything, when that will be as well, but March 24th and 25th are definitely set for right now.
Okay. Well, I know I’m interested at least, and I’m sure there’s others that are listening that are interested in that. So we’ll put that in the show notes as well. Um, but I will, uh, um, first of all, thank you, Michelle, for coming on the show. I really appreciate it. And this is great and I’m super excited coming out there to Austin. I know some people are gonna be out there as well. Um, and once again, thank you for all you do. I know you’re super busy, so thanks for taking the time to come on on my show.
Oh, absolutely. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. And we are looking forward to having you, if it would affect.
Awesome. Well, thank you and Michelle, and we will be seeing you soon.
Okay, great. Thanks. [inaudible].
Thank you guys so much for listening to another great episode here on the fit to vet fit experience podcast. I hope you enjoy this episode with Michelle Norris, the CEO of paleo effects. And if you’re in Austin and you’re planning on going to paleo effects, please come say hi. Um, I love speaking and meeting to all kinds of people, especially my fans that have been following us for years now. Um, I’m super excited to see you guys there in Austin and plus Austin, such a great city from everything that I’ve heard. Uh, don’t forget to check out my program transformed at fit, fit.com, which is my, the relaunch of my fat to fit program. Uh, you know, back when I did it years ago, it was I’ll be honest. It was kind of sloppy. I didn’t really know what I was doing. A lot of broken links were in there.
And finally, finally made the time to clean it up, fix it up for you guys so that it’s actually a quality product and social, more convenient to use. So I’m definitely check that out. Also, please show some love to our sponsors, quest Kito, and drop an F bomb.com. Remember to use that code fit to red fit@dropanfbomb.com for a 10% discount. Unfortunately, mosquito does not offer discounts right now, maybe in the future, they will. Um, but Quito on my friends, if you’re doing keto, if you’re doing whatever lifestyle, then we can still be friends. It’s all, it’s all good. Um, I got nothing but love and respect for everybody on their journey to a better version of themselves. So thank you guys so much for the love. We’ll see you guys back here next week for another great episode.
[inaudible].
