Vitamin Joy with Shelby Stanger

Host Shelby Stanger looks back on Season 2 guests and shares highlights and lessons learned. Plus, she shares her own experiences of where guests’ advice really worked, what’s bringing her Vitamin Joy these days, and what’s next.

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Today’s guest, John Moe, is the host and creator of the podcast Depresh Mode. Before that, he hosted the award-winning hit podcast The Hilarious World of Depression, and he recently wrote and published a book by the same name. John has written for publications like The New York Times Magazine, McSweeney's, and The Seattle Times among others. He’s written plays that have been performed on three continents, and his radio work has appeared on a variety of national networks.

John is no stranger to something I’ve wanted to explore all along with Vitamin Joy -- mental health and humor. On his podcast Depresh Mode, John interviews comedians, musicians, and creatives about mental health – with no stigma, no shame, lots of laughs.  He’s also candid about his own experience with depression.

In this episode, we talk about comedy, mental health, what works and doesn’t, his podcast, having dogs, and so much more. John was a joy to interview and left me with a lot of hope. Enjoy!

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Dr. Nicole LePera is a holistic psychologist. She received traditional training in clinical psychology at Cornell University and The New School of Social Research, and she started the Instagram account @the.holistic.psychologist, which has become wildly popular. On it, she shares her tools for transformation with an ever-growing community of #SelfHealers. Most recently, she is the author of a book called How to Do The Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from your Past and Create Your Self. It’s a great book -- I learned so much from it, and I think there is so much joy that comes from healing ourselves.

In today’s episode, Nicole and I talk about all of it -- dealing with trauma (big T and little t), how to heal ourselves using all sorts of easy tools (jump to 24:35 for a conversation about singing, gargling, and the vagus nerve), setting boundaries, and Nicole’s Vitamin Joy challenge for us all. This is a powerful show. I hope you take a lot from it. I did. Enjoy!

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I love interviewing authors and journalists, especially ones who cover things like freediving and rock climbing. These are my people! This is why I was so excited to chat with Adam Skolnick.

Lori Harder is a force of nature. The fitness model, author and entrepreneur has had a wild story. She is all about self-love, setting strong boundaries and leaning into your energy to create the life you want.

In this episode, we get into all of it: Lori’s background and how she went from overweight kid to fitness model, entrepreneurship and boundaries, and how to add in more self-love with your body, your mind and your work. We even talk about going to the Vans Warped Tour. At the end, she offers one of my favorite Vitamin Joy challenges. Enjoy!

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Sharing greater health and joy with others often starts with figuring out what works for yourself, and that’s exactly what Dave Asprey has done. Dave is the founder of Bulletproof Coffee, the creator of the Bulletproof Diet, a best selling author, and the self-proclaimed founder of biohacking. Over the last two decades, Dave has personally spent nearly $2 million to study with top scientists and doctors in order to better understand the most innovative methods, techniques, and products for enhancing mental and physical performance. His goal is to help people be better partners, parents, providers, and overall human beings in every aspect of life. Basically, to be bulletproof. He’s also the author of the new book Fast This Way.

In this episode, Dave and I talk about fasting, how it differs for men and women, ways to make fasting easier, his bulletproof diet, foods and vitamins he recommends, and of course, humor. While Dave and I don’t agree on all things, I find him to be incredibly fascinating, and I appreciate his personal story behind why he came to do the work he does, and why he finds so much meaning doing it.

Disclosure: This podcast is for informational purposes only. The material presented is the opinion of guests, not of the host or sponsors of this show. Before you try anything recommended on this podcast, please consult your doctor.

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Chris Cote is one of the most respected action sports personalities around. The San Diego native is the editor and founder of Encinitas magazine and a commentator for the World Surf League (basically the NFL of surfing). He’s also a musician, plays guitar and sings in a punk band, DJs and MCs parties, and he’s just an all-around great guy and a rad dad to two adorable boys. Chris has been alcohol-free for over six years, and he happens to be one of the funniest, most authentic humans I know. In this episode, I talk with Chris about how he became sober, the joy of sobriety, and  where humor fits into his life. Chris shares some serious gems of wisdom, and I know you’ll get a lot out of it. Enjoy.

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To kick off Season 2 of Vitamin Joy, we’re diving into an issue a ton of people struggle with: procrastination. I spoke with expert Christine Li about how to stop procrastinating so we can have more Vitamin Joy in our lives. Christine is a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in anxiety and procrastination, and she’s helped thousands of people address their procrastination -- from people at institutions like Columbia University to everyday creatives like you and I. In this episode, we talk about how Christine’s got into this field, and she walks us through concrete, specific steps we can all take to stop procrastinating now. We also talk about how to approach procrastination in times like these, when so many of us might already feel stressed out. Enjoy!

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Host Shelby Stanger looks back at highlights from 2020 guests, lessons learned, and what's to come. Plus, she gives her own recipes on what’s bringing her Vitamin Joy these days and what she’s cutting out for next year.

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2020 has been a year with some serious suck -- which is why today’s guest, Brent Gleeson, a retired Navy SEAL combat veteran turned accomplished entrepreneur, author, and acclaimed speaker, is the perfect person to talk about embracing sucky moments. Brent Gleeson has suffered some serious suck through his Navy SEAL training and startup business days. He recently wrote a book, Embrace the Suck, about his principles of why going through hard times and difficult challenges makes us stronger, more resilient beings. Brent is a San Diego local. In this episode, we talk about how to embrace the suck through our work, our relationships, our adventures, and just everyday living in 2020. We also talk about his approach to getting over fear, setting goals, why values matter, why dealing with trauma is so important, altruism and what it does for our brains, and how to use humor, even in the suckiest of situations.

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Dr. Louise Stanger is a licensed clinical social worker, former college professor, three-time published author, internationally renowned clinician, interventionist, speaker, and an expert on mental health, addiction, process disorders and chronic pain. She’s also my mom! She was named Interventionist of the year last year by Harvard’s McClean Hospital and recently published her third book, Addiction in the Family: Helping Families Navigate Challenges, Emotions, and Recovery, published by Rockridge Press.  Addiction affects a lot of families, and in this pandemic, a lot of people have turned to substances to get through it.

My mom and I talk a little about her background and why this field is so important to her having grown up in an alcoholic family. We get into what addiction is, how to start when helping yourself or a family member with an addiction, and some practical strategies to help you navigate making positive changes in your own life and in the lives of your family. Interviewing a parent is a real gift, and it’s a first for me. So listen all  the way to the end as we really find our flow. We get into practical tools to cope, real solutions, there’s some laughter and personal stories, and at the very end, I share a little about her book and my review. Enjoy!

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A great night’s sleep is the most cost effective Vitamin Joy there is. Today’s guest, Kelly Murray, is not only is an award-winning pediatric sleep consultant, but she literally coaches busy and ambitious professionals to sleep like a boss. Over the last few years, she’s helped hundreds of people get better sleep. We go beyond turning off our screens and not eating before bed. We get into the science of sleep, why we wake up in the middle of the night, how to go back to sleep, how hormones affect this, and so much more. I hope this short episode gets you more rest and more joy.

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Gabby Reece is an athlete, a former  professional volleyball player, a model, wife to pro surfer Laird Hamilton, a mom and step mom, podcast host, author, entrepreneur, and health and fitness advocate. We recorded this episode in person at her house in Malibu before the election I left feeling so joyful.

Gabby has had a big career and spent time with very smart people in the realm of health and fitness so she gives great advice. We talk about everything from training your body to your mind and detailed things you can do every day that add up over the longtime to keep it healthy and joyful -- from sleep to training, to nutrition, saying no, romance, and where humor fits into all. Listen all the way to the end as there are some nuggets in here. I hope this show gives you as much Vitamin Joy as it did for me.

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Jessie Salas is a former firefighter and a Coach who is also the Program Director for Foundation Training , a program which uses  simple corrective exercise to help people move free and easily without pain.

Jessie regularly works with people like you and I but also big wave professional surfers, professional athletes, active and retired military firemen, stuntmen,  and celebrities like Josh Brolin, Madonna, and so many more using Foundation Training to help them be pain free, and to maximize their potential

Jessie travels all over to work with clients and people of all types to teach them Foundation Training and is constantly self-experimenting with different remedies and modalities to get the most out of life. We talk about what Foundation Training is, how you can use it at home, plus other things Jessie uses to get more vitamin Joy out of life including breath work, cold, grounding, different forms of movement, nutrition and more. Enjoy!

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Chef Ramses Bravo  is the head chef at True North Health Center. He’s been making plant based food without added sugar, salt, or oil for 15 years, and he actually makes this way of eating taste good.

I’ve spent time in his Ramses Bravo’s kitchen, eaten his delicious food and taken his online classes. Ramses, has a dry sense of humor, a huge heart, and he is really good at what he does. We talk about his journey to cooking this way,  how you can get started, some of his favorite recipes, and how this way of eating has benefitted him personally. Ramses also shares what he does when he goes to restaurants at friends and family members houses who don’t eat the same way he does. His answer is refreshing and might surprise you. At the end, I share some of my own favorite plant bases SOS free recipes that help me maximize my own health and vitamin joy.

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Dr. Goldhamer is the founder of the True North Health Center in Santa Rosa, CA, which specializes in supervised water fasting. For over 35 years they’ve helped over 20,000 patients reverse various aliments and diseases through supervised water-fasting and the introduction and education of a plant-based, sugar-free, oil-free, and salt-free diet.

I know that sounds pretty hardcore, but this podcast is called Vitamin Joy. It’s about doing simple things in your life that can create massive amounts of joy. His techniques for what his results are are fairly simple – changing your diet and drinking only water. I get it’s  big leap for some people.

Dr. Goldhamer, who is a licensed osteopathic physician, the author of The Health Promoting Cookbook, and the co-author of The Pleasure Trap, has seen the process work firsthand and been part of several big-time peer reviewed studies published in major medical journals, and  recently been featured in movies like What The Health, and the Netflix special UnWell.

For today’s show, I talk about my own experience working with Dr. Goldhamer. I ask him to give us an overview of eating this, and how it can add more health and immunity to our lives, something we all care about right now. We also talk about how come it’s so hard for us to change our diets and how water fasting can make that change easier. This podcast gets even better towards the end.

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Emergency Room Doctor Candice Myhre saves lives in emergency situations every single day. For her job, she has to flexible and fast – going from patients who are literally dying to dealing with things like an ear infection in the next room. Humor eases the transition. It also lets her connect with her patients better, getting critical diagnoses, and easing her patients’ pain and fears more easily in emergencies --where every second matters.

Recently, Canadice went viral on social media. After reading a study in a well-respected medical journal written by vascular surgeons that criticized women doctors for wearing bikinis on social media calling them more “unprofessional,” Candice spoke out about sexism in medicine. Her post went viral and she followed up by using humor to talk about a difficult subject.

On today’s show I ask Candice how humor brings her not only Vitamin Joy for herself, but how humor helps her in medicine, how it helps her patients, her coworkers and even how it helps make people healthier. We also talk a little about her newfound social media fame, how humor helps her as a parent, and on how humor can help us in our own lives,  even in emergencies, even when things feel heavy, even in the year 2020.

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Today’s guest doesn’t drink caffeine. Caroline MacDougall is the founder, creator and CEO of Teeccino® an herbal tea company that makes coffee alternative beverages all with herbal products and adaptogenic herbs. She’s also designed numerous award-winning herbal beverages for top tea and natural products companies you have likely heard of including: The Republic of Tea, Yogi Tea Company, and more. She began her journey studying, growing, importing, blending and selling herbs in the 1970s, traveling around the world, to wilderness areas and remote villages, all to find herbs and teas. It’s lead her to a successful career that’s brought herself and a lot of others a lot of health and a lot of joy. Caroline shares her case for why caffeine is something we can all give up for at least a few months, the power of herbs and adaptogenics, and her journey of following her passion that’s lead to a fulfilling and joyful career. If you are a tea lover or are curious about giving up caffeine, keep listening.

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Using Mindfulness to Find Joy as a Parent, and even not as a parent -- not that easy right now. Today’s guest,Jaimal Yogis, is a longtime friend, a dad to three boys under ten, a husband, an author, a speaker, and a mindfulness expert. Jaimal has written several bestselling books, including Saltwater Buddah, The Fear Project, and his latest book, which is a beautifully illustrated kid’s book (equally pleasing to adults) called Mop Rides the Waves of Life. It teaches kids about feelings through surfing. Jaimal and his wife are busy. She’s a CEO of a health technology company. He’s got a fulltime job. And they are moving houses right as we record this show. Since he’s so great about talking about mindfulness (the guy once tried to be a monk) I asked Jaimal tips and tricks about his own journey on finding joy through the chaos of parenthood, being a husband and just being a human in this time. This conversation made me feel calmer. I hope it does the same for you!

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Today’s guest Libby Carstensen literally specializes in helping people find joy through grief. Libby is an executive and life coach, and a meditation, and mindfulness teacher who specializes in grief and loss. She’s been a Master Educator at Chopra (as is Deepak Chopra). She teaches an amazing Kundalini yoga class every morning available for all on Instagram, which we talk about towards the end, and she teaches by the motto, “Don’t just feel better, get better at feeling!” On today’s show we explore where grief comes from, ways to approach grief differently, where movement, breath practice and getting into nature fit in, and how grief can transform into a source of Vitamin Joy.

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Consistency and Joy. Two words that don’t always go together. But today’s guest, Gregg Clunis, of the podcast and book, Tiny Leaps, Big Changes, has become a master at consistency and making tiny leaps to create big life changes. Along the way, he’s found a lot of Joy. Today, we talk about why and how consistency can be joyful ,and how you can have more in your life. We also dive into actual tools to achieve greater consistency in your life, plus where Gregg gets his Vitamin Joy. Enjoy.

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Life can be salty, but comedian Fortune Feimster uses comedy and humor to make it sweeter. With an appetite for the truth in her work, and for being authentically herself, even on giant stages like the one where she performed her amazing Netflix special, Sweet and Salty, (out now) Fortune has become a master at finding humor, even in more challenging times (like now). On today’s podcast show, we talk about how Fortune got into comedy, why comedy is so important, now more than ever, how to get over fear, even on stage, what makes her laugh out loud, and how you can start making light of your life more today.

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Often known for the phrase, “If it’s not a hell yes, it’s a no,” Derek Sivers has a refreshing approach to saying no and minimalism that’s been especially helpful to me. The entrepreneur, who started and sold CD Baby for millions of dollars and gave much of it away, has also been a musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, TED Speaker, and book publisher. He’s lived in different places around the world, often for a year or so at a time, and he is a huge fan of New Zealand, also my favorite country. His voice is also very calming. On this podcast, we go over everything from how saying no to things allows you to say YES to the things that matter, minimalism, and what brings Derek more joy. We recorded this episode back in April in quarantine, but even as we get back to a new normal, this message is more important than ever.

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Meredith Arthur worked for three startups in one year before getting diagnosed with general anxiety disorder. The San Francisco-based writer and video producer, who worked at places like Chowhound, Food Network and now Pinterest, was an early pioneer of "getting people to talk about mental health in a normal way.” She created the website Beautiful Voyager in 2015 for overthinkers, perfectionists, and people pleasers, and also edited Invisible Illness, the largest mental health publication on Medium. Most recently, she wrote the beautifully illustrated book, How to Get Out Of Your Own Head: Inspiration for Overthinkers in an Anxious World. On the show, Shelby and Meredith discuss tactics for getting out of your own head, with things like color, protecting your head, opting out, naming your inner critic, play, journaling, juggling, and so much more.

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Breathing seems like a simple act, but the way you breathe can affect the way you sleep, workout, talk, your health and even your mood. Best-selling author James Nestor spent the last three years studying ancient bones of ancestors to see how our breathing bones have evolved over the years and also trained with breath gurus, doctors, even plugged his nose and then taped his mouth shut to see how nose vs. mouth breathing affects your health in his latest book, Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art. On the show, Shelby and James talk about the difference and result between nose and mouth breathing, how certain ways of breathing can evoke so much joy, how a tribe of native Americans used a certain way of breathing to achieve optimal standards of health, how our sex and nasal tissue is similar, and how you can breathe better now to have more joy in your life today. At the end, Shelby tests the recipe.

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