Episode 1.
Listen or Read the show notes: Organic Foods & Nutrition
TRANSCRIPT:
Brandy Montague 0:03
Welcome to episode number one of the For Animals For Earth podcast. Today we’re talking to Brooke in Edmond, Oklahoma. The simple takeaway from today’s conversation is to cook more of our own meals, using fresh fruits and veggies, that are grown in the earth. Why? Well because there’s an unspoken connection that occurs when we prepare our food this way. It nourishes our bodies, but also our minds and our souls and naturally it deepens our connection to the earth, and to the environment around us.
Brandy Montague 0:44
For detailed show notes and a couple of simple ways to get started, visit our website at ForAnimalsForEarth.com/podcast/1.
Brandy Montague 0:58
Hi there, this is Brandy and you’re listening to the For Animals For Earth podcast. This is a space where we inspire each other to take small steps every day to live a more conscious life, helping animals, and the planet, while we do it. I’m so glad that you’re here. Let’s all take a deep breath… And let’s get started.
Brooke Freeman 1:23
“That’s why I love getting out in earth, where you can really get connected with what you’re eating, and get connected with yourself. And really be aware of those little subtle things, because your body will tell you when something’s not right.”
Brandy Montague 1:40
That was Brooke Freeman. Brooke is a nutritional health coach, a mom, and wife to her husband Mike, who she recently started a nonprofit with called the Natural Freedom Farm. Brooke and Mike have a deep passion for helping people bring natural organically grown food into their lives. And they actually teach them how to grow that food for themselves. I love watching Brooke on Instagram. She’s at @essentiallyinfusedhome. She’s so grounded and so inspiring. She makes life honestly look simple and fun. It makes you question, why not get out there and get my hands dirty? I think you’ll enjoy the talk today. Let’s dive in.
Brandy Montague 2:26
We’re living in a little bit of a crazy time right now where coronavirus is basically, you know, lurking invisibly all around us. And there’s a certain level of fear and anxiety, I think, in all of us, you know some of us it’s a little more above the surface maybe, and some it’s a little below the surface. But I think in general, everyone is carrying some level of fear. I know you and I have talked about what’s going on right now, and you have a slightly more optimistic view of what’s happening. I wonder if we could start off by talking about that a little bit.
Brooke Freeman 3:16
I’m just such a big believer that food is medicine, and that our bodies were really built and created to heal themselves. And so it has the capabilities of fighting off viruses and fighting off germs, but we just have to give our bodies the ability to do that. We have to nourish it and feed it and treat it well so that it is able to do what it’s meant to do. It’s meant to keep us going and keep us alive and keep us healthy. And a lot of times people just don’t take care of themselves as well. And so then we’re not able to fight off these viruses as easily as we should be able to. So you know with everything that’s going on, I’ve really kept a pretty light spirit about it that we’ll be fine. We’re gonna eat our vegetables, and we’re gonna get some fresh air outside, and do the things that we’ve always been doing. And I feel like if you are proactively taking care of yourself, then your body is strong enough to overcome these things that we face on a day to day when we get in the midst of other people that are sick or of germs that pop up. So I just feel confident in the way that we live and the way that we treat our bodies, and we’re not perfect by any means, but we definitely have the tools that we need to keep our bodies healthy through things that come our way.
Brandy Montague 4:53
Yeah, I love that viewpoint of, you know, feeling empowered by knowing that you’re living. Living as healthy as you can, you know as realistically, as you can. You mention the tools that you turn to and I think you mean kind of like immune boosters. I wonder what are some of those tools that are, you know, that you keep in your back pocket?
Brooke Freeman 5:20
We always just turned to herbs and fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s kind of our main thing. I just really feel like when you are getting in earth and taking what grows in earth that it is so healing for our body. And it gives us so much strength that we are able to keep an optimal health. And then we also do fresh air and just moving and getting outside anytime. Like today it’s probably just in the low 70s, our windows are open, our doors are open, we’re getting fresh air, we’re going outside. The boys are always outside playing. And so we’re just constantly being out in nature, and in the sun whenever we can. We use essential oils. I love my essential oils. They’re like my medicine cabinet. When people usually will just go and grab a Tylenol or Advil, I’m like which oil do I need. So it’s like my go to thing. And then we’re always just turning mostly to food, though, for our health.
Brandy Montague 6:29
One of the things I love about you guys is that you grow a ton of your own food. And listening to you describe this symbiotic relationship that our bodies have… I mean our bodies and our souls have with the earth is such a simple and grounded idea, yet at the same time, really profound. Maybe it’s because I’m a human being living in the middle of a big city that it seems so profound to me… But I think for a lot, many people, at least in the United States, we’ve kind of lost that relationship that you described as this symbiotic union between our bodies and the earth.
Brooke Freeman 7:19
Absolutely yes, and I feel like that’s where most of our health issues have come from. We’ve completely disconnected from where our food comes from. And a lot, most of us don’t even eat food that comes from Earth anymore. We eat food that was created in some factory somewhere and packaged. And so our bodies don’t know how to process that and how to handle and use that. It’s just some foreign object. And so we now see obesity and diabetes and heart disease and cancer and all these things that we shouldn’t be having such high rates of. And it’s because we no longer eat from Earth. We eat from packages and so our whole goal with me as a health coach, and just as our family, is really teaching people and helping people to get back to the dirt, and the sun, and real food.
Brooke Freeman 8:18
I love that you guys model an example of that. You know you’re not only out there trying to teach other people how to do it, but it seems as if you are, you know, constantly learning yourself and constantly evolving your way of doing it. I think that you guys have started a nonprofit that has a lot to do with this right? Can you talk about that?
Brooke Freeman 8:44
Sure, our nonprofit is Natural Freedom Farm. And we get this question a lot, “Oh, do you have a farm? No, not yet. I am projecting that into the future.” We’re currently working in our backyard. But the whole thing is we just really want to help our community and our neighbors learn that you can be healthy, that you can take control of your own health, that you can get back to nature and eat from nature, and it can be so healing and nourishing for your body. And our nonprofit is open for everybody, but I really feel a passion to focus on young kids and teenagers because that is such a huge… For one they’re our future. And so, I would love to see a generational change of us getting back to Earth. And two, that’s just a huge population of our generation that is obese, high rate of diabetes, already as young kids. We’re seeing this. And it just shouldn’t be happening. Our young children, 10-14 years old, shouldn’t be having diabetes. And so we really want to influence those around us to just learn how to to heal their bodies and to eat well and to grow. And so right now we just have our backyard garden, and so we are doing as much as we can with going out and feeding communities. And we had a little kids event where the kids can come and build their own garden boxes and plant some seeds in their garden boxes. So just things like that. And then once we do get our farm, I want to have schools come like for field trips and learn how to garden and learn how to pick from the garden. Churches can come and just things like that. I want to have cooking classes and Bible studies and all just kind of be revolved around, God and earth and just getting back to that grounding space.
Brandy Montague 10:51
I love that. I wish I lived close enough for us to come!
Brooke Freeman 10:58
That would be really awesome.
Brandy Montague 11:02
You know, reaching out to the kids is such a big opportunity. I guess I think about how with the environment, as adults, we definitely need to take control and make a difference for ourselves and for the earth. But the reality is that I assume if things continue the way they are now, it’s going to be significantly more painful for our kids you know, when they’re living here on this earth. And to your point, the more children that we can raise with a conscious view of everything going on around us, I guess it better prepares them to be able to handle the reality that will probably be theirs when they’re our age. You know I love that you’re doing this in your community and you’re bringing people in to share your mission. Have you found that your community is ready. I mean, are people apt to join, or do you still find yourself still having to be out there kind of like drumming up interest?
Brooke Freeman 12:19
There’s definitely a group of people that are like just craving the education and the knowledge. What I’m seeing a lot of, since it’s a nonprofit, our goal is to, to give away this healthy food. And so people are loving that because I hear so much that I want to eat healthy but I can’t afford it. Because there’s just this big thought behind organic food, that it’s unreachable for some people, that people can’t afford it. And so, I think people get trapped in this thinking that I’ll never be healthy because I only have a certain budget for the groceries for the month. And so people are really loving thinking, “Oh I can eat this way. I can eat healthy. I can grow my own garden, and I won’t have a grocery bill for produce and fruit. And I can come out to this garden space, and I can pick what my family needs.” And so people are loving that aspect. But there’s also, I mean people want to learn. Our generation, we weren’t taught how to garden, you know like, most people my age when they were younger ate poorly. And so we’re just continuing that trend. And some people don’t know how to garden so I hear all the time like, “I would love to do that but I don’t know how.” So this is a great opportunity for people to get that knowledge and to see it can be done. I don’t have to be a professional gardener. I am not a professional gardener. I’m literally just throwing seeds out and I’m like, whatever grows, let’s see. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else. I’m very, very relaxed about our gardening skills. And people ask me questions like, “oh well, how does this grow? what does this mean?” I’m like I don’t know, just spread the seeds out. It’ll be fine. God will take care of it. The earth will grow. And all will be well.
Brandy Montague 14:20
That’s awesome. You know, it’s funny because I was thinking when you were talking earlier how I could use some gardening lessons. I’ve tried it twice with planter boxes and both times… No luck! But we’re keeping at it. We have been talking about planting milkweed to help monarch butterflies. We have plants, like landscaping around the house. But something a little more like what we’re talking about. I would love to learn how to do a little better.
Brooke Freeman 14:56
It might be a watering issue, too much water, because a lot of times with the boxes if it’s not draining well, they might be drowning out your seeds or your roots, so that could be a possibility.
Brandy Montague 15:10
Okay. That is possible. It’s possible and honestly it could be a water issue on both sides of the equation. It could also be the fact that we’re in California and I’m not sure we remembered to water.
Brooke Freeman 15:20
Maybe! It’s tough. It’s tough. The watering issue is probably the biggest challenge, because I mean seeds will grow. If they’ve got heat and some water, then they’ll grow. But yeah, we killed some cucumber plants last year because during our tornado season, I mean it just… they got drenched. And it wasn’t draining properly. And so they were just like soaked for months. So yeah we killed them all off. But then we learned the next year, and now we need to do this or maybe plant them somewhere else, and so we just make adjustments. We enjoy it and play with it, and don’t make a big deal about it, and just hope for the best.
Brandy Montague 16:04
Yeah yeah, I love that! And I love that you said, you know, we kind of put it in God’s hands you know? It’s kind of like, hey it’s the earth, it’s God, let’s put it out there, and let it grow.
Brandy Montague 16:18
Um, you mentioned working with people and how the, I guess, default for a lot of us has been eating foods that don’t actually come from the earth. And buying organic does have a certain barrier to it when you’re shopping in the grocery store with the prices of things. I wonder with the people that you work with, do you find that there’s often a pretty common similarity in where you can start with people, to start shifting their current health and their current eating to something a little more healthy, a little more nutritional, a little better for their bodies? Are there common themes that you’re finding a lot of people have?
Brooke Freeman 17:18
I’m finding that a lot of people don’t eat fresh, and I think they think it’s too expensive. Especially because they hear that it needs to be organic. And so, they tend to just do more of the, you know, packaged items. When I take people to the store and I say okay, all of this… all of this fresh stuff is 50 bucks or whatever it is, they’re shocked. And they’re shocked about how far that will actually go. Because I understand there’s a lot of budget issues. That’s probably the number one issue, budget, and time. And so, I really like to say okay let’s get five or six ingredients, and let’s make multiple meals with those ingredients. And so that way you’re watching your budget, you’re eating fresh, and then you’re only having to cook or prep one time. And you can have multiple meals for that one prep time. And I think people are shocked about how good it is to eat that way, to eat clean, to eat fresh, how well they feel after eating that way, and how far it actually will stretch them.
Brandy Montague 18:35
Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You know buying everything together and then cooking it together so that it doesn’t go bad. I think a big part of fresh food is that it sits in the refrigerator and then after about a week, a lot of it is has already gone bad. So then do you have them freeze the meals and then heat them up?
Brooke Freeman 19:00
It depends on how many people they’re feeding. So I’ve had a client where it’s just her and her husband and yes then we’ll need to freeze some things. But if it’s a family of four or five, then typically what we prep will last the week, and it’ll stay fresh. We’ll prep like for a stir fry, let’s say for example. Well then you can use those same vegetables and throw on some lettuce and have a salad the next day with it. And then you can use some of those vegetables and make a soup the next day with it. So if it’s a bigger family we’ll typically grab a few ingredients like five or six ingredients. And then we’ll do multiple things with those, and that will typically last the whole week. And then you can also make enough so that you have leftovers for lunch the next day. That’s what we always do. We make enough so that we can heat it up the next morning and put it in a thermos and give it to the kids for lunch. Or my husband can take it to work or whatever. Because people don’t want to cook every day. I don’t want to cook every day! Just the cleanup work, and the dishes, and all of that. So it’s nice to just have meals prepped and ready, and have a plan. Because I feel like when there’s like, “what are we going to eat? Okay fine, let’s just go pick up a pizza or whatever”, that’s when people get into trouble. But if they say, “well we already have our rice cooked, we already have some chicken cooked, we have our vegetables chopped up. Let’s just throw that together and that’ll be our dinner tonight”. It makes it a lot easier and less likely for people to make irrational fast food choices.
Brandy Montague 20:43
I was thinking when I was preparing for our conversation earlier this week that my way of cooking and eating has changed drastically over the past two years, you know. When I was diagnosed with Graves Disease, I had no choice but to drastically change my nutrition, and now I spend an hour a day or more cooking dinner. And amazingly, it’s grown to be something that I actually love because I binge watch Netflix while I cook! I was trying to remember back to two plus years ago, what did we eat? I don’t know. I never thought I was an unhealthy person, but at the same time, I always felt like I did not have enough time to cook dinner. And it honestly blows my mind now that cooking dinner has become somewhat of a ritual that relaxes me a little bit at the end of the day. And I look forward to it, mostly because I look forward to watching TV… but you know it’s kind of a nice part of my day now.
Brooke Freeman 21:54
It feels good to just know that you’re involved in what you’re eating, you know. There’s just something about creating something yourself, and it being good and just feeling that like, being proud of yourself. I had one of my clients had never cooked and that’s why she came to me. She’s like I want to learn how to meal prep. I want to learn how to cook. But there was this nervousness, like I can’t do it, I don’t know what to put together… And so I’m very laid back, I’m like, you’ll once you start tasting things just play around with it. It’s like artwork, you know, just throw some things together and see what comes out. And she is just loving it now, and just like fully taking this on. She’s always sending me pictures of “look what I made tonight”! And so there’s just some sort of connection when you’re cooking your own food. And that like I just provided my family with something really healthy to eat, and tasted great. I can do. I have the time to do this. Then you just feel so good inside.
Brooke Freeman 23:03
So, I think people just have the mindset that they don’t have time, that they can’t do it. They don’t know how. And so that mindset just blocks them completely. So I always say just try it, just try. Because I was always saying I don’t have time to meal prep, what’s this meal prep stuff everyone’s talking about, like I… there’s just no time. But once you actually do it, it saves you so much more during the week. So I’m always like just try it, and if it doesn’t work out for your schedule, then that’s fine. But I always encourage people to try to cook at least once or twice a week, to try on their day off of work to meal prep for an hour, whatever it is. And I love it. I play music, you know, just enjoy the time. Sometimes the kids will get involved and help, and that can be stressful, but it could be a family thing, or it could just be your special time when you watch your Netflix or listen to music or whatever you want to do.
Brandy Montague 24:11
Yeah! And you know you mentioned meal prep, too, which is something also that I apparently didn’t used to do, but I got in the habit of doing. It’s something so simple right? But just saying, here’s what we’re going to do Monday night, here’s what we’re going to eat Tuesday night, and making enough for leftovers for lunch. You know so simple, but not something everybody does, you know, and it’s worth the time, I agree.
Brooke Freeman 24:38
Yes.
Brandy Montague 24:39
You mentioned that people will see that they feel better. I wonder if you’ll share a little bit more, maybe a few examples of how you’ve seen people’s health change with changing the way they eat?
Brooke Freeman 24:56
The biggest thing I see is just energy wise. Because when you’re eating fast food or processed food and you’re not eating fresh food from Earth there’s, there’s just… It sounds very hippy, but there’s just no energy in that food. It really is just empty calories that do nothing for our bodies. And so when people start actually cooking for themselves and eating healthy, they just get this energy about them, they just feel more alive and more… You almost become more aware of your body, you know? I guess it’s hard to explain until you actually start doing it, but you just start to become more connected with yourself. And then now, I’ve noticed that I will now see symptoms coming. Like if I am getting sick with something, I’ll start noticing now because I’m more aware of my body and what my body needs. So I’ll know two, three days ahead, I’m not feeling well or I’m feeling more tired than normal, or something’s changed. So let’s start adding some more lemon and more ginger and more parsley. And so we’ll just create meals that will nourish our bodies because we are aware of what’s going on. I feel like when you’re kind of like in the rush of life, and you’re just grabbing things to go, and it’s not really healthy, and it’s not really nourishing you, and just allow the busyness of life to take over, it’s really hard to pick up on those very subtle things that your body is telling you. And so, that’s, you know, that’s why I love getting out in earth, where you can really get connected with what you’re eating, and get connected with yourself, and really be aware of those little subtle things. Because your body will tell you when something’s not right. But most of us ignore it or don’t know what it is, and we hide it with, you know, over the counter things or whatever and so… So yes, I kind of lost my train of thought. I kind of went off!
Brandy Montague 27:07
No, not at all. I, you know, it’s funny, when you describe this being connected with the earth and literally the energy of the food of the earth coming into your body when you eat, and then dissipating throughout your body and out into your life, it puts into words what I felt the past couple of years. I can never really explain how things have changed for me but I guess I’m just a little bit more aware of the energy, you know, moving through and around. We’ve talked a lot about food but I know that you kind of look at health very holistically. I know food is obviously the biggest part. But what are some of the other things that you leverage to live a more holistically conscious life?
Brooke Freeman 28:26
Um, we’re just very like, like you love your animals… I think we had talked about this before. Just kind of loving, I feel like things kind of go around in a circle. (Dog barking)
Brandy Montague 28:43
I love it! It’s like right when you talk about loving your animals, he’s like, yes!
Brooke Freeman 28:54
So this is another little hippie thing that we believe in. And that is, we… my husband does eat meat. I do not eat meat, but when we do purchase meat, we make sure it is ethically raised, and it’s been in a healthy, calm environment. Because we really feel like the life of that animal, if they had suffered, if they were tortured, if they were scared and they were sad, like all of that is in their body, it’s in their cells, it’s in their muscles. And so we really take that on when we eat animal products, where they were raised in a very poor environment. And so that’s one way that we are very conscious with the earth and with the food that we eat and what we’re putting in our bodies. We make sure that we’re just not exposing our bodies to pain and suffering because I really feel like that has had a huge effect on people’s lives.
Brooke Freeman 30:02
And then we’re also just very conscious of the chemicals that we surround ourselves by, what are we being exposed to, what products are we using, things like that. So we always want to like love on earth, we don’t like to spray chemicals on our yard, or you know, we like to just do the least amount of damage to the earth. Because I really feel like, just in general as people, we have caused a lot of damage to our earth. And we take responsibility to do our part of nurturing it and loving it, so that it can heal and that it will come back to us in some way, that we have loved Earth and that Earth will love us back, so yeah.
Brandy Montague 30:48
Yeah and imagine, I guess the more and more people who do that! You know it’s um, we really have taken so much from the earth for so many years, and we really do each need to do our job to give back to it, and kind of replenish and rejuvenate and…
Brooke Freeman 30:49
And I love how we’re all stuck inside and the earth is healing. So that just proves how much damage we really do create. And I don’t think everyone really recognizes that. But hopefully through everything that’s going on right now. Hopefully it will come out like, okay, so we weren’t outside or we weren’t at the beach and so now look at how our water is becoming more clean and the animals are coming back and the coral is rejuvenating and all these things. So I’m hoping that this will bring a little bit more awareness to how we’ve been treating Earth, and hopefully make some changes in our next generation coming up.
Brandy Montague 31:55
Yeah I hope so too. I hope so too. And I think to your point, it’s like, I do think that we’re moving into a new us, and a new humanity through this. And, yeah, it’s, you know… I saw a picture the other day that said something like, Mother Earth is finally exercising her strong immune system. Or something like that. Yeah.
Brandy Montague 32:24
You alluded to this a little bit earlier, but you haven’t always been so focused on nutrition. And i don’t know that I would say that you haven’t been focused on health. But I know that you have kind of changed quite a bit over the past five years or so. I wonder if you’ll talk a little bit about why, like how, that came about?
Brooke Freeman 32:50
It’s actually a topic I don’t talk about much unless asked, and that is just because it’s such a sensitive subject to other women and mothers. And that is my youngest son, Lucas, who’s now four and a half. But when he was about six months old. So, during his time of getting vaccines. When he was first born, well okay let’s backtrack a little bit. When I had Jack… I’m a nurse, and so when I had Jack I was very much whatever the doctor says, you know, we just did everything that we were told, we’re supposed to do. And then for some reason when I had Lucas, just something came over me that was like, that seems like a lot, it seems like a lot of vaccines. And so let’s just cut it back a little bit and do a little bit at a time instead of like the whole shebang. And so, and I just give God the credit for kind of giving me that thought, because when he was six months old, he just got two vaccines, instead of like the six he was supposed to get. And he just had a weird reaction. He was waving at the time and had good eye contact and, you know, like more interactive. And then after he received those vaccines, he just kind of like stared at us for two weeks. He stopped waving. He stopped clapping. He just really wasn’t connecting with us. And just that experience… he ended up coming out of it. It took about two weeks to fully come out of it, but just that experience really just put this thought in my mind of what am I putting in my child? And so I don’t talk about that a lot because I don’t want to be labeled as an anti vaxxer, any of that. I don’t want to get involved in any of those things, but it just um, it really opened our eyes to what are we exposing ourselves to, what are we putting in our children. And so it wasn’t just the vaccines, that led to what food am I putting in my child. I was the mom who like sprayed Lysol all over the toys and stuff and then they put it in their mouth. And I look back now like oh my gosh like my kid’s eating Lysol.
Brandy Montague 35:09
Well, we all thought that’s what you do, I mean…
Brooke Freeman 35:12
Yeah it just became this snowball of like what are we exposing ourselves to, what am I putting in my body, what am I putting in their body. And so we just completely did a 180 and we’ve said you know, we’re going to start loving our bodies and we’re going to start nurturing our bodies. Because at the time, my husband and I said okay let’s just take a break. And we agreed with the doctor we’re going to stop vaccines for now and just let him kind of grow up a little bit and see if he can grow out of this. Because we didn’t want to keep introducing things that could have caused further damage. And so at that point, I was like okay if I can’t protect him with the vaccine, how am I going to protect him? And food is what came to me. So, I just kind of came to it. I was on a mission as a mother to say okay I’m going to keep him healthy through food, and through a healthy environment, and all of these things. So we just completely changed our lives and grew a garden, and just changed how we live. And it just has kind of evolved from there.
Brandy Montague 36:21
And where did you start with the change? So when you decided okay, I want to think differently about food, did you start first with a garden, or did you start by researching?
Brooke Freeman 36:35
We started just with choosing healthier foods at the store. Like before all of this, there was hotdogs and box Rice a Roni and you know like, things that I ate as a child that I gave Jack. And so it was just food that didn’t really have any value to it. And so it started with just that, like okay let’s start juicing, let’s start making smoothies, let’s start making more things fresh. And then it was, okay let’s do this ourselves, let’s try to grow a garden and get even more things available. Because I feel like there’s less waste that way. I hated going to the store and buying all these things for juices and smoothies and then it wilt three days later, you know. So we were like, okay, well let’s do a garden. And so we can just pick what we need, and that way, it’ll save us money, and it will just, we know that it’s chemical free. We know it’s from our dirt. We know that it’s safe. And so we went with that. And it’s just kind of continued and now we want to just share that love with everybody else with our nonprofit. And so it’s just going! So who knows where else we’ll be in a few years, but that’s where we all started.
Brandy Montague 37:58
I love that you shared your story and I appreciate you sharing it because I think, you know, vaccines, like you said, vaccines are one thing, but everything that we put into our bodies and what we put into our children’s bodies… it can cause a lot of stress, and a lot of worry. And you want to kind of know what exactly is going in there. And I think that’s one huge benefit of cooking your own food. You know what’s going in there instead of looking at the back of a box and kind of wondering, what are these things.
Brooke Freeman 38:35
And it’s like, um I don’t know how that’s pronounced. But it’s probably ok.
Brandy Montague 38:41
Exactly, I mean it says it’s healthy on the front.
Brooke Freeman 38:43
It says it’s organic and natural. But I don’t know what that word is.
Brandy Montague 38:49
Exactly. So I do think there’s a lot to be said for knowing what it is we’re putting on our bodies, even in the cleaning supplies like you said, or our skincare. I’ve been having some conversations around skincare and just how skin is like our largest organ and so you’re putting in, so… Yeah.
Brandy Montague 39:11
Yeah. What are you guys most excited about right now?
Brooke Freeman 39:17
I’m just excited to see where God takes this nonprofit. I just feel like it could grow into something so big. And we’ve just started. We just officially got, you know, 501c3 approval in January, so we’re just babies right now. And so, I know that this could be something huge, and so I’m just excited to see how many lives we’re able to touch and how big this can grow and, and just where, where God takes it.
Brandy Montague 39:47
(Break music) Before we enter the simple idea part of the segment, I wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you for being a listener, and thank you for supporting me and this work that I do with For Animals. For Earth. I really appreciate your support. And I’d also like to invite you to learn more about the resources that we offer on our website at ForAnimalsForEarth.com. I’ve put together a booklet of 50 simple ideas to make a difference that summarizes the various posts that are on our blog right now and other ideas that I think can be worked into daily life without too much stress to make it happen. You can get a copy, at bit.ly/50simpleideas. That’s the number 50 so it’s bit.ly/50simpleideas. I hope that you’ll find something there that speaks to you. It’s not about doing all 50 ideas, it’s about finding one or two that seem realistic to you and that you could try, you know, throwing into your everyday life. Now let’s go ahead and jump into the one simple idea to make a difference part of our show.
Brandy Montague 41:07
I like to wrap things up with one simple idea. So you know we talked about a ton of different things today. But if someone is listening and thinking, okay yeah, that sounds sounds interesting. I’d like to think differently about the food I’m eating. But I’m not really sure where to start. What would you say to that person?
Brooke Freeman 41:35
I would say just start with yourself. If a food journal is your thing, or just simply a day to day sit down. What did I eat today? What did I drink today? How did that make me feel? What can I do differently tomorrow? I think people are very hard on themselves, and they want to achieve this, you know like Instagram perfect life status. And so I’m very much like just change what can change for tomorrow, not a big deal. Like if I ate pizza and ice cream all day today, okay that’s fine. Let’s try to add an apple tomorrow. Just take small steps. And just kind of what works with your life, and where you are at right now. So I think if people just bring awareness to themselves, and say okay where am I, where’s my starting point, what can I change for tomorrow. And just make little baby steps. It doesn’t have to be a, okay I have to go to Whole Foods and spend $500 and clean everything out. It can simply be just each day I’m going to try to add something fresh and something healthy. Or I’m going to try to cook one homemade meal this week, and it’s going to be something real small that I’m going to cook fresh from home. It can be these little baby steps. And I’m always available if anyone wants to email me or contact me. I’m always open for some free advice and helping anyone out that needs help.
Brandy Montague 41:42
I love that. And how would you like people to get in touch with you? What’s the best way?
Brooke Freeman 41:48
Email is probably the best way. and then they can always follow me on Instagram or Facebook. We have our nonprofit on there. I’m @essentiallyinfusedhome and then we have @naturalfreedomfarm. So anyway you can contact me that way or through email. I’m always checking my stuff to see who’s sending messages.
Brandy Montague 42:14
I love that, and I love that you’re so open and willing to help people. And I know that you genuinely are. I know you’re not just saying that, you know, it’s like I know you and I know that you genuinely love to help people.
Brooke Freeman 42:30
I know how hard it is. I know busy moms… and just kind of trying to figure life out, and trying to do the best you can. I know where I started. And so I can definitely relate to all levels, all levels of crazy.
Brandy Montague 42:37
That’s something we all have in common right? We all have levels of crazy.
Brooke Freeman 42:44
Yes!
Brandy Montague 42:48
Thank you so much for chatting. I really loved it. I really loved connecting with you.
Brooke Freeman 42:54
Thank you!
Brandy Montague 42:56
And that’s all for today. Thanks so much for tuning in and listening. I hope you enjoyed the show. If so please consider hitting subscribe, rating or reviewing us, telling a friend. Any or all of the above truly make a difference. The more people we can reach, the more people I can find to interview, and the bigger impact we can make together. Keep an eye on your feed. We’ll be back soon with the next episode. Thanks, bye.
