[00:00:00] Jenn Trepeck: Number six is one of my picks. Episode 2 88, Use Your Heart Monitor to Improve Your Health (feat. Torkil Færø). I loved this one because it fully shifted things that I focused on this year, and he called heart rate variability. It's like having a speedometer for your physiology. I love that. I think there's so much that we have with wearables and information that we don't necessarily know what to do with, and so this took something and made it much more tangible.

[00:00:30] And then of course, we also talked about things that we could do to improve heart rate variability. Welcome to Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host, Jenn Trepeck, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. We're here to clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science and marketing to teach you how to eat.

[00:00:48] And hot to cheat. Are you ready? I'm having salad with a side of fries. Hey friend. Welcome back to another episode of Salad with a side of Fries. I'm your host and [00:01:00] health coach, Jenn Trepeck here with you every week for wellness without the weirdness. And this episode is an annual tradition where we highlight 10 episodes from this calendar year.

[00:01:12] And the criteria, frankly, is none other than. Our personal opinions. So who was the hour you asked? Well, each year it is mine and the person who joins me for this episode this year, joining us today is not only a listener, but she works on my podcast post-production team. So friend, please

[00:01:34] welcome,

[00:01:35] Dawn: Dawn.

[00:01:36] Hello everybody. It is an honor to be on this side of the podcast.

[00:01:41] Jenn Trepeck: I was gonna say, welcome to the side of the mic. Thank you. It's an honor and I am kind of nervous. Don't be nervous. I know. Easier said than done. I'm excited for you to be here, and I invited you to join me for this because you often send me feedback.

[00:01:59] [00:02:00] On episodes and it means the world. I am so appreciative, like I love hearing your thoughts after an episode, so I appreciate it and I thought this would be super fun. Well, thank you. Yeah. All right, so like I said, this is our. Dawn and my top 10 are personal picks. Dawn chose five. I chose five. And then hang with us because we have a couple honorable mentions at the end also.

[00:02:29] So think of this as a way to reflect on your own progress from this year, A guide for episodes that you may wanna go back to. Maybe over these holiday weeks you have some extra listening time, or maybe you need an escape from. The people around. You can put your headphones in and we'll be here. So think of it, it's like a curated playlist of sorts.

[00:02:54] So before we get too far into our top 10, we have to talk about the happy, [00:03:00] healthy hub. So members, your recipe this week is for Winter Bliss Balls. If you are a chocolate person, you're gonna wanna make enough of these to have at home and bring them with you to every holiday event that you are going to.

[00:03:15] You could probably add some protein powder if you wanted to up the ante even further. Even as the recipe has them, though they are. Already a healthier option than probably almost anything else that's gonna be on that dessert table at any event. And these taste super decadent. They're delicious, and you can change 'em up, do different add-ons with them.

[00:03:39] So if you want this recipe. Be sure you are a member of the Happy Healthy Hub. You'll go to a salad for the side of fries.com/membership for just $12 a month. Or by the way, you can prepay the whole year. You get it two months free. So it's the whole year for one 20. You get weekly recipes, curated articles, discounts [00:04:00] from me and our partners expert interview episodes in full video, including behind the scenes content, a community board with the ability to post and comment on other people's posts, access.

[00:04:10] 24 7, ask me anything or a MA. This targets your specific questions, challenges. You can upvote other people's questions, see past q and a and so much more. So I describe the Happy, healthy Hub really as the next best thing to my 12 week signature coaching program. So if you're ready to level up your health, support, this podcast, all the things.

[00:04:34] So we can keep going together in 2026 and beyond. Go to a salad with a side of fries.com/membership or there's a link below in the episode notes. Dawn makes sure that all of that is there and correct. From there, you'll click subscribe. Now, follow the prompts to enter your payment info. Create your login to Access the Hub, and you'll be all set to receive this week's recipe for the Winter Bliss Balls.

[00:04:59] Okay, [00:05:00] our top 10 dawn, we're gonna start with one of yours.

[00:05:03] Dawn: Whew. All right, here we go. What you got? So the first one that I picked is episode 3 24. It aired on October 15th, 2025. It's called Have Your Cake and Feel Great. This one ultimately stuck out to me just 'cause that's a fun title and we all deserve to enjoy our favorite food.

[00:05:24] While still feeling well and not shaming ourselves for enjoying, yes. A little treat. Absolutely. I,

[00:05:32] Jenn Trepeck: this one, it's funny, this to in my mind when I put this together, this was almost like our holiday episode. We just did it early, like before. Mm-hmm. Even Halloween so that we could enter this whole Q4 of the year with a plan.

[00:05:49] And I think I talked about this, you know, even in the episode, like, stop living by the shoulds, right? Or stop shoulding the bed and figure out consistency. [00:06:00] Because consistency in my mind includes holidays. So if you're feeling right now like you're very like black, white on off, or that all of those treats and things that you enjoy are just off limits, or if you start, it's all downhill.

[00:06:17] I agree with Dawn. I think you can have your cake and feel great and maybe start with this episode.

[00:06:22] Dawn: Yeah, and just like remembering that food isn't good or bad. Yes, it's food and some of it, you know, may have more sugar in it or maybe a little more processed than other foods, but it's food and it's not morally good, or it's not morally bad

[00:06:39] Jenn Trepeck: a hundred percent.

[00:06:40] Some things nourish the physical body. Some things nourish the soul Exactly. You're welcome. We're gonna make that a new quote. All right. So that actually reminded me, well, I dunno if it was quite the reminder, but one of my favorite episodes from this year. It's episode 3 0 2, the [00:07:00] Yes, and in healthcare featuring Andrea Nakayama.

[00:07:04] And the reason why have your cake and feel great made me think of the yes and is because like yes, and to all of the foods that we love. Yes, and to Western medicine with holistic lifestyle medicine, like all of the things can come together and I think just like, you know, we can look at foods that way. I think our healthcare system can.

[00:07:32] Look at things in such a binary way that I don't know the yes and is like all things are part of it and all things fit. I also love her story, like for those of you who don't know, so she wasn't originally in the wellness space. She came to all of this because of a diagnosis that her husband received and in trying to help him write the yes and doing the western medicine approach.

[00:07:58] To, you know, his [00:08:00] diagnosis, but then also adding to that lifestyle and nutrition and functional medicine. And so she became a functional medicine nutritionist and an educator. She created a health coaching program that certifies people to become health coaches and that kind of stuff. So we're just so aligned.

[00:08:17] I also appreciate the way she explained things. It's, she goes through her approach of three roots, many branches. So it's also a nice framework for us to think about all of our health stuff.

[00:08:31] Dawn: I remember the episode she shared that when her husband received the diagnosis, it felt like he was being treated as a statistic rather than As a human.

[00:08:41] Yes. With a life. Exactly. And that really impacted her. Like that was one of the things that stood out from the episode to me.

[00:08:50] Jenn Trepeck: For sure. I love that. I'm so glad you brought that up because it's true. It's like it reminds us to advocate for ourselves and to find the practitioners that are treating us [00:09:00] as the individuals and the humans and the vibrant lives that we have and wanna have.

[00:09:05] That's right. Yeah. Alright, dawn number three. What's your pick?

[00:09:09] Dawn: So it's episode three 13. It aired in. July, late July on the 30th, and it was called Rigid versus Flexible Habits. It was featuring Monica Packer. I picked this one as well because I do sometimes find myself being guilty of the, I should mindset, should the bed as Jen called it, like specifically on days where like, I know I need to rest and I have time.

[00:09:37] I've built in the time to rest. Like sometimes my mind is just. On like the cyclical thought process of like, I should do this, I should do this, and at the end of the day, I don't really feel rested because I wasn't resting

[00:09:51] Jenn Trepeck: right.

[00:09:51] Dawn: And yeah, like the all or nothing mindset isn't, at least it doesn't work for me personally, let's just say that.

[00:09:59] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. [00:10:00] Truthfully, in the long run, I have yet to meet a person that it works for a hundred percent till the end of time. Mm-hmm. You know, but I love this episode too. First of all, I think she's great in the way she approaches things. I appreciate how she talks about things like she and I are both very particular about our word choices.

[00:10:19] And she talks about how perfectionism even is a spectrum. And that frankly, no matter where on the spectrum we fall, there's sort of an underlying piece that's the same. Mm-hmm. And so I'll let you go back to listen for that, but I think I had an aha moment. With this episode, and you know how, and I don't think I'm the only one with these days, but you know how you sometimes just have those days where you're like, I don't wanna get off the couch.

[00:10:45] Like I'm going to be one with the couch. Mm-hmm. That is just as on off black and white as sometimes our approach to food or our approach to getting things done. [00:11:00]

[00:11:00] Dawn: I hadn't thought about it that way, like that end of the spectrum, me,

[00:11:05] Jenn Trepeck: right? And so this was the aha moment that I had in this conversation with her because she brought it to that and I was like, oh my goodness, you are totally right that maybe the gray area of that piece is finding time every day to be one with the couch versus having days and days and days where I am.

[00:11:28] Going, going, going. And then the one day where it's just sloth city.

[00:11:33] Dawn: Yeah. Or like, at least for me personally, when I have days where I am go, go, go and not prioritizing rest, then my body makes me prioritize rest. But my mind isn't always in the same space. And so that doesn't equal rest necessarily. I did this yesterday actually.

[00:11:52] It was so great overcast. It was raining. It was like not cold enough to snow, but it was cold enough to make you a little miserable. [00:12:00] And I had a productive morning with work and I like sat an alarm for an hour and laid down and snuggled my puppy. And then when my alarm went off, I felt relaxed and then I got up and I did the other things that was on my list.

[00:12:14] And I

[00:12:15] Jenn Trepeck: love that.

[00:12:16] Dawn: It felt really nice. And I also like got to spend some quality time with my pulpy. I love it. Yeah, I think that's what

[00:12:23] Jenn Trepeck: she was talking about, you know? Yeah. Like finding those moments. Amazing. So speaking of habits and kind of this idea, so that one was rigid versus flexible habits, my next pick are number four.

[00:12:37] Episode three 12 Daily Habits that serve or sabotage your health and Hormones. This was from July of this year, and I love this one because I felt like we got to tackle so many of the buzzwords and fads and all the things that people ask about. Like in the book it's a lot of the, but what about [00:13:00] section of the book?

[00:13:01] But it's all of the things where. We can feel like we're doing so many incredible things, and there's nuance to ensuring that the way we execute those habits or those concepts truly serve us versus sabotage us.

[00:13:18] Dawn: Oh, I just remember just being able to make an informed decision for yourself rather than listening to what so and so said on TikTok that works for them, and, oh, they look so great and happy on their highlight reel.

[00:13:32] So, but why isn't that working for me?

[00:13:34] Jenn Trepeck: Yes, exactly. It's like, and I said this in the episode, but context is everything. And so a lot of the habits and ideas that we walk through in that episode, they can be both helpful or harmful depending on the context. And so that episode might be a massive difference maker for things that you've been, you know, putting time and energy in.

[00:13:59] Dawn: And even just like [00:14:00] asking the questions is a stop towards making a change that can benefit you. Totally.

[00:14:07] Jenn Trepeck: Awesome. Alright, Dawn, we're already up to number five. I think it's your pick. Okay,

[00:14:13] Dawn: so this episode is from another one from July of this year and it was called Hormones Are Your Check Engine Light featuring Jillian Grieves.

[00:14:23] This one for me, like so I am nearing my mid thirties. And so talking about hormones and health in women's health, like at least for me, experiencing that growing up, it was kind of this like mysterious thing that happens that I never truly understood, like how much hormones are integral to my quality of life and my health.

[00:14:48] Yeah. Like there's just a thing that like, it feels like a buzzword sometimes and not something that like we're educated about. So it was nice to learn like this episode was packed full of information, [00:15:00] and I also picked this one too because of that. Like talking about it and demystifying things and like having a space where women of whatever age can feel safe bringing this up and seek insight or education or even just like normalize talking about it because for some reason hormones are.

[00:15:21] A taboo topic sometimes.

[00:15:23] Jenn Trepeck: Isn't that wild?

[00:15:25] Dawn: It's so wild to me. Like all of us have them, and then in whatever capacity,

[00:15:30] Jenn Trepeck: right? Everybody has hormones, right? And their fluctuations are in fact what we need, right? That's appropriate physiology, and yet we just think of them also as. You know, in that same black and white scenario of on off, good, bad, and that's not really what it is here either.

[00:15:52] Dawn: Right? Or like as we are aging and getting older, our bodies do start to change and we start to experience things that we [00:16:00] thought we were past that because we went through puberty and like dealt with acne before. And like, why am I breaking out all of a sudden? Like, I don't know. I just think demystifying and education.

[00:16:11] Is helpful and I learned a lot from this episode. So ultimately I picked it. And also like I've been on birth control since middle school. Um, and so. I don't know. That's also just a personal reason why, just because I wanna learn. So,

[00:16:28] Jenn Trepeck: yes. It's so interesting too, because birth control, funny, I was thinking about that this morning.

[00:16:33] It doesn't regulate, and I use that in air quotes, right? It doesn't regulate our hormones the way we were told it does. It's really medicated menopause,

[00:16:42] Dawn: right? And like I didn't know that. And I've been on it. It of course, almost most of my clinic, frankly, a lot of

[00:16:47] Jenn Trepeck: our doctors don't know it. Right. So one of the things that Jillian said in that episode is like one of the biggest mistakes we can make is overly fixating on the hormone itself.

[00:16:57] What we need to do is ask the deeper [00:17:00] question of why, and it's like, yes, recognizing that all of this is communicating with us, that even the symptoms we're experiencing. Not, and she says this there too, it's not the body rebelling against you. It's your body actually having your back and ultimately communicating what it needs, what support it's looking for,

[00:17:26] Dawn: right?

[00:17:27] And the element of, I'm experiencing this undesired symptom, it's making me uncomfortable. I don't like it. Let me just medicate it and suppress it or ignore it. And then you ultimately end up not, you feel worse. And then on top of like, it's probably not just one thing, it's probably amalgamation of things and it can be hard to figure out what the problem is.

[00:17:54] But just learning to listen to your body and what it's trying to tell you is [00:18:00] a takeaway that I had from that episode as well.

[00:18:02] Jenn Trepeck: Love it. Alright, so that was five so far. So let's pause here. We'll highlight our partner for this episode. We'll come back with five through 10 plus we have our honorary mentions, so everybody hang with us.

[00:18:17] You know how the wellness world just loves to bury us in rules and guilt and noise. Yeah. So I've experienced it. I've lived it, and it's why I wrote the antidote. My book, uncomplicating Wellness, ditch the Rules, quiet The Noise Reclaim Your Life is for anyone who has ever felt like they're doing everything right in air quotes, but still not feeling well, not feeling energized, not seeing the results of all this massive effort.

[00:18:47] And full disclosure, this is not another diet plan or diet book. It's really rather a new lens. It's, as we say, fries with your salad. It's [00:19:00] part science, part permission, and of course, zero guilt. We will clear the chaos. Call out the perfectionism, help you rebuild trust in the one expert who truly matters.

[00:19:11] And that's you, spoiler. So if you are ready to stop chasing wellness and start living it, grab your copy of Uncomplicating Wellness. Let's dish the rules, quiet the noise, and help you reclaim your life because you deserve it. You're worth it. So you can find Uncomplicating Wellness wherever books are sold.

[00:19:32] Text the word book BOK to 8 3 3 8 0 1 0 5, 0 0. You can learn more with a clickable link. Again, text the word book, BOOK to 8, 3 3 8 0 1 0 5, 0 0. Let's move from exhaustion to clarity, from fear to discernment, and from chasing healthy to truly feeling well on your own terms. Okay, Dawn, we're up to number six.

[00:19:59] Thank you. I [00:20:00] appreciate the little clap that nobody else could hear or see, but I saw it. Oh, number six is one of my picks. Okay. This one, episode 2 88 from February 5th, 2025, use your heart rate monitor to improve your health featuring torque Pharaoh. Now forgive me on how this silly American pronounces his name, but basically the reason why I chose this one is because this is one of those episodes that.

[00:20:32] Also similar to the Monica Packer one, where, you know, I had that aha. This is one that has shifted things for me and what I have focused on for myself in this year. So essentially this book, he wrote the book called The Pulse Cure. And so in the episode we really focus on tracking and understanding heart rate variability.

[00:20:53] So heart rate variability, if you wear. A whoop, if you have any kind of a ring, a lot of [00:21:00] your wearables, your biometric devices will track heart rate variability and some of the watches will do it if you wear it all the time or wear it when you sleep, or you know, there are some caveats to that difference than some of the, like the whoop or the ring.

[00:21:15] But heart rate variability is essentially the time between heartbeats. And we actually want that to be high. And so it's almost like our body's physiological headroom. It's our capacity to handle whatever potentially might be coming at us. And so, like I said, I loved this one because it fully shifted things that I focused on this year, and he called heart rate variability.

[00:21:45] It's like having a speedometer for your physiology. I love that. I think there's so much that we have with wearables and information that we don't necessarily know what to do with, and so this took something and made it much more tangible. And then of [00:22:00] course, we also talked about things that we could do to improve heart rate variability, so I love this one clearly.

[00:22:07] Any thoughts on this one? Dawn?

[00:22:09] Dawn: I definitely want to get a wearable that a I will actually wear. And that measures things that actually, that I can use, such as my heart rate variability and the watch that I have right now isn't the best for that. So I'm, I'm on the lookout.

[00:22:29] Jenn Trepeck: Yes, for one. So in our Gifting Health episode, free bonus, in our Gifting Health episode, I talked about Ring Con, which is the ring that I wear.

[00:22:37] Highly recommend, and you can use the link. In the episode notes from that episode to find Ring Con. What I like about Ring Con is that you just buy the device. You don't have to pay monthly for the app.

[00:22:49] Dawn: Yeah, that piqued

[00:22:50] Jenn Trepeck: my

[00:22:50] Dawn: interest for sure.

[00:22:51] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. But it's been interesting even to watch, like I can see the impact of having a cocktail on my heart rate variability.

[00:22:58] I can see the [00:23:00] impact of, you know, not sleeping as much or as well on the heart rate variability, like it's so clear. So I enjoyed this one. Awesome. Alright, dawn, number seven.

[00:23:11] Dawn: Number seven. I picked episode 3 0 3 from May of this year and it is, everyone is pre-diabetic unless,

[00:23:25] so, I guess I just want to. Share a little with the listeners. So getting to work with Jen and learn from her husband, like a game changer as far as me, I'm like now a grown woman and making choices on my own. And you know, all of these choices fall on you to take care of yourself. And so this podcast has helped a lot.

[00:23:48] Yay. Thank you. And I've learned. Learned. Yeah. Shout out. Salad with the side of fries. I also like, I don't quite remember when I realized what the standard American diet was, but [00:24:00] definitely listening to your podcast, it's like much more of an awareness factor now, and just something that I am a lot more mindful of.

[00:24:09] I grew up on Fox dinners like tuna helper, hamburger helper. I don't remember eating quite a lot of vegetables a lot, although I will say my mom instilled a love of giant salads for me, so sometimes we would have like dinner would be a big old salad and just put whatever we had in it. So shout out, mom.

[00:24:32] Thank you.

[00:24:33] Jenn Trepeck: I love that.

[00:24:34] Dawn: Thank you. I feel like I'm all over this place with my thoughts

[00:24:38] Jenn Trepeck: with this one, but No, you're good. I love this one too. I will admit, I sort of hesitated on this title. Because it feels a little doomsday ish, but it was the piece that I remember coming up with this and being like, I'm just so frustrated that we think that we're fine until, or unless [00:25:00] there's been this diagnosis.

[00:25:01] Mm-hmm. That we're waiting. Like we're essentially just living our lives waiting until at whatever age we go into the doctor and they say, okay, now you have higher blood sugar than we would really like to see. And it's like, well, this didn't happen overnight. We didn't wake up one morning, flip a switch, and all of a sudden have this, that it's been building.

[00:25:22] And by that token, we're not doomed and we don't have to wait to that point if we outsource all of the decision making to. The marketers to the food companies, to the grocery stores, right? Like if we outsource all the decision making to those things and eat the quote unquote standard American diet. Then we're all all in that pre-diabetic category.

[00:25:49] It's just a function of whether or not your doctor or the Western medical system has decided that it's kicked in now. That now is the point that we're gonna tell you about it. And so my hope [00:26:00] with this one is that everyone can take a step back and just look at some of the seemingly small choices that we're making every day.

[00:26:09] Decide which direction do we wanna move, right? We can move in the direction of diabetes or not, or any disease state or not.

[00:26:19] Dawn: Yeah, and just being aware too of like the differences, like just the difference that ultra processed foods versus Whole Foods can have on your health and like getting to, even if you just are making like one choice in a week.

[00:26:36] To add to your plate, like that's

[00:26:40] Jenn Trepeck: great. Yes, that is in fact more powerful prevention. Showing up to our doctor once a year. Right. I said in the episode like, prevention is not once a year going for your blood work and then waiting for the doctor to tell you that you're pre-diabetic. You know, going to the doctor once a year is what we would call early detection, not [00:27:00] prevention.

[00:27:00] Prevention is the stuff that we do all the time. Like you're saying, adding another vegetable to the plate or something seemingly small, seemingly meaningless. That stuff is really the big stuff.

[00:27:16] Dawn: This is a little caveat, I guess. So I remember my senior year of high school, I'm not an early riser and high school in my county started super early, so I'd literally like get out of bed, get dressed, grab a honey bun, and eat it on the way to school.

[00:27:33] Sounds delicious and I, I mean, it was delicious. And I also had the latest lunch period that year, and I remember every single day I was like so hungry. So if I ever snapped at anybody in line in the lunch line in high school, I'm so sorry, but it's because I wasn't. Setting myself up for success for the day.

[00:27:56] I was literally running on honey bun. And [00:28:00] now as an adult, knowing what I know about nutrition and like what I like and what my body needs, I

[00:28:07] Jenn Trepeck: would not do that. Right. Right. And it's the thing of like going back to the hormones conversation when we're younger and we have, our hormones are in a different balance.

[00:28:18] We can quote, unquote, get away with that stuff in a way that, especially as we age, we don't respond as well, we respond more dramatically. It's not that those things didn't affect us at all, it's that we sort of had. More wiggle room. You know, we had more of a buffer at that time.

[00:28:36] Dawn: Right.

[00:28:36] Jenn Trepeck: But yeah, if only we knew then what we know now.

[00:28:39] Dawn: Yeah. And I wanna shout out to you, to all the parents out there who just like are saying like, Ugh, I just like that feels so impossible. You are doing your best, you're doing great. Like my mom raised me on her own and working full time going to school. I was involved in so many extracurricular activities.

[00:28:59] She [00:29:00] used what she had and what she knew. And I was fed. Yes. And I was safe and got to live a full childhood. So I was like, I also don't wanna be guilt tripping people if they're struggling with this also.

[00:29:14] Jenn Trepeck: Absolutely. We all are doing the best that we can in every given moment. Yep. And all we can do is all we can do.

[00:29:24] All we can do is enough. And look at how amazing you turned out. Right? Like your mom did an unbelievable job. It's incredible. Right? Thanks mom. Yeah. And that's the, you know, I think the beauty of the human body is that it's not stagnant. Like at any point we could decide to make another choice and the body responds.

[00:29:45] Mm-hmm. Like, I think that's super cool. Yeah. That's fascinating. Yeah. Yes, and I appreciate that. Shout out to all the parents who are making it happen and helping our world continue with the next generation. [00:30:00] Alright, that brings us, speaking of the amazingness of the human body. Number eight. We are up to, this is my pick, episode 2 92 from March 5th, 2025.

[00:30:11] Your fat cells have memory. A new study finds, so this is one where I read about this study and then I cold outreached to this man, the researcher who did this study, bless him that he agreed to come on the show and talk about it. So long story short, what they found is that essentially our fat cells have, they almost get encoded.

[00:30:41] There's a change in the communication right in the cell. They are encoded for the, the scientific, where it would be like the obesogenic environment, right? They get coated for the environment that's higher in sugar, higher in fat, higher in the processed foods, right? All those things. And so [00:31:00] when we quickly lose weight, so their study was on bariatric surgery.

[00:31:04] Patients, when we quickly lose weight, those fat cells. Don't necessarily have the time to adapt to a new environment. And so they send signals essentially that we need the other environment, we need the obesogenic environment and it can contribute to regaining weight. And so for all the people out there, and I don't know that that many of these people listen to salad with a session fries, but for all the people out there who have ever thought that.

[00:31:37] Regaining weight after weight loss was an individual problem or a moral issue, or a failure of will or whatever it is, like you're just patently wrong. You know? There are so much physiology that goes into it. We talk in hormones, you know, and not just our sex hormones, but leptin and ghrelin and adiponectin and all these other hormones that are involved, [00:32:00] and cortisol and all that.

[00:32:01] But even here we see there's a genetic. Change inside a cell where physiologically the cells on this person's body are different than the cells on another person's body. And so I just appreciate this and my soapbox a little bit, but it also lends itself to like, I mentally extrapolate, you know, he, the researcher is like, well, this was the study and this is what we found, and that's where we leave it.

[00:32:28] And my brain goes to, well, how can we use this and what does this mean? So to me what this means is that how we go about removing the fat that our body has been storing onto that it doesn't need is potentially just as important as removing it at all. If our objective is to keep it off. That's my soapbox.

[00:32:52] Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[00:32:55] Dawn: That's so interesting. And you know, like the saying, like everybody's body is different, [00:33:00] but really. Down to the cellular makeup. Your body is so different than the next person.

[00:33:06] Jenn Trepeck: Exactly. It's interesting too, 'cause the human genome is 99.9% the same. Turns out that 0.1% is a lot.

[00:33:15] You know, and then we add to that, and not just the genome, but the epigenetic factor, which is essentially how our genes interplay with our lifestyle. And that's what we're seeing with all of this. Like that study is evidence of epigenetics. So, all right, up to number nine.

[00:33:36] Dawn: So for number nine, I picked episode 3 26 from October of this year called the Kids Are Not.

[00:33:44] All right, are we Skinny Talk hashtag toxic.

[00:33:49] Jenn Trepeck: Hashtag

[00:33:50] Dawn: Sick talk. Hashtag Toxic. So this one was a. A tough one because of the element of like [00:34:00] commenting on people's bodies versus like from a place of gossip or entertainment versus a place of concern. I think it's very important to differentiate. Between the two because if society's gonna do something, it's gonna cancel you or it's gonna normalize something.

[00:34:18] And we definitely don't want to be normalizing things like eating disorders or things like that, which has happened before. Um, I mean, it's

[00:34:27] Jenn Trepeck: happening right now.

[00:34:28] Dawn: Yeah, so I also picked this one too because like I am a woman in my thirties and have done a lot of work around my self-confidence and. Worth and everything.

[00:34:41] And I still find myself being affected by diet culture even when I don't realize it. Like for example, my friend group right now are some of the best, most creative, cool, confident women I've ever met. And they all have such cool and [00:35:00] different style and you know, just different paths and everything and.

[00:35:06] Early on in our friendship, I found myself like subconsciously comparing myself to them and comparing my body a lot. And you know, I've done that a lot as a like growing up. And normally I would just like stew in those thoughts and that wouldn't end up in a healthy place. Yeah. With these friends, I felt safe bringing it up in conversation and it actually opened up, I mean, a conversation from all of us.

[00:35:33] About being vulnerable with each other, about things that each of us are struggling with. And they were also so supportive of me and in my mind I was thinking like, oh my gosh, are they not gonna wanna be my friends? 'cause I don't fit into the same clothes that they wear. Like whatever. And like that's just irrational thinking.

[00:35:50] So just all of that to say like having that conversation really helped me realize like, I am affected by skinny talk [00:36:00] to this day, even when I don't want to be. And so that was like, I'm not the only one I know that

[00:36:06] Jenn Trepeck: a thousand percent like, so Dr. Jillian Lampert is who joined us for this one. And she is, you know, part of the organization of Canto Health and the Emily program.

[00:36:17] And it's so interesting. So when we first talked about this episode, and it aired in October because of bullying awareness month, and then as we were recording the episode, I was like, I'm sorry, this is not. Just about the kids at all. And one of the things that she talked about was this idea of self bullying and that our feeds, especially as adults, can create that.

[00:36:46] Then when we did talk about the kids, she also said, you know, she was like, even if your kid isn't the one on social media, odds are they're friends with other kids. And so they know what's happening there and it's, you know, none of us [00:37:00] are exempt from this information coming at us. We're just not, it's near impossible to escape.

[00:37:06] And so. I loved this conversation and the awareness piece that it brought to all of these things, and then some of the things that we can do, like she talked about, how to reset your feed so that you can just start from scratch and recurate the information that comes to you. You know, because it may not be serving you.

[00:37:28] And she said, use the algorithms to your advantage, not to your disadvantage. And so what if we, you know, make the internet a place where people are kind and we start to fill our feeds with all of that stuff and things that make us laugh and things that, you know, just bring us joy like time with puppies.

[00:37:47] Right.

[00:37:49] Dawn: And also too, like, I think. Remembering that we're advertised to 24 7 from every like 5 million directions all day, every day. [00:38:00] And understanding that like we're being sold to, whether it's an idea, whether it's a product, whether it's a lifestyle, and just like deciding for yourself what is important to you and what you're gonna literally buy into with your time, your attention, your money.

[00:38:17] It is important. I like to ask myself, who will benefit the most or profit from this if I believe what they're selling me? And that is like just something I try to be mindful of on a daily basis, but thousand percent, especially if

[00:38:33] Jenn Trepeck: we're it's, and if we're using a service that we are not directly paying for.

[00:38:38] Then guess what you are, what somebody else is paying for. Mm-hmm. You know, we are the product if we're not the client.

[00:38:47] Dawn: Yeah. Even like I went to see a, I love going to the movies and I love movie previews, like we gotta get there early. So I could see the movie preview and low and behold, weight loss medication is being [00:39:00] advertised.

[00:39:00] Uhhuh on the big screen before you see your movie. I was mad. I looked at the person next to me, I was like, what is this? That's not what I came here for. Totally. They're every, oh, but yeah, it's literal everywhere. Yeah.

[00:39:13] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. So that I have a couple of my honorary mentions or honorable mentions are in that category for that reason, so that everybody has some resources in that category.

[00:39:25] Dawn: I also just one more like, again, not to be commenting on people's bodies, again, for the sake of gossip or entertainment or whatnot. There have been a lot of, on my for you page, a lot of conversations around how skinny people are getting in Hollywood. Yes. And it's like coming from a place of concern and I guess the silver lining of all of this is seeing that there are conversations there, there is friction from that.

[00:39:53] Instead of just saying like, oh my gosh, you looks so great. It's questioning like. What is going on? Are you okay? Are [00:40:00] you well? Are you safe? Type deal. And like seeing more conversations like that gives me hope that we're

[00:40:06] Jenn Trepeck: not gonna lend here and stay here. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I hope so too. I hope that those conversations, questioning the health are also reaching the people who are looking at it with envy.

[00:40:22] And I don't know that those two circles of the Venn diagram are overlapping. I hope they are

[00:40:28] Dawn: right. And it's like it's such a big beast that we can't control ourselves. We can only lend our 2 cents and hope that Yeah, it's helping somebody.

[00:40:40] Jenn Trepeck: Exactly. For sure.

[00:40:41] Dawn: And talking about it is one way to do that.

[00:40:44] Exactly.

[00:40:45] Jenn Trepeck: So the episode with Dr. Jillian Lampert called. The kids are not. All right, are we hashtag's? Kitty talk hashtag toxic. Okay. Featuring Dr. Jillian Lambert. All right, number 10. This was [00:41:00] my pick. Episode 3 27. Eyes are the window to your Health featuring Dr. Joseph Allen. So this one made the list because hard to believe in six years of this podcast.

[00:41:13] This is our first episode focused solely on the eyes. And one of the things that I think is so interesting about it is that actually similar to our oral health, our eye doctors are sometimes the first to see other disease process happening in the body. Before we even realize before there's a recognizable symptom.

[00:41:39] And so I love this one also, Dr. Joey has an incredible YouTube channel and he's just a great presence and the way he explains things makes it super accessible. Um, so eyes are the window to your health, like stress impacts the eye. Even we talked about like cosmetic things with, you know, circles. Bags. We tried to [00:42:00] tackle as much of the eye stuff as we possibly could, but it's awesome.

[00:42:04] He was great. I hope everybody goes back to listen to this one again.

[00:42:08] Dawn: If you have eye twitches that you don't know what's causing them or how to get rid of them, listen to that episode.

[00:42:14] Jenn Trepeck: Yes. Wait, so tell us, what'd you do?

[00:42:17] Dawn: Well, I don't know. That's just something that I hear people. Okay. Like my eye won't stop twitching, and so I'm like, well.

[00:42:24] Solid with the side fries has an episode about that.

[00:42:28] Jenn Trepeck: I love it. I will just say thank you. Yeah, it's awesome. He talks about so much I'm looking through here. You know, he even talks about washing your eyelids and cleansing your eyelids. Like there's so many little things that we often overlook. So all that was our top 10.

[00:42:46] You can click links in the episode notes below to go back and listen super easily. But we do also have some honorable mentions. So super quick. Dawn, you wanna share your extras?

[00:42:57] Dawn: Yes. So this was a recent one. Um, it [00:43:00] was December 3rd. It was called Emotional Vitality featuring Jared St. Claire. I mean, everything that you guys talked about in this one, I was like taking notes like, wow, gut health.

[00:43:11] I know it's important, but like hearing it like with your vagus nerve and connection to your brain, from your stomach, like hearing it just laid out like that, just. Kind of reiterated that it's so integral to your mental health. Your gut health is, yes, magnesium supplementation. I've been looking into starting that, but what's it?

[00:43:33] Remind me. I'll

[00:43:33] Jenn Trepeck: send you a link.

[00:43:34] Dawn: Okay, thank you. What stood out to me the most was when you guys were talking about your self-talk and the way you speak to yourself and what you tell yourself you are has a huge impact on the way your brain is wired. And so that conversation just kind of, it was like towards the end of the episode and he was just going on about like, you're not, you are not this, you are not that.

[00:43:57] You have this. And just like hearing that, [00:44:00] I dunno. It just stood out to me. Yes.

[00:44:02] Jenn Trepeck: Awesome.

[00:44:02] Dawn: Yeah,

[00:44:03] Jenn Trepeck: love it. Go through all of yours, your honorable mentions, and then I'll do all mine.

[00:44:07] Dawn: Another honorable mention. It was really hard not to pick this one for the main ones, but Kegels are for more than butter sex, featuring Liz Miracle from Kegel.

[00:44:17] This one, like I have struggled with pelvic floor weakness and tightness and muscle spasms for. Most of my life. And I was like, I went to doctors, like nobody knew what was wrong with me. And then one day I Googled exactly what my symptoms were. And this was before AI, by the way. And I was like, oh, I'm having pelvic floor muscle spasms.

[00:44:40] That's not fun. And I got in with a pelvic floor physical therapist and my quality of life has been so much better and made me realize like. Pelvic floor, pelvic physical therapy or health is not talked about. We don't learn about it. I was like suffering in silence for years for no [00:45:00] reason.

[00:45:00] Jenn Trepeck: Right. Well if we hear about it, it's for women only and like after childbirth.

[00:45:06] Right. And the reality is it is for all humans Right. Of every age. And to your point, it is quality of life information, not. There's also quality of sex information in there. Right. But like it is quality of life. It is longevity. Right. And ignoring it is doing a detriment.

[00:45:26] Dawn: Right. And the focus of the practice isn't, I guess, like you said.

[00:45:32] Yeah. Quality of life and not just like for the sake of your intimate partner, it's like for you.

[00:45:39] Jenn Trepeck: Yeah. Yeah. And this one, that was a great one too. I've gotten such great feedback from that episode. For sure. Yeah.

[00:45:46] Dawn: Okay, and then I need one more. My final honorable mention is a nutrition nugget, ten three, two, one zero.

[00:45:53] It's from July of this year. Quick recap, 10 hours before bed stop, caffeine, [00:46:00] three hours before bed. Stop food and alcohol. Two hours before bed, no screens, one hour before bed. Stop work. That one has been a really big game changer as far as like just nighttime routine. Although it is hard 'cause I read on my Kindle, so like sometimes I do look at a screen until I fall asleep.

[00:46:19] So

[00:46:20] Jenn Trepeck: I get it. I get it. I am a work in progress on the sleep thing too. Yes, that was a good one. Alright, my honorable mentions. Okay, so there were two of these that I'm putting in here as the honorable mentions that relate back to the glp. One thing that you were saying of like the ads, so one of those is the nutrition nugget from January 3rd, 2025 called the Minnesota Starvation Experiment.

[00:46:47] This is what happens when we severely undereat for extended periods of time. So disease is not a size. Health is not a size. [00:47:00] It connects to so many pieces, but I encourage everybody to listen to that and then think about it in the context of what the current sort of general recommendations are for weight management, you know, and diabetes and.

[00:47:14] All of these things. Okay. Then episode 2 93 called More on GLP One Meds and How to Increase Your GLP one Naturally. This is from March 12th of this year. Please listen, like GLP one Medications can be a tremendous tool. They're not the only tool to harness the power of. This hormone glucagon-like peptide.

[00:47:36] There are supplements, there are foods, there are things that you can do to help your body produce more GLP to help your GLP last longer and not necessarily have the side effects of you know, the pharmaceuticals and to just recognize like you have options. There's more to the story. You get to choose.

[00:47:57] This is more on the Yes. And with the [00:48:00] GLP as well. So those two together I think can be really helpful. This time of year, my next honorable mention is Nutrition Nugget, the Easy Way out from May 23rd. I encourage you to listen to this and then think about how you're approaching 2026. A lot of you are going to think that it's connected to the glp.

[00:48:20] It is not. It's the easy way out is spoiler, how you can make all of this as easy as possible. I am encouraging you to take the easy way out because nobody wins for making this the hardest. And then. Some personal honorable mentions. One was episode 3 25 book Talk, uncomplicating Wellness. This was just special for me.

[00:48:43] Um, with the launch of my book, complicating Wellness and hearing people talk about it, it was like the first time we had a conversation with people who had read it and it was so powerful for me to hear what they took away from it. And I hope everybody found that helpful too. I think it was [00:49:00] interesting, like the women and their age differences and lifestyle differences and all that kind of thing, you know?

[00:49:05] So I thought that was a fun one. That was personal. And then the other thing is episode 2 86, dry beyond January, part two from January 22nd. This one was special for me. I won the Women Who Podcast magazine first place in the stellar interview category for this episode. So that's just a fun, honorable mention from this year.

[00:49:28] Right? I know. All right. And what's an honorable mention without highlighting our next nutrition nugget? So on Friday and this week's bite-sized bonus episode, we're talking about perk energy. So Amanda s sent this to me on Instagram. She said, I love to hear your opinion and deep dive about this product on your podcast.

[00:49:50] Thanks for all you share with your community. Well, Amanda, thank you for being part of this community, and we're going to look at Perk Energy, specifically the tan [00:50:00] mocha latte that you sent on Friday and this week's bite-size bonus episode. So be sure wherever you're listening, click the plus sign or the follow button and then your Apple alert you when it goes live on Friday morning.

[00:50:11] Awesome. Well, as always, everybody, I'm your host, Jen Trebeck. Connect with me on Instagram or all social media. I'm at Jenn Trepeck, J-E-N-N-T-R-E-P-E-C-K. Website is a salad with the side of fries.com. Pick a platform, send a message because I love hearing from you. Dawn, thank you again for being here and joining me.

[00:50:30] Thank you, Jen. I hope I didn't yap too much. You were awesome. I loved it. You're definitely invited back.

[00:50:37] Dawn: Yay. Yeah, this was so much fun. It, and again, it was cool to see the side of.

[00:50:42] Jenn Trepeck: Awesome. Well, I'm so glad you were here. And of course, friend, if you are not already a member, I invite you to the Happy Healthy Hub.

[00:50:49] You'll go to a salad for the sat fries.com/membership. This shows your support for this podcast, this community, most of all, it supports your health. On top of the 24 7, ask Me Anything, [00:51:00] community Chat discounts and curated content. You'll get this week's recipe for the Winter Bliss Balls. Now I know we have our nutrition nugget on Friday and another interview episode next week to close out 2025.

[00:51:12] I do just wanna say thank you. Thank you for listening. Thank you for sharing this podcast. Thank you for sharing specific episodes with your friends and family. Thank you for showing up for yourself and your health every week. So here's to you your progress in 2025 and everything that's ahead for all of us.

[00:51:31] In the new Year. Well, friends, that's it for today's episode of Salad with a Side of Fries. Congratulations for making yourself and your health a priority. Thanks so much for joining us. Be sure to click subscribe or follow on your favorite podcast platform. Share us with a friend and we'll be back next week.

[00:51:49] Always remember you deserve it and you are worth it. Happy, [00:52:00] healthy.