Just Ingredients

The morning of this recording, a woman came back to my gym after months away, looked around, and said, "Nobody here has even changed." She was right. That's exactly why I was so excited for this conversation. I met Chelsi Wood at a health and wellness conference and was instantly intrigued by her story. She's a mom of four and a health and fitness coach with more than 20 years of experience, and she's done it all, from competitive water skiing and all-star cheer to the national bodybuilding stage, yoga, and hypnotherapy. After years of pushing her body, she learned that working harder isn't always the answer. I'm already rethinking my own workouts, and I think you will too. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from our conversation: Less is more. When Chelsi stopped pushing and gave her body time to rest and slow down, it finally started responding. If you're eating well and training hard but feel "tired but wired" and aren't seeing change, it may be a sign to pull back instead of doing more. Lift heavy enough to matter. If you could easily do 12 to 15 reps with a weight and your plan only calls for 8, it's time to go heavier. Chelsi walks through sets, drop sets, and training to failure, and shares why some of her clients transform their bodies lifting just two days a week. Your steps count more than you think. You don't need hours of intense cardio. Many of Chelsi's clients average 8,000 to 10,000 steps a day, and rest days and sleep are when your muscles actually get stronger. Feed your muscles. Most of the women Chelsi coaches are under-eating. She recommends aiming for 30 to 40 grams of protein per meal, eating before your morning workout instead of training on an empty stomach, and tracking your food for a week so you have real data instead of guesses. Stay curious. Whether it's asking "could I lift heavier?" at the gym or choosing a yoga class that meets you where you are, curiosity keeps you growing. I love Chelsi's daily check-in: What worked today? What did I learn? What will I carry into tomorrow? Because you're never failing, you're always learning. If you or someone you know has been showing up and wondering why nothing's changing, this episode is for you. About Chelsi: Originally from Idaho, Chelsi Wood is a wife, mom of four, and health and fitness coach with more than 20 years of coaching experience. A former competitive water skier and all-star cheerleader, she discovered group fitness in college, and her love for teaching classes grew into personal training and nutrition coaching. Chelsi spent two years competing in women's physique bodybuilding, ultimately reaching the national stage. When a Hashimoto's diagnosis followed, it completely shifted her perspective on health and coaching, and she learned to support her body rather than constantly fight against it. Today, as a certified yoga instructor, hypnotherapist, and virtual fitness and nutrition coach, Chelsi brings together two decades of experience and her own transformation to help women understand their bodies, break free from limiting beliefs, build confidence, and create lasting change from the inside out. Connect with Chelsi Wood: Instagram: @chelsi.wood Work with Chelsi through Supra Woman: suprahuman.com/supra-woman Shop our show sponsor: Twinkle Beds Black Friday sale is happening right now! Get 30% OFF plus a stackable 10% OFF sitewide with code JUSTINGREDIENTS. PLUS, choose a free gift with every mattress: a Minky Couture blanket, a luxury sheet set, or an extra discount $125 dollars. Sale ends December 8th! Shop at twinklebeds.com.  Looking for more Just Ingredients content? Instagram Stories: @just.ingredients Podcast Instagram: @just.ingredients.podcast Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@Just.Ingredients Facebook Community: Join our group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a mom of six, this conversation hit me hard. Season’s son, Kicker, was diagnosed with leukemia just before his third birthday, and since then she has turned her experience into passion, knowledge, and hope for other families facing some of the hardest, most unimaginable moments in life. I learned so much from her, and I know you will too. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from our conversation: Combining conventional and holistic care. Your child’s doctors care deeply about helping your child, but most were trained in one path to get there and received very little nutrition education. Season gives advice on navigating traditional cancer treatments, while simultaneously adding holistic healing and support methods. Understanding your genes through nutrigenomics. Your genes can offer clues about what your body needs most. A simple saliva test isn’t diagnostic, but just like a weather forecast, it can help guide your family’s nutrition and lifestyle choices. Letting go of guilt. No parent is powerful enough to cause their child’s cancer, or to control it. Hope and fear can live side by side, and choosing hope, even 15 minutes at a time, can carry a family through the hardest days. Caring for the whole family. When one child is sick, it’s easy for everything else to fall to the side. Siblings still need one-on-one time and a way to feel included, and a strong marriage gives the whole family something steady to lean on. Making room for connection, fun, and play keeps everyone grounded through the hardest seasons. Small changes add up. I love that Season teaches simple, practical ways to start instead of overhauling everything at once. You can’t supplement your way out of a poor diet, but one easy swap, like trading a processed breakfast for real protein, builds momentum. And leaving room for treats and fun days keeps healthy habits sustainable for the whole family. Listen now and share this episode with anyone you know who is walking through the journey of childhood cancer. About Season: Season Johnson is a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Integrative Health Practitioner, and student at the Metabolic Terrain Institute. When her two-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer, her family walked through 3.5 years of daily chemotherapy and countless surgeries, and that experience became the start of her mission. Today, she owns Biodynamic Wellness, a functional medicine practice in Solana Beach, California, founded the Thrive Through Cancer Formula and Thrive Beyond Cancer programs, and co-founded the KICKcancER Movement nonprofit with her husband to support children with cancer and their families. Season has received the Weston A. Price Activist Award, the Children’s Health Advocate Award, and the doTERRA Elevation Award, and has shared her work everywhere from the Oscars to pro athletes with the San Francisco 49ers and Atlanta Braves. Through her practice, programs, podcast, and coaching, she helps families feel hopeful, empowered, and supported. Connect with Season Johnson: Website and podcast: seasonjohnson.com Clinic: biodynamicwellness.com Thrive Through Cancer Formula: yourthriveformula.com KICKcancER Movement: kickcancermovement.org Instagram: @seasonjohnson Facebook: @seasonmjohnson Shop our show sponsor:  Q for Quinn has stylish basics for the entire family without compromising on comfort or health. Use code JUSTINGREDIENTS for 10% off your order at qforquinn.com. Looking for more Just Ingredients content? Instagram: @just.ingredients Podcast Instagram: @just.ingredients.podcast Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@Just.Ingredients Facebook Community: Join our group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thirty-two doctors. That’s how many Jess saw while her son was vomiting nightly, losing his hair, and covered in eczema, and not one of them would consider that food might be the cause. She trusted her gut anyway, and she was right. If you’ve ever been dismissed by a doctor, you need to hear this story. What really got me was how deep corn runs in our food system, from carriers and processing aids to natural flavors, and how none of it has to show up on a label. This is exactly why I’m so passionate about label transparency. Jess is a fierce, loving mom who turned her family’s hardest season into a company, and I think you’ll walk away inspired and a little more label-savvy. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from our conversation: Trust your gut. Jess was dismissed by doctor after doctor when she suspected food was the root cause of her son’s symptoms. Her advice to parents: a mother’s (and father’s) intuition matters, so hold your ground when something doesn’t feel right. Corn hides almost everywhere. With 1,800+ corn derivatives, it can show up in maltodextrin, citric acid, natural flavors, vitamin D carrier oils in milk, enriched flour fortifications, and even machine processing aids that never have to be listed on a label. “Natural” doesn’t mean what you think. Terms like “clean” and “no fluff” aren’t regulated, and many brands don’t even know what’s in their own natural flavors. Jess’s rule for Cob is simple: if you wouldn’t find it in your own kitchen, it doesn’t go in the product. Sorghum is an ancient grain worth knowing. It’s naturally gluten-free and non-GMO, pops just like popcorn, can be made into tortilla chips, and is a low-resource, drought-resistant crop.  Listen and share this one with anyone you know struggling with food allergies.  Meet Jessica: Jess Davidoff is the founder and CEO of Cob, a snack brand making corn-free, gluten-free snacks from the ancient grain sorghum.  A serial entrepreneur and Princeton graduate, Jess developed the concept after her son’s corn allergy diagnosis led her to overhaul her family’s entire diet. After testing her popped sorghum at a Hamptons farmers market in 2024, she brought on tennis champion Novak Djokovic as co-founder. Djokovic also led the company’s $5 million seed round.  Today Cob offers popped sorghum in four flavors and a sorghum tortilla chip. Jess lives in Sag Harbor, New York, with her husband and two sons.  Connect with Jess Davidoff:Website: cobfoods.comInstagram: @cobfoodsAlso available on Amazon and in specialty stores nationwide Shop our show sponsor:  Active Skin Repair: Get 20% off your order at ActiveSkinRepair.com with code JUSTINGREDIENTS. You can also find Active Skin Repair on Amazon and at your local CVS. Looking for more Just Ingredients content?  Instagram Stories: @just.ingredients Podcast Instagram: @just.ingredients.podcast Facebook Community: Join our group Watch on YouTube: youtube.com/@Just.Ingredients Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doctors told Ashleigh Di Lello she wouldn’t live past her teenage years. She went on to become an elite athlete and Broadway performer, and today she teaches how the brain-body connection affects stress, pain, and emotional healing. In this conversation, she opens up about her first and second health journeys that brought her to a place of real surrender, and how she chose to rewire again. I loved how she explained the brain in such a simple, practical way, and how beautifully she ties neuroscience and faith together. I think this episode will give you a lot of hope. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from our conversation: The brain does what it practices. Ashleigh compares the brain to AI: it's only as good as the prompt we give it. The thoughts and responses we repeat become the pathways our brain defaults to. Our bodies hold onto emotional experiences. Stress we carry emotionally doesn't just stay in our minds. It can show up in how our bodies feel day to day. Regulating and rewiring are not the same thing. Regulation is like turning down the volume on a loud stereo. The stress is still there, but it's not overwhelming. Rewiring goes deeper and changes the way we habitually respond to stress, trauma, and conditioning over time. Knowing the "why" makes your practices more powerful. Tools like breathing, grounding, and cold therapy can support your nervous system, and understanding what you're doing and why helps magnify their impact. Healing starts with compassion. Ashleigh reminds us to meet ourselves with kindness, especially in the hardest seasons. Share this episode with a friend who needs hope on their health journey, and follow the Just Ingredients Podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify so you never miss an episode. Meet Ashleigh: Ashleigh Di Lello is a Brain Coach and the founder and creator of Bio Emotional Healing®, a neuroscience-based method that helps clients around the world work through emotional trauma, limiting beliefs, anxiety, and the effects of chronic pain and illness. Despite being told by doctors she wouldn't live past her teenage years, she refused to give up and discovered the power of rewiring the brain-body connection. She went on to become an elite athlete, TV and Broadway performer, entrepreneur, Brain Coach, and keynote speaker. Ashleigh's mission is to bridge neuroscience, faith, and human transformation. Connect with Ashleigh Di Lello: Free Brain-Body Blueprint: https://ashleighdilello.com/freeblueprint/ Website: https://ashleighdilello.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleighdilello/ Shop our show sponsor: Active Skin Repair: Get 20% off your order at ActiveSkinRepair.com with code JUSTINGREDIENTS. You can also find Active Skin Repair on Amazon and at your local CVS. Looking for more Just Ingredients content? Instagram Stories: @just.ingredients Watch on YouTube Facebook Community: Join our group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode was such a fun change of pace. Instead of a doctor or scientist, I sat down with three health and wellness friends, Wasim, Jazz, and Amanda, who flew in from across the country to be here. Each of them shared how they got started, and I learned things I never knew, like the accident that completely changed Jazz’s path. We talked about what drives us crazy in the health world, how to sort through all the noise, and what you can stop stressing about. Here are a few of my biggest takeaways from our conversation: Ingredients matter, not just calories. Calories only tell part of the story. What’s actually in your food matters just as much. Ditch the all-or-nothing mindset. You don’t have to change everything at once. Jazz and Amanda both encourage starting where you feel comfortable and keeping a few simple health habits you can lean on when life gets busy. Use common sense to cut through the noise. Ask who funded the study, look up how a food is actually made, and pay attention to how your own body responds. Even healthy foods don’t work for everyone. Small changes at home add up. Simple shifts in your environment, like your lighting, your water, or keeping a calm, tidy space, can make a bigger difference than you’d expect. Tune in now and share this one with a friend! About Wasim Syed: Wasim, known online as @imjustwasim, is a lifestyle and wellness content creator focused on helping people make cleaner, more informed choices about food, ingredients, and everyday products. Through simple, easy-to-understand content, he shares healthier swaps, ingredient education, and practical ways to live a more intentional, non-toxic lifestyle. About Jazz Leaf: Jazz ditched the 9-to-5 grind after years in corporate America to pursue her passion: cooking. She is a Certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and a former private chef for NBA athletes. After years of meal prep, catering, cooking classes, and private cheffing, she is now a full-time recipe creator. Jazz specializes in quick, beginner-friendly healthy recipes that take 30 minutes or less and use 10 ingredients max. She’s also a mom to a 3-year-old! About Amanda Rocchio Amanda Rocchio (Meixner), aka @MeowMeix, is a nutrition creator who started MeowMeix while meal prepping for work. She spent years thinking “healthy” meant restriction and dieting. After recovering from an eating disorder in high school, she realized real health is about fueling your body with the right foods and understanding why they matter, and that’s what she loves most about what she does. Today, over a million people follow her for real-food guidance, simple recipes, healthy swaps, and practical nutrition tips. Connect with Wasim Instagram: @imjustwasim YouTube: @imjustwasim Facebook: imjustwasim Connect with Jazz Blog: jazz-leaf.com Substack: jazzleaf.substack.com Instagram: @jazzleaf_ TikTok: jazz_leaf Pinterest: jazz_leaf YouTube: @JazzLeaf Facebook: jazzleafeats Connect with Amanda Blog: meowmeix.com Instagram: @meowmeix TikTok: @meowmeix YouTube: @amandameowmeix YouTube Shorts: @amandameowmeix/shorts Facebook: amandameowmeix Shop our show sponsor: Head to paleovalley.com/justingredients, or use code justingredients at checkout for 15% off your first purchase Looking for more Just Ingredients content? Instagram Stories: @just.ingredients Podcast Instagram: @just.ingredients.podcast Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Just.Ingredients Facebook Community: Join our group Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices