It's November 2022, is not over yet. So ready to move. It doesn't mean we can't take a break. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy our holidays like what all is available are starting, ignite your visibility on Instagram coming up on the 28th of November and that is going to help you streamline your Instagram experience, understand fully know what type of content to be putting on there and understand all the ins and outs
real stories. He posts all the things so that you can create a raving fan audience there, make sure you check it out visibility queen.com Welcome back to the show, I am so excited to have one of my Omni members. Her name is Chris Defour. And she is a nutritional therapy and consultant. And so we are going to talk to Chris today and find out more about what this is, what she does, how she supports her clients and all of that good
stuff. So Chris, I'm gonna let you take the floor and talk about yourself a little bit and intro and just tell my audience a little bit more about what you do. Great. Thanks so much, Chris, I really appreciate you having me. And thank you, I, I started out well, I'm a hybrid corporate
person. And but I've always been interested in all things health, I taught yoga for several years, I left the corporate world back in the late 90s and taught yoga for several years, and then wound up back in the corporate world. And then, you know, in the early 2013 2014 timeframe, I got certified as a health coach, and did that for some time. But it wasn't allowing me to go deep into the healing part of it as
much as I wanted to do. And so I was laid off in my corporate jobs in 2010 2013 2015, and 2017. And so the 2017 layoff, I was wanting to get back into the health field again, anyway. And I got a really good severance package that included money for retraining. And I said, this must be a sign from the universe. And so I studied at the nutritional therapy Association. And the work is based on foundational elements like and this has some of them,
but not all of them. Obviously, a healthy diet, hydration, blood sugar regulation, things like sleep and movement, and stress reduction, things like that. And so what makes it functional, is the idea that we want to look for the root cause what is underlying someone's inability, excuse me to sleep, or someone's dysregulated, blood sugar, you know, those sorts of things, right. And so I have a number of tests that I can do. And I have a 300 plus symptom questionnaire
that people go through. And it helps me to narrow down what those things are. And then we address the imbalances in the body, I'm not able to treat or diagnose or heal anything. But if we address those imbalances in the body, then the body can take over and do its own work, and people get better. I love them. So I am currently working in the corporate world and doing this as well. And on me and your support have been invaluable in keeping me doing all of that and able to keep going doing both.
Well, thank you. Well, thank you. So how hard is it? Obviously you're trying to run your business and you're you're working a nine to five, I'm assuming like 40 hours a week? How are you like balancing that? I know, I have a lot of listeners who are doing both. So how are you balancing the two of those? Sure. And it really is a one day at a time thing? Yeah. You know, when things are really busy in the day job, sometimes I don't. Sometimes the energy shifts more
that way. Right. Right now things are a bit quieter in the day job. And so the energy shifting more toward my business, and I take advantage of those pockets of time when I have them. I'm blessed. I have a lot of of paid time off with this company. And I do take some of it to work on my business.
Early in the morning. I do I personally do better to work on the business early in the morning because by the end of the day, I'm pretty spent and weekends but I also really, you know, as a health professional, I know the value of things like rest. And I try not to overbook myself. I try to make time for rest and healthy eating and having fun because those things are all really important too.
I love it. I love it. So when you because you talked about this little bit when we talk about nutritional therapy and in consulting. So there's you said tests, like, what kind of tests do people like? Do you they do they go get bloodwork, like, what kind of test? Are they actually getting done, I have access to some blood tests. And I can take a basic blood test from your doctor and understand some of what it's telling us that may not be
always caught. But I have this very cool modality, where it's hands on, and it's reflex testing. And so I poke on certain parts of people's bodies that are correlated to the various organs. And then we can, it sounds really woowoo. And maybe it is, but it's also accurate. If I'm poking on, say, your liver, and it's causing you to say ouch, that we know that
your liver is unhappy. And then I can take different supplements and have you hold those supplements, and see whether those particular supplements make that ouch factor go down a bit. So that tells us that you need that supplement, and that it will help your liver to function better. This is interesting. Okay, so this is this is very cool. I like a little woowoo with my stuff. So this is it's funny, because I used to be like, I'm scared of woowoo. But now I love it. Because I've seen it work.
Okay. So when you do this, I'm assuming they have to be in front of you, or can you do things over zoom to that sort of thing is is definitely a face to face, I do some muscle testing. Over zoom, although I tend not to do that as much. If I'm working over zoom, and long distance, and I do work distance with people, we tend, I do a little bit of the muscle testing, but mostly I tend to use the results of the symptom questionnaire and my discussions with them to
identify what they need. And then I'll use the muscle testing to identify which supplements are best. When I first got into my own healing journey, some 1520 years ago, I was working with a doctor and all of this was really pretty new. It was to me and I think it kind of was to her too. And she was just kind of taking these supplements and throwing them against the wall to see what sticks. And I was spending $200 a month on supplements. Oh, wow. And and
that's 20 years ago. Yeah. And I don't want to do that to people. I want us to use supplements and food especially, and lifestyle strategies so that they don't have to spend as much money. And what money they do spend is really, really effective. I love that. So and correct me if I'm wrong. It sounds like you are one of those people. That's a very big believer that our food and the supplements that we take can do a lot to help our body heal itself basis. Absolutely, absolutely.
I'm one of those people too. I love the I'm like, if I didn't do what I do, I would probably be like a nutritionist or something because I'm so fascinated by what food can do to you like and how it can help like, alleviate like some of the prescriptions that doctors try to put us on and things like that. So I love this. I was telling a friend, you may have heard this book when my son was little so my son's 23. So he had read 20 plus years ago, there
was this book that came out. And that's when I first got interested in this because we went to this meeting. And my mom knew these people and a lot of people had lupus and things like that. And so they were talking about this book called The crazy makers. And I started reading it, it was all about fast food and how how all the things that
it does to our body. And then we read this other book, I think I think it was her name is Dr. Schwartz being maybe it was just all about, like how people tell us like eggs are bad for us back then. And it was like, No, you need to be eating eggs. And it was just so fascinating. Of all the things that food like how it can heal our body and how we can literally get rid of ailments or things that are don't feel good in our body by just choosing to eat healthier foods.
Absolutely. The there was a movie a documentary a number of years ago called Supersize Me. Yes, yeah, the guy that ate only at a certain fast food restaurant every day for 30 days. And I was so struck by some of the examples of things. And that was, you know, before I actually started doing this work, but yeah, that was really profound for me too. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's important to note because again, most of my audience are
entrepreneurs. Like as a business owner, I would have to say we probably have higher stress levels, especially if you work a nine to five and you're trying to run a business. And you know, I feel like we have all people business owners we should be like taking care of our health because the stress levels Are there the work probably overworking the sitting so much, probably not getting as much movement as most people. So I feel like it's really vital.
And I don't know if that's something that you see in your line of business that it's, you know, the stress levels and all that stuff makes everything even worse. But what are your life? What are some of your, like best recommendations for people who take on too much? Absolutely. And that, you know, I fall right into that category. Yeah, you know, my healing journey started with being overstressed. And I won't go into all the details of what was
going on. But I was really, really sick with kind of a chronic fatigue type thing from too much stress. And so I have to be very careful myself to manage it. And one of the big things I think, is, sometimes my husband will walk in, and you know, because now that we all work at home, he's here, we're both here, and he'll notice my shoulders up like this. Yeah, he'll be like, put them back down. And he's done that enough times that I can catch myself
now. Yeah. And when I catch myself doing that, or when I feel I'm so I'm so attached to my computer, that I'm not getting up to go to the bathroom, even Yeah, I make myself get up and walk out, you know, that I think is one of the biggest things we can do is just kind of mentally detach from it a little bit, and go sit outside for five minutes. I mean, seriously, all of us can take five minutes, no matter what's
going on. Yep. And, and note that I said that very, the very first thing I said was stress related, and it was an activity, it wasn't take a supplement, it was an E to food, you know, yeah. And that said, I'm certain foods work better than others for even helping us manage that stress. And anything, I always say don't in it, eat anything that has something on the label that your great great grandmother wouldn't recognize. You know, because the body wasn't designed to process those
kinds of substances, right. And so reading food labels, making sure what you're eating is real food. And what I think as entrepreneurs, and as women, as mothers, as anything, business owners, whether or not a nine to five, or even not, in that sort of work, the more we can support our bodies in a healthy way. And our minds, the more effective we
are in the world. Yeah, the more we're going to be able to do the work and shine and excel at it, then if we're not supporting it, if I'm eating burgers and fries every night, my energy levels are going to show it Yeah, and I'm not going to be as effective. You know, I little dental work done yesterday, and I have never had such a bad reaction to dental work, I was in so much pain, even when I woke up this morning. And so I was really careful to eat a good
breakfast. And I took a multivitamin that works really well for me and tends to perk me up quite a bit, and I drink some fresh squeezed fresh make juice. And, you know, I did all of those things that I know support my body, so that I could function for the for the rest of this day. You know, if I had gotten up and said, I don't feel really good. So I'm gonna eat donuts for breakfast, you know, I would still feel bad. You're
right. So I believe that, you know, that kind of mindfulness and awareness of what we're putting in, and what we're putting into our minds and how we're behaving is critical. I love that. On that note, like, obviously, you've worked with, do you work with men and women are just women, mostly women, just because that's who's most interested in, but I have worked with some men
too. So what kind of transformations and like, changes have you seen them go through when they work with you in this nutritional therapy? You know, that's a great question. It's been really interesting. And I don't only work with the physical, I also really have to work with people a lot on mindset, and things like boundaries in a lot of cases. And I think of one person in particular, who is completely different. And it's more because of those mindset things, those
mindset shifts. And she, in the beginning, was afraid. She was afraid of so much. And she has started her own business now. And she wouldn't have ever even considered that in the beginning. And obviously she's the one who's done the work. She's the one who had to have the courage to set those boundaries? You know, I just supported her in doing it, you know. And then on a physical level, I had somebody that I worked with about a year ago.
And she had been to lots and lots of doctors about some food sensitivities and allergic type reactions. And I was able to identify just a couple of changes, and it didn't take them away entirely. But she had a huge improvement in them. And we're not currently working together, we didn't take it all the way. But I think it was enough of a change that she felt that it was it was worth moving on with the rest of her life and living with the little bit that was left. And I consider that a huge win.
Absolutely, absolutely. And it probably both cases that you're talking about, both of their confidence probably soared to because, obviously, being able to eat the foods that you probably wanted to eat, and not feel like crap afterwards. But also, you know, the one going to end up being a business owner, I feel like both of those leaps have to stem from a confidence boosts. Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love that.
So on the business side of things, how long have you been a business owner? Well, I actually started my business in 2014. Okay, then kind of some stops and starts the got you. So what do you feel like as a business owner for you, what has been the things that you've struggled with the most the most to grow your business?
Boy, you know, staying consistent, having accountability, having support, you know, back in 2014, when I did that I had, I had done this health coaching program, but I didn't develop relationships in that program. And so when I went out to try and do it on my own, I was all by myself. Yeah. And that didn't, it didn't go well. And I didn't have that support.
So in 2019, when I graduated from nutritional therapy Association, about six months after graduation, you know, we graduated at the end of 2019, and then COVID hit. And so it was a challenge for everybody. And especially when we were we have learned to do something that was so hands on, right. And so that summer of 2020, I reached out to a couple people that I had graduated with, we had done a lot of our study
group together. And there were three of us and said, You guys want to do a mastermind group, we agreed to do that, we decided we wanted one other person, and all three of us thought of the same person. We reached out to her. And so the group of four of us net, weekly, for a good year, and then bi weekly, and then we we kind of folded recently, and now I've two of us have moved into a different group. Because everybody's circumstances have changed. But that has been
critical. And just about what when you when you threw on the out as a new program, I was like, I am joining that, because I need, I knew I needed the visibility, marketing is everything. And even if I don't have time to be doing developing courses and programs and things like that, I do have time to be making videos and having people hear what I have to say and want to come to me as a result of it. And that has happened. And so, to me, this is the easiest
approach. Yeah, you know, and I don't always engage in on me the way that I would like to be, and a lot of that has to do with, you know, where my energy balance is. But it's always on my mind. And I'm doing what I can and I'm as much as I can doing what you're suggesting. And, and it's paying off. I love that. It's paying off not only in clients, but in keeping me engaged in my own business.
Because in the past what happened as a health coach, when I went back into the corporate world, I never got the business off the ground enough to really be making the money. And that happened again this time. And it really was because of COVID because I was off to a good start before that, right. I got into the business world and then when that energy shifted, my own business just kind of fell off. And I didn't want that to happen this time. You know, I went back to corporate about a year ago.
And you opened on me just a couple months later, and I was like this is a way for me to keep it from falling off my radar. And that is exactly what's happened. I love it. So next question to follow up with that, obviously, you've gotten more visible. Have you noticed that visibility? Or what has it done for your business? people reach out to me. You know, I've seen your videos, and you know what, I need to say this out loud. You've said it a
million times. But I'm gonna say to, they don't comment on the video. You know, they're not, they're not saying anything on the social media platforms. But then they'll reach out to me or message me or text me or whatever, and say, Hey, I saw your videos, do you think you can help me with x, y, or z? And I've gotten a few clients that way. I love it. I love it. I do too. And you never know who's watching Effort, Right? Like, because there are more lurkers than likers all the time.
Yep, I believe that. So tell me, or tell our audience a little bit about, you said that you had a freebie that you would like to provide them. So let's talk a little bit about that and what they can expect. If they check that link out in the show notes. I think this is going to be great for entrepreneurs and for your audience, because we are busy. So I'm busy, you're busy. Everybody is. And if we want good nutrition, it takes a
little effort. Yeah. And I don't, I don't particularly like to cook that is unusual for a nutritionist. But it's my truth, i i There are lots of things I'd rather do than be in the kitchen. And so I've I started looking for it and decided I should put this together in a guide. Healthy convenience foods, you know, foods that are good for my health, that don't require a ton of time in the kitchen. And that can be bought at just the regular grocery
store. And so it's divided into entrees and sides and snacks. And I have a checklist of which things are available at Kroger target Walmart sprouts and Whole Foods. And so are which brands are available with those different stores. And so people can take it, they can see the brands, they can see specific items from that brands and which store to go to. And then I've got a little guide of how to put them together to make a meal.
That's amazing. Like, totally, everybody needs to grab this because this is going to help you add some healthy options into your life. Because we know you're all going through the drive throughs. And you want to stop doing that so much for you and your family. So make sure you download this guide. It's going to be right in the show notes. So you can download that. Chris, anything else that you would like to leave my audience with before we go?
No, no, that you were amazing because of the work that you're doing. And you personally that all of us are. And that that self care is, it's what's going to allow us to continue to do the work, it's what's going to allow us to bring our gifts out there, you know, and so it's like when you're on the airplane, and they say put your own oxygen mask on first before somebody else. You got to do it.
Yeah. And so, you know, if we all do that, and we all do our own part, to support whatever it is we're supporting in the world, then the world is a better place. I love this. Thank you so much, Chris, for coming on sharing your gifts, your talents with my audience, and for bringing this free guide because I know they're gonna love it. So thank you so much for coming on the show. And I can't wait to have you back on one day. Awesome. Thanks so much for having me, Crissy.
Thank you. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Feel free to share it on your favorite platform and tag me I love re sharing these and giving you a shout out as well. My goal is to always support you and help you see a transformation. Not only your business, but in your life. We will never outgrow our business. Remember that so we get to work on ourselves and see that transformation come through on both personal and business side.
I would love to work with you and 2023 I have loads of opportunities that will fit the pricing and the budget that you have. Let's chat. I'm truly interested in creating an unforgettable experience for you to grow, transform and see how big your business can grow in 2023