Unconventional Life – Podcast, Blog, Live Events

Author: Jules Schroeder

Ep 220: Rehabilitate Your Relationship to Food with The Natural Nutritionist, Steph Lowe
The revolution starts with eating real food. What do you mean, real food? In this week’s episode of The Unconventional Life, we spoke with the myth-busting, unconventional Natural Nutritionist, Steph Lowe who shares her approach to the radical food revolution. Not the advice of your average government-funded nutritionist, Steph brings her wisdom of how to rehabilitate your relationship with food straight to the table.

The nutrition dogma of the past decade was no-fat/low-fat. The nutrition dogma of this decade is no-carb/low carb. For over 10 years, Steph has been trailblazing and myth-busting her way through the nutritional scene, deviating from the rhetoric of the mainstream with her unconventional teachings of a different way of relating to food.

With clarity and simple steps, Steph explains her approach to JERF (just eat real food), the LCHF (low carb high fat), and how the emotional state of mind you approach your food with changes everything about your health.

“JERF” Just Eat Real Food

Real food is whole food. The definition of whole foods put simply means they
- Comes out of the ground
- Off a tree
- From an animal (this being your ethical/dietary choice)
Essentially, the lower the degree of human interference with the food that we eat, the higher the nutrient density. This is real food. When humans interfere with the process of food, we create a product, not a food.

“…a lot of our health issues could have been avoided had we stuck with the diets of our great grandparents”.

By ensuring that what you eat is whole, real food, foods that are anti-inflammatory in nature, and by switching your body over into the natural fat-burning space we move away from the societal normalization of gas, bloating and IBS (irritable bowel syndrome).

These symptoms are so common and so normalized within our culture. Steph knows from experience that it doesn’t have to be this way.

Where to start? Breakfast.

You’ve heard it all your life for a reason! Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

The first meal you eat in the day sets the precedent for your metabolism and digestion. Steph warns that eating refined carbohydrates and sugar (toast, cereal, etc.) for breakfast sets up your blood sugar to the relentless wheel of craving sugar all day long. It also guarantees you’ll experience the 3:00 PM slump and encourages bad habits like drinking coffee to “get you through the slump”, a midday nap, or feeding the sugar craving with unhealthy snacks. Starting your day with real food ensures you continue making better choices throughout the day.

Breakfast should be rich in plants, proteins, and healthy fats. This helps to control your blood sugar first thing.

“Almost everyone can’t quite understand how to eat vegetables for breakfast. That’s quite a shock, quite a process to change a lifelong habit of what you’ve been fed as a child.”

The greatest unspoken aspect to the digestive struggle: how we relate to our food.

As Steph phrased it, “one of the oldest sayings in the nutrition space is you are what you eat, but we have to reframe that because you are what you digest and absorb. You might be eating all of the most incredible produce in the world, but if you’re not eating properly and if you’re not able to digest and absorb that food, then you can have any host of symptoms, including long-term nutrient deficiencies”. Food habits and food behaviors can change if we can actually make it a priority”.

Step 1: Acknowledge how we eat

The majority of people are “sympathetic dominant” meaning we are busy, stressed, and juggling a lot. This is likely the emotional state we are in when we eat. In 2020, most people have lost the ability to make food a priority. It is vital that we enter a parasympathetic state when we’re eating known as “rest and digest”.

Step 2: Schedule preparing and eating food into a daily routine as you would a meeting

Literally make space and allocate time to making food a priority in your life. Consider in advance the time it will take to be present with your food. Before eating, take some deep breaths (this will help signal a parasympathetic nervous system response), say a few words with your food in front of you rather than inhaling it, smell your food and give your digestive enzymes time to activate. Eating mindfully! This means no devices, TV, phone calls, or distractions. Be present with your food. Chew 20 times. 20 times?! Yes, 20 times. Your digestive system needs time to function properly, give it that time. Did we already mention no distractions?

Step 3: Cook once, eat twice

When you prepare dinner, cook twice as much so you have a packed lunch for tomorrow. It’s a simple step that saves you from making those bad choices when you’re on the go.

Immunity, your gut & coronavirus

80% of your immune system is located in your gut. Start by eating real food. Ensure you’re incorporating foods that are high in vitamin C (bell peppers, broccoli, citrus fruits, berries) and zinc (grass-fed lamb or beef, pumpkin seeds, dark leafy greens) into your diet. These are immune boosters. Keep your gut healthy with regular consumption of natural probiotics (ferments like sauerkraut or fermented beets, etc.). Get your vitamin D from being in the sun. Smaller quantities of vitamin D can be derived from eating eggs, fish, and fatty cod. The key to good immunity is nervous system support with lifestyle choices like yoga and breathwork as well as dietary aids like medicinal mushrooms (reishi) and ashwagandha.

Giveaway!

Steph is generously offering one listener a free copy of her low carb reset pack. Learn about how to eat whole foods, feel great doing it, and get rid of sugar cravings once and for all. This is a 2-week program designed to teach you how to move into a long-term strategy by shifting your metabolism into an anti-inflammatory, fat-burning phase. The program will give you insight into week 3, 4, and beyond.

Connect with Steph

By heading over to her website or Instagram. Steph is also offering a free complimentary 15 min consultation.

This article was written by Olenka Toroshenko
May 11, 2020
Ep 219: Discover the Best Sex of Your Life with ‘Headmistress of Pleasure’, Layla Martin

Money and sex – two topics you should never discuss at the dinner table… or should you?
Sex is something that mostly all engage in and is an innate part of being human and yet nobody talks about it.

In recent decades, sexuality has begun to move out of the ‘taboo’ as more and more advocates and teachers are uncovering the mysteries of tantra, sacred sexuality, and sex.

Sex can be a much deeper spiritual practice than the quick-swiping hookup culture that society has fallen into in the past few decades. Everybody has the capacity to tap into deeper levels of intimacy and connection – whether you are practicing sex with someone else, or solo.

So how does one begin to deepen their sexual practice, connect with their sacred sexuality, or use the sexual and tantric realms to connect deeper in with themselves?

Unconventional Life caught up with Layla Martin, founder of the Tantric Institute of Integrated Sexuality, who has spent over 10,000 hours teaching people how to experience more epic sex. She’s been affectionately referred to as the ‘headmistress of pleasure’, reaching roughly 79 million people through her Youtube videos and with a 200k+ subscriber email list.

For Layla, the disconnect from sexuality as a sacred practice is “the core of what holds women back…this fundamental disempowerment from our spirituality and our sexuality – we can feel like it’s a whole new era for us, but until we repair the damage that got done from thousands of years of denying women sexual sovereignty and the right to say no, the ability to be spiritual leaders and to claim that wisdom, I don’t believe that we can fully step into the full freedom and leadership that’s available to us”
She believes that tantric practices can enable women to step into full leadership roles and become fully empowered, along with feeling a deep connection to themselves and their bodies.

Layla believes one of the best things about tantra is that it’s so accessible to everyone, no matter what lifestyle you lead – “one of the foundational teachings in the tantric tradition is that you can do a spiritual path through life… I think there’s something so radical and beautiful in that for people who are spiritually hungry in the modern age but they don’t want to bypass their human life.”

Here are 3 practices that Layla recommends for those who are eager to deepen their own sacred sexuality, connect with themselves or are just curious to see what the practices of tantra become available to them.

Have an intention around your sexuality

“We can spend a lot of time comparing or complaining or feeling shame about our sexuality or just ignoring it…but the first step really is to have an intention… an hour-long orgasm… I would love to have a more conscious sexual experience… Whatever the intention is, I find that holding that intention is such a great first start. Whatever i want to experience, I can hold a vision for it sexually and then trust that it will fall into place…”

Get clear on an intention you would like to create through your experience – whether that be by yourself, or with a partner – a longer orgasm, a deeper connection to your body, for instance.

Practice mindfulness

Layla advocates any techniques and practices that are designed for “getting out of our heads and critical thinking and into our beingness”. She is passionate about breathwork as one such technique, along with mindfulness and meditation practices.
When practicing during a sexual experience – through self-pleasure or with a partner – ensure to slow down, be mindful of what you are feeling, notice the breath, anchor yourself into the present moment, and your body.

Get intimate… with you!

According to Layla, masturbation, and self-pleasure is such a key practice for those wanting to deepen their sacred sexuality and understand their bodies better.

“Something that a lot of people don’t think about is – how does the way that I masturbate impact how I feel about my body? Every single time you masturbate you’re running a neural network you’re creating around sexuality or pleasure or you’re creating a new one… so one of the biggest areas that we have to grow to explore to create new experiences is actually through the way we masturbate.”

Layla offers a few self-inquiry questions for your masturbation practice –
How do you feel and what is the emotional tone?
Do you involve breathwork?
Do you make it safe for your body to go through a healing experience?
How do you speak to your body?

“If you want to take it one step deeper into sacred sexuality, consider does the way I masturbate actually allow me to access higher states of consciousness?”

Giveaway!

Layla is offering one lucky female-identified reader two free months of her online program the Vita Woman Membership where the participants undergo sacred sexuality training in an array of different topics and domains related to tantra.

Connect with Layla

Visit her website for awesome videos, blog posts and courses at Laylamartin.com

May 4, 2020
Ep:218 How to Raise Money Successfully, with Crowdfunding Expert, Ian Mackenzie

In recent years, with the growth of social media and connectivity, people no longer have to rely on larger companies or grants to get their personal or professional projects funded. Crowdfunding websites such as Kickstarter have collectively already raised $34 billion globally in 2020.

Once seen as ‘charity’, crowd-funding is now fast becoming a solution that artists, creators, and entrepreneurs can use to accumulate funding for visionary ideas, new technology, unique products, personal needs, and niche offers that would ordinarily struggle to get the attention or funding from the traditional channels.

Indeed, some crowdfunding campaigns have gone on to become massively successful, multimillion-dollar businesses. To give one example, Oculus VR virtual reality goggles started out with a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 that raised $2,437,429 USD. The company was later acquired by Facebook in 2014 and was forecast to amount to 4.95 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2019.

So for those looking for funding, what is it that creates a successful crowdfunding campaign? How do you get people to back your project and pledge?

We caught up with Ian Mackenzie, New Paradigm visionary artist, filmmaker, writer, speaker, and facilitator, to talk about ways in which artists can use models like crowdfunding to bring their ideas and gifts to the world. We also discussed Ian’s unique take on the current pandemic, his journey to becoming a filmmaker, and deconstructing the cultural narratives that we live by.

Ian has taught the subject of crowdfunding online for 6 years, through webinars and online courses like ‘Crowdfunding for Social Change’. He is an authority on what it takes to stand out and get funded and has some advice for readers looking to get funded via crowdfunding.

Here are three things to focus on in order to run a successful crowdfunding campaign

Niche down

For Ian, it’s more important to know who you serve and cater to them, rather than try to be everything for everyone.

“Maybe there’s only a hundred people on the planet that would love what you do, the very specific thing you do, and it’s better to aim at them than to try to appeal to the masses and draw in ‘kind of interested’ people,” he says.

Ian talks about resonance, and how that ‘resonance’ between you and your people is what matters – “you actually want somebody who is aligned with and interested in what you’re doing… you don’t want somebody who is kind of interested or has to be seduced into it because they’re always gonna be a tension, they’re not going to be that satisfied…”

Cast aside the ‘rhetorics of success’ based on the current market

For Ian, resonating with your target audience is more important that ‘selling x amount’ or ‘hitting six figures’ or whatever the rhetorics of success of the current paradigm are.

Ian stresses that you don’t need thousands of people flocking to your page or to be pandering to a certain standard of what success is in order to be successful – “when you are liberated to reach out and make contact with the very specific fans and people that really jive with what you do, you recognize that you really don’t need that many people to support you, to keep going… it’s actually a relatively modest amount of numbers… Patreon is a really great example of that…”

Tell a compelling story and focus on the WHY

According to Ian, “ Everybody has an interesting story if it’s told in a way that really highlights its compelling nature…it does really come down to, can you tell a compelling story?”

Your job as an artist or a creator is to “excavate what is true” and to compel people to act by interacting with their emotions through sharing the personal level of what you do – “how would describe what it is you do over dinner? Something personal about that that really connects…why do you do what you do, what’s so compelling about it for you?’

“Your task as you craft your offering is to bring that level of passion that people can feel – oh wow, you’re really passionate about this – because it evokes the principle of resonance…” and resonance is precisely what pulls the ‘aligned’ people to you, which we already touched on in point 1.

Giveaway

Apply to win Ian’s course “Crowdfunding For Social Change”, along with a signed copy of his graphic novel “Amplify Her”. You can apply to win here, a winner will be announced next week.

Connect

Check out Ian’s podcast, documentaries, blog posts and Patreon account here

Take Ian’s donation-based webinar – Patreon for Artists

April 27, 2020
Ep 217: Accelerate Your Growth Mindset With These Tips From CEO of Mindset Experts, Joe Trodden

“Mindset” has certainly moved into the forefront of popular culture in today’s day and age, with many people advocating for mental health and the ability to totally take control of your own life via your thought processes. The definition seems to differ based on schools of thought and perceptions – to some ‘mindset’ is maintaining a positive attitude towards life. To others, it is a deeply personal inquiry into why they function and perceive the world in a certain way.

Indeed, mindset has become a buzzword; splashed all over Instagram accounts worldwide and a trending topic among speakers and entrepreneurs.

But what does ‘mindset’ actually deal with and how can we use it to our advantage? How can we create a ‘better’ mindset?

To Joe Trodden, who we caught up with on our latest podcast episode, mindset is the biggest factor of success in entrepreneurs. “Mindset for me is everything – your full cognitive function. It’s not just a positive mental attitude, it’s everything that’s going on inside your head.”

Joe is the mindset king – founder of Mindset Experts and has personally coached over 300 entrepreneurs over the past few years to figure out what their exact strategy to scale is.

According to Joe, “we are born with predispositions to particular ways of thinking and that’s part of what mindset is all about… when you understand your approach to life then you can understand and appreciate other people’s approaches much more… when you find what your groove is… how you think… understanding yourself at that level is what mindset means to me.”

We asked Joe to give us some tips on how to start a mindset overhaul for someone who has never really delved into this topic before.

Open the door

According to Joe, most people have never even stopped to reflect on their cognitive style, their personality type or why they behave the way they do. “At the base level a lot of people are not ever even asked those questions… people have not thought in any depth about their particular thinking style… their mission on this planet…”

The first step is simply opening an honest and open inquiry and starting to ask yourself some questions about yourself, how you think, what your personality strengths and weaknesses are.

Do some personality tests online and see what you learn about yourself. Ask yourself; who am I? How do I perceive the world? What archetype does my personality and way of thinking fall under? Myers-Briggs is a great place to start, Human Design for those of you who are also into astrology and Carl Jung’s archetypes.

Get clear on your mission

Once you’ve established your current mindset, the next thing to do is to really hone in on what you want to create in this life. What is your personal mission or vision or direction that you want to go in? Who would you like to become ultimately? Map out this vision for yourself.

Now, look at the gaps between where you are and where you want to be. What sorts of actions do you need to take, what behaviors can you cut out, in order to be aligned?

Joe says, “when you’re clear on ‘I want to take another step’, then you’ll start looking, you’ll notice things that you didn’t notice before and you’ll take another little half step towards it.”

Call yourself out

Many people want to create a better mindset or a better life, but do not hold themselves accountable or have someone in their life to hold them accountable. This is where Joe works his magic with his clients, “being able to point out those blind spots that you just can’t see”.

In order to grow, you need to be prepared to acknowledge that you do not see the whole picture and to give someone else explicit permission to challenge you and question you. It’s important to take things personally, and enlisting the help of a friend or a coach is a great way to hold yourself accountable.

The next step is taking that information and reflecting on it, at the very least on a weekly basis -“when you look at the gaps of people reaching their next level, it’s the awareness first, to reflect on their behaviors…”

Giveaway!

Joe is offering one lucky reader (who is about 2-4 years into their entrepreneurial journey with a team of less than 20) a free coaching session to think about the strategic approach in your business as a leader and enabling you to take things to the next level in your business.

Get in touch with Joe:

Website or Linkedin

April 19, 2020
Ep: 216 Create a Successful Marketing Campaign, With Travis Chambers

As the online space gets more and more saturated and consumers are spoilt for choice, marketing, and advertising has never been more relevant or important for entrepreneurs, brands and public figures.

Advertising campaigns can be the make or break of your business.

Cleverly executed marketing or a successful advertising campaign can drive thousands of leads to your product/website/page which equates to more revenue.

What makes a campaign successful?

What makes for clever marketing?

What is the difference between paid or organic marketing and which one is best for the stage your business is in?

We caught up with Travis Chambers, founder of Chamber Media – a media agency whose work has had 40 million views over Facebook and other channels, to talk about everything ad-related.

Travis is certainly an authority when it comes to marketing – he has been listed in Forbes 30 Under 30, founder of Chamber media was a speaker at Vidcon and numerous other events along with being featured in many renowned publications for the work he has done with ad and content strategy on digital platforms.

Travis tells us about the growth of advertising and how starting out he pre-anticipated the boom – “when I first started as an intern in advertising only 3% of all spending was digital, and now it’s over 50% … ten years ago I knew that was going to happen, so I focused all my energy there.”

Reflecting on Travis’ stellar industry experience which we discussed in the interview, we have compiled four of his top tips for creating a successful marketing strategy.

Know the vehicle and the strategy

Travis tells us about how much time he and his team spent getting to know the medium or platform they were using for any given campaign before they even thought about getting stuck into the creative aspect.

You need to know the ins and outs, the algorithms (if any) and how the platform operates. For instance, Facebook Ads has several rules about what you can and cannot include in ads, which you will want to be familiar with before putting together a campaign – eg. you cannot address the viewer directly using ‘you’ or imply anything about their character, race, personal preferences, religion, sex etc.

Knowing what types of content is favored and how the algorithm works is going to heavily influence your potential reach.

Identify demand where there’s short supply

If you want to be a good artist or creative, according to Travis, you have to develop an ability to identify demand where there’s a short supply and know-how to create that ‘thing’ that everyone wants.

“There’s a lot of starving artists out there, and what I always say is that the best artists were greater marketers than they were artists…” says Travis.

Know that you can’t please everyone

Creative direction is one of those things that not everyone is going to agree on, as personal preference often comes into play and everyone has their own artistic sensibility. And that’s okay!

Travis says it’s important to not try to please everyone – “It’s understanding – I’m going to make this and a lot of people aren’t going to like it, but some people are going to like it, and then if there are people who do, it’s a success.”

Don’t pay for ad campaigns unless you have money to experiment with

Travis recommends that you do not throw money at Facebook ads (or other ads) unless you have at least $4000 to experiment with, because it takes a lot of testing before you can fine-tune the details and determine what is really working. It also takes a decent amount of ad spend before your ads are able to gain traction, due to the algorithms they have in place. So if you are strapped for cash, it is better to use organic or non-paid marketing.

Giveaway!

Travis is giving away one lucky reader a 30-minute strategy call to look into your ad account and give you some creative ideas on what sort of ads you should make to get a better return on ad spend.

Connect with Travis

Email him at <tc@chamber.media> or visit his website here

Connect with Travis on Linked In

April 12, 2020