Learn True Prevention Techniques For Your Kids

Lisa Jendza

Well, thanks so much for having me, Sinclair.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes. Okay, so let us dive in. You know how sophisticated our audience is. I really want to give some folks some beginner stuff to consider if you are just taking your health into your own hands by listening in today. I also want to give you a chance to dive into some more advanced concepts because we have a lot of summit junkies in our audience—the gluten-free yogis who said goodbye to gluten ten years ago and are still not feeling great. They still have more work to do on their health. They are. Look, I need some help here. Let us get to the more advanced stuff; they know more than their doctors do. Then, of course, we have practitioners in the audience who are really looking for those new tools, those new gems. How can I help my population get well, which is getting more and more complex to do? Yes, there are three audience buckets, and we are going to take care of all three of you guys today. Do not worry about listening in.

Lisa Jendza

We absolutely will.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Here is where I wanted to start. I do not want to take up too much time on it, but I think your personal story is really interesting and your journey because you and I talked about this. We were working on our own journeys before all this stuff was widely available. Very little was understood. Just briefly, can you share with us why this topic is so important to you and a little bit about your own journey?

Lisa Jendza

Yes, absolutely. To sum it up, I was in corporate America, and I was a consultant for Hewlett-Packard. I was always a very sharp person mentally. I would go into underperforming accounts to turn them around. I reached a point where I could not think. I had brain fog so bad and was having trouble functioning, and preceding that, for ten years, I had had these little symptoms. I share this because people in the audience may be having some minor symptoms, like unexplained ankle pain, unexplained wrist pain, or trouble sleeping. All of these were related. It was chronic inflammation in my body, my inability to process stress well, and also poor nutrition. At that point in my life, I was, gosh, addicted to coffee and Diet Coke. I was a smoker, and we ate out because my job was extremely intense. We ate out seven days a week, basically. I always say this is a judgment-free zone. I have no room to judge anyone. I had to go on this journey on my own now because one doctor wanted to do carpal tunnel surgery for my wrist pain while telling me to take Advil every day for the pain in my ankles. I was 26 years old. I was 26. I had just had baby number two. Had I been taking Advil every day for the last 26 years, I would probably now be on dialysis.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes, absolutely.

Lisa Jendza

But none of this was correlated, Sinclair. When I was ten, my dad put me on a low-fat diet. He was told; he was in his thirties and that he had high cholesterol. They put him on statins, and we went on a low-fat diet for an Italian family. That was bad news because they told us we could eat all the pasta and bread we wanted. I am a carbohydrate addict, and, I mean, who would not be? Everything is low-fat in our house, as are all these carbohydrates. On my first lipid panel at age 18, my triglycerides were 150, and they said, Well, this is three times higher than it should be, and we have no idea why. Lay off the fast foods, the fried foods, and the fatty foods. I am, well, I do not eat fat. It was not fat; it was carbohydrates. By age 36, that had turned into type 2 diabetes. My triglycerides at that point were 300, which was pretty severe. I had to do a lot of investigative work, and I knew I needed to detox. I had a very stressful lifestyle, and I needed to start to take that lifestyle apart and rebuild it.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes, it makes total sense. I mean, so many of us had that kind of journey, and then you went through developing your own protocols in your spa for a detox, which is amazing. Then talk to me about the journey in terms of becoming an educator for kids and parents. Why not just talk to parents about food? Why do you have to go straight to the kids, and what do you see? What changes when you do that?

Lisa Jendza

Well, there was definitely a journey because when I left my corporate job after 25 years and started with a wellness spa, I was teaching the parents; I was teaching moms. I thought when Mom got healthy, the whole family got healthy. I do want to share with the practitioners who are listening that maybe they should not make the assumption that mom is taking all of this home and changing everything for the kids. You might have to probe. If you are a mom listening, ask yourself how much of what you are learning and changing in your life you are actually implementing with your kids. Because what I was told and what I heard from my clients was, Why cook a separate dinner for my husband and my kids because they want to eat this way? They will not do anything healthy. I cannot change. Some things are hard to change. Again, I am not judging. I am observing and then trying to work with what I am observing. Yes, changing things for my kids was difficult too. When I got on this journey, my kids were in middle school, so it was gradual. I did not change everything overnight. It was gradual for me, and it was even more gradual for them. I can say now that they are in their twenties that they are both very healthy. One thing, though, is that I cannot get them to give up just my daughter’s deodorant. “Please just get rid of this one. It has aluminum in it”, Some things are harder to change than others. I totally get it, but I thought when mom got healthy, the whole family would get healthy, and the message really wasn’t making it to the kids.

It was really through a lot of prayer that I was saying, How do I make a difference? How do we stop this? In 16 years of health coaching, we have not slowed down the number of sick adults. But worse yet, I am witnessing the sick kids. I have my own nephew, who is 11 years old, who had absent seizures as an infant and then chronic constipation. He was so constipated by age two that they did an ultrasound and said he was impacted, and they put him on Miralax. Now he has grand mal seizures and has been diagnosed with epilepsy. But in my research, Miralax can then lead to seizures.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Right.

Lisa Jendza

If we do not talk to the kids, the parents are very stressed out. I know how I was. I was very tired from working. We cannot really just assume that the parents have the time or the energy to be able to do this level of education with the kids. Yes, the parents need help, and it is interesting, which I know we will get into. The kids want to be independent, so there is already tension. There is parent-child tension because they are trying to break free from their parents. It is actually better coming from an outside source. They are much more receptive, and then I employ the same technique that I employ in corporate America. I was very successful because I learned to make everything my boss’ idea. Then, when I had a staff, I learned to make everything their idea. It is the same thing with the kids’ cooking class. I made it all their idea. I ask a lot of questions. I got them engaged. We had a great time. It’s conversation. They have these great ideas, and I am like, That is a great idea. I just set the stage for them to have those ideas.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

That is brilliant. Okay, so let us talk about this, because for so many parents, even when you just describe the journey, even if they are organic, even if they have had their own health journey, they are still resorting to convenience foods. Hopefully, it is the lesser evil. They are doing what they can. Yet kids are ending up eating a lot of convenience foods. Can we unpack for a minute what the cost of convenience foods really are for children? Can you give us a review of that?

Lisa Jendza

Yes, this is something that is near and dear to me—moving kids from convenience to creativity. In my generation, we were the first generation of women who were told that we could do everything men could do and better. We could go to work. We could bring home the bacon and cook it. I think we all remember those commercials. That was me. I was too tired. I was, too, of course. They gave us convenience foods, and it was really the first generation of convenience foods, like Hamburger Helper, for example. But everything in a box—cake mixes instead of making them—uses a mix. 

It only took one generation, Sinclair! For us to lose the knowledge of how to cook and how to make things. I am kind of playing on not only the kids’ budding independence but also their desire to be creative. They are kids. They are still in a place where they are adults and might view this as another chore or responsibility. The kids view it as an opportunity to get creative. When we can shift that perspective of why convenience foods came into the picture, it was because we did not have the time, but we did not take the time, and we discounted the value of preparing our food. I am moving the kids into a place of creativity. Look, we get to create; we do not have to cook dinner. We get to create something. We get to serve our family. They love doing that, too. There is such a sense of pride. If the parents could actually just take the time to teach the kids, which I did not. I understand. But if the kids learned how to cook, they would actually do a lot of the cooking.

I have students who actually cook for their whole family. They learned to meal prep in my every semester. We have a segment on meal prepping because they get busy too. They have this and karate and homework, and so I said, “You are going to have a busy day, and we do not want to reach for a box, right? For one of our meal prep boxes in the refrigerator. See, we stack up, and we do meal prep, and we stack them up.” Yes. They are stressed out. There is an unfortunate lead. The stress trickles down. The teachers are stressed; they get report cards now. The kids have behavior issues because of the processed foods. There are more and more kids who are struggling. The teachers are losing their patience with the kids, and parents are seeing their patients. So when people say, “Wow, I do not know what these kids have so much depression or anxiety for or how they can be so stressed out?” I look around, first of all, at kids. It’s 90% nonverbal communication with kids, 10% verbal, and so they are dealing with and perceiving all of the stress around them. It does not matter what you say if they still drink milk and you say, “It is okay. The 90% of what comes through in that nonverbal communication is,” that is not okay. This is the best way that we can support and help our kids. It really needs to be their decision. We have to enroll them in the process.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

That is really beautifully said, and the best success that we have had with families in our practice is having a very real conversation with the kids. That is age-appropriate, but actually, at ten, 11, 12, and 13, they love to hear all about how corporations do not have their best interests at heart. now, and they get it really fast, and they feel they have the inside story, and they become more activist if you respect them enough to share the process with them. One of my proudest moments was when we were working with the parents, who both had serious health issues. Mom was really unwell—very chronically ill with a number of conditions. It was a struggle to get the concepts into the family at the right place and time, and the littlest one was the last one to get on board because she really loved her sugar and she loved her birthday parties and the social events, and it was, “Why do I have to do this?” She was the last one to get on board. Her mom and dad were over the moon when they heard her say to her friend at a birthday party, “Oh, I just cannot do sugar anymore.”

Lisa Jendza

Yes, I had a couple of girls come to class one week, and they said, “Miss Lisa, our friend Katie, had a birthday over the weekend, and she had purple frosting chemicals. We just scraped it off.” I said, “Oh, that is amazing!” You tell the stories. I just love them. I am telling you, cooking classes are a lot of work that I would never minimize. I do them not only online but in person here in my school district. I pack up my kitchen every week, log everything into class, and set up for cooking classes; I would never minimize that. But that is something that happens every single week, no matter how much I complain or how much work it is. Within the first 5 minutes of the kids walking in the door, it is a miracle. They are blessings.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

I love that. Okay, so let us talk about how to protect this generation by getting out of the cycle of immediate gratification. How do you get kids to understand those tummy issues, those early skin issues, chronic fatigue, and behavioral issues? Do you connect the dots for them? What is your process around that?

Lisa Jendza

I always lead with food and start with some of the obvious things. Again, we do not even talk about the obvious things in life. I always start with, “Who here has to eat for the rest of their life? Who has to eat today? Who has to eat for the rest of their life?”, “I do. Okay.” “Do you want mom to cook for you for the rest of your life?” “No!” We always have to start with the basics and the obvious. Then we start building from there, as we are talking about different foods and different ingredients. I have different handouts. We might talk one week about food dyes, and we will have sprinkles that we use that do not have dye in them. We will talk about fruits and vegetables and what real food is. What do you think these good dyes could do to us if they were chemicals? They are just pretty chemicals. That is another week. We talk about ugly chemicals and pretty chemicals. Is it okay to use pretty chemicals, or are they still chemicals? The kids actually start coming up with things that chemicals might do to our bodies. They know that it causes skin issues. They know it causes tummy issues; they can start intuiting that through conversation. That is all it takes. As I do not have to lecture, I do not make it really heavy. I ask a lot of questions for them to get in touch with their intuition to critically think. If this was a chemical, why is there a poison control sign on it? What do they tell us to do? If we have contact with that, we have to rinse our bodies or rinse our eyes, or what makes this chemical any different? It is still a chemical. It did not come from beets. It came from a chemical. I just ask a lot of questions of the kids, and I make it playful and funny.

We made lemon meringue pie one week. They were so proud. I said, “Oh, my gosh, you guys, we forgot the yellow food dye”. They are all looking around. “I followed the recipe, Miss Lisa. I followed the recipe.” then looked. Then it clicked. They look at each other, and they look at me, and they go, “Miss Lisa. My pie is yellow.” I know. Why does everyone use yellow food dye? Of course, I had a box that you can buy that a lot of families might buy. I am, they put yellow food dye, and they are, we do not need yellow food dye. We make Jell-O. The kids will look at me, and they will say, “That’s it. We use unsweetened fruit juice, pasteurized gelatin, and hot water. That’s it.” The kids look at me; they are thinking, thinking, and I go, Do you have a question? They go, “Yes. How come that was so easy? I thought this was really hard. Then why do we buy the instant stuff at the grocery store?” I go, “That is such a good question”.

See, Sinclair? My teachings have actually come from being able to go deeper and deeper with these concepts because of questions like that; it is their questions that show me what they are comprehending and what they are thinking. I create an environment for them to ask questions. I might prompt, I might probe a bit, but I want it to be their idea, and I want to see where their head is. That is what has been so impressive to me: I did not know that the kids would really grasp this much, and they are.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes, I talk about you all the time and tell people they’ve got to go learn from you and send their kids to you, and as soon as somebody tells me, Well, kids are not ready to hear the stuff or they do not want to hear this, I totally disagree because Lisa’s figured this out. I remember it is burned into my brain. In one interview we did together for another summit, we were talking about blood sugar for kids. You teach them about the different flowers and blood sugar. What goes up must come down. 

Lisa Jendza

We do. Yes, I have even taken out my glucose meter. They do all the side nods not to get their fingers picked that day. As soon as they saw the Lancet. They were, wait a minute, they have a, I am, how did you think my finger bled? It was kind of funny. But we do talk about the glycemic index. We talk about how we feel when our blood sugar goes up and down. We talk about that throughout the semester.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Given the landscape of how our kiddos today are really on the back foot. Mom, whatever mom’s body burden was before keto was growing in the uterus, and that is going to be a factor. Of course, there are some really scary studies around the chemical body burden of infants when they are born. Okay. We have that piece. We have a piece of mom being malnourished from our corporate food system, soil poverty, and all that stuff. Kids are already, arguably, as a generation, starting on the back foot. What are the core concepts that we need to impart to our kids so that they have real control over their future? What do they need to know? What are the pillars that they need to understand in every family household about this so that they have a shot at reclaiming their health?

Lisa Jendza

Yes, I think first and foremost I am teaching them to take personal responsibility for their health because they are going to have to continue to take personal responsibility for their health. If I can start with teaching them how to prepare my food and thinking through how to nourish myself in that personal responsibility, I mean, even thinking about how busy my week is, do I need to meal prep? In every way, I am teaching not just how to cook but also how to think and plan. I am teaching them how to take personal responsibility because you and I both know they may still have health issues because of the toxic burden. Body toxic lays that out really well. I know EWG has done some more research on that. They only tested 400 chemicals, and 200 of them were found in cord blood.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

I know everybody misquotes that study—Oh, 200 total. No, they only tested for just a few hundred. There are over a hundred thousand chemicals now; let us get this correct.

Lisa Jendza

Yes. I have to tell you, I am devastated as well, because I was a smoker before I had my kids. My kids were both C-sections, and I went back to work too soon, so they were not breastfed for long. I know all the research, and it is devastating to me. My daughter is a mental health professional, and we look around at the number of mental health illnesses and issues. I know. I mean, you and I have talked about this. It is gut health. It is gut health that leads to mental health. It is connected to our mental health. I am adding a new curriculum this fall because I do not venture much into the health space except talking to the kids about how they take care of themselves. Yes, but this fall I will be adding a leadership program for students linking their health and the origin of their food. They already know the difference. If I know the ingredients and make myself a cake, that is not bad. That may not be bad for me. If I am using wheat from a regenerative farm, Guardian Grains, that is tested and proven not to have any glyphosate or any chemicals in their wheat, if I know that I am using olive oil and not vegetable oil, or if I am using applesauce in place of oil, they understand the importance of the ingredients. Now we are starting to look more closely at the source. They are going to be learning more about beekeeping, microgreens, and what regenerative means.

We are going to have a worm farm, and when we class, which is kind of crazy, they need to start thinking about the soil because the microbes come from the soil, and we need the microbes for our gut. I am really going in that direction versus talking to them more about health. I am really trying to be 100% proactive, Sinclair.

This comes from being an IT consultant. My job was to get to the root cause by doing root cause analysis. That is how I got to the root cause of my health issues. No one else would get to the root cause. I had five doctors, and no one got to the root cause of all my issues. We have to be the detectives. We have to get to the root cause. The most important skill I can teach them is personal responsibility. Keep their body clean so their mind is clean and clear, so they can critically think, and then get them to focus on the root cause—the root of where their food is coming from. Literally, the roots. This is prevention. This is the only prevention. Everything else that we are all doing, even me as a health coach. We are helping people reverse or reclaim their health. But this is where true prevention starts.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes, I totally agree. Let us talk about what parents can do. Obviously, if people are watching this, wherever you are on your health journey, you are clearly engaged with the idea of supporting your family and supporting your kids through this crazy teenage phase, or you are a practitioner who is wondering how to have this conversation with your clients and patients in a way that is going to make a difference. This is so important to do. with a blame-free approach, because this is nobody’s idea that is alive at this time. Yet, while it may not be our fault, it is certainly our job to fix it. How can parents get started on this? Because it can feel so overwhelming.

Lisa Jendza

It is overwhelming. I have actually come to the realization that it is better to have an outside person teach because there is a parent-child dynamic that causes a little bit of rebellion. I actually play on that rebellion; I know the kids want to be independent. Some of the things I will say to them are, Do you want your mom to pick out your clothes? No, I am, then. Why do you want your mom to cook your food? If we can help them see this, they want to dress themselves, and they should want to feed themselves. Then, if I can show them that this is artistic, that this is creative, look at what you can do. Look what you can create. They can take a sense of pride in that. This is no longer a chore or a responsibility. Oftentimes, when things come from parent to child, it is you, thou, and shall. This is a chore. It is a responsibility. Now it is your turn to do the dishes. This is one of your jobs, and I do not want it to be a chore. I want to inspire the kids to want to create. Then they are so proud. They go show their parents how they look, and they always want to feed their parents.

Sinclair, it never fails in every class. Do we have extra? Mom, come pick up the kids; typically, sometimes, Dad. But mostly mom. Can I take some home for my dad too? Can I take some home for my five siblings? Can I take some home for my neighbor next door? We are going to my grandma’s today; can I take some home for her? I allow parents to come to class. Grandparents can come to class. I have an adjoining classroom to my commercial kitchen. I just say that the parents need to sit in the adjoining classroom. They can listen, and they can hear everything clearly. I actually have them, but I do not want the kids to really see their parents.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Right. They need to be there.

Lisa Jendza

They are not allowed in the kitchen space because the kids will then be looking at their parents for approval or something all the time. I am like, “You have to leave the kitchen space, but you are always welcome.” I have an open-door policy. I tell other teachers who want to come in that they can come in and listen. I have other homeschool groups that come in to witness. It is such a beautiful thing, but the kids always want to serve whoever comes to watch. “Can I take some to my grandma’s and grandpa’s now?” I am, “Hold on, let us get our lessons done.” But they are so anxious. “Can I go serve them now?” I am, “Okay, go ahead.” I like to think that they ask because it is someone who does not have any history; there is no parent-child tension there. It is an outside person who is giving them this wisdom. Then I said, It was their idea. I do think it is helpful to have a teacher. I did, as a result of that, start recording my classes so that kids could take them. I have had students from elsewhere. It all started with word of mouth from my local families, and sharing it with other families. Now they can watch my videos, and the families say, It is great. They put the iPad in the kitchen, and they cook because I cook on the video with them each recipe and go through all the lessons, so they just take the iPad in the kitchen and cook with me.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Here is my question to you: Do you think there are different strategies, or what are the different strategies and needs for each developmental stage? You might get a kid at six years old, or you might get them at 16.

Lisa Jendza

I do. I take them from 6 to 18. I actually have five-year-olds. I have done even DK, but it is difficult in the kitchen. I often encourage them to do it at home with my recorded classes because they can usually not even reach the counter. We are using heat, knives, and other things. Typically, I start them in the class at six, and so I speak to them on the different levels that they are at. But with the high school kids, I can have more conversations about what is going on in the world. But it is pretty surprising to me that the kids that come to my class really do comprehend if I teach them in week one, What is flour? In week 14, they can say any nut, seed, or grain that is turned into a powder. It is any of these. I am now, “Name some of the flowers we used this semester?”, “Coconut, almond.” They remember, a six-year-old.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Wow.

Lisa Jendza

I have a nine-year-old. In his first semester in my class, we were doing an end-of-semester review, and he said, “If anyone ever tries to feed me chemicals again, I am going to tell them, No way, man, I do not want those. I am going to tell all my friends that they should not eat anything with chemicals. What? The grocery store is not going to be able to sell anything with chemicals because we are not going to buy it.”

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Oh.

Lisa Jendza

I cried, and I thought, That is why I am here.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes. Okay, last question. I know we need to wrap up, but what we see in our practice and our group courses is a really heartbreaking phenomenon where kids start with their health issues and start shifting some of those health issues into their assessment of themselves at the identity level. I cannot because I am not like other kids, or I am the problem kid, or I am so sensitive, and it is a very disheartening experience for them to have to navigate food in the world and also navigate their own stories about not being well in this day and age. What kind of advice do you have for parents and educators navigating that piece with them, especially when it comes to food?

Lisa Jendza

Yes. First of all, I wish they could come to my classroom because I just love them. There is unconditional love that I wrap around each one of those children and around my kitchen, and I get it from all walks of life. I get kids every semester who have an IEP, an Individualized Education Plan, for one reason or another. I have my fidgeters. I have ones with attention-deficits. I have some of my hypers, and it is okay. It is all okay, and I know that they are in the right place. We work with what we have, and they are able to build a sense of pride. What I would say is to find something to help build their confidence. I have one who is extremely shy and has a lot of gut issues, probably on an emotional level; I am not sure how much on a physical level, but definitely on an emotional level, and it shows on a physical level. He’s an introvert, but he loves to cook. He is working on a cookbook this summer. He wants to write his own cookbook. There are careers that they can do in the food world. I introduced him to a whole new world and opportunity, and he is only in middle school. I said, “You can start making money now because you love to do that.”

I just love what cooking does for them—the sense of pride and confidence. I always say, if you look at my website, Freedom Kitchen Kids, it says, “I teach courage, confidence, creativity, and critical thinking all through cooking because those are the things we need.” Maya Angelou said, “Courage is the greatest virtue because, without courage, you can never be true to yourself or live any of your other virtues.” I tell the kids, I have to teach them courage because I am creating leaders in my class. When they are out with friends and the peer pressure is to have things with food dyes and chemicals or fast food, they need to have the courage to say, “No, thank you. That is not for me.” Or when Grandma comes over and says, “Oh, but I made these for you.” They need to have the courage to say, “No, thank you. I can make it myself.” With confidence. I would say that no matter where a child is in confidence, I strive to set them free.

Sinclair, I started with really food freedom—freedom from addiction, freedom from sugar addiction, freedom from the control of the food corporations who intentionally try to hook us on the food. If anyone doubts that, read The Dorito Effect, which is probably the simplest book on the topic, but there is something more that has really come through this. It is real freedom. Freedom Kitchen is about our freedom. The kids do not know anymore what our First Amendment rights are and what our Second Amendment rights are. We have to help them think critically so they can preserve their freedoms. I am fearful for what the future is bringing to this generation with poor gut health, poor mental health, and the inability to critically think.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

I agree with you. Yes. If you start to run out of key nutrients, you mess up their microbiome, disrupt their ability to create and regulate their neurotransmitters, and get them hooked on neuroexciter toxins that totally disrupt their ability to have an emotional center and be present in their own bodies, creating a generation of chronic illness. They are not learning critical thinking in school the way that we could, the way we know is possible.

Lisa Jendza

In 20 years, I want everyone to stop and think for a minute because I think we all suffer from immediate gratification and short-term thinking, and I am always thinking 10 to 20 years out. Think about how our world will look in ten years and again in 20 years. In 20 years, I will be in my seventies, and the students that I am teaching right now will be running the world. We have 6.1 million of them. Who are what? ADD and ADHD, with more than 60% of them on amphetamines, which is setting them up for addiction. The processed food companies literally have a business model called the addictive food business model. Our country may be run by a whole generation of addicts.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes, that is a really good way to say it.

Lisa Jendza

We all need to be concerned about the kids. I have been imploring every practitioner that I talk to— to put a program in place for kids. Because I just do not think that they are being included in the conversation.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

I also wanted to really help people who, if you have made it this far into the interview, are, of course, super passionate about this topic, and you probably know that there are many people in the audience right now who think I know this stuff. I cannot get anyone else to listen to me, and we have to remember and take responsibility for the way we invite people into this conversation. You have heard Lisa and I talk about how we screwed up in this entire interview. Every time I give a talk, I make sure that I talk about how imperfect I am, how I learn things the hard way, and how I wish I did not. Of course, there are regrets about that. But I am not the toughest cookie out there. I am not the food police. I am inherently a little bit of a wuss. Doing the deep healing work was really hard for me. I think that if we are the ones who are the most awake and the most passionate about this topic, if you want people to come along with you, you have to share your vulnerability about it as well. If you come from a place of curiosity, wow, I did not know this. This blew my mind. This is instead of, Well, you should have done it this way. Nothing shuts down the conversation more than that high, holier than thou, high and mighty perfectionist shaming thing. We have got to get better at this. You cannot sit in a place of blame for the people in your life who are not as long as you are.

Guess what? If you are here, that means you are the torchbearer, and you will never hear me judge folks for coming along on this discovery journey, because what would be the point? “I would not rather listen to that; that is stupid.” You have got to share with your heart and talk about your ups and downs and be the beacon of light that is magnetic. As frustrating as it is, you want them to catch up with you right away. It is not going to happen. It is a drip-by-drip process, inviting them into conversation.

Lisa Jendza

Yes, that is so well said. I do weep for the kids today. I do catch myself and others around me when they say the kids should behave differently or better. We have all of these behavioral issues. What is wrong with the kids today? I hear about the older generation, and I am now, and I think of that older generation, and I hear people say about the kids today, and I weep for the kids today. I always tell the kids that if they ever hear me say something, they should correct me. I never want to shut up about you. Yes, but yes. well said. We need to be a little more compassionate and understanding, and together, this is going to sound so cliche, but it is love. Jesus said that it is love that heals. That is what I have in Freedom Kitchen. It is love

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Yes. That is beautiful. It is part of what makes you so special in what you do. We are in a crisis, and I think absolute love and a lot of strategy and creativity are what are going to get us through it. Thank you so much for sharing your stories today and your wisdom about what it takes for kids to thrive in this time. How parents can get help in that because it is more complex than ever to be a parent and a kid. You have such compassion there. Again, thank you. Yes. Where can people find you?

Lisa Jendza

FreedomKitchenKids.com is the best site. Then I also have LisaJendza.com as my main site. There is a contact form on there for anyone who wants to contact me about anything from I.T. to my health coaching.

Sinclair Kennally, CNHP, CNC

Do not open the floodgates, Missy. I know how hard you work. Okay. Thank you so much, sweetie. Appreciate you.