Kelly LeVeque is an LA-based holistic nutritionist, wellness expert, celebrity health coach, two-time author and someone we’ve admired for a long time. Kelly’s approach to nutrition is science and research-based, yet still approachable. This makes her books and any interview you listen to with her so fascinating and trustworthy. And in an industry so full of changing trends and conflicting information, this is more important than ever.
But perhaps what resonates most with us about Kelly, is that she maintains a realistic and forgiving approach to nutrition and wellness. She offers her clients and anyone that follows her permission to just do the best they can. Needless to say, we are very excited to share what’s been helping Kelly adjust to this “new normal”, and get some tips from this industry expert.
What’s helping you find calm and peace of mind right now?
Definitely getting outside. Putting Sebastian in the stroller, going for a morning walk first thing right after we have our coffee, and coming back and having my smoothie. That little routine may only be 30 minutes, but just getting outside and breathing fresh air totally resets the tone of the day. I’ll spend a minute taking care of myself and being with my family, and then metabolically setting up my body for decreased cravings and balanced blood sugar (find out more from her about this here). Just knowing that I’m eating one meal that is just super satisfying makes me feel good.
What are your current go-to dishes? Or are there staple ingredients you’re finding yourself using often?
I’m pretty flexible, but my boys are pretty opinionated when it comes to food. They really like Mexican food, so there are a lot of tacos that are served at my house. A lot of times, I’ll get a couple heads of romaine, tomatoes and red onion, lots of avocados, cilantro and microgreens, and I’ll let people serve it up how they like. Sebastian likes his tortillas smashed together with some black beans. My husband will sometimes just make up a bowl or use tortillas, and I’ll throw it over a salad with some salsa. We can kind of choose our own adventure.
A lot of times I’ll keep bags of cauliflower rice and organic frozen rice, or i’ll make it and freeze it. That makes it simple for us to do curries, Mexican meals, or chicken teriyaki bowls with coconut aminos. For a macro bowl, we’ll roast a bunch of veggies, and then have a sticky coconut aminos chicken that emulates teriyaki. I love keeping salad supplies in my fridge. I keep chopped lettuce and a bunch of fresh raw veggies, then I’ll put in one or two proteins for the week. This can be hard boiled eggs, salmon salad, tuna salad, rotisserie chicken, or whatever protein will make us full. We’ll mostly have that for lunch.
A salad dinner at my house is a Cobb because it comes with enough protein to make us feel full and happy. I’m constantly thinking about how to mix it up and think about how to tweak it differently with a variety of proteins. I treat it a little bit formulaic like a smoothie — I figure out what proteins am I going to use this week, what vegetables am I going to need this week and what kind of sauce am I going to use. I might make pesto or tahini, or a macro bowl. I might roast some veggies with olive oil. I see what I will need, and that’s how I think about it.
What does movement or fitness look like to you right now?
My favourite yoga teacher took his practice onto Zoom, so there’s a 9:30 am class that I have access to every morning. They’re saved so I can also take the class later in the day. Every morning now that we’re at the beach, there’s a beach walk that we do, so I’m doing that with Sebastian in the morning. Sometimes we’ll also do it in the afternoon, just because it really starts and finishes our day in a beautiful way. We go out right before Bash eats dinner, and I think it strengthens our circadian rhythm. It’s also a great way for us to close our computers and be done for the day.
What’s keeping you entertained while at home?
Since starting the podcast I’ve been really excited to find new guests, so I’ve been reading a lot more. I also have my hit list of brilliant doctors, female entrepreneurs and friends that I’m excited to bring on. Diving deeper with those people and their work has been really cool.
My husband is a movie buff, and he’s always keeping up on all of the best shows that are coming. I’ve been into Homeland, Ozark, Schitt’s Creek, there are so many that I love. And like everyone else, I’m trying to stay connected to my friends and my family virtually.
What’s one more thing you can share that’s helping you create a new sense of “normal” right now?
I’ve been journaling or “positivity tracking”. What you do at the end of each day is you write down three things that you were really happy about. These are positive things that changed your day and you were really grateful for. For example, having a coffee or sunset walk with Bash, and Bash laughing. Really really specific things, because what ends up happening is so many things happen everyday where you say “I’ll have to write that down, that’s so funny”. It’s weird, but it completely changes your mindset.
I think what we do by watching the news and listening to people vent on social media, is that we absorb that energy, and it’s really destructive. I just wanted to create a wall around myself. That’s kind of what I’ve been doing and it’s completely changed my outlook.
To learn more about Kelly’s approach to nutrition, specifically her “Fab Four” approach to simply putting together complete meals, head to her website or tune into her podcast.
For more well at home content, check out our interview with Meghan Telpner here.
