IAM373- Nutrition Specialist Helps Women Find the Right Solutions

Jessica is a straight forward woman who gets stuff done and who is tired of the woo woo diet culture. She decided in order to change her life and understand what food works for her body, she had to study it herself. With Sage Root Nutrition, she hopes to be the voice for those in the middle, not your bodybuilder die hard and not your couch potato, but the woman that just wants to understand what food works for her and enjoy indulgences here and there.

We all have an endpoint so it's time to sit up and live your life not based on anyone else but what works for the soul in your body. Sage Root Nutrition gives you the concrete steps to bring out the true woman you want to be.

• CEO Hack: Morning routine which remains the same
• CEO Nugget: Listen to yourself and serve
• CEO Defined: Responsibility and freedom

Website: https://sagerootnutrition.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SageRootNutrition
Instagram: @Jnrrider
Twitter: @JessicaRider2

Full Interview

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Transcription

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview?

If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of.

This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:29

Hello, hello, hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I've Jessica Rider of Sage Root Nutrition.

Jessica, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Jessica Rider 0:39

Thank you. Hey, everyone. Yeah, I'm excited to do this.

Gresham Harkless 0:42

Yeah, me too. Super excited to have you on. What I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about Jessica so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing.

Jessica is a straightforward woman who gets stuff done and who is tired of the woo-woo diet culture. She decided in order to change her life and understand what food works for her body she had to study it herself. With Sage Root Nutrition, she hopes to be the voice for those in the middle, not your bodybuilder die-hard and not your couch potato, but the woman who just wants to understand what food works for her and enjoy indulgences here and there.

We all have an endpoint so it's time to sit up and live your life not based on anyone else but what works for the soul in your body. Sage Root Nutrition gives you the concrete steps to bring out the true woman you want to be.

Jessica, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO Community?

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Jessica Rider 1:30

I am so ready. Let's do this.

Gresham Harkless 1:32

Let's do it. So to kick everything off, I want to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. What led you to start your business?

Jessica Rider 1:39

Yeah, so I'm sure like most women diet journey has been a long one for them. They've tried this, they've tried that and it's been a roller coaster, everything else. I'm no different. I did the same roller coaster, but I got to the point where I was done with it. I was like, look, the only way that I'm going to get off this whole thing is if I figure out what foods can actually work for my body. So at that point, I was working from home, I was working in a job that allowed me to work from home. And I said, guess what, I'm going to start studying nutrition. I actually went into one of the local supplement stores, figured out how those guys were licensed, or certified, or whatever, looked it up, and did it myself.

Then after I'm halfway through this, and people are asking me, what are you doing? How are you doing this? And I'm like, Oh, this is what I'm doing. And I'm like, I know that I can give people the resources that they need to do this on their own. That's the whole point, is you're not going to be in this one size fits all. I don't fit into that category because I have this that goes on in my system, so what can I do? And then how can I help people get to the point where you figure out you? And then here are some tools that you can do to stay on that path. I mean, it shouldn't be you do this, because it's a popular thing. You do that because it works for you and you've tested it, and you know how your body works.

My clients come out and they're like, I never realized how much this effect of certain foods like dairy or gluten or something affected me until I didn't have it. Then I realized now if I want that certain food what my limitations are when I should stop eating, so I don't overeat. So that's really where I started with it. That's where I wanted to take it.

Gresham Harkless 3:47

Well, I definitely appreciate that. And I heard somewhere, I can't remember exactly where but I have always heard and I usually say that sometimes you are your best doctor. In the sense that I think a lot of times for your health, we would always look to doctors or look to certain magazines or celebrity, whatever that might be to be the answer. But in reality, sometimes we have to use that advice, that information as tools.

But we have to really listen and pay attention to what our body  is doing or not doing or it's hard to really understand if that might work for that person, but it may not necessarily work for you.

Jessica Rider 4:23

And what's sad is some research that I've read is that this is changing now, but in the past, doctors were not required to take a nutrition class, it was an elective offered. Only a handful of doctors actually took a nutrition class. So here they are super knowledgeable on gynecology, or they're super knowledgeable on emergency medicine. They're not knowledgeable on the food and how food and all that kind of stuff.

So, yeah, it was eye-opening. And you're absolutely right, go to the doctor, get bloodwork, understand, but then take that information into your own hands and find the right resource and path for you. I mean the information is unlimited now. Right? It's all at our fingertips.

Gresham Harkless 5:20

Yeah, absolutely. So I wanted to drill a little bit deeper and hear exactly what you're doing with Sage Root Nutrition. Can you tell us how you work with clients and how that process goes?

Jessica Rider 5:29

Yeah. So I work with clients in two different capacities, I have a group program and I have a one-on-one program. In a one-on-one program, we're drilling deep we're talking weekly, you're getting a weekly meal plan from me, we are hitting your goals.

Then in the group program, it's very similar only it's not as much hand holding. So what I found for myself is that I am a self-starter by nature. So I would be perfectly fine in a group program, where I've got some accountability partners, I got the leader checking in with us every once in a while. But I can do this on my own if you just give me, how do I set up my meal plan? What meals for what am I trying to do? Should I be eating? where should I be targeting?I can do this on my own.

As again, as opposed to the one who they're like, I can't do it all on my own at all. I need you to tell me at 7 am, you are eating this. Right. So those are the two different clients that I serve. But regardless of that, everyone goes through a four to six-week testing period where we are drilling down what foods does your body actually want and use appropriately? And we start with those little habits as well. First and foremost, we start with drinking water because a majority of the people say that I drink water, I'm like, Okay, well, how many? How many of these do you get in a day? how many 32-ounce jugs do you get in a day, I drink about two. Okay, so you're getting 64 ounces in, but is that enough for your body? Probably no.

So it's building those little habits in four to six-week periods so that when we jump off into focus goals, whether again, one-on-one or group, you're ready to go. You've already got about six weeks where the habits built in there.

Gresham Harkless 7:55

Yeah, that's definitely huge. And I love the way that you haven't broken off into those two avenues because like you said, you have people who are self-starters who are able to just be in a group and may even get energy from people who are in the group as well, too. Somebody's hitting their goal and now you want to hit your goal, and so on and so forth.

It's just great energy that's happening. And then others might want a little bit more, one on one wants somebody, want one person I should say to just make sure they're doing everything, and they might have more of an intimate conversation in that setting. So I appreciate you having both of those opportunities.

Now I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce, and it can be for you or it can be for your organization. But what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Jessica Rider 8:41

I think that what absolutely sets me apart in my mission and anything that I do in my life, honestly, is to be the voice for everybody in the middle. I think so many times, a lot of them make sense. Middle as in middle America. I live and grew up in St. Louis, we are in middle America. I'm not running the beach every day. I'm not in New York running those streets every day. I'm in St. Louis. I'm walking my streets here in my community. At the same time, the voice of those people in the middle that look I can't afford to hire the personal trainer, the personal dietitian, I don't know that I need that.

But I need more than just hey, I'm gonna pick up this book and try to figure it out myself. I'm in the middle. Right? I need a little bit more help. I need a little bit more accountability. But I also don't need somebody like breathing down my neck. Like I don't want to go to a dietician or something like that. I just need somebody with the practical day-to-day  of what I can do, and that really stems from what I needed again. I felt like I could read all these books, I can go on the internet and search all this stuff. How do I apply it? What do I do? And then hiring somebody super big. There's a guy here in St. Louis, I mean, he's expensive. He's super expensive. And people have success, more times than not, they revert back to their old ways because they haven't changed their mindset. But it's super expensive.

I knew I couldn't afford that. So I gotta find something in the middle. And so I think that's what makes me unique, is speaking to those people in the middle, the mom that's run in her kid to practice three nights a week, and all she wants to do is stop going to McDonald's. Awesome. Let's talk about ways you can do that. I think the other thing too, is I will work more with my mind than the actual food. I was just talking to a client this morning and she's doing a very, very noble thing, and she's helping a friend who's battling cancer. So she is taking the spread to her treatments once a week.

And she's like, Hey, and when I come home, I may have my food prepped, she goes, but it's not prepped to the point that it's like, just microwave 10 minutes, or, you know, 2 minutes and be done. She was, but I'm so mentally exhausted, from taking my friend to her chemo treatment, and I'm emotionally exhausted. So that was so heavy into whatever her decision is when she gets home to eat. She's been eating badly and I'm like, I feel you need to stop and take a step back and realize that you are going to be emotionally spent when you come home. So how can you prepare for that?

Yeah, it's dealing with those mind tricks and getting out of those. That's a lot of what I work with as well. I tell a lot of clients to give themselves grace. This is a process, you are not going to lose weight overnight. Sure maybe a pound or two, but if you did not put it on overnight, you're not going to lose it overnight.

Gresham Harkless 12:21

Right? Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I appreciate you because I was actually going to ask you to drill down a little bit deeper on that mindset aspect. I think that's a huge thing because I think sometimes we will beat ourselves up, whether it be for weight, or for what we're eating, or, goals, whatever it might be, when we don't do exactly like a computer says we should do that we're not robotic, and that we have off days that were spent that day, or maybe we sat in traffic the entire day.

So when we get home, we don't want to eat the best thing. But I think what you spoke to was actually understanding that that is a reality of what happens. So you understand that. It allows you to arm yourself against that a little bit better so you understand that if you have a long day, maybe you're going to be more likely to want to go to McDonald's or go to whatever fast food restaurant, but if you're aware of that, that allows you to counteract that, it sounds like.

I wanted to switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. This might be an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Jessica Rider 13:24

My morning routine never wavers. Doesn't matter if I get up at 4:45. My regular time. Or if I get up at 8 a.m. on a Friday or something or on the weekend, my morning routine is the same.

Gresham Harkless 13:41

Exactly, exactly. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. This might be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice, or if you can hop into a time machine, what would you tell your younger business?

Jessica Rider 13:52

CEO, I have a hard time thinking of myself in that term. Because I just block out the noise that you don't want to listen to, or that isn't serving you.

Gresham Harkless 14:03

That makes perfect sense. And I feel like it's in accordance with exactly what you said before with how you work with clients where you're not listening to all these different things you're listening to yourself, and then where you want to be. Rather than deviate from that and listen to the person that says do this, the person that says do that, or the person that may not have been exactly where you want to go, you're actually staying in alignment with exactly what it is you're trying to do.

I know you've touched on this a little bit, but I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different quote and quote CEOs on this show.

So Jessica, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Jessica Rider 14:42

Responsibility. It means I have a dream big enough that I want to do with my life that I get to bring others into it and hopefully have them be on board with my dream and get to touch in and give resources to a lot more people.

Because I can, because I am the CEO, I'm the boss, whatever. I'm not gonna lie, it also means freedom. It also means being my own boss. It also means doing things my own way.

Gresham Harkless 15:16

I definitely appreciate that definition in that perspective, and I definitely appreciate your time even more Jessica. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional if you can let the readers and listeners know and then of course, how best they can find out about all the awesome things you're working on.

Jessica Rider 15:32

I think the biggest thing is to give yourself grace. Whether you're the CEO, whether you're someone trying to lose weight, whether you're someone who just wants to eat better, give yourself grace.

They can definitely find me on Facebook Sage Root Nutrition with Jessica Rider, also on my website, which is sagerootnutrition.com. I am on Instagram as jnrrider. Yeah, on LinkedIn, if anybody's out there and wants to hook up on LinkedIn, it's Jessica Rider on LinkedIn. I don't use Twitter all that much. Okay. I don't. I mean, I'm there but I use it all that much.

Gresham Harkless 16:12

I thank you for reminding us of that. I thank you again for your time and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Jessica Rider 16:19

Thank you.

Outro 16:21

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating.

Grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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