5 Ways to Boost Your Energy as an Entrepreneur with Melissa Eboli

You’re Listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast, Episode # 49! Today, my guest and I are talking about effective strategies for learning how to increase your energy, increase productivity, and enhance your mental clarity as an entrepreneur so you can take better care of the human behind the business. We’re focusing on foods that reduce stress, and you'll find out how to increase energy levels by making simple food swaps with stuff you already have in your fridge. So stay tuned! 

[INTRO TRACK]

As the CEO of a company focused on helping entrepreneurs scale their business without burning out, it might come as a surprise to learn that I have a huge problem with the self-care movement trending today. It’s because the "quick fix tips" that are heralded as solutions to enhance mental clarity, bounce back from burnout, and increase productivity are only cheap Band-Aids for a gaping wound in our rise-and-grind culture. They aren't the remedy for the real problem.

Growth that depends on your effort -- a limited resource -- will always be stunted. Most entrepreneurs are asking themselves, “How do I recover from burnout?” But the far better question is, “How do I avoid burnout in the first place?”

Lucky for you, my special guest here with me today is a Culinary Nutrition Expert (CNE), celebrity nutritional Chef, and certified wellness counselor out of NYC. Her name is Melissa Eboli, and she's going to show you how to increase energy levels, enhance your mental clarity and increase productivity simply by eating specific foods that reduce stress. 

Melissa makes regular appearances on Dr. Oz, and has also been sought out and featured in The New York Times, Forbes and Readers Digest for her knowledge and expertise on helping people enhance their mental clarity, increase productivity, optimize overall wellness, and achieve peak physical performance through nutrition. 

When you’re an entrepreneur, it can feel an ongoing struggle to get real traction in your business when your energy is unpredictable. Most entrepreneurs turn to time blocking and organizing and productivity hacks to try and manage their time and figure out how to increase energy levels and increase productivity, but they’ve got it all wrong. Taking care of YOU and learning how to optimize your mental clarity is the first essential ingredient in the recipe of entrepreneurial success. Celebrity Chef Melissa is ready to dish on how to do exactly that. Alright, enough with the food puns, let’s get to the good stuff and roll the tape on this interview.

Courtney Elmer 0:03  

Melissa, I'm so excited that you're here today. Welcome to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast. I can't wait for you to dish on these foods that reduce stress, show us how to increase energy levels and increase productivity, and help us eat our way to better mental clarity!

Melissa Eboli 0:10

Thanks so much for having me here today, Courtney, I'm excited to be here!

Courtney Elmer 0:15

You've been on an incredible journey. Tell us, what inspired you to start your business as a chef, teaching people how to increase energy levels and increase productivity by eating foods that reduce stress and sharpen their mental clarity?

Melissa Eboli 0:39  

In my early 20s, I didn't know about foods that reduce stress or how to increase energy levels and enhance mental clarity through food. I was eating healthy, but I was doing more of what you’d call “mass marketed” healthy like the Atkins diet and eating green, but not organic. At the same time, I had a health issue called amenorrhea, which is an absent period. That's when I decided to become certified as a nutritionist. I worked in sales for almost seven years selling luxury kitchen appliances, but by 2014, I had an onset of health issues. It started with asthma, then chemical sensitivity, chronic fatigue, and chronic stress. I also developed food allergies and sensitivities, specifically gluten, dairy and shellfish. Then in June of 2016, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her diagnosis hit me hard. On a whim I quit my job to be a health advocate and get the word out about the correlation between unhealthy eating and disease. I became a Culinary Nutrition Expert (CNE) which combines both worlds of nutrition and culinary into one.

I went back to my connections with the luxury showroom owners who had these gorgeous high end kitchens that were almost never used and asked, “Would you help me springboard my business? We’d utilize your space, bring customers into your store, and create a win win.” Many of them supported the idea with open arms. In November of 2016, I did my first event. It only had three attendees. At first I thought, “OMG, I'm a failure, this isn't going to work!” I had so much doubt. But I also had this inner driving force that it would work. Maybe it was bad timing. Maybe it wasn’t marketed properly. I did my second event at a different location, which was marketed better. That event sold out with 22 people as that was the capacity at that specific location. I thought, “Okay, I'm on the right path.” I started listing myself on a couple of different websites like Thumbtack.com, which was instrumental in growing my business. I'm passionate about teaching people how to increase energy levels and eat for mental clarity and increase productivity. Yet I always go back to thinking, “Wow, if I'd gotten discouraged with those three attendees, I don't know if I would be where I am today.”

Courtney Elmer

I love this. The very first time we opened the doors, our digital Academy, we had seven people enroll, and I had dreams for 700 people. But when you choose to continue putting one foot in front of the other and to hold on to that burning desire, and know in your heart that it will work, amazing things can happen. There’s a philosophy that we hold here at the EffortLESS Life® where you have to take care of the human behind the business. You have to know how to increase your energy levels if you want to increase productivity. Most people do the opposite and try to grow the business at the expense of themselves, their physical health, their mental clarity, and their sanity. I’m curious, when you're working with clients, what are some of the chronic illnesses or issues that people are complaining about? Do they come to you asking to learn how to increase energy levels? What foods that reduce stress do you suggest for them?

Melissa Eboli

That’s a great question. I see a lot of issues. Inflammation, stress, and anxiety are the biggest ailments I see with people. There's a lot of foods that reduce stress you can eat for mental clarity, which will also help you increase productivity. I teach people how to increase energy levels by eating high fat foods like: walnut, salmon and coconut oil to name a few.  Digestive issues and arthritic pain are all related to inflammation. I encourage those types of people to follow an anti-inflammatory diet, avoid gluten, dairy, and reduce your meat intake. Sometimes figuring out how to increase energy levels is as simple as reducing foods that are draining your energy from a biological standpoint.

Courtney Elmer

Yeah, most people aren’t aware of how stress is affecting them on a physical level. They might know intellectually that it's affecting them but they aren’t sure how it’s manifesting in their body. I’m glad you shared those tips about eating for mental clarity, and foods that reduce stress - these are such simple swaps you can make to mitigate stress and enhance mental clarity and increase productivity, simply by changing up some of the foods you're eating. You mentioned high-fat foods among those foods that reduce stress, what other easy swaps could someone make when learning how to increase energy levels via food? 

Melissa Eboli

For better stress management and mental clarity, stay away from fried foods. Acrylamide is directly correlated with stress - that tanks your mental clarity. Stay away from processed food like cold cuts and cured meats. Avoiding these will help you increase mental clarity, which will help you increase productivity. Avoid dairy and gluten, which are also attributed to inflammation and could also cause stress. A lot of people think fat is the enemy, but that’s an old diet mentality. Healthy fat is your friend. Among foods that reduce stress and help you increase productivity are the coconut oils, the avocados, nuts in all forms. If you think about a walnut, a whole walnut without the shell, it’s the shape of a brain. There are a lot of foods that look like the organ or body part they directly support.  

Courtney Elmer

I've heard that before the carrot, when you slice it on the cross section, it looks an eye and it’s known that beta carotene is excellent for your eyes. Nature leaves clues, we have to pay attention. Those who've been listening for a while know about my battle with cancer and an eating disorder that wreaked havoc on my health and mental clarity. I’ve had to learn how to increase energy levels by rebuilding my health from the inside out. One of the first areas that I looked when it came to learning how to increase my energy levels was nutrition. I enjoyed learning about foods that reduce stress, and what to eat for how to increase energy levels, and how the foods we put in our body can help us perform with optimal mental clarity and increase productivity, or keep us from performing at those optimal levels.

Melissa Eboli 15:03  

Absolutely. I love that you touched on how to increase energy levels and increase productivity and mental clarity. A lot of people ask me, what's the difference with raw food vs. cooked food? When it comes to foods that reduce stress, it helps to know that when you cook food, it decreases enzymes. Enzymes help your body digest your food and assimilate it better, and convert what you eat into energy. Raw food, like a salad or a smoothie, naturally has more enzymes because they haven’t been cooked out. On the flip side, when you eat cooked food, especially vegetables, the enzymes have been depleted. Your body then works that much harder to produce its own enzymes to help break down that food. That's why so many people say, “I went to this restaurant, and had this great meal, and now I feel so tired.” The reason you’re tired is because your body's working extra hard to produce those enzymes to break down that meal. So when it comes to foods that reduce stress and knowing how to increase energy levels and increase productivity, focus on raw food - your body expends less energy digesting it, which means you'll have more energy as a result.

Courtney Elmer 16:12  

That's fascinating. Your brain burns so much energy, so I can see why knowing how to increase energy levels will increase productivity as a result simply by focusing on eating foods that reduce stress to enhance your mental clarity. At times it can feel overwhelming to make nutritional changes because there's so much to learn. Some people might say, I know I need to take better care of myself, but I don’t have time, I’m too busy. How do you help people simplify their daily routines and learn how to increase energy levels by utilizing things they already have in their pantry and minimizing trips to the grocery store?

Melissa Eboli 17:16  

Yes! I have a health focused cookbook, “Healthy Recipes & Tips to Minimize Your Shopping Trips'' It has grocery lists in there that correlate with the recipes. Most of the meals take 30 minutes or less to prepare, and serve four to six. The recipes incorporate foods that reduce stress and mental clarity, which helps you increase productivity, too.

Courtney Elmer 18:12  

That's what I love about your approach. You make it so easy and effortless to have these healthy meals and to nourish yourself without taking much time to do it. Also by making some simple swaps and tweaks to what you're already eating with foods that reduce stress, you can increase productivity and have better mental clarity. Now you’ve been featured on Dr. Oz multiple times which is so impressive. Tell me what were some of the learnings and AHAs that you took away from that experience?

Melissa Eboli 23:44  

That was an incredible experience. It came from HARO.com! The first time I got on the show, I got the call and was in total shock. I did one segment and hit it off well with the producers. Then I got on their casting call sheets, and every now and again, when I saw emails come through what they were looking for, I’d respond and say, I'm free for this and happy to come in.

Courtney Elmer 27:32  

Building relationships is such a key foundational piece for building a solid business. I have one final question for you, and I love the raw answers that come from this one: what's your definition of success?

Melissa Eboli 28:20  

That's a great question. For me, from an entrepreneurial perspective, my definition of success is being able to sustain and make it by your own merits. Whether it's a little money or a lot of money, it's such a rewarding and humbling feeling. Reaping the benefits from the efforts that you put out there and seeing those benefits grow.

Courtney Elmer 29:15  

Yeah, I love that and seeing the ripple effect, too. It's so fulfilling, isn't it? I know that everyone listening is going to want to connect with you and learn more about how they can get their hands on your healthy simple recipes utilizing foods that reduce stress and help them learn how to increase energy levels and increase productivity. Where can they find you online?

Melissa Eboli 29:35  

My website, viaskitchen.com You can get my cookbook there too with recipes that include foods that reduce stress and enhance mental clarity, and increase productivity. On social you can find me under Chef Via Melissa. I’ll also be offering live classes on my website soon so come check those out! 

Courtney Elmer 30:21  

We’ll link up to all of that in the show notes. Melissa, thanks so much for being on the show today and sharing your knowledge about how to increase energy levels by eating foods that reduce stress, enhance your mental clarity, and help you increase productivity.

Alright, if you’re not ready to run to the store and stock up on all of these brain-boosting, super foods that reduce stress and increase productivity and mental clarity, then get outta here!

Speaking of learning how to increase energy levels and increase productivity in the year ahead, next week on the show we’re taking a look at this year in review, and making our predictions for the future of entrepreneurship as we move into the new year. Join me back here next time on the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ podcast and until then, go live YOUR EffortLESS Life®!