Meet Tara from Nutrition Thyme

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All right. Well, welcome back to the Vero Beach Podcast. I'm Brian. And I'm Shauna. And today we are sitting at nutrition time. Is that correct? All right. Well, Tara. Tara, we're so glad you're on the podcast. Thanks so much for having me, guys. Yeah. I can't wait to talk. All right. Well, we're excited to have you on the podcast today. It's been a long time waiting. Yes. But it's about time, right? Yeah. No way. Well, I'm glad you caught the joke. That's the first of the dad jokes. Yeah, usually it goes right over everybody's heads. I'm like, oh boy. Is he real? Also, should have brought him on the podcast. Thanks, Andrew. You're gonna feel right at home here. Oh, that's great. Well, Andrew, we hope you enjoyed the podcast. And uh we've got one listener not. Yes. Well, hey, Tara, before we before we dive in and start talking about your business, tell us a little bit about you. Yeah. So I am actually from Palm City. Um, and then I met Andrew and Boca when I was going to FAU for not even nutrition. Actually, that was not my first degree. Really? Um, I wanted to be a speech therapist, and it was kind of like ingrained into me as a high schooler too. Like, that's a good job. That's a good job. So I'm like, okay, that's a good job. Let's go. Okay, now I'm trying to get into grad school, doing the internship. And I'm like, this is not for me. Already graduated with my undergrad trying to get into grad school. So Andrew was like, Well, you love health, wellness. Like my grandma went to, she had like a nutrition degree, had a cooking show in the 80s. Shout out to Naomi. She just turned 90 the other day. Um and then she uh yeah, so that I that was in my blood, I think. So he's like, try this nutrition class 101. And I immediately fell in love with it. I'm like, Yes, this is for me. So he went to the University of Mississippi and he was at home kind of getting his life together. And then he's like, I want to go back to Ole Miss and finish. I'm like, okay, well, I've never lived outside of, you know, Palm City to Boca. Let's go. So we went, I got my degree. We moved back to Del Rey after we finished, and then he immediately got the job in California. So we're like, all right, I guess we're going to California. So that was six years of California. We had two babies there, but no family. So we decided to come back to Florida just this summer. Wow. Yeah. Oh, we're so glad you're here. Okay, so let's dive into a little bit. So I know Shauna's gonna have some questions. I already know some areas. So you say Boca. You're talking about Boca Grand. Um, Boca Raton, Florida. Boca Ratone. Yeah, yes. Every so that's on this side, right? On the Atlantic. Oh, is grand on the I don't know where it's like, it's down below like Fort Myers. Oh, okay. Yeah. Okay, nice. And we um have spent a lot of time over there. So like that's just Boca, that's what we think of. But everyone over here who says Boca is talking about Boca Ratone. And so, yeah, I'm trying to like reorient myself a little bit. Yeah, I'm trying to imagine like, have we been there? I don't think we've been there. No, we haven't. No, wow. Well, it is like an hour and 45 from here. Okay. But it is nice. Okay. There's a lot of nice stuff there. We have to go. We have a lot of exploring left to do south. Yes. Yeah. We've gone, you know, to basically all the places north of here. Yeah. But uh, yeah, we need to go south. Yeah. Yes. How do you how do you feel like that played like your past experiences have kind of shaped you into what you're doing today, then? Yeah. So, like I said, that first class of nutrition, I mean, anyone could probably love that because it was so interesting just to learn about nutrition one-on-one. Um, and then the deeper I got into it, it just felt so aligned. Like, okay, this is my my whole family is super into nutrition, basically. Like my parents always had a balanced meal on the table. It was never like, you can't have this until you eat this. So um, that was a nice br upbringing of like pretty balanced nutrition. Um, though the diet culture was definitely instilled in our brains as well, not really purposefully, but our parents' ages, yes. Um yeah, like don't eat butter, eat margarine. Yeah, like use the spray butter whenever. My mom still has a hard time with that one. Yeah. It's I think their generation, and I'm like, I don't even, sorry, parents, I don't even talk to them about nutrition really because I'm like, you guys don't really listen to me, but yeah. So talking about not listening, my grandma doesn't listen to this, so uh because I know she ain't listening to podcasts, but she was always really bad at with our son when he was really little. She'd be like, We didn't like to give him a lot of sugar because he was already hyper enough because I need any sugar. And we'd turn around and she'd be giving him ice cream and we're like, and fruit snacks, like, grandma, you can't give him that. He hasn't even ate dinner. And she's like, It's dairy, it's got milk in it. And then fruit snacks, yeah, and fruit snacks, it's got fruit. I was like, not

Diet Culture Vs Evidence Based Fuel

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really, grandma. Yeah, oh my gosh. Yeah, it is it's a wild, wild game out there. That's true. So, what was the moment like for you when you realized, okay, you you you knew like you wanted to get into nutrition care? Yeah, so I have always been, I think that's in my blood too, like a helper slash healer, healer. Um, so yeah, once I started getting deeper into it, I'm like, okay, and wow, going back to my high school days of extreme dieting and like being a semi-athlete, I don't want to say I was an athlete, but I did I did cheer for 10 years and then do swimming for three years of high school. So I was, you know, oh, you're an athlete girl. You're an athlete kindergarten started the cheerleading. I'm like, I wonder if I'm a cheerleader. But um yeah, so that it was relearning everything that diet culture taught you in the science evidence-based way. So I was like, oh, this is how you should be nourishing your body. And, you know, so I'm like, oh, okay, fast forward when I got into my master's program, and then we learn a little bit more than just like basic. I mean, you had to do all the biochemistry and all of that in undergrad, but the graduate school was nice to like actually learn how to kind of teach people because you're doing like your rotation. Exactly. Okay, so now I'm gonna really simplify for I'm just gonna say for the listeners, but it's really for me. Uh but so really okay, explain to us, uh explain to me and the other and the listeners like what is nutrition care? Like, what does that involve? What does that mean? Yeah, so it is definitely not a one size fits all, which I think if you are just your average person, you want to look on social media, use Chat GPT to get uh your best results, it's not always gonna work because you really do need that personalized approach. So literally every single one of my clients, some of them could be similar, but every single person has a different uh something going on, different medical history, different maybe family medical history. And that shapes the way that we're gonna give them the nutrition care that they need. So I think nutrition care in a hospital or like a long-term care facility or you know, a clinic, like a so that those are all the things that we had to do in our internship is like that's what they instilled in you. They're like, you're gonna be

What Nutrition Care Really Means

6:35

a clinical dietitian or you're gonna be a long-term care dietitian, like working with the elderly population, or you're gonna work in a community clinic setting, which I did all three when I became a dietitian. I kind of like, and all three of them, I was like, this I thought I liked them at first. And I'm like, no, no, no, this is not for me. So um, yeah, now I'm going way off topic. Oh, no, you're fine. Yeah, so that's great. Yeah. So then in those cases, though, like for hospital, you go in, you see somebody who maybe just had a heart attack or like just found out they had diabetes, and you're like, this is how you should eat. Here's a handout. And it's like, that's not so the more I did that, the more I was like, no, I need to follow people, understand their actual story, not just read their chart in five minutes and then go counsel them for five minutes. Um, so that's really what shaped me into saying thinking, okay, I really want to do private practice where nutrition care is personalized and I can make it as personalized as they need. Yeah, I love that. So okay, so let's talk a little bit more about the business side because uh we're already, we're already there. So you might as well go deeper into that. So okay, so talk to me a little bit about the different like when you're talking about nutrition care, like what kind of things does that involve, like when it comes to like the body? Yeah. So most people, okay, so yesterday was National Registered Dietitian Day, March 11th. Umgratulations, thank you. I made a post about like what people might think when they come to see a dietitian versus what we actually do. So, like a lot of people think, okay, I'm going to a dietitian, I'm gonna get a specific meal plan and move on. And I'm I hardly ever give a meal plan. If you want a meal plan, I will make it with you. Like if you're in person, we'll go through everything together, or if we're online, I'll share my screen and like we'll make it instead of me just being like, here you go. Good luck. Um, because that is just that success rate is little to none for long term. So it's like we need to teach you how to eat before that. So yeah, in our first session, it's pretty in-depth. And I hit nutrition like or you know, daily eating habits last because I'm like, I want to know about your stress, I want to know about your sleep. I want to know what your day looks like. Like, how busy are you? Are you waking up and immediately checking your phone or emails and like not seeing the sunshine? Um, so I really hit a lot on lifestyle stuff and also supplements because yeah, a lot of our clients come to us with a laundry list because they see it on Instagram, or they have like another doctor who just says, take all this stuff. And I'm like, I need to understand why. And like maybe some will be beneficial, but you don't need to take these long term. So yeah, it's a whole thing. But yeah, so most of our stuff is lifestyle and then we hit on daily habits too. And obviously, uh I like to start small with clients, like little bite-sized goals. How can we hit the foundations first before we get into specifics of like how many grams of protein do you need? How many grams of fiber are you eating that you should, you know, you should be eating more of too. Take us back to how did the idea of your business first take take shape? Yeah. So that was kind of in the hospital. Like I explained how I would just go in. So I started seeing clients after work. This is three kids. So I'd be like seeing one client a couple of times a week after work. I'd come home, 4:30, have a session, um, online. And this is like in our little apartment in Long Beach, California. And it's just so funny to see all of it evolve. Um it's like, we have this tiny apartment. I'm like at this little desk. Um, and then I got pregnant like a couple months after launching. So I started my business in May 2021, September, I got pregnant, um, unexpectedly, but it's great. Um, so as that evolved, I'm like,

Lifestyle First, Sleep, Stress & Supplements

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okay, I'll probably go back to one of these jobs after I have him, but I went back one day a week. So I'm like, okay, this is perfect. Go back one day a week, see clients a couple days a week too, when he's napping. Because he my first actually napped for two hours at a time. So that was nice. My second, I don't know what should happen to her. Um that's why we didn't have a second. We got I think we got way too much. We have heard that happened too much. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I had him and then 10 months post-partum got pregnant again with her. So I'm like, all right, I am not going back to the hospital. I am going full force into this business after you know I get settled with her. So 2024, my husband this whole time had been telling me, get in with insurance, get in with insurance. I'm like, it's too hard. That's my excuse. I didn't know what it really was like. So 2024, I actually started getting into it. I took this six-month um course of this dietitian who's been doing um insurance, sorry, insurance for 20 years. And I'm like, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna do it right. So did all that and then got pretty full. And so that's why last year, probably in around around May, I started talking to my two colleagues from grad school and internship. I'm like, hey guys, you know, they have two young kids too. So I'm like, I know they love business and want to be into business. I'm like, do you guys wanna start seeing clients with me? Um, so that's how that evolved. And then that was around the time that we started, we were month-to-month in our apartment in California. We loved it. It was amazing on the beach, but we had no yard, like nothing. So we started thinking about like, um, you know, Florida was not on our list. We're like Charleston, the Carolinas, Georgia, maybe. Like, let's kind of move back east so we can be near family. Cause the furthest west that we have is my dad in Colorado. And like, even that, we would drive sometimes, it'd be 14 hours or a quick flight, but then it started getting a lot. Like, I don't want to fly with two kids. We all die. No. Um, so we're like, let's just move back. And it happened so quick. So we're like, okay, Florida. And we got so excited. And my husband said, We're never coming back to Florida. And I'm like, okay, we're done. That's why you went to Florida. Don't ever say number message that we've learned. So we're like, okay, Florida, cool. And then we're like, yeah, we don't want to go back down to Boca. We don't want to go to Palm City because I just can't go where I grew up and my mom's still there. Um, so we're like, Vero, sure. So then we literally just like packed our stuff in pods and moved. It was the craziest, quickest thing we've ever

Building Nutrition Time & Insurance

12:10

done, but it's totally up, like, that's how we are. And then when I came here, I started getting more referrals and just hit the ground running with like, I'm gonna market to everybody around here, make connections. And then I noticed everyone wants in person. So I'm like, all right, started putting out feelers for an office space. And then, you know, Renice is like, yeah, like I have this space open. I'm like, perfect. So it happened super quick. That was office. That's awesome. So went from like little tiny apartment to then we're in a bigger apartment seeing clients from my kitchen table. And then now we're here. So And do you enjoy in person better? Like, do you like I love both? I mean, I love the flexibility of virtual, but now that I am in person, I'm like, I am such an in-person person that it just makes more sense to be that offering. So that's great. I wouldn't have thought that there would be such a demand for in-person, but I think we're kind of swinging back towards like for a while, everyone just wanted to do everything virtually, like, I don't want to leave my house. And then now I feel like we're swinging the other way where people are like, oh, we actually need some interaction. Yeah. I looked up this statistic the other day, just like how many dietitians have like gone from either way. And it did say after 2021, like people just started craving in person again. Now it's like a large volume of dietitians see clients in person, private practice. So yeah, okay. So let's talk about some more. Okay, what's would you say has been your biggest lesson throughout all this? Yeah. So I think it has to be patience. Like I am, well, I'm a Virgo and I feel like I'm a strong Virgo, very organized, structured. So like that's definitely over the past four or five years something that I've had to learn having babies and starting the business at the same time is like patience and things will align if they're meant to be. So I'm like, before I was so like, I need to follow my schedule and my structure and all of that. And I think that's probably the biggest lesson or biggest challenge. That may be the other reason you got a daughter that doesn't sleep. Yeah. Because it teaches you so much when you especially with little kids and you're like, this is my schedule. A kid will bucket every time. Oh yeah. Cause they're like, um, no, that's not my schedule. Literally. Yeah. With four kids, I was like up at 5 a.m. doing my workout every morning, then would go to work. And it was just like such a structured flow. And then now I'm like, I'm lucky if I, you know, get a three times a two times a week workout in because she's like up every time I set my alarm. She's up already, or like she knows I'm waking up or yeah, like, oh my god, 6 a.m. Two till six. Yeah. She's got that problem with the dog now. So yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about Andrew again because before we started recording, you and I were talking about how supportive he's been. Yeah. Would you like to say anything about that? Yeah. So he is kind of like our business ops person. Like I said, he's finance. So he's always, you know, the reason how I've been able to grow how I have is because he's put everything into his Excel models and showed me if we do this and this, then we can do this and this. So it's so helpful. Versus if I didn't have him, I'd just be like free for all, like, oh, this might work or whatever. And so that's been helpful. But yeah, he also like, since we've gotten here, he's had a little bit more freedom to um, because like fully working from home and whatnot and doing projects. Um, he's been able to help me create like marketing materials and like go out and about. He's on the pickleball league at Pocanis. I don't know if I should say that a lot. But um, yeah. So like everyone's gonna be going around. I'm gonna I'm looking for Andrew. So he got, you know, he got me a banner to hang at the field or the place over there. And just like he's so all about like nutrition time and talks to everybody about nutrition time. I'm like, thank you. Like, that's awesome to have such a supportive person, but he keeps me in line too. So, like when I have all these projects going on and I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so overwhelmed. He's like, make your to-do list and figure out what you need to do first. So it's just like nice to have that balance. That yeah, that's amazing. You two sound like an amazing team. Yeah, it is, it is fun. So on your website, I I noticed what it you talked a little bit about your mission. Your mission is to normalize nutrition therapy, provide reasonable advice and attainable goals. Yeah. So break that down for us. Yeah. So um I'll start with the attainable goals, or like that's kind of our our thing is we want clients to do this in a sustainable way. So, like going back to our combo about diet culture earlier, it's like you can lose weight in 30 days and just do this, do this, do this. And it's like restrict, restrict, restrict, or you know, over exercise. So we want clients to come in and feel like they can uh do what they want to do, meet their goals, but we set that expectation up front. Like this is gonna take some time. It could be quicker than others, or it could take six months, it could take a year. I see clients sometimes for two years just because they travel a lot and then you know they have to rebalance and whatnot. But yeah, so we we make bite-sized goals to meet their big goals. So it's like if you don't eat breakfast, I'm a huge breakfast proponent. So it's like if you come in, you're saying that you have 3 p.m. crashes and you need coffee at 3 p.m. every day. Well, are you eating breakfast? No, let's start there. Can we get breakfast in two days a week? It can be a smoothie, it can be egg bites from Trader Joe's. I know we don't have Trader Joe's right here, but um please come to Trader Joe, Trader Joe, shout out. I'm like, I've I told myself I would never live somewhere without Trader Joe's. Never again. You said never again. Don't you gotta watch that? We're always like, yeah, I'm I'm like, I never will own a Corbett or a or a a Maserati. Okay, yeah, yeah. McLaren. I'll never own a McLaren. That's the biggest thing. I'll never own a McLaren. McLaren. Okay. Manifesting. Yeah. Um, but yes, so we're empowering clients to um it's for accessible nutrition care, or I can't remember exactly what it says on there right now. Um but yeah, so like they're nutrition therapy. So like a lot of times too, medical nutrition therapy or people think they might need to have a specific reason to see us, medical nutrition therapy is also preventative, like preventative nutrition care. You can be as healthy as can be and still want to just know, am I like up to par for nutrition, like my own nutrition status? Because again, you can search the web all you want, but you're not gonna find out if you are optimizing your health or not. What do you hope people feel after experiencing their service here? Yeah. So I want them to feel

Patience Support & The Mission

18:05

comfort, like comfortable um and know that they can make shifts and changes, even though they might feel defeated after trying all these things. And also just that we are like my dietitians and I, they're still West. They're not in Florida, but my next hire hopefully will be in Bureau. Um, yeah, so just for them to know that we'll be their guide and support. And that's what I say at almost every session. I'm like, come when you're really pumped about wins or not, or maybe you're feeling completely defeated, like you just have not made. I'm like, that's the best time to come because we are still here to support and guide you and see what we can shift. Cause like the advice we give the first time might not work out. That's why I'm always like, let's see, let's follow up with our bite-sized goals. Did those happen? What worked, what didn't? So oh, that's so good. Supporting. Love that. So, what do you love most about the Vero beach area? Yeah, so definitely being close to the beach, of course, because I can't. And when we lived in Mississippi, I'm like, I'm never living, never living away from the ocean again, at least like in within our proximity. I don't even, I think an hour is too long. But um, yeah, so I think seven minutes is too long. Like we're literally seven minutes. And my husband, yeah, Andrew. He's like, it's too long. I'm like, babe, if we go five more minutes inland, it's a lot cheaper. Yeah, exactly. Literally, like Andrew's like, no, in a couple years we gotta get closer, even river, riverside. Right. But that's another thing that I love about Vero, not even kidding, Riverside Park, walking that a couple of times a week, or just like the little trails and little things like that. Yeah, because we have done a bunch of the trails that are like at the off the jungle trail, and then like I don't even know, round island we go to all the time to see the manager. Yeah, very cool. And then also I love the small business community feel too, and just how everyone wants to support each other's businesses. Yeah. So that's been super nice. It's super it's so unique. Now I didn't say this, I haven't said this for a while, but I'm gonna say it because Tara's might not, she's might not have heard it yet. But uh, we did an interview with Ray Hooker from Indian River Distillery. Oh, cool. And uh he said this is in season one, and I always loved what he said, and I said I'm not gonna say it during season two, but now here it goes. It's out there. He said that what he loved about Vero Beach is it's the world's largest Mayberry. Oh you might not know what Mayberry is. Oh no. I was like, do I know this? No. I just realized like she's younger, she might not even know. Do you want to explain what Mayberry is? Let's see if I get this right. I think that it's the town that Andy Griffith, his show, so it's like a real old-timey thing, you know. But it's like Mayberry is like this little idyllic town, you know, with um everybody knows everybody. Everybody's nice and positive for the most part. Yeah. So yeah, I think I got that right. If not, I'm sorry, everybody. Yeah, but yeah, he said Vero is like the world's largest Mayberry. And it really is, especially when it comes to businesses collaborating, supporting each other, helping it's just it's you don't get that a lot of areas that go. Usually it's competition, and everybody, you know, I'm not sharing things with you, and it's it's not like that here. Yeah. Do you have any favorite like restaurants, good, like healthy, nutritious food or indulgent food too? Yes. Okay. I love Chelsea's. I don't know, like they they have something that's not on their menu. It's a chicken salad sandwich, which some might not classify as misnutritious, but we're all about balance here. So if you like to have, you know, I don't know, I'm not even gonna okay, ice cream, because I love ice cream. Um, if you want ice cream, like definitely enjoy those foods, but like make sure you do have a protein-rich meal before or something like that. Like, and if you want a sweet treat daily, try to have dark chocolate, like little little shifts like that. Cause I huge sweet tooth, dark chocolate daily, sometimes twice a day. Um, but yeah, so favorite restaurant. Well, that's like a good coffee shop or like cafe. Yeah. Um, and then two eas right here is probably my favorite restaurant right now. Like, Tui's so good. Yeah, we love it. Um, and then I really like surf subs over there off 43rd. One that I really want to try is the counterculture or whatever that is right next to Chelsea's Dome. Yeah, or counterculture, I think it is called. Yeah. I've heard that's really good. So that's on the list. But with the two babies, we don't go out to eat that much. No because yeah. It's a lot. So so when you're not working and you're and you're needing to get out and just unplug, what do you what do you guys like to do? Yeah, definitely beach walking. So in California, we were huge campers, hikers, all that. So we do want to start doing that. Obviously, it just got hot again. So we messed our little window there. But um yeah, definitely walking in nature, walking on. I love walking the boardwalk of in the road. Like that's always nice. Um yeah, definitely just being outside. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, there's so many beautiful places here. Yeah. So what do you have in mind for the future of nutrition time? Yes. So we our next

Vero Beach Favorites & Community

22:40

big thing would be to yes, put a suite, something like this, in a California Orange County location. Cause like we just, I think it's because we had the babies there. Just we're not done there. We go back like four times, and I'm like, my heart is just still there. But I love being here close to our families because obviously my grandma's 90, she's not gonna get on a plane and fly to us. But she loves to come see us. Um, so yeah, definitely something like that, maybe even other locations all around wherever we found like coastal. Yeah, definitely expanding in that way, but um making it a really nice place for dietitians to come work too, because I want it to be flexible. I want it to be somewhere that you know you want to come to work versus like some some people have the heart for clinical. I just did not. And I I know it's it's really hard to get to work if you don't want to do what you're doing. So um, yeah, definitely that. And just I love that. Yeah, helping. Well, I've got one more question to wrap up, and uh, I want to say thank you for being on the podcast. Thank you so much. That's so great. Yeah, this has been great. I know I feel like I'm walking away understanding a little bit more about what nutrition care is. First, before we wrap up, what's the best ways that people can contact with get in contact with you? Yeah, so I am always on email. Email is great, or I we have a business line to website, Instagram, like I'm on everything. Like I that's one thing I do really like about entrepreneurship that I think most might not is like being involved and like being communicative with everyone. Like I want to know everything about the business. So that's cool. So, what is your website address? Um, it's nutrition.com. So time like the herb. Yeah. The uh without the dash was taken, you know, all those years ago. So yeah. And what's your and what's the business phone number that didn't call? Should I say it right now? Yeah, you can't. Okay. 562-476-9017. All right. Yes, it's the California number, but yeah. Awesome. And if you want to share your email, you can do that as well. Oh yeah. So it's just info at nutrition.com. All right. All right. So the last question I have for you is if someone's listening that has never stepped into your office and have every been a little bit hesitant or disbelief, uh, what would you want to say to them? Yeah. So something that I do say to clients who are in this

Future Plans How To Reach Tara

24:55

case is because I've been virtual for all these years, but this is like a non-judgmental space and tell me everything you know that's applicable because I need to know that to help better guide you and make this a more easy pro like an easier process. So yeah, non-judgmental. I need to know if you're eating racies every day, multiple times a day, or like, you know, just eating McDonald's daily. Like, okay, how can we figure out how to balance it more? Can you also get steamed vegetables a bag from Publix and eat that with your burger? Like, yeah. That's awesome. Well, Tara, thank you for joining us on the podcast. It's been great having you on. Yeah, thank you so much. It's so much funny. And to all our listeners who, if you've enjoyed this episode, make sure you leave us a review so others can find out about your local podcast. And with that, it's time for nutrition, neighbor. Oh, yeah, I didn't think of a good saying. Um it's time to shine. I'm just kidding. I was just about to say it's time for nutrition. Yeah, I think I'm gonna say that. Okay. You can keep all that in there. Bloopers. Exactly. I I always have a lot of bloopers. It's time for nutrition, neighbor. Love that. Oh my goodness.