Caroline Fausel of Olive You Whole: 5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Can Dramatically Improve Your Wellbeing

An Interview With Candice Georgiadis

Find an Exercise you Love: There are a million ways to move your body… Don’t get stuck in trying to decide which exercise to try first. Any exercise, no matter what it is, is better than no exercise at all. My philosophy is to do what you love. You’re much more likely to stick to something you love than if you treat exercise as punishment.

As a part of our series about “5 Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Caroline Fausel.

Recipe developer, clean living advocate and mom of two, Caroline Fausel has amassed hundreds of thousands of fans over the years through her highly popular blog, Olive You Whole. For nearly a decade, she has created and shared meals for those striving to eat healthier — whether that’s gluten-free, dairy-free, Paleo, Whole30, or Keto. Caroline’s debut cookbook, “Prep, Cook, Freeze” makes it easy to get a nutritious dinner on the table with 12 weeks of Paleo recipes your whole family will love.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share with us the story about how you first got involved in wellness?

Absolutely! I grew up in the South in Nashville, Tennessee. If you’ve been lucky enough to try some Southern staples, it sure is delicious, but it’s not the healthiest food in the world. Lots of foods are fried, packed with “cream of” this and that, cheesy, breaded, etc. My childhood was riddled with digestive issues. I specifically remember telling my mom my stomach hurt after most dinners, but then I just stopped mentioning it. Unfortunately, this was before the era of the food awakening. My parents had no idea what was making my stomach hurt or that food could be the cause. Back in those days, I don’t remember a single person in my life mentioning food sensitivities or being gluten or dairy-free. My fourth-grade year, I was out for so much school because of my stomach aches, and even the specialists my mom took me to didn’t know what was going on with me OR that food could be the culprit.

In sixth grade, my best friend’s mom was a nutritionist, and I would pick her brain for hours, trying to soak up all of her nutritional knowledge. Most of the things she said to me were brand new notions! That was the starting point of my love of everything health and wellness, and I’ve been on a journey to find ultimate health and wellness since then. This desire to be my healthiest self led me to near-veganism in college. My inspiration for my current health and wellness path (and career!) is my daughter Ella. My husband Chaz and I got married when I was just 22 and pregnant six weeks later! Not only that but sweet Ella was born at 30 weeks (10 weeks early). It became our top priority to keep her healthy. When it came time to start feeding Ella solids, I did a whole deep-dive into the latest in nutrition science to ensure we were doing what was best for her. This was about the time that the Paleo diet was starting to make waves in the nutrition world. I was convinced by the science, and Chaz and I switched from near-vegan to Paleo overnight and never felt better! Ella inspired the switch, and in turn my blog oliveyouwhole.com!

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career?

My career and our leap into the Paleo diet started essentially at the same time. The most interesting and shocking experience has been watching my health transform with the switch away from veganism. Based on the narratives you hear, I was pleasantly surprised that this is our reality! As vegetarians, we personally relied heavily on beans and grains, two things I have found out now I have a hard time digesting. It just wasn’t the best fit for me. When we switched to the Paleo diet, my digestion was the best it had ever been in my entire life, my skin cleared up, I had SO much energy, and overall just had a fresh new zeal for life!

Can you share a story with us about the most humorous mistake you made when you were first starting? What lesson or take-away did you learn from that?

I’ll share an eight-year-long, consistent mistake. Ever since we made the switch to Paleo, I tried over and over and over to create the perfect Paleo pizza crust. And every single time, it was a fail. It was too eggy, too cakey, too flat and crispy, too doughy… You name a pizza crust mistake, and I made it. When you’re baking with Paleo ingredients, and you don’t have the sticky, stretchy gluten from wheat and Paleo flours don’t usually go well with the rising capabilities of yeast, it’s a nearly impossible task. And my poor, dear family so graciously ate every single terrible iteration, and finally, my husband asked me to stop trying. Bless him! Well, I’m happy to report that we finally nailed it. The perfect Paleo pizza crust recipe is in my first cookbook, Prep, Cook, Freeze. It’s egg-free, nut-free, and yeasted, which I never thought was possible! It’s even chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside. It honestly tastes like the pizza we had at the roller skating rink growing up in the 90’s, which somehow is a good thing!

Can you share with our readers a bit about why you are an authority in the fitness and wellness field? In your opinion, what is your unique contribution to the world of wellness?

A lot of my readers and listeners are just like me — they are moms who are trying to become their healthiest selves so they can live with vitality and longevity. I think what gives me authority in this industry is that the proof is in the pudding — it is so encouraging to follow someone and think, “She did it, and so can I!” I keep creating healthy recipes that my kids gobble up. I keep improving my own health and sharing each bump along the way, like my recent discovery of my non-Celiac gluten sensitivity and thyroid issues that I’ve been working on. For the past ten years, my husband Chaz and I have been exploring how to be intentional in every area of our lives, and that’s what I share with the food I create and the content I share. My ultimate goal is to help women build healthy, connected, and intentional lives that fulfill their greatest purpose.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I have to thank my mom for where I am today. One of my favorite things to do as a child was to “play chef” in the kitchen and create new recipes. I would work in the kitchen all afternoon, writing down amounts of ingredients that I used to create my “masterpieces.” It can be hard to support your child’s passions when you know it will end up with a messy kitchen… But that never stopped my mom! She even has some note cards of the recipes from back then that have “keep this one” in my handwriting at the top. She has always supported me in all of my endeavors, and it has motivated me as a mother to be in tune with what my kids are interested in. (We try to be attentive to the things they say they’re currently into, even if it’s not mainstream.) She could never have known that her tiny little chef would actually turn into a cookbook author!

Ok thank you for all that. Now let’s move to the main focus of our interview. We all know that it’s important to eat more vegetables, eat less sugar, exercise more, and get better sleep etc. But while we know it intellectually, it’s often difficult to put it into practice and make it a part of our daily habits. In your opinion what are the 3 main blockages that prevent us from taking the information that we all know, and integrating it into our lives?

1. Conflicting Information: I think one of the biggest blockages is that the conflicting information becomes paralyzing. Should you go no fat, low fat, only good fats, or keto? And it’s not just food; it feels like there are a million opinions about everything in the health and wellness world. Should you do HIIT, yoga, indoor cycling, or run? You hear dramatic claims on both ends of the spectrum from different camps on each of these options. When you’re not absolutely *sure* about something, especially a life change that will take significant effort, it makes sense that you’re not very committed to seeing it through. My advice for combatting this blockage is two-fold. First, read the research yourself. When you’re going to make a lifestyle change, read a few articles that offer different sides of the story. Go to the footnotes, read the scientific articles they reference, and come to your own conclusions. Secondly, try it and see if it works for you. What works for your best friend may not work for you. I don’t think we give enough credit to the concept of bio-individuality — that every body is different. Any step forward is better than staying stagnant with your health, so instead of being paralyzed by all of the conflicting information, try something and see how it works for you!
2. Fast Food, Pre-Made, and Packaged Food is Created to be Addictive: Unfortunately, a lot of the food that is readily available to us is literally made to be addictive. Sugar makes you want more sugar. The combination of fatty and salty makes you grab for another. When you’re not eating a diet based on home-cooked, whole-food meals, you generally eat more. When overeating becomes a pattern, it can lead to leptin resistance. That means that your body doesn’t hear the hormone leptin’s message that you’ve gotten enough food and it’s time to stop eating. If you’re depending on pre-made food for a significant amount of your diet, it can be much, much harder to stop eating when you’re full or stop eating these addictive foods in the first place. So even when you want to make better food choices, if you’re used to eating addictive foods, stopping can be harder than we realize! Try instead to cook home-cooked meals as much as possible. Swap your snacks for fruits and vegetables, which tend to be lower in calories and fiber-rich, helping your brain recognize that you’re full.
3. Time and Convenience: I think most choices that would make you a healthier person come down to time and convenience. As mentioned above, typically, food that is faster and easier for you to consume is also worse for you. It feels like you can maximize your productivity if you stay up later working instead of sleeping (though we’re starting to see that sleep drastically improves your productivity when you are awake). When you start anything new, like a new workout regimen, the time has to come from somewhere. Most of the time, there’s a sacrifice somewhere when you make a healthier choice. Even though an entire life overhaul could be beneficial, remember that you don’t have to do everything all at once to receive benefits from new, healthy choices. Make a list of the things you’d like to change in your life, and then try to think about which one would make the greatest impact on you. If you eat out every night, what if you start cooking at home? If you smoke on your lunch break, what if you replace that with a meditation app? When you start a new habit that makes you feel great quickly, you’re more likely to be willing to continue putting the time and effort into it because you want to continue feeling great! Then go back to your list and keep checking things off one by one.

Can you please share your “5 Non-Intuitive Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Dramatically Improve One’s Wellbeing”? (Please share a story or an example for each, and feel free to share ideas for mental, emotional and physical health.)

1. Heal the Gut — Right around the time that the global pandemic started, I realized I had a non-Celiac gluten sensitivity. That means that I can’t eat gluten, or I get hives on my legs. Knowing this set me on a path of meeting with a functional medicine practitioner, whose main goal has been healing my leaky gut. I cannot stress the impact that healthy digestion and a properly-functioning gut play on your entire body. After further food sensitivity testing and removing my sensitivities, I’ve never in my life had such great digestion. And I can now eat gluten again! I am now an evangelical for prioritizing healing your gut because it has made such an impact in my life!
2. Digital Detox + Rest — Our family has started doing a weekly sabbath, a tradition in Jewish and some Christian communities. Did you know God created the weekend? For us, it’s not simply a day off. We turn off our phones and don’t do any work. Our main goals are rest, reflection, joy, fulfillment, worship, and restoration. It has been such a game-changer for our family. When you’re walking around without a phone, you realize how much every single human is on their phones at all times. It’s like a twilight zone- you don’t realize how addicted you are until you’re on the outside (without a phone) looking in. We have come to look forward to this time together and recommend it for religious and non-religious people alike. Some resources to dive deeper into this topic that we’ve enjoyed are The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (from a Christian perspective) by John Mark Comer, 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by Tiffany Shlain, and Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport.
3. Get Outside — It’s no mystery that Americans spend most of their time indoors. This is a shame given all we know about how good getting outside can be for us! In Japan in the 1980’s they coined the term “forest bathing,” and they realized that just walking through a forest decreases your levels of stress while boosting your immune system and energy! There are so many benefits to getting outside, one of which is increased Vitamin D, which is best absorbed by our bodies when we get it from the sun. Getting outside early in the morning or right when you wake up is especially beneficial as that morning light helps regulate your circadian rhythm and improves your sleep, too!
4. Focus on Gratitude — I once heard the pastor John Mark Comer say something to the effect of “Anxiety is worrying about what could happen, while gratitude is the thankfulness of what already has.” I have a gratitude practice that keeps me grounded. Especially in the age of social media, it’s easy to get stuck in the comparison trap. It makes you feel like you’re not enough. Focusing on the things you’re grateful for, even the small things, reminds you of what you do have.
5. Vulnerability + Community — Especially during the global pandemic, engaging in friendships and community has been more challenging. It’s been a lonely time for some. Especially when you’re struggling, your brain can default to thinking you’re all alone, “It’s just you going through this.” Try to make an effort to reach out to your closest friends, reconnect with old friends, or make new friends. Sometimes you forget how much the relationships in your life benefit you. One important aspect of a great, fulfilling friendship is vulnerability. Find someone you can be honest and open with without judgment. When you share something hard, your friend will likely relate to some part of it and make you feel cared for and heard. Much like getting outside, friendships boost your happiness, reduce your stress, and improve your confidence. You can even combine the two and spend time with a friend outside: go for a walk, have a picnic in a park, or go on a bike ride. If you’re not supported by a community, make your own! Try getting a new group of friends together for drinks or game night — you may be surprised how much fun you have!

As an expert, this might be obvious to you, but I think it would be instructive to articulate this for the public. Aside from weight loss, what are 3 benefits of daily exercise? Can you explain?

The biggest motivating factor for daily exercise is longevity. Early in life, my dad read that daily exercise prolongs your life and fights heart disease and cancer. He figured that was proof enough for him, and he has ridden his stationary exercise bike every single day of his adult life. He also realized in PE class in high school that he could do more pushups than anyone else. So he did 100 pushups every single day until I was way out of college. My dad just turned 84 this year. I think he’s onto something! As a Paleo food blogger, I often think back to our Paleolithic ancestors. They were hunter-gatherers, so they walked miles and miles every day. Movement is in our genes!

The book Burn: New Research Blows the Lid Off How We Really Burn Calories, Lose Weight, and Stay Healthy completely changed my mindset on a lot, but especially around movement and daily exercise. He quotes multiple studies that conclude that exercise doesn’t help you lose weight, BUT it does help you keep it off. Maintaining your weight is a great reason to keep your exercise routine up!

Lastly, and for me personally, exercise drastically improves my mood. When you exercise, it creates natural chemicals called endorphins. They are called the “happy chemical” because they create a feeling of positivity in your body and even minimize your body’s perception of pain. Sign me up for that! These benefits are even greater when combined with the benefits of getting outside — if you can find an exercise you love that’s outside, it’s a win-win!

For someone who is looking to add exercise to their daily routine, which 3 exercises would you recommend that are absolutely critical?

• Find an Exercise you Love: There are a million ways to move your body… Don’t get stuck in trying to decide which exercise to try first. Any exercise, no matter what it is, is better than no exercise at all. My philosophy is to do what you love. You’re much more likely to stick to something you love than if you treat exercise as punishment.
• Yoga + Stretching: If you’re looking for something specific to try, I absolutely adore yoga. Everyone could benefit from some yoga, from the greatest professional athlete down to the beginner exerciser. I’ve heard of entire football teams doing yoga together. Stretching is so good for your muscles and your overall mobility. There are different types of yoga for all levels, so be sure to find one that’s right for you physically. There are even some types that focus on strength and endurance.
• Weight Training: I’m only 32 years old, but I’m already thinking about my aging bones and how I can try to prevent osteoporosis. Doing strength and weight-training exercise minimizes the risk of osteoporosis because it helps increase bone density. It also, quite obviously, increases your muscle mass and strength and provides you with a sturdier basal metabolism. If you’re like me and you walk into a gym and a big question mark pops over your head, you’re not alone! I like to use my Peloton app to do weight training classes online. There are many different online classes with professional personal trainers that can guide you through exercises if you’re unsure.
• Core + Stability Exercises — When you do something that compromises your core muscles, like having a baby, you realize how crucial your core is for nearly everything you do. Everyone could benefit from a stronger core. You can do specific exercises, like crunches, but you could also benefit from consciously engaging your core throughout the day. This strengthens your core and also protects your back.

Is there a particular book that made a significant impact on you? Can you share a story?

I’m a voracious reader, and it’s a joke with my close friends that every single book “changed my life! No really- this one did!” It’s always super hard for me to narrow down to just ONE book. In the summer of 2014, when our daughter Ella was just one year old, I read the Whole30’s first book, It Starts with Food, on a beach trip with my family in Hilton Head, South Carolina. I DEVOURED it, gave it to Chaz to read, he devoured it, then my whole family read it. Chaz and I decided that when we got back, we would do Whole30. Keep in mind that we were still vegetarian at this time. We went from being near-vegan for almost five years to Paleo overnight. It’s not a transition I would necessarily recommend, especially since I hadn’t eaten meat in so long that even the thought of it grossed me out. But, somehow, we did it. We stuck it out for 30 days. And it changed our lives. I lost weight, my acne went away, I wasn’t bloated or having stomachaches for the first time in my entire life. We had SO much energy and couldn’t believe how good we felt. That’s what motivated me to start my blog oliveyouwhole.com, so it’s really what started it all for me!

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

I’m REALLY excited about my brand new podcast! It’s called the Olive You Whole podcast, and its purpose is to help you build a healthy, connected, and intentional life that fulfills your greatest purpose. I hope that women worldwide bring intentionality into how they’re eating, their relationships, their faith, and how they treat the world around them. I’m so thrilled to start this next chapter and spur other women into intentional living. A big dream I have is to one day own a retreat center where we can put all of these things into practice together. How lovely does a retreat with fresh juices, organic and healing food, beautiful scenery, outdoor activities, movement classes, a packed library, no devices or distractions, and guided prayer, meditation, and classes sound?

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Do you have a story about how that was relevant in your life?

One of my very favorite humans is Bob Goff. In his book Everybody Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People, he says “We’ll become in our lives what we do with our love.” No matter who or where we are, part of our purpose on this earth is to love. Even before my blog, I was always a sharer. You need a clean, non-toxic diaper rash cream? Let me tell you what I use! You want to start cloth diapering? I’ll show you the ropes. For me, I’m called to love my husband and my kiddos. One of the ways that I love the world is through my commitment to continue growing, evolving, and changing myself, then sharing those tactics and what I have learned with my community. I will never stop learning how to be a better wife, mom, entrepreneur, daughter, sister, friend, consumer, and resident of this planet.

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

I would love to have lunch with Joanna Gaines. I love everything she touches. Amid international fame, she keeps coming back to the same things I do: her faith, her family, serving others, and the simple things in life. Additionally, anyone who knows me personally knows it’s my DREAM to have a show where I cook healthy meals, interview interesting guests, and chat about how to live a meaningful life. It could be a great fit for the Magnolia network. ;)

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We wish you only continued success in your great work!