# How to stick to a healthy lifestyle Source: https://kidneystonediet.com/ep/how-to-stick-to-a-healthy-lifestyle/ Published: 2022-12-06 --- [![Kidney Stone Diet Podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Podcast-1-1024x1024.jpg)](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast/) [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdCIvU7D3nU)[Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-stick-to-a-healthy-lifestyle/id1528474326?i=1000589053882&uo=4)[Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6rIa4rOqrXgjuSYOR1ct2F)[Amazon Music](https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/0868148d-adfd-411d-b3f2-71a0ad1461ec) December 6, 2022 --- ![Jeff Sarris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Jeff-Sarris-150x150.jpg) Jeff Sarris Host ![Jill Harris](https://kidneystonediet.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Kidney-Stone-Diet-Jill-Harris-150x150.jpg) Jill Harris Host This week, Jill talks about the challenges of sticking to a healthy lifestyle. Have a question? Leave us a voicemail at (773) 789-8763.\  \  **= Stop your kidney stones once and for all =**\ • [Kidney Stone Prevention Course](https://kidneystonediet.com/kidney-stone-prevention)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Meal Plans](https://kidneystonediet.com/mealplans/)\ • [24 Hour Urine Collection Analysis](https://kidneystonediet.com/24-hour-urine-analysis/)\ • [Private Coaching](https://kidneystonediet.com/coaching/) **= FREE Kidney Stone Resources =**\ • [Kidney Stone Diet](https://kidneystonediet.com/)\ • [Free Kidney Stone Diet Resources](https://kidneystonediet.com/resources/)\ • [Oxalate Food List](https://kidneystonediet.com/oxalate-list/)\ • [Kidney Stone Diet Recipes](https://kidneystonediet.com/recipes/) Find more episodes of the Kidney Stone Diet Podcast at [kidneystonediet.com/podcast](https://kidneystonediet.com/podcast) **= Who is Jill Harris? =**\ [youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet](https://www.youtube.com/TheKidneyStoneDiet) Jill is a nurse and health coach that specializes in educating patients on kidney stone prevention. For more than 20 years she’s helped patients understand that kidney stones can be prevented with the right treatment plan. It’s one thing to be told to lower oxalate or drink more water, but HOW do you do it? That’s where she comes in. Through the educational resources at [kidneystonediet.com](https://kidneystonediet.com/), stone formers can learn everything they need to know to significantly lower new stone risk. **= Who is Jeff Sarris? =**\ [youtube.com/jeffsarris](https://youtube.com/jeffsarris) Jeff’s co-founder of [SPYR](https://spyr.me/), a branding agency based out of Chicago, where he and his business partner Dave help awesome people like Jill create online platforms that make an impact. He’s also a certified health coach, host of the [Starting Now podcast](http://spyr.fm/now), and developing NFTs and community at [Badfroot](https://badfroot.com/). Reach out on Twitter! [@jeffSARRIS](https://twitter.com/jeffSARRIS) ## Chapters - 00:00:00 Low Oxalate Snacks and Desserts Ebook - 00:03:02 Making Time and Prioritizing Health Goals - 00:05:49 Taking Action to Build Motivation - 00:08:46 Maintaining Consistency in Healthy Lifestyle Changes - 00:11:35 Long Term Health Goals Versus Short Term Diets ## Transcript ### Low Oxalate Snacks and Desserts Ebook 00:00:00 Jeff Sarris Welcome back to the Kidney Stone Diet podcast, the show about reducing your kidney stone risk and living your best life. I'm your host and fellow student, Jeff Sarris. 00:00:21 Jill Harris And I'm Jill Harris, your kidney stone prevention nurse. Jeff. 00:00:25 Jeff Sarris Yeah. 00:00:28 Jill Harris You know, the last video, I forgot about announcing the snacks ebook, Kidney Stone Diet safe snacks and desserts, people. Spent months on that for you. 30 recipes, all Kidney Stone Diet safe, low salt, low sugar, low oxalate, and they're delicious, and they're easy, including High-protein bar low, no, low-oxalate protein bar, people.. Sure did make it. And that recipe was very hard to It took me a long time to come up with that recipe, but it's quite good. And you know what, when I was trying to work on a low-oxalate protein bar for us, I'm like Protein bars are so freaking expensive because I get them for my son. I'm like they're two bucks a pop. So, what I started doing, that was like one of the first recipes I made for that snack book. I'm like I'm making us a snack a low-oxalate protein bar because I can't stand spending the money on it anymore, so did it. Cuz all because all protein bars are like almonds or dates, you know. So, Kidney stoners don't have a good option. So, there's even a low-oxalate protein bar now, the snack ebook, $9.95, or it comes free with the meal plan service. So, a couple different ways to get it, people. Go to kidneystonediet.com/ebook and go get yourself some. I had to open up with that because it's very exciting. People are in an uproar. They're so excited. They have their special snacks now. Awesome. And I'm Jeff, I have to say I'm proud of that book. 00:02:11 Jeff Sarris Definitely. 00:02:11 Jill Harris You did a great job. 00:02:12 Jeff Sarris Yeah, absolutely. You made some amazing recipes along with the photography that I'm always impressed by. Just I love the design and the shooting of everything, so I'm always just 00:02:20 Jill Harris The design is amazing. 00:02:22 Jeff Sarris Yeah, like more and more impressed by every photo that there is. So I just yeah, love what you're doing with that. And it's been received well specifically like through the email. It seems like. Like people responding when they when they check it out. 00:02:37 Jill Harris You know, it's funny when we make new products, we make them because people are asking us to do whatever it is. And then, we hem and haw cuz we're busy. I'm like, "A freaking snack book. How am I going to do this?" So, I spent the whole summer doing that. But then, I just am like, "Wow, it's pretty amazing." So, and it's what I always tell patients. It's like patients will tell me, "Jill, I don't have time." ### Making Time and Prioritizing Health Goals 00:03:02 Jill Harris I said, "I don't have time for this snack book for a long time." Well, when we make the time, when we make something, fill in the blank with whatever you're saying you need to do, but you don't have the time for, when we make it a priority, time seems to open up. So, it's just another lesson that I'm always teaching that I also use in my life. It's like if you make something a priority, changing your diet, getting enough fluid, Exercising more, "I don't have time, I don't have time," meal prepping, everyone, I hear this all day long. But when something is at stake, like your health, or if you have clients demanding something and you want to satisfy their needs, you open up the time to get it done. And now, cuz I'm always telling my patients and students, "You know, I'm always chasing outcomes. That's what I look at. Even when I don't really want to do something, I'm like, 'God, but I'll feel so great when fill-in-the-blank is done.'" And now that snack book is done, I feel so proud of it and I'm just like, "I can't believe we did this." So, it's so awesome, right? So, whatever you're trying to incorporate into your life, make it a priority, like meal prepping, and time will open up. You'll be surprised. You'll be surprised. You'll get rid of some Netflix watching, And you'll make whatever you want a priority, and then you'll get it done. It's very satisfying when that happens. So, anyway, 00:04:26 Jeff Sarris Yeah, and it's interesting. 00:04:26 Jill Harris Just pearls of wisdom I'm throwing in there. Go ahead. 00:04:29 Jeff Sarris Yeah, sometimes it seems like time just opens up as well. It's like, "Oh, I don't have time for this." Then, all of a sudden, you do it, and then it's like, "I still have time left over." Like I find that a lot with my stuff. Like if it's just sort of like the business-y things that I'm like, "Oh, I just I can't fit this in. Can't fit it in." Then I do, and when I actually do it, maybe it's that it takes less time than I anticipate. Like almost the thought of it is that it's more grand than it actually is. 00:04:54 Jill Harris Dude, I will tell you this for sure. I, sometimes when I'm stressing about doing something, I'm just like, "Okay." I wake up, I'm like, "Okay, Jill, you're stressed again about that. Just get it done." And then when you do it, and it took 15 minutes, you're like, "I just spent 6 weeks stressing about not doing something that cost me 15 minutes of time." It is crazy what we do, right? And I'm like, it's the stress that we cause ourselves needlessly when there's really big things in the world that we are stressed about and they, you know, big things. But, I'm just saying, "Jill, get your taxes done. Jill, get your taxes done." You wait till the 14th, every darn year. Now, not really, but you know what I'm saying. I freak out about it more than I'm just sending myself to the accountant and he's going to do it. What the heck? I mean, oh my god, just do it. Just do it. ### Taking Action to Build Motivation 00:05:49 Jill Harris And then you get all that You get that stress taken away, and then it's just like, "Oh, feel so good," right? So, just do it. Whatever you're trying to incorporate or change, step-by-step will get you there, but just start. That's where And people always say, "Well, I don't have the freaking motivation." You think I'm motivated to do everything all the time? Action makes motivation. Action starts something, then motivation comes. So, lots of times, going to the gym as much as I do, or meal prepping, or all the things I do, I'm not in the mood. I'm not in the mood. But I know that once I'm done with the thing I don't want to do, I'm going to feel so good. And I'm chasing good feelings, that's what I want. And then, I get motivated after I've taken the action. People confuse that a lot. So, lots of times, most of the time, action is what's going to create the motivation. Does that make sense? 00:06:48 Jeff Sarris I mean, it's I love that you say that because my main like my show, my sort of business-y interview show is called "Starting Now." And my entire premise is that the first most difficult step is getting started. The second, 00:07:00 Jill Harris Yes. 00:07:01 Jeff Sarris Is to keep going. But like you got to get over that first hurdle, and then you're you're sort of starting again with each step each step in that direction. But yeah, this is I think it's such an important topic. Just across the board for anything. 00:07:18 Jill Harris It is. And for anything you start, and then, exactly right. Everybody started a diet a million freaking times. What happens? They stop it, and they gain their weight back, right? So, you are exactly right. You must start the thing, and then you have to be consistent with it. Those are the two things you need, and that's hard to do. But once you start, and you see, this is where the outcomes fall into place, too, once you see how good you feel from starting something and continuing to do it, well, that's when it does become your lifestyle, and You become consistent because you want that outcome. Now you're just chasing good feelings. If I ate like crap one day, I'm not going to feel good. Listen, I don't mind that people have their days, that's fine. Who cares about that? Just get right back to work. But I hate restarting something. People will be like, "Jill, why can't I just take the whole weekend off and eat whatever I want?" You can, but why would you want to undo 5 days of just being so healthy and moving and eating so well, and the just trade it up for pure debauchery for 48 hours, and then you got to start all over again on Monday? I'm just,. I don't like that. It doesn't work for me. I don't like how eating unhealthy makes me feel, so you know, again, I'm always chasing that outcome. ### Maintaining Consistency in Healthy Lifestyle Changes 00:08:46 Jill Harris Sure, I'm going to have a hot dog and fries so much because I love it, but I'm not going to have four more meals like that. I get right back to work after my one whatever meal I had because I'm too lazy to restart two days later. It's too hard for me. I don't want to take that route, you know? So, and also I think about how hard I worked leading up to getting something done, and I don't want to unravel that. So, once I start something, I'm pretty regimented. That's important to me. But everyone's got to find their way with that, you know? It's been years since I've been doing this. When you when you change unhealthy habits for healthier habits and you reap the rewards of that, you're going to keep wanting those feelings that you get from it. So, when people are doing the diet, "Jill, what are what are you talking about? Shut up, Jill! I don't know what I'm talking about no more." People are like, "No, Jill, don't ask us to subscribe, and do not ask us to like this video, because guess what? We don't know what the hell you're talking about, and neither do I, folks." No, what I'm saying is, So people that have first started their healthy lifestyle, they're like, "Ugh, this sucks. You know, it's really hard, blah, blah, blah." But once they start doing it, like 4 weeks only, they're like, "You know what? I feel pretty good." People don't have a perspective of feeling not good, because they've been doing it for a long time, eating unhealthy food, and they just feel how they feel, but they don't have the perspective to weigh it against. Once you start changing your habits, and start feeling more energized, getting better sleep, actually working out, fueling your body with nourishing foods, having a stable blood sugar, getting enough fluids so you're not exhausted all the time. Well, hot damn, you're going to feel so good that you'll be like, "Oh, my god, I now know how bad I actually felt," right? So, all I'm saying, people, is it's wonderful. I guess we're done with this video, whatever the title was. I don't even know what we're going to title this, Jeff. Did we Did we hit everything with full force? 00:10:42 Jeff Sarris Well, yeah. No, I think this is really good because like what you're describing, too, it's like the new normal is what we become accustomed to. We're going to go for the path of least resistance. And when that normal diminishes, and when we start to accept feeling less Less optimized, I don't have a great way to say it, but 00:11:02 Jill Harris Yeah. 00:11:03 Jeff Sarris Like we start to just lower our bar and lower maybe our standards for how we feel when we're sticking with it and we sort of have that day where it's like, "Oh, I'm I'm I'm off the wagon," or however it goes. But I'm I'm off the diet and lifestyle that I'm I'm pursuing, and I notice. But then going back, it's it's hard, but it's also like, "No, I know it's worth it." But the further we get, the harder it is. And then the more we're like, "No, it's too difficult," or "No, it's too this or that." so I think it's very important. ### Long Term Health Goals Versus Short Term Diets 00:11:35 Jill Harris Well, the other thing, it is very important. And the other thing what really why people can stay consistent In this lifestyle in the Kidney Stone Diet is because they're not just in it to lose 4 pounds. That is never enough to keep people consistent because guess what? A bun is delicious. And so, people are going to go back typically to their old ways. Usually, people are more consistent and stay on their program for long-term when they're trying to Lower diabetes risk, lower heart disease, prevent a kidney stone. So, once you tag health To eating healthy instead of just looking adorable in your new shorts, it's not It's just not long-term worthy to give up your favorite foods, right? And also, I want to remind people, we're not asking you to give up your very favorite foods unless that's almond products and spinach. Everything else is on the table. You can't be consistent long-term to any lifestyle if you take away whole food groups like carbs. Of course, you're going to have bread. Of course, you're going to have ice cream sometimes. The point is that the Kidney Stone Diet, you get right back to work. And then, that's how you be consistent because you can't feel deprived every day, too. Most people will say, "Look, I couldn't live without carbs the rest of my life. I did lose 25 lbs, but I gained it right back, plus 5 more," because it's just, you have to make a diet that's going to work for you long-term, so you must include your favorite foods there. And that's why the Kidney Stone Diet is a set of goals. We're not telling you what you can and cannot eat because we know that you're grown, smart people, and you will eat what you want In normal portion sizes. We do expect you to eat responsibly. That we do. And then when you have a day that's less than, you know, your best, then you just get right back on it as soon as you can. But that's how you create a consistent, healthy lifestyle, and over time you really do, and not that long of a time, think a month, you really do start enjoying the benefits of it rather quickly, people. So, I don't know what we're doing, but I like talking about lifestyle. I like talking about lifestyle because the diet industry does not do a good deal. They do not do a good job of it. And so, what this is, is a lifestyle created with our goals in mind, but with what you like on your plate. That's very, very important. You must keep yourself happy, because at the end of the day, food is a wonderful thing. So, you must enjoy your favorite foods as well, okay? So, I'm I'm just bringing that in. When you work with me in any capacity, whether it's in the Kidney Stone Prevention Course, private calls, whatever, we go over specifically what kind of food you want to keep in, and we plan for that. Also, we talk about your other medical conditions, so you can put those diet Lifestyle changes into the Kidney Stone Diet. So, it's all, it all makes sense to you and all the things you're trying to troubleshoot, because it's very complicated when you have other medical conditions. But the good thing about this diet is, it's low sugar, low salt. That's going to hit many other medical conditions, so you'll see. Work with me, you'll see. Stay here on the YouTube channel, go to the Facebook group, join the newsletter. There's plenty of free ways to access all this information, which is plentiful. All right, Jeff, let's go. 00:15:02 Jeff Sarris Yeah. So, I think with that, we will close down this episode. If you have a question, we will be back to the FAQs on the next episode. But that number again is 773-789-8763. And we would love to feature your voice on one of those future episodes. And again, you can find everything that we talk about on the show, links to everything, the products, the free and premium products, at kidneystonediet.com. And if you like this video, like any of them, give it the thumbs up. Subscribe. It means a lot. It goes a long way, and we really appreciate each and every one of you who have, and who's commented on the videos, because that also all of it helps feed in to help us reach more people moving forward. So, I think with that, we will wrap. Thank you again for tuning in, and we'll see you guys next time. 00:16:00 Jill Harris Yeah, I don't know how you work with me. Everybody, have a good day. See you in the next video.