Hey, guys, welcome to this week's episode, and today we have Ivy Harper with us. Ivy, tell us a little bit about yourself.
Yes, so I am from Alabama originally. I moved from there when I was about 13 with my parents, and we moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, and went to high school in Franklin Bell, 60 miles west of Virginia Beach. And then after high school, I went to college for a bit and moved to Virginia Beach. And I've been here for a little over 20 years now. And I'm married with two kids and two dogs and three cats. And I own three four for my sister.
Awesome. So tell us a little bit about what do your meals look like in a typical day?
So normally I do intimate fasting, I'd say three or four days a week. So I don't eat breakfast those days. I usually eat after 12 and, you know, I'll eat a salad with chicken vegetables. I eat usually lighter lunches. I might have like an hour bar or a bar in the afternoon after that. And then dinners. I again stay very lean. I don't eat a lot of red meat. I might have red meat twice a month, one one to two times a month. And normally I have fish, chicken or some type of like a brown turkey. Not a lot of pasta, not a lot of breads. I will have a white potato, maybe one a month just because I love potatoes, so.
So awesome. So when you're looking at the menu at a restaurant, are you asking yourself?
What do I what am I craving, what do I want to eat, or are you asking yourself more like what's healthy?
Which which way do you look at it?
I mean, I kind of look at it in both ways because I if I'm craving something, I need to get whatever I'm free. So I'm craving pasta. I might as well just get it because I know how I am. And I know that it's going to do more harm than good to not eat the pasta, although I know it's not the best, but I try to stay more healthy when I am at restaurants. I will tend to, you know, I won't get like a case of I'll just get like a chicken or some type of chicken meal or some type of seafood like a tuna or mochi, something like that. But I do like that. Those types of things, I think just generally I like. Healthier food. I mean, I've always loved salad, so. Gotcha. But again, if I'm craving something like I went to breakfast a couple of weeks ago and I was craving I looked at the menu and we're available and I thought I really should eat something healthy for breakfast. But again, I was like, I'm not hungry. And I really wanted the biscuits and gravy. So I got this gravy and it was amazing. And had I not eaten it, I. I wouldn't really probably much that morning and then I would have gorged on something else works for me later on. So.
Perfect.
So how do you determine when you're physically hungry, like what are some of the signs in your body that you you determine when you are physically hungry?
I mean, I'll have that, like, hunger feeling. My stomach's growling. But again, it's like I don't I don't agree because I do that. I don't do a lot. I don't know. I'm not that hungry in the morning time. So it's usually it's in the afternoon. I do get hungry or like around 12. I am very hungry. But then once I eat lunch, then I really can unsustained until, you know, I would say four and then I might have a bar and then I try to eat dinner by like 7:00.
So would you say that your lunch is a smaller meal and then your dinner is your biggest meal?
I do, yeah. I think I do eat less at lunch and then I will eat a little bit more at dinner because I really I don't want to eat after 8:00, so I try to fill up on as much as I really can. So I don't want to snack because I'm horrible. I want to snack like ten o'clock and have popcorn or a few chips, whatever it may be. So I try to eliminate that. So I'll try to eat a little bit more at that last meal.
So what percentage of the time do you feel like you're eating like lean natural foods, like a lean protein or vegetables, and then what percentage of the time are you eating?
Just whatever your body's 70, 30. Would it be 80, 20? Would it be 60, 40?
And I'm probably am more like eighty five percent. I'm eating lean and what I should be eating versus 15 percent what I'm craving.
Got it.
And do you like are there any foods that you would say these are my red light foods. Like when I eat them I feel terrible. So like I just don't eat them at all. Or would you say no, I do everything in moderation?
Yeah, I think I do everything more in moderation. Like I'm not going to sit there and gorge on like well I don't really love ice cream, but I wouldn't sit there and eat a whole entire bag of chips. That's just not I don't it's not how I've ever really been. I just have a few and then I feel like that craving just kind of satisfied.
And so it's more moderation for me. OK, and how quickly do you eat?
I don't eat really fast. I mean, I'm more of a slow I like to like I have a glass of wine, so I like to try to enjoy my meal and taste everything. And so I definitely when I'm eating at lunch, I'm usually at work. So I'll work a little, eat a little, work a little, eat a little.
I don't like just eat it all at one time.
So in my book I talk about a hunger scale and I say zero is where you're like ravenously hungry. One is where your stomach's growling, you know, you're hungry and then four is where you're full and then five is your Thanksgiving Day. Feel like you are just stuffed.
So when you wear what level are you when you start eating and what level are you when you stop eating? I would say that I'm probably.
A one normally when I start eating and then. I would say normally, like a three, when I stop eating, I'm never, like you say, the only time I probably ever get like Thanksgiving oh five five is Thanksgiving Day full.
Four is just full.
So, yeah, I probably get to like a four, I'd say a three and a half to a four.
So you don't like you don't like that. Do you like the feeling of being full or you don't.
I hate that feeling of being like I'm so full and that's what always would. When I eat a lot of carbs, I always have that stuffed feeling like, oh, like loaded. And just just I felt gross. So. I felt like when I stopped eating like the breads and possums, when I cut that, somehow I just didn't feel that way anymore. I would feel satisfied, but not overly full.
And do you feel like you savor your food, like when you eat it, like you really enjoy it? I do, because I love the.
Can you talk about that for a second? Describe how you eat something that you love, like what's something that's kind of an indulgent food for you that you absolutely love and describe how you eat it?
So I do. I love a pasta. Always try to eat like the better pastas. I won't eat gluten free. I don't love gluten free pasta, but so when I eat pasta, I would always have a glass of red wine with it. And I really try to enjoy every because I don't eat it that often. So I really try to enjoy it and I eat it slowly and I feel like. I sit down, I have at ah, we eat at the bar and our little bar in our kitchen, so I sit here with my family and I have, I think, a meal sometimes about the experience, other things that are going on. So I try to enjoy it through all those other means as well. And like I said, I'll have a glass of red wine with it as well. So again, it's about the total experience because again, I don't eat that often. So when I do, I really want to make sure that I'm enjoying every single. Bite of it.
So one of the tips I give in my book, I say is how big is the differential? And what I mean by that is that the people who are thin, they make the decision on when to make the differential.
And so, for example, sometimes they might say, I'm going to have a frozen yogurt, a Greek frozen yogurt, because it's healthy for me and I want ice cream instead of eating the ice cream. But it's still going to satisfy the same way. But if they are craving a steak and they decide to eat a piece of chicken, that's not going to be the same.
And so how do you give an example of something like that where you would say, you know, I make daily choices on going, how bad do I want this or that? Can you think of any examples?
I would say it's I mean, I feel like it happens nightly for me. I mean, there's definitely because I have children. I have a 15 year old daughter and a 12 year old son, and they want the unhealthy snacks. So, know, I feel I'm not going to not buy those things because I don't want to eat them myself. So I love Doritos. I love Doritos. I don't know what it is about the embryos, but I love them, so I always have them in our pantry. So there'll be plenty of times when I'm like, oh, I should just eat if I'm going to have chips, I should really just eat like a truffle or a lady's just plain potato chip. I feel like it doesn't it doesn't have much in it. The ingredient list is very short. So because I always look at that ingredient list, but Doritos has a much longer list. So but if I am craving Doritos and I go into my pantry and I'm like, no, I do not have the right to just have is a little small bag Bleys. I'll eat what I always end up going back to. So that means bags of chips. So I should have just gotten the Doritos in the first place because that would have satisfied that craving and I would have been not having more calories later in the evening. So that's the thing for me. I know I've kind of learned that if I just go ahead and eat, although it might be bad, I don't do it all the time. But if I just to eat the Doritos, I'm much better off saving myself later on.
Awesome. So let's talk about how many bites of something do you eat when you want something?
Let's say it's like you're craving Naimah Sweets that I know you're not a huge sweets person name is sweet, that you're like, you know, I love tiramisu or I love a Napoleon. It out is like if there was a dessert that you're like, this is my favorite.
What would that be for you? Well, I love Rice Krispie treats. I love them. OK, my weakness. So if you were going to if you were going to have Rice Krispie treats, how many bites of a Rice Krispie treat would you say that you would eat?
Well, when I make them, because I only like them when somebody makes them homemade so they can always use real butter. I feel like that's a whole nother ordeal. I am a real butter person. So, I mean. I try to cut them, not huge, smaller, but I would say I'll probably eat to just smaller Habas. Not a whole row, I'd say half a room. I'll have half a row that I've got. OK, and I feel like that again, that craving, it satisfies the craving so that I don't want to eat the whole pan that I've made.
Of course, I feel horrible as well if I can. But, you know.
And how do you make the decision of eating what you really want? So like, do you ever feel like you're depriving yourself of anything?
I mean, really, I don't, because I feel like if I go to a restaurant and I hardly ever get dessert, so I feel like if I really want a dessert, especially like I feel like around my period I crave more chocolate things. So and I know in my mind I'm like, well, this is really just that time of the month. I really but I'll still I'll still eat a small piece of chocolate cake if I really want, because, again, I feel like I work out. I do the things that I'm supposed to do to stay healthy. I don't feel like giving in every once in a while. It's going to be a detriment to my to my fitness or my health. So I think it's better if you're craving something to have it. To be perfectly honest, I just because at the end of the day, I feel like if I didn't do it, I eventually would just go eat a whole entire chocolate cake. So perfect.
So talk to us about what do you do to if you're listening to this episode and you're not watching it, you've got to kind of watch the episode because Ivy is so pretty. But talk to us about what I think a lot of times people just think, you know, people who are pretty, they just, you know, they don't have to work hard at it. Talk about that a little bit and some of the things that you do have to do and do you feel like you do have to kind of work hard to look good?
Oh, my gosh. Yes. I mean, definitely when I get up in the morning, it's you know, it's sometimes a struggle, but I don't get enough sleep sometimes. And so that's always an issue. So I think sleep is very important. But I mean, to stay looking good, I definitely get up in the mornings. I have to do my hair and makeup. I think that and I own three or four Bacher, so I hate to go in and look a mess. I feel like there's a certain way everyone should look when we're working there. And obviously I have I worked for Allegan in the past. I was a sales rep for them for seven years. And I feel like, you know, it's it's almost like when we're talking about eating. I feel like that's also another part of a beauty, because anything that we're putting in our mouth, I feel like it's going to affect our skin. And so I that's another reason that I feel like eating good eating healthy is better for you, because I definitely.
Can't say that I have breakouts because of, you know, eating those things, I don't eat those things that often, but every once in a while I feel like that could definitely if I'm having some type of craving, then the next day I'm like, oh, my gosh, I have a pimple. So, again, eating healthy, getting the sleep is important. I definitely have had plenty of filler and neurotoxins in my face. That's just it's one of those things where when I worked for Balagan, it was on a daily basis. I was around all that. So it's not something that I feel like, you know, people are like aging gracefully. But this is this is my age and gracefully. I'm forty five years old and I feel like I started really taking good care of my skin as far as. You know, making sure I've always washed my face every single night, but as far as using the right kind of type of products and things of that nature, getting chemical peels and things like that, all of that goes into, you know, starting the prevention and keeping up with it through, you know, you can't start at 50 and think you're going to be able just to reverse time. It's more of a progression, I feel like. And that's where I think some people just think they're not going to really worry about it, but.
You have to and drinking water is very important as well, so if you had to name three treatments, like someone was like, look, I, I can only do I don't want to do too many, but you're like, if you had to name your top three, like someone said, I can't do everything. But these are the ones that you say, I do this on a regular basis and this has me looking the best that I can.
I definitely think I do. So there's two different types of neurotoxins. So you have Botox and Dysport. I do Dysport. So people Somji Botox. I've done Botox in the past. So definitely that is my number one because I feel like as my forehead wrinkles start to come back and they're not relaxed anymore, it's you know, I look older. Lashes is my number two and definitely skin care. And like your hair, I mean, I have hair extensions and so I feel like those things all kind of go together to make me look better at the end of the day.
Awesome. Well, you look so I feel like a lot of people who get Botox and stuff like that, they're they don't look natural. And I feel like you just your face looks so natural, so pretty. It just it's overdone. And I get just you really look phenomenal.
Oh, thank you so much. Again, that's every it's in moderation. I don't I don't get that. We mainly focus on my forehead. I might get a little few other areas done here and there, maybe twice a year. But, you know, I don't I try it's hard when you're in this industry to not go overboard. So I really have to say to myself, if you do not need more filler in your lips today, you know, no more. Don't do any more, you're good or in my cheeks or whatever. So and plus I feel like our injector, Aaron, she's great because she'll say I'll say, Aaron, what do you think? She's like, no, you don't anymore. She's very adamant about what we do need and what we don't need. And she's like that with us and our clients. So that's the good thing. We want everyone to look natural. We don't want them to look overdone because that's I think that's why people are so scared of all of these procedures, because they feel like they're going to walk out looking crazy. But that's the last thing that we want at three, four, four.
Awesome. Well, how can people find out more about you and your company?
So we are have website. It's three four for Beauty Bar Dotcom. Awesome. And we're at the ocean front right off the thirty first street stop by as well.
So if you're ever in Virginia Beach, please check them out. Also, if you have a question that you want answered, get a questions at Chantel Ray. We'll see you next time. Bye bye.