Day 245: Lisa DeFazio
“I think a lot of people in life want to pursue things, but ‘What if this happens, and what if that happens.’ If all the successful people out there thought like that, none of them would be doing what they’re doing. You have to take risks, and I think over time with age and wisdom, that all comes about.”
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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Lisa, for agreeing to be part of this Project, and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?
Lisa DeFazio: Sure, thanks. My name is Lisa DeFazio. I am a registered dietician and a media nutritionist.
Toni: Well, Lisa, when you think of that word inspiration, who do you inspire and how does that happen?
Lisa: Well, I think in inspiring people based on my profession, being a nutritionist, I try to lead a healthy lifestyle and I think leading by example is one big way to inspire people. And I find that my friends and family, even people at the grocery store when they see I’m buying healthy food, it kind of gets them motivated to living healthy and living right.
Toni: How does that happen? Do you educate people? How do people find out what you’re doing and how you’re maintaining that healthy lifestyle?
Lisa: Well, I was a health educator for Kaiser Permanente for a long time, so oftentimes when I was teaching classes — and I do try to maintain my figure because being a dietician I think you need to be a role model — people will come up to me and they’ll say “Wow, you know, you have a son?” I do have a four-and-a-half-year-old little boy now as well, which it’s difficult as a mom to keep it all together. And they just seem to come towards me and say “How are you maintaining your figure? What do you eat? What do you exercise?”
I walk frequently in my neighborhood, and some of the people they drive by and they see me every day out there walking, and you know, I’m really disciplined with my regimen, but it’s also because I love what I do. I turned my hobby into my profession. So just seeing the way I live my daily life, it just sort of stands out, and people are drawn to that and motivated and inspired to say “Hey, I need to start taking care of myself too.”
Toni: How do you think living that lifestyle or just following your lead as an example, how do you think that you might help other people to explore their own potential?
Lisa: Well, I do really encourage some of my girlfriends who are also moms and have busy lives to put themselves first sometimes. I think a lot of people, especially women, we tend to be martyrs and sacrifice ourselves day in and day out for the husband, the family, the kids. And a lot of times people are “yes” people and take on all of these responsibilities, and we really need to stop and take time for ourselves and exercise or go get a massage and pamper ourselves.
I just find myself reiterating that to people if they’re complaining that they’re tired or just coming to me for nutritional advice. It’s really important to take care of yourself so you can take care of everyone around you. So I encourage people to … encourage them to eat right, exercise, take control of their diet, their weight, their health, and I find that when people take control of their health, all other aspects of their life come together, and they take control of their life.
Toni: So it’s really making sure that everything’s in alignment.
Lisa: It’s true. And when they start taking care of themselves and feel better about themselves, their full potential eventually comes out. It kind of, as you probably know, it starts within and it starts with yourself. And I think whether it’s taking care of yourself spiritually and having the time to go get a massage or meditate, or go out for a walk – and I’m not talking hitting the gym and being really aggressive with your workout, even a relaxing one-hour walk to kind of meditate and get some air and focus on yourself is so important. And many people aren’t doing that with their crazy lifestyles of work and taking care of family.
Toni: Absolutely. So Lisa, what inspires you?
Lisa: I think in turning my hobby of fitness … I was always into it in high school, it sort of has been ingrained in me that I always make time for myself. And even with a four-and-a-half-year-old little boy, if I have to have my husband watch him or a babysitter come in, it’s really important for me to have that downtime.
Success motivates me also, and being inspired by successful women who have juggled it all. You know, I mean Oprah would be like an extreme case of … I mean, she inspires many people, but women like Rachael Ray and Giada DeLurentis, who in the food industry, they have what I would call my dream job of having a television show or a food line.
It’s amazing to me how they can juggle and balance relationships and marriage and family and kids and still go out and pursue their dream, so success inspires me. Women who lead by example, this inspires me, and instead of maybe being envious, I turn that envy into inspiring me and motivating me to pursue what I want to do, and just go for it.
Toni: Do you tend to do that? Is that something that comes natural to you, to go towards what your passion is and knowing what your purpose is, which I would imagine is pursuing this fitness education and creative awareness around fitness?
Lisa: It is. I think certainly with all of us, we are a result of our upbringing, and my father was always very inspirational in growing up in supporting me for my education and whatever I wanted to do. He always would say “Lisa, someday you will do great things. You need to get educated, get your Master’s degree, and be independent.” This really obviously was ingrained in me. That gave me the confidence that I can do it.
Age, of course, has a lot to do with it. As we get older, we have more wisdom and you have more confidence, so now that I’m in my 30s, obviously I’m different than in my 20s. You just go for it. You know, you don’t think as much about the consequences and you have confidence in yourself.
So to an extent it was within me in my upbringing, but my age has also contributed to my wisdom now and it’s sort of … I’m just going to go for it. And my ultimate dream would be to have my own television show and maybe a food product line, and get into media because I find that there are a lot of personal trainers and chefs sometimes doing nutrition — which they’re great in their own areas — but there’s a real need for nutrition and dietician in the media and I’m hopefully trying to pursue that, as that’s always been my ultimate career dream when I was young, and I’m just going for it. So here we are talking about it with you, so I’m trying.
Toni: That’s fantastic.
Lisa: Hopefully, yes.
Toni: That’s really fantastic. Now when you maybe have a day that you wake up and you go “Gosh, you know, I could really use a little inspiration here,” what do you find yourself reaching for? Are there tools that you use consistently?
Lisa: Certainly we have our up and down days, and I find that sometimes when you’re in that mindset, your mind might take over, so I do my best to do some self-talk, you know. Sometimes having my morning coffee turns my brain on. I’m not really a big morning person. So sometimes I will just change my clothes real quick, throw on a hat, and head out, you know, just get some air. It kind of helps me think, gets your adrenaline going. Exercise really does put you in a more positive mindset. Studies have actually shown that, and also lifts your mood a little bit.
Sometimes on those days I also don’t put a whole lot of pressure on myself to get major things done. If it needs to wait until tomorrow, I’ll go get a massage. I pamper myself. I do like to do some positive self-talk. Sometimes I’ll have little motivational books, which are really helpful. On my walk, I’ll glance at that.
Or again, maybe just pick up the phone and book a day at the spa, and tell my husband “Hey, I need a day off.” This has especially occurred after I’ve had a little one. I had no idea what motherhood would be like, but you have a lot more days you just need that day off, and you have to take it because it’s not going to get better. It’s just going to get worse as the days pass. So pick up the phone, and again, book a day at the spa, or just don’t put a lot of pressure on yourself.
When I was actually … during the summer, I would get in my car and drive to the beach. Luckily, I live in LA so I can do that. I would just sit on the beach, listen to the water, and read some magazines, and I feel great by the end of the day with that ocean air.
Toni: And what do you do to explore your own potential?
Lisa: I try to push myself. I think certainly within me there has to be that drive. I know a lot of people sometimes if it’s not in your blood or if you were raised with a lot of negativity, you may not push yourself to explore that, and I think that’s why our upbringing is really important. And I try to always keep positive thoughts in my son’s dialogue and always praise him whenever I can.
So I think right now at this time in my life, I’m really exploring it and just doing it and not thinking about the “what-ifs.” I think a lot of people in life want to pursue things, but “What if this happens, and what if that happens.” If all the successful people out there thought like that, none of them would be doing what they’re doing. You have to take risks, and I think over time with age and wisdom, that all comes about.
So I’m exploring my potential now by just going for it, and again just being positive in what I need to do and enjoying the little things. You know, a walk with my son, a day where I don’t have any major activities, literally smelling the roses, as I have some beautiful roses in my garden. I don’t stress out about the little things anymore. Don’t sweat the small stuff, I think, is really important as well, and I’m now pursuing my dream of being a television host, so I’m just going for it.
Toni: How would you correlate how you explore your own potential to what you do for others by helping them explore their own potential? Do you see a connection?
Lisa: I do. I find … of course, I feel really great when I have encouraged some of my friends to start walking. Some of them might even call me and say “Let’s go for a walk,” and then after a while they start emailing me their food journals, what they’re eating, and then they’ll notice the jeans are a little looser or they feel better, and I do find that hearing those positive things makes me feel good.
I just have this natural tendency for whatever reason to motivate people, and I think, again I was a health educator for Kaiser Permanente for about 10 years and teaching classes on cholesterol and diabetes and weight management. And five days a week I was teaching people, and because I live and do what I do in my daily life, I practice what I preach, it’s genuine. People are not stupid, and they can tell when someone is genuine about it. I sincerely love what I do, and I do practice what I preach and people do see that, and because I’m genuine about it, they automatically want to live this way because it has been a huge way that I’ve been successful in my life.
That satisfaction of seeing people lose weight or start exercising and really acknowledging that, well, obviously you know what you’re talking about, of course it’s a self-esteem boost for me, and then it pushes me, because I’m good at what I do. I think that’s why I’m at this point where I’m having the guts to pursue this insane dream, but I want to see what happens.
Toni: That was pretty good, though – it was “having the guts to pursue this insane dream” you know?
Lisa: Yeah, it’s certainly … I mean, who doesn’t want to have their own television show and all of that, but somebody’s got to do it, so yeah … and again, all that positive feedback from helping others through the years, and I’ve helped a lot of people be successful in transforming themselves. I even taught smoking cessation for a while, which was crazy, to sort of cross-train me and I actually helped people quit smoking, and I mean, you know, that’s harder to quit than any drug. That was also a big ego boost, and helping people then motivated me to be where I’m at today.
Toni: I think one of the key things for me that you spoke about is being authentic – and genuine – because people will be able to sniff that a mile away, and you can also see that on television. I don’t care what kind of scripts you have, but you also can see that. We wish you the very best with that television career.
Lisa: Thank you.
Toni: And for sharing the confidence, really, the confidence in what you know about, what you like to do, how you do help others, but also what was important in this interview was how you maintain your own regimen of self-care so that you can stay on top of your potential to live your dreams, and that was a great message in today’s interview, and we can’t thank you enough for being here today.
Lisa: Thank you so much.
Toni: Take care, and good luck to you.
Lisa: You too.
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For more information about Lisa DeFazio: www.lisadefazio.com, www.medianutritionist.com
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