Focus On Wellness: Environmental, Physical, & Spiritual Health Secrets with Cathy Nesbitt

🎧 Welcome to another transformative episode of The Amber Stitt Show! 

In this inspiring episode, Amber sits down with the dynamic and passionate Cathy Nesbitt, the founder of Cathy's Crawly Composters, Cathy's Sprouters, and renowned advocate for health and wellness through diet, vermiculture, and laughter yoga.

✨ Episode Highlights:

- Importance of Enzymes in Diet: Cathy emphasizes the crucial role enzymes play in digestion and overall health.

- Sprouted Mung Beans & Health Journey: Learn about Cathy's journey starting in 2002 with sprouted mung beans and how it led her to sell sprout grower machines.

- Sprout-Growing Advocacy: Cathy encourages listeners to improve their health by sprouting various organic beans and seeds.

- Innovative Composting: As a pioneer in indoor composting with worms, Cathy shares insights into overcoming perceptions of worms and the environmental benefits of vermiculture.

- Laughter Yoga for Joy: Discover the world of laughter yoga and its incredible benefits, especially for individuals with dementia, and how intentional laughter can bring energy and happiness into daily life.

🌱 Explore more about everything Cathy is doing:

- Cathy's Websites:

- http://www.CathysComposters.com -- For Composting!

- http://www.CathysSprouters.com -- For Growing Sprouts!

- http://www.CathysClub.com -- For Laughter Yoga!

- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cathynesbitt

- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathyscomposters

Don't miss this enlightening conversation that blends health, sustainability, and joy! Hit the subscribe button, like, comment, and share to stay updated with more episodes of Pathways with Amber Stitt.

#theamberstittshow #HealthAndWellness #CathyNesbitt #Enzymes #Sprouts #Composting #LaughterYoga #MentalHealth #Sustainability #Joy #TakeActionToday

👉 Watch This Episode Now:  https://youtu.be/TOmv_Bpl3Qc

And remember, let's take action today!

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Transcript

Amber Stitt [00:00:00]:
Hello and welcome to Pathways. I am your host Amber Stitt. And today we welcome Cathy Nesbitt to the show.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:00:06]:
Hello, Amber. I'm excited.

Amber Stitt [00:00:08]:
So you've inspired me. I need to have a 6th step to the Pathways of Peak Performance. I need to be focusing on fun. And I think that's what you bring to the table, right?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:00:18]:
Absolutely. So all of those first five will bring the joy.

Amber Stitt [00:00:22]:
Well, I know that in a shorter title for you, there would be this health and wellness advocate, but it's so much beyond that. And I'm not even going to try to explain it because I think your titles may be six to seven words in real life. And I want to talk about that today for the audience. And I also want to talk about how you talk about the daily D.O.S.E. and that's an important part of it. But your story comes from, I think, a different angle. It didn't just start with the daily D.O.S.E., I don't think. It started about 20 years ago.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:00:50]:
It sure did. Yes. My working title is Cathy Crawley, Laughing Bean Queen. Simple solutions for today's challenges. Worms for managing your compost, worms in the house. Sprouts for eating, grow your own. And laughter for overall health and wellness.

Amber Stitt [00:01:06]:
Yeah. As I was looking you up online and just getting to know you from the social media aspect, I thought that I'd throw up the flowers behind me, you know, like, okay, gardening, to get ready for this. But that's where having the fun behind, I think your story is really like, so important. We do all this work and then we get to this point that we really need to be looking at our wellness. And I know that's important to you, but can we start with your working title? Like you've said, worms in the house. Let's go there. Can we just go there and have you share about that?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:01:35]:
Let's start there. I love it. It's the 22nd anniversary of Cathy's Crawly Composters. Oh, thank you. You know, selling worms by the pound.

Amber Stitt [00:01:44]:
Worms by the pound!

Cathy Nesbitt [00:01:48]:
Worms by the pound for indoor composting. So I'm located in Canada, just north of Toronto. Largest city in Canada. And in 2002, our landfill closed and we started to export garbage to the United States. 1000 trucks a week, Amber.

Amber Stitt [00:02:03]:
Wow. No one talks about this stuff.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:02:05]:
Nobody. I know. People don't know. It's like this quiet little secret. But that's why we have traffic jams. 1,000 trucks. Come on.

Amber Stitt [00:02:13]:
Wow.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:02:13]:
Wow. Not anymore, by the way. It's being solved. We found a place in Canada. Yeah. Thank goodness. Second largest country.

Amber Stitt [00:02:21]:
You found some space up there.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:02:23]:
Got any space?

Amber Stitt [00:02:24]:
North America on the map. It looks like you just have a lot of space up there. No, keep going. Because there's something about this story though, that you've won some awards, I believe, or you've been a part of award winning programs.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:02:36]:
Yes. You know, I think it's an interesting story and I hope people are inspired to create their own story because that's where the magic life happens. So the landfill closed. We started to export garbage and oh my gosh, I had a solution. 6 million people in the greater Toronto area, half living in condos, townhouses without space for outdoor composting. This is in the house. So although apartment dwellers are my kind of demographic, I have a lot of people in houses like that have just want to do it right.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:03:05]:
So it's for everybody. And I started to...without business savvy. I was an employee, I was a secretary for 20 years. And then it's like, okay, now I'm going to be a business person, I guess because I had this, I had an idea, I had a solution for something that's global. And I jumped in because I'm an action girl. I just do. And then go, "What did I do? What did I agree to?" And I would start to have tables everywhere. I really believe I'm divinely guided and I think we all are.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:03:36]:
It's just if we pay attention or not. And I was listening and so I started this business without really any idea. And I didn't know that people didn't buy what they need. They buy what they want and they didn't want worms in the house. Yeah. And if you had a trauma as a child with worms, you're not looking to bring them in your house, right?

Amber Stitt [00:03:55]:
Oh, sure, yeah.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:03:57]:
Like, not even consciously, just subconsciously, you would be repulsed. Okay, so I'm facing a lot of things and I don't have repeat customers because the worms breed more than rabbits. Yikes.

Amber Stitt [00:04:08]:
Okay, so like, if you went to Shark Tank, they'd say, "Love the idea, but we can't invest in that. We need more repeat customers."

Cathy Nesbitt [00:04:15]:
They'd be like, "Oh, we love your passion. We like you, but no to worms."

Amber Stitt [00:04:21]:
Interesting.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:04:22]:
Oh, Amber, you can't connect the dots going forward. You can only look back and go, "Oh, that's why I met that person. That's why. Oh, those things." I have a whole roster of cheerleaders. Like so many people that are, "Yay, good for you," on the sidelines. It's like okay, "Do you have worms? Okay, step aside because if you're only supporting me, action is required."

Cathy Nesbitt [00:04:43]:
Like, knowledge is power. Then you got to take action. So then I was like, "Gosh, people are afraid of worms." And I have a psychology degree, so I'm fascinated by people and why they do what they do. Yeah. So I started to do school workshops, and I was like, "I just have to wait 20 years till they have buying power. Yup. I made it."

Amber Stitt [00:05:00]:
You're investing in the small minds. Got it. But they have parents.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:04]:
They have parents. But still, if the parent was traumatized, the worms are still a hard, "No."

Amber Stitt [00:05:09]:
Okay.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:09]:
Yeah. It's a big barrier. The hard part of a worm business is the worms. Okay, I'm just gonna say it.

Amber Stitt [00:05:16]:
We can just make them cuter. Then, we can just do that.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:18]:
How about this? They have five hearts each. Wow.

Amber Stitt [00:05:21]:
So chakras, right?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:22]:
Oh, my God.

Amber Stitt [00:05:22]:
They legit have those?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:23]:
It's a lot of love. It's a lot of love. And it's a great Valentine's gift, you know, 800 to 1000 worms in a pound. Five hearts each. Know the receiver.

Amber Stitt [00:05:33]:
Oh, my God.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:34]:
So I was on purpose, you know, this really. I mean, I joke a lot because I'm dealing with worms and I realize people are afraid of worms. So I need to break down that barrier if they're going to even hear the message.

Amber Stitt [00:05:45]:
Sure.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:05:45]:
Yeah. So I bring humor to it. And that was part of the problem is I was making it so fun that at networking events, I'd stand up to do my 30 second pitch. And I'm animated, so I'd be dancing around and people would laugh. "Oh, ha ha ha. Here comes Cathy."

Cathy Nesbitt [00:06:00]:
You know, great. But they didn't really know what I was doing. They didn't get it because I was just, you know, the fun bringer.

Amber Stitt [00:06:07]:
So you're saying as a business person, you had to get more direct with the purpose.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:06:13]:
I did. Because it was so important. It is so important. And here's what it is, so it's composting in the house, or if you're able to do it outside, that's fine, too. Just don't put it in the landfill. That's what I'm advocating, to keeping this material out of landfill.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:06:27]:
I don't care if you feed the raccoons, honestly. Just don't put it in a bag at the curb. Your neighbors won't like you feeding the raccoons, by the way. They'd rather you have worms. Okay. I'm just saying. Okay, so for the do it yourselfers, it's in a container like a rubbermaid. Just like outdoor composting, they need a carbon nitrogen mix.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:06:45]:
So the carbon or bedding is your shredded paper and the nitrogen is your food scraps. That's it. They require both. It's aerobic process, meaning with oxygen. It's not going to smell like you're rotting food.

Amber Stitt [00:06:56]:
I was picturing soil. Why did my brain go there?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:06:59]:
I think we think of the worms that come out after a rain. They live in the earth. These are not soil dwelling worms. They're compost earthworms. So they're cousins. They live in a different environment.

Amber Stitt [00:07:07]:
So I've seen in movies in the US, I've seen movies, Netflix, or something, where I've seen maybe a machine, or it looked to me like a machine in a kitchen. But people can literally create their own habitat for this with, like you said, rubbermaid.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:07:20]:
Exactly. Yes. So it's not the system that makes it work. You still need to have those ingredients. What a system will do is take away some of the management of the worms, but you still need to feed them and create the proper environment. So you're adding your food scraps, your paper.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:07:36]:
The worms are eating it. All their poop is the black gold. That's the nutrient rich fertilizer. So the worms are serving, they're doing waste management, soil production, and they're for food security. It's huge for a little worm. You know, they have a really huge task on this earth. And I believe I was put here to be the headworm, like the talking worm, so that I could help people understand why this is so important, you know, because people will say, "Oh, it's such a little bit like, what's my little part going to do?" Here's what it's going to do. If everybody was doing this, my goal was, when I started, I was really naive.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:08:10]:
I probably am still naive, but I'm less naive. When I started, I had this huge vision of worms in every living space, every house, every apartment, every classroom, not just one in a school, every community center, every bit worms everywhere. Like, we have recycling bins. And then when you're done eating your apple, you're like, "Oh, there's the worm bin." Boom. You plunk it in, away you go, nothing. You know, you just. That's part of how we were operating.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:08:35]:
That's what I imagined without realizing the barrier of the worms, the fear.

Amber Stitt [00:08:41]:
Yeah. So business. A new business line if you are...you said receptionist in an office? You like people so you're doing a variation of what you love, but then you see the divine intervention of there's this idea and I have to act on it. Would you say that you were still true to yourself? You just moved into a different form of working with people and helping to educate, but also studying humans, and then that kind of morphs into helping the environment, helping our communities.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:09:08]:
Right.

Amber Stitt [00:09:08]:
That's really part of some of the steps we have with the Pathways. And I feel like you're doing what you love, working with people, but now you can actually have a lot more fun on your own time, anywhere you want to be showing up, or presenting. It's not just nine to five. So I think that's encouraging for people to hear this.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:09:23]:
I hope so. Really! That's what I hope to inspire in people. Like, probably not a worm business.

Amber Stitt [00:09:28]:
No. But I'm sure people were not always super appreciative. Were there negative naysayers about this?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:09:35]:
I still meet them.

Amber Stitt [00:09:37]:
Yeah. I want you to talk about that, if that's okay, because I know that a lot of the advocacy I do outside of in financial services is let's innovate. Let's talk about what's not working. Okay, but let's still listen to the ideas and be open minded. Even if you don't understand it doesn't mean it can't work. And that's where people with an idea that want to bring something to light just need to be around fellow thought makers, I think, to see how that can work. And I don't know if you had that for yourself, or you just went doing it anyway.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:10:03]:
At the beginning, I was just going. I wasn't listening. I didn't know you were supposed to pay attention to what people wanted. You weren't.... I didn't know you were supposed to be listening. I wasn't. I was like, "No, no, this is important. You need it."

Cathy Nesbitt [00:10:13]:
And I think that was my role, Amber, really, to trailblaze, like, to kind of be like a snowplow, you know, just getting the debris out of the way. The naysayers like, "Okay, move aside, then. If this isn't for you, get out of my way, because I need to do this," and not in a rude way, because I'm...cause then I laugh. "Ha ha ha." I'm passive-aggressive Canadian.

Amber Stitt [00:10:33]:
No, but, like, being true to yourself, it happens. Even still to this day, things that I'll do if they don't have this direction metric to sale, I'll bring that up sometimes where I need to see that this is going to work. And what's the plan? And what's the KPI? And sometimes it makes sense. And the work that just, the work has to be, you have to do some of the work to get there. And I think that you're living, breathing that.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:10:53]:
Yeah, I just kept on, what am I going to do? Okay, it's not working. Here, over here, over here. So I kept going. And then 2012, one more person said, "Ew, worms in the house." And I'd heard it like hundreds of times, maybe thousands. Like lots of times I'd heard that but that day in 2012, I felt it. I just questioned everything. It's like I got hit by a thunderbolt and I was like, "Oh my gosh."

Cathy Nesbitt [00:11:14]:
Like I woke up from my reverie, you know, it's like, "Oh my gosh."

Amber Stitt [00:11:18]:
Like an "A-ha" moment, but in reverse? How'd you self talk out of that?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:11:23]:
Geez. Well, I'm an action taker, so when I get an idea, I go and I think, you know, sorry if I'm talking "woo-woo" but I believe that I'm divinely guided. So I think for ten years I was doing my job. So the angels were off helping other people that needed guidance. And then that day, they were like, "Uh oh, she's gonna bail. We gotta throw her a lifeline." The very next day, they all came singing.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:11:47]:
Oh, shouting, you know, putting power on me. And the very next day, I was introduced to laughter yoga at the very same place that I wrote my business plan.

Amber Stitt [00:11:57]:
Oh my gosh.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:11:58]:
Wow. Like, come on, come on. Right? Pay attention to people, the signs that get in your way. Because when you keep hearing that song or seeing the same person or whatever, there's a message there. Just pay attention. Okay. So there I was. I don't even do yoga, and yoga's fine.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:12:14]:
I just jumped to the fun yoga. So, laughter yoga.

Amber Stitt [00:12:17]:
Oh, you're so cute. Yeah, it's gotta be fun, or I'm not doing it. So what is laughter yoga? Fun yoga? Explain this. Because they say, keep out of your monkey mind. You're probably being goofy.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:12:29]:
Yeah. Laughter yoga is...it's not about fancy pants, or poses. It's laughing as an exercise. It's intentional laughter exercises. Started in 1995 by a medical doctor, doctor Madan Kataria, and his goal is world peace. There are laughter clubs in over 120 countries. North America is a late adopter, like, we know, right?

Amber Stitt [00:12:50]:
So are we just too serious, and too busy working? Gotta figure this out.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:12:54]:
Yeah. I don't know, but like, I think yoga's kind of just becoming mainstream in North America. I mean, it's here. I get that. It's here. It's just. It took a while for it to get here and become, you know, everyday practice for people. So laughter yoga is still in the ocean.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:13:07]:
It's only, you know, 28 years old, but I think it was started in 1995, so we would be ready for 2020. Prior to 2020, there was very few opportunities to laugh online, and I think even laughter professionals believed that it needed to be done in person so we could feel the energy and all of that.

Amber Stitt [00:13:24]:
Sure.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:13:24]:
Right. Then we all jumped online and look at us. We're all so comfortable in our little rooms. And laughter really works beautifully online. You know, you have gallery views, so you can see everybody. It's making eye contact. There's no jokes or comedy. It's laughing as an exercise.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:13:41]:
So there's clapping. And when you're clapping, you're clapping palm to palm. That helps to activate the meridians, and there's a rhythm. It's 1,2 - 1,2,3, and the words are ho-ho, ha-ha-ha. And as soon as we start smiling, we send a note to our brain, "Hey, I must be happy. I'm smiling." So we can override our kind of sad mood. Or if we're feeling down, we can change.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:14:03]:
We know if a good song comes on the radio that we love, a peppy song, and all of a sudden, wow, we feel different. That's exactly with laughter. Same thing. And people are serious, right? They're in their head, "Ah, what am I gonna do? I don't know. Why am I laughing? What's going on here?" And it is odd, I must admit. The first time you go to a laughter club, it's weird. It's like, what is happening here? And if the person is good, the laughter professional is good, they will say...

Cathy Nesbitt [00:14:27]:
I mean, if they remember, to say, "Allow yourself permission to play along."

Amber Stitt [00:14:31]:
Yeah, I mean, I've done a speaking course that was virtual at the beginning. Vin Zhang, he's Australian, and you have to do some improv exercise in his speaking class and get a kid's book and, "Da da da da da da..."

Amber Stitt [00:14:43]:
And just be goofy and you're, "I can't be goofy around all these strangers." But your brain tells you that.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:14:48]:
That's it.

Amber Stitt [00:14:49]:
Why does it matter?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:14:50]:
Yeah. So it really does. And when we're laughing, you know, ever heard that laughter's the best medicine? Everybody has. And so if laughter's the best medicine, I think we've forgotten the gift of laughter. It's free. It's in us. It's waiting to burst out. We stifle it, right? And I think when we're laughing, it's a beautiful release. English is such a beautiful language.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:15:12]:
So here we go. No laughter, know problem. Know laughter, no problem. Okay, I'll break that down for you. No laughter. Know problem.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:15:22]:
Know laughter. No problem. And not that it takes your problem away, but it opens up your brain to allow more creative solution to flow in so you can get out of your problem in an easier way. It's beautiful.

Amber Stitt [00:15:36]:
I love that. I'm probably going to age myself when I say, which is fine, because I'm good with that. But do you remember Reader's Digest? Did you guys have those? Yes, my grandfather would have those. And I remember liking....I love reading books, but I think that's where I remember learning, "Laughter's the best medicine." I think they had jokes in there.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:15:52]:
They did. They had a section. Laughter's the best medicine. And then they would have, like, one of those dad jokes.

Amber Stitt [00:15:56]:
Oh, my gosh. Blast from the past. You just brought me back to...a neat, man. Okay, keep going. Daily D.O.S.E.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:16:04]:
So we're in charge of our own pharma, whatever we're doing when we're stressed or not. And we're always stressed. Okay. So when we're laughing, we're secreting Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, and Endorphins, the love drugs, the happy chemicals versus cortisol and adrenaline and others when we're stressed. And, you know, the stress center of our brain, the amygdala, has not evolved since prehistoric times. And at that time, it was great to know that we were in imminent danger. It was good to know that, you know, we were going to die today. If we lose our keys, phone, miss the bus, it's a nuisance, but it's not life threatening.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:16:40]:
But our body acts as if it is, starts secreting all that stuff, and it takes hours for our body to recover. And laughter is a fast, beautiful hack. It gets us out of laughter and into joy without any effort. I mean, we have to laugh. We got to do that. We got to take the pill.

Amber Stitt [00:17:00]:
It's free.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:17:01]:
Free, you know, and it's a beautiful thing. And we feel. And we all know. We all had those belly laughs, especially as kids, maybe in the classroom. Inappropriate. You know, we're laughing, and we can't stop laughing, and it's contagious, and it just gets us going, and then we feel good. We don't even know what we're laughing at after a while, like, it just keeps, you know, like, popcorn bubbling up, and then we're like, ha ha. And then that's funny.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:17:24]:
So, you know, it starts again. That's it. Laughter yoga. The mandate of laughter yoga is to instill that childlike sense of wonder. So everything's kind of new, and we're looking around innocent. Wow, what fun. And the breath, secreting the love drugs, connecting. And we're needed more than ever.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:17:41]:
We have a global mental health tsunami. And it was here before 2020.

Amber Stitt [00:17:46]:
Yeah. I feel like any age can do this.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:17:48]:
Everyone can do this, because it's not jokes or comedy. Before 2020, I was going into long term care, working with folks with dementia. Oh, so beautiful. There they are, like, maybe sleeping in their chair. But then when you start laughing, they kind of come alive. It's not jokes, comedy. You just see someone laughing. Then you join in.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:18:07]:
You're like, "A-ha." And then you feel. You're like, "Oh, what's that noise?" Right? Like, music. It reminds us, and it's vibration. Right? It's all energy. Everything's just energy. So either we're vibrating down here really slow, or we're vibrating up here, and energy is our driver. Energy is what gets us going.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:18:24]:
And if we don't have energy, we need to think about how can we get more energy. Laughter.

Amber Stitt [00:18:28]:
Okay, you started with worms. You do the yoga. Now you start bringing that into...like, that's part of your daily. Weekly, or daily? Is it daily, or weekly?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:18:37]:
My club is weekly. But I do...I laugh every day as part of my health plan.

Amber Stitt [00:18:41]:
Do you laugh every day? That's not what I mean, but, yeah, is it something that you...Because some people do their ritual in the morning, and sometimes people are more spiritual, talk to their bodies, show gratitude to their bodies and higher source, or whatever it might be. Maybe you just walk around like a little crazy person in your house laughing before you head to that stressful meeting.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:19:01]:
I have a laughter buddy. We laugh for five minutes every morning. 7:30 in the morning, she calls me.

Amber Stitt [00:19:05]:
So that's what I was looking for. Yeah, like, I knew you'd be doing something fun.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:19:08]:
Yeah, laugh for two minutes, full on, like, no talking. I don't say hello. I just start laughing. And then we breathe deep for 1 minute, and then we laugh for two minutes because our laughter deepens our silence, and our silence deepens our laughter.

Amber Stitt [00:19:21]:
And I think sometimes we're worried about sitting in silence and resting. And I know my naturopath talks about, like, that should be part of your calendar. High producers, put it on the calendar. You need to be sitting in silence, or that breath, too.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:19:33]:
Yeah, it fuels us. It does.

Amber Stitt [00:19:35]:
I love that. So you have a wellness component to it. So you do your yoga. What would you call a yoga teacher? What's the title of that?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:19:43]:
Laughter yoga teacher. I actually teach laughter leaders. And again, it works beautifully online. It's a two day course, and it's the most fun. It's ongoing, but it's the most fun course that people are going to ever take.

Amber Stitt [00:19:54]:
So how are you taking this into the corporate world then? You have workshops?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:19:58]:
Well, yes, but in corporate, yes, they can hire me to train, but I also am going into corporate for team building to just boost creativity, to connect people. You know, the last three years have been really hard, and people have forgotten how to make eye contact. People are still afraid. So if we're afraid, the energy is not free flowing because part of us is holding that in stress. And I really want people to just, like, let go. Like, just breathe deep, whatever it is that works for you. I'm just gonna say laughter is such a fast way, and it's changed my life. I've been laughing since 2012, really, really laughing with intention since 2020.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:20:39]:
And I think intention is the key piece. It's a practice, like anything. You don't laugh once and, "Oh, that's it. I'm done. I'm cured." You don't breathe deep once or meditate once or go for a walk once. It's a practice. The more you do it, the more you become it.

Amber Stitt [00:20:54]:
I love that. So, sprouts. Let's go there.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:20:57]:
Yeah, sprouts.

Amber Stitt [00:20:58]:
Talk to me about sprouts.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:20:59]:
I will. Yes. The "Bean Queen", part of my title. So in 2002. So at my very first event, remember, I'm divinely guided, and things come to me. My very first event, exhibiting, there was a gentleman...there was a gardening show and there was a gentleman exhibiting this spaceship looking thing, and it was flying off the shelf. And when there was a break in the audience, I said, "What is that thing?" And what, you know, why are they buying that and not my worms? It's a gardening event.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:21:23]:
Come on. Yeah, probably not in that tone. And he was 72. This gentleman was 72. A professional ballroom dancer. So, the lean ballroom dancer body gentleman with his white, crisp shirt and his black vest. Okay for the image. Super healthy. And I was like, wow, I didn't know anyone at 72 still flogging their wares at these shows. Like, that's, you know, it's hard.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:21:48]:
It's a lot of work. So he had my attention. I don't need to know why something works. I'm all about prevention. And healthcare. So I'm like, "Oh, what is that? Okay, tell me." I didn't know anything about sprouts or sprouting in 2002, why I would eat them, why I would grow them. And he said, you know, so here, he probably didn't say all this, but sprouts are hydrating, alkalizing, regenerating, biogenic, and contain up to 100 times more digestive enzymes.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:22:11]:
So I was like, wow, those are like, it's the original fast food. And we grow our own. Like, you can buy them at the store. They're expensive, and they're on their way out. They're almost ready for the worms by the time you bring them home from the grocery store, right? They might have that slime on them. That's the bad bacteria. Don't eat them.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:22:27]:
If they ever smell bad, don't eat them, because if they have a smell now that's converting into gas, that's not good for your body. Okay. Yeah. So grow your own, really. For kind of pennies a day. We don't have pennies in Canada anymore, but if we did, there's all kinds of systems. The system I have is like a little spaceship. It's a microclimate. It's got a little mesh.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:22:47]:
You put your beans on your water. It's a hydroponic, greenhouse kind of thing. You rinse morning and night. Like any system, you would want to keep your beans rinsed and clean, fresh water. And then once the root is the size of the bean, that's when they're most nutritious. That's when they're ready to eat. Eating them raw is the way to go if you're looking for enzymes. And here's the thing about the enzymes.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:23:09]:
I think that's the most important piece for the sprouting. When we're born, we're given a certain number of enzymes when we're eating. If we're not eating raw, like salad or raw vegetables, our body's using our enzymes. That's okay. We're young, we're infallible, right? We can do anything. We can eat what we want.

Amber Stitt [00:23:26]:
We've been there before, right? How many things can you do on 4 hours of sleep?

Cathy Nesbitt [00:23:29]:
It's totally fine, you know, and consecutive nights.

Amber Stitt [00:23:34]:
Yep.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:23:35]:
And it's getting younger and younger now because our food is broken. But if our body's using our enzymes, eventually we're going to get digestive issues. And we'll go to the doctor, and the doctor will say, here's a prescription for enzyme pills. Instead of taking a pill like grow your own enzymes, and then you're going to get all the, you know, vitamins, fiber, proteins. And I say, you can eat as much as you want. Oh, wait, you can't because it's full of fiber. You get full.

Amber Stitt [00:23:59]:
Wow, wouldn't that be nice? So this machine, this thing he had, he, that man at the show, you have that now. That's part of that sprout machine.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:24:07]:
I started to miss part of the story. So, yes, so 2002. So I was like, "Oh, all right, I'm in." So he said, "If you're going to do this, start your day with two tablespoons of sprouted mung beans." And mung beans are the bean sprouts in Chinese food, the white beans. Okay, so start with those beans every day for the enzymes, mostly. So I said, "Okay." For ten years, that was my private health plan. I kind of thought everyone must know what I know.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:24:31]:
We all have access to the same thing, and I'm so naive. Again, back to naivety. I thought when I Googled something and you Googled something, we would get the same results.

Amber Stitt [00:24:40]:
You mean not everyone's doing the work to eat those things that they're supposed to? Nope. But I mean, so you're literally just not mixing it with anything. You're like, I'll have some eggs in my sprouts. Tell me about that.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:24:54]:
I start every day with a couple of handfuls of sprouted mung beans, and they're just the seed and the sprout lily, the root coming out.

Amber Stitt [00:25:02]:
Okay, okay.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:25:03]:
So they're neutral flavor. They're easy to eat, they're juicy. They're like, they're easy. And when you know that, when you change your mind and go, "This is for my health." So those are my health plan in 2012. Back to 2012, very big year. I seem to go in ten year stints. In 2012, I was at a show, and Tony was there.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:25:22]:
That was his name. He was still exhibiting ten years later. He was 82 now. And he said...

Amber Stitt [00:25:28]:
See, there's something there, too. I mean, really, there's no cap to our abilities to learn something new, try something new. Maybe it's work, maybe it's do what you love, but you're out there in the community. That's what I really want through the podcast, to talk about opportunities and never putting a cap or a lid on age wellness. You can always be doing something, and you're proof of that. So thank you for a little side note there, but...

Cathy Nesbitt [00:25:50]:
Right, yeah. Don't let people tell you, "When are you going to retire?" No, I'm not. What do you mean? What am I going to retire for? I want to keep serving anyway. So in 2012, Tony said, "Hey, why don't you sell the sprout grower with your worm business?" I was like, like a V-8, "Why don't I. Oh, my goodness, that's a great idea. I love that product." And I thought it would be an easier sell than worms in the house, only marginally because people, you know, it must have been...

Cathy Nesbitt [00:26:15]:
I don't know when. Now, maybe 15 years ago, on the front page of the Toronto Star, the largest paper in Canada, there was a big article that sprouts were toxic. And it was those mung bean sprouts, like the bean sprouts. Like, people read that and they're like, "Oh, no, I heard sprouts are toxic." It's like, give your head a shake. Really? If sprouts were toxic, then our food is toxic, and it's not. Some of it is, right? But it's like, we can stop it. Yeah.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:26:43]:
And so I started to sell the sprouter, and because I had only done mung beans, then when I started selling it, I was selling only mung beans, and somebody said, "Well, don't you get sick of mung beans?" And it's like, "This is my health plan. Would you get sick of having tons of energy and feeling great?" Maybe people love their story, "I'm so tired." Okay, well, take action then. Do something. And not to be rude, but like, come on, sometimes people need...

Amber Stitt [00:27:10]:
Take action today. Let's stop talking about it. Let's do it.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:27:14]:
Yeah, stop talking and do something. Take a step. Yeah, enough talking. Except on the podcast. Yeah. And so then that was like, oh, then I got an idea. Like, as an entrepreneur, what do I care if people don't want to eat mung beans? So I started to experiment. Chickpeas, lentils, fenugreek, radish.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:27:34]:
Now I'm a sprouting monster. Oh, so many varieties. So I've got a whole host of certified organic beans and seeds that I'm selling, and I would suggest the cost difference for conventional and organic beans. Pennies. Again, back to pennies. There's not a big difference in that seed form.

Amber Stitt [00:27:52]:
So do it, is what you're saying.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:27:53]:
Yeah, pay the premium because it's your health.

Amber Stitt [00:27:56]:
Oh, your story's so fun. So how do people buy a sprouter? Hang out with you? Let's tell people how to find you. We'll link it in the description box anyway. But let's share. I'm excited.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:28:07]:
Yeah. I have three beautiful websites, www.CathysComposters.com for the worms, www.CathysSprouters.com for the sprouts, and www.CathysClub.com for the laughter. And I would love to invite everyone to my Tuesday laughter club, 9:30 AM EST.

Amber Stitt [00:28:22]:
I'm telling you, I'm going to get people there.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:28:24]:
I hope so. Yeah. I incorporate EFT Tapping, Brain Gym, Qigong to help people get out of stress and into joy. It's a beautiful thing. And again, it's just my gift to the universe. Like, come and experience the magic of laughing for the health of it. It's in us, right? And we can laugh by ourself. It's more challenging, even as a laughter professional, if I didn't have my laughter buddy, it would be a challenge to laugh by myself.

Amber Stitt [00:28:47]:
So maybe the takeaway here is go find your laughter buddy. Easy. That should not be hard, right? Or call us. We'll do it with you.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:28:55]:
That we will.

Amber Stitt [00:28:58]:
So it's been so delightful to talk with you. Lots of nuggets here. Nuggets like, we can go scientific, wellness, brain mindset, entrepreneur. Love everything you've had to share. So really appreciate you being here today.

Cathy Nesbitt [00:29:11]:
Thank you, Amber. Thank you.

Amber Stitt [00:29:13]:
Thank you for joining us on this episode of Pathways. For more information about the podcast, books, articles, the blog, and so much more, please visit my website at: www.AmberStitt.com. And remember, let's take action today. Thank you for listening!