Salad With A Side Of Fries Podcast: Wellness Without The Weirdness

There are just as many health, wellness, diet, and fitness podcasts out there as there are brands of salad dressing. Many are terrific, such as The Nutrition Diva. There are a subset of these podcasts where some overcaffeinated Tim Ferriss-type is demanding that you wake up at four in the morning to work out for three hours, overschedule your entire day, set multitudinous goals, and eat only kale chips and chomp on meat like our ancestors.

Me, I'm looking for a diet that is healthy, but also allows me to enjoy eating some "bad" foods without the guilt pangs that send my self-esteem into self-flagellation.

That's why I so enjoy the Salad With a Side of Fries podcast hosted by Jenn Trepeck.

 In the beginning of each episode, Trepeck says, "Welcome to Salad With A Side Of Fries, talking wellness and weight loss for real life. I'll clear up the myths, misinformation, bad science, and marketing and teach you how to eat and how to cheat."

Now, this is my kind of wellness, diet, and fitness podcast. I don't want to run seven miles on the beach in army boots. Or go to CrossFit and flip tractor tires.

 “My passion for nutrition and helping others stems from kicking my food issues with my own weight management saga.” says creator/ host Jenn Trepeck.

 Trepeck then espouses the "why" behind her podcast. "I believe that the greatest accountability is paying it forward. That’s why I teach the nutrition education we are all supposed to know but no one ever taught us, along with the science behind food, fitness, and health."

Episodes come in two formats. First, full circa 50-minute episodes on such topics as clean eating, meditation for stress, headaches and migraines, and oral care. 

Trepeck is an excellent host who has an obvious passion for the subject and a lot of expertise. She's a solid interviewer who listens well and can guide a fluid conversation with a guest. 

My favorite attribute of Trepeck's is her focus on motivating listeners, not lecturing to her listeners. Trepeck is not one of those wellness podcast hosts where "failure is not an option." 

Instead, she recognizes and conveys that making lifestyle, fitness, and diet changes is exceedingly hard. Look for small wins, she urges, and do not make perfectionism the enemy of gradual progress.

My favorite episodes are her short, circa 10-minute mini-episodes called Nutrition Nuggets. My personal favorites are episodes on salad dressing, chickpeas, pea protein, popcorn, beets, and quinoa. They're short, focused and packed with information.

 After Trepeck graduated from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, she founded Better Life Now LLC while working full-time in hedge funds. In 2019, she took her practice from side-hustle to full-time self-employment and launched Salad With a Side of Fries.

Trepeck says on the podcast website, "Topics we tackle on the podcast include debunking fad diets, food myths, misinformation in marketing, bad science, and general nutrition. I encourage guests whose expertise is different from my own focus on weight management to bring their unique, fact-based perspectives to talk about subjects they are educated in and passionate about."

Trepeck continues: "Due to my decade-long experience of working with clients, I have gained insight into the health and food industry and the how-tos of building a business."

Trepeck takes obvious delight in debunking fad diets, and exposing the BS we are fed by the food and diet industry. She explains how the people around us can positively and negatively impact our health journey, and how we can shift mindsets in order to overcome inappropriate barometers of success to instead achieve happy, healthy, and meaningful change.

Salad with a Side of Fries is a podcast that lives up to its promise to answer questions on wellness and weight loss for real life, which includes drinking, eating out, and skipping the grocery store. 

After all, Trepeck declares, "What’s a life without fries and dessert, anyway?"

Every Wednesday since August 2019, the podcast has cleared up myths, misinformation, bad science, and slick marketing surrounding our nutrition knowledge and the food/diet industry.

Give Jenn Trepeck a load of credit. The Amplify by Resonate newsletter just reported that 90 percent of all podcasts quit after only three episodes. Trepeck has been producing Salad With A Side Of Fries weekly for almost four years. I think she deserves a basket of crabby fries and more listeners who want to improve their lives.