Welcome to Keeping It Real On Purpose. I am your
host, Edna White, and today I am blessed to have
such a great guest by the name of Krista Anderson.
She's the founder and CEO of Healthy On The Go,
a natural food beverage and distribution company,
I've never heard those two together, with offices
in the US and France. nominated by former First
Lady Michelle Obama as a catalyst of change for
America's health. Krista has made her mission
to make healthy food accessible to everyday places,
gas stations, universities, hospitals, airports,
and retail stores. Her calling was shaped by
a long but victorious battle with cancer. She
was first diagnosed with stage two cancer in
2007, then stage four cancer in 2009. When she
was given just three months to live, Krista defied
the odds and transformed survival into purpose.
She's also the author of The Claiming Your Healing,
a step -by -step guide to how she restored her
body back to health. Welcome to the show, Krista.
Thank you so much, Edna. I'm so happy to be here
and I love this platform you built. Thank you
so much. So I want to get right into it because,
you know, we talk about doctors with health and
all this and I'm going through that same thing
now. I've been going through it for the last
10 years, you know, just going through it and
it is an uphill battle. And I'm so glad that
you're here today because our food is in the
Americas, is kind of our downfall. And I want
you to talk about your journey with food, especially
around toxic food. Yeah, absolutely. I mean,
I feel like my journey through cancer was an
experience where my body is a product of the
food system. The cancer that I dealt with, it
was kind of a It was a result of our broken food
system. And so that today is what our mission
is with Healthy on the Go. But it's really challenging
to find healthier choices when you're on the
go. And that was my kind of aha moment was I
was packing food with me every time I left home
to help fight the disease and to stay healthy
even after my cancer journey. And so I realized
why is there never anything healthy in a gas
station? why our hospitals don't want healthy
when it should be the number one place in America,
we should have healthy choices. So. Right. Yeah,
that's so important. And that was my problem,
too. When I was working, I never could find anything
that was healthy. Plus I was gluten intolerant
and I was lactose intolerant. So it was like.
always asking the questions, what's in here?
What is included? What's inside the food? Even
preservatives broke me out and I really had to
skim back and not eat out. It was an option.
So even going to networking events, it was an
option for me to, oh, let me go over here and
eat some of this food. That wasn't an option
for me. So I love the fact that you talk about
on the go. you know, we do it for our kids when
they were little, right? We'd pack them little
to -go bags. Remember that? And we just don't
do it for ourselves as adults. And I think that's
really important to keep that nutritional piece
in there. Absolutely. And I think the sad part
is that we have to do that. When you look at
Europe and how they operate, there's so much
more choice when it comes to healthier options
and especially fresh food. And of course, there's
still junk everywhere. A lot of it is stuff that's
come from the US into Europe. But in the US,
people are gluten intolerant because these ingredients
have been manufactured and manipulated so much
that it's causing us to have these intolerances.
And when you look at other countries, they don't
face that. Yeah, I did that. I went to Italy
for the first time about two years ago. two or
three years ago. And so I'm asking him, you know,
of getting your noodles, right? So say, are these
gluten -free? What gluten -free? Muncha, muncha,
muncha, no gluten -free. Here's some wine, muncha.
You know, it was like, and I could eat everything
there and not have a swollen belly, not feel,
you know, the brain fog. Literally, it was making
me to forget where I was going. Like I would
be driving somewhere and it would make me forget.
Like what the heck? Where am I going? It was
unbelievable that food could be that toxic to
a body. I just couldn't believe it. Absolutely.
And I think the answer is going back to the beginning
is cooking at home. You've kind of been left
with that choice, but I think it's actually beautiful.
in a way, because, you know, generations before
us, that was the natural way of living is growing
your own fruit and veg, and, you know, obviously,
we're not all lucky to be able to do that, but
finding a local farmer that you can get well
made, you know, fruits and vegetables from or
meat, dairy, right, kind of being in control
of your health in that way, and not relying on
these big food companies that are producing so
much toxic, ultra processed foods. And really
taking it back to the way that we are supposed
to be living, and not what society is dishing
out, especially in America. That's right. We
live in a society built on convenience, not wellness.
How much of our sickness, if you can speak to
it, physical and emotional, do you think is tied
to what we normalize is just how life is? In
which way, are you asking? How much of our sickness,
physical and emotional, do you think is tied
to that not being well when we eat? In the convenience
factor? Yes, in the convenience, yes. Yeah, I
mean, Everett, you hear this all the time, but
our gut is a second brain and what we eat ourselves
has so much to do with, especially as women,
our hormones and... our skin health, you know,
just overall energy is what we are what we eat,
you know, it's as simple as that. And I think
at the end of the day, in order to make change,
it takes discipline. And that's what not everybody
is willing to do. But nothing, you know, you're
not going to feel your best unless you are being
a bit disciplined. That is correct. But yeah,
of course, our food system is definitely tied
to mental health and our energy in the way that
we feel. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I never realized that
until I started feeling it. And you know, I'll
tell you what happened and I went to China and
lived there for about a year teaching English
as a second language, came home and I was like,
oh, you know, my family was like, what do you
want to have? You know, homecoming, you know,
and I had everything that I wanted, the stuff,
shelves, blah, blah, blah. I had a seizure, literally
had a seizure. from eating it and And it was
a one doctor said to me. What did you eat today?
And I told him he's firstly thought I had like
a you know Something from China and he said no
you're clear of all that and so I said I'm all
had stuffed shells I ate a lot of that he says
Who's home? I said my son he says you know, can
he see the package? I said, I guess. So I called
him and he said, oh yeah, I saw the package.
And so he read the package to me. He says, I
want you to go on gluten -free for a little while
and no, nothing packaged. That's what he told
me. And it was the hardest thing to do. Very
difficult because it had, I had to read, you
know, going shopping is a chore. It's a short
because you got to read all the ingredients So
it but that was my wake -up call That's my wake
-up call and I think that would be for all of
us is to stay healthy, right? Absolutely. I remember
going through that when I was diagnosed with
stage 4 cancer and yeah doctors had given me
three months to live and I went to see a holistic
doctor to understand what can I do from a nutritional
family and You know, he really brought me back
to kind of this The you know, the natural way
of living as I was speaking about earlier and
I think a lot on indian recipes um asian recipes
a lot of You know a lot of veg and it was a plant
-based diet really and as I got going with it
I found it really really challenging Especially
when you're at a restaurant But now it's a normal
way of living for me. Yes I find it so much easier
than I did in the beginning and I love it like
I couldn't imagine living another way again.
Me neither. It does get easier. Yes, it does.
It was hard in the beginning because I didn't
understand a lot of it. Then when I started educating
myself, which you're providing us today, more
education around it, I started to say, okay,
this equals this, you know, and, you know, just
knowing what some of how they hide it, like in
the ingredients, like the different names, you
don't know, you know, and it's like, but once
I started just more you said like more plant
-based having more vegetables versus and good
pieces of meat versus not good you know and once
i started eating like this was an investment
my health was an investment and not something
just to you know i tell my mom now that i'm older
she's 84 i say well i don't i don't i don't i
eat to live now i don't you know i don't it's
not the other way around i eat to live you know
and so far with all things considered healthy,
you know, I'm healthy. So I like that. So let's
stay on the, when you heard the doctors say stage
four cancer and three months to live, what was
the very first thought that you went through
your mind? I didn't believe it. And I think most
people that hear those words feel a similar,
you know, out of body experience. how could this
be possible? I think a lot of times we find ourselves
to be a bit invincible in life, happening to
other people, but not us. So it was definitely
a moment of disbelief. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty
scary. Yeah. You don't know what to think or
do. You'd be like, how do I even think, you know,
like, which direction do I even go in? You know,
it's like, You know, you just you just stunned
for a few minutes, you know, maybe even a while.
But yeah, I can see that. Let's jump over to
your your healing. At what point did you realize
you couldn't outsource your healing entirely
to the doctors? I gosh, looking back on it now,
I realize more than ever that we have to be our
own doctor. in the way that we need to, you know,
for me I was researching to find the best surgeon
for the type of surgery I needed. I was looking
for doctors that were educated, you know, in
the U .S. with the strongest education around
the type of cancer I was diagnosed with. I went
to second opinion. So I was kind of guiding in
kind of pushing against what some of the doctors
would say, because of course, when they're telling
you something very challenging, you want to know,
perhaps there's someone else that believes something
different or thinks differently. And so I always
tell people when they reach out to me about how
to get through it, if they're going through cancers,
always get a second opinion. Do not rely just
on the doctor you've seen your whole life or
the first doctor you go see. we're humans, we
make mistakes, you know, it's hard to find the
best of the best. And, you know, there's a lot
of tools out there now, especially like chat
GPT and somebody's AI tools that can kind of
scrape the web for you to find the best doctors
in that field. Right. Yeah. And I hear that you
would you recommend being active? Because I know
I'm an active participant in anything, you know,
with the doctors. I speak my opinion. If they
don't listen to me, I fire them. I want you to
tell the audience how important that is, that
just because I get a lot of emails, what do I
do, what do I do? And I think advocating for
yourself and speaking up, even if you don't know
everything, exit questions, would you say that
was part of your healing as well? Absolutely.
It's asking them a lot of questions. It's not
relying on the medicine they're going to suggest.
You know, I think also one of the things that
I did was I found somebody who had the same type
of cancer, some random person I'd never met before.
Just through, back then we didn't have social
media like we do today. That's a very good one,
very good. But that they were on the other side
and it was, who were your doctors? Who did you
see? What was the journey you took? looking at
it from that way, I think is really important
too. That's good. That is really, really good.
How did cancer force you to confront who you
were before the diagnosis? I think it strengthened
my faith. I was, you know, I believed in God,
but I really had to lean on God more than I'd
ever had in my whole life. And I think that and
also teaching me that how powerful the mind is.
And that our words and our belief in our minds
are hand in hand and they are what ignite the
miracle on the other side, I believe is really
believing, you know, okay, doctor said this,
but I know. that I'm healed and that I just gotta
walk it out and this is the end for me. And so
I spoke those things. I've thought those things.
I never thought I was gonna die. I really held
on to that and believed. And I think before I
never fought at anything in life with determination
like that before in that way. Now I use it in
business. Right, that's good. That's good. That's
good. That's good. What parts of your identity
couldn't come with you if you wanted to survive?
I think, of course, the unhealthy eating habits.
I would say one of the things that I vowed to
myself, well, I vowed two things, but one of
the things I vowed was that I wouldn't let stress
overtake me anymore because I blamed the fact
that I was so stressed all the time that nine
times out of 10, that's where disease can come
from too. So I blamed, I hated myself for being
stressed all the time. And that I was like, okay,
once I'm healed, I'm not gonna let things bother
me as much anymore. And I think when you are
faced with death in a way, in that way, it's
like, why do I let all these things bother me?
But you have - faced with that experience to
realize none of this other stuff in life matters,
but people are given the gift of facing, you
know, yourself like that. Yeah. Yeah. Easier
said than done. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Um, let's
talk about disciplining what you were talking
about. You had to discipline yourself. I know
healthy living isn't sexy. when you're tired
and you're scared or in pain, what discipline,
what did discipline look like for you? Because,
you know, motivation wears off after a while.
But what did it look like for you when motivation
was gone? And how I got, how I pushed myself
through. Yes. I mean, it's the same, the same
vein of thinking of, you know, when you're faced
with death in a way or something very serious
of an illness like that you have no choice but
to keep pushing forward if you wanna get through
it and get on the other side. And I think one
thing that keeps me going even today in my lifestyle
and staying healthy is imagining in my mind what
I wanna feel like, what I wanna look like, and
that's what keeps me moving forward. And as I
get older, I realize how much I've taken my body
for granted ate or drank things that I probably
has damaged my body over the years, you know,
excess, not in moderation, but in excess. And
now I think, you know, we really have to protect
our organs and our mind, our gut, our everything,
because otherwise your lifespan is shortened.
And it's like, I want to live a long life. You
also want to be your mom's age, 84, and just
feel awful because of all the years prior. So
that's true. That's true. I know I say that now.
When I hit my 50s, it was like everything was
an investment into my body now. It's like, okay,
this doesn't feel good going in. No more of that.
And I started to weed things away and really
be aware of my body. during those times that
we're doing too much, we get the signal from
our bodies, right? We get them. Like, it could
be just as something as simple. As soon as you
eat it, it comes out the other end. Hello. That's
the signal. But we don't think of it as a signal.
And I started saying that to myself. OK, this
doesn't agree with me. This goes. This doesn't
agree with me. This goes. has an effect on me,
this goes. And that's how I started just to get
rid of things. And I feel all the better. It's
great waking up not in pain, your muscles not
in pain, your joints not in pain. It's great
to hop out of the bed. That's a great thing.
Absolutely. And I would say that's been a learning
lesson with alcohol. I love wine sometimes with
a meal or just going down at the end of the night.
Me too. I realize how much energy I have when
I'm not putting alcohol in my body, period. Yeah.
I learned that. This summer. Yeah. I learned
that, yes. I learned that this past summer, I
was like, okay, no more of that. I was like,
that was it. I was like, it was it. I was like,
okay. I can be pretty super cool without it.
I'm good. I'll learn how to relax some other
way, but that's good. You know, I was like, you
know. And it's it's it's it's sad. Sometimes
when you got to get something that you like,
but yet it's it's rewarding afterwards. It's
totally rewarding. I love it. Yeah, absolutely.
So. You talked about your survival. I know some
people survive illness but stay stuck in fear.
You turned survival into a business and a mission.
What flipped the switch from I survived to I'm
responsible for impact? I think it was walking
into a gas station one day after I had you know
kind of closed the door on cancer and I was trying
to find something healthy to eat and there was
nothing there. I think just realizing how much
my life had changed and the healthy habits I
had developed and found living in the United
States to be very challenging and everywhere
I burned. And I just felt like, why isn't somebody
selling healthy food in a gas station? And that's
where Healthy on the Go began was we developed
a healthy snack. Section for gas stations that
was like a you know a merchandising display of
items that we could just drop in to gas stations
and we started that this 12 years ago now and
then that grew into hospitals and universities
now airports and You know, it's good everywhere
but a grocery store. We're trying to make healthier
choices more accessible Yeah, I mean it was just
a moment of realization like why is Why why can't
we live? in this way. Why is it so challenging
to have access to healthier foods? And so it's
a battle I fight every day against decision makers
that don't realize the importance of it, that
money is the driving factor or greed. It can
be the driving factor in a lot of choices. I
think it's more greed. I think it's more greed.
Yeah, and I'll just share this story because
I think it's so important for people to hear.
And I would say the majority of your listeners
probably have no idea this exists, but When I
launched our beverage program and we started,
you know, we developed this beverage cooler says
healthy on the go on it and we drop it into hospitals
and universities. And what we found out is that
there's exclusive contracts that either Coke
or Pepsi have with these companies that they
pay tens of thousands, you know, Disney a million
a year. to be an exclusive beverage brand that
Americans don't have access to anything but a
Coke or a Pepsi product in these environments,
and it should be illegal, and we're fighting
against that. That's disgusting. That's disgusting.
You would think a hospital would want you to
be healthy, but it's money. It's all about money.
It's all about money. all about it. It's not
even money. No, I don't, I want to take that
back. It's not about the money guys. It's the
greed, greed. Cause money, you know, money is
something that we all need in this world, but
it's the greed, the being extra greedy more than
you want, you know, more than what they want
more pretty much. Well, it costs a lot to run
a healthcare system. Yes. Well, that's what they
say. I think they trick us. Well, and what I've
heard from, you know, the operators of these
health care facilities is that they spend so
much money on an MRI machine or, you know, all
these tools within the facility and machines
that these companies are, their margins are maybe
80, 90, you know, percent on machines. They're
the ones that are making it challenging for them
to hospital. once their budget is wiped out on
those types of things and everything else to
run the hospital, the food and the cafeteria,
everything that operates on a food service side
is, it gets cut. Right, right. Yeah. And so they
blame these, these companies, you know, and the
captains of the world and things like that. Gotta
put the blame on somebody, you know that. Gotta
put it on somebody. Yeah, so it's reality. Yes,
it's reality. Let's pivot to your book. Your
book is called, Claiming Your Healing, which
I love all of the words, all three words, very
good. What does claiming healing require that
wishing or hoping does not? Claim Your Healing
is, it's about, you know, the book cover is,
it looks, but it's, I've got a sword in my hand
and it's about staking claim of what you want.
You're in this battle for healing, you're in
a battle for your life and it's staking that
claim and it's claiming it and it's saying, this
is mine and I'm gonna walk it out until I get
what's mine. And it's the fierce determination
but a belief that you've got something you don't
have just yet. in reality, but in your mind,
you know that it's yours and it's meant for you.
That's good. That's good. I like that. For someone
listening right now, who feels like healing,
whether physical, emotional, or mental, feels
overwhelmed and out of reach? What's the first
honest step they can take? To just get alone
with themselves. you know somewhere where they
feel good nature and just just take a breather
and just think you know to get yourself back
to balance yeah it's good so that you have a
clear mind i think when we're so connected to
technology all the time so important to detox
from that for a bit so you can think great and
and then make a plan from that yeah standpoint
Oh, that's powerful. It kind of reminds me that
healing like purpose isn't about perfection.
It's about responsibility to your own life, not
leaving it to someone else. That's great. Can
you tell us what you're gonna be up to the next
coming months? Right now, we just launched a
vending machine program. So we're trying to...
get that into some universities and hospitals
and now it's really just advancing healthy on
the go's footprint. That's pretty much it. Yeah.
Okay. How can they, is it, can you purchase individual
or does it have to go through like the vending
machine has got to be accompanied in order to
get your products? Yeah. We don't have an online
website yet. It's something that everything is
either in the store or yeah. Well audience, you
know to get her book Claiming claim your healing,
you know to get her book. It's everywhere right
every even in bookstores, correct? Um, it's not
it's actually just on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Okay Yeah, yeah. No, then it's in every bookstore
You got to use acts if it's in Barnes & Noble's
all you gotta do is ask so everybody out there
near a bookstore Go to the bookstore request
it and even go to the library and ask them I
need to read this book and they'll get it for
you Because once it's in Barnes and Nobles, it's
everywhere. So make sure you get her book. Today's
conversation reminds us that healing isn't just
about surviving, what tried to take you out.
It's about deciding what you're going to build
with the life you fought for. If this episode
resonated with you, check out Krista Anderson's
book, Claim Your Healing, and learn more about
the work she's doing through healthy on the go,
because access, education, and choice, they all
matter. And as always, here in Keeping It Real
on Purpose, we just don't tell stories, we turn
pain into purpose. I want to thank you all for
being here today with me, your host Ed Noy, and
my esteemed guest, Krista Anderson, and we're
going to say goodbye for now.