Living your healthiest healthy is not about exercising all day and never eating your favorite ice cream. It’s about small manageable changes that will affect your overall wellbeing and longevity. These changes can be as simple as eating some fiber, sleeping earlier, and just moving your body. Join Michael Silvers as she talks to TV host, Certified Health Coach, and BCancer thriver, Samantha Harris about how being diagnosed with cancer changed her outlook on life. Samantha is also the author of Your Healthiest Healthy. Learn why positivity is very important, especially in troubling times. Discover how you can live a longer and healthier life by just changing a couple of small things. Live your healthiest healthy today!
—
Watch the episode here
Listen to the podcast here
Living Your Healthiest Healthy With Samantha Harris
We have a special guest with us, Samantha Harris. She has been a keynote speaker and an award-winning TV host and author. She is best known for not 1, not 2 but 8 seasons on Dancing with the Stars and one of my favorite shows, Entertainment Tonight. She is a wife and mom. She received a shocking diagnosis of breast cancer. Instead, she rose from that challenge.
She became a breast cancer thriver, a certified health coach and the author of the best-selling book, Your Healthiest Healthy. As an expert on health, you’ve seen her on The Doctors, HLN’s Morning Express, Home & Family, Daily Blast Live and so many more places. She is here with us to empower you with the tools to feel even better and elevate your well-being to your healthiest health. Welcome to the show, Samantha.
Thank you. I’m glad to be here.
Thank you so much. I have to ask this first question. Being you in the entertainment industry, how did you get started in that particular business? What led you to Dancing with the Stars and Entertainment Tonight?
It was a long road of focus, dedication and a lot of joys slammed in my face, again and again, starting from the age of twelve. I grew up in Minnesota, not the hotbed of TV, film and entertainment but for me, it was a wonderful place to grow up. I found that I was bitten by the bug to be out in Hollywood.
When the offers came, are there certain steps? Do you apply? How do you get on Dancing with the Stars?
As the host of the show there or even as one of the celebrity guests, there’s no application process. I started when I was in high school, getting involved with my television station that was operated out of my public high school, learning how to write, produce and edit, be on camera, read from a teleprompter and write news stories. I went to journalism school at Northwestern University, learning to hone my craft even more.
Dancing with the Stars was a big part of my career but Entertainment News is what dominated for well over a decade of my career. Having a journalism background, whether you’re reporting on war-torn countries and interviewing heads of state or not that I’m comparing Tom Cruise to one of the presidents of the United States but the way that we go about asking questions is much the same. The way we go about eliciting a response or writing a story, it’s all the same journalism basics.
We choose to go on different paths from our journalism background. For me, that was Entertainment News, which eventually led me to the opportunity to have the producers of Dancing with the Stars ask me to do a screen test for season two when I started and eventually got the job offer to be the host of Dancing with the Stars with Tom Bergeron.
Congratulations on all of those. There have been many more accolades since then for you on that. When you were on those different entertainment programs, what would you say was the number one thing that you learned from the industry?
I learned a lot from my years of interviewing whether it was Entertainment Tonight. I got my start at the TV show, Extra and then I was at E! News and Access Hollywood. There was a stint. I was one of the only people who had been at all the major syndicated network entertainment news shows. What I learned from that experience is that you have to listen.
When you go in, you need to be prepared and you need to listen. This goes for any industry. Be prepared when you walk into the room, especially if it’s in a career that you are looking to grow in. Also, make sure that you are listening. We have 2 ears and 1 mouth. The idea is to use them appropriately. It’s listening twice the amount that we’re speaking.
The survival rate post-cancer is exponentially better when you have a positive outlook. Click To TweetOne of the things that I want to know is when you got the breast cancer diagnosis, what happened? What were the next steps for you in your career? There were some great changes.
At 40, when I was blindsided by this breast cancer diagnosis, my husband and I had two little girls. They were 3 and 6 at the time. I was at the top of my television hosting career. I was sidelined and also riddled with anxiety in a way that I never had been before. I’m very much a happy-go-lucky person. I had to learn new tools, coping mechanisms, positive self-talk and ways to be able to dig myself out of the deep dark funk that you get in with any serious health diagnosis.
We know specifically when it comes to cancer that the rates of survival and longevity post-cancer are exponentially better when we have a positive outlook. Does it out win any possible diagnosis? Unfortunately, no. I wish it did but it helps tremendously. For me, I dug myself with the support of the incredible community around me, friends and family, out of the depths I was in, was able to find the positivity in the diagnosis and then make my lemonade out of those lemons, which was to create a new career path for myself.
Even though I still host television shows and I have a big, exciting one that we’re announcing soon, 65 episodes of a new show, I pivoted. I became a certified health coach. The reason is that first of all, I’ve always been drawn to health and wellness. I was always all about fitness and diet. I was on the cover of 10, 11 or 12 different magazine covers for fitness and was always being asked, “What do you eat? What do you do to exercise? What’s your motivation?”
I had no credibility. I was well-schooled in Journalism. I taught fitness group fitness classes when I was struggling as an auditionee for TV, film and hosting jobs in my early days in Los Angeles. I had no genetic link. Of the 1 in 8 women who are diagnosed with invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime, only 5% to 10%. are hereditary. Here I was with no genetic link, wondering what is going on. I’m the fit, healthy one. Everyone always makes fun of me because of the cheese-less pizzas, my chicken breasts and all of that that I’m eating.
It’s what we put in on and around our body that affects our overall wellbeing. That turns on or off certain DNA strains and dormant cells and can affect how we then have cancer, get a diagnosis of diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorder, neurodegenerative disorders from dementia to Alzheimer’s and this a-ha moment of, “We can take control of our wellbeing. We don’t have to sit here on the sidelines and let things happen to us or come at us. We can take control of our lifestyle choices, how we are surrounding ourselves with people, food, products and our environment and how we’re dealing with stress and sleep. We can affect change for our wellbeing.”
That empowerment was so powerful that it ignited something in me that made me decide to go back to school, become a certified health coach and renew my training certificate. I launched a wellness community that’s a subscription-based membership called Your Healthiest Healthy Community. It’s based on my book, Your Healthiest Healthy. I called it that because I thought I was healthy. Here I was with this diagnosis. I realized I needed to be in my healthiest healthy.
I have all this information because as a journalist, you research. I dug deep into that research, spoke to every expert I could and read everything like scientific studies and clinical trials. I learned everything I could. That’s when I figured out, “I need to share this.” I wrote the book and launched the community and wellness retreats as well. We go to Utah at least once a year where I coach. We hike, work out and eat healthy food but find like-minded people to surround ourselves. That’s what I’m doing in my passion and purpose.
All of that you’re doing is truly amazing. We launched a health and wellness community. We have so many people that are so interested in this particular topic about what it’s like to become healthy and how that affects you and your business. What are some of the top three tips that you can share that people and mentors can start implementing to become their healthiest healthy?
I’m glad that you asked that. That the thing that I love the most about that question is that we are able to take the power back. We can affect change. It’s not about sweeping overnight changes where they say, “Cut all gluten, sugar, caffeine and dairy and it works out for 1,000 hours every single day.” Your healthiest healthy is all about small manageable changes that add, build and affect you in a way that are massive changes for your overall wellbeing and longevity.
There are three steps that you can take. Number one, most of us don’t get enough fiber. Most of us don’t even get half enough fiber every day. We’re also eating a lot of processed foods and junk. I’m not saying give up anything. I’m saying, “Fill your plate at least half full of veggies. Start with 1 meal, then 2 and eventually work towards filling half your plate full of veggies at every meal as your ultimate goal but small steps to get there.”
Here’s why. Not only will that automatically get us to the fiber amount that we need a day, which is 30 to 35 grams for women. Our goal is only getting about twelve per day on average. It’s 35 to 40 grams per day for men. Also, when we get all of those wonderful veggies, a rainbow of colors, we are not just getting the fiber. We’re getting the phytonutrients, the nutrient density and all the things that our body needs. It ends up crowding out the desire for all the junk and processed foods. It’s not to say you might not go still grab a bag of chips and have a few or have that cookie but at least you will fill yourself with nutrient density and goodness that you’re doing a body. That’s number one.
Your healthiest healthy is all about small manageable changes that can add up and affect your overall wellbeing and longevity. Click To TweetNumber two is sleep. Sleep seems overrated but I love to sleep. I’m not saying that I get to sleep many days of the week but we aim for 7 to 9 hours a day, which is what every adult needs. Most adults are getting far less than seven every single night. For every hour less, we’re reducing our longevity and lifespan. We’re increasing our years of morbidity. That’s the years that we are at the end of our lives unable to walk, hear, unable and think, fill out life and end up being bedridden or in pain and dysfunction.
We can aim for good sleep routine habits. It’s turning down your lights a little bit sooner before bedtime, ideally, at least an hour. Stop eating 2 to 3 hours before bedtime so that your body can rest and not digest. It can renew and regenerate over that sleeping. Ideally, try to fast for a minimum of twelve hours. If you stop eating at 8:00 PM, don’t put a morsel or a drink in your mouth, unless it’s water or black to your black coffee until at least 8:00 AM the next day.
It’s that 12-hour window even adding in some intermittent fasting, going 14 to 16 hours in that fasting window can do wonderful things for you and also help you to sleep better. A white noise sound machine room also is a great way to have better sleep, deeper sleep, more REM and all of that. We’re doing REM and forming our memories.
Number three, move that body. We’ve got to move every day. I’m getting a little morbid here. Our cells are dying off all the time. I’m not saying that you have to go to that spin class for an hour every single day. I’m saying, “Go walk around the block for 10 to 20 minutes during the morning, during the lunch break, maybe after dinner or whatever it is. Move your body 150 minutes a week at least of low and moderate activity or 75 minutes of high intensity.” Add two days of strength training every week. We’re losing muscle mass about 3% to 8% per year after the age of 30. It’s called sarcopenia. It’s ugly. We’re losing that muscle mass. We need to build it, not to get bulky but to be strong so we can live.
When we move our body, it’s telling our cells that are always dying off, “I need more cells. I need you to give me more energy.” We are sedentary. We’re going from our car to our computer back to our car to our couch. It signals to the body, “I don’t need you to regenerate anything. Those cells that are dying off, go ahead, let them die.” What ends up happening is we decay from the inside, even though we’re not seeing it because it’s at a cellular level. When we move, we’re firing up those engines. We’re telling the body, “Get up. Let’s go. Give me more energy. Build those cells. Regenerate because I want to live.” That’s the message you’re telling your body.
It’s all about eating right, sleeping more and moving the body, three simple tips. Share with our readers something that we may not know about you.
I can wiggle my ears without touching them. Not like an elephant like Dumbo, just slightly up and down. It’s something people might not know about me. My parents created one of the country’s first Renaissance festivals. It was created in Chicago. We, several years later, still have one in Massachusetts, an hour outside of Boston. It’s called King Richard’s Faire. My dad’s name was Richard so they named it after him. He always said, “If my name had been Irving, it would’ve been King Irving’s Faire.” Thankfully, it was Richard.
We lost my dad years ago to colon cancer. My sister came on board a couple of years out of college to help my mom continue the legacy that my mom and dad created. They still run it but it was a magical realm to grow up in. Look around with jousters on horseback and big Turkey legs. I played every role from gypsy dancer to a princess. I worked in the food booths and the t-shirt booth. It’s about everything. I got to bring my kids back to that magical realm every year from the time that they were young as well.
What a fun magical childhood.
No wonder I wanted to go into a life of entertainment.
You could be anything and do anything with that. Share with all of our readers how we get in touch with you.
First of all, I love hearing your questions about health and wellness. I am an open book about cancer. If you have someone who has been touched by breast cancer or you have been diagnosed, you can always reach out. It might take me a couple of days to get back to you but I do try to answer every DM that I get on Instagram, which is @SamanthaHarrisTV and also on Facebook @SamanthaHarrisTV. Instagram is where I’m most vocal and constantly on, maybe a little too much. Otherwise, my website is Samantha-Harris.com.
Your cells are dying off all the time if you're not moving your body. Click To TweetEverybody can reach out to you, ask their questions, get coaching, read your book and learn from you as one of the health experts. Thank you.
I love being able to meet people and spend an entire weekend, hiking, eating well, sharing stories and coaching them at our Your Healthiest Healthy Retreat. You can also look. There are still some spots left for the upcoming one in Utah.
I’m going to look. I might have to go. I’m in alignment with it. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
Important Links
- Your Healthiest Healthy
- Your Healthiest Healthy Community
- King Richard’s Faire
- @SamanthaHarrisTV – Instagram
- @SamanthaHarrisTV – Facebook
- Samantha-Harris.com
- Your Healthiest Healthy Retreat
Love the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! https://thementorsstudio.net/podcast/