Take Command of Your Wellness – Lessons from Chef & 'The Golden Girl of Wellness'| Candice Kumai

Candice Kumai (0:00)

Be easy on yourself. Be real. Enjoy it, because it may not last forever. And you don't want to think back and say, I wish I fucking did XYZ.

Please go out into this world and fucking do it.

Michael Gervais (0:24)

Okay, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery Podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Michael Gervais, by trade and training a high-performance psychologist. And I'm thrilled to welcome Candice Kumai to the podcast for this week's conversation. When it comes to wellness, newer isn't always better. And there's good reason ancient wisdom often endures the test of time. And that's what we talk about today with Candice.

Though food, wellness and culture have long been tied, Candice has spent years exploring this relationship for herself in an authentic way. And by thoughtfully infusing the traditions of her Japanese heritage with a dedication to serving others, she's pioneered a transformative approach to wellness by tying together food and culture for herself and now for so many others.

Though the wellness industry today is overflowing with quote unquote experts touting the latest and greatest in self-care, Candice has a different approach. And I can't wait for you to experience the spirit that lives in her work and to find out why Dr. Andrew Wilde, the legend himself, has called her a pioneer of her time. So with that, let's dive right into this week's conversation with Candice Kumai. Candice, I have been looking forward to this conversation for a long time. And you are so much more than a chef. It's how I understand you. And, you know, I wanted to start in a like in a broad fashion. So you've been called the golden girl of wellness.

So, I mean, wellness is a pretty big buzzword, and it can feel really flimsy and a bit esoteric. So can we start like in the biggest frame? What does wellness mean to you?

Candice Kumai (2:16)

Well, great question, Michael. And it's amazing to meet you semi in person. We've almost made it there. A little bit of context, Michael and I met through our mutual friend, Amy Stanton, who is an incredible publicist in publishing and media. We did all these clubhouses together during the pandemic to help other people learn how to publish their book.

And what I loved so much about Michael was learning of the psyche behind not just sports and performance, but also finding humility and grace and learning about utilizing mindfulness as a tool and a resource to get to the next level. You know, I started in wellness about 20 years ago here in New York City. It wasn't cool. It wasn't cute. I also went to culinary school at 21 and paid my way through. For me, wellness is truly practicing what you preach and giving to others with service, with expecting nothing in return. And sadly, over the past 20 years, we've seen that wellness has turned into a for-profit, narcissistic, very toxic industry.

And so it has actually led me back full circle to food again.

So I often cringe over the title that I was given so long ago, so gracefully by friends at different magazines as the Golden Girl of Wellness, because now I just want to say, well, I'm a fucking chef. And if you really want to change your life, learn how to cook, learn how to create your own recipes at home and simplify the fuck out of your wellness, quote unquote, routine, because it's so much more about going inward, more importantly than anything on the exterior.

Michael Gervais (4:11)

Okay. And okay, the simplicity, like boiling that down to work from the inside out, you know that my antenna is, you know, tweaked and on there, because it's like, yes, this idea of like, when you say, when I asked about wellness, in the first place you went to was practice what you preach.

And there was, it was just yesterday, I was in a conversation with a senior leader at a multinational corporation, and we're having a conversation about trust. You know, trust is foundational to so much, and certainly like trusting yourself. That's why I'm more interested in trusting yourself than being able to trust others, because trusting others is very complicated, actually. So we're wrestling with the definition. And he said something that was so simple, so profound.

And he said, and this is going to relate to wellness, and it just in a second here, is he said, oh, it's for me, it's really easy. Say do. What do you mean? And he said, oh, do what you say and say what you do. And that's how I build trust in other people, and like say what you do and do what you say. And then that same lens, you know, we flipped it on self. So you can build trust in yourself when you say and when your thoughts and your actions are lined up.