Corey Dion Lewis (00:01.152)
Hello everybody. Thank you for listening to the Healthy Project podcast. I'm your host, Corey Dion Lewis. I have a different type of conversation today. Something that I've been noticing for a while now, I've had a few guests making this transition to drinking non-alcoholic beverages. And it was one of those things where I didn't know it was as...

It was trending up as it was, but there are a lot of people that are making the shift. And I have the one and only that they know all about this industry, all about mindful drinking, which we'll talk a lot about. I have Jessa with us today. Jessa, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

Jessa Frances (00:48.862)
Yeah, so grateful to be here.

Corey Dion Lewis (00:51.46)
Yes. So, you know, before we get into the topic, can you tell the people a little bit about yourself and what gets you up in the morning?

Jessa Frances (00:59.27)
Absolutely. You know, I have been in this space for a few years. I'm actually the founding member of the non-alcoholic bottle shop, Sesshé, in South Carolina. And I kind of was the director of everything there. And because of that, I got to know the ins and outs of every different part of this industry.

from getting to know the founders of these brands and their products to tasting and trying hundreds of different things. I have done tons of events, mindful mixology classes. I've started working in the sober community, helping people that struggle with alcoholism. There's so many different...

aspects of this because not only is it something that is like, you know, health and wellness, but it's also hospitality and, you know, food and beverage. So there's a lot to know, there's a lot to learn and it's kind of strange that I ended up as an expert in this space because it wasn't something that I actually sought out. I am a mindfulness coach. I do love

mindfulness in general. And so when mindful drinking came about I was like well this is perfect.

Corey Dion Lewis (02:32.854)
Right. Can we talk a little bit about mindful drinking? What does that mean? What is that?

Jessa Frances (02:39.106)
So mindful drinking is something that is a little bit different for everybody. One of the first terms that came up in this space was actually sober curious. So what that means is somebody that is like, hmm, what would my life be like if I was sober? Or what if I just was sober sometimes?

and how would that affect me? And it shifted into this mindful drinking, which is owning your relationship with alcohol and saying, okay, well, there's all of these products out there. Some of them I sent you where I could have a margarita. I could have a gin and tonic. I could have traditional drinks without alcohol and still be able to be part of the party.

Um, socialize, celebrate with the same things, uh, without the effects.

Corey Dion Lewis (03:42.444)
Yeah, and for me, I understand the application for someone that may be alcoholic or just wanting, they're seeing a pattern of like, yo, I'm having eight, six, eight, 10 drinks a night and not even realizing it. It's just kind of a part of my lifestyle and wanting to take a step back. But now we're seeing...

more people may, they may not even have a habit or.

be classified as an alcoholic, but they're going this route, you know, of just drinking, you know, non alcoholic beverages. And I will say for myself, as I was testing these out, and I'm really trying to be kind of in the moment, like how would I, how would I use, you know, a non alcoholic beverage? Cause I'm going to be straight up and down. I like a drink. I'm not saying to my audience, I'm not, I'm not saying I have a drink every day, but I do enjoy alcoholic beverage.

Jessa Frances (04:40.835)
Absolutely.

Corey Dion Lewis (04:47.872)
But I do understand though that there are those days where, you know, I may want one, but do I need one? And do I want to, how do I be mindful about how I utilize my alcohol consumption? And as I'm drinking all these different ones you sent me, that really cool bottles, and they look really, they're really, really cool. They're small, but they are cool.

Jessa Frances (05:14.526)
Yeah, yeah, a little sample bottles are cute.

Corey Dion Lewis (05:17.7)
Yeah, it was like, man, and I told you before we started recording, it was so weird because it felt like I was having a drink, but I wasn't. The feeling I was expecting wasn't there. And then for me, it kind of clicked like, wow, I can see how somebody who wants to be more mindful, but not...

feel like they're being anti-social, you know, have this, you know, and still be present with their friends and still enjoy. Because there are those times where you feel like you need something in your hand, right? But you can still enjoy your time in a responsible way.

Jessa Frances (05:58.302)
Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I mean, I am that person.

There are a lot of people in this space that, and most of them are fully sober. However, I am not. I am the mindful drinker. I'm like you, I love a drink. I like to have one every once in a while. But I have also learned to know that it really is not good for me. It really is.

Corey Dion Lewis (06:21.595)
Yeah.

Jessa Frances (06:34.938)
even that one or two drinks is negatively affecting me. And I cannot just deny that. Once you learn something, you can't unlearn it. And it's why we start picking up different foods and looking at the ingredients. Oh, okay, I don't want red 40 anymore in my diet. You know what I mean? Those kinds of things. Oh yeah, it's okay to have.

Corey Dion Lewis (06:39.892)
Mm-hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (06:44.469)
right.

Corey Dion Lewis (06:59.36)
Yeah!

Jessa Frances (07:04.258)
pack of Skittles every once in a while, but I'm still not gonna ingest this all the time. And it's the same sort of concept with this, like knowing that this is not good for us, I'm still gonna partake in it every once in a while, but I don't have to because there are products out there that replicate it. And I'm still having that drink in my hand. I'm still a part of the party.

Um, and then, you know, we could dive into the whole functional side of things in the third way alternative, which is there are now a whole lot of products that are the opposite of alcohol and actually good for you. Or there's even, you know, all of the hemp infused products that will give you something. So there's

Corey Dion Lewis (07:58.593)
Right.

Jessa Frances (08:02.39)
There's all kinds of ways to go with this. You can go full on just to get a sparkling tea. Or you could have your NA gin and tonic. Or you could have that third way alternative and have something that has a little bit of an effect.

Corey Dion Lewis (08:12.449)
Mm-hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (08:22.944)
Right. I want to touch on all of those, but I want to start with this one. You brought up something that got me thinking. You know, for how does, is there a fear that somebody of who maybe, you know, identify as an alcoholic and they're trying to change their life. Is there a fear of relapse for, from drinking something like this that made tastes so similar? Is that something that

that people think about or what does that look like?

Jessa Frances (08:55.143)
Yeah, absolutely. And that is where even more mindfulness comes into play. It's all about self-awareness and knowing what works for you and what doesn't. And I have, I've worked with people on both sides. I have really good friends that had a serious breakup with Chardonnay. Like they were addicted, they had to have it, but now they drink non-alcoholic or alcohol

that's it's still their drink and they're fine with it. But then there's other people who are triggered. They are, you know, something that smells or tastes like tequila is it could either make them want to throw up or it's going to make them like want more and want the real thing and start craving the effect and start craving something stronger.

Corey Dion Lewis (09:26.124)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (09:41.504)
Bye.

Corey Dion Lewis (09:51.072)
Right.

Jessa Frances (09:51.702)
So really it is and I have a really good friend who is the founder of one of these companies that you tried all the bitter. They were having, they knew that they had a problem and they knew that they had to cut back and they were full on in the business and so they had to get rid of so much stuff and it took them a while to step.

into the space. They had to kind of slowly as they went, kind of reprogram the way that they thought, the way that they felt about those drinks. And it just slowly and slowly became easier and easier. But you know, it's all an individual basis.

Corey Dion Lewis (10:26.753)
Uh-huh.

Corey Dion Lewis (10:41.224)
Right? No, that makes a lot of sense. You also talked about, you know,

Corey Dion Lewis (10:48.524)
how someone may want to reduce their red meat or look at different ingredients in different foods. I know from our earlier conversations that there may be some healthier alternatives or non-alcoholic drinks, but there are still some things to look for within those NA drinks. Can you talk a little bit more about that and what someone should be looking for within these NA drinks?

Jessa Frances (11:15.48)
Yeah, absolutely. This is my favorite topic when it comes to NA, honestly, because for me as, like I said, a mindful drinker, somebody who does, it doesn't bother me to have a traditional old fashioned or...

Hey, I'm a huge New Orleans drink fan. I love Sazerac's and Vokere's and stuff like that. So I love those stout drinks. And because of that, when I was switching over and wanting these alcohol free products, I wanted something that was going to be stout, be sturdy, give you like give you something like substantial in the way of flavor.

And I started finding brands that had all of the all of those aspects. But beyond that, the reason that they had all of that amazing flavor is because they were plant derived. And those plants, as you know, I mean, plants have magic. They have ingredients that can really benefit our bodies, our minds. There's all of these nootropics and adaptogens.

and different ingredients that will boost our mood, actually help our hormone levels. Right now, for example, I have Thesis. It's a brand of nootropics, and it's basically vitamins that will help me feel like I have more energy or more confidence and things like that. Well, now they're putting that stuff in these drinks.

and I know I showed you this brand Ross's Spotter. So this is a brand that is 100% plant derived. It has zero sugar. It doesn't have any of that processed preservatives, any of that kind of stuff in it, but it also has things like reishi mushroom and chachandra berry and these incredible

Corey Dion Lewis (13:03.009)
Yeah.

Jessa Frances (13:28.538)
ingredients that do the opposite of what we were getting from alcohol. So instead of feeling guilty, we're like, I am doing something good for myself. And it has that amazing, robust, flavorful taste that we actually like, you know, when pairing our meals or whatever it is that we're doing when we're drinking.

Corey Dion Lewis (13:37.74)
What? Yeah!

Corey Dion Lewis (13:57.952)
Right. And that, so that one you just, you just pointed out and you're talking about, like for me, it's like, man, I feel like some of these, like some of these drinks, you're talking about, I had these two tropics and all these great health benefits. It's like, man, I don't want to wait until a nightcap on it. This, I want this to be something before work, before a workout or something in the morning.

Jessa Frances (14:18.146)
And you can. Yes, yes, yes. Like this brand, for example, has black ginger and it goes really, really well in coffee. I drink it in the morning with my coffee. I can have an espresso martini for breakfast. And it's delicious. Yeah.

Corey Dion Lewis (14:30.156)
Wait, the one you sent me.

Corey Dion Lewis (14:35.185)
Oh!

Corey Dion Lewis (14:39.656)
Oh, cool. I'm gonna try that in the morning. I'm gonna try it in my coffee in the morning. And I will report back. Because, I mean, that's, you know, when we were talking about it, it's like, man, there's all these super mushrooms, all these things now are in different forms. But man, to have that in a drink and to feel like, you know, you can still enjoy yourself and feel good and have all these different, you know, health benefits. But I don't, like I said, I don't wanna wait. I wanna be able to start my day like that.

That would be something cool. So I'm going to try that tomorrow and see how that goes for sure.

Jessa Frances (15:16.851)
Yeah, absolutely. It's definitely a great way to start your day and then you can actually go forward and another one of their flavors goes really well with grapefruit and citrus and stuff like that. It makes a great midday spritz. It'll pick you up in the middle of the day and then there's one that is really robust.

red wine grape skins and artichoke and all of these really robust flavors that makes like a really good nightcap so you can go All day long and that's what's really cool Is being able to have like these are so versatile so versatile

Corey Dion Lewis (15:50.198)
Yeah.

Corey Dion Lewis (15:55.916)
That's cool. So that guy or that girl that's out there, that's saying, or woman that's out there, and they're like, you know what? I wanna change my lifestyle. I wanna do a challenge where I don't drink or whatever the case may be. If you're coaching someone, you said you're a coach yourself, how would you, is there a certain way someone should start as they're transitioning to?

Jessa Frances (16:16.171)
Mm-hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (16:23.36)
this type of lifestyle where they're looking at more of what they're drinking.

Jessa Frances (16:28.159)
Yes, absolutely. It all starts with self-awareness and the way that I approach everything is through sitting down with a journal. You need to kind of ask yourself some key important questions. You know, what are your intentions? You know, what are you really after? What and what are your fears? You know, like

be real, be honest, be very truthful with yourself. A lot of us, we identify with certain products. For most people, whether it's drinking alcohol or drinking Coke, they have their thing, or like, oh, I'm a Coke person, or I'm a diet Coke person, or I'm a...

I'm a crown and sprite person or I'm a jack and oak person. They, everybody has their thing. So what are, you have to ask yourself, what are you identifying with? Who are you? You know, you have to get down to these nitty gritty, really kind of deep personal questions. And that's where you start because, and,

Corey Dion Lewis (17:23.305)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (17:28.192)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (17:37.15)
Alright.

Jessa Frances (17:50.494)
It doesn't have to be, I'm not saying it has to be full on like that. You don't have to get so deep. So, but you know, it could be as simple as like if you're just like me, you don't have a problem with alcohol. You just want to try this different stuff. What do you love to drink? You know, what, what do you normally like? Do you, are you normally a Chardonnay person or a Pinot Noir person? Well, they're alcohol.

free versions of that. Anything that you normally like to drink, type it in and put in non-alcoholic. And I bet you, you can reach out to me and I will point you in the right direction or you can do your own research. And there are all the different kinds of beers. There's

Corey Dion Lewis (18:22.624)
Mm-mm.

Corey Dion Lewis (18:30.157)
Yeah.

Jessa Frances (18:50.15)
And then when it comes to wine, there's alcohol removed. So you get the exact same taste and flavor of the traditional wine when with the alcohol having been removed. Or there's alternatives that are like verjus or apple cider vinegar based products that replicate a wine, replicate kind of the feel of the wine without the actual.

alcohol. And then there's the same thing with the spirits. There are one-for-one replacements that taste exactly like the traditional, or there are botanical alternatives that are meant to be their own thing. They're not trying to replace anything. There's, for example, one of my brands called Everleaf. It has...

There's a marine, a forest. They're, you know, like these, they're just earthy and herbal and kind of fresh flavors. Something elevated and more sophisticated without it being like, oh my gosh, this is gonna trigger me and make me think that I'm having a bourbon or whatever.

Corey Dion Lewis (19:53.493)
Right.

Corey Dion Lewis (20:09.288)
Right. So really, I mean, there's, there's something for everyone. Right. You know, and there was really, and I did some research, actually, I have a really random question. So when I, um, and maybe, I mean, I'm sure you can answer, um, when I was Googling, Googling all this, right. I was doing my Googles, kombucha came up a lot.

Jessa Frances (20:15.731)
Right.

Jessa Frances (20:32.062)
Yeah. Why? Yeah. So there, well, there's spiked kombucha now. Yes. So you can get alcohol, alcoholics kombucha. So of course you can get, yeah, there's because, and that would be, that is in the functional category. That is in the category of

Corey Dion Lewis (20:33.664)
Why? Like what's the, like. Ha ha ha.

Corey Dion Lewis (20:59.617)
Mmm.

Jessa Frances (21:01.93)
I want something to drink that is adult-ish and will benefit me, you know? So, yay, God help.

Corey Dion Lewis (21:11.24)
Yeah. I mean, they don't know shade. I know a bunch of kombucha drinkers is just, it's just not my vibe, you know, but I was like, I see, I'm like, why is almost every article talking about kombucha or kombucha is in the top, you know, best 10, you know, NA drinks. I'm like, that was just really, it threw me off a little bit. Um, but, you know, again, Jessa, thank you so much for being here, uh, and giving us so much information around this, um,

Jessa Frances (21:31.463)
No.

Corey Dion Lewis (21:40.78)
This lifestyle, as far as mindful drinking, for anybody listening that wants to learn more about mindful drinking and different NA products, or learn more about you, where can they find you?

Jessa Frances (21:55.336)
Well, I am on social. My Instagram is Untoxicated.World. So I am intoxicating the world one kind of person bar at a time. Or jessafrances, J-E-S-S-A-F-R-A-N-C-E-S. You can also find me on

Corey Dion Lewis (22:04.574)
Oh

Jessa Frances (22:20.162)
Untoxicated.world, the website, which or LinkedIn, of course, Jessica Del Rosa is actually my full name. But yeah, no, anytime you if anybody out there is looking for any assistance, whether it is getting started on this journey or finding the right product for them or if they feel like they've been really let down, they've tried different things and have.

Corey Dion Lewis (22:30.496)
I'm sorry.

Jessa Frances (22:49.522)
Because there are bad products out there. There are. And there are things that are letting you...

Corey Dion Lewis (22:53.092)
Oh, okay. So what should they look for? I'm glad you said that, I forgot all about that. So what does a bad product look like?

Jessa Frances (23:03.21)
Well, pretty much it's the... When I say bad product, I should say products that are letting people down. I work with bartenders a lot and they are just constantly underwhelmed because they're out of, you know, gin alternatives that just, they're watery and they don't really show up. And so they're spending money on something

Corey Dion Lewis (23:13.022)
Hmm.

Corey Dion Lewis (23:19.54)
Really?

Corey Dion Lewis (23:26.284)
Mmm.

Jessa Frances (23:32.974)
isn't providing, you know, and then when it comes to alcohol removed wine, for example, there has been a lot of disappointment in this area, but the advancements in the techniques that they are using to extract the alcohol, I mean, they're making headway, they're really, really changing things up, things are getting a lot, lot better. And so if you have tried a red wine

Corey Dion Lewis (23:34.945)
Right.

Jessa Frances (24:01.782)
just like, oh, that was awful or that was grape juice, sorry. Uh, if you were a wine person in particular, because that is definitely the biggest category where people have a hard time. Yeah. Reach out. I, uh, I definitely have some tips and tricks and of course, um, some, some products that I recommend. So.

Yeah, don't feel discouraged by trying a few things and being disappointed. I promise you there are amazing products out there that you will be impressed with.

Corey Dion Lewis (24:38.944)
Yes, and I did a video testing all the products. So I'll be putting that on YouTube as well. Yeah, so given my first reactions to these, you know what I mean? So hopefully people can check that out when that comes out. But I will also link all of these, all of the social media tags and everything in the description of this podcast.

Jessa Frances (24:44.646)
Awesome!

Corey Dion Lewis (25:06.696)
in the description of the podcast and on YouTube so people can make it could be easier for them to reach you. Again, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate your time. And everyone, thank you for listening to the Healthy Project podcast. I'll holler at you next time.