April 12, 2023
Stress and Hormones with Ali Damron [Ep. 38]
![Stress and Hormones with Ali Damron [Ep. 38]](https://getpodpage.com/image_transform_gate_v3/hoR_XnpuAdsWhdgjLnEArD73XtSphHDewVwBfcra3BM=/?image_url=https%3A%2F%2Fstorage.buzzsprout.com%2Fcn5zhie4f9ecfyids10vzvpvp6kc%3F.jpg&w=1200&h=630&fill=blur "Stress and Hormones with Ali Damron [Ep. 38]")
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Is stress one of your most common emotions? Did you know how it can affect your hormones?
The emotion and state of stress has real impact specifically on the cortisol system of your body. There are three categories my guest Ali Damron gives us--physical stressors, mental stressors and emotional stressors.
Ali gives us strategies on which to tackle first and how to do so.
Believe it or not, this was actually a fun conversation! Doesn't sound fun to be talking all about stress but Ali makes the hormone aspect easy to understand and very doable.
Here is the episode on minerals from Ali's podcast that I mentioned!
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About Ali:
Ali Damron is a wife, mother to two sweet little boys, a licensed acupuncturist and a certified personal trainer for over 12 years. She values health and family more than anything else.
Throughout her professional experience, she has worked with a large population of people in lots of different settings. She has been a trainer and counselor at a weight loss camp in San Diego, a corporate wellness health coach, a personal trainer for private studios and an acupuncturist in private practice. In her virtualpractice, she specializes in women’s health including everything from painful periods, fertility, hormonal balancing, weight loss, pregnancy and postpartum all the way to menopausal symptoms.
It’s her mission to educate women about the importance of health and teach them how to be healthy. There is so much information and misinformation out there that most of the women she works with are confused and don’t know what to believe or how to get healthy.
She works with women to provide natural approaches to healing and get them looking and feeling their best. She offers lots of services including online holistic health consultations, digital courses, a podcast and YouTube channel.
She believes healthy women are at the center of the universe and can make the world a better place.
More from Ali:
Instagram: @alidamron
Website: alidamron.com
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/alidamron
YouTube: @AliDamronWomensHormoneExpert
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Transcript
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So it's not like these are huge stressors that people are gonna be like, oh my God, I'm so stressed.
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But again, it's a cumulative effort of like, each and every little thing.
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Mm-hmm.
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that happens during the day.
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So like some of the physical stressors and then we're perfectionists or we're thinking that our boss is upset with us and we're telling ourselves this big story about it.
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And then we get an email that's urgent and then we're in traffic and then we have to take kids everywhere.
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And then, you know, it just is a cumulative effort all day.
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Welcome to Eat Well, Think Well, Live Well; the podcast for women who want to lose weight, but are tired of counting and calculating all the food.
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I'm your host, Lisa Salsbury.
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I'm a certified health and weight loss coach and life coach, and most importantly a recovered chronic dieter.
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I'll teach you to figure out why you are eating when you aren't hungry, instead of worrying so much about what you are eating.
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All right.
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Welcome back to the Eat Well Think Well Live Well podcast.
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My guest today is Ali Damron and I am super excited.
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She's a hormone health expert.
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I think hormones are just something I don't know enough about.
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So I am always excited when I have a guest that knows so much more than I do about this.
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So, I'm gonna let her introduce herself and tell us how she came to this work, and then we'll get into some of our discussion.
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Absolutely.
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Thanks so much for having me.
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So, like you said, my name's Ali Damron.
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I am a hormone expert.
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I actually am an acupuncturist.
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Um, I live in the Denver, Colorado area.
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I have always had an online business.
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And then during Covid I just, we got shut down with acupuncture.
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Mm-hmm.
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And so I just was able, uh, You know, blessed to fill up my schedule.
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And so now I'm just solely virtual, um, doing group coaching programs, digital courses, and my one-on-one consultation.
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So in those, I focus a lot on just really the whole gamut of women's health.
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So women come to me for.
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Energy issues or just feeling tired or having an afternoon energy crash so they can't sleep anymore.
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Their mood, they're having like mood swings or more anxiety overwhelm, feeling really stressed.
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Maybe they're noticing, um, digestive stuff like bloating a lot or constipation, those types of things.
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Maybe their periods have changed and they are struggling with a lot of PMs symptoms, a lot of irregular periods, A lot of, you know, short cycles, like any of those types of things.
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Um, I really work with, and I kind of came into this, so I, I studied acupuncture, um, which is a whole system of medicine and we do a lot of different things.
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So we do, you know, generalized medicine, we do pain, we do e n T stuff, we do digestion, we do all the things.
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And, um, I was actually pregnant in acupuncture school, and so it was kind of like my first introduction, I would say, into kind of like fertility.
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Pregnancy, postpartum and all of that.
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And so it really, I just felt like a huge need for women.
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I think that women just aren't supported in the way that I would hope.
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a lot of us are, I think, unheard kind of unvalidated.
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We might be feeling like certain ways and people are just like, well, you know, you're a mom or you're a woman, or this is just like what happens.
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Mm-hmm.
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And I just feel like we kind of get brushed off in different ways and just don't feel great.
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And I know, I'm sure you know too, that.
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When you're running a family, you're trying to run a business or a career and a house and a marriage and like all the things, it really stinks to not feel good while you're doing it.
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Like it's a really busy, very labor intensive life that I think a lot of women lead.
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And I think it, the quality of life could be so much better for everybody's around.
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If women felt energetic, didn't have to dread one to two weeks of the month, every single month could sleep at night, their moods felt reasonably stable.
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Like I think that those things really do impact women in a huge way.
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And I'm really just kind of like on a mission to tell you that we can fix this.
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There is a root cause of things.
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You don't have to just get over it or just kind of suck it.
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Yeah, just cuz things are common doesn't make it normal.
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Right.
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And I think that is just so important just because a lot of your friends are dealing with bloating.
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It doesn't make it normal just cuz everyone is constipated or everyone is stressed or like, doesn't make it normal.
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It's not really the way our bodies were supposed to function.
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And I feel like this, what you're saying about women being brushed off has been like part of just my.
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Growing up years is because my mom told me years and years ago, probably not when I was living at home, probably more in the time where I was having kids, which she said, yeah, I went to my doctor when you all you kids were little.
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And I just said, you know, I'm so tired and this and that and like something's wrong with me.
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And he goes, oh yeah, I know what you have.
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It's called motherhood and.
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Like that was literally his answer.
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Like, yeah, this is just, it's just the way it is and, and so guess what?
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I just thought that was the way it was like, I guess this is just the way it is.
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Like this just motherhood and.
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You know, it is difficult and I have some amount of amnesia, I think from those early months of, I mean, I mean the kids, because I mean, I was thinking this morning as I saw someone who's just three months postpartum and just really struggling with some like block ducks with her, you know, trying to nurse and she's like, how are there so many humans on the world?
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Like, how, how do people like do this?
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And I thought, Okay.
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If I really think about it, like I had mastitis twice.
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I was in the ER with, with my one child as, as soon as they called me back and I stood up, I fainted.
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I was so dehydrated, so fevery like, yeah, but I still like, was like, well, I have to nurse.
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Like it was crazy what I, you know, just what we go through as women.
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And so, and not to mention even when we're over, Quote unquote, that part of the, you know, the early newborn time.
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Then we deal with hormones fluctuating through our bodies, uh, constantly, constantly, uh, all month.
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And then like each decade or each, you know, few years mm-hmm.
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like there is a big, um, hormonal shift too.
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So yeah, I think that there is a lot going on.
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And, and to your point with your mom's doctor, like.
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It can be motherhood, but like let's figure out a way to like support women through.
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A lot of different ways, like we can use herbs and supplements and stuff.
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I always say you cannot out supplement your lifestyle, so let's find ways to support moms so that we don't have so much on our plate that just makes us feel dead to the bone.
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And you know, there's just, there's a lot of components to this, I think, that create these symptoms for women.
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And like I said, I.
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I'm kind of like on a mission to teach women how to basically calm down their own nervous systems because we can talk about it, but like when your nervous system is really jacked up and very hyper-vigilant due to all the stress and all the pressure that moms are under, it starts to deplete a lot of hormones.
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It starts to create more inflammation.
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It starts to make us not be able to sleep.
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Our moods change, our periods change, our energy levels change.
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pain can occur like a whole bunch of cascades can happen.
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which lead us down this, this path.
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So again, mm-hmm.
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In fairness to your mom's doctor, like, probably so.
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Some of it's true.
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Yeah.
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But like, let's, let's do better.
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Right.
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Let's figure that out.
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Okay.
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Well let's, let's do, get into that specifically.
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Yeah.
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Like you, you kind of alluded to it, but in, in what way specifically does the emotion of stress.
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Which emotion is the way I teach that is really just a cascade of chemicals coming through the body from a thought.
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Mm-hmm.
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how does that impact our hormones?
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And let me clarify too.
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It's not that I'm saying well just change your thought and you won't have stress.
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That's not right?
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It's not really the way it works.
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We can work on our thoughts, and I do teach a way to do that through the model, but the fact is that a lot of us are going to have.
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Circumstances that, that lead us to thoughts that are going to be stressful.
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no matter how we think about it, stress is going to be part of it.
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Absolutely.
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So, so a few things here.
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So I talk about how stress can be physical, mental, and emotional stress.
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So first off, I think the lower hanging fruit, honestly, is usually the physical stressors.
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Now, obviously when you have a newborn, like sleep is hard to get, but as we get our kids out of kind of like that stage, lack of sleep is a huge stressor on the body.
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And likewise, sleep is really helpful for replenishing your body, kind of resetting things that reset your blood sugar or your insulin levels.
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It helps you produce human growth hormone, which is really helpful for anti-aging and energy.
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It helps to lower your cortisol level, which we all need a break from.
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That stress response during the day helps produce melatonin, which is also an antioxidant.
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So it does, and that's just like it detoxes.
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There's.
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That's just like the tip of the iceberg.
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Mm-hmm.
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um, sleep.
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So, you know, lack of sleep is gonna be a stressor on the body.
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Other things are, you know, you talk about this a lot in your work, but like food, like, let's try to get our minerals in.
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Let's try to get micronutrients in.
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I am in no stretch a perfectionist with food.
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I've been there through acupuncture school actually.
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I got into what probably should have been diagnosed as like orthorexia, um, with just being very nervous about food.
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Um, and I've definitely walked a whole lot way back from that.
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But, you know, when we are under more stress, our body, think about like the stress, response.
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It takes a lot of energy from us to be in that state of stress all the time.
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And so you're constantly using a lot of minerals and resources.
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So if we can eat our good lean proteins, we can eat our fruits and vegetables, we can you know, get enough sodium in, we can do those things.
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That's really, really helpful at supporting your body.
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And giving it what it needs to kind of burn through the stress.
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Does that make sense?
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Yeah.
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So when we're not eating a quality diet, that's what a physical, that's what you're saying is a physical stressor?
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Can be, yeah.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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you know, over exercise, under exercise, overeating, undereating, those are also all physical stressors, injuries and illnesses, surgeries, c-sections, like those things are also going to be like the physical stressors.
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So I actually think that, While some of those can be challenging to to correct.
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I actually think that those are the lower hanging fruits in comparison to our thoughts, our brain can do a whole bunch of things and can be more challenging.
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Yeah.
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Um, so that's kind of that.
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So then we talk about more like the mental and emotional stressors.
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So I always tell my patients that, It's like our perception of these things.
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So you hear people like my husband and I'll be in the same situation.
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He is not really a stressful type of person and like our kids are doing whatever, and he is like, oh, that's fine.
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And I'm like, you know, stressed about it.
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Cuz my perception of it is very different than his, um, totally.
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My husband and I have two very different opinions about the state of my teenager's bedroom.
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I'm like, yeah.
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You know, her floor, it's called a wardrobe.
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It's fine.
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And he's like, no, Yeah.
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And it's the same situation and he's totally stressed about it.
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And I'm like, Exactly.
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So that's a perfect example of like our perception is going to create our reality.
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And also our reality is what's going to create your brain to say, Hey, we don't think she can cope with this very well.
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We need some extra help here.
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And that's where like the cortisol and adrenaline kind of come into play.
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So I always tell my patients like, Other things that really can create a more hyper-vigilant type of brain and nervous system are things like perfectionism, people pleasing, putting a lot of pressure on yourself, toxic relationships or lack of boundaries.
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Those things are really kind of like trauma responses of things that we probably learned as children that are probably like, that's the lens which we're viewing life through.
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Mm-hmm.
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So like for perfectionists, if everything has to be perfect, And like, I'll give you an example.
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Myself, I'm, I call myself a recovering perfectionist.
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I'd probably give you examples all day, but when I was pregnant and nursing, my oldest who's 10, I was like, I just got outta acupuncture school and I was like, okay, I have to make all these perfect decisions.
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Like there's all the decisions around labor and delivery and breastfeeding and food and all the things, right?
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And so I was like, okay, I have to breastfeed.
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I have to do delayed cord clamping.
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I have to do this, this, this, and like all these perfect things.
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And my brain's perception was like, if this doesn't happen or if this isn't occurring, then.
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Something's really dangerous.
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Like it's wrong, it's bad.
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And so that would send me into like the state of anxiety.
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Mm-hmm.
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Um, and so it wasn't until I started to recognize that pattern and kind of say like, okay, even though I would like this to go this way, if it's not this way, it's okay.
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Things don't have to be perfect to be okay.
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Um, and that really in a nutshell helped to kind of make my nervous system calm down, that even though things weren't exactly how I wanted, it didn't have to be perfect for my nervous system to not.
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Fire all of this adrenaline through my system.
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Yeah.
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I can totally see that too with like the orthorexia because I would say what you said, like probably should have been diagnosed as orthorexia.
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That's exactly where I feel like I was as well.
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In fact, when I learned about that and my health coaching certification, my study partner was like, Hey there, do you see anything that you maybe recognize?
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Cause I.
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Still like kind of, you know, in that state when I was doing that certification.
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And so I think that it's, it's just a perfectionist tendency with food and just so then when you know you aren't getting it right, you're not hitting your macros plus or minus five every day.
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Like it was a huge stress factor for me.
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Mm-hmm.
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And when I finally took a step back from that and just was like, like you.
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it's okay for it not to be perfect.
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It's okay for me to make different choices.
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Like that was, that was stressful to take those first steps and then such a relief.
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I was gonna say like initially when you decide to kind of stop that, like it is a problem.
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It's very uncomfortable.
00:15:44.275 --> 00:15:44.395
Mm-hmm.
00:15:44.635 --> 00:15:49.975
Um, and I was gonna say that too, like that was a really great example of that cuz you become like fearful of food.
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:50.865
So like, for me mm-hmm.
00:15:51.206 --> 00:15:57.635
like sugar became the devil's seed oils, gluten, dairy, processed food, like any of that stuff.
00:15:57.666 --> 00:16:00.725
And my family didn't eat that way.
00:16:00.755 --> 00:16:02.285
Like I didn't grow up eating that way.
00:16:02.285 --> 00:16:03.576
My husband didn't eat that way.
00:16:03.576 --> 00:16:10.505
We went to restaurants and so that sort of, situation was very co like around me a lot.
00:16:10.505 --> 00:16:11.285
Mm-hmm.
00:16:11.287 --> 00:16:13.596
Um, and so every time I looked at that I'd be like, oh my God.
00:16:13.596 --> 00:16:14.225
Like, what am I gonna do?
00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:15.245
Am I gonna put this in my body?
00:16:15.245 --> 00:16:17.316
Am I gonna be like that weird person that doesn't eat that?
00:16:17.316 --> 00:16:19.446
Am I gonna be like really hard to get along with here?
00:16:19.865 --> 00:16:28.115
Um, which I'm also a people pleaser, so there was a whole bunch of things going on in my brain that made my brain kind of like, produce a lot of stress chemicals from that.
00:16:28.115 --> 00:16:29.975
And so we, we teach our brain.
00:16:30.711 --> 00:16:34.581
That, like those patterns and teach it like, okay, this is scary.
00:16:34.640 --> 00:16:37.730
You need to produce adrenaline and cortisol from this now.
00:16:38.061 --> 00:16:38.150
Mm-hmm.
00:16:38.390 --> 00:16:44.780
So over time when you do that, think about like, I always give the example of like thinking you're in a burning building.
00:16:44.780 --> 00:16:49.360
So that's like obviously a big example of this, but you're in this burning building and.
00:16:50.390 --> 00:16:54.201
You need to get out of it and think about how much energy that takes, right?
00:16:54.201 --> 00:16:58.431
Like you're producing tons of, you're leaching glucose outta your liver and muscles.
00:16:58.791 --> 00:17:01.160
There's certain like blood flow patterns that happen.
00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:05.621
So like blood and oxygen leave your brain and you can't really logically think anymore.
00:17:06.300 --> 00:17:15.570
Emotional regulation, memory, word recall, all of that stuff turns off so that your brain can be in this like hypervigilant, kind of like lizard type of mind.
00:17:15.601 --> 00:17:15.810
Mm-hmm.
00:17:16.050 --> 00:17:18.840
So think about a lizard, like look at about a lizard.
00:17:19.260 --> 00:17:21.000
They either run or freeze.
00:17:21.300 --> 00:17:24.171
They don't think about, oh, this human may not hurt me.
00:17:24.230 --> 00:17:25.050
It might be okay.
00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:26.050
They just.
00:17:26.721 --> 00:17:27.861
Go or stay.
00:17:28.010 --> 00:17:34.221
Um, and that's sort of like what's running the show for us in our brain when we're in that state and extremely dysregulated.
00:17:34.671 --> 00:17:39.980
And so when we think about being in this burning building, that's all we can think about is getting outta that building and we're screaming.
00:17:40.851 --> 00:17:41.480
We're moody.
00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:46.070
We're not patient, we're not calm, we are not digesting food well.
00:17:46.070 --> 00:17:48.770
We're not doing anything else but trying to save our own life.
00:17:49.161 --> 00:17:51.921
And so on a, that's obviously a big example.
00:17:51.951 --> 00:17:55.070
Hopefully none of us are in that situation regularly, but.
00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:05.490
If you're late, you're in the car, you are, you know, responding to the urgency culture in an email, your boss is screaming at you, your kids are screaming at you.
00:18:05.730 --> 00:18:08.881
Those are all situations that could cause that same response.
00:18:08.885 --> 00:18:20.076
And so a lot of women come and they're like, I'm really irritable and snappy and moody and in my like startle, reflux, like I get really like startled really easily and I'm just always on edge and I'm exhausted.
00:18:20.256 --> 00:18:26.046
And if my kids drop Play-Doh on the floor, I'm screaming at them and I can't make it through my workouts anymore.
00:18:26.076 --> 00:18:28.786
And I am craving sugar and I'm like, think about.
00:18:29.665 --> 00:18:36.145
The fear or the stress response that you're asking your body to live in all day, like that's gonna take a lot of energy.
00:18:36.145 --> 00:18:40.526
And so a lot of those resources from your body have to go to that place.
00:18:40.556 --> 00:18:40.976
Mm-hmm.
00:18:41.336 --> 00:18:45.026
And like I said, with the mood stuff, I think a lot of women struggle with mood stuff.
00:18:45.026 --> 00:18:53.576
And I think, I mean, if you're in that fight or flight response, like you're not gonna be patient and loving and calm, you're gonna be like, let's go, let's get outta here.
00:18:53.645 --> 00:18:55.806
And that's kinda what's like running the show for a lot of women.
00:18:57.165 --> 00:18:59.476
So we have all this stress and then.
00:18:59.885 --> 00:19:02.046
what is happening with the hormones?
00:19:02.046 --> 00:19:08.226
And when you say like, with, with our hormones, are we talking mostly about like the cortisol type hormones?
00:19:08.226 --> 00:19:14.375
Are we also talking about what most people consider female hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and those kinds of things?
00:19:14.375 --> 00:19:14.376
Mm-hmm.
00:19:14.695 --> 00:19:15.195
So both.
00:19:15.455 --> 00:19:17.715
So when you think about hormones, I want you to think about it as a pyramid.
00:19:18.441 --> 00:19:26.601
So the very bottom of the pyramid is gonna be insulin, which is your blood sugar, cortisol, which is at stress hormone, and adrenaline, which is your fight or flight response.
00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:43.101
So when those three things are, in, check everything up the chain like your cor, your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, D H E A, melatonin, neurotransmitters, inflammatory molecules, all of that has a much better shot at being in place.
00:19:43.580 --> 00:19:50.901
If the bottom three are out of whack, there's really no chance that the upper three or the upper levels can be in a good place.
00:19:50.931 --> 00:19:51.131
Mm-hmm.
00:19:51.211 --> 00:19:52.250
because when?
00:19:53.121 --> 00:19:59.931
We need a bunch of cortisol, for example, like it can start to steal from progesterone and D H E A and testosterone.
00:19:59.931 --> 00:20:05.570
So when I see labs of women who don't have a lot of hormones, I'm like, your body is very stressed.
00:20:05.570 --> 00:20:07.730
We gotta get that stress response dial down.
00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:15.201
We gotta get your brain to realize that your world is safe, so that it's able to then produce all of those hormones that are gonna make you feel good too.
00:20:16.461 --> 00:20:20.931
So we're kind of talking about both and it's like this cascade that leads to each one.
00:20:20.931 --> 00:20:21.800
Does that make sense?
00:20:21.891 --> 00:20:22.280
Yeah.
00:20:22.340 --> 00:20:34.340
So that's how when we are in that stress state, it's affecting our, actually the female hormones because our cortisol and those things are not, not in balance as the base.
00:20:35.435 --> 00:20:36.411
Exactly, yep.
00:20:36.411 --> 00:20:39.441
So you can start to notice like your periods get different.
00:20:39.445 --> 00:20:44.601
So sometimes if you're been under a stressor for like a month or longer, your pm m s is way worse.
00:20:44.601 --> 00:20:50.240
Like your stress are more tender, you're more anxious, or you're, you know, not sleeping great before your period.
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:51.290
You're more crampy.
00:20:51.681 --> 00:20:52.671
Those things can be worse.
00:20:53.181 --> 00:20:58.461
You may notice, um, you know, like your period coming every two weeks, you're like, oh my gosh, I just had one.
00:20:58.461 --> 00:21:01.010
Like why am I getting this weird period and it's probably due.
00:21:01.030 --> 00:21:04.401
I thought that was I thought that was just perimenopause coming on for me.
00:21:04.681 --> 00:21:05.760
Well, I was like, what?
00:21:05.820 --> 00:21:06.451
What is this?
00:21:06.901 --> 00:21:07.560
Two weeks?
00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:09.661
That also could happen too.
00:21:09.871 --> 00:21:12.750
So yes, the caveat here is during perimenopause.
00:21:13.020 --> 00:21:17.161
Perimenopause is really defined as like the two to 12 years before you go through menopause.
00:21:17.161 --> 00:21:18.570
So it can be a two to 12.
00:21:19.310 --> 00:21:28.141
However, you don't have to put up with that if that's happening, where you're getting a cycle, like every really shorter than like 21 days.
00:21:28.171 --> 00:21:29.671
21 days should be.
00:21:30.351 --> 00:21:36.621
Bare minimum that your cycle will go and it sh you should find a nice baseline for yourself.
00:21:36.621 --> 00:21:49.211
So if that, if you've been somebody that's like a 30 day cycle, maybe like 28 days, but it shouldn't go back down to 21 and then up to 35 and then 60, and then 12, like that's an estrogen issue.
00:21:49.550 --> 00:21:49.971
Mm-hmm.
00:21:50.590 --> 00:21:56.990
um, and progesterone, those two are in a good ratio in your cycle, and so there's things we can do to support your progesterone.
00:21:57.576 --> 00:22:00.935
De decrease estrogen and get that regulated.
00:22:01.715 --> 00:22:02.046
Okay.
00:22:02.050 --> 00:22:02.286
Yeah.
00:22:02.286 --> 00:22:02.566
Good.
00:22:02.945 --> 00:22:03.816
Yeah, don't put up with that.
00:22:05.195 --> 00:22:10.326
It just happened once, actually, recently and I was like, oh, welcome to perimenopause, I guess.
00:22:10.895 --> 00:22:15.965
Um, but it's not like a regular issue for me, but I'm sure it can be for others out there listening.
00:22:15.965 --> 00:22:20.316
Cause I think perimenopause is probably most of my listeners where their age group.
00:22:21.246 --> 00:22:21.605
Yeah.
00:22:21.846 --> 00:22:28.625
Um, so how, how does this then affect our energy versus fatigue?
00:22:28.705 --> 00:22:35.185
because that is actually one of the most common, when I have clients come in, we always set up like three goals.
00:22:35.185 --> 00:22:36.986
We don't just do a weight loss goal.
00:22:36.990 --> 00:22:38.606
There's always other things that are going on.
00:22:39.096 --> 00:22:42.175
And the second most common goal is energy.
00:22:42.266 --> 00:22:47.006
I wanna have more energy, and for the most part, when we're getting.
00:22:47.441 --> 00:22:50.530
Better quality nutrition in, they feel better.
00:22:50.530 --> 00:22:59.381
So that's just kind of surface layer what, but also doing some of the coaching that we're doing, I think is helping to reduce their stress.
00:22:59.381 --> 00:23:08.401
So I think I'm inadvertently doing this, but tell me how, what the mechanisms are for stress impacting our energy and feeling.
00:23:09.550 --> 00:23:10.030
Totally.
00:23:10.030 --> 00:23:14.471
So that's one of the biggest things for my patients too, that they just feel tired.
00:23:14.590 --> 00:23:16.780
Um, and some people feel tired all day.
00:23:16.840 --> 00:23:18.340
Like it just, they wake up groggy.
00:23:18.340 --> 00:23:19.480
It never gets better.
00:23:19.540 --> 00:23:24.240
Um, some people wake up groggy and then they feel okay, and then they have an afternoon energy crash.
00:23:24.941 --> 00:23:27.641
And it, it can be a little bit different for each person.
00:23:27.641 --> 00:23:31.901
So cortisol, our stress hormone, remember, it's part of the circadian rhythm.
00:23:32.530 --> 00:23:37.510
So when we wake up in the morning, cortisol has been bottomed out all night to let us sleep.
00:23:37.510 --> 00:23:40.040
Well, melatonin has taken over, which is our sleep hormone.
00:23:40.961 --> 00:23:49.151
And so when we wake up, Within 30 to 60 minutes, we should get this nice cortisol awakening response, which is where you get like a big rise in cortisol.
00:23:49.151 --> 00:23:54.671
So you probably notice like, okay, you feel kind of groggy and then once you get up and get going, like, okay, we're good for the day.
00:23:54.671 --> 00:23:56.020
That's, that's what should happen.
00:23:56.320 --> 00:24:05.381
Again, if you're not feeling that, you're probably not getting a good cortisol awakening response in which we need to work on circadian rhythm and your stress response.
00:24:06.010 --> 00:24:12.040
Then after that cortisol awakening response in a normal person, you sort of like start to go down.
00:24:12.786 --> 00:24:17.705
Slowly throughout the day so that you can have it go all the way down for bed at night again.
00:24:17.976 --> 00:24:25.266
So there is actually a decent crash of cortisol normally in the afternoon, which is why like other countries take siestas and like.
00:24:26.185 --> 00:24:31.526
Have that afternoon, little bit of a reprieve, and then their body kind of regulates and then they go on with the rest of their day.
00:24:31.976 --> 00:24:49.915
I always think that like expectations are a big part of this because I have patients who get up at five or four 30 to work out and then run with coffee, get the kids out the door, have a super stressful morning, eat lunch like 3:00 PM of an energy crash.
00:24:49.976 --> 00:24:52.165
Might be nine hours into their day.
00:24:52.520 --> 00:24:53.570
Or 10 hours even.
00:24:53.570 --> 00:24:54.290
You know what I mean?
00:24:54.530 --> 00:25:06.050
And so I think just kind of recognizing like where you are, um, is important so that you don't expect to just have straight on energy for like 12 hours a day.
00:25:06.056 --> 00:25:07.040
Like, that's not Yeah.
00:25:07.520 --> 00:25:09.471
Realistic expectation, right?
00:25:09.471 --> 00:25:13.010
Setting that expectation that like, oh, this is normal.
00:25:13.371 --> 00:25:16.820
Like it's, it's normal that I am having an energy crash.
00:25:16.820 --> 00:25:21.320
It's normal that I'm hungry right now because it's been some time, like nothing's gone wrong.
00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:23.411
Right, exactly.
00:25:23.411 --> 00:25:27.221
So sometimes I, I first start there with like, what is the expectation?
00:25:27.221 --> 00:25:33.070
Because in our culture, like productivity, urgency, like we have a very unhealthy relationship to that.
00:25:33.070 --> 00:25:33.911
Mm-hmm.
00:25:33.941 --> 00:25:39.520
And so it's not to say that like you should feel just like death every afternoon and like you can't even keep your eyes open.
00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:40.641
Like that is a bit of a crash.
00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:44.756
So I start with like, and I think you do this too, but like regulating blood sugar.
00:25:44.756 --> 00:25:44.846
Mm-hmm.
00:25:45.476 --> 00:25:53.816
So are you on like this rollercoaster where you're not getting enough fiber and not getting enough protein and it's making your blood sugar crash, which is therefore going to make you feel tired.
00:25:54.036 --> 00:25:54.455
Mm-hmm.
00:25:54.540 --> 00:25:58.796
So I think eating in regular intervals throughout the day is helpful.
00:25:58.800 --> 00:25:59.935
Again, look at your hunger scale.
00:25:59.955 --> 00:26:01.976
You don't have to eat every two hours, but.
00:26:03.040 --> 00:26:06.760
Don't let yourself get to on your scale like a negative five, right?
00:26:06.971 --> 00:26:08.500
Or like a negative six, you know what I mean?
00:26:08.500 --> 00:26:10.631
Like that is gonna make you feel tired.
00:26:11.097 --> 00:26:15.807
so eating enough protein and fiber, eating in regular intervals for you is good.
00:26:15.807 --> 00:26:16.738
And then also minerals.
00:26:17.113 --> 00:26:26.292
So a lot of us are dehydrated, and when we don't have enough magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium, that also makes us tired.
00:26:26.298 --> 00:26:29.712
Those are like spark plugs that create energy in our body.
00:26:30.343 --> 00:26:36.223
So for people who just drink plain water or just drink coffee, which is more dehydrating all day.
00:26:37.028 --> 00:26:41.208
I encourage women to do like, either electrolytes when they're tired.
00:26:41.238 --> 00:26:41.327
Mm-hmm.
00:26:41.567 --> 00:26:50.347
so either like morning and afternoon or I love to do, this is kinda like a trendy thing now, but something called sole water or adrenal cocktail, which is mm-hmm.
00:26:50.798 --> 00:26:59.678
your sodium and potassium, so like coconut water with a little bit of orange juice and some sea salt is really helpful at getting those minerals in there.
00:26:59.948 --> 00:27:01.327
And a lot of people are like, well, I don't want the.
00:27:02.218 --> 00:27:05.488
glucose in that is how that gets into your cell.
00:27:06.057 --> 00:27:06.238
Yeah.
00:27:06.268 --> 00:27:08.248
So we actually want the glucose there.
00:27:08.877 --> 00:27:13.678
And just as a side note here, I know Ali just covered this with a guest on minerals.
00:27:13.678 --> 00:27:17.728
I just listened to her podcast about minerals and it was so good.
00:27:17.728 --> 00:27:19.468
So I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, all of this.
00:27:19.472 --> 00:27:25.557
So if you want a little more, I'll link that episode in the show notes because it was really helpful on all of this mineral.
00:27:26.518 --> 00:27:31.498
Yeah, so minerals are, are super cool, um, and can be really helpful at how our bodies work.
00:27:31.978 --> 00:27:43.942
I just also, I know you guys talked a little bit about this, but I just started, drinking that LMNT, and I know you said it's a little low in potassium, but, um, for everything else, I thought it was great and I have such low blood pressure.
00:27:43.942 --> 00:27:48.863
I think it's actually really been helping to just really up that good quality salt content.
00:27:48.867 --> 00:27:51.202
So I've been, I've been really happy with that.
00:27:51.202 --> 00:27:54.633
I just got like a trial pack and I'm like, ah, I think I'm gonna do this Yeah.
00:27:55.012 --> 00:27:55.222
Yeah.
00:27:55.222 --> 00:27:56.182
We drink it here too.
00:27:56.182 --> 00:27:57.432
Like, my husband's an Iron Man.
00:27:57.613 --> 00:27:58.032
Mm-hmm.
00:27:58.462 --> 00:28:01.673
um, he trains for that and so that's what he drinks all day too.
00:28:01.742 --> 00:28:02.252
and that's what.
00:28:02.758 --> 00:28:05.307
That culture of people drink, so, yeah.
00:28:05.528 --> 00:28:11.698
Um, so yeah, we drink it over here too, but you could put a little bit of coconut water like Tina in that episode said too.
00:28:11.702 --> 00:28:14.038
That's a great source of potassium.
00:28:14.428 --> 00:28:19.407
So those are like some quick, like quick and dirty, like nutritional type of things to do.
00:28:19.413 --> 00:28:19.498
Mm-hmm.
00:28:20.064 --> 00:28:24.114
other things for energy are, again, if you think about.
00:28:24.818 --> 00:28:31.868
We've all felt emotionally exhausted before where you like have had this huge stressor and you're just like, oh.
00:28:32.348 --> 00:28:34.719
And that's how our body's like kind of designed to be.
00:28:34.723 --> 00:28:48.128
So when we're in that burning building, it needs time to come back down, sort of like regather the nutrients, like all those minerals, calm everything else down and kind of be for a minute before the next thing happens.
00:28:48.459 --> 00:28:50.348
A lot of us go from.
00:28:51.219 --> 00:28:52.659
Like, it's really interesting to me.
00:28:52.719 --> 00:28:56.199
A lot of people are very triggered by like email and notifications.
00:28:56.199 --> 00:28:56.769
Mm-hmm.
00:28:57.219 --> 00:28:58.128
like even just like they have.
00:28:59.108 --> 00:29:00.038
They have to grab'em.
00:29:00.159 --> 00:29:03.909
Yeah, they have to respond really quickly and like they get one and they're like, oh God, I gotta do this.
00:29:04.298 --> 00:29:08.588
And again, these are like micro little like tiny things, like stressors in the day.
00:29:08.588 --> 00:29:12.249
So it's not like these are huge stressors that people are gonna be like, oh my God, I'm so stressed.
00:29:12.578 --> 00:29:17.209
But again, it's a cumulative effort of like, each and every little thing.
00:29:17.209 --> 00:29:17.298
Mm-hmm.
00:29:17.719 --> 00:29:18.739
that happens during the day.
00:29:18.739 --> 00:29:26.358
So like some of the physical stressors and then we're perfectionists or we're thinking that our boss is upset with us and we're telling ourselves this big story about it.
00:29:26.358 --> 00:29:33.229
And then we get an email that's urgent and then we're in traffic and then we have to take kids everywhere.
00:29:33.449 --> 00:29:36.858
And then, you know, it just is a cumulative effort all day.
00:29:36.858 --> 00:29:39.558
I think of a lot of stress and.
00:29:40.118 --> 00:29:45.398
I don't think that we're letting ourselves ever come down enough from that to like recover.
00:29:45.398 --> 00:29:45.459
Yeah.
00:29:45.578 --> 00:29:59.209
And so over time you feel, first you start to feel tired, but wired like your adrenaline's still going and you know that you're tired, but you're just like going, and then after that stage you do just get burnt out and you're just tired.
00:30:00.209 --> 00:30:00.513
Mm-hmm.
00:30:01.523 --> 00:30:05.753
I think too, not just like cumulative throughout the day, but cumulative too.
00:30:05.753 --> 00:30:12.864
Like in the weeks and months and like years of our life, I am thinking how you're talking about physical versus emotional stress.
00:30:12.894 --> 00:30:18.474
And the other day my teenagers was like, well, like it's easier to have teenagers, right?
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:21.683
Than when you had toddlers like, cuz we pretty much take care of ourselves.
00:30:22.538 --> 00:30:28.989
and my husband and I just looked at each other and we're like, yeah, toddlers are physically stressful, physically demanding.
00:30:29.348 --> 00:30:33.848
Like young kids, you know, you're taking care of their bodies as well, so it's very physical.
00:30:33.848 --> 00:30:35.798
You're feeding them, you're bathing them, blah, blah, blah.
00:30:36.398 --> 00:30:39.909
Teenagers like, man, they'll, they're emotionally demanding.
00:30:39.913 --> 00:30:40.209
Mm-hmm.
00:30:40.358 --> 00:30:41.349
like all the time.
00:30:41.709 --> 00:30:42.459
And so I think of.
00:30:42.814 --> 00:30:45.003
Like cycle too as parenting.
00:30:45.003 --> 00:31:05.693
Like you go through that physical and now I'm getting fairly good sleep, so like I feel like I'm physically recovering, but like the emotional demands of teenagers and I have adult children as well and just, yeah, like think, just thinking about them even though they don't live with me is they are still like a, a, a.
00:31:06.439 --> 00:31:06.999
And Yeah.
00:31:07.308 --> 00:31:07.638
Yeah.
00:31:07.699 --> 00:31:09.288
And, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
00:31:09.288 --> 00:31:12.199
Like I just wanna think about them and mm-hmm.
00:31:12.528 --> 00:31:16.249
I mean, you know, I feel like it would be weird if I didn't worry sometimes.
00:31:16.818 --> 00:31:18.348
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
00:31:18.348 --> 00:31:23.919
I always say that too, like there's a lot of research about this, but moms have.
00:31:25.013 --> 00:31:28.973
Like d n a, even from our children, from when we carried them.
00:31:29.273 --> 00:31:37.013
And we also have hormone called oxytocin that like is there to bond with your children and it's really, really strong.
00:31:37.013 --> 00:31:43.094
And for some women, um, it can create anxiety because their bond is so strong and they're so attached to that being.
00:31:44.078 --> 00:31:46.749
But I do think, like, I think that's a normal thing.
00:31:46.909 --> 00:31:55.009
I think sometimes women can cross to be abnormal to where we need to work through that, so they're not feeling so anxious about their kids.
00:31:55.009 --> 00:31:55.909
But, but yeah.
00:31:56.148 --> 00:31:58.788
I actually was recently talking to my, um, mom.
00:31:58.848 --> 00:32:06.288
I, so my kids are seven and 10, and we're supposed to be in like this lull of parenting where like things are fairly easy.
00:32:06.338 --> 00:32:08.588
from toddlerhood to teenage years.
00:32:08.588 --> 00:32:10.749
And I'm like, if this is easy, like, whew.
00:32:13.308 --> 00:32:15.519
I got some, something coming my way for sure.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:17.108
Cuz my 10 year old.
00:32:17.858 --> 00:32:21.578
So emotional and there is drama every day.
00:32:21.584 --> 00:32:21.848
Mm-hmm.
00:32:21.929 --> 00:32:24.009
And it's just, it's like your drama, you know?
00:32:24.009 --> 00:32:26.769
As a mom it like becomes you too, and you're like, mm-hmm.
00:32:26.775 --> 00:32:26.808
ugh.
00:32:27.338 --> 00:32:27.699
Yeah.
00:32:27.729 --> 00:32:28.269
It's a whole thing.
00:32:28.273 --> 00:32:29.368
Yeah, totally.
00:32:30.068 --> 00:32:32.558
So, okay, this is like a lot.
00:32:32.564 --> 00:32:34.249
Everyone's feeling like, yeah, yeah.
00:32:35.068 --> 00:32:35.969
So what do we do?
00:32:36.719 --> 00:32:38.528
Like what are some solutions?
00:32:38.528 --> 00:32:42.398
Yeah, like, I mean, managing stress feels like a.
00:32:43.148 --> 00:32:47.949
Somewhat of a buzzword and also like, well, all we can do is manage it.
00:32:47.949 --> 00:32:49.808
Like it feels like we should.
00:32:50.348 --> 00:32:56.709
There should be more like how, how can we really like take control of it or, I just want a better word than just manage.
00:32:57.128 --> 00:32:57.308
Totally.
00:32:57.818 --> 00:32:59.509
Because manage feels like I'm just moving it around.
00:33:00.443 --> 00:33:01.163
You know what I mean?
00:33:01.554 --> 00:33:02.394
Absolutely.
00:33:02.453 --> 00:33:05.034
So I think this has become a really buzzy thing.
00:33:05.094 --> 00:33:08.183
So I think that there's, it's a really multifaceted approach.
00:33:08.183 --> 00:33:08.723
First off.
00:33:09.054 --> 00:33:11.663
So like I said, first look at the physical stressors.
00:33:11.663 --> 00:33:14.933
Like if you're intermittent fasting, for example, like take that off your plate.
00:33:14.993 --> 00:33:21.159
If you're already feeling stressed and you're doing that, That's like a really low hanging fruit to just like, stop.
00:33:21.338 --> 00:33:21.759
Mm-hmm.
00:33:21.844 --> 00:33:26.949
if you're drinking copious amounts of caffeine to just keep your system jacked up all day.
00:33:27.308 --> 00:33:29.169
Again, work your way back there.
00:33:29.259 --> 00:33:31.388
So there are, I'm gonna interrupt you.
00:33:31.419 --> 00:33:31.838
Sorry.
00:33:31.898 --> 00:33:31.989
Yeah.
00:33:32.378 --> 00:33:35.878
Oh, give, gimme a number there on copious amounts of coffee.
00:33:36.338 --> 00:33:39.159
So I generally recommend.
00:33:39.548 --> 00:33:42.278
If you can like one cup of coffee in the morning.
00:33:42.278 --> 00:33:42.279
Okay.
00:33:42.285 --> 00:33:45.969
Like a normal 250, so it's like a oh 250.
00:33:45.969 --> 00:33:46.328
Okay.
00:33:47.078 --> 00:33:54.669
Just cuz there's so many different energy drinks out there and so, so 1 250 milligram would be considered.
00:33:55.175 --> 00:33:56.165
I think Okay.
00:33:56.171 --> 00:33:56.316
Normal.
00:33:56.385 --> 00:33:56.675
Okay.
00:33:57.036 --> 00:33:57.635
I think it's fine.
00:33:57.935 --> 00:34:02.705
Cause that is where, again, remember that cortisol awakening response, you already have a high one.
00:34:02.711 --> 00:34:05.496
So that sort of just goes with your natural circadian rhythm.
00:34:05.766 --> 00:34:07.655
It might jacket it up a little bit more.
00:34:07.986 --> 00:34:12.576
Um, but you really want to stop drinking caffeine eight hours before you go to bed.
00:34:12.581 --> 00:34:12.876
Mm-hmm.
00:34:12.925 --> 00:34:20.306
because that's how long some people take to metabolize that, and you really don't wanna get into the pattern where you're having that afternoon latte, then sleeping like crap.
00:34:20.306 --> 00:34:20.561
Then you're exhausted.
00:34:21.476 --> 00:34:22.496
More caffeine.
00:34:22.885 --> 00:34:23.396
okay, sorry.
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:24.085
So I interrupted.
00:34:24.085 --> 00:34:26.996
So that's another one, like avoiding copious amounts of caffeine.
00:34:27.025 --> 00:34:27.385
Okay.
00:34:27.746 --> 00:34:27.956
Yeah.
00:34:28.496 --> 00:34:29.706
So then we get into more.
00:34:30.911 --> 00:34:34.001
of, I think the things that are harder and take more self-awareness.
00:34:34.061 --> 00:34:43.780
So I think that, I always tell my patients to start with, and I think you talk about this a lot with like emotional eating and stuff, but like the self-awareness of thoughts are incredibly important.
00:34:44.201 --> 00:34:50.981
So if you know that you're being triggered by email, for example, like we gotta teach your brain, the email is a safe thing.
00:34:51.101 --> 00:34:58.876
So when you get an email, instead of responding within five seconds of it, like letting that sit there for a minute and teaching your brain, Hey, you know what?
00:34:58.876 --> 00:35:00.585
This is fine that this is sitting here.
00:35:00.795 --> 00:35:01.755
We are, okay.
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.496
This might feel really uncomfortable.
00:35:03.496 --> 00:35:13.365
We might be anxious that it's here at first, but the more that we buy into that catastrophic thinking about that, we're just reinforcing those patterns over and over and over.
00:35:13.666 --> 00:35:17.056
So I, I tell my patients to pick one to two.
00:35:17.210 --> 00:35:20.721
Big things like that and really start to work on that.
00:35:20.871 --> 00:35:29.150
So sometimes like numbing out to scrolling the phone at night before bed, like, how can we get the phone outta your room so that you can sleep better?
00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:32.181
Because the phone also is very stimulating.
00:35:32.240 --> 00:35:35.451
I don't think our brains are meant to take in that much information that quickly.
00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:38.811
I think that's also a trigger for the nervous system.
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:40.731
It's blue light, obviously, and.
00:35:41.826 --> 00:35:54.485
I don't know about you, but like I very rarely leave social media feeling like real great I mean, there's a lot of times that it's either like the comparison trap, the shoulds, like you should be doing more.
00:35:55.266 --> 00:35:56.706
Something triggered you.
00:35:56.706 --> 00:36:01.956
Like just be very careful of the content you're consuming when you're consuming it.
00:36:01.956 --> 00:36:04.206
Like we have to be responsible about that too, I think.
00:36:04.210 --> 00:36:04.536
Mm-hmm.
00:36:05.088 --> 00:36:08.744
if kids are a trigger, like getting your kids out the door in the morning are a trigger.
00:36:08.744 --> 00:36:14.983
I know that's a big, you know, stressful time for a lot of people just getting to work on time or kids out the door, whatever, like.
00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:20.668
Wake up earlier, have a slower morning, set expectations with your kids.
00:36:20.668 --> 00:36:29.969
Like find the times of your day that suck the most, that cause that a big, huge adrenaline spike and start to work through how can we make this better?
00:36:29.974 --> 00:36:30.898
Could we delegate?
00:36:30.898 --> 00:36:32.489
Could we delete certain tasks?
00:36:32.489 --> 00:36:34.708
Can we just have our kids do things differently?
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:37.739
Could we change the mindset of things?
00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:44.398
So when your kids are yelling at you for whatever, not getting their clothes cleaned or whatever, like, could you just.
00:36:45.358 --> 00:37:00.974
your only job is to like keep yourself outta that fight or flight response in that time, so they can yell and scream, but the more that you engage and get into that fight or flight response, a, it makes the situation worse for the kids because you're both not logically thinking, but B, it jacks up that nervous system more.
00:37:00.974 --> 00:37:00.974
Mm-hmm.
00:37:00.994 --> 00:37:01.713
So I think it's, mm-hmm.
00:37:02.023 --> 00:37:07.483
the first step about this is truly recognizing when you are in that place and how can.
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:10.949
give yourself messages of safety versus danger.
00:37:11.139 --> 00:37:11.429
Yeah.
00:37:11.489 --> 00:37:12.478
So we're gonna be late.
00:37:12.483 --> 00:37:13.048
We're gonna be late.
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:13.378
Okay.
00:37:13.378 --> 00:37:14.878
What's the worst case scenario?
00:37:14.878 --> 00:37:15.449
If you're late?
00:37:16.228 --> 00:37:16.409
Yeah.
00:37:16.409 --> 00:37:24.900
You walk your kids into school or they're late for their practice, they probably learn a lesson, but it feels like this big, you know, catastrophic thing to be late.
00:37:26.548 --> 00:37:27.509
Does that make sense?
00:37:27.539 --> 00:37:27.958
Yeah.
00:37:27.989 --> 00:37:31.018
And I like how you're just like, Just pick one thing right now.
00:37:31.048 --> 00:37:31.628
Just yeah.
00:37:31.858 --> 00:37:40.978
Pick the one thing that it seems to be the, the pinnacle of the day that's really causing the most, and I like the idea too, of deleting when you say like, what can we delete?
00:37:41.699 --> 00:37:45.478
I, that's what I have done with my notifi notifications on my phone.
00:37:45.628 --> 00:37:52.409
That used to be like a huge issue that the amount of notifications that come automatically I have just turned off.
00:37:52.889 --> 00:37:54.869
I would say probably 95%.
00:37:54.869 --> 00:38:00.809
I get very few notifications except for things I intentionally, my calendar notifies me like, Hey, you should be here.
00:38:01.048 --> 00:38:01.619
Thank you.
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:06.659
I need that but I don't need to know that Old Navy emailed me.
00:38:06.748 --> 00:38:08.009
I just don't need to know that.
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:08.509
Right.
00:38:08.878 --> 00:38:15.838
Like, yeah, it is like this, it's like perpetuating this like urgency, like what's, you know, this like buzzing or this beeping in your face?
00:38:15.838 --> 00:38:15.898
Yeah.
00:38:16.108 --> 00:38:17.278
All day long.
00:38:17.748 --> 00:38:20.239
but yeah, so I know that that was not like a very.
00:38:20.523 --> 00:38:23.103
Tactical, like do this now thing.
00:38:23.134 --> 00:38:26.344
But I do think that everyone has to just sort of like take a step.
00:38:27.708 --> 00:38:30.139
Bird's eye view and do an inventory.
00:38:30.389 --> 00:38:30.809
Mm-hmm.
00:38:30.893 --> 00:38:32.929
like, where is this coming from?
00:38:32.929 --> 00:38:40.878
That's what I always ask all my patients, like, you know, if we do a, a cortisol test and their cortisol looks either high or low, I'm like, Hey, this is stress.
00:38:41.059 --> 00:38:42.798
Where is this stress coming from?
00:38:43.219 --> 00:38:44.358
Are you a perfectionist?
00:38:44.364 --> 00:38:45.289
Are you people pleaser?
00:38:45.289 --> 00:38:45.889
Type A?
00:38:45.889 --> 00:38:46.369
We go through that.
00:38:46.869 --> 00:38:50.509
Are the mornings work evenings?
00:38:51.018 --> 00:38:57.048
You know, bedtime, like where is this stress coming from and how can we find solutions to that?
00:38:57.673 --> 00:38:57.954
Mm-hmm.
00:38:58.833 --> 00:39:01.324
I'm not trying to overhaul your whole life in one day.
00:39:01.684 --> 00:39:05.353
Like this is what I talk about too with, with my client's nutrition.
00:39:05.353 --> 00:39:08.893
We're not trying to overhaul your nutrition all in the first week.
00:39:08.893 --> 00:39:10.753
We just pick one thing to start with.
00:39:10.773 --> 00:39:11.193
Mm-hmm.
00:39:11.324 --> 00:39:12.614
one little thing.
00:39:12.619 --> 00:39:14.353
So maybe it is bath time.
00:39:15.043 --> 00:39:20.623
We're just gonna come up with a new bath time routine, if that's the thing that just sends you over the edge every day.
00:39:20.623 --> 00:39:21.764
Mm-hmm.
00:39:21.769 --> 00:39:22.114
totally.
00:39:22.333 --> 00:39:29.353
And I always say this to people and I, I think that it can be hard, hard message to hear at first, but this is like your life's work.
00:39:29.684 --> 00:39:39.494
Like there are always going to be, like you said, like new stages in parenting, new things that happen, aging parents, differences in careers and businesses or financial statuses or any of those things.
00:39:40.563 --> 00:39:47.134
And so it's learning how to recognize those and like how can we change the perspective.
00:39:47.134 --> 00:39:48.543
It's not repressing emotions.
00:39:48.543 --> 00:39:50.463
It's changing the perspective of this.
00:39:50.469 --> 00:39:52.083
Like, okay, this sucks.
00:39:52.088 --> 00:39:53.074
This is stressful.
00:39:53.074 --> 00:39:53.793
This is hard.
00:39:53.793 --> 00:39:55.143
I'm really angry about this.
00:39:55.143 --> 00:39:57.454
I'm grieving this, but we are going to be okay.
00:39:58.259 --> 00:40:00.509
You are safe even though this is uncomfortable.
00:40:00.509 --> 00:40:02.369
Like kind of just giving yourself those messages Yes.
00:40:02.375 --> 00:40:03.759
Of environment and safety.
00:40:04.179 --> 00:40:04.398
Yes.
00:40:04.438 --> 00:40:07.949
Versus, oh my God, I'm so anxious and this is so terrible, and what are we gonna do?
00:40:07.949 --> 00:40:12.028
And like just buying into the catastrophes that we tell ourself.
00:40:12.478 --> 00:40:13.599
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:13.978 --> 00:40:14.518
You are safe.
00:40:15.403 --> 00:40:16.693
and it's uncomfortable.
00:40:17.143 --> 00:40:19.483
Like it's okay for things to be uncomfortable.
00:40:19.489 --> 00:40:19.864
Mm-hmm.
00:40:20.684 --> 00:40:22.634
I, you know, life is 50 50.
00:40:22.934 --> 00:40:26.594
We do have about half positive, about half negative emotions.
00:40:26.594 --> 00:40:30.554
Our brain emphasizes or prioritizes the negative cuz those are the ones that are gonna kill us.
00:40:31.244 --> 00:40:32.414
or so it thinks.
00:40:32.418 --> 00:40:32.864
Absolutely.
00:40:32.934 --> 00:40:33.224
Yeah.
00:40:33.364 --> 00:40:36.373
But we really are having about 50 50.
00:40:37.123 --> 00:40:44.534
It's just learning to feel those negative emotions and realizing nothing has actually gone wrong.
00:40:44.534 --> 00:40:47.114
It's totally normal to be sad right now.
00:40:47.114 --> 00:40:53.114
I, I always think like, like I said earlier, like it would be weird if I didn't worry sometimes about my kids.
00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:58.903
Like it would be weird if we weren't sad sometimes it would be weird if we weren't feeling some of these negative emotions.
00:40:58.909 --> 00:41:04.423
Like if someone says something really unkind to us, it would be weird if we didn't feel hurt, like.
00:41:06.003 --> 00:41:08.914
Negative emotions are totally normal.
00:41:08.918 --> 00:41:09.293
Mm-hmm.
00:41:09.664 --> 00:41:23.574
and it's, I feel like stress is sort of the layered on emotion When we have something sad or or disappointing happen and then we add stress because we think that shouldn't have happened.
00:41:24.074 --> 00:41:30.574
That's what causes, I think, a lot of stress is thinking, what did happen that is negative?
00:41:30.844 --> 00:41:34.054
Shouldn't, or you were supposed to somehow prevent it.
00:41:34.523 --> 00:41:36.804
That causes tons of stress.
00:41:36.809 --> 00:41:37.134
Mm-hmm.
00:41:37.219 --> 00:41:45.923
So when we accept the first emotion and process that through, or for example, like my clients, they have a negative experience and then they eat because of it.
00:41:46.103 --> 00:41:48.594
Then they're stressed cuz they're like, well, I'm never gonna get this.
00:41:48.594 --> 00:41:49.643
I'm never gonna lose weight.
00:41:49.643 --> 00:41:50.963
That causes stress.
00:41:51.324 --> 00:41:58.074
So when we just learn to feel that first emotion, learn to be disappointed, like, yes, I'm disappointed right now.
00:41:58.373 --> 00:41:59.574
Hey, this is uncomfortable.
00:41:59.603 --> 00:42:01.134
Hey, I'm embarrassed, I'm nervous.
00:42:01.768 --> 00:42:05.159
Those things are all normal part of human experience.
00:42:05.489 --> 00:42:05.639
Mm-hmm.
00:42:06.028 --> 00:42:06.298
Yeah.
00:42:06.298 --> 00:42:07.409
No, I couldn't agree more.
00:42:07.409 --> 00:42:13.978
I, I always tell my patients that I think that stress is like an umbrella, and I'm like, okay, you're telling me that you're feeling stressed?
00:42:13.978 --> 00:42:15.059
Like, what's under that?
00:42:15.063 --> 00:42:15.389
Mm-hmm.
00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:21.478
Is it anger, resentment, frustration, fear, worry, you know, sadness, grief, whatever.
00:42:22.139 --> 00:42:23.128
Let's identify that.
00:42:23.128 --> 00:42:30.898
And I think that the, one of the biggest stressors too, is when you experience sadness, for example, and.
00:42:31.398 --> 00:42:33.199
You're like, oh my gosh, I'm feeling sad.
00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:35.449
And then we gaslight ourself out of it.
00:42:35.449 --> 00:42:36.708
We're like, oh, just get over it.
00:42:36.708 --> 00:42:37.639
Not a big deal.
00:42:37.789 --> 00:42:39.889
We should be further along in this grieving process.
00:42:39.889 --> 00:42:40.998
We shouldn't feel sad.
00:42:41.179 --> 00:42:42.438
This feels really uncomfortable.
00:42:42.438 --> 00:42:44.958
Just go eat instead, or drink or whatever.
00:42:45.498 --> 00:42:49.358
You're telling your brain that that normal human experience is wrong.
00:42:50.298 --> 00:42:50.778
And so women.
00:42:51.673 --> 00:42:57.643
We are gaslighted regularly about a myriad of things, but we also are pretty good at gaslighting ourselves too.
00:42:57.873 --> 00:42:58.293
Mm-hmm.
00:42:58.393 --> 00:43:02.353
and kind of, you know, unvalidating our own experience.
00:43:02.384 --> 00:43:03.643
Um, and I actually read.
00:43:04.289 --> 00:43:16.619
There's a psychologist who I love, her name's Nicole Sachs and she posted something today that was like one of the primary causes of anxiety is being unvalidated as a child, like your emotions as a child.
00:43:16.619 --> 00:43:18.418
And I thought that was like really powerful.
00:43:18.929 --> 00:43:21.599
Um, cuz it's true, like if we aren't.
00:43:22.324 --> 00:43:23.494
Able to express.
00:43:23.554 --> 00:43:25.264
I, I always say identify and validate.
00:43:25.804 --> 00:43:28.143
Like just identify it and validate it for yourself.
00:43:28.143 --> 00:43:28.983
This is okay.
00:43:29.043 --> 00:43:29.884
This is fine.
00:43:30.094 --> 00:43:31.534
Doesn't mean that you're a bad person.
00:43:31.534 --> 00:43:32.974
It doesn't mean anything about you.
00:43:33.184 --> 00:43:37.543
There can be nuances and things can coexist, like there's a whole bunch of conversations there.
00:43:38.373 --> 00:43:42.543
Um, but we want to teach our brain that it's okay to feel these things.
00:43:42.543 --> 00:43:43.083
They're safe.
00:43:45.313 --> 00:43:45.554
Yeah.
00:43:45.614 --> 00:43:46.123
Love it.
00:43:46.273 --> 00:43:46.844
Okay.
00:43:47.634 --> 00:43:51.293
tell us where people can connect with you, learn more about what you do.
00:43:51.623 --> 00:43:52.403
Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:52.733 --> 00:43:54.563
So I am on Instagram as well.
00:43:54.623 --> 00:43:59.934
Um, I also have a Facebook page, um, or group actually called Holistic Health with Ali Damron.
00:44:00.204 --> 00:44:06.384
I have a podcast called the Ali Damon Show and a YouTube channel, um, just at Ally Damron too over there.
00:44:06.804 --> 00:44:10.943
Yeah, on the website, Ali Damron, all my stuff's Ali Damron, so wherever you wanna go makes it easy.
00:44:11.483 --> 00:44:14.634
Searched out and I'll probably be there, Okay, perfect.
00:44:14.634 --> 00:44:20.244
Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your wealth of knowledge and expertise.
00:44:20.244 --> 00:44:21.324
I really appreciate it.
00:44:21.653 --> 00:44:22.463
Yeah, my pleasure.
00:44:22.463 --> 00:44:23.454
I'll talk to you soon.
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.660
So it's not like these are huge stressors that people are gonna be like, oh my God, I'm so stressed.
00:00:03.990 --> 00:00:08.619
But again, it's a cumulative effort of like, each and every little thing.
00:00:08.619 --> 00:00:08.710
Mm-hmm.
00:00:09.130 --> 00:00:10.150
that happens during the day.
00:00:10.150 --> 00:00:17.769
So like some of the physical stressors and then we're perfectionists or we're thinking that our boss is upset with us and we're telling ourselves this big story about it.
00:00:17.769 --> 00:00:24.640
And then we get an email that's urgent and then we're in traffic and then we have to take kids everywhere.
00:00:24.859 --> 00:00:28.269
And then, you know, it just is a cumulative effort all day.
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All right.
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Welcome back to the Eat Well Think Well Live Well podcast.
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My guest today is Ali Damron and I am super excited.
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She's a hormone health expert.
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I think hormones are just something I don't know enough about.
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So I am always excited when I have a guest that knows so much more than I do about this.
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So, I'm gonna let her introduce herself and tell us how she came to this work, and then we'll get into some of our discussion.
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Absolutely.
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Thanks so much for having me.
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So, like you said, my name's Ali Damron.
00:02:44.876 --> 00:02:47.036
I am a hormone expert.
00:02:47.036 --> 00:02:48.866
I actually am an acupuncturist.
00:02:48.925 --> 00:02:51.205
Um, I live in the Denver, Colorado area.
00:02:51.596 --> 00:02:53.936
I have always had an online business.
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And then during Covid I just, we got shut down with acupuncture.
00:02:58.466 --> 00:02:58.467
Mm-hmm.
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And so I just was able, uh, You know, blessed to fill up my schedule.
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And so now I'm just solely virtual, um, doing group coaching programs, digital courses, and my one-on-one consultation.
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So in those, I focus a lot on just really the whole gamut of women's health.
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So women come to me for.
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Energy issues or just feeling tired or having an afternoon energy crash so they can't sleep anymore.
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Their mood, they're having like mood swings or more anxiety overwhelm, feeling really stressed.
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Maybe they're noticing, um, digestive stuff like bloating a lot or constipation, those types of things.
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Maybe their periods have changed and they are struggling with a lot of PMs symptoms, a lot of irregular periods, A lot of, you know, short cycles, like any of those types of things.
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Um, I really work with, and I kind of came into this, so I, I studied acupuncture, um, which is a whole system of medicine and we do a lot of different things.
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So we do, you know, generalized medicine, we do pain, we do e n T stuff, we do digestion, we do all the things.
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And, um, I was actually pregnant in acupuncture school, and so it was kind of like my first introduction, I would say, into kind of like fertility.
00:04:12.096 --> 00:04:13.925
Pregnancy, postpartum and all of that.
00:04:13.925 --> 00:04:16.966
And so it really, I just felt like a huge need for women.
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I think that women just aren't supported in the way that I would hope.
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a lot of us are, I think, unheard kind of unvalidated.
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We might be feeling like certain ways and people are just like, well, you know, you're a mom or you're a woman, or this is just like what happens.
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Mm-hmm.
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And I just feel like we kind of get brushed off in different ways and just don't feel great.
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And I know, I'm sure you know too, that.
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When you're running a family, you're trying to run a business or a career and a house and a marriage and like all the things, it really stinks to not feel good while you're doing it.
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Like it's a really busy, very labor intensive life that I think a lot of women lead.
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And I think it, the quality of life could be so much better for everybody's around.
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If women felt energetic, didn't have to dread one to two weeks of the month, every single month could sleep at night, their moods felt reasonably stable.
00:05:08.026 --> 00:05:11.625
Like I think that those things really do impact women in a huge way.
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And I'm really just kind of like on a mission to tell you that we can fix this.
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There is a root cause of things.
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You don't have to just get over it or just kind of suck it.
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Yeah, just cuz things are common doesn't make it normal.
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Right.
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And I think that is just so important just because a lot of your friends are dealing with bloating.
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It doesn't make it normal just cuz everyone is constipated or everyone is stressed or like, doesn't make it normal.
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It's not really the way our bodies were supposed to function.
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And I feel like this, what you're saying about women being brushed off has been like part of just my.
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Growing up years is because my mom told me years and years ago, probably not when I was living at home, probably more in the time where I was having kids, which she said, yeah, I went to my doctor when you all you kids were little.
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And I just said, you know, I'm so tired and this and that and like something's wrong with me.
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And he goes, oh yeah, I know what you have.
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It's called motherhood and.
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Like that was literally his answer.
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Like, yeah, this is just, it's just the way it is and, and so guess what?
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I just thought that was the way it was like, I guess this is just the way it is.
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Like this just motherhood and.
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You know, it is difficult and I have some amount of amnesia, I think from those early months of, I mean, I mean the kids, because I mean, I was thinking this morning as I saw someone who's just three months postpartum and just really struggling with some like block ducks with her, you know, trying to nurse and she's like, how are there so many humans on the world?
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Like, how, how do people like do this?
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And I thought, Okay.
00:06:52.701 --> 00:06:55.610
If I really think about it, like I had mastitis twice.
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I was in the ER with, with my one child as, as soon as they called me back and I stood up, I fainted.
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I was so dehydrated, so fevery like, yeah, but I still like, was like, well, I have to nurse.
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Like it was crazy what I, you know, just what we go through as women.
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And so, and not to mention even when we're over, Quote unquote, that part of the, you know, the early newborn time.
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Then we deal with hormones fluctuating through our bodies, uh, constantly, constantly, uh, all month.
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And then like each decade or each, you know, few years mm-hmm.
00:07:33.170 --> 00:07:35.480
like there is a big, um, hormonal shift too.
00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:38.511
So yeah, I think that there is a lot going on.
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And, and to your point with your mom's doctor, like.
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It can be motherhood, but like let's figure out a way to like support women through.
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A lot of different ways, like we can use herbs and supplements and stuff.
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I always say you cannot out supplement your lifestyle, so let's find ways to support moms so that we don't have so much on our plate that just makes us feel dead to the bone.
00:08:01.940 --> 00:08:07.841
And you know, there's just, there's a lot of components to this, I think, that create these symptoms for women.
00:08:08.271 --> 00:08:09.141
And like I said, I.
00:08:09.721 --> 00:08:25.711
I'm kind of like on a mission to teach women how to basically calm down their own nervous systems because we can talk about it, but like when your nervous system is really jacked up and very hyper-vigilant due to all the stress and all the pressure that moms are under, it starts to deplete a lot of hormones.
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It starts to create more inflammation.
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It starts to make us not be able to sleep.
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Our moods change, our periods change, our energy levels change.
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pain can occur like a whole bunch of cascades can happen.
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which lead us down this, this path.
00:08:38.765 --> 00:08:40.447
So again, mm-hmm.
00:08:41.171 --> 00:08:44.230
In fairness to your mom's doctor, like, probably so.
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Some of it's true.
00:08:44.985 --> 00:08:45.091
Yeah.
00:08:45.191 --> 00:08:47.110
But like, let's, let's do better.
00:08:47.115 --> 00:08:47.451
Right.
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Let's figure that out.
00:08:49.331 --> 00:08:49.510
Okay.
00:08:49.510 --> 00:08:51.910
Well let's, let's do, get into that specifically.
00:08:51.910 --> 00:08:51.971
Yeah.
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Like you, you kind of alluded to it, but in, in what way specifically does the emotion of stress.
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Which emotion is the way I teach that is really just a cascade of chemicals coming through the body from a thought.
00:09:07.265 --> 00:09:07.355
Mm-hmm.
00:09:07.596 --> 00:09:09.635
how does that impact our hormones?
00:09:09.635 --> 00:09:11.436
And let me clarify too.
00:09:11.495 --> 00:09:14.615
It's not that I'm saying well just change your thought and you won't have stress.
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That's not right?
00:09:16.355 --> 00:09:17.145
It's not really the way it works.
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We can work on our thoughts, and I do teach a way to do that through the model, but the fact is that a lot of us are going to have.
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Circumstances that, that lead us to thoughts that are going to be stressful.
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no matter how we think about it, stress is going to be part of it.
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Absolutely.
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So, so a few things here.
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So I talk about how stress can be physical, mental, and emotional stress.
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So first off, I think the lower hanging fruit, honestly, is usually the physical stressors.
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Now, obviously when you have a newborn, like sleep is hard to get, but as we get our kids out of kind of like that stage, lack of sleep is a huge stressor on the body.
00:10:00.971 --> 00:10:08.921
And likewise, sleep is really helpful for replenishing your body, kind of resetting things that reset your blood sugar or your insulin levels.
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It helps you produce human growth hormone, which is really helpful for anti-aging and energy.
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It helps to lower your cortisol level, which we all need a break from.
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That stress response during the day helps produce melatonin, which is also an antioxidant.
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So it does, and that's just like it detoxes.
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There's.
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That's just like the tip of the iceberg.
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Mm-hmm.
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um, sleep.
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So, you know, lack of sleep is gonna be a stressor on the body.
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Other things are, you know, you talk about this a lot in your work, but like food, like, let's try to get our minerals in.
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Let's try to get micronutrients in.
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I am in no stretch a perfectionist with food.
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I've been there through acupuncture school actually.
00:10:46.826 --> 00:10:54.235
I got into what probably should have been diagnosed as like orthorexia, um, with just being very nervous about food.
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Um, and I've definitely walked a whole lot way back from that.
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But, you know, when we are under more stress, our body, think about like the stress, response.
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It takes a lot of energy from us to be in that state of stress all the time.
00:11:07.471 --> 00:11:10.556
And so you're constantly using a lot of minerals and resources.
00:11:10.885 --> 00:11:17.775
So if we can eat our good lean proteins, we can eat our fruits and vegetables, we can you know, get enough sodium in, we can do those things.
00:11:17.780 --> 00:11:20.926
That's really, really helpful at supporting your body.
00:11:21.105 --> 00:11:24.255
And giving it what it needs to kind of burn through the stress.
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Does that make sense?
00:11:25.306 --> 00:11:25.605
Yeah.
00:11:25.605 --> 00:11:30.885
So when we're not eating a quality diet, that's what a physical, that's what you're saying is a physical stressor?
00:11:30.946 --> 00:11:31.696
Can be, yeah.
00:11:31.696 --> 00:11:32.025
Okay.
00:11:32.176 --> 00:11:32.596
Yeah.
00:11:33.046 --> 00:11:45.346
you know, over exercise, under exercise, overeating, undereating, those are also all physical stressors, injuries and illnesses, surgeries, c-sections, like those things are also going to be like the physical stressors.
00:11:45.346 --> 00:11:51.181
So I actually think that, While some of those can be challenging to to correct.
00:11:51.181 --> 00:11:59.341
I actually think that those are the lower hanging fruits in comparison to our thoughts, our brain can do a whole bunch of things and can be more challenging.
00:11:59.341 --> 00:11:59.400
Yeah.
00:11:59.850 --> 00:12:01.321
Um, so that's kind of that.
00:12:01.321 --> 00:12:03.831
So then we talk about more like the mental and emotional stressors.
00:12:04.370 --> 00:12:10.155
So I always tell my patients that, It's like our perception of these things.
00:12:10.245 --> 00:12:14.086
So you hear people like my husband and I'll be in the same situation.
00:12:14.086 --> 00:12:20.265
He is not really a stressful type of person and like our kids are doing whatever, and he is like, oh, that's fine.
00:12:20.265 --> 00:12:21.975
And I'm like, you know, stressed about it.
00:12:21.975 --> 00:12:26.260
Cuz my perception of it is very different than his, um, totally.
00:12:27.120 --> 00:12:31.691
My husband and I have two very different opinions about the state of my teenager's bedroom.
00:12:31.811 --> 00:12:32.380
I'm like, yeah.
00:12:33.010 --> 00:12:35.081
You know, her floor, it's called a wardrobe.
00:12:35.110 --> 00:12:35.831
It's fine.
00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:39.480
And he's like, no, Yeah.
00:12:39.730 --> 00:12:42.880
And it's the same situation and he's totally stressed about it.
00:12:42.880 --> 00:12:44.961
And I'm like, Exactly.
00:12:45.250 --> 00:12:49.081
So that's a perfect example of like our perception is going to create our reality.
00:12:49.990 --> 00:12:55.691
And also our reality is what's going to create your brain to say, Hey, we don't think she can cope with this very well.
00:12:55.691 --> 00:12:57.100
We need some extra help here.
00:12:57.100 --> 00:13:00.730
And that's where like the cortisol and adrenaline kind of come into play.
00:13:01.240 --> 00:13:17.275
So I always tell my patients like, Other things that really can create a more hyper-vigilant type of brain and nervous system are things like perfectionism, people pleasing, putting a lot of pressure on yourself, toxic relationships or lack of boundaries.
00:13:17.576 --> 00:13:26.035
Those things are really kind of like trauma responses of things that we probably learned as children that are probably like, that's the lens which we're viewing life through.
00:13:26.206 --> 00:13:26.625
Mm-hmm.
00:13:26.711 --> 00:13:31.275
So like for perfectionists, if everything has to be perfect, And like, I'll give you an example.
00:13:31.275 --> 00:13:33.765
Myself, I'm, I call myself a recovering perfectionist.
00:13:33.765 --> 00:13:46.331
I'd probably give you examples all day, but when I was pregnant and nursing, my oldest who's 10, I was like, I just got outta acupuncture school and I was like, okay, I have to make all these perfect decisions.
00:13:46.331 --> 00:13:51.400
Like there's all the decisions around labor and delivery and breastfeeding and food and all the things, right?
00:13:51.400 --> 00:13:53.591
And so I was like, okay, I have to breastfeed.
00:13:53.596 --> 00:13:55.240
I have to do delayed cord clamping.
00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:58.051
I have to do this, this, this, and like all these perfect things.
00:13:58.451 --> 00:14:04.301
And my brain's perception was like, if this doesn't happen or if this isn't occurring, then.
00:14:04.905 --> 00:14:05.956
Something's really dangerous.
00:14:05.956 --> 00:14:06.975
Like it's wrong, it's bad.
00:14:06.975 --> 00:14:09.436
And so that would send me into like the state of anxiety.
00:14:09.796 --> 00:14:09.885
Mm-hmm.
00:14:10.125 --> 00:14:19.365
Um, and so it wasn't until I started to recognize that pattern and kind of say like, okay, even though I would like this to go this way, if it's not this way, it's okay.
00:14:19.365 --> 00:14:21.355
Things don't have to be perfect to be okay.
00:14:22.186 --> 00:14:34.426
Um, and that really in a nutshell helped to kind of make my nervous system calm down, that even though things weren't exactly how I wanted, it didn't have to be perfect for my nervous system to not.
00:14:34.916 --> 00:14:37.495
Fire all of this adrenaline through my system.
00:14:37.495 --> 00:14:37.586
Yeah.
00:14:38.515 --> 00:14:45.296
I can totally see that too with like the orthorexia because I would say what you said, like probably should have been diagnosed as orthorexia.
00:14:45.505 --> 00:14:48.686
That's exactly where I feel like I was as well.
00:14:48.686 --> 00:14:58.046
In fact, when I learned about that and my health coaching certification, my study partner was like, Hey there, do you see anything that you maybe recognize?
00:14:58.046 --> 00:14:58.255
Cause I.
00:14:58.801 --> 00:15:04.081
Still like kind of, you know, in that state when I was doing that certification.
00:15:04.081 --> 00:15:15.480
And so I think that it's, it's just a perfectionist tendency with food and just so then when you know you aren't getting it right, you're not hitting your macros plus or minus five every day.
00:15:16.030 --> 00:15:19.410
Like it was a huge stress factor for me.
00:15:19.416 --> 00:15:19.760
Mm-hmm.
00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:24.321
And when I finally took a step back from that and just was like, like you.
00:15:24.921 --> 00:15:27.860
it's okay for it not to be perfect.
00:15:27.860 --> 00:15:31.160
It's okay for me to make different choices.
00:15:31.160 --> 00:15:37.370
Like that was, that was stressful to take those first steps and then such a relief.
00:15:37.796 --> 00:15:42.475
I was gonna say like initially when you decide to kind of stop that, like it is a problem.
00:15:42.475 --> 00:15:44.005
It's very uncomfortable.
00:15:44.275 --> 00:15:44.395
Mm-hmm.
00:15:44.635 --> 00:15:49.975
Um, and I was gonna say that too, like that was a really great example of that cuz you become like fearful of food.
00:15:49.980 --> 00:15:50.865
So like, for me mm-hmm.
00:15:51.206 --> 00:15:57.635
like sugar became the devil's seed oils, gluten, dairy, processed food, like any of that stuff.
00:15:57.666 --> 00:16:00.725
And my family didn't eat that way.
00:16:00.755 --> 00:16:02.285
Like I didn't grow up eating that way.
00:16:02.285 --> 00:16:03.576
My husband didn't eat that way.
00:16:03.576 --> 00:16:10.505
We went to restaurants and so that sort of, situation was very co like around me a lot.
00:16:10.505 --> 00:16:11.285
Mm-hmm.
00:16:11.287 --> 00:16:13.596
Um, and so every time I looked at that I'd be like, oh my God.
00:16:13.596 --> 00:16:14.225
Like, what am I gonna do?
00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:15.245
Am I gonna put this in my body?
00:16:15.245 --> 00:16:17.316
Am I gonna be like that weird person that doesn't eat that?
00:16:17.316 --> 00:16:19.446
Am I gonna be like really hard to get along with here?
00:16:19.865 --> 00:16:28.115
Um, which I'm also a people pleaser, so there was a whole bunch of things going on in my brain that made my brain kind of like, produce a lot of stress chemicals from that.
00:16:28.115 --> 00:16:29.975
And so we, we teach our brain.
00:16:30.711 --> 00:16:34.581
That, like those patterns and teach it like, okay, this is scary.
00:16:34.640 --> 00:16:37.730
You need to produce adrenaline and cortisol from this now.
00:16:38.061 --> 00:16:38.150
Mm-hmm.
00:16:38.390 --> 00:16:44.780
So over time when you do that, think about like, I always give the example of like thinking you're in a burning building.
00:16:44.780 --> 00:16:49.360
So that's like obviously a big example of this, but you're in this burning building and.
00:16:50.390 --> 00:16:54.201
You need to get out of it and think about how much energy that takes, right?
00:16:54.201 --> 00:16:58.431
Like you're producing tons of, you're leaching glucose outta your liver and muscles.
00:16:58.791 --> 00:17:01.160
There's certain like blood flow patterns that happen.
00:17:01.160 --> 00:17:05.621
So like blood and oxygen leave your brain and you can't really logically think anymore.
00:17:06.300 --> 00:17:15.570
Emotional regulation, memory, word recall, all of that stuff turns off so that your brain can be in this like hypervigilant, kind of like lizard type of mind.
00:17:15.601 --> 00:17:15.810
Mm-hmm.
00:17:16.050 --> 00:17:18.840
So think about a lizard, like look at about a lizard.
00:17:19.260 --> 00:17:21.000
They either run or freeze.
00:17:21.300 --> 00:17:24.171
They don't think about, oh, this human may not hurt me.
00:17:24.230 --> 00:17:25.050
It might be okay.
00:17:25.560 --> 00:17:26.050
They just.
00:17:26.721 --> 00:17:27.861
Go or stay.
00:17:28.010 --> 00:17:34.221
Um, and that's sort of like what's running the show for us in our brain when we're in that state and extremely dysregulated.
00:17:34.671 --> 00:17:39.980
And so when we think about being in this burning building, that's all we can think about is getting outta that building and we're screaming.
00:17:40.851 --> 00:17:41.480
We're moody.
00:17:41.480 --> 00:17:46.070
We're not patient, we're not calm, we are not digesting food well.
00:17:46.070 --> 00:17:48.770
We're not doing anything else but trying to save our own life.
00:17:49.161 --> 00:17:51.921
And so on a, that's obviously a big example.
00:17:51.951 --> 00:17:55.070
Hopefully none of us are in that situation regularly, but.
00:17:55.560 --> 00:18:05.490
If you're late, you're in the car, you are, you know, responding to the urgency culture in an email, your boss is screaming at you, your kids are screaming at you.
00:18:05.730 --> 00:18:08.881
Those are all situations that could cause that same response.
00:18:08.885 --> 00:18:20.076
And so a lot of women come and they're like, I'm really irritable and snappy and moody and in my like startle, reflux, like I get really like startled really easily and I'm just always on edge and I'm exhausted.
00:18:20.256 --> 00:18:26.046
And if my kids drop Play-Doh on the floor, I'm screaming at them and I can't make it through my workouts anymore.
00:18:26.076 --> 00:18:28.786
And I am craving sugar and I'm like, think about.
00:18:29.665 --> 00:18:36.145
The fear or the stress response that you're asking your body to live in all day, like that's gonna take a lot of energy.
00:18:36.145 --> 00:18:40.526
And so a lot of those resources from your body have to go to that place.
00:18:40.556 --> 00:18:40.976
Mm-hmm.
00:18:41.336 --> 00:18:45.026
And like I said, with the mood stuff, I think a lot of women struggle with mood stuff.
00:18:45.026 --> 00:18:53.576
And I think, I mean, if you're in that fight or flight response, like you're not gonna be patient and loving and calm, you're gonna be like, let's go, let's get outta here.
00:18:53.645 --> 00:18:55.806
And that's kinda what's like running the show for a lot of women.
00:18:57.165 --> 00:18:59.476
So we have all this stress and then.
00:18:59.885 --> 00:19:02.046
what is happening with the hormones?
00:19:02.046 --> 00:19:08.226
And when you say like, with, with our hormones, are we talking mostly about like the cortisol type hormones?
00:19:08.226 --> 00:19:14.375
Are we also talking about what most people consider female hormones, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, and those kinds of things?
00:19:14.375 --> 00:19:14.376
Mm-hmm.
00:19:14.695 --> 00:19:15.195
So both.
00:19:15.455 --> 00:19:17.715
So when you think about hormones, I want you to think about it as a pyramid.
00:19:18.441 --> 00:19:26.601
So the very bottom of the pyramid is gonna be insulin, which is your blood sugar, cortisol, which is at stress hormone, and adrenaline, which is your fight or flight response.
00:19:27.080 --> 00:19:43.101
So when those three things are, in, check everything up the chain like your cor, your estrogen, progesterone, testosterone, D H E A, melatonin, neurotransmitters, inflammatory molecules, all of that has a much better shot at being in place.
00:19:43.580 --> 00:19:50.901
If the bottom three are out of whack, there's really no chance that the upper three or the upper levels can be in a good place.
00:19:50.931 --> 00:19:51.131
Mm-hmm.
00:19:51.211 --> 00:19:52.250
because when?
00:19:53.121 --> 00:19:59.931
We need a bunch of cortisol, for example, like it can start to steal from progesterone and D H E A and testosterone.
00:19:59.931 --> 00:20:05.570
So when I see labs of women who don't have a lot of hormones, I'm like, your body is very stressed.
00:20:05.570 --> 00:20:07.730
We gotta get that stress response dial down.
00:20:07.730 --> 00:20:15.201
We gotta get your brain to realize that your world is safe, so that it's able to then produce all of those hormones that are gonna make you feel good too.
00:20:16.461 --> 00:20:20.931
So we're kind of talking about both and it's like this cascade that leads to each one.
00:20:20.931 --> 00:20:21.800
Does that make sense?
00:20:21.891 --> 00:20:22.280
Yeah.
00:20:22.340 --> 00:20:34.340
So that's how when we are in that stress state, it's affecting our, actually the female hormones because our cortisol and those things are not, not in balance as the base.
00:20:35.435 --> 00:20:36.411
Exactly, yep.
00:20:36.411 --> 00:20:39.441
So you can start to notice like your periods get different.
00:20:39.445 --> 00:20:44.601
So sometimes if you're been under a stressor for like a month or longer, your pm m s is way worse.
00:20:44.601 --> 00:20:50.240
Like your stress are more tender, you're more anxious, or you're, you know, not sleeping great before your period.
00:20:50.240 --> 00:20:51.290
You're more crampy.
00:20:51.681 --> 00:20:52.671
Those things can be worse.
00:20:53.181 --> 00:20:58.461
You may notice, um, you know, like your period coming every two weeks, you're like, oh my gosh, I just had one.
00:20:58.461 --> 00:21:01.010
Like why am I getting this weird period and it's probably due.
00:21:01.030 --> 00:21:04.401
I thought that was I thought that was just perimenopause coming on for me.
00:21:04.681 --> 00:21:05.760
Well, I was like, what?
00:21:05.820 --> 00:21:06.451
What is this?
00:21:06.901 --> 00:21:07.560
Two weeks?
00:21:07.980 --> 00:21:09.661
That also could happen too.
00:21:09.871 --> 00:21:12.750
So yes, the caveat here is during perimenopause.
00:21:13.020 --> 00:21:17.161
Perimenopause is really defined as like the two to 12 years before you go through menopause.
00:21:17.161 --> 00:21:18.570
So it can be a two to 12.
00:21:19.310 --> 00:21:28.141
However, you don't have to put up with that if that's happening, where you're getting a cycle, like every really shorter than like 21 days.
00:21:28.171 --> 00:21:29.671
21 days should be.
00:21:30.351 --> 00:21:36.621
Bare minimum that your cycle will go and it sh you should find a nice baseline for yourself.
00:21:36.621 --> 00:21:49.211
So if that, if you've been somebody that's like a 30 day cycle, maybe like 28 days, but it shouldn't go back down to 21 and then up to 35 and then 60, and then 12, like that's an estrogen issue.
00:21:49.550 --> 00:21:49.971
Mm-hmm.
00:21:50.590 --> 00:21:56.990
um, and progesterone, those two are in a good ratio in your cycle, and so there's things we can do to support your progesterone.
00:21:57.576 --> 00:22:00.935
De decrease estrogen and get that regulated.
00:22:01.715 --> 00:22:02.046
Okay.
00:22:02.050 --> 00:22:02.286
Yeah.
00:22:02.286 --> 00:22:02.566
Good.
00:22:02.945 --> 00:22:03.816
Yeah, don't put up with that.
00:22:05.195 --> 00:22:10.326
It just happened once, actually, recently and I was like, oh, welcome to perimenopause, I guess.
00:22:10.895 --> 00:22:15.965
Um, but it's not like a regular issue for me, but I'm sure it can be for others out there listening.
00:22:15.965 --> 00:22:20.316
Cause I think perimenopause is probably most of my listeners where their age group.
00:22:21.246 --> 00:22:21.605
Yeah.
00:22:21.846 --> 00:22:28.625
Um, so how, how does this then affect our energy versus fatigue?
00:22:28.705 --> 00:22:35.185
because that is actually one of the most common, when I have clients come in, we always set up like three goals.
00:22:35.185 --> 00:22:36.986
We don't just do a weight loss goal.
00:22:36.990 --> 00:22:38.606
There's always other things that are going on.
00:22:39.096 --> 00:22:42.175
And the second most common goal is energy.
00:22:42.266 --> 00:22:47.006
I wanna have more energy, and for the most part, when we're getting.
00:22:47.441 --> 00:22:50.530
Better quality nutrition in, they feel better.
00:22:50.530 --> 00:22:59.381
So that's just kind of surface layer what, but also doing some of the coaching that we're doing, I think is helping to reduce their stress.
00:22:59.381 --> 00:23:08.401
So I think I'm inadvertently doing this, but tell me how, what the mechanisms are for stress impacting our energy and feeling.
00:23:09.550 --> 00:23:10.030
Totally.
00:23:10.030 --> 00:23:14.471
So that's one of the biggest things for my patients too, that they just feel tired.
00:23:14.590 --> 00:23:16.780
Um, and some people feel tired all day.
00:23:16.840 --> 00:23:18.340
Like it just, they wake up groggy.
00:23:18.340 --> 00:23:19.480
It never gets better.
00:23:19.540 --> 00:23:24.240
Um, some people wake up groggy and then they feel okay, and then they have an afternoon energy crash.
00:23:24.941 --> 00:23:27.641
And it, it can be a little bit different for each person.
00:23:27.641 --> 00:23:31.901
So cortisol, our stress hormone, remember, it's part of the circadian rhythm.
00:23:32.530 --> 00:23:37.510
So when we wake up in the morning, cortisol has been bottomed out all night to let us sleep.
00:23:37.510 --> 00:23:40.040
Well, melatonin has taken over, which is our sleep hormone.
00:23:40.961 --> 00:23:49.151
And so when we wake up, Within 30 to 60 minutes, we should get this nice cortisol awakening response, which is where you get like a big rise in cortisol.
00:23:49.151 --> 00:23:54.671
So you probably notice like, okay, you feel kind of groggy and then once you get up and get going, like, okay, we're good for the day.
00:23:54.671 --> 00:23:56.020
That's, that's what should happen.
00:23:56.320 --> 00:24:05.381
Again, if you're not feeling that, you're probably not getting a good cortisol awakening response in which we need to work on circadian rhythm and your stress response.
00:24:06.010 --> 00:24:12.040
Then after that cortisol awakening response in a normal person, you sort of like start to go down.
00:24:12.786 --> 00:24:17.705
Slowly throughout the day so that you can have it go all the way down for bed at night again.
00:24:17.976 --> 00:24:25.266
So there is actually a decent crash of cortisol normally in the afternoon, which is why like other countries take siestas and like.
00:24:26.185 --> 00:24:31.526
Have that afternoon, little bit of a reprieve, and then their body kind of regulates and then they go on with the rest of their day.
00:24:31.976 --> 00:24:49.915
I always think that like expectations are a big part of this because I have patients who get up at five or four 30 to work out and then run with coffee, get the kids out the door, have a super stressful morning, eat lunch like 3:00 PM of an energy crash.
00:24:49.976 --> 00:24:52.165
Might be nine hours into their day.
00:24:52.520 --> 00:24:53.570
Or 10 hours even.
00:24:53.570 --> 00:24:54.290
You know what I mean?
00:24:54.530 --> 00:25:06.050
And so I think just kind of recognizing like where you are, um, is important so that you don't expect to just have straight on energy for like 12 hours a day.
00:25:06.056 --> 00:25:07.040
Like, that's not Yeah.
00:25:07.520 --> 00:25:09.471
Realistic expectation, right?
00:25:09.471 --> 00:25:13.010
Setting that expectation that like, oh, this is normal.
00:25:13.371 --> 00:25:16.820
Like it's, it's normal that I am having an energy crash.
00:25:16.820 --> 00:25:21.320
It's normal that I'm hungry right now because it's been some time, like nothing's gone wrong.
00:25:22.300 --> 00:25:23.411
Right, exactly.
00:25:23.411 --> 00:25:27.221
So sometimes I, I first start there with like, what is the expectation?
00:25:27.221 --> 00:25:33.070
Because in our culture, like productivity, urgency, like we have a very unhealthy relationship to that.
00:25:33.070 --> 00:25:33.911
Mm-hmm.
00:25:33.941 --> 00:25:39.520
And so it's not to say that like you should feel just like death every afternoon and like you can't even keep your eyes open.
00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:40.641
Like that is a bit of a crash.
00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:44.756
So I start with like, and I think you do this too, but like regulating blood sugar.
00:25:44.756 --> 00:25:44.846
Mm-hmm.
00:25:45.476 --> 00:25:53.816
So are you on like this rollercoaster where you're not getting enough fiber and not getting enough protein and it's making your blood sugar crash, which is therefore going to make you feel tired.
00:25:54.036 --> 00:25:54.455
Mm-hmm.
00:25:54.540 --> 00:25:58.796
So I think eating in regular intervals throughout the day is helpful.
00:25:58.800 --> 00:25:59.935
Again, look at your hunger scale.
00:25:59.955 --> 00:26:01.976
You don't have to eat every two hours, but.
00:26:03.040 --> 00:26:06.760
Don't let yourself get to on your scale like a negative five, right?
00:26:06.971 --> 00:26:08.500
Or like a negative six, you know what I mean?
00:26:08.500 --> 00:26:10.631
Like that is gonna make you feel tired.
00:26:11.097 --> 00:26:15.807
so eating enough protein and fiber, eating in regular intervals for you is good.
00:26:15.807 --> 00:26:16.738
And then also minerals.
00:26:17.113 --> 00:26:26.292
So a lot of us are dehydrated, and when we don't have enough magnesium, calcium, sodium, and potassium, that also makes us tired.
00:26:26.298 --> 00:26:29.712
Those are like spark plugs that create energy in our body.
00:26:30.343 --> 00:26:36.223
So for people who just drink plain water or just drink coffee, which is more dehydrating all day.
00:26:37.028 --> 00:26:41.208
I encourage women to do like, either electrolytes when they're tired.
00:26:41.238 --> 00:26:41.327
Mm-hmm.
00:26:41.567 --> 00:26:50.347
so either like morning and afternoon or I love to do, this is kinda like a trendy thing now, but something called sole water or adrenal cocktail, which is mm-hmm.
00:26:50.798 --> 00:26:59.678
your sodium and potassium, so like coconut water with a little bit of orange juice and some sea salt is really helpful at getting those minerals in there.
00:26:59.948 --> 00:27:01.327
And a lot of people are like, well, I don't want the.
00:27:02.218 --> 00:27:05.488
glucose in that is how that gets into your cell.
00:27:06.057 --> 00:27:06.238
Yeah.
00:27:06.268 --> 00:27:08.248
So we actually want the glucose there.
00:27:08.877 --> 00:27:13.678
And just as a side note here, I know Ali just covered this with a guest on minerals.
00:27:13.678 --> 00:27:17.728
I just listened to her podcast about minerals and it was so good.
00:27:17.728 --> 00:27:19.468
So I'm like, oh yeah, yeah, all of this.
00:27:19.472 --> 00:27:25.557
So if you want a little more, I'll link that episode in the show notes because it was really helpful on all of this mineral.
00:27:26.518 --> 00:27:31.498
Yeah, so minerals are, are super cool, um, and can be really helpful at how our bodies work.
00:27:31.978 --> 00:27:43.942
I just also, I know you guys talked a little bit about this, but I just started, drinking that LMNT, and I know you said it's a little low in potassium, but, um, for everything else, I thought it was great and I have such low blood pressure.
00:27:43.942 --> 00:27:48.863
I think it's actually really been helping to just really up that good quality salt content.
00:27:48.867 --> 00:27:51.202
So I've been, I've been really happy with that.
00:27:51.202 --> 00:27:54.633
I just got like a trial pack and I'm like, ah, I think I'm gonna do this Yeah.
00:27:55.012 --> 00:27:55.222
Yeah.
00:27:55.222 --> 00:27:56.182
We drink it here too.
00:27:56.182 --> 00:27:57.432
Like, my husband's an Iron Man.
00:27:57.613 --> 00:27:58.032
Mm-hmm.
00:27:58.462 --> 00:28:01.673
um, he trains for that and so that's what he drinks all day too.
00:28:01.742 --> 00:28:02.252
and that's what.
00:28:02.758 --> 00:28:05.307
That culture of people drink, so, yeah.
00:28:05.528 --> 00:28:11.698
Um, so yeah, we drink it over here too, but you could put a little bit of coconut water like Tina in that episode said too.
00:28:11.702 --> 00:28:14.038
That's a great source of potassium.
00:28:14.428 --> 00:28:19.407
So those are like some quick, like quick and dirty, like nutritional type of things to do.
00:28:19.413 --> 00:28:19.498
Mm-hmm.
00:28:20.064 --> 00:28:24.114
other things for energy are, again, if you think about.
00:28:24.818 --> 00:28:31.868
We've all felt emotionally exhausted before where you like have had this huge stressor and you're just like, oh.
00:28:32.348 --> 00:28:34.719
And that's how our body's like kind of designed to be.
00:28:34.723 --> 00:28:48.128
So when we're in that burning building, it needs time to come back down, sort of like regather the nutrients, like all those minerals, calm everything else down and kind of be for a minute before the next thing happens.
00:28:48.459 --> 00:28:50.348
A lot of us go from.
00:28:51.219 --> 00:28:52.659
Like, it's really interesting to me.
00:28:52.719 --> 00:28:56.199
A lot of people are very triggered by like email and notifications.
00:28:56.199 --> 00:28:56.769
Mm-hmm.
00:28:57.219 --> 00:28:58.128
like even just like they have.
00:28:59.108 --> 00:29:00.038
They have to grab'em.
00:29:00.159 --> 00:29:03.909
Yeah, they have to respond really quickly and like they get one and they're like, oh God, I gotta do this.
00:29:04.298 --> 00:29:08.588
And again, these are like micro little like tiny things, like stressors in the day.
00:29:08.588 --> 00:29:12.249
So it's not like these are huge stressors that people are gonna be like, oh my God, I'm so stressed.
00:29:12.578 --> 00:29:17.209
But again, it's a cumulative effort of like, each and every little thing.
00:29:17.209 --> 00:29:17.298
Mm-hmm.
00:29:17.719 --> 00:29:18.739
that happens during the day.
00:29:18.739 --> 00:29:26.358
So like some of the physical stressors and then we're perfectionists or we're thinking that our boss is upset with us and we're telling ourselves this big story about it.
00:29:26.358 --> 00:29:33.229
And then we get an email that's urgent and then we're in traffic and then we have to take kids everywhere.
00:29:33.449 --> 00:29:36.858
And then, you know, it just is a cumulative effort all day.
00:29:36.858 --> 00:29:39.558
I think of a lot of stress and.
00:29:40.118 --> 00:29:45.398
I don't think that we're letting ourselves ever come down enough from that to like recover.
00:29:45.398 --> 00:29:45.459
Yeah.
00:29:45.578 --> 00:29:59.209
And so over time you feel, first you start to feel tired, but wired like your adrenaline's still going and you know that you're tired, but you're just like going, and then after that stage you do just get burnt out and you're just tired.
00:30:00.209 --> 00:30:00.513
Mm-hmm.
00:30:01.523 --> 00:30:05.753
I think too, not just like cumulative throughout the day, but cumulative too.
00:30:05.753 --> 00:30:12.864
Like in the weeks and months and like years of our life, I am thinking how you're talking about physical versus emotional stress.
00:30:12.894 --> 00:30:18.474
And the other day my teenagers was like, well, like it's easier to have teenagers, right?
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:21.683
Than when you had toddlers like, cuz we pretty much take care of ourselves.
00:30:22.538 --> 00:30:28.989
and my husband and I just looked at each other and we're like, yeah, toddlers are physically stressful, physically demanding.
00:30:29.348 --> 00:30:33.848
Like young kids, you know, you're taking care of their bodies as well, so it's very physical.
00:30:33.848 --> 00:30:35.798
You're feeding them, you're bathing them, blah, blah, blah.
00:30:36.398 --> 00:30:39.909
Teenagers like, man, they'll, they're emotionally demanding.
00:30:39.913 --> 00:30:40.209
Mm-hmm.
00:30:40.358 --> 00:30:41.349
like all the time.
00:30:41.709 --> 00:30:42.459
And so I think of.
00:30:42.814 --> 00:30:45.003
Like cycle too as parenting.
00:30:45.003 --> 00:31:05.693
Like you go through that physical and now I'm getting fairly good sleep, so like I feel like I'm physically recovering, but like the emotional demands of teenagers and I have adult children as well and just, yeah, like think, just thinking about them even though they don't live with me is they are still like a, a, a.
00:31:06.439 --> 00:31:06.999
And Yeah.
00:31:07.308 --> 00:31:07.638
Yeah.
00:31:07.699 --> 00:31:09.288
And, and I don't mean that in a bad way.
00:31:09.288 --> 00:31:12.199
Like I just wanna think about them and mm-hmm.
00:31:12.528 --> 00:31:16.249
I mean, you know, I feel like it would be weird if I didn't worry sometimes.
00:31:16.818 --> 00:31:18.348
Yeah, no, a hundred percent.
00:31:18.348 --> 00:31:23.919
I always say that too, like there's a lot of research about this, but moms have.
00:31:25.013 --> 00:31:28.973
Like d n a, even from our children, from when we carried them.
00:31:29.273 --> 00:31:37.013
And we also have hormone called oxytocin that like is there to bond with your children and it's really, really strong.
00:31:37.013 --> 00:31:43.094
And for some women, um, it can create anxiety because their bond is so strong and they're so attached to that being.
00:31:44.078 --> 00:31:46.749
But I do think, like, I think that's a normal thing.
00:31:46.909 --> 00:31:55.009
I think sometimes women can cross to be abnormal to where we need to work through that, so they're not feeling so anxious about their kids.
00:31:55.009 --> 00:31:55.909
But, but yeah.
00:31:56.148 --> 00:31:58.788
I actually was recently talking to my, um, mom.
00:31:58.848 --> 00:32:06.288
I, so my kids are seven and 10, and we're supposed to be in like this lull of parenting where like things are fairly easy.
00:32:06.338 --> 00:32:08.588
from toddlerhood to teenage years.
00:32:08.588 --> 00:32:10.749
And I'm like, if this is easy, like, whew.
00:32:13.308 --> 00:32:15.519
I got some, something coming my way for sure.
00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:17.108
Cuz my 10 year old.
00:32:17.858 --> 00:32:21.578
So emotional and there is drama every day.
00:32:21.584 --> 00:32:21.848
Mm-hmm.
00:32:21.929 --> 00:32:24.009
And it's just, it's like your drama, you know?
00:32:24.009 --> 00:32:26.769
As a mom it like becomes you too, and you're like, mm-hmm.
00:32:26.775 --> 00:32:26.808
ugh.
00:32:27.338 --> 00:32:27.699
Yeah.
00:32:27.729 --> 00:32:28.269
It's a whole thing.
00:32:28.273 --> 00:32:29.368
Yeah, totally.
00:32:30.068 --> 00:32:32.558
So, okay, this is like a lot.
00:32:32.564 --> 00:32:34.249
Everyone's feeling like, yeah, yeah.
00:32:35.068 --> 00:32:35.969
So what do we do?
00:32:36.719 --> 00:32:38.528
Like what are some solutions?
00:32:38.528 --> 00:32:42.398
Yeah, like, I mean, managing stress feels like a.
00:32:43.148 --> 00:32:47.949
Somewhat of a buzzword and also like, well, all we can do is manage it.
00:32:47.949 --> 00:32:49.808
Like it feels like we should.
00:32:50.348 --> 00:32:56.709
There should be more like how, how can we really like take control of it or, I just want a better word than just manage.
00:32:57.128 --> 00:32:57.308
Totally.
00:32:57.818 --> 00:32:59.509
Because manage feels like I'm just moving it around.
00:33:00.443 --> 00:33:01.163
You know what I mean?
00:33:01.554 --> 00:33:02.394
Absolutely.
00:33:02.453 --> 00:33:05.034
So I think this has become a really buzzy thing.
00:33:05.094 --> 00:33:08.183
So I think that there's, it's a really multifaceted approach.
00:33:08.183 --> 00:33:08.723
First off.
00:33:09.054 --> 00:33:11.663
So like I said, first look at the physical stressors.
00:33:11.663 --> 00:33:14.933
Like if you're intermittent fasting, for example, like take that off your plate.
00:33:14.993 --> 00:33:21.159
If you're already feeling stressed and you're doing that, That's like a really low hanging fruit to just like, stop.
00:33:21.338 --> 00:33:21.759
Mm-hmm.
00:33:21.844 --> 00:33:26.949
if you're drinking copious amounts of caffeine to just keep your system jacked up all day.
00:33:27.308 --> 00:33:29.169
Again, work your way back there.
00:33:29.259 --> 00:33:31.388
So there are, I'm gonna interrupt you.
00:33:31.419 --> 00:33:31.838
Sorry.
00:33:31.898 --> 00:33:31.989
Yeah.
00:33:32.378 --> 00:33:35.878
Oh, give, gimme a number there on copious amounts of coffee.
00:33:36.338 --> 00:33:39.159
So I generally recommend.
00:33:39.548 --> 00:33:42.278
If you can like one cup of coffee in the morning.
00:33:42.278 --> 00:33:42.279
Okay.
00:33:42.285 --> 00:33:45.969
Like a normal 250, so it's like a oh 250.
00:33:45.969 --> 00:33:46.328
Okay.
00:33:47.078 --> 00:33:54.669
Just cuz there's so many different energy drinks out there and so, so 1 250 milligram would be considered.
00:33:55.175 --> 00:33:56.165
I think Okay.
00:33:56.171 --> 00:33:56.316
Normal.
00:33:56.385 --> 00:33:56.675
Okay.
00:33:57.036 --> 00:33:57.635
I think it's fine.
00:33:57.935 --> 00:34:02.705
Cause that is where, again, remember that cortisol awakening response, you already have a high one.
00:34:02.711 --> 00:34:05.496
So that sort of just goes with your natural circadian rhythm.
00:34:05.766 --> 00:34:07.655
It might jacket it up a little bit more.
00:34:07.986 --> 00:34:12.576
Um, but you really want to stop drinking caffeine eight hours before you go to bed.
00:34:12.581 --> 00:34:12.876
Mm-hmm.
00:34:12.925 --> 00:34:20.306
because that's how long some people take to metabolize that, and you really don't wanna get into the pattern where you're having that afternoon latte, then sleeping like crap.
00:34:20.306 --> 00:34:20.561
Then you're exhausted.
00:34:21.476 --> 00:34:22.496
More caffeine.
00:34:22.885 --> 00:34:23.396
okay, sorry.
00:34:23.400 --> 00:34:24.085
So I interrupted.
00:34:24.085 --> 00:34:26.996
So that's another one, like avoiding copious amounts of caffeine.
00:34:27.025 --> 00:34:27.385
Okay.
00:34:27.746 --> 00:34:27.956
Yeah.
00:34:28.496 --> 00:34:29.706
So then we get into more.
00:34:30.911 --> 00:34:34.001
of, I think the things that are harder and take more self-awareness.
00:34:34.061 --> 00:34:43.780
So I think that, I always tell my patients to start with, and I think you talk about this a lot with like emotional eating and stuff, but like the self-awareness of thoughts are incredibly important.
00:34:44.201 --> 00:34:50.981
So if you know that you're being triggered by email, for example, like we gotta teach your brain, the email is a safe thing.
00:34:51.101 --> 00:34:58.876
So when you get an email, instead of responding within five seconds of it, like letting that sit there for a minute and teaching your brain, Hey, you know what?
00:34:58.876 --> 00:35:00.585
This is fine that this is sitting here.
00:35:00.795 --> 00:35:01.755
We are, okay.
00:35:01.760 --> 00:35:03.496
This might feel really uncomfortable.
00:35:03.496 --> 00:35:13.365
We might be anxious that it's here at first, but the more that we buy into that catastrophic thinking about that, we're just reinforcing those patterns over and over and over.
00:35:13.666 --> 00:35:17.056
So I, I tell my patients to pick one to two.
00:35:17.210 --> 00:35:20.721
Big things like that and really start to work on that.
00:35:20.871 --> 00:35:29.150
So sometimes like numbing out to scrolling the phone at night before bed, like, how can we get the phone outta your room so that you can sleep better?
00:35:29.150 --> 00:35:32.181
Because the phone also is very stimulating.
00:35:32.240 --> 00:35:35.451
I don't think our brains are meant to take in that much information that quickly.
00:35:36.260 --> 00:35:38.811
I think that's also a trigger for the nervous system.
00:35:38.960 --> 00:35:40.731
It's blue light, obviously, and.
00:35:41.826 --> 00:35:54.485
I don't know about you, but like I very rarely leave social media feeling like real great I mean, there's a lot of times that it's either like the comparison trap, the shoulds, like you should be doing more.
00:35:55.266 --> 00:35:56.706
Something triggered you.
00:35:56.706 --> 00:36:01.956
Like just be very careful of the content you're consuming when you're consuming it.
00:36:01.956 --> 00:36:04.206
Like we have to be responsible about that too, I think.
00:36:04.210 --> 00:36:04.536
Mm-hmm.
00:36:05.088 --> 00:36:08.744
if kids are a trigger, like getting your kids out the door in the morning are a trigger.
00:36:08.744 --> 00:36:14.983
I know that's a big, you know, stressful time for a lot of people just getting to work on time or kids out the door, whatever, like.
00:36:16.139 --> 00:36:20.668
Wake up earlier, have a slower morning, set expectations with your kids.
00:36:20.668 --> 00:36:29.969
Like find the times of your day that suck the most, that cause that a big, huge adrenaline spike and start to work through how can we make this better?
00:36:29.974 --> 00:36:30.898
Could we delegate?
00:36:30.898 --> 00:36:32.489
Could we delete certain tasks?
00:36:32.489 --> 00:36:34.708
Can we just have our kids do things differently?
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:37.739
Could we change the mindset of things?
00:36:37.739 --> 00:36:44.398
So when your kids are yelling at you for whatever, not getting their clothes cleaned or whatever, like, could you just.
00:36:45.358 --> 00:37:00.974
your only job is to like keep yourself outta that fight or flight response in that time, so they can yell and scream, but the more that you engage and get into that fight or flight response, a, it makes the situation worse for the kids because you're both not logically thinking, but B, it jacks up that nervous system more.
00:37:00.974 --> 00:37:00.974
Mm-hmm.
00:37:00.994 --> 00:37:01.713
So I think it's, mm-hmm.
00:37:02.023 --> 00:37:07.483
the first step about this is truly recognizing when you are in that place and how can.
00:37:08.159 --> 00:37:10.949
give yourself messages of safety versus danger.
00:37:11.139 --> 00:37:11.429
Yeah.
00:37:11.489 --> 00:37:12.478
So we're gonna be late.
00:37:12.483 --> 00:37:13.048
We're gonna be late.
00:37:13.079 --> 00:37:13.378
Okay.
00:37:13.378 --> 00:37:14.878
What's the worst case scenario?
00:37:14.878 --> 00:37:15.449
If you're late?
00:37:16.228 --> 00:37:16.409
Yeah.
00:37:16.409 --> 00:37:24.900
You walk your kids into school or they're late for their practice, they probably learn a lesson, but it feels like this big, you know, catastrophic thing to be late.
00:37:26.548 --> 00:37:27.509
Does that make sense?
00:37:27.539 --> 00:37:27.958
Yeah.
00:37:27.989 --> 00:37:31.018
And I like how you're just like, Just pick one thing right now.
00:37:31.048 --> 00:37:31.628
Just yeah.
00:37:31.858 --> 00:37:40.978
Pick the one thing that it seems to be the, the pinnacle of the day that's really causing the most, and I like the idea too, of deleting when you say like, what can we delete?
00:37:41.699 --> 00:37:45.478
I, that's what I have done with my notifi notifications on my phone.
00:37:45.628 --> 00:37:52.409
That used to be like a huge issue that the amount of notifications that come automatically I have just turned off.
00:37:52.889 --> 00:37:54.869
I would say probably 95%.
00:37:54.869 --> 00:38:00.809
I get very few notifications except for things I intentionally, my calendar notifies me like, Hey, you should be here.
00:38:01.048 --> 00:38:01.619
Thank you.
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:06.659
I need that but I don't need to know that Old Navy emailed me.
00:38:06.748 --> 00:38:08.009
I just don't need to know that.
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:08.509
Right.
00:38:08.878 --> 00:38:15.838
Like, yeah, it is like this, it's like perpetuating this like urgency, like what's, you know, this like buzzing or this beeping in your face?
00:38:15.838 --> 00:38:15.898
Yeah.
00:38:16.108 --> 00:38:17.278
All day long.
00:38:17.748 --> 00:38:20.239
but yeah, so I know that that was not like a very.
00:38:20.523 --> 00:38:23.103
Tactical, like do this now thing.
00:38:23.134 --> 00:38:26.344
But I do think that everyone has to just sort of like take a step.
00:38:27.708 --> 00:38:30.139
Bird's eye view and do an inventory.
00:38:30.389 --> 00:38:30.809
Mm-hmm.
00:38:30.893 --> 00:38:32.929
like, where is this coming from?
00:38:32.929 --> 00:38:40.878
That's what I always ask all my patients, like, you know, if we do a, a cortisol test and their cortisol looks either high or low, I'm like, Hey, this is stress.
00:38:41.059 --> 00:38:42.798
Where is this stress coming from?
00:38:43.219 --> 00:38:44.358
Are you a perfectionist?
00:38:44.364 --> 00:38:45.289
Are you people pleaser?
00:38:45.289 --> 00:38:45.889
Type A?
00:38:45.889 --> 00:38:46.369
We go through that.
00:38:46.869 --> 00:38:50.509
Are the mornings work evenings?
00:38:51.018 --> 00:38:57.048
You know, bedtime, like where is this stress coming from and how can we find solutions to that?
00:38:57.673 --> 00:38:57.954
Mm-hmm.
00:38:58.833 --> 00:39:01.324
I'm not trying to overhaul your whole life in one day.
00:39:01.684 --> 00:39:05.353
Like this is what I talk about too with, with my client's nutrition.
00:39:05.353 --> 00:39:08.893
We're not trying to overhaul your nutrition all in the first week.
00:39:08.893 --> 00:39:10.753
We just pick one thing to start with.
00:39:10.773 --> 00:39:11.193
Mm-hmm.
00:39:11.324 --> 00:39:12.614
one little thing.
00:39:12.619 --> 00:39:14.353
So maybe it is bath time.
00:39:15.043 --> 00:39:20.623
We're just gonna come up with a new bath time routine, if that's the thing that just sends you over the edge every day.
00:39:20.623 --> 00:39:21.764
Mm-hmm.
00:39:21.769 --> 00:39:22.114
totally.
00:39:22.333 --> 00:39:29.353
And I always say this to people and I, I think that it can be hard, hard message to hear at first, but this is like your life's work.
00:39:29.684 --> 00:39:39.494
Like there are always going to be, like you said, like new stages in parenting, new things that happen, aging parents, differences in careers and businesses or financial statuses or any of those things.
00:39:40.563 --> 00:39:47.134
And so it's learning how to recognize those and like how can we change the perspective.
00:39:47.134 --> 00:39:48.543
It's not repressing emotions.
00:39:48.543 --> 00:39:50.463
It's changing the perspective of this.
00:39:50.469 --> 00:39:52.083
Like, okay, this sucks.
00:39:52.088 --> 00:39:53.074
This is stressful.
00:39:53.074 --> 00:39:53.793
This is hard.
00:39:53.793 --> 00:39:55.143
I'm really angry about this.
00:39:55.143 --> 00:39:57.454
I'm grieving this, but we are going to be okay.
00:39:58.259 --> 00:40:00.509
You are safe even though this is uncomfortable.
00:40:00.509 --> 00:40:02.369
Like kind of just giving yourself those messages Yes.
00:40:02.375 --> 00:40:03.759
Of environment and safety.
00:40:04.179 --> 00:40:04.398
Yes.
00:40:04.438 --> 00:40:07.949
Versus, oh my God, I'm so anxious and this is so terrible, and what are we gonna do?
00:40:07.949 --> 00:40:12.028
And like just buying into the catastrophes that we tell ourself.
00:40:12.478 --> 00:40:13.599
Yeah, yeah.
00:40:13.978 --> 00:40:14.518
You are safe.
00:40:15.403 --> 00:40:16.693
and it's uncomfortable.
00:40:17.143 --> 00:40:19.483
Like it's okay for things to be uncomfortable.
00:40:19.489 --> 00:40:19.864
Mm-hmm.
00:40:20.684 --> 00:40:22.634
I, you know, life is 50 50.
00:40:22.934 --> 00:40:26.594
We do have about half positive, about half negative emotions.
00:40:26.594 --> 00:40:30.554
Our brain emphasizes or prioritizes the negative cuz those are the ones that are gonna kill us.
00:40:31.244 --> 00:40:32.414
or so it thinks.
00:40:32.418 --> 00:40:32.864
Absolutely.
00:40:32.934 --> 00:40:33.224
Yeah.
00:40:33.364 --> 00:40:36.373
But we really are having about 50 50.
00:40:37.123 --> 00:40:44.534
It's just learning to feel those negative emotions and realizing nothing has actually gone wrong.
00:40:44.534 --> 00:40:47.114
It's totally normal to be sad right now.
00:40:47.114 --> 00:40:53.114
I, I always think like, like I said earlier, like it would be weird if I didn't worry sometimes about my kids.
00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:58.903
Like it would be weird if we weren't sad sometimes it would be weird if we weren't feeling some of these negative emotions.
00:40:58.909 --> 00:41:04.423
Like if someone says something really unkind to us, it would be weird if we didn't feel hurt, like.
00:41:06.003 --> 00:41:08.914
Negative emotions are totally normal.
00:41:08.918 --> 00:41:09.293
Mm-hmm.
00:41:09.664 --> 00:41:23.574
and it's, I feel like stress is sort of the layered on emotion When we have something sad or or disappointing happen and then we add stress because we think that shouldn't have happened.
00:41:24.074 --> 00:41:30.574
That's what causes, I think, a lot of stress is thinking, what did happen that is negative?
00:41:30.844 --> 00:41:34.054
Shouldn't, or you were supposed to somehow prevent it.
00:41:34.523 --> 00:41:36.804
That causes tons of stress.
00:41:36.809 --> 00:41:37.134
Mm-hmm.
00:41:37.219 --> 00:41:45.923
So when we accept the first emotion and process that through, or for example, like my clients, they have a negative experience and then they eat because of it.
00:41:46.103 --> 00:41:48.594
Then they're stressed cuz they're like, well, I'm never gonna get this.
00:41:48.594 --> 00:41:49.643
I'm never gonna lose weight.
00:41:49.643 --> 00:41:50.963
That causes stress.
00:41:51.324 --> 00:41:58.074
So when we just learn to feel that first emotion, learn to be disappointed, like, yes, I'm disappointed right now.
00:41:58.373 --> 00:41:59.574
Hey, this is uncomfortable.
00:41:59.603 --> 00:42:01.134
Hey, I'm embarrassed, I'm nervous.
00:42:01.768 --> 00:42:05.159
Those things are all normal part of human experience.
00:42:05.489 --> 00:42:05.639
Mm-hmm.
00:42:06.028 --> 00:42:06.298
Yeah.
00:42:06.298 --> 00:42:07.409
No, I couldn't agree more.
00:42:07.409 --> 00:42:13.978
I, I always tell my patients that I think that stress is like an umbrella, and I'm like, okay, you're telling me that you're feeling stressed?
00:42:13.978 --> 00:42:15.059
Like, what's under that?
00:42:15.063 --> 00:42:15.389
Mm-hmm.
00:42:15.539 --> 00:42:21.478
Is it anger, resentment, frustration, fear, worry, you know, sadness, grief, whatever.
00:42:22.139 --> 00:42:23.128
Let's identify that.
00:42:23.128 --> 00:42:30.898
And I think that the, one of the biggest stressors too, is when you experience sadness, for example, and.
00:42:31.398 --> 00:42:33.199
You're like, oh my gosh, I'm feeling sad.
00:42:33.199 --> 00:42:35.449
And then we gaslight ourself out of it.
00:42:35.449 --> 00:42:36.708
We're like, oh, just get over it.
00:42:36.708 --> 00:42:37.639
Not a big deal.
00:42:37.789 --> 00:42:39.889
We should be further along in this grieving process.
00:42:39.889 --> 00:42:40.998
We shouldn't feel sad.
00:42:41.179 --> 00:42:42.438
This feels really uncomfortable.
00:42:42.438 --> 00:42:44.958
Just go eat instead, or drink or whatever.
00:42:45.498 --> 00:42:49.358
You're telling your brain that that normal human experience is wrong.
00:42:50.298 --> 00:42:50.778
And so women.
00:42:51.673 --> 00:42:57.643
We are gaslighted regularly about a myriad of things, but we also are pretty good at gaslighting ourselves too.
00:42:57.873 --> 00:42:58.293
Mm-hmm.
00:42:58.393 --> 00:43:02.353
and kind of, you know, unvalidating our own experience.
00:43:02.384 --> 00:43:03.643
Um, and I actually read.
00:43:04.289 --> 00:43:16.619
There's a psychologist who I love, her name's Nicole Sachs and she posted something today that was like one of the primary causes of anxiety is being unvalidated as a child, like your emotions as a child.
00:43:16.619 --> 00:43:18.418
And I thought that was like really powerful.
00:43:18.929 --> 00:43:21.599
Um, cuz it's true, like if we aren't.
00:43:22.324 --> 00:43:23.494
Able to express.
00:43:23.554 --> 00:43:25.264
I, I always say identify and validate.
00:43:25.804 --> 00:43:28.143
Like just identify it and validate it for yourself.
00:43:28.143 --> 00:43:28.983
This is okay.
00:43:29.043 --> 00:43:29.884
This is fine.
00:43:30.094 --> 00:43:31.534
Doesn't mean that you're a bad person.
00:43:31.534 --> 00:43:32.974
It doesn't mean anything about you.
00:43:33.184 --> 00:43:37.543
There can be nuances and things can coexist, like there's a whole bunch of conversations there.
00:43:38.373 --> 00:43:42.543
Um, but we want to teach our brain that it's okay to feel these things.
00:43:42.543 --> 00:43:43.083
They're safe.
00:43:45.313 --> 00:43:45.554
Yeah.
00:43:45.614 --> 00:43:46.123
Love it.
00:43:46.273 --> 00:43:46.844
Okay.
00:43:47.634 --> 00:43:51.293
tell us where people can connect with you, learn more about what you do.
00:43:51.623 --> 00:43:52.403
Yeah, absolutely.
00:43:52.733 --> 00:43:54.563
So I am on Instagram as well.
00:43:54.623 --> 00:43:59.934
Um, I also have a Facebook page, um, or group actually called Holistic Health with Ali Damron.
00:44:00.204 --> 00:44:06.384
I have a podcast called the Ali Damon Show and a YouTube channel, um, just at Ally Damron too over there.
00:44:06.804 --> 00:44:10.943
Yeah, on the website, Ali Damron, all my stuff's Ali Damron, so wherever you wanna go makes it easy.
00:44:11.483 --> 00:44:14.634
Searched out and I'll probably be there, Okay, perfect.
00:44:14.634 --> 00:44:20.244
Thank you so much for your time and for sharing your wealth of knowledge and expertise.
00:44:20.244 --> 00:44:21.324
I really appreciate it.
00:44:21.653 --> 00:44:22.463
Yeah, my pleasure.
00:44:22.463 --> 00:44:23.454
I'll talk to you soon.
Ali Damron
Women's Hormone Expert
Ali Damron is a wife, mother to two sweet little boys, a licensed acupuncturist and a certified personal trainer for over 12 years. She values health and family more than anything else.
Throughout her professional experience, she has worked with a large population of people in lots of different settings. She has been a trainer and counselor at a weight loss camp in San Diego, a corporate wellness health coach, a personal trainer for private studios and an acupuncturist in private practice. In her virtualpractice, she specializes in women’s health including everything from painful periods, fertility, hormonal balancing, weight loss, pregnancy and postpartum all the way to menopausal symptoms.
It’s her mission to educate women about the importance of health and teach them how to be healthy. There is so much information and misinformation out there that most of the women she works with are confused and don’t know what to believe or how to get healthy.
She works with women to provide natural approaches to healing and get them looking and feeling their best. She offers lots of services including online holistic health consultations, digital courses, a podcast and YouTube channel.
She believes healthy women are at the center of the universe and can make the world a better place.
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