0:00

So, let me be honest, I have been

0:02

through the ringer in the last few months

0:04

with both chronic pain in my shoulder and

0:06

my back. Also I scratched

0:09

my cornea, flossing my daughter's teeth. It

0:11

was a total freak accident. And

0:14

I have never been more thankful

0:16

for my sauna blanket and

0:19

my blue blocking glasses. I wore

0:21

them for about a week straight,

0:23

the orange glasses, because I was

0:25

so sensitive I couldn't see anything

0:28

with my scratched cornea. So I was

0:30

rotating between wearing my blue blocking glasses

0:32

and like laying in the sauna trying

0:35

to help my chronic pain. I've been

0:37

a mess, but I'm so thankful for

0:39

Bontarge. They are a holistic wellness brand

0:41

with a huge range of evidence-based products

0:43

that I use every

0:45

day, multiple times a day, from blue

0:47

light blocking glasses to EMF management to

0:50

their new infrared sauna blankets. Bontarge

0:52

has all of the high quality and effective

0:54

products that you are looking for. I

0:57

use the Bontarge blue light blocking

0:59

orange glasses every single night, starting right

1:01

at bedtime. It makes such a huge

1:04

difference if you're consistent with it. It

1:07

makes such a huge difference in melatonin production.

1:09

And then I wear the computer glasses when

1:11

I'm looking at screens. And

1:13

about a year ago, I invested in an infrared

1:15

sauna blanket. It is super easy to set up.

1:17

I just lay it on my bed, plug it

1:19

in, heat it up, and climb in. It

1:22

is that easy and it does really help with

1:25

muscle tension and it reduces some of

1:27

my chronic pain. I've also

1:29

noticed a big shift in my soreness overall. So

1:31

when I'm holding a lot of tension, when I'm

1:33

holding a lot of soreness, it kind of just

1:35

melts that all away. Ultimately, it's

1:37

an incredible way to support your lymphatic

1:40

system and detoxification too, because it heats

1:42

up your body internally and helps promote

1:44

sweating. You will be relaxed and re-energized

1:47

and recover better. So if you have

1:49

been eyeing saunas, I could

1:51

not recommend this blanket more and we

1:53

have a deal for you that you

1:55

will not find anywhere else. Go to

1:57

Bond Charge. That's B-O-N-C-H-E-N. use

2:00

the coupon code WELLFED for 20% off.

2:02

Again, that's boncharge.com. Use the coupon code WELLFED

2:11

to save 20%. That's $140 off your very own sauna blanket.

2:17

You are now listening to Well

2:19

Fed Women, the show that's been

2:21

radically changing the way women perceive

2:24

health, fitness, and their bodies since

2:26

2015. I'm your host,

2:28

Noelle Tar. Send your

2:30

questions to wellfedwomenatgmail.com

2:33

and you can keep up with the

2:35

show on Instagram, at wellfedwomen. What

2:38

is up, friends? Hello, if you're

2:40

listening to this in real time.

2:42

Merry Christmas. I just love you

2:44

all. I love getting

2:47

to do this podcast and

2:49

interview some of the most

2:51

incredible people in

2:53

the world about topics

2:55

that are very relevant to me, but

2:57

also to you, to women, to

3:00

millennial women, to Gen Z women, to

3:02

Gen X women. We are

3:04

all just doing our best to try to be

3:06

healthy and do so in a holistic way, and

3:08

I love getting the opportunity to serve you guys

3:11

every week. So thank you so much for being

3:13

here. It is the

3:15

week of Christmas, which means I'm

3:17

enjoying some time with my fam, and

3:19

I'm doing a renewed episode today. You probably have

3:22

already forgotten about it, so I'm going to recommend

3:24

that you listen to it again. I actually

3:27

forgot all about it, so while I was

3:29

re-editing and listening to this episode, I found

3:31

some good nuggets. I'm not going to lie.

3:33

I was like, wow, I forgot about that.

3:35

Most notably, we talked specifically about

3:38

the effects of caffeine and alcohol on the

3:40

system. This is a question that Steph and

3:42

I get a lot still to this day.

3:45

So while It's Christmas and

3:47

I'm not trying to make you

3:49

feel any guilt about drinking coffee

3:51

or alcohol, Maybe this is something

3:53

you can listen to a little

3:56

bit later after you've celebrated. Just

3:58

Take note about how caffeine and

4:00

alcohol impact your system, especially if

4:02

you're a woman and you have

4:04

hormone changes and or you just

4:06

want to live a more holistic

4:09

balance slice. I think it's really

4:11

important that we take a hard

4:13

look at at what caffeine and

4:15

alcohol does and is it really

4:17

surfing us? I also have some

4:19

information about weight training. We talk

4:22

a little bit about nutrients for

4:24

back pain. I also know we

4:26

have some comments about haircare and

4:28

what we do and holistic products.

4:31

It's all here. This is episode of

4:33

the So Number or Sixty. Thank you

4:35

guys! I appreciate you and let's jump

4:38

right in. Hello

4:41

The Fannie. Steffi

4:44

hi. Stephanie,

4:46

Elizabeth, Fauna I think I've ever told

4:49

y'all that sometimes people call me funny

4:51

yeah do they? So the that. Actually

4:54

it's been a minute to been a long time

4:56

and somebody is has has decided to call me

4:58

and what it is funny what did he call

5:01

you have overseas over the big blue on the

5:03

island. England. Usually

5:06

what happened as I introduced myself is Stephanie

5:08

and then when I become familiar with somebody

5:10

they just mister comey step which is great

5:12

you know because they're so both are totally

5:14

fine Gael can call me whatever you want.

5:19

The. A when K hello. Hi.

5:21

I saw any. Yeah, that was

5:24

it. That was probably in our first year to

5:26

year same. That. Some people onto funny. Wow,

5:29

yeah you're saying And last

5:31

episode? Seven Years. Of

5:34

like back when like he would say like

5:36

has I ends. And. What?

5:38

What Are the other things? And

5:40

the other things like Sarah, Rena, We.

5:42

Heard that we had something. They. Are

5:44

pre kids creepy? H D for ya Three

5:47

a list of I know. I

5:49

feel like. We've. Hit! This

5:52

show is going on long enough that.

5:54

We. Spend a sick like We spend a lot

5:56

of time reminiscing. As as

5:59

I like really. 50 episodes, every

6:01

100 episodes, every 6 months, every

6:03

12 months, every new year, every

6:05

birthday, you know, every anniversary of

6:07

this. Like, I feel like every single episode

6:09

we're like, man, we've been doing this a

6:11

long time. I know. I know. People

6:14

are so sick of it. They're like, we

6:16

get it. It's

6:19

true though. We have been doing this a long time.

6:21

I started this new job. I'm like, Noelle, you want

6:23

to keep doing the podcast? She's like, yes. Do you?

6:26

I'm like, yes. Let's go. It really

6:28

is extraordinary. I will have to say

6:31

it's something unique we got here that we're

6:33

still here. We're

6:36

still here. We're still here. Somehow,

6:39

somehow we still have things to talk about. I

6:41

will say it is because of this awesome community

6:43

because they're always giving their input and questions and

6:45

all that. It's one of my favorite things. Appreciate

6:49

y'all. Thanks for

6:51

having us. Thanks for having us.

6:53

So I'm sure you've seen

6:55

the picture I posted in our discussion. Oh,

6:58

yeah. Yeah. So

7:01

this is another thing that was in our Wealth

7:04

of Women Facebook group. Somebody posted this photo and

7:06

was like, is anybody

7:08

else really annoyed by this? What's

7:10

interesting is that most people would be

7:12

like, Oh, this is great. This

7:15

is wonderful. Body positivity. But

7:18

this is the struggle, right? This is our

7:20

struggle where so many of us see this

7:23

and we're like, this is not body positivity.

7:25

This is toxic. This is toxic.

7:27

So the photo is a

7:30

woman holding a sign. There's a

7:32

woman on the left and she is in a

7:34

blue dress. And she

7:36

says, I lost all my pregnancy

7:39

weight. The

7:41

woman on the right is holding

7:43

a sign and she

7:46

says, I'm still working on losing the

7:48

baby weight. Where's

7:52

the option for like, I

7:54

don't care. Exactly.

8:00

I know focusing on other things.

8:04

Right. I'm focusing

8:06

on my health. I'm

8:09

focusing on my peace. I'm

8:11

focusing, you know, like working on my sleep.

8:14

Look, if you want to lose weight at any

8:16

given point, fine. But I don't,

8:19

you know, you know, it's all, you know,

8:21

hundreds and hundreds of likes and loves

8:23

and stuff. It's

8:26

hard. And I appreciate whoever shared this.

8:29

The problem obviously here, and

8:31

I think most people listening

8:33

can see that, is that

8:35

we're defining women now in one

8:37

of two states. Either you have

8:39

lost your pregnancy weight, which is

8:41

so hilarious to me that that's

8:44

actually a thing, or

8:46

you're still working on it. Either

8:50

you have achieved all the weight loss or

8:53

you're still trying to lose your

8:55

weight. There's

8:58

no other option for women out there

9:00

who have had children or maybe just

9:02

this is like don't like don't even

9:04

think about this as like postpartum women.

9:06

This is just how women define them.

9:08

This is how diet culture defines women.

9:11

Either you've lost the weight you want to or you're still

9:13

working on it. It's just

9:15

yeah, it's crazy. I have a

9:17

lot of personal reflections, but I'm going to save it

9:19

for question number three. Oh,

9:21

yeah. That's question number three.

9:25

Oh, you're weight training routine. Oh,

9:28

did I say we're going to talk about that? Oh,

9:30

okay. Are we not going to talk about that?

9:32

We are. I just forgot to read it in the intro. I

9:34

was like, oh, do we have body image discussion?

9:36

I always love talking about it, but I always

9:39

feel like. Sprinkle it in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

9:42

We go on for too long when that stuff. I'm

9:44

like, are people sick of this yet? So

9:47

I'm going to save it for the end, but we're tired. So

9:49

then maybe we won't talk at all. Smart.

9:53

You're welcome. Seven years of podcasting expertise.

9:57

Anyway, folks, you don't have to be working on

9:59

losing. losing the weight or it's fine if

10:01

you didn't lose all the pregnancy weight.

10:03

Bodies change. It's really okay.

10:06

It's like that's not what health and life

10:08

is about. So let's jump right

10:10

into questions. Question number one is from Julie

10:12

Sanders. This is the thing. Julie, they

10:15

have sex. Can you discuss the effects

10:17

of caffeine and alcohol on

10:19

the body? Steph, I can do

10:22

caffeine. I mean, you can talk

10:24

caffeine too, but maybe I can start with

10:26

caffeine. And then you can talk alcohol? Yeah.

10:29

I want to put out there, there

10:31

is so much on both

10:33

of these things. We could talk

10:36

about it forever. I'm going to try really hard to

10:38

be succinct. We

10:40

will try. But yeah, so yeah, go

10:42

ahead. If there's anything I want

10:44

to add to caffeine, I will. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

10:47

Yeah, I'm going to sit here and

10:49

suck down my tall cappuccino while you

10:51

talk about caffeine. Hey, you know,

10:53

it's not bad, but you just have to

10:55

use it, you know,

10:57

with the appropriate knowledge, which is

11:00

why we're here to do this

11:02

for you. So caffeine resembles an

11:04

inhibitory neurotransmitter in

11:06

our body called adenosine,

11:09

which promotes sleep. So

11:12

this inhibitory neurotransmitter, it promotes sleep

11:14

by slowing down nerve activity throughout

11:16

the day. So as the day

11:18

goes on, adenosine does its job

11:20

and we start to kind of, you know,

11:22

feel a little bit more and more tired.

11:25

So our body has a lot of

11:27

these adenosine receptor

11:30

sites. And because caffeine looks

11:32

like adenosine, it actually binds

11:35

to those receptor sites and

11:38

stops adenosine from doing its

11:40

job. So essentially,

11:43

when you're drinking coffee, the caffeine

11:46

stimulates cellular function and there's

11:48

an increase in the firing

11:50

of neurons in your brain.

11:54

And also, like a lot of people will talk about how

11:57

drinking coffee can help with pain.

12:00

Or like a headache for example,

12:02

and that's because caffeine can actually

12:04

constrict blood vessels Because

12:06

it blocks adenosine's ability to open

12:09

them up so

12:12

Why caffeine makes us

12:14

feel super superhuman which I mean

12:17

feel like you could hey take on the world I

12:19

can't remember stuff what your quote was you were like

12:21

you said one time you posted a picture and you're

12:23

like I just drank my first cup of coffee, and

12:25

I'm like oh my gosh all

12:27

these people like y'all are walking around like

12:29

Hey, I'm so high like all the time

12:32

like this is amazing So

12:34

why it kind of makes you feel like? Superhuman

12:37

I will say is when the

12:40

brain senses This like large

12:42

buildup of adenosine and this increase in

12:44

the firing of neurons it makes the

12:46

assumption that there's an emergency And

12:48

so when that happens the pituitary which is a

12:50

gland in your brain It communicates

12:52

to your adrenal glands which are those two

12:55

little glands that are on top of your

12:57

kidneys that help manage Cortisol and adrenaline and

12:59

all that kind of stuff that

13:01

it's time to initiate the stress

13:03

response and so

13:06

caffeine actually increases cortisol and

13:09

adrenaline at rest Which

13:12

are both hormones that are produced by the adrenal

13:14

glands that help us during times of stress. It's

13:16

really what gives us this I Mean

13:19

you guys know what a adrenaline does right

13:22

it kind of makes you like get up get

13:24

to action Something's happening you

13:26

need to have like all

13:30

Cylinders firing so that's what happens there

13:32

is a lot of research about how

13:35

caffeine pre-workout Like

13:37

can really improve your performance, which is why I

13:39

think a lot of people love it It's a

13:41

good you know whatever pre-workout drink it

13:43

can actually improve motivation It can reduce

13:45

muscle soreness during workouts for both new

13:48

and long-term caffeine users And I think

13:50

that that's a really interesting thing that

13:52

when we're talking about the research is

13:54

That your body gets used to caffeine

13:57

over time so what we see in

13:59

the research when it comes to the

14:01

benefits of caffeine, it

14:03

can be a little different for

14:06

regular users because your body

14:08

kind of becomes adapted to

14:10

the caffeine. So

14:13

caffeine has also been shown to

14:15

increase testosterone during workouts. And

14:19

the bad in all of this, and I think what

14:21

we have to be aware of as a community, is

14:25

despite the fact that you can build

14:27

up a tolerance to caffeine and

14:29

its ability to stimulate cortisol, studies

14:31

show that even after regular use, repeated

14:34

exposure to caffeine throughout the day still

14:37

results in elevated cortisol levels in

14:39

the afternoon. So if you are

14:41

experiencing cortisol imbalances, or you're really

14:43

struggling with sleep issues, or you

14:45

have adrenal fatigue or HPA axis

14:47

issues, freeing up cortisol

14:49

and adrenaline just for funsies is

14:52

only going to add more problems,

14:54

more fuel to the flame. So

14:56

you are forcing your body to produce

14:59

cortisol when it's already experiencing an excess

15:01

of that. And

15:03

so chronically elevated cortisol, we know,

15:05

is connected to a lot of

15:07

things. Inflammation, insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease,

15:09

it expresses your immune system. So

15:12

I think that we have to just be careful

15:14

and cautious of how we use it, how much

15:17

you are using, and when

15:20

you're using it. I think early in the morning

15:22

before workouts, you can use that adrenaline, you can

15:24

use that cortisol, is really, really

15:26

great and wonderful. I

15:28

personally took it out simply because

15:30

I was

15:32

feeling very, and I wasn't

15:34

drinking a ton, I was feeling a

15:37

little jittery, a little anxious, and just,

15:42

so I was already, like I go through phases,

15:44

right? I think we all do, of times of

15:46

more anxiety, of times of struggling with sleep. And

15:48

so I took it out and I asked my

15:50

husband just to put all decaf beans in the

15:52

coffee maker, because I still love it. I still

15:54

like the taste, I like that ritual in the

15:57

morning. And I just never felt

15:59

the need to be like... Can you put it back

16:01

in? When I am working for, I use it

16:03

when I'm in certain situations where

16:05

I really need it. So for example, at church,

16:07

I sometimes work on the production

16:09

team. That means that I

16:11

sit behind a computer for practice and

16:14

two services and I am like doing

16:16

every single slide that you see in

16:19

the auditorium, which is takes a lot of

16:21

focus and I get up at 6 a.m.

16:23

to do that. Those

16:25

are the days that when I get to

16:27

church, I am drinking the caffeinated coffee that's

16:30

there and it helps, right? I'm staying focused,

16:32

I'm staying alert and I haven't noticed that

16:34

I struggle with my sleep on those nights.

16:36

I'm sure I would be okay right now,

16:39

but I'm just at the point where I don't

16:41

necessarily feel the need to bring it in unless

16:43

I really need it

16:45

and I really do love the red

16:47

juice from OrgiaFi, which I like

16:49

using these adaptogens because it makes me feel a

16:51

little better and it helps me

16:54

manage my stress and it does provide me with

16:56

energy without that jittery feeling. So

16:58

that's just my personal, I mean, I've loved coffee

17:00

my entire life. It's just where I'm at right

17:02

now. I really love Cordyceps. I love the OrgiaFi

17:05

red juice and I do love some of the

17:07

other things that they have, but the red juice

17:09

is really my favorite right now. So

17:13

what do you have to, so what are your thoughts

17:15

about caffeine because you avoided it for very long time

17:17

and now all of a sudden you're in it. Yeah,

17:20

I just, I

17:24

do really like it. I try, I'm very

17:26

intentional about it because of coffee and the

17:28

histamine stuff and caffeine and the histamine stuff,

17:30

but I just

17:32

like dopamine so much. I

17:35

love it. I just love it and yeah, so

17:38

I try to be really intentional about how

17:40

I do it. I think

17:43

it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of the

17:45

studies on caffeine, it's really hard

17:47

to parse apart the studies on caffeine and the

17:49

studies on coffee and the studies on tea, right?

17:52

People, if you read articles about the benefits

17:54

of caffeine online, they'll actually be about

17:56

like the benefits of coffee and that.

18:00

may be attributable primarily to

18:02

the antioxidants in coffee, right? So

18:05

talking about different potential health benefits or costs

18:07

of all these different things. And a lot

18:10

of, you know, there's a huge discussion too

18:12

about mold in coffee and whether that has

18:14

any sort of negative health effect. And

18:17

so it's just very

18:20

important to pay attention to how your

18:22

body reacts to these different things, honestly.

18:24

Like, that's just it. And

18:27

yeah, so I... Yeah,

18:31

I just finished my coffee and I'll

18:34

probably have another one when we're done. I

18:38

have a killer immune support tip because let's

18:40

be honest, cold and flu season can be

18:42

an absolute doozy. We've already been hit multiple

18:44

times and had to do multiple

18:47

realms of antibiotics. And I have been

18:49

researching the heck out of exactly what

18:51

nutrients and herbs are evidence-based and actually

18:53

make a difference. The really

18:55

cool news is I just found

18:57

out that MD Logic has a

19:00

comprehensive immune support supplement known as

19:02

immunologic that literally has everything you'd

19:04

want. I just started taking it

19:06

this week since we've had a

19:08

new round of colds. It has

19:11

a natural form of vitamin C

19:13

from organic acerola extract, zinc, echinacea,

19:15

oregano, garlic, quercetin, one of my

19:18

favorites, and even B. propolis. All

19:21

of these nutrients have immune-supporting effects and

19:23

can help reduce the frequency of colds

19:25

and flus and may help regulate the

19:28

inflammatory response and shorten your sicknesses if

19:31

you do get sick. I recommend ordering a few

19:33

bottles and having them on hand, that is what I have done.

19:36

Anytime anyone gets sick in your house, start supplementing with

19:38

it daily. And of course, you can use

19:40

this as a first defense at the first

19:42

sign of sickness since it has both immune-supportive

19:44

herbs and antimicrobial extracts

19:46

like olive leaf and garlic. I'm

19:49

going to be honest with you, I will never

19:51

now be without this. I treat it as a

19:54

first defense. So when I start noticing I've got a little bit

19:56

of a tickle in my throat, I

19:58

immediately start taking it. need to

20:00

add in a probiotic and a prebiotic,

20:02

I do. I usually take that in

20:05

every day anyway. But in general, this

20:07

literally has all of the evidence-based nutrients

20:09

I've previously been taking individually. It

20:12

also only uses monolaurin

20:14

as the flow agent

20:16

and is always tested

20:18

for contaminants like heavy

20:20

metals and mold. To

20:22

grab yours, go to

20:24

mdlogichealth.com/immuno, that's I-M-M-U-N-O. Use

20:27

the code wellfed for

20:29

10% off. Again,

20:31

that's M-D-Logic

20:33

Health L-O-G-I-C-H-E-A-L-T-H

20:36

dot com/immuno. That's I-M-M-U-N-O.

20:38

Use code wellfed for

20:40

10% off and you always

20:42

get free shipping on orders of $50 or more. So

20:47

do you want to talk about alcohol? Yeah.

20:50

How you incorporate it. Okay. So

20:52

alcohol, very

20:54

interesting, is

20:57

poison and your body knows it immediately and

20:59

does everything

21:02

it can to process

21:04

it out of your body as quickly as

21:06

it can. But it can't

21:09

go as quickly as

21:11

we can all do shots.

21:14

So it often will... Yeah.

21:17

So that's why you get intoxicated. If

21:19

you have like one drink an hour

21:21

or less, obviously it varies by person,

21:24

your body can like keep up with that

21:26

kind of. But that's about as

21:28

fast as your body can go. And so

21:33

the first place alcohol goes is your

21:35

stomach and from there it goes

21:39

into the bloodstream and alcohol

21:41

is water soluble, not fat

21:43

soluble, which is actually

21:46

quite an important and interesting fact because

21:48

we all

21:50

sort of have this general idea that

21:52

women tend to be lighter weight. I'm

21:55

a lightweight, like tend to get intoxicated more

21:57

easily than men. And it's

21:59

actually... actually because women have higher body

22:02

fat percentages, generally speaking. And

22:04

so more of

22:06

your body is made out of fat and not water, and

22:09

there's less space for the

22:11

alcohol to go if you

22:14

have a lower amount of water, percentage of water

22:16

in your body. So it's

22:18

very interesting. Alcohol immediately starts

22:20

going everywhere. Your body pushes it to the liver

22:22

as much as it

22:25

can, but it's water soluble. It gets in your blood.

22:27

It's boom, like it's there. And again,

22:29

if your body can keep up with processing it through

22:31

the liver, you won't necessarily

22:33

feel all the effects of intoxication and what have

22:36

you, but if you drink at a greater rate,

22:38

then your body can process it, then

22:40

you'll feel the stuff. The

22:43

liver is really interesting.

22:46

So there are sort of two steps. There's

22:48

two enzymes involved in this. The

22:51

first is called alcohol

22:53

dehydrogenase. It oxidizes

22:56

alcohol into acetaldehyde.

23:01

And then there's another step

23:04

where the body oxidizes

23:07

acetaldehyde with

23:09

acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, and then

23:12

becomes acetic acid, and that becomes

23:14

carbon dioxide and water, and then it's getting

23:16

out of

23:18

the system. But these

23:21

byproducts, acetaldehyde is actually

23:24

not a

23:26

really fun thing to feel

23:28

and is responsible

23:30

for, a big part of the

23:32

hangover effects. It's

23:34

flushing headaches, nausea, increased heart

23:37

rate. So what your body

23:39

is doing is it's converting alcohol, which is

23:41

toxic to something less toxic, but still toxic,

23:44

and then to something even more benign, which

23:47

is why you end up feeling hungover,

23:50

especially if you're drinking quickly, because this

23:52

process just takes time. Your liver just

23:54

only has so much that it can

23:56

do. And so that's how

23:59

you feel. feel that way, alcohol

24:01

also can cross the blood-brain barrier

24:03

and it gets

24:05

into your brain. It's a

24:08

depressant in the central nervous system.

24:10

It inhibits the function of neurons by

24:12

reducing their ability to transmit the

24:15

electrical impulses. So this is why it's

24:17

got an overall inhibitory

24:20

effect. Also a part

24:22

of why you could become disinhibited, right, because

24:24

a significant thing that your brain does

24:26

is regulate your behavior, right? It's the

24:29

thing that is like, do this, don't

24:31

do that. Like, you know, you use

24:33

your brain to regulate yourself. And so

24:35

if you're just blanket,

24:38

like decreasing brain activity, then

24:40

your ability to step

24:43

in and stop yourself or reason to those

24:45

kinds of things is depressed, right? The suppressed,

24:48

depressed, however you want to think of

24:51

it. And so that's a part of it. And

24:53

then of course, this inhibition is related to my

24:55

impairment of judgment, coordination, memory,

24:58

perception. And it

25:01

also interacts primarily with neurotransmitters

25:04

GABA and glutamate. It

25:06

can bind to both receptors, which also plays

25:08

a role in these intoxicating

25:10

symptoms. And this

25:12

is all short-term stuff,

25:15

right? Inhibiting this communication, inhibiting

25:17

your brain function, and

25:20

again, in the liver causing these other

25:22

kinds of alcohol-related physiological

25:25

effects. So this is

25:27

when you have a few drinks here and

25:29

there, right? Which is what I do here

25:32

and there. Maybe one a

25:34

week, maybe, you know, like similar

25:37

to Noel, although I probably have slightly

25:39

higher quantities. But yeah, and so I

25:41

definitely would never, you know, moderate alcohol

25:43

consumption is defined as, you know, one

25:45

or two, no more than one or

25:47

two a day, one or two a

25:49

day. It is not

25:51

fun for me to drink multiple days in

25:53

a row. I just, I don't like it.

25:56

Alcohol negatively impacts my sleep and it actually,

25:58

it can have this effect on every everybody

26:00

because even while, depending

26:02

on how much you drink, you might fall asleep

26:04

faster. It can create an imbalance

26:06

between slow wave and REM sleep. And

26:08

so the quality of your sleep can be

26:11

reduced even if you end up sleeping

26:13

for a long time. So

26:16

I just, I don't, that's one of the

26:18

reasons I don't like it. Also again, it's super high

26:20

in histamine. That's actually, I get headaches really

26:23

like immediately depending on what kind of

26:25

alcohol it is. There's only

26:27

a few that I can drink, but it's super high in histamine. So

26:29

anybody with an eye out for that, if you get headaches

26:32

when you drink alcohol, you might want to pay attention

26:34

to the histamine contents. And of

26:36

course, there's all other kinds of things can

26:38

be, it's a diuretic, so

26:40

it can be dehydrating. And then

26:43

your, if I ever, when

26:46

I have alcohol, I'm very intentional about

26:48

hydrating and with electrolytes and I find

26:50

that that helps. And so

26:52

this is all short term stuff. It

26:54

can make you feel hungrier than you might be otherwise

26:57

because of, you know, releasing blood sugar

26:59

in different ways than it would

27:01

if you weren't drinking. And also

27:03

like lowers your inhibitions. So yeah, like you

27:05

just kind of go for it. Go for

27:07

it. You know, the drunkies or the munchies

27:09

or whatever. Yeah, it

27:11

can be acidic in the stomach. If

27:14

you struggle with stomach heartburn stuff. So

27:17

these sorts of things are short term. And of course,

27:19

if you drink consistently, then

27:21

there's a whole list of long term effects.

27:24

And I could just like read the list to you,

27:26

but I would just be reading a long list to

27:28

you. I don't have enough

27:30

time to describe all of the ways that all of

27:32

these things happen. But

27:34

it long term can affect your

27:36

blood pressure, can cause high blood

27:39

pressure, increased risk of strokes. Long

27:42

term brain effects are huge. Memory,

27:44

new learning, balance, temperament.

27:47

It's huge, right? Can

27:49

have effect on the pancreas, stomach,

27:52

weight management because of liver and

27:54

blood sugar. It

27:56

can have sex effects, erectile

27:58

dysfunction, reducing testosterone. your libido,

28:00

your ability to orgasm when

28:03

you drink, maybe not in the long term,

28:05

but when you drink, liver health

28:07

effects, alcohol is a huge cause

28:10

of like a huge percentage of liver

28:13

disease related deaths, fatty liver,

28:16

cirrhosis, scarring in the liver, all that sort

28:18

of stuff. I mean, it

28:20

can cause skin problems, redness, dilated blood

28:22

vessels, rosacea, bloodshot

28:24

eyes, dry thinning hair, a very long

28:27

list of long term effects. I

28:29

have an all caps, alcohol is super high

28:32

in histamine. Comes with stuff.

28:35

Can you, I drink alcohol sometimes,

28:37

you know, like can you do it? Yes. Are

28:40

the articles that argue that alcohol is good

28:42

for you probably trying too hard? Yes. You

28:47

know, some people, they might argue that it's got like

28:49

a hormetic effect, which would mean that it's a stress

28:51

to the body, but occasional stress to the body is

28:53

good. Maybe, you

28:55

know, alcohol is, or not alcohol,

28:57

exercise is hormesis, right? So,

29:01

yeah, alcohol is not good, it's not

29:04

good for you, but a lot

29:06

of what we do in life isn't necessarily good for

29:08

us. And

29:12

folding things into the way

29:14

that we live that are

29:16

conducive to having fun or,

29:18

you know, if you'd like

29:20

to unwind at the end of the day with

29:23

like just a little bit of the burn of

29:25

your favorite whiskey or whatever, you know what I

29:27

mean? Like, okay, you know, like we all make

29:29

choices and health, I think, is very holistic, which

29:31

is why I drink occasionally, you know, but also

29:34

I don't have to. If I didn't drink at

29:36

all, I would probably have just as much fun.

29:39

I would certainly have just as much fun in my

29:41

life, you know what I mean? Like,

29:43

we don't need it, but if you're feeling

29:45

healthy and you manage it well, like, sure,

29:48

you know, sure. I'm just a shrug

29:50

emoji here, like, shrug emoji. So

29:54

that's it. The question was just about the effects, though, the

29:56

density effects. And yeah, the only

29:58

thing I wanted to mention was that I finally... it

30:00

really interesting. Obviously, all those

30:03

things are true alcohol is a depressant.

30:05

It's really, I guess

30:07

I didn't click that it was this thing that

30:09

really depresses your

30:12

functioning, which, I mean, of course, we can

30:14

see those effects, but I'm like, wow, that

30:16

kind of sucks. But the other

30:19

thing that it does and why so many

30:21

people, of course, you can become addicted to

30:23

alcohol is that it triggers a very strong

30:25

dopamine response. And I tried to

30:28

really dig into that more. And we don't really

30:30

have any thought, like strong conclusions as to why

30:32

it does that other than it is a drug.

30:34

That's how drugs work. So there

30:37

is an article I should have led with that. Sorry,

30:39

alcohol can be very addictive. I should have led with

30:41

that. Oh, no, I mean, that's not what the question

30:43

was. I think everybody understands that. But it just for

30:46

me, you know, I was looking for all the stuff

30:48

and like, oh, this is what alcohol does is how

30:50

alcohol impacts dopamine. I'm like, why though? And

30:52

that's just how drugs work. It's unfortunate. But I mean,

30:55

obviously, that's why some people enjoy it. But that's how

30:57

you can quickly become addicted to it as well. And

30:59

I will just say too, like, even

31:02

moderate drinking, moderate alcohol

31:04

consumption can deplete vitamin B12.

31:06

And they've found

31:08

that in a study in postmenopausal

31:11

women, heavy alcohol use, which

31:13

I'm not sure what the exact definition

31:15

of that is in these studies. So

31:17

that is my bad. But I would

31:19

assume it would be quite

31:21

a bit of drinking daily. That

31:23

can actually deplete zinc, it can

31:26

deplete folate, and it can deplete

31:28

your magnesium because it is a

31:30

diuretic. So and they also

31:32

said that like androgens, just

31:34

even not heavy drink, well, no, actually, this is

31:36

heavy drinking, let me make sure every every single

31:38

study I have is like heavy or moderate, because

31:40

there's a difference, right? Drinking alcohol

31:43

can actually increase androgens in females.

31:45

Now, again, that's heavy drinking. But

31:47

that's something really to be aware

31:50

of when we're talking about like insulin

31:52

resistance, PCOS, that sort of thing. So

31:56

yeah, and then the histamine thing is so interesting to me, because

31:58

it's not something that was on my radar before. but

32:00

alcohol can actually liberate histamine,

32:02

but then also it contains

32:04

histamine. So it's just double

32:07

rammy. That's a whole whammy. And inhibit

32:09

your ability to process

32:11

it. So it's all of those things. Yeah.

32:17

And let's remember too that the liver does a

32:19

lot of things for us. And when you

32:21

are dumping alcohol into your liver, regularly,

32:24

especially if you're doing it nightly,

32:26

that is going to inhibit your

32:29

liver's ability to do things like

32:31

excrete hormones, like basic things. Yeah.

32:34

Yeah, that's very important. Like if you're

32:37

working on troubleshooting health issues, you

32:39

want your liver to be, you know, liver

32:43

is MVP. There's a lot

32:45

of important parts of the body, but liver

32:47

is very important. Yeah, you want it in

32:49

tip top shape. So yeah. So again, like

32:51

just be careful and intentional and all

32:54

that kind of stuff. Yeah. Like

32:56

in all things. Yeah. So suggestion number

32:58

two is from Rebecca. She says, I've heard eczema

33:01

on the lower legs is a sign of food

33:03

intolerances. Can you still have food intolerances if your

33:05

digestion is not an issue? Okay,

33:08

Rebecca. The thing I

33:10

just wanted to quickly touch on here is that I'm

33:12

not totally sure. I mean, there

33:16

may be some something, some

33:18

studies out there that correlate eczema

33:21

in this place is a food intolerance. I

33:24

have not seen that. I

33:26

have done some pretty intensive interviews

33:29

with experts on

33:31

skin issues and that gut

33:33

skin connection. Jennifer

33:35

Fugo, I'll link to that episode

33:38

in the show notes, but

33:41

we talked pretty intensely about

33:43

how skin rashes. So

33:45

that would include psoriasis, eczema, like a

33:48

lot of different things are

33:50

connected to your gut. So

33:53

I want to make this clear because I think a

33:55

lot of people get confused by this. When we're talking

33:58

about the gut and we're talking about... the

34:00

health of your gut and imbalances and bacteria

34:02

in your gut and how there's a gut

34:04

brain connection and a gut skin connection. Your

34:07

gut is not, that is, we're not

34:09

just talking about your digestion. So you

34:12

can have a variety, like a lot

34:14

of issues in your gut. Let's say

34:16

you have an overgrowth of a certain

34:18

bacteria or certain yeast. You're

34:21

not, you don't necessarily, that

34:23

doesn't mean that you, that

34:25

you are absolutely going to

34:27

experience digestive symptoms. So

34:29

I think conventionally when we think

34:33

the gut, we're thinking only about, well, I don't

34:35

have any digestive symptoms. Well, I don't have any

34:37

problems or I, you know, it doesn't

34:39

correlate for me. When

34:41

something's off in your gut, your gut is,

34:43

is home to 70% of your immune system.

34:45

Your gut is connected directly to your brain.

34:48

Your gut is connected to like, you

34:50

know, everything in your body. Think of it as this

34:53

tube that literally runs from

34:56

your mouth to your anus. But

34:58

all along there are

35:01

bacteria and trillions of them. We're

35:04

more bacteria than we are like

35:06

human cells. And

35:08

those, those are connected to everything

35:10

and those actually really impact your,

35:13

like your, your immune function.

35:16

And so when we're talking about things

35:18

that are, I don't know, like autoimmune

35:20

diseases, that's why the gut, that's

35:22

why we talk about the gut so often is

35:24

because it is connected. And when things are off

35:26

in your gut, say you have imbalances

35:30

in bacteria. We've

35:32

talked about SIBO in depth on this podcast.

35:34

We've talked about IBS. We've talked about, you

35:36

know, a variety of things. Sometimes

35:39

those things are going to cause you digestive

35:41

issues, especially if we're talking about things like

35:43

IBS or bloating or whatever. Like we're talking

35:46

about specific digestive issues, like

35:48

digestive distress is like, you're

35:50

always going to see some sort of

35:52

problem or imbalance, you know, in the

35:54

gut because it's coming from the gut,

35:57

but you can also see these imbalances

35:59

and problems. with the gut come out in other

36:01

ways. Number one way that

36:03

you're talking about here is skin

36:05

issues and that's very common. Very

36:08

common, although you'll go to the dermatologist and

36:10

they won't have any sort of recognition for

36:12

your gut. But if you... And

36:14

this is why Steph and I

36:16

are so passionate about holistic health is

36:18

that the gut is connected to so

36:20

many things. It's connected to your skin,

36:22

it's connected to your

36:25

mental health and depression and anxiety and that

36:27

sort of thing. So inflammation in your gut

36:29

is going to impact a lot of other

36:31

things. I think that when

36:35

we're talking about healing the gut and really focusing

36:37

on... Like, I

36:39

don't know. That's the first thing that I think

36:41

of is if somebody has some sort of symptom,

36:44

I always want to know, is there some sort of correlation

36:47

to gut imbalances? The

36:49

answer is very often yes, because

36:52

even when we're talking about hormone imbalances, a

36:54

lot of people don't connect the gut like,

36:56

oh, there's that dysfunction to hormone imbalances. Why?

36:58

Because, well, what does the gut have to

37:01

do with your hormones? Well, your gut eliminates

37:04

hormones. It's

37:06

part of the detoxification process. If

37:09

your body's reabsorbing estrogen, you're going to have

37:11

estrogen dominance. So we've got to make sure

37:13

that your body is properly eliminating things. And

37:15

so, yeah, I mean, I'm always thinking

37:18

symptomatically and it may be accurate or inaccurate, it's

37:20

fine, but it's like where my brain goes. If

37:22

somebody has a symptom or myself, if I have

37:25

a symptom, like when I was having the scalp

37:27

psoriasis, I'm like, should I get

37:29

a GI map chest? I should look at my gut and

37:31

see what's going on in my gut and try to fix

37:33

that. So I just wanted to say that.

37:35

I think that

37:38

hopefully that's helpful so that people can really

37:40

think about the gut first, not just when

37:42

we're talking about digestive issues, but when we're

37:44

talking about symptoms as a

37:46

whole on the body, whether it's an autoimmune

37:48

condition or eczema or hormone imbalance or chronic

37:51

pain in your low back or

37:55

anxiety. I

37:57

have a way for you to get free electrolytes. and

38:00

let me be honest, you are going to

38:02

love them. Minerals have quite literally changed my

38:04

life. I take them daily now. A lot

38:06

of people think that you don't need to

38:08

take them during the winter because you're not

38:10

sweating as much, but that's a myth. If

38:12

you are running around, if you're working out,

38:14

if you're eating a whole foods diet and

38:16

if you're dealing with stress, your body still

38:18

needs electrolyte support. In fact, I'm still drinking

38:21

them daily during the winter now. I tend

38:23

to drink them mid-morning. I get to a

38:25

point where I start to feel fatigue and

38:27

I actually start to feel like I want

38:29

something, like I'm craving something, whether it's

38:31

food or sweet, and I don't really feel

38:33

hungry. That's when I know I need my

38:35

electrolytes. One of my favorite ways to replace

38:38

minerals is with element. I started supplementing with

38:40

element after workouts and it made a huge

38:42

difference in my energy and the dizziness I

38:44

used to experience throughout the day. They make

38:47

grab and go electrolyte replacement packs with no

38:49

sugar, gluten fillers, or artificial ingredients. You just

38:51

tear open a pack, pour it into your

38:54

water and stir. I have now been mixing

38:56

up half a packet for my kids when

38:58

they're sick, which has been often they

39:00

now say, I don't feel good. I want my element.

39:02

I also pretty much always have one in my purse

39:05

because when we are out and about, it's been a

39:07

long day. We're at a football game. I need

39:10

to pour some element in my water. Right

39:12

now, everyone, including new and current customers can

39:14

get a free eight pack of element with

39:16

every order. Element comes in boxes of 30.

39:18

There is free shipping on all orders and

39:20

now all orders will get a free eight

39:22

pack, which has all the flavors of element.

39:24

When you do your order, I recommend doing

39:26

the insider bundle, which gives you three boxes.

39:29

Then you get one free. Then you get

39:31

a free eight pack on top of it

39:33

and make sure to check out the new

39:35

winter flavors, chocolate mint, chocolate raspberry, and chocolate

39:37

chai, which can be heated up before a

39:39

warm drink to get element. Go

39:41

to drink lmnt.com/well fed and make

39:43

sure to use the code well

39:46

fed for your free sample eight

39:48

pack. Again, that's drink lmnt.com/well

39:52

fed. Question

39:55

number three is from Eileen. She says, give

39:57

me more details on Steph's weight training routine.

40:00

Does she go to a gym or does

40:02

she do it at home? And yeah,

40:04

okay, I'll stop there. Yeah, thank

40:06

you. I love an opportunity

40:08

to talk about me. I

40:12

actually, I'm actually really, really glad

40:14

to be talking about this. So thanks for asking,

40:16

I mean, because I think I

40:18

talked about this recently,

40:22

but I have some

40:24

time in the last several months, people

40:29

have started commenting on

40:31

the way that I look. And I do

40:34

have obvious

40:36

musculature in my arms because I do

40:39

work out, I lift weights a lot.

40:42

But I

40:45

just want to say for anybody who

40:47

follows me on Instagram and all

40:49

that stuff, I try really, really hard. I

40:51

don't want to hold forward

40:55

as like the model. I'm not trying to

40:58

say this is the way that things have

41:00

to be done, right? Noelle and

41:02

I have consistently always said, you know, breaks

41:04

are important, rest is important, doing exercise that

41:06

you enjoy, and that feels good for you

41:08

is important. Like, you know, I'm

41:10

never wanting to say that the way that I

41:12

do things is the way that people should

41:15

be doing things. At

41:17

the same time, I'm very happy to share if

41:19

people are, you know, doing it, whatever we can

41:21

talk about different methods and

41:24

that sort of thing. I just,

41:26

yeah, you know, and

41:28

I'm very, I will post selfies,

41:31

because this is what I look like,

41:33

and I want to share my outfits and stuff. I

41:35

will post selfies. But I'm very

41:37

aware that, you

41:39

know, any kind of image that we put up

41:41

on the internet is consumed by people. And I

41:43

don't ever want to say, your shoulder

41:46

should look like this, or, you know,

41:49

your size, this X, Y, and Z,

41:51

you know, people have been have commented on my

41:53

body. And I'm like, I just want to be

41:55

really, really clear. I just want to be really

41:57

clear that I dressed exactly the same way. same

42:00

way four years ago when

42:02

I was 20 pounds heavier as

42:04

I do now. And

42:07

I looked as great. Yeah, I really I

42:09

just I know I've been saying that a

42:11

lot recently, but I just I feel so

42:13

strongly. So what do I do?

42:15

I also feel very strongly about this. I

42:18

do a little bit often. So

42:21

I just am

42:23

consistent. And that's

42:25

it. So I have one

42:28

set of weights. I do not know how much

42:30

they weigh. My guess is around

42:32

30 or 35 pounds. I

42:34

have no idea. But they feel

42:36

very heavy to me, or they

42:39

felt they used to feel heavier, they feel a little bit

42:41

less heavy now. But what

42:43

I do is I

42:45

lift things that feel heavy

42:48

for a while. Most

42:51

days. And I'm being

42:53

extremely vague. And that's I mean, that's kind of the

42:55

point because what I do

42:57

is I have an experience of like

42:59

heaviness my breath like I breathe heavy, you

43:01

know, I actually I do between

43:04

five and 10 arm

43:09

related stuff like with related stuff.

43:11

Like I do something upper body and something

43:13

lower body at least between five and 10.

43:16

Like sets of those depending on how much

43:18

time I have. And that's

43:20

it. I do it most days in the

43:22

morning when I wake up, you can put it anytime. And

43:25

I also feel very strongly sometimes

43:27

workouts that take a lot of

43:29

willpower are fun because you're like,

43:31

Oh, going forward. Yes. And

43:34

that's great. But for

43:36

me on a regular basis, I

43:38

actually don't like exerting

43:40

willpower. I do I

43:43

lift weights to keep my muscles going

43:45

and building and that has great effects

43:48

for the body. It helps keep your bones strong.

43:50

It helps keep keeps your brain strong. It helps

43:52

keep your metabolism strong. I like to start to

43:54

my day where I'm like, Yeah, but

43:57

I keep it pretty low key like I lift weights

43:59

that are heavy. but not in a way where

44:01

I have to psych myself up to do it,

44:03

you know, because it like takes a lot of

44:05

willpower. Because I like,

44:09

I want to put my willpower elsewhere. And I've

44:11

spent so much of my so much of my

44:13

life exerting a ton of willpower, and I just

44:15

want to be like a little bit more easygoing

44:17

right now. But the thing is

44:19

the being and that's just where I am right now.

44:22

And I'm consistent.

44:25

And when I lift the things like

44:27

it's heavy and it takes effort, but

44:29

not too much effort, you know, not the

44:31

kind where again, like why I have to psych myself up to

44:33

do it. I'm like, Yeah, this is what I do in the

44:35

mornings. And if I don't want to some morning, great,

44:38

but most mornings I do it. And

44:40

that's just kind of it. And over time, I

44:43

have become stronger. Yeah, and

44:45

that's really fun. Yeah.

44:48

But that Yeah, so that's kind of,

44:50

are you following any sort of YouTube

44:53

videos? Have you downloaded on app? Yeah. No,

44:55

no, I just I literally I have a

44:57

pair of heavy weights. And I wake up

44:59

in the morning and I'm like, I haven't

45:01

done curls in a while today, it's gonna

45:04

be curls and squats. And

45:06

that's it. And then the next day, I'm like,

45:08

today is going to be push ups instead. And

45:10

then, you know, and being

45:13

consistent is, is really important.

45:15

You know, I have a lot of friends who like

45:17

weight train and they do the bodybuilding. And

45:19

they would say like muscle buildings about doing

45:21

the same thing over and over and over

45:23

and heavier. And you do like, you know,

45:25

that does go away if you don't do

45:28

it for a while, which is fine. But

45:30

that's why I just do a little bit

45:32

consistently. And it works out. So I don't

45:34

know, that's, that's what I do. And I'm

45:36

not going to be like really prescriptive about

45:38

it, because it's totally person dependent. And I

45:40

used to do way fewer push ups than

45:42

I do now. And that's fine. And if

45:44

I end up doing fewer in the future, that's fine too. But like,

45:47

you know, slow but steady. And,

45:51

you know, just stay loyal to

45:53

the things you care about like your health and making a

45:55

little bit of effort for it. And if you have to

45:57

shuffle that to the side for a while, fine, you just

45:59

come back. back when it's good for you to

46:01

come back. Yeah, I love that

46:03

attitude. I think it's helped me as

46:05

well, which is like he's like not

46:09

needing going to

46:11

the going into workouts not saying like, okay, I've

46:13

got to really push it. Yeah, I've got it.

46:15

You know, got to do the thing. I've got

46:17

to. This is going to be woo. I've got

46:19

to site myself up. Nobody has

46:21

the energy or time for that. You

46:23

know, so I want to go into my workout saying

46:26

like, I want to do something fun. You

46:28

know, yeah. I'm going to enjoy this. I used

46:30

to like work out so hard. I felt like throwing up every

46:32

time like, or like,

46:34

you know, maybe not that bad. But yeah.

46:38

And I looking back, I'm like, well, you know,

46:40

I want to build muscles. I want to have

46:42

the brain and the metabolic effects.

46:44

Right. But I don't, you

46:47

know what I mean? You don't need to do something punishingly hard

46:49

in order to get there. No.

46:51

And I want everybody to hear me when I say this. You

46:54

do not have to force fitness adaptations.

46:57

Right. Frankly, you can't even stop

46:59

it. You do not have

47:01

to be like, I really got to go

47:03

hard for like, no, you're when you are

47:05

doing the thing, when you're having fun, when

47:07

you're like, I'm doing push-ups and squats today.

47:10

Like, as long as you're like doing

47:12

some regular set and rep ranges, like you're

47:15

doing four sets of whatever six to eight

47:17

and you're just kind of, and you're being

47:19

consistent, you cannot, you don't need to force

47:22

the fitness adaptations. Like they're going to happen.

47:24

They happen. Yeah. You

47:27

don't, you don't have to like psych yourself

47:29

up and get in there and really kick

47:31

yourself in the butt to get a workout

47:33

in. Now I kind of, you know, I've

47:36

gotten to the stage now where I just want

47:38

to have fun. And if I feel like pushing

47:40

it or going a little harder, like once I'm

47:42

in it, then it's a lot, then you do that, you

47:44

know, you say, well, I'm going to up my weight right

47:46

here or whatever, because I've been

47:49

doing more strength stuff. The Peloton app

47:51

has strength workouts and there's a girl,

47:53

I do a couple different, there's a couple of

47:55

great guys, their workouts are typically

47:57

pretty hard, but I've been

47:59

trying to just go with. with some of the

48:01

girls who have fun. Like, well, there's one girl,

48:04

Callie, who's hilarious and she makes me laugh and

48:06

like, she's just, and I just have fun with

48:08

it. And I'm not, and it may be some

48:10

unilateral stuff where it's not like I'm like really

48:12

pushing myself, but I will tell you what, then

48:14

I'm like, ooh, I feel that like, oh, I,

48:17

you know, like I'm sore in different places today.

48:19

And I like that. I like being able to

48:21

have fun and explore and do new things. And

48:23

when I'm really wanting to like build a certain

48:25

muscle group or whatever, like I can always have

48:28

the freedom to do that too. It's just, you

48:30

know, it's just way more

48:32

enjoyable. Have fun. It's

48:34

way more enjoyable. Yeah, and you know,

48:36

a lot of what I do, keep it short.

48:38

You don't have to, you know, so much of

48:40

the benefit is from the fact that you're getting

48:43

your heart rate up in the first place, you

48:46

know, and if you get started and you're really not

48:48

feeling it great. Something I love to do, I think

48:50

I probably said this before, I did this the other

48:52

day. I was like, oh, I

48:54

haven't really moved much all day. I just, but I don't

48:56

really, I'm just gonna go stand out there and see what

48:58

happens. And I

49:00

do, like, because it sort of, it

49:03

eases me into it. I go stand out there and I'm

49:05

like, hmm, you know, I can go sit

49:07

back down if I want, or maybe I'll do some stretching. And

49:09

then I'm like, okay, maybe I'll do like a little bit of

49:11

this. And then I sort of ease into it. Like

49:13

you said, like it's fun. Something else that

49:16

I've recently started doing is, you know, normally I would

49:18

do, you know, I've got like

49:20

three exercises and I do

49:23

five to 10 sets or what have you. And I

49:25

do a certain number of reps within the whatever. Something

49:27

I like to do now is like, okay, I'm gonna

49:29

do ballpark, maybe 10

49:31

whole sets of something. And

49:34

then I let myself like just

49:36

pick one. I'm like, okay, now I'm

49:38

gonna do squats. Oh my, last week I reintroduced burpees.

49:40

I'm like, why? Now

49:43

I'm gonna do 10 burpees. Okay, that was the

49:45

thing. And now I'm gonna do some dips. Okay,

49:48

now I'm gonna do some this. Like, and

49:50

it's, like you said, like it's fun. You

49:53

know, you don't have to be regimented. You

49:55

can if you want to, but you

49:57

don't gotta. And so long as you're doing stuff.

50:00

your body, like it's, you know,

50:02

it's going to do those maintenance processes like Noelle was

50:05

saying. So yeah, a take

50:07

home message is as ever, have

50:09

fun, take care of yourself, do

50:12

stuff that feels good. Happy

50:14

2022. Second

50:18

question from Eileen. Do you have any

50:20

recommendations on clean hair care products or

50:22

shaving cream? I'll be interested to know

50:24

this. What do you use when you shave your

50:27

legs? Is there a

50:29

question about dairy somewhere? Oh, yeah, there

50:31

is. Okay. I wrote it. I'm looking

50:34

at my answers, but that is a question. So

50:36

I'm like, Oh, what

50:38

do I do for clean hair

50:40

care products? I use the three

50:42

in one everyone use soap

50:45

at Whole Foods, which I

50:47

like. I use the razors

50:49

that come with the shaving cream on them. Do you

50:52

know what I'm talking about? They're called intuition or

50:54

something. I know that those aren't organic

50:57

or whatever. I don't use them very

50:59

often. Yeah. So I can't

51:02

weigh in on. I can't

51:04

weigh in on. I just knew. Yeah. People

51:06

who use shaving cream, I'm like, really though? I

51:08

don't, I just don't. I go. Okay. So I

51:10

have a Billy, I got

51:12

a Billy razor. Is that what it's called? Remember when you

51:15

used to see the ads for it all over and now

51:17

that I'm saying it, I'm going to

51:19

see all the ads in Instagram because my phone's listening

51:21

to me. Okay. My Billy

51:24

is that what it's called? Yeah, it is.

51:26

B I L L I E. So

51:28

I did a lot of research on razors because all

51:30

razors, unless you're getting like a sharp basic razor blade,

51:33

which I did not want to do, have

51:35

the coding, you know, you'll have the coding

51:37

around it. And I wanted to get something

51:40

like that had a little less. I

51:43

wanted something that was cleaner and safer and

51:45

they actually give you the ingredients on there. It

51:48

is. Then what I say. Yes, it's fine. It

51:51

is clean and safe and all the

51:53

things and doesn't have, you know, the

51:55

nasties. So that's the razor I got.

51:57

I just use that now. And I use.

52:00

body wash as

52:03

my shaving cream. I

52:05

don't know. Billy has a shaving cream which I

52:08

thought was fine but I really love it. Not

52:10

putting, don't put it like I just put it

52:12

directly in my hand and then I create the

52:14

thud on my leg and that has actually been

52:16

the best shaving cream in

52:19

quotations. Back in the day,

52:21

what was that brand? Now I can't remember.

52:23

You need that like tall canister

52:25

and like it was always pretty colors and

52:27

different zenas. It was like sensations though for

52:29

the shaving cream and it was like, oh

52:31

yeah, you could like put it in your

52:33

hand and it was like this huge like

52:35

moussey bubbles like basically like a

52:37

moussey shaving cream. I don't know.

52:39

It was, I have many,

52:42

now I'm googling it, shaving cream for girls, for

52:44

women, for girls. Maybe it was like a more

52:46

of a girly thing. I don't know. Anyway,

52:49

I don't know. We bet on

52:51

Google a lot. Yeah. Oh, here it

52:53

is. Skin-timate. Skin-timate.

52:55

And it like you can like all

52:58

different colors and different scents. That's what

53:00

I use growing up but

53:02

now I just use soap folks. And

53:05

then hair care. Okay, so I

53:07

definitely mentioned this last time. I

53:09

use Beauty Counters shampoo and conditioner. I will link

53:11

to both in the show notes. That conditioner is

53:13

bomb. It is amazing. It's the

53:16

best thing at making hair actually soft

53:18

and silky. And

53:20

I use salicylic acid shampoo

53:25

which I can't remember. I'll link to the show notes when I

53:27

have like the scalp psoriasis and I just use it like as

53:29

a spot treatment and that works really well too. And

53:32

I don't use a ton of

53:34

hair care products other than that and maybe

53:36

that's part of my problem why my hair

53:38

never holds a curl but I don't use

53:41

hairsprays or I don't like I sometimes will

53:43

have like a mousse very gently

53:45

like in my bangs to like or

53:47

not my bangs. Gosh, I haven't had

53:49

bangs in 20 years but you know

53:51

whatever the thing that swipes over goes

53:53

over that part where it's

53:55

usually shorter and it kind of like to give

53:57

it body to like lift it away. I

54:00

suck at hair. I should really get better about

54:02

this. And my mom was a hairdresser if nobody

54:04

knows this. My mom was a hairdresser and so

54:06

she cut my hair for years and

54:09

always did my hair. And I think I just

54:11

sort of checked out. Like I never had to

54:13

think about it. And then like I became an

54:15

adult and I'm like, oh, well, what do you

54:17

use again, mom? Anyway, the

54:20

dairy is opinions or do

54:22

either of you use dairy-free

54:24

milk? I eat almond or coconut

54:26

milk. Do you use dairy-free milks? I have

54:28

a very strong opinion about this. Oh. Oat

54:31

milk is the superior milk.

54:34

I won't even say it's the superior milk alternative in

54:37

coffee at least. I think it's, I prefer it.

54:39

I love oat milk for

54:41

so many reasons. Yep, I'm a oat

54:43

milk loyalist. That's all I'm gonna say. I'll just

54:45

leave it at that. Hmm. I

54:47

don't think I would have guessed that, but now it totally makes

54:49

sense. Yeah, I

54:51

think it's great. I think it's

54:54

great. The other milks, do you like the taste

54:56

better? I love the taste. There's

54:58

something kind of earthy about it. Now you have

55:00

memories from my childhood attached to oatmeal.

55:02

It tastes like oat, which I think is

55:04

a wonderful compliment to pretty much all the

55:06

things you normally put milk in. Whereas almond,

55:09

like coconut, I don't want my coffee to

55:11

taste like coconut. Yeah, oh gosh. So, but

55:13

that's just me. That's

55:16

just me. And I think so far

55:18

as health effects go, it's pretty

55:21

good, you know? Could do worse. I

55:23

use coconut milk. Go figure, coconut milk.

55:25

I use canned coconut milk, full fat, and

55:27

basically everything. I don't put milk in my

55:30

coffee, but anywhere, any baking that I do,

55:32

I'm always using full fat coconut milk because

55:34

it does have like a thicker, it's not

55:36

thicker, but it's a more like cream based

55:39

consistency. So it's similar to whole milk and

55:41

whole milk's really good for baking. So coconut

55:43

milk is amazing in recipes,

55:45

baking, any soups that I'm creating, I'm

55:48

always doing coconut milk and it does not

55:50

taste coconutty. It just gives it that dairy-ish,

55:53

thicker kind of consistency. And I love

55:55

it. It's my

55:57

favorite. I don't love almond milk. It's

56:00

just this watery. and I don't in

56:02

general like I would rather reduce my

56:04

nut intake than increase

56:06

it. So last

56:09

question is from Laura Ash and

56:11

this will be quick. She just says lower back

56:13

pain. I have two bulging discs and I'm in

56:15

PT for chronic low back pain after pregnancy. I

56:17

know you've mentioned your low back pain journey before,

56:20

but are there any certain food supplements you recommend

56:22

to support your spine? Any certain exercises you recommend

56:24

to strengthen the low back to support the spine?

56:27

I think in general this is a very, I

56:30

mean I can give you some basic answers

56:33

and then I just want to give you some

56:35

encouragement. So I do think a low inflammatory diet

56:37

is really, really important. What I think a lot

56:39

of people don't necessarily consider is we also have

56:41

to like consider emotional

56:43

inflammation. So inflammation is

56:45

obviously kind of can be a driver of

56:47

pain and chronic pain and I think that

56:49

it can make chronic pain worse. And when

56:52

we're talking about the health

56:54

of your spine, you be

56:56

thinking about lower inflammatory diet, but also what

56:59

emotional inflammation is, am I

57:02

experiencing, how am I thinking

57:04

about things mentally and

57:06

emotionally and am I tending to that? Is

57:08

there any traumas that I'm not working through?

57:11

Am I taking care of my mental health?

57:14

Foods that I think are really important just for

57:16

overall bone health and I think that this is

57:18

really important for everybody who's experiencing any sort of

57:20

like low back pain or just back issues in

57:22

general. Foods high in

57:24

fat soluble vitamins. So that's A, D, E

57:26

and K. That's your grass fed meats, your

57:28

liver, your cold water fish, your eggs. Vitamin

57:32

D in particular is incredibly important

57:34

for how minerals are

57:36

deposited into your bones. A

57:39

lot of these bone density issues

57:41

are because of low vitamin D.

57:43

We have this low fat movement

57:45

and this vegetarian movement. Everybody moved

57:47

away from these foods that are

57:49

so important for everything,

57:52

but also minerals

57:54

being deposited into bones. So really

57:56

consider that. And then the only

57:58

two things that that I will

58:00

mention in terms of supplements, conjoined

58:02

sulfate and glucosamine. Those

58:05

two things are not going to eliminate your chronic

58:07

pain, but I will say that I think they

58:09

are important for joints and

58:11

bones, and they have

58:13

decreased pain associated with joint pain.

58:15

Both are found naturally in cartilage

58:18

in animal foods. Again, vegetarian movement

58:20

away from animal foods, low fat,

58:22

low fat, moving away from all

58:24

of this fatty, gelatinous,

58:27

cartilage, all these foods, has

58:29

kind of decreased all of that in

58:31

people's diets. So bone

58:34

broth, for example, is a really great source

58:36

of both of these, but you can also

58:38

supplement with them. So

58:40

you can try supplementing with that. What I will

58:42

say and what I have found is

58:45

that, and I kind of, I talked for a

58:47

while about this with one of my good friends

58:49

just like two days ago who's experiencing a lot

58:52

of pain herself, and I

58:54

have found that when

58:56

it comes to chronic pain, there

58:58

is no one thing that's

59:00

going to fix everything. So I think we have

59:03

a tendency to say, well,

59:05

chiropractic care is going to fix it, or PT

59:07

is going to fix this, or massage therapy is

59:09

going to fix this, and all of those people

59:11

are going to tell you different things, but

59:14

at the end of the day, it's

59:16

really about improving functionality and

59:19

what you can do. You don't have

59:21

to be so focused on the pain. Yes, like

59:23

the chronic pain, the bulging disc, all that is

59:25

really hard, but

59:27

try to focus on how can

59:29

I increase my functionality? So

59:32

how my body is activating, how

59:34

my muscles are activating, how like

59:36

you want to is strength train,

59:39

yes. But if

59:41

you're doing those movements and your body

59:43

isn't activating properly, it's not going to

59:45

help. So that's why I don't, when

59:47

you say any certain exercise, you recommend to strengthen

59:49

your low back or support your spine. If your

59:52

body's not properly activating, you could be doing those

59:54

exercises and it's still not going to help. Strength

59:56

is overall is good. Strength

59:59

training is good, right? getting stronger, increasing

1:00:01

core strength, that's wonderful. But

1:00:04

some of the things that a lot of people who are

1:00:06

experiencing chronic pain, the things that they

1:00:08

can't do are basic movements that don't take

1:00:11

super strength. It just takes proper activation. So

1:00:13

work on, focus on functionality. How

1:00:15

can I improve functionality? And when you

1:00:17

improve that functionality and you turn those things

1:00:19

back on, that doesn't mean that your chronic

1:00:21

pain is going to completely go away, but

1:00:23

it now means that you can build on

1:00:26

what you have established, on what you're

1:00:28

reactivating on that improved functionality. Now

1:00:31

you can move through life moving

1:00:34

properly and you can build on that with

1:00:36

your workouts, with your regular strength movements like

1:00:38

we know that are so great for core

1:00:40

strength like squats, you know, like basic things

1:00:42

that are really hard to do when you're

1:00:44

in chronic pain, but when you're doing them

1:00:46

properly, now you can do loaded squats. Now

1:00:48

you can do, you know, basic

1:00:50

things that are going to help you, you know,

1:00:53

whatever. I love lunges. I love a good

1:00:55

lunge. I like doing glute. And

1:00:57

like for years I couldn't do glute bridges

1:00:59

because it just was really hurting

1:01:02

my low back. But

1:01:04

now I can do that because things

1:01:06

are firing properly and that pain has

1:01:08

subsided and my body's been able to

1:01:10

like find its functionality again, you know?

1:01:12

So it's not that it's, you're not

1:01:14

going to see immediate results with, you

1:01:16

know, PT work in six

1:01:18

weeks, six to eight weeks, but you should see

1:01:21

an improvement in functionality which therefore then you can

1:01:23

build on. And

1:01:26

I think that you could take all the supplements and

1:01:28

still be in chronic pain, but I do think

1:01:30

that at a point like that, making sure that

1:01:32

you're having a low, like eating a low inflammatory

1:01:34

diet and having these nutrients is really

1:01:37

important as well. That's

1:01:39

all the stuff. Do you have any other

1:01:41

things Steph? About

1:01:44

lower back pain? No. Okie

1:01:46

dokie. Thank you for your thorough. Yeah.

1:01:48

Thank you. Yeah. Yeah.

1:01:51

I mean I was thinking I was going to say

1:01:54

like experience, but I don't want to thank you for

1:01:56

having experience with back pain. I

1:01:59

hear you. Yeah, yeah, but

1:02:01

I also think, you know,

1:02:03

whatever I want,

1:02:06

I want people to be able to use all of

1:02:09

my experience to be able to find

1:02:11

relief because you can find relief for

1:02:13

sure. And I do have actually, I

1:02:15

think I already released the episode, I

1:02:17

think, hopefully, on chronic pain. So

1:02:20

that's coming up too. But I'm

1:02:22

always here for you. You can, I will

1:02:24

answer any questions. Okay, thanks so much for

1:02:26

being here, guys. We really appreciate you. For

1:02:28

more from Stephanie, at Stephanie Rupert on Instagram.

1:02:30

More from me, I'm at coconutsandcattleballs on Instagram.

1:02:32

And my website is coconutsandcattleballs, our book, Coconuts

1:02:34

and Cattleballs. You can buy that on Amazon.

1:02:36

If you just have to have more of us. Thanks, guys, for being here. We

1:02:38

will talk to you next week.