001: Overcoming Family Health Challenges with Food and Tips for Holiday Eating with Rebecca Stuart, NTP
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Today’s guest is Rebecca Stuart. After contracting a virus while traveling overseas, she was forced to explore various methods of healing. Nutrition emerged as a common thread throughout her journey. Despite numerous setbacks, unforeseen circumstances, and disappointments, including the challenges of raising her children, she persevered and returned to school to gain a deeper understanding of the healing process. Now, after 24 years of personal healing, she is able to share her knowledge and expertise with others, empowering them to take control of their own health and wellness.
Welcome, Rebecca. Hi. So, Rebecca, you were telling me that you have a story of essentially, it's a it's a health journey for about 20 years. Right? So tell tell us how you got started in doing what you're doing. That sounds great. Um, well, I, I grew up, um, in a very pharmaceutical home. My, my, my growing up background has been, um, my dad was in, um, research, uh, worked for Lilly. Um, my mother was a health person, and, um, but very traditional, conventional medicine. And, um, that's all I really knew was trusting doctors and, um, listening, I mean, which you should do. And, um, but when I was about 20, I took a trip to China. Um, I was working with an NGO, and at the time, while I was there, I got really, really sick and came home. Um, and I could not get over jetlag, and I ended up in bed and just a lot of pain. Ended up with, um, mono. But it was a really, really bad case of mono. That took me about two years to recover from then. So I did all the kind of things that I could do, and and I was able to put it a little bit into remission. I had a random eye doctor appointment and he said, oh, my wife had long term mono, and she juiced carrots and apples. So I was like, okay, I'll try. I'll juice carrots and apples. I was clueless about anything really, using nutrition, um, or any other modalities other than pharmaceuticals. I'm just I was clueless, and I was also very young and a newlywed, and at the time my my husband, um, who's English, we just moved back to England to get his green card taken care of. And, um, so I, I was my first experience of juicing and kind of cleaning up my diet. And I got my energy back. I got my vitality back. I got pregnant, and we ended up moving back to the States with this green card, had an amazing couple years, felt great and amazing, and then fell pregnant again with my second child. And it was during that pregnancy that I got really sick and after I had him, I could not I could not like bounce back like. And it wasn't a postpartum thing, it was mono. It was extreme fatigue, extreme pain. Um, but I didn't know that it was mono that had come back at the time my doctors put me through. Um, I saw probably ten different specialists. I tried about 20 different drugs, did a whole bunch of different, um, even trials and, um. Oh my goodness. I did everything from cognitive behavioral therapy to exercise therapy, all these different trials at the university. And my doctors just really had no idea what was wrong with me. I was a mess. Um, at the same time, my my kids were getting really, really sick. They were labeled Failure to Thrive. They were, um, they were really, really struggling to just to grow at all. My three year old daughter could fit in my six month old son's clothes. Um, and then even our dog was sick. It was crazy. We learned that our home that we had built, um, the year that I was pregnant with my son was actually, um, had several different issues. Um, and one of the issues was heavy metal issues in the air. The air was really toxic. Our drywall was toxic. Our water was toxic. Um, the city actually came in and shut our water down in our city and end up pumping water in from another city because the water was toxic. We were kind of getting ambushed in every direction. Um, and it took us going to kind of a non-traditional or what we would call functional doctor to get tested. And we all had extreme heavy metal testing. Um, so I was at the time trying to recover from my pregnancy. I was very sick. Nobody knew what was wrong with me. And then my kids were sick. My husband, my dog, we were all sick. And then we all got tested for heavy metals. We all had extreme heavy metal tests like tests. It was. It was crazy. When the doctor called me back with the results, she was actually shocked that my son was alive because his metals were so high. Um, that, uh, she was amazed that he was even functioning at all. So, um, she recommended, like, chelation therapy. She's like, we need, you know, to to get these metals out of your bodies as soon as possible. Um, but my son was also very, um. He was very, uh. What's the word? Very sensitive. He was allergic to just about everything. He was sensitive to everything. He had chronic croup every month, like he was a sick baby, but allergic to just about every mad. So I was really, really nervous about doing the IV chelation when I started to research it because, um, 35% of children who go through that at the time, um, died from the therapy. So because it strips the body of every single mineral. Um, so I was really scared to do that. I just so happened to one day bump into a neighbor who was getting her PhD in herbology, and, um, she actually recommended a whole bunch of natural, like, spirulina, chlorella, you know, Celtic sea salt fleshing, like a bunch of things. So we actually did six months of, um, like natural chelation. And then we also moved out of the house, which was a huge thing. And we my kids within six weeks grew six inches or six months grew six inches. Um, so they I was flooding them with natural ki layers and um, but at the time I was still feeding them crap because I didn't know any better. And then we moved out of the house, so we removed ourselves from, um, a toxin, you know, a very toxic soup situation we were living in, but I was still really, really sick. So my kids recovered. They were doing amazing. Um, but I still really struggled with illness and just kind of maintained the best I could. It wasn't until, um, actually a few years ago. So this was all like in the early 2000. This was all like 2005 through 2008, nine, ten. Um, so 14 years ago, um, last couple of years, we found an, an integrative doctor for the first time ever. And, um, I was very concerned because my daughter, um, was gaining weight rapidly and my son was gaining weight rapidly, and my husband and I were as well, and but, um, I couldn't understand it because my kids were in gymnastics. They were swimming five miles a day on the swim team. They were very, very we were all very, very active. But in the midst of all the activity, we were gaining so much weight. And so in all of that, in kind of my well, maybe it's our diet thinking, um, we switched to a vegan diet and it was basically raw vegan, lots of fruits, lots of vegetables, very little grains, um, very little processed foods. In fact, we started the diet with a 30 day juice fast. And we stayed that way for. Three years. But my kids and my family, we kept getting sicker and sicker, and we kept gaining more weight and getting more lethargic. And, um, it was my daughter's junior year of high school. Uh, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, she just kind of started turning into a completely different person, which was really scary to me as a mom. We're getting ready to, like, look at universities. We're looking at the next step after high school. And she is mentally spiraling like crazy spiraling. Um, she, um. It's like the color completely left her eyes and her countenance completely changed. She was having mental panic attacks, breakdowns regularly. Um, she reached a point where she was suicidal and cutting herself, and she was a completely different person. I had no idea who she was. Um, and so I took her to. I my my therapist and I said, what's going on? And we we are um, we are. We used a faith, you know, a faith based counselor. And she took her through kind of like, um, through the spirit, the soul, the body, like what's really going on. And she's like, because I'm thinking, what happened to my daughter? Like, did something traumatic happen to somebody rape? Or did you know, like, was there something that happened to trigger this cascade of events? Because I don't recognize her anymore. And everything I read online said that that quick behavior change really stems from like a traumatic physical event. And we couldn't find anything. And she she was like, no, nothing's happened, nothing. Nothing's happened. And, um, the counselors, we took her to another counselor. She's like, no, nothing's happened physically. We could not pinpoint what was causing her to turn into a completely different person. So I took her to the doctor. We got a bunch of blood work done. Um, I'm like, oh, it's got to be something physical. Then maybe if it's not emotional, you know, spiritual, you know, a trauma of some kind. And, um, we we tested her neurotransmitters. We tested hormones or cortisol. We just ran the full gamut, and everything was off. Like, she basically had zero hormones. She had no estrogen, no progesterone. Her cortisol level was tanked, like, every like, literally the numbers were zero point something she barely showed on her blood markers. And then the neurotransmitter tests showed like complete imbalance. And so, um, the doctor was like, okay, this is something physical, and immediately wanted to put her on, um, like an antidepressant. And I was like, okay. And but I said, you know, I have to talk to my husband first about that. And I got home and I, you know, um, told my husband what the doctor, you know, suggested we do next for my daughter. And and he immediately was like, no. And I've got a gut check about that. Something's not right. That's not that's not the answer. And at the point I was beyond my mental capacity, my emotional capacity. I'm just trying to keep my daughter alive. I'm trying to keep my family together, trying to keep myself going and in my personal health journey. And, um, I cried out to kind of like, uh, my friend and I, she's also an FNP, and she was like, well, let me think about this. Let me see what we can do. And she really had no answers. Um, so it was literally one morning after a really, really bad week when I was just. Done. And I just was like, Lord, I, I need a quick, easy fix because I can't handle anything else I need. I need you to help me figure out what to do with my family because, um, I'm losing everybody, and I mean, my husband. We were all just beyond sick. Anyway, um, and that whole morning, I was a I was a school bus driver. I was a special needs school bus driver. So that was like a 430 in the morning. Me God on the way to to work, driving in, saying, I need, I need something, I need help, I need to break through, please. And just total desperation. And all morning while I'm driving, I hear this word going through my head carnivore, carnivore, carnivore. And I'm like carnivore. I was like, what is carnivore? What is that word from? Like, what do what in the world is carnivore? And I just I had no idea what it was. Um, and I got home and I checked, um, some messages on my phone and my friend, the FNP, she said, I know that you guys are vegan, and you have very strong ethical reasons for not eating meat, but I woke up this morning and I really felt like I was supposed to send you this video, and it was the story of this girl who was vegan for three years, who had a mental breakdown, and then she went carnivore, and within three weeks it turned everything around and I was like, okay, wait. Okay. What? I've been hearing this word all morning, carnivore. And you just sent me this video. So, um. I am A.D.D. so I hyper focus and I checked out every book in the library. I looked up every podcast. I spent three days deep diving into what this carnivore diet thing was. And then after, you know, researching it thoroughly, like for three days. I'm not kidding. I took a day off work and I just deep dove into what this thing was, and I presented it to my husband, and he could not have been more excited to have bacon and steak again, because I'd been vegan for three years trying to make our family healthy. And I said, yeah, that's basically all you're going to eat. And he was like, okay. And so we did that. And within three weeks, my daughter came back. Three weeks my pain disappeared. And I didn't even realize that I was an anxious person. But my anxiety completely gone. My brain fog was gone, like my mental health. All of a sudden, I had capacity that I'd never had capacity for, to think, to process, to. Um, yeah, the clarity was unreal, and watching the life come back in each of my family members was unbelievable. Um, my daughter stopped spiraling. Um, the color started coming back into her face. Her eyes turned hazel again. They were like really faded, but the vibrancy came back. Um. Her laughter, she started laughing again. Um, the temptations to, you know, cut herself or be suicidal, um, diminished exponentially. Um, we still continued, I mean, therapy, we found an amazing therapist, and it was like about three months for for Emma to, like, really come back to her full self again. But it was really the three week mark was just it was like a switch got flipped and I had my daughter back. Um, so yeah, that's what that was my big like moment of realizing how vital and important nutrition plays in mental health and the body. And I just wanted to learn and know more. So that's when I looked into doing the, um, the going to school with the NTA and deep diving into everything that they could possibly feed us, and I soaked it up like a sponge and then, um, opening up my first practice and going from there. That's amazing. I mean, and I know that you you did the nutritional therapy practitioner training. We were actually in the same cohort. But now that you have that training, if you were to look back at that. The experience that you just described. What was it about the carnivore that you think really helped? The most? Um, yeah. So when we were vegan, um, we were as a family, we were vegan for three years trying to be healthy, you know, trying to do what was best for our bodies. But we were missing, um, key amino acids. We were missing fat in the cholesterol needed for hormones, you know, to build hormones to create hormones. We were missing, um, you know, the key amino acids needed for the gut to actually make all the neurotransmitters. So, um, when I started flooding my, you know, flooding us with butter and, you know, beef fat and lots of beef, and I think, um, we couldn't get enough of it, like, it was just we we were craving it, and we just could not stop eating it. It was, um. It was crazy how, like, uh, that that adjustment time. Yeah. Happened and but but. Yeah, going back now, knowing the actual science and the biochemistry of it all, um, the vegan diet just did not. And we tried our best to balance, you know, get the proteins in using. We ate a lot. We started eating a lot of quinoa, a lot of beans and rice, you know, to try and balance the aminos. But it just it was not enough. It was not sufficient. And, um, so with our health history, I don't know what our, our, the condition of our gut was, but, um, we were not absorbing, you know, nutrients either. So. And we ate a lot of spinach, a lot of, um, a lot of almonds, a lot of almond products, a lot of nuts. Um, but when we when I started going key over, I did have, like, oxalate dumping. Um. I mean, I had oxalates coming out of my skin. I have scars from that because I, I was, I was on overload and that was, I think, causing a lot of the joint pain. Um, but but yeah, the it's just the science of it and the necessary building blocks for hormones and neurotransmitters and cellular health. So, yeah. And and for people who don't know, plant foods tend to have anti nutrients in them. And so so Rebecca was mentioning oxalates. But I mean we've got we've got fatty we've got a bunch of other and anti nutrients as well. And we see that a lot in plant foods. And it's it's not necessarily that plant foods are bad. But in most cases people who follow a vegan or vegetarian diet end up being malnourished. I mean yeah, they might feel better for a couple of years at first, but they end up being somewhat malnourished over time because animal foods are more nutrient dense, more bioavailable in their vitamins and minerals. But I wanted to mention to you, as far as the carnivore diet goes, in my clinical practice as a psychotherapist, I've found that a lot of it has to do with blood sugar regulation. Yeah. And so if you are following a carnivore diet, you're not getting those carbs. Essentially, it's a keto diet, but stricter. You're not getting those carbs that will spike your blood sugar. I mean, yeah, technically protein spikes your insulin a little bit and stuff like that too, but it can really help regulate that blood sugar. And so just that alone can really boost mental health, mental clarity, uh, help regulate hormones. And then and Rebecca, you mentioned a few minutes ago about the, the amino acids, which I mean, yeah, we can get amino acids from plant foods again, but they're not as bioavailable and they're not as complete as what we would get in animal foods. Um, if we can go back to a little bit, you mentioned how your daughter had essentially no trauma, right? And you figured out that it was all physical. And I really want to point that out to listeners because that's that's really going to be the main theme of this podcast is mental illness is not purely psychological like we've been taught to believe. And that is why I do what I do. That's why I became a nutritional therapy practitioner in addition to being a psychotherapist, because there are so many therapists, even just in my community, we've got like 100,000 people where I live, hundreds of therapists, because it's also a university town, and they just happen to have a few therapy programs at that university. But I'm the only one who does what I do. Wow. Everybody else just does conventional psychotherapy, which honestly, it's not that it's bad, but it's missing a key component of mental health. And that is the the biochemical or the physical side of mental illness. I was going to say, I'm so glad you're there for the university students, having a university student myself. Yes. It's so yeah, that's so important. I can think of some patients right now even where like they don't think that they have any trauma. And I'm pretty certain it's a biochemical issue. Like when they tell me what they eat, they tell me how they're sleeping or actually not sleeping. I know it's a biochemical issue, and sometimes it can be really hard to get people to have that desire to eat better. Absolutely. Because in many ways, they don't believe that it's going to help them feel better. And yeah, it took it took a while for me to work with her because, you know, she's when she was at the age where she's. I can't control what she eats like a, you know, like my two and three when they were younger. They're babies. So I had to really work with her and helping her recognize, like she would when she first went to university. Man, she binged on the carbs like crazy. She was so excited to hit that dining hall. And and the dining halls were all processed foods. And yeah, she within a week started calling me and crying and spiraling again. And I had to be like, yo, sister, what are you eating? You know, like, come on, let's make let's make a connection here. And so we had to come up with a very intentional plan as far as what to eat, um, where which dining hall, you know, order of what to eat. Like still letting her eat her carbs, but, like, what order and what she eats her carbs after her proteins and fats, that kind of thing. Like we had to come up with a very, um, a very tight plan to help her, but then also, um, so she's she's doing great. But it is that connection. You're right. It's realizing what you're eating does affect you know how you think. And she even went on a retreat a month ago and didn't have access to a lot of proteins, and it was mostly like the cheap carbs. And she came after and she's like, mom, I just need a fast for a day because I feel like crap in my brain. I just can't think straight and I can't focus and I just feel miserable. I'm like, well, have a hamburger. Did you have success with fasting too, or did you would you try that over that course of. Well, you know, I'm not so fasting as I've learned as a stressor. I personally, because I grew up in the church and we always talked about fasting, and we did lots of fasting. And the community that I was in, I don't gravitate towards it. Um, intermittent fasting, I don't mind, um, for my boys, it seems my husband, my son, they seem to do really well with it. Um, with my daughter and myself, I learned we had to be really careful in what week of our cycle we were fasting to not and only and limit our fasting. So like. But then also. When we've been strict carnivore. Um, it's really easy to fast because the state we're just satiated and we rarely ever get hungry. And there will be days where it'll be 4:00 in the afternoon and I'd be like, oh, I haven't eaten today. I should probably eat something like, we just didn't. So we had to, like, actually think proactively. I should eat today. Our hunger cues, our satiety. Um, we just didn't get very hungry and we were able to maintain energy and clarity because we became more metabolically flexible that way. So I don't know if that answers your question. Sorry. Yeah. Um, I actually I finished reading a book recently. It's called The Lies I Taught in Medical School by Robert Robert Lufkin. Oh, yeah, he's a medical doctor. He he still teaches at medical schools. I don't I think it's two medical schools. I don't remember which ones. But in his book, it's all about improving metabolic health, which I mean, that's kind of the that's the general theme of what I've been following lately, anyway, just because of what I do. But he also mentioned near the end of his book that. Intermittent fasting is so good for you. And he was suggesting going on a ketogenic diet, and he was suggesting eating one meal a day. And I was like one meal a day that would put people in a calorie deficit. Mhm. But then at the same time, if it is ketogenic or carnivore, maybe it is okay. What are your thoughts. I mean it depends what you eat for that one meal. And if you can handle eating that much for one meal, like I personally can't eat my full amount that I need for a day in one meal I have, I have to break it up and at least two. I'm not three. Um, but yeah, I you don't. Yeah, it's it comes more naturally, I think, as a carnivore, um, because you're just you don't get as hungry. But yeah, the, the intermittent fasting works to make you for the carbs. The carbs are a non essential nutrient, which means that we don't really need them to survive. And I'm not saying that I'm anti carb or anything, but I love my if we're going to focus our efforts on anything, it probably should be fats and proteins because our body needs fats and proteins to build healthy cell membranes, neurotransmitters, etc., etc. our body, however, does not need carbs to really do anything other than convert it to glucose for energy, and it can convert fats and proteins to glucose as well. So carbs are non-essential. And so if we were to go carb for you or really low carb, theoretically we could just have one meal a day. And honestly, I, I, I agree with you, Rebecca. Like I think I need to break it up a little bit more too, because I have been known to go all day without eating. And then I realized at the end of the day, oh, I haven't really eaten today. But it depends on what you're eating. So like if you are only having one meal a day and it's just carbs or mostly carbs, you're not getting what you need. You're not getting what you need. But carbs also tend to make us hungrier and absolutely not in a good way either. I mean, I mean, for some people, maybe we do need to to boost that hunger signal. But for many of us, if we're eating refined carbohydrates, what happens to our blood sugar? It spikes and then it drops below baseline. And when it drops below baseline, we are so hungry we are irritable or quote unquote, hangry. And think about how that affects your mental health. Absolutely. I mean, or you do like because we don't eat a lot of carbs. We do, um, every once in a while now, we like after we've been carnivore for a couple of years now, but now more and more animal based. Um, so I do make a sourdough loaf, maybe like once a month or something as a treat or. And I don't, um, micromanage my kids if they're out and about. I just prepare myself for moody teenagers when they get home, you know? But I know when they're at home, they're eating good. So I don't want food to become an issue. So I try not I'm not I don't try to be controlling about it. But. So yeah, like this past weekend we went to a Christmas market, Kris Kringle market, and it's huge. And of course we had to try like all the things. And one of them was a, um, fresh made stroopwafel dipped in chocolate with like, crushed Oreos, which is like, so not something a nutritionist will recommend. But by golly, I'm going to try one, because yeah, I was going to say it sounds delicious, not delicious. And, you know, it's hard to avoid those things, right? But within within an hour after I'd, I had like three bites of it. And then I had a, um, I did get a sandwich that had some, um, bread. And so but within an hour, both my husband and I were like, oh my gosh, all of our energy just like dropped out. And we both came home and we slept for three hours. We just had we just completely like, talk about a sugar crash. So that's kind of what we do. We don't really get hangry, we get moody, and then we fall asleep with a car. You know, it was like it was a couple years before our nutrition training. I had an epiphany because everybody talks about how, like they call it the after dinner coma after Thanksgiving meal. And it just so happens that this week is Thanksgiving week, right? Right. And so a couple years ago, I had this epiphany and I was like. It's not simply from eating too much, it's from eating too much carbs. It's a carb crash. And so. And now I understand it's more of a blood sugar crash, but but I was on the right track in that I understood that it was about the carbs. And so if you think about what you eat for Thanksgiving, we've got mashed potatoes, which is a simple carbohydrate. We've got rolls which are usually white bread. That's another simple carbohydrate, right? Um, what else is there? Sometimes the sweet potatoes, the green. You might have a sweet salad on the side. Yeah. The sweet potatoes, which is actually a complex carb, but that is still a carb. It's a starch. And then stuffing stuffing. And then we have our dessert afterward. Sometimes people wait a few hours before they have dessert, but that's just more carbs. And so if you're eating stuff like that, of course you're going to have a carb crash or a blood sugar crash. No, it's not the turkey. It's all the extras. Yeah. So now that we're talking about Thanksgiving, I feel like I really have to push hard to get this episode published this week so that it's timely. Um, but I'm going to offer some some tips here, because I kind of go into the holidays with this thought that, oh, I have to I have to keep eating healthy, otherwise I'm going to feel lethargic. I'm going to be irritable, my mental health is going to decline. But there are some things that you can do to still indulge in these holiday treats and be okay. I mean, obviously it's not going to be optimal, but you'll be okay. So what are the blood sugar hacks? Rebecca, do you remember? Um, some of my favorite that I use today is, um, we do, um, like, like a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and, like, a shot glass of water will, like, knock that back, like, do a little apple cider shot. Um, about a half an hour before we eat. The acetic acid helps slow your body's absorbing the blood or the sugar into your bloodstream, so it helps slow, um, the sugar spike. Um, the other one that I really like. Or this is the one that we use a lot. Um, actually, we use it whenever we eat carbs. And that is, we always eat our proteins and our fats first. Like. So when it comes to Thanksgiving, I'm going to be like, okay guys, get that turkey, you're going to eat that first. Besides hot turkey, so much better than cold turkey on your plate, you know? Um, so go for your, you know, the, the, um, your proteins and your fats first and then eat your carbs afterwards. Because that that alone has been the trick that my daughter has had to help her slow her, um, and maintain good blood sugar levels. Um, with your bread. I mean, just slather the butter on there, you know, it's dress your carbs and fats like crazy. That'll slow the role of the, um, the sugar as well. So, um, so, yeah, this is your this is your permission for your, um, listeners to douse everything in butter, like, go full French butter mode. Um, yeah. Real butter, though. Not like margin. Whatever the lard. Use lard in your pies, you know, like the real good stuff. But fat is your friend, so that's. Yeah, we remember what I'm missing a few, but what are you remembering? I remember reading that you put the fiber first and then the fat and protein, because the fiber, technically it is a carb, but it's not digestible. And so it acts like a filter in your digestive system. So the the carbs can kind of trickle through your system and not affect your blood sugar with a huge impact all at once. So the fiber and then the fat and the protein and then your starches and sugars. And so I think it would be helpful actually to clarify for some people what. Fiber is and what starches and sugars are. I think we generally have an idea of fats and proteins, but if we were to go with the Thanksgiving meal example, fiber would be usually it's your green stuff. So that's your maybe your green salad, green beans, Brussels sprouts. Uh, and yes, technically grains have fiber too. But that's I would say that's more of a starch than a fiber. So we're going to save that for last. And that that's where people get confused. Which is why I felt the need to clarify that. So we're eating the green stuff first and then our fats and proteins, which usually looks like me. It might also be like avocado butter, coconut products, things like that. Then we're moving on to the starches and sugars. And so that's where you're going to go ahead and enjoy your mashed potatoes. Go ahead and have your roll. But like Rebecca said put on that butter. So we want to combine it with fat and protein as much as we can. Rather than eating the carbs by themselves. That's right. And then I'm also giving you permission to eat dessert. But make sure it's not too long after your meal. Yeah, because if you wait, I think it was like a two hour window. Does that sound right? I have it within an hour of your meal. Yeah, yeah. So if you if you wait too long and you have dessert, like you're starting all over again, you're starting all over again, and you have to have the fiber, fat and protein all over again before you have your dessert. So in my general rule, like this is a rule that I follow personally. Never eat carbs on an empty stomach, right? That's really all you have to remember. That's it. Yeah. And then, you know, um, if your weather permits, depending upon. And I'm just praying that ours does this year, last year we were able to. But get out and walk, go for a 20 30 minute walk after you eat because, uh, that'll allow your body to process all of that and it'll keep you from crashing. It'll keep you from feeling moody afterwards. It's it's amazing your muscles act as a sponge for those sugars. And so just a 20 20 minute walk will help balance your blood sugar very quickly and easily. So yeah. Or even just a ten minute walk. Like just just moving your body in general makes a huge difference, because our bodies were not designed to eat pie and then be sedentary. But that's my favorite thing to do, I know. I mean, honestly though, if we're not really following those blood sugar tips, right, if we're if we're just eating pie on an empty stomach because it's been a few hours since Thanksgiving dinner, we're going to want to be sedentary because our blood sugar is dropping and we're not going to have any energy. So that's why people take naps after Thanksgiving. Now, if you do have that, um, family member that's driving you crazy, then maybe feed them the pie and just let them sit on the sofa and then you'll get, you know, a two hour nap out of them to give you a break. No, I'm just kidding. Put them in a for our children. We want that to happen, right? But unfortunately, if we make that a habit, I know over time it causes more health problems down the road. So, like, I mean, it's okay to indulge once in a while, but don't make that a daily thing. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you on that. That's right. So I wrote down some notes while you were sharing your story earlier. I wanted to kind of touch back on a couple of things. Okay. Um, you mentioned the IV chelation. Do you know what that entails? Like, what is in it, what it was? How does it work? It is a key later and it starts, I think with an n, I want to say n d ammo and DMSO. That's four letters. Maybe it's DMSO. It's been so long since I have looked that up, but it's a specific. They use it a lot in like hospitals and doctor's offices to help, um, uh, strip the body of heavy metals for people who do have like, like if they have mercury poisoning or something like that really quickly. Um, and so it, I think it's DMSO, I don't remember what it stands for, but yeah, it's basically they hook you up to an IV and they put this key later and they run it through and it will strip the body of not just, you know, the heavy metals, but every single mineral and um, like every mineral. So you're looking at losing everything from magnesium, calcium, you know, your potassium, phosphorus, uh, to all your metals. And it could cause hyponatremia. Absolutely. It. And so it's back then. I'm sure they have a better way of doing it now because, you know, it's it's been I mean, that was 2000. Nine, 2010. It's been like 14 years, so I'm sure I would imagine nowadays if they're not doing it through IV, they would just still do. Oh, but I mean, as far as replacing the minerals, replace it. They're probably having the kids chug Pedialyte or something similar or follow it with another, you know, IV bag with, you know, a mineral bag of some kind. Yeah. So I kind of wonder, like, maybe there is a way that they could put the minerals back in with an IV bag. So there's a couple doctors that are really well known on social media is that it's kind of pushing that as far as a treatment. And so it is still definitely around. But as far as the safety and efficacy and replenishing, I'm not I'm not sure what the protocols are today. And then the natural chelation. What herbs did you say you were using to make that work? Yeah. Um, I flooded our bodies with, um, spirulina, like, cracked. Um, sawa spirulina, chlorella. Um. We, uh, we did a lot of Celtic Sea salt. Um, so one thing that metals do, is it, um, it just takes up the receptors on the cells. But if you flood your body with the salt, the chloride helps, um, wash the the metal off the receptors. I'm, I'm totally, like, watering that whole process down, but basically, um, the nice thing about Celtic Sea salt is it's very, very rich in so many minerals. Um, so we have switched to using like Redmond Real Salt because it's a little bit cleaner. Um, but we just were flooding our bodies with mineral, mineral rich salt, um, to try and restore our mineral stores and then, um, let's see, it's been a while. We also for a while, we for a few years we did do like the Juice Plus capsules. So my friend gave it to us for a few years to help us. We did the do the full Juice Plus capsules, which is just pure fruits and vegetables, um, dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Um, just to kind of flood our body with good nutrients. And, um, but it was there was a few other things we did. My my son especially, I'm trying to remember, I apologize. It's been so long. Um. We? We also used some other things to help build our immune systems. So a carnation, elderberry, um, vitamins. Um, C I'm trying to remember we had a I had a whole protocol for us, but the main things were the spiraling and the chlorella were the main ones that we used with the salt. And then. Yeah. Yeah. So essentially, I mean, it's, it's plants, but you're using it as a medicine. Absolutely. Yeah. And that's, that's what people typically don't understand is we tend to think in America that pharmaceutical medicine is better, but pharmaceuticals actually come from plants too. They're just super processed, super concentrated. In many cases it's a lot of the same compounds, but it's out of proportion with what our body will recognize and and use effectively. And so it can cause some unwanted side effects. So like we were talking about the hyponatremia earlier from the IV coalition or I mean there are so many side effects. I even learned recently the SSRI is a super common medication for depression have the side effects of homicidal behavior and suicidal behavior. Yeah, and I'm like, what if we know that those are side effects? Why are we prescribing those? That is ridiculous. Well, the SSRI is also like deplete your body of so many vital nutrients that you need for mental health. Like it's kind of you kind of have to really weigh your pros and cons and risks when it comes to your all of your medicines. From what I've been learning. Yeah. And I'm not going to lie. I mean, I'm not 100% against medication. Um, but for me as a clinician, medication is more of a last resort. Like if the person is not getting better because they are unwilling or just even unable to eat better or to take care of themselves, then maybe a medication for a short time might be worth it just to kind of, yeah, get them out of the hole so that they can start actually doing those lifestyle changes for sustainable change. Absolutely. Yeah. And I was even taught in graduate school, very conventional perspective, but I was taught in graduate school that psychiatric medication is really meant to be temporary. And yet so many people are on it for years or decades, as if they need to stay on it for the rest of their lives. That's how it was first presented to me. Um, after I got married, I was having a hard time getting out of my my mono, you know, um, episode. And I was just mentally struggling, so I actually we were living in Jacksonville, Florida at the time, and I there's a mayo clinic there. And I got in to see a really neat doctor. And that's how he explained it to me. He just put me on. I don't even remember what drug it was. I want to say like Prozac or something really simple and generic. Um, but he looked at me and he said, this is for three months only. This is just like, basically I'm I'm like the jumper cables to your battery. We're just going to like, just give you a quick jump and get you, you know, snap you out of this mode and then you're off of them. He's like, this is only supposed to be temporary. And I said, oh, okay. And that's how I always understood them to be. Um, but yeah, in the last years I'm realizing people are on them for life. So yeah. And sadly, I think it's because they have metabolic dysfunction. And so not only like they might be taking medication, they feel better after a few months and they know they feel better, at least mentally and emotionally. But physically they've got they still have that fatigue. And they may even have side effects from the medication itself, things that are keeping them from engaging in healthy lifestyle habits like eating whole foods, exercising, going outside, sleeping well, things like that. Yeah, I remember actually, like when I was in high school, I took I was on a medication. And I remember the side effects, or one in particular. It was night sweats. And I remember my mom saying, oh, you seem like you're feeling better. And I'm like, yeah, except that I'm not sleeping. Oh, no. And and so I, I told my mom I was like, I want to go off of this because I can't sleep with the night sweats. And so I think she was a little bit resistant to that, but she let me go ahead and go off the medication. And I haven't really been on medication ever since. But looking back, it's like I was unable to support one of the core foundations for, at least for what we were taught in our NP program, which is sleep. Sleep is so important for overall health in addition to mental health. Absolutely. Yeah. It's funny, my my kids, um, they're like, they've always enjoyed being homeschooled because I just let them sleep in and I'm like, I'm not. They're sleeping. I'm letting them sleep. They need it. But now that my daughter is at school, she's seeing all her friends, not a university. She's seeing all her friends, like living on three hours of sleep. And they're all having mental breakdowns and they're all like, having anxiety attacks. And she's like, uh, did you even sleep? Like she even she's like, she gets it like you need your eight hours or else you're just not going to be functional. I'm not going to lie, I have such a hard time as a therapist living where I live. We have this big research university, and so most of the people I see are university students. I sleep deprived, and I have that that conversation about sleep sleep hygiene with pretty much everyone. Mhm. And I have such a hard time getting them to understand or. Maybe they understand, but maybe they just. It's just that they don't implement the idea that they need to go to bed earlier. They need to have consistent bedtimes and wake up with the sun and go outside in the morning, get that sunshine so that you have a healthy circadian rhythm. And yeah, I get it. Sometimes you have to pull an all nighter. Sometimes you have to stay up late because you have this project that took longer than you thought it would or whatever the reason, like I've been known to do those things too. But sleep is so, so important. And if we can get our country back on a healthy sleep schedule, like get away from everything, it's the internet, it's electric lights. We've got various reasons why we don't have healthy sleep schedules anymore, but if we can get back on that, like we had like 100 years ago, I think we would all be way healthier just from that one thing. Oh for real? Oh, I could not agree more. Yeah it is, it is a it's quite a challenge in our culture to just get the minimum amount of sleep that you need. And but yeah, I try to I was able to convince my kids how important it was because I was like, you know, when you sleep, your short term memory basically like all picture your brain like a camera on your phone. You know, you have all these pictures that you took all day. And so that's all being stored in your brain, right? But when you sleep, it basically all gets permanently uploaded into the cloud for like, permanent, you know, um, a permanent placement. And if, if you're not sleeping, it doesn't have the opportunity to upload into the cloud. And so you could possibly lose all of those, like pictures that you took during the day, all those memories, all those things that you learned. And um, so I was able to, like, explain to my kids the science of what happens in the brain when you sleep and how your brain even, like, washes itself, like you go through deep wash. And it's just crazy what your brain does when you sleep. But yeah, during finals, you know, and testing season, I'll be like, okay, you study, but you make sure to take your power naps so that you can upload all those memories and everything that you're studying into your like, your long term memory, so that you can recall a lot faster. And, um, I was able to use that, like to kind of persuade her the importance of not studying all night long. And it's more important to get a good night's rest than staying up all night. So maybe that'll help with some of your clients. I don't know, but, yeah, I mean, sleep is essential for for memory, like you were saying. But I was also thinking it's essential for trauma processing. So when you're sleeping, especially when you're in the REM stage of sleep, you're processing trauma, right? And so like I do, what's called eMDR eye movement desensitization reprocessing, which is a trauma therapy. But essentially what it is is it's it's a method for mimicking the REM stage of sleep that helps helps the brain to process trauma in, in the way that you should be processing trauma anyway if you are sleeping well. So if you're not sleeping well, and especially if you're not hitting that REM stage of sleep, chances are you have unresolved trauma that will just continue to build on itself. You're going to end up over the years. You end up with complex trauma, and you really need some therapy to maybe do some of that eMDR, but you possibly could prevent the need for psychotherapy if you could just improve your sleep habits. That is crazy. I had no idea about that. That's really cool that. Yeah, I think it was mentioned on therapy if I just sleep. Yeah. So I think it was mentioned in the book Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker. He's a basically a sleep scientist at UC Berkeley. Um. And it seems like he talked about that. It's been it's been a couple of years since I read that book, but it's a good one. It's one. Yeah, it's definitely one I use on hand as a reference for lots of deep neuroscience for any listeners who are interested in that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Well, Rebecca, we are coming up on the end of our time. Where can people find you? Sure, yeah. Um, you can find me at Liberty Wellness and Co. Com is my website or my handles on all socials or at Liberty Wellness and Co. That's the, um, that's my online practice that we're starting and um, or have started and working through and, um, yeah, that's where you can find me Instagram, Facebook, all the things I don't do Twitter though. It's awesome. And I'm going to ask you one question. Sorry to put you on the spot with this, but if there were one thing you could change about the way people approach health and wellness, what would it be? Hmm. Honestly, that's a really good question. So I'm going to answer it with maybe just ask questions, maybe approach health and wellness by asking questions. Um, and maybe thinking through things yourself. Just don't take everything at face value. And yeah, ask all the questions first. Love it. Research. Yeah, such a fundamental concept. But it's it's one that we aren't necessarily taught to do in like public school and no, no, I homeschooled my kids and I taught them the Socratic method and everything, you know, so you ask lots of questions, right? Um, I just didn't realize that they would use it on me all the time. So that's where that's where constantly questioning me. But I'm always having to defend myself because they question everything, which is fine. It's going to serve them amazing in life so they can practice on me if they want. It just is exhausting. Okay. Thank you so much, Rebecca. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. I it was so much fun.
Show Notes Summary:
This episode dives into the science-backed strategies for balancing mental and physical health during the holidays and beyond. Rebecca joins me to discuss the power of nutrition in regulating blood sugar and improving mental health, sharing insights from her personal and professional experience.
We explore practical tips for enjoying holiday meals without the dreaded sugar crashes, mood swings, or energy dips, including:
- Why eating carbs with fats and proteins is essential for blood sugar balance.
- How the timing of dessert can prevent blood sugar spikes.
- The surprising benefits of a post-meal walk for energy and mood stability.
- A simple rule to follow: never eat carbs on an empty stomach.
Rebecca also shares her journey with chelation therapy, natural detox methods using spirulina, chlorella, and mineral-rich salts, and the importance of replenishing minerals for overall health.
We discuss the crucial role of sleep in memory, trauma processing, and emotional resilience. Learn how poor sleep contributes to unresolved trauma and mental health struggles, and why prioritizing rest can be a game-changer for sustainable wellness.
Whether you’re navigating holiday stress or looking for actionable tips to optimize your mental health year-round, this episode provides practical guidance grounded in holistic principles.
Resources Mentioned:
- Why We Sleep by Matthew Walker, PhD
- EMDR therapy for trauma healing
- The Lies I Taught in Medical School by Robert Lufkin, MD
Connect with Rebecca: Website: Liberty Wellness & Co. Socials: @LibertyWellnessAndCo
Connect with Cody:
• To support me and the production of this podcast, go to ko-fi.com/codycox
• To access professional-quality supplements and other health products, visit my dispensary.
• Visit my website at beavercreekwellness.com where you can read more about me and schedule sessions.
Until the end of 2024, get 20% off your first payment of my holistic nutrition and nutritional psychotherapy packages! Each package includes an endless gratitude journal and other tools to help you on your health journey. Go to my website, choose a package, and use the promo code “podcast24” when checking out.
Music:
Coconut Grove by Hotham | https://soundcloud.com/hothammusic
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Creative Commons CC BY 3.0