Latest / Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design / 197 How Emotional Eating, Hormones & Self-Worth Are Secretly Connected (with Amber Romaniuk)

Transcript

197 How Emotional Eating, Hormones & Self-Worth Are Secretly Connected (with Amber Romaniuk) · Your Money, Your Rules | Financial Mastery, Wealth Mindset, Leadership Principles, Intuitive Decision-Making, Human Design

• 0:00
  Amber Romaniuk: I'd always throw the food in the garbage can because I thought, well, if I throw it away, I'm not gonna go and eat through my garbage.
• 0:04
  Amber Romaniuk: Like the who the hell would ever do that?
• 0:06
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm not gonna do that.
• 0:07
  Amber Romaniuk: The food settles like an hour later, and then of course my all or nothing ego inner critic came in and is like, well, if this is the last time you're gonna do this, you might as well finish it off.
• 0:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And I grabbed the cookies and I ate them.
• 0:19
  Amber Romaniuk: I am like, I just ate in my freaking garbage and dumpster.
• 0:23
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm alone, like I don't understand how this ended up being my life.
• 0:27
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, what is going on?
• 0:29
  Amber Romaniuk: This is horrible.
• 0:39
  Erin Gray: I wanted to share a quick little update with you.
• 0:42
  Erin Gray: I am coming back to YouTube.
• 0:43
  Erin Gray: It feels really aligned for me where I am right now.
• 0:48
  Erin Gray: I have someone that I'm super excited about that's helping me edit and put everything up there for you guys.
• 0:54
  Erin Gray: You know, as a consumer, I love to watch people on YouTube, you know, when I listen to podcasts.
• 0:59
  Erin Gray: And also, you know, for me being on there to connect with you.
• 1:03
  Erin Gray: Like I love connecting.
• 1:04
  Erin Gray: Video is another way that I love to connect so that you can see me face to face and have these conversations in a deeper way.
• 1:11
  Erin Gray: I want to say that the episodes will be released on Thursdays.
• 1:16
  Erin Gray: This is going to allow more continuity across all of the platforms and everything that I am giving and sharing with you guys.
• 1:24
  Erin Gray: So I just want to say thank you for being here, for listening, for growing alongside me, for all of the changes that I've made along the way as I've, you know, learned and iterated and refined.
• 1:37
  Erin Gray: I just want to say thank you.
• 1:38
  Erin Gray: If you're new here, I want to say welcome.
• 1:41
  Erin Gray: So you can listen to me here like you continue to do.
• 1:44
  Erin Gray: And if you want to, come visit me and join me on YouTube.
• 1:48
  Erin Gray: I'll be there as well.
• 1:49
  Erin Gray: Today on the podcast, I am joined by my dear friend Amber Romagnac.
• 1:55
  Erin Gray: Amber is an emotional eating, digestive, and hormone expert.
• 1:59
  Erin Gray: And she has spent over a decade supporting high-achieving women in building a healthier, more connected relationship with their bodies.
• 2:08
  Erin Gray: Her work goes far beyond food.
• 2:11
  Erin Gray: She helps women understand the deeper patterns, the beliefs, and the emotional roots that keep them stuck so that they can create real lasting change, not just temporary fixes.
• 2:23
  Erin Gray: And one of the things that I absolutely love about Amber is that her work is deeply rooted in her own experience.
• 2:31
  Erin Gray: She teaches from embodiment, from having gone through this herself.
• 2:37
  Erin Gray: She has navigated so much in her own journey with emotional eating.
• 2:41
  Erin Gray: You'll hear this in the episode, losing and gaining over a thousand pounds, healing her hormones and digestion along the way.
• 2:49
  Erin Gray: She is also the host of the No Sugar Coating podcast and now supports women in creating what she calls body freedom where health, confidence, and self-trust all come together.
• 2:59
  Erin Gray: I know that you're going to going to enjoy this episode as much as I did hosting her.
• 3:04
  Erin Gray: And I think that there's so much connection, which you will hear in the episode, between our bodies and our money and self-love and self-trust.
• 3:15
  Erin Gray: So let's dive in.
• 3:16
  Erin Gray: Thanks, Amber, for joining us.
• 3:18
  Erin Gray: I'm so glad you're here.
• 3:19
  Amber Romaniuk: Thank you for having me, Erin.
• 3:21
  Amber Romaniuk: I am absolutely honored to be with you today.
• 3:23
  Erin Gray: So fun.
• 3:24
  Erin Gray: So, do you want to start with just sharing just a little bit about your story?
• 3:28
  Erin Gray: Because I think one of the things, and I talked about this before we got on, one of the things I love about you and me is that we teach from an embodied experience versus I think we've both had lots of mentors in our lives who have maybe taught in theory, but not actually walking the walk.
• 3:43
  Erin Gray: And I really love how, hey, I've been in the trenches with, you know, so nothing that you are saying, suggesting, advising, coaching, all the things you haven't been through yourself.
• 3:55
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah, 100%.
• 3:56
  Amber Romaniuk: I think that's one of the most valuable assets in finding the right person to work with these days, regardless of what you are wanting support with, is embodiment.
• 4:04
  Amber Romaniuk: Um, because I've had the same experiences where I've invested in things and the it's it was just to get you in the door, and then there was no embodiment, and it's frustrating.
• 4:12
  Amber Romaniuk: So I where would where should I start?
• 4:15
  Amber Romaniuk: I went through a very deep experience with binge eating, food addiction, bulimia, and emotional eating.
• 4:20
  Amber Romaniuk: It started at a very young age, unconsciously with emotional eating.
• 4:23
  Amber Romaniuk: I didn't even realize I was doing it, but there were some key kind of like experiences that I'll just like touch on briefly.
• 4:29
  Amber Romaniuk: So when I was five, it was my first day taking the bus, and the older boys call me fat and ugly, and then the whole bus made fun of me.
• 4:34
  Amber Romaniuk: And that is a trauma that I definitely took so deep within me and like took on that identity of fat and ugly for the next 20 years of my life and felt very unworthy.
• 4:43
  Amber Romaniuk: And my mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis before I was born, and she had an unconscious food addiction, I think, that was developed after getting that diagnosis, which is so ironic.
• 4:54
  Amber Romaniuk: You're slowly losing control of your body and you're trying to grip with control with food.
• 4:58
  Amber Romaniuk: Obviously, I didn't know she had a food addiction until I healed my own and just started to observe some of her habits.
• 5:02
  Amber Romaniuk: However, we revolved a lot of our relationship around food, and I think it was one of the ways that she compensated for not being able to do certain things due to the symptoms that would flare up for her.
• 5:13
  Amber Romaniuk: So I just could eat whatever I wanted whenever I wanted, and there wasn't really any like nutrition knowledge in the house, which I feel like in the late 80s and 90s was just not really a thing anyway.
• 5:22
  Amber Romaniuk: I obviously love my parents and I'm so grateful for the experience I had growing up, but there was definitely a lot of like suppression of emotions, holding things in because my mom was dealing with so much and I didn't want to be a burden and I didn't want to put any of my struggles or problems on them.
• 5:36
  Amber Romaniuk: So I just suppressed a lot, ate, you know, and thought, oh, I can eat what I want whenever I want, and it doesn't matter, and you there have good genes or bad genes and good luck or bad luck, and I probably got my mom's side of the family and I'm gonna be overweight and probably end up with a disease by the time I'm my parents' age, and like just this is the stories that I was creating and that society was teaching me.
• 5:54
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I started dieting in my early teens.
• 5:56
  Amber Romaniuk: Of course, Hollywood and the media heavily programmed me that my body wasn't good enough, and that in order to have love and success and money and all these things, you have to look perfect and fit in their box of fake editing and photoshopping, and of course, later on learn so much more about really the true intent of media and Hollywood and trying to take women's power away on a very deep level.
• 6:15
  Amber Romaniuk: But yeah, you start dieting and restricting, and then you gain weight, and then you can't attain it, and then you gain it back.
• 6:20
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I started um binge eating in my early 20s.
• 6:22
  Amber Romaniuk: So I had to break up that made me so upset I could barely eat, and then I started losing weight really quickly, and I'm like, oh, I'm gonna reach my goal weight, and this is great, right?
• 6:30
  Amber Romaniuk: Revenge body, all that.
• 6:32
  Amber Romaniuk: Lost the weight.
• 6:33
  Amber Romaniuk: Guy didn't want me back, thought it was gonna fix everything in my life, and I'd finally be happy because the weight loss industry literally brainwashes you to think once you lose weight, you'll finally be happy.
• 6:42
  Amber Romaniuk: It's such a lie.
• 6:42
  Amber Romaniuk: But anything you hear long enough, repetitively enough, you can start to believe.
• 6:46
  Amber Romaniuk: And so I lost the weight, nothing was getting better.
• 6:50
  Amber Romaniuk: I would pick myself apart every day in the mirror for hours.
• 6:53
  Amber Romaniuk: My period disappeared.
• 6:54
  Amber Romaniuk: And then it was kind of like I got to this point where I went to this party and there was like ice cream cake and different things, and I had a piece, and then I was like, oh, I want another piece.
• 7:02
  Amber Romaniuk: And then this all or nothing like mentality came in, and it's like, screw it.
• 7:07
  Amber Romaniuk: I don't care.
• 7:07
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm gonna eat whatever I want and I'll deal with it tomorrow.
• 7:09
  Amber Romaniuk: And I like drove home and got fast food and ate until I was so full I was sick, and then the next morning was in sheer panic and went to the gym for several hours to try and, you know, work it off and skip meals, and that really birthed the all or nothing mentality for me, whether I was in restriction, trying to find the next diet or eating style, using exercise and restriction to try and control my weight and prevent weight gain, or I was completely losing control and binge eating five or six days a week, spending $50 to $80 every time I'd go and buy binge food at the organic store, trying to justify why the organic store was a better choice.
• 7:43
  Amber Romaniuk: Not when you're eating a table full of food and eating until you're so full you're sick.
• 7:47
  Amber Romaniuk: But it got to the point where it was either like gas or go and binge.
• 7:50
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, I want a binge, so I'll just put like three dollars in my tank, just enough to get me to there and back, and then I'll call my parents and ask for some money and say that I misbudgeted this month because nobody knew.
• 8:00
  Amber Romaniuk: I wasn't telling anyone what I was struggling with, and I didn't even know what I was dealing with at first.
• 8:04
  Amber Romaniuk: So I gained 80 pounds in four months, then was the heaviest I had ever been, and just felt so ashamed, embarrassed, and like unrecognizable.
• 8:12
  Amber Romaniuk: And I then I hid and I didn't want to go out.
• 8:14
  Amber Romaniuk: I didn't want to see anyone, I didn't want to be social.
• 8:16
  Amber Romaniuk: I didn't allow myself to date because God forbid anyone would give me any time because I was so overweight.
• 8:21
  Amber Romaniuk: Um, and that whole cycle of binge eating happened for another couple of years until I had my low point moment.
• 8:27
  Amber Romaniuk: And just before my low point moment, I started to learn that I was binge eating.
• 8:31
  Amber Romaniuk: I was in denial.
• 8:32
  Amber Romaniuk: I was like, it's not a big deal.
• 8:33
  Amber Romaniuk: Food's my friend.
• 8:34
  Amber Romaniuk: Who would I be without it?
• 8:35
  Amber Romaniuk: The thought of going on this journey, I have 80 pounds to lose.
• 8:38
  Amber Romaniuk: That feels daunting enough, let alone dealing with binge eating and all this other stuff.
• 8:42
  Amber Romaniuk: I don't even know where to start.
• 8:43
  Amber Romaniuk: And and my bulimia happened within the first six months of starting to gain weight.
• 8:48
  Amber Romaniuk: I thought if I purged, I wouldn't gain weight, but it was really just like a deeper take lack of taking ownership responsibility.
• 8:54
  Amber Romaniuk: So I stopped that because I was concerned of the health issues it could create if I kept doing it.
• 8:58
  Amber Romaniuk: But yeah, so I was now aware that I'm binge eating, but I'm in denial.
• 9:02
  Amber Romaniuk: And it was just such a familiar, comfortable state to focus on, wishing I was, you know, weighed less, planning my binge, doing it, feeling like garbage and just repeating the cycle.
• 9:12
  Amber Romaniuk: And so then I had my low point moments where I finished a binge, threw the food in the garbage, you know, always felt in such immense physical and emotional pain, just laying on the couch, horrible stomach ache, feeling so full.
• 9:25
  Amber Romaniuk: It literally was like, I, it's only a matter of time before my insides explode.
• 9:28
  Amber Romaniuk: Like it's literally what it felt like.
• 9:30
  Amber Romaniuk: It was so bad.
• 9:31
  Amber Romaniuk: And I was just laying on the couch in pain, just thinking, I don't think I'm gonna make it to 30 if I keep up this level of destructive behavior, these thoughts, these habits.
• 9:38
  Amber Romaniuk: Like it's so destructive.
• 9:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'd always throw the food food in the garbage can because I thought, well, if I throw it away, I'm not gonna go and eat through my garbage.
• 9:45
  Amber Romaniuk: Like the who the hell would ever do that?
• 9:47
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm not gonna do that.
• 9:48
  Amber Romaniuk: And so I throw the food away.
• 9:50
  Amber Romaniuk: The food settles like an hour later.
• 9:52
  Amber Romaniuk: And then, of course, my all or nothing ego inner critic came in and is like, well, if this is the last time you're gonna do this, you might as well finish it off because it's the last time, right?
• 10:01
  Amber Romaniuk: I would tell me that myself that every freaking night, and it never was.
• 10:05
  Amber Romaniuk: And so that night I went in, I pulled my glue blue garbage can out of my kitchen in my little apartment, and I grabbed the cookies and I ate them.
• 10:12
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I went and threw them out in the dumpster, and then I went back out in the dumpster later and grabbed them and ate them.
• 10:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I just sat on on the floor in my kitchen and I'm like, who am I?
• 10:21
  Amber Romaniuk: What the hell is wrong with me?
• 10:23
  Amber Romaniuk: I am like, my bank account's in the red.
• 10:25
  Amber Romaniuk: I just ate in my freaking garbage and dumpster.
• 10:28
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm alone.
• 10:29
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, I don't understand how this ended up being my life.
• 10:33
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, what is going on?
• 10:34
  Amber Romaniuk: This is horrible.
• 10:36
  Amber Romaniuk: But I needed that moment to happen because it crushed the denial that what I was doing wasn't a big deal.
• 10:44
  Amber Romaniuk: And it crushed the fear of the unknown of like, who would I be if I go on this journey?
• 10:50
  Amber Romaniuk: Who would I be without food?
• 10:52
  Amber Romaniuk: Right?
• 10:52
  Amber Romaniuk: I was afraid to face what was going on.
• 10:55
  Amber Romaniuk: I was afraid to deal with it, and I didn't know how to.
• 10:57
  Amber Romaniuk: And in that moment, the fear of all that was crushed, and the suffering became so big in that moment that I could no longer ignore it.
• 11:03
  Amber Romaniuk: And I just the way I describe it visually is I felt like I was on the edge of the Amazon jungle with a butter knife, getting ready to just like find my way through.
• 11:12
  Amber Romaniuk: I didn't get help.
• 11:14
  Amber Romaniuk: And there was, you know, a couple things that prompted that.
• 11:17
  Amber Romaniuk: The first thing was I mustered up a bit of money to go and see a psychologist, and I'm not poo-pooing.
• 11:22
  Amber Romaniuk: However, I went for the appointment, poured my heart out, and told her like everything I'm telling you here.
• 11:27
  Amber Romaniuk: And she just looked at me and said, Well, just don't go to the store and buy the food.
• 11:30
  Amber Romaniuk: You just need to love yourself.
• 11:32
  Amber Romaniuk: And I was like, Really?
• 11:34
  Amber Romaniuk: That's it.
• 11:35
  Amber Romaniuk: She's like, Well, yeah.
• 11:36
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I just felt this judgment energy.
• 11:38
  Amber Romaniuk: And I was like, Have you ever been through this?
• 11:39
  Amber Romaniuk: She's like, No.
• 11:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, Well, how are you qualified to help people with it then?
• 11:42
  Amber Romaniuk: And that triggered me to go and binge.
• 11:44
  Amber Romaniuk: And then there was like this voice/slash feeling within me that's like, just you're gonna figure it out, just like start getting on the journey.
• 11:51
  Amber Romaniuk: And obviously that was like my higher self, my right, like all of this intuition and stuff that I started to tap into later.
• 11:57
  Amber Romaniuk: But it was just like, you're gonna figure it out, just get started.
• 11:59
  Amber Romaniuk: You're gonna do this on your own.
• 12:01
  Amber Romaniuk: And so then I started on my healing journey, which was very multi-dimensional, physically, mentally, emotionally, energetically, spiritually, behaviorally, like hormonally, all the levels, and fully healed, food addiction, binge eating, emotional eating, learned to love myself, learned what it meant to be in my power, learned how to take ownership and responsibility for my stuff, learned healthy ways to cope with stress, learned how to feel my emotions because I was terrified to do so, and started healing from the inside out.
• 12:31
  Amber Romaniuk: And as I did, it was so transformative and magnetic.
• 12:34
  Amber Romaniuk: And people around me started to ask questions and what are you doing?
• 12:37
  Amber Romaniuk: And you know, once I stopped binge and really the self-worth and self-love clicked, I was like, oh my gosh, now I think I know why I went through all of this because I think this is what I came here to do.
• 12:46
  Amber Romaniuk: I came to this planet to teach this and help women heal.
• 12:48
  Amber Romaniuk: And that's what prompted starting my business 12 and a half years ago.
• 12:51
  Amber Romaniuk: And healing that has given me everything I have.
• 12:54
  Amber Romaniuk: My self-worth and self-love, most importantly, my connection with my body and intuition, my body, who's my biggest guide and teacher and has taught me everything that I teach to my clients.
• 13:03
  Amber Romaniuk: My amazing husband, soulmate that I attracted through healing, right?
• 13:08
  Amber Romaniuk: Like my business, all the healing that I've done through that, because that's a whole other level of healing.
• 13:12
  Amber Romaniuk: But I'm just so grateful because it's helped me become the woman that I, you know, could honestly have never dreamed I would be, and I am, and and continue to appreciate the growth and the lessons.
• 13:23
  Amber Romaniuk: So that's what brought me to where I am now.
• 13:26
  Erin Gray: Man, so so much goodness.
• 13:28
  Erin Gray: I'm gonna like rattle off a couple of things and then you can pick whatever you want to go with.
• 13:32
  Erin Gray: But first and foremost is like this control.
• 13:35
  Erin Gray: You said it, but it's like we all have our own sense of control.
• 13:38
  Erin Gray: Like mine was working, mine was saving and hoarding.
• 13:42
  Erin Gray: But and I know that when I first listened to your podcast when we first met, I was like, oh my gosh, you could literally insert food with money, and it would be my podcast.
• 13:50
  Erin Gray: It doesn't matter what your vice or what your thing is.
• 13:54
  Erin Gray: You know, mine has been money, yours has been food and weight, but it just it just still shows up, right?
• 13:59
  Erin Gray: It comes from this place of like wanting to control, not wanting to feel, not wanting, not knowing even how to be in your body, not loving yourself.
• 14:08
  Erin Gray: Like I always go back to like at the base, it is so simple, but it's not, it's easy, is like it's all about like self-love and worthiness and like just being your biggest advocate and supporter, but we're not taught those things.
• 14:21
  Erin Gray: And I think there's a little bit of like addictedness, right?
• 14:23
  Erin Gray: Like that, you know, Dr.
• 14:25
  Erin Gray: Joe talks about this is like this addictive, like what our bodies are used to feeling.
• 14:30
  Erin Gray: And I was telling this a client the other day, I was like, listen, this is what we're gonna do.
• 14:34
  Erin Gray: And it's not gonna be rainbows and daisies, like be prepared.
• 14:37
  Erin Gray: Your body is going to want to revolt.
• 14:39
  Erin Gray: Like, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it for you and and lie and be like, it's no, your body and your brain is gonna go ape shit crazy when I when you sit down for 15 minutes and you have nothing else to do.
• 14:49
  Erin Gray: And just expect that.
• 14:51
  Erin Gray: And I don't think that we're taught that in the world, right?
• 14:56
  Erin Gray: Like that when you make these changes, we always see people that their end result or their after effect.
• 15:02
  Erin Gray: But I don't think a lot of people are open enough or sharing enough, like, no, the where how I got here was a lot of, you know, all of the things in between.
• 15:13
  Amber Romaniuk: So I agree with you.
• 15:14
  Amber Romaniuk: And I think that's one of the biggest problems and why the diet and the marketing or the marketing with the diet in the weight loss industries is still so massive because people are so addicted to the before and after, and getting to that after as quickly as possible, even if there's like risky, like life-altering side effects, like with the Ozempic and the weight loss drugs and things like that that are not even supposed to be used for weight loss.
• 15:38
  Amber Romaniuk: And so it's like we need to recondition society that it's going to take time and you can't mess with nature, and you've got to be willing to actually like get uncomfortable and look at why this has been happening and why you feel uncomfortable slowing down, why you feel guilty eating enough, why you are afraid to feel your emotions, right?
• 15:58
  Amber Romaniuk: Whatever it is that you're dealing with, because yeah, you're you're when you start to actually explore it, you are gonna feel uncomfortable.
• 16:05
  Amber Romaniuk: You are going to, your brain's gonna be like, no, revert back, go, go binge, go shove it down, right?
• 16:10
  Amber Romaniuk: But it's gonna be about catching it and repatterning and and also understanding how it all works.
• 16:15
  Amber Romaniuk: Because when I started to learn that, wow, I want to binge in the evening.
• 16:19
  Amber Romaniuk: And even if I don't want to binge, all of a sudden I want to.
• 16:22
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, I don't understand why.
• 16:23
  Amber Romaniuk: And when I learn that you wire pathways in your brain, neural pathways, that every time you repeat a pattern the same time every day, even if you don't want to do it, it's gonna light up and there's gonna be such a strong pull to do it.
• 16:36
  Amber Romaniuk: And your brain doesn't recognize really supportive, healthy neural pathways from unhealthy ones, right?
• 16:41
  Amber Romaniuk: And the nervous system registering comfort, no matter what the habit or behavior is, even if it's not good for you, even if it's detrimental to your well-being, that's why it felt so safe and familiar for me to binge and obsessed about diets and losing weight, because it's what was comfortable and familiar.
• 16:59
  Amber Romaniuk: And what was uncomfortable and unfamiliar was understanding my triggers, working through them, was learning self-love, was taking ownership and responsibility for why I was triggered in the first place rather than, oh, it's this person's fault that I binged last night.
• 17:12
  Amber Romaniuk: They upset me.
• 17:13
  Amber Romaniuk: And also, you know, that I was afraid to feel.
• 17:16
  Amber Romaniuk: So if I just shove everything down, I won't have to feel it.
• 17:18
  Amber Romaniuk: And so understanding wow, my amygdala in my brain, which is my fight or flight center of the brain, recognizes discomfort or unfamiliarity as a threat to my survival.
• 17:29
  Amber Romaniuk: And that's why it can feel so easy, even though the current forms of behavior were causing immense suffering.
• 17:36
  Amber Romaniuk: My amygdala was like, this is safe and familiar.
• 17:39
  Amber Romaniuk: So just stay over here, right?
• 17:41
  Amber Romaniuk: This is one of the reasons why it feels so uncomfortable at first when we're changing the way we treat ourselves or speak or habits, because your brain is wired to your current comforts, even if they're not good for you.
• 17:52
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 17:53
  Erin Gray: Familiar doesn't mean it's the best thing for you.
• 17:55
  Erin Gray: It just means we're just used to feeling it on a consistent basis.
• 17:59
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 17:59
  Erin Gray: And I think also, too, what you said is like weight is a symptom.
• 18:03
  Erin Gray: It's not like, but many of us think weight is the like solve for the weight, but it's you actually have to get to the root cause because I know when you and I have talked offline, it's like I haven't ever binged weight, however, you say I haven't binged eight, right?
• 18:19
  Erin Gray: But recently over recognizing, okay, my body is shifting, I'm having, I'm gaining weight.
• 18:25
  Erin Gray: What is going on?
• 18:26
  Erin Gray: And I knew enough about my body to be like, okay, something's off.
• 18:29
  Erin Gray: But most people are like, I'll just exercise harder.
• 18:31
  Erin Gray: I'll just right.
• 18:32
  Erin Gray: Versus, hey, let's actually get curious from a place of self-love.
• 18:36
  Erin Gray: Like our body's natural state is to be at whatever that ideal weight is for you.
• 18:42
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah.
• 18:42
  Erin Gray: But you gotta like shut that whole, you know, weight whole thing off with that too.
• 18:47
  Erin Gray: But it's like recognizing like what is my body trying to tell me about my stress.
• 18:54
  Erin Gray: And I feel like I've gone from a hundred miles an hour to 50, 40 miles an hour, right?
• 19:00
  Erin Gray: But how much more like our tolerance of what we're so used to, and we don't think that that is like we're just so used to running at such a fast pace that even when we do make changes, it's like, no, and even more so, like you know what I mean?
• 19:14
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah, 100%.
• 19:15
  Amber Romaniuk: And I think burnout's been so normalized, and so many women are walking around in a burnout state and they have no idea, and they're just accepting brain fog and fatigue and inflammation and chronic symptoms as as normal because it's been so normalized in society and Western medicine's like, yeah, oh well, yeah, this is your your 40.
• 19:33
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah, you're just gonna have to accept that things are gonna decline now, or whatever the BS lines that they're giving you.
• 19:38
  Amber Romaniuk: And I think that because it's been so normalized and because we're not taught, you know, okay, it's not normal to be fatigued, it's not normal to, you know, hang on to weight and not let it go, like there's like you said, weight gain is a symptom.
• 19:50
  Amber Romaniuk: Your body protects with weight.
• 19:52
  Amber Romaniuk: The two last priorities are weight loss and reproduction when the body is in a survival state, in a threat state.
• 20:00
  Amber Romaniuk: And so what we have to start understanding is if my body doesn't feel safe if I'm hanging on to weight, if I'm exhausted, if I have skin issues, if my you know cycle's off, I'm having heightened symptoms and perimenopause, my mood is far off.
• 20:14
  Amber Romaniuk: These are all the ways that your body tries to speak to you and get your attention and say, hey, something is off.
• 20:20
  Amber Romaniuk: Are you willing to look at it more?
• 20:22
  Amber Romaniuk: Are you willing to investigate, get help investigating, whatever you have to do?
• 20:26
  Amber Romaniuk: But there are things I want to teach you and give you more information on.
• 20:29
  Amber Romaniuk: But I I need you to look at it and I need you to give it some time and understand why it's happening.
• 20:36
  Amber Romaniuk: Because when I stopped binge eating, I gained 80 pounds again and I wasn't binge eating, and it was hormone imbalances and high blood sugar and like all of the stress post-binge eating, and then starting a business and be like, holy crap, I need to like make this self-sustained and I have a year to do it.
• 20:53
  Amber Romaniuk: So I felt very a lot of pressure, right?
• 20:55
  Amber Romaniuk: And so that amplified the hormone issues I already had from you know those behaviors, and then just like pushed it up another level.
• 21:03
  Amber Romaniuk: And it was like my mind was just like, how the hell did I gain 80 pounds again?
• 21:07
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm not even binge eating.
• 21:08
  Amber Romaniuk: But this is the reality of my body didn't feel safe.
• 21:11
  Amber Romaniuk: And it was setting boundaries in my business, not people pleasing, really being mindful of what I was giving my energy to.
• 21:18
  Amber Romaniuk: It was quitting the gym and stopping the 7 a.m.
• 21:22
  Amber Romaniuk: hit training five days a week and napping and resting and just going for walks and stretching.
• 21:27
  Amber Romaniuk: And once I made those changes and supported my hormones properly, I'd found some hormone issues that, you know, my blood labs didn't show me that saliva testing really did show me.
• 21:37
  Amber Romaniuk: And once I started to take those steps and deal with those things, it melted off.
• 21:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And it blew my mind that resting and and figuring out what was gonna help my body feel safe literally was the magic formula.
• 21:49
  Amber Romaniuk: And it I was like, what?
• 21:50
  Amber Romaniuk: I don't need to do this crazy exercise that I hate to lose weight and keep it off.
• 21:54
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm losing the weight by loving myself and giving my body what she really needs.
• 21:58
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, this is next.
• 21:59
  Amber Romaniuk: Level.
• 22:00
  Amber Romaniuk: And it doesn't matter to me your age.
• 22:02
  Amber Romaniuk: And some people are like, well, you were only in your mid-20s when that happened.
• 22:05
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, yeah.
• 22:06
  Amber Romaniuk: And I've witnessed women from their 20s to their 80s see the same thing happen when they get honest with themselves and they really work on identifying the roots of their weight loss blocks.
• 22:16
  Amber Romaniuk: Because yeah, it's a we all have a natural set point, and your body will go there when you find out the information and you figure out what she needs to feel safe.
• 22:23
  Amber Romaniuk: Doesn't matter.
• 22:24
  Amber Romaniuk: We're not meant to force exercise we hate.
• 22:26
  Amber Romaniuk: We're not meant to restrict and shut things, natural signals off in our bodies, right?
• 22:33
  Amber Romaniuk: So that was a huge limiting belief that I had to heal, which is like, oh, you need to exercise to lose weight and keep it off.
• 22:39
  Amber Romaniuk: Well, you can exercise and gain weight and keep gaining weight, right?
• 22:44
  Amber Romaniuk: So that was a healing moment.
• 22:46
  Erin Gray: And I think it sounds, I wrote down it's so simple, it's not easy to do, right?
• 22:51
  Erin Gray: And we're we're taught, I I don't know how you feel about this, but like I feel like the the business world is changing.
• 22:56
  Erin Gray: But I grew up in a very masculine business world with construction and financial planning.
• 23:01
  Erin Gray: And so I was around my dad for what 12-ish years, like business wise.
• 23:07
  Erin Gray: And when I think about it, he didn't eat.
• 23:09
  Erin Gray: He woke up, I don't even know at what time, but he would probably be at work by like 6:30 or 7.
• 23:15
  Erin Gray: He wouldn't leave until six.
• 23:17
  Erin Gray: He wouldn't eat breakfast, he wouldn't eat lunch, he wouldn't exercise.
• 23:21
  Erin Gray: Like it was so focused on business.
• 23:24
  Erin Gray: And of course, whoever you're around, like you you bring that, you know, I would eat and exercise and things of that sort.
• 23:30
  Erin Gray: But I had to retrain my brain of like, that's not actually how my energy moves.
• 23:34
  Erin Gray: And I don't even know if that's how his energy moves from like that constant, you know, being worked.
• 23:39
  Erin Gray: Like there's a lot of beliefs that he's got around working hard and all that.
• 23:42
  Erin Gray: But like really, I had to start, it's like, no, my I I need naps.
• 23:46
  Erin Gray: I need to rest.
• 23:48
  Erin Gray: I actually don't do good by waking up at 6 a.m.
• 23:51
  Erin Gray: I do better, you know, and I need 10 hours of sleep.
• 23:54
  Erin Gray: Like he might get, I don't even know, five, six, who knows what that meant.
• 23:58
  Erin Gray: You know, but it's just like we are taught or we either are taught and or we are around people and like this business hustle culture.
• 24:05
  Erin Gray: You know, you got everybody that's got somebody who, you know, can tell you, like, oh, I wake up at it's like who wants, I don't want to wake up at 5 a.m.
• 24:12
  Erin Gray: Maybe some people want to, right?
• 24:14
  Erin Gray: I tend to wake up earlier on vacation.
• 24:15
  Erin Gray: That's a whole nother thing.
• 24:16
  Erin Gray: But you know, like I I really like to get 10 hours of sleep.
• 24:20
  Erin Gray: I feel good when I get that.
• 24:21
  Erin Gray: I notice, and I think the more that we tap into our body, like you're saying, then our body talks to us and tells us these things.
• 24:30
  Erin Gray: But many of us are not yet willing to actually slow down enough to hear what our body is telling us.
• 24:37
  Erin Gray: We're just so focused on the end result, like what you were talking about with weight.
• 24:42
  Erin Gray: Like we're so focused on business, we're so focused on making the money that we're we're missing, like what you said, is the whole process.
• 24:49
  Erin Gray: Like the money in the business is is the cherry on top.
• 24:52
  Erin Gray: But like, how do you feel along the way?
• 24:55
  Erin Gray: And I had to redefine what success meant to me because in growing up and people I've been around, success equated money.
• 25:02
  Erin Gray: But what good is all the money if you don't have a healthy body, if you're not, you know, alive enough to go and enjoy it and you're not able to be present with your kid, or you're just so burnt out at the end of the day, you're just like, I have no more capacity for anything else.
• 25:17
  Erin Gray: Like we have to really redefine what success looks like for us.
• 25:21
  Erin Gray: And I think it's very different for women than it is for men.
• 25:24
  Amber Romaniuk: 100%.
• 25:24
  Amber Romaniuk: You're right.
• 25:25
  Amber Romaniuk: And women are meant to sleep more than men.
• 25:27
  Amber Romaniuk: Like for hormones, women need eight to ten hours of sleep a night.
• 25:32
  Amber Romaniuk: That is optimal, right?
• 25:34
  Amber Romaniuk: It's very rare a woman can thrive off of less, and your labs will tell you, and your energy levels will tell you the truth.
• 25:40
  Amber Romaniuk: So I think that's really important.
• 25:41
  Amber Romaniuk: And you're right, and and we're so busy reaching these end goals.
• 25:45
  Amber Romaniuk: And it's it's like, no, it's actually about the journey, like you said, and and your quality of life and how you feel.
• 25:51
  Amber Romaniuk: Because I've, you know, talked to and worked with women who are have very incredibly successful businesses and they are completely burnt out.
• 25:59
  Amber Romaniuk: They have a million health issues, they're drinking, they're overconsuming, they're people like they're so burnt out and beyond themselves and they're so upset about it.
• 26:06
  Amber Romaniuk: But then there's this resistance or this hesitance to want to change those habits because again, it's uncomfortable, it's unfamiliar, it's different.
• 26:14
  Amber Romaniuk: Or their worth is tied up with how much they do rather than worth being a feeling you access in any moment because you're born worthy and you're worthy because you exist.
• 26:23
  Amber Romaniuk: So if you've tied your worth up and your identity up with my success and how much I do in my business and how much money I make, oh is that ever gonna be uncomfortable when it's like now it's time for some self-care or it's time to unplug and set boundaries in your business and get off your phone and and take an hour for yourself, right?
• 26:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And I don't think we've been properly educated about our hormones as women.
• 26:44
  Amber Romaniuk: A lot of women don't even realize perimenopause is a thing and starts between 35 and 37 and goes until you hit peri or hits per menopause rather.
• 26:51
  Amber Romaniuk: You know, when you stop your period for a year and you ideally are in your 50s and not your mid-40s.
• 26:56
  Amber Romaniuk: And, you know, if you are, then we can work on that.
• 26:58
  Amber Romaniuk: But I just think that there's such a miss with understanding things like this.
• 27:02
  Amber Romaniuk: And to what you were saying earlier about, you know, us being so busy and not going inward, I think, yeah, part of it is that.
• 27:10
  Amber Romaniuk: And I think the other thing is so many women don't believe they ever could have the magic like within them to be able to connect with their bodies.
• 27:17
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, I'm not special, I don't have the gift or capability to tune into my body.
• 27:21
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, let's just do it right now.
• 27:22
  Amber Romaniuk: And they do, and they're like, oh my gosh, it's so easy.
• 27:25
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm like, yeah, because you're meant to, but we're so conditioned that we're these pathetic little things on this planet that literally are so powerless, but there's so much power within us.
• 27:34
  Amber Romaniuk: And so I think that the more we can be willing to connect with our bodies and get the proper information along with that, like intuitive guidance and listening.
• 27:45
  Amber Romaniuk: And that's the best of both worlds is bringing the labs and your symptoms and your health assessment together with what you've been and feeling intuitively in your body.
• 27:53
  Amber Romaniuk: And then let's work on that and create an aligned protocol to help you get where you want to go and work on each piece emotionally, energetically, behaviorally, whatever it is.
• 28:03
  Amber Romaniuk: Because the more you do that, you you step into your power, your magnetism, your your love, and your worth, and your intuition and your intuitive gifts just like expand exponentially, and then your business grows and your family life is better and the energy in your household.
• 28:21
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, I have so many clients, and their husbands are like, the energy is better at home.
• 28:25
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, you're so much more confident.
• 28:27
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, we don't argue ever any like it's just so cool to see the dynamics improve in relationships and marriages get better, and like all of these things because you decided that you're worth it and that it's time to make a change.
• 28:40
  Amber Romaniuk: Like it's so it's so amazing.
• 28:43
  Erin Gray: Yeah, it's like the ripple effect or the cascade effect, you know?
• 28:46
  Erin Gray: What in terms of because that was something that I had to first of all, I am not the typical Western medical person.
• 28:55
  Erin Gray: So that was already like a I just believe that the body can heal itself.
• 28:59
  Erin Gray: And it's like wanting to find people that you can connect with that believe that versus I did not want to go somewhere and they'd be like, oh, well, you just need thyroid medicine.
• 29:08
  Erin Gray: It's like, nope, again, a symptom.
• 29:09
  Erin Gray: That's not the root cause.
• 29:10
  Erin Gray: So, what are some hormones that people could have checked?
• 29:15
  Erin Gray: And what what I've done working with my lady, she's like, this is what the Western says, but we actually operate on a very smaller, you know, spread between the two, you know, between the numbers.
• 29:25
  Erin Gray: So what is your I guess things that you would have people look at, their hormones?
• 29:32
  Erin Gray: What are some of those couple of them that you're like, these are definitely things that I would be checking out to see if you're on point or not?
• 29:40
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah, 100%.
• 29:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And and I would highly encourage you to work with someone who has a more holistic read on labs because otherwise, if you go to your doctor and they order this stuff for you, they're gonna just give it back to you and be like, Yeah, everything's fine.
• 29:52
  Amber Romaniuk: It's not that.
• 29:53
  Amber Romaniuk: And that feels so frustrating when you feel something off in your body, and then they just trusting your body and you go get a second, third opinion.
• 30:02
  Amber Romaniuk: And so morning cortisol.
• 30:03
  Amber Romaniuk: So cortisol is your stress hormone, and it's one of the first things that gets impacted when you're in the fight or flight, when you're in the self-sabotage, when you're in the binging in your business and overbooked, and you know, the last priority on your list.
• 30:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And cortisol starts to climb, and then we start to gain weight in the abdomen, we get brain fog, we get fatigue.
• 30:23
  Amber Romaniuk: High cortisol suppresses our immunity.
• 30:24
  Amber Romaniuk: So you may catch yourself catching more colds and flus and having struggles recovering.
• 30:29
  Amber Romaniuk: And then we start having more digestive issues and gut sensitivity and fertility issues, and then it's hard to lose weight altogether.
• 30:36
  Amber Romaniuk: And so I feel like cortisol is the first, one of the first dominoes that starts to shift that is often not tested and is ignored.
• 30:44
  Amber Romaniuk: And so here's the important thing with morning cortisol: you've got to go before 8 a.m.
• 30:48
  Amber Romaniuk: fasting, no caffeine exercise, anything for it to be accurate.
• 30:53
  Amber Romaniuk: Even if you get in at 8 and you can't get the lab drawn until 8:30, it's not gonna be an accurate result.
• 30:59
  Amber Romaniuk: I only give a five to 10 minute grace period because otherwise, cortisol is the highest within the first couple hours of waking, and then it starts to drop off.
• 31:08
  Amber Romaniuk: And most women tend to have an above average of that level, and that's the most optimal time to see it.
• 31:14
  Amber Romaniuk: However, we can also do salivary four-point cortisol tests, and you spit into a little tube, sounds so fancy.
• 31:20
  Amber Romaniuk: You know, several times through the day, and we measure different reads, especially if you're having crashes in the afternoon or trouble falling asleep.
• 31:26
  Amber Romaniuk: Cortisol is huge because what's interesting when we start to talk about the thyroid is most women have a thyroid issue because their nervous system is stressed to the nines and they have a cortisol issue, but most doctors are not testing cortisol.
• 31:37
  Amber Romaniuk: And to your point about ranges, yes, the normal ranges for testing are far too big.
• 31:42
  Amber Romaniuk: And that's why it's important to read with someone who can take a more functional, holistic read because the optimal ranges are like I'm gonna say half to three quarters of what is actually on that lab.
• 31:54
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'll share an example with the thyroid.
• 31:56
  Amber Romaniuk: So with thyroid, we want to test TSH, that's thyroid stimulating hormone, and our pituitary produces that.
• 32:01
  Amber Romaniuk: And when your cortisol's up or you're in adrenal burnout or adrenal fatigue, which is high or low cortisol, your brain senses stress, and then your pituitary gets overstimulated, and you actually end up producing too much thyroid-stimulating hormone.
• 32:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And even just that number being off can start to trigger hair loss, eye breath inning, cold hands and feet, weight gain, troubles, losing, constipation, anxiety, joint aches and pains, not feeling hungry, which is if you then skip the meals, it's gonna stress your metabolism out even more.
• 32:33
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah, it's a huge one.
• 32:34
  Amber Romaniuk: And so many women are like, I'm not hungry, I'm just not gonna eat.
• 32:36
  Amber Romaniuk: And then they get upset because they gain more weight because it trashed their metabolism to ignore that I'm not hungry and not try to figure out why.
• 32:44
  Amber Romaniuk: So optimal TSH, the range is like 0.5 to 4.5.
• 32:51
  Amber Romaniuk: They just made it 0.5 to 6.5 here in Canada.
• 32:53
  Amber Romaniuk: It's ridiculous.
• 32:55
  Amber Romaniuk: Optimal, 0.6.7 to 1.75.
• 33:00
  Amber Romaniuk: Most women, when they go above a 1.75 with their TSH, they start to have those symptoms.
• 33:06
  Amber Romaniuk: Even me, once I'm at like a 1.6, 1.7, uh, my hair starts a little falling out, I get a little constipated, my hunger signal isn't strong.
• 33:16
  Amber Romaniuk: I can feel it.
• 33:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And this is the beauty of becoming attuned and knowing the symptoms.
• 33:22
  Amber Romaniuk: Because then when I go get my labs in a couple weeks and I see that my TSH is up or my T4 is too low, it validates the intuitive hits and the symptoms, which all work together, right?
• 33:34
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, oh, that's interesting.
• 33:36
  Amber Romaniuk: What's going on?
• 33:36
  Amber Romaniuk: Why?
• 33:37
  Amber Romaniuk: Let me tweak whatever, what you know, look at it, tweak my protocol, or oh, I just went through a really high level of stress, or I was detoxing and that threw it off.
• 33:47
  Amber Romaniuk: And then you make your adjustments and things come back into alignment, and that is so empowering.
• 33:51
  Amber Romaniuk: We also want to test T4, which is thyroxine, which your thyroid produces, T3, which is what T4 is converted into.
• 33:57
  Amber Romaniuk: T3 is your active thyroid hormone, and it's what's responsible for the great energy, the great mood, the great metabolism, great digestive transit time and daily bowel movements, good lymphatic draining, all kinds of things.
• 34:10
  Amber Romaniuk: Um, but your thyroid and metabolism are very connected.
• 34:12
  Amber Romaniuk: And if your thyroid's sluggish, your metabolism will be sluggish and you'll be frustrated with weight loss results.
• 34:17
  Amber Romaniuk: So TSH, T3, T4, I do the first time I work with clients, also like to test reverse T3, which helps with conversion of T4 to T3, because that can be off.
• 34:27
  Amber Romaniuk: And I like to test thyroid, proxidase antibodies and rule out any woman having Hashimoto's thyroiditis as well as Graves' disease, which is a thyroglobulin test.
• 34:36
  Amber Romaniuk: Most doctors will only test TSH, maybe T4 as well, if you're lucky.
• 34:40
  Amber Romaniuk: And if that's all that's being done, you're only getting like one sixth of the picture.
• 34:44
  Amber Romaniuk: And again, you can be in those normal ranges, but have a thyroid issue and have really low levels or too high of levels, and they'll just sometimes it'll be out of the normal range and they won't even look at it.
• 34:55
  Amber Romaniuk: They'll be like, oh, whatever, no big deal.
• 34:57
  Amber Romaniuk: So thyroid estradiol, sex hormone, progesterone, sex hormone, testosterone, DHEA, these are sex hormones, precursor hormones that are incredibly important for your mood, your focus, your ability to feel connected, motivated with yourself, your partner, your business, um, your energy levels, your fertility, your sex drive, all those kinds of things.
• 35:17
  Amber Romaniuk: And once we hit perimenopause, which starts between 35 and 37, the thyroid can start to go sluggish more easily.
• 35:24
  Amber Romaniuk: We can have more inflammation in the body due to sex hormones like progesterone and estrogen becoming more deficient.
• 35:30
  Amber Romaniuk: And we need enough progesterone and estrogen.
• 35:32
  Amber Romaniuk: They combat inflammation, they help with optimal mood, they help us circulate dopamine and serotonin, which help us feel calm and content and happy and joy.
• 35:43
  Amber Romaniuk: And so a lot of women are dealing with serious apathy, indifference, depression, flat, feeling flatlined.
• 35:51
  Amber Romaniuk: And it's because their thyroid's off, their cortisol's high, or their progesterone or estrogen, or all of the above are happening, are too low.
• 35:57
  Amber Romaniuk: And their doctor's just throwing on them an antidepressant, not even testing anything.
• 36:00
  Amber Romaniuk: And even if they do, they say, well, you're in you're close to menopause.
• 36:04
  Amber Romaniuk: So like there's nothing we can do.
• 36:05
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm like, no, like we can completely resolve this, or your PMDD that's making you feel like Jekyll and Hyde through half of your cycle.
• 36:13
  Amber Romaniuk: We can resolve it if we do the proper labs, if we understand the connection to your neurotransmitters that literally dictate your mood and how you feel, and we can completely get rid of that because women are literally leaving their husbands because all of a sudden they wake up one day and they feel nothing, albeit obviously work through if there's issues.
• 36:31
  Amber Romaniuk: But like I've talked to so many women that are like, yeah, I just am not feeling anything.
• 36:35
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, Have you had your hormones tested?
• 36:37
  Amber Romaniuk: And they're like, no, and then they do, and it's like they're literally not producing any progesterone or estrogen.
• 36:42
  Amber Romaniuk: And I'm like, that's why all of a sudden you feel nothing before you make a big decision that you might regret.
• 36:48
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, why don't you build those levels up and let's see how you feel in three to six months?
• 36:52
  Amber Romaniuk: And then they're like, I'm so glad I didn't make any irrational decisions because my hormones are back and I feel the connection.
• 36:58
  Amber Romaniuk: And then I'm like, seriously, like your hormones can make you make really unrational decisions if they're off.
• 37:04
  Erin Gray: I'm laughing so hard because one, it's true.
• 37:08
  Erin Gray: I experienced that too.
• 37:10
  Erin Gray: And I'm just like, I would ask myself, and I'm like, no, don't get divorced.
• 37:14
  Erin Gray: But there's something, right?
• 37:15
  Erin Gray: There's something there.
• 37:16
  Erin Gray: And I think that I don't know.
• 37:18
  Erin Gray: You're in in your field, obviously.
• 37:21
  Erin Gray: So it's like, I don't feel like maybe I'm not, it's not in my awareness or I'm not searching for it, but I don't feel like this is talked about a lot.
• 37:29
  Amber Romaniuk: It's not true.
• 37:29
  Erin Gray: And so you think something's wrong with you because you used to enjoy sex or have a you know higher sex drive and now you don't, or you're gaining weight, but you eat well and you like there's all these little things that our body is talking to us, but we don't know the kind of alerts to to pay attention to.
• 37:50
  Erin Gray: So we don't even know that's where we need to go.
• 37:53
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah.
• 37:53
  Amber Romaniuk: No, totally, right?
• 37:55
  Amber Romaniuk: Because we haven't been educated at any point or equipped with any of this.
• 37:58
  Amber Romaniuk: And to be honest with you, even still a lot of people are not talking about the roots of your weight loss blocks, they're not talking about how low progesterone and estrogen can make you feel nothing or make you feel flatlined and disconnected.
• 38:10
  Amber Romaniuk: And the connection to neurotransmitters and its connection is oxytocin.
• 38:14
  Amber Romaniuk: And we need enough progesterone and estrogen to circulate oxytocin through the body.
• 38:18
  Amber Romaniuk: And what is oxytocin?
• 38:19
  Amber Romaniuk: Your connection neurotransmitter.
• 38:22
  Amber Romaniuk: And if you don't have enough of it circulating, you feel disconnected from yourself.
• 38:25
  Amber Romaniuk: So it's hard to build self-worth.
• 38:27
  Amber Romaniuk: You feel disconnected from your business, your intuition, source, your partner, your husband, your kid.
• 38:32
  Amber Romaniuk: Like literally, you don't feel it because there's a lack being circulated due to the lack of hormones.
• 38:38
  Amber Romaniuk: And we're not taught that.
• 38:40
  Amber Romaniuk: That's not mainstream information.
• 38:42
  Amber Romaniuk: Um, unless you talk to a really well-seasoned hormone expert that also understands neurotransmitters, they're just gonna be like, yeah, moody, you're moody, it's just part of this thing.
• 38:51
  Amber Romaniuk: And it's like, no, let's get really specific and understand low progesterone impacts all of our neurotransmitters.
• 38:57
  Amber Romaniuk: And this is how and why low progesterone gives, you know, can give you these insomnia and be awake three hours in the night.
• 39:03
  Amber Romaniuk: And it could just be low progesterone that is causing the weight gain because again, we need enough progesterone to help combat inflammation and low progesterone also gives us more sugar cravings.
• 39:13
  Amber Romaniuk: And because we're feeling less and we're feeling kind of flat, well, at some point you want a freaking dopamine high.
• 39:19
  Amber Romaniuk: So you go eat something, you go buy something because you want to feel something, and then it can fuel these compulsive behaviors.
• 39:24
  Amber Romaniuk: But because the a lot of it is not talked about or connected, it's either you're learning about your hormones or you're learning about emotional eating, but like they're both feeding each other, connecting the two.
• 39:34
  Erin Gray: What would you suggest someone starts with?
• 39:38
  Erin Gray: Of like, okay, I'm feeling off.
• 39:42
  Erin Gray: Oh, I know what I was gonna say.
• 39:44
  Erin Gray: This is why I think it's so important to work with someone like Amber or a functional, somebody that's not medical, because again, God love them.
• 39:54
  Erin Gray: And also, like, you know, it's a 15-minute conversation.
• 39:58
  Erin Gray: Like, how can you even get in talk about your body and what you're feeling in 15 minutes in a checklist?
• 40:03
  Amber Romaniuk: No.
• 40:03
  Erin Gray: But what would you suggest if someone is listening and they're like, okay, I'm experiencing some of these things.
• 40:10
  Erin Gray: I didn't even know that is related to that, and that connects to that.
• 40:13
  Erin Gray: Where do you suggest people start of like, okay, learning about their body or about hormones, things of that sort, so that they can then seek the support that they need to support their body?
• 40:25
  Amber Romaniuk: I think some of the first things are finding podcasts, people that you feel are really drawn to about their expertise and their education, that you start listening and learning.
• 40:35
  Amber Romaniuk: I think podcasts are a great resource for that because you're gonna tune into the energy rating way and go, this feels resonant for me or this doesn't.
• 40:41
  Amber Romaniuk: Right.
• 40:41
  Amber Romaniuk: So podcasts are great.
• 40:43
  Amber Romaniuk: Obviously, I think you know, there's some good resources on YouTube, but I think starting to shop around and find the right practitioner to work with because you can also self-educate.
• 40:53
  Amber Romaniuk: And this is what I would expect if I was myself going to find a practitioner because this is the level of support I give to my clients.
• 41:00
  Amber Romaniuk: When you're looking for the right practitioner, before they make any specific recommendation, supplementation, whatever it is, they should be ordering a full workup of labs, which should be at least 50 plus different tests, including your full thyroid panel, your sex and stress hormones, inflammatory markers, vitamins, minerals, cholesterol, electrolytes, like the full meal deal.
• 41:19
  Amber Romaniuk: And if something, you know, isn't there, then is it a Dutch test?
• 41:23
  Amber Romaniuk: Is it saliva testing?
• 41:24
  Amber Romaniuk: But there should be a very robust level of testing that is done up front as well, not just testing, but a thorough health assessment where you actually go through your health history, you talk about your relationship with food and your body, you talk about your self-worth, you talk about habits and behaviors, things like people pleasing, where are you on your priority list, the way you're eating?
• 41:44
  Amber Romaniuk: Are you eating enough?
• 41:45
  Amber Romaniuk: Not restriction, whatever that looks like, medications, supplements, and actually being able to assess your digestive health, your hormones, immune system, blood sugar, so that you can then, in correlation with reviewing your hormone labs, also understand how it's impacting your gut, your blood sugar, fueling cravings that are triggering emotional eating.
• 42:04
  Amber Romaniuk: If you're not emotionally eating, how the low progesterone is fueling people pleasing, right?
• 42:09
  Amber Romaniuk: Like I just think the assessment and the practitioner knowing your health history with reviewing the labs thoroughly is incredibly important.
• 42:19
  Amber Romaniuk: And that may take a few sessions.
• 42:20
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, I don't do that all in an hour with my clients because it's it would just be overwhelming anyway.
• 42:24
  Amber Romaniuk: And we're adopting habits and changes and you know, and it takes time.
• 42:28
  Amber Romaniuk: I think the other thing is that they're not just flipping through the pages with you in 10 minutes and going, yep, you have a thyroid issue, your cortisol is too high, progesterone is low, so you should take thyroid thing, cortisol, and get on some biodental hormones and like eat paleo.
• 42:43
  Amber Romaniuk: Like to me, that is not setting the client up for success.
• 42:47
  Amber Romaniuk: Okay, your cortisol's high.
• 42:49
  Amber Romaniuk: This is the optimal range.
• 42:50
  Amber Romaniuk: This is where you are.
• 42:52
  Amber Romaniuk: Now let's talk a little bit about the symptoms of that and why we suspect it's high.
• 42:56
  Amber Romaniuk: Now let's talk a little bit about some of the steps that we're gonna take, the first steps, and then the things that are gonna take more time.
• 43:03
  Amber Romaniuk: So we're gonna start with supporting your adrenals.
• 43:05
  Amber Romaniuk: We're gonna add in a tea that supports that, a couple of supplements.
• 43:08
  Amber Romaniuk: We're gonna get your sleep hygiene improved.
• 43:11
  Amber Romaniuk: And long term, what's gonna help your cortisol come down is healing your relationship with food and self-prioritization.
• 43:17
  Amber Romaniuk: But we'll start with these things and we'll chip away at the habits and behaviors that are gonna take more than a week to change, right?
• 43:23
  Amber Romaniuk: Oh, and then your thyroid's looking sluggish.
• 43:26
  Amber Romaniuk: So, oh, your cortisol.
• 43:27
  Amber Romaniuk: Let's talk about how your cortisol is impacting your thyroid and then how your thyroid's impacting your low progesterone.
• 43:32
  Amber Romaniuk: These are the, again, the symptoms, the little steps we're gonna start with, and then long-term, what we're gonna do, right?
• 43:38
  Amber Romaniuk: And then you add the layers as you go.
• 43:40
  Amber Romaniuk: Like, in my opinion, this is the way you set your client, your patient up with success.
• 43:47
  Amber Romaniuk: Um, not just give them a big pile of papers, a big bag of supplements, be like see in six months.
• 43:51
  Amber Romaniuk: You're just setting the person up for failure.
• 43:53
  Amber Romaniuk: So when you're shopping, ask like, what kind of testing do you do?
• 43:58
  Amber Romaniuk: How long do you work with somebody?
• 43:59
  Amber Romaniuk: Do you just review labs or are you going to explain to me what they mean and how it's making me feel and impacting me?
• 44:04
  Amber Romaniuk: Because I want my clients to understand that, right?
• 44:06
  Amber Romaniuk: So those are the things that I would look for as you're shopping for a practitioner.
• 44:10
  Amber Romaniuk: And yeah, someone that really is going to help you address the roots of whatever you're dealing with.
• 44:15
  Amber Romaniuk: And it may be more than one person, right?
• 44:17
  Amber Romaniuk: Like I personally help my clients with the gut and the blood sugar and the hormones and the behaviors and habits because it's just I went through it and it's easy for me to understand, but it's whatever feels right for you.
• 44:26
  Amber Romaniuk: So I hope that helps answer your question.
• 44:27
  Amber Romaniuk: I know it was long-winded, but it's important that you really find the person that's going to give you the quality and depth because then you feel like a failure when you get this huge protocol and you you're told to come back in six months and nothing, you don't feel better.
• 44:40
  Amber Romaniuk: You spent a bunch of money on testing and supplements, but there was no support and like checking in.
• 44:45
  Amber Romaniuk: And what really needed to be talked about was the chronic people pleasing, the self-abandonment, the burnout, where all of that came from.
• 44:52
  Amber Romaniuk: If you don't heal that, honestly, your supplement protocol is going to be quite the waste because your system's just going to stay stressed.
• 44:59
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 44:59
  Erin Gray: It's just like taking the medicine, but not actually doing here.
• 45:03
  Erin Gray: We go back to root cause work.
• 45:04
  Erin Gray: And I think so important is that you, what Amber said is like really being connected with the person that you work with.
• 45:12
  Erin Gray: Like, so in like I chose someone intuitively.
• 45:15
  Erin Gray: Someone suggested their partner.
• 45:17
  Erin Gray: And it was just like it was a no.
• 45:20
  Erin Gray: And I'm so, and I've had to see him because I kind of messed up my scheduling.
• 45:24
  Erin Gray: And I saw him when she was on vacation, and I was like, absolutely not.
• 45:27
  Erin Gray: I'm not coming back to him.
• 45:28
  Erin Gray: I'll just wait until she comes back.
• 45:30
  Erin Gray: And it's also what I think about is if you don't have someone that you connect with, how actually is your body going to respond to?
• 45:37
  Erin Gray: Because that was a whole like awareness that I had.
• 45:40
  Erin Gray: I was like, oh my gosh, how is my body actually, you know, doing muscle testing with him versus how it's doing with her when I feel connected, when I feel seen, when I feel heard?
• 45:51
  Erin Gray: So it's so important to find someone that you connect with, that you vibe with, or whatever it is, so that you are supported and cared for throughout.
• 46:03
  Erin Gray: It's not just like hey, I think this is what we've done, right?
• 46:07
  Erin Gray: We we look at our body as this thing versus this true living, breathing consciousness that like it feels, right?
• 46:16
  Erin Gray: And so being able to connect with a person and loving and you want it to be a fun experience too, right?
• 46:22
  Erin Gray: Like this isn't a problem.
• 46:23
  Erin Gray: Like, this is just your body's talking to you.
• 46:25
  Erin Gray: It's things to work through, it's not a problem.
• 46:27
  Erin Gray: We don't have to get through there really quickly and like just having so much love and compassion for yourself, for your body, for the effort that you're putting in, and your body will take care of itself.
• 46:36
  Erin Gray: Like, that's what I always tell her.
• 46:37
  Erin Gray: I'm like, my body knows exactly what to do.
• 46:40
  Erin Gray: How do we need to support it?
• 46:41
  Erin Gray: What do we need to do?
• 46:42
  Erin Gray: But like, I don't think a lot of us have been taught or conditioned that our body knows exactly what to do.
• 46:49
  Amber Romaniuk: Are we doing the things we need to do to support it to get to where optimally we don't trust our bodies, we think our bodies are up to get us and we need to rewire that.
• 46:57
  Amber Romaniuk: Yeah.
• 46:57
  Erin Gray: Anything else that you want to add that maybe I have forgotten to ask or didn't ask?
• 47:02
  Amber Romaniuk: I think you've already kind of said this, but be patient with the journey.
• 47:05
  Amber Romaniuk: It took you decades or years to get to this point where you are with her.
• 47:08
  Amber Romaniuk: It's going to take more than a week or a month to fully see a shift.
• 47:11
  Amber Romaniuk: You're gonna start to feel better.
• 47:12
  Amber Romaniuk: However, give yourself time to really be on your journey and get the results and get where you want to go because then you're gonna be equipped with the attunement, the knowledge, and the awareness for the rest of your life.
• 47:23
  Amber Romaniuk: And then it's just like little maintenance.
• 47:24
  Amber Romaniuk: Like if something goes off, you're like, oh, there's that.
• 47:26
  Amber Romaniuk: I'm gonna get my labs in again, or I'm gonna have a follow-up session, or I'm gonna tweak this thing.
• 47:30
  Amber Romaniuk: I already know what to do.
• 47:31
  Amber Romaniuk: And you know how freeing it is to just know and be tapped in.
• 47:35
  Amber Romaniuk: Like this is what you get to embody yourself and have for the rest of your life.
• 47:39
  Amber Romaniuk: So I think that and the last thing is gift yourself grace and compassion if you've been struggling with emotional eating or you have like a closet habit that you're is your secret that you're ashamed about.
• 47:49
  Amber Romaniuk: Like have compassion, you're not alone, you're not the only one, and you can fully heal it and be willing to go on a journey that's gonna bring so many magic and miracles and and you know, positive changes.
• 47:59
  Amber Romaniuk: It's really exciting.
• 48:00
  Erin Gray: Yeah.
• 48:01
  Erin Gray: I think too, is like what you're saying with the compassion.
• 48:03
  Erin Gray: It's like if that was your friend, would you talk to her that way?
• 48:06
  Erin Gray: If that was your sweet baby, would you talk to them that way?
• 48:09
  Erin Gray: No, right?
• 48:10
  Erin Gray: And so it's like, how can we be our biggest advocate and supporter and love on ourselves so much?
• 48:15
  Erin Gray: Yeah, it's like we're the I mean, it'll make me cry.
• 48:17
  Erin Gray: It's like we only got one body, it's the only one we got while we're here.
• 48:20
  Erin Gray: So take care of it, love on it.
• 48:22
  Erin Gray: You know, it's so intuitive and giving you all of the information that you need.
• 48:27
  Erin Gray: Like love on it.
• 48:28
  Amber Romaniuk: So yeah, she has your back every moment of the moment of every day.
• 48:33
  Erin Gray: So good.
• 48:34
  Erin Gray: Okay, thank you, Amber, for coming on.
• 48:36
  Erin Gray: I appreciate you.
• 48:37
  Amber Romaniuk: Thank you for having me.