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Dairy-Free and Desperate: A Mom's Honest Health Reset · Momtalk Maryland

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey friends and welcome to MomTalk Maryland.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, claire Duarte, founder of the Columbia Mom, and this is your spot for real conversations, local love and a whole lot of community.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Whether you're folding laundry, running errands or hiding in your car for some peace and quiet, let's dive in.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: So I wanted to update you on my rebalance health and wellness journey.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: About a month ago I got.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Well, let me start over.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I officially became a Rebalance Health and Wellness client and it's funny because when I initially met Laura, we had met because she wanted to partner with us to do some marketing, which we did.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: We did the beginning of the year.
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: That's when I got to know her, her business and you know we did some reels and some blogs and lots of fun stuff.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: And the more I got to know her I was like, oh my God, I need to be a client when I learned about what she did, like obviously we learned about that, you know, during the intake calls and the discovery process when we're getting to know other businesses.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: But it was just the more time that we spent together and cause I was doing interviews with her and her husband who own it, and I was just like blown away.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I'd never really heard of hormone replacement therapy or functional integrative providers.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: It just hadn't really occurred to me and so as we came down the end of that campaign, I just kept saying I was like I need to become a client.
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: We got to figure this out, and so we talked and we were like, absolutely so, anyway.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: So in April is when I fully, like, jumped in.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So the first part of her process, essentially after you know, just general, like you know, initial intake is you go get all of your tests done.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: So that was a full blood panel.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: I did a home cortisol test where I had to like spit saliva into these little tubes.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: It's timed, it's a whole thing.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: Um, she did a finger prick in the office for food sensitivity and literally a stool test that I had to do at home, um, and that was sent in to get all my GI results.
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: Um, so, yeah, there's a lot of behind the scenes work that I had to do, but she's like it takes a little bit to process all the results, like you know, a few weeks, up to a month.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: So then, um, that's when we had scheduled that meeting.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Um, well, so, yeah, we actually know when, before I did the test, I went into her office so she could kind of like tell me about all the tests that I had to do.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It gave me all the instructions, including the information on doing an elimination diet.
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: The reason I didn't start the elimination diet then is because it was like a week to Easter and then we were also going to Charleston, um, for our spring break right after.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: So I was like okay, I knew that I wasn't going to start the elimination diet, which is part almost like her phase, ish two of um the program and so, um, that's why I started the elimination diet, oh, two weeks ago.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: It was just like doing the math, um, and I started it on the Tuesday after, cause we got back from Charleston on a Sunday and I used Monday to kind of like prep and then I started Tuesday and I've done some of these elimination diet things before, from different cleanses, some of the beach body programs and whole 30 different variations of that.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: So I am familiar with, like the mindset of, you know, having to sort of like separate yourself, do things differently.
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: A lot of prep, to sort of like separate yourself, um, do things differently, a lot of prep.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: There's so much prep because there's so much that you cannot have and trying to break free of that mental mindset of like I can't have this, I can't have that, the black and white thinking, the all or nothing.
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: It's challenging, um, not an expert at it, and I still haven't done this.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: I still haven't been 100% squeaky clean, which I'll talk about, but um, uh, yeah.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: So anyways, um, so I started that two weeks ago and so the in the first two weeks of the elimination, she wants you to do it for four weeks and the first two weeks you take um two shakes a day and um like chocolate protein shakes, and there there's like these two pill packets.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Um, and on this elimination diet there's no alcohol, caffeine, dairy grains or sugar and no legumes, which is like peanuts and beans and things like that.
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: Um, so what's?
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: But you can have protein, um, it needs to be like beef, needs to be grass fed.
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: Um, chickens like free range.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Um, salmon and shrimp, um, like wild caught, things like that, trying to get as much organic produce as possible, trying to eliminate, like all pesticides, chemicals, processed foods, things like that.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: Um, because the goal is that we're trying to not only detox but like heal my gut, which we'll get into a little bit, um, so, yeah, I started that the elimination diet two weeks ago.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Um, the alcohol part is actually is definitely not the hard part for me.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I haven't been drinking as much over the years since, like becoming a mom, um, caffeine and coffee actually hasn't been as bad.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I know blasphemy come from me in the comments, I guess, um, but I started taking a B12 supplement in the fall after my last primary and, um, that has really helped my energy levels a lot.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Um, I also do take Adderall a really low dose, um, and that, as a stimulant kind of helps, like me, get the focus and things that I need.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: So haven't been missing coffee or alcohol at all.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: That's been fine.
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: It's definitely the dairy and the grains portion, for sure.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: When I'm home it's fine, it's easy, like less temptations, but when I'm out it's much harder.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And the reality is, when it comes to these elimination diets, there's no good time for these.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: I've done them all kinds of times of year.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: Um, I would argue this month, may, december, is rough because it's like I've already had three birthdays, um, or three birthday, three events, um, well, more than three events in the last, like 10 days, um, and even this week alone is pretty nuts Like I have oh my gosh, I have a networking event tomorrow.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: I have like four or five events this weekend, next weekend's even crazier, so you know.
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: And there's Memorial Day coming up, so a lot of like I'm a foodie a lot of food temptations, so that has definitely been challenging.
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: You know, I guess I look at it like this like, um, even 80% following this is better than 0%.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: Um, you know, I realize that's like not the point of elimination to try to, you know, um, adhere to it as much as possible to really give your gut that chance to like breathe.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: Um, so trying, laura, I'm trying, if you hear this, if you see this um, but, um, that being said, I definitely have had like a cookie here or there, um, like a little like snack here or there.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Um, weekends are hard, weekends are hard.
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: I'm just a girl guys.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Um, and honestly, when she had said that, um, she doesn't retest the blood work for another like three months, sometimes three or six, depends on what it shows I was like, oh well, then if we're not testing it for a while, then it's fine, what harm will it do?
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Well, so the next part of the process is having the, what she calls like the test results um findings meeting, and that was last Tuesday and I had an inkling because, um, it runs in my family.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: And when I actually got a copy of our blood, of my blood work sent home and I had my husband look at it, since he's a doctor, and uh, cause I was like what?
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: I don't, I don't speak medical, I don't know any of this, and um, so we saw some things that were definitely high and definitely low, and so I already had kind of that in my brain.
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I also know, like, um, some like hypothyroidism, uh, high cholesterol, um all run in kind of both sides of my family.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: So, anyways, when we sat down and met, she was like, yes, you definitely have Hashimoto's or hypothyroidism, and my cholesterol is high by like one point where she was actually sort of less concerned about more of the thyroid because she's like that could also be influencing it.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: It and also cholesterol can often be genetic.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: So she wasn't as worried about that so much as, um the issues that come with Hashimoto's and um, one of her biggest things was like she was like I want you to be dairy free for three months and I was like, so my running joke is that I threw my, my, my drink in her face and walked out the door.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: So I mean, grant, I'm not a medical professional.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: I cannot give and will not give you any kind of medical advice or tell you what to do, because I'm still kind of trying to learn all this and wrap my head around understanding all of it.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Wrap my head around understanding all of it.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I almost wish that I had fully recorded our entire findings meeting Because she, laura, was so thorough, so thorough and can literally go through that entire plan.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: Not only can she and she can also pronounce everything like literally perfectly, like all the gut bacteria.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, because they're like it's just like a bunch of like letters at that point, um, and you know, and I was just kind of like mesmerized, cause she's talking about like there's the good bacteria and then there's the bad bacteria, and then there's the parasites and then there's you need the digestive enzymes and you need all of this Um, and I guess the thing with Hashis is it's an autoimmune um condition with hashi's is it's an autoimmune um condition.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: So, um, you know, essentially like your body's being your immune system.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: And she was like she spent so much time talking about the gut because, again, I, I'm sure I've heard it, but I'm just, I feel like I'm just like relearning all of this stuff is that 75 of your like body's fighting ability or immunoresuno response is in your gut, and so when your gut is crap, makes it even harder for someone with an immuno um condition.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And I was like, ah, okay, puzzle pieces are starting to come together.
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: Um, and she was like, and also for you, like, on my food sensitivity test, um, dairy, she said, was marked as a higher trigger gluten.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I didn't spike for gluten, so, lucky me though I might, I might have traded dairy for gluten, but that's, I guess they're both in everything.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: So I mean, ironically, both dairy and gluten are high trigger items for immuno things, so a lot of people sometimes eliminate both just to help them feel better.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that's eventually something I'll do.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: I have no idea.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: I'm already fighting tooth and nail just to be compliant with dairy, so we'll just see how that goes.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: So I mean, I cannot and will not go through my whole blood panel results with you because it's like so detailed and obviously personal.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: But I mean I guess the reality is I'm I'm a pretty open book.
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: I'm here to talk to you about everything and anything really, um, if you ask me, I'm sure, but I'm sure to tell you, but I also I'm like I don't know what this really means.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Go ask Laura, she'll, she'll be the one to really tell you.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Um, all I know, like my biggest takeaway is she's Laura, if you're listening and or and are watching, and she's probably like rolling her eyes cause she's like you know, she can go through it like, so, like closely.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: But was that?
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: I was like I am like really high and stuff you're not supposed to be, and really low in the stuff that like I need.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: You know, and right before this, I actually did have my IUD taken out just to like be more natural.
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: I'd had it in for like since well, I got it in right after I had my son, so since 21,.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: So like four years, and um, so she was like we just want to get you to a place where you're more hormonally balanced.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Um, and so her approach is, you know, utilizing all these supplements I have like a whole slew of everything from like fiber, magnesium, dhea Um, I have to take digestive enzymes, cause my body has like none of that.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: Um, biocidin oh, I forgot to take that last night.
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking I might put in my bedroom so I don't forget.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: The majority of my supplements are all in the morning, um, and then I need to take digestive enzymes with like every meal, um, which, by the way, I snack all the time.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So it's like I don't forget.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: The majority of my supplements are all in the morning, and then I need to take digestive enzymes with like every meal which, by the way, I snack all the time.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: So it's like, which meal are we talking about?
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: So that's interesting.
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: So the good news, I would say everyone's like oh, you'll feel so much better.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: I was like the ironic thing for me is like I actually haven't been.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: I didn't feel terrible prior to this and let me go back a little bit because I was like thinking about it more and more.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: So I hadn't talked about this a lot, but mainly because when I started it it wasn't as mainstream yet and honestly, it was still um, I don't know, not frown on, but there was still.
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: It was a little taboo.
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: So I, I, I mean I told my friends cause I was like I don't care, um, but I started semi-glutide like a year and a half ago and again, like I said, it was less rampant.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: It was starting to become more popular.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: But, anyways, because I in summer 2023, I hit my highest non-pregnancy weight, meaning like I basically like I was almost 200 pounds when I went to give birth to both my son and my daughter.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: It was like 190, 195, 200, like something like right up there.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: And that summer, after coming, we had a.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: I remember we went to a wedding in Mexico and then we came back and I came back and I got on the scale and I was like right around there like 193, 195, something like that, and I was like, oh my God, this is a problem.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: Um, and ironically, prior to that, for like a year and a half, I've been working with a friend of mine from college who's a macro coach.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: Um, and it initially was working.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Um, I know it's also one of the things is like it works when you work.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: And was my eating squeaky clean?
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Absolutely not.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Um, there was times I knew that I was more diligent on it, of course, but I remember that year and a half, I remember feeling really frustrated cause she, we kept upping my protein and I felt like all I was doing was just gaining weight, and I remember feeling so frustrated Um, granted, was I still over snacking, yeah, um, but it was again.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: It was just very frustrating.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Um, what else?
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: So I was saying, yeah, I was working with macro.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was working with macro coach and that's when she was educating me on, like, increasing my steps, prioritizing sleep, um, and ditching cardio.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: And that's kind of when I broke up with cardio, um, and really, um, and I had I'm still working out from home, but I was exclusively strength training, um, and yeah, that's what I really started to kind of like get into strength training more and really prioritizing that, um, learning the basics of, you know macros, trying to, you know, up your protein, you know, uh, eat more balanced things like that, um, so, anyway, so summer 2023, I'm like, oh, my God, oh, but I, so I mentioned that obviously I gained all that weight, um, and it's funny, cause now when I look back, I'm like, okay, I think I definitely had the trail mark, um, uh, symptoms for thyroid issues, like again, the weight gain, um, the skin issues, for sure, um, moodiness, maybe I can't remember, um, but definitely the brain fog and the fatigue, like I think those were all big ones, right?
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Oh, my husband told me that I definitely used to snore, obviously all the weight Right, um, and so I mean, I started the semi-glute mainly for vanity cause.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: I was like I want to lose weight.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: I I'm like, I'm, I'm struggling over here, y'all you know.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: So I lost like about 35, 40 pounds over the last year and a half and I've been pretty like stable since, like last summer and but I'm like, oh my God, I can't imagine like how much worse I would feel if I still had those 40 pounds on me.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: I should also mention that two years ago, like I wasn't being followed by a good primary, I remember I kept trying to find one at any time.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: I would.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: I felt like I would call and they'd be like, oh, we're full, or like you know, they're not taking any more um patients, and I was like, so, like I know, I didn't have a good relevant blood panel around that time period of my life.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: So I did finally get a new primary last year who I really liked.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: He did a blood panel and I'm sure he mentioned the thyroid stuff, but we didn't do anything about it at the time that.
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: I'm like, did I end up just not listen?
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: I don't know.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: I'm feel like if he told me or referred me I would have gone.
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: I'm honestly not remembering.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: He was very thorough and I and I really enjoyed working with him.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: He's the one that also really pushed the other supplements and he said my vitamin D, I think, was decent, but wanted to increase my B12.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: And that's when I started that and that's when I felt a really big difference and my coffee intake went down, things like that.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: So, anyway, so yeah, so fast forward to now.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: Right, people are like, oh, you'll feel so much better without dairy.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: But I've been feeling like fine for the most part Again, like I sleep pretty well.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: I mean my brain, not my brain, my memory feels like crap, that's for sure.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I feel brain foggy a little, but I think again, as a mom and a woman, I feel like it's so hard to discern which is which, because, again, I'm no longer postpartum, I no longer have babies, I'm no longer having the sleep deprivation, but I am, for the first time in my life, a business owner, and that is brand new to me, I mean obviously in the last few years.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: But to be a mom and a business owner is completely different stress than being an employee, and I say that in the terms of like the brain fog.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: It's just, I feel like my brain is always on.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: I'm all like.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: My brain feels like it's always running.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: I always got to.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm thinking about all these things I always have to do, which, again, ironically, is how we as moms think and operate anyways, right?
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: Just throw like business responsibilities into the mix, right?
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: Um?
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: So I think the brain fog is definitely there there.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: But I've been taking the Adderall, you know, for the last couple years, prior to that, and again, I feel like that helps give me the focus and clarity that I need.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: So, in a way, I think my symptoms have been very masked by other things, like you know, the weight loss, b12 helping my energy, the Adderall also helping with the focus and clarity.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: But it's like the perfect example of like things can seem fine on the outside but you like open the hood and like everything's on fire, like, basically, my gut like was horrible.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: Basically I joke with Laura.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: I was like she's showing me the panels, showing me levels, and she was like you have like zero fiber.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: And I was like, yeah, no, I know, I ate a biscuit right after they took my, my blood.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Um, I was like could you imagine if I did have fiber though?
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: Like, how good would that look?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Right?
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Um, like, yeah, my fiber was horrible.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: I like I was I prioritizing balancing my eating super well, while on the semi-glutide Perhaps not, you know, um, I definitely had like some constipation issues.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Um, I mean water, I've always been pretty good at Um, but but yeah, anyway.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: So now it's like I, it does make me really glad that you know I did.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I mean I pulled the trigger because I was like, okay, I'm, you know I'm 37 now.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Um, yes, I have a good primary that I really like I know that I've got these known.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: Um, you know genetic things that run in my family, what you know.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Maybe it's a good, you know time to see if what I have working on and going on and see if I was just thinking no, I just need to like tweet balance a few little supplements Didn't realize there was going to be a giant overhaul and that's the part that I'm starting to work on, right, the lifestyle changes and things like that.
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I mean I already work out three days a week, um, strength training.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: My sleep is good.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: Um, you know she, actually my cortisol levels were good, which I was actually glad about.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Um, cause, for the most part, I think I I feel decent.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: We all have stress, right?
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Um, dairy was the most significant, um, the food triggers.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: The next one was brewer's yeast, which is or, sorry, oh, brewer's yeast, and baker's yeast, which is like beer, and I'm like I've never drank beer.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: I like beer and I will have it, but you know, so, I mean, I'll cut out alcohol right now, anyway.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: So, but dairy was a big one, and another one was almonds and I was like, oh, that's great, because I'm just doing nothing but pounding almonds on this elimination diet right now.
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Uh, I need to circle back with her and clarify, of like, how much she wants me to cut that out or not.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure, um, but anyways, all this being said, the goal now, you know, and what, what's neat, after going through all the findings, right is like she puts together a whole plan, right of like.
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: Here's the findings, here are the overall goals, here's where you're kind of low and suboptimal on.
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: Here are the supplements that she's recommending, right, and gives you a whole plan of and a whole regimen and schedule for those and then the role and importance of each one Um, and and then a section on um potential and possible prescription medications to integrate.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: We talked through the current ones that I am taking, um, and you know she said all of that is fine, so wants me on that Um, we will eventually, like I started on testosterone because, believe it or not, all of us need it, men and obviously men.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: But like women too, like um, we, you know you think estrogen, right, but like there's a reason like we need to ying to our yang Right, um, I also still need more progesterone.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: It's wild, um again, and I wouldn't have known this had I not met Laura, or had Laura never even reached out in the first place.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean and that's kind of like the beauty and power of connection and community, you know, um.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: So in many ways I'm so thankful for Laura, for this um, for this process, for this journey, right, you know, am I stubborn?
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: Yes, am I a professional complainer?
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: Double yes, um, am I going to give dairy up for three months?
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: We're going to do our best.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: We have this on recording.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: We're going to do our best, um, I, I.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: I am not um proclaiming perfection here, um, but that's just what we're going to do, right, I have two more weeks of this elimination diet and I guess I got a talk to her about, like you know, what she advises for reintroduction, um of those things.
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if she's going to still encourage me to keep some of those things out.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: Um, but, um, I mean, I've been eating like a ton of fruits and vegetables, um, like pretty much all organic or like 90% organic at this point.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: There's some things that's like you know, that have like the thick skins that like it's probably like borderline, you know, but, like you know, your berries, strawberries, things like that you definitely want organic for sure.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: So that's been a big focus and actually, starting tomorrow, the shakes, the two weeks of the shakes and the pills will be done so I can start reintegrating my shakes and now I'll be having I guess I go back to three meals now, um, cause I was doing like two shakes a meal and like snacks, um, so that'll be yeah, kind of this is as I move into week three of the elimination, um, so, yeah, so that's where I'm currently at.
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I, to be honest, I I still feel pretty good.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, since I did start taking some of those supplements last week and I'll admit I did started to feel like I don't know.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know if it's like a little crampy or a little like tummy gurgly.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: I mean, again, I'm probably taking, you know, it's probably trying to help get my body back to where it should and needs to be, so with probably a little mixture of, like you know, some dairy cheating, um, so it's interesting.
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Um, I know, if I cut it all out it'd be a lot easier to identify.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Sorry, laura, doing my best, um, but like I said, all in all, for the most part I I do feel good being in.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: You know, when I'm out of the house and have events, that's when I feel the temptations are rough.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Um, but you know, we're gonna keep chugging along and I'm definitely gonna keep you updated on, as you know, we keep finding more things.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: I think from here I have monthly like check-ins with her.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: Like I said, we don't, we won't do the blood work again for another few months, um, and I know she kept checking and being like are you okay?
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Like how are you processing everything?
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: And I just you got to say like her sensitivity to the um intense, her sensitivity to the intensity of the information was wonderful.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: I am by no means like somebody that, like you know, it didn't shock me and I wasn't scared or overwhelmed.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Um, I think she kept texting me and checking in to like just make sure I was okay and if I still had questions and, um, to be honest, like last week was so busy.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: So I was like, no, I'm, like I'm okay and genuinely I really am saying that I wasn't like, oh, my God, like you know, feel like devastated, like I don't know, like I'm okay, like people don't die from this.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Like you know you, just you got to take care of yourself.
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: This might, yeah, it could mean some very drastic lifestyle things and, um, if that's what I need to do, that's what you know, I'll take the time to do and figure out.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: For right now it's just kind of like focusing on this plan, doing the best that I can, um, and trying, you know, and just keep doing those things, like I said, to try to prioritize my sleep, um, keep working out.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: You know movement is really good for for the gut and the health and you know it's just, I think, why I really liked this journey is just kind of remember the importance of, like you know we, as moms and women, like you know we, I was gonna say we need a lot of things, but like we need, we still need protein, we still need these important um hormones in our bodies to be working, whether whether you're perimenopausal or or perimenopause or menopause or not, you know I mean um, we need, um, we need muscle mass, like these things are important, and so that's what I think I.
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: I love her approach in that it it is very holistic and she's looking at the whole picture.
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: You know, she's like women need more sleep than men and I noticed that because I'm always in the bed longer than my husband.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: He can kind of wake up on the drop of a hat and he's a light sleeper.
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: I, fortunately, can fall asleep very quickly and I stay asleep.
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: I'm a deep sleeper because my body needs it.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: But, yeah, I think it's been a wonderful reminder.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Like I said, I really do like working out, I really like strength training, I do like to take care of my body, even if I want to treat it like a garbage can at times.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: Um, it been like I do feel really good today and I'm like it feels good to kind of like follow the plan as it is and you know, um, I know when I stick to it it feels good.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: So it, all in all, I think the biggest eyeopening thing to to this is just it's not having the doomsday mentality of like you can feel good and that, but everything's bad.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: It's not that.
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: But I think it is just being mindful of the importance of you know, of getting yourself checked of you know, evaluating what you're doing is Is it actually working or not, or are you masking potential symptoms?
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: You know, and that is again the biggest challenge, being a woman, for sure, in discerning all of this, but, um, I mean, all I can say and speak to like this has just been my journey, my experience so far, and I feel like, the more that I've talked about it, I've heard you know again, how common Hashis is, but, um, you know.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: And I've heard more, more and more people talk about functional medicine.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: Again, I wish it was something that was talked about more because she said, like you know, you can go to your primary, but they're not going to run a blood panel like this, not because they don't like you, but because, like, that's just not how insurance works.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: You know, it's not going to be as thorough there, you're not going to get to see the whole picture and they're also not trained in all these areas to be an expert, you know, on everything from like your thyroid and your gut and things like that.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: Sometimes they'll send you to like an endocrinologist, but, you know, and then they might be missing the other hormone piece of it.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: So you know, I can't tell you how good it feels to have like a provider like Darren and Laura that can like literally see everything and talk about it from every angle.
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: And you know, in a way like we're still kind of finding it out and seeing how all of the results evolve.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: You know, I'm hoping in three months that I'm just picture of health.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: Um, it's like um.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: But you know, like I said, I think all we can do in this life is to do our best.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Um, and that's that's my goal for sure.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I know it's.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: I just love food too much.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Um, and that that's all we can do, you know, and um, but I'm excited to be on this journey.
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: I am glad that I have the information.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: I am glad to know that you know, yes, while things, you know, my gut is kind of a mess, that I do have the ability to change it and to improve Um, you know, now it's just kind of like taking the step to see what will happen from here, so I'm excited to bring you along on this journey.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: So be sure to keep staying tuned, follow along.
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Like I said, we're going to keep putting out content on social media, some blogs and again and definitely some more podcast interviews.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: So yeah, thanks for tuning in to this episode of MomTalk Maryland.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: If you loved it, leave a review, share it with a friend or tag me at thecolumbiamom on Instagram.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: I'd love to hear what you think and don't forget to follow the show so you never miss an episode.
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Until next time, keep showing up, keep supporting local and keep being the incredible mom, woman, human that you are.