Latest / Surviving Me / When Your Body Is Asking to Be Heard | Angela Jenkins, RD, LD

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When Your Body Is Asking to Be Heard | Angela Jenkins, RD, LD · Surviving Me

0:13
Dai: Hey, y'all.
0:15
Dai: Hey, butterflies, and welcome back to another healing chapter of Surviving Me, the space where we have honest conversations about healing, and growth, and all the messy parts in between.
0:25
Dai: Today, we're talking about something I think so many people can relate to, and that's the feeling of knowing something isn't quite right with your body, but not necessarily having the answers to explain why.
0:35
Dai: Maybe you've been feeling exhausted, struggling with brain fog, or just not feeling like yourself.
0:40
Dai: You're going to appointments, follow recommendations, and try to do everything you're supposed to do, but you're still left wondering why you don't feel better.
0:47
Dai: And I think that's what makes that experience even harder, is when you start questioning yourself.
0:53
Dai: Am I overthinking this?
0:54
Dai: Am I doing something wrong?
0:55
Dai: Should I just accept that this is how I'm supposed to feel?
0:57
Dai: But what happens when healing require us to stop looking at ourselves as something that needs fixing, and start learning how to understand ourselves instead?
1:05
Dai: Joining me today is angela Jenkins, a registered dietician- with over 30 years of clinical experience, and a founder of Health is Local.
1:14
Dai: Throughout her career, Angela has worked with people who were doing everything they believed they were supposed to do for their health, but still struggled to feel their best.
1:21
Dai: Those experiences led her to develop the Root Cause Lens, an approach that looks at the body as an interconnected system, rather than focusing only on individual symptoms.
1:31
Dai: She's the author of Destination Real Food, where she explores the role nutrition plays in our overall wellbeing.
1:39
Dai: Today, we're gonna talk about what it means to feel unheard when it comes to your health, rebuilding trust in your body, and learning that healing doesn't always have to mean constantly trying to improve yourself.
1:48
Dai: Angela, welcome to Surviving Me.
1:49
Dai: Thank you so much for being here.
1:52
Angela : Thank you for having me.
1:53
Angela : It's a pleasure being here.
1:55
Dai: Of course.
1:56
Dai: So before we jump on into the questions, I'd love for you to tell the butterflies a little bit about yourself, and what led you to the work you're doing today.
2:06
Angela : as a registered and licensed dietitian for over 35 years, I still didn't feel well, and at that point it was probably closer to 28 years.
2:14
Angela : So I really believed that nutrition and lifestyle would be the solution to pretty much any problem out there.
2:21
Angela : But, after 28 years of doing it, I still didn't feel well, and so I had to ask different questions is what I had to do.
2:28
Angela : And so it led me down this path of, okay, if so, then what am I missing?
2:32
Angela : And so that led me to the realm of what I do now, which is essentially a, a pain-to-purpose, story around, asking different questions that, that ultimately led me to finally be able to feel better and to do things
2:46
Angela : at my age that most people wouldn't be able to do.
2:48
Angela : And so I'm grateful for that.
2:50
Angela : I'm grateful for the problem that led to the opportunity.
2:53
Dai: Of course.
2:54
Dai: that's beautiful.
2:55
Dai: So if we jump into section one, which is when doing everything right isn't enough, I think a lot of us grow up believing that if we follow the right advice, eat the right foods, and do what we're told,
3:06
Dai: we should feel healthy.
3:07
Dai: But sometimes the reality is a lot more complicated than that.
3:10
Dai: You spent over 30 years working in clinical s- nutrition.
3:14
Dai: What made you begin questioning the traditional approaches to health and healing?
3:18
Angela : just not feeling well.
3:19
Angela : My kidneys were failing.
3:21
Angela : And my GFR, glomerular filtration rate, for those who are not familiar with what that means, is a measure, it's a primary measure of kidney function that they go off of for diagnosing kidney failure, and mine was in the
3:32
Angela : 40s, so it was less than half what it should be for somebody my age.
3:36
Angela : And when I went to the doctor, I said, "Hey, wouldn't you be concerned about this?"
3:40
Angela : And they said, "Well, you look healthy.
3:42
Angela : Let's just monitor it."
3:43
Angela : And they went back historically and looked at it, and it hadn't been good for a long time.
3:47
Angela : Wow.
3:48
Angela : And when you look the way that I do, which is you appear healthy, they, I'm gonna say they dismiss you.
3:53
Angela : That's being kind about it, that wasn't enough for me.
3:56
Angela : after having experiences like that pretty much my whole entire life, you go to the doctor and you ask questions and you know that something's not right.
4:04
Angela : another example of that would be, like, my thyroid had been failing for a long time, and I was missing the outer third of my eyebrows, which is a classic sign of hy- hypothyroidism.
4:14
Angela : and I knew that, but I didn't know how to fix it.
4:16
Angela : So I just started asking very different questions in order to try to facilitate my own health forward, and before you know it, you're in a whole different realm of practice just because- you're following that next natural question that
4:28
Angela : didn't occur to you prior to having the experience to begin with,
4:31
Dai: That makes sense, though.
4:32
Dai: That definitely makes sense.
4:33
Dai: You mentioned seeing people do everything they were told to do, yet still struggling with exhaustion and brain fog and other symptoms.
4:39
Dai: What do you think is overlooked when someone appears healthy on paper but doesn't actually feel healthy?
4:46
Angela : a lot of times what happens is, and I hate to say this, that women in particular get told, you're a hypochondriac."
4:51
Angela : That you're wrong.
4:53
Angela : I was told outright that I was wrong on more than one occasion, and I said, "Okay."
4:58
Angela : I'm a little bit stronger personality than that, if So I was like, "That's not enough for me.
5:02
Angela : I'm sorry.
5:02
Angela : You get dismissed and you just, and you know you don't feel well.
5:05
Angela : You know it's not in your head.
5:06
Angela : And at one point I even went to a psychologist and I said, "So is this in my head?"
5:11
Angela : She looked at me, she goes, "No, you're dealing with chronic pain."
5:14
Angela : And so when you realize and you go through the whole process of trying to figure out what the problem is- it's gonna be different for different people, then you stop dismissing your own symptoms and then you go after
5:26
Angela : what the root cause of the problem is, if you can.
5:29
Angela : Because there's a variety of different practitioners out there that can help and support, but there's also a lot of fluff out there, so I'm just gonna, I'm gonna warn people about that just because, there's a lot of influencers,
5:40
Angela : there's a lo- there's just a ton of information out there and weeding through the sea of noise on who can actually help you is, is quite difficult, And I'm not entirely sure I answered the question, remind me what
5:50
Angela : the, what we started with.
5:52
Dai: No, I think you touched base.
5:54
Dai: I basically just asked, when people start struggling with the exhaustion and brain fog and other symptoms- what do you think is overlooked when someone appears healthy on paper but doesn't actually feel healthy?
6:07
Angela : Yeah.
6:07
Angela : I think I did answer it.
6:08
Angela : Yeah.
6:09
Angela : it's just hard because we as a society judge people based on appearance as opposed to- Yeah how we're feeling.
6:15
Angela : you look healthy, so you must be fine,
6:17
Dai: But
6:17
Angela : that's not the case.
6:18
Angela : And that's not always true.
6:19
Dai: No.
6:19
Angela : No, it's not.
6:20
Angela : That's definitely not always true.
6:20
Angela : and vice versa.
6:22
Angela : Yeah.
6:22
Angela : Yeah.
6:23
Angela : It's not always true.
6:23
Angela : And vice versa, people can appear unhealthy, when, for a variety of different reasons, when they just, really need a change in environment and other supports, if you will.
6:32
Dai: Yes.
6:32
Angela : Yes.
6:33
Angela : The, the moral of the story is don't judge a book by its cover, no matter what.
6:37
Dai: Literally.
6:38
Dai: Literally.
6:38
Dai: I think people take that statement and don't really apply it to everyday life, not even just books.
6:45
Dai: It's not just books- it's in general.
6:47
Dai: Seriously, you shouldn't judge anybody just by what you see, for sure.
6:52
Angela : I agree.
6:52
Dai: So jumping into section two, which is when you stop trusting your body, something that really stands out to me is how much our physical health can affect the way we see ourselves, especially when we feel like we're not
7:04
Dai: being heard or our experiences are being dismissed.
7:07
Dai: I think one of the hardest experiences is knowing something doesn't feel right, but being told everything is fine.
7:13
Dai: How can that experience affect someone's ability to trust themselves?
7:17
Angela : Oh my gosh.
7:18
Angela : it affects every aspect of your life.
7:20
Dai: Yeah.
7:21
Angela : It absolutely does because, go, if you...
7:23
Angela : from where I started, I believed that, that nutrition and lifestyle was the thing that was gonna make the biggest difference, and it did not.
7:29
Angela : And so you begin to question, your whole approach to not only just health, but life, because, if I'm wrong about this, I could be wrong about so many other things.
7:39
Angela : And when you don't feel well, you don't show up for yourself the same way.
7:44
Angela : Because you just don't have the energy.
7:46
Angela : it's like I used the equivalent the other day, it's like wading through concrete when you're, your head is foggy, you're fatigued, you hurt, your joints hurt.
7:54
Angela : I was in chronic pain for a long time, not realizing that...
7:58
Angela : A- and I would stay in perpetual motion, actually, which is why I looked good, because I would just physically move my body all the time just to avoid dealing with the pain because I didn't know what it was.
8:08
Angela : But, it's just this underlying what we call cellular inflammation that causes the problem in the background, which then once you realize what it is, then you can do something about it.
8:17
Angela : But, not having the answers- giving the appearance of being okay, and then you just don't show up for yourself.
8:26
Angela : you can't show up for yourself in the same way- or your family members or your neighbors or anybody, but it always starts with yourself.
8:34
Angela : So you're just, you're literally just going through the motions of g- of quote-unquote, "dealing with life," as opposed to thriving in the circumstances that you would normally be enjoying.
8:44
Angela : And it's sad, but it's...
8:45
Angela : I think there's a lot of people out there that are doing that.
8:47
Angela : It breaks my heart really, when people come to me and I'm like, "Yep, okay, let's figure out what's causing it," and then we can...
8:54
Angela : Once you figure out what's causing it, then you can come up with a solution, but if you don't know what the problem is, you can't fix it, right?
8:59
Dai: Wow.
9:00
Dai: So that kinda ties into the next question, which is when people have spent years feeling unheard or dismissed about their health concerns, how can they begin rebuilding confidence in their own experiences?
9:11
Angela : I, I start with, and I think I've said this three times today With clients, find a practitioner that hears you.
9:19
Angela : Even if they don't have solutions, even if they're the person that's gonna provide you with the referrals to the places that you need to go.
9:24
Angela : If you don't feel heard, most likely they're, they don't have a solution for you, or they can't hear through to what your problem is.
9:32
Angela : And I- Yes I've, if I've said it once, I've said it 1,000 times.
9:35
Angela : Because even if they don't have a direct solution at that time, but, and they can't make any promises because they don't know what the issue is, they can tell you what, stepwise, the plan is, and then you can
9:47
Angela : decide whether you wanna stay present with that process or not.
9:50
Angela : And it's, yeah, it's tough.
9:52
Angela : It's tough.
9:53
Angela : Because it's not obvious, and it's not evident.
9:55
Angela : And when you've been dismissed as many times as many of us have been, then you don't even really trust yourself to decide that sometimes.
10:02
Angela : And I was struggling with that.
10:04
Angela : But, my, I have a, I got a leg up on things because I'm in the healthcare system.
10:08
Angela : I've actively managed a lot of my healthcare with one foot in the conventional system and one foot out of it in order to make sure that I'm, a- almost methodically working through and developing the systems that I now,
10:19
Angela : and some of the frameworks that I now help to teach other people how to help themselves through that part of the process.
10:25
Angela : Because it's not obvious sometimes.
10:27
Angela : It's really not.
10:29
Angela : I have, the, the frameworks for what I teach, and I put my own twist on it, and there's 20 years of research behind what I do, as the foundation for the programs that I work with.
10:38
Angela : And then I have my own, particular approach to it, which is, more of a natural approach, with grounding and making sure people are reconnecting with their own circadian rhythms and things like that, as opposed to, the biohacking component
10:49
Angela : of it, which I believe is part of the problem.
10:51
Angela : We've just gotten so far away from that, that we don't even know how it's affecting our hormone health and, as well as other aspects of our, the bi- our biochemistry.
11:00
Angela : And so I will always go back to that as a foundation, because If we disconnect from our electronic devices, we- I still want people to have an opportunity to maintain and improve their health.
11:11
Angela : Yeah.
11:12
Angela : So that's just my approach.
11:14
Dai: Okay.
11:16
Dai: Yeah, that might be a little hard when, the- internet and devices has taken over the world at this point.
11:22
Dai: Seriously.
11:23
Angela : They're, they really have.
11:24
Angela : So
11:24
Dai: creepy.
11:25
Dai: So jumping into section three, which is understanding the body beyond symptoms, I want to get into your approach a little more, because I think understanding what's happening in our bodies can help us feel less powerless when it comes
11:36
Dai: to our health.
11:37
Dai: So you developed something called the root cause lens.
11:40
Dai: Can you explain what that is and how it changes the way you approach someone's health?
11:45
Angela : Sure, absolutely.
11:46
Angela : I'm always looking for asking that next natural question because, relative to knowing that your body is an interconnected system, and I've actually changed it from the root cause lens because I think it's become too much of a buzz
11:57
Angela : term at this point.
11:59
Angela : It really has, everyone's talking about root cause.
12:01
Angela : And I'm like, okay, so I'm gonna have to differentiate myself a little bit differently because I really wanna know what's causing it, not just symptom suppression, which conventional care, in my opinion, has gone to medications for symptom suppression,
12:16
Angela : and then there's a lot of holistic care that's gone to symptom suppression with supplements now, as opposed to, again, addressing why it is that it's happening to begin with.
12:26
Angela : So I call it the living systems approach now because when we look at our body as that interconnected biological system, then we ask different questions.
12:36
Angela : So as a for instance, a lot of people, actively manage, symptoms associated with reflux.
12:42
Angela : And so the question is why is the reflux occurring as opposed to let's do a PPI or let's take a supplement that suppresses the stomach acid instead of figuring out why you have, excessive- stomach acid production to begin
12:56
Angela : with.
12:57
Angela : And it's not just as simple as, again, suppressing the symptom.
13:01
Angela : We wanna go for what the root cause is.
13:03
Angela : And a lot of women in particular are dealing with, and it seems to be al- mostly women, but I'm sure there are men out there too.
13:10
Angela : I just, my, my client base tends to be more, feminine, if you will.
13:14
Angela : but, silent reflux is a major problem, which, again, is a separate issue.
13:19
Angela : And so figuring that out and supporting your biological systems that might be challenged, and a lot of that seems to end up coming from the liver.
13:26
Angela : So once you- figure out what the cause is, then you stop trying to...
13:30
Angela : You still have to address the symptoms, because there's a lot of negative side effects associated with it.
13:35
Angela : But again, why is your liver challenged to the where it's creating enough of a problem, that is creating pressure it's creating a backlog, if you will, which manifests itself, it, differently for different people.
13:46
Angela : But understanding what the subset of the symptoms are and how they interrelate and interplay is what I'm talking about.
13:53
Angela : And so that's just one example.
13:54
Angela : That's a simple example.
13:56
Angela : But a lot of gut issues are actually liver problems too.
14:00
Angela : So what we, what do we do with gut problems?
14:02
Angela : We address the gut.
14:04
Angela : if you've straightened your gut out, for all intents and purposes, and for me as a dietician, I'm gonna say this, which is really embarrassing, but I'm gonna say it, because that's kinda what your podcast is about.
14:14
Dai: Yeah.
14:15
Angela : I had constipation for the majority of my life.
14:18
Angela : with all of what I do and what I lived and what I actively managed, I'm like, "Why am I still having problems?"
14:25
Angela : And it wasn't until I really started addressing things from this, this, s- aspect that I'm like, I was able to figure some things out.
14:32
Angela : It's, a lot of constipation is actually from your liver.
14:35
Angela : And so when you realize that your body, again, is an interconnected biological system, and that we're lacking a lot of keystone species even in our GI tract that keep us, from being able to even detoxify our bodies appropriately,
14:50
Angela : then you realize that there's a lot more going on than what a dietician would tell you, which is, "Eat more fiber, drink more fluids-" "and you should be fine," right?
15:01
Angela : And I'm, I just laugh at it now because I spent a, the majority of my life with a stomach ache and constipated, despite everything that I was doing.
15:09
Angela : So that's pretty raw right there.
15:11
Angela : But it's the truth.
15:11
Dai: No.
15:12
Dai: It's funny that you say that because I have, really bad heartburn, like so bad.
15:20
Dai: And my heartburn- I know a lot of people be saying, they feel it in their chest or whatever.
15:27
Dai: My heartburn be right in my throat.
15:30
Dai: It don't even be in my chest anymore.
15:32
Dai: it's actually never in my chest.
15:33
Dai: It's always in my, throat.
15:34
Dai: And I had went to my doctor and basically, I told him, I d- I feel like I just be having really bad heartburn, and my heartburn lasts for, man, it lasts for hours.
15:44
Dai: Even after I'll take, my heartburn pills or whatever that they prescribe- it still lasts for hours, and then I find myself having to take more.
15:52
Dai: And I feel like all that, when I said that to my doctor, all that was really addressed was just giving me heartburn medicine.
15:59
Dai: But to this day, to this very day- I still have very bad heartburn.
16:04
Dai: if I take my pills well before I know I may eat something that's gonna cause me heartburn, and the crazy part is it seems like everything causes me heartburn nowadays, but yeah, it's still very much there, and it's
16:17
Dai: so uncomfortable.
16:18
Dai: So uncomfortable.
16:19
Angela : Yeah.
16:19
Angela : So you and I should talk after the podcast and see if we can help you
16:23
Dai: No, for real.
16:24
Dai: Because if I could get rid of my heart...
16:26
Dai: I'm so for it.
16:27
Dai: after I had my son, I feel like it definitely picked up a whole lot more.
16:30
Dai: But no, even before I had my son, I had it.
16:33
Dai: But now it's just, worse.
16:34
Dai: It's just, it's crazy.
16:35
Dai: So yeah, that actually touches to the next question, which is we often treat symptoms as individual problems.
16:42
Dai: Why do you believe it's important to look at how different parts of the body and someone lifestyle may be connected?
16:49
Angela : Because it is.
16:50
Angela : it just is.
16:52
Angela : Just like with those two examples that we just discussed, you can have another, for instance, perfectly normal, labs for thyroid.
17:00
Angela : You can have perfectly normal labs for your liver, and you could be having major problems associated with both of those two organs, and you wouldn't even know it.
17:08
Dai: Yeah.
17:09
Angela : And so once you realize that there's a lot more going on behind the scenes, you stop trying to suppress the symptoms.
17:16
Angela : The symptoms are signs that are telling you that there's something wrong to begin with.
17:20
Angela : And then so what's the overall overarching issue, which is never one, one system.
17:25
Angela : It is almost never just your GI tract.
17:28
Angela : It is never just your endocrine system.
17:30
Angela : it is not just your immune system.
17:32
Angela : It is not just your neurological system, which by the way, your neurological system is the thing that ends up being impacted by all of the other things.
17:40
Angela : And so you begin to understand that why it is that you're having the symptoms.
17:46
Angela : Comes from sometimes four, five, six different places when you really start drilling down what your people's toxic exposures are.
17:53
Angela : And then you can address, the problem with a system as opposed to trying to suppress the symptoms within an individual, biochemical, system or a single diagnosis.
18:05
Angela : So there's always a subset of symptoms, that will occur all at the same time.
18:10
Angela : So for instance, with your, the reflux with your throat, you're gonna feel it in your throat.
18:14
Angela : You'll probably feel it in your lower, just above your stomach.
18:17
Angela : You might even feel it, in your sinuses.
18:19
Angela : If the reflux is bad enough long enough, you're gonna get reflux that goes up into your sinus cavities even.
18:25
Angela : And, that sort of thing, while we would normally say with the sinus stuff, it must be allergies," and so here you're taking allergy medicine and it's not correcting the problem, and the reason is because we're not addressing what
18:37
Angela : the root cause of it is We're not addressing the whole living system.
18:40
Angela : We're addressing just bits and pieces of it, and that's why it doesn't work.
18:44
Angela : So once we begin to integrate those things together, then you can think about your body very differently.
18:50
Angela : And I love watching people get better.
18:52
Angela : My last call, this lady was like, "Oh my gosh, this has been great."
18:55
Angela : I got...
18:55
Angela : She got off of some pain medicine that she'd been on for 20 years that she thought she was gonna be on it for the rest of her life, And she'd been- on Tylenol for 20 years, and she was,
19:04
Angela : pretty resigned to the fact that she was gonna have to do that.
19:07
Angela : Well- Yeah Tylenol suppresses glutathione, which is one of your major detoxifying compounds in your body.
19:13
Angela : So guess what was happening?
19:15
Angela : She was suppressing her body's ability to detoxify itself on a cellular level.
19:20
Angela : Wow.
19:20
Angela : And so I said, this is a process, and if you'll hang with me," over the last year we've walked through, okay, this is related to that, this is related to this, and you walk through very methodically how to
19:30
Angela : reduce the Tylenol intake in order, by diet, because nutrition absolutely influences inflammation, which is why she was taking it to begin with, and trying to reduce, any issues around the reflux too, 'cause she was having problems with reflux.
19:45
Angela : And PPIs, by the way, will...
19:48
Angela : And there's, the meta-analysis on this is absolutely clear.
19:51
Angela : I cannot diminish the importance of people understanding this.
19:54
Angela : and that is that the PPIs, alter metabolism of, minerals.
19:59
Angela : So your need for magnesium, for calcium, B12, it modifies all of that, and the risk for things like fractures and, as well as, potentially, dementia because of the alteration in the metabolism by reducing the stomach acid, which is
20:14
Angela : there for a reason, by the way.
20:16
Angela : the stomach acid is what makes sure that the environment is optimal for the absorption of those, those, minerals and vitamins.
20:23
Angela : And so being aware that's playing out in the background on a low level over time, I think, is absolutely important.
20:31
Angela : So supplementation is one thing, but figuring out, again, what the cause of the problem is in order to be able to ensure that people can optimize their nutrition.
20:42
Angela : I'll call it a nutrition experience, but it's a life experience because it affects the quality of life,
20:46
Dai: Yeah.
20:47
Dai: Yeah.
20:48
Angela : Absolutely.
20:49
Dai: It definitely can.
20:50
Dai: It definitely can.
20:51
Dai: So jumping into section four, which is food healing and our relationship with ourselves, I think food is another area where people can put a lot of pressure on themselves.
21:00
Dai: We're constantly hearing about what we should eat, what we shouldn't eat, and what's supposedly good and what's bad for us.
21:09
Dai: Sometimes it can feel like we're doing something wrong no matter what we choose.
21:12
Dai: You wrote Destination Real Food after changing how you understand the role of nutrition.
21:17
Dai: What inspired that book, and what do you hope readers take away from it?
21:21
Angela : with the book, I just want people to understand that, there is no one-size-fits-all and that the industrialized food system really has created a lot of problems with our overall health.
21:30
Angela : And the further we can get away from that system, the better off our health is going to be.
21:34
Angela : our detoxification systems have been bogged down by the industrialized food system, which is the most readily available system that we have access to in America.
21:43
Angela : The food from it is on every single corner, so fast food, convenience foods that predominates the market and, people are gonna have to go out of their way to develop their own food environment within their house to make
21:56
Angela : sure that they're eating well, and to just be able to ultimately whittle it down and choose, I call them food roots, Choose one food root and work on that in order to develop your own system for maintaining your
22:08
Angela : health over time.
22:09
Angela : Because if we go back to, the example of reflux, which, a large percentage of the population has, part of what's causing the reflux is sometimes, not always, but it can be food choices.
22:19
Angela : and being aware of the triggers for the reflux and removing the foods that are causing problems is first and foremost what we should do, but in lieu of that not making a difference, we have to figure out the
22:30
Angela : rest of the problem.
22:31
Angela : so Destination Real Food was a, it was more of a passion project for me, 'cause I published that, I think it was in, was it '23?
22:39
Angela : I think it was '23.
22:41
Angela : It all started running together in COVID.
22:43
Angela : it was during COVID, and it was more about just drawing attention to what's going on with that system, and it starts with personal accountability, and it goes back to personal accountability with a big, long explanation in between about
22:55
Angela : what's going on with that food system.
22:58
Angela : Because it's causing a lot of problems, not only with our own health, but with our, the health of our communities as well as what goes on with the planet because the conventional system absolutely degrades the soil and, ultimately
23:10
Angela : influences, a lot more than just our health,
23:13
Dai: Agreed.
23:14
Dai: Agreed.
23:15
Dai: So what are some realistic ways people could begin making changes to their nutrition without feeling like they have to completely overhaul their lives overnight?
23:25
Angela : I would just start by making one small change, get comfortable with it, and make another small change.
23:32
Angela : And that change might be, looking at what you're eating for breakfast.
23:36
Angela : what are we having for breakfast?
23:37
Angela : Is it a whole food or is it cereal?
23:40
Angela : one of the great foods out there on the planet, if you're not allergic to them, are eggs for breakfast.
23:45
Angela : It's high quality, super high quality nutrition.
23:48
Angela : But just choose one thing to change.
23:50
Angela : Doesn't even matter what it is, but choose that and then work on that, and then choose another one.
23:56
Angela : get comfortable with it, and then choose another one.
23:58
Angela : Because everybody is what I call an N equals one experiment.
24:03
Angela : There is no one size fits all for nutrition.
24:05
Angela : So I wanna just kinda revisit what you said earlier about, about, it's easy to start feeling like, no matter what you do, you're doing it wrong.
24:15
Dai: Yeah.
24:15
Angela : If you stick with whole foods, whole unprocessed foods, you're not really gonna go wrong, unless you have a food sensitivity.
24:23
Angela : But then again, going back to the, the living systems lens is, why do you have a food sensitivity?
24:30
Angela : Not that you're having it, noting that you have it, but then figuring out what's going on behind the scenes as to why it's occurring, okay?
24:37
Angela : So just choose one thing, but switch to whole foods would be a great first step, and just figure out what you can incorporate within, within your own home, within your own environment, and then st- start bringing your food
24:49
Angela : choices back home.
24:50
Angela : Try not to eat out.
24:51
Angela : that's a great first step.
24:52
Angela : So where you can actually take charge of what you're putting in your body.
24:55
Angela : Cause it's not...
24:56
Angela : And again, culture is against us.
24:59
Angela : So what I teach is counterculture.
25:01
Angela : It sounds crazy, but I'm like, "Oh, just grow some food and go in your yard and forage."
25:05
Angela : not everybody can do that,
25:07
Dai: But that would be the most healthiest option, but yeah.
25:10
Dai: A lot of people most likely won't do it, but it would be the most beneficial for sure.
25:15
Angela : I agree.
25:16
Angela : Yeah.
25:16
Angela : And it's the most fun too, by the way,
25:18
Dai: That's
25:18
Angela : what I think.
25:19
Dai: I think that'd probably be something I do maybe later on.
25:23
Dai: I don't know.
25:24
Dai: I don't really see me doing that now, 'cause it just seems like a lot of work.
25:27
Dai: Yeah.
25:28
Dai: But maybe later on in life I'll probably just be like, "You know what?
25:32
Dai: I'm finally ready to take full control."
25:35
Angela : Yeah, and it's a blast, let me tell you.
25:38
Angela : when raspberry prices went to they were like $8 for a cup.
25:42
Angela : I was like, "Okay, enough of that.
25:44
Angela : I'm not buying any more raspberries.
25:45
Angela : I'm growing them."
25:46
Angela : And you know what?
25:47
Angela : You figure it out.
25:48
Angela : Never grown raspberries before, never had a clue how to do it, and I'm like, "I'm gonna figure this out."
25:53
Angela : Sure enough, I have these ever-bearing plants out there that produce for several months during the year, and I'm opposed to ever buying raspberries ever again.
26:01
Dai: Wow.
26:02
Dai: Wow.
26:04
Angela : It's fun.
26:04
Angela : It's so fun too, and I get to teach the neighborhood kids on top of that.
26:08
Angela : no, no, it's not ready yet.
26:09
Angela : You gotta wait till it's this color red, not that lighter color red.
26:12
Angela : You want a really darker color red," I have fun with it.
26:15
Dai: So jumping into the last section, which is healing as self-reclamation, one of the things I really connected with in your story is the idea that healing isn't necessarily about becoming a completely different person.
26:28
Dai: Sometimes it's about reconnecting with yourself and learning to trust what you need.
26:31
Dai: So you went through your own professional transformation, moving away from some of the approaches you practiced for years.
26:37
Dai: What was the hardest part about questioning what you once believed?
26:41
Angela : I have to say because, when you spend a lifetime doing things a certain way, it's, it almost feels like a gut punch, if you will, when you realize how wrong you were.
26:50
Angela : And that some of the things that, that you might have said, that doesn't, yeah, that doesn't make sense.
26:55
Angela : It can't be that way because of this, and this," and it- it's essentially the dogma of the system that you really have to dispel in order to get to a place where you can get yourself to feel better.
27:05
Angela : And that- that's tough because, if you spend a lifetime doing that, you're fighting the dogma and then you realize that in order to, thrive for your own healing journey as well as, your professional career, because once you know
27:20
Angela : something, you can't un-know it.
27:22
Angela : and then the next natural question is, if so, then what do you do about it?
27:26
Angela : Because I wasn't going to be able to get healthy and stay healthy within the conventional system.
27:30
Angela : I had no choice but to leave it, which is ultimately what I did, just a little over a year ago, and then, started my own, practice.
27:38
Angela : It was like, okay, I guess I'm gonna have to go do this because you kinda feel like you're at odds with yourself if you have one foot in the other door and one foot out, which is where I
27:46
Angela : was for a long time, thinking maybe I could still help and you're not really helping.
27:51
Angela : All you're doing is perpetuating something you don't believe in, if Because I want people to get better.
27:56
Angela : I don't want them to take more medicine.
27:58
Angela : I don't wanna stand there in front of somebody that has a cholesterol of 150 and not be able to explain to them why they still had a heart attack, which I can actually on some level explain now.
28:07
Angela : but it's just tough because the dogma within the system will keep you running that hamster mill.
28:12
Angela : It really will.
28:13
Angela : And it just, it's hard.
28:14
Angela : That's hard.
28:15
Angela : So you have to come to grip with the fact of how wrong you were and how long it went on for.
28:19
Angela : And just, own it, and just decide what you're gonna do with it.
28:23
Dai: Basically own it and then do better.
28:25
Angela : Literally.
28:25
Angela : Change, change your approach, do it different.
28:28
Angela : Perpetually learn, figure out the next thing because it's not, it's never one thing.
28:32
Angela : It really isn't.
28:34
Angela : Our health doesn't fail because of one thing.
28:36
Angela : There's usually five, six, seven things going on at the same time, much of which isn't even on the radar of conventional medicine at this point.
28:44
Angela : It's really not.
28:45
Angela : Toxins.
28:46
Angela : Toxins are a big problem out there.
28:48
Angela : Toxins, parasites, you go down through the list of things that are causing problems for people that, they would dismiss pretty much wholeheartedly, which is sad to me because people could be getting better if we would test for these
29:00
Angela : things,
29:01
Dai: Yeah.
29:02
Dai: Agreed.
29:04
Dai: Agreed.
29:05
Dai: So I love the idea of healing being about reclaiming yourself rather than constantly trying to improve or fix yourself.
29:11
Dai: What does that distinction mean to you?
29:14
Angela : it's just honoring your journey
29:16
Dai: Yes
29:17
Angela : It's really about honoring your own journey and owning it.
29:21
Angela : Honoring and owning it because it's easy for people to stand from the outside and say, "Hey, you need to do it this way because this is what we know is true."
29:30
Angela : When something doesn't feel right, question it.
29:33
Angela : Question the dogma, if you will.
29:35
Angela : 'Cause if you're a layperson trying to figure out your health without any additional guidance from somebody that can help you navigate some of that, it can be tough.
29:44
Angela : But if you don't honor that piece of it, you're not gonna ask that next natural question, which is, just as a for instance, I was told to take this medication.
29:52
Angela : I still don't feel well."
29:54
Angela : The answer is usually not more of that medication.
29:56
Angela : The answer is somewhere else.
29:58
Angela : And just being okay enough with who you are and comfortable enough in your own body, which is, it's kinda hard to say because you're talking about developing comfort within the discomfort, if you will, which is where a lot
30:10
Angela : of people end up just surviving, right?
30:13
Dai: Yeah.
30:13
Angela : We're surviving through this rather than thriving, but in that discomfort, you c- you have to be able to ask more questions to honor yourself.
30:22
Angela : And it's a tough place to be, but once you figure that, piece of it out, you begin to make progress because you're asking a different question.
30:30
Dai: That was beautifully said, actually, Angela.
30:32
Dai: But Angela, before we wrap up, there's one thing I'll really love for you to speak to, especially for anyone listening who might be feeling discouraged about their own health journey.
30:41
Dai: If you could speak directly to someone who's been doing everything they can to feel better, but is starting to believe their body is somehow failing them, what would you want that person to understand?
30:52
Angela : I would want them to understand that your body isn't failing you.
30:55
Angela : The reason why you're still having symptoms is because it's fighting for you.
30:59
Dai: Ooh.
30:59
Angela : And you're still here fighting, right?
31:02
Angela : so i- because that is in fact the case, there's always hope.
31:06
Angela : There is hope, and your body isn't failing you.
31:09
Angela : What we probably need to do for people like that is to re- move them from an environment that's most likely causing some symptomology that their body can't handle at that point in time.
31:18
Angela : So it's not failing you.
31:20
Angela : It's actually doing exactly what it was designed to do, which is launch a cellular inflammatory response to keep you protected from whatever the cause of that problem is, and find a clinician that can help you identify what it
31:32
Angela : is that's causing it to begin with.
31:35
Dai: I love that.
31:36
Dai: I love that.
31:38
Dai: So before I jump into my closing outro, is there anything that you would like for the butterflies to visit?
31:45
Dai: Anything that you wanna shout out, promote?
31:48
Angela : Mainly what I do with my practice now is I do detoxification.
31:52
Angela : I always start with the foundation of nutrition and lifestyle, and, ultimately, if we can't address a problem through nutrition and lifestyle, we end up going to detoxification and identification of what's causing the cellular inflammation that our bodies are,
32:06
Angela : that you might have chronic pain or some sort of, autoimmune disorder or, you go down through the list of things for why people develop brain fog, fatigue, and just feel horrible.
32:17
Angela : All of those things, are those things that I now begin to identify with my programs.
32:21
Angela : So, if you feel like you've lost hope, feel free that you can reach out.
32:25
Angela : I do 30-minute discovery calls for people, there's no obligation to work with me, that I can at least help to identify potentially what a, a great next step would be, in your journey because I think that's part of
32:37
Angela : the struggle is people don't know where to go.
32:39
Angela : So- if there's one thing, that would be it.
32:41
Angela : that would be the main thing there.
32:44
Dai: Perfect.
32:45
Dai: And where could they find you in order to do discovery calls?
32:49
Angela : If you go on my website at www.healthislocal.com, there's discovery links on there, or if you click on the quiz it will automatically end up sending you a discovery call link ultimately.
33:00
Dai: I love that.
33:01
Dai: And make sure that don't go over your head, butterflies.
33:04
Dai: Angela, thank you so much for joining me today and sharing your knowledge, your experiences, and your perspective on what it means to truly understand our bodies.
33:12
Dai: I think one of the biggest things I hope people take away from this conversation is that struggling with your health doesn't mean you failed yourself.
33:18
Dai: Sometimes we're doing the best we can with the information we have, and sometimes finding answers takes time, patience, and asking different questions.
33:26
Dai: And while it's important to continue seeking appropriate medical care and professional guidance, it's also important to remember that your experiences deserve to be heard and taken seriously.
33:36
Dai: So before I let you go where can they be able to find your book, Destination Real Food?
33:45
Angela : you can also order my book from my website.
33:47
Angela : Okay.
33:47
Angela : Or if you go on Amazon, it is available there also,
33:50
Dai: Okay, perfect.
33:51
Dai: And to my butterflies listening, I want to leave you with this.
33:55
Dai: Your body is not your enemy.
33:57
Dai: You don't have to turn every part of your life into another project that needs fixing.
34:01
Dai: You deserve to feel supported, to ask questions, and to be an active participant in your own wellbeing.
34:05
Dai: And sometimes healing starts with giving yourself the same patience and compassion you've been so willing to give everyone else.
34:11
Dai: Thank you for spending another healing chapter with me, and remember, this is a space where we meet you where you are and walk with you to where you're going.
34:19
Dai: And like I always say, no matter what page of healing you're on, you're not alone and you're not behind.
34:23
Dai: Keep going through it, keep growing through it, and keep glowing through it, because the journey back to yourself will always be the hardest, but it's the most necessary.
34:31
Dai: And until next time, I will see y'all next episode.
34:36
I've battled the silence, I've wrestled the shame Based on my demons and called them by For sure it's deeper