Latest / Modern Sacred: Women's Work / Ayurveda & Women’s Health: Nervous System Regulation, Hormones and Embodiment
Transcript
- Abby: Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Modern Chelsea Henderson: Hello. Abby: Sacred Women's Work Podcast. We are so excited today to be joined by a fellow nurse, fellow holistic healer, Britt Vanderhoof, who is the founder of the Ayurvedic Nurse. She is a registered nurse and an Ayurvedic practitioner, which is a form of Eastern medicine often described as the sister medicine or Britt Vanderhoof: As the six of medicine. Abby: sister science of yoga. Britt is currently completing her training as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She works with women in perimenopause. helping them navigate the transition between through simple, sustainable diet and lifestyle practices. She's also passionate about empowering people to take charge of their health and she believes healing is more effective and a lot more fun in community. I love that. Brit also hosts engaging workshops and we are gonna be co-hosting an online event with her in a future date, which we will release soon. about Ayurvedic healing and perimenopause for women. So we are so excited to have you, Brit. Thank you for being on the Modern Sacred Women's Work Podcast. Britt Vanderhoof: Thanks for having me, ladies. Chelsea Henderson: We're so glad you're here. Can I dive right in before? I really want you to talk all about Ayurveda, your whole approach. I just want to soak it all up. But really quickly before we jump into that, just this new path that you're on with the psychiatric nurse practitioner. It's a nurse, are you will you be a nurse practitioner still? And you're Britt Vanderhoof: Yep. Chelsea Henderson: you okay. So then what drew you on that path and is there a connection to the Ayurveda still? 'Cause I I feel like the holistic and the mental health we're starting to see so much more connection there than Western medicine maybe gave before. So I just wanted to quickly kinda ask your thoughts on that. I'm curious. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so as I've been working with women in perimenopause and kind of the midlife time, I found there's so much that goes on mentally and emotionally with women. and we become Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: more sensitive to these kind of things. And I found a lot of women need extra support in there. And from an Ayurvedic standpoint, a lot of the issues that are coming up are actually tied to the nervous system. Like hot flashes are tied to the nervous system. insomnia. and irritability, anxiety, depression, a lot of these are actually have roots in mental health. And some women might need a little extra support during this time with or a lot with their mental emotional health. Abby: Or a lot, depending. Chelsea Henderson: That is yes, Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: that's kind of what I thought you were gonna say, but I just I wasn't sure if that if there was another if another purpose there for you. And I I just I think I'm so grateful for Western medicine. I mean y'all are nurses, you know, right? If the the immediate urgent care thing is just incredible what has been figured out in Western medicine. And as a recipient of Western medicine my whole life, I do feel like the Eastern medicine that I've been beneficial that I have been lucky enough to benefit from. that holistic, you know, it really is all parts come together to create a really beautiful whole. So I just love that you're focusing on that. And I love that you're starting to look at mental health and women because it just feels like yet again a place where we kind of fall off. Like we just don't seem to matter as much in that. And it's so, so prevalent, relevant, important. I just love that. So I just wanted to speak to that right away and then we can dive into your whole thing. I just wanna hear you talk about Ayurveda. I don't know, Abby, what do you think? Abby: Same. Chelsea Henderson: Maybe you could start by just telling us how you got into it and how you started to kind of develop your practice. Abby: Yeah, that sounds great. Yeah, I'm excited to hear Chelsea Henderson: Of Abby: all about Ayurveda and I don't I know we we had a little short introduction call before recording this today a few weeks ago and I said in there, I don't know much about Ayurveda. I'm very much like talk to me like you're gonna talk to our whole audience potentially of what is Ayurveda and how'd you get into it and and your path with it, your story. maybe start at the beginning, wherever feels right for you of how you got on this journey. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so I've known since I was in elementary that I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up. And I knew I wanted to help women. I actually have a picture I drew in second grade of me helping women as a nurse. And I went I went on Abby: Wow, that's amazing. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: event you know, at one point I decided I wanted to be a doctor, so I went on that route and I got burned out. And I took a summer off to really think about what I wanted to do and I went back to nursing school. And then soon it was literally the day I graduated nursing school, I had a book on Eastern medicine that I started. Abby: What? Britt Vanderhoof: And during nursing school, Chelsea Henderson: Amazing. Britt Vanderhoof: I got burned out in nursing school as well. And Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: It was just so stressful. I found myself at one point on an anxiety med and an antidepressant. And then there was one point where I had clinical rotations. I had two in a row where I'd have to go to a clinical seven AM till seven PM, go home and type up a ten to fifteen page care plan, turn it in the next morning at six forty-five, do another rotation from seven AM to seven PM, go home and type up another care plan, and then I had class Abby: my god. Britt Vanderhoof: the next day. And I couldn't Chelsea Henderson: Whoa. Britt Vanderhoof: stay awake so my doctor gave me a stimulant that kept me up for three days and I focused Abby: my gosh. Britt Vanderhoof: I got stuff done but I was not sleeping and sleep is when our body repairs itself and refreshes itself And then I Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: couldn't sleep, so my doctor put me on the sleeping pill, and I was just a mess by the end of that semester. And it got so bad that I ended up seeing a counselor, and she is the one who introduced me to meditation. And at first I remember rolling my eyes like, okay, I'm just gonna sit there and meditation's gonna heal me. Abby: Ha ha ha Britt Vanderhoof: And she suggested yoga. And I remember I was I had a gym membership at the time and I would see the yoga classes and I was into like Zumba and High Fit and weight training. And I thought laying on a mat is gonna help me. Yeah. But Abby: Yeah. You're telling me to do less? What are you crazy? Chelsea Henderson: Right. Yeah. Exactly. Britt Vanderhoof: I did it, I was like, okay, I'll try it. And within a week of Doing some meditation and yoga, I started to feel better. and I started out with some guided meditations. I went to my local library and there used to be these things called CDs that you could put into a discipline and put headphones on and listen to it. Chelsea Henderson: History lesson. Britt Vanderhoof: So I got these just guided meditations, and they were more of like guided relaxations. And I started doing those every day for about 20 to 30 minutes, doing yoga, and my nervous system started to calm down and I started to sleep better. And that was one of my first introductions to Eastern medicine because yoga comes from the east, meditation comes from the east. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And then eventually, I think it was in 2018, I took a yoga teacher training. And before the class started, we were supposed to set an intention. And I sat and meditated on it, and all I could see was these stepping stones. And I saw yoga as a stepping stone to something else. And I didn't know what it was at the time. And Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: I had forgotten that I had written down this intention. And we opened them up on the last day of class. And by the last day of this yoga teacher training, I had found Ayurveda, or Ayurveda found me. Abby: Wow. Chelsea Henderson: Amazing. Britt Vanderhoof: We learned about the Vedas while studying yoga, and the Vedas are the ancient texts that Yoga and Ayurveda are based on. And when I heard the word Veda, I felt this like spiritual lightning bolt go through my body. It's kind of like the chills, but like ten times more intense. And I was like, what are Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: these Vedas? And I just went down the rabbit hole on the Vedas. It led me to Ayurveda. And the more I learned about Ayurveda, I learned like, my gosh, it encompasses so many things I had been studying and it ties them together in a beautiful way. It's like meditation and yoga and diet and lifestyle and sleep and just all these beautiful things that I had been studying, you know, bits and pieces, and Ayurveda just brought them together so beautifully. Abby: Well Britt Vanderhoof: And the more I studied it, the more I fell in love with it. And like as a nurse, even if you watch TV and you watch advertisements for pharmaceuticals, they say, along with diet and lifestyle, this medication can help you. Abby: Mm. Mm-hmm. Chelsea Henderson: Mm, mm. Britt Vanderhoof: And how many doctors tell you about the diet and lifestyle? Abby: None. Chelsea Henderson: Right, Abby: Very vr Chelsea Henderson: right. Abby: very few. Or they mention it in a a little whip. That's it. That's all you get. Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: So that's kinda how I got into it. Abby: That's incredible. Chelsea Henderson: So then with your nursing background, did you feel that kind of like this is another important part of the whole here, right? Like the nursing just even with you talking about that pharmaceutical kind of spiral that you ended up on that so many people in Western cultures end up on, right? It's so symptom based. It's just, okay, you have this symp the symptom, we have this pill, which, by the way, causes other symptoms. So then we have another pill, right? And and so when you're finding something like Ayurveda, you know, did you feel that kind of almost like a puzzle piece clicking in? of like, okay, yes, like here's another big part of this whole picture. And did you kind of feel this practice just kind of emanating from there? Or did you feel like, I never want to look at nursing again, I'm going whole on our Veda? Like, what was your instinct around it? Britt Vanderhoof: You know, I think the eastern medicine is slowly coming into Western medicine. like we can Chelsea Henderson: Ugh, love that. Love. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: see with yoga, it's so much more popular these days than it was twenty, thirty years ago. Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And I think people are way more aware of diet and lifestyle. And almost every pharmaceutical is meant to be integrated with diet and lifestyle. Abby: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: and I know like with the Health and Human Services is starting to recommend that medical school study nutrition because it is so important. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Abby: What a thought. That g if for anyone Chelsea Henderson: What the fuck? Abby: who doesn't know, modern doctors, physicians, MDs, they have between a one to three credit hour class on human nutrition. That is it. Just as much as nurses. Nurses, I took human nutrition as a prerequisite to get into nursing school, and that's the same nutrition class that physicians take. So your doctor is not an expert in nutrition and how you should be eating, particularly for women as they are in perimenopause. Women probably all through the life cycle, just because they have the MD after their name doesn't mean that they know how to eat, what to eat, you know, and all of that. So it is really good to work with someone who is educated on that. And doctors, they should that should be a whole semester class. That should be multiple Chelsea Henderson: Mm-hmm. Abby: classes on nutrition. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, and Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: I I will say doctors study medicine. They practice like pharmaceuticals and disease. I don't know Chelsea Henderson: Right. Britt Vanderhoof: how much wellness they actually study diet and lifestyle. And same Chelsea Henderson: Ugh. That is so key. What you just said feels fairly important. Abby: That's a good point. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, and same with nurses. I don't remember having much training on wellness and diet and lifestyle. We studied pharmacology and pathophysiology, all things having to do with disease and pharmaceuticals. Chelsea Henderson: Yes. Abby: Yeah, that's so true. Chelsea Henderson: Okay, so Britt, can you speak to your personal experience then? Like how this landed 'cause I you in our pre call you told us a little bit about this and it really kinda got me wanting to know more of like just once you started practicing this on your own body, how much more inspired you were and the e the experience you had. Could you share that with us again? Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, one of my first introductions to it was through an Ayurvedic cleanse. And it's like kind of like a detox where you're eating, you're doing a little bit of fasting, and then you eat something called kitchery, which is made up of basmati rice, moon dal, which is a lentil, fresh ginger, and then some herbs that are highly they're very nourishing to the gut. There's cumin, coriander, fennel, and then turmeric. And then we add a little ghee, which And that just has a good way of gently detoxing the gut. And ghee is so pure that if you guys are familiar with osmosis, where if something if there's a high concentration of something on one side of a barrier and then a low concentration on the other, the low concentration will suck stuff out of the high concentration. So ghee kind of does that with our fat cells. A lot of toxins are actually stored in the fat. So when we have ghee, it's gently Pulling stuff out of those fat cells. And I did a 28-day cleanse. And by the end of that cleanse, I had lost weight. I could think more clearly than I ever had that I can remember. And there was one day I just I couldn't stop crying. And it was Abby: Well Britt Vanderhoof: just like I think years of tears that had been held up. And my body Abby: Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: was like, these are coming out. And Ayurveda believes that tears can be toxic when they're held in. And I loved when I learned that. Because think Abby: Wow. That's wow. Britt Vanderhoof: how many times we try and hold back tears when really we need that emotional release. It is part of the healing process. Chelsea Henderson: Yes, yes, Abby: Yeah. Yeah. Like Chelsea Henderson: yes. Abby: if you don't let that energy out, it gets stored in the cells of your body. And there Chelsea Henderson: Right. Abby: see I mean, even w Body Keeps the Score. That book becoming popularized in the last what five years is Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Abby: reaffirming what practices like Ayurveda and acupuncture have known for thousands of years is that if you hold on to emotions and trauma, they get stored somewhere in your body. Chelsea Henderson: Hm. Yes. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. So see that's some Eastern medicine as well and the body keeps Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: the score because Eastern medicine does recognize that. Emotions Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: are stored in the body unless we process them. Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Abby: The Eastern medicine has so much knowledge that Western medicine is just catching up to. It's isn't that just so Western too, to think that we have all the answers and then to realize that there have been people who've figured this stuff out for thousands of years. so it yeah, I mean the more I learn about eastern medicine and and the western medicine that's catching up to, it's like, yeah, just because we didn't know how it was working doesn't mean that we it wasn't working. Now we're having the science behind it, which our Western brains seem to need. Or some of us Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Yeah. Abby: go, you mean it's okay. Tumor X anti inflammatory is now that I can put anti inflammatory Chelsea Henderson: Right. Abby: and put that label on it, now I'll take it. And it's like, yeah, well, there's also just beautiful mysteries to healing that we don't know how they work yet. And they do. Chelsea Henderson: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, we're kind of like little arrogant infants, you know. We just we just don't know that much, but we're really, really strong egos about what we do know. And listen, in some cases it's brilliant, right? I mean, we do surgery on babies in utero and like that's amazing, right? And also we miss key things like this. Like crying is actually a function of detoxing the body. The whole boys don't cry thing might be making us all kind of sick. Like it's just yeah, that is wild. That's wild. So then when you were experiencing this cleanse and you were kind of was that did you feel like, okay, like I'm gonna make this my lifestyle? Like I always think about that with cleanses. Like I've done a few before and then I get to the end and I'm like, okay, that was a great benefit, but now I feel like I'm just I don't know how to kind of bridge this back into my everyday life. Like what what was that like for you when you kind of got to the end of that experience and then clearly you kept it up? Like what what was your bridge then from the cleanse into an everyday living with Ayurveda? Britt Vanderhoof: So after the cleanse, and experiencing, you know, directly experiencing the benefits of Ayurveda, that's when I went to school to start to study it. I was like, whatever happened to my body, like Chelsea Henderson: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: I felt so amazing. Like I need to study this and learn about this. Chelsea Henderson: Yes, yes, Britt Vanderhoof: And I still do like a mini Chelsea Henderson: love. Britt Vanderhoof: cleanse. So Ayurveda recommends like a spring cleanse and a fall cleanse. And I still do that. I just do it for a couple days. But it's something I'm continuing to do. And if you think about it, we do oil changes on our car every, you know, maybe a couple times a year. And it's changing Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: out the oil. And that's kind of what this mini cleanse is doing, especially when you add the ghee. It's changing out the oils and the fats in the body. And just gently detoxing. Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: I love that. That's a great Abby: Well so Chelsea Henderson: comparison. Britt Vanderhoof: And it's it's a nice tune-up and it's a a beautiful form of self-care. because I'm very intentional with taking time off and resting and really just nourishing my body, mind and spirit. Abby: Yeah. So when you're Chelsea Henderson: I love that. Abby: doing these cleanses, is it what did you s call the food that you're eating? Kitchery. Is that Britt Vanderhoof: Kitchery. Uh-huh. Abby: the only thing that you eat for like the three days, the twenty eight days? You that's the only thing you consume? Britt Vanderhoof: That and I might add a few vegetables in there as well. cooked vegetables. Abby: Yeah. Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: Like I depends on the season. In the spring, like right now, I've been doing some peas and spinach and arugula, the stuff that's local and growing right now. And then in the fall, I'll do more root vegetables like sweet potatoes and zucchinis and squash and Abby: Nice. Britt Vanderhoof: carrots. Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: So it's that intuitive eating of like what is the n what's nature providing for me right now as well, right? That kind of syncing up with Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: nature. I love that. I love that. Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: So then did you know instantly like I'm gonna just start I'm gonna start offering this to other one? Like sometimes when you have that experience, you're just like, okay, I want this to be an offering. Like this was so magical. Was that kind of your experience of just like I'm doing this work? I'm sharing this with any woman who will listen. that's amazing. Britt Vanderhoof: Yep. Yep. Chelsea Henderson: I love that. Abby: Amazing. Chelsea Henderson: I love it. Okay, so then Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: can you talk us through what that looks like when you work with women? Like I I I love all Eastern I've since I was a child, I've gotten acupuncture. I'm married to a man who grew up in the Hare Krishna community, culture, religion. so there's some Ayurveda that sneaks into my life that way. I did a yoga teacher training in my twenties. For me, it was also a stepping stone. I didn't have that beautiful meditative clarity that you had, but I just knew I needed to kind of walk into this world and whatever happened after that would happen. But I never, in typical me style, I kind of just skipped, skipped, skipped along and I like to take little bits of everything, but I never fully Got all of it. So I'm so curious how you work with your clients and what that looks like for these different women. Is it is it the same for everyone? Is it different? Like what do you feel? Britt Vanderhoof: that's such a good question. And I love that you have some experience because I think some of what I'm gonna share, you're gonna be like, yes. So Ayurveda, when let me back up. When I was in nursing school, I had to like memorize a bunch of stuff. And the learning was like reading and memorizing, and it was very intensive, like mentally. But when I studied Ayurveda, it was very intuitive, like I know this stuff already. And it's Chelsea Henderson: I love that. Abby: Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: just like I'm remembering it. My soul already knows this stuff. And when I started sharing that with other people, they were like, the, you know, some of the students I was studying, what they're like, Me too, like somewhere deep in my Abby: Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: skirt I have already known this. And a lot of the principles of Ayurveda can be found all over the world and other indigenous medicine traditions. Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And a lot of it's just very intuitive. Like once you hear it, you're like, this makes sense. I get it. And like a a big part of Ayurveda is circadian rhythm, like being in tune with nature, going to bed when the sun goes down, waking up when the sun comes up. So Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: and we have so much science around the circadian rhythm, which is something Ayurveda has been teaching about for so long. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And if you think about it, I like to use squirrels as an example because when I wake up in the morning they are out and about running and as the sun goes down, like they are curled up in their little nest someplace, sleeping. Like you don't see squirrels out Abby: Yeah, yeah, so true. Britt Vanderhoof: and about at one AM up and, you know, hanging out with other squirrels there. Chelsea Henderson: Absolutely. That's awesome. I love that. Britt Vanderhoof: And the other thing I love about Ayurveda is it recognizes different body types. And with this I like Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: to give the example of diet. Like some people might actually do really well on a keto diet with heavier meats and cheeses and oils and fats. And for other people, it might destroy their gut and they might gain weight and not feel so good. And other people Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: might do really well on a raw vegan diet, and other people that could destroy their gut and can make Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: them feel depleted. So Ayurveda really Abby: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: does a good job of looking at each person's body type and their constitution and imbalances and catering stuff depending on the body type. Abby: And when you say body type, is that something that you just ask the client, you know, tell me about what happens when you eat this, what do you eat that? Or is it astrology? Is it you know, how does that kind of get determined? Britt Vanderhoof: That is a good question. I do an intake with them. I look at the body shape. Like some people are naturally just tall and thin. And I'll give an example of Bill Nye, the science guy. If you guys know who he is, he's tall, he's slender. He has Chelsea Henderson: I love him Yes. Abby: Yes. Britt Vanderhoof: I look at lips, eye shape, nose shape, palms, fingers, tongue. And then I also ask a lot of questions about internal processes like digestion and your thoughts and mental tendencies. tendencies, mental and emotional tendencies. So Bolny the Science guy, Abby: wow. Okay, amazing. Chelsea Henderson: Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: he speaks very fast and he's highly creative. And Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: all that he could eat as much as he wanted and never gain weight. Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Okay, okay. Britt Vanderhoof: And then there's the moderate. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: I mean, there can you there can be blends of these body types. there's another body type, I'll give Brad Pitt as an example. He's like a medium build, more like he has more of a pinkish color to his skin, very symmetrical, kind of more round and square face, square like angular face. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: Moderate lips, moderate eyes, medium-sized nose. And then for the last body type, I like to use. Oprah as an example. She just has this beautiful round body and full lips and big eyes. And she just Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: has this loving, compassionate, melodious voice. Abby: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Love. I Abby: Wow. Chelsea Henderson: love that you're looking at all those things and taking all that into account. That's Abby: Me too. Chelsea Henderson: the full person. Wow. Okay, so then based on that, you're then kind of able to determine, okay, you kind of fall into this category. So then we will kind of work with these offerings of Ayurveda for you and tr test those out and go from there. Is that kind of the approach? Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so with the different body types, like the tall, slender type tends to have they might run a little more cold and they can they might have a higher metabolism, so they might metabolize things more quickly, versus the round body type might have a slower metabolism and they have a heavier tendency, like if they eat a lot they're gonna gain weight. Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: And it might be harder to lose weight. unless you know Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: what how to do it. But in general, like if you have big bones, you ca it's hard to lose that bone mass. You just Chelsea Henderson: Right, right. Britt Vanderhoof: it's just part of their beautiful body type. Chelsea Henderson: Love. Love. Abby: I always say to my friends, like, we can fully accept that there's greyhounds and then there's corkies and bulldogs. And why would like a bulldog Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: I love it. Abby: would never be able to reach the body type of a greyhound without being on the edge of starvation and then still you're not gonna change those bones. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Abby: Corgies are not gonna look like greyhounds, but yes, society I feel like is so much trying to push people to all look like the greyhound, slender, very thin, you know, lean, but that's not everybody's body type. And we're yeah, we're so okay accepting that dogs, which are all the same species technically, they can all mate with each other and have babies, can look so different, but then humans are all supposed to look the same? Like no. Chelsea Henderson: That that's amazing. Two things I have to say to that. First of all, the vision for the future is a quirky greyhound baby. Just putting that out there. Amazing and I love it so much. I c I d I can't I can't Abby: Yeah. my gosh, could you imagine? The boot the booty on that dog. Chelsea Henderson: Please, because that was my second point that I was gonna make is I love a Britt Vanderhoof: Ha ha ha. Chelsea Henderson: greyhound. I love the grace, the legs are amazing, but the butt of a corgi is like my happy place. Just to watch those furry Abby: I know, right? Chelsea Henderson: little booties walking around. I'm obsessed with them. Obsessed. Okay, sorry, that was the total tangent, but I just had to say, Britt Vanderhoof: I love that analogy. I'm gonna I might have to borrow that. Chelsea Henderson: my gosh. Please, it's so gorgeous. I mean, Abby, I love that. Abby: Do, yeah. Yes. Well, and it's interesting what you said about the Bill Nyes. You know, I have a very good friend. I was actually on the phone with her yesterday catching up, and she has always been tall and slender. Slender, slender. Even after during her pregnancies and after her pregnancies, she drops the weight very quickly, fits right back into her old jeans, and you know, very slender and always cold. And she recently was has been having issues with being cold all the time. She has this thing called cold eutaria, where if she's in the cold exposed to it, it's almost like an allergic reaction where she starts getting hives and itching on her skin and and it can get kind of severe. So she has to be very careful around cold weather or getting into a really cold pool. And it's Chelsea Henderson: Hmm. Abby: so interesting that you mentioned that because she's always been that very slender body type. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so in Ayurveda it's very simple the way that we view things. So let's I'm gonna do a little exercise with you. We so in Ayurveda we balance opposites. So what is the opposite of cold? Yeah. Abby: Warm, hot. Britt Vanderhoof: What about dry? Abby: Moist. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. And cold. we said cold, hot, smooth. Abby: Rough. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so those are just there's like twenty different pears that we look at. But if someone's cold, like in the wintertime, and again this is so intuitive, in the winter time most people crave warm foods like soup. And when it's Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: the middle of summer and it's a hundred degrees outside, do you wanna add more heat to that or do you wanna balance it out with like some melons, something cool and juicy? Abby: Right. Britt Vanderhoof: And in the wintertime, maybe some people do still crave ice cream, but you might not be craving as many salads and cucumbers, which are cooling things Abby: Absolutely. Britt Vanderhoof: in the wintertime. Abby: Yeah, yeah. Chelsea Henderson: And how interesting too that those things don't grow during those times, right? Cucumber season is not in December. At least in Britt Vanderhoof: No. Chelsea Henderson: our in our part Abby: yeah. Chelsea Henderson: of the world, right? So that is I think a really interesting cue as well that nature is also sharing. Like I love that you talk about the fall mini cleanse is root vegetables because that's when root vegetables are starting to peak and that's the offering that nature has for us. So I just love that intuitive connection as well. Like look what your garden has to offer and that's what's right for your body as well. Is so cool. And then ice cream, I guess that's just ubiquitous. We just have it whenever we Britt Vanderhoof: Ha ha ha. Chelsea Henderson: want 'cause it's delicious. That's awesome. Okay, wait. So Abby: Wow, fascinating. Chelsea Henderson: then I really wanted to ask you I know just the tiniest bit about this, but can you speak to like pitta, vata Abby: yeah. Chelsea Henderson: and then I forget the other ones? those can you s explain those a bit to me? Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so those are called doshas in Ayurveda, and they can describe an aspect of everything from body types to the type of food we're eating to our environment. And if I start with the body types, the vata body type is the tall, slender, skinny type. They're the kind of Chelsea Henderson: The Bill and I. Britt Vanderhoof: people who can usually eat a lot and maybe not gain weight, or if they do gain weight, there is they're able to drop it quickly. They also have in the mind. They tend to be highly creative and artistic, and they might talk really fast. And if they're unbalanced, they might tend to have more anxiety and they might be a little more spacey and trouble have trouble focusing. And then the pick-to-body type is that medium body type. like moderate size body, moderate size muscle musculature, very balanced face, moderate size eyes and lips. And they can again gain weight, but they can also lose it quickly if they start to work out. And in the mind, they can be very focused and intense. And I like to use the analogy of a bull. Like they set a goal and they go after it and they can focus and get stuff done. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: Unbalanced, they might be hypercritical and angry and irritable. There tends to be more heat in the pita. So they might have more red skin as well, and have tendencies for rashes and heartburn and things with heat. And then Kafa body type is the more round, like full lips, bigger eyes, thick hair, beautiful moist Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: skin. And they tend to be amazing singers as well. They have this beautiful voice or quality to their voice. And they c with the mind and mental and emotions, they tend to be more loving and compassionate. And they have very good memories, kinda like an elephant. Maybe they learn a little bit slower, but once they remember something, they it sticks. And then when unbalanced, they tend to make gain weight a little bit more and have a harder time losing weight. They can tend towards depression and holding on to things. Maybe it's holding on to possessions or holding a grudge. There's just like this stickiness and holding on quality. Abby: Hmm. Wow. And so and Chelsea Henderson: I know which one I am. Abby: which one do you think you are, if you want to share? Chelsea Henderson: The cop kappa? Is that it? Cop Cop the The last one. I'm the last one. yeah, that's me for sure. Britt Vanderhoof: Kappa? Yeah. You are a blend, I would say, of a little bit of each, maybe a little more kava. I see pitta in you. And I also see some vata. Chelsea Henderson: I love it. I love it. Okay, that's amazing. I love a that's how I like to eat too. I like a smorgasbord. I like a little bit of everything. That's cool. So then how that's really curious though, because then if you can see those things, then like I would imagine there's different like approaches for each of these different types, right? So then if someone like me, if I've got a couple of these going on and I could be possibly varying between the more balanced, unbalanced within each of those, then like you're really gonna have to kind of get to know me and use that intuition and I'll have to use my intuition to really create an offering that meets all those. Is that right? That's kind of what I feel when I'm hearing this. Britt Vanderhoof: So when I do an intake, I am able to look at the percentage. Like maybe you're 70% kappa, 20% pitta, 10% vata. So we are born with a certain body type. Like your bone structure isn't going to change. Your nose and eyes and lips won't change. Some people have surgery to alter it, but a lot of things aren't going to change. Your tongue isn't going to change, which is something we look at. And then Abby: Hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: I look at the imbalances as well. And we usually treat the balance that's most out of balance. And then we'll start with that. And usually as you start to balance one, the others will kind of fall into place as well. Which is just such a beautiful thing. Abby: Wow. And I you know, I hear a lot like the term the opposite is the medicine, which I think comes from Ayurveda whole you know, like the more eastern. Britt Vanderhoof: Mm-hmm. Abby: I hear that on different like this podcast that I listen to, and they're talking about it a little bit more, maybe in the mental health or the spiritual, which not to take us down that tangent, but for example, they'll say like if you're someone who's Really scarcity mindset. Always hoarding your money and holding on to it. And even though you have maybe fifty thousand dollars in the bank, you won't buy yourself a latte because you're just like, What if, what if? The opposite being the medicine would be like be generous, buy your friend a coffee, like let go a little bit. And that like if you're the other way, if you're spend, spend, spend, spend, spend and you can't save anything and you're just always spending everything. The opposite would be the medicine of like have that ten percent automatic thing go to a four one K or something. And but that's, you know, more on that like behavior side. What I'm hearing is that it goes all the way through your life is that opposite, looking for the opposite to bring balance. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. It can. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And again, we're born with a certain body type. So the people that are more coffee that have like the thicker bones, the fuller lips, the thick hair, they're actually more likely to hold on to money. Where the vata people that are tall and skinny, Abby: And trust the name. Britt Vanderhoof: they have a tendency to maybe spend a little more and not save as much. And if think Chelsea Henderson: Hm. Well that's where my vata's coming in. Britt Vanderhoof: of metabolism, like a high metabolism, things are moving quickly. And maybe with the Chelsea Henderson: Yes. Britt Vanderhoof: vata, the high metabolism, their money is moving a lot more quickly. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: And again these are tendencies. It's not like set in stone. Abby: Not a rule. Chelsea Henderson: Right. Abby: Right, right. Chelsea Henderson: So then so then I I sorry, I feel like I have so many questions, but I just am eating this up. So then when you're when you're I know this is not prescriptive, right? Which we love. That's our goal with this space is just to just not do that. And I love that about holistic medicine. you know, it's really a conversation, it's a back and forth, it's a play space, it's a intuitive space. But outside of the food, what are the other offerings that you are utilizing in your life offering to your clients? Like how broad does this get when you're looking at kind of creating an action plan or a lifestyle to help ease the suffering, ease the imbalances with the the folks you work with? Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so diet is big, but it's just one piece of the puzzle. I there's so many aspects. And I give people options. I say, This is what I'm seeing, here's your imbalance, here's a couple ways to treat it. What's one thing you want to start with? And something I recommend is the sleep schedule, which I find so many people do not have a sleep routine. Maybe that they're brushing their teeth and putting their jammies on, washing their face and And then scrolling on the phone or doing something else. Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: But to really make sleep sacred and take the time to learn how to do that can be powerful. Because when we sleep, that's when our body is restoring and repairing and resetting itself. And there's this thing in the brain called the lymphatic system. And during the day, as we're thinking and processing stuff, the byproducts of just being awake and processing our thoughts and stuff, there's byproducts that build up in the brain. Night when we can get enough sleep and enough deep sleep, these it's like the cerebrospinal fluid channels open up and expand and start flushing the brain out. And Abby: Amazing. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: you can feel that when you get a good night's sleep and you can wake up and you know you're thinking clear, versus maybe if you pull in all-nighter or only get a couple hours of sleep, you can feel that sluggishness in the brain, you can feel all that stuff like interfering with Chelsea Henderson: Absolutely. Britt Vanderhoof: clear thoughts. and the ability to focus. Abby: Definitely. Britt Vanderhoof: So sleep Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: is a huge thing. calming Chelsea Henderson: Love. Britt Vanderhoof: the nervous system is another huge thing, especially in perimenopause, because as we come into perimenopause, all of our tissues start to thin out, our skin thins out, our hair can start to thin out, our gut thins out, and the nervous system gets a little it can thin out and start to get depleted, and we just can't handle stress as much. And so learning ways to calm it. sleep is huge for repairing the nervous system. I used to do Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: a lot more intense yoga and now I'm doing restorative yoga and yin yoga, where you kind of just lay on the mat and stretch. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: And that was hard when I first started doing that. Like I knew I needed to do it because Ayurveda highly encouraged it. And I thought, like if I'm just gonna lay there like that's gonna do anything, I need to be uplifting weights and moving quickly and dancing around. And Chelsea Henderson: Right, right. Britt Vanderhoof: I still remember the first time I walked out of a yin yoga class. I was like, I feel calm. What is Abby: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: this sensation? Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: I was so used to being go go go do do do do more and to lay there and breathe and stretch was healing and restorative on my nervous system. Abby: Yeah. Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: That's amazing. That's amazing. And it's interesting in our culture too, because especially as women, it's like if I'm gonna do any sort of class, it has to be a class that's gonna make me tone and thin and all those things that are like the highest aspirations for women in this culture. And I actually heard something recently this woman talking about how she found her easiest path to weight loss postpartum and in perimenopause was through nervous system healing, not through pumping you know it out in an H I I T class or H I T T or what the hell ever. You know, and and and just like and I thought that was fascinating because obviously exercise is important, right? And and all those things have a space, but I really loved this addition of bringing in the nervous system. So the 'Cause I remember in my yoga teacher training, we had we would offer classes to practice and my teacher was like, You're gonna see, 'cause he was from New York and he was like, You're gonna see. There's gonna be women who come in and they have this a certain type and they are in that energy and they come in and they do all the hard stuff and they leave before Shivasana and they think, I'm just too busy, I gotta keep going, I gotta lose my weight, I gotta go, I gotta go, go, go, go, go. And he was like, They're missing the part that actually makes this benefit them the most. And I really watched that and then I watched it in myself and that those moments of calm, the moments of quiet, the moments of integration, all the benefit would land. So I just I think that's fascinating in this culture. And I'm wondering what you think about that idea of the nervous system healing would offer weight loss to those who've gained weight in the time of pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, menopause. How does that land with you? Britt Vanderhoof: I think the nervous system support is one of the biggest things that women can do, especially in perimenopause, actually any stage of life. The nervous system runs so much of I mean it's connected to everything. It controls our body. And that's one of the reasons why I'm going into psychiatric mental health, because once you can calm the mind, you can calm a lot of other things in the body. we Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: know that a lot of the gut is innervated, highly innervated. Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: I could spend a whole nother episode just talking about gut help. Abby: my gosh, yes, please. Yes. Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: I love that. We should. We should. Well, because don't we with just Western medicine med medicine just kind of is making the connection that, like, our brain and our gut are connected, right? This thing that felt like it was almost kind of secondary turns out is highly connected to what we consider the most important driver of our beings. And it just shows you There is no kind of hierarchy there. The body is a whole system. And if one part isn't working, you made the car analogy earlier. It's like, you know, you can't drive a car without the brakes, you know, even if everything else in the car is pristine. And that I think is really important. Like, if the gut doesn't work, then your brain is going to be affected the way you think, the way you act, the way you perceive things. Abby: Yeah, absolutely. we just moved to Portland and the food scene here is incredible and we're vegan so it's got like the most vegan options ever. so yeah, we you know, we're going, we went to this like all vegan place and we got a large pizza and two beers and had that at like nine p.m. And then you wake up the next day and you're so, I mean, brain fog, not word finding, just so sluggish. And just thinking about what you were saying with the ventricles and the brain and the cerebral spinal fluid. Like if you eat really late before bedtime, all of your blood and everything is like, I'm assuming just from what I know about medicine, it's in your gut and it's trying to break things down and It's not able to actually rest. Like you're keeping your body awake and alert in a way, even if you're sleeping, like another part of your body is really busy trying to break down all this pizza and beer. So, like, just how important sleep is kind of what you were just saying about that when it comes to sleep and not just the sleep, but like the preparing for sleep. Like, when do you stop eating? And what you had for breakfast that morning. Like, someone once told me You know, when you're thinking about getting better sleep, think about what you're having for breakfast and lunch and dinner and like how much alcohol are you consuming and are you getting energy out sufficiently during the day so that your body feels tired? Like getting good sleep doesn't just happen when you hit the pillow, it's like your whole lifestyle. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up that. The realization that when you eat late, you don't you've noticed you don't sleep as well. So Ayurveda has been teaching this for thousands of years, and I've actually found quite a bit of research to back this up. But if you stop eating three hours before you go to bed, it allow your body has time to properly digest. The stomach is so intensive with digesting and processing food, and it can take two to three hours before it moves on. But during that time, we have a lot of hormones coming online, and it's like we gotta digest this. Food, and your melatonin might not be come online as strongly when your body's busy digesting. So I like Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: to say three hours before you go to bed, which ideally would be around seven, you know, eating your last meal around seven, hopefully going to bed lights out around ten. And then two hours before, and this is something just to play around with, but two hours, maybe stop drinking fluids. If you need to take some nighttime medications or supplements, have it at least two hours before bed, just so you can hopefully get up and pee before you go to bed. And then one hour before. Bad and this is the hardest for me. The turn off screens, turn off your phone, put it away. And don't have those the blue lights that are suppressing the melatonin. And it's especially Abby: Mm-hmm. Britt Vanderhoof: important during perimenopause because everything is more sensitive. During perimenopause, if you're up late looking at screens, it's going to suppress your melatonin. And your cortisol naturally starts to rise around 3 a.m. to wake us up. And there's like this balance. So when melatonin's high, cortisol is going to slowly come up, but the melatonin's going to keep it down until we're ready to wake up. But if we've been Abby: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: up late and the melatonin never had a chance to like peak because we've been on our phone, and by the way, it usually peaks around midnight. But if we're on our phone, it's keeping that melatonin suppressed. And then cortisol might come on more strongly and wake us up. And then it's going to remain slightly elevated during the day. And we we can feel that. Abby: Yeah. absolutely. Like if I Chelsea Henderson: Wild. Abby: stay up too late, because historically my family are night owls. So I think there's a little bit of nurture there for me of Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Abby: like, but I can feel, you know, I'll start to get sleepy around nine. And if I push past it around eleven, eleven thirty, I'm like, now I'm awake. Now I'm awake Chelsea Henderson: Mm-hmm. Abby: and I want to get stuff done and I have a lot of energy. But I think like, yeah, I've pushed away the melatonin. peak it trying to peek, trying to like get me to go to sleep and now I'm like sh I've just shifted over into like some cortisol starting to come online and then it can be really hard to go to sleep. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. And Ayurveda, there's a whole Ayurvedic perspective behind that too. If you're staying up a little too late, you can get that second wind. You can either go in a deep into a restorative sleep, or if you're awake, you might get your second wind and you're not gonna get that deep sleep. And Abby: Yeah. Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: we need our sleep that's again, that's when we do the deep healing and repairing and restoring of the body and the hormones and the mind and Abby: Well. Britt Vanderhoof: yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Interesting. So how do you feel then about I'm very I won't take like a melatonin supplement. If I'm having trouble falling asleep or like my child, I know a lot of folks who give it to their kids, right? 'Cause it's just so much easier if your kid will just go the F to sleep, right? I mean that's just like such a such a battle. Yet it feels like All these things feel like because if people are like, your body produces it naturally, but what you're talking about is such a great reminder if the body produces it naturally as part of a cycle with other components that it produces naturally that are kind of keeping us in our in our cycles, right? So then if we're just artificially offering that at like f six pm, seven p.m. to our kids, that's probably throwing off that cycle, or is that not as does that not matter as much? Britt Vanderhoof: So a big part of Ayurveda is routine, like like I said, Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time. And you're probably aware that if you set an alarm like let's say you wake up at 6.30 every day, eventually your body kind of trains to just wake up at that time. And I s know so many people that will wake up like at 6.29, a minute before the alarm goes off because their body's Chelsea Henderson: Right. Right. Britt Vanderhoof: trained. And you can do that with bedtime too. Like I have an alarm on my phone that goes off at 8.30 that says get ready for bed. And that's when I wash my face, brush my teeth, I turn off all the overhead lights, and then I turn on just a few lamps that have the yellow incandescent bulbs. And the yellow incandescent bulbs, they don't flicker like LED bulbs do. And they're the color of the sunset. And there's a reason why the sunset has those amber colors. It's actually more conducive to allowing melatonin to come on. And then I usually give myself just a quick light body massage. There's I'll rub my feet with a little oil. I have I have this routine. And my body, once I start doing it, my body knows, it's time to slow down and get ready for bed. Chelsea Henderson: Ugh I love that. Britt Vanderhoof: And I sleep so much better when I can do my routine. And start at a decent time. Chelsea Henderson: Right, and then Yes, and then that there's less of a need for any sort of artificial intervention, right? It's just then you're cueing all the things, so then your body is just producing those things normally. I love Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: that. I love it. Hey, Abby, you're muted, sweetie. Abby: Sorry, there was a crow that was like right outside We have a lot of crows out here. Chelsea Henderson: I heard it. I love it. The birds will speak. Abby: the birds are like, I have something to say about melatonin. but what was I gonna say? just for kids. I mean I don't have kids, but you know, that kind of a routine as a family of like, okay, even if your kids don't know what you're doing and you never explain it, like at eight thirty all the b big lights turn off and the little lamps come on and And you know, nine thirty you s give a little foot rub and, you know, like do Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Abby: that kind of thing and they're like, I'm feeling really sleepy and the whole time you're going, I know you are Yeah, this isn't by Chelsea Henderson: I love it. Abby: accident. Chelsea Henderson: I love it. I love the routine. I think that I mean, kids are such a great example of that, but it's so important. I mean, for all of us, right? Our bodies just historically, evolutionarily, we've just that's how we've always been. Just you have these cycles and you have these things that cue to you the next thing. And it's amazing to reflect on how those external kind of routines in our life, how they're actually cueing and interacting with the internal functions and and helping kind of keep that as optimal as as we can be. That's awesome. Alright, so then as we get toward the end here, I need to ask you about perimenopause. Because this is just Abby: Yes, and I have questions about that too. Chelsea Henderson: well, and okay, like I think menopause growing up, you think of a woman in her 60s and she's just, she looks old She feels old, she she complains, she sweats a l during the night, you know, she's uncomfortable. And then now, you know, being at this middle time of life, like I'm in my early 40s, Abby's in her thirties, like we're starting, even Western medicine is starting to say, actually, it turns out it starts a lot earlier. And even women in their 30s could be kind of moving into this space, and that there's so much we can do to participate and to engage with this time of our life that actually could make your menopause story completely different than that, you know, kind of suffering old woman that we've that I was in my mind growing up, right? And so I'm just so curious how you got drawn to that and how you work with that and what your experiences with that. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, so I think I was three years into my Ayurveda studies when we started learning about this midlife transition. And I happened to be going through a lot of it. I would say just a few months before we got to that section, I was having night sweats, I was having insomnia, brain fog, my hair was falling out, my cycles were highly irregular and just scattered. I don't even know how to describe it. And I thought I was going crazy. I was like, what is going on with my body? Like, I didn't know about perimenopause. And this was about eight years ago. Nobody was talking about it. And I saw Chelsea Henderson: Right. Britt Vanderhoof: five different doctors. I went, I was like, I wonder if my hormones are out of balance. I went to an endocrinologist. Abby: My thyroid. Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, I went to an endocrinologist. He's like, You look fine. Your thyroid's just slightly low. I went to my gynecologist. She's like, You look fine to me. I went to my primary care doctor and she's like, You look fine to me. Like, but I don't feel good. Chelsea Henderson: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: I went to a psychiatrist who said, I'll just give you this antidepressant and you'll forget about everything. And then I started learning Chelsea Henderson: God Jesus. Abby: Nice. Britt Vanderhoof: about this in Ayurveda, that there's this transition that women go through in midlife. And I started listing out the symptoms and I'm like, my gosh, that's me. And a lot of it has to do with the nervous system and calming the nervous system down. And we learned a little bit about trauma. And anyone who's had early life trauma, there's this thing called the ACE score, which is adverse childhood experiences. It's 10 questions. And it asks you about your early childhood experiences. And for women who answer yes to like three to four or more, tend to have a lot more symptoms. And I think my score is like five. Abby: Mm. Britt Vanderhoof: Which is Chelsea Henderson: yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: which is hi. So when you have trauma that you haven't addressed, it's like the nervous system is like kind of the equivalent of holding a big beach ball underwater. It takes a lot of energy. And that's kind of what our nervous system is doing when we don't address stress and trauma. And then when perimenopause comes and the nervous system's naturally depleting, it's like I can't hold this down anymore. It's coming out. And it's gonna come Chelsea Henderson: Yeah. Abby: Wow. Britt Vanderhoof: out through symptoms in the body. Chelsea Henderson: Wow. Abby: That is an incredible analogy. Because yeah, twenty when I'm twenty four you can hold that beach bottle down, you know? Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah. Chelsea Henderson: Totally. Abby: But as you get older your your bot your muscles, your nervous system, your being just is like I can't hold this in anymore. Britt Vanderhoof: And I just Chelsea Henderson: That's wild. Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, and just knowing that an Ayurveda, as we come into this last phase of life, we start to see things dry out, like the skin's gonna dry out, the gut's gonna dry out, we're gonna have more chopped lips and maybe dry eyes, and we might feel more cold. We just can't our metabolism slows down, our bones thin out, the skin thins out. and there's ways to balance that out Ayurvedically, like adding more moisturizer. I rub I like sesame oil with a few accessibility. essential oils in it, like the rose oil and lavender oil. I rub that on my skin to keep it moist. I eat a lot more healthy Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: fats like avocados and ghee and some seeds and nuts. And w I add more warm foods so I stay warm. I cook a lot of my foods. And I avoid Abby: Yeah. Britt Vanderhoof: cold and raw foods because those are gonna aggravate the cold qualities in my body. and I avoid chips and dry foods like beef jerky, dried fruit chips, crackers. All of that's gonna add more of the dry element to the body. And we want to avoid that, or at least Abby: Interesting. Britt Vanderhoof: minimize those foods. Don't need to completely avoid them. Abby: Interesting. Chelsea Henderson: Holy cow. Okay, so Britt, we're gonna end here and we're gonna we're for our members, we're gonna keep talking a little bit because I have probably a hundred more questions. I Abby: I have so many questions too. Chelsea Henderson: can't. I like my gosh. so we're gonna stop here and thank you so much for being here for sharing your wisdom. I'm super excited about our workshop. And in the show notes and in everything we release on Substack and all of that will be ways that people can connect with you if they want to work with you. Everyone that I've told about you coming on the podcast is like, wait, what? I have to know about this. I wanna try this. So we're gonna put all of that out there for our listeners. And I just wanna thank you because I feel like I'm walking away from this just that much more informed and connected. And that just feels to me I'm so grateful. Thank you so much. It's amazing. Britt Vanderhoof: Well thank you. Abby: Yes. Thank you for coming, Brit. And yeah, like Chelsea said, everything will be in the show notes if people want to work with you. I do just have one question about that. Do you take clients virtually? Britt Vanderhoof: I do. Abby: can you can do the whole assessment looking at the tongue, looking at the the face and the body type all virtually and make those assessments so you can Britt Vanderhoof: Yeah, I Abby: if you're anywhere, you can work with Britt and start to use ancient medicine. Britt Vanderhoof: Yes, thank you, ladies. This was wonderful. Chelsea Henderson: Love it. Thank you so much. Abby: Okay. Wonderful. If you are not Chelsea Henderson: we're so grateful. Okay, well. Abby: a modern sacred member, come become a member and we will continue the conversation. I have questions about periods and I have questions about Chelsea Henderson: Absolutely. Abby: so many more things, so come and continue the conversation with us. Chelsea Henderson: Thank you for coming today, Britt, and thank you for listening, everyone. We'll see you next time.