Off The Vine with Kaitlyn Bristowe - Maria Menounos | A Journey of Healing, Her Cancer Battle, and Daily Wellness Tips!

Episode Date: July 16, 2024

#754. In this heartfelt episode of Off the Vine, Kaitlyn Bristowe sits down with the multi-talented Maria Menounos. Learn how Maria began her journalism career, transitioned to wrestling at WrestleMania, and ventured into acting. She humorously shares her experiences dealing with on-screen chemistry, where fake flirting can sometimes feel confusingly real. Dive deep into her personal health battles, including her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and stage 2 pancreatic cancer, and how she found strength in moments of profound adversity. Maria also imparts wisdom on choosing wonder over worry and reveals three transformative habits that have changed her life. Plus, get a sneak peek into her wellness routine and why she’s ditching AirPods for good. This episode is a rollercoaster of emotions and insights you won't want to miss! If you’re LOVING this podcast, please follow and leave a rating and review below! PLUS, FOLLOW OUR PODCAST INSTAGRAM HERE! EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: (6:00) - Discussing on-screen chemistry and how fake flirting can sometimes feel confusingly real. (15:19) - Maria opens up about her diagnosis with type 1 diabetes and stage 2 pancreatic cancer. (24:51) - Maria's philosophy of choosing wonder over worry and how it helped her during challenging times. Thank you to our Sponsors! Check out these deals! Heineken 0.0: 100% taste, zero point zero percent alcohol, only 69 calories. Now you can! Follow this link to buy now! Nutrafol: Get $10 off your first month’s subscription & free shipping when you go to See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Okay, listen up if you love a good slow burn romance, and let's be real, who doesn't? You need to check out the new Audible Original of Pride and Prejudice. It's an intimate performance that literally makes you feel like you're right there swooning with Lizzie Bennett and Mr. Darcy. Marisa Abella as Elizabeth and Harris Dickinson as Darcy, I'm obsessed. So whether it is your first time with Jane Austen or your 50th, this version is such a fresh, fun listen. go to audible.ca slash jane austin to dive in us Off the Vine

Hey everybody, welcome to Off the Vine. I'm your host, Caitlin Bristow. Maria Menunis has been through a lot in her life, pancreatic cancer, brain tumor. It's actually shocking what she says. Enjoy this conversation. You're on the TV screens at my gas station. Hey now.

I'm just there to stock everyone at the gas pump. You are everywhere. I mean, we all see you on our TV screens from working the red carpets to reporting on entertainment news to the movie theater screens before a movie. You've done pageants. Am I right? Yeah, when I was younger. Pagents, WWE? Yep. What? I didn't know you did that. What did you do in WWE reporting? I, no, I wrestled. What? You didn't see. I literally wrestled. Yeah, I wrestled at WrestleMania. When? Oh, gosh, I'm terrible with dates. This was maybe 10 years ago. That is incredible. That's a bucket. for me. Yeah, it was huge. So I'm four-in-old. Who did you wrestle the Bella Twins? I did wrestle the Bellas. Well, one of them. I wrestled Bree in one match. Forgive me, audience, my voice is going today. Oh, right. Yes. Yeah, I wrestled at WrestleMania with Barbie Blank, who's Kelly Kelly and Eve Torres and

Beth Phoenix, the glamazon, and a tag team match. That is so cool. I was like, oh, you must have done some reporting for them. I didn't know you actually wrestled. That's amazing. It was sick. I used to be so insecure and jealous of Kelly Kelly because somehow my ex-boyfriend from my 20s ended up at a party with her and he was a rookie at his hockey party and they ended up making out and somebody had told me about this was before we were together and so I'd always like you know in your 20s when you're just so insecure and like weird and I used to be like Kelly Kelly blah blah and then I met her one day like so nice so nice so nice I'm like why am I holding on to something from my 20s and I'm like you're so lovely it's so beautiful it's so nice and it's just so funny but

small world. And now you're in the wellness podcast space, which is so amazing. I have questions about that. But initially, what drew you into journalism? What drew me into journalism? Honestly, I think the first thing was my parents weren't going to let me act or do anything I wanted to in L.A. And so I needed to find something quick that was respectable. But I also loved chasing fire trucks. I loved watching Joan London on Good Morning America. I loved news. And so I was like, okay, I'll do that. And then when I'm old enough and like, I'm, you know, away from, you know, I've cut the umbilical cord. Then I'll like sneakily get into some acting and do some of that and all the other things I wanted to do. But you did. And basically that's what I did. I got to do a little

bit of everything. How come your parents didn't want you to get into acting? Did they just know like the dark side of Hollywood? Have you seen what's been going on? Yes. Have you seen what continues to uncover and make me horrified? Okay. Yes. Yeah, they knew. I thought all that time, was like guys you raised me well yeah i'm gonna make good decisions you don't have to worry and they would be like but it's them i'm worried about i'm like but i'm never gonna put myself in that position but now i realize yeah holy moly it's even deeper than that like i'm so i look back and i'm like i'm so lucky nothing ever happened i mean did you watch that documentary um quiet on set oh my gosh it's just so dark but it was interesting because there was a woman who would not let

her children get into acting because she kind of knew or had an idea or her parents or something was in the industry and that something happened where like then she eventually let her kid get into something and then it was awful awful what happened to this child and it's just so messed up to see what goes on so I'm I love that they protected you like that but then you got to be at an age where you know you didn't have to put yourself in those positions but you what kind of acting have you like when you're going to London can we talk about that yeah okay um I'm going to shoot a movie, a Christmas movie in London, which is exciting. Oh, that's cool. I love Christmas movies because they're really safe, sweet. Yeah, yeah. There are no casting couches and Christmas movies

that I know of. The first thing I think I did outside of a commercial in Boston was the Fantastic Four. I was the sexy nurse with Chris Evans. Oh my gosh, fun. And then I was in a bunch of other movies since, yeah, TV shows. I did One Tree Hill for a season. I'm learning so much about you today. Like, Do you prefer journalism or acting? I really loved journalism. Yeah. Like when I worked at Nightly News specifically. Because I felt like I was making a difference, bringing things to light and telling

stories. You know, entertainment news was just fun. Yeah. I carried the same integrity across whatever I was. But it was, you know, that was just fun. And now acting now is fulfilling kind of that fun side of me that gets to just go play. Yeah. It's never been anything that I think I was going to do full time, although I'm building a

film fund for holiday films. And so I guess it'll probably become a bit more in my life. Yeah. Wait, that's cool. Yeah. How did you decide to do that? Well, when we did the last holiday film, we found out how kind of lucrative the model was. And we've always been in filmmaking. I made my first film at 18, turning 19, and played film festivals and directed a short film. And so my husband and I kind of came together in movies. And so it's a return to that for us. And so it's kind of fun. Like we took these detours and now we're kind of coming back to it. And he's in acting too.

He's a filmmaker, director, writer, producer. I feel like two people in that industry can understand it. But I always said, like, I could never date an actor or an actress because the chemistry. I'm like, it's too believable. When you're good, it's too. Like, I can't. The chemistry on set? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. I'm like making out with people. We were just talking about this yesterday. But tell me, is that, that must be kind of fun, though. I mean, no, I don't like it. But I don't like it, but I was telling Alyssa yesterday, I'm like, you have to have chemistry for it to work. That's why they do chemistry tests. And so I've had chemistry with people I'm so not attracted to.

Right. Would never in a million years, like, think I could have chemistry with and I have chemistry with them. And so, yes, it's weird. Like, you feel stuff and you're like, this is weird. Right. Because your body is doing its body. Yeah, and then I go home, I tell my husband, I'm like, honey, it's just so weird. And does he, is he just like so numb to it?

Because he knows. Yeah, he gets it. But I don't know, maybe because I'm not a full-time professional actress where I've grown up in this and whatever. I'm like, when I'm in it, like, it's weird because it's definitely like, okay, now we're going to kiss. Yeah. Okay. So that can be mechanical. But the chemistry, the flirting and all of that, like, sometimes you start to feel it.

And you're like, this is confusing. That's what I was just going to say. The word that came to mind was confusing because, oh, a music video that I had auditioned for, this is way before. This is like young, young me. I had to like flirt with this guy and he had to throw me against a wall. And I had to like do this thing. And I was like not attracted to him.

And then he did that. And I was like, is there something here? I know. But I don't know if people are being dishonest or maybe they're just better professionals. I don't know. But to me, I've seen stuff happen where you're just like, oh, I can see why people have on-set romances. can see why this law happens also you're trapped with this person for so long yeah so that's true but there i'm sure there's times on set too where you're like i can't like i was talking to chrischel

about it from selling sunset because she did days of our lives or whatever soap operas she did for so long and she's like all these men are smokers and you'd have to make out with them after they had a cigarette throw up yeah and she's like and you're trying to be all into it but they have just like coffee and cigarette breath gross i could never do it right no i couldn't do it that to me was yeah that's all i I didn't think about that. I'd vomit in their mouth probably. So would I. I feel like, ew, get out of here.

Yeah. I'm like mad at outdoor smokers. I walk by outside. I'm like, what the? And I'm like, oh, I'm outside. Shit. I know, but you're like, it's 20, 24. You know how bad this is for you.

I know. Well, have you always been like very much into health and wellness? I would say not really. I think that you kind of find it out of necessity most of the time. Yeah. We grew up in a healthy house because my dad was type one diabetic and we all ate very clean as a result. And then I went to college and had a party. So it's like, ooh, cafeteria, endless food, whatever I want. Yeah. Put on the 40 pounds. Yep. But yeah, it was all about work.

We're not trained to take care of our health. We're not thinking. No one says when we grow up, it's like, get good grades, you know, succeed. What do you want to be? Go to college. You know, succeed, achieve. That's the only thing you hear. Get a huge job. Make a lot of money. And then maybe it's Get married. Have kids. Health. I know. Is never in the equation. So now how are you incorporating that into having a daughter? I'm teaching her what I teach everybody on my show, Heel Squad, to be the CEO of her health. Yeah.

And so I have pictures of her on the yoga mat with me. We're stretching in the morning. That's so cute. We get the sunrise, which is the most important sun of the day. Why? Because it has that red light. First of all, you're setting your circadian clock by getting your sunrise and your sunrise. sunsets, but that sunrise sun on as much of your body as possible, it acts, it creates almost like a sunscreen on your body that protects you throughout the rest of the day. And so I've been doing it for two years. The benefits are insane. I wake up before sunrise. So, you know, if you

look on your weather app, that's the middle of the night. It's very early. Oh, I'm just not. But you know what? My life has changed since I've done it because I get so much more done. Okay. At first, it sucks balls. It sucks. I hated it. Okay. That's real. And then eventually, it gets easier and easier like anything. You do it long enough, it becomes a habit. So I wake up and the first thing I do is I take the dogs out and I'm out there. If the weather app says sunrise is at 559, I'm at least out there one minute before. And, you know, it's good for you to see that change, that shift in the, you know, sky and that light change.

And then I feed the dogs and then I sit outside and, you know, technically you're supposed to be out there as naked as possible. I have a see-through bikini, but like today was shitty out. It was cloudy, and we have like June gloom here. So even I who's so into this have to say I'm not motivated to go out there like that. So I have like my sweats and my tank and my sports bra and so little by little I'm stripping things off. And then I'm I grab Athena when she wakes up. I bring her outside. I feed her outside in the sun or whatever sun is coming through the clouds.

We get as much of that light as possible. and then we go inside and then I take my supplements and I eat my breakfast because you're supposed to eat breakfast within one hour of sunrise for your circadian clock to be in balance. You do not have coffee before you eat your food. I know. Alyssa, I didn't judge you. You've been here a couple days drinking your coffee. I didn't judge you. I was being good.

My best friend. Because I know she's like, wait, why do you say something? This is going to be a really dumb question. Nothing's dumb. Okay, silly question to you, but. genuine question from me. The hell is a circadian. I mean, listen, I don't know the proper definition, but your circadian clock basically tells your body what time it is throughout the day and what processes need to happen.

So if you're inside, like all of us are in studios all day, no wonder we're all getting sick and getting diseased because our body thinks it's noon because of these lights at all times. And so people getting, whatever, I don't want to get too deep because then I'm going to get killed. but people with different ailments are missing melanin in certain parts of their brain. We have UV receptors in our retinas for a reason. We're supposed to take in that sunlight. Not only does it tell your body what time it is, but it actually goes in and does all those things that photosynthesis does to plants. That's why plants grow because of the sun.

You need your body to know what time it authentically is. So when I go and I travel, the way I get on the clock is I constantly am going outside and I'm getting that light in my body in my eyes. and it's saying, okay, Maria, it's one o'clock, it's three o'clock. Oh, somewhere around three o'clock, your body needs the cue to start producing melatonin because sunrise is a few hours away, I mean, sunset. So now your body knows, oh, it's time to go to bed. The reason why we're having such poor sleep is because we're inside in the nature we've created, we've created this environment, artificial, not just, yeah, it's blue light. Again, telling our bodies, it's noon

all day. And so the blue light destroys everything. It, it just, it just, you know, it's, it destroys everything. It is such a killer. But at the very least, it pulls up my blue light glasses. Yeah, that's why I have mine on. I'm surprised that I'm just learning all of this right now. It's a 38-year-old woman. But I didn't learn it until then either. I'm a little worried about myself if I'm being completely honest. I'm a fake doctor. Tell me. Yeah. Prescribe me something. I go to bed late. I wake up whenever I want. I drink a lot of wine. I don't really like water.

I have a sauna so I feel like I'm being really healthy. Like I'm just, I need to get in some sort of, and maybe knowledge is power where I need to learn more and listen to more podcasts. You need to get in the Heel Squad. I need to, yes. Because here's the thing. Just listening and being a part of it, you're going to learn things that are going to connect. Yeah. And then you're going to implement.

Connect and implement little by little, not overwhelming. Little by little, you'll start to put things into place. you'll start to learn stuff that you never knew because that's what I'm doing every single day and you're clearly not surrounded you actually are sorry most people clearly aren't surrounded by people who are on that path

so unless you're hanging out with people who are on that path you're not going to do that you're going to do whatever they are that's why they say you are the sum of the ten people you hang out with and so it usually takes a crisis for you to start paying attention but you're at the perfect age to really need to start paying attention because if you haven't been hit with an autoimmune condition yet, it's probably coming. Not to scare you, but one in two women and one and three men get cancer now.

Oh, that just made my heart drop in my butt hole. I might have flipped it. It's either one, but it doesn't matter. It's 50% almost for either, right? So what you have to start doing, and everyone listening has to start doing, is not be afraid. It's just start being preventative. Start making incremental better choices so that you can prevent. prevent what could come because with everything we've exposed our bodies to, whether it's blue light, vaccine stuff, whatever. I mean, it's a whole other thing. We almost have to pitch a perfect game, so at least we have to start making a better game. Do you go to the doctor? Always. Do you go, you get your annual physical and all the other stuff? I do the, I know. Yes, what's mammograms. I get

blood work done a lot to see what my panels are at. Okay. And everything's been good. Great. Well, you're living a happy life. So then you're, but I'm not rolling. So you're, so you're saying now set yourself self up for success. So the fact that you're doing so well means you're so like, so when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, thank you COVID vaccines. Um, no. Anyway, uh, I got pancreas cancer after that too and I got a couple other precancerous conditions. Thank you. Anyway. Um, oh my God. Yeah. So. Oh my gosh. I was like, I was a vibrant, healthy person. What the hell? But anyway, someone said that when you get diabetes, you've lost the sweetness for life.

And I was like, oh, my God, I kind of have. I was in such a, like, just such a busy mode. You know, if you're going to bed when you want, waking up when you're having your wine, you're clearly living life. You're living like you're living in Europe. I love it. Can we have some more water, especially if you're in the sauna sweating out? You need to make sure you're hydrated.

I'm so bad at hydrating. I've tried to get better, but I am, I don't like water. gag. My dad hates water too. I don't get it. I wish I was the other way. Like I really do force myself to drink a lot of water like everyone talks about. You just need to make sure you're getting in the morning. Your first thing should be water. How do you feel about electrolytes? They're great. Elements. I use those. Are you a Zen like calm person? I'm better than I ever was. Okay. Because you're taking all the right steps for your mental well-being, your physical well-being. You're starting to do your research. You've got this podcast. You get to have doctors on

and kind of like fill yourself with knowledge on how to live a healthier life. And you really do notice the benefits. How long have you and your husband been together? I'm 45 turning 46. I met him when I was turning 19. Is that just equal a really long time? I love it. Wait, that's so sweet.

And what made you want to, did you always want to have a baby? I think like early, early in life I thought I was in get married and have kids. And then that went away fast. Because that was just kind of what I've seen. Yeah, of course. We're conditioned to think that that's what is next. And then I met Kevin and my career took off and we were so busy. And then we were like, okay, we're going to be Curt and Goldie.

We're never getting married. Yeah. We're buried in our hearts. But then my mom got sick and then I ended up getting married and it was amazing. Yeah. And we were trying for almost 10 years to have a baby, wasn't working, did the IVF. And then finally we had Athena. Wow.

Oh, she's a little angel. He is. Wow. And is it just changed your whole world? What was that like learning that you had stage two pancreatic cancer? I was terrified. That must be, it's one of those moments I feel like you absolutely black out and then what did you, what mode did you go into? I know people like flight or freeze or whatever your process is.

What did you do? I was in pain. Oh, I went to Prunovo. Yes. And I, they found it, but he hadn't even found it. So he was so focused on the brain tumor because when I got out of the scan, I said, hey, I just want to give you a heads up. I don't want you to freak on think you have to give me brain tumor news. I have a brain tumor in there. There's still left from surgery that he couldn't get. And so he's going down the scan, he's talking about the brain tumor or whatever, give me all this information. And as he's going down the body, have you done this yet? No, and I've actually, I'm talking to them right now about doing it next time I'm in New York. Okay. They have one here. I didn't have time. Oh, you don't live here? No.

I live in Nashville and they don't have one there. You live in Nashville? I love Nashville. I do too. Okay, so they're going through your head, down, down, down, down, down. We're getting there. They go, oh, am I going to get off free? Oh, my God, this is amazing.

And they goes, oh, what's that? So, like, the radiologist is going through the report with you, but he had already done the report and not seen it. And he's like, wait, and he's going through these images. And I'm like, what the f***? And he's like, yeah, this is a large mass on your pancreas. And he's like, and the mass persists in every shot, which means it's a full on mass. You need to go to the hospital right away. That is alarming.

And I think my eyes kind of watered a little. And he was white as a ghost, and he was like really, really nervous. And my first thing was I texted my doctor and I said, I need to get in right away. And then after that, I started comforting him. I'm like, listen, weird chits happened to me. I'm good. I'll be good. Don't worry.

I'm like, thank you. So I was comforting him because he was like freaked out. And then we got in the car. And it's just like Tyson just knocked you out. Yeah. Like we got in the car and my husband's driving and we're just WTF like the whole way. We're like, how, how, how, how. Right.

You get that one. I got an MRI at UCLA. They confirmed it. And it was me, my doctor, and Kevin in an empty office in the middle of the night, just all bawling in the hallway. And because my doctor, I met him and we discovered the brain tumor. And so now he's gone through that with me. He's gone through my mom's cancer. This one's like about to cry over here.

So my best friend's in the room. We both broke the news that we had cancer to each other at the same time. Neither of us knew we had cancer. And we got on the phone. She's like, can we talk tonight? I'm like, yeah. And she's like, can we talk? And I go, yeah, I have something I need to share too.

And she calls up. She's like, so I have breast cancer. And so I let her, like, say everything. We've been best friends since we were 13. And so she gives me her news. And then I wait. And then I go, well, not to trump you, but I got pancreas cancer. And I might not be around much longer.

And the two of us were like. Oh, my God. That is. Yeah, it was a crazy call. Whoa. So. And are you now a breast cancer survivor? What are you in?

Wow. Look, our hair. all grown back. Wow. She's doing great. Thank God. You guys. And like I always hate that life has to knock you down so hard to like bring people closer

together to make you live life with a different perspective. But like now are you on this health journey too? She is. Trying. She drinks coffee like me in the morning. Yeah. Yeah, but you changed your whole diet without me, without me pushing anything. You changed so much.

Wow. So yeah. So when they told me then my doctor was. pushing for a biopsy. And they were like, no, this is just inflammation or pancreatitis. And as I'm going in for the biopsy, the head doctor is like, this is just pancreatitis, but this guy keeps pushing me, my primary. And so we came on. He goes, oh, yeah, this isn't great. And so I remember leaving there being like, what the, I mean, we cried the first two days. I was in the fetal position. And I always tell the story of like, I remember looking at the mantle above my fireplace where I have all my church icons and I pray every night.

And I was like, God, how could you finally bless me with a baby? We were six months pregnant at that point, I think. You're kidding. How could you finally bless me with a baby? And I might not be here to meet her? Like, this is insane. I kept saying, this doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense.

And then finally, as I'm looking up, I'm like, wait, maybe this doesn't make sense. maybe I'm jumping the gun on the result. Why am I thinking the worst when I have no idea what's going to happen? So there was a hypnotherapist that I've worked with who told me, choose wonder over worry. So I started implementing it and I was like, I wonder what it's going to be like when the doctor calls me with good news. And he did.

I wonder what it's going to be like when I get through surgery and I get through it fast and easy and successfully and whatever. I wonder, wonder, wonder. And that kind of got me out of the depths of like terror. Doomsday. And then I just started living life as normal. So I went to this event at Anastasia's with Oprah. It was for her birthday and like 20 of like the top female celebrities.

And I'm coaching everyone on health on the side. I'm like, they have no idea. I might be dead soon. Oh my God. This is so crazy. But I didn't know. But I was like, okay, well, we're just going to deal with whatever we do with. Well, that is I feel like the brain is so powerful too, like just what it can get you through and what you can convince yourself and how, you know, the body is just incredible in so many ways.

but the brain, too, to work with the body, to just talk yourself through it with a different perspective. That is so, so what was the recovery like for you? Like, what did, so you had to obviously go through surgery and everything. It was crazy. It was intense because I also had a huge fibroid. And so. Of course you did.

They took the tail of my pancreas, my spleen, 17 lymph nodes, and a fibroid that was so large that I have a C-section scar and I didn't even have a baby. You are like a little walking miracle. Wow. So, yeah. I don't even, like sometimes I'm not usually at a loss for words, but like I am such an anxious person and I can't handle bad things. Like if that was happening to me, I wonder if it would change like how I approach life or I don't know. I just picture myself not dealing with it well and going I give up. I'm going to lay in bed. I'm going to be depressed and I'm not, I'm never going to get through this.

Yeah, you think that, but then something kicks in. I'm just so inspired by you as a human being, just everything you've been through and that you're taking charge of your health and wellness, especially for you. But for your daughter, too, you know, that's probably the most, that is probably the most important thing that's ever happened to in your whole life is Athena. I'm raising her to know what her circadian clock is. Yeah. Know about the sun and the power of the sun and knowing about grounding and how you. you can do such simple things that are free and heal yourself because I've healed myself so much at this point.

No kidding. So what would be like your top three things that you would say to people for, you know, starting to, because people get overwhelmed by big changes and changing their lifestyle and people are very set in their ways. But what are three easy things that people can do that you're like, this will change your life? Oh, I'll go back to what my naturopath taught me two years ago when I started on this journey, on this, like, last leg of this journey. Never miss a sunrise.

Always get that sunrise sun and get as much sun throughout your day if you want to do the homework and do it without sunscreen. That's what I'm doing. Wait, what? You're not doing sunscreen? I haven't in two years.

And my skin has never looked better. I have not one brown spot on my skin and they were covered. I was covered in brown spots. Do you know where the brown spots come from? Artificial light. Oh, damn it. Turn them off.

Turn them off. I have so, I actually have melasma so bad, but I've gotten stuff done for it. But wait, I have so, okay, I'm cutting you off. Do you want my tips? You want to go back to it? Okay. Never miss a sunrise. Get as much sun throughout your day as you can. Okay. Let your body and your eyes without sunglasses, without contacts. Get that sun in there so you know what time it is. Okay. So if you work in an office, keep going outside as if you were a smoker. Take your smoke break. That's your sunbreak. Go out, get the light. Make sure your body knows what time it is. Eat before sunset. I know it's hard, but people are starting to get on the train finally. Yeah. And geriatric dinners are my favorite. Early bird special?

Yes. So if you eat before sunset, your body, first of all, your body needs that because it needs to time to digest before you go to bed. We're digesting in the middle of the night. Like our body's laying down. You can't digest like that. Yeah. So sunrise, sunset, eat before sunset, get as much sun throughout the day, if you're going to be indoors with artificial light, you need blue light glasses.

Okay. And then if you're going to use blue light after sunset, you need 100% blue blocking glasses, which are red. You're going to look like Satan, but it's okay. You're going to be healthy. and then ground into nature where the only primates that have sweat glands that are hands and feet. So when you're at sunrise, put your hands and feet on the ground and stare into that sun. You get negative electrons into your body. And what illness is in your body is positive electrons. Those negative electrons go in and they neutralize. That's how you heal. Holy shit.

So that's what I would do. That's powerful. You don't even need to change your diet. And please don't have coffee before food. Okay. I'll really work on that one. It's literally the first thing that goes into my body. I will work on that. Your endocrine system hates you. Just so you know. I'm, I wish I was more of a early morning person, but I really need to go back to the sunscreen conversation. Okay. So because it's like the number one, like if you don't wear sunscreen, you get skin cancer. So how do you prevent skin cancer if you're in the sun all the time without sunscreen? So it's really scary when you've been trained and taught a certain thing.

Yeah. And I was, but I was so desperate to get better that I took a leap of faith with this doctor. Her name is Dr. Allison Monette. She's my naturopath. She's been on my show many times. She showed me so much research that actually says the contrary. We're actually getting sicker and sicker and sicker because we're staying away from the sun. We're putting all this toxic sunscreen on our bodies that's going inside.

Our skin is our largest organ. When you want to change your sex. you wear patches with estrogen or depending on whatever. That's how you change your sex. Yeah, yeah. Right? They put patches on you because it goes in. Or like, don't you do nicotine patches to quit smoking?

Your skin means something. So you can go do the research to feel better because I know it's scary. Yeah. But if you get the sunrise sun, your skin, you got to look at it like your solar panel for your body. If you get that sunrise sun and you build your solar callus over. time, you should be able to go out in the sun without sunscreen and not burn. So my doctor and her husband are very pale. They build their solar calluses so intensely that when they go to El Salvador in the middle of winter, they bake all day and they only tan. Never burn. But you have to do it right and you

have to do your research. And you have to do, I always say, you have to do what feels right for you. Yeah. Because if you're scared of something, then you shouldn't be doing it. I'm scared of wrinkles. I'm not at this point But you know what There's actually research that says that's a lie too What? What is? Botox? What's a lie? Nope, that's there's research that Dr. Jack Cruz has On his blogs or whatever I read

That says it actually does not age you Go read it yourself What doesn't age you? Son Huh Okay, so what is I thought after two years of doing this I was going to look like an old hat

Now I'm not going to lie I still do Botox I've been doing Botox. Okay. That makes you feel better because same. But it doesn't matter. I would think that I would literally look so bad. Now, I am very, very tired right now, so I'm not at my best.

But I feel like I've reversed aged. Wow. Being in the sun. And I love being in the sun. And I do. I try to avoid it. Dr. Cruz, as I've interviewed him, said that 70 to 80 percent of these diseases we're dealing with, not genetic stuff, but like the autoimmune stuff, whatever, all is because

we've gone away from the light. Yeah. Everything traces back to light. Our bodies run on light and dark cycles. So at night, I moon gaze and I night gaze so that my body knows it's night. Also resets your hormones. Oh, and I need a good old reset for the hormones. I am whack. I'm all out of whack all the time. Well, because your circadian clock is off. Your hormones are off. And now we figured out you did have a glitch somewhere. I'm like my whole life is going to change after this podcast. Whoa. Yeah. Like seriously, I tell people I'm not like out there trying to be the biggest podcast in the world.

I hate even like sounding like I'm advertising it. I literally tell people subscribe and listen to the show as your accountability partner on this journey to being better and living healthier and overall just making better choices. Right. That's it because I'm curating really great people. I always say I might make a mistake here or there. I'm sure there's going to be somebody down the line we're going to find out. whatever. I mean, I think you can't live life without finding out something like that at some point. But I really work hard to bring in the best people that are going to open up our minds

to new modalities, new ways of thinking, and who are doing all of the work that we don't have the time to do. What is your thoughts on, like, psychedelics and people doing, like, mushrooms for their wellness and ketamine? Is that something that you believe in? I think people can do whatever they feel is right. And if you have a breakthrough, that's great. I'm terrified of drugs. Yeah.

I literally have been asked so many times. I'm like, no. Like, I can't say no more. Yeah. I will never do it. I can't. It scares the hell out of me. Yeah.

But I don't think it's bad. I think there are returning soldiers and vets that have had incredible results with ketamine and all of this. It's amazing for people. It's not right for me. That's why I always say you have to check in with your body. And you, only you know what's right for you and what you can tolerate and what works for you. So you just have to make those decisions. It's not one size fits all.

Like the foods we eat, I'm starting to get concerned because, first of all, Nashville doesn't have like as fresh produce as California and certain things. Like, it's getting sprayed with so many things and pesticides and whatever. And I just feel like there's nothing now that we can do that I feel like I'm just doomed and damned if I do and damned if I don't in the food world now, too. with trying to be healthy. Yeah, it's really hard. I mean, look, like, all of our fish is farm raised now. Yeah, yeah. It's so hard to find wild caught salmon.

It is getting harder and harder. But I think that we do the best that we can with what we have. Yeah. And we make the best choices that we can. Yeah. And that's it. Like, so now I've, and I've done this over time. So, like, the skin thing and the makeup thing seems so daunting to me and so overwhelming.

Whenever I heard someone, they're like, oh, my God, I'm all clean. I'm like, No. Right. It's so freaking hard. And then you have to test so many things. And so just do it little by little like everything else, baby steps. And then it's not overwhelming. But Dr. Jack Cruz, who we had on our show, he said, if you did nothing but the sun, like you don't need to. He lost like 100 pounds just doing the sun. What? Yeah, because the sun regulates everything. It does everything in our bodies. The skinny confidential is where we're writing books called Stay the F out of the Sun and putting gloves on while she drives and like, Yeah. Crazy. Huh. Yeah. I just, I have such a hard time getting out of bed for a sunrise, but I really do want to try. So you're going to have to start now going to bed a little earlier. Yeah. And a little earlier and a little earlier. And then start doing sunrise. Okay. So if you can start moving your, because then you'll get more sleep. Yeah. And so, and what you can start to do is make sure you get that night gazing in. Get, get, get, go throughout the day, get your sun unfiltered. I have a, I have a, a sunglasses collection that will never see the light a day again. I never wear sunglasses. And so start getting sun in your retinas throughout the day. Keep telling your body what time

it is. Push your nighttime schedule back a little. Keep moon gazing and night gazing so your body knows the time it is. And then like after five days of that, then start to do your sunrise. Okay. Because you will have gotten a little sleep under your belt. Don't go out for these couple of nights. You're going to do it. Get your early dinner in. Do your geriatric dinner. I love that. Geriatric dinner. Yes. and then start to do it. It'll be a little easier. Okay.

I really am going to commit to trying this because I'm so curious. And I can't wait to listen to your podcast now because I'm so fascinated. So I got the three tips of things you should do. What are top three things to avoid? Of course, blue light. Blue light. Okay. What else do you think?

Blue light, especially after sunset. Okay. And that means all light in your house. So I don't use lights in my house. I was just going to ask, what's your relationship with technology and devices? I hate it. I hate it. We don't watch TV anymore. It's so funny. My husband and I started podcasting, like in the very beginning of podcasting. It was just us and Adam Carolla. So we started a network called AfterBuzz TV where we produced after shows for every single

TV show. And all we did was watch TV. We would hole up in our screening room an entire weekend. And I didn't really love it. I was going against my nature because I love being outside in nature. and my husband likes being in a screening room. Yeah. And little by little, because I stopped watching TV, he stopped watching TV. We just watched this documentary film, whatever, called Baby Reindeer this weekend. Did you see it? I've been talking about it all weekend.

Oh, my God. The last 20 minutes I missed because I'd go feed Athena. But that was the first thing we've watched in a really long time. Yeah. We might get a little 90-day fiancé and we are obsessed. Fair. But we don't watch TV anymore and definitely not at night. and my phone has like I've changed my setting so it's like red yeah I can't tell only anybody else can tell because I'm so used to it now I use my blue light glasses what do you do at night she sees I don't in my kitchen I have one little because especially if a light is over your head it suggests that that's the sun so I just have a little light in my kitchen so we can see and not you know smash into each other I really am like crazy

Like, so you just lay there and try and fall asleep? At night? Yeah. Oh, there's no trying. I'm going to bed because I wake up at sunrise. I'm exhausted. And you probably do fall asleep quicker because you're not distracted. You're not the blue lights.

Yeah. What time do you go to bed? So I've been off schedule lately because we've been dealing with so much. But normally I feed Athena. I bathe her, put her down by eight, and then I'm in bed. By 8.15. Lights out. I want to be you.

I do. I do. Minus a lot of stuff. Well, yeah, but you're so, like, you're obviously strong. You can get through anything. You care about your health. You now have this bigger purpose in life, your daughter. Like, you just, you're learning the hard way through something, sure. But like, you're motivated and you're, you know you're strong and you know the power of your mind. Thanks. Yeah. I love learning. Thank God. I can tell. I'm super curious. And I love getting better. And I love sharing. So, it makes sense that all of this had to happen so that I could get through it. I always like even when I was going through toxic work environments and stuff, I'm like, I'm going to figure a way out of this. I'm going to help other people figure it out. My gosh. Okay. So your website, your podcast, is there anything else that people should know? No, I think come join us on the on the healing journey. I'm there. Hale Squad. We're on everywhere, YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify. I'm excited. Yeah. For people who are on specific health. Like if you're listening, you have an autoimmune condition, or you have cancer, or you have a friend who is cancer, or whatever it is, what we did with Heelsquod.com is we created these healing journeys. So they're in categories. So you can easily find the episodes that are correlated to whatever it is you need right now. So and we're just creating one, I don't know when it's going to be done for just this naturopathic, like foundational stuff. So it'll be all of Dr. Monette's episodes and all of Dr. Dr. Cruz's episodes.

So if you want the shortcut to skin cancer and why it happens and all of that and sunrises, sunsets, all of that, you'll be able to get it in there easily. Do you not like AirPods? Never, ever wear them again. When I say everyone here really needs to think twice. My girlfriend has heard her dad had glioblastoma and died and my mom. Your mom did? She had glioblastoma?

Yeah, we both found out we had brain tumors within. a few months of each other. Mine was benign. Hers was cancerous. Yeah. Yeah. Gosh, I'm so sorry. So your friend needs to not use them. No, she doesn't. She refuses. Yeah. And she doesn't even like being on her phone anymore. Like speaker. That's it.

Okay. Okay. That's it. No, no, no. And you can use the like little headphones, but anything wireless, you're microwaving your brain. It's just going. I've never thought of it like that, but yeah, that makes sense. And if you're wearing hoops, oh my gosh. it's intense. The gold hoops, yes.

I steal them from my friends and I throw them in the trash. If they have them in their ears, I rip them out. No, no, the earpots. But hoops, if you're on your phone with your hoops, Dr. Cruz talked about like... I was a speaker talker, but I do wear headphones for my laptop. Yeah, he talked about how bad it is to wear... It's like a semiconductor or something.

I don't know. It's super bad. Oh my gosh. Okay, I'm changing my whole life. Thank you so much for changing my whole life. Let's do it again. It's so important to like learn this stuff, too. because I bet one day you're going to go, I told you.

No, I don't want to ever do that. I want you to find your way to everything and everything be healthy and happy. And what we did today is going to prevent so much. I am definitely empowered. Thank you. And I can't wait to listen to your podcast. Thank you. And I feel like that's.

So why don't we do this? But not through AirPods. Why don't we have you guys go on the journey? Yes. And then you'll talk about the changes you've made on my show. Sold. Perfect. And that actually motivates me to do it because I'm like,

Anything I put my mind to, I will do it to the best of my ability. I love it. I'm the same way. Okay. Oh, I love it. Okay, everybody, hold us accountable. You guys try it at home, too. Yeah.

Okay. There you go. You guys go on the journey and then you come tell me the results. I'm Caitlin Bristow. I'll see you next Tuesday. See your next Tuesday. I don't know.