Realfoodology - 68: Why Mindset Matters with Lindsey Heppner

Episode Date: December 1, 2021

Lindsey Heppner was diagnosed with lyme disease a few years back and changed her lifestyle completely (food, toxic people, exercise, mindset) and today she can proudly say she's cured. What stood out to me the most about this interview was how she talked about her mindset through all of this and it’s ultimately what saved her. Lindsey is a digital multi-entrepreneur, CEO, and founder of one of the most recognizable influencer agencies, VAMPPED, and the podcast REVAMPPED. Show Links: https://www.vampped.com/ https://www.instagram.com/vampped/ https://www.instagram.com/linzheppner/

Before we get into this conversation, I just want to make a note that this episode has sensitive subject matter regarding suicide. So listener discretion is advised. And if you ever need help or just need someone to talk to, please call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255. Or you can visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org. On today's episode of the Real Foodology Podcast. I have learned that one of the biggest things that helped me cure Lyme was to be away from toxic people. Because your body reacts to energy. And when you have it around a lot of bad energy, it magnifies whatever illness you are dealing with. So once I alleviated myself from a lot of people, my illness was

curing itself. Hello, hello. You are listening to the Real Foodology podcast. I'm your host, Courtney Swan. Real Foodology is a brand that I started 10 years ago in my very small apartment when I was living in Austin. And the reason I named it Real Foodology was because at the time I was studying nutrition. I was really starting to understand the importance of real food and what it meant for our bodies, for our cells. I was also heavily immersed in my master's program, studying biochemistry, biology, and really diving into the body and the mechanisms behind it and really understanding what it meant to be truly healthy. And a part of that means eating real food. And so I thought real foodology, that means the science of real food. So that's how the name Real Foodology was born. And so I thought real foodology, that means the science of real food. So that's how the name Real Foodology was born. And I am very proud of it to this day. I love it

because I really haven't changed my message really at all. It really just comes down to eating real food. We need to stop eating ultra processed garbage and get back to eating real food. So now that I just went off on that whole tangent about the importance of food, let's go into an episode talking all about the importance of our mindsets. So I love when interviews surprise me like this. I went into this interview thinking that we were really going to talk about the diet changes that she made and the healthier lifestyle changes that she made. And we did. However, we really talked mostly about the mindset shifts that Lindsay Heppner made when she was diagnosed with Lyme disease.

The way that she talked about Lyme and the symptoms that she was dealing with, I've never really heard anyone describe this before. I do know that Lyme is considered what many people call a silent disease. People, they really suffer in silence with it because it's not like something that you can physically see on someone. It really is just a lot of symptoms that many times go undiagnosed also because it's really hard to diagnose Lyme disease. And many doctors don't really know to look for it, to test for it. And they're starting to wake up. Many more doctors are starting to realize that we have a lot more Lyme cases than we realized, and they're starting to test more for it, but it really is tough. And you have to pay a lot of money for a pretty expensive test in order to truly determine whether or not you have Lyme.

So oftentimes it goes undiagnosed. People suffer with so many symptoms that they don't understand truly what's going on. And then you get slapped with this Lyme disease diagnosis. Lyme disease is a really tricky one. Outside of being hard to diagnose, it's something that a lot of doctors still don't really understand. And it's pretty much generally recognized that once you have it, you live with it for life. Like it's considered to be a chronic disease that's something and something that people kind of struggle with for the rest of their lives. However, more and more people are starting to come out with various protocols and things that they have done that has eradicated the Lyme disease, or at least has completely mitigated their symptoms. And

these people are now living symptom free. If you have been listening to the podcast for a while, you've probably heard the episode that I had with my friend Holly Owens recently. And this is part of her story. She suffered for, I believe it was four years, until now. I mean, she really doesn't feel or have any of the symptoms anymore. So she considers herself cured of it. Even though if you look at the standard medical, uh, lens of Lyme disease, they will tell you that it is uncurable, but there are more and more people that are coming out saying that they're doing various things that it's helping them eradicate all these symptoms. And Lindsay is one of these people. Lindsay Heppner is the CEO and

founder of one of the most recognizable influencer agencies. It's called vamped. And she was diagnosed with Lyme disease a few years ago and completely changed her lifestyle food. She eradicated toxic people from her life. She changed her exercise and most importantly, her mindset. And now today she can proudly say that she's cured. She says that she's cured of it. And what stood out the most for me in this conversation was how she talked about her mindset through all of this. And it truly is what ultimately saved her. I think this conversation that we had today, at least in my eyes is so important and it's not being had enough. Thankfully, more and more, we hear about mental health and we're focusing more on mental health

and we're talking about the importance of it, but I still believe that we're not talking about it enough. And she goes into how she truly believes that changing her mindset is what saved her. It was really powerful. And it's such a great reminder to all of us that our thoughts really matter. They really have power. All right. I'm going to stop talking. I just have one favor to ask of you. If you are listening to this podcast and you are enjoying it, if you could leave a five-star rating and review, it would mean so much to me. It really helps this podcast and it helps these episodes get into more ears and it means so much to me. Thank you so much for your support and I hope you enjoy the episode. Imagine having a metabolic coach in your pocket that you

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Um, well, we actually were doing a shoot in Nashville and I'm, I'm really thankful. I have some really amazing people around me that know my heart and know the kind of person I am. And so, you know, it's really good to know that when people around me, they want to protect at all times. And I'm very much like that. So when we were in Nashville, we were shooting. And one of my creatives was like, Hey, like, let's all be mindful. There's ticks here. Because we were like sitting, we were like laying and shooting in high grass. And so for me, at that time, I didn't really know anything about Lyme, except for the fact that my best friend had it. And I couldn't relate to her because you can't really relate to someone who has an invisible illness, you know, like, there's no sign of seeing what they're going through. It's not like their limb was cut off, you know, so they look normal to you. So it's really hard to really articulate like what you're going through day to day in that process. So

when we were in Nashville, I was told, you know, like, Hey, just watch out. And so this, I think it was like the third day we were there. I, I know my body, like, like if there's a new freckle, I know about it, you know? So when I looked down, yeah. So when I looked down and I was, I just took a shower. I noticed there was a bump on my stomach and it didn't look normal. It just didn't. It was, it was like black. And I was like was like what is this so I was asking everyone we were with like six people and I was like hey guys what is this and comes to find out it was the uh the tick and the tick the one that ruined it all yeah and so you know coming from like a background of not understanding what you do next like I was just twee it. I was like trying to pull it out, everything and just kind of panicking because, you know, I know Lyme

exists, but like everyone, everyone there was laughing at me going, you're not going to get Lyme. It's so hard to get Lyme, you know? And I was like, I don't know, like, we'll see. So when I got home, it was exactly 10 days later. Like I was researching it and everything. And my symptoms just started happening. And I knew, I was like, I have full blown Lyme. Like I know I do. And everyone was like, no, you don't.

And I went to four different doctors. They all told me no. And that's the thing that happens is like you get misdiagnosed because you can't really check it from like a normal blood test you have to actually go and get a specific blood test for Lyme and a lot of people don't know that and they go home and they have um which a lot of my friends have happened they go get depression pills because since it's an invisible illness, uh, doctors prescribe you with mental health. They prescribe you with depression. And they say that they don't see anything on their lab work. So they're like, it's all in your head.

You're depressed, you're anxious, whatever it is, instead of really diving deeper. Yep. And so I went to actually a homeopath and he told me I had Borella, which is the real term for Lyme. And I didn't trust him yet. Um, because I just went to him. I knew, I knew about him. I knew he was great, but I was just like, okay, I'm going to go spend four grand on this test that tells you exactly if you have Lyme. And I went and I had it 100%. And I started crying. And I went back to that homeopath.

And I said, I'm not doing anything without you. I am fully trusting you. And you are going to lead me on this journey of what I'm going to do next. Um, sorry. No, it's okay. It's a very emotional thing that you went through. Um, the moment I had Lyme, it was about two weeks before that my best friend wanted to commit suicide over Lyme. Oh, man. I'm so sorry. And I know that I know 100% that God told me I needed it I needed it too to save her because out of both of us I'm the stronger one and I knew that I had to get Lyme

I really feel this in my heart that I that God made me have Lyme to protect her because no one understood her. Her family didn't understand her, her friends, nothing. And the only way that I could help her was to be in her position. Yeah. Um, and I was so scared because I saw how much she went down this rabbit hole of losing her mind. And I was afraid that I was going to go the same direction, you know, and no one really understands the trauma that comes with Lyme. I mean, you basically, I try to explain it as like, imagine having Jeffrey Dahmer in your fucking head every day. It's horrifying. I mean, Lyme, Lyme cripples you in so many ways that it makes you depressed. It makes you suicidal. It makes you tired. It makes you not want to see anyone. Like every day is ruined by it. Like I had to wake up every day and really force myself to do something. Like I had to force

myself to go to the gym. I had to force myself to work like all these things. And my business is based on my creativity and my mind. And, and, and when you take that away from me, like you're literally taking away my entire wellbeing, you know? So it was detrimental to a lot of things more than just my health. I mean, when someone is suffering with something that debilitating, it bleeds into every area of your life. You know, I mean, this is what I, I talk about this a lot on my Instagram and my podcast. It's like, you never realize how important your health is until you lose it. And then you realize that that's the only thing that ever mattered. Yeah. And moving forward, I mean, just fast forward to now, I won't do anything.

If it, if it ruins my health at any level, like nothing money can't buy or any of these things. Like it's not worth it for me. I will never do it. After having that type of situation, you think differently about things that you put yourself through. Even stress and just anxiety and being around certain people, I mean, I have learned that one of the biggest things that helped me cure Lyme was to be away from toxic people because your body reacts to energy. And when you have it around a lot of bad energy, it magnifies whatever illness you are dealing with. So once I alleviated myself from a lot of people, my illness was curing itself. That's amazing.

Well, it also goes to show, too, that you become the person that you – like the people that you hang out with, you know? And so you're surrounding yourself with people that you, uh, maybe don't, you're not super in line with their like morals or you see them, you know, acting very toxic in ways like it's going to affect you as well. Totally. Yeah. I, yeah, I'm, I think the best visual of that is when you walk into a room and you see someone you don't like and you automatically have that feeling of like anxiety anticipation like worry and all that stuff that all is your body telling you and alerting you watch out be, be careful, we're cautioning you. Just imagine how much energy that takes on your body. Now, add a disease to your body. Your body's trying to fight off your disease, but instead it's trying to fight off this alarm system of people, like, you know what I mean this fight or flight so if your body's only focusing on that it's not focusing on what it needs to focus on which is healing you and so

it really is so important to have the right people around you especially when you're going going through a time that's just so unbearable, you know? And I think also too, like people who are in hospitals and don't have a lot of loved ones around them, you know, end up usually not getting through it because of their depression or they're unhappy or, you know, your internal body the way people make you feel is either going to heal you or ruin you and I've learned more than anything throughout this whole experience and I'm super thankful for it like I don't wish Lyme on anyone um But it's made me realize that people are the most important thing in my life. And I only want to be around people that deserve my love, you know, and so it really has been a blessing and a curse to have that disease. But I think it's opened up a lot of things for me in awareness about my health and the people I want around me.

I've never really heard anyone talk about the mental health aspect of being diagnosed with Lyme. I, you know, I hear about all the symptoms and how people really struggle with it. And I know it's a struggle even getting diagnosed. So I can only imagine the mental health struggles that come along with it. And I know it's a struggle even getting diagnosed. So I can only imagine the mental health struggles that come along with it, but I'm so, yeah, like I'm really interested. So what were some of your symptoms around all of this? Um, especially like, how did it affect your, affect your mental health? I just, I feel like this is not a conversation that's had a lot, especially in the health space. Like we kind of, we focus so much on diet and exercise, but there's not, they're starting to be diet and exercise, but there's not, there's starting

to be, but I feel like there's not enough conversation around the mental health aspect of this and how much it really does affect our bodies and our health. Like you said, I mean, there's literally studies that have come out showing that people that are going through cancer and cancer treatments, the ones that actually make it through and survive, like the higher percentage are the ones that are surrounded by loved ones. They have a healthy, positive attitude about it. Like they, they feel strong in their bodies and they're able to overcome it. There really is something to be said about this connection with mental health. Yeah. And, and I think that was really what was hard for me to articulate when I first had it, because I didn't think anyone was going to

actually believe me that it was my mindset. It wasn't what I was eating every day or the pills I was taking. It was more like, how could I be healthy up here? Because this destroys you or it builds you. And I've always been a very, very positive person. And I love challenges. When people say no to me, I'm like, oh, thank you. Thank you for saying no. Because I am going to show you how much you are in the wrong for saying that. You know what I mean?

Like, it doesn't affect me at all. It actually makes me smile. Because I'm like, more no's means more yeses later for me. So when it came to, to, you know, being diagnosed with a chronic disease, um, you know, the panic obviously sat, sat for me with us like for a second, but ultimately I was like, Linz, this is your new challenge. You know, like how strong mentally are you? And I would wake up every day and being like no you are not controlling me today I'm controlling me and I would go and go to yoga and cry the whole time

because what was happening is my body was feeling like it was 60 years old so like your muscles turn in it feels like you know when you do like if you can do like 30 push-ups it feels like I did a hundred and I haven't even done one yet so my body felt so heavy and so when I would go to yoga my my teacher would actually say this and attest to it because he would look at me and just understand me because he knew I was going through Lyme but I would be crying the whole time because physically my body didn't want to work out and I went anyways and I was like no you're not controlling me and I never told myself that I was going to be a Lyme survivor I told myself I don't have Lyme. I kept telling myself every day, I don't have Lyme. This is not going to be who I am. And I think when you tell yourself stuff, certain things, your body listens.

You know what I mean? So I always told myself, you're not going to have this chronically. You're going to get rid of this. You're going to do it and it's going to be okay. And you're going to have this chronically. You're going to get rid of this. You're going to do it and it's going to be okay. And you're going to power through it. And I only had Lyme for 11 months. I beat it. Most people have it for the rest of their lives. And I, every single day I focused on my mental strength. You know, I, I was like, how can I be more powerful here? It has nothing to do to me with dieting and all that stuff. It has everything to do with what am I saying to myself up here? Am I telling myself I'm going to have this forever forever? Or am I going to say, no, I'm not going to have this forever. You know? Um, this is really exciting. Organifi

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episode. Yes. Oh my God. I, this is so incredible. I'm so happy that you're talking about this. I think that this is really important for people to hear because we discount so much the things that we tell ourselves become true for us. I mean, just sitting here and listening to you say that you only struggled with this for 11 months when one of my mom's best friends, um, she got Lyme when I was younger, when people, I mean, we really didn't know anything about Lyme back then. We think we don't know anything now. We really didn't back then. And she was on a course of antibiotics for, I think it was like 30 years, no joke. Like she just was, I mean, I think she's finally now like starting to kind of get

her life back a little bit, but she struggled with this for 30 years. Yes. Yep. And, and that's the thing too, is like they, I, I, I don't want to come on here and, you know, bash antibiotics, but I'm telling you right now that kills your gut. And number one thing about health is anything that kills your gut is going to go and have a free for all on attacking everything else. So when they prescribed me having antibiotics every week, I sat, I looked at them and I was like, there's no way you're doing that. I am going to go the homeopathic route. I am, you're not injecting me with antibiotics because I understand that just kills my body and my body needs to heal.

It doesn't need to be more depleted. So I didn't go that route. And you know, what bums me out the most is, you know, I've heard people say, oh, well, you didn't really have Lyme chronically. I'm telling you right now. Yes, I did. Like, if I didn't have Lyme chronically, I would have gotten rid of it in 10 days with, you know, whatever the doctors prescribed me. I had it for a year. And I knew that if I was going down the same route that everyone else took, I would 100% be chronic, like for years.

I know that. I have five friends who have Lyme. And I just chose the opposite path. And that's very much who I am. I am a black sheep on every level. Like if I see everyone going that way, I will definitely go that way. I was taught to go run the opposite way and to make my own decisions and make my own mind up. And I felt the same way about Lyme and like, I'm not going to, I see what's happening. I see everyone take this path and no one's getting

better. So what's, what is my, what's my option? Go the same way. And I see what's going to happen. Okay. I see that, that lane or try this. I might get over there still, but at least I'm trying something different, you know? So I chose a different path and it worked. And I do, I want to make a comment on what you were saying about antibiotics. It's, I mean, it's true.

What people don't realize is that our immune system lies in our gut. Everything, everything having to do with our health all begins and starts in our gut. And when we take antibiotics, we kill off everything, not only the bad guys, but the good guys. And we need the good guys for our immune system. So oftentimes it becomes counteractive because then you've killed off everything that you needed in order to fight this in the first place. We'll say though, for everyone listening, I'm not completely vilifying antibiotics. I'm not saying that there's not a time and place for it. And I'm not saying that we don't need them for certain times. I believe that we need it for certain times, but I also believe that we over-prescribe them. And there's a lot of other ways to do a lot of other things, uh, or there's other ways to treat things. And like you

realized with your Lyme, so what, so you didn't go the antibiotic route. What did you do? What really helped you outside of the mindset changes? I, and I want to stress on the antibiotics. It's, it's, it's almost like you have this beautiful home and then you flame torch it and go well I was only trying to get the couch out of here to flame torch not all my plants my whole fucking yard you know what I mean my closet the coffee table like everything went yeah that's how I look at antibiotics. It's like, I only wanted it for that specific thing, but you flame torch the whole house. And the, the, the, the moments that it does work is when you do want your whole house flame torched,

you know? Yes. So yes. When there's like life threatening bacteria that it's like, either the bacteria is going to take you out or like you're going to take out the whole house, you know, in that case we're taking the whole house out. Exactly. So I, I think like I'm, I'm a very visual person and I think that I love to like visually demonstrate how I think of things so people can have a better understanding of why my mind works the way it does. But, um, what was your question? I'm sorry. I was going on the flame torch vibe. I I'm so here for it. I loved it. Um, okay. So I asked, so outside of your mindset changes, which actually I do want to talk about those for a second as well, but I want to hear too, some of the other changes that you made, like diet, uh, maybe supplements that you took other changes that you made, like diet, maybe supplements that you took, other sort of –

like I have friends that when they had Lyme, they were doing like ozone therapy and saunas. And I kind of want to hear about all the stuff you were doing. Oh, I was – I had a laundry list and a graveyard of vitamins. I mean, I was taking so many vitamins that I had to take like three to four times a day that by the time I finished, I had to do it again. It was, it took that long. I didn't have anything else to do the whole day except for take vitamins. And it was, that was daunting. And that was so stressful because it took up my whole day just to pop pills and, and, and not pills, but like vitamins,

like yeah, actual supplements. And it got to a point, I think like halfway through like six months, my body was rejecting it. It was like, stop pumping us with this much vitamin. So I listened to my body. I was like, okay, I'm going to take a break. Like I'm not going to do it anymore. And I started doing really weird things. I would feng shui my house. Um, and the reason why I feng shui in my house, if anyone looks up feng shui energy actually happens in your home. So like, if like your bed is a certain way, you actually sleep better if it's correctly done. So those certain things really amplified my healing because of the fact that everything mattered, everything mattered. And I think that people are usually so concerned with what vitamins they take, what they eat, that they're not really understanding that environment is so important.

Like think about being in the middle of nowhere and like there's guns at you all day. You know what I mean? You're terrified, you're on edge, whatever. And then think about being in like a bed of flowers and there's nothing around you except for people feeding you grapes and like fanning you. So like those kinds of things are so important to your health. You know, like, are you going to always be like on edge or are you going to feel like you're floating? And so my environment was a really important thing. Like I got rid of things. I got rid of mirrors.

Mirrors were actually something that amplified it because not only is it such a physical thing like you know looking at yourself in the mirror and comparing yourself and feeling off or whatever but mirrors are windows to a lot of things and so I got rid of all my mirrors in my house every single one and it when you when do that, I'm telling you right now, if you have a lot of mirrors, when you get rid of every mirror, you automatically feel different. I kid you not. The energy feels like it just went away. I swear. It's so weird. It's so weird. Just try it. Take all the mirrors out of your house and you'll see the difference. So I did it. I just got rid of all of them. I hid them with the ones that I really liked.

I put towels over them and immediately the energy went away. So those little things, I mean, I'm a fucking weirdo. Like I think that's also. I'm here for it. Yeah. I mean, anyone who knows me. We all are. Yeah.

I'm very outside of the box about everything. I don't think linear. I think like, what else can things do for me? Um, but I really feel like when, when it comes to illness for me, it's more important about the energy that's being at my body than what I'm ingesting, I guess. So. I mean, like, like I said, I mean, there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of science and literature out there that shows that it really does make a difference. I mean, I will tell you, I, I mean, I haven't had any like debilitating chronic diseases, so I can't, I can't say that this helped me in that way, but I will say talking about the energetics of your house. Um, I have this funny thing where whenever I, whenever I go on vacation, so think about when

you like go on a trip or I used to travel for work. So like when I would travel for work, you are confined to whatever you brought in your suitcase. So by default, you're like living in minimalism for a bit, you know, whether it's a week or like when I would go travel for two months for work, whatever it was, every single time I come home, I have this thing where like the next day I have to like purge all this stuff in my apartment because suddenly I'm like, Oh my God, I feel the weight of all this stuff in here. And I was just in a, in a place in my life where I was living out of a suitcase. I was very minimal. It also makes you realize you don't need all this extra crap and it's kind of weighing on you. And so I, every time I go on a trip, I come home and I'm

like, all right, it's my, my, uh, time to clean, get rid of stuff. And like my, my, one of the girls that works for me yesterday she did two trash bags and she's like linds i've never felt better and it's like clutter also clutters your mind i've always been pretty pretty minimal i don't like having stuff just to have stuff um i've always been okay at at getting rid of. Like my mom was a hoarder, so I hated it. So I wanted to be the exact opposite. I'm like, oh, if I haven't worn this, I don't want it, you know? Um, but also too, for anyone who wants to research it, hotels are the biggest supporters

of energy. Do you know that no floor is 13 there's no floor 13 and also the way that they set up the mirrors in every room is on purpose it's on purpose so if you want to google search that it's a feng shui thing every single hotel is feng shui to certain way because of sleep sleep and also the mirrors like they talk about the mirrors and where they're placed. They'll never be placed a certain place. So I think there's a lot of, you know, like you said, information about it. And, and yeah, I agree. The minimalist thing is, there's like a whole documentary on Netflix about it about clearing out all that because it is heavy heaviness and

it's, it's memories, it's memories of like certain feelings, you know, like when you look at something from your ex-boyfriend, you get sad and that's an emotion that automatically affects your body. I also think even though we're in social media and it's amazing platform, I muted so many people during my illness because the dopamine hits that you get every morning when you see something that you don't know what's going to happen. Like imagine like we wake up every day with the option of being happy what we see or literally ruining our day thinking we're not good enough depressed everything so I muted so many people that affected me that like automatically affected me if it wasn't something that was going to be powerfully making me driven or making me happy I was going

to mute you regardless you know and those little things I think a lot of people don't really want to put into action. You know what I mean? And it helps so much. It helps so much. I completely agree. It helps so much. I mean, I've had to meet a lot of people in my life on Instagram. Well, actually like in real life too. Let's be real. You know, it's like you can also unfollow people, quote unquote, unfollow people in real life. Yeah, for sure. That aren't good for your mental health. I think a lot of people in 2020 really realized that too. You know, I feel like it caused us to reevaluate everything in our lives, including our relationships

that weren't serving us anymore. What were some of the things that you started noticing? Like, well, you haven't really talked too much about what were your other symptoms? I know that it was really debilitating with, uh, with your mental health. And I think you said you were, you were suicidal. Your friend was, Oh, I was suicidal for sure. As a result of the pain of it or feeling like no one understood you or what, what was that stemming from? No, your body tells you to kill yourself. Really? Yeah.'s yeah that's why I always say it's like Jeffrey Dahmer's in your head because he's literally telling you jump out of a window

kill yourself right now like when you're driving like just turn you know like that's the thing it wasn't it wasn't like oh I want to kill myself well that also too is happening because I was around a lot of Lyme patients and they had it for 20 plus years and they were just saying I want to kill myself like because it doesn't kill you that's the problem the the disease doesn't kill you so and and also the problem is too what I've noticed with a lot of Lyme uh people that are Lyme survivors, family starts walking away because you are suddenly a very expensive paycheck. You know what I mean? Like I, the first month I had Lyme, I spent 15 grand because I was freaking out and people are in debt with Lyme and what else they don't tell you.

And I'm going to speak freely here. You can't tell your insurance because they'll drop you. So when they find out you have Lyme, they don't want to support you because the fact that since it's a disease that keeps on happening and you don't diet from it, they don't want to actually help you go to the hospital and everything because you're an expensive bill. So I had to do everything on my own. I had to pay out of pocket and also have my insurance. So that's a really big thing about Lyme is like your family members want to support you in the beginning. And then they just start running away because you are an expense, like they can't afford you, you know, and it's, it's like this, you know, and I'm thankful that I have a very successful business. I'm thankful that my mom would rather spend her money on, you know, making her daughter survive than, you know what I mean? Like I, I was very lucky that I had a family that was like, no matter what, we're here for you.

But I saw a lot of people that didn't even have support from their family and it was killing them. And I knew the one thing that would cure them is the love from their family. You know what I mean? Like the support. And it's just, it's a very heartbreaking illness to see, you know, I'm not saying that this is the only illness that's heartbreaking, but there's no, I feel like there's no comparison. Um, when it comes to illness, you just are ill and people treat you a certain way. And even too, when I had it, people, I mean, you could just

slowly see people walking away, you know, cause they didn't know what to do and they didn't want to be a part of it anymore. And yeah, I, I just, it was hard and other, other things that were happening. Um, I had to get, uh, blood, like probably like 10 bags of blood circulating every week, which was so expensive. I mean, I was thankful I could afford it, but some people couldn't afford that. So it's just like filtering out your blood. And that was really hard for me because I've always, my mom has always helped me get out of blood tests. And so going to like 10 massive bags a day was like, I couldn't believe I didn't pass out, you know? So I had to really be doctors helping me get through this. And I mean, that one in particular thing, seeing my blood every day like that, or every week was just like in a reminder like this is really happening to you

like what's happening you know what's happening and I just my heart goes out to everyone that still has Lyme because it's it's traumatizing it's so traumatizing because it's all in here like your brain is just and that and and I think the one thing that scared me the most because I I do a lot of creative work for brands is um your mind uh switches so like I remember me and my ex we were making a pizza and I didn't even make the pizza I pulled out of the oven an empty plate and thought it was pizza on it so like things like that and when someone looked at you they're like what are you talking about and like in my head I had already made it, you know, but like my, I couldn't do things like things were going backwards, you know, so that was scary. Like that was scary, because I actually thought

I made a pizza, you know. So yeah, when you see that, you're just like this person's psycho, you know, and in my head, I felt like, oh, I did something right. So I just remember that one instant because that made me like wake up and go, oh, this is scary. Like I'm going to, I'm going to fuck up my business right now. You know, if I can't do this right, like if someone asked me to do a creative treatment like I'm gonna like I'm gonna fuck this up so things like that were very scary um I would get nerve damage it felt like nerve damage so my and oh man I forgot about this one heart palpitations so my heart was always ticking and feel like I could feel it.

It felt like it was about to just explode. So that was scary because you're, you know, like anything that has to do with your heart, you're just like paranoid. So exactly like instant anxiety. Oh yeah. Like, so I going to imagine going to sleep and hearing it all night. You can't sleep. It's just ticking.

So that was something that yeah that was horrible just a lot of different things and you're you're perma exhausted so imagine you know everyone's like oh you know I'm jet lagged from a trip try that times 30 like you literally have the weight of the world on your body and you can't get up. You know, it's everything sounds exhausting. Like even going to lunch with a friend, I would cancel. I'm like, I can't be there. It's too exhausting to leave my bed. So yeah, those are the, those are the main symptoms that terrified me. But I know that everyone has different stuff, but I looked normal to everyone.

Everyone's like, I don't understand Lyme. You look fine. And I'm like, no, I'm very ill right now. Well, that's what's so hard about chronic diseases in general, you know, like, especially for ones, like you said, like Lyme or like autoimmune disorders, for example, like you can physically look at the person and be like, you look fine. And then, but you hear them try to explain this, but we that's, I mean, that's just part of the human condition is like, we will never understand truly what someone else is going through until we walk through their shoes, you know? And it's like what you said earlier with your friend,

you could have never understood what she was really going through with Lyme until you were like, oh shit, now here I am with it. And now I fully understand this. Oh, and that's what's so tough about chronic diseases. You know, I have two girlfriends actually, um, that have been going through Lyme. One of them was just on the podcast recently, my friend Holly, and she's in a similar position as you, or she's like, I don't, I don't have it anymore. You know, I did X, Y, and Z and, and it worked. And, but she was really struggling for, I think for her, it was like three or four years until she finally hit a point where she was like, okay, I think it's gone now. Yeah. Um, and then another girlfriend of mine, I think has kind of gotten to that place now too. Holly Owens, right? Is that

what you're talking about? Yeah. Yeah. So my, my best friend went to the bee, uh, the bee treatment. She did the bee treatment as well. Um, and that's, that's the thing why when people tell me like, oh, you didn't have it chronically. My, My best friend had it for four years and she would still be having it if she didn't change her environment, change her. Like we did the same thing. So we both changed our energy and she cured herself, you know, and the bee thing I think is really amazing, too. That helps a lot. But I personally think that once she found her relationship with God and she was happier and she had love around her

and people were praying for her and this love just flowed around her, that's when your body heals, when it's happy, you know? And like you're doing well. And the moment she started doing that, it cleared, you know? So I really do think that love is so powerful. Frequency is powerful. Energy is powerful.

And we don't talk about it enough because we're in a, we're in a society where, you know, pills are quicker or it's the easy bandaid to just alleviate. And, you know, I, I've never done drugs. I've never, like, I don't drink. The last time I drank was maybe a year and a half ago, but both my parents don't drink. So I've grow up, I grew up not drinking, but I've never resorted to things to push down my thoughts, to push down sadness. I've always liked to like, look at it straight in the face and, and to each its own, you know, this is my journey. And, and I like to, I like to confront things. Um, and I confronted this, you know, I confronted it. I didn't want to, I will admit there was a time when I did have Lyme that I was like, I'm okay with this right now. Because I think we all go through that when

we're ill is you almost want to have it sometimes because it's easier. It's like, it's a comfort to you know, like, oh, I don't have to do anything today or I don't have to do like work. And you know what I mean? There's just a moment where you're like, yeah, I can do, I can do this for a bit, but then it kicks in for me and I'm like, no, it's not going to happen, you know? So, um, yeah, I, I went back and forth a little bit. Sorry. No, you're good. You're good. Well, I was going to say I think what's cool is that you didn't allow it to have power over you. And I want to say that while also saying that there's no judgment for anyone who goes through this journey in a different way, you know, but when I hear stories like yours, I get really inspired because it makes me think like, okay, if I was ever in your shoes, like God forbid I get Lyme or I'm struggling with some other sort of chronic disease or

whatever it is, I'm going to think back on this and go, okay, I'm not going to allow this to have it power over me, you know? And it really is a mind, it's a mindset shift. Totally. And, and I think a lot of things in life are, I mean, I think a lot of things that make people not become or do what they want to do in life is because they fear rejection from others. They fear what's being set up here like you're not good enough you can't do that like you're an idiot like all these negative things that come instantly to your head like amplifying and and redirecting your thoughts and for me I quiet the noise you know it's like

it's good I'll figure it out or like I'm gonna try it you know what I mean the worst that could happen is I learned something that I didn't want to do anymore you know like I don't look at anything as failure and I don't look at any I love the word fear like oh it and that's the thing is like I feel like people need to kind of look at that word differently. If you take it and hold it like a baby and be like, wow, you're an amazing word. I'm going to put you somewhere where you can't affect me. You got to look at it differently. I don't look at fear is like a scary thing. I look at it as like, oh, I can't wait to face it tomorrow. You know, like, yeah, I just think it is all about your mindset and all about how you you have two options every day. You can do a great thing for yourself, or you can do nothing. And I choose always to do something great for myself, you know, or someone else, you know, and you have that option. We're all built kind of the same way. You know what I mean?

Like, I don't think you have a more superpower than I do, you know? Yeah, exactly. The only difference is how I think up here. From you and me, this is the only thing that's different between us. It's like, how do you wake up? How do you decide your day? And that's it, how do you wake up? How do you decide your day? And that's it, you know?

And I've learned that there's like, some people are really good at other things, but it doesn't mean I can't be good at it, you know? It's just, it's not my focus. So if it is my focus, I will be good at it because I told myself I will be. I love that so much. It's what you were saying a second ago reminded me of kind of, I mean, I'm, I'm a similar way. I feel like our brains work very similarly in the sense that

I use fear as motivation. And usually I let fear guide me into what I need to be doing because I've found that the things that scare me the most years that I know that are not going to kill me, I run towards them because I've found that that is where the growth is and that is where I thrive. Because when I follow that and I get into this discomfort, it usually, I mean, there's such a reward on the other side of it. And like you said, there's never failure because what I've found is even the times that I have quote unquote failed, all it did was redirect my path and put me on a different path on a different journey that I needed to go down. Exactly. And, and also too, it's like everything I've done in my life. I know we talked about my disease, but I started my business in chaos. Like I got into a, almost lost my life in a car accident. So I've always

been like, whoa, like I'm good at things happening around me. And, and even to the pandemic, I'm like, let's go, you know, like you're going to put me in a room to only fucking create. I mean, you're, you're, you're, you're thinking I'm not going to do that. Like that is my, that's my vibe, you know, put me in a, put me in a box. I'll figure out how to get out of it. So, um, I've always been in chaos and I honestly am very, very fortunate to have that because most businesses that go into a non chaotic situation, don't know how to pivot don't know how to get out of their situation because they've never actually had to experience that so I've always been in such like weird situations and I'm thankful because one it's built my story but two it's built me to be a better

business person you know like I know I've seen a lot of my friends, you know, their businesses went under and during the pandemic and it's heartbreaking, you know, like I was panicking, we were all panicking and I've been through so much that I wasn't afraid of it in a weird way, you know, because I knew that this is my time to pivot again. Like you can't be stagnant when it, when, when you have to work around your environment and with the same thing with Lyme, you know, your environment is so important. So if it's not working in this way, you need to restructure, you know, and yeah. And yeah. I just, sorry. Every time I hear the word pivot, I think of Ross and friends. He's like, I just, I can't help myself. Um, well, okay. So the, Oh my God, this has been such an

amazing conversation. You have just, I don't know. I feel so like fired up right now. I want to ask you something that I ask everyone before we leave. What are, what are your non-negotiables, your health non-negotiables? So they don't necessarily have to be like diet or like exercise related, but just things that you do, like no matter, I know you run your own business, your schedule is probably crazy and all over the place, but no matter how busy your schedule is, what are things that you do every single day to make sure that you stay right in your mind and your body and you stay healthy? So a non-negotiable every day is I have to work out. Like that is the one time that is me time. Like I am a bitch at the gym. Like don't talk to me. Don't like, that's not a good time to get to know nice lens because honestly, this is

time where I don't want to be around anyone. I want to focus on myself. I want to focus on my body and like get my head right in the morning. Another non-negotiable in the morning. And I always, I say this a lot on podcasts. My, my night routine is way more important than my day routine. I think it's really important to go to bed with positive things in your mind, whether it's TV, you're watching, like go to bed with something, watching happy, funny, whatever a good book that

like puts you in perspective for your next day. Just anything like that. I think it's, it makes you wake up differently. Like, because you're dreaming, you dream about everything you just watched. Like I won't watch scary movies, none of that. Anything that's like terrorizing me in my mind, I'm not going to do it. So I think that's really important. Um, you know, I watch like sermons or anything just that makes me feel so good in my heart and then in the morning you know the gym and then also I love listening to podcasts that are motivational like that are just going to make me tackle the day and and then journaling I think journaling is important I think for anyone who doesn't journal, writing things down is so important because it de-scrambles your brain. And also, it doesn't make you as stressed out anymore because you've written it down.

And it's not as, I feel like your mind creates things so much more larger than they need to be. Like, oh my gosh, the sky is falling. Like, no, it's not, you know. So I really think writing things down is super key. Uh, another non-negotiable one. I will not show up to any party, any events, anything where there's low frequency people ever again, ever again. You know why? Because the moment I walk in there, I can feel my body destroy itself and I will never do that again to it. Not worth it. I have zero FOMO ever again. I have zero FOMO.

Yeah. I mean, you have to protect your energy, you know, goes back to what we were saying in the beginning. I love that so much. Okay. So for everyone listening, where can they find you? Oh, well, I'm on Instagram. My personal is lens, L I N Z Heppner, H E P P N E R. And then the business is vamped, V A M P P E D Heppner vamp two Ps. Yeah. And then, um, yeah. And then vamp.com is the business as well. If, if, yeah, that's, that's it. I think. Yeah. And then we'll add all that to the show notes too, so that people can click on them, but okay. Great. Yeah. Thank you so much. This was such an amazing conversation. Yes. Thank you. Thanks for listening to today's episode of the real foodology podcast. If you liked this episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know. This is a resident media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Chris McCone.

The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie, spelled with a J. Love you guys so much. See you next week. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and doesn't constitute a provider-patient relationship. I am a nutritionist, but I am not your nutritionist. As always, talk to your doctor or your health team first. you