Realfoodology - Healing Adrenal Dysfunction: Insights + Strategies | Dr. Izabella Wentz

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

EP. 168: Ever felt run down, stressed out, or just not yourself? Could your adrenal health be the missing link in your overall wellbeing? I recall the moment I discovered that my constant exhaustion, anxiety and blood sugar issues were not just random symptoms. They were signs of adrenal dysfunction, a not so talked about condition that many of us struggle with. In this enlightening episode, I invite you to join me and Dr. Izabella Wentz, a renowned expert in the field, as we journey through the complexities of adrenal health. From the impact of stress and sleep deprivation on our bodies to the role of magnesium deficiency in adrenal fatigue, we share insights, personal experiences and practical strategies to help you navigate through this challenging terrain. Topics Discussed: 0:07:06 - Adrenal Fatigue and Health Impact 0:09:36 - Understanding Hashimoto's and Adrenal Dysfunction 0:23:51 - Improving Sleep and Circadian Rhythm 0:33:02 - Transitioning to a Balanced Workout Routine 0:36:46 - Unexpected Weight Loss From Reduced Exercise 0:52:01 - Lifestyle Strategies for Blood Sugar Balance 0:55:37 - Electrolytes and Nutrients in Energy Replenishment 1:04:15 - Emotional and Trauma Components in Healing Check Out Dr. Izabella: Adrenal Transformation Protocol: A 4-Week Plan to Release Stress Symptoms and Go from Surviving to Thriving Online Sponsored By: Organifi www.organifi.com/realfoodology Code REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% Off Cured Nutrition www.curednutrition.com/realfoodology REALFOODOLOGY gets you 20% off Wildway https://wildwayoflife.com Code REALFOODOLOGY will give you 20% off your first order PALEOVALLEY for 15% off go to Paleovalley.com/Realfoodology BiOptimizers: Magnesium Breakthrough www.magbreakthrough.com/realfoodology Code REALFOODOLOGY gets you 10% off any order. Check Out Courtney: Courtney's Instagram: @realfoodology www.realfoodology.com My Immune Supplement by 2x4 Air Dr Air Purifier AquaTru Water Filter EWG Tap Water Database

On today's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast... There's this expectation that you're supposed to homeschool your kids, have a full-time job, have fun with your friends, and just do all of these things. You need to be seven different people. You're constantly comparing yourself and that can be very stressful for us as well. Hello, friends. Welcome back to another episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Swan. And today's episode is all about adrenal dysfunction. I sat down with Dr. Isabella Wentz, who is a pharmacist. She's also known as the thyroid pharmacist, and you may actually follow her or know her

from Instagram. Her name is IsabellaWentzFarmMD on Instagram, and we will also tag that in the show notes if you guys want to check her out. She's a great follow, so definitely check her out on Instagram. I really loved today's episode. It was very pertinent to something that I have dealt with the majority of my life, which is adrenal fatigue or also known as adrenal dysfunction. This is something that is not generally recognized by conventional medicine. However, we talk about reasons why that may be the case. And we also talk about symptoms, signs and symptoms to look out for. Also,

lifestyle strategies in order to deal with this. If you are struggling with adrenal fatigue, it's also way more common these days, I think, just simply because we are all living in some sort of fight or flight. Well, I don't want to put that on everyone, but I think a lot of us in society are right now. We're dealing with overwhelm. There's so much to do. We're constantly being inundated with just all this stuff, social media and emails and text messages, and it's a lot on the body. And so we talk about that. And I share my own personal journey dealing with adrenal fatigue from a pretty young age, which I think started with the traumatic accident of my little sister, which I've talked a lot about on this podcast. There's a couple of different

episodes where I dive into the details of that. I talk about my healing journey, the things that I've done over the years that has really, really helped me with healing my adrenals and just all the signs and symptoms that I was dealing with. It's a really good episode, and I hope you guys get a lot out of it. I really enjoyed talking with Isabella. She is just a wealth of knowledge and was a really great guest. So I'm just going to get into the episode. And as always, if you guys could take a moment to rate and review the podcast, if you are loving it, it means a lot to me.

It does not take a lot of time and it really does help the show a lot. So I appreciate your support. I love you guys. Tag me on Instagram if you're loving the podcast and I will see you guys next week. Love you. How's your life been lately? It feels like mine is a never ending hustle, constant juggling responsibilities, endless to-do lists.

There's a lot on my plate right now. And it seems that it's impossible to live without overwhelmment nowadays. And I'm not even talking about how this stress affects overall wellbeing, sleep, productivity, and the immune system. Stress slowly infiltrates your life, silently robbing you of magnesium,

which is a vital mineral that our body depends on. It's a vicious stress magnesium deficiency cycle. Have you heard about it? It's something that many of us, especially in America, really struggle with. In simple terms, stress strikes, your body loses magnesium, sleep becomes elusive, energy and productivity plummet, and stress levels skyrocket, and then more magnesium escapes your body. So how do you break this cycle? Well, I found a game changer, and it's called Magnesium Breakthrough from Bioptimizers. This magnesium contains all seven forms of magnesium, which might support stress management

by promoting muscle relaxation, regulating the nervous system, controlling stress hormones, enhancing brain function, boosting energy, and improving sleep. I personally take it every single night. I take two capsules before bedtime and it really works. Give it a shot, break free from the vicious cycle, and you've got nothing to lose. Bioptimizers is so confident in their products that they offer a risk-free 365-day money-back guarantee. And if you don't see any results, simply claim a refund, no questions asked. It's a win-win. Seriously, you guys, I've been taking this magnesium for a long time now. I travel with it and I take it nightly and it has really helped

me immensely. So make sure you visit magbreakthrough.com slash realfoodology and intercode realfoodology and you're going to get 10% off any order, the magnesium, but also anything else you want from Bioptimizers. And for a limited time only, you're also going to receive some special gifts with purchase. So again, the offer is only available on mag-H.com slash realfoodology. Do not miss an opportunity to improve your wellbeing and your life. Snacks. Let's talk about snacks. Everyone loves snacks. And I feel like it's hard to find a good snack that actually fills you up and that you really crave and like to eat. I am obsessed with the grass fed beef sticks from Paleo Valley. If you guys follow me on Instagram, you probably saw recently that I

went, I literally went to this show downtown and my girlfriends were making fun of me because when I met up with them, I literally had a Paleo Valley beef stick sticking out of my pocket. My friend goes, are you packing meat in there? I was. I always have a Paleo Valley stick with me either in my purse or I always shove a bunch of them in my car and just leave them in there for emergencies, for snack emergencies. I'm always bringing them places on hikes, you name it. I always have them on me because they are just, they're such a great snack. It's a great source of protein. They taste really good. They come from 100% grass fed beef and they're really high quality. It's only organic spices in there. You're not going to find any other fillers. And you know what I love so much?

Their beef comes from 100% grass fed cows raised entirely on natural grass pastures by family farmers right here in the US. And they also are committed to supporting regenerative farms, which is really important. If you guys are not into beef, if beef is not really your thing, they also have pasture-raised turkey sticks, and they also have pasture-raised pork sticks. So they have a variety of different flavors and all different kinds of meats to serve your meat desires. And if you guys go to paleovalley.com slash realfoodology, you're going to save 20%. Make sure you go to paleovalley.com slash realfoodology. You're going to save some money. Also check out everything else they have

on that website. They have superfood bars. They have organic super greens. They also have bone broth protein. They have grass fed whey protein. They have essential electrolytes. They also have a superfood golden milk, which is going to be really good going into fall. So make sure you guys check it out. Use the code realfoodology and you're going to save some money. Isabella, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast today. I've been following your work for a while now. And I personally, just to give people a little bit of context, have been dealing with, for most of my life, I think, adrenal fatigue, some form of adrenal dysfunction. And I know you talk a lot about this. I'll tell a little bit more about my story in a second,

because I want to properly introduce you and I want people to understand what it is you do and what your main focus is. So my background is I'm a trained pharmacist. I have worked in the pharmacy since I was 16. I started off as a pharmacy technician, went to undergraduate studies to major in pre-pharmacy, went on to pharmacy school, and was very passionate about medicine and pharmacology and how little tiny substances can make such a big impact on people's health. What really transformed my life was my own health journey. In my 20s, I started to have some really confusing symptoms. One day, I just started to have chronic fatigue and I just had trouble waking up and sleeping until 3 p.m. And just really strange symptoms followed after that. Then I started having

irritable bowel syndrome, allergies, carpal tunnel. It was like every other year I got new symptoms until I was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and autoimmune thyroid condition. I had already been a practicing pharmacist then. And so I was like, yes, I get to take medications. Finally, I know what's going on with me. But unfortunately, it wasn't as straightforward as just taking medications to feel better. So I really became passionate about all substances, including food and supplements and the water that we drink and the air that we breathe and the environment that we're in to really create health in the body through my own healing journey.

Because I was somebody that was in my 20s and falling apart. I was wearing two sweaters in Southern California in the summer, freezing, right? And just had no energy and just all of these symptoms. And it wasn't until I started to really peel back the layers of what it meant to have good health and what I needed to do and change in my life, where I was able to take charge of my own health. And just really this informed my work today. I was able to get my Hashimoto's in remission about 10 years ago. And then I ended up writing a book about that. And I focused my work on helping other people

take charge of their own health through understanding how various substances can play an impact on them and thinking about what are the root causes of disease and health and how to feel better. So I really focus a lot on thyroid issues. And also lately, I've been talking a lot about adrenal issues because more than 90% of the people that I've worked with have some degree of adrenal issue when they are a thyroid patient, but adrenal issues are also common in people who don't have thyroid issues. So it's one of those things where a lot of my friends and colleagues and people were reaching out to me and they said, I don't have thyroid issues, but I have all these symptoms that you're talking about. What else could be going on?

And that's when I really started to wanted to spread the word about adrenal dysfunction and how to really get to the root of that and how to rewire your health so that you can thrive. And I just kicked my desk here. So please don't mind. It wasn't an earthquake. I promise. You're just like me. I get overly excited and then I knock things over my desk here. So please don't mind. It wasn't an earthquake, I promise. You're just like me. I get overly excited and then I like knock things over all the time. So I've been there. So this is what I love so much about your message.

And I think it's so important for people to hear it from someone like you because you are a licensed and trained pharmacist and you have been trained to give people medications. And part of my message is there's a time and a place for medication. I am been trained to give people medications. And part of my message is there's a time and a place for medication. I am not here to vilify medication. Thank God we have it for when we need it. But often what happens is people are just given medication and no one is looking at, okay, well, but why is the thyroid under functioning or why are the adrenals

dysfunctioning? Like what is going on underneath? And no one is having, well, I shouldn't say no one, but a lot of times what happens is the person's not having a conversation with their doctor about what the other things and what other steps they can do in order to help their body. Because I mean, I've seen this time and time again with my girlfriends. There's a lot of thyroid issues. A lot of people are dealing with thyroid issues. And I'll, you know, I've one girlfriend in particular that I've been thinking of who's been on this journey for like eight years where similar to you, where she was like, oh, thank God I finally have a diagnosis. I'm going on medication. And then the medication has been all over the place. Like the dosaging wasn't right. She had to try different brands. She also had to clean up her diet and

clean up her lifestyle. Like it wasn't just like take a pill and now I'm all better. You know, like there's a lot of factors here. And again, thank God we have the medication, but often we need the medication as one of the puzzle pieces and one of the tools to help. But also there needs to be a conversation around the diet, the environment, the lifestyle, and all the other changes that need to be made. That's so well said and so necessary. I feel like some people are like, oh no, you just have to throw your medications in the trash. And I'm like, that's not always healthy. That's not always the right answer. But a lot of times I think about what are the reasons why somebody had this condition to begin with? What are the consequences of having this condition?

What does it actually do with the example of a thyroid condition? For example, this is going to suppress a person's stomach acid and taking thyroid hormones won't necessarily reverse that, right? It won't necessarily reverse the microbiome shift that a person experienced when they were hypothyroid. It won't address the food sensitivities that occurred from the low stomach acid period. And so there's a lot of different nuances and things we need to do to get our health back on track. You know, I wish there was just one magic pill for everything, right? That was kind of the thing that we were hoping for during pharmacy school to invent a pill for every ill.

That's not the real world, unfortunately. And I mean, people really need to take charge of their own health. I think that's something that I've learned about is a big part of it is you can go to the doctor, but the doctor isn't necessarily going to heal you. A doctor can give you some helpful guidance and some advice, but ultimately your health lies in the actions that you take or don't take every single day. Yes. Oh my God. Yes. It's so important for people to hear because I think so many

think that their doctor or someone is coming to save them, but they forget that they play a huge role in that. And the responsibility ultimately is on them because if they're not taking their medication or they're not looking into the root cause, cleaning up their diet, not drinking tap water anymore, all these various things ultimately comes back as a personal responsibility that we have to do. And the doctor is not going to hold your hand. The doctor is not going to be there making sure you take the medication, making sure that you're cleaning up your diet. You know, it's like they can only help you so far. So I want to dive into a couple of different components, but let's start out first of all, what I have always found really fascinating and something that I had to rewire when I was going into school about nutrition is,

you know, thankfully this is changing, but we've kind of siloed out health into all these different things. Like if someone has a thyroid issue, it's like, okay, it's just the thyroid. They're going to see a doctor specifically for the thyroid. Or if they're dealing with something with their adrenals, let's say, they're going to specifically go to someone like that. But we forget that everything is connected. And if one thing is off, it's going to affect everything else. And you mentioned this earlier that some people that have thyroid issues are also dealing with adrenal stuff. Sometimes they're not. I personally, and I'll give more context a little bit later into my story, but I have a low adrenal dysfunction that I've been working on for years. Literally,

I've probably had it since I was like eight. And I have a little bit, just tiny, a little bit of an underactive thyroid as well. And also, I want you to talk about how if your thyroid's under functioning or your adrenals are under functioning, it can affect your cholesterol. It can affect your hormones. So let's like zoom out and talk about big picture how all this affects each other. Of course. So in my experience, a lot of people with this condition known as adrenal dysfunction, oftentimes they don't get the answers that they need. And just to be frank, conventional medicine doesn't believe it exists for the most part. There's a lot of controversy

about that. We can certainly get into that. I know when I was first on my own healing journey, being the skeptical pharmacist, I looked up adrenal fatigue or adrenal dysfunction and some websites said that it didn't exist. And so finally, I talked to the 15th person who advised me just look into it, get tested and see if the treatments actually do make a difference because you're really struggling. Why don't they address it as something that's a real thing? Because I hear that all the time. They're like, oh, it's in your head or it's just like stress or whatever? Well, I mean, in very simple terms, I've been in this industry for a long time. And I remember learning in pharmacy school that fibromyalgia wasn't

really a real thing. We weren't sure if it was a real thing because we couldn't really quote unquote test for it in conventional medicine standards. And it wasn't until a drug company came up with a drug for fibromyalgia where they started raising an awareness campaign that it really did exist and started advocating for patients. I was going to a pharmaceutical conference, and I remember meeting some drug reps. And they were like, this is our new drug. It's for fibromyalgia. And I was like, does fibromyalgia even exist? Because we were taught that it was controversial, that there's no testing for it. And the person was very, very forthright and said, yes,

it does exist. People are suffering with this. And now we have a solution, right? And I think it's very convenient for people that have a quote-unquote solution to create a marketing campaign. Whereas where there isn't a drug or something, there's not going to be as much of an awareness campaign for a condition. With regard to testing, so if you look at blood work and conventional medical testing, you're not going to be able to find adrenal dysfunction on a conventional test. Experimental tests, quote unquote, can find it, right? So with working with like a salivary test that tests your cortisol levels throughout your day based on what they're supposed to be according to your circadian rhythm, you'll be able to find that. But that test is

experimental and you'll be able to find that on like that test is experimental. And you'll be able to see that on a Dutch urine test. But again, that's something that's experimental outside of the conventional, outside of the, I guess, insurance payer model that has been really well established. So I feel like that's part of the story. And then there's the confusion about the terminology and kind of the origins of adrenal fatigue, adrenal dysfunction. The naturopathic doctor that first coined the term, Dr. James Wilson, he thought it was essentially our adrenal glands failing and it was an mild form of Addison's, which is a very serious condition, very rare condition that's been recognized by conventional medicine. And I feel like there was a bit of a confusion with that terminology and that proposed

mechanism of action where that's not really what's happening. What our understanding tells us now is that this is a physiological response to stress. So in very simple terms, your body just has been under so much stress that it's going to shift the way that it responds to that stress. So it's going to shift the way that it produces or gets rid of cortisol in the body, our main stress hormone and some of the other hormones. So it really is like, I really love adaptive physiology. It's a process of explaining kind of what the body does when it's faced with certain things. Like our body is always trying to preserve our health and preserve our life. And so when we're exposed to a ton of stress, it wouldn't necessarily be beneficial for us to just pump out stress hormones without any

regulation. So the body kind of pulls that back and then we end up with altered patterns of our stress hormones. For people, for real people with real symptoms, this oftentimes means you can't get out of bed in the morning. You're just exhausted throughout the day. You have blood sugar issues. You might find that you have high cholesterol on tests because your body's like, hey, something is happening here. Why don't you have blood sugar issues, you might find that you have high cholesterol on tests because your body's like, hey, something is happening here. Why don't you have enough of these hormones? And so maybe the cholesterol production is upregulated or perhaps the cholesterol is just not being produced into the right kind of hormones. Cholesterol is actually a precursor to many of our hormones, including our stress hormones. I don't think a lot of people realize that because we typically hear cholesterol is bad.

Well, it's not necessarily the truth. We do need it to live and survive. We can't have too much of it, but also not enough of it can be problematic. And then you just end up being this person, symptomatically speaking, where you're having brain fog, you're having that fatigue, you're having anxiety, irritability. You might have trouble falling asleep. You might have waking up throughout the night. You might be waking up too early. And the biggest, I guess, complaint that people tell me is like, they're just overwhelmed with life. Everything just kind of irks them and everything just feels like it's too much for them. And everyday stressors can

become too much. And so this is really an adaptation to, we've been under stress for a long time and our cortisol production is not going to be optimal and not tuned into the circadian rhythm. Fortunately, there is a pretty straightforward way to correct it. So hopefully we'll be able to give you some tips on anybody that's listening because the reason... This has been around for a while, but I came up with a new approach to it that works really quickly and efficiently out of my own desperation as a new mom where I couldn't kind of use the traditional integrative medicine approaches to adrenal dysfunction. I know that was a lot of information. No, it was great. It was great. I love it. I'm so intrigued by all this. So

I have a personal experience with this, which is why I was so excited to talk to you because I am in the middle of my healing journey at this very moment. So my listeners already know the story, so I'm not going to go into it, but I went through a very, very traumatic thing when I was eight, the death of my sister, lost my sister when I was really young. And that plus, you know, there was a lot of yelling in my household. There was a lot of grief in my household. So I came to the realization in my 30s, like looking back, that I had been living in fight or flight pretty much my entire life after that point. And one of the main signs that I always laugh about this, but it's such a perfect depiction

of where it really shows up mostly in my life. So you talked about how people have a really hard time getting out of bed. That has been my biggest struggle since I can remember. And I laugh about this all the time. So when I was younger, I would always sleep through my alarm or I would go off and I would get back in bed and I'd accidentally fall asleep because I was just like, oh, I'm so tired. I can't get out.

So my dad found out, he figured this out because, you know, I was in high school and like getting really super late to school and whatever. So my dad would come in and he would drag my comforter off the bed and down the hallway so that I was not, I could not stay in bed any longer. And that was such a perfect depiction of like, I was so fatigued that I could not get out of bed. And then I went through this other phase in my 20s where it got so bad, you know, I was no longer living in the house. I had to get a special alarm that would vibrate the whole bed that a lot of people that have hearing issues get these alarms because I would be so tired that I would sleep for hours through my alarm. And this was my first real sign of like, okay, I really have something bad going on here.

And even now, I've really struggled with getting out of bed and waking up and feeling refreshed in the morning, even if I get like 10 hours of sleep. That's what's crazy about it. It was not like I was getting like four hours of sleep. I'd get like eight hours of sleep. But I've been working very, very, very hard on this with a doctor and doing things like getting up first thing in the morning, going to get some sunlight in my eyes. And also like making sure that at night I don't have any overhead lights. All of my lights at night are Amber after like 7.30,

8 PM. Like I do not do any blue lights. I wear blue blockers if I like watch TV. And then I also have been taking something called Adaptocrine in the morning. And for the first time in my entire life, I'm starting to wake up before my alarm. I'm starting to slowly wake up refreshed. And I still have those days where I drag ass out of bed, but I'm seeing a huge difference. And it is like, oh my God,

I can't tell you how life-changing it is for me. That's amazing. And I'm so happy to hear that you are already making such great progress. I mean, it's interesting because people are like, well, stepping outside and getting sunshine into your eyes, that's never going to work. Or cover up light switches and cover up sources of light in my bedroom at night. Yeah, that would ever work. But you do these things and you don't realize what a big difference they can make.

So definitely, that's going to help you tune into your circadian rhythm. I know people... Living in modern society, we don't realize how our bodies are just so tuned in to the 24-hour circadian rhythm and that they're light dependent. So that stepping out first thing in the morning, that's going to help to raise our cortisol in the morning naturally. And then lowering that exposure to bright lights in the evening is going to help to lower our cortisol in the evening is going to help to lower our cortisol in the evenings. To go back a little bit about what adrenal dysfunction looks like on, I guess, a graph or a paper or a lab test, it's typically a healthy person that wakes up bright-eyed and

bushy-tailed in the morning like we all want to be, is going to have a higher level of cortisol first thing in the morning. And that's going to help them wake up, right? And so you wake up and then you go on about your day and then your cortisol levels kind of drop gradually. When they drop gradually, you're going to feel balanced, stable, energetic, productive. And then as the day goes on towards the evening time, you're just ready to wind down and you're ready to go to sleep. And that's what a healthy cortisol pattern looks like. For people that may struggle with adrenal dysfunction, they may have no cortisol in the morning. So they're dragging... For them, it's like morning time feels like 11pm at night, right? So they can't get out of bed. They're not functioning until noon. Some people might have

bounces of cortisol throughout the day, what I call a cortisol rollercoaster, where you have like, you know, your cortisol rises maybe in the middle of the day and you end up feeling anxious or just really angry, right? Or you might have drops in cortisol, usually around 3 p.m. where people just want to take that nap. And then other people might have cortisol that shoots up in the evening. And these are our night owls that are like, I can't sleep. I was tired all day and now I can't sleep. Or even if they do get to sleep, their sleep is unrefreshing. And so, like you said, one of the beautiful ways to correct that is to get aligned with sunshine and darkness and all of that.

And then, of course, there's food things we can do and supplemental things that can really be helpful to let your body know that it's like daytime, wakey wakey time, and then that it's nighttime and sleepy time. And that could work really well, even with like I've seen people on supplement protocols for months, years sometimes. And sometimes just that light and dark exposure can make a big difference in a few days. I used to really love granola until I started turning around the back of the package and

looking at how much sugar was in it and also learning about how oats were affecting my digestive system, my guts. So I was really stoked when I found this brand, Wildway. They make grain-free granola, and they are committed to providing wholesome and nourishing food options that empower individuals to lead healthier, more vibrant lives while also respecting the environment. They are certified B Corp. They're 100% for the planet, plastic neutral, and carbon neutral. They are also made from 100% real ingredients. There's no added sugars, preservatives, seed oils, or flavorings. It is just a wholesome blend of nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and spices. It's also soft and chewy snacking granola. So it's great for on the go. You can either like

throw it on top of yogurt, you can throw it on top of a smoothie, or you can also just like take a handful of it and just, you know, eat it straight out of the bag if you want. They have really delicious flavors. I was actually literally just snacking on the banana nut. I have it right in front of me right now. And the ingredients are so simple. It's dates, organic bananas, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, cashews, pecans, coconut oil, cinnamon, sea salt, and vanilla bean. All ingredients that you recognize, it's all real food and their flavors are awesome. They have coconut cashew. They have apple cinnamon, dark cinnamon, sea salt, peach pecan. Can you imagine on like a summer evening or even going into fall doing peach pecan with like a scoop of coconut

ice cream? Oh my God. And vanilla bean espresso. So imagine having a bowl of that in the morning alongside your morning coffee. Not only is this a delicious granola, but it's also a company that we can wholeheartedly trust that is actually making food, like real food that's healthy for us, that nourishes our bodies. I get asked often, how can we as people make an impact on our food industry? And one of the ways that we can do that is by supporting companies and brands that are actually doing right by the people. And this is one of those brands. So if you guys want to check them out, go to wildwayoflife.com and use code realfoodology and you're going to get 20% off. Again, that's wildwayoflife.com, code realfoodology.

Do you struggle with anxiety like I do? I have been pretty open about my journey and my struggles with anxiety throughout the years. And therapy is one of the things that has really helped me out a lot. EMDR therapy specifically has helped me through a lot of my traumas that I went through. But another thing that has really helped me throughout the years with my anxiety journey, if you will, is CBD. I really like Cured Nutrition's CBD. I love that you can go to their website and you can actually see their third-party testing that they do from their lab. So you can actually go to the website, see how much CBD is in all of their products, and they update it all the time. You can hear more about this in depth in my episode that I

had with the founder of Cured Nutrition. And my favorite ones, I would say, I really like the CBN night caps. And then I also like the Zen CBD caps as well. They also have a calm oil, which is really great, and a topical. So if you're dealing with any sort of injuries or maybe muscle soreness, they have a topical that you can put on. They also came out more recently with some Serenity gummies, which is like low THC relaxation gummies, which are really great. And if you follow me on Instagram, you know that my dog Turkey loves their CBD dog treats. He like freaks out every single time I open the pantry. He follows me in, he immediately goes for the bag and he starts begging for them. And they're great. They're really high quality ingredients, all organic, have really high quality

CBD. My boyfriend just got a golden retriever puppy more recently, and we have been giving the dog treats to both of our dogs when we go for road trips. And it's been really helpful. And the dogs love them. They taste really great. So if you want to try any of the products that I talked about today or anything on the Cured Nutrition website, make sure that you go to curednutrition.com slash realfoodology. That's C-U-R-E-D nutrition.com slash realfoodology. And you can also use code realfoodology and it's going to save you 20%. I caught on in my early 30s about this whole, I started learning about adrenal fatigue and that I probably had adrenal dysfunction. And it has taken me, I'm 39 now, and it has taken me to this point to really start seeing changes in all of it. And what also helped me too early

on in this journey was I was working out like crazy and I was doing these really high intensity exercises. Like I would do soul cycle. I mean, like six days a week, it was insane. Or I was doing these like really just high intensity HIIT workouts. And that was the first thing that I changed. I was noticing that it was raising my adrenaline, raising my cortisol like crazy, releasing high levels of endorphins. And I had a girlfriend say one time, she's like, endorphins are good for you, but I don't know if we should be releasing this many of them all the time every day. And it really stuck with me. And so I decided that I was going to do, well, one, I stopped drinking coffee and I was

like, I'm going to stop doing the high intensity workouts and I'm going to walk every day. And I did this for three years. I didn't do a high intensity workout for three years. It was funny because it kind of coincided with the pandemic. I started in like 2019 and then we went into the pandemic. I was like, I can't even go to workout classes anyway. So I'm just going to hike outside every day. And now I've gotten to a more level place where like I can do one of those workouts like maybe once a week, but I'm really careful. I still do like now I just do like strength training and more walking and lower impact kind of stuff. I have, I will say this, I have incorporated coffee back, but I do one cup a day and that is it. And it's like 8.30, 9 a.m. in the morning and I will not do any more. And I do more like matcha and stuff now. I'm

actually literally drinking matcha right now. And that has helped me a lot. Yeah. I just wanted to share that because I know like people listening may not even make that connection as well with working out. It's so fascinating because I've worked with a lot of women who they might have weight issues because of adrenal issues. And so they think that the way out of that is to exercise more and eat less. But that actually can send a message of stress to the body where their body hears the message of, oh man, we're under attack and there's no food around and we're constantly running away. I'm going to help you out, girlfriend. I'm going to suppress your metabolism so that you can hold on to all of this wonderful fat to get through this really

tough time. And this is unfortunately what can happen. And I've had clients where I'm like, hey, I see you're on a very restricted low-calorie diet and I see you're doing a lot of exercise. And can we just take it to walking or doing some gentle yoga or something that makes you feel like when you're done with it, you feel like you could do the whole routine once more? Not something that when you do it, you feel like you have to rest for three days after. And then we'll say like, we're going to incorporate more foods such as high protein foods throughout the day, more high fat foods throughout the day to really nourish your body and send it safety signals to let it know that it's not like we're

not in a famine. We're not in a war. We're not trying to get away from the bear that's chasing us because exercise is great and exercise in moderation is great. But you have to know what's the right fit for your body, right? So people that are pushing it too hard on the aerobic exercise, we have to think about aerobic exercise is actually catabolic. So it breaks our body down. And adrenal dysfunction is actually a catabolic state where our body's already breaking itself down. So we need to shift it more into that anabolic state where the body is building itself back up, the body's fixing itself. And that is going to be like your weight-bearing exercise can be so helpful for you to build your body up. And then getting some of

that protein and really good nutrition can also help to build the body up and then getting some of that protein and really good nutrition can also help to build the body back up through getting some of our amino acids that are incredibly healing. So I'm so glad that you brought that up and that you've had results with it already because a lot of people are so skeptical. They're like, am I going to feel worse if I don't exercise? Am I going to put on too much weight if I don't exercise? And oftentimes if their adrenals are depleted and they're feeling worse after exercise, they're still exhausted when they're exercising. It's like, this is not your right medicine. This is not your right dose. Let's change it up a bit so that you feel good. Because we want your body to feel nourished and

to thrive so that it shifts into that healing state. Yes, yes, yes. That was the craziest side effect out of all of this. I lost like 10 or 15 pounds when I did that. I went from working out aggressively, doing SoulCycle every day to literally just walking. I was doing hikes. I was doing some uphill hikes and stuff, but nothing too crazy. It was mostly just like a 45 minute hour midway hike near my neighborhood. And I lost weight. And I was terrified at the time. I was like, oh my God, my body is going to change. I'm going to gain so much weight. And I lost all this weight without even trying. It was wild. And it's so fascinating when you support your body like that and your body feels safe that oftentimes it will just adjust itself to its natural normal state and where it's supposed to be. That's so fascinating. Let's talk about diet. Let's talk about things that people can do.

I'm very much a proponent for bio-individuality. So I don't ever like to say like, you know, everyone needs to eat this way and whatever, but let's say maybe someone is struggling with this. What are some things that will help people diet-wise? Generally, one of the triggers for adrenal dysfunction, adrenal issues is going to be blood sugar imbalances and blood sugar swings. So when your blood sugar goes up too high or too low, this is going to be an issue, right? And I would say for most of the people that I've worked with, it comes down to eating more protein and eating more fat and limiting their carbohydrate intake. That's generally the people that I work with that come to me. That's the recommendations that I'm making. I mean, if you're already keto, then maybe that's not the right recommendation

for you. You need to adjust that. But generally, I want people to figure out what their optimal protein intake might be. A lot of people just don't eat enough protein. And we have to realize when we are... And I think people say, oh, bodybuilders need X amount of protein, right? But when you are somebody that is chronically ill, your actually protein requirements are going to be higher, closer to that of like a bodybuilder than a person that doesn't get a lot of activity because your body needs those amino acids to build itself back up. So this is one of the big recommendations I oftentimes make. And then I really focus on looking at inflammatory foods. It can be different for

every person. Of course, I've had people that were really inflamed by pineapple or codfish or random things that you wouldn't suspect would be inflammatory because they're healthy for other people and generally they're health-promoting things. But for the most part, I'll have people go gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, kind of limit their intake of sugar. And that's kind of the template that we work with. I do want to pay attention to something that was very kind of surprising to me when I looked at the data, but things like sunflower seed oil, how inflammatory that can be. And you can use in some of the different nuts and seeds out there where walnuts might be a better choice for you than let's say almonds.

And just thinking about some of the choices you can make to lower the overall inflammation in your body. Inflammation is also a big trigger for this adrenal dysfunction when your body just is in an inflammatory state, it can't really focus on healing itself and building itself back up. So a big part of that is focusing on your diet because we eat food every day, right? And so how do we lower our intake of things that might be aggravating or inflammatory to us? And for most people, it's the common food sensitivities, gluten, dairy, soy, which are

very present in our everyday Western diet. Yeah. It's interesting you brought up the sunflower seed oil thing because it, you know, it comes back to that, like, just because something's good for you doesn't mean that like an excess it's good for you. I mean, just like, you know, this is a really common example, but if you drink too much water, it can harm your body, you know, and same with sunflower seeds are healthy. If you put like a sprinkling on your salad, you know, you're not getting like too much of the omega-6 fats. But

the problem with sunflower seed oils, imagine how many sunflower seeds go into to make that oil. So you are essentially flooding your body with an insane amount of this omega-6 that can be highly inflammatory if we have too much of it in the body. And so it's interesting. And you think about what we've been talking about a lot is stress and how much stress affects the body. Well, what does inflammation do to the body? It stresses the body. And so we want to make sure that we're eating foods that are not causing more stress on the body because we're already dealing with so much stress as it is just in everyday life. Absolutely. When I was first on my healing

journey and I didn't study nutrition, I probably should have, right? At that time. But I was like, oh, I'm going to replace gluten with almond flour. I was like having almond flour bread for breakfast and then almond milk and almond butter and then almond crackers. I had the same realization. It was wild. And I was like, why is my skin breaking out? Why do I feel so much worse? And it was like, you're eating like seven pounds of almonds a day, lady.

That's why, right? The next thing I wanted to ask you about is testing. You've mentioned a couple of times that conventional medicine doesn't necessarily admit that adrenal dysfunction is a thing. So if someone's wanting to get a diagnosis or at least kind of understand what's going on in their body, what would be some tests that you would recommend that people do? They can definitely utilize functional medicine testing like an adrenal saliva test from ZRT Lab is one of the

companies I love for that or a Dutch urine test. That's another option for them. I will say the saliva test is super easy to interpret. I can teach probably my five-year-old how to interpret that. The Dutch test, I've been studying it for like seven to nine years and I still learn new things about it every other day. So I feel like that one, you definitely want to work with a practitioner. If you're going to get the Dutch test done, it can give you a lot more information that can be sometimes additional helpful information regarding your hormones and other neurotransmitters and so on and so forth. But the saliva test is a really great place to start. And you can really see your

cortisol pattern throughout the day to see perhaps how you can adjust that. And I am the kind of person that loves testing. And I test my husband, my child, myself. I used to have a dog that I would test with functional medicine testing. And so every client that comes to me, I'm like, let's do these tests, right? But just being educating people on Instagram and on Facebook and online and through my work, I know that can be kind of a barrier to getting the help that you need because some people may not be able to find a practitioner that orders the test. You can self-order. That's an option, of course,

but maybe they don't have the resources or maybe they order a test and it sits on their shelf. For six years, I just had a client submit a test from six years ago. I was like, okay, we'll interpret that. But sometimes life gets in the way. So I oftentimes do recommend going by symptoms as well, because there are specific symptoms you can, if you have them, there's a pretty good chance that you might have some degree of adrenal dysfunction. And there are these really solid lifestyle strategies that are going to help you get back into balance. So oftentimes, and in my, in, you know, my website, my book on all of my teachings, I go through symptoms as well. And we can go through some of those if that would be helpful

too. Yeah, I would love that. And then also just want to share quickly with people the saliva test. So I've done two of those and they're really fascinating. Essentially what you do is you get these little test tubes and you collect your saliva various times during the day. And then when you get your results back, they give you a graph and they show you where your cortisol is, where your melatonin is, where all your different hormones are throughout the day. And it gives you a really amazing glimpse into what's happening in your body. And for me, for example, it was a clear cut, exactly what I was feeling was that my cortisol was not rising in the morning. It was really low, which is why I was so tired. And then I was super wired at night because my

melatonin was super low and it was like backwards the way that it should be. And so a saliva test, I highly recommend if you guys can do it. And it was fairly inexpensive. And like you said, it's pretty easy to read. So I highly recommend that if you are concerned that you might be dealing with this, a saliva test is pretty easy to do. But I would love to go into some of the lifestyle strategies that you have and also just some of the signs and symptoms to look for, like you said. So definitely we talked about some of the signs and symptoms like trouble waking up in the morning, fatigue throughout the day, insomnia, waking up throughout the night anxiety libido issues can be um and some people can have pain and just that feeling of overwhelm but there's also things like craving salt right you're

just like you sit down to eat one chip and then all of a sudden the whole bag's gone that's going to be a sign of adrenal dysfunction if you step outside and you have trouble with the bright lights like you're just like wow it's so's so bright outside. I need sunglasses. That used to be me. I just realized that I don't really have that as so much anymore. So I don't interrupt you, but wow. Yeah. That was me. That's a really big sign. And that's a sign that your body has healed, right? You don't have to wear those sunglasses as much throughout the day. And obviously if you're at the beach in LA you're going to wear sunglasses but yeah exactly every day it shouldn't be blind you shouldn't be blinded by the light every time you step outside getting up when you wake up

or I'm sorry when you stand up too quickly and you feel lightheaded that can be a sign as well if you feel easily startled that's going to be another important sign, kind of a red flag of this. Memory issues, brain fog, this is going to be very, very common for it. And then maybe perhaps some belly fat. If your belly fat tends to accumulate, if your fat tends to accumulate in your belly, that's going to be a sign of adrenal dysfunction as well. So if you have a lot of these things, there's a good chance that you're going to benefit from a lot of the lifestyle strategies to shift yourself back into a healthier circadian cortisol melatonin production. And that

way you'll have good calm energy throughout the day and be able to sleep and heal at night. There's nothing more comforting than a warming cup of hot chocolate before bed. I know coming from me, that may sound a little counterintuitive because you're probably thinking, how is hot chocolate healthy for you? But I've got a little hack for you and it's called Organifi's Gold Chocolate. First and foremost, the most important thing here, it has one gram of total sugar in it. So you get the satisfaction of having a comforting, cozy little sweet treat after dinner without all the loaded sugar. And it's like with this one, you get a twofer, a two for one, because you also have the added bonus of things like turmeric,

lemon balm, turkey tail. There's also magnesium and there's reishi in there. So whenever I drink this at night before bed, it gets me really sleepy and ready to wind down and it really improved my sleep. There's also a blend in there that helps with digestion. There's acacia, cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, and turmeric. So if you have this after dinner, it's also going to help with your digestion and it's going to get you ready for bed. My favorite thing about Organifi products outside of them being all organic, they're also glyphosate residue free. If you have listened to this podcast long enough or paid attention to my Instagram, you know that

glyphosate is a huge, huge concern for all of us in this country. Glyphosate is a known carcinogen that is being sprayed. It's an herbicide. It's being sprayed on all of our crops that are not organic. And it's also being leaked into organic products as well, organic foods. So this glyphosate residue free stamp is so incredibly important. And it's one of my favorite things about Organifi outside of their actual products, which I love. If you want to try this hot cocoa from Organifi or any of their other products that I mentioned today, make sure that you go to Organifi.com slash realfoodology and you are going to save 20% on your order. Again, that's O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com slash realfoodology, and you are going to save 20% on your order. Again, that's

O-R-G-A-N-I-F-I.com slash realfoodology. You know, I wonder just from a societal standpoint right now if a lot of people are dealing with this, because you think about, you mentioned this earlier as one of the symptoms as like easily irritable or feeling super overwhelmed. And what do people do when, obviously, when they're easily irritable, but also when they're really overwhelmed, they lash out really quickly. They don't think about what they're doing. They just act very impulsively. And I think a lot of our society right now is really dealing with this overwhelm, super stressed out, living in fight or flight, this chronic stress survival mode that we can't get out of. I fully agree with you. I feel like I used to see this adrenal

dysfunction very commonly in my autoimmune clients. And then when COVID happened, it was like everybody, like you were a unicorn if you didn't have some sort of adrenal dysfunction just because of that, I guess, traumatic experience that pretty much everybody that was here and old enough or aware of what was going on, everybody experienced trauma to some degree from just that. And for some people, that was kind of the camel that may have broken the back, right? Of course, there's people that were not affected as much and maybe they had better resources or resilience, but I've just seen it much more commonly in today's society. And then there's also the hustle culture. There's like that, I'm a mom now, so I'm very tuned into like mom culture too. So I wasn't aware of that before I had kids, but there's this like expectation that you're supposed to like,

you know, work. Be a super mom. Be a super mom, you know, homeschool your kids, have a full-time job, like have fun with your friends and just do all of these things. Like you need to be seven different people all at once in one day. So there's a lot of that, I feel like, societal pressure. I mean, I love social media, but also sometimes you see other people on social media and you're like, wow, they take the best trips. And I haven't taken a trip in like, you know, six years. Or this person has such a perfectly clean home. And look at my hot mess.

And you're constantly comparing yourself and that can be very stressful for us as well. Yeah. Well, people forget, you never know what's going on behind the scenes. I mean, someone can depict a clean house and behind them, they have piles of stuff. They just shoved everything in the corner and did it.

Yeah. Exactly. I'm also speaking from experience. So it's always a good reminder to never compare yourself to other people's lives because you also just never know what they're dealing with behind the scenes. But you're right. I think all of those play a role. So knowing what we know and knowing that a lot of us are dealing with this chronic stress, this fight or flight, what are some lifestyle strategies? I know we've gone over a couple like the sunlight in the

morning and the dim lights at night. What else do you suggest for people that help? A lot of the big focus I talked about was blood sugar balance. So this is going to be a very critical part of the program where you really eat for blood sugar balance. And for some people, this means eating every two to three hours. I know skipping breakfast is great for other people, but when you have this adrenal dysfunction, fasting can make you feel worse. And so you really want to tune into what makes you feel good, what helps you sleep throughout the night. And for a lot of the people that I work with, it's actually eating more frequently, eating more protein, eating more fat throughout the day, maybe even having a snack in the evening.

Even though I know I'm from Europe and it's like, oh, we don't eat in the evenings. But for my women with adrenal dysfunction, sometimes that is a necessity. Figure out where you are and figure out how to best nourish your body right in that moment. The other big thing I focus on is replenishing the nutrients that have been lost as a result of stress. So whenever we go through a stressful experience, whether that's physical stress, emotional stress, even stress from health conditions in our body, that's going to be depleting us of various nutrients. Magnesium is a really, really big one. So a lot of times I'll see people, they're like, I'm constipated. I can't sleep at night. I have body aches and pains. I have

these menstrual cramps. And I'll be like, hey, I have an idea. Have you tried magnesium? And within a few weeks of using a magnesium or taking an Epsom salt bath, they're like, I slept through the night and my body aches are gone. I feel so much better, less anxious throughout the day. My bowels are moving. And magnesium alone is such an important co-factor for people, for neurotransmitters, for so many different processes in the body that this is really one of my big go-tos. If you don't do well with supplements, then you can take an Epsom salt bath, which is really my favorite self-care routine. If I have a tough day, I'll take an hour-long Epsom salt bath. My son and my husband will be like, are you ever coming out? I'll be like, no. I need a little bit more time in here, guys. I

need more time. You're like, I'm just moving into the bath. This is just where I live now. Yeah. My son will come in there and be like, do you want a bath toy, mom? Do you want this? And I'll be like, thank you. But this is a really great way to just to give your nervous system some love and help your hormones, help everything out through replenishing magnesium. Vitamin C is another thing that gets really burned when we're stressed out. And so typically people will have a lot of issues with immunity, right? They'll be having frequent infections or reactivations of something like Epstein-Barr virus. Vitamin C can actually help with that. So another thing that I will commonly do is B vitamins. Oftentimes these get depleted too. So B6 or P5P is one of my favorite things to use for people that have poor dream recall. These

people are like, I don't remember my dreams. And oftentimes they have trouble falling asleep and they tend to be overwhelmed. Util utilizing P5P can be very helpful for that. It is a precursor to, it helps us with making serotonin and melatonin. So oftentimes that's going to be very helpful for a lot of people. And then electrolytes, right? Like electrolytes can be such a big game changer. I know they've been, when I was doing a little bit of background research for my book and history of their use, the research behind using them, they're studied to, some of the electrolytes and mitochondrial support are studied to give extreme athletes an ability to recover faster. And I was like, this makes sense why it works so

well for people with adrenal dysfunction and chronic fatigue, because everything feels like an extreme athletic endeavor when you are so fatigued. So utilizing electrolytes. And I like to use D-ribose, which is a mitochondrial nutrient in addition to electrolytes, as well as a few other mitochondrial nutrients to really help to replenish the body and the cells to kind of give you back a little bit of more of your energy and your, I guess, vitality. And this can just be done with those nutrients. And if you're just trying to relax more and forcing yourself to relax, but you're nutrient deficient, then you're not going to get as far as if you just replenish your nutrients and do the other work. That's going to be working really well in synergy.

This is so helpful. And everything that you listed off, I was like, yep, that's helped me. Yep, this's helped me. Yep, this has helped me. One of the big ones for me was finding out that I have, I call it the motherfucker gene, the MTFHR, which is your body can't methylate B correctly. And so you have to take a methylated form. And so my doctor gave me a methylated B complex. And I mean, I can't tell you the difference that it made for me as far as energy goes. It helped me so much. And then another one that's really helped me a lot is Adaptocrine. And obviously people listening, talk to your doctor. I'm not your doctor. I'm not a medical professional per se, but if you want to look into that, I think

that one really helped nourish my adrenals a lot and it's been helping me. And then Bioptimizer's Magnesium, I really love because that has seven forms of magnesium in it. Do you like that one? I haven't used that one in particular. And I will tell you, I work primarily with people that are constipated. I use a lot of magnesium citrate because it has the beautiful benefits of helping to move the bowels along. But there are so many wonderful forms of magnesium. I will say people do need to find the one that works well for them. Some people, when they use the glycinate version, they can actually over-convert the glycinate to glutamate if they have a 6 deficiency. So I kind of learned that the hard way with some people a few years back, just to make sure that you're really tuning into that.

And I would say about half of the population that I've worked with, I usually start them off on citrate. We'll do well with that. And then some people will have too much, too loose bowels, and then they'll work with magnesium glycinate. But about half of the people that take glycinate will have an issue with, it makes them more anxious. It makes their body very tight. It can cause them to wake up with night terrors. And it kind of does the opposite of what we hope. So if you're like, I tried magnesium, that stuff did not work for me, then I would look into perhaps utilizing like P5P or B6 to help with that conversion of glycinate to glutamate. So that's just my

warning sign about magnesium because I've seen that too many times in people, unfortunately. Yeah. That's interesting. It's probably why a lot of the supplements that do contain magnesium glycinate have B6 in it because I've noticed that, that they'll add B6 in there. So maybe that's why. Oh, that's interesting. I've never heard that. That's really smart when formulators started adding B6 to that because those are wise, wise formulators. Because I've seen some that have just straight up magnesium glycinate and haven't always done well. And that's the reason. Yeah. Oh, that's so interesting. Well, it's good to know. I think for a lot of people, this is going to be really helpful because as we were saying earlier, it feels like everyone's stressed and overwhelmed,

myself included. So is there anything we haven't gone over you think is important for people to hear? Absolutely. So I feel like really working in synergy with the nutrition component and some of the supplements, some of the lifestyle changes. We all know we should meditate more and stress less and do things that we love and enjoy. So I love that you took up hiking. I think that's such a great way to ground yourself and to give yourself an opportunity to do pleasurable things that you enjoy. A big part of what I recommend is actually do things that you enjoy and give yourself an opportunity just to work with that. So whether that's making scrapbooks, riding horses, making art, playing in the mud, whatever it is, do that. And I know we mentioned that whole

hustle culture. There's this like, turn your hobby into a side hustle. And then it becomes kind of stressful, right? Like I used to be... Writing used to be a big hobby of mine. And now I'm like a four times published author with book deadlines. So it's like not the most relaxing thing for me to write. But you have to find outlets for just doing things that just bring you pleasure just for the sake of it. And then there's the component that is like the elephant in the room. You have trauma. You have things that trigger you. How do you deal with those triggers? And for some people, it's taking a trigger inventory. And I talk about what to do and identify what really triggers you, what really gets you upset.

What is that comment that somebody makes on social media that just sends your ears smoke out of your ears and you just can't help but to react? There's going to be a pattern of these things in your life. They're usually going to be connected to trauma. One of the things you can do is to have tools that you can utilize. So let's say you have a coping mechanism of yelling and screaming and maybe telling somebody off when they trigger you. Really identify that and just say, what can I do when I'm triggered? Instead of calling somebody an a-hole, could I actually maybe take 10 deep breaths or do something productive or do some stretches or do whatever kind of gets

you back into your body and into your brain and out of that trauma response. And then also find a way to let go of that trauma so it doesn't have control over you. I've worked a lot with EMDR and neurofeedback. And those can be amazing for helping people rewire their brain. So the brain isn't as reactive to the things that are so triggering for us. And a lot of us have gone through traumatic experiences in our lives. And they've happened there, but they've happened a long time in the past, but our bodies don't necessarily know that. And we could still relive them in the moment if we don't reprocess them properly. Yeah. Okay. I'm so glad that you brought this up. I've also done EMDR and it is an incredible way to rewire your brain, like you said, and help you look at these traumatic experiences from a

different lens. It doesn't take them away, obviously. The pain, to a certain extent, will always be there, but it helps lessen it and help it not be so reactive in your body. I really highly recommend EMDR. And also, I do want to say triggers are an invitation. They're an invitation to look at the things that you have not healed in yourself because there's a reason why it's triggering you. And there's a reason why it bothers you and why it doesn't bother other people. It's because you have a personal experience with whatever that subject is. And I just want to remind people that they are an invitation to go inwards. And it's almost like they're shining a flashlight on in the dark, you know, the dark places that you don't necessarily want to go to places that you don't necessarily wanna go to

and that you don't wanna look at. But if you can bring lightness into that darkness, you can find a lot of healing for yourself because ultimately at the end of the day, triggers are really just hurting you, you know? And that's not like a shameful thing. It's just to say that if you're allowing something to control you that much,

then you're ultimately the one that's really suffering, you know? And well, and obviously that if you're allowing something to control you that much, then you're ultimately the one that's really suffering, you know, and well, and obviously the person you're calling an a-hole is not having a great day either, but you're the one that's living with that. So I'm glad that you brought that up. I think that's a really, really important part of the overall healing journey. And, you know, we didn't talk about this at all, but there is an emotional component to all of this. There is an emotional component to all of this. There's a trauma component to all of this. Like I mentioned at the very beginning, I believe that I was really suffering in this

fight or flight because of the trauma that I went through as a kid. And I did not have the tools to properly address it at the time. And so I think this is a really important part of that conversation too. Yeah, absolutely. I feel like when things happen to us as children, we only have the tools and resources that we have at the time. And their research has shown that people with a history of trauma, especially adverse childhood events are going to have higher risks of asthma, autoimmunity. Adrenal dysfunction is another thing that's been measured with

these alterations in cortisol patterns in adulthood if you've had a history of ACEs as well. So this is how the body responds to being overwhelmed by stress. It's always trying to protect us. It's always trying to conserve. It's like saving up that cortisol for when you really need it. So if you go through another traumatic experience, you're essentially dialing things back a bit

because it knows that it's expecting another stressor. So there is fortunately ways to heal and rewire that. And it does take time and it's not always in a pillbox, right? Yeah. And it's hard. It's hard. Facing that stuff is really hard. Doing the EMDR was really hard for me, but it was also the most freeing for me. So the hard work pays off and it really helps you a lot, but it is hard to do it, to face that stuff. So before we go, I want to ask you a personal question that I ask all my guests at the end. And I'm so curious to

hear what yours are. What are your personal health non-negotiables? So these are things that you do daily or maybe weekly to prioritize your own health. I really focus on making sure that I'm eating gluten-free for the most parts. I've been gluten-free for about 10 years. It's been more than 10 years, but it's really changed my health and my life where I'm at the point where I can make anything gluten free. I can make gluten free pierogi. I can make everything that way to the point where I'm just like, I'm okay with not eating gluten. And that's just not a part of my life anymore. The other thing that I really prioritize is peace. So I really focus on having a peaceful

household. I am not somebody that likes a lot of drama in my life. And I really prioritize that. That's a non-negotiable for me. I'm like, I have a five-year-old. I don't need any more drama from anybody else. And the other thing that I really focus on is spending time in nature. I feel like nature can be very, very healing. And I try to do that on a daily basis. It's not at least weekly, doing a hike, going to the pool, spending time at the beach, whatever I can do just to be outside and get some sunshine and just get some fresh air. I feel like that makes a really big difference in my life. Yeah. And I always say you get vitamin G too. You get vitamin grounding, which is really important too. I love that. No one's ever said that. And I think that's a really big one. I like that a lot. So please tell everyone where they can find your book. I think

you said you're working on a new one, maybe if you're wanting to talk about that and just where people can find you in general. Absolutely. So my website is thyroidpharmacist. I'm on Instagram under Isabella Wentz PharmD. I have four books out. The first three are on Hashimoto's. Hashimoto's Protocol is the most popular one that people really resonate with because it gives them a 90-day plan to take charge of their health. My newest book is called The Adrenal Transformation Protocol. And this is really focused on getting back into balance. In four weeks, it really does work that quickly. It takes a few years to figure out what to do, but all of the things we talked about are in there, plus some additional tips on what really, really works and moves the needle for people very quickly. And that's available on Amazon, wherever fine books are sold. And then I have a new book that I'm working on and it's going to be

on IBS. I feel like I've had to learn so much to your point. Not every... People with thyroid issues, it's like they have skin issues, they have IBS, they have mold toxicity, they have all these other things. So although I wanted to really specialize in thyroid health, all these other, I had to learn how to heal all these other things. And now I'm like, I can't keep it to myself. I got to get it out in the world. Right. Yes. Well, and they're all connected. You know, I I've noticed that, um, with my thyroid, when I'm really having like issues, it affects my gut. So there it's all connected, you know? So that's cool. I'm excited for that book to come out. Thank you so much for your time. This was awesome.

It was such a great episode. Thank you so much, Courtney, for having me. It's just such an honor and a pleasure to connect with you. Yeah, me too. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of The Real Foodology Podcast. If you liked the episode, please leave a review in your podcast app to let me know.

This is a Resonant Media production produced by Drake Peterson and edited by Mike Fry. The theme song is called Heaven by the amazing singer Georgie. Georgie is spelled with a J. For more amazing podcasts produced by my team, go to resonantmediagroup.com. I 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. Looking to build a more robust foundation in your health and well-being?

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