The Skinny Confidential Him & Her Podcast - Noy Skincare's Danna Omari On Cancer Diagnosis, Overcoming Life's Most Challenging Obstacles, & Vulnerability As A Superpower

Episode Date: May 11, 2023

#569: Today we're sitting down with Danna Omari. Danna is the founder of Noy skincare, an intimate skin wellness studio in New York City. She’s been in the industry for over 15 years & improving skin is her greatest passion. She struggled with acne while growing up and through that, found her calling. She became well known in the industry for her buccal massage facial and taking a different approach to skincare. Danna joins us today to discuss her whole story, how she discovered buccal massage and learned how to be the best at it, what facial massage is and why it's beneficial for your skin, and she gets into how facial massage has grown and evolved over the last few years. She also gets into her personal battle with cancer, why it's important to find root causes to everything, her healing journey & overcoming addiction to painkillers, and she gives the audience tips on how to eliminate stress from your life. To connect with Danna Omari click HERE To connect with Lauryn Evarts click HERE To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE Subscribe to our YouTube channel HERE For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM To Call the Him & Her Hotline call: 1-833-SKINNYS (754-6697) This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential This episode is brought to you by the Natural Diamonds Council From Canada to Africa to Australia, the natural diamond industry has transformed local communities from which the diamonds originate with healthcare, education, and infrastructure over the last two decades and is committed to continued progress. Discover so many more natural diamond truths at naturaldiamonds.com/thankyou This episode is brought to you by Topgolf The Topgolf experience has a vibe – it’s all about play and having fun. Download the Topgolf app today & book a bay. This episode is brought to you by Ritual Ritual knows it’s basically impossible to get all the nutrients you need from your diet 100% of the time, so they made a multivitamin that helps you focus on what’s important. Like filling key nutrient gaps to support foundational health. Go to ritual.com/skinny to receive 10% off your first 3 months. This episode is brought to you by Zoc Doc Zocdoc is the only FREE app that lets you find AND book doctors who are patient-reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them and treat almost every condition under the sun. Go to zocdoc.com/skinny to download the app & book with a top-rated doctor today. This episode is brought to you by Sunday for Dogs Sundays is air-dried dog food made from a short list of human-grade ingredients. Unlike other fresh dog food brands, Sundays is zero prep, zero mess, and zero stress. Get 35% off your first order by going to SundaysForDogs.com/SKINNY or use code SKINNY at checkout. Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. This episode is brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. Every mother on the planet needs balls in her face. And if she doesn't need balls, then she needs ice in her face. And we have you covered, okay? So I'm going to hook you up with a code that you can use for your mom to get her balls, facial massage balls, and ice on her face immediately. All you have to do is use code P mother. You can use it and get your last minute Mother's Day gifts on the site. You could also get her maybe a facial razor, some shaving cream, some oil. We have all the things ready to go. And I'm telling you, every mother wants to be snatched. So this is the gift. It's cute. It

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I think deep down I knew it was cancer. It was really hard. During ovulation, I had a weird pain. A month into COVID, excruciating pain, starting from my lower back and radiating down my leg. Pain like you can't imagine. I didn't sleep for a year and a half. It was like somebody was stabbing me with a knife,

and I was just the stupidest person. To be like, this is chronic, and it's normal, and I'll just the stupidest person to be like this is chronic and it's normal and I'll just have to deal with it and no you know like I don't know what was wrong with me I just don't know I spoke to God I'm not I'm not religious I was like please God like if this is cancer just give me a year I'm not ready to deal with it yet. Hello, coming at you from New York City. This episode is insane. It goes all over the place. Dana is the founder of Noy Skincare. You've seen her all over Instagram. She is famous for that facial massage, buckle massage that we all love. When I watch her Instagram, I'm just like so zenned out. It's so peaceful. But on this episode, not only does she talk about skincare, wellness, and beauty, she dives in to her journey with cancer. And she's very open and she's raw and real and vulnerable. And I just really enjoyed listening to her. And I think she has a great perspective. I should also mention that I had the opportunity to get a facial with Dana, and it was absolutely

incredible. So if you're in New York City, you should definitely hit up at Noy Skin Care on Instagram and book with them. You can't go wrong going in there. The studio is absolutely stunning. It doesn't even feel like you're in New York. It just feels like this magical, whimsical experience. On that note, Dana is the founder of Noi Skin Care, an intimate skin wellness studio in New York City.

She's been in the industry for over 15 years, touching faces and improving skin. It's her greatest passion. She also has been on a holistic journey after being diagnosed with cancer, and she opens up on this episode. I have massive respect for her as a businesswoman, a mother, and she opens up on this episode. I have massive respect for her as a businesswoman, a mother, and a healer. On that note, let's welcome Dana to the Him and Her Show. This is the Skinny Confidential Him and Her. I am so excited to have you here. I have followed you on Instagram and TikTok as I know so many people have forever because I feel like you're the queen of facial massage. It's really nice of you. I do love,

I love facial massage. And it's so much more than that. It is. It's so much. And we'll get into it. But you really are. And that's, I had you in my book because I just look up to you so much with the skincare space. In person, your skin is absolutely glowing. But I also wanted to get your story. You've built an incredible community. I want to sort of hear how this all started. So can you take us back to when you first launched Instagram? What was that like? Was the first video facial massage themed? Yeah themed so I tried it in 2014 after having my first daughter that was the first time I even logged into Instagram and I was like oh I'll try this for the business we opened in 2012 Dave and I my husband it was a really cute little boutique spa in Midtown Manhattan.

And it did really well. But I was working intense, from 9 to 9. He was in the front desk taking appointments, booking clients. And I was just building the reputation, Yelp reviews. And that's how we really grew a clientele. Brought some other girls to work, trained them, did all that. But I knew, and I was having babies throughout this whole time. It was a really beautiful time, but I knew that it wasn't it what I learned in school,

like cleaning the skin, you know, extracting and I'll see you in a month or microdermabrasion, lasers, all of that. Beautiful. It's beautiful for the skin, but I knew that it wasn't really what changes the skin long lasting, like giving long lasting results. So I wanted to delve deeper. I always just wanted to learn more massage techniques. And I didn't know. I tried like, you know, courses here and there, continuing education courses, but they were, it wasn't it. I remember in 2017, after trying Instagram in 2014, which failed, I just stopped. I remember 2017, I looked this man up. His name was Yakov. I know you saw him.

Remember him? No, but I'm going to learn. I think that's when i first started following you actually maybe was he there was he would like do videos in that conference russian man i do remember who has like hands that are yeah i do remember now it took me a second yeah but yeah it's not in the old memory bank i'm not you know this is you know i'm learning here yeah he's he felt when i got facial massage you got it from him right yeah it felt like he took a needle and popped my face like it was so snatched it was like i went magic it was

magic what happened to him he's still around still around he's still around go on so i was like no no no no i found him i just googled I don't even know how I found him, but I saw him work. Like I was Googling facial massage, whatever, all these different things. And I saw his, his hands move. And I was like, no, I have to learn that now. I have to learn that nobody does that here, you know? And I just, it was like, you know, that aha moment. So then I messaged him on Facebook at the time I had Facebook. And I was like, you have to come train in New York. And he's like, no, I've never been in America. And he was Israeli, so Russian-Israeli. So I could communicate with him in Hebrew because

I can't speak Russian, clearly. So he was like, let me, and I was begging him and I kept calling, like writing him and kind of bothering him. And then he's like, let me just see, I'll reach out to you if, and when this happens. And then a couple months later, he messaged me on Facebook and he was like, we're actually going to get something together in Staten Island in August. And I would love for you to come. I was like amazing I'm coming he's like just FYI it's in Russian so I was like okay I'll come like I'll use my eyes so I go it was like really really like very unprofessional now it's very different but I know he has like translators and he even learned the language more. Imagine the

first one was just like, where am I? You know, like it was, I was communicating with him in Hebrew a little bit, but like, I didn't know what I was doing. And I would go home to my husband. This was like four days back and forth from Long Island to Staten Island. And this is my personality. I'm just like, I need to learn it and I need to be the best at it. So then I went to Dave and I was like, I just can't do this. Like I suck. Everyone's getting it because they were all speaking Russian and I'm just not getting it. And he's like, just keep going. So I went, I learned it. I left. I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do with this. So then I kept like practicing in during my facials, just some of the moves. It was so bad in the beginning.

This was a September now, 2017. So right before Meghan Markle got engaged. So timing was everything. And during this time, I started Instagram. So it was like, I don't know. It was just everything came into place. I started Instagram but different this time I had this moment where I was like nobody no um celebrity esthetician that I

follow feels like relatable and and is showing us the ins of the industry is is teaching us they were just showing products talking about them them. Fluffy. Fluffy, very, very superficial. And I was like, I have to do what they do for makeup, but I have to do like massage on myself. And like visual, I'm a visual person, so I want to see it visually. That was like the moment where everything changed. Because from then on, what you see now on Instagram, that was not the case back then. Nobody from then on what you see now on Instagram that was not the case back then nobody was doing skincare videos they were all doing makeup tutorials I was at that time my husband found a like an independent PR you know women still in

touch with her and he was like let's just try this out let's see what what we could do like what what we could do with this she's like you need an angle know, like you're an esthetician. That's great. And my husband's like, you know, he's like my biggest cheerleader. So he's like, no, no, no. She's like, she's going to get into this magazine and she's going to kill it. And she's like, no, you need an angle. So she was like, we need to go with the buckle. I'm like, I just learned it. Like, I really don't know how to do it. She was like, you have to just fake it. You have to fake it.

So I practiced, practiced. I had a Russian, a really good client who was Russian, who translated the video that I bought. And she was like, because it's all about the intricacies of this massage. And just really quick for people that don't know what the buckle massage is, explain it to everyone. So it really sculpts and changes the face in a way that we didn't learn in school. And then when you go inside the mouth, it's all about working simultaneously inside and outside at the same time to create that lift, working on the tiny muscles that we can't access. It just stimulates the muscles in the jaw?

Yes, because we can't access those tiny muscles from outside. So going inside, and you could do this on yourself. It's very intuitive. There are no rules for, I wouldn't recommend any esthetician just do it on someone else because that's an art. But on yourself,

it's just doing it. I'll show you how to do it. You go in your mouth. I don't need, listen. Well, actually, you can show me how to do it today and then I'll show you how to do it. It's so easy.

But to myself. But you can also, I feel like the massage that you do too, and we can get into this in a second, but it sculpts the, even like the fine lines, the wrinkles, it molds them out what she does. Softens them. Yes. Nothing that I do is like going to get rid of your wrinkles or it's, it softens wrinkles.

It softens your frown lines, your laugh lines, but it improves the posture posture of the face it does create a lift it's like a workout for your face yes yes so and it feels amazing because so many people hold so much tension in their face i don't think you let me tell you what you do to me lauren i don't think you understand she holds these back on me she goes and gets these services yeah she does it all she gets she she takes like the ones that are like tens of tens you can go with me today and get like 10 minutes of buckle. You're sending me to somebody who's like, hey, here's a shoulder rub and get out of here. No, maybe I'll bring him today.

He's never done the buckle? No, maybe I'll bring you and you can do the buckle for 10 minutes. Well, I got to go up to Midtown, but maybe. Oh, okay. All right, go on. You can do it on him. Okay. I'll teach you.

Do I give him a hand job while I'm doing it on him? What else do I need to do? I don't know how that's going to go. That's part of it. I don't know how that's going to go. You need two hands over here. Yakov didn't teach me that. And I remember that you got a facial with him.

I stalked him. I found him on Instagram and I was like, literally, he was in a different country and I was like, I need you to work on me. Yeah.

I did the same to you. I just haven't had a chance to, anyways, we'll get into that. This is why women are going to rule the world because there's no way a man's going to anyways we'll get we'll get yeah this is why women are going to rule the world because there's no way a man's going to see you know i was like i'd be like where are you but i was never mind no he was in russia i'll find someone else i'd be like well yeah russia not helping you know i literally found him in russia and i was like this is why i

said like me and wolf aren't doing okay so you probably haven't had something like that before right it was insane it was insane. It was insane. Very unique. It's unique. Okay, so go back. I wouldn't even get a haircut if the guy's 30 minutes away. Your PR agent says that you need a unique angle.

Yeah, because this massage is very important to know the intricacies. Like that's my work. You know, it's not just going like this on the face. You have to move your body. You have to follow through.

You have to use your finger pads. You have, there's so many details that if you don't learn it properly, you're going to practice missing those details. And it's just not the same experience or effect. So I knew that just, I knew that intuitively. That's what I'm always saying. I always felt like I needed to be massaging women's face, not extracting. Like that's not my thing. I work more holistically with the skin, with the lymphatic system, where we bring about a change to really create, you know, an improvement in skin condition. So I started doing that with my friends, with my client, and then my mother-in-law,

because Dave is Russian. So my mother-in-law, I made her sit with me and translate it for me. So I did this. And then I brought clients just practicing on them taking before and afters. It's insane. And it was amazing. And I got good because of all of the practice for this PR thing. I got good and they still kind of sucked. And then Megan Markkel got engaged she was putting out feelers my pr girl was putting out feelers i got that nobody was interested nobody she got engaged megan markel and suddenly her phone was ringing off the hook and she got me into e wait because you did her no megan markel came out and said her beauty secret is buckle massage. Yes.

In London, I think she was getting it. She was getting it in London. And because she had gained so much popularity, people were then searching buckle massage, right? Everybody. And I was really the only one here. E! News, I was like freaking out because this was like a national television i was just like i don't know if i could do this i didn't know what i was doing they came to my spa they filmed every it was a segment you know and then the cut new york magazine then it went to like buzzfeed

real all of these publications about it it's i have a blog post on my blog i remember yeah there was i did a blog yeah on it. It was hot. It was fire because Meghan Markle got it. And you jumped on the trend line or what? Yeah. She did. I did. Who doesn't want their buckles removed?

I want that. I mean, not removed. Yeah, worked on. But I want that facial. Well, you don't want your buckles removed. No, you don't. And people are doing it. No, we'll get into that too.

I mean. Do not remove your buckles. No. But go on. So yeah, so then I, because I started doing all of these public, like all of these PR, this PR tour kind of thing, I got, and started booking up with it. Because when I went to learn it with him, I didn't know if people were going to even book this. You know, who would, and you have to charge because it's so much work.

It really is. So like, I was like, who's going to pay that? Or who's going to book this? Who's going to care? Pay what at the time? Actually, not a lot at the time. What was it at the time? I think he recommended something like price gone up.

Yeah, the price has gone up. It's your time. So I have 500 people and over on a wait list. How did I get in? I don't take clients at the moment so you got in is that a power move lauren what are you doing it's it's just for lauren i'm crying i'm so excited no it's my pleasure to do i didn't know that no i'll be i just asked i'm like i should have known no but a weight loss. Let me ask you this. No, but I knew that I would be. It obviously sounds labor intensive. How long does it take?

90 minutes. Okay. Because I also combined Gua Sha with it, which has also exploded. So, yes. No. So, I started getting booked up from E! and from New York Magazine. And I just, all that practice, I got so good at it, you know, and then I started filming myself doing it and putting it on

Instagram. And that was even, you know, that exploded even more. Now every esthetician wants to learn, learn it and everyone wants to incorporate it into their, into their book. And now clients, they want this. The one treatment that people want over and over and over again is this, not microcurrent, which lifts and sculpts the face beautifully. This one, they want me to go inside their mouth because it's just so, it releases emotions. It releases blockages. Many people cry. Brano called you yesterday our friend brano and was like i just got this buckle massage to you well i imagine he was like telling you about it really yeah a guy friend but i imagine it's because it's an area of the body that is not getting any kind of

attention for 30 40 plus years and all of a sudden yeah ever know? And we hold so much in our face. Trauma, whatever it is, and to unload it is so powerful. It's like, and I feel like when I'm doing this facial, first, I'm going to another space because it's also very, and this is the art of it. It doesn't happen in the beginning, you know? I'm like releasing things from my body

it's like I'm taking it from them and just releasing it from them it's crazy I'm like a vessel so it's it's a very energetic it's a transfer of energy yes but I don't hold it but you don't release it and I've heard from other facialists that I've worked with that you do have to have almost a barrier to other people's energy when you're working that close on someone for sure what is that like my client like you have to like you have to like actually talk or think about I need to take this energy and sort of no wash it off that's the thing that's that's where experience comes along because I also used to absorb all of that energy. And with time, you just learn to, I'm not just doing this on somebody.

It's like a treatment for me as well. And so it becomes the therapy for me. It's crazy. I love it. I love doing it. So while you're working so hard, being a mother, being a wife, building your business, you're jam-packed. Are you also taking care of yourself?

No. Yeah. Which is why I'm not seeing clients right now. Okay. Because I don't know how to do both of them. And that's something I have to figure out. I care so much and I put so much. And right before COVID, January, right before COVID, we signed on for a

huge space that you'll be coming to today in Nomad and then the world shut down. So yeah, I had Instagram at that point. We had just started. I was doing tutorials. I started really speaking about products and skincare and helping women from all over the world. And Dave was wrapping in the basement, shipping. COVID happened and I was like, don't worry. Like everything's going to be fine. I'm just going to like take it up a notch on Instagram because I'm home, you know?

I was like, there's literally nothing to worry about. And I exploded in COVID like so many people. Well, you were able- Our e-commerce blew up. You were able to take all the time that you had spent with other clients and put it- Exactly. And make a massive business about it.

I mean, I remember, I think, during COVID, going on your site and trying to buy the reflexology tool that you sell, and it was sold out. Minutes and minutes. Yeah, I remember, I think, during COVID going on your site and trying to buy the reflexology tool that you sell and it was sold out. Minutes and minutes. Yeah, I remember that. And I didn't even plan on making a reflexology tool. It was literally, you know, I learned facial reflexology, which we could talk about. It's incredible. I was like, just look up facial reflexology tool because everyone wants to know what I have right so I was like they don't sell this one I just got it with my course so I ended up making a tool because

they wanted a tool but the tool came out so beautifully perfect that now you know it's a bummer it's all over what are Alibaba and estheticians who follow me sell it as their own design. And it's sad, you know, it's like, I wish I'm sure this happens to your things as well, or will happen. I don't know.

It's part of the game. I mean, but that is hard. It's hard. It's part of the game. You got, you got, you know how you go in with the energy of getting off your clients.

You have to do the same with that. I know. No advice. Oh, I know. I don't know if that helps. I've let it go. Yeah helps I've let it go yeah I've let it go but it's really frustrating when like I see I don't care if they're like I got a copy off of but when they pass it on as their own it's like they consume

my content and then they they they also it's it's very it's just so weird to me. Can you become a wholesaler where they can buy it? I will. Okay. That's what I would do. It's just with everything that's happened with my health, I've been operating at like 10% over the years. So talk to us about that. Talk to us about before.

I think it's a common theme too. We have a lot of, I would consider you a healer in ways, right? Yeah, she is a healer. And we have people in our lives that are in that different walks like some of them working on the body someone working you know yeah and one common thing we see with a lot of people that are in that kind of like level or that field right is that many of them struggle to take care of themselves because they're so consumed taking care of other people right it's unfortunate and yeah it's it's sometimes like we'll sometimes say to people in our lives that work in different areas we'll say like hey you gotta like take care of yourself too

because you could say like their nervous systems are shot especially when they won't no they don't they won't until a crisis happens and that's what i want to that's why i do want to share my story a little bit more i'm always apprehensive but it it just won't happen until you're met with a crisis, which is unfortunate. So walk us back to the first inclination that you had that something was wrong. And maybe it's not even like a pain somewhere. Maybe it was just a feeling. My health started to decline after I had my third, my son. So that was the year where things blew up on social and the PR

and Meghan Markle getting engaged and all that. And I was working with Eden. That's my son. I was working from two weeks before I gave birth, taking clients till nine at night. Dave would come with two of my baby girls and pick me up from the city. And I was like in like just in a crazy, probably stressed out, happy, but stressed, very stressed. We didn't know where we were going to live. We were looking for a home. School was starting. I remember just getting like anxiety, which I've never physically, never physically manifested like that before. So I gave birth six weeks after my cousin, someone very close to me, passed away from cancer. And that just was a very, very big trigger. Something,

I don't know what happened, but I got really sick with Hashimoto's thyroid disease. I didn't feel like myself. It was really just such a depressing's my little baby saved me because he was just so perfect. And like, thank God I had him. He comforted me, but it was really hard. The dealing with Hashimoto's when you first get it, you're like, you think it's the end of the world. And you're like, what am I going to do? You're lost.

You're going to doctors. They're telling you Synthroid for the rest of your life. There's nothing you can do about it. So they gave me. I still don't feel good. I knew there has to be something deeper, you know. So I kept kind of searching for healing ways. But I was working very hard at the same time, very hard.

Because you get a wave and you want to ride it. You know, you don't want to stop. So it was like work, work, work, work, me on the back burner. And then a year after that in 2019, during ovulation, I had a weird pain down my bone. So this was the first time. This was in summer before COVID. And it was radiating down my bone and I was like out for two days with ovulation. I always had ovulation pain. So I was like, okay, I'll go to a gynecologist. I went to the gynecologist. She

checked me. I thought maybe a cyst, I don't know, something, nothing. It would happen only during ovulation for the next couple of months. Then I was just working. Things were good. We signed on the new location. Everything's good. COVID hits. A month into COVID, excruciating pain starting from my lower back and radiating down my leg. Like pain, like you can't imagine. I didn't sleep for a year and a half. It was like somebody was stabbing me with a knife and I was just the stupidest person to just not, to be like, this is chronic and it's normal and I'll just have to deal with it. And no, you know, like, I don't know what was wrong with me. I just don't know. Maybe you didn't want to confront what was going on with you. I think my I think deep down,

I knew it was cancer. Really? I do. I believe you because you're so intuitive. I think I really do, because I'll tell you why. Because when I opened, we were doing renovation. We had a gut renovation on this place. So I was taking time to open when we can finally open the doors. This was October, a year before diagnosis. And I said to myself, I said, I spoke to God. I'm not religious. I was like, please, God, if this is cancer, just give me a year. Just give me a year to deal with it, to enjoy the spa, to enjoy this creation, to enjoy my family, whatever. Just I'm not ready to deal with it yet. And it was literally a year from that time that I just couldn't walk anymore. So what do you do when you feel like your world is crumbling? What doctor did you go to? How did you get the actual full diagnosis?

I went to another physical therapist who said, this doesn't look right. And I was like... How can they tell by the way it looks? It was 13 centimeters in diameter. Oh, wow. It was half of my femur and full hip replacement.

So it was like you could see it. You can see could you see it in close it was weird a little bit but it was weird because it was in the it was mostly in my hip area that it almost could look like they thought bursitis like swelling because it wasn't necessarily hard when it became really hard was when it started to engulf here and I felt like a bump so what did your husband say while all this is going on he was just like he didn't know what to do he was scared he was scared but he was like it's not cancer like it's not cancer you know he and then the night before my appointment I ended up watching a documentary with a woman who had bone cancer and I was like she named all the symptoms that I had and I was like had bone cancer. And I was like, she named all the symptoms

that I had. And I was like, I looked at Dave and I was like, it's cancer. You know, it was so crazy. But I went to the, I went to a spine specialist who I hate this day, but I went to him and he didn't really say much. He was like, I like I'm gonna call you but we'll figure it out and that night he's like listen I was going out for drinks with a friend and he called me at nine at night and he was like I forwarded your images to you have to come in as soon as possible so I was like it's my holy holiday tomorrow like I'm religious, but I do observe that. And I'm like, can I wait? He's like, I just don't know what you're religious. You shouldn't wait. You need to come in. And I was tests right away. And they said it is most likely the most aggressive form, osteosarcoma.

I think that having three children and a full-time business and a husband, it's so much pressure, especially on a woman. It's your body. It's so many different things. In a way, I felt a relief because I found out what it was. And like, I knew, like, I just wanted the pain gone. Like, I could not deal with the pain anymore. It was at that point, I also, they were talking about amputation. So I was like, just get me into surgery and like get this out. So they did a biopsy and it actually, they called me in. They did the MRI, the PET scan. They do everything to really make sure, you know, the diagnosis is correct.

And they're like, great news. It's not in your lungs. So it hasn't spread. I'm like, how? How is it that big? And it hasn't spread. And it's not osteosarcoma. It's a slow-growing tumor called chondrosarcoma.

There's no chemotherapy or radiation. It's just a surgery. So I was like, wow. He's like, the surgery is not easy. It's one of the most difficult recoveries. You will probably limp for the rest of your life, which is I do. I limp. It was really hard. It was really hard. was really hard so I got like hooked on the drugs because it was so painful like but I detoxed after a month and I made myself get off of that shit this is something that's not talked about enough and I think that maybe you can add to this conversation so many people go through certain surgeries where they break their leg or whatever it is and they get addicted to the pain medication and you're also simultaneously going through this. So the pain medication is probably soothing.

I was loving it. Yeah, you're loving it. The first time in a year and a half that I haven't felt pain. Right. But not just pain, probably physically, right? Yeah. Emotionally. Yeah, totally. So when you're in that, at what point do you know that you're addicted to the pain medicine?

They kept telling me we need to scale back. And I said, no, I'm in the pain when it wore off. You cannot let it wear off because the pain was like something undescribable, you know? So, so. Is it like a burning pain or is it like an aching pain? You can't describe it. It was like, you don't have a leg. Childbirth? Nothing compared. Oh my God.

I love contractions. I know. I kind of like it too. I like it. I was like, this is happening. Yeah, it's happening. It's progressive. Yeah.

And it's like a good thing. It's not like, it's like a good pain. So like you'd rather give birth all day long. day i'd rather be pregnant give birth i'd rather all that all day long yeah okay nobody wants to i i can't believe what like i got a taste of what people go through like athletes and stuff like that like with injuries and and this was just imagine two two bones basically like two that are back like like this it's not like it was my hip going into two different it was it was two bones that are next each other that need a replacement so it's just the recovery is very difficult it's very different you know so i was they were to their credit they were trying they

were trying to get me off but they didn't say listen you're going to get addicted they didn't say that so I was like I'm not going to get addicted I I why would I get addicted to the drugs and then I went home and something really weird I don't know if you know of this, but something called parosmia. Do you know of that from COVID? Oh, thank God you don't know about that. It was actually like one of the worst things I've ever experienced in my life. It had to be during my recovery too. Unfortunately, it was I got COVID in August right before I was diagnosed.

And I lost my smell and taste came back and it's this thing that after two months of or three months of COVID you develop this thing where everything that you taste and smell is like sewage chemicals chemicals, burnt toast. Like something that is the most, you've never heard of it? I think I had that. Does it taste like metal? Yeah, but that could be one of them. But it could be very mild of only a couple of things. Or it could be, you would know if you.

Well, she said she could. That's exactly. I thought it was pregnancy. You know that taste in pregnancy, that metallic. It's the worst. Every single thing smells. Even like I would give Saza a kiss. Yeah.

And like the hair. I couldn't stand my children's smell. It's the weirdest thing. I couldn't even stand boiling water. I couldn't stand shower water. I couldn't stand my own breath, my body odor. And I didn't, nobody smelled anything. So what exactly is it?

It's when the rewiring is off. So you lose it and then things get put back together, but wrong. So a strawberry doesn't taste like a strawberry. It tastes like poop. That is exactly what I have. And it takes how long to... It's kind of, it takes nine months and up. But my mom's in acupuncture. She did acupuncture three times a day on the olfactory nerve.

I did homeopathy. Came back 70% within a month. I was so depressed for a week. So what happens? It just takes a while for the brain to rewire back to what it's supposed to be. You know what the worst smell is? Rain. Everything.

Everything. Water. The air outside. You can't you had it and you never looked it up i thought it i looked at metal taste during pregnancy okay because i was pregnant pregnant so i thought it was pregnancy so i'm like every ever there's an episode you can go back and listen i'm like this pregnancy's been so easy but everything tastes like metal but then when i had the baby everything still smelled and tastes like metal it's parosmia and even like even my like you still have it it comes back

yeah sometimes like certain things will trigger it yeah but then it goes away it is like something's trying to rewire yeah yeah that's sorry that that is exactly what i had it's the worst go on it really and and and I don't know why are you looking at me like you're mad at me about it she looked at me like she's mad like I just

you didn't have to go through it I was like why didn't Dave have to go through that why did I have to go through that and do this and you have to go through everything you're going through I thought it was the drugs

that's what made me get off the drugs but that was that's how things works for you I was like I'm so sorry you're not going to have a bite of dessert pass it over here you know what i mean exactly exactly certain things i loved like oranges like i love

oranges and all of a sudden it was off putting everything chocolate coffee my parents would cook because everyone was there they would cook in the house and i'd have to lock myself in the room and i was just so depressed about it because i love food and I and then I was recovering and I needed to eat good you're looking at me like I didn't no but I'm just I'm annoyed because she can't believe that she didn't know that this was actually is she looking at you because you didn't believe her I'm annoyed at him there's a lot of rewiring that needs to go on I'm annoyed the the she's looking at me like she's mad because she was describing this but i don't know what this was and she wasn't were you describing it back then and he i was i'm like yeah that sucks but what do you want me to you know but things are

off-putting but keep in mind i'm pregnant so i'm like it's it's really bad i was never saying it wasn't true i believed the symptoms but i was like you're right though the air even smells like it if someone like the dog would pee and like the smell of pee is not the same nope my actually this is actually those things didn't smell bad certain things like like pee didn't smell like those things didn't smell bad it was weird it was like you're saying she's saying that like pee like how pee smells bad in real life like like it didn't yeah it didn't it doesn't smell bad i know what you're talking about i wonder this is me listen i'm no scientist you know some some think i am but i'm just telling when i'm not you're very smart you

are well well thank you i'll take that boost that clip up please no i think what it sounds like is it maybe takes things that sense that you're attracted to and makes and turns them off like and things that maybe yes because the kids and even my husband's pheromones which i love like dave couldn't wear cologne yeah all the things that it's like maybe your brain is saying i like that now your brain's telling you don't like for sure that is weird for sure it was everything that i loved i i could only eat right like white rice not eat i couldn't eat anything and i had to nourish my body. It was bad. It was bad.

Steamed vegetables were okay. We found things that worked. But is this a result of long COVID or COVID? Exactly. Do you know what the best thing ever for it is? Because I thought, remember,

I thought it was pregnancy. Umangi plums. What is it called? Plums. It's a plum sauce from Asia. I'm going to send you Plums. It's a plum sauce from Asia. Japan. I'm going to send you the link. It's a plum sauce and you put it on your rice.

Oh, yeah? And it offsets the taste. And I was eating that. Well, I hope I never have to deal with that again. I had to clip my nose with one of those things when I ate. Oh, Michael, you have no idea how bad it is. Oh, my God. I'm so sorry.

So why do some people get this and some people don't it's like a symptom of long covid i i don't know it's like some people i don't know but it does go away for good it went away from me but i've done so much healing to the point where it's like ridiculous to of course it's gonna go away somebody did describe this they said it takes certain brains longer to rewire than others as a result and it has nothing to do with your brain power just some brains like they can't rewire as fast as others after you have to tell me what you did off air i was like acupuncture right away right away my mom was sticking me with needles three times a day let me ask you this do you have a really strong sense of smell and taste normally yeah yeah because Yeah. Cause see, I don't have,

I've had my nose broken. I don't even know how many times. And my sense of smell and taste, I think has been impacted because of that. Since it's just because like you don't have your, and I, and she has a super strong sense of smell and taste. So I wonder if it's people that have stronger tastes than others that this

impacts. I just feel like they're the lucky ones. The ones who did this. I had almond milk in my coffee every single day for my whole life. And one day I was like, almond milk's disgusting. I just want black coffee. Yeah. Yeah. Which is actually probably better for you. I couldn't do black coffee. I wanted coffee so bad. I couldn't do any of it. I couldn't even do, thank God I actually could do water. Drinking water was not bad.

So simultaneously, as you're going through this taste and smell situation, which is horrific, you also are healing from what you're going through. I thought it was the drugs. That's what made me get off the drugs. And that's what I'm saying. Thank God for parosmia. Because I was not planning on getting off. I didn't think that they were going to be addicting.

I've never been addicted to drugs before or anything. I know people that on paper, successful, have their faculties, made it to their later adult years, no problems, not drinkers, not drug abusers that have had hip replacement surgeries or knee surgeries, and they get stuck on this. And I know literally a handful of people that haven to check themselves into rehab to get off this stuff because those drugs are so strong. How did you get yourself off of it? I actually wanted to kill myself like that week. It was, and again, that was like, I'm not a depressive person.

That's like a taste of like what people go through who get off alcohol and drugs it's like the biggest black hole i was telling dave my mom my poor mom i was like i just want to die so bad but it lasted a week and a half it was night sweats it was because i stopped it because i was like what's happening with my taste cold turkey because i was like this maybe has to do with it and it's also dangerous it's very dangerous. I knew that after the fact. And then my friend came over. She's like, no, no, no.

I had it. She was like, that's from COVID. But at that point, I had already been off for three days. So I was like, I'm going to continue this. And just people kept telling me it's going to be okay. Like wait a week and a half, a week. And it was, thank God, like that passed. If there's one thing I love learning about, it's diamonds. Think you know a lot about diamonds?

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or any other day. Another thing that is not talked about enough, and I talk about this on the podcast all the time to bring awareness to this because it's a little tiny hack when you get prescribed pain medicine whether it's for a boob job or whether it's for a surgery or your wisdom teeth whatever in my opinion you your doctor should prescribe you a stool softener with it because what happens with this pain medicine is you get constipated and the problem with this is if you've just gone through surgery and you have anesthesia in your system to get it out you have to get it out or it's i didn't go for three weeks it's not just that oh my god no poor thing that's probably i was bedridden i couldn't move the clogged shit is probably making the depression when you have opioids in your system it turns off your digestive

system everything so and we've had friends like people that are stuck on heroin or stuff like that they come in their whole digestive system. So Khalil came on here and literally said he shoved a pencil up his ass to pull shit out of his body. He's a full heroin. He's told the story openly on this show because the digestive system fully shuts down and your body's not signaling to remove toxin from your body. And so it just accumulates to the point where you can't go. And then it hurt. You're constipated.

Are you stool softener or nothing? Yeah. At that point, I was like, get me a stool. But I mean, when they give you the pills, do they give you a stool softener with it? When I left the hospital, they gave it to me. Yeah. It didn't work right away. It didn't work right away.

Okay. So once you get off the pills and you have a little bit of clarity, how is it to deal with everything that your body had just been through? I was like, thank God I'm alive and I have my leg and I'm just going to work really hard to rehab my body. We are so capable. And I kept looking at like, I didn't look at sad cancer stories or sad depressing stories. You know, I mean, I went down that rabbit hole on TikTok one day and I'm like, why, why do people, why, you know, like, no, I just want to look at inspiring stories. People who got out of the darkest holes that they've ever been in.

Weird things started happening to me. I don't know. Like I started meditating. I started really looking within. I started to understand that cancer didn't come out of nowhere. It doesn't just happen to us this could be controversial to say but i brought the cancer to myself like i know that with my mind with my fucked up thoughts with my fears and with my lifestyle habit you know my lifestyle choices very self-aware thing

to say but you have to be self-aware to heal because then you're just right back where you started so if you're going to put all your your if you're going to put your life in your doctor's hands and they just tell you let's wait and watch or it's never going to come back or you have clear margins you have no power when you were meditating did you do that work internally through the meditation? Not at first because I had just started and it was still hard for me. It's still a challenge, but now I'm able to go deep. But it was just another way to be like, wow, everything is within us. Everything, including our body's capability to heal when you say your fucked up thoughts what

do you mean like I had so much fear well like with your business in life no like when it comes to love to family to business to creating I'm like of course I'm gonna do it I'm like such a manifester in that sense I'm like I'll do everything like I know we'll get there I'm not such a manifester in that sense. I'm like, I'll do everything. Like I know I'll get there. I'm not scared. When it comes to health, it's like I don't believe I could be healthy. Working on it, I've gone far, but I just didn't believe that I could be healthy. Where does that come from? I was born with some things.

When I was born, I had surgery right away for a urinary reflux. I was like five years in the hospital on and off with surgeries when I was a kid. Because back then, my parents were young. They just took me to this doctor and he kept messing up on the surgery. So I had a lot of UTIs. They put me on antibiotics for 10 years of my life, destroyed my gut. Things that we know we would never do, you know?

But your parents don't know better. They don't know. No. So I had a lot of fear with doctors. I'm unpacking all of that right now with healers, with therapists, all year. All year has been like a year of awakening. And I think I was yearning for that. And I think cancer is like a tap on the shoulder, like wake up. Hashimoto's wasn't enough to wake me up. Cancer woke me up. So now when you sit and think about your health,

do you think about all the things that can go right as opposed to all the things that can go wrong? Yeah, I do. I do. I'm not out of the woods. The fact that I am even here, me a year ago, Donna a year ago, I would never show my face anywhere. I don't want to be out there. I don't want to be out there with this information that I have about what I'm going through. Why you a year ago? What do you mean? It's very different. I just feel braver now.

I feel- Liberated, it now. I feel, I feel. Liberated. It's liber-free. Yeah. When people go through trauma, sometimes you want to go in and close off. Yeah. Yeah. So where you're at right now.

First of all, I can't believe you even showed up to do this podcast. And are you, I feel like we should cancel the facial. No. We could do it next time. I'm so excited to do your facial. Are you kidding me? We could do it next time I so excited to do your facial are you kidding me we can do it next time i come in town i feel amazing i feel better than i did for the past seven years since my my health declined that's the that's the thing the reason why i'm

not taking clients is because i just want to focus on me right now like my healing protocol is so intense it just takes up i'm in the kitchen all day. It takes up all my time. Tell me about your healing protocol. I'm curious. I know that there's lots of different ways to skin a cat. And if you're not open-minded, maybe don't listen to this podcast because people do things differently and that's okay. That's what makes the world go around. So tell us about your experience with healing. I feel like I don't talk about this too much because I know so many people are going through hard stuff, cancer, other chronic diseases. I think it's worth it to talk about this stuff because even though it builds a little bit of

camaraderie and community when people share the hard stuff they're going through. Because a lot of times when you're going through hard stuff, you feel like you're the only one that's going through hard stuff, right? For sure, which is why I did share. But you know, sometimes when you also share some things, when you're still going through it, I'm so vulnerable in a way. I don't want anyone's opinion because people think they know everything i never talk with absolutes like that's the one thing that i just don't like you know like i am doing what right now what i'm doing could change could be wrong i just don't want everyone's you know energy energy yeah to come in in the way of my process because i am very like sometimes you know how it could be people could say something online and you could be like oh my god you know but i

don't want i don't need that right now but i did choose to share because basically i work with it with a healer who was like she wasn't pushing pushing me, but she was like, listen, at some point, it was boiling up inside of me. I wanted to share on Instagram. It really did to my community. This was last year. But I also was so scared. She was like, when you open yourself and when you share, you're going to receive. Not only will you be helping so many people, but you're going to receive so much information that you need. We are here for each other in this world, you know? And so she really, she said it at the right time. She said it in the beginning, wasn't ready at all. Then she said it later. I was ready and I did it. I did the video. I came out with it. It was, it really did open up a whole new world. And it all started with my tooth. So this is really interesting.

I had a root canal when I was, right when I had Ella, my first baby, eight, nine years ago. Three months after she was born, I had six cavities and a root canal. And I was going through, I was going to the dentist all year for cleanings. They didn't see anything. Sometimes in pregnancy pregnancy things can really mess up with your teeth oh that's why they're always checking with yeah i heard that so i was all throughout pregnancy i was going to the dentist and for some reason it still happened right so okay so they do a root canal i didn't know any better at the time. And again, this is controversial. People are like root canals, they're safe. For me, my health literally started to decline after that. And I thought it was

because of babies, even my skin. I had gotten to a point where my skin got so good after a horrible bout of acne when I was 19 and after Ella it just started like not bad but like giving me problems again and I know that when my skin gives me problems I know there's something going on internally I don't look for another cream or lotion to slap on my face you know so I know there's a root problem so whatever I was just going through the motions still felt okay but off off year by year by year go to this functional medicine doctor he takes a stool test this was last year february and he calls me and he's like okay you have a horrible bacterial infection in your mouth that we see the bacteria is in your gut. So I was like, okay. He's like, did you have like wisdom teeth extractions

or root canal or any mouth work? It's like a root canal. He's like, Gwen, I'm like seven and eight years ago. Okay, you have to go get a cone beam scan from a biological dentist. So now I'll only see biological dentists. What's that? See, this is the crazy thing like we should know this you know they try to get to the root like

they won't if you have a cavity they're going to be like what's the cavity exactly like nutrition all of it you know deficiencies like it's not like i used to think okay i'm brushing my teeth i'm doing all my dental hygiene but i have a cavity they'll fill it i have a root canal they'll they'll fill it they'll take care of it people forget their teeth are part of their bone structure and it is huge because it's the it's right there goes into your bloodstream it is i mean so the entryway to your gut is the bone from your leg that's on the left side but no but more than this just this will blow your mind this will blow your mind the tooth i have a flipper there right now by

the way what's a flipper i don't have a tooth in my left like a like a like a denture denture and i just don't care so you shouldn't care i don't i. I really don't. Like I, it's weird what we just don't care about after. And no one's like, your teeth look great. So, so, so he's like, that's on your thigh. It's on the thyroid meridian. It's the thyroid meridian. So it's an energy blockage. So I had Hashimoto's and it takes time to develop.

Cause what is, what is it? So he explained to me, and if you, you never seen the documentary root cause no oh so good they pulled it from netflix so it's it's on why do they pull it from net why why i don't know you know and when i went to my dentist who i love who i've seen my whole life and told him that they think this you know take x-rays he was like I took x-rays and you don't have anything he's like that's nonsense I was like so so they can't see it on a regular x-ray it has to be a 3d panoramic called a cone beam scan and literally when he put I went to Texas to Marble Falls live in Texas. Yeah. Should we go to this dentist? Oh my God.

He's the best. He's the best. You're so lucky I would go there. Okay. You have to send me the info. So it's attached to your thyroid. It's attached to your bone. It's not attached to my bone, but it is on the meridian of the thyroid, but it's on the

left side. So I link them. But the tooth is the bone, right? Yes. Well, more and more people are starting to talk about this. I know Ben Greenfield. You is the bone, right? Yes. Well, more and more people are starting to talk about this. I know Ben Greenfield has been talking about this.

You've heard it, right? Yeah. I think more people, especially cavities, root canals, stuff like that, they are linking. But to your point,

and I don't blame the world of dentists because there's a lot of amazing dentists, but a lot of them are going to fix aesthetic problems or fill cavities

or clean, like, you know, they're maybe not looking further under the hood into your structural system, into your bone system, right? Into your diet, into all that. Yeah. They didn't learn it in school. Here's my question though. When the biological dentist tells you this information, you have the information, but what can he do for it? You have to pull the tooth. So he pulled the tooth. So he's, and you gotta do it right. If you got an infection, you were done. You were dead, right? It's like a splinter. He told me

if this was an infection and it's called the silent infection because you don't feel it. So it's one of the most dangerous that fester in your body because it's silent. There's no...

There's no alarm bells. But people's skin issues. But the root canal, does that have to do with that? People have skin issues from root canal. People have from wisdom teeth extract because you have an active infection so what he thought is that you have an active infection brewing in your in your body for a good nine years your your immune system has been busy

trying to take care of that active infection that's a serious infection. And we all have cancer cells. And so it's just a perfect environment for cancer to thrive. And so it's just something, it's just another piece of the puzzle. I don't know if it's the root. I think it's a big piece of the puzzle. And I addressed it right away. So you pulled the tooth. So I got my body right. I prepared for it. I went to Texas. They pulled the tooth. They don't do, he's amazing.

I wasn't swollen, no pain, no nothing. It really has to be done right. Like there are doctors in New York. There's a big doctor in New York who I hear great things about, but it's a different methodology. I think he does like bone graft. And I heard, I don't know, it was like a little bit painful for some people so I just wanted to go to the best had a great experience started feeling

automatically different like like less tired less fatigue and I remember just coming home and just like crying like like something was like taken out and it was like a like we closed the faucet it's like a thorn in a hoof like you pull it out and you just something feel you take a splinter out and and your finger feels better it's like that like something was was stuck I don't know it was like the beginning of everything because so when I started so I started sharing my story in May or June I got this out in July and when I started sharing my story online a lot of DMs came through being like check this girl out check this check this you know she also did this with her so I checked out a girl who had also her thyroid cancer and had an accident. Her whole front teeth were knocked out. So that was

the connection. She was going through this whole dental journey. But at the same time, I saw that she went to a clinic in Mexico. Cancer. So I was like, what is this? That's what I'm saying. Things started coming to me because I'm open to receiving it at this point. I was like, I told Dave, I'm like, Dave, maybe I should go. I mean, I know I don't have anything now, but maybe I should go. Because they're saying that you can't cut cancer out. Started doing research. They're like, you can't just cut cancer out. It's still there.

It's just getting bigger and it's going to explode. And that's what happens with recurrences you know because there are stem cells there are cancer stem cells that are like the soldiers the bulk of the tumor it's it's normal cells even so did you decide to go to the mexico place so not yet so that at that point i was getting tested every three months for my lungs. Because if this cancer comes back, it comes back in my lungs. Oh, my God. So this is the first time I'm sharing this publicly. They did find something in my lung.

I know. I know. It's so crazy. But it's okay because I'm going to fucking beat it no matter what it is. I will. There's no other choice. There's no other choice than to have that mindset. And I think that you just have to keep thinking of your future. Think of the future every day.

And I felt I feel better than I felt probably my entire life physically. So I know that things are happening. Good things are happening happening it was the best thing it was the worst thing that ever happened to me but it was the best thing that ever happened and it's so hard to say that when you you know I can't even believe I say that you know but it's the truth it's just the truth so they found something in my lung a month after I found out about about this clinic so I was like okay this is a sign like I'm going to Mexico and learning everything I could and I went for three weeks had the craziest treatments but it was just such a learning experience

like everything we know is just so backwards like what like give us examples like nutrition doesn't just prevent nutrition heals you can heal with nutrition so what are they what kind of things do they give predominantly plant-based but it's no rules in that sense it's not it's more about not what you're cutting out it's what you're putting in obviously you're cutting out processed food refined sugars i mean all that stuff is absolute poison it's poison it's toxic and my whole life i was like you know you're surrounded we we like to hear good people like to hear good things about their bad habits so like you like something and you'll look for for for for confirmation bias yes and i'm like that too we're all like that it's human nature but

you start to hear these things and they start to to to make sense it's cancer is a symbol is a system of the immune system malfunctioning that's all it is because we all have cancer cells so if you get your immune system right by sleeping in this circadian rhythm, meditation, working on your mental and emotional state, getting sun in the morning, being out in nature, eating well. Eating well, meaning incorporating a variety and diversity of plants, like fruits and vegetables. It doesn't mean I still eat fish and eggs like less, but it's what you add. And it's like, but forget that for a second. You can heal. I mean, I know these stories. That's the community I'm in right now.

A lot of people blame food and technology and the things that we have access to for their health problems. But I think a bigger problem is that with the free flow of information, especially on the internet, there's also greater pockets of people who are validating terrible behaviors. And listen, this is not a commentary on people's bodies, but just if you look at it from a pure health perspective, there's people that you know from a health perspective, from a scientific perspective, are making poor metabolic choices or poor dietary choices or poor mindset choices. And then you have a portion of the world that is validating that behavior. And it's complete confirmation bias where you look at someone who's maybe not taking care of their body or their mind or what they're putting in their body.

And then you have a group of people saying, that's okay. We accept you as you are. That's good for you. And you have a whole bunch of other people doing that. And you wonder why the world's getting sicker. It's because more and more people are validating terrible behavior. But when you think about it in your own life, you would never tell your own children to behave that way. And so I think it's very dangerous because years and years ago, if you would have started taking poor actions or poor behaviors in your life, the community would have called you on it, right? Especially when we're

living in a more tribal environment. It's a complex subject, but it's true, right? If you take poor care of your body and your mind and your health and you put things that shouldn't be there in there, you're going to have a very difficult time. You're going to get sicker. You're going to get more out of shape. shape look how many people are sick yeah and so people look and they go oh it's just the stuff it's blame mcdonald's blame exactly coca-cola blame these it's not that it's that you're having people that aren't taking no self-accountability and then other people telling them that's okay and and saying this is going to piss a lot of people and i know it's such a it's such a touchy subject because that is the

world we live in right now. But I'm sorry. It's not about vanity. This is not about how we look. How is your blood sugar? How is your digestion? How is everything functioning? Forget how you look for a second, because that's not what I'm talking about. How do you feel? Every other woman I meet has an autoimmune disease nowadays. It's really, really, really like an epidemic. And listen, again, this pisses more people off, but if you look at the effect of COVID on this country in particular, why it was so detrimental is you have so many people whose immune systems are already so compromised that they're not able to handle any kind of new infection that comes in their body.

It's not strong enough. Lauren and I got a lot of shit for it during COVID. I was not worried about it personally for myself. Of course, I was worried about people in life. But I was like, listen, here's why. I'm young. And I had cancer. I took care of myself. I'm conditioning myself. I'm working out. I'm doing things every

day that are not comfortable to do so that when things like that happen, I'm in hopefully a position to be able to combat it. Now, again, I know that's not for everybody, but wouldn't we be in a better position as a society and country to be like, okay, listen, this is probably not the first or last time something like this is going to happen. So we need to do everything to be able to put our immune system in a strong position so that when this happens again, you have the function to combat it. Right. Instead of saying, hey, it's okay how you are because COVID demonstrated it wasn't okay how many people were. That's why it took so many lives.

A hundred percent. And I think that it just became take care of yourself became so like didn't even mean anything anymore because it was such a like two camps, right? That take care of yourself. I mean, I really I mean it when I say like take care of yourself. It just didn't mean anything anymore during that whole time. Do you know what I mean? Just lost value. It's meaning. Recently, we had the founder of Ritual on the podcast, and we learned all the things when it comes to supplements. And honestly, that episode made me even more confident in my decision to

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dog. You sit here and you say that what's happened to you has spread to your lung. Possibly. Possibly. And you still are very, I mean, very positive about it and very stoic. It seems like almost, you know, that it's going to be okay I can't explain it it's an energy but it wasn't like that this whole time like I've had like horrible horrible horrible I mean that's what I'm saying that it's a very very when I say take care of yourself it's just look within in every facet of your life you know like the stress we know stress okay take care of your stress no like really like if if you're living a stressful life take care of your stress because I know that it impacted my health you know so and I know because now I'm just not stressed and I know how I feel. I just know how extreme it was like that and now

how I feel. Do you think you're not stressed because now you know the effect of what stress was doing to you? Or is it just because you've... I think people were stressed like a badge of honor. Yes, especially in the city. I was like, it was a hustle culture. I was like, I'm working nine to nine with babies. I don't need a nanny. I don't need a housekeeper. I could do everything on my, by myself. No, like, no, you know, I'm not going to see a hundred clients.

I'm going to, because I didn't drink. I didn't eat. I didn't, I didn't pee during my work. Like it was self-abuse, self-sabotage. And we wear it like a badge of honor, especially in the city. People make fun of me all the time because of my morning routine.

They think- I love my morning. Yeah, they think my morning routine is extravagant and they make fun of my nighttime routine. And it's probably absurd. But the way that I look at that routine is it is preventing me from stress. You're so smart though. I'm sorry. You are so smart. You're mad because I have an extensive morning routine. Everything I do is setting me up

to be more effective on the hours that I work. I don't care if something takes me three hours in the morning. If that's going to- It's okay. You should. It should. The truth is too, and this is like, I guess when I think about the periods of our life and almost 40 now with multiple kids and different ventures and things like- You're literally not almost 40 though.

That's like so- How old? He's 36. I'm almost 40. I'm older than you okay i look older than you so don't worry how old are you 36 life doesn't get easier as you go right like more responsibilities like i think about how stressed i was at 25 28 and i look back i'm like i didn't have to worry about shit then i didn't have a kid i wasn't married like i didn't like the business. If it failed, who cares? You're a 25-year-old kid.

You get further along like, okay, I got a wife. I got two kids I got to think about. I got other people relying on me. I'm employing people. The stakes go higher and higher. So if you can't figure out how to manage it from a young age, it's not going to get better. You got to take care of it early because your immune system is going to get weak. My immune system now is weaker even if I'm taking care of myself than it was at 25, right? Because I'm older and it's going to

get worse and worse and worse. So you've got to manage that early or else you're setting yourself up for a lot of pain in life. You guys almost knew that you had to. I know that you guys left LA and for a more calm life, like a more... I've known a from a young age and it sounds like you have two maybe in a different way but similar i i've learned and i don't know if this is something from childhood how to protect my energy if you would have met me at 25 he was a little different his journey so if you don't get me 25 to 30 i was a complete stress case i wasn't calm at all i was always in a pant right and like i now it's funny because I don't remember the last time I got

even a little bothered by. I used to say to him, there's no saber-toothed tiger. What is that? There's no saber-toothed tiger. I don't know what that means. Meaning like I'm looking around for the danger all the time.

He, instead of like enjoying the present, it was always like, where's the tiger in the room? But that's, it's just like how we're conditioned.

Yeah. I was anxious and all the time, Lauren calls it made up stress looking for things and now it's funny because there's a lot more stressful things that happen but they don't bother me in the same way because you have this this that your lifestyle habits and everything that you guys do it's to release the stress is to relieve the stress you guys do disconnect you must with everything that you're doing you must disconnect oh yeah but i think people don't realize how much we do you must i guess what i'm saying is just like i always try to like bring this back home to the audience it's listening like lauren and i are not perfect we have not always figured out

there's still a lot we have to figure out but this was an active thing that we had to figure out because like i said if you would have met me before this show existed 25 30 i was a fucking stress case mess that's what i'm saying but everybody can do it i'm like people write to me like that who don't know my story and i hate this like they'll write like relatable or like it's like it's not relatable like i can't do this not everybody could do what you're doing. You know what? Everyone should be doing what I'm doing.

You can if you wanted to. You can. It doesn't have to be exactly the same, but you can. No, like they'll say like, oh, Lauren, you're cold plunging. Okay, well, 10 years I took a freezing cold shower instead. Exactly. I want to clarify something too because I know there's people listening and they're going to say, well, yeah, easy for you to say because there's success in financial means.

Let me tell you something. Any kind of success in financial means, yes, from an optionality perspective, it makes easier, but it is actually way more stressful. Because before, if I'm building a balance sheet or building a company and it was just Lauren and me, the worst that can happen if something goes wrong is Lauren and I figure something else out. When you have children and you have employees and you have people that are relying on you for their life and their living and their families relying on you for their life and living, you're not only carrying your personal stress, but every decision that we make as employers now, I have to consider how that

affects everybody that's working with us. And so if you don't battle armor yourself up enough to be able to handle stress, you're not going to be able to take care of not only yourself, but everybody else that's relying on you to take care of yourself. And this is why I tell people all the time, it does no good for me in the position that I'm in to run around stress and panicking, because that's going to cause stress and panic in other people's lives. And if something goes astray, it's going to have a real effect on people that are not just myself. 100%. When you made the decision, it sounds like it was a decision to live a less stressed

life. What did that look like? It was also just like, again, finding, discovering the power within me to become the best version of myself that I could possibly become, to live my happiest life, to live like a fulfilled life, my purpose, whatever it is. So after I went to Mexico, I came back and this is really a hard time at that point because the amount of things that i have to do i mean you want to know like details i yeah i know you like the details you like the the i want every little detail i want every little brand okay so we're talking about enemas yeah we're talking about i was doing daily on enemas which take like a nice two hour situation in the morning.

And is it coffee enema or regular? Coffee enema. So enema, it's not to clear your bowels. It's to, so, okay. I had to go predominantly plant-based and like, I'm talking about like an abundance of fruits and vegetables, abundance and like variety. It's not just eating a salad. It's like juicing six times a day. I turned a little orange from the carrot, which is fine. I like it. It's kind of like a little glow. It's really good for the skin too. So anyone who has

breakouts, they should do carrot juice. Eating like only from 10 to 6, so intermittent fasting, sleeping at 9.30, 10 o'clock tops, waking up at 5.30, having a little, like I love my morning routine. I have a date with Dave in the morning, a coffee date before the kids wake up. It's our time to dream and talk and just be together. You know, in the warmer months, we go outside, sunrise, all that. And then I start food prep right away, like 7 o'clock in the morning. I'll start my food prep. I'll make the coffee enema, go into my bathroom. The enema, basically, I have to do it because with all of the plants and the fruits and vegetables that I'm eating, the diet is very detoxifying in itself.

So if my body is breaking down any dead tissue like tumor, it can't overburden my liver. Wow. So the enemas. So it's getting it out. Yeah. Wow. To me, that makes a lot of sense. And there is a bit, there's a really important like, there's so much happening with enemas.

And then I also do colonic, which I love. And I do hyperthermia, which is like a sauna, but deeper penetrating. It works on the immune system, kills cancer cells, but not. You get glutathione in. No. So when you do enemaema it releases glutathione so you have by like 700

times or something so you have to supplement for it no she's saying it releases glutathione into your system oh okay your own glutathione

amazing it creates glutathione it creates glutathione bend over bitch I'm not giving you an enema right now you could use some glutathione

instead of taking those packets bend over no but I think a lot of people don't talk about it i swear i had a feeling that if it went this way this would dave wants to do it he did they they should they all they all should do it he's gonna go to you and he's gonna want to do an enema you know weirder things have happened with you okay so so you're doing coffee enema in the morning. That's releasing glutathione. And this is like every morning, but for a very short time. It was when I was really heavily detoxing at first.

Definitely, just so everyone knows, don't do that every day. And also don't do it if you're not eating right. And go talk to a doctor. Go do your own research. This is not like telling anyone to do anything. It's your journey. It is. And you cannot do it if you're malnourished. You have to replenish your body. My body is getting so... If I told you what I had today already, I had two juices with cilantro, parsley, lemon, ginger, celery, cucumber, arugula,

microgreens. And then I had a smoothie because I need to digest better. It's better for me to digest the food. My body can't work too hard right now. It needs to focus on healing. Makes sense. So I blended tomato, pepper, parsley, lettuce, garlic cloves, onion, squeeze of lemon, some dulce, dulce, dulce flakes. I don't know how you say that. Like a bunch of vegetables and eat that. I'm just glad you didn't bring me one. It's kind of good, actually.

It's not gross. At first, I was like, I don't know if I could do this. After having everything smell like metal, I'll anything i know this is actually good i like it and it's like the juicing is like a people are like juicing is not good because the fiber is out there is a you're juicing for a reason and you're blending for a reason it makes sense juicing is like goes straight to your to your system it's like a nutrient shot to your system and i just love make i love being in the kitchen i love it it's creative i i can't believe how many options you have i love the beans i love the look i love all of it

and then i had a smoothie with a bunch of things inside i had like nuts i had a lot and this is from in like a span of two hours i could see you doing like a cookbook maybe because you are people do love hands they they want to know what i'm eating all the time yeah and it's a lot of time because of because i'm i'm thin but what people don't understand is that i've always been thin it's it's focus on that. Don't focus on that. I really don't tell people. I don't talk a lot about diet because it almost seems like they want to know it because of weight loss. But it has nothing to do for me with weight loss at this point in my life. You are incredible. Thank you. You guys, she's been in my book. You also have tools. If someone was to start with one tool, I'm just going to recommend mine first, then you could recommend yours.

I have your tool, by the way. It's really good. I bought it. That means a lot to me. Thank you. Coming from you. It is. I had to see it. The Gua Sha. I have that. I use it all the time. I love it with an oil. It's my baby. It's incredible to de-puff. And this is so weird, but I don't think you're going to think it's weird. It's also the Gua Sha that you sell is very grounding. And what I mean by that is I can actually feel the ions of it because it's stone. It has such an energy. i'm so are you kidding me i i i purposely sought that out because because this is like it's it's such a sacred time you know for us to do to be with

ourselves to do the gua sha and so if the stone also has this power this energy not only will you want to do it more often but it's just going to elevate the experience okay and and and the the angles of it all of it is just so, it was for a reason. It's the most beautiful Gua Sha. And it's the shape of a foot. And that has meaning. It's like, you know, our journey in life. You know what's going to happen?

What? We're going to go home and Michael's going to say, where's that Gua Sha you guys were talking about? And start using. This always happens on the podcast. You have to do a Gua, I'm doing Gua Sha on you today. I can't wait. Yeah. So good. Well, well listen thank you for coming on here and being vulnerable i think like it's not an easy thing to do i always you know we have a lot of people on the show and i

always think the best ones are when people come on and just share their story and i think it's like i don't think you realize at the time but you never know who's listening who can help right it takes courage to do it so thank thank you. Where can everyone find you? I really think that a lot of people would put you in as a visual creator. And while I do think you are a visual creator, everyone should go to her Instagram and see it. You also have a lot to say. So this podcast, we focused a lot on your health, but you have this whole other aspect, which is visual. So where can we go see the visuals of you doing facial massage? It's all on my Instagram.

I mean, I do have TikTok as well, but yeah, at Noi Skincare. People think my name is Noi, but- No, Donna. It's Donna. Donna. Not Dana. No, not Dana, not Dana.

Donna. It's just a very weird spelling, but that's, I was born in Israel. So when we moved here, my parents messed that name up. I mean, but I like it. I'm into it.

Yeah. I like different. Yeah. Foz is different. I love, I love your children. They have to meet your children. The eyes.

You probably get that all the time. The, the, the, the people think we Photoshop the eyes, the size of the eyes. I thought I had big eyes. You have big eyes. Her grandmother had like the eyes, I thought I had big eyes. You have big eyes.

Her grandmother had like the eyes, like Lauren's got big eyes. Whose eyes do they have? I think her grandmother's eyes. I can't see shit out of these things. I barely see you over there. It's her grandmother's eyes. You would have a field day with his skin, huh? He has great skin.

He has great skin. These men with their skin skin like they don't have to do anything and they have good skin my dave doesn't do anything besides the oral care but listen i looked like i was like scraped off the floor about seven years i get to come i get to talk to people like yourself all the time right so i mean you'd have a field day like i feel like you could really lift his skin because it's already like like with your facial massage listen i like aging i know it's weird but with your facial massage. Listen, I like aging. I know it's weird, but I like it.

I don't know what to say. A lot of people think I do injections. Please, Lauren, you have to touch my face and just put it out there once and for all. I'm sitting here with you in person under harsh light. I mean, there's no injection. No. I could tell that you sculpt i mean i will also say it's genetic like my mom has the her no you can't just get this a jaw without doing surgery or or

something everyone thinks everyone does i like aging but i want to be like a hundred years old and look like i'm 70 so you focus on your internal terrain yeah so but I want to be like a hundred years old and look like I'm 70. So you focus on your internal terrain. Yeah, so I'm trying to think like, okay, I don't mind aging. Should we massage his balls

to keep them supple like his face? If you like this, you can. Listen, you are such a good wife. Yeah. You really are.

It does work, right? I never thought about massaging Dave's balls. But if they're going, if they're going to sag. You know, Lauren, you don't want me to age. We better get back to the hotel. Do ever get embarrassed do i um like we don't

know each other listen no okay that's no i do the same thing i get embarrassed in in but no i think i think it's amazing it takes a lot to get me like sometimes people go i can't believe the way she talks to her husband i'm like listen no is your husband not uptight like like loosen up buddy but but what i'm saying is that's that's the most amazing type of relationship in my opinion i find her sense of humor funny right and i think that's exactly i i rip a lot of yeah i mean like if i didn't find like i mean when we probably wouldn't be together but i think my wife is funny and i don't care if it's at my expense because i don't think it's like she's not oh i couldn't date someone that was too sensitive can you imagine listen

sometimes i'm peeing from you guys, from the things that you say to him. I find myself laughing. It's funny. You gotta have the banter. Well, some people, I think it's, I mean, there's a weird like male-female dynamic

where like some women feel they could never say certain things to their husbands and vice versa. It's just personalities, I think. I think that this whole episode, though, just proves that everyone doesn't have to be like everyone else it's true

the thing is I would steamroll you could have a different opinion and still be friends with someone this is gonna be how about that 100% we don't all have to be like

but I love that he doesn't I love that you know why it can't be said if I date a woman that doesn't kind of give it to me as good as I give it to her from a you know

that sounds what's happening and how lucky are our kids to to be in terms of like to have just like you know I don't want the house mouse right I want somebody that's gonna like you know kind of call me on my shit I like that it's like I want somebody that's like hey buddy you're not that great like get it together right because if not I'm gonna steamroll somebody it's happened in the past so you don't like his aging I mean i just think as you age if the balls are gonna get longer and longer and longer if we can do something about it that's preventative you should come out with a tool maybe like an ice bucket for you to tea bag every day your ginger tea today just

that's shaped hey listen maybe put that on instagram and see how that's received that that's that's i mean i think people would receive that well why not oh thank you for coming on thank you for having you guys everyone go look at her facial massage it's kind of like porn you can't look away it's it's like ASMR. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that it also relaxes people. It's nice. I'm honored that you're giving me a facial. I'm excited. I can't believe it. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. Make sure you've rated and reviewed the podcast on iTunes and we will see you next time with a very fun festive episode. This episode was brought to you by The Skinny Confidential. Use code PINKMOTHER for 15% off.

That's PINKMOTHER for 15% off on shopskinnyconfidential.com.