Well with Arielle Lorre - 371: LA Fires, Histamine/MCAS, Latest Beauty Procedures and Q&A

Episode Date: January 22, 2025

In this episode I am sharing my experience with the fires in Los Angeles, delving into histamine intolerance and mast cell activation, how I have been getting relief, how to get clear and execute goals, how I stay motivated, what beauty procedures I’ve done lately and some audience Q&A.This episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct, or indirect financial interest in products, or services referred to in this episode.Go to fromourplace.com and enter my code BLONDE at checkout to receive 10% off sitewide.Visit boncharge.com/BLONDE and use coupon code BLONDE to save 15%. Visit supp.co/BLONDE for 100% FREE access.Go to www.YNAB.com/well for an exclusive three-month free trial with no credit card required.Visit holiss.com and use code WELL15 for 15% off your first order.Sign up at ro.co/BLONDE to pay $99 for your first month.Visit oneskin.co/well and use code WELL at checkout for 15% off your first purchase.Produced by Dear MediaSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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In a world of ever-changing, wellness trends and information, what does it mean to truly be well? I'm Ariel Lorry and I'm going to explore this with you. I am bringing you candid conversations that will equip you with everything you need to live your best life and look good doing it. Think of well as your go-to resource for all of the latest in wellness and me as your internet bestie. Well, let's get into it. Hi, everybody, welcome to the show. First off, I want to wish you all a bleated, happy new year. I wanted to get you a solo episode sooner. I know I've been talking a lot about doing more solos, but scheduling issues arose, especially around the holidays. So here we are, more solos coming. And I have to just say, and I'm sure

anybody else in L.A. understands this. It has been a freaking long year. I'm recording this on Friday, January 17th. This comes out the following Wednesday. It feels like this year has been a decade. I'm sure a lot of people have fire fatigue, whether you are in it, whether you're watching it from afar. But I did get a lot of questions about that and about my experience. with it. So I will definitely share what it was like from my experience before I get into the general Q&A. And if I sound a little bit tired right now, it's because I'm recording this very early in the morning in Miami. I got here yesterday. So I will just say to start that when there is like any kind of trauma situation, I usually freeze. Some people fight. Some people flight, fly,

flight and some people freeze and I am a freezer. I'm like a deer in headlights at least after the trauma. When it's happening, I can be very action oriented. I can take whatever action is necessary to move through it. But in this situation, I had some not great moments. And then once the acuteness of the fires subsided a bit, I just was like paralyzed. I was paralyzed. I was paralyzed. I was exhausted as I think so many of us were. And then there's like the added layer of social media being my job and sharing my life on social media. And it's just not in my nature to get on and start talking about it. And it's a tricky thing. And I really wanted to be sensitive to people whose lives were completely turned upside down because so far I have made it out pretty unscathed aside from this feeling that I think so many of us have now

that my sense of safety has kind of disappeared. And I think a lot of people in L.A. feel that way. So I just want to say if you lost your home or were directly affected in that way, I just can't imagine. And my heart goes out to you. But, okay, so it started on Tuesday, the seventh. The day for me started at my new house that I'm renovating. We were going over our first. final round of things that need to be modified, final furniture that I need to get, just some final tweaks were kind of in the home stretch now. We were going over budget, et cetera, et cetera. Remodels are stressful. They are expensive. So I was feeling a little bit overwhelmed by that and just so ready to get the project done. And then I went home and I can't remember where,

but I heard that there was a fire in the Palisades. So I've lived in L.A. for 13 or 14 years. I've been through a lot of fires here, including the Malibu fire in 2018. So that year, I was married and we were evacuated and we had to go stay in a hotel for, I think it was about a week or something. I can't remember how long. But at that time, my ex and I were remodeling our home in the Pacific Palisades and living with. full time at our beach house in Malibu. And that fire was devastating. I know people who lost their home in that fire. But we've never seen anything as catastrophic as this one turned out to be.

And, you know, I've been through other fires in the Palisades, too. I've been in evacuation warning zones. I don't think that we were ever evacuated in the Palisades where we were. but I just thought they'll get this under control. It will be like the other fires in the palisades that we've been through where a lot of the brush burns, but nothing really happens to any structures or homes. So I texted Chuck, my ex-husband, if anybody here is new, to see if he was okay around 1130. And he said, not really.

And he sent me a picture of smoke billowing behind a mountain that the house overlooks. and I posted this on my Instagram actually last week. It's on my feed somewhere. And it looked pretty ominous, but still I didn't think that it would be that bad. I think we just didn't have a reference point for this, obviously, in our minds. So I called him and we talked for a bit and I told him that if they say evacuate, he needs to go ASAP because when we were in Malibu and we got evacuated, he tried staying behind and I had to go back and get him and make him leave, but that's a whole different story. So he agreed that he would leave if he needed to. And then I went about my day.

And obviously we all saw how that unfolded. He was evacuated along with all of the palisades and parts of Brentwood. And then two more fires began in Altadina and Somar. And that was sort of the beginning of this nightmare that we were all in and that many people are still in now. So on Tuesday, we all downloaded this app. called Watch Duty, which has maps. It has real-time updates about the fires. And it shows where all the helicopters and the planes are that are engaging in aerial firefighting. And it was constantly going off with alerts. The relentless spread of the fires, everybody was glued to the news.

So it was a really heightened situation. I don't know about anybody listening who went through it. But as the week went on, I literally was like tracking the helicopters. on the app cross-checking it with the news. The news was showing that the fire was cresting over the southeast ridge of the mountain and I'm looking at the app and I'm like, why isn't there a helicopter there? Why is it over in the west side? Like it was just insanity. But that first night, we barely slept because it just felt like everybody was vulnerable even when at that point in time, we weren't in an evacuation zone. So I will speed this up because you guys, don't want to hear all of the minutia, but the next day, Wednesday, I went to see Chuck and Harvey at the

hotel where they evacuated to. And we were just sitting around talking. It was evening. And then we see on the news that there's a new fire in the Hollywood Hills. And that's close to where I live. Now with my boyfriend and where my new house is that I'm remodeling. And I mean, I dropped everything. First I froze and then I dropped everything and I was like, I have to go. So I ran down. It felt like it took an hour for valet to get my car. I was panicking. I'm racing home, just shaking because we all saw what happened elsewhere in our city.

And that became the reference point. So before it was like, yeah, we had these fires in the past. You know, the Malibu fire was really bad. And I'm sorry if I'm missing any fires. that affected anybody between 2018 and now. But L.A. had these crazy winds. At that point, we knew that the city was maybe not prepared for these fires. And it was showing this fire in the Hollywood Hills.

And it said that it was spreading fast. And so, yeah, I was just panicking, racing home. And my phone was going off nonstop from friends who were nearby, friends and family out of state emergency alerts. And I was just thinking I have to pack a bag and then I have to run to my new house and try to spray it to protect it from embers because what happens in these fires is these embers can travel like a mile away and lighthouses on fire even if they're not directly by the fire. And that's how it spreads so far and wide. So I was at Chris's house. I was packing anyone who I will say is even lucky enough to have time to decide what to pack knows how hard it

is to make a snap decision of what you're going to take. All of a sudden you realize how unimportant so much stuff really is. In fact, all of my stuff just felt like a burden. All the bags, the clothes, those kinds of things are not really what you think of when you think you might lose everything, or at least it's not what I thought of, but I still tried to be methodical since I did have some time. We were in a level two evacuation zone, meaning it was an evacuation warning, but not mandatory yet. So I grabbed some jewelry, some documents, and some clothes. I put my bathrobe in my car. I don't know why that's a priority, but anyway, packed my stuff up, loaded my car, then we went to my new house, and at this point, everyone in my

neighborhood was packing up and leaving. Dogs everywhere, barking, there's helicopters everywhere, smoke everywhere. I was just beside myself. I put so much money into this house like so many people did. And I think that I don't want to get too much into the perception of this fire and what went wrong and all of that. But, you know, it's not just wealthy people who were affected and a lot of people, their whole asset was their house. And then there's the whole issue with insurance. And there's also so many people who are out of work because of these fires, even in places like the palisades, you know, there were grocery stores. There were nail places, restaurants, people who were servers, housekeepers, things like that. So so many people were

affected aside from just wealthy people. But when your house is a large asset, it's just terrifying. And again, I hope I don't sound insensitive since I didn't end up losing that house, although I'm so superstitious now and I'm just like knock on wood every time I say it. But anyway, it was really scary. I literally got on my needs in my unfinished kitchen and just started praying. And I'm not even religious, but it was bad. It was a very low moment. And that was just, just the threat of losing it. And I don't even have my things there. And I don't have memories at that home or anything. So if you did lose your house, I just cannot imagine. It's just so heartbreaking. So so many friends lost their homes. I have a friend who lost her home in Malibu in 2018. And then

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So it doesn't have that weird artificial, sweetened taste. I love it before bed. It's so good. And exclusively for my listeners, Holus is offering 15% off your first order and a total of 35% off your first subscription order. So visit holist.com and use the code well 15 at checkout for 15% off your first purchase. That's h-o-l-l-i-s-s.com. The code is well 15 for 15% off your first order. Fast forward, we were up that whole night as well, just every night really until like Sunday, I think is when we finally got some sleep. Saturday we had a friend's birthday dinner and

the palisades fire was near the 405. and we were hearing that our side was maybe going to get evacuated and people were leaving their homes and it was just like a never-ending nightmare. I was listening to armchair expert yesterday and Dax said that he had this moment where he realized that he was surrounded by fires and he's not very alarmist, I feel like. He's pretty cool under pressure. At least that's the perception that I have of him from listening to that podcast for so long. It's like the old. only podcast I listened to. That and juicy scoop. But he said he had this moment where he really thought, you know, this whole city could burn down. And that's exactly how it felt. So to answer everyone's

question that I got repeatedly when I did the question box on Instagram for this episode, Chuck's homes were miraculously okay. A house that we had next to the main house in the Palisades did burn down, but his house there in the Palisades was okay. And the house in Malibu was okay. My house is okay right now. My boyfriend's house is okay. Oh, this was crazy. So in the midst of this whole thing, my girlfriend sent me this OK magazine headline. And it was about Ashton Kutcher coming to my house and hosing my house down for me. And I was like, did I actually actually die and I'm now living in the twilight zone. Daily Mail picked it up too and said, Ashton Coucher is a hero as he checks in on TV mogul Chuck Laurie's ex-wife during deadly L.A.

Wildfires. And then there's this whole article, an insider, who's the insider, told Daily Mail that one of the friends he was checking in on is his former boss Chuck Lurie's ex-wife, Ariel Lorry. Bizarre. I mean, just goes to show you that anybody can say anything on the internet. He was actually hosing down Chuck's house. So there was a grain of truth, but I don't know where they came up with that being my house. So don't believe what you read in tabloids in the media on the internet. I mean, just so strange. I was like, this was not on my 2025 bingo hard. Like, what is happening? Oh, people asked if I have Harvey now because I posted him. No, I don't have Harvey. Chuck has Harvey. I just went to visit them a lot. We have a good relationship, but there's no animosity or anything there. We care a lot about each other. And also, this was a totally unprecedented event. So everyone really came together to support one another. So, you know, we saw each other and I wanted to be there in any way I could to help him. And I obviously wanted to

see Harvey and all of that. So anyway, moving on from that now we are in the aftermath, which is a lot of people figuring out how to move forward. And also there's this issue of air quality in LA and as somebody dealing with this suspected mass cell activation situation, wonky immune issues, I was so sick from the stress and then the air as well. So I had to get away. and a lot of people wanted to hear about the health stuff. I shared on Instagram back in December that I was trying to get to the bottom of this mast cell histamine intolerance issue that I am experiencing right now. So I will delve into that a bit because I think this is actually so common right now,

especially post-COVID. My rheumatologist said she's seeing it a lot more in recent years. And I'm working with both Western doctors, so an allergist. slash immunologist and then I have that rheumatologist as well, although she said, you know, it's really not an autoimmune issue. It's an immunology issue. And then I have a naturopath as well. And I got so many questions about this. And when I shared that I was eating low histamine, my DMs flooded. So I don't know if a lot of people are struggling with this right now or they are just curious, but I'll give an overview of what I've been dealing with.

with and why I'm doing this. So basically, aside from gut issues way back in 2016, overall, I'm a really healthy person. I've had some weird things pop up here and there, like toxoplasmosis back in 2023, which is a blood parasite that I believe something like 90% of the population has had at some point. Usually it doesn't cause symptoms. And me it did. But other than things like that here and there, I'm healthy. I'm a little bit of a delicate flower, meaning my body is sensitive, but I never had chronic illness. I never had autoimmune, anything like that. And I know that a lot of people in the wellness world get a little hypervigilant about their health, but my brother is like not at all in the wellness world. And he's the same as me.

He's a little delicate, a little sensitive. So most of you know the timeline of getting super ill from Botox back in August 23. And I do know that I have a lot of you. I have a lot of the timeline. And I do know that I have some newer listeners. So if you want to hear about that, I did a couple episodes on this regular show. I believe it was last April. I want to say April 3rd and April 17th, you'll see in the titles. So you can go back to that. But when I was experiencing that, I got punted around to different doctors.

I was really not getting any help or answers. But ultimately, I ended up feeling, I want to say, like 75% recovered from that. after like five or six months, most of the time. I felt 75 to 80 percent of my normal self most of the time, aside from these flares of symptoms that I would get for no rhyme or reason sometimes, but also very much caused by exertion. So exercise would always trigger these flares or also massages. Like I would get full-blown ill. Like I may as well have been right back to where I was. right after I got the Botox. And it was things like debilitating vertigo, this physiological anxiety feeling. So feeling like my body's in a state of panic, fight or flight, even though mentally I wasn't

anxious. But that was 24-7, brain fog, headaches, vision issues, dry eyes, muscle spasms, and more. But usually the flare would last like a day or two. So sometimes it was just for no reason and sometimes it would be after exercise or after a massage. And then this past September, which was over a year after getting the Botox, they started coming more often than not. And like 90% of the time since September, I would say, maybe even more, I've felt pretty truly horrible, like truly horrible, like hopeless, ill, miserable. So I got all of this testing done, also started reading about things like histamine intolerance and mast cell activation because so many people who follow me were suggesting this ever since I got sick from Botox and have been through it or

are currently dealing with it. And I didn't even suggest it to the doctors when I saw the rheumatologist who then referred me to the immunologist. They both said, oh, this sounds like mast cell and everything just clicked and it was like this is me to a tea like I get joint pain after I eat I get itchy all over my body itchy inside my ears really bad I have ear ringing that gets really bad before my period which has been happening for years and that's all histamine related my lips swells up if I eat eggplant which I love but eggplant is really high histamine it's always happened so I had these kind of low grade things that suggested that I was sensitive to histamine, but it never really caused any issues. And then maybe what happened was this

Botox situation or something else pushed me over the edge and I became really intolerant or then my mast cells got involved. So just so that you guys know what I'm talking about, histamine is a chemical that's released by the body during allergic reactions and other immune responses. It's also a neurotransmitter. So I think a lot of people don't know that. It can affect the brain, spinal cord. Online it says it can affect the uterus. A lot of people are now coming out to talk about how histamine interacts with hormones and women's periods. And then mast cells are white blood cells that are part of the immune system. They're found all throughout the body. and they are responsible for releasing chemicals that trigger allergic reactions and other immune responses.

So it's my understanding that mass cells are like the precursor to histamine. So just to give you guys a little bit more of an idea of what these things do. So what makes it so tricky is that especially with mass cells, they are like these guards of your body. and when you have this sensitivity or activation syndrome, they react to everything, even if it's not a threat. So that can be food. It can be chemicals in anything, fragrance, self-care products, home products. It can even be vibration, hormone fluctuations, sex, temperature changes. Like, it's truly horrible. And some people have it so bad where they get anaphylaxis from all of these things. and that thankfully is not what I'm experiencing. It's just this inability to function chronically.

And when there's this mast cell activation, histamine activation, it feels like adrenaline. I think it might even raise adrenaline or cortisol in your body. I can't remember. But it's just awful. So I want to nip it in the bud before it progresses. So what I'm doing, first of all, if you suspect that this is you, if you're having things like rashes or you're reacting to certain foods or you are itchy or you can just go online look up histamine intolerance mast cell but definitely see a doctor they'll probably test

among other things your trip tastes in your blood which is a biomarker which is a biomarker that elevates with mast cell activation you have to test your baseline and then you have to test when you're in a flare. And then there's this formula to determine if the deviation between the two scores that you have in those different times represents mass cell reactivity. So they might also test leukotrin, I think, is how you pronounce it. And then prostaglandins in your urine, those are like kind of the three main biomarkers. But even if those are somewhat normal, that doesn't mean that you don't have mass cell activation. And then with histamine intolerance, I'm not sure if there's a definitive test for that. But my, I think it was IGE was super high, which is like

your blood allergy level. But you can pretty much self-diagnose. If you're reacting to high histamine foods, if you have like PMDD, so like really, really bad PMS, mental health issues pre-period, I always got debilitating, debilitating anxiety and insomnia. Estrogen increases histamine and a lot of people are finding relief with histamine blockers, specifically Pepsid. So we have different histamine receptors in our bodies, H1, H2, H3, and H4. I do a combo of blockers to block H1 and H2, I believe. I think H4 might be in your brain. So I don't know if there's anything for that.

But sorry, this is getting pretty technical. But if you have any of these issues, like I said, itching rashes, gut issues, runny nose, watery eyes, I mean, there's so many symptoms that can be attributed to so many things. but for me, all of the dots connected and all of my tests showed reactivity. So I'm working with my Western doctors to help my symptoms. And then I'm waiting on tests that I'm doing with my naturopath to find out what's happening in my body. That's causing this to happen in the first place, looking at toxic load, all of that. So this is not medical advice, but you can find this anywhere.

You can Google this. There are natural antihistamines and enzymes that help break histamine down and clear histamine from your system. So I'm doing that. I think the most powerful one is quercetin. So I'm doing quercetin with bromuline. That's in one supplement. I'm doing DAO. So that's an enzyme that helps break down histamine. I do it with each meal to help with that. I'm doing vitamin C. I'm doing vitamin D, magnesium. And then I'm also doing Claritin. It's the only antihistamine that I feel helps without knocking me out. I do that and Pepsid twice a day. Again, not medical advice. Pepsid reduces stomach acid, but it's also a histamine blocker.

Not meant to be used long term, but for right now, it's helping a little bit. I do chromolin sodium, that's oral, that's a mass cell stabilizer prescription. That's four times a day. And then I also have hydroxazine, which is a prescription antihistamine that I've been too scared to take. And then what has made the biggest difference for me is eating low histamine. It's so hard when I'm eating out, but I'm able to be pretty strict with it when I am cooking my food. And I have to say, I've had some days where I feel better than I've felt since before the Botox incident when I'm eating really low histamine. So when I started being really rigid with it, it took about two days. And then I was like, wow.

I mean, I felt so good. So low histamine foods, I go off two lists. There's a mast cell 360 list. And then there's, I don't know how to pronounce it. It's just an acronym S-I-G-H-I. That's kind of the gold standard. So I want to emphasize this is all temporary until we have test results and have a clear picture of what's going on, but it's really helping. So if this sounds like you, if you feel like you're reacting to things, there's so much information online that's helpful. But I would start really small. So if you can try eating low histamine according to these lists, give it a shot, see if you get some relief, and then obviously find a doctor to help you navigate all of this and go slow.

There's also so many things in supplements and medications that can cause flares and reactions. So you're really only supposed to introduce one thing at a time, whereas I kind of went balls to the wall because like my doctor said, she wants to win the race and then figure out how to run the race. so that she wanted to get me asymptomatic and then figure out why is this happening. As I am talking about in this episode, I am on a number of supplements right now to help navigate this health issue that I'm currently dealing with. But the supplement industry as a whole can be really, really difficult to navigate as a consumer, which is a bummer because when we're taking supplements, we are doing so because we either want to feel better, we want to maintain our health.

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that is a little testimonial if you don't want to take it from me, but I have been loving it as well. I have so much going on between overhead on my businesses, my home, just life expenses, so many different things to keep track of, and Wynab makes it so easy. So you'll create a flexible plan for your money through the simple practice of giving every dollar a job, keeping you focused on the life that you want. So you can cover your rent, build an emergency fund, do all of that without sacrificing dinners with friends or that long awaited trip that you've been wanting to take. And with Wynab, you'll stop wondering where your money goes and start deciding where it will take you.

This is what it has done for me. Instead of generally keeping track of the money that I pay my team and that I'm paying for my remodel and that I'm paying for life, I can see it in front of me. And that helped me to make empowered, informed decisions. And 92% of users report feeling less money stress since using YNAB, which I can attest to. And the average YNAB user saves $600 in their first two months and $6,000 in their first year. So life is short, spend it well with YNAB. And listeners of well can claim an exclusive three month free trial with no credit card required at www.w.YNAB.com slash well. That's www.w.w.w.w.w.w.com slash well. But now I'm trying to scale back and get off the meds if possible. But this is what has helped me dramatically. So,

one, this is something I suggest to anyone and something that I was good about last year. Then I stopped doing. But this is for everybody. I wake up and first thing that I do is have as much water as possible. So I usually drink about a half a liter or more of water when I wake up. bonus points if I can get some electrolytes in there. I meditate, which you don't have to do, but I mean, talk about one thing that does all the things. Meditation is better than any supplement out there. I truly believe, even if you just do two minutes of breathing or if you do 20 minutes of silence like I do, just something. Just check in with yourself. I remember Maeve Riley said on our podcast that she went to Hoffman process and they were like, check in with yourself before you check in

with everyone else. And I would add another layer to that. I would say check in with yourself before you check out. I know for me, once I pick up that phone, I'm off to the races, I'm checked out, I'm not in the present moment. I'm very much consumed by the world in my phone and the future and reacting to work things and all of that. So that's huge. And speaking of the phone, I turn the red light on my phone in the evening. It really prevents me from even wanting to be on it. So you can do that in settings. I think it's settings, accessibility, text, and display, and then color filters. You can also do black and white if you really don't want to touch it. Then I sleep with my phone in a different room. So wake up, water, meditate. I was doing a little walk in there, but that stopped due to the

fires and the air quality, but a short walk is a bonus, not essential for me yet. You know, do whatever version of this that you can, but a short walk is good. All of this, by the way, can take five minutes. Water, meditate, whatever. Then I make my breakfast, which is oats, protein powder. I'm currently doing whey protein powder. I'll do blueberries, hemp seeds, a couple crushed pistachios for some fat sometimes, and I eat that, and that's low histamine for me. Some people react to oats. I don't. Then I make my matcha. Macha is not low histamine, and pretty much every list says matcha and caffeine in general are big no-noes because caffeine releases histamine, but somebody is going to have to come

and physically pry that away from me, okay? I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't do drugs, I can't get Botox. I now can't have chocolate, avocado, dried fruit, tomatoes, cinnamon, shellfish, seafood, on and on, basically all my favorite things. I don't drink coffee. I can't exercise right now. Like, I'm keeping my macha. I am. keeping my macha. I digress. But the protein and the food in general and the water pre-macha helps a lot. I notice that if I just wake up and have my macha right away, which is what I want to do, I definitely react. Whereas if I kind of ease into my day and get something in my stomach first, then I'm okay. So then lunch is chicken thighs or chicken breast, usually chicken thighs that I make in the instant

pot. I brown them on saute first and then I pressure cook. And then I have that with some jasmine rice and sometimes vegetables like broccoli or zucchini. Some people have issues where they can't eat a lot of vegetables because they have salisilates. I think it's how you pronounce it. I mean, it's just so specific to each person and you can really like back yourself into a corner where you can't have anything. But I don't think that I have that issue right now. So this is again, what's working for me and everyone should find what works for them and not just copy, but this is a place to start maybe. And if you eat red meat, you could have that instead of chicken, but you have to be careful to not have aged meat and most of it is aged. But then dinner is the same thing, chicken, rice, vegetables. I mean,

let me tell you guys, I'm trying to find joy in new places right now because I am a live-to-eat-eat person. I love food more than anything. And this is pretty difficult, but I just want to feel better. So that's what's keeping me motivated. And that is what I'm doing for that. I do try to go for a walk every day. I'm going to try and incorporate some slow, low impact movement into my routine. But exercise is a huge trigger for me. So it just has not been doable for like 17 months now.

So that is the histamine stuff. I feel like this has been a lot of unloading issues in my life right now. So let's switch gears. So what are my goals for 2025 and how do I keep myself motivated? My goals are very much centered around work for the most part. You guys know I'm working on something new this year that I'm really excited about, which is a huge undertaking. It's a huge challenge, but something I'm super passionate about.

So that's a big one. My boyfriend built me a gorgeous office at this property that he has. So that's going to be ready in February. and I'm going to build out my team a little more for this new part of my business. So stay tuned for that if you want to join my team. I am really trying to outsource what I can to people that are way smarter or better than me in certain areas of my business. And I want to grow. Growth is always an overarching goal. But to me, that's really like honing in on the things that I'm passionate about sharing and reaching those people who share those passions. And I've evolved a lot since I started doing this in 20. I know there are people who haven't been following me this whole time who don't know my whole story. So maybe I'll do an episode on how I got from point A to point B. I don't think I'm at point B anymore. I think I'm at point like, I don't even know. But the trajectory of, you know, when I started to where I am now. But also I'm not the person that I was when I started sharing

like only about fitness and nutrition. I still love cooking. Those videos. videos and recipes have taken a backseat, although I'm going to be doing more of those once my house is done. But I love sharing my outfits and dupes and style things. And I'll definitely be sharing a lot more day-to-day lifestyle content also when my house is done. Beauty is huge for me, as you guys know, really sharing just more of my life and the things that are important to me. Other goals are to get healthy again to work on my nervous system. I think a huge piece of the puzzle is nervous system regulation, which I know everybody struggles with right now. I want to get back into regularly exercising, continue to really foster the relationships in my life. It's a lot. It's a lot to

manage. And sometimes I'm like, is there an adult in the room? Like, can somebody help me? I felt that way with my house. I feel that way in my business all the time, all of the time. Certain ventures, certain conversations that I have sometimes around work, meetings, like having this team and everything. I'm just like, am I equipped to do all this? Like I'm one person. It's a lot. But, you know, I learned in recovery how to suit up and show up and take action and take things as cliche as it is one step. one day at a time and just do the next right thing. Do the next thing in front of me. And thank God, thank God I have that design for living through recovery. Otherwise, I don't know what I would be doing right now. Even during the fires, the night that I was spraying my house down and praying,

I called somebody in recovery and she was in the same situation as me, but she has a lot more time sober. And she said, she was just asking herself, what would an adult do right now? It's funny. She's like in her 50s. So we all feel this way. We're all like, is there an adult in the room? It just really resonated with me. I filed that one away and I've already used it in various situations. Since then, when I get overwhelmed, I'm like, okay, what would an adult do? Some people might take issue with that because it's maybe like not giving credit to ourselves for whatever work we've done and how far we've come and our ability to handle tough things. But for me, it's helpful. Someone asked how I stay motivated all of the time. I really don't feel motivated every day, but I do have this relentless drive to be successful. I'm sure at the root of it is this quest for security, ultimate security, even though I know that doesn't really exist because I've been in situations where I had what would probably be considered like the ultimate maximum security and I didn't feel secure. I don't know if that makes sense. And then what even is success?

You know, I don't think that success is only monetary success, career success, all of that. But even when I don't feel motivated, I know what my goals are and I know where I want to go. And then I'm very action and solution oriented. I think I said that before. And it's just like, what can I do today to get closer to my goals? So I've shared about this a lot before. I won't get too into it. But if you're feeling unmotivated, whether it's with work, working out, eating healthy, having better habits, just take a quick inventory and suddenly you'll have all of these actionable things that you can do. So just write down, make columns, three columns. In column one, write down what is your current state. So say with work, currently, this is what it is. Write it down in column one. Then in column two,

what do you want it to be? And in column three, what are the action items that you can do today to get from one to two? Super, super simple stuff. And, you know, then I just think action precedes motivation. The action usually is first and then the motivation follows. Take the action and the motivation will come. action then begets more action. Things in motion stay in motion. Things at rest, stay at rest. I'm delirious, but you guys get it. And I just really believe in pen to paper. I don't know how you do this any other way. Just put 30 minutes in your calendar somewhere, write inventory, and then sit down and get granular about what it's like now and what you envision. By now, I'm sure we have all heard about the potential benefits of GLP-1s. I'm sure we all know at least one or more people who have had success with GLP-1s.

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support if you are going to be taking one of these GLP-1 medications. plus you can sign up online from the comfort of your own home. So that means no waiting for an in-person doctor's appointment, no commute to the doctor's office, and no waiting rooms. So join the over 385,000 people who have already chosen Roe to access GLP-1s. Go to row.com slash blonde to see if you qualify. That's R-O.com.co slash blonde. And go to row.com slash safety for boxed warning and full safety information about GLP1 medications. Nowadays, there are so many skincare products out there that make so many claims, it's hard to know which ones are legit. And to be totally honest, most skincare products focus only on surface level results. But one skin, which was founded and led by an all-woman team

of longevity scientists, goes deeper working at the cellular level for lasting results. After testing more than 900 peptides they developed their OS1, the first ingredient scientifically proven to interrupt a core aging process called cellular senescence. And if you want to hear more about this, I did an episode with the co-founder, Dr. Carolina Oliveira. And that episode, I believe was over the summer. You can just search it and it will come up. And it was truly, truly fascinating to hear about the process of going through the research and discovery of this peptide and how this is totally changing the game when it comes to anti-aging skin care. So with age and UV exposure, your cells enter senescence, which means they stop functioning normally and release harmful

inflammatory chemicals. So they also cause neighboring cells to become dysfunctional, kicking off a domino effect in the skin, which causes age to skin faster, think deeper wrinkles, thinner skin, more sagging, more creepiness. But OS1, this proprietary peptide, switches off these senescent cells, which addresses the root cause of skin aging and helps your skin stay younger and healthier. And as we know, skin is your body's largest organ, which means it's not just about appearance. And this is another thing that we get into in that episode, why it's so important to keep your skin healthy beyond just what it looks like. The health of your skin is critical for your overall health and this is why I love one skin, particularly the eye cream. It's my absolute favorite.

You'll hear in that episode about how they tested this. They actually were able to grow skin and grow aging skin in their lab and they used skin that was from blephroplasties, which I joked. Maybe they got some of mine to test this peptide on and the results were amazing. They also tested other products that are popular on the market and were able to see if they, lived up to their claim. So go listen to that episode and you guys can get 15% off your first purchase of OneSkin when you visit OneSkin.co slash well and use the code well at checkout. Again, that's 15% off at OneSkin. Oneskin.com slash well and the code is well. Let's switch gears. I'll do some beauty questions and maybe some more rapid fire. Tell us

what you've done on your face, recent procedures, you look different and better than ever. Thank you. That's very sweet. I appreciate the kind feedback. I have done absolutely nothing except for easy gel since Botox Gate August 2023. So 17 months since full-faced Botox, except for a test to see if I still reacted to it. But that doesn't count because it didn't do anything cosmetic. And then as far as surgical procedures, it's been years. I don't know, maybe like three years since I did something and at least three years since I did anything. So yeah, whatever changes in my face anybody sees, I attribute to the Botox wearing off and the changes that have occurred as a result of that. So one, my masseter muscle, which is the muscle in your lower

face kind of below your ear. That grew back. So I have more of a jawline. I have some lower face support as a result of that. So I think it gives me more of a jawline. I think it makes my cheeks look a little bit less wide because I have some width on my lower face, whereas before that had atrophied so much. So my midface looked so wide. And then it also gives me some contour in the lower face where in some videos I look like I had buckle fat removal, which I definitely. didn't do. But it really depends on the lighting and the angle and everything. This studio at Dear Media that I have recorded at this year flattens everybody's face. I look like I just have a pillow face of filler everywhere, which I don't. It's just the light and the camera. You can even see

like around my nose area. This is how you can tell. It like blends into the rest of my face. And that's not a filter or anything like that. It's just the light is so flat. But I see that video and I'm like, oh my God. And then I see video from other studios and I look normal. So there's that. Then I think my eyes are a little bit more upturned because the Botox that I was doing before for crow's feet, I was really hitting that hard, really hitting that hard because that's my area. We all have strong muscles in different areas. Some people have really strong brow muscles, 11s. Some people have, you know, crow's feet. That's definitely the. category that I would fall into. So I was doing a lot of Botox around the eyes and the lower brow

area to lift the tail. And it was making the corner of my eyes downturned, which I see now in retrospect in some older videos. And the Botox and the paralyzed muscles were definitely causing some stagnant lymph for me. So I can see that I used to be pretty puffy at times as well. Do I miss Botox? hell yes if I could do it I would do it I would do it totally differently now I really don't need it in my forehead maybe just like a sprinkle and then a sprinkle around the eyes where I would still have movement and not be totally frozen but it's just not an option for me at this time so I'm trying to embrace this time and focus on skincare which does make all the difference I know it's not you guys, but so many people online conflate surgery with skincare. And it drives me nuts. So many people

have the feedback on my skincare videos in particular that my skin is the way it is or I look the way I look because of surgery. And to that, I would just say there are so many people who have had so much surgery and their skin is not good. Skin is everything. Skin quality is everything. Dr. Karam talks about this all the time. There are different markers of aging. One is face shape, which surgery addresses, but the other is skin. And surgery does not address that. Yes, you can get some improvement in skin quality. Maybe if you're doing fat transfer, if you get a facelift, things are going to look smoother and things like that. But you still need to get, like, you don't need to, but it's still recommended that you get Botox, things like that to maintain.

because that's totally different. And then skincare, of course, is like the foundation of all of that. But yeah, anyway, where was I? So I don't sit there and study my face, but I basically have a visual diary of my life for the last many years, especially on video. So sometimes I'll come across an old video. And it's just interesting to me. I'm like, huh, I looked so different. But I'm really not doing anything. I haven't done any facial lasers. I did just a baby CO2 last summer, but I did it like three days before my boyfriend's birthday, so I really didn't want to have any downtime. So I feel like it really didn't do anything. I didn't get any crusting or anything. It was just kind of, yeah, I don't think it really did anything. And that was around my eyes. I can't remember if I said that.

I just did a chest IPL, which I do once a year. I've done a few facials. I did easy gel, which I shared about and I do some stuff at home like taping a few nights a week when I can. And I'm trying to get consistent with massage and guasha, but I'm not consistent at the moment. Okay, I'm going to do some quicker ones. How did I train my boyfriend to take good photos? He was very eager to learn. We'll say that. So I think that that is the most important piece of the equation. You need to to have somebody who actually wants to do a good job. And then, you know, I put the grid on the camera. So I taught him how to put me in the middle square in the grid. I taught him angles. You want to be shooting a little bit high, pointing low. And, you know, I gave him instruction, but he really wants to do a good job. And he always says, like, he just wants me to be as

successful as I can be, and he tries to do whatever he can to help with that, whether that's taking video, taking pictures, whatever he can do on the back end. I joke that he's my manager because he'll come home at night and be like, I got you a new follower today. He's like, building this brick by brick, one follower at a time, and tells everybody about my podcast. He's like the best hype man. What do I read? My way of speaking is unique. I don't know what that means, but I read mostly fiction. I used to read about a book a week or a book every other week. And last year, I did not finish one book. That was my big accomplishment last year. My life just changed in so many ways. And I didn't have the time to read when I would normally read at night before bed. because I was always busy out doing things social or hanging out with my boyfriend and it just reading took a backseat. My way of speaking, I think, is just a result of a few things. I mean,

everyone in my family, at least my immediate family, especially my mom and my brother, have this way of speaking where we speak very deliberately, I would say. And then I think another part it is just a good education. I dropped out of college, but prior to that, I had a really good education and I was always very, very into writing and English and literature, and that was my strong suit. And then my recovery, I've been sober almost 11 years. I do a lot of speaking and listening to other people, and I think I just absorb that. And I surround myself with, people who are smarter than me or I try to, and I think I absorb that as well. So I think it's just a culmination of all of those things. Let's see. Did I do a series of fractal on my body or just do it once?

I did IPL a few years ago the first time that I did laser on my body. The IPL got rid of these darker freckles as a result of sun damage. And then I did a few fractals after that. So the IPL got rid of the dark and then the fraxil went in and it was kind of like a magic eraser for some of the lighter leftover pigment and just other pigment as well. And people say that you have to continually do it because it comes back. For me, it really didn't come back until this year and it didn't come back fully. I just got some light pigment because I spent the entire summer in the sun. And so that made some of it come back. But I just did the IPL. Like I said, earlier and it got rid of it and I might do a fractal but I found that being aggressive on the

front end so doing a pretty strong IPL and a pretty strong fractal like twice got rid of the majority of it too attached to leave my boyfriend of three and a half years afraid to be alone at 36 I get it I totally get it I was in purgatory from like 36 six 35 or 36. 35, I think, is when we got separated. 22. I'm trying to do the math. Anyway, I get it.

I think that we can only look at the future based on our experiences in the past or in the present moment. And it's hard to imagine a life without this person that you're attached to. and we know how toxic the current dating climate can be. And we hear horror stories of dating. And then I think we all have this feeling that we're not going to meet somebody else or we're not worthy of it or something like that. And then there's the fear of leaving something comfortable or familiar. I get it. I will say, if you truly feel that it's not the right.

relationship for you, don't wait any longer because that time is going to pass and you don't want to look back in 10 years at 46 and wish that you left at 36. 36 is so young and you'll be okay. And I've said this before, but if you're in that situation where you really know that this is not the right relationship, it's not just about you. There's two people in the relationship, and I remember when I was going through it myself, somebody said something to me that really stuck with me forever. She said, sometimes you can be with a really good person, but they're not the right person for you, and you need to put them back on the shelf for somebody else to enjoy. You need to set that other person free to. It's not fair to them. So taking the attention

off of myself and what I was or wasn't getting or wasn't getting or what may or may not happen for me in the future and trying to also be a little bit selfless about it and thinking of the other person and what's fair for them. Don't rob somebody else at that time, too, if you know that it's not right. Thoughts on young facelifts. Go back and listen to my episode with Kat Chang. She has done a lot of celebrities and she's amazing. And we talked a lot about young. facelifts and why she is a proponent of those. Will I stay in L.A.? Yes, maybe not full-time. I don't know. It's so hard right now to say what the future holds. And I'm trying to not make any decisions during this

heightened time because it's usually my nature to want to cut and run, especially when things get scary and uncertain. But, you know, for right now, I have my house and that's going to be done soon. and I'm excited about that and my friends and my relationship and my recovery community and all of that. That's all in L.A. So for now I'll stay like at another place. Maybe TBD we will see. But I will say that how the community in L.A. has come together in the wake of this situation and during it was very inspiring, very heartwere. everybody who sent me resources on Instagram. Also very heartwarming. These things can bring out the

worst in people and it can bring out the best in people. And I have to say I've really only seen the best in people. And I was really proud to be a resident of Los Angeles in that time. And you know, just volunteering and seeing how everybody was doing everything that they could to help was really, really inspiring. So I hope this episode was not too much of a downer. Like I said, more solos coming. You guys can let me know what you want to hear. I'll definitely do some more beauty-specific episodes. And if you're interested in the health stuff, I'll also share about my journey through all of that as well. And let me know what you guys want to hear. I'm so excited for this year and everything that is to come for us. So thanks for being here. Love you.

I hope you enjoyed that episode. If you liked the episode, and if you like the show in general, please take a second to rate, review, and subscribe. It goes such a long way in supporting the show. Follow the show over on Instagram at well.pod. You can also follow my personal Instagram at Ariel Lurie. I'm always sharing great clips from the episodes, and we also have full episodes on YouTube as well if you want to watch in entirety. Thanks for listening. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.