The Samantha Parker Show

The Truth You Need to Know About Alcohol & Your Cancer Risk Dr. Valerie Gettings

• Samantha Parker , Dr. Valerie Gettings • Season 1 • Episode 42

Share episode

What does alcohol do to your body? From your gut microbiome to your hormones, metabolism, and even cancer risk, Dr. Valerie Gettings, is here to spill the tea.

Dr. Gettings is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor and Certified Sports Nutritionist who helps hypothyroid women go from being bloated and exhausted to having mental clarity and energy so they can finally crush their to-do list.

She’s also in long-term recovery from alcohol and substance abuse, bringing a unique perspective to healing after addiction and recovering from liver failure at 22 years old.

We dive deep into
- What qualifies as normal drinking
-How alcohol impacts the gut microbiome and thyroid
-The shocking connection between alcohol and cancer risk
-How alcohol slows metabolism and wrecks hormones
-Steps to heal your body after alcohol abuse
-Blood sugar balance & why protein is non-negotiable

Check Your Alcohol Use Here: https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/CheckYourDrinking/

If you’re questioning your drinking or looking for real solutions to restore your health, this is a must-watch.

Drop a comment, and have you experienced any of these effects from alcohol?

Connect with Dr. Valerie Gettings:
IG: @‌DrValerieGettings

Step into Your Sober Era! Are you ready to embrace a life of clarity and empowerment? Let’s embark on this transformative journey together! [Subscribe Now ➔] Sam's Sober Stack | Samantha Parker | Substack


Want to Work with The Samantha Parker for Content Management CLICK HERE

Grab my Sober Travel Tips Guide HERE

Check out My Sober Storefront HERE

Follow me on TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@samanthaparkershow

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@thesamanthaparker

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/thesamanthaparker/

Grab $10 off Curious Elixirs https://oken.do/ho7cxduy

Shop Ryze Coffee - Grab 15% Off HERE

 When people are trying to figure out what type of drinker they are Are they like I am I like mild moderate severe drinker?  Cause some people don't know, like, they're like, Oh, I drink like, you know, two to three drinks a night, and then that's not that much, and I'm like, Well, when you add them all up, it is. 

I know, that's kind of the reality of like, we lie to ourselves, you know? Yeah, but then people don't know like, what happens after that, or like, how it starts tanking the gut and the thyroid. 

 Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. Today I have an incredible guest on. In fact, I'm a little nervous for this interview, and you might start laughing, but I'm excited I did get nervous.

I was like, I want to make sure I ask the right questions because my guest today is so knowledgeable. So welcome, Dr. Valerie Gettings. You are a naturopathic medical doctor and a certified sports nutritionist. You also have like a whole bunch of like acronyms behind your name. Like NMD, which I was like, I don't know what these mean.

Naturopathic medical doctor. Oh, I love that. Okay. And then CISSN. So that is the International Society for Sports Nutrition. So that's my Sports Nutritionist certification. I love it. So, but you take, hyperthyroid women from bloated and tired to having mental clarity and energy so they can crush their to do list. 

This is what I'm so excited about though, is you're passionate about digestive health concerns, stress reduction, thyroid rebalancing, and support pain reduction. You do sports medicine movement. Effective solutions for super human syndrome, but really why I wanted to invite you on as well is because you have been in recovery from alcohol and other substances for 23 years.

So you really understand, you know, the process of, you know, being an alcoholic and then also recovering from it and treating your body correctly. So we're going to dive into some cool stuff today, but really what kind of inspired you to go down that path of becoming.  A naturopathic medical doctor. So for me, well, first of all, I'm so thankful to be here.

So thank you so much, Samantha. I was having 60 to 80 seizures a day and working for the military at a very high stress job and. Was trying to figure out the solution to the seizures and finally went to a traditional naturopath who changed my diet, changed everything, changed different supplements each month and all of this stuff, changed completely everything.

And then in eight months I stopped having seizures.  And so I was like, oh my gosh, there's something to this diet and gut brain interaction. And I was experiencing it in real time. And so after that, I left working for the military and I was like, I'm going to go become a naturopathic doctor and help people and people  with their health issues. 

That was really cool. I love my, so I go to a nurse practitioner and she's just like totally changed my life. I like to talk about her all the time. She's been on the podcast and I'm like, I have absolutely loved it because a lot of times you go to the doctor and you're like, I don't feel good. And they're like, well, I don't know.

And so I feel like when you go down this route, you can really. Get to you know, you heard this a lot the root cause of what's going on, but it's yeah, you know  So you were in the military? I worked for the military for seven years. I was a public affairs specialist for Navy medicine I did all their yeah I did all their social media and I was the ghostwriter for the Navy surgeon general and director of community outreach and many other jobs So that's kind of like a big deal Yeah, it was fun.

Yeah. So where in this does your recovery start, or where along your timeline, like before becoming a doctor, after becoming a doctor?  Way before. So when I was 22 years old, I ended up having liver failure at 22 from drinking and using other substances. And that's kind of what prompted me to start seeking some help. 

So it was definitely way before. So.  So to have liver failure at 22, that's like a pretty big deal, right? Yes.  Yeah. I know on TikTok, I get a lot of questions about sobriety and things like that. And they're like, well, how much were you drinking? You know, do you have liver issues? Do you have all these things?

And I'm like, well, actually, no, I just was gaining weight rapidly and my alcohol like had gotten out of control, you know? Yes. So it's always kind of interesting, like where people end up, where they start and like the whole process in between. So while I was like diving into like your background on your website, by the way. 

I found that you have a link and I think this was really great. We're going to put this in this show notes, but you had a link in your link tree. It was check your alcohol use here. So I clicked it this morning. If for you guys listening at cdc. gov forward slash alcohol forward slash check your drinking.

And it has like a quiz and I was like, I'm just going to take this quiz.  Yeah, just to see. Yeah, I was, but I was trying to take it from the perspective of like last year, me who wasn't full of shit, you know, for lack of a better word. Because with drinking, I just don't think you're honest about anything, 

 right, right, exactly.  So I took it, and I went through it, and obviously it was like, you should consider drinking less. That's what it told me at the end of it.  And I'm like, how little do you know? I've been sober for eight months. But it really kind of puts you at a serious risk, and there's a lot of health consequences, including cancer, liver disease.

And you and I, before we started. Like recording we were talking about that. So what is the link between alcohol and cancer?  Yeah, so alcohol and a lot of people don't know this when they did research They found like a third of people just were not aware of the link between alcohol use and the increase of cancer so what alcohol actually does is that alcohol is actually converted to something called acetyl aldehyde that directly It attacks the DNA, so it makes it difficult for your cells to function properly, for the mitochondria to function properly,  and it affects important micronutrients like folate.

So alcohol actually leads to seven different types of cancers. So cancer of the mouth, throat, esophageal cancer, larynx, or voice box cancer, liver, colorectal, and breast cancer. So a lot of different things.  It's a lot of people ask kind of, you know, well, how much alcohol can I drink then?  So really the way to look at it is like the more that people drink, the higher the risk. 

 So what do you kind of consider like a normal drinker? Like, what is a good level of alcohol? Like, do you feel like there is one?  I mean, obviously the more you drink, the more risk there is, but for people who are drinking occasionally, occasionally meaning not every day, but I do kind of like the Health Canada guidelines for alcohol use.

So, theirs is like no more than two drinks per week. Per week? Yeah, and they just changed their,  their guidelines about two years ago. So, yeah, zero to two drinks per week as of Health Canada

.  so there's heavy drinking, moderate drinking, and kind of everything in between, but like what would you say is moderate drinking and what is heavy drinking?  Yeah, so moderate alcohol use is defined as up to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks a day for men.

And then heavy alcohol use is going to be  zero to 14 drinks per week for men, and then zero to seven drinks per week for women. So,  the guidelines in the U. S. So, it, that's a lot of drinks. , that is quite interesting.

I 14 drinks,  a week for men, and then seven drinks for women.  And again, my brain was like, seven? What is that, like one a day?  But then the, well, the federal government's dietary guidelines for Americans, moderately, it says that it's up to two drinks a day for men, which would be 17. And then one drink a day for women, which would be seven.

But that's also, in those same guidelines, what it is for heavy alcohol use. So, I feel like all of that is way too much alcohol per, per week. I know, and you know, Looking back, it's just a great reminder where I was like heavy drinking and then like times it by a hundred I was there.  But a lot of people don't realize that and, and I think that's where people kind of think to themselves like, what type of drinker am I?

And I think the biggest thing is for people, there are some people who are heavy drinkers and they can have those seven drinks a week. You know, if they're a woman, and be fine, and then just stop drinking and not drink for like a bit. But then there are people who can't, so I think the biggest thing is like, if you're trying to control your drinking,  you may have a substance use issue. 

But again, there's people who can, you know, just drink seven drinks and like stop and Be fine for months, and then don't think about it at all. But if you're like consistently like obsessing about it and trying to control it, then that's where there may be an issue. 

  Okay, that's kind of crazy because, you know, I'm like in the new, I feel like I'm very newly sober, especially Canada. 

And I look back and I remember thinking like, if I went somewhere for the night and I was capable of limiting myself to two drinks, I would come home and be like, I am amazing. Like, did you guys see that? I only had two drinks, but like, it would have been two drinks in that specific setting, you know?

Right.  But two drinks a week, like you saying that to me, even like the alcoholic part of my brain is like panic mode. I was like, how could someone just have two drinks a week?  Because they're probably not an alcoholic.  That's what I'm saying.  I'm like, this is why I go to meetings, guys.  Yes. 

 I had, I was speaking with someone not too long ago and we were talking about like alcohol and hormone levels and you know perimenopause and all those things and she just told me like straight up she was like honestly Samantha if you are having perimenopause symptoms no alcohol like should be involved at all.

But like nobody wants to hear that and that was actually right before my decision to get sober. But like what is the connection or have you seen the connection between like, you know women let's say like 35 and above and their alcohol consumption and perimenopause and their hormones and all of those things?

Oh, yeah So kind of like the symptoms that you were experiencing when you came in Right kind of like the weight gain and not the inability to lose weight all that sort of stuff  that happens as a result of drinking but also with alcohol's interaction with the thyroid. So what starts to happen is alcohol starts to slow down your thyroid.

That leads to weight gain, decreased metabolism. So, you know, people who are like, Oh my gosh, I'm doing everything. I'm trying to, I'm working out, I'm eating healthy, I'm doing all the things, what is going on? So the alcohol component is definitely in there. And then joint and muscle pain. depression, dry and thinning hair.

So I often hear a lot of people that say my hair was once really beautiful and thick and now it is thin and I'm losing a lot of hair. What is going on? So the other connection with alcohol and the thyroid is alcohol actually reduces thyroid volume. So it makes the thyroid smaller and then heavy alcohol use.

Reduces thyroid hormones, the T3, T3 is the active thyroid hormone, and then T4 is inactive, but alcohol use actually brings down both thyroid hormones. So what does our thyroid do? Because I had a friend recently who the doctor was like, we just want to take your thyroid out. And she's really been like fighting to keep her thyroid.

Yeah. So, I mean, your thyroid is responsible for all of those,  kind of symptoms I listed. So your weight, so it's kind of like the furnace in the body where either, you know, people get hot heat resistant or they'll get cold.  But it's responsible for metabolism, muscle production.  Mood, so anxiety or depression, depending on if it's high or low, and then your, your hair as well.

So literally everything. So many, so many things.  So it's crazy because I'm like, okay, so if you stop drinking in your thyroid, what else like does it take though for your thyroid to function properly? Nutrients. So, gut function. So this is where the gut and thyroid play a role. So, when people are drinking more than three days in a row, it starts to tank their microbiome.

So the microbiome then doesn't have a chance to recover.  We get 20 percent of our thyroid hormone from our gut. So if our gut is inflamed and not functioning and you're not giving it a chance to survive, then the thyroid will be impacted and everything starts to slow down. Okay. So, okay, take me into the gut biome.

Like, what exactly is that? Can we, like, just totally dissent about gut health right now? And, you know, I'm just hearing it from, like, influencers and the things you see on, you know, TikTok, but I'm like, what actually is it?  Yeah, so in the gut itself, so in the small intestine, large intestine, we have millions of gut microbes.

And some of these microbes, I like to think of it as like little armies, like some are good armies and some are bad. So what they're doing is keeping balance within the gut, but then they also make micronutrients. They also help us to break down our food and then make vitamins and,, nutrients from that for the body to use.

It's also our immune system is in the gut. So when the gut is functioning properly, then our immune systems can actually function properly. So you're not getting sick as much, you're able to, a lot of people say, Oh, that person has like an iron gut, or they're able to tolerate certain foods and things like that. 

So hopefully that helps. No, it does actually. But I'm like, I need like a magic school bus episode. Yes. Yeah, yeah.  I'm like, can we go in and explore like what exactly is happening?  Yeah. Like simply,  mm hmm. Like I could definitely get on board with like an adult magic school bus version.  To make it easy.

Like a cliff notes version. Yeah. Like a cliff notes, but like make it fun.  Oh my gosh. Yes, definitely.  Okay. So after you like kind of, well, you've been in recovery for a long time. Like did you take certain steps to heal your body or is this stuff like you've learned later on?  Like what would you recommend to people? 

Yeah. Well, first I wanted to go back just a quick for the, the hormone aspect. So I also wanted to state that drinking alcohol also starts to increase estrogen.  So, that is, estrogen is pro grow, so some cancers are sensitive to estrogen, so we don't want that, and I know, I don't know if you've seen any kind of the,  hoppy, kind of, like, craft beers or whatever, a lot of them have phytoestrogens in them, which is also not all that great, and then, From this, it causes a lot of menstrual irregularity, menstrual cycle irregularity, and then decreased fertility.

So those are the other two components, not only the thyroid, but also like estrogen, testosterone, and then changes in menses and fertility.  What do you think about like, , the damage that like you've kind of done yourself? In your early 20s, not like you specifically, but just people in general. And I almost feel like we're paying for it, you know, now I'll be 40 next month. 

And I'm like, did we do a lot of damage then? Is it repairable? Like, how do you start back on that repair track?  Yeah, I often, I was asked that question also recently about when we are developing, when our brains are still developing and we're causing so much damage. Is that repairable? And I think to some extent, yes, but I think to some extent, no.

Like, there's some people who started drinking and stunting their growth, essentially in their teens. And then you see them later on as adults, and they're still struggling with, social issues or social, communication issues, kind of like a teen does, versus someone who's maybe in their mid twenties. 

I don't know if you've seen that at all, as well. Well, you know, In recovery, I hear there's a lot of sayings. I'm sure you know tons, but they're super helpful. But I do hear people say, like, the age you started drinking and then the age you stop is kind of like where your brain is at. Yeah. So, like, I started drinking at 17, and so I've been thinking, I'm like, do I still have a lot of, like, those teenager tendencies?

You know, like 17 year old Samantha, and I'm like, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, and like while our brains can definitely regenerate and we can grow new neurons and learn new things and, you know, be intelligent in that way, I feel like there is something to say about, you know, when we start drinking and then how we respond to life later on.

But I feel like the more we're in recovery, the more we do mature in that way, which is really fascinating as well. Oh, it is. I'm like, I'm not really the same person, so if you knew me last year, you don't really know me anymore. Oh, yeah. It's definitely a thing. That's why they say don't get into a relationship in the first year, because you're growing at such an exponential rate.

It's really not fair to someone to try to keep up with you and the rate that you're growing.  I know. Well, I'm married, so I've been married for like 14 years and I was having these moments where I was like, what are you doing with your life? You know, like,  and then I'm like, wait, I'm on my own journey.

He's on his journey. You know what I'm saying? It's like, you can't expect people to like be having the same epiphanies of you as you because they're not right or wrong. Right. Exactly. You just have to adapt with them, but also know that they're not having that exponential growth like you are. So. I know.

I'm like, come on, let's go. Let's do this.  And he's like, but I'm a normal drinker. I'm like, that's nice.  I was doing a bunch of research for.  Dry january and just the effects of like 30 days without alcohol And I was reading about how like the neurons in your brain start to regrow which I thought that was wild I was like, so you're telling me alcohol literally like kills the neurons in your brain It does say about like it's only probably been like Four to five weeks ago, I had this, like I was sitting there one day and all of a sudden I was like, I could think really, really clear.

And it was like, almost like the light switch went off.  I've been referring it to as like, you know, like the hand of God came in my brain and swiped it.  Because all of a sudden everything felt clear and I could figure out situations and I was just like moving forward, like ultra fast and you know, like sometimes people will say like, you get a download from the universe, like that's what it felt like to me. 

 But I had just been reading about like how your neurons grow back and I'm like maybe that's what's happening, like maybe my brain is actually working how it was intended to work. Yeah, and another person who has really good data on this is Dr. Daniel Amon. So, at the Amon Clinic, they, well, I don't know, in the clinic, but he shows a lot on his social media how any amount of drinking actually really affects the white and gray matter in the brain.

And so, It actually does show that it affects the regeneration of the brain for people who drink a lot of alcohol. So stopping drinking, you're right, like we get, we get new neurons and then in those first like one to three months of not drinking, you're right, things become super clear and you're like, Oh, my brain is working. 

It's pretty, it's pretty amazing. No, it really is. And for the first time in my life, I'm like, Oh, I have these goals and like, Oh, I'm, I'm going to hit them. I'm going to achieve them. You know, and a lot of them are like physical goals. Like, I'm like, Oh, I can run that far. And Oh, I can like actually like change my weight and all these different things are happening.

And honestly, it's the first time in my life where I've been like, Oh my gosh, like these things are actually obtainable. Yes,  yeah, by just stopping drinking for, you know, one to three months in the beginning. Yeah. Did you experience anything like that? Oh, yeah So in the first same thing in the first like first one to three months all of a sudden my brain started getting really clear I would say probably in between months one and two and then I was like, oh I want to figure out what keeps happening after this right because it's not just that we  for people have drank a lot.

It's not just that we stop drinking and then everything's magically wonderful and we know how to deal with life. So there's a way more to it.  Oh, that's, no, that's okay.  I'm like, oh, now I have to figure out how to cope.  There's that. But initially, yeah, like Right before I stopped drinking, I was having, I thought I completely destroyed my brain because I was having issues with putting sentences together.

And I'm sure it was because of like liver toxicity and everything like that. But I couldn't really string together enough words to create sentences. And I couldn't write in my journal anymore. And I was like, oh my gosh, I have broken my brain. And so then I was like, I need to fix this. This is, this is a problem at 22 years old.

If you can't really speak or if you can't write, that's a problem. Yeah. Yeah. So that's pretty bad. Do you like writing and different things like that now? Yeah, I mean I prefer to, I can speak much faster than I can write now, but I definitely prefer writing. I'm a trained military journalist, like writing is my, is my thing, so that and video. 

But yeah, I definitely cherish those, those skills. And  expression, and the ability to express yourself is important. Yeah, no, I love that. Okay. So we've kind of touched on this a tiny little bit, but healing your body after alcohol abuse, like what are some actual action steps that people can apply?  Yeah, so if they're, when they have stopped drinking or if they're moderating or cutting down significantly, so after that we can make sure, making sure that we're hydrated, so drinking enough water, making sure that we're getting enough protein.

So this is going to be about 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal. We need that for muscle function, for  body development. I'm just, there's so many things that we need proteins for, in the body, but definitely having protein, definitely changing our environment. So they say, you know, not being around toxic people or toxic things, or if you're watching a lot of toxic things like scrolling online to limit that because it does affect your biochemistry.

So just being mindful of who you're surrounding yourself with and what you're exposing your brain and your mind and your nervous system too.  Okay, you just brought up something really interesting that just triggered in my brain. Do you think that social media, scrolling social media, and like consuming affects your biochemistry?

I think it does. That's crazy. What would you define  chemistry as? Biochemistry is really the signal from the brain causing a biochemical reaction in the body. So whenever we're changing our thoughts, it changes our biochemistry.  So it changes us, like if we see something that's disturbing, all of a sudden it puts us into fight or flight.

And we stay in that situation long enough, it starts affecting our digestion, sex drive, you know, breathing rate, things like that. But if we're looking at things online that are inspirational, that are creative, that are engaging,  Motivational then that also changes our biochemistry to something where we rest and digest We're calm.

We're in that creative space. So I think it really depends on what we're consuming on social media  It's hard to control it, though, especially if you look at something like TikTok, you know, where I felt like I had a really good algorithm going, and then they screwed us here in the U. S. Yeah.  It pulled us all offline for a day, and it's gone.

And now everything is like, you know, very politically charged, what happened to TikTok, and I'm like, I was listening to like, God quotes and recovery stories, and I'm like, Bible stuff and like, stories, and I'm like, what has happened?  Yeah, I mean, it definitely changes things, especially for I think if we're looking at things that are like, good, bad, good, bad, like on this like, non stop roller coaster, I feel like that does something to our fight or flight or freeze or fall on where you just like, you know, don't move and you're under a tree kind of a thing and frozen. 

That's not good either. But I think it does something to the nervous system. So I am mindful. I watch a lot of like, K beauty stuff and like creative stuff on YouTube, but it's good for Yeah, cooking stuff, like watching cooking stuff, I love it.  Yeah, definitely helpful for the nervous system. Yeah, I'm like, I'm never gonna make that, but that was really awesome. 

Yeah.  Okay. So I personally, I go to,  Alcoholics Anonymous, but I know there's a ton of other options for recovery out there. So someone who is struggling with alcohol and they want like a support system, you know, because it is hard to do it at home by yourself. And I know people who, you know, they have a support system and they're totally thriving and doing different things.

And I know people who just cut out alcohol and they're also fine and doing great. But then there is like people who are struggle. Like they'll ask me like, well, how do you deal with this? How do you deal with this? And I'm like, well, honestly, like, you know, I depend on my community.  Yeah, so as far as AA, there are meetings online around the world, which is absolutely amazing.

And also in person. In addition to that, there's something called IDAA,  which is International Doctors of Alcoholics Anonymous. So this is for healthcare providers. only. So if you're a health care provider and need help with substances or with, obviously with alcohol,  they all, they talk about both there, but, that is definitely a massive, massive support network because in health care,  you want to be mindful of not going to meetings, maybe with your patients and things like that and vice versa.

So there's IDAA, which is all over. Obviously international and then there's something called celebrate recovery, which I know is more  Church based and then there's smart recovery, which is self management and recovery training Rational recovery and then there's secular organizations for sobriety. So this is more for people who have an issue with the the God word  who want to take all of the  It's not even religion, it's more of God or universe or nature.

You want to take all of that out of sobriety. And they focus more solely on behavior.  Behavior and actions. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I, what I've always loved about  like the community that I belong to is it's like the words are interchangeable, you know, you don't resonate with this, you know, just.  Pick what you resonate with and go with it.

Like, yeah, that should never be an excuse for not getting help You know, it's like there's so many options out there.  I mean, especially like when I came into figuring out you know, which program to go to and whatnot. I just felt like I was dying, you know, I just needed help. I was like 175 pounds light or no, I was 75 pounds lighter than I am now.

And I was like, super, super sick. And I just needed help. So I was willing to try whatever it took. But also, it wasn't, you know, the first place that I went to or the first type of meeting I went to.  It was more so you have to find your community and really what like resonates with you.  Yeah and I think as we go along to like something that resonated with us for a while it might change a little bit.

Oh yeah,  definitely. I feel like we need to give ourselves more permission to just be humans and like explore different things.  Yes. And that's where it's really beautiful to have meetings that are in person and also online. Cause I know, especially, there's a lot of women who end up who have children and who are like, Oh my gosh, I can't make all these meetings per week in person.

I have, you know, childcare and whatnot. So there are meetings online. So. everything will change in whatever area of life that you're in. I know I had a single mom reach out to me and she's like, I have kids, like, but I really want to go. And I was like, Oh shoot. But I do think there's meetings online. And she was like, yeah.

Yeah, so there's support literally everywhere, every single country of the world,  pretty much. So yeah, did you know, I found this out because people like to tell me things, if you go on a cruise, they have meetings. They do. Yeah, I thought that was kind of awesome. It is. Well, because being on a cruise is definitely sometimes a drunk fest for a lot of people because they kind of sell you on the alcohol packages and whatnot.

So when there's sober people meeting on a ship, it's actually very cool. So I've, I've done those.  Well, the last time I went on a cruise, my one and only cruise, I just wasn't loving it. But I remember like day three, I was like, so do we just get drunk again?  Like, what are we doing?  Yeah, that's what a lot of people do.

Yeah, it's like there's nothing else to do.  There's a lot of beautiful places to see. Yeah, I want to circle back though to talking about protein because I feel like this is a hot topic right now. I cannot open social media without being like make this high protein meal and then they like dump cottage cheese in it.

I think I'm just over it. Like sometimes I feel like I'm shoving so much protein like in my face that I'm like I have the protein ick. Like what as a doctor though, you know, because again like some actual real advice, like how much protein should we be eating?  So I would say definitely 25 to 30 grams of protein per meal. 

Yeah, I know you mentioned that, but do you think it, because a lot of times they're like, based on your weight, how much you want to lose, or do you think it's just like, straight across the board like that?   I think it's from the type of patients that I see, I would say it's kind of straight across the board because you do, you do need protein to function, for your brain to function, for your gut, for your muscles, for movement to function.

And I wish someone would have told me this. You know, I was, I was bulimic when I was younger and so I could not figure out my relationship with food. I was dieting since I was like nine years old and was trying to just control my life through food. But I wish somebody told me that I could actually eat protein and carbs and in balance like in almost a one to one ratio and actually lose weight and actually be healthy.

As opposed to, you know, like, grazing all day, which is also not good because you need your stomach to actually,  have time to get rid of its contents. And, you know, so, actually having like three meals per day is really healthy. But, yeah, I wish someone would have told me that when I was growing up.

That, like, you can actually eat food in a certain ratio and be healthy and function.  So do you logically think this is, I need this validation. Okay.  Like 75 to a hundred grams of protein is enough for a woman. It depends. Like, are they strength training or are they trying to. Yeah. So I'm lifting weights.

I'm doing all these things.  Yeah. So typically the goal with protein should be nearly amount, the amount of weight that you want to lose. So for me right now it's about like 140 is the goal for protein, 140 grams a day, but also 140 grams of carbs a day because when you are lifting and strength training, you need carbs to burn in order for muscle production. 

And it's healthy in perimenopause because you just want muscle to put around your joints. I always tell people, I'm like, you can't just tape yourself together as you age. Like, those joints will start to hurt because the, the ligaments, everything starts to stiffen and it hurts. So you need to put healthy muscle, like on your joints to make them work.

Yeah. I'm like, okay, I need to get my protein up.  I'm like, I can do that each meal, the 25 to 30. It's like that extra in between. I'm like, where do you get that? You know? Extra protein shake. I know. And I'm like, God, I don't want another damn protein shake.  But then I'm like, I do want to feel good though. 

Yeah. I like,  fit foodie Selma. She's on YouTube  as well as Instagram and she has amazing, delicious meals where she focuses on about a hundred grams of protein a day.  Okay. So instead of eating protein or drinking protein shakes, it's like actually ways to get protein in the meals while making them delicious.

I love that. Yeah. So I follow a lot of her stuff. Oh, that's cool. I'm gonna check that out. I feel like I want to like get into my YouTube era, like watching more videos and, you know, versus like the short form, like blasting in my face. Yes.  Yeah. She has good long form and short form videos.  Okay, so you're located in Scottsdale.

Is that right? Yes, Scottsdale, Arizona. Yep. Do you can you help women like all over the world? Like who do you work with? What do you do?  I predominantly work with high performing women with gut and thyroid issues in Arizona So that is where my medical license currently is. So that's who I'm able to help right now is women or people in Arizona Oh, I love that.

Do you do any sort of online consultations at all or just specifically Arizona?  Currently, specifically Arizona. I want to eventually have a global brand where I'm able to help people from all over the world. Yeah, I love that. That's my goal. Okay, so if you guys are not in Arizona though, go check out your Instagram.

What is your handle? It is Dr. Dr. Valerie Gettings. G E T T I N G S. And just for you guys listening, Dr. Valerie has a ton of really good information on there. Like, I went through and watched your reels, and I was like, I learned a lot. You've got some really great content. Thank you so much. Yeah. So thank you so much for being on today.

Thank you for sharing, you know, a little bit of your own story and just some really, really good, like, actionable, like, data, you know?   I do find it really interesting where I, I know that like alcohol is being talked about more where it's causing cancer, but it's kind of like, Alcohol causes cancer. And I'm like, well, I remember when they came out and said that barbecuing your food caused cancer, you know, so it's kind of interesting to see it linked, especially to breast cancer.

That, that kind of stood out in my mind. So thanks for sharing your knowledge today. And thanks for being on the Samantha Parker show.  Thanks so much for having me.