Ep. 85 Hayley Williams

On this episode, I am joined by Hayley Williams of Williams Wellness. In addition to being a business owner, she is a nutritional practitioner, holistic culinary chef and dance teacher. For the last decade, she has taken her health into her own hands and been on a journey of self-discovery and healing. In her teens, taking hormonal birth control led to hormonal imbalances, cystic acne and mental health issues. She saw countless doctors, dermatologists, naturopaths and aestheticians. She felt like many were quick to sell her something to cure a symptom but was not finding help getting to the root of the problem. She graduated from the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. Her passion has become helping women solve the root of their problems and feel knowledgeable in their own health journeys.

Hayley Williams, RHN // HOLISTIC ACNE & HORMONE SPECIALIST (@williams.wellness) • Instagram photos and videosAbout | Williams Wellness (hayleywilliamswellness.com)

Ashley (@filledupcup_) • Instagram photos and videos
Filled Up Cup - Unconventional Self Care for Modern Women

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Filled Up Cup podcast. We are a different kind of self-care resource. One that has nothing to do with bubble baths and face masks, and everything to do with rediscovering yourself. We bring you real reviews, honest experiences, and unfiltered opinions that will make you laugh, cry, and most importantly, leave you with a filled up cup.

Ashley: 0:32

I am so excited today. I have Hayley Ann Williams joining me. Hayley is a nutritional practitioner, holistic culinary chef, and the owner of Williams Wellness. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Hayley: 0:45

Thank you so much for having me.

Ashley: 0:47

Can you tell us a little bit about Williams Wellness and what made you decide to open it?

Hayley: 0:53

I think a really good place to start is kind of my background as a child and everything I went through with my own set of hormonal imbalances and my essentially symptoms that I dealt with as a late teen and early into my twenties. So Williams Wellness was essentially created so that I could help women. Especially going me through the same symptoms as me and try to help them navigate those symptoms. And Williams Wellness was based off of the self-discovery that I had to go through in order to help my symptoms and help technically we're not allowed to say heal, but heal myself. So growing up I was a very elite athlete. I grew up doing many hours a week of gymnastics, cheer, dance, still very much involved in the dance world. I teach part-time and I love it. Keeps me on my toes and keeps me involved in that world. But what a lot of people don't really know about those types of sports is how individual and isolated they really are. So it's not like growing up doing team sports like soccer, where if you have. A match and you lose a game. Well, that loss is kind of transferred and spread out throughout the whole team. It's not one individual taking, you know, that responsibility or oh, I didn't try my hardest. But you know, there was this situation on the field too, when you're a gymnast, a competitive national level gymnast like I was, and when you're a dancer and you're on that stage all by yourself, you're constantly being critiqued and not just that competitions or with judges, but with everything that you do, like the style and level of training that we do. Especially as young ladies, we're getting critiqued for everything that we do. So whether we don't have a straight leg or a pointed toe, or to suck our bellies in I think people, when I say things like that body image and dysmorphia comes up and they think ballet instantly, however, that translates into, the world of gymnastics as well, even cheerleading. So I think from a very early age, I developed a little bit of mental health issues that I didn't even realize I had until probably my late teens or early twenties. So with that being said, going through everything that a teenager does or a young lady does, we were always being very nitpicked and critiqued for doing something that we love to do, unlike many other sports. So this stigma of being a perfectionist and, having this responsibility and learning responsibility and dedication from a very young age and having to self-critique ourselves was very much embodied in who I was from a very young age. So now fast forward a little bit to being the seven-teen year old teenager that I was and doing what absolutely every other girl my age was doing. I started hormonal birth control for the very first time. Prior to hormonal birth control, I didn't have any health issues whatsoever. And I know when I talk about hormonal birth control, this can be a very controversial subject. I'm a feminist myself, so it's. Interesting to hear different people's perspectives. And I'm totally open to everything, but this is just my perspective and what I went through on a personal level. So I didn't have any prior health conditions leading into this. And like every other, you know, peer of mine, we went to the local community center and we had access to free hormonal birth control. It's the twenty-first century. We've earned our rights as ladies to have that freedom. I took that and within a month, the most crazy amount of health issues started to happen. So leading into it, like I said, I was healthy. Bill of health was everything. Clean slate. Within that month I had to get emergency rushed off of hormonal birth control. Even though I don't recall exactly how high my blood pressure was, my blood pressure was exceedingly high, especially for someone of my health and my age. Like I just retired from, you know, being a very elite athlete. I gained around 30 pounds in a month. I was constantly swollen and red and inflamed and low energy. Just the list of symptoms really went on, which was very odd for someone like myself. Didn't really think anything much of it.'cause again, I was a seventeen-year-old girl and it is kind of alarming'cause I know a lot of people don't really, especially parents know what goes on behind the scenes in their kids' lives. But my parents didn't even know I was doing this behind their back. Like we were just going to local community center and you know, getting this, I wasn't even sexually active to be quite honest. It's just something that you did at that age and I'm sure many young ladies still do. So I didn't really put two and two together, but I know based off my professional education and experience now that that's really where my hormonal imbalances actually stemmed from. So fast forward from this elite athlete who developed some mental health issues around body dysmorphia and then now to this 17-year-old girl who just had a whole bunch of hormonal issues and this substantial amount of weight gain. I was kind of really deteriorating mentally. So the first thing that I really wanted to do was lose this weight that I put on. I just graduated. I was in a relationship at that time with my now husband and it was my first serious relationship, so I was very insecure about that. We were very early on and as you can imagine, it was just like a vicious cycle going on in my head at all times about comparing myself and, comparison is the thief of joy. So just struggling with my mental health, struggling with my weight I really took a deep dive in what I could do to get my body and get myself back into that physical shape and that standard and that, way of life, the way my body was prior to. Going on birth control and having all these health issues arise. Obviously that was the least of my worries at the time. I should have been more concerned about the blood pressure and, you know, telling my parents, Hey, like, maybe I should go see a doctor about this, the nurse. But, you know,

Ashley: 7:12

a teenager they're, just not gonna think about things like that. It really is like, so surface level, as a teenager, long-term doesn't like with the frontal cortex, not even done being processed. It wouldn't even occur to you back then to think about that. I know my daughter's gonna be 17 this year, and you're kind of like a big toddler sort of at that point still.

Hayley: 7:33

You're so focused on yourself and you don't really know what's going on, your surrounding, what's important, what's not. It's only what's important to you in the moment. And for me, that was just getting back on the straight and narrow and getting my body back into the shape that I had always known that I was already fatigued and criticized for all my life. Just, you know, growing up how I did. But yeah, essentially my next move from there was just to focus on losing this weight so I did a deep dive into okay, dieting, working out for two hours a day. I actually became a raw vegan and within the first three months I lost all the weight. I was feeling incredible and got my energy levels back. Things were going really well for me. And then that's when, like another pivotal moment in my health. Symptomatology happened. This is really where Williams Wellness is based off of. I developed cystic acne because of my low estrogen levels. So when you're working out doing cardio two hours a day, and when you are eating raw, vegan, low fat, low protein diet, your body is not being fueled properly in order to do its basic bodily functioning. I started developing cystic acne, it again just triggered that mental health and that perfectionist in me, and like, oh my gosh, what are people thinking? I had huge welts on my face when I never had that before. And of course, we live in such a superficial world. How could a young, fresh twenty-one year old not be so insecure about that? And then still being early on in a relationship where, you wanna see where things are going, but you're still so insecure and you really like this guy, and you're thinking, oh, is he like, you know, like, think I'm gross. I felt disgusting. Even if people wake up with a pimple on their face, they feel blah. Like they don't wanna go out in public. Imagine literally having welts on your face, chest, back everywhere. I have never felt more isolated in my life and it broke me essentially. Because of that breaking point, like a phoenix rising through the ashes became this idea of Williams Wellness. That's when I was like, oh my gosh, I don't know what to do here. Like I focus almost more on controlling my weight because it's almost like that's the only thing I could control. I couldn't control how my breakouts happened or then events that I needed to show up that I was just faking sick for. There were so many aspects of my life I couldn't control except for the one thing, and that was my weight. My weight actually got down to a 16% BMI of body fat, which is, I don't know if you're familiar, but the red zone for women. So it was actually quite scary for a little bit. And again, being a young woman, it's nothing that you think about. Meanwhile, I was just dealing so much behind the scenes with my mental health and then with, my cystic acne that eventually lasted around four years. I ended up having to see a lot of professionals because at that point I didn't know anything. I was seeing dermatologists, I was seeing naturopathic doctors conventional doctors. Estheticians everything on a sun. I poured out thousands of dollars as a very young woman trying to fix the problem. It was years of this ongoing and not really many answers. Not really any practitioner making me feel seen or heard. This is where it came to a breaking point again where I'm like, I just need to figure out and take matters into my own hands. I did a lot of self-discovery, just a lot of reflection and a lot of research. And eventually with tweaking just very superficial little things in my diet and changing my mindset. That was a huge, huge thing for me. And just my workouts. I was able to, I can now say, make a full recovery. I think still I'm an acne prone, girly at heart, and any client of mine know, knows I love that term because I think once you're an acne prone, girly, you're always going to be. But it's not to say that making a full recovery, I don't still have a breakout every now and then, or I don't have a, pimple. We're only humans. But when your body is gone, the amount of physical, emotional trauma and stress that it's gone through. It does take a lot to kind of get back to that balance that your body naturally wants to have. And you know, these things are still gonna trigger it and they're still come up. But now I'm at such a healthy, space mentally that I know how to address it and deal with these things. So as soon as I started getting on the street and narrow, that's when I kind of recognized, well, I wanna also help women who've been through the same experience as me.'cause I know how isolating it can feel. I know I can help people because I've literally done the work and I've helped myself and I've come out on the other end stronger than ever. So that's when I really decided to pursue a professional path that led me to creating my own clinic, specializing, especially in mental health orthorexia and skin issues and disorders,

Ashley: 12:54

I really like. When practitioners come from a place where they really are understanding.'cause if you are somebody who hasn't dealt with health issues or hasn't had to try to find a root cause for something, you think it's almost like going to Grey's Anatomy. You go to the hospital, you go to your doctor, they solve it, and everything's fine. That's just not. The way that healthcare is, and especially when dealing with women, I find that they're so quick to write a prescription or so quick to say, oh, it's this, but we never really get to the root of it. It's like we're just surface level onto the next thing and it's just, it's mind boggling. Even thinking about the birth control thing, they are so quick to push that without even, you can be like, oh, I have a headache. They're like, would you like some birth control? My daughter was having stomach issues for like the last year on and off, and that's the first thing that they're always pushing. Maybe she should try birth control. It's like, can you tell me the root cause of why that should be the case? Unless you're actively trying not to get pregnant and you are looking for one resource for that. They push it for so many other things and it is kind of scary that there are so many side effects of birth control that really aren't discussed and we really don't necessarily know. Like I read a study the other day that was talking about. How so? I'm gonna be thirty-nine this year. When I was in high school, they did a study on the people my age that now we're seeing more mental health and more depression issues and they were linking it back to birth control. But it's like that conversation never happened. Or even that, you know, scary pamphlet of like everything that could go wrong. Nobody is, or very few people I would have to assume are actually sitting the time and actually reading that or having a discussion about all the side effects before actually deciding to take it long term. So it is just really frustrating the way that women's health in general, no matter what the issue is, can be when you're trying to find root causes for things. I can definitely believe that you ended up having to spend thousands of dollars, which again leads to more mental health issues because it's like money doesn't grow on trees and maybe you don't have family to go to, or maybe you don't have, a job that'll pay all of it, where you have to really balance. You end up having to decide what's more important, my rent or my health. It's just unfair that that's a situation that so many people face.

Hayley: 15:13

Our healthcare system, for lack of better terms, is so corrupt. It really is. That's why I always stress, like even if, for example, I just went to my naturopath last week just getting some annuals done, blood work done. And she had mentioned over 1 million people in BC do not have a GP right now. Oh yeah. Like, sorry. I'm like, first of all, everyone should have access to a GP, but not only that, like we as individuals need to start taking matters into our own hands when it comes to our individual health. I'm a firm believer that everyone should have a naturopathic doctor as well as a GP and a registered holistic nutritionist. That's what I am. When it comes to, evaluating their day-to-day stressors like lifestyle, mindset their diet. We should not be putting all of our eggs in one basket when it comes to GPs. They're very much needed in our world. We're very thankful to have them when, we're one who has one. But we need to really start taking accountability for our health. I think that's the reason why I made it out to the other end, because I was so sick and tired of feeling the way that I did and suffering, with my own mental health, that I was strong enough to be accountable for myself and take matters into my own hands, even when I feel like I wasn't being seen or being heard. But yeah, to touch base on, your daughter's experience with hormonal birth control and everything, it's really quite alarming. So this is why pharmaceuticals such as Accutane and birth control, they actually aren't a method to treat or cure acne or any hormonal imbalance for that matter. I see it all the time within my practice. Clients are prescribed birth control to help with their PMS symptoms, for example. And then when they decide to come off, because they haven't addressed the root cause, all of their issues start coming back immediately. They stunt the production of inflammatory markers and hormones essentially mask these symptoms temporarily. As great as this might sound for a quick fix in a society that, it was all about instant gratification. We need to be realistic and understand that good things should take time. These quick fixes, they come at the extreme expense of. All the side effects that we know and that, like you listed, we should be extremely concerned about what imbalances this is throwing off in our body and what other conditions will arise as a result. I remember like, Accutane was absolutely recommended to me as an option at one point, and all I could remember was my mom's mantra because she grew up with extreme acne issues. Mind you, it was more in her early teens. It was that hormonal shift that you have at that stage of life. She was on Accutane and unfortunately as a result, had several miscarriages. I don't think people realize Accutane completely deteriorates your liver. Her many miscarriages were essentially correlated with the amount of Accutane that she used in her teenage years. I was an IVF baby essentially because of it. And then my sister is adopted and it kind of impacted her health in such a long-term way that you wouldn't have seen it coming as a teenager like she was. I just remember her telling me this throughout my childhood and I knew that that was one thing I knew I didn't wanna take, especially if I wanted to have a family one day. So at least I was kind of on the straight and narrow in that aspect. I'm someone that advocates for you have choices. There are options other than pharmaceuticals. I'm all about educating people when it comes to those options, and that's. A huge part of what makes Williams Wellness, especially the hormone specific side of Williams Wellness what it is because we are not educated in our formal system like schools when it comes to infrading rhythm, for example, in women and how we can cycle, track and learn all about ourselves. A lot of women who take birth control are taking it, for prevention and that's great. I think that that's awesome that in this day and age as women, we have that choice and I'm so proud of that. But then when I educate people on how they can use their own internal infrading rhythm and cycle track and cycle sync and be so in tune with themselves that they know that only six days that they're ovulating and can actually get pregnant, there's something even more powerful and impactful in being so in tune with yourself that you don't need hormonal birth control pills in order to prevent that or for family purposes.

Ashley: 20:02

I think there's so much misconception, or even just a lack of education. Like I think when we think about hormones, I don't even think that we really necessarily understand what our hormones function is in our body. How we can even notice when it's out of whack. Like I just don't think until you're older, until it affects you, I guess, differently that we really even talk about it or think about it. So I think that's a big part of it, that it's like, oh, I'm a woman. I have hormones. This will fix hormones. Boom. Done.

Hayley: 20:31

Or we think of hormones, we think the sex hormones, we think, oh, women have estrogen, men have testosterone. Well, actually there's way more to hormones than that, but that's all we're taught about in school, so why would we know much more about them?

Ashley: 20:43

I definitely think in this day and age, and while you know, there's good and bad things about the internet, we do have the ability to, ask these questions and do this research. Hormones are so important, whether you are a teenager, whether you are in your thirties, forties, fifties, like they play such a vital role that I just don't necessarily think that we prioritize them. I totally understand with teens or even people in their twenties, that you have the most energy that you will ever have. You feel the best. For the most part that you're ever gonna feel health-wise, that I think for them it's easy to kind of be like, I don't have to worry about this now, or this isn't a priority yet. It's one of those things that we really do have to, think more about the root cause and think about why things are happening and know what's going on in our bodies.

Hayley: 21:29

Yeah, absolutely. A lot of it is just people, honestly, being unaware and being naive because like I mentioned, it's not something we're educated about in school systems and unless we're taking it upon ourselves, like thank goodness for the accessibility that we have at the tip of our fingers in this day and age. But unless we're actually having these questions popped up in our mind, why would anyone kind of think, oh, you know, hormones is more than just, you know, like reproduction health. Yeah. No, having this balance set of hormones is. Interval and feeling balanced in absolutely every single area of our life. Whether it's sleep, energy levels, weight, mood, hunger, anxiety, depression, like absolutely every single key process in our body is because of hormones. I think, just being an advocate and preaching that awareness has really helped. I know especially my clients when they come to see me, especially for the first time just educating them on everything that hormones actually do and the role that they play in their overall health and how they control absolutely every bodily function that you need to actually live in a day. Their mind is blown'cause they had no idea that you, hormones were more than just reproductive health.

Ashley: 22:48

Our hormones change a lot as well too. It's like once you feel like you've balanced them, it's like you could have kids and that throws it off. I feel like perimenopause is something that doctors are totally in the dark about and that they feel like it happens so late. I don't feel like it happens so late. I feel like mid thirties is really where that conversation needs to start happening, so it's also one of those frustrating things where you are like, I'm set. I know this. I got this. And then your body is like, just wait.

Hayley: 23:14

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I'm so thankful that you brought that up. That's like, oh, that honestly makes my skin crawl. I had a friend that just had her second kid, she was saying how the doctor, she's literally 34 years old and the doctors were calling her pregnancy a geriatric pregnancy. I'm like. Oh my gosh. Again, it's like the women in healthcare crisis, like we're not being heard, we're not being represented properly. We have a young, very healthy thirty-four year old who I know for a fact could conceive well under her forties is being called geriatric. Like what do you think that's doing to our mental esteem, like our mental health? Like, are you kidding me? This is 2024 wake up doctors.

Ashley: 23:57

It's not 17 hundreds anymore. Kids aren't having kids at 12. Like we're not over the hill by 30. We're living longer than we've ever lived before that I know so many women who have young children that are in those age groups.

Hayley: 24:11

Yes, again, being aware of your body and really knowing exactly what's going on. If you're even thinking about becoming pregnant or if you are in those reproductive years, there are things you can do to kind of take action ahead of time, like going and getting some blood work done at your local naturopath, or, I know they even do this at Life Lab. If you're covered under medical insurance, they will do this for free. You can get a specific test done called anti malaria and hormone, and it can actually take a look at your ovarian reserve at any age.. So if you are, you know, a professional woman, trying to climb the corporate ladder, or just so focused on another area of your life that you think you might start a family a little bit later on in life, and that's something that's, toggling you. I encourage you, go get this test done because it can be so insightful for, how long you actually have. And trust me when I say this, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38 is not, and should not be considered a geriatric pregnancy, especially if you know what's going on internally within your own body. So for any lady has ever been told that it's not the case, trust me, and

Ashley: 25:19

It's amazing to know that there are tests. I feel like sometimes when you go to the doctor, it's like you feel like it's like the blind talking to the blind and you feel like you don't have options. And it's good to know that really there are a lot more tests that can tell us what's going on and that we don't have to feel like we're helpless.

Hayley: 25:38

Absolutely. With my background my story, that's exactly how I felt. I felt like I had the blinders on. I have a really amazing naturopathic doctor that I work with now. When I actually send a lot of my clients there, if I feel like they wanna investigate or have further testing, they need to be done. But back when I was first, you know, going through all of my issues, my health issues, there was a naturopathic doctor that I saw no more than 20 minutes. Why are you not spending more time with getting to know your clients? With my clients, the initial consultation I spent on average two hours with them filling out intake forms and getting to know everything I possibly can about them before even giving them any recommendations. I just feel like I'd be an awful person to not know as much as I possibly could. About my client in order to give them the best catered recommendations to help them. So that's what I was referring to earlier, like our medical system is unfortunate because everyone thinks, you know, Canada, we get free healthcare, this and that. It's like, a lot of us don't and a lot of us, like I said, don't even have general practitioners willing to see us for 20 minutes. So it's in crisis

Ashley: 26:49

My family's lucky enough, we do have a family doctor. It's also really frustrating because you still feel like you're not getting answers. You still feel like you're being kind of glossed over. It's really, really challenging to find an amazing GP that will run tests that will look for the answers.'cause I know that they're out there. It's just, it's a needle in a haystack a lot of the times.

Hayley: 27:09

It really is.

Ashley: 27:10

For anybody listening, like outside of BC or outside of Canada, we don't even have walk-in clinics really anymore. No. Some cities will have an urgent care, but even urgent care is really frustrating in the sense that, to use my daughter as an example, she thought she had strep throat. So we went to the doctor, they did a swab for her but they weren't like, let's swab it against everything that it could possibly be. They just decided it was strep throat. So they did just one test. We ended up having a call four days later after they already wrote her a prescription for something. She didn't need the prescription. And four days later we were still left in the dark.'cause they were like, yeah, I don't know what to tell you. You either have to come back here or make another doctor's appointment. So it's this cycle of being able to take time off work, having your kid, get sick in front of your eyes and not being able to help them. And then the other option is basically to go to the emergency room where we shouldn't be going to the emergency room for a sore throat, but a lot of people that don't have the family doctor or can't necessarily afford a naturopath, that's what we're stuck with. And then our hospitals are crumbling and so short-staffed. And so just insanely swamped that even when they see you, you're lucky if they actually see you and hear you it's very scary if you actually have something wrong and you're looking for help in our system as it is right now.

Hayley: 28:28

It absolutely is. And like even more reason now more than ever to really try to take accountability for your health and start asking these questions to yourself like you're waking up. If you're a woman, if you're not hungry first thing in the morning, that's one of the biggest red signs that, you know, that's a biomarker of health. I think most concepts of health in the western medical field are very outdated principles. We should not be looking at BMI anymore. Even weight to a certain extent shouldn't really be an issue. There's different, you know, circumstances such as, being diabetic or obese, but for example, if I was a lady in the 18 hundreds, I'd be considered like obese, right? So a lot of the, what's considered biomarkers of health are actually very much outdated. So just kind of being educated in, well, what is an actual biomarker of health for women being hungry first thing in the morning, making sure you're actually having not just a period every month, but you're ovulating every month. A lot of women don't even know if they actually are ovulating every month. How are your energy levels your libido? Obviously that's a huge one for women, especially as we age. What's our lack of focus? Like, do we have brain fog? Do we have any anxiety or depression? Our attitude, our emotional state, these are huge biomarkers of health that we don't really take into consideration, and it's something we really need to start asking ourselves because it's almost like once you do get better, and I'm gonna relate it to my issues. Having acne and all my health issues, mental health issues is like a huge dark cloud over your head all the time. But then once you do understand what true optimal health is, once you do finally achieve that, it's like the dark cloud that was over your head all this time finally breaks and you've just opened up yourself to this new perspective of life you didn't even know existed. It's quite wild and I know I experienced that firsthand and again, that's what the principle of Williams Wellness is really based off of is achieving that overall health. And that's something that can absolutely be done if we really know how to look for it.

Ashley: 30:50

I think our health is the most valuable thing that we have. It's just a matter of finding the right person.

Hayley: 30:56

One person, one practitioner, that it is not gonna be like a one size fit all because I know, people will compare me to a dietician, for example. And when I was going down the path of. What is even the difference between RHN or a dietitian, or what do I wanna pursue, like there's so many different practitioners out there that I feel like there's no right or wrong necessarily. There's only what's gonna be right for you. So basing your Practitioners principles off of your own morals and principles is huge because I'm sure even viewers like listening to this probably cringe at the fact that I'm saying naturopathic doctor. There are still people that are like, oh, they're so who do witchcraft or whatever. But, you know, everyone is just different in their perspective. And so choosing a practitioner that resonates mostly with them and their own morals and standards and principles is gonna be huge. And then you are gonna be able to receive those recommendations so much better than if you're kind of, resisting them in that sense because you don't believe in what they have to offer.

Ashley: 32:04

Yeah, that's so true too. Can you explain what type of things clients would seek you out for or what kind of things you can help people with?

Hayley: 32:14

So, as a registered holistic nutritionist, there's really no extent to what people can't see us for. We are known for preventative measures, mostly because we like to focus on the body as a whole. I often refer to myself as a holistic nutritionist, as like totally cliché as that sounds. But it's really because we embark on the many aspects that make us human. So we have our physical body, our physical being, we have our mental, emotional state of health. We have then this whole other layer that's. Invisible, but very much prevalent in everything we do. And that's our spiritual aspect. If we're struggling in any of those areas, even the spiritual aspect of it, like what's our purpose in life that's gonna show up as physical symptomatology in our body. And again, like I related my acne issues to me being low estrogen, well why was I low estrogen in the first place? Streamline that back domino, effect that back. And then you can eventually really, really narrow down what the root cause is. And that was my mental health issues and not feeling good enough and having this perfectionist mindset not being in the moment. And really that's just narrowing it down to that root cause. So there's always gonna be a streamlined effect of a certain symptom and where it came from, but anyone wanting to seek out. A holistic nutritional practitioner like myself, just because I specialize essentially in hormones and acne because I dealt with that. That was my path, that was my journey. You know, you can see me for an assortment of issues. We're trained in addressing the whole body and the many layers that make us, us. We address these by our lifestyle factors, our diet mindset, the mental, emotional state. We're very food forward first, but every now and then we do need to make supplementation recommendations. I have a few clients right now that aren't seeing me at all with any hormonal or skin issues. I have a client who's pre-diabetic and seeing me because of that. I also have a young woman that suffers with anxiety and I'm helping her navigate that. So really anything in your life that you're struggling with, especially if it's preventative and we're going to, get down to the root cause before it becomes a bigger issue than it needs to be. People can come see me and I would be more than help and have a root cause discussion and this discussion that we're having right now and deep dive into what makes'em them and why these symptoms might be showing up for them.

Ashley: 34:58

I love that you brought up preventative because I think sometimes we think too much. Like, oh my gosh, we're sick now I have to deal with it. Where it's like if we really get ahead of it and help our bodies along the way, then it's like we can avoid some of those things and those roadblocks before they become big problems that we have to tackle. And it's so crazy how. Trauma and stress can live in our body and then just cause all of these other things. And I think that mental health aspect isn't talked about enough or is starting to become a place where it's not as taboo and stigmatized as it once was. That it's like to understand that piece is huge.

Hayley: 35:37

Yes. It is becoming more mainstream and I'm so thankful for that. But absolutely touching base on that preventative aspect. If I was able to, comprehend my mental health issues back then, I guarantee you I wouldn't have developed my acne issues and my hormonal imbalances. I think a lot of people, are becoming. More aware and they're wanting to take accountability for their overall health, which is great. And so now people are starting to think preventative measures. Think of everything we went through with the pandemic. Like I've had a lot of people come to me as clients and wanna just address their immune health in order to get their immune system as strong as possible in order to prevent them from getting sick, possibly. Preventative measures and that mindset is becoming more and more mainstream now, which is great. I think especially because, you know, in our day and age we're seeing these baby boomers all end up deteriorating and it is so unfortunate in the ICU and just seeing how they're aging and it's really, really sad. That's a whole other conversation, that aspect of healthcare. Us millennials are now seeing this and we're seeing how our grandparents have been aging and how our parents are starting to age and we're starting to think preventively. Like we do not wanna end up like that. We want a quality of life for as long as possible. And that's something I know that I've been internally struggling with and trying to deal with because all my grandparents, unfortunately, have passed away from really abrupt diseases that absolutely could have been preventative, especially even being genetic. Like a lot of people think they're doomed if they have, a specific genetic disease, like if prostate cancer runs in their family, that's not necessarily the case. We, have the ability now to turn on and off these gene receptors in our DNA, just through basic lifestyle and dietary habits and monitoring our stress. And there's so much we can do to actually control our genetic makeup that it's no longer a make or break because we have that information now it's gonna be interesting to see how we age. We're already seeing people start to live longer now as a result. So again, if there's one thing you can do, it's act to now. The biggest asset you'll ever have in life is yourself and your body, and you take these things for granted, especially when things happen so abruptly. You really, take things for granted until it happens to you.

Ashley: 38:12

I know that the younger generation, everybody loves to bash them, but it's like they really have switch the mindset in the sense that, like, say my parents' generation, it's like you worked until you retired and work was so important where I do like that the mind shift is happening now where it really is. I don't wanna spend, you know, sixty-five years in an office building that I really wanna take my time and value it and live my life. So I do like that it is sort of shifting, so that they'll be able to enjoy their lives longer.

Hayley: 38:46

Exactly. I think it's funny that you mentioned like our parents and grandparents because. I remember so vividly my, I'm laughing, it's actually awful, but my grandma was in the hospital. She just had another stroke and this was right in the middle of my schooling. And I was kind of telling her like, I'll come up with a plan for you. We'll get you on this straight and narrow. You can be a case study client of mine. I think it's great because our generation is starting to make our parents and grandparents more accountable for their health. So we are stepping up in that aspect because we're so aware now in this day and age that we're kind of stepping up and making sure they're being on top and staying accountable for their own health, which I think, is so necessary for our generation to do.

Ashley: 39:37

Can you tell me if people wanna work with you? Do you do in-person or online or both?

Hayley: 39:43

Yeah, it is totally up to the individual. I do have my own home-based clinic and I love in-person consultations. It just allows me as a practitioner to be able to get to know you and your entirety. We also have that person-to-person, conversation and interaction, which is so important, especially when helping build trust in clients. But a lot of my clients are from out of province too, and that's where technology is amazing. I think after the whole pandemic, when we moved mostly to online, a lot of people are more comfortable in their homes now as well. It's kind of become a more convenience thing, which is absolutely fine. And so majority of my clients, I'd say 90% of them I do online consultations with as well. And I can work with anyone in the world at any time by doing so. It's totally up to the individual.

Ashley: 40:39

That's awesome. Can you tell me a little bit about the monthly memberships that you offer?

Hayley: 40:43

I offer a certain amount of packages I do three months, six months, or monthly memberships. In all honesty, there's certain clients that I would recommend the monthly memberships for. And there for people who maybe are. A little bit past that preventative stage. Maybe they already have a prevailing disease or, serious issue that they're, dealing with and they need a little bit more handholding and a little bit more accountability. They have access to a private chat of mine 24 7 if they need help with anything, even going to the grocery store, sending me a picture of a product. Hey, should I be consuming this for dinner or whatnot? It's just for the client who has more severe health issues, but also is just coming from an aspect of not knowing anything about where they should start. So I would definitely recommend those monthly memberships for those people. The average client that I have, if they're coming to see me in the first place and recognize what RHNs do in the first place, they already have a really awesome grasp of. optimal health and well-being and where they want to go and their goals. A monthly membership wouldn't necessarily be for them, I would say just a three-month or a six-month package, depending on the severity of their case.

Ashley: 41:54

Can you tell me a little bit more about your services?

Hayley: 41:56

So before I even get started on a client, I always offer a 20 to 30 minute free discovery call. Again, it's mostly just about building that trust and seeing if I'm a practitioner that resonates with them and that's okay if I don't because everyone has their thing. Some people would rather work with a dietitian'cause they believe in that aspect more it's totally up to the individual. So that's where a discovery call is. Great We also assess whether my services are covered under their medical plan and medical benefits, because a lot do, and I'm part of my alumni association. We're constantly advocating for that. And even if your, company or your medical plan does not offer registered holistic nutritional services. We can contact them and we've done this before and they've added onto that. So there's definitely ways around it too. But the discovery calls, just getting to know each other, going over my different services that I have to offer, what their health goal is, what service would best suit them. From there we would book in initial consultation if they felt like we were a good fit.

Ashley: 43:03

Is there any information that they should bring with them to the initial consultation.

Hayley: 43:08

So not necessarily I want my clients to come in almost not knowing what to expect, because based on their reactions, I can kind of gauge who they are as well. Right? Our initial consultation process is intense, I'm not gonna lie. But they always feel so much lighter and invigorated after, and it's usually two hour consultation that feels like it goes by in 20 minutes. I just had a client today that I had an initial consultation with, and she literally at the end of the consultation said, wow, I feel like I just was with my therapist and had a really good therapist session. I'm like, that's amazing. Like, I'm so happy I could have, you know, brought that relief to you. But we go over a series of intake forms, lifestyle assessment forms, like I said, to get to know all about the individual. The more that I know, the more I'm able to, on the back end of things, get to work and come up with some really, really concrete recommendations catered specifically to them, which is very, very important. If you're working with a practitioner, make sure they're not people that are copying, pasting the same recommendations to everyone because everyone is so bio-individual and we all have such different needs. That's why no one diet. Fits all people essentially. So we go over all of those lifestyle assessment forms. We go over a chart called the NutriSystem profiles, and it really assesses where all of our different systems are. So we have our endocrine glandular system. If you know anything about hormones and you know, that's our hormone system. We have our gut, we have our nervous system, digestive system, cardiovascular system. We assess all of those systems and where they're at health-wise. And it's a great visual aspects for clients to see too, right off the bat, to see where their score is at. Even though before they even fill out that chart, I already know exactly what systems are gonna show up the highest just after having their lifestyle assessment forms filled out. It's great for them to see in their follow up that when the numbers are starting to get lower, even if they're not. Feeling like they're making progress, they can visualize it. Well, you might not be feeling it because you're, looking, down the straight and narrow to your overall end goal, but you actually are making progress. Look at how low the scores are now. So it's more instant gratification for people because let's be honest, we do live in a very instant gratification world and if people don't feel like they're getting the results they want, it's gonna be crippling to them as well. So we do those sets of forms and after the initial consultation I do send them with some homework that's just a little bit more information. Helps me gather all of my information gathering for coming up with their very individual recommendation report for them.

Ashley: 46:04

Which I guess would be so frustrating for people in the sense that we're so used to the Amazon world where it's like, I want it two days later, I have it. Healing is such a journey that it's like you can't go into it expecting a straight line that it can be, a little bit of progress forward, a little bit backwards and I guess if you're in a situation where you're trying to heal, it's like giving yourself grace to know that it is a journey and you have to celebrate your small wins, not just whatever your end goal is.

Hayley: 46:32

Absolutely. Health is not linear and I always tell my clients too, usually in the discovery call, however long you've been dealing with a symptom, you have to go into your health journey expecting it to take that long. To get your body back to homeostasis and where it's supposed to be functioning at an optimal level. And honestly, that's just the cold hard truth. I dealt with my hormonal issues before I actually started seeing progress for four years. That was in my early twenties. I'm now in my early thirties, but truth be told, I feel like I haven't even had that optimal level of health until the last three years just because my body was still kind of trying to return back to that homeostasis and that balance that it's so longed for and fully recovered from. It's not to say that I still don't get a breakout or pimple every now and then, but I have the mindset of the tools and the resources that that breakout now only lasts a day and the next day because I've utilized my tools and my information, my resources, it's literally instantly gone. And I think that is a huge thing to recognize when it comes to progress is. Don't look at the end goal. Look to how far you have come since and really appreciating, like you said, the small wins. Because at the end of the day, those little small wins are what's going to get you one step further to that overall end goal. One thing I really, really wanna note when it comes to acne and skin health, and especially insecurity issues and mental health for ladies, we should never be striving for perfection. And I know this because that's what I did. That's how I was so emotionally and mentally unstable for many years, is having that perfectionist mindset. There's nothing that triggers me more than seeing all these different filters on, social media, Snapchat, whatever, of women with zero pores. It really is not the case. We need to have realistic expectations of, progress over perfection. And if you are gonna be constantly striving for an end goal of having that perfect filtered face all the time, you are never ever going to be able to achieve that. You're just gonna be suffering for a long time until you come that realization.'cause it just doesn't exist. It just doesn't exist.

Ashley: 48:53

I totally agree with you. And even the people that were like, I wish that we looked like this person. That person doesn't even look like that person when we really think about it. As society, we're basically told not to age it's basically like dye your hair, fix your face, be this size, look this way. And it's like those societal pressures, changes so much from. I guess like season to season and what society thinks they can sell us. But it's also understanding if you make it to 40, 50, 60, 70 wrinkles in cellulite, whatever, that's so impressive that you were able to have the life experience of that, Switching that mindset that that is more important than I guess the male glaze or societal attractiveness.

Hayley: 49:38

Absolutely. And like I, gosh knows, I suffered with body dysmorphia just with orthorexia alone. That's one thing that really healed me was, doing that self-discovery. It's not an easy journey, but when you overcome it, it's like a light at the end of the tunnel I'm thirty-two years old, and it's really actually quite sad that this generation still has this mindset. But I know my mom, for example, and I love her to death, if she hears this, she's probably gonna feel so bad that I'm saying this, but every time I see my mom it, like she's so used to that fourteen-year-old athlete. I used to be that double zero. And she's always asking, oh, have you gained some weight? Or, I don't think she's even doing it in a judgmental way. It's literally just because she grew up in a day and age where it was so socially conditioned for them to be a stick-thin size zero. And it's like, I'm a woman now. I have boobs, I have a butt. I still have a very in shape body, even though I don't have that eight pack that I did when I was training 25 hours a week as a national level gymnast. But again, it's that wording as parents that we really, really, really need to be, you know, cognitive of. Because whether the parent thinks that it's not affecting them or the child themselves don't think it's affecting them, it is literally being ingrained little by little I know firsthand. Going through all my issues. I didn't even know they were issues until I realized they were issues. I still teach part-time, and this is one aspect of why I really, really love working with young women, especially in the dance world, because I know how harshly they're criticized I was in their shoes before. I am so aware of my wording and my language when it comes to them because I know firsthand what it can do to them. I still am critiquing'em, but in a very different approach. I focus on technique because at the end of the day, as an athlete, especially dancer, you need to have a certain technique, not just for the artistry side of things like we all envision, but for the safety aspect. You have to be able to engage your core in order to land properly or you're gonna hurt yourself. I use that as a tool to help them with their. Technique. So that, you know, later on in life they don't have these issues come up. I know they're getting criticized already and I make sure that you don't have to be the best as long as you're having fun. And I make it more about, are you having fun? Are you loving doing what you're doing? It's not about the first place or the gold. Did you have fun and do you feel like you did the best you could? Okay, great. Then I'm proud of you. If, you know, they come out on top, and I've had this happen before, if they come out with a first place or whatever, the crazy rankings are the dance world. I'm like to be so outta touch, even though I'm very much in it still, they come up with these crazy double diamond, platinum, whatever. Even if they do come out on top with that, award. The first question I ask them is, do you have fun? Do you feel like you did the best they did? They're like, well, I feel like we could have done better. I'm like, okay, well then you need to work on that because I was proud of you up there and look at how well you did. Like you should be focusing on how much fun you're having instead of the critiquing side of things. But yeah, that's just the reason why I love staying involved. Even though I only work, 15 hours a week doing that, I think I'll always be involved as long as possible just because that's a little piece of me that I can give back to my younger self. And I wish I had more coaches growing up that would've done the same, essentially.

Ashley: 53:18

It must be healing to be able to kind of give back in that sense and be that person that you didn't get to have. I. The norms when we were younger are so different than they are now that it is so important to be very mindful of critiquing bodies and critiquing everything. I know my daughter did ballet for eight years and just thinking of the things that were set in the moment of like, oh, make sure your posture is this and all of the different things that it's like you don't realize until much later the impact that all of those things can have. Or even just the impact of having to wear certain costumes that for them to be in front of the audience and feel that pressure of like, so-and-so's arms look this way or so and so-and-So whatever body thing that you're telling yourself and it's like it can get so in your head. So if you have somebody that you respect and value saying, Hey, we did awesome. All of that doesn't matter. You got this. I loved it. That is really what they carry with them.

Hayley: 54:17

Absolutely. When it comes to language, that's a huge thing. And I know I have a lot of people in the dance industry that seek out my nutritional advice as well. I've actually worked with many ex students of mine who are professional dancers now. They work prima ballerinas and they're just off jet setting the world, working with certain companies and things like that. And they come back to me whether it's with nutritional advice or especially in the ballet world, even though it's gotten a lot better. I will admit it's still very much a thing in the ballet world body dysmorphia. I've worked with ex-students of mine who have, you know, had to have some serious help with all of their things that they've gone through with their body dysmorphia. And again, that's a whole nother thing of throwing off your hormones, low estrogen aria, all that. I'm very thankful in my line of work, just even still pursuing a career as a dance teacher. I've had the opportunity and I'm now the nutritionist for IDTS, which is the International Dance Teaching Standards. And it's great because during the module three portion of that curriculum for dance teachers, they have to have a conversation with me in order to pass about, proper nutrition. We always bring up, whether it's in the curriculum or not, I always make a point of bringing up the language. Because there still are, a lot of eating disorders associated with the world of dance, especially ballet. And so even though it's not a part of the curriculum, it's something that I really touch base on because they're gonna go on and educate the next generation, and we wanna break the stigma. We wanna make sure that women are growing up being comfortable with their bodies and who they are. There's no one size fit all. This isn't the nineties anymore. We shouldn't be stick thin, and that's not healthy. We need a certain amount of facts, especially as women, in order to be able to properly. Go about our bodily functioning, like not just for the reproductive aspect, but our infradian rhythm. We're all gonna be at the certain body weight when we've achieved optimal health that we really need to be at. Whether that's a size eight or size zero, it doesn't matter. So we need to really start recognizing that and helping bring up the next generation so that we raise really strong women with great heads on their shoulders that have that emotional capacity to make really healthy, educated choices for themselves and then their families as well,

Ashley: 56:43

and agree with that more. And I really appreciate you taking the time to have this conversation with me today. Can you let everybody know where they can find you online if they're looking for you?

Hayley: 56:54

Yeah, you can go to my website, haileywilliamswellness.com. I'm also on social media. You can find me on Instagram at Williams.Wellness.

Ashley: 57:03

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Hayley: 57:06

Thank you so much. I had a great time chatting with you.

57:11

Thank you so much for joining us today for this episode of The Filled Up Cup podcast. Don't forget to hit subscribe and leave a review. If you like what you hear. You can also connect with us at filledupcup.com. Thanks again for tuning in and we'll catch you in the next episode.