Real Food Stories
The question of "what to eat" can feel endlessly confusing, especially when we contend with our own deeply ingrained beliefs and stories around food. Blame social media, the headline news, and let's not get started on family influences. Passed down from generations of women and men to their daughters, it's no wonder women are so baffled about how to stay healthy the older we get.
As a nutritionist and healthy eating chef, combined with her own personal and professional experience, Heather Carey has been connected to years of stories related to diets, weight loss, food fads, staying healthy, cooking well, and eating well. Beliefs around food start the day we try our first vegetables as babies and get solidified through our families, cultures, and messages we receive throughout our lifetime.
We have the power to call out our food beliefs so we can finally make peace with what we eat and get on with enjoying the real food and lives we deserve. Listen in to find out how to have your own happy ending to your real food story. Connect with Heather at heather@heathercarey.com or visit her website at www.heathercarey.com or www.greenpalettekitchen.com
Real Food Stories
115. Yep, We’re Talking About Peeing When You Laugh
Were going beyond kegels and talking about real solutions for incontinence in midlife
This week, we’re talking about something so many women deal with — but almost no one talks about: urinary incontinence.
After having twins, I thought leaking was just something I’d have to live with. I was told to do kegels and move on. But they didn’t help — in fact, they made things worse.
In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Nigel Brayer, creator of the Iron-Clad Bladder System, who’s on a mission to change the conversation around bladder health. We talk about why traditional advice only addresses a small piece of the problem, and how your nervous system, hormones, stress, and even your hydration habits play a much bigger role than most people realize.
If you’ve ever felt embarrassed, frustrated, or just confused about what’s happening with your body — this one’s for you. You’re not alone, and you don’t have to just live with it.
Listen in and learn:
- Why kegels aren’t always the answer
- How menopause, stress, and certain foods impact bladder function
- What to do instead — including physical, nutritional, and nervous system support
- How to break the shame and take back control of your health
Learn more about Dr. Brayer and his free seminar on healing your bladder, April 17, 2025 8pm EST click HERE
To learn about Dr. Brayers Iron Clad Bladder program, click HERE
Find Dr. Brayer on IG HERE
I would love to hear from you! What did you think of the episode? Share it with me :)
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Hang out with Heather on IG @greenpalettekitchen or on FB HERE.
Let's Talk!
Whether you are looking for 1-1 nutrition coaching or kitchen coaching let's have a chat. Click HERE to reach out to Heather.
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Hey everyone and welcome back to the Real Food Stories podcast. I always want to talk and address topics related to women's nutrition and health, especially the ones that we feel have to be kept secret because we are too afraid to talk about them or even say them out loud. So when I found Nigel Breyer, I knew I had to have him on the podcast, and let me tell you why. Nigel Breyer is a chiropractor and a diplomate in acupuncture, an expert in natural medicine and a women's urinary health expert. He developed the iron-clad bladder system, which is a drug-free treatment for urinary incontinence that combines neurological insights with traditional Chinese medicine, helping numerous women find relief from this condition. Hi, nigel, welcome to the show.
Speaker 1:I'm so happy to have you here because, okay, let's face it, urinary and bladder issues for women are right up there with talking about menopause and hormones. There's a lot of mystery and there is a decent amount of shame and a feeling that this is something we just have to live with. There's a lot of women I know who have bladder issues and urinary incontinence, and most of them, I imagine, are struggling. So I want to hear from you, as you are the expert in this, what exactly urinary incontinence is, how it's defined, why it happens and is there a certain age? And then, most importantly, what we can do about it. So I want to ask you all the things about everything, bladder. So why don't we just jump in, tell me your story, how you got into this, and we'll go from there?
Speaker 2:Great Thanks, heather. This is a great pleasure and I'm super excited for our conversation. Well, let's get started. I've been named the reluctant bladder doctor and I think I've really embraced that term because it's absolutely true. And I know Heather and I didn't know about it for many, many months and it took some probing and digging and probably even some pestering for her to finally share with me what was going on.
Speaker 2:And being in the healthcare field is, again, I had my specialty at that time and it wasn't incontinence. So through our journey and people can read about it on our website if they like but through our journey is we found that there's really no good options. There's some options but none of them are that great, especially in the natural health field for incontinence the typical pathways like pelvic floor therapy and Kegels and stuff. They have some value but they just didn't show the results that we're looking for. So because of that experience and really how it affected my wife and I's relationship, just in terms of activity of our family and her ability to travel and hike and run and all those things that she enjoyed, really came to a halt. So there's a lot of facets that come up with. That is, you know, why didn't my wife want to share with me right off the bat? And of course that led me to the understanding that this is an extremely patchy subject and a lot of people have a lot of of um I'll call it baggage behind it, and again, I'm not an expert on that at all, but I can speculate that there's just a lot of self-worth that goes into that.
Speaker 2:That condition is is when we lose our ability to control our bladder is we have a lot of doubts of us as a human, as a parent, as a. If I can't do this, well, I mustn't be that Like. There's just a lot of different pathways our minds go. So it really helped me understand, I guess, where a lot of people are coming from. But then it also led me on this mission to say, okay, well, I've been in the natural health field for 28 years. Mission to say, okay, well, I've been in the natural health field for 28 years, the body's designed to heal is there. So it pushed me to look at, well, what are the key barriers that keep most conditions from resolving themselves? So that's kind of led me on that pathway and that's where the program started from. So I know I kind of gave you a lot of information there, but I was trying to summarize as best I can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know. I mean now I have more questions from that, you know, because I want to know what the statistics are, if you know this, of women who are suffering from urinary incontinence and bladder issues. And I think that there's at least I've had this belief that you know I had a twin pregnancy and then I had another one right very quickly after that and my bladder was just like blown and I feel like it's just something that you have a pregnancy and then you have to like live with, like bladder issues, like there's this like underlying belief that you know these things happen to women and then you have to like live with these other conditions. So let's just start what are the statistics for women with bladder issues? And also, I want to maybe back up just a little bit more what exactly is urinary incontinence? Because we're using, you know, like maybe bigger words that people might not understand.
Speaker 2:Sure, let's define that first. So urinary incontinence is broken up into really two categories. There's urge incontinence is one, and there's stress incontinence, which is the other, and most of them go together. But let's talk about incontinence. So incontinence means the inability to have full control of your urinary bladder. So, to make it simple, is you pee your pants for various reasons and you can't seem to stop it, and there's various degrees of. Some people have no ability, control at all. Some have ability, but when they're under mental stress or they're thinking about going to the bathroom, they start to leak because the bladder or the valve starts to what's called fasciculate, which kind of means quiver. And then there's some that because of like you experienced, heather, there's physical trauma. So what I like to do for people is help them understand the bladders.
Speaker 2:Think of it like a balloon with a straw stuck in it, or a straw stuck where you'd blow it up Now obviously a male's urethra, so you think of the straw as longer the lady's is shorter, so hers is about an inch long, and men have a valve which is called a sphincter, one at the neck, that's right where the straw would meet the balloon, and right at the end, and that's called the external sphincter the ladies is all together. So there's approximately an inch of a valve that's controlled. And this is what's really curious is 70% of that valve is what's called autonomically controlled. Autonomic means unconscious, kind of like your heart's beating, your food's digesting. Those are happening without your necessarily consent. It's happening in the back part of the brain that's running you, and the 30% is consciously controlled. And so what that means is when you're doing a Kegel or you're doing a pelvic floor work, is you're really addressing only 30% of that control of the valve?
Speaker 2:So, as you look deeper, that begs the question well, how do you gain control of that other 70%? And that's what's so interesting about that valve itself is it's a product of all of your experiences together. So I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole here. But as we think of us as a culture, we're highly stressed, we're highly motivated, we're highly scheduled, we're highly everything, and that affects every single part of us. It affects our blood pressure, it affects our heart rate, it affects our digestion, our thinking pattern. Well, it it affects our blood pressure, it affects our heart rate, it affects our digestion, our thinking pattern. Well, it also affects our bladder.
Speaker 2:So one of the big, I guess, epiphanies that I had as I was doing my research and studying, and such is, I thought to myself, if I have a way to influence the autonomic nervous system, I can start to have a much better impact on that valve instead of just the Kegels, which is purely, you know, physical, strength conscious, if I can start influencing that, which means I now have to start addressing bigger issues. I have to address the autonomic nervous system, I have to address the underlying stressors. And this goes back to your earlier question is well, what are the causes? Well, there's no one cause. Childbirth is certainly a physical event, and then twins, that's even a more physical event. So there's a physical component, but then there's also a nutritional, chemical, hormonal component.
Speaker 2:What you eat, food is chemicals, it's biochemistry, right. So the foods that we put into our body, our bacterial growth in our GI tract, they're creating different byproducts that either help us or hurt us. Then we also have our mental, emotional. So there's really three big components it's the physical, the nutritional, chemical, hormonal, which obviously when ladies change their hormones change with menstruation or with menopause that's going to influence these same tissues we're talking about. But then we also talk about the mental stressors. So the big picture is you have to address all of them a little bit. There's no like, and I'm no different than anyone else. If there was a one hit wonder wonder, I'd be all over it.
Speaker 1:Let's do this one thing like yeah, because I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I know that you know me growing up over the years like the one thing the only thing that I had ever heard about was doing kegels. Right, it was just make sure you're like squeezing and like doing, like doing these like tightening, and never was there any connection between your nervous system, what you ate, how you know your gut, you know health.
Speaker 1:I'm sure any any of this mental. So I want to, definitely I want to like address each of these because I think that they do play a huge role. I mean, I know that they do and you know role. I mean I know that they do and you know that too. But let me just, are there any statistics for you know, for women Like? I mean? Because sometimes I see women like I know for me, like there are certain foods we'll get into the foods but that are kind of like trigger my bladder, you know, and and I see women who just seem like they don't like. If I drink coffee, for example which I'm not a huge, I'm not a big coffee drinker but caffeine I think like triggers my bladder to like have to, you know, like go more and everything. And I see some women just like taking like a five mile walk with like a cup of coffee in their hand. I'm like, how are you doing that? You know so. So I think there's probably women who don't get affected by bladder issues. But what? What are the statistics?
Speaker 2:Sure. So if you look at all women, just you know of an adult age group, one in three women. So 33% of all women are affected. Now, one in three women, so 33% of all women are affected. Now, when you change the time, the age factor, when we look over ladies over the age of 35 to 45, around 50% have some degree Okay, and again it's all varied. And we look at women over 50 to 55, we're talking almost 70%. So again there's definitely a time component. So we talk about hormones. We talk about how hormones affect tissue as the tissue integrity changes, things that might have been more easily managed. Younger, because elastin is reduced. Elastin is what gives everything bounce and flexibility as we're younger. So tissue changes increase, something that was already there younger, okay.
Speaker 2:And then back to your earlier um observation about the lady drinking coffee and you know, taking a long walk is I like to think about the three stressors as a bucket and so, and you can draw, imagine a bucket full of water and you can draw a line on that bucket anywhere you want. I like to call that the constitutional marker. So we all have different constitutions. You know, you can handle more of this, I can handle more of that, less of this, less of that, and we all have that. But all stressors affect all of us. But where that threshold is is kind of a factor of a whole bunch of different things. It's a factor of some genetics, it's a factor of our general dietary habits, it's a factor of our mental you know fortitude. All these things are affecting us. But the big picture is is eventually everything affects everybody. It's just how much of the bucket? And a perfect example, just to you know, divergent is.
Speaker 2:I hear this with patients all the time. I never had allergies until I turned 40. How come? Well, you were sensitive when you were 20, but your stress load got to a point where your body can't manage that stressor anymore. And now you start to have symptoms. And that's very similar to anything. The bladder is no exception Is hey, once I had my third child, everything went to pieces. Or I was fine after this and then this happened, or I got a flu and then all this happened. Those are just stressors, that kind of push that little marker over the edge and then a symptom appears, but it usually happens long before that. On the um, subtle level, shall we say yeah.
Speaker 1:Uh, so you mentioned hormones. You said that when women turn 50, right and older than like the statistics the incidence really goes up. And you mentioned hormones, and is there an estrogen menopausal connection to bladder issues?
Speaker 2:So let's just kind of digress a little bit so people understand how hormones work. So women have two key. There's a lot of other hormones, but two key. Let's talk estrogen and progesterone. So estrogen starts to build at the earlier part of the cycle. It comes from the pituitary gland, hypothalamus, so what it's doing is it's building up the uterus, it's building up blood flow in the preparation for implantation of an egg. So it's the holder honor hormone. That's why ladies will feel puffier, things will be more swollen certain times of the month. So the body's holding on. And then, once ovulation occurs, once the egg is released, the outer part of the egg then starts to produce what's called progesterone. So progesterone is kind of like this is a loose analogy, but it's kind of like the female's testosterone. That's why a lot of women after the first trimester really feel awesome because they have super high amounts of progesterone which is created by the placenta, and so that's what's called the secretory phase, so that everything's metabolic, you're burning lots of energy, everything's really good. So what happens with menopause is all of those things start to reduce and they start to drop down.
Speaker 2:So if you think what estrogen does is estrogen holds on, it builds stuff up? Well, let's think about it from a bladder or even a urethral standpoint. Is it's building up that tube? It's building up endothelial linings. That means the lining of blood vessels, the lining of a uterus, the lining of a bladder. So when those hormones reduce, is those linings become thinner. So the integrity has to be greater, meaning other things have to be stronger to compensate, because the tissue is not the same as it was before. Does that make sense? Yes, and then the progesterone is the metabolic component. So that's increasing mitochondria, that's increasing energy. Well, now we have less energy, we have tissue integrity. That's not as great. Therefore, if it was already on the edge when you were 30, 35, now of course there's less, that's holding back your bladder.
Speaker 1:Right, okay, okay, good, good to know. Let's go back to then the things that I contribute to urinary incontinence. Let's talk about food, because I'm a nutritionist and I like to talk about food, so let's talk about that first. What foods contribute to this incontinence? Are there things that we, as women, should avoid? Are there foods that we should be eating more of?
Speaker 2:I'm going to step back a tiny bit. If you break everything that crosses your lips into two things, it either heals us or it depletes us, right? So most of the things now some are allergy-based, so they can be good foods, but we're sensitive because of personal constitutional issues, so let's put those ones aside. Most foods are either going to help us heal us or they're going to deplete us. So the depletion of foods are going to be anything that takes resources away from us. So let's just do a simple little assessment of a morning. Okay, you've got a cup of coffee. So first of all we're going to see well, is there pesticides in that coffee? Is it organic or is it not organic? Okay, well, if it's laden with pesticides, well, that's very depletionary. So our liver's got a big job to do. That's going to suck up resources. Right Now we talk about caffeine. So caffeine is a stimulant. So now you're adding in a stimulant. So if we look at the stress reaction in our body, is stress causes everything to tighten and to hold on right? Well, if you squeeze your fist for seven hours, pretty soon your hands are going to be so tired and so sore. It's just going to start spontaneously releasing and relaxing. So a lot of people think that their bladder issues are because their pelvis is too weak and there might be some weakness there, but because the stress response is they're actually too tight all the time. So what happens is the body fasciculates. It's kind of like I'm holding my fist and I just need a break and then you distract me and I let go. Well, I'm holding my bladder and then something comes up and I can't consciously hold it, so I let go and then I start to leak. So caffeine is going to stimulate that even more. So it's going to cause something under stress to be more stressed. Okay, then we look at things like it's pretty popular for people to drink those things called bubble waters, like LaCroix's and things like that, which is carbonation. So carbonation changes the pH of the GI, but it can also be an irritant to linings. Now we look at other things. Okay, well, what do vegetables do? It changes the pH of the GI, but it can also be an irritant to linings. Now we look at other things. Okay, well, what do vegetables do? Well, vegetables tend to have antioxidants. What do antioxidants do? Well, they're going to help reduce free radicals, which create irritation to tissues and blood vessels and also to linings right Is healthy proteins.
Speaker 2:If our GI tract is intact, we're going to be absorbing proteins and, let's say, healthy fats that are going to help build us. So foods are really breaking down, as do I want to build myself up. I need healthy protein, healthy fat, vegetables, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals. Things that deplete us are going to be the hydrogenated fatty acids, which is, you know, most fast food stuff, most packaged foods, then the colorants, the preservatives all those things take from our bodies. So if we're already stressed and depleted, we're stressing and depleting our body more versus giving it a buildup. So I like to think of it like a brick, like a brick layer. If I want to build a castle, I need some good materials. Well, your body's an amazing castle, so materials you give it are going to help support it. If you deplete it with other stuff, then it's going to make it weaker and it's going to become worse.
Speaker 1:Okay, good point, I mean, so it's so. It's just another reason to up your nutrition game right and really focus on the healthiest fats, proteins, whole grains, probably. What about? You didn't really mention fiber or like your GI health, because I know you said that before. Is that an important part of bladder health?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because I didn't say it doesn't mean it's unimportant, so thanks for grabbing me on that, but absolutely is. You're looking at insoluble, insoluble fiber, so insoluble, insoluble fiber, so insoluble. I think of it like an SOS pad along our lining. It's trying to get rid of the junk that's building up. And then soluble fiber is not only going to give great nutrients for good bacteria to grow and remember bacteria they're growing and they're producing byproducts that actually help our brain and our stress levels. So they're called commensal bacteria or probiotics of different sorts. So you need those things to develop and also to keep things moving and pressing through.
Speaker 1:So one of the obvious things I think that we haven't talked about is probably drinking more water, but is more water too much, is it like, you know? Is how much water should we be drinking? Because I know that this is a question people ask me all the time, and what's your opinion on it?
Speaker 2:So my first we need hydration, no matter what, and hydration doesn't constitute coffee, beer, wine, all those other things that we like to hydrate with, because they're not really hydrating. So water means water. I generally tell people half their body weight in ounces and there's no hard evidence or rules on that, but to me it just makes sense. So if you're physically active, you definitely need more. If you're less active you can prefer, but I found that most people just don't drink enough water at all. So if we look at just simple chemistry again, is the higher the concentration is of something, the more challenging it can be. When you dilute something it becomes less, so it's less of a stressor and so better water.
Speaker 2:Now I don't encourage people to drink a lot of water when they're consuming food, because when you dilute those stomach acids and you dilute those, those digestive enzymes, they're less effective. Drink less water. Two more, because as you chew you're putting saliva in there which is full of enzymes for a lot of different things. Plus, it's getting the GI tract going. If you're going to drink, you should drink it later, because a lot of people drink a lot of water because they're deficient in other things or they have other GI issues that they're compensating for. So they have to dilute everything to push it through the whole tract, especially when it comes to the GERD and things like that, which is like a reflux issue. So the key is is drink more water, yes, but less water during meals. Chew more.
Speaker 1:Okay, good point. I also know that I would. I've been well, I've always had a this belief that if I drink more water during the day, then I'm just going to have to keep going to the bathroom and and sometimes I do, but I'll I mean also I what I do now in the morning. I'm a tea drinker, so even. But just that one cup of tea with the caffeine, I think, gets my bladder like going, and I and I try to drink a big glass of water before I have my tea. I always thought that was going to then make me pee extra, you know, like even double time, but it actually is, I think, diluting the caffeine and so it's not making me go to the bathroom anymore than I was before. Does that make sense to you?
Speaker 2:It does. But something else that you might consider, heather, just in general, is a lot of people think tea is great because it's natural which it is but tea has tannins, and if everyone remembers what tannins are, tannins are found in the skins and leaves and stems of things is. Tannins break down mucus and they irritate linings, and so the next time you have your tea, notice how your tongue feels, it'll be a little rough. That's because it's mucolytic. It actually breaks down the mucus and mucus is a protector, and so I would speculate that it's more likely diluting the tannins and it's diluting some of the irritation and it's diluting some of the caffeine also. So just a side note, because that's one of the things that we talk to people about in our program is you want to watch the teas? Just because it came from a flower or a leaf doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact on your, your GI tract, but, but more importantly, your bladder and your urethral linings, which is what we're trying to find a balance to.
Speaker 1:That's a good point. The reason I do drink tea is because I'm so sensitive to caffeine that it's like the happy medium for me. I couldn't drink a cup of coffee first thing in the morning, it would be too much. So tea is my happy medium. But I didn't consider that the tannins could be irritants also. So good to know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I bet you'll find just a little. And it doesn't mean like a lot of people get really defensive Like I have to stop tea and that's. You don't have to do anything but play with it and see and see how you feel, or even transition to say, oh, I'm going to try a different herbal tea instead of a black or a green tea, because black tea has higher tannins because it's fermented. Green tea has less tannins. And then herbals some have a little more, some have a little less, so just playing with that is kind of a neat experiment, because I like to make it more of like I'm discovering things about myself, versus I can't do this and now I'm really PO'd and I want to do something else.
Speaker 1:Right. Okay, well, good to consider, I will definitely keep that in mind, because I am a big tea drinker. So the last thing I just wanted to ask about in the world of like food is alcohol. So I, I, I mean I know when I I don't drink anymore. When I used to drink, alcohol was like a total bladder killer. I mean I feel like it just like weakens your bladder. What? What's your thought on that?
Speaker 2:what? What's your thought on that? Well, I like to go back to just the? Um. Anatomy is when you understand, alcohol causes things to relax and let go, um, all sorts of different things obviously, but um, it's doing no different. So not only do you have the changes in the kidney, because alcohol will change your kidney enzymes and such, which will increase the amount of water coming out of you, and that's why people who overdrink are dehydrated in the next day. So you've got that factor, but then you also have the factor is you're just reducing control, just why they say don't drink and drive because your reaction time is less. Well, it's not just the reaction behind the steering wheel, it's the reaction of your bladder, it's a reaction of all tissues. It changes in heart rate, it's changing in blood pressure, it's changing in blood vessel diameter. So that's just adding fuel to an already present fire, an already present fire.
Speaker 1:Right. Alcohol is one of those. I mean nothing that we need right in our daily diet, nothing that you need.
Speaker 2:but it also has a big influence on the liver. And so, again, big picture is the liver plays a big role in this. It has a big role in how we process hormones, it has a big role in what comes out of our stomach, small intestine and bowel. So when the liver function isn't as efficient, of course that's going to influence our key and I call it our million-dollar problem, which of course would be incontinence because that's the one we deal with most every day, day, and that's front and center.
Speaker 1:So right, yeah, Okay, okay. So let's put food aside for a minute and let's talk about the other, the other modalities that you work with to help women with incontinence and bladder issues.
Speaker 2:So one of the biggest focal points is we talked earlier about stress. So people say, well, how do I manage stress? Well, the first thing you got to do is just understand how your body's in a reaction mode. And so, instead of going and saying, okay, well, I got to change my job and I got to change my spouse and I got to change my kids, it's a matter of how do I start resetting, because our body's a product of all of these events over our whole lifetime, and so we don't have to go and dig out into the cobwebs of every interaction. But if we just start resetting our body, so one of the key parts is what's called vagal nerve stimulation.
Speaker 2:So, looking up the vagus nerve, if people like to Google things, is you have two nervous systems. You've got the sympathetic, that's the fight, flight, protect, keep you from dying today, all those things, and it doesn't have to be real or perceived, it's all the same. And then we have what's called the parasympathetic, that's the healing, relaxing, restoring part of our nervous systems, and they're both part of us, and so which one is the most dominant? And, as the old proverb goes, it's the one we feed. So the most of us are busy feeding the stress push, acquire part. So that's very sympathetic, stress fight, flight, dominant.
Speaker 2:So the question is how do we start to undo that is, stimulating our vagal nerve.
Speaker 2:So how to do the vagal nerve stimulation? In our program we do it by stimulating a certain branch of the vagus nerve on the ear it's right on hippie top there is by just doing specific breathing exercises and physically actually stimulating that nerve. When you do it system or systematically, over time it's going to start to increase its effectiveness. So you're going to notice the body will start to relax, your breathing will start to become deeper, your thoughts will start to become less turning, your shoulders will start to relax. So when we do this in a systemic, regular interval, then the body starts to go from this higher level of stress to start to going on a regular dropping down. And that's kind of the premise behind meditation and humming and drumming. And there's all sorts of different methods to do that, but I use the one which is a direct vagal nerve stimulation point and it's extremely effective. But, like anything is, you have to do it regularly. It's not a one and done like we always want right.
Speaker 1:Right. So yeah, I was going to ask you what about meditating or just deep breathing and, you know, just getting our nervous system just calm down?
Speaker 2:That sounds like what you're doing with the vagal nerve is on that same path On that same, exactly, exactly the same path, and so I'm using the one that's most kind of backed on like the neurology and neuroanatomy.
Speaker 2:But we know that meditation has value, we know that singing on a regular basis, just the vibration of the vocal cords because the vagus nerve runs on either side of your throat so those things consistently stimulate nerves that haven't really been used. So I use the analogy of when I touch my funny bone, I can feel it. You know, light up my little finger. If I don't touch it it doesn't. So when I stimulate that nerve and I do it enough, my little finger is going to feel buzzy for a long period of time. Well, any nerve is the same way. So if you stimulate it regularly, then it's going to be encouraged to function differently in work and that's a big key to just taking those stress levels and dropping them. And in our case, for the key purpose to start to get that bladder, that's, that clenched fist, to start to relax and just kind of be at ease, calm down, right.
Speaker 1:Okay, got it. Is there any place for Kegels and all that traditional stuff that we've been, as women, taught to use?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. So it goes back to past conversations is a lot of people are like if that isn't the answer, then this must be and the the real answer is they're all pieces of the answer. So let's just go back to the anatomy again. We got 30 of that. Nerve is controlled by consciousness, by you actively doing it. Well, let's do the best we can with that 30%. So I developed a technique called the squiggle, because, remember, some women are too tight from scarring and trauma or surgery or whatever. Some have too much laxity because of hormone imbalances or trauma. There's a bunch of stuff.
Speaker 2:So we want to do two things we want to strengthen, but we also want to stretch the perineum. We want to gain flexibility in there. That to strengthen, but we also want to stretch the perineum, we want to gain flexibility in there. That's where our program also. We work on the muscles of the inner thigh, the adductors and the abductors, because those muscles are attaching into the pubic area and their tone has an influence on the tone of the pelvis too. So all of those tissues in that region are influencing the uterus, the bladder, the vagina. All those are kind of in the same region and they have to be addressed, but they're not all the perfect answer, like we mentioned before, so I'd say in or in some.
Speaker 1:I mean, there's these three points right what you eat, your food, what you take in the mind-body connection or your stress connection, and then this physical part Absolutely. Anything else.
Speaker 2:No, those are the three main stressors of, maybe, galactic radiation. I'm just throwing that out there to be fair, but those are the three big ones that we're looking at and that's also the three big ones for most of the problems that people experience Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, whatever that might be.
Speaker 1:And you tell me about your program that you have that addresses all of these things, because I think that this is really almost groundbreaking. I mean, if you went, you know, if you're having bladder issues, then you what your first thought would be to go to see a urologist who would then prescribe you probably some medication. I think most people don't want to have to take a medication. They don't have to have to take a medication. They don't have to, and I don't even know how effective that is anyway, you know, to helping this bigger problem of incontinence.
Speaker 2:So tell me or tell us about your program that you have. Sure, so it's really based upon those three things, heather, we just talked about. So, first of all is I can give anybody information, so anyone can go out, spend the hours of researching and they can come up with all the stuff that I came up with. I'm not terribly special, I just had a lot of time of studying and I've worked with many patients over the years, so, but I also know that information and implementation aren't the same thing, right? So we all get information. All the time it's like, oh, that's so cool, I should try that, and you do it like once, and then you lose interest, or, and you don't know if it's right, or Dr Oz says it, so you end up buying it and now it's in your cupboard, right, and you're the self-assigned. So I think the big thing about our program is I'm taking the three facets the physical, which we're addressing via the squiggle. Then we've got the neurosomatic, which means the nerve and the body connection, and we're addressing that by retraining the autonomic nervous system. And then we next thing is and this is where it's kind of cool is we're leading people through a process over 30 days, and that 30 days first allows us a couple things. It answers the questions and it starts on a simple little journey that takes three to five minutes a day. But also in the program I'm holding them not so much accountable, but we're meeting on a weekly basis as a group. I'm saying hey, how's it going? Do you have any questions? Then each week I add in a new facet. So week one we're really learning about the nuts and the bolts of those three factors. And then week two, we're starting to look into okay, how do I start to make dietary changes that are going to influence not only my bladder but my whole health, my whole body? Then the next module we're going to look into hormones. Okay, let me understand how hormones work and how to affect them. What can I do to help my liver function so I don't have what are called xenoestrogens, which means estrogens that are building up and negatively affecting me? So we're kind of leading this through a path of making goals, learning. And of course, in my experience is once somebody has a little success, then it encourages them to have take the next step Right. So it's kind of like somebody who goes to the gym and they're like hey, I lost three pounds and I'm not as pooped out at the end of the day I'm going to keep going. And then they're like hey, I lost a little more, I feel stronger, I think I'm going to eat a little bit better.
Speaker 2:So health is kind of a progression, it's not like a switch. And that's one of the big problems that we have with medication. And I'm not against medication when people understand what it's for, because medication's design is to treat a symptom. It's not to make you healthy's to treat a symptom. So sometimes we need medications to treat a symptom in the short term. But a medication can never make us healthy, with the rare exception of maybe we have an infection that needs to be, you know, eradicated. So when we understand that there's no magical health pill, there's only a health progression, then that's where real success comes. So the exciting part about the bladder is, yes, we have great bladder results, but we also have really exciting results where people become healthier, they feel better. That inspires them to keep moving forward versus I'm frustrated, I'm going to take another pill, and I went on an antidepressant and now I'm on a weight loss drug. You just see how that builds up into a big mess.
Speaker 1:Right yeah. So small steps, small goals and then have other good consequences, like maybe you're getting healthier as a result of eating better foods and switching your diet, or just calming yourself down right, addressing your parasympathetic nervous system and it calming yourself down right, addressing your parasympathetic nervous system, and it reverberates right Into other areas of your life.
Speaker 2:It does.
Speaker 2:And one last thing I wanted to note too and this is what I'm super excited about is when people first, a dialogue like this is really cool, because most people think they're alone with their problem, because they think I'm the only one on the world and again, it's not reality, but we all think that way, we include it, so I'm the only one with this problem.
Speaker 2:Nobody really knows how I feel, but when you get involved in a system like this is you get to connect with other people and that is hugely validating. Like, oh, you mean you felt that way or you mean this happened to you, and it removes that isolation part. And what's really exciting is, as that isolation part starts to dissolve, then people have conversations like this and it just branches out. And then people start to really not to get all out there, but they start to live the real life. Instead of like I'm hiding, I have to protect, it's like, hey, this used to be a part of me. Now I can go do my thing and I can share my story and I don't have to feel bad about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think for women especially or maybe men too, but for women community, I think is very, very important to feel less alone with some of these issues that are embarrassing or shameful or think that we should keep a secret, and I think that that is a really important part of healing. I agree 100% and you are having a upcoming talk.
Speaker 2:Yes, so this Thursday that would be the 17th of April at 8 pm, we're having a bladder and menopause seminar. So we're going to have some of the similar discussions we had today, but it's going to be a little more formatted, with the goal of helping people understand a little more in depth their bladder, help them understand how hormones play a role and then just giving them an opportunity to get started on the iron clad bladder program if that's something they want to do. Great, so super excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you send me the link, I will put it in my show notes so everyone could get that, and that's just on Zoom. That's how do you, how do you connect with?
Speaker 2:that. So if you go to my website, it's drnigelbrayercom, there's a link there to sign up for the free seminar and then, once you're signed up, you'll get the free, the link, the Zoom link, and then it'll start at 8 pm on the 17th Eastern Standard Time. Eastern Standard Time. Yes, thank you for that.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, well, great, well again, I will put all your links in the show notes so women can get access to that, and I think we've covered a lot about bladder and we're dispelling the secrets and the myths around bladder issues, urinary incontinence, continents, and that's that's what I that's the whole goal of my podcast too is just not have these things be secrets and and feeling like you are alone in things. So I appreciate all of your information and I think this is going to help a lot of women. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Thanks, heather. I really appreciate you and putting up this platform for others. It's really awesome.