Burnout, Bloat, and Brain Fog: Healing from the Inside Out with NP Rachel

Summary

In this episode of the Bella Grace podcast, host Teresa Mitchell speaks with Rachel, a board-certified nurse and functional health consultant, about the importance of holistic health, particularly focusing on gut and hormone health. Rachel shares her personal journey of overcoming health challenges and how she transitioned from traditional medicine to functional health. The conversation delves into the connection between gut health and mental well-being, emphasizing the need for awareness and micro changes in nutrition and lifestyle to achieve better health outcomes. Rachel provides insights into her approach to working with clients, highlighting the significance of understanding one's body and symptoms for effective healing.

Connect with Rachel: 

https://www.instagram.com/wholenessinhealth/

https://wholenessinhealthbyrachel.com/

Takeaways

• Rachel specializes in gut and hormone health.
• High achievers often neglect their health due to busy lifestyles.
• Functional medicine focuses on root cause healing.
• Gut health significantly impacts mental health and mood.
• Micro changes in diet can lead to significant health improvements.
• Awareness of food ingredients is crucial for health.
• Personalized health plans are essential for effective healing.
• Mindful eating practices can enhance digestion and well-being.
• The connection between food and hormonal balance is vital.
• Healing is a journey that requires patience and understanding.

Sound Bites

"We need to tune into our symptoms."

"Food can be an essential fuel for our body."

"Healing is truly possible."

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Holistic Health and Personal Journeys

08:42 Rachel's Transformation: From Nurse to Functional Health Consultant

17:08 Understanding Gut Health and Its Impact on Overall Well-being

22:50 The Connection Between Diet and Hormonal Balance

32:12 Micro Changes for Lasting Health Improvements

40:43 Conclusion and Resources for Further Support

43:11 Outro.mp4

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Rachel's Expertise
• 7:45 Shared Health Struggles
• 17:29 Rachel's Personal Health Journey
• 30:04 Building a Holistic Health Practice
• 36:57 The Gut-Mind Connection Explained
• 42:43 Simple Changes with Big Impact

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bella Grace podcast. I'm your host, teresa Mitchell, and we are helping high achievers break free from mindsets, behaviors and addictions that are holding them back from reaching their true potential, and this week we are doing that by talking to my new friend, rachel. Rachel is a board certified nurse practitioner and functional health consultant who specializes in gut and hormone health. After struggling with bloating, acne and digestive issues in her early 20s, rachel dove into root cause healing and functional medicine, finding lasting relief, and now she helps other high-achieving women do the same. Through personalized functional lab testing, nervous system support and mindset work. She empowers high-achieving women to break free from food anxiety, bloat and burnout so that they can feel confident in their bodies and live with more freedom and joy.

Speaker 1: 1:08

Welcome to the show. I'm so excited. So, as I was reading that, because I talk to a lot of people, I interact with a lot of people, and so I was like when I was reading your bio, I was like, yes, I'm so excited to have you here because I just started my own health journey. We're very similar in what we do. You do the body, mind-body stuff I mainly focus on. Like the mind, that also includes some of the body stuff, but I don't really specialize in that.

Speaker 1: 1:41

So I actually just started seeing a dietitian because I, like you, have struggled with like cystic acne. I had cystic acne in my cheeks and it was so painful and bloating and irregular periods and hormone issues and Alzheimer's and diabetes and high blood pressure and all the things heart problems run in my family and I was like I understand the mind body gut connection and I was like I've got to get someone who knows what they're doing to work with me because I need a professional. And I shared with you that I was eating popcorn right before we started and I'm addicted to popcorn and my dietician was like pop your own popcorn. So I've started popping my own fresh popcorn. She's like it's a whole serving of full grains. She's like pair it with something that's, you know, a healthy fat and a veggie or a fruit or something and it's a good, well-rounded snack.

Speaker 2: 2:43

But anyway, anyway, I'm so glad you're here. Thank you so much. Thank you for the kind intro and I love that you're on your own healing journey as well and that holistic approach is huge and as high achieving women we often are pushing hard. We have a lot of goals, a lot of things that we're trying to achieve, but sometimes we can dismiss our body in that too, not intentionally, but life just gets busy and sometimes our drive can be a beautiful gift, but also sometimes our body can be suffering in that too. So tuning into that and tuning into your symptoms is huge.

Speaker 1: 3:23

Yeah, it really is. And I cannot say how excited I am, because I think all too often we ignore the signs that our body is sending us, the signals that our body is sending us, and we're burning out. And yeah, we're high achievers, like we have big goals, we have big aspirations and we push, push, push ourselves and a lot of times our physical health takes a back burner and we grab whatever we can at a convenience to eat. And I am learning. I'm an educated woman Like my, my.

Speaker 1: 3:59

When I went back to college, I realized that I was like a few credits away from having a degree in science and as my associates, like my associates, just so I could go on to finish my bachelor's. But I was as the junior college and I was like, okay, I'll just finish up what I need here, get the associates out of the way and move on. And so I ended up majoring in science and part of that was taking some of the like physical sciences, like nutrition, anatomy and physiology, like those sciences that not everybody takes, and I was like fascinated. I knew that food could be like. I knew food was an essential fuel for our body, right, but when we're going, going, going, it's so easy to forget that and to fall into the trap of convenience. And then you're feeling like crap and you don't know why.

Speaker 2: 4:56

Exactly, exactly, and sometimes, too, it's very sneaky these days with the ingredients that are in our food and marketing is wonderful in terms of the labeling that they utilize, for example, low calorie, gluten-free, etc. Yet they fill it with processed foods, artificial ingredients. So we get tricked and we think, oh, this is quote unquote healthy. In fact, it's actually causing havoc in our gut lining, leading to more hormonal imbalances, stress on our body, because the quality of those ingredients are actually not as good as we may think they are.

Speaker 1: 5:31

Yeah, yeah, oh, my gosh, it's so true. So when I started working with my dietitian, she had me do a food journal for the first week, two weeks. She said don't change anything, just eat what you've been eating. And my mother-in-law was doing carnivore and so I had been like dabbling in carnivore. I've done keto, I've done Mediterranean, I've done, you know, every meal plan, diet plan that you can think of. I've probably done it.

Speaker 1: 6:08

But I had my gallbladder taken out in 2015. And in 2015 or in that same timeframe, I figured out because they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me, because everything made me sick. I didn't have gallstones, so they were like we don't know what's wrong with you. I finally got a doctor that was like let's run this one test because I have a feeling that your gallbladder is not functioning at all, and I was like, okay, so, but in the process of all that, I also found out that I have a torturous bowel and, for people who don't know what that is like, our large intestine is kind of smooth on the inside. It has things in it, but pretty much smooth. Mine looks like a bendy straw, like the bendy part of a bendy straw, like it is just a series of ripples, so food and everything just gets stuck in there and my large intestine is swollen a lot of the time. I have inflammation in my large intestine, didn't know that Apparently it had it my entire life, and then also found out that my gallbladder was completely non-functioning and so after my gallbladder got taken out, nobody told me, hey, you should stay away from fatty foods because you no longer have a gallbladder.

Speaker 1: 7:24

It was just like, yeah, some stuff might irritate your stomach, but you're good, you'll be feeling better in two days. Go on about your life. I was doing keto and carnivore and I live in Texas where you eat red meat like steak and sausage and pork chops and ribs like that's staples here. And it wasn't until this year when I started working with the dietician that she's like honey, you don't have a gallbladder. All of that red meat is very high in saturated fat and I was like no wonder I'm sick all the time.

Speaker 2: 7:58

Wow, oh, my goodness. Yes, I'm so glad you found this dietician because it's so dismissed in traditional care and gallbladder removal is such a popular surgery it's very, very, very common Yet there's such a lack of guidance for ongoing care and how to fuel your body afterwards.

Speaker 1: 8:16

Yeah, it was. It was insane. Ok. So we totally just dove headfirst in and started talking yes, but tell us a little bit about yourself, like I really do want to get your backstory, like how you ended up here. I'm excited. My brother was a nurse for 13 years, so I love nurses. I have a special place in my heart for nurses. But, yeah, tell us a little bit about how you got here, like what you're doing today.

Speaker 2: 8:42

Yes, so backstory here, like what you're doing today. Yes, so backstory my background is in nursing. I was working in the hospital in my early twenties as a brand new RN and that's when I really started to experience different symptoms and they would gradually progress from bloating to stomach flare-ups, to acne fatigue and I was thinking, okay, maybe I just need to exercise more, restrict my calories, go on these different diet plans, elimination diets, et cetera. And I did that for a very long time and meanwhile, as a nurse in the hospital, I was go, go, go, working crazy hours and I would pretty much numb out on Netflix, go out drinking on the weekends, not nourishing my body well and not coping with stress well either. I would pretty much numb out on Netflix, go out drinking on the weekends, not nourishing my body well and not coping with stress well either. I was pretty much numbing the stress from work on top of working a very high pressure, intense job. So everything was escalating and certainly traditional medicine. We are not taught this. We are not taught how to tune into your body and understand the root cause of symptoms. It's more with the band-aid medication approach, quick fix approach.

Speaker 2: 9:46

So I went on this journey and eventually enough was enough and I was starting to seek out help, since I wasn't getting any answers with my lab work at my doctor. I was, quote unquote healthy and normal according to my doctor, but deeply suffering internally. And then I was getting caught up with binge eating, restrictive eating, disordered eating behaviors, because of my challenges with these symptoms and trying to figure out what the solution was. In my mind it was either a diet plan cutting out more foods, or even a supplement. I did the route of all these supplements, spent a ton of money and got really nowhere. So I came across a functional health consultant on Instagram and ended up working with her and it was completely out of the norm, totally against the grain of traditional medicine. But I'm like you know what. It's worth a shot I've got nothing to lose here at this point and completely opened my eyes to a brand new approach to healing and supporting your body and understanding your symptoms and what your body's actually trying to tell you.

Speaker 2: 10:42

And it was certainly a journey that I went on. But it opened my eyes to so many factors that were escalating and leading to my symptoms. And we also did functional lab testing as well to dive even deeper and really understand what typical lab testing doesn't detect. So, for example, terrible leaky gut, gut infections. My hormones were off the charts all over the place, all of these imbalances happening. My hormones were off the charts all over the place, all of these imbalances happening, and I finally could visually see, especially as a nurse, confirming that data. I see this is what I've been looking for all along.

Speaker 2: 11:13

So I knew at that point I was actually in nurse practitioner school when I was going through this journey too, and I remember being in clinical and thinking there's got to be a better way.

Speaker 2: 11:23

I cannot just sit here and hand out pills all day, and I knew that's planted the seed, my healing journey, and then seeing the gaps in traditional care, I'm like there's got to be a different way to go about this.

Speaker 2: 11:34

So, fast forward, I was travel nursing and decided to just begin looking into other practitioners who are doing holistic health, reaching out, asking them how they got there, and I ended up connecting with several and eventually I decided to start a business course and I'm like you know what, maybe I can't necessarily incorporate what I want to in traditional care, but I can start my own practice and do this independently. So I just took baby steps and pursued business mentorship. I worked with practitioners who were essentially doing something similar to what I'd hoped to do and integrate and fast forward now. I started this in 2021. And now I'm full-time with my business, working with women virtually all over the US and really honing in on helping them conquer symptoms that traditional medicine has failed to address from bloating IBS, stubborn weight loss, brain fog the whole nine yards so that they can get their life back and truly feel their best and, in particular, help the high achieving women pursue their passions without health issues getting in the way too.

Speaker 1: 12:50

Yes, yeah, because, oh my goodness, like so very similar to you. I started down a path that, not, it's not traditional, right? This isn't. This isn't how most people approach addiction recovery or freedom recovery, like mindset stuff Right? So most people go the traditional route of being a being a counselor, you know, peer support specialist, that sort of thing. So I'm very similar to you in that I found a need and wanted to address it in a very specific way, and it's different than anything else that I've found out there. And I started in 2021 as well, and so I quit my corporate job in 2021 and didn't start with coaching and this, my podcast and all the things I didn't start there.

Speaker 1: 13:41

I started with my photography business. And I started my photography business while I was still at corporate and I was not coping well with the stress, much like you. Like, I was drinking, I was binge watching Netflix, I was staying up late editing photos because I was really trying to build my photography business, because that was going to be my exit plan for my corporate job. And I woke up one day in 2020, in August it was August 7th of 2020 and realized that I was drinking two bottles of wine a night, while also juggling my side business and my job. And like I was not functioning well, I had, like you said, brain fog. I had all the symptoms of burnout, the fatigue, the lack of confidence, the overwhelm, the exhaustion, like all these things. But also I was struggling with bloating and swelling, not just in my tummy, but in my hands, my face. My face was so puffy, my bones were aching, like I.

Speaker 1: 14:50

Over the course of from 2013 to 2018, over the course of five years, I had three back surgeries two surgeries to correct a tear in my disc in two different discs and then a third surgery to remove the hardware that had broken because it overlapped with the hardware from the first surgery. But now, looking back, I realized that a lot of the stress that my body was under was probably due to an imbalance, like a work-life imbalance, a stress management insufficiency, and I was eating like crap and it was just, I think, all of it. It snowballs on us and we can't fully pursue our passions and our dreams when we don't feel good and when we aren't at our best. I think one of the main you said brain fog, and I think a lot of people, a lot of women, don't realize that brain fog is not normal.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Exactly. We think or assume, well, it's just a part of age or oh, I'm just stressed, quote unquote. But it's that check engine light going off saying that there's something deeper happening internally.

Speaker 1: 16:07

Yeah, and I love that. I have learned and I was actually just talking about this on my Facebook live this morning or actually whatever, it was on a podcast episode that I recorded. But I have learned and now I'm able to tune into those check engine light, the warning signs, the alarms that are going off, like I shared with you that my allergies are really bad. So today, when I'm done, like when I'm done for the day, I'm going to make a warm cup of tea and I'm going to curl up on the couch and I'm not going to pull out the laptop. I'm not going to work Like I'm going to nurture my body with maybe some soup or you know, something like warm and cozy, because I know my body needs that, because my allergies are going crazy right now because of the weather. But it's really about learning and tuning into your body. So how do you? So what does it look like to work with you? Like? What is? What does that look like?

Speaker 2: 17:09

Yes, so oftentimes women that are working with me, we start off with functional lab testing, often the GI maps tool test, which is essentially like a 360 map of your guts. It really digs deep into sneaky imbalances that are impacting your gut health. Gut health is a core foundation of overall health and has a domino effect on the rest of the systems throughout your body. So that's typically typically a great starting point as well. Oftentimes, too, we can incorporate the Dutch hormone test and I'm now incorporating the HTMA test as well to look at mineral health and heavy metals. So I really personalize it to the person too, depending on their symptoms and their needs. From there we re-evaluate the results and I put together a game plan. But, with that being said, it's not just a supplement protocol, it's not just a diet plan. It's a journey that we go on where I really help my clients understand their body, understand their symptoms, understand lifestyle factors at play, understanding different experiences that have impacted their symptoms today past traumas, even emotional health, mental health, nervous system dysregulation, combined with the physical piece, the nutrition piece. So it's really very comprehensive with what I guide my clients through, but also it's meant to be gentle and not meant to be a million things done at once, but more so. Okay, here's what we prioritize first, and then we build on that and we keep optimizing that foundation first, and then we build on that and we keep optimizing that foundation.

Speaker 2: 18:38

So it's very, very fine, tuned to that person, their life and oftentimes many women that I work with. They have busy lives, busy work schedules, and it's sometimes helping them to slow down even, or to find those micro moments in the day where maybe they would school their phone and swap that out for something, for example, like sipping on some tea, just getting cozy, or stepping outside, getting a little bit of fresh air, taking some deep breaths, and just these simple things that are so dismissed because we're just so caught up in our day-to-day Even. For example, a client was recently telling me Rachel, I used to love just getting flowers and putting them on my desk and reading a book, and she's like I've stopped that but since working together, I started doing it and it's just so joyful and life-giving and it's these little things that we can set aside as high achieving women that maybe these symptoms are trying to bring you back to that too.

Speaker 1: 19:26

Yes, I love that. I actually so my dietician. I was having a very stressful time in my life and my dietician was like I want you to put a plant on your desk. And so here's my little, my joy plant is what I call it, and she's growing. She's growing back. I had to. My friend was on video chat with me and she's like please do something about that plant. She's dying. So I took care of her, so she's going to come back.

Speaker 1: 19:53

But, yes, little things like this, because you and I know, probably know that the green does something to stimulate the good neurotransmitters in your brain, Like it stimulates calming effect.

Speaker 1: 20:09

The color green on the plant, my dietician, and these are things that I know.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Sometimes it takes someone else reminding you of hey, what are some ideas or some things that you can do to brighten your day, soften your space, bring some peace, and for me it's the plant and a lavender candle on my desk.

Speaker 1: 20:37

And a lavender candle on my desk just the mere act of seeing the light flicker on the candle is very calming to my brain, and so I do the same thing for lunch.

Speaker 1: 20:43

I will actually like, because this is my living room, my front living room is my office, my dining room is right there. So for lunch I get away from my desk and I go sit at my dining room table, which is not but like 10, 15 feet away from me. But going the act of getting up and going over there and sitting at my table that I have intentionally set pretty right, Like it's got it's a pretty table, it's got a flower arrangement I feel special when I eat at my table for lunch rather than eating at my desk. Because even that micro move, like you said, those micro actions of eating at my dining room table rather than eating at my desk, helps to calm my brain for a few minutes and gets me out of the hustle and bustle of work and gives me a few minutes by myself to enjoy my food rather than distractedly eating here at my desk, and that makes your brain feel like it hasn't shut off all day.

Speaker 2: 21:51

Yes, I love that you incorporate that and it is amazing how much of a difference it can make when we have that mindful eating practice and that intention and we step away from the desk, we step away from the laptop and the screens, even our phone, and we just enjoy the meal and we are so distracted so often. It's so easy to get distracted and that is still a stressor on digestion. And even if you're eating clean, you're eating healthy, but you're rushed or you're scrolling or watching TV, even that can be a distractor that is taking you away from the benefits of the meal you're consuming too.

Speaker 1: 22:27

Yeah, and so you shared a little bit about how your gut sometimes is like a central role in what you do, like gut health. Can you tell us a little bit more about that? I get it, I know. I always say you can tell the state of your mind by the state of your gut, and that's not something that is taught in public school in like traditional school settings. I didn't learn it in high school. I learned it in like a special psychology class that I took in college because I was majoring in that realm and I don't even know if I learned it. I think I stumbled upon it on a research paper about how powerful the gut is and how much it does affect your mind and your well-being. Would you like to dive a little deeper into that?

Speaker 2: 23:19

Oh, yes, I'd love to. I love this topic Gut health. Okay, so one four piece to start off with, when it comes to mood in particular, is that gut, our gut, plays a large role in serotonin production, that happy hormone, and oftentimes when our gut is stressed whether, for example, we have a sneaky gut infection or abnormal bacteria hanging out in our gut or leaky gut that's a very common one that I see that are literal holes in your intestinal lining, your gut lining. That's causing a lot of chaos and stress. Then it impacts serotonin production, it impacts immune function. So if you're someone that gets sick, a lot of chaos and stress then it impacts serotonin production. It impacts immune function. So if you're someone that gets sick a lot, look at the gut, because that's definitely a strong starting point for boosting immune function. And that also too, when immune function's down, when your body's exposed to toxins, which we are in our day-to-day life, it's a lot harder to detox and remove those toxins and it tends to lead to buildup of toxins in our body, which leads to more inflammation, puffiness, sluggishness, low energy, low mood. So it's a big domino effect there.

Speaker 2: 24:23

It also impacts hormone production and hormone balance too. So, for example, looking at adrenal health. Adrenal health can be impacted from stress and inflammation happening in the gut. When adrenal health is negatively impacted, that leads to, for example, abnormal cortisol levels. So when cortisol is all over the place sometimes I see it's too low, sometimes it's too high Then, depending on the state of stress that your body's in, that leads to afternoon crashes or super tired all day and you don't know why brain fog, mood imbalances, PMS, acne.

Speaker 2: 24:59

So these are some examples that the gut just has this domino effect where it trickles into all areas of our body. It impacts our thyroid health too and so often, for example, in the traditional approach, it's okay, for example, your thyroid level is off. Here's this medication, the Synthroid medication, for example but then we're dismissing the gut, which has a domino effect on the function of thyroid health and the production of essential hormones too to support thyroid health. So we really cannot dismiss the gut when it comes to really any symptom in our body. It's like that core, core foundation and if it's ignored, the symptoms will continue to develop.

Speaker 1: 25:44

Yes, yeah, and I didn't realize so when I started working on my dietitian, I kind of I was telling her and it was almost like, okay, hey, I want to make sure that I'm working on my gut health because Alzheimer runs in my family. Alzheimer's runs in my family and I really want to protect my brain and I know that there's research out there and that they're starting to call Alzheimer's type 4 diabetes right, and so I understand that what I'm eating is affecting my life. My mom went through a health journey recently and it just got me like deep diving into the effects of our food and I was like crap, like sugar wreaks havoc on our gut and can lead to so many different cancers. And we have so many added sugars in our food, especially in America. We have so many additives. And my dietician was like, yeah, sometimes I go over a food label with someone and I'm like that's the same ingredient that's in your kitchen counter, cleaner, and it's in our food. She's like or that ingredient is in this and that, and I'm like, oh gosh, like we don't realize what we're putting into our bodies and how much havoc it can wreak.

Speaker 1: 27:04

I haven't had a normal period. My daughter is 18 and I have not had a normal period since probably she was born. Like I've had off and on normal periods, but my periods are debilitating, like I can't get out of bed for my quote unquote heavy day. I have 24 hours where I can't leave the house because I'm bleeding so heavily. It's just like really big clots and this is gross. If there's any boys listening, I'm so sorry, but it's very big like clots, right, and so I can't really leave the house and because of the clots I'm cramping and my back hurts where I've had the surgeries. So I'm telling her, telling my dietician, these things, and she's like, oh, she's like, okay, this is another piece of the puzzle. So we're like really sitting down and she was. She's helped me change my diet in the weeks leading up to my period to help with it and for the first time in almost 18 years, I have had two consecutive regular periods.

Speaker 2: 28:22

Oh, my goodness, wow, wow, that's amazing.

Speaker 1: 28:27

And to other people, you know, to boys, to women who have regular periods, are like, oh cool, but it's a huge deal for me and it's helping me see how much my food impacts my overall health, which has helped with my PMS, which has helped with my moods, which has helped with my hormones. Like everything has just been this snowball effect of like I've changed, and my mom was like at first she was like, well, you're, you're the one eating this new diet. And I said it's not really a diet, I've just changed the way that I eat and I'm eating a whole lot more whole foods and fresh food and not so much processed food. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 2: 29:15

I love that you reframe it. It's not exactly a diet, it's just a new way of approaching food and focusing on whole foods, quality wholesome foods, rather than this diet plan too, and that's still freeing. It's just like I feel like with that diet perception it feels restrictive versus more freedom with food and knowing how to fuel your body to help your body thrive is so empowering.

Speaker 1: 29:40

It really is. So I was back home this weekend and we ate. I told my dietician. I said I ate really bad, but I personally am staying away from red meat because of my torturous bowel and my lack of a gallbladder. Red meat is not good for me. It makes my stomach hurt really bad. I am staying away from high fat foods, which I didn't realize I ate so much of. My dietician said in the most loving way you eat a lot of fat. And I'm like, okay, she's like with some. For someone who eats as much fat as you do, I was like I don't think I eat that much fat. And then she started highlighting all the things in my diet that are high in fat and I was like, oh my goodness, it was like I wasn't even thinking about it, but like cheese and dressings and marinades and sauces and I was like, yes, it adds up.

Speaker 2: 30:45

It's sneaky, yes.

Speaker 1: 30:47

Oh, I know you just don't realize like, yeah, so I did not eat that great this weekend and I felt it when we got home on Monday night. I immediately went to the couch and had a stomach ache. My stomach was upset and this whole week has been A little bit of a mental struggle. I've been a little bit tired, I told you, my allergies are acting up and I've been sitting here and really like reflecting on why do I feel so crummy? And our conversation really has my mental juices flowing of like okay, I think it might be related to how I ate this weekend.

Speaker 2: 31:31

Yes, yes, it has a lingering effect, and it's more noticeable too, since you've been shifting your diet, and then you can really notice that change. When you do shift the way you eat too, your body's speaking so much louder.

Speaker 1: 31:46

Yeah, yeah. So what are some micro changes that you suggest? Because you were talking through what it looks like to work with you and it can feel very overwhelming. And I get that because, as I'm telling my mom the changes that I'm making, she gets overwhelmed just with the little bit that I share about with her. So I can totally see how, as you're sharing these things, it might seem overwhelming to someone. So can you break that down for us a little bit, like what micro changes do people make and what does it look like?

Speaker 2: 32:20

Yes, absolutely so. A few core ones that you can begin gently incorporating is to one bring awareness to the speed of how quickly you eat. Oftentimes we're eating more quickly than we realize. This can have a really big domino effect by simply slowing down even just slight shifts, one meal at a time, taking one deep breath before eating that one moment just to cue that rest and digest mode for better digestion and allowing yourself to chew your food a little bit slower. Maybe, for example, just setting aside the phone for a few minutes, or putting it in airplane mode If you would like, maybe some music in the background, something that is a little bit of a distractor, but it's not necessarily your phone. That's a nice way to swap it out, and this can really have a profound role on how you feel after you're eating, because your food is digesting and absorbing more effectively too. So you're getting the most bang for your buck from that meal and those nutrients. When it comes to food itself is to first and I like the approach of starting off with a gentle food journal just to bring awareness to what foods you are consuming and then, from there, tuning into the ingredients in those foods. One tool that I love to recommend. It's a free app called Bobby Approved, and it makes life easy because you just scan the ingredient barcode and it will assess for any concerning ingredients to be mindful of. So that's a great time hack too. If you're shopping or even at home just looking through your pantry, that's a great hack to bring awareness to the ingredients that we may not recognize and just to gain more knowledge in that area of. Oh, I didn't see how this ingredient can be negative or harmful, but so that's a great tool and it's a free app. I love to recommend that just to bring awareness, but also give yourself grace. Don't feel like you need to make a million swaps at once, but just make gradual, gradual shifts, and first awareness is key and then, as you notice, for example, swapping out one certain food item for a more wholesome food item with more quality wholesome ingredients and just notice how your body feels as a result of doing that too.

Speaker 2: 34:28

Another biggie that many women that I work with is we're skipping breakfast, we're rushing out the door or just drinking coffee and not really having anything to consume maybe a protein bar, if anything and this can really wreak havoc on both digestion and hormone health. So if you aren't consuming breakfast. Maybe you have like a mid-late snack or early lunch, but you don't have anything before then. This can negatively impact gut motility, lead to more bloat, gas, stomach discomfort. It also leads to cortisol imbalances, which impact your hormones, and blood sugar imbalance too, which impacts energy brain fog.

Speaker 2: 35:07

So, starting off the day even keeping it simple with, for example, if you can do, a couple of hard-boiled eggs and maybe on the side some avocado toast, or you can do some scrambled like bell peppers with eggs, for example, and you can just really keep it simple, maybe some nut butter balls with like a fruit smoothie, something light and easy that you can just gently incorporate. So that way you begin to build that habit of consuming that breakfast of the day, and I love to recommend just quick and simple meal hacks. Another simple one is like a coconut yogurt bowl, margarita yogurt bowl with some fresh fruit and berries and nut butter. Super simple and quick. So keeping life easy in that regard. That can have a huge impact on how you feel the rest of the day too.

Speaker 1: 35:51

Yes, that's been a game changer for me and I I've actually made micro changes a little at a time, but I have totally revamped my mornings. So I was guilty as charged of, like I work from home so, but even then I was like getting out of bed 20 minutes before I needed to get on my first call, and you know. So I'm like taking a quick shower, getting my coffee, sitting down at my computer, hopping on Zoom, and I wouldn't eat until like two o'clock in the afternoon, and then I was starving, so I'd literally eat whatever I found in the pantry. Yes, without a second thought, like just one time I think I ate an entire chunk of angel food cake just by itself, because I was so hungry, starving, yeah, and that was the first thing I saw. But I have totally revamped my morning. Now we wake up at 6 am, we go for a walk at 6.30, we come home at 7, and we eat something quick and easy, because my dietitian was like, hey, try to eat within the first hour to hour and a half of waking up. And so I love your simple breakfast hacks, because it is.

Speaker 1: 37:14

I have found that it's great fast, easy, quick to just boil. I will boil like a dozen eggs on, like Sunday, and then between my daughter, my husband and me, that's a quick, just grab a couple eggs and an apple, or an apple and some almond butter, whatever, like something to. We were talking about this like something well-grounded, right, you've got your protein, you've got your fruit or your veggie and you've got your healthy fat. But it doesn't have to be a sit down full breakfast, right? Sorry, my cat is back for more attention, but it doesn't have to be that big. You know everything. Sit down with the kitchen sink breakfast. It can literally be like something light. Sometimes I do like I slice up a banana and I put some almond butter on each little banana slice and eat it like breakfast. Nachos is what I call it. Perfect, yes, delicious. Especially when you're getting used to eating breakfast, because a lot of people will say well, I'm not hungry first thing in the morning.

Speaker 2: 38:19

That's a big cue, that right there. Metabolism is off, cortisol levels are off too, because you're not hungry. That hunger cue is lacking.

Speaker 1: 38:28

Yeah, and I've realized too now that I get hungry on schedule. I am because before I was like, well, I'm just not hungry. But it was because I was on fight or flight mode. I was in constant crisis mode and my body was like we don't have time. Your body literally thinks you're at war. We're prepping to get up and scream and move.

Speaker 1: 38:51

There is no time for food and that's not a great place to be we should we should be getting hungry at certain times of the day and I've made those micro changes in my day. And now, if I don't eat by 12 45 when my, like my scheduled lunch is 1230. If I don't eat by 1245, I know it, my body is like it is time to eat.

Speaker 2: 39:19

Yes, you're on that routine. Yes, exactly.

Speaker 1: 39:25

Yes, oh my gosh, I love the micro changes and I found the app and I'll share it in the show notes and I'm actually going to download it because this is really cool, because, yeah, yes, this is what we all need, especially in our society where you never know what's on the ingredient.

Speaker 2: 39:44

Oh my goodness. Yes, exactly, it's so sneaky. On the outside it can seem great, but when you really look and dig deep and that can be overwhelming too. So that's why I love this tool. It's a great simple way just to reduce the overwhelm and just to see I didn't realize that this was concerning and it also flags the concerning ingredients, which is amazing. So it really helps you see the full picture.

Speaker 1: 40:07

Yes, I love it because I think, with so many like you have, like the gluten-free option and the keto option, and then this option and that option on like tortillas and crackers and whatever, and you might think that you're choosing a healthy option. But sometimes it takes modified ingredients to make it fit that diet, that eating style, and so it does like. I love this. I want to be more mindful about what I'm putting in my body. I like the rule of thumb the fewer ingredients, the better.

Speaker 2: 40:43

Yes, exactly, and if you can't read the ingredient, if you can't understand it, it's likely not the best.

Speaker 1: 40:51

Yeah, yeah, you should know what is in your food, yeah sure.

Speaker 2: 40:55

Absolutely.

Speaker 1: 40:57

I love it, okay Well, oh my goodness, we talked about so much and our time like flew by. I just looked at the time and I was like, oh my gosh. So tell us where we can find you, what you got going on, how people can work with you, all that good stuff, because what you have to offer is life changing. I know because I'm doing very similar things and you are taking what I'm doing with my dietician and what I do with my clients and you are pulling it all into one place and I think that's stinking amazing and I want people to be able to find you. So where can we find you?

Speaker 2: 41:39

Thank you so much. You're so kind. Thank you so you can reach out to me. Instagram is the most common social media platform I am on. My name is at wholenessinhealth and also my website, wholenessinhealthbyrachelcom, where you can scope things out. Check out my services there too, and right now, a perfect starting point. If you've been experiencing different symptoms that you're feeling stuck with, feeling overwhelmed, feeling like you know there's something off but you just don't know exactly what that is, I'd love to invite you into my gut health analysis, where we do a deep dive with the GI map stool test and we really understand the sneaky gut imbalances that are impacting your symptoms specifically. So that's a great foundation and a great place to just eliminate the guesswork and the overwhelm and really understand what is going on in your body so that you can really heal and conquer those symptoms as well.

Speaker 1: 42:43

I love it. I love it. I, my goodness, I'm so glad to have you on today and this has been an amazing conversation and I know it's going to help somebody realize that they've been living a certain way and they don't need to and there is a way out. Absolutely Healing is truly possible to, and there is a way out. Absolutely, healing is truly possible. Yes, exactly well, thank you for being on everybody. Thank you for listening. Until next week, be well, be kind, and may you find some joy this week yeah, thanks so much.