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Spandex & Wine
Spandex & Wine is a podcast for finding balance between being healthy & living a happy life. Hosted by Robin Hackney, a 23-year veteran in the fitness industry & wine consultant, this is a place to be our authentic selves as we have real conversations exploring wellness and all things wine! Subscribe now so you don’t miss an episode.
Spandex & Wine
How Changing My Diet Reversed What Doctors Said Was Permanent w/ Vlad Rangotchev
Ever wonder if what doctors call "permanent" damage could actually be reversed? Meet Vlad Rangotchev, whose journey from stroke victim to vibrant health defies medical explanation and challenges everything we think we know about nutrition.
When Vlad suffered a stroke while teaching yoga in 2012, doctors discovered not only brain damage but also a pituitary tumor and multiple autoimmune conditions. His thyroid antibodies were literally off the charts – so high the testing equipment couldn't measure them. Despite following a vegetarian diet for over 15 years, his health was deteriorating rapidly. Panic attacks lasting hours plagued him, and he was told he'd need insulin soon.
What happened next is nothing short of remarkable. Through radical dietary experimentation, Vlad discovered that shifting away from his plant-based diet toward animal-based nutrition triggered profound healing. He methodically transitioned from vegetarian to paleo, then keto, and finally a carnivore diet. With each change, his health markers improved dramatically.
The most astonishing part? Years later, brain scans showed his "permanent" brain damage and pituitary tumor had completely disappeared. His vision restored itself. His thyroid function normalized. Conditions deemed irreversible by modern medicine had somehow reversed themselves without surgical intervention.
Vlad's story highlights the overlooked impact of oxalates – compounds found in many "healthy" plant foods – and their potential role in autoimmune conditions. While most of us know about gluten sensitivity, few realize oxalates might trigger even more significant issues for many people.
Today, Vlad channels his health transformation into creating a healthy chocolate product and preparing for his move to Spain. His journey reminds us that sometimes our greatest breakthroughs come not from adding more to our lives, but from being brave enough to let something go.
Have you experienced unexpected health improvements from dietary changes? What foods might you need to question in your own journey? Sometimes our most profound healing begins with being willing to challenge what we think we already know.
Thanks so much for listening!
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Hello and welcome to the Spandex and Wine podcast. I'm your host, Robin Hackney, and I'm so happy that you're here. This podcast is a place for conversations about balancing a healthy lifestyle and being happy more specifically, happy hour. Together we'll explore all things wellness and wine. I hope you learn a little, laugh a lot and, along the way, know you're not alone on this balanced wellness journey. Ready to jump in or something in your glass that makes you happy, because it's time for spandex and wine. Hey everyone, welcome back to the spandex and wine podcast. I'm your host, Robin Hackney. Thanks so much for being here.
Speaker 1:I want you to take a moment and think back to when you got your first real job, or maybe you had a career change midlife, or you started a business, something where you were just looking for that first break or that first customer or whatever. It might be that you were like, okay, once this happens I know I'm just going to get rolling with this Well, today's guest was that person for me. Today I got to talk to Vlad Rangachev Vlad, I hope I said that correctly. He was a fabulous instructor here in the Kansas City area and he owned New Day Yoga Studio with another one of his business partners, and that was my first break. That was the first place that I started teaching real yoga, I guess I should say, because I was teaching at a church and just doing some privates. But I really appreciated him just allowing me to come in and, as a new teacher, to teach. So I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful for the time that we had in this podcast interview and now this was probably a month ago that we recorded this. From when this is being published, he has since moved to Spain and is on to wonderful things and you're going to hear all about that. You'll also hear about how I started at New Day Yoga too. But here you go. Here's Vlad. All right, there you are.
Speaker 2:There you are. Here's Vlad. All right, there you are. There you are Hi.
Speaker 1:Hi, it's so good to see you.
Speaker 2:Good to see you. It's been a long time. It has been a long time. It's been a minute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was trying to think how long it's been. I don't even know. I can't when did you and Angela sell New Day?
Speaker 2:That would have been right after I had a stroke 2013. So, yeah, I had a stroke in September of 2012. So I couldn't do anything until I was able to go through the medical procedures. So I started the process as soon as I got out of the hospital. That would have been in January or February, so it was pretty much an autopilot at that point and so by, I think by April, we found a person who was interested and then, because I had two studios, I had a studio in Westport also at the time so I was selling both of them so I was very lucky with the Westport studio because one of my teachers she basically offered if she, if I'm interested, if she would take over.
Speaker 2:And I absolutely agree with her like yes, please, yeah. So she took over that studio. It still exists, it's still there yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm really happy that.
Speaker 2:I mean she. I think she sold it also to another person afterwards, so it has changed several hands.
Speaker 1:So to speak.
Speaker 2:That happens has changed names, but it's still in existence, so I'm happy about that.
Speaker 1:Yes, that's great. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:It was how many? 2025, so 2013. So we're talking about 12 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I hadn't seen you in years. I mean, like you had the studio and it'd been a while right, so I moved actually.
Speaker 2:After that I went to Florida, okay, I remember that, yep so I moved to Florida.
Speaker 2:I was kind of having existential dilemmas and crisis and all that stuff. I I was like I need to do something about myself, something for me, something that I will enjoy, and I was like, where would I want to live? If I'm not attached to a job right now? If I'm going through all these life-changing events, what would I do to experience life a little more? And one of the things I wanted to do is I wanted to live in Florida for a little bit. I want to get away from from the cold, from, you know, freezing temperatures and all that wanted to like enjoy a little bit.
Speaker 2:So I was there for a few years and then it's like it's not for me, let's go back to the Midwest. So then I moved back to our neighborhood again.
Speaker 1:So oh, you did Okay, so I thought you went to Omaha after that.
Speaker 2:I did. I did, yeah, okay, but I was very much tied to Kansas City. I mean I had properties there, I had business and friends, relationships, all kinds of things, so okay, All right, and where are you now?
Speaker 2:So now I'm in Columbus, ohio, in a neighborhood named Dublin, okay, so, yeah, I change places all the time, and next week I'm on my way to Roses, Spain, which is an hour and a half north of Barcelona, nice Because I have found a very, very nice location that I absolutely love and they are asking for very little, so it's very affordable. I can afford that, and, uh, so I love spain, I love spanish culture and music and the people and the coastal line, and so I'm getting there. Next, that's my.
Speaker 1:Oh good for you my agenda, so to speak. Yeah, I love it. I love it. I've been there once and I I loved it. It was fabulous, so I would love to go back again you can.
Speaker 2:You can come visit me anytime okay, watch what you say okay that would be great.
Speaker 1:Maybe we could organize a retreat there. That would be wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be great yeah I'm 40 miles south of fr France, an hour and a half north of Barcelona. It's very easy to rent a vehicle Right now. It's cheaper to rent a vehicle per day than the gas we're going to spend per day.
Speaker 2:Because, European gas is always expensive. It's good to have a vehicle it's very pedestrian friendly, but you don't really need it if you're in a major city, you just need to get there and everything is so much easier. They have the best railroad system in the world I mean, maybe not in the world. They're fighting for the first place, for the first spot with China.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:So Spain and China are up there yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Very affordable, very fast, very comfortable, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, and cheap. Nice, nice, okay, well, I might have to come visit then. Yeah Well, I'm so excited that you said yes to being on the podcast. You know I was thinking about our conversation. I'm like, wait a second. I don't even really know Vlad's story.
Speaker 2:Like if I, I probably knew it at some time, but if I did, I forgot so well, it's quite complicated, so I wouldn't blame anyone if they don't pay attention to what's happening, because too much is happening.
Speaker 2:As a matter of fact, I was thinking about prior to the podcast, what am I going to say to Robin, because there's so many faceted parts that you know if I, if I try to infuse everything, it's going to be a big mess. I mean, I don't know if I should just stick to the basics and just tell you what happened and how I kind of came up to be the person I am now, based on all the health issues, the discoveries related to the health, you know the transformations. I've been basically in one spectrum going all the way to the other spectrum on diet, on, you know, recoveries, things like that, learning all kinds of hard lessons in the process. That, hey, you can't be militant about certain things. You know you have to learn to accept things the way they are, or that certain things are not going to work for you or may not work for other people, that you know it's never black and white and so it's such a. I mean life is complicated.
Speaker 1:Let's just put it that way.
Speaker 2:It's true, Experiences are you know, different for everyone. And so if I should start from somewhere, I mean from a very early age I've had some interesting events. I've had some interesting events. I had a NET. I think it's called like a life after death experience, or how do you?
Speaker 2:say that, and so this kind of event has followed me through my entire life. I would experience certain things like almost like a premonition, if I can say that. For example, I was supposed to fly two weeks ago and on the, on the night before my flight, I dreamt of my mom, who passed away a few years ago, and basically I was falling from the sky with her and we both fell into the ocean. And that was the night before I had to fly. And in the morning I called my sister, I called my dad. They both said no, you're not flying, you're not going, um. Only to find out two or three days after I should have been in Spain. Uh, the entire country of Spain, portugal and parts of South France completely lost power. I would have been technically living in a chaos, not knowing what's happening.
Speaker 1:And that happened right before I got there.
Speaker 2:It was very easy to just change my flights, to change my Airbnb, all that stuff, not a problem at all. It turned out not only that it wasn't a good idea to go because of these events that happened, but also I wasn't aware I was able to borrow money to help me with my future property purchase. And I thought, maybe as an American because I've been in the United States for 34, 35 years, as an American I'm not allowed to borrow money, even though I have a European nationality, national citizenship. You know, I still have it, but I live here. I've lived here all my life. I wasn't aware that, not being a Spanish resident, I'm still able to borrow money. As a matter of fact, it turned out, as an American you can borrow money. And not only that, it turned out the interest was only 2.75%. I was happy about my interest here in the United States until I found out what the Spanish interest was. So within these two weeks I was actually approved for a loan. So now my purchase will be completely based on the finances they're providing for me. I have a bank account I opened there. It turned out it was super easy to open a bank account and all that stuff Anyway, but this is an example of some of the things that I go through, those little warnings that I get, little premonition things that I get.
Speaker 2:Like the other day I got a message from my mom on my phone. I'm like this is really strange. Why would I get a message from her? This is absolutely crazy. I was even a little upset, thinking somebody is like pranking me or something. Right, I ended up calling in Europe, calling my mom's phone, to see what this is about. It was a complete fluke. And then the person that answered on the other side says no, we just received that number. They apologized. They were very actually nice when they found out, uh, why I was concerned about that, um, and so the person on the other line says no, um, we didn't send any messages. We apologize if this is what happened. We're just newly opened a yoga studio, reiki and energy work.
Speaker 2:I was shocked. I was like my mom's phone number has gone through to a place of healing and recovery and things like this. Like what are the chances? I love that. What are the chances? I just shocked. I told my dad he started crying. I told my sister she says when you get here in a couple of weeks, we're going to explore that place. I'm like absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, you have to.
Speaker 2:I mean not to mention that when I was here first in the United States back in 1993, I had a strange dream. Again, I woke up crying. I've never in my life woke up crying, and I remember I saw that woman completely dressed in white. I recognized her. I don't know why I was recognizing her. She was dressed like a nurse and she was just asking me are you okay, how are you doing? I just want to see how you're doing. I have to go somewhere now. They need me, they really need me, and so at that moment I couldn't make anything out of it. When I woke up a few hours later, I remembered this is a picture of my grandmother, who I've never met in my life before.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:She has died before I was born. Wow.
Speaker 2:It was a car accident. My dad was only 17 when that happened, Only to find out when I turned the TV it was about 3 o'clock in the morning, maybe 4, that there was this major earthquake in California. And I'm watching on the news as it happens in California, and I'm watching on the news as it happens. I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of people were in this situation. There were a lot of people dying, losing their homes, highways collapsing, stuff like that. It was really a strange experience. I mean that dream, was it kind?
Speaker 1:of shook me. Wow, sure, sure, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:That's incredible and small little things, for example, things like this about my yoga business, when we used to have the yoga business with Angela, certain things that guided me almost like in the same way, like I would have a dream or certain very strange coincidental things would happen in the process of me deciding to do something different, to change something, to make some business decisions, and I would have these events I will never forget. I came back from Europe on September 18th and I think literally a few hours later, I had to teach a hot yoga class at New Day Yoga Studio and that's when I had the stroke and, it's interesting enough, I had the stroke during Shavasana, as I was going through the meditation process leading the class. That's when it happened and the room was dark and at the first moment I didn't realize what was happening to me, because it was dark.
Speaker 2:I felt like maybe I lost my balance, maybe something related to the event that the room is hot and all that stuff. So I sat down and I don't remember my speech changing much, but if you remember Cheryl Cheryl was the first one who responded to that I was able to finish, actually, the Shavasana process for everyone. Everybody started leaving, I was- still sitting on the ground.
Speaker 2:Cheryl came over to me and I told her what I'm experiencing at the moment. She's like, oh my God, I think you're having a stroke and she called 911. They were there very quickly. They picked me up. I ended up being in St Luke's South. They have very good stroke center.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately for me, even being caught so early, like literally, in the very for me, even being caught so early, like literally, in the very, very process of the stroke, they weren't able to reverse it. So I had a permanent damage. And I said I had a permanent damage because actually I was able to recover from that. My vision, I lost peripheral vision on my right side. So when they did the MRI, they found out that the damage, the stroke itself, was very tiny, probably an 18th of an inch. It's very, very small blood clot. But the damage itself, it has killed the amount of a size of a popcorn in my brain. And they said this will always be there. And they also said it appears that you've had a small stroke prior to that. We see another one, something that has happened before, that you probably are not aware of it because it's so small and it seems like it hasn't damaged anything else, but it is there. So just to be aware. And not only that, but they said, now that we're there, we're seeing that you're having some kind of a pituitary gland tumor. We consider that neuroendocrine tumor and we see like a little like grape formations of that.
Speaker 2:Then, within a day or so, I developed hafimotos and they think it's probably related to stress. And so I was put on the, on the plavix, which is the blood thinner medication that they put me on, uh, thyroid medication, then a bunch of other things, because I was starting to get fever from the dead tissue in my brain. It was, I mean, all kinds of experiences that I didn't think that it's possible to happen all at once. Sure, then my insurance rejected this because the stroke was related due to a hole in my heart related to my birth. It's called a PFO. It's an actual Latin name. I'm not going to say the name, people can search it and find out. It turns out it's very common. People who were born around the early 70s were not checked as well for that condition as, for example, our children now as well, for that condition is, for example, our children now. So quite a few of us were basically living with that condition.
Speaker 2:Something like 30% of the population would live without condition and will never have an issue in their lives.
Speaker 2:But the medicine has advanced so much that usually they will take care of the babies right after birth. That should happen. I know that Bret Michaels, a very famous musician. You probably heard of him, he's from our time. He had the same condition. He has experienced stroke as well. Because of that, he went through the same exact process. So, yeah, so they basically put a device in my heart but my insurance at the time wouldn't cover it. They said for us to be able to pay for that, you will have to have a second stroke because we consider this a pre-existing condition due to the holes in your heart. So we can't really fix the heart. It has to be another stroke.
Speaker 2:Then I found out if I go to Europe, even if I didn't have a coverage, my entire procedure would have cost. It actually did cost 650 euros, about 700, $750. Oh my gosh. And that was with the in-hospital stay. And I was very lucky because the procedure at the time was considered kind of a new age, something new invented. It wasn't supposed to be an open heart surgery. Basically, they go through a vein in your leg, they get to the heart and they open a little umbrella-like device that closes the holes in your heart. So there was no need for anything like open heart. And so my doctors say you know, if this would have happened five, maybe 10 years earlier, we would have had to do an open heart surgery to actually do that same thing, and with this procedure.
Speaker 2:It took 15 minutes. The procedure itself, the preparation took longer like the hour and a half two hours prior to the procedure and whatever they had to do afterwards was much longer than the actual procedure itself. If you would have been done here in the United States, they will keep you in a hospital for that same day and you get to go home. Um. In europe they I don't know why, maybe because it's a little bit cheaper they kept me in the hospital for three days. I don't. I didn't really see the reason why, because I didn't feel any different. I mean, honestly, you can't tell. Uh, basically, you're on blood thinner medication for the next six months or so until new layer of uh skin epidermal layer goes over that device so it becomes permanent part of your body. So there's no more problems after that.
Speaker 2:I started getting anxieties after that because my brain oxygenation was increasing and I wasn't used to that.
Speaker 2:So when you get proper amount of oxygen, like I experienced, like a normal person should people who did not have um returning venal blood that would mix with your arterial blood and this is the reason why I got the stroke in the first place. I got freshly off the plane. I wasn't moving much on the plane, which is super important. It doesn't matter how, how young, how old you are. You need to move when you're on a plane. So I have developed something in my leg. When I got off the plane I went straight to teach my hot yoga class, which probably dilated the blood vessels even more and allowed for that little particle to go through the heart, through the openings of the heart, from the returning blood into the arterial blood and straight to the brain. So that is the mechanism and pretty much every doctor I speak to about that they're saying this is like one in a million Like you have a better chance to win the lottery than all these things combined together.
Speaker 2:Being on a plane for a long time teaching hot yoga, having not one but two holes in your heart you know all these kinds of things. It's really extremely rare for all these things to happen the way they need. Um, quite uh. Some of the doctors said if it wasn't the way it happened, you could have lived your life not knowing you've had those holes in your heart because, you're so used to it, you were so conditioned with yoga and all that stuff.
Speaker 2:I mean they checked me for everything else. They couldn't find anything else. There was no blood disease, there's no organ issues, none of that stuff. I mean I was doing all my healthy eating and yoga and I would have never expected this happening.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's just strange, yeah, yes, oh, my gosh so yeah, wow, wow. Well, I want to talk to you too about your diet, because when I knew you, I thought, okay, you were vegetarian, correct?
Speaker 2:Correct, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I kept going back and forth between vegan and vegetarian. I couldn't stay on the vegan diet and so I was basically vegetarian from, I would say, high school, 11th grade. Up until that point it would have been probably 14, 15, maybe 16 years, if I count right. So the vegetarian diet. There were all kinds of other conditions going on, like skin issues that I had all kinds of inflammations in my body. I didn't know that I was probably having the hashimoto's for much longer than what they told me in the hospital.
Speaker 2:Uh, several endocrinologists. They're like yeah, you will develop the hashimoto's even if it's not hashimoto yet. Uh, it could be, uh, like underactive thyroids. That's how it normally starts. Like I clearly remember having lack of energy for such a long time, and they're saying that's one of the one of the symptoms would be lack of energy for such a long time. And they're saying that's one of the one of the symptoms would be lack of energy. The dry skin, uh, certain rashes. That I was getting issues with my immune system, even though they check the immune system to see maybe my immune system is compromised, this and that. No, none of those things. And so, finally, that, uh, autoimmune condition made so much sense. Um, it turned out that my vegetarian diet was not helping Quite. A few symptoms actually only got worse after the stroke. The stroke was some kind of a this event that woke me up from not realizing that I was deteriorating slowly and gradually.
Speaker 1:I was losing weight.
Speaker 2:I was way underweight. I didn't know why I was eating properly, I was exercising. I didn't know why my cholesterol level was so extremely high and I was not even overweight, thinking that only overweight people can have high cholesterol. Right that wasn't the case. One of the conditions I was pre-diabetic. They told me I'm going to be put on insulin within the next few months, they told me if I don't do something about my diet.
Speaker 2:I will have to go on insulin and I just I was like, am I like? What are they saying? What do you mean? I have to change my diet. I mean I've been like trying to have the cleanest diet possible.
Speaker 2:You can think of following rules and regulations, doing all kinds of cleansings and detoxes, and I mean I had I started with fasting very early in my life, but it turns out my body is responding really bad to oxalates and what was the other one, glutens, and so the way the glutens became so popular in our culture and everybody's aware of it. The next step, I think the next big thing that people become aware of, are oxalates.
Speaker 2:It's not a very popular thing, but my belief is that oxalates are more dangerous and cause way more damage than glutens can ever cause, for the simple reason that the glutens without the oxalates would not really cause you any problems. I've tested that on myself. I've heard similar stories from other people who have experienced the same thing and actually are experiencing experimenting with oxalates and glutens and all that stuff. So glutens by themselves, yes, they could cause certain issues, but they're so ineffective to cause those things. It's basically, uh, saying, if you take too much protein or if you take too much fat or if you take too much vitamin c, you will have negative side effects. Yes, true, glutens can do that, but they're not really the the real reason, the big problem. The big problem is the oxalates that keep building in our bodies. They can damage different organs, they can be very damaging to our immune system. They're one of the reasons why people get kidney stones, gout and a few other major disease that those people with these kind of conditions have to be on low oxalate or oxalate-free diets. Doctors know enough about oxalates just to help you if you get any of those major conditions, but apparently not enough in the medical, in the major, in main medical fields to actually protect us, to give us enough information about it. There are quite a few specialists that if anybody would search about oxalates on youtube, for example, um, there are plenty of uh specialists who give that information. It's really easy to follow, easy to understand.
Speaker 2:So, basically, me changing my diet really was eliminating oxalates and still trying to keep it low on carbs and sugars, which I was actually. It was part of my diet prior to that my vegetarian diet, my vegan diet. I was basically eating oxalates, carbs and sugars. That my vegetarian diet, my vegan diet. I was basically eating oxalates, carbs and sugars. Okay, so my condition was pretty bad prior to changing my diet. I was to the point where I couldn't really walk very far by myself. I was afraid that I would fall down and not be able to get up. Oh, my gosh how awful.
Speaker 2:Normal panic attacks would be anywhere between five to 15 minutes for a regular person. If you're experiencing anxiety and panic attacks, mine would last anywhere between three to five hours.
Speaker 2:Um I remember in Florida, as soon as the temperature drops below 65, I would get a panic attack just from change of the temperature. Uh, quite a few nights I would basically drive to the local hospital and sleep in front of the emergency room because I would have a panic attack in the middle of the room. That would I mean in the middle of the night, and that panic attack would last pretty much till the morning.
Speaker 2:Um, and I was told, every time I have chest pain to just go to the hospital due to the implant I have in my heart, they the only way they can check it out is basically do a scan to make sure it's still in the same place and it's not moved. And that's not the reason why, and so basically every time I have a panic attack I think I'm gonna die because of that implant I have.
Speaker 2:So I would go to the hospital and they will check on it. They're like nope, it's another panic attack. Again, it's not the device, so the only I mean. I kept trying things and different things. I was put on Xanax. I was put on different benzo medications because of the panic attacks and they wouldn't work. And the reason they weren't working was because the panic attacks I was getting was due to the extremely high levels of adrenaline, so my adrenaline glands were getting damaged.
Speaker 2:They were trying to overcompensate for my damaged thyroid I had no idea that all the glands in your body are related and they work together.
Speaker 1:The whole system works together, if something goes out.
Speaker 2:Everybody else is trying to overcompensate for it, and if they start to wear out, they start to suffer, and then you start to suffer. So that's basically the story of my adrenal glands.
Speaker 2:Um, not knowing that, this is a very easy problem to fix a lot of people with anxiety and panic attacks don't know that their cortisol level may be too high or too low and their adrenaline level may be really, really high. Um, I found out about the adrenal cocktail. Super easy to make, basically, in glass of water you put some sea salt, you put some cream of tartar, you put a little bit of lemon juice, you mix that stuff. I mean, if you have some of that, um, potassium salt also, you can put a little bit of that, mix that and drink it three or four times a day. This relaxes your adrenals. You can also get some adrenal supplements. Unfortunately, not every doctor knows the fact that some of the supplements they consider adrenal support are actually very taxing and very stimulating for your adrenals. So you're actually getting the opposite effect.
Speaker 2:I found out the hard way that ashwagandha is not a good thing to take for your adrenal. A lot of people with adrenal issues are taking the ashwagandha, wondering why they're actually getting worse or not getting anywhere. Okay, okay. So it needs to be very well researched. There is a lot of statements, very blank statements, out there that oh, this or helps this, this, this and this, and they list things and they're they're're not true. Those things are not really helping with those issues. People are just adding things, getting to the story of something that is not necessarily the case. Um, so that's what I found about the ashwagandha.
Speaker 2:I found out that my adrenals don't like it if I over exercise. For example, if my exercise would exceed more than 15 minutes, uh, then they kickstart the production. High levels of adrenaline again. Certain foods require absorption higher absorption of cortisol. So if your body is not producing enough cortisol, you will experience panic attack as well. Vitamin D is one of those, even though my vitamin D levels my doctor says they're lower than a cancer patient and I was taking huge doses of vitamin D, and I was in Florida in literally trying to get as much sun as I could and my vitamin D levels would not move.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that if you are magnesium deficient, it doesn't matter how many tons of vitamin D you take. It would not make any difference that vitamin D will circulate in your bloodstream and basically poison you. I had no idea about that. It's not even necessary to take the K2, as long as you have enough magnesium. I mean, there's so many things that are related to each other.
Speaker 2:I just experience it as I go, because in such a desperate situation when you're having panic attacks all the time, when you're suffering your Hashimoto's my Hashimoto's was so bad at the time, my antibodies were above the measurable amount time when you're suffering your Hashimoto's my Hashimoto's was so bad at the time, my antibodies were above the measurable amount.
Speaker 2:The highest measurable amount is 5,600 with uh quest diagnostics. I don't know if I can mention names of businesses, but quest diagnostics they're all over the United States. Um, so I would go and measure my thyroid antibodies and at some point, uh, when I received my test results, it was saying that they weren't giving me a number. They basically gave that mathematical symbol of your results are higher than the normal results. So the normal results supposed to be nine points, my antibodies were 5,600 or above. They couldn't tell how much because the machine can only measure that high, because it's set up at that high level due to the fact that they don't expect anybody to get to that level. They don't think it's possible to have antibodies at that level. Wow, normally a patient with Hashimoto's will have anywhere between 150, 200 points to maybe a thousand, maybe 2000, not 5,600.
Speaker 2:That's unusual my TSH. If anybody knows anything about the tyro stimulating hormone, I'm sure pretty much a lot of ladies listening to the podcast probably have to deal with that thyroid stimulating hormone. My brain telling my thyroid to produce hormone was at 96 points. Normally they consider anything higher than 4.5 points to be high.
Speaker 2:You know like let's say, 10 is high, 12 is high, mine is 96, was was 96. Oh my gosh, so it was my health was. I mean, when you test me, you find out that things were so out of whack. I mean completely like any possible thing, any measurement. You test Low on minerals, low on vitamins. My vitamin D was only 18 points where the minimum should be 30. And that is the minimum that you should be. Technically, you should be around 70, 75 points with vitamin D, cholesterol levels all over the place.
Speaker 2:And the thing about cholesterol is, I found out, it's not the high cholesterol that is bad, it's the proportion of the cholesterol, and mine was so out of whack. They're like well, you may not have anything building up on your arteries, on your veins, but this is taking you in the wrong direction. So we don't know how soon this is going to be causing an issue. I mean inflammation of the blood vessels and all that. I learned also that dietary cholesterol is not the same as inflammatory cholesterol.
Speaker 2:Our body produces cholesterol and it produces it because it needs it to heal different organs, different parts of the body. If you fall on the ground and you scrape your knee, your body would push cholesterol there. That little escape that we get on the knee. That is actually cholesterol. The problem is, if the body starts to produce inflammatory cholesterol on the inside of our blood vessels, then we clog up the blood vessels with cholesterol. That is not the cholesterol we're eating, but it's a cholesterol and it's definitely a problem. So after I changed my diets, I went to the opposite extreme. I first went to the paleo diet, which I saw improvements.
Speaker 1:But when I was on the paleo diet.
Speaker 2:I saw improvements, but when I was on the paleo diet.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize that paleo diet was not concerned about oxalates. They didn't know about that. It was helping, but it wasn't doing everything, and so the next natural step I was like well, this made me feel better, let's see what else I can do. So the next step was the keto diet, and really the keto diet also helped quite a bit. I went through another transformation. It improved certain symptoms, certain conditions. My panic attack started to go down, which was very interesting.
Speaker 2:Due to yoga, my heels and my feet were always dry and I noticed my heels and my feet healed miraculously by themselves. Miraculously by themselves, just being on the keto diet. Then I noticed that my antibodies, my thyroid hormones, all that started to get closer to the normal range. It wasn't normal range, but they were starting to get there. I'm like what is going on here? Then at that point, I've learned about oxalates. I've learned about what carbs can do in like because I was eating carbs on the keto diet. They are allowed, but you have to have certain types of carbs. So for some people, carbs are really a big deal. We shouldn't have them. It's not for everyone, some people. So at that point I was like you know what, since I'm already doing the keto diet, I've already limited so much stuff. Let's try the carnivore diet. So.
Speaker 1:I went to the complete opposite spectrum of my vegan vegetarian diet.
Speaker 2:I can't believe that that's crazy. So within a month my thyroid stimulating hormone went into a normal range. I noticed few things that have changed, like I went to my regular cleaning for my teeth. Within six months of that, my dental assistant says that she doesn't know, she doesn't notice any of the previous conditions I had, like the gingivitis, the issues like that. She's like I don't think you really need cleaning oh, wow because they normally recommend.
Speaker 2:In my condition with my, my teeth being so bad um that I need to be doing that twice a year. So I was going regularly to do that and then all of a sudden she goes like no, your gums look really healthy. I'm measuring them again. She kept poking and I was like they look pretty healthy. I'm like what do you mean?
Speaker 2:She's like well, it appears that you're doing well. It appears that maybe you didn't have it in the first place. I'm like what do you mean? I didn't have it in the first place. Every dentist I've been to pretty much is saying the same thing. Right, so that's one thing that improved. So I noticed my gum wasn't as inflamed as it used to be. It's no longer reddish and angry. My gum hasn't bled since then. I don't get any bleeding in my gum anymore. I used to have my tongue really white from you know, how we get toxins on the tongue gone completely.
Speaker 2:There are all kinds of different things. My sleep improves like 100%. No more panic attacks. I remember the first year I was on the carnivore diet panic attacks maybe once or twice for the year. The second year no panic attacks whatsoever.
Speaker 1:So how long have you been doing this diet now?
Speaker 2:So I started right before the pandemic. Okay, basically that's when I was researching it, thinking about starting it, and when the pandemic started I got really scared because they said people with diabetes, people with Hashimoto's, without immune conditions, with cholesterol, they're the first ones who are in danger of the pandemic. So I started on March 1st I'll never forget that it's one of my very close relatives' birthday. So this March would have been the beginning of my sixth year. But not only that. A few months ago I actually started an even more extreme situation because I noticed that I'm really healing things. But the only way I would heal those things is if I completely eliminate carbs, sugars and everything else. So I went one step further. I went to the lion diet and I'm not suggesting anybody should be doing that. This is just something I'm doing for a short period of time because it's helping me and because.
Speaker 1:And what's the difference? What's the difference between the carnivore and the lion?
Speaker 2:so the carnivore diet? You basically are allowed to have any kind of uh, animal-based product. Okay, uh, it doesn't really matter pretty much anything. Uh, with the lion diet you're it's a very extreme. You're basically sticking only with basically meat, water and salt, that's it. And the reason for that is because there are quite a few things that may still be triggering your autoimmune condition and just have to calm down your immune system. So it's the ultimate elimination diet. It doesn't mean you have to be doing it for the rest of your life, but for some people it seems to be working, even long-term without any side effects.
Speaker 2:For example, I do all kinds of testing on myself to make sure I'm not going to die from scurvy or some other related disease due to lack of nutrients, only to find out that is the complete opposite. So that doesn't mean it's the same for everyone.
Speaker 1:So just because it works that way for me. I'm not going to say it's going to work for you and you're going to have the same wonderful results.
Speaker 2:Maybe it will be good for somebody without immune condition to reverse things and maybe go back to the way they normally should. I've heard from many places that, hey, if you have Hashimoto's, if you have autoimmune disease, you need to lay down the eggs and the dairy, and so now that I'm on this, more extreme form of that diet. I'm not doing any eggs and dairy. Um few months into it, uh, my, all my hormones, all my markings, uh are completely normal which tells me which tells me that, yes, basically I'm having something that is causing these inflammations to be happening.
Speaker 2:My immune system is reacting to something and, even though we call it a diet, you can eat even more calories than you were eating previously. Uh, your body will continue to work with ketones, as opposed to carbs and sugars. Our body is really adapted to work better with ketones. That's how humans evolved in the first place. That's the reason why we developed the huge brains we have because we were able to provide enough ketones. They are the native fuel to the body. We can exist on both types of fuels, for example, the way we have diesel vehicles, the way we have regular gasoline vehicles. Similar thing with the body, except that with a vehicle, you can't switch from one fuel to another. With the body, you can.
Speaker 2:Um, prior to getting into the, into the keto, the carnivore, the you know diets.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that sugar was the most important element in the world and you would never hear that from a carnivore or a ketogenic diet person.
Speaker 2:They would not tell you that we survive based on glucose and so your body is so adapted to that that we actually produce glucose in the liver and I wasn't aware of that that is how essential glucose is to the body, except that the native glucose we produce has nothing to do with the amounts of sugar and the types of sugar we eat daily.
Speaker 2:And most of us suffer from fatty liver disease, which means the liver no longer produces what doesn't need to be producing, simply because we eat such a large amount of things that we shouldn't be Right. Same thing goes for the high levels of insulin that we're producing, because the body has somehow to deal to handle the levels of sugars in the system. It has to process it somehow. It doesn't need that much. For most of us it doesn't even need one-tenth or one-fifteenth of the amount of sugar we consume. So this is how I discovered that I have issues with my liver. Changing the diet that helped with the liver when I was well into my carnivore way of eating I was doing my yearly routine, my scan of my brain and all that stuff. I was told they don't see the pituitary gland tumor anymore.
Speaker 2:And they don't see the stroke damages in the brain as well. And at that point my neuro endocrinologist and my neurologist also. They both tested me and it turned out my vision either has corrected, returned or readjusted.
Speaker 2:I no longer have the damage from my peripheral vision as well. I asked questions because I wanted to know is it possible for this to be reversed? How is it gone? Is it possible that it was a mistake? For example, I always keep thinking about Queen Latifah's movie where the scanner was damaged and they said she only had like a month to live and she ended up going on vacation and all that stuff. I don't know if you remember that movie.
Speaker 2:I kept thinking about that and I kept asking the doctors could it be possible that you know your scanners weren't scanning right? Maybe they showed something that wasn't really there? And the answer is no, because I was scanning different locations. I was scanning Kansas City, I was scanning Florida and St Petersburg, I was scanning Omaha, nebraska, and now the last scan was here in Columbus, ohio, and the last three scans are showing that there is nothing. Wow, so one of my doctors says you actually had the neuroendocrine pituitary gland tumor, and the reason we know that for sure is because it was an active tumor, meaning it was producing hormones. And so I asked well, couldn't it be just like my body producing those hormones? And he says no, not in your case. And I'm like what do you mean not in my case? And he says well, the hormones you were producing. The hormone you were producing is prolactin. And he says the only way you will produce that hormone is if you're lactating female.
Speaker 2:Wow, oh, okay, so you're not a lactating female, you don't have active breasts and you're not pregnant and any of that stuff, so you shouldn't be producing that in the amounts that we're detecting in your bloodstream. So that's how we know. Your pituitary gland tumor was actually an active hormone-producing tumor. Most of the tumors related to our glands, our hormone producing glands, would be active. They will be producing. I mean, I may be wrong, some of them may not be producing, but mine specifically was an active tumor and so there was no surgery performed, there was no procedure. I was actually at the time they told me what the procedure would be they will go through my nose, they will break a little bone structure to get to the actual pituitary gland and they would scoop that stuff out. And that was the procedure they were supposed to do. But somehow this thing disappeared on its own gone completely.
Speaker 2:That's amazing not a sign, not a trace of it. Same thing goes for my uh stroke damage. Uh, can't find any of that stuff. The only thing I have changed was I went from my uh vegetarian diet to paleo diet for short period of time. From the paleo diet I switched to carnivore, to a ketogenic diet. From the ketogenic diet I switched to the carnivore diet. So I've been basically uh strict carnivore since march 1st of 2020.
Speaker 1:Well, you look amazing.
Speaker 2:Like your skin looks really good.
Speaker 1:And yeah, you look great.
Speaker 2:I have learned not to judge the book by the cover. Yeah, because I looked just as good. 15 years ago you had the stroke and I still had the. My blood pressure was out of whack. My cholesterol level was crazy. Obviously the thyroid issues, the hormone issues. So quite a few times you would look at somebody. They may not look healthy, but the reality is they may be much healthier than you are.
Speaker 2:And so a person looks at me and they go like, oh, you're 50 years old and you look amazing and this and that. I'm like, yeah, but if you hear about the things I have to go through, yeah, you're probably in better situation than I am at the moment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah well, I want to ask too um, so are you still teaching yoga? Like what all are you doing right now? Because I think I saw you selling some paintings and correct yeah yeah, tell me, so I am teaching yoga.
Speaker 2:It's not my main source of income at the moment. I'm actually developing a chocolate, the um. As a European, I love chocolate.
Speaker 1:I basically how does that fit into your diet?
Speaker 2:correct. Yes, exactly. Um. So when I started my diet, one thing that crossed my mind was if I can't have my dessert, this diet is not happening, and so at the time, there was nothing on the market that would actually satisfy this specific craving. Especially if you're going to be changing to such a diet where you're not allowed to have sweets, you're not allowed to have sugar, you can't have carbs. No this, no that, especially nuts. I absolutely love Nutella, but when I looked at the ingredients I don't want to know the ingredients because it turned out palm oil, sugar and a little bit of preservatives and coloring was not necessarily considered healthy, especially healthy dessert. One of the days in the beginning of my diet, I decided to experiment and see if I can come up with something on my own. The days in the beginning of my diet, I decided to experiment and see if I can come up with something on my own.
Speaker 2:So I I made some kind of a concoction, not paying attention to what I was doing, and it turned out perfect. It was like the best chocolate ever. I'm like, okay, that's, that's what I'm going to be eating for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:It tastes so good. It has all the things that I needed. At the time. I wasn't strict strict, um, I wasn't on the lion diet yet, I was still on a carnivore diet, so I was having dairy. Um. Animal-based proteins, um, there was there is actually a beef-based protein powder. There is a, obviously, whey powder that I could use. You can go with stevia, you can go with monk fruit. Uh, there's several different sweeteners that you can. There is even amino acids that taste sweet, that can be used. That is actually healthy for us as well.
Speaker 2:And so I made that recipe. I made that chocolate recipe. I absolutely loved it and then, just a few minutes later, I was like how did I, did I do that? How did I put that thing together? What did I do? How did I mix it? And it took me a month to figure out. I couldn't make it again. I couldn't replicate that. Oh my gosh, it turned out. It's very similar, if anybody knows anything about making mayo at home, with eggs at room temperature and certain amount of lemon juice or vinegar, mustard, vegetable oil, and you have to do it in a certain way. It's difficult because most of the time it just goes sideways. It doesn't turn into mayo, because you don't get that emulsification effect. So apparently I have discovered almost exactly the same effect, but not making mayo, making a chocolate dessert, making a chocolate spread actually.
Speaker 2:And it was a complete accident. So when I'm not thinking, apparently I make those natural mistakes that turn out to be effective mistakes, good mistakes. And so it took me a month to figure it out, because I tried many different ways to recreate what I've done. It didn't work Again not thinking, doing similar thing, and I recreated it, except that this time I was able to remember exactly the step-by-step process of what I have done the fact that I have to use certain proportions, the fact that the ingredients have to be at certain temperature room temperature.
Speaker 2:And so the emulsification effect would be. I was using a stick of butter, whey, protein, water and certain form of sweetener either stevia, monk fruit or anything else that you'd like to use those few ingredients by themselves. If you melt the butter and mix with the rest of the stuff, you are not going to get chocolate. It's just not going to happen. It has to be that specific crazy process to actually come to that specific chocolate spread, something that anyone who has had nutella before or chocolate spread can say. That is actually a chocolate spread and it tastes like it. So my final result was good enough that when I give it to friends and relatives, the answer will be like this tastes exactly like Nutella, Not one of those foods that we make and we kind of convince ourselves, you know, this is good enough. Let's say this is good. It wasn't a matter of this is good enough, it was exactly like that. So from that point I started making this once a day. I would literally, because of that, consume a stick of butter per day and on the carnivore diet.
Speaker 2:It turns out that quite a few, especially females, many women, have restored their cycle just by consuming large amount of butter. I didn't know that that this is actually helping men, women, people especially who have hormonal issues, that fat is extremely healthy and it's not what we've been convinced that it is.
Speaker 2:I know the 80s did us no good on the low fat and again when I say that, I have to put a little side note here to say that there is different types of fat. There is omega-3 and there is omega-6. Right, I didn't know that omega-6 is the inflammatory fat. So that's when I've learned hey, butter is not bad for you.
Speaker 2:Ghee is not bad for you Lard. If it's animal lard, it's not bad for you Because right now there's products on the market they call them lard but they're actually plant-based oil-based lard. Not good. Why is that? Because, basically, majority of the plant-based fat, the proportion of omega-6, is super, super high, and omega-6, no matter how you look at it, it's an inflammatory fat. I know they're trying to sell it to us as a good fat.
Speaker 2:I've witnessed convincing people just to quit eating, uh, the omega-6 based fats. That people would get better, healthier, not even changing their diet at all, just avoiding the inflammatory omega-6 and just stick with omega-3. That by itself would do more improvement for anybody's health than anything else that has to do with oxalates, carbs, sugars, what was the other one? Glutens. Even if you don't change any of the other things, just changing the omega-6 to omega-3, go to omega-3 completely, avoid omega-6 entirely. That can improve your health dramatically. It's an amazing thing. So anyway, back to the chocolate.
Speaker 2:A few years later, after I've been eating that regularly, making it for other people, people have been asking me to make them more. I was going to my yoga group. We'll meet regularly at the restaurant and I'll bring those desserts for them. Nobody was buying any desserts from the restaurant anymore. Everybody was expecting my desserts to arrive. I send it to a few people A few times. I visit my family and friends in Europe. I would make that for them as well. Same answer from everyone. Finally, a good friend of mine asked the question why are you not making it into a business?
Speaker 1:Why is?
Speaker 2:this not hitting the market. So at that point, three years later into my carnivore diet, I check on Google, I check on Amazon to find out if there is anybody remotely similar to what that dessert is, only to find out there is absolutely nothing in relation to that. There is many different keto desserts but none of them grain or nut free. Low oxalate, which is, to me, is important. Apparently, most chocolates out on the market if it's a chocolate, it's high in oxalate because you need to do it with a certain type of product. The cocoa powder by itself should not be given to a person who have autoimmune conditions, who has different health issues related to oxalate levels. They would even tell you if you have gout, if you have kidney stones or reformed kidney stones easily, you shouldn't have them. The reality is, I would say, avoid oxalates at all costs.
Speaker 2:If you can so that chocolate is not just low carb, it's not just no sugar or low sugar, but it's also low oxalate. So the combination is just amazing. You have that trifecta effect and the bottom line is when you eat it, when you taste it. I'm not trying to advertise it right now because it's not on the market yet.
Speaker 1:No, I want to hear about it, I want to buy it. When?
Speaker 2:you taste it, you don't tell the difference, that this is not the stuff you buy from the store. Yeah, it tastes that good your body doesn't make. You don't recognize the difference.
Speaker 1:So when will it be out?
Speaker 2:That's the selling point, so it was supposed to be out a little bit earlier. Unfortunately, it's not a matter of the FDA and the testing that I've done on the chocolate, which has passed the testing. I have all the data and everything necessary. I spent the money on that stuff. It took me about a year and a half. It actually it was the step where you get your trademark certification.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, and it has nothing to do with the recipe. I'm not even interested in trademarking the recipe, it's the name itself. Oh, it turns out I had to tweak the name a little bit because somebody who is not even doing business under that name anymore, simply because it's registered you, really the us trademark uh agency, would not allow you to use the same um, the same title. Okay, and so we ended up changing something a little bit and the name became better. But we have to go through the same 8 to 12 month process to get the actual trademark name. So you will be known as the person or the company that sells that specific product under that name and that guarantees you that this will be low sugar or low sugar, no carbs or low carbs, no oxalates or very low oxalates. That will be undetectable to your body. You know healthy good stuff, I mean. I even rented space in commercial kitchen. I lined up all my suppliers for my products. I have the containers for the actual products.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I'm so excited for you.
Speaker 2:Everything is basically done, the website is done, except I had to lock everything in place to not make it operational, because technically I'm not going to be able to sell under the old name. It's, it's somebody else's name, it's, they're similar. They're not exactly the same, but because of that similarity, the united states trade trademark, uh, company I don't know what exactly the title is they said you can do it under your name, but you're not really trademark protected. Okay, yeah, that's the only thing. That.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so that's, that's the business that's so exciting, right now I am teaching yoga, but I'm teaching yoga not so much as a main source of income, like it used to be. It's more of a hobby, at the point that I teach as I used to teach yoga because, again, it was my job. So I'll teach several classes per day. Now it's not necessary to. I go, I teach and I basically have a group of friends and we meet regularly and that's that's. I guess it's more sustainable for me at the moment, based on the amount of work I do, because on the site I also do artwork.
Speaker 2:So, um, yeah, so this is basically what's going on with me at the moment and I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I can't wait to try the chocolate. I want to be on your list, like if you have a list, I do have a list.
Speaker 2:I will put you on the list. Absolutely yes absolutely and I may as well just deliver it in person, because I do visit Kansas.
Speaker 1:City quite often.
Speaker 2:I've spent the majority of my life. I spent in Kansas City. I basically grew up in Kansas City.
Speaker 1:I went to school there.
Speaker 2:I went to college. I'm a Kansas City Art Institute graduate. I've done business in Overland Park, even though I didn't live in overland park. I've worked downtown kansas city. Um, I know that city better than any other place in the world so most of my friends are there yeah I mean, we can be product testers for you too.
Speaker 1:I know you've already done that, but we could, we, I would volunteer a group, yeah so, um, I even have connections in kansas city.
Speaker 2:One of my friends there, his mom, is, uh, original product tester for a price chopper, so they're waiting on me to get ready with that, because it's getting to that level, uh my amazon account is ready, yeah, she, she definitely approved of it. It was a funny story because, um, it would be interesting. If she's actually listening to your podcast, she'll probably laugh about that. I sent a sample to her son and when he got home, his wife and his sister ended up eating it before he got to his mom. Oh shoot.
Speaker 2:And so I ended up making more double the batch next time and send it back to him. And this time it made it to his mom and she basically says yeah, that's a good product, we can have it. Yeah, it tastes great, it tastes amazing and not only that, but it's a shelf stable because it can arrive to your home in a powdered form and you can basically mix it at home.
Speaker 2:So it eliminates the cost to the buyer, because one of the main ways to sell that product will be all over the internet.
Speaker 2:If I would say, send a regular jar of chocolate to my customers, it will be heavy, it costs a few bucks $4, $5 to $7 more depending on where their location is. If it arrives in the powdered form and they just basically mix it within the way they would mix a regular shake, for example Okay, because we're used to buying shake powder and protein powder and any powders like this and powdered foods, so this is not really that strength to majority of people who eat healthy. So basically it arrives in a nice bag and the customer gets to receive a lot more chocolate that way than if I would send just a small jar, because then you can mix for yourself precisely the amount you need. One of the things about it is that, because it's healthy and doesn't contain preservatives, when it's sent in a powdered form I don't have to put preservatives in it, meaning that the client is receiving a very, very healthy item food and you get to mix exactly what you want.
Speaker 2:Um with any um food, there is a shelf life, so the healthier the foods, the shorter the shelf life. My product will probably last in the refrigerator for up to a week. Okay, once it's mixed. But the reality is, every time I mix my chocolate, this thing does not make it to the evening. Because it's that good, nice. And even if somebody doesn't eat that amount, let's say they eat it within the next two or three days. That's perfectly okay too, I mean it's not going to go bad Just because you have to store it in the refrigerator.
Speaker 2:it's not a big deal. Most people prefer knowing they're not putting poisons in their bodies rather have it in the refrigerator than you know, having it for the next six or seven months, not worn, not knowing why it doesn't go bad yeah for example I mean back in the day. Milk would spoil in a few days. Nowadays, if you purchase milk, it will be okay in the refrigerator for up to a month even longer sometimes yeah yeah, so that's another type of product for you.
Speaker 1:Thank you yeah that is great I never would have guessed that.
Speaker 2:I didn't expect for you to say that I didn't, I didn't expect I would get into this kind of uh work, yeah, actually work on something like that good for you.
Speaker 1:Well, you look great and I can just tell your passion about it, thank you robin super exciting always been very kind oh my gosh, you've always been kind. Yeah, do you remember how we met? I do okay, okay, say it again for people who don't know. Yes, for the listeners, I'll let you know.
Speaker 1:So I was hearing about this gentleman that was teaching yoga in the area and I'm like, and I was a brand new teacher, I was a brand new teacher. I'm like I've got to go check out this guy's class, I want to see what everyone's talking about. And so I get to the studio and everyone's standing outside and I'm like, okay, this is weird. And then I do believe it was you I can't remember if it was you or Angela that came walking up, you unlock the door, everyone is whispering. I didn't know what was going on, it was my first time there and I'm like, okay.
Speaker 1:And so then, you know, I went into the classroom and started the class and then, you know, there was an interruption of okay, so there's been a little bit of a disruption in the ownership of the studio, you know, and I don't think the story was told then. But at the end of class, you know, somebody said something like well, we need some more yoga instructors. And I'm like, but at the end, of class, you know somebody said something like well, we need some more yoga instructors.
Speaker 1:And I'm like well, I'm a yoga instructor.
Speaker 2:And that's how I started teaching there.
Speaker 1:So thank you for giving me that opportunity 23 years ago.
Speaker 2:Thank you for being there. You know being at the right time on the right spot, All these things are coming together. This is a very important event pretty much for anything that happens in our lives being where we're supposed to be. Yeah, this is unfortunately the way things happened with that yoga student, the way we changed ownerships and all that. It wasn't a very happy story at the time of transition, but eventually it became a good place, a place of healing, and it restored its reputation and its quality and all that.
Speaker 1:So yes, there were some commotions.
Speaker 2:There were certain things, but that happens in life.
Speaker 1:It's part of absolutely, you know things like that so yes, yes, but thank you again for being here thank you absolutely.
Speaker 2:I thought this was an amazing idea to talk to you, to get connected with you again. I mean, it was out of the blue. We just run into each other again and yeah absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:I love it. I love it Well. I appreciate you taking your time to be here and to share.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and I'll be waiting for you to visit me in Spain.
Speaker 1:In Spain. Okay, once you're settled, you let me know yes, and they will have chocolate for you there, I promise Yay. Okay, I get Spain and chocolate. I am there. Yes, there you go, and tickets are very cheap.
Speaker 2:From Florida to Madrid or Barcelona, tickets at the moment are around $500 or $600, which is unbelievable. I don't understand why. I don't know why. I don't want to know why. It's not important. As long as they're not affordable, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I'm going to check back with you see, when you're all settled, and then we'll be checking with you too.
Speaker 2:I'll be waiting for you to visit me, okay? Thank you, robin.
Speaker 1:Cool, all right, thanks, vlad.
Speaker 2:Thank you everyone for listening to us. Thank you, bye-bye.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, vlad, thank you so much for taking the time to be with me. It was just great to catch up with you and I can't wait to come see you in Spain, because I'm seriously coming and I might be bringing five or seven of my best friends, I don't know. No, seriously, I appreciate you, number one, giving me that first break and then just continuing to be a friend, even though it has been through social media over the past few years. It's just. You're just one of those people that I know I can always just reach out to and will make me smile. So thank you, and thank you everyone for taking the time to listen. I appreciate all of you as listeners. So thanks. Thanks so much for listening.
Speaker 1:If you enjoy this podcast, it would mean so much to me. If you take a few seconds to do each or all of the following First, follow or subscribe to Spandex and Wine, it'll help you so you don't miss an episode, and it'll help me because you won't miss any episodes. To do this, you'll just go to the podcast, click subscribe or follow. Wherever you are listening, look for the plus sign or follow button, and this is one of the best things that you can do for the podcast. So thank you. If you'd also be willing to give a five-star review, that would be amazing. And lastly, please share an episode with a friend, or five, to keep the love going. I appreciate you, thanks.
