Give Her The Mic

In Sickness and In Health

• Chloe & Kristen • Season 1 • Episode 9

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In Sickness and In Health: Our Wellness Journey - Give Her The Mic

In this episode of 'Give Her the Mic,' co-hosts Kristen and Chloe delve into their personal wellness journeys, sharing their struggles with health, weight, and body image issues. They discuss overcoming unhealthy patterns, advocating for functional medicine, and the significance of a supportive healthcare system. From battling eating disorders to gaining vitality through modern wellness practices like peptides, GLP-1 medication, and vitamins, they cover it all. Tune in to hear their stories and get inspired to take charge of your own health journey.

00:00 Welcome to Give Her the Mic
00:27 Our Wellness Journey Begins
01:02 Unhealthy Patterns and Eating Disorders
02:46 Body Dysmorphia and Self-Acceptance
04:12 Influence of Family and Environment
05:46 Struggles with Weight and Body Image
09:39 Food as Fuel and Mental Health
17:11 Functional Medicine and Hormone Imbalance
21:32 Morning Routines and Mental Health
22:24 The Importance of Self-Care
24:59 The Role of Functional Medicine
25:53 Challenges with Traditional Healthcare
30:38 Advocating for Your Health
33:23 Wellness Tips and Supplements
41:16 Final Thoughts and Encouragement

Chloe:

Hello, welcome back to Give Her the Mic. You have Kristen and Chloe, your favorite co-host of our podcast. And we're gonna talk about one of my personal and your personal favorite things, which is wellness.

Kristen:

I'm so excited. Oh my gosh. And I'm literally so excited.

Chloe:

Like, and so the title is, which I love the title'cause I love a catchy title. Is in sickness and in health. Yeah. Our wellness journey. Because, because we're

Kristen:

gonna talk about when we were sick. Yes. And we were not. Well, yes. And we're gonna talk about, you know, 2025 and how Yeah. We are, we are Well now.

Chloe:

Yeah. And really last year I feel like both of us. Yeah. Really. Well I was, we'll get into that, but I was just starting to see actually my functional medicine doctor and. Like, you know,'cause even since we started talking again, I've, I lost like 35, 40 pounds you

Kristen:

Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Chloe:

And got super. Mm-hmm. Super healthy. Clearly super healthy and very healthy right now. And so, um, yeah, let's talk about, let's kind of open it up with unhealthy patterns, like Yes. How they're created and, you know. Things that we both noticed, um, yeah. That we needed to change pretty quickly.'cause it's easy when you're unhealthy to be in a, not easy. It's not easy when you're unhealthy, inflamed, all that. It's actually very cloudy. Yes. So do you wanna extremely cloudy? Talk about that a little bit. Yeah. Yeah.

Kristen:

I know that I talked, I think, I don't remember which episode it was on, about, um, something that happened to me when I was 12 when I was with my mom. I did talk about that. Right. At doctor. About the doctor. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So my eating habits really truly started when I was 12, my unhealthy eating patterns. Okay. I struggled a lot with anorexia, um, and binge eating most of my life.

Chloe:

Yeah, same.

Kristen:

Um, body dysmorphia, all of those things and those unhealthy. Habits, obviously were formed when I was very young. Um, thankfully during my high school years, I remember I didn't struggle with them as much, but it was because I was pretty much like playing soccer in sports constantly. I really had to have the protein, things like that. Like I'll look back at my body back then and I was probably, I was bigger than I was now, but I was all muscle, like I was in great shape back then. But even after that, in college. And especially in my marriage, I really struggled with my eating patterns for sure. Mm-hmm. I would binge a lot when I was married and I remember mm-hmm. Um, I was obviously probably 20 pounds heavier than I am right now. Um, and I've had an unhealthy situation with eating most of my life until probably. Four years ago, I would say maybe three years, three years ago. I love,

Chloe:

I still struggle with things every day. Yeah.

Kristen:

Yeah. I mean, and I still, I can still see now, like if I go through something though, I really have to check myself.

Chloe:

Yeah. I

Kristen:

really have to check myself because it was my life for so long. Mm-hmm. But now I truly like. Letting that go is probably one of the most freeing things. Like the body dysmorphia is one of the biggest ones. I remember letting that go and just feeling like no matter what my body has looked like my entire life, like I was so beautiful still and truly feeling that and knowing like when I look in the mirror now, even when I'm bloated, even when I'm this, even when I'm that, like I am God's child. Mm-hmm. And I am truly. Beautiful. Yeah. Inside and out. Yeah. And letting that energy go. I know so many women still carry that every day. Like, I don't look good, I don't feel good. Like I'm uncomfortable. All those things, like letting I do every day. And you know that letting that go is such a good freeing feeling because to me, like you are the most important person in your life. Correct. Like you, yes. You were the most important person in your life. So by telling yourself. Those things, like that's never going to help you. Yeah. You know, so like telling yourself the good, any who? I went out on a tangent there. No, it's great. I, but it's so, you know, it's so hard man, when you're like, when it's been ingrained in you for so long. Yeah. Especially in the environment too that you're in.

Chloe:

Yeah. So I love that we're opening it up with this because I also, so our moms also are drop dead gorgeous. Our, yes. Beautiful. And I mean. Beautiful. My biological mom, my stepmom looks like my sister, but like my bio mom and Kristen's, she only has one mom. Her mom, like they're gorgeous human beings. Yeah. I'm sure your mom had high-waisted shorts on. Oh yeah. All the things when you were young. Just beautiful. Yeah. And so I was around a mom that was teeny tiny. Yeah. My mom also had, still has like fake boobs, just looked really beautiful and um, my dad is like. You know, short and stocky. Yeah. And so I, and muscular, so I always had my dad's body and um, which is a wonder. I mean, my dad Ha I mean muscle. You're so lucky every day over everything. Yeah. So, but growing up I always was like, gosh, my mom is five foot nine, she's super slender.

Kristen:

Your mom is five nine uhhuh.

Chloe:

Yeah. I did not know we were the same height. Yep. Five eight. Five nine. Yeah. That is wild. Mm-hmm. And so whenever I got my. Really when I started probably having boyfriends is when I started having eating issues. Yeah. Because I could not eat a lot for a day or two. Mm-hmm. And like physically, like lose weight. Yeah. And so for me it was kind of like, I didn't even see it as a.'cause I was like, this is cool. You know, when you're a teenager you're like, whatever. Oh yeah. And then I cheered. And so with cheer we're running a lot and um, I was not concerned with muscle at all. I was just concerned with being small.

Kristen:

Yeah.

Chloe:

Um, and so I had to fit into like a cheerleading uniform and all the things. And then once I started dating in high schools, when it got really bad mm-hmm. My body issues, um, because. I mean, all my friends were beautiful. They were all small. Um, my boyfriend at the time was really popular, who's my husband now, which is so crazy. Um, but yeah, like I, I had a typical, like I was very popular too in high school, and I think all these things go into play with how you look in your features. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, also during this time. Right when I got into high school, you gotta think I was 14 and boom. First abortion right then and there. Mm-hmm. So that really made me have like. Shame and all these things I've healed from now. But then when I had that abortion, then had the second one, not even a year later, I could control the food. Yeah. And so, and also I was in a chaotic environment. Yeah. Which you were too. Oh yeah. And then y'all moved to Texas right after that. Oh yeah. Yeah. So yeah, like I think it is important before we get into all the wellness stuff and how we take care of ourselves now to look at like, how

Kristen:

did it start? Yeah. How did it begin? Because if you don't truly know how it started or like. Be super honest with yourself. Yeah. Like you'll never get to the place where you need to be.

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

Truly.

Chloe:

And I mean, even now, like, so when I. Had cece, you know, I got really sick and then we stopped talking and then I was just really like going through it emotionally and I didn't get go into therapy until 2021. Mm-hmm. So all of 2020 is when I really like derailed and I had never been. I mean, you gotta think like I was a hundred and,

Kristen:

and you're tiny 27. You're not like five nine like me. No, like you're tiny. I

Chloe:

gained five pounds and it's an issue. Yeah, you can tell. So I was like 1 25 my. Whole twenties. And then when I have Cece, I'm 1 92 after like that's the weight, you know what I mean? And then the lowest I could get was 1 78 mm. And so I now have body dysmorphia, of course, from that of being big. Yeah. So then for four years, you know, and you've probably

Kristen:

never been big your whole life until then.

Chloe:

Bigger I'd never had to worry about. Yeah. Yeah. Fitting into

Kristen:

stuff.

Chloe:

Yeah. Like I never had to worry about fitting into bras. Yeah. I never had to worry about putting jeans on, and so it really messed me up. And even to this day, like I still, it's, it's a big issue for me. Like I definitely, I'm gonna be very open and transparent. I definitely have body dysmorphia. You go from being as overweight as I was Yeah. For that amount of years. When your whole life, you were small. I think people have to be honest with themselves. Yeah. And go, look, this is a journey for me that I'm still on a hundred percent. Because there are a lot of people right now on their wellness journey that are losing weight and it's gonna take you guys a long time to, to get comfortable in your own skin and to feel good because then when you lose all that weight, like there's things that are like saggy on me now. Yes. That I've never had to worry about. And I've told Kristen so many times, like I hate myself in bathing suits. I remember looking at myself in the mirror when I was. Super overweight in like 2022 and 2023 when I was in therapy, but just really overweight, really unhealthy. We'll get into that in a little bit, but I didn't have the health answers. I was working out every day doing carnivore diet, doing organic, you know, all the supplements too that I take and nothing was working, and I would just look in the mirror and the enemy would be like, you're so ugly. You're so fat. Like you're gross. Like it was. Awful. It was so bad. And so, um, I'm so thankful to be on the other side of that. Yeah. But I feel like there's so many women right now that are struggling with like, inflammation Oh yeah. Hormone imbalance. Mm-hmm. So, mm-hmm. You know, things like that. So, yeah. Let's like get into it. Should we start with like, the food is fuel and mental health stuff?

Kristen:

Yeah. Yeah.

Chloe:

Let's go there.

Kristen:

Yeah, let's go. Yeah. I mean, I think for me, food wise. Um, we're

Chloe:

very healthy people, which I love. Yes,

Kristen:

yes, yes. That's important. My body does not like a lot of sugar, does not like a lot of different things. Carbs and, yeah, a lot of carbs. A lot of carbs that take a long time to break down in my system. And I still, even now, if I eat them, I feel terrible. Just terrible. And I think just retraining your brain to think like food is supposed to be fuel. That's what it's on this earth for. Like you're

Chloe:

supposed to eat. Yeah. You're not supposed to not eat. No, you're

Kristen:

not supposed to not eat. You're not supposed to not eat. Right. You're literally not. You're, you're like, I always tell I have my younger son, Beckett, he's 15.

Chloe:

Love him. He is so

Kristen:

sweet. He is six two and he weighs two 60. He is a big boy. Um, but. He, one time at football, he like came to the fence and his face was like gray. He said, mom, I don't feel good. And you know, me being who I am, I'm like, baby, like what did you eat today? Like, have you had water? Whatever. And he's like, no, I didn't. And then he almost passed out and I was like, Beckett, you're not like a normal car, you're a Mac truck. Yeah. He needs electrolyte. Like you need extra food, you need extra food, you needs a ham sandwich, but you, you gotta be kind to your body. You got to eat and you gotta put the right things in it so that you can truly feel good.

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

Period. Like food is fuel.

Chloe:

Yeah. And I love food. I'm like, you like we love to cook. Well, I, I don't love to cook. You love to cook. I love to eat. But, um, you're

Kristen:

doing a great job, I think. Yeah.

Chloe:

I love, you know, yogurt and fruits mm-hmm. And things like that. And, and that is a, it does take a lot of training because Yes. For your brain.'cause you said growing up your mom, it was pretty healthy and I mean, she has like a full garden. Yeah. Like Pam is like, you know.

Kristen:

Yeah.

Chloe:

And for me growing up. A lot of people I feel like can relate to this. When you go to a split home

Kristen:

Mm.

Chloe:

Instantly there's not home cooked meals. It's like the Stouffer Salisbury steaks, if y'all know what I'm talking about. You know, you put'em in the oven, you don't even probably know what that is, girl. No, but they were like these frozen salaries. Steak sounds delicious though. It was, but not healthy. But like we were eating that. I was eating Vanna sausage. Mm-hmm. Like, um, I was binge eating a lot. Yeah. At a young age. This was like 10 years old. And so then like. I also know on the gut, like when you don't eat healthy, all that acid growing up, yes. It starts to affect you. Yes. And you can't, so I remember after having Cecc, I was like, I'll be good. I'll just literally, and I'm just gonna be transparent. I was like, I'm just gonna get on Adderall. I'll lose weight. It's work before. I'll just get back on my, you don't think I

Kristen:

ever used to take laxatives back in the day to try to lose weight? I know you do. We, yeah. People used to do that. And you still

Chloe:

struggle with that today?

Kristen:

What laxatives, like,

Chloe:

not laxatives, but you'll be like, oh yeah, my gut. Maybe I should take MiraLax. Maybe

Kristen:

I should. There's Well, if I don't, yeah.

Chloe:

But there's habits we have. Yes. Well,

Kristen:

that's true. Yes.

Chloe:

That are gonna take years Yes. To like undo For sure. Because when you're also in, we have on here traumatic environments and traumatic things on the body. We're gonna instantly go to, okay, what's comfortable? Or, okay, what's this? Yeah. And so for me, after I was taken Vyvanse, after I had CC. And me and you had stopped talking. I was like, I'll be good. I'm gonna take this Vyvanse and lose weight. And I wasn't losing any weight. I was actually gaining weight. And I was like, okay, well I'm just going to eat even less.'cause that'll work. Yeah. It's worked before. You know? And not being, not being in therapy, not having healthy eating habits. Yeah. In general, and not having a healthy mental state, all those things. I started becoming really down on myself, but I was working out all the time. Yeah. I had trainers during this time I was seeing a guy named Skylar Woolard, um, who a lot of people know as bearded barbell best strength trainer, in my opinion, in Green Boy, he's incredible. And I was working out hard with him, and I was, I was gaining weight and I mean, I was wearing girl belly binders every day for a whole year and a half. That's how uncomfortable I was with my body. And, um, but I was e right. And this is the problem too. I have. Which is why when we talk about functional medicine and medications, you know, the stuff I've been on, I'm an advocate for that because women are just out here bashing each other saying like, you should just be able to eat healthy or you should just be able to work out. And that's not always the case. No. And we want women to feel comfortable knowing. No. This is a journey for all of us specifically, and whatever works for you works for you. Yeah. And you know, if something's not working Yes. Like, you know,

Kristen:

and no one should judge you for what works for you.

Chloe:

Right. Ever. Right. And it took me a while to be like, okay, I need to get on semi glue type. Yeah. Until right after me and you started talking again. Yeah. I was like, well, we've

Kristen:

been in environments and situations where she spoke about it honestly and people have been terrible. Dude, I forgot it. So judgmental. I forgot about that. So terrible. And I'm just like, that was awful. That to me, that entire, any kind of conversation like that where you're. Telling someone like what you're doing for you to make yourself better and someone is judging you, and like saying pretty much the opposite. That to me is the weirdest conversation because I would never, I'm the friend and the person in this world, if you like it, I love it for you. Right. If you like it, if good as good for you, I love it for you. As long as it's not

Chloe:

you're an alcoholic or you're doing heroin and cocaine, you doing some, why are we judging people? If you're some hardcore drugs, we're gonna have a freaking conversation. Of course

Kristen:

we are. You know? Yeah. But like, yeah, like, and so I don't Yeah. I mean, and that's, I really want you to talk about, um, so excited about leptin levels. Yeah. Please talk about those. Yeah, we're gonna talk about those because that was something that when Chloe and I started talking again, she was telling me about, and. It is crazy when, like we've talked about, when you're in a toxic environment. How inflamed your body can truly get Like outside Yeah. Of what your natural body shape is. And it could be that you're eating completely healthy. Ooh, sorry, Josh. Josh is our wonderful guy here. And I am like this, everyone asks, love me if I'm Italian. I'm not French. Me too. I talk with my hands all the time too, but I, I can't help it. I feel so cl but any who, like w. I don't even know what the heck I was saying now.

Chloe:

Like how your body can get so inflamed starts shut down. Oh, you're not even in your natural

Kristen:

body anymore. Oh my God. Like, you look like a different freak. You look like you've been on steroids for a decade.

Chloe:

I looked like I, I looked so sick. Like I looked back at videos and that I was doing for my team and stuff and I was like, I know for damn sure if me and your friends you would've been like, Hey.

Kristen:

Yeah.

Chloe:

What? No, like stop doing videos. Yeah. Stop training your team. Stop dying on the cross for these people that clearly don't care about you and your wellbeing. Yeah. No, and get healthy, but you know, the enemy takes what he can take. And he took over both of us that year. Did he? In those couple years. And so yeah, I literally was like doing everything from 2021 to 2023, the end of 2023. And I was so discouraged because I was again, like wearing these like binders on me and like couldn't wear regular brass and like literally could not lose weight. And you know, like I strength train, like I work out. Oh

Kristen:

yeah.

Chloe:

And I do the things Yeah. Just like you, like, oh yeah. It would be like you doing cardio and then working out consistently four days a week and you're gaining weight. Yeah. It made no sense. And so I would be very

Kristen:

confused.

Chloe:

I ended up, um, finding a functional medicine doctor in Raleigh. I. And the labs that they got were insane. There were all these labs I'd never got tested. I hormones. I've never, because most

Kristen:

people don't get labs. Most people don't even have a PCP in general? No. Let alone get labs checked.

Chloe:

No. And like I had a PCP, but literally they would be like, oh, it's fine. Like, here's your Vyvanse buy. Like yeah. There was no like, let's look in. To figure out what is going on. You know, they're not listening. A lot of these primary care doctors, and let's be honest, we live in, we could do a

Kristen:

whole podcast just about that. We live in east, eastern,

Chloe:

North Carolina. Yeah. We, we live in a place where they, they treat the symptom. They don't want to cure anything.

Kristen:

No

Chloe:

cure means no money.

Kristen:

Yes. Money,

Chloe:

no money means they're outta jobs. Yes. Which in reality, if we could get functional medicine up and going in Greenville and in all over the world, there would be jobs and people would have vitality. Mm-hmm. Which is what I've achieved. And so, mm-hmm. Yeah. Like I got these labs back and I remember getting this level back caught a leptin level, which is what you wanted me to talk about. Yeah. And what a leptin level is. It's different than epi and norepinephrine. It's different than cortisol levels. This level is like bind to your fight or flight hormone response. Mm-hmm. And when you are in fight or flight for a significant amount of time, whether it be environmental or internal trauma, which I had both from a young age, you know, you gotta think from nine for sure. So at this point I'm 31, so from nine to 31 I'd been in fight or flight, got on Adderall at 17. I feel like this is a lot of women's stories. Just don't talked about, got on Adderall at 17. Um. Which helps a lot. It helps with depression by the way, and anxiety. It does. You know that you're on a low dose of Vyvanse, and so Hell yeah, I am. Yeah. And so am I. And so, um, I do, it's wonderful until it's, it's not, yeah. Or it gets, you know, it becomes like, you know, I thought that was just gonna help get me through, and it wasn't. And so I had been in this chronic state of stress, and so my body started shutting down, like shutting down. And my leptin level was 42. It's supposed to, what was the normal? Less than 14 or 15. Now it's like four minus, like four. Um, and so I went into the doctor's office and I'll never forget sitting down with Ben, our doctor, and he was like, it doesn't matter how much you work out or what you do, he was like, you're never gonna lose weight because until this level is under like, it's like quadruple what it should be or triple. He was like, it's just never, this is why. And I just remember sitting there and I was like, thank you, God, because I like did not wanna be. Alive anymore. I was so discouraged and so depressed and I felt bad and it was hard for me to work. Yeah. And I also was being rang around and rang ragged. In my business and I just could not handle it. And so immediately I was like, okay, what do I need to do? And so I first got on Berberine, which is a more natural supplement, didn't work. Then I tried Metformin, killed me, got off that, and then he was like, okay, glide is gonna do the trick. Hmm. And I was super nervous'cause of just what people have said about GLP ones. Now I'm not. I'm like big. I'm big girl advocate for that. Yeah. Big girl advocate for GLP ones. Um, also my, um. Fasting, uh, sugar was super high. Hmm. My hemoglobin A1C was almost diabetic, like everything was shutting down. And so I got on that medication. And you've watched my whole body Oh yeah. Transform and also getting on injectable peptides. Mm-hmm. Getting on test molin. I started that in October with the Glide because the Glide made me, it can kind of make you depressed and make you not feel great. And you remember those few weeks I was in bed? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So once I got on the peptides, I think that's important too, like reaching back out to your functional medi medicine doctor. Number one, find a functional medicine doctor. They're out there, number two. If you're on a GLP one medication, if you don't feel good, if you feel sluggish, peptides are the trick. That's the biohack. And so literally, I started just those two together. I was feeling great, feeling good. My biological age I. When I started was in the forties. Um, my biological age three weeks ago was 14 years old. And so I've achieved that. Amazing. So, yeah. Anyways, it amazing. I'm gonna let you talk, but yeah, I really,

Kristen:

I know. I just really want you to talk about, I

Chloe:

can't wait for you to go to my doctor. I know. So you can get your hormones checked. I need get checked out. I need my hormones

Kristen:

checked. I mean, I'm 42 years old. Yeah. You know, well, hopefully they'll check them in a couple weeks when I go, but, um, what else are we talking about? Oh, I mean, what's your. How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? That's like literally, oh yeah.

Chloe:

I feel great now. I used to get, me too, I didn't get outta bed for the whole year of 2020. Oh yeah. Physically couldn't move.

Kristen:

I, I remember being so depressed that when I got outta bed, I couldn't wait to get back in.

Chloe:

Oh yeah. I in bed, like, I was like, I have, have to do

Kristen:

this again today. I have to go back to the hospital like I have to do this. Yep. And I don't think a lot of people talk about like. When you're going through something like, you know, being in such a bad state, you know, emotionally, physically, and just on all the ways, like especially as moms and as providers, like we still have to show up.

Chloe:

Mm-hmm. Yeah. And you're over

Kristen:

here just like going through it. Yeah. You know, but eventually you really do have to stop. Be like, what do I need to do to take care of myself because you, what do we say? Put the oxygen mask on. Yeah. Like, you literally cannot take care of anyone else unless you are taking care of yourselves.

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

And my, unfortunately, this is really sad, but, um, I was depressed for a long time, for years after my divorce, and I remember my son coming in the kitchen. Um. And just having an honest conversation with me, and it was the hardest conversation I've ever had. He was so upset, so frustrated, so angry with me for not like really showing up for him the way that I should have as a mom. I gave myself so much grace for that because I was not okay. But at that moment, that's when I, everything changed. Like I literally the next day was like, I have to move differently. Even that night, like I sat in my bed and cried for so long because. It hurt hearing who I was at that moment, but I needed to hear that. Yeah. So that I could do the things that I had to do to get healthy for my children too. Not just for myself. For myself first.

Chloe:

Yes.

Kristen:

But you know, your kids and your family and everybody around you, they deserve the best version of you. Right? You do first, but they do too.

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

You know? That's so true. Like your kids, they just. Especially when you're raising your kids by yourself. Like they don't have anybody but you.

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

So you deserve to get better for them. Yeah. You know?

Chloe:

Yeah. And I, I love though that you took that conversation'cause you could have taken it and have been been like, you know,

Kristen:

worse off,

Chloe:

he doesn't understand or he's a kid.'cause I feel like a lot of times with kids, like as mothers we're that mentality sometimes of like. They're just a kid. But also you recognize your kids are growing up into young adults and you took that as like they're concerned. This is a 9 1 1, and I'm sure you saw pictures of me and you were concerned. Yeah, I know. I saw pictures of you and reached out.

Kristen:

Oh, yeah. And I

Chloe:

was concerned.

Kristen:

Yeah.

Chloe:

And so I think it's, I have so much respect. I probably know which kid it is that you're talking about, but let he. Said that to you because that was God like saying, Hey, 9 1 1 9 1 1 9 1 1. Yeah. And we've gotta live for them. Mm-hmm. It's not just about us, you know? And when we have kids, you know, it's, it's about not being perfect. Yes. Giving ourself grace, but going. It's never too late. Yeah. Which we've talked about in the other episodes and yeah, I feel like so many people right now are like at a dead end and they feel like there's nothing they can do for their health. And it's like, no. Like Google Functional medicine doctors go, you have a great doctor here. And I always tell you that. Im like, if you didn't have your doctor, I always send you to mine right now. Well, and I

Kristen:

think we should talk about that too. So like having, so having a, just like a good therapist doctor, you need a good doctor. Yes. Like he sits there and he listens. He takes his time. He asked me about like how my life is in general. Like he wants to know. He cares. Mm-hmm. Most doctors, they don't even look at you when they walk in the room, you know? Yeah. You know, I had an ortho doctor back in the day, literally walk in and say, get on the bid. Yeah. It's like you get on the bid. Yeah. Like, what are we doing here? You know? So it's so important to have someone that you truly do trust if it's, and it might not be a functional medicine, but if you have a PCP, whatever, like make sure that that's somebody. That really wants you to be your best too. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And it's, most people aren't in it for, you know, people in healthcare. They're in it for something completely different.

Chloe:

Yeah. Which is so crazy.'cause it's called healthcare, but it's like just, I, I know this from being a nurse before and you're a nurse now, like. It's not preventative medicine. It's treat a symptom and it is

Kristen:

treat a symptom. And

Chloe:

it's, it's really sad. And we live in a really sick world and it's like we wanna, you have these young women that are our age, like we are young, thirties and forties are young. You have their hormones shutting down, their body. Shutting down, can't, can't have

Kristen:

babies. Like all the things can't, can't have,

Chloe:

can't have babies. No. And even people, like if I went to a normal doctor, they never would've given me glide. No. Even though. Was, I have friends that

Kristen:

cannot get it no matter what they do. And

Chloe:

this is why, this is why yes, find another PCP. But if your PCP is gonna follow a damn checklist Yeah. Then don't and not hear you. Mm-hmm. You need to invest and save your money and invest and go see functional medicine.'cause they are going to test to treat to cure. Yes. Yes. Like literally. These, these doctors, these functional medicine doctors, I've never experienced anything like it. Like when I sat down with Ben the first time, my health history took an hour, he asked me about everything, my childhood, my parents, my mom, her, her life. Um, asked about my work environment, asked about. My home environment asked about like my, um, mentality, how I think'cause that's important. Like if you're Type A and a super overachiever, it's gonna increase your leptin levels and your cortisol levels. Of course, if you are. Super athletic and have a fast metabolism. It's going to affect your hormone levels big time. And there's actually premenopausal care you should be doing right now that you don't know about because normal doctors aren't talking about it. Mm-hmm. That functional medicine doctors are doing to help you like thrive right now and prevent you from going into menopause.

Kristen:

Yeah.'cause what people don't talk about in your early forties is how. Tired you are and you, and you know what your hormones. Oh.

Chloe:

And you know, yeah. And, and

Kristen:

sleep. There's so many things that change when you're in your early forties. It's a wild man. Well, and I'm

Chloe:

just gonna say it like not having regular periods. Yes. This is an issue that's Yes. That you have all the time. And it really concerns me and I'm like, I bet there's a ton of other women out there that. Are not having regular periods and this should be a 9 1 1. And that's what started all those issues. Yeah. With that one doctor. And he was like, let's put her on birth control. Birth.

Kristen:

You wanna talk about that Birth control,

Chloe:

not the person, but

Kristen:

yeah. I went to a um, BGYN because I had been bleeding for two months. And um, and I'm very regular. Like I've been, I'm like fertile myrtle, like very regular periods happened most of my life. Very heavy periods, but you know, very regular. I've been bleeding for two months and I go in there and number one, he just like, he kept telling me, and I mean, we were just very honest on this podcast. Mm-hmm. He kept telling me that I was bleeding'cause I was wearing tampons. Okay. You're bleeding'cause you're wearing tampons. I'm like, homie, I've been wearing tampons my whole life. Like this has nothing to do with this. Okay. And then I had to fight for him to truly like get to the cause of it. So then he wants to put a bandaid on it, of course. And he gives me birth control. Mind you, my tubes have been tied now for 15 years and I understand I had to cyst, they had to figure out how to like, you know, make the cyst stop bleeding and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But. I also went to other appointments with him, and when I tell you that man talked in circles and at one point, and I was by myself, I've been a single woman for a long time. I go to everything on my own. I looked at him and as a nurse, I had to ask him, are you telling me I have cancer?

Chloe:

Yeah.

Kristen:

Because I didn't understand what he was saying, and I'm a nurse. Yeah. Like that's not okay. Mm-hmm. You know, they just.

Chloe:

So you took the birth control'cause you're like and stopped. I mean, you're the doctor though then I stopped myself, right? Yes.

Kristen:

I took myself off the birth control'cause I started feeling finally I stopped bleeding. So a couple days later I was like, I'm gonna wean myself off this'cause I do not feel good. The side effects birth. I don't good at all. Her. I'm very like, I'm very. Cautious about medications. I don't take, I take a ton of vitamins, but you know, I don't take a lot of medicines'cause I'm very sensitive to them. And I did not like the way it made me feel. And when I went back into the office and told them clo Chloe was there, that I had taken myself off the birth control, they made me feel like I was an idiot. Like I had literally a child broken the rules. A little baby child, they look at you. They were so mad at me and they were like, why would you do that? Why? And I'm like. Why wouldn't I do that? Yeah, I'm confused. I'm not bleeding anymore. And also, I called them multiple times when I was bleeding very heavily and I was very concerned'cause my blood pressure had dropped and I felt terrible. They literally acted like it was, I was about to go to the hospital and get a blood trans, you know? I was,

Chloe:

I

Kristen:

was very concerned. I thought I was gonna pass. I was so concerned it was bad. It's just. We have to, like literally, when I'm looking at this, I'm just keep thinking like you number one, have to advocate for yourself. Yes. If

Chloe:

you don't feel right, listen to it every single day.

Kristen:

Advocate for yourself and for your health and what you need inside and out, because no one else is going to

Chloe:

Yeah,

Kristen:

they're not going to. Yeah. No one is gonna take care of you but you,

Chloe:

and that's why you even asked me to go to that appointment because you felt. So uncomfortable because they weren't listening to you. No. Amongst other things, which we're not gonna get into. No, we're not the way on today's podcast, but for sure not we'll, one day about that situation. But, um, I know for a fact you've talked about your primary care, this to your primary care doctor, and he's aware, and I, you know, I know you're gonna advocate to get your hormones tested and all those things, but,

Kristen:

well, I have a new doctor now. Yeah. In just a couple weeks. Thank goodness. You know, and that's the thing, like, yeah. You can't stop advocating for what your body needs. Well, well, I could just go two years and not get anything done and just hang out then here's, but like, why would I do that? But here's

Chloe:

the thing, you wanna have another kid. If you start going into early menopause, though I know know, and this is what's going on with women. This, this is realistically if you don't get your hormones figured out or even know what they are. Right? Yeah. And you said they're gonna test them soon, which I'm so happy about that. Yeah. Like you could potentially never have a child because of course you get thrown into. Early menopause. Yeah. Due to stress on the body things. Mm-hmm. Not right. Because we know as women in our bodies when something's not right. Yeah. We know when something doesn't feel right. We know when something is wrong. And I

Kristen:

asked that doctor to check my hormones. Yep. And he said no twice. Yep. Because I asked him to check my hormones. I'm 42 years old, why wouldn't you check my hormones a hundred a

Chloe:

and if you're bleeding. Yes. So irregular like that. Exactly. Hormones should be tested. Yes. And checked and all those things. And so yeah, it's just like, I feel like as women. We're just getting ignored a lot of times at the, at the doctors and so, you know. Yeah, like if you don't feel right, listen to it. F you know, fight to find a doctor that's gonna listen to you, that's gonna respect you, that's going to fight for you. And I know me and Kristen both as nurses, that's one thing that we are big on, is advocating. And you do have to advocate for yourself. Because if I never would've went to this doctor, I would've drove myself just round and round and round and round. And you like the bot, the numbers don't lie. These levels in our bodies that normal doctors are not testing. Like I didn't even know what leptin was and didn't learn about it in nursing school. I'm sure you didn't either. No, and that's one of the most crucial levels that also if you don't get treated, can cause inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases. I bet. And look at how many women right now are getting autoimmune diseases. Yep. Right. Oh yeah. Like it's crazy. Yeah. And so, yeah, I'm like a big wellness girl. Like I do NAD spray. I go to Prime MD in Raleigh.'cause I know some of y'all are gonna ask. Um, that is where I go. But, um, I use NAD spray. Kristen uses my NAD spray sometimes. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. That's like a super, super supplement. Mm-hmm. Um, I did my tesa morelin peptides. I love peptides. Big advocate for peptides. I want Kristen to get on them one day. Mm-hmm. Um. There's just so many things out there that I feel like too, as. As the time goes on now, like this is the era of vitality. I can feel it and that women are going to step into that body, mind, and soul because we do need to, there's so much that we are responsible for and that we have to, and we're

Kristen:

women

Chloe:

take care of. Like

Kristen:

we are emotional creatures. We have to take care of so many things. Like we wear so many hats every single day and we have a lot on our shoulders. Yeah, and like. Like you said, the autoimmune thing is so real right now. Yeah. And if you don't deal with it mm-hmm. Like it is, it's, it's, and

Chloe:

it's from inflammation. It is. And look, even since COVID,'cause COVID does what it literally like causes you to become super inflamed. So I also, I forgot to say that I got COVID in 2020 and then again in 2022. So I feel like that kind of, mm-hmm. Spiraled everything. Yeah. Because you know how hard it was to come back from getting COVID.

Kristen:

Oh yeah. I had it three

Chloe:

times was bad. He just felt terrible, man. Yeah, it was bad. Yeah, it was bad. And so, um, yeah, like I, I love too, that like me and you are both on the same, you know, same kind of mindset of like. That's important too. Like if the people you're hanging around, this is my pet peeve, are like, oh, you're, you're beautiful just the way you are. I had so many people tell me that in 20 21, 22 and 23, I can guarantee you Kristen Phillips would not, she would've been like, Hey. We have gotta get you right. You're not right. I No, you're not. Okay. Because you weren't

Kristen:

yourself.

Chloe:

Yeah. You know, I wasn't, and I like if

Kristen:

people aren't their selves, like you should as a friend, as a loved one, like you should be trying to actively help them. Yes. To be the best version of themselves. Yes.

Chloe:

So don't listen to those people. No. If you feel bad and you don't feel like yourself. You need to seek help from your PCP If they're not gonna listen to you, find another one. Keep searching. And if you can't find a PCP that's gonna listen to you, I'm going to say invest. Put it on a credit card. I, I mean. Do what you gotta do. Might not be here tomorrow. Life, death. It's life or death. Life or death. It's life or

Kristen:

death.

Chloe:

Like find a functional medicine doctor and get right. Get on. Get on a GLP one or peptides or whatever it is you need to get on because like, it's just not worth it. And I feel. So good now, like I tell you all the time, like I feel, yeah, I feel like a totally different person. And when you are inflamed and cloudy, you do settle for less. You do settle for city your relationships a hundred

Kristen:

percent. You

Chloe:

do settle for letting people walk all over you. Yeah. But now that I've stepped back in, I'm like, girl, bye. We're not, I don't even need look good,

Kristen:

feel good. I don't even do not mess with my energy one bit because I love this energy and this piece right here. You just stay away. It's exactly, no, and they will try. Yeah. But no it's not. Mm-hmm. It's

Chloe:

so great. I know. And even down to like. Our skincare. Yeah. And us taking care of our faces. Like me and Chris are big skincare people. Um, hon honestly, I love Botox. I don't really care. Yeah. What people think about that, that I love some Botox. Um. Uh, you know, I

Kristen:

just think that anybody should do whatever they wanna do to feel better. Like, I literally like, please go get a butt lift if you want, but don't do it in Mexico. Had take care of a patient one time Who did that? Oh yeah. Don't, it was the worst thing that I ever saw in my life for booty afterwards. Yeah. But you know, like if you feel good about it and. Then do it. And people are always gonna talk. They're always gonna have something to say, but they don't live in your body. Only you do. Yes. And only you do for the rest of your life. And

Chloe:

what matters is how you feel. And y'all even may look at Kristen and like, I've always thought you're so beautiful. But now I look and I'm like, you are. So like less inflamed now. Oh yeah.'cause when you were married Yeah. And in that trauma. Oh yeah. You were super inflamed. Yeah. Big time. You added what's called cortisol face. I had it too. Where your face is. Yep. Oh yeah. Where your face is like boxy. Yep. Um. And it's just, it's, it's not healthy. And too many women are walking around. Yeah. And they're carrying their babies on their hip. I saw a girl the other day when I was eating breakfast, and I was like, gosh, you looks so sick, man. And she was like talking to me and my husband and she was like, I'm, I'm gonna go. I was gonna eat breakfast here, but I decided to get a coffee. And I was like, damn. I remember being that girl. It's like, sit down and eat some eggs. Like sit down. Yeah. Take a breath. Because Not eating. Yeah. At the sake of your baby. Yeah. You need to eat some eggs and they need to eat some eggs. Sit down. Yeah. Everybody

Kristen:

can eat eggs together. Right. You don't have to do the dishes while he's eating the eggs. Sit with him and eat the eggs and we get it. We know it's hard. That, and that's another reason I wanna have another baby too, is just because like I would do things so differently now. Yes. You know? Yeah. Like I just, you know, you, the thing is we get older and we're supposed to gain wisdom. You either can or you don't either way. But like at the end of the day. I would rather gain wisdom and make my life better every single day. Yeah, and I think everybody should want that. So real quick, you

Chloe:

wanna tell them the vitamins you take?

Kristen:

Oh gosh. Okay, let's go. Um, I take hair and nail vitamins every day that has collagen in it. I take zinc, I take vitamin C, I take turmeric, I take glucosamine. I take, um, always Protonix, vitamin D, vitamin D, D three every day. Um, I think

Chloe:

that might be it. Maybe magnesium for sleep. Oh, every night. Magnesium after, because that's big.

Kristen:

Oh, that changed my entire sleep world. Yep. Stop taking, I started that like two and a half years ago. Yeah. They stopped taking

Chloe:

melatonin, stopped taking take melatonin. All that stuff. I also take magnesium at night. Mm-hmm. I also take a magnesium in the middle of the day. It's really good for anxiety and to calm you down. I take vitamin D, I take a supplement called Her Package by Heart and Soil. It's like got like ovary and fallopian tubes in it. All these good things women need. Um, I take. Collagen. Mm-hmm. I actually do the powder though. I put it in my coffee in the morning. That's been a game changer for my skin, hair and nails. Um, tesamorelin Peptides Glide, which I'm actually weaning off of right now. And I think that is it. Yeah, I try, we take lots of vitamins. We try to focus on vitamins and supplements as opposed to like. You know, like, yeah, we'll take a Motrin and Tylenol. Yeah, we have a headache or whatever. But if you're staying hydrated, if you're, you know, going to your doctor, eating right,

Kristen:

not eating too much sugar, those are the things that cause you to have headaches and feel sluggish in all of those things. Well,

Chloe:

and that's why I'm glad in the beginning we talked about on healthy patterns because. Like I still am like healing from unhealthy patterns, but I also know like I need high protein. Yes. I don't need a bunch of sugar and I don't need a bunch of carbs. Yes, there's a difference in being unhealthy and not eating at all and in going, okay, if I make this healthy choice, I'm gonna feel better. So also like you can use guys chat, GPT to build a menu for you for free. You don't need a nutritionist anymore. Mm-hmm. You don't. You can go and like have all these things built for you on chat GPT, and you know your kids are watching you like. Cece, my 5-year-old, like she has a skincare routine and she has a little vitamin regimen. She takes her D three'cause kids need D three uhhuh significantly. Like they need that stuff. Um, and so yeah, like we're just big wellness girls out here in the world and we hope, um,

Kristen:

that this don't you guys Yeah, I mean we want you guys to feel just as good as we feel. Yeah. You know, in every way, shape and form. And if. You know, that means that you gotta go get you a little pill separator or whatever and get some vitamins and Please do. Yeah. Like whatever it takes for you. Yeah. Take the, take

Chloe:

the GLP one shot, get the peptides, get whatever is gonna make you feel. Like yourself or bring you back, that's gonna be key because until you do that, you're, you should not just be happy settling and stop listening to people that are trying to gaslight you and be like, you're beautiful the way God made you get that, but respectfully, I'm suicidal. So

Kristen:

yeah, it's

Chloe:

like get to where you know that you're meant to be. You deserve to thrive with your best. Friend and thrive and build the business, and that's what we want you guys to do. So feel healthy,

Kristen:

be healthy. Look healthy, all the things. Go good. Amen. So good. All right, gonna wrap it up episode nine. Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We will see you next week on episode 10. Episode 10 episode. I love the number 10 episode. It's a good number. So almost done. We hope y'all have such a wonderful week. Bye.

Chloe:

See you

Kristen:

later.