Thriving Through Every Season of Life

Are low energy brain fog and weight gain really just part of getting older or is there another way? In this episode we explore how simple daily habits can transform the way you feel at any stage of life. 

Join us as we talk with Shauna a Functional Nutritional Consultant who is living proof that energy clarity and vitality are possible well into your later years. Discover practical strategies to support your body naturally and start thriving today. 

Transcript

Recording Started

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hello, everybody, and welcome to another episode of Wellness Wednesday. My name is Jamie Williams, and I am always so thankful to have the opportunity to host these. I have been doing these for over three years now. So I will just tell you, we have quite the library of great conversations that we've put together through these Wellness Wednesdays. And really what it's designed for is to be a platform to bring information and bring education so that when it comes to your health, you all feel informed and you all feel empowered when it comes to making decisions. So that's our topic or that's our mission with these Wellness Wednesdays. So I'm so thankful that you're here listening with us tonight. Please mark this on your calendar. It happens every week at the same time. Make sure that whoever invited you here gets you in contact with the Zoom link each week. So if you are new, well, I would love to hear that in the chat. I know earlier Lily said she this was her first time on a wellness Wednesday. So I'm always thankful that we're reaching a new audience and that there's a new opportunity for somebody to hear this information. And tonight I am very excited because I asked earlier if anyone on this Zoom was under the age of 30. Probably not. So if you are 30 plus, you are in the right room because here tonight we want to talk about really aging gracefully and what the secrets are to longevity because it's about really thriving, not surviving through all the seasons of life. And tonight I have such a beautiful guest, Misshana. She is a functional nutritional consultant. She has many certifications and wellness. You won't believe it, but she says she's 58. I don't believe that. She's been married for 38 years, a mom to four, a grandma to three. And I think when you listen to her tonight, and even just looking at her, you can see she is an example of thriving through the seasons of life. And she's going to bring her expertise to us tonight. So, Shauna, thank you so much for being my guest. But I would love to turn it over to you because I would love for you to just kind of paint the picture of what your background is. Like, how did you get into this space?

SPEAKER_00 2:07

Well, first of all, thank you, Jamie. I'm honored and I'm excited to be here. And I try not to ever miss a wellness Wednesday. So these are awesome. And now I'm on it. So here we go. So I wish I could say like it was just like a short period of time that I really just decided, like, oh, this is the area that I want to get into. But it actually starts way back when I was a little girl, and I think about how I did not ever like somebody to tell me that I couldn't do something. And especially if it was something physical. And if they told me that, I had to prove them wrong. And then as it got later in life, and I and and I got later in life, sorry, hang on here. Just a little nervous.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Oh, you're great.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

Yeah. So then later in life, I continued to to just always feel that way. I was kind of an average athlete, but I played many different sports. And whenever I, you know, usually it was a sport that involved a ball. And whenever I had the ball, it was like nobody was getting that ball for me. So even though I didn't play that well, I like just had this toughness to me. And then I went to college and I decided that I really wanted to learn more about the body and how it just interests me so much. And I've always enjoyed like watching figure skaters and dancers. And I've just always been so intrigued how their bodies move. So I got a bachelor's degree in anatomy and wellness. And so then I guess you could kind of say the rest is history, but I do want to add this as I got older and I started having family, I witnessed those around me. And because I was so in tune to physicality, I mean, I was just so attracted to that. I noticed that a lot of people around me weren't moving so well. And I thought, hey, you know, I'm young, I'm in my 30s and they're in their 30s and they're not moving so well. They're not looking so great. And so I remember thinking that's just not right. That's not the way our bodies were created to be. And so that's when I just really started diving into it and then doing more self-education. And I guess it just took off from there.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

And your hunger, probably for continuing to learn, just kept going and going and going. And I love this because you have always been a student. You're hungry to learn because here's where I am. We talked the other night, and I was I was so excited because we have so many passions that are similar. And what you said about what people around you. So I worked as an exercise specialist in cardiac and pulmonary rehab, and I was always also a collegiate athlete. And I just feel like health has been something that's been at my core since the very beginning. But I really believe it's because I watched so many people around me struggle with their health, with so many family members that I watched through cancer, heart disease, diabetes, just obesity, age-related things. And I was like, I don't, I don't want to be another statistic. And then as I worked in cardiac rehab, I saw the same thing how health really was taking people down where they had not a lot to look forward to when they had a health crisis happen. And that's where I became very passionate about helping people on the preventative side. And that's what we're here to do tonight because what we were talking about is so many people quietly accept these things like brain fog, low energy, poor sleep, hormones that are out of balance, maybe that weight gain we're carrying a little extra fluff, we might say, and we just chalk it up to we're aging. And that doesn't have to be the case. We want to help people unlock your body's ability to really thrive as we get older, because our goal is to live a healthy, vibrant life, especially if you have children, if you have grandchildren, if you have people that you love that you want to spend time with, that's what it's all about. And yesterday when we were talking, Shauna had such an eye-opening set of core values. And that's what I want her to just start with tonight. Shauna, you shared this with me yesterday, and I feel like it's gonna set the tone for principles that other people should think about. So can you tell us what are those core principles that you like to live by?

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, several years ago I came up with four core truths, I call them. And I really feel like it takes spirituality, physicality, and mentality to support wellness as a whole. And so these kind of all encompass that. And what I start with is I say that that I I live life within the context of a creator. And I think we all can agree on two things here. And one is that we were all given the gift of life because we're here, we're breathing. And second is that we will all leave our physical body someday. And so those are something that we can all agree on. In between that time, we we are the only living creatures that have the ability to choose, and we make choices every single day, and those choices are based on our habits and our why. And each of you are on here tonight because you have a why. And I think that's very important when you listen to us talk that you place your why into the information that you're receiving. Because to me, I can talk all night long, but if it doesn't resonate with your heart and why you're here, I think it can go and go in one ear and out the other, and out the other ear. That being said, I also want to say that I believe in the God of the Bible. And there are two commandments that he leaves us with. In one is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and strength, and that's very important to me. And the second one is to love your neighbor as yourself. And I think oftentimes, regardless of your beliefs, that principle can apply to all of us. And it's easy to hear love your neighbor. We all know that it's great to love our neighbor, but love our neighbor as ourselves. That word as is so, so important because it's as ourselves. So the way that we love and care and nurture ourselves is the way that we can love and care and nurture other people. And I'll just leave you with this analogy. If you've been in a fly, if you've been in an airplane, you've heard the people at the beginning give the introduction, they say, if there's a decrease in pressure, the mask will fall. And I want you to place a mask on yourself. And they always say, if you have a little person next to you or somebody that's needy, make sure you put the mask on yourself first, and then that person so that you can help them. So just keep that in mind when you're listening and don't feel guilty about self-care and love and nurturing yourself, because then when our cup is full, we can better give to other people. And the second one is everything is connected. I believe that everything truly is connected. When we stand outside, we receive health from the sunshine, we receive health from the earth. I mean, you think about all the new light therapies that are coming out, or you think of all like the grounding devices, the grounding mats and sheets, that's because they're trying to mimic, you know, the sunshine and the earth. And so that is so important to realize that we are in the center of all that and those are for us. And when you think about the human connection, think about how it feels when you look directly into somebody's eyes and they look into yours. There's just an energy. Or when you receive an authentic smile from someone and you give that smile back, you feel something. Or when you've helped somebody achieve something, or somebody has helped you achieve something, you just get that energy and it's beautiful. We're all so connected. And then you go to the body, everything is connected in the body. We can't divide it up. All the organs are in some way connected, and we'll talk about that like with the body systems. But one thing that comes to mind for me is the vagal nerve. And without getting too sciencey, that's the longest cranial nerve that we have in our body. And that starts at the brace, the base of our brain, and it goes down and it branches through our heart, our lungs, our abdomen, um, all the way down to into our colon. And you may have heard that sometimes people call the gut the second brain, and that is because 90% of that information that flows through that nerve originates in the gut and goes up to the brain. So everything is connected. And then the third one is food is information, and this is just really short. Food is information, it tells the body to build, repair, store fat, and give us energy when we need it. So that one's pretty simple. We'll elaborate on that more. And my last one is that movement expands possibilities. And pretty much you don't use it, you lose it. So I'll just stop there and we can continue.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

I loved all the amens, all the hearts that were coming through here. You guys, this is where I know that we're in the right community, people that understand the importance of a higher being and how blessed we are to live this life. And I love that you're talking about all the energy, like the energy that comes from the sun, the energy that comes from the earth. We are beings of energy. And when you talked about somebody looking into your eyes or the embrace of a hug, like there is a feeling sometimes indescribable, but that's a transfer of energy. And I truly believe I'm so with you, Shana, on that. That's why I wanted you to share those core principles because that's how we thrive. Like that's how we build happiness and that's how we build connectedness. And when you talked about all of the systems, like we were we were talking yesterday, it makes so much sense. Everything is so interconnected. That's why you can't just focus on your financial health. You have to talk about your physical health, your emotional health, your spiritual health. All of these things are so interconnected. But then when you put that in the context of the body, our systems are so interconnected. It takes systemically everything working in harmony for our body to thrive. And that's what we want to talk about tonight. So thank you for sharing those core principles. I I love the hearts that were popping by. Like Shauna, you're speaking to people, and I love this. So let's talk about this. Why are people feeling the brain fog? Like as we're aging, I'm 42, you're 58, which I still don't believe it. But when we're talking about weight gain, poor sleep, lack of energy, feeling off and chalking it up to normal just because we're getting older. Can you tell us like what's actually happening in the body? What are we doing to ourselves or what's happening to make those symptoms come to the forefront?

SPEAKER_00 12:28

I mean, I think that can be a whole array of things that bringing it in, the first thing that comes to my mind is nutrient deficiency with excess calories. I feel like, you know, it's it's the American way. And we all know what the American diet is. And when you have your the body will hold up for so long, we have these miraculous bodies. And so in our, you know, our teens, our 20s, and even in our early 30s, we can be putting a lot of rotten things into us and treating our body pretty not real well. And I think some of that has to do with us feel having a feeling of invincibility, you know, nothing will ever happen to me. But eventually the body can't continue and it finally has enough, and that's where, you know, disease sets in. But you talk about that's where brain fog sets in. That's where low energy sets in. And that's usually because of years of nutrient deficiency. And that's where it goes back to that third truth that I was talking about is that food is information. So I think a lot of it comes back to that, Jamie.

SPEAKER_01 13:31

Yes. Well, I know we we were talking about this yesterday, just about how our bodies are they're just not able to really cope with the world that we live in today. Our foods are way more processed, especially in America. Unfortunately, there's way more things in the air that we breathe, the water, the foods, the personal care products. So bringing awareness to that, and we know that that's causing disruption inside of our body. But here's one thing that I know that you are super passionate about, but I think people are becoming more knowledgeable, I would say. They're starting to understand food a little bit more. But I want to talk specifically about sugar. What is happening in our body when we consume sugar or sugar in excess?

SPEAKER_00 14:18

Okay. Yeah, definitely. I want to dive into that. But I do want to, I want to revisit what we just talked about real quick because something else that I think of is when you when you talk about the mind, I think the fact that when you said, Jamie, why is why are these things normal? I think that's exactly that's another reason why it's not, I mean, it is normal because that's the norm now. But I think that there's such a power in the power of belief. And so many people are out there just talking and just saying, well, I'm getting older now, my back is hurting, I'm getting older now, I can't think as well. And so we start telling ourselves as we're aging that that is the norm. And I think that plays into it too, because if you have the opposite, if you were surrounded by people that were very empowering and they said, Oh no, this doesn't happen and there's this potential, just that mind shift can make a difference. So that's another thing. I think it's the way that we speak to each other and just assume that it's part of aging as a relations, and it's not.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

That's a great point.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

But yeah, then the sugar part. So I'm a huge advocate of no sugar. And I mean, I wish I could even say, like, here's three things of why you shouldn't have sugar. But I have a book here that's called Suicide by Sugar, and she lists a 140 reasons that sugar is so dangerous. So, I mean, there is so much. There's a reason that science is digging in more and more and comparing sugar to cocaine. Yes, there's absolutely differences with that. But the fact that they can even find something that's related, that it hits the dopamine pathways like it does. And that's why it's the number one addiction. And when we say addiction, that's tough. That's why it's so darn hard. Nobody wants to have their sugar taken away because they think if they have their sugar taken away, what fun is life? And that's because it's such a tough addiction. So a couple of things, and I wrote down a couple because I like I like I could go on and on and on, but some of the ones is it it replaces nutrients. So the body remains hungry all the time. And so we can eat something that's sugar laden, and it's a couple hours later, we're like, gosh, I'm hungry, I need to eat again. Man, I must have a good metabolism. No, you don't. It's because your body is still really hungry. You didn't give it the nutrients. You gave it the calories, but you didn't give it the nutrients that it needed. And food is information. So when you're putting in that sugar and it's it's it's doing the things that it's doing to your system, your body, if anything, wants to eat more. So I've even had people that say, Well, I'm just gonna hold off because I'm gonna go out and we're gonna have ice cream tonight, or we're gonna have pie tonight, or it's the holiday and we're gonna be eating a lot of, you know, that kind of food. And I'm the opposite. I'm like, okay, if I'm gonna eat any of that stuff, which I usually don't, but if I'm gonna eat any of that stuff, I'm gonna get a really nutritious meal in right now because I know what that's gonna do to my body. So I want to better prepare myself for that. And then another one that's huge with sugar is that is that it increases insulin, blood sugar and insulin. And guys, some of the top killers of cardiovascular disease, but diabetes, stroke, obesity, aging in itself. At the root of that is almost always insulin resistance. And one of the major causes, and there's others, but one of the major causes of insulin resistance is sugar. So, did you hear that? I mean, I could go on and on and on, but just that being said, that's why I am so against it. And the more I educated myself, the more I understood it, I'm like, this is terrible. We're even putting this into our system. And so, yeah, so oh, another one I think that's really big with sugar too, and men and women will appreciate this, but I think especially women, is that it ages the skin fast. So if you want to talk about the number one thing that you can do if you want to have beautiful skin, ditch the sugar because it eats away at the collagen. It makes it stiff. And I even noticed myself because I've I've gone, I was I was never a big sugar eater, but I've gone three years now where we had absolutely no sugar in our home. And I've noticed a difference in my skin. I think that areas of my skin look smoother and younger than they used to. And that was a major change that I made three years ago. So there's another one for you.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I don't know if it's on and I did that. We could we could talk for probably seven hours just on the sugar conversation. But I know, like, I'm I'm gonna give everybody credit here tonight because you probably already knew that. You probably already had an awareness that sugar causes a lot of inflammation within the body. And there's more and more research coming out. There's it's almost common knowledge on a health conversation when they talk about sugar. And the scary thing is, unfortunately, there are so many hidden sugars in our foods. So it's bringing awareness. And I know when we talked the other day, I I when I was working in cardiac rehab, we often tried to connect what people were eating with how they felt afterwards. Like having that awareness of truly when you're consuming something, what is your body telling you after you have it? And most oftentimes, especially when it's highly processed things or high sugar food, they start to feel lethargic. They start to maybe have an upset stomach. Like things are starting to happen because food is information. I love that you said that. And I want to tie this into my next question because there really are emotional connections to food. So I know you have helped a lot of people try to shift that mindset in how they use food to cope with certain feelings. So can you kind of elaborate on that and how you've helped people?

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Well, there again, I think it's another reason why it's so addictive because it does play with our emotions. Um, we talked about it, you know, how it relates to the dopamine pathways and that the feel-good filling. And we have associations. I mean, I use the example of people think of like at Christmas time, they they may have really good memories of remembering how some of those Christmas goodies smelled when they came out of the oven, or they had traditions with certain foods that they ate. And so the conversations that were shared around the table, eating those foods. I mean, we that is the way that humans relate. And so I think it there's that other layer that makes it really, really hard for people when they realize how dangerous sugar is, because not only are they feel like they're restricting themselves and they can't eat some things that they want to eat, but it takes away some of those memories or they wonder how am I going to do this in the future? Because we did this at birthdays, we did this at Christmas. My mom would bring, you know, this and it would smell so good. And you even think about candles, like candles and the different scents that take us back and bring and conjure beautiful memories. But you know, now there's essential oils that we can do that. We can infuse essential oils and cinnamon and do it, get all those same flavors. And you can do that with your food. So if there were vanilla scents around the house at Christmas time, cinnamon, nutmeg, use some of those infusers, use some of those oil infusers and have the house smell like that. But I also want to tell you that there are so many replacements for sugar. And so I I what what was the question that you asked me, Jamie?

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Connection, emotional connection, like the things you've been said. Because I know we talked about some people just have a really strong compass with foods and how you help them kind of make that swap where they don't feel like they're living in deprivation.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Yeah. Okay. So then I did hit on some of it like with the scents, different things you can do, but then then also the foods. There's so many, there's there's a couple of so now it's getting a little more um specific, but there's a couple of plant sweeteners that you can use actually have health benefits. And I feel comfortable, I feel like they've been around long enough now that we can say this. And one of them is monk fruit, and the other one is allulose. Another one is the stevia leaf extract, but it's a lot of, I mean, the quality really is important when it comes to that because there's a lot of cheap stevia out there. But I especially like monk fruit. So if you are a person that likes to make, that likes to bake and make those sweet treats, there are lots of substitutes now, and especially with technology. I mean, you can even put into your phone and you can say, I love a chocolate chip cookie, but I want to make it without sugar, right? I want to use monk fruit. I want help me, you know, do that, create that. So we have that access to that. But once upon a time, I it seemed like I was kind of just sharing some recipes with people and giving them ideas, but but you can actually do that on your own now, which is quite empowering. Also, I mean, so many of the fruits that we have, and I know people know that, but I don't think they realize how they can use them, like how diverse they can use them. Like dates are amazing. Like, I think a lot of people think, oh, dates, I mean, and a lot of people like them too. But when you add those to something and include a little like Himalayan pink salt, and you're giving it something creamy, it tastes like caramel. I mean, so and speaking of that, I grew up with a tradition of my sister's on here, and my mom made homemade caramels every single year for as long as I can remember. And that all of us girls absolutely loved them. Well, a couple of years ago, I was like, I can't do this anymore. And my dear mother passed away a couple of years ago, and you know, everything in me, like I said, the emotional part, you know, and she's passed on, but I was like, oh, I want to carry on this tradition. I'm like, I can't. I cannot do this to the people I love now that I know what I know. So I did my due diligence and I got in. I'm like, how can I find a good caramel recipe? And blah, blah, blah, blah. And I found one. And it turned out, and my family complimented me. And so that's fun because now I will carry that forward and I can offer that in memory of my mom, but not having all the sugar.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I love all these questions that are coming up in here. There's a lot of people that are aware of this and they're using different alternatives when it comes to baking or using things for sweeteners like honey and maple syrup and dates and different fruits. Yes, yeah, all different kinds of ideas. So if you guys have things that you love, share that in the in the chat. That's what we come here together to be a community and share what we know and what's working for people. But I love that you're giving examples because that moves me into the next question. So people oftentimes, it's let's just say this it's noisy out there. If people are in the health space, it's noisy. There's so many different diets and information coming at you. That's protein, protein, protein, peptides, peptides, peptides, all in macros and everything. And it gets so incredibly confusing. And you had something brilliant that you shared with me because we're talking about not sports-specific diet plans, not certain diets for that people are looking for an end goal. We're talking about functional thriving as we age. And you had a really simple statement about cut that. Like, I'll I'm gonna let you talk about it. When we're talking about macros, how did you bring it back to the basics?

SPEAKER_00 25:47

Okay, well, I hope I can say it as brilliantly as I did when we were talking yesterday. But so people are in overwhelm. They are in overwhelm. And so there's a couple of different things. Is one I say is let's just keep it simple. Let's let's let's get back to our roots because actually, why we're in overwhelm is from all the disinformation that's being shared around us, all the signs as we drive down the road, we get on our phone and we have advertisements. I mean, it's so distracting too. And we were never intended to count, even know our carbohydrates and our proteins and our fats. Those are our macronutrients, those are the three main nutrients in food, in case you weren't aware of that. But a lot of people are into counting that and very concerned about getting this amount or that amount. And I'm not saying that there's not a place and a time for that, but most of the people that I deal with, when they're already doing that and they're so overwhelmed, I say, wait a minute, just stop. Let's just talk about what's in your pantry and what you get. Because if we can just take it back and say, let's just start with whole foods. And I know a lot of you are like, yeah, duh, but I mean, that's not what people are doing. They're in overwhelm because they're they're they're distracted by all this information that's coming at them, just like Jamie said. And if we can simply say, I'm going to start replacing foods that I have at home with whole foods, that's where we start. And the body is so, if you can be patient, the body is so miraculous. Because when you start giving it whole foods and knocking out some of those processed foods and the sugar, it will speak to you. That's why I said food is information. Like your body will begin to speak to you in ways that you never imagined. And that's what happens. It doesn't happen overnight, but you can trust that if you are putting whole foods into you, that magical things are happening in your body. And over time, you will start experiencing that. You'll be saying, Oh, I feel better. Oh, I, you know, I come to think of it, I'm thinking more clearly. Oh, I have a little more energy. Okay. So those are happening because you're giving your body whole foods and not being so concerned with the amounts of everything. In fact, I even tell people when they say, Well, I'm not sure how much, how like if I'm not getting enough protein, I'm not getting enough carbohydrates. I still scale it back and I say, Well, are you getting whole foods? Are you like we make sure that we have a protein pulled out every night because our we keep it in our freezer every night so that it's detawed for the next day. And then we'll decide that day what we're gonna add to it. But we know we have some type of protein pulled out. And so that's a good way just to know that you're getting your daily protein. Just start there. And and then also I just think learn what are the good carbs and the not good carbs. And honestly, I think where you start with that is you anything that you pick up that has sugar in it, that that's a carb and it has sugar, it's not good. So just start there with it.

SPEAKER_01 28:53

Yeah, is that yeah, it's I what I remember talking about, and I love this, is the closer you you can eat food from the ground, like there's less of a chain of things, processes that it has to go through, the healthier and nor more nutrient-dense it's going to be. So knowing when we can eat whole foods, that's those are the signals that our our body knows how to utilize so that we can create better health. So I'd encourage you, maybe you guys have done this before, maybe you've kept a food diary, but paying attention because oftentimes we're creatures of habit, we often eat similar things on a day-to-day basis. But pay attention to the signals that your body's telling you. How are you feeling? Do you feel energized? Do you feel a little foggy? Is your gut irritated? Do you feel bloated? Those are warning signs. And I know we've talked about this a lot, that your body is sending you signals. Sometimes it's screaming at us and we're not listening. So paying attention to the way, like food is information, paying attention to the way that we feel after we consume it, that's your body sending you signals. So when it's screaming at you, that's probably when we start to feel the joint pain, the brain fog, the irritated gut, the bad sleep, the mood swings. That's a lot of things that are happening because of what we're consuming. And I love that Sean is trying to keep it simple. Like we don't have to get crazy thinking about the macros, talking about fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Of course, those are important for your body. But as when it comes to dialing in specific numbers, just know those are the things that we need in our body for it to create health. We need proteins and don't overcomplicate it. So, what we have to do right now, because I think you've kind of moved into this, sharing a couple tips, if you could give some practical strategies so that people don't feel overwhelmed. What are some swaps that they could make if they looked in their pantry right now or they looked at the oils that they cook with? What are some simple swaps on the day-to-day usage that you think would be simple that you often help people with?

SPEAKER_00 30:52

Yeah. So first of all, I would see what they have is for like condiments or regular staples in their home because we don't realize in our condiments how there is sugar in almost all of it. And the the wonderful thing is that now where we're at, there are alternatives. So you if you know if you have a Whole Foods or if you have a co-op or if you have, you know, some of those grocery stores, they will offer alternatives. Oh gosh, the name just left me. What is it? Primal. No. Gosh, half my condiments are it. Anyway, it'll come to me. But I would say start with your condiments because we don't realize how much added sugar is there. So even if we're getting like we're getting whole foods, we're getting meats, we're getting veggies, we're getting rice, we're getting quinoa, we're getting all these wonderful things. And then we top it with these condiments, it kind of puts a squash on it. So if you could go, if I I usually go through people's condiments with them and help them replace them with healthier ones. So that's the number one thing. And I don't think people feel like that's as big of a deal when it's a condiment change out. And yes, there are good homemade ranch recipes, y'all. So you don't have to give up your ranch, that crappy ranch. So there's some wonderful ranch recipes that are made with whole food. And another one is bread. I think bread is a big one. Some like some people don't believe in having grains at all, but that that's not me. I believe it's the quality of it. And so we will just buy it from our bread store that, and our bread has three ingredients in it, and it's a sourdough bread. And so that's that's it. I don't even remember the last time we bought a loaf of bread from the grocery store. Literally, I don't. I think it's been seven, eight, nine years. And so that's a huge difference because if you compare a loaf that has three ingredients in it and you compare the other one that has what, like 25, and most of it isn't even food, right? There's a difference between food and diet. Diet is everything that we ingest, but food is actually something that provides nutrients for our body. So there's a lot of ingestibles in there that aren't food. Okay, so that's a big difference. So change your bread out. And then another one is Jamie mentioned the oils. I don't think a lot of people are aware of that. That like vegetable oil sounds good. It's like it's vegetable oil. It's vegetables. No, it's not. And actually, I want to I want to backtrack a little bit because I what's really sad is that whole food has gotten a really bad rut because of all the processing that we've done. Because seed oils in and of themselves are not bad. But it's the seed oils because they are so ultra-processed that they're not the same oil that they are originally. So I would just say ditch all of them except a good olive oil, a virgin cold pressed olive oil, avocado oil, pure avocado oil, and coconut oil.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

Oh, they just said that.

SPEAKER_00 33:53

Oh, did they? Oh, great. Oh, great. Thank you. It's right there. It's right there. But those three, and not only switch them out, that's that would be a huge difference, you guys, but not only switch them out, but be intentional about using them. Like I get olive oil in my system every single day. And this might sound a little wacky to some of you, but I am a little wacky, but that's because I know food is information and I feel so darn good when I do these wacky things. But if I don't get olive oil in me, I will take a big spoonful of it and eat it because I know how good it is for me. Every single morning I put a big dollop of a big dollop of olive oil? No, yeah, I do olive oil, but oh, but my coconut, my coconut oil. I put a big dollop of coconut oil in my warm drink in the morning. So I do that as well. And then also when we make hamburgers, when we make eggs, we always put olive oil in there first when we when we make those. And so it's not only changing it out, but it's being intentional and understanding how the health benefits of all these oils. So that's another huge one are the oils.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Do you guys all agree that those three swaps, your condiments, your bread, and your cooking oils are things that we could probably simply do. We know that a lot of the things that we're consuming breed a lot of inflammation in our body. And the oils that she was talking about as good oils are rich in the good, healthy fats that help support our heart health, that heart help support our brain health and our cell health. So that's why they're so good. I cook with olive oil every single day. I use it in my eggs. So those are super practical tips for somebody who wants to clean up their pantry and just not be overwhelmed by making changes where you don't feel like you're being deprived of the things that you love. You're just making healthier op healthier alternatives. And keep this in mind as you make swaps, it's because you are worth it. Investing in your health. I want you to understand that it's not trying to deprive anyone of things that they love. It's about making sure that you understand that you are important, your health is important, and making these healthy swaps are important because you are worth it. Right. So I know we have one more thing I want to talk about, and we're not going to talk in depth about it because we know that nutrition plays such a key role in our overall health. Food is information, food is fuel. I told you the other day that you could not, I could not jump in my car on E and head out to Omaha, Nebraska, that's two and a half hours away. It wouldn't work. I can't run on an engine that's empty. That's the same way you have to treat your body. You cannot fuel it with poor food or lack of food and think it's going to thrive. That's why we want people to understand the absolute importance because even when people are putting in the work in the gym, if you're not fueling your body appropriately, you won't see the results that you're looking for. Which brings me to my next point. Besides nutrition, what's one other staple that people need to have in their life when it comes to exercise? One other staple for exercise? Like we were talking about rebounding and jumping. Yeah. Body mass.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Yeah. Yeah. So I am really big into functional moves. And there again, I think it's kind of like food. Like don't like, don't make it so difficult. You don't even need to go to a gym. And I don't want to tell people not to go to a gym because I love the gym. I love the community. I love the energy. But what I'm saying is just find a way for your body to move every day. And when I'm saying this, you guys, because it's easier said than done, remember your why. Like I talked about in the beginning. Remember your why. Remember why you're doing this for yourself. Okay. That will ultimately serve others. Do a lot of what I see as people get older. I'll see a lot of people, like I said, I was saying this to Jamie. I was saying that I can be walking behind someone and almost guess if they're like up there in age, like older, meaning just like like they're they can't pick their feet up. Like they're sliding their feet, their gait, they're sliding it. And that's not because they've got it's because they've gotten old, but it's not really because they're older. It's because they haven't been using their body in functional ways. And I told Jamie that almost every day I will make a point of doing jump ropes or jumping jacks. And you don't need to be at the gym, but that lifts your feet off. That springs you, that works those fast twitch muscle fibers, it gets you moving every single day. And another great move is getting down on the ground and reaching forward and then reaching back and then standing up. And it might seem like it's kind of silly, but it's not so silly when all of a sudden you get to the point where you're having a hard time getting up and off the ground, and when your feet are dragging and when those stairs start to get to be hard. And it shouldn't be that way. That's not normal. And so if we can keep moving and doing those functional moves on a daily basis, and don't be hard on yourself. If you don't do them one day, you don't do them one day. That's fine. But what I'm saying is make a point of doing them most of the time so that you never lose that. And so to me, that's the bare minimum. And yet it's a lot. It'll make a big difference. And there's a lot of great resistance moves that don't require any machinery or equipment, excuse me, exercise equipment. I mean, just the body resistant moves, uh, you know, doing squats, doing push-ups. And if you can't do a regular push-up, keep your knee on the ground. Start with your knees on the ground and push up. Okay. There's a lot of just simple body resistant moves we can do on a regular basis. And I guarantee you, if you do those consistently, you will not lose that function. So that's, I guess, where I'd say just to start right there.

SPEAKER_01 39:50

Yep. Move your body. Our bodies were designed to move. And unfortunately, we up many of us have sedentary jobs, and that also is greeting problems. So we want to make sure that we're helping people understand if you want to maintain muscle mass and you want to maintain bone density, it creates it requires you to move your body. It requires you to use your body. And I want to just elaborate some of the exercises that Shauna was suggesting because I used to do an exercise class for elderly people. And I will tell you simple things that make sure you're always in a safe place, have things to hold on to, don't do things that are going to jeopardize where you're going to fall. But even sitting in an armchair and pushing yourself up and sitting back down, using your arms on the armrests and pushing yourself up and sitting back down, or hanging on to something and standing up and sitting back down on your chair. Just doing those kinds of exercises are going to help strengthen your body and keep up with mobility. And you will notice that if you move your body, if you guys are regular exercisers, you can share in the chat here how you feel. But it is a mood booster. It is an absolute mood booster. Your energy will go up, your mind will be sharper, your body will feel better, and stretching. Those are things that are going to help our body really thrive. So when we compare nutrition and movement, we are really doing a lot of great work. But my last question, my last question, it's I love this conversation because we always tie this in. There are so many people that need added support, right? We just live in a more toxic environment and we want to help people understand how activating our body can really empower our body to create better health. So, Shauna, can you talk about, I want you to talk about two specific products for Tandum and RF2 and liquid collagen. Why are those important when we are trying to help people get the edge when it comes to their health?

SPEAKER_00 41:38

Well, first of all, for maybe some of you don't really know what an activator is. And I think most of you know what supplements are, but in this order, it's whole foods and it's activation or activating products and then supplements. The difference between supplements and activators is supplements are filling a void. We're hoping we're getting enough and maybe we might not get too much. And it's also usually like a single ingredient. It's not several different ingredients. You know, you're taking vitamin D or you're taking magnesium. It's one thing that you're putting into your body. Whereas activation, it works at a cellular level, and it has your body using using the nutrients and and and generating pathways as it sees fit. And so that's the difference between activation and supplementation. And actually, activation supports supplementation because activation works at a cellular level. And she was talking about Jamie was talking about the protonum nerf two and then the collagen. And what what proton, what protandum nerf two is, is it's an oxidative stress reducer. And like dumbing down the science in this, we have there, there's something called free radicals in our body that are like the bad guys, and then we have something called antioxidants that are like the good guys. And when our bodies get more free radicals, which it can be caused by poor nutrition, it can be caused by polluted air, it can the air that we breathe, the the depleted soil, the medications that we take. So I mean, all these things can cause toxins and the free radicals to build up. And so our bodies aren't used to that. So what happens is we get more free radicals in our body than antioxidants. And I think of free radicals because I'm an imagery person, but I think of free radicals as these little guys that run around that have missing arms and they're grabbing an arm. They're trying to grab an arm from all the other their cells and they're just disruptive and they're just really chaotic. And then an antioxidant comes in and they have extra arms and they're going, here, you can have my arm, you can have my arm, and they neutralize all these different ones. And so that's what pro tum does is it comes in and it's it's it's the uh master regulator for our antioxidants. And so it reduces that oxidative stress significantly. And oxidative. Of stress is at the root of nearly all disease. So you can just go in and you can you can type in like cancer and oxidative stress and just see how they're related. Okay. And and then the other one that we have is collagen. And our collagen is collagen is kind of a buzzword, but this collagen is different because, like Jamie said, it's an activator. It's not a collagen supplement. And it does it, it it does what it does different than a regular collagen is it actually activates collagen, has our body making more collagen. And it also maintains our collagen, which other collagens don't do because it it downregulates a gene that's responsible for degrading our collagen. And so it helps us keep our collagen up there, and then it also helps us make more collagen. And when you combine the two, there's a study out there that shows that it increases collagen density by 100%. And another thing when you combine the two is that there we have anti, we have inflammatory cells in this called NF kappa B, and then we have the anti-inflammatory, which is our nerf two pathway. And when you take those two products together, it way reduces the NF kappa B and increases the nerve two. And so rather than having our body in a constant state of stress, which by the way is at the root of a lot of autoimmune disease, but our it's it's constantly in that fight or flight. Well, this was just fascinating because I don't think they even expected this to happen. But when they when they were doing the studies, they found out that when you combine the two, it calms your system. So it goes from a fight or flight, fighting all the time to calming the system. And so that's what the two together do. So that they're very powerful. And when you calm the system and you help the cell and you reduce that oxidative stress, now guess what? Your body can better use all the nutrients in the foods that you're taking. And so it does a multitude of things. I don't know if you want me to touch on more or say up some personal things that it's done.

SPEAKER_01 46:08

You had me, you had me at calm stress. Okay, yeah. A lot of people need to understand. So proteinaminer F2 is this little blue bottle, if you have not heard of it, and it's one little pill. We call this little little yellow pill. It all starts with yellow, right? This is turning on your antioxidant defense system. So this is like going into a room, flipping on the switch, and having your master antioxidant enzymes on supercharge, which is cleaning up your body so that you're reducing that cellular oxidative stress. So you're going to feel the difference. And then when we talk about collagen, beyond vanity, while this is great because when you can see visible changes in people's skin, hair, and nails, that's an indicator that something beautiful is happening on the inside. So with our collagen, it's unbelievable because beyond that, you're thinking about everything in your body requires collagen, your brain, your vascular system, your bones, your tissues, everything. And unfortunately, like I said at the beginning, if you are over the age of 30, that's already on the decline. So we want to help people keep that collagen density up, keep that collagen density or that collagen supply available because those are the building blocks to a strong body. And I love this combo together, which is called the healthy glow stack. So when we're talking about all the things when it comes to implementing different things in our day that are going to really create longevity and vitality, it's obviously paying attention to your connectedness to energy that we led with. But nutrition. Food is food is information, food is fuel. Pay attention to the signals that your body is giving you when you consume it so that we can make healthy swaps. So Shauna gave you some great swaps there. Movement, your body's designed to move, keep that lymphatic system moving, keep your bones strong, keep your muscles strong, and keep your body in action. And then when we talk about how do we layer in, how do we really layer to help support people at the cellular level? That's using activation products, helping to empower your body's ability to create health. That's what activation truly is. It's unbelievable. So I promise you, you will want to get back with the person that invited you here tonight so that you can hear more about these supporting products. But Sean, I'm just gonna I want to thank you again. Thank you everybody for spending some time with us tonight. I hope that you walked away with some golden nuggets that you can really start to implement or share with other people. But Sean, I want to leave you with the last statement. Any last words to anybody that was here listening tonight?

SPEAKER_02 48:33

Oh boy. Last word simple, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:39

It's just yeah, yeah. There you go. Keep it simple and just don't be distracted by all the noise out there and just really listen to your body and don't feel guilty about taking care of yourself first.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

I love this. You guys, thank you for being so active in the chat too. I feel like there is so much good information from everybody. You guys are all health advocates, and I love this. It's about being empowered, understanding that your body is worth investing in. And you guys were so great in the chat tonight, sharing things that were working for you as well. So everyone come back next week, next Wednesday, every Wednesday for that matter, at the same time. We have different conversations each week and hoping to bring value so everyone feels like they are in the know and have the information they need to make solid decisions when it comes to their health. Thank you so much for being here. Good night. Thank you, everybody.