Attain True Health w/ Alyson Chugerman

[00:00:00] Speaker A: This podcast is brought to you by MHA of Dutchess county and produced by CMJW Entertainment. This episode of the Vital Women of Washington Heights is proudly sponsored by Levia Med Spa. [00:00:12] Speaker B: You're listening to the Vital Women of Washington Heights. [00:00:19] Speaker C: Hello everyone. I am Irish Douglas and joining me is my co host, Yvette o'. [00:00:23] Speaker D: Sullivan. [00:00:24] Speaker B: Hello everyone. Thank you for being here with us. [00:00:27] Speaker C: We are I and I. And today we have a special guest at the Vital Women of Washington Heights, living in Dutchess County, a personal friend of mine and a very special lady who has been part of the community for many years and just helping people, just, you know, trying to figure out what foods to eat to create the. The better moves. So Allison Chuggerman is an integrative nutritionist who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to our discussion today on how how can nutrition support the hormonal changes that occur during pre menopause and menopause? So we'll be talking about that today with you. But Yvette has a little Bob. [00:01:06] Speaker B: The audience knows I like to start with a little Dominican botinche, which is facts. I use them as facts. And in doing my research, I came to learn that in Dominican Republic they have integrated nutritionists. So I always get excited to know that Dominican Republic is expanding their thinking, their mindset, and that they're using this wonderful approach that perhaps wasn't used generations ago. So, Alison, welcome to our show. [00:01:31] Speaker D: Thank you so much. So excited to have you. Thank you. [00:01:35] Speaker B: Alison, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and what integrated nutritionist does and how you came about to making the decision to become an integrative nutritionist? [00:01:44] Speaker D: Yes, absolutely. There's a little bit of a background story. I have two daughters. When my youngest daughter was five, when she went off to school, the teacher had called us and told us that she thought she had add, adhd. And so we did what they suggested. We sent her to a pediatric neurologist. He put her on a form of Ritalin, which is called Dexedrine. And I don't have anything against the medical profession, but after about three weeks, she was up, she was down, she was all over the place. And I thought, maybe the dosage is wrong. Maybe something's happening. So we took her back. After talking to the doctor, he said, this is the only really the option we have. And when we left, I thought to myself, I don't think that's true. So I have an Italian mom. I sat on a stool watching her cook my entire youth. And every day she told me, food is Medicine. So we changed our diets. We took out preservatives and additives and refined sugars and dyes. There might have been some Hawaiian Punch here in this house then, or things that I wouldn't give my grandchildren now. And then what ended up happening? 3 weeks of cooking together as a family, shopping together. The kids had a say in what we were eating. They had choices. The teacher called again and says, oh, my God, what medication is your daughter on? She's doing amazing in school. And I said, food. And then this light bulb went off my head, and I was like, I have to do something. Because this was a small elementary school with 300 kids, 91 kids were on that medication. One third of the population. And so all the moms came to me. What did you do? What's going on? So we formed a wellness committee. They were asking me lots of questions, and then I thought, I better learn more. So I did not want to become what's called a registered dietitian. They have strict guidelines that they have to follow according to the Food and Drug Administration, et cetera. And a clinical nutritionist is usually someone that plans meals in hospitals and things like that. So from an integrative nutrition perspective perspective, I look at the body as a whole. It's a holistic perspective. The body works not in parts, even though we have a heart and, you know, a stomach and different organs and things like that, but it kind of works together, and it all affects everything together. So someone could be eating all the kale and broccoli that they want, but if they're not sleeping or they're stressed out, then they're not going to be optimally healthy. So I always look at food first, because that is medicine. But then I'm going to ask questions. It's like everyone is a piece of the puzzle to me, and anything they say goes into that puzzle to create them. So I'm going to look at sleep. I'm going to look at stress. I'm going to look at hormones. I'm going to look at the relationship with their family, their friends, their boss, their career. Are they happy or not? So it's a whole holistic viewpoint. [00:04:03] Speaker C: So that's more integrated patterns as well, because you're picking up patterns, and we pick up patterns that can give you a better idea of where they need to be and what frequency and what foods they need. So create those better moves. [00:04:14] Speaker D: I always ask for, when I'm doing an intake, a list of how they eat. And I always tell people, there's no judgment. It's curiosity. Because if every day at three o' clock they need M and M's, then that tells. That's a piece of the puzzle. Right. Their shoulder is dropping or they need more energy or whatever. So you have to look at it. Absolutely. [00:04:29] Speaker C: Because it matters. It really matters. [00:04:31] Speaker B: I love how you look at the body as a whole and how you describe that we're not just a heart or a stomach. You work with our entire system to make the person feel better. Not just the nutritional end of it, but other factors. [00:04:45] Speaker D: There's a purpose for a cardiologist or a gastroenterologist that's looking specifically at certain parts of the body. But then you have to make sure. Like, for instance, if someone's stressed all the time, then they could be affecting their adrenal glands or their kidneys or something like that. So it works altogether. Like, for instance. [00:05:01] Speaker C: That was. That was a good point. For instance, coffee. I can't drink coffee after a certain time. I can't have chocolate a certain time because my system is like that. It's so. It's also learning your system. So I can see you, like, sitting down and just talking to someone and figuring out exactly their pattern. So good for you that you figured it out, because, trust me, it's needed at this time. [00:05:22] Speaker D: Well, it's interesting too, because my intake form has a variety of questions that you wouldn't think you would want to know about someone, like your sleep or, like, what supplements are you taking or what's your ancestry? I've had clients that have come from another country, like Japan or something. And in Japan, they don't need a lot of meat, they eat a lot of fish, they don't have cheese. They come to this country three weeks on pizza, they've gained five pounds, and they're trying to figure out what's going on. So ancestry plays a big part and people don't. Why? Why you asking that so? [00:05:46] Speaker C: Well, it's in our DNA, you know. [00:05:48] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:05:48] Speaker C: The body remember. The body remembers, you know. [00:05:50] Speaker D: Absolutely. [00:05:51] Speaker B: So with that being said, can you tell us a little bit about the importance of eating nutritionally and also certain foods that can perhaps guide our body or guide us as women to improve when we're going through perimenopause or menopause and how everything works together with addressing those symptoms that most women experience during this journey? [00:06:13] Speaker D: Well, the interesting thing about perimenopause and menopause for women is that everyone goes through it, right? We can't escape it. It's part of it. Some people go through it with ease. Some people don't. There's a lot of things that trigger different things. But the most important thing to know is that when we're entering menopause, estrogen, testosterone and progesterone are falling. That's part of our endocrine system. And the endocrine system, to me is like a symphony. It's like a big orchestra where the clarinets, the trumpets, the flutes are all playing in sync. And if somebody's out of tune or if somebody's falling behind or they're a beat behind or something like that, things are going to have to readjust. So what I found with my clients is when those three female hormones are falling, other ones are picking up to pick up the slack. Could be thyroid, it could be something else. So there's a whole bunch of things happening in the body, and hormones, to me, are really, really important. So going back to the premise of food is medicine, there are certain things that help us and certain things that harm us during that time. [00:07:05] Speaker C: So no, but I think it's important, like what moves, create moods, create good moods. Because, for instance, like orange foods, they say, like an orange, you're happy. Like anything that brings the sun. So we're talking about, like the chakra system, you know, like if you eat an apple, if you have, like grapes, or if you have blueberries, it affects like the third eye, you know. So also coordinating foods for you for how you feel. I think it's important too. [00:07:31] Speaker D: Oh, the bringing awareness to how foods make us feel, which is known as mindful eating. People don't pay attention sometimes to unless it's discomfort that they notice that something has made their digestive system upset or whatever. But bringing awareness to how you're eating, when you're eating, why you're eating, where you're eating is all really important. And especially during menopause, there's certain specific foods that support the hormonal imbalances. Healthy fats, healthy avocados, nuts, seeds. Those kind of things are really important to brain health because we start to lose, we get brain fog with perimenopause. The other one would be foods rich in fiber, which we need to stay satiated. People have cravings. There's a little bit of weight gain sometimes happening with people during menopause. The other one would be protein. And I know I, I, I love to talk about protein, but there's so many ways that they affect things. And there's like, triggers when our estrogen falls. It works on serotonin. [00:08:22] Speaker B: Yes, it does. [00:08:22] Speaker D: Which is Brain function again. When cortisol spikes, it activates our nervous system. So there's a whole bunch of things that we could be doing to calm everything down. [00:08:31] Speaker B: That's how I like to eat. Or I believe that I eat mindfully. I remember one time Iris called me. She's like, what are you eating? Because she heard me munching in the background, and I'm like, oh, I'm eating an avocado and cucumber salad. She's like, you're. [00:08:41] Speaker C: What you would do. I would, but there's certain things that I cheat on sometimes. Just because, you know, I'm gonna be honest with you. [00:08:50] Speaker D: It's not cheating. It's treating. [00:08:52] Speaker C: So I'm gonna. I'm gonna tell you something. If my daughter were here, she would definitely say, absolutely. I did not have sugar. I did not eat fried foods for, like, 30 years. I refused. By the time I was in my 20s, I. I saw my mother create bad habits with food. I saw her gain a lot of weight with eating Snickers bars. She was, like, constantly eating chocolate. I saw my grandmother overeating Chinese food. So I understood at an earlier age I need to control my habits because I don't want to have those bad habits. So for years, I didn't have sugar. I didn't have a whole bunch of stuff that. And now I'm cheating on. [00:09:25] Speaker D: You eat fruit, though, right? A lot of. Are you talking about when you say sugar, do you just mean, like, candy bars? [00:09:29] Speaker C: No, no. Like, I' Like a piece of like. Like a. Maybe one sugar that has, like a. Like, I don't know, Costco's. Oh, BJ says these little chocolates, they're, like, really low fat. And sugar. Like, no, highly. No sugar. Like, I'll pop that in and I'll say, okay, just to give me that. That chocolate fix. [00:09:43] Speaker D: Well, that. [00:09:44] Speaker C: I love chocolate. [00:09:45] Speaker D: Okay, well, that brings the question up of what's the trigger? There we go. That's right. What's the trigger? I love this. [00:09:50] Speaker C: What's the trigger? So the trigger is probably stress that I. A little anxiety. I gotta get things done. You know, things need to be typed up or whatever. Yeah. And that's what happens. And then you get those triggers. So it's learning on how to work with those. Thank you. So say that you just gave me a little consultation. [00:10:05] Speaker D: Well, the other thing with integrative nutrition is that we look at. Many times people are looking at the symptoms of what's happening in the body, which is the what. But I want to look at the why the why, why is it happening? You want to get to the root cause of what's causing that. Because if we can manage the why, like many people, and I hear this over and over again, is I sit down at night, I've had a long day, I've turned the TV on, I had. I have to have a glass of wine. That's the trick, you know. So what could, what could you do to change that habit? Well, you could get the fancy wine glass, you could add some seltzer and some tart cherry juice that looks like wine or something. Changing it up. The trigger's still there because you're doing this or whatever, but drinking, but. [00:10:42] Speaker C: Well, you're right and it makes a lot of sense. Instead of having the wine, something like a seltzer or something. [00:10:48] Speaker B: Well, the mocktails are becoming very popular and I find now when I go out to eat instead of having alcohol, because if I have the alcohol being that I am going through my, you know, menopause journey, I can't sleep at night. So I've been more and more moving into those mocktails because I want to sleep, I want to. [00:11:05] Speaker D: Awareness. That's right. That's an observation. The two things that I think wreak havoc the most in women in menopause or entering menopause are sugar and alcohol. And alcohol creates more night sweats. It upsets your digestive system. Sugar, we know, creates inflammation in the body. We're trying to reduce inflammation because inflammation is at the root cause of all disease. The other thing about sugar is that what goes up must come down. And you don't want peaks and valleys, you want rolling waves. Right? [00:11:34] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:11:35] Speaker D: Yeah. Because if it goes up. [00:11:36] Speaker C: Yeah. [00:11:36] Speaker D: And you have the alcohol closer to bedtime or sugar cake or dessert or whatever you. Most of the time it's going to fall two to three hours later. And it could be when you're sleeping. And that will wake you up because you should. Blood sugar's dropping. [00:11:47] Speaker B: That's a good point. [00:11:48] Speaker C: I never realized your state of, state of where you're at sleeping, you know. [00:11:53] Speaker D: And so, you know, stopping dinner at certain times of the like by 7 or 8 o', clock, if, you know, you go to bed at 10 or 11 or something like that because you're. I don't know if you know this or not, but in traditional Chinese medicine, the Chinese were very wise people. In a 24 hour time period, they figured out every organ and every gland in the body is regenerating. Yes. And overnight, the liver, the gallbladder, the larger, all our Digestive organs are working and so we don't want to be messing them up at night. We want them to be doing what they're supposed to be doing. [00:12:18] Speaker C: Well, that's why yogis don't eat after 6 o'. [00:12:21] Speaker D: Clock. [00:12:21] Speaker C: We, you know, you can't eat because everything has to be quiet. [00:12:24] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:12:25] Speaker C: Thanks for sharing. [00:12:25] Speaker D: Yeah, thanks. [00:12:26] Speaker C: So. So we kind of. Emotional triggers. Like what? Emotional eating. We just kind of discussed that because maybe that's why I pick up that little chocolate latte to make me feel better. [00:12:36] Speaker D: You know what I'm saying? [00:12:38] Speaker C: So what mistakes do we make? Like some people say, oh, you can't skip your meals, you can't do this, you can't do that. How do you feel about that? Because we have discussed it, Yvette and I, we don't have that pattern of we have to have breakfast at a certain time, we have to have lunch at a certain time. How do you feel about that? [00:12:55] Speaker D: I think that's great. [00:12:56] Speaker C: Okay. [00:12:56] Speaker D: Because we're all bio individuals. Everybody is totally different. We're unique. And so you have to be able to listen to your body. Some people, you know how the old adage for years has been, don't skip breakfast. In my first 10 years of practice, it was always, it's kind of like not putting fuel in your car and expecting you to get to work. You don't have anything to keep you going. That's not necessarily the case because it depends on your body, how you absorb your nutrients, how you digest your nutrients and that kind of thing. So. So if some people are doing the intermittent fasting as well, which means that they're going 16 hours without food, so they might not get up and eat something right away. They'll eat at 10 or 11 o' clock at night. So I think it really depends on the person. But I also am really aware that people need nutrients. And I will add in that we can't, and this is from all my research, we can't necessarily get everything we need from the food of today. The soils are depleted. Food is picked from foreign countries or other countries, transported long distance and stored in a warehouse, sit on a shelf in the grocery store. And if you think you're getting even, if you ate all organic and you ate all your protein and healthy fats and carbs that you need, you might not be able to get everything. Which is why I'm really big on trying to supplement, to fill in the nutrient gaps, because we can't get it all. But as long as you're aware of what you're getting. And to go back to protein again, if I may. Protein to me is the most important thing, especially in menopause. It's everything to people. I have, I made a list just so I can make sure I remembered. But protein is responsible for. It's our building blocks. [00:14:21] Speaker C: Yes. [00:14:21] Speaker D: It provides. We have a lot of protein in our body makeup. It's appetite control, it's metabolism, it's hormonal balance, it's cognitive function, it's gut health, mood and lean muscle. That's everything's affected in menopause, every one of those. So if we don't have protein, most importantly, we want to not lose our lean muscle mass. Our lean muscle powers our metabolism. And so if we're not preserving that lean muscle, if people are sedentary, if they're not moving, we have joints and ligaments and tendons for a reason. They need to be like stretched and moved. And that's the worst thing that can happen. We don't feel good in menopause. We're gaining weight, we're not going to the gym like we used to anymore. And it just wreaks havoc. So protein is really, really important. And like you said, the, the, the emotional component plays a big factor too. But as far as skipping meals, people have to listen. You have to just make sure you're. [00:15:10] Speaker B: Getting into your body. [00:15:11] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:15:12] Speaker B: That's something that I experienced. My mother in law passed away a month shy of her 90th birthday. [00:15:17] Speaker D: Wow. [00:15:17] Speaker B: But prior to that she had fallen and she broke her, her pelvic. And it took a while for her to recover. But while she sat and throughout the recovery, it was very painful for her to move. So she started to lose her muscles. [00:15:32] Speaker D: That's right. [00:15:34] Speaker B: Little by little. And I saw how in a three year time period how it was difficult for her to even, you know, get up from a chair. [00:15:42] Speaker D: That's right. [00:15:42] Speaker B: Because she didn't have the muscles or the strength to get up from a chair. And then her arms became very weak and it was difficult for her sons to help her out of a chair. So my goal in life for me is not. If I can do something to prevent. [00:15:56] Speaker D: Yes. [00:15:56] Speaker B: From losing my muscle mask and to stay strong, I'm going to do it. But at the same time, I want to educate the public. [00:16:03] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:16:03] Speaker B: So thank you so much for sharing what you did about protein and how important it is to eat mindfully, to give your body what it needs and also to listen to your body and. [00:16:12] Speaker D: You want to make sure you're getting good protein. You know, there's a whole bunch of controversy to ask you about saturated fats. [00:16:16] Speaker C: Soy protein and any other protein. What is the difference? Because I'm on the protein that I've been. I'm doing the protein with you, with the shakely. I do the soy protein. So I'm doing it like once a week because I find for me you're. [00:16:32] Speaker D: Taking a shake once a week, which. [00:16:33] Speaker C: I just do once a week because for some reason my systems is different with the soy. It reacts a little different, but it helps. [00:16:40] Speaker D: Okay, so there's a huge controversy over soy today. [00:16:42] Speaker C: Okay. [00:16:43] Speaker D: Soy has been around for thousands of years. Very popular in Asia, ate a lot of tofu, edamame, fermented soy, that kind of thing. Miso is made out of soy. So it's very important that we realize that the soy in America is genetically modified. Much of the time you have to look for non GMO soy products, whether it's tofu or something like that. And you also have to know where things are sourced from in general. So it has to be high quality protein. When I mentioned that I work with people to help them fill in the gaps. I do have a protein powder that I did my due diligence. I used myself as a human lab with a little clipboard and tried different things and to see if they made an effect. My research, like, it's really important to know because if you look at what's happening, there are like rice protein sources out there that came from China that have arsenic in them. There are high quality name brand products that have artificial sweeteners and fillers. The supplement industry and the protein powder industry is. And it's regulated by the fda. That's actually a good thing. It's called the DSHEA act because they want to be able to regulate food. But there's like 4,000 supplement manufacturers out there and you have to be diligent. And so I did my due diligence and found the Shackley Corporation and that soy. We have our own soy fields. It's non genetically modified. It's water washed instead of chemical washed, which is another big deal. And so I'm a big believer in soy. High quality soy for menopause. It's got phytoestrogens in it. You can only get those in like seeds and nuts and those kind of things. Flax and something like that. You have. I use the soy protein. I had the most amazing menopause ever. No hot flashes, no night sweats. I was on phytoestrogens, you know, soy products. The soy Protein makes a big difference. And so the other option, there's a lot of whey protein powders out there, which is from some people you've heard of little Miss Muffet sat on her tuppet eating her curds and whey. It's a, it comes from cows, it's a milk product. Some people aren't good with dairy products these days in this country. So some people use whey specifically for building muscle. After working out a lot, I used to do whey protein and then the plant based one that I carry happens to be an organic pea, pumpkin and chia. So that's a good combination. But more importantly, in the product that I have for protein powder, it's called the life shake. It's got leucine and leucine is the amino acid that allows you to burn fat and retain lean muscle. [00:19:01] Speaker C: Yes. [00:19:01] Speaker D: And I swear I have been seeing. [00:19:03] Speaker C: Yeah, that I have been seeing. I have been working out more because I do yoga and I have been seeing my muscles getting leaner and leaner. [00:19:09] Speaker D: Yes. [00:19:09] Speaker C: And I believe because of it. Yeah. [00:19:11] Speaker D: So some people, you know, with the weight gain and stuff, that's menopause, that's another important thing you want to be. It tends to be in the middle, which is where your female organs are. It's kind of like, oh, we're losing things. I'm going to protect you around the middle. So most people that start on that, that particular life shake will start to see, because muscle weighs more than fat, they might not see the scale move as quickly, but they'll start to see their clothes become a little bit looser, which is good. And then the scale will actually come down when the body starts to even out. So we want to have lean muscle because like you said, if you have grandchildren, you want to be able to get up on, off the floor. If you want to travel when you're retired, you want to be able to put your luggage in the over compartment. You want to have reaching strength, grip strength. [00:19:52] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I've seen it. We just. [00:19:54] Speaker D: People can't get up off the floor. [00:19:55] Speaker C: It was hard. [00:19:55] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:19:56] Speaker C: It's hard for me to see people like younger than me, you know, having struggles trying to get, you know, because they have no balance. [00:20:02] Speaker D: Exactly. [00:20:02] Speaker B: You know, balance, balance and muscle. [00:20:04] Speaker C: And they have no muscle. [00:20:05] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:20:06] Speaker C: So physical body is very important for, for the mind to be good too. Wouldn't you agree? [00:20:11] Speaker D: Absolutely. Mental health is truly an important component. It's kind of get swept by off to the side sometimes, but it's a whole body approach again. Mental, physical, environmental, financial health. You know, all kinds of health. You know, people get stress over finances all the time. But I think mental health has a huge component with menopause as well, because blood sugar balance affects moods, and one of the biggest factors of menopause is mood swings. And so I'm a big believer about that. Managing your blood sugar. I don't. I don't know if people are willing to do this, but you can go get a glucose monitor that are usually used for diabetics. $30 at the drugstore, and you try it on. You know those ones that get stuck on your arm, know where your blood sugar is being elevated, what's causing it. You put it on there for two weeks, and you follow it on your app, and it'll tell you. And I did it. So I know sushi. You think, oh, what's that got to do with something? It was the rice. [00:21:03] Speaker B: The rice, right. [00:21:04] Speaker D: And most people don't know that refined carbohydrates turn to sugar instantly in the body. Breads, pastas, bagels, pizza, whatever, Those kind of things. So knowing what foods affect you because everybody, once again, is different. Wearing a glucose monitor, I think is amazing. If you can track results and have scientific data to show you what's happening, that's amazing. [00:21:23] Speaker B: You can make changes. [00:21:24] Speaker D: That's right. [00:21:24] Speaker B: A lot easier to know what your. [00:21:26] Speaker C: Design is, and you can work with it. [00:21:27] Speaker D: That's right. [00:21:28] Speaker C: You know where I used to get really bloated when I used to go out to dinner a lot when I worked in the city in Manhattan, like, for lunch and everything. All the foods that I used to eat out in the restaurants, I was always constantly bloated. What do you. How do you feel about that? And what can we prevent that? [00:21:41] Speaker D: Yeah, we talked a little bit about what happens to soy in this country, but the other thing is gluten. And that's. If you've heard so much people with gluten sensitivities today. That's probably one of the biggest causes I hear from digestive discomfort and bloating. It's mainly genetically modified. We can go to Italy and eat the pasta there, and it doesn't do the same thing as it does here in this country. But what ends up happening is the intestinal walls are one. The wall itself is one cell thick. We're supposed to eat food, chew it, macerate it. It goes down into your stomach. It's peristalsis, breaks it down. It goes through your intestinal tract, and it exits. And while it's in the Intestinal tract. The reason it's so thin is it's literally porous. Then the nutrients that are released from the food go into your cells, and that's what helps you to stay healthy and energized and young. Right. Well, what's happening is you eat a food that causes bloating, and it's expanding the intestinal wall. So this very, very thin thing is actually breaking apart. So it's becoming what's called perforated. And we then eat something, and then that food seeps through, not just the little porous holes, but the perforations and gets into your bloodstream. So as part of my practice, I do food sensitivity testing to see if particular foods. And once again, you might be sensitive to gluten. I might not be, but this test will tell you what you are sensitive to. It's. You could try an elimination diet, but that takes a long time because never in a million years would I have known that it was asparagus that was doing it to me. And cherries. Two things that. Why would asparagus be doing it? I had leaky gut, which is a. A terminology that it means that your. Your walls are perforated. So the, the key is to know what's the trigger is what the food is, I should say, and then to eliminate it, to rebalance the gut and seal it back up. Because the food sensitivity isn't like an allergy. Once you heal and seal the gut back up, you could bring that food back in and experiment. Unlike an allergy, which to some people you've heard peanuts, shellfish, they can go into anaphylactic shock. And that you cannot have that for the rest of your life. You can't reintroduce that. But with a food sensitive sensitivity, you can. So it could have been. If you were going out to restaurants in New York, it could have been like hydrogenated oils or trans fats. It could have been gluten. It could be. I'm not a big proponent of dairy. We're the only species that drink someone else's milk. And dairy in this country, the factory farming is not necessarily good because they inject them with growth hormones and antibiotics and all kinds of things. It's a. [00:23:58] Speaker B: My daughter used to own an organic farm, an organic dairy farm. And how I heal my gut, I would drink her organic milk, the raw milk. The raw milk is what fixed my gut when I started perimenopause, because I used to suffer. [00:24:15] Speaker D: I just went to the Amish country in Pennsylvania workshop on raw milk. And it's un non pasteurized. And so some people were like, oh God, I can't do that, it's delicious. [00:24:25] Speaker B: I don't drink, I don't drink milk from the supermarket or anything like that. They have an organic farm here in Dutchess county going out to 44 and now that she doesn't have her farm, that's where I go get my raw milk because I can't drink. [00:24:39] Speaker D: I agree. And they have raw yogurts and raw cheeses. Yes, and kefir and all raw butter and oh my God, it's delicious. [00:24:47] Speaker B: But people are afraid because they're so conditioned to sometimes buy, you know, their foods from the supermarket and they don't experiment. [00:24:54] Speaker D: That's right. Yeah, absolutely. [00:24:57] Speaker C: So what would you recommend? Like if you had a consultation with someone, what would you recommend for someone who's going through premenopause? What, you know, what would you suggestion be? [00:25:08] Speaker D: Definitely to cut back or if possible eliminate sugars and alcohols as much as you can to hydrate yourself. We don't realize that the body's made up of 70% water. We need to drink water. People. If you keep track, people I just ask people, just keep track. You need at least half your body weight now, minimum. So 150 pound person would need 75 ounces of water. People don't get anywhere near that. They don't realize it. My recommendation is to put a pitcher with 32 ounces on your kitchen counter, pour from that and do it twice a day. And that's at least start with that. [00:25:38] Speaker B: And track how much you're drinking. [00:25:39] Speaker D: Exactly. [00:25:40] Speaker C: Good idea. [00:25:40] Speaker D: So alcohol, sugar, more hydration, sleep habits. Sleep is, I mean we, that's what we talked about, rejuvenation. We need to have optimal sleep and then to just be really aware of what you're eating. It doesn't mean that you have to deprive yourself. I follow an 8020 rule. 80% of the time I'm going to eat organic, I'm going to eat healthy, I'm going to cook my foods at home. 20 I'm going to take my kids to ice cream or I'm going to have a glass of wine or whatever because deprivation leads us to nothing. [00:26:05] Speaker B: Desperation. [00:26:06] Speaker D: Desperation. Right. So 8020 rule. [00:26:10] Speaker C: So would you recommend something like for evening of ritual before you go to sleep so you can calm down your nervous system and all of that. What would you recommend? [00:26:18] Speaker D: Well, I try to ask people to kind of get off your devices about an hour before you go to bed because that's overstimulation. That's going to activate your cortisol. It could activate your adrenaline. Like if you're in fight or flight mode, like, I tried. We were watching a movie the other night and somebody was getting killed. I'm like, I can't watch this before. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm out of here because my heart's like crazy, like, oh, my God. So wind down time. Sleep etiquette in your bedroom, if you can have blackout curtains, that's nice because you want. You don't want lights and all kinds of stuff around you. If you can set your circadian rhythm and go to bed around the same time and get up at the same time, that's helpful as well. And then, like I mentioned before, if you're going to eat, try to eat a little bit earlier so that your food has had time to digest and just calm yourself down with meditation. Journaling, gratitude. Journaling is always good. Reading a book, bath, bubble baths, you know, something like that. [00:27:08] Speaker C: Treat yourself right. [00:27:08] Speaker D: Yeah. Every night. This is your temple, right? This is. [00:27:12] Speaker C: This is your temple. And if you give it the wrong foods, it's not gonna work right for you. You know, that's basically it. [00:27:17] Speaker D: And that's an important statement. And the true thing is, is that some foods help us, some foods harm us, and there are people who have different foods that harm them than the rest of the people. So you have to figure out what it is that. That isn't working for you if you eat. Like, I don't know, I had a friend who was highly inflamed. Her hands, she couldn't bend her fingers. She cut out, you know, and reduced sugar as much as she could. It's just like a different person. One thing is all she did. So small changes can lead to big results. [00:27:43] Speaker B: Absolutely. Absolutely. I, years ago, I suffer from Lyme's disease and babiosis. And one of my weakness is potato chips. I love the Kate Cod potato chips. And I have a hard time if it's in front of me, being disciplined and not having it. But the minute that I introduce that amount of salt, my inflammation comes back. You're feeling it, I feel it. So I have to be mindful. And that's why I practice that mindful eating. Because if I eat the wrong things, I'm not taking care of my body. Like you mentioned, it's a vessel. [00:28:15] Speaker D: Yeah. So just become aware. [00:28:16] Speaker B: It's important to appreciate our bodies and take care of it and. And try to do one thing, like you said, to change and improve our eating habits. Audience Absolutely. But we have five minutes left to our show. Is there something perhaps that we haven't covered during this episode that you would like to bring to the table or that you would like to share with us? [00:28:39] Speaker D: I'll just. I just want to share a little something else about brain food and brain health. You know, fish, nuts and seeds. We need our Omega 3s. We want to be mindful of that. And the other thing I just want to mention about sleep is magnesium. So there are foods that are rich in magnesium, like pumpkin seeds and leafy greens and things like that, or a high quality magnesium supplement. But there's things that we could be supporting ourselves with better. [00:29:01] Speaker C: I like that. Thank you so much. And how. [00:29:03] Speaker D: How do you. [00:29:04] Speaker C: One more thing. How do you think this affects mentally if we don't eat the right foods? [00:29:08] Speaker D: It's all connected. [00:29:09] Speaker C: It's all connected. [00:29:10] Speaker D: There's so much anxiety and depression and just mental mood swings and things that are taking place in the body. So like I said, little things could make a big difference in someone's happiness. Yes. [00:29:22] Speaker C: Well, thank you so much, Alex. So we definitely appreciate your insights and, and all of. All of the work you've done for the community and your children. [00:29:30] Speaker D: Yeah. [00:29:31] Speaker B: So if our audience is interested in reaching out to you and learning more, where can they find you? Where can they contact you? [00:29:39] Speaker D: So my business is called Attain true Health because I believe everyone has these capability of attaining their optimal true health for themselves. And that's my website, attaintruehealth.com I send out weekly blog posts on a variety of topics that people can find on the website. I also send a monthly newsletter out if people want to contact me via email, which is Allison at AttainTrueHealth. It's a L Y S o N attaint your health. And I will sign them up for the newsletter. And that can also be found on my website. And then I always offer a complimentary consultation because I really want to find out what information so that I can educate and inform the person to make the best choices for themselves. [00:30:14] Speaker B: Thank you, Alison. It was a pleasure having you on our show. [00:30:16] Speaker D: Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity. Absolutely. [00:30:19] Speaker B: Thank you. [00:30:20] Speaker C: And we want to thank Mental MHA of Dutchess County, Andrew o'. Grady. Thank you so much. The CEO, thank you for this opportunity to sponsor us and believe in what Yvette and I are here to do. So thank you. And that is MHA of Dutchess County, Andrew o'. [00:30:35] Speaker D: Grady. [00:30:35] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:30:36] Speaker B: And we always like to thank our producer, Connor Walsh. Without him, we wouldn't be here. [00:30:41] Speaker D: No. [00:30:42] Speaker C: Thank you. [00:30:43] Speaker D: Yeah. Thank you so much. You're very welcome. [00:30:45] Speaker A: This podcast is brought to you by MHA of Dutchess county and produced by CMJW Entertainment. Thank you once again to this episode's sponsor, Levia Med Spa.