How to Build, Maintain & Repair Gut Health and Optimize Your Body Composition with Rachel Scheer

Thank you for tuning in to the True Grit and Grace podcast. I'm Amberly Lago, and I'll be sharing inspirational stories of resilience and empowering ideas to elevate your business and your life, ignite your passion, and fuel your purpose. Thank y'all for tuning in to True Grit and Grace. This episode is proudly brought to you by Nootopia, the most powerful nootropics on the market today. And these nootropic stacks are taking the industry by storm because they're highly effective. And each formula is customized for you based on your strengths, weaknesses, and your goals. So you can get exactly what you need. And your customized formula help you really focus intensely, block out distractions, reduce stress and anxiety, enhance your creativity, Boost your memory and get rid of brain fog, and so much more. And the best part: there's a one-year guarantee, so there's no risk, zero risk to you to try them for yourself. So here's the deal: if you feel like you're not fully maximizing your potential, both personally and professionally, then you owe it to yourself to try Nootopia's formulas. They're a total game changer. Simply go to nootopia.com/amberly. That's N-O-O-T-O-P-I-A dot com forward slash A-M-B-E-R-L-Y, and make sure you. use that special code Amberly so you get your discount. Again, newtopia.com/amberly, and you can find that link in the show notes. And now enjoy the episode.

Hi, I'm Amberly Lago. Thanks for tuning in to True Grit and Grace. Today I have my friend Rachel Shearer here with us. We've been in the studio, we're here in LA, and I've been so excited to have you on. She is a Let me make sure I get this right.

No worries.

Certified functional medicine dietitian.

And I actually—

Got it.

I did a poll on Instagram and people unanimously wanted to hear and learn from you because there's so many people that really want to heal their guts. They're either in pain, they're depressed, they're bloated, they don't have energy or confidence, all of the things. And I know with what you have been through, your whole story, you're the person that I go to because you have not only studied it, you've actually lived through this journey of healing your gut. So first I want to just say welcome to the show.

Thank you so much. I'm honored to be on the show. Oh my goodness. She's awesome, you guys.

Oh, I just love you. I just— I'm so— every time I get to be around you, it's just This energy. You have this energy about you.

That's what I say about you.

And well, you know what? You, you are just a walking billboard. So if you're listening to this on your favorite podcast platform, you'll have to check out the YouTube video and you will understand what I'm talking about. She's a walking billboard.

It's the biceps.

It's the guns.

Or the abs.

Yeah.

You can't see those right now.

But you really like Don't just talk the talk, you walk the walk. But I would like to get into really first before we get into like, she's got so much value and I have so many questions I want to ask. And I think it's very like today what happened to me with not being able to get this one last prescription medicine that I'm on that I've been saying I want to get off this medicine. And today I couldn't get it. Like my doctor gave it prescription. The pharmacy wouldn't, you know, fulfill it. It's called Lyrica. I'm really transparent on this show. I keep it real.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm like, well, my first thought was maybe this is my opportunity to take my gut healing even more. And so I was real— I'm like, well, this is perfect timing because although I was crying in the car on the way here, I was like, oh my God, what am I going to do? I'm like, well, I get to go talk to Rachel and she can Resilience. Yeah. And but you and your story, like, I want to go back a little bit so people understand, like, how serious this was for you. So you were doing fitness competitions, modeling, bodybuilding world.

I was a fitness model at the time. I actually grew up as a gymnast and I was a dancer. So for me, my entire life, you know, fitness had been just like a huge part of my life. I actually grew up in a pretty dysfunctional home, which I know you can definitely relate to that. I was neglected as a kid, and for me, you know, in order to feel a sense of value and to get any sort of attention, I turned towards hyperachievement. And for me, it was becoming—

Oh, you're such a liar.

I know, becoming a gymnast. I was a dancer, and I loved it for me. And we talked about, even on the podcast you came on, you know, fitness is just something such an incredible outlet. I had my brother and my sister, and they went down really, really dark paths in their life, you know, drugs. My sister actually attempted suicide in her life as well too. Oh my goodness. And, um, she even was a victim of sexual abuse by some of my mom's boyfriends, you know, speaking very openly about it. But for me, I was very, very lucky that I had an outlet, and for me that was fitness. It was dancing. I was on varsity dance team. I was a gymnast and I was a dancer. And I just became so fascinated about the human body and just seeing what I was capable of.

Yeah.

I was like, oh my goodness. Like, I was never the best in school at like grades or any of that stuff. Honestly, I had to bust my ass in everything that I did. When it came to dance team in high school, I would literally, you know, practice for 5 hours, you know, after school every single day just so I could make the team. You know, the same thing when I wanted to become a dietitian and get into a college like Baylor University. I would literally just like study for like hours and hours.

That's the grit, man. And that's the— that is the key predictor of success is grit. That's Angela Duckworth wrote a book about it. I didn't know it until after I had written my book. I wish I would have read that book first. But Grit. It does. It's your hard work that puts you there.

I busted my ass because I wasn't the best in the room. I was not the smartest. I didn't have the best memory. I wasn't the best in athletics. But I learned through all these experiences, like, I could achieve anything that I really wanted to if I was able to work hard enough, almost to a fault, like I mentioned. But when I graduated from high school and I went off to college at Baylor, I was no longer on varsity dance team or doing gymnastics. And that's actually where I picked up weightlifting. And this is where the fitness freak that most people would call Rachel Shear, six-pack abs that really came to life, that built up my social media of a quarter million following, really started to come about. And I loved it. It was a way for me to showcase my mindset that I couldn't control what was happening around me, but I could control what was happening in here. And I could take what pain that I had that I was honestly suppressing And turn what I thought was into something beautiful, like my body, my physique.

So is that how you got into doing the bikini competitions and stuff?

Yeah, so I got into bodybuilding and I was like, holy shit, I am good at this. Like, I am good at this. Like, I think I had a little bit of some like genetics in there, but like I said, I just busted my ass and I wanted it. I wanted to become an IFBB bikini pro. So I just got super into weightlifting and counting macros. And for a while, honestly, Amberly, it started off as a very, very healthy venture of just me wanting to better myself, as I think most things that we do that we start out with. But me, I'm the perfectionist and I take things to the extreme. And even for me, it was coming from a place of, I want to feel worthy. I want to feel loved. I want to feel accepted.

Mm-hmm.

So I pushed that and I pushed that even harder. And eventually, actually, after I won first place at a national-level show and I was at the point of where I was ready to step into being pro and compete at the pro level in terms of bodybuilding, I won that trophy. I actually got off stage and I went home. And at this point, I am like probably like 8% body fat at the time, like definitely not a healthy body composition overall. Yeah.

Now, I mean, and maybe this is kind of personal, but at 8% body fat, were you still having your menstrual cycle?

No, I was actually on a lot of medications. I was on birth control, so I didn't have a menstrual cycle that was real anyway because of that. But I didn't have a men's, you know, any menstrual cycle.

Because that low of a body fat?

Yeah, and I wouldn't have had one anyway just because of, you know, how low my body fat percentage really was at the time. But I found myself after winning this bodybuilding competition, Like, actually at a very, very low place in my life. And I remember just like looking in the mirror and physically I was fit, but my hair was falling out.

You're kidding me.

My skin was like a complete wreck. I didn't have a menstrual cycle like I mentioned.

Was that because you were depleting your body so much with nutrients, or was it because of medications that you were on?

It was a combination of a lot of things. And usually there's not one thing that causes the body to be off. There's a combination of a lot of different stressors. For me, there was a physical stressor. You know, I was pushing my body physically to its limits, low body fat percentage.

I'm sure the trauma too.

There was an emotional stressor there, definitely too. You know, the pressure, the stress that I was putting on myself. And then I even look back at my diet, and although my diet was you know, maybe macro-friendly. There was a lot of things in my diet that were terrible for my gut and my hormones. I'm talking like artificial sweeteners, those pre-workouts, those post-workouts.

Yeah.

Walden Farm type foods. I don't know if you've seen that brand before, but it's like legit just chemicals. And I just cared about looking good. I had my 6-pack. I wanted to look good naked at the time, and I achieved that, but I was at the lowest place in my health Just completely plummeted, went to complete shit.

Do you know who Cory Everson is?

Mm-mm.

Oh, Cory Everson is one of my best friends. She was Miss Olympia. She was incredible. She's incredible. Heart of gold. I gotta introduce you. But in the bodybuilding world, what I always heard was the closer you are to death, the better your chances of winning. Yeah, usually the person who wins on stage is the most Yeah, and you wouldn't think of that looking at all these muscles and these gorgeous bodies, especially with bikini models, because to me that they're just, you know, you're beautiful. You're not like too, too muscular. I don't think you're just like, it's perfection. But yet you were unhealthy mentally at a low place.

And your hair was falling out. My thyroid had also plummeted, so I then had to get on thyroid medication because it was basically like Non-existent anymore. So hair falling out, skin was a wreck, zero menstrual cycle. But honestly, Amberly, like, the worst part for me was my gut. And I started to develop all of these gut issues all of a sudden, and I was chronically bloated at the end of every single day. Literally looked like I was 6 months pregnant. I could no longer use the restroom at all. Like, I literally would have to use an enema to be able to go to the restroom. Like, the motility in my gut just Just completely—

Just shut down.

Just shut down completely. And, you know, for me, I'm like, at the time where my thought process was, is I was like, why is this happening to me? I am the healthiest person, you know, I'm physically fit. Hey, I'm even a nutritionist. I went to Baylor for nutrition and dietetics. This shouldn't be happening to me. I'm quote-unquote healthy. I was definitely, you know, in denial, but I also didn't have all of the information, so I did what most people do is I went to the doctor. I went to a gastroenterologist. They did everything— the CT scan, the MRI, the colonoscopy, endoscopy. They slapped the label on me of IBS, or irritable bowel syndrome, which in my opinion is a trash can diagnosis.

Mmm.

It's really not a diagnosis at all. It's just an accumulation of symptoms based off of symptom clusters, very similar to depression and anxiety. Even autoimmune issues. So I got like, you know, placed with this label and given a medication and sent on my way. Same thing for all of my other symptoms.

It was just like stacked medication on medication on medication.

More and more and more medication, really just managing these symptoms. And I was frustrated. I was frustrated because no one was really giving me any answers. Like no one was telling me like, this is the root cause of what was going on. I was just passed from doctor to doctor, very similar to you.

I so feel you on that.

So much money into all of the medical procedures.

Oh my God, I was just like a guinea pig for all these treatments, and some of them were invasive. And I remember one time going in for a treatment and it made my nerve condition worse. And I went back in and the doctor said, well, you know, one of the side effects of this treatment is if we do the radiotherapy, spinal radiofrequency, you could be paralyzed. I was like, well, I don't want that. Who— why didn't you tell me that before? You know, but same thing. And then I like, I would go into the doctor saying, well, how can I get off these medications?

Yeah.

And they just want to keep giving you medicine, keep giving you medicine. But so I am at a place now too where I have been this past year where I'm like, I want to get to the root cause. None of this other stuff is working for me. There's got to be something that I can do by healing my gut.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it really always does go back to the gut, which I want to talk about, like what it takes to heal that gut. But it really took me though, going that route first with Western medicine and even going to the Mayo Clinic. I went all the way to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, which is supposed to be like the best of the best because again, I was disciplined. I was motivated. I was like, I'm going to get to the root of this. And they gave me no answers. And I was then sent to a colorectal surgeon now at this point because, as I mentioned, the motility in my gut had completely come to a halt. I couldn't use the restroom without literally using an enema anymore. So they sent me to this colorectal surgeon who then now looks—

So wait, were you trying like teas and pills to use the bathroom?

Oh yeah, everything.

Miralax, all the things and nothing.

All the medication, prescription laxatives, even too, which just made me more bloated, hurt my stomach even more, you know. And then just like, oh, this is probably something that you've had for most of your life, was even some of the answers that I got. Um, the colorectal surgeon literally looked me in the eyes and said, you will never regain function to your large intestine, and we're gonna have to cut it out and actually remove your entire large intestine. And what this will actually do is it'll shorten the transit of everything through your gastrointestinal tract.

So how do you even absorb all the nutrients that—

I mean, there would be, you know, definitely some malnutrition. Luckily, you do absorb a good amount of it, just, or the most of it in your small intestine, but you would still become malnourished. You'd have to supplement. But I was so desperate at that point in my life. I like highly considered getting the surgery. I remember sitting there with my boyfriend at the time and my mom in the office, like, ready to schedule that surgery. I just was like, I want to get on with my life. I just, I don't want to be in pain anymore. And I know so many people can relate to that of just like being in that place of like desperateness. Like, just let me get better. Is this the answer? Is this just gonna fix it for me?

It is desperate. You get to a place where you're desperate. You just want to feel better. And okay, whatever it takes. I was even gonna go to Europe to be put in a 2-week coma and be infused with ketamine. Oh, and the side effect is you can die. I was like, okay, sign me up. You know what I mean? It's like desperate.

It's amazing what you'll do when you're like that desperate.

In that much pain. Well, so did you go home and think, wait a minute, this— I'm not doing this? What made you decide not to?

Well, actually, at the time I left the doctor's office, I was thinking about it. I was in the process of literally ready to schedule that surgery, but something came over me in that moment. You know, I believe it was God because I'm faith-based and I really listened to my gut despite how messed up my gut was at the time. But it said, you know, this is not the way. There's another answer. So I left and I literally became obsessed with learning everything that I could about the gut and the gut microbiome and how these little microbe in our gut control everything from our hormones, our thyroid, our brain health, our metabolism, our motility, the transit of food. And I just spent hours and hours on end, just like I did in high school, just like I did, you know, when it came to making my dance team, just like obsessed with getting better. And I was like, you know what, nobody is gonna do the work for me. I'm gonna have to do it for myself. So I was a dietitian and I just became obsessed with with learning everything that I could about gut health.

And but let that— what you just said, no one was gonna do the work for me, I had to do the work myself. Exactly. Like, that's what you have to do. It's like me, nobody was gonna walk again for me, I had to get up and learn to walk again. Nobody was gonna create joy again, I had to decide and start doing it. So I love that about you, and I love that That you have so much grit and determination and you learned so much about it. I didn't actually know as much about gut health and all of that until the last few years when I got sick of taking all the medications and started trying something to heal my gut. But for people who aren't familiar with exactly what the gut is responsible for, so you said Your hormones.

Hormones, your thyroid, your metabolism. They've literally shown that the bacteria in our gut control how many calories we extract from our food. Our, our bacteria in our gut are in constant communication with our brain. So when you are depressed, when you're anxious, very, very often your gut bacteria is playing a massive role because our gut produces about 70% of our serotonin that we produce. Most antidepressants are SSRIs. These are selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, which literally just help your body keep more serotonin in it, where that is literally what the bacteria in our gut do. And if you think about it, most of us—

Wow.

With the standard American diet, you know, which is— I call it the SAD diet. Processed foods, artificial sweeteners, you know, everything. Even though my, like I said, my diet was quote-unquote macro-friendly, fitness-friendly, you know, even got me to a good body composition, like it was terrible for my gut. It was processed foods, all of these things that were wreaking havoc on my microbiome. And you combine that with, you know, emotional stress and the way actually stress affects our gut, as I always explain it, is think of stress, it's It's a catabolic hormone. We've all heard about cortisol.

Oh yeah, yeah. And you know what, when I'm stressed, I start to shrink. Like, I start to lose muscle. And I've been away on trips where I'm doing events and I'm speaking on this day, and I mean, I'm grateful for that, but I'm just go, go, go. And I get back and I'll walk in the door and my husband will be like, you need to eat.

You know why that is? Because it's a catabolic hormone, right? It breaks things down. So if you think about this, our gut lining, it's also a muscle tissue. So when we're in this catabolic state, when we are in a constant state of fight or flight— and now stress can be so many different things. It can be dietary stress, it can be emotional stress, work stress, poor sleep, unaddressed trauma, but it also can be environmental stress. You know, you have toxic heavy metals.

Mm-hmm.

mold, a gut pathogen, but this causes this cortisol to become chronically elevated and over time it begins to break down your gut lining. Now, why is that?

So is that leaky gut?

And that's what actually sets the tone for intestinal permeability and our immune system as a byproduct starts to decrease. We start to pick up other types of bacteria infections. And as a byproduct of a leaky gut, we start to develop food sensitivities.

Mm-hmm.

Food is typically not the root cause. Like allergies are something that you're born with, you can't get rid of, but a food sensitivity is something you typically develop because you have some degree of intestinal permeability where you're getting food bacteria toxins leaking into the bloodstream, causing massive immune and inflammatory upregulation. So now we have this leaky gut, but also too, this sets the tone for bacteria to overgrow in the body because our immune system has been lowered.

Yeah.

We have all of these processed foods, these stressors, and the bacteria in our gut, they're listening. They are paying attention. And when we are in this state of stress and when we're not getting sleep, we're not getting sunlight, You know, we actually can create something called dysbiosis, which is an imbalance of that good and that bad bacteria. So now you kind of think about my story, right, where I had all of this physical stress, I had this dietary stress, I had this unaddressed trauma too, and all of these different things combined, my gut lining started to break down, my immune system lowered, I started to get bacteria that started to overgrow in my gut because of all of the The poor foods that I was eating that were feeding all of this bacteria.

Mm-hmm.

And then as a byproduct, the motility started to slow down because our thyroid slows down, our hormones start to downregulate as well too, and the bacteria also play a huge role in the transit of food throughout our body. We actually have something called our body's migrating motor complex. These are cleaning waves and they sweep bacteria, foods, and toxins to the lower part of the GI tract. And when we have a leaky gut, when we have bacterial overgrowth, this actually gets halted. It comes to a stop for a lot of people, especially in states of stress, right? Because our body is also putting all of its energy towards our extremities, our muscles, 'cause we're getting ready to fight or flee.

Mm-hmm.

Where now all of a sudden, you know, also our digestive system is shut down, our gut lining's breaking down, bacteria is starting to overgrow. And this is where all of these health issues start to come about for so many people. Now we have autoimmune issues because their immune system has downregulated and they're getting this immune upregulation and it starts to attack their thyroid or it starts to attack their colon, leading to something like ulcerative colitis. This leads to skin issues because the bacteria—

Even like eczema.

Eczema, yep, 100% of that issue.

Eczema. I mean, I have been really wanting one of my closest family members— like, I'm like, work on the gut health and that eczema will go. It's so much about your food. Then I also have a friend that just told me yesterday that I was talking to her about gut health and want her to try working on her gut and just the health of her gut. And she told me she doesn't use the bathroom. Like, she'll go for 10 days.

That's terrible.

Using the bathroom, and she's like, you know, been on medications and all this, and it's just like shut down. Like, she just doesn't use it. But I'm like, that has to be something gut-related.

Like, that's 100% gut-related. I mean, usually at the core, it's gonna be bacteria-related. Um, definitely could also be, you know, thyroid-related as well too. But again, we actually convert our thyroid hormones, the conversion of Wow. So it always goes back to the gut. Typically for anybody, when I see, they address the stressors. So I always start with remove those stressors because you can't heal the gut. You can, you can change, you know, your diet, you can do all the things, take the probiotics, but if the stressors are still there, if you're, you're overworking, you're not getting enough sleep, if your diet is full of all of these processed foods, I mean, it's gonna be a really hard time to heal. And, you know, so often you see like, hey, just take this probiotic, it's gonna fix all of your gut. Well, there's, there's nothing wrong with the probiotic, right? Like, take the probiotic, I'm not against it, but we have to deal with these stressors. We have to deal with the shit that's going on inside our head.

Yeah.

We need to address, you know, our toxic thoughts that we're experiencing. Where are these coming from? What is the story? How is this showing up? in my body. I'm a big believer that, you know, chronic stress, trauma, it's really trapped energy in the body if you really, really think about it. And we need to get that out of the body. And that's where, like, for me, a big part of my healing was really leaning into things like breathwork, meditation, fitness. And I know you and I have related to that in so many levels.

Yeah.

But like, when I have that high levels of stress, like, I need to to move my body.

Yeah.

Now, there's a big difference in the way that I did it back then, where I did it to an extreme, but it was also the combination. And for most people, it's not one thing. It's not like, oh, it was this one food. Oh, it was this one stressful day that I had, this one stressful event. For most people, it's this like perfect whirlwind, this combination of emotional stress, poor diet. You know, when we're really stressed out, we have trauma, guess what we do? We turn towards Vices. We turn towards food. We start binge eating. We start leaning into that. And there are vices like alcohol and drugs. And yes, those also definitely disrupt the gut. Antibiotics, NSAIDs, those type of things, pain medications. But also—

Interrupt the gut.

Yeah.

And antibiotics.

Antibiotics definitely.

And as you're saying all this, I'm thinking about, you know, after my motorcycle After the motorcycle accident, my body completely shut down. So my hair was falling out. I mean, chunks of hair. I had to end up cutting my hair. My hair was falling out. I stopped having my period. My thyroid levels were undetectable. My estrogen and testosterone were undetectable, like zero, like nothing. And so everything was shut down. I was not using the bathroom. It was like—

Your gut was shut down.

It was completely shut down from the trauma, so much medication, being— just think about being in a coma for that long, all the medications they were giving me.

Yeah.

And I remember thinking, well, I don't— they were like, you need to be on testosterone. Now you need this thyroid medication. You need this antidepressant. Like, they were just giving me medication after medication after medication. And it was like, once I could start eating healthy again, once I could start therapy and dealing with some of what was going on and the trauma. But it— I love how you say it's not just one thing that can start this. It's like a whirlwind of all these things, and then before you know it, you're like, holy cow, why do I look 6 months pregnant? What the heck is going on?

Like, what is happening? And for most people who have gut issues, there's usually other things that are off too. It's usually not just like, hey, I'm a little bit bloated. I'm a little bit constipated. Usually, you know, they have brain fog. Oh, they have anxiety, depression. They have skin issues. They have hair issues. They're constantly getting sick. I mean, all of these are indicators of an underlying gut issue that we're experiencing.

What about if you eat and every time after you eat you get a stomachache? Is that like a—

It could be a combination of a couple of different things. It could definitely be a leaky gut issue. You know, a lot of people have that and they have no idea that they do. Do you think—

I've heard that everybody has leaky gut.

I don't think everybody has it. I actually run microbiome tests on my clients all the time.

How do you do that?

It's a stool test. So they do a stool test at home and I look at everything between—

So you look at poop for a living?

I look at poop for a living and blood and urine. I look at all— I get all the fluids from you.

Oh, wow.

But I'll look at all of their bacteria in their gut. I'll look at probiotics, good bacteria they're missing. I'll look for bacteria overgrowth, their digestive enzymes very well. That person could have low stomach acid.

Wow.

They could be low in enzymes and that could be causing their stomach issues. It could be intestinal permeability. I check that through something called—

So you can see all this through poop?

I can see all of this through poop. I'm a poop expert.

So you look to see if It's healthy bacteria. What about when you take an antibiotic? Is it killing off all that good bacteria in your, in your microbiome?

Yeah, typically it's killing off, you know, some bad but also some good bacteria. We consider dysbiosis to be an overgrowth of bad bacteria. This is going to be bacteria that causes inflammation, causes fermentation. So hyperfermentation, meaning, you know, you're eating all these foods and the bacteria are now eating it. And they're producing a ton of gas. That's where most of the bloating that people experience actually comes from. It comes from not only what you're eating, but what the bacteria are eating, and they're eating what you're eating. And we're feeding different bacteria based off of the different foods that we're eating. So when we're eating sugar, artificial sweeteners, vegetable oils, we are feeding bad bacteria that causes more inflammation, that causes You know, an increase in bloating. But we also want to feed the good guys too. So I'll look at in a gut microbiome test the ratio of the good and the bad bacteria. And if somebody's really low on good bacteria and they're really high on, you know, that bad bacteria, I say they have what's called that dysbiosis. And we need to work on, you know, removing the stressors, whatever those may be, identifying them.

So you said the stressors are Either things that we're physically stressed about, emotional trauma, or something like that.

It could be trauma, it could be just chronic stress, work stress, things like that too, poor sleep. It's not the little stressors that we experience. We're all human, we're gonna experience stress. It's the chronic, chronic stress and unaddressed trauma where our body is immediately going into that state of fight or flight, like super rapidly.

So what are some of the things What are some things that you want— obviously I know like sugar, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, but let's say I'm like, I don't want to be feeding the bad bacteria. What are some things that you should not eat that might be surprising?

It kind of depends. So if somebody already has, let's say, some dysbiosis overall, this person actually may not tolerate a lot of good foods even too, like cruciferous vegetables. broccoli, asparagus, garlic, and onion. These are actually what we call FODMAPs. They're fermentable carbohydrates. They feed bacteria in the gut, but they don't differentiate. They feed all bacteria in the gut. So they feed good bacteria, but they also feed bad bacteria. So somebody who actually already has dysbiosis, they may eat a bunch of garlic and onion and be like, oh my God, my stomach hurts. I'm blowing up like a balloon. Pass mom.

My mom cannot have onions or anything, so that means she's got bad bacteria.

It's very likely, or a bacteria overgrowth. There's something called SIBO, small intestinal bacteria overgrowth.

I've been trying to get her to work on her gut health. Mom, if you're listening to this, you need to work on your gut health.

But it'll feed good bacteria too. So let's say somebody has a healthy gut microbiome, they can tolerate more broccoli, asparagus, garlic, and onion, and for them it's actually good because we're feeding more of that good bacteria. So that can sometimes be surprising for some people, but sometimes it's not always food as well. So vegetable oils, industrial seed oils, sugar, artificial sweeteners, wheat and dairy can sometimes be some big gut disruptors as well too. So lactose is very fermentable to gut bacteria. So a lot of people just can't break it down very, very well in general. Wheat and gluten, it's also been shown to break down the gut lining and cause a little bit more of that immune upregulation. But sometimes there are things like actually household cleaners, because we don't just absorb things through our gut, we also absorb them through our skin.

Yeah, that's crazy to me. And I actually did not realize just how powerful that was until I got out of the hospital after my motorcycle accident. And I told you I had untraceable numbers of testosterone, and they gave me A cream to absorb.

Yep.

A testosterone cream.

And you're like, how is this like, you know, getting in my pores?

And I was like, how does this work? And I'm like, I slap it on and all of a sudden my testosterone levels are going up and up and up and up. I was gaining weight. I started growing black hairs on my arms. It was crazy. Wait a minute.

I don't want this.

I'm like, what the heck? Black hair on my arm. I was gaining weight. I went back. I was going to the doctor every month. I said, do you realize Every time I'm coming back, I'm getting— I'm gaining more weight. And he tested my testosterone levels and it was like way up there, like the same as a man.

I think it was like 550.

Oh wow.

You were probably almost getting ready to grow a beard at that point.

Oh, it was crazy.

That's too high.

It was way too high. But it just showed— it really— after that, I was like, everything I put on my body, I'm absorbing. And so that's why I'm like, okay, I don't know about that lotion. Just like lotion from— I'm talking about like—

Parabens. Those are big gut disruptors actually too. Glyphosate, which is a pesticide that we spray on food, huge gut disruptor. I run actually a toxin panel on a lot of my clients that say—

So I want to do this.

And I'll actually see parabens, glyphosates, herbicides, pesticides.

I actually—

How do you see this through the blood?

This one's actually through the urine.

Through the urine you can see that?

Yeah, we excrete toxins through our bile, our sweat, and our urine overall. So we can test the urine and actually see, you know, what toxins are in your body. And everybody has some toxins, but what we're looking at is, are the amount of toxins part of the root cause of your gut issues, your hormone issues, your autoimmune issues? Especially for autoimmune people, They need to test their body's toxic load. I did it on myself. I had some mild-based food mold, actually. So like there was molds found in foods like potatoes, peanuts, coffee.

Isn't there potatoes too?

Sometimes potatoes, definitely.

Is it the skin?

I had glyphosate. Um, I definitely had some parabens in there too. And then I had gasoline, which was so insane to me because I remember the day before my test. And this is where it showed me how, very similar to you, how we absorb everything through the skin. Because I was pumping gas one day and I accidentally kind of got it on me. You know, that happens.

You must be kidding me.

And I did the test a few weeks later and it showed up on my toxin panel. So I like, I absorb all of that, and that's terrible for, for your body. So you think about like these household cleaners and bleach and all of these different things.

And I clean with no gloves.

They, they kill your gut For sure.

I scrub stuff with no gloves. I'm never doing that again.

You need gloves. This is actually an okay time to wear the mask, you know, with some of those type of things. But yeah, so household cleaners are definitely big ones.

So I seriously want to do this test. I mean, we were just— so we were just at a conference with both of our coaches. Pedro Scullion.

Shout out Pedro.

Yeah, shout out. And he was talking about he was feeling like super tired, brain foggy. I mean, he's saying this from stage, so it's not like I'm not telling you anything that he's not talking about. But he was talking about how he was feeling so tired, like had trouble even remembering like, okay, how do I get home?

Mercury.

And he had— what was it?

Mercury toxicity. So that's a heavy metal.

And he was eating a ton of sushi. I mean, you can do this from like eating— if you love sushi, better watch how much sushi you're eating. So yeah, with the brain fog, that's just crazy to me.

Yeah, that's actually one of the number one symptoms of people who have intestinal permeability or dysbiosis because our gut and our brain are interconnected. I've already mentioned how the bacteria actually produce a good amount of serotonin. But there's other ways that it's connected too. So we have something called our vagus nerve.

Yeah.

And it's the biggest nerve in the body and it connects our guts all the way to our brain.

They wanted to do a vagus nerve implant on me.

Yeah, they do that a lot for like depression and anxiety. They'll even do like a vagal nerve stimulator.

That's what they wanted to do. And I'm like, okay, what is it? And they're like, well, it's basically brain surgery. I was gonna have a thing implanted On my vagus nerve to try to control the CRPS.

Yeah, so think about this. When you have intestinal permeability and that, that vagus nerve that connects to the brain, it actually leads to a breach in that blood-brain barrier. So now not only do you have a leaky gut, but you also have a leaky brain as well too. So this is where toxins and other things start to cross that blood-brain barrier, leading to to brain fog, leading to neuroinflammation, Alzheimer's, dementia. These are also gut issues at the core. They've shown that low gut diversity, gut dysbiosis, intestinal permeability actually leads to some of these memory issues, you know, like dementia and Alzheimer's later on in life. It's insane. The science is insane.

Well, I have to say, I mean, I— one of my fears was I— my pain that I— I don't even like to say my— the pain would be so bad that I would start to get kind of foggy, brain fog, not be able to think clear. Like, but I'm telling you, as soon as I started taking some supplements, you know, eating even cleaner, because I always ate pretty clean, but really started paying attention to it, like everything I was ingesting, I started, you know, really taking some supplements to help support my gut, it was like I could think clearer. It really started to help, but I still think I could improve on that even more. So I'm gonna have to give you some of my poop.

You'll have to give me some of your poop. But your gut lining can actually regenerate itself in as little as 3 weeks if you do have intestinal permeability, if you're able to identify the stressors. and remove them. And your bacteria in your gut can also change in as little as 3 days based off of the food that you're eating. So yes, the gut plays a huge role, but it can change so, so, so rapidly. So step 1, remove all of the stressors, or at least most of them that we can, the big ones at least that are leading to a lot of issues. Sometimes, you know, it's a work in progress. Like the trauma thing, that's not like a, as you know, a Snap of the fingers. That's going to be the continuous work that you do. For me, it was cleaning up my diet first and foremost, addressing some of the immediate stressors in my life, the physical stressors, of course, as well too, undereating since I was at such a low body fat percentage. And then my healing journey ended up evolving more into the mental and the emotional side of it for me. And that work, as we know, really never, never ends.

It never ends. Just when you think you're done, you're not.

Yeah, so I think it's starting with removing the stressors that you can at the beginning, and then it's also then identifying what is off, essentially. And that's where I think the functional medicine testing is great. When I went to all of those different doctors, I was blown away that nobody was talking about the microbiome or leaky gut or these microbes in our body.

Exactly.

They weren't talking about how it's connected. It was, here's depression. Here's the medication. Here, you can't go to the bathroom? Here's a prescription laxative. Oh, your hormones are balanced? Here's birth control or here's testosterone. Oh, your thyroid's off? Here's a thyroid medication. And I wasn't getting the level of care. And the reality is, is we have a food industry, for one, that pays no attention to health. And then we have a health industry that pays no attention to food. So I'm—

That's powerful right there. It's so true.

I'm a big, big believer that right now there is a massive gap too between, you know, the wellness community, between Western medicine, and even the fitness community too. Because as I mentioned, you know, the fitness community says just eat less, work out more, focus on your macros. You know, for a lot of people—

Okay, and tell people what macros are. If people don't know, you're like, macros, what is that? I don't know what macros are. I was never, even though I was into fitness, I never counted macros. I've never counted macros. And in fact, just 2 days ago, I was like, hmm, I'm gonna just see what my macros would be. I'd never done that.

And it's important, don't get me wrong, but it's only a piece of the overall equation. And I think it's a disservice to look at only one of these different areas. And there's nothing wrong with medicine. Medicine also can be very, very powerful, and it can help a ton of people, but know when you're going to the doctor, you're going to a physician that practices medicine. So if your goal is to heal and get to the root cause, that's gonna be going to a different provider. So I'm never here to demonize Western medicine. You know, if you get in a car accident, you smash your leg, go to the Western medicine. Please do not come to somebody like me. Like, that's where you're gonna need medicine, you're gonna need all of that kind of stuff.

Yeah.

But when you deal with these chronic issues, IBS, autoimmune conditions, anxiety, depression.

Get to the root.

We need to get to the root cause ultimately and figure out what's going on. But macros, to answer your question, these are carbs, fats, and protein. Carbohydrates have 4 calories per gram, protein has 4 calories per gram, and then fats have 7 calories per gram. So actually, these macros make up our total calorie intake. So I know a lot of people, let's say, who just focus on You know, eating good food. Maybe they do remove all of the, you know, the artificial sweeteners, the processed foods, but they're like, oh my God, I can't lose the weight that I want and I can't build muscle. Well, they need to probably focus a little bit on their macros and where that's at. Or vice versa, they'll like gain.

That is the amount of protein, carbs, and fat combined based on your body fat height.

What your body needs. So we need to be getting enough proteins to support our body's skeletal As my good friend, Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, would say— you're a good friend as well, too— is muscle is one of the most important organs, I'd say, besides the gut. But muscle is anti-inflammatory. It's anti-aging. And it helps, actually, with glucose disposal. And we only can support that through getting enough protein based off of how much skeletal muscle mass we have or we want to have, and then also through resistance training. So that's a great point. So, and I love—

I'm sorry I'm interrupting. I just, I love, because I mean, I love watching your YouTube videos and your Instagram posts. Y'all have got to check her out on Instagram. Check out Rachel Shear on Instagram and also Rachel Shear Nutrition on Instagram. But I love how— and we'll get into this more too, but I love one of how bold you are and gorgeous and standing there in your bikini. I love it.

I love it. I still got the bikini girl in She has not gone away.

You've got that like side pose going. I'm like, golly, that's, that's talent.

She has not left. But I will say, you know, in the wellness community, right, where we're just focusing on like eating good healthy foods, we may be missing the ball when it comes to, you know, getting the body composition we want, losing that weight. So we do need to look at macros. But then the people in the fitness community are just focused on macros, get enough protein. We don't care where they're coming from. We don't care if it's processed protein.

You're just focusing on how many macros you're getting and lifting heavy. That's what I was going to say in one of your videos. I was like, I just lift really heavy, like as heavy as I can.

Just eat, eat less, hit your protein. And lift heavy. But then you can have these hormone issues, these gut issues, and all of these things like I had. So this is what I mean where I think there's a big gap right now between, you know, Western medicine, which just looks at medication. It's very Band-Aid-based approach. Where then we have like the wellness community with functional medicine that pays no attention to like body composition and macronutrient intake, or then the fitness community that doesn't really look at like gut health.

They don't care about the chemicals in that pre-workout drink.

Yeah, they don't.

I mean, it was like pulling teeth to get my husband off of this pre-workout drink that I was like, chemical, chemical, chemical, chemical. And then I was like, okay, he's not going to—

It's not glow-in-the-dark.

I mean, yeah, right? And so I finally got him to take something that's all natural and he loves it. So now he's ordering it. But so many of the things in the fitness world are so unhealthy. I remember talking about they don't care what kind of food it is as long as it's got the macros right. I remember my nutritionist a long time ago was like, you need 4, you can eat 4 of their soy hot dog things. Oh my goodness.

I thought it was good for you.

Yeah, I'm like, what is this? I don't know, I can have 4 of them. Yeah, it was kind of like Frankenfood.

Frankenfood.

Yeah, but just like, yeah, I think there is a gap, and if we could all just kind of work together but more focus on that root cause.

And that's like the mission that I'm honestly really on, is bridging the gap between all of this. So like the people who come to work with me is we're gonna go into like the macros, I'm gonna do all the testing, with them. I'm gonna also, you know, help them with like what's gonna be the best diets and the foods that work with their body. We're gonna address like their, their gut health and work on getting their gut into a good place. And we're gonna find the root cause. And we're gonna also coach through some of the mindset things. And if you were to go to a nutritionist, a personal trainer, you were to go to a physician, you know, a life coach, you know, this would cost like, I don't know, like $10,000 at least per month. So we're really doing all of these different things for our clients. And, you know, this is kind of like my mission that I'm on is really bridging the gap between all of these different worlds because we need all of it. You know, people want to feel their best, look their best. You know, we talked a lot about on, you know, the podcast that you came on, on mine about, you know, building confidence. And yes, there is a level of like, we want to look freaking confident and look in the mirror.

It affects how you do business. And I'm, I'm gonna say this, and I'm probably gonna get a lot of hate about this.

Do it.

But you know what? When somebody is coming up to me and they're telling me they're an expert in whatever field that they're in, but they look like crap.

Oh yeah.

And I say that like they, they're— they don't look healthy. You know what I mean? They're puffy, they've got bags under their eyes, they don't look like they've slept. Yeah, I'm like, unless it's an overweight personal trainer who's lost 100 pounds and they're inspiring me that they lost that weight. But I'm like, when I see somebody that shows up and they look healthy, they look like their skin's good, they're glowing— not saying that they have to have 11% body fat. No, that's not healthy. No, but, but that they look like they feel good I want to learn more. I want to learn from that person. I trust what they're saying because I know that they're like, okay, you look like you're taking care of yourself. And I know that sounds kind of harsh, but like when I have somebody that shows up and they look healthy and they look like they are ready to go, I'm like, that's a go-getter. That's somebody who cares enough to take care of their health.

They have self-respect.

Self-respect.

They have enough self-respect for themselves. And self-respect is, you know, choosing to eat foods that love you back. It's choosing to move your body every single day. It's choosing to be intentional with the books you read, the podcasts you listen to, the people that you surround yourself with. Ultimately, you know, that's what self-respect is, in my opinion. And, you know, to your point, is I want to take advice from somebody who has walked through what it is that I'm trying to achieve, you know, and I'm a living, breathing example.

And I love that you say self-respect. That's such a great way to sum it up because, and I say this because, look, when I got out of the hospital, I didn't look healthy. I looked like I'd been through a war. People wouldn't look at me and go, oh, she's healthy. I mean, I looked like I'd been through a war, but self-respect Was I still, even in the hospital, shaved my legs. Couldn't get up, couldn't get out of bed. I had a halo. I would shave my legs, I would put makeup on, I would brush my hair, I would sponge bath myself. And I kept getting in trouble because I would even paint my toenail on the leg that I didn't even know if that was going to be the day they were going to amputate it or not. But I'm like, but at least I'm painting my toenails. So So that's what I mean about showing up with self-respect and looking your best. Not perfect. You don't have to be perfect, but that you care enough. I went to go get my dad and take him out of the house, and he just had a back surgery, and we're working on his mindset and stuff. And he said, well, you know, it's a lot for me. I shaved today. And I said, Dad, you need to be shaving every day.

Mm.

I said, you need to shave. You need to get up. You need to get your clothes on. You need to make your own food. Like that's self-respect. Yeah, you know what I mean?

100%. And I think when even like going back to like the conversation about like vices, ultimately those are people who don't have self-respect for themselves.

Like, oh, I'd lost mine, that's why I had a vice, you know.

And that is essentially at the core of, you know, how trauma operates as well too, right? We turn towards vices, we don't have that self-respect for ourselves, essentially, you know, respecting our body. Like I said, Choosing to eat foods that really, really love us back. It's respecting our body ultimately at the core of everything.

How do you think you start to get that self-respect?

I think first getting that self-respect is dealing with the inner dialogue. You know, you talk a lot about, you know, leaning in and confronting everything, being very, very real and just like, Honoring, you know, what is the reality for yourself. So paying attention to the fruits that are there in your life. So if you are somebody who is overweight, who's depressed, you know, where have those fruits come from, right?

Mm-hmm.

Those fruits have come from our habits.

Mm-hmm.

And those habits have come from essentially our, our thoughts. And where did those thoughts come from? Probably something that has happened in our inner life. So we start to pay attention first to the fruits in our life and we own it. We have ownership for that, which it's scary to really look at that and, you know, just really, really look in the mirror and look at the reality of where we're at. But I think—

Oh, it is hard. And I mean, I was, I was 25 pounds heavier. Like, I went from being 20 pounds lighter than I am now when I first got out of the hospital hospital to completely disrespecting myself. And I weighed as much as I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant.

Yeah.

And I, I was just like, how did this person who was a fitness lose respect for myself? My gut was all off. It was terrible. But I think it is getting real with yourself and deciding that you want to eat better foods, make sure you're not, you know, spilling gasoline Well, that was an accident.

Yeah.

100%. But I think like once you're really, really real upfront with yourself, you then get to choose what the story is that you want to be running the show. Because there's been a story, right, running the show for so long that was probably based off of trauma. And for most of us, it's, it's not true. For me, you know, a lot of like my story running the show is if you achieve X, Y, or Z, then you'll be worthy, then you'll be loved. And it was, it was such a lie, Amberly, but that was the story that I was holding onto, which led to the fruits of burnout, all of my health issues.

Mm-hmm.

Um, you could say that was my vice. For some people it's food, for some people it's alcohol, but we turn towards these different things based off of, you know, our, our habits that created our, our thoughts and our feelings. So I think once we can really understand where the story is coming from, then we get to choose the story that really is the truth. And I think that's what is really, really empowering. And that is start taking that first step towards building that self-respect. What is the truth? The truth is I'm loved. I am capable. I've proven it to myself over and over and over again. I've proven it to myself when I said, hey, you know what, I want to get into Baylor, when I want to do this, I was able to do that.

Mm-hmm.

But I also am worthy and loved because, you know, God is my Savior, you know, and there's, There's a lot of that, so I get to create that meaning to it. And once we recreate that story, the way that our brain works though is it's based off of facts. It's going to look for evidence, right? It's going to look for evidence and be like, yeah, no, no, but what about this? And what about this? You know, this tells me that that's not true. So this is where we get to prove it to ourselves with small wins. So this is where it goes back to, you know, I'm going to start fitness. I'm going to start working out my body. You stack that win. You start being intentional with the foods that you're putting in your body.

Mm-hmm.

You start stacking that wins. So you choose, even though if you don't feel like it, and I promise you, at first you probably may not believe it wholeheartedly. You know, you're like, all right, I am so loved, I'm worthy. And there's like this little inner voice in your head being like, that's not true. But you're like, okay, you know what? But I am going to act in spite of thoughts, feelings, moods, and emotions. And you do that and you give yourself that little bit of tough love, and after a while you're not like, hey, you know what, I crushed that workout, I feel so much better.

Mm-hmm.

You know what, I'm feeling better with the food choices that I'm making. And all of a sudden you start to see these wins and you start to believe this story that you've been telling yourself, and you start to really reprogram what the truth really, really is. And I think that's how we start to create that self-respect for ourselves, but we have to really first confront what is the root cause. I'm always there about the root cause in the first place. Where did this story come from?

Mm-hmm.

You know, and really, really try to understand it. Choose the story that we want to believe to be true, then prove it to ourselves with small wins. And I think it's not like a quick fix, right? You know, there's been many times in my life where too I've like, You know, I haven't followed through on a commitment in something, but you know that feeling. And I know we talked about it on the podcast you came on, like that erodes your confidence.

Mm-hmm. But you know what?

You take that lesson and you take that next step forward, and then you get to look back and say, you know what, the last time this happened, I was able to move forward and move past it and extract these lessons from it over time. And I think this is where true healing really begins to happen. We start to respect our body through the foods we're eating, through the books we're reading, the people we're surrounding ourselves with, being just very, very intentional. And then I think the last thing is really, really then choosing to serve.

Mm-hmm.

So I've now taken my entire journey from my own trauma, you know, my own choices that manifested in, you know, this extreme side of fitness to losing my health, almost having my large intestine remove to then like having to heal my entire gut, you know, become just a gut health expert. And now I get to help people do the exact same. So every day now I am reminded of like my entire journey and just like the purpose for it all. And I get to pay it forward. And I think that's the mission that we're all on is like, how can I take this pain that I went through, reframe it, recreate it, step into this new version of myself?

Yeah.

And help somebody else do the exact same too.

Well, you are helping so many people, and I want people to really be able to, to learn more and get to work with you. I don't know, I mean, you do so much, and I know that you have a whole team of dietitians and coaches that work along with you. Your business has just exploded because people want to feel better. And I actually want to have you check out my poop.

We're going to test your poop, guys.

I'm like, okay, here's the poop. I'm going to be a little like, okay, here you go.

I don't test the poop. The lab does. I just get the results.

Okay. Okay.

So I won't actually be dealing with your poop.

Okay, then I'm in. Count me in. But I want that. I want the urine test. I want the blood. I want the whole thing. And like I said, we keep it really real on this show.

Okay.

So I ask the questions that I know people are like, well, how much is that? I want to work with her. So if I come in and I want the full workup, like I— because I do, I want to know what toxins that I have because I've worked so hard on getting healthy, but you never know. Like, am I eating too much sushi? Whatever is going on, how much is it? Do you have a program? Tell me your different programs, and then how much is it? Like, can I work with you?

Yes. So I do some one-on-one coaching, but I also have a team of registered dietitians and they can do everything that I can do. And as I mentioned, it's a combination of everything that I've mentioned between the fitness side, the nutrition side, the testing, you know, the coaching. It's everything all in one.

So they'll come, they'll get to not— it's a whole program. They won't just get, here's your nutritional plan. They get—

No cookie-cutter nutrition plans. No cookie-cutter fitness programs.

They get a real person that's gonna show them how to move their body, walk them through it, be there to coach them. This is freaking brilliant.

We coach everybody for a minimum of 4 months, but honestly, 6 months is, is usually the ideal time that we work with somebody for because again, we are addressing the root cause and we're trying to heal instead of just put a Band-Aid over the issue. And we want this to be long-term instead And the money that you would pay, you know, to go to all these different people and trying all these different things, I mean, typically we're gonna pay it, you know, in some way. We can either pay it down the road paying for our health. You know, as you know, like when your health— you lose your health, like you will pay all these medical bills and medications. And for me, the biggest thing is like the confidence, you know, my time, my energy, all of those things.

And freedom.

So much better— or so much worse for me even than like the financial side of it all. So the one-on-one coaching does all of the testing, and it's coaching for 4 to 6 months. My dietitians are awesome. They're about half the investment to work with one of them than it is to work with me. But we actually are launching here coming up our Gut Health Repair Program, which is more group-based coaching. And why I'm so excited about this is, you know, I started this mission because I wanted to help as many people as possible. But there is only so many of me and we can only do so many one-on-ones. So this group coaching model was really meant to do everything also minus the testing. It does not do the one-on-one testing, unfortunately. So that does have to be one-on-one. But the Gut Health Repair Program is actually going to walk everybody through what they need to do to remove these gut triggers, to heal the guts, get rid of bacteria that's overgrown. Re-inoculate the gut, heal it, but also the fitness side of it. They get the fitness programs, they get the coaching on the macronutrient tracking, setting their protein, their carbs, their fats, calories. This is amazing. And then we're doing group coaching calls throughout an entire 3-month period. And this is about 1/6 of the cost as it would be to do the one-on-one coaching and all the testing. Of course, if you're somebody who has like a ton, a ton of health issues, I do recommend doing the testing because it's going to give you that much more information. But the goal is to help as many people as possible. So I actually have a code that you can give any of your listeners. You can just use the code Amberly and they can get 10% off because this week we have actually launched the first Gut Health Repair Program. But you can also do the one-on-one testing to meet— to work with me. It's a little bit more of an investment. It's typically around $15,000 a full 6 months with all of the testing. You know, it's very, very hands-on with everything that I mentioned there. And then it's about half the cost to work with one of my coaches for 6 months. But we do have 4-month options and we do have payment plan options as well too.

That's incredible. Well, tell them the website, the best way to find this and you.

Yes. You guys can follow me on Instagram @rachelshear and my practice is @RachelShearNutrition. So I have 2 pages. You can check out my website at rachelshear.com and be sure to check out the show notes and use code Amberly if you're interested in joining our Gut Health Repair Program.

Yeah, you guys, look in the show notes. I'll have all of her information, her handles, and also check out her podcast, Shear Madness. Shear Madness. I just had the honor of being on her show and she's had Huge, like iconic people on the show. So I feel really honored to be on your show. I just, I mean, I seriously, I love you. Like we met and we've just like been, I'm like sisters. I say sisters. It could be mom and daughter, but I'm gonna say sisters.

It is sisters, 100%.

But I mean, that's right. That's right. We always have fun, but I'm just fascinated with all that you share. But Even more than that, just your heart, all the love that you put into what you do. You really are the definition of what it takes to be gritty with a touch of grace. I am not kidding you. So thank you for sharing your heart, your wisdom. I love learning from you. And I'll be giving you some samples soon. But y'all, yeah, follow her. And you know what? Take a screenshot, or if you're watching on YouTube, take a screenshot and share it on your Instagram. Because when I see that, I want to give her a lot of love. Tag me Amberly Lago Motivation. Tag Rachel at Rachel Shear or Rachel Shear Nutrition so we see it. And when I see you tag me, I share it too. So thank you for coming on the show, and thank you for tuning in. We'll see you next week.