Episode #78: Biohacking for Breast Cancer Prevention, with Naomi Damask

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a board certified OB, GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey. And I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain, period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome, Ladies. So this week we're going to talk about breast cancer. This is such an important topic because one in eight women get diagnosed with breast cancer. That is somebody in your friend group, you know, that is a very large number of women. And so if you don't get diagnosed, I guarantee you know someone who has or you know someone who will. And this information today is super important because it's going to change how you think, think about your breast health and your hormone health and it's going to give you tools and information to maybe make different choices and hopefully prevent you from ever getting breast cancer or if you've had it, from recurrence. So my guest today, Naomi Damask, is an amazing woman who has a beautiful story of turning her pain into purpose. And that's. I just love that. I'm always drawn to that because I think it's really important to figure out why something happened to you in your life and what you can learn from it and then share that story with others so that others can learn from it and hopefully have a different outcome for their lives. So I am super excited. She's a wonderful guest. She's so sweet. I just love talking to her. And she has really, you know, gotten into biohacking and nutrigenomics and how can we optimize our body and its physiology so that we don't turn on cancerous cells, we don't create cancerous cells. So she has all kinds of awesome information and insight, and I think you're really going to get a ton out of this episode. So let me quickly sing her praises. Naomi Damask is a certified wellness coach, wellness entrepreneur in the epigenetic, bioh and nutrigenomic sector of the wellness industry. She's founder of the Vitamin C party, a party that everyone needs to attend as it focuses on some of the most important aspects of wellness, community, connection and conversation. So Naomi's mission is to educate women around how to create a life that's a preventative lifestyle. She is now co Leading a group called Transforming Women's Health. This group is awesome. I've, you know, done talks in their Facebook group and they are just an incredible group of women, so you should check that out. Each month, Naomi brings together expert wellness speakers to address some of the most important information around women's health. She also the co host of the weekly podcast Wellness Wednesday Worldwide and she's regularly featured on many podcasts. So she's a mom of two active teenage daughters. She serves on a non profit board and enjoys living an active lifestyle of yoga, hiking, paddleboarding and downhill skiing. And she's about to go to Hawaii. Lucky girl. So I hope you'll stay tuned for this whole conversation. Don't forget, podcasts are awesome. You can always hit pause and come back later if you can't do the whole thing right now. That's the best part about a podcast. But I really encourage you to listen to the whole thing because you're gonna get some golden nugget out of this. Something is gonna click in your brain or your heart, you're gonna connect with it and you're gonna be like, yeah, I need to do that. I need to make that shift or I need to look into that more. You know, I think we're all connected and we do things for reasons maybe we don't necessarily understand, but when we listen to the universe and we just go with it, those dots get connected and things transpire. And so I hope that you get something out of this episode and that it helps you on your health journey to being your best amazing self. So here we go. Well, welcome, Naomi, to the functional gynecologist podcast.

Oh, Dr. Tabitha, I'm super excited to be here with you today.

I'm so happy you're here because my listeners need to hear from you. You have such a beautiful story and it is just so empowering and encouraging because you took a hot mess of a situation, you know, it could have been really bad and you turned it around and you created your whole purpose out of it and this huge movement and now you're helping thousands of women. And I just love everything you're.

Well, you know what God works in, He. He works in miraculously ways that we never think is going to be like what we want. But I always say that there was so many silver linings with my diagnosis. That's for sure, Dr. T. But like, so many gifts have happened from that and I'm so blessed. And like you said, I get to help so many other people now, not just myself.

That's amazing. I Mean, I think you have to take your tragedy and flip it on its head. You have to turn it around and figure out how you can learn and go help other people. So I just think sharing our stories is super powerful. You know, I feel like when I hear other people's stories, I get inspired and motivated to like, try again, do better, do something different. Right. So if you just like, share your story with my listeners of what happened.

Oh, so I tell people all the time, my life changed in an instant back in December of 2011. And it really actually happened a little prior to that was I was actually in Hawaii. So 10 years ago in Hawaii, you know, playing in the sand with my kids, coming off to, you know, shower. And I felt something. I felt like a little lump in my breasts. And I thought, oh, it's nothing. You know, it's our ever changing bodies all the time from nursing and this and, and I wasn't going to let my mind just go there, but I did notice that I was, this isn't normal. I, like, I don't remember this. And so fast forward, get home from the vacation, I call my OB GYN and I say, hey, you know what, I need to come in, see you. She's like, that's fine. We have your annual coming up. We'll talk about it then. Well, then life happens. She had to cancel. I had to cancel going back and forth. I did not see her until beginning of December. And by that time it was like we were in the throes of about to move. My husband accepted a job to move from the city of Chicago to Atlanta. It's holiday time. So I'm not thinking anything about this lump anymore. Like, I've sort of like put that in the back of my mind. Well, when she started doing my exam, she said, oh, you have a lump. And she said right away, it's probably nothing. You are young and you are healthy, you are active. It's probably like a cyst. Let's just go get it checked out, no big deal. But Dr. Tab was like, you know how that gut instinct tells you that it's more. And I kept. And she kept asking like, has it changed? And I was thinking in my mind, yeah, it really has. But I was like, oh, no, it's. It's still the same. It's still the same, you know, trying to just make myself feel better. And sure enough, I go in, I had my first ever mammogram because I was under the age of 40. And the technician came out and she's like, you know, What? I really need to take some more imaging. And I thought to myself, okay, lady, I'm a Chatty Cathy. And I asked you all about yourself before I went in there and you told me you had been doing this for 30 years. I think you know what you're doing. So if you're asking to take more images, it's probably not a good sign. And then they did the ultrasound. And so the same thing that the doctor doing my ultrasound kept asking me, now, can you point to me where your lump is? And I, like, by the third time, I finally said to her, you've asked me three times, and I keep pointing to the same area, what is going on? And she finally just gave that sort of like deep sigh and said, well, we can tell then you have two lumps and they're not fluid filled, so we know they're not cyst. And right then and there, it just was like the sucker punch of, oh, my word. Like, this is not the news I was wanting to hear. And sure enough, you know, they biopsied them and they were both cancer. And so, you know, the great question I get all the time was, did it run in your family? And what I know now that is most cancer, especially breast cancer, is not a genetic thing. It boils down to lifestyle and environmental.

Yep. Yeah. So we need to talk about that because it is, what, one in eight women will have breast cancer? I mean, I know thousands of women, so that means hundreds of women that I know are going to be affected. And, you know, it's already happened in my lifetime. And probably everybody who's listening knows someone who's personally had it. That's just how common it is. How old were you at the time?

I was 36, about to be 37. So, yeah. And I look back and, and my whole thing is I had warning signs of things not working in my body yet. You know, I was like, I dismissed it. Doctors sort of dismissed it. And now looking back, I'm like, oh, my word. Since probably being a teenager, my body has been giving me warning signs that my hormones are off, which makes sense, as my cancer was both of my tumors. Both of them were invasive cancer, but they both were estrogen driven cancers.

Okay.

And so I look back to even being in, you know, high school. I have hormonal issues. And then in college, you know, their answer after college was finally just put me on birth control. And then I was having migraines. After my second child, I had horrific migraines. And the doctor just wanted to write, you know, a script for me. And I'm not one just to take medication. So I was like, no. No one ever once said, you know what? Let's test your hormones. Let's chat about these things. They said it could be. A lot of them said, oh, it's hormonal. Well, I didn't know enough. And I also like looking to them as my doctor. So I always tell people we have to be our own advocate, because that's what I had to learn to do, is really, truly learn to ask the questions and not just, you know, expect them to tell you what to do. But it's okay to question and want answers.

Yeah, I mean, I. That is such an important point. Like, if you're not comfortable with what you're being told, you need to ask, you need to pipe up or go find somebody else, get a second or third opinion. Right? Like, I know doctors have trained and learned a ton. They spent their whole lives, you know, in school, but that still doesn't mean they know everything. It doesn't mean they're up to date necessarily on the latest research. And I just think back to when I was young, what we knew about breast cancer. It has changed so much just in the past 20 years and in the past five years, we just keep understanding more and more. I was trained that, yeah, if you're less than 40, don't worry about a breast lump in a patient. Like, just reassure her, recheck it in six months or whatever, you know, and that is frightening because more and more, it's premenopausal women getting the diagnosis, and you're living proof. So.

And I will say it's happening younger and younger. Dr. Tabitha, I'm not trying to scare people, but then it makes you stop to pause, like, why is this happening? And if we look at all the data now that we know, it has to do with lifestyle and environmental things that are like, pulling the trigger. So for me, I do have some genetic, you know, makeup that I'm not surprised. Everyone on my father's side has had prostate cancer. I'm the youngest of all the cousins there. And so my. One of my older cousins, when I was 13, she did die of breast cancer, you know, but that was when I'm, you know, 30 some years ago. They didn't do any testing. Well, I do now look at it, all right? If my. My father's side has all had prostate cancer, there is some genetic makeup there. But at the same time, I tell people all the time, I take ownership of my cancer. I don't blame myself. But I take ownership because of the lifestyle that I was leading. I loved my wine like I loved my cocktails. And it me realize even though I was like active, running marathons, doing these things, all the things that I was doing was not probably helping my body and helping get rid of those estrogens. Like what you were saying.

Yes. So many important points like the alcohol. We as women are not meant to drink more than one glass. That is, that is what the research shows. That is very hard on our liver. Our liver has to stop metabolizing and getting rid of bad estrogens to take care of that alcohol you drank. And you know, that's a slippery slope when you're drinking two and three drinks on a regular basis. It is very taxing on your liver. So great point about like, you got to get your alcohol in check. I just know that doctors are not telling patients that. My mother in law went through breast cancer and she continued to drink and smoke afterward. And I said to her, didn't your oncologist tell you not to drink alcohol? And she said no. And that was like super eye opening to me, you know, And I've heard many times from other patients like, oh, my oncologist says my diet doesn't matter. That's not important. And it just makes me cringe, you know. But you hit on a super important point like the toxins in our environment. You know, I truly believe that cancer has escalated the way it has in the past 50 years because of all the toxic chemicals we've created. I mean, plastic did not exist 100 years ago. I mean, we have created these like, Franken toxins that permeate into our body and they destroy our cellular health. And people do not put the two and two together. So can you talk about that a little bit?

Well, that is like the biggest factor is we have to address the toxins. You know, I help run a bootcamp with my partner, Amy Carlson, and we talk about we have to remove our hand from the fire. And that's the very first step that we need to be doing is addressing looking at those toxins in our life. And I don't think people realize where all those hidden toxins are. You know, there's been a lot of great companies out there that have started to talk about clean beauty products or clean, you know, cleaning supplies. But it goes so much deeper than that. It goes to our oral health, these hidden infections, you know, in our body. For me, one of them was Epstein Barr virus, you know, mono. I had that in high school. So I already had this hidden virus, this toxin in our body. And then you think about just our exposures to the WI fi, you know, right there, all these different things that are disrupting our cellular health that we don't think about. And if we're just like, piling it on, piling it on, piling it on. It's like putting like an added, like, brick into a backpack, and then we're carrying that around with us. Well, of course your body's going to break down over time. So we have to look at where can we remove those toxins and also what can we do to help support the body. Like you were saying, the liver. Like, I never thought about my liver. Like, you know, I was always thinking, well, I'm healthy, you know, I exercise, I eat pretty clean. Well, just because I was doing those things, the liver still doesn't, you know, just give up. It's going to keep working and working, and then at times it's going to be overloaded. And that's what's happening is our liver is overloaded these days with all the toxins. I worked for many years in the corporate world for one of the top makeup companies in the world. And of course, I had free access to all these cosmetic products and I was like, slathering them on, spraying in my hair. And now what I know is what that does is disrupts your hormones.

Yeah, exactly.

And why was I estrogen driven? Well, it's because I had all these basically, like, fake estrogens going through my body, you know, and like, people, the whole water bottle phase, you know, oh, I'm drinking water. I'm drinking water instead of soda. Well, let's think about that. It's in a plastic bottle. That plastic bottle is now sitting on the back of a truck. You know, it's not temperature controlled. It's leaching into that water. Also, where is that water being sourced from? Is that water a clean source that goes back to. Everything goes back to toxins. And I don't want to scare people and say, oh, I gotta live in a bubble. But I think it's just creating awareness of why it's really important to be doing all these other things for ourselves. It's not just about diet and exercise. I think that's what's. So many times people thought being healthy was just diet and exercise. It's so much more than that. Dr. Tabitha.

Yeah, yeah, exactly. I mean, I'm just thinking about the water source and how, you know, nowadays the majority of teenage girls and adult women are on birth control pills and so they're taking these synthetic hormones, and then they're peeing them out every day. And that stuff is not filtered out of our water supply. And God only knows how much synthetic hormones you're getting just by drinking the water and showering it and everything else. Like you said, I don't want to scare people, but I want you to stop and think about why are the cancer rates increasing? Why are these things happening? And it really is more than just diet and exercise. There's a lot more going on. Like, check out xenoestrogens for. Understand and learn what your body's being exposed to. And then we need to, like, talk about what can we do about this, right?

Yeah, there's. There's so many things that we can do. And that's the great thing is we have choices. And that's where people need to realize, like, we do have choices of what we put in our body, what we put on our body, and what we put in our mind. So you think about it now, how you're saying, like, 50 years ago, we didn't have all these plastics. Well, you know, even 10 years ago, we weren't sitting in front of these bright ring lights. We weren't constantly on our cell phones. Like, these are things now are all these things are disrupting ourselves. It's all creating stress in our body, which is called oxidative stress, which that is just skyrocketing these days. And it's because we. The way we live it goes back to the lifestyle we're constantly on. You know, we're constantly on a computer. We're constantly on our phones. We're not taking those, like I like to call mindful breaks throughout the day. We're not made to just be going, going, going yet. That's the lifestyle that we've started to live every single day. And I was. I was one of those people like I was that you looked at me from a lens and you would have thought I had that perfect life. I had it all going on because I was the room mom. I was actively involved in Junior League of Chicago, running big galas, you know, raising money. I'm doing it all. Ran my own company. You know, it looks perfect from the outside, but guess what? I wasn't taking care of myself and really slowing down and being mindful of my own health, my own, you know, sleep patterns, which is. There's so many things we can do that are free. That's why I tell people all the time, it's the freebie things. It's those low Hanging fruits that we need to start to work on. And that is sleep, number one thing. Sleep.

Amen. Like, I can attest to that. Being an OB gyn, it will destroy you. You won't be able to create memories. You won't be able to restore and heal. When you're ill, you can't turnover new cells. They go rogue and they create cancer. Right. Sleep is it should not be even negotiable. You should be sleeping well.

And then it goes back to, like, why aren't you sleeping well? Is it the habits that you're creating? Is it, you know, are you on your computer late at night or on maybe your tablet reading? You know, some people will say, well, I read before I go to bed. And I'm like, well, are you reading a book or are you reading, like, on your Kindle or, you know, pad? And because that's that blue light. And that goes back to our circadian rhythm. So I tell people, like, we need to get back to our grandparents and our great grandparents, their lifestyles. And how did they live? Well, they got up when the sun was first coming up. They got outside. They were in nature. They were, you know, using their bodies to do chores. It wasn't like they were using dumbbells to really work out. For the most part, they're out doing labor in the yards and hanging up clothes and, you know, movement of the body of that way. And then really working on our circadian rhythms. You know, the natural sunlight that we need to be looking at every single day, getting out there, being exposed to that, also being exposed to vitamin D through our sun. They didn't have sunscreen back then. And it's not like the sun's changing. We are changing, and we're slathering ourselves up with all these sunscreens, which once again, is disrupting our hormones, blocking out that natural vitamin D, which is so needed for our bodies for things to operate properly. And then, you know, at nighttime, you know, dimming the lights, getting things low again, sort of like back in the day when they had their light candles, their kerosene lamps, you know, that's how they went about their day. And it's telling your body, all right, it's time to create, you know, melatonin, which is, you know, a hormone in our body. Let's create that. It's telling us to go to bed, having a routine as well. It's so important, just like we do with kids, you know, that's what's so interesting, Dr. Talitha, especially you being, you know, all these Babies is like, you know, that they have to have a routine, you know, of all right, let's get the baby to sleep. Everything else and doing all these things, we need to do the same things for ourselves is having healthy routines.

Yeah, exactly. I think everything that we do for our children, for some reason, we stop doing as adults for ourselves. And we really need to just stop and think about that for a minute. You know, so important.

It's even like you look at the baby's diaper.

Yeah. I call the pediatrician and give them a big description about the poop.

Yeah.

It tells them their health status.

Yes. And that's just like adults. Like, I love talking about that subject. I have two teenage girls and they're always like, dying, mom, are you kidding me? I'm like, no, there's a reason why there's a Bristol stool chart because it tells you, it gives you clues to yourself. And once again, Dr. Tabitha, I was having all those issues back in my 20s. I was like, looking and saying, this isn't right. I did a total stool analysis stuff. And they kept saying, you're fine, you're fine. My thyroid, you know, they checked that in high school. I was fine. I was in that range. But now knowing everyone's body is so unique. So just because that might be that normal range, that might not be for your individual body.

Exactly. And our systems are not in a silo. Just because your thyroid looks one way doesn't mean it's not being affected by your adrenal glands or your hormones or something else. They're all balancing and helping each other out and just trying to keep you aligned. And one of those systems is going to take the brunt of it. You know, sooner or later something's going to break. You know, you said you were, like, overdoing your life. You were non stop being successful, doing all those amazing things. You looked perfect, but you were not taking care of your health. And unfortunately, it showed up as breast cancer. Like, I just see this way too much and I'm over it. Like, I want women to understand, are you having heavy periods? Are you having crazy migraines? Are you having breast tenderness? All of that stuff, Those are warning signs. Like, your estrogen's out of control. Something's brewing in there. Like, you know, get control of what's going on. So I love that you've turned it around and you have all these biohacking, you know, tips and tricks. Because, like you said, so much of it is free and easy, right?

It totally is. And that's what People have to realize is we don't have to go to these extremes. We don't have to do. You know, I hear people all the time saying, oh, I'm going to do this detox diet. I'm like, no, our bodies are made to detox, but you have to look at the detoxification pathways. Are they open? So going back to, are you going to the bathroom at least once a day? You know, are you eliminating that way to get rid of those extra estrogens? And that's where, for me, I get frustrated as a breast cancer thriver that, you know, what they want to do right away is, oh, you're estrogen positive. Let's give you tamoxifen. We got to block those hormones. And I'm like, thinking now that I've learned more and more, I'm like, it's not about blocking my hormones. It's like, why am I not metabolizing my hormones properly? What does that go back to? Was I getting way too much estrogens in my body? And why is it not balancing it out? And like you and I prior to this, we were talking over my Dutch test that I need to redo again. But understanding those different estrogen levels in my body and what's going on in my progesterone as well, where are those at? No one ever checks those things. I think about that now. I've seen five oncologists. Five. And I'm estrogen positive, her two negative. Yet they never run any sort of panels to see where my hormones are at.

I believe it. I recently had a patient who's a breast cancer survivor, and she was on tamoxifen. And she said, I started having periods again. Isn't that strange? I said, that's very strange. Let's check your hormones. And she said, no. The oncologist said, we can't. I said, we totally can check your hormones. And we checked her hormones, and her estrogen level was through the roof. So that tamoxifen was not helping her. You know, I mean, it's. All it's doing is blocking that hormone from potentially sending a signal. But like you said, it's not getting rid of those estrogens. You're still. You're not getting down to the root cause of the issue yet again.

Yeah. And that's just it. Like, what is the root cause? Like, what is going on in your body that's causing all these things? And for me, like, I have both markers, mthfr. So with methylation, now, I'm like, all right, well, this makes sense now. This also makes sense, like you put all the puzzle pieces together, you know, and that's why I do the things that I do to support my body, because I know it needs extra love. It means like we all have, it's not bad that I have bad genes at all. It's just like, all right, let's, you know, clean up those genes and make sure that they're working properly. And that's just it. People think, oh, it's genetic. It runs in my family, you know, my, my dad had, you know, a heart attack at this age or well, it was probably back to once again, your lifestyle. And that usually runs in a family. It's your lifestyle, yes.

So much more. I mean, I want people to understand that genes aren't necessarily activated and causing you issues with those mutations. Just because they're there doesn't mean you're going to develop the disease. You know, you mentioned mthfr, my listeners might not realize that if you have a mutation in that, you cannot put a methyl group on your estrogen to send it to your liver to go bye, bye, get it out of your system, you know, and so things can get backed up and that is where knowing those individual nuances about your own personal health can make, have such a huge impact. You know, we are all unique and that is a really common mutation and it's easy to find out and it's good to know. It's super frustrating. As a doctor, I just ordered that last week and the lab had a big paragraph underneath saying insurance does not cover this anymore for obstetrical patients, per ACOG guidelines and blah, blah, blah, blah. I was not ordering it on a pregnant patient, I was ordering it for a post menopausal woman to see how she methylated. And insurance is telling me it's not being covered because it's not indicated for her condition. And that is just so frustrating to me that we need to move to individualized medicine. We need to get away from this general idea that one size fits all. It's a bunch of crap. And you're living proof that, you know, when we know these things about ourselves, we can adjust and do what's necessary to help support our methylation and our detox pathways and get rid of those bad estrogens, Right?

Oh my word. And that's just it. They, if we want to do a blanket, especially when I go look at breast cancer survivors, what, what their protocols are, it makes no sense of how we look. And I treat everyone sort of the same, all Right. You're estrogen positive. All right, we're going to do this or what? Just as crazy to me is saying, you know, if you do a lumpectomy, guess what? We don't have to do chemotherapy. We're going to do radiation. And I still can't figure this one out. Like, I've tried to wrap my head around all this. I ended up doing a bilateral mastectomy, given the fact that I had, you know, two different lumps and then questionable activity in my right side. So for me, at the time, I was throwing into that fear pool by my doctors, like, when my OB call me to tell me the results, because that's how they had to do it because of insurance reasons. She said, the doctors are waiting for your phone call. And I was living in the city of Chicago, and normally I went downtown to see her, and she's like, I don't want you to do treatment downtown. I want you to go up to Evanston, which was closer to me. It was like I was on the border. I was Northern Chicago in the city. And they are waiting for your phone call. So when you hear that, that doctors are waiting and expecting, what do you think? But, oh, my word, I'm dying.

Right? Right.

And so, of course, like, nope, you guys aren't moving anymore. You're putting your move on hold. You need to come in right away. And it was like, boom. I had to start making decisions. And that's when I realized. Afterwards, I stepped back and reevaluated and was like, I went through that really fast. And as much as I was trying to be my own advocate, at the same time, I wasn't 100% my own advocate. And I say that because I ended up doing a bilateral mastectomy. And I really had questioned about getting implants in. I was like, I don't think I want implants. And I don't know how many times I heard from different people, you know, bless their souls. They said to me, oh, you get a free boob job. You're so lucky. And I'm like, first of all, do not say that to a cancer survivor. You know, the whole thing is, it goes back to, you know, I said to the one plastic surgeon like, well, can I take fat? Use my own fat? And he's like, you don't have enough. You wouldn't be happy. You'd barely be in a cup. You wouldn't be happy. Well, first of all, he was telling me I wouldn't be happy. That. And I was young, you know, he kept saying, you're young. You want breasts, you want breasts. Well, fast forward, you know, I get them, I do bilateral, I get implants. And I of course, was much bigger than what I wanted. I'm a very active person. And he kept saying, oh, they're proportionate for your body, you look great. Well, then I was having just issues and I was like. And then I started talking to some other survivors I help work on a non profit and they're all like, oh, go see. So and so, he's the top plastic surgeon in Chicagoland. And of course when I went to see him, he's like, yes, you're a little too big. We need to make him smaller. So then I had a new set of implants six months later. So I'm going under again and there's just more healing, more healing. Well, then I continually still had issues. Finally, last year, last, was it May or June, I had my implants removed. And now that what I've learned about implants, they, first of all, I can't believe they're even on the market. But second of all, I just want women to know that you do have a choice. If you do want to choose that, that is great. But I want you to know about your body going into it. For me, it makes sense if I'm already having methylation issues and having like, I need extra support for detoxing now I'm putting in permanent things into my body that are foreign, that I can't detox properly. No wonder why I was having more health issues.

Yeah, exactly. And I see it all the time. Like you get the diagnosis and you get sent straight to the surgeon for to remove the cancer with the consultation for the implant or the expanders and the reconstruction all in the same day. Like there's no time to think or question. You're made to feel like this is what's expected, this is the norm, and this is what you should proceed with. I had so many patients tell me, I didn't know I had an option or they didn't ask me what I wanted, they told me what the plan was like, here's what's happening to you, here's your next three surgeries laid out. And you know, I just, it blows my mind to think that we're trying to get rid of cancer. We're trying to get rid of cells that don't heal properly and grow like crazy. And here we are putting more stress and strain on the body while we're trying to do that. It's like an oxymoron in my Mind.

It really is. Dr. Tabitha and I go back to the fact that our bodies are made to heal. God made us whole and complete. And really, truly, if we start to address, you know, fix the cell, the body will get well. And that's where we need to back it up and say, why was. Why was I getting sick in the first place? Why was my body breaking down in the first place? All right, let's address those things. And then, you know, really looking at. All right. How can we be healthy in putting these foreign objects in us is. You know, it's one reason we. We do that is because we have this image of what women needs to look like. And I tell people all the time, I've never felt sexier in my whole entire life. Like, I was really. I was worried about taking out the implants because I was like, oh, God, what. What is that gonna feel like? And honestly, I feel more alive, more like a woman than ever before. That we don't. Definition and defining who we are should not be coming from our outside appearance.

Yeah.

Needs to be coming from our inside. And. And I've done the work on myself, and thank goodness I've had that time to do the work on myself. But it's a. Continually doing the job. You know, it's constant doing those things. Because I tell people all the time, I'm like, you know, I used to joke and say I look like Barbie because I have, you know, a little tmi. No nipples, because they took everything. When I did my. My surgery, well, now it's like I'm flat as a board straight across. We just got back from Hawaii, and. And I did not feel weird at all. Like, my. You know, a couple people kept saying, oh, you can go get those, like, fake and, you know, inserts for your swimsuits. And I'm like, I'm okay with being flat. I am really good with that.

Yeah.

I. It doesn't bother me whatsoever. I'm healthy. I'm alive. That's what matters. And if someone's judging me from the outside, then they don't really know me from the inside and know my heart and my soul. And that, to me, is the sexiest thing on a person, is when you truly can see someone's heart and soul.

Oh, Naomi, that's so beautiful. Like, that's just so empowering and beautiful. Thank you so much for sharing that.

That's.

That's incredible. And I want more women to feel empowered. You know, I just. I mentioned the consultation. You go. You get told what surgeries, chemo, or whatever the plan is. There's no nutrition consultation. There's no detox consultation. There's no. The genetic evaluation is very basic, what's covered by insurance, and you have to make. Meet a bunch of criteria. So our system is so broken. And I love that you're, like, going against the grain and you're advocating for women to, like, bust out of that system and question things, because that is what we need to do.

You know, it's. It is heartbreaking how you're talking about the system being so broken. You know, we did have the means. You know, we dropped close to $50,000 that year. And we had insurance, but I was doing acupuncture. I was seeing, you know, other doctors as well as, you know, like you were saying, they don't talk about nutrition. They don't talk about those things. So I sought that out. We had the, you know, the finances to do those things. So many people don't. And that's what's heartbreaking. Or they just go off of, like, oh, I've got my insurance. I have to do that. And. And I know for a fact, my husband and I right now, we butt heads all the time because he's so trained to think, you know, the old way of thinking. And I think we have to go into the new way of thinking and the new way of doctors and what you do, Dr. Tabitha, about being more of a functional, you know, gynecologist, looking at the body as a whole. That's what's so important, because we have to. We can't just fix one area. You have to fix it all. It all works together. Yeah. Like, it's like a car. It's like, if you take away one tire, is your car gonna work properly? No. There's a reason why there's four tires. If you take away, you know, the exhaust pipe, is it marked? Yeah, it might work, but it's gonna be causing all these other issues. It's a complete thing, and that's what our body is. It's whole and complete, and we have to treat it that way.

Yeah, exactly. And I love that you brought up the car analogy, because, you know, you mentioned oxidative stress earlier, and I want my listeners to understand, like, at the cellular level, our body is trying to function, and we create oxidative stress when we make energy, when we do any process in our body, creating hormones, using hormones, all of that stuff, and it creates this byproduct of free radicals, and it's like rust on a car. You know, the car gets rusty and the frame breaks down. And so, you know, you advocate helping get rid of those free radicals, get rid of all of that oxidative damage. So I would love for you to talk about that a little bit.

Oh. So the first time I actually heard the term oxidative stress was from my oncologist, because he. He knew who I was. First of all, I negotiated, and I did only four rounds of chemotherapy. And he just sort of looked at me, and he was like, what? And I was like, listen, I don't want to do any chemotherapy. But everyone that I know is all pushing for me to do chemotherapy. So I've realized I can do the bare minimum, which is four rounds. So I did that. So he just knew how it was. So after I completed my chemotherapy and everything, I was like, all right, what is the number one thing I need to be concerned about? And he said to me, high levels of oxidative stress. And that was the first time I had heard that term. And I was like, what is that? And he's like, it's stress, but it's also so much more. It's cellular stress. And that's the whole thing is, you know, people will say, I'm stressed. I'm stressed. The body doesn't know what type of stress it is. They don't know if it's emotional stress. They don't know. It's all the same thing. Oxidative stress on your cells. Like, you said that resting. And so I had asked him, like, what is it that I need to do? And he said, don't get stressed. Practice yoga and eat more broccoli and broccoli sprouts. And so it was like, that's it. And the reason being that I think he said, that's it is. Now, I know most doctors back then or nowadays will want to write you a script, you know, a pill for an ill. Well, he didn't really have anything for it. So it sent me down the rabbit hole of learning about oxidative stress and learning that we actually make our own antioxidants in our body, which I think is amazing that we have these enzymes that most people don't realize. You know, we sit here, over here, eating blueberries, doing these things. Well, bless my best friend. She told me about some products that actually turn on. They're activating your pathways in our body. And that's what's so unique, is our body has different pathways to turn on these enzymes, to turn on these proteins. We just have to give it the proper tools to really, truly help it because oxidative stress is linked to over 200 chronic illnesses and diseases, not just cancer. Like, it's. When you stop to look at it, doctors have a thought. When I learned about that, I was blown away to say, oh, it's linked to heart disease. It's linked, you name it. You know, kids with, you know, on the spectrum, high levels of oxygen stress, like, we need to have a chance to lower that. And by lowering that, the. The best thing to do is increasing your own glutathione production.

Yeah, exactly. And so we got to get rid of this oxidative stress. We got to support our antioxidant production. You know, sometimes I'll get a glutathione injection or I'll eat more brightly colored fruits and vegetables. But I love the idea of supporting our own pathways, making our own glutathione. You know, you don't want to take glutathione long term because you will suppress your own production. And so that is super important to understand. And, you know, you can get N acetylcysteine or NAC out on the market pretty much anywhere nowadays, and it's one of the ingredients that helps support that production. But, you know, this protandum product that you introduced me to, that's amazing. Like the fact that it is helping with this pathway, and that is where aging comes from. You know, aging and disease comes from this lack of this pathway functioning well, right?

Oh, yes. And that's the whole thing is they're understanding longevity and anti aging is so much more than just wrinkle cream. Like, and that's when people are saying, oh, I'm getting wrinkles. Well, that all goes back to high levels of oxidative stress. And so for me, I wanted to start to help support my body. So when I learned about protandum and started taking these products, I learned that it's increasing your own glutathione naturally. And that to me was so important. Same with SOD superoxide dismutase. You know, all these different enzymes in our body that really, truly are going to make an impact. And I like to use the analogy how we were talking about different things is it's almost like a house fire. Like if your house is on fire and you had to put it out if you ate one blueberry, that's like putting like one Dixie cup on a house fire. Even though it's an antioxidant, it's like one little Dixie cup. Well, when you use protandum, it's turning on These pathways, it's like having your own sprinkler system going on. And for me, that's really important. I knew the other way, in order to increase my glutathione naturally, really powerful was through a coffee enemas. And I'll be the first to admit, I've had my kit for six years and I haven't used it yet. I keep going to be the year that I'm going to do it. But let's be realistic. It's not just something simple, you know, and, and I know what it's doing for my body. It's just another thing to add into versus if I can take, you know, an activator, something that's naturally. You know, it's the synergies of all these five different herbs that are turning these pathways on that is just going to be as powerful. I'm going to do that than my bathroom floor. Let's be realistic. You know, I can't even go to the bathroom without someone. I swear, my dog, my child, my husband, someone coming in, interrupting me. And I. And I know if I do that, they're going to be like, okay, she's going off the crazy.

Exactly. Oh, my gosh. So, yes, so for you, you're doing all these different biohacks. You're helping your NRF2 pathways. You're, you know, supporting that glutathione production. You got your diet dialed in. You're getting your sleep, you know, you're working with your circadian rhythms. I've heard you talk before about grounding, going outside, like getting the energy from the earth, waking up with the sun going to sleep, you know, when it goes down. Like all of that is so incredible. I did want you to mention though, what you do for your lymphatic system, because I think that is a really important point. Especially breast cancer thrivers who may not realize that they can do something about their lymphedema or just their lymphatic health in general.

Oh, you know, I started a lymphatic group on Facebook. I don't even know how, like four or five years ago. And I did it more so to hold myself accountable. Dr. Tabitha. Because I realized we have to be doing things to support our lymphatic system because that is like the only system that's not linked to an organ that's pumping, you know, doing something so you have to manually move it. So I do things like dry brushing, rebounding. It's like those mini trampolines, they actually do have a purpose of jumping up and down. You can do it through hot, cold showers, but we have to get the lymph moving. And it's not a bad thing. Just like when you get sick, your lymph nodes swell up. It's a reason they're doing their job. And so that's the whole thing is people will say they don't know what the lymphatic system is, but they usually know that if it's in cancers in the lymph nodes, that's not a good sign. But at the same time, I'm like, it's doing its job. It's collecting the cancer. You know, it's doing. It's your. It's your filter system back to the car. And, you know, and it's unfortunate that they were going in and removing all these lymph nodes from people.

Yeah, exactly. Those lymph nodes are your garbage cans. And if those garbage cans are full, they need to be emptied. And that is where people really miss the boat. You know, they, like, freak out. Like you said, when you're sick or whatever, your lymph nodes are swollen. No, we gotta get your lymphatic system moving to empty the garbage cans, you know, and then your body will take care of that garbage with NRF2 pathways and other things like that, right? Yes.

It all links. It's all linked together. That's the whole thing. It's so unique and special how everything's linked together. It's going to help support your liver, which is, you know, your major detox organ. And so it's like all these things in the lymphatic system is the sewer system taking the garbage out, doing those things. But it also needs support, you know, it needs all these different things. You need to have plenty of fluids, sleep, all the different things that we always talk about. You can't just do one thing. You have to do it all. And then they discover that your lymphatic system, which is part of your lymphatic system, but in your brain, that restores itself at night. So once again, it goes back to sleeping. Why sleeping is so important. And then, like, you put in that other layer of the vagus nerve. You know, we are constantly in, you know, that flight or fight stage of life. And what can we do to activate. That's our largest nervous nerve in our body is the vagus nerve. How can we activate that and doing different things? Because that's also linked to your lymphatic system and which is linked to your immune system. So it's all working together. And God wants our bodies to work properly. He really doesn't want them to be broken. But we have to realize, okay, what can we do to get the garbage up? Are we moving? Are we sweating? Are we, you know, getting rid of those toxins? And I will tell you right now, women, what do we do? We put on sports bras. We put on spandex, all these tight things that are just. They're restricting our lymphatic system. We have the most lymph nodes around in, like, our armpit areas. We have it, like, in your groin, stomach area as well, that we need to pay attention. But if you're living in tight spandex and Spanx, everything else, and, you know, a tight bra with underwires as well, what are you doing? You're damaging your lymph nodes.

Yeah. And then not moving on top of it. Oh, my gosh.

It's just insult entry constantly. But we. We don't have to do those things. We can dry brush. We can do these things to help support. And that is right there. Once it starts moving, go get lip massages. There's, you know, you. Especially nowadays with YouTube, there's so much free stuff out there that you can watch that are, you know, experts. I just spoke on a lymphatic summit, and there was great key people that are out there that know their stuff inside and out. That's all they do for living. And you will be amazed how people, once they start getting their lymph fluid moving again, they feel so much better.

Yeah, exactly. Well, I'm so glad that you were on today, because I know my listeners needed to hear this stuff. And they can follow you. They can join your groups and they can learn more about detoxing with you and Amy, they can get in your lymphatic group. Right. Like, tell my listeners where they can find you.

So our website is called transforming womenshealth.com and from there we have a Facebook group, we have an Instagram page. Plus, you can just find me on my own personal page, which is Naomi Damask, and come join me in my different biohacking groups. My. My lymphatic group. I, you know, I truly love people, and I love to be able to support you and help answer your questions. You know, as a holistic health coach, you know, that is my. One thing is I want to make sure that you get the right information and really, truly are going into action, because that's the other thing is we can take this all in, Dr. Tabitha, but if we aren't taking Action in our life. It doesn't matter. And I always think about. My mom uses this analogy, how, you know, God will work with you if you put forth the effort. And she's like, I always think about how if a little boy sat down and was, like, sat on the curb and was crying, like he was trying to get somewhere and he prayed to God, oh, God, please help me get there. Versus that little boy that's, like, running to get there, going, please, God, let me get there. Guess what? The one that's running, God's gonna also say, hey, you're in action. It really does make a difference. So put all this information into action. Just don't, like, get into a group and. Or work with Dr. Tabitha and not do anything because it's. It's not going to do you any good.

Yeah, exactly. Like, I can't stress that enough. Like, I'm not a miracle worker. The coaches aren't miracle workers. You have to do the work. All we can do is guide you and help educate you and get you to the right resources. But you have to do the work right.

Absolutely. And it's really. It's really baby steps. If I can leave your listeners with one thing is just start with baby steps. That little bit every day helps. I like to say, you hear me a lot of times, and all my groups talk about it. It's the 1% add up to 100%.

Yes, exactly. Yeah. Because then you're not feeling overwhelmed. You feel like you can do it. You. And you create some consistency behind it, and then you can add to it and what amazing things can happen. Right. Like, you could be a totally different person. That's what I say every episode. Like, just find your golden nugget. Figure out what you're going to take from this episode, go add it to your other nuggets, and, like, you'll be a whole new person by next year. Honestly.

Absolutely. It's just having more tools in your toolbox is like, what I always say.

Yeah. Well, thank you so much for sharing all your wisdom and your story. I mean, it's so inspiring, and I just appreciate your authenticity. And you're being vulnerable with us. I mean, women need to hear that.

Thank you for having me and giving me this opportunity and platform to speak to your audience. I really appreciate it.

Yeah. So all the links are in the show notes. Go check out Naomi, everybody. All right. Right, bye. Okay. I hope you found that powerful and inspiring, and I hope you got some kind of golden nugget out of it. I know that what you know, clicked in my mind was don't ignore the warning signs that your body is giving you symptoms are your body's messages to tell you, like, hey, stop and pay attention, something's going on. Symptoms and warning signs are not to be covered up or ignored or just poo pooed. You know, it's really, if something's going on, you want to figure out what it is and get to the bottom of it. And it might be that you need to talk to more than one doctor or you need to confide in a friend or your sister or your mom or your whoever. Like, we need to support each other as women and help each other along our journeys. You know, I love Naomi's vitamin C parties. I think community is so important. Conversations are so important. Like, it's all. That's why we're here, right? So embrace that idea of like supporting each other, listening to your body and doing what you need to do to get your health in line. And you might not even realize you have any issues. Like Naomi, she was young and she was just living. She just, she was blown away. Like, she couldn't believe this happened to her. It's because she was ignoring her warning signs. So learn from other people. That's the best way to learn, you know, learn from your own mistakes is so much more harder, so much more painful. So I hope you got something out of this episode. I would be forever grateful if you would, like, give me a 5 star review, even leave me a 30 second review. It doesn't take that long that way. I just know that you're getting value out of this. And itunes knows, Google, Spotify, they need to know that. So I would be forever grateful if you would do that. Okay, so go out, have a kick ass week. You ladies are amazing. Keep doing what you're doing. I'm super proud of you. And don't hesitate to reach out if you want to hear anything. You have questions or if you just want to, like, say hi. So go have an awesome week, ladies. Bye.