How to Get Off the Caffeine and Wine Rollercoaster, with Dr. Susan Lovelle

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. All right, ladies, this episode is super important, so please listen to the whole episode. I really want you to take it to heart and share it with every woman. You know, this stuff is really important because we're talking about stress. I know that sounds cliche. I know that it's like, oh, stress is such a big deal. We got to manage our stress. We gotta not be stressed out. Here's the deal. It affects our health in multiple ways, and my guest today is going to explain to you how it affects your gut health, how it affects your nutrition status, how it affects your hormones, how it affects everything. Okay? So we need to give this topic a little more respect because I think the fact that we're all doing it makes it seem like life is normal and we're not stressed out, when indeed we are very stressed out. Because honestly, when I think back to our grandmother's time, our great grandmother's time, and all the, you know, women before us, when we were approaching, you know, the perimenopausal years, being done with having children, life used to slow down. You used to spend your days sharing your wisdom, teaching, you know, the younger women how to cook and do different things, knitting, painting, whatever, and educate and read to them. And we are just in such a different culture in this day and age. And not that there's anything wrong with women progressing and advancing and doing it all, having it all, being it all, but there's a cost because it's really out of balance at this point. We have taken on so much because we are such amazing women and we are capable, but our bodies don't necessarily have the capability to keep up with our minds and what we want to do with our lives. So we need to support our bodies and listen to our bodies and know when to turn it back a notch and switch things up. You know, sometimes it's okay to be in kickass mode and, like, killing it at work and doing all the things and running the PTA and, you know, cooking amazing dinners for your kids. But then there's times that your body needs a rest, it needs a reprieve, and you need to learn how to listen to that and get in tune with what it needs. And so I think we can have it all, do it all, be it all, but maybe not all at the same time. Maybe not to the best of our abilities. So let's figure out how to balance it, you know, let's figure out how to be amazing in all of our aspects while not, you know, giving up our health. We want to do it while we still feel healthy and we come out stronger on the other side. So I'm really excited about my guest today, Dr. Susan Lavelle. She kind of went through the same journey I did. You know, she was a very busy surgeon for a couple decades and she burnt out and she had a major health crisis. She's going to just briefly explain, like, why that happened and why you're susceptible to that happening. You know, I like to think that Dr. Susan and I are pretty smart ladies, yet these things still happened to us and they can happen to you. So I really want you to listen to this episode. I think it's really important to give stress, for lack of a better term, the credit that it deserves or the respect that it deserves, I should say. So let me just sing her praises. But we are going to talk about like what our lifestyle and every, all these stressed out situations are doing to our gut health and to our nutrition and to the inflammation in our body and how they are manifesting into chronic disease like thyroid disorders, diabetes, you know, it increases your risk of Alzheimer's. Like the list goes on and on, you guys. So this is really important stuff. Okay, so let me just sing her praises real quick. Dr. Susan Lavelle, she's the thrive architect. She helps busy professional and business women who are just surviving on caffeine and willpower design their own unique blueprint to the energy power imbalance they want in their lives. She's the creator of Premier Wellness, which is a comprehensive holistic health company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. She serves clients globally with customized wellness solutions for weight, energy, hormones and more. Having been a professional ballet dancer for 17 years and then an award winning plastic surgeon for over two decades, Dr. Susan knows what it's like to beat your body and, and your mind into submission to achieve a certain look and vision. Oh, that's powerful. In fact, the physical, mental and emotional abuse she heaped onto her own body during those years led to the life threatening health issues she later developed. It was only through A personalized, holistic approach that she healed herself. That is amazing. So now Dr. Susan uses this additional expertise in functional medicine to help others heal from the inside out, leading to lasting, powerful change. Dr. Susan has been featured on the Doctors Lifetime TV, the Huntington Post, Forbes, Good Morning Washington, and Good Day Charlotte. So that is very impressive. And she is just down to earth. Sweet lady. I love Dr. Dr. Susan and what everything she's saying today, super important. So please stay tuned and if you have to, just pause it and come back. That's the beauty of the podcast. Right? You can come back later and finish it later, share it with your friends. If you feel so inclined, hit the subscribe button, hit the review button, send me a review. I would love it. So let's get on to it. Let's figure out what we are doing to our bodies, lady. Here we go. Well, welcome, Dr. Susan, to the Functional Gynecologist podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

Yes, I am really excited to talk to you today because what you and I are going to discuss pertains to pretty much every woman I have ever met. And that is stress, right?

Absolutely.

Oh, my goodness. This is probably what you see all day long in your practice as well, isn't it?

Oh, absolutely. Especially after this past year, you know, with everything that's gone on from, you know, we don't even have to list it anymore. We know what's been going on, but it's just amazing.

Yeah. So I want women to realize that stress impacts everything from their gut health to their nutrient status to their hormone status. And that all affects your weight and your sleep and your brain health. And I mean, we could go on all day.

Right.

It really does affect everything. So I want to dive into this. Just quickly tell us about your burnout story, because my listeners know that I pretty much burnt myself into the ground as an obstetrician, being on call doing surgeries all day. And I met my breaking point. Did you have that same thing happen to you?

Oh, goodness, did I not? Actually, I was a plastic surgeon 22 years before I finally retired. And I had just moved to a small town in northeast North Carolina, was born and raised in New York City. Just a little backstory. Had my practice there. And then 911 hit. And after 9 11, we just didn't want to raise our kids there anymore. Yeah, we completely flipped to the opposite. And we were living next to cornfields. And I mean, it was. It was crazy. It was very, very rural and I was the only plastic surgeon in for about an hour in any direction, 50 miles, any direction. And I'm the type, well, I've gotten a little bit better, but I'm the type who used to feel that if I didn't do it, it wasn't going to get done. And since I was the only plastic surgeon, I was sort of kind of right. But they survived before I got there and they survived after I left. So, you know, it's kind of. You have to keep things in perspective. But I did that was running my practice, raising my children. And I actually had it in my head the schools weren't teaching them right. And I homeschooled them a year as I was working full time as a plastic surgeon. Okay. And it was just nuts. And to this day, my kids are still talking about, well, they're not kids anymore. They're still talking about that year that mom homeschooled us. But you put all of that together and what ended up happening was not so funding. I ended up in the intensive care unit it three times in the space of one year. And yes, it was because of blood clots that I had developed. But when you take, you know, peel away all of the layers, it really was all of the stress that I had put on my body for the previous, you know, three to five years trying to do everything and be everything to everyone else.

Yeah. Oh, my gosh. And how timely is it because so many women just did what you did a decade ago. You know, they are homeschooling their kids while trying to keep their professional job and work from home and juggle all of it and still maintain their health. And you are a shining example that something's going to give. You know, like, we're busting at the seams. Here is how I feel. And some of us, yes, like, physically we're gaining weight. Everywhere I look, people are just gaining weight. And yeah, we're baking and we're eating more food, but it's the stress.

It's the stress. It's the stress. And you know, there are studies that show that anywhere between 70 and 95% of doctor's visits are related to stress. When you kind of look into the.

Real root cause of what's happening and.

Just imagine, you know, we had stress before COVID we had stress before 2020.

But then you add all of that on top of it, and is it any wonder that we are struggling with, like you said, the weight and the hormones going out of balance and just being totally exhausted.

Yeah, yeah, I want to repeat that. So 70 to 80% of doctors visits are stress. Related, stress induced. And the sad part is conventional medicine doesn't always acknowledge that or put enough emphasis on that issue. So I love that you really emphasize this with your clients and this is the work that you're doing. Because that's what I'm doing and I'm just passionate about it. You know, like, you can't balance the hormones, you can't heal the gut, you can't get anything back to optimal health as long as you're pumping out cortisol 24 7.

Right, exactly. Exactly. And that's the. I mean, that is the very first, you know, that's the very first step is to actually recognize that that's what is, you know, that's at the root of everything. And we were talking before about how I even have members who don't even accept that they are stressed. Just are like, no, they are so focused on doing what they're doing that they just kind of keep pushing through no matter what. And, you know, just like me many years ago and just like what's happening to women now, you're going to push and push and push until you can't push anymore and then you're just going to collapse.

Yeah.

Want people to get to that point.

And the other thing I see is that because we're all doing it as women, we feel like it must be normal and we're abnormal if we can't handle it, quote, unquote.

Right.

Like, I'm not stressed. This is normal. This is how me and all of my friends live our lives. We go from dusk till dawn. We never stop. It's cray cray town. So why can't I handle it? What's wrong with me? You know?

Right, exactly. Just. Just realizing that, no, first of all, it's not the norm. It's not the norm to be stressed. It is not the norm to, you know, to not feel well, to be exhausted, to be tired. It's not the norm. And we have to realize that, number one before we can even make any moves to make it better.

Yeah. And hello, your friend probably isn't doing that great. She's probably putting on a good face just like you are. That is what I see over and over. Like, they think their friends have it all together and they're juggling it all and they're the only ones with the issue. It's like, honey, I just saw your friend last week. She's a hot mess.

Right?

It's so true. Like, we put on these facades and we try to do it all, have it all, be it all. And it's just not working.

Exactly. I was listening to something today that was talking about how very much like that, and it said, you know, we compare our lives, you know, our bloopers to everybody else's highlight reels, you know.

Yeah, exactly. I know. We're so hard on ourselves. Okay, so you get a woman who shows up in your office or now virtually online, and she's like, you know, crazy busy CEO, has kids in high school. She's trying to, like, be a philanthropist and go out to dinner with her husband. Like, where do you even begin with that? You're laughing because I'm painting a real picture.

That is what I deal with every day. You're absolutely right. So the first thing is just kind of having them realize what is all going on in their lives, to go through their entire day. And I think often when they write it down or talk about it with me, they realize how many different directions they're going all at one time and how much they're really trying to get done and do and still maintain that. That. That balance. And it's not possible.

No. Like, I'll be in the middle of seeing a patient, thinking about my grocery list and that I have to email some teacher or, you know, like all of these other things that, I'm sorry, men don't usually have to deal with. I mean, we are the multitaskers. We are running the families, and so we have a lot on our plate and we need to acknowledge that.

Exactly. So that is really the number one thing to realize and recognize how much you actually are doing. You know, and then the second thing is to start looking. It's all the productivity rage, but it's also really true to look and see what else you can delegate. You know, you do not have to do everything. First of all, you can't do everything. At least not do everything. Well, yes, but it's so much better to start giving to others. And, you know, if you have to give to your husband, okay, will you go pick. Pick up the kids or will you, you know, go and shop and. And we may not want to do that as women because we're so used to, you know, having everything on our shoulders. But it's so important, especially right now.

Yeah. When I finally hired a ship shopper, it's a, you know, place up here that will grocery shop for you. That was life changing for me because I literally did not have time to go to the grocery store. And that has really freed up so much of my time. And then I feel good like, hey, I'm giving somebody a job and they're happy to do it. So why did I feel guilty for so long?

Right, exactly, exactly.

Just, just.

I think maybe it was about three months ago that I did that for the first time. We had, we've had it like for years, like grocery delivery. And I finally said, I don't feel like going, it's raining. I ordered it, it came, it cost $3.99. I am like, my time is worth way more than $3.99. Like you said, why did I do this before?

Yeah. So I think just little things like that can make a big shift. But I want to talk about nutrition because I know that's like your thing. You're amazing with that. And that was really what turned my health around. After I burnt out and had to leave obstetrics and all of that, I realized I was eating garbage. I living on whatever was at the nurse's station, whatever I could find in the break room. I wasn't planning or preparing ahead of time. You know, dinner was always an afterthought. But when I started making food, you know, a non negotiable, it had to be organic, had to be healthy and clean. And I was trying to nourish my body instead of fill my stomach. Like my health just shifted so much. So I would love for you to talk about that.

Exactly. I was just laughing when you talked about the break room food because, you.

Know, you were serving, my goodness, the.

Stuff that's in there. Yes.

The Twizzlers and the double sized bags of MMs and the homemade cookies and every. It's somebody's birthday every other day and all the time. Yep.

But that actually reminds me that it wasn't just the stress, you know, back, back 10 years ago, it was also the fact that I had moved from New York and I'd been raised in pretty nutritionally, you know, savvy family got to northeast North Carolina and started eating fried chicken and biscuits and gravy. And I mean, I just was, I just went crazy. And that also had a lot to do with what was going on. And then after I came out of the intensive care unit that third time, I realized that I had to change something. But at that point I was so exhausted, I couldn't change anything other than what I was eating. And that was the very first thing we started turning around, started, like you said, eating foods that were whole and organic and not filled with additives and chemicals. And that made such a huge difference. That is the first thing that we Do. When we start changing people's lifestyles, we change what they're eating and they feel so much better, so much faster.

Yeah. And I think how they eat as well. Like I ate while I drove and while I was walking to the OR and to catch a baby. And like, that's the absolute worst thing you can do, right?

Exactly. Because you're not letting your. Well, we know about the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. So the sympathetic is kind of like that fight or flight, you know, when. When you're getting chased by a. By a jaguar or something and you're like. Or like this.

Or delivering a baby.

Or delivering a baby. Yes. But that's, you know, that's where our cortisol and all of those other stress hormones just get out of whack. And those are the things that kind of change our thyroid hormones and our gu. Health. And so that's that side. The other side is the parasympathetics. And that's when we're rest and digest. So if we're running around, we are not digesting well. We can't. The hormones just don't. They don't match.

Yeah. I mean, I used to have so much burping and belching and bloating because I wasn't letting my body make my digestive enzymes. Right. They weren't peristalsing. I wasn't moving my food through because I was not in any kind of parasympathetic mode ever, you know. And so I think people might forget that sometimes, you know, or they're eating while they're in a fight. You know, you finally sit down with your spouse for dinner and you start talking about stressful stuff like your kids and grades and money and their relationship. And so that's going to inhibit you from digesting your food also. Right. So stress is so profound. I think we need to respect it a little bit more.

A little bit more. Exactly. Exactly. And it's interesting because I'm actually in the process, which is why I have this so much on my forefront right now is I'm in the process of writing a book and I'm in this topic of stress right now. And I came up to a realization that a lot of times and something we say is, we say stress management. I'm going to increase my stress management as opposed to stress reduction or stress relief. And if we manage, you know, it's kind of like. It's almost like we're taking a pill. You know, we're gonna. It's still there, right? But we're gonna, like, cover it up so that we. Nobody sees it or don't. We don't even realize it.

It's like rearranging the garbage in the kitchen instead of taking it out.

Which.

We have never done.

Right. Or pushing it down harder so that more can fit in there. I'm managing the garbage.

You know what you're talking about.

I love that. Like stress reduction.

Stress reduction, get it out, you know, transform it and, you know, just kind of how we go about doing that. So.

So what are your favorite ways to reduce your stress?

First of all, doing things that I really love.

Yes.

Stepping away from the computer, which I live at these days, literally, and just doing some things that I love. And one of the things is playing with my dogs and going out with a walk with them, which is two things, is giving me my exercise. And it's also just kind of releasing everything. I love music. So listening to music I like, listening to books and things I like in meditation. All of these things are really ways of changing, changing the way you actually view stress, not just kind of covering it up with other things. Tapping is another one.

Yeah, tapping is fabulous, I think, because you can't be in both states at the same time. Right. You cannot be sympathetic, driven and in a parasympathetic mode. So if you're doing these exercises or any of these activities, you're not going to be pumping out cortisol and adrenaline. It's going to pull you out of that. So I love that. Yeah, I love music. I. I miss concerts, I miss dancing. Yeah. I'm ready for life to be back to normal. But in the meantime, we gotta, like, just deal with what we got.

Exactly, exactly. And even, you know, even during the day, you know, I don't leave. Just leave it for the morning or the evening or whatever, but during the day, if I feel myself like really getting that way, I will step back, turn on the music, start dancing. Just something to get out. Like you said, get out of one mode to switch into the other so that you really enjoy where you are in that particular moment.

Yeah, exactly. I love it. So, going back to diet, can you talk to my listeners about how does stress affect your gut? So say you're eating the standard American diet, which is a lot of processed food, a lot of, you know, inflammatory oils, that type of stuff. Not very much on the nutrient aspect. And you switch over, you're eating healthy. Is that going to shift your gut? Are you going to feel a difference? I would love for you to just talk about That a little bit.

Oh, yes, I love that. Just because it's one of the things that can change how you feel, how you look so quickly. I mean, we do something. We'll talk about that a little bit later about the gift I have for everyone. But people can see in less than a week, they have more energy, they feel better, they're digesting better just by how they're changing, how they're changing what they're eating. And one of the simplest things you can do is even if you're not ready to, you know, if you're not ready to make that step to everything's organic and whole food, if you just add more vegetables to your plate every single day, that's it. That's all you need to do to start. And then from there, as your body starts to get the nutrients that it enjoys, it really starts to not prefer the things that are hurting it. It wants the things that make it feel better.

And so you find you're going to.

Go more and more towards the healthier and more natural foods without even dieting, Because I don't like that word.

Yeah, no, you shouldn't be dieting. You should be finding what kind of food plan works best for you. And what I found is so many women want to know what's the right diet. And it's like it's dependent on you at this particular time. Like, keto might have been great for you five years ago, but you're a totally different person now and you might not need that anymore. So I just encourage people to be open minded. Like we are individuals. There's not one food plan for everyone. Literally everybody needs their own individualized food plan. But what we do know is it should be heavy on the vegetables because those brightly colored vegetables have so many good nutrients and antioxidants, right?

Yes, absolutely.

So we were talking about what happens.

When you, when you start eating in that great state. Well, like I said, there have been studies that show that you can change your gut microbiome in 24 hours. 24 hours. That is really, really quick. So just by what we're eating.

And so, you know, like I said.

We start with the vegetables and then we, we play by ear. So just as you were saying, one diet does not fit diet, one nutritional plan does not fit everyone.

And it doesn't fit any one particular.

Person for their entire lifetime because we change our needs change our bodies change, you know, so we have to kind of move along with that. So say you say you used to.

Eat, say eggs, you know, pick something.

That'S sort of in between, you know, is it good? Is it not good? You used to love eggs and could eat them well, but now you eat them and either you, you know, your stomach gets upset or you break out in a rash. So now you know that at this particular point you cannot eat eggs. And it may change again in the future, but right now, this day, it's not working for you.

Yeah, exactly. And I want listeners to understand how much stress affects your gut health. You can cause leaky gut just by your stressed out lifestyle, right?

Absolutely. It's the hormones.

Yeah. So if you're creating food sensitivities, all of a sudden you're getting eczema, rashes or bloating with food or depression or headaches, that could be a sign of leaky gut and you could be developing food sensitivities, and then they could be compounding the issue and then you're in this vicious cycle. So you have to get that stress relieved and resolved, not managed. Yes. So do you do stool testing with your clients or food sensitivity testing or anything like that?

Everyone is individualized.

So we start out by changing their diet and we see how that works. Right. A month or so. If they're still struggling with digestive issues and it really hasn't turned around, then I may look at a stool test prior to the food sensitivities. The reason I leave the food sensitivities for last is because often when you heal their gut, the sensitivities go away.

And you do it the other way.

Around and you have this long list of foods that you can't eat, and.

So you don't eat them.

But it's not really, it's not really addressing, you know, what was causing them to be sensitive to all those foods in the first place.

Exactly. So it always goes back to the gut.

It does.

Do you often see women struggle more with perimenopause and menopause when they have, you know, a crazy, stressful life?

Absolutely. Absolutely. Just because, you know, you got the stress and, you know, the increased cortisol can mess with their thyroid, can mess with their estrogen and progesterone levels, testosterone.

You know, it's amazing.

It's like with men and women, increased stress lowers men's testosterone, but it increases women's. So, you know, it's just amazing what.

One little thing can do.

And as far as affecting the entire body.

Yeah, yeah. I would say that my high performing, busy, professional women are usually the most symptomatic with their perimenopause you know, they're having the most hot flashes and night sweats and not sleeping and mood swings. Because that cortisol is, like, ruling all. You know, it really is. I also see a lot of, you know, prediabetes and insulin resistance driven by this chronic cortisol production. Would you say you see that as well?

Oh, absolutely. Again, because cortisol will increase blood sugar. We remember medical school, you know, if somebody was a diabetic, you had to be really careful about putting them on steroids for just that reason, because you knew it was going to raise their blood sugar. So it happens. You know, the same thing happens for people who aren't diabetic. If they're stressed, their blood sugar goes up.

Yeah, I hear that all the time. You know, their average blood sugar will be like 110, 115, and they will insist that they are eating clean. Or I barely eat, or I only eat once a day. I'm like, stress, stress, stress, stress. That cortisol makes you elevate your blood sugar.

Right.

Every time you think you're either going to fight or run, your body pumps out more sugar, and then it's got to pump out insulin, and then you're on the road to prediabetes and diabetes.

Diabetes, exactly. Yeah. And then cortisol's effect on thyroid, you know, it actually tends to lower thyroid function. So a lot of the women who are coming in, who are, you know, they're. They're exhausted, they're can't. They can't lose weight, they're all got all the symptoms of hypothyroidism. And the initial thought may be, okay, let's just give them some thyroid hormone. But again, if they're crazy stressed, it's gonna. It's. It's not going to. Well, it won't work to the way that it should.

Right. It's like a temporary band aid. I see that all the time with thyroid and with hormone replacement therapy, like estrogen and progesterone, like, it will work temporarily. It's great for a couple months, and then they're right back to feeling how they were. Because you didn't fix that cortisol issue.

Exactly, Exactly.

Oh, my gosh. Do you usually have them do saliva testing for their cortisol or what do you.

If. If that's all I'm thinking. But a lot of times I'm. I want to know what's going on with their sex hormones as well. And so I'll do a Dutch test the driver and total, complete hormones. Yeah.

I love the Dutch. Plus you get the sex hormones and the saliva for your cortisol and your melatonin. All that good stuff. So good. Yeah. Like, if you want to really see a complete picture of what's going on, you should do that Dutch test.

Right?

Exactly, Exactly.

Oh, my gosh. So much good information. So you get their diet dialed in or their food, you get their gut back into balance, they're reducing their stress levels. What else are you focused on to get women, like, really feeling amazing again?

We also look at how they're moving. So our four quadrants are eat, move, live, love. So we've done eat. We've pretty much done a lot of live, so that, you know, the hormones and sleep is also in live. But we get them moving in a way that they can. That they enjoy and that they can sustain. So I have people on both ends of the spectrum. Again, I got the people who are the couch potatoes. And, you know, there's that. I have a little picture that says extra fries. I thought you said extra size. I thought you said extra fries. So I've got that one. I've got that in. But then I also have the women, because they're so high powered, they're so used to going to the gym, you know, five, six, sometimes even seven days a week, working out for a couple of hours each day. And that's not good for you either. So we look to find ways where they're getting the movement. Not necessarily exercise, but the movement that they need, whether it's yoga or, you know, Zumba or traditional weight, you know, weight training, whatever that is, that will work for them. That's not going to bump again. Bump their hormones into overdrive.

Yeah. Will you go into this a little more detail? Because it has been drilled into our heads as women that we need to burn more calories and eat fewer calories, AKA you need to do more cardio. And I try to explain, like, that is increasing your cortisol and adrenaline. And so if you're already sky high, you are adding fuel to the fire.

Exactly, exactly. And the whole thing of it is, is that if you really want to burn more calories, what you want to do is increase your metabolism. And cardio doesn't necessarily do that. It's more weight training. When you have more muscle, then that is more metabolically active and you will tend to lose weight, lose more if that's what you want. But we all know that the calorie exercise thing is not the way to go anyhow.

Well, that lie is still out There I think I encountered a few times a week still. Oh, my job is not done. Because women need to understand that your weight is a reflection of inflammation in your body, your nutrient status, your thyroid and cortisol function. And so much of it has to do with how and what you're eating, not how much.

Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah. When I started. Sorry. When I started eating more fats in my diet, I started losing weight and I was like, oh, my God, Dr. Mark Hyman is right. It's true.

It's very true. Yeah, yeah. And it's fulfilling, you know, for a.

Longer period of time. Right.

Eating, you know, some bread or whatever, and then, you know, a couple hours later, you're looking for something else because your blood sugar went like this and then they plopped down. So that kind of keeps it nice and steady and for a longer period.

So you eat less.

Yeah, exactly. We need healthy fats, ladies. Oh, my goodness.

Healthy fats, right?

Yes, Healthy, non inflammatory fats. So good. Okay, so your last pillar is love. How do you help women in that area?

Okay, so that's a big one. And one of the ones that a lot of women don't even want to admit really to themselves, is that you first have to start with self love.

Yes. Amen. Oh, gosh.

You have to start with that. And it's, it's, you know, there are some who are like, well, if you love yourself, you know, you'll let yourself be whoever you are, or look, whatever way you want. My theory is, love yourself, but don't stay there. In other words, you know, you. You love your body, whatever it is right now, but also realize that this is not the, the optimal way for your body to function. If it's not, if it's tired, if it's, you know, if your joints are aching, if you're having headaches or pain or whatever that is. That's not optimal. That's not normal.

Okay.

And so that means that start looking towards whatever you need to do to get yourself to the next step and just take it one step at a time. And once you do that, then you see people around you. We have people all the time who will start changing their lives, and people around them will see how they're changing and how their lives are getting better, and then they're influencing and inspiring others to do the same. So it's kind of like this, this beautiful ripple effect of everyone around them.

Yeah. We don't realize that the amount of impact we have as women, the influence we have on the people that love us and are in our lives. We really do. And we need to harness that for good. Right. We need to stop the self deprecating talk and being mean to ourselves. And like you said, love ourselves where we're at, but know that it's time to grow and change and love the journey. Because you can't heal a body you hate. Like I say that all the time. It won't heal. It will stay in that state of disease. It really will.

Exactly. The emotional and mindset, all of that is part of wellness and being, being healthy. And I ask people, you know, would you speak to a friend the way you speak to yourself sometimes?

Yeah. Amazing. Yeah, exactly.

That's so good. So I'm really excited for what you have for the listeners because it's. I think this is the perfect stepping stone. Like if you really know that you need to make some shifts but you're feeling overwhelmed and don't know what to do, this free five day situation you've created is like the perfect stepping stone and you're gonna feel better, so it's gonna motivate you to do more. So tell my listeners about it.

Oh, wonderful, wonderful. And the reason I even developed this was it was the beginning of the year and you know, everyone comes through the holidays and they kind of slide. And I was just speaking to my members and so many of them were struggling. They said I fell off the wagon and I, you know, and they were just kind of beating themselves up. And I'm like, no, no, let's not do that. Let's kind of get together and go forward. And what we came up with was five days, five strategies to have more energy. And we went through our four pillars. Eat elite, Move more, Live wisely and love divinely. And then the fifth day, we tied it all together with what we call Listen, let go and live. So listen to what your body's telling you. Let go of what isn't serving it, and then live your own version of thriving. And it was just five days and one little step. That's it.

Each day. Yeah.

Oh, that's so beautiful.

I love it.

That is awesome. Like, this is free, this five days. Right. So there's absolutely no reason not to do it. Yeah. If you're listening, you have to click the link and just do it because it's completely doable and it's going to be a huge step in the right direction, you know, have you had women go through it who are already working on themselves and making changes and still feel like it was a benefit?

Oh, yes, absolutely.

Okay.

Always. You can always take another step forward.

That's how I feel. Like I've been on this health journey for, I don't know, six years, something like that. And every day I still learn something new. And every day I find a new tool that can help me. And I think that's the key, is to just keep trying.

Exactly, exactly.

Well, cool. I'm excited. So definitely check out Thrive in five Energy Challenge. That's so good. And where can my listeners find you, Dr. Susan?

Oh, we are at Premier Wellness www.premierwellness.com and Premier is spelled P R E M.

Yeah. All the links are in the show notes. Do you have any social media they should follow you at?

Right. I always forget about that. We're on Facebook, which is Premier Wellness with Dr. Susan. We're on Instagram and that's just PremierWellness. And where else are we? LinkedIn if you'd like.

Awesome.

Yeah.

Okay, cool. Because, yeah, you work with a lot of professional women, but probably also some housewives and everything. Yeah.

Yes.

And the occasional man.

I love when men get on the ride with their wives and like, get into the nutrition and the food changes because I just feel like it's such a win win. Women do so much better when they have the support of their spouse.

Right, Exactly.

So, yeah, if you can talk your man into this, do it.

Plus, it's more fun and you don't have to make two different kind of meals and yes.

Oh, my goodness. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for all this amazing information.

Thank you for having me again.

Yeah, you are amazing. Let's stay in touch. Okay, well, all right, take care.

Thanks. Take care.

Bye.

Bye.

Well, I hope you got something good out of that episode. I think managing or reducing your stress is super important. It affects every aspect of your health. It's not just a mental issue. So I want you to realize that it is affecting the health of your gut, your ability to digest your foods and absorb nutrients. It's affecting your, your thyroid and your weight and causing chronic inflammation. So many things. So I hope you got one golden nugget out of this episode today so that you can add it to everything you've been doing. All the other changes you've incorporated, just add it on, you know, and keep working at it. That's the key is just baby steps forward. Sometimes I feel like it's two steps forward, one step back. Some patients have one step forward and two steps back. It honestly depends on where you are in your health journey. But I want you to keep looking forward, keep Looking for answers and keep trying new things. I can't stress enough the importance of decreasing that stress throughout the day. We're gonna have moments that stress us out out. But it really should not be every day on a regular basis. You know those times where you are feeling overwhelmed or your heart's racing or you just feel anxious, or you can't think straight because you have so much going on in your brain, you're trying to multitask. Like those are all signs that your cortisol is pumping. You got way too much going on. And some of us have been in that state for so long that we don't feel it, we don't realize because it does feel normal at this point. So that is where testing becomes super important. I love the Dutch plus test so that you can see your sex hormones and your cortisol production over a 24 hour period. You actually collect it four to five times. If you have insomnia, you do it five times. Or you can just do the saliva for cortisol testing without the sex hormones. But that will give you a really good picture of what are you doing. How is your body handling this stress? You know, is that the problem? Are your adrenals pumping out cortisol all day long and you're just living up here non stop. So don't hesitate to reach out if you want to do testing. I think that's a great way to know for sure what's going on with you. So you can quit guessing. And I see patients in over half the country. I'm licensed in over half the country this states I'm not licensed in. I can still see you as a coach. And so we can do functional testing like the Dutch test and the cortisol testing. So, so don't hesitate to reach out to me. I am here for you ladies. I do this for you. I want you to get answers. I want you to figure this out so you can feel amazing and do all the things that you're trying to do in your life. Right? So you can always call Priva center for Functional Medicine, 616-213-0253. The links are in the show notes. You can check out my website if you want to. Just get the testing with, you know, an email interpretation and recommendations and not do the full on consultation. You can do that as well. We are here to serve you. So just let us know what you need from us and thank you for staying tuned and listening. Share this with your friends, with your sisters, your mom, your grandma, every woman you know because we all are in this together. It's a sisterhood, not a competition. Ladies, let's lift each other up and help each other be the amazing women we're meant to be. Okay? So until next week, go out and have a kick ass week. Bye, ladies.