Daily Rituals That Regulate Your Nervous System

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What are you waiting for? Good night. Stop. Stop eating the same food every single day, getting the same thing at the grocery store every single week, and stop depriving yourself. If you're not eating enough brightly colored foods that are really, literally whole food, not processed, every cell in your body is potentially screaming. In this episode, we're going to talk all about some of those habits that you and I both have and how far from diversity that we've gotten, meaning diversity for your gut microbiome.

Yeah.

And you know what I mean? Gut bacteria. When you keep giving it the same kind of foods every single day, and we know we do that, right? We are not giving it the diversity that it needs for optimal health and for fighting off disease, or just feeling good. And what happens to our nervous system, to our hormones, if our gut is off? Talking all about it today. And we're going to identify the daily rituals that regulate your nervous system. So if you're stressed, pay attention here. Think about the things that could easily help you regulate your nervous system, calm inflammation. And you know, we've talked about inflammation probably for the last 5 years on a pretty strong and regular basis. But if you're still a little curious about what that means, inflammation leads to fat, inflammation leads to disease, and we don't want either one of them. Let's talk about what else you can do daily to slow the effects of aging. My guest today is Dr. Manisha Banot. She's a quintuple board-certified— I don't think I've ever said that word— board-certified physician and founder of Wellkula, transforming health and wellness with a unique blend of ancient wisdom and mind-body medicine. As an internationally recognized speaker, bestselling author, and wellness expert. She educates on the benefits of cellular health and nervous system regulation with expertise in longevity, Ayurveda, plant-based nutrition, culinary medicine, mindfulness-based stress reduction, and digestive health. She promotes the principle that cell care is self-care. Dr. Bonnotte's profound understanding of the human body at the cellular level, gained from diagnosing over a million diseases, informs her Immersed Longevity retreats and her best-selling book, The Anatomy of Well-Being: Intentional Practices to Embrace Your Body's Unique Design and Revitalize Your Health. Cannot wait to dive into this with you. And by the way, at the end, stay till the end, because I asked her a little bit about her retreats, and we compare and contrast the type of retreats Flipping 50 offers versus the type that she offers. Very complimentary. However, if you're kind of in a certain mindset about what a retreat is, stay to the end and listen to this description. I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness in menopause and beyond before you knew to ask them. The goal to help accelerate your results with science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman. And it's not just about you, but the 3 generations that you influence. My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert, and an international speaker, to founder of the first and the only exclusively made-for-menopause and beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week I interview experts behind the scenes and the science of optimal hormone balancing, fitness, and longevity, and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy that you want, need, and deserve. Dr. Maneesha Banot, thank you so much for being here.

Thank you so much, Debra, for having me on the Flipping 50 podcast. I'm excited to talk to you today.

Yeah, well, in this topic, you know, we should let everybody transparently know that, you know, there's been some turbulence, and we both agreed this is a perfect time in history to be talking about stress and our gut response and all things related to our nervous system. But first of all, I want to unpack you a little bit. So just to make sure my audience knows who and appreciates who they have in front of them, tell us a little bit about you and why you're doing the work that you're doing.

Yeah, so I come from a background, a vast medical background, 30 years in health and wellness, 5 medical board certifications that kind of span from anatomic clinical and cytopathology, which is really the diagnostics aspect of disease under a microscope, to integrative and culinary medicine, which is really looking at what are all the tools we can use to holistically heal the body at that cellular level. And that, and that's really where my focus is. So I trained, you know, at multiple centers at Cornell for cytopathology, at NYU Winthrop for, uh, atomic and clinical pathology at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine. And then I have a breastbone and soft tissue fellowship. I mean, I have a handful of diplomas, which at the end of the day means something more to somebody else than they do to me. But the conclusion is I feel like I have this experience that never leaves behind a, a desk for many people, and they don't really get to learn about what is really happening to their body and how these lifestyle choices that we make change the functionality of their cells, and which then present as symptoms. So really putting that connection together for people and realizing that there's things that are out of our control, but then there's a lot of things that are in and within our control, and that's where the key is here.

Yeah, absolutely. And every woman listening is like, in control, I would love to get there or get back there. Yeah, let's talk a little bit about this one thing, absolutely, the words that you said when you said like culinary medicine, I mean, putting those two words together, it's like, seems like heaven. And it's, you know, we're so far from that so often. Foods of convenience, even those of us who are doing as well as we possibly can to be as healthy as possible, I think sometimes we go off to the extreme and we forget, wait a minute, wait a minute, you know, where is it that we all came from, where we were healthier at one point in time. But these words, gut-brain connection, and we hear a lot about that more and more, probably in the last 5 to 10 years than ever before. I would love for you to outline the importance of this, in particular to women whose, you know, their hormones change, their gut changes suddenly, and their digestion is different. They don't tolerate foods they used to tolerate. Speak into that, please.

Yeah, absolutely. That's really a great question, Debra. And before I get to the answer to that question, I want to bring up something that it's actually a quote of yours and correct me if I am saying it wrong, but I think the message really stands true. I think I read somewhere that you wrote that, you know, I wish more girls over 10 knew about the importance of exercise where women and, you know, instead of aspiring to be like runway models in New York would be Olympics. You know, focusing on the Paris Olympics and really being focused on that. And that kind of makes me think about, I wish that women from whatever generation they are would understand the importance of food as medicine and not be so focused on our diet culture, which eliminates so many of the nutrients that our body needs to function on a cellular level and really focus on what is it that we need to make our body function? So I just wanted to throw that out there because I see that strong correlation. I think, you know, we've been misled, misguided. There's a lot of misinformation, and sometimes our outer world is what controls so much of us, where it's our inner world that we really want to protect in a loving way. So, and one of the ways to do that is your gut-brain connection.

Beautiful. I'm going to throw something else in here and then I want you to continue, but it's serendipity. I mean, that's really what I'm feeling because this morning I was scrolling through somebody's post and it pops up that this woman is talking about, you know, I added 600 calories a day to my diet. That's 4,200 calories for those of you doing the math in a week more, more than she was doing. What happened? Well, she lost weight. You know, I mean, because I think so often we're so restrictive, you know, and as you said, the outward appearance and our perception, our misguided perception of what we think that it takes to get there. So there's so much to unpack here, but please go forward.

That is a lot to unpack because just that is what I tell my patients, and I do this from a deep dive blood testing, and I'm like, you are overfed but malnourished, which means that Your cells are literally starving for nutrients. Please feed them nutrients because that's not what we're eating in our ultra-processed lifestyle. So, but here, let me give you an example of a, a woman for us to kind of like talk about how the gut microbiome connection really works, because I think a lot of people can kind of maybe see themselves in this. So imagine Sarah, 52-year-old woman. She's navigating the transitions of her life from, you know, career changes, family responsibilities. And she's noticing that, oh, you know, obviously I've got stress, I've got erratic digestion, you know, one day I'm constipated, one day, you know, I'm this. And more recently, she just feels like she's slowing down. And these signs can feel like they're creeping up on us. But What we don't realize is that they are driven by this gut-brain axis, which at the end of the day is a two-way communication between the GI tract and your brain through the vagus nerve. And what the vagus nerve is, is it's kind of like a conduit for things like neurotransmitters, signaling molecules, like hormones. And this pivotal access that is constantly communicating when you are in such a heightened stage of stress, like every single day, like every moment in life is just a chronic low-grade lying stress, your body is never in that rest and digest, right? So it never has a chance to, even if you are eating the best diet, digest the nutrients out of that diet. So now if you're not able to break down the nutrients, you're therefore not able to absorb them. So after some time, your cells are like, well, I'm not getting my B vitamins, I'm not going to make energy. I'm not getting my antioxidants, so you know what, I'm not going to fight off those free radicals. And those cells are going to start getting angry. I call them angry cells. And so how it works is the gut houses trillions of organisms. Um, they are known as your microbiota, and they are responsible for functions such as making vitamins, making neurotransmitters, digesting the food.

And can I just back you up for a second? So for listeners, so when we say neurotransmitters, these are your feel-good hormones. Like, so if you're not feeling good or you're feeling flat, you know, and you can't figure out why don't I feel good, like why am I so blue, or not even depressed but just like I'm not getting any like, oh, I want to go do this, or inspired or optimism, right? This is part of the reason, and you may not even be connecting that this is related to what you're eating or not eating.

Absolutely. So that blah feeling, you know, I always recommend look at what you ate the day before. And we, we in my clinic, we have patients do food journals and I'm like, let's connect what you're eating for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And then we have them write that down and right next to it is like happy faces, okay faces, sad faces. And then we're like, tell us how your day went. And you can see a clear connection between what they ate that day or lack of what they ate, meaning they didn't get the nutrients, the real food, to how they felt that day. And then how that impacted the next day. It, it, it's like crystal clear. But what, what's interesting is like many people don't think of food in that way. Like we love food, we love to eat, food tastes great, and we kind of use it from a comfort place. But I want you to rethink food is really what is fueling your body to do anything and everything you want to accomplish in your life.

I love that, and I couldn't agree more. It's either one thing or the other. It's a reward or a punishment often. Like, I mean, we're rewarding or we're restricting ourselves from having it.

Yeah, yeah. So like, for example, Sarah in her case, right? So she was in this constant flight and fight, right? Just constant stress. This was causing dysregulation of her nervous system. I think many of us have felt that in our lifetime, and maybe And we probably feel it more than we want to. But the problem here is this cascade of events that happens afterwards. So, we get inflammation in our body. So, when the gut is out of balance from what you've fueled it with, it produces more pro-inflammatory chemicals. So, molecules that will weaken your cells. You know, for some of the women listening there, you know, they might be focused more on their skin health and that. Well, it will weaken the production of collagen. It will give you wrinkles faster if you're eating you know, ultra-processed sugar food. And in fact, it can even accelerate aging. So the other thing it does is it does oxidative stress. And I want to distinguish between, you know, most people are familiar with mental stress. They know when they're feeling mental stress. Then we have physiologic stress, which is that biochemical with your cortisol level. But then we have something called oxidative stress. And, and I don't recall if this is on video or not. Is it on video? Are we on video? No. Yeah. Okay, perfect. All right. So I'm going to use my little example, my cell, because I always pull this up when I'm talking to my patients and stuff. So we have these human cells in our body, all with different functions, whether it's our GI cells, our thyroid cells, our brain cells. Every day, these cells are exposed to environmental toxins. They're, they're, you know, we got a lot of stuff coming to us, whether it's the food we're putting in, whether it's the beauty products we're using. The air we're breathing, all of that toxins. Now, cells can be protective if they have ingredients. What happens is those things start attacking the cells and create something we call reactive oxygen species, or free radicals, right? Can you imagine, like, the radicals are going wild, and those radicals scavenge in our body and cause more damage on our cells? This is what contributes to aging and chronic diseases. So, what fights this? Antioxidants. What are people missing in their diet? Antioxidants. So, that's where, you know, really looking at when somebody's like, "Oh, I can't eat spinach because of the oxalates," or, "I can't eat this because," you know, you're missing out on a lot of ingredients that unless you have a genetic reason that you can't eat that, most people can eat these ingredients and benefit from them.

So, talk about that because somebody's alarms are going off because Dave Asprey said don't eat oxalate. Not to throw Dave Asprey under the bus, but I guess I did. But he's not the only one, right? I mean, there are other people who are saying— so how does a woman know? How do I juggle this information coming in here, or the knowledge that when I eat kale it goes right through me? What do I do with that?

Yeah, absolutely. So one thing is, when it comes to nutrition— and I don't even like to use the word diet— when it comes to nutrition, everybody is bio-individual, okay? And so, we have to— and this is where really looking at, okay, this is what I ate and this is how it made me feel. Now, there's always a transition period if you haven't been eating like the 10 cups of dark leafy greens like I eat on a daily basis. Like, if somebody else went and did that, they'd be like, oh, I feel bloated. And part of that is your microbiome is not ready for it. But the reason I'm doing that is because there are phytonutrients in there. With every different color of food of the rainbow, your ROY G BIV, red, orange, green, yellow, blue, indigo, violet, all of that. There's different ingredients in there that are going to fight disease. And that's where when, you know, I ask people to look down at their plate and most of their plate is like yellow or brown. And I'm like, well, where's the other colors of the rainbow? You know, where's the red for the lycopene? Where's, you know, the purple for the anthocyanins that are going to protect your brain? And because we don't look at food in that way, because we're very quick to eliminate it. Now, for somebody who's worried about oxalates, I would say I'm not telling you to eat spinach, like 10 cups of spinach every day for a week. I'm talking about mixing up the variety, right? So maybe, you know, you're eating kale one day, arugula another day, Swiss chard another day. Have some variety in your food that The variety also creates microbial diversity in the gut microbiome, which guess what? Keeps disease away.

Can I just say, I mean, and you see all these food logs from patients who are like, I've had it up to here, I need you, I need— we suck at diversity. Are we just such creatures of habit? We eat the same thing every week, if not every day.

Absolutely. This— you're absolutely right. I mean, I've seen thousands and thousands of food logs and, you know, not to throw any of my patients under the bus, but, you know, even it's the same thing every day. Let me have some eggs. Let me have some, you know, sausage. Let me have some— I'll have a Caesar salad, or, you know, I'll have some grilled chicken for dinner. It's the same thing. And when I talk to people, I'm like, oh, so let's talk about what your favorite fruits and vegetables are. And they'll start with the more common ones, right? So they'll be like, oh yeah, I like carrots, or I like tomatoes, or you know, cucumbers. And then I'll ask them, I'll invite them to be like, are you familiar with these? I'm like, yeah. I'm like, do you eat them? No, I forgot about them. They simply forget about them, right? Because we are in this place of habitual, let me go to the grocery store, I know what I need to grab and go home without thinking about, hey, this is what's in season. That's in season is going to be the most nutritional viable. And let me pick that up because right now a watermelon is not in season, so I'm not going to go get that, where maybe I will get a kiwi instead because that is in season, right? So, and it doesn't need to be that complicated. That's the funny part, right? We don't need to make it more complicated than it is. But at the end of the day, you know, people aren't really eating real food. Even, you know, I, I work with a big plant-based community and even there I see that. And this is where I think, you know, some people when they go plant-based, they fail because they decide to go plant-based with plant-based cheeses and chicken nuggets and more ultra-processed food. At the end of the day, your chips and crackers, gluten-free crackers, all of this is still processed food. It's not real food that our body knows what to do with. And over time, that impairs the integrity of our GI tract lining cells, which comes back to the gut microbiome being disrupted.

Wow. Okay. So much here. So much good. I could like have you here for hours. Can we just do a workshop? Like, I know there's so much. So I'm going to ask you something that seems probably off the rails, but when we're talking about all this diversity, you know, in our world today, there are a lot of people doing part-time, temporary, or they switch and they think they're doing it long-term. Carnivore. So where— hello— you don't have a vegetable on your plate. And here's what I hear from women who try it: it's so easy, so easy. And they love that, they love that it's so easy. Yeah, but I mean, talk to me about what's going on in the gut then. Hey, this is Debra Atkinson, and there is one thing you you can't do in the gym at your age, and that's get all the protein that you need. You've got to do that in the kitchen. To make it easy for myself, not only to get the protein but the fiber, the fruits and vegetables I want daily, I started drinking a smoothie a day 30 years ago. But when I realized all the junk, the sugar, and the extras that you don't want, that I don't want, hiding in most protein powders. That's when I finally caved in after years of saying I will never ever ever sell supplements. Stop skipping, skimping, and sabotaging yourself in the morning after workouts by always being prepared. Look, yep, I agree, real food first, but it's just not convenient to carry a turkey sandwich Sometimes the protein and don't forget the fiber, they kill cravings and they boost satiety. And you've got to make it easy to do the right thing. You can use code PODCAST for 10% off your first order at Flipping50.com today.

Loaded question you gave me here.

No, I'm sorry.

Here, here. This is a really important one because I have seen people who said, oh, I went completely carnivore. I took out the grains, I took out the vegetables. I'm just eating, you know, uh, steak for lunch, steak for dinner, and I feel great. That might work in the short term, and it also depends where you are on your hormonal journey. So that might work in the short term, and, and the big part of that is you're also eliminating a lot of the ultra-processed foods. So, the oils and all the sides and all that stuff. So, I don't want people to think that the only reason you're feeling better is because, "Oh, now you just have this one thing." It's because you're also eliminating ultra-processed foods, one big one being seed oils. But, what happens over the long term is what is of consequence. So, when you eat high-protein diets, which is what carnivores usually do, without the amount of fiber that the body needs, you will find that you're constipated. I guarantee everyone who is eating that carnivore diet is constipated. They won't admit it, but they are. Okay? Because you need fiber in order for your good gut bacteria. You will change that diversity also.

Let's define constipation because I think that certain women might feel like, well, I don't feel constipated. You know, but I have heard the same, like no longer is somebody going regularly every day, it's every 2 or 3 days. So I would define that as constipated. You as well? I mean, what's your definition for listeners?

That is absolutely a great question. So you need to be having a bowel movement every single day. This is how we remove toxins from our body. Okay. So if you're having 1, 2 to 3, times a week, that is not a good healthy gut microbiome. Additionally, if you're having more than one bowel movement a day, even better. I find that when people do start incorporating the veggies, even if they're cooked veggies in, they feel a lot better and lighter. And it really comes back to the health of your microbiome, right? So we know that high protein, especially red meat diets, will create certain bacteria in the gut. Those bacteria are known to create inflammatory markers. Okay. So, they will create inflammation in the gut. In fact, one of the lab test values that I measure on patients that I see is beta-glucuronidase. So, beta-glucuronidase is an enzyme that helps with estrogen metabolism. So, through the liver and stuff. So, when I see an individual who has eaten, you know, either a standard American diet or maybe they went keto or carnivore, And they have very, very high levels of this. Well, high levels of this is caused by high sugar diets, high alcohol, high animal protein diets. It increases your risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer, and colon cancer because you've changed your gut microbiome. And I'm sorry, at the end of the day, when people are like, how could I prevent cancer? One of the biggest ways to prevent cancer is what you put in your body. Okay. What you— because all those fruits and vegetables actually have anti-cancer properties.

And just to kind of hit this nail on the head a little bit more, drive it all the way in, you know, among people that we know, our community, people who have healed themselves, they've had cancer, they've overcome it and maybe chosen not to do traditional methods and interventions, you know, they weren't just on meat, right? What were they doing? What were they introducing in their diet?

Well, I would say that many people, when they actually go in and look at the research, they're eating the rainbow. They're having the green juices. They're eating the dark leafy greens on a regular basis. Like I said, for me, you will see me with 1 to 2 smoothies a day, you know, usually a green or an orange. Well, 1 to 2 juices a day, either a green juice or an orange juice. Then you'll see me with a smoothie. Then you'll see me with a dark leafy green salad. I have this. I love this. Tool I have. I even carry it around sometimes when I go to conferences. I don't know if you saw last time I went to our conference. It's a Mezaluna, and it looks like this little double-sided chopper because who wants to eat 10 cups of dark leafy greens and try and fit like a kale leaf or, you know, spinach leaf in their mouth? It doesn't fit, right? But this chops it up so it's a nice like little Cobb salad, and it chops all the veggies up so you can get more in without feeling like, oh, I've been chewing for hours. So those are things people are eating. People are eating whole grains, high-quality gluten-free whole grains. You know, I just came back from abroad. I was in Asia for a little bit, and the food there is 100% different than the food in our country. 100%. Every day I was able to, like, have a freshly squeezed juice, whatever fruit I was thinking of, like guava, dragon fruit, freshly squeezed every day. And for like a dollar, like it wasn't even like it was like that expensive, you know. Here you go to the store and it's $14, $15 for a juice, right?

Yeah.

Everything is cooked fresh, so it's not like we have like leftovers or frozen meals where here we're living on frozen meals and preservatives, right? There's fresh meals at the table. Most people are not, you know, like they're eating real food. It's not like— and even I remember because it's like the fast food restaurants, there'd be like one fast food restaurant and maybe 30 restaurants that are just fresh food. Like you can go get whatever fresh or, or fruit stalls or veggie stalls. Very different. Even the restaurant, I mean the hotel restaurants. I think I was eating a fresh plate of fruit every morning, a juice every morning, and then I would have a like a ramen soup every morning. It was amazing. And that's real food. That's real food because there's all these different vegetables in there. There was all these different fruits, all these nutrients. And that was probably like the healthiest weeks that I felt in a long time because even though I eat healthy here, our food is so— it's very hard to get nutritious food here, even if you are getting organic and stuff. And I mean, I'm growing a batch of bananas outside right now and I'm like waiting for them. I'm like, I can't wait till they're ready. So good.

Okay, so if somebody is thinking, all right, you know, I'm looking in the mirror and I'm seeing this reflection of there's deeper lines, but beyond that, maybe it's just more— it's dull. The complexion is dull as opposed to when I was young and I had rosy, bright skin. You know, can they surmise they may be accelerating their aging based on the foods that they're eating? What could somebody do? Like somebody's listening and just simple daily habits that they could do to slow or reverse aging.

Absolutely. So go green. Okay. That's what I got to say. Pick anything green. Definitely. I would say, you know, like I said, I come more from an abundance place than an elimination place. So let's start with adding in things because there's so only so much we can eat in a day. And then there's a way you can kind of crowd out. Out the rest of it. So definitely I recommend to people to make sure they're getting their serving of dark leafy greens every day, whether that is through a salad or through, uh, cooked, you know, depending on the individual. You know, I find in, in perimenopausal or menopausal women, it's— they actually benefit more from cooked greens because the raw greens are harder for them to digest, especially if you have a gut that's not working as well. So if you do have that, you're not having your bowel movement every day. Start with the cooked, you know.

Great advice.

It's, it's what I call a Vata imbalance in Ayurveda, where you get like the achy joints and all that kind of stuff. And it's like, you need more cooked grounding food. Now, so definitely start with the greens. And, and I don't think it comes just down to nutrition when we are thinking about aging from like our skin feeling, you know, not as bright and plump. I think we tend to move our bodies less.

Yes.

So, the body is meant to move. I know you, as a fitness instructor, that's what you teach. Like, so, in order to get blood flow and nutrients to your skin, to your organs, and to your cells, you need to move your body. So, that's how, you know, just oxygen flows in, oxygen goes to the rest of the body, to the muscles, the organs. That requires movement. What I find is, as we get older, we become more sedentary. Maybe we're not working as much anymore. We're not running after the kids. We're, you know, we've transitioned into a little bit different of a life. You need to move your body. Okay, that's— so that's number 2. So eat your greens, move your body. Move your body with Deb if you have to, you know, move your body. And then get to—

get to, please. Thank you.

Yes. And, and then the other key for moving your body is you're also removing all the toxins you're exposed to, right? So it's almost protective for your cells because as you sweat, you get rid of all the toxins, which make your cells function better. So if your cells are functioning better, your hormones, your neurotransmitters, your mood, the amount of BDNF you make for your brain, because now, you know, you got brain fog. So the best way to address your brain fog is to move your body. So those would be two critical—

yeah. And I just want to layer into that, you know, talking about oxygenating the blood, getting things into the cells, and all the other things. The other thing I think is, we're in this moment of midlife, moving your body helps you move emotions through you. So if you're struggling with something— and who in midlife and beyond is not? I mean, we're just in that moment.

Yeah, absolutely. Just getting outside, getting— I like to call it pattern disruption, right? So like pattern interruption, right? So especially if you're somebody who's always like in your head and always thinking and just super, super anxious, step outside, step out of that, interrupt that pattern, put on a song, dance, you know, just get out of that pattern. And then other critical factors that we cannot ignore is definitely going to be sleep. Sleep will influence your gut microbiome because it needs to rest, right? Your body needs rest in order to repair. And I know our sleep gets disrupted as we get older, so really being protective of that and setting up a good sleep ritual where you're getting not just hours of sleep but quality restorative sleep. And then the other thing is, and this is where I think it becomes a little tricky, is for some women their relationships, who they spend their time with. Who are the 5 people you're spending your time with? Are these all the women in the neighborhood who are gossiping and talking about each other behind their back? Or are these like the women who are uplifting and supporting? And why I say that is because guess what? Your cells are listening. And what your cells listen to, that's the connections you make more and more of. And that's going to affect your mood. So I think that is also a very critical component of, you know, any, any stage in a woman's life.

I love that. Okay, so that was in response to daily rituals. But let's say we talked in the green room about the fact that you offer retreats, I offer retreats, but they probably shouldn't be called retreats because I actually challenge people a little bit more. There is a moment when maybe those daily habits are not working, or you feel like you really need to step out and have a pattern disrupt in a major way. Major way. So you're out of your normal environment where you have your normal triggers for the things that you potentially need or want to change. Talk a little bit about your longevity retreats and how you facilitate that. What kind of a woman, first of all, chooses to come? At what, at what point is she at in her head with, I need to change? And, and what would make her come? Because I imagine you're gonna probably feed them a lot of greens.

I am actually, actually, it's funny because my last retreat, it was co-ed, so there was both men and women, and they were not plant-based, but they ate plant-based. And I remember we're walking to our next location for one of the classes I was teaching, and I can hear them whispering like, hey, I just had like the best bowel movement. I'm like, yes, day one! That's what an evening of eating plants will do, because we don't realize, like, like you said, you stuck in your body, you get stuck in your bowels, everything gets stuck. And it's, you just feel like lighter and looser. So what are the type of people that come to my retreats, depending on if I'm having a women's only or women's and men's, you know, they vary. Our next longevity retreat is an Ayurvedic cellular renewal. So this is where we are actually combining ancient wisdom with modern science. So we're using a lot of the tools of mind, body, and breathwork from an Ayurvedic perspective, because not everybody does well with meditation, not everybody does well with breathing. So really learning what is that individual thing that you're going to benefit from based off of your specific Ayurvedic dosha. We are also incorporating infrared and cold plunge to really get your body moving in this, like, thing. So yeah, it's not one of those, oh, I'm going to go sit by the pool and drink kind of retreats. That is just a vacation, right? This is the goal of retreats is that you come back inspired to live your, the rest of your life in a much more intentional, purposeful way. So if you feel like you kind of lost your way, you're feeling that like blah, like I don't know what's coming next, just sometimes quieting down all the extra, extra noise outside and really tune into what do I need in this moment? What is my next step? Can be key.

Love that. I really love that. So just for anybody who's listening, if you've come to a Flipping 50 retreat or you're looking at them, very different, right? So we are training to get you ready for a retreat. We're doing something that's a little stretchy as far as what you've accomplished. So we are very keyed into what it is you're doing and how you're fueling, and you're going to be good tired like a kid. But it's a little bit more like going to summer camp than, you know, working with a doctor like Dr. Manisha, where you're really focusing on making an integral change in the way you're feeding yourself, fueling yourself, and maybe breaking some chains that you need to in order to be able to do that coming back into your life. I both of our goals are very similar in that you're changing maybe how you think about yourself ultimately and who you are at your core. And it's not necessarily about a quick weight loss, it's about a change in life and foundation. Love it.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think everybody is, you know, I love going on fitness retreats. I've done ones in the Malibu Mountains where we're hiking for 12 miles and eating like 6 almonds and an apple. I've done And I think it just depends where the individual is and what they need. So there's definitely a lot of variety out there for when you're looking. There's not one retreat size fits all. I think you just got to look at, all right, what is my focus for the next 6 months? And pick that retreat that's going to help you get there. And then the next one, maybe you try something different. And that's the beauty of retreats. Is like that same group of people that's with you, the same experience will never happen again. It's that kind of once that energy that is formed with those individuals that is there, it's a unique energy. And I know some of the attendees from my retreats, they have been friends now for years. Yeah. They're still calling each other and checking up on each other. So it's really a beautiful experience. And I think wellness retreats are, you know, like if I were to give a physician's prescription I would say my prescription is to make sure you experience a wellness retreat every year. It's a great way to recalibrate your nervous system, find tools to help you deal with modern society that we're living in, and just really connect with yourself again.

Amen. Yeah, I love that and echo the same truth about women coming together. It's so interesting that just the right people always seem to show up, right? And it just is like this, that group was just a unique feeling. And they, there's a lot of bonding that happens because if you're coming, everyone attends a retreat for the first time, it's the first time and you don't know what to expect necessarily. And there's, there can be a bit of that even if you return to the same retreat host for the retreat. But it's just a wonderful experience, I think, to not know and to kind of say, I'm just committed to being here and I'm going to participate even if I don't know what to expect. And that is a part of your breaking away from your normal everyday routine so that you can really assess what do I want, you know, when I have a clean slate to work with.

Of that.

That's really where I've seen the biggest transformations, is the people who come in going, you know what, I don't know what's going to happen, but whatever it is, having some faith that it's the right thing for them at that time, they're the ones who have the biggest, like, release, that sigh of, ah, I feel lighter, I feel like myself again. And I think that's really what's missing, is women aren't feeling like their self anymore. We're so put in these boxes of We have to do this and we have to do that. And this gives them a chance to just go, this is who I am. And, and then, and those are the transformations I love seeing. I love seeing them. And, and that's exactly why I do retreats because it's, it's a physician's prescription, the retreat prescription. You need it. So good.

Okay. So tell everybody where can they go and first of all, learn more from you about gut health, culinary medicine, what they could be doing, and about retreats.

Yeah, absolutely. So my website is drbenote.com. On the website, I have a free cookbook for you. So if you want to dive into plant-based gluten-free recipes, you can grab that there. Super easy. And I talked to you about what the cellular benefits are and realize that most of my cooking is done in under 10 to 15 minutes. So we are not spending much time in the kitchen. We are getting it done and we're getting our nutrition. And then so that you'll have on drbenote.com. You can also find more information about our upcoming longevity retreats there, as well as I have a blog, a weekly blog where I really go deep into the science and send out recipes every week. And lastly, you can check out The Anatomy of Well-Being, my bestselling book in mind-body medicine, which will also give you a lot more practices and rituals based off of the science of well-being for your body. And on social media, Dr. Bannout, easy to find, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube.

Thank you so much for being here. This was so ripe with information and said in a different way, I think, than usual, making the gut-brain and the hormonal connection for women particularly. Thanks again.

Thank you so much, Deb.

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