Reclaiming Your Energy

Hey JJ Here. Every year around this time, I get the urge to make my home feel a little extra special. A space that feels just like the holidays. And Wayfair is my go to for that. Think cozy textures, twinkly decor, warm lighting, and all those little touches that make you want to curl up with a good book and a blanket. You'll usually find my books stacked on a great little end table I got from Wayfair, proof that function and style keep can coexist. Now, whether you're adding last minute hosting essentials, picking out gifts for loved ones, or refreshing your decor for the season, Wayfair makes it easy with beautiful finds, great prices and fast delivery. And when the holidays wind down, Wayfair has everything you need to tuck it all neatly away. Smart storage solutions for every room from the kitchen to the closet. Plus, with free shipping for any order over $35, that that's fast delivery and a total peace of mind. It's the perfect mix of joy and order, bringing the holiday spirit in, then storing it all with ease. If you're ready to make your home feel as good as it looks, get organized, refreshed and ready for the holidays. For way less head to Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair Every style Every home that's W A Y F A I R.com hey, it's JJ here. You know, I've been talking about environmental toxins forever and laundry detergent is a sneaky one. A lot of them contain harsh chemicals like dyes, preservatives and even UV brighteners. Those brighteners don't actually clean anything, they just coat fabric so your eyes think things look whiter or brighter. That's more chemicals I don't want on my family sheets or skin. And if you've got sensitive skin or allergies around the house, this can be a big problem. That's what got my attention about Earth Breeze. It looks like a dryer sheet, but it's actually laundry detergent. You toss one in the washer and that's it. No pouring, no mess, and no heavy plastic jug. Their packaging is lightweight cardboard, which helps reduce plastic waste. And if you choose the fragrance free option, it's gentle, hypoallergenic, non irritating and non sensitizing. I really like how simple it is and how fresh and clean everything comes out without those unnecessary chemicals. Right now you can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off with free gifts@earthbreeze.com virgin that's earthbreeze.com virgin for up to 40% off plus free gifts on.

Your first order with Venmo Stache. A taco in one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back.

Nice.

Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo Stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment and more, pick a bundle with your go tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash. Venmo Stash terms and exclusions apply. Max $100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo Me Stashterms.

Hey, it's JJ Virgin and welcome to the JJ Virgin Lifestyle show where I talk nutrition, exercise, mindset and lifestyle with some of the coolest people in the world. Plus, I give you tips that you can put into fast action to uplevel your health so that you can go out there and live that big life you're meant to live. Now, today's show is about fatigue, being tired, and how not to be that anymore. It's how to reclaim your energy and feel normal again. And I'll tell you, I find with so many people, they've kind of lost what normal is. They're so used to fueling on caffeine and sugar. But my guest today is going to talk to you about how to feel normal again by fixing the root cause of your fatigue with natural treatments. And she's got a couple things she's going to talk about that are such simple fixes that can be fantastic because I find with so many people, they're tired and and if you don't fix these things, none of the other stuff that you could possibly be doing is going to work. So I'm excited to share Dr. Carrie Drizzko with you. Let me tell you a little bit about her. She is out in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. She's got a functional medicine clinic out there. She's known as the Functional Medicine Doc. She's been dealing with root causes of health problems for years. She's a chiropractor and a naturopathic doctor and she's the host of the popular podcast this Is How I Met Her Functional Medicine Radio show and the hit book Reclaim Energy and Feel Normal Again, Fixing the root cause of your fatigue with natural treatment. And that is going to be the subject of our show today. So yes, we are going to be kind of myth busting on some of the energy solutions and getting you out of feeling tired and Back to feeling energized again. All right, so let's do it. Dr. Carey, welcome to the show. I am so, so glad to have you here today.

Hi, jj. It's a pleasure to be on your show today. Thanks for having me.

Oh, it's great. Because this is one that, of course, we all hear about all the time. And, you know, luckily, it's not one that I experienced much personally, because I think a lot of things you're going to talk about today are things that I've incorporated in, but I bet I'm going to find some new ones, too. So let's dive in, because I know there are a lot of people out there who are tired and trying to. I hear it all the time. So what can I take for more energy? I'm like, well, you really got to get down to the problem of why you're fatigued in the first place. So let's jump into what you see as some of the main causes of fatigue. And I know you've written about this in your book Reclaim youm Energy and Feel Normal Again. Right. So what are they?

Yeah, so in my book, I outline in very simple terms that people can understand. You know, it's not all in this Dr. Y language, eight basic underlying root causes of fatigue. So I talk about, of course, at the top of the list, the top two are anemia and thyroid problems. That should always be tested and ruled out that that is the cause of your fatigue. But, jj, most of the time, patients who come to see me at Functional Medicine Ontario, they've already seen their doctor, and their doctor said, like, all your tests are normal. And they kind of shrug their shoulders and they're either told, maybe we should start you on an antidepressant, or, oh.

No, that won't really help with energy, will it?

No.

Or, you know what? You just need a vacation or you're starting a burnout. You should take three months off of work. So, unfortunately, this is often what people hear when they. When they have fatigue. So some of the other underlying reasons can be cortisol imbalance, which cortisol, as a lot of your listeners already know, is your main hormone that protects you against stress. And then there's blood sugar imbalances, too. So your blood sugar can be too high or too low. I know you talk about that a lot with your programs. Common nutrient deficiencies, including vitamin D, B12, magnesium, iron, iron. Chronic infections, usually chronic hidden infections that could be bacterial overgrowth, like sibo, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, or yeast overgrowth, even parasites. Which are actually more common than people realize. These infections deplete your body of nutrients, and they just rob you of energy. And then we have food allergies and sensitivities. And I know with the virgin diet, you talk about the big foods that are out there that commonly create chaos in the body. And then the last one and the one that is not really talked about in healthcare in general, even in alternative medicine, is the brain's role in fatigue, in that your fatigue actually really could be in your head. And I say that kind of tongue in cheek in that it could be an imbalance in your brain that actually does need to be addressed.

You went over something that I'd love you to hit again before we dive into these, and that is, you know, anemia or thyroid. And you go to your doctor and they say everything is normal. But could you bust that myth, please?

Yeah, absolutely. So anemia, that's a very easy blood test that can be done. And I actually see in my private practice, I always get copies of my patients records. So you, the listener out there, you can very easily ask for a copy of your most recent blood work. It is legally yours to have. So just ask for it. And you can see there's a test called the cbc, and it tells you if you have enough red blood cells, if you have enough hemoglobin. So if those tests come back as normal, that means you don't have an anemia. But a lot of doctors don't take that next step, which is to actually test to see if you have a B12 deficiency or an iron deficiency, which a lot of people do, but has not gotten to the point that it's actually created. And anemia.

Yeah, I was in that category. And that's why I always want people to look deeper, because. And I find so often when you have thyroid issues, you have iron issues as well. And they work together. So if I hadn't gone to the next level of testing iron levels, I would never have known. So I'm glad that you brought that up, because I think a lot of people don't look that far. Just like, they'll look at TSH and think, well, it's in the range, and I'm okay, maybe you could address that one too.

Exactly. So testing the thyroid, most. Most doctors will run the tsh, which is a very generic kind of a screening test for thyroid problems, but it does not tell us the whole story. Actually, the best way to test for the thyroid is to test TSH free T4 plus free T3. Those are the thyroid hormones. At a minimum, those three tests should be run to actually see what is going on, because the whole cascade of thyroid imbalance starts in the brain with the hypothalamus and pituitary. And if they're not communicating well with the thyroid, the thyroid is gonna look normal on that. Tsh.

So you gotta rule those two out. Then the next one you dove into is cortisol. So, cortisol. Yes, we know. It's our big stress hormone. A lot of my listeners have heard about it because of the massively stressful situation I went through. But, like, let's just talk about someone in everyday life. How is cortisol going to, like, trash their energy or make them feel falsely energetic? What's it doing?

So cortisol is part of your sleep wake cycle. It should be highest in the morning when you wake up. So theoretically, you should be waking up before your alarm clock, and your cortisol level should be at the highest, and you should just jump out of bed and have energy to tackle your day. So if you're not feeling that way, chances are already that possibly your cortisol is out of balance. And as you go through your day, cortisol slowly declines and should be the lowest when you go to bed, and it should be lowest in the deepest hours of the night, where you should be getting the deepest levels of sleep. So the other thing is, if you're not sleeping very well, if you're having a hard time falling asleep or staying asleep, that's another indicator of a cortisol imbalance. But cortisol impacts, like, 11 or 12 different body systems, not just energy levels. And I would say for the average listener out there, if you've ever been through any kind of a major stressful experience, and this could be the death or illness of a loved one, it could be going through separation or divorce, financial stresses, and then it could be, like, physical stresses as well. Going through a terrible accident or a surgery that was, like, really hard on your body, or sometimes jj, I'll hear like, I had the worst flu of my life, and I just never recovered after that. So those are situations where we put a lot of stress and strain on the cortisol levels, but then we go through those situations. So we're through the divorce, or we're through the financial problems, or we've healed from the accident, but your body never recovers the cortisol imbalance. Like, it just keeps going. It's. It's a snowball effect that just does not change on its own. And that's where you need to take control of your health.

So important. When I was coming through my son's, you know, my son nearly dying and all of that stuff, it took me. That was my number one focus, actually. Even that night in the hospital, friends showed up with stuff to help with my cortisol because I could feel it. I had heartburn immediately, but it took a good year. It was interesting. My son came through all this stuff, and I ran his cortisol pattern pretty quickly after he got out of the hospital. His looked great. Mine looked horrible.

Yeah.

So the younger you are, the more you can kind of manage the stress a little bit better, but the older you are, it's like that stress. That stress just chips away at your cortisol.

Yes. Now, let's talk nutrient deficiencies. Because, you know, I say the least sexy thing that. That I tell people to do is take a good multivitamin mineral antioxidant formula. And, you know, it's like, you know, you're not going to all of a sudden feel your cells, but you got to do it. But it's like one of those things that you just got to make sure is not happening is having some basic nutrient deficiencies. So what are the ones you're seeing the most out there, and what are your key recommendations for a good basic nutrient routine?

So some of the most common ones I see. So one is B12. And so I would say that. And you probably already know this, jj, when you look at blood work, the normal range from the lab is a very broad range when it comes to B12. And so most people are, quote, within the normal range, but they're on the lower end of that normal range. There's actually some good solid research out there showing that your B12 needs to be at a minimum of 600 in order to have good B12 levels in your blood, but also within your cerebrospinal fluid and in your brain then. And so most people come into my office, their B12 is, like, in the 200s, and they're told it's normal, but it's not ideal.

Yeah. And that's the key thing. Normal does not mean optimal. Remember what these lab levels are. So, so often you'll be in the normal range, but not ideal, not healthy. So super critical.

So B12.

Yeah.

B12 is one of them. And then the other one, I would say I commonly find is vitamin D. Now, maybe this is because I'm in Canada.

Nope, it's not. I don't think so. I mean, Canada's not Gonna help. That's. No, it doesn't. You know, even when I've seen private clients out in Palm Springs and Florida, I found it because we're wearing sunscreen and we're avoiding the sun.

Yeah. And a lot of people are indoors for the majority of the day. They're working. A lot of us are desk jockeys. You know, we're chained to our desk, getting work done. And so because of that. And we don't have any really good sources of vitamin D in our diet, really, the best source is from the sun. So the only way to know if you have a vitamin D deficiency is to be tested. And it's a simple blood test. Now, vitamin D is also known as the great mimicker. It can create virtually any symptom in your body. And actually, the most common symptom when it comes to vitamin D deficiency is chronic pain. So actually, things like chronic back pain or just chronic achiness in your muscles is kind of like, nonspecific. That could just simply be vitamin D deficiency. And so vitamin D deficiency, because it's the sunshine vitamin. I'd like to say if you're vitamin D deficient, it's like your body's in hibernation mode. So you know how you feel. Generally during the winter, you're a little bit more tired, you gain a few more pounds, you just want to curl up and do a lot of nothingness. But then during the summer, we're out in the sun, we just naturally, naturally feel more alive. Those few pounds that we gained during the winter, they just naturally come right off. A lot of that has to do with vitamin D exposure from the sun. So, again, the only way to know about vitamin D is to get tested in ideal levels. So I'm in Canada, so I use the Canadian levels, which are 125 to 250 nanomoles per liter. I know in the US you guys use different.

Yeah, we do NGS per milliliter, and.

It'S generally 50 to 75.

50. You know, 50 to 80 is generally what the range we tell people to go for.

There you go.

So we're in total alignment there. And I just will be so happy when vitamin D testing becomes one of the normal things you get every time you go.

I know. It's insanity that it's not normal.

Blood works. It's really. It's crazy. Okay, so vitamin D, what other ones?

Oh, okay. So the last one I like to focus on is magnesium. Now, there's no great blood test that has really been developed to really Accurately measure magnesium. Even in RBC, magnesium has its drawbacks. Magnesium is required for over 350 different chemical reactions in the body. And you know, your body is made up of organs, and organs are made up of tissues, and tissues are made from bundles of cells, and cells actually have tiny little organs inside of each and every cell of your body. And the critical one that makes energy is called mitochondria. So mitochondria takes the food that you eat, the glucose and takes and burns that up and makes it into pure energy. And that energy drives everything that needs to get done in your body. But if you fundamentally have a magnesium deficiency, that throws a wrench in that whole energy production process.

So what levels do you recommend and how do you have people then kind of know where they should be?

Oh, you know, what I do is magnesium. I dose to bowel tolerance.

Yes. Yay. That's what I do, too. Love hearing that.

So for the listeners out there, what's that mean?

They go, wait a minute.

This is what it means. If you are taking way too much magnesium, you're gonna start having diarrhea.

You'll know. Yeah, it's one of the.

So you take your magnesium supplement, and I tend to use magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate, and I just slowly increase it. Or I have my patients take one more capsule every day until your bowels become a little softer, and you just then stay at that dose. But if you go overboard and you start having diarrhea, you need to cut back by one or two capsules. So you want to see how far you can push your body without going overboard. So for some patients, that might be like four capsules a day. It might be eight capsules a day. It just. What you need is what you need.

Yes, good point. That is. That is definitely one. And I actually dose mine every single night. It's one I take before bed because it's very relaxing too. So it does.

Yeah, it does help you sleep a little bit deeper.

Yes. Love it.

Which is good if you're tired.

Exactly. Now, what about diet? What's one thing you would do? I always love the little hinges that swing the big doors. Like, what's one simple change in our diet that you could make that could help you with energy and feeling good again?

Omg, jj, One simple change.

One.

Just give me one.

Oh, boy. Okay, so this isn't simple, but gluten free is really important. And I would say the thing that tends to work best. This is what worked for me. And so this is what I advise people on is to just start working one meal at a time and just master. So no matter what diet change you make, I'd say just start at breakfast and just master breakfast. So if you want to try gluten free breakfast, just take however long it is a week, two weeks, three weeks to really master eating a gluten free breakfast.

Well, see, we have everyone do a shake, so it's easy. There you go, people. You've got your gluten free breakfast. I think a lot of people listening, if not all, are gluten free people. So I love hearing that. And that's where I have people to start the day with the shake. Because, gosh, you look at breakfast out there and it's like a gluten shake. It's dessert. It's terrible. Yeah, it's crazy.

If any of your listeners have not been convinced to go gluten free yet, they should. They have to.

Yeah. It's so funny though. I get beat up consistently about gluten, so I'm glad to have. I always like to have more people in there jumping in because I keep getting this, this little retort saying, oh, yeah, but you'll get nutrient deficient if you cut out gluten.

Well, it's eating a healthy. It's eating a healthy gluten free diet is what it's all about. And I know that you already know, already know that JJ and that there is just a mountain of research on the health detriments of gluten at this point. Yeah, that cannot be ignored.

No, that can't be ignored. That doesn't mean go eat that gluten free junk food. But it is very simple to do those, those easy swaps for gluten free types of products. My favorite gluten free products are things that don't have labels, you know, like, exactly. Like, I don't know, sweet potatoes and berries and grass fed beef. They don't need to say gluten free because they never had. It's just like when everything was about lowering cholesterol in foods. And you go to the store and they have this little potato that says cholesterol free. And I'm like, oh, my gosh. You know, I know, it's so crazy. All right. We're almost up against the time. But I know that in your book you mentioned vitamin R. So I didn't want to leave without addressing your favorite vitamin. What is vitamin R?

Yeah, Vitamin R. So this is one that I find most health practitioners don't really cover or test. So vitamin R is rest, relaxation and recreation. So think about listeners, think about in your life right now, how much vitamin are you getting? Rest, relaxation, recreation. And to give yourself permission to give yourself some rest, give yourself some relaxation and recreation. What can you do to create more fun in your life? For me personally, I started doing a boxing class and you know what, jj, I really loved it. It was so empowering. It was a great way to get rid of stress. But I also just found that it was a fun, fun way to exercise because I don't like exercise. Like most people don't really like exercise. But I personally found boxing not to be exercise. That's how fun it was. So if you can somehow find a way to put more vitamin R in your life.

I love the fun part too, because I got to tell you what I'll ask people, well, what do you do for fun? And they look at me like, what?

You know, I'm an adult.

It is giving yourself permission, right? It's giving yourself permission. It's so important. Okay, now for people who want more from you, which I'm sure everyone listening does, I know you have a website, drcary.com for everyone listening. That's Dr. Dr. C a r r I.com so-r c a r r I.com Dr. Carrie.com. what do you, what do you got there for the listeners? Dr. Carrie?

Oh, JJ, that's kind of my home base. So that's where I have my podcast, which is the functional medicine radio show, and I have my blog there. And of course, patients, they can sign up for some free reports as well and learn more about how to deal with fatigue and get to the root cause so that they can feel normal again.

Excellent. Thank you so much for being on the show. And I want to remind everyone again to go to DrCary.com to get more great information from our guest, Dr. Carrie Drizzga. Love that last name. Thank you, JJ. That's why I thought I'm like, oh, now after the break, I'm going to be answering listeners questions, so stay with me.

If you're over 35 or under stress, you might not be digesting protein well and you may decide to take an enzyme product. But if you think all enzyme products are basically the same, here's the truth. Most digestive enzymes help your body digest everything better. Sounds great, except for one thing. When you speed up carbohydrate digestion, you're actually raising your blood sugar, which is not good. JJ has included a special ingredient in her digestive enzymes that slows and even blocks some carbohydrate digestion while supporting protein digestion. Visit jjvirgin.comproducts and give JJ's digestive enzymes a try today.

Alrighty. Welcome back. I love this time of the show. This is where I answer a listener's question. And today's question is so perfect for what we've been talking about. It comes from Shelley from Montana, and she says, jj, I have no problem falling asleep, but I find that I tend to wake up a couple hours after I go to sleep every night and I just can't seem to shake it. What do you recommend? Now, I love this question because Dr. Carey was talking about problems with sleep. Now, of course, the first thing that I ask when someone's not sleeping, when someone's tired is, how's your sleep? And as we know, just one poor night of sleep sets you up for risk with obesity because it makes you hungrier, it makes you less energetic. You're not going to want to go to the gym, you're going to want to eat more sugar and high sugar impact carbs. So this is definitely one that we want to solve. There's a couple things could be happening if you're waking up in the middle of the night and Dr. Carey talked about it. Get your cortisol levels checked. That's an adrenal salivary index where they track your cortisol rhythms. Because quite often if you are having an issue with waking up in the middle of night, you either have something going on with cortisol, it's coming up where it shouldn't, and some vitamin C and phosphatidylserine in the evening can help with that, or you've got blood sugar imbalance. So you might have a blood sugar crash in the middle of the night and that's causing the problem. Sometimes if you're drinking a glass of wine or two at night, especially if you go over that first glass, this can happen to you. So those are the two big causes. I see blood sugar imbalances and cortisol issues, and those can often go hand in hand because cortisol issues can create blood sugar imbalances and vice versa. Now, something that I do every single night is I take my product called Sleep Candy and I'm going to tell you about some of the things in it because this can help you tremendously. And Sleep Candy is designed to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. Both are important. As we know, it's got B6 and B6 is important because it can help your body make all of the different brain chemicals neurotransmitters. And so it's got, so it's got B6, it's got inositol, which is a great calming B vitamin. And then it's got three things that will really help you here and they're theanine, five HTP and melatonin. Now theanine helps create gaba and GABA is the calming neurotransmitter that's really important for just feeling calm. It also can help during the day with calm and focus, but it just helps you calm down. It's actually why we like alcohol because it can raise GABA. And then 5 HTP 5 hydroxytryptophan actually helps make melatonin. And then of course melatonin is your sleep regulating, helps regulate the circadian rhythm. So all of those things will work together super well. And I always like taking more of a comprehensive approach. So that is one of the things I'm going to recommend is check your meal, your evening meal that you're eating about three or four hours before bed. Make sure that's nice and balanced. That's a trifecta of fat, protein and fiber. So lots of non starchy vegetables, a little bit of a slow low carb that can really help you with sleep like pumpkin or wild rice, some protein like grass fed beef and healthy fats like avocado. So have a good eat from the plate meal, have a glass of water before bed that can shut down hunger pangs and then try some sleep candy. And if that's still creating issues for you and do all the nice sleep hygiene like taking a hot bath before bed, taking the lights in the room down, taking the temperature in the room down. I like to sleep with the room about 65 degrees. Make sure your room is dark, your bed is comfortable and then if those things, if you're still having the issue with the middle of the night, wake up. Then check your cortisol rhythm and check your blood sugar with your doctor. Your blood sugar bounce. And I would recommend listening to my podcast with Arianna Huffington on Sleep and Dr. Rita Marie Loscalzo on blood sugar balance. Both of those can help you here too. Alrighty. If you'd like to submit a question, just go to jjvirgin.com ask and you can leave a voicemail for me. I love hearing from you and one more way I'd love to hear from you. I would so appreciate it if you could jump on stitcher or itunes or both and leave a review for me because it helps a bunch and be sure to subscribe and share the show with your friends. This is JJ Virgin signing off and reminding you that you are worthy. Dare to live a life that matters.

Hello listeners, this is Anne Bogle, author, blogger and creator of the podcast what Should I Read next? Since 2016, I've been helping readers bring more joy and delight into their reading lives. Every week, I take all things books and reading with a guest and guide them in discovering their next read. They share three books they love, one book they don't, and what they've been reading lately, and I recommend three titles they may enjoy reading next. Guests have said our conversations are like therapy, troubleshooting issues that have plagued their reading lives for years and possibly the rest of their lives as well. And of course, recommending books that meet the moment. Whether they are looking for deep introspection to spur or encourage a life change or a frothy page turner to help them escape the stresses of work, school, everything, you'll learn something about yourself as a reader and you'll definitely walk away confident to choose your next read, with a whole list of new books and authors to try. So join us each Tuesday for what Should I Read Next? Subscribe now wherever you're listening to this podcast and visit our website what Should I read next podcast.com to find out more.